Free Republic

Actually, white nationalist speech is protected under the First Amendment, as is all “hate speech,” because there’s no such thing as “hate speech” in U.S. constitutional jurisprudence. How many primers on free-speech law need to be posted on the Internet before people absorb this very basic fact? I’m less annoyed at Patrisse Cullors, who’s obviously pushing this lie as part of a political agenda, than I am at Katy Tur, who views her profession through a heroic lens and is ostensibly there to fact-check. If someone’s spouting misinformation about the First Amendment (of all things) right in front of you,...

"No Free Speech for Fascists!" It's a motto you see on pre-printed signs at protests, including at yesterday's rallies in reaction to the violence and death in Charlottesville, Virginia, this weekend. Paired with a flood of invective against the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for the group's support of Unite the Right's right to stage a rally at the city's statue of Robert E. Lee in the first place, they make for a troubling trend. Support for the ACLU has been on the uptick from the left of late, thanks to Executive Director Anthony Romero's decisive legal maneuvering and online...

[ * * * ] As campuses around the country have simmered and erupted in polarized protests and debates in recent years, more are considering how they can help students navigate free expression – sometimes with a push from legislators. This year Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and North Carolina have mandated campus free speech policies, and a handful of other states are considering such laws. Some schools have decided that First Amendment instruction should be included right from the start, during a time typically reserved for talk of meal plans and dorm rules. “We needed to take the opportunity in orientation...

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, tech millionaire turned LGBTQ activist Tim Gill said he’s aiming to punish Christians who don’t want to participate in same-sex weddings. For more than two decades, the software programmer has poured an estimated $422 million into various gay rights causes. After the Supreme Court ruled gay marriage legal in all 50 states in 2015, Gill turned his attention and resources to targeting Christians. The election of Donald Trump, who claims to support gay rights but stocked his administration with anti-LGBTQ extremists, has only emboldened those looking to erase the gains of the...

As I noted Wednesday, some people are arguing that Donald Trump Jr. committed a crime by expressing willingness to accept unspecified information that came from the Russian government and that was offered as “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” (The incident happened before the hack of the Democratic National Committee was revealed, so there’s no indication that Trump Jr. thought that the offered information had been obtained illegally.) The theory is this: 1. A federal statute makes it a crime for “a foreign national, directly or indirectly, to make … a contribution or donation of money...

The Intercept’s parent company, First Look Media, has taken steps to provide independent support for the legal defense of Reality Winner, the NSA contract employee who was recently arrested in the first instance of the Trump administration using the 100-year-old Espionage Act to prosecute an alleged journalistic source. Winner, who has pleaded not guilty, is accused of having anonymously mailed a document to The Intercept relating to a federal investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. The NSA report, which was the basis of a story published by The Intercept on June 5, describes efforts by Russian military...

An Orthodox Jewish mother of six who was barred from speaking with her own children because she insisted on raising them in a religious home has been thrown in jail because she lacked the financial means to reimburse her wealthy ex-husband $10,000 in court costs as order by an Ohio judge. Julie Goffstein and her husband Peter Goffstein had been raising their boys as members of the Chabad community in Cincinnati when Peter Goffstein decided that he no longer wanted to live a religious lifestyle. Given an ultimatum of choosing between her religion and her marriage, Julie chose to continue...

When Kathy Griffin posed for a photoshoot holding a fake decapitated, bloody head of President Donald Trump in June, she likely didn’t think about the wide-reaching implications of her so-called “joke.” While her controversial stunt resulted in some serious professional consequences, it also earned her a lengthy visit from the U.S. Secret Service. Secret Service agents reportedly tracked down Griffin and interviewed her in person for more than an hour. Further, the investigation into the bloody head debacle remains open. Griffin’s attorney, Dmitry Gorin, has claimed the comedian was merely exercising her “First Amendment rights to tell a joke.” “When...

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Missouri's decision to prevent a church-operated daycare and preschool from receiving funding from a state program was unconstitutional Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the Supreme Court's 7-2 opinion, which reversed the federal appeals court's ruling and sent the case back to the lower court for additional proceedings. The dispute in Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Comer involved a state program that provided funding to nonprofits to resurface playgrounds, which ran into conflict with a provision of the Missouri Constitution that blocks public funds from directly or indirectly assisting any church, sect or religion.

So I was surfing around the net and came across readjamesonparker.com Yes, AJ from Simon nad Simon. In 1992 he was shot and seriously injured but obviously recovered. His blog was interesting in that he is very pro-first and second amendment, talks about how our kids aren't being taught about government and although he is pretty disgusted with Washington as a whole (aren't we all) he seems pro-Trump and furious over the democrats (including Nancy Pelosi) and their reaction to the Steve Scalise shooting. I didn't expect this from a Cali celeb. My teenage crush may be back! I was...

unconstitutional Published June 19, 2017 Fox News The Supreme Court ruled Monday that a federal trademark law banning offensive names is unconstitutional, siding with a rock band whose name had been deemed racially disparaging by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office.

Three pro-life, faith-based nonprofit clinics in California are suing the state’s attorney general, Xavier Becerra, for infringing on their First Amendment rights. These clinics — LivingWell Medical Clinic, Inc.; Pregnancy Care Center of the North Coast, Inc.; and Confidence Pregnancy Center, Inc. — offer free unplanned-pregnancy-related services to hundreds of women each year. It would be against their deeply held beliefs to advocate abortion. But California law requires them to. Since 2015, the California Reproductive Freedom, Accountability, Comprehensive Care, and Transparency (FACT) Act has required certain pregnancy clinics to notify their patients that the state offers free and low-cost abortions...

First they came for the wedding planners and the bakers. Then they came for the Catholic farmers and the Baptist high school valedictorians. And now, the secularists are coming after the evangelical public servants.On Wednesday, Russell Vought, President Trump’s nominee to be deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, was viciously attacked by Sen. Bernie Sanders over his Christian faith.Sen. Sanders deemed Vought unsuitable for office because he believes that salvation is found alone through Jesus Christ. He said someone with that kind of a religious belief system is “really not someone who this country is...

So, you're the palace steward of the Caliph of the Ottoman Empire. You have to manage a big haram. You need big strong men with no gonads and no sexual organs to manage your human zoo of sexual chattels.This is a matter of your religious freedom. It is your tradition that some people are masters -- the Caliph -- and some are slaves. It is based upon the freedom of your religious tradition that Allah is a slavemaster, and all humans, even the Caliph, are slaves.The inability to perform the orchiectomy surgery upon some non-voluntary male subjects is central to...

American activists opposed to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan want to know if he personally ordered the violent disruption of a protest Tuesday in the U.S. capital, and say President Donald Trump needs to stand up for them. Video released Thursday shows that Erdogan watched his supporters, including members of his security detail, charge toward protesters in the grassy Sheridan Circle, punching and kicking them before police restored order. Just before chaos erupted, an aide bent over Erdogan, who was seated in the back seat of a car in the driveway of the Turkish ambassador's home. The aide communicated with...

California's new attorney general said Wednesday that he plans to target political nonprofit organizations that he said mislead donors and influence campaigns. Attorney General Xavier Becerra put some political nonprofits in the same category as those that scam veterans or the elderly with false promises in a bid for contributions. "The last thing I think most people want to find out is that all these groups that are getting tax breaks because they are not-for-profit are actually going out there and influencing our political system," he said. That benefits donors, who can write off their contributions as charitable tax deductions,...

Fresh off our First Amendment victory in Berkeley, California’s Trump supporters and conservatives around the country rallied to hear President Trump’s 100 Days Celebration Speech. You know what? He’s doing a great job. Of course, there are critics. One libertarian-leaning millennial friend of me complained about how Trump spends so much time gloating over accomplishments. My retort? His accomplishments are mine—are our victories. Second, people can pound their chests when they have done great things—Michael Jordan could trash-talk the best on the court because he ended up besting them. Finally, I quipped: “If you don’t like, don’t listen. First...

Portland Police officers dressed in riot gear patrolled the march, and worked to keep the opposing groups on opposite sides of the street despite several cases of "intermingling." Officers said they saw demonstrators with guns, improvised weapons, and defensive gear in the area, but no violence was reported. Police did, however, arrest one person wearing a pumpkin outfit for disorderly conduct. The person was later identified as a man named Luis Marquez. Officers say they found a collapsable baton on Marquez.

BERKELEY — Hundreds of police patrolled UC Berkeley and a downtown park as counter demonstrations began Thursday after Ann Coulter canceled a speech on campus. As of 1 p.m., the university said there were two arrests. One person was arrested for carrying a knife on campus and a man was arrested for obstructing or delaying a police officer, wearing a mask and giving false identification to an officer. The International Socialist Organization called for members to meet at noon at the corner of Bancroft Way and Telegraph Avenue. That group claimed on its Facebook page that Coulter is a racist...

CARSON CITY — In her speech to the Nevada Legislature last week, Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., said violent protests on college campuses are responses to Donald Trump’s presidency and proposed budget. She also included violent protests in a list of ways people are “coming together” to oppose Trump. “It’s not just people from around the world who are concerned (about Trump’s budget proposal),” said Titus. “Here at home we see people coming together in ways that we haven’t witnessed in a long time. There are rallies. There are protests. There are neighborhood events. We’ve had a women’s march, a tax...