Free Republic

Elise Jordan no doubt scored bonus brownie points with the MSNBC suits and Morning Joe hosts Friday. Because she managed to pull off the rare double-hit on conservatives, trashing both Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz in one fell [foul?] swoop. The subject matter was the Senate's passage of what is described as an anti-Asian hate crime bill. Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri was the sole senator to vote 'no' on the bill, which passed by a vote of 94-1. Among those voting for the bill was Ted Cruz. Which led Jordan to observe: "Josh Hawley [is] just going out...

House Democrats renewed a push Friday for a federal hate crimes tracking law, amid an increase in assaults on members of Asian American and Pacific Islander communities since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

A Georgia man convicted of throwing scalding water on a sleeping same-sex couple told one of them to “get out of my house with all that gay,” a victim testified, yet he couldn’t be charged with a hate crime because the state has no such law. Victim Anthony Gooden said in a recent interview that he still can’t use his left arm, which was severely burned in the 2016 attack, and wears a brace. He can’t tie his shoelaces or work. Martin Blackwell was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the crime. “Forty years is not enough to have...

Twitchy headline says it all.Context provided by Erick Erickson at Red State: In his speech to the United Nations General Assembly today the President of the United States declared that the future does not belong to practicing Christians. Already, the media and the left are in full denial, probably based on their general lack of understanding of theology. This would have been a gaffe had Mitt Romney said it. But with Barack Obama, he’s just speaking bold truths. His bold truth declares that the future does not belong to practicing Christians. Pay careful attention to what he says: "The future...

A "hate crimes" bill opponents claim will be used to crack down on Christian speech, even the reading of the Bible, was signed into law today by President Obama. The Senate approved the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by a vote of 68-29 on Oct. 22 after Democrats strategically attached it to a "must-pass" $680 billion defense appropriations plan. Most Republicans, although normally strong supporters of the U.S. military, opposed the bill because it hands out federal money to states and local governments in pursuit of "preventing" hate crimes. The bill creates federal protections and...

Unconstitutional Legislation Threatens Freedoms by Ron Paul Last week, the House of Representatives acted with disdain for the Constitution and individual liberty by passing HR 1592, a bill creating new federal programs to combat so-called “hate crimes.” The legislation defines a hate crime as an act of violence committed against an individual because of the victim’s race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. Federal hate crime laws violate the Tenth Amendment’s limitations on federal power. Hate crime laws may also violate the First Amendment guaranteed freedom of speech and religion by criminalizing speech federal bureaucrats define...

Petro Opposes Gay-Marriage Ban Amendment Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro becomes the first Republican state official to formally oppose Issue 1, saying he fears that the anti-gay marriage amendment will harm Ohio’s economy. As Ohio’s chief attorney, Petro shares the opinion that the amendment would prevent Cleveland Heights and public colleges from continuing to offer domestic-partner benefits. Ohio Auditor Betty Montgomery, meanwhile, supports the issue, while Gov. Bob Taft is undecided.

By Al Kamen Friday, January 31, 2003; Page A25 At the Conservative Political Action Conference, which featured Vice President Cheney as its opening luncheon speaker yesterday, one of the various exhibition booths hawking paraphernalia had some virulently anti-Muslim vinyl bumper stickers, for $3.95, including one that said: "No Muslims -- No Terrorism." rest of the article. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3956-2003Jan30.html

Expand hate-crimes law: Smith, Kennedy sponsor bill enlarging protections A Register-Guard Editorial    Recommend this story to others.   Cynics will no doubt accuse Sen. Gordon Smith of election-year opportunism for co-sponsoring, along with Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., legislation that would expand the federal law on hate crimes to cover violence against gays and lesbians. They'll be wrong. It was more than two years ago after the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard, a gay Wyoming college student, that Smith became one of a handful of congressional Republicans to champion an amendment adding violence motivated by gender, sexual orientation and disability...