Free Republic

Today the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Navarette v California, a case in which a wrong decision will effectively repeal the 4th Amendment rights of the American people. The text of the 4th Amendment reads: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. In 1968, the Supreme Court ruled that “…law enforcement...

President Obama is considering using his executive authority to raise the minimum wage for federal contractors, he told Senate Democrats during a closed meeting at the White House. [Snip] Obama and congressional Democrats are pushing for an across-the-board hike in the minimum hourly wage, from $7.25 to $10.10. But Republicans are cool to the plan, warning it could hurt the economy. Federal contractors represent only a fraction of the nation’s employees. Businesses that together received more than $446 billion in federal contracts employ some 2 million workers, only some of whom are paid the minimum wage. Still, an increase for...

FReepers, I need some assistance and have run out of places to turn. For the past 12 months I've been trying to secure some type of employment, but have been unable to because whenever a background check is ran, I get flagged/disqualified for an outstanding arrest warrant in the state of Delaware. Here's the basis of the situation. I was a Reservist that did my Reserve duty at Dover AFB for the past 4 years and for a good chunk of that time I was on actual active duty orders. The last time I was on orders (Apr-Sep 2012), I...

  Sam Casey sat at the head of the largest conference table in Washington and watched open-mouthed as half the room emptied, and religious freedom was grievously wounded. It happened in an instant that July day in 1999, but had been building quietly for weeks as one of the most potent left-right coalitions in the country was sundered.         The recent legal and legislative history of religious freedom in America can be described in many ways, but ping-pong comes to mind.The Constitution prevents the federal government from establishing a state religion but also prevents the government from hampering its...

Cyndee Phoenix (pictured) thought she had found the perfect home in a Hamilton County, N. J., residential community to live in with her elderly parents and sister. But what Phoenix did not know and now claims was not revealed to her by the developer, Lennar Homes Corp, who promoted promises of a “wonderful lifestyle,” was that she and her family would be tormented by a neighbor who would threaten, intimidate and make racist remarks. She is suing the developer for “knowingly concealing” that her future neighbor was a “dangerous individual,” according to Courthouse News. Phoenix closed on her home last...

"To fans and defenders of the Affordable Care Act, the bill is your normal, run-of-the-mill but wholly fantastic and wonderful game-changing measure, up there with Social Security, Medicare and the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts as national milestones -- bills that were launched amid opposition and discord, but in time were accepted and loved. But from the beginning, this has been different in three signal ways that have been self-destructive, the last of which may be the worst."

Lawyers from California have cast accusatory eyes on Mississippi, declaring that the state’s Confederate symbol on its flag that’s flown at a Santa Ana display is racist and needs to go. The Orange County Bar Association has passed a resolution to remove the Mississippi flag from the Santa Ana civic center where it now hangs, along with the flags of all other states, The Los Angeles Times reported. Members of the group say the Confederate symbol is an outdated relic that represents racism and hatred, The Associated Press reported.

With the new year comes new insane laws from California, making it officially America's Sanctuary State -- treating illegal aliens who broke the law to enter the U.S. as well as law-abiding citizens, protecting illegals from deportation, and putting public safety at grave risk. In October, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D), signed eight bills handing special rights to illegal aliens. The controversial legislation includes allowing illegal alien obtain driver's licenses, preventing employers from denying jobs based on "immigration status", and barring state and local law enforcement from detaining illegal aliens when directed by ICE, DHS or Border Patrol. The legislation claims that...

The California Supreme Court ruled today that a 36-year-old illegal immigrant who passed the state bar exam in 2009 should be allowed to legally practice law. Sergio Garcia, who was brought to the U.S. illegally as a baby, returned to Mexico at age 9 and illegally entered the U.S. again at age 17 with his family. He began the naturalization process in 1995 and said he’s in the queue to receive a green card but won’t get it until 2019 because of the limited number of visas available for the large number of Mexicans seeking residency. Garcia attended Butte College,...

Supreme Court Halts Contraception Mandate For Religious Groups By M. Alex Johnson and Winston Wilde, NBC News Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor granted a last-ditch plea from Catholic groups Tuesday night to block a birth control mandate in the new health care law for religious organizations, just hours before it was to have gone into effect. The archdioceses of Washington, D.C., and Nashville, Tenn., the Catholic Conference of Michigan and several affiliated groups requested the emergency stay of provisions of the Affordable Care Act that would require companies — regardless of religious beliefs — to provide contraceptives and other abortion-inducing...

Bringing in the New Year, and not just at Times Square. This just in from the Associated Press, WASHINGTON (AP) — Only hours before the law was to take effect, a Supreme Court justice on Tuesday blocked implementation of part of President Barack Obama’s health care law that would have forced some religion-affiliated organizations to provide health insurance for employees that includes birth control.Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s decision came after a different effort by Catholic-affiliated groups from around the nation. Those groups had rushed to the federal courts to stop Wednesday’s start of portions of the Affordable Care Act, also known...

I wish to revert to what I am convinced are some important questions about the implications of the Holy Father's controversial choice last year concerning whose feet to wash and kiss on Maundy Thursday. Fundamentally, it seems to me that his action ran the risk of multivolent signification: of being a gesture which could bear a variety of different possible meanings, whether one at a time or in combination. I refer, of course, to the Holy Father's disregard of the law restricting the pedilavium to viri, males. His action is able to mean at least three quite radically dissimilar things;...

During our family gathering yesterday my father-in-law (who is an labor arbitrator in a blue state) told me employers of 50+ full timers have always been required to offer health insurance. He essentially said the ACA's employer mandate is nothing new. I was flabbergasted and told him I thought he was wrong. He got HOT quick. So I dropped it. But its something I would like to verify and haven't been able to find anything. The subject is a big one for me because my 35-40 hours a week as a part time EMT will soon be cut down to...

The Obama Administration on Tuesday proposed new regulations that add to the list of benefits not subject to reforms under the president’s healthcare law. A draft rule issued jointly by the departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and Treasury is the latest in a series of tweaks to the Affordable Care Act announced just days before major parts of the law are to take effect. The regulations, published in Tuesday's Federal Register, amend the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which laid out a category of “excepted benefits.” These include workers compensation or disability coverage, accidental death...

Washington (CNN) – Support for the country's new health care law has dropped to a record low, according to a new national poll. And a CNN/ORC International survey released Monday also indicates that most Americans predict that the Affordable Care Act will actually result in higher prices for their own medical care. Only 35% of those questioned in the poll say they support the health care law, a 5-point drop in less than a month. Sixty-two percent say they oppose the law, up four points from November.

**SNIP** But all of these last-minute policy shifts confuse people who were already struggling to understand a complex new system, and they force insurance companies to take on more work, which would be difficult even if everything were going right. The cumulative effect is that at least some people — we hope not many — will misunderstand their responsibilities under the law or be deterred from seeking coverage. The biggest danger is that the Obama administration is encouraging politicians to meddle in the health-care system every time a few vocal constituents get upset about its requirements. Ms. Sebelius’s Thursday announcement...

When a client called with questions about applying for insurance under the new health care law, Bay Area insurance agent Simon Chew tried to help. He used the phone line dedicated for agents to call Covered California, the state's new health insurance marketplace. After a long wait he received a partial answer to a question about calculating income. He eventually got that client's application filed, but in the meantime many more questions from other clients started pouring in, and they haven't stopped. That's not an unusual experience for Chew or many other insurance agents who are plunging in to help...

More intensive screening to identify firearm owners among individuals who are subject to domestic violence restraining orders, and streamlining processes to recover guns at the time those restraining orders are served could help enforce existing laws that prohibit these offenders from having firearms, a pilot study conducted by violence prevention experts at the University of California, Davis, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has found. SNIP "This study represents a step in the right direction, but larger-scale studies will be needed to determine optimal procedures for screening and recovering firearms, assessing the incidence of adverse events and...

"For as man, disobeying, drew death upon himself; so, obeying the will of God, he who desires is able to procure for himself life everlasting. For God has given us a law and holy commandments; and every one who keeps these can be saved, and, obtaining the resurrection, can inherit incorruption." - St. Theophilus of Antioch, to Autolycus (Book 2, Chapter 27) [link] Are we still under a Law? Yes. However, we are not under the Mosaic one. The Mosaic Law worked for a while, but ceased to be the best option after the "time of reformation" (Hebrews 9:10). At...

A Democratic Colorado state senator resigned Wednesday to avoid a possible recall election over a controversial gun control law that led to the ouster of two of her colleagues earlier this year. Sen. Evie Hudak, who has represented a district that includes Denver’s western suburbs since 2008, announced her resignation less than a week before opponents planned to submit petitions to recall her. Calling the decision “difficult,” Hudak said she decided to resign to protect the new gun control legislation and to ensure her constituents would not have to pay for a special election.