Free Republic

Ok so here's my take on ways that conservatives can take on gay marriage legally and reverse this aweful decision. #1. We can through the legislative process radically simplify the tax code so that it doesn't deal with marriage and is much simpler, also make it so that anyone can easily gain the power of atty, inheritance from anyone else. Marriage where it intersects with government would be separated, the government wouldn't have the motivation or the power to regulate marriage. Any kind of "marriage certificate issued by the govt. would be moot and void. We'd basically be back to...

With same-sex marriage and the transformation of Bruce Jenner into Caitlyn Jenner in the world headlines, it’s time to ask what LGBT bioethics would look like. Timothy Murphy, of the University of Illinois College of Medicine,  foreshadows some of the major themes in the journal Bioethics.Bioethics benefits. “Bioethics is better than it would otherwise have been, because people queer in their sexual interests and identities have challenged misconceived concepts of health and disease, challenged obstacles to access and equity in healthcare, and forced attention to professional standards in clinical care, among other things.”Defending LGBT parenting. To show that the battle...

Harvard is to law what Winchester is to bolt actions. Powerful, dependable, well engineered and the mark of a serious craft, at least that’s what I was told.These days, Harvard graduates probably don’t know much about bolt actions, unless they are a member of the Harvard Law School shooting club. A stroll through the Harvard Law School course catalog also makes you wonder how much they know about the real practice of law.The course catalog from Harvard Law School hints that the answer might be — not as much as we thought.The Harvard Law School course catalog frequently reads...

Except that there's something rather different about this rural corner of England. These riverside fields at Runnymede are reputed to be the setting for one of the most significant moments in UK democratic and constitutional history. The National Trust labels it "the birthplace of modern democracy," while an impressive monument commemorates a "symbol of freedom under law." It was here, of course, that the Magna Carta is said to have been sealed on June 15, 1215 under the title of the "Great Charter."

Full title: Antonin Scalia is unfit to serve: A justice who rejects science and the law for religion is of unsound mind Readers of this column already know that faith-derangement syndrome has stricken the highest levels of the executive branch of government, afflicting President Obama and virtually all his potential successors. Now we have evidence that it has spread to the top organ of the judiciary, the Supreme Court. But first, a clarification. Sufferers of faith-derangement syndrome (FDS) exhibit the following symptoms: unshakable belief in the veracity of manifest absurdities detailed in ancient texts regarding the origins of the cosmos...

On June 11 The Washington Post intimated that police in America might not face the tensions they currently face if they shot less and talked more. The Post reached this verdict via a comparison between the tactics of “lightly armed” British police and those of heavily armed Americans.

Just when we thought the absurdity that marks every single day of Obama's reign could not possibly be surpassed, we learned that 4 hours (3 hours and 47 minutes to be precise) after the US president vowed to sign a new law banning bulk data collection by the NSA (named, for purely grotesque reasons, the "USA Freedom Act"), the Obama administration asked the secret Fisa surveillance court to ignore a federal court that found bulk surveillance illegal and to once again grant the National Security Agency the power to collect the phone records of millions of Americans for six months....

he outrage was immediate. After a video surfaced of a chaotic confrontation between teens and police at a community pool in Texas, calls for the officer's dismissal were swift and loud... The approximately seven-minute video shows officers trying to gain control of a group of teenagers at the pool. A few minutes into the video, an officer throws a 14-year-old girl wearing a bikini to the ground and shoves her head down. Two teenage boys approach; the officer pulls out his gun and chases them away. He then grabs the girl's arm as he re-holsters his gun.

Cops: Woman claiming she needed 'spinal transplant' scams $1.2 million from man, 86 Candy Ely, 35, lured an 86-year-old Chicago man into a romantic relationship and stole more than $1.2 million in cash and items from him, including a car, police said. (Cook County Sheriff's Office) By Liam Ford Chicago Tribune contact the reporter Crime Theft A 35-year-old woman is accused of luring an 86-year-old man into a romantic relationship and then stealing more than $1.2 million in cash after claiming she had cancer and needed a "spinal transplant," police said. Candy Ely “baited” the man “into a false relationship...

If, as seems likely, the Supreme Court will shred the Constitution and impose Gay "Marriage" on all 50 states, here is what states could do to nullify that decision. I have often argued that the state can't "get out of the marriage business" because the state has an interest in it, but I think I have come up with a way that the state could deal with what it has as a legitimate interest, change some labels, legally, and not have to deal with the question of gay marriage, all in one fell swoop. Granted, it is ridiculous that the...

If only there had been some paper towels. Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard Law School professor known as a zealous civil liberties advocate, is suing TD Garden nearly three years after a slip and fall in an arena bathroom that he attributes to a depleted supply of paper towels near the sinks.

A gruesome suicide, a likely murder, a tragic plane crash, wrongful imprisonment, and gripping courtroom scenes draw readers into this compelling story, giving them a frightening perspective on justice and who should be accountable when evidence is withheld. Licensed to Lie is the true story of the strong-arm, illegal, and unethical tactics used by headline-grabbing federal prosecutors in their narcissistic pursuit of power.

....in Texas, Democrats have impressively managed to beat back the bulk of over 20 anti-gay bills conservative Republicans had created in committees in an effort to blunt a Supreme Court ruling this month... .....Gonzalez first wanted to dispel some misinformation about her identity. She first came out as pansexual — which is distinct from bisexual because it defines an individual who is attracted to various gender identities — in 2012 after first being elected, noting that she’d dated transgender and "gender-queer" people. But it had been reported that she came out as lesbian first and then later came out as...

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is paying a Washington law firm $1,000 an hour in taxpayer money to perform a corporate audit, despite its claim of being severely underfunded.The IRS’ $2.2 million contract with big-money firm Quinn Emanuel has sparked a Senate Finance Committee investigation, with the committee’s chairman saying that the IRS “appears to violate federal law.”Senate Finance Committee chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch wrote a letter this month to IRS commissioner John Koskinen stating his concerns relating to the contact, which pays Quinn Emanuel $1,000 an hour to perform an audit of Microsoft.Hatch said that the contract appears to...

Last May, the Golden State Warriors’ militantly pro-gay front office fired head coach Mark Jackson for refusing to celebrate news that Jason Collins had come out of the closet, and preaching Christian values. The Warriors evade the wrath of God. Incompetent Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Rick Welts’ top choice to replace Jackson was the twice-fired Stan Van Gundy… But God intervened. Van Gundy turned down the Warriors’ offer… (SNIP) Despite ownership’s best-laid plans, divine providence resulted in Steve Kerr– who had agreed in principle to coach the New York Knicks– coaching the Golden State Warriors. This unintentional hire spared...

Appellate court enforces the law, not the whims of a rogue president President Obama’s unilaterally imposed immigration amnesty plan will remain suspended for the time being, thanks to a federal appeals court ruling that serves as a desperately needed reminder to Americans that the United States is not supposed to be a one-man dictatorship. On Tuesday two members of a three-judge panel of the New Orleans-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit allowed an injunction to remain in place that blocks Obama from moving forward with his immigration plan. The ruling effectively extends the stay that was ordered...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Abortions after 20 weeks into a pregnancy, in most cases, are now illegal in West Virginia. The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act took effect on Tuesday, making the Mountain State one of nearly a dozen states with such a ban. “I’m proud of our folks here in the state for passing this legislation because I think the people of the state want it,” Dr. Wanda Franz, president of West Virginians for Life, one of the leading supporters of the legislation, said on Wednesday’s MetroNews “Talkline.” “This is very important legislation and a new step nationally for us...

From 1992 to 2012, the Golden State Warriors were consistently one of the worst teams in basketball. The team was so unimaginably miserable, management so criminally negligible– that owner Joe Lacob was mercilessly booed for 15 straight minutes at a ceremony honoring beloved Warriors great Chris Mullin… (SNIP) Enter Mark Jackson. After a rocky start in 2011, Jackson turned a perennial loser into one of the top teams in the NBA. In 2014, the Warriors finished with 51 wins– the most wins by the team in two decades. (SNIP) Having failed to catch Jackson’s spewing “hate speech”– Lacob and Welts...

MIAMI — Miami-Dade Police Employee Officer Emil Lugo has been charged with felony fraud for stealing the county fuel. He hs allegedly been stealing the gas for months. He was arrested after undercover cameras caught him in the act. (Video below) A statement released by the State Attorney’s Office reads in part, “This investigation arose from concerns that Sergeant Lugo was improperly using his Miami-Dade County access during the period from January 2015 through March 2015. Not only was Sergeant Lugo fueling his vehicle at a fuel station rarely used by police officers, (the 7900 SW 107 Avenue site was...

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley signed into law legislation that would protect drug manufacturers from being sued for products created by their generic brand competitors. In January of 2013 and again last summer, the Alabama Supreme Court decided to allow an individual who used only the generic version of Reglan to sue the manufacturer of the brand name drug. Even though the brand manufacturer had no involvement in the production or sale of the generic drug, the company may be held liable for damages presumably caused by a third party competitor.