Free Republic

(CNSNews.com) – Four adult children of same-sex parents have submitted amicus curiae briefs in the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals asking that it oppose the legalization of same-sex “marriage." The Court, in New Orleans, La., heard arguments on Jan. 9 as it considers whether to uphold traditional marriage – defined as being between one man and one woman -- in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. B.N. Klein, Robert Oscar Lopez, Dawn Stefanowicz, and Katy Faust all grew up with homosexual parents. All four argued that redefining marriage to include same-sex couples would harm children by depriving them of a mother or...

Legendary TV talk show host Byron Allen is taking on Al Sharpton, President Obama, and the most powerful media corporations in the world in a battle to spotlight the crisis at the heart of American race relations. It’s a daunting mission. But for some reason he doesn’t sound scared... Allenjoined with the National Association of African-American Owned Media to file a $20 billion racial discrimination lawsuit this week against Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Sharpton’s National Action Network, the NAACP, the Urban League, and former FCC commissioner Meredith Attwell Baker. Allen and his fellow plaintiff also filed a $10 billion suit...

The Supreme Court seemed inclined Wednesday to agree with a Muslim woman who charged that retailer Abercrombie & Fitch violated anti­discrimination laws when it denied her a job because her head scarf conflicted with the company’s dress code. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission took up the case of Samantha Elauf, who was denied a job at one of the chain’s stores in Tulsa. Elauf, then 17, had worn a head scarf, or hijab, since she was 13. At issue in the case was whether Elauf needed to volunteer that she wore the head scarf for religious reasons to trigger a...

A judge says a coalition of states suing to stop President Barack Obama's executive action on immigration has until Monday to respond to a request by the U.S. government to lift a temporary hold of Obama's orders. U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen in Brownsville, Texas, set the deadline in a court order he issued Tuesday.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- A federal government decision to cancel the Washington Redskins' trademark because it may be disparaging infringes on free-speech rights and unfairly singles the team out, lawyers argued in court papers filed Monday.

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson has offered florist Barronelle Stutzman a deal: She can cater to same-sex weddings or she can stop doing weddings altogether. Of course, there’s always a third option: She can go out of business. Ms. Stutzman, the 70-year-old owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Richland, Washington, is opting for none of the above. “Your offer reveals that you don’t really understand me or what this conflict is all about,” Ms. Stutzman said in a letter to Mr. Ferguson. “It’s about freedom, not money. I certainly don’t relish the idea of losing my business, my home, and everything...

Bad news, everyone. According to reports and rumors, MSNBC’s Red Wedding is only growing bloodier. Al Sharpton’s MSNBC program Politics Nation, on the air since 2011, is headed for the chopping block. For now, that’s just a rumor, but the confirmed details of a lawsuit targeting both Sharpton and his employer are far more troubling for both than merely the floundering ratings of the cable host slash political activist. A lawsuit targeting Comcast and Sharpton last week, filed by the National Association of African-American Owned Media, alleges that both parties engaged in systematic discrimination against black-owned media outlets. This...

The National Association of African-American Owned Media alleges that Sharpton and other advocates have been bought off. Even though the FCC hasn't yet ruled on the proposed merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable, one group has already filed a lawsuit claiming at least $20 billion in damages from the way the two giants allegedly discriminate against black-owned media. The complaint, filed in California on Friday, comes from the National Association of African-American Owned Media, which also filed a similar suit against AT&T and DirecTV in December. This time, the plaintiff is not only targeting both Comcast and TWC on...

CHICAGO (CBS) – A 64-year-old man who was freed from prison last year, after prosecutors dropped charges in a 1982 double murder case, has filed a $40 million lawsuit against Northwestern University, accusing a former professor and his team of railroading him into a false confession. Alstory Simon, 64, spent more than 15 years behind bars, after he confessed to killing Marilyn Green and her fiancé Jerry Hillard in 1982.

"Persons or entities that purchased gasoline or diesel fuel (“Plaintiffs”) on or after January 1, 2001, in the following States and jurisdictions –– Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands (the “States at Issue”) – brought lawsuits claiming that selling motor fuel without disclosing or adjusting for the effects of temperature violates consumer protection and other laws. All of the cases relating to the States at Issue and all...

Most of the media is blaming the current chaos in Alabama over whether same-sex couples will or will not be issued marriage licenses on Judge Roy Moore, Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. However, it really should be laid at the feet of U.S. District Court Judge Callie V. S. Granade (pronounced, according to National Public Radio, like “grenade”). It was Granade’s January 23 decision to blow up Alabama’s one-man-one-woman definition of marriage which set events in motion. The decision by Granade (a George W. Bush appointee) is startling to read. For one thing, it is extraordinarily short—only 10...

RICHMOND, Va. — The maker of Red Bull energy drinks is challenging a Virginia craft brewery’s use of the word “ox” in its brand name.

Shooting through a door is usually a bad idea.  Your ability to see the target is often obscured or nonexistent, and it may be difficult to show that you believed that you were confronting a deadly threat.   Shooting through an inside door may be less problematic than one that is an entrance to a building that you are defending. Interior doors  are usually of flimsy construction.  A person who has retreated to a bedroom or bathroom and who has locked the door may have less options than someone who is defending an entrance door.   If someone has already...

Prominent immigration advocates have all but conceded that federal judge Andrew Hanen – a staunch critic of the Obama administration’s immigration policies – will block the president’s executive actions just weeks before the measures are slated to kick in....“We all think the judge is going to rule in favor of the plaintiffs here. That much is almost assumed at this point,” said Marshall Fitz, vice president of immigration policy at the Center for American Progress.

Members of a Long Island family testified Monday that the Sept. 11 attacks and its lesson that terror can happen anywhere persuaded them to cancel a trip to Disney World and instead visit Jerusalem in early 2002, when four of them were seriously injured in a suicide bombing. Mark Sokolow, a lawyer, and his wife, Rena, testified as lead plaintiffs in a $1 billion lawsuit in Manhattan federal court against Palestinian authorities for six attacks in Israel from 2002 to 2004 that killed or wounded Americans. Their three daughters, two of them hurt in the blast, testified as well. The...

The state will pay the plaintiffs who successfully challenged the state’s ban on same-sex marriage $520,000 for their legal costs under a settlement the Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday. The law entitles the plaintiffs to recover their legal costs because they prevailed in the case. The plaintiffs’ claim for approximately $1.74 million in legal fees has been settled for a 70 percent reduction from their original claim, according to the Attorney General’s Office. The settlement lists four plaintiffs: Timothy B. Bostic and his partner Tony C. London and married couple Carol Schall and Mary Townley.

<p>MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - "American Sniper" is tops at the box office but don't expect to see former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura lining up at a theater for it.</p> <p>Ventura, a former Navy SEAL, won $1.8 million in a defamation lawsuit last year against the estate of the late Chris Kyle, the SEAL protagonist of the movie, which has sparked debate over whether snipers should be considered heroes. Ventura said Wednesday he won't see the film partly because Kyle is no hero to him.</p>

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama became the latest state to see its ban on gay marriage fall to a federal court ruling Friday, as the issue of same-sex marriage heads to the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Callie V.S. Granade ruled in favor of two Mobile women who sued to challenge Alabama's refusal to recognize their 2008 marriage performed in California. The ruling is the latest in a string of wins for advocates of marriage rights. Judges have also struck down bans in several other Southern states, including the Carolinas, Florida, Mississippi and Virginia. The U.S. Supreme Court announced this...

Federal Judge Strikes Down Alabama's Ban on Same-Sex Marriage BY PETE WILLIAMS A federal judge in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday struck down the state's ban on same-sex marriage, bringing the number of states that allow same-sex couples to marry to 37. "There has been no evidence presented that these marriage laws have any effect on the choices of couples to have or raise children, whether they are same-sex couples or opposite-sex couples. In sum, the laws in question are an irrational way of promoting biological relationships in Alabama," wrote Federal District Court Judge Callie V.S. Granade.

She was vilified as ignorant, alarmist, extreme and right-wing when former Alaska governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin tried to tell Americans that yes, the Affordable Care Act – a.k.a. Obamacare – created so-called “death panels.” But of course, she has since been proven correct, even though they are not identified as “death panels” specifically in the language of the law. President Obama and the Democrats who passed this abomination would never be so politically bold or so politically honest; then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California famously said that Congress would “have to pass the bill so that” Americans...