Free Republic

A court in Arizona has rejected arguments of evangelical Christian wedding invitation designers that a Phoenix ordinance protecting discrimination against LGBT people forces them to make artwork for same-sex couples, which is against their religious beliefs and freedoms of speech and religion. The Christians plan to appeal. Judge Karen Mullins of Maricopa County Superior Court this week ruled that the Phoenix ordinance does not violate Arizona's free speech and free exercise of religion laws, quashing an attempt by Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio, to override the ordinance, AZ Central reported. The Phoenix non-discrimination ordinance...

Sharyl Attkisson’s The Smear gives insight to how news is made today. It goes a long way in convincing readers that they should believe only a small portion of what is released by the government and reported by the press. This leads to a very cynical view of the news and confirms Otto von Bismarck’s claim that "Nothing is proven until it is officially denied." Attkinsson gives an account of how massive the smear industry is. My only criticism of the book is her contention that, “the organized political smear entered the contemporary marketplace circe 1987.” Some of these smear...

Civil War reenactors replaying the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia on Saturday went ahead with their demonstration despite the group organizing the event receiving a letter threatening "bodily harm" to anyone who participated. The battlefield was temporarily cleared on Saturday when a "suspicious device" - possibly a pipe bomb - was discovered. The FBI is investigating. Washington Post: “We wanted to send a message,” said Keith MacGregor, 56, from Lebanon, Pa., who was playing the role of a Union infantry captain for the reenactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek, held not far from here. “We wanted to show...

Every Republican and/or Conservative can spend hours pontificating about how the Mainstream Media (MSM) does not come close to presenting the facts fairly; it is grossly biased. That has grown exponentially since Donald Trump became president. Read this and you will not doubt the veracity of this scenario. This tale started when Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief of the Forward (“News that matters to American Jews”), sent out an email asking for help. The Forward was founded in 1897 (formerly known as The Jewish Daily Forward). She expressed her concern as to what her publication “had done to contribute to the coarsening...

If a Pakistani-born aide to the head of the Republican National Committee was caught up in bank fraud and conspiracy scandal, it would presumably dictate mainstream media news coverage the way President Trump’s alleged ties to Russia have dominated in recent months. But this is currently going on with the former head of the Democratic National Committee – and nobody in the mainstream media seems to care. Democratic Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s former IT aide Imran Awan pleaded not guilty in September to multiple federal charges including bank fraud and conspiracy and most Americans have no idea because the...

Missouri State Sen. Maria Chappelle-Nadal posted a meme on Twitter Thursday depicting President Trump to Adolf Hilter. Ms. Chappelle-Nadal, a Democrat, posted a meme of Mr. Trump taking off a shirt and becoming Hilter. The meme parodies off the controversial Dove body wash ad that shows a black woman taking off a brown T-shirt shirt and then showing a white woman in a light T-shirt. The ad was called racist, and the company apologized.

Fascist protesters from groups Black Lives Matter, Antifa, Southern Poverty Law Center of Columbia University and others shut down Tommy Robinson’s speech Tuesday night at Columbia University. Robinson’s speech on immigration, “The Fall of Europe – Mass Immigration” was slated for 8 p.m. It opened to a Q & A in an effort to quell the crowd of ticket-holding protesters and allow their arguments to be heard, but quickly folded as they began chanting, “Let them in! Let them in! Let them in!” in reference to the crowd of protesters without tickets beating on the doors to gain entrance. The...

Twitter has blocked Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn's (Tenn.) Senate campaign announcement ad, ruling that a pro-life statement was "inflammatory."At one point in the video, Blackburn, who announced last week that she is running for the Senate in Tennessee, heralded how she "stopped the sale of baby body parts," a reference to her investigation into Planned Parenthood's reported practice of "donating" body parts in return for monetary compensation.But a Twitter representative told the Blackburn campaign that Twitter blocked the ad from being promoted, calling it "an inflammatory statement that is likely to evoke a strong negative reaction," the Associated Press reported Monday. Twitter said...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn’s Senate campaign announcement ad is being blocked by Twitter over a statement the abortion rights opponent makes about the sale of fetal tissue for medical research. Blackburn in the ad boasts that she “stopped the sale of baby body parts.” Twitter found that statement to be inflammatory and “likely to evoke a strong negative reaction.”

A campus Black Lives Matter protest against an American Civil Liberties Union speaker has provoked an internal debate over free speech on the Left. Students shouted down an ACLU leader visiting the College of William and Mary in Virginia last week, preventing a discussion about free speech by chanting "liberalism is white supremacy" and "ACLU, you protect Hitler too!" for a full hour. Outrage spread as video of the college Black Lives Matter chapter's disruption circulated among shocked scholars, progressive leaders, and alumni.

Just weeks after James Woods said he was blacklisted in Hollywood because of his conservative views, the Oscar-nominated actor said he was retiring from the industry. Woods tweeted this summer that he had “accepted the fact that” he was blacklisted from Hollywood because of his views. He has said being conservative has made it tough to find work in Hollywood the past few years.

California can now start jailing people that refuse to use the preferred gender pronouns of nursing home residents after Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill Thursday. The law’s effect is limited to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, but mandates that those who “willfully and repeatedly” refuse “to use a transgender resident’s preferred name or pronouns” can be slapped with a $1,000 fine and up to one year in prison, according to the California Heath and Safety code. Known as the “LGBT Senior Bill Of Rights,” the legislation also requires nursing homes and care facilities to allow residents...

California can now start jailing people that refuse to use the preferred gender pronouns of nursing home residents after Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill Thursday.

Elementary school librarian rejects books given by Melania Trump By Max Greenwood - 09/28/17 01:42 PM EDT A Cambridge, Mass., elementary school librarian said in a blog post this her school will not be keeping a collection of books from Melania Trump, though the school later denied her rejection of the gift. Earlier this month, the first lady sent out collections of 10 Dr. Seuss books to one school in each state to mark National Read a Book Day. In a letter published on the Horn Book's Family Reading blog, Cambridgeport Elementary School librarian Liz Phipps Soeiro said that her...

MSNBC has refused to tell its viewers that the gunman in the Tennessee church shooting is a Sudanese immigrant, instead identifying him as being from Tennessee. In the seven mentions of the shooter’s identity on the network from Sunday afternoon when the shooting occurred until Monday morning, MSNBC never mentioned his status as an immigrant. They did share his name, age, photo, and his residence in Murfreesboro, TN. 25-year-old Emanuel Kidega Samson is originally from Khartoum, Sudan and legally immigrated to the United States in the 1990s. Samson attended high school in Tennessee. (RELATED: Tennessee Church Shooting Suspect Is A...

Actor Tim Allen has doubled down on his condemnation of ABC’s decision to abruptly cancel the highly-rated sitcom Last Man Standing, saying his “funny, likable conservative” character may have led to the show’s demise. The veteran actor and stand-up comedian unloaded on the network Tuesday during an appearance on Norm Macdonald Live. “I have no idea why they did what they did,” Allen said of ABC. “You couldn’t have handled this worse.” “Second biggest show, [ABC] hadn’t won a Friday night in 15 years,” he said. “They put us out to pasture on Friday and we won Friday. Big night...

The corruption of American higher education has been in the news a lot in the last few years. “Snowflakes” and “safe spaces,” crowds of thugs shutting down conservative speakers, craven administrators caving in to demands of activist students and faculty have become increasingly common since the rise of Donald Trump sparked a “resistance” movement. Even progressives who have run afoul of campus Robespierres are writing books about free speech now that their revolutionary children have started devouring their own. What David Horowitz has been warning about in his books and speeches for more than thirty years -- the ideological hijacking...

It’s not just crazy places like the University of California at Berkeley where surprisingly large numbers of U.S. college students believe that violence and shouting are acceptable methods to prevent people from saying things. Fifty-one percent of all U.S. college students believe shouting is an acceptable response to free speech, and one in five (19 percent) believe violence is an acceptable response, according to results from a national survey of 1,500 students in 49 states and DC. Fifty-three percent of survey respondents said colleges should “create a positive learning environment for all students by prohibiting certain speech or expression of...

Gatorade has been banned from insulting its main competitor — water — and fined $300,000 after it slandered nature’s sports drink in a video game, California’s Attorney General announced Thursday. AG Xavier Becerra sued the neon-colored beverage company over its cellphone game “Bolt!” in which players guide track star Usain Bolt around to collect coins and bottles of Gatorade but must avoid water — which slows the Olympian down.

A Florida teacher's request for students to use gender-neutral pronouns has left parents divided in opinion. Math and science teacher Chloe Bressack, who teaches at Canopy Oaks Elementary in Tallahassee, Florida, sent the letter home to the 5th grade class at the beginning of the year.