Free Republic

GoFundMe.com said it has taken down the fundraising campaign for the Baltimore police officers charged with the death of Freddie Gray because it violates the website's policy. The Baltimore City Fraternal Order of Police created the page on Friday in hopes of creating a defense fund for their members involved in the case, but it was quickly taken down because according to the company, funds cannot be used for people accused of serious crimes. "The campaign clearly stated that the money raised would be used to assist the officers with their legal fees, which is a direct violation of GoFundMe's...

The new policy is phrased neutrally, as a ban on donations for anyone formally accused of “discriminatory acts,” but it’s obvious who the target is. Last week they shut down fundraising pages for Sweet Cakes by Melissa and Arlene’s Flowers, two Christian-owned businesses facing discrimination charges for declining to provide services to same-sex weddings, and caught hell for it from conservatives online. With good reason. Until this week, GoFundMe banned fundraising “in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts,” but Sweet Cakes and Arlene’s Flowers weren’t accused of crimes. They were accused of...

GoFundMe’s old policy on crowdfunding may not have been enough to justify its decision last weekend to kill campaigns on behalf of a Christian-owned florist and bakery — but its new policy is. The website quietly expanded its list of banned crowdfunding activities this week shortly after The Washington Times questioned GoFundMe’s reliance on its policy against campaigns in defense of “formal charges of heinous crimes” to pull fundraisers for Arlene’s Flowers and for Sweet Cakes by Melissa. The new policy, which includes a ban on campaigns in defense of “claims of discriminatory acts,” would appear to make it more...

The question mark’s in the headline because they haven’t commented yet on where the page went or why, but you can guess what happened if you read Jazz’s post yesterday. A GoFundMe page for a different Christian-owned business, Sweet Cakes by Melissa in Oregon, was yanked down by GFM because there are discrimination charges pending against the owner and it’s GFM’s policy not to raise money “in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts.” Politely refusing to cater a gay wedding is, evidently, now a “heinous crime.” But that raised a question: If charity...

Americans who choose to live their lives according to conservative Christian values continue to pay a political and social price for it even as gay marriage enjoys unprecedented acceptance.An Oregon bakery that in January of 2013 refused to bake a cake for a lesbian couple’s wedding is only the latest casualty in the culture war over same-sex marriage — a war that Christians are clearly losing.Rachel and Laurel Bowman-Cryer sued Aaron and Melissa Klein of Sweet Cakes by Melissa. This forced the shop to close its doors in September of 2013 after months of hate mail and plummeting revenues.Much like...

GoFundMe has determined that if Christians are accused of crimes, such as not baking cakes for gay weddings, they will not be able to use their service. It appears that gay activists have objected to a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to keep the Sweet Cakes bakery in business or pay the fine, which could be as high as $150,000, for declining to bake a cake for a gay wedding. It is, of course, the right of GoFundMe to deny service to anyone – even as Sweet Cakes is denied the same right – but it leaves a market for...

The LGBT-Gestapo adapts rather quickly.  After Memories Pizza raised $842,432 in just a few days, and Arlene’s Flowers raised over $173 thousand on GoFundMe, the Gaystapo couldn’t let Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of the now-shuttered Sweet Cakes by Melissa, use that fundraising platform. A GoFundMe account was established for the Kleins, and raised over $6,000, until the website took it down. The website GoFundMe said in a statement Saturday that it took down the page because the campaign violated the policy against raising money “in defense of formal charges of heinous crimes, including violent, hateful, or sexual acts.” “The...

In the first day of our campaign, we have raised over $2,000! This paid the down payment for the contractor, and for the supplies to start drywall repair. Please continue to donate and spread the word so the girls can get moved back in as soon as possible! If you don't want to donate online, the address for donations is on our website, http://www.livinggracehome.com/Contact-Us.html. Subscribe to Updates Living Grace Home is a home for pregnant young women ages 14-22 who are homeless or in danger of becoming homeless as a result of their pregnancy. We have two residences at this...

Memories Pizza, the Indiana establishment, which sparked national outrage over its owner's anti-LGBT comments made Wednesday during a local news broadcast, has raised a whopping $842,387 in donations from supporters. Following Indiana's contentious Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Walkerton, Indiana restaurant became the subject of harsh criticism after co-owner Crystal O'Connor said she would refuse to cater gay marriages. "If a gay couple came in and wanted us to provide pizzas for their wedding, we would have to say no," she told a local ABC affiliate. "We are a Christian establishment." Following the backlash over the remarks, supporters of Memories...

As reported by Kristinn Taylor at Gateway Pundit "Alix Bryan, a social media employee with WTVR-TV, the CBS affiliate in Richmond, Virginia, is being investigated by station management for filing a false fraud report to GoFundMe against Memories Pizza" GoFundMe is an online fundraising tool that was being used on behalf of the restaurant. The restaurant had been forced to close due to threats that were made after stating that, while they would serve gay customers, they would not cater a homosexual wedding. What is strange about Ms. Bryan worrying about the misuse of GoFundMe is that she used the...

So, who’s this Alix Bryan person? Well, as she puts it in her Twitter bio, she’s “1/3 of a kick-ass web and social media team @CBS6” in Richmond, Virginia. -snip She’s also a model citizen who took it upon herself to report the wildly successful GoFundMe campaign for Memories Pizza for fraud — despite the fact that she had no evidence whatsoever: Alix Bryan        ✔ @alixbryan Are you kidding me? Indiana pizzeria raises $17k in an hour by being bigoted? http://www.gofundme.com/MemoriesPizza  7:33 PM - 1 Apr 2015 Alix Bryan        ✔ @alixbryan I have reported the GoFundMe for Memories Pizza for fraud. Just in case. http://www.gofundme.com/contact?t=donation_page_report&url=MemoriesPizza … 7:46 PM -...

Investigates has learned that a woman who claimed she was a victim of the Boston Marathon bombing is now facing criminal charges. Joanna Leigh, 41, of Jamaica Plain, has been indicted by a Suffolk County grand jury for allegedly stealing almost $40,000 in charitable donations, including money from the One Fund Boston and benefits from the state’s fund for victims of violent crime. Watch video report According to court records, Leigh allegedly faked injuries to obtain services and money from donors, a doctor, young students and the One Fund which was established with private donations to help the many victims...

The 33-year-old freelance cameraman who contracted Ebola in Liberia is fighting for his life at the University of Nebraska Medical Center this week. He’s also racking up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. According to a GoFundMe campaign launched Monday by his friends, Ashoka Mukpo’s medical bills could run in excess of $500,000.

NARAL is not happy that crowdfunding website GoFundMe has taken down a woman’s attempt to crowdfund her abortion and is prohibiting future attempts for people to use its service to raise money to kill their unborn children. LifeNews.com broke the story last week about a woman named Bailey who was using the crowdfunding web site GoFundMe to raise money for her abortion. GoFundMe eventually made public a response to why it shut the attempt down. baileyNow, one of the biggest pro-abortion groups in the country is upset and has started a lobbying campaign to get its members to pressure GoFundMe...

LifeNews.com broke the story last week about a woman who was using the crowdfunding web site GoFundMe to raise money for her abortion. Now, more information has surfaced as to why the web site put the kibosh on the fundraiser. People around the world use the GoFundMe web site and it’s normally a place for heartwarming campaigns to help people who have adverse medical conditions, who have been in accidents or who are raising money for other people in need or good causes. But one woman is using it to raise funds for her abortion.bailey Bailey’s Abortion Fund had already...

On Friday, Vice reported about a 23-year-old girl named Bailey who, after becoming unexpectedly pregnant, has turned to the crowdfunding site GoFundMe to help pay for her much-needed abortion, asking a total of $2,500 to help pay for the operation. Her GoFundMe page, originally titled "Stop Bailey From Breeding Fund," has been met with tremendous controversy, forcing the site to remove the page for some time. According to Vice, the page reads: "Bailey is currently unemployed, completely broke, in debt, and in no position to hold down a job due to severe symptoms of a rough, unplanned and unexpected...

Ferguson, Missouri police officer Darren Wilson, who fatally shot unarmed teenager Michael Brown earlier this month, has gone underground since the controversial shooting, but his backers have been coming out in droves and many are showing their support by donating cash online. Almost $400,000 has been raised on the fundraising site gofundme.com for the six-year police veteran. After the first fundraising drive reached its goal of $234,000, a second page was established and has brought in more than $153,000 in four days. More than 9,000 people combined have contributed to the two fundraising pages....

Reverend Al Sharpton ✔ @TheRevAl I am in Senate Dining Room having breakfast meeting with Sen. Rand Paul. We don't agree on much but he is an interesting guy.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)"Rand Paul is right," Rev. Al Sharpton said on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Friday after the Kentucky Senator empathized with African-Americans who believe their rights were threatened by police officers. Paul published a TIME op-ed on Thursday discussing the issue of the "militarization" of the police force and what it meant in the showdown between police officers and protestors in Ferguson, Missouri reacting to the shooting death of Michael Brown. "Given the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, it is impossible for African-Americans not to feel like their government is particularly targeting them," Paul wrote, after criticizing the racial...

Call off the Iowa caucuses. Cancel the New Hampshire primary. Let’s all head to Cleveland to name the 2016 Republican presidential nominee right now. The race is over. Rand Paul has won. There is no way he can be denied. How can I say that before a single vote has been cast, before most of the field has even declared? Simple: Dick Morris has predicted Paul can’t win. Morris’ predictions are almost always wrong. Ergo, Rand Paul is now a heavy favorite to clinch the nomination. Everyone who makes political forecasts with any frequency is going to make mistakes, me...