Free Republic

In 1804 an Ursuline nun in New Orleans asked Thomas Jefferson to clarify in writing her religious community’s right to retain their property and to continue their ministries without government interference following the Louisiana Purchase. As French Catholic Louisiana was being incorporated into the Anglo-Protestant United States, the nuns were concerned about the status of their institutions under U.S. law. President Jefferson assured her that the government would not interfere with the sisters’ property, ministries, and way of life. In a letter dated May 15, 1804, he wrote: “I have received, holy sisters, the letter you have written me wherein...

Dear NFL Meet Jessica Jessica is 15 yrs old and lives in GA. She has spent the last 2 yrs volunteering for the leadership team for Children's ministry at her church. She leaves the house every Sunday at 8:30 am and stays until well after 12:30. She is in her high school musical. She is involved in leadership training for the youth group at her church, and she also takes dance classes. She takes cosmetology at Hiram High School, and has even been to a competition representing her school. Jessica also has already been on a mission trip to El...

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments today in a case from religious nonprofit groups challenging the federal government’s contraceptive/abortifacient mandate. Here is what you should know about that case.What is this case, and what’s it about? The case the Supreme Court will hear, Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged v. Burwell, combines seven challenges to the Health and Human Services’ (HHS) contraceptive/abortifacient mandate.To fulfill the requirements of the Affordable Healthcare Act (aka ObamaCare) the federal government passed a regulation (often called the “HHS Mandate”) that attempts to force groups into providing insurance coverage for contraceptives, sterilization, and abortifacients. Some religious...

A prominent pastor and religious freedom activist was arrested on Sunday in Cuba, hours before President Barack Obama arrived in the country for his official state visit. Rev Mario Felix Lleonart Barroso's home and church were surrounded by police and state security agents early in the morning on March 20, he told Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) ahead of his arrest.

Over the past 28 years there has been a sea change in the media. Not only has the monopoly of the so-called mainstream media been shattered but the phenomenal rise of conservative media has been truly stunning. It began in 1988 with the national syndication of Rush Limbaugh and his distinctive brand of conservative political commentary espoused in an entertaining and captivating way, which opened the flood gates for other conservatives, together with Rush, to dominate the talk radio airwaves. In the 1990’s the internet, through hundreds of websites, gave voice to journalists to report stories either ignored or downplayed...

'We the sensible people of the United States, in an attempt to help everyone get along, restore some semblance of justice, avoid more riots, keep our nation safe, promote positive behavior, and secure the blessings of debt-free liberty to ourselves and our great-great-great-grandchildren, hereby try one more time to ordain and establish some common sense guidelines for the terminally whiny, guilt ridden and delusional. We hold these truths to be self-evident: that a whole lot of people are confused by the Bill of Rights and are so addicted to handouts that they require a Bill of NON-Rights.' ARTICLE I: You...

Experimental global change to de-nationalize and the fundamental transformation of western societies, whether planned or not, can have intense and long-lasting consequences I have described in my book, “Liberty on Life Support,” the American economy and the country in general as a comatose patient. There was even a widely circulating cartoon on social media picturing Uncle Sam on a hospital gurney, attached to life support, barely clinging to life. At first glance it may seem a gross exaggeration until you actually look at the national debt clock, understand the true state of the economy, the condition of the socialist and...

When I graduated high school, in 1969, a $20 bill had about as much value as a $100 bill today.  Inflation has taken a toll.  In 1969, $500 and $1,000 bills were still in reasonably common circulation.  They had been issued up until 1945.  With the turn toward ever increasing government snooping and tracking of financial transactions, the bills were taken out of circulation with an executive order by President Richard Nixon. It is long past due to bring the $500 bill back into common use. The European Union issues 500 Euro bills. Cash is useful for preserving privacy...

It's easy to forget the cold, dark days of winter, 2013. The horrific tragedy of Newtown had touched the hearts of the nation, and every news outlet -- every one -- was blaming the Second Amendment community for what happened there. GOA was receiving death threats -- not only against us, but against our children. Even Fox News was opining that the battle against Bloomberg's gun control was hopeless, as every news outlet spent every hour of the day predicting that our organization -- and the "gun manufacturers' lobby" [sic] in general -- would be absolutely and totally destroyed. It...

Some conservatives have recently been suspended from Twitter without notice, while others have either deactivated their accounts or simply quit tweeting. Tonight, it looks as though conservative columnist A.J. Delgado has been suspended without explanation. Adam Baldwin yesterday said goodbye to Twitter voluntarily, after clearing up the media’s narrative that censorship, not “alleged censorship,” drove him to look for greener pastures. What’s disturbing is Twitter’s “abusive user” form, which includes among its transgressions “disagreement with my opinion.”

The Australian Advertising Standards Bureau (ASB) has bullied a car service company into discontinuing its advertisement because the “sexist” portrayal of women allegedly results in the “vilification of women.” ABC Australia reports Ultra Tune’s “Unexpected Situation” advertisement has been pulled after the ASB determined the ad violates a “code of ethics” pertaining to “discrimination against women.” The 15-second advertisement in question features two women caught on train tracks and then panicking as a train approaches them. In order to “avoid unexpected situations” like getting caught on train tracks, the ad suggests people should “get your car serviced at Ultra Tune.” Although the advertisement ends...

ST. MATTHEWS - Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry says U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz went to Washington to shake up the political class, not join it. "He is a courageous leader who went to Washington, D.C. to break up the Washington cabal. He went to Washington and did exactly what he said he was going to do," Perry said. Perry and former U.S. Sen. Bob Smith of New Hampshire campaigned for Cruz in Calhoun County on Wednesday. Perry was running for the Republican nomination for president, but dropped out and endorsed Cruz. The Republican presidential primary is Saturday. During a small...

".....Cruz opened by stating that he tried to think about what Levin would tell him:"Ted, keep it short:defend the Constitution, repeal Obamacare, and kill the terrorists. And I've gotta say,that pretty much sums it up."...."Justice Scalia was an American hero..a lion of the law,he loved the Constitution,he loved freedom. I had the blessing of knowing Justice Scalia for 20 years...Justice Scalia, in three decades on the court,changed the arc of American legal history,singlehandedly shifted the Constitution and the interpretation of it back to the original understand,back to the text and words adopted by the framers. As Ronald Reagan was to...

.....Obama will visit Cuba on March 21 and 22.... Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) called it "totally unacceptable for the president of the United States to reward a dictatorial regime with an historic visit when human rights abuses endure and democracy continues to be shunned." "This will mark the first time a U.S. president is visiting a dictatorship in Latin America since Lyndon Johnson's 1968 visit to Nicaragua...Since Castro seized power, nine American Presidents - Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Clinton, and George W. Bush - did not rush to the island to shake hands with an...

March 22. Seventy-five (75) pro-democracy activists are arrested for "conspiring with the U.S."

This is a short dissertation on the Real political spectrum, Each step of the way will be confirmed by the dictionary definitions of the various political ideologies and how they relate to the spectrum. In order to properly set it out in a logical manner we need to base it on the metric of governmental power since this should be the clearest method of distinguishing where the ideologies fall on the spectrum. 1. Government Control scale. For the sake of simplicity we will use a scale of %0 to %100 with zero for no governmental control and ranging up to...

A pair of Texas litigators are following Cruz's lead as they gird for a Supreme Court battle this April. On the campaign trail, Ted Cruz has vowed to rescind President Barack Obama's controversial executive actions on immigration - but it's two of his former aides who could actually kill it. Scott Keller and Chip Roy - who served in top roles in Cruz's Senate office - are now litigators on behalf of Texas, leading the lawsuit against Obama's unilateral actions, which are at the cornerstone of the president's immigration legacy. The duo's positions also underscore Cruz's enduring influence and reach...

The Road to Seerfdom:

Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) 79% is taking a hard position against President Obama’s current gun control push, but various reports on Rubio’s time in the Florida house of representatives and U.S. Senate show a past marked by a fluctuating relationship between Rubio and gun rights. In one such report, published in 2010, former NRA president Marion Hammer said Rubio “has not been a friend to gun owners.” Hammer was reflecting on the difficultly that attended the passage of a bill guaranteeing employees the ability to keep guns in their cars at work for self-defense. According to Politico,...

Do you disagree with Liberty University's president's decision to endorse Donald Trump for president? You could get blocked on Twitter if you tweet your dissatisfaction with the endorsement. Tyler McNally, a Liberty University student (and someone I've followed for a few years), tweeted a screenshot Friday afternoon showing Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. blocking him on his Twitter account. pic.twitter.com/TnQ6uXJtiM - Tyler McNally (@Tyler_McNally) January 29, 2016 "My school president blocked me. AMA" McNally wrote. ("AMA" is an acronym for "Ask Me Anything," a joke referencing a section of Reddit where users ask questions to celebrities or those with...