Free Republic

Ukraine is closing the book on scores of Russian authors and turning a deaf ear to its foe’s music, too. The Ukrainian parliament Sunday approved a law that stops the printing of books by Russian citizens unless they give up their Russian passport and become Ukraine citizens. The ban only applies to those authors who held Russian citizenship after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

Trouble at Villanova: Dispute escalates over a student’s tweets Melanie Diodati, a graduate theology student at the Augustinian university in Pennsylvania, criticised Villanova on Twitter in late June after the university’s athletic department described itself as an “ally of the LGBTQ+ Community”. Diodati said she was “ashamed to attend” the university because it was “ashamed to be Catholic”.Diodati later tweeted claims that her academic advisor, Professor Jennifer Jackson, had warned Diodati over her Twitter activity.In the Twitter thread Diodati claimed that Professor Jackson said “I might lose my tuition scholarship” and that “I ought to come back to Twitter and...

‘Open season on Christians now’: Biblical views on homosexuality proscribed in Whatcott ruling by Peter Baklinski Thu Mar 14, 2013 16:24 EST OTTAWA, Ontario, March 14, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – While some Christian groups around the country have interpreted the recent Supreme Court decision in the Whatcott case as having cast the Bible in a friendly light, one of Canada’s most seasoned freedom fighters begs to differ. Ezra Levant, known for his prolonged battle with the Human Rights Commissions, slammed the ruling saying that it “now makes the Bible hate speech”. Calling the ruling “100 plus pages of dangerous mush,” Levant...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) continues its epic struggle to understand the First Amendment. In the latest incident, the Muslim civil liberties group has asked government officials in Brevard County, Florida to deny the use of a county-owned meeting room to a group CAIR has tagged as “an anti-Muslim hate group,” reports the Orlando Sentinel.

14-Year-Old Refuses To Remove NRA T-Shirt, Faces 1 Year In Jail AUTHOR Kristin Tate A middle school student in West Virginia was suspended after he refused to remove the NRA t-shirt he was wearing. 14-year-old Jared Marcum is charged with obstruction of an officer. Prosecutors have moved forward in actively pursuing the charge — the middle schooler could face up to a year and jail and a $500 fine if found guilty.

A U.S. attorney in Tennessee is reportedly vowing to use federal civil rights statutes to clamp down on offensive and inflammatory speech about Islam. Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, was quoted by the Tullahoma News this week suggesting that some inflammatory material on Islam might run afoul of federal civil rights laws. "We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected," Killian told the newspaper. Killian, along with the FBI special agent that runs the Knoxville office, are set to speak next...

A florist in Washington is being sued for a second time after choosing not to provide flower arrangements for a gay customer's upcoming wedding. Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene's Flowers in Richland now faces two lawsuits, one from the Washington state Attorney General and another from the American Civil Liberties Union, for turning away business for a same-sex couple’s wedding. When frequent customer Curt Freed approached Barronelle Stutzman of Arlene's Flowers last month to provide arrangements for his September wedding ceremony to Rob Ingersoll, the florist said she could not provide services due to her religious beliefs. On the company's Facebook...

Lego has been accused of racism by the Turkish community over a Star Wars model that supposedly resembles one of Istanbul’s most revered mosques. tria’s Turkish community said the model was based on Hagia Sophia mosque in Istanbul and that the accompanying figures depicted Asians and Orientals as people with “deceitful and criminal personalities.” The Turkish Cultural Community of Austria released a statement calling for Lego to apologise for affronting religious and cultural feelings. The anger was provoked by “Jabba’s Palace”, a model of the home of Jabba the Hutt from Lego’s Star Wars product range based on the blockbusting...

MANILA, Philippines, May 17, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) - World boxing superstar and Philippines congressman Manny Pacquiao has stated his opposition to Barack Obama’s endorsement of same-sex “marriage” and received a black eye for his trouble. During a May 12 interview with the National Conservative Examiner Pacquiao said the Bible is clear on homosexual activity and that with regard to marriage we must follow “God’s words first ... obey God’s law first before considering the laws of man.” “God only expects man and woman to be together and to be legally married, only if they so are in love with each other,”...

When Barack Obama replaced George Bush, there was unbridled joy among the elites. The days of "cowboy diplomacy" were over! Finally, we had a president who was a careful multi-lateralist who wouldn't rudely impose his will, but would instead work with allies to build consensus. But that's not what Obama delivered with Israel last week, is it? Obama went to the State Department and insisted Israel needed to stop its "unsustainable" policy toward the Palestinians and "boldly" retreat behind pre-1967 borders. A stunned Benjamin Netanyahu responded as any ally would if so roundly betrayed. He publicly -- correctly -- denounced...

It was hardly noticed at the time, but its consequences could be catastrophic. Late last September, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which assigns internet domain names, approved a huge change in the way it operates. Europe and North America will now have five seats on its Board of Directors, instead of ten, and a new "Arab States" region will have five seats as well. How big a deal is this? ICANN at the same time took a reference to "terrorism" out of its Draft Applicant Guidebook. Why? Because Arab groups complained. And so now jihad terror...

Irony reaches new heights as Comedy Central is going to “strictly prohibit filming” of the Rally to Restore Sanity/March to Keep Fear Alive. PJTV’s Washington Bureau chief Richard Pollock inquired with the Comedy Central’s senior vice president of corporate communications Steve Albani about receiving credentials. Albani claimed that Pollock would not be given credentials because of limited supply, and as such there would be no room on the “press riser” for PJTV’s camera and crew. When Pollock said that he’d be fine with filming not on the press riser, Albani said that filming would be “strictly prohibited” between 3rd and...

An organized effort is underway worldwide orchestrated by a powerful Islamic political body to criminalize speech that "offends" Muslims. As much as that may sound like some fantastic conspiracy theory, these Muslim leaders broadcast their group's every move on their website—yet America's ruling elites refuse to listen. The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the United Nations representing 57 member states which seek to criminalize speech that violates the archaic tenets of Sharia law. The OIC is comprised of the kings and heads of state of all Islamic countries numbering its membership at...

On a late summer evening, Omar Rivera stumbled over to a local mosque, clutching a beer bottle in his hand and looking for a place to answer nature’s call. He chose the Al-Imam Mosque and proceeded to urinate around its exterior, where there were apparently some Muslim prayer rugs lying around. Omar had committed what was a fairly commonplace act of vandalism in the city, public urination. When suddenly he became the poster child for the rise of a “New Islamophobia”. Along with a drunken liberal arts student who slashed a Muslim cabbie, the media transformed poor Omar into the...

"OIC wants UN to develop a "legally binding institutional instrument" to muzzle free speech about Islam and jihad" SNIPPET: ""OIC calls for urgent collective measures against Islamophobia," by Habib Shaikh in the Saudi Gazette, September 27: JEDDAH - Foreign ministers of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have called upon the international community to make collective efforts to prevent incitement to hatred and discrimination against Muslims and to take effective measures to discourage negative stereotyping of people on the basis of religion, faith or race, according to an official source at the OIC on Sunday. This call was made...

In 1935 Sinclair Lewis wrote It Can’t Happen Here, a novel about the rise of tyranny in America, whose message was that it indeed can happen here. Just to remind us that in fact it “can happen here”, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer used the occasion of his appearance on noted legal forum, Good Morning America, to suggest that there may not be any First Amendment protection for burning the Koran. “Holmes said it doesn’t mean you can shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theater,” Breyer told me. “Well, what is it? Why? Because people will be trampled to death. And...

‘Burn the Quran Day’ Plan Prompts Warnings of Anger, Unrest Wednesday, August 25, 2010 By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor SNIPPET: "(CNSNews.com) – The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has joined the growing condemnation of plans by a Florida church to burn copies of the Quran on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks. A spokesman for the Jeddah-based bloc of Islamic states expressed concern Tuesday that the planned action by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville would stir up “anger across the Muslim world and provoke unrest.” The OIC said it hoped the U.S. government would “take...

A Gainesville church plans to go ahead with the burning of the Muslim holy book on Sept. 11, despite threats of bombings and the lack of a permit. According to the Wall Street Journal, Terry Jones, pastor at the Dove World Outreach Center will call for Sept. 11 to be an "International Burn a Koran Day." One jihadist website vowed to conduct suicide bombings in Florida to avenge the Koran burning, while others predicted an increase in terrorist recruits as a result of such actions. "By Allah, the wars are heated and you Americans are the ones who...enflamed it," says...

Complete title: FCC Moves to Regulate Internet--Even Though the Law Calls for Internet to be 'Unfettered by Federal or State Regulation' (CNSNews.com) – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted on Thursday to begin the formal process of bringing the Internet under greater federal control – a move sought by both President Barack Obama and FCC Chairnman Julius Genachowski--even though federal law calls for an Internet "unfettered by Federal or State regulation." This step comes after the federal D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in April rebuked the FCC in its attempt to enforce a controversial regulatory doctrine called Net Neutrality, which  would allow the government...

Shouts of 'Allahu Akbar' as Christians arrested DEARBORN, MICHIGAN -(ANS)-Three Christians were arrested today at the Arab International Festival as they shared their faith with Muslims. The three were arrested by police as they engaged in intense, but respectful dialog in which they proclaimed their faith in Christ. "I never thought I would see this in America," says Steven Atkins, a resident of Toronto, Canada, who was visiting the festival and observed the incident. The three arrested include Dr. Nabeel Qureshi, David Woods, and Paul Rezkalla. Dr. Quereshi is co-director of Acts 17 Apologetics Ministries. He holds an MD from...