Free Republic

On yesterday evening’s Hardball, an overwrought Andrew Sullivan stopped just short of chewing the scenery, while repeatedly referring to Donald Trump and Ann Coulter as fascists. But precisely because of Trump’s supposed fascist fear-mongering, Sullivan predicted that “Trump is going to win this election.” Former New Republic editor Sullivan claimed that we are in a “fascist moment” because white Americans are reacting to the country becoming majority-minority. Calling Ann Coulter “the other fascist” along with Trump, Sullivan cited Ann’s book “Adios, America” as epitomizing the fear of the foreigner driving Trump’s support. View the video here.

For many viewers, this came as no surprise, but for many FOX conservative loyalists, this latest news would have come as a shock. FOX News host Shepard Smith joins other high-profile gay cable news anchors like CNN’s Anderson Cooper and Don Lemon. A number of high-profile media critics including top-rated talk radio host Michael Savage, have recently raised the alarm that FOX News is undergoing a liberal facelift following the departure of its news head Roger Ailes over a number sexual harassment cases.

In canonizing Mother Teresa as a saint ("Pope declares Mother Teresa a saint," Sept. 5), the pope publicly confirmed the essential tenets of Catholicism: That God could have stopped Catholic priests from raping altar boys. But, overall, He didn't want to. And millions throughout the world rejoiced in this good news. Such is religion.

The Indiana governor and culture warrior would balance the ticket with a twice-divorced, proud philanderer at the top -- except he legalized discrimination against LGBT people with a law so extreme other GOP states rejected it. In choosing Mike Pence as his running mate, Donald Trump has shored up the GOP's religious base. But based on the Indiana governor's disastrous run-in with pro-business Republicans and moderates last year over gay rights, Trump may have just lost the election. [Snip] Unlike Newt Gingrich and Chris Christie, Pence has been a right-wing culture warrior for his entire career. As Samantha Allen detailed...

Democrats shouted "Shame! Shame!," but seven Republicans switched their votes and defeated a measure to protect gay rights. The final vote was 213-212 after the chaos on the House floor. That was enough to defeat an amendment by Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., aimed at upholding an executive order that bars discrimination against LGBT employees by federal contractors. Maloney and other Democrats were incensed. "They literally snatched discrimination from the jaws of equality," Maloney said. He said he had approached Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., as McCarthy worked on GOP colleagues to vote against the measure. McCarthy told Maloney to...

The Texas Republican Party considered a platform Friday that would soften support of widely rebuked “reparative therapy” for gays while still preserving some of the toughest anti-gay language on any party plank in the U.S. The new platform also would oppose bathroom rights for transgender persons — an unsurprising move after the state’s Republican lieutenant governor said Friday that Texas is ready to forfeit billions of federal dollars rather than comply with a new Obama administrative directive on transgender rights in public schools. …

Manny Pacquiao is not backing down from his stance against homosexuality. Less than a day after the Filipino boxer and politician lost his sponsorship deal with Nike because he compared gay people to animals, Pacquiao took to Instagram early Thursday morning and posted some Bible verses that support his views. One of them, Leviticus 20:13, states in no uncertain terms that homosexuals should be killed: "If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on...

Lena Dunham is taking over the Hillary Clinton campaign Instagram account as she stumps for the candidate in New Hampshire this weekend. "Hey y'all! I made it to New Hampshire and I'm thrilled to be taking over the HRC Instagram! Warning: I'm pretty focused on my outfits," Dunham wrote. The post got almost 10,000 likes as of Friday, but also some critical reactions to Dunham's involvement in the campaign. Dunham also has been making campaign appearances with FIFA Women's World Cup champion Abby Wambach. Meanwhile, Clinton will appear on "The Ellen Show" on Monday.

A once great newspaper's descent into special-interest, sex-obsessed self-parody is now complete. Even if the Gray Lady did have to travel all the way to ladyboy Indonesia to find the subject closest to its Leftist heart just before Christmas. The headline says it all: Transgender Muslims Find a Home for Prayer in Indonesia No, really. As the call to prayer boomed over this midsize university town on a recent Sunday evening, rows of conservatively dressed Muslim women laid out their prayer mats, bowed toward Mecca and murmured prayers in Arabic. As dusk fell, it was a ritual being carried out...

<p>Among the Christian Right, and most Republican presidential candidates, it’s now an article of faith that the United States is persecuting Christians and Christian-owned businesses—that religion itself is under attack.</p> <p>Why has this bizarre myth that Christianity is under assault in the most religious developed country on Earth been so successful? Because, in a way, it’s true. American Christianity is in decline—not because of a “war on faith” but because of a host of demographic and social trends. The gays and liberals are just scapegoats.</p>

In a recent disquieting article for the New York Times, Choire Sicha investigates a curious new challenge for gyms: Some men want to shower and change without ever being publicly nude, and they expect their gyms to build locker rooms that accommodate that desire. Drawing upon the experiences of gym managers and architects, Sicha explains that over the last quarter-century, men have grown increasingly uneasy with being naked in the locker room. While older men generally remain comfortable being undressed among others, younger ones insist on maximum privacy, pining for a way to strip, shower, and change clothes without even...

The news in this year's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report on sexually transmitted diseases is not good. The number of cases of chlamydia and gonorrhea in the United States increased between 2013 and 2014, after being on the decline for several years. Cases of syphilis, which have been on the rise for the last decade, shot up in 2014. Chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis are the three most common STDs in the United States that are also notifiable, meaning health departments are required to report new cases to the CDC. (HIV and shigella are also notifiable STDs.) Chlamydia is...

It kills me to write this post. I have spent more time worshiping Beyoncé than just about any other pop star. I've spent countless hours dancing to "Grown Woman" alone in my apartment. I've been the only guy in a dance class aimed at teaching the "Single Ladies" dance, and I loved every second of it. Beyoncé has been queen in my life since the first time I watched the "Crazy In Love" video. But. Over the past few months, Beyoncé has repeatedly refused the opportunity to speak out against the legalization of discrimination against LGBT people in her hometown......

To keep up with the adventures of the Keswani family, visit PEOPLE.com/keswanis. It's been a big year for the transgender community, thanks in large part to Caitlyn Jenner. But not every member of the community is 66: Devina Keswani, the youngest of three children in PEOPLE's new web series, The Keswanis: A Most Modern Family, and a proud Girl Scout, is just 6. "One [of my classmates] hates transgender, and he hates me because I'm transgender," Devina says, adding, "Before that he liked me, but now he hates me. He spits at me and pushes me."

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- On the first day of early voting, two new ads were released to abc13. Both of them are available here, but we are told will start airing on broadcast and cable television Tuesday. Lt. Governor Dan Patrick held a news conference Monday to unveil his offering. In the 30-second spot paid for by Patrick's campaign, the Lt. Governor stands against a flag draped background and tells viewers, "City of Houston Prop One is not about equality. That is already the law of the land. It's about allowing men in women's locker rooms and bathrooms."

Mayor Annise Parker took a moment on Twitter to bash former Houston Astros star Lance Berkman after he voiced opposition toward the city's equal rights ordinance known as HERO. In late September, Berkman recorded an advertisement for the Campaign for Houston PAC, a group that is opposed to HERO. "My wife and I have four daughters," Berkman says in the ad. "Proposition One, the 'bathroom ordinance,' would allow troubled men to enter women's public bathrooms, showers and locker rooms. This would violate their privacy and put them in harm's way. That's just wrong." The mayor called Berkman a hypocrite for...

In his last phone call home, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. told his father what was troubling him: From his bunk in southern Afghanistan, he could hear Afghan police officers sexually abusing boys they had brought to the base. “At night we can hear them screaming, but we’re not allowed to do anything about it,” the Marine’s father, Gregory Buckley Sr., recalled his son telling him before he was shot to death at the base in 2012. He urged his son to tell his superiors. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s...

Anderson Cooper snapped at a pro-Donald Trump guest tonight and apologized by the end of the segment. Cooper was particularly worked up about Trump’s answer to a rallygoer who was ranting about all the Muslims in the United States. When Dean said he was taking things out of context and brought up how Muslim training camps are a real concern, Cooper said, “I’ve spent more time overseas than you ever have in your little life.”

LGBT Group Burns Kim Davis With Billboard in her Hometown By Christopher Spata Dear Kim Davis, it's going to be pretty difficult for you to ignore this giant billboard that just went up in your hometown to remind you that your views on marriage are a little outdated​ ancient. The billboard, which according to Mashable was paid for by the LGBT advocacy group Planting Peace, reads: "Dear Kim Davis, the Fact that you can't sell your daughter for three goats and a cow means we've already redefined marriage." Davis, a county clerk in Kentucky, was released from jail last week...

A federal judge has denied a transgender teenager’s request to allow him to use the same bathroom as his peers at his public school in Virginia. Instead, the judge ruled Friday, the teenager must continue using a separate, private bathroom that he has said makes him feel “singled out and humiliated.” Gavin Grimm, a teenage boy who was born female, used the boys’ bathroom for seven weeks with no problem, according to the American Civil Liberties Union, which brought a lawsuit against the Gloucester County School Board on his behalf. But then parents heard about the teen using the boys’...