Free Republic

It is actually illegal for two or more people to get together to do what they did to Brendan Eich. Title 18, Section 241 of the United States Code states as follows: If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same; or If two or more persons go in disguise on the highway, or on...

In what critics are describing as a government land grab, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed a change Tuesday to the Clean Water Act that would give it regulatory authority over temporary wetlands and waterways. The proposal immediately sparked concerns that the regulatory power could extend into seasonal ponds, streams and ditches, including those on private property. "The ... rule may be one of the most significant private property grabs in U.S. history," said Louisiana Sen. David Vitter, the top Republican on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The EPA proposal would apply pollution regulations to the country's so-called "intermittent...

A report released Tuesday by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform asserted that ex-IRS official Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights. Lerner continues to stonewall California Rep. Darrell Issa’s committee, pleading the Fifth again in a divisive Oversight hearing last Wednesday convened to get to the bottom of the IRS’ improper targeting of conservative groups between 2010 and 2012. Oversight member Rep. Jim Jordan told The Daily Caller that the committee is “moving” toward holding Lerner in contempt of Congress to compel her to testify. “I think that’s where we’re moving,” Jordan said. “I think that’s where...

Today the conservative talkers are jawing about the supposed "balance" between a person's right not to be discriminated against, and a business owner's rights of conscience. But the problem, you see, is that the first thing is not a right. I don't have a right to force people to like me. Or to hire me. Or to sell something to me. Someone will say that I do indeed have those rights, as created by the Courts or the Congress or Eric Holder (Fleas Be Upon Him). But the government cannot create rights. Only God can grant rights. And a government...

Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton said Sunday that the gay-rights cause made "incredible progress" on political and legal fronts in 2013, but progress should not be mistaken for success. Clinton called lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues "the unfinished business of the 21st century" in an address at a national conference in Las Vegas where actress Ellen Page came out as gay days earlier in an emotional speech that's stirred a social media outpouring. Clinton urged a crowd of 600 professionals who work with children to become more sensitive to the needs of LGBT youth, saying the deck is stacked...

GREENSBORO, N.C. — Some Greensboro City Council members are having their trust of the International Civil Rights Center and Museum tested again after learning no one representing the museum ever signed loan papers. The loan from the city was for $1.5 million and wouldn’t have had to be paid back if certain conditions were met. The city paid the museum the first half of it — $750,000 — in October, but today the council learned the loan papers were never signed. Some council members are wondering if the city should ask for the money back.

This week, the Kansas House of Representatives passed House Bill 2453, "An act concerning religious freedoms with respect to marriage." Despite its name, this bill isn't about religious freedom. It's about creating new special rights (yes, those dreaded special rights) for people with anti-gay views. The bill would protect the ability of any individual, government agency, or "religious entity" (which includes a business operated in accordance with owner's religious views) to refuse service based on sincere religious beliefs about sex or gender, and to refuse to recognize any marriage or similar arrangement for those reasons — even if such service...

NEW YORK — A Staten Island community group says a project to raise the Bayonne Bridge violates the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 by exposing minority residents of the island's north shore to toxins without providing any offsetting economic benefits.

Del. Bob Marshall, R-Manassas, has introduced a bill that would give farmers and landowners’ property rights remedies against local zoning laws. The bill is inspired by the Martha Boneta debacle last year. But unlike last year’s “Boneta Bill,” HB1219 extends beyond farmers to anyone who owns property. The bill also tackles other issues such as the constitutional rights of farmers. HB1219 says that local governments that violate constitutional rights through zoning must pay their victims the amount of the fines they sought to impose and the actual damages, including attorney fees. The bill also allows the Virginia Attorney General to...

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service should take steps to restore public trust in its work, including adopting a taxpayer bill of rights that clearly states individuals' rights to fair treatment from the tax agency, an IRS watchdog said on Thursday. With its reputation for political neutrality hurt by a 2013 uproar over its treatment of conservative political groups, the IRS needs to reassure Americans of their tax rights, said the Taxpayer Advocate Service, an oversight arm of the agency.

While some “journalists” would have you believe the biggest stories of 2013 were about twerking celebrities and over-hyped real-life courtroom sagas, much bigger events were happening with far more lasting national significance. The foundation of an American police state is already laid and making its existence known, while most of the country remains blissfully focused on sports, reality shows, establishment pseudo-news, and other distractions. It would require an encyclopedia to cover all of the injustices, scandals, and brutality that took place in 2013. This list is designed to illustrate certain trends and significant stories from the past year. If Americans...

A forum on an everyday, non-political topic I visit nevertheless has a folder dedicated to politics as a repository for any discussions that start out or veer into political territory. It also gives the mods a method of policing the forums without deleting posts outright. Since I have the lovely FR and its denizens I rarely view the folder but in a moment of ennui I clicked through to it yesterday where a discussion of the minimum wage was, er, waged. It will not shock you to learn that there are all manner of armchair saints out there who believe...

Government needs a basis to exercise authority over people. Citizens must accept government authority. A government lacking acceptance of the people over whom it exercises authority will not endure.

Do our rights come from the government, or do they come from God or from natural law? The founders of the American Republic thought our rights came from God or from natural law. As such, our inalienable rights are the rights of all mankind and are universal, changeless, and applicable to all people, at all times and in all places. In terms of natural law, if man has a nature, then human rights must be in accord with that nature and must be necessary to the flourishing of that nature. If our rights are thus innate and fixed for all...

Up here in the not so frigid north we actually have a real conservative network (The Sun News Network). They have the best voice for conservatism In North America - Ezra Levant Here is a short segment from last night. What-is-a-human-right?

I’m grateful that Kathryn Lopez of National Review keeps highlighting the principled plaintiffs challenging the HHS abortion-pill mandate before the Supreme Court. As the argument approaches, mainstream journalists will speak of the case in terms of “competing rights” or “competing liberties.” On one side are the business owners asserting a religious-liberty right not to purchase an objectionable product, while on the other side are the employees seeking to exercise their right to . . . what, exactly? Simply put, there are no true “competing rights” in this case. There is the right to religious freedom against a naked exercise of...

The science of mine and thine—the science of justice—is the science of all human rights: of all a man's rights of person and property; of all his rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is the science which alone can tell any man what he can, and cannot, do; what he can, and cannot, have; what he can, and cannot, say, without infringing the rights of any other person. It is the science of peace; and the only science of peace: since it is the science which alone can tell us on what conditions mankind can live...

I believe there is a principle of law under which a person may unwittingly waive constitutional rights. An example of this is when invoking the 5th Amendment right against self incrimination. One may waive this right by answering any questions rather than repeatedly invoking the right when asked questions. Does this apply to the Obamacare website, and once a person signs up, they actually place themselves under the federal government’s jurisdiction with regard to Obamacare by signing up and in the process waive constitutionally protected rights? It seems to me that there is no provision in our federal Constitution granting...

WASHINGTON – Reports of the Russian government abusing its gay citizens are based upon false propaganda by gay rights groups in the United States, Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, claimed at a Nov. 15 symposium hosted by The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. "Please understand what's really going on in Russia and cast aside all of the propaganda that you hear in the United States and elsewhere. It's just not true," Ruse urged. He was the main speaker at the symposium, "Family Policy Lessons From Other Lands: What Should America Learn?" and...

This evening as I departed Downtown Chicago to catch my train home to the far, far, far Southwest Suburbs I came across a group of folks holding signs that read "1789 Not 1984!" as I approached Union Station. Knowing what it meant, I yelled out "LOVE YOUR SIGN!!" A few of the folks holding those signs approached me to chat and asked "you know what it means?" I said "hell yes, fourth amendment!" That was met with a few smiles and exchanges of cards. I had no idea this group even existed until today but have to say, I'm thrilled...