Free Republic

As coronavirus cases surge again nationwide the Supreme Court late Wednesday temporarily barred New York from enforcing certain attendance limits at houses of worship in areas designated as hard hit by the virus. The justices split 5-4 to bar the state from enforcing the restrictions against the groups for now, with new Justice Amy Coney Barrett in the majority. It was the conservative's first publicly discernible vote as a justice. The court’s three liberal justices and Chief Justice John Roberts dissented

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) warned on Sunday that certain areas of New York City are heading toward tighter coronavirus restrictions, including the most restrictive “red zone” which prohibits all gatherings deemed “non-essential.” The Democrat governor stated some areas, namely Staten Island, Long Island, and parts of Manhattan, are “in the warning track” and could soon face additional restrictions due to concerns over rising infection rates and hospital capacity.

New York's dictatorial governor, Andrew Cuomo, may have met his match. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is asking the Supreme Court of the United States to strike down Cuomo's Oct. 6 executive order shutting down "houses of worship " in areas of Brooklyn and Queens, while allowing "essential" businesses, like pet stores, groceries and big-box stores to stay open. Cuomo insists he's battling COVID-19. The Diocese says Cuomo's making a value judgment that going to Target is "essential" but taking communion isn't. Truth is, for devout communicants who are already suffering social isolation during the pandemic, finding the church...

Richard Stengel, new ‘team lead‘ for Joe Biden’s agency for global media, wrote an op-ed last year arguing for free speech restrictions. Stengel, a former MSNBC political analyst until he was named to Biden’s transition team, argued that the First Amendment needed redefining and that “hate speech” should be a crime. “All speech is not equal. And where truth cannot drive out lies, we must add new guardrails,” he wrote. “I’m all for protecting ‘thought that we hate,’ but not speech that incites hate.” ‘Speech that incites hate’ was defined in Stengel’s op-ed by two examples – Burning the Quran,...

ALBANY – As the police department released video of the officer's racist remarks, the police chief took steps Friday to fire the patrolman who was caught on tape calling Black people “the worst f__ing race.” Haupt replies, “My buddies listen to the scanner and they send me texts all the time, and they go, ‘Is the suspect ever a white male?’ and I go ‘No.’ I know it sounds terrible to say, but I don’t give a f__ what anybody says, I sincerely don’t. Because bro, they are the worst f__ing race and I don’t — you can’t deny, like,...

As Twitter increases it’s fact-checking and labeling of posts across its platform, some users have begun mocking the site via parody posts examples. The fake tweets are part of a growing backlash against Twitter censorship that impacts not only President Donald Trump, but the broader conservative movement. Breitbart News recently reported that Twitter stated this week that it put labels on 300,000 user posts from October 27 to November 11 for violating rules related to election misinformation. Twitter also implemented a retweet feature that required users to add their own comments before retweeting a post on the platform. Between election day and Friday...

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. The Biden campaign is using causes like women’s safety as a Trojan horse to usher in a new era of internet censorship. Former Vice President Joe Biden has said that he “plans to convene a task force to create best practices for containing online harassment, which disproportionately affects women and young people,” CNBC summarized in a Nov. 10 report. Biden’s campaign website declared that if he gains the presidency, his administration “will shine a light on the online harassment, stalking, and abuse that now is a too-frequent reality for Americans, particularly...

Social media website Twitter labeled posts and retweets by President Donald Trump eight times in just the last 24 hours. Over the past 24 hours, eight tweets posted or retweeted by President Trump have received a Twitter fact-check label. Most of the labels related to the President’s claims of election interference or allegations of election fraud. Some of the labeled tweets from President Trump can be seen below:

Former Google CEO and Clinton lackey Eric Schmidt is being considered to lead a key tech task force in a Biden administration, according to a report in the Financial Times. Even though the election result is still disputed by President Donald Trump and the Republicans, Joe Biden is already forming his transition team, which includes many former Silicon Valley employees, including Schmidt. According to the Financial Times (paywalled), presidential contender Biden has: hired both Jessica Hertz, former associate general counsel at Facebook, and Cynthia Hogan, former Apple vice-president for government affairs to his transition team. Eric Schmidt, the former Google...

Moscow, November 5, Interfax - A ban on insulting the feelings of the faithful should be enshrined in international law, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. At his meeting with representatives from religious organizations on the National Unity Day on Wednesday, one attendee, Ismail Berdiyev, head of the North Caucasus Muslims' Coordinating Center, suggested that the president present to the UN Security Council an idea that all countries introduce a law making it unacceptable to offend religious feelings. "It is a good proposal. I don't understand, who could be against a ban on insulting the feelings of the faithful in any...

Santa Clara County is suing a San Jose-based church in an attempt to bring the church into compliance with the county's COVID-19 health orders. The county District Attorney's Office and County Counsel filed a joint action in Superior Court this week targeting Calvary Chapel San Jose, an evangelical Christian church. County attorneys allege the church has been hosting weekly indoor church services that draw 600 people without any use of masks or social distancing. Under Santa Clara County's current health order, attendance at indoor religious gatherings is capped at 100 people, and places of worship must implement mask and social...

The streaming service Spotify removed an episode of podcaster Joe Rogan’s show on Wednesday after outcry over his Tuesday interview with Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Social media users began noticing the removal just after 10:00 p.m. Eastern on Wednesday. The episode — #1,555 — was conspicuously absent from Spotify’s list. The preceding episode, #1,554 with rapper Kanye West, and the following episode, #1,556 with Intercept co-founder and journalist Glenn Greenwald, were still active.

On July 1, the state of Virginia enacted the “Virginia Values Act,” which bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. A companion law requires employers to include coverage for sex reassignment and “gender affirming” surgeries in their health plans. According to the Alliance Defending Freedom, who has filed a pre-enforcement challenge, the Virginia Values Act requires “churches, religious schools, and Christian ministries to hire employees who do not share their stated beliefs on marriage, sexuality, and gender identity.”Though the Act provides an exemption for religious schools “owned, supported, controlled, or managed” by denominations or churches, that...

A Supreme Court justice has urged his colleagues to tackle the issue of immunity for social media platforms. On Tuesday, Justice Clarence Thomas asked the court to consider scaling back Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The section in question has served as a shield for social media companies, protecting them from content users upload to their platforms. When it comes to content posted on their sites, these companies have argued they are more like distributors of information than publishers. In most cases, the legislation grants immunity from legal prosecution, should a user post content that is deemed illegal...

BIDEN THREATENS RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, SUGGESTS CHRISTIANS WITH CERTAIN TRADITIONS ARE ‘DREGS OF SOCIETY.’ Liberals often mock conservative Christians for supporting a notorious sinner and philanderer in Donald Trump, but the left has grown increasingly hostile to biblical small-o orthodox Christianity. Even the ostensibly moderate Democratic nominee Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. represents an insidious threat to the religious freedom of conservative Christians. He also represents a threat to Roman Catholics, even though he is himself a practicing Catholic. “This is our soul, da*mit, this is who we have to be… This is our real moral obligation,” the Democrat [Joe Biden] added....

Haredim, as ultra-Orthodox Jews are called, translates to “those who tremble.” But as New York’s leaders are learning, the Haredim tremble before God—not politicians. This week they are protesting in the street and courts against new harsh lockdown restrictions on ZIP codes in Brooklyn, Queens, Binghamton, and Rockland and Orange Counties, including several Haredi neighborhoods. Imposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday, the rules also shut down schools, restaurants, bars and gyms. But the Governor singled out religious institutions in “hot zones” for special limits. No more than 10 people allowed. A quorum of 10 men is the bare minimum...

Editor's Note: The following is an excerpt from The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense. Many people in the West have a poor understanding of the concept of free speech. Whenever I mute or block someone on social media, a cacophony of fools will accuse me of being a free speech hypocrite for“silencing their voice.” They do not understand that I have the right to walk away from their online taunts, insults, and idiocy. To do so is not “restricting” their speech but expressing my right to avoid listening to them. This is an obvious point, and yet...

Rae’Lee Klein demands to be rehired at Blaze Radio or get monetary damages for violating her First Amendment rights. An Arizona State University journalism student is suing after she was fired from the school’s radio station for tweeting about Jacob Blake’s past accusations of sexual assault. Attorney Jack D. Wilenchik has sent a letter to the public university instructing them to either rehire Rae’Lee Klein, a Cheyenne, Wyoming native, at Blaze Radio or provide monetary damages for violating her First Amendment rights. “Always more to the story, folks,” said Klein in an August tweet with a New York Post article...

Rioting in New York, threats of court-packing, promises of arson at the thought of Trump replacing its demi-god with a justice who actually believes in the Constitution. The left is rabid. Even character assassination (a la the Bret Kavanaugh inquisition) is no longer enough. When will the hostage-taking start? The President has Article II power to nominate “judges of the Supreme Court.” Donald Trump’s power doesn’t extend to the next election, but to the next inauguration -- still four months away. The composition of the United States Supreme Court was a major issue in the 2016 election. Voters balked at...

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday engaged in a debate over a bill that assures residents of the right to practice their religion during disaster declarations. The bill, which passed by a 149-53 vote, now goes to the Senate for consideration. Rep. Clint Owlett, R-Tioga County, said the idea behind the bill was sparked by Gov. Tom Wolf discouraging people from attending houses of worship in April. After Owlett introduced his bill, he said Wolf and the state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine clarified in July the restriction on gatherings of 25 people or less to control the spread...