Free Republic

Many Sudanese now fear "all-out civil war", according to the Forces for Freedom and Change (FLC), the civilian bloc ousted from power in the 2021 putsch led by the two generals, then allies and now at war. Calls to arm civilians are multiplying. In Darfur, already ravaged by a deadly war in the 2000s, local militias, tribal fighters and armed civilians have joined the fighting. Governor Minni Minnawi, a former rebel leader now close to the army, called on the population on Sunday to take up arms "to protect their property". "We need to arm ourselves, because everyone is in...

The pro-abortion campaign to persuade voters to reject a state constitutional amendment is, as Daily Wire reports, headed by some pretty fringe figures. On the ballot in November, Amendment 2 would clarify that there is no right to an abortion in the Kentucky Constitution. The state already protects unborn babies by banning abortions, but the amendment would prevent future court rulings from striking down its pro-life laws. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, out-of-state abortion groups have donated millions of dollars to Project Kentucky Access, the campaign opposing the amendment. Campaign finance reports published Wednesday show the pro-abortion group has...

Having returned the issue of abortion “to the people and their elected representatives” in June with a watershed opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court paved the way for a flurry of state-level activity regulating abortion. Since the high court issued its Dobbs opinion, 13 states have fully outlawed abortion, and multiple legal challenges are pending against other states that seek to outlaw or restrict abortion to some degree. Overall, post-Dobbs restrictions on the procedure have led to an estimated 6% decrease in the number of abortions across the nation. That number represents more than 10,000...

Now is the worst possible time for a 75% increase in Florida’s minimum wage. Florida’s unemployment rate was 11.3% in July, the latest monthly statistics provided by the Department of Economic Opportunity. According to a Florida State University survey released in June, one-in-six state businesses have closed for good due to COVID-19. The state’s restaurant, retail and tourism industries, which employ an overwhelming number of entry-level workers and operate on razor-thin profit margins, have been hit particularly hard by COVID-19 as people stay home and have less disposable income. Everyone wants to help 'entry-level' employees, but there are better alternatives...

Floridians will vote next year on whether to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026, an amendment initiative led by Orlando attorney John Morgan that’s already drawing opposition from Republican leaders and the business community. The initiative that will be called Amendment 2 made the November ballot after its wording was approved by the Florida Supreme Court in a decision released Thursday. Court review was the last obstacle to getting the measure on the ballot after Morgan’s Florida For A Fair Wage collected more than 770,000 of the required 766,200 signatures. The amendment would raise the...

Gun ads have changed with the times. Political correctness is certainly not the name of the game in these classic pieces of gun marketing. It was just plain old fashion advertising back in the day. Hammer the hammer? Lawyers wouldn’t come within a football field of this one. Of course, hammering on a vintage revolver probably is a bad idea anyway…Oh no, that guy is teaching his son how to hunt, you say? Where are their iphones, video games and couch? Well, buddy, this is how a father is supposed to raise his son to be a man, not a...

Manassas, VA --(Ammoland.com)- It can be argued that the only personal property specifically protected by the US Constitution is firearms. While the Fourth Amendment promises “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects” and requires a sworn warrant “describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized,” it does specifically allow for such seizure if the “i’s” are properly dotted and the “t’s” correctly crossed. Similarly the Fifth Amendment guarantees against a person being “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private...

In 2003, Washington blessed a grateful citizenry with the Medicare prescription drug benefit, it being generally agreed by all the experts that it was unfair to force seniors to choose between their monthly trip to Rite-Aid and Tony Danza in dinner theatre. However, in order to discourage American businesses from immediately dumping all their drug plans for retirees, Congress gave them a modest tax break equivalent to 28% of the cost of the plan. Fast forward to the dawn of the ObamaCare utopia. In one of a bazillion little clauses in a 2,000-page bill your legislators didn't bother reading (because,...

GLENWOOD SPRINGS — Colorado residents are exercising their Second Amendment rights in record numbers. Gun sales surged to a new high before President Barack Obama took office in January 2009. One year later, gun sales surpassed the record set in 2008, despite the recession's strong grip. According to data from the Instacheck Unit of CBI, the office that handles statewide background check requests for any firearm transaction, the office approved 196,980 total background checks in 2008. In 2009, CBI approved 202,613, about half of which were handgun sales

Michael Lindenberger of Time.com, in a April 20 article titled “Ten Years After Columbine, It’s Easier to Bear Arms,” found it “odd” that “whatever momentum the Columbine killings gave to gun control has long since petered out,” despite the “massacres perpetrated by deranged gunmen” in the following decade. He also quoted extensively from a young gun control advocate in the online article, without including any arguments from the opposing viewpoint. Lindenberger first gave his reflection on the anniversary: “Monday April 20 marks 10 years since Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold permanently etched the words Columbine High School into this nation’s...

Since the landmark 2008 ruling in DC v. Heller, the courts have recognized what we have always known, namely that the right to keep and bear arms is a specifically enumerated, individual right, on par with freedom of speech and religion. Given this judicial environment, if we allow the government to impose a prior restraint upon the 2nd Amendment, then the 1st is no longer inviolate.

Turning the Bible on its Head -- Newsweek Goes for Gay Marriage Posted: Monday, December 08, 2008 at 6:50 am ET Printer Version E-mail Permalink Bookmark and Share Newsweek magazine, one of the most influential news magazines in America, has decided to come out for same-sex marriage in a big way, and to do so by means of a biblical and theological argument. In its cover story for this week, "The Religious Case for Gay Marriage," Newsweek religion editor Lisa Miller offers a revisionist argument for the acceptance of same-sex marriage. It is fair to say that Newsweek has gone...

The cornerstone of modern propaganda, PR, and advertisement is this: repetition, not truth, formulates popular convictions. We continue to hear in the media the argument that redefining marriage has led to abolishing anti-miscegenation laws (which forbade marriage between whites and non-whites) in the United States, and that those who claim to protect marriage today have the same mindset as those who promoted laws against interracial marriages in nineteenth-century America. This sophist non-sense is part of the continuous battle against traditional marriage, and a new moral smokescreen to trick those unaware of the history and purposes of marriage as a sacred...

Marriage Moves Voters Extending constitutional protection to traditional marriage is hardly a narrow partisan affair. By William C. Duncan Beyond their practical effects, the very fact that 30 states have amended their constitutions to protect the definition of marriage in just over a decade is remarkable. This week, Arizona, California, and Florida joined the 27 states with existing marriage amendments. The most interesting campaign was in California where voter approval of Proposition 8 reversed a May decision of the California Supreme Court. That decision had purported to discover a previously unknown mandate to redefine marriage as the union of any...

Marriage Endures By the Editors On Tuesday, by a margin of 52 to 48 percent, voters in California amended their state constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman, as did voters in Florida (62 to 38 percent) and Arizona (56 to 44 percent). Those who argue social conservatism is behind the GOP’s current electoral malaise take note: In Arizona marriage outperformed John McCain by 2 percentage points, in Florida by 14 percentage points, and in California by 15 percentage points. The Arizona win, reversing a defeat for a marriage amendment in that state in...

Florida voters pass marriage amendment by: Jessica Gresko 11/05/08 MIAMI (AP) -- Florida voters inserted into the state constitution a ban on same-sex marriage, narrowly passing Amendment 2 in Tuesday's election. The amendment further cements an existing prohibition against gay marriage in state law. Supporters said defining marriage in the constitution as between a man and a woman will help prevent court rulings allowing same-sex

The opponents of Amendment 2 in Florida want to talk about anything and everything except what the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment is all about. They want to talk about hospital visitation, benefits, domestic violence, social security, tough economic times, health care, Michigan, domestic partnerships, more benefits, putting government into your private life, alleged campaign violations and any other number of contrived focus group tested themes. But they absolutely refuse to discuss the driving force behind why 27 states amended their state constitutions by overwhelming majorities – to protect the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one...

According to the Florida Supreme Court, Amendment 2 does just one thing. It defines marriage as between only one man and one woman into the Florida Constitution. When an amendment to the Florida Constitution is submitted, it goes through an approval process that finishes with the court deciding whether the proposed amendment deals with only one subject. When Amendment 2 was submitted for review by the court, the American Civil Liberties Union challenged the language. It argued the amendment dealt with more than one subject. When the case was heard, the ACLU attorneys asserted six times that Amendment 2 would...

Floridians, when you cast your ballot on the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment this year, look at Massachusetts, California – and now Connecticut. Contrary to claims of the liars attempting to scare Floridians into voting against the marriage amendment because of the false assertions that the measure is about everything other than marriage, the Connecticut Supreme Court’s 4-3 ruling today legalizing “gay marriage” is the latest reminder of why we need Amendment 2. This is not an academic, esoteric debate. The Florida Marriage Protection Amendment (also known as Amendment 2) is Floridians’ chance to settle the definition of marriage in our...

A ballot measure to ban gay marriage has already won the support of many religious leaders and Republican politicians. On Tuesday, it received another endorsement -- this time from a group of Democrats. In a press conference headlined by Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, the community leaders -- including pastors and civic activists -- said marriage should be defined as the union between a man and a woman. Amendment 2, if passed by voters on Election Day, would do just that by changing the Florida Constitution to say, ``No other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial...