Free Republic

A storm of outrage about the Paris Olympics’ opening ceremony took a legal turn Tuesday, with a DJ who performed at the show saying her lawyer is filing complaints over a torrent of threats and other abuse that the LGBTQ+ icon has suffered online in the ceremony’s wake. Barbara Butch’s lawyer said in a letter posted to the DJ’s Instagram that Butch “has been threatened with death, torture and rape, and has also been the target of numerous anti-Semitic, homophobic, sexist and grossophobic insults.” Butch’s agent confirmed to The Associated Press that the Instagram account is the DJ’s.

U.S. Women’s National Team player and outspoken liberal activist Megan Rapinoe is blasting men for their “silence” on the abortion issue and pleading with them to “stand up.” “How sad a day this is for me personally, for my teammates, for just all of the people out there who this is going to affect,” Rapinoe said at the outset of her Zoom call with reporters. “Pro-choice means that you get to choose,” she said. “Pro-choice allows other people to be pro-life if that is what works for them, or that is what their beliefs are, or if that is where...

In Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, Jager told Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer David J. Garrow that she had been seriously involved with the future president in the mid- to late ’80s and early ’90s. Not only did they move in together, but he proposed marriage — twice. However, Obama’s political ambitions reportedly did them in; a mutual friend of the couple recounted that Obama explained that “the lines are very clearly drawn: If I am going out with a white woman, I have no standing here.” (For the record, Jager is of Dutch and Japanese ancestry.) Garrow wrote that...

When a kid goes off to college, you expect him or her to be learning how to handle the reality of adulthood. That's literally the point of college. But here we have the exploits of feminist activist Yvonne Nguyen, who has shaved her head to make ... a STATEMENT. She didn't shave it to support a friend who is fighting cancer, though -- that's always a great move. Nor did she do it because she just likes the way it looks. While it's not my thing, I'm not the one who has to wear it, so more power to her....

The Hillary Clinton campaign is out with an ad highlighting her record as an advocate for LGBT rights. The spot includes images of gay couples kissing each other. The liberal website Slate praises Clinton for including same-sex kissing in her campaign ad, saying, "Given the distressingly puritanical rules that govern gay PDAs, it's both impressive and heartening that Clinton includes gay kisses in her official campaign spots." "The ad forces viewers to confront images that might make them feel slightly uneasy, then encourages them to view such affection as a normal, healthy manifestation of adult intimacy."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ug3Zl9N_tPU And you thought Dukakis in the tank was bad...It's nothing like campaign handlers trying to make their candidate personable and approachable.

William Wingate had been standing on a busy Seattle street corner in July, leaning on a golf club he uses as a cane, when a police cruiser pulled up and the officer inside yelled at Wingate to “put that down.” The resulting exchange — in which the officer claims that Wingate swung the club at her after she asked him to “shut it down” before she arrested him – was captured on the cruiser’s dashboard camera, the footage of which Seattle Police released this week as it apologized for the 2014 incident. The response to that video prompted Seattle Police...

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - A federal magistrate judge has ruled that Idaho's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional. U.S. District Magistrate Judge Candy Dale wrote in the ruling Tuesday evening that Idaho's laws banning same-sex marriage unconstitutionally deny gay and lesbian citizens of their fundamental right to marry.

> Fred The Egg Man & His Smart Old Rooster Butch > > Fred was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young 'pullets,' and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs. >> He kept records, and any rooster not performing went into the soup pot and was replaced. >> >> This took a lot of time, so he bought some tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. >> >> Each bell had a different tone, so he could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. >> >> Now, he could sit on the porch and fill...

The Marine Corps will open new combat jobs to women, allow women to volunteer for combat specialty training previously closed to them and create a co-ed experimental task force to evaluate how female Marines perform as part of a ground combat unit, Marine officials said. The task force will be made up of about 460 Marines, and about one quarter will be women, said Capt. Maureen Krebs, a Marine spokeswoman. The task force will look like a small battalion landing team with attachments such as artillery, tanks and amphibious assault vehicles — similar to the ground combat portion of a...

Sally Kohn, a former senior strategist at the Soros-funded Center for Community Change, has been hired as a Fox News Contributor. Soros is the controversial hedge fund billionaire, convicted of insider trading in France, who finances the “progressive” movement in the U.S. An open lesbian who shuns feminine attire and frequently wears a suit jacket, Kohn is joining Fox News after being a regular on such programs as “The Ed Show” on liberal rival MSNBC. The former chair of the board of the Center for Community Change, Cecilia Munoz, was recently named the Director of the Domestic Policy Council in...

The Department of Homeland Security has announced it will be bringing it’s "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign to hotel rooms across the nation. Guests checking in at reputable hotels like the Marriott and Hilton will be greeted by a message featuring Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano immediately upon turning on their televisions. According to the Department of Homeland Security, the "If You See Something, Say Something™" campaign was launched in July 2010, as a “simple and effective program to raise public awareness of indicators of terrorism and violent crime, and to emphasize the importance of reporting suspicious activity...

President Barack Obama has nominated a Minnesota policewoman to become the first openly gay person to serve as a U.S. marshal. Sharon Lubinski is an assistant chief in the Minneapolis Police Department, where she has worked for 20 years. Obama has had a rocky relationship with gay activists, who want him to end the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays. He publicly pledged last weekend to do so.

Forty-five percent (45%) of U.S. voters now have an unfavorable opinion of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano following her department’s release of a controversial report on right-wing extremist groups last week. Twenty-three percent (23%) say their view of her is Very Unfavorable. Thirty percent (30%) have a favorable view of the former Arizona governor, with eight percent (8%) Very Favorable, in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. However, one-out-of-four voters (25%) do not know enough about Napolitano to have an opinion about her one way or the other. At the time President Obama nominated her for the Homeland Security...

WASHINGTON — The Army and Air Force discharged a disproportionate number of women in 2007 under the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits openly gay people from serving in the military, according to Pentagon statistics gathered by an advocacy group. While women make up 14 percent of Army personnel, 46 percent of those discharged under the policy last year were women. And while 20 percent of Air Force personnel are women, 49 percent of its discharges under the policy last year were women.

This is one match-up you wouldn't expect to see in the ring: Hulk Hogan vs. Rosie O'Donnell.

BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno encouraged lawyers to become more familiar with forensics to prevent innocent people from going to prison. Reno told members of the Manatee Bar Association on Wednesday that ``there's nothing more horrible (than) being told you're going away for life for a crime you didn't commit. Let's file charges based on solid evidence.'' Reno is on the board of directors for the Innocence Project, a nonprofit organization that has helped exonerate 197 prisoners through DNA testing. The former Miami-Dade County state attorney also discussed concerns for juvenile justice, child welfare and...

HAVRE DE GRACE, Md. — When they called her name, she could not move. Sgt. Leana Nishimura intended to walk up proudly, shake the dignitaries' hands and accept their honors for her service in Iraq — a special coin, a lapel pin, a glass-encased U.S. flag. But her son clung to her leg. He cried and held tight...T.J. was 9, her oldest child, and although eight months had passed since she had returned from the war zone, he was still upset by anything that reminded him of her deployment... The faraway move to live with his grandmother. The months that...

Governor moves to cut vehicle emissions Adopt Clean Car Program, order tells state agencies By Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.09.2006 advertisement PHOENIX — Gov. Janet Napolitano took the first step Friday toward what eventually could be a ban on the sale of cars and light trucks that produce large amounts of "greenhouse gases." In an executive order, Napolitano told state agencies to adopt and carry out a "Clean Car Program" to reduce carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming. While details are still to be worked out, Napolitano said the final...