Free Republic

I'm 75% of the way through writing my fantasy trilogy and I heard a piece of music on Youtube that to me screamed for lyrics. If I write my own lyrics based on it and have my characters listen to someone singing it, can I legally use it in my book or is it problematic from a copyright standpoint? Do I have to get permission from the music composer? Am I better off just dropping the idea?

The New Zealand government is working to reform its complex and draconian firearms law.In 2019, a far-left ideologue mass murdered dozens of Muslims in New Zealand. One of his goals was to promote draconian gun laws in New Zealand and in the United States. He succeeded in New Zealand. Many extreme restrictions on firearms and ownership were piled onto already restrictive laws.Far Left PM Jacinda Ardern was successful in pushing through the draconian law on a wave of media maximized emotion. As part of the pushback to these draconian exercises of power, the Hon. Nicole McKee was elected as a...

A homeowner in the Italian province of Rovigo used a firearm to defend himself from armed intruders in 2025. The precise date has not been published. The Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni defended the reform of Italian defense law, which has protected the homeowner from having his name made public. The law protected the homeowner from an intense investigation as someone suspected of using lethal force in an illegitimate manner.During the Fascist regime of Mussolini, the Italian laws about self defense were made very restrictive. Controls on the ownership of firearms were tightened. Italy reformed its law on self defense...

Legal conservatives find themselves in an unusual position: originalism has reached unprecedented acceptance within the judiciary and the bar. A majority of Supreme Court justices—including at least one appointed by a Democratic president—identify as originalists, or at least strive toward originalism. Guided by the original understanding of those who ratified the Constitution and the Reconstruction Amendments, the High Court has overruled Roe v. Wade, ended the use of race in higher education, and recognized the individual right to own firearms. But some find these successes disorienting. Originalism’s victories have triggered an important debate among conservatives. Some wonder if originalism is...

BREAKING: TWICE convicted r*pist Abdimahat Bille Mohamed, who served NO JAIL TIME for either r*pe including on a minor victim, was just arrested for kidnapping a woman, holding her hostage for days, and r*ping her. Wtf is going on in Minnesota?! WE DON’T HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS

Licenses Delayed, Rights Denied is a scholarly article that informs readers of the means six outlier states use to deny ordinary citizens their rights to keep and bear arms. The article is another excellent example of scholarship by Mark Smith, member of the Supreme Court Bar, distinguished Second Amendment scholar, and host of the Four Boxes Diner on YouTube. He is also a contributor at AmmoLand.com. The article has been published in the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy: Per Curiam, Fall of 2025, No. 23. The six states that are actively working to undermine the Bruen methodology are...

The word “antinomianism” simply means “against the law.” “Anti” means against, and “nomos” means law. An antinomian is anyone who denies that God’s law is the standard or rule of conduct in the life of the believer. ........ And so they come to believe that Christ died so that they don’t need to worry about keeping God’s law, and they can safely stay in their sins against God’s law. To antinomians, the cross means that they can live their lives without measuring themselves against God’s law anymore. To an antinomian, God’s law is harsh, terrifying, and almost cruel. But if...

“For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew 5:18) It has been said that he who understands the two covenants is a theologian, and this is, no doubt, true. I may also say that the man who knows the relative positions of the Law and the Gospel has the keys of the situation in the matter of doctrine. The relationship of the Law to myself, and how it condemns me; the relationship of the Gospel to myself, and how...

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s lax residency directive is ‘unconstitutional and unlawful,’ the RNC lawsuit alleges. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson is violating the state’s constitution and breaking the law through a directive allowing individuals who have never resided in Michigan to vote in the Great Lakes State’s elections, a lawsuit filed Friday by the Michigan GOP and the Republican National Committee alleges. The complaint, exclusively obtained by The Federalist, takes issue with the secretary of state’s guidance on overseas voters who generally fall under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. The lawsuit asks the court to...

The law of God in the sanctuary in heaven is the great original, of which the precepts inscribed upon the tables of stone and recorded by Moses in the Pentateuch were an unerring transcript. Those who arrived at an understanding of this important point were thus led to see the sacred, unchanging character of the divine law. They saw, as never before, the force of the Saviour’s words: “Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law.” Matthew 5:18. The law of God, being a revelation of His will, a transcript...

O’Donnell seems to spend much of her days in a constant rave about Trump, Republicans, and the demise of the United States from her new home in Ireland. That is fine and an exercise of free speech. However, it may have crossed the line into defamation in her latest posting. O’Donnell stated:“Did you think it a million years that they would reelect a man who orchestrated an insurrection against the government? They would reelect that guy with all the charges of sex abuse? — the adjudicated rapist…And then I just saw this thing today about all the cases he’s settled...

John Adams, in his retirement, was disheartened. What had his life in politics counted for? he wondered. The renewal in 1805 of a 30-year friendship with Doctor Benjamin Rush reinvigorated him. ... In one conversation about the “perfectibility of man” and religion’s role in making “men and nations happy,” both Rush and Adams lamented the moral decay they witnessed in the world around them. “By renouncing the Bible,” Rush interjected, “philosophers swing from their moorings upon all moral Subjects. . . . It is the only correct map of the human heart that ever has been published. It contains a...

On August 22, 2025, a three-judge panel of the Gibson County Chancery Court in Tennessee struck down two Tennessee statutes as unconstitutional under both the Second Amendment and the Tennessee state Constitution. The two statutes were Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307 and Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1311. Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1307A person commits an offense who carries, with the intent to go armed, a firearm or a club.Tenn. Code Ann. § 39-17-1311It is an offense for any person to possess or carry, whether openly or concealed, with the intent to go armed, any weapon prohibited by § 39-17-1302(a), not...

In 1975, when grizzly bears in the lower 48 states were regulated as “threatened” by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service of the Department of the Interior, the standard required to use deadly force against them, in defense of self and others, was unclear. In 2017 and 2021, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit created a binding precedent that clarified the standard to be used when a person claimed defense of self and/or others against grizzly bears in the lower 48 states.The standard is different and lower than the standard to be used for self-defense against humans.From the...

The question of whether a public official in the United States can undermine the U.S. Constitution without violating their oath of office is complex, as it hinges on the nature of the oath, the definition of “undermine,” and the legal and practical mechanisms for assessing violations. Drawing on your prior questions about the oath of office (specifically in Indiana), socialism, communism, abortion, and ballot access, this response analyzes the issue through constitutional principles, legal standards, judicial precedents, and practical considerations. The answer will clarify whether actions that undermine the Constitution inherently breach the oath and under what circumstances they might...

Gov. JB Pritzker has officially signed the Illinois "Squatter Bill" into law on Monday. The law will make it easier for police to remove squatters from someone's home, bypassing a possibly months-long eviction process Previously, squatters were allowed to stay at the property during the court process to get them out. The law differentiates squatters from tenants, making it easier for property owners to regain control of their home. "This outdated eviction law has treated squatters the same as tenants, leaving property owners in limbo and tying the hands of law enforcement," Pritzker said.

When violent riots erupted across Los Angeles in defiance of President Trump’s efforts to enforce federal immigration law, the uprising was not as spontaneous as open-borders politicians would have you believe. Far-left non-governmental organizations, including the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), helped provide transportation and services to those going to the protests in support of illegal immigration, many of which quickly devolved into brutal attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement. As it turns out, CHIRLA received nearly $34 million in California state grants from June 2022 to June 2023. From October 2021 to September 2024, under the Biden-Harris administration,...

But with the Trump Administration now waging aggressive lawfare, the subject of revenge is back on the table, and this time we have a target rich environment. Forget Comey with his pathetic 86-47 seashell picture. That’s litter bugging compared to the mass quantities of treason, terror, and human rights violations that Team D has been committing over the past decade. *They did Watergate level phone tapping of Trump Tower before The Donald could take office. *They made a mockery of the impeachment process multiple times. *They used COVID-19 as an excuse to engage in massive ballot stuffing in 2020. *They...

The mother of 11-year-old Jayden Perkins, who was fatally stabbed while trying to protect her from a violent attack by her just-paroled ex-boyfriend, is calling out Illinois politicians for using her son’s name for political gain while fighting her civil lawsuit against the state behind closed doors. Laterria Smith, who was also seriously injured in the March 2024 attack, released an open letter to Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday. In it, she accuses his administration of publicly invoking Jayden’s name to promote changes to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, even as state lawyers move to dismiss her negligence suit tied...

US District Judge Brian Murphy on Monday evening defied the US Supreme Court and said his order barring deportation of illegal aliens to South Sudan remains in effect. In a 6-3 decision, the US Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump Administration to resume deporting illegal aliens to ‘third-party’ countries. The Supreme Court granted the Trump Administration’s emergency application and paused Judge Brian Murphy’s order blocking the third-country removals.