Free Republic

Marijuana use could soon be seen in bars, restaurants, or any public place if a proposed ballot measure makes it on the ballot and is passed by voters. “It says any private business can decide if it wants to permit adults to use marijuana,” said marijuana proponent Mason Tvert. Tvert, well-known as the driving force behind Amendment 64 which legalized recreational marijuana in Colorado, is considering a new ballot measure that would vastly expand where people can use pot in Denver. “The community in Denver has been very clear that they don’t think adults should be treated like second-class citizens...

Vermont has a new Safe Haven law, which means that parents can hand over an infant to an employee at any fire station, health facility or hospital, with absolutely no questions asked. However, apparently Planned Parenthood is considered a safe place for infants in Vermont. In an advertisement from Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, the abortion business announced, “Vermont has a new safe haven law. This means that rather than abandoning your newborn, you can bring your baby to a safe place where he or she will be carried for. All Planned Parenthood health centers in Vermont are safe...

"University 'Academics' Say Pedophilia Is “Natural For Males” and Normal For Men To Be “Aroused By Children”. On what planet is this even remotely moral, let alone true? And on what planet do these sick, ethically bankrupt scholars hail from? If you view a child in any sexual connotation whatsoever, you are not a man but rather a soulless scourge of creation; a predator devoid of all emotion and humanity who deserves to be castrated. What parent would ever accept their little boy or girl being violated in the name of “nature”, or more succinctly, progressive thought? Honestly, who in...

This past Sunday, the lives of the Rev. Kaci Clark-Porter and the Rev. Holly Clark-Porter intertwined in perhaps an even more extraordinarily spiritual way, as the couple walked down the aisle at Wilmington, Delaware’s First and Central Presbyterian Church to become ordained Christian ministers. The ordination came just days after the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) announced a change in its constitution that embraced a more inclusive definition of marriage, defining it as being between "two people" instead of between a man and a woman. With this change, PC(USA) becomes the largest Protestant group to offer a nationwide welcome for LGBTQ...

After litigating religious liberty issues for more than 20 years, I’m used to utter hysteria erupting on the Left when Christians try to assert conventional and traditional religious liberty rights. Perhaps my favorite example was the claim — by a Tufts University student panel — that a Christian group had to be thrown off campus without due process, in part because the Christian group’s insistence on selecting only Christians as leaders placed Tufts students at greater risk of suicide. Yes, suicide. But for national freakouts, it’s tough to beat either the sky-is-falling rhetoric around the idea that a few Hobby...

The highest ranking woman in the Anglican communion has said climate denial is a “blind” and immoral position which rejects God’s gift of knowledge. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the Episcopal church and one of the most powerful women in Christianity, said that climate change was a moral imperative akin to that of the civil rights movement. She said it was already a threat to the livelihoods and survival of people in the developing world.

Personhood-winked: “Animal rights” are anti-human by Daniel Clark When is a person not a human? Why, when it’s a “non-human person,” of course. If that’s the unfunniest riddle you’ve ever heard, there’s good reason, because its answer has potentially deadly consequences. In Argentina, an appellate court has bestowed legal personhood on an orangutan named Sandra. Meanwhile, here in the States, proposed “personhood laws” that would recognize every human being as a person are regarded as controversial. These two stories are undoubtedly related, as the terminology of the anti-human animal rights movement makes clear. The Argentine court declared Sandra to be...

"I support the right of people to believe what they do and say what they wish—in their pews, homes and hearts." So says an influential New York Times journalist. In other words, "Keep your religion in the closet." In his Jan. 10 Times editorial, "Your God and My Dignity: Religious Liberty, Bigotry, and Gays," Frank Bruni writes, "I've been called many unpleasant things in my life, and I've deserved no small number of them. But I chafe at this latest label: A threat to your religious liberty." He finds it "absurd" that the simple act of two men or two...

Hollywood relishes making anti-American movies, but, maybe even more, loves to lavish fulsome tributes on full-blown Communists, you know, those fellows who swooned at Joe Stalin’s feet, teamed up with Hitler as he bombed the hell out of London in World War II and worked overtime to inflict deadly harm on America. Tinseltown is at it again, celebrating Dalton Trumbo, a major Hollywood Ten figure and longtime Communist enthusiast, in a brand new picture directed by Jay Roach and featuring Bryan Cranston, the star of the hit television series, Breaking Bad. The publicity for Trumbo says that Dalton bravely took...

​The notion Blacks are a threat is embedded so deep in the American psyche that a jury found it was not criminal for George Zimmerman to stalk and kill Trayvon Martin, a child, in his own neighborhood. It was inevitable there would a push back against the dynamic movement against police violence. It is unfortunate opponents are using the murder of two cops in Brooklyn on December 20 to try to suppress peaceful protests. Nonetheless, the reaction is also a necessary obstacle this new social movement has to navigate. After Officer Darren Wilson killed unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in...

In single-sex classes, which are common for sex education, students must be allowed to go to the class of the gender they consider themselves to be rather than their actual gender, the U.S. Department of Education directed schools that receive federal funds in a Dec. 1 memo. The memo, from the department's Office for Civil Rights, provides guidance for K-12 schools for when they are allowed to have same-sex classes or extracurricular activities and remain in compliance with Title IX, a 1972 law to protect against gender discrimination in education programs that get federal aid. Schools may divide students by...

Proposed legislation that would make it easier to change the gender on New York City birth certificates passed an important hurdle Friday. The Council’s Health Committee unanimously approved the bill, paving the way for the full Council vote on Monday. The legislation would let anyone change the gender on their birth certificate provided they have documentation from a broad list of providers — including doctors, nurses, and therapists — that they identify with a different gender. Previously, the city required proof of surgery or procedures like hormone therapy to change a gender on a birth certificate. "These measures will transform...

"And it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark" (Rev. 13:16-17, ESV). A baker in Oregon is fined $150,000, told he needs "rehabilitation," and put out of business for declining to bake a cake for a lesbian wedding. A baker in Colorado is fined, ordered to bake a cake in violation of his own conscience, and sent to re-education camp for the same offense. A florist in Washington is pursued...

COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys filed a federal lawsuit and a motion for a temporary restraining order Friday to stop officials in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, from forcing two ordained Christian ministers to perform wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples. City officials told Donald Knapp that he and his wife Evelyn, both ordained ministers who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel, are required to perform such ceremonies or face months in jail and/or thousands of dollars in fines. The city claims its “non-discrimination” ordinance requires the Knapps to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies now that the courts have overridden Idaho’s voter-approved...

"Spanking Is Great for Sex" Once again, I’ve been accused of pedophilia. Well, to be technical, my sexual identity was called “somewhat pedophilic.” But we’re talking about one of the most loathsome things a person can be accused of, so why split hairs? I’m also regularly told that my sexuality is “repulsive,” “damaged,” and “abusive.” But all of those feel like Valentines compared with “pedophilic.” People say this to me so often because I’m kinky, and I’ve written about it. I have a spanking fetish...I’ve had submissive fantasies for as long as I can remember, and it’s part of my...

Yes, we will admit homophobia was once an accepted term, however with the abuse of this word being used to describe anyone who supports a traditional lifestyle it's meaning has changed, attitudes shift. Semantic change, also known as semantic shift or semantic progression describes the evolution of word usage — usually to the point that the modern meaning is radically different from the original usage. In diachronic (or historical) linguistics, semantic change is a change in one of the meanings of a word. Every word has a variety of senses and connotations, which can be added, removed, or altered over...

The Oregon Supreme Court this month passed a landmark ruling that will change the way animals are treated under the law in the state for the better. The ruling will ensure that any animal can be seen as a legal “victim” in a case, affording animals more basic rights to protect them from abuse. The ruling was made on the case of a man who was convicted of starving 20 horses and goats on his property. The judge’s decision allotted a separate count of second-degree animal neglect for each animal, noting that each animal was a separate victim on his...

Marijuana joined roses and dahlias Friday in blue ribbon events at the nation’s first county fair to allow pot competitions. This weekend’s Denver County Fair includes a 21-and-over “Pot Pavilion” where winning entries for plants, bongs, edible treats and clothes made from hemp are on display. Organizers say the marijuana categories this year — which come with the debut of legal recreational marijuana in Colorado — add a fun twist on Denver’s already-quirky county fair, which includes a drag queen pageant and a contest for dioramas made with Peeps candies. “We’ve been selling tickets to people from all over the...

The organizer of a yearly conference for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students pursuing MBAs is in a huff because entirely too many straight students are attending the event, which includes a recruitment fair. Matt Kidd, executive director of Reaching Out MBA, has also charged that a few attendees made comments that he says some gay people did not appreciate, reports Campus Reform. For example, in addition to having the temerity to show up while failing to be gay, one straight attendee allegedly said “Dude, I’m not gay.” Another allegedly said: “There needs to be less focus on gay stuff...

July 05--Anyone who wants a job next year at Anne Arundel Medical Center -- whether as a surgeon or security guard -- will have to prove they don't smoke or use tobacco. The Annapolis hospital's new hiring policy might be controversial, but it is legal in Maryland and more than half of the United States. And it's a type of job screening that is gaining favor with employers -- from hospitals to companies such as Alaska Airlines -- trying to control rising health costs and cultivate a healthier, more productive workforce. Anne Arundel Medical Center, like a growing number of...