Free Republic

I believe Mark Steyn’s new column is a triumph, and wrote him on Friday to say that. The ensuing critical take on it by my colleague, Jason Steorts, left me shaking my head. My diminished intelligence, compared to NR’s Big Brains, should lead me to remain quiet, but I won’t.One brother — or sister, or let’s say a sibling — of the gay issue, from the perspective of the Left, is environmentalism. Or, specifically, “global warming,” now in its 2.0 version as “climate change.” Its advocates pronounce their positions with utmost scientific certainty, and just as eagerly label their foes...

<p>I admire Mark Steyn’s gallantry in defending freedom of speech and thought, but his weekend column is less than illuminating. It seems to have been 200 percent felt and half thought. Sorting through and categorizing the jumble of quite different examples that provoked Mark’s dudgeon was nonetheless a useful exercise. Here are my undoubtedly boring conclusions. When it comes to the legal restriction of speech, or the legal coercion of dissenters, I’ll storm the barricade with Mark. It amazes me that any soi-disant free people tolerate that sort of thing. The use of speech to criticize other speech is something else, and the distinction between state coercion and cultural coercion is one that Mark typically doesn’t acknowledge, to the detriment of his arguments. That distinction can get pretty blurry in our present legal arrangements, but in principle the people have every right to make pariahs of whom they will, and to slug it out among themselves, so to speak, when they disagree. Still, Mark has a point, and we should ask ourselves what sort of culture we’d like to live in. The readiness to ostracize those who offend our sensibilities is stifling and unhealthy. Except in very extreme cases, we should criticize speech rather than condemn speakers. This is also prudent. Martyrs are popular; better to make an argument. On the other hand, I can’t agree with Mark that anything of value is lost when derogatory epithets go out of bounds in polite society. They tend to be bad even for humor, substituting stereotype and cliché for originality. People who used them in different times need not be regarded as monstrous, nor must the canon be censored; we could instead feel good about having awoken to a greater civility and make generous allowances for human fallibility. By way of criticizing speech, I’ll say that I found the derogatory language in this column, and especially the slur in its borrowed concluding joke, both puerile in its own right and disappointing coming from a writer of such talent.</p>

In Salt Lake City, in the shadow of the Mormon Church headquarters, dozens of same-sex couples married in the wake of Friday’s District Court ruling lifting the state’s ban on gay marriage. Included among the couples getting married was a Utah State Senator and his partner. State Senator and Democratic Party Chairman Jim Dabakis married his partner, Stephen Justeson, Friday afternoon.

The Lockheed Martin Corp. is cutting ties with the Boy Scouts of America because the group does not allow gay Scout leaders, officials told the MDJ on Wednesday. “While we applaud the mission of the Boy Scouts and the good things they do in our communities, their policies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and religious affiliation conflict with Lockheed Martin policies,” said Lockheed spokesman Gordon Johndroe. The reference to “religious affiliation” has to do with the Boy Scouts’ ban on atheist members.

In the first week of December, Californians signed up for private health insurance on the state's new online exchange at nearly three times the rate as the first week of last month, figures released Thursday showed. Almost 50,000 individuals signed up through Dec. 7 at a stunning rate of 7,100 per day, according to the exchange, called Covered California. Since the marketplace was launched on Oct. 1, at least 156,143 people have signed up. That means roughly a third of the people who enrolled nationally have done so through California's website. In addition, 179,000 Californians will probably be eligible for...

The new and improved Obamacare website struggled under heavy traffic loads on Monday, but still appeared to operate pretty much as the Obama administration has promised: Okay, but not perfect. After a weekend of final, intensive fixes, officials unveiled a somewhat repaired HealthCare.gov on Sunday and promised that it will work well enough to serve the Americans who want insurance exchange coverage by New Year’s.

(CNN) -- Revelers in the rainbow-washed crowd smiled and cheered this month as the little blond girl in the parade float pageant-waved to the B-52's "Love Shack." Next to the float, the girl's father, Billy Holder, handed out fliers to the Atlanta Pride Parade crowd. His wife, Melissa, carried a banner along with Jeremy Mullins, the couple's partner. "Polyamory: Having simultaneous close emotional relationships with two or more other individuals," read their purple-lettered banner, embellished with an infinity heart. ***** They've learned the need for discretion. They said a family member reported them to Georgia's Division of Family and Children...

<p>NASHVILLE, GA. -- The Supreme Court of Georgia has reversed the convictions and prison sentence given to a Nashville, GA police officer for soliciting sodomy from a 17-year-old boy and for violating his oath of office.</p> <p>James Edwin Watson’s convictions and sentences for solicitations of sodomy have been reversed because the prosecution failed to prove that the proposed sexual acts were to be performed in public, in exchange for money or anything of commercial value, by force, or by one legally incapable of consenting to such acts.</p>

“My Fair Wedding” reality-show host David Tutera announced last week that he and estranged partner Ryan Jurica would split their infant twins when in their custody agreement. The explanation is that each man is the biological father of only one of the twins. (They are “heteropaternal superfecundation,” or twins who share a mom but have different dads.) Jurica lives in Connecticut and Tutera lives in California. Jurica has said this is not the arrangement he hoped for, and he wants the twins to be in each other’s lives. Many experts, and people on social media, agree that this is a...

A man who sauntered naked past onlookers at a fire Downtown early Wednesday was taken to jail for his walk, telling officers he was going to sue because he had a right to do so. His preliminary breath test registered a .21 blood alcohol content. Joseph Liverseed, 21, of Madison, was cited for disorderly conduct, Madison police said in a news release.

Justices on the New Mexico Supreme Court have ruled that the First Amendment does not protect the beliefs of Christians, and owners of a photography company in that state must violate their faith in order to continue to do business. “The Huguenins today can no more turn away customers on the basis of sexual orientation – photographing a same-sex marriage ceremony – than they could refuse to photograph African-Americans or Muslims,” the opinion from the court said. **** Threatened the judges, “At its heart, this case teaches that at some point in our lives all of us must compromise, if...

Forget traditional sleepovers full of facials and chick flicks, sexual sleepovers are the latest fad – or so The Huffington Post Blog says. The Huffington Post’s Soraya Chemaly asked parents in her latest article, “How Do You Feel About Sex and Teenage Sleepovers?” She argued that parents should encourage them, unless they “just like porn and think it's a fine substitute.” Chemaly schemed, “Why would you create a situation where your children are forced to hide, sneak around, be dishonest, be uncomfortable, take unnecessary risks and make uninformed decisions about their physical and emotional health?” Drawing inspiration from the book...

A lot of evidence wasn’t presented to find him guilty,” said [Jury Foreman] Crabb, a 32-year-old rap artist. Had Hill been convicted of all 27 charges — including racketeering, theft by taking, making false statements and violating his oath of office — he could have been sentenced to 455 years in prison. **** Prosecutors presented evidence that Hill drove his county-issued cars on out-of-state vacations, taking with him female companions who also worked for him. He used his county issued credit card to buy gas while on the road, to buy electronics during his trip to south Florida the day...

Let me put it this way, my jaw hit the floor. Earlier this week I was able to screen a portion of this Friday’s Fox News documentary “The Great Food Stamp Binge,” hosted by Bret Baier. It airs Friday at 10 p.m. and Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. This investigation focuses on a federal program called SNAP, or "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program."

A Chattanooga newspaper editor has been fired for that “Take your jobs plan and shove it” headline that greeted President Barack Obama on his arrival to the city earlier this week.

Tuesday, we brought you a 2007 confidentiality agreement between then-rookie J.J. Redick and model ex-girlfriend Vanessa Lopez, a bizarre contract that stipulated Redick would have to fake his relationship with Lopez in exchange for her getting an abortion. Today we've obtained more emails and documents showing the behind-the-scenes negotiations—abortion contracts don't just happen, after all. *** The below Sept. 12, 2007, series of emails between Redick, his attorney Greg McNeill, and financial advisor Jeff Silverman, shows debate about the exact wording of the contract—McNeill proposed to offer Lopez two different versions, one with a relationship agreement and one without. The...

A 27-year veteran of the Utah Air National Guard said he was reprimanded after he wrote a letter objecting to a gay wedding in the West Point chapel and was later told to prepare for retirement because his personal beliefs about homosexuality were not compatible with the military’s policies. “The military is trying to make examples of people who have religious beliefs that homosexual conduct in the military is wrong,” said John Wells, an attorney representing TSgt. Layne Wilson. “The end game is to force conservative Christians out of the military.” Last December Wilson wrote a letter to a person...

U.S. troops deployed to Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan this week held the first Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, Transgender Pride event to be observed in a deployed environment. The Pentagon also held a LGBT Pride Month ceremony on Tuesday, one day before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriage as between a heterosexual couple.

Defending herself against accusations she sexually assaulted her stepson, Deborah Furst yesterday recalled a conversation with her estranged wife shortly after she filed for divorce. Furst told jurors that her wife made a veiled threat that if she didn’t back down, there would be “a train coming down the track that no one will be able to stop.” “My emotional response in my head was, what else could you possibly do?” Furst testified during the second day of her trial at Merrimack County Superior Court. “You’ve already taken my home and my children and my dignity and my belongings. What...

Key passage: I want to commend the voters of the 1st Congressional District of South Carolina who support Mark Sanford. They have the courage to toss aside lifelong convictions to embrace the sex pioneer of our time. They have rejected the religious teachings of their Bible-thumping preachers and tossed the false sanctity of marriage into the trashcan. Sanford’s fellow pioneers are teaching their children the invaluable lesson that traditional values are nothing more than a scam. These voters are telling the sanctimonious, self-righteous and hypocritical opponents of Mark Sanford, “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina.”