Free Republic

State Sen. Melissa, R-Lake Elsinore, is taking aim at “cancel culture” with a bill that would make it illegal in California to deny someone a job or housing because of their political affiliation. The Diversity of Thought Act, which would prohibit discrimination such as firing someone or refusing them a mortgage based on their political affiliation, is one of two bills Melendez introduced that seek to elevate political affiliation to a protected class under the state constitution — just like race, religion, disability and other statuses. The other bill would require schools to investigate bullying based on political affiliation. Both...

Statues of Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and William McKinley, as well as the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, were among the 41 public statues and other commemorative markers identified on a list from Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration on Wednesday for further review as part of “a racial healing and historical reckoning project” started last summer. The city launched a website on Wednesday detailing the controversial monuments flagged by the mayor’s commission on monuments. Other statues on the list included a monument to President Ulysses S. Grant, a Benjamin Franklin statue, a police memorial tied to the Haymarket Riot and a...