Free Republic

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — With concealed weapons now legal in all 50 states, the National Rifle Association's focus at this week's annual meeting is less about enacting additional state protections than on making sure the permits already issued still apply when the gun owners travel across the country. "Right now it takes some legal research to find out where you are or are not legal depending on where you are," said Guy Relford, an attorney who has sued communities for violating an Indiana law that bars local gun regulation. "I don't think that's right."

Liberal heads begin to explode in 5..4…3…2…1During an interview this past Friday with CBN’s David Brody, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) stressed that gay marriage could put our 1st Amendment protections at risk.“If you look at other nations that have gone down the road towards gay marriage, that’s the next step of where it gets enforced.“It gets enforced against Christian pastors who decline to perform gay marriages, who speak out and preach biblical truths on marriage and that has been defined elsewhere as hate speech — as inconsistent with the enlightened view of government.“I think there is no doubt that...

The goal of First Amendment was to protect religious expression, not restrict it. In the last 50 years, though, “non-establishment” has been redefined as “separation,” effectively amending the Constitution and isolating Christians from the political process.“Will You Be a Casualty in Their Religious War?” read the headline of an advertisement that almost covered an entire page of the L.A. Times. Underneath were pictures of Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and Lou Sheldon, along with condemning quotes substantiating their apparent jihad against irreligious secularists.The text of the advertisement read: “The radical religious right has declared war on America. It is a...

Yesterday was a significant day in the IRS abuse scandal. The scandal evolved from being about pesky delays in IRS exemption applications to a government conniving with outside interests to put political opponents in prison. Emails obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act reveal Lois Lerner cooking up plans with Justice Department officials to talk about ways to criminally charge conservative groups that are insufficiently quiet. Larry Noble, a law professor now with the Soros-funded Campaign Legal Center , was cited in the emails as someone agitating to jail conservatives who “falsely” report on IRS forms that...

Federal Fire Power: Instead of putting a lien on the property of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, the Bureau of Land Management surrounded his ranch with 200 armed agents. It's not the only agency with a private army. Back in 2008, candidate Barack Obama slipped a little-noticed line in a speech, proposing a national police force reporting straight to him. "We cannot continue to rely only on our military," he said. "We've got to have a civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded." As our military is slowly decimated by his policies and budget...

OREGON CITY, Ore. – Students wearing anti-gay T-shirts to class disrupted Oregon City High School's celebration of unity Friday. Friday was National Day of Silence. It's where students take some form of silence to call attention to the bullying of the LGBT community in schools. Two students told KATU News that if the school is supporting Day of Silence, then they have the right to speak out against it. They wore T-shirts to school that said, "Gay Is Not Ok" and "Gay Day Is Not OK," which is a reference to Day of Silence. They sought out a KATU reporter...

The House Committee on Municipal, Parochial and Cultural Affairs voted 8 to 5 to pass the legislation, entitled House Bill 503. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Thomas Carmody (R-Shreveport), argues that the purpose of the bill is not to establish an official religion in the state, but rather to reflect America's history and founding principles as outlined by the country's Founding Fathers. "It's not to the exclusion of anyone else's sacred literature," he told the House committee, according to The Associated Press. Carmody added later: "This is not about establishing an official religion of the state of Louisiana." When one lawmaker...

<p>A Connecticut community college suspended a student veteran for his aggressive questioning of Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy during a public forum, prompting a First Amendment advocacy group to condemn the college for its flagrant disrespect for free speech and due process.</p>

Shouldn’t college students know as much about American civics as they do about pop culture? Media Research Center TV went to American University last month to find out, discovering few who could name a single U.S. senator or the number of senators from each state. But most knew the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go.” Equally surprising are polls showing only one-quarter of Americans can identify Joe Biden as the vice president or name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (religion, speech, press, assembly, petition). Just under a quarter of Americans could name all five...

Nevada Standoff: April 12th - A historic day when the people rose up and forced tyrants to retreat.by Gina Cassini | Top Right News The media's version of the end of the Bundy Ranch siege is that the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) simply "left" the ranch and "returned" the cattle out of the goodness of their hearts. CBS News even outrageously reported that the BLM "released the cattle to help restore order and avoid violence"! This despite widely-seen video of BLM thugs tasing Bundy's son and shoving a pregnant woman to the ground. And the protesters never threatened violence in any way...

Shouldn’t college students know as much American civics as they do pop culture? MRCTV went to American University to find out, discovering few students who could name a single U.S. senator or the number of senators from each state, though most knew the Oscar-winning song “Let It Go.” Equally surprising are polls showing that only one-quarter of Americans can identify the vice president or name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (religion, speech, press, assembly and petition), though over half knew at least two cartoon characters from “The Simpsons.” Before suggesting Americans’ ignorance is...

<p>‘as time goes on, weirdly, I’m growing less liberal. I’m more like, ‘No, religion is ruining the world, you need to stop!’.</p>

Heavyweight conservatives and banterweight conservatives are lining up on both sides the Comcast/Time Warner merger. The heavyweights, which include Grover Norquist at Americans for Tax Reform, Wayne Crews at the Competitive Enterprise Institute and Duane Parde at the National Taxpayers Union, have penned a letter to influential Senators including Mike Lee, Chuck Grassley and Ted Cruz, urging them to look past the politics and approve the merger between the two cable giants on traditional grounds—you know, the grounds under which the anti-trust laws were written and passed in the first place? “As advocates for a free market,” the heavyweights write,...

Democrats are hyperventilating over a U. S. Supreme Court ruling on April 2, McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi claims the ruling will turn politics into a "money war." Sorry, that happened a long time ago. For the past two decades, unions have poured massive amounts into super PACs and other legal vehicles for advertising and get-out-the-vote efforts, which favor Democrats. What's got Pelosi and other Democrats worried is competition. Last week's high court ruling could mean more money for Republican candidates, even tea party activists. The Supreme Court split 5-4 on the hot-button issue of...

Elaine Huguenin, co-owner of Elane Photography in Albuquerque, N.M. Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom. Washington D.C., Apr 8, 2014 / 04:13 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to weigh in on a case involving a small Christian-owned photography business that declined on religious grounds to shoot a same-sex commitment ceremony in 2006. The court announced its decision April 7. It did not give a reason for declining to hear the case. “Only unjust laws separate what people say from what they believe,” said Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence of Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing Elaine...

On Wednesday, I wrote about the Mozilla CEO in trouble for a five-year-old donation to Proposition Eight, the successful California ballot measure that banned gay marriage - if only until America's robed rulers declared the will of the people to be "unconstitutional". Brandon Eich is a tech genius: Aside from co-founding Mozilla and creating Firefox, he also invented JavaScript. Apparently, the disgusting homophobic hatey-hatey-hateful belief that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman is not incompatible with knowing your way around a computer...

The recent Supreme Court decision over-ruling some Federal Election Commission restrictions on political campaign contributions has provoked angry reactions on the left. That is what often happens whenever the High Court rules that the First Amendment means what it says — free speech for everybody. When the Supreme Court declared in 2010 that both unions and corporations had a right to buy political ads, that was considered outrageous by the left. President Obama called the decision "devastating" and said it "will open the floodgates for special interests." Those unfamiliar with political rhetoric may not know that "special interests" mean people...

Are you now or have you ever been against gay marriage? Shoot one Brendan Eich, teach 1,000: Mozilla prides itself on being held to a different standard and, this past week, we didn’t live up to it. We know why people are hurt and angry, and they are right: it’s because we haven’t stayed true to ourselves. We didn’t act like you’d expect Mozilla to act. We didn’t move fast enough to engage with people once the controversy started. We’re sorry. We must do better. Brendan Eich has chosen to step down from his role as CEO. He’s made this...

Until this morning, the federal government could limit the amount of money you contribute for political speech. Today in McCutcheon vs. FEC, the Supreme Court invalidated overall contribution limits. The federal government limited individual campaign contributions to $48,000 overall and $123,200 to everything (PACs, candidates, national parties) each cycle. The Supreme Court struck down the limits, holding that the government’s justification for limiting free speech rights – to keep money out of politics and the avoid the appearance of impropriety – failed. This decision cuts at the heart of the leftist narrative on free speech attacks. The heart of the...

A first grader in California has been told she’s not permitted to talk about the Bible at school. A teacher at Temecula Valley School told her first grade class to bring an object to school that represented a family Christmas tradition and then give a one-minute presentation. Brynn Williams brought the star that tops her family’s Christmas tree and shared how her family remembers Jesus’ birth at Christmas. “The star is named the Star of Bethlehem,” Brynn said. “The three kings followed the star to find the baby Jesus, the Savior of the world.” Brynn had planned to end her...