Free Republic

The Arizona law increases penalties against protesters who block access to a political rally. Is blocking access to a political event a political statement in itself? In a Phoenix suburb in March, protesters parked about two-dozen cars in the middle of the highway to stop drivers on their way to an outdoor rally for Donald Trump and Joe Arpaio, the controversial Arizona sheriff. With posters that read "Dump Trump" and "Must Stop Trump," the protesters, in one sense, acted on their right to demonstrate against the Republican frontrunner and the sheriff who was sanctioned for refusing a judge's order to...

The University of Oregon is sorely in need of an enema. It has become filled with the worst kind of social excrement a university can accumulate. It has descended into a state of perpetual readiness to root out and destroy any vestige of speech and thought that might even slightly deviate from liberal orthodoxy. When any member of the school’s cozy little community alleges that she/he has been offended, the speech warriors of the U of O’s Bias Response Team (BRT) spring into action. No complaint is too petty for these civil servants that have invented their own lifetime jobs....

A Scottish man who filmed his girlfriend’s dog performing a Nazi salute has been arrested by the police and could face hate crime charges. Markus Meechan, 28, from North Lanarkshire, was remanded in custody on suspicion of publishing offensive material online. Meechan uploaded a video to Youtube which allegedly shows a pug making the Nazi salute and watching videos of Hitler. He has since apologized for causing offense and claims the video was a prank to annoy his girlfriend.

It’s not often that a U.S. government agency gets caught red-handed abiding by its charter and performing its publicly-avowed and legislatively-approved duties. But last week the AP "broke" a long and breathless story from Havana that nailed the USAID (United States Agency for International Development) for just that. In their own words, "a secret plan aimed at undermining Cuba’s communist government," was courageously exposed by the AP’s intrepid Havana bureau. Such is the magnitude of the scandal that a red-faced and snarling Senator Patrick Leahy is now chairing hearings on Capitol Hill where he grills USAID director Rajiv Shah on...

Regulators in Washington are showing increasing interest in tightening rules on political speech on the web, arguing that the dissonant voices enabled by "new media" have become too influential. If that effort is successful, experts wonder whether it could impact more traditional media as well, especially in how it relates to conservatives. "The best example we can give is going back a few years to when the [Federal Communications Commission] was looking at trying to silence talk radio, which was obviously a realm of conservatism," said Drew Johnson, executive director of the nonprofit group "Protect Internet Freedom." He was referring...

Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed "disgraceful" comments from the father of his Republican presidential rival, Ted Cruz, who called on Christians to support his son in the Indiana primary.

With pages seemingly taken out of George Orwell's book "1984" attacks on the First Amendment protection of Free Speech. Orwell's warning portrays a state in which government monitors, controls and regulates every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a contradictory thought is against the law. By the end of this update, one might reasonably conclude that we are on the precipice of just such a society. The concept of free speech and different views and opinions is a foundation of our land as envisioned by the Forefathers. However, it is clear from recent developments that the...

For the New Criterion, Ben Weingarten, commentator and Founder & CEO of ChangeUp Media sits down with Mark Steyn, international bestselling author, political pundit, cultural critic and hardened climate change dissenter Mark Steyn for an in-depth interview. During their discussion, Weingarten and Steyn discuss the chilling of free speech by the climate alarmists and their enablers in the political and legal system, the stakes of the defamation suit filed against Steyn by climate scientist Dr. Michael E. Mann over a critical blog post, why it is the scientific community that resembles a racket rather than demonized “Big Oil,” the misogyny...

In the face of a monolithically climate alarmist academia, media and government, several courageous individuals are working to unsettle the purportedly “settled science” of climate change, arguing that carbon dioxide atmospheric enrichment provides manifold benefits for mankind, that flawed economic models are being used to justify anti-capitalist and destructive public policies, that mild warming of the planet ought to be celebrated and fighting back courageously against those who wish to chill free speech by using the law to litigate science. This is their story. Featured speakers include Mark Steyn, international bestselling author and commentator, Dr. Craig Idso, Founder Former President...

<p>Most “Progressives” believe that opposition to their plans for a government with the power to create the perfect society is essentially illegitimate. Therefore, they seldom hesitate to use any means they can to delegitimize, defund, and defeat conservatives and libertarians. For many, the weapon of choice is to misuse the law, turning it into a sword that can be used to cut down the opposition.</p>

A black doctor who was fired for supposedly inflammatory sermons unrelated to his medical work filed a lawsuit against the state of Georgia on Wednesday, claiming religious discrimination. This is particularly ironic, considering the governor of that state recently vetoed a religious liberty bill.Dr. Eric Walsh previously served on President Obama's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, was a board member of the Latino Health Collaborative, and started California's first city-run dental clinic for low-income families dealing with AIDS. Nevertheless, Walsh was fired only one week after being hired by Georgia's Department of Public Health. Right before Walsh was terminated, the...

This Friday (Earth Day and Lenin’s Birthday) President Obama will sign the Paris Agreement, supposedly to control global climate. Last week, the attorney general of a tax shelter – the US Virgin Islands -- subpoenaed the Competitive Enterprise Institute. This was part of a campaign to intimidate climate realists and to shake down, and possibly shut down, the energy industry. The campaign was launched by a number of Democrat Attorneys General and Al Gore, colluding with trial lawyers and other special interests, under the guise of investigating ExxonMobil. As bizarre as these moves are, they are just an escalation of...

CIRCLEVILLE, Ohio (WSYX/WTTE) -- Police were called to a protest at a Planned Parenthood clinic on Lewis Avenue and Court Streets. Anti-abortion demonstrators have been permitted for protesting there for months, but when pro-choice activists showed up last week without a permit, city leaders reminded them of an ordinance that requires a permit. Some anti-abortion protesters put graphic signs near the clinic which offended one mother of a five-year old boy who lives across the street. Angela Shaw-Gellerson said there's no need to get ugly and complained to police about the move from a side-street to in front of her...

The war between Republicans and Democrats on the politically splintered Federal Election Commission flared late Monday when a Republican commissioner and former chairman charged that the panel's Democrats want to regulate the press and end free election media. The moves by Democrats "signal an active regulatory effort within the agency, caution press organizations to look over their shoulders, and chill the free exercise of press activity," said Republican Lee E. Goodman in a statement on a recent FEC split vote.

Judicial Watch & Allied Educational Foundation to Supreme Court: Protect the Laws that Keep Public Officials Honest Defending the First Amendment against the Obama IRS Only 3 U.S. Airports Require Employee Security Checks JW Gets Props in The Wall Street JournalJudicial Watch & Allied Educational Foundation to Supreme Court: Protect the Laws that Keep Public Officials Honest With a notorious Democrat in the White House, it bears repeating that there are corrupt politicians in both the Republican and Democrat parties. The “corruption caucus” in the political world is both bipartisan and growing. True to our non-partisan educational mission, we...

Merkel allows prosecution of German comedian who mocked Turkish president By Rick Noack April 15 at 9:30 AM German Chancellor Angela Merkel has cleared the way for the prosecution of German comedian Jan Böhmermann, whose poem mocking Turkey's president has become the centerpiece of a clash between Germany's free-speech traditions and the government's efforts to safeguard its important relations with Turkey. In a news conference Friday, Merkel emphasized that it will now be up to German courts to decide whether Böhmermann is guilty of insulting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. But critics — including members of her own government —...

<p>BERLIN (AP) -- Berlin police say they've raided 10 residences in the German capital in a crackdown against far-right hate speech on social media.</p>

As we have seen from recent events in Paris, Brussels and all across the world, terrorism is not an obscure phenomenon that only impacts the Middle East. And no longer can Americans ignore the threat of terrorism as primarily a European problem. Although attacks in the United States are less frequent due, in part, to our distance from the region, increasingly, leaders associated with terrorist groups are now finding their way onto American soil. Not only must we be concerned about terrorist cells hiding in communities around the United States, but we now also have to worry about domestic Muslim...

I was super excited to find out about a bunch of liberal state attorneys general aping the Obama administration’s use of government power to persecute their political enemies. This thrilling development is awesome because it gives us conservatives the opportunity to do the same to liberals. Yeah, if the new rule is that the majority in power uses its authority to persecute its opponents, then shouldn’t we conservatives do it too? Except only harder and more ruthlessly. Right now, you have attorneys general in places like New York and the Virgin Islands going after the heretics who dare dispute the...

One of the most frustrating things about the recent censorious trend among sensitive politicized youth is that it renders useless my last-ditch political metaphor. I always figured if the day came that all other arguments for liberty were failing—if no one wanted to hear about free trade or gun rights or religious liberty—I could always fall back on the concept of free speech. I don’t just mean that if you think speech should be free you logically must think all non-violent human action should be free (though I do). The free speech analogy, while it lasted, was also useful for...