Free Republic

Last night’s interview with Bruce Jenner by Diane Sawyer on ABC’s 20/20 turned out to be very revealing … in a much different way than many thought. By this time, a relentless series of media reports had made it quite clear that Jenner had embraced a transgender identity, at least privately. The big reveal turned out to be that Jenner also identifies as a conservative Republican: When Sawyer asked if Jenner cheered when Obama became the first president to even say the word “transgender” in a State of the Union address, the 65-year-old replied that he “would certainly give...

This past Friday night, I tweeted out, “My heart goes out to Bruce Jenner, & when he says, ‘I am a woman,’ I hear him saying, ‘I am deeply confused & hurting.’ Let's pray for him!” The responses to this tweet were as ugly and profane as anything I have ever seen. Why the extreme and even irrational hostility? Some of the tweets included these gems: "f--- you you disgusting saliva gerbil" (to be honest, I’ve never been called that before) "you cranky scheming mustachio'd clown" (this was also a new one) “F--- YOU. I don’t have the patience for...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) applauds the passage of the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) by the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on Thursday after a week of debate and consideration by both parties. Sen. Cruz introduced or cosponsored more than a dozen amendments that were successfully adopted by the committee. “Congress’ first priority is to provide for the national defense and ensure our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have everything they need to defend our freedom,” said Sen. Cruz. “I am grateful for the committee’s support for my amendments, including measures that will ensure...

Another of the remaining survivors of the sinking of the USS Indianapolis has died...

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Gina McCarthy will take a trip to a San Francisco nail salon Wednesday—a visit intended to shine a spotlight on health risks posed by the industry. [Snip] Nail polish and other products found in salons contain an array of chemicals that may pose a threat to public health and the environment. Without proper handling, exposure to chemicals such as formaldehyde can lead to difficulty breathing, skin irritation and other health problems. EPA already has put together a federal working group and doled out grants to organizations tackling the industry's public health and environmental impact created by...

During his “Talking Points Memo” segment on Tuesday, “The O’Reilly Factor” host Bill O’Reilly explained that Americans have changed their stance on a number of issues, including immigration and Christianity and that has been to the detriment of the United States.

This weekend, a dozen Republican presidential hopefuls showed up at the South Carolina Freedom Summit. They were there to court primary voters who will winnow the presidential field next February. Judging from the speeches, it’s going to be an ugly race. What the candidates are selling, and primary voters are buying, is vituperation against people who don’t look, talk, or pray like the Republican base.............. [SNIP of stuff that sounds good to me - Santorum was on fire] ...............Mexicans, Muslims, gays, rats, roaches. Christian superiority, military contempt for the president, and gauntlets thrown down to queer-loving CEOs. It’s going to...

President Barack Obama believes “gender” and “sex” are different things. In a Monday press release issued to support National Women’s Health Week, Obama declared that affordable health care is a fundamental right — for all sexes and genders. “The security of quality, affordable health care should not be a privilege — it should be a fundamental right for every person, regardless of their sex or gender,” Obama stated in the proclamation. The distinction made by the president reflects a growing movement to emphasize that the two words mean different things. According to the World Health Organization, sex “refers to the...

Openly gay New York hotelier Mati Weiderpass penned an op-ed this week, lashing out at "gay extremists" for protests surrounding a discussion he hosted with presidential hopeful Ted Cruz in late April. Weiderpass and longtime gay business partner Ian Reisner are owners of the OUT NYC Hotel and 80 percent of the commercial property in New York's Fire Island Pines, among other properties patronized by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. The two ignited large-scale backlash last month when they played hosts to a "fireside chat" with notoriously anti-gay presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz in front of about...

In March 2014, pioneering Internet company Mozilla announced the appointment of co-founder Brendan Eich as CEO. That same day, a Twitter mob exploded with criticism of Eich. Gay rights supporters were angry about a 6-year-old donation of $1,000 to the “Yes on 8” campaign, which sought to ban same-sex marriage in California in 2008. It’s OK to be angry about Eich’s donation. Screaming for Eich’s head on a pike for his failure to conform to Mozilla’s majority view on same-sex marriage is not. Liberals are supposed to believe in protecting minority views, even when they disapprove of those views. Instead...

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Sen. Ted Cruz on Saturday did something he hasn't done too often since declaring for president: He took a swipe at his rivals for the Republican nomination.The Texan delivered a typically energetic and rousing speech to an auditorium full of conservative activists gathered to hear from nearly a dozen Republican 2016 contenders. The address was a mixture of political humor, substantive policy proposals and ideological red meat served up grilled for a hungry crowd in the Tea Party friendly Upstate region of South Carolina.But as a part of Cruz's delivery, he charged some of the other GOP...

Something disturbing happened recently which slipped right past Pro-Israel advocates. Mati Weiderpass is a fervent ally of Israel who happens to be gay. He hosted a discussion in his Manhattan home with Republican Presidential candidate, Texas Senator Ted Cruz who is a staunch ally of Israel, very strong on Iran and other issues key to those of us who care about Israel.In the aftermath, Weiderpass and his businessesÂ’ are being boycotted by extremists in the gay community for daring to host an event with Cruz. In these days of Israel having enemies in every corner we turn, I am thankful...

Prince released his much-anticipated protest song about “Baltimore” on Saturday — one day before his scheduled “Rally 4 Peace” concert in the troubled city.

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The woman at the center of an abduction and murder case will only face murder charges, according to court documents. According to police, 23-year-old Kiara Ivette Ciares-Quinones was arrested on Thursday for the murder of Vilma Soriano that happened at the Whispering Pines apartments, on the northwest side of the city. The probable cause affidavit said Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Officer arrived to the scene to the report of a deceased person on Wednesday around 6:30 p.m. A caller told officers that her neighbor had just been killed by someone fleeing the area who tried to leave her...

California Attorney General Kamala Harris has gotten an extension to the Monday deadline her office faced for processing a proposed ballot initiative that advocates killing anyone who engages in gay sex. Harris asked a state court in late March for permission to reject the measure, calling it obviously unconstitutional.

In a bizarre legal twist in a jaw-droppingly hateful proposal that calls into question the entire California ballot initiative process, the author of a bill proposing murdering California’s gays may ask a court to place his proposal on the ballot without gathering a single signature other than his own. In a letter quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle, Matt McLaughlin writes to the state attorney general, “Take notice that if your office and the California secretary of state refuse to clear the Sodomite Suppression Act for signature circulation, I may demand as remedy that it be placed on the election...

Fresh off the heels of CNN anchor Chris Cuomo’s embrace a philosophy that would result in the elimination of federal protections on “hate speech” (he mistakenly believed that those protections had been eliminated over a half-century ago by the Supreme Court), Barack Obama’s likely successor as America’s leading Democrat has embraced the cause of restricting free speech. In her dogged quest to sate her restless left-flank, Hillary Clinton has endorsed the notion that the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC can only be reversed by passing an amendment to the Constitution. The Court determined in Citizens United...

Religious freedom advocates are flagging a mostly-missed moment from last week's Supreme Court arguments over the constitutionality of same-sex marriage, calling it a warning sign. They point to an exchange between Justice Samuel Alito and the administration's top lawyer, Solicitor General Donald Verrilli.Alito asked if, in the event the Supreme Court holds that there is a constitutional right to same-sex marriage, would religious colleges risk losing their tax-exempt status if they continued to advocate for traditional marriage only. Verrilli responded, "I don't deny that ... It is going to be an issue." Travis Weber, Director of the Family Research Council's...

Decision makes state legislature second in US, after Tennessee, to oppose boycott movement Indiana’s state senate passed a non-binding resolution opposing boycotts of Israel. Resolution 74, adopted earlier this week, makes Indiana’s legislature the second in the United States to pass a resolution condemning BDS, or the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign. Tennessee passed a similar appeal last month. The Indiana House of Representatives unanimously passed the anti-BDS House Resolution 59 on April 22. The measure now goes to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence for his signature. Last week, the student senate at Earlham College, a Quaker liberal arts institution in...

Ethan Berkowitz headed to victory with a big lead over opponent Amy Demboski in the Anchorage mayoral runoff election Tuesday night. With 93 percent of the vote counted, Berkowitz had nearly 60 percent of the vote to Demboski’s 41 percent, a margin that was insurmountable. Berkowitz had held a commanding lead over Demboski throughout the counting Tuesday night. As his margin over Demboski held strong, Berkowitz stood on a chair at his campaign party in a downtown restaurant to wild applause and waving signs. He asked his supporters’s to continue to help after the night’s celebration to work on unifying...