Free Republic

Loans that collect interest are considered by some to be sinful under Sharia law. Afrik Grocery and Halal Meat on Cedar Avenue needed to expand. Owner Abdi Adem, who operates his business under Sharia law, needed to find a loan that funded the expansion and complied with his religious beliefs. Finding the loan was easier than he expected. Since December 2006, the city of Minneapolis, in partnership with the African Development Center, has given out 54 loans in a way that is compliant with Islamic law by using a fixed rate in place of a variable interest rate, which some...

SAN FRANCISCO – A federal appeals court on Tuesday declared California's same-sex marriage ban to be unconstitutional, putting the bitterly contested, voter-approved law on track for likely consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that a lower court judge correctly interpreted the U.S. Constitution and Supreme Court precedents when he declared in 2010 that Proposition 8 was a violation of the civil rights of gays and lesbians. Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/07/appeals-court-rules-californias-same-sex-marriage-ban-unconstitutional/#ixzz1lnwo1NBK

...If Florida courts accept provisions of Islamic Sharia law or other foreign laws and legal codes which are inconsistent with American laws it will undermine public policies enacted by our representative form of government and change our value system. ... - Florida Family Association The dangers of Shariah should be self-evident and, thankfully, the good people of the Florida Family Association (FFA) are working against Islamism in their home state. The Obama administration, some other Western governments, and the Western mainstream media are generally soft-peddling the dangers of radical Islam, so people who value freedom and democracy should be...

Attorney General Eric Holder used his testimony before a House committee on Thursday to tout the supposed need for new gun control laws to prevent “gun walking,” or the transportation of firearms across the Southern border. But he – and members of the committee – ignored existing laws that already accomplish Holder’s ostensible goals. “That is why we need a stronger gun trafficking law,” Holder said in response to questions about recourse against officials who signed off on the gun walking tactic. The tactic was integral to Operation Fast and Furious, which allowed the transportation of roughly 2,500 firearms into...

New York, January 27 (C-FAM) Hungarian leaders have passed a law protecting the traditional family, defying ongoing criticism that their new constitution would curtail abortion and homosexuality. The new law says the family, based upon marriage of a man and a woman whose mission is fulfilled by raising children, is an "autonomous community...established before the emergence of law and the State" and that the State must respect it as a matter of national survival. It says "Embryonic and foetal life shall be entitled to protection and respect from the moment of conception," and the state should encourage "homely circumstances" for...

Nevadans are probably wondering why their own Attorney General, Catherine Cortez Masto is prosecuting corrupt lenders for the fraudulent act of robo-signing, but U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is not. In fact, millions of Americans, particularly those who are being foreclosed upon are probably wondering the same thing since the Obama administration decided in October to forego criminal charges against Bank of America, JPMorgan, Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo and Ally Financial in exchange for a $25 billion civil settlement. But new information reported by Reuters today implies that Holder and other top Justice Department officials may be restraining themselves because...

Brother testifies in favor of “Terri Schiavo Day” by Matt Lacy – Bobby Schindler, the brother of Terri Schiavo testified on Tuesday in support of a New Hampshire bill proclaiming March 31 of each year as a day to remember Terri Schiavo. Schiavo, who spent 15 years on a feeding tube, became a focal point over the right to die issue and highlighted the need for individuals to have a living will specifying their wishes.. On February 25, 1990 Schiavo collapsed while at home. After being admitted to the hospital, doctors were unable to determine an exact cause of...

I’ll never forget hearing Dr. Doug Kelly (one of my theology professors in seminary) saying in class, “If you want to make people mad, preach law. If you want to make them really, really mad preach grace.” I didn’t know what he meant then. But I do now. The law offends us because it tells us what to do–and we hate anyone telling us what to do, most of the time. But, ironically, grace offends us even more because it tells us that there’s nothing we can do, that everything has already been done. And if there’s something we hate...

One of the most disturbing features of the US justice system is its ever more grotesque loss of proportion, at the federal level and in far too many states and municipalities. On his radio show this week, Derb discusses the case of Meredith Graves, the Tennessee nurse who, upon visiting the 9/11 memorial in New York and seeing the signs forbidding firearms, asked the staff if she could check her pistol (lawful and licensed in her home state). She was handcuffed, arrested, and now faces three and a half years in jail for firearms possession – for the crime of...

The Mackinac Center Legal Foundation today filed a motion for immediate consideration at the Michigan Court of Appeals in Grand Rapids, asking the court to force the Michigan Employment Relations Commission to allow the MCLF to represent hundreds of graduate student research assistants at the University of Michigan who object to being forced into a union. MERC voted 2-1 on Dec. 13, 2011, to reject a motion filed by the MCLF on behalf of the 370-member “Students Against GRSA Unionization.” MERC assigned the case to an administrative law judge, who will determine if the Graduate Employees Organization can conduct a...

A Swedish man, convicted and sentenced to prison by the district court for abusing his wife and having her “exorcised”, has appealed the verdict and been acquitted by the Court of Appeals (Hovrätten). The man from Lund, in southern Sweden, had previously been sentenced to eight months in prison by the district court, which believed his wife's allegations that he had subjected her to verbal and physical abuse for an extended period of time, according to local paper Skånskan. The case was not the first time the man faced abuse allegations. He had previously been sentenced to six months in...

Back in June of 2010 a leader of a pro-Palestinian student group at University of Berkeley allegedly rammed a Jewish woman with a shopping cart as she staged a counter-protest to an anti-Israel “Apartheid Week” rally conducted by the Muslim Student Association and Students for Justice in Palestine. The counter-protest was dubbed “Israel Wants Peace Week.” Now, U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seeborg has deemed that the Muslim students who harassed Jessica Felber and other Jewish students were simply engaging in protected political speech.

“I would put our legislative and foreign policy accomplishments in our first two years against any president — with the possible exceptions of Johnson, FDR, and Lincoln — just in terms of what we've gotten done in modern history.” So spake Barack Obama, in an interview with 60 Minutes earlier this month. The news program left the above braggadocio out of its broadcast, a fact some attribute to media bias. According to my sources, however, the real story is that by that time Obama’s head had swelled to a point where it blocked out the camera. Critics were quick to...

Newt Gingrich wants Virginia legislators to change the law in time for him to start a write-in campaign for the March 6 presidential primary. But that appears virtually impossible, for practical as well as political reasons.

Syria threatens to execute 'terrorists' under new lawFrom Saad Abedine and Kindah Shair, CNN updated 8:12 AM EST, Tue December 20, 2011 (CNN) -- Syria will execute anyone who participates in terrorist acts or distributes weapons, state television announced Tuesday, in the latest escalation against an uprising the United Nations estimates has claimed about 5,000 lives since March. The announcement comes as two opposition groups claimed that more than 100 people were killed Monday, which would be the single deadliest known day of the protests against President Bashar al-Assad's government. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that dozens of...

Former President George W. Bush’s aide Michael Gerson posted a distressingly ignorant column on 12/13/11 which attacked both former speaker and Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich, and my colleague Andrew C. McCarthy, for their sober, if frank conceptions of the Sharia. The counterfactual basis for Mr. Gerson’s diatribe is his own thoroughly deficient understanding of Islam’s religio-political code for personal, societal, and Muslim state behavior. He glibly—and wrongly—imputes unique Western notions of individual rights, equality before the law, or even rational legal procedures of evidence to the Sharia’s so-called “set of transcendent principles of justice.” Gerson condemns Gingrich’s apt summary...

Much thanks to the Freeper referred SA law firm which advised and offered services which I did not accept, but paid close and attentive attention to. Your counsel . . . pending the next elevation when I might need it . . . was invaluable to get this much of a result. Thanks. Maybe there might be a class action or federal complaint against CMRE . . . based upon thier reply to the California Attorney General, there might be one. I'm going to press to the federal level with a complaint. In reply to the California Attorney General, CMRE...

Prosecutors in New York City have decided that the dissemination of truth near American courthouses threatens to rock the very foundations of the American legal system. For years, retired Penn State chemistry professor Julian Heicklen has handed out literature to passersby in front of the Manhattan courthouse, informing them of the rights of jurors. As stated by the Fully Informed Jury Association, “the primary function of the independent juror is not, as many think, to dispense punishment to fellow citizens accused of breaking various laws, but rather to protect fellow citizens from tyrannical abuses of power by government.” And as...

For the first time, a Broward County man has successfully used the state's "Stand Your Ground" law to block his prosecution on a first-degree murder charge. Nour Badi Jarkas, 54, of Plantation, was facing trial for the January 2009 shooting death of his estranged wife's boyfriend, John Concannon. But Broward Circuit Judge Ilona Holmes ordered an acquittal after finding that Jarkas was an invited guest in his wife's home and felt threatened during a confrontation with the victim.

As soon as December 13, the President will sign NDAA Section 1031 into law, permitting citizen imprisonment without evidence or trial. The bill that passed Congress absolutely DOES NOT exempt citizens. The text of Section 1031 reads, "A covered person under this section" includes "any person who has committed a belligerent act". We only have to be ACCUSED, because we don't get a trial. - Confusingly, Obama threatened a veto for 1032, but NOT 1031. 1032 is UNRELATED to imprisoning citizens without a trial. He has never suggested using a veto to stop Section 1031 citizen imprisonment -- in fact,...

In the short span of a century and a half, the US went from a government famously described by Abraham Lincoln as "of the people, by the people, for the people" to one "of the Elites, by the Elites, for the Elites." Albert J. Nock referenced Lincoln's phrase as "probably the most effective single stroke of propaganda ever made in behalf of republican State prestige." Perhaps, but when Lincoln said it our country had at least some resemblance to Lincoln's description. This country, founded on personal liberty, freedom and limited government, has morphed into a massive Social Welfare State rivaling...

The botched sex-crimes investigations have served as an embarrassment to a department whose sheriff is the self-described "America's Toughest Sheriff" and a national hero to conservatives on the immigration issue.

I'll be honest: I just signed up today with a new name because I'm too ashamed to use the one I've been using on FR since early 2001. I'm asking for advice and prayers. I'm a single (unwillingly divorced) mother, on my own for many years. Firstborn is doing very well in life. Younger kid is 17. He has always been a good, sweet, affectionate boy. Average intelligence, but kind of held back by a learning disability. Basically a B/C student if he tries hard. His scoutmaster, who is a former Marine colonel, his JROTC commander, his employers, neighbors, other...

All in favor say "aye." Those opposed aren't allowed in the room. That's basically the process being considered regarding the potential forced unionization of University of Michigan graduate student research assistants, according to a legal expert at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Earlier this month, the Michigan Employment Relations Commission discussed turning the forced unionization issue over to an administrative law judge. Meanwhile, MERC isn't allowing the Mackinac Center Legal Foundation to intervene in the case on behalf of students who oppose the unionization. That means that if the case does move to an administrative law judge, that judge...

Print CP Article 'Live Nativity Scene' to Be Displayed at Supreme Court, Capitol Building Tue, Nov. 29, 2011 Posted: 10:08 PM EDT The Christian Defense Coalition and Faith and Action are publicly sharing the message of Christmas this season by sponsoring a live nativity scene in front of the United States Supreme Court.Part of “The Nativity Project,� a nationwide campaign that seeks to bring the focus of Christmas back to Jesus Christ, the display not only hopes to proclaim the powerful message of the Gospel but also celebrate religious freedom, countering the hostility toward public expressions of faith.“Sadly, we...

North Carolina’s new “Castle Doctrine” law, which addresses certain circumstances under which a person can legally shoot or use other deadly force against another, takes effect Thursday. North Carolina’s current Castle Doctrine only applies to homes, but under the new law it also applies to vehicles and places of work. The Castle Doctrine, rooted in English common law, expresses the belief that one should be safe from illegal intrusion in one’s home. The new law is much longer and clarifies when deadly force can be used. New law more specific The new law defines a person’s home as any property...

Taking a broad swipe at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s practice of allowing companies to settle cases without admitting that they had done anything wrong, a federal judge on Monday rejected a $285 million settlement between Citigroup and the agency. The judge, Jed S. Rakoff of United States District Court in Manhattan, said that he could not determine whether the agency’s settlement with Citigroup was “fair, reasonable, adequate and in the public interest,” as required by law, because the agency had claimed, but had not proved, that Citigroup committed fraud. As it has in recent cases involving Bank of America,...

The Harper government has re-introduced legislation that gives citizens more leeway to make arrests and also aims to simplify “overly complex” laws related to self-defence and defence of property. Some legal experts have expressed concerns that the changes could lead to more vigilantism, but the government says there are safeguards in place. The re-introduction of the bill comes on the heels of several high-profile cases that have tested how far homeowners and shopkeepers can go to protect themselves and their property.

Tens of thousands in Wisconsin apply for concealed carry permit 10:30 AM CST, November 24, 2011 Wisconsin's concealed carry law isn't even a month old, but thousands of your friends and neighbors already have permission to pack heat and they're buying up the hardware to do it. Wisconsin became the 49th state to allow residents to carry concealed weapons this month. Questions about liability still linger, but gun sales have increased across the state and the state Justice Department has been deluged with so many permit requests it's already scrambling to keep up. "Long time coming," said Matt Slavik, 58,...

The mission was supposed to be a textbook “controlled delivery” — a routine trap by law enforcement officers using a secret operative posing as a truck driver to bust drug traffickers when their narcotics are delivered to a rendezvous point. Instead, things spun out of control. Shortly before the marijuana delivery was to be made Monday, three SUVs carrying alleged Zetas Cartel gunmen seemingly came out of nowhere and cut off the tanker truck as it rumbled through northwestern Harris County, sources told the Houston Chronicle. They sprayed the cab with bullets, killing the civilian driver, who was secretly working...

Vatican City, Nov 21, 2011 / 05:55 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Pope Benedict accepted the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law, former Archbishop of Boston, and appointed Spanish Archbishop Santos Abril y Castelló as the new archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major. Cardinal Law, who resigned in 2002 as Archbishop of Boston in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, turned 80 on Nov. 4.A Vatican official explained to CNA on Nov. 21 that although the official retirement age for a post such as archpriest is 80, it is customary for cardinals to hold their positions for a longer period of time....

President Barack Obama on Monday pardoned five people convicted of charges ranging from intent to distribute marijuana to running an illegal gambling business. And he issued his first commutation, ordering the release of a woman next month after serving 10 years on a 22-year sentence for cocaine distribution.

I am getting ready to start a series in my Sunday school class on the Feasts of the Lord, as described in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus. We are Southern Baptists, but there are 3 Seven Day Adventists who attend my class. I know what's coming: we are going to get tangled up with discussing whether or not Christians must follow Old Testament Law. I know the SDAs worship on Saturdays, and at least these 3 people claim to eat kosher (although it seems that to them it just means avoiding pork). I would appreciate any suggestions as to how...

Thanks to the efforts of men like Brad Harrub PhD., who warmly embrace demonstrating science as perfectly validating the Bible, my son has developed an energetic desire to study science.  Science has many men of great learning.  However, many scientists today promote theories, such as evolution, which fly in the face of already established scientific laws.  Because of such error, the theories ought to be rejected, even though men of great title or reputation believe in them.  Scientific laws are identified as laws because they do not falter, they are always true.  Many people hold the Bible to be an...

My name is Leo Donofrio. I have a J.D. from St. John’s University. I’ve passed three bar exams; New York, New Jersey and the Multi-State. I’ve been licensed to practice law in New Jersey and the Federal Courts for the last twenty years. NEW COMMENTING POLICY I put my name and professional reputation on everything I post at this blog. From now on, if you want to post here, you must be licensed to practice law. State your real name and the jurisdiction(s) you are licensed in. NO EXCEPTIONS. The national dialogue on the legal issues discussed here has often...

[You'll need to scroll about half way down the page]...Yes, says a California court, at least for purposes of interpreting a California law that prohibits using a cell-phone while driving.

The Supreme Court, or so we are told, follows the election returns. Perhaps, but it shouldn’t anticipate them — or, for that matter, rule with the campaign calendar in mind. The proper legal course — and, as it happens, by far the best thing for the country — is for the court to decide on the constitutionality of the health-care law by next summer, despite the fact that the opinion would come down in the heat of President Obama’s reelection campaign. ----- Or — and here is where things get interesting — a future president “might not enforce the individual...

Alan Johnson: How does a medical doctor come to produce books on Islam, Jihad and antisemitism? Andrew Bostom: It's pretty straightforward. The stimulus was 9/11. Until then I was an average citizen trying to keep abreast of world events. I am not particularly religious as a Jew though I certainly support the state of Israel. But I grew up in New York, living in Queens most of my life, and I went to medical school in Brooklyn. My wife and I still have family in New York City, so the day of 9/11 itself was traumatic, trying to make sure...

I am fully committed to repealing Obamacare. One of the very first votes I cast in the 112th Congress was to repeal Obamacare in its entirety. In February, Republicans passed funding restrictions to severely limit the President’s ability to implement Obamacare. In addition to these votes, I have been working on legislation that we will pass in the coming weeks that will eliminate $105 billion Obamacare “mandatory” slush funds. This mandatory spending is wrong and one of the many reasons I repeatedly voted against Obamacare in the 111th Congress. Obamacare must be repealed and replaced with common-sense reforms that lower...

pulled this off the OWS forum....(bottom of page) dantes443322 Re-election? Nope. The game plan is to create so much civil disobedience as possible so the need for martial law to be implemented is viable. No elections in this environment.

The White House’s immigration lawyers have issued yet another bureaucratic order that will curb the election-year deportation of illegal immigrants, and perhaps spur the supply of Hispanic voters. The new memo will shelter many illegals who have not committed violent crimes, or who are not suspected of being a national security threat, from routine deportation efforts by professionals in the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services agency. There are roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in the country, including roughly seven million in the workforce.

Death is the wages of sin (Rom 6:23) and Jesus Christ had none (Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:22; 1 John 3:5; 2 Cor 5:21). Death, therefore, had no rightful claim on Him thus Jesus died an unnatural death. This means that Jesus, the true remnant of Israel, alone fulfilled the covenant from our side, pleasing God. And all who are united to Him share in His distinction that death has no rightful claim on them (6:23b). So Jesus alone is our focus, our religion, our righteousness. Yet we still, as Christians often get caught up in our own spirituality. That...

Palestine’s Useful Idiots

Health law ruling could be political earthquakeBy JENNIFER HABERKORN | 11/1/11 11:32 PM EDT If the Supreme Court next year gets rid of the health reform law’s requirement to buy insurance, Republicans could gain momentum to get rid of the rest of the law — and President Barack Obama would suffer a huge embarrassment at the height of an election year. But Democrats and supporters of the law also see a silver lining: If the least popular part of the law goes away, they think what’s left could become stronger and more popular with the public. Those events could be...

What if the state executes an innocent person? David B. Rivkin Jr. and Andrew Grossman respond to question regarding their Op-Ed article defending capital punishment.

86CV00509 Div4 IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF JOHNSON COUNTY, KANSAS CIVIL COURT DEPARTMENT JOURNAL ENTRY OF CONTEMPT HEARING NOW on this 25th day of October, 2011, the above entitled matter comes before the Court for hearing. District Court Trustee by: Dana Edwards In The Matter Of Case No: 1986CV000509 Division: 4 Chapter: 60 IVD: N46-29999 P- 113644 Appear for Hearing in Room 336 3rd Floor SUSAN ANNETTE JONES And MARVIN LEE JONES Obligee: ( ) Obligor: ( ) present ( X ) not present ( ) By ____________________ not present ( ) By ____________________ ( ) In custody present (...

You may recall on this broadcast a little over a week ago, I reported on a homofascist vandalism crime accompanied by terroristic threats against the Christian Liberty Academy which was hosting a banquet by Americans for Truth about Homosexuality given in honor of Scott Lively, who is a pro-family champion and defender of the biblical truth about the sin of homosexuality. Back on October 15th, in the early morning hours on the day of the banquet, unknown perpetrators threw chunks of concrete bricks through the glass in the entryway of Christian Liberty Academy. The demand “Shut down Lively” was written...

Libya's interim leader outlined more radical plans to introduce Islamic law than expected as he declared the official liberation of the country. Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its "basic source". But that formulation can be interpreted in many ways - it was also the basis of Egypt's largely secular constitution under President Hosni Mubarak, and remains so after his fall. Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he...

U.S. judge dismisses Arizona claims against feds on immigration lawPosted: Oct 22, 2011 11:23 PM by CNN Wire Staff (CNN) -- A judge on Friday ruled against Arizona, dismissing its claims "in their entirety" against the federal government over its enforcement of immigration laws. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton is an apparent blow to Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and her allies. They pushed a controversial law known as SB 1070 through the state legislature, which allows, among other measures, local police officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws.

From a purely academic point of view, this translation is superior to anything produced by orientalists in the way of translations of major Islamic works.” Taha Jabir al-Alwani was writing about Reliance of the Traveller, the English version of Umdat al-Salik, the classic manual of sharia (“Islamic Sacred Law,” as the cover of Reliance puts it). Alwani is no lightweight in these matters. His specialty is fiqh — Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, he has been a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy in Saudi Arabia and is renowned among orientalist scholars in the West as president of the Fiqh Council...