Free Republic

Greggs the baker is being forced to change the name of its best-selling Cornish pasty under new EU laws because the product contains peas and carrots. The new rules mean manufacturers must follow the traditional recipe of beef, potatoes, onions, swede and seasoning, if they wish to use the name. […] Cornish pasties were awarded Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) status in 2011 after a lengthy campaign by the Cornish Pasty Association to see their delicacy’s name protected. Protected Geographical Indication status prevents anything that is made outside the designated region from using the traditional name. …

NEW YORK (AP) - Mix blatant bigotry with poor spelling. Add a dash of ALL CAPS. Top it off with a violent threat. And there you have it: A recipe for the worst of online comments, scourge of the Internet. Blame anonymity, blame politicians, blame human nature. But a growing number of websites are reining in the Wild West of online commentary. Companies including Google and the Huffington Post are trying everything from deploying moderators to forcing people to use their real names in order to restore civil discourse. Some sites, such as Popular Science, are banning comments altogether.

Links to the pro-Phil Robertson online petition drive have been flagged for content on the social media platform.In the latest development in the ongoing culture war surrounding Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson’s controversial remarks on homosexuality, the pro-Robertson website iStandwithPhil.com has been flagged on Twitter, prohibiting users from posting messages containing links to the page. ***** Twitter generally does not act to block content until receiving a report from another user or group of users. That complaint is then reviewed by Twitter, who decides whether to take action or not.

In addition to my career as a PhD chemist, I am one of a select few who enjoy the privilege of moderating content on reddit.com’s science forum. The science forum is a small part of reddit, but it nonetheless enjoys over 4 million subscribers. By comparison, that’s roughly twice the circulation of The New York Times. The forum, known as /r/science, provides a digital space for discussions about recent, peer-reviewed scientific publications. This puts us (along with /r/AskScience) on the front line of the science-public interface. On our little page, scientists and nonscientists can connect through discussions on everything from...

The Lockheed Martin Corp. is cutting ties with the Boy Scouts of America because the group does not allow gay Scout leaders, officials told the MDJ on Wednesday. “While we applaud the mission of the Boy Scouts and the good things they do in our communities, their policies that discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and religious affiliation conflict with Lockheed Martin policies,” said Lockheed spokesman Gordon Johndroe. The reference to “religious affiliation” has to do with the Boy Scouts’ ban on atheist members.

Duck Dynasty has been sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. By now you probably know that A&E indefinitely suspended Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family, for following the teachings of the Holy Bible. Nothing says tolerance and diversity by silencing the Christians and shoving them in a closet. Between you and me, I think Duck Dynasty ought to indefinitely suspend A&E. Phil ran afoul of intolerant leftwing bullies after making comments about homosexuality to GQ magazine. When the writer asked Phil what he considered to be sinful behavior, he replied: “Start with homosexual behavior and just...

"Duck Dynasty" star Phil Robertson has been suspended indefinitely by A&E Networks following controversial remarks about homosexuality, Variety reported Wednesday.

A&E star Phil Robertson made several controversial comments in the latest issue of GQ, on newsstands Dec. 24. When speaking to GQ, the “Duck Dynasty” dad spoke openly about his thoughts on homosexuality and various religious groups. “It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”

Gay and lesbian rights activists are seeking to be the new “moral enforcers” and it is Christian religious conservatives who now need protection to be allowed to dissent against “the new orthodoxy”, it was claimed. Core Issues Trust, a Christian charity, is challenging a ban on its London bus advertisement reading: “Not Gay! Ex-Gay, Post-Gay and Proud. Get over it!” It was a response to a bus poster campaign by gay rights group Stonewall carrying the message: “Some people are gay. Get over it!” Paul Diamond, for the charity, told appeal judges that at the heart of the case was...

Hate speech is code word for speech I do not agree with; speech I want stopped. In the United States of America and any previous English colony, the term “hate speech” should be considered with grave skepticism. What brought me to write about this topic today are several items that came up via electronic media. First, was an Ann Curry accusation of hate speech leveled at Kirk Cameron. I will not address this directly because it is too predictable, but I will argue Cameron’s point of view shortly. Second, there were numerous articles citing Dan Savage making statements that tended...

There is a phenomenon that is rarely commented on but which is as common as it is significant. For at least two generations, countless conservative parents have seen their adult children reject their core values. I have met these parents throughout America. I have spoken with them in person and on my radio show. Many have confided to me -- usually with a resigned sadness -- that one or more of their children has adopted left-wing social, moral and political beliefs. A particularly dramatic recent example was a pastor who told me that he has three sons, all of whom...

ALCON - FYI, the Air Force servers are back to not letting me log in to FR due to its "political and activist" nature. I thought we were through with this crap...

This Halloween, Hampshire College students — and Americans who care about free inquiry — have reason to be spooked. As part of its “Hampshire Halloween” celebration, Hampshire’s “Hype Committee” scheduled a performance by Afrobeat band Shokazoba. But that decision quickly turned sour. As Hampshire carefully explained, some students asked “whether [Shokazoba] was a predominantly white Afrobeat band and express[ed] concerns about cultural appropriation and the need to respect marginalized cultures.” Shokazoba keyboardist Jason Moses explained in emails that it began when someone posted, “lol leave it to hampshire to book a bunch of white folks playing afrofunk” on the event’s...

In early October, I posted a blog entitled "Dear Texas: Please Secede" that advocated kicking Texas as well as Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and perhaps other Southern states out of the USA because they have an inferior culture and their stupidity and greed has had a negative effect on the nation from Day One. Since then, I have read even more articles about two kinds of secession -- Southern states leaving the USA and rural conservatives in liberal states seeking to form their own state. It's clear that the partisan divide in Washington, D.C., and in numerous states has become so...

Today being United Nations Day, and with Halloween next week, I thought this was appropriate-

FOX Sports Southwest hired former NFL running back Craig James as an on-air analyst only to fire him days later. The move came after statements he made on gay marriage while campaigning for the Senate resurfaced. "People choose to be gay," he said during an April 2012 campaign stop. "I think it's a choice, I do. Same-sex marriage, if someone chooses to do that, that's done. And God's going to judge each one of us in this room for our actions. And in that case right there, they're going to have to answer to the Lord for their actions." James...

Los Angeles public schools are encouraging teachers and staff to wear badges that identify them as “LGBT allies” and supporters of the pro-gay movement. Superintendent John Deasy kicked off the effort Thursday, which he said was necessary to prevent gay kids from being bullied. “We want all our youth and staff to know that it is safe to be you in LAUSD,” said Deasy in a statement to the Los Angeles Times. The move is part of the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center’s “Out for Safe Schools” initiative. The front sides of the badges have the word “ally” written on...

An estimated 20 players from the Ole Miss football team reportedly disrupted the university theater department's performance of "The Laramie Project." The play covers the aftermath of the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, an openly gay male student from Laramie County, Wyoming.

Comments can be bad for science. That's why, here at PopularScience.com, we're shutting them off.It wasn't a decision we made lightly. As the news arm of a 141-year-old science and technology magazine, we are as committed to fostering lively, intellectual debate as we are to spreading the word of science far and wide. The problem is when trolls and spambots overwhelm the former, diminishing our ability to do the latter.That is not to suggest that we are the only website in the world that attracts vexing commenters. Far from it. Nor is it to suggest that all, or even close...

No excerpt from IHE allowed, story here. To summarize, an engineering education magazine publishes a letter by a professor critical of homosexuality, and many are appalled.