Free Republic

That case, Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, takes aim at a Colorado law that bars discrimination based on perceived sexual orientation in places serving the public. Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, says the law violates his free speech rights by forcing him to “create expression that violates his sincerely held beliefs about marriage.” The dispute has attracted a lot of attention from the business community, including an amicus brief signed by 35 companies including Amazon (AMZN), Pfizer (PFE), and Apple (AAPL), which asked the court to rule against Phillips. Another group with an interest in the...

Responding to an argument without fully understanding the point that is being made only serves to make the responder look foolish. Or as Proverbs puts it, “It’s stupid and embarrassing to give an answer before you listen.” Such was the case recently when the Leftmedia outlet Vice News published an article blasting the National Rifle Association for a video by Colion Noir. The article’s headline read, “NRA wants Congress to set ‘limitations’ on how the news can cover school shootings.” Gee, so Noir, a popular leader in the effort to defend Americans’ Second Amendment rights, was exposed for calling on...

If there is one person on TV who should have the good grace not to raise the issue of the right of a private-sector entity to control speech within its domain, it’s Joy Reid. As the host of an MSNBC show, Reid has a notorious history of shutting down, correcting, reprimanding and even defenestrating conservatives who say things she doesn’t like. For example, when a Republican referred to the “Democrat party,” Reid reprimanded him:“on this show, we say Democratic,” warning him that “we’re going to have to sit down. We’re going to have a talking-to.” Reid similarly shut down another...

George Martin, the former head of the NFL players’ union, seems confused about the Constitution. Martin was interviewed on CNN this morning regarding the new NFL rule pursuant to which teams can be fined if players kneel during the Anthem. When Chris Cuomo pointed out that “the league is a private concession; they can make their own rules,” Martin responded: “I think they have the right to make those rules. And I think we have the right to either adhere to them or not. And I think that our right supersedes theirs.”Get the rest of the story and view the...

Students at the University of Michigan, beware. If you say anything politically incorrect or out-of-line with the political and social orthodoxy on your campus, you may get a knock on your dorm room door from the university’s equivalent of the Thought Police, and be forced into a re-education camp. Or you may be suspended or thrown out of school, potentially damaging your educational prospects and your entire future professional career. If this sounds like an exaggeration, consider a new lawsuit filed in federal court in Michigan by Speech First, Inc., against the president of the University of Michigan, other...

Missouri is one of nine states where the government generally prohibits people from carrying firearms in church. As in any question, the government may be neutral, which is the default position in the United States, or it may actively interfere.  According to concealedcarry.com, there are two states that ban concealed carry in churches, Nebraska and Louisiana. Nebraska allows a church to authorize an armed security team if the team members have carry permits and if written notice is given to church members.  Louisiana law is similar, but requires an extra eight hours of training every year. Seven states and...

Young America's Foundation scored a legal victory against UC-Berkeley this week after a judge in San Francisco refused to dismiss the organization's lawsuit against the university for infringing on the First Amendment rights of conservative students and speakers on campus. “Young America’s Foundation looks forward to moving on to the merits of this case and vigorously defending our claims at trial. This ruling allowing YAF’s critical First Amendment case to move forward is a win for conservatives and free speech, and it shows that Judge Chesney believes there is significant evidence of Berkeley’s work to suppress conservative speech," Young America’s...

SB 1424, as amended, Pan. Commercial law. Internet: social media: false information: strategic plan. Existing law prohibits a person, among others, from making or disseminating in any advertising device, or in any manner or means whatever, including over the Internet, any statement concerning real or personal property or services that is untrue or misleading, as specified. This bill would require any person who operates a social media, as defined, Internet Web site with a physical presence in California to develop a strategic plan to verify news stories shared on its Web site. The bill would require the plan to include,...

Mark Zuckerberg will never tell the truth, but it’s as plain as the nose on his face that Facebook didn’t dump popular Diamond and Silk because their “content and brand has been determined unsafe to the community”. Facebook turned D&S’s lights off because they are unabashedly pro-Trump—a high crime that’s been getting people, including kids beaten up and conservative news sites disappeared from the Public Square ever since Nov. 8, 2016. If there’s anyone whose “content and brand is unsafe to the community” it’s Mark Zuckerberg & Company who stole online information from billions of unknowing users and sold it...

Two men were sentenced to one year and a day in prison Thursday for joining more than a dozen Turkish security officers who broke through a police line in May 2017 to attack protesters as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan watched. The sentences may be the only ones ever handed down for what D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham called an “unprovoked and brutal attack on peaceful protesters,” after U.S. officials allowed other assailants to leave the country. Sinan Narin and Eyup Yildirim admitted to kicking a woman and a senior citizen, respectively, as they lay on the ground — as...

 Image from Michael Zelany Facebook Menlo Park is part of the San Francisco Bay urban area of California. A free-speech and Second Amendment activist has sued the City of Menlo park and a number of City officials, for denial of his civil rights under the First, Second and  Fourteenth Amendments.  The lawsuit was filed on 28 December, 2017.  On 2 February, 2018, the Palo Alto Daily Post wrote about it.  From padailypost.com: Zeleny’s suit contends that his protests are an entertainment ‘event” that he’s filming, and therefore he is eligible for an exemption in the concealed carry law that’s used...

We have talked a lot about the liberal assault on our right as American citizens to keep and bear arms for the defense of ourselves, our families, our communities, and our Constitution, but it is a mistake to think of a disarmed population as their desired end-state. No, that’s merely the first step toward the subjugation of the Normals. What they want is not only for us to be disarmed, but to be silenced.They are not going to stop with the Second Amendment. Next, they are going to move to finish off the First Amendment.They don’t want you to speak...

Located just north of Atlanta, Kennesaw State University is a school enrolling some 35,000 students. Arguably, the most noteworthy thing about it is the fact that its officials keep making decisions that land it in court. In February, the university’s “speech zone” policy came under attack. A student group, Ratio Christi, wanted to put up a pro-life display but a KSU administrator told them that they would be allowed to put up their display where they wanted on campus only if they agreed to remove certain posters that she said were “too controversial.” If they would not agree to that,...

Wyoming Governor Matt Mead signed HB 141 on 12 March, 2018. The bill reforms state law to restore First (freedom of religion) and Second (right to keep and bear arms) Amendment rights. The bill repeals existing state law that bans concealed weapons in any place people are assembled for public worship. From kemmerergazette.com: Monday, March 12, Governor Mead signed HEA 34 (HB 141). This not a gun bill; it is a government bill. “Concealed Weapons in Places of Worship” is not about whether concealed weapons will be in places of worship or not. It is about whether church or...

This picture, from the facebook page of MSG Firearms, shows a student with an anti-NRA sign while wearing a hoodie with the motto ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ and the date 480 B.C. ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ is what the Spartan king, Leonidas I is said to have told the Persian Emperor Xerxes I, when Xerxes demanded that they lay down their arms. It means, “Come and Take Them!” The same motto was used by Texicans in the battle of Gonzales in the first battle of the Texas war for independence. That war started with the Mexican tyrant Santa Anna attempted to disarm the Texas...

A woman kicked unconscious by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s security guards a mile and a half from the White House last year says she’s outraged that federal prosecutors quietly dropped charges against the two men accused of assaulting her. “We've shown the world we don’t really care for our citizens,” said Lusik “Lucy” Usoyan, a Yezidi Kurd born in Armenia. “I’m deeply sad about how it’s turning out. It's undermining our institutions and undermining our fundamental rights.” Usoyan was among a small but diverse group protesting Erdogan in May 2017 as he arrived at the Turkish ambassador’s residence following...

There have been numerous reports of students being bullied, pushed to participate in anti-Second Amendment protests they did not believe in, and of being punished for speaking out.  The Second Amendment Foundation today announced a project to help students who have been harassed, intimidated or bullied for resisting peer pressure to join the wave of protests against guns and the right to keep and bear arms. "A student's First Amendment rights should not be violated because they support the Second Amendment," said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. "There have been several reports over the past...

When political activists are attempting to pass a long-term agenda with emotion and fear, they cannot allow dissent. The emotional narrative they are pushing is fragile. Dissent causes people to think. Thinking causes the narrative to collapse. Andy Dalsin, alone and courageous high school student, stood up to the organized political agenda of the left. He “spoke truth to power”. He was not allowed to protest with others of his school, but was driven off by the school principal, Lonnie Seifert. From kstp.com, video at link: Dalsin said principal Lonnie Seifert told him to give up a sign that...

n the United States, politicians are not supposed to be able to prevent the opposition from meeting or speaking.When Progressives dominated the mass media, the left celebrated the First Amendment.  In 1963, the Harvard-Radcliff Democratic Club invited George Wallace to speak, and there were no protests or threats of violence.  Leftists were all for free speech and rights of an assembly when they had little opposition in organs of mass media. Times have changed. The Progressives no longer have an effective monopoly in the media. Now, heavier-handed tactics are resorted to. Democrat politicians in New York pressured a Staten...

A transgender woman is suing Tinder on behalf of other transgender people living in the Portland area, claiming it rejects all transgender people from the dating service. Ariel Hawkins claims in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, a few days ago she edited her profile to disclose that she was a pre-op trans woman. She says Tinder immediately deleted her account. She says the company sent her email saying she violated its terms of service ... but didn't point her to any term and refused to explain the basis for the rejection.