Free Republic

California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday against the Chino school district, ordering an end to a policy that requires notifying parents if their children change their gender identity, alleging it is discriminatory and violates civil rights and privacy laws. The “parental notification” policy, which has been proposed by a handful of conservative-leaning districts in California, puts transgender and gender nonconforming students in “danger of imminent, irreparable harm” by potentially forcibly “outing” them at home before they’re ready, according to the lawsuit. “They are in real fear that the district’s policy will force them to make a choice:...

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday bolstered the efforts of some long-term immigrants to avoid deportation in a ruling that faulted the federal government for improperly notifying a man who came to the United States illegally from Guatemala to appear for a removal hearing. The justices, in a 6-3 ruling that divided the court’s conservative bloc, overturned a lower court’s decision that had prevented Agusto Niz-Chavez from pursuing his request to cancel the attempted expulsion based on having lived in the United States for many years. Niz-Chavez lives in Michigan with his family after entering the United States illegally in...

As poor as CNN’s ratings are in the United States, a rational person would conclude that, at some point, the executives who run the place would figure out what they’re doing wrong and fix it so that they could attract more viewers. But CNN isn’t run by rational people. In fact, we believe everyone who works there is certifiably out of their minds. They’d have to be in order to come up with some of the dumbest, tone-deaf, inappropriate, uninteresting, and pointless BS they put on the air. Like holding a “town hall” meeting with a gay man, hosted by...

Representative Elise M. Stefanik is a young, freshman republican congresswoman from the Albany New York area. And using a probative questioning timeline, she single-handily pulled the mask from FBI Director James Comey, yet no-one seemed to notice. Obviously Ms. Stefanik has not been in the swamp long enough to lose her common sense. In the segment of the questioning below Rep. Stefanik begins by asking director Comey what are the typical protocols, broad standards and procedures for notifying the Director of National Intelligence, the White House and senior congressional leadership (aka the intelligence Gang of Eight), when the FBI has...

A Maryland school district is instructing teachers and administrators not to tell parents if their daughters are bunking with male students who identify as girls on overnight field trips. Bob Mosier, chief communications officer for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, says in a training video detailing how to accommodate transgender students that privacy issues regarding the student prevent the district from informing parents about such arrangements.

A report has claimed that residents in Oregon are only now finding out that the state allows teenagers as young as 15-years-old to get state-subsidized sex-change operations without parental notification."It is trespassing on the hearts, the minds, the bodies of our children," Lori Porter of Parents' Rights in Education told Fox News on Thursday. "They're our children. And for a decision, a life-altering decision like that to be done unbeknownst to a parent or guardian, it's mindboggling."The report says that the policy, the first of its kind in the nation, was enacted in January, and that residents are "stunned" that the...

This summer a man was arrested, threatened with execution while handcuffed in the back of a cruiser, and then forced to deal with the real life tragedy of having to go through a criminal trial for something he shouldn't have been charged with in the first place. William Bartlett spent the next four months of his life having a prosecutor dangle sweetheart deals in front of him that always came with a catch: Plea to this and we'll drop the more serious charges. Sign a waiver that releases the city from any culpability or legal liability and we'll make this...

The United States has agreed to notify other nations before it launches most ballistic missile tests or satellites, in a measure that builds on a landmark arms agreement with Russia and is meant to encourage Moscow to reciprocate. The American decision was contained in a confidential note made available Thursday to The Associated Press and confirmed by three diplomats familiar with the issue. The move is less far-reaching — or binding — than the treaty signed last month by the U.S. and Russian presidents that outlines cuts in both nations' massive nuclear arsenals. But it is significant in reflecting Washington's...

Poll is on right hand side as you scroll down Do you agree with the law that requires doctors to notify parents that their teen daughter is getting an abortion? Yes 81.6% No 18.4% Total votes: 206

On Tuesday, January 13th, RFFM.org detailed the history of Illinois' Parental Notification Law (see: Illinois' Parental Notification of Abortion Act: Thomas More Society's Long Battle for Law's Enforcement: http://rffm.typepad.com/republicans_for_fair_medi/2009/01/illinois-parental-notification-of-abortion-act-thomas-more-societys-long-battle-for-laws-enforcement.html). On Wednesday, a three judge panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals conducted a hearing regarding the case titled, "David Zbaraz vs. Lisa Madigan". The case was not decided and the three judge panel said the case would be "taken under advisement." The Parental Notification Law was passed in 1995 and signed by then-Governor Jim Edgar. However, the law, which would require parents to be informed when their minor children...

On November's ballot in CA we will have two very important propositions. The Marriage Amendment and Sarah's Law which is a parental notification law. Please, please, please view this 60 second video and pass it on to everyone you know. Please go to www.FriendsOfSarah.com for more information. Also see National Organization for Marriage California

Researchers Say Notification Laws Not Lowering ID Theft Over the past five years, 43 U.S. states have adopted data breach notification laws, but has all of this legislation actually cut down on identity theft? Not according to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University who have published a state-by-state analysis of data supplied by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). "There doesn't seem to be any evidence that the laws actually reduce identity theft," said Sasha Romanosky, a Ph.D student at Carnegie Mellon who is one of the paper's authors. Romanosky's team took a state-by-state look at FTC identity theft complaints filed...

It has officially qualified according to the California Secretary of State Waiting Period and Parental Notification Before Termination of Minor’s Pregnancy. Constitutional Amendment. Summary Date: 11/20/07 Qualified: 05/30/08 Signatures Required: 694,354 Proponent: John Smith Amends California Constitution to prohibit abortion for unemancipated minor until 48 hours after physician notifies minor’s parent, legal guardian or, if parental abuse reported, an adult family member. Provides exceptions for medical emergency or parental waiver. Permits courts to waive notice based on clear and convincing evidence of minor’s maturity or best interests. Mandates reporting requirements, including reports from physicians regarding abortions on minors. Authorizes monetary...

WASHINGTON — President Bush and Texas, the state he once led, were on opposite sides of a Supreme Court dispute today over the role of international law and claims of executive power in the case of a Mexican on death row for rape and murder in Houston. The justices engaged in a spirited discussion of who gets the final say in whether Texas courts must give Jose Ernesto Medellin a new hearing because local police never notified Mexican diplomats that he had been arrested, in violation of an international treaty. An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of...

Concord, NH (LifeNews.com) -- A pro-abortion state legislator who is sponsoring a measure to repeal the state's law requiring a teenage girl's parents to be notified before she can have an abortion says she thinks she has enough votes to get the bill through the legislature. The state House will vote next week on the legislation from State Rep. Elizabeth Hager, a Republican. Hager indicated she expects the Senate to sign off on the bill as well and for it to get as much as 65 percent of the vote in the 400 member House. She predicts a 15-9 Senate...

He's the owner of one of the largest alternative newspapers in the country, a father of seven and a Vietnam veteran decorated with a pair of Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart. He's also a conservative Catholic who attends Mass every day, teaches Latin to home-schooled students and rides the public bus from his Coronado home to his office in Little Italy. But to understand what drives Jim Holman, why he has bankrolled two parental-notification initiatives for minors seeking an abortion in this state, you might want to turn the calendar to 1989. That's when his weekly newspaper, the San...

There are nights when 1st Sgt. Adam Harrell lies awake dreading his job as a harbinger of death for the Marine Corps. He can picture how a widow's face contorts with grief, how parents cringe and weep when he knocks on the door to tell them of a loved one killed in action. Some run and hide at the sight of his dress blue uniform. Others throw their arms around him, hugging and sobbing. In the face of such sorrow, the 5-foot-11 military man feels suddenly small. "Hands down, it's the hardest thing I've ever done," said Harrell, who works...

California voters will get a second chance to rule on whether parents should be notified when their daughters seek abortions. They'll also decide whether tobacco taxes should be raised to pay for a variety of anti-smoking and health care programs. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson said Tuesday that both initiatives had attracted enough voter signatures to make the November ballot. They join eight other proposals that previously made the ballot, although a bill moving through the Legislature would move one of those measures, a $9.95 billion high-speed rail bond, to the November 2008 ballot. The abortion measure would require parents...

The proponents of last year's failed parental-notification initiative are back, pushing a nearly identical measure for this year's November ballot. Buoyed by $2 million from conservative financier and newspaper owner James Holman, the campaign already has collected 700,000 signatures--100,000 more than is needed--to place a measure on the fall ballot. The campaign intends to turn those signatures, and more, in to counties across the state by mid-May, setting up a rematch of last year's heated abortion debate during the fall's gubernatorial election. "We've gathered more than 700,000 signatures and we are planning on qualifying for the November ballot," said campaign...

SACRAMENTO (AP) - Backers of a failed special election measure that would have forced doctors to notify parents or guardians before performing abortions on underage girls are circulating petitions to have Californians vote on nearly the same measure next November. Like Proposition 73, the initiative would require a girl under 18 to wait 48 hours after a parent or legal guardian is notified of her intention to get an abortion. Secretary of State Bruce McPherson on Monday cleared supporters to begin gathering signatures. Voters rejected Proposition 73 by 53 percent to 47 percent during the Nov. 8 special election, when...