Free Republic

President Joe Biden’s administration is delaying its potential plan to ban menthol cigarettes after concerns about the political implications ahead of the 2024 election. The administration planned to announce Friday that it will delay its decision on the rule, people familiar with the matter told the WSJ. While the administration plans to argue that it needs to consult more outside groups on the implications of the rule, there is no current timeline to revisit the issue, the sources told the WSJ. Health and Human Services (HHS) Sec. Xavier Becerra confirmed the news in a statement Friday afternoon, saying the potential...

Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) said Friday on ABC’s “The View” that women in her state will die because of the reinstated abortion ban from 1864. Hobbs said, “This is absolutely outrageous, and, you know, we can talk about how crazy it is that a law passed in 1864 by 27 men now controls the lives of millions of Arizona women, but I want to talk about the effect that’s going to have on women in our state.” She added, “I, myself, have personally experienced a miscarriage, losing a pregnancy by miscarriage and the treatment for that is a procedure that...

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” that the Arizona Supreme Court upholding a 123-year-old law that bans all abortions except to save the life of the mother was “shameful” and “dangerous.” Jean-Pierre said, “What we saw today it is wrong, it is shameful, it is dangerous, what women now and Arizona are going to have to go through. There are 21 extreme state bans across the country. And it is because of what elected officials have been able to do. This started with the Dobbs decision. This started with the overturning of Roe...

Governor Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) said Tuesday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that she’s confident voters will enshrine abortion rights in November. When asked about the Supreme Court’s decision banning abortion, Hobbs said, “Arizonans across the state are reeling from this decision that reinstates the most draconian ban in the country. This is a ban that as you said, was passed in 1864 before we were state, before women had the right to vote and it is a near total ban with no exceptions for rape or incest. It requires prison time for doctors. There’s just right now a lot of...

CNN contributor David Axelrod said Tuesday on “The Situation Room” that the Arizona Supreme Court upholding a 123-year-old law that bans all abortions except to save the life of the mother was an “earthquake” that could “tip this election.” Axelrod said, “This has put the health care of women in peace of mind of women across Arizona at risk. And so we should not forget the substance in this.”

Today, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics approved an unprecedented ban on the participation of transgender women, in a move that could pressure other major governing bodies of athletics, including the National Collegiate Athletics Association, to follow suit. According to the official press release, “Only NAIA student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports.” The policy does not specify how it defines biological sex, nor does it clarify its implications for intersex athletes. It also excludes athletes who have begun “any masculinizing hormone therapy.” This ban comes amid increased scrutiny over trans bodies in sport and...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) broke with former President Trump on Monday over Trump’s decision to back away from endorsing a national 15-week abortion ban, declaring that leaving the issue entirely to the states “runs contrary to an American consensus that would limit late-term abortions.” “I respectfully disagree with President Trump’s statement that abortion is a states’ rights issue,” he said in a statement responding to Trump. Trump on Monday reversed course on his plan to support a 15-week or 16-week national abortion ban amid pushback from top Republicans, who warned it would put the issue of abortion rights at the...

The war on gas-powered vehicles continues. While the White House recently released new rules to phase out gas-powered vehicles by 2032, several states have gone further. Eight states plan to completely ban the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035, the U.K.’s Daily Mail reported. Who’s leading the charge, you might ask? Why, it’s California, of course! They are joined by Rhode Island, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, and Washington. Washington, D.C., has also committed to the ban, according to Money. If you live in one of these states, you won’t be forced to take your gas-powered car...

The United States' top intelligence agency wants to ban its spies from using "biased language," including the terms "radical Islamists" and "jihadist," saying these words "are hurtful to Muslim-Americans and detrimentally impact our efforts as they bolster extremist rhetoric," according to a language guide published internally. FreeBeacon The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which is responsible for handling the country's spy apparatus, seeks to ban a range of common terms because it says they offend Muslims and foment racism against employees. In addition to terms describing Islamic terrorists, ODNI instructs employees to avoid phrases such as "blacklisted,"...

When future historians decide to write the definitive treatise on the downfall of the state of California, we can be sure that the final days of August 2022 will feature very prominently. It was on August 25 that the state announced a bold plan to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles by the year 2035. Everything had to be electric from that point forward. What would that do to the economy of the state of California, given how expensive electric vehicles are? Where were we going to get the materials to manufacture all of these new EV batteries? No one...

The NCAA announced Wednesday it will lobby state gambling boards to ban player proposition bets in an effort to curb harassment against individual student athletes. As March Madness tournaments get underway, the college athletics organization said prop bets — those made on the specific stat lines of players, like how many points, rebounds or turnovers they make in a game — are harmful to the sport. “Sports betting issues are on the rise across the country with prop bets continuing to threaten the integrity of competition and leading to student-athletes and professional athletes getting harassed,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said...

Wyoming has become the latest state to ban minors from obtaining body-disfiguring gender transition procedures, bringing the total to two dozen.Wyoming’s Republican Gov. Mark Gordon signed Senate Enrolled Act 52 into law Friday. Gordon’s approval of the measure, which prohibits doctors from performing body mutilating sex-change procedures on minors, comes after the state’s Republican-controlled House of Representatives approved it in a 55-6 vote on March 6, and the Republican-controlled Senate passed it in a 28-2 vote the following day. The bill is scheduled to take effect on July 1. In the state House of Representatives, one Republican joined all Democrats...

On Wednesday, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) signed a bill into law that bans homeless encampments in the state of Florida.

Freshman House Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) is heading up the Democrats’ latest gun control push by seeking to ban “zombie guns.” Spectrum News reported that Frost wants to close the “zombie gun loophole,” and he has the support of more than 20 Democrat House members. The “zombie gun” moniker is one that Frost applies to guns that were not destroyed after being “retired by law enforcement” or taken in via gun buybacks.

Alabama governor Kay Ivey has signed a bill into law in effect banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs across public schools, universities and state agencies, the latest move in a wave of a Republican-led legislation that aims to restrict diversity efforts across the country.

Let’s not pretend this is about countering communist China or protecting Americans. It’s about using CCP tactics here at home.Given all we know now about how U.S. intelligence agencies conspire with Big Tech firms and nongovernmental cutouts to spy on and manipulate U.S. citizens, together with what the Twitter Files revealed last year about how the FBI and DHS deputized social media companies to censor Americans and throttle free speech, you’d think lawmakers who ostensibly care about the First Amendment would balk at expanding the online censorship industry’s reach in the United States.But you’d be wrong. Last week in Washington...

Colorado Seretary of State Jena Griswold (D) is standing with House Democrats in her state who are pushing for a ban on “assault weapons.” On March 19, 2024, Griswold posted to X: I support an assault weapons ban in Colorado. We can’t wait for the federal government to act. — Jena Griswold (@JenaGriswold) March 19, 2024 On February 29, 2024, Griswold (pictured above) used to X to share Denver 7’s coverage of the broader gun control push undertaken this year by Colorado House Democrats. That broader push includes creating new gun-free zones which would even prohibit licensed concealed carriers from...

Former President Trump said Sunday that he will decide “pretty soon” whether to back a national abortion ban. Trump’s comments come after reports surfaced last month that he is considering embracing a 16-week federal abortion ban for his campaign platform. “We’re going to find out,” Trump told Fox News host Howard Kurtz on whether he would back the policy. “Pretty soon, I’m gonna be making a decision. I would like to see if we could make both sides happy.” The Trump campaign pushed back on reports of the policy last month but did not deny that Trump was considering it,...

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday the Senate “will review” the House-passed bill that would force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the app or see it banned in the U.S., but he stayed firmly noncommittal about bringing the legislation to the floor. The legislation passed the House with an overwhelming margin, 352-65, earlier Wednesday and seemed to have strong momentum heading over to the upper chamber. But Schumer made it clear he does not plan to rush it to the Senate floor, despite President Biden’s Friday statement saying he would sign a TikTok ban if it passes Congress....

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) cited her previous ban on Twitter, the platform now known as X, in opposing legislation that could ban TikTok on Wednesday. “I rise today as the only member of Congress that has ever been banned by social media,” Greene said on the House floor, as the lower chamber prepared to vote on the bill. “Twitter banned me, banned my personal account on which I was campaigning for Congress, raising money and using my free speech to inform the voters in my district they can vote for me,” she continued. “This was not by a company...