Free Republic

Drivers will be forced off the roads in Ireland and the population packed into “higher density” cities under a long-awaited climate plan which will ‘revolutionise’ people’s lifestyle and behaviours, according to local media. “Nudge” policies such as huge tax hikes, as well as bans and red tape outlined in the plan, will pave the way to a “vibrant” Ireland of zero carbon emissions by 2050 according to the government, which last year committed to boost the country’s 4.7 million-strong population by a further million with mass migration. In order to avert a “climate apocalypse”, the government plans to force people...

The Green party in Germany has said it intends to ban industrial farming as part of a wide-ranging and costly package to combat climate change should they come to power. Katrin Goering-Eckardt, the party’s leader in the Germany parliament, said her party would establish a fund worth at least €100 billion to finance climate projects including dam construction, reforestation and environmentally friendly transportation projects. Ms Goering-Eckardt did not go into further details on a timeline for the prohibition of intensively reared meat. But the proposal is likely to stoke up debate over whether the Greens are still Germany’s Verbotspartei (prohibition...

Organizers of a drive to have a proposed assault weapon ban constitutional amendment on Florida’s 2020 ballot said they have topped 100,000 signatures and expect to get a review of ballot language by the Florida Supreme Court any day. Ban Assault Weapons NOW and the League of Women Voters of Florida joined with Democratic state Reps. Carlos Guillermo Smith and Anna Eskamani and U.S. Rep. Darren Soto Monday to announce they’ve reached the point where they expect the review. They also vowed that final approval Friday of HB 5, which restricts citizen initiatives to get measures on the statewide ballot,...

The Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Tuesday unveiled new travel restrictions to Cuba as part of President Donald Trump's foreign policy position. The Department amended the Cuban Assets Control Regulations (CACR) which now bans all non-family travel to the country. The State Department said the United States will no longer permit visits to Cuba via passenger and recreational vessels, including cruise ships and yachts, as well as private and corporate aircraft. The goal of the restrictions is to significantly hinder Cuba's economy and pressure its government to stop aiding Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. “Cuba...

To San Franciscan Chris Chin, the owner of a vape shop in the city’s Tenderloin neighborhood, the proposed e-cigarette ban being considered by city officials would be tantamount to becoming the ultimate “nanny city.” “I’ve renamed it ‘Ban Francisco’ because you can’t do anything in the city,” said Chin, whose store, Gone With the Smoke, stands to go out of business if the city enacts the proposed ban. “You can’t get a plastic straw or bag, or flavored tobacco. What’s next?” Chin’s sentiments capture an undercurrent of frustration that a city once famous for its free-spirited ethos has strayed so...

Facebook on Friday banned black conservative activist Candance Owens for seven days, after she wrote a post calling attention to the correlation between father absence in the black community and household poverty, Breitbart reported. The post concluded: "Black America must wake up to the great liberal hoax. White supremacy is not a threat. Liberal supremacy is." Screenshot The social media giant later reversed the ban, claiming that they "mistakenly applied a temporary block to Candace Owens’ account that we have since restored." "We recently announced a group of people that we removed from our services for violating our policies. Candace...

United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to stop US companies from using telecommunications equipment made by technology firms that pose a national security risk. The order paves the way for a ban on doing business with China's Huawei, though it did not name specific countries or companies. Such action was under consideration for more than a year, but was repeatedly delayed. Under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the president has the authority to regulate business decisions in response to a clear national threat, and the "national emergency" declaration directs the US Department of Commerce...

Image caption -- Former BNP leader Nick Griffin and ex-Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen are among those affected Facebook has imposed a ban on a dozen far-right individuals and organisations that it says "spread hate". The ban includes the British National Party and Nick Griffin, the English Defence League and the National Front. The list also includes Britain First, which was already banned, but this latest action will prohibit support for it on any of the US firm's services. It said it had taken the action because those involved had proclaimed a "violent or hateful mission". "Individuals and organisations...

While Ohio has reached this stage twice before, the measure was vetoed both times by Gov. John Kasich. But new Gov. Mike DeWine has promised to sign the bill, which would ban abortions, except to save the life of the woman, once a fetal heartbeat is detected. It was unclear Wednesday how quickly the legislation would reach DeWine’s desk or how long he would wait to add his signature. Cincinnati Right to Life labeled the measure “the nation’s strongest pro-life bill,” while Senate Democrats said it “would become the most extreme abortion ban in the country.”

Retailers who had to destroy tens of thousands of bump stocks to comply with an ATF rule change have gone to the court seeking compensation. (Photo: Slide Fire Solutions)Two former retailers of now-banned bump stock devices are suing the federal government for damages they incurred after having to destroy their inventory. The plaintiffs include two companies, Minnesota’s Modern Sportsman and Texas-based RW Arms, as well as two individuals, Mark Maxwell and Michael Stewart, who in all lost 74,995 bump stocks to the ban which took effect late last month. The case, filed in a Washington, D.C. federal court, argues that...

A federal judge struck down a controversial law in North Carolina on Tuesday that banned abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy. U.S. District Judge William Osteen declared the ban unconstitutional in response to a 2016 lawsuit filed by several abortion rights organizations. Osteen cited other successful lawsuits around the country that have taken down bans on abortions that were based on weeks of pregnancy or gestational events. His decision will allow women in the state to obtain an abortion at any time prior to the viability of a fetus, which Osteen said would need to be determined on a...

The litany of legal challenges to the federal bump stock ban generated an injunction on Thursday.The U.S. 10th Circuit on Thursday issued a temporary stay of the pending federal bump stock ban set to take effect next week. The stay comes in the case of Utah gun rights advocate W. Clark Aposhian, backed by the nonprofit New Civil Liberties Alliance, which takes issue with how government regulators moved to outlaw the devices last year. As such, it blocks enforcement, set to take effect on March 26, only against Aposhian while his case is in the courts. “Today the Court of...

Once the Democrats took control of Congress, they began their usual nonsense with a renewed fury that I have never seen before. Part of this was all sorts of efforts to ban things. They really out-did themselves. I had a hard time keeping up with their latest efforts on banning things, raising taxes, and trying to undo everything that Trump tried to do. Here is the updated on-going list. It is almost double the size of the original posting last year. Enjoy or cry. This is a compilation of the many, many things that American Democrats (often radical totalitarian communists...

Globalist President Emmanuel Macron is flirting with more anti-free speech measures. At an annual dinner, Macron put forward the idea of permanently banning those convicted of so-called “hate speech” crimes from all social media. Broadcaster BFMTV reports that a bill fighting hate speech online will be filed around May. This proposal to put the clamps on Internet speech coincides with the ear-piercing levels of criticism Macron is facing throughout the anti-government Yellow Vest protest. The French government has brought down the hammer on the Yellow Vest protestors, arresting approximately 8,400 protestors in a span of a few months.

This is a compilation of the many, many things that American Democrats (often radical totalitarian communists wearing the mantle of “progressive liberals”) want to ban. This is a running tabulated list that originated from an earlier post about busybodies. There, I argued that Social Justice Warriors (SJW) was just another name for a busybody. This is a set aside list tabulated by request. It supersedes the extensive list on an earlier post about busybodies. Remember, boys and girls, all bans are a restriction on freedom. Go ahead and shake your head in disbelief. These people are friggin’ lunatics. The List...

Monday was UN Holocaust Remembrance Day, when the United Nations was supposed to pay homage to victims of the Holocaust. As part of the proceedings, the Austrian and Norwegian missions to the UN hosted a well-attended event, complete with high-end food and beverages. Among the included drinks were a variety of wines.Unfortunately, someone quickly noticed that the labels on one of the brands of wine had all been defaced with a marker. The bottles were the product of the award-winning Golan Heights Winery in Israel, but someone had gone through and blacked out the name of the winery on all...

HONOLULU (KHON2) - Hawaii could be the first state in the U.S. to ban the sale of cigarettes, if a current proposal becomes law. Adults younger than age 30 could be legally prohibited from buying cigarettes in less than a year's time -- and all cigarette sales would be banned in Hawaii in five years -- under a bill by State Representative Richard Creagan. The bill was co-signed by Representatives John Mizuno, also a Democrat, and Cynthia Thielen, a Republican. "We're taxing them, that did decrease use somewhat, but we still have 140,000 people in our state that smoke cigarettes....

If you’ve had the pleasure of buying a gas can in the past few years, then you’ve likely come to the conclusion that all modern gas cans suck. After Hurricane Sandy prompted me to buy a generator and stockpile gasoline, I came to the same conclusion when looking for containers for my gas-hoarding pleasure. Not one to give into frustration, I solved the crappy gas can problem, and I’ll tell you how. But I think a bit of history is in order. Why do all these new cans suck anyway? From what I can tell, this is pretty much an...

My order at my favorite Chinese takeout was taking too long. I stopped into the men's room. There I witnessed a common scene: the modern toilet disaster. An otherwise clean business had a restroom calamity on its hands, one so grim that I hesitate to describe it. The conjectural history is not difficult to reconstruct. The toilet apparently had trouble flushing. There was a plunger by the toilet, of course, as we see everywhere today. The toilet was plunged to get rid of the obstruction, while the obstruction itself spilled all over the floor and stuck to the plunger too....

A couple weeks ago a California Assemblyman introduced a bill that would ban paper receipts in the state. To be precise, the bill would require the customer to ask for one, similar to the state’s straw ban. The announcement made some news, mostly for the poor staffer who was stuck wearing a life-size receipt over his head. WATCH: A San Francisco assembly member put a life-size receipt on display Tuesday in order to introduce a new legislation that would require retailers to offer digital receipts as the default to customers beginning January 1, 2022. https://t.co/dw4hddKPRu pic.twitter.com/wLZfhz1rNK— CBS Evening News...