Free Republic

They tell SCOTUS that Washington's youth shelter laws, which hide and withhold runaways from parents who object to so-called gender affirming care, are "classic" example of a political majority targeting a minority, as late justice feared. Among the many battles between parents and governments, from public education to public health, none may be as consequential as when the state withholds children from their parents for not affirming the minors' gender confusion, for religious or other reasons. Yet parents of potential and actual runaways from the Pacific to the Rockies may never get to press their First and Fourteenth amendment rights...

The decision in Trump v. Barbara, which reaffirmed, by virtue of the 14th Amendment, that nearly all children born on U.S. soil are citizens at birth, pretty much shot down President Trump's attempt to squelch the citizenship issue.In light of what SCOTUS handed down, which did still allow him some latitude for restriction by executive order, the President moved to avoid the constitutional issue and pivot to regulating the visa, travel, and beneficiary vectors.In two executive orders, he hit what he could before a pregnant woman entered the country and the eligible categories, without tripping on the birthright pressure plate....Rather...

Mitch McConnell returned to the Senate on Monday, ending a months-long medical absence. The Kentucky Republican was hospitalized in June after falling and briefly losing consciousness. "Today, I'll cast my first Senate vote since I took a bad fall back in June. I'm really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing my colleagues," McConnell said in a statement. He continued: "My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven't made it any easier. I'm still not quite back to 100%, but I've assured Leader Thune that, as...

🚨BREAKING: The Trump Administration has invoked the long-unenforced Immigration Act of 1882 to prohibit entry into the United States of “any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a public charge.” Ultimately, this will allow the Trump Administration to deny green cards to immigrants who are likely to use federal welfare, food stamps, or Medicaid, and to revoke the green cards of immigrants who are currently using these programs. The new rule is set to take effect Friday, September 18. As a result, 5.6 million immigrants are expected to lose access...

New York and 21 other states are suing the Trump administration to block a new Department of Homeland Security rule that would give immigration officials wider discretion to deny green cards, visas or entry into the United States when determining whether applicants could become dependent on government aid. The rule change, set to take effect Friday, likely would make it tougher for many immigrants to obtain green cards if they use or are deemed likely to need public benefits such as food stamps, Medicaid or housing vouchers. New York State Attorney General Letitia James and New York City Mayor Zohran...

The order pdf: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2026cv1114-192

LOS ANGELES - Tired of high DMV fees and long lines? That could soon come to an end under a plan proposed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton. Standing outside the West Hollywood DMV office Tuesday, Hilton announced his plan to abolish the DMV as a stand-alone state agency and cut annual vehicle registration fees to a flat $73. Making California affordable What they're saying: "We're going to shut down this bloated nanny state bureaucratic agency that treats Californians with complete contempt. We are done with it. Enough is enough with the DMV, enough is enough with sky-high registration rates,...

“It’s astonishing that anything exists.” — Ludwig Wittgenstein Is this a week to drain our souls, or what? Yesterday, the memory of Charlie Kirk, a decent young man known for acting nobly in an ignoble era, cut down (it is alleged in court) by a pathetic product of Woke cultism — the trans avenging angel, avatar of our national mental illness. And today, the memory of 9/11, for which no alt-theory or engineering lecture can obviate the lonely arc of those little bodies free-falling out of the flaming towers into nothingness. So, we move on because there is nothing else...

The Justice Department announced Friday that an Afghan woman whose sons were connected to the 2024 Election Day terror plot has been deported from the United States through the never-before-used Alien Terrorist Removal Court. Nazira Haji Zada, 47 years old and living in Fort Worth, Texas, was deported last month through the unusual court, and she agreed to accept the "terrorist" label that bars her from ever returning to the United States, the department said. The Justice Department accused Zada of working to “indoctrinate her children with ISIS ideology and have them pledge loyalty to ISIS," which resulted in her...

9/11 Exposed The Weakness Of A Post-Christian WestWe didn’t just get the Muslim world wrong. We got America wrong too.A quarter-century removed from the terrorist attacks of 9/11, several things are now obvious that were not at all obvious to American elites in 2001 (although they should have been). Perhaps the most obvious, as I wrote earlier this week, is that the attacks inaugurated a religious war that we have lost, or at least are in the process of losing. The West failed to recognize the religious nature of the conflict because it was committed to a secular liberal account...

What Are We Teaching Children About 9/11?Twenty-five years later, some instructional materials criticize America’s response to terrorism instead of informing students about the ideology and perpetrators of the attacks.September 11, 2026, marks 25 years since al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners and murdered nearly 3,000 innocent people in the deadliest terrorist attack in American history.A generation of students has grown up with no memory of that day. What they understand about it depends on what we choose to teach them. Judging by some of the materials available, Americans should be concerned.One of the nation’s most elite schools of education—the University...

The Heavy Yoke of 9/11 Twenty-five years after September 11, we’ve failed to confront the ideology that drove the terrorists.Twenty-five years ago this morning, 2,977 people were murdered in the space of 102 minutes. Most of them had gone to work. Some had boarded an airplane. Among them were 343 New York City firemen who climbed the stairs of the World Trade Center towers while everyone else came down, knowing what that act meant. Aboard a plane over Pennsylvania, 40 passengers and crew learned by telephone what was happening and took their plane back from the men who had...

Kennedy slams Democratic Party: 'Democrats systematically obliterated the Bill of Rights' Kennedy detailed how the party "systematically" took down the Bill of Rights and reflected on how the Democratic Party of his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, is not the one seen in the country today. Kennedy detailed how the party "systematically" took down the Bill of Rights and reflected on how the Democratic Party of his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and uncle, former President John F. Kennedy, is not the one seen in the country today. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F....

WASHINGTON — Any immigrant legally in the United States on a work visa would have to depart the country immediately if they lose or quit their job under a new rule being proposed by the Department of Homeland Security. The proposal would eliminate the 60-day grace period foreign workers receive when they become unemployed — allowing them to stay in the US to find more work. Instead, the loss of employment would mean an immediate loss in legal status.

The Indiana Supreme Court has declared incumbent Senator Spencer Deery the winner of his primary race against Trump-backed Paula Copenhaver. When reached for comment, Deery said the court’s decision made him proud. “This was a lot bigger than me,” he said. “It says that Indiana is a place where if you do everything right as a voter: you vote, you check all the boxes, you show your ID, you register, your vote should count.” Paula Copenhaver did not respond to WFYI’s request for comment. The decision ends a months-long legal battle over who is the rightful winner in Indiana’s 23rd...

America’s Youth Still Need Charlie KirkHis greatest legacy is showing how faith, courage, and action can improve the nation.One year ago today, America lost Charlie Kirk.In some ways, it feels like only yesterday. At other times, it feels like a lifetime ago. Twelve months after that horrifying day, we have only begun to reckon with the scale of the loss for conservatism—and for America.To someone who ignores politics, it can be hard to explain just why Charlie’s loss was so great. He had a popular podcast—but there are many of those. He did campus debates—but he didn’t have a monopoly...

President Donald Trump used the Republican Party’s first midterm convention to justify the Iran war rather than trying to put it behind him, as escalating violence and spiking oil prices loomed over the elaborate Trump-centered showcase in Dallas. In a speech billed as an opening argument for the peak campaign season, he defended his record and encouraged supporters to vote as if he were on the ballot. He also debuted a new enticement, promising to reward Republican congressional majorities by giving every American a $5,000 dividend to spend within the country.

The Supreme Court Thursday rejected a bid to implement a new congressional map in Missouri that would have likely given Republicans an extra seat in the House of Representatives.In an order with no noted dissents the high court imposed a stay on the map while a lawsuit brought by opponents of the redistricting gambit makes its way through the legal system.For now, Missouri must use the map implemented following the 2020 census, which has returned a House delegation of six Republicans and two Democrats. The new map would have carved up parts of Kansas City to weaken the Democrats’ grip...

9/11 Was The Beginning Of A Religious War That We LostWe thought religion had no real influence on peoples and cultures, so we failed to recognize the religious nature of the conflict.Twenty-five years ago this week I listened to the late historian Stephen Ambrose deliver the opening remarks for a conference about World War Two at Hillsdale College. He had good news for us. The 21st century, Ambrose declared, would be an era of peace and progress. He said the major conflicts of the 20th century, the two world wars and the Cold War that followed, were fundamentally disputes within...