Free Republic

In the Kyle Rittenhouse self-defense case in Kenosha, Wisconsin, much has been written about prosecutors choosing to charge Kyle with “Possession of a dangerous weapon by a person under 18.” and the exemptions to the law which apply to Kyle. The legislative history in Wisconsin and of the particular law, 948.60 are at the crux of the matter. Rifles and shotguns, which are not considered “concealable” in Wisconsin or federal law, have never been defined as “dangerous weapons” under Wisconsin law. The definition of “dangerous weapons” is very limited.It is reasonable that rifles and shotguns were excluded from the list...

We’re headed off to Ann Arbor at 0700 as Raj has an early hour EMG. If you don’t know what an EMG is consider yourself lucky because as a rule it means you have nerve damage, plus it’s, um, kind of painful. Yuk.So here’s all I’ve got today: a very cute but holiday, and gender, confused peach faced love bird.First of all, it’s Halloween, bird brain, not Easter; no eggs involved. Secondly, this is Herbert, the peach faced love bird. He’s a boy. For goodness sake, males do not lay eggs. Nor do they have babies. How difficult is this?...

The joke goes that a slip of the tongue for a politician means that they accidentally said what they actually believe. Now Democrats are trying to clean up the mess created by Virginia Democratic candidate for governor, Terry McAuliffe, when he said in a debate on Sept. 28, "I don't think parents should be telling schools what they should teach." McAuliffe's 5-point lead over his opponent, Republican Glenn Youngkin, who has made parental control in education a central issue in his campaign, has disappeared. Big-name Democrats, including former President Barack 0bama, are now showing up in Virginia with a mop...

October 27, 2021 Wednesday of week 30 in Ordinary Time Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Bermuda Readings at MassLiturgical Colour: Green.First readingRomans 8:26-30 ©The Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into wordsThe Spirit comes to help us in our weakness. For when we cannot choose words in order to pray properly, the Spirit himself expresses our plea in a way that could never be put into words, and God who knows everything in our hearts knows perfectly well what he means, and that the pleas of the saints expressed by the Spirit are according to...

SYRACUSE N.Y. — During a Monday press briefing, Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon shared details on how the county plans to get shots to kids as quickly as possible. This comes as the FDA and CDC are expected to meet this week to consider emergency use authorization. Pfizer’s vaccine for kids ages five to eleven could be approved within the next few weeks. The approval of the vaccine for young children could play a key role in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in Central New York

It was probably the worst day of Alec Baldwin's life when he accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the movie "Rust" on Oct. 21. It's a time to feel terrible about a 42-year-old woman with a husband and a young son. Then, CNN's Jake Tapper used it in one of his commentaries to denounce the entire Republican Party for making this tragedy an occasion for jokes. "There's something about our politics right now that is driving people away from our shared humanity." Tapper was upset that Rep. Lauren Boebert recalled a tweet from Dec. 5,...

This makes three posts in a row on the subject of a “progressive craziness of the day.” But then, there’s enough progressive craziness to have such a post every day; or, really, multiple. There is an endless supply. As a reader of this blog, you may rarely pay much attention to what comes out of the Securities & Exchange Commission. If you should ever look, it probably all seems like a lot of inside baseball mumbo jumbo. On the other hand, if you are a senior executive or board member at a public company, or maybe a corporate lawyer at...

The Biden administration wishes you a Happy Thanksgiving. In a month, we will get together for Thanksgiving. Last year, we had to worry about COVID and getting too close to grandma. This year, our problem is a bit different. In other words, will we be able to afford "Turkey Day"? Frankly, paying for Thanksgiving may be a challenging in 2021. This is from Kim Severson: Nearly every component of the traditional American Thanksgiving dinner, from the disposable aluminum turkey roasting pan to the coffee and pie, will cost more this year, according to agricultural economists, farmers and grocery executives. Major...

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Cindy McCain as the US ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, securing a longtime Republican ally of President Joe Biden for a spot in his administration. McCain -- the widow of GOP Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whose relationship with Biden has spanned decades -- was confirmed nearly four months after the President nominated her to the position, which focuses on ending global hunger and expanding access to quality foods worldwide. The request to confirm McCain was made on the Senate floor by Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, while...

Why shouldn’t they, when the risks of the “cure” seem disproportionate to the risks of the disease? On February 5, 1777, George Washington issued an order for all troops to be inoculated against smallpox. He feared the deadly disease raging through his troops was a worse threat than the British. In Washington’s time, the only way to protect against smallpox was variolation, a procedure involving obtaining smallpox scabs from those sick with the disease, making a small cut into a healthy person’s arm, and then inserting the scab into that cut. Most variolated people would get a mild form of...

Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday endorsed Charles W. Herbster for Nebraska governor. According to his Twitter bio, Herbster is a ''proud lifelong Nebraska farmer, cattle rancher, businessman, and Republican.'' ''Charles W. Herbster,'' Trump wrote, according to Liz Harrington, ''has been a tremendous supporter of America First and Make America Great Again, right from the beginning. He is running for Governor of the Great State of Nebraska and will do a fantastic job. ''A proud native of Nebraska, Charles is an extraordinarily successful businessman who will fight for our Farmers and Ranchers, support our Military and Vets, and protect and...

Doctors employed by hospitals are now hearing, "Your arm or your job." We are living in a game come to life. As with any game, there are rules. But sometimes in life, if you want to survive, you learn how to game the game. We no longer live in your grandfather's world, where medical care was physician-directed. Increasingly, control is in the hands of an opposition force comprising hospital administrators, insurance executives, lawyers, and elected and unelected government officials. Physicians are now mostly cogs on the medical wheel, where the cogs are rapidly being worn out. On top of Medicare...

Recently, The Washington Post published a news article, "Biden's critics hurl increasingly vulgar taunts," exploring what the paper says is a growing phenomenon of people around the country directing raw insults at the president. As an example, the paper pointed to resident Joe Biden's recent visit to his hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where a woman stood on the street with a sign that said, "F--- Joe Biden." At other times, Biden detractors say simply, "FJB," which stands for you-know-what. The Post also noted the "Let's go Brandon" phenomenon. If anyone doesn't know what that is, it stemmed from an NBC...

When it comes to transgenderism, our medical establishment ignores all the rules it normally applies to other ailments that are trendy among teens. How far has the influence of “influencers” gone? Very far gone, it seems. Recently a new phenomenon has cropped up, that of people—mostly teen girls—developing various tics akin to Tourette’s Syndrome after watching people on Tik Tok who actually have (or claim to have) the malady. Interestingly, the reaction to the situation has been surprisingly reasonable and very unlike the reaction to another trend that is also quite possibly linked to social media: the recent surge in...

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A report from abroad: Knowledgeable British and Europeans not only do not think America is back, they think it has gone mad.After three weeks in Europe and extensive discussions with dozens of well-informed and highly placed individuals from most of the principal Western European countries, including leading members of the British government, I have the unpleasant duty of reporting complete incomprehension and incredulity at what Joe Biden and his collaborators encapsulate in the peppy but misleading phrase, “We’re back.” As one eminent elected British government official put it, “They are not back in any conventional sense of that word. We...

Today is day #279 of Democrats deliberately flooding America with non-Americans to intentionally eradicate American culture. That sentence is worth unpacking a little. Some might respond: “Why are you so against immigration? It isn’t ‘deliberate.’ Why would they do this on purpose? Even if it is on purpose, what can we do about it?” First, we should correct some of the lies and deliberate mischaracterizations Democrats use to confuse things. They accuse us of being “anti-immigration.” Immigration can be a wonderful thing. We all agree on that. The issue is legal versus illegal immigration. Period. Full stop. Democrats deliberately confuse...

Democrats say resident Joe Biden won "a strong mandate." His government can do all sorts of good things! I don't believe he has a mandate, but thanks to the selfishness of former President Donald Trump, Democrats control Congress, and that may give them power to shove their worst ideas down our throats. Those include: No. 1: Hate speech laws. No. 2: Expanding the Supreme Court. No. 3: Gun control. No. 4: Spending much more. Unfortunately, they don't seem to have noticed that these "reforms" were just tried in a country near us. My new video reveals how they worked out...

The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee plans to blast Attorney General Merrick Garland over his controversial school boards memo and will critique him over his handling of the Hunter Biden investigation. “In less than a year the Department has moved as far left as it can go,” Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa will say Wednesday. “You’ve politicized the Department in ways it shouldn’t be."