Free Republic

A Pennsylvania appeals court has struck down the commonwealth’s landmark 2019 mail-in voting law. In an opinion from Judge Mary Leavitt Friday morning, Commonwealth Court found that the law, which allows all Pennsylvanians to vote by mail without an excuse, was unconstitutional, agreeing with 14 House Republican lawmakers who filed suit against the law in September.

I’ve always thought that it would be a humbling experience - and an immense honor - to be elected to serve in Virginia’s General Assembly, the oldest continuous law-making body in the New World. To be part of the House of Delegates is to follow in the footsteps of great men of the Enlightenment: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry. You’d think the history of the place alone would be enough to make members leave behind their bad manners, their hateful diatribes, their name-calling. It’s an institution that demands decorum......Perhaps emboldened by November’s elections that restored a Republican majority in...

Prepare for war: That is the message Joe Biden is thought to have delivered to Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky when the two spoke this week, after the US rejected Russia's security demands in eastern Europe. US intelligence believes the invasion will likely come in February, when colder temperature will have frozen the ground solid - allowing Putin's tanks and artillery to roll in without getting bogged down in mud. If they're right, that gives Zelensky and his generals just a few weeks to prepare their defences. No doubt the question being asked in Kiev right now is: Where will Putin...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told President Joe Biden to "calm down the messaging" about the threat of a Russian invasion because it was stirring panic, CNN reported, citing an unnamed Ukrainian official. Biden and Zelensky spoke by phone Thursday amid rising tensions between Russia — which is amassing tens of thousands of troops at Ukraine's border — Ukraine, the US, and NATO. Biden told Zelensky on Thursday that a Russian invasion could happen as soon as February, when the ground freezes over, tweeted Emily Horne, White House National Security Council spokesperson. However, Zelensky told Biden in the call that Ukraine...

There is confusion over when Sue Gray's report on No 10 lockdown parties will be published after a statement from the police on their investigation. The Met said on Friday it had asked for "minimal reference" in the report to events they are investigating to avoid prejudicing its inquiries. Many in the Cabinet Office, where Ms Gray is based, were taken by surprise by the Met's statement, sources say. The report was due to be sent to Downing Street this week. Boris Johnson's premiership is potentially at stake, as Conservative MPs wait to see the outcome of Ms Gray's inquiry...

Six people who were found dead in a Milwaukee home on Sunday were shot dead in an 'execution style' mass killing and three of the victims were due to testify at an upcoming murder trial, police have revealed.

January Barometer The idea of the January barometer is this: If the Standard & Poor's 500 market index ends January higher than it started, the rest of the year will follow suit. This prediction has been correct 34 out of 38 times since January 1950. Christine Hauser cited this fact in a January 2012 article in "The New York Times." A good start in January may mean investors are ready to get into the market, which will cause it to climb. Not everyone buys into this idea, including Lu. He said the historical observations are interesting, but unreliable.

Google is boosting its benefits and offering employees more parental leave and vacation time. Employees will now get a minimum of 20 days of vacation a year, up from 15. It's also increasing parental leave to 18 weeks and upping caregiver leave to eight weeks. Google is increasing parental leave and offering additional vacation time as part of an overhaul of its employee benefits. The company announced on Thursday that it had expanded parental leave to 18 weeks for all parents (previously 12 weeks) and 24 weeks for parents who give birth (previously 18 weeks). As of April 2, it...

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is warning Americans that the Biden administration and the “bipartisan neocon consensus” in Congress are eager to drag the U.S. into a new war over the looming conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “I was heartened when President Trump spoke of stopping our ‘endless wars’ and I was hoping for more restraint from President Biden,” Paul wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday in Louisville’s Courier-Journal. “Unfortunately, that wasn’t his history and it doesn’t seem to be his current direction.” “The endless wars are ramping up again even as I write today,” Paul warned. The libertarian-leaning senator is...

Friday's Commonwealth Court opinion declares Act 77 of 2019 unconstitutional, though an appeal is expected by the Department of State. A statewide court says Pennsylvania’s expansive two-year-old mail-in voting law is unconstitutional, agreeing with challenges by Republicans who soured on mail-in voting after then-President Donald Trump began baselessly attacking it as rife with fraud in 2020′s campaign. According to a Commonwealth Court filing released Friday, the court ruled that Act 77, allowing residents to vote by mail in Pennsylvania, violates Article VII, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania constitution. The Commonwealth Court denied the Pa. Department of State acting secretary's application...

The story revolves around discovering a woman’s body remains in a suitcase and is more than just a love relationship gone bad. Gergana Prodanava was a 38-year-old woman who worked at the Great Western Hotel in Exeter, England. Reported missing in August 2016, Gergana had no idea what was in store for her. She could never have imagined that the one she loved would one day take her life. A Cursed Love Story During her early 20s, Gergana met Kostadin Kostov in Bulgaria. Kostadin was 26 years old at that time. They started dating in 2000 and shortly fell in...

Standoffs on the ground between parents and school districts continue, as a battle in the courts looms... Defying an executive order issued by newly-elected Gov. Glenn Youngkin that renders masks optional in public schools, several Virginia districts responded by suspending students who decline to wear a mask, segregating them into isolated rooms, and calling police on mothers who advocate for them. After the issuing of Executive Order 2 on Youngkin’s inauguration day, January 15, Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) went into action by joining a seven-district lawsuit against the order and directing their administrators to suspend students without face coverings...

The latest country to announce it is eliminating most of its COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, including mask mandates, is Denmark. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday that beginning Feb. 1, mask restrictions on public transportation, in restaurants, in shops and other indoor facilities will be lifted, the Associated Press reported. "We say goodbye to the restrictions and welcome the life we knew before," Frederiksen said. "As of Feb. 1, Denmark will be open." Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said that while the European nation recently has had 46,000 new cases daily on average, only 40 people are in hospital intensive care units....

This week is the annual Sundance Film Festival in Park City. You wouldn’t know it though, as the streets are devoid of all the PIBS (people in black), the hotels are empty, the restaurants uncrowded and the usual film venues shuttered. Sundance has once again gone virtual, as announced in early January, due to mounting concerns over the Nu-Wu-Flu cooties.On January 5, 2022 it was announced that the in-person components would be scrapped in favor of a virtual festival due to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant.Just as “virtual” education advocates proclaim there is “virtual learning” going on, the Sundance promoters pretend...

It’s becoming easier and easier to adopt a plant-based diet. Along with more ways to make fruits and vegetables delicious, there’s no shortage of meatless fish, chicken nuggets, beloved fast food burgers, even whole restaurant concepts dedicated to plant-based eats. While the introduction of some of these items leaves us scratching our heads, wondering if the arguments for sustainable meatless eating are even possible under our broken food system, the good news is that such developments continue to normalize vegetarian and vegan lifestyles. So, what’s stopping people from ditching meat for good? Talker reports that taste may be the number-one...

Former Rep. Mark Walker says he is staying in North Carolina’s open Senate race, a decision that rattles the GOP primary in one of the nation’s most competitive contests. His decision to remain in the contest defies former President Donald Trump’s offer to endorse him for a House seat — an offer that was designed to clear the Republican field for Trump’s chosen candidate, Rep. Ted Budd. As Walker spoke to a crowd of hundreds of supporters in Greensboro on Thursday night, a crew dramatically lifted a tarp from his campaign bus, revealing a Walker for Senate logo. “What we’re...

Kerry Dingle is a mother of two. She thinks masks should be optional for kids in schools and child care. And that makes her feel pretty lonely in Silver Spring, Md. "As soon as you question 'Is it a good idea to put a 2-year-old in a mask all day?' you're suddenly a psychotic, anti-vax right-winger," she says. "Which really couldn't be further from the truth." Dingle says she loves vaccines and thinks everyone should have them. "And the fact that high-risk people can protect themselves with vaccines and boosters now is fantastic and means that they should do that....

Right now Joe Biden and his administration are deeply unpopular . So how to reverse this situation? Return to enforcing immigration laws at the border? Cut wild spending in order to rein in inflation? Open up the Keystone pipeline and encourage drilling to lower the cost of gasoline? Naw! The secret is... TRASH TALK!And who recommended that? Was it some local tough on the street corner? Nope. It was none other than the founding editor of Politico, John F. Harris, who on Thursday revealed "How Trash Talk Can Save Biden’s Presidency."Harris' trash talk revelation came to him as a result...

A Wisconsin judge was set to hear arguments Friday on whether prosecutors should return to Kyle Rittenhouse the rifle he used to shoot three people during a street protest. Rittenhouse shot the men during the protest in Kenosha in 2020. He killed Anthony Huber and Joseph Rosenbaum and wounded Gaige Grosskreutz in the arm. Rittenhouse argued he fired in self-defense after each of the men attacked him. A jury last year acquitted him of multiple charges, including homicide. Rittenhouse's attorney, Mark Richards, filed a motion Jan. 19 asking prosecutors to return Rittenhouse's rifle, his ammunition, his face mask, and other...