Free Republic

President Biden laid out his gun control agenda on Thursday night, saying America should be unified around the provisions he suggested.The big picture: Biden called on Congress to reinstate the Assault Weapons Ban, which was passed in 1994 and expired under President George W. Bush in 2004. He also called for expansions on background checks, raising the age limits to purchase semi-automatic rifles and red flag laws. Biden added there should be a ban on certain semi-automatic rifles and high-capacity magazines.

CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed Thursday that mass shootings tripled after the assault weapons ban expired in 2004. VERDICT: MOSTLY FALSE. There was a modest increase in mass shootings, but neither the statistics nor causation is clear.

NBC News kicked this off early Tuesday morning following the long Memorial Day weekend with a report headlined, "Inside a Biden White House adrift," telling readers, "Amid a rolling series of calamities and sinking approval ratings, the president’s feeling lately is that he just can’t catch a break — and that angst is rippling through his party." "Faced with a worsening political predicament, President Joe Biden is pressing aides for a more compelling message and a sharper strategy while bristling at how they’ve tried to stifle the plain-speaking persona that has long been one of his most potent assets," NBC...

Former President Donald Trump is expected to endorse Republican Tim Michels in the Wisconsin gubernatorial primary, snubbing the state’s former lieutenant governor and injecting a new level of chaos into the race, two sources with knowledge of the plan told NBC News. The endorsement of Michels, a multi-millionaire who owns a construction company, “may be imminent,” one of the sources said, but cautioned that nothing is a certainty with Trump until it happens. A Trump endorsement of Michels would not be surprising to Wisconsin GOP insiders who say the former president had been leaning in that direction for weeks. Michels...

The Vatican opens up to 'LGBT families’At the press conference for the presentation of the World Meeting of Families (Rome 22-26 June), the concept of an "Amoris Laetitia family" was used in opposition to the natural family, to clear the way for an approach that welcomes any form of union, homosexual first and foremost. It is a decisive break from what has always been the Church's teaching. What is the difference between the family and the 'Amoris Laetitia family'? Until now it had naively been thought that the Amoris Laetitia Family Year, promoted by Pope Francis, was merely a way...

CLAIM: President Joe Biden claimed that “nothing” was done after mass shootings like the one in Parkland, Florida in 2018. VERDICT: FALSE. The Parkland attack prompted the Republican-led state to pass red flag laws and improve school safety

An Oregon gun owner went viral for having his AR-15 rifle and a handgun “destroyed” by police in the wake of the Uvalde school massacre. Ben Beers delivered a passionate speech about changing the nation’s gun laws in a video posted on TikTok before delivering his firearms to a local police station. “I no longer want them,” Ben Beers said in the video clip viewed by almost 200,000 users. “I know this will not change legislation or anything to do with gun culture in America but hopefully it’ll be a form of symbolism and hopefully America can wake up because...

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas posted an image of his hand-on-heart salute as the far-left, pro-diversity “Progress Pride Flag” was hoisted at the Department of Homeland Security headquarters on June 1.

~Favorite Beer or Whiskey Songs Luke Combs - Beer Never Broke My Heart (Official Vide)*Video*Chris Stapleton - Tennessee Whiskey (Official Audio) *Video*

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D) improperly gave $10 million in Chinese coronavirus funds to illegal aliens in the form of stimulus checks, state oversight officials allege. As Breitbart News reported last year, Murphy provided the state’s nearly half a million illegal aliens with rounds of stimulus checks to the sum of tens of millions of dollars — paid for by American taxpayers — that was meant as coronavirus relief for Americans.

Former Trump assistant and trade adviser Peter Navarro said Thursday on MSNBC’s “The Beat” that he “will lead the charge” to impeach President Joe Biden if Republicans win the House in the 2024 midterms. Navarro said, “What we’re talking about now, Ari, is the case law itself and the constitutionality of executive privilege, testimony, immunity. A second key issue in the case is the separation of powers. This committee, this kangaroo committee, has clearly violated the separation of powers. They’re not supposed to act as judge, jury, and executioner. They’re only supposed to pursue a legislative function.”

This marks the president's departure from his campaign promise of isolating Riyadh over the murder of columnist Jamal Khashoggi Joe Biden will reportedly visit Riyadh later this month and meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, abandoning a campaign pledge to make Saudi Arabia "a pariah" for the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The Riyadh trip, first reported by the Washington Post and New York Times, suggests Biden has prioritized his need to bring oil prices down and thereby punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, over his stand on human rights. The visit will be added on to...

U.S. Marines @USMC Throughout June, the USMC takes #Pride in recognizing and honoring the contributions of our LGBTQ service members. We remain committed to fostering an environment free from discrimination, and defend the values of treating all equally, with dignity and respect. #PrideMonth #USMC

The sad case of lost lives in Uvalde belongs in the category of suicide among American adolescents. The shooter went out in blaze of something only the insane would see as glory. He was insane, of course. Tens of thousands are going out from the same causes. They are lost with no pathway to the future. They kill themselves far too often and take others with them, perhaps by violence, as in Uvalde; but sometimes by despair on the part of their parents, siblings and friends. It is worth noting that many of the other disturbing patterns that are saddening...

Presidential Address

Amid a renewed debate over gun control after the Texas and Buffalo mass shootings, Pennsylvania Republican governor candidate Doug Mastriano is defending and amplifying past comments comparing gun restrictions to policies in Nazi Germany under Adolph Hitler. On May 31, The Forward, an independent Jewish publication, published a story with a video showing Mastriano making the comparison during a 2018 Republican candidates forum for the then-13th Congressional District. “It’s appalling to me anytime there’s a shooting the left will jump on that as a way to advance an agenda to remove our right to bear arms,” Mastriano said. Doug Mastriano...

What do the movies "Street Car Named Desire" and "Gone with the Wind" have in common? They both won an Academy Award for Vivian Leigh, the protagonist in both movies. But there are even more striking similarities. Vivian Leigh (an English actress) basically plays the same character in both movies: a coquette-like, love-smitten Southern Belle. The only real difference is that as Scarlet O'Hara in "Gone with the Wind" stood up to a harsh world, Blanch Dubois in "A Streetcar Named Desire" was brought down and crushed by the same world. Both characters revered landed property and the high manner...

Graham Filler, a state legislator in Michigan, describes two recently enacted civil forfeiture bills as a "reform" that closed a dangerous "loophole." In reality, the new laws open a dangerous loophole by authorizing forfeiture of cash carried by travelers at Michigan airports without a criminal conviction. That change represents a substantial reversal of reforms that Michigan enacted in response to complaints about a system that allows police to seize and confiscate property based on little more than a bare allegation that it is somehow connected to criminal activity. "Traveling with cash is not a crime," notes Institute for Justice senior...

Pope Francis: Don't make Bishop McElroy a cardinal - he knew about McCarrickBishop Robert McElroy (right) is to be made a cardinal in August, despite his inaction on allegations against notorious ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick.We all have a responsibility to speak up when serious wrongs are being brought to our attention, but McElroy didn't.SIGN this petition to demand Pope Francis not reward a bishop who failed to report allegations against McCarrickThe Bishop of San Diego was told about serious sexual wrongdoing by McCarrick in 2016 when psychotherapist Richard Sipe, who had interviewed numerous victims of McCarrick, sent him a detailed...

Former White House counsel John Dean, who was imprisoned for his role in the Watergate scandal, Thursday on CNN’s “The Lead,” estimated that “about 30% to 35% ” of the U.S. population was “very hardcore” and “authoritarian.” When asked to compare Watergate to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, Dean said, “Particularly with the forthcoming hearings for January 6, we really need to understand what was one event, what was the other event, and how they play off of each other. A president abusing power versus a president trying to stay in power. We’re going to see Nixon, in a...