Free Republic

A federal judge ruled yesterday that the city of Louisville, Kentucky, cannot ban a Christian photographer from limiting her wedding photography business to opposite-sex couples. In the lawsuit which Petapixel has previously reported on, photographer Chelsey Nelson challenged a Louisville law that required her to take photographs and blog online for same-sex weddings.Louisville’s 20-year-old “Fairness Ordinance” prevents discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. However, the lawsuit, filed on behalf of wedding photographer Chelsey Nelson by the conservative advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom, alleges that the city’s law infringes on Nelson’s freedom of religion and speech. Beaton ruled that the...

‘Untiltered with Dan Bongino’ host Dan Bongino discusses the growing fallout over FBI Mar-a-Lago raid and sounds off on the FBI’s credibility.

President Joe Biden has enjoyed a summer revival of sorts, meaning a rise in his public job approval number from a grotesquely low 36.8% in the RealClearPolitics average to a still lamentable 42%. In parallel, his disapproval fell from 57.4% to 54.7%. This is enough for Democratic congressional candidates to rethink shunning the president on the campaign trail but is hardly a ringing endorsement. Biden’s small but significant rebound is widely attributed to legislative “wins” such as the passage of the CHIPS Act, trumpeted as helping American computer chip makers compete with China, and the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act —...

Uncertainty hangs over the planned visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant by a team from the UN nuclear watchdog, as inspectors arrived in Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia city on Wednesday, where they are likely to spend the night before crossing the frontline. The International Atomic Energy Agency mission into Russian-controlled territory, which comprises representatives from countries deemed neutral by both sides, was reportedly intended to last four days. But on Wednesday, the Russian-occupying authorities said the IAEA would be given access for one day. They also said the mission would be expected to join the queue of civilians who cross back and...

Starting at 4 p.m. Wednesday, the state Division of Elections will livestream the ranked vote tabulation for Alaska’s special U.S. House election. Only first-choice votes had been released up to this point after the Aug. 16 election, and the release of the ranked vote results should provide a clearer picture of who Alaska’s next U.S. representative will be: Republican Nick Begich III, Republican Sarah Palin or Democrat Mary Peltola. You can watch the livestream on the Division of Elections’ Facebook page. The video will be added to this story once election officials start streaming. Division of Elections Director Gail Fenumiai...

The family of a fallen Marine who was killed in evacuation operations in Afghanistan is suing Alec Baldwin for allegedly defaming them. The McCollum family is accusing the Hollywood actor of sticking a social media mob on them. Three members of the family filed a new lawsuit on Friday, according to CNN. Baldwin shared Roice McCollum’s Instagram photo of demonstrators at the Washington Monument to his 2.5 million Instagram followers one year after the chaotic Jan. 6, 2021, protest. McCollum had shared the photo on her personal account to commemorate the event’s anniversary, the Mercury News reported. The Gold Star...

.@JohnFetterman wants to release convicted murderers from prison. This is good news for Inmates for Fetterman - bad news for everyone else. pic.twitter.com/DC29Yk1Lma— Dr. Mehmet Oz (@DrOz) August 31, 2022

In case you haven’t heard, according to the Democrats (and their errand girl Liz Cheney), democracy is under attack. Grab a seat, dear readers, because I don’t think you’re going to be ready for this one... I agree with them. Let us begin with a point of clarification. I am well aware that we live in a representative republic and not a democracy, but I’ll be using the latter description because that’s what is being employed in the false narrative I’d like to pick apart. The assault on democracy that the Democrats and their flying monkeys in the mainstream media...

Two senators are demanding all communications about Hunter Biden’s laptop between the FBI and Facebook following a bombshell admission from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg that FBI officials told him in late 2020 that there would be reports that were actually Russian disinformation. Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) on Aug. 29 sent a letter to Zuckerberg saying that in October 2020, “when the New York Post published articles based on evidence from Hunter Biden’s laptop, many news and social media organizations inappropriately rushed to censor and discredit the initial reporting and falsely labeled it as ‘disinformation.'” In an...

In a case of highly charged sticker shock, a Florida Chevrolet dealer admits that it offered to replace the battery in a hybrid car for more than the vehicle is worth. As reported by the website AutoEvolution, the case of the almost-$30,000 battery was being bandied about on social media for days, with some folks believing the tale and other relegating it to the pile of urban myths. The story was based on a copy of an estimate for the battery of a 2012 Chevrolet Volt that was making the rounds. The Volt was a hybrid that was produced as...

Rolling out a new student loan forgiveness program surely was a better thing for President Joe Biden to be talking about than the anniversary of the Kabul airport bombing that same week, but it hasn’t gone as swimmingly as the White House might have hoped. One of former President Barack Obama’s top economists was scathing in his assessment of the plan, as Jason Furman blasted it as “reckless” and “[p]ouring roughly half trillion dollars of gasoline on the inflationary fire that is already burning. Economists are still debating its inflationary impact a week later.

Experts say the new report raises more questions that answers after the Times confirms previous Turkish reports a Canadian intelligence agent helped Begum get into Syria When news broke that the United Kingdom authorities helped cover up Canada's role in trafficking Shamina Begum to Syria as a teenager, British academic Rizwaan Sabbir, who focuses on counter-terrorism, said he was not surprised. On Tuesday, news reports suggested Scotland Yard was informed that Begum and her two friends were trafficked into Syria by a smuggler who was a double agent working both for the Islamic State group and Canadian intelligence. But instead...

New coronavirus boosters are just around the corner following authorization Wednesday by federal regulators. The updated shots are designed to provide a stronger shield against the BA.4 and BA.5 omicron subvariants still causing tens of thousands of infections and hundreds of deaths every day in the United States. The boosters will be part of a campaign by the federal government, to be kicked off within days, to persuade Americans to bolster their immune defenses before a potential surge in covid-19 cases as cooler weather arrives in the fall. But the updated boosters have generated some controversy and confusion. Here's what...

A handful of colleges around the country are clinging to COVID-19-related protocols, including mask mandates for indoor areas and vaccine mandates for students and staff. Pandemic-related restrictions on some college campuses persist as most public health guidelines have relaxed and mask and vaccine mandates have receded from most areas of daily life. But in some cases, the mandates are going beyond COVID-19. At the University of California, Berkeley, students are mandated to get vaccinated against coronavirus, as well as the flu. The university's guidance says students who are not vaccinated against the flu will be required to wear a mask...

Russian forces are reportedly delaying international nuclear safety officials from entering the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Shelling on multiple days last week had hit an area of the plant located just 100 meters or so from the reactor buildings. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), repeatedly called for an IAEA mission to the plant so experts can assess the damage and evaluate working conditions of the Ukrainian staff continuing to keep the facility operational. Earlier on Wednesday, an IAEA team set off from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Reuters reporting the team were...

The White House denounced supporters of President Donald Trump on Wednesday, accusing them of posing an “extremist threat to our democracy.” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre began the daily briefing by condemning Republican leaders for their dangerous rhetoric but also said that President Joe Biden believed supporters of former President Donald Trump were also a threat.

SANTA FE — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham moved Wednesday to buttress access to abortions in New Mexico, signing an executive order that pledges $10 million to build a state-funded clinic providing abortion and other services in Doña Ana County. The governor’s executive order also directs the state Department of Health to marshal state resources to expand access to reproductive health — including abortion — in rural parts of the state and study whether medication that ends pregnancies can be provided in public health clinics. “This is a state that will stand against any attempts to remove or eviscerate women’s constitutional...

Share Tweet ... More President Biden on Thursday will use a prime-time address to make the case that the political movement led by his predecessor poses an “extreme threat” to democracy as his criticisms of Republicans become increasingly pointed as November’s midterms approach. Biden will travel to Philadelphia for a speech at Independence Hall that the White House is dubbing “The Soul of the Nation.” Officials have offered few details about the actual contents of the speech, but the decision to deliver it in prime time marks a new effort for Biden to go after what he and the White...

An assistant principal in Greenwich is on administrative leave after a video surfaced online that purportedly shows him talking about discriminatory hiring practices. The now-viral video released by Project Veritas shows Cos Cob Elementary School’s Assistant Principal Jeremy Boland saying that he wouldn’t hire Catholics, conservatives, older applicants, or anyone he didn’t believe was progressive. Superintendent of Schools Dr. Toni Jones said the school district was made aware of the video Tuesday night, adding, “We intend to do a full investigation and until that time, we will not make any public statements. We ask that you respect the investigation process...

On this date in 1593, a would-be assassin of France’s King Henri IV was broken on the wheel. An Orleans boatman turned Catholic League soldier in France’s internecine Catholic-Huguenot wars, he was among the numerous Catholics who looked askance at victorious Huguenot Henri IV‘s expeditious conversion to Catholicism. In the months while Henri IV still held Paris under siege, the Jesuit father Jacques Commolet had called for his assassination from the pulpit. The Bourbon’s (nominal) switch to Catholicism with the words “Paris is worth a mass” had not persuaded hard-core Catholic partisans of the king’s sincerity. Henri was a practical...