Free Republic

This past Monday, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the 303 Creative v. Elenis religious liberty case.This case involves basic and fundamental First Amendment religious freedom and free speech issues. The basic facts of the case are simple, but profound. Lori Smith is the proprietor of 303 Creative. Ms. Smith constructs websites using her God-given creative talents. She has concentrated on projects about which she cares deeply, such as children and veterans with disabilities and animal rights and animal shelters.Ms. Smith decided to expand her business by branching out and creating websites for weddings. As a deeply...

The oft-misquoted and misattributed 20th-century American philosopher and writer George Santayana once warned, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” And while Santayana had the follies of war in mind when he said it, the phrase could just as easily apply today to the Left’s destruction of American history in the name of “diversity” and “inclusion.” As I wrote last week here at PJ Media, our woke U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, is hellbent on expunging hundreds of existing “offensive” and “derogatory” geographic names on federal locations that aren’t deemed “diverse” enough — an...

Liberal and tolerant Public Health™ experts seem to have finally sussed out, based on hard clinical research, the true sources of LGBTQ+++™ youth suicidality.Via Forbes:In its second annual National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health, The Trevor Project uncovered some alarming information about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and other gender nonconforming young Americans: 48% of this group said that in the last 12 months, they engaged in self-harm; that number rose to 60% for trans and nonbinary youth. Even more worrisome, 40% of those surveyed reported having seriously considered attempting suicide during that period; Of the young people who identified...

Another day, another disaster for White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre. Eventually, she is going to burn out on the continual slapstick comedy bits that the press briefings have become. She can only wipe the pie off of her face so many times before she hands in her two weeks’ notice. Then she’ll take a gig with CNN where nobody will ask her anything and she can become the star she was destined to be. That will be a sad day, since waiting for the story of the latest flub or blooper has become a bit of a tradition. A...

I wish I really knew how to play poker. Then I wish I could play against Obama and Biden because, as they drip with desperation, they fold oh so easily. Joe Biden just made the worst trade since 2014, when Barack Obama traded five high value terrorists (the Taliban Dream Team) for a traitor (Bowe Bergdahl). I still remember Bergdahl's father in his best Islamic beard in the Rose Garden. Before that, the worst trade was the Red Sox trading Babe Ruth. Biden traded an arms dealer (the "Merchant of Death") convicted of conspiring to kill Americans for an America-hating...

LOS ANGELES, CA – Freed WNBA player Brittney Griner has fled back to Russia after seeing an American flag for the first time in months. Griner spotted the flag near the tarmac of Los Angeles International Airport upon the arrival of her flight from Russia and had a negative reaction to the sight. "AAHHHHH! The symbol of my oppression!" said Griner through tears. "When I see the American flag, I see slavery. I see Jim Crow. I see George Floyd. I see a country that does not care about black people, particularly not black members of the LGBTQ community." "Only...

As long as college students are considered entitled customers, their complaints about their professors will be taken seriously by administrators. That’s because happy students boost college applications, affect the closely-watched U.S. News & World Report annual rankings, and are part of the corporatization of higher education. The latest example involves Maitland Jones Jr. and his organic chemistry course at NYU. When 82 of the professor’s 350 students signed a petition charging that his course was too hard, the deans terminated his contract and allowed students to withdraw from the class retroactively. This highly unusual step ignited an equal and opposite...

President Biden’s approval rating has ticked up following the 2022 midterm elections, but remains lower than it was at this time last year. CNN’s December survey found 46 percent said they approve of the job Biden is doing as president, up from 41 percent in late October. Last year, 49 percent of those surveyed said they approved of the president’s job performance, but his rating has been steadily below that number since December 2021. Respondents rated Biden lower on economic issues than overall job performance, with 36 percent expressing approval for the president’s leadership of the economy. Thirty-three percent of...

The 11,000-year-old carving was found among the remains of a Neolithic structure in southeastern Turkey.Archaeologists in Turkey have discovered one of the world’s oldest known works of narrative art—and at the center of it is a man clutching his penis.The 12-foot-long carved panel, which forms a bench, was found last year during the excavation of the remains of a Neolithic communal structure at the archaeological site of Sayburç in southeastern Turkey. Details of the discovery were shared this week in a paper published in the latest edition of the peer-reviewed journal Antiquity.The piece, which is believed to be 11,000 years...

Is inflation gone in November? Nope. US producer prices rose in November by more than forecast, driven by services and underscoring the stickiness of inflationary pressures that supports Federal Reserve interest-rate increases into 2023. The producer price index for final demand climbed 0.3% for a third month and was up 7.4% from a year earlier, Labor Department data showed Friday. The monthly gains for October and September were revised higher. At the same time, the annual increase was the smallest in 18 months, extending a months-long easing and suggesting the central bank still has scope to pause its rate hikes...

The Colorado shooting suspect was put on the FBI's radar June 18, 2021 after he threatened to kill members of his family The FBI is acknowledging having been aware that alleged Colorado nightclub shooter was a potential security threat before he fatally shot five people last month in the club. The FBI told The Epoch Times that defendant Anderson Lee Aldrich was put on their radar last summer after he threatened to kill family members. "The FBI received information on June 17, 2021, concerning Anderson Aldrich," the agency said Wednesday. "As part of the assessment, the FBI coordinated with the...

Attorneys representing the Missouri and Louisiana AGs in their case against the government have uncovered that the State Department was funding fact checkers possibly in the US. TGP reported over the weekend that the FBI and DOJ were working with Big Tech to target conservatives. This was recently confirmed, although we have suspected this of taking place for years. The Gateway Pundit readers know that The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft is a co-Plaintiff, along with several doctors and a Louisiana news outlet, in Missouri and Louisiana lawsuit against the Biden Administration. The AGs of Missouri and Louisiana are suing the...

This list only includes destroyed vehicles and equipment of which photo or videographic evidence is available. Therefore, the amount of equipment destroyed is significantly higher than recorded here. Small arms, ATGMs, MANPADS, loitering munitions, drones used as unmanned bait, civilian vehicles, trailers and derelict equipment are not included in this list. All possible effort has gone into avoiding duplicate entries and discerning the status of equipment between captured or abandoned. Many of the entries listed as 'abandoned' will likely end up captured or destroyed. Similarly, some of the captured equipment might be destroyed if it can't be recovered. When the...

(Daily readings from the USCCB)Jesus said to the crowds: “To what shall I compare this generation? It is like children who sit in marketplaces and call to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, but you did not dance, we sang a dirge but you did not mourn.’” Matthew 11:16–17What does Jesus mean when He says “We played the flute for you…” and “we sang a dirge…?” The Church Fathers clearly identify this “flute” and “dirge” as the word of God that has been preached by the prophets of old.So many came before Jesus to prepare the way, but...

New statistics released by the Los Angeles County Department of Health on Thursday project that, with current COVID-19 case rate growth and more and more hospital beds being taken by COVID-19 patients, the County is now on track to bring back a County-wide indoor mask mandate if rates don’t go down this month.

A nonbinary Department of Energy official has been accused of stealing a second piece of female luggage, this time at the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. A warrant for grand larceny has been issued for Sam Brinton, one of the first gender-fluid officials in the federal government, local news outlet 8 News Now reported Thursday. The date of the crime was not provided, but the value of the luggage ranged from $1,200 to $5,000, according to the warrant. The theft comes after Brinton, who has been placed on leave as the deputy assistant secretary of the Office Of...

Someone has been attacking power plants all over the country, and federal authorities are trying to determine who it is. In recent days, we have seen significant sabotage on both the east and west coasts, and so it can’t just be one individual that is responsible. During the first eight months of this year, there were a total of 106 attacks on the electrical grid in the United States, and that represents the highest number ever recorded in a single year. Hopefully authorities will be able to get to the bottom of this mystery, because winter will soon officially begin....

In recent years, the use of key changes in music has decreased significantly, leading to monotonous and predictable sound. This lack of tonal variation has made many popular songs uninteresting and unengaging. In this video we explore how the disappearance of key changes has contributed to the current state of music.

Time to invest in a Rosetta Stone Cantonese language plan.The non-profit group Safeguard Defenders just located 43 more secret commie Chinese police stations across the world, and two are in Los Angeles. We already knew about the one located in New York City.Related: Why Do the Chinese Commies Have Their Own Police Station in New York?There are now more than 100 secret Chinese commie police stations operating in 53 countries. There are five in Canada, which means there are now eight in North America that we know of."They use these stations to intimidate Chinese citizens living in Canada."Co-Founder of Honk...

Thursday, FNC’s Tucker Carlson was critical of the prisoner swap between the U.S. and Russian governments that gave the United States Brittney Griner in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Carlson suggested Griner was the beneficiary because Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia, was a Trump voter. “So, at this point, we can assume the obvious,” Carlson said. “The Biden administration chose Brittney Griner over Paul Whelan. The basketball player over the Marine facing 16 years. There was only room for one in the lifeboat, and the Marine got left behind. Well, why did they make that choice?...