Free Republic

Both chambers in the Florida Capitol have approved a bill that grants businesses more leeway to file lawsuits against local governments and municipalities if their profit margins are affected by “unreasonable” ordinances. The bill requires a local government to stop enforcing the ordinance being challenged if a lawsuit is permitted to proceed and mandates that the legal challenge is prioritized to make a decision as quickly as possible. The measure also requires cities and counties to produce a “business impact estimate” prior to passing an ordinance to be published on the local government’s website and include economic forecasts and indicators.

Sienna Weir, a 2022 Miss Universe finalist and fashion model, has died days after a tragic horse riding accident. She was 23. The statuesque blond died Thursday, her representatives and family have confirmed, News.au first reported. Weir was riding at Windsor Polo Grounds in her native Australia on April 2 when her horse took a tumble. She was rushed to Westmead Hospital where she spent two days on life support before dying from fatal injuries.

Can We Really Blame Trump (and the Reality Boom) on the 2007 Writers Strike? (Article can only be linked to, per FR rules.)

May 4 (Reuters) - U.S. federal and state officials are assessing whether "market manipulation" caused the recent volatility in banking shares, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday, as the White House vowed to monitor "short-selling pressures on healthy banks."

The data in VAERS can be used to prove the vaccines are killing people. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Here's how to respond to all their arguments and turn the tables on them.Steve KirschMay 3, 2023 Figure 1. Death reports in VAERS. Can you spot the unsafe vaccine? If you can’t, you can get a job as a “fact checker” for any mainstream media. Or a job in safety monitoring at the CDC! Despite what the CDC wants you to believe, the higher red bars are not due to social media hype, more doses, or different reporting requirements. I...

Similar report from Europe highlights growing demand and shrinking availability of nonhuman primates for biomedical studies Rhesus macaques at the Tulane National Primate Research CenterKATHLEEN FLYNN/REUTERS The supply of monkeys for research is shrinking, and access to remaining animals is becoming increasingly unreliable. That’s the dire message of a U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report released today, which concludes that the situation is compromising critical biomedical research now—and will continue to do so well into the future. The new report is the strongest government statement yet on the precarious state of monkey research. Sponsored by the U.S....

President Biden and Vice President Harris took a quick jaunt to Northeast Washington to pick up tacos for Cinco de Mayo on Friday. Their surprise and unplanned trip outside of the White House was to Taqueria Habanero, a Mexican restaurant in the Bryant Street shopping mall. The president ordered a chicken quesadilla, churros and an assortment of tacos for White House staff, according to the White House.

'If the moons had benefited from long-term heating, then they could have maintained a thick ocean.' NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured this shot of Uranus and six of its 27 known moons. A number of background objects, including distant galaxies, are also visible. (Image credit: SCIENCE: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI IMAGE PROCESSING: Joseph DePasquale (STScI)) The four biggest moons of Uranus may harbor salty oceans below their frozen surfaces, a new study suggests. Scientists taking a fresh look at 40-year-old data sent home by NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft say that the satellites Titania and Oberon, which orbit the farthest...

Anyone who tries to claim OpenAI’s ChatGPT is an apolitical artificial intelligence tool is selling the American people a bill of goods, especially in light of the chatbot whipping out the pom-poms for President Joe Biden. MRC Free Speech America researchers gave ChatGPT a series of prompts and questions to determine whether the AI chat bot showed any explicit political bias toward either of the two leading candidates in the 2024 presidential race. The chatbot didn’t even attempt to hide its bias. When confronted with the simple prompts “Trump” and “Biden,” ChatGPT painted former President Donald Trump in a negative...

The proposal would cap the price of at least 80 percent of the electricity consumed by energy-intensive industries in Germany. Germany's Economy Minister Robert Habeck on Friday presented plans to cap the price of electricity used by energy-intensive industries to insulate the sector against sharp cost increases, but the proposal immediately sparked criticism. The cap, which would be set at 0.06 euros ($0.07) per gigawatt hour (GWh), would apply until 2030 and cover at least 80 percent of companies' electricity usage. Energy costs rose sharply in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as Moscow dwindled critical gas supplies...

Jill Biden on Friday met with Kate, Princess of Wales, and Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenska, after she touched down in England ahead of King Charles III’s coronation. Kate shared a snapshot of the trio on social media Friday, saying it was “lovely” to see Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s wife, the screenwriter Zelenska. In the photo, the group is all smiles as they pose together. The gathering comes a day before Charles is poised to be crowned at Westminster Abbey in London.

Attorneys representing Fox News are threatening legal action against the liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America for airing leaked behind-the-scenes clips showing the network’s now-former host Tucker Carlson. The letter from Fox attorneys is in response to a series of stories published in recent days by MMFA, the liberal pressure group founded by Democratic Party operative David Brock, under the headline “Foxleaks.” The footage shows Carlson, the highly rated primetime cable host who was dismissed by Fox News on April 24, during commercial breaks making comments denigrating the network. MMFA’s most recent installment of “Foxleaks” shows Carlson having makeup...

"I declare on behalf of the Wagner fighters, on behalf of the Wagner command, that on May 10, 2023, we are obliged to transfer positions in the settlement of Bakhmut to units of the defence ministry and withdraw the remains of Wagner to logistics camps to lick our wounds," Prigozhin said in a statement....."

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...

Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, resigned from her position on Friday, citing the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic as a good opportunity to begin a transition of power.Walensky's resignation comes after the World Health Organization announced on Friday that it was downgrading the coronavirus from a global emergency.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is leaving her government post, the agency and President Joe Biden announced Friday. Walensky’s last day on the job will be June 30, according to an email sent to CDC employees Friday, which was shared with CNN. In a statement, Biden thanked Walensky for leading “a complex organization on the frontlines of a once-in-a-generation pandemic with honesty and integrity” and wished her well in her next chapter.

Chilling footage from a doorbell camera released this week shows the moment a man gunned down his brother at his Utah residence before being killed in a shootout with police. Jeffrey Roberts, 66, of Long Beach, Calif., is seen in the video released Thursday pulling into his brother’s North Ogden driveway and approaching the front door shortly after 7 p.m. on April 27, the Weber County Attorney’s Office said. Police say Scott Roberts and his wife, Jodi, were eating dinner alone when Jeffrey arrived. Scott answers the front door – though he cannot be seen in the video – and...

I believe Jesus is coming soon. We see the Lord moving in astonishing ways around the world, and events are rapidly moving toward the day of his return. “So you also, when you see all these things, know that it is near – at the doors! But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Matthew 24:33,36, NKJV). Those who know the scriptures have a Holy Ghost inner sense of the Lord’s return. We hear the call of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, crying, “Even so, Lord Jesus, come.”...

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) responded to criticism over his decision to subpoena the FBI over unclassified records detailing an alleged “criminal scheme” by then-Vice President Joe Biden, noting he’s “confident” the document exists and that he knows its contents. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, the top Republican told host Sean Hannity he knows what country and policy decision are at the center of the alleged scheme but that he “is not at liberty” to disclose the information publicly. His comments come two days after Comer subpoenaed FBI Director Christopher Wray, demanding access to an...

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