Free Republic

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers (D) used an executive order Tuesday morning to create a state-level violence prevention office, dedicated to fighting gun crime. KSTP reported that Evers did this in response to the December 16, 2024, shooting at Madison’s Abundant Life Christian School, which left two innocents dead. The suspect in the shooting was a 15-year-old student, and police have not revealed how the student acquired the guns. Evers used a X post to push for more gun control after signing the executive order. The post said: And with 60% of suicides and 78% of domestic violence homicides involving a...

Every Legal Scholar and Pundit, including the highly respected, and sadly recently passed, David Rivkin, as well as Jonathan Turley, Elie Honig, Andy McCarthy, Alan Dershowitz, Gregg Jarrett, Elizabeth Price Foley, Katie and Andy Cherkasky, Paul Ingrassia, and many others, have unequivocally stated that the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt is a nonexistent case, which is not only barred by the Statute of Limitations but, on the merits, should never have been brought. This illegitimate political attack is nothing but a Rigged Charade. “Acting” Justice Merchan, who is a radical partisan, just issued another order that is knowingly unlawful, goes against...

Before January 6th, 2021, financial surveillance in the United States was largely limited to a well-defined framework designed to combat money laundering and terrorism. Judicial oversight and clear legal protocols acted as key safeguards, ensuring that government access to citizens' financial information respected the rule of law. However, after the Capitol protests, these boundaries have shifted dramatically. Under the Biden administration, the purpose of surveillance has shifted from securing national interests to a tool for targeting political dissent—particularly individuals linked to Donald Trump and the "MAGA" movement. Take, for instance, the scrutiny faced by those who attended rallies or made...

The Biden administration has gotten banks to let them 'spy' on the everyday purchases and money transfers of Americans, carrying out millions of searches without getting a warrant typically required for such snooping, a stunning new Congressional report charges. The House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government just released its damning findings, which the panel found skews heavily toward surveillance of Americans inclined to support President-elect Donald Trump. 'The federal government is spying on your bank account,' the Republican-led panel posted in a video on X summarizing its 47-page report. ... Over 14,000 federal employees accessed...

From curbside abortions to gender-neutral prayer rooms, so much insane stuff unfolded at the 2024 Democratic National Convention. One of these abhorrent moments apparently snuck under the radar — until now. It turns out that a top Kamala Harris surrogate bashed the Bill of Rights as "that little piece of paper" and urged Democrats to "reimagine democracy" on Day 1 of the DNC. Kelley Robinson, president of the far-left Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and a prominent supporter of Kamala Harris, made the appalling comments during a daytime session addressing "how defeating Donald Trump and the Project 2025 agenda rests on...

On Wednesday, in Darby Development Co. v. United States, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (which reviews takings claims against the federal government ruled that a takings lawsuit against the 2020-21 federal eviction moratorium can proceed. In so doing, it overruled a trial court decision by the Court of Claims, which I criticized here. The decision could well end up setting an important takings precedent. In September 2020, during the Covid pandemic, the Trump Administration Centers for Disease Control (CDC) imposed a nationwide eviction moratorium, claiming that it would reduce the spread of the disease. The Biden...

The six Republican justices handed down a decision on Friday that effectively legalizes civilian ownership of automatic weapons. All three of the Court’s Democrats dissented. The Court’s decision in Garland v. Cargill involves bump stocks, devices that allow ordinary semiautomatic weapons that can legally be owned by civilians to automatically fire, much like a machine gun designed for that purpose. Bump stocks cause a semiautomatic gun’s trigger to buck against the shooter’s finger, repeatedly “bumping” the trigger and making the gun rapidly fire. A semiautomatic weapon refers to a gun that loads a bullet into the chamber or otherwise prepares...

There's been a case in New York that I should have been following more closely. Dexter Taylor was a hobby gunsmith. He liked the nature of putting together guns from lawfully purchased parts. However, the state of New York disapproved of this pastime. They arrested Taylor and, on Monday, he was convicted. My friend Jeff Charles over at our sister site RedState has been covering this case pretty much from the jump, and in his story from Monday about the sentencing, there was something we had to talk about. You see, the judge in the case has decided that a...

Who wants to fight for empire abroad when freedom is under attack right here at home? Would you be willing to fight and die for multiculturalism? Would you put your life on the line for “Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity” (DIE); “Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance” (ESG); or other Marxist worldviews? Would you go to war to preserve the right of delusional men to use women’s restrooms and dominate women’s sports? Would you fight for any government that hunts down and imprisons J6 protesters as political hostages but celebrates Antifa and Black Lives Matter rioters who cause physical injury and property...

(Dec. 23, 2023) — Of course I cannot get into the heads of the people present, but my assumption is that many (if not most) in the January 6, 2021 crowd (and some in the Trump administration) hoped the presence of thousands of protestors would demonstrate to the House members that the voters were angry and believed the election was stolen, and that the Electoral College votes of several states with numerous election “irregularities” should not be counted but should be sent back to the states for reconsideration and auditing. But that would not be an “insurrection” in the sense...

'What I don’t like is anonymous Russians and Chinese and Iranians having' it, Haley told CNBC ... Nikki Haley was asked to explain her earlier remarks about social media companies on Wednesday and said that while she didn't mind "anonymous American" free speech, she didn't support anonymous free speech for actors in Russia, Iran and China. During an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, Haley said every person on social media should be "verified by their name." Haley, who was fiercely criticized by fellow Republican candidates for the idea, joined the hosts of CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday and was...

Minuteman statue detail, Lexington, Credit: Tim Grafft/MOTT There’s a perennial debate in gun politics in the United States. The gun control side makes various specious arguments claiming that the Second Amendment protects muskets and not modern arms, that the right to keep and bear arms belongs to a select militia like the National Guard, not We the People, and that “well-regulated” authorizes the de facto destruction of our rights via regulation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Those of us who have studied the copious scholarly research on the text and history of the Second Amendment know that those arguments are bunk. We know that...

In addition to the off-year elections to be decided this November in Virginia, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Mississippi, a number of ballot initiatives will be voted on in other states. Perhaps the most consequential measure appearing on the November 2023 ballot, at least when it comes to fiscal policy, is found in Colorado, where voters will be asked whether they want to weaken the nation’s strongest tax and expenditure limit in exchange for property tax relief. Proposition HH, which was referred to the November ballot by Colorado lawmakers with the support of Governor Jared Polis (D), would weaken the state’s Taxpayer’s...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom is eyeing a change to the United States Constitution. The state's legislature on Thursday approved a resolution in support of Newsom's call for a 28th Constitutional amendment, according to the Los Angeles Times. The amendment would enshrine a list of Democratic gun-control policy priorities into federal law. California is requesting a Constitutional convention to enshrine the amendment. For the amendment to be considered, two-thirds of state legislatures would have to vote in favor of a convention, according to the Times. The proposed "Right to Safety Amendment" would limit legal gun ownership to adults 21 and older,...

The clerk of the Fulton County, Georgia, court system acknowledged Tuesday accidentally releasing what appeared to be a list of criminal charges against Donald Trump before he was actually indicted, and sought to deflect blame amid mounting criticism from Republicans who have seized on the blunder to characterize the case as rigged. After refusing to explain what happened for more than a day after Reuters posted the document the media outlet said was published on the court’s website, clerk Che Alexander’s office said she was doing a “trial run” of the court’s filing system on Monday “in anticipation of issues...

"Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it." — Judge Learned Hand (1872-1961) Late last week, a judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court revealed that he had had enough of the FBI and Congress trashing the Constitution. The normally secretive court and the normally secretive judge explained in a rare public opinion the unlawful behavior of FBI agents spying on ordinary Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The FISA Court judge...

U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, acting on a lawsuit filed against the Biden administration by two states and a group of plaintiffs, said the case “arguably involves the most massive attack against free speech in United States’ history.”Court documents show that while top Biden administration officials such as Dr. Anthony Fauci sought publicly and privately to censor social media posts over COVID-19 content, the task was more extensively carried out behind the scenes by a select band of staffers. These aides led the administration’s efforts to squelch content they opposed, mostly by pressuring social media platforms with repeated requests...

Enshrined in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is the right to freedom of religion. This right is the freedom that is listed first in the Bill of Rights. At America’s core, the ability of every individual to seek truth and choose their own religious beliefs – or none at all – affords everyone equal footing to live by their faith or live by the dictates of their conscience. In 1791, Baptist minister John Leland wrote, “Every man must give an account of himself to God, and therefore every man ought to be at liberty to serve God in...

Merrick Garland wants to take your guns (and their accessories) away, the Constitution be damned. In January 2023, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, signed ATF final rule 2021R-08F (the Rule), which calls for the registration of pistol braces in furtherance of the National Firearms Act of 1934 and the Gun Control Act of 1968. The Rule is wholly unconstitutional and fraudulently established. In this post, I will break down both the unconstitutionality of the Rule and the fraudulent basis upon which it has been established. Let's start with the Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment. Without the Bill of...

he Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency outsourced its "censorship operation" to a nonprofit it funded following a First Amendment lawsuit by Louisiana and Missouri attorneys general, "implicitly admitting that its censorship activities are unconstitutional," according to an interim staff report by House Judiciary Committee Republicans shared with Just the News. CISA also wanted to use the Center for Internet Security, which operates the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) and Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC), as its "mouthpiece" to obfuscate its own role in censorship, the report says. It cites spring 2022...