Free Republic

Washington state has agreed to stop forcing Christian foster parents to push the LGBTQ agenda on their foster kids. The Democrat-run state will no longer require Christian parents to fake gender pronouns or socially transition foster children in violation of their religious beliefs. That comes under a settlement reached with a couple who lost their foster-care license for refusing to compromise their faith and push the trans agenda on their foster children. The agreement, announced May 20, includes a permanent injunction requiring the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families to revise its licensing policies. The department can no longer...

As dawn breaks, hundreds of men gather at a dusty square in Chaghcharan, the capital of Ghor province in Afghanistan. They line the roadside with weary faces, hoping someone will come along offering any work. It will determine whether their families eat that day. The likelihood of success, however, is low. Juma Khan, 45, has found just three days of work in the past six weeks that paid between 150 to 200 Afghani ($2.35-$3.13; £1.76-£2.34) per day. "My children went to bed hungry three nights in a row. My wife was crying, so were my children. So I begged a...

California Democratic gubernatorial front-runner Xavier Becerra went viral yesterday for saying to a local Los Angeles television (KTLA) reporter, after she asked a hard question, “By the way, this is a profile piece, this is not a gotcha piece, right?” Reporter Annie Rose Ramos responded, appropriately, “These questions are fair. It’s in order to learn about you as a candidate.” Progressives responded by criticizing Becerra’s messaging. A progressive Pod Save America co-host and former Obama spokesman, posted on X, “Politicians and candidates…let your staff have these whiny conversations! Or at least don’t do it on camera!” Former Obama strategist David...

When it comes to vaccine policy, the U.S. government is holding up Denmark as a role model...The Scandinavian nation of 6 million gives children far fewer vaccines than the United States has done... The new U.S. schedule follows Denmark’s example. It no longer recommends that all children get vaccinated for half a dozen diseases: hepatitis A and B, rotavirus, meningococcal disease, influenza, and COVID-19. Instead, administering these shots should be “based on shared clinical decision-making” between parents and doctors, HHS says. The move elicited widespread criticism from doctors and public health experts—but it also drew attention to Denmark’s minimalist vaccination...

In [2021-2023], thousands of children crossed the border alone and ended up working in some of the most dangerous jobs in the country. Migrant children as young as 13 suffered chemical burns on overnight factory shifts, had their limbs mangled by conveyor belts or fell to their deaths from roofs......[HHS Secretary] Xavier Becerra [who was in charge of finding homes for the kids] began urging staff members to move them more quickly through shelters... Employees told me they loosened protections that had been in place for years, including in screening sponsors... Most of [the kids Becerra placed with sponsors] were...

FBI investigations of a heinous online child predator network have expanded to target more than 450 people, the bureau said on Tuesday. Officials continue to crack down on groups going by names such as “764” that lure children into violent online communities and induce them toward self-harm or sexual acts, FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge Joe Rothrock said in a statement warning parents and schoolteachers. Authorities have traced similar groups’ beginnings to at least 2019, announcing more than 350 subjects of investigations by late last year. FBI Dallas is sharing information with parents, guardians, and teachers about violent online...

In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here.Democrats rarely mention our nation’s fertility crisis, but when they do, they always offer the same solution: more immigration. Here is former President Bill Clinton stumping for Vice President Kamala Harris in the most recent presidential election."We got the lowest birth rate we've had in well over 100 years,” Clinton told Harris supporters less than a...

From a stunning report that confirms, again, skeptics’ concerns over the deadly impact of the COVID-19 shots created by pharmaceutical companies and sold for billions of dollars to the American government during the pandemic, it’s known that federal officials linked those shots to child deaths at the time – and the Biden administration kept it a secret. Investigative journalist Catherine Herridge has reported online the Joe Biden administration “suppressed” details about COVID shot pediatric deaths as well as the total death count. She cited a study done on children who died, of which a number died of the effects “possibly”...

Painters think in brushstrokes. Directors think in scenes. Women under 30 think in Instagram stories. Young women’s travel, clothing, hobbies, and even their romantic relationships are subconsciously selected based on what would look best photographed, filtered, and ironically captioned. Digital life and real life are not in competition; they’ve melded. Social media isn’t a hobby or a distraction for young women; it is their medium of self-creation and, in some instances, self-destruction—and it has ruined girlhood, Freya India writes in her debut book GIRLS®: Generation Z and the Commodification of Everything. India, herself a 20-something, surveys the online activity of...

The Texas Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit over the state's investigations into families with transgender children because most of the investigations were closed and the children are no longer minors. In a ruling Friday, the state’s highest civil court ruled that because the Department of Family and Protective Services isn’t actively investigating the families, they no longer face the alleged threats they outlined in their 2022 lawsuits against the agency. The plaintiffs argued against dismissing the case, suggesting DFPS could choose to reopen its investigations without the injunction. But the Texas Supreme Court dismissed those concerns over future investigations as...

In Focus delivers deeper coverage of the political, cultural, and ideological issues shaping America. Published daily by senior writers and experts, these in-depth pieces go beyond the headlines to give readers the full picture. You can find our full list of In Focus pieces here. America’s birth rate has fallen again, extending a decadeslong decline that has reshaped the country’s demographic future. The latest data confirm what has been evident for years: People are having fewer children and, if they have them at all, later. Analysts have pointed to a familiar list of explanations — the rising cost of housing,...

A Minnesota children’s hospital plans to resume sex change procedures for minors, flying in the face of President Trump’s executive order banning the practice.

Iran called on its youth Tuesday to form human chains around its power plants – after President Trump threatened to decimate the Islamic Republic’s energy infrastructure if it fails to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. “Power plants that are our national assets and capital, regardless of any taste or political viewpoint, belong to the future of Iran and to the Iranian youth,” Alireza Rahimi, secretary of the Supreme Council of Youth and Adolescents, said in a video aired on state TV. Government officials have called on students, artists, and athletes to form the human shields from 2 p.m. local time....

On July 27, 2022, a video was posted to the IslamicTV YouTube channel of Shiite children in Houston, TX performing a song titled “Salute, Commander”, which is an Iranian children’s anthem pledging allegiance to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The video had been first posted by the Islamic Education Center of Houston, TX, on its Facebook and YouTube accounts, but these posts were later removed. The children performed the song in English and Farsi. The song’s lyrics say: “[Khamenei] is calling on his children, his soldiers… In spite of my age, I will be your army’s commander… May my father...

CARROLL COUNTY, Tenn. (WZTV) — A school bus carrying students and staff from the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System was involved in a deadly crash in Carroll County while traveling to a field trip, authorities said. Officials said the bus, from Kenwood Middle School, was headed to Jackson when it was involved in a crash with another vehicle near the intersection of Highway 70 and Cedar Grove. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is leading the investigation. Families of everyone on board have been contacted, according to school officials, who said they do not yet have additional confirmed details about the crash.

Parents of more than four million children have claimed Trump Accounts, according to a report. The tax-deferred investment accounts for children were instituted by President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year, providing a $1,000 contribution from the federal government for all children born to U.S. citizens between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028, the Washington Examiner reported. Parents can claim the accounts for their children either through an IRS portal or by filing Form 4547 with their federal tax returns. Per IRS data reviewed by the news outlet, 983,784 children have qualified for the $1,000 bonus via...

The Tennessee Senate passed legislation Monday allowing patients to sue their doctor for “coercing” them into seeking gender reassignment some 30 years after treatment. Republican Sen. Adam Lowe of Calhoun passed Senate Bill 2031 24-5 although he was unable to provide evidence that physicians are persuading people to seek transgender care. Responding to questions from Democratic lawmakers, Lowe said the law would apply when someone is “de-transitioning” from previous gender treatment “under some sort of premise of wellness that they didn’t achieve.” He explained that a similar private cause of action exists in a Tennessee law enacted three years ago...

An official from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the minimum age for participation in war-related support roles has been lowered to 12, according to remarks aired on state media. Rahim Nadali, a cultural official with the Guards in Tehran, said an initiative called “For Iran” was recruiting participants to assist with activities such as patrols, checkpoints and logistics. “Given that the age of those coming forward has dropped and they are asking to take part, we lowered the minimum age to 12,” he said, adding that 12- and 13-year-olds could now take part if they wished. The comments were broadcast as...

An official from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said the minimum age for participation in war-related support roles has been lowered to 12, according to remarks aired on state media. Rahim Nadali, a cultural official with the Guards in Tehran, said an initiative called “For Iran” was recruiting participants to assist with activities such as patrols, checkpoints and logistics. “Given that the age of those coming forward has dropped and they are asking to take part, we lowered the minimum age to 12,” he said, adding that 12- and 13-year-olds could now take part if they wished. The comments were broadcast as...

The Department of Education (ED) just took a big step closer to shutting down. The Trump administration announced on Thursday an interagency agreement between the ED and the Treasury to move student lending operations to the Treasury, which will "assume operational responsibility for collecting on defaulted Federal student loan debt and provide operational support to ED’s efforts to return borrowers to repayment," the ED said in a release. "I think we've been very clear about this last week that this is a multiphase process," Nicholas Kent, Undersecretary of Education, told Fox News Digital on Monday. Throughout the 2024 campaign, then-candidate...