Free Republic

ith gas prices hitting historic levels across the country, one gas station owner is drawing praise online for calling out what he deemed a "ripoff" being perpetuated by oil companies. Reynold Gladu has operated Ren's Mobil Station in Amherst, Massachusetts, for around 48 years. Last week, in response to soaring prices, he opted to drain his tanks and not have them refilled, refusing to take part in the business, which he claims is taking advantage of customers. In his state, average gas prices currently exceed the national average of $5 a gallon.

Thousands of COVID-19 testing booths have popped up on sidewalks across Beijing and other Chinese cities in the latest twist to the country’s "zero-COVID" strategy. Lines form every day, rain or shine, even where the spread of the virus has largely stopped. Some people need to go to work. Others want to shop. All are effectively compelled to get tested by a requirement to show a negative test result to enter office buildings, malls and other public places. Liu Lele, who works for a live-streaming company, has no problem getting tested regularly but said the daytime operating hours don’t always...

Actor Matthew McConaughey used an Austin American-Stateman op-ed to push for more gun control as an “acceptable sacrfice” in the wake of high-profile, firearm-based shootings the U.S. His first recommended gun control is an expansion of background checks. The Magic Mike star wrote, “All gun purchases should require a background check.”

Democrats are preparing a large gun control package to be considered in House Judiciary Committee on Thursday. The package, dubbed, “Protecting Our Kids,” includes eight bills designed to erode citizens’ Second Amendment rights. Reportedly included in the massive gun control package are provisions to ban high-capacity magazines, increase the purchase age of semi-automatics from 18 to 21, ban bump stocks for civilian use while requiring existing bump stocks to be registered with the government, change the definition of “ghost guns” so they fall under background checks at point of sale, increase penalties for gun trafficking, and mandate how Americans store...

President Biden said Monday that it’s up to Congress to outlaw assault weapons and strengthen background checks for gun sales, telling reporters: “I can’t dictate this stuff.” “I can do the things I’ve done and any executive action I can take, I’ll continue to take. But I can’t outlaw a weapon. I can’t change a background check. I can’t do that,” Biden said after stepping off Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House.

"Uvalde was a mass school shooting; the 26 previous tragedies at schools this year were not." While it has become widely accepted that the recent Uvalde school shooting was the 27th this year, it's not widely known that the definition has changed recently, lowering the threshold for what is defined as a "school shooting.""Interesting. The definition of 'school shooting' was changed to make them seem common, when in fact it’s rarer than we realized," tweeted filmmaker Mike Cernovich on Thursday:

Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded to his colleagues in the Senate and others accusing him of “politicizing” the tragic mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, TX, which has reportedly left 19 children dead. Murphy, who in an interview the night before pushed for gun control in the wake of the shooting, pushed back against the notion that he was “supposed to shut up and not talk about changing laws” following shootings. He argued that not politicizing the shootings was “a fiction created by the gun industry.”

The New York Times reported late Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took action “within hours” of the Robb Elementary School attack to adjust the Senate schedule and will “force” a gun control vote. According to the NYT, the vote will be focused on expanding background checks to cover sales at gun shows and “gun buyers on the internet.” This despite reports that indicate the alleged Robb Elementary School attacker purchased both his rifles from an FFL at a gun store; such a purchase already requires a background check.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) responded to reports of a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday by pushing for more gun control before details about the shooting were even known. Breitbart News noted that 14 students and one teacher were killed when an 18-year-old attacker opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

A tip of the tinfoil hat to my conspiracy theory friends. You’re right again. The president of the United States would NEVER hand over immense power regarding healthcare, travel, and censorship to the World Health Organization (WHO), right? Tucker Carlson broke a story on Thursday that every American needs to understand regarding the “Global Pandemic Treaty.”This January, the Biden administration submitted a series of proposed amendments to something called the International Health Regulations (the IHR). Now, the Biden administration’s amendments, along with those from several other countries, will be combined to create a new global pandemic treaty. “We need a...

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freedom of speech.”– Benjamin Franklin Beware of those who want to monitor, muzzle, catalogue and censor speech. Especially be on your guard when the reasons given for limiting your freedoms end up expanding the government’s powers. In the wake of a mass shooting in Buffalo, NY, carried out by an 18-year-old gunman in military gear allegedly motivated by fears that the white race is in danger of being replaced, there have been renewed calls for social media monitoring, censorship of flagged content that could be construed...

When revolutionaries undermine the system, earn the antipathy of the people, face looming disaster at the polls, it is then they prove most dangerous—as we’ll see over the next few months. Americans are now entering uncharted, revolutionary territory. They may witness things over the next five months that once would have seemed unimaginable. Until the Ukrainian conflict, we had never witnessed a major land war inside Europe directly involving a nuclear power. In desperation, Russia’s impaired and unhinged leader Vladimir Putin now talks trash about the likelihood of nuclear war. A 79-year-old Joe Biden bellows back that his war-losing nuclear...

Yes, this is satire, based on the ridiculous hyperbole I've seen streaming through my feed this week ... Relax. No one is "Coming for your abortions." No one wants to pry your abortions from your cold, dead hands. They're just asking for "Common Sense Abortion Controls." Simple, basic things like universal background checks (on both parents), waiting periods, a restriction on multiple purchases ("No one needs to buy more than one abortion every five years!"), adding both of your names to a national publicly-searchable database, and the ability to enforce "Red Flag" laws to keep you from having sex if...

A CNN talking head declared Sunday that if Elon Musk is allowed to buy Twitter, the platform will have to be government regulated to prevent ‘discourse’ being open and free, and not subject to establishment controlled censorship. While discussing the Musk take-over on CNN’s potato time with Brain Stelter, “media analyst” David Zurawik proclaimed that Musk is “dangerous” and shouldn’t be allowed to restore free speech on the platform. Zurawik suggested that the U.S. look to Europe, which has recently brought in new laws to limit social media, and even threatened to ban Twitter if Musk doesn’t play ball. “There’s...

Ukraine has limited exports of sunflower oil, wheat, oats and cattle in an attempt to protect its war-torn economy. Russia has banned sales of fertilizer, sugar and grains to other nations. Indonesia, which produces more than half the world’s palm oil, has halted outgoing shipments. Turkey has stopped exports of butter, beef, lamb, goats, maize and vegetable oils. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has unleashed a new wave of protectionism as governments, desperate to secure food and other commodities for their citizens amid shortages and rising prices, erect new barriers to stop exports at their borders. Sign up for The Morning...

Unlike the apathetic population of Australia, Florida Governor Ron De Santis knows how important freedom is to Western Societies. 31 years ago today a severely disabled autistic man slaughtered 35 people at Port Arthur and, in response, Australia, under the conservative leadership of "man of steel" John Howard, made massive tightening of gun control and massive reduction in private gun ownership. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, said of Australia, after Victoria Police assaulted peaceful protestors with rubber bullets (a weapon with a fatality rate of 3 percent): “Look what’s going on in Australia right now. They’re enforcing, after a year-and-a-half, lockdowns...

A new CDC publication ("Seroprevalence of Infection-Induced SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies — United States, September 2021–February 2022") should clarify for everyone what was always true – you can’t stop a respiratory virus. Despite the warnings of some scientists, who were pilloried then and who should be apologized to and applauded now, the United States and most other countries undertook an absurd exercise in hubris. We were told by our public health experts that through testing and tracing, use of plastic barriers, social distancing, closing schools and businesses, wearing masks, even vaccination, we could limit the spread of CV-19. This was expensive and...

Airports have been the main stages for security and hygiene "theater.". Bureaucrats cling to power. It’s their institutional predisposition. So it was no surprise on Wednesday when the Department of Justice appealed the recent Federal court ruling that struck down the mask mandate imposed on mass transportation by the Centers for Disease Control. As the appeal demonstrates, governments are especially reluctant to give up emergency powers. When they do, the relinquishment is grudging and only partial. That is a big reason why big government keeps getting bigger. As economist Robert Higgs showed in his book Crisis and Leviathan, since the...

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki on Wednesday admitted forced masking on planes had nothing to do with science or keeping people from getting infected with Covid. Virtually everyone knows masks don’t work. The Biden Regime knows masks don’t work and Psaki admitted it’s all about power. ... A Trump-appointed federal judge on Monday declared Biden’s travel mask mandate unlawful. The Biden regime’s DOJ on Tuesday announced they will appeal Monday’s mask mandate ruling for commercial air travel if the CDC decides to keep the mask mandates in place. White House reporters asked Jen Psaki if the Biden DOJ will...

Chris Murphy has tried to be patient with the White House. But the Democratic senator from Connecticut, who has dedicated much of his career since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre to fighting for passage of gun control laws, has had enough. “It’s time for more urgency from the administration as the gun violence epidemic gets worse by the day,” Murphy said in an interview this week. “A lot of us know that the president’s heart is in the right place and we’ve been really patient with his team.” Murphy is leading a brigade of lawmakers and advocates pressing Biden...