Free Republic

A coalition of 17 states, lawmakers and advocacy organizations has filed 12 friend-of-the-court briefs urging the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold that parents and teachers have constitutional rights to know about their children despite public school gender policies.The briefs were filed in Mirabelli v. Bonta, a case involving California’s “Parental Exclusion Policies,” which the Thomas More Society led as counsel for a class of parents and teachers challenging the policies. In December, U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez issued a permanent injunction blocking the policies, saying that parents have the right to know and public schools cannot socially...

Coincidentally? Prophetically? Providentially? Whatever the right word may be, the headline for NRLC President Carol Tobias column is “Pro-lifers offer an antidote to cultural madness.” This particular instance of cultural madness took place over a week ago, and I’ve just learned of this viral outrage. Calling herself “Moraa,” this attention-starved woman posted an Instagram guaranteed to get clicks. It included typical baby announcement objects, only it was not a celebration of an impending birth but the declaration that she’d had an abortion! (Picture on link) “The unapologetic advisory — made complete with itty-bitty infant shoes, alphabet blocks spelling ‘B-A-B-Y’ and...

(LifeSiteNews) — Top feminist Gloria Steinem who died this week at age 92 may have been very different from her carefully cultivated public persona. While she earned her reputation as the unrivaled leader of the feminist and pro-abortion movements, the connections that lay behind her public career perhaps tell a more complex tale. There is no question that Steinem was once employed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). She herself divulged her association with the spy agency in her 2015 memoir. “She knew she was working for the CIA and said so herself,” LifeSite CEO John-Henry Westen noted in a...

In the 1970’s, famous feminist Gloria Steinem said: “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle.” The message: Women are self-reliant, and men are superfluous. Men are unnecessary and incompatible with women. Her cynical view was, no doubt, colored by her father’s abandonment. At our core, human beings are relational. Attachment to others is a basic human need. Our first attachment is to our parents. From our mothers we absorb what it means to be a woman. From our fathers, we learn how women ought to be treated by men. These kinds of lessons cannot come from...

Maine’s highest court has ruled that a father can prevent his daughter from attending a Calvary Chapel with her mother in a contested custody case after a lower court accepted an expert's claim that the congregation is akin to a "cult." The Maine Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) released a unanimous ruling Tuesday in Emily A. Bickford v. Matthew A. Bradeen, authored by Chief Justice Valeria Stanfill. At issue is an order of “shared parental rights and responsibilities” between Bickford and Bradeen, in which the two disagreed over who would control their child’s religious upbringing. Bradeen objected to Bickford bringing the...

Growing up in rural Western New York, the Very Rev. Micah Cronin couldn’t have imagined his present role as dean of the Episcopal cathedral in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He was raised in more conservative churches, and as a young adult, “I did not feel that I fit there,” he said, because they were not fully accepting of him as a transgender man. At the same time, Cronin’s faith was as central to his identity as his gender, and he told himself, “I don’t think it’s feasible to me to not be Christian.” Then at age 19, he began attending worship services...

At least 10 killed and 62 wounded in an explosion at a military base in Bolivia... At the Pentagon about 50 officials for the Joint Chiefs of Staff given polygraph... Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky says that President Trump's executive order on beef labeling falls short... US and Chinese officials are expected to discuss AI...safety risks... A new era of "Artificial General Intelligence" (AGI) has been proclaimed by Open AI CEO Greg Brockman... A federal district judge extending her order blocking US Postal Service mail-in ballot rules... Two killed in an Israeli attack on a motorcycle in southern Lebanon......

A Latino running group has been run out of a historically black Los Angeles neighborhood after opponents told organizers to find somewhere else to pound the pavement. Barrio Athletics announced that its Sunday 5K moved from Leimert Park in Crenshaw to Elysian Park near Dodger Stadium following “careful conversation with community leaders.” What started as a neighborhood dispute over the run quickly turned into showdown over who belongs in one of LA’s most important cultural enclaves.Barrio Athletics had planned to meet at Leimert Park at 9 a.m. and run along Crenshaw Boulevard, but community members immediately objected, saying the event...

Gloria Steinem doesn’t have her facts straight, but don’t expect the media to call her out on it. On Tuesday, feminist activist Gloria Steinem appeared as a guest on PBS’ Tavis Smiley. During the show, Steinem praised abortion for giving her “my life” and bashed the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood’s practice of aborted baby parts. She blamed the “attack” on Planned Parenthood on everything from the “ultra-right wing” to “patriarchy” and a “long-term racist system.” Host Tavis Smiley hailed Steinem as a “feminist icon” and “renowned social activist” before asking about her newly published book, My Life on the Road....

The Wall Street Journal dropped a bombshell new report on Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) late Thursday, detailing allegations that the Democrat has routinely dodged constituents, skipped Senate business, and frustrated his own staff while devoting increasing attention to conservative media and Israel.The Journal based its report on interviews with more than a dozen former staffers and lawmakers, along with internal records and messages. *** Here are five of the most striking revelations. 1. Fetterman canceled on paralyzed veterans — to attend a Fox News interviewThree paralyzed military veterans from rural Pennsylvania traveled to Washington in June for a long-awaited meeting...

President Donald Trump is privately discussing with senior aides whether to declare the U.S. war with Iran over, even as the Pentagon extends troop deployments into 2027 and the conflict continues to disrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, The Wall Street Journal reported.The apparent contradiction underscores the uncertainty surrounding the administration's strategy. Trump has told advisers he favors declaring an end to the war and believes the combination of economic pressure and U.S. military dominance has put Washington in a winning position.The Journal reported that Trump has argued Iran's economy is collapsing and that U.S. forces have achieved "almost...

BOISE (CN) — Reproductive health advocates sparred with Idaho before the state Supreme Court on Wednesday in an effort to change an abortion access proposition’s ballot language ahead of the November election. The dispute concerns language used to describe the Reproductive Freedom and Privacy Act, an initiative from Idahoans United for Women and Families. The group accuses Idaho Secretary of State Phil McGrane and Attorney General Raul Labrador of mischaracterizing the initiative in the section of the ballot that explains the effect of a yes or no vote. “These statements must be clear and concise; the proposed statements are neither,”...

The 19th is sharing the story of Tina (no last name given), a married mother of one daughter who "desperately" wanted another baby. But shockingly, when she finally became pregnant with a "healthy" child, she chose to have an abortion almost immediately. Key Takeaways: * Tina desperately wanted a baby and turned to IVF and surrogacy. * While her sister-in-law was carrying Tina's baby as a surrogate, Tina was surprised to learn that she, too, was pregnant. The babies would be eight months apart. * The day after Tina took the positive test, she ordered the abortion pill. * She...

Austria’s government is beginning to work on a proposal to constitutionally ban “political Islam,” after Chancellor Christian Stocker called for the legislation and Integration and Europe Minister Claudia Bauer said she would draw up a proposal for the coalition partners. *** Stocker first raised the possible legislation in an interview with Heute on August 28. The chancellor expressed his intention to implement a constitutional law on political Islam, which he called “incompatible with democracy and Western values.” In a statement, Stocker said, “I do not want our children and grandchildren to grow up in an Islamic state.”Stocker argued that everyone...

Do not ask me about euthanasia. I am not interested. I was contacted by a woman who called us on behalf of her elderly Aunt who was receiving treatment in a hospital in London Ontario. The Aunt wanted to know if there was anything that could be done to stop the MAiD team from asking her if she wanted MAiD. The woman told me that her Aunt was asked, if she wanted euthanasia twice, in a pretty persuasive manner, and she said NO. The woman told me that her Aunt was very upset because the person in the bed next...

A group of 500 feral teens stormed a Colorado grocery store and vandalized it in the latest dystopian incident that has left locals terrified. Teens besieged a King Soopers on Peoria Street in Aurora on Sunday afternoon, causing property damage and stealing items, police said. Social media video showed teens carrying stolen tables, throwing food items on the floor, and running around the aisles as shoppers attempted to complete their grocery runs. Teens crowded every part of the store, with the main aisles being overwhelmed with children between the ages of 14 and 17, who screamed and laughed as they...

The new U.S. Department of Justice Program, which aims to give nonviolent offenders an opportunity to have their Second Amendment rights restored after an extensive review process, is already yielding success.As TTAG readers are aware, federal law disables the firearms rights of many citizens who have been convicted of crimes without regard to whether they actually pose a threat of violence. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced on August 17 a finalized federal regulation allowing eligible individuals prohibited from possessing firearms to apply to restore their federal firearm rights. According to Blanche, the final rule would protect Second Amendment rights while...

A book released in 2021 (Abortion and Mothering: Research, Stories, and Artistic Expressions) has a chapter by writer Jessica Shaw called “Abortion Providers as Mothers, with Mothers,” where abortionists discuss the stigma and “social disapproval” they feel about committing abortions. Even Her Friends Don’t Know One abortionist, identified only as “Kate,” admitted that most people in her life (even many of her close friends) don’t know she performs abortions. She says she has “some very close friends that have no idea what I do. They just think I’m a family physician…[T]hey just have no clue.” (Jackson and Shaw, 57) Kate...

Back in July, a new chain of gas stations called the Freedom Fuel Network popped up in the Northeast, seemingly out of nowhere, with extremely attractive prices. It seemed to have friends in high places right from the very start, with its first retail site promoted by the White House’s official X account, and President Donald Trump lauding the company for “stepping up” as “a VERY smart Retailer.” The federal government denied that it was subsidizing Freedom Fuel or involved with the company on any level, so, naturally, people wondered how it managed to swoop in with gas 30 cents...

A Marina Del Rey woman earned a slap on the wrist after she pled guilty to bombshell charges that she paid homeless people on Skid Row to register to vote in a 20-year scheme tied to illegal petition signature collection.Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, 64, also known as “Anika,” even let homeless people use her own address to register to vote — meaning mail-in ballots could be sent to her home, a plea agreement obtained by the California Post states. Armstrong in May took a plea deal for one felony count of paying another person to register to vote in a...