Free Republic

A weightlifter from New Zealand is set to become the first openly transgender athlete to compete in the Olympics, Reuters reported Wednesday. Laurel Hubbard, 43, reportedly has been eligible to compete in the Olympics since 2015 after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) set new guidelines for transgender athletes. She qualified for this summer's coronavirus-delayed Summer Games in Tokyo after the IOC approved rule changes for qualifying events due to the pandemic. Hubbard hasn’t yet been named to the New Zealand women's weightlifting team, but her spot is essentially guaranteed, according to Reuters. USA Weightlifting spokesman Kevin Farley told Reuters that...

A state senator attended a virtual meeting while behind the wheel of his car on the same day his colleagues introduced a bill to punish distracted driving. Ohio state Senator Andrew Brenner, a Republican, tried to disguise his whereabouts by adding a CGI background of a home office during Monday's conference call. But he was busted thanks to the sight of a seatbelt draped across his torso - and by the background momentarily dropping when he leaned back in his car seat. Brenner attempted to defend his actions to The Columbus Dispatch, saying: 'I wasn't distracted.' 'I was paying attention...

CALVERT COUNTY, Md. - A controversial billboard is causing a commotion in Calvert County. Located near the intersection of Route 4 and Bowie Shop Road in Huntingtown, it depicts President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in cartoon feces. The sign then says, "DON’T BLAME TRUMP! YOU ARE STUCK WITH THESE TWO (expletive) HEADS!!!" "It’s just vulgar," said Jeanette Flaim, who is the chair of the Calvert County Democratic Central Committee. "Kids are going to school, and they’re going by it every day, and parents are driving their kids. We just don’t think kids should have to see that...

(President Trump's Operation Warp Speed Update) (Over a quarter of a billion doses of highly effective vaccine have now been administered in the USA. As expected, case numbers and hospitalizations are falling - especially among the oldest (most heavily vaccinated) groups - vaccination rates have picked back up a bit from crashing lows earlier in the week) Total Vaccine Doses Delivered: 324,610,185 (19,332,600 J&J) Administered: 251,973,752 (8,627,243 J&J) People Vaccinated, At Least One Dose: 149,462,265 Fully Vaccinated: 108,926,627

A federal judge in Maryland this week followed through on a previous warning to sanction a lawyer best known for representing Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in a series of failed defamation lawsuits against media companies, saying the lawyer’s latest case against CNN was “frivolous” in nature. U.S. District Judge Richard Bennet, an appointee of George W. Bush, ruled that attorney Steve Biss had “unreasonably and vexatiously” attempted to continue litigating a lawsuit against the news network after the case had already been dismissed with prejudice for failing to state a claim in March. Despite that ruling, Biss filed an amended...

n an unfortunate age where baseball has lost legends left and right, one man stands alone: Willie Mays. I Since the start of 2020, 10 Baseball Hall of Famers, including Hank Aaron and many others from Mays' playing days, have passed away. Mays remains, as the oldest living Hall of Famer after turning 90 years old on Thursday. Mays being the oldest living Hall of Famer is just another example of his greatness at any age. His unmatched baseball career began in 1948 for the Birmingham Black Barons before joining the New York Giants at 20 years old in 1951,...

Soros-Backed Mag Pushes For 5 New States To ‘End Whiteness’ Of Government.OpenDemocracy, a left-wing magazine funded by organizations linked to George Soros, called for granting statehood to five U.S. territories in order to “end the whiteness of Congress.”Written by Karl Widerquist, a Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University-Qatar, the piece argues that “one of the most transformative things Democrats could do with their narrow majority in Congress would be to grant statehood to all the remaining inhabited US territories”: Washington DC, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Mariana Islands. The article – “The Case For Five...

President Joe Biden wore a mask outdoors during a speech in Louisiana on Thursday, ignoring updated guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control allowing vaccinated Americans to be outdoors without a mask. Biden wore a mask and his aviator sunglasses during an event in Lake Charles, Louisiana, as he walked up to the podium and delivered a speech about the importance of infrastructure. The president exited a tent wearing his mask and saluted as he took the stage. He removed his mask before he began to speak.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said on Thursday the Navy will investigate SEAL Eddie Gallagher over his admission in a recent interview that he did intend to kill an ISIS detainee despite being acquitted of the man's murder in 2019. (emphasis mine) Gallagher made the bombshell admission in an interview on Apple's 'The Line' podcast on Tuesday regarding the 2017 death of a 17-year-old militant captive in Iraq. ... 'I didn't stab him. I didn't stab that dude,' Gallagher said. 'That dude died from all the medical treatments that were done – and there was plenty of medical treatments...

In search of financiers for a 2024 presidential run, former Gov. Chris Christie will speak at a private donor event in Texas on Friday. The Texas Tribune reported that Christie is one of eight potential candidates invited to attend the meeting, organized by former Bush White House advisor Karl Rove and hosted by Gov. Greg Abbott and U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Christie will join former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and U.S. Senators Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Rick Scott (R-Florida) and Tim Scott (R-South Carolina). Former President Donald...

The U.S. Department of Justice expressed concern Wednesday about ballot security and potential voter intimidation arising from the Republican-controlled Arizona Senate's unprecedented private recount of the 2020 presidential election results in Maricopa County.

Vernon Jones is closing the gap with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in the nascent Republican gubernatorial primary ahead of next year's elections, according to polling obtained by The Hill. An internal poll commissioned by Jones’s campaign and conducted by the GOP firm Remington Research Group shows Kemp with a narrow 39 percent to 35 percent lead over Jones among likely Republican primary voters, putting him just slightly outside the survey’s 3 percentage point margin of error. There are signs that Jones has room to grow his support further. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they are still undecided in the race,...

President Joe Biden has received the least negative news coverage from the establishment media of any president in the last 30 years. According to the Pew Research Center, Biden received in his first 60 days 19 percent negative news coverage, ranking him the most favored of presidents in the last three decades.

BREAKING: Clarkstown Police Department are currently at the Palisades Mall investigating a woman who tragically fell to her death. The woman fell from the 4th level to the basement in the area of the parking deck & Dick’s Sporting Goods. The incident occurred on Thursday (May 6) around 12:30pm. Law enforcement sources confirm to us the woman was pronounced deceased on scene. The mall is still currently open. This is a developing story and will be updated with more information.

House Republicans are pushing to remove Rep. Liz Cheney from her leadership role because she insists on focusing on the past with her objections to former President Donald Trump rather than looking to the future and how to regain the GOP's control in Congress, House Minority Whip Steve Scalise said Thursday. "The vast majority of members are talking about the next election," the Louisiana Republican told Fox Business's Maria Bartiromo. "We have to be united if we are going to defeat the socialist agenda you're seeing in Washington. I started hearing from a lot of members about that. (We're) ready...

Sen. Tim Scott’s 2024 prospects are on the rise following his rebuttal to President Biden JOE BIDEN Caitlyn Jenner on Hannity touts Trump: 'He was a disruptor' Argentina launches 'Green Mondays' campaign to cut greenhouse gases On The Money: Federal judge vacates CDC's eviction moratorium | Biden says he's open to compromise on corporate tax rate | Treasury unsure of how long it can stave off default without debt limit hike MORE ’s address to a joint session of Congress and emergence as the leading GOP voice on police reform efforts. The buzz surrounding the South Carolina Republican puts him...

Mark Morgan has played a key role in U.S. immigration enforcement for 30 years. He served in the FBI, was chief of the U.S. Border Patrol for former President Barack Obama, and ran U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, then Customs and Border Protection for former President Donald Trump. Watching what’s happening on the border and in key cities under President Joe Biden, the 30-year law enforcement veteran said he’s never seen it worse. Now, with the Heritage Foundation, along with several other key Trump administration immigration officials, Morgan fears that Biden is handcuffing his former agencies and essentially granting amnesty...

Joy Behar told her co-hosts on Thursday’s broadcast of ABC’s “The View” that she believed Black Lives Matter was “not a political statement” because it was “just a statement of fact.” Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said, “The International Olympic Committee just confirmed the rules for the Summer Games in Tokyo. One of which forbids athletes from wearing Black Lives Matter clothing. They say it affects their ban on racial propaganda. Sunny, does this sound like a new rule or a rule in place for a long time?”

For Wyoming Republicans, booting Representative Liz Cheney from her leadership post isn't enough as internal efforts emerged to get her out of Congress altogether. Several right-leaning polls show a majority of Wyomingites have turned on Cheney, their at-large congresswoman in the U.S. House since 2017, as their support for former President Donald Trump has only grown since he left office. There are already four Republicans registered to run against Cheney for her House seat in 2022 – State Senator Anthony Bouchard, State Representative Chuck Gray, former Pavillion, Wyoming Mayor Marissa Selvig and Bryan Keller. Trump, along with his allies and...

Kenney used the Sunday virtual caucus meeting to go on a tirade about the No More Lockdowns Rodeo in Bowden. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney told a closed-door UCP caucus meeting on Sunday “I want a new base” as he slammed the rogue anti-lockdown rodeo in Bowden, the Western Standard has learned Kenney used the Sunday virtual caucus meeting to rail against the ‘No More Lockdowns Rodeo’, which attracted approximately 4,000-5,000 attendees over the weekend. Three UCP MLAs, who spoke to the Western Standard on the condition of anonymity, said another MLA spoke up and reminded Kenney that the people who...