Free Republic

Most US states get a failing grade on gun laws, according to a new scorecard published by the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The group, which advocates for stricter gun laws as a way to save lives, gave What Matters a first look at the new analysis. (snip) How do you account for a state like Illinois, that has strong gun laws, but also a high rate of gun deaths in its major city, Chicago? DRANE: We don’t take into account cities and that, in part, has to do with the availability of city-level data. It’s actually quite...

A “woke” University of Pittsburgh anthropology professor denied there’s a difference in male and female bone structure during a discussion about gender, sparking disbelief and outrage. “If you were to dig up a human — two humans — a hundred years from now, both a man and a woman, could you tell the difference strictly off of bones?” Riley Gaines is shown in footage asking during the lecture. “No,” professor Gabby Yearwood replies, according to footage posted on Twitter. The response sparked appalled laughter from students, including Gaines, who describes herself on Twitter as a former University of Kentucky swimmer...

WASHINGTON — Thursday’s indictment of former President Donald Trump has set a precedent enabling Republican prosecutors to seek criminal charges against President Biden, conservative legal experts told The Post Friday. “All bets are off. You can expect grand jury indictments of leftist politicians like Biden, [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer as surely as night follows day,” said Tom Fitton, president of the conservative legal group Judicial Watch. “You can be sure that there are prosecutors across Florida and Texas right now who are looking for a state law hook into the Biden family,” he...

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the key element of the response to the pandemic in America was to essentially take away the Bill of Rights, says Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., calling it a “coup d’etat against democracy by the military-medical-industrial complex.” At that time, the government began censoring speech for the first time in American history, thus infringing on the First Amendment to the Constitution, Kennedy said in a recent interview on EpochTV’s “American Thought Leaders” program. America’s founding fathers put the right to free expression in the First Amendment because—as they themselves said–all of the other amendments and rights...

The Biden administration said Friday that the U.S. will open an embassy in the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu in its latest move to blunt China’s increasing influence in the Indo-Pacific. The new embassy in Port Vila will be the fifth diplomatic mission that the U.S. has either opened or announced that it will build in the region over the past three years as it seeks to confront what it sees as a threat or challenge from China. “Consistent with the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy, a permanent diplomatic presence in Vanuatu would allow the U.S. government to deepen relationships with...

In Nevada, vehicles can heat up quicker than in other parts of the country, which raises concerns if a child or pet is left inside. Now a new bill is being discussed in the legislature that could give the power to save a child or pet in distress. “It would mean everything, probably life or death,” said resident Glen Lanier. According to Kidsandkids.org an average of 38 children across the county die of heat stroke every year after being left in a car. Lanier told 8 News Now he would jump into action to save anyone stuck in a hot...

Former President Donald Trump could be facing several years of incarceration if he is found guilty of any charges brought against him in a historic indictment in New York. The 45th president's legal woes have been snowballing for several years, with another legal probe still ongoing in Georgia as well as a possible federal investigation. If Trump, who is 76, is jailed over the claims he paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels then he will most likely end up at Rikers Island jail – which houses some of the city's most notorious criminals. …… Lawlor, who chaired the...

A federal jury on Friday convicted pro-Trump troll Douglass Mackey of plotting to trick voters out of casting a ballot during the 2016 presidential election. The case, which sought to address if any of the toxic stew of Internet disinformation during the 2016 election rose to the level of a crime, has been closely watched by both anti-extremist groups and right-wing politicians and pundits. Mackey, 33, of West Palm Beach, Fla., who gained fame on the Internet as the Twitter user “Ricky Vaughn,” posted two images made to look like fake Hillary Clinton ads telling people they could vote by...

Today, we honor and celebrate the achievements and resiliency of transgender individuals and communities.

Finland will formally be welcomed into Nato “within days” after Turkey’s ratification of the Nordic country’s accession to the western defence alliance, the Nato secretary general has announced. “All 30 Nato allies have now ratified the accession protocol,” Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday. “Finland will formally join our alliance in the coming days.” The move brings to an end decades of Finnish neutrality over Nato, and has been driven by concern over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Finland shares a border with Russia. In a statement after the Turkish vote, the Finnish government said joining the alliance would strengthen the country’s...

A judge in Delaware has ordered a jury trial in Dominion Voting Systems’ blockbuster lawsuit against Fox News, setting the stage for one of the most consequential defamation decisions against an American media company in decades. Lawyers for Fox and Dominion faced off in court during a two-day hearing for summary judgment last week, with each side unsuccessfully arguing the court should rule in their favor and forgo a jury trial that is expected to span weeks and could further bring to light internal discussions at the network following the 2020 election. Dominion is suing Fox for $1.6 billion in...

Amid escalating legislative attacks on transgender people across the U.S., and coinciding with Trans Day of Visibility, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington and Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts reintroduced the Transgender Bill of Rights with resolutions in both the House and Senate. The resolutions, if passed, would not directly grant rights or protections to trans citizens, but affirm “that it is the duty of the Federal Government to develop and implement” a wide range of pro-trans legislation. Protections called for in the resolutions include amending the Civil Rights Act to explicitly cover gender identity. ...

The National Archives has admitted that approximately 1,170 pages of records from President Joe Biden's time as vice president were found at the Penn Biden Center in November 2022, and the agency said it does not have custody of any records discovered at Biden's homes in Delaware. The America First Legal Foundation highlighted the revelation Thursday by publishing a letter that the National Archives sent to the conservative legal group in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. The Archives told the legal group it "must deny your request in full for approximately 1,170 pages" found at the Penn...

SOUTHLAKE, Texas - The Carroll ISD school board decided to cut ties with the state's association of school boards over its diversity and inclusion policies. It's another escalation from a district facing several federal civil rights investigations for discrimination. TASB has a membership fee, and districts can pay additional fees for other services. The reason the board voted 5-1 to leave the association next year is that they feel it’s taken political stances on issues that do not align with the district. The move comes after a group of Republican Texas lawmakers sent a letter out to districts in January...

European leaders are close to discussing whether the European Union can send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was quoted as saying on Friday.

Trans activists have stormed the Florida capitol building, demanding rights for trans-identified people. One of the members there led the group, chanting: "Whose schools? Our schools!" The protest comes just days after a trans-identified person killed three 9-year-old children and three staff members in Nashville. Instead of mourning the loss of innocent children and school staff members, it appears that those within the trans community have used the horrific incident to push their political ideas by forcing their way into capitol buildings across the country. Oli London posted to Twitter: "Another Insurrection by Trans Activists today in Florida. Activists stormed...

I’m not sure what I expected a CNN senior political analyst to think about America’s Democratic Republic, but it certainly wasn’t Ronald Brownstein’s revelation on Wednesday that Republican-led states have different policies than Democrat-led states. “On so many fronts, the states w/unified Republican control of government (or veto proof legislative majorities as here) are building a nation w/in a nation,” Brownstein said. “The breadth, degree, and pace, of separation by the red states is breathtaking.” One would be forgiven for thinking that Brownstein was commenting on a state voting to secede from the Union. He wasn’t, he was referring to...

'The West's policy of trying to weaken Russia in every possible way is characterized as a hybrid war of a new type' Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed off on a new foreign policy strategy aimed at curtailing the West’s “dominance” – deeming it an “existential threat” – and identifying China and India as key partners for the future. The new document cements the deep Cold War-style rupture between Russia and the West over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “The Russian Federation intends to give priority to the elimination of vestiges of the dominance of the United States and other...

Trump was indicted Thursday Night 45th President Donald J. Trump was indicted by a Manhattan Grand Jury Thursday evening. President Trump is expected to be arraigned in the Manhattan Courtroom at 2:15 pm eastern time on Tuesday. Tuesday’s arraignment will be the first time a president, past or present, has been arrested in American history. Trump took to TruthSocial on Friday to express his concerns that the judge overseeing his arraignment will not give him fair due process. “The Judge “assigned” to my Witch Hunt Case, a ‘Case’ that has NEVER BEEN CHARGED BEFORE, HATES ME. His name is Juan...

Good evening comrades, welcome to the brave new world in which political enemies aren’t considered “innocent until proven guilty” — but rather, are graciously afforded “the right to a trial to prove their innocence.” Don’t take my word for it, listen to former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). In reaction to Manhattan Alvin Bragg indicting former President Donald Trump, Pelosi tweeted: “The Grand Jury has acted upon the facts and the law. No one is above the law, and everyone has the right to a trial to prove innocence. Hopefully, the former President will peacefully respect the system,...