Free Republic

Illinois bureaucrats are here to protect your kids... from you. People can’t get out of Illinois fast enough. Only two other states lost more residents between 2023–24, and the state has actually lost population for 10 years in a row. The tax burden, weather, heavy regulation, and crime levels all contribute to its residents seeking an exit. So, taking this mass exodus into account, you’d think the state would try to appeal to the families that remain. Well, think again. The Cubs (and maybe even the White Sox) are more likely to win another World Series before Illinois considers the...

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 18, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) -- Switzerland’s top court ruled that parents do not have a right to homeschool their children. On Monday, the Swiss Federal Court ruled against a mother from the city of Basel who in 2017 had applied for permission to school her 8-year-old son at home. School authorities rejected the application and a cantonal court threw out the mother’s appeal. When she brought her case to the Federal Court, the mother held that the appeal court’s decision was tantamount to a ban on private instruction at home, thus violating a constitutional right to privacy and...

GENEVA, Switzerland, September 18, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) -- Switzerland’s top court ruled that parents do not have a right to homeschool their children. On Monday, the Swiss Federal Court ruled against a mother from the city of Basel who in 2017 had applied for permission to school her 8-year-old son at home. School authorities rejected the application and a cantonal court threw out the mother’s appeal. When she brought her case to the Federal Court, the mother held that the appeal court’s decision was tantamount to a ban on private instruction at home, thus violating a constitutional right to privacy and...

CV NEWS FEED // Congressman Riley Moore, R-W.Va., has introduced the Respect Parents’ Childcare Choices Act to the House of Representatives, which would increase funding to help low-income and working class parents cover the cost of childcare. The legislation would provide vouchers for childcare, not only for third-party childcare options but also for relatives and stay-at-home mothers or fathers, according to a March 24 article from the Daily Wire. “For decades, conservatives have rallied around being pro-life, but far too often, the policy framework that came with it lacked strong, substantive ideas to reduce the burden on American families,” Moore...

Lawsuits can move forward against schools and medical clinics over Covid-19 vaccines given to children without their parents' permission, the North Carolina Supreme Court ruled Friday, overturning past rulings that had blocked the lawsuits. The ruling was 5-2 along party lines, with all the Republicans in the majority and all the Democrats dissenting. [snip] The case in question deals with a then-14-year-old Guilford County high schooler named Tanner Smith. He was given a vaccine even though he and his mother later said they were against it. Smith played football at Western Guilford High. After a 2021 outbreak of Covid-19 cases...

A new bill requires parents to report themselves to their local school district, and parents who do not will be considered truant.. Homeschool parents would face fines, misdemeanor charges and even jail time if they do not report themselves to local public school officials, under a new proposal from Illinois Democrats. Parents also would be required to provide public school officials with a “portfolio” of their children’s work at any time, at any interval and frequency, until that portfolio meets the public school’s satisfaction. The bill, dubbed the “Homeschool Act,” requires parents to report themselves in writing to local school...

On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “AC360,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said that she would make sure education funds are spent properly, but “Heaven help the Republican states who might take that money and do something that’s not focused on feeding hungry kids, helping kids with disabilities, and everyone else that the Department of Education helps.” And declared, “Just leave everybody alone. Leave the parents alone, leave the kids alone.” Hochul said, “Right now we get $6 billion from them in New York state, 2 billion for Pell Grants to give people a pathway to higher education, $2 billion...

The parents of two of the Kansas City Chiefs’ fans, whose lifeless bodies were found frozen in a friend’s backyard, had mixed feelings following the arrests of two men charged with manslaughter on Wednesday. Ricky Johnson Jr., 38, David Harrington, 37, and Clayton McGeeney, 36, were found dead in their pal Jordan Willis’ backyard on Jan. 9, 2024. Harrington’s mom, Theresa, claimed she’s been kept out of the loop in the 14 months since the trio’s bodies were discovered. “They wouldn’t tell me anything,” she told the Daily Mail.

The United States is fighting a "quad-demic" this winter with four major viruses—COVID-19, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and norovirus—with infants at particular risk, Dr. Ryan Fulton recently warned. "This year, we've seen earlier and more intense surges of RSV and the flu compared to what we're used to," Dr. Fulton, section chief of general pediatrics at Carilion Children's Hospital and faculty member at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, said in a statement. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported an increase in visits to doctors on a scale not seen in 15 years....

Our daughter is in kindergarten at a private Catholic school. The school is wonderful—small classes, caring teachers... We are not Catholic and lean more towards atheism, especially me. We knew that religious teaching would be part of her school, and we were okay with that. The public-school system where we live is pretty good, but our daughter has a lot of anxiety and is someone who needs smaller classes and lots of individual attention. . We are comfortable teaching her about other religions (Diwali celebrations, Menorah lightings). She is very into exploring and learning about the world, so she is...

Pam Bondi’s predecessor, Merrick Garland, oversaw the targeting of parents who objected to sexualized and racialized curriculum The targeting of parents, pro-lifers, and Latin Mass attendees “will stop” and “must stop” according to attorney general nominee Pam Bondi. The former Florida attorney general is testifying today in the first of two hearings on her nomination to lead the Department of Justice. Under Attorney General Merrick Garland, law enforcement targeted concerned parents and citizens who objected to sexual and racial identity politics in the classroom. The FBI office in Richmond, Va. also labeled Catholics who prefer the older Latin Mass as...

Kentucky’s legislature is primed to consider a bill in the new year that would make parents responsible for their juvenile child committing a crime involving the discharge of a firearm. State Rep. Kim Banta, R-Erlanger, modeled her legislation after similar laws that hold parents accountable for property crimes and motor vehicle accidents. In the Bluegrass State, parents are liable for up to $2,500 in cases where their kids deface property and the guardian who signed a minor’s driver's license application is "jointly and severally liable" for any findings of negligence or damage behind the wheel. "The most important thing is...

Pixar’s original animated series Win or Lose will no longer include a transgender storyline in a later episode, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. The series follows a co-ed middle school softball team named the Pickles in the week leading up to their championship game. Each of the eight episodes center on the off-the-field life of a character and their point of view, whether it be a player, a parent, a coach or an umpire. A spokesperson for Disney confirmed that the story arc was removed and provided the following statement to THR: “When it comes to animated content for a...

A tiny 2-year-old migrant girl who was picked up at the US border clutching a piece of paper with a name and phone number scrawled on it told cops she was there to find her parents, a tragic video shows. The child from El Salvador, clad in a bright pink jacket, was among a group of more than 200 illegal migrants — including 60 unaccompanied minors — detained after crossing the border into Maverick County, Texas, on Sunday, authorities said. The Texas Department of Public Safety released the footage of the little girl admitting to cops that she was traveling...

The charming, buttercup-yellow cottage where Truman lives in the movie is still owned by Gaetz’s parents in real life. They leaned into their movie-famous home. A photo of a sign on their white, picket-fence gate announces its connection to the movie, (helpful for ogling tourists) along with the family’s names, including Matt and his sibling, Erin: “The Truman House. Don & Vicky Gaetz. Matthew & Erin.” The Gaetz family purchased the seaside property in 1991 for $125,000. It was one of the first in the master-planned community. However, the classic cottage is now estimated to be worth $2.7 million, according...

A California school district was blasted for not firing the high school teacher who went viral for his profanity-laced, post-election rant against Donald Trump, calling the president-elect a rapist and comparing him to Hitler. The Moreno Valley Unified School District board meeting on Tuesday turned chaotic when multiple parents called for the firing of AP history educator Maximiliano Perez because of his mid-class meltdown on Nov. 6. Furious parents of all backgrounds took turns during Tuesday’s board meeting to call out Perez’s racist remarks and the school district that has yet to fire the problematic teacher. Perez, who also called...

On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear a case brought by parents who accused the Department of Justice of improperly using the FBI to target them for their opposition to school board curricula or policies, the Washington Examiner reported.

Biden-Harris administration officials created a plan to use a letter from a third party source as a “pretext for federal action,” and stakeholders and officials discussed federal responses to school board protests, according to a new joint report from the America First Legal Foundation (AFL) and Parents Defending Education (PDE).

Wild video shows an 8-year-old Ohio girl swerving her family’s SUV across lanes on a 25-minute joyride to go shopping in Target. Dashcam footage released Wednesday shows alarmed motorist Justin Kimery calling 911 on Sunday, assuming it was an adult driving dangerously in a 2020 Nissan Rogue, WSAZ reported. “There’s a guy in a car, he’s like right behind me. He’s swerving all over, he’s swerving everywhere like in all the lanes,” Kimery said — not realizing at first it was a young girl behind the wheel. Kimery keeps up with the swerving SUV for several minutes, at one point...

Dear parent of a college student: please don't ever answer emails or other official school communication that is sent to your student's email address. I know you mean well. But when you answer his emails on his behalf you aren't "advocating" for your student. Rather, you are unintentionally infantilizing the student, preventing him from exercising adult responsibilities. If I were a potential employer interviewing a recent college graduate and I found out his mother monitored his emails and answered on his behalf, I would pass on him. Clearly, he isn't sufficiently independent for adult employment. I want to be clear...