Free Republic

In 1983, the last effort by pro-life forces to pass federal legislation providing full protection for the unborn failed on the floor of the U.S. Senate. Stunned by this defeat after a decade of grassroots mobilization, the pro-life movement turned in new directions. The most momentous of these was a campaign of support for mothers and babies, led by pregnancy care services and policymakers allied with them.An argument can be made that, in terms of services and policies, America was not ready for the reversal of Roe v. Wade in 1983. Today, on the threshold of the Supreme Court itself...

Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said at a town hall meeting that if Republicans win back the Senate later this year they would not attempt to repeal Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act. The admission came after the senator, who is running for his eighth term, was asked how the party planned to get Americans affordable healthcare. “It’s not repealing the Affordable Care Act, if that’s your question,” Grassley said Monday in Waukon, Iowa. “Yes, I’m saying that I would not — we’re not going to repeal the Affordable Care Act,” he added after the questioner pushed further.

Yesterday, Allahpundit pointed out one of the early cracks in the blue wall of support for mask mandates, particularly in public schools. New Jersey’s governor seemed to be ready to throw in the towel and stop fighting public sentiment on the issue. Well, shortly after that, the push to put an end to the mandates appeared to start spreading faster than the Omicron variant. Three more blue state governors joined Phil Murphy in saying that mandates would be coming to an end either this month or in March. Oregon, Connecticut, and Delaware jumped on the bandwagon, with the governors of...

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) says he will schedule a vote soon to repeal the 2002 Iraq War resolution, a proposal that has strong bipartisan support but has languished in Congress for years. Schumer announced Tuesday after a meeting of the Senate Democratic Caucus that he will move to fulfill his pledge to wipe the authorization for use of military force (AUMF) from the books, so that President Biden or any future president would need new authorization from Congress to launch military operations in Iraq. “It’s ... my plan to hold a vote on repealing the 2002 Iraq AUMF....

HHS proposed repealing its "sunset" rule that would require the department to eliminate existing regulations after 10 years unless the department reviewed them and could justify keeping the regulation in place, according to an Oct. 28 Federal Register notice. The Securing Updated and Necessary Statutory Evaluations Timely, or "sunset" rule, was finalized by HHS a day before President Joe Biden's inauguration. The policy was slated to take effect March 22, but HHS postponed the final rule March 19 by one year, pending judicial review. The American Hospital Association and other health groups sued HHS in March over the rule. In...

In 2013, New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, and Governor Andrew Cuomo conspired to pass rigid and likely unconstitutional restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms by residents of New York State. The law was passed with a rushed vote under a controversial measure in the New York Constitution which gives the Governor and legislative leaders enormous power. The members of the legislature were forced to vote on it without any time to read it. From syracuse.com: The NY Safe Act was passed with no hearings, no testimony, no time for opponents to...

Direct Scheduling for Mass Vaccination Sites Begins Saturday, May 1 ANNAPOLIS, MD—With consistent improvements in key statewide health metrics and a fast pace of vaccinations, Governor Larry Hogan today lifted the outdoor mask mandate in Maryland and all restrictions for outdoor dining. The governor also announced that the state has entered a new phase of its vaccination campaign, moving to direct scheduling at mass vaccination sites and continuing to expand points of distribution. “As our vaccinations continue to expand and our health metrics continue to improve, we expect to be able to take additional actions in the weeks ahead and...

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Thursday slapped down the state's Republican-controlled legislature repeal of his statewide mask mandate by issuing a new order. "Every step of the way, our statewide strategies to contain this virus and prevent the spread have been met with lawsuits, political rhetoric and obstruction," Evers said in a video posted to Twitter. "Unfortunately, that happened again today, when Republicans in the legislature came in to vote down our state's public health emergency and end requiring face coverings in public places." "That's why today we will be issuing a new public health emergency order requiring face coverings...

Legislation that could overturn an emergency law Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) used to issue coronavirus orders passed the Michigan House on Friday. “Senate Bill 857, sponsored by Sen. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, would repeal the 1945 Emergency Powers of Governor Act,” MLive.com reported.

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is the foundation for all social-media sites and e-commerce marketplaces we use every day. Congress enacted Section 230 in 1996, reacting to a ridiculous court ruling holding online bulletin board Prodigy liable for user posts slamming Stratton Oakmont — the pump-and-dump stock brokers portrayed in The Wolf of Wall Street. This law says that a platform’s users — not the platforms themselves — are responsible for the content they post. And it protects a platform from being sued for removing content that the platform deems objectionable to its audience and advertisers. Without Section...

More than 100,000 illegal immigrants who requested a special Obama-era amnesty for adults who came to the U.S. as children have criminal histories, according to an alarming report released this month by the government. Offenses committed by the illegal aliens seeking protection, benefits and rights under the policy known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) include murder, rape, weapon and assault charges. DACA has shielded nearly 800,000 illegal aliens under the age of 31 from deportation and allowed them to obtain work permits and drivers licenses. Obama launched the outrageous measure through executive order in 2012 to help children...

Experts say it’s only a matter of time before a shift in a major fault line off the Oregon coast causes a massive earthquake that generates a tsunami as much as seven stories tall. Even as work on Oregon State University’s Marine Studies Building was underway in Newport, the Legislature went a step further and repealed a ban on construction of new “critical facilities” in tsunami inundation zones, allowing fire stations, police stations and schools to be built in the potential path of a tsunami. Passage of the bill in June was little noticed during one of the most tumultuous...

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, who died at the age of 99 on Tuesday, was a Republican appointed by President Gerald Ford. But Stevens took a position that would make even many liberals blush: He called for repealing the Second Amendment.

DUBLIN, July 5, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Google admitted to interference in Ireland’s 2018 abortion referendum but claimed that it was merely to “help voters.” In revelations made by pro-transparency website Project Veritas, YouTube “blacklisted” a large number of videos on its platform in advance of the referendum while also interfering with search results. YouTube is wholly owned by Google. When voters searched for specific terms on YouTube, the results of their searches were manually altered by Google, thus assuring that the videos selected by Google reach the top of the search results. Among the searches affected by interference from Google...

Backers of the measure want Congress to clarify the constitutional right to bear arms (Photo: Chris Eger/Guns.com)A group of Hawaii state legislators wants Congress to repeal the right to bear arms — or at least specify that it is not an individual right. The resolution filed Tuesday in the Hawaiian Senate, SCR42, is backed by freshman state Sen. Stanley Chang, best known for defeating the chamber’s last Republican in 2016. Chang’s measure, which has four co-sponsors, would request Washington discuss either scrapping the Second Amendment altogether or clarifying that it only applies to organizations such as state militias. Chang, a...

SADDLE BROOK, N.J. — New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and other members of the state’s congressional delegation announced legislation Monday that would repeal the cap on state and local income tax deductions enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R. 1 (115). Menendez (D-N.J.) and Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.), the primary sponsors, say their bill would pay for the cost of removing the $10,000 cap by restoring the top income tax bracket to 39.6 percent. While that’s likely a nonstarter with many in the GOP, Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.) — New Jersey’s only Republican congressman — is...

If you were holding out hope that the Democratic majority in the House was serious when leaders like Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California pledged to do the people’s work, we’ve got some bad news for you. It’s going to be a long two years. But hopefully, at the end of it, Democrats will have shown enough Americans just why they cannot — and should never again — be in charge. As the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border worsens and the agencies charged with defending it against illegal immigrants are not being paid, thanks to Democratic refusal to work with POTUS...

Imagine that? We survived Net Neutrality's repeal and got fast internet in the process. Despite the doomsday forecasters' grim predictions for the Internet's future following Net Neutrality's repeal, here we are still alive and still breathing. Even more positive news: U.S. Internet speeds rose 40%. Ookla's latest Speedtest found that " US internet speeds rose nearly 40 percent this year.” Here were the winners and losers of fastest broadband and upload speeds per Recode:

President Trump should rescind EO 10988, decertify the federal employee unions, and drain more swamp. ... While any federal workplace reform is appreciated, President Trump missed an opportunity (“Fresh Air in the Swamp,” Review & Outlook, June 1.) He could have, and should have, simply rescinded President Kennedy’s Executive Order 10988 that recognizes the right of federal workers to bargain collectively. A strong case for its revocation can be made to the American public. Why should 2.2 million federal workers enjoy both robust civil-service job protection and union representation? No wonder why, according to the CBO, federal salaries are 16%...

Kamala Harris and other prominent Democrats want to repeal Trump's tax cuts and replace them with cash payouts for the poor and working class With midterm elections 2½ weeks away and the 2020 presidential race around the corner, prominent Democrats are embracing an ambitious idea: Repeal and replace the $1.5 trillion Republican tax plan. The proposals would get rid of the tax cuts and, in turn, funnel that money into government-guaranteed cash for low- and middle-income households. Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., announced a plan this week that would give working families up to $6,000 each year, with the option of...