Free Republic

A group of House Democrats on Tuesday announced they would move to codify federal protections for transgender people. The proposal, dubbed the “Transgender Bill of Rights,” would codify the Supreme Court’s 2020 Bostock v. Clayton County decision that protects employees against discrimination for being gay or transgender. The proposal would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to explicitly include protections for gender identity and sex characteristics, expand access to gender-affirming care and ban conversion therapy. It would also require the attorney general to designate a liaison dedicated to overseeing enforcement of civil rights for transgender people and invest in...

The Daily Mail reports that eight states are planning to BAN the sale of gas-powered cars entirely – after Biden unveiled ambitious plans to phase them out by 2032. California was the first state to adopt the plan to ban sales of gas cars by 2035. Electric vehicles made up 7.6 percent of new car sales in the US last year. It seems clear that the government will ban gas stations at some point, and they don’t seem to care that you can’t afford an EV. The rule, first adopted by California, means that automakers and dealerships would be banned...

Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy is inarguably the most witty person in the U.S. Senate. With a folksy quip or quotation always at the ready, Kennedy can effortlessly dismantle an opponent’s argument with his deadpan delivery while keeping the whole room in stitches. And the reason why his delivery hits so well is that he makes sense — the common kind, which has become almost extinct in these woke times. For example, discussing some of his Democratic colleagues who support transgender athletes in women’s sports on Fox News’ “The Story,” Kennedy once said, “One of my Democratic colleague’s witnesses testified that...

Senate Democrats were left red-faced at a hearing on climate change as their 'expert witness' proved to be anything but when faced by veteran senator John Kennedy. Budget Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse invited Olympic skier Gus Schumacher to give his perspective as the committee considered the impact of climate change on the recreation industry. But it was all downhill for the 23-year-old as he struggled to answer basic questions and could not remember his tweets claiming the war on drugs was designed to jail black people, and calling for the police to be abolished. The excruciating exchange continued with Schumacher insisting...

At least eight states are planning to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars in the next decade - and others are considering joining them. Only zero-emission vehicles can be sold in participating states beginning from the 2035 model year, according to the Advanced Clean Cars II legislation. The rule, which was first adopted by California, means that automakers and dealerships would be banned from selling new gas cars in these states from that point onwards.

Twenty-three Democrat run states and the District of Columbia, the home of our nation’s capital, filed amicus briefs in support of government censorship and banning of free speech in the United States. These 23 states and the District of Columbia filed amicus briefs in support of the Biden administration in the SCOTUS case is Murthy, et al v. Missouri, et al, 23-411 (Missouri v. Biden) case. The states essentially argue that they have an interest in collaborating with tech companies to “encourage” the public to behave themselves and “discourage” the public from believing alleged “disinformation” or engaging in online predatory...

Election officials in Warwick, Rhode Island, have discovered dead voters’ names on Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s nomination papers. In a report, the Warwick Board of Canvassers revealed several deceased voters’ names were found on the paperwork of Ramaswamy’s nomination papers. The Coventry Board also had to “invalidate an unusually high number of signatures” submitted on behalf of the Ramaswamy’s campaign.

Breakthrough evidence likely reveals the final resting place of the HMS Endeavour. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nearly two years after an Australian research team made the claim that a Rhode Island shipwreck was Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour, the team says they have more evidence to back up their assertion. A Rhode Island-based research group originally said it was too premature to call the shipwreck Cook’s vessel. New findings regarding the pump well and bow further point to this ship in fact being HMS Endeavour. Residents of New England and those with British ties are once again in a scuffle. This time, the debate...

U.S. Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren is demanding an investigation into SpaceX, whose CEO Elon Musk could have disrupted Ukraine's attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet by refusing to connect the Starlink network in occupied Crimea, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 12. "The Congress needs to investigate what’s happened here and whether we have the adequate tools to make sure foreign policy is conducted by the government and not by one billionaire," Warren said. She also wants the Pentagon to examine its contractual relationship with the company. Musk is expected to attend a closed-door meeting with senators in the Capitol on...

A Muslim man was shot outside a mosque in Rhode Island as he set up a table to sell Islamic clothing on Friday morning. He was bending down to arrange his table outside the Islamic Center of Rhode Island around 11.40am when a suspect in a vehicle opened fire on him and quickly fled the scene. The man, who remains unidentified, sustained a non-life-threatening injury and was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital for treatment, according to authorities. Imam Abdul-Latif Sackor said that the shooter lingered across the street for approximately 20 minutes before discharging a gunshot. He believed that the...

What kind of a man keys another man's car because he doesn't like its bumper sticker — and then blames the victim when he's caught? These days, it may well be an elected Democrat in high office lording it over us. That is what we see in Rhode Island, where a state senator got caught doing just that — and then got off easy for it. A Democratic state senator in Rhode Island who was caught keying a car because it had a 'Biden sucks' bumper sticker has been sentenced to pay $3,000 in restitution. Joshua Miller, 69, who serves...

New footage has emerged showing Rhode Island police fending off drunken wedding guests who started a brawl when a bar refused them entry, with one woman attempting to grab an officer's gun in the melee. Newport Police officers were called to The Landing, a seafood restaurant on Bowen’s Wharf, around 1am on Sunday, after the unruly group demanded entry. New video shows the moment police were swarmed by the party-goers as they tried to arrest one of the men in the group, who'd punched a member of the bar's staff. That's when all hell broke loose. One of the men...

PROVIDENCE — Don Carlson dropped out of Rhode Island’s First Congressional District race on Sunday, just nine days before the Democratic primary and two days after defending his conduct with a student at Williams College while he was a professor there in 2019. Carlson responded in a video statement Friday to the allegation in an investigative report by WPRI 12, which said Carlson was asked not to return to teach at the college after he allegedly sent a text message to a graduating senior in which “he suggested a relationship modeled on a website where people can pay to...

Joshua Miller, who serves as the Senate Democrat policy chairman, is accused of keying the vehicle that had been parked next to his own at the Garden City Center in Cranston, Rhode Island, on Thursday. The son of the car's owner immediately reported the incident to the police, stating that he heard a scratching noise and got out of the vehicle to see Miller holding a set of keys. When he confronted Miller about keying his vehicle, Miller simply denied it and walked away. That was until police arrived and charged Miller with a misdemeanor. The entire episode led to...

A Democratic state senator in Rhode Island has been arrested after he was allegedly caught on camera vandalizing a car with a 'Biden sucks' bumper sticker. Joshua Miller, who serves as the Senate Democrat policy chairman, was caught on surveillance camera footage keying the vehicle that had been parked next to his own at the Garden City Center in Cranston, Rhode Island, on Thursday. The son of the car's owner immediately reported the incident to the police, stating that he heard a scratching noise and got out of the vehicle to see Miller holding a set of keys. When he...

It’s been a persistent drumbeat for many years: Fossil fuels are obsolete, and the facilities that produce them, along with any further facilities that might be built for that purpose, will shortly become worthless. These facilities will be “stranded assets.” And any energy company stupid enough to make further investment in fossil fuel extraction or use will inevitably suffer a total loss. Do you believe that prediction? Those making it are among the aggressive promoters of an energy transition to supposedly superior sources like the wind and sun. The prediction has been widely used in the attempt to bludgeon energy...

A nearly 150-year-old stained-glass church window that depicts a dark-skinned Jesus Christ interacting with women in New Testament scenes has stirred up questions about race, Rhode Island’s role in the slave trade and the place of women in 19th century New England society. The window installed at the long-closed St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Warren in 1878 is the oldest known public example of stained glass on which Christ is depicted as a person of color that one expert has seen. “This window is unique and highly unusual,” said Virginia Raguin, a professor of humanities emerita at the College of...

A Rhode Island woman who lied about being an injured Marine Corps veteran diagnosed with cancer was sentenced to nearly six years in prison and ordered to pay back full restitution on Tuesday. Sarah Jane Cavanaugh, 32, collected more than $250,000 in charitable contributions, veteran benefits, and donations during her stolen valor run. “Today’s sentencing sends a strong message to those who would represent themselves as something they’re not in order to profit from the kindness and respect shown to our nation’s deserving veterans,” Special Agent in Charge Christopher Algieri of the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s...

Democrats in the Rhode Island General Assembly have introduced legislation that, if passed, would grant localities the ability to give non-U.S. citizens the right to vote in municipal elections. The measure marks the latest attempt by leftists to give foreigners and, in this case, even illegal immigrants the opportunity to influence the U.S. electoral process. Under the new bill (H 5461), cities and towns would be permitted to “allow all residents of the municipality to vote in municipal elections for municipal officeholders regardless of the immigration status of the residents.” The measure also stipulates that the locality’s board of canvassers...

Democrats in the Senate are ratcheting up new legislation to promote stricter ethics guidelines for the Supreme Court amid revelations that the justices have tried for years to compromise on a new code of conduct, only to fail on unanimity. On the same day the Washington Post reported the justices had been trying without success to agree on a code of conduct for at least four years, citing sources familiar with the matter, Democrats in the Senate introduced two pieces of legislation that aim to heavily clamp down on the justices' ability to exercise their own discretion on the Code...