Free Republic

The Supreme Court heard oral argument on Monday in two challenges to S.B. 8, the Texas law that bans almost all abortions in the state. After nearly three hours of argument by four different lawyers, the justices appeared likely to allow the case brought by a group of Texas abortion providers to go forward, even if they did not necessarily appear to agree on the rationale for that lawsuit. The justices were more skeptical about the lawsuit filed by the Biden administration, and they did not give any hint as to whether the law will continue to remain in effect....Monday’s...

On this episode of The Resistance Library Podcast, Sam and David discuss the difference in meaning between the words nationalism and patriotism and why it matters. The terms “nationalism” and “patriotism” are often used interchangeably. This is understandable, as they have somewhat overlapping meanings, both of which suffer from a certain amount of vagueness. However, there are a number of key differences between the two that are worth shedding light on. In the final analysis, we believe that the term “nationalism,” while not denoting anything totalitarian by its nature, is not an accurate term for the sentiment that exists in...

Our friend Stephen Hunter describes the column below as “one more Alec Baldwin piece, this from a film critic and acknowledged firearms expert.” Steve was the Pulitzer-Prize winning film critic of the Washington Post and is the author of the Bob Lee Swagger novels. His new novel is TARGETED, which will be published in January by Atria/Emily Bestler Books and is available for pre-order now. Steve writes:What did Alec Baldwin know of the firearm with which he killed Halyna Hutchins? The answer, based on his filmography, is not much.Whether intentionally or by chance, he has had a remarkably gun-free career...

Alec Baldwin returned to somewhat normal Twitter behavior this week for the first time since an on-set shooting he was involved in left cinematographer Halyna Hutchins dead. Baldwin issued a statement the day after the incident noting that he is cooperating with authorities as they investigate and offered his condolences to Hutchins’ family. Since then, he was completely silent on social media as he and his wife Hilaria traveled to New England. On Saturday, Baldwin seemingly returned to business as usual on social media, first by complimenting the Halloween costume of actor and comedian Mario Cantone. He then retweeted a...

Baldwin spoke to reporters Saturday, responding to one question by saying he is “extremely interested” in limiting the use of firearms on movie sets. He said, “I do know that an ongoing effort to limit the use of firearms on film sets is something I’m extremely interested in.” Baldwin then asked reporters to remember how many guns have been fired on film sets during the past 75 years and stressed that those guns were fired “mostly without incident.” However, he added, “We have to realize that when it does go wrong, and it’s this horrible catastrophic thing, some new measures...

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — From the moment Kyle Rittenhouse shot three people on the streets of Kenosha during protests over the police shooting of a Black man, he’s personified America’s polarization. The 17-year-old from Illinois who carried an AR-style rifle and idolized police was cheered by those who despised the Black Lives Matter movement and the sometimes destructive protests that followed George Floyd’s death. He was championed by pro-gun conservatives who said he was exercising his Second Amendment rights and defending cities from “antifa,” an umbrella term for leftist militants. Others saw him as the most worrisome example yet of...

Negotiations on the infrastructure and social program bills have consumed Capitol Hill for months. Still, a new ABC News/Ipsos poll out Sunday finds Democrats are failing to sell the legislation to the public, who are broadly unaware of what is in the spending packages or skeptical they would help people like themselves, or the economy, if signed into law. Although a majority (55%) of the public is following news about the negotiations at least somewhat closely, about 7 in 10 (69%) Americans said they know just some or little to nothing about what's in both bills. Fewer than half (31%)...

And who pulled the trigger?Alec Baldwin.It's that simple.

While acting on four seasons of FX’s “American Horror Story,” Leslie Grossman estimates she’s been called upon to shoot a gun “several times.”“They’re never real guns,” she says. “Nine times out of 10, I’m using a rubber gun.” When the scene does call for a more dramatic close-up of a gun firing with a physical recoil, Grossman says she usually shoots an air gun instead, with effects added in post-production to enhance authenticity. On the most recent season, “American Horror Story: Double Feature,” Grossman recalls only using rubber guns, even while shooting them.“I even said, ‘Wait, is this gonna look...

It is, apparently, Hollywood movie set custom to shout out 'cold gun' before handing an actor a firearm on set. It's meant to confirm that the weapon is not real, or at least not loaded with a real bullet, but here's the question that's puzzling the non-movie world ever since we heard the shocking news that Alec Baldwin had accidentally shot a camera-woman dead on set last Thursday- how could a real bullet get into a film set in the first place? Why require reassurance about something, a 'hot gun', that should never be remotely possible in the such a...

The economic and cultural hub has seen the most shootings in years in 2021. The rise mirrors a citywide violent crime wave and threatens downtown’s recovery. Deserted during the pandemic and battered by looting, downtown Chicago is grappling with a rise in violent crime that threatens the reputation of the city and its economic viability. Murders, shootings, rapes and car thefts are all up sharply in the downtown area, prompting fears among residents and business owners similar to those that have long been a reality in struggling neighborhoods beyond the skyscrapers. And some of the same frustrations. “How do you...

WASHINGTON, D.C.—With the pandemic still ongoing, the White House has been on the alert for anything that might cause resistance to the vaccine mandates. And they just realized that there was a constant anti-vax sentiment right under their noses: the national anthem. The last line of “The Star-Spangled Banner” is “O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave,” implying that the U.S. is a place where people are free to make their own choices and aren’t motivated by fear — pretty much a call to ignore the government during a pandemic. “So basically, at the beginning...

The right to keep and bear arms is, at a last resort, our most important right, thus it’s one that should be exercised with the utmost care and attention to detail.The investigation into the fatal shooting of movie camerawoman Halyna Hutchins by actor Alec Baldwin with a prop gun on the set of the latter’s movie, “Rust,” last Thursday is ongoing, with new information and speculations appearing daily, so prudent people will let the investigation run its course before reaching conclusions. The fact that Mr. Baldwin has been a hard-core leftist activist, particularly against the right to keep and bear...

Many Americans fervently believe that the Second Amendment protects their right to bear arms everywhere, including at public protests. Many Americans also believe that the First Amendment protects their right to speak freely and participate in political protest. What most people do not realize is that the Second Amendment has become, in recent years, a threat to the First Amendment. People cannot freely exercise their speech rights when they fear for their lives. This is not hyperbole. Since January 2020, millions of Americans have assembled in public places to protest police brutality, systemic racism, and coronavirus protocols, among other things....

Smearing parents fed up with their kids’ schools as “domestic terrorists” seems to be a wild, incendiary charge with little basis in reality. Yet it’s the basis on which the U.S. attorney general has convened an FBI task force to surveil and intimidate parents who object to what their children are being taught, and how they are being treated, with public tax dollars. The organization that colluded with the Justice Department to create the pretext for chilling voters’ speech has backed down, but the FBI threat remains. School lockdowns have clarified and accelerated the deep, irreconcilable differences among American parents...

Several religious denominations have seen memberships fall in recent years, including among young adults and teens. A new survey suggests that many young people perceive a disconnect between themselves and the houses of worship that need believers to sustain their congregations. Half of young people ages 13 to 25 surveyed said they don’t think that religious institutions care as much as they do about issues that matter deeply to them, according to a report released Monday by the Springtide Research Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit. Those issues include racial justice, gender equity, immigration rights, income inequality and gun control. Springtide tracks...

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said on Twitter today that leftists are pushing a fake “scandal” about Facebook making exceptions to its rules to justify censorship of conservatives. “The Facebook “scandal” is a false flag intended to justify an oncoming wave of censorship against the Right,” said Rep. Gaetz on Twitter. The Florida congressman was responding to allegations from leftists at Facebook that the site makes exceptions to its rules in order to protect political figures on the platform.

On Thursday, October 21, AD 2021, actor Alec Baldwin, a well-known anti-gun extremist, allegedly killed a cinematographer and injured the director, by firing a loaded gun directly at them during the making of a western movie called “Rust” on a remote film set in New Mexico. As more information comes out every day, it is too early to write a definitive account of the incident, or even to completely rule out intentional homicide. At this writing, it appears to be agreed that an assistant director took a gun from a table, announced “Cold Gun” and handed it to Baldwin, who...

As the party began trying to piece together its big social-spending and climate package, a split emerged between lawmakers who wanted to pass fewer programs (but do them well) and those who wanted to pass more programs (even if it means doing them poorly). A big part of this argument boiled down to how long policies should be funded for. The less-is-more crowd, dominated by party moderates, wanted to set policies in place permanently. The more-for-less brigade, dominated by progressives, wanted to fund programs temporarily in order to make their budget math work, essentially rolling the dice on the idea...

Normally I will not focus on little fish like Baldwin, but this time it's important. Baldwin represents everything unAmerican. Baldwin has openly called for his political enemies be locked up without trial. Not just locked up, but tossed into dungeons (paraphrasing) for especially harsh treatment. Without trial. Let's face it, a lot of US Citizens are just not American. Baldwin wants our Constitution ripped apart and burned. Wildly anti-gun and characterizes us as stupid, criminal, reckless, for demanding we stick to the Constitution -- the same one will stick to attempt to see he receives a fair trial for the...