Free Republic

A Gallup poll reported Monday that support for stricter gun control fell from 66 percent in June to 57 percent near the end of October. The poll was conducted October 3-20 via a random sampling of 1,009 American adults. Gallup found 46 percent of Americans says there is a gun in their home or somewhere on their property while 33 percent said they “personally own a gun.”

President Joe Biden will sign an executive order requiring all federal government employees and contractors to get vaccinated — with no options for the unvaccinated. CNN reports Biden will order all federal workers to get vaccinated and end the loophole allowing unvaccinated employees to test frequently and maintain social distancing. He will also order contractors doing business with the federal government to do the same. Biden is expected to announce his new mandate in a speech on Thursday evening, urging all private businesses to follow his lead. Americans remain slightly in favor of employers leveling vaccine mandates, according to recent...

Rep. Liz Cheney says she supports state and local GOP efforts to enact stricter voter laws, denying any link between that and former President Donald Trump’s efforts to contest the 2020 election. Cheney (R-Wyo.), whose political future is in limbo after losing her House leadership position for breaking with the 45th president, made the comments to “Axios on HBO” after being asked what Republicans’ culpability was for spreading election misinformation with these efforts.

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for increasing penalties on oil speculators and boosting oversight of U.S. energy as part of a plan to crack down on an "irresponsible few" who he says rig oil markets. "Rising gas prices means a rough ride for a lot of families," President Obama said from the White House Rose Garden. "We can't afford a situation where speculators artificially manipulate markets by buying up oil, creating the perception of a shortage and driving prices higher, only to flip the oil for a quick profit."

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Environmental Protection Agency is delaying new rules that would impose stricter limits on two key pollutants—smog and mercury—drawing complaints from environmental groups who say the Obama administration appears to be caving in to political pressure from congressional Republicans. "It is hard to avoid the impression that EPA is running scared from the incoming Congress," said Frank O'Donnell, president of the advocacy group Clean Air Watch. Republicans took control of the House and gained in the Senate in the midterm elections, and many GOP lawmakers have vowed to target the EPA for what they call a series...

Gov. Schwarzenegger recently escalated a battle of words with federal officials over how to manage the remaining wilderness areas in Southern California's national forests. In an August letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Schwarzenegger accused the federal government of not doing enough to make sure wilderness in the San Bernardino, Cleveland, Angeles and Los Padres national forests is protected from road construction. The state and environmental groups want more restrictions on forest roads than are outlined in new forest management plans, 10- to 15-year master plans for land use in the forests. Schwarzenegger charged the federal government with not...

HARRISBURG, Pa. Pennsylvania is poised to adopt pollution standards that would require new cars to be cleaner-burning a year from now and put the state in lockstep with California's efforts to impose even more stringent requirements by 2009. Smog-reduction rules expected to be adopted for the 2008 model year would have little or no impact on the price of cars or the way they drive, state and industry officials say. But more stringent greenhouse-gas reductions being sought by California on 2009 model-year cars would result in higher car prices, though advocates and opponents disagree about the amount. Automakers also say...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10, 2006 – Harsher punishments for Defense Department personnel who participate in human trafficking or support the industry by patronizing prostitutes are part of a bill signed into law today by President Bush. "Human trafficking is an offense against human dignity, a crime in which human beings, many of them teenagers and young children, are bought and sold and often sexually abused by violent criminals," Bush said at the White House before signing the bill. "Our nation is determined to fight and end this modern form of slavery." The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 amends the...