Free Republic

Lawmakers in the Virginia Senate gave approval this week to a constitutional amendment that would allow for preborn children to be killed with no gestational restrictions. The amendment passed in a party line vote of 21-19. Though abortion is already legal all the way through 26 weeks six days in the state — and all the way to birth if three doctors determine the mother’s life or health is at risk — the amendment would solidify that extreme stance, making it harder to undo legislatively while further loosening the third-trimester exceptions and providing no safeguards to protect women and young...

(WSET) — In the hours after he was inaugurated, President Trump granted pardons, commuted prison sentences and promised to dismiss the cases of everyone charged with crimes in the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. A handful of those people are from the ABC13 viewing area. Here's a breakdown of what their charges were and where they were from.

Suhas Subramanyam was sworn into the 119th Congress earlier on Friday, marking a historic moment as the first Indian-American and South Asian to represent Virginia's 10th Congressional District. Subramanyam, who succeeds retiring Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, now represents a district that spans Loudoun, Rappahannock, Fauquier, and parts of Prince William and Fairfax Counties. This achievement not only sets a precedent for Virginia but also for the East Coast, where Subramanyam becomes the first individual of South Asian descent to serve in the US Congress. Subramanyam's rise to Congress is deeply personal. His mother, who immigrated through Dulles Airport within District 10,...

A Virginia man was arrested after the largest cache of "finished explosive devices" was discovered at his farm by the FBI, The New York Times reported. Brad Spafford was apprehended outside Norfolk on Tuesday, Dec. 17, after more than 150 explosive devices were found in a detached garage on his 20-acre property, the Times reported. The devices were mainly pipe bombs, some labeled as "lethal," prosecutors told the Times. Pipe bombs were also found inside his bedroom — loosely stuffed in a backpack that bore a patch shaped like a hand grenade and a logo reading "#NoLivesMatter," the Times reported....

For the third consecutive year, Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin has proposed a budget amendment that would eliminate taxpayer-funded abortions for fetal anomalies. According to Virginia Mercury, current state law allows state insurance to cover abortions for cases in which a doctor has diagnosed “gross and totally incapacitating physical deformity or with a gross and totally incapacitating mental deficiency.” Youngkin’s proposed budget amendment would explicitly remove this, with language saying “no expenditures from general or non-general fund sources may be made out of any appropriation by the General Assembly for providing abortion services, except otherwise as required by federal law or...

Not soon after the general election, and within two weeks of each other, two major financial institutions have left a United Nations Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). This is after they joined three years ago, pledging to require environmental social governance standards (ESG) across their platforms, products and systems. According to the "bank-led and UN-convened" NZBA, global banks joined the alliance, pledging to align their lending, investment, and capital markets activities with a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, NZBA explains. Since April 2021, 145 banks in 44 countries with more than $73 trillion in assets have joined NZBA, tripling...

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) said he was "proud" to block a proposal from Democrats to protect federal workers from potentially getting reclassified as political appointees under the incoming administration. The measure was introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) as a way to prevent such reclassification without congressional approval. He asked for unanimous consent to pass the Saving the Civil Service Act, warning about “attempts in recent years to erode the independence of the federal civil service,” a reference to efforts President-elect Trump made in his first term. Kaine and other Democrats fear that Trump, now reelected, may attempt to reclassify...

On Monday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) stated that he hasn’t paid attention to the issue of whether or not the Biden administration is disposing of border wall material and “We are expecting this to be a top priority next year, and we’ll deal with that as it comes.” After discussing Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) request for records preservation on border wall materials, host Bret Baier asked, “Sen. Kaine, about that, obviously, we had an election and immigration was one of the issues. And there are some people at home saying, why get...

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has put sanctuary cities in the state on notice, promising to end their state funding if they do not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Youngkin made the announcement on Fox, where he spoke of legislation he put into motion last week that will require all local law enforcement to work with ICE and federal authorities concerning the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants. "Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin: “I’m going to take your funding away here in the Commonwealth of Virginia. We are not a sanctuary state.”" After citing recent violent crimes committed by illegal immigrants...

Military aircraft flying over the Dam Neck and Croatan areas of Virginia Beach is not uncommon, but the aircraft John Knight and his son, Benjamin, saw Thursday after dark was unlike any other they’ve seen. ... Croatan sits between two military installations: Naval Air Station Oceana Dam Neck Annex and State Military Reservation (formerly Camp Pendleton), a Virginia Army National Guard facility. Knight spotted the flying object over the ocean in front of the Dam Neck Annex and watched as it slowly moved over the military reservation and behind the trees towards Owls Creek, he said. “It flew like a...

White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby stated that shooting down one of the mysterious drones over the ocean can’t be done because “we have to develop the policy options based on what we know we’re dealing with here and we just don’t know enough” to do something like that. Host Martha MacCallum asked, “Why not just take one down and figure out what’s going on?” Kirby responded, “Well, okay, the idea of taking something down, again, you’ve got — you want to worry about public safety. First of all, we don’t have enough conclusions to take that kind...

The country is being inundated with drones. These drones are mapping, and the government is concealing information. Most likely these are drones from China. Iran and Russia are too busy right now to do this. This is a massive coverup.

Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi is reportedly working behind the scenes to put the kibosh on Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez' dream of taking a powerful Democratic House position in the new Congress. The 35-year-old progressive Squad member is looking to become the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, having served as vice ranking member. But she would have to beat out Virginia Congressman Gerry Connelly, who also launched his own bid for the top committee job. Their face-off sets Democrats up for a generational battle between the millennial member of Congress and the 74-year-old lawmaker who has served in the House...

Mysterious drones have been spotted flying around one of the U.S.'s most sensitive military areas, leaving defense officials and local authorities stumped as to who is behind the unknown uncrewed aerial vehicles zipping across the sky around a major U.S. air base.U.S. military personnel reported drones appearing in restricted airspace over Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Virginia, shortly after sunset during a period of more than two weeks, according to The Wall Street Journal. Officials haven't determined if the drones belong to enthusiasts or are operated by countries such as Russia or China, according to the report. U.S. officials...

A Virginia real estate broker faces the prospect of losing his license and paying a hefty fine because of a Facebook post about a Bible verse about homosexuality. On Feb. 13, 2015, Staunton-based broker Wilson Fauber reposted the Rev. Franklin Graham’s post citing a verse in the Bible and added commentary from his own perspective as a pastor. After 44 years in the business with a clear record, Fauber learned that the National Association of Realtors received an ethics complaint about him earlier this year. The “real basis of that complaint was from 2015, when I posted Leviticus 18:22,” he...

An illegal immigrant who had already been ordered deported escaped from a detention center in Virginia by using bed sheets before going on the lam for five days. Dennis Arnoldo Zeledon Hernandez was sentenced to a year and six months in prison for the daring escape from the Bowling Green lockup on July 2, 2023, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said Monday. The Salvadoran migrant had landed in ICE custody following his May 14, 2023 arrest in York, Va., for DUI, carrying a concealed weapon and child neglect. ... He left a building at the Caroline Detention Facility, ran across...

An illegal Honduran migrant has been charged with raping a woman on a popular hiking trail outside Washington, DC just days after he was released from jail on another sex crime charge — and it’s the first sexual assault of that kind in the town for more than a decade, according to authorities. “This is the only stranger rape that we have had in the town in my more than 12 years as chief of police,” said Herndon, Virginia, police chief Maggie DeBoard in a press conference Tuesday. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin slammed local officials for allowing the serial sex...

The Pentagon's Inspector General *CONCEDES* to a House investigation that it misled the American people about National Guard troops being delayed to respond to the J6 riots... Today, the @OversightAdmn Chairman Barry Loudermilk (GA-11) sent a letter to Department of Defense (DoD) Inspector General (IG) Robert Storch, demanding a correction of the DoD's factually inaccurate January 6 report, as first reported by The Federalist." "After a thorough investigation, the Subcommittee uncovered evidence substantiating that the Department of Defense intentionally delayed the deployment of the D.C. National Guard to the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In addition, the DoD IG concealed...

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Special Election Update (via DLCC.org) From: staff@dlcc.org To: ME Sat, Nov 16 at 11:55 AM Two opportunities in Virginia In just a few months, we’ll face our first challenges of 2025 – two special elections for seats in the Virginia Senate. State Chamber District Virginia Senate SD-10 Virginia Senate SD-32 Democrats hold the Virginia Senate by an ultra-thin margin. Holding our ground in these special elections is crucial to defending control of the chamber against a Republican power grab.

Key Points Certain rules that reduce pensioners’ Social Security benefits have been in place for decades. House lawmakers voted to approve a bill that would nix those rules. Critics say more comprehensive Social Security reform should be prioritized instead. ********************************************************************* A bipartisan bill to change Social Security benefit rules for pensioners passed in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, with 327 lawmakers voting to support the measure. Now, the proposal heads to the Senate, where the chamber’s version of the bill has 62 co-sponsors, “surpassing the majority needed to pass the bill on the U.S. Senate floor and send it...