Free Republic

NEW YORK – Free speech and religious freedom advocates, groups speaking out on the harms of radical gender ideology, and 22 states have filed friend-of-the-court briefs in support of two Vermont families who had their foster-care licenses revoked by Vermont because of their religious beliefs. On May 30, Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing the families filed their opening brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in Wuoti v. Winters. Despite a track record of success and high praise from social workers who knew Brian and Katy Wuoti and Bryan and Rebecca Gantt, Vermont’s Department for Children...

Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) has come under fire for suggesting President Trump’s immigration crackdown will leave Vermonters without “anyone around to wipe our a–es.” The congresswoman made the outrageous claim — which she herself called “crude” — during a town hall in Newport, Vt., last week, in response to a question about US immigration policy. “Our economy is completely bound up in immigration and migrant labor,” Balint told her constituents. “We have to come to a place in Congress where it is no longer a political issue, but we see it as an existential issue for the country.” “If we...

The state of Vermont has amended an anti-pregnancy center law that censored centers’ ability to advertise their services and counsel women against abortion. KEY TAKEAWAYS: In 2022, Vermont became the first state to enshrine abortion as a constitutional right. In 2023, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott signed SB 37 into law, which targeted pro-life pregnancy centers with the threat of fines of up to $10,000 if they did not advertise their services in a way approved by the state attorney general. Several pro-life organizations sued the state with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys. This week, Vermont amended the law,...

The judge said a customs officer had acted improperly in stripping Kseniia Petrova, a researcher at Harvard Medical School, of her visa after she failed to declare research samples she was carrying into the country.A federal judge on Wednesday said she would grant bail to Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist employed by Harvard University, in an immigration case stemming from Ms. Petrova’s failure to declare scientific samples she was carrying into the country.“There does not seem to be either a factual or legal basis for the immigration officer’s actions” in stripping Ms. Petrova of her visa on Feb. 16, Christina...

"A hypothetical small town regarded as typically dull or insignificant."That's the definition Google assigns to the word "Podunk." For many it's a mythical place filled with country bumpkins and nothing to do.As it turns out, Podunk actually exists and it's right in Upstate New York.There are no official signs to let you know you've arrived, other than map coordinates and the nod of a street sign reading "Podunk Road," but one can actually visit the hamlet of Podunk, New York. The tiny no-stoplight-town, made up of a handful of houses, is inside the town [township] of Ulysses, nestled within the...

Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (R) vowed Wednesday to veto a proposal to ban in guns in bars if it reaches his desk. VTDigger reported that the proposal is a charter change for Burlington contained in S.131 and it cleared the Vermont Senate in April. However, S.131 only passed the Senate by 17 votes, which is not enough to overcome the veto Gov. Scott promises to use against it. Gov. Scott believes the ban would be onerous on bar owners as it would put them in the position of enforcing it. He said, ““Like, who’s going to stand at the door...

America is at a crossroads: Will we cave to the radical left’s vision for our nation, where men win trophies in women’s sports and our border is wide open for illegal aliens, or do we stand with President Trump in his mission to Make America Great Again through America First policies? I know where I stand, and I’m running for Senate to fight for the future of our nation where taxpayers, not criminals and foreign governments, are put first. The stench of the Biden-Harris administration’s lawlessness and economic devastation still lingers in the air today. President Trump inherited a mess...

Vermont Governor Phil Scott paused the state’s electric vehicle sales requirements for passenger cars and medium and heavy-duty trucks on Tuesday, amid broader concerns about the feasibility of zero-emission vehicle rules pioneered by California. Vermont is one of 11 states including New York, Maryland and Massachusetts that have adopted California’s zero-emission vehicle rules, which seek to end the sale of gasoline-only vehicles by 2035. California’s rules require 35% of light-duty vehicles in the 2026 model year to be zero-emission models. Scott, a Republican, cited warnings from automakers that they could limit supply of gas-powered vehicles to dealers in the state...

BURLINGTON, VT — In a heroic move that sacrificed his own resources, Senator Bernie Sanders announced that he had bought yet another house to make sure the rich people don't get all of them. The selfless act reportedly set the Vermont senator back a bit financially, but his new beachfront home in the Hamptons area of Long Island, New York, would now be prevented from being sold to any wealthy oligarchs from the private sector. "I am willing to take this hit for our cause," Sanders told reporters. "It's not easy to be a man in my position and take...

That’s rich! Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders refused to apologize for chartering private jets to ferry him across the country as part of his campaign to rip the wealthy — snapping, “You think I’m gonna be sitting on a waiting line at United … while 30,000 people are waiting?” Sanders (D-Vt.) defiantly defended his mode of transport after he was widely ridiculed for opting to fly private during his recent “Fighting Oligarchy” tour alongside far-left New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “No apologies for that,” Sanders, 83, told Fox News’ “Special Report” late Wednesday when asked about the backlash. “That’s what campaign...

Bernie Sanders offered a bizarre defense for using private jets while traveling the country to speak on his 'Fighting Oligarchy' tour, during which he slammed billionaires. The democratic socialist and environmental campaigner said he should not be expected to 'wait in line' for commercial flights. Sanders, 83, a longtime Vermont senator and two-time presidential candidate, said he made 'no apologies' for the trips. He told Fox News that 'you run a campaign, and you do three or four or five rallies in a week, the only way you can go around to talk to 30,000 people,' is by private jet....

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told FOX News host Bret Baier on "Special Report" that he has no apologies for using private airplanes to travel to his "Fighting Oligarchy Tour" rallies. BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS: Alright, last thing. You know, Elissa Slotkin, Senator from Michigan, she said you shouldn't be using oligarch, it's over people's head. You've gotten criticized from other people. Free Beacon says Bernie Sanders spent $221,000 on private jets fighting the oligarchy tour, paid for by friends of Bernie Sanders. That you've spent millions of dollars in campaign funds on private jet travel over the years. How do...

She wasn’t disciplined, the school’s attorney insists. The school’s emails show otherwise. A Vermont superintendent and an attorney for a public school that prohibited a young student from wearing a shirt that states “There are only 2 genders” now claim the school did not discipline her, and that it has consistently “[done its] very best to protect free speech in schools.” These officials are using local media to gaslight the Vermont public and the school community. The school’s own emails reveal what actually occurred. Peoples Academy Middle Level school in Morristown, Vermont, repeatedly disciplined thirteen-year-old student “M.P.” for wearing a...

Nyweide’s family announced her passing in a since-deleted obituary, writing at the time that the actress “self medicated to deal with all the trauma and shame she held inside, and it resulted in her death." They added that Nyweide repeatedly claimed that she would navigate her health issues “on her own" and "was compelled to reject the treatment that might possibly have saved her life.” In lieu of flowers, her family asked instead that individuals to make a donation to RAINN, the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, in her name. A Vermont native, Nyweide knew that she wanted to...

Fatima Hassouna, a war documentarian who had covered the conflict in Gaza on the ground for 18 months and the subject of a new documentary to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival next month, was killed along with seven members of her family in an Israeli strike this week. “If I die, I want a resounding death, I do not want me in urgent news, nor in a number with a group,” Hassouna wrote in a post on Instagram in August 2024. “I want a death that the world hears, an effect that remains for the extent of the...

Get ready for a spectacular light show tonight as geomagnetic storms bring the northern lights closer to unexpected locations. The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are expected to put on a stunning display across several U.S. states tonight, thanks to geomagnetic storms that are disrupting Earth’s magnetic field. These solar-driven storms, forecasted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), will bring the auroras closer to areas typically outside their usual range. This rare opportunity offers a chance for skywatchers in unexpected locations to witness one of nature’s most mesmerizing phenomena. Where Will the Northern Lights Be Visible? According to...

Vermont socialist has spent millions on private jet travel over the years.. Sen. Bernie Sanders has crisscrossed the country on his nationwide Fighting Oligarchy Tour to rail against billionaires and supposed "oligarchs" like Elon Musk—while traveling like an oligarch himself. Campaign expenditures released Tuesday and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon show Sanders's main campaign committee, Friends of Bernie Sanders, spent $221,723 chartering private jets during the first quarter of 2025, with the first payment coming just days before the launch of his tour in February. "We will not accept a rigged economy where working people struggle while billionaires become...

BREAKING: Bernie Sanders has some terrible news. Donald Trump is rapidly turning America into an oligarchy.

Taxpayer-funded abortion is increasing at the state level as pro-abortion lawmakers work to expand abortion since the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Federally, the Hyde Amendment prohibits most taxpayer funding of abortion, allowing funding only in cases of rape, incest, or when the physician determines the pregnant mother’s life is at risk. But while the Hyde Amendment prevents most abortions from being paid for by federal tax dollars, each state can determine its own taxpayer funding for abortion. According to the pro-abortion organization KFF.org (The Kaiser Family Foundation), “There is tremendous variability in how much states reimburse for abortion services...

Sara Haines, co-host of The View, has warned that the Democratic Party’s unhinged screaming and volatile behavior at rallies is not fixing the country and is making things worse for them. Whoopi Goldberg noted that progressive leaders like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., are engaging at rallies “at a moment when leadership roles on the left are wide open.” Goldberg also recalled how Sanders showed in his recent interview that he was “not ready to talk about future party planning yet.” Sanders recently accused ABC “This Week” host Jonathan Karl of asking a “nonsense” question about...