Free Republic

Maryland lawmakers are expecting the federal government to cover the lion’s share of the cost of the collapse and subsequent rebuilding of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge — with Congress potentially on the hook for only a fraction of the total as talk about an emergency supplemental bill increases. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told reporters that roughly 90 percent of the bridge’s reconstruction will be paid for via the Federal Highway Administration’s emergency fund, which has about $950 million and is replenished yearly with $100 million. The state sent a letter to the federal government Wednesday saying it will...

Join with fellow FREEPERS across the world to pray for AMERICA: For those in Authority in Government, Family, Military, Business, Agri-Business, Healthcare, Education, Churches, Technology, Religious Freedom and the Media. "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone: for kings and all those in authority that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness." (1 Timothy 2:1-2) Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

President Joe Biden said the government would pay the “entire cost” of rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, after a cargo ship hit the bridge after losing power early Tuesday morning. “It’s my intention that we will pay for the entire cost of reconstructing that bridge. I expect the Congress to support my effort,” Biden said in a White House press conference. “It’s gonna take some time. And the people of Baltimore can count on us, though, to stick with that every step of the way until the port is reopened and the bridge is rebuilt. We’re...

In a significant blow to patient autonomy, informed consent has been quietly revoked just 77 years after it was codified in the Nuremberg Code. On the 21st of December 2023, as we were frantically preparing for the festive season, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final ruling to amend a provision of the 21st Century Cures Act. This allowed …an exception from the requirement to obtain informed consent when a clinical investigation poses no more than a minimal risk to the human subject…This ruling went into effect on January...

resident Biden is facing criticism after a bombshell report revealed that all federal agencies are less than 50 percent occupied - wasting billions in taxpayer dollars - over a year after he declared the COVID-19 pandemic over. According to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) memo to Sen. Joni Ernst, obtained by DailyMail.com, not a single federal agency has over half of its workforce in the office. That's a staggering statistic since federal agencies spend about $2 billion taxpayer dollars per year to operate and maintain federal office buildings - and over $5 billion annually in leases. The shocking findings comes...

In response to NASA’s report that a total solar eclipse will occur on April 8, 2024, New York authorities are warning New Yorkers to be prepared. In a recent press release by the New York state police, officials warned residents to be prepared for cellular disruptions, slow 9/11 response times, gridlocked traffic, and food/water demand during the upcoming total solar eclipse. Also included in the press release was a list of suggestions calling for residents to stock up on food, water, and fuel. The warning by New York state police comes as the department looks to learn from their responses...

"So my biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods."-Ketanji Brown Jackson

Murthy v. Missouri perfectly illustrates the dangers of censorship, but Justice Jackson still thinks the government’s ‘perspective’ of ‘threatening circumstances’ should matter.. Following Monday’s Supreme Court oral argument in the social media censorship case Murthy v. Missouri, outraged free-speech advocates rightfully excoriated Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson for worrying that the First Amendment will “hamstring[] the government in significant ways in the most important time periods.” Given that “hamstringing” the federal government was precisely the purpose of the Bill of Rights, Justice Jackson’s comment laid bare the fundamental disdain she and other politically liberal justices hold for the classically liberal freedoms...

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...

An extensive Pentagon report looking at the government's interest and investigations into UFOs since 1945 found no evidence of alien visitation nor the recovery and reverse-engineering of downed ET craft. Conducted by the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), the exhaustive effort (which can be read here) revisits all of the various official programs aimed at studying the phenomenon up until 2023. The study also investigated various claims of clandestine UFO projects or evidence secretly being conducted or held by the US government or private companies as recounted by specific witnesses. The findings of the report will undoubtedly be dispiriting to...

I began studying in Leningrad, in the waning days of the Soviet Union, beginning in the fall of 1989. I was 19 years old, more interested in girls than politics, and thought of life behind the Iron Curtain as more novelty than terror. There was little visible suffering or hardship. * * * * Not until much later, after I’d heard years of stories from Russians who’d lived through harder times, did I start to understand the brutal system whose end I got to witness. Parents of friends talked about going on vacations and trying to guess who was the...

A bill that would allow concealed carry of firearms in schools and government meetings is headed to Wyoming's governor after clearing the state Legislature by a wide margin Thursday. What happens next is somewhat uncertain because Wyoming governors traditionally don’t say if they plan to sign or veto bills. Gov. Mark Gordon has not spoken publicly about the bill, but he is a Republican gun rights supporter. Wyoming is among the gun-friendliest states and the bill passed the state Senate 22-8 after supporters dismissed fears about allowing guns where they're currently banned. People carry concealed guns in Wyoming all the...

Congress unveiled the first six appropriations bills on Sunday to fund the government for most of 2024. The rollout of the appropriations bills follows Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and other congressional leaders striking a deal to avert a government shutdown and fund the government for most of 2024. The six appropriations bills would fund the Departments of Agriculture, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs, Justice, Commerce, and Energy. The bipartisan package amounts to 1,050-pages and includes more than $450 billion in funding for the fiscal year 2024.

Yesterday marked the anniversary of the great government gold heist of 1933 ordered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. On April 5, 1933, the president signed Executive Order 6102. It was touted as a measure to stop gold hoarding, but it was in reality, a massive gold confiscation scheme. The order required private citizens, partnerships, associations and corporations to turn in all but small amounts of gold to the Federal Reserve in exchange for $20.67 per ounce.

The recent death of American shipping magnate Angela Chao, the sister-in-law of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is now a "criminal investigation," according to the Texas sheriff's office investigating matter. Chao, the CEO of the Foremost Group was found dead shortly after midnight on Feb. 11 when pulled from a car that had gone into a pond on a private ranch about 40 miles from the Texas city of Austin, CNBC reported Thursday. “This incident was not a typical accident,” the Blanco County Sheriff’s Office told state Attorney General Ken Paxton in a letter. “Although the preliminary investigation indicated this...

Congressional leaders struck a deal on Wednesday that would hope to avert a partial government shutdown. Top lawmakers closed negotiations on the Agriculture, Energy, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Transportation-Housing and Urban Development, and Interior; and Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bills, setting a deadline for March 8 to pass the spending bills. Leadership hopes to release the text of the bills by this weekend and pass the bills next week. The spending bills would fund related government agencies through September, right before the 2024 elections. The remaining appropriations bills that would fund the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security (DHS); Departments...

“There are three kinds of lies,” Mark Twain famously observed. “Lies, damned lies, and statistics.” You already know that the government's published statistics are not trustworthy. Federal agencies have shifted methodologies over the years, making it hard to compare data sets. In economic modeling, there is a concept called “GIGO” — garbage in, garbage out. And what we have been seeing does seem like a lot of garbage. Then, the number-crunchers perform adjustments, do other kinds of syntheses, and make revisions to that data. A good case could be made that government data has been politicized, too, and some methodologies...

The “highly toxic agricultural chemical” is federally allowed to be used on oats and other grains imported to the US, according to the EWG. When applied to oat and grain crops, chlormequat alters a plant’s growth, preventing it from bending over and thus making it easier to harvest, per the EWG. Roundup for Breakfast, Part 2: In New Tests, Weed Killer Found in All Kids’ Cereals Sampled A second round of tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group found the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weed killer in every sample of popular oat-based cereal and other oat-based food marketed to...

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said on Thursday that it seized 6.5 tons of methamphetamine at Eagle Pass port of entry in Texas. It is the largest seizure ever made at a port of entry in a single enforcement action. The methamphetamine had a street value of more than $117 million, according to a press release. The seizure was made at the Camino Real International Bridge on Feb. 18, when a CBP officer referred a tractor trailer manifesting a shipment of drying agents for piglets for secondary inspection. The CBP said that its officers conducted “a canine and non-intrusive...

History demonstrates that attempts to “cure” a problem by exceeding the federal government’s constitutional powers generally lead to more and worse problems... “A rage ... for an abolition of debts ... or for any other improper or wicked project ....” — James Madison, Federalist No. 10.. The courts, in the exercise of what is called “equity jurisdiction,” have long excused borrowers from obligations incurred through fraud, duress, and other forms of creditor unfairness.. In addition, federal bankruptcy laws (authorized in the Constitution by Article I, Section 8, Clause 4) offer a path to safety for debtors who get in over...