Free Republic

California retailers that refuse to incorporate “gender-neutral” toy sections could face hundreds of dollars in fines from the state under a new law that takes effect Jan. 1. Any California department store that has 500 or more employees and sells childcare items will be required to feature a “gender-neutral” section “regardless of whether [the toys] have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys,” thanks to a new law signed by Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom. Lawmakers claimed the new requirements are based on the state’s civil rights statutes.“Any department store that fails to create a gender-neutral section could face...

In the Western world, we use “BC” and “AD” to denominate the two major time periods in the Julian and Gregorian calendars. I have come to think that, in our current situation, those same initials apply to “Before Covid” and “After Death,” referring to the death of our most precious liberties that were taken from us beginning in March 2020. As I write this, I can no longer even imagine a world in which the news of the day, in every blog, newspaper, and media outlet, isn’t dominated by the Chi Com Fauci Flu. It seems like, no matter how...

SACRAMENTO — California will ban the sale of flavored tobacco in retail stores, including flavored e-cigarettes that many blame for a sharp rise in vaping among youths. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Friday to outlaw the sale of fruit-, menthol- and mint-flavor cigarettes and vaping cartridges, effective Jan. 1. ~snip

SPRINGFIELD, Mo From limiting the number of customers inside a store, to empty shelves, and long waits, shopping for just the essentials is the new norm around Springfield. "Grocery stores, building supply stores, personal care items, cleaning items all of those are essential items.," said Springfield Planning and Development director, Mary Smith. Springfield's Planning and Development Director, Mary Smith said they're asking stores to limit the sales of non-essential items. "The city is relying on those stores to self identify using the stay at home order what is essential and non-essential items," said Smith. For example, Walmart is not allowing...

The Facts:By comparing traits of psychopaths, as determined by experts, to those of people in corporate or political positions of power, we can see a clear link. Reflect On:Psychopaths feel no remorse, guilt or empathy for their actions. When we look at the many inhumane acts that are currently taking place on our planet, it begs the following question with judgement aside: Are psychopaths running our world? Editors Note: We felt this was important to discuss, not from a place of judgement and fear but one of observation so we can ask important questions as to whether or not we...

In terms of seriousness, I realize that this question ranks right up there with “Why is There Air?” (which was a pretty funny comedy album from back in the 60s). There have been hundreds of books and articles which have examined the “roots of progressive rage.” At times I believe that we have seen so much progressive fury that we have almost become inured to it. Like most people, I usually adhere to the philosophy of “fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly and progressives gotta rant.” However, during the holiday season, I ran across two instances that caused me to...

August 2017, Charlottesville: Police disappear even as belligerents advance toward each other, and fighting in the streets begins. The same tactic had been used successfully in Ferguson and Baltimore. Who but President Obama and the respective governors could have given the orders to stand down? Who else but mayors and police chiefs could have expedited such counterintuitive commands? Democrats got their optics. CNN could chant each day that the USA is full of white nationalists and right-wing criminality. Obama must've been proud. Anyone could see that white supremacists lurked on every street. Funny thing: If you wait around for these...

August eight just came and went. Supposedly, now the date has significance to neo-Nazis. H is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and "Heil Hitler" is HH, or "88." The number has long been used as a neo-Nazi symbol. The link to August 8 is tenuous. Nevertheless, there is a leftist meme started on MSNBC that President Trump ordered the U.S. flag to be raised on August 8, following is lowering in response to last week's shootings, as a message to his neo-Nazi supporters. Despite Trump's support of Israel and Jews, or rather in part because of it, "progressives" regularly...

Posted: Aug 14 2018 09:35PM EDT Video Posted: Aug 14 2018 10:53PM EDT Updated: Aug 15 2018 08:27PM EDT CARTERSVILLE, Ga. - Neighbors are on edge in Cartersville after they say three dogs attacked a 79-year-old woman. The neighbors tell FOX 5 the woman was outside her home in her front yard when the three pit bull mix dogs approached her and began biting her. The woman fell and suffered a fractured spine in addition to the bite marks. I She is now at the hospital in Cartersville recovering. Neighbors say these dogs have gotten out before and have harassed...

Do they really hate ordinary people that much? Yes, they do. For liberals, the distinction between the "dumb masses" and their enlightened selves renders life meaningful. Disdain for ordinary folks is not just an ancillary trait of liberalism. It is fundamental to the its nature. At its heart, liberalism is a gnostic religion, and the essence of that religion is the believer's faith that he possesses the means of changing the world for the better. The belief that the world must be changed requires there to be a mass of individuals whose lives are in need of change. Following this...

As sexual misconduct scandals hit Capitol Hill, it makes even more sense for the party to run a female candidate against the sexist president. This year, Franken emerged as an outside contender for the presidency in 2020. The former Saturday Night Live comedian, elected in 2009, is an effective and studious senator who’s earned the respect of his peers—and, lately, the fear of his opponents, as he’s been one of the Senate’s most ruthless interrogators of Trump nominees and one of his party’s most entertaining critics of the president. Now, his job is in serious jeopardy and he’s out of...

Policymakers want to unleash economic growth in America by fixing our broken tax system. Or so they say. Now that the conversation has moved beyond just lowering tax rates, pro-growth tax reform is in danger of losing the stuff that actually makes it pro-growth. That’s because policymakers are caving to big-government advocates and other special interests. Here are the top five worst ideas that would surely dampen pro-growth tax reform. 1. Failing to enact full expensing. Full expensing—allowing businesses to deduct the full cost of their investments when they incur those costs, instead of spreading them out over many years—is...

... There are lots of reasons the partisan division has become so lopsided in favor of the GOP. The Democrats and their friends in the government departments of elite universities and on the editorial desk at the New York Times will say it's because the legislative district maps are drawn unfairly, because the votes of non-whites are suppressed in the South and in rural areas, and just about any other excuse they can think of to suggest the Republicans are cheating. In truth, the voters just aren't buying any more what the Democrats have to sell. The Democrats, from FDR...

A poll conducted for Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) by her "House Majority PAC" produced consternation and confusion for this top Democrat. For one, the poll found that the political ideologies of voters were 41% conservative, 32% moderate and 19% liberal, with 37% identifying as Independents, 35% as Republicans and 29% as Democrats. For two, among white working class voters 69% favored policies that reward hard work. "These findings make no sense," Pelosi argued. "Surely leisure is preferred over hard work. The Democratic Party has enacted measures that have expanded the opportunities for people to leave the workforce and...

Democrats, after analyzing their miserable 2016 showing, found voters didn’t know where the party stood on key economic issues. Starting now, they want to build an economic identity so that their candidates can run next year on something more than just opposition to President Trump. The pressure point, however, is crafting an agenda that balances the needs of energizing anti-Trump liberal activists without driving away centrist voters and Republicans disillusioned with the president and the lack of results coming from the GOP-led Congress. Without winning a significant bloc of Republican voters in next year’s Senate races, Democrats will fall deeper...

A recent poll by the Pew Research Center found that a majority of Americans say the Democratic Party “too often sees government as the only way to solve problems.” The Pew survey, conducted this summer among a national sample of 2,504 adults 18 years of age or older, found that 61 percent of Americans see the Democratic Party as too government-centered, believing that the state should be the only recourse for solving problems in society. Among those surveyed, even substantial percentages of those describing themselves as Democrats or liberals believe that the Democratic Party has gone too far in turning...

As canna-business strategist Elise McRoberts walked across an animal skin rug and into the living room of a Pacific Heights home for the recent San Francisco launch of Beboe, an upscale cannabis brand from Los Angeles, she assumed she would see the usual faces on the marijuana circuit — growers, dispensary owners and cannabis chefs. Instead, the party was a cross-pollination of the worlds of high society, Silicon Valley, politics, fashion and design: industrial designer Yves Béhar, former Mayor Willie Brown, who carried decriminalization bills in the state assembly in the 1970s, philanthropists Katie and Todd Traina, boutique owner Emily...

The path back to power for the Democratic Party today, as it was in the 1990s, is unquestionably to move to the center and reject the siren calls of the left, whose policies and ideas have weakened the party. The last few years of the Obama administration and the 2016 primary season once again created a rush to the left. Identity politics, class warfare and big government all made comebacks. Candidates inspired by Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren and a host of well-funded groups have embraced sharply leftist ideas. But the results at the voting booth have been anything...

Led by an outspoken legalization opponent, Jeff Sessions' Justice Department is reviewing federal marijuana policy, with significant changes possible soon. Almost nothing about the review process is publicly known and key players in the policy debate have not been contacted. The outcome of the review could devastate a multibillion-dollar industry and countermand the will of voters in eight states if the Obama administration's permissive stance on non-medical sales is reversed.

If you're wondering where the Washington, D.C., swamp is being drained as promised, look no further than the Federal Communications Commission and intrepid new Chairman Ajit Pai. For eight long years, the Obama administration circumvented our deliberative democratic process to impose laws via administrative fiat and his infamous "pen and phone." And no agency illustrated that malfeasance more than the FCC, where former Chairman Tom Wheeler in particular rammed through partisan policies and midnight regulations of dubious legality, often suffering the wrath of an unamused judicial branch for its shenanigans. Chief among those Obama FCC misdeeds was its relentless and...