Free Republic

A federal judge on Tuesday struck down a 2023 Florida law that blocked gender-affirming care for transgender minors and severely restricted such treatment for adults... “In time, discrimination against transgender individuals will diminish, just as racism and misogyny have diminished,” he continued. "To paraphrase a civil-rights advocate from an earlier time, the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office blasted Hinkle’s ruling, issuing a statement calling it “erroneous,” and vowing to appeal.

The country singer filed for divorce from her husband of five years, Ryan Hurd, in 2023. ...The couple shares one child, a 4-year-old son named Hayes. The divorce was finalized in January.

The consolidation of the corporate media entities continues apace, with CNN set to feature Associated Press (AP) content on its website for the first time in nearly 15 years. CNN staffers fret that the move, pushed by the network’s CEO Mark Thompson, is a prelude to layoffs as the corporate news organization moves away from original reporting. The CNN-AP deal is the latest in a line of schemes to revive the network’s collapsing audience. In late May, it was revealed the network logged its lowest primetime ratings since 1991. According to Nielsen data, the network’s 8 PM to 11 PM...

WASHINGTON — In President Joe Biden’s telling, he was a teenage civil rights activist, a former trucker, the first in his family to go college and the nephew of a cannibalism victim. All of these claims stretch the truth or are downright false. But Biden persists in telling personal tales with rhetorical flourishes and factual liberty when he works a room or regales an audience. They are a way to connect with voters, emphasize his “middle-class Joe” persona and charm his audience. Despite Biden’s penchant for exaggerating details when recounting episodes from his life, these autobiographical embellishments differ in scale...

In August 2014, in the immediate aftermath of a violent incident wherein police officer Darren Wilson fatally shot a young black man named Michael Brown, outraged and agenda-driven agitators — many from out of town — seized on the news as an excuse to run wild, steal, destroy property, and more. Businesses were burned to the ground and looted. Even a local church was not spared by the frenzied and violent mob. According to news reports, more than 160 gunshots were fired by “protesters,” too. At least one man died amid the chaos. Pictures that emerged after the late...

A Gaza journalist was holding three hostages in his home with his family before he was killed by Israeli commandos during a rescue operation on Saturday, according to the Israeli military. Abdallah Aljamal, who also worked as a spokesman for the Hamas-run labor ministry, was killed when special forces soldiers stormed his home in central Gaza and rescued hostages, Almog Meir Jan, 21, Andri Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 41 …

An Israeli woman taken hostage by Hamas terrorists during the invasion of southwestern Israel on October 7th was held captive in the home of an Al Jazeera reporter, according to a report Sunday.

n Israel, the news of four hostages rescued from Gaza was met with cheering crowds and tearful scenes of reuniting families. Officials hailed the operation as miraculous and heroic, and offered a rare win for Israel's embattled Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. But it came at the expense of hundreds of Palestinians, who suffered one of the bloodiest days in Gaza. Video filmed by an NBC News crew on the ground showed streets scattered with charred bodies, survivors gathering body parts into sacks, rescuers carrying mangled and blood-soaked children into chaotic hospitals overwhelmed with the injured. By Sunday, joy in Israel...

A US, UK, and European government-backed Ukrainian publication called “Data Journalism Agency” (TEXTY) has released a new report labeling hundreds of Americans as adversaries due to their refusals to endorse more war and more funding for the Ukrainian government. Titled “Roller Coaster: From Trumpists to Communists,” the report identifies top U.S. politicians, journalists, and social media influencers, claiming all the individuals and organizations in question are Russian propaganda tools. The list includes former President Donald J. Trump, the Real America’s Voice network, Laura Loomer, Jack Posobiec, Ben Shapiro, Ron DeSantis, Matt Gaetz, RFK Jr, Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tucker Carlson,...

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel on Saturday rescued four hostages who were kidnapped in the Hamas-led attack on Oct. 7, the largest such recovery operation since the war began. At least 94 Palestinians including children were killed as heavy fighting continued around the sites in central Gaza, the Health Ministry said. Saturday’s hostage recovery operation brings the total of rescued captives to seven. Two men were rescued in February and a woman was rescued in the aftermath of the October attack. Israeli troops have recovered at least 16 bodies of hostages, according to the government. The latest rescue...

The Democrats’ unprecedented lawfare campaign is extending beyond former President Donald Trump to target conservative media ahead of the November election.On Thursday, a federal judge upheld a four-month prison sentence handed down to former Trump White House adviser and the host of the “War Room” podcast, Steve Bannon. The conservative podcaster was ordered to report to prison on July 1, just two weeks before the Republican National Convention (RNC) and four months before Election Day.“There’s not a prison built or jail built that will ever shut me up,” Bannon told reporters outside of the courthouse Thursday, stating that he plans...

Dr Dan Stanislowski and Father Stephen McKenna join the podcast for one of the most interesting topics yet: Dopamine. (Some adult content!) Dr Dan defended his PhD thesis on this very topic but is able to explain the complex topix simply enough to give a brilliant explanation of what dopamine is, how it effects us in modern life and how we can manage it with Catholic morality.

Sports announcer Doris Burke is set to make history in Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks. The game kicks off at 8:30 p.m., Thursday.

O’Keefe Media Group released a new video on Wednesday, exposing the mainstream media with Nick Cirone, a producer and booker from ABC News’ Good Morning America, who gives a tell-all on how they purposefully give Biden and the Democrats good press but smear and slant their coverage of Trump and “right-wing crazies” negatively. This is something that we all know is true, but they refuse to admit it. Even Cirone seemingly has no idea that what they’re doing is wrong, claiming that “the truth, very overwhelmingly, has a liberal bias.” Good Morning America is hosted by former Bill Clinton henchman...

Will Lewis, the Washington Post's publisher and CEO, told whiplashed staff on Monday the paper needs to do something radical to make the company profitable because readership has drastically declined. The meeting was held after executive editor Sally Buzbee abruptly left the Washington Post after coming from the Associated Press in 2021. “We need world-class journalism every single day, and the people that are coming in to help us do that will be a real benefit to the organization,” he said. He said he “really enjoyed working with Sally” and “wish[ed] it could have gone on for longer, but it...

Sirius XM’s Megyn Kelly criticized President Joe Biden’s “play for sympathy” over Hunter Biden’s trial for his federal gun charge. Biden released a statement saying that he is “the president” but is also “a dad” who is “so proud” of his son, who faces three felony gun charges brought by special counsel David Weiss. As jury selection kicked off Monday, Kelly ripped into Biden for attempting to “influence” potential jurors. “So now we’ve got President Biden going to Wilmington and actually making a statement like, well on the eve of this trial,” Kelly said. “It’s still inappropriate. It’s not appropriate...

Four years after a protest over the murder of George Floyd, attorneys have filed a federal class-action lawsuit against the City of Fort Lauderdale and Fort Lauderdale Police Department. The lawsuit alleges the civil rights of protesters were violated when police, without warning, dispersed tear gas into the crowd...

The pro-Palestinian protests over the last month, where tens of thousands in the US have chanted for the end of Israel, are not merely a story of organic rage. They are also funded in large part by an uber-wealthy American-born tech entrepreneur, Neville Roy Singham, and his wife, Jodie Evans. [cut] “I decided that at my age and extreme privilege, the best thing I could do was to give away most of my money in my lifetime,” said Singham, now 69, in a statement after selling his company (for $785 million), according to a New York Times investigation in August....

There is much about the war against Israel to which the mainstream media pays scant attention. That journalistic failure is discussed here: “What mainstream media isn’t reporting during the Israel-Hamas war – opinion,” by Andrea Samuels, Jerusalem Post, May 24, 2024:In general, from watching MSM [mainstream media], we have the impression that the IDF is killing innocent children, unopposed, and there is no mention of the ongoing rocket attacks on Israel apart from the Iranian attack which was portrayed as a harmless gesture,” explained Paul Martin Gurnett from Britain….The rocket attacks launched by Hamas into southern Israel, and by Hezbollah...

Multiple groups protested the arrest of a 16-year-old outside the Lakeland Police Headquarters.... ...Activists from Black Lives Matter Restoration, Inc., the Poor & Minority Justice Association, and The Lion Of Judah Armed Force said 16-year-old Jahmal Hudson Jr...