Free Republic

A group that backed Republican Roy Moore in Alabama’s contentious U.S. Senate primary said a super PAC aligned with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “wasted millions” trying to defeat Moore. The Senate Leadership Fund spent $9 million in the race on behalf of Sen. Luther Strange. Ed Rollins, lead strategist for the Great America PAC backing Moore, said the Senate Leadership Fund can “atone for this mistake” by providing Moore with the same level of financial support as he faces Democrat Doug Jones in the general election. …

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCDAT1+shtml/041441.shtml 000 WTNT41 KNHC 041441 TCDAT1 Tropical Depression Sixteen Discussion Number 1 NWS National Hurricane Center Miami FL AL162017 1100 AM EDT Wed Oct 04 2017 Satellite images indicate that the area of low pressure in the southwestern Caribbean Sea has become better organized since yesterday and is now a tropical depression. GOES-16 one-minute visible data suggest the center is in between two large curved bands of deep convection, not too far from San Andres Island. The initial wind speed is set to 30 kt, somewhat above the TAFB satellite classification, given recent microwave data. An Air Force Reserve Hurricane...

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Saturday on MSNBC, author Frank Schaeffer claimed former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore pulling a concealed handgun out of his pocket while speaking at a rally Monday in Fairhope, AL, one day before his election against Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL), was not only a “threat” but also “the act of a fascist.” “When you see Judge Moore pull out a gun at a public rally, that is a threat,” Schaeffer told MSNBC “AM Joy” host Joy Reid. “This is the act of a fascist. This is not American. People don’t do this.” “We’re in new territory here,” he...

Dear Reader (and everyone else I have failed), I would respect Roy Moore a lot more if he began his victory speech last week by taking his gavel and hurling it at the CNN cameras in the back of the room, shouting “Are you not entertained!” But, unlike Russell Crowe’s Maximus, Moore can’t, or won’t, let the mask slip to show his disdain for the spectacle he has become. Whether that’s because he’s extremely disciplined in his cynicism or because he’s extremely sincere in his jackassery, I have no idea. Nor do I really care. What’s going on with his...

Alabama Republican Roy Moore leads Democrat Doug Jones by less than 6 points in a new Senate special election poll that's likely to raise questions about whether the deep-red state is in play. Moore, the controversial former judge who won Tuesday's GOP primary runoff, leads Moore by a margin of 50.2 percent to 44.5 percent in a new poll conducted by Opinion Savvy and commissioned by Decision Desk HQ. About 5 percent of polled voters said they were undecided. Democrats are cautiously eying the race in the hopes that Moore's penchant for controversy can help them pull a surprise upset....

When elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000, Judge Roy Moore installed in his courthouse a monument with the Ten Commandments that Moses brought down from Mount Sinai carved into it. Told by a federal court his monument violated the separation of church and state, Moore refused to remove it and was suspended -- to become famous as "The Ten Commandments Judge." Roy Moore is now the Republican candidate for the Senate from Alabama, having routed Sen. Luther Strange, whom President Trump endorsed and campaigned for. Moore's primary win is a fire bell in the night for...

This is the guy whom Dems are hoping will pull an inside straight and bump off Mr. Social Conservative in … Alabama.It was thoughtful of him to go all-in on late-term abortion this early in the campaign. Now the DSCC and other major left-wing groups can save their money instead of wasting it. Alas, the poor deluded grassroots progressive donors probably won’t be deterred. “I am a firm believer that a woman should have the freedom to choose what happens to her own body, and I’m going to stand up for that and I’m going to make sure that...

A couple of thoughts on the passing scene: ~Roy Moore beats Luther Strange in Alabama. There were certain local factors in play: Mr Strange and the corrupt former governor Bentley had enjoyed a mutually beneficially relationship whereby then Attorney-General Strange called on the legislature to suspend impeachment proceedings against the Governor, and Governor Bentley then appointed Strange to the Senate. Whether a creature from the Alabama swamp is best suited to drain the Washington swamp is a reasonable question for voters to ponder. Whereas, whatever one feels about Roy Moore, he's principled enough to be willing to lose his job...

Two attorneys at Balch & Bingham and one Drummond Company vice president were indicted Thursday on charges related to the bribery of former Alabama state Rep. Oliver Robinson. Joel Iverson Gilbert and Steven George McKinney, both attorneys and partners at Balch & Bingham, and David Lynn Roberson, a vice president at Drummond Company, were each indicted on one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States, one count of bribery, three counts of honest services wire fraud, and one count of money laundering conspiracy. The U.S. Attorney's Office has a press conference to talk about the indictment at noon today.

It’s often said that you can know a man by his enemies. That being the case, we can know a lot about Judge Roy Moore by the blaring headline on Huffington Post last night: “Alabama Earthquake: GOP Picks Outsider Bigot.” Translated, this means, “GOP Picks Conservative Christian, Anti-Establishment Candidate.” Sounds good to me.What does Moore’s victory mean in national, political terms? What does it mean in social and cultural terms?First, Moore’s victory reminds us that the same anti-establishment wave that brought President Trump into office brought Moore the GOP victory. To the extent Trump is associated with the establishment, to that...

I believe the United States of America is a land of laws, justice, freedom, equality, and opportunity. I’ll take those values to the U.S. Senate and work hard for all the people of Alabama: Everyone has the right to quality, affordable health care.We must restore Alabama’s trust for its elected leaders.I will defend a woman’s right to choose and stand with Planned Parenthood.All children deserve a first-class education regardless of where they live.College must be affordable without burdening a student with overwhelming debt.I believe in science and will work to slow or reverse the impact of climate change.It is past...

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon mocked President Trump on Wednesday for backing the so-called Republican establishment favorite Luther Strange over Roy Moore in the GOP's Alabama U.S. Senate seat runoff. "We're 6-0 in these elections," Bannon told Sirius XM's "Breitbart News Daily," referring to "we, the people" and the slew of special elections held under the Trump administration. "President Trump is 5-1. Oops! Did I say that? 5-1." Moore won the contest with about 54.6 percent to Strange's 45.4 percent, per the Associated Press. Bannon, who returned to Breitbart News as chairman right after his departure from the...

To no one’s surprise, President Donald Trump is apparently “furious” over his woefully misguided decision to go all-in for Luther Strange in Alabama’s U.S. Senate primary. It was a decision that blew spectacularly up in the president’s face last night with Strange’s massive 10-point loss to Roy Moore, an outsider much closer in spirit to Trumpism than establishment crony Strange. In what is becoming a disturbing pattern, Trump’s son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner was apparently one of those who advised the president to back Strange, to once again sail into big, jagged rocks — a humiliation for Trump that anyone...

Senate Republicans reckoned Wednesday with an insurgent’s win in Alabama that poses clear threats to their own grip on power and the leadership of Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Nearly $10 million spent by a McConnell-backed super PAC couldn’t save incumbent GOP Sen. Luther Strange, who had been endorsed by President Donald Trump as well. It came the same day that McConnell, short of votes, pulled the plug on the latest and possibly final GOP effort to repeal and replace “Obamacare.” Coming together, the events raised questions about McConnell’s leadership within the Senate and without, casting doubt on his reputation both...

PUTTING IT IN PERSPECTIVE   The former state Supreme Court justice's victory in Alabama's GOP runoff is at once a blow to President Trump, who had endorsed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, and also a validation of Trumpian outsider politics. Insurgent Roy Moore’s victory in the Alabama GOP Senate primary on Sept. 26 is a humiliating blow to the Republican establishment and a reminder that unrest at the grassroots remains an electric force in US politics as Washington turns to look toward next year’s mid-term elections. Mr. Moore, a former state Supreme Court Justice and devout evangelical Christian, easily defeated incumbent...

Roy Moore just beat Luther Strange in the Republican runoff for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat, by roughly 10 percentage points. And now both Democrats and the establishment wing of the Republicans are shaking in their boots — or at least, they ought to be. This wasn’t a win so much for a man as it was a message from voters for a principle — for a movement, one that elitists have been trying to stamp for years is still alive. It’s a movement that goes like this: We’re the American citizens, you’re the political class, and you work for us....

When more than 62 million Americans — including Alabama voters — got behind Donald Trump's message to make America great again, they latched onto a certain nostalgia. Many of these voters longed for a United States when “family values” were synonymous with “American values” — particularly to voters from the conservative stronghold of Alabama. And that's what Senate candidate Roy Moore has tapped into. The former judge won Alabama's Republican primary Tuesday and is now considered the front-runner in the general election. For Moore, returning “the knowledge of God” to Washington means very specific things — particularly when it comes...

Following the networks’ lead this morning, ABC’s The View expressed disgust at Alabama’s Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, who won out the primary vote against Trump-backed Republican incumbent Luther Strange yesterday. Moore’s staunch conservative and Christian views triggered the show's hosts to rant and rave about how “scary” his viewpoints were, as host Sara Haines even worried that Moore would try to “legislate” Christianity. Whoopi led off the segment discussing the Alabama primary race, all the while shaking her head and chuckling as she described Roy Moore as being backed by Steve Bannon. “He’s got quite the pedigree,” she snarked....