Free Republic

The Republicans have 8 seats, Dems have 23 seats, and the 2 Dem-leaning Independents are in this Class. With 44 seats in the other 2 classes for the GOP and Pence as VP this means the Dem's have to pick off 3 seats to get the majority. Utah Hatch, Texas Cruz, Nebraska Fischer, Mississippi Wicker, and Wyoming Barrasso are about as close as possible to being done-deals that their seats stay GOP in 2018. Picking off Corker in Tennessee would be super hard to do. Flake in Arizona could be vulnerable depending on fallout with immigration enforcement. About the only...

Many years ago, while participating in an Operation Rescue sit-in at an abortion clinic near Washington, D.C., I was struck by the make-up of the pro-abortion protesters. They were largely a mix of atheists, Satanists and gays, and they proudly identified as such. What a coalition! I remember asking myself, “Why would homosexuals be so adamant about this — adamant enough to show up early in the morning to protest our event — when, for the most part, it’s not relevant to their lives, since they’re not having babies?” To this day, colleagues of mine who share the gospel outside...

Republican Larry Hogan got some good news Friday when the Cook Political Report labeled his gubernatorial race against Democrat Anthony Brown as a toss-up. But polling aggregation site FiveThirtyEight is throwing cold water on Hogan's hopes that today's vote will be tight. In its final forecast for gubernatorial races, FiveThirtyEight projects Brown has a 94 percent chance of defeating Hogan. Based on polling averages, Brown is leading Hogan by 9.8 percent — a number that has increased by 0.1 percent since Monday, according to FiveThirtyEight. Nonetheless, Hogan has been projecting confidence as the campaign winds down, promoting a pro-business agenda....

FULL TITLE - Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill Criminalizing Journalists Who Distribute Recordings of Abortion Providers A bill sponsored by Planned Parenthood that criminalizes the distribution of recordings of conversations with abortion providers is now law in California. Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1671 into law, making it illegal for journalists to distribute audio or video recordings of healthcare providers without their consent. As the Los Angeles Times reports, Planned Parenthood pushed the bill through the legislature even though it is already illegal to make these types of recordings without authorization in California. The abortion business argued that further...

Gov. Jerry Brown on Saturday signed into law a measure allowing Californians to break into vehicles to rescue animals if they appear to be in danger from excessive heat. **SNIP** Under AB 797, a citizen must first call law enforcement to report a situation in which he or she believes an animal to be in peril. But if the animal is in imminent danger, the car is locked, and law enforcement is not arriving quickly enough to save the animal’s life, the bill provides immunity from civil and criminal liability to a person causing vehicle damage for the purpose of...

Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown, who is currently facing felony charges for fraud, is trying to solicit donations online to fund her legal defense. Brown, who currently represents Florida’s 5th congressional district, was indicted in July on more than 20 counts of fraud. According to federal prosecutors, Brown and a collaborator presented the non-profit One Door for Education as a scholarship fund, but instead used its finances as a personal slush fund. Brown supposedly used the money to pay off back taxes and fund public events honoring herself. Despite raising $800,000, One Door awarded only a single $1,000 scholarship.

Tampons are now a genderless necessity, according to Brown University, who have announced that they will be providing tampons for both men’s and women’s bathrooms across the university this academic year. The tampons will be delivered to bathrooms by the university’s student president, Viet Nguyen, as well as 20 volunteers, with Nguyen claiming the initiative is a means of educating students that men menstruate as well as women. In an email to the student body, Nguyen said, “There’s been a lot of conversation about why pads and tampons are a necessity, not a luxury, but not a lot of action....

California Gov. Jerry Brown is offering intimate gubernatorial dinners to donors who help defeat a targeted November ballot measure, at a time when the governor will be deciding the fate of all new state legislation, the state Democratic Party says. Proposition 53 would require statewide voter approval on projects that would require more than $2 billion in state revenue bonds to fund. That could complicate the future of two proposed Brown projects, for high-speed rail and for giant twin tunnels to carry Northern California water south. A fundraising letter by state Democratic Party financial chief Angie Tate on Aug. 9...

<p>Singer Chris Brown was barricaded inside his home Tuesday as LAPD attempted to contact him regarding an incident report.</p> <p>According to TMZ, a woman called 911 overnight and claimed the artist threatened her with a gun. LAPD says no shots were fired.</p>

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Jerry Brown took a strong stand against coal on Friday, approving an East Bay lawmaker's bill to ban state funding for coal-related projects. In signing state Sen. Loni Hancock's bill, the governor also praised the Oakland City Council for voting to ban transportation of the ore through its city and encouraged other cities to do the same. "Other localities should follow suit -- and the state should, too -- to reduce and, ultimately, eliminate the shipment of coal through all California ports, Brown wrote in a signing message.

Twenty-six energy companies with business before the state donated nearly $10million to Gov. Jerry Brown and the California Democratic Party over the past eight years — donations that often were made within days or weeks of winning favors. That’s the contention of “Brown’s Dirty Hands“ a report released Wednesday by the Santa Monica-based public interest group Consumer Watchdog. [snip]The report alleges that Brown and his operatives have used the California Democratic Party as “a political slush fund” to receive contributions from unpopular energy companies in amounts greater than permitted to his candidate committee. The group has logged its report as...

Gov. Jerry Brown is no longer an Oakland homeowner. The governor and First Lady Anne Gust Brown closed on the sale of their Oakland Hills home last week, completing the journey that began late last year when the first couple moved into the historic governor's mansion in Sacramento. The real estate website Curbed San Francisco reported on Monday that the 4,147-square-foot home closed on July 30 with a sale price of $2.375 million. That's less than the Browns were asking for the home when it went on the market in April, and also slightly less than they reportedly paid for...

Californians who assemble their own weapons from parts they've bought or gathered will have to apply for a state-issued serial number under a law signed Friday by Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown signed Assembly Bill 857, which imposes a new mandate on anyone who buys components that can be made into a fully functional firearm. Those weapons are not currently traceable in the same way as buying a fully operating firearm. Democrats pushed through the bill last month as part of a sweeping package of proposals inspired by recent shootings. Several of those bills, including an effort to impose new rules...

"Bill Clinton will be joined by Mothers of the Movement, which includes the mothers of black men and women who have been killed by gun violence or in police custody. The mothers of Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown are scheduled to appear at the DNC."

While police officers are getting murdered in Dallas and Baton Rouge, while others are under assault in Missouri, Georgia and Tennessee, while supporters of the Black Lives Matter movement attempt to justify the murders of police officers, the Democratic National Convention, AKA Hillary’s Coronation, will feature the mothers of black men who died in confrontations with police, thereby perpetuating the myth that there is systemic racism in police departments across the nation. One mother who will speak will be Lezley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, the “Gentle Giant” who burgled a convenience store, then attempted to grab the gun...

At a campaign event in Springfield, Illinois Wednesday afternoon presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton warned Donald Trump would use the military and IRS "to go after his critics and opponents."

In response to my open letter to Isaac Archuleta, who describes himself as a bisexual Christian, Richard S. posted a lengthy comment on my personal Facebook page, including this statement: “The logical conclusion to your theology (gays can change and if they don’t it must be because they don’t have faith or are deceived) is extremely damaging to the souls of gay people. That was the point of Isaac’s letter. No amount of nice words will erase the damage. Only honest reconsideration of your theology will bring healing. Please don’t discount/deny the faith of your gay brothers and sisters. They...

Florida Rep. Corrine Brown has been indicted and will be appear in federal court in Jacksonville on Friday, according to First Coast News. The Jacksonville television station, citing "multiple sources," said the indictment remains sealed. It had been known publicly since March that Brown, a Democrat, was facing a Department of Justice Investigation related to "fraudulent activities," and whether or not she improperly solicited charitable donations and misused campaign funds. DOJ officials asked the House Ethics Committee to halt a separate investigation while they conducted their probe. The target of the investigation has not been identified, but Brown does have...

Gov. Jerry Brown has signed new gun control legislation for California, enacting bills that limit magazine capacity to 10 bullets; require a background check for those purchasing ammunition; and restrict the lending of firearms, among other effects. In signing the bills, Brown said he wants "to enhance public safety by tightening our existing laws in a responsible and focused manner, while protecting the rights of law-abiding gun owners." Two of the bills close the "bullet button loophole," as member station KPCC reports: "The loophole refers to the sale of 'California legal' firearms that don't fall under California's ban of guns...

Enthusiasm for Warren is artificially amplified by a sympathetic media echo chamber. This phenomenon is not unlike Huntsman ’12… (SNIP) I know what you’re thinking: Warren beat Brown. Scott Brown out-campaigned Warren in MA Senate ’12– and would have won, were it not for 3 factors out of his control… (SNIP) Despite Obama’s landslide victory (61-38), Warren won by a narrow margin: 53-47, meaning a significant number of Obama voters defected to Brown. (SNIP) That cycle, many Democrat Senate candidates– running in much less favorable territory– won by greater margins: √ Tom Carper 66.4% √ Sheldon Whitehouse 64.8% √ Joe...