Free Republic

The Kentucky Republican Party is offering volunteers all-expenses-paid trips to join Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) campaign bus tour and "contribute to an enthusiastic atmosphere" at his events. In an email sent earlier this month and obtained by The Hill, Taylor Bumgardner, a Kentucky Republican Party regional political director, offers volunteers the opportunity to join McConnell on his tour, which launched Monday. Meals, lodging and transportation are included in the trip. "Senator McConnell is seeking volunteers to join him on a 3-day campaign bus tour around the state on October 20-22 to show our support for Kentucky coal. You would join...

From ecological destruction to changing weather patterns, man bears ultimate responsibility for the spread of deadly diseases. Climate change is no longer controversial – it's happening. And some experts say it's responsible for the spread of Ebola to humans, as well as the increasingly frequent outbreaks of the deadly disease....

The Supreme Court’s recent decision not to take up challenges to state amendments banning same-sex marriage has had two significant effects – it has expanded marriage to 30 states and reignited the political conversation around marriage equality in the 2014 midterms. Since 2011, I have worked with Project Right Side to help Republican leaders navigate a radically changing electorate on the freedom to marry. While public acceptance of marriage equality has steadily increased, this moment may ultimately be looked upon as the point where Republican opposition to marriage equality began to fall in earnest. According to a recent poll of...

U.S. Term Limits, the nation’s oldest and largest term limits advocacy group, praised Virginia U.S. Senate Candidate Robert Sarvis for promising to support and co-sponsor an amendment to the U.S. Constitution limiting congressional terms. Sarvis signed the USTL pledge at the Term Limits Summit in Richmond last week. USTL President Philip Blumel commented on Sarvis’ pledge, saying, “Of the three candidates in this race, only Robert Sarvis has made a commitment to stand with the 75 percent of Americans who support term limits on Congress.” “The people of Virginia must be asking ‘where are Ed Gillespie and Mark Warner on...

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and former Gov. Charlie Crist face off for the third and final time Tuesday night in a debate hosted by CNN and Jacksonville affiliate WJXT. The showdown comes just two weeks before Election Day and marks a final point in what's become the most expensive 2014 midterm race in the country, more than any House or Senate campaign.... 1. Elephant in the room: While Crist appeared to break the rules in last week's debate by having a fan underneath his podium, Scott might have fared worse in the optics of the scuffle. 2. Will Scott try...

Tech companies like Apple and Google want to make the data customers carry on their smartphones and computers more secure, safe from the prying eyes of spies and identity thieves alike. But law-enforcement officials--from the FBI to local police--see those same devices as treasure troves of evidence.... "I'd be surprised if more than a handful of members would support the idea of backdooring Americans' personal property," Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and vocal privacy advocate, said.... And a House Democratic aide said that staffers have been in touch with the FBI on the issue but that Congress is unlikely...

FBI Director James Comey gave a strong speech today (Oct. 16) explaining why law enforcement should have access to data on encrypted smartphones. But he failed to cite any examples in which such law-enforcement access could have made the difference between life and death.... The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) of 1994 mandates that telecommunications companies must give police the ability to listen in on telephone conversations. CALEA covers landlines and cellular carriers, and was expanded in 2004 to cover Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) providers and broadband Internet service providers. For the past few years, the FBI...