Free Republic

Prepare yourself at 9 p.m. ET for the magic that only a seventh-year State of the Union speech can create. Every SOTU is a political Groundhog Day but tonight’s looks to be more repetitive than usual — tax hikes on the rich, some whining about the Citizens United decision, a few studiously vague sentences on “progress” made in negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, etc. Seventh verse, same as the first. What’s novel is the new reality in Congress and Obama’s reaction to it. Having just seen Democrats obliterated in an election which he himself sold as a referendum on his...

There is no shortage of lawyers on Capitol Hill — they comprise 45 percent of the 114th Congress. But unlike the U.S. Supreme Court, whose nine justices hail from just three elite law schools, a state school law degree won't hamper and may even smooth the way to the U.S. House of Representatives or Senate. The sitting crop of lawyer-­lawmakers passed through 105 law campuses on their way to Washington. The 20 law schools that sent the most alumni to Congress include some of the country's most prominent — Harvard Law School tops the list with 18, followed by...

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) said those who criticize the appointment of Democratic Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) to the Intelligence Committee because he is a Muslim are “un-American.” Schiff, who is the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he has been “deeply disturbed” by the reaction by some to Carson’s appointment last week. “I am deeply disturbed that since his appointment to the committee, Congressman Carson has been subject to vicious, anti-Muslim attacks online and in social media, questioning his loyalty to our country solely because of his faith.”(continued)

Rep. Cedric Richmond, D-New Orleans, and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus plan to be in Ferguson, Mo. on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Monday, January 19, to encourage residents to get more involved in the political process. Ferguson has been the subject of regular demonstrations and some unrest since the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, 18, an unarmed African-American, by white policeman on Aug. 9, 2014. A local grand jury declined to indict the police officer, though some questioned the fairness of the process set up by the local prosecutor. Richmond said Black Caucus members will encourage...

Dr. Savage says that "this means the election was for naught." John Boehner is still speaker of the House. This confirms what we have known forever: That this country is no longer a republic. It is an oligarchy: A government of the powerful, by the powerful, for the powerful. John Boehner is a tool of the establishment. This means he and Obama are one and the same. The government is immune to the people. The people be damned. Where does that leave us? We are back where we started before the American Revolution. We might as well have a British...

One of the biggest fallacies in politics today is the claim that we, as conservatives and libertarians, can only be effective if we stay loyal to the Republican Party and work to gain control of it by electing more free-market conservatives every election year. We at AFR believe such thinking to be tragically misguided. To expect the Republican Party to challenge the modern day juggernaut of statism is as foolish as expecting socialist professors to instill Americanism into our youth. It won’t happen anymore than the planets will one day reverse their orbits. This is because the members of the...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)In his most forceful language yet against GOP detractors, House Speaker John Boehner said Thursday that he dislikes being described as "spineless or a squish" by conservative Republicans, but that the label that stings him the most is when he's called a part of the "establishment." "I am the most anti-Establishment Speaker we have ever had" he told NBC News at his first solo press conference of the new Congress. "Who was the guy who got rid of earmarks? Me. Who's the guy who believes in regular order? Me. Who believes in allowing more members to participate in the process,...

In the wake of the vote reelecting John Boehner as House speaker, it is worth noting a statement put out by rock-rib conservative Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-S.C.): Some people wrote me encouraging me to vote for Louie Gohmert. I like Louie, but let’s be clear: Louie Gohmert was – is – never ever going to be Speaker of the House. I respect his passion, but he isn’t a credible candidate. That was proved today by the fact that he got three votes, despite all the national media attention he managed to grab. My colleague who got the most anti-Boehner votes...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Newly elected Rep. Mia Love (R-UT) has recently reaffirmed her support for repealing Obamacare on ABC’s This Week with host Martha Raddatz. When asked by Raddatz if she would stand by senators like Ted Cruz in their fight to do whatever possible to defund and dismantle Obamacare, Love responded: “Look, I was elected by my district to make sure we get the decision-making back in their hands and I’ve said I was going to do everything I can to repeal and replace it with broad health-care reforms, free-market health-care reforms. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”Though it may...

This is a sampling from Bay Area News Group's Political Blotter blog. Read more and post comments at www.ibabuzz.com/politics. Dec. 23 Those blaming President Obama, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio or protesters for the shooting deaths of two New York City police officers Saturday are "demagoguing the issues" and doing the nation a disservice, Rep. Barbara Lee said Tuesday. "As someone who supports nonviolence and gun safety and gun control and peaceful resolutions in Congress, I don't think there's any way any of us in the protest movement, in the progressive movement, would condone that" kind of violence,...

“Ho, hum, what else is new?” That was my first reaction when I saw a report that Susan Douglas, a professor of communications and department chair at the University of Michigan, had published an article titled “It’s Okay to Hate Republicans,” in which she stated: "I hate Republicans. I can’t stand the thought of having to spend the next two years watching Mitch McConnell, John Boehner, Ted Cruz, Darrell Issa or any of the legions of other blowhards denying climate change, thwarting immigration reform or championing fetal ‘personhood.’" According to the professor, Republicans exhibit the following “psychological characteristics”: "[d]ogmatism, rigidity...

Sen. Mark Begich can still return to the Senate.Even though lawmakers who will not be returning to Congress in January might feel downtrodden, they can find solace in the fact that they retain some congressional perks. Those perks, ranging from floor access to permanent identification cards, were outlined in the Congressional Research Service’s Dec. 5 report titled “Selected Privileges and Courtesies Extended to Former Members of Congress.” CRS American National Government specialist R. Eric Peterson wrote in the report, “Some [privileges] are derived from law and chamber rules, but others are courtesies that have been extended as a matter of...

The last-minute vote to approve a long-term spending package cast a bright light on unusual splits in an otherwise unified Democratic congressional caucus. Following the lead of Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), House and Senate Democrats voted against a bill that President Obama was personally advocating. It was similar to the insurgency faced by the Republican establishment last year, as many, many pundits pointed out, only with "no bank bailouts" replacing "no Obamacare" as a rallying cry. At ABC, Rick Klein, presumably with his tongue in his cheek, suggested that there are now "four parties that need to be...

In the midst of the debate over a mammoth government spending bill, Republicans and Democrats found something to agree on: their dislike for Sen. Ted Cruz, who forced a rare weekend session for the Senate. But rather than back down, Cruz opted to call out Washington politicians during on Sean Hannity’s radio show Monday. “Enough is enough,” he told Hannity. The outspoken Texas Republican joined with Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, to force the Senate to take a vote related to President Obama’s recent immigration actions. The measure was defeated, 22-74, after Cruz said Republican leaders urged senators to vote against...

When Thursday dawned, the conventional wisdom was that House Speaker John Boehner did not have the votes to pass the $1.1 trillion spending bill that would fund the rest of the government for FY2015. But, thanks to lobbying by the White House, the House scrapped up enough votes to pass the measure 219 to 206, according to a Thursday Washington Examiner story. The passage of the bill was a triumph of the establishment wings of both parties. However, Senate passage is by no means certain. Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Elizabeth Warren could still scupper the bill between them. The...

In the dark of the night, two weeks before Christmas, the GOP consummated their betrayal of our trust. We voted them a majority for the next two years, and they thanked us by a backstabbing so heinous, that it moved the seismic needle on the Democratic party

And here we go: Right off the deep end. It’s as predictable as the sunrise. As those who are genuinely and honestly outraged over the revelations contained within the Senate Intelligence Committee’s “torture” report strain themselves in the effort to adopt a posture of unparalleled indignation, they inevitably overreach. So far, the best example of this kind of indulgence in regrettable hyperbole in the pursuit of moral preening is Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA). In an appearance on MSNBC on Wednesday, Speier reacted to the release of the SSCI’s report on the CIA’s Bush-era enhanced interrogation program by saying America’s clandestine...

African American staffers on Capitol Hill plan to stage a protest Thursday in solidarity with similar demonstrations nationwide.African American Congressional staffers are planning a protest on the U.S. Capitol steps Thursday afternoon, disrupting their workday to speak out against the Eric Garner and Mike Brown grand jury decisions. The protest follows large demonstrations in New York and other major cities last week, which were held to speak out about the deaths of these two African American men. “Black staffers on Capitol Hill wanted to do something in support of ongoing national and global protests against police aggression,” an organizer said,...

In the wake of the Democratic Party’s second disastrous midterm election in a row, the progressive wing of the party is acknowledging that Democrats need to renew their focus on policy rather than politics. On Wednesday, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee launched the “Big Ideas Project,” an initiative aimed at soliciting proposals from the public. It’s not a bad idea; the president’s party needs all the help they can get. “After being diminished in Congress, wiped out in the South, and marginalized in the states Dems focus on gun control,” wrote National Review’s Charles Cooke on Wednesday. It’s true. “A...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced it will host a presentation by Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL): “Immigration and the Rule of Law.” Special introduction will be given by Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. Senator Sessions will discuss the impacts of illegal immigration and the impacts of President Obama’s unilateral “executive action” on illegal immigration. Senator Sessions is a well-known leader advocate for better enforcement of our nation’s immigration laws.