Free Republic

Just when it seems that the Clintons have been transformed from the ultimate power couple on an inevitable path back to the White House into political pariahs, Democrats would be wrong to ignore how the 1992 and 1996 elections were won. The Clintons’ fall from grace was long overdue, and not without irony. The new consensus about the way prominent men got away with harassing and assaulting women has caused many liberals to express regret for the scorched-earth campaign they waged against Bill’s accusers. The notion that saving his presidency was more important than the claims of the women he...

Senior Republicans in Washington are unsure about what to do about Roy Moore now that it’s become clear that their attempts to oust him as the GOP nominee for Senate in Alabama have failed. Some Republicans argue that it’s better for Moore to defeat Democrat Doug Jones for the sake of President Trump’s agenda, which would become imperiled if the Senate Republican majority fell from 52 seats to 51. Others, however, contend that it’s better longer-term for the party if he doesn’t come to the Senate. They see the prospect of losing a Republican seat to be a better option...

Michigan Rep. John Conyers, a Democrat and the longest-serving member of the House of Representatives, settled a wrongful dismissal complaint in 2015 with a former employee who alleged she was fired because she would not “succumb to [his] sexual advances.” Documents from the complaint obtained by BuzzFeed News include four signed affidavits, three of which are notarized, from former staff members who allege that Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the powerful House Judiciary Committee, repeatedly made sexual advances to female staff that included requests for sexual favors, contacting and transporting other women with whom they believed Conyers was having affairs,...

A federal prosecutor said Monday that six alleged rioters are guilty of charges that carry potential prison time because they joined “a sea of black masks” on the day of President Trump’s inauguration and didn’t leave after some marchers committed acts of vandalism. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Kerkhoff admitted there is no evidence that any of the six committed vandalism in downtown Washington, and focused her opening trial remarks instead on fear the larger group caused locals as some activists damaged shop windows and vehicles. In her opening statement, Kerkhoff used the term “sea of black masks” six times to...

President Donald Trump took to Twitter to suggest that perhaps he should have left those three UCLA basketball players to rot in Chinese prison for shoplifting. This came after LaVar Ball, father to one of the players, seemed to dismiss Trump’s role in the release. Yeah. LaVar Ball and Donald Trump are beefing. Welcome to peak 2017. You know Morning Joe got in on this, suggesting that Trump was practicing “blatant racism” by asking for fealty from a black man, noting that he went as far as to call Ball “very ungrateful.” “This is our president,” host Mika Brzezinski said,...

Former IRS executive Lois G. Lerner told a federal court last week that members of her family, including “young children,” face death threats and a real risk of physical harm if her explanation of the tea party targeting scandal becomes public.... Ms. Lerner and Holly Paz, her deputy at the IRS, filed documents in court Thursday saying tapes and transcripts of depositions they gave in a court case this year must remain sealed in perpetuity, or else they could spur an enraged public to retaliate.

Sen. Al Franken, the Minnesota Democrat accused of kissing and groping a radio personality in 2006, won't resign, a spokesperson said Instead the embattled senator will spend his Thanksgiving holiday in Washington, D.C., where he'll be 'doing a lot of reflecting' On Thursday radio talk host Leeann Tweeden came forward and shared how Franken grabbed her breasts without her permission while she was asleep He also said he stuck his tongue down her throat as he tried to kiss her as part of a USO show Franken apologized Thursday and Tweeden accepted the apology, saying she didn't wish for him...

On Sunday's AM Joy on MSNBC, it was another case of liberals speaking of former Bill Clinton's sex scandals as if consensual adulterous sex with Monica Lewinsky were the worst thing he was accused of as the panel discussed recent scandals from Roy Moore and Al Franken to Donald Trump. And for her part, pretend conservative Jennifer Rubin actually hit Democrats from the left as she complained that "Democrats keep harping on Bill Clinton," presumably referring to a recent willingness of some liberals to throw Bill Clinton under the bus to give an appearance of consistency in going after current...

That steadfastness is shocking to many outside Alabama. The answer is both complicated and deeply rooted in the DNA of a state that prides itself on bucking norms. The state's motto — "We dare defend our rights" — is an upfront acknowledgement of a fighting spirit that has put Alabamians at odds with the rest of the nation for generations. Introducing Moore during a "God Save America" rally at a south Alabama church this week, pastor Mike Allison said his support wasn't wavering because Moore never has. "He has staunchly defended the Constitution of the United States, he has stood...

Reporters on Monday fell for a fake "White House" document that supposedly showed President Donald Trump making unusual demands of his Israeli hosts during his trip abroad. The Twitter account Rogue White House Senior Advisor on Friday shared what it claimed was Trump's demands ahead of a trip to Israel, including roughly a metric ton of sugary and non-kosher junk food. .. Some elements of the purported demands were obvious jokes. The demand that microwaves remain unplugged was a mocking reference to White House advisor Kellyanne Conway's bizarre comment that the appliance could be used for spying, and the request...

Breitbart News chief Stephen Bannon said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's (D-N.Y.) suggestion this week that former President Clinton should have resigned amid the Monica Lewinsky scandal of the 1990s amounted to an "earthquake in the Democratic Party," and marked the "opening shot" of the 2020 Democratic presidential primaries. "Kirsten Gillibrand's comment about Bill Clinton I think is an earthquake in the Democratic Party, because the Wall Street-Clinton junta that controls the Democratic Party has really been bulletproof," Bannon told radio host John Catsimatidis in an interview that aired Sunday. "And I think you saw the first opening shot of the 2020...

They're well-produced, but they're still "clever fakes." Many reporters were shocked this week after racially charged videos surfaced online purporting to be campaign ads created in 1969 for Fred Trump, the late father of President Trump. This particular media feeding frenzy was set off by longtime Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal, who mentioned the videos in an essay published this week by the London Review of Books. Blumenthal wrote: In 1969, Fred Trump plotted to run for mayor of New York … He made two test television commercials. One of them, called 'Dope Man', featured a drug-addled black youth wandering the...

They began the week-in-review segment on the PBS NewsHour with the Al Franken groping scandal, and both liberal Mark Shields and pseudoconservative David Brooks felt that Franken’s offense was minor compared to the Roy Moores and Bill Clintons…and Donald Trumps. Brooks repeated his recent Charlie Rose line that Clinton’s impunity in these matters in the 1990s created a hostile environment for all women – and then added a new spin for “balance.” Christian defenders of Roy Moore at this point are practicing “idolatry" and are simply “heretics,” he proclaimed: DAVID BROOKS: If I could add one thing on the —...

ABC’s make-believe Republican Matthew Dowd went completely off the rails Sunday during his appearance on This Week. During the panel discussion of the latest sexual harassment allegations around the country, Dowd went off the deep end and claimed Republicans “empowered” Bill Clinton’s sexually predatory behavior and “gave up their values” by putting “tainted” Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court. According to Dowd, the only reason Justice Thomas was confirmed to sit on the court was that of tribal politics. “I think until we take off our jersey and say some things are not about our Jersey. Some things are...

The Jeff Sessions DOJ leaked the name of the FBI informant in the Clinton Uranium One bribery case. The Sessions DOJ told Reuters the man’s name is William D. Campbell and he worked as a lobbyist for a Russian firm. According to reporter John Solomon the informant is a consultant and his evidence will show Russian agents with suitcases of cash to bribe the Clintons for US uranium. Investigative reporter John Solomon told Sean Hannity on Thursday the consultant has video of briefcases full of money in the bribery of case on Hillary Clinton. (video at link)

Fearing that America was one step closer to becoming a theocracy with the opening of the privately-funded Museum of the Bible in Washington D.C., on Thursday and Friday, CBS This Morning and NBC’s Today hyped the supposed “controversy” swirling around the institution, even claiming that a “cloud of suspicion” hung over the building as it opened its doors. “Coming up on CBS This Morning, I’ll tell you why this museum is generating some controversy. It’s just a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol,” warned correspondent Chip Reid on Thursday. Introducing the segment minutes later, co-host Charlie Rose emphasized that the...

Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas told former White House strategist and Breitbart News mogul Steve Bannon that accusations coming forward about Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore allegedly making sexual advances on teenage girls were part of a hit job designed to take out Bannon. This morning, Bannon asked Gohmert if he believed the allegations against Moore were a “weaponized hit from the Republican establishment.” Gohmert said that a discussion with a conservative journalist about how Moore being defeated could hurt Bannon’s ability to recruit candidates for future elections made him realize the allegations were targeted at Bannon. “This wasn’t...

As a feminist and the author of a book on rape culture, I could reasonably be expected to lead the calls for Al Franken to step down, following allegations that he forced his tongue down a woman’s throat, accompanied by a photo of him grinning as he moves in to grope her breasts while she sleeps. It’s disgusting. He treated a sleeping woman as a comedy prop, no more human than the contents of Carrot Top’s trunk, and I firmly believe he should suffer social and professional consequences for it. But I don’t believe resigning from his position is the...

Minnesota Supreme Court Justice David Stras’ candidacy for a seat on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals received new life on Thursday, when a key U.S. senator said he would do away with a long-standing tradition that allowed home state senators to stall nominations. After months of speculation, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, said Thursday he would proceed with Stras’ confirmation and scheduled a Nov. 29 hearing for Stras and a Fifth Circuit nominee. Stras was nominated in May by President Donald Trump, but his candidacy has been in limbo since September, when Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said...

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley will schedule a hearing for a federal appeals court nominee that Minnesota Sen. Al Franken had been trying to block through an informal system known as the blue slip process. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley announced Thursday that Democrats will not be able to block President Donald Trump's judicial nominees through an unofficial senatorial courtesy system known as the "blue slip process," saying he will hold hearings on some nominees even if both home state senators haven't given their approval. Grassley's move will get rid of one of the few obstacles the Trump...