Free Republic

Harry Reid endorsed Chuck Schumer to succeed him as Senate minority leader after he retires in 2016. [Snip] Reid predicted Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in Senate leadership, would win the post without opposition. He also suggested any competition — specifically Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois, with whom he spoke on the phone with Friday morning — should stand down. Reid called Schumer "extremely smart" in the interview, adding that he would bring a "different style" to Senate leadership compared with Reid's soft-spoken nature.

WASHINGTON (CBS DC) – Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., proposed a resolution Wednesday that warns climate change and ensuing natural disasters will force millions of vulnerable and poverty-stricken women to engage in “transactional sex” in order to provide their families with adequate food and water. Lee’s House Concurrent Resolution 29 says that food and water scarcity will be exacerbated by the effects of climate change, forcing increased “conflict and instability” that will particularly affect the strain on women farmers “who are estimated to produce 60 to 80 percent of the food in most developing countries.” “[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic...

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) delivered a pitch-perfect trolling lesson to the Senate on Wednesday, filing an amendment calling to defund "the purchase of stationary [sic] or electronic devices for the purpose of members of Congress or congressional staff communicating with foreign governments and undermining the role of the President as Head of State in international nuclear negotiations on behalf of the United States." In other words, Stabenow wants to defund Tom Cotton letters.

RUSH: Your host in the audio sound bites today, this morning on C-SPAN, the guest, Congresswoman Gwen Moore, Democrat, Wisconsin, during a viewer call-in segment of her appearance, a caller from Maryland by the name of Richard, "Ted Cruz's candidacy is living proof that the birther movement was all based on racism. And that Democrats are silent. They just always stand back and let the Republicans bully them and run over 'em, treat 'em like dogs." MOORE: I think that a lot of us are really frustrated about our so-called messaging. It is really difficult to fight against, I think,...

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) was forced to apologize on Tuesday, after attacking a political opponent for being an "Orthodox Jew" at a radical leftist J Street conference. At the conference, Schakowsky negatively painted Joel Pollak, her opponent in 2010 elections, by highlighting the fact that he is a religious Jew - a choice of words that the crowd responded to by booing Pollak. In her comments, she criticized Pollak for being a "Jewish, Orthodox, Tea Party Republican." The remarks can be seen in the following video, with the specific reference to Pollak starting at 52 seconds in.

Feds reportedly plan to charge US senator with corruption THIS WEEK as grand jury reaches decision on government favors going to top Democratic donor**SNIP** On a new website called ByeBob.com, the group claims he 'unethically, and likely criminally, compromised his ability to represent the people of New Jersey.' CNN reported that the investigation into Menendez is reaching a crescendo, with prosecutors under pressure to complete their work before the statute of limitations runs out on some charges. Attorney General Eric Holder, according to the network, has already given his approval. But he insisted 'I can't comment on that' when a...

Less than three years into her Senate term, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has established herself as the country’s leading advocate for working and middle-class families. The Democrat has proven equally adept behind the scenes and in the media spotlight, and has stood up to Wall Street banks and other powerful interests to win changes that are improving millions of Americans’ lives. Already, more than one observer has compared her to Massachusetts’ first “liberal lion” in the US Senate, Ted Kennedy. [Snip] ... this moment was made for Elizabeth Warren. With income inequality at its highest level on record, and corporations...

California governor Jerry Brown said, "Yes, I would" run for president if I were ten years younger. He made the remarks this morning to NBC: Video at source

Hillary Clinton is not doomed. One terrible press conference won’t mean the end of a long, storied political career. As of now, it is far more likely that she will win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, then win the White House, than it is that she will fade quietly from the political scene. One nevertheless wonders whether the latest Clinton miniscandal will lead at least some Democrats to think, Hey, why not run for president? What exactly do I have to lose? If nothing else, a 2016 presidential campaign would lay the groundwork for a future run, when there will...

Senate Democrats are throwing a fit over language in a bill they asked Republicans to bring to the floor, but apparently didn’t read.The 68-page anti-human trafficking bill has 13 Democratic cosponsors and was supposed to pass easily in a rare moment of bipartisanship, but Democrats are now threatening to block it because they suddenly realized it contains standard language preventing federal funding of abortions.The bill unanimously passed the Judiciary Committee in February, and on Monday several Democrats called for the Senate to pass the bill. ”I doubt there will be problems on my side,” Senate minority leader Harry Reid said Monday...

“Donna [Edwards] has to hope she remains the only minority candidate,” said one longtime Democratic Maryland strategist who has worked on multiple campaigns in the state. “The more white males that jump in, the better it is for her.” Maryland Democrats are bracing for a bitter primary battle split along gender, race, geographic and ideological lines. “It’s going to be a nasty, nasty primary,” one Democratic state legislator told The Hill. “When you have primaries with people that have such similar voting records, it usually comes down to character attacks.” That’s the scene Democrats fear is unavoidable after longtime Sen....

A former Kearny councilman today admitted his role in a $13 million mortgage fraud scam that used phony buyers to purchase condominiums in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, authorities announced. John Leadbeater, 58, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud before U.S. District Judge Jerome B. Simandle in Camden federal court, one week into what was expected to be a lengthy trial.

JERSEY CITY -- City Councilwoman-at-large Joyce Watterman was caught this week using her City Hall office and taxpayer-funded aide to solicit donations to her political committee. Watterman, a Democrat who was first elected to the council in 2013, sent out invitations to a $100-a-head "birthday fundraiser" scheduled for tonight at Liberty House and included the phone number to her City Hall office on the invite.

Congressman Justin Moed, a Democratic legislator representing downtown Indianapolis, the state’s largest city and its capital, posted graphic sexual texts to Leathers on Twitter using the handle “Bitch Boy” and sent her gifts including a “Fetish Fantasy Series Pink Leash & Collar." Moed apologized on Tuesday in a statement to the Indianapolis Daily Star. "I am truly sorry I have hurt the ones I love most with my poor judgment. I am committed to rebuilding trust with my family and my community. This is a private matter and I ask for it to be treated as such. I apologize to...

Unlike its foolish neighbors to the north in New York, Pennsylvania has been enjoying the fruits of the energy boom for several years now. Natural gas drilling in particular has been paying benefits to the government and the citizens, with thousands of new jobs and all of the secondary growth which is associated with higher employment levels. In November of last year, however, the citizens of the Keystone State decided to oust incumbent Republican Governor Tom Corbett and replace him with Democrat Tom Wolf. Would anyone care to hazard a guess as to what one of the new guy’s...

A Chinese immigrant who stole trade secrets from the Chicago Merc worth an estimated $50 million was spared prison Tuesday by a federal judge who cited his otherwise “exemplary life.” Chunlai Yang, 50, of Libertyville, was instead sentenced to just four years probation for stealing software that underpinned the CME Group’s Globex trading platform. Yang, who worked as a high-ranking programmer for the Merc from 2000 until his arrest in 2011, pleaded guilty in 2012 to the theft, admitting he was trying to create a similar product in China when he illegally downloaded more than 10,000 computer source code files....

On the day after Hillary Clinton went on “60 Minutes” to hide the lies of her husband — 21 years ago — I rode knee-to-knee with her in a small plane and listened to her rehearse her war strategy: “Pound the Republican attack machine and blame the press.” The events of the past week have confirmed a nagging fear: Those of us who’d hoped the controlling, deceptive, defensive Clinton of years past had grown into a more mature kind of leader are wrong. She has reacted to a series of legitimate press reports raising serious questions about her use of...

California Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has announced she will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by her fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer, was recently shot down by the California 5th District Court of Appeal for downplaying a prosecutor’s fabrication of a confession by a defendant charged with child molesting who was recently charged again for child sex abuse. The national political media is ignoring Harris’ embarrassment before the court even as she moved on to the national stage last week speaking at a gala dinner by the pro-abortion group Emily’s List held in Washington, D.C. The Hill reported...

Mayor Danny Jones of Charleston, WV makes lewd comments in front of children about gun rights groups on election night. video only on link

Kshama Sawant, Seattle’s Socialist Alternative City Councilmember, was captured on video entering a February 21 fundraiser and birthday celebration for a local leader of the Democratic Party, King County Councilmember Larry Gossett. The video was posted online, but has subsequently been removed. Sawant and the organization to which she belongs have not yet sought to explain why a self-proclaimed socialist would spend an evening rubbing elbows and clinking glasses with the political elite in a major American city. Nor did Socialist Alternative announce beforehand that Sawant would be appearing at an event sponsored by the Democratic Party establishment. That’s because...