Free Republic

Here we go. This isn't about gun control alone. It never is.

We have been in this restaurant/bar for over an hour. They’re playing classic rock, mostly ‘70s. Their music service has yet to play a single woman’s voice - not even a duet. Not even *backup*. #JustNoticing

Family and friends of a male escort found dead in the West Hollywood home of a high-powered Democratic Party donor last year continue to press for answers—in a case that has eluded the national media spotlight on incidents of sexual misconduct and racial injustice. Gemmel Moore, 26, was discovered by police on July 27 inside the apartment of Ed Buck, 63. Buck is a well-known Democratic contributor, and has given more than $500,000 to an array of Democrats including Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and a variety of state...

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) said Sunday she believes Congress should hold President Trump accountable for the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct leveled against him. “I think he should resign, and if he’s unwilling to do that, which is what I assume, then Congress should hold him accountable. We’re obligated to have hearings,” Gillibrand said in an interview with CBS's “60 Minutes.” Gillibrand, who was among the first to call for former Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) to resign due to sexual misconduct allegations, was also one of several Democratic senators who late last year said Trump should resign due to sexual...

California Lt. Governor Gavin Newson (D), now running for governor, says the #MeToo movement doesn’t apply to his affair with a female staffer who was married to his chief campaign adviser. (snip) “California's lieutenant governor became the subject of national headlines in February 2007 when it was revealed he had a brief affair with a subordinate, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who was also the wife of his chief campaign adviser. At the time, Newsom was separated from his first wife, Kimberly Guilfoyle, now a Fox News host.”

'These outrageous allegations are simply false. I took the photos given to the media nearly 15 years ago and the reality behind them is nowhere close to what is being described,' Porter said in a statement Wednesday. 'I have been transparent and truthful about these vile claims, but I will not further engage publicly with a coordinated smear campaign.

This time last week, there was growing tumult in Washington over the memo produced by House Intelligence Committee Republicans alleging "FISA abuse" in the Trump-Russia investigation. There were dire warnings that the release of the GOP memo would endanger national security, that doing so would be "extraordinarily reckless" without proper FBI and Justice Department review, and that the FBI had "grave concerns" about "material omissions of fact" that would "fundamentally impact the memo's accuracy." snip The Democratic memo, these Republicans say, is much different. "It's full of sources and methods," said one lawmaker, referring to highly classified information. "It includes...

Every day on the football field or the baseball diamond, kids and grownups give each other a high-five to celebrate the victory or a good play. But Democrats in the United States Senate used the fun move to celebrate camaraderie and a job well done on something dark and disgusting. After the vote to defeat the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, Democrats on the Senate floor gave each other a high-five. How members of the Senate can explain their actions is beyond most Americans — as fully two-thirds of Americans believe late-term abortions on viable unborn babies ought...

Andrew White, the son of former Gov. Mark White, and a member and elder in a PCA church, is running for Texas governor as a democrat candidate. White, 45, is an elder at Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Houston, a conservative congregation that is a member of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). In recent days, he has taken heat from other Democrats for being personally against abortion, though he has said he recognizes that abortion remains legal and that he would not try to change that if elected governor. According to online policy papers, PCA opposes same-sex marriage...

The government shutdown is over. Democrats finally realized that closing the government over illegal immigration was a losing political battle. They created a needless crisis and got rolled. So who is to blame for their current predicament? Along with Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, Democrats can put the blame squarely on the man who could have legalized the “dreamers” when he had the chance: Barack Obama. During his 2008 campaign, Obama promised in a conversation with Univision anchor Jorge Ramos to make passing immigration reform one of his first legislative priorities, and even set a timetable. “I cannot guarantee that...

Full title:'I'm leaving the Democratic Party today': Democrats are infuriated by their own party's deal with the GOP to reopen the governmentMany Democrats are incensed about the deal Senate Democrats reached with Republicans on Monday, the third day of a shutdown, to reopen the government. On Monday, a bipartisan group of senators — including 33 Democrats — led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer reached an agreement to fund the government until February 8. The senators agreed to the deal in exchange for a promise from the GOP to vote on legislation to codify the...

Liberal activists are furious with Democratic senators after most of them agreed to reopen the federal government without a firm path to shielding young immigrants from deportation. As the third day of the shutdown dawned, liberal advocates and immigration groups fired off a joint statement blasting as "unacceptable" Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) offer to merely hold a vote on immigration — with no promises for action from the House or White House — in exchange for Democratic votes to reopen the government. But three hours later, Democratic senators agreed to just those terms — sparking anger on the...

All those media-trust studies have a tendency toward the rote. Yes, we already knew that the public had little trust in the country’s journalistic organs. Yes, we knew that finding credible sources could be a harrowing pursuit for the public. Yes, we knew that an increasing portion of the U.S. public felt that the news was biased. Yet this nugget from a new Gallup-Knight Foundation survey just about knocked the Erik Wemple Blog out of a decade-long media-research torpor: "Four in 10 [or 42 percent of] Republicans consider accurate news stories that cast a politician or political group in a...

"“Putin’s Asymmetrical Assault on Democracy in Russia and Europe: Implications for U.S. National Security,” finds that President Trump’s refusal to publicly acknowledge the threat posed by the Russian government has hampered efforts to mobilize our government, strengthen our institutions, and work with our European allies to counter Putin’s interference in democracies abroad. Never before in American history has so clear a threat to national security been so clearly ignored by a U.S. president, and without a strong U.S. response, institutions and elections here and throughout Europe will remain vulnerable to the Kremlin’s aggressive and sophisticated malign influence operations."

The Democrats well remember their success in baiting George H. Bush into alienating his base by persuading him to renege on his campaign pledge: “Read my lips … no new taxes!” Well the new taxes came, the already suspicious base could no longer rationalize to themselves that Bush would continue the Reagan legacy, and Bush was a single-term President. His successor being none other than Bill Clinton. If granting amnesty to illegal aliens — who are trespassers in this land — does not equate to a “read my lips” level betrayal, it’s hard to imagine what would be. The White...

"President Winfrey" was the talk of the entertainment world after Winfrey accepted the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes. And the "Oprah for president?" possibility was a top story on morning TV. The touchstone of her speech was the #MeToo movement. But her hopeful message -- "A new day is on the horizon" -- could have doubled as a campaign rallying cry. Many liberal-leaning celebrities and viewers certainly heard it that way. And that may have been exactly what Winfrey wanted. As some political strategists have pointed out in the past year, her fame and wealth could make...

A prominent donor to the Democratic Party says she is considering withdrawing support for senators who urged their colleague Al Franken to resign after he was accused of sexual misconduct. The donor, Susie Tompkins Buell, has been one of the Democratic Party’s most generous supporters for decades. In particular, she has been a champion of female politicians, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Maria Cantwell of Washington. Last month, those senators were among the dozens who called for Franken to resign from the Senate after at least six women accused him of sexual harassment...

An official at the anti-Israel American Muslims for Palestine group who openly advocates for violence against the Jewish state contributed $2,500 to Democratic Party leader Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) last year, according to campaign disclosure documents.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Democratic California lawmakers are exploring ways to blunt the impact of the new federal tax law on the state’s taxpayers. Federal law has long allowed people to deduct their state and local taxes from their federal tax bill, but the tax overhaul signed last month by President Donald Trump caps that deduction at $10,000.

U.S. Sen. Al Franken said goodbye to staff members and supporters in Minneapolis on Thursday night, in his first public appearance in Minnesota since being accused of sexual harassment. Franken will officially step down from the Senate on Tuesday, with his successor – Minnesota Lt. Gov. Tina Smith – scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday to complete Franken’s term, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported. The Democrat, a former "Saturday Night Live" writer and performer, said he didn't know what to expect when he first ran for office, “and of course, neither did Minnesotans.”