Free Republic

More than half of American teachers support school choice, A Democratic pollster said at the National Press Club on January 22, 2015. “Fifty-five percent of teachers support the concept of school choice,” Debbie Beck said. Beck’s previous clients have included the National Education Association (NEA). “The 2014 election shows that nearly every candidate who campaigned on school choice won,” Kevin Chavous, a former Democratic councilman from Washington, D. C., said at the same event. “Teacher’s unions spent at least $80 million in 2014 to express opposition to candidates supportive of such education reforms—and lost nearly every race,” according to the...

U.N. gives mixed signals on Tehran cooperation as nuclear talks intensifySenate Democrats on Tuesday backed away from a bipartisan push for immediate new sanctions on Iran, bowing to President Obama’s call not to undercut international talks to get Tehran to curb its nuclear programs in the coming weeks. The shift, announced Tuesday by Sen. Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat and one of the party’s outspoken hawks on Iran, came amid a series of mixed signals from the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog agency over the question of whether Tehran was honoring promises to put its suspect nuclear programs on hold as...

Ten Senate Democrats warned the White House in a letter Tuesday that they will support legislation imposing new sanctions on Iran if a framework to roll back the country’s nuclear program isn’t reached within two months. "In acknowledgement of your concern regarding congressional action on legislation at this moment, we will not vote for this legislation on the Senate floor before March 24," said the letter, led by Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), who is the co-author of Iran sanctions legislation. "After March 24, we will only vote for this legislation on the Senate floor if Iran fails to reach agreement...

DENVER (CBS4) – A nationwide cellphone company distributing phones and cellphone plans in Denver as part of a massive government program says it is “outraged by the unacceptable actions” uncovered by a CBS4 undercover investigation. The response from Total Call Mobile comes nearly three months after an undercover CBS4 investigation revealed multiple examples of fraud and cheating in the phone distribution program. The Lifeline program is aimed at providing free cellphone service to the poor and needy. It handed out more than 13 million free cellphone plans in the first six months of 2014. In Colorado, the program handed out...

Alabama's first openly gay state legislator fired back on Facebook over the weekend, including a threat to expose the affairs of state officials, to comments made by Republican Party officials in the wake of a federal judge declaring the state ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional. State Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, said she was elated and in "shock" when the judge issued the order overturning Alabama's same-sex marriage ban. But after seeing comments by Republican officials, particularly from Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, and seeing Attorney General Luther Strange's efforts to get a stay of the judge's orders, Todd...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK) The 2016 calculations of three potential candidates -- two Republicans and a very senior Democrat -- plus big tests for President Obama and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell filled our Sunday trip around the "Inside Politics" table. 1. Rubio's not in Iowa, but still thinking 2016 Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida skipped the big weekend GOP gathering in Iowa, and some believe Jeb Bush's presumed candidacy makes it hard for Rubio to find his 2016 footing. But Jonathan Martin of The New York Times shared reporting on how Rubio is still very interested in running, and hopeful that perhaps...

The theme of Obama’s last campaign was “Forward.” Having thoroughly alienated Republicans in Congress, he is boldly moving forward on his final mission of also alienating the Democrats. It’s no secret that Harry Reid, the former Senate majority leader, now loathes Obama. But the conflict between Senate Democrats and Obama is approaching explosive temperatures. Senator Menendez accused Obama of parroting talking points out of Tehran as the Senate approaches a sanctions vote. Obama has threatened to veto bills on Iran and Keystone, along with others, leading to a showdown in which Democrats will have to choose between Obama and electability....

ALBANY — The early jockeying to possibly replace embattled Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver has already begun, the Daily News has learned. A state assemblyman from the city said he has received calls directly from Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle, and surrogates of Assemblyman Carl Heastie (D-Bronx) and Keith Wright (D-Manhattan) in recent days to gauge his feelings on the uncertainty in the chamber. None of the three directly told the assemblyman that they were looking to topple Silver. Morelle did say he'd be interested in being a candidate for the speaker position should Silver step down or be pushed out...

As Mitt Romney prepares to run a THIRD time for President because Jeb Bush is pre-empting the third timer in big money enclaves controlling the Uniparty’s political machinations, word out of Raleigh, NC is that the Conservatives’ challenge to tan man’s Speaker of the House position may have done more good than our left leaning media would have led us to believe. ”The word from Washington is that our efforts to go after John Boehner have generated a stronger piece of legislation designed to shut down Obama’s unconstitutional amnesty,” says William Gheen, head of Americans for Legal Immigration. (1) With...

Democrats want one of two things from all children, either to abort them or place them into horrible debt. I don't hate children enough to vote Democrat. Two lines I use when "debating" liberals.

Friday, January 23, 2015 | 2:45 am EST Grant NBC News Launches Website For Black People… Good Idea? By: Grant (Breaking911 Newsroom) January 22, 2015 | 10:06 PM Ahhh, yes. The day has come, where black folks and white folks don’t have to read news from the same website. NBC news has a new website and social media accounts geared towards the African-American community. According to a letter from the editor: “NBCBLK covers stories by, for and about the black community. Our product is meant to elevate America’s conversation about black identity, politics, and culture. We share positive, solution-based journalism...

At his inauguration as Maryland’s 62nd governor, Republican Larry Hogan promised to usher in an era of bipartisanship and cooperation in a state capital dominated by Democrats, even as he outlined an unabashedly conservative pro-business agenda. “We must get the state government off our backs and out of our pockets so that we can grow the private sector, put people back to work and turn our economy around,” Mr. Hogan said in a speech delivered on the steps of the State House. As he began his speech amid a flurry of snowfall that dusted the crowd, Mr. Hogan with a...

In case you’re not up-to-date on the latest Thing To Be Outraged About, here’s a quick recap: Seth Rogen and Michael Moore tweeted some things in relation to the movie American Sniper that people didn’t like. In Moore’s case, it was an observation about how cowardly snipers can be. In Rogen’s case, it was about how the film reminded him of the Nazi propaganda film in Inglourious Basterds. There was some outrage about it, and Rogen clarified on Twitter Monday that he wasn’t comparing the film about Chris Kyle to Nazi propaganda; the former just reminded him of the Basterds...

The Obama administration's nominee for a senior legal position at the Pentagon is one of the congressional staffers accused by Republicans and intelligence officials of stealing classified documents from the Central Intelligence Agency, Fox News has learned -- and the controversy could imperil her shot at a major career promotion. Sources on Capitol Hill and in the intelligence community say Alissa Starzak, a majority staffer on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI) who has been nominated for the position of general counsel to the U.S. Army, is one of two SSCI employees accused by the panel's Republicans, and by...

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who bent state government to his will for more than 20 years as one of New York's most powerful and canny politicians, was arrested Thursday on charges of taking nearly $4 million in payoffs and kickbacks. The 70-year-old Democrat was taken into custody by the FBI on federal conspiracy and bribery charges that carry up to 100 years in prison and could cost him his political seat. He was released on $200,000 bail.

I will apologize in advance to our readers if this looks like coverage of a “local story� but it actually may be a harbinger for the kind of state and local level change which is required for real progress in America. The New York Times is reporting that today an arrest will be made in Albany, the state’s capital. The suspect is question is none other than the Speaker of the state Assembly, Sheldon Silver. Federal authorities are expected to arrest Sheldon Silver, the powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly, on corruption charges on Thursday, people with...

- FrontPage Magazine - http://www.frontpagemag.com - Leland Yee: An Anti-Gun Democrat Jihadists Can LovePosted By Robert Spencer On March 28, 2014 @ 12:25 am In Daily Mailer,FrontPage | No Comments California State Senator Leland Yee is the very model of a modern public servant.Yee, a Democrat, has amassed a well-deserved reputation as an anti-gun crusader: shortly after Adam Lanza’s murderous rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, Yee helped spearhead one of the toughest gun laws in the entire nation, banning the “bullet button” that allows shooters to change magazines on assault weapons quickly and easily. California Governor...

A group of Democrats is hoping to regain ground in their national fight for abortion rights with a bill that makes it illegal for states to “chip away at women’s reproductive rights.” The group, led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), said it will introduce a “historic pro-choice bill” on Wednesday. The bill directly targets harsh laws recently passed in Texas and Wisconsin, which now face court challenges. “The protections in this measure are more necessary now than ever before in our history because an avalanche of restrictive, reprehensible state laws is drastically reducing fundamental health care...

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has begun work on a legal memo recommending no civil rights charges against a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., who killed an unarmed black teenager in August, law enforcement officials said. That would close the politically charged case in the shooting death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The investigation by the F.B.I., which is complete, found no evidence to support civil rights charges against the officer, Darren Wilson, the officials said. A broader civil rights investigation into allegations of discriminatory traffic stops and excessive force by the Ferguson Police Department remains open, however. That investigation...

Liberal icon and current ESPN host Keith Olbermann took to Twitter Wednesday night to callously mock Sen. Joni Ernst for her growing up in a poor working family in Red Oak, Iowa. Ernst spoke of her childhood when she gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address: “As a young girl, I plowed the fields of our family farm. I worked construction with my dad. To save for college, I worked the morning biscuit line at Hardees. “We were raised to live simply, not to waste. It was a lesson my mother taught me every...

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A Democrat has refiled a proposal banning abortions after 20 weeks gestation in West Virginia, despite its veto last year. On Tuesday, Fayette County Del. David Perry reintroduced the bill that Democratic Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin vetoed. It bans abortions after 20 weeks, except for when expectant mothers have certain serious medical emergencies. Leading up to last year's election, the Democratic-run House and Senate passed the proposal overwhelmingly.

A group of Democrats are hoping to regain ground in their national fight for abortion rights with a bill that makes it illegal for states to “chip away at women’s reproductive rights.” The group, led by Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), said they will introduce their “historic pro-choice bill” on Wednesday. The bill directly targets harsh laws recently passed in Texas and Wisconsin, which are now facing court challenges. “The protections in this measure are more necessary now than ever before in our history because an avalanche of restrictive, reprehensible state laws is drastically reducing fundamental...

President Obama will deliver yet another State of the Union Address with much the same message and policy prescription of his first six: Spread the wealth around. He wants $320 billion in new taxes on both the middle class and wealthy over the next decade to pay for income redistribution handout programs that are supposed to help the poor and middle class. But Obama has been president now for six years. If his redistribution policies worked, why are the poor getting poorer and why has the middle class stalled out? Is this George Bush's fault? The irony of the Obama...

The NHS is ‘not fit for the future’ and unless it undergoes radical change it may be forced to abandon free healthcare for all, in the future, the service's top doctor has warned. Medical director of NHS England Professor Sir Bruce Keogh said the NHS must become far less reliant on hospitals and needed a ‘complete transformation’ of the way it operates. Sir Bruce told the Guardian: ‘If the NHS continues to function as it does now, it’s going to really struggle to cope because the model of delivery and service that we have at the moment is not fit...

A look at the latest survey numbers could spell trouble for a Republican Party that came out singing Kumbaya after the November elections, as Democrats, including the one in the White House continued to stay on the offensive.

An MSNBC UP show panel on Saturday gleefully recounted Mitt Romney’s tentative moves toward a third White House run. “What is he thinking?” is one way to summarize the discussion. “He is delusional” is another. Not one panelist could imagine a scenario under which Romney could win, but each was highly entertained by the idea. Beware the Popcorn Syndrome. It seems to be spreading among left leaning social media and chattering classes. Right now it is centered on the 2012 Republican nominee and his refusal to go away, but is being expressed as well on a more endemic level. Pundits,...

In his State of The Union address this week, President Obama will propose congress lower taxes on the middle class and close loopholes that the rich often use. A press release from the White House says Obama has a strategy that will “simplify our complex tax code, make it fairer by eliminating some of the biggest loopholes, and use the savings to responsibly pay for the investments we need to help middle class families get ahead and grow the economy.�According to a release from the White House Press Secretary, the changes President Obama will propose include: Closing One of the...

Jane Fonda said she hoped for an open dialogue with veterans after about 50 former military members and supporters protested the actress’s appearance Friday evening at the Weinberg Center for the Arts. “Whenever possible I try to sit down with vets and talk with them, because I understand and it makes me sad,” Fonda told a relatively full theater, responding to a submitted question. “It hurts me and it will to my grave that I made a huge, huge mistake that made a lot of people think I was against the soldiers.” In 1972 Fonda visited Hanoi, North Vietnam, where...

In the 2016 cycle, Democrats are defending only 10 seats while Republicans have two dozen of their own seats to hold. 7 of those 24 Republican seats are in states that President Obama won twice: Florida, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. To win the majority back, Democrats need to win five of those seven seats in November 2016. (If a Democrat, wins the White House in 2016, then Senate Democrats need to win only four of those seven. That's the exact path Republicans took to the Senate majority in 2014 when, needing a six-seat gain, they won...

On September 25, the 23rd Arab-American Candidates’ Night Dinner was held in Virginia, attended by 46 Democrats and Republicans seeking office, with former governor and current Democratic Senate candidate, Tim Kaine, as a major speaker. The dinner honored a top Muslim Brotherhood official affiliated with Hamas named Jamal Barzinji, an inconvenient and overlooked fact for Kaine’s campaign team. Tim Kaine was the governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010 and then was the chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He was on the short-list to become President Obama’s running mate. He is now running for Senate and will likely face...

President Obama — who famously promised when he took office in 2009 to bring about an “unprecedented level of openness in government” — has headed off to Baltimore for a retreat with Democrats with one special caveat: No press allowed. Newsmax reported that in previous years, the Democrats have let in some members of the media. But this year, none are allowed — though some topics of discussion have sneaked into the public arena. The Hill reported that the politicos will be discussing Mr. Obama’s latest proposal — to use tax dollars to pay for community college — as well...

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)

The US Postal Service plans to sell 56 buildings — so it can lease space more expensively — and the real estate company of the California senator’s husband, Richard Blum, is set to pocket about $1 billion in commissions. Blum’s company, CBRE, was selected in March 2011 as the sole real estate agent on sales expected to fetch $19 billion.

A Senate Democratic aide says Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is likely to return to the Senate next week after missing the first two weeks of business due to injuries sustained in a fall at his new home in Nevada. Reid is suffering from broken facial bones and ribs after slamming into a counter when a piece of exercise equipment broke. He also sustained a concussion. The aide said Reid won't return without the permission of his doctors. The 75-year-old Democrat said in a radio interview this week that the injuries won't prevent him from running for a sixth term...

Last night John rendered his "Verdict: The New York Times blew the story." The "story" was the testimony of five federal judges -- Magistrate Judge Allan Kornblum and four former FISA court judges -- on Senator Specter's proposed revision of the FISA statute. According to yesterday's New York Times story by Eric Lichtblau: In a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the secretive court, known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, several former judges who served on the panel...voiced skepticism at a Senate hearing about the president's constitutional authority to order wiretapping on Americans without a court order. They...

Hillary Clinton's expected campaign chairman has an eclectic record that includes UFO advocacy and having to apologize for comparing Republicans to killer cultists. John Podesta, a senior White House aide, will leave his government job in February for Clinton's campaign, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. "The precise role Mr. Podesta would play in a Clinton campaign is unclear. People familiar with discussions said he likely would be campaign chairman, should she decide to run," The Journal reported. Despite the ambiguity, it is clear from additional reports that Podesta is expected to at least hold a "senior title" in Clinton's...

....he’s prepared to veto hostile legislation, including an Iran sanctions package. Obama made clear Thursday in a closed-door session with Senate Democrats that he’s prepared to veto hostile legislation from the GOP-controlled Congress, including an Iran sanctions package on the front-burner of Capitol Hill. According to several sources at the Thursday summit in Baltimore, Obama vowed to defend his agenda against Republicans in Congress, promised to stand firm against GOP efforts to dismantle his agenda and called on his Democratic colleagues to help sustain his expected vetoes. The president also was explicit over his administration’s opposition to an Iran sanctions...

Complete Headline: Dems Were Asked to Support the Deportation of Illegal Immigrants Convicted of Violence and Sexual Abuse. Here’s How They Voted. Dozens of House Democrats on Wednesday voted against a legislative proposal aimed at ensuring that illegal immigrants convicted of domestic violence, sexual abuse or child abuse are a priority for deportation. The vote suggests that immigration-related issues trump other traditional Democratic priorities, such as efforts to protect people from sex or violence-related crimes, especially against women. [Snip] Pelosi explained that she opposed the amendment because it was opposed by the National Catholic Conference of Bishops.

Virginia’s 74th state district reelected Joe Morrissey to the House of Delegates in a special election held on Tuesday. He celebrated his victory from a jail cell. Morrissey resigned from the seat last December after he was convicted for having a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old employee at his law office.

The Republican party’s conservative base has a major problem. In assessing the 2014 midterm elections, a tidal wave in which the base propelled the GOP to substantial majorities in both houses of Congress, conservatives are in full agreement with President Obama and completely at odds with Republican leadership. The president boldly declared that, while he was not on the ballot, his policies were. He could not have been more right. GOP leadership boldly declares that the election was a case of voters trusting Republicans with an opportunity to “prove we can govern” — to demonstrate that GOP lawmakers can work...

JACKSON, MS (Mississippi News Now) - Three men who are believed to have shot and killed 69-year-old Carolyn Temple in Belhaven last week have been arrested and charged in her death. ------- snip "My son is known for house burglary. That's all. He's been going to the Juvenile Center for his house burglary," Sharonda Burns told us. "For one, my son is not going to shoot no gun. Now, I'm not saying he won't rob nobody, but I know he won't shoot no gun. He was not there the time the lady got attacked. I know for a fact where...

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...

The White House will announce a major push Thursday to require paid leave for American workers. In a blog post on LinkedIn Wednesday, Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to the President, said Obama will sign a memorandum to ensure federal employees have access to at least six weeks of paid sick leave when a new child arrives. The president will also call on Congress to offer six weeks of paid administrative leave. “We can't say we stand for family values when so many women in this country have to jeopardize their financial security just to take a few weeks off...

Democrats will appoint Muslim to the House Intelligence Committee who said US schools should be like Islamic madrassas and warned law enforcement that 'Allah will not allow you to stop us' House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is set to appoint a Muslim lawmaker to the Intelligence Committee, congressional aides said Tuesday, giving him access to some of America's most closely held secrets in the war on terror. The move will come as the world is still grappling with an al-Qaeda death squad's massacre last week of journalists at the French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo, executed because they had published a...

House Democrats, fresh off massive election losses, say the problem is they didn’t make a bold enough case for tax increases and wealth transfer to the poor. They rectified that Monday with a speech by Rep. Chris Van Hollen proposing tax increases on the wealthy with the money going straight to tax cuts for the poor and middle class. The plan uses tax laws to encourage employee wage increases, reduce tax breaks for Wall Street and slap another fee on financial transactions. The government would dole out $1,000 tax credits for most workers and increase a slew of other tax...

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is facing a second lawsuit from business groups upset about a controversial rule they contend will unfairly speed up union elections. The business groups are challenging what they refer to as the NLRB's "ambush election" rule. The Texas chapters of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) filed the lawsuit late Tuesday in federal court seeking to overturn the rule. "We are proud to join the legal fight against the ambush rule, which is designed to deprive employers, particularly small businesses who typically do not employ legal counsel,...

SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - Accused Chinatown gangster Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow has refused to sign on to a protective order that will allow defense attorneys to receive evidence from federal prosecutors, including audio recordings and video surveillance, from a five-year undercover investigation that led to his arrest, and the arrest of 26 others in March. Attorneys for the federal government on Thursday filed a motion to compel Chow to cooperate, noting that nearly all the other defendants have signed on, and only one other defendant has not signed because of a likely substitution of counsel in the near future. According...

Shocking enough are the allegations that a long-perceived unassuming state senator tried brokering an international arms deal with military-style rifles and rocket launchers, but Leland Yee may have narrowly escaped an even more ominous label: supporter of terrorism. Yee, whose arrest after an FBI undercover sting shook the California political world last week, would likely have been charged with aiding terrorists if not for a bureaucratic label missing from the militant Filipino group that he is accused of sourcing for an international arms deal, counterterrorism experts told this newspaper. His ties to the group, whose leader has said he personally...

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The California State Senate held an "ethics refresher course" for its members after federal indictments were issued against two senators and a third was convicted. Senate leaders are hoping to regain the public's trust. The purpose of the course is to teach members and their staffs to avoid potentially compromising situations. It's the latest in a series of moves by senate leaders aimed at putting political distance between them and their colleagues facing criminal charges. The leader of California's state senate stopped all regular business on Wednesday so everyone could go "back to school" in a...

A small part of more than $800,000 that was parked in campaign accounts controlled by indicted or convicted California lawmakers is making its way back to contributors, but more than half a million dollars remains missing.. At the time of his arrest on bribery and corruption charges in March, Sen. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) had $134,000 cash in his secretary of state campaign account and had weeks earlier sent more than $518,000 to a Los Angeles media agency for future campaign commercials. Campaign finance reports filed with the state by Thursday's reporting deadline show the indicted lawmaker had reduced that...