Free Republic

There are a few topics that usually elicit startling hypocrisy from both major political parties, depending on whether or not they hold power. One is judges and filibusters (although the GOP's application of the Reid Rule seems to have ended that debate), another is deficit spending (after applauding President Obama for nearly doubling the national debt over eight years, Democrats have rediscovered this problem, wielding it to oppose a plan to let Americans keep more of their own money), and yet another is good governance 'process.' The party in control tends to prize victory over pristine process, whereas the 'out'...

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law set up a secret back channel to help a top Democratic Senator lobby White House officials in favor of the “DACA” amnesty for 800,000 young illegals. Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democratic Senator, spilled the beans in an interview with Reuters, where he described how he worked with Jared Kushner and liberal Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to promote the DACA amnesty in April and July. According to Reuters’s account, which describes the illegals as “Dreamers”: “We initially had a conversation (with Kushner), at [Iowa Republican] Senator (Chuck) Grassley’s invitation, on criminal justice and I asked Mr....

President Donald Trump’s son-in-law set up a secret back channel to help a top Democratic Senator lobby White House officials in favor of the “DACA” amnesty for 800,000 young illegals. Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democratic Senator, spilled the beans in an interview with Reuters, where he described how he worked with Jared Kushner and liberal Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham to promote the DACA amnesty in April and July. According to Reuters’s account, which describes the illegals as “Dreamers”:

It's rich that rule of law-scoffing Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin grilled one of President Trump's judicial nominees, law professor Amy Coney Barrett, for placing her religious beliefs above the law. During Barrett's appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Durbin asked her, "Do you consider yourself an orthodox Catholic?" Apparently, Durbin thought he had Barrett dead to rights because of assertions she made in a law review article she co-wrote with her law professor in 1998 as a third-year student at Notre Dame Law School. In the article, "Catholic Judges in Capital Cases," the authors discussed...

The 28 percent of Democrats who oppose abortion have no place in the Democratic party, according to two of the party’s leading figures. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin echoed party chair Tom Perez Sunday in saying that there is no room in the party for dissent on the abortion issue. “I am committed to women’s rights under the law, reproductive rights certainly, and our party is [committed],” Durbin said in an appearance on CNN. “We’ve made that part of our platform and position for a long, long time. I know within the ranks of the Democratic Party there are those who...

The biggest fuss was made last week over the Democratic National Committee's campaign stop for Omaha mayoral candidate Heath Mello. Progressive and pro-abortion groups fumed that Sen. Bernie Sanders dared to step onstage with Mello - all because he once voted for pro-life legislation. The DNC is now insisting that the event was all Sanders's idea.The whole situation really sheds a light on how radical the Democratic Party has become. DNC Chair Tom Perez, eager to distance himself from Mello, said abortion rights are non-negotiable.“Every Democrat, like every American, should support a woman’s right to make her own choices about her body and her...

During the second break in day two of Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation hearing Tuesday afternoon, CNN detected some wind in their sails as they swooned and congratulated their Democratic allies for supposedly giving the “testy” Gorsuch “a little bit more of a run for his money.” CNN found nothing to object to in the first break around lunchtime, so it was inevitable that they would concoct some sort of liberal spin to give Senate Democrats a boost.http://www.mrctv.org/videos/giddy-cnn-swoons-democrats-are-giving-testier-gorsuch-run-his-money CNN Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic could barely contain her enthusiasm, gleefully hyping that Gorsuch was “getting a little testier” and praised “Senators Durbin,...

A dispute that threatens decade-old plans to build a western access road to O'Hare International Airport is headed to a federal agency, as the Illinois Toll Highway Authority sues the Canadian Pacific Railway. In a petition filed today, the tollway asked the U.S. Surface Transportation Board to allow it to force CP to sell or grant easements to the tollway for portions of railroad property immediately to the north of the railway's huge Bensenville Yards. The tollway indicated it also may eventually need access to the yard itself. The Surface Transportation Board is the federal agency that regulates railroads, and...

WASHINGTON - The independent counsel investigation that led to the conviction of a former Clinton administration housing chief could come back to haunt Sen. Hillary Clinton. The Daily News has learned that lawyers are fighting to suppress a potentially embarrassing final report from the probe that found Housing Secretary Henry Cisneros lied to the FBI about paying $250,000 in hush money to his ex-mistress. Cisneros paid a $10,000 fine after he was found guilty in 1999 and was later pardoned by Bill Clinton. And though neither Hillary Clinton nor her husband was targeted by independent counsel David Barrett, his 420-page...

If you haven’t been keeping up with the gun control debate following the Orlando terrorist attack, many democratic senators are conducting a filibuster of sorts to demand banning certain types of weapons. Illinois senator, Dick Durbin, apparently couldn’t resist speaking on the topic either. Ironically, every word that left Dick Durbin’s mouth made him look like a complete jackass. He claimed that no self-respecting sportsman in his home state of Illinois would ever use an ‘AR-47’ to hunt deer. Senator Durbin is actually correct for two major reasons. First of all, there’s no such thing as an ‘AR-47.’ There’s an...

Bernie Sanders is blasting out mixed messages about his presidential campaign plans once the dust settles from Tuesday’s last major batch of primaries – on one hand vowing to fight to the convention, and on the other saying he’ll “assess” his options Wednesday, as he returns home to Burlington. The speculation is swirling as Sanders faces mounting pressure from senior Democrats to step aside and let likely nominee Hillary Clinton charge ahead in the general election battle against Donald Trump. President Obama reportedly is expected to get behind Clinton in a matter of days. But Sanders’ plans are the big...

As Donald Trump held closed-door meetings Thursday with top Republican leaders, Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois cautioned that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee's "radical" and "extreme" positions will pose a challenge for Republican candidates in Illinois, including U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk. Kirk, who is up for re-election, has said he will support his party's presidential nominee — even if it is Trump — but will not attend the GOP's national convention in Cleveland in July. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, who is not on the ballot in November, said he will not attend the party's presidential nominating convention — nor...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), who wrote a letter asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Chicago Police policies in December, recently said the windy city’s law enforcement is “holding back.” In coverage of the 44 people killed or injured in last weekend’s shootings in Chicago, WGN-TV reports:U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin feels the spike in shootings could be related in part to low officer morale, as the Department of Justice investigates the police department. “I think they’re holding back now in fear of video cameras, DNA, and losing a job over a mistake they might make,” Durbin said.…

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who’s endorsed Donald Trump, is in Wisconsin campaigning for the GOP frontrunner. Palin posted on Facebook, “Just touched down in the great state of Wisconsin to ‪#‎Stump4Trump‬! Wisconsin’s middle class has been hurt by DC politicians’ out-of-touch policies worse than any other state – 100,000 jobs lost to Mexico and China thanks to trade deficits with countries that cheat on our ‘agreements.'” Donald J. Trump has fought for American workers and against trade deficits for decades in the private sector, unlike his competitors who actually support Obama’s reckless TPP and TPA deals that are entirely...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) says, current gas prices have gone down and the government is "missing an opportunity" to increase the gas tax. At a press conference in Chicago on Friday Durbin said, "Two weeks ago I paid $1.51 a gallon for gasoline in downstate Illinois. Clearly, the price of gasoline has gone down dramatically, as has the price of a barrel of oil -- which I think is below $30." "I think we're missing an opportunity here -- a 5-cent increase in the federal gas tax can really fund an infrastructure program that can help create new jobs in...

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, had the voice of a liberal and a libertarian when he wrote a piece for the Brennan Center for Justice in April that ripped the federal criminal justice system on three fronts -- "overcriminalization, harsh mandatory minimum sentences, and the demise of jury trials." "Draconian mandatory minimum sentences," he wrote, can produce sentences that far outweigh the crime, especially for "nonviolent drug offenders." The Ted Cruz who wrote that piece -- and co-sponsored the Smarter Sentencing Act of 2015 with Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Dick Durbin, D-Ill. -- may not be familiar to those following...

House Ways and Means Chairman Paul D. Ryan just got an unwelcomed endorsement for speaker. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters Tuesday that he hopes the Wisconsin Republican is selected by his colleagues to succeed retiring Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. “He appears to me to be one of the people over there that would be reasonable. I mean, look at some of the other people. I’m a Paul Ryan fan,” Reid said. “I don’t agree with him on much of what he does. I think what he’s done with Medicare and Medicaid, what he’s wanted to do...

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Tuesday that the United States should accept 100,000 Syrian refugees, far outpacing the number the administration said last week that it will accept. “What the administration has posed is modest: 10,000. Too modest,” the No. 2 Senate Democrat said. “As far as I am concerned, I believe we should be prepared to accept 100,000—100,000 Syrian refugees.” Durbin's remarks come after White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the United States will accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees during the 2016 fiscal year that starts next month. The senior Democrat’s comments echo those of 72 House...

14 US Senators tell Obama: Bring MORE Syrians to America (65,000 is a good number!) Posted by Ann Corcoran on May 22, 2015 Update May 24th: Be sure to see Leo Hohmann’s good article at World Net Daily on this newest push for a mass infusion of Syrians into the US. Also, on this Sunday morning is your church indirectly supporting the resettlement of 65,000 mostly Muslim Syrians to America? Click here. Urgent update! If your Senator is listed here, you really need to get the word out so that they get an earful from constituents! Breaking News: According to...

Many advocates for revamping immigration laws have tried to coax Congress into action over the years, but a particularly powerful one will be arriving next month: Pope Francis. Lawmakers and immigration activists expect the pontiff’s message will resonate beyond Capitol Hill and inspire members of Congress and their constituents. The pope's U.S. schedule includes an address to Congress on Sept. 24 and a meeting two days later with immigrants and Hispanic families at Philadelphia’s Independence Mall. “He’s been clear on our failure to respond appropriately to immigrants and refugees,” Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., told CQ. “I don’t think anyone will...