Free Republic

Dr. Amy Acton, the former state health director whose entry into the U.S. Senate race in Ohio had been highly anticipated, said Tuesday she will not run, after all. Acton, a Democrat, would have brought limited political experience to the race but strong name recognition gained from appearing alongside Republican Gov. Mike DeWine on widely watched virus briefings last year that aired daily online and on television. Acton, 55, did not address the reasons behind her decision in a statement. Rather, she used it to urge Ohioans play a role in the shape of the state’s and nation’s future, noting...

Are the editors of Politico Magazine even aware of what they have previously published? One has to ask that question since a mere six weeks ago, that periodical published an article by Jack Shafer mocking the the notion of Beto O'Rourke idolatry in the media called "Stop the Press Before It Profiles Beto O’Rourke Again." So what did Politico Magazine do on December 1? It hyped O'Rourke as another Lincoln. I kid you not. Before we dive into Beto as Abe idolatry, let us look at some excerpts from when Politico mocked such silly puffery provided by NewsBusters' Executive Editor, Tim...

... I run an exit polling survey project in Boyle County, Kentucky as part of a regular community-based learning component of our political science courses at Centre College. Our students have surveyed over 1,000 randomly-selected voters on their way out of the voting booths in every fall election since 2011. To examine these competing theories, I compared the results of the exit polls with the actual results in Boyle County in each of these recent elections. Central Kentucky is an especially appropriate place to test for such an effect given that the economic and demographic characteristics are favorable to a...

The reboot of Murphy Brown is getting old quick. It has become a boring, paint by numbers exercise in liberal vanity, with shots (both direct and veiled) at President Trump, Melania, the Trump Hotel, and, of course, Fox News. In the CBS show’s episode titled “The Girl Who Cried Wolf” airing October 25, Murphy Brown went to a frequent gag. Murphy (Candice Bergen) is forever in need of a new assistant and the show’s social media/tech guru comes up with a solution – an artificial intelligence one. Murphy is skeptical and then the techie, Pat (Nik Dodani), demonstrates by using...

Twitter allowed the hashtag #MAGABomber to trend on Wednesday following the discovery of explosive devices sent to former CIA director John Brennan, former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, among others. As of the writing of this story, #MAGABomber was the second most popular trending topic on the social media platform, prompting some to call on Twitter and its CEO Jack Dorsey to remove the hashtag, given no suspects have been named in the incidents. Former special forces operator and frequent Fox News guest Jim Hanson tweeted at Dorsey, “You have shut down plenty of trending...

Early voting nearly turned violent in Charlotte on Wednesday, when a Republican volunteer was confronted by a man who showed a gun at a Mecklenburg County polling place, police said. Derek Partee, who is black, said three white people angrily approached him at the Steele Creek polling place, which is southwest of Charlotte near Carowinds. Partee posted photos of the three on Facebook, including a photo in which one heavily tattooed man can be seen openly carrying a pistol in a hip holster. Partee said he called the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department and filed a report. In a news release late...

Elle magazine slammed for lying about Kim Kardashian, Kanye West breakup to promote voter registration Elle magazine came under fire Thursday for sending a false tweet to its 6.8 million followers claiming Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are “splitting up” — but the attached link directed readers to register to vote in the upcoming midterm elections. “Kim Kardashian and Kanye West are splitting up,” Elle’s verified account tweeted with emojis of a broken heart and panicked face. Stunned readers who clicked on the link for more details were directed to a “Register To Vote” page.

Representatives from thirteen states and Washington, D.C., are converging in Washington for a meeting about a possible antitrust lawsuit against top tech companies over alleged bias against conservatives, according to BuzzFeed News. BuzzFeed reported that the meeting is set to take place Tuesday at 10 a.m. between top Department of Justice officials and the attorneys general from Alabama, California, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, Tennessee, Utah and D.C. Representatives from Arkansas, Arizona, Missouri, Texas, and Washington state are also expected to attend, according to BuzzFeed. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who will attend with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, originally invited 24...

The conservative commentators who absolutely despise President Trump are in a box. During the campaign, many loudly proclaimed that they could never vote for Trump. But they said they didn't want Hillary Clinton to win either. So some opted for fringe candidates or third-party candidates or write-in candidates or told people to make up their own minds. This was something of a charade. Either Trump or Clinton was going to be the next president. So by refusing to back Trump, they were increasing the chances that Hillary would win. Now, with the midterms approaching, some of those on the right...

Not that this will come as a surprise, but it is entertaining to watch NBC’s John Heilemann gleefully explain how “we” have a great opportunity to bludgeon President Trump and the GOP with the faux crisis at the border. In a mere 47 seconds, he gives the game away on a couple of fronts:

The night before Shane Claiborne came to town to preach at a Christian revival, he received a letter from the chief of police at Liberty University warning that if he set foot on the property, he would be arrested for trespassing and face up to 12 months in jail and a $2,500 fine....to the leaders of Liberty, he was a menace to their campus. He and his national network of liberal evangelicals, called the Red Letter Christians, were holding a revival meeting to protest in Liberty’s backyard. Their target: Jerry Falwell Jr., Liberty’s president and a man who has played...

America’s Christian nationalists have a new plan for advancing their legislative goals in state capitols across the country. Its stated aim is to promote “religious freedom.” Not shy, they call it “Project Blitz.” “Blitz” accurately describes the spirit of the enterprise, but the mission has little to do with what most Americans would call religious freedom. This is just the latest attempt by religious extremists to use the coercive powers of government to secure a privileged position in society for their version of Christianity. The idea behind Project Blitz is to overwhelm state legislatures with bills based on centrally manufactured...

Might as well open a thread on this. This is going to be good.

Can Ted Cruz run for president if he was born in Canada? The Republican senator from Texas says he can. And just to be sure, he’s taking the extra step of renouncing the Canadian citizenship he says he didn’t even know he had. Cruz -- full name: Rafael Edward Cruz --was born in Canada in 1970 because his father was working for the oil industry there. The senator’s recently released birth certificate shows his mother was born in Delaware and his father was born in Cuba. The Cruz family left Canada a few years later. Cruz grew up in Texas...

The federal government is spending nearly $1 million to create an online database that will track “misinformation” and hate speech on Twitter. ... “This service could mitigate the diffusion of false and misleading ideas, detect hate speech and subversive propaganda [?], and assist in the preservation of open debate,” the grant said. ... “Truthy” claims to be non-partisan. However, the project’s lead investigator Filippo Menczer proclaims his support for numerous progressive advocacy groups, including President Barack Obama’s Organizing for Action, Moveon.org, Greenpeace, the Sierra Club, Amnesty International, and True Majority. ... The government-funded researchers hope that the public will use...

The Texas Republican Party would endorse psychological treatment that seeks to turn gay people straight under a new platform partly aimed at rebuking laws in California and New Jersey that ban so-called “reparative therapy” on minors. A push to include the new anti-gay language survived a key vote late Thursday in Fort Worth at the Texas Republican Convention where, across the street, tea party star U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz fired up attendees at a rally to defend marriage as between a man and a woman. Under the new proposed plank, the Texas GOP will “recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of...

CNN’s Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger argued on Tuesday that the “war on women” is actually tenable politics. At least, it is when Democrats are that war’s prosecutors. In a discussion regarding the uncovering of Oregon Republican U.S. Senate candidate Monica Wehby’s police records pertaining to past domestic disputes – records which were reportedly dug up by the state’s Democratic Party — Borger said that the Beaver State’s Democrats were merely playing smart politics. The surest way to make a female candidate toxic to persuadable voters, she said, is to portray that candidate as a basket case. “What do you...

Here is a selection of recent headlines: “Jon Stewart Destroys Megyn Kelly,” “Jon Stewart Destroys Fox News’ ‘Spite-Driven Anger Machine,’” “Jon Stewart Destroys What’s Left of Peggy Noonan’s Credibility,” “Jon Stewart Destroys Fox News Over Syria Coverage,” “Jon Stewart Destroys Glenn Beck’s Utopia,” “Jon Stewart Destroys Bill O’Reilly” — there are about 520,000 more — and, not to be missed, “Jon Stewart Destroys Chicago-Style Pizza.” The sound of terrors is in his ears at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central, and in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him. Mr. Stewart is the host of a fake news show, the genesis of...

Am I the only reader who talks to her newspaper? Who chokes on her steaming cup of café con leche and wonders out loud about fundamental issues of decency and fairness? Why, oh, why do we continue reading that Wendy Davis, a state senator who wants to be the first Democratic governor of Texas in 20 years, left her daughters, then 2 and 8, with her then-husband, Jeff Davis, while she pursued a law degree at Harvard University? Given that he is the father of one of those daughters and the stepfather of the other, it would make more sense...

Wendy Davis needs to remember one important thing: She is running for governor of Texas, and for now, her focus needs to be on the Democratic primary. Period. Which means she doesn’t have to answer to Rush Limbaugh or any other GOP commentator on the national stage. She is not vying for Rush’s vote, nor is she going to win over the kinds of Texas voters who listen regularly to Rush Limbaugh. So who cares what he thinks? Doubly so for Bristol Palin. The daughter of embarrassingly disastrous GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has zero political insights that are...