Free Republic

Like many Americans, I find it distressing to see multi-millionaire athletes kneeling during the playing of our national anthem before professional football games. In my lifetime, football has been a big part of our image as Americans. In my working-class Cleveland, Ohio family, Sunday football was always a big event. One of my cousins was married to Lenny Dawson who would become a Hall of Fame quarterback. It was a rare Sunday during football season when we weren’t gathered around our TV or radio for the Cleveland Browns or the Kansas City Chiefs game (both if possible). As we watched...

The removal and demotion of a handful of veteran operatives stood out, as did what critics charge is the over-representation of Clinton-backed members on the Rules and Bylaws Committee, which helps set the terms for the party's presidential primary, though other Sanders and Ellison backers remain represented. Those who have been pushed out include: Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic chairman and longtime DNC official who ran against Perez for chair before backing Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., lost his spots on the Executive Committee and DNC Rules Committee; James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute and prominent Sanders...

That great political genius Chris Cillizza of CNN has made a prediction that appears to spell doom for Republicans in the 2018 congressional elections. Okay, perhaps Cillizza did hilariously flop on his prediction of Donald Trump having near zero chance winning the presidency but this time he is armed with polls. Lots of polls to back up his contention that Here's why Republicans are in deep trouble in 2018:

The Heritage Foundation added another round of cases this week to its ever-growing Voter Fraud Database.Accounting for these new additions, the database now documents 1,088 proven instances of election fraud, including 949 cases that have resulted in criminal convictions, 48 that have ended in civil penalties, and 75 that have seen defendants enter diversion programs.Americans should be alarmed, not only because Heritage has compiled so many examples of fraud—impacting nearly every state and elections for all levels of government—but because this figure is likely just the tip of the iceberg.The Heritage database is not a comprehensive tally of election fraud....

We’re three weeks out from Virginia’s gubernatorial race and it’s been mostly relegated to the backburner thanks to the endless news that emanates from the Trump White House. It’s an off-year election, but it’s in D.C.'s backyard. The state has increasingly become more bluish since the Bush years, albeit the state legislature is Republican. The House of Delegates, the lower chamber, is reliably Republican where they hold a supermajority. The state Senate is more competitive. Anti-gun groups under the Bloomberg umbrella tried and failed to flip the Senate in 2015. Those groups are mounting a second invasion of the state...

While President Trump’s frequent claims of fake news are often mocked by the media, a recent Politico/Morning Consult poll shows that almost half of U.S. voters, 46 percent, agree that the media literally makes up news stories about Trump and the Trump administration.Only 37 percent of voters think the media does not make up stories about Trump and 17 percent were undecided on the issue.A large majority of Republican voters, 76 percent, think the media fabricates stories about Trump, while only 11 percent of Republicans don’t think so. Even 20 percent of Democrats agree that the media makes up stories...

RICHMOND — The man who rallied Southwest Virginia to vote for Donald Trump last year quit Republican Ed Gillespie’s gubernatorial campaign this week, offended by a personal snub and exasperated by the campaign’s highly cautious stance toward the president, according to three Republicans familiar with his decision.

Just half of Massachusetts students in grades three through eight met or exceeded expectations on the new "next generation MCAS test" in math and English — the first time the test has been administered. Massachusetts education officials released the spring 2017 test results on Wednesday. Educators were quick to caution against making direct comparisons between a student's performance on the new test and the original, nearly 20-year-old, MCAS. Scoring for the new test falls into four categories: Exceeding Expectations, Meeting Expectations, Partially Meeting Expectations and Not Meeting Expectations. As a result, some students who scored "proficient" on last year's MCAS...

Frustrated with Republican incumbents’ inability to pass any significant legislation, the Republican donor class started meeting with Breitbart News Executive Chairman and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon over his plan to primary establishment Republicans. Former White House chief strategist and Breitbart News executive chairman Steve Bannon met with notable Republican donors, many whom remain frustrated by the Republican establishment’s inability to pass significant legislation such as repealing and replacing Obamacare, tax reform, and funding a southern border wall. The Republican donor class will consider backing Bannon’s campaign to challenge Senate Republican incumbents in the war against Senate Majority Leader...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said during a Senate hearing Wednesday that the errors former FBI director James Comey made in the Hillary Clinton case are still not “fully understood.” Sessions justified the firing of Director Comey during his testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and asserted that the errors Comey made in the Clinton case were far more devastating than people realize. “Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein, I don’t think it’s been fully understood the significance of the error that Mr. Comey made on the Clinton matter,” Sessions said. “I don’t think I’ve heard of a situation in which a...

She was put on administrative leave in September, shortly after a video of her request that two students wearing “Make America Great Again” T-shirts turn them inside out, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. She said she was motivated to ask the students to remove the slogan because it had been used by neo nazis during the violent Charlottesville rally. Orletsky released a statement Wednesday, saying she is fearful for her life. “After attacks on my character and threats on my life, I have made the decision to resign from my teaching position at River Ridge High School,” Orletsky said. “While...

Apple banned a pro-life mobile application after abortion supporters complained, even though the app was approved and previously offered on its App Store. Human Coalition (HC) created a mobile app that sends prayer alerts to intercessors and church groups. “Human Coalition’s prayer app is a platform where pro-life advocates can gather together in prayer for abortion-determined women and their children and families,” HC’s public relations director Lauren Enriquez told LifeSiteNews. “Our supporters have found the app helpful in their mission to extend all forms of support, including prayer support, to the women and children we serve and rescue.” The app,...

The Republican National Committee broke a fundraising record and raised more than $100 million during the first nine months of 2017, fueled by small-dollar donors at the center of a grassroots movement.In a statement released by RNC Chairman Ronna McDaniel, the "record-breaking fundraising has been fueled by grassroots enthusiasm for President Trump and the Republican Party," McClatchy reported.The accomplishment marked the first time the RNC raised that amount, that fast, in a non-presidential election year. September's $10.4 million give the RNC $44.1 million in the bank with a total of $104.4 million raised this year.Across the aisle, the Democratic National Committee had raised...

As many Democrats weaponize Gold Star families against the GOP, mainstream media outlets now seem to be approaching the families of dead soldiers one by one in an attempt to find the next controversy surrounding President Trump.   Earlier this week, Trump said former President Obama and past presidents didn’t always call the families of soldiers who died while serving the country during a Rose Garden press conference. “The traditional way, if you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls, a lot of them didn’t make calls,” Trump said. “I like to call when...

**SNIP**Eric Holder was the Attorney General when the FBI began uncovering the Russian corruption scheme in 2009. Since the FBI reports to him, he surely knew what the bureau had uncovered. What’s more, Holder was a member of the “Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States” which approved the uranium sale to the Russians in 2010. Since the vote was unanimous, it appears Holder knowingly and deliberately countenanced a deal that was based on illegal activities and which gave Moscow control of more than 20 percent of America’s uranium assets. It gets worse. Robert Mueller was the FBI Director...

Oh My: Why Did Virginia Dems Eliminate Their Black Lt. Governor Nominee From Campaign Mailers? We wrote about the Virginia gubernatorial race yesterday, and that contest has since generated additional attention for two reasons.  We'll get to the second one below, but first, please review this 'before and after' shot of Democratic campaign mailers and see you if you can spot the difference.  It's, uh, not subtle:

Barack Obama’s daughter, Malia Obama, may have interned for Harvey Weinstein’s company, but don’t worry — he didn’t do anything inappropriate with her, according to multiple sources. Former first daughter Malia Obama, 19, completed an internship last summer at Harvey Weinstein‘s company when she was 18, but the film producer was on his “best behavior” around her, multiple sources told Page Six TV. The media outlet also spoke with Harvey on Oct. 10 and although Barack Obama and Michelle Obama issued a statement saying they are “disgusted” with the recent sexual harassment allegations against him, Harvey refused to comment. However,...

Virginia, the Mother of presidents, the Tidewater Miracle which helped birth a nation conceived in liberty, could be turning into another third-world hell-hole. The state went blue in 2008 because of disgust with George W. Bush. Then this red state went Democratic for two more election cycles, especially when other blue states, which had flipped for Obama, then flipped back to Trump—that’s bad news for Virginia and the country.I have written about my experience in the Old Dominion last month. Recognizing that an intense race for governor is taking place right now, I feel compelled to speak out on the...

The 25th Amendment was not designed for a situation such as this one. The Never Trumpers seem to have retreated, more or less in unison, to the last trench before they throw down their arms and run backwards for their lives: They are now invoking the 25th Amendment. This indicates that they realize the impeachment movement has failed. There is no evidence to impeach, and various unctuous congressional-committee poseurs have acknowledged that they are reduced to the Steele dossier. That source was not respectable enough to make the press in months of circulation and even Bob Woodward, who didn’t hesitate...

The 25th Amendment is the ultimate constitutional "check" — a corrective mechanism for an American president who is physically or psychologically unable to lead. Most important, it grants legal authority to those closest to power — first, the vice president and Cabinet members, then members of Congress — to stage an intervention. At the very least, these individuals are authorized to call a temporary timeout if the president is judged unfit to govern. Is America today in need of such an unprecedented intervention? Pundits and politicians alike have called for the amendment’s implementation over the past few months. But it...