Free Republic

Sevierville — U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander said Thursday that even if Republicans retake the Senate this year, it “is going to be very divided. It’ll take a bipartisan coalition to pass anything.” Last year, Tennessee tea party and conservative groups criticized Alexander in an open letter, telling him that the country “can no longer afford bipartisanship and compromise.” “I learned to count in the Maryville city schools,” the Tennessee Republican said. “We have 45 Republicans, and it takes 60 senators to pass anything that’s important. So you have to work with people on the other side to get a result....

Despite major changes in public opinion in recent years, Rev. Franklin Graham, son of perhaps the most famous American preacher of all time, Billy Graham, reiterated his strong opposition to gay marriage and gay adoption today on ABC's "This Week." As a part of a special Easter week discussion on religion, Graham told ABC News' Martha Raddatz that gays could go to heaven if they repent.

Conservatives slammed the campaign to effectively end the Electoral College's role in presidential elections, saying that the National Popular Vote Compact circumvents the Constitution, saying it resembled President Barack Obama's abuse of the law through his extensive use of executive orders. "It is pretty startling," Bill Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard, told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV this week. "If they want to make the case for the popular election of presidents and a Constitutional amendment, they should make the case.

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) fought back against speculation that Democrats would lose seats in a midterm election that would be a referendum against President Obama, but she said each race must be run in a way that best benefits the candidate.Speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press," the Democratic National Committee chairman said Republicans are fighting among themselves, giving Democrats an opening to grab more seats."Republicans are mired in a civil war where the tea party has won, and they are consistently nominating the most extreme candidates," she said. "And we're on offense in states as well. So you've got...

Just when you think you know a state ... Hours after an outpouring of support for gay basketball player Derrick Gordon had sent a message that tolerance reigns in Massachusetts, John Ashcroft came to Amherst on Wednesday. The former attorney general of President George W. Bush spent his University of Massachusetts visit fending off hecklers who called him a hyprocrite and a war criminal among other things. I am not here to defend Ashcroft. I am here to dispute hypocrisy, a label that becomes attached to university communities such as UMass when freedom of speech and opinion is treated as...

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Florida Democrat, brushed off concerns Sunday over vulnerable Senate Democrats running against the Obama administration, saying that they “have to run their own race.”“What’s the case is that each of these candidates have to run their own race,” Ms. Wasserman Schultz said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “They have to talk about and focus on the issues that are important to their constituents.”By refusing to upbraid the candidates, at least publicly, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who serves as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, appeared to be giving leeway to Democrats in tight races to disagree publicly...

The GOP is making a bold play for a U.S. Senate seat in reliably Democratic Oregon, where a Republican hasn’t been elected to a statewide office in more than a decade. Republicans back in Washington think they’ve found the right candidate in Monica Wehby, a children’s brain surgeon who’s raised more than $1 million and put her early opposition to President Barack Obama’s health care law at the center of her campaign. […] Wehby faces four other Republicans, most notably state Rep. Jason Conger of Bend, a lawyer who’s promoting his conservative credentials and his experience representing a district that,...

Matt Rosendale's shoots down a drone in a Campaign Ad. Link..https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJBcBx1XFU4&feature=share

April 20, 2014 Is there an ethics investigation in Rep. Cummings’ future over IRS emails with Lerner? Grae Stafford VIDEO-Daily Caller's Ginni Thomas interviews True The Vote attorney Cleta MitchellCongressman Elijah Cummings, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, could be facing an ethics investigation if Cleta Mitchell has her way.Mitchell — a partner at Foley & Lardner and the legal counsel for True the Vote in its case against the IRS for its targeting of conservative groups — is pursuing Cummings over his conduct in the wider investigation.“[Cummings] announced within 30 days after the IRS...

File this under the early bird gets the worm. Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced this week that he plans to spend $50 million of his vast wealth to create a “gun safety” group that he hopes will “outmuscle” the NRA, according to The New York Times. But the new group, “Everytown for Gun Safety,” was a little too slow on the draw when it came to getting control of the group name on Facebook, with pro-gun activists acquiring the name first, BuzzFeed reported. A Facebook page has been set up under the same name as Bloomberg’s new...

Former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens said Sunday that politics should be a factor in justices’ decisions on when to step down from the nation’s highest bench. “It’s an appropriate thing to think about,” Mr. Stevens said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week.” “If you’re interested in the job and in the kind of work that’s done, you have to have an interest in who’s going to fill your shoes.” Some liberal experts have pressed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who at 81 is the oldest sitting justice on the court and has had health issues, to step down...

April 20, 2014, 11:51 am DNC head: Midterms not about Obama By Erik Wasson The midterm elections will not be a referendum on President Obama's performance in the White House, the Democratic National Committee chairwoman said Sunday. “No, absolutely not,” Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) told NBC's "Meet the Press." “These elections, particularly the Senate elections, are referendums on the candidates running.” NBC's David Gregory asked Wasserman Schultz if keeping the Senate and taking back the House are an uphill climb given the president's low poll numbers and the unpopularity of ObamaCare. Forty-nine percent of those polled in the most...

On a sunny weekday morning just east of downtown Los Angeles, a crowd of about 75 people rallied outside the LA County/USC Medical Center. They toted signs with slogans like “Healthcare is a Human Right” and “Salud Para Todos” (“Health for All”). “How can we say we live in a just and humane society,” said one speaker, “without providing for the sickest and most vulnerable among us?” Los Angeles, with its massive low-income population and largest concentration of immigrants anywhere in the country, may be the epicenter of the continuing uninsured crisis in America. Somewhere around one million county residents...

WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama is getting a number of critical report cards on his foreign and domestic policies lately. Here at home, Janet Yellen, in her first monetary policy address as the head of the Federal Reserve Board, said the labor markets were still weak, and that it will likely take two years or more before the U.S. fully recovers from its recession. Ouch. If Yellen's forecast proves right, this means it will have taken Obama's administration nearly eight years to lift our economy out of its long and painful lethargy.

The latest delay to a final decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline will reinforce a White House strategy to energize President Barack Obama's liberal-leaning base before fall elections in which Democrats risk losing control of the U.S. Senate. Environmentalists, worried about the project's effect on climate change, have put enormous pressure on the president to reject the pipeline from Canada's oil sands, staging demonstrations outside the White House and protests in states where he travels. A decision to approve it now could have prompted that vocal group, which was instrumental in electing Obama in 2008 and 2012, to sit...

An 18-year-old man and a 16-year-old boy were found dead of apparent gunshot wounds in a home in the South Chicago neighborhood in Saturday and Sunday shootings that left at least two other people dead and 13 more injured. The weekend toll for gun violence in the city includes at least 7 people dead and 22 wounded.

MOUNTAIN VIEW (KPIX 5) – While open enrollment for coverage under the Affordable Care Act is closed, many of the newly insured are finding they can’t find doctors, landing them into a state described as “medical homelessness.” Rotacare, a free clinic for the uninsured in Mountain View, is dealing with the problem firsthand. Mirella Nguyen works at the clinic said staffers dutifully helped uninsured clients sign up for Obamacare so they would no longer need the free clinic. But months later, the clinic’s former patients are coming back to the clinic begging for help. “They’re coming back to us now...

The One Word Democrats May Not Utter During the Campaign Posted By Rick Moran On April 19, 2014 @ 11:26 am In Politics | And it’s not “Obamacare.�As important as Obamacare is to the Republicans in the midterm elections, the economy still tops everyone’s list as the number one issue facing the country.Some Democratic political consultants are advising candidates to avoid using the term “recovery� when describing the economy — for obvious reasons. This Fox News poll from January shows that 74% of Americans still think we’re in a recession. Any Democrat uttering the word “recovery� is likely to...

U.S. car giant General Motors Corp (GM) (GM.N) plans to invest $12 billion in China from 2014 to 2017 and build more plants next year as it steps up its presence to compete with aggressive rivals in the world's largest auto market. GM plans to build five more plants in China next year, as part of its efforts to ramp up manufacturing capacity there by 65 percent by 2020, executives said on Sunday. The five plants will be in Wuhan, Chongqing, Jinqiao and Shenyang. Four of those will be vehicle assembly plants, while the fifth one will be an engine...

Tea Party activist and primary challenger J.D. Winteregg has sent out invitations to a surprise retirement party for John Boehner. The invites were sent out to “1,000 of John Boehner’s closes friends and D.C. political reporters.” It reads as follows: J.D. Winteregg represents the worst nightmare of Republicans in Congress. If any Republican tries to make a deal with a Democrat, their seats will be threatened by a primary challenge. The Tea Party Leadership Fund Political Action Committee has already spent over $300,000 supporting Winteregg over Boehner.

GREENSBORO — As the May 6 primary draws near, national attention is intensely focused on North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race — already one of the most expensive and hotly contested in the country. Eight Republicans are vying for the chance to take on Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat. Millions have been spent on ads by political groups from outside the state. Accusations, scandal-mongering and open political civil war have become the campaign’s daily routine. “That shouldn’t be too much of a surprise,” said Michael Bitzer, a professor of political science and history at Catawba College. “Kay Hagan is in...

WASHINGTON — A political action committee supporting Sen. Lindsey Graham’s re-election has significantly increased its budget with a handful of big donations, according to its latest public filing. The West Main Street Values PAC, which can accept checks of any size, raised $193,000 in the first three months of the year from seven donors. More than half came from a Denver-based home builder. The super PAC, run by former South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson, is allowed to spend money on Graham’s behalf but not coordinate with the candidate or his campaign. Graham, targeted by tea party conservatives, has...

Beginning in early 2011, state Sen. Leland Yee repeatedly solicited bribes to fund his San Francisco mayor and California secretary of state campaigns, according to the FBI agents who brought him down last month. But he appears to have devoted more time and energy to a far more lucrative pursuit: crafting or carrying legislation benefiting special interests who supply campaign contributions. It's a practice that's all too common in Sacramento, but Yee was a master. :snip: Yee introduced 20 bills from 2011 to 2014 that advanced a special interest over the public interest, according to this newspaper's review of his...

“Why we root for Chelsea Clinton” was the latest from the Washington Post’s new culture blogger Alyssa Rosenberg. “For those of us who were once curly-haired, awkward daughters, Chelsea Clinton’s arrival on the national stage at age 12 meant years of sympathetic wincing. The barbs directed her way landed on us by proxy,” including Rush Limbaugh’s old “family dog” joke. Youngsters might not realize that almost everyone in politics treated Chelsea with deference to her parents throughout the Clinton presidency, which ended when she was 20. The weirdest part is how Rosenberg can complain about Clinton opponents mocking Chelsea instead...

Earlier this month there was tremendous press attention to new data indicating that enrollment in the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s health insurance exchanges had surpassed 7 million. The White House took a victory lap while much of the press, desperate to write something positive after months of reporting on website glitches and insurance plan cancellations, characterized the milestone as good political news for ACA supporters. Our national discussion, however, is missing the truly significant story here; what is unfolding before our eyes is a colossal fiscal disaster, poised to haunt legislators and taxpayers for decades to come. It is quite...

AUSTIN — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis’ legal work for a taxpayer-funded tollway agency is part of a larger FBI-led investigation into the tollway group, according to a published report Friday. The Dallas Morning News used a freedom of information request to learn of the investigation, and then confirmed it with Elizabeth Winn, an assistant Travis County attorney. The FBI hasn’t responded to the newspaper’s request for comment. The investigation stems from a conflict of interest complaint filed in 2012 by former state Rep. Mark Shelton, a Republican who ran against Davis for her Fort Worth state senate seat. In...

It seems like only yesterday that the federal government assured us that none of its big public websites - and especially not HealthCare.gov, the ObamaCare exchange site - were at risk from the Heartbleed security flaw, which can allow hackers to steal passwords and personal data. Actually, those assurances came last Friday, April 11, in the form of a blog post from the Department of Homeland Security. "The government's core citizen-facing websites are not exposed to risks from this cybersecurity threat," we were assured by DHS National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center director Larry Zelvin, as quoted at Nextgov. One...

If Texas Tech University’s numbers are any indication, the race for Texas governor won’t be all that competitive. According to a poll released last week by Tech’s Earl Survey Research Lab, GOP gubernatorial candidate and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has about lapped Democratic candidate state Sen. Wendy Davis. Granted, there is a long way to go before the Nov. 4 election, but with 54 percent of respondents saying they would vote for Abbott — and only 25 percent backing Davis — the attorney general has reason for optimism, at least according to this poll. (And before Davis supporters contend...

Democrats have a problem and everyone knows it. President Obama calls it a “congenital disease.” If they can’t control it, Obama could spend the final years of his presidency battling not only a Republican House but also a Republican Senate. Democrats are banking on the belief that they can better identify potential supporters, motivate them and get them to the polls — in essence, reshape the midterm electorate to make it look more like the electorate in a presidential year. To try to do so, they will for the first time fully employ the sophisticated tools and techniques used in...

President Obama on Friday signed into law a bill authored by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz that would bar an Iranian diplomat from entering the United States, but immediately issued a statement saying he won't enforce it. Obama decided to treat the law as mere advice. "Acts of espionage and terrorism against the United States and our allies are unquestionably problems of the utmost gravity, and I share the Congress's concern that individuals who have engaged in such activity may use the cover of diplomacy to gain access to our Nation," Obama said in his signing statement. "Nevertheless, as President...

In five years, the tea party has launched some of the most charismatic and controversial Republicans in office today, including Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Who are the movement’s top candidates this cycle, and what are their prospects? Here’s a look: 1. Mississippi: Chris McDaniel vs. Thad Cochran In the early going, tea party-backed state Sen. Chris McDaniel was seen as the strongest challenger to a sitting US senator this cycle. He’s a young (early 40s), energetic trial lawyer and former talk radio host, with six years' service in the state legislature – and he...

Michelle Obama should not receive a salary as First Lady according to Laura Bush, who could definitely be said to be an expert on the subject. But these comments happen to stray into the political mine field of income inequality and the gender pay gap. In a related report by The Inquisitr, Michelle Obama’s school lunch portions have been criticized heavily by students who are actually forced to eat her school cafeteria plans. In recent times, Barack and Michelle Obama have spoken about their plans for ending income inequality in America. The White House also came under fire when it...

Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren believes that raising the minimum wage would result in fewer jobs for Americans. "So if your costs go up by X million by taking an initiative like this, what are companies going to do? It doesn’t mean their sales are going to get better, it just means that you’re going to have to offset that expense and how are you going to offset that expense?" Lundgren asked. "The worst thing that can happen is we end up laying off people." Lundgren said that he thinks that reducing the corporate tax rate could help create more jobs.

Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has endorsed businessman Curt Clawson with days to go in the Republican primary race to replace former Florida Rep. Trey Radel. Clawson’s announcement of the endorsement offered no statement from the retiring congresswoman, but the candidate heaped praise on Bachmann, the founder of the House Tea Party Caucus.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy “domestic terrorists” Thursday, turning up the rhetorical heat on the already tense situation at the Nevada cattle operation. “Those people who hold themselves out to be patriots are not. They’re nothing more than domestic terrorists,” Mr. Reid in remarks at a luncheon, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which sponsored the event. “… I repeat: What went on up there was domestic terrorism.” The Nevada Democrat was referring to the hundreds of Bundy backers — some armed, some from out of state — who congregated at the ranch last...

The Wall Street Journal reported last night that House Speaker John Boehner told donors at a fundraiser last month in Las Vegas that he was “hellbent on getting this done this year,” in reference to an amnesty/immigration bill. His spokesman did not dispute the account. In related news, President Obama is meeting with the National Commander of the American Legion this morning. Ordinarily, that would mean little, but the meeting comes just days after the Legion came out against a plan to amnesty illegal aliens who join the military. The number of people who would benefit from such an amnesty...

This story comes to us courtesy of The Right Scoop. (Which makes sense since I don’t watch any of the cable news evening lineup and haven’t seen Chris Hayes on the small screen in ages.) While people gathered at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in protest of the BLM’s handling of affairs there, the protesters were joined by Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore. This prompted MSNBC host Hayes to interview her, and the Scoop captures the video for us. Let’s just say that Fiore wasn’t about to have the conversation steered to any Left side talking points.(VIDEO-AT-LINK) Hayes tries his very best to...

There's a reason why overwhelming evidence hasn't spurred public action against global warming. In the run-up to Earth Day this year, two major reports were released by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the largest such body in the world. On March 31, Working Group II released its report, Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, and on April 13, Working Group III released its report, Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change. Both reports cited substantially more evidence of substantially more global warming and related impacts than past reports have, and they did so more lucidly than in...

Among AA adherents (and even nonbelievers), it is acknowledged and grimly understood that “there are such unfortunates” who will not achieve sobriety – and who, because of the chronic and progressive nature of the disease, will die. “They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way,” the Big Book says. One of those unfortunates it seems was state Rep. Steve Smith, R-Mound, who served his district and the state for 21 years running – the longest tenure of any House Republican at the time. Though a cause of death has not yet been released, Smith’s son,...

When Franklin D. Roosevelt established Social Security, he created generations of loyal Democrats. When Lyndon B. Johnson signed Medicare into law, he built on that legacy, particularly with older Americans. And when George W. Bush instituted a new prescription drug benefit for Medicare, it helped reclaim elderly voters for Republicans. But President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, the $1.4 trillion effort to extend health insurance to all Americans, is challenging the traditional calculus about government benefits and political impact. Even as Mr. Obama announced that eight million Americans had enrolled in the program and urged Democrats to embrace the law, those...

To win the Senate, Republicans must win North Carolina. While it’s mathematically possible to take the Senate without ousting Democratic senator Kay Hagan, the chances of that happening are close to zero. For Republicans, North Carolina is necessary. It’s the key to control of the Senate. Obama Hagan It’s number six on my list. That is, there are five states where capturing Democratic seats appears more likely—West Virginia, South Dakota, Montana, Louisiana, Arkansas. Then comes North Carolina. Assuming Republicans don’t lose any of their own seats, those six pickups would give Republicans a 51-49 majority. And with it, the political...

ALBANY - People dressed in hazmat suits gathered at the state Capitol in Albany Tuesday. But they were not part of an emergency cleanup. They were protesting the increase in crude oil being transported through the Port of Albany by railroad tankers from North Dakota and Canada. The oil is loaded onto barges and hauled to production facilities downstate. Speakers called on Governor Cuomo to say no to big oil and hold them responsible in case of a big spill. The protest was originally planned for in front of the governor's mansion. But it was moved indoors because of the...

Dressed in the camouflage uniform of an Army colonel, the firebrand leader of Russia's nationalist Liberal Democratic Party on Tuesday accused the United States of stirring up belligerent sentiments in Kiev. The protest movement on Kiev's Independence Square "was set up by the United States … so that Europe would smell the gunpowder," party leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky told the lower house of parliament, state news wire RIA Novosti reported. Zhirinovsky added that as soon as people started dying in central Kiev, the U.S. and the European Union began conducting closed-door meetings about how to divvy up Europe, the report said. He made the comments during a discussion of Ukraine's military preparations to quell pro-Russia riots in that country's east. He said the interim government in Kiev...

Poland will breathe a little easier because at the very least, American troops in Poland will be an effective trip wire and hedge against Russia making a move to reclaim the former Warsaw Pact country. Washington Post: Poland and the United States will announce next week the deployment of U.S. ground forces to Poland as part of an expansion of NATO presence in Central and Eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. That was the word from Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, who visited The Post Friday after meeting with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon on Thursday....

When it comes to the politics of Obamacare, there's really only one question that matters: How many Americans are benefiting from the new health care system, and how many are hurting? Problem is, we know more about the first part of the question than the second. Obamacare's advocates have pushed hard against Republican attempts to highlight Americans who have been particularly hard hit by the new law. "There's plenty of horror stories being told," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in February. "All of them are untrue." Those advocates have hit back so hard that it appears they are trying...

Hillary Clinton may end up deciding that she wants to spend the 935 days until Election 2016 making corporate speeches and spoiling her grandchild. Recent events have exposed weaknesses in Clinton’s supposedly impregnable armor, gaps through which a Democratic or Republican challenger could damage, perhaps even defeat her. The bad headlines to which she has been subjected are enough to make anyone — anyone who isn’t a Clinton — think twice about running for president. Look at the polls. This week’s Fox News poll has Clinton’s favorable rating at its lowest point in six years. She is at 49 percent...

Japan began its first military expansion at the western end of its island chain in more than 40 years on Saturday, breaking ground on a radar station on a tropical island off Taiwan. The move risks angering China, locked in a dispute with Japan over nearby islands which they both claim. Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, who attended a ceremony on Yonaguni island to mark the start of construction, suggested the military presence could be enlarged to other islands in the seas southwest of Japan's main islands. "This is the first deployment since the U.S. returned Okinawa (1972) and calls...

Rep. Don Young took aim at a frequent target on Friday, blasting federal regulatory sprawl that he said endangered economic growth and the Alaskan way of life. Young spoke during a luncheon with the Associated General Contractors of Alaska in Fairbanks, and directed most of his fiery comments toward the growing profile of federal agencies. He said they’ve passed 13,883 new regulations in the past four years, compared to 628 new bills that made it through Congress. “We’re no longer a free nation,” Young said. “We’re a nation of regulatory law.” ... Young said President Obama’s philosophies aim to make...

As I watched Tuesday while the anchors on “Fox & Friends” leveled unsubstantiated charges against Rep. Elijah Cummings as if they were facts, I couldn’t help thinking how much more dangerous Sen. Joe McCarthy might have been in the 1950s if there had been a show like this to amplify his reckless allegations. The Fox News morning show was playing one of cable talk’s dirtier games, and the longtime Democratic congressman from Baltimore was its target for his role in the House IRS probe. The lightweight, smiley morning crew — Steve Doocy, Brian Kilmeade and Elisabeth Hasselbeck — were saying...

We are all miserably accustomed to being informed that our rights must be curtailed because the Founders “couldn’t have imagined” the way in which they would eventually be exercised. “Well, sure it made sense to have an armed population back when the people only had muskets,” this argument tends to go. “But now that four-year-old children can buy semi-automatic nuclear death-rays with their Happy Meals, it’s just anachronistic.”