Free Republic

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi offered a searing response Wednesday when asked about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s nascent presidential campaign — as the mayor stood nearby. “I always say when somebody is serious about running, I’ll be serious about commenting on it,” she said. “Well handled,” responded the mayor, trying to play down the slap.

LANSING, Michigan, March 15, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Michigan’s lesbian attorney general and the state’s Department of Civil Rights director are investigating organizations the left-wing Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has deemed “hate groups.” One such group in their state is Catholic news service Church Militant, which reports on clerical sexual misdeeds and advocates adherence to the teachings of the Catholic Church. The SPLC has labeled Church Militant “anti-LGBT.” The law center lumps pro-life, pro-marriage, and Christian organizations in with neo-Nazis and the KKK as “hate groups.” Its “hate map” inspired a man to attempt a shooting rampage at the Family...

Seattle Is Dying. It's a harsh title. Someone on social media even called it a "hopeless" title. I'll admit to you that I wrestled with the name for some time. Too dramatic, I wondered? Too dark? In the end I went with it because I believe it to be true. I believe that Seattle is dying. Rotting from within.

The Afternoon Campaign Update (Because The Campaign Never Ends) By now, most of you have heard that, in her town hall event on the Collaboration News Network (CNN), Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren endorsed the idea of completely eliminating the Electoral College, because of course she did. “Every vote matters and the way we can make that happen is that we can have national voting, and that means get rid of the Electoral College,” Warren told the audience, “I believe we need a constitutional amendment that protects the right to vote for every American citizen and makes sure that vote gets...

resident Donald Trump’s proposed federal budget for 2020 aims to cut all funding for PBS and NPR, along with the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The president’s request, unveiled in its entirety on Monday, calls on Congress to kill $435 million in funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and $126 million from the NEA. The budget, which will spend $4.7 trillion on mandatory and discretionary programs, would leave just enough money to wind down operations of the CPB and NEA.

<p>EBENSBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Pennsylvania pediatrician was sentenced to at least 79 years in prison on Monday for the sexual assault of 31 children, most of them patients, in a case that state medical regulators failed to act on nearly two decades ago.</p>

Mayor Bill de Blasio’s ongoing tease of a presidential run didn’t exactly pull in the crowds during a campaign-esque event in the Granite State. Only 20 people showed up Sunday to hear the leader of America’s largest city hold a roundtable on mental health — including the 14 people on the panel and just six in the audience. There were also about six reporters on hand to make the room at the Sugar River Valley Regional Technical Center look a bit less empty.

I was wondering, when was it that liberals become society’s conscience, particularly in the United States? I have become acutely aware that liberals try to make me feel acutely guilty of not believing in their madness. It is unrelenting and it is completely ruining the kids. What exactly is so right about gay marriage and transgenderism? I don’t see it. Where is the proof or even the scientific logic of global warming? It’s nowhere and the requisite guilt for the end of the world is supposed to be what I deserve. The world has truly gone mad.

Ireland will take back extremists who have travelled to fight with terrorist groups like Isil, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said. While he indicated each case would have to be considered on its own merits, Mr Varadkar said this country shouldn’t expect our citizens “to be somebody else’s problem”. An estimated half-dozen Irish passport holders are believed to be still operating on behalf of Islamic State (Isil) in Syria.

But Dixon was guilty of a very bizarre comment himself involving St. Patrick's Day. The tweet from 2012 sprang back into prominence on Sunday because of the "Hamilton" furor with many commentators claiming it refers to blacks raping drunken girls on St. Patrick’s Day.

Senate Republicans will bring the Green New Deal resolution to the floor as they try to jam Democrats on the progressive proposal. **SNIP** McConnell blasted the progressive proposal from the Senate floor earlier Wednesday, calling it an example of "garden-variety 20th-century socialism." "Our Democratic colleagues have taken all the debunked philosophies of the last hundred years, rolled them into one giant package, and thrown a little green paint on them to make them look new. But there’s nothing remotely new about a proposal to centralize control over the economy and raise taxes on the American people to pay for it,"...

Yesterday, Beto (Robert) O'Rourke announced his candidacy for the presidency. Only six months ago, he said he would not run. Increasing the field by another white heterosexual will help dilute the already crowded field. Hopefully, many more Democrats will choose to run soon. Maybe the next will be former Vice President Biden. Here is the benefit of Beto's announcement. Beto is the new rock star on the left. He cannot stake a moderate position, as he has already supported the usual extreme positions that most of his opponents have previously enumerated. But his most ardent followers are younger and highly...

At the very least, the Beto O'Rourke candidacy for president is certain to be the inspiration for a lot of humor.  Abe Greenwald of Commentary magazine already labeled him as the Seinfeld candidate and that it is a "Campaign About Nothing, Not that there's anything wrong with that."  No, nothing wrong with that as long as Beto doesn't  turn into a demagogue. The good news is that Jack Shafer, the Politico senior media writer, assures us that is unlikely. The reason, Shafer asserted on Thursday, is that O'Rourke is probably what he calls a "semigogue" in "The Semigoguery of Beto O’Rourke." 

Beto O’Rourke apologized Friday night for writings the former Texas representative made as a teenager describing fantasies about running over children with a vehicle. “I’m mortified to read it now, incredibly embarrassed, but I have to take ownership of my words,” the Democratic presidential candidate said during a taping of the “Political Party Live” podcast in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. “Whatever my intention was as a teenager doesn’t matter, I have to look long and hard at my actions, at the language I have used, and I have to constantly try to do better.” His comments come after a report Friday...

If ever a single day of fundraising could make or break a candidate’s campaign, it’s this guy this year against this field.Team Beto knew it too. On Thursday morning, when he formally announced his candidacy, his campaign sent an email to supporters declaring, “What we raise in the first 24 hours will set the tone in the national conversation about the viability of our campaign.” That’s correct. If anything could instantly erase doubts about O’Rourke’s viability, a bombshell first-day number could. “The Senate campaign wasn’t a fluke,” people would say. “Those donors didn’t shower him with cash because they...

‘Wax My Ass, Scrub My Balls’ --- This Beto O’Rourke Poem Is Beyond Belief Beto O’Rourke’s recently unearthed membership in the hacking group “Cult of the Dead Cow” may not have included the “edgiest sorts of hacking activity,” but it did, apparently, include writing murder fantasies and exceptionally bad poetry. Writing under the now-exposed pseudonym “Psychedelic Warlord,” a teen-aged O’Rourke appears to be the author of a poem titled “The Song of the Cow,” published in 1988 by “cDc (Cult of the Dead Cow) communications.” “I need a butt-shine,” the poem begins … and it really all just goes downhill...

Beto O'Rourke acknowledges 'privileges' afforded to him because of race and gender On an Iowa presidential campaign swing, O'Rourke praised the diversity of the large Democratic field. March 17, 2019, 9:41 AM EDT By Ben Kamisar WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke said that he’s been afforded “privileges” in his life because of his race and gender but insisted that his presidential bid can be used as a way to level the playing field for all Americans. “As a white man who has had privileges that others could not depend on, or take for granted, I've clearly had advantages over...

The Democrats now have their rock star in the ever-growing presidential race. On Thursday, Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke officially launched his bid for the presidency. Beto is hoping to capitalize on the excitement that surrounded his losing U.S. Senate race last year in Texas. Despite a massive haul of $80 million, O’Rourke was defeated by incumbent U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). During his online announcement speech, O’Rourke warned that the United States faces “maximum peril,” but the nation remains the "the last great hope of Earth." At a speech in Iowa, O’Rourke warned that "not to be dramatic, but literally,...

VIDEO: Friday Follies on The Ingraham Angle. Watch Raymond unpack Beto's hand jive. - Hilarious! “What do Beto O'Rouke's hand gestures tell us about him?”

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand officially entered the ever-growing pool of Democratic presidential hopefuls Sunday, ending the two-month-long exploratory phase of her campaign saying she’s running for the White House to make “big, bold, brave choices.” “Our anthem asks a question, forcing every generation to make a choice,” Gillibrand says in a video released Sunday morning. “Will brave win? Let’s answer for ours." **SNIP** After Sunday’s video announcement, Gillibrand heads to Michigan on Monday for an MSNBC town hall with Chris Hayes; to Iowa on Tuesday and Wednesday; and to Nevada on Thursday. She’ll then cap off...