Free Republic

Washington, D.C. - Congressman Charles B. Rangel introduced, H.J. Res 103, a bill today that would allow Congress to vote to eliminate the Electoral College system and decide future presidential elections by the outcome of the popular vote. This legislation is the House companion bill to S.J.Res.41, introduced by Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) on November 15, 2016. “I came to Congress on the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, and I know how hard we fought for the sacred right to vote,” said Rangel. “To protect it, everyone should have access to the vote, and every vote must count. The...

COLUMBIA -- President-elect Donald Trump is picking South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to become his U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, The Post and Courier has learned. The move, expected Wednesday, continues the steep political rise of the daughter of Indian immigrants that started six years ago when the Bamberg native was elected as South Carolina’s first female and minority governor. The planned nomination to the cabinet-level post, confirmed by multiple sources with knowledge of the decision, is likely to raise questions about Haley’s qualifications for a major foreign policy role since she has little diplomatic experience as state lawmaker...

President-elect Donald Trump said Tuesday he may tap his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to help broker a peace agreement between the Israelis and Palestinians. Trump told a group of New York Times journalists that Kushner likely wouldn't take a formal role in possible Middle East peace talks, but could nonetheless serve as a player....

On the list of surprising visitors calling on president-elect Donald Trump last week, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas ranks right up there with alleged Secretary of State candidate Mitt Romney. While Romney who called Trump a “phony” and talked openly about derailing his candidacy during the campaign had an actual job attached to the meeting with his former nemesis on Saturday, Cruz’s visit was billed as more of a drop-by. It’s true that after the name-calling between Cruz and Trump (who tagged him “Lyin’ Ted’) during the primary campaign; after Trump’s derogatory comments about Cruz’s wife; after Trump’s suggestion that...

The rude ambush of Vice-President elect Mike Pence by a cast member of the Broadway Musical, “Hamilton”, has outraged a large cross-section of the American citizenry. The actor expressed alarm and anxiety that the Trump-Pence Administration will not protect and defend “a diverse group of men and women of different colors, creeds and orientations”, and uphold their inalienable rights. The liberal left likes to preach that there should be a “conversation” between both sides to settle our differences. But when a cheap shot is taken in a venue where a response is not practicable, THAT AIN’T CONVERSATION, BUDDY, THAT’S “BULLYING”....

Christie says he doesn't pay attention to credit ratings, but maybe he should have. They've been trying to tell him (and other states) something. Since Gov. Chris Christie took office in 2010, New Jersey has seen its credit downgraded 10 times by the "big three" credit rating agencies. Seriously, though, the state's pension systems are a total mess. When Christie came into office in 2010, New Jersey was facing a $54 billion funding shortfall to pay for current and future retirees. He immediately set about tackling the problem—to his credit—and in 2011 the state passed a pension fund rescue plan...

President Donald Trump. It's fair to say pollsters, political commentators and experts on both sides of the Atlantic didn't believe they would ever see that. And neither did I. If you listened to us all on the airwaves it was clear that most believed common sense would prevail and prevent someone so polarising and unpredictable being elected to the most powerful office in the world. But there was one expert in a TV studio that, if it had had a voice, would have been saying something like "I told you so". EagleAi was designed and built by Havas for ITV...

CSPAN pool feed from the lobby of Trump Tower with sporadic interviews and comments from Trump staff and visitors. Replays of specific comments may be available on the CSPAN site.

ARD/SPIEGEL: Mr. President, Donald Trump won the election, revealing massive discontent and rifts within American society. Did the amount of anger actually surprise you? Obama: I think it's important not to overstate what happened. The truth is that America has been closely divided politically for quite some time. That was reflected in some of the challenges I had with the Republican Congress. What was unusual in this election is that my approval in the United States is as high as it has been since I was elected. And the economy is going relatively well. I think what is true is...

Most Democrats want their party leaders to stand up to incoming President Donald Trump rather than work with him, says a new survey that reflects a deeply divided nation. Nearly two-thirds – or 65 percent – of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters agreed that congressional Democrats should “stand up” to the president-elect on issues important to Democratic supporters, “even if it means less gets done in Washington,” the Pew Research Center poll found. Just 32 percent want party leaders, who are now in the minority in the House of Representatives and Senate, to work with Trump if it means disappointing Democrats....

Good evening, I’m still reporting on Trump Brings the Strongest Republican Party in History! Good afternoon, I’m still reporting on Trump. Newt Gingrich’s assessment of Donald Trump’s coattails is that Trump brings the strongest Republican party ever to Washington. [insert] However, Gingrich says he does not want to join the administration: [insert] I’m still reporting from Washington. Good day. Bill Still is a former newspaper editor and publisher. He has written for USA Today, The Saturday Evening Post, the Los Angeles Times Syndicate, OMNI magazine, and has also produced the syndicated radio program, Health News. He has written 22 books...

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he wants President-elect Trump to select a "mainstream" candidate to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Asked by NBC on Sunday whether he was comfortable filibustering any Trump nominee for the court, Schumer dodged answering the question directly. "I hope that President Trump picks a mainstream candidate," Schumer said. "A mainstream candidate is somebody you may not agree with on every issue, but basically believes in precedent." NBC's Chuck Todd interrupted Schumer and asked, "What does that mean? Can he nominate somebody in your mind...

If Republicans could merge the two approaches, they could continue to win demographically changing swing states. Two of the most consequential elections of 2016 took place among the same voters in the same state. Pennsylvania effectively put Donald Trump over the top of the 270 electoral-college votes needed to win the presidency, and Pat Toomey’s reelection helped secure a Republican majority in the U.S. Senate for at least another two years. Both of these results were remarkable. Trump succeeded in a state where Bob Dole, George W. Bush (twice), John McCain, and Mitt Romney all failed. Toomey won a second...

It’s contrary to the laws of nature for a tabloid writer to tell the gentry media not to go berserk. It’s like a cat telling his owner to stop coughing up hairballs or Iron Man asking Captain America to be less arrogant. Here at The Post, our mission statement does not include understatement. We provide journalistic Red Bull, not Sominex. Nevertheless, a word of neighborly advice to our more genteel media friends, the ones who sit at the high table in their pristine white dinner jackets and ball gowns. You’ve been barfing all over yourselves for a week and a...

Former Senator, Democratic candidate for president and Secretary of the Navy under President Reagan, Jim Webb, says that in recent years the Democratic Party has grown more and more hostile towards the white working class. In this interview with FNC's Tucker Carlson, Webb says that, "in the last eight years, the Democratic Party has moved into interest group politics and in many cases white working people have become the whipping post." JIM WEBB: The base of the Democratic party used to be working people, regardless of race, ethnic, or ethnic identity, sexual orientation, et cetera. That was a Roosevelt agenda....

BOISE, Idaho (AP) - Grassroots campaigns have sprung up around the country to try to persuade members of the Electoral College to do something that has never been done in American history - deny the presidency to the clear Election Day winner. Activists are circulating online petitions and using social media in hopes of influencing Republican electors to cast their ballots for someone other than President-elect Donald Trump and deprive him of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to become the next occupant of the White House. "Yes, I think it's a longshot, but I also think we're living in...

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray has been elected by the Democratic caucus to serve as assistant Democratic leader, the third-ranking position in Senate Democratic leadership. Murray, a Democrat from Seattle, was elected Wednesday. In this post, Murray will work with Sen. Chuck Schumer, Democratic leader, to shape the Democratic agenda and strategy, and will play a critical role in implementing it on and off the Senate floor with the rest of the leadership team and caucus. Murray has served as the conference secretary, the fourth-ranking position, since 2006. “We have a tough road ahead of us with Republicans in control of...

A senior adviser to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has come under fire after posting a photo on Facebook that included his sister holding up a sign that said "F--- Whiteness," The New York Daily News reported Thursday. Lincoln Restler posted a photo earlier this week of his parents and sister. His father held a sign that said "Black + Brown + Immigrant Lives Matter," and his mother held a sign that said "Love." His sister's was more profane. Restler said he took the photo when he and his mother "took to the streets to stand in solidarity...

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan hasn’t decided whether he will challenge Nancy Pelosi as House Democrats’ leader, but he said in an interview Wednesday night that if someone were to make such a move, it would have to come in the next 24 hours. That would mean he’d have to make a decision to take on the powerful, longtime leader by Thursday. “Somebody’s got to make a decision, I would think, in the next 24 hours or so if they want to have a realistic shot at winning,” Ryan told RealClearPolitics. There have been consistent rumblings among some House Democrats since...

We’re finally done with Election 2016 and to almost everyone’s surprise the new President-elect does not wear a pantsuit. How did Donald Trump pull off the biggest political upset in modern history? Does anyone really know for sure why and how it happened and how nobody saw it coming? Here are the reasons in my opinion, anyway, in no particular order. The email scandal that continued to dog Hillary finally bit her in the ass completely when FBI director James Comey found the Weiner-grams that linked back to her and her lack of good judgment. Comey ultimately wussed out on...