Free Republic

<p>If the tax reform proposal passed by the House of Representatives last week becomes law, 95% of current donors to nonprofit organizations, churches, and colleges will no longer be able to claim a tax deduction for their contribution. The bill passed by the House increases the standard deduction for individuals and families and will drastically reduce the number of tax filers who itemize.</p>

GOP Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby said on Monday that he did not vote for Republican nominee Roy Moore in the state's Senate special election. "No, no, no, I voted absentee. I didn't vote for him. I voted for a distinguished Republican write-in," Shelby told reporters when asked if he would vote for Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women.

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) on Sunday urged Republicans not to succumb to “political tribalism” in backing embattled Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R). “After what we know, for Republicans to support Roy Moore over Doug Jones is political tribalism at its worst," Flake tweeted. Moore is under pressure from numerous Republican lawmakers to step down in the race. He faces allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women, including claims that he made advances on teenage girls decades ago when he was in his 30s. Moore has been defiant, refusing to drop out of the race and calling the allegations an...

If you are a Bob Dole Republican, as I generally am, it is oh-so-difficult to be gung ho about where the GOP is headed these days, which seems like straight to hell. The party all too often has abandoned traditional Republican principles. The gargantuan tax bill, touted by President Donald Trump and passed by the House of Representatives, is being debated in the Senate. Only one aspect of the bill personifies Republican principles, and that is a pro-business tilt, which I can embrace, but only to a point. When the result is higher taxes on the middle class, they lose...

Fusion GPS, the liberal research firm that funded and distributed the anti-Trump dossier, has paid three journalists for work related to Congress’ Russia probe, according to court filings. Lawyers representing the House Intelligence Committee made the assertion in a bid to force Fusion to turn over additional bank transactions involving reporters, law firms and a media company. “The committee seeks transactions related to three individual journalists,” stated the House general counsel court filing, “each of whom have reported on and/or been quoted in articles regarding topics related to the committee’s investigation.”The journalists’ names are blacked out. Documents list 10 House-demanded...

Senior Republicans in Washington are unsure about what to do about Roy Moore now that it’s become clear that their attempts to oust him as the GOP nominee for Senate in Alabama have failed. Some Republicans argue that it’s better for Moore to defeat Democrat Doug Jones for the sake of President Trump’s agenda, which would become imperiled if the Senate Republican majority fell from 52 seats to 51. Others, however, contend that it’s better longer-term for the party if he doesn’t come to the Senate. They see the prospect of losing a Republican seat to be a better option...

Republicans have long been known as "the stupid party." They do stupid things, such as waiting until mid-November to push a must-pass tax cut that should have been done by April. But in recent weeks the GOP is finally showing some brains and some backbone on taxes. They are using their majorities in Congress to roll back and roll over the left, and it's about time. In a more rational world, tax reform could have been bipartisan. But once Democrats declared they would be unified obstructionists on tax reform, there was no reason to throw a bone to the "resistance...

Alabama Senate President Pro-Tem Del Marsh has a lot of concerns about the thumbprint Washington, DC has left on the race to fill Alabama’s U.S. Senate formerly held by Jeff Sessions. In an interview with Breitbart News, Marsh, one of the Yellowhammer State’s highest-ranking Republicans, explained how he and other candidates were discouraged from running for the seat. He said that “Washington” was set on Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL), who was appointed to the open seat earlier this year by then-Gov. Robert Bentley (R-AL), being the GOP candidate and ultimately retaining that U.S. Senate seat. “Washington had determined that Luther...

On Thursday Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) announced a new gun control bill which centers on background checks for gun purchases. The bill was also signed by Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Dean Heller (R-NV). Fox News Congressional reporter Chad Pergram tweeted that the bill is designed to “strengthen the background check system” in the wake of the Texas church attack. ==snip= Murphy is ecstatic. He tweeted that the legislation is the most significant gun law promoted since Sen. Joe Manchin (D-NW) pushed universal background checks as a response...

Whispers about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) military service during the Vietnam War have been floating around Washington for years and were reported in print at least as far back as two campaigns ago. From the Kentucky Kernel of November 1, 1996, Senator”s Discharged Questioned:

Senate Republicans on Monday signaled that they will do whatever it takes to prevent Roy Moore from becoming the next senator from Alabama, though hopefully without letting the seat fall into Democratic hands. (R-Ky.) called on Moore to withdraw from the Senate race and said he believes the women who are accusing the former judge of sexual misconduct. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), the leader of the campaign arm of Senate Republicans, went one step further, urging his colleagues to expel Moore from the Senate should he win the special election on Dec. 12.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said Monday that he would vote for Democrat Doug Jones over Judge Roy Moore in the Alabama special election for Senate and would support expelling Moore if he wins. “I don’t think it will get to that,” Flake said regarding expulsion. “But if it does, yes.”

Are key Republican leaders in D.C. from the Senate, House and Supreme Court being blackmailed? Tell me you haven’t thought the exact same thing? Something is very wrong. Something smells rotten in DC. Rotten like a dead fish left at the front door of a Congressmen’s office by the Obama Crime Family. Rotten like a photo of a Supreme Court Justice with his robe down at his ankles.

Jeb Bush on Monday joined growing Republicans calls for Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore to step down after Moore allegedly had a sexual encounter with a minor. “This is not a question of innocence or guilt like in a criminal proceeding, this is a question of what’s right and what’s wrong. Acknowledging that you’re dating teenagers when you’re 32 years old as assistant state attorney is wrong. It’s just plain wrong,” the former Republican presidential candidate and Florida governor said during an interview on CNBC. “We need to stand for basic principles, and decency has to be one of...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2017/11/10/roy-moore-response-shows-gop-doesnt-deserve-survive-max-boot-column/851640001/ Link only.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Monday called it “sad” that President Trump did not make human rights a priority during his meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte. The White House said the two leaders “briefly” discussed human rights in the context of Duterte’s drug crackdown, but the Philippine president’s spokesman said the issue was not discussed. Since taking office in 2016, Duterte has carried out a “war on drugs,” which has led to thousands of killings of suspected drug dealers and users, according to Human Rights Watch. Trump praised Duterte at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, saying the...

It was déjà vu all over again as the Washington Post, who has endorsed his opponent in the Alabama Senate race, brought forth 40-year-old sexual molestation accusations against Judge Roy Moore. From Clarence Thomas, to the Duke lacrosse team, to the University of Virginia rape case, to Herman Cain, we have heard such charges before and the rush to judgment that follows. Moore’s accusers issue the boilerplate caveat that if the charges are true, he should exit the public stage immediately in shame and certainly that is true. Then they quickly throw him under the guilty-as-charged bus that just ran...

Washington, DC – Today, Club for Growth President David McIntosh issued the following statement as the House Ways and Means Committee continues to mark up the “Tax Cuts and Jobs” bill:“While the corporate tax cut will lead to some increase in our nation’s GDP, the rest of the provisions on individual taxpayers fails the pro-growth test,” Club for Growth President David McIntosh stated.“Republicans must correct at least four serious shortcomings of the House bill to follow through on campaign promises and to bring our nation closer to a tax reform proposal that is truly pro-growth.“1: millionaires’ tax rate: House Republicans...

One of the women who said Senate candidate Roy Moore pursued her while she was in high school worked for Hillary Clinton's campaign as a sign language interpreter, according to videos and documents posted online. Deborah Wesson Gibson, owner of the interpreting company Signs of Excellence, provided services for Clinton during her 2016 campaign, as well as working with former Democratic Vice President Joe Biden during other events. Photos posted to her company's social media site show her providing sign language services for Sen. Patrick Murphy and Sen. Bill Nelson, both Florida Democrats. Gibson's company has offices in Florida and...

McConnell clearly doesn't want Roy Moore in the Senate. Is it a stretch to believe that McConnell, or someone on his behalf, hired an opposition research firm to dig up dirt on Moore? Just as the GOP establishment hired Fusion GPS to look for scandal on then-candidate Donald Trump? So what if it throws the Alabama Senate seat election into chaos? The GOP establishment would rather lose the seat to a Democrat than see it won by an anti-establishment candidate, even if of their own party. It's the same reason so many of them opposed Trump – and do to...