Free Republic

Harry Reid’s days as the pro-abortion leader of the U.S. Senate appeared to be numbered as the latest projections ahead of the final weekend before the midterm elections make it appear pro-life candidates will pick up enough seats to take over the Senate. Reid has done pro-abortion President Barack Obama’s bidding and ensured that abortion-funding Obamacare was passed through on a party-line vote, with not a single Republican voting in favor of the legislation. Reid made sure that no pro-life bills received a vote in the Senate — including measures to stop taxpayer funding of abortions and a bill to...

A poll by the Des Moines Register published today offers multiple reasons for GOP joy. Jodi Ernst is breaking out into a lead that is beyond the poll’s margin of error, while, Harry Reid, in words he may regret, has gone on the record saying that an Ernst win portends the GOP taking the Senate. "What Joni Ernst would mean, coming to the United States Senate, is that Mitch McConnell would be the leader of the Senate, someone who agrees with her on virtually everything. Think what that would mean to our country," Reid said on Friday. Unless this is...

Look, I’m not going to lie to you – your vote matters. But let’s be honest, there are Republicans on the ballot who aren’t very conservative. Most of them don’t agree with me on everything and surely don’t agree with you on everything. In fact, many of them are downright awful. So if you find yourself in a state where the Senate race is close, and you don’t like some of the things the Republican candidate stands for – just stay home. A message must be sent: We conservatives could not beat all the people we don’t like in the...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Saturday urged progressive activists to get out the vote for Bruce Braley, calling Iowa crucial to Democratic hopes to keep the Senate. “If we win Iowa, we’re going to do just fine,” Reid said on a call organized by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee. “Iowa is a key for what we do.” During the call, Reid said Joni Ernst, the GOP Senate nominee in Iowa, would be a disaster for issues key to progressives, like protecting Social Security and raising the minimum wage. Ernst, a state senator, and Braley, a four-term congressman, are...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid warned in a fundraising pitch Wednesday that Republicans could try to impeach and remove President Obama from office if the GOP wins control of the Senate in next week’s elections. “Frankly, a Republican House and Senate could go beyond shutting down the government — they could waste months of our lives on impeachment,” Mr. Reid said in a fundraising email sent by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is an outside group whose goal is to bolster liberal Democrats.

The polls this cycle have been cruel to Democrats. A number of surveys have given the president’s party undue hope that they could pull off the impossible on Election Day and retain control of the U.S. Senate. But, like Lucy van Pelt ripping the set football away from a rushing Charlie Brown at the very last minute, Democrats have been robbed of that intoxicating hope just as the buzz was getting good. After abandoning the party’s nominee as determined by the voters, Democrats were thrilled by the prospect that ruby red Kansas might elect a Democrat masquerading as an independent...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s eight-year effort to keep a nuclear waste dump out of his home state of Nevada could soon become much more difficult. Since 2007, Reid has used his powerful Senate position to block the federal government from moving more than 70,000 tons of high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain, a federally designated nuclear waste repository located about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. But polls indicate Republicans are poised to win control of the Senate in the November election. If the GOP prevails, Reid will lose not only his gavel but much...

Fall is in the air. The leaves are changing colors, football season is in full swing and people in battleground states are being inundated by candidates and commercials. In Washington, the GOP is already breaking out the champagne. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is already measuring the drapes in the majority leader’s office. The anticipation is that the Republican Party will sweep the midterm elections. The common wisdom is that the GOP will gain seats in the House of Representatives and more importantly take control of the Senate. But not so fast. Right now there are 45 Republicans in the...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Friday rejected a call for travel bans from Ebola-ravaged West Africa, suggesting that it was too early for such a move. “We have a lot of people in Sierra Leone and in places like Liberia who are dual citizens,” the Nevada Democrat said in Henderson. “If there was a ban they would just fly to smaller countries before coming here.” House Republicans had called for such a travel ban at a congressional hearing Thursday. President Barack Obama rejected the proposal on Friday. Reid also backed the Obama administration’s approach to the deadly, expressing...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)A spate of new Senate projections shows Republicans widening the electoral map and increasing their chances of a GOP takeover. On Monday, the The Washington Post's Election Lab forecast showed Republicans with a 94% chance of winning the Senate and a 99% chance of maintaining control of the House. The New York Times is similarly projecting a Republican takeover in the Senate. According to the Times' statistical forecast, the GOP currently holds a 64% chance of reclaiming the Senate....

Chances Democrats Win the Senate: 33% -- Daily Kos, 9/29/14 Dear Friend, Put another way -- as is stands today, Koch-backed Republicans have a 66% chance of taking control of the U.S. Senate. We’ve got a month to keep control of the Senate. Let’s make sure we’re fighting as hard as we possibly can. We need $42,OOO this month to keep our grassroots efforts going. Can you contribute $5? If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately: Express Donate: $5 Express Donate: $10 Express Donate: $25 Or donate another amount. The obstruction of...

WASHINGTON—The San Francisco-based Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday struck down same-sex marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada, setting the stage for legal gay marriages in five more Western states. The unanimous decision comes a day after the U.S. Supreme Court let stand lower-court rulings that ended bans in five other states, a move that effectively expanded the right to gay marriage to 30 U.S. states. The Ninth Circuit decision will apply to five states with marriage bans in that appellate circuit, likely expanding to 35 the number of states with legal same-sex marriage.

Finding that Nevada’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage imposes “profound legal, financial, social and psychic harms” on many of its citizens, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday overturned the prohibition, paving the way for gay unions in the Silver State. The court reversed a U.S. District Court ruling in favor of the state’s voter-approved ban and remanded it back to District Court “for the prompt issuance of an injunction permanently enjoining the state, its political subdivisions, and its officers, employees, and agents” from enforcing the constitutional provision. The ruling also overturned Idaho’s ban on same-sex marriage. Clark...

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has temporarily blocked an appeals court ruling that declared gay marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada. The order came minutes after Idaho on Wednesday filed an emergency request for an immediate stay. The state's request said that without a stay, state and county officials would have been required to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at 10 a.m. EDT. Kennedy's order requested a response from the plaintiffs involved in Idaho's gay marriage lawsuit by the end of day Thursday. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals declared gay marriage legal in Idaho and Nevada...

.....Las Vegas, the land of wedding chapels, is ready for gay weddings. On Tuesday, Nevada and Idaho joined the growing number of states where same-sex marriage is legal when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that gay couples' equal protection rights were violated by the gay marriage bans in both states. .....Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapels, which is gay-owned and operated, already hosts about 500 same-sex commitment ceremonies each year, said General Manager Brian Mills, who doubles as an officiant, often times in costume. In October, one of the chapel's busiest months, he could be Dracula for one...

....About 10 same-sex couples were waiting in line at the Clark County clerk's office as the announcement came shortly after 5 p.m. that gay marriage licenses would be issued, eliciting cheers and tears of joy from the crowd. Officials said the county Marriage License Bureau issued 40 licenses to same-sex couples Thursday. "It's amazing. This is it," Theo Small....

Beleaguered Las Vegas Wedding Industry Pins Its Hopes On Gay Marriage The Wedding Capital of the World has been hurting badly since the recession, but business owners expect a ‘tremendous boost’ from same-sex couples looking to get married 10 October 2014 The managers at Vegas Weddings have extra ministers on call. The tux and gown shop is fully staffed, all ten wedding planners are available in the reception area and the coordinators are prepping to handle ceremonies for not one, but two brides at a time. They can also expect many pairs of grooms. This is the first full day...

Clark County granted its first same-sex marriage license just after 5 p.m. Thursday, ending days of legal wrangling and waiting for gay and lesbian couples across Nevada. That license went to Theo Small and Antioco Carillo, one of eight couples that challenged that state’s gay marriage ban. That came after Clark County Clerk Diana Alba got the go-ahead from U.S. District Court Judge James Mahan. Carillo and Small picked up their license ahead of 12 other couples queued up at the Clark County marriage bureau, but they aren’t be the first same-sex couple married in the state. That distinction could...

If pang of conscience prevents a person from performing his or her job in government, or upholding an oath to administer justice under the Constitution, that person needs to resign. As the legal dust settles and Nevada prepares to extend marriage equality to all its citizens, there’s one small, sad footnote to be written: The signature on the legal document enjoining the state from enforcing its 12-year-old ban on gay marriage will not be that of U.S. District Judge Robert C. Jones. Jones, formerly the chief federal judge in Nevada, oversaw Lambda Legal’s lawsuit against the state, which contended that...

LAS VEGAS — Proponents of a ballot measure that would remove a mining-tax cap from the Nevada constitution said the industry has a sweetheart deal that keeps it from paying its fair share, while opponents said the measure is the first step toward raising taxes and discouraging mining companies from doing business in the state. The remarks came during a debate on Question 2 that was scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Thursday on Vegas PBS. Passing the measure would repeal a 150-year-old constitutional provision that applies a 5 percent cap to taxes on the net proceeds of minerals and...