Free Republic

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the leading Democrat in the California gubernatorial race, touted gun control as he addressed hundreds of protesters in Santa Ana on Saturday. The protesters had gathered to participate in nationwide “#MarchForLife” protests calling for stricter gun control laws following the tragic school shooting at a Parkland, Florida high school that left 17 dead last month. “We changed the trajectory of the debate, not just in this state but all across the rest of the country,” Newsom said of Proposition 63, a gun control initiative that requires background checks for ammunition and was approved in 2016. “Gun...

A report released Monday suggests Democrats might have to temper their enthusiasm about climbing back to power during this year’s midterm elections. To win a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, Democrats would need a tremendous electoral wave not seen in more than 40 years to overcome Republican advantages from gerrymandered districts in key states, according to an analysis from the Brennan Center for Justice. The report projects that Democrats would need to win the national popular vote for congressional districts by a nearly 11 percentage point margin over Republicans to gain more than the roughly two dozen seats...

The City of Miami Beach in Florida is so annoyed by the army of spring breakers descending on its beaches for wild parties fueled by alcohol and drugs that it’s considering a drastic, if a little bizarre, countermeasure. One elected city official suggested playing classical music, such as Mozart, at loud volumes to break up parties on the beach. That's according to a report in The Miami Herald, which said the city's commissioners were juggling ideas on how to tackle spring break partygoers after a chaotic weekend.

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi issued this statement after President Trump fired his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and announced CIA Director Mike Pompeo as his replacement: “Secretary Tillerson’s firing sets a profoundly disturbing precedent in which standing up for our allies against Russian aggression is grounds for a humiliating dismissal. President Trump’s actions show that every official in his Administration is at the mercy of his personal whims and his worship of Putin. “It is no wonder that the President has trouble attracting high-caliber people to his Administration when he undercuts and humiliates those he supposedly respects....

Aussie airline Qantas has copped flak for telling employees to stop using words like “guys” and phrases like “mum and dad”. Qantas staff were encouraged to use partner and spouse instead of husband and wife, and parents instead of mum and dad because it excludes some LGBTI families, according to the new advice. The directive came in an information pack sent out to employees from the company’s People and Culture Group. […] The information pack also declares that Australia was not settled peacefully; and as such, all staff should say “colonization”, “occupation” or “invasion” instead of “settlement”. …

Stuart Varney: There Is No Penalty For Illegals Voting In California… VIDEO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEv02zSjjwM&feature=youtu.be _______ Leftist politicians driving rift within California: Varney _______________

Ryan Coogler's groundbreaking superhero pic Black Panther continued to defy all expectations in its sophomore outing, grossing an estimated $108 million from 4,020 theaters to score the top second weekend of all time behind 2015's Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Disney and Marvel title reached the $400 million mark domestically in only 10 days after dropping a narrow 47 percent in its second weekend. That's one of the smallest declines ever for a superhero title, as well as one of the smallest for a film launching north of $200 million (the bigger the opening, the bigger the drop in...

WASHINGTON — Few places have seen the National Rifle Association wield its might more effectively than Florida, where it has advanced a sweeping agenda that has made it easier to carry concealed weapons, given gun owners greater leeway to shoot in self-defense and even briefly barred doctors from asking patients about their firearms. To many of its opponents, that decades-long string of victories is proof that the N.R.A. has bought its political support. But the numbers tell a more complicated story: The organization’s political action committee over the last decade has not made a single direct contribution to any current...

Student David Hogg filmed this video while his Florida high school was on lockdown because of an active shooter on campus Feb. 14. "Thousands of people have died from gun violence and it's time to take a stand," Hogg said, citing the need for stronger gun control laws. Seventeen people were killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.

Recognizing that Classical Music has implied White Supremacy for centuries is hard for those that study the art form. In fact, that correlating The Met’s continued programming of dead white men to the rise of White Supremacist tendencies in America is not a far stretch is starting to become apparent to those that follow and review the company’s season announcements. Of course Italian Opera traditions are rich and are the backbone for many composers, but when an American institution, founded on the grounds

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) on Wednesday published a report showing a rise in the number of hate groups operating in the United States during President Donald Trump’s first year in office. The number of hate groups in the US grew to 954, marking a 4 percent increase compared to last year. The report said Trump-inspired groups also provoked a backlash that witnessed a rise in black nationalist groups, such as the Nation of Islam. “President Trump’s first year in office proved to be just as racially divisive as his campaign — but even more consequential,” the report said....

The parents of first lady Melania Trump have become legal permanent residents of the United States and are close to obtaining their citizenship, according to people familiar with their status, but their attorney declined to say how or when the couple gained their green cards. Immigration experts said Viktor and Amalija Knavs very likely relied on a family reunification process that President Trump has derided as “chain migration” and proposed ending in such cases. The Knavses, formerly of Slovenia, are living in the country on green cards, according to Michael Wildes, a New York-based immigration attorney who represents the first...

Reuters) - Hungarian leader Viktor Orban called on Sunday for a global alliance against migration as his right-wing populist Fidesz party began campaigning for an April 8 election in which it is expected to win a third consecutive landslide victory. Popular at home but increasingly at odds politically and economically with mainstream European Union peers, Orban has thrived on external controversy, including repeated clashes with Brussels and lately the United Nations. Those conflicts, mostly centered on migration since people fleeing war and poverty in the Middle East and Africa flooded into Europe in 2015, have intensified as the elections approach...

Some parents are speaking out after a popular first grade teacher was fired after she posted pictures of her same-sex wedding on social media. Jocelyn Morffi taught first grade at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic School in Miami for seven years. Last weekend, she married her girlfriend and posted pictures of the ceremony to Facebook. On Thursday, Morffi was fired. In a letter to parents, Principal Carlota Morales called it a “difficult and necessary” decision. Nearly a dozen parents who had children in Morffi’s class came to the school to protest her firing. The parents called her a “great teacher”...

Link only: https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-midterm-elections-preview/

Tom Steyer has had it up to here. Not with us Republicans, it seems, but with his own Democrats, and he now plans to cut off their nose to spite their faces. The leftwing billionaire hedge fund speculator has announced he won't be bankrolling the Democratic National Committee as he has in the past, based on his dissatisfaction with congressional Democrats' refusal to continue the government shutdown and go down with it. He wanted them to just keep it shut, never mind that the public wasn't with him. Get a load of his reasoning as reported by the Washington...

The American Constitution is an outdated, malfunctioning piece of junk — and it's only getting worse. When written, the Constitution made a morally hideous compromise with slavery that took a war and 750,000 lives to make right. And while its basic structure sort of worked for awhile in the 20th century, the Constitution is now falling prey to the same defects that has toppled every other similar governing document the world over.

The NFL seems committed to angering conservative fans.They know the nation doesn’t enjoy social protests on Sundays and yet, they’re doing nothing about it.Now, Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league’s social justice campaign is ‘just the beginning.’ From Breitbart:Despite the plummeting TV ratings and continued anger of fans over a rising tide of anthem protests, National Football Commissioner Roger Goodell is promising that the league is ready to increase its attention to so-called “social justice” programs and campaigns.Only a day after news broke that the NFL rejected an ad that the military veteran group AMVETS wanted to air during the...

Pope Francis is denouncing “fake news” as evil and is urging journalists to make it their mission to search for the truth. After a week in which Francis faced unprecedented bad press during his South American tour, the pope released his annual social communications message Wednesday dedicated this year to “fake news and journalism for peace.” Francis writes that the first fake news dates from the Biblical beginning of time, when Eve was tempted to take an apple from the Garden of Eden based on disinformation from the serpent. “The strategy of this skilled ‘Father of Lies’ is precisely mimicry,...

MIAMI — A widely circulated video that allegedly shows agents from Customs and Border Patrol detaining a woman on a Greyhound bus, after demanding from people on board proof of citizenship, has sparked indignation by many. The bus stopped at a station in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., during its route from Orlando to Miami on Friday afternoon. The driver announced there would be a "routine" security checkpoint and that is when two uniformed agents boarded the bus and announced they were from Border Patrol, according to Florida Immigrant Coalition, a Miami-based advocacy group.