Free Republic

(CNN) – Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican from Maine, indicated her support Wednesday for same-sex-marriage, becoming the fourth sitting Republican senator to do so. “A number of states, including my home state of Maine, have now legalized same-sex marriage, and I agree with that decision,” Collins said according to the Bangor Daily News in response to one of its reporter's questions. She joins Republican Sens. Mark Kirk of Illinois, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Rob Portman of Ohio in expressing support for the marriage equality movement.

Portland and South Portland plan to defy the LePage administration and continue offering General Assistance to undocumented immigrants, the group at the center of Maine’s latest fight over welfare reform. The Department of Health and Human Services formally notified cities and towns Monday evening that the state will no longer reimburse them for General Assistance to undocumented immigrants and will begin auditing municipalities in October. The memo went out five days after the DHHS announced the policy change in a media release.In a sign of the discord ahead, officials from Portland, South Portland and Bangor said Tuesday that they will...

Remember these sixteen names when they run for office again. The sixteen Republicans who voted to proceed were Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine). Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.). List courtesy The Hill.com. As reported by RedState yesterday, this bill would allow doctors to add a person’s name to the national database currently used for background checks, and list them as...

The New York Times today reports on a disturbing development at Bowdoin College: For 40 years, evangelicals at Bowdoin College have gathered periodically to study the Bible together, to pray and to worship. They are a tiny minority on the liberal arts college campus, but they have been a part of the school’s community, gathering in the chapel, the dining center, the dorms. After this summer, the Bowdoin Christian Fellowship will no longer be recognized by the college. Already, the college has disabled the electronic key cards of the group’s longtime volunteer advisers. … The students, who plan to meet...

( full headline Landlord, 74, who 'shot dead two teenage tenants in dispute over parking cars' changes plea to not guilty by reason of insanity ) A Maine man charged with killing two teenagers in an apartment at his home is entering a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. James Pak, 75, entered his plea at a hearing in York County Superior Court in Alfred. Pak originally pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder in March 2013. He is accused of killing 19-year-old Derrick Thompson and 18-year-old Alivia Welch in December 2012. Authorities say Pak fatally shot...

On the GOP side, Bruce Poliquin, a former state treasurer and pension fund manager, says he’s the only candidate in the race who is not a “career politician.” He points to his life story — including the tragic loss of his wife at a young age and his deep belief in his Roman Catholic faith — as the reason he can claim to be the only “pro-life” candidate in the race. Poliquin made an unsuccessful run for governor in 2010 and for the U.S. Senate in 2012. Poliquin’s primary opponent is former state Senate President Kevin Raye, a Republican from...

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According to a Senator who has been defending the administration's deal for Bowe Bergdahl, the 5 Taliban prisoners would have been freed sometime soon anyway, making this our last chance to get something for them. Senator Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, said this at the end of his interview with CNN Thursday: There's one other very important point that needs to get out there. There is a reasonable legal argument that these five guys would have had to be released any way within the next year under the law of war. They were being held in Guantanamo...

The Maine Secession Movement is now actively inviting Born Again Christians to move to Maine from other states. As the secession vote on June 12, 2018 moves ever closer, the Maine secession Movement is now actively encouraging Born Again Christian families in other states to put their property and business up for sale and move to Maine. This is being done in advance of the next release of the proposed Constitution for the Republic of Maine which will take effect immediately upon a successful vote for secession on June 12, 2018. This next release will include a section detailing how...

Top White House officials have reportedly been holding private meetings with lawmakers this week to boost support for the president’s foreign policy strategy, although the outreach effort appears to have left some lawmakers confused and upset. Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) described a meeting with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and National Security Adviser Susan Rice earlier this week as “one of the most bizarre I've attended on Foreign Relations on foreign policy in our country.” “I know several of us were involved in a very bizarre discussion last night. This continues a very bizarre discussion,” Corker added, according...

The Politically Correct narrative of the Boston Marathon bombing is sinking faster than Barack Obama’s poll numbers. Remember Tamerlan Tsarnaev, aka Speedbump. The Boston Globe tearfully informed its moonbat readers that Speedbump was “a stay-at-home dad.” When he died at the age of 25, Speedbump was a “person of interest” in seven murders in Massachusetts, so apparently the stay-at-home dad got out of his (Section 8) house every once in a while. Now we find out that his 9 mm came from a “Maine gang,” two words I never thought I’d type in the same sentence. But then, Vacationland has...

(CNN) -- Vermont's governor on Thursday signed a bill into law that will require the labeling of genetically modified foods -- hailing it as the first such law in the nation. Under the new law, food offered for retail sale that is entirely or partially produced with genetic engineering must be labeled as such by July 2016. "Vermonters take our food and how it is produced seriously, and we believe we have a right to know what's in the food we buy," said Gov. Peter Shumlin. "More than 60 countries have already restricted or labeled these foods, and now one...

NORTHEAST and SOUTH There are numerous important House Primary Races! And places where we can WIN! PLEASE contribute! And if you can't contribute money ... the least we can do is go to their pages and give them a "like" or a tweet. All of these candidates are involved in primaries that are close (or could be close) against generally more moderate or liberal Republicans. All of these districts are winnable in November. Maine: BRUCE POLIQUIN, MAINE-2, JUNE 10th .... Open Seat Endorsed by: Maine Right to Life, Freedom Works Bruce Poliquin -- FACEBOOK -- TWITTER -- DONATEFreedomWorks: "As a...

Purgatory is in the Bible This may well be the most common single question I receive concerning our Catholic Faith whether it be at conferences, via email, snail mail, or any other venue. In fact, I’ve answered it twice today already, so I thought I might just blog about it.We’ll begin by making clear just what we mean by “Purgatory.” The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:All who die in God’s grace, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the...

AUGUSTA, Maine—Democratic lawmakers are calling on Maine Gov. Paul LePage to apologize for his remarks comparing the Internal Revenue Service to the Gestapo. The Democratic leaders of the House and Senate issued a statement Sunday calling LePage's language "intentionally offensive." Rep. Emily Cain and Sen. Justin Alfond said Holocaust survivors and Word War II veterans who witnessed the terror of the Adolph Hitler's secret police "should not be trivialized for political shock."

Among the liberty movement the Rand Paul debate rages on. Is he a political player or an opportunist sellout? Senator Rand Paul stunned many libertarians in 2012 when he endorsed Mitt Romney for President. This was the same Romney who deployed campaign lawyers to the Republican National Convention and rigged the future nomination process.Now Senator Paul has “wholeheartedly” endorsed Senator Susan Collins for re-election, telling the Portland Press Herald she is “doing a great job for Maine and for the country.” Enter another war between Senator Paul apologists and principle-driven libertarians.It’s unsurprising to some degree. A year ago State Senate...

Telegram: You’re going to join U.S. Sen. Susan Collins for a state party fundraiser today. She’s defended National Security Agency spying programs you oppose, and she’s also running against a Democrat, Shenna Bellows, who comes pretty close to sharing your views on that and other privacy issues. Do you support her, despite disagreement on many of those issues? Rand Paul: I wholeheartedly endorse Senator Collins for re-election. I think she’s doing a great job for Maine and for the country. ... I don’t really know, exactly, what her position is on the NSA; you’d have to ask her about that....

Telegram: You’re going to join U.S. Sen. Susan Collins for a state party fundraiser today. She’s defended National Security Agency spying programs you oppose, and she’s also running against a Democrat, Shenna Bellows, who comes pretty close to sharing your views on that and other privacy issues. Do you support her, despite disagreement on many of those issues? Rand Paul: I wholeheartedly endorse Senator Collins for re-election. I think she’s doing a great job for Maine and for the country. ... I don’t really know, exactly, what her position is on the NSA; you’d have to ask her about that....

In the past, Republican primary opponents for Maine's 2nd Congressional District haven't been shy about expressing their criticisms of each other or the political system. But they usually draw a line at recommending that disgruntled voters should elect Democrats instead. Yet, when an audience member at a Thursday evening candidate's debate in Machias rose to criticize Sen. Susan Collins' performance in office, congressional hopeful Bruce Poliquin agreed, saying he shared the speaker's frustration. "We have career politicians who are afraid to solve tough problems," Poliquin said. "I'm a businessperson trying to solve problems. I agree with you - we ought...

Via Dan Riehl, people are going nuts over this in the Headlines thread but I don’t know why. He’s not endorsing her over some tea-party primary opponent. She has no primary opponent. He’s endorsing her over the Democrat in the race, Shenna Bellows (whose civil-libertarian cred from working at the ACLU evidently gave Paul no pause).Even Jim DeMint, who once said he’d rather have 30 principled conservatives in the Senate than a 60-seat majority of RINOs, saw fit to endorse Scott Brown on the eve of his big special election upset in 2010. If Rand can hold an extra Senate...