Free Republic

Harley-Davidson Inc. announced early Tuesday with its fourth quarter 2017 earnings report that it is on track to launch its first electric motorcycle within 18 months and that it will invest more aggressively in the electric avenue in an attempt to inspire ridership. But on the flip side, the motorcycle manufacturer also revealed plans to close its Kansas City, Mo., plant and fold those operations into its Pennsylvania facility. The Milwaukee-based company's (NYSE: HOG) announcement on its significant commitment to the future of its motorcycle technology and plant closure comes as motorcycle sales fell 6.7 percent worldwide in 2017, with...

A Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri has ignited a social media firestorm with a Facebook post in which he calls feminists “she devils” and expounds on how he wants his wife to cook his dinner. Courtland Sykes, who campaigned on behalf of Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama last month, posted to Facebook Tuesday the transcript of a September interview during which he was asked about women’s rights. Sykes, a Navy veteran and political newcomer, said he rejects “radical feminism’s crazed definition of modern womanhood” and that he wants daughters who will be homemakers rather than “career obsessed...

At a measly 17 cents a gallon, Missouri’s fuel tax is woefully inadequate to fund the state’s growing need for transportation-infrastructure improvements. The more the system deteriorates, the worse our state’s business climate will become. Gov. Eric Greitens could put some muscle into his determination to attract business and generate more jobs by embracing a long-overdue fuel tax increase. The Missouri 21st Century Transportation Task Force, created by the Legislature and approved by the governor last year, proposes to boost the tax by a dime, and by 12 cents for diesel, which is only about half of what’s needed to...

BOURBON, Missouri -- Some 11-year-olds in Missouri were asked questions about their sexual orientation and whether they want to change genders. The questions were part of a survey from the state and also included the topics of drug use and suicide. Some parents are outraged, especially since the school district could have opted out of the survey.

Though federal employees won’t get a paycheck during the governmment shutdown, members of Congress will — unless they specify otherwise. Ten Democratic senators on Friday introduced a bill that would withhold pay for members of Congress during the government shutdown. The legislation comes from Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), along with Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Ranking Member Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) and Jon Tester (D-Mont.). “It’s wrong that members of Congress would still get paid in...

Ask almost any American, “Should people be compelled to spend a lot of time and money to get a license for an occupation, where the required training has nothing to do with the work?” you’d get a clear “No” from nearly every one of them. The three small groups where you would get “Yes” answers would be: people who earn money providing that needless training, people who want to make it hard for others to compete with them, and judges. Unfortunately, the people in those groups have a lot of power. That’s why occupational licensing is so hard to dislodge....

Believe it or not, the 2018 election is only months away. And while talking heads and media elites focus exclusively on Republican election challenges, the electoral map is chock-full of vulnerable Democratic candidates running in Trump territory. Here are the top Democrats poised for 2018 defeat: 1. Sen. Claire McCaskill (Democrat, Missouri) The definition of a corrupt career politician, Sen. McCaskill is a personification of the Washington swamp and the Democratic Party’s most vulnerable incumbent. Who can forget her failure to pay $287,000 in property taxes on a private plane? Or using $40 million in government subsidies to boost her...

JEFFERSON CITY • Republicans inside the capital city on Tuesday debated whether Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens should resign after revelations of his extramarital affair and related allegations of possible blackmail surfaced last week. Five GOP lawmakers publicly called on Greitens to step aside or said the governor should consider doing so. Their statements came Tuesday, the first workday after the holiday weekend. Other Republicans said it was too early to call for his resignation or expressed hope that the distraction would not derail the party’s legislative agenda.

“The website says they send us biodegradable silverware,” said Biggs. “No. I stopped all of that because they compost slower than the food, so it doesn’t work well with our system.” One day after following the custodians, he realized they were simply pulling all of the bags from the three-bin system on their rounds and dumping them inside another bag that went into the landfill trash compactor...“Over my time here, I’ve gone to the trouble of doing my civic duty and collected hundreds if not thousands of recyclable items off the streets of Columbia,” Wills said. “To think that all...

Democrats have let us know they are not impressed with the good news to come out of the GOP tax reform plan, fully engaged in downplaying at its finest. Major companies have rewarded employees bonuses and salary increases in the aftermath of the Republican tax plan, yet Democratic leaders like House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed the benefits as mere " crumbs " compared to the supposed joy ride corporate America is getting. Other Democrats decided not to cheer the news that Wal-Mart was raising pay and giving out bonuses , instead calling it a "PR stunt." The Washington...

How nice that our two Missouri senators can find common ground in the removal of the name "Jefferson" from the most recognized structure in the St. Louis area ("We call it the Arch; soon, that may be its formal name, too ," Jan. 5). The proposal, introduced by Republican Roy Blunt the same week as the Confederate Monument in Forest Park was taken down, scrubs the name of the slave-owning third president and author of the Declaration of Independence from the monument celebrating Western expansion. Instead of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the shiny silver structure will be named the...

Boeing today unveiled a giant drone that’s capable of lifting a 500 pound payload. Calling it an “unmanned electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) cargo air vehicle (CAV) prototype,” the aerospace giant said it could serve as a precursor for future autonomous flying aircraft. The heavy-duty drone took Boeing’s engineers only three months to design and build, the company says. It successfully completed initial flight tests at Boeing’s research lab in Missouri. “This flying cargo air vehicle represents another major step in our Boeing eVTOL strategy,” said Boeing chief technology officer Greg Hyslop in a statement. “We have an opportunity to really change...

The married governor of Missouri was accused in a news report Wednesday of using a half-naked, S&M photo to pressure a woman he was cheating with into keeping quiet about the affair. Hours after the report on local KMOV Gov. Eric Greitens and wife Sheena issued a statement admitting to an extramarital fling, saying “Eric took responsibility and we dealt with this together honestly and privately.” The statement did not address a bombshell claim that he squeezed the woman with the photo, quoting her ex-husband saying the fling happened in March 2015 and that the future governor wanted to keep...

ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- Governor Eric Greitens on Wednesday night confirmed to News 4 he had an extramarital affair, an admission a months-long News 4 investigation prompted. In a recording obtained by News 4, a woman says she had a sexual encounter with Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens and that he tried to blackmail her to keep the encounter quiet. The details were provided to News 4 by the woman’s ex-husband, claiming the sexual relationship happened between his now ex-wife and Greitens in March 2015. News 4 is not naming the woman and she has not made an on-the-record comment about...

Missouri made this ignominious list for safety and social justice issues in 2017, after the NAACP issued a travel advisory there due to numerous shootings of unarmed black men.Missouri has lax gun laws compared to other states, gun control advocates say, and one of the highest rates of shooting deaths in the country.

It's how dictators operate. Pick a relatively small, politically powerless group of people and portray them as objects of fear and derision. Then swoop in with the power of the state to arrest members of that disfavored group and reap the political benefits of protecting the state from the threat that you invented. This is why the current administration's move to arrest and deport more people who are in the United States without proper documentation, but who have committed no other crime, is so troubling and so counter to what America should stand for. Whether by design or default, this...

Full title:Run Away, Claire: McCaskill Refuses To Comment On Local Bank Doling Out Bonuses Thanks To Trump’s Tax Bill Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) is one of the most vulnerable Democrats heading into the 2018 elections. Her state went heavily for Trump, who won it 57/38 over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. It’s possible she could have been voted out in 2012, but was saved when her Republican opponent, Rep. Todd Akin, made the infamous “legitimate rape” gaffe that torched his senate candidacy. Now, as we enter 2018, McCaskill might have to answer for another blunder: voting against the GOP’s...

A Missouri law allowing medical school graduates to treat patients without having completed a designated residency program — the first law of its kind in the U.S. — went into effect after nearly three years, according to 41 Action News. The law created the role of "assistant physician," which applies to medical school graduates who, under certain rules, may be allowed to treat patients without completing residency. Former Missouri Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon signed the law into effect in 2014, but officials took nearly three years to implement it, according to the report. To become an assistant physician, medical school...

Congressional Republicans say they reached agreement on a final tax bill that will provide a new 20-percent deduction for pass-through income from farms and small businesses. The agreement, which the House and Senate are expected to take up early next week, also calls for doubling the estate tax exemption and will include key expensing provisions that farm groups sought to preserve and expand, lawmakers said. They said the agreement also would allow deduction of state and local taxes, including income and property taxes, up to $10,000, a concession to lawmakers in high-tax states that could also benefit farmers. Senate Agriculture...

A Missouri high school that suspended a student for making critical comments about Islamic extremism says he’s not allowed to appeal the finding of wrongdoing. Senior Alex Lonsdale, a member of Liberty High’s nationally ranked debate club, says he was just trying to have a friendly debate. During his free period Oct. 17 at the public school near Kansas City, Lonsdale joined a spontaneous conversation among acquaintances about the nature of Islam.