Free Republic

As Election Day looms large, Americans are as divided as ever on the future direction of the country and many of our most pressing issues. One issue that ought to unite the country, however, is the need for election integrity. After all, it is through the ballot box that voters will select our local, state, and federal leaders. It is imperative that the vote accurately reflects the will of our citizens. Many on the left, however, are unconcerned with the protection of each individual’s vote. They quickly dismiss voter fraud as a myth meant to justify voter suppression. Perhaps progressives...

Remember Wendy Davis? She was the Texas Democrat who became an MSM darling for her filibuster against a state law restricting abortions. Davis exploited her 15-minutes of fame by running for Governor of Texas in 2014. But despite the backing of an adoring press, Davis got demolished, losing by more than 20 points to Greg Abbott. For the record, my home county of Hood showed its scorn by awarding Davis all of . . . 18.9% of the vote. So when on today’s Morning Joe, Politico co-founder Jim VandeHei claimed that Hillary Clinton is so far ahead that she has...

Everyone knew...Donald Trump was going to have a difficult time at Sunday night’s debate, as a video of incredibly lewd comments Trump made in 2005 surfaced over the weekend. But debate moderator Martha Raddatz’s pro-Hillary Clinton bias wasn’t helping the polarizing GOP nominee one bit. Right from the get-go, ABC News’ Raddatz cut Trump off as he was answering a question about the aforementioned video. [SNIP imbedded tweets] But going into the debate, it was pretty clear Martha Raddatz would be the most biased. Recall, this is the woman who described Hillary Clinton’s testimony before the House Benghazi committee as...

WASHINGTON (AP) - A claim from the second presidential debate and how it stacks up with the facts: CLINTON: "We are now, for the first time ever, energy independent." THE FACTS: Clinton overstates the case. For the first time in decades the United States gets more energy domestically than it imports, but it is not yet entirely energy independent. Oil still is imported, from the Mideast and elsewhere. Estimates vary as to when the U.S. might achieve full energy independence.

The debate night that will be discussed for generations in Political Science classes – and Women's Studies seminars – ended with Republican Donald Trump landing more punches than Democrat Hillary Clinton, and successfully deflecting attention successfully away from a two-day-old crisis about graphic sexual language that threatened to derail his White House bid.

Democrats on Sunday warned Donald Trump against mentioning former President Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions in the upcoming presidential debate, arguing the issue is old news. "We want this campaign to be about the issues," Hillary Clinton's campaign manager Robby Mook insisted in a Sunday interview on CBS News. "Look, the Clintons had a rough time in their marriage 20 years ago. That was litigated out. At this debate tonight, and in in the rest of this campaign, we want to focus on the issues, and that is what Hillary is going to do."

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. At the lowest point in the second presidential debate Hillary Clinton tried to blame her compulsive lying on Abraham Lincoln. Not the real Lincoln, but the fictional version depicted in the Spielberg movie. “She lied. Now she's blaming the lie on the late great Abraham Lincoln,” Trump said in exasperation. “Honest Abe never lied.” The only thing Hillary and Lincoln have in common is Illinois. If Hillary had been looking for wisdom from Lincoln, she might have started with the famous...

Sunday, October 9, 2016 Second presidential debate Time: 9pm ET (8pm CT, 7pm MT, 6pm PT) Live Stream: Debate Live Stream Moderator: Martha Raddatz, Chief Global Affairs Correspondent and Co-Anchor of "This Week," ABC Moderator: Anderson Cooper, Anchor, CNN Location: Washington University in St. Louis, MO

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Or attempt to legislate away constitutional rights. Missouri has become at least the 11th state -- and the fourth this year -- to approve a “constitutional carry” law. That means no permit is required to openly carry or carry a concealed firearm in the Show Me State. The law goes into effect Jan. 1. Three cheers and all that? Perhaps, to some. But whether the law actually was needed is debatable. And some of its provisions are, frankly, anathema to liberty. After all, the Missouri Constitution stipulates:...

A St. Louis County police officer answering a call was fatally shot "almost immediately" after he got out of his car Thursday morning, police said. A second officer then shot the suspect, who also was badly injured. The shooting happened about 5:15 a.m. in Green Park, said Benjamin Granda, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Police. Green Park is a small city in south St. Louis County northwest of the South County Center mall.

Outdoor gear giants Bass Pro and Cabela's will combine in $5.5 billion deal announced Monday. The deal will give Cabela's shareholders $65.50 cash per share, but it creates uncertainty about jobs in the retailer's home state of Nebraska. The combined companies plan to keep some operations in Sidney and Lincoln, Nebraska, but it's not immediately clear how many jobs might be lost. Bass Pro CEO Johnny Morris says he hopes to continue growing the Cabela's brand alongside his own Springfield, Missouri, based chain.

Four sentences in a letter to Speaker of the House Todd Richardson are about to turn the Missouri political world upside down. “My name is Cora Faith Walker. I will be in the Capitol in January as the Representative of the 74th District. Earlier this week, I reported a sexual assault to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. I named my rapist as Steven Roberts, Jr., who hopes to be in the Capitol in January as the Representative of the 77th District.” On Friday night, Walker, 31, a Ferguson attorney who won the Democratic primary for her seat in August,...

ST. LOUIS • Police shot and wounded a 14-year-old boy who fired at officers first Sunday morning in the Walnut Park East neighborhood, Police Chief Sam Dotson said. The shooting was reported about 9:25 a.m. in the 5000 block of Beacon Avenue; the department posted a tweet saying the wounded person was stable at a hospital. No officers were injured in the shooting. Dotson told reporters at the scene that officers had been searching for a car taken in a carjacking late last month. After a short pursuit, Dotson said, the officers stopped to try to talk to at least...

It’s over . . . but it’s not. A conscientious Show-Me state citizen activist has won his case, but . . . A year ago, the unethical Missouri Ethics Commission fined Ron Calzone $1,000 for not paying a silly $10 fee. To register as a lobbyist. They also ordered him to stop talking to state legislators until he complied. Citizen Calzone didn’t register. He didn’t pay. And he didn’t shut up. On principle. Instead, he contacted the Freedom Center of Missouri, co-founded by attorneys Dave and Jennifer Roland, and the Center for Competitive Politics, the national outfit that defends our...

Ahead of the first presidential debate Democrat Hillary Clinton gets mixed results …

A St. Louis police officer who killed a suspect has been accused of planting a gun in his victim’s car after new video of the shooting’s aftermath emerged. Video and audio from inside the police car show the officer saying, “Going to kill this motherf----- don’t you know it” during the chase. The officer said in a memo obtained by the Post-Dispatch that he saw a silver handgun in his hand when he was in his car at the restaurant, and that he believed Smith was reaching for a gun after the crash. He wrote that he found the silver...

Last weeks MOScout Poll gave Sen. Scott Sifton(D) a large lead in the Senate 1 race. It gave Sifton(D) 49% to Republican challenger Randy Jotte's 37% (with 14% undecided).... ...in House 94 ... It has Trump ahead of Clinton 46% to 40%, and Koster(D) leading Greitens (R) [for Govenor] 46% to 41% ...

A playground in Missouri is becoming a political minefield. "Only one religious freedom case is currently before the Supreme Court this upcoming term: Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v. Pauley," the Alliance for Defending Freedom (ADF) notes. "Trinity Lutheran is a case about a religious preschool that was rejected from a state program that provides reimbursement grants to purchase rubberized surface material (tire scraps) for children’s playgrounds." "The preschool was ultimately denied the grant for its playground solely because the playground belongs to a religious organization." The ADF is a national network of lawyers who undertake religious liberty cases. The...

Every election year, National Right to Life publishes downloadable comparison flyers about the various Senate candidates. The downloadable version for Missouri’s “Where do the Senate Candidates Stand on Life?” is available here. The candidates have very different views on abortion. Here is an overview of their positions on abortion-related issues. Abortion on Demand Roy Blunt is pro-life. He opposes abortion on demand, and supports protection for unborn children. In contrast, Jason Kander supports a policy of abortion on demand, which allows abortion for any reason. Late Abortion Roy Blunt co-sponsored and voted to advance the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act...

It’s now law. In Missouri, you no longer need a license to carry a firearm in public. They’re the 12th state to adopt such a law known as constitutional carry; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) represents a state with such a law. To those who love freedom and the Second Amendment, it’s a great day for the expansion of constitutional rights. For anti-gun liberals, it’s a day for hysterics, which wasperfectly captured by the editorial board of The New York Times: The measure has drawn no great national attention, but it certainly provides further evidence that gun safety cannot be...