Free Republic

A lawyer who led the fight against Obamacare’s contraceptive mandate, eventually winning the Hobby Lobby case before the Supreme Court, won confirmation by the Senate Tuesday to a federal appeals court. Senators voted 50-47 to confirm Stuart Kyle Duncan to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Only one Democrat, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, broke with his party to support Mr. Duncan. Other Democrats voiced opposition to Mr. Duncan as an “unfit ideologue” who fought women’s access to reproductive healthcare. They also said his defense of state laws requiring photo-ID to vote,...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) hasn’t lost his ability to make Democrats mad, and once again, he has triggered an intraparty kerfuffle on social media. As we head towards the next presidential cycle, many people — on the right, the left and in the media — will be saying Democrats are in the throes of an identity crisis, a struggle for their party’s soul that will tear them apart. But they aren’t, and they won’t be. The Democratic Party screws up plenty and contains its share of idiots, but when it comes to its identity, it’s doing just fine. On Wednesday,...

FULL TITLE: Abortion Activists Claim Mississippi Abortion Ban Would Hurt Blacks, Ignoring How Abortion Kills Black Babies If they gave out prizes for projecting your own faults on others, abortion activists would win first place. An article at the liberal news site Vox cried racism in its attacks on pro-life Mississippi lawmakers’ efforts to save unborn babies and mothers from abortion – a disproportionately high number of whom are black. The law, signed Monday by Gov. Phil Bryant, creates the earliest ban on abortion in the U.S. by pushing back Mississippi’s current limit from 20 weeks to 15. Just a...

Mississippi’s Gov. Phil Bryant will reportedly appoint the state's first female member of Congress by picking the state’s agriculture commissioner to fill the vacancy to be left by Sen. Thad Cochran’s upcoming retirement. The Associated Press reported Tuesday that Cindy Hyde-Smith, who has served as the state’s agriculture commissioner since 2011, will step into the veteran Republican’s seat. That announcement could come as soon as Wednesday. Should Hyde-Smith be appointed, she will hold the seat for the special election on Nov. 6, when she would be backed by the GOP establishment against both Democrats and a challenger from the right...

Mississippi has become the first state in the U.S. to ban abortion at 15 weeks. Today, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a law restricting abortions earlier than any other state in America. Bryant, a Republican, says that HB 1510 will help bring Mississippi closer to his goal of making the state “the safest place in America for an unborn child.” The law, which passed the State House of Representatives 80-31 on February 2 and the State Senate 35-14 on March 6, forbids abortions from being performed beyond fifteen weeks for any reason other than a “medical emergency,” defined as a...

A restaurant in New Orleans is hoping to raise awareness of racial wealth differences in the country by charging white customers more. SAARTJ is a pop-up restaurant in the Louisiana city run by local Nigerian chef Tunde Wey who will be charging white customers $18 (£13) extra for their meal. Much like the cafe in Melbourne, Australia which charged a 'man-tax' due to the gender pay gap, SAARTJ is charging an increase to highlight the racial pay gap in New Orleans. In 2013, a study found that the average household income of an African-American in the city was 54 per...

While he survived a brutal and controversial Senate primary in 2014, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, citing his failing health, is resigning effective April 1. A special election will be held to finish the remainder of his term that ends in 2020. If no one gets above 50 percent, a runoff will be held. For now, Gov. Phil Bryant will appoint an interim senator to fill the vacancy until the election. Cochran’s colleague, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MI), is up for re-election this year and is facing a challenge by state Sen. Chris McDaniel. McDaniel challenged Cochran in 2014 (via NPR): I...

Espy became Assistant State Attorney General from 1984 to 1985, when he was elected as a Democrat to the 100th Congress in 1986 from Mississippi's 2nd congressional district. He defeated two-term Republican Webb Franklin to become the first African-American to represent Mississippi at the federal level since Reconstruction. He was reelected three times. Just 20 days after taking office for his fourth term, Espy resigned after being appointed Secretary of Agriculture in the Cabinet of President Bill Clinton. He served as Secretary of Agriculture in 1993–94.

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) resigned from office on Monday, effective April 1. He has been in failing health for several months. “Longtime Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that he will resign April 1 because of health problems,” the wire service reported from Jackson, Mississippi late Monday afternoon: Cochran, who turned 80 in December, stayed home for a month last fall with urinary tract infections, returning to Washington in October to give Republicans the majority they needed to pass a budget plan. “I regret my health has become...

Mississippi Senator Cochran to resign April 1.

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) on Monday said he will resign from the Senate next month, saying his "health has become an ongoing challenge." "I intend to fulfill my responsibilities and commitments to the people of Mississippi and the Senate through the completion of the 2018 appropriations cycle, after which I will formally retire from the U.S. Senate," Cochran said in a statement. He is set to resign from his seat on April 1, according to his office. Cochran is the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. His announcement comes as Congress aims to pass a mammoth government funding bill by...

Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel announced a challenge Wednesday to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) in Mississippi's GOP primary, setting the stage for a contentious primary fight. McDaniel's challenge had been long expected, after he made a surprisingly strong but ultimately failed bid in 2014 against Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). On Wednesday, McDaniel much of his announcement speech railing against the political establishment in Washington and laying into Wicker.

.@SenatorWicker of Mississippi has been a great supporter and incredible help in getting our massive Tax Cut Bill done and approved. Also big help on cutting regs. I am with him in his re-election all the way! 5:58 PM - 27 Feb 2018

More than two dozen Senate Republicans are urging President Trump to re-engage in Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations. The 25 GOP lawmakers sent a letter to Trump on Friday saying they support his recent comments that he may consider U.S. participation if the 11-nation Asia-Pacific pact is improved.

A new poll shows some bad news for Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, and his low approval numbers could mean he will face a primary fight. According to the latest poll from JMC, only 43% of respondents have a favorable view of Wicker, and it only gets worse: just 38% of those polled would vote for Wicker in the primary.

Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia, but California, where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That's according to the Census Bureau's Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income.

Does anyone in or nearby Mississippi know if a conservative challenger is rising to kick out that pro-amnesty RINO scum Roger Wicker for the 2018 Senate race? If not, I'll make the case here on why it's so urgent to Cantorize this backstabbing quisling sellout to the conservative cause and American people. As reminder, Wicker was one of the GOPe RINO traitors who voted for that treasonous 2013 Obama comprehensive immigration reform bill that would have amnestied 20 million illegals and flooded the USA with job-killing h1b visas and Muslim refugees. I just got back from a long run of...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to take up a legal battle over a Mississippi law that allows state employees and private businesses to deny services to LGBT people based on religious objections. Signed into law in 2016 in response to the Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling, it allows county clerks to avoid issuing marriage licenses to gay couples and protects businesses from lawsuits if they refuse to serve LGBT customers. The law was immediately challenged. But lower courts, without ruling on the merits of the law, said those suing could not show that they would be harmed...

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear two cases challenging a Mississippi law that allows businesses and government employees to deny services to LGBT people based on their religious beliefs. The court’s refusal to hear the case leaves intact the law, known as H.B. 1523, that says the state government will not take any discriminatory action against persons who don’t believe in same-sex marriage, homosexuality and transgenderism. LGBT rights groups called the law the “worst in the nation” and the Supreme Court’s decision a “missed opportunity.” “The Court’s inaction today means that LGBTQ Mississippians will continue to face harassment...

A Mississippi mother of two has been arrested for allegedly sending text messages claiming that she choked her baby with a phone charger and left her in a wooded area. Deputies arrested Santangela Turner, 26, of Laurel, after she allegedly sent photos of herself using a white cord to strangle her three-month-old daughter’s neck and of the infant with a knife aimed at her neck, the Daily Mail reported. The woman threatened to harm the infant in one of the text messages and added a photo of the baby with a cord wrapped around her neck, according to the Jones...