Free Republic

Since 2008, the Democratic Party has increasingly become the home of minorities, while the Republican Party draws its support from whites.One of my fondest memories was spending four days in February 1977 as a staffer sitting on the Senate floor, mostly wedged between Gaylord Nelson and Russell Long as the Senate debated a resolution to reform its committee system. They were good friends, lovely people, and great storytellers, and I mostly sat there taking their conversation in, occasionally earning my pay by letting them know what a particular provision of the resolution did or what an amendment would do. At...

Did you know that there’s been a massive uptick in white thugs setting black folks on fire, yet the media has been virtually silent on this horrendous subject? Sure, we all have heard of Darren Wilson's shooting Michael Brown, but there has been no coverage of the aforementioned. Like in zero… nada… nothing… zilch. What kind of racist “news outlets” would be so heinous to cover up such gross and unspeakable evil? Why haven’t the most powerful people in our government and the entertainment industry spoken out and condemned this obvious xenophobic act of viciousness? How come there has been...

From 1997 to 2004, Republican political strategist John Hancock was the executive director of the Missouri Republican Party. A decade after leaving that full-time role, Hancock is considering a return to the organization. This time, he wants to be chairman. Early last month, Republicans supporting Hancock’s candidacy began informally polling members of the Missouri Republican State Committee about the possibility of a run and even challenging the incumbent chairman, Ed Martin. Their findings were apparently positive, as Hancock has quietly began personally working members of the state committee.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)It's not something you see every day, a horse in a wedding dress standing outside the federal courthouse. "I thought it was laughable and I believe he was going for a ridiculous protest and he certainly got one," says Eddie Outlaw, LGBT advocate. Reverend Edward James of Bertha Chapel Missionary Baptist Church dressed his horse, Charlotte, in a makeshift wedding dress to protest same-sex marriage. "The horse is to show the ridiculous idea of two men getting married," says James. James says after a federal decision was made in November to lift the ban on same-sex marriage in the state,...

A grisly killing in a small town in Mississippi has local residents on edge and looking for answers. A blond-haired teenager with no known enemies was found walking down a rural road on fire Saturday night. She had been beaten, doused with lighter-fluid and set ablaze. Jessica Chambers Jessica Chambers, 19, of Panola County was found engulfed in flames near the charred shell of her car sitting on the roadside in the town of Courtland. The town has a population of 460. She was flown to a hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, but later died. Preliminary autopsy results reveal Jessica died...

Investigators are hoping Jessica Chambers' final words will lead them to the killer or killers who burned the 19-year-old teenager alive in a gruesome murder Saturday that has stunned the small Mississippi community of Courtland.... When first responders arrived at the scene, Chambers reportedly uttered a few words that might lead detectives to her killer or killers. Police have not disclosed what Chambers said -- or tried to say. No motive has been released. "They squirted lighter fluid down her throat and in her nose, and apparently they knocked her out," her father, Ben Chambers, told the station as he...

COURTLAND, Miss. — A family his planning their second child’s funeral after a woman was killed. Panola County deputies believe Jessica Chambers was set on fire and are investigating her death as a homicide. “It’s hard for me to talk,” Ben Chambers said. “It’s hard to breathe. You don’t even think about–.” Most people do not think about losing a child the way Ben Chambers lost his. “When the fire department got there they say she was on fire out in the road,” Chambers recalled.

Senator Rand Paul To Headline Mississippi Republican Party Victory Event ON:5 December 2014 BY:Admin IN: Media Advisory WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) will join Governor Phil Bryant and the Mississippi Republican Party in Jackson, Mississippi on Monday, December 8 for a fundraising event benefiting the state party. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014 WHAT: Mississippi Republican Party Victory Lunch TIME: 11:30 am (CST) WHO: Senator Rand Paul & Governor Phil Bryant WHERE: The Old Capitol Inn 226 North State Street, Jackson MS 39201

Democrats hope to take back control of the Senate in 2016, but their plans could be complicated by potential retirements. The two Democratic senators most likely to retire are Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who represent both sides of the party’s ideological spectrum. Boxer, whose fourth term expires at the end of 2016, has a paltry $149,000 in her campaign account, less than almost every other senator facing election next year. As the nation’s most populous state, California is expensive to cover with advertising. If Boxer decides to run for reelection, she would face a major fundraising...

Published on Aug 12, 2014 Al Sharpton called for transparency in the Michael Brown police shooting case. He said he knows people are angry but urged them to throw their arms up instead of turning to violence. (Aug 12, 2014)

With a long statewide election season just complete, another – the one with the biggest ballot of them all – looms on the horizon in 2015. And while most state government incumbents elected statewide have confirmed they’ll be running for re-election to their current offices, some could have challengers – from outside or possibly inside their own party. (SNIP) Rumors have abounded for some time about various Republicans challenging Reeves, who is expected to seek re-election. The talk now is centered around second-term Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann as a potential challenger to Reeves. When asked about Hosemann’s election plans,...

JACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge has overturned Mississippi's ban on same-sex marriage, but he is putting his order on hold for two weeks so the state can appeal. U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves issued a preliminary injunction Tuesday. State attorneys have already said they will ask the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to block Reeves' order....

The state Supreme Court in Mississippi, where same-sex marriage is not recognized, will hear arguments Jan. 21, 2015, from a woman who has asked the state to recognize her gay marriage so that she can be granted a divorce. Lauren Czekala-Chatham and Dana Ann Melancon, who married in California in 2008, cannot be granted a divorce in Mississippi due to the state's constitution and statutes, DeSoto County Chancery Judge Mitchell Lundy Jr. ruled last year. "All same sex Mississippi couples lack a right to have their marriage recognized by the state regardless of whether newly arrived here, having lived here...

JACKSON, Miss.–It was a conference call with former Gov. Haley Barbour’s lobbying firm after last week’s election, where Politico reports Barbour referred to President Obama’s issues as “tar babies”, a term some consider racially insensitive since it refers to tar babies in Joel Chandler Harris’ “Uncle Remus” stories. Those stories were made into the movies “Song of the South” by Disney, which has since made people angry with what many perceive to be black stereotypes. Some consider Barbour to be a stereotype himself, when talking about Mississippians with a thick accent and conservative politics. Barbour said in the call that...

Kior, Inc., the Houston-area biofuels maker that hoped to tap new technology to produce clean energy, filed for bankruptcy Sunday. The company listed $58.3 million in assets along with $261.3 million debts in its filing in the federal bankruptcy court in Delaware, where the company is incorporated. The company was at one-time considered a leader in the development of what’s known as cellulosic fuel — gasoline and diesel that is made from inedible plant material like woodchips and grass clippings. Though other biofuels are made from plants — ethanol, for example, is made from corn or sugarcane — cellulosic fuels...

Unless the Better Schools, Better Jobs folks badly miscounted the number of signatures they gathered, their initiative to require eventual full funding of the Mississippi Adequate Education program will be on the ballot in November 2015. The Adequate Education Program, of course, is the funding formula that determines the amount of money each local school district is supposed to get from the state to support basic operations, such as salaries and maintenance. The poorer the school district, the larger its percentage of state funds is. The Better Schools, Better Jobs group was formed because since it was fully enacted in...

DESOTO COUNTY, MS (WMC) - You might expect to find an army in DeSoto County ... an army of drones, that is. A Southaven man has an army of hand-crafted drones, all controlled from inside of his customized command center. Estes built drones that provide infrared thermal imaging; they also detect human movement inside of a home or car. And what he is doing is legal. "You can do good things with this, or you can do bad things with this," Estes acknowledged. Estes wrote letters to the Federal Aviation Administration about his drone capabilities. Right now, the FAA requires...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Liberal MSNBC contributor Jimmy Williams said the “old white people” in the South who vote Republican are “going to die someday” and hopefully usher in a new era of Democratic rule in the region. Host Krystal Ball, a former failed Democratic congressional candidate, asked Williams whether white Southerners should just be written off by the party, but Williams said never, saying that since they are “for people” and Republicans aren’t, they would eventually win the day. “Mitt Romney only won South Carolina with 53 [percent], John McCain with 52,” he said. “That’s a changing South. Those old white people? They’re...

JACKSON, Miss. —Mississippi Republican Thad Cochran has won a seventh term in the U.S. Senate. Unofficial results show the 76-year-old incumbent defeated two challengers Tuesday -- Democratic former Congressman Travis Childers and Reform Party candidate Shawn O'Hara.

Governor Steve Beshear says Kentucky risks running off the “progressive path” it’s on if voters give the GOP a majority of state House seats. Beshear made the comments in Barren County Thursday. Democrats currently hold a 54-to-46 advantage in the chamber, but Republicans have made a major push to win control of the House for the first time in more than 90 years. To help Democratic incumbents, Beshear has been on the road this week, announcing funding for infrastructure projects in districts where these members are facing competitive challenges by Republican candidates. Beshear said if the GOP does gain control...