Free Republic

We're covering #MTAL tonight at 10pm ET. Results & live blog up at http://decisiondeskhq.com ; & live broadcast analyzing #s via @BuzzFeedNews

For all his gains, though, Quist didn’t exactly have a whole lot of help from the Democratic Party’s official organs, and like many down-ballot races for Congress, his campaign didn’t have an overwhelming amount of tech expertise on staff, either. So Quist’s consultants turned to the likes of Alter, a Bay Area resident, who has labored since January to link digitally savvy tech types — many still reeling after Trump’s election victory — to progressive candidates and causes. Quist’s tough gamble in Montana is now one of a series of races aided by Tech for Campaigns, a group that Alter...

A reporter who was a firsthand witness to an incident late Wednesday involving Montana GOP candidate Greg Gianforte and a reporter for The Guardian now admits she may have misstated some details of her initial story.

[snip] Faith, Keith and I arrived early to set up for the interview in a room adjacent to another room where a volunteer BBQ was to take place. As the time for the interview neared, Gianforte came into the room. We exchanged pleasantries and made small talk about restaurants and Bozeman. During that conversation, another man — who we now know is Ben Jacobs of The Guardian — walked into the room with a voice recorder, put it up to Gianforte's face and began asking if he had a response to the newly released Congressional Budget Office report on the...

James Taranto’s late, lamented Wall Street Journal column had a running tongue-in-cheek rubric, “We Blame George W. Bush,” in which the former president was blamed for everything under the sun, despite his utter lack of connection to it. In that spirit, Taranto might have had a field day with a panel discussion on CNN this morning, in which the participants did their best to blame President Trump for an incident in Montana in which the Republican congressional candidate has been accused of manhandling a reporter. Co-host Alisyn Camerota got the ball rolling by asking whether there is “some sort of...

.... Ryan is calling for the Republican candidate in Montana's special House election to apologize after allegedly attacking a reporter and getting charged with assault. Ryan says "that's wrong and should not happen."

"""BREAKING: Lifelong Democrat Operative at The @Guardian Ben Jacobs Lies About Assault on GOP Candidate Greg Gianforte""" A former minion for the Iowa Democratic Party now operating as a Guardian reporter, Ben Jacobs, assaulted Montana Republican House candidate Greg Gianforte on Wednesday. Jacobs has a history of opposing his political opponents’ freedom of speech, as GotNews reported in October. Gianforte is competing against Democratic candidate Rob Quist for a House seat that opened up after President Donald J. Trump appointed Ryan Zinke to be secretary of the interior. The special election is Thursday. A statement about Jacobs’ assault from Greg...

Washington (CNN) A race for an open House seat in Montana took a jaw-dropping twist when a reporter alleged that Republican candidate Greg Gianforte "body slammed" him and broke his glasses on the eve of Election Day. Late Wednesday night, the Gallatin County Sheriff's department charged Gianforte with misdemeanor assault. The latest news came just ahead of an already much-anticipated special congressional election in the Big Sky state that pitted a folk-singing Democrat with a spotty financial past against a well-known Republican millionaire and businessman. Republican Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist face off Thursday to replace former Rep. Ryan Zinke,...

The race to fill Montana's sole seat in the U.S. House of Representatives took a violent turn Wednesday, and a crew from the Fox News Channel, including myself, witnessed it firsthand. As part of our preparation for a story about Thursday's special election to air on "Special Report with Bret Baier," we arranged interviews with the top two candidates, Republican Greg Gianforte and Democrat Rob Quist. On Wednesday, I joined field producer Faith Mangan and photographer Keith Railey in Bozeman for our scheduled interview with Gianforte, which was to take place at the Gianforte for Congress Bozeman Headquarters. ~snip~ At...

Knives are arms protected by the Second Amendment. In American history, knives have been banned as often, perhaps more so, than firearms have.The concealed carry of knives have been banned, along with firearms. The possession and carry of knives have been regularily banned and forbidden by the states. In Montana, Constitutional carry for knives was achieved on 21 April, 2017.Montana law treated knives with a blade of more than 4 inches the same as firearms in their concealed carry statute. It is legal to carry concealed weapons in most of Montana, without a permit, except inside city limits.  The...

SEATTLE (AP) - Washington state lost a major legal battle Friday, which could force it spend nearly $2 billion to restore salmon habitat by removing barriers that block fish migration. A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year affirmed a lower court’s 2013 ruling ordering the state to fix or replace hundreds of culverts - large pipes that allow streams to pass beneath roads but block migrating salmon. Idaho and Montana joined Washington state in asking the appeals court to reconsider the case. Washington had sought a rehearing, arguing in part that the court’s decision forces...

Calling the campaign a harbinger of things to come, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders stumped Saturday for Democrat Rob Quist, who seeks to wrest Montana’s only congressional seat from Republican control. “I don’t want to make you nervous, but the eyes of this country are on Montana this week,” Sanders told an estimated 3,500 people gathered inside the University of Montana’s Adams Center in Missoula. “If you can do it in Montana, we can do it all across this country,” Sanders said. “We can create a political revolution that restores power to the working class, not just the billionaire class. That’s...

A donkey named Oliver joined several therapy dogs offering stress relief during Finals Week at Montana State University in Bozeman.

"This is something that the entire world needs to address," Quist said. "If any those of you that feel like this is not a problem, I challenge you to go into your car in your garage, start your car, and see what happens there." During his campaign, Quist's life has come into the public light, including his regular musical performances at an Idaho nudist resort with his daughter.

Montana Democrat nominee Rob Quist encouraged climate skeptics to consider suicide in a response to a question on climate change. Quist debated Republican nominee Greg Gianforte and Libertarian Mark Wicks for Montana’s U.S. House at-large seat to replace Ryan Zinke, the interior secretary. Montana’s at-large district will hold their special election on May 25th. The Democrat nominee was criticized for performing many times at a nudist resort in Idaho. National Republican Congressional Committee spokesman Jack Pandol said in an email, “The more Rob Quist’s past is laid bare, the more his claim to represent Montana values is exposed as another...

President Trump told the Washington Examiner that he is "absolutely" thinking about breaking up the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Trump criticized the heavily liberal court that blocked his executive order calling for a Mideast travel ban. He suggested it would likely uphold the injunction against his withholding of sanctuary cities' federal funds if the Justice Department appeals that ruling. Trump said that "many people" would support breaking up the "outrageous" bench, adding that he is "absolutely" considering the possibility.

Montana Democrat Rob Quist, a locally famous musician, is a frequent performer at the Sun Meadow Resort, Idaho's premier nudist resort for guests seeking a "family nudist experience." ... Some of Quist's concerts at Sun Meadow came during a period when he claimed he was "unable to work" due to "significant health problems" caused by a botched gall bladder surgery in 1996. He previously blamed financial troubles for his inability to perform at all in 2011.

Montana media outlets have reported that Greg Gianforte announced he would take Donald Trump Jr. on a hunting excursion to shoot Black-tailed prairie dogs in Montana. For prairie dogs, March through June is peak breeding season, which means pregnant, adult females will also be at risk. This is especially disconcerting because Black-tailed prairie dogs have an average of fewer than three pups per year. “Prairie dogs are an important keystone species with myriad other species dependent on their survival, including the burrowing owl, black-footed ferret and nesting birds. People do not hunt these animals for food or any legitimate wildlife...

U.S. Border Patrol agents are once again sounding the alarm about miles of border being left wide open and unsecured. Breitbart Texas exclusively obtained a document showing a Havre Sector Border Patrol manager knowingly issuing orders to leave 40 miles of border open and unpatrolled. Obama holdovers in the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency are continuing with the same careless disregard in the Trump Administration that they did under former resident Obama, according to Border Patrol agents. Breitbart Texas has the specific order that was given to the agents signed by the Obama-holdover manager. The order demands that agents...

Energy Transfer Partners, the developer behind the so-called DAPL, is scheduled to start delivering oil on May 14 to Illinois, according to filings from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The oil project is expected to transport more than 500,000 barrels of oil a year across the eastern section of the country. ... The Obama administration rejected the previously approved pipeline last December ... President Donald Trump eventually issued orders approving the DAPL in January ... many demonstrators have begun diverting their attention to the equally contentious Keystone XL Pipeline, another oil pipeline Trump approved through executive order. Obama originally rejected...