Free Republic

Eager to lock up the GOP nomination without a convention fight, Donald Trump battled Saturday to pad his lead in the delegate count as four more states delivered verdicts on the fractious Republican race for president. Democrats in three states were choosing between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Saturday’s GOP races in Maine, Kansas, Kentucky and Louisiana and Democratic contests in Nebraska, Kansas and Louisiana were largely overshadowed by Super Tuesday contests in the rear-view mirror and critical contests soon to come. But with front-runner Trump yet to win states by the margins he’ll need in order to secure the...

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - The Nebraska Democratic Caucuses get started Saturday, only the second time the state's Democrats have divided their delegates this way. Former President Bill Clinton spoke Friday on behalf of wife Hillary to about 700 people at The Waiting Room nightclub in Benson, with many more in an overfill room. Meanwhile, plenty of people are ready to caucus. “I like how the Democrats actually talk about the issues rather than talking about each other's manhood,” said Chase Ilsey, a Hillary Clinton supporter. Bernie Sanders' national press secretary was also in town. “He has the experience to know...

The Chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees sounded a tone of outrage this week at an Obama administration policy that has allowed for the release of at least three criminal aliens charged with drunk driving and implicated in the murder and severe injury of Americans this year. “This careless policy is a clear and unmistakable message to the American people that this Administration has decided that their safety and security are far less important than ensuring that illegally present aliens with no regard for the law will remain in this country without any legal consequences whatsoever,” House Judiciary...

Six states filed a new lawsuit Wednesday against the Obama administration over the Affordable Care Act. The complaint that Texas, Wisconsin, Kansas, Louisiana, Indiana and Nebraska filed in the Northern District of Texas takes issue with the Health Insurance Providers Fee assessed to health insurers to cover federal subsidies. The lawsuit says nothing in the Affordable Care Act's language provided clear notice that states would also have to pay the fee. ...

One small governor's race has turned into a cattle call for potential 2016 presidential candidates: Nebraska. Specifically, one candidate in the Cornhusker State is getting outsized attention from talked-about Republican presidential contenders. (SNIP) "Ted Cruz and Paul Ryan and Mike Pence, they don't know the difference between Pete Ricketts and Jon Bruning or any of the other candidates in this race," said Bruning campaign manager Jordan McGrain. "They know his last name is Ricketts."

Chelsea Clinton says her mother is a political realist, who knows when to stand and fight and when to compromise. The younger Clinton also argued that her mother, Hillary Clinton, is the best candidate in the Democratic presidential field to "protect" the gains made in the White House under Democratic President Barack Obama. "We have to have a president who knows when to stand their ground and when to find common ground," said Clinton, during a campaign stop Wednesday in Omaha on her mother's behalf.(snip)Chelsea Clinton noted that her mother once tried to push for universal health care during her...

The decision by two branches of the Crips street gang to band together allowed a grand jury to indict six of them under a federal law created in the 1970s to target the Mafia. U.S. Attorney Deb Gilg announced the indictments Friday as part of a three-year investigation into gang and gun violence in north Omaha. According to court documents, all six men belong to the 40th Ave Crips or the 44th Ave Crips. They had united to retaliate against their enemies, make more money selling drugs and meet their goal of becoming "the most feared street gang in Omaha,"...

I was almost starting to feel sorry for Shane Osborn. After all, he had been spurned by the conservative movement in favor of a fresher face named Ben Sasse, had been unceremoniously un-endorsed (for really no good reason) by FreedomWorks, had his military service questioned, and was effectively swift-boated in an ad paid for by an outside group. (SNIP) As Jonathan Strong points out, The pledge, from the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), asks candidates to vow to oppose amnesty, increases in legal immigration, and increases in the number of guest workers. They dont just want to stop illegal...

OMAHA, Nebraska, January 18, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A battle over sex education in Omaha schools roiling since last year is set to come to a head soon, with the district's board of education scheduled to vote this week on proposed new Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE) standards. The new standards are an effort to usurp parents as primary educators of their children, one parents' group says, and with the push for the standards involving Planned Parenthood and other objectionable groups, parents are crying foul. "Our children's souls are at risk," Mark Bonkiewicz of Nebraskans for Founders' Values told LifeSiteNews. "We're not...

A University of Nebraska-Lincoln associate professor was given a personal invitation to meet President Obama following a speech in Omaha Wednesday because of her staunch anti-gun activism. The woman, Amanda Gailey, an English professor, is also the director of a group known as Nebraskans Against Gun Violence, according to her Facebook profile. In addition to her anti-gun position, Gailey doesn’t appear to be much of a fan of law enforcement either. In a public post on her Facebook page dated Dec. 28, 2015, less than a month before she met the president and the same day it was revealed that...

Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, the Planned Parenthood affiliate covering Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska and eastern Oklahoma, has filed a lawsuit against a newly-enacted Arkansas law requiring abortion drugs be prescribed in accordance with federal Food and Drug Administration standards. The law, which is slated to go into effect Friday, requires Mifeprex medication abortions (mifepristone and misoprostol) to be administered at the dose the FDA recommends rather than the much lower dosage that has become common among abortion practice, and that women take misoprostol pills in-clinic rather than on their own. Planned Parenthood claims the FDA protocols are based on outdated...

He was supposed to win the GOP nomination easily and just six months ago, it appeared he would do just that. He had tens of millions of donor dollars at the ready, the approval of the GOP Establishment, and a successful stint as governor of one of the most important swing states in the country. Nothing went as planned. SNIP A D.C. Whispers source painted the Bush campaign with the following colors: "He just doesn't have it and he's not a good enough politician to fake it. He's also suffering from eight years of Barack Obama faking it and voters...

By suggesting the richest 400 Americans have seen their effective tax rate drop by one-third and thus they should back a 30% minimum tax rate, Mr. Buffett is deflecting attention toward rates and away from itemized deduction and tax-avoidance regulations. It is interesting to see Warren Buffett using selective data to steer the Hillary Clinton tax plan away from tax reform that would truly unhinge the superwealthy .. By suggesting the richest 400 Americans have seen their effective tax rate drop by one-third and thus they should back a 30% minimum tax rate, Mr. Buffett is deflecting attention toward rates...

Donald Trump rally in Council Bluffs tonight, Tuesday, Dec 29, 2015, 6:30 p.m. at the Mid-America Center, 1 Arena Way, Council Bluffs, IA. Doors open at 4:30 p.m. Opportunity for western Iowa and Omaha area to attend.

Airports. Schools. Prisons. Now, add this to the list of gun-free zones: a courtroom. Douglas County District Judge James Gleason raised eyebrows and police officers ire this week when he refused to allow two Omaha police officers to enter his courtroom unless they left their guns behind. The officers declined to do so, noting that the guns are a required part of their uniform and equipment. Plus, Omaha police officers noted that Gleason's policy flies in the face of Douglas County's overall courthouse security policy, which allows on-duty officers to carry their weapons in courtrooms throughout the building.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: So I just saw Fox News Channel here during the break, and I see a little headline the bottom of the screen: "Hillary Clinton Launching Charm Offensive to Win Over Republican Voters." Well, now, that's not possible. I mean, a charm offensive is not possible. Winning over Republican voters? Hell, anything's possible. You know what she said? She said, "I do not have horns," and everybody's applauding it. "Oh, man, look at Hillary! She's in Omaha. She's in Nebraska. She targeting Republicans. "She's claiming that she's on a charm offensive. She's gonna convert Republicans! She's assuring them...

Who Wins The Republican Debate? Carson 0% Cruz 48% Bush 0% Christie 0% Trump 22% Rubio 9% Florin 0% Paul 20%

Inspectors have discovered mold growing in heating and air conditioning ducts of the $1.2 billion U.S. Strategic Command headquarters under construction at Offutt Air Force Base. The discovery of the mold, in September, has halted further work on the HVAC system in the massive structure, said Matt Bird, senior project manager for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which is overseeing the job. Other work continues at the 80-acre construction site, he said, but the mold-infested sections of ductwork will have to be removed. Military officials say the contractor, not the government, will have to pay for the extra work.

Sunday following President Barack Obama’s address to the nation about the threat of terrorism, Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) offered his response in video posted to YouTube. Sasse explained that we were not at war with “terrorism,” which he said was a tactic, or that we were at war with “extremism,” which he called an “empty sociological label.” Instead he said the country was at war with definitive types of Islam, but not all Muslims.

In a stinging rebuke to President Barack Obama by Republicans and Democrats, the House ignored a veto threat Thursday and overwhelmingly approved GOP legislation erecting fresh hurdles for Syrian and Iraqi refugees trying to enter the United States. Forty-seven Democrats joined all but two Republicans as the House passed the measure by a veto-proof 289-137 margin, a major setback to the lame duck president on an issue —the Islamic State group and the refugees fleeing it — that shows no signs of easing. The vote exceeded the two-thirds majority required to override a veto, and came despite a rushed, early...