Free Republic

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf is proposing that the state legalize recreational marijuana in an effort to raise tax revenues lost during the Covid pandemic. Ironically, his draconian shutdown of much of the state over the past six months has seriously impacted the PA economy, and hence the state’s tax revenue. But it’s a pipe dream. In Colorado, for every dollar gained from marijuana taxes, taxpayers spend $4.50 to mitigate the effects of legalization. For Pennsylvania, any short term revenue increase will be swallowed up by the serious long term social and economic effects of legalization.In fact, if the governor is...

This case is not about one particular law, but the rule of law. California Assemblymen Kevin Kiley and James Gallagher are suing to stop California Governor Gavin Newsom’s “one man rule.” Kiley and Gallagher filed their most recent Trial Brief, and Gov. Gavin Newsom filed his. The trial will take place Wednesday, October 21, 2020 in Sutter County. The Michigan Supreme Court recently struck down the 1945 law that Governor Gretchen Whitmer has been using to keep the state in lockdown since April. And in September, a federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that Governor Tom Wolf’s lockdown orders were unconstitutional,...

New Jersey is almost certainly going to go Democratic in this year’s presidential race. That doesn’t leave a lot for us deep thinkers to pontificate about. But then there’s the keystone county in the Keystone State. That’s Bucks County, Pa., according to Charles McElwee of RealClearPolitics. He recently wrote an excellent analysis in which he termed the county “the ultimate suburban bellwether.” So I was intrigued when I got an email from a reader informing me of a pro-Trump motorcade that would be held on Saturday just across the Delaware. Alex Armstrong told me the rally was organized not by...

Suspect was charged with felony arson. Police said a 60-year-old man told them he set fire to a flag supporting President Donald Trump — which was hanging from a home on his newspaper route — because he was "angry," NorthcentralPA.com reported. What are the details? Harrison Bennett was charged with felony arson after police in Shamokin City, Pennsylvania, said he set the flag ablaze when it was attached to an occupied building, the outlet said. Bennett is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before District Judge John Gembic on Nov. 10, the outlet added. Officer Tyler R. Bischof said Bennett used...

Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. announced that President Donald J. Trump will deliver remarks at Make America Great Again Rallies in Erie, Pennsylvania on Tuesday, October 20th, 2020 at 7:00 PM EDT and in Gastonia, North Carolina on Wednesday, October 21st, 2020 at 7:00 PM EDT. Tuesday, October 20, 2020 at 7:00 PM EDT President Donald J. Trump Delivers Remarks at a Make America Great Again Rally in Erie, Pennsylvania Erie International Airport

Chief Justice John Roberts joined the liberal wing of the Supreme Court in rejecting an application for a stay that was requested by Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania. The GOP asked the Supreme Court to put a stop to a state Supreme Court ruling that extended the deadline—by three days—for receiving and counting mail-in ballots for November’s presidential election. But the 8-justice Supreme Court on Monday denied the application for the stay. The order only said that conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh would have granted the application. There was no other message, leading us to...

The Supreme Court on Monday shut down a GOP-led effort to block an extended period for counting ballots in the crucial presidential swing state of Pennsylvania. Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the high court's three liberals, resulting in a 4-4 tie. Justices Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, and Kavanaugh sided with the state GOP. In the event of a 4-4 deadlock, the lower court ruling is affirmed and upheld. In this case, a ruling that favored state Democrats won out. The court is not at full capacity and was forced to issue a ruling with only eight justices, due to the...

6/03/20 to 10/19/20: D +114,497R +215,393OTHERS +86,979 11/08/16 to 10/19/20: D -10,266R +205,155OTHERS +98,297 Total Voters (Active+ Inactive) 10/19/20: DEMs 4,207,190 REPs 3,506,337 OTHERS 1,302,636

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An appellate court judge in Pennsylvania has turned down an emergency petition from Republicans seeking to block the Philadelphia suburb of Delaware County from operating a three-day early voting center in the city of Chester. Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson, in a decision Friday night, wrote that a county judge had reasonable grounds to reject the emergency petition. Pennsylvania is a key battleground state in the contest between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. The voting center began operating Friday in the predominantly Black and Democratic city of Chester. The county's solicitor, William...

It makes altogether perfect sense for Barack Obama to make his first in-person campaign stop for Joe Biden in Philadelphia, PA. On at least three occasions, Philadelphia helped save Obama’s own political bacon. The first time came in March 2008 after the racist, anti-American speeches of Obama’s wild-eyed pastor, Jeremiah Wright, first surfaced. To neutralize the fallout Obama chose Philadelphia as the site for a speech, immodestly titled “A More Perfect Union.” Obama began the speech by reminding those few registered voters who might somehow have forgotten, “I am the son of a black man from Kenya and a white...

The latest state polling by the Trafalgar Group predicts another win for President Trump in the upper 270’s to low 280’s in the Electoral College, but the CEO highlights a couple of big cautions for Republicans. In an lengthy interview on the National Review “The Editors” podcast, the Trafalgar Group CEO Robert Cahaly told NR’s Rich Lowry that he predicts Trump will win the battleground states of Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Texas. He said things are tighter in Wisconsin and Arizona, though Cahaly says Trump has the lead and will “probably win” in Arizona. Our new @trafalgar_group #2020Election #FL #BattlegroundState...

Pa. Boilermakers Trustee: 'Nobody from his staff—nobody—has ever spoken with us' A top official at one of Pennsylvania's most powerful labor groups slammed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for falsely boasting of the union's endorsement. Shawn Steffee, a trustee with Boilermakers Local 154, said that his members were shocked to hear the Democratic nominee claim their support on national television. While Biden claimed to have "sat down" with union leaders to have an in-depth discussion about his plans, Steffee said the Biden campaign never approached his membership. Biden's criticism to fracking led Local 154—the largest local chapter of boilermakers in...

The Hasidic synagogue barred from holding a public wedding in Brooklyn over fears it would attract 10,000 people says the “unwarranted attacks” forced it to scrap the planned celebration to avoid a “paparazzi” event. The Congregation Yetev Lev D’Satmar was served an order Friday night from New York state barring Monday’s planned public wedding in Williamsburg of a grandson of its grand rabbi, Zalman Leib Teitelbaum. But the synagogue hit out at the order, saying it had taken special steps to ensure the wedding complied with coronavirus guidelines but “nobody verified our plans before attacking us.” “The unwarranted attacks on...

President Donald Trump famously said during the presidential debate that “bad things happen in Philadelphia.” But some good things happen for Trump here, too. He defeated Hillary Clinton in two of the city’s 66 wards in 2016, besting Mitt Romney’s performance from four years earlier by winning areas of South and Northeast Philadelphia. Clinton still won the overwhelmingly Democratic city by 67 percentage points, but the extra votes for Trump were significant in a state he won by less than 1 point. Another good thing for Trump? Even the Democratic leaders of the 26th and 66th Wards see potential for...

Pennsylvania has cast off hundreds of thousands of applications for mail-in ballots ahead of the 2020 election, because of confusion about the process. About 372,000 requests were rejected, as reported by ProPublica on Friday, largely because many of them, about 90%, were duplicates. Overall, one out of every five requests for mail-in ballots are being rejected, according to the publication. However, people who made more than one request should eventually receive their ballot, a spokesperson for the Pensylvania State Department said. They can also head to the polls on Election Day.

The Boilermakers Local 154 union, which represents thousands of American workers in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, is calling out Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden for lying about having been endorsed by the union. At a televised town hall event this week, Biden made the false claim that the Boilermakers union “overwhelmingly” endorsed him, saying he “sat down with them” to discuss his energy plan in which he has said he will ban fracking. As Breitbart News noted, the Boilermakers Local 154 union endorsed Trump, as they did in 2016, last month. Union leader John Hughes called out Biden for...

In the immensely critical battleground state of Pennsylvania, approximately 372,000 mail-in ballots were rejected. The situation perplexed many voters, but officials say there is an explanation for the confusion. ProPublica and the Philadelphia Inquirer co-published a report on Friday discovering that 372,000 mail-in ballots were rejected. Overall, one out of every five requests for mail-in ballots were rejected, according to the report. However, 90% of those mail-in ballots, about 336,000, were denied as duplicates. The reason for the confusion is because people may have previously and unknowingly already requested a mail-in ballot for the November election. Many Pennsylvanians who voted...

Shawn Steffee, the business agent of Boilermakers Local Union 154, located in Pittsburgh, Pa., announced that Local 154 endorsed President Trump for re-election. Local 154 has about 1,500 members who work in the power plants and other similar plants. He said: Joe Biden's ban on fracking would put me and everyone I know out of work. Crap trade deals. And now this. Gimme a break, we're not asking for much. But Joe Biden is a disaster. Mr. Steffee spoke at the Pennsylvania CPAC event on September 19, 2020 in Washington, Pa. He said the journeyman welders in his union are...

Former President Barack Obama is expected to hit the physical campaign trail for Joe Biden (D) next week, according to the campaign. Obama is expected to help Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) in their final push as Election Day swiftly approaches, delivering a speech in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, October 21. His scheduled appearance in the battleground state follows recent polls showing President Trump and Biden neck and neck in the Keystone State.

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden falsely claimed Thursday that a trade union, which represents craftsmen and industrial workers, had “overwhelmingly” endorsed him. Former Vice President Biden’s comments came during a discussion on fracking at an ABC News town hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Thursday evening. The union, Boilermakers Local 154, endorsed President Donald Trump citing the president’s energy policies, according to a Sept. 2. letter. “The Boilermakers overwhelmingly endorse me, okay, so the Boilermakers Union has endorsed me because I sat down with them and went into great detail earlier to show their leadership exactly what I would do,” Biden said....