Free Republic

Presidential candidate Donald Trump set off another political firestorm Friday after implying that President George W. Bush was to blame for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, drawing the ire of his Republican rivals.

Statements by Pottstown Mayor Sharon Thomas in the usually sleepy race for register of wills have once again put Montgomery County in the spotlight in Pennsylvania’s debate about same sex marriage.Thomas, a Republican, told The Intelligencer newspaper that she will not personally issue any same sex marriage licenses if she wins the race against incumbent Democrat D. Bruce Hanes.Instead, as in the now-famous case of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who spent five days in jail after defying a court order to issue same-sex licenses, Thomas said she will seek court permission to allow the licenses to be issued by...

With the latest state polls again making fools of the pundits who claimed Donald Trump’s popularity had flattened or was diminishing, the latest general election poll out of the swing state of Pennsylvania shows that Trump has a better chance of taking that state than Establishment favorites Jeb Bush and John Kasich.Currently, Trump beats Hillary 45% to 43%.Jeb Bush loses to Hillary by -5 (40-45), Kasich loses -2, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) loses -6, Santorum and Huckabee lose by a whopping -8 and -9, respectively.Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) beats Hillary by +3 (45-42), Chris Christie is up +4 (45-41), and...

We’ll never see anything like this go through at the federal level while Barack Obama is president, but the Keystone State is is mounting an effort to protect public sector workers from having dues automatically deducted from their pay and then used to fund political campaigns. It comes in the form of a bill which has passed the state senate and now moves on to the House. (Fox 34 News) Pennsylvania’s state senate approved a controversial bill Wednesday which would prevent unions from taking money from workers’ paychecks and using it for political purposes.Senate Bill 501, dubbed the “Paycheck...

With the latest state polls again making fools of the pundits who claimed Donald Trump’s popularity had flattened or was diminishing, the latest general election poll out of the swing state of Pennsylvania shows that Trump has a better chance of taking that state than Establishment favorites Jeb Bush and John Kasich. Currently, Trump beats Hillary 45% to 43%. Jeb Bush loses to Hillary by -5 (40-45), Kasich loses -2, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) loses -6, Santorum and Huckabee lose by a whopping -8 and -9, respectively.

PPP's new Pennsylvania Senate poll fi nds that Pat Toomey continues to have weak approval numbers, and leads his potential Democratic opponents by only 3 to 7 points. Only 28% of voters approve of the job Toomey is doing to 43% who disapprove, with a lot (29%) having no opinion one way or another. Those numbers are consistent with where we've found him in our polling all year- he was at 30% approval in May and 28% approval in February when we polled the state. Snip General election match ups for President in Pennsylvania are a mixed bag. Hillary Clinton...

v.2.5 Kathleen Kane file Kathleen Kane, attorney general of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania AG Kane will not defend DOMA July 11, 2013 7:17 PM By Rich Lord, Megan Rogers and Kate Giammarise Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 0 inShare PHILADELPHIA -- Attorney General Kathleen Kane, who is the state's chief legal officer, declined Thursday to defend against a lawsuit challenging the state's prohibition on same sex marriage, calling it unconstitutional and leaving the job of bolstering the ban to Gov. Tom Corbett. Ms. Kane is a named a defendant in the lawsuit filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union and a Philadelphia law firm...

PLYMOUTH — Mike Sharma, owner of Quick & EZ Stop, Plymouth called Rob Ragukus “the best man” on Monday night after he held an alleged would-be carjacker at gunpoint until the police came. “He saved all of us,” he said. Sharma said that as he was waiting on Katherine DeLuca, a black male came inside the store, “huffing and puffing,” and he asked him if he was okay. When DeLuca left the store and got in her car, a gold Chevy Malibu, the male followed her, attempted to get into the vehicle and told her to get out, she said....

<p>A mother is refusing to back down from calls demanding she remove a tiny flag hanging in her window in honor of her military son on tour in the Middle East.</p>

The latest New Hampshire poll shows a far more engaged electorate continuing to be a thorn in the side of the 2015/16 GOPe scheme to anoint Jeb Bush. In addition, the ruse candidates, Fiorina and Rubio have exhausted their media-fueled surge and remain static alongside Jeb Bush at 8%.John Kasich’s ground game and almost exclusive attention to New Hampshire has garnered him a position just above Jeb, Carly and Marco. However, the vulgarians are determined to Make America Great Again!Gravis Marketing, a nonpartisan research firm, conducted a random survey of 1,035 registered voters in New Hampshire regarding the presidential election...

Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Reps. Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) and Rep. Dave Brat (R-VA) battled over the divide between the moderates and Freedom Caucus conservatives in Congress deciding who will be the next Speaker of the House.

Several hundred supporters of the transgender community marched through Center City Saturday calling for acceptance and an end to discrimination. "The goal of the march is just to bring visibility to the community. The injustice, the criminalization. We just want equality," said Naiymah Sanchez, Philly Trans March organizer. "I figured out I was Trans when I was about 16, and I came out when I 17 and started living fully as a male at 17," said Damon Williams of Cherry Hill, N.J. Now 18, Williams said his coming out experience was relatively easy because family and friends accept him. But...

Via Politico, skip to 12:00 of the clip below for the key bit. Oh, it’s on. Or is it? Normally, a candidate for president claiming that he’s going to peel away his opponents’ supporters and win the nomination would be so banal that it wouldn’t qualify as news. It’s the ultimate “dog bites man” story. Of course Cruz believes this. If he didn’t, why would he be running? But these aren’t normal circumstances. Cruz is the only Republican in the field who has yet to utter a critical or discouraging syllable about Trump, part of his talk-radio-ish strategy not...

Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy stunned House colleagues when he announced that he would withdraw from the race to be the next House Speaker. In the immediate aftermath, Rep. Charlie Dent says "anything is possible now." To get anything done "we might have to assemble a bipartisan coalition, that’s the reality of this place," Dent told CNN moments after McCarthy withdrew from the race. REP. CHARLIE DENT: The next Speaker should not appease those who make unreasonable demands. There are a number of members of our conference. You cannot get the yes on anything. For them the end will be...

Thursday on MSNBC, in commenting on House Majority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) dropping out of the race for the Speaker of the House seat soon to be vacated by Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) said conservatives in the House “fragged,’ Kevin McCarthy.

A professor at the University of Pennsylvania called presidential candidate Ben Carson a “coon” because he said he’s cool with NASCAR flying Confederate flags during races if that’s what its fans want. “If only there was a ‘coon of the year’ award . . .” Religious Studies professor Anthea Butler tweeted last Tuesday in response to a tweet sharing a Sports Illustrated article about Carson’s comments. Her post has since been deleted, but not before a screenshot of it was captured, according to an article in Campus Reform.

<p>Quinnipiac has Trump up in FL 28-16 (up SEVEN from last ) over Carson, 14 Rubio, 12 for Bush, 6 Cruz.</p> <p>Q is salvaging that Buden beats Trump and, according to Q Trump's unfavorables have gone 180 back to 35-50.</p> <p>Really pushing the draft Biden movement.</p>

University of Pennsylvania professor of religion recently called African-American presidential candidate Ben Carson a “coon” on Twitter. Anthea Butler used the racist term in a tweet responding to a Sports Illustrated article on how Carson didn’t mind NASCAR fans flying the Confederate flag on private property. “If only there was a ‘coon of the year’ award…” she lamented.

Steven Rattner, a fundraiser for Democrat Hillary Clinton and someone who was fined by the SEC, has a column criticizing Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina in The New York Times titled "Carly Fiorina Really Was That Bad." ... "Not mentioned by the Times is the fact Rattner was once President Obama‘s 'Car Czar' back during the Cash-for-Clunkers days. He’s also a major fundraiser for (drumroll…) Hillary Clinton." Rattner also paid $10 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2010 for alleged involvement in a New York State pension fund scandal. ... What’s next, Grey Lady? Can we...

He attacks Obama's co-opting of the DOJ for the advancement of leftism, not justice. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey delivered a sharp criticism of the Obama Justice Department, particularly the DOJ Voting Section, in a speech republished in Hillsdale College’s Imprimis . In a broadside aimed at the Obama-era DOJ, Mukasey hits the department’s biased and partisan law enforcement policies. Mukasey’s speech should be required reading for every presidential campaign. Mukasey revisits the dismissal of the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party by Eric Holder and other political appointees shortly after the 2009 inauguration: During the 2008...