Free Republic

The state of PA has stated they will refuse an order from the US Supreme Court and include undated mail-in ballots in the vote count This sets up a constitutional crisis for PA elections this year

Beautiful and hopefully the first step in turning things around for him.

Republicans are learning an uncomfortable reality about the political environment for 2018: Tax cuts, conservative culture-war staples, and even Nancy Pelosi herself probably won’t be enough to overcome the deep hole that President Trump has put them in. With the White House awash in scandal and struggling to articulate its agenda, the political mood has turned so grim that Republicans are in danger of losing an upcoming special election in the heart of Trump country. That’s the lesson to draw from the surprisingly competitive campaign Democrat Conor Lamb is running in a Pittsburgh-area district Trump easily carried by 20 points,...

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Nearly 22,000 Pennsylvania Republicans who voted for Lynn Swann as the GOP nominee for governor withheld their support from U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum in Tuesday's primary. Both candidates were unopposed. Mr. Swann, the former Steelers star, received 574,276 votes, while Mr. Santorum, who is seeking a third term in the Senate, drew 552,559, according to unofficial totals compiled by the Pennsylvania Department of State that were 99 percent complete today. In the Nov. 7 general election, Mr. Swann will face Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell while Santorum is running against state Treasurer Bob Casey. Less than six months...

The Washington Post gives prime op-ed space to an indicted terrorist, arguing for diplomatic engagement with Hamas. All one needs to know about Mousa Abu Marzook can be found at the end of the article: The writer is deputy political bureau chief of the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas). He has a U.S. doctorate in engineering and was indicted in the United States in 2004 as a co-conspirator on racketeering and money-laundering charges in connection with activities on behalf of Hamas dating to the early 1990s, before the organization was placed on the list of terrorist groups. He was deported to...

A Hamas leader said late Thursday that the terrorist group's victory in the Palestinian legislative elections would "complete the liberation of other parts of Palestine." Ismail Haniyeh, addressing a victory press conference, did not elaborate, but his pledge echoes the covenant adopted by Hamas at its founding in 1988. "The day that enemies usurp part of Muslim land, jihad becomes the individual duty of every Muslim," reads article 15 of the Hamas Charter. "In face of the Jews' usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of jihad be raised." Elsewhere, the document says Hamas will work "to raise...

More than 50 percent of the Palestinian Legislative Council is theirs, and they don't have a clue what to do next, but according to at least one Hamas leader, talking to Israel is in the cards. "We're examining our options," said Yasser Mansour, the No. 5 Hamas leader told The Jerusalem Post. "We are researching each and every issue." Indeed, a Hamas leader in Nablus, a professor at An-Najah University who did not run, told the Post that many of the leaders were disappointed with the results. "We didn't want this, we didn't hope for this. We wanted to be...

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Hamas' strong showing in Palestinian parliamentary elections will likely lead to an all-out war with Israel, a leading expert here said on Thursday. Hamas soundly defeated Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah faction in Wednesday's parliamentary elections, winning more than half the seats. That gives Hamas a major say in the makeup of the next Palestinian government. It also gives the terrorist group the opportunity to put its own members in charge of tens of thousands of Palestinian Authority security forces.

A new public opinion poll published on Saturday showed the ruling Fatah party and Hamas running a close race ahead of parliamentary elections slated for January 25. Security sources in the American government warned that the US will cut funding to the Palestinian Authority if Hamas representatives would be elected to official positions in the new government that was expected to form. According to Israel Radio, the warning came following a meeting between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and US representatives David Welch and Elliot Abrams. Welch and Abrams also met with Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert earlier in the...

Nov. 24, 2005 17:56 | Updated Nov. 24, 2005 18:22US Congress works to ban Hamas By NATHAN GUTTMANM Washington Hamas members were arrested from three separate cells in the Hebron area. Photo: AP [file] While the US administration has agreed to accept the participation of Hamas activists in the Palestinian elections, Congress is working on a resolution that will ban Hamas from taking part in the election process and that threatens that the relations between the Palestinian Authority and the US would be damaged if the PA does not disarm Hamas. House Resolution 575 was introduced last Friday by a...

Surprise, surprise! Mahmoud Abbas, aka Abu Mazen, aka two-faced Palestinian who received his PHD on his thesis declaring the Holocaust to be a hoax, won the Palestinian election even before the first vote was cast. Abbas won the Presidential election of the Palestinian people who want it all. They want a Yasser Arafat and a negotiator. So Abbas gave them both. To his Arab constituents, Abbas campaigned as the HARDLINER. He made it clear as to what he thinks of the "Zionist Entity". He's already demanded the unconditional release of all Palestinians who are imprisoned by Israel, regardless of their...

RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - He's been a prostitute's rich beau, an officer, a gentleman and a gigolo, but Palestinians can't fathom Richard Gere's latest incarnation as a cheerleader for their elections this weekend. Well known for his vocal support of Tibet's Dalai Lama and celebrated for his captivating good looks, Gere urged Palestinians in a television commercial broadcast ahead of Sunday's poll in the West Bank and Gaza to get out to vote for a new president to succeed Yasser Arafat, who died in November. "Hi, I'm Richard Gere and I'm speaking for the entire world. We're with you...

Jan. 5, 2005 13:59 PA election observers warned to expect violence By ASSOCIATED PRESS European Union election observers can expect violence during the upcoming Palestinian presidential election, but should not try to intervene, the head of the mission said Wednesday. Gearing up for Sunday's vote to elect Yasser Arafat's successor, former French Prime Minister Michel Rocard, the chief EU observer, instructed more than 260 members on their mission. "Bringing peace in the Middle East is out of our reach," Rocard, now a member of the European parliament, told the crowd. "Except in very rare cases in which the incidents will...

Dec. 27, 2004 18:03 | Updated Dec. 27, 2004 20:19 Police release Palestinian candidate By ETGAR LEFKOVITS Photo: AP Jerusalem Police on Monday briefly detained Palestinian chairmanship candidate Dr. Mustafa Barghouti for questioning as he campaigned for the upcoming Palestinian Authority elections in the Old City of Jerusalem, police said. Barghouti has a permit to travel through Jerusalem, but not to stay in the capital, Jerusalem Police spokeswoman Sigal Toledo said. He was later released without being charged, and was escorted to a security checkpoint just outside city limits. Barghouti, a human rights activist and a distant relative of the...

PA elections to be held in same framework of ’96 vote Israeli and Palestinian officials have decided. In 1996 Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem voted by casting their ballots at post offices. Ilil Shahar The January 9 elections in the Palestinian Authority are to be held in the same framework as the PA ballot in 1996, Israeli and Palestinian officials have agreed. In 1996, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem voted by casting their ballots at post offices. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s top advisor Dov Weisglass and political advisor Shalom Turjeman finalized the general framework during a meeting with Secretary of...

Despite expectations of moderate post-Arafat PA leadership, the two main candidates are Abu Mazen, whose demands are the same as those of Arafat, and convicted terrorist murderer Marwan Barghouti. Just hours before the deadline for submitting candidacies this week, Barghouti caved in to pressure from his wife and filed the papers declaring his candidacy. Barghouti is serving several life sentences for murdering Jews. Barghouti had originally said that he would not run, and would instead support current PA leader Mahmoud Abbas, known as Abu Mazen. His wife convinced him, however, that this was his only chance at being freed from...

Facts about PA Elections From Al-Akhbar, 9 January, 1996 The 7 major Palestinian factions call tomorrow's PA election the sanctification by ballot of Yasser Arafat's dictatorship under the shadow of Israeli occupation, while the Central Election Commission calls it "the beginning of a new democratic chapter in the history of Palestine." A closure has been imposed on the territories from 4 a.m. this morning until the same time Sunday morning as part of the tight security arrangements. Thousands of Palestinian policemen were deployed at polling stations yesterday to monitor election. The most prominent election monitor, former US president Jimmy Carter,...