Free Republic

Some people who know Republican presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump say he has two aspects: a thoughtful, charming private demeanor and an impulsive, inflammatory public persona. But now, two public images of Mr. Trump appear to be emerging: the scripted candidate who affirms conservative ideals and attacks presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and the free-wheeling headliner at rallies who seems willing to hurl insults at any and all, even within his own party. The latter public version of Mr. Trump showed up on Saturday at campaign stops in Tampa, Fl., and Pittsburgh, Pa., offering a stark contrast from the more-restrained...

A Telemundo reporter in Philadelphia was punched in the face on the air during a live broadcast, video shows. Iris Delgado was concluding a report outside City Hall on Thursday night when she was approached by Waheedah Wilson.

Donald Trump called for the Republican Party to fall in line behind his presidential bid Saturday during campaign swings through Florida and Pennsylvania, attacking skeptical members of his own party along with Democratic rival Hillary Clinton. “We have a war to win against a very crooked politician. The Republican Party really should get their act together,” Trump said here Saturday. “They have to come together. We have to win. And if for no other reason, the Supreme Court, remember that.”

Hillary told Univision (the Mexican Cable TV Station) that we should be “building bridges, not walls.” Of course in reference to Donald Trump’s stand that we need to secure our borders with a ‘wall.’ So in preparation for the DNC Convention in Philadelphia, they are erecting a huge fence to keep out…Sanders supporters? Wait, isn’t a fence like a wall? If they can build one, why can’t we? “I think the idea of building walls as an answer to issues that confront our country is just not the right approach. We should be building bridges, we should be building understanding.”...

After spending an hour meeting with President Barack Obama at the White House, Bernie Sanders vowed to stay in the race for Tuesday's District of Columbia primary while acknowledging that he would work with Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump in the general election. Sanders ticked through a list of his priorities, promising to take those issues to the convention in Philadelphia next month.

“Occupy DNC” protesters have locked down two campground sites where they will set up tent cities to use as home base for their anti-Hillary protests. One of the group’s organizers has said she expects “several thousand” protesters to stay at the campsites. As previously reported by The Daily Caller, more than 20,000 protesters have committed to protesting “a fraudulent Hillary nomination.” Hundreds of those protesters have already reserved two campgrounds in southern New Jersey, about twenty minutes from the Wells Fargo Center where the DNC Convention will be held....

DONALD TRUMP IN PITTSBURGH THIS SATURDAY, JUNE 11TH Republican Presidential Candidate Donald J. Trump arrives in Pittsburgh Saturday at 3:00 p.m. and our very own ROSE TENNENT "Rose Unplugged", will deliver pre-program remarks! WHERE: Atlantic Aviation, 300 Horizon Dr., Mood Township, PA 15108, Hanger 2 WHEN: Saturday, June 11 at 3:00 p.m. Doors open at noon Admission is FREE, but you MUST REGISTER. Get tickets at http://lists.warroom.com/lists/lt.php?id=Y0tSBR5WUx8AVAw

Republican businessman Donald Trump will make Western Pennsylvania one of his first retail campaign stops as the party's presumptive presidential nominee at a Saturday afternoon rally in suburban Pittsburgh. The event will be held at Atlantic Aviation, one exit from Pittsburgh International Airport; the Trump campaign has not finalized details for the afternoon event. The GOP primary process ended Tuesday with Trump winning all five of the last primary contests and breaking the Republican primary turnout record of 10.8 million held by George W. Bush since 2000....

When Shell announced Tuesday it had green-lighted its ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, a high school buddy who has been watching the oil industry for decades emailed me from New York. This move “completely, totally, unbelievably turns conventional wisdom of the past 40 years on its head,” John Kingston, director of Global Market Insights for S&P Global, said. “A petrochemical plant in the U.S., and not in Asia? And one not on the Gulf Coast? C’mon, that’s crazy talk!” The announcement does seem a throwback to an earlier time in Western Pennsylvania. We’re talking 6,000 jobs in building the...

Internal documents show Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's campaign advisers are projecting that the billionaire businessman will secure more than 1,400 delegates at the Republican National Convention in July, The Washington Post reported Wednesday. That total greatly exceeds the 1,237 delegates necessary to secure the nomination on the first ballot. The projection was in an internal campaign memo sent to Trump surrogates Tuesday night, after Trump secured a convincing win in the New York primary. It called the front-runner's win in New York "YUGE" and included talking points to use in media interviews. It advised the surrogates to talk about...

Hillary Clinton is on the cusp of clinching the Democratic presidential nomination, and could move closer as Puerto Rico's primary results are announced Sunday night. The former secretary of state is competing with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to win a majority of Puerto Rico's 60 delegates. Clinton began the day 60 delegates shy of the 2,383 she needs to win the Democratic nomination -- with 1,776 pledged delegates and another 547 superdelegates. Sanders, meanwhile, started Sunday with 1,547 delegates total: 1,501 pledged delegates and another 46 superdelegates. Clinton is closing in on a historic nomination as the first female presidential...

A bill that would require safe storage of guns and ammunition in homes with children passed out of a committee of Philadelphia City Council on Wednesday without a word of opposition from gun-rights advocates. But that does not mean pushback isn't coming. Police Capt. Francis Healy, while saying the Police Department supports the effort, testified that the wording of the bill could prove "problematic and controversial" and that he expected a legal challenge. Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/20160602_Gun_safety_bill_advances_in_City_Council.html#CssmPtHfskzKspUh.99

A large mural of the Statue of Liberty punching presidential candidate Donald Trump in the face became the focus of a debate this week among Regent Square residents about freedom of assembly. When the presidential primaries began earlier this year, Joe Davis, 45, the owner of Biddle’s Escape cafe in Wilkinsburg, encouraged his neighbors to put campaign signs on his front lawn, which sits opposite his cafe on the corner of Biddle Avenue and Trenton Street. But as the primaries went on, the signs for Republican candidates disappeared, leaving only Democratic candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Cafe regulars...

LEVITTOWN, Pa. – Police say a suburban Philadelphia pharmacy owner shot and killed a would-be robber wearing a Halloween mask and carrying a shotgun. Falls Township police Lt. Henry Ward says the gunfire broke out just before 10 a.m. Friday at the Pennsbury Pharmacy. He says the gunman got out of the passenger seat of a minivan in the parking lot, walked in and went behind the store counter before the pharmacist fired nearly a dozen rounds at him.

COAL RUN — A section of a proposed natural gas pipeline is scheduled to go through an area of Coal Township known for having abandoned mine workings and a underground mine fire...

From Mal Siret writing at the Independent: Hillary Clinton could lose the race for Democratic nominee as the focus shifts to California, where an influx of voter registrations threatens to derail her lead over Bernie Sanders.

The Philadelphia School District will add two Muslim holidays to its calendar, placing it among the first in the nation to do so. In what would be an even rarer step, Mayor Kenney said Tuesday he also hopes to adopt the holidays for city workers. He has created a task force to determine how the change can be accomplished. A spokesman from the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington said his group is not aware of any cities that have included the holidays, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, in their municipal calendars. "Philadelphia's history is based on being a place...

'Justice for Palestinians cannot be attained without the lifting of the occupation,' Cornel West was quoted as saying by 'The New York Times' on Wednesday. The Democrat party is facing a possible dilemma as supporters of the two candidates vying for the nomination gear up for a debate on what to do with its Mideast policy. The Israel issue is threatening to tear the party apart as Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who has mounted a considerable presidential campaign that has earned him greater clout within the left-wing camp, has tapped two individuals to a key committee who seek to...

More than twenty thousand people have committed to protest Hillary Clinton’s likely nomination at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia — and that number is quickly growing. The protesters are united in their support for Bernie Sanders, as well as their opposition to “a fraudulent Hillary nomination,” according to the group’s website. Their leaders have set up a Facebook group — titled Occupy DNC Convention — to organize housing and transportation. Protesters are encouraged to read documents shared within the group. One document is titled “Civil Disobedience Training.” Another is titled “Health and Safety at Militant Actions” and includes tips...

DELTA, Pa. (AP) — A couple who got lost in Pennsylvania while driving to New York entered the property of a nuclear plant by cutting a chain at a gate, apparently in a quest to get back on the right road, authorities said. The Chesapeake, Virginia, couple were driving from Baltimore on Friday night when they got onto an access road at the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, owned by Exelon. The driver told police he didn’t see two “No trespassing” signs when he cut the chain on the gate, The York Daily Record (http://bit.ly/27XVuF5) reported. Exelon spokeswoman Krista Merkel...