Free Republic

The multi-million-dollar welfare scam in Mississippi is an onion with many levels. Some have been explored. Some haven’t. Now, some may be stopping others from the effort to keep peeling. As reported by Mississippi Today, the state’s welfare department has fired attorney Brad Pigott, who was hired to get to the bottom of the scandal. The firing happened a week after he sent a subpoena to the University of Southern Mississippi aimed at exploring why and how the school received $5 million in welfare funds to build a volleyball stadium. “All I did, and I believe all that caused me...

For well over a year, the public has known about Brett Favre receiving $1.1 million in Mississippi welfare funds for apparent no-show appearances, which he has since paid back. Now, a new report from Mississippi Today has more details that tie Favre to potential political corruption in Mississippi. Favre, who played collegiately at Southern Miss, was linked on Monday to a scandal involving former Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant. Mississippi Today reported connections between Favre, a drug company he invested in, public welfare funds, and Bryant. The hall of fame QB reportedly hoped to make a significant amount of money from...

A federal appeals court says Mississippi's ban on abortion at 15 weeks is unconstitutional. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the ruling Friday. It says a lower court judge ruled correctly when he blocked the state law from taking effect in 2018. The only abortion clinic in Mississippi sued the state after Republican Gov. Phil Bryant signed the law. Mississippi legislators came back in 2019 and passed a more restrictive law to ban most abortions at about six weeks. The same federal district judge blocked that law too. A legal fight over it continues.

Mississippi’s Republican governor signed one of America’s strictest abortion bills on Thursday banning women from obtaining an abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can often occur before a woman even realizes she is pregnant. Dubbed the ‘heartbeat bill,’ this is the second legislative attempt in less than a year aimed at restricting abortions in a state with a single abortion clinic. In a tweet earlier this week, Governor Phil Bryant thanked the state’s legislature for “protecting the unborn” by passing the bill and sending it to him for his signature.

Gov. Phil Bryant says he’s not worried about lawsuits as Mississippi prepares to enact one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. The Republican governor is scheduled to sign a bill Thursday to outlaw most abortions once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, about six weeks into pregnancy. The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights calls it “blatantly unconstitutional” and says it will sue Mississippi to try to block the law from taking effect on July 1. Mississippi is one of several states considering similar bills this year. Abortion opponents are emboldened by new conservatives on the Supreme Court...

President Donald Trump and conservatives in Congress earned a historic victory this week by enacting the First Step Act. The landmark bill provides modest yet much-needed prison and sentencing reform modeled on successful reforms already passed in red states. On Tuesday night, senators passed the First Step Act with support from law enforcement professionals, the faith community, business groups, and the White House, by a vote of 87-12. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., deserves credit for bringing the bill up for a vote. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, a former federal prosecutor and leading advocate of the legislation, said, “American...

Looking to bolster its Senate majority, the GOP wheeled out its biggest gun Monday in Mississippi as President Trump rallied to bolster Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith ahead of Tuesday’s run-off election. In Tupelo, Mr. Trump said he needs Ms. Hyde-Smith in Washington and urged voters to keep her there. “I’m here to ask the people of Mississippi to send Cindy Hyde-Smith back so we can make America great again,” Mr. Trump said, after some praise for Tupelo’s most famous son, Elvis Presley. “Don’t empower the radical Democrats to return us to the failure of the past.” As expected, Mr. Trump basked...

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant joined 15 other Republican leaders across the country in signing a brief that asks the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that the 1964 Civil Rights Act does not protect transgender people and that employers have the right to fire them for their gender identity. #The amicus brief comes after lawyers from the Alliance Defending Freedom asked the Supreme Court to hear an appeal of a ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In the ruling, the court decided a Michigan employer—a devout Christian—violated an employee's Title VII protections by firing her after she disclosed...

Trump voters at the Neshoba County fair held signs for Chris McDaniel. Photo by Ashton Pittman. JACKSON — Republican Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel raged at his own party on Thursday after President Donald Trump endorsed his opponent, incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, in the special election for her U.S. Senate seat. #“@cindyhydesmith has helped me put America First,” Trump wrote in a tweet Thursday afternoon. “She’s strong on the Wall, is helping me create Jobs, loves our Vets and fights for our conservative judges.” Hyde-Smith, whom Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant appointed to the seat in April after...

Mississippi has become the first state in the U.S. to ban abortion at 15 weeks. Today, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a law restricting abortions earlier than any other state in America. Bryant, a Republican, says that HB 1510 will help bring Mississippi closer to his goal of making the state “the safest place in America for an unborn child.” The law, which passed the State House of Representatives 80-31 on February 2 and the State Senate 35-14 on March 6, forbids abortions from being performed beyond fifteen weeks for any reason other than a “medical emergency,” defined as a...

While he survived a brutal and controversial Senate primary in 2014, Thad Cochran of Mississippi, citing his failing health, is resigning effective April 1. A special election will be held to finish the remainder of his term that ends in 2020. If no one gets above 50 percent, a runoff will be held. For now, Gov. Phil Bryant will appoint an interim senator to fill the vacancy until the election. Cochran’s colleague, Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MI), is up for re-election this year and is facing a challenge by state Sen. Chris McDaniel. McDaniel challenged Cochran in 2014 (via NPR): I...

Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) resigned from office on Monday, effective April 1. He has been in failing health for several months. “Longtime Republican Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, told The Associated Press on Monday that he will resign April 1 because of health problems,” the wire service reported from Jackson, Mississippi late Monday afternoon: Cochran, who turned 80 in December, stayed home for a month last fall with urinary tract infections, returning to Washington in October to give Republicans the majority they needed to pass a budget plan. “I regret my health has become...

Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant is ready to assist in President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration, but some of his fellow Republicans are less than eager to cooperate. Bryant contends that beefed up enforcement at the federal level can only help states. “The federal law is the federal law,” Bryant told Newsmax while visiting Washington for the National Governors Association winter meeting this weekend. “You see now that Immigration and Customs Enforcement is simply enforcing the federal laws. I like to remind people, if we are going to ignore these laws, they need to tell us what other laws we...

ritish politician Nigel Farage, who campaigned for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, will attend President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration this month, Reuters reported Thursday. Farage, the former leader of the U.K. Independent Party and a vocal Trump backer, will be a guest of Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant (R). "The governor of Mississippi has invited me and I'm there for a few days and it's going to be a great, historic event," Farage told Sky News. "In America they've had a political revolution and it's complete; the problem in Britain is our revolution is not complete because the same...

JACKSON, Miss. — Gov. Phil Bryant has signed into law a bill that allows some members of churches to undergo firearms training so they can provide armed security for their congregations. The Church Protection Act specifies that those designated can carry guns into church buildings. It also allows people to carry holstered weapons without a permit. Republican state Rep. Andy Gipson of Braxton says the law gives small congregations an option to defend themselves against attack. He proposed the bill as a response to the slayings last year of nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. The Mississippi...

The tiny farming community of Louise was an exception in a Deep South where resistance to resettling refugees from the Syrian conflict was ramping up after the attacks in Paris. Those opposed say extremists could be among those who are resettled. At the same time that this small rural community was welcoming refugees, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant said he would do "everything humanly possible" to keep refugees from his state. Then, last Tuesday, the votes of the month-long referendum in Louise were counted: the tally was 37 against and three in favor of welcoming refugees, according to Mayor Thomas Ruffin...

Former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) says Mississippi Republicans may need a regime change after the damaging primary fight between Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) and state Sen. Chris McDaniel. “This has shown the fissures that are there and I do think the party leaders – it may cause the need for some change in the party leadership,” Lott, now the co-chairman of Squire Patton Boggs' public policy practice, told The Hill during a wide-ranging interview at the firm's Washington office. He warned that the Mississippi establishment is ignoring the Tea Party wing of the GOP at their own peril. “If they...

Senator Rand Paul To Headline Mississippi Republican Party Victory Event ON:5 December 2014 BY:Admin IN: Media Advisory WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) will join Governor Phil Bryant and the Mississippi Republican Party in Jackson, Mississippi on Monday, December 8 for a fundraising event benefiting the state party. MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014 WHAT: Mississippi Republican Party Victory Lunch TIME: 11:30 am (CST) WHO: Senator Rand Paul & Governor Phil Bryant WHERE: The Old Capitol Inn 226 North State Street, Jackson MS 39201

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal may have got the ball rolling with Republican governors. According to The Clarion Ledger, Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant is expressing dissatisfaction with the Common Core State Standards in his state. Watch their interview with Governor Bryant below. ... Full Article:http://www.fightthecore.com/mississippi-gov-phil-bryant-hints-at-common-core-repeal-failed-program/

MADISON, Mississippi — Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant came out in ardent opposition to Common Core education standards on Thursday, a signal of the immense grassroots pressure in the state, as State Sen. Chris McDaniel and incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) battle to win the GOP primary runoff on Tuesday. “I think Common Core is a failed program, and the United States is beginning to realize that,” Bryant said, according to the Jackson Clarion-Ledger. "Governors all across America are realizing states can do it better.” In late 2013, Bryant issued an executive order that called for state-level, not national, educational standards,...