Free Republic

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison may be the only Minnesota Democrat making a stand by not showing up at Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. The Minneapolis Democrat announced Monday he'd boycott Friday's ceremony, joining more than two dozen lawmakers in skipping the event. Ellison is the nation's first Muslim congressman and is currently running to be the next chair of the Democratic National Committee.

President Donald J. Trump will walk into the Oval Office and be stunned. First, it will be a shock to work in an office decorated with images of men other than himself. Second, he is bound to be suffused with awe as he looks around at the Remington bronze bronco, the Rockwell “Statue of Liberty,” the portraits of Washington and Lincoln, the Swedish ivy on the mantel that has eavesdropped — and leavesdropped — on so much history. The new president will suddenly realize that Joe Biden is right. He needs to grow up. Chuck Schumer is right. He has...

Democrats who confuse hating Donald Trump with Mom and apple pie as the all-American recipe to win elections are blowing their chances, such as they are, for the 2018 midterm elections. If you’re a Democrat it’s never too soon to fret and stew about the prospects. But Democrats are having so much fun despising the Donald they’re forgetting duty to party and responsibility to exploit opportunity. The party on the outs nearly always picks up a few seats in the midterms. But sore losers forget the ancient bipartisan admonition that “now is the time for every man to come to...

Madonna says Donald Trump’s presidential win has left her with the same type of broken heart she feels after a bad breakup. The singer opens up in a new interview about the president elect, sharing her feelings about “being stuck in a nightmare.”

Ira Madison III, an MTV News culture writer and host, mocked Sen. Jeff Sessions’ Asian-American grandchildren on Twitter Tuesday morning. Sessions appeared before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary Tuesday to give testimony in connection with his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to serve as attorney general. Sessions was accompanied by many members of his family, including his four Asian-American grandchildren. The senator’s daughter, Ruth Sessions Walk, is married to John Walk, an Asian-American man. Madison accused Sessions of stealing his grandchildren from Toys “R” Us for the hearing. He went on to call his grandchildren a “prop,” brought...

Major cities in the U.S., including New York, Boston, Chicago, and others, began using dry ice several months ago in an effort to reduce rodent populations that had increased considerably after last year's warm winter, and it proved to be very effective. USA Today is reporting that in some cities, there has been a 95 percent reduction in the number of rodents using dry ice. The rather chilling extermination method involves dropping dry ice, frozen carbon dioxide, into rat burrows and then stuffing the openings with newspapers and dirt. As the dry ice melts, carbon dioxide gas is released, suffocating...

As America’s first family enjoys its eighth and final vacation in Hawaii, new estimates put the price tag of the Obamas’ annual trip at $3.5 million or more. In total, the cost of the the first family’s personal or largely personal travel during the last eight years comes to $85 million – though that is likely to climb to $90 million after additional records are released, according to the conservative group Judicial Watch based on federal government records.

Secretary of State John Kerry delcared Wednesday that Israel "can either be Jewish or democratic" but "it cannot be both." Here's a transcript: "The truth is that trends on the ground, violence, terrorism, settlement expansion and the seemingly endless occupation, they are combining to destroy hopes for peace on both sides and increasingly cementing any reversible -- an irreversible one state reality that most people do not actually want. Today, there are a similar number of Jews and Palestinians living between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean Sea. They have a choice. They can choose to live together in one...

A 26-year-old woman is in custody after returning home from a night of partying to find her 3-month-old daughter eaten by a group of large rats in Johannesburg, South Africa last weekend, according to The Sun. Noluthando Mtshali, whose family rented out a home to the mother, told The Sun that the woman frequently went partying.

Press Releases 12.15.16 Pelosi Statement Calling for an Independent Investigation of Putin’s Interference in U.S. Elections San Francisco – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released this statement today reiterating the need for a bipartisan, independent review following recent reports of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s personal involvement in U.S. elections. Pelosi, the longest serving Member of the House Intelligence Committee, is a former Ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “Elections determine the future our children will inherit. Given the alarming magnitude, seriousness and scope of Russia’s efforts to undermine U.S. elections, we must have an independent, bipartisan investigation to protect...

... Paris is facing its worst rat crisis in decades. Nine parks and green spaces have been closed either partly or entirely. Some, like the Champs de Mars, home to the Eiffel Tower, are being “de-ratisized” in sections. “I haven’t seen this sort of situation in 39 years,” said Gilles Demodice, a manager in Paris’s animal pest control department, who has spent much of his adult life working for the city. Some rat-infested places cannot be completely closed, like the shrub-filled Boulevard Richard-Lenoir, which runs through a neighborhood with little green space and is beloved by mothers with strollers as...

Donald Trump pulled off one of the greatest political feats in modern history by defeating Hillary Clinton and the vaunted Clinton machine. The election was a complete repudiation of Barack Obama: his fantasy world of political correctness, the politicization of the Justice Department and the I.R.S., an out-of-control E.P.A., his neutering of the military, his nonsupport of the police and his fixation on things like transgender bathrooms. Since he became president, his party has lost 63 House seats, 10 Senate seats and 14 governorships. The country had signaled strongly in the last two midterms that they were not happy. The...

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday fended off a challenge to her long leadership reign, defeating Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) in a closed-door vote prompted largely by Donald Trump’s unlikely ascension to the White House. Pelosi got 134 votes to Ryan's 63 — winning 68 percent of the votes after declaring before the election that she had the support of two-thirds of the caucus. The victory sends a message that while there's a growing appetite for major changes in the party's leadership structure and messaging tactics, it's not strong enough to loosen Pelosi's grip on a liberal-heavy group...

Barbra Streisand has struck a sultry pose for the latest W magazine cover, showing off her incredibly toned legs in a pantless photo shoot. The 74-year-old legend wore only a white dress shirt, men's tie and left little to the imagination in the sexy snaps. "Strong women are, simply, women with opinions," she told the magazine.

This has been a bad year for dreams of dynasties. The Bush dynasty has been dismantled with Jeb, who was the first favored son, writing finis to the family dream of a trifecta. Hillary Clinton, who started plotting her path to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. when she was a law student at Yale, took a detour through Arkansas and if she still wants to be a president will have to settle for Wellesley, or Smith or one of the other Seven Sisters. But it won’t be anything in Arkansas.

Freudensprungen! That, as the New York Times explains, happens to be the scientific term for jumping for joy, and a new study reveals that rats are among the animals that partake. The study, in fact, also shows that rats love to be tickled and that they burst out in the equivalent of rat laughter during the tickling.

I sat watching in astonishment. The one who couldn’t bear to show up to concede was not, as expected, Donald Trump, but Hillary Clinton... When the Apocalypse came at midnight and the TV analysts — even on Fox — were scrambling to reverse their analyses and justify their bad polling data; and the stock exchanges had to temporarily halt the futures market because it was falling too fast, and the world was spinning off its axis, I called my conservative brother to see what the heck was going on. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “As flawed a candidate as...

Actress Susan Sarandon on Thursday tore into the Democratic National Committee (DNC), calling it "completely corrupt." “After my experience in the primary, it’s very clear to me the DNC is gone,” she told CNN's Carol Costello. “Every superdelegate is a lobbyist. The way that the system is set up in terms of trying of having superdelegates — you could win a state and not get the delegates. It’s crazy.” Sarandon backed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for the Democratic nomination. She said she still respects Sanders even though he endorsed Hillary Clinton for president. "Look, Bernie has said ‘don’t ever listen...

My dream last night. Everywhere, across this great land, I saw long lines at the polling stations on election day with everyone in line yelling "LOCK HER UP!, LOCK HER UP!, LOCK HER UP!!!!" MAGA!!!

RUSH: I mentioned yesterday that, if you didn't know, you should know that they're in panic. In the deep, dark crevices of power, the Democrat Party, they're in abject panic. This is not where they were supposed to be. Trump was not supposed to be a factor. The election was supposed to be over months ago. But certainly this week it was not supposed to be in question. Hillary should have been... They're already planning inaugural balls and all the other trappings that go with victory. This is not where they wanted to be, and with the possibility Trump could...