Free Republic

The Democratic rebuttal memo to the Republican House Intelligence Committee memo on alleged government surveillance abuses was released Saturday afternoon. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., acknowledged its release at his appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference, at about 4 p.m. "It's just posted," he told American Conservative Union chairman Matt Schlapp, quipping that the committee website was probably already crashing due to high traffic. Democrats say their memo was written as a rebuttal to provide greater context to a Republican memo that was released earlier this month, which outlines abuses by the FBI and the Justice Department...

Just when we think there is no deeper sewer into which America’s corrupt political system can descend, we finally see the first promising signs of resistance and redemption emerging from the debris. And for that, we can thank 19-year-old Florida high school senior Emma Gonzalez and her teenage friends, as well as U.S. special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigative team. Because of them, this has actually been an inspiring and hopeful seven days — perhaps even historic — in spite of the non-stop drama that keeps swirling around the Trump presidency.

Early voting data from Texas is just bonkers. % change over 2014: Democrats: 70% Republicans: 8% This is the first midterm since 2006 when Democrats are casting more early ballots than Republicans. (This is from the Texas SOS, and there are a couple of graphs present.)

Starting in late 2017, Boeing executives discussed plans to conceal employee bonuses or cancel them altogether in order to keep President Trump from getting credit, following the passage of the Republican tax-reform bill. On a series of conference calls led by Boeing’s Senior Vice President of Communications Phil Musser, Musser proposed and lobbied for canceling bonuses out of fear that the company may contribute to President Trump’s rising approval rating. Before Musser worked as a high level Boeing’s communications staffer in Washington, his employment history included public and media relations work for Mitt Romney’s 2012 Presidential Campaign and The Freedom...

MT. LEBANON, Pa. -- For the next three weeks, he's the most important candidate for anything in American politics. While pundits widely focus on his Democratic rival Conor Lamb (understandably, as Lamb is young and progressive, has a military background and comes from a pedigree political family), Rep. Rick Saccone may just be the one to watch. Why? Because everything that is at stake for both political parties rests on his shoulders. If Lamb wins, then every Democrat running in a swing district across the country will try to adapt the Lamb strategy: Avoid the press; take no strong stands...

I need not dwell on the catastrophe of the Parkland, Florida mass murder last week. Such killings have become the new normal in America. In five of the six deadliest mass shootings of the past six years in the United States (Newtown, San Bernardino. Las Vegas. Sutherland Springs, and Parkland) the gunman used an AR-15-style semiautomatic rifle. This is a weapon that was banned for individual ownership and usage by the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban. This 10-year ban was legislatively enacted by a Democratic President, Bill Clinton and a Democratic Congress.

In a proposal dubbed “America’s Harvest Box,” President Trump’s new budget calls for replacing half of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) vouchers with actual food for 80% of the program’s recipients. The “box” would contain allotments of shelf-stable milk, ready to eat cereals, pasta, peanut butter, beans and canned fruit and vegetables. Democrats were quick to attack the plan. Michigan Sen Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the agriculture committee, labeled it “not a serious proposal.” Rep Jim McGovern (D-Mass) called it “a cruel joke. It unfairly limits the choices of those dependent on the government for their living....

Trump.Dating is a new, full-service online dating site aimed specifically at draining the dating swamp by providing out-and-proud Trump supporters with a place to connect with like-minded people. It officially its virtual doors this week to all America-first individuals looking for love. Based on the overwhelming empirical evidence that like-minded people have a far better chance at success in a relationship today, Trump.Dating was made by patriots, for patriots, passionate about putting America first in their future. “Political leanings are part of each and every person’s foundation,” said Sean McGrossier, founder and owner of Trump.Dating. “Every Trump supporter in America...

According to a fresh-from-the-oven Politico-Morning Consult poll, the Republicans already overtook Democrats heading into midterms on a generic congressional ballot. This marks a premiere for the GOP , being the first time since April last year when more voters (39 percent respectively) prefer a GOP candidate, vs 38 percent opting for a Democrat. It’s interesting that almost one in four American voters is still undecided, 23 percent to be precise, and that means that Politico’s poll comes with a relatively high degree of uncertainty, even if the poll claims a margin error of plus/minus 2 percentage points.

A Republican lawmaker is set to unveil legislation that would make most bonuses given out as a result of President Trump's tax reform plan tax-free -- and took a jab at House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with the bill's name. Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind., has dubbed his bill the "Creating Relief and Useful Middle-Class Benefits and Savings" -- or "CRUMBS" Act. Pelosi, D-Calif., famously referred to the bonuses as "crumbs" in criticizing the tax plan last month. "Americans are receiving thousands of dollars in bonuses and more money in their paychecks thanks to President Trump's tax reform, but out-of-touch Democratic...

Wondering if anyone else received this from the RNC. Whaddaya think? Should I fill it out and send it back? I have even opened it up yet but if they ask for money, they're not getting any.

I am worried that Republicans in Congress have been eating Tide Pods lately. Tide Pods can kill you and Republicans are in the process of killing the Republican Party with this latest budget agreement. There is no other explanation.What else explains the irrational and liberal policies that Republicans pushed in the latest budget agreement? This agreement is a complete sell-out of the pillar of the 2016 Republican Party platform, which reads in part:“Our national debt is a burden on our economy and families. The huge increase in the national debt demanded by and incurred during the current Administration has placed a...

Without more Republicans in Congress, we were forced to increase spending on things we do not like or want in order to finally, after many years of depletion, take care of our Military. Sadly, we needed some Dem votes for passage. Must elect more Republicans in 2018 Election! 8:47 AM - 9 Feb 2018

Warning: This post contains numbers that may upset anyone who dreams of a smaller government. With the Senate budget deal announced yesterday, congressional Republicans have proved that they aren't merely big spenders: They bear primary responsibility for Washington's complete lack of fiscal responsibility. At the same time, they have reaffirmed the fact that bipartisanship means a determination to spend us into oblivion. The bipartisan budget deal that the senators proclaimed so proudly yesterday would add $300 billion over two years to discretionary spending, not counting emergency funds and other add-ons. It would yet again burst the budget caps that Republicans...

Despite all of this bad news President Trump holds a 48% approval rating today in the Rasmussen daily tracking. The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Wednesday shows that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty-one percent (51%) disapprove. The latest figures include 34% who Strongly Approve of the way the president is performing and 42% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -8. President Trump has a stronger approval rating today than media darling Barack Obama did back in 2010 on this same day. Back on February 7,...

Joe Scarborough wants a “regulation” to be adopted that would force Facebook to inform readers of “lies” contained in Republican Facebook posts. Said Scarborough on today's Morning Joe: “As we’re talking about how 55% of Americans get their news from Facebook, and we talk about regulations that need to be put in place, there should be a threshold where they have to send out a blast to every Facebook subscriber that got these false stories [from Republicans] that the story they got was a lie.” Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

JEFFERSON CITY • Democrats made a dent in the GOP's super-majority in the Missouri House on Tuesday, swiping a Jefferson County-based district that had been held by a Republican. Democrat Mike Revis snagged nearly 52 percent of the vote compared to Republican David Linton's 48 percent share, according to preliminary results from the Missouri Secretary of State. According to the unofficial results, Republicans still took at least two out of four special election contests on Tuesday, winning decisively in two western Missouri districts. In the 144th district, encompassing a patch of southeast Missouri, including Iron County and parts of Washington...

“In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations.” – Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn The American people do not realize the seriousness of the Russiagate conspiracy against them and President Trump. Polls indicate that a large majority of the public do not believe that Trump conspired...

President Donald Trump told Democrats Thursday that they can accept his immigration compromise or they'll get 'nothing at all.' At the GOP's annual retreat today in West Virginia Trump said the other party might as well 'come on board' with his plan to build a border wall and give 1.8 million illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children a pathway to citizenship because 'we are not going to improve it.' 'We have to get help from the other side, or we have to elect many more Republicans. That's another way of doing it, really that's another way of...

Rarely has a president changed his party as fast and profoundly as Donald J. Trump. Love him or hate him, you can no longer argue his ability to bend an entire party to his will. In the two and a half years since he announced his candidacy, he has moved the party away from decades of orthodoxy on trade, Russia, deficits and more — and has helped make the law-and-order party skeptical of FBI leadership. Perhaps the most profound thing Trump has done is show how many movement leaders and Republicans in Congress are out of touch with Republican voters:...