Free Republic

WASHINGTON — Leading congressional Democrats were still largely steering clear of impeachment chatter a day after President Donald Trump’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, alleged in public testimony that Trump had violated campaign finance laws and lied to the American public. “I’m not going into that, I’m not going into that,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, said at her weekly news conference Thursday, quickly dismissing talk of impeachment...(snip) ... the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., like Pelosi, downplayed the idea that his panel's seven-hour hearing had represented a significant leap forward on that front...(snip) The...

Colorado is the latest state to pass a bill which would change the way presidential candidates win office. The state joins 11 others after passing a bill to join the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Under the compact, the candidate who receives the most popular votes nationwide would be be awarded the electoral college votes from participating states, even if the candidate lost in that state. In order for the bills in states which have passed laws recognizing the agreement, a total of 270 electoral votes from participating states is needed. Colorado has joined California, Connecticut, D.C., Hawaii, Maine, Maryland,...

The Senate is set to escalate a long simmering fight over President Trump's judicial nominees. Republicans are poised to confirm a pick for the influential circuit courts next week without the support of either of the nominee's home-state senators—a first for the Trump era. Eric Miller is the first appeals judge to get a vote on the Senate floor this year, and the 31st of Trump’s presidency. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) set up an initial vote on his Ninth Circuit nomination for Monday evening. “The judicial train is running in the committee and it will soon hit the floor,”...

The ecstatic sailor shown kissing a woman in Times Square celebrating the end of World War II has died. George Mendonsa was 95. Mendonsa’s daughter, Sharon Molleur, told The Providence Journal Mendonsa fell and had a seizure Sunday at the assisted living facility in Middletown, Rhode Island, where he lived with his wife of 70 years.

The Democrats swept to power in Congress by campaigning in a way that has been successful for Democrats for generations. “Republicans will take away your health care,” they said, after having focus-grouped it. Now we are preparing for a 2020 campaign in which Donald Trump and Republicans can as easily advertise to the public: “Democrats will take away cows, and your car.” What happened to Democrats? Back in November, it looked like Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic House caucus had found the perfect plan for their party in the era of Trump: Avoid talking about impeachment and stick to simple...

Democrats this week approved legislation to require background checks for essentially all sales and transfers of firearms -- but rejected GOP-led efforts to amend the legislation to alert law enforcement authorities when gun buyers, including illegal immigrants, fail those background checks. The House Judiciary Committee voted in favor of the bill 23-15, in a strict party-line vote, sending it to the House floor. If approved by the full House, the bill would be the most significant gun-control legislation approved by either chamber of Congress in at least a decade -- although it stands little chance of passage in the Senate, where Republicans command a...

U.S. Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., tried to amend a gun control bill from U.S. House Democrats to ensure law enforcement is notified when a potential gunbuyer–including illegal immigrants– fails a federal background check. Looking to amend the Democrats’ “Bipartisan Background Checks Act,” from his perch on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, Steube used language from U.S. Rep. David Cicilline’s, D-RI, “Unlawful Gun Buyer Alert Act” which has the support of U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY, the chairman of the committee. But both Cicilline and Nadler voted against his amendment. “Clearly, the Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee don’t care about...

An overwhelming majority of voters in Rhode Island oppose super-permissive abortion laws like the one passed recently in New York, according to a new survey. Seventy-three percent of respondents polled by the firm Cygna said they “oppose” legislation “allowing abortion until the moment of a live birth.” Of that number, 64.6 percent said they “strongly oppose.” Those are some impressive opposition numbers from a state that’s not known for being conservative. The last time the voters of Rhode Island supported a Republican presidential nominee over a Democrat was 35 years ago when former President Ronald Reagan went on to...

Nah-na-na-boo-boo!

NEWS FROM THE UNITED STATES SENATE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 4, 2019 Udall, Heinrich, Senate Democrats Introduce Bill to Prevent President From Using Emergency Declaration to Raid Funds for Border Wall RAIDER Act of 2019 stops President Trump from bypassing Congress and raiding as much as $35 billion from military construction and disaster response funds for land acquisition or construction of his wall WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senators Tom Udall (D-N.M.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), along with U.S. Senators Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Dianne Feinstein...

New tensions are flaring on the Senate Judiciary Committee over plans by newly minted Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) to dig into Obama-era scandals. Graham, a close ally of President Trump’s, has outlined several areas he wants to probe now that he has the Judiciary Committee gavel. They include the FBI’s handling of its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s private email server and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant applications targeting former Trump campaign aide Carter Page. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), asked about Graham’s plans, started laughing and compared them to the “thrilling days of yesteryear.” “This is going to be...

Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo wants to give cities and towns the ability to tax "non-mission essential" properties owned by nonprofit colleges and hospitals, according to a WPRI-TV report. The idea is part of the governor's proposed $9.9-billion budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget also reportedly lowers funding for the Payment in Lieu of Taxes program, which compensates municipalities for property tax revenue lost due to non-taxable properties. The proposed budget would cut $5 million from PILOT funding. State officials said allowing cities and towns to tax properties owned by nonprofit hospitals and colleges would...

A senior Democratic senator has said Congress is almost ready to indict President Donald Trump. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic senator from Rhode Island, spoke to CNN anchor Chris Cuomo on Tuesday and stressed that while Congress was closing in on Trump, more evidence was required for an air-tight case. Read More: Can Mueller indict Trump while he’s president? Pelosi says it’s an "open discussion" “I do not at all subscribe to the [Office of Legal Counsel] theory that a president can’t be indicted,” Whitehouse told Cuomo. “I think that if there are crimes that he has committed he should be...

America is more and more divided these days. In this video, we analyze the most liberal states in America, taking into account recent voting patterns, agendas, laws and regulations.

Rhode Island's population inched up slightly this year, according to new U.S. Census Bureau estimates released Wednesday. The agency said Rhode Island had 1,057,315 residents as of July 1, an increase of about 800 or 0.08% compared with a year earlier. (Last year's estimate was revised downward to a slight drop.) The state's population has grown by 4,748 residents since the 2010 Census. Though Rhode Island was not among the nine states that actually lost population in the 12 months ended July 1, it remains one of the slowest-growing states in the nation. Massachusetts led New England in population growth,...

Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline (D) sharply criticized tech giant Facebook on Twitter on Wednesday evening, arguing that the social media company can't be trusted any longer to regulate itself. In a series of tweets, the lawmaker ripped into Facebook executives over a New York Times report detailing how the company used a Republican opposition research firm to link public detractors of the company to billionaire Democratic donor George Soros amid criticism of Facebook for its use by Russian operatives to influence Americans during the 2016 election. The report was based mainly on anonymous, insider accounts. "We’ve known for some...

Three Democratic senators on Monday filed a lawsuit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of President Trump’s appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general. Whitaker was appointed by Trump to lead the Justice Department after Attorney General Jeff Sessions was forced out of the role earlier this month. Connecticut Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Hawaii Sen. Mazie Hirono filed the complaint against Whitaker in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Monday. All three issues fiery statements. “Installing Matthew Whitaker so flagrantly defies constitutional law that any viewer of School House Rock...

This is one of those “stealth” races prime for an upset. The media ignore the race, and that can work to the challengers advantage. It is possible for a well structured insurgent campaign by Republican candidate Bob Flanders to use the Kavanaugh momentum and unseat Democrat incumbent senator Sheldon Whitehouse.

-snip- A pair of Rhode Island political hopefuls, who aspired to be The Ocean State's governor and attorney general, was arrested Thursday after police allegedly uncovered 48 pounds of illegal marijuana in the duo's West Greenwich home. State police said they arrested Anne Armstrong, 58, and Alan Gordon, 48 -- the Compassion Party’s candidates for governor and attorney general, respectively -- after a search at the pair’s home uncovered nearly 50 pounds of marijuana. Officials said they searched the pair’s home after receiving a complaint of a “strong odor of marijuana emanating from marijuana plants being illegally grown outdoors.” -snip-...

Outside of the partisan bubbles, legal observers concede that Democrats dropping the sexual misconduct allegations against Judge Brett Kavanaugh at the 11thhour should make Republicans furious. At the same time, they think the GOP should have given ample time to investigate these claims, not establishing an artificial deadline. George Washington Law Professor Jonathan Turley has an op-ed in The Hill, where he lays out his concerns about the probe, noting that we need an end to this drama, not a prolongation of it. Also, he notes the dangerous precedent that Democrats are setting by warning in not so uncertain terms that...