Free Republic

Republicans, who have dominated control of legislatures since the 2010 mid-term election, held the majority in 67 of the country's 98 partisan legislative chambers, while Democrats had 31 going into the election. Nebraska's single chamber is nonpartisan. In Kentucky, Republicans took over the House of Representatives for the first time since 1921... That result leaves Republicans in control of all 30 legislative chambers in the U.S. South for the first time in history, Storey said. Republicans also wrested control of the Iowa Senate and the Minnesota Senate from Democrats, according to NCSL. Democrats hit their target in the New Mexico...

The Electoral College remains in place over two centuries after the framers of the Constitution empowered it to select presidents. Though occasionally maligned, this system of electing a chief executive has been incredibly successful for the American people. Many modern voters might be surprised to learn that when they step into a ballot box to select their candidate for president, they actually are casting a vote for fellow Americans called electors. These electors, appointed by the states, are pledged to support the presidential candidate the voters have supported. The Electoral College holds its vote the Monday after the second Wednesday...

A federal judge ordered Florida election officials to extend the state's voter registration deadline to October 18, in response to damage and disruption caused by Hurricane Matthew. The state's original deadline was October 11. Florida Democrats and the state's League of Women Voters asked the judge for the extension. Gov. Rick Scott initially refused to push back the deadline, saying late last week, "Everybody has had a lot of time to register."

Every US state has a motto. Some are interesting, like “Live Free of Die,” in New Hampshire, and some are sadly truthful, like, “Our Government is Vampiric” in Massachusetts. Just kidding. It’s more along the lines of “We’ll Tax You to Death,” or something like that. Anyway, some, like the motto for the 49th state, Alaska, are very upbeat and offer a sense of adventure. In Alaska, politicians tell us to look, “North, to The Future.” But, a shocking move by the federal government might inspire Alaskans to change their motto to, “Our Land Is Being Stolen By The Feds!”...

Maps by Center for Immigration Studies based on Census shows detailed information on immigrants (legal and illegal) at county level 1990-2014. The analysis focuses on adults. Adults directly affect job market, politics and potential voters, they reshape the culture. In 1990 immigrants were at least 20% of adultsin 44 counties, by 2014 they were 20% in 152 counties. In 1990, only 1 in 8 Americans lived in a county at least 20% adult immigrants, by 2014 nearly 1 in 3 Americans. Since 1990 immigrant share of adults more than quadrupled in 232 counties. By county In GA: Stewart <1 to...

With the prospect of a President Donald Trump or a President Hillary Clinton on the horizon, the growing trend toward the executive acting without the consent of Congress is troubling to all political stripes. Both parties claim to worry about a strong presidency, at least if the other party is in the White House. That trend has been exacerbated by President Obama, but it certainly didn’t start with him. With the exception of Calvin Coolidge, every president of the 20th and 21st centuries contributed to the problem. Many proposals to address the imperial presidency have been floated over the decades....

Fresh after Congress and the White House scored the largest transportation spending package in a decade, both presidential candidates this year are proposing billions in funding to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. While both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump—and the parties they represent—agree the nation’s roads, bridges, airports, rail system, and ports are in need of repair, the new proposals invite familiar questions over how the spending would be paid for, and whether the federal government is the best provider to pay for it. Those questions, and the lack of a must-pass infrastructure initiative requiring Congress’ attention in 2017, mean that...

As I recall from Gibbon, the Western Roman Empire went out with more of a whimper than a bang. By the time of Alaric and his Visigoths in 410 AD, Rome was so corrupt and weak there was little to stand in his way. In broad strokes it is fair to say that Roman society declined simultaneously with government. Long before the fall, Roman republican citizenship was a precious possession, a jewel of unsurpassed value. As such it was held closely and kept in short supply, for among other privileges, the Roman citizen wasn’t taxed. He was exempt from the...

On Tuesday, the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) formally announced the removal of the lesser prairie chicken from the endangered species protection list. They did not take this step voluntarily; FWS lost a court case last year which ordered the agency to remove the bird from the list. However, even as they complied with the court’s order, the FWS issued a threat that the agency’s land grab under the guise of conservation was not over. In the words of Director Dan Ashe, “Responding to this court ruling by removing the bird from the Federal List does not mean we are...

Utah lawmakers recently approved a resolution calling on Congress to ratify an amendment to the U.S. Constitution repealing the Seventeenth Amendment. Ratified in 1913, the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution established direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote. Before the amendment’s ratification, senators were elected by state legislatures. The resolution, approved by the House of Representatives and sent to the state’s lieutenant governor for filing in March, was sponsored by state Sen. Alvin Jackson (R-Highland). ‘A Formal Check’ Todd Zywicki, a professor of law at George Mason University, says the Seventeenth Amendment removed a necessary safeguard against...

Yesterday we showed something strange: while oil prices have rebounded from multi-year recent lows, gasoline prices have not only rebounded but have done so with a vengeance, sending retail gasoline at the pump is now back to levels last seen just over a year ago, even as WTI (and Brent) is materially lower. As we concluded, "gas prices are unchanged while oil prices are 25% lower." Something did not add up, which prompted some readers to inquire if this was purely a function of higher gasoline taxes.  We don't know the answer, and assume it is a deep secret of America's...

Looking for an up-to-date and complete list of primary states won by Trump and Clinton thus far. With Bernie Sanders winning 10 of the last 15 state primaries on the Democrat side, I think Trump can pronounce that he has won more state primaries in the highly-contested Republican presidential race than the Democrat front-runner has. IIRC, Trump lost in Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado, Idaho, Alaska, Ohio, Wyoming and Wisconsin. If I've missed any, let me know. Trump is practically guaranteed to win all the other states left. IMO, it would be a great talking point for Trump to proclaim that...

The Justice Department determined that North Carolina’s bathroom policy -using the bathroom that matches your biological sex- is in violation of federal civil rights law. Reports speculate the feds might try to restrict funding to North Carolina or pursue legal action if they don’t change the policy, though the Justice Department hasn’t commented either way. North Carolina State House Speaker Tim Moore has made it clear, he will not be intimidated.

President Reagan once opined that “government programs, once launched, never disappear,” calling them “the nearest thing to eternal life we will ever see on this earth.” Today, Arkansas is proving why Reagan’s pithy sound bite has matured into a truism. In recent days, officials came as close as any state ever has to throwing in the towel on the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, but parliamentary maneuvers by Governor Asa Hutchison — a Republican — mean he’ll likely muscle through more funding for the program. The Arkansas fight, however, is a leading indicator of what’s to come, as lawmakers around the country...

Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2016/04/21/confederate-flag-removed-us-capitol-tunnel/83337106/

Donald Trump is poised to grow his delegate lead over the Republican field with a strong showing on Super Tuesday. The long-time GOP front-runner leads in the latest polls in eight of the 11 states that will vote on March 1, and heÂ’s the only candidate who is competitive across-the-board. Even worse for TrumpÂ’s rivals is that you must win at least 20 percent of the vote to get any delegates in the four states with the largest prizes. The latest polls show Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson are below the threshold in all four of those states,...

This is the theory that makes the most sense. I read Mickey Kaus tweet about it. Bloomberg can't win Indiana, North Carolina or any of the states McCain lost. It has to be more liberal than that. Bloomberg spoil in Florida or Nevada or Colorado . They can't win with a third party but they need to hurt trump in battleground states somewhere.

If you've ever wondered whether the grass would be greener — or if you literally make more green — by moving to another state or working in tech, we have your answer. We've ranked the average salary of tech workers in all 50 states, using the latest data from a new survey conducted by Dice.com. While you'll need the necessary skills to get your foot in the door of a tech job, this roundup gives you the chance to at least see how your state, and those across the country, stack up. Here's how every state ranks, from those with...

The Convention of States rhetoric is overly simplistic since they know that most supporters of a constitutional convention rely on the words of admired conservative leaders topped off with little time for doing their own independent research. This is unfortunate since they are being deceived. Here is some information to show the deception.

The New York Times published the results of a study of 11,000 interviews with voters who call themselves Republican-leaning (but may not all be Republicans – more on that below).  They broke it down by congressional district to gauge the level of support for Donald Trump.  The purpose of their study seems to be to show that places where people do racist web searches correlated nearly perfectly with places where Trump has his strongest support (really!).  But let's ignore this wacko angle (unless we also want to see if Obama is most popular in places where blacks kill blacks)...