Free Republic

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has announced a deal with Senate Democrats to fund the government and set spending levels for defense and nondefense programs over the next two years. The legislation would avert a government shutdown on Friday, when federal funding is due to expire, and boost defense and nondefense programs. It also lifts the debt ceiling to March 2019, which White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders hailed as a decision that would move Congress away from "crisis-to-crisis budgeting." The deal is backed by McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and will almost certainly be...

There are an incredible number of Badgers who have competed in the Olympics (by my count, well over 100), and seven current or former UW-Madison athletes will add their names to this prestigious list in Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Olympics from Feb. 8–25. In total, 14 current or former Badgers will either coach or play hockey in the coming games for USA or Canada. Unfortunately, Jim Johannson, who passed away Jan. 21, will be greatly missed by Team USA. The former Badger and Admiral great was serving as Team USA men’s hockey’s general manager before he left. Perhaps it...

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Tuesday that he’ll only allow the House to vote on an immigration bill President Trump will sign, effectively ruling out several bipartisan plans that fall short on border security. “We’re not going to bring immigration legislation through that the president doesn’t support,” Mr. Ryan said when asked about the path forward. Congress has less than four weeks until the March 5 phaseout deadline Mr. Trump set for the Obama-era DACA deportation amnesty, which is currently protecting nearly 700,000 illegal immigrant “Dreamers.”

The Democratic Attorneys General Association (DAGA), a political fundraising group, touts the AGs as “the first line of defense” against Trump’s agenda. The “sheer volume” of Democratic lawsuits is “staggering,” said Scott Will, executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association. Throughout 2017, Democratic attorneys generals filed 35 multi-state lawsuits against the Trump administration....By contrast, Republican attorneys general brought 46 multistate legal challenges during ALL of former President Barack Obama’s two terms. Attorney general races are playing out in 32 states in 2018, with 14 seats held by Democrats and 18 by Republicans. Rankin said DAGA is focused chiefly on...

Concerned Veterans for America is joining the campaign against Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., a top Republican target in 2018, with a $1.5 million digital and statewide television advertising buy. Baldwin is up for re-election this year, and this investment from CVA, a group that operates under the umbrella of political groups established by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, highlights what it claims is the Democrat's "failure to address the Tomah VA scandal." The group's ads will also encourage "the public to call her and urge her to support more health care options for veterans." A few years ago, issues...

The Democratic Party of Wisconsin on Monday admitted it is "free and easy" for Wisconsin voters to obtain a photo ID despite arguing in the past that voter ID laws suppress minority voters and disenfranchise "so many people." The party sent out a tweet on Monday letting voters know that the primary election for the Wisconsin Supreme Court was coming up on Feb. 20 and that it was "free and easy" for voters to obtain a photo ID to vote. The tweet included a link to inform voters about the various forms of ID that are acceptable on election day....

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, and Democratic lawmakers slammed President Trump after he approved the release of a memo questioning surveillance methods by the FBI during the early stages of the Russia investigation, arguing that he gave up “his constitutional responsibility” by releasing it.“President Trump has surrendered his constitutional responsibility as commander in chief by releasing highly classified and distorted intelligence,” Pelosi said. “By not protecting intelligence sources and methods, he just sent his friend Putin a bouquet. "[House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin] Nunes’ partisan spin memo distorts highly classified intelligence in a cynical attempt to discredit our national...

A judge sentenced a 15-year-old Wisconsin girl to 40 years in a mental hospital on Thursday after she, along with another girl, admitted they tried to murder a classmate in order to please a fictional horror character named “Slender Man.” Morgan Geyser, 15, pleaded guilty in October to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in accordance with a plea deal to avoid serving time in prison. In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier, who was sentenced in December to 25 years in a mental health facility, lured their classmate Payton Leutner into a wooded park in Waukesha and stabbed her several times with...

The city of Edina has changed the way it approaches public education, putting social justice above learning. The results will shock you. For decades, the public schools of Edina, Minnesota, were the gold standard among the state’s school districts. Edina is an upscale suburb of Minneapolis, but virtually overnight, its reputation has changed. Academic rigor is unraveling, high school reading and math test scores are sliding, and students increasingly fear bullying and persecution. The shift began in 2013, when Edina school leaders adopted the “All for All” strategic plan—a sweeping initiative that reordered the district’s mission from academic excellence for...

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson has requested the Department of Justice turn over communications from 16 FBI and DOJ officials, including former Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein sent Wednesday, the Wisconsin Republican requested “all documents and communications” — which includes emails, memos, notes, texts, iPhone instant messages, and voicemails — from 16 employees between January 1, 2015, to the present. The request is part of the committee´s broader probe into how the FBI handled its investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton´s use of...

Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Ron Johnson has requested the Department of Justice turn over communications from 16 FBI and DOJ officials, including former Director James Comey and former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. In a letter to Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein sent Wednesday, the Wisconsin Republican requested “all documents and communications” — which includes emails, memos, notes, texts, iPhone instant messages, and voicemails — from 16 employees between January 1, 2015, to the present.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wants Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) removed as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in the middle of the uproar over a memo that supposedly exposes FISA violations and bias at the FBI during the 2016 presidential election. Republicans voted to release the memo, and President Trump said that is "100 percent" going to happen.The FBI, however, shared its "grave concerns" over the four-page document Wednesday in a rare public statement, doubting its accuracy. Democrats say releasing it will be detrimental to national security and that Republicans only want it public in order to upend...

Harley-Davidson Inc. announced early Tuesday with its fourth quarter 2017 earnings report that it is on track to launch its first electric motorcycle within 18 months and that it will invest more aggressively in the electric avenue in an attempt to inspire ridership. But on the flip side, the motorcycle manufacturer also revealed plans to close its Kansas City, Mo., plant and fold those operations into its Pennsylvania facility. The Milwaukee-based company's (NYSE: HOG) announcement on its significant commitment to the future of its motorcycle technology and plant closure comes as motorcycle sales fell 6.7 percent worldwide in 2017, with...

House Speaker Paul Ryan called Tuesday to “cleanse” the FBI as he openly backed the release of a controversial memo that purportedly details alleged surveillance abuses by the U.S. government. “Let it all out, get it all out there. Cleanse the organization,” Ryan, R-Wis., said. He added, “I think we should disclose all this stuff. It’s the best disinfectant. Accountability, transparency -- for the sake of the reputation of our institutions.” The striking remarks came at a breakfast with anchors and reporters ahead of President Trump’s State of the Union address; much of the session was off the record.

West Virginia's Sen. Joe Manchin (D.) criticized House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) after being shown a clip of her characterizing President Donald Trump's immigration plan as a way to "Make America White Again." CNN's "State of the Union" host Jake Tapper used the Pelosi clip to start a discussion on immigration. "Let me just say what I said last night: that plan is a campaign to make America white again," Pelosi said. "You know what, we don't need that type of rhetoric on either side, from Nancy, Paul Ryan or anybody else," Manchin said. Manchin proceeded to say...

A school board in Wisconsin has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a lawsuit in the case of a transgender former student born female who was initially denied the request to use boys' bathrooms. The Kenosha Unified School Board voted 5-2 Tuesday night in favor of the $800,000 settlement, Kenosha News reported. Lawyers said that $650,000 of that sum would go toward attorney's fees. The student, Ash Whitaker, a biological female who identifies as a male, claimed the school had carried out discriminatory practices in requiring that students use the bathrooms of the gender they were born with. Whitaker, who...

Many of the minimum wage laws passed in recent years, including in major cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, include waivers allowing unionized businesses to pay their employees below the minimum. The waivers in effect make unionizing workers a low-cost option for businesses unwilling or unable to pay the new minimum wage, which in cities such as San Francisco and SeaTac, Wash., which also has a waiver, will climb as high as $15 an hour when fully phased in. In those cities, businesses can sign a collective bargaining agreement with a union that sets the wages below...

The top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee suggested Wednesday the Republican chairman disrespected a female senator by holding a hearing over her objection to a judicial pick from her home state. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Wisconsin Democrat, had withheld her “blue slip” on the nomination of Michael Brennan, President Trump’s pick to a seat to a Wisconsin-held seat on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Ms. Baldwin said the state’s bipartisan commission for nominating judicial nominees was ignored by the Trump White House. But Chairman Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican, held a hearing on Mr. Brennan on Wednesday, suggesting...

Calling proposed immigration reform legislation “devastating” to Western Growers members, association president and CEO Tom Nassif alerted members that the group will work to stop it from becoming law. The immigration reform package, the Secure America’s Future Act, was authored by House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va. House leaders passed a continuing resolution on Jan. 18 that will fund the government for another four weeks. Facing a midnight deadline Jan. 19, the Senate had still not passed any bill to keep the government operating. According to Nassif, the House passage of the continuing resolution included a commitment to vote on...

MILWAUKEE —The Milwaukee police officer who was cleared in an officer-involved shooting that sparked two days of violent protests on the city's northwest side is likely heading to prison in connection with alleged sex crimes that were revealed during the investigation into the shooting. As part of a plea deal reached Wednesday, Dominiuqe Heaggan-Brown avoided a trial by agreeing to plead guilty to reduced charges: three counts of soliciting prostitution and two counts of capturing an intimate representation without consent.