Free Republic

>PORTLAND, Maine — Some labor unions that helped U.S. Sen. Susan Collins win in 2014 say it’s too early to decide whether they’ll support her again in 2020 as her Democratic opponents courted workers over the Labor Day weekend.  Collins, a Republican, was supported by several labor unions in her last re-election race. Her campaign touted the endorsements heavily, and they were notable because unions typically support Democrats, though her race was uncompetitive and she won with two-thirds of votes.  Things could be different in 2020. Collins’ seat is expected the subject of one of the most expensive Senate campaigns...

The South Dakota Democratic Party will be closing the doors at both of its offices due to financial troubles, leaving the state with no Democratic Party offices. The state party will be closing offices in Sioux Falls and Rapid City at the end of September, the Argus Leader reported. No layoffs for party staff have been announced, and employees will begin working remotely due to the party’s budget problems, according to state party Chairwoman Paula Hawks. Hawks told the Argus Leader the party is setting fundraising goals and meeting with party donors and Founders Club members. "We are feeling very...

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA), Ballistic Missile Defense Operational Test Agency, and elements of the US Army E-62 Battery - 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade - on 30 August conducted the first intercept test of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) rapidly-deployable ballistic missile defence weapon system using a remote launcher kit (RLK) developed by the MDA. During the test, designated Flight Test THAAD-23 (FTT-23), a THAAD system deployed at Reagan Test Site on Kwajalein Atoll, in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, detected, tracked, and intercepted a medium-range ballistic missile threat representative target using a THAAD launcher...

Chants of hatred and disgust were tossed across police barricades between protesters and supporters of the Straight Pride Parade on Saturday which ended in 36 arrests and 4 injured officers, according to Boston police. Tensions flared in the crowd of about 200 people which was composed mostly of counterprotesters and peppered with far left groups like Antifa. The controversial parade garnered national attention since its inception in June. “We’re covered in black so when we attack these guys we can’t be prosecuted,” said Jon Crowley, an Antifa member who told the Herald that he felt violence was the only way...

How many times did your parents make you go outside and play? You should call and thank them... A new study suggests vitamin D might also might lead to aggressive behavior in adolescents. University of Michigan researchers say they have found a link between vitamin D deficiency in young kids and aggression in adolescents. According to their study of schoolchildren in Bogotá, Columbia, almost young kids with low levels of the vitamin were nearly twice as likely to exhibit aggression as they got older. "Children who have vitamin D deficiency during their elementary school years appear to have higher scores...

Walmart is set to end sales of handguns in Alaska and will discontinue the sale of short-barrel rifle and handgun ammunition in stores nationwide, the super chain's president and CEO announced Tuesday afternoon.

Senator Lindsey Graham has written a letter to Attorney General Bill Barr urging him to declassify FISA documents used during the FBI's investigation of the Trump campaign. "Since March 28, 2018, the Department's Inspector General, Michael Horowitz, has been conducting an investigation into the Department's and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's compliance with legal requirements, and with applicable Department and FBI policies and procedures, in applications filed with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) related to Carter Page. According to Inspector General David Horowitz that investigation is nearing completion," Graham wrote in a letter to Barr Tuesday morning. "In order...

It started 15 years ago as a hostage taking in a small town in southern Russia. It ended three days later in bloodshed that left hundreds dead, the majority of them children, in one of the worst terror attacks in Russian history. Some three dozen Chechen militants took more than 1,200 people hostage at a school in Beslan, North Ossetia, on September 1, 2004. The drama ended days later after Russian forces stormed the school. The standoff and resulting battle saw 334 people killed, 186 of whom were children. "I was lining the students up [to address them]. When I...

Walmart is discontinuing sales of short-barrel rifle ammunition such as the .223 caliber and 5.56 caliber, discontinuing sales of handgun ammunition and discontinuing handgun sales entirely in Alaska. It’s also asking shoppers to no longer openly carry firearms in stores, in states where “open carry” is allowed, unless authorized law enforcement officers are present. CEO Doug McMillon announces the changes following two deadly shootings at Walmart stores over the summer.

An incoming Harvard University freshman who was deported to Lebanon last month over social media posts arrived at the Ivy League institution just in time for the start of class on Tuesday, his relatives said. The family of Ismail B. Ajjawi said the 17-year-old Palestinian student arrived Monday in Cambridge after he was barred from entering the US at Boston Logan International Airport on Aug. 23 following a search of his phone and laptop by a Customs and Border Protection officer, the Harvard Crimson reported.

Voters are almost evenly split over whether President Trump will win his bid for reelection in the 2020 election, according to a new national survey released on Tuesday. The Hill-HarrisX poll found that 40 percent of registered voters said that they don’t believe Trump will win reelection, while 39 percent said that they thought he would win a second term. Twenty-one percent of those surveyed said they were unsure about the president’s chances for reelection. Younger voters were least likely to be optimistic about Trump’s odds. Of voters surveyed aged 18-34, 49 percent said they didn't think Trump would be...

The Ohio Democratic Party reportedly filed a lawsuit last week over Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s (R) planned removal of hundreds of thousands of voters who have not voted for the past several elections from the rolls. In the complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Columbus, state Democrats asked for a restraining order blocking the purge, set to take effect on Friday, and requiring LaRose to instead manually review the voting history of each individual in question, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The plaintiffs also called for an independent probe into how the state updates voter rolls to remove...

A female author who has been a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist took Trump Derangement Syndrome to a new level, stating on Twitter that she doesn't want people to wear red hats because they are "making everyone scared." Current Time 0:40 Duration 0:41 This Red Panda Cub Is The Cutest Thing You'll See Today Rebecca Makkai wrote; Is anyone else made really uncomfortable these days by anyone wearing any kind of red baseball cap? Like, I see one and my heart does weird shit and then I finally realize it only says Titleist or whatever. Maybe don't wear...

Of all the scandals in which Ilhan Omar is enmeshed, one might think the Daily Mail’s revelation this past July of her affair with political consultant Tim Mynett would be the least of them. The news last week of Beth Mynett’s divorce filing, however, has begun to disillusion a Somali community that has taken Omar at face value. Not cool — not cool at all, and it has thrown Omar off her game. Omar’s denial of the affair is a lie that is both obvious and bald-faced. She has therefore run from the tabloid newspapers and the local media as...

The founder of a modeling agency, believed by authorities to possess key information about convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has now gone missing as law enforcement officials desperately search for his whereabouts. Current Time 0:06 Duration 0:51 Study Reveals A Key Factor That Determines The Number Of Moles On Our Bodies "Jean-Luc Brunel, 72, has vanished as police seek to ask the Frenchman 'urgent' questions about the pedophile," the Daily Mail reported. "Investigators are making inquiries in Brazil [and] the U.S., and European and French prosecutors are also pursuing claims relating to the financier, who died aged 66 before he could...

Saturday, AOC recommended that people support counter-protesters, including Antifa, who were present at a Boston straight-pride parade. She encouraged people to donate to a “Bail Fund for activists who put themselves on the line…” One way to support the local LGBTQ community impacted by Boston’s white supremacist parade?Contribute to the Bail Fund for the activists who put themselves on the line protecting the Boston community:https://t.co/z2NRSqHMve(Any $ left over goes to @MassBailFund+@Boston_GLASS) https://t.co/G9xhIda6sF — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 1, 2019 The Boston Herald reports that 36 people were arrested at the parade Saturday. Chants of hatred and disgust were tossed...

Chasten Buttigieg attacked Mike Pence's lunch with an openly-gay Irish leader, saying just because the two shared meal doesn't mean the vice president is 'any less homophobic.' Buttigieg, the husband of Democratic presidential contender Pete Buttigieg, criticized a tweet on Monday from deputy White House press secretary Judd Deere, who wrote anyone who thinks Pence is 'anti-gay' should look at his lunch with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner.

Proponents of the so-called China model heap praise on the central government. They assert that China’s remarkable economic rise is because of the Communist Party’s system of meritocracy, adaptability and legitimacy with the people. Whatever the merits of such arguments, it is obvious that such features are the opposite of what Beijing’s appointees in Hong Kong have managed to achieve, in the aftermath of their disastrously misguided extradition bill efforts. Meritocracy has failed — no government official has resigned. Adaptability has been weakened by the absence of political reform and reassurance. And political legitimacy with the public has been crippled...

I’d be happy to sit down & visit next week about uniting to stop gun violence & about the Constitution. If we can have a civil & positive conversation—in the spirit of 1 Peter 4:8 as you suggest—despite our political differences, that might help resolve the discord in our Nation. Milano Tweet: Alyssa Milano · Sep 2 I’d love to come in and meet with you on the gun issue and many other issues that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, @tedcruz and also, 1 Peter 4:8. I’ll be in DC next week. We can live-stream the meeting...

SIG SAUER Selected by U.S. Army for Next Generation Weapons with New Ammunition Technology, Lightweight Machine Gun, Rifle, and Suppressors NEWINGTON, N.H., (September 3, 2019) – SIG SAUER, Inc. is proud to announce the official award of a contract by the U.S. Army in the down-select process for the Next Generation Squad Weapons (NGSW). The award encompasses the complete SIG SAUER system consisting of 6.8mm hybrid ammunition, a lightweight machine gun, rifle, and included suppressors. SIG SAUER will provide single-source manufacturing for ammunition, weapons, and suppressors allowing for less risk and increased capability for the U.S. Army. “The U.S. Army...