Free Republic

Prosecutors and defense attorneys in the Allied Veterans of the World case are disputing whether Attorney General Pam Bondi must answer a subpoena and testify. Court records show the state has asked a judge to quash a subpoena for Bondi, who is scheduled for a deposition next week by attorneys for several defendants in the gambling and money laundering case. Bondi argued in her motion that her testimony is no different from what other witnesses could offer and she is entitled to “testimonial immunity” due to her rank. Defense attorney Curtis Fallgatter argued in court documents that Bondi was briefed...

I vote for Newt! --- * Newt Gingrich? * Mitt Romney? * Rick Perry? * Michele Bachmann? * Rick Santorum? * Jon Huntsman?

The Washington Post reports on newly released emails that reveal "the Obama administration urged officers of the struggling solar company Solyndra to postpone announcing planned layoffs until after the November 2010 midterm elections" Solyndra’s chief executive warned the Energy Department on Oct. 25, 2010, that he intended to announce worker layoffs Oct. 28. He said he was spurred by numerous calls from reporters and potential investors about rumors the firm was in financial trouble and was planning to lay off workers and close one of its two plants. But in an Oct. 30, 2010, e-mail, advisers to Solyndra’s primary investor,...

Historians may look back on the political events as 2010 and view it as one of the more significant years in American history. From our perspective in California, while the events have been tumultuous, 2010 might as well be a good novel, something we can read about but probably not experience. The state continued to march ever leftward, in spite of hopeful signs through spring and summer that the dominance of liberals might be coming to an end, or at least moderated. However, it was not to be. Here then, a non-globally warmed San Francisco East Bay look at the...

In a very disturbing post by SFmom on the conservative web site Freerepublic.com, an email from Catharine Baker, an attorney who supervised the election count for the David Harmer campaign, writes of numerous irregularities in the recently decided election for the 11th Congressional District in California. Baker contends in an email from the Harmer campaign that on Election Day “several polling places experienced serious and persistent problems involving vote-by-mail ballots ("VBMs," or absentee ballots) delivered at the polls”; and that in post election counting of in Alameda, Contra Costa, and Santa Clara counties problems continued with mismatched signatures, missing registration...

Voters in the Nov. 2 election chose the business-friendly Republican Paul LePage for governor and put both the House of Representatives and the Senate under GOP control for the first time since the 1973-74 session. Republicans now control the House 78-72 and the Senate 20-14, with one independent serving in each chamber. “I’m hoping they create more jobs and make it more friendly for small business. Mainers like to work,” said Jason Pratt of Augusta, who works two jobs as a cook. Pratt said he doesn’t care which party gets the credit, “as long as they do the job they...

But more than 70 percent of voters in Oklahoma still approved a state constitutional amendment to that effect, apparently persuaded by anti-Islamic activists, and a few cynical politicians, that Oklahoma was about to be brought under Islam’s heel. After Muslim groups challenged the constitutionality of the “Save Our State Amendment,” a federal district judge issued a temporary restraining order. Last Monday, the judge, Vicki Miles-LaGrange, held a hearing to determine whether to issue a preliminary injunction against the measure, and said she would make a decision by the end of November. A federal injunction is warranted to save Oklahoma from...

That is why I believe most Americans don’t want a plan for deficit reduction. The Tea Party’s vision is narrow and uninspired. Americans want a plan to make America great again, and at some level they know that such a plan will require a hybrid politics — one that blends elements of both party’s instincts. And they will follow a president — they would even pay more taxes and give up more services — if they think he really has a plan to make America great again, not just bring him victory in 2012 by 50.1 percent. That hybrid politics...

... Compared with 2008, voting dropped off this year particularly among pro-Democratic groups: -Young voters were down by 55 percent. -African-Americans were down by 43 percent. -Hispanics were down by 40 percent. Of those voters who did show up this year, four out of five were white, one in 10 was African-American and one in 13 was Latino. The analysis is based primarily on exit poll data and preliminary estimates from the U.S. Elections Project. Senior citizens turned out in force - their turnout was 16 percent higher than in the last midterm election of 2006, and 59 percent of...

As many as 1,800 Democratic congressional staffers will soon lose their jobs, with layoffs hitting everyone from entry-level schedulers to six-figure committee lawyers in a mass exodus that will accompany the greatest congressional turnover in 70 years. While results are still being tallied in some races, the damage is clear for Democratic staffers. At least 60 seats have been lost, meaning those offices need to start packing their boxes to clear out in December. POLITICO estimated the likely layoffs based on the average number of staffers per House office, as well as the Democratic committee staffing level, which will most...

Last night Congressman Jerry McNerny (D) held a press conference and declared victory in the race in Congressional District 11, which twists and winds from the uber-tony San Francisco suburb of Danville to the farmlands of San Joaquin County (see story). Yes, the candidate from the party of “every vote counts” (except the military), the man representing the party of hanging chads and divining voter’s intentions (see the oracle Al Gore), the party of let’s count until we get the vote we want (Sen. Stuart Smalley aka Al Franken) has decided they’re tired of counting votes, since he has what...

No bargaining, no deals, no compromise — that's the hard-line stance that Republicans have staked in the days since seizing control of the House. Their prescription for the sluggish economy — lower taxes, huge spending cuts, less regulation, and repeal of the sweeping healthcare law just taking effect — excites the party's conservative base. But a long and ugly fight with President Obama and Senate Democrats, starting with next week's lame-duck session, could end up alienating the large number of Americans more interested in jobs than ideological battles. The midterm vote was "an expression of anger and impatience," said James...

From its beginnings, a tension existed in the heart of American conservatism between winning hearts and minds -- and winning elections. A slogan from the 1964 presidential campaign hinted at this dichotomy. "In your heart you know he's right" implied that although we believed in Barry Goldwater, we knew you might not – at least not enough of you, not yet. By 1980, a majority of Americans certainly did rally to the side of the conservative star of the Goldwater campaign, but Ronald Reagan's eight years in the White House did not lay to rest the intramural Republican tug of...

In one declarative night, California on Tuesday confirmed its status as a political world unto itself, zigging determinedly Democratic while most of the rest of the country zagged Republican. Voters not only restored the governor's office to Democratic hands, they may have given Democrats a sweep of statewide offices, though uncounted ballots could still shift one race. Driving much of the success — and distancing the state from the national GOP tide, according to exit polls — was a surge in Latino voters. They made up 22% of the California voter pool, a record tally that mortally wounded many Republicans....

You are invited to "tune in" to our Gulag Media special, tonight: The Election for Tea Partiers & Constitutionalists: What Happened & What Happens Now? You may use the widget below or with chat at:http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gulagmedia/2010/11/05/post-election-gulag-extravaganzaDate / Time: 11/4/2010 10pm-Midnight Eastern Time Call-in Number: (310) 807-5060 The election itself: Voter fraud? Voter extortion? Where? And besides that where do the Citizens stand in the Soft War against America -- awake and aware?The future: What now? In Congress and the States? With the People? Join the Gulag Bound, as we seek answers. GulagBound.com dissidents include: Anita MonCrief, James Simpson, Sher Zieve,...

My first election memory is from 1974, when I was 7 years old. President Nixon had recently resigned, succeeded by Gerald Ford. The Democratic Party picked up 49 seats in the House for a total of 291. In the Senate, the Democrats picked up four seats for 61 total. But for me, my memories are more personal. My father, Newt Gingrich, lost his first run for the 6th Congressional district in Georgia. While victory was not to come that night, or the next election night two years later, it did four years later. In 1978, Dad won the election and...

Do you want Muslim Brotherhood operatives serving in the Congress? Sestak is in the pocket of Hamas-linked Muslim Brotherhood CAIR, and I have been reporting on this evil axis since 2007. He is lying about his ties to CAIR. What does that tell you? Art Moore over at WND: 2nd Sestak scandal days before election Unindicted terrorist co-conspirator leader claims to have hosted home fundraiser for Democrat Since his election to the House in 2006, Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak has fended off strong criticism of his relationship with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a federally designated terrorist co-conspirator shown...

We will win around 3 score House races (including several long-time liberal Democrats), several Senate races, a slew of governorships, and this will be spun as a loss. We are fighting the Democrats on their dark blue turf, they have become the regional party, several states have returned to their red status (Florida, Virginia, Indiana, among others), and this will be spun as a loss. We are well positioned for 2012. The conservative movement is back and growing. Nancy Pelosi and her machine have been defeated. And the GOP moderates have their backs to the wall. And this will be...

Every once in a while, you read something in the news which leaves you seething. We live in a world full of both corruption and stupidity — two things which often seem to work synergistically. A couple of days ago, I came across something which had that unique blend of the two, a news story that was like a freshly-brewed cup of tick-me-off in the morning. The story in question comes out of Illinois, via Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website. Short and to the point, Breitbart's article notes that election officials in The Most Corrupt County in the Most Corrupt...

I am an American citizen living in Israel. I sent my and my wife's absentee ballots in to the St. Louis County Board of Elections this past Tuesday. I sent them using international express mail because I needed the ballots to be at the Board of Elections by this coming Tuesday. On the 25 or so previous occasions that I have used express mail to mail to the US, the mail would never take more than four business days to arrive at the destination. I could track it on the internet. It would leave Israel within 24 hours of sending...