Free Republic

US Vice President Kamala Harris announced private sector investment worth $7 billion to help Africa combat and adapt to climate change. The announcement came as her week-long trip to Africa comes to an end on Saturday. "The United States is committed to these types of innovative solutions to support climate adaptation, mitigation and resilience," she said. Harris added that the US would also provide more federal funding to improve access to climate information services. The private funding will comprise investments by a mix of 27 companies and organizations. The funding is to be used for the promotion of climate-smart agriculture...

Republicans on Saturday narrowly picked an activist who has promoted unfounded election conspiracies and promised a shakeup to lead the Kansas GOP for the next two years, following weeks of infighting that mirrors the acrimony in the party across the U.S. Within 30 minutes of the change in the Kansas Republican Party’s leadership, its state committee reviewed a resolution demanding that the U.S. House impeach President Joe Biden for “tyranny” over comments he and his aides made in the summer of 2021 decrying misinformation about coronavirus vaccines spreading within the GOP. The committee tabled the resolution until its next meeting....

… “Students who are here and those who are thinking about their role in this: You are going to come out and just leapfrog over all of us,” Harris said on Wednesday. “Because, you know, especially for our younger leaders, the benefit that you have is you’re not burdened by any question about, ‘Is this real?’” she said. That’s not currently the case, Harris said. “That is great because we’ve been having to deal with some folks who just literally ... we’re kind of like, ‘Have you looked out the window?’” “Let’s all stay active in this and understand ......

Monday, the New York Times published a damning report about how Vice President Kamala Harris has struggled to define her historic tenure as the nation's second in command. Of all the similar reports that have come out since Harris first assumed the role in 2021, Monday's New York Times article is the bleakest. The authors of the piece — who say they spoke to "dozens of Democrats in the White House, on Capitol Hill and around the nation" — walked away from their reporting with this conclusion: Many believe Harris has not risen to the challenge of establishing herself as...

… But the painful reality for Harris is that in private conversations over the past few months, dozens of Democrats in the White House, on Capitol Hill and around the nation — including some who helped put her on the party’s 2020 ticket — said she had not risen to the challenge of proving herself as a future leader of the party, much less the country. Even some Democrats whom her own advisers referred reporters to for supportive quotes confided privately that they had lost hope in her. Through much of the fall, a quiet panic set in among key...

Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) has invited Michael Brown Sr., the father of a teenager who was shot and killed by a police officer in Missouri in 2014, to the State of the Union, Politico Playbook reported on Monday. Brown’s son, Michael Brown, was a Black teenager who was fatally shot in an incident with police in Ferguson, Mo. The incident sparked national outrage and protests across the country, including the Black Lives Matter Movement. The ex-police officer who shot Brown was not charged for the incident. “The police killing of Michael Brown in 2014 is what propelled me and many...

… On Thursday, the VP hit the road along with Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm to discuss the climate crisis at the University of Michigan. “When I think about the shoulders upon which we stand and where we have arrived,” said Vice President Harris, according to Michigan Live. I think we should all take note of the momentum we have achieved and our responsibility, now sitting in these chairs in this moment, to then continue with this moment and lead, and not waste a minute because we don’t have a minute spare.” Harris, who is the first Black and first...

On Dec. 9, 1965, a young boy threw up his hands in despair and shouted, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”“Sure, Charlie Brown,” the boy’s friend, Linus, answered. “I can tell you what Christmas is all about.”Dragging his trademark security blanket, Linus walked to the center of the school auditorium stage, where friends were rehearsing a Christmas play.“Lights, please,” Linus said.A spotlight clicked on. Then Linus delivered one of the most memorable monologues in television history: an account of Christ’s birth, recited word for word from the Gospel of Luke. It lasted a solid minute.CBS beamed...

Democratic Oregon Gov. Kate Brown commuted the execution sentences of her state’s 17 death-row inmates effective Wednesday, all of them convicted killers. Brown reduced the inmates’ sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole, saying she did so solely because capital punishment is universally “dysfunctional and immoral.” The convicts’ crimes include child murder, rape, robbery and a plot involving a bomb.

French President Emmanuel Macron is due to meet Vice President Kamala Harris for a visit to NASA headquarters on Wednesday as he kicks off his state visit to the US. Macron and his wife are also due to meet US President Biden and his wife for a private dinner later in the day. On Thursday, Macron will attend an official welcoming ceremony hosted by Biden at the White House. The same day, the leaders are slated to talk about Iran's nuclear program, China's increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific and the growing security concerns in Africa's Sahel region. Following the talks,...

Vice President Kamala Harris may emerge from last week's midterm elections as a winner after she supported a slew of successful Democratic candidates in what had been expected to be a tough year for the party. Harris made numerous campaign appearances with candidates who went on to win their races, including Representative Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayor's race and Josh Shapiro in the battle for governor of Pennsylvania. The vice president's efforts have won praise on social media, with some pointing to the high success rate of Democrats she publicly supported. "For all of the 'where is the...

Vice President Harris on Friday lashed out at North Korea after its most recent missile launch during an appearance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, calling the move a “brazen violation” of U.N. security resolutions. North Korea launched what appeared to be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to multiple reports, a rocket with the potential to reach across continents, early on Friday.

Ohio Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown will seek reelection in 2024 for another term in the United States Senate as no Democrat won statewide during the 2022 midterm elections. Brown, who just turned 70 this past week, told Spectrum News he plans on running for reelection in the Buckeye State in 2024. “I’m running in 2024. And I run to win,” he said. “People recognize that I get up every day and fight for the dignity of work. Whether you swipe a badge or punch a clock or work for tips or work for a salary,” the Democrat told Spectrum. Even...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the Philippine islands of Palawan in the South China Sea, a senior administration official said on Tuesday, in a move that may be interpreted by Beijing as a sharp rebuke. The visit, scheduled for next Tuesday, will make Harris the highest-ranking American official to visit the island chain adjacent to the Spratly Islands. China has dredged the sea floor to build harbors and airstrips on the Spratlys, parts of which are also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. Beijing claims some territories in the waters off Palawan...

After a summer of national and global climate devastation, Vice President Kamala Harris made a stop at the Cowell Theater on Tuesday to tout Democrats' progress on climate policy just weeks before the midterm elections During a wide-ranging conversation with podcasters, Harris spoke about her Bay Area roots, the Inflation Reduction Act and environmental justice — including how women, low-income communities and communities of color often bear the brunt of harmful policies. In one pointed moment, Harris noted a "Venn diagram" connection between states that have poor climate track records and those that are seeking to limit voting rights, reproductive...

A new CNN report found that U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is more popular with Democratic candidates on the campaign trail than Vice President Kamala Harris, but what it really reveals are a set of gripes that Harris' allies have when it comes to her utilization on the stump. The report found that Buttigieg — the young, articulate military veteran who ran for president in 2020 following two terms as the mayor of South Bend, Indiana — has become the most requested surrogate on the campaign trail for Democratic candidates in the midterms apart from President Joe Biden. It's clear...

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said Tuesday that he plans to announce a reelection bid for 2024. The senator confirmed his plans to Cleveland.com, but declined to elaborate further. There is a longer answer, but that’s my point,” Brown said, according to Cleveland.com. “I haven’t formally announced, but I plan to.” Democratic strategists in recent months have pointed to Brown as a potential Democratic candidate for president in 2024 if President Biden does not seek another term. The president will turn 80 in November, and questions have swirled about his fitness to lead after a succession of harsh policy losses and...

It’s been quite a political journey for Scott Brown and his family, and that journey could very well come to an end in today’s N.H. 01 GOP primary. In 2010, Brown pulled off a stunning upset in Massachusetts, winning the Senate seat held by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy and ending the Democrats’ filibuster-proof majority. In 2012, he lost the Senate seat to Democrat Elizabeth Warren. In 2014, he switched states — from Massachusetts to New Hampshire — to challenge Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. He lost, but the issues he used in that campaign’s closing days (immigration, ISIS and Ebola)...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris called climate change an “immediate” and “urgent” crisis Monday as she detailed Biden administration efforts to respond to disasters such as deadly flooding in Kentucky and wildfires ravaging her home state of California. Harris was set to announce more than $1 billion in grants available to states to address flooding and extreme heat exacerbated by climate change. The competitive grants will help communities across the nation prepare for and respond to climate-related disasters. “The frequency has accelerated in a relatively short period of time,” Harris said. “The science is clear. Extreme weather will...

WASHINGTON, D.C. - With Ketanji Brown Jackson set to take over Justice Stephen Breyer's seat on the Supreme Court today, aides have been hard at work changing all the restroom signs to "gender-neutral" so Jackson doesn't get confused when she has to use the restroom. "It's important to make accommodations for differently-abled non-biologists like KBJ," said SCOTUS Clerk Michael Qian. "We are excited that Ketanji will not only be here to represent women of color, but people of mental confusion as well." The clerks will also be hard at work striking all uses of the word "woman" from cases and...