Free Republic

Voters passed the last November as a Democratic countermeasure to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas, Florida and other states. California’s controversial Proposition 50 – passed by voters last November as a Democratic countermeasure to Republican-led redistricting efforts in Texas, Florida and other states – is now on a collision course with the Supreme Court. The measure empowered California’s Democratic-controlled legislature to sideline the state’s independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and redraw congressional districts mid-decade. That commission, created by voters in 2008, was intended to curb partisan manipulation by placing map making in the hands of an independent 14-member panel focused on...

A group of millennial activists from across the country plan to open a “movement house” in Washington DC next month, which will serve as a permanent base to protest Donald Trump’s presidency. The organizers are mostly women of color, many of whom campaigned for Bernie Sanders during the Democratic primary. The house, which will be set up by inauguration day on 20 January, has been dubbed “District 13”, in a reference to a rebellious neighborhood in the Hunger Games books and films. Activists told the Guardian that it will serve as a “space for the best kinds of troublemakers from...

Firefighters appear in political ad By VICTOR HULL victor.hull@heraldtribune.com SARASOTA COUNTY -- Four Sarasota County firefighters apparently violated a policy forbidding employees from political activity on the job. The firefighters appear in a Candice Brown McElyea campaign ad that began airing over the weekend on television and on the candidate's Web site. Video of the firefighters was shot recently in a Sarasota County fire station while they were on duty. The firefighters are shown talking to McElyea, a Democrat running for the District 13 congressional seat, in front of a fire truck. The words Sarasota County Fire Department are visible...