Free Republic

Minnesota authorities admitted they let a gunman who shot a Democratic lawmaker and her husband dead slip away despite engaging him in a firefight immediately after the murders. State Representative Melissa Hortman was shot along with fellow Democrat John Hoffman, a state senator, in a chilling assassination spree in the early hours of Saturday morning. Local police, sheriff's deputies, and the FBI have since launched an extensive manhunt, as authorities say multiple gunmen may be at large... The first shooting occurred just after 2am at Hoffman's home in Champlin, about 20 miles from Minneapolis. Hoffman and his wife were shot...

The city of Kalamazoo, Michigan has now decriminalized public urination, defecation, and littering to be more “equitable.” Small business owners in the area had voiced their opposition to the effort, but their concerns were ignored. ......snip...... Kalamazoo Mayor David Anderson said that decriminalizing these offenses will help the city be more “equitable.” City Commissioner Chris Praedel said pretty much the same thing, according to a report from Fox 17, that it is “fair and equitable to who these laws were most affecting, the unhoused population, as well as provide a better solution for those trying to get on their feet.”...

Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that President Trump's attempts to block Congress from performing its oversight function is indicative of his growing authoritarianism. "They’re throwing every obstacle in our way because the president has in many respects become a dictator," Speier said on CNN. "He is trying to prevent Congress from doing its oversight action, and we won’t accept that." Speier's comments came as tensions continue to escalate between Democrats and the Trump administration over special counsel Robert Mueller's report into Russia's election interference and whether Trump committed obstruction of justice.

One of the things I talk about in the book is what I call this “conundrum of privilege,” which is that these parents have a lot of resources economically as well as status as white people. They can then use those resources to set up their own child’s life in ways that give them the best education, the best health care, all the best things. And we have this collectively agreed-upon idea in our society that being a “good parent” means exactly that -- providing the best opportunities you can for your own child. But then some of these parents...

Democratic Florida Rep. Joe Garcia — fresh off being caught eating his own earwax on camera — was caught red-handed (or is it yellow-fingered?) in another gaffe this week, claiming that low crime rates in border cities with lots of federal immigration workers is proof that “Communism works.” Garcia made the comment during a Google hangout he convened last week to talk about comprehensive immigration reform with supporters. The Democrat attempted to point out how, for all their talk about limited government, many Republicans are fine spending loads of government money on border security. “Let me give you an example,...

Liberal anger at Sen. Joe Lieberman spread across Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with a House Democrat from Connecticut calling for his recall and Lieberman himself acknowledging the angst he has caused. “No individual should hold health care hostage, including Joe Lieberman, and I’ll say it flat out, I think he ought to be recalled,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) told POLITICO. Connecticut has no recall law for state officials, and the Constitution does not authorize states to recall members of Congress, since each house has the authority to police its own members. DeLauro acknowledged that she didn’t know if it was...

November 14, 2004 OP-ED COLUMNIST Slapping the Other Cheek By MAUREEN DOWD You'd think the one good thing about merging church and state would be that politics would be suffused with glistening Christian sentiments like "love thy neighbor," "turn the other cheek," "good will toward men," "blessed be the peacemakers" and "judge not lest you be judged." Yet somehow I'm not getting a peace, charity, tolerance and forgiveness vibe from the conservatives and evangelicals who claim to have put their prodigal son back in office. I'm getting more the feel of a vengeful mob - revved up by rectitude -...

<p>Barry Schwartz was sickened by what he took to be the softball coverage of the fall of Baghdad. So the 44-year-old artist turned off CNN and went out to do an errand, determined to provoke deeper reflection along his way.</p>