Free Republic

President Trump is barreling toward a showdown with Congress over his decision to pull back U.S. troops in northern Syria despite widespread opposition. The announcement, which caught leadership and traditional GOP allies flatfooted, sparked a wave of condemnation, with Republicans calling it a “disaster in the making,” a “catastrophic mistake” and a “terrible decision.” Lawmakers are already weighing how to respond to Trump’s decision, setting the stage for a high-profile clash with Trump as soon as Congress returns from a two-week break on Monday. “Congress must and will act to limit the catastrophic impact of this decision,” said Rep. Liz...

Thousands of pro-lifers stood outside in all kinds of weather Sunday to pray for unborn babies and their mothers. People gathered in about 1,600 communities in the United States and Canada for the annual Life Chain, according to organizers. The event brings pro-lifers together in their local communities to pray for an end to abortion and peacefully witness to the truth about life in the womb. In West Reading, Pennsylvania, about 75 people stood on the sidewalks in the rain, holding signs encouraging mothers to choose life, the Reading Eagle reports. “We got rained on quite well but people stayed...

been as head-spinning as the social conservatives and evangelical Christians who now consider Mr. Trump a hero. Many of the conservative women who once saw him as a boor have come to believe that for too long they were focused on the wrong qualities in presidential candidates. They wanted someone pious when they should have been looking for someone who could throw punches. “I endorsed Rick Santorum in 2012. And Mike Huckabee,” said Penny Young Nance, who signed the statement in 2016 of anti-abortion activists opposing Mr. Trump. “But at the end of the day, I’m not sure those guys...

.@SenatorRomney is a good man who cares deeply for the country and the constitution.— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) October 5, 2019

WASHINGTON — In 2016, Erick Erickson could not have been clearer. Donald Trump was “a racist” and “a fascist.” It was no wonder, Mr. Erickson wrote, that “so many people with swastikas in their Twitter profile pics” supported him. “I will not vote for Donald Trump. Ever,” he insisted, adding his voice to the chorus of Never Trump Republicans. Last week, Mr. Erickson, a well-known conservative blogger, titled one of his pieces “I Support the President.” In three years, he had come completely around, a transformation that is a testament to President Trump’s remarkable consolidation of support inside the Republican...

Donald Trump supporters in South Carolina sent a clear message to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on Friday evening, flocking to her event’s venue and holding up signs to express their support of the president. Pelosi was featured as the keynote speaker at a South Carolina Democratic Party fundraising event at the Hyatt Regency in Greenville, South Carolina, on Friday. Trump supporters gathered outside of the event’s venue to express their support for the president. Videos show supporters shouting “Trump” and holding American flags, Trump-Pence 2020 banners, and homemade signs reading, “Impeach Pelosi”. Pelosi said on Friday that this is...

The Maine senator was unequivocal in her statements, which came after a firefighters memorial service in Augusta on Saturday morning, joining Mitt Romney, R-Utah, and Ben Sasse, R-Nevada, in breaking rank with GOP support for the president. “I thought the president made a big mistake by asking China to get involved in investigating a political opponent,” Collins said. “It’s completely inappropriate.” The president’s comments came days after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, announced a formal impeachment probe into his attempt to solicit foreign help in an election, which is illegal and considered by many lawmakers to be a foundational threat...

A hospital in Maine is apologizing after the state's Human Rights Commission said workers had created a “wall of shame” ridiculing disabled patients and incorporating confidential medical information, according to CNN. MyKayla McCann, an employee who was treated at St. Mary's Regional Medical Center in Lewiston, said that at least two co-workers looked at her medical records and that after she returned from a leave of absence she believed they were treating her differently. In September 2016, she reported her discomfort and the “wall of shame,” which included details of patients’ sexual activity, bodily functions and private parts, according to...

In an appearance Wednesday on CBS-TV’s “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” Maine horror novelist Stephen King was sharply critical of U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. King, who has frequently assailed Republican politicians including President Trump on Twitter, told Colbert that he wanted a senator with “a little bit more of a liberal bent.” “She claims to have a liberal bent. But really, that’s not true,” King said, clenching his fist in the air. Colbert held up a photo of a King tweet from a few days earlier that read, “Hey-hey, ho-ho, Susan Collins has got to go.”

ELLSWORTH, Maine — A Maine man convicted of raping and killing a former high school classmate was sentenced to 58 years in prison for the murder of 19-year-old Mikaela Conley and 30 years for her rape Wednesday, Sept. 11. Jalique Keene was captured on surveillance video carrying 19-year old Mikaela Conley over his shoulder as she kicked her legs and later carrying her lifeless body to the woods where she was found dead. Keene and Conley knew each other from Mount Desert Island High School. Keene killed Conley after she gave him a ride from Boston Logan International Airport on...

U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- US News and World Report rates the states for public safety. The rating takes both property crime and violent crime into account. The ratings use the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) data from 2017 for the article this year, as the latest data available. The top three states for public safety this year are Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. All three are Constitutional Carry states, which means no permit is required to carry a loaded handgun in most public places, openly, or concealed. That was the state of the law in the nation when the Constitution was ratified...

A Bar Harbor man convicted this spring of raping and murdering a friend is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday in Ellsworth. Jalique Keene, 22, was found guilty in the rape and beating death of Mikaela Conley, 19, on the grounds of a Bar Harbor elementary school on June 1, 2018. He is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the Hancock County Courthouse in Ellsworth. At his sentencing, Keene could face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000 for gross sexual assault and an additional 25 years to life in prison for...

FREEPORT, Maine — After 18 years, the Freeport Flag Ladies will end their weekly flag waving on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Every Tuesday since the 9/11 attacks, Elaine Greene, Carmen Footer and JoAnn Miller have waved the American flag on Main Street in Freeport to honor those killed and military members serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Since 2015, residents of the state of Maine have been allowed to carry a concealed firearm without any special permit, and now the results are in: crime has fallen to the point where the state is now rated the safest in the nation from the threat of crime. The Maine Examiner reports: When Maine passed a “Constitutional Carry” law allowing Maine residents to carry a concealed firearm without any special permit in 2015, opponents of the law forecast a dangerous future for the state. They said the new law would hurt public safety and put Maine kids at risk. One...

A Lewiston man recovering from a stab wound has been charged with a weekend shooting in the city’s downtown. Noor Ali Hussein, 24, was charged with elevated aggravated assault, a Class A crime, and reckless conduct with a dangerous weapon, a Class C crime, according to Lewiston police Lt. David St. Pierre. A Class A crime is punishable by up to 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine, and a Class C crime is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Hussein allegedly shot Jarious Teofile, 25, of Lewiston in the chest, stomach and...

Three years after a presidential election that came down to 77,000 votes in three Midwestern battlegrounds, Democrats and Republicans are eyeing a much larger battlefield ahead of the 2020 contests, one that stretches from the picturesque coastline of rural Maine to the high desert of Arizona. Both President Trump’s campaign and the Democrats vying to replace him are scrutinizing a political map in flux, one in which attitudes and alignments are shifting and new regions are coming into play.As many as a dozen states could be up for grabs next year as economic and international uncertainty pairs with a cauldron...

AUGUSTA – When Maine passed a “Constitutional Carry” law allowing Maine residents to carry a concealed firearm without any special permit in 2015, opponents of the law forecast a dangerous future for the state. They said the new law would hurt public safety and put Maine kids at risk. One state representative who opposed the bill went so far as to say it would give Mainers a reason to be afraid every time they went out in public or to work. Another state representative suggested the law would lead to violent criminals with recent arrests and convictions legally carrying handguns....

Federal prosecutors are seeking to hold without bail a man accused of causing the deaths of three people in Acadia National Park last weekend. Praneeth Manubolu, 28, has been arrested and charged in federal court with causing the deaths of three people who died when a car he was driving crashed early Saturday morning on Park Loop Road, according to documents filed in federal court. ... Manubolu, who was being held over the weekend at Hancock County Jail in Ellsworth, is scheduled to make his first appearance in federal court in Bangor at 1 p.m. Tuesday. Federal prosecutors are seeking...

The controversial way America elects presidents is barreling toward a crisis point. A federal court ruling has spotlighted the confounding nature of the system, which twice in the last five elections put presidents into office against the wishes of the majority of American voters. Under the Constitution, the voters who select a president every four years are, in fact, picking a party-chosen slate of electors pledged to that candidate. The presidential candidate who wins a state’s popular vote gets all its electors — except in Nebraska and Maine, which split the electors by Congressional districts. These electors formally select the...

Flaherty’s mother, Caroline, has for two years qualified for in-home care paid for by the state’s Medicaid program. But the agency could not find someone to hire amid a severe shortage of workers that has crippled facilities for seniors across the state.