Free Republic

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott announced Thursday he will oppose embattled judicial nominee Thomas Farr, in a reversal of his position a day earlier that seemingly ends the nominee's chances for now amid fierce criticism by civil rights groups. Democratic lawmakers and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) have long cited Farr's work on the campaigns of North Carolina Republican Sen. Jesse Helms in 1984 and 1990. Farr was first nominated to the federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina by former President George W. Bush in 2006, but never received a confirmation...

South Carolina GOP Sen. Tim Scott said Thursday he would oppose the nomination of Thomas Farr to the federal bench over his links to voter suppression efforts in North Carolina targeting blacks. Scott’s decision assures that President Trump’s nominee will not be confirmed by the Senate, where retiring Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake had already said he would oppose Farr’s nomination. Senate Republicans have a slim 51-49 majority and could not afford to lose more than one vote since all 49 Democrats oppose Trump’s pick. In a statement explaining his decision, Scott, who is black, cited a 1991 Department of...

Senate Republicans on Thursday delayed a vote on one of President Trump's judicial nominees after a determination that they don't yet have to vote to confirm him. The Senate was set to vote at noon on Thomas Farr, who was nominated by President Trump to serve on the federal bench in North Carolina's Eastern District. But that vote was moved until some time next week. Sens. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, are still deciding whether to support Farr, a former campaign lawyer for the late Sen. Jesse Helms who has been accused participating in a scheme to suppress...

Confirmation proceedings for President Trump’s judicial nominees have partially stalled on Capitol Hill, as outgoing Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake is standing firm in his vow to oppose all Trump nominations until the Senate votes on legislation to protect Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. Flake, a frequent Trump critic who opted against running for re-election this year, followed through on his threat Wednesday afternoon and joined Democrats in opposing a bid to advance Thomas Farr’s nomination to serve on the federal bench for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Vice President Pence was then forced to break a tie on...

Long-time Bay Area journalist and radio host, Ray Taliaferro, is still missing. The 79-year-old was reported missing in Paducah, Kentucky where he was last seen on Nov. 10. Taliaferro is said to have met with his manager at a pizza restaurant in Paducah earlier that day. He's a man many people listened to on KGO Radio in the Bay Area for many years. Friends said Taliaferro was also the president of the Arts Commission, Leukemia Society, and the San Francisco NAACP chapter. "Millions of people spent the night with Ray Taliaferro Monday through Friday 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.," said...

Civil rights activists protested outside a Menchie’s frozen yogurt shop after the owner kicked out a black man because employees were “scared” of him. ....more at source

Groucho Marx once resigned membership from the Friars Club quipping, “I don’t want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.” Imagine Groucho’s dismay had the club been compelled to disclose his membership to the government! That is exactly what California’s attorney general is doing by requiring 501(c)(3) charities to divulge their donor or member lists—and the Ninth Circuit appears poised to let him get away with it. Americans have long banded together to support causes they hold dear, donating their time, talent, and treasure to charities. The attorney general’s demand jeopardizes such activities, along with...

In a recent editorial, The Philadelphia Inquirer declined to endorse the Republican Congressional candidate for New Jersey's 2nd District because, among other things, he said that Kwanzaa is a "phony" holiday.Where did Seth Grossman get that idea?  From me. In one of my columns, I noted that the organizer of Kwanzaa, Maulana Karenga, once said of Kwanzaa, "People think it's African, but it's not."It certainly makes me feel good to have a candidate citing my writings. But I'm afraid history shows that agreeing with me is usually the kiss of death for a politician. I'm not up for election, so I...

Amid the current national debate over immigration policies, racial discrimination, LGBTQ rights, and executive power, the anniversary of an important legal and political dispute that has directly shaped that debate will pass quietly, its legacy all but forgotten. In September 1958, sixty years ago next week, the United States Supreme Court finally earned its hard-fought reputation as a co-equal branch of the federal government, in a courtroom drama filled with urgency and uncertainty. For perhaps the first time, the high court put muscle behind its mandate, asserting in unequivocal terms that its interpretation of the Constitution was the "supreme law...

- Community leaders are stepping in to help reduce violence in Birmingham. The NAACP, Metro Birmingham Branch, Civil Rights Activist Committee Foot Soldiers and the Magic City Snappers Social Aid & Pleasure Pond are hosting a Practice Non-Violence Block Party on Saturday. Organizers are hoping to encourage the community to come together and help reduce violence in the city. Community activist Harry 'Traveling Shoes' Turner is hosting the event, he tells CBS 42 that the violence in the city is hitting home for far too many families. "It's not in Chicago, it's not in New York, it's right here in...

The Rev. Clenard Childress Jr. calls out abortion for what it is: a mass genocide of the most innocent.Childress, a leading pro-life advocate in the Black community, discussed the hypocrisy of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in a July column, citing statistics about the disproportionately high number of abortions in the Black community.Childress listed five “undeniable and inconvenient truths” about abortion, including the shocking fact that more than 20 million African American children have been aborted in the United States. That amounts to about 1,800 aborted babies in the Black community every day.Abortions hurt every...

Recent polls and surveys are delivering, at best, mixed news for Republicans regarding the upcoming midterm elections. The good news is that prospects have turned positive for Republicans to win Senate seats currently held by Democrats in Florida, New Jersey and Wisconsin. But looking for good news in the House is a bigger challenge. Probability assessments from various sources give Republicans a 25 to 50 percent chance of keeping control of the House. A survey from Pew Research points to greater engagement from Democratic voters -- by measures such as participating in rallies and making political contributions -- than Republicans....

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The 5-year-old was playing hide-and-seek with her friends when it happened. Now, the man accused hurling racial slurs at the child while urinating on her as she hid in the bushes is behind bars. Michigan State Police records show David Allen Dean, 60, of Grand Rapids was arrested Wednesday on the charge of felony sex offense excluding assault and commercializing. Arrested, but not formally charged, investigators will not confirm the suspect's identity until he is arraigned. Katrena Rapier identified Dean as the suspect. Her two young boys were playing with the alleged victim and her...

GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- A story about a white man urinating on a 5-year-old black child and calling her a racial slur was fabricated, police said. Grand Rapids police and prosecutors late Friday, Aug. 24 said they determined the story was not valid and said no charges would be issued against a 60-year-old man arrested following the initial report on Wednesday. Police said several children, all 7 or younger, were playing together sometime before 6 p.m. Wednesday when one of the children urinated on the 5-year-old girl. Kent County prosecutors said the parents of the children, in talking with them,...

A story about a white man urinating on a 5-year-old black child and calling her a racial slur was fabricated, Michigan police said.Grand Rapids police and prosecutors late Friday said they determined the story was not valid and said no charges would be issued against a 60-year-old man arrested following the initial report on Wednesday.Police said several children, all 7 or younger, were playing together sometime before 6 p.m. Wednesday when one of the children urinated on the 5-year-old girl.Kent County prosecutors said the parents of the children, in talking with them, ultimately determined the children "concocted the story to...

s The answer to the question how scared is the NAACP of Trump’s rising approval numbers among African Americans is: it has driven them insane. Th NAACP has just released their own poll showing Trump at 21% approval from their own community and they are saying this is a sign that he is in trouble. Completely disregarding the facts and relying on their members’ disconnection with the truth, the NAACP has pumped out a desperately ridiculous report on the findings of its own survey. In 2016 Hillary Clinton had 89% Black support and Trump had 8%; but the Black turn...

Former NAACP president and current Maryland gubernatorial candidate Ben Jealous is demanding that television stations stop airing a commercial from his political opponent. “Evidence to the controversy” An attorney representing the Ben Jealous campaign sent a letter to four television stations telling them to pull down a political ad from incumbent Governor Larry Hogan. “The Republican Governor’s Association in this advertisement uses selective editing techniques to make the false claim that Mr. Jealous is a socialist, despite clear and repeated evidence to the controversy,” wrote James Temple Jr., which likely meant to say “evidence to the contrary.” Former NAACP president...

Dependence on 90% voting support from African-Americans for electoral success is the jugular vein of the Democratic Party.  President Trump's rising support among black voters is correctly seen as an existential threat to the party's – and progressivism's – ability to win national elections.  That's why I thought it was big news last Saturday when Rasmussen proclaimed that black approval of Trump had hit 29%, even though most of the media ignored it for reasons AT readers well understand. But the surge in black support for President Trump is real – so real that even the far-left NAACP discovered it in a poll,...

Speaking Friday at a historically black university, potential Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren delivered what she called “the hard truth about our criminal justice system: It’s racist … I mean front to back.” The Massachusetts senator identified some of the system’s failures: disproportionate arrests of African-Americans for petty drug possession; an overloaded public defender system; and state laws that keep convicted felons from voting even after their sentences are complete. Warren was participating in a Q&A session hosted by Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Cedric Richmond at the historically black Dillard University in New Orleans. She was among several possible Democratic...

Activists and family members of a black man who was fatally shot by Minneapolis police marched through downtown, blocking trains during the evening rush hour as they chanted some of Thurman Blevins' last words: "Please don't shoot me! Leave me alone!" Hundreds of people gathered for the protest which started at the Hennepin County Government Center Tuesday evening. They held signs calling for justice for Blevins, who was shot June 23 by Minneapolis officers after they chased him into an alley in north Minneapolis. Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman declined Monday to charge the officers involved in the incident —...