Free Republic

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma ended a six-year moratorium on executions Thursday, administering the death penalty on a man who convulsed and vomited as he was executed for the 1998 slaying of a prison cafeteria worker. John Marion Grant, 60, who was strapped to a gurney inside the execution chamber, began convulsing and vomiting after the first drug, the sedative midazolam, was administered. Several minutes later, two members of the execution team wiped the vomit from his face and neck. He was serving a 130-year prison sentence for several armed robberies when witnesses say he dragged prison cafeteria worker Gay...

Joy Hofmeister describes herself as a moderate who can appeal to Oklahoma Republicans dissatisfied with the party’s Trumpist shift to the right. After converting to a Democrat and announcing a run for governor, Hofmeister is taking a centrist approach to many key policy issues, including abortion rights, taxation and teaching about race in schools. During a Thursday interview with The Frontier, the two-term state superintendent of public instruction and former lifelong Republican said she was motivated to switch parties because she disagrees with many of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt’s policies. “It became very clear to me that I no longer...

Far-left Democrats were dealt a big blow as former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner, co-chair of Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign, was defeated by Cuyahoga County Councilwoman Shontel Brown in a much-anticipated special US House primary election. With 96.5 percent of precincts reporting, Brown led Turner by 4,380 votes out of more than 71,000 votes cast. Turner conceded the race soon after 10 p.m. local time, telling supports: “On this night, we will not cross the river.” The contest in Ohio’s 11th District, a deep-blue constituency that includes most of Cleveland, parts of Akron and several majority-black precincts in between...

The University of Oklahoma wants to hire an assistant professor that has a 'culturally responsive and sustaining mathematics pedagogy.' Though the listing does not specify a salary, the Glassdoor jobs platform estimates a comparable position at the university earns around $83,000. The University of Oklahoma is seeking a mathematics education professor versed in “equity and social justice.” The incumbent will teach within the Jeannine Rainbolt College of Education, which according to the job posting, “aspires to become a diverse and inclusive community of learners who engage in transformative scholarship with and in communities to advance justice and promote human dignity.”...

The first Republican candidate to challenge Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said Tuesday he’s leaving the party and will run against Stitt as an independent. Former state Sen. Ervin Yen, an Oklahoma City physician, said in a statement he disagrees with the state party’s opposition to mask and vaccine mandates, and the insistence of some party officials that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump. “I vehemently disagree with these views and that is why I have withdrawn my Republican voter registration," Yen said. “I have not changed, the party has.” A Chinese-American, Yen was the first Asian...

OKLAHOMA CITY — Joy Hofmeister’s defection from lifelong Republican to sudden Democrat as she announced a bid for governor sent shockwaves through Oklahoma politics Thursday. Hofmeister, 57, who currently serves as state superintendent, said she classified herself as a moderate Republican prior to changing her party affiliation Thursday to Democrat....

A Republican Oklahoma state senator is launching a primary challenge to Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). Nathan Dahm announced his campaign on Wednesday in a video drawing close parallels between former President Trump and himself. Recalling his narrow win in a 2012 Republican state Senate runoff, he said that both he and Trump “put in the work” to overcome long political odds. “What drew me to Donald Trump initially was his belief that he could pull off the impossible,” Dahm says in the video. “When he first came down the escalator, he faced insurmountable odds. But Trump put in the work...

Broken Arrow Republican State Senator Nathan Dahm will challenge current Oklahoma Republican U.S. Senator James Lankford in the upcoming 2022 U.S. Senate Republican primary. Dahm, who is term-limited from seeking another four years in the state legislature, launched his website Tuesday morning, and he is expected to hold his first campaign event where he will officially announce his candidacy in Broken Arrow Tuesday afternoon. The themes presented on Dahm’s website as central to his new campaign are a continuation of former President Donald Trump’s themes “Make America Great Again” and “America First.” The site also calls out incumbent James Lankford...

The 2022 Republican U.S. Senate primary campaign will get a little more crowded this week, with state Sen. Nathan Dahm, R-Broken Arrow, expected to declare his candidacy on Tuesday. Dahm is joining Tulsa-area pastor Jackson Lahmeyer in challenging incumbent James Lankford. There has been some social media complaining about Dahm dividing the anti-Lankford vote, but in reality it’s not likely to make much difference. Aside from Dahm and Lahmeyer being underfunded long shots with no support from the GOP’s highest-ranking elected officials, either of them winning means taking votes away from Lankford, not each other. Dahm, who was elected to...

A top White House adviser has escalated the war of words between the Biden administration and Republican governors over the vaccine-or-test mandate for businesses with at least 100 employees — promising that the president would “run over” anyone who opposed the new rule. Cedric Richmond, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement and a former Louisiana congressman, told CNN’s “Don Lemon Tonight” Thursday that it was “unfortunate that we have so many governors that are using vaccinations and mask requirements as a political gain.” “But our purpose is to save lives, and we will do anything and everything...

TULSA, Oklahoma - Both Governor Kevin Stitt and the state of Oklahoma were quick to respond to President Joe Biden's new federal vaccine requirements Thursday. The state of Oklahoma plans on suing the Biden administration over the president's mandate for every business with more than 100 workers to require COVID-19 vaccines or weekly testing. The President announced expansive rules Thursday afternoon, which experts say will affect about 80 million Americans - or about 75 percent of the workforce. He also said that roughly 17 million workers at health facilities that receive federal Medicare or Medicaid also will have to be...

Numerous governors have issued statements following Democrat President Joe Biden’s speech on Thursday signaling that they will strongly oppose his attempts to mandate vaccines. Immediate reaction from governors:

Within minutes of popular conservative Twitter of Facebook accounts posting fact-based stories about vaccine deaths, face mask studies, or Ivermectin reports, Big Tech does one or more of three things:Slap a “fact-check” on itCensor itSuspend the user who posted itOver 24-hours after it was revealed that the Rolling Stones/KFOR Ivermectin story was a hoax debunked by the hospital in question, none of these things have happened. The original Tweets and Facebook posts are still up and some of the stories are still not corrected.Rolling Stone is taking the heat, but @OgleKatelyn and @kfor originated the story, failing to vet their...

A Republican lawmaker from Oklahoma who attempted to fly to Afghanistan as part of a rogue rescue operation at Kabul’s international airport defended the trip Friday night, saying he would “do it again tomorrow.” However, Rep. Markwayne Mullin, admitted, “I’m not Rambo.” A Republican lawmaker from Oklahoma who attempted to fly to Afghanistan as part of a rogue rescue operation at Kabul’s international airport defended the trip Friday night, saying he would “do it again tomorrow.” However, Rep. Markwayne Mullin, admitted, “I’m not Rambo.” “I never pretended to be Rambo,” Mullin told Fox News’ “Special Report.” “Out of all the...

President Biden "has blood on his hands" regarding the Afghanistan crisis and the Democrat's administration has been lying to the American people, a member of the House Intelligence Committee asserted Friday after returning from the region. U.S. Rep. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., shared details of his overseas trip during an appearance on Fox News' "Special Report" with Bret Baier. Mullin told Fox News the White House and Pentagon were lying about the conditions that American citizens in Afghanistan have been facing, and about the purported ease with which Americans reached the Kabul airport while U.S. forces were still on the ground....

Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) has reportedly gone missing after attempting a rogue evacuation mission to rescue five American citizens that President Joe Biden’s administration left behind in Afghanistan. According to the Washington Post, U.S. officials are now “unsure of Mullin’s location” after he requested help from the U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan on Monday with his evacuation of a woman and her four children. From the report:

A 60-year-old Oklahoma mother who helped several members of an internationally recognized all-girl robotics team from Afghanistan escape the country said they are feeling "so grateful" to be out. On Tuesday, 10 of the so-called "Afghan Dreamers," aged 16 to 18, were able to leave Kabul on a commercial flight to Doha, Qatar, after several failed attempts to flee the country. One of the people who helped them get out was Allyson Reneau, a mother-of-11 from Oklahoma, who first met the girls at a Humans to Mars summit in Washington DC in May 2019. ..."I got a text from...

Biden's proposed American Families Plan promises billions to families with children but imposes large increases in farm transfer taxes =============================================================================== President Joe Biden's proposed American Families Plan promises billions to families with children. But paying for it could have a devastating impact on family farms. That's because the plan includes large increases in farm transfer taxes. Craig Hill, the president of Iowa Farm Bureau said, as it stands, the proposal could become law with serious impact on farm families. Hill said the AFP is a major threat to passing farms to the next generation. AFP can be contrasted with vows...

A crowd numbering in the high hundreds have gathered in the Oklahoma State Capitol in Oklahoma City, where they are rallying in opposition of COVID-19 vaccine passports, face mask mandates, and lockdowns. The crowd, numbering in the thousands, began gathering earlier today in a line reminiscent of Trump rallies. “A long line of people waited to get into the Oklahoma state capitol today for the #OklahomaFreedomRally, a demonstration against forced Covid vaccined and mask mandates,” wrote The Election Wizard on Twitter. Once inside, the crowd began to go viral on Twitter. In one video, the crowd began cheering and chanting...

Two women’s volleyball coaches at the University of Oklahoma argue in a legal motion that they have the right to discipline players for their political beliefs. Player Kylee McLaughlin sued coaches Lindsey and Kyle Walton along with the OU Board of Regents earlier this year, alleging “she had been excluded from the team […] over her politically conservative views.” The OU Daily reported that McLaughlin, the OU team captain and first team All-Big 12 selection in 2018 and 2019, had made comments that “at least one” of her teammates considered “racist” following a team viewing of the Netflix documentary “13th.”...