Free Republic

The group Justice Democrats, which helped elect Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the left-wing “Squad,” recoiled Tuesday at President-elect Joe Biden’s White House staff picks. The influential organization’s public rebuke reflects an internal Democratic Party power struggle two months before Biden takes office. “A Biden administration dominated by corporate-friendly insiders will not help usher in the most progressive Democratic administration in generations… progressives find corporate-friendly Biden appointments unacceptable” the organization wrote on Twitter.

Just hours after the mainstream media has anointed Joe Biden as President-Elect, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to be having some type of meltdown. With Trump on his way out of office, AOC has turned her ire against a new cause: Democrats that aren't moving far enough to the left. Perhaps indifferent about the fact that the Presidential election seems to have swung in her favor since there was no "blue wave", AOC said this weekend that Democrats who lost House seats "relied too heavily on outdated Democratic National Committee campaign tactics," according to Fox News. She called those who...

Rep. Ilhan Omar expects Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, if elected, will become far more progressive than the moderate he has presented himself as. Speaking during an interview with “Axios on HBO” that aired Monday, Omar (D-Minn.) made the comments after being asked what kind of negotiating power progressives will have with a Biden administration. “A president is only as successful as his collaboration is with Congress. And we will have a cohort of progressives that are very clear about their objectives for wanting the implementation of Medicare-for-all and a Green New Deal and raising the minimum wage and not...

HOLLAND — Keith Mannes has given his life to the Christian Reformed Church, serving as a pastor for more than 30 years. He’s done so happily and thankfully. But on Oct. 11, Mannes gave his last sermon and walked away from ministry among increasing political tension and divisiveness. Put simply, he stepped away due to the church’s broad support of President Donald Trump.

Demand Justice, a progressive outside group, is calling for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) to step down as the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee in the wake of Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett's confirmation hearings. “It's time for Sen. Feinstein to step down from her leadership position on the Senate Judiciary Committee. If she won't, her colleagues need to intervene," said Brian Fallon, the executive director of Demand Justice. Fallon added that Feinstein had "undercut Democrats' position at every step of this process." "If Senate Democrats are going to get their act together on the courts going...

Black Lives Matter leaders, organized labor, progressive groups and members of the House Democratic “Squad” are unveiling a 2021 agenda Thursday, laying down markers for how big a Joe Biden administration could go on coronavirus aid, economic relief and more next year. Known as the Working Families Party’s “People’s Charter,” the 1,000-word proposal calls for universal free health care, a jobs program employing 16 million people, retroactive hazard pay for essential employees and the reallocation of resources from policing toward education and other services. It also promotes giving the public an ownership stake in firms that receive bailouts, as well...

by Jacob Harding A campaign surrogate of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is under federal  investigation for soliciting sex with minor boys. Federal agents raided the Illinois home of Jerry Harris, who gained notoriety due to his role in the Netflix documentary Cheer, Monday afternoon as part of a probe into messages sent to minors asking for explicit photos and to meet for sex. The solicitations were flagged for authorities by the 21-year-old's employer. The Biden campaign had been using Harris, who has over a million followers on Instagram, as part of Biden's push to sway young voters and "win...

All of my life, I have said that the left’s moral compass is broken. And all of my life, I was wrong. Why I was wrong explains both the left and the moral crisis we are in better than almost any other explanation. I was wrong because in order to have a broken moral compass, you need to have a moral compass to begin with. But the left doesn’t have one. This is not meant as an attack. It is a description of reality. The left regularly acknowledges that it doesn’t think in terms of good and evil. Most of...

SENATOR Bernie Sanders' has been expressing concerns over Joe Biden's presidential campaign, the Washington Post has reported, and is urging Biden's team to appeal to liberal voters. According to three people familiar with Sanders' private conservations, Sanders has said Biden is at risk of losing the election if he continues to be too centrist. Biden should talk more about health care, economic plans, and should campaign more alongside individuals who are popular with youths, such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders has reportedly said. Faiz Shakir, Sanders' campaign manager, released a statement regarding the alleged comments: “Senator Sanders is confident that...

I didn’t have to read the entire Democratic Party platform, let alone the spend-tasmagoric Biden-Sanders Unity Task Force recommendations. Sitting here in California, I’m already living it. If polls are to be believed, left-coast policies are coming to you soon—and you’re not going to like it. California is an early glimpse for the rest of the country of a blackout-rolling, water-deprived, tax-hiking, spending-spiking one-party state longing for its old incandescent glow. The U.S. may flip to one party rule; California is...

Granted, this sharp criticism hurled at Biden-Harris 2020 was from a Bernie Sanders supporter, but this is certainly not what a lot of Democrats wanted to happen regarding the 2020 ticket. Sanders’ former national press secretary Briahna Joy Gray’s tweet has been making the rounds, shining a light on how the far-left of the Democratic Party feels about the VP selection. It’s not good. “We are in the midst of the largest protest movement in American history, the subject of which is excessive policing, and the Democratic Party chose a ‘top cop’ and the author of the Joe Biden crime...

Wednesday on CNN International’s “Amanpour,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said if elected, Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden has promised to be “the most progressive president since” Franklin D. Roosevelt. Amanpour said, “So, senator, I think I quote you as saying it, that Biden could be the most progressive president since FDR. If you did say that, it’s pretty dramatic. You’re really going far, far out on a limb there. That means you must support what he’s doing, and, therefore, do you believe that your supporters will vote for him?”

Former Presidential candidate Andrew Yang this week said former Vice President Joe Biden’s moderate image will potentially allow him to enact some of the most progressive policies since the New Deal era. “If someone like Joe says, ‘Hey, we need to do things differently on the economy or on climate change,’ that also becomes the mainstream. It’s very powerful. I think Joe has those instincts where he doesn’t try and chime in on every new issue. In part, that will help him move the entire center of gravity. If you look at his proposal on addressing climate change, it was...

**SNIP** But to believe Bowman’s ouster of Engel is a sign that the Ocasio-Cortez wing of the Democratic Party is taking over would be a severe misreading of the political landscape at the congressional level - and nationally. She attracts an inordinate amount of attention for a first-term lawmaker, keeping up an active and innovative social media presence, and appearing frequently on television. It’s easy to conflate the publicity with political influence. In fact, the vast majority of Justice Democrats who have run over the past two House cycles have lost, often in humiliating fashion. Since emerging on the national...

A weekend fire that gutted the Mission San Gabriel Arcangel church started in the choir loft on the second floor, then spread to the ceiling and the wooden roof, authorities said Monday. But investigators have not yet determined what started the blaze, which broke out early Saturday morning at the 215-year-old church on West Mission Drive. Investigators took collected materials over to a lab, San Gabriel Fire Capt. Antonio Negrete said. The fire began at the choir loft, which is about 250 square feet, he said, adding that there was substantial burning in one area. It spread to the ceiling....

In a tweet to mark the International Day of Cooperatives, Saturday, Pope Francis notes that cooperatives across the globe are making a real difference in the fight against climate change.For the past 97 years, the International Day of Cooperatives has been celebrated each year on the first Saturday of July. Since 1995, the United Nations and the International Cooperative Alliance have chosen the theme of the annual day. The focus for this year is on climate action for sustainable development for a healthier, fairer and more united economy. In a tweet for Saturday’s observance, Pope Francis also focused on the...

A joint effort by former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders to unify Democrats around Biden's candidacy has produced a 110-page policy wish list to recommend to the party's presumptive presidential nominee. Throughout the Democratic primary, Biden stuck to a more moderate platform, while Sanders, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and much of the rest of the crowded field courted progressives and advocated for broader structural changes. But as the United States faces a growing pandemic and unemployment rates at the highest levels in generations, Biden has been talking more and more about a presidency that approaches Franklin...

Monmouth University will remove Woodrow Wilson's names from the university's marquee building, citing the 28th president's racist policies, at a time when numerous monuments and honors given to figures associated with segregation or racism are being reassessed. The decision comes four years after the New Jersey university's trustees voted to keep Wilson's name on the building amid student calls to rename it. President Patrick F. Leahy said "the context has changed" since then.

Not to count our chickens before they hatch, but Seattle is poised to actually follow through on a progressive revenue option. Or three. As long as the council doesn't pull some of that 2018 head tax nonsense. There are multiple tax options that the Seattle City Council is considering: Councilmembers Kshama Sawant's and Tammy Morales' Tax Amazon package or Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda's JumpStart Seattle plan. And, it looks like Councilmember Andrew Lewis just introduced a capital gains tax proposal: Councilmember Andrew J. Lewis @CMAndrewJLewis 1/ We live in a time of enormous inequity and our regressive tax system isn't helping....

(Reuters) - Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's stunning upset over a member of the Democratic congressional leadership in 2018 made her a household name and inspired similar insurgent campaigns around the United States. Now the democratic socialist from New York City, best known by her initials AOC, must survive her own challenge from within the party in a June 23 primary election. Two other members of "the Squad" – four women of color who, in their first terms, have become the face of the U.S. House of Representatives' liberal wing – also face primary challengers. Like Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan's Rashida Tlaib and Minnesota's Ilhan...