Free Republic

While the 2016 presidential race was raging in America, Ukrainian prosecutors ran into some unexpectedly strong headwinds as they pursued an investigation into the activities of a nonprofit in their homeland known as the Anti-Corruption Action Centre (AntAC). The focus on AntAC — whose youthful street activists famously wore “Ukraine F*&k Corruption” T-shirts — was part of a larger probe by Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office into whether $4.4 million in U.S. funds to fight corruption inside the former Soviet republic had been improperly diverted. The prosecutors soon would learn the resistance they faced was blowing directly from the U.S. Embassy...

Some great easy listening and big band sounds to open us up to joy and celebration. I look for the good and want to share it with you. Canada's election day Monday brought the election of an independent candidate in the Vancouver Granville riding.... And courtesy of "Ruptly" the pictures of Maria Butina on her way home to Russia..... "She served a ridiculously long sentence essentially for not filing the right paperwork. But now she is free...." Why do the Adam Schiff's and Marco Rubio's read from the same script when it comes to Russia... Angela Merkel may get things...

The Alabama Republican Party said Friday that U.S. Sen. Doug Jones', D-Ala., intention to vote against confirming Brett Kavanaugh "betrays our state." Jones indicated Thursday night that he would not vote to confirm Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court, citing what he believed was Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's credible testimony that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when he was a high school student. Alabama's junior senator also suggested that the Senate Judiciary Committee's decision not to subpoena Kavanaugh friend Mark Judge, whom Ford said witnessed the incident, and the committee's failure to receive all relevant documents on Kavanaugh impacted his decision.

It will be another four and a half months before Republican voters in Alabama select a GOP nominee to face incumbent Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL) in the Nov. 3, 2020 general election. However, there could be a familiar face among the list of candidates on the ballot. In recent days, there has been rampant speculation that former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions could enter the contest for his old seat. Sessions held the seat currently occupied by Jones from 1997 through 2017. He gave up that seat to serve in the Trump administration until his unceremonious exit in late 2018....

Sen. Doug Jones (D., Ala.) said much of the Ukraine whistleblower complaint depended on "hearsay" and that Congress cannot impeach officials based on hearsay during a Sunday interview on MSNBC's Kasie DC. Jones broke with House Democrats when he criticized the whistleblower allegation that launched the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. The first-term senator said he was skeptical of using secondhand complaints as the basis for removing a sitting president from office, echoing the sentiments of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.). "A lot of that allegation, a lot of the whistleblower complaint is in fact hearsay. It is what...

"Before the breathin' air is gone...." "Before the sun is just a bright spot in the night-time" The song with those lyrics by Three Dog Night "A Walk In The Country" moving up the Top 40 chart 49 years ago today. I was young back then with fear of nuclear catastrophe being put into me among other things but also the fear of environmental catastrophe.... Fear when I was young expressed into the cassette recorder microphone. It of course reminds me of Greta Thunberg's rage this week: "You stole my childhood" Wow! I was young, I was bullied and sexually...

In the shameless shambles that is Morning Joe, they can report on Ilhan Omar -- but only the parts where they think Republicans look ridiculous. On today's show, Joe Scarborough, with an assist from Eugene Scott of the Washington Post, whom the paper's official bio describes as a "reporter covering identity politics," criticized the Alabama Republican Party for adopting a resolution calling for the expulsion of Omar from Congress. Scarborough approvingly cited Omar's tweet in response to the resolution, in which she mockingly noted the 2016 Senate nomination of Roy Moore. Scarborough also quoted Scott to the effect that the...

Hundreds of the millions in the United States illegally are in the custody of.... 680 is the number of established by ICE of those originally arrested but now some 300 are freed.... "The same Democrat Party that has left places like Jackson, Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Chicago and Houston to suffer under the tyranny of violent criminals wants us to believe they have the solution to mass shootings" That's part of the latest message from 2020 Republican US Senate candidate Judge Roy Moore in Alabama who's also noting that many in the Republican Party seem to be moving in the direction...

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA)’s campaign press secretary suggested Russia was behind Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) after she landed an effective blow on Harris’ record as a prosecutor during the Democrat debates on Wednesday night. Her press secretary, Ian Sams, tweeted shortly after the attack an NBC News article from February 2019 claiming the “Russian propaganda machine” was promoting Gabbard: “Reporters writing their stories with eyes on the modern-day assignment desk of Twitter, read this: ‘The Russian propaganda machine that tried to influence the 2016 election is now promoting the presidential aspirations of a controversial Hawaii Democrat,'” he tweeted. He later...

Obama Wrapping Up California Fundraising Trip October 11 2014 DARLENE SUPERVILLE President Barack Obama on Saturday wrapped up a week that saw him raise campaign money for Democrats on both coasts. Obama attended a "round table" discussion at the home of Democratic donor and Zynga founder Mark Pincus and his wife, Ali, with about 25 supporters who paid up to $32,400 for the privilege, according to Democratic officials. It was Obama's fourth California fundraiser in three days and was closed to media coverage. This coming week brings more of the same for the president, including his long-anticipated, first appearance at...

Well, they've gone and done it. The House Oversight and Reform Committee voted to authorize a subpoena for White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway to testify about her potential Hatch Act violations. The panel says that Conway engaged in "egregious, repeated, and very public violations” of the ethics law. "Here, we have a clear-cut case of a federal employee violating federal law over and over and over again,”  Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) alleged on Wednesday after the panel's vote.Conway knows what's going on. The Democrats on the panel, she said earlier this week, want to silence her."They want a big roll of...

Chris Evans continues to be one of the Trump administration’s biggest critics. The Captain America star has made headlines recently for criticizing quarterback Tom Brady’s alleged support of Trump, as well as sharing his outrage over Alabama’s abortion ban and a policy that would reportedly put the U.S. citizenship of children with LGBTQ parents at risk.

Alabama Republican Roy Moore has announced he is running for U.S. Senate again in 2020 after failing to win the seat two years ago amid sexual misconduct accusations. Moore announced his campaign Thursday, seeking an eventual rematch against Democratic Sen. Doug Jones. The announcement upends an election viewed by Republicans as a top priority in 2020 and ignores President Donald Trump's warning that he "cannot win."

On Thursday, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore made his expected candidacy for the 2020 U.S. Senate Republican nomination official with an announcement in Montgomery. Reactions to Moore’s candidacy have been plentiful, and on the Thursday broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, conservative talker Mark Levin, author of “Unfreedom of the Press,” offered his response with an endorsement for State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs). Levin called Mooney “the most conservative individual” in a field that includes Moore, Mooney, former Auburn head football head coach Tommy Tuberville and U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope). “I want to make...

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled on Thursday that he and his allies will actively work to oppose Roy Moore's bid for Alabama's Senate seat after the conservative firebrand announced he was jumping into the race. "We'll be opposing Roy Moore vigorously," McConnell told reporters after returning to the Capitol after a White House briefing on Iran. McConnell's comments come after he warned, during an interview with the Associated Press shortly before Moore announced his bid, that he would "oppose him in every way." Moore announced on Thursday afternoon that he would launch a bid for Alabama's Senate seat...

Donald Trump Jr. says Roy Moore (R) – the failed Senate candidate who lost to Doug Jones (D) in Alabama’s special election in 2017 – is going directly against the president by launching another Senate bid and is doing a disservice to conservatives in the process. Moore announced his intentions to run for Alabama’s Senate seat Thursday afternoon. “I’m ready to do it again and yes, I will run for the United States Senate in 2020,” Moore announced. “The people of Alabama are not only angry, but they’re going to act on that anger,” he continued. “The people of Alabama...

Three people with direct knowledge of Moore’s thinking say they expect him to jump into the 2020 race. They requested anonymity to speak before Moore’s announcement and noted the former judge has been unpredictable and could decide at the last minute not to run.

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is set to announce his plans for the 2020 Alabama senate race on Thursday at 2 p.m. at The Ballroom in Montgomery. Moore lost the U.S. Senate race in 2017 amid allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers. Moore denied the allegations. President Donald Trump last month tweeted that Moore “cannot win” and said Republicans need to retake the seat in the once reliable red state. Democratic Sen. Doug Jones currently holds the position. The event is open to invited guests and credentialed press.

Just the suggestion of former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore making another run at the U.S. Senate draws adverse reactions from some in the political class, and in recent days that has shown to be the case. In 2017, Moore lost by nearly 22,000 votes, a margin of 1.7%, to now-Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) for a seat that is up once again in 2020. During an interview with Huntsville radio’s WVNN, Moore said he had not yet made a decision on whether or not to run again but expects to during June.

There is inspiration in the Alabama outcome. American political standards made a comeback. Roy Moore’s loss was not a setback for the GOP; it was a setback for freakishness,an assertion of prudential judgment by the electorate, and came as a relief. A friend landed at JFK on election night. As the plane taxied to the gate, the pilot came on the PA and announced that Doug Jones was in the lead. The entire plane, back to front, burst into applause. “A big broad nerve was hit in this thing,” said the friend. Primary voters should absorb what happened after they...