Free Republic

There are now 23 Democrats who won't seek reelection in the 2022 midterms as Representative Albio Sires from New Jersey plans to retire and party leadership desperately grips their slim majority in the House.... ...With a series of upcoming retirements, Democrats' majority in the House looks increasingly vulnerable, and Pelosi can only afford to lose three seats in order to keep her party in power.... [list of the 23 at link]

Manchin's hard 'No' on spending bill coBuffeted by a Russia scandal that proved false, Donald Trump ended the first year of his presidency on a high note with passage of historic tax cuts. In contrast four years later, Joe Biden's first year in office is ending with a stunning rebuke from a senator in his own party.On Sunday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) gave a resounding "No" to Biden's signature Build Back Better legislation, leaving an uncertain path for the Democrats' ambitious agenda despite the fact they control the Senate, House and White House.Their future is further complicated by an aging...

Burlington, Vt. is a city of 44,000 on the shores of beautiful Lake Champlain. Like most large and medium-sized cities, Burlington was the target of activists looking to defund the police because of racism and white privilege.The city is about 6% black, and racial incidents involving the police have been few and far between. But Burlington is a very woke college town and the city council decided that defunding the police was the only option to achieve “justice.”Three days after a proposal was introduced to cut the police budget in Burlington by 30%, it passed the city council by a...

Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) says he’s done with President Biden’s Build Back Better legislation. And if saying so on Fox News wasn’t enough, he added an explanation point in a statement released shortly after his appearance, in which he declared: “My Democratic colleagues in Washington are determined to dramatically reshape our society in a way that leaves our country even more vulnerable to the threats we face. I cannot take that risk.” It is, of course, possible that once they stare into the abyss of defeat, Biden and Democrats may decide to finally cave and give Manchin everything...

Democrats, media pundits, and Hollywood stars threw tantrums on social media on Sunday after Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) told Fox News Sunday that he would not vote for President Joe Biden’s multi-trillion-dollar “Build Back Better” bill. Rolling Stone, for instance, published an article titled: “Joe Manchin Just Tore Out the Heart of Biden’s Agenda.” It went on to explain: “Build Back Better was the centerpiece of Biden’s domestic plans.” Now it is unlikely to pass the Senate.

Progressives slammed Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., after he revealed Sunday that he would not support President Biden’s massive social spending bill known as the Build Back Better Act after months of party negotiations."Let’s be clear: Manchin’s excuse is bull----," Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., tweeted. "The people of West Virginia would directly benefit from childcare, pre-Medicare expansion, and long term care, just like Minnesotans. This is exactly what we warned would happen if we separated Build Back Better from infrastructure." Manchin said earlier on "Fox News Sunday" that he had spoken with Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority...

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) does not have the guts to stand up to special interests after Manchin announced he would not vote for President Joe Biden’s “Build Back Better Act. Sanders said, “He will have a lot of explaining to do to the people of with West Virginia to tell him he doesn’t have the guts to take on the drug companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs, why he is not prepared to expand home health care. West Virginia is one of the poorest states...

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) expressed his frustration with Sen. Joe Manchin after the West Virginia Democrat said Sunday he would not vote for President Biden's social spending package. “I think he's gonna have a lot of explaining to do to the people of West Virginia,” Sanders told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” Sanders alleged that Manchin “doesn’t have the guts to stand up to powerful special interests.” The Vermont Democrat said he still wanted the Senate to take a vote on the bill regardless of where Manchin stands. “We've been dealing with Mr. Manchin for month after...

The White House finally bowed to reality Friday, formally acknowledging that President Biden’s multitrillion-dollar social spending plan has no chance of getting through Congress this year. “The president wants to see this move forward — I think you saw in his statement — early next year,” press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on board Air Force One en route to South Carolina, where the president was to address South Carolina State University’s winter commencement before heading to Delaware to start his weekend a few hours early. Psaki also insisted Friday that it was “absolutely our plan” to pass the bill,...

It also reveals that authorities first became aware of Griffin's depraved proclivities 18 months ago – yet the FBI didn't arrest him until Friday in Connecticut for allegedly soliciting three mothers and their underage daughters for "training" on fetish sex. The third count in the federal indictment out of Vermont is based on the encounter with the 9-year-old in July 2020, for which Griffin paid the mom $3,500 via Venmo. After the woman's arrest in August 2020, federal investigators seized "computers storage media, devices, phones, cameras, MicroSD cards, images, and video" from Griffin on Sept. 2, 2020, according to court...

Unable to pass their welfare-state expansion with a simple majority, Democrats have reportedly shelved Build Back Better for the year. Now prepare for the entire left-wing infrastructure -- politicians as well as the establishment press -- to pivot hard from the fake "social safety net" bill to the fake "voting rights" bill, which will quickly become the most vital piece of legislation in the history of the republic. Just earlier today, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, who not long ago heralded the mere framework of Build Back Better as "by far the most significant piece of legislation ever passed...

Elon Musk called Elizabeth Warren “Senator Karen” and said she reminded him of an “angry Mom” on Tuesday after the Massachusetts Senator said the Tesla CEO should pay more in taxes. “Let’s change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else,” Warren tweeted with a link to a story about Musk being named Time Magazine’s 2021 person of the year. “Stop projecting!” Musk replied with a link to a Fox News opinion article arguing that the Massachusetts Democrat lied about having Native American heritage in order to benefit...

Obnoxious, but likely correct. Tesla CEO and paper billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday shot back at comments from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), telling the Democratic Senator to "stop projecting" and calling her "Senator Karen" for criticizing Musk for not paying enough in taxes. Following Musk's crowning by Time Magazine as Person of the Year on Monday, Warren took to Twitter to weigh in on the billionaire wealth debate and hers and others' perspective that those who make the most don't pay their fair share of taxes. "Let's change the rigged tax code so The Person of the Year will actually...

The CNN producer charged with luring a mother and her nine-year-old daughter to a rental home in Vermont for 'sexual subservience' training also told someone else he'd 'trained' girls as young as seven. John Griffin, a producer on CNN's New Day and worked for Chris Cuomo, was charged last week by federal prosecutors in Vermont who say he paid for sex with underage girls, including one whose mother he convinced into letting her visit him.

John Griffin, 44, of Stamford, Connecticut has been arrested charged with enticing minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity From April to July of 2020, Griffin allegedly used online messaging applications to communicate with people purporting to be the parents of minor daughters He allegedly attempted to impress ideas, that a 'woman is a woman regardless of her age,' and that women should be sexually subservient and inferior to men Griffin who was a producer with CNN is alleged to have sought to persuade parents to allow him to 'train their daughters to be sexually submissive' In June 2020, Griffin...

Vermont's Essex-Westford School District, which includes the town of Essex that last year fired a high school lifeguard for merely questioning Critical Race Theory, has done it again. In the midst of a national furor over a sexually explicit graphic novel, the school has proclaimed it has the duty to expose children to pornographic imagery — to support free speech.It is axiomatic that free speech rights do not extend fully into schools — they never have. For example, the First Amendment protects quite a shocking variety of pornographic materials, including bondage and rape videos. Are those acceptable, protected school teaching...

John Griffin, 44, of Stamford, Connecticut has been arrested charged with enticing minors to engage in unlawful sexual activity From April to July of 2020, Griffin allegedly used online messaging applications to communicate with people purporting to be the parents of minor daughters He allegedly attempted to impress ideas, that a 'woman is a woman regardless of her age,' and that women should be sexually subservient and inferior to men Griffin who was a producer with CNN is alleged to have sought to persuade parents to allow him to 'train their daughters to be sexually submissive' In June 2020, Griffin...

In response to the recent tragedy in Oakland County, Michigan, what did the anti-gunners do? Following their standard course of action, they are politicizing the deaths of four high school teens in an attempt to undermine your constitutionally-protected rights. In fact, bowing to the will of their far-Left overlords, anti-gun senators are bringing H.R. 8 to the Senate floor—which is a bill to institute Universal Background Registration Checks (UBCs). And to make matters worse, they are trying to do this by unanimous consent—without an actual vote. Please, contact your Senators and make sure they know you’re opposed to H.R. 8...

<p>MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said Monday he won't seek reelection next year to the seat he's held since 1975, signaling an end to a career that's included major roles on issues such as civil liberties and financing the government and that began before four of his current colleagues were born.</p>

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is frog-marching her vulnerable members to a political suicide vote on a bill that’s likely dead on arrival in the Senate.On November 2, five House Democrats—enough to block the passage of the spending spree that the party hopes to enact via the budget reconciliation process—wrote to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California, urging her “to only bring a bill to the floor for which we have a strong level of confidence…will be ruled in order by the Senate parliamentarian and earn passage in the U.S. Senate.”The lawmakers have justifiable reason for concern. Major pieces of the 2,135-page...