Free Republic

Top staffers for Democrat John Fetterman are leaving his office for more progressive jobs as the Pennsylvania senator moves more to the center on key issues. The everyman Democrat, who loves Carhartt hoodies and dawning a disheveled goatee, has staunchly supported Israel's war on Hamas and denounced calls for a ceasefire. He's also expressed support for increased U.S. border security, another position that puts him at odds with his party. The freshman Democrat was elected after securing support from some of the most liberal members of Congress in 2022. The towering 6 foot 8 inch senator, previously supported Democrat Socialist...

New Jersey state lawmakers did an about-face on a controversial bill that critics said would have given government bureaucrats and politicians more power to block information from the public. Some Garden State Democrats had looked to fast-track the bill to change the state’s open records law but backed off on Thursday, pulling the proposal before a key committee could vote to advance it. The decision was hailed as a victory for open-government advocates who fought tooth and nail to kill it — even though it may not be gone for good. “Democracy only functions when the voice of the people...

The Big Apple judge who cut loose an alleged nut accused of randomly attacking a subway cello player is a former Legal Aid attorney with ties to progressive politicians. Judge Marva Brown, who opted Thursday to release the 23-year-old alleged attacker — who has at least eight prior arrests — was only recently elected to her judicial role after nearly two decades as a public defender. Brown became a Brooklyn civil court judge in November after campaigning as self-described “zealous advocate, compassionate advisor, respected negotiator and skilled litigator,” according to her campaign site. The married mom of three was endorsed...

A progressive New York lawmaker has been blasted for describing uniformed NYPD cops taking the subway as a “frightening show of intimidation” and “a massive health risk” — then liking a tweet comparing the group of officers to Nazis. Democratic Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, who represents parts of Lower Manhattan, made the eyebrow-raising comment Monday in response to a video showing mostly maskless officers in a Midtown Manhattan subway station following the Friday funeral for slain NYPD Officer Jason Rivera...

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is backing up a Jewish congressman’s incendiary claim that he heard protesters scream “Jew!” at him during a September event in New Jersey. Garden State Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer caused a stir during a Dec. 13 speech at Rutgers University in which he said he was set upon by anti-Semitic protesters on Sept. 20 as he and Raimondo made a series of stops in Bergen County promoting President Joe Biden’s infrastructure bill. The pair were greeted by around 100 hecklers in Glen Rock — most of whom, Gottheimer claimed, came from the local chapter of the...

A democratic socialist candidate running her first political campaign is expected to become the next mayor of Buffalo, New York, after a stunning primary upset over the city's longest-serving mayor. India Walton, 38, would be Buffalo's first female mayor and the first socialist mayor of a major American city in six decades. The Associated Press on Wednesday morning called the Democratic primary for Walton, a nurse and activist who was supported by the Democratic Socialists of America and the Working Families Party. Walton defeated Byron Brown, the incumbent who has led the city since 2006. … She said in a...

NEW YORK (AP) — Ahead of Labor Day, unions representing millions across several working-class sectors are threatening to authorize work stoppages in support of the Black Lives Matter movement amid calls for concrete measures that address racial injustice. In a statement first shared with The Associated Press, labor leaders who represent teachers, autoworkers, truck drivers and clerical staff, among others, signaled a willingness Friday to escalate protest tactics to force local and federal lawmakers to take action on policing reform and systemic racism. They said the walkouts, if they were to move forward with them, would last for as long...

In a rider passed in the last state budget, the legislature upped the ante for minor parties in New York. So, two of those minor parties, the Greens and the Libertarians, are suing. In the past, to achieve ballot status, minor parties needed to earn 50,000 votes for their gubernatorial candidates. In other words, they needed 50,000 votes to qualify for the ballot every four years – rules that have been in place for decades. The new rules are far more restrictive. They require that minor parties garner 130,000 votes or two percent of votes cast. Additionally, they demand that...

An investigative report on Black Lives Matter (BLM) published four and half years ago foretold current events in many respects. The report, Reds Exploiting Blacks: The Roots of Black Lives Matter by James Simpson at the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism, is the best source I've found as to BLM's origins, tactics, funding, and goals. The report begins with this: The Black Lives Matter movement casts itself as a spontaneous uprising born of inner-city frustration, but is, in fact, the latest and most dangerous face of a web of well-funded communist/socialist organizations that have been agitating against America for decades....

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was bounced Tuesday from the Working Families Party ballot line by a Queens judge, raising the stakes in her potentially tricky Democratic primary fight for reelection. The firebrand lawmaker collected just 13 signatures from members of the small union-backed party, two short of what she needed to get on its primary ballot. Now, AOC won’t be on the WFP ballot line in the November general election either, said Martin Connor, a lawyer for Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, AOC’s opponent in the Democratic race. “AOC has hurt working people of the Bronx and Queens with her votes and creates disunity...

ALBANY, N.Y. — For years, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and some Democratic leaders have had an antagonistic relationship with the left-leaning Working Families Party, a labor-backed group whose increasing influence and independence have only widened the divide. So when Mr. Cuomo and state leaders decided this year to expand a public campaign financing commission’s authority — giving it a mandate to rewrite election laws affecting smaller political parties — the independent party’s leaders feared the worst. On Monday, their concerns were realized: The commission approved a slew of changes that will make it harder for political third parties to survive...

The Working Families Party Has an Anti-Semitism Problem From Marx to Jewish weather control. April 25, 2018 Daniel Greenfield Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical left and Islamic terrorism. When D.C. Councilmember Trayon White came under fire for blaming Jews for controlling the weather, dumping a Holocaust Museum tour and donating to an anti-Semitic Nation of Islam event, the loudest voice in his defense came once again from the Working Families Party. The WFP is a spinoff of ACORN. Rafael Shimunov, the WFP’s Creative Director, claimed...

In a sign of the growing pressure Hillary Clinton faces from the left, the Working Families Party is considering backing the movement to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren to run for President, the Daily News has learned. One person said the effort was not so much a bid to get the Massachusetts senator to run but to “Warrenize Hillary” by pushing her to adopt more liberal policies. At a meeting of the WFP’s advisory council last week, executive committee members wanted to bring the idea to a vote, sources said. Those pushing to publicly back Warren — who has said she...

In September, when AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka spoke to the convention of the Missouri AFL-CIO, he addressed the recent events in Ferguson, Mo., that led to the shooting of Michael Brown, saying that it was important for labor to be a part of the necessary conversation about race in the United States. Now the AFL-CIO, including the federation's director of civil, human and women's rights, Carmen Berkley, and Neidi Dominguez, assistant director of community engagement, will be in Missouri this weekend as part of the "Justice for All" events, including a national march and rally in St. Louis and Moral Monday-themed...

Elizabeth Warren clenched an endorsement from the Working Families Party last week, but new revelations emerged Monday that show the think tank her daughter heads donated $45,000 to the progressive political party ahead of the endorsement. Amelia Warren Tyagi is the chairwomen of Demos, and the donation to the Working Families Party in 2018 coincided with her mother's then-impending decision to run for president. Even though the two progressive groups were founded just two years apart, in 2000 and 1998, last year marked the first time Demos donated to the minor political party. According to a 2018 tax filing from...

The progressive group, whose electoral influence has grown since it backed Bernie Sanders four years ago, is now supporting Ms. Warren for the Democratic presidential nomination. The Working Families Party, the labor-aligned progressive group whose electoral influence has grown since the 2016 election, has endorsed Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts for the Democratic presidential nomination, a boon to her candidacy as she attempts to position herself as the main challenger to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

State Attorney General Letitia James said she subpoenaed Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank on Monday for records involving President Trump’s failed bid to buy the Buffalo Bills and other business dealings involving the Trump Organization. A day after issuing the subpoenas, James, who took office in January, lobbied legislators in Albany to loosen the double jeopardy “loophole” that prohibits state prosecutors from bringing similar charges against individuals pardoned from federal charges.

**SNIP** Crowley has formed a state campaign committee “Joe for NY,” and is holding a fundraiser Oct. 29 at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel in Manhattan, where the maximum suggested donation is $10,000. According to an email sent to “Irish Americans & Friends Crowley” by Walter Swett of the firm Dynamic SRG, who is the Crowley committee’s campaign treasurer, the group was “established to position Joe for future opportunities in public service.” **SNIP** The IrishCentral website recently floated Crowley’s name for statewide office, noting that, “While white ethnic Catholic no longer plays that well in Queens, it is a powerful...

Veteran Rep. Joseph Crowley, defeated by newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a primary election that shocked the political world, is laying the groundwork for a comeback. Crowley has formed a state campaign committee “Joe for NY,” and is holding a fundraiser Oct. 29 at the Fitzpatrick Grand Central Hotel in Manhattan, where the maximum suggested donation is $10,000. According to an email sent to “Irish Americans & Friends Crowley” by Walter Swett of the firm Dynamic SRG, who is the Crowley committee’s campaign treasurer, the group was “established to position Joe for future opportunities in public service.” Crowley was re-elected as...

I haven't seen any poll info about the socialist bartender anywhere.