Free Republic

Legal challenges to indoor smoking bans have failed. But prohibitions on smoking in outdoor areas are churning in the courts~ Arthur Gallagher, an avid outdoor smoker, sued Clayton in 2011, claiming a ban on smoking in city parks it had enacted a year earlier was unconstitutional. He asked the federal courts to recognize smoking as a fundamental right and argued that any law restricting tobacco use deserves the utmost scrutiny from judges. On Thursday, the St. Louis-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit declined to recognize a right to smoke and held that Clayton had a rational basis...

A lot of people are responding to my post here, at Free Republic, and on Facebook. Most disagree with my thesis laid out in Part I but here we go with Part II: Obama lost votes in all but two states (LA and NC) Romney got more votes than McCain in 27 states. This is the case in some of the swing states and even deep blue states that Obama won handily. Examples: Colorado: Obama lost 3.9% of his 2008 voters while Romney got 4.8% more votes than McCain, which means Obama won Colorado by a smaller margin (51.2% to 46.5%) than in...

Obama is indeed the 21st century's Chamberlain. In another disastrous bid for appeasement, he has handed control of North Africa to Al Qaeda. If Al Qaeda controls North Africa, it will soon be in position to interdict the Mediterranean through terrorism against shipping. As it builds up, it will then seize control of the Straits of Gibraltar. It already rules the Suez Canal. A bankrupt, islamized and weakened Europe will be in position to do absolutely nothing. Obama will look the other way. On the other end of the Middle East, the major sects of Islam will join to attack...

Actress Ashley Judd's name is being thrown out as a Democratic challenger to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in 2014. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.) listed her as a possibility. "If you had an Ashley Judd-McConnell race, I think it would be as high profile a race as Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown," Yarmuth said in an interview with the Courier-Journal of Kentucky, referring to the Massachusetts Senate candidates. Judd has been active in Democratic politics. She was a delegate at the Democratic National Committee and also taped campaign ads for President Obama. McConnell has begun gearing up for his...

Obama to make statement on economy Friday By Mark Felsenthal | Reuters – 48 mins ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Newly re-elected President Barack Obama will make a statement on the economy on Friday, the White House said, setting the stage for a showdown with congressional Republicans over contentious tax and spending issues. The president is likely to discuss looming tax increases and government spending cuts - the so-called fiscal cliff - that would go into effect early next year unless Congress acts to prevent them. He is due to make the statement from the East Room of the White House...

Superstorm Sandy left about a quarter million dead cars in its path, Reuters figures. It mioght even drive up cars sales. There is no official number yet on how many cars have been destroyed in the storm. “We believe that between 100,000 and 250,000 vehicles currently in operation could be removed from used vehicle supply once all is said and done,” said Laurence E. Dixon III, senior analyst with the National Automobile Dealers Association. Reuters think it is at least 266,000 vehicles. Some consumers with damaged vehicles may need to replace them with a new car, said Mark Schienberg, president...

Once again, Barack Obama has proven to be the luckiest politician alive. Just when the race was tightening to a dead heat in the election’s closing days, one spectacular betrayal and one rank miscalculation on the Republican side have turned the contest back in Obama’s favor. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who will tour his storm-ravaged state today with President Obama, was all over the networks Tuesday telling what a wonderful leader his president was. “I spoke to the president three times yesterday,” Christie boasted, calling Obama “outstanding.” When Fox co-host Steve Doocy meekly asked Christie if he planned any...

Rep. Allen West is leading by more than 300 votes in Palm Beach County, Fla., a hopeful sign for the Tea Party favorite fighting for his political life after Tuesday’s election, a source told TheBlaze. No winner has been declared in the congressional race between the Republican West and his Democratic opponent Patrick Murphy, though Murphy had a 2,456-vote lead in the unofficial vote total. But a Republican observer who has been monitoring the counting process said West pulled ahead in Palm Beach County on Thursday as the initial count continues. Ballot printing errors led to ballots that could not...

Sneed has learned U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who handily won re-election Tuesday despite a lengthy stay at Mayo Clinic for depression and bipolar disorder, is in the midst of plea discussions with the feds probing his alleged misuse of campaign funds. “No one has pled guilty, but plea discussions are ongoing,” said a top Sneed source, who said Jackson is still undergoing treatment at Mayo Clinic Sneed is also told Jackson, who returned to Mayo Clinic after undergoing outpatient treatment in the seclusion of his home in Washington, D.C., is not only being investigated for allegedly using campaign funds...

It was inevitable to do something on this, the lefties have been very flattering with this meme, so it's time for some pushback. :-)Boomers might get the reference here...and only them.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that he had called President Obama to congratulate him on his win in the 2012 presidential election — but has only sent an email to Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for whom he campaigned heavily earlier this year. “We didn’t have a political strategy discussion,” Christie said of his call to Obama, according to Bloomberg. “I said congratulations on your win last night Mr. President, he said thank you governor.”

Hillary Clinton will step down as U.S. Secretary of State within 'days' of President Barack Obama's second inauguration in January, her spokesman said today. Her long-respected departure is expected by most Democrats to be a prelude for a White House run in 2016, when she will be 69. The top candidate to replace her is believed to be Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the losing 2004 Democratic presidential nominee. He is viewed as a more likely pick than Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, because of her widely-criticised appearance

Essential reading from Sean Trende about the new demographic reality at the polls. Based on his back-of-the-envelope math, there are actually two reasons why there were more minority voters as a share of the electorate this time. One, the reason everyone knows: There were more minority voters, period. Two, the reason no one guessed: If current projections hold, there were many, many fewer white voters at the polls this year than in 2008. Had the same number of white voters cast ballots in 2012 as did in 2008, the 2012 electorate would have been about 74 percent white, 12 percent...

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is heading to the first caucus state of Iowa on Nov. 17 to headline an annual campaign fundraising birthday party for Iowa governor Terry Branstad. Last year all the presidential hopefuls, except for Mitt Romney, came to the party to court the governor and Iowa political dignitaries who attended the bash. The governor’s spokesperson, Tim Albrecht, a caucus expert himself, told ABC News that Branstad invited Rubio and is “excited he accepted.” “Sen. Rubio is a star within our party,” Albrecht said. “We were excited Sen. Rubio accepted, and regardless of what happened on Tuesday he...

From the mayor who made owning an 18oz+ container of coke a summary offense, comes this: Effective 6 am 11/9: drivers in NYC whose license plates end in an even number or zero will be able to buy gas only on even-numbered days— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) November 8, 2012 Drivers in NYC whose license plates end with a letter will be classified as “odd” and may only buy gas on odd-numbered days— Mike Bloomberg (@MikeBloomberg) November 8, 2012  In case anyone gets any ideas, the NYPD will be there to enforce counting skills: NYPD officers will be deployed at...

Link only, per FR policy: http://www.defensenews.com/article/20121108/DEFREG02/311080005/Consensus-Forming-Lame-Duck-Deal-Delay-Sequester-Cuts?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Just enrolled in my company healthcare plan for next year.

MARK LEVIN: We conservatives, we do not accept bipartisanship in the pursuit of tyranny. Period. We will not negotiate the terms of our economic and political servitude. Period. We will not abandon our children to a dark and bleak future. We will not accept a fate that is alien to the legacy we inherited from every single future generation in this country. We will not accept social engineering by politicians and bureaucrats who treat us like lab rats, rather than self-sufficient human beings. There are those in this country who choose tyranny over liberty. They do not speak for us,...

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback says he won’t support Kansas Insurance Commissioner Sandy Praeger’s grant application to create a state-federal partnership health insurance exchange. The exchange is an online marketplace where individuals can by health insurance policies. A partnership is one of three choices for states under the federal health reform law. States could also choose to establish their own exchanges or let the federal government do it for them.

I really hope someone with more backbone challenges this feckless speaker: ABC NEWS – Asked whether he will make another attempt to fully repeal the Affordable Care Act, Boehner said “the election changes that” and “Obamacare is the law of the land.”