Free Republic

At 4 feet 11, former U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski almost stood a little shorter this week after a thief stole her famous footstool out of a car in Hampden. Mikulski’s signature footstool, which she uses for speaking engagements, was stolen out of an employee’s car on Falls Road in Hampden, according to an internet post from the employee Monday. The employee posted the story to the social media platform Nextdoor asking neighbors for help after a thief broke into her car and stole a bag containing the collapsible stool. She believed the thief mistook the bag for a purse and...

The best way to move Baltimore forward from its blight, unemployment and horrific three-year cycle of violent crime and record homicide rates is to stand up to it with gusto. "Stop whining and start winning," retired U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski told a group of about 75 business leaders at an informal panel Wednesday afternoon downtown. The event was sponsored by the Baltimore Efficiency and Economy Foundation, a nonprofit centered on civic advocacy, and held at 750 E. Pratt St. Mikulski took the microphone after nearly an hour and a half discussion about how the city could turn itself around and...

(snip)For an hour and a half, a moderator pulls questions from the audience of maybe 50 people, who fill the folding chairs with their nods, stares and half-hearted applause. Krish Vignarajah, tries to inject some enthusiasm into the quiet crowd on a Sunday in April. “The orthodoxy out there is that no man can beat Larry Hogan,” she says, pausing for emphasis. “Well, I am no man,” she rallies, her black slacks and gold-buttoned, white jacket looking every bit like a military uniform — as if to say, yes, this daughter of Sri Lankan immigrant teachers will wage the necessary...

Just one day ahead of the anniversary of the worst riot Baltimore had seen in more than 40 years, its residents will head to the polls to determine who will lead the city for the next four years. […] Shortly after the April 27, 2015, unrest, Democratic Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake instituted a mandatory 10 p.m. curfew. Four months later, she announced she wouldn’t seek re-election. The open race attracted a flood of hopefuls declaring their candidacy; before the Feb. 3 deadline passed, 13 Democrats jumped into the primary. The two most politically entrenched candidates emerged as front-runners: Sheila Dixon, who...

On Capitol Hill, Representative Chris Van Hollen is, literally and figuratively, a Democratic fair-haired boy. An American son of diplomats born while his parents served in Pakistan, he has used his fund-raising savvy, policy smarts and easy manner to position himself, party elders assumed, as a potential Democratic speaker of the House. Instead, Mr. Van Hollen, now running for the Senate in his home state of Maryland, is fighting for his survival in an identity politics primary that raises an explosive question: Should a white man, or a black woman, inherit the seat held for 30 years by Barbara A....

In a feministic attempt to be hip, the Hillary Clinton campaign decided to do something “fun” and ask Democratic senators – all female of course – to hold up signs with their answers to questions about the Democratic presidential candidate front-runner.  It’s sort of like, remember how Michelle Obama held a sign with the #bringbackourgirls in an effort to “fight back” at the terrorist group Boko Haram that kidnapped hundreds of girls from a Nigerian school? As if that would make any difference at all.  This entire exercise is sort of like that, only much lamer. Besides, what better way...

When Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) became the 34th vote in favor of the Iran Deal, it was touted as sealing the support for the President Obama’s signature foreign policy initiative. It was fascinating for two reasons. First, that such a major policy was being adopted despite bi-partisan rejection. Second, the analysis started to flow of how the powerful lobbying organization, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), had lost such a major political battle. More importantly, what will AIPAC do now that the deal has been backhandedly approved? Once the Iran deal was approved by the negotiators many supporters of Israel...

The review process under the Corker law never began — by the law’s own terms. To undermine President Obama’s atrocious Iran deal despite the Republican-controlled Congress’s irresponsible Corker legislation, it will be necessary to follow, of all things, the Corker legislation. On Wednesday, Barbara Mikulski became the 34th Senate Democrat to announce support for the deal, which lends aid and comfort to a regime that continues to call for “Death to America.” Under the Corker Roadmap to Catastrophe, Mikulski’s assent ostensibly puts President Obama over the top. After all, the legislation sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker...

Well, I’ve said it a million times: The anchorman of CBS News should attend Democratic fundraisers (as happened). The Supreme Court reporter of the New York Times, a.k.a. the paper of record, should march in abortion-rights rallies (as happened). And PBS news figures should be open partisans. Yesterday, when Senator Barbara Mikulski declared for the Iran deal, meaning that this deal could not be blocked by the Senate, Gwen Ifill spiked the football. “Take that, Bibi,” she tweeted. Aha! Good one, Gwen! The PBS ombudsman has written about this matter disapprovingly. I’m not sure I disapprove. What I disapprove of...

Those putting party over country try to conceal their votes from the public. Democratic senators supporting President Obama’s disastrous nuclear deal with Iran are cowards. They know that a majority of Americans oppose the deal. Thus, they are running for cover to avoid going on the record and voting against a resolution disapproving the deal. A filibuster to block a vote on the merits altogether is the Democratic Senate caucus’s preferred way out. The White House is reportedly pushing the filibuster strategy even though Obama is virtually certain to have enough votes to sustain a veto of a resolution of...

Thus ends a breathtaking performance of Republican failure theater. Once upon a time, knowing that your party controlled both chambers of Congress would have given you great comfort that a terrible treaty negotiated with a terrorist power could never become law in the United States. I think this makes it official: I’m on the Trump bandwagon. Hail Caesar. What’d the GOP get out of all this? What did their huge advantage in the House and their eight-seat majority in the Senate ultimately amount to in terms of concessions? It’s one thing to lose a momentous fight on foreign policy, ceding...

On Wednesday, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) 2% became the 34th Democrat in the U.S. Senate to support the Iran deal, handing President Barack Obama a veto-proof majority. In so doing, Mikulski drove the final nail into the coffin of the pro-Israel lobby, centered around the once-vaunted American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which had vowed in July to fight the deal “with the entirety of our institutional resources.” AIPAC’s loss proves that the so-called “Israel lobby” was never as strong as antisemitic conspiracy theorists said it was. But AIPAC was weakened even further, and deliberately, by the Obama administration, which...

Senator Markey has announced his support for the Iran deal that will let the terrorist regime inspect its own Parchin nuclear weapons research site, conduct uranium enrichment, build advanced centrifuges, buy ballistic missiles, fund terrorism and have a near zero breakout time to a nuclear bomb. There was no surprise there. Markey had topped the list of candidates supported by the Iran Lobby. And the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC) had maxed out its contributions to his campaign. After more fake suspense, Al Franken, another IAPAC backed politician who also benefited from Iran Lobby money, came out for the...

Retiring Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) is the 34th senator to support Iran nuclear deal, guaranteeing that President Barack Obama will be able to sustain a veto of an attempt to kill the agreement, the Associated Press reported. “No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime,” the longtime senator, who is not running for re-election in 2016, said in a statement. “I have concluded that this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb. For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal. However, Congress must...

The Obama administration now appears to have enough support in Congress to stave off Republican efforts to reject his controversial Iran nuclear deal, after a retiring Maryland Democratic senator came out Wednesday morning in favor of the pact. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., announced her support for the deal ahead of a speech on the agreement by Secretary of State John Kerry. She becomes the 34th senator to support the deal, giving President Obama enough backing to sustain a veto of a Republican bill opposing it, should that bill pass in a vote later this month.

BREAKING: Democratic Senator Mikulski says will support Iran nuclear agreement, giving Obama votes needed to protect deal in Congress.

Two more Democrats announced support Tuesday for President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, putting the White House a single senator away from assuring it can prevent Congress from scuttling the agreement and leaving GOP leaders hoping to avoid an even bigger embarrassment of losing to a filibuster. With about 10 Democrats still to decide, it’s a lock that at least one of them will back Mr. Obama, giving him the 34 votes needed to uphold his expected veto of a bill to halt the deal.

Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and Bob Casey (D-Pa.) have decided to support the Iran nuclear deal, putting President Obama on the brink of a major diplomatic breakthrough that will allow him to fully implement the controversial deal over the objections of the Republican-led Congress. Coons's decision, disclosed in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post, delivered a powerful blow to opponents of the plan because the Delaware Democrat had previously voiced some of the deepest skepticism about the controversial deal. It came as Casey announced support for the deal and left Obama needing just one more vote in the Senate...

This was the whole strategy behind President Obama's decision to declare the Iran accord an "executive agreement" rather than a treaty. Treaties require two-thirds support from the Senate for adoption; executive agreements, Obama has argued, don't require any vote at all. Ultimately, even Congressional Democrats were unwilling to accede to a power grab quite that brazen, especially on a deal with major geopolitical implications and that is intended to bind future presidents and Congresses. Thus, a bipartisan bill was passed that asserted the right of Congress to vote to approve or disapprove the final agreement. But with Obama's veto pen...

“Cringe-worthy.” “Terrible.” “I think everyone in that room wanted to drag their fingernails across their face.” “The most painful speech ever.” Just some of the reviews of Democrat Congresswoman Donna Edwards’ atrocious speech. Edwards was supposed to be entertaining journalists and reporters with a monologue. But not only did it bomb, it was excruciating for those in attendance. Let’s see if you find these two select snippets (verbatim from the speech) funny: “Come on, help me y’all: I want to give a really special shout out to Nancy Pelosi and all my sisters in the libido caucus — holla’!” “There...