Free Republic

“The reason I haven’t written about Mr. Gosnell is the same reason Philadelphia journalists don’t write about homicide trials in Detroit” The butchery of infants born alive after abortions at the Philadelphia clinic run by Kermit Gosnell is gruesome beyond description, as described in my prior post, A Culture of Death is their choice. The details are not new. The horrific Grand Jury Report (h/t Dave Weigel) was issued over two years ago. Yet this mass murder, reportedly of 100 infants although only seven cases were charged, has been met with near silence by the mainstream media.

BOSTON—The presidential race is tied going into Election Day. The final POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Tracking Poll of 1,000 likely voters — conducted Sunday and Monday — shows Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama each claiming 47 percent nationally. Our previous poll, conducted Monday through Thursday of last week, found the race tied at 48 percent. Although Romney and Obama have each led at times, the two candidates have stayed within the margin of error since the spring. (Also on POLITICO: 9 takeaways from the 2012 election) Independents break for Romney by 15 points, 47 percent to 32 percent.

Boston — Romney officials tell National Review Online that the campaign is focused on two key states as Election Day nears: Ohio and Pennsylvania. They believe that they are competitive in Ohio, but should it drift away, they’re looking at Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral votes as a possible substitute for the Buckeye State. “We have got to win one of those two states and do well everywhere else,” a Romney adviser says. “We’re still pushing in Ohio, but it’s unpredictable. Pennsylvania, however, is really in play.” Romney’s final-day schedule reflects his strategy. On Tuesday, he will campaign in Pittsburgh,...

Is there any reason to believe that Democrats enjoy an 8-point advantage in a state that consistently swings between the parties, mirroring the national vote? I don’t think so. Quinnipiac may also be missing a massive trend: It has chosen not to poll PA anymore at all, saying that it’s “In the bag for Obama.” Both campaigns clearly disagree, as they’re both spending money and time in Pennsylvania in the closing days to capture it. It’s a must-win for Obama, and a nice-t0-have for Romney.

Jennifer Granholm, host of "The War Room," says she loves the Occupy movement and discusses what she'd like to see come out of it. She also says she's excited to join Keith Olbermann and Cenk Uygur in their coverage of the protests, which balances the mainstream media's focus on scattered clashes with police and other skirmishes.

During Monday’s Republican presidential debate, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer posed an interesting scenario to the candidates: If a perfectly healthy young individual without health insurance gets in an accident, who should help pay for his medical care? The candidate’s answers didn’t matter to me, I was too busy listening to the audience’s reaction to the hypothetical death of another human being. They cheered. For the death of another human being through no fault of his own, the Tea Party crowd cheered.

By now you’ve probably heard about the recent militia plot to kill police officers. According to federal investigators, a militia based out of Adrian, Mich., hoped to incite a larger uprising through violent confrontation with federal forces. The fighting would have been initiated by the murder of a police officer sometime in April, followed by bombing the officer’s funeral. Eight militia members have been charged with conspiracy “to levy war against the United States, (and) to oppose by force the authority of the government of the United States.” It’s tempting to dismiss this as an isolated case, a few nut...

Obviously, it's tough to measure the attitudes of those who refuse to talk to pollsters, but this question in Fox News' latest survey confirms a long-held suspicion: 40. Every election, the television networks conduct exit polls of people as they leave their polling places on Election Day. If you were asked to participate, how likely is it you would be willing to spend 10 minutes filling out a questionnaire? Obama voterswho responded very likely/somewhat likely: 77 percent. McCain voters who responded very likely/somewhat likely: 64 percent. Obama voters who responded not very likely/not at all likely: 20 percent. McCain voters...

Let me be the latest conservative/libertarian/whatever to leap onto the Barack Obama bandwagon. It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance. Or would they? But let’s get that part out of the way. The only reason my vote would be of any interest to anyone is that my last name happens to be Buckley—a name I inherited. So in the event anyone notices or cares, the headline will be: “William F. Buckley’s Son Says He Is Pro-Obama.” I know, I know: It lacks the throw-weight of “Ron Reagan Jr....

Legendary University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler has died. He collapsed Friday morning at Channel 7’s Broadcast House as he prepared to tape the Big Ten Ticket show. Schemechler passed away at Providence Hospital in Southfield. He was taken to the hospital by paramedics Friday morning. The former coach had 2 major heart attacks and 2 quadruple bypass surgeries. Just 2 weeks ago, he had a pacemaker implanted.

Conception — the point at which life begins. At least it is according to the fundamentalist community, anyway. The stance of Right to Life supporters is that abortion is outright murder and deprivation of life. I disagree. How can you kill something that is not yet living? Besides, banning abortion deprives the mother of her rights to property and to the pursuit of happiness. A fetus is not a living human, and the mother has the right to decide to abort it. During the first trimester of the pregnancy, the fetus is merely a wad of cells. A mere wad...

A terrible thing happened to two soldiers of the 101st Airborne 12 miles south of Baghdad last week. Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker, 25 of Madras, Ore., were tortured and killed by an insurgent group after they were kidnapped during a shootout. Any human being with an ounce of compassion finds this mindless act to be unforgivable. Perhaps it is impossible for most Americans to understand why such a thing could have happened. But it is not too hard for the Iraqi people to understand. Let's try to go into the mind of an Iraqi...

Bedroom v. Courtroom Instead of fostering an atmosphere in which government was agnostic on abortion, Roe v. Wade fomented one in which it became activist. Nov. 14, 2005 issue - Samuel Alito has heard hundreds of cases during his long tenure on the court of appeals, but the interested members of the American public are now likely familiar with a single one. It is the dissent in which Judge Alito ruled that it was not an undue burden for a married woman to be obliged to notify her husband that she was having an abortion. The rights of the accused,...

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN JUNE 19, 2003 19:25:02 ET XXXXX GELDOF ORDERS NO BUSH BASHING AT 'LIVE 8': IRAQ WAR, GLOBAL WARMING RANTING OFF LIMITS **Exclusive** LIVE 8 founder Bob Geldof is determined to see his international concerts stay focused on the plight of Africa's poor -- and not fall into cliched Bush bashing and global warming rhetoric! Geldof has ordered show organizers and producers to redouble all efforts to keep LIVE 8 performers "on message" during the July 2 event, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. "Please remember, absolutely no ranting and raving about Bush or Blair and the...

George Voinovich is speaking before the Senate Foreign Relations committee right now. It sounds like he won’t vote in favor of Bolton. He just said of Bolton: “What kind of message are we sending to the world when we nominate someone who has been accused of being arrogant … acting unilaterally … the very characteristics we are trying to dispel.” Voinovich notes he met with Bolton this week, stating, “I have a particular concern about this nominee and it is in the issue … of public diplomacy.”

I would like to thank the 51 percent of American voters who re-elected President Bush. Thank you for putting a man back in office who favors rich, white men. His deep love for people like himself will push him to continue cutting taxes, and our nation's deficit will continue to expand wider than the average American's waistline. Thank you, middle class working Americans who voted for Bush. The $1,800 you received in tax cuts won't even begin to cover the 10 percent tuition hike your son or daughter is facing. And of course, thank you, children of small business owners....

I would like to fight a Bush supporter to vent my anger. If you are one, have a fiery streek, please contact me so we can meet and physically fight. I would like to beat the #### out of you.

Tonight on COPS Picture the American electorate as a woman, leaning against the frame of her duplex's screen door in a star-spangled halter top, paunchy midriff hanging out over her low-rise jeans. She has two black eyes and a busted lip. "He didn't mean no harm, officers. He loves me. He just has trouble showing it is all." "Ma'am, you don't have to take this you know, we could throw him out right now. Just say the word." From behind her, we hear a beer bottle shatter. A drunken Texas drawl calls out from the living room inside. "You'll take...

A couple notes on Ohio. Well, first, the results were set up in a way that made it very difficult to input them, so it took forever to set up a spreadsheet. Bush is running almost even with how he did in various counties in 2000. Since he won by 3.7% in 2000, that points to a similar margin this year. Outstanding votes? Okay, the official SecState website is behind AP and so forth, but let's go with their numbers (because I spent an hour setting up a spreadsheet to FIT their way of reporting, dangit). The official site has...

I've taken the up to date Florida results and taken into account the percent of precincts outstanding in each county, then assigned the Bush/Gore percentage in each county to the outstanding votes. Note: I did this same exercise four years ago, after the networks called Florida for Gore, and discovered that the outstanding votes indicated that it would be a dead heat, which it later proved to be. So this model has been tested. Bush is up by 250,000 right now, and I believe that that margin will hold up +/- 10,000 with the outstanding precincts. Note: This is before...