Free Republic

The Venezuelan opposition's campaign to oust President Nicolas Maduro has been thrown into disarray with elections officials' decision to suspend a recall drive against the socialist leader a week before it was to start. In a related move, a court appeared to issue a ruling Friday blocking key opposition leaders from leaving the country. With the latest actions, the government has effectively halted the effort to stage a recall effort that polls suggest Maduro would have lost by a wide margin. The ruling is particularly dramatic because it comes just days before critics of the socialist administration were to start...

During my time as the U.S. Attorney for Maine, particularly during the Bush administration, prosecuting gun crimes — including gun trafficking — was a high priority. A loophole in Maine law allows dangerous people to buy guns from unlicensed sellers without a background check. Since 1998, background checks performed by licensed Maine dealers have kept guns out of the hands of more than 5,500 people who are prohibited by law from them. And while it is true that background checks occur when ordering a gun from a licensed internet dealer as well as at brick-and-mortar gun shops, there are no...

AND NOW... amidst billowing clouds of fragrant, aromatic first- and second-hand premium cigar smoke... it is time for... that harmless, lovable little fuzz ball, the highly-trained broadcast specialist, having more fun than a human being should be allowed to have, from behind the golden EIB microphone, firmly ensconced in the prestigious Attila-The-Hun chair at the Limbaugh Institute of Advanced Conservative Studies, serving humanity simply by showing up, and he’s not retiring until every American agrees with him — do NOT doubt him — with shrieks of joy at the mere mention of his name (that’s Rush, for those in Rio...

It’s just what you would expect from a newspaper whose editorial board just can’t help taking the wrong side on the issue of gun control. Despite widespread opposition by law enforcement and top state officials, USA Today last week chose to urge the newspaper’s handful of readers in Nevada and Maine to vote “yes” on anti-gun background check initiatives that would only affect the law-abiding, leaving armed criminals to commit whatever violent crimes they choose. The editorial was titled, “Vote 'yes' on gun safety measures: Our view,” with a subhead stating, “Do what weak-kneed members of Congress have refused to...

The congressional leader of a key House committee governing the use of technology announced on Thursday that Congress is taking unprecedented action to hold in contempt a computer company that supplied former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with her private email server, which was since found to contain classified information in violation of federal protocol. Rep. Lamar Smith (R., Texas), chair of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, informed reporters that he is moving forward with procedures to hold in contempt Platte River Networks, a security firm that helped maintain Clinton’s private servers. Smith announced that he is in...

The Obama administration’s Justice Department has investigated three senior officials for mishandling classified information over the past two years but only one faces a felony conviction, possible jail time and a humiliation that will ruin his career: former Joint Chiefs of Staff vice chairman Gen. James E. Cartwright. The FBI’s handling of the case stands in stark contrast to its treatment of Hillary Clinton and retired Gen. David Petraeus — and it reeks of political considerations. Monday marked a stunning fall from grace for Cartwright, the man once known as “Obama’s favorite general,” who pleaded guilty to the felony charge...

James O'Keefe has produced documentation in his Project Veritas endeavor which has produced two videos that I know of to date (which can be found on Youtube as well, Part 1: Rigging the Election - Video I: Clinton Campaign and DNC Incite Violence at Trump Rallies and Part 2: Rigging the Election - Video II: Mass Voter Frauds. I have watched these two videos, and the content astonishes me. But let me clarify that they do not astonish me the way they might astonish or startle many Americans, because the tactics are not new, I have seen evidence of this...

Schakowsky's Husband 'Stepping Back' From Clinton Campaign Bob Creamer is shown on video allegedly discussing inciting violence at Trump rallies Robert Creamer, husband of Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky, is "stepping back" from the Hillary Clinton campaign after a video suggested his organization tried to instigate violence at Donald Trump rallies. Creamer was aiding the Democratic National Convention for Clinton's presidential bid. He works for a progressive consulting firm, Democracy Partners, and is head of the group Mobilize, which contracted with the DNC. "I am unwilling to become a distraction to the important task of electing Hilary Clinton, and defeating Donald...

The word from Oregon is that the jury in the Oregon Standoff Trial of Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy and five other defendants charged in connection with the protest at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year was sent home yesterday afternoon. Reporter Maxine Bernstein of the "Portland Oregonian/OregonLive" tweeted that the jury will resume its deliberations on Monday. Other tweets are out there in the Twitter universe #Oregonstandoff Ammon Bundy tweeting from jail that the longer the jury takes, the better his chances are of 'being freed from being a political prisoner'. Of course, he will be facing the...

Two Port Barre police officers were treated for injuries over the weekend after a hit-and-run investigation led to a violent confrontation with some neighborhood residents, according to Chief Deon Boudreaux. One officer was treated for injuries after a 15-year-old struck him in the head with a fishing pole, while the other suffered an arm injury after he was struck with a metal folding chair, Boudreaux said. The chief said the officer who was struck with a fishing pole then aimed his gun at the teen, while other officers used pepper spray against the aggressive crowd that swarmed officers responding to...

A wave of apprehension and anguish swept the Republican Party on Thursday, with many GOP leaders alarmed by Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the outcome of the election and concluding that it is probably too late to salvage his flailing presidential campaign. As the Republican nominee reeled from a turbulent performance in the final debate here in Las Vegas, his party’s embattled senators and House members scrambled to protect their seats and preserve the GOP’s congressional majorities against what Republicans privately acknowledge could be a landslide victory for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. With 19 days until the election, the Republican...

How a Central Illinois college football player showed his respect to our flag. http://www.allenbwest.com/allen/cannot-remain-silent-young-man-just

The rise of Donald Trump has given Paul Ryan heartburn all year. And that may not change after Election Day. The GOP presidential nominee has repeatedly accused Ryan, the nation’s highest-ranking elected Republican, of being disloyal to his campaign. If Trump is trounced by Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8, many believe he’ll turn his wrath — and his millions of loyal followers — against Ryan as he runs for reelection as Speaker. Trump already appears to be looking for ways to explain his potential loss in the White House race. Fox News host Sean Hannity, an ally of Trump, is...

Dream last night’s presidential debate, pro-abortion presidential candidate Hillary Clinton denied the brutality of abortion. She called Donald Trump’s statement that she favors ripping unborn babies from the womb a scare tactic. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “I think it’s terrible if you go with what Hillary is saying in the ninth month you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother just prior to the birth of the baby. Now you can say that that’s okay and Hillary can say that that’s okay, but it’s not okay with me. Because based on what she’s saying...

As you would expect from a first-rate journalist, Fox News’ Chris Wallace held the candidates’ feet to the fire in last night’s third and final presidential debate. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT From the pro-life perspective, it was particularly useful that Wallace said he would “drill down” on the question of the Supreme Court “because the next president will almost certainly have at least one appointment and likely or possibly two or three appointments which means that you will in effect determine the balance of the court for what could be the next quarter century.”And so he did. The results were classic Hillary...

FULL TITLE: It's Infuriating! Gore's Refusal to Accept the Legitimacy of the 2000 Election Still Has Harmful Ramifications to This Day RUSH: Look, for those of you just joining us, I want to run through some things very, very quickly here again, at the risk of repeating myself for those who have been listening since the beginning of the program, top of the previous hour.  This is so overblown and it is so out of proportion.  I would wager that everybody acting so outraged over this knows full well that Donald Trump was not promising to blow up this country...

Donald Trump is more similar to the Founders of our country than anyone who has run for the presidency in my lifetime. What?! What?! Didn't Trump just jump an entire school of sharks in the third debate, saying he didn't know if he would accept the outcome of the election. Isn't he finished? Are you out of your bloody mind, Simon? Okay, maybe, it wouldn't be the first time... but hear me out. Put briefly: If Donald Trump believes—as many of us do—that the FBI is corrupt, the Justice Department is corrupt, the other party is hiring violent paid thugs...

That was ugly! Today’s Morning Joe offered a prime example of the notion that the bitterest political fights are the ones between members of the same party. Joe Scarborough and Bill Kristol got into a nasty spat over Kristol’s accusation that in the early days of the campaign, Morning Joe had been supportive of Donald Trump, and by extension bears some responsibility for his rise. An angry Scarborough shot back “you lied!” and laid out the case that he had declared early on that he wouldn’t vote for Trump, had analogized his call for a Muslim ban to Germany circa...

As the New York and Beltway media light their collective heads on fire over Donald Trump’s reluctance to accept the results of an election that has yet to take place, let’s walk down memory lane for a moment to see how willing Hillary Clinton has been to accept past election results she wasn’t pleased with. Thankfully, we don’t have to go too far back in time. How about just last week as Clinton appeared with Al Gore in Miami, FL.

Sen. John McCain's (R-AZ) office on Monday walked back his suggestion that Senate Republicans could continue to stonewall the confirmation of a ninth Supreme Court justice if Hillary Clinton is elected, insisting he will cast a vote on any nominee the next president puts forward. "Senator McCain believes you can only judge people by their record and Hillary Clinton has a clear record of supporting liberal judicial nominees,” McCain spokesman Rachael Dean told TPM in a statement. “That being said, Senator McCain will, of course, thoroughly examine the record of any Supreme Court nominee put before the Senate and vote...