Free Republic

Biden is making sweeping promises to LGBTQ activists, proposing to carry out virtually every major proposal on their wish lists. Among them: Lifting the Trump administration’s near-total ban on military service for transgender people, barring federal contractors from anti-LGBTQ job discrimination, and creating high-level LGBTQ-rights positions at the State Department, the National Security Council and other federal agencies. Biden says his top legislative priority for LGBTQ issues is the Equality Act, passed by the House of Representatives last year but stalled in the Senate. It would extend to all 50 states the comprehensive anti-bias protections already afforded to LGBTQ people...

Multiple Democratic presidential candidates said Thursday that they won’t attend the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual conference in Washington next week. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke of Texas, Sen. Kamala Harris of California and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, are among the 2020 contenders who have decided not to attend. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who is considering an independent bid for president, will also avoid the AIPAC conference. It comes as the liberal advocacy group MoveOn has called on Democratic presidential candidates to skip this year’s policy...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren sought to solidify her connection with African-American voters Friday as she prepares to launch a potential presidential campaign amid criticism of her approach to race and identity. The Massachusetts Democrat visited Morgan State University in Baltimore, marking her third trip this year to a historically black college or university. It follows her widely panned October release of a DNA test meant to bolster her claim to Native American heritage. Her speech Friday offered an opportunity to regain her footing. “I’m not a person of color,” Warren said. “And I haven’t lived your life or experienced anything like...

Democrat Sherrod Brown just won reelection resoundingly in a Trump state running on Trump’s issues — taking a hard line on trade and helping blue-collar workers. Now the Ohio senator is talking increasingly like he’s prepared to take on the president himself.

With Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford hours away from testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a bombshell dropped Wednesday afternoon. The committee released the transcript of a call between GOP staffers and the Supreme Court nominee that included two new allegations of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh. The dam, it appeared, had broken. But the claims quickly drew skepticism, largely because they’re anonymous, unlike the first three allegations made against Kavanaugh, in which Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and Julie Swetnick went on the record to tell their stories of Kavanaugh’s alleged sexual misconduct. One of the new claims came in the...

Democratic leaders need a unified caucus to put maximum pressure on a handful of holdout Republicans. Democrats have all the cover they need to vote in lockstep against Brett Kavanaugh. But a half-dozen of them have refused to go there, even after the pair of sexual assault allegations against the Supreme Court nominee. Democratic insiders are feeling more bullish than ever that the party’s 49 caucus members ultimately will oppose Kavanaugh. Yet the undeclared bloc of Democratic senators could be a problem for Democratic leaders, who want to put the weight of the nomination entirely on a handful of holdout...

Sen. Chuck Schumer outlined a path Tuesday for Hillary Clinton to enact a carbon tax if the Democrats prevail in the 2016 elections. Schumer said that a Clinton presidency and the return of his party to the Senate majority in 2017 could pave the way for lawmakers to enact a carbon tax to help fund the government. The mere suggestion of a new fee on the emissions blamed for climate change, however, could become a political headache for Clinton and other Democrats, and it’s routinely dismissed by Republicans. Schumer also vowed that Democrats would successfully defend President Barack Obama’s landmark...