Free Republic

The Obama administration on Tuesday will wade into the increasingly divisive national debate over new voting laws in several states that could depress turnout among minorities and others who helped elect the president in 2008. Â… With the presidential campaign heating up,Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. will deliver a speech Tuesday expressing concerns about the voter-identification laws, along with a Texas redistricting plan before the Supreme Court that fails to take into account the stateÂ’s burgeoning Hispanic population, he said in an interview Monday. Holder will speak at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Libary and Museum in Austin, Tex.,...

Jennifer "Rita" Platt says she's determined to vote next year, but Wisconsin isn't making it easy for her. She and the rest of Wisconsin's voters will need to comply with a new voter ID law when they go to the polls in February's primaries. With few exceptions, those without the proper ID can't vote. But Platt and her boyfriend don't have forms of identification accepted at the polls, so they recently drove about 45 minutes to a Department of Motor Vehicles office in Hudson to each get an ID. They encountered two problems. The DMV office's computer system was down,...

Senate Republicans and Democrats have finally reached an iron-clad, bipartisan agreement to cap spending. Their Secret Santa presents won't cost more than $10. Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., and Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., organized the Senate gift exchange, which will take place at a holiday party sometime next month. An outspoken liberal voice, former "Saturday Night Live" funnyman Franken would seem an odd partner for the conservative, buttoned-down Johanns. "We're as near to polar opposites as you could find in the Senate," Johanns acknowledged, "and yet I think it's a good idea, and when he asked me I didn't hesitate a...

Democratic defections and a united Republican front are hampering President Obama’s message on the economy. Last week and again Thursday night, there were a couple Democratic defections on Obama’s jobs measure. And despite a veto threat from the White House, 10 Democrats voted for a GOP alternative. The lack of a united front is complicating a key part of Obama’s reelection strategy of running against Washington, and Congress in particular. Obama has been lambasting the politics of Capitol Hill, and some say a few stray Democratic votes will prevent that message from resonating with voters in 2012. Others claim that...

A Duluth man continued to say someone else shot him, but nevertheless pleaded for a shorter sentence Thursday by telling the court: "If I shot myself, your honor, I don't need any prison; I need a damn shrink." Judge David Johnson was unmoved and sentenced Alcide Cloutier, 35, to a longer-than-guideline prison sentence of 7-1/2 years. Last month, a St. Louis County jury rejected Cloutier's claim that he was a good Samaritan who was shot by a black man - whom he later described as a white man - while trying to help a woman in Duluth's Lakeside neighborhood in...

Minnesota Majority today released a report on voter fraud convictions stemming from Minnesota’s 2008 general election. The report finds that 113 individuals who voted illegally in the 2008 election have been convicted of the crime, “ineligible voter knowingly votes” under Minnesota Statute 201.014. “As far as we can tell, this is the largest number of voter fraud convictions arising from a single election in the past 75 years,” said Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis, “Prosecutions are still underway and so there will likely be even more convictions.” The highest number of convictions ever recorded in the United States came from...

ST. PAUL, Minn.—Former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman is getting behind Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential race, and gaining a role within the ex-Massachusetts governor's campaign. Romney's campaign announced Wednesday that Coleman would come aboard as a special adviser on policy. Coleman joins former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty as a Romney backer.

   MEDIA: HALLIBURTON PAID DICK CHENEY TO COMMIT RAPE IN IRAN August 3, 2011A front-page story by James Risen in The New York Times on Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008, reported on a "troubling trend" of sexual assaults committed by American employees of military contractors in Iraq. The centerpiece of his story was Jamie Leigh Jones, who claimed to have been brutally gang-raped in 2005 while working in the Green Zone. (Risen also interviewed other women claiming to have been sexually assaulted in Iraq and -- for journalistic balance -- their attorneys.) Jones famously claimed that days after arriving in Iraq...

Six people have recently been charged in St. Louis County with a felony crime that is rarely seen on a Northeastern Minnesota court docket: "Voting while ineligible." It's a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine, but a conviction most likely will result in a probationary sentence. Under Minnesota law, a person is ineligible to vote if their civil rights had not been restored after being convicted of treason, or any felony, or while under a guardianship in which a court order revoked the ward's right to vote, or if found by...

Judge Judy Quizzes ‘Moron’ to Whom Taxpayers Have Given $70,000 ...so far. But the narcissistic, taxpayer-funded third-year college student wants to keep the party going. Clearly the "rich" have to pay more so this "musician" can continue his life of indulgence, ripoff, and squalor. Watch it quick, it won't last long.

For a moment Wednesday, Al Franken looked like he was back on the set of Saturday Night Live and not on the floor of the U.S. Senate. In a speech explaining that there would be no money to pay for military and security personnel if Congress doesn’t pass a bill increasing the debt ceiling by Aug. 2, Franken unveiled a large poster in the chamber that said, “Welcome Terrorists.”

On Wednesday, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) went head-to-head with Thomas Minnery, vice-president for public policy at the popular Christian group Focus on the Family (FOF). The exchange occurred during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for a bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA).

June 29, 2011Soros Getting His Fingers in Prosser-Bradley Kerfuffle Ed Lasky Jonathan Tobin writes at Commentary Contentions that a Soros-supported group is behind the trumped-up charges that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser "choked" a liberal colleague of his, Ann Walsh Bradley: The Associated Press is reporting a criminal inquiry has been opened into the accusation that conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser "choked" liberal colleague Ann Walsh BradleyChristian Schneider, a fellow at the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, writes in National Review today to tell the inside story about this judicial brawl. According to Schneider's sources, the set-to between the two judges...

The poll's on the lower right part of the webpage.

(Reuters) - Democratic Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have required voters to provide photo identification to cast votes. Dayton cited a lack of broad bi-partisan support for the bill and its potential as a $23 million unfunded mandate on local governments in part for his veto. The Republican-led Legislature had sent the bill to him on Monday. Supporters had argued the bill would strengthen the integrity of the election system in Minnesota. Dayton said he did not believe voter fraud to be a significant problem in Minnesota and that the reason most often cited...

Click the link to watch for as long as you can, Al Franken's pathetic attempt at humor as he mocks the Gospel. I'm not even a Christian and I'm offended. Minnesota FReepers, can he be recalled ? (If you can't sit through the whole thing, FF to the end to see that this disgusting cartoon came from Franken's book.)

Legislation requiring voters to present photo ID at the polls has ignited a partisan battle at the Capitol this spring, but an overwhelming majority of Minnesotans support the idea, according to a new Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. Eighty percent of respondents said they favor a photo ID requirement, which Republican majorities at the Legislature have made one of their signature goals of the session. Democrats have almost universally opposed it, arguing that it will prevent members of some groups from voting. That party split was reflected in the poll: A whopping 94 percent of Republicans supported photo ID, compared to...

The Wisconsin state Assembly passed a Republican-backed bill on Wednesday that will stiffen requirements for voter identification at polling places and was decried by Democrats as targeting their constituents. The Assembly passed the bill by a vote of 60-35 and sent it on to the Senate, which is also controlled by Republicans. Democrats introduced more than 50 amendments, all of which failed. The measure was expected to further split the partisan divisions in the state after the recent bruising battle over newly elected Republican governor Scott Walker's successful campaign to weaken public sector union bargaining rights. Democrats said the new...

Today, two researchers for OÂ’Reilly media published an article claiming discovery of a hidden tracking system on the iOS 4 operating system. Using simple techniques, Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden extracted data off of an iOS version 4 device and wrote an open source software utility to effectively graph this data onto a map. As a fellow researcher, I champion their creativity and their development. As an expert in this field, I have three points of argument to raise.1) Apple is not collecting this data. And to suggest otherwise is completely misrepresenting Apple. I quote: Apple is gathering this...

Recount unnecessary EditorialApril 20, 2011JoAnne Kloppenburg certainly had the right to ask for a statewide recount on Wednesday. But we had hoped that she wouldn't - and the state would be better off if she hadn't. We understand the motivation. The final county-by-county canvassing of the state Supreme Court election revealed that Justice David Prosser won a narrow victory, a reflection of how polarizing the new governor and his policies have become. The heat generated by the controversy over those policies most likely spurred the significant turnout for a spring nonpartisan election and a 7,316-vote win for Prosser - less...

One of the current hot button issues in Minnesota is Voter ID. There are bills in the state house and the state senate which would modernize registration and record keeping, and require photo identification at the polls. Critics of the plan speculate it may disenfranchise voters in peculiar situations, such as women living in domestic violence shelters. Such criticism only accounts for one kind of disenfranchisement, access to the polls in unusual circumstances. It ignores the extent to which voters are currently disenfranchised by the fraud enabled by the system. In Minnesota, we have an unholy trinity of provisions which...

When Republican Rand Paul was elected to the Senate in November, he received a congratulatory call from an unexpected source: U.S. Sen. Al Franken. That 30-minute phone call -- the only one Paul received from a Democrat after Election Day -- has sparked an unlikely friendship between the Kentucky Tea Party conservative and an unapologetic Minnesota liberal. Franken attended Paul's party after he was sworn in as a senator, and Paul asked Franken to be his Democratic Senate mentor.

AUSTIN, Texas — Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday that big corporations are "hoping to destroy" the Internet and issued a call to arms to several hundred tech-savvy South by Southwest attendees to preserve net neutrality. "I came here to warn you, the party may be over," Franken said. "They're coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important [medium] for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.”

Al Franken: ‘They're coming after the Internet’ By: Mike Zapler March 14, 2011 01:43 PM EDT AUSTIN, Texas — Sen. Al Franken claimed Monday that big corporations are "hoping to destroy" the Internet and issued a call to arms to several hundred tech-savvy South by Southwest attendees to preserve net neutrality. "I came here to warn you, the party may be over," Franken said. "They're coming after the Internet hoping to destroy the very thing that makes it such an important [medium] for independent artists and entrepreneurs: its openness and freedom.” Net neutrality, he added, is "the First Amendment issue...

Both sides are starting to speak out after Rolling Stone reported that the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, who is in charge of training Afghan troops, tried to tap members of the military's "information operations" unit to use their skills on visiting senators and congressmen, among others. The goal, according to the article, was to convince officials to provide more troops and money. The accuser, Lt. Col. Michael Holmes, stood by his allegations in an interview with Fox News. He said the top brass ordered his unit to gather information in a way that was "over the line," and...

WASHINGTON — The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan is ordering an investigation into charges that an army unit trained in psychological operations was improperly told to manipulate American senators to get more money and troops for the war. A senator allegedly targeted said today that he's confident there will be a review of the facts, but played down the idea that he was manipulated. The staff of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, head of the effort to train Afghan security forces, ordered the information operations unit to compile profiles, voting records and other information on visiting lawmakers to leverage in a...

Minnesota is confused. Minnesota confuses everyone, if they bother to look. One year it’s a governor who would sooner saw off the arm he uses to cast a fishing rod than raise taxes; the next it’s Al Franken, who would raise taxes to subsidize auto-amputations. (Your body, your choice.) The state that elected Paul Wellstone and Jesse “The Body” Ventura. In 2010, the House and Senate of the local legislature flipped to the GOP; the people also elected a Democrat governor, Mark Dayton, who promptly proposed taxes on the “rich.” He understands what it’s like to struggle, having sold off...

Raleigh, N.C. — Republican lawmakers say requiring identification at the polls is a common-sense way to prevent voter fraud, but critics argue the move would open the door to discrimination. House Bill 430 would require voters to present some sort of identification, such as a driver's license or Social Security card. Currently, people have to show identification only when they register to vote for the first time. "People coming from out of state are somewhat flabbergasted of how little ID is required," incoming House Minority Leader Paul Stam said. The incoming Republican leadership at the General Assembly plans to follow...

There's one thing that the 2010 election and the recent recount in the governor's race made clear: It's time to stop arguing about whether we should institute photo ID for voting and time to start discussing how best to implement it. Readers might have heard about how the "reconciliation" process became a point of contention in the recount. With a photo ID system, coupled with the electronic poll books that photo ID would allow us to use, this issue would go away. There would be no extra "voter receipts" floating around, and voters would receive their "receipts" or ballots only...

Why is Senator Al Franken,(D/MN) using the Bible in regards to ending tax cuts? And at one of the IMPORTANT HOLY SEASONS in the Christian faith calendar year? Is it to “use” both the Bible, and in a special, the Christian scriptures and the Advent/Christmas seasons to try to find where it says “tax cuts” and the need to end them, according to Senator Franken. Senator Franken, I do not see any citing of tax cuts or what you believe is the so-called need to end them. As a matter of fact, DOES IT NOT SURPRISE ANYONE, it sure does...

Mark Ritchie File 4 hereMinnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie is regarded as a "non-party friend" by the Communist Party USA. So highly does the Communist Party regard Mr. Ritchie, that he has been allowed to attend an high level "not to be publicized" Party meeting in Minneapolis. Some of the Communist Party members at this meeting, later supported Ritchie in his Secretary of State election campaigns. One of them, labor leader Mark Froemke, went on to support two of Ritchie's Democratic - Farmer - Labor - Party colleagues - Al Franken and Mark Dayton in their respective election campaigns....

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Republican Party of Minnesota took the governor's race to the state Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking to shrink the ballot pool in the undecided contest between Democrat Mark Dayton and RepublicanTom Emmer before a recount begins after Thanksgiving. A person with direct knowledge of the filing told The Associated Press that the GOP was asking the high court to force election officials to remove ballots in all precincts statewide where more votes were cast than the number of voters recorded.

Members of Students Organizing for America, a group of students aligned with the Democratic Party, may face a criminal investigation and possible felony charges after confrontations with an election judge over voter vouching during Tuesday’s election. Ginny Gelms, the interim elections director in Minneapolis, said she will submit a report to the Hennepin County attorney’s office and the Minnesota Secretary of State‘s office today. The offices will investigate a possible incident of improper vouching. Gelms said she was told by the University Lutheran Church precinct’s chair election judge there were two incidents of individuals trying to vouch for people they...

A newly discovered group of ballots is giving a slight boost to Democrat Al Franken's chances in the disputed Minnesota Senate race, but it still isn't enough to undo the incumbent's persistent lead. Ramsey County officials found the 171 ballots yesterday, just as they were wrapping up their recount. After the votes were tallied, Franken gained 37 votes on incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman's lead. Through yesterday, Coleman's margin was 303 votes. However, the numbers can still shift as the last counties wrap up their work this week.

Just two days before the statute of limitations ran out, on the very day that the nation was at the polls for midterm elections, the Nobles County attorney's office filed charges against two people for voting in the 2008 election while ineligible. Monica Duarte Duchene, 36, and Ryan Scott Marsh, 30, both of Worthington, were charged in Nobles County District Court of voting at a time when they were ineligible due to a prior felony conviction which had not been discharged. Duchene was convicted in December 2007 of third-degree arson and sentenced in February 2008 to five years of probation,...

The Minnesota governor's race is so close it has come to this: another recount appears almost certain. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, DFLer Mark Dayton leads Republican Tom Emmer by less than one half of 1 percent -- 43.67% to 43.24%. For any race where the margin is less than one half of 1 percent, there is an automatic recount, as happened two years ago in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race. "It looks like it's recount part II: And this time it's personal," said state Republican Party Chair Tony Sutton.

Football coaches want to win in the air or on the ground. Many have almost open disdain for the kicker. But when the game comes down to the wire, he often is the the difference between an amazing victory or an agonizing defeat. Political campaigns have their own air (TV and radio ads) and ground (get-out-the-vote and other efforts) strategies. The vast majority of races will have clear winners. But in those instances where a few dozen or few hundred votes separate the contenders, the fight will move to the courtroom.

Authorities in Crow Wing County are investigating possible voter fraud involving people with mental disabilities. An affidavit, filed Monday by Brainerd resident Montgomery Jensen, claims a large group of mentally handicapped people were told whom to vote for by mental health staff members and that staff filled out the ballots themselves without the disabled voters close by. Jensen said he came to the Crow Wing County Auditor's Office in Brainerd at approximately 4:40 p.m. Friday to fill out an absentee ballot, because he wouldn't have time to vote there on Nov. 2.

A conservative group said Thursday that it will ask a federal judge for a restraining order allowing "tea party" paraphernalia and buttons advocating for a voter ID law inside Minnesota polling places. The group, Minnesota Majority, said elections officials in the Secretary of State's office and in Hennepin and Ramsey counties have told election judges such items will not be allowed in polling places. While Minnesota law bars campaign-related political materials within 100 feet of a polling place, the group said their material isn't political. "This is one of those freedom issues I don't get," said Dorothy Fleming, one of...

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) penned a fundraising letter for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) on Friday asking voters to consider the morning after the election. In one scenario, Franken wrote, it's "8 a.m. You stumble out of bed. Make some oatmeal. Turn on the TV to find out what happened in that Senate race, the one that was too close to call all night. But you gave $5 to the DSCC … And, lo and behold, your favorite Democrat ... pulled it out by a few votes. Oatmeal never tasted so sweet."

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) on Friday asked Democrats to provide more donations to his colleagues, warning that several of his fellow Democratic senators could end up reprising the months-long recount that kept him from taking his Senate seat. Franken wrote in a fundraising e-mail for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) that some of his colleagues — like Sens. Barbara Boxer (Calif.), Russ Feingold (Wis.) or Patty Murray (Wash.) — could end up in races that are determined by just a few votes. "Barbara Boxer, Russ Feingold, Patty Murray: Any of these great Democrats could end up in a race...

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Six people in Hennepin County have been charged with voter fraud for allegedly voting in the 2008 election when they were ineligible. According to criminal complaints, all 6 of the accused are convicted felons who voted in the Nov. 4, 2008, election even though they knew they weren't allowed to vote because they had past convictions and hadn't had their right to vote restored. 3 of them face one felony count, and three others face two felony counts. The Hennepin County Sheriff's Office says it investigated a total of 110 allegations of voter fraud and ultimately submitted...

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Some families have been turned away from emergency shelters in Ramsey and Hennepin counties because of the growing number of homeless. Ramsey County commissioner Toni Carter says more than 100 people couldn't get into shelters in August and September. Carter says county and community agencies have been trying to support as many families as they can, but the need is much greater... ...Twenty-two-year-old Stephanie Kirk tells Minnesota Public Radio News she lied about being abused by her partner in order to be admitted, along with her 2-year-old daughter, to a suburban shelter for battered women....

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) asked the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Wednesday to investigate the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's funding for its political activities. Franken wrote FEC Chairman Matthew Petersen to ask for a probe into whether the Chamber is indirectly using money from foreign corporations to finance its political operations, which have largely targeted Democrats, this cycle. "I am writing to ask that you investigate these claims, enforce existing laws and regulations prohibiting foreign spending in American elections, and strengthen those very last through new regulations and policy guidance," Franken wrote.

Sen. Franken to stump for Del. Senate nominee Coons By Jordan Fabian - 10/04/10 03:53 PM ET Delaware Democratic Senate nominee Chris Coons is seeking to boost his campaign this week with an appearance by a liberal Democratic senator. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), a former comedian and liberal talk radio host, will stump for Coons on Thursday, according to the Delaware Democratic Party. The New Castle County executive faces GOP nominee Christine O'Donnell, who is backed by Tea Party groups, in the general election. Most polls show Coons leading O'Donnell by double-digits. Republicans viewed the race for Vice President Joe...

Senator Al Franken will be in Delaware on Thursday to rally support for Chris and he wants to meet you! We’re hosting a meet-and-greet for campaign volunteers on Thursday at 2 pm in New Castle. Can you make it? Space is limited, so the first 100 people to RSVP by Tuesday at 10 am will be added to the guest list. Click here to RSVP. Senator Franken will talk to volunteers about why our race is so important and how volunteers can make the difference on November 2. I hope to see you on Thursday!

Just six months after President Obama signed health reform into law, Minnesotans are already beginning to reap its benefits. During the health care debate, I met with Minnesotans of all stripes -- doctors, nurses, seniors, small-business owners, middle-class families. One thing I heard over and over is that people felt like they were paying more and more for insurance without getting real health security in return. It seemed as if the insurance companies always found a way to get out of delivering the benefits they promised -- and that you paid for -- when you needed them.

Craigslist has made tens of millions of dollars off sex ads, which have facilitated child sex trafficking, and part of that money is in Democratic campaign coffers. President Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D.-Calif.), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.-Calif.) and Sen. Al Franken (D.-Minn.) are among the politicians who have accepted the $83,800 in donations that Craigslist founder Craig Newmark donated to Democrats.

Joe Miller, the Republican candidate who is poised to knock off Sen. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) in a primary contest, said Thursday he is concerned she will launch a protracted legal battle to save her seat. Miller, an Iraq war veteran who received the backing of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), emerged from the election Tuesday night with a narrow lead over Murkowski, an incumbent who assumed the seat from her father. But officials are still counting absentee ballots in the close race and a lawyer for the GOP Senate campaign committee is heading to Alaska to assist the senator....