Free Republic

Severe weather will lash through areas from the Midwest to the Great Lakes into Tuesday, hitting some of the major cities in the United States, including Chicago, St. Louis and Detroit.

There's little good news for President Barack Obama or the rest of U.S. government, according to a new Gallup poll. When asked about their confidence in the president, only 29 percent said they had confidence in Obama in his sixth year. That's down 7 percent from last year, and is a 22 percentage point drop from his first year in office. It's also lower than George W. Bush's rating in his sixth year (33 percent) and Bill Clinton (53 percent). It was during Clinton's sixth year in office that he was stuck deep in the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Sweeping Illinois election law changes likely to be in place this fall mean it'll be easier to register, vote while away at college and cast an early ballot. Democrats say the relaxed rules will allow more people to exercise a basic democratic right, but Republicans are leery the moves are aimed at pumping up the Democratic vote in what has been a decidedly blue state. The changes are part of a measure lawmakers approved this spring that Gov. Pat Quinn plans to sign into law this summer. The biggest one will allow same-day registration for the first time, meaning Illinois...

This year, the colorful procession will start out with dozens of married gay couples walking side by side, some with their children. Follow along here for live coverage, including photos, tweets, stories, videos and more.

The Supreme Court will make its most important ruling in labor law in decades next week when it weighs in on a right-to-work case that could determine whether non-union workers can be compelled to pay public sector union dues. Courts for years have recognized the rights of unions to ask non-members to pay dues for union negotiating costs, but a group of home healthcare workers in Harris vs. Quinn are challenging dues they pay to a branch of the Service Employees International Union as a violation of free speech. The case is pitting business groups and the National Right to...

Outwardly, they put on a show of unity — but privately, the Obamas and Clintons, the two power couples of the Democrat Party, loathe each other. “I hate that man Obama more than any man I’ve ever met, more than any man who ever lived,” Bill Clinton said to friends on one occasion, adding he would never forgive Obama for suggesting he was a racist during the 2008 campaign. The feeling is mutual. Obama made ­excuses not to talk to Bill, while the first lady privately sniped about Hillary.

CHICAGO (CBS) – Chicago Public Schools officials have sent layoff notices to 550 teachers and 600 clerical support staff, but said the teachers will be able to apply for other open jobs with the district for next school year. The district said the teacher layoffs were the result of enrollment declines at some schools, though CPS has not identified which ones. However, the district said it expects to have approximately 1,780 vacant teaching slots for next school year, and teachers who received layoff notices can apply for those positions. Approximately 1,400 of the open slots are for full-time teaching positions....

Under the gun to satisfy a federal judge, the City Council unanimously agreed Wednesday to allow gun shops, but keep them out of most neighborhoods and require them to videotape every sale to prevent straw purchases. “If it was up to me as the person who helped establish the Brady bill, the five-day waiting period and the assault weapons ban, I wouldn’t take this step,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said after the 48-to-0 vote. “But given that we’re under court order, we decided we’d take the six months to come up with a way of designing an ordinance that meets the...

“Star Wars” creator George Lucas has selected Chicago over Los Angeles and San Francisco as the future home of his collection of art and movie memorabilia, according to a spokeswoman for the museum. The museum's board Wednesday is expected to vote on a name change — from the Lucas Cultural Arts Museum to the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — and destination. Pending approval by the Chicago Plan Commission, Lucas' institution would be built on what are now parking lots between Soldier Field and McCormick Place and would open in 2018. Architectural renderings will be presented to city officials in...

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel earlier this month insisted that his brand of gun control should spread nationwide, but this past weekend’s Windy City body count – with six dead and more than 20 wounded, according to this morning’s Chicago Sun Times – does not instill public faith in his strategy. Earlier this month when Mark Glaze stepped down as executive director of Michael Bloomberg’s “Everytown for Gun Safety,” he told the Wall Street Journal, “when a mass shooting happens…nothing that we have to offer would have stopped that mass shooting (in Santa Barbara).” Late last month, Washington CeaseFire President Ralph...

My four small children and I were headed to my parents’ house in Illinois when my daughter uttered those five words every parent on a road trip hates to hear, “I have to go POTTY!” When we returned to the van I noticed that the man had opened the side door of his van that was nearest mine and was standing in front of it. In order to put my baby in his car seat I would have to turn my back on the man standing 2 feet from me in the creepy van. Had I been in my home...

“Reinvigorating the leadership” is how one senior House staffer described the ascendency of Steve Scalise, the Louisiana Republican who won a first-ballot victory for the position of GOP whip. The staffer went on to portray Scalise as not a member of the Washington establishment. Indeed, Scalise is a former chair of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), the conservative caucus in the U.S. House. He has had a meteoric rise, and he is someone to be reckoned with. Scalise’s win follows Kevin McCarthy’s first-ballot victory for the GOP majority-leader slot. And here’s something I did not know: As whip, Scalise gets...

Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s chickens are coming home to roost. Reuters reported this story. Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s daughter Jeri Wright was convicted on all counts of laundering thousands of dollars from a state grant slated for a Chicago job training program. She stole from the taxpayers and from the poor people who need the job training. Then she lied about it. I guess she didn’t learn anything from her father’s great preaching on that “God Damn America” and “Jewish lawyers”. Who would have thought that his comparing Jews of Jesus’ time to “Klansmen” and describing Jesus as a racial provocateur wouldn’t...

Ex-Rep. Joe Walsh ‘kicked off the air’ over racist terms on radio Fri, 06/20/2014 - 3:37am Mitch Dudek According to posts on former U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh’s Twitter account Thursday night, the conservative radio talk-show host was kicked off the air on WIND-AM (560) for using racial slurs while trying to have a discussion about racial slurs. In a series of tweets posted about 7 p.m., Walsh says: “Just got kicked off the air until further notice. Tried to have honest discussion about racist terms and management censored my language.” And: “I’m trying to have an honest, adult conversations about...

This is a disturbing statement from a woman who’d like to head the federal government. Noah mentioned this quote in his commentary on the room to Hillary’s left. Gun control is one of few issues where she sent a signal to the party’s liberal base that she might be more boldly liberal than Obama. But this isn’t just an appeal to the Left on policy. It’s an appeal to the Left’s routine and increasing tendency to equate political speech they don’t like with physical violence. See, bothersome political speech with which you disagree is prized and protected. But violence against...

The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) announced on Monday that it expects service to commence as soon as today for the first 0.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of capacity on its 0.60 Bcf/d Seneca Lateral pipeline in southeast Ohio. The 14.3-mile lateral will flow gas north from the MarkWest Seneca natural gas processing plant to the REX mainline, where a newly built compressor station will allow this gas to be delivered to points west in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. No new pipelines will be added to the mainline; the project will allow bidirectional flows—both east and west—to occur on...

Remember these sixteen names when they run for office again. The sixteen Republicans who voted to proceed were Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Kelly Ayotte (N.H.), Richard Burr (N.C.), Saxby Chambliss (Ga.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), Susan Collins (Maine). Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Dean Heller (Nev.), John Hoeven (N.D.), Johnny Isakson (Ga.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John McCain (Ariz.), Pat Toomey (Pa.) and Roger Wicker (Miss.). List courtesy The Hill.com. As reported by RedState yesterday, this bill would allow doctors to add a person’s name to the national database currently used for background checks, and list them as...

In tandem with a new report on gun crime in Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has proposed to track gun sales throughout the region and clamp down on gun retailers. Emanuel’s proposal limits buyers to one handgun purchase per month, and demands that gun sales be videotaped. The proposal is a response to a federal judge’s ruling in January that found the city’s total ban on gun shops to be unconstitutional.

A cheerleader for the Russian Revolution in the early 20th century and a leader in the labor movement during the Depression; hounded during the McCarthy era and orphaned after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party USA on Friday returned to Chicago, the city of its birth. Given the movement's history, some might wonder why anyone would want to be a communist. But the more than 300 adherents who came to celebrate the party's 95th anniversary at the University of Illinois at Chicago see it the other way around: Who wouldn't want to be a member? Among them...

The Michelle Obama for Senate in 2016 stories are classic examples of an out-of-control media narrative that is based on little hard evidence. But it may also end up being a lesson on why it’s best not to dismiss rampant speculation. The rumor that the first lady could run for the Senate in Illinois next cycle appears to have started with a blog item by Keith Koffler at Reuters. And even though it doesn’t appear to be based on any sources, the story spread like a Justin Bieber mugshot across the Internet. “Speculation Builds on Michelle Obama Senate Run” is...