Free Republic

So what should libertarians, Reagan conservatives, and other advocates of smaller government think of the “cromnibus” spending bill? The answer depends on your benchmark. If you dislike insider deals, pork-barrel spending, and you think the federal government should be limited to the enumerated powers put in the Constitution by our Founding Fathers, then the cromnibus is an abomination.But if you look at where we are right now and you think victory is achieved whenever we can shrink the burden of government spending and limit Washington’s power over the nation, then the cromnibus is a victory.So is the glass half full...

WASHINGTON (AP) — One colleague called the tactics of tea party-backed Sen. Ted Cruz on the $1.1 trillion spending bill a painful echo of last year's 16-day partial government shutdown. Another senator said it was a strategy without an end game. And that sniping came from Cruz's fellow Republicans. The 43-year-old Texas freshman in a hurry — he's considering a 2016 presidential run — infuriated several GOP colleagues with a last-minute attempt to force a vote on President Barack Obama's executive actions on immigration. The move upended lawmakers' weekend plans and, more troubling for his party, gave Senate Majority Leader...

Officials and various candidates for office joined in the flood of outrage tonight following the not guilty verdict in the racially-charged trial of George Zimmerman for the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin. Former Comptroller Bill Thompson, the mayoral race’s only black candidate, released and tweeted a terse, one-line statement slamming the decision, which was read tonight just before 10 p.m. “Trayvon Martin was killed because he was black,” declared Mr. Thompson. “There was no justice done today in Florida.” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn further slammed the acquittal as “a shocking insult to his family and everyone seeking justice...

Bill Cosby broke his silence Friday, albeit briefly, to lecture the media on remaining “neutral” and to say that his wife is standing by him. Reached at his Massachusetts home, the star declined to address the rape and sex abuse allegations from an ever-growing list of women that now includes supermodel Beverly Johnson. Instead, Cosby, 77, said that the African-American media — for which this reporter often writes — should be impartial. “Let me say this. I only expect the black media to uphold the standards of excellence in journalism and when you do that you have to go in...

Ready for Warren? Run Liz Run? Run Warren Run? Draft Warren? Progressive activists haven’t agreed on what to call the movement urging Elizabeth Warren to run for president, but they largely concur on this: with every recent anti-establishment move the Massachusetts senator grows more attractive as a 2016 candidate, both in her own right and as a progressive foil for Hillary Clinton. Such sentiments were on vivid display this week at RootsCamp, a gathering of some 2,000 progressive activists held in Washington, D.C. The event was held as Warren and others on the left have been denouncing the “cromnibus” spending...

A woman who has for years accused Bill Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday claiming the fallen funnyman sullied her “good name and reputation” when he branded her a liar. Tamara Green, 66, filed her claim in federal court in Massachusetts, alleging the comedian, through lawyers and publicists, negligently disregarded the truth and willfully induced “an evil opinion of her.” Green, a retired lawyer, said the "pattern" of public shaming started when she first stepped forward in 2005 with claims Cosby drugged and groped her in the 1970s after hiring her to help him...

On Republicans working with Obama to pass a $1.1 trillion Omnibus spending bill written by and for the Chamber of Amnesty… I don’t know how you go into 2016…and you say: ‘Okay, I want you to support the GOP because…we didn’t stop immigration-amnesty, we’re gonna bring in a lot more guest workers, and we think it’s good to do these big omnibus bills…oh, and by the way, we’re probably gonna fight a couple more wars. Vote for us.’ … What position would you rather be in? Warren’s position or, like, Paul Ryan– Mister Budget Hawk? Oh boy, that Paul Ryan...

Bill de Blasio, the New York mayor, says he knows why Democrats lost the 2014 election. Income inequality defines our times, he said during a visit to Washington this week, and his party did not talk about the issue enough. De Blasio needs a hearing aid. Democrats speak of little else. Dodging questions about Hillary Clinton, de Blasio praised Elizabeth Warren. He called the liberal heroine “one of the indispensable voices” among Democrats, and appeared with her at a Center for American Progress event later that day. The policy conference featured other darlings of the left: Julian Castro, Tammy Baldwin,...

Defying his party's leadership, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz upended plans for smooth passage of a $1.1-trillion spending bill, forcing a rare Saturday session as Congress braces to prevent a new threatened government shutdown.. Cruz launched the Senate into turmoil as he tried to use the government shutdown as leverage to stop President Obama's immigration plans. Now, Congress faces a midnight Saturday deadline to keep federal operations running. Senators were streaming into the Capitol on a sunny winter Saturday for a series of procedural votes, with many not happy about the situation. "I remind everyone, 12 o'clock midnight, 12 a.m., the...

Senate Republicans huddled over lunch Friday afternoon in the Capitol to discuss strategy on the House-passed spending bill and other pending legislation, exiting the meeting with a resounding message: Let's get this done and get the heck out of here. But that feeling of optimism was quickly squashed. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid had been negotiating with Minority Leader Mitch McConnell Friday afternoon to bring up a vote on the omnibus bill later in the evening, keeping the government's doors open and allowing senators to take the weekend off. Many members on both sides of the aisle were hopeful that...

The Harvard Business School professor who blasted a family-run Chinese restaurant for overcharging him $4 has previously attacked a sushi place in a dispute over a Groupon. -snip- In the email, published by Boston.com, he claimed he would fight to strip the establishment of its alcohol license 'if it does not honor its contractual commitments'. He wrote: 'I call on you to honor my three Osushi Groupon vouchers. 'I also call on you to extend their validity for six weeks to reflect the day imposed by our resolution of this dispute. 'If I don't hear from you within the next...

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Thursday morning slammed a provision in the pending spending bill that would repeal a piece of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law and expressed doubt that enough Democrats could support the package if that rider remains. “I just spoke to Nancy Pelosi. The Democrats believe this is an odious provision that should not be included. Many of us feel the same way,” said Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “[Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio)] can take it out in the bat of any eye, and I hope he will....

FRANKLIN, Mass. (MyFoxBoston.com) -- A dispute over graduation gowns has begun at Franklin High School. At issue is whether all students should wear the same color robes so others aren't discriminated against. At the high school's graduation ceremony, it has been a long running tradition for boys to wear blue gowns and for girls to wear white. But that tradition is changing "There will be a change, I think," said Peter Light, the school's principal. "We have yet to determine what that change looks like." The call for change started when members of the school's Gay Student Alliance organization became...

If you happen to run into U.S. Sen. Eddie Markey at Whole Foods in Chevy Chase -- as in Maryland -- ask him if he still feels good about giving us Obamacare. Of the thousands of votes he has cast in his 38 years as a member of Congress, first in the U.S. House and now in the Senate, he is "proudest" of his vote in favor of the health-care plan. "It is my proudest vote," Markey said repeatedly in the House, and then again as a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2014. The question is relevant in the...

Conservators from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts labored in the chill and snow for hours today to unearth what is believed to be the oldest unopened time capsule in the country, buried under the Golden Dome of the Massachusetts State House in 1795 by then-Governor Samuel Adams and Paul Revere, according to state records. The 219-year-old capsule is made of cowhide and was initially discovered during State House renovations in 1855. When the repairs were complete, the state’s 23rd governor, Henry Gardner, re-buried it in the granite cornerstone of the historic building, adding new items, including coins. Four coins...

Congressional liberals rebelled Wednesday against a must-pass spending bill that would keep the government open past midnight Thursday, complaining that it would roll back critical limits on Wall Street and sharply increase the influence of wealthy campaign donors. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a popular figure on the left, led the insurrection with a speech on the Senate floor, calling the $1.01 trillion spending bill “the worst of government for the rich and powerful.” Congressional liberals rebelled Wednesday against a must-pass spending bill that would keep the government open past midnight Thursday, complaining that it would roll back critical limits on...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren long has been a hero on the progressive left, but her popularity among the Democratic Party establishment is growing rapidly. Ms. Warren, Massachusetts Democrat, now is set to assume a leadership role in her party’s Senate caucus, and the leaders of that caucus say she’s uniquely qualified for the job.“I think [Senate Majority Leader] Harry Reid, all of us, have confidence that Elizabeth Warren is a great spokesman for our caucus and for our party on a national basis,” said Sen. Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat and the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate. Mr. Durbin appeared on...

The progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org is preparing to launch a campaign to draft Sen. Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 presidential race. MoveOn is conducting a one-day poll of its eight million members that, if they approve, would mark the beginning of a $1 million initial grassroots investment to convince the freshman Massachusetts Democrat to throw her hat into the presidential ring. “There is too much at stake to have anything other than our best candidates in the debate. We are prepared to show Senator Warren she has the support she needs to enter—and win—the presidential race,” said Ilya Sheyman, executive...

Washington (CNN) -- Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- not Hillary Clinton -- is the top progressive choice for president in 2016, according to a new poll. In fact, Clinton doesn't even make second place. Forty two percent of respondents favor Warren, and Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders also edges out Clinton with 24% compared to her 23%, according to results from the 2016 Presidential Pulse Poll commissioned by progressive grassroots organization Democracy for America. These results come amid a groundswell of activism from the Democratic party's more liberal wing, which has called for a contested 2016 primary and has often...

Senator Elizabeth Warren is bat guano crazy. She is calling on Democrats in the House to oppose the bi-partisan budget bill negotiated by the House and Senate because an obscure rule dealing with derivatives contained in the Dodd-Frank financial regulation reform bill has been removed.If House Democrats follow her lead, the budget bill will fail and the government will be forced to shut down at 12:01 AM on Friday. At present, Speaker Boehner does not have enough votes for Republicans to pass the measure themselves. That’s because some conservatives in the House are also bat guano crazy and insist...