Free Republic

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Missouri senators voted early Wednesday to give residents the option of whether to get a driver's license that complies with a federal identification requirement, which would allow people to board airplanes and enter military bases. Missouri is one of only five states that doesn't comply or have an extension to comply with a 2005 federal law that established tougher licensing requirements in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Lawmakers have pushed back on the stringent proof-of-identity requirements under the law, known as the Real ID Act, citing privacy issues. But after hours of debate...

At the Carbonite call center in Lewiston, Maine, every minute an agent spends trying to fix a specific problem is tracked, allowing the data protection software company to put a price tag on each issue as it arises. Nearby, at the new Wayfair call centers in Bangor and Brunswick, customer service representatives reach out to people whose home-goods deliveries are at risk of being delayed or damaged, determined by an algorithm that analyzes previous feedback on similar orders. The world of call centers is changing rapidly as advances in data science allow companies to analyze the troves of information collected...

Michael Mantenuto was hospitalized for depression in 2015 and had a history of mental health problems dating back to the time before he started acting, DailyMail.com can reveal. The married father-of-two also transferred out of the Special Forces K-9 Unit shortly before his death, telling one friend that 'I need to get my life together and I couldn't do it by doing that'. Mantenuto, an actor who starred in the Disney film Miracle before joining the Special Forces in 2013, was found dead in his car in Des Moines, Washington, on April 24.

A proposed Constitutional amendment to “Establish the Right to Hunt and Fish” drew angry testimony from the anti-hunting and anti-trapping crowd. “This bill is barbaric,” testified John Glowa of China, who called LD 11 “the worst piece of legislation I have seen in more than twenty years of coming before this committee, and I have seen some bad ones.” Glowa also called the bill “the poison fruit of the paranoia seed planted by the out-of-state gun lobby and by radical extremist consumptive users.” And yes, that was way over the top. Katie Hansberry of the Humane Society of the United...

The Democrat Party held its first Unity Rally in Portland, Maine. DNC Chair Tom Perez and Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders headlined the event. The Socialist crowd cheered loudly for Bernie… But when Tom Perez was mentioned they crowd booed loudly. https://youtu.be/BKCffeFlh5s

The idea of doing away with the Maine Turnpike Authority and eliminating tolls has a long and unsuccessful history through both Democratic and Republican administrations.Gov. Paul LePage revived the concept at a town hall meeting in Gorham on Wednesday night, saying he would like to see the turnpike authority merged with the Maine Department of Transportation and the elimination of almost all tollbooths, having one only in Kittery to collect tolls from out-of-state drivers. “The only toll we should have is for the visitors coming in and out of the state in the summer months,” LePage said, adding that Mainers...

AUGUSTA, Maine - Maine's governor pardoned a dog set to be euthanized after killing a smaller dog. But a judge has ordered the dog still be euthanized, saying the governor doesn't have the power to pardon a dog. The 4-year-old husky-mix lived in Winslow with Matthew Perry. Last spring she got out and killed a neighbor's small dog. A judge ordered Perry to keep Dakota fenced in, on a leash and muzzled when out for walks. Authorities say he violated that order. Dakota got out again and attacked the same family's "new" dog, biting it in the neck. Republican Gov....

This is a revised version of the constitution. I support a Maine Republic as I feel that the US recently have isolated or forgot about Maine. However I feel like the post I saw from The_Republic_Of_Maine sounded to Theoretical. SO I made revisions that I think is fair. Here's the Original post;http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3159678/posts Now here is mine. PREAMBLE. We the people of the Republic of Maine, in order to establish justice, insure tranquility, provide for our mutual defense, promote our common welfare, and secure to ourselves and our posterity the blessings of liberty, acknowledging with grateful hearts the goodness of the...

Senator Eric Brakey is a resident of Auburn, with five generations of family roots in the town of New Gloucester. He was elected to the Maine State Senate in 2014 at the age of 26, making him the youngest State Senator in the state and in the nation. Senator Brakey received a majority of votes in all five municipalities, making him the only Republican challenger to win a majority in Auburn since Olympia Snowe’s 1976 State Senate race. Senator Brakey is a leader in the state house and serves as the Senate Chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee,...

A bunch of dairy delivery drivers in Maine say the state's overtime law is unclear cause of a missing Oxford comma ... and no less than the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed. The drivers are suing their employer -- Portland-based Oakhurst Dairy -- for unpaid overtime wages, arguing they qualify for that dough because of the confusing way Maine's labor law is punctuated ... without a comma to distinguish who exactly is exempt. The part of the law they're dissecting says overtime doesn't apply to employees involved in the "canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment...

Republican Governor Paul LePage dared to begin enforcing Maine's volunteer and work requirements for food stamp (SNAP) recipients to keep their benefits. The end result was more than 9,000 non-disabled adults getting dropped from the program. As CNS News' Eric Schiener reports, a Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) spokesman tells the Associated Press that 12,000 non-disabled adults were in Maine’s SNAP program before Jan. 1 - a number that dropped to 2,680 by the end of March... The rules prevent adults, who are not disabled and do not have dependents, from receiving food stamps for more than three...

Democratic U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a civil rights leader who says he doesn't see Donald Trump as a "legitimate president," should be grateful for all that Republican presidents have done for black people, GOP Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday. LePage, who's white, said on WVOM-FM that the black Democratic Georgia congressman needs a history lesson. "We're sick of the silver-tongued people. How about John Lewis last week? Criticizing the president?" LePage said. "You know, I will just say this: John Lewis ought to look at history. It was Abraham Lincoln that freed the slaves. It was Rutherford B. Hayes and...

Police in Bangor, Maine, are making use of a 1970s progressive rock hit by Manfred Mann’s Earth Band to encourage people to clear the snow off their cars before driving. Sgt. Tim Cotton posted on Facebook on Tuesday that the group’s song “Blinded By The Light” can serve as a reminder of how dangerous it is to drive with vision obscured by snow.

Shakers are on the endangered list. There are now only two living members left of the Shaker Church in Maine after one died Monday. Sister Frances Carr passed away from cancer at 89. The United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing — a mouthful, to be sure — was a Quaker sect that broke from the Society of Friends in the 18th century. At their height, the group was said to have about 5,000 members across the country. The Shakers, as they were called because of their trembling during worship, focus on hard work and simplicity, and lead a...

With temperatures hovering around zero across Maine on Friday, people in Somerset County checking on propane prices may have been greeted with a political message from one dealer. If you voted for Donald Trump for president, I will no longer be delivering your gas,” says a voicemail message at Turner LP Gas in Skowhegan. “Please find someone else.” The company is owned by Michael Turner, who didn’t immediately respond to a message on Friday. But he could be turning away a lot of business, given that the Republican president-elect won Somerset County with 58 percent of votes. Some cases like...

I and others just got this email from our Pastor: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 07:11:43 AM Good Morning rainy, thank God, Maine As an honorably discharged Veteran of the United States Marine Corps I want to thank all of you who voted for Donald John Trump to be President of These United states of America. You, ladies and gentlemen, fellow patriots and lovers of the Republic have given, we Veterans, the greatest “Thank You For Your service” ever, you have given us a CIC that loves us and will not use us indiscriminately as cannon fodder to make the war...

Maine residents have approved a ballot question that will allow voters to rank their choice of candidates. Under the election overhaul, ballots are counted at the state level in multiple rounds. Last-place candidates are eliminated until a candidate wins by a majority. The voting style will apply to races for U.S. Senate, U.S. House, governor, state Senate and state House. Proponents of ranked-choice voting say it will prevent a governor from being elected with less than 50 percent of the votes. That was the scenario when Gov. Paul LePage was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014. Ranked choice voting...

Mainers weren’t supposed to defeat Michael Bloomberg’s agenda on the ballot yesterday. His propaganda was too powerful, his budget was limitless and his paid “grassroots” army was unstoppable. The media seemed to be with him at every turn, echoing his talking points as fact and endorsing the question, one after another. And all along, the polls were in his favor. But Mr. Bloomberg made one fatal mistake: he underestimated the power of the “little guy.” He thought that victory in Maine through our ballot referendum process would be simple and that we would be a bargain (…at only $6 million)....

Since 1972, Maine has had the option to divide its Electoral College votes by congressional district. The outright winner of the state gets two electoral vote, and the winner of each congressional district gets one. Despite this, Maine has never actually had to divide its electoral votes and the same candidate has always won both districts--until now. Although Hillary Clinton won Maine outright and won the 1st congressional district, Donald Trump won the more rural 2nd district--and its electoral vote. Trump's win in CD2 is a direct result of the campaign's extensive campaigning over the past two weeks in the...

Maine split its electoral vote for the first time in state history, with Donald Trump’s strong showing in central and northern Maine allowing him to capture one of the state’s four votes in the Electoral College.