Free Republic

WASHINGTON, D.C., July 7, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – The freedom of religion guaranteed by the First Amendment applies only to churches, not to individuals, a U.S. senator said on national television recently.Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-WI – the nation's first openly lesbian elected to the U.S. Senate – addressed the Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges decision on June 27 on MSNBC's Up with Steve Kornacki."Should the bakery have to bake the cake for the gay couple getting married?” the host asked. “Where do you come down on that?"Baldwin responded that the First Amendment gave Americans no right to exercise religion outside the...

Twenty-seven senators want President Obama to block federal agencies and contractors from asking job applicants about prior criminal convictions. The senators, including 26 Democrats and presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), want Obama to take executive action to "ban the box," referring to a question on job applications that asks if an applicant has any convictions. "We ask you to require federal contractors and agencies to refrain from asking job applicants about prior convictions until later in the hiring process," they said in a letter to Obama on Monday. "This policy would eliminate unnecessary barriers to employment for all job...

Fired Tammy Baldwin staffer Marquette Baylor filed an ethics complaint Monday with the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics against her former boss alleging the Democratic Senator made “false statements and representations to cover up actions by her Chief of Staff and protect her political career.” Baylor’s complaint details what she calls a “misinformation campaign” meant to lay the blame for the failure of the office to properly react to whistleblower complaints about opioid abuse at the Tomah VA facility. Baylor’s complaint also details for the first time the rejected severance package and confidentiality agreement that would have paid Baylor...

The irony cannot be lost on U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Can it? The Madison Democrat, whose office dropped the ball on a report last year pointing to serious problems at the Tomah Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tomah, fired off a press release Tuesday night nodding and saying ‘Amen’ to the initial findings of a review that reiterated what Baldwin’s folks have known for some time. “These initial findings substantiate the troubling concerns my office has heard from current and former employees and patients at the Tomah VA,” the senator said in the statement. “As the investigation builds on this...

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), the first openly gay member of the U.S. Senate, may have landed herself in some trouble after it was reported her office did little to address the rather high rate of opiate prescriptions coming out of the Veterans Affairs center in Tomah, Wisconsin. As a result, Baldwin's office fired a top aide, offered her a severance package, and a confidentiality agreement. The aide, Marquette Baylor, rejected the deal and is filing a sexual discrimination lawsuit against Baldwin. At the same time, Baldwin's office had the Tomah VA report since last summer. To make matters worse, three...

Half of all the Democratic women in the U.S. Senate are featured in a new video voicing their support for Kentucky Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alison Lundergan Grimes. The video, released Thursday after first being shown at Grimes’ event with Hillary Clinton Wednesday evening, shows six women in the U.S. Senate saying “Shatter the glass. Break the ceiling. It’s time for Alison!” Of the twelve women in the Senate Democratic caucus, U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Patty Murray (D-WA), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) are shown...

CAMPBELLSPORT – On Friday, 6th District Congressional candidate Glenn Grothman (R-Campbellsport) slammed Joe Leibham (R-Sheboygan) for accepting a maximum limit contribution from a progressive trade union. More: Stroebel, Leibham Trade Barbs Over Voter ID According to records from the Federal Elections Commission, Leibham accepted $5,000 from the Laborers Union International North America (LIUNA) PAC on July 15, 2014. The LIUNA was very evident during the 2011 protests against Governor Scott Walker over Act 10 which was upheld by the Wisconsin State Supreme Court and the federal Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. The LIUNA has 500,000 members that are represented in...

Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) says it was women joining the workforce after World War II that helped the economy grow, producing a “strong and healthy middle class.” And that continues to be the case today, she told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Monday. “And now, in very, very significant numbers, women are…a part of the workforce and have contributed greatly to allowing families to get ahead in the economy. What permits that is women being able to control when or whether they have children and how many. And it is so basic to our economic prosperity that women have that control.”...

WASHINGTON — When Mark Takano ran unsuccessfully for Congress twice in the early 1990s, his opponents tried to smear him as a “homosexual liberal” and a “nutzoid.” One of them even had pink fliers printed that asked, “A Congressman for Riverside ... Or San Francisco?” When he ran again last year, he won by almost 20 points. “Flash forward 18 years,” Mr. Takano said recently, “and the very macho building tradesmen are behind me. I’m getting pictures with them in their hard hats.” For decades, the words “gay” and “Congress” were usually seen together only in stories of scandal and...

Joseph E. Baldwin Jr., 23, of 26 Lathrop St., was sentenced to the Illinois State Penal Farm for 11 months and placed on three years probation Friday after he pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless homicide. Baldwin, a novelty salesman, pleaded guilty to the charge in July after the car he was driving crashed into a semi-trailer near Danville, Ill., killing his passenger, Robert M. Clark, 19, of Champaign, Ill. The court granted 60 days reduction in the jail sentence to compensate for time has has already spent in the Vermillion County Jail.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel — Wisconsin’s largest and most influential news organization — won’t be endorsing in the very tight presidential and Senate races this year. (Oct. 17 headline: “Marquette Law School Poll finds presidential and Senate races tied in Wisconsin.”) I asked editorial page editor David Haynes about this and he replied in an email: “I’m writing a column on our decision for the Sunday paper. We may post that early (Friday). As a point of history: The JS did not endorse in the 2000 presidential election, and I remember [editor] Marty Kaiser writing at the time that it...

State Senator Neal Kedzie says his son was attacked while trying to stop someone from stealing his Romney/Ryan yard sign. Whitewater Police tell NBC15 News this is an active investigation. Here is the statement released by Senator Neal Kedzie: Early on Friday morning, October 19th, my son Sean was awakened by noises outside his residence in Whitewater. As he went to see what the commotion was about, he noticed an individual removing a Romney/Ryan yard sign from his property. He yelled to the person that they were taking something not theirs and to return it immediately. The individual returned the...

Former Governor Tommy Thompson and Democratic Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin are in a near tie in Wisconsin’s down-to-the-wire U.S. Senate race.

Tammy Baldwin has come under fire for taking a $60,000 contribution from the Council for Liveable World. In the October 18 debate with Gov. Tommy Thompson, Baldwin went on to deny having any knowledge of the group. The Council is a Pro-Iran operation that opposes sanctions against Iran and supports the current Iranian political regime. The Council’s position on Iran reads:(emphasis added) Unfortunately, United States policy has been to publicly threaten and insult Iran while taking provocative actions such as adopting a policy of regime change, attempting to increase unilateral sanctions, deploying additional military assets in the region, and arresting...

It is always stunning to learn the truths about certain elected officials in our government. In a startling revelation from Media Trackers Wisconsin, Rep. Tammy Baldwin co-sponsored legislation to block funding of body armor and medical supplies to our troops in combat. She did this during each of her terms in congress from 2003-2009. At least four times Baldwin co-sponsored the legislation, in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. It was only in 2011 when Baldwin was considering her possible run for the U.S. Senate that her name does not appear as a co-sponsor on this legislation. From Media Trackers: The...

Thousands of President Obama supporters turned out in in Madison, Wisc., for a rally following Wednesday night’s debate in Denver. The mood was somber, to say the least, as they waited to enter Bascom Mall at the University of Wisconsin Thursday afternoon. University of Wisconsin students and fellow Wisconsinites had mixed reviews on the president's performance. I talked to supporters of the president who had watched the debate, asking how they thought the president did. One after the other said they were left unimpressed and “not inspired,” seemingly depressed and lethargic in their continuing support of the president. More than...

Click link for video: Madison Liberal Tammy Baldwin stood in solidarity with rioters who stormed the Wisconsin Capitol. Today Wisconsin voters stood in solidarity with Scott Walker and his fiscal reforms and will get a chance to stand against Tammy Baldwin this November.

Democrats in House of Reps. joined J Street in supporting Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions Seventy-four Democrats in the House of Representatives have joined the dovish J Street organization in supporting the Obama administration's attempt to force Israel into making painful concessions to the Palestinian Authority. “In our view, support for a two-state resolution is inseparable from such support for Israel, its special relationship with the United States, and its very survival as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people,” the letter said. Seven Jewish members signed the letter, including Reps. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), John...

If Republican Mark Neumann and Democrat Tammy Baldwin win their party nominations for US Senate next year, the choice for Wisconsin voters would be as stark as it gets. Baldwin has the most liberal congressional voting record of any Wisconsin lawmaker in the last 40 years, according to one respected academic rating system. And guess who owns the most conservative record? Neumann, who served two terms in the U.S. House in the 1990s. A Baldwin-Neumann matchup is just one possible Senate scenario in 2012. Other candidates, including former GOP governor Tommy Thompson, are expected to jump in the race. But...

Openly gay Wisconsin Rep. Tammy Baldwin says her bid for a Senate seat won't be about her sexual orientation, gay weekly the Washington Blade reported. Baldwin on Tuesday became the first Democrat to formally declare her candidacy for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Herb Kohl. She is the first openly gay Senate candidate with a viable shot at winning. During a conference call on Wednesday, Baldwin insisted she's always been open about her sexual orientation, but added that the race will focus on other issues. “I have always since the beginning of all my adult life...