Free Republic

Apair of political heavyweights on the right side of the aisle witnessed the ends of longstanding and potentially existential court cases against them on Tuesday, setting the stage for their potential resurgences and renewed scrutiny of allegations against prominent figures. While Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton reached an agreement with prosecutors to drop securities fraud charges after nine years, American Conservative Union head Matt Schlapp saw a former Herschel Walker campaign staffer rescind his claims of sexual battery and defamation and end a civil suit against him. Paxton has been a legal titan for the American right for years,...

Bomb threats targeting synagogues and symbols of hate along Hawaii’s busiest roadway — the messages appear to be connected to a war 9,000 miles away. HONOLULU (Hawaii 7News Now) -- Bomb threats targeting synagogues and symbols of hate along Hawaii’s busiest roadway — the messages appear to be connected to a war 9,000 miles away. Along the H-1 highway by the Barber’s Point exit, one of the many places that have a swastika along with the star of David graffitied onto signs. Those symbols can be seen for about 10 miles along the H-1 heading into town. “We think of...

The man busted for the hit-and-run crash that killed five young women getting ready for a wedding in Minnesota is the son of a fiery Black Lives Matter protest leader-turned-politician — who was ultimately booted by the Democrats over his shocking history of domestic violence arrests. Derrick Thompson, 27 — the son of ex-state rep. John Thompson — was busted on suspicion of murder Monday over the horrifying caught-on-camera crash that killed Sabiriin Ali, 17, Sahra Gesaade, 20, Salma Abdikadir, 20, Sagal Hersi, 19, and Siham Adam, 19. He already has a long history of convictions — including a felony...

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — The Tallahassee Police Department arrested 11 people Monday night outside of city hall including Nikki Fried, the chair of the Florida Democratic Party and Senate Democratic minority leader Lauren Book. outside Tallahassee City Hall Strong winds brought down trees and power lines in the Bainbridge area Monday afternoon. A dozen trucks were stuck in traffic on Faceville Highway due to a downed, live power line in the road. 040323 protesters arrest tallahassee city hall Fs1hVq7WIAEpru7.jpg By: WTXL Digital Staff Posted at 10:04 PM, Apr 03, 2023 and last updated 10:15 AM, Apr 04, 2023 TALLAHASSEE, Fla....

For the first time in the state’s history, Republicans have a supermajority in Louisiana. Republicans now have a 70-vote supermajority and can override a veto by the state’s Democrat governor John Bel Edwards. On Friday, the longest-serving Democrat in the Louisiana state legislature Rep. Francis Thompson announced he was switching parties. Thompson has served in the legislature since 1975. This action by Thompson doesn’t come as much of a surprise as his voting record shows that the had been caucusing with the Republicans. Thompson gave a statement after announcing the switch, “Let me clear. Nothing has changed, there are values...

President Joe Biden apparently plans to make gun control a campaign issue, even if he doesn’t have the votes to pass more gun control laws. On Tuesday, Biden will announce an executive order intended to control the availability of guns as much as he can without going through Congress. He’ll make the announcement in Monterey Park, California, where 72-year-old Huu Can Tran shot and killed eleven people with a semi-automatic pistol in January, during Lunar New Year celebrations. […] President Biden continues to insist on passage of an “assault weapons” ban, a blanket term that could cover many of the...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Tuesday responded after President Biden criticized Florida for making efforts to protect children from transgender surgeries and so-called “gender-affirming” treatments. “It is not ‘sinful’ to prohibit the mutilation of minors,” DeSantis said in response to Biden, who lamented the state of affairs in Florida during an interview on The Daily Show. “What’s going on in Florida is, as my mother would say, close to sinful. It’s just terrible what they’re doing,” Biden told Kal Penn. “It’s not like a kid wakes up one morning and says, ‘You know, I decided I wanted to become...

President Biden on Tuesday will meet at the White House with Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to discuss the lame-duck session. The meeting with the “Big Four” will take place at 10:30 a.m., and the president and the leaders will discuss legislative priorities through the end of 2022, according to the White House. The meeting will be Biden’s first with McCarthy, who is the presumed incoming Speaker in the next Congress after the House flipped to Republican control in the midterms. “The...

The chief strategist of the Rhode Island Democratic Party is being slammed for her tasteless tweet about South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had revealed that he contracted COVID-19 despite being vaccinated. “It’s wrong to hope he dies from Covid right? Asking for a friend. #COVIDISNOTOVER #LINDSEYGRAHAM,” Kate Coyne-McCoy wrote Monday night about the top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee. Matthew Foldi, a reporter for the Free Beacon who posted a screengrab of the since-deleted tweet, wrote in a post that “the de facto executive director of the @RIDemParty apparently wants #SCEN @LindseyGrahamSC to die of coronavirus.” Coyne-McCoy on...

Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan has declared a state of emergency after recent gun violence. The city is also ordering the closure of Cafe Hollywood on Lark Street after a number of police calls. That order was signed late Friday, with Mayor Sheehan noting a 22% increase in the number of shots fired incidents in the past 28 days compared to the same time last year.

Dems divided as anti-Israel flank grows more vocal Democratic leaders convinced their colleagues on Tuesday to drop an effort championed by the party’s left flank that would have delayed U.S. military assistance to Israel as the country battles Iranian-backed terrorist groups. Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), the House’s second-highest-ranking Democrat, told reporters that after pressure from leadership, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC), abandoned efforts to delay over $735 million in arms sales to Israel. The Jewish state has used such weaponry during the past two weeks to battle Hamas terrorists as they...

Federal prosecutors implicated Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan on Friday in a brazen, Chicago-style bribery scheme involving ComEd that allegedly went on for years and involved payments to Madigan associates exceeding $1.3 million. Though the stunning, lengthy details were revealed in documents that charged only ComEd — and not Madigan — with bribery, they said ComEd has agreed to “fully and truthfully cooperate” with federal prosecutors. The company has agreed to pay a $200 million fine and acknowledged that it sought Madigan’s help for legislation that could be worth more than $150 million to the utility company. Madigan is not...

Raleigh, N.C. — Some North Carolina business owners eagerly awaiting the move to the second stage of a three-part plan to resume activities amid the coronavirus pandemic were stunned Wednesday when they were left out of Gov. Roy Cooper's "more modest" approach to reopening. "The increases in the COVID-19 cases signal a need to take a more modest step forward in Phase 2 than originally envisioned," Cooper said at a news conference. When Cooper first laid out his three-part plan in April, bars, gyms, movie theaters and other indoor entertainment venues pointed to Phase 2 as when they could resume...

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) on Thursday defended her decision to vote “present” during the House’s impeachment vote, saying she does not believe “in good consciences” she could vote “either yes or no.” “First of all, throughout my life – whether it was through serving in the military and in the different decisions I’ve made in Congress, I always think about what’s in the best interest of the country. People will agree sometimes with those decisions, may disagree with those decisions, but my motivation is always coming from a deep love of country,” she said in an interview with The Hill...

"IF THE ELECTION FOR U.S. CONGRESS IN YOUR DISTRICT WERE HELD TODAY, WOULD YOU BE MORE LIKELY TO VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE OR THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE?" Total 1000 REPUBLICAN 46.7 DEMOCRATIC 42.8

Signs of a blue wave are increasing as lawmakers return to Washington for their final few weeks of legislative work before the crucial midterm elections. Democrats have led Republicans by at least 11 points in five of the last six polls asking voters whether they favor a generic Democrat or a generic Republican in the race for Congress. That margin only slightly trails the Democratic advantage in 2006, when the party won back control of Congress. Democrats also enjoy a fundraising advantage, one that is perhaps bolstered by polls showing their party is more enthusiastic about turning out to vote...

With their supporters energized in opposition to Donald Trump, Democrats hold their widest advantage in midterm election vote preferences since 2006, when they seized control of both houses of Congress. Rebounding from a tighter contest in the spring, Democratic House candidates now lead their Republican opponents nationally by 52-38 percent among registered voters in a new ABC News/Washington Post poll – a lead that holds up across a range of likely voter models.

A California Democrat who resigned last year amid sexual misconduct allegations — including that he allegedly masturbated in front of a female lobbyist — has transferred more than $1 million into a lieutenant governor committee account, according to a campaign finance report filed Tuesday. The filing suggests that former state Assemblyman Matt Dababneh, 37, a Democrat who represented Woodland Hills, could be plotting a political comeback, the Sacramento Bee reported. **SNIP** Another woman, Jessica Yas Barker, said in December that she quit her job at a congressman’s office because of Dababneh’s frequent comments about her appearance, including advice that she...

The Gateway Pundit has learned that the man who was arrested for making multiple calls threatening Senator Rand Paul was a Democratic Berkeley resident, who used the hashtag #ObamaForLife in some of his threats.

WASHINGTON Andrea Ramsey, a Democratic candidate for Congress, will drop out of the race after the Kansas City Star asked her about accusations in a 2005 lawsuit that she sexually harassed and retaliated against a male subordinate who said he had rejected her advances. Multiple sources with knowledge of the case told The Star that the man reached a settlement with LabOne, the company where Ramsey was executive vice president of human resources. Court documents show that the man, Gary Funkhouser, and LabOne agreed to dismiss the case permanently after mediation in 2006. Ramsey, a 56-year-old retired business executive from...