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Spokane Valley state legislator Matt Shea traveled to Nevada last weekend to support defiant rancher Cliven Bundy’s stand that he doesn’t have to pay grazing fees on federal land. Shea is among a small coalition of legislators from Western states calling for federal lands to be handed over to states. The Nevada episode led to a standoff between Bundy and a large group of armed protesters against agents with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. The agents had arrived to enforce a federal judge’s order to remove Bundy’s cattle from the land, but left and deflated the volatile scene. Shea...

If money is any indication, a prominent Baltimore doctor with no political experience is an early front-runner in the 2016 U.S. presidential race. A group encouraging retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson to run for president raised $2.4 million in the first three months of this year, more than the group backing Hillary Clinton or those affiliated with Rand Paul, Marco Rubio and other potential candidates, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Carson, 62, has emerged as a prominent African-American conservative commentator. He appears regularly on Fox News and writes a weekly column for the conservative Washington Times newspaper. Carson's...

Senator Graham aggressively fought President Obama's union appointees at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) when they filed a frivolous complaint against Boeing's decision to build a production facility in South Carolina. The labor unions were so upset about Lindsey's efforts they retaliated by filing a baseless ethics charge. Lindsey's response: "I will not be intimidated." He refused to back down, the ethics charge was dismissed, and Boeing prevailed - saving thousands of South Carolina jobs. Lindsey has introduced legislation to restrict the NLRB's authority and prohibit the NLRB from having a say in where American companies can do business....

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he believes the supporters who rallied around Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy in his fight against the federal government are “domestic terrorists” and Bundy does not respect his country. The Las Vegas Journal-Review reported that Reid, D-Nev., made the comments at an event Thursday hosted by the paper called “Hashtags & Headlines.” Federal land managers backed down in a weekend standoff with Bundy after hundreds of states' rights protesters, including armed militia members, showed up to protest federal officials seizing his cattle. Some protesters had their guns drawn and pointed toward law enforcement, some of...

Nearly half of American voters think the IRS targeted conservative groups at the request of the White House, and most want Congress to keep investigating the matter. The latest Fox News poll also finds 69 percent don’t feel President Obama has followed through on his vow to “find out exactly what happened on this.” By a 49-41 percent margin, voters believe the Obama administration “intentionally had the IRS target conservative political groups.” That includes 26 percent of Democrats, 52 percent of independents and 71 percent of Republicans. Overall, 72 percent of voters disagree with the president when he says there...

New emails show that both the IRS and Justice Department were involved in a probe of Tea Party and other conservative groups. This is no mere scandal — it's a major breach of the law. President Obama told Fox News in February that there wasn't "even a smidgen of corruption" in what the IRS did. The corruption is there, Mr. President, and it demands a prosecution. The only remaining question is whether the rot extends to your office, too.

A federal judge in Oregon has found that an immigrant woman's constitutional rights were violated when she was held in jail without probable cause at the request of U.S. immigration authorities, one of several recent federal court decisions to scrutinize the practice of keeping people in jail after they're eligible for release so that they can be considered for deportation. The rulings make it clear that local officials are not required to honor immigration authorities' requests that someone in custody continue to be held even though their original charges were resolved or they are eligible for bail, and that local...

WAKEFIELD, VA. — Few members of Sen. Mark Warner's (D-Va.) party could headline an event in rural Virginia where National Rifle Association stickers were in popular demand and two separate confederate groups had booths set up. But Warner, who faces a competitive reelection race this year because of a challenge from former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie, isn't like most Democrats. The former governor received a warm reception from the crowd attending the Shad Planking, Virginia’s biggest annual political event, even when he gently ribbed those in attendance. “Looking at this crowd, I realize I am here as an...

The Legacy Lives On! Mark’s Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation “Conservatism is the antidote to tyranny precisely because its principles are the founding principles.” --Mark Levin in Liberty and TyrannyWelcome to “The Levin Lounge”… Step in and have a virtual FRink.Taking the country by storm, one radio station at a time – and kicking the BUTTS of the competition! Welcome all, to the most FUN LIVE THREAD on FreeRepublic.com! You can call Mark’s show: 1-877-381-3811

Cummings Denies Conspiring With IRS To Target Conservative Groups April 16, 2014 11:40 PM Derek ValcourtBALTIMORE (WJZ)—A cable news channel sets a critical eye on a popular Maryland Democrat. Congressman Elijah Cummings is taking heat from Fox News over allegations he helped the IRS to target conservative groups.Derek Valcourt talks to the congressman about those allegations.Congressman Cummings isn’t talking to Fox News about those allegations, but he did sit down to talk to WJZ.Cummings is known even to allies as a tough political fighter.“You remember the old movie with Rocky when he’s telling Rocky ‘Keep your left up, keep you...

GREENVILLE, S.C., April 17, 2014 /Christian Newswire/ – Amidst a crowded field of challengers, The State newspaper reported that Richard Cash leads all challengers to incumbent Lindsey Graham in cash on hand. As of March 31, 2014, Cash reported $464,056 on hand, followed by Det Bowers ($384,248), Bill Connor ($314,529), Nancy Mace ($223,000), Lee Bright ($78,557), and Benjamin Dunn ($10,000). Cash also led all challengers in the report at the end of 2013. In addition to cash on hand, Cash has also demonstrated strong grassroots support. Cash said, "I have the most signs up around the state and as far...

F. Reid Buckley, a novelist, columnist, founder of a school of public speaking and, in family lore, the most literary of Aloise and William F. Buckley Sr.'s 10 children, including former Senator James L. Buckley and the conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr., died on Monday in hospice care in Columbia, S.C. He was 83. The cause was cancer, his son William Huntting Buckley said. Mr. Buckley had lived in Camden, S.C., since the early 1970s. He was often mistaken for his brother William, the founder of the conservative magazine National Review. The brothers not only looked alike. They also...

President Barack Obama ventured Wednesday to a mostly blue-collar region of the United States and tried to engage an audience that was cold to him. The 15 community college students who were picked to stand immediately behind the president, and in view of the TV cameras, mostly stood stone-faced through his speech. At the end, when the president walked back from the podium to smile and wave at the roughly 60 people in the bleachers 20 feet behind him, he faced a unfriendly wall of faces. The White House video of the bleacher’s front rank shows three men with their...

Media Matters for America is apparently resisting an effort by Service Employees International Union Local 500 to unionize its staff. Last week, the union filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board, indicating that the nonprofit media watchdog organization rejected an effort by the union to organize MMFA’s staff through a Card Check election. […] MMFA has regularly presented itself as a supporter of organized labor. It has argued that “economists point to declining union participation as one cause of the growing economic rift in America” and claimed it was a fact that “unions increase productivity [and] do...

GOP presidential hopefuls are largely steering clear of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s fight with the federal government. The showdown, which left armed militia members and feds staring each other down last week, has captivated talk radio and cable news shows, turning Bundy into a conservative cause célèbre. Yet Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and 2008 presidential candidate, are the only big-name Republicans to have spoken out on the dispute so far. Tea Party favorite Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has been silent, and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) have also not...

Remember when colleges prided themselves on the diligence and depth of their research? Frederick Lawrence, president of Brandeis University, apparently does not. He offered an honorary degree to Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Then, at the last minute, he rescinded the offer because, he claims, he became aware of “past statements” by her “inconsistent with Brandeis University’s core values.” Hey Scholar-in-Chief, ever hear of Google? Ms. Hirsi Ali, of course, is an intrepid women’s rights advocate who has focused on Muslim women, raising questions, as she has phrased it, on “the role of Islam in legitimizing” female genital mutilation, “honor killings,” forced...

Yesterday President Obama gave a speech in Oakdale, Pennsylvania with Vice President Joe Biden about skill training. Last week, just thirty miles away in Murrysville, a student went on a mass stabbing rampage at Franklin Regional High School. Twenty people were severely injured in the incident, making it one of the worst mass stabbing events in U.S. history. But despite being close to the scene of the tragic and horrifying event, Obama failed to mention the incident during his nearly 30 minute long remarks. I have a feeling if there had been a recent tragedy that involved a gun at...

Yesterday was a significant day in the IRS abuse scandal. The scandal evolved from being about pesky delays in IRS exemption applications to a government conniving with outside interests to put political opponents in prison. Emails obtained by Judicial Watch through the Freedom of Information Act reveal Lois Lerner cooking up plans with Justice Department officials to talk about ways to criminally charge conservative groups that are insufficiently quiet. Larry Noble, a law professor now with the Soros-funded Campaign Legal Center , was cited in the emails as someone agitating to jail conservatives who “falsely” report on IRS forms that...

The former New York City mayor is dedicating himself to a new group that will organize voters who support gun control; called Everytown for Gun Safety, it will subsume his existing groups (Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense), and it will focus specifically on expanding background checks. His previous approach was to fund ad campaigns in races where gun control was an issue. Here's how he matches up with his arch-rival. Money Bloomberg says he'll be putting at least $50 million into the project this year -- and according to the New York Times, he...

Don't ask Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) why he's supporting Mitch McConnell for reelection. He doesn't want to talk about it. At least publicly. While crisscrossing Kentucky during Congress's two-week recess, Paul visited a community forum in Edmonton on Wednesday to speak to constituents, where he was reportedly asked why he endorsed the Senate Republican leader. The Glasgow Daily Times described what happened next: One constituent asked him why he came out in support of Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Louisville. Paul declined to answer the question publicly, saying he would speak with her in private and explain his reason for supporting the...