Free Republic

Nevada has become the latest state to announce it will concede Obamacare exchange enrollment responsibilities to the federal government via healthcare.gov. Nevada became the third state-based exchange to make such a decision, joining Massachusetts, which is joining the federal exchange temporarily while it works to fix its state-based exchange, and Oregon, which has ditched its exchange entirely—making a total of 39 states dependent on the federal exchange for, at a minimum, enrollment in 2015.Federal taxpayers already have sent about $4.9 billion total in grants to the states to establish exchanges, with almost $4.2 billion going to just the 16 states...

Rancher Cliven Bundy, who you may remember from American politics circa April 2014, has officially left the Republican Party. The news is unlikely to cause too many sleepless nights at Nevada GOP headquarters. Bundy and his wife signed new voter registration forms at an event held by the Independent American Party, to which the Bundys now belong. The event, the AP reports, was "held to honor Bundy for what organizers called 'his courage in standing up for state sovereignty.' " The IAP promoted the Bundys' cause earlier this month, calling on Nevada residents to file "CRIME REPORTS" against the Bureau...

After much apparent pleading from the contractor, Nevada made the decision to drop their individual ObamaCare website builder Xerox and is now the next state hitching its wagon to the federal online exchange. It all looked like it could have gone so well back in October, until users started trying to actually sign up for health insurance and began to uncover the more than 1,500 defects embedded in the site, according to a report from Deloitte last month, and the Silver State has finally realized that the situation cannot be salvaged any time soon — and certainly not in...

WASHINGTON-- This week, U.S. Senators John Cornyn (R-TX) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) and U.S. Congressman Pete Sessions (TX-32) and his colleagues filed an amicus brief and joined a court challenge to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, specifically challenging the legality of that law. The PPACA, which effectively originated as legislation in the Senate, raises revenue through the individual mandate, which violates the Constitutional clause that requires any bill which raises revenue to originate in the House of Representatives. “The President has changed the law six ways to Sunday in order to satisfy political donors, provide breaks to Big...

Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy said in a lengthy written statement that he’s not going to sue the federal government after all, despite the number of lawyers he says have lined up to state his case against the Bureau of Land Management for free. At the same time, he wrapped his statement by saying that he’s “assembling a team of legal advisers” to help decide his family’s best course of action. The Bundy family has been at the center of a nationally watched armed standoff with the BLM over grazing fees. And some have said Mr. Bundy has a valid...

Nevada Senator Harry Reid spoke on the Senate floor to mark 321 days since the Senate passed a bipartisan immigration reform bill and call on House Republicans to do their part in mending the nations broken immigration system. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery: This morning marks 321 days since the Senate passed a bipartisan, commonsense immigration reform bill. For 321 days, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives has done absolutely nothing to address our nation’s broken immigration system. And to the extremists in the House, the time went by just like that. So to House Republicans, 321 days...

WASHINGTON — Frustrated by the “sewer” of modern American political campaigns, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Wednesday said that he would bring a constitutional amendment to the floor granting Congress the ability to set strict new limits on campaign contributions, warning he will force multiple votes if necessary to pass the measure. “When I came to Congress, when you got money you had to list who you got it from, what their occupation was, address, and phone numbers if you had it. Then I saw things change. In 1998, [former Sen.] John Ensign and I ran against one another and...

Conservative activist Grover Norquist wants to name 3,000 things after Ronald Reagan. His next target is a small mountain in Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's home state. The would-be Mount Reagan, at 3,366 feet, is not nearly the highest peak in Nevada. But it does overlook Las Vegas and, as such, would remind all who visit and live there of the former two-term California governor who went on to become president and lodestar of the Republican Party.

For a few days, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy was a heroic figure to a great many conservatives. Then, overnight, he became a pariah. There were some people, aside from Harry Reid, who suggested he should have to ring a little bell whenever he went out in public and announce his presence by repeating, “Unclean! Unclean!” Now I grant that there was no good reason for him to open his yap about the urban blacks residing in North Las Vegas, just as there was no reason for those two Republican knuckleheads running for the Senate in 2012 to shoot off their...

From Bundy's statement: We have chosen not to engage in legal action up to this point for two reasons. First, is simply because we have not felt impressed to do so. We understand that as humans we are limited to knowledge and understanding. We believe that the creator of this world possesses all knowledge and understanding. We also know that if we seek this knowledge he will share it with us. Until recently, legal action has shown no benefit to this cause. The second, is time based, the people expected Sheriff Gillespie and Governor Sandoval to take action. We felt...

Nevada dad John Eppolito got a bad case of sticker shock when he asked state education officials to see the permanent records of his four children. He was told it would cost $10,194. A Lake Tahoe-area real estate agent by trade and a fierce opponent of Common Core, Eppolito was concerned about Nevada's recent decision to join a multi-state consortium that shares students’ data. He wanted to know exactly what information had been compiled on his school-age kids. But state officials told him he would have to pay fees and the cost of programming and running a custom report. “The...

"If there's one thing that will get your point across and persuade the general public to support your cause, it's driving a bunch of ATVs through Native American ruins and burials. That seems to be the logic used by anti-Bureau of Land Management, pro-Cliven Bundy protestors who drove ATVs through a Utah canyon trail where motorized vehicles are banned. The rally was organized by Phil Lyman who, believe it or not, is actually a commissioner of San Juan county, home of Recapture Canyon. Hundreds of years ago, it was also home to the Puebloans, as evidenced by the ruins of...

The statewide race that seems to be gathering the greatest attention among political power brokers is for the position that carries the least power: lieutenant governor. The primary election June 10 is a proxy battle between the state’s two most influential politicians — Democrat Sen. Harry Reid and Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval — and the zeal of the far right. This race normally wouldn’t catch voters’ eyes, but this campaign could define Nevada’s political landscape for 2016 and beyond. That’s because a Republican win could open the door for a well-funded, popular Sandoval to challenge Reid as the party continues...

The Nevada Republican Party is defending its decision to remove anti-gay and anti-abortion language from its state platform, saying that the exclusions doesn't mean the party is "for" either issue. Members of the delegation, meeting with other party members at the Republican National Convention's meeting in Memphis, rebuked Oklahoma Republican National Committee member Carolyn McLarty, who questioned Nevada Republicans' loyalty to the national party's goals in an email, reports The Washington Times. -SNIP- Nevada says it shortened its platform to benefit voters and candidates, but Arizona RNC member Bruce Ash said he questions the state party's strategy in picking the...

Militiamen and woman camping on Cliven Bundy’s cattle ranch are packing up and heading to Utah where another protest against the Bureau of Land Management will happen Saturday. Ryan Payne, a Montana resident who had been staying at the ranch for a month, said he drove eight hours to arrive in the eastern Utah town this morning. Three militia members from the ranch and a handful of people from a group called Citizens Action Network came to Utah, too, he said. ... At Recapture Canyon, federal officials aren’t planning to send armed federal agents to the Utah protest like they...

THIS IS FOR THE MOUNTAIN WEST (Rest of the country is in separate threads and Pacific Coast coming later, see links below) There are numerous important House Primary Races! And places where we can WIN! PLEASE contribute! And if you can't contribute money ... the least we can do is go to their pages and give them a "like" or a tweet. All of these candidates are involved in primaries that are close (or could be close) against generally more moderate or liberal Republicans. All of these districts are winnable in November. Nevada: NIGER INNIS, NEVADA-4, June 10th .... winner...

The May 10 All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV) ride into restricted Recapture Canyon is still moving forward, threatening a collision between local residents and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). The ATV ride is planned by a group of Blanding residents in an attempt to force the BLM to make a decision on who has jurisdiction within the canyon, which is just east of Blanding. Motorized access to the trail has been in dispute since the BLM forced its closure in 2007. San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman, who has planned the ride, does not plan to back down to mounting pressure...

The Republican civil war, as the press refers to it, will come to a head in Nebraska in just over one week. Three candidates are in the running: Shane Osborn, Ben Sasse and Sid Dinsdale. My pick, Ben Sasse, leads the race presently, but Washington money is pouring in to stop him. Conservative momentum could come to a halt in the cornhusker state if Sasse loses. Sasse is a college president who had previously spent time working in Washington for the Bush Administration doing health care policy. An outspoken critic of Obamacare, his opponents have painted him, with out-of-context...

LAS VEGAS -- A dramatic development in the saga surrounding rancher Cliven Bundy, the FBI has entered the case. The 8 News NOW I-Team has learned that FBI agents have started an investigation into the events surrounding a potentially deadly showdown one month ago. It is one thing for Cliven Bundy and his supporters to square off against an assortment of Bureau of Land Management employees. It is quite another when the FBI enters the picture, and that is exactly what has happened. The I-Team has confirmed that FBI agents have launched a formal investigation into alleged death threats, intimidation...

Senate Democrats are refusing to let supporters of the Keystone XL oil pipeline to use an energy efficiency bill as a vehicle to attempt winning congressional approval for the controversial project. Majority Leader Harry Reid used a parliamentary move Wednesday to block a Republican amendment on the pipeline as well as a measure to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from imposing new greenhouse gas regulations on coal-burning power plants.