Free Republic

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on Nevada becoming the fifth state in the U.S. with stores selling marijuana for recreational purposes (all times local): Minnesota resident Edgar Rosas Lorenzo on Saturday flew with his family to Sin City for a wedding. But even before he checked in to his hotel, he stopped at a pot dispensary on the Las Vegas Strip. The 21-year-old says he learned of the legalization of recreational marijuana in Nevada while he was at the airport waiting for his flight to depart. He waited in line about 40 minutes before he could buy one-eighth of...

A true test for liberty minded politicians is facing them this Congress.  The idea of federalism as it applies to medical marijuana laws in the states.  The self-proclaimed champions of federalism will have their commitment to the idea tested when they are called on to vote on a measure protecting federalism as part of the appropriations process this fall.There is bipartisan support for the idea of federalism. On May 18, 2017, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) put out a press release that committed the chamber to the idea of federalism:Federalism is not...

arly last August, an envelope with extraordinary handling restrictions arrived at the White House. Sent by courier from the CIA, it carried “eyes only” instructions that its contents be shown to just four people: President Barack Obama and three senior aides. Inside was an intelligence bombshell, a report drawn from sourcing deep inside the Russian government that detailed Russian President Vladi­mir Putin’s direct involvement in a cyber campaign to disrupt and discredit the U.S. presidential race.

A despotism in our midst no one can do anything about, evidently. Could Congress create a fourth branch of government? Maybe break off a piece of what the executive branch handles now — commerce, say, or agriculture, or maybe even defense — and create a new office supported by its own dedicated tax stream and the authority to levy penalties? The president could still appoint this officer — I think prince-bishop has a nice ring to it — but wouldn’t be able to remove His Excellency absent extraordinary factual circumstances. Maybe we could expect the prince-bishop to decree exile for...

Not too long ago, Democrats complained about Republican governors and state legislators using their authority to fight Obamacare. Now, those same Democrats are encouraging state and local officials to fight President Trump's withdrawal from the Paris treaty on climate change. Such hypocrisy is, of course, bipartisan. Republicans who lauded state resistance to Obamacare are deeply troubled by state and local resistance to the Trump Administration on immigration and other issues. The blatant hypocrisy is one of many factors contributing to a toxic political dialogue. The only way to reduce both the hypocrisy and the political tension is to do something...

Led by an outspoken legalization opponent, Jeff Sessions' Justice Department is reviewing federal marijuana policy, with significant changes possible soon. Almost nothing about the review process is publicly known and key players in the policy debate have not been contacted. The outcome of the review could devastate a multibillion-dollar industry and countermand the will of voters in eight states if the Obama administration's permissive stance on non-medical sales is reversed.

Wonderful and informative discussion thread on the historically-accurate and varied guns in AMC's current tv series "The Son." For example: "....hello all I was the armorer on THE SON. The Lewis gun was Adopted buy Belgium in 1912 and the British soon after so its use in 1915 not a stretch. Eli's Pistol is a 1911 Colt 45 ACP, it is a true repo of a 1911 (Cimarron WILD BUNCH 1911) not a 1911 A1 which wasn't introduced till 1921 .. The extended 351cal 1907 WIN SLR mags are 10 rounders. In eps 5 Sally holds Pete's 1st Model Hand...

Over the past eight decades, Congress has gradually relinquished its lawmaking role and left it to the administrative state, said a conservative senator at a Capitol Hill event on Wednesday. “Many Americans now feel that they are not in control of their own government,” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said during an event hosted at the Federalist Society’s fifth annual Executive Branch Review Conference. “The administrative state is designed to be insulated from the will of the people.” The Utah senator said that one way he is working to combat this phenomenon is through an initiative he has started called Article...

Published on May 12, 2017 On May 12, 2017, the Show Me State became the 12th to successfully adopt the Convention of States Article V application to impose fiscal restraints, term limits, and other limits on federal overreach. Thank you to the thousands of COS Missouri warriors! http://www.cosaction.com

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, after meeting with Attorney General Jeff Sessions this week in Washington, says that he doesn’t believe a federal crackdown on legal marijuana is on the way, adding that Sessions called the Obama administration’s guidance on marijuana “not too far from good policy.” “The meeting was very productive, and overall it was very good,” Jacque Montgomery, press secretary for the Democratic governor, told HuffPost. Montgomery said that Sessions spent about an hour with Hickenlooper, and they discussed the state’s successful marijuana regulation, its collection of data on usage, what the state has learned since the first legal...

My fellow Americans: From the early days of the colonies, prayer in school was practiced and revered as an important tradition. Indeed, for nearly 200 years of our nation's history, it was considered a natural expression of our religious freedom. But in 1962 the Supreme Court handed down a controversial decision prohibiting prayer in public schools. Sometimes I can't help but feel the first amendment is being turned on its head. Because ask yourselves: Can it really be true that the first amendment can permit Nazis and Ku Klux Klansmen to march on public property, advocate the extermination of people...

This is absolutely stupid. These long drawn out debates within the GOP struggling to settle on the nitty gritty about what and who should be covered and at what price is ridiculous. It's NOT your job, gentlemen. All you are doing is playing into the socialist democrats hands. Please consult your pocket constitutions and discover that the power to make these decisions regarding health care and insurance, etc, is not an enumerated power and is not delegated by the constitution to the congress or the federal government. It's reserved to the states and the people. Get OUT of it!! Conservatives...

Congressional Republicans on Monday night released their formal plan for replacing Obamacare. Read the bill here.

While Trump may claim he’s for states rights, Attorney General Jeff Sessions just pissed on the opinions of about 71% of Americans who do not believe the federal government should attempt to ram federal laws down the throats of states where voters have legalized marijuana. After Press Secretary Sean Spicer essentially warned everyone last week that the Trump administration plans to crack down on states with recreational marijuana laws, AG Sessions backed that up on Monday with some bizarre statements that prove the guy actually believes Reefer Madness was a documentary. Via Politico: “Most of you probably know I don’t...

Promising to focus the federal government on the security of Americans, the economy and infrastructure, President Trump told the nation’s governor’s Monday at the White House they will have more authority under his administration. Trump said the federal government will do “whatever we can to restore authority to the states, when that is the appropriate thing to do,” aiming to “give you back a lot of the powers that have been taken away.” “We have to let the states compete and see who has the best solutions,” Trump said. “States are different. People are different.” But he said that, going...

Yesterday the Trump administration preserved federalism, respected the principle of local control over local schools, and corrected one of the Obama administration’s many lawless and radical executive actions. With a simple, two-page letter, the Departments of Education and Justice withdrew and rescinded two Obama-administration letters that purported to unilaterally redefine Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The Obama administration had expanded Title IX’s explicit ban on sex discrimination in federally funded educational institutions to encompass “gender identity” discrimination and then imposed intrusive “guidance” on every federally funded school in the nation, on matters ranging from pronoun usage to...

State officials across the nation are fighting former President Barack Obama’s last-minute decision to impose federal authority over state-run election systems, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. The National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS), which includes officials from all 50 states and U.S. territories, appealed to President Donald Trump in a resolution approved Saturday at the group’s winter meeting to overturn the Obama policy, but doing so may encounter unexpected resistance from the new administration.

Homeschooling families throughout the nation are voicing opposition to a Republican-sponsored school choice bill that they say will ultimately result in regulation of homeschooling in the United States. Many parents who homeschool their children, as well as their numerous local and national homeschooling organizations, are protesting the bill, introduced by Iowa Rep. Steve King (R), and calling upon the members of Congress who are its sponsors to “leave homeschooling families alone.” School vouchers created by H.R. 610, the Choices in Education Act of 2017, “would be a slippery slope toward more federal involvement and control in homeschooling,” asserts William Estrada,...

The House voted Thursday to make it easier for states to deny federal family-planning funds to groups such as Planned Parenthood that also perform abortions. A rule imposed by the Obama administration says that states cannot deny funding to clinics for reasons unrelated to their ability to provide basic family planning services. Federal dollars cannot be used to pay for abortions, except in restricted circumstances. Tennessee Rep. Diane Black and other Republicans said the rule, finalized in December, unfairly restricts how states can spend federal family-planning funds. …

Ever since Donald Trump was elected president, California has resembled the busty blonde B-movie actress in a horror film. You know the look. Eyes wide. Red lips parted halfway between a gasp and a scream. Hands frozen in mid-flail. That was the reaction in the scene where President Trump called California “out of control” and said he might have to cut off federal funds. This terrifying prospect has public officials up and down the state looking everywhere for a copy of the U.S. Constitution. It says he can’t do that, right? States have rights. Right? You might think so if...