Free Republic

Contrary to the White Houses explanation that a few rogue agents in Cincinnati lead the targeting of Tea Party groups by the IRS, newly released emails obtained by Judicial Watch detail Democratic Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) pressuring the IRS to target conservative groups. On March 30, 2012 Levin wrote to then IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman about his concern with the political activity by conservative nonprofits. “Some entities claiming tax-exempt status as social welfare organizations under 26 U.S.C.&501(c)(4) appear to be engaged in political activities more appropriate for political organizations claiming tax-exempt status under 26 U.S.C.&527. Because of the urgency of...

This video seems to show Lois Lerner discussing the pressure she is under to target conservative groups Lois Lerner speaks at the Sanford School of Public Policy on October 19, 2010. This video was released in 2013; but as the cover-up continues, it’s important that people understand the pressure surrounding Lois Lerner in the lead-up to the 2012 election to target conservative non-profit groups. The most important question to ask is, “Where was this pressure coming from?”

New documents obtained and released through a Judicial Watch lawsuit show the targeting of tea party and conservative groups came directly out of Washington D.C., not a rogue IRS office in Cincinnati. On July 6, 2012, former Director of the IRS Rulings and Agreements Division and current Manager of Exempt Organizations Guidance Holly Paz sent an email to IRS Attorney Steven Grodnitzky asking for an explanation of how tea party group applications were being handled. Grodnitzky responded by confirming the cases were being handled in Washington. "EOT is working the Tea party applications in coordination with Cincy. We are developing...

The estimated cost of the initial segment of California's bullet train, Golden State Governor Jerry Brown's pet project, has (excuse the pun) just shot up from $6.19 billion to $7.13 billion. If this is the only overrun encountered in this opening phase, which would be atypical, and if the California High Speed Rail Authority has similar experiences on the remainder of the project, assuming it's ever completed, its cost will rise from a currently estimated $68 billion to about $78 billion. Obviously a big cost overrun is news. But normally, evidence of an attempted government coverup of such an overrun...

Dozens of people rode their ATVs and motorcycles on an off-limits trail in southern Utah on Saturday in a protest against what the group calls the federal government's overreaching control of public lands. San Juan County Sheriff Rick Eldredge said from 40 to 50 people, many of them waving American flags and some carrying weapons, drove about a mile down Recapture Canyon

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...

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 plan to void 60 western Colorado energy leases.. is a looming BLM-caused disaster. Hundreds of citizens from Mesa County and other affected areas gathered May 1 in De Beque to protest a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plan to void existing contracts the government made with private individuals and companies. The meeting in De Beque, a little town dependent almost entirely on gas, oil, coal and cows, was not originally planned by the BLM. Since half of the imperiled leases are in Mesa County, the Mesa County Board of Commissioners joined with various associations and individuals to demand that...

GOP Lawmakers Say They’re Furious After Discovering What Was ‘Hidden’ Inside Budget They Voted For May. 6, 2014 6:15pm Jason Howerton That’s the lesson GOP lawmakers in New York reportedly learned after they voted in favor of a proposed state budget that includes millions of dollars in funding for the state’s hastily-passed gun control law known as the SAFE Act. Hidden in the budget is a provision that permits the reappropriation of $28 million to fund a gun database and $3.2 million in new funding for SAFE Act “staff,” the New York Post reports. One GOP senator, who asked to...

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released a 17-page draft Vaughn Index document obtained from the U.S. Department of State on May 1, revealing that the Obama administration is still refusing to provide the full details of how top officials arrived at the now-discredited talking points released to the public following the deadly assault on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, Libya. The new documents, containing more than 50 paragraphs of justifications to withhold information, were obtained in response to a Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Action (FOIA) lawsuit (Judicial Watch, Inc., v. U.S. Department of State, (Civil Action No. 13-cv-00951...

Date: May 10, 2014 Time: 9:00 AM (possible meeting the night before, TBA) Place: Blanding, Utah – 255 North Hwy 191. Purpose: Assert local jurisdiction and challenge the overreach of federal agencies. Who is invited: This is not being formally sponsored or organized. It was deemed necessary at a town hall meeting in Blanding on February 27, 2014, and we welcome ALL supporters... On the 10th We will have some introductions, some instructions, and I will explain the topography including what trails have been “closed” by the BLM and which ones remain open. We will also have a flag ceremony...

Today is Friday, May 02, 2014 Boehner Secretly Plotting to Stab Gun Owners in the Back Tags:GOA|Gun Owners of America|Immigration|John Boehner|Washington DC Washington, DC --(Ammoland.com)- In a closed-door meeting of wealthy contributors in Las Vegas, House Speaker John Boehner said he was “hell-bent on getting [anti-gun immigration amnesty] done this year.” And earlier this week, the Speaker viciously mocked conservative Republicans for opposing him on this issue. The wily Boehner had led his conservative Republican members to believe the issue was shelved for the year. Now it appears that Boehner is simply planting a trap for Republicans and gun owners...

The American coal industry is accusing the Obama administration of using the Environmental Protection Agency to end the use of coal despite the president's claim of having an "all of the above" energy policy. ... the EPA's MATS rules, which go into effect in January 2016, will devastate coal production in America and .. about 60 gigawatts of coal-fired generation coming off-line .. One of Monseu’s issues is the way she said the administration is targeting coal, which currently fuels around 40 percent of the electricity produced in the U.S. "Increasingly we face a situation where policy is dictated not...

Mark Levin discusses new Benghazi emails showing AP reporter colluding with State Dept. against Fox News reporting.............. Tonight on his radio show, Mark Levin discussed a new Benghazi email that shows AP reporter Matt Lee emailing then State Dept. spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on September 13, 2012 for her comment on what they agreed was “bullshit” reporting on Fox News regarding the State Dept. having credible information 48 hours before the Benghazi attack.

School accused of trying to 'demonize' student in 'pastry gun' suspension Published April 30, 2014 FoxNews.com The attorney for a Maryland boy who was suspended after shaping a pastry into a gun says school administrators are trying to "demonize" him in their bid to fight an appeal to have the punishment erased from his school record. Joshua Welch, 9, was suspended from Park Elementary School in Baltimore for two days in March 2013 after his second-grade teacher accused him of chewing his breakfast pastry into the shape of a gun. The case received national media attention and led to legislative...

It all started with the sucker fish. The con, that is. I can see it all now. A group of robber barons and their flunkies sitting down at a table and deciding just what ruse they will use to grab all of the water and land in the country, and for Oregon, it’s the sucker. Yes, the infamous Klamath Basin Sucker Fish. The fish that evidently, needs both high and low water levels, murky and clear water, and an overdose of federal government interference to survive, even though attempts to eradicate it have failed time and time again. It has...

What was initially conceived as a ride involving a handful of Blanding residents in Recapture Canyon could grow into a massive statement against the federal government. San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman has called for the May 10 ATV ride on public land in the canyon, located just east of Blanding city limits. Lyman said he has lost patience with the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM), which “temporarily” closed the area to vehicular traffic in 2007 and has yet to reopen it. Lyman said the ride is to make a statement regarding local jurisdiction. However, because of the timing...

Gov. Jan Brewer will not give ranchers and their employees permission to kill endangered Mexican gray wolves on federal lands. The measure vetoed Tuesday was crafted by Sen. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford. She has been a vocal foe of the program by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to reintroduce the wolves into sections of Arizona and New Mexico, saying they are endangering not only cattle but also pets and children. SB1211 would have spelled out that ranchers could “take” a wolf — legalese for killing — that was killing, wounding or biting livestock. It also would have legalized a guard...

KXNT photo illustration (shooting scene image courtesy Las Vegas Review-Journal) (LAS VEGAS, KXNT, ASSOCIATED PRESS)–A funeral service was held in NOrth Las Vegas for the man who died at the hands of BLM agents during a skirmish in Red Rock Canyon in February. The service for D’Andre Berghardt Jr. took place at Nehemiah Ministries Christian Church. Berghardt was moving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to begin working with his brother when he was shot and killed Feb. 14. Jacob Hafter, a lawyer representing the family says that various delays, including the forensic examination of Berghardt’s body, contributed to...

One of the supporters serving as a bodyguard for Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy during his standoff with federal authorities -- and who also happens to be black -- said he would still "take a bullet for" Bundy after the rancher made racially inflammatory comments. CNN's Dan Simon noticed Jason Bullock, a six-year Army veteran who serves as one of Bundy's bodyguards, hanging around at the Nevada ranch. Simon asked Bullock whether he found Bundy's remarks about blacks and slavery offensive. "Mr. Bundy is not a racist," he told CNN. "Ever since I've been here, he's treated me with nothing but...