Free Republic

MADISON, Wis. -- A court-ordered change to Wisconsin's photo identification law that's designed to cut down on voter fraud is creating confusion and may even open the door to the very type of behavior Republican lawmakers were trying to prevent. Policy makers, attorneys and voter ID experts were struggling Friday with how to interpret a Wisconsin Supreme Court ruling from a day earlier, which mandated a change to the law in order to make it constitutional. The court said the state can't require applicants for state-issued IDs to present government documents that cost money to obtain, such as a copy...

As I followed the story of the Idaho legislature making the carrying of guns on campus legal for a small subset of students that were highly trained, it was shocking to see how much silly disinformation was published in an attempt to railroad the legislators into voting against the measure.   Everything was thrown at them, from the usual "blood in the streets" fallacies, to smears of adult students as irresponsible drunks, to a highly inventive notion that Idaho campuses would lose funding for nuclear research reactors.  One educator asked when he would be able to shoot students, in a...

NEW YORK — As Congress remains gridlocked by the partisan wrangling over the issue of illegal immigration, New York City this week approved two separate plans that advocates say could signal a sea change in the ways cities handle undocumented workers and their families. On Wednesday, the New York City Council earmarked $4.9 million of the city budget to give legal assistance to foreign-born New York residents facing deportation. This makes New York the first city in the US to provide lawyers for low-income immigrants detained by federal authorities. The city will provide such aid both for undocumented immigrants and...

In Moscow, Idaho, a restaurant offers a discount to people who openly carry firearms. In the vast majority of states, openly carried firearms are legal.   The right to open carry has been used in a number of states to push for the passage of "shall issue" laws to allow people to legally carry firearms concealed.  Virginia, Ohio, and Wisconsin are states that readily come to mind.  Texans are currently  using the legal open carry of rifles, guaranteed in their State Constitution, to push for the legal open carry of handguns.  Arizonans used the right to open carry to remove...

SAN DIEGO — It wasn’t long after the new manager started her job at the El Cajon branch of the Department of Motor Vehicles that she noticed something was wrong. The passing scores for driver tests just weren’t adding up. The written test and the driving test aren’t usually given the same day. So how could drivers be passing both tests just minutes apart? It turns out they weren’t. Many of those drivers hadn’t even taken the tests. Her suspicions launched an FBI probe that revealed a corruption scheme that peddled more than 100 fraudulent driver’s licenses for bribes to...

@daqeqa Agree! "Democracy" is a cult in the West. I think most of afgs see law in terms of sharia not secular democracy, man centric laws.

Obama’s Internet ID Plot Being Tested in Two States A plot by the Obama administration to impose Internet IDs on Americans is now officially being rolled out, with pilot programs for the controversial online “driver’s license” scheme already beginning in both Michigan and Pennsylvania. According to the White House, the virtual “Identity Ecosystem” being funded and pushed by the federal government is supposed to make the Internet more “secure” and “convenient.” Critics across the political spectrum, however, are warning that the Orwellian scheme only makes it more convenient for the feds to spy on people, control the public, and suppress...

MADISON, Wis. -- State Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen on Monday appealed a two-week-old decision striking down Wisconsin's voter ID law. Van Hollen had promised an appeal as soon as U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman in Milwaukee blocked the voter ID law for violating the U.S. Constitution and federal Voting Rights Act. Monday's filing puts the case before the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago. Van Hollen also asked Adelman to suspend his ruling while the appeal proceeds, saying his decision was too broad. In his ruling, Adelman expressed skepticism that any voter ID law could pass court muster...

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...

Dick Heller, of the Heller Second Amendment Supreme Court decision, will be speaking in Boise on 16 May.   H/T to Clayton Cramer who may be included as the third speaker.  You can get tickets Here.  The event is being hosted by Young Americans for Liberty (YAL) - BSU.  Tickets are Free! The event will be at Boise State University starting at 7 PM. Dean Weingarten.

According to magicvalley.com, Idaho colleges are actively searching for strategies to ignore and/or undermine the second amendment and the new law supporting it passed by the Idaho legislature.  From magicvalley.com:  TWIN FALLS, Idaho • A day after the governor signed a bill allowing concealed guns on campus, school administrators are staging a rebellion. One significant strategy seems to be to simply ignore the law: SB 1254 takes effect July 1. The language of the law does not include any triggers, sanctions or punishments if a college or university refuses to allow guns on campus. The only recourse would be...

With the campus carry bill that Governor Otter just signed into law taking up all the oxygen in Idaho, few were paying attention to the effective nullification bill that is now going to the Governor's desk. SB1332  is effective nullification of federal gun confiscation.  It unanimously passed the senate and the house!  The bill is likely to be signed by Governor Otter.  It effects legislation, executive orders, or other federal actions that take place after it goes into effect, and unlike other attempts at nullification law, it does not prescribe penalties for federal officers, only for state and local...

The limited reform of Idaho's restrictions on bearing arms (SB 1254) was signed by Governor Butch Otter today, 12 March 2014.   The law removes the university imposed restrictions from retired peace officers and people who have received Idaho's enhanced concealed carry license.  Those two groups will now be able to carry concealed weapons on the public property of college and university campuses.  From KTVB.com:  The legislation allows a limited group of people to carry concealed weapons on college and university campuses. Supporters say the bill protects people's Second Amendment rights. It does not allow for concealed carry in resident...

Idaho House representatives voted to approve SB 1254 on March 6th by a healthy 50-19 margin.  The bill was approved in the Senate 25-10, on 18 February.  Governor Butch Otter has said that he will sign the bill.  Public university administrators had strongly objected to the legislature reclaiming the power to restrict the right to bear arms from them and restoring a limited version of the right.  Private universities were not affected.  The right to limit those who may be on private property is a fundamental part of what private property is.    If an entity cannot restrict who is...

On Tuesday, February 18, the Idaho Senate voted to reform current law to allow those with concealed carry permits to carry their defensive firearms on public campuses.   The bill is SB 1254, and has some interesting exceptions: "the exception of carrying within student dormitories and residence halls, and within public entertainment facilities, as defined." I suppose that this is the sort of compromise that was required to obtain the strong legislative majorities that the bill has attracted.  It passed the Senate by a 25-10 majority, and is expected to pass the house, where a similar reform measure was passed...

Feds deny requests from 3 states to require proof-of-citizenship on voter registration forms WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — The U.S. Election Assistance Commission found Friday that heightened proof-of-citizenship requirements likely would hinder eligible citizens from voting in federal elections, handing down a ruling that denied requests from Kansas, Arizona and Georgia to modify the registration form for their residents. The decision came just hours before a court-imposed deadline in a lawsuit filed in federal court by Kansas and Arizona that seeks to force the commission to modify state-specific requirements for registering to vote in those states. Georgia, which has a similar...

Idaho would join a handful of states that allow students, teachers and others to bring guns to class under a measure resurrected by gun advocates in the Legislature on Monday.

Commonwealth Court Judge Bernard McGinley voided Pennsylvania's statute requiring that voters show a photo ID at the polls before they can obtain a ballot. As the judge sees it “forcing a person to show ID places an unreasonable burden on the right to vote. McGinley dismissed comparisons with the ID requirements people must meet to buy liquor or cash a check, as “misapplied and confused. Transactions in the commercial sector are privileges extended by private parties. Voting is a fundamental human right that may not be limited in any way.” The Judge pooh-poohed contentions that IDs may be needed to...

Does Evidence Matter? Democrats have argued in the past that the seriousness of a charge is all you need to warrant an investigation. “The nature of the evidence is irrelevant; it’s the seriousness of the charge that matters.” Tom Foley, Democrat, Former Speaker of the House But I think evidence matters. You don’t seriously investigate accusations that are baseless and you don’t charge someone with a crime unless you have some compelling evidence. And we do.So here’s the charge. Barack Obama used fake ID to gain access to the ballot and in turn the White House. And that’s more than...

Just as you were wrapping your mind around the idea that under Obamacare and the accompanying changes in the health-care system, your medical records will be floating around in some online repository, available to far too many people, you’re being told you’ll soon have a National Identity Card and a Western Hemisphere-compliant travel document whether you want it or not, if you plan to drive in the United States. The federal government says it soon will be enforcing its demands that state-issued driver’s licenses and ID cards comply with Department of Homeland Security standards. DHS announced just before Christmas a...