Free Republic

HOUSTON, Texas - Over the weekend, Presidential candidate Ted Cruz continued to gain momentum as courageous conservatives around the country continued to coalesce behind his campaign for President. In Idaho, Cruz scored two major victories among Republicans, as the Gem State's Presidential Primary approaches on March 8th.The leadership of the Idaho Republican Party gathered in Boise for its annual Winter Meeting on Friday and Saturday. The party hosted a Presidential Candidates Reception and Straw Poll on Friday evening, with Ted Cruz winning the poll by more than a 2-1 margin with support from 40 percent of the vote. Marco Rubio...

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — A convoy of more than a dozen pickup trucks carrying armed men arrived at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon on Saturday. Some of the men carrying rifles told journalists they were there to help with security for the group that has occupied the headquarters of the refuge since Jan. 2. The men said they were members of the Pacific Patriot Network, a consortium of groups from Oregon, Washington and Idaho, The Oregonian reported (http://is.gd/gSSbJN ). They arrived at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge midmorning, carrying rifles and handguns and dressed in military attire and bulletproof...

(CNN)A hunter tracking down a mountain lion has stumbled upon a biological mystery. Fish and Game officials say a male mountain lion involved in an attack on a dog near Preston, Idaho, was killed last week near the Utah border. What the hunter discovered after examining the corpse can only be described as bizarre, even monstrous. A photo released Thursday by Idaho Fish and Game shows the big cat had another set of fully-formed teeth and whiskers growing out of the top of its head. Wildlife officials say they have never seen a deformity like that -- but have offered...

Speaker of the House Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said Thursday he will deploy a secret gun committee to vet a bill that would allow Idahoans to conceal firearms without a permit. Bedke, speaking to reporters at a briefing ahead of next week’s legislative session kick-off, offered tepid support for permitless concealed carry. “I would be supportive [of permitless carry] in concept,” Bedke told reporters. Two House Republican caucus members, freshman Reps. Ron Nate of Rexburg and Heather Scott of Blanchard, announced this week they will introduce a permitless carry bill in the upcoming session’s first two weeks. That announcement included quotes...

A school cafeteria worker in Idaho says she was fired after giving a hungry middle school student a free lunch. Dalene Bowden, a server at Irving Middle School in Pocatello, told NBC affiliate KPVI in Idaho that she gave the hot meal to a 12-year-old girl with no lunch money whom said she was hungry on Dec. 15.

Since the start of the Syria's civil war in the spring of 2011, the U.S. has admitted 2,311 Syrian refugees and resettled them in 36 different states. According to data from the State Department's Refugee Processing Center the top three destinations for Syrian refugees since the beginning of the conflict are California, Texas, and Michigan. From March 15, 2011 through December 1, 2015, California received the most (261) Syrian refugees, Texas received the second most with 242, and Michigan has received the third most with 217. Other states that have received Syrian refugees since March 2011 include: Arizona (182), Illinois...

"Slamming the door in their faces would be a betrayal of our values," [Obama] said.Six Republican governors have announced that Syrian refugees won't be allowed to resettle in their states in the wake of last week's terrorist attacks in Paris. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley issued statements Sunday saying that they wanted to prioritize the safety of the residents in their states. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a GOP presidential candidate; Arkansas Gov. Gov. Asa Hutchinson; and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence joined them on Monday. "Michigan is a welcoming state and we are...

[Idaho] Gov. Butch Otter today sent a letter to President Obama calling for a halt to the entire U.S. refugee resettlement program, until "the vetting process for all foreigners crossing our borders can be fully reviewed." In a statement, Otter said, "It makes no sense under the best of circumstances for the United States to allow people into our country who have the avowed desire to harm our communities, our institutions and our people. The savage and senseless ISIS-driven attacks in Paris illustrate the essential inhumanity of terrorism and make it clearer than ever that we must make protecting our...

BOISE, Idaho The family of an Adams County rancher involved in an encounter with two sheriff’s deputies says the deputies killed him in a “completely unjustified” shooting. Survivors of Jack Yantis, the 62-year-old who died a week ago in the darkness on U.S. 95 north of Council, say they will pursue claims against Adams County for Yantis’ death. Donna Yantis spent her 63rd birthday Thursday at Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise, where she has been recovering from a heart attack she suffered after her husband was killed. Family members have shared with the Statesman their account of what...

An Idaho militia group protested the arrival of Syrian refugees by issuing dark warnings based on anti-Muslim conspiracy theories. The III% Idaho group rallied Monday outside the statehouse in Boise, where about 100 anti-government activists, many wearing flak jackets and other armor, waved American flags and banners promoting their pro-gun militia group, reported Hatewatch. "This isn't some made-up crap we're spewing out here, like they're leading you to believe across the way," shouted Brandon Curtiss, president of the right-wing group. Actually, "made-up crap" describes a lot of what the III% Idaho group is spewing. The group has been protesting the...

GARDEN CITY, Idaho (AP) — Two men were injured at an Idaho gun show Saturday morning after a vendor from Washington state accidentally fired a rifle, Ada County Sheriff’s officials said.

Idaho State Police are investigating after a Council rancher was shot and killed Sunday by deputies with the Adams County Sheriff's Office. The incident began when a Subaru station wagon crashed into a bull on US 95 north of Council at about 6:45 p.m. Emergency responders and Adams County deputies responded and were working to extricate the two people inside the car. Adams County Sheriff Ryan Zollman said the bull, which was injured in the collision, started charging at emergency responders and other vehicles. "The bull was very agitated and was aggressive to emergency services, as well as the other...

Boise, Idaho - More than half a century after a group of beavers parachuted into the Idaho backcountry, officials have uncovered footage of the quirky wildlife management moment. The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was struggling with an overpopulation of beavers in some regions in the 1940s when wildlife managers settled on a novel idea. They captured beavers and other furry rodents, packed them into special travel boxes, attached parachutes and dropped them from a plane into..."

As Muslims are imported, they’re thrust upon cities and towns across America. No location is immune. Case in point: Idaho. As reported by World Net Daily (WND), Idaho is slated to receive 2,000 “refugees” who will be settled in Boise and Twin Falls. This would be on top of the refugees Idaho has already absorbed. It turns out Idaho’s quite a hot spot for refugee resettlement. And of late, that means a lot Muslims, as the current round of invaders will be from Syria, Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and possibly Somalia. WND reports that community leaders found...

The conservative House Freedom Caucus announced Wednesday that it would back Rep. Daniel Webster to be the next speaker, which would provide enough support to the Republican conference to deny the position to establishment favorite Kevin McCarthy, the current majority leader. Emerging from a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, conservative lawmakers pledged to present a united front in support of Mr. Webster, Florida Republican, signaling that the same rift in the conference that forced Speaker John A. Boehner to resign would continue to roil the largest Republican majorities in the House since the 1920s. Members of the Freedom Caucus, led...

The Pentagon has responded to a globally-released ‘Kill List’, asking law enforcement to give extra protection for military personnel whose personal information was released,News Channel 10 reports. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports the Pentagon spent the weekend notifying the soldiers who appeared on the list, and urged city police departments and military police to increase patrol in the neighborhoods where the targeted live. The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) published the list days ago, a report that contained names, photos, and home addresses of U.S. Armed Forces personnel, causing alarm in cities potentially at high-risk....

Ted Cruz says his hard-line strategy to defund Planned Parenthood and risk a government shutdown is about doing the “right thing” and following through on Republicans' vows to conservative voters. But many of his Republican colleagues say it’s really all about Cruz. Even some of his closest allies from past battles— fellow tried and true tea party Republicans like Sen. Mike Lee of Utah — aren’t exactly jumping to join Cruz’s latest crusade. Same goes for Cruz’s onetime allies-turned-presidential rivals, Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky. As the Texas Republican prepares for a potentially decisive month...

Among the benefits of Donald Trump's proposed immigration moratorium is that we won't have to keep importing hordes of Third World "refugees," such as the ones currently swarming across Europe. For decades, the United States has taken in far more refugees than the entire rest of the world combined. Nearly half of the refugees we take in are Muslim. And it's worked out great! Fazliddin Kurbanov, or "Idaho man," as he is dutifully described in the American media, was brought to the U.S. as a refugee in 2009, joining hundreds of other Uzbeks in Boise, Idaho. He came with his...

If you ask around about Jim Messina in Washington, you will get an extremely wide range of reactions. Some believe he is brilliant; others think he’s ruthless. But there is one impression that everyone seems to share: “Jim is not afraid of anyone.” That isn’t a bad prerequisite for Messina’s next job. The 45-year-old Democrat, who organized Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and this year orchestrated British Prime Minister David Cameron’s spectacular, nail-biting win, is now getting into German politics. Messina has agreed to a consulting job in Berlin: He wants to help the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) beat...

Long before Jim Messina became a trusted aide to President Barack Obama and one of the most powerful men in Washington, he was just a simple boy from Boise. Now, after working in politics for just over a decade, he lives in a lavish D.C. estate. How this happened is a classic Washington Cinderella story. Raised in Idaho by a single mother, Messina moved to Washington in 1995, in his mid-20s, to take a job as a legislative aide for Max Baucus, the conservative Democratic senator from Montana (now ambassador to China). Baucus supported George W. Bush-era personal and corporate...