Free Republic

Michael Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety is "bankrolling" a gun control initiative in Nevada that seeks to expand background checks for private firearm transfers, guns sold at gun shows, "or among friends and family." In other words, Bloomberg is bankrolling Everytown which, in turn, is bankrolling a ballot initiative to make private gun sales without a background check illegal in Nevada.

This week, 68,000 revelers will descend on Nevada's remote Black Rock Desert. (That is, assuming the rain lets up.) They will travel from Los Angeles, London, Melbourne, Mexico City and places you've never heard of. They will take part in the temporary city that is Burning Man, and will light a giant wooden man aflame. Despite all of this, Burning Man has somehow gotten a reputation as a "green" event. But that is simply not the case. Make no mistake: Burning Man is bad for the environment.

The Democratic National Committee over the weekend set its preliminary 2016 presidential primary calender, with the four traditional carve-out states -- Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- holding contests in February and everybody else after that. The calendar mimics what we've seen from Republicans, who have basically agreed on the same order of succession. Here's how that looks: Feb. 1 -- Iowa caucuses Feb. 9 -- New Hampshire primary Feb. 20 -- Nevada caucuses Feb. 27 -- South Carolina primary From there, all other states would be permitted to hold contests between March 1 and June, with party...

Senator Harry Reid apologized yesterday for making "racist" jokes at a meeting of the Asian Chamber of Commerce in Las Vegas. The Hill: "My comments were in extremely poor taste and I apologize. Sometimes I say the wrong thing,” Reid said in a statement to The Hill. The Democratic leader issued the apology after a video surfaced online of him joking with the crowd in Las Vegas about their ethnicity.

A former CIA officer said Thursday he has no doubt Islamic State (ISIS) sleeper cells are already planted on U.S. soil. ... former CIA officer Bob Baer told the network ISIS is already on this side of the Atlantic. "I have been told with no uncertainty there are ISIS sleeper cells in this country," he said. ... Islamic State fighters suggest their leader, Iraqi Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is planning something for the West – and that attacks could take place through sleeper cells in both Europe and the United States. “The West are idiots and fools," one fighter taunted, according...

Harry Reid Apologizes For Jokes At Asian American Function By MARK Z. BARABAK Harry Reid, with history of insensitive comments, apologizes for jokes before Asian Americans in Las Vegas Harry Reid, apologizing for jokes at Asian American function, says 'sometimes I say the wrong thing' Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has a history of insensitive and off-color remarks, apologized Friday for a pair of jokes he made before the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce. “I don’t think you’re smarter than anybody else, but you’ve convinced a lot of us you are,” the Nevada Democrat said to laughter from...

LAS VEGAS — Harry Reid’s reelection is more than two years off, but the Koch brothers’ political machine is already methodically laying the groundwork that will be used to try to take him out. The efforts in recent months have been largely subterranean, but they are unmistakable. A handful of nonprofit groups in the vast political network helmed by allies of the conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch have established or expanded permanent ground operations in Reid’s backyard. Focused on wooing key demographics like Latinos and veterans, they’ve also paid for ads assailing the Senate Democratic leader. Reid, meanwhile, is...

In 2011, President Barack Obama famously called for “shared sacrifice” in America. Three years later, his wish might just become the Environmental Protection Agency’s command. In the coming months, Obama’s EPA will decide whether to further tighten air quality requirements, known as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. If the EPA gets its way (to which it is accustomed), the vast majority of the country, including Las Vegas and nearly all of Nevada, would fall into so-called “non-attainment” — when the EPA deems air pollution levels “persistently exceed” limits. This is up from a few isolated regions just five years...

Bundy engaged in armed resistance to avoid paying fees. Compare that to peaceful protests responding to a lost life. Last Wednesday night, I had snarked on Twitter about the lack of so-called “Tea Party” “patriots” — like those brave boys and girls who, earlier this year, pointed their big assault-rifles at federal officials to protect the “right” of a scofflaw rancher in Nevada to illegally graze his cattle for free on land that he did not own — failing to show up to protect the actual rights and freedoms of so many being denied them by actual Big Government Tyranny...

More than a half-million acres of land across nine Western states is being proposed for designation as critical habitat for the yellow-billed cuckoo. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 546,335 acres of critical habitat is up for listing in 80 separate units in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming. The bird is a neotropical migrant that winters in South America and nests along rivers and streams in western North America. ... The Service is seeking information concerning the western yellow-billed cuckoo’s biology and habitat, threats to the species and current efforts to protect...

Nevada is among the states with the highest sign-up rate for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, according to a new study of the federal initiative that gives temporary protection from deportation to some youths who are in the country illegally. In Nevada, 10,564 people have applied and 9,243 have been approved since the program began in August 2012, according to March data from from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the most recent available. Among those that are immediately eligible by meeting all requirements, Nevada has an application rate of 61 percent vs. the national average of 52 percent, according to...

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday the war in Iraq is "lost," triggering an angry backlash by Republicans, who said the top Democrat had turned his back on the troops. The bleak assessment - the most pointed yet from Reid - came as the House voted 215-199 to uphold legislation ordering troops out of Iraq next year. "I believe myself that the secretary of state, secretary of defense and - you have to make your own decisions as to what the president knows - (know) this war is lost and the surge is not accomplishing anything as...

RENO, Nev. (AP) -- Former Nevada lobbyist and developer Harvey Whittemore surrendered to a minimum-security prison on the central California coast Wednesday to begin serving a two-year sentence for making illegal campaign contributions as his lawyers prepare to argue his case before a federal appeals court.Whittemore, 61, reported just after 10 a.m. at the minimum security work camp at the federal prison complex in Lompoc, California, just north of Santa Barbara, U.S. Bureau of Prisons spokesman Chris Burke said.The complex is home to mostly white-collar criminals, including former Wall Street investors, convicted spies and ex-San Francisco Bay Area radio talk...

At the weekly press conference with Republican leaders Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) discussed the 352 bills – 98% which passed with bipartisan support in the House – that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuses to bring up for a vote ... “The President is fond of referring to the House as the “Do-Nothing Congress.” But we have 352 reasons why it’s a “Do-Nothing Senate.” 352 bills are sitting on Harry Reid’s desk, awaiting action. 98% of them passed with bipartisan support. Republicans and Democrats working together to pass legislation. 50% of the bills passed unanimously, with no opposition. 70% of...

Following a court victory striking down arguments over petition wording, supporters of a background check initiative in Nevada will begin collecting signatures, the Associated Press reported Saturday. Nevadans for Background Checks is attempting to gather enough signatures by Nov. 11 to require state lawmakers to vote on their petition, and plan on putting the matter before voters in 2016 if the legislature rejects it. While citing the group by name, as well as referring to individuals behind the petition drive as “supporters” and “backers,” the AP story does nothing to inform readers who the individuals behind the effort are. NRA...

Want to go through a background check if you buy a gun from a relative or a friend? I sure don’t: CARSON CITY, Nevada — Supporters of an initiative petition to expand background checks to nearly all gun sales in Nevada will soon begin gathering signatures after claiming a court victory. Carson District Judge James Wilson on Friday struck down most of the arguments of the Nevada Firearms Coalition over the wording of the petition. The group opposes the petition. Wilson ordered a minor wording change noting there would be criminal penalties for failure to obey the proposed new law,...

In the beginning, there was nothing. Then, Al Gore created the internet; and soon there were entire businesses using the interwebs for commerce and profit. We really should have known that it was only a matter of time until DC insiders tried to squeeze a little more tax revenue out of that particular free-market innovation. The Market Place Fairness Act (AKA: Small Internet-Business Death Sentence) is making a comeback. After Harry Reid managed to pass the punitive tax bill through the Democrat controlled Senate, some Beltway wonks are now trying to resurrect support for it in the US House. And,...

It’s official: Tesla Motors has broken ground on a stretch of land outside Reno that could serve as the site for its forthcoming $5 billion battery factory. But not so fast: they’re not the only one in the mix. In a letter to shareholders, Tesla CEO Elon Musk was careful in saying the Reno site “could potentially be” the location for the Gigafactory, expected to create 6,500 jobs. “Consistent with out strategy to identify and break ground on multiple sites, we continue to evaluate other locations in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas,” Musk wrote. The news followed weeks of...

A federal judge handed a landmark victory to Kane County and the state of Utah on Wednesday in a years-long dispute with the federal government over whether some rural routes should remain in use as roads, or if they should be closed to the public. In two decisions, U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups found he had jurisdiction to hear Kane County's claim, gave parameters for "reasonable" right-of-way widths on some routes and determined that 12 of 15 routes in dispute were roads and therefore accessible by the public. The distinction hinged on an 1866 law through which Congress sought to...

(CNSNews.com) – At a House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation on Thursday, ranchers from Western states testified that they are routinely threatened and bullied by federal land management officials, including the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service and Fish and Wildlife. “I sit before you today to let you know what’s going on up there, and I hope that we can come to some kind of agreement on what needs to be done and move forward on it, because enough is enough when it comes to bullying people that have been on this land for...