Free Republic

The proposed Jordan Cove liquefied natural gas plant’s environmental impacts are being singled out in a novel lawsuit in which youths are taking on the federal government because of the consequences they say their generation will have to live with as a result of climate change. That lawsuit, which includes young plaintiffs from Colorado, is gaining widespread attention for having cleared an initial legal hurdle earlier this month. A federal magistrate judge rejected motions by the government and industry groups to dismiss the case. According to the ruling by the Oregon judge, Thomas Coffin, the suit essentially alleges that the...

The Gresham bakers who made national headlines after refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding are fighting back against Oregon regulators. In a brief filed in the Oregon Court of Appeals this week, Aaron and Melissa Klein say the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries violated state and federal laws by forcing them to pay $135,000 in damages to the lesbian couple. The legal team behind Sweet Cakes by Melissa argues the labor bureau violated the Kleins' rights as artists to free speech, their rights as Oregonians to religious freedom and their rights as defendants to a due...

Ammon Bundy's lawyers intend to argue that the federal government doesn't have the authority to prosecute protestors who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, claiming that the federal government lacks control of the land. The U.S. Constitution granted 'very limited powers' to the federal government, and that once Oregon became a state, the federal government lost a right to own land inside the state's borders, his attorney Lissa Casey wrote in a court motion filed late Friday......

Conservatives' attitudes toward climate change and other environmental concerns shift when the issues are reframed in terms more closely aligned with their values, a new study from Oregon State University indicates. Researchers found that people who identified as conservative were more likely to support "pro-environmental" ideals when the issues were framed as matters of obeying authority, defending the purity of nature and demonstrating patriotism. The study underscores the ways in which discussions of important topics are informed by a person's moral and ideological perspective, said the study's lead author, Christopher Wolsko, an assistant professor of psychology at OSU-Cascades. "We think...

Cruz campaign announces they're focusing on Indiana and clearing a path for Kasich in Oregon and New Mexico.

NORTH BEND — For one North Bend High School student, the “American Dream” is over. At least, that's the fear Schalk Badenhorst has for his grandson, who is being deported back to South Africa in July. But 18-year-old Jaun Erasmus seems to have accepted his fate, even though he'll be leaving so much behind.

Nevada’s chief federal judge Tuesday for the second time refused to let nationally known conservative lawyer Larry Klayman join Cliven Bundy’s defense team. ... The judge’s ruling will be legally challenged on an expedited basis,” he said. “It violates Cliven Bundy’s Sixth Amendment constitutional right to counsel and forces Cliven to forfeit his right to a speedy trial. “The ruling demonstrates that the judge has an extra-judicial bias and prejudice against Cliven Bundy and his counsel, for which disqualification is required. The judge was recommended by (U.S. Sen.) Harry Reid and appointed by President Barack Obama, and the order wears...

Parents of fourth-graders at an Oregon elementary school were 'furious' to discover that their children - some as young as nine - had read an explicit sex education book featuring cartoons of sex acts and masturbation, Fox 12 Oregon reported Thursday. In a letter to parents, Hudson Park Elementary School admitted that copies of 'It's Perfectly Normal,' a guide to sexual health aimed at children ten and up, were passed around to students. . . . The book is aimed at children aged 10 and up, and features cartoon depictions of male and female teens and adults. Acts featured in...

Petition Endorsed This petition is the only official petition endorsed by the LaVoy Finicum family regarding the assassination investigation. Your email address and phone number will not be shared with the members of Congress who will receive this petition.......

In the face of an expected appeal, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones Wednesday modified his gag order against Oregon standoff defendant Shawna Cox, limiting the restrictions on her public speech. In his new order, Jones wrote that Cox should refrain from any conduct or speech that would incite others to trespass on or destroy federal government property, or incite unlawful violence. It marks a step back from his earlier March 29th much broader restriction tha she not make 'any public comment' about her case, co-defendants 'or any future protest movements.'..........

As Cleveland prepares to host the Republican National Convention this summer, it's bidding on millions of dollars of security equipment and tactical gear for its police.

(at:02) Gavin Seim: "you don't work for the people, you work for a corrections corporation..Voice: "There you go" Gavin Seim: "First of all I'm not threatening you at all I'm saying you guys are supporting. Voice: By God you did threaten me. Gavin Seim: treason. So don't play your games with me. It won't work. You're little cop bully tactics won't work. You guys need to have some honor and some principle. You need to realize you're working for evil people that are abusing people and you need to get a conscience. Now I know you're keeping me on the...

Peruvian natural resource managers have questions about how to protect their country’s forests, and they came to Summit County for answers. A U.S. Forest Service division called International Programs, which promotes sustainable forest management and biodiversity conservation in foreign countries, brought top-level Peruvian officials for an educational tour that started Monday in Washington D.C. and ends Friday in Denver. ... In 2009, a U.S-Peru free trade agreement stipulated that Peru must curtail illegal logging, which undercuts the U.S. timber sector, and sustainably manage natural resources, said Erin Carey, who worked with the Forest Service International Programs for the last five...

Attorney Joel Hansen referred to Bundy as a "political prisoner" and said the government does not want to release him for fear it would lose if the case is ever heard before a jury. ... "The government seems to be afraid that it might lose in a jury trial, so it wants to keep him in prison, in solitary confinement, as long as it can because he, like Nelson Mandela, is a political prisoner," Hansen wrote. "There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution allowing the federal government to hold political prisoners without a trial. Nothing." ... Does Mr. Bundy have...

vlcsnap-2016-04-08-03h23m30s234It was utter chaos at Portland State University Thursday evening, as over 100 wackjob commie students crashed the forming meeting for Students For Trump. Fights nearly broke out, doxing and vandalism threats were issued to Trump supporters, Latino students were shoving the Trump students out of the way, another student encourages others to join anti capitalist groups, they shut down and silenced the pro Trump group, mocking their talking points, whined about TRUMP chalk on the sidewalk, and it ends with the socialist students gloating about shutting it down and promising to come back if Students For Trump holds another...

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) is reportedly hoping the federal government — specifically resident Barack Obama’s administration — will grab a stretch of land in Southern Nevada near the infamous Bundy Ranch, now that many in the Bundy group are in federal custody. The reason that the resident hasn’t had an opportunity to look at that very closely is that is where the Bundy family raised the hell that they did. Now most of them are in jail so maybe we can move forward on that,” Reid said, according to a Nevada political observer, Jon Ralston. ... Nevada...

On Tuesday I published a short post about the key arguments of climate-change skeptics while also pointing out that some 98 percent of published scientists in the field believe human-caused climate change is indeed happening and must be addressed. For years the two sides have been talking - or yelling - past one another, which benefits none of us. As expected, the post brought forth a wave of comments from readers. Many lambasted me for providing a forum for the "lunatics" who deny human-caused climate change. Climate skeptics, on the other hand, chastised me for only presenting their more simplistic...

Beginning in 1478, the Spanish Inquisition systematically silenced any citizen who held views that did not align with the king’s. Using the powerful arm of the government, the grand inquisitor, Tomas de Torquemada, and his henchmen sought out all those who held religious, scientific, or moral views that conflicted with the monarch’s, punishing the “heretics” with jail sentences, property confiscation, fines, and in severe cases, torture, and execution. One of the lasting results of the Spanish Inquisition was a stifling of speech, thought, and scientific debate throughout Spain. By treating one set of scientific views as absolute, infallible, and above...

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz promised Nevada voters he will transfer control of federally-held lands back to the states if he's elected. "If you trust me with your vote," Cruz says in a new ad revealed Thursday. "I will fight day and night to return full control of Nevada's lands to its rightful owners, its citizens." Cruz criticizes fellow GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump for his reluctance to champion state control of federal land. The ad begins by lamenting the fact that the federal government currently controls 85 percent of the land in Nevada, including the Lake Mead National...

A Nevada judge has refused to let a nationally known conservative lawyer join Cliven Bundy’s defense team because of ongoing disciplinary proceedings against him in Washington, D.C. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro wrote in a three-page order that she didn't think Larry Klayman has been candid about the outcome of the disciplinary proceedings. Klayman disclosed in court documents that no disciplinary action had been taken and the proceedings would likely soon be resolved in his favor, which Navarro said was “misleading and incomplete.” Navarro ruled that Klayman can reapply to represent Bundy if he...