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Mr. X XX Reno, NV Dear Mr. X: Thank you for contacting me. I appreciate hearing from you. Throughout my time in Congress, I have done all I can to protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Nevadans. As a gun owner, I welcomed the Supreme Court's decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, which made clear that each and every law-abiding citizen has an individual constitutional right to keep and bear arms. Over the years it has been my firm conviction that we must work to protect this right by enforcing laws that keep guns away from terrorists and...

It’s not often that the confiscation crowd is nakedly honest, but when they think they’re just preaching to the choir, they might forget the heathens are listening, too. That was the case in Sunday’s New York Times column by Maureen Dowd when Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy blurted out the real goal of the gun grabbers: Getting weapons out of your hands means getting the vote out of your hands, too. “You’re not going to disenfranchise the NRA overnight,” Murphy told Dowd. “Disenfranchise.” This isn’t the usual, misty-eyed “if it will save one life” claptrap; and the speaker isn’t some unshaven...

Washington (CNN) -- An envelope that tested positive for the deadly poison ricin was intercepted Tuesday afternoon at the U.S. Capitol's off-site mail facility in Washington, congressional and law enforcement sources tell CNN.

This is not good at all. CNN is reporting that an envelope that was sent to a Senator (unnamed) has tested positive for ricin poisoning. It’s been tested at least three times and each time it came up positive. The mail facility is off-site so the ricin is not in the Capitol. Watch the report from CNN:

Not thinking anyone is surprised about This but CNN is reporting that: Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, became the second Republican senator not involved in negotiating a bipartisan background check measure to say she will support it, according to a statement Sunday. She described the bill as a responsible compromise between two senators - Sens. Pat Toomey, R-Pennsylvania, and Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia - who have strong ratings from the National Rifle Association. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, has indicated his support for the deal.

A state representative in Massachussetts is being investigated after allegedly sending pictures of his genitals to a government computer. The investigation is ongoing and the committee has not formally reprimanded the individual in charge, but it is being widely reported that Democratic State Representative John Fresolo is the one behind the scandal. He allegedly sent 'lascivious photos of his privates' to a computer at the State House, and an aide complained to the Ethics Committee to start the investigation. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2297618/Massachusetts-lawmaker-took-pictures-genitals-female-coworkers-computer.html#ixzz2OO43f4D7 Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Richest U.S. Senator, John Kerry, Rails Against 'Corrupting' Money in Politics in Farewell Address January 30, 2013 By DANIEL HALPERJohn Kerry, the richest U.S. senator, railed against the "corrupting" power of money in politics in his farewell address today on the floor of the United States Senate: (click to the site to view the video) "There's another challenge that we must address and it is the corrupting force of the vast sums of money necessary to run for office," said Kerry. "The unending chase for money I believe threatens to steal our democracy itself. I've used the word 'corrupting' and...

Anti-Gun Senator Shoots Intruder State Senator R.C. Soles (D - NC) Long time Anti-Gun Advocate State Senator R.C. Soles, 74, shot one of two intruders at his home just outside Tabor City, N.C. about 5 p.m. Sunday, the prosecutor for the politician's home county said. The intruder, Kyle Blackburn, was taken to a South Carolina hospital, but the injuries were not reported to be life-threatening, according to Rex Gore, district attorney for Columbus, Bladen andBrunswick counties. The State Bureau of Investigation and Columbus County Sheriff's Department are investigating the shooting, Gore said. Soles, who was not arrested,declined to discuss the...

Just one day removed from the House, Barney Frank says he wants to get back to Washington. Frank, speaking today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” said he told Gov. Deval Patrick he wants to be interim senator when Sen. John Kerry is named secretary of state. “A month ago, or a few weeks ago, I said I wasn’t interested,” Frank said. “It was kind of like you’re about to graduate, and they said: ‘You gotta go to summer school.’ But (the fiscal cliff) deal now means that February, March and April are going to be among the most important months in...

<p>The following letter, written by U.S. Marine Joshua Boston and headlined “No ma’am.,” was posted in the CNN iReport on Dec. 27 with the included note from the producer and photo. It has struck a nerve with many and is being circulated around social media venues like Twitter and Facebook.</p>

“I know the sense of helplessness that people feel. I know the urge to arm yourself because that’s what I did. I was trained in firearms. I walked to the hospital when my husband was sick. I carried a concealed weapon and I made the determination if somebody was going to try and take me out, I was going to take them with me,” said Feinstein. Hypocrisy Feinstein? Despite calling in the same year for an outright ban on all firearms, Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is set to introduce legislation that would gut the second amendment, said in 1995 that...

Jim Treacher's right. Publishing this bilge is really just the Time's way of calling him a cornball brother.Of the offense of Disagreeing With The Left While Black, Tim Scott stands guilty as charged: But this “first black” rhetoric tends to interpret African-American political successes — including that of President Obama — as part of a morality play that dramatizes “how far we have come.” It obscures the fact that modern black Republicans have been more tokens than signs of progress ...Even if the Republicans managed to distance themselves from the thinly veiled racism of the Tea Party adherents who have...

It's looking increasingly likely that Sen. John Kerry has the nomination for secretary of State pretty well locked up, and in the event that he steps down, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will have to appoint an interim replacement to steward his Senate seat before the Bay State can hold a special election later this spring or summer. Ed wondered this morning if we mightn't be looking at another failed presidential candidate as Kerry's placeholder in the meantime, but according to Dukakis himself, that won’t be the case. Via CBS News: CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO   Former Gov. Michael...

<p>The Associated Press has learned that a registered sex offender working as an unpaid intern for Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey is facing deportation after being arrested by federal immigration authorities.</p>

Former Sen. Warren B. Rudman, who co-authored a ground-breaking budget balancing law, championed ethics and led a commission that predicted the danger of homeland terrorist attacks before 9/11, has died. He was 82.

Joseph E. Baldwin Jr., 23, of 26 Lathrop St., was sentenced to the Illinois State Penal Farm for 11 months and placed on three years probation Friday after he pleaded guilty to a charge of reckless homicide. Baldwin, a novelty salesman, pleaded guilty to the charge in July after the car he was driving crashed into a semi-trailer near Danville, Ill., killing his passenger, Robert M. Clark, 19, of Champaign, Ill. The court granted 60 days reduction in the jail sentence to compensate for time has has already spent in the Vermillion County Jail.

SEX SCANDAL TO HIT CAMPAIGN... STORY SAID TO INVOLVE POWERFUL SENATOR, SOURCES TELL DRUDGE. DAILY CALLER PLANS LATE NIGHT RELEASE...

The domestic violence in Shepard’s past is both shocking and repulsive in detail. On February 15, 1998, police were called to then-Mrs. Shepard’s house (the couple had been separated since June of the previous year) by a girlfriend. According to the police report (.pdf file), Mrs. Shepard said of her husband: Read on. Joseph entered my home. I told him to leave. He came up to me looking angry. I put my hands up to protect my breasts as they are sore (cancer). He has hit me before in the breast. He grabbed my wrist and arm and pushed me...

Like father, like son. Jason Thompson, the son of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, was caught on video Sunday suggesting at a Republican event that voters this fall could send President Barack Obama back "to Kenya." "We have the opportunity to send President Obama back to Chicago - or Kenya," Jason Thompson, an attorney at Michael Best and Friedrich, said during a fall brunch hosted by the Kenosha County Republican Party.

An Ohio senator wants to give $1 billion from a General Motors stock sale to salaried Delphi Automotive retirees who lost much of their pension coverage during the supplier’s bankruptcy proceedings, but the Delphi Salaried Retirees Association says it prefers another solution.

OMAHA, Neb.—State Sen. Brenda Council has apologized for misusing more than $60,000 in campaign donations at casinos and filing false reports to conceal it. Attorney General Jon Bruning says Council agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of filing false campaign reports that omit the casino withdrawals and cash deposits. In a statement, Council says she "made an error in judgment," and that she takes "full responsibility." She says she's receiving professional treatment for a gambling addiction and will not "give up or quit fighting for the issues."

Regarding the DNC Convention.. How dare the Democrats honor a creep who plunged his car into a channel at Chappaquiddick then departed the scene out of concern only for himself, while his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne drown in his car. What kind of 'compassionate man' does this? What are they smoking at the DNC convention? Is Ted Kennedy's behavior that night simply erased from history along with Barack Obama's close ties to a man who attempted to bomb our Pentagon (Bill Ayers)?SENATOR KENNEDY WAITED 10 HOURS TO REPORT HIS ACCIDENT, without any regard to the well-being of the woman in...

NY Senator Says She Expects to be ArrestedState Sen. Shirley Huntley from Queens is facing New York City Councilman James Sanders Jr. in a tough Sept. 13 Democratic primary. By Michael Gormley | Saturday, Aug 25, 2012 | Updated 6:46 PM EDT A veteran New York state senator said Saturday that she expects to be arrested Monday in the state's continuing investigation into the use of pork-barrel grants by legislators. Sen. Shirley Huntley, a Queens Democrat, didn't indicate what the charge against her might be. Huntley founded a nonprofit social service and education group that Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is...

A week before his big speech at the Republican National Convention, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio made a dry run of sorts in an appearance Wednesday at Forum Club of the Palm Beaches luncheon. And his request to keep the press from videotaping Wednesday’s talk has one local newspaper accusing the senator of censorship. It’s an allegation that political analyst Jack Furnari called “hyperventilating.”

A senator for Mae Hong Son has told police he accidentally shot and killed his personal secretary with a submachine gun in a restaurant in Phrae province, a duty officer at Wang Chin police station said on Monday. Senator Boonsong Kowawisarat The shooting occurred at a restaurant in Wang Chin district of the northern province on Sunday night, Pol Lt Choosak Poonsawat said. Boonsong Kowawisarat, 55, and his personal assistant Chanakarn Detkard, 46, were travelling to Bangkok in the senator's car and stopped for dinner at a restaurant on a local road in moo 2 in tambon Mae Keng, Phrae....

Pirkowski By Erin MillerWest Hawaii Todayemiller@westhawaiitoday.com Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Eddie Pirkowski sees one overriding issue facing Hawaii this election.“It’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs,” he said. “We’ve had a large drop in the number of open positions. I’m all about building relationships between Hawaii companies and the rest of the companies across the country to bring jobs here.”Pirkowski, an engineer-turned-CEO, said he sees room for Hawaii to increase its presence in the technology industry.“I’d love to build a Silicon Valley here in Hawaii,” he said.Close behind jobs for Pirkowski is the issue of taxes.“I want to cut taxes,”...

Eddie Pirkowski Answers U.S. Senate Candidate Survey By The Civil Beat Staff 07/18/2012 Courtesy of the Pirkowski Campaign Editor's Note: In June 2012, Civil Beat sent 10 questions to each of the candidates registered to run in the Aug. 11 primary for the U.S. Senate. Eight of the 11 responded, including Eddie Pirkowski. The questions and answers are reproduced below in full. Read responses by Ed Case, Mazie Hirono and Linda Lingle to see how Pirkowski's positions compare to those of his main competitors. Click on each topic listed below to read Civil Beat's question and Pirkowski's response. Drone Strikes...

It didn't take long after ObamaCare was upheld by the Supreme Court for CNN to browbeat Republicans about accepting defeat and getting behind the law. Anchor Brooke Baldwin asked Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) on Thursday afternoon why he was still fighting a law opposed by a majority of Americans. "You lost in 2010 when this law was passed, you lost again today. Yet you are still pushing for the repeal of this law. Doesn't that make you look kind of like a sore loser?" Baldwin obnoxiously asked.

Senate Democrats balk at ending Bush-era tax rates for wealthyBy Alexander Bolton - 06/19/12 05:00 AM ET A growing number of Senate Democrats are signaling they are not prepared to raise taxes on anyone in the weak economy unless Congress approves a grand bargain to reduce the deficit. At least seven Democratic senators have declined to rule out supporting a temporary extension of the Bush-era income tax rates, breaking with party leaders who have called for letting the rates expire for people earning more than $1 million per year. That gives Senate Republicans a chance to push a temporary extension...

Senate Republican leaders on Tuesday said there should be an investigation of Attorney General Eric Holder, but stopped short of joining Sen. John Cornyn’s (R-Texas) call for his resignation. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) told reporters that many GOP lawmakers share Cornyn’s frustrations with the Justice Department. “We certainly need to have an investigation of what has happened, and I think John Cornyn speaks for a lot of us as to the frustration we feel about not only the national security leaks, the "Fast and Furious" matter — there's been a whole litany of problems coming out of the...

Senator John Cornyn, (R-TX) called on Attorney General Eric Holder to resign during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today in Washington. CORNYN: You’ve violated the public trust in my view by failing to perform the duties of your office. So, Mr. Attorney General it is with more sorrow than with regret and anger that I would say you leave me with no alternative but to join those who call on you to resign your office… HOLDER: Senator, with all due respect there is so much wrong with the premises that you started your statement with it’s almost breathtaking in its...

Elizabeth Warren insists: I would be Massachusetts’ first Native American senatorBy Alex Pappas - The Daily Caller | The Daily Caller – 19 hrs ago Democratic Massachusetts U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren isn’t backing down from her claims of Native American heritage, telling a Fox television affiliate in Boston that she would be the state’s first senator with Indian blood if she were to defeat Republican Sen. Scott Brown in November. Asked by FOX 25′s Sharman Sacchetti on Friday if she would be Massachusetts’ first Native American senator, Warren responded: “I would be their first senator — so far as...

Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine, who for 33 years in Congress has personified an increasingly unfashionable Republican centrism, said she won't seek re-election, taking a final shot at the Senate's partisanship. "I do find it frustrating...that an atmosphere of polarization and 'my way or the highway' ideologies has become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions," she said Tuesday. The decision, which took members of both parties by surprise, transforms this year's battle for the Senate. Democrats hold a 53-47 advantage in the chamber. But because they have to defend 23 seats to the Republicans' 10, most analysts have...

“If Romney cannot win Michigan, we need a new candidate,” said the senator, who has not endorsed anyone and requested anonymity. The senator believes Romney will ultimately win in Michigan but says he will publicly call for the party to find a new candidate if he does not. “We’d get killed,” the senator said if Romney manages to win the nomination after he failed to win the state in which he grew up.

A faux pax by Senator Diane Feinstein outed the presence of Mossad chief Tamir Pardo in Washington to discuss a possible strike on Iran. Mossad director Tamir Pardo is in Washington for talks about a possible attack on Iran's nuclear installations, Israel's Channel 2 reported on Tuesday. Pardo's visit, which would normally be conducted in secret, was revealed by US Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, 78, who made the faux pax at committee hearing. The hearing was being broadcast live by US television. Feinstein said she had spoken with Pardo, who also met with CIA director David Petraeus, adding...

So an ex-senator walks into a comedy club . . . That's not the setup to a joke - it's what happened Tuesday night when Arlen Specter took the stage at the Helium Comedy Club's open-mike night in Center City. "I've been in comedy now for 30 years," the former senator explained. Taking a try at stand-up was a natural step after spending so many years in the "sit-down comedy" of Congress - and, Specter noted, it was considerably less expensive. While some of his jokes are unprintable in a family newspaper - don't ask about the paraplegic who wanted...

usa today http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2011/12/ben-nelson-retirement/1

Brooklyn Senator Expected to Plead Guilty in Corruption CaseBy WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM and BENJAMIN WEISER Published: December 19, 2011 State Senator Carl Kruger was expected to plead guilty on Tuesday to federal corruption charges that he accepted at least $1 million in bribes to finance a lavish lifestyle, including a large home in Mill Basin, Brooklyn, where he lived with two gynecologist brothers and their mother, according to several people briefed on the case. One of the brothers, Michael Turano, who was also charged in the corruption case unveiled in the spring, was expected to plead guilty along with Mr....

The endorsement of a powerful gun-rights group is up for grabs in a key Senate race. The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) decision on whether to endorse Democratic incumbent Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) or Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg (Mont.) could be the deciding factor in what is expected to be a close contest. Political analysts say that the winner of this election could determine which party will control the Senate in January of 2013. Tester and Rehberg have strong gun rights voting records. The NRA gives Tester an A grade and Rehberg an A+. A Montana State University-Billings poll released earlier...

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee says the Justice Department has refused to make available 11 of 12 department witnesses called by the panel for transcribed interviews in the ongoing investigation of the botched Fast and Furious weapons operation. Sen. Chuck Grassley said that despite the department’s promises of good faith cooperation in the probe, only one witness has been provided so far - former U.S. Attorney Dennis Burke in Arizona, who resigned in August after taking responsibility for his mistakes during testimony about Fast and Furious before a House committee. “The department has refused to schedule interviews...

Counterfeit military parts from China a ‘clear and present danger,’ senators sayBy John T. Bennett - 11/08/11 02:46 PM ET Senate Armed Services Committee leaders are fashioning a plan that would force the Defense Department to step up efforts to prevent counterfeit parts from being used on U.S. military platforms. The panel said a probe it launched in March has uncovered what senators of both parties labeled alarming evidence that most of the counterfeit components come from China, America’s top economic and military competitor. “During the course of the committee’s investigation, virtually every one of the dozens of people our...

Russell and Patricia Caswell are a hard-working couple who may soon have their American Dream taken from them by the unholy alliance of local and federal law enforcement officials seeking to cash in on the Caswell’s property. The Caswells face this dilemma even though they have broken no law and have spent their entire professional career working to combat crime with the very police force that now seeks to take their property though civil forfeiture. What is happening to Russ and Pat, however, is by no means an isolated instance and local law enforcement’s end-run around state laws designed to...

Author of Durbin amendment doesnt like a bank reacting to the negative effect of his amendment. “Bank of America customers, vote with your feet, get the heck out of that bank,” Durbin said on the Senate floor.

White House kept Democratic senators hanging on phoneBy Alexander Bolton - 10/04/11 05:30 AM ET President Obama’s relations with Senate Democratic leaders are deteriorating along with his poll numbers. With Obama’s approval ratings at record lows and the 2012 electoral map favoring Senate Republicans, the president and Senate Democrats are, in many ways, on divergent paths. Vulnerable Democrats from red states see Obama as impeding their chances of winning reelection, while the president often seems aloof to their concerns. Obama, focused on winning a second term, has distanced himself from Congress altogether, at times not making the distinction between Republicans...

Secret Service Agent-Turned Senate Hopeful: ‘I Like the President,’ but ‘Policies Just Wrong’ After more than a decade protecting presidents with the Secret Service, Daniel Bongino is currently running against the policies that the most recent president he worked under – President Obama – has moved along. Bongino, who quit his job with the Secret Service in May to run for the Senate as a Republican in Maryland, told us on ABC’s “Top Line” today that it’s nothing personal. “I like the president a lot personally. We had a good relationship. He was a wonderful man to me, and this...

Well, it looks like we have a new Anthony Weiner in town. A Puerto Rican TV show called Dando Candela presented Republican Senator Roberto Arango with naked pictures found on the Internet that they claimed were of him. He wouldn’t deny the allegations, saying he had taken photos like that but only to document his weight loss. Of course, that doesn’t explain the fact that the pictures were found on Grindr, a hook up site for gay and bisexual men.

March Rubio's recent speech at the Reagan Library.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy is promoting a bill to suspend U.S. assistance to three elite Israel Defense Forces units, alleging they are involved in human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Leahy, a Democrat and senior member of the U.S. Senate, wants assistance withheld from the Israel Navy's Shayetet 13 unit, the undercover Duvdevan unit and the Israel Air Force's Shaldag unit. (Snip) According to a senior Israeli official in Jerusalem, Leahy began promoting the legislation in recent months after he was approached by voters in his home state of Vermont.

Final two recall elections could lead to state’s first tea party senatorJESSICA VANEGEREN | The Capital Times Posted: Thursday, August 11, 2011 8:15 am Wednesday morning, just hours after state Republicans learned they had retained control of the state Senate by defeating four of the six Democratic challengers in the state’s historic recall elections, a flurry of activity began in the two remaining Senate districts up for grabs on Tuesday, Aug. 16, the fourth and final recall election day. The seats, held by Democratic incumbents Jim Holperin of Conover and Robert Wirch of Pleasant Prairie, are the last of the...