Free Republic

A federal judge has ruled that a controversial regulation that would give the Environmental Protection Agency jurisdiction over small streams and ditches is bureaucratic overreach and has halted the implementation of the rule. The judge was not pleased with the EPA, who said they would go ahead and implement the regulation in the 37 states that did not sue to end it.

BISMARCK, N.D. — A federal judge in North Dakota on Thursday blocked a new Obama administration rule that would give the federal government jurisdiction over some state waterways. U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson of North Dakota issued a temporary injunction against a the rule, which gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers authority to protect some streams, tributaries and wetlands under the Clean Water Act. The rule was scheduled to take effect Friday. “The risk of irreparable harm to the states is both imminent and likely,” Judge Erickson said in blocking the rule from taking effect....

Lawyers for a San Juan County commissioner convicted of his role in a protest ride in Recapture Canyon are asking a judge to disqualify himself, citing his ties to an environmental group. ... Judge Shelby is “close friends” with the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance’s legal director, Stephen Bloch, who has advocated for a stiff sentence for Lyman. Judge Shelby disclosed the relationship ... Steve Bloch, on behalf of SUWA, Steve Bloch and his wife Kara are friends of mine and have been for a long, long time. I practiced with Kara at Snow Christensen starting in 1999. My wife and...

I've always liked Wes Clark. I interviewed him in 2005, when the topic of torture was new and fresh in our minds and he told me how disappointed he was in Dick Cheney. Our cell phone connection was horrible, but he called me back from the airport. I say this because when I watched this segment I was as totally shocked as Digby was. I hope he rethinks his position after he listens to what he actually said. He's talking about bringing back WWII Japanese style internment camps to America, which has always been a blight on US history.

ARKANSAS (KFSM) – Following the shooting death of four Marines in Chattanooga, Gov. Asa Hutchinson has authorized Arkansas National Guard Adjutant General Mark Berry to arm full-time military personnel. The governor also ordered the Arkansas flag to be flown at half-staff on Monday (July 20), according to a news release. “Our hearts break at the news of another senseless act of violence and terror, this time out of Chattanooga,” Governor Hutchinson said. “Our prayers go out to all the families of the victims, especially the family of Staff Sgt. David Wyatt of Russellville, one of Arkansas’s own.” He continued, “I...

Today, many are cheering the end of an era in the South. As The New York Times reports, many see the lowering of the Confederate flag from outside South Carolina’s State House as “closing a chapter on a symbol of the Deep South and its history of resistance and racial animus.” [snip] Mohammed Elibiary: "Today is a new day in the South. Gone will be the Confederacy as we create the New South. Federalism & individual rights, no states' rights." [snip] Mohammed Elibiary: "States' rights was defeated with the Confederacy in the Civil War. USA has federalism and individual rights,...

Most Americans believe that the federal government stands absolutely supreme. Nobody can question its dictates. Nobody can refuse its edicts. Nobody can resist its commands. This is simply not true. Laws passed in pursuance of the Constitution do stand as the supreme law of the land. But that doesn’t in any way imply the federal government lords over everything and everybody in America.

Everybody has an opinion about whether the Confederate flag is good or bad. They’re all dug in. Some are certain it’s racist and the very signature of evil. Others say it’s purely an expression of Southern pride and reverence for ancestors who fought and died a long time ago. Some of them have devoted careers and personal reputations to these propositions. A newspaper column is not going to change any minds. The Civil War is a big bagful of ironies and paradoxes, and not a recommended study for folks who like to keep things simple. It would be a particular...

While dissenting from the recent Supreme Court decision rubber-stamping same-sex “marriage,” Justice Antonin Scalia warned his colleagues that with “each decision ... unabashedly based not on law” the Court moves “one step closer to being reminded of [its] impotence.” And a new poll shows that another such step has in fact been taken, with more Americans supporting the idea that states should have the right to ignore federal court rulings. Writes Rasmussen Reports, “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 33% of Likely U.S. Voters now believe that states should have the right to ignore federal court rulings...

“I assume that those who cling to old beliefs will be able to whisper their thoughts in the recesses of their homes, but if they repeat those views in public, they will risk being labeled as bigots and treated as such by governments, employers, and schools. By imposing its own views on the entire country, the majority facilitates the marginalization of the many Americans who have traditional ideas.” – Justice Samuel Alito on the Supreme Court decision that forced gay marriage on the country The dilemma Christians and conservatives face after the Supreme Court's made-up-from-whole-cloth-instead-of-the-Constitution ruling on gay marriage is...

A gay El Paso couple contacted ABC-7 to report an Upper Valley wedding venue that won't let them get married there. The owner of Grace Gardens says she is exercising her religious freedom in denying same-sex marriages.

Many people are looking at the recent Supreme Court decisions about ObamaCare and same-sex marriage in terms of whether they think these are good or bad policies. That is certainly a legitimate concern, for both those who favor those policies and those who oppose them. But there is a deeper and more long-lasting impact of these decisions that raise the question whether we are still living in America, where "we the people" are supposed to decide what kind of society we want, not have our betters impose their notions on us. The Constitution of the United States says that the...

I thought Scott Walker was a pretty cool guy when I saw him pull up on a Harley at Joni Ernst’s Roast & Ride a few weeks ago in Boone, Iowa. But he just did something that wasn’t so cool in reacting to the SCOTUS decision on same-sex marriage — that is if you care about the Republicans winning the 2016 general election. Walker called for a Constitutional amendment to let states define marriage. Now I’m sure the Wisconsin governor has strong feelings about traditional marriage and, although I’m on the other side on this one, I completely respect his...

Hi I don't post on here much anymore but in the wake of this decision I thought I might as well. Civil partnership is not a religious marriage, and a religious marriage is not a civil contract. They are not, and never EVER should've been, merged and confused in the first place. Half the mess the world is in now, and the reason marriage is so under threat, is because even on the freedom loving Christian right of politics, too many people don't seem to grasp that ANY regulation of marriage at ANY level (states or federal) is an intrusion...

THE SOLUTION Now it is clear more than ever that the Federal Government needs to be checked BY THE PEOPLE AND THE STATES. Neither morality nor common sense can be 'legislated' via Congress ***effectively***. It just cannot be done adequately. We need our states to assert AS SOON AS POSSIBLE their Article V constitutional right to AMEND OUR US CONSTITUTION, Article VThe Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments,...

NCBA will engage EPA in lawsuit alleging overreach in Waters of the U.S. rule, group says. Concerns of cattlemen regarding the U.S. EPA and Army Corps of Engineers Waters of the U.S. rule released last month are coming true, National Cattlemen's Beef Association Vice President of Government Affairs Colin Woodall said Tuesday, but that's actually generating more support for repeal efforts. We just got some more feedback this last weekend that it's the determination of the EPA that any stock tank or pond that runs around in a flooding type event would be considered a 'water of the United States,'"...

The Small Business Committee, under the chairmanship of Rep. Sam Graves (R-MO), today conducted a hearing about how small businesses would be affected by the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) and United States Army Corps of Engineers' proposed rule to expand the Clean Water Act. Last week, Graves and Members of the Committee wrote to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Assistant Secretary of the Army Jo-Ellen Darcy, who oversees the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to urge withdrawal of the pending rule. Among the witnesses' and Members' concerns, the EPA and Corps of Engineers did not adequately assess the impact of...

Grand Junction, COLO. It's a hot debate that's sparked a lot of controversy in Mesa County. The updating of the Resource Management Plan has been in the works for years. It was announced a few months back, but not everyone's happy about the proposal. The Mesa County Commissioners and the Bureau of Land Management took turns speaking at the town hall meeting. The public listened to what happened in a meeting with representatives from the governor's office, in regards to the Resource Management Plan, and had the chance to share their concerns and suggestions. At last week's meeting with the...

Here is a recording of a guy calling Amazon and asking them why they stopped carrying the Confederate flag. At the end she admits the Gov't told them to.