Free Republic

Star-Ledger slams legal meddling with concealed-carry law New Jersey's biggest newspaper isn't happy about Wyoming's attempt to meddle in its gun laws. It seems Wyoming is leading a coalition of 19 states supporting a man's Supreme Court challenge to New Jersey's concealed-carry law, and the Star-Ledger think the least populated state in the union should "butt out." States "have broad powers to set gun policy, and in ours, a strong majority supports strict laws," the paper says in a blistering editorial, explaining that most people in the state don't want to worry that "the guy they’re fighting with over a...

Old Mexico Lives On Feb 1st 2014 On February 2nd 1848, following a short and one-sided war, Mexico agreed to cede more than half its territory to the United States. An area covering most of present-day Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah, plus parts of several other states, was handed over to gringolandia. The rebellious state of Tejas, which had declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, was recognised as American soil too. But a century and a half later, communities have proved more durable than borders. (snip)

How many of you missed this story? EPA overrides Congress, hands over town to Indian tribesHere's the first paragraph: Have you heard the story of the residents of Riverton, Wyo.? One day they were Wyomingans, the next they were members of the Wind River tribes — after the Environmental Protection Agency declared the town part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, undoing a 1905 law passed by Congress and angering state officials. But here's how I read it: Have you heard the story of the residents of Riverton, Wyo.? One day they were Wyomingans, the next they were members of...

Why is the EPA altering state boundaries in Wyoming - and reversing over 100 years of established law? Well, apparently the city of Riverton now falls under the jurisdiction of the Wind River Indian Reservation. Wyoming Governor Matt Mead warned of the dangers to all Americans of this type of unilateral land redistribution by the EPA: ...My deep concern is about an administrative agency of the federal government altering a state's boundary and going against over 100 years of history and law. "This should be a concern to all citizens because, if the EPA can unilaterally take land away from...

Inquiring minds are digging into a George Washington University paper on State Fiscal Conditions, a ranking of 50 states, by Sarah Arnett. PolicyMic Produced this Chart of State Fiscal Conditions based on the working paper. Highlights and Lowlights Let's return to the original working paper for some highlights and lowlights. At the bottom of the rankings are New Jersey and Illinois. New Jersey faces long-run solvency problems due in part to nearly 15 years of underfunding its state and local pensions. It has an estimated unfunded pension liability of around $25.6 billion as well as $59.3 billion in unfunded liabilities...

When Republican delegates nominate their presidential candidate this week, they will be doing it in a city where residents who support George Bush have, for all practical purposes, already been disenfranchised. Barring a tsunami of a sweep, heavily Democratic New York will send its electoral votes to John Kerry and both parties have already written New York off as a surefire blue state. The Electoral College makes Republicans in New York, and Democrats in Utah, superfluous. It also makes members of the majority party in those states feel less than crucial. It's hard to tell New York City children that...

It’s over. Well almost, anyway — all over but for the voting in the election for Wyoming’s incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi, up for a vote to give him another six years in the U.S. Senate. Liz Cheney, his competitor in the GOP primary for his job, dropped her campaign last week, citing serious health issues in her family. There’s no other serious candidate. And any as-yet-unnamed Democrat candidate would face a huge uphill battle in this deeply Republican state. Enzi knows it. His fellow senators know it. Just watch the back slaps and high fives they gave him on the...

Have you heard the story of the residents of Riverton, Wyo.? One day they were Wyomingans, the next they were members of the Wind River tribes — after the Environmental Protection Agency declared the town part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, undoing a 1905 law passed by Congress and angering state officials. The surprise decision was made by officials of the EPA, the Department of Interior, and Department of Justice early last month, and has invoked the ire of Gov. Matt Mead, who has vowed not to honor the agency’s decision and is preparing to fight in court. “My deep concern is about...

Five months after shaking Wyoming Republican politics by launching an audacious bid to unseat the state’s senior senator, Liz Cheney on Monday called an abrupt end to her chaotic campaign, citing unspecified “serious health issues” that have arisen in her family. The announcement by the ­eldest daughter of former vice president Richard B. Cheney caught her fellow Republicans by surprise, just as her decision to enter the race had in July.

Mike Enzi's conservative average: If you leave out the moderate-protecting ACU (McConnell at 100%, Graham at 92%) Enzi is at 76%. Even with the ACU, Enzi is at only 80%. Once he's safely reelected, he'll vote for McConnell for leader and will be the next Orrin Hatch or Thad Cochran, a republican that Chuck Schumer can count on for a vote when needed. Enzi (WY) - 08/19/14 - 80% (Average) - 74% (Heritage) - 71% (CFG) - 92% (ACU) - 82% (FreedomWorks) Enzi (WY) - 08/19/14 - 76% (Average) - 74% (Heritage) - 71% (CFG) - 82% (FreedomWorks)

Eighty-five of 100 U.S. senators voted to renew the president’s power to indefinitely detain Americans, denying them of their fundamental right to due process.On December 19, by a vote of 84-15 (Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, did not vote), the Senate sent the Fiscal Year 2014 version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to President Obama’s desk. Although an overwhelming majority of Republicans and Democrats signed off on the evisceration of the Bill of Rights, a small coalition of Independents, Republicans, and Democrats refused to accede to such a devastation deprivation of rights. A list of the lawmakers...

Yes, nepotism, carpetbagging and cruelty to her sister hurt -- but Cheney’s troubles show a movement near its end. OK, Liz Cheney was a carpetbagger from Virginia who had little to sell in Wyoming besides her father’s connections. Still, Vice President Dick Cheney’s daughter was not nearly as ludicrous a Senate candidate as Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, or Joe Miller of Alaska, or Sharron Angle of Nevada, or Joe Buck of Colorado, or … well, you get the point – all of whom won their 2010 Tea Party primaries against respectable conservative mainstream Republicans. That was 2010. On Sunday the...

Former Vice President Dick Cheney said he was “surprised” that his daughter Mary, who is a lesbian, publicly attacked her sister Liz on Facebook over her views on same-sex marriage. “We were surprised that there was an attack launched against Liz on Facebook, and wished it hadn’t happened,” Cheney said Tuesday during an event at the National Press Club to promote his new book. “It’s always been dealt with within the context of the family and frankly that’s our preference.” Cheney declined to address the subject further, telling the moderator, “don’t waste your time.” The Cheney sisters’ very public feud...

There are individual haters on the right and individual haters on the left. But there is no large-scale hatred in the United States of America today that compares with the hatred of the left for the right. Whereas the right regards the left as wrong -- even destructively wrong -- the left regards all those on the right as evil. Sexist, intolerant, xenophobic, homophobic, Islamophobic, racist, bigoted -- these are typical descriptions of the right made by the most respected names on the left. This hatred is what enabled MSNBC's Martin Bashir to broadcast -- reading from a teleprompter, meaning...

A Bush, a Cheney, and a Carter will be on the ballot next year, but this is no ’80s flashback or stroll down memory lane. In the 2014 midterm races, the children and grandchildren of former presidents and a vice president are all trying to make their own political names. The latest addition to a growing list is Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, who announced Thursday he’s running for governor of Georgia. The Democratic state senator will try to unseat incumbent Republican Gov. Nathan Deal. Jason Carter Meanwhile, Liz Cheney – the daughter of former Vice...

U. S. Senator Mike Enzi has served Wyoming well. He is likable and effective in working with both Republicans and Democrats in our nation’s capital. But competition in politics can often bring out the best in candidates. And that’s why we welcome the news that Liz Cheney will be challenging Enzi in Wyoming’s Republican Primary. Quite simply, the political process works better when there is a competition between able people presenting forceful arguments. Voters deserve a real choice. We consider unopposed races to be detrimental to the entire process.

Countering many of his Republican colleagues, former Vice President Dick Cheney said Monday the tea party is actually a positive movement for the GOP. “It’s an uprising, in part, and the good thing is it’s taken place within the Republican Party,” he said on NBC’s “Today.” “I don’t see it as a negative. I think it’s much better to have that kind of ferment and turmoil and change in the Republican Party than it would be to have it outside.” Mr. Cheney said that if it wasn’t for the tea party, his daughter, Liz, might not be seeking to unseat...

Liz Cheney, oldest daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, is ending her bid to run for Wyoming's U.S. Senate seat, citing health issues in her family. WASHINGTON — Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, said Monday she is abandoning her effort to unseat Republican incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi of Wyoming. Cheney cited "serious health issues" that "have recently arisen in our family" as the reason for her decision. But her candidacy had raised hackles in the Republican Party and caused a public rift with her sister, Mary, a lesbian, over Liz Cheney's opposition to gay marriage....

I’m tempted to call this a clever Cheney family ploy to burnish Liz’s conservative credentials ahead of her primary against Mike Enzi, except … Enzi’s opposed to gay marriage too. It may help her pass a tea-party litmus test but it doesn’t actually gain her anything against the incumbent. On the contrary, all the attention to this subject is likely to remind Wyoming conservatives not only that the Cheney family is notably pro-gay among Republican royalty — Dick Cheney’s other daughter is herself married to a woman — but that Liz herself was widely assumed to be pro-SSM based on...

They were the towheaded sisters who tagged along on campaigns, polite and smiling, as their father rose through Wyoming and then Washington politics to become one of the most powerful men in the country. “We were as close as sisters can be,” recalled Mary Cheney of her relationship with her older sister, Liz. But now, a feud between the two has spilled into public view, involving social media, an angry same-sex spouse, a high-profile election and a father who feels uncomfortably caught between his two children.