Free Republic

To keep conservative rebels in check, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and his allies have been doling out punishments at an aggressive clip in the 114th Congress. From kicking unruly members off the Rules Committee and GOP whip team to stripping a lawmaker of his subcommittee gavel, leadership has been growing more comfortable with taking retaliatory measures to try to enforce party discipline. But several Tea Party targets haven’t gone quietly. They’ve been fighting back with help from Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan’s conservative House Freedom Caucus, which successfully pressured leaders this week to return a subcommittee gavel to one of their...

The new Bureau of Land Management rules regarding fracking on federal lands were just about to go into effect this month, pleasing environmental activists no end since it would make the process essentially untenable. But several states, along with energy company interests, had filed suit to protest the excessively heavy handed rules and a federal judge has now shut down the implementation of these restrictions pending further review. A federal judge in Wyoming has temporarily blocked implementation of the Obama administrationÂ’s regulations for hydraulic fracturing on federal land, hours before they were set to take effect. The late Tuesday decision...

CHEYENNE — The town of Jackson and a local government insurance pool have agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a Nevada pastor and a national anti-abortion group over his arrest during a 2011 anti-abortion protest. The settlement of the lawsuit filed by the Rev. Chester E. Gallagher of Las Vegas and the group Operation Save America against Jackson and a former police lieutenant in the town's police department is a vindication, said lawyer Jack Edwards, who represented the plaintiffs. The settlement was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Cheyenne. "It's a victory...

The Chechen parliament have threatened to send weapons to Mexico in retaliation to the U.S. Congress calling for defensive lethal aid to be sent to Ukraine. On Tuesday, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly in favour of sending arms - the resolution was passed 348 to 48. U.S. senator for Wisconsin Ron Johnson branded it "absolutely necessary" that president Obama provide lethal and nonlethal military assistance to Ukraine, in light of the attacks by Russian-backed rebels on civilians in Mariupol in January. In response, Chechnya's parliamentary speaker Dukuvakha Abdurakhmanov said that the U.S. has "no right" to advise Russia...

LARAMIE, Wyo. – Trucks and cars piled into one another Monday in dense fog on Interstate 80 in southeast Wyoming, resulting in a fiery chain-reaction crash that killed one person, injured 16 and sent up a column of thick black smoke. The crash in a rural area 18 miles west of Laramie occurred four days after several pileups during a blinding snowstorm closed the busy interstate for two days.

Maine may be the most likely state to pass constitutional carry next.  The state is one of those which has has preserved open carry without government permission, though that applies to over 60% of the states.   In addition, it has a quirky shall issue permit system that gives a little bit of arbitrary power, in the form of a "good moral character" requirement, to local police or to elected officials, if there is no police chief.  The system was created in 1985, one of the early "shall issue" laws. These characteristics have lead to an effective campaign to reform...

Republicans believe a Supreme Court ruling against ObamaCare this summer would give them leverage to force President Obama to scrap the healthcare law's central pillars. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), who is leading the Senate GOP’s response to King v. Burwell, said Republicans will be willing to strike a deal with Obama to ensure that the 7.5 million people who stand to lose their subsidies are protected, at least until the 2016 elections. But in return, they would demand that Obama to do something he has long resisted: nix the employer and individual mandates for insurance coverage. “Is the president going...

Senators on Wednesday blocked a Republican push to tie Iran's support of terrorism to a final deal on the country's nuclear program. Senators voted 45-54 on the amendment from Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), which would have required President Obama to certify as part of a diplomatic deal that Iran hasn't carried out or directly supported an act of terror against the United States or a U.S. citizen. Republican Sens. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Dan Coats (Ind.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Orrin Hatch (Utah) and John McCain (Ariz.) voted with Democrats against the amendment....

U.S. crude oil production fell at least 135,000 barrels of oil per day in January 2015 compared to December 2014 according to the EIA (Figure 1). Bakken Shale production fell the most of any play or jurisdiction losing 37,000 barrels per day in North Dakota and 4,000 barrels per day in Montana for a total of 41,000 barrels of oil per day (Figure 2). Production in California, the offshore Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and Wyoming also declined significantly. Figure 3 shows Bakken production based on DrillingInfo data. The 42,000 barrels of oil per day drop in January production is completely...

Republican Sen. David Vitter’s bid to subpoena details about Congress’s treatment under Obamacare bitterly divided his own party Thursday, with five GOP senators balking at his attempt to force the D.C. health exchange to name who signed off on Capitol Hill’s use of the city’s insurance portal. Mr. Vitter, of Louisiana and chairman of the Small Business Committee, swiftly condemned his colleagues for voting with committee Democrats to reject his maneuver, 5 to 14. He said Congress’s arrangement with the city’s small-business exchange, or “SHOP,” provides lawmakers and staff with financial perks above and beyond what regular Obamacare customers can...

A 150-mile stretch of Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Rawlins, Wyoming, remained closed Friday afternoon, more than 20 hours after major wrecks involving dozens of semi trucks forced police to close it down. Blinding, blowing snow hit southern Wyoming Thursday, creating impossible driving conditions that police say likely led to a series of three wrecks along the interstate. More than 30 commercial vehicles and 12 passenger cars were involved. Photos show the semi trucks piled up on one another. No one was killed, but about a dozen people were hospitalized.  Poor weather continued to hammer the area into Friday, complicating...

The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is one of the icons of the Cold War - a self-contained and sufficient town buried under the Rockies meant to be impervious to a Soviet nuclear barrage. It was home to the North American Aerospace Command (NORAD), scanning the skies for Russian missiles and the military command and control center of the United States in the event of World War Three. The high tech base entered popular culture with appearances in the 1983 Cold War thriller War Games and 1994's Stargate - which imagined the complex as a clandestine home for intergalactic travel. It shut...

The American Civil Liberties Union this week laid off 23 employees, about 7 percent of the organization’s national staff. The cuts affected employees in New York, D.C., California and Wyoming. ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero announced the impending reductions internally in a March 26 email to employees, and the affected staffers were notified Monday. In the email, which was obtained by The Washington Post, Romero cited the need for the ACLU to cut costs. In addition to the layoffs, the organization during the fiscal year ending March 31, eliminated ten national staff positions, postponed its nationwide staff conference to 2016...

Mr. Magoo could have seen this coming with a sack over his head: Jeran Artery, Chairman of Wyoming Equality argued that churches who do not support same sex marriage should lose their tax exempt status. The overeager homofascists at Wyoming Equality appear to be offside with their demand. They deleted the post. But here’s a screen shot of the wording: After liberal fascists have established that it is no longer acceptable for pizzeria owners to refrain from endorsing homosexual “marriage,” a full-bore attack on churches is inevitable. The whole point of choosing homosexuals as a cudgel to club traditional America...

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A team of Air Force Global Strike Command Airmen launched an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile equipped with a test reentry vehicle today at 3:53 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The test reentry vehicle impacted in a pre-established test area in the Pacific Ocean near the island of Guam approximately 40 minutes after launch. All test launches verify the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM weapon system, providing valuable data to ensure a safe, secure and effective nuclear deterrent. The launch team, under the direction of the 576th...

Nye's tweet apparently suggests that climate change is to blame for the supposed lack of snow on the slopes around Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Michelle Malkin and JunkScience.com have already debunked much of this tweet, the latter by showing that Nye's picture was not of Jackson Hole, but instead of Jackson – and the former by illustrating that there was anything but an absence of snow in Jackson Hole.

Forty-seven Senate Republicans are signaling in an open letter to Iran and the White House that a deal over Tehran’s nuclear program will be at risk once President Obama leaves office. “It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system,” the senators wrote in the letter, which was first reported by Bloomberg. “Thus, we are writing to bring to your attention two features of our Constitution — the power to make binding international agreements and the different character of federal offices — which you should seriously...

Travel information for Interstate 80 is as follows: Last update at: Mar 03, 2015 06:06 am...Road Closed Due To Winter Conditions...All travelers are encouraged to check present conditions and forecasts before departing. Cameras [Be sure to see the Webcams for the "Road Closed Due To Winter Conditions" locales.

Crime Prevention Research Center's John Lott talking about gun-free zones on Wyoming Capitol Outlook, Wyoming Public Television

Kansas appears on the verge of becoming among the most welcoming states to people who want to pack heat. A bill promising Kansans the ability to carry concealed firearms — without taking safety training or weathering the background checks required in most of the country — won initial approval in the state Senate on Wednesday. The change, expected to pass Thursday to a likely receptive House, would make Kansas a “constitutional carry” state. That would mean citizens would not need a permit to carry a hidden gun. The bill would maintain the current permit process for people who want to...