Free Republic

Land Management: A Chinese solar farm that fries birds is OK, as is redrawing tortoise habitat boundaries to benefit political donors. But an American rancher grazing his cattle brings feds with sniper rifles. It appears Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy has, at least temporarily, wonhis "range war" with the paramilitary wing of the Bureau of Land Management. Fearing another Waco, BLM has announced it will no longer enforce a court order and stop stealing Bundy's cows, called "trespass cattle" by the feds, accused of grazing free on part of the 84% of Nevada that is federal property.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said little as federal agents seized and then released cattle last week from the Bundy ranch, but there is little doubt that the highly charged episode was threatening to become a political headache for the Nevada Democrat. The Bureau of Land Management is headed by former longtime Reid aide Neil Kornze, who was confirmed by the Senate as BLM director on Tuesday, just as federal authorities descended on the cattle ranch outside Mesquite, Nev.

With the “outrageous lawbreaker” Cliven Bundy and four of his sons in custody, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid of Nevada took to the Senate floor Thursday to renew his push to preserve the scenic Gold Butte area northeast of Las Vegas. “Because of trouble caused by the Bundys and their pals, the federal employees tasked with safely guarding these antiquities, were prevented from doing their jobs,” he said. Reid also called attention in his speech to the armed takeover of a government wildlife refuge in Oregon earlier this year “by a dangerous group of militants” that included Bundy family members. Reid...

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...