Wyoming Officials Take EPA to Court After Ruling Gives Land (including Entire City) to Tribes

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Photo Credit: Fox News Wyoming officials are taking the Environmental Protection Agency to court in a bid to reverse a sweeping agency ruling that transferred more than 1 million acres of land — including an entire city — to Native American tribes.

Wyoming Attorney General Peter K. Michael filed his state’s appeal Friday morning before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The state wants either the EPA to reverse, or the courts to overturn, a December ruling on a request from the Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone tribes.

The tribes had sought “state status” in order to administer air quality monitoring. The EPA, in the course of reviewing the request, determined the land in question actually belongs to the Wind River Indian Reservation and has for more than a century, despite a 1905 law opening it to non-tribal members.

The decision, which encompassed the city of Riverton, caused intense controversy as officials warned about a range of disruptive consequences, including the possibility that jailed tribal members could now challenge their convictions.

Offering some relief, the EPA earlier this week agreed to put its own decision on hold at the request of the state and the tribes themselves. The state was the first to ask for a stay, calling the decision “arbitrary” and “wrong.” But the tribes followed suit, in the interest of soothing tensions.

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Dirty Dozen: 12 Senate Republicans Who Voted to Silence Ted Cruz

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Photo Credit: D.C. Clothesline Everyone knew that the debt-ceiling deal would pass through the Senate on Wednesday. Even Ted Cruz had to know it. As soon as the House passed the deal on Tuesday, the writing was on the wall.

Even so, Ted Cruz promised to fight for America once again and filibuster the legislation. Would that have changed things? More than likely it would not have changed the vote. But Ted Cruz is the voice of a lot of Americans who are fed up with the Washington D.C. “business as usual” crowd. Evidently tee times and the beltway bar scene are more important than listening to the voice of an elected representative, because 12 republicans turned on Ted Cruz Wednesday including his own Texas sidekick, John Cornyn.

This morning I feel like my own tongue was cut out, because there are few in the Senate who speak for me and Ted Cruz is one of them.

The Senate vote for cloture passed 67-31 and could not have passed without republican votes. 60 votes were needed. These are the 12 who voted to silence Ted Cruz as reported by The Hill:

The Republicans who voted in favor of ending debate were McConnell, Cornyn, Hatch, McCain, Corker and Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Mike Johanns (Neb.), Mark Kirk (Ill.), John Barasso (Wyo.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and John Thune (S.D.). Thune and Barasso are also members of leadership.

Read more from this story HERE.

Court Overturns Concealed-Carry Rule in Blow to California Gun Law

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Photo Credit: ReutersBy Dan Whitcomb.

A federal appeals court on Thursday struck down a requirement by San Diego County that residents show “good cause” to carry a concealed firearm, a ruling that could force local governments across California to revisit the way they license handguns.

A three-member panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, acting on a 2009 lawsuit, ruled in a 2-1 decision that San Diego County’s restrictions amounted to an unconstitutional infringement on citizens’ Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

Coupled with a California state law that largely bans the open carrying of firearms in public, San Diego County’s “good cause” rules on concealed weapons effectively bar residents from carrying a gun altogether, the panel said.

“In California, the only way that the typical, responsible, law-abiding citizen can carry a weapon in public for the lawful purpose of self-defense is with a concealed carry permit. And, in San Diego County, that option has been taken off the table,” Justice Thomas O’Scannlain wrote in the 77-page opinion for the majority.

California, which has enacted some of the nation’s strictest gun laws, allows residents to carry a concealed weapon if they meet several requirements, including completing a training course, demonstrating good moral character and establishing “good cause” to have the gun.

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Photo Credit: ReutersCalif. concealed weapon law tossed by fed appeals court

By Associated Press.

A divided federal appeals court on Thursday struck down California’s concealed weapons rules, saying they violate the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

By a 2-1 vote, the three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said California was wrong to require applicants to show good cause to receive a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

“The right to bear arms includes the right to carry an operable firearm outside the home for the lawful purpose of self-defense,” Judge Diarmuid O’Scannlain wrote for the majority.

Judge Sidney Thomas dissented, writing that the good cause requirement limited the number of people carrying concealed handguns in public to those legitimately in need.

“It limits the risk to public safety by reducing the number of guns in public circulation, but allows those who will most likely need to defend themselves in public to carry a handgun,” Thomas wrote.

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Alaska Tops Standard of Living Index

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Photo Credit: Jessica Lynn Culver / Getty ImagesResidents of Alaska are the more satisfied with and optimistic about their standard of living than Americans in any other state, while people in West Virginia are the least satisfied, according to a new poll.

The Gallup survey released Thursday put Alaska in first on a broad measure of satisfaction. Throughout 2013, the pollster asked almost 180,000 adults in all 50 states two questions: how satisfied they are with their standard of living and whether they feel that standard is getting better or worse. Out of a maximum score of 100—achieved only if 100 percent of respondents say they’re happy with their standard and it’s getting better—Alaska came in first at 53, followed closely by the oil-rich land of North Dakota and the sunny state of Hawaii. Residents of West Virginia scored a last-place 22, followed by glum Maine at 31 and gloomy Rhode Island at 32.

Read more from this story HERE.

Stockman’s Reasons for Challenging Cornyn: ObamaCare, Cruz, Rubio, and Miller (+video)

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Photo Credit: WND The GOP establishment has targeted him. But Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Texas, has a strategy to knock off the second-most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. It’s the same strategy that propelled big underdog Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to victory in 2012: Keep the entrenched incumbent below 50 percent in the primary election; then knock him off in a runoff…

His voice rising to demonstrate his conviction, Stockman declared, “I gave up my safe U.S. House seat to run against John Cornyn for U.S. Senate because I don’t want to see the Obamacare repeal movement defeated. I am willing to risk everything to see Obamacare repealed.”

The congressman maintained it is one thing to face a Democrat as a clearly defined opponent, but quite another when you have a Republican who consistently works against other Republicans, saying that Cornyn worked against Sen. Marco Rubio in Florida, Senate candidate Joe Miller in Alaska and even against his fellow Texas senator, Cruz.

In fact, when Stockman broke the news to WND in December that he would challenge Cornyn, the congressman cited as his top reason how the incumbent GOP senator “undermined Sen. Ted Cruz’s fight to stop Obamacare.”

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Vulnerable Dems Seek More Aggressive IRS Crackdown on Conservative Groups for 2014 Elections

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Photo Credit: AP/Jacquelyn MartinEven with so many unanswered questions still surrounding the Internal Revenue Service targeting scandal, Democrats are demanding the tax agency be even more aggressive in monitoring spending from outside groups going into the 2014 midterm elections.

“There are two things you don’t want in political money, in the fundraising world and expenditure world,” Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) told The Hill newspaper. “You don’t want secret money, and you don’t want unlimited money, and that’s what we have now.”

Pryor is considered among the most endangered Senate Democrats up for re-election this year.

But that’s no reason to attack the First Amendment rights of citizen groups, said Washington attorney Cleta Mitchell, who is suing on behalf of several conservative organizations given extra scrutiny by the IRS in the 2012 election cycle.

“It is absolutely outrageous that these elected officials are distressed about having a citizens group discuss their voting records – and then calling on the IRS or any agency of government to ‘protect’ them from having to explain, justify or defend their voting records in Congress,” Mitchell told TheBlaze.

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Roker’s Forecast For NYC Mayor de Blasio: ‘1 Term’

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NBC Today Show Weatherman Al Roker went on a Twitter tirade Thursday against New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over his handling of the snowstorm and school closures in the city.

Photo Credit: Al Roker Twitter Page

Late Thursday morning Roker made his own Twitter forecast especially for de Blasio, “Talk about a bad prediction. Long range DiBlasio (sic) forecast: 1 term.”

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Kentucky Gay Marriage: Judge Says State Must Recognize Gay Marriages Performed in Other States

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Photo Credit: APA federal judge has ruled that Kentucky must recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states, pointing not only to recent decisions that have struck down bans in other states but also to older rulings on a person’s right to marry.

The state’s ban treated “gay and lesbian persons differently in a way that demeans them,” U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn wrote Wednesday. While the case dealt with out-of-state marriages, it does not require the state to perform same-sex marriages.

Heyburn cited a long line of cases going back to the legalization of mixed-race marriages and mentioned recent same-sex marriage decisions in nine other states, including Hawaii and Utah. But he mainly relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling striking down a section of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, on which Kentucky’s same-sex marriage amendment had been based.

The judge also pointed to older rulings dealing with race and gender, noting that bans on interracial marriage, segregation and restrictions on women had been cited in the past as keys to a more stable society. But courts gradually did away with those restrictions.

“Each of these small steps has led to this place and this time, where the right of same-sex spouses to state-conferred benefits of marriage is virtually compelled,” wrote Heyburn, who took a seat on the federal bench in 1992 after being appointed by President George H.W. Bush with the backing of U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, both Republicans.

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Media Double-Standard on Display with Nagin Corruption Coverage

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Photo Credit: NBC News via BizPac ReviewYesterday, former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was found guilty of 20 out of 21 counts including bribery and conspiracy. I’m always curious how the mainstream media will cover these stories. Hat tip to Michael Dorstewitz at BizPac Review for collating the “big three” responses.

ABC 
WORLD NEWS 2/12/14 
[6:42 p.m. EST] GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And back home, down in New Orleans today, a conviction for the former mayor Ray Nagin. He became a household name in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The face and voice of a city in ruins. But today, Nagin was found guilty of corruption for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and a family vacation to Hawaii in exchange for lucrative city contracts…

Not one of these reports mentioned Nagin was a Democrat. There was a similar pattern during the episode surrounding former Illinois Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. And as a matter of fact, how many of you remember former Louisiana Congressman William “Cold Cash” Jefferson, was a Democrat?

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Advance for Kansas Bill Allowing Denial of Services to Gay Couples Based on Religious Beliefs

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Photo Credit: John Hanna/APGay rights advocates are outraged over a bill — passed by Kansas lawmakers earlier this week — that would allow businesses and state government employees to deny services to same-sex couples if “it would be contrary to their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

The bill — H.B. 2453 — passed the GOP-led House in a 72 to 49 vote on Wednesday and now heads to the Republican-controlled state Senate. If it succeeds there, it could then be signed into law by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback.

Supporters say the legislation would protect business owners and state employees who don’t agree with gay marriage from potential discrimination lawsuits.

“Discrimination is horrible. It’s hurtful,” GOP Rep. Charles Macheers said during a debate on the house floor. “It has no place in civilized society, and that’s precisely why we’re moving this bill.

The law, Macheers said, would put Kansas “on the right side” of history.

Read more from this story HERE.