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WINCHESTER Proving campaign viability is at the forefront of Shak Hills run to challenge Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-10th, in 2018, he told a gathering of the Apple Valley Tea Party on Thursday night.

Comstock will not be re-elected in November of next year, the Northern Virginia publisher and commentator told the group of about 35 at the Frederick County Public Safety Building. It will not happen ... she knows it.

Comstock has been cited as a particularly vulnerable candidate a Republican in a purple district during a time of historic Democratic powerlessness. Eight Democrats have lined up to seek their partys nomination to run against her.

Hill, 52, is the only primary challenger thus far to come forward. He told the group Thursday that he aims to meet both or one of two goals to illustrate campaign viability and attract endorsements from prominent conservative figures: raise $100,000 by the end of September (a goal he said he has accomplished a third of) or receive money from 1,000 or more individual donors.

If those benchmarks are met, Hill said he feels it could lead to attention from right-wing media figures like Mark Levin, a conservative radio show host who lives in the 10th District, among other popular pundits. Once we prove campaign viability [they may] come.

A Catholic and former Air Force combat pilot and financial services professional, Hill is the principal of GuidingLightBooks.com a multimedia publishing services website. He lives in Centreville with his wife, Robin. They have raised six kids and fostered 46 other children.

In 2014 Hill unsuccessfully ran against Ed Gillespie for the GOP nomination to run against Democratic Sen. Mark Warner. Gillespie narrowly lost that senatorial race and is now the Republican nominee for governor, running against Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam.

Hill bills himself as a genuine conservative cure to 30-percent Republican Comstock, whom he criticizes for, among many things, voting against a House GOP bill to overhaul the 2010 Affordable Care Act and voting to kill an amendment to a House bill removing funding from the military budget to pay for transgender surgeries and hormone treatments for military members.

Hill also blasts Comstock for not being supportive enough of President Donald Trump; she called for him to step down as a nominee.

I am going to be a supporter. ... I am not going to block him at all, Hill said of Trump, who he started supporting after Trump won the GOP nomination for president. I am late to the Trump train, but I am on it.

If Hill manages to fulfill the requirements to appear on the ballot which will be released by the state Board of Elections after the November 2017 election he will face Comstock in a regular ballot primary in June.

Likening himself to the House Freedom Caucus sympathetic to the tea party and considered the farthest-right of House GOP groupings Hill said hed advocate for limiting or eradicating federal government involvement in things other than common defense.

If you want to change Congress, you have to change the people you send to Congress, Hill said.

Hill said hed be tough on immigration, not allowing unaccompanied minors to just flood through our nation, and that hed help get the wall built, a campaign promise of Trumps to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico.

Hill expressed doubts that Comstock would not be favored by the Republican Party of Virginia, which, he said, is supposed to be unbiased. He told the group he expects to have to work against the establishment.

Were going to have to work smarter and harder, he said.

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GOP candidate speaks at Tea Party gathering - The Winchester Star

A federal judge has placedthe IRS under the microscope once again, ordering the agency to name who specifically took part in the targeting of conservative groups.

U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton is also demanding the IRS reveal which Tea Party groups were targeted and why, as well as what steps have been put in place to ensure it doesnt happen again, Fox News reported Monday.

The judges ruling comes as part of alawsuit filed by True the Vote, a conservative vote-monitoring organization based in Houston.

Were thrilled the judge has taken this step and it feels good to have it recognized that they need to be held to account, True the Vote President CatherineEngelbrecht told Fox. What happened to me was very personal my name was thrown around the IRS, and the names of the people involved need to be known. What they did was criminal.

The right-leaning watchdog Judicial Watch also praised Waltons decision.Chris Farrell, the groups director of investigations and research, said the judge accomplished more with one ruling than all of the rest of the federal government all three branches over the last six years.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The decision comesafter Walton told IRS attorneyslastThursday it is time for the agencyto lay it on the line and put it out there, according to The Washington Times.

Why hide the ball? Walton said. If theres nothing there, theres nothing there.

The scandal garneredmuch deserved national attention in 2013 when the IRS, which was helmed by Lois Lerner at the time, admitted toapplyinggreat inspection to right-leaning organizations seeking nonprofit status.

At the time, Lerner said the practice was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. ... The IRS would like to apologize for that. Lernerlater said, though, she was proud of her tenure at the IRS and didnt do anything wrong.

But with Waltons order, conservatives mightfinally getsome justice.

The judge has ordered the IRS to look not only through its basic database, but also to search other relevant resources containing documents from the relevant time period, which he said spans from 2009 to March 27, 2015.

Laura Conner, the Justice Department attorney defending the IRS, pushed back against Waltons order, saying such an endeavor will take too long and will require too much effort.

The United States should not be held to respond to far-reaching inquiries, she said.

Nevertheless, Walton has given the federal agency until Oct. 16 to completethe search.

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Federal Judge Demands IRS Name Who Was Involved in Tea Party ... - Independent Journal Review

WINCHESTER Shak Hill, who plans to challenge incumbent Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock for the GOP nomination in the 10th Congressional District in the November 2018 election, will address the Apple Valley Tea Party tonight.

The event will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the Frederick County Public Safety Building, 1080 Coverstone Drive. It is open to the public.

Hill, 52, of Centreville, has filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to run in a Republican primary against Comstock, who he has criticized for out-of-state fundraising and voting against GOP attempts to overhaul former President Barack Obamas health care law also known as the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.

If Hill meets all federal requirements, he will appear on the ballot in a primary next June.

A Louisiana native, Hill made an unsuccessful bid in 2014 for the Republican nomination against Ed Gillespie, who narrowly lost to Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Warner. Gillespie is now the Republican nominee for governor, running against Democratic Lt. Gov. Ralph Northam.

Hill, a former Air Force combat pilot and financial services professional, is the principal of GuidingLightBooks.com a multimedia publishing services website.

[Hill] has contributed to his community ... in unbelievable ways, said Dody Stottlemyer, president of the Apple Valley Tea Party, adding that she appreciates his military service and volunteer efforts. Hes big on helping his community.

Stottlemyer said she believes Hill is more genuinely aligned with Republican values than Comstock is. She said Hill and his wife, Robin, fostered 46 children in addition to raising their own six children, one of whom was born while his wife had cancer. Theyre a remarkable family.

Eight Democrats also have begun efforts to win their partys nomination in the 10th Congressional District race in 2018.

The 10th Congressional District stretches from Northern Virginia to the West Virginia border and includes the cities of Winchester, Manassas and Manassas Park, the counties of Frederick, Clarke and Loudoun, and part of Fairfax and Prince William counties

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Comstock challenger speaking to tea party | News | winchesterstar ... - The Winchester Star

WILLIAMSPORT Children and their families will enjoy My Dolly and Me Tea Party on Saturday, September 23, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Callie Hall, 912 Almond Street. The fancy lunch and tea party is a festive opportunity for children to interact with their favorite doll, stuffed animal, or action figure. The party will feature photo opportunities with props, childrens crafts, door prizes and silent auction. Tickets are $8 for children and $12 for adults with proceeds benefiting West House, Inc., a non-profit personal care facility for diverse residents. Contact 570-322-8448 ext. 0 for tickets.

Kirsten Burkhart, Administrator, West House, noted parents, grandparents and other family members sometimes struggle to locate family-friendly activities close to home. This fancy tea party offers families and their children an event to celebrate their favorite dolls, stuffed animals or action figures in a festive and safe environment. Children will be entertained with crafts and prizes while families will enjoy the unique photo opportunities with props, silent auction and interactive crafts.

Proceeds from the event will directly benefit the needy residents of West House, Inc. in Williamsport. West House is committed to enhancing the dignity of all residents.

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Children's "Dolly and Me Tea Party" Set for September 23 - NorthcentralPa.com

Mr. Mattis declined to disclose what he planned to recommend to Mr. Trump. Nor did he indicate any timetable for deciding the matter. But his comments suggested that he was sympathetic to supplying defensive weapons long a topic of enormous interest in Ukraine.

On the defensive lethal weapons, we are actively reviewing it, he said. I will go back now having seen the current situation and be able to inform the secretary of state and the president in very specific terms what I recommend for the direction ahead.

While the Obama administration had rejected providing the Javelin anti-tank system to Ukraine, the context has shifted in recent years.

The failure of the Minsk peace agreement, which was negotiated by Russia, Ukraine and European nations in 2015, and Russias active military posture in the region, have combined to bring the issue to the fore, as has the change of administrations in Washington.

Mr. Poroshenko sought to buttress Ukraines case by saying that it had responsibly used the nonlethal systems it had already received from the United States, and asserting that the anti-tank weapon would be used to deter further Russian aggression.

Any defensive weapons would be just to increase the price if Russia makes a decision to attack my troops and my territory, he said.

Not all European nations necessarily agree. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, strongly opposed the provision of such weapons when it was considered by Mr. Obama in 2015, saying that they would merely inflame the military situation.

Mr. Mattis met with Mr. Poroshenko after participating in the commemoration of Ukraines 1991 declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. The American also held separate talks with Ukraines defense minister, Stepan Poltorak.

The previous American defense secretary to visit Kiev was Robert M. Gates in October 2007. Mr. Mattis stood on a parade-reviewing stand to the left of Mr. Poroshenko as the Ukrainian president awarded medals, one posthumously, to two Ukrainian soldiers who fought against separatists and their Russian allies in eastern Ukraine.

Soldiers from the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, a National Guard unit from Oklahoma that is involved in training Ukrainian troops, joined the military parade with Ukrainian units, which marched through the Maidan, the square where protests in 2014 led to the ouster of the pro-Russian president, Viktor F. Yanukovych.

Mr. Mattis later placed flowers and stood for a moment in silence at a memorial for 100 demonstrators killed by pro-government snipers during the Maidan uprising.

He had been on the reviewing stand with Mr. Poroshenko, other dignitaries and fellow defense ministers. What a day! Mr. Mattis observed later. This is a day that will live long in my memory: to feel the refreshing sense of independence, of freedom.

British, Turkish, Georgian and East European defense ministers joined Mr. Mattis at the event, but German, French and other Western European defense ministers did not attend.

The United States has already provided about $750 million in nonlethal arms to Ukraine, including body armor, night-vision equipment, radios and Humvees, as well as radars to pinpoint the location of enemy mortars.

Mr. Poroshenko said that Russia still had an estimated 3,000 troops in eastern Ukraine. He also reaffirmed his support for a new cease-fire, and urged the Kremlin to withdraw its troops and to stop supplying the separatists.

Mr. Mattis concurred concurred that Russian troops were still in Eastern Ukraine. Despite Russias denials, we know they are seeking to redraw international borders by force, undermining the sovereign and free nations of Europe, he said.

American military officials have already begun to think about how and where to train the Ukrainians to operate the Javelin missile system. Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson is among the officials who support providing defensive arms to Ukraine, according to administration officials who asked not to be identified because they were discussing internal deliberations.

An earlier version of this article misstated the countries whose defense ministers joined Mr. Mattis at a military parade through the Maidan on Thursday. Canada was not among them, though the Canadian government was represented by another official.

A version of this article appears in print on August 25, 2017, on Page A4 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Mulls Providing Weapons to Ukraine.

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Jim Mattis, in Ukraine, Says U.S. Is Thinking of Sending Weapons - The ...