Thursday, July 11, 2013
Remembering Mary Surratt: Marylander and Southerner
Some say America and the Constitution died a little with General Lee and the South at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia in April 1865.
The courtesy and respect shown by General Ulysses S. Grant and his men to General Robert E. Lee and his weary men at the surrender and Lincoln’s wish for a peaceful re-uniting of the North and South would be short lived. The President’s death would be replaced with a bitter hatred by some in the North toward the men and women of the former Confederate States of America.
It has been written that Maryland sided with the Union but the truth is….
The State Legislature of Maryland prepared to vote on secession in 1861 to join the Southern Confederacy but Federal troops were sent to squash their attempt. There is little doubt that many Marylanders resented this attack on their States rights and many were sympathetic to the cause of the South including the Surratt’s who owned a boarding house and tavern. The home to the Surratt’s would be named Surrattsville and today is Clinton.
More @ Huntington News
THE HOOP SKIRT SMUGGLERS
Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, my old stompin' grounds.
In July 1864, four women risked charges of treason to smuggle supplies for Confederate soldiers across the Potomac River. Their story begins on the Maryland-Virginia border in northern Loudoun County, a place of divided loyalties and fierce fighting, and serves to challenge conventional notions regarding nineteenth century women as weak and apolitical.
The climate of war that framed the journey of Elizabeth White, Kate and Betsie Ball, and Annie Hempstone into Union territory to obtain supplies was one of increasing desperation for the Confederacy. The women’s illicit crossing of the Potomac from Virginia to Maryland coincided with a renewed burst of fighting on the border. In July 1864, General Robert E. Lee had ordered General Jubal Early to initiate an attack against Washington D.C., and in tandem with this offensive, Col. John S. Mosby was sent to sever communication lines between Washington and Harpers Ferry. Col. Mosby succeeded in defeating Union forces at their Point of Rocks base on July 5, 1864, and spent the evening dining at the Confederate enclave of Temple Hall. Temple Hall, located north of Leesburg, was the residence of Henry Ball, the father of two sons in the Confederacy.
Ball himself briefly fought early in the war and was once imprisoned for refusing to pledge allegiance to the Union. Also living there during this time was Elizabeth White, the wife of Confederate cavalry officer Elijah V. White. Mrs. White was not present at that night’s festivities, however, for on that morning she and three friends had embarked on a daring mission north into Maryland to retrieve supplies for “our dear Maryland boys in grey.” Annie Hempstone later wrote of their adventure as a “little trip across the Potomac,” which belied the true perils of their journey.
More @ Crossroads of War
Morri$ Dee$ - $PLC Fact Sheet
Via Billy
Morris Dees is arguably the most vicious hatemonger in America. There is not enough space here to give you all his repugnant behavior and bigger government views.
"'Til the Cash Comes Flowing Like a River..."
In an article titled Poverty Palace, Morris Dees told journalist John Edgerton that "I had a traditional white Southerner's feeling for segregation."...
"Morris Dees and I [Millard Fuller], from the first day of our partnership, shared one overriding purpose: to make a pile of money. We were not particular about how we did it; we just wanted to be independently rich. During the eight years we worked together we never wavered in that resolve."...
In 1961 when Freedom Riders were beaten by a white mob at a Montgomery bus station, Dees [and Fuller] expressed openly his sympathies and support for what had happened at the bus station.
When one of the men charged with beating the Freedom Riders came to their office for legal representation, Dees and Fuller took the case. The legal fee was paid by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen's Council. [Fuller, Millard. Love in the Mortar Joints. New Century Press: 1980 and The Progressive, July 1988]...
Arrested and removed from court in 1975 for attempting to suborn perjury [bribing a witness] in the Joan Little murder trial in North Carolina....
Morris Dees is arguably the most vicious hatemonger in America. There is not enough space here to give you all his repugnant behavior and bigger government views.
"'Til the Cash Comes Flowing Like a River..."
In an article titled Poverty Palace, Morris Dees told journalist John Edgerton that "I had a traditional white Southerner's feeling for segregation."...
"Morris Dees and I [Millard Fuller], from the first day of our partnership, shared one overriding purpose: to make a pile of money. We were not particular about how we did it; we just wanted to be independently rich. During the eight years we worked together we never wavered in that resolve."...
In 1961 when Freedom Riders were beaten by a white mob at a Montgomery bus station, Dees [and Fuller] expressed openly his sympathies and support for what had happened at the bus station.
When one of the men charged with beating the Freedom Riders came to their office for legal representation, Dees and Fuller took the case. The legal fee was paid by the Ku Klux Klan and the White Citizen's Council. [Fuller, Millard. Love in the Mortar Joints. New Century Press: 1980 and The Progressive, July 1988]...
Arrested and removed from court in 1975 for attempting to suborn perjury [bribing a witness] in the Joan Little murder trial in North Carolina....
More @ Charleston Voice
Tidbits from the Moneychanger
On 11 July 1804 Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounded former Treasury secretary and inveterate statist Alexander Hamilton in a New Jersey pistol duel. In a match like that, you simply have no idea who to root for.
On 11 July 1864 Confederate Jubal early began a raid that carried him to the gates of Washington, DC. Unhappily, it didn't carry him clean through the gates.
The South an Obstacle to Scientific History
For
the scientific historians of the new American Historical Association in
the mid-1880s and beyond, the American South was one of the greatest
obstacles in the way of changing the way Americans view history. There
were holdouts in the antebellum North as well as Washington Irving, for
example, lived in the days when historians were self-taught and
uncontaminated by the scientific method, yet still managed somehow to
make significant contributions to knowledge and pen useful histories.
Bernhard Thuersam, Chairman
North Carolina War Between the States Sesquicentennial Commission
"Unsurpassed Valor, Courage and Devotion to Liberty"
"The Official Website of the North Carolina WBTS Sesquicentennial"
The South an Obstacle to Scientific History
“On September 9
[1884], in the early afternoon, a small group of college presidents and
professors of history met in . . . the United States Hotel to organize
the new association [and] Dr. Herbert Baxter Adams of the Johns Hopkins
University, moving spirit behind the organization, [was] to act as
secretary. Adams was already making plans to gain federal backing . . .
and he hoped its headquarters would be the capital and its charter
would come from Congress.
But
in spite of Adam’s insistence on “a national association,” the new
organization was far from national in its membership. The West was
represented by Charles Kendall Adams of Michigan, and the South by the
men from Johns Hopkins, native New Englanders. From the time of the
founding of the Association in 1913 . . . Southerners made up a small
percentage of the membership [only 6 percent of a total of 2,843]. Yet,
Southern history and evidence of a concern for history in the South
filled a relatively large number of pages in the Annual Reports and the
American Historical Review.
In
his position as organizer, prime mover and secretary . . . Adams set
the policy . . . to promote the interests of history, but history as
defined by a small group of academically trained historians. Most of
the members were not so trained, and some resented the control by the
college men, as did the novelist–historian Edward Eggleston.
The
task [of the Association] was not a simple one, because the college men
were promoting an approach to history at variance with the main current
of American historiography. Most historians in the United States had
recorded the past of their town or county, State or region, because it
was their locality and they were interested in it and in seeing that its
accomplishments did not go unnoticed.
[The
new scientific historians] implied, and stated, that they had no
interest in the past of a town, State or region for its own sake. They
were only interested in that aspect of a locality’s past that might
throw light upon the general development of an institution, such as town
government, the plantation system, or slavery.
It
was no coincidence that the American Historical Association [AHA] was
established under the wing of the Social Science Association. To the new
historians history was a social science and, they insisted, the very
foundation of all social science. The mission, then, of the Association
was to replace the traditional approach to history with the new
scientific approach.
[Adam’s
saw the importance of gaining recognition for the Association and
stated that] “. . . I have never begun to realize until this year the
importance of corporate influences, of associations of men and money.”
But Adams continued relentlessly, aiming always for the time when
trained historians would cover the country – when their standards would
be the only standards for history and the [AHA] would be not only a
truly national, but a truly professional organization.
But
[the greatest] obstacle to the new history was the fact that the South
already had a well-established historical tradition . . . [and] a rich
historical literature. The South not only lived in history, it lived on
history. History served the Southern States as God served New England.
Every aristocratic Southerner knew his family tree . . . Most people of
the South knew that American history started with the settlement of
Virginia, not with the landing of the Pilgrims . . .
There
was no dearth of history or of historical interest in the Southern
States, but it was not the kind that the new scholars could accept. This
history emphasized the uniqueness of place and people, and its truth
was sought not in musty-smelling manuscripts and dead documents, but in
living tradition and vivid intuition.
The
first meeting was dominated by men of the Northeast. In 1889 . . . at
the sixth meeting . . . Southern history for the first time was
recognized as a separate field of study for the new science. The first
session on Southern history convened Tuesday morning, December 31 [and the first of five papers was an] essay on Bacon’s Rebellion. It was not on Southern history.
The
great mission of the new Southern scholars [of the AHA] was to cut
loose from traditional history and examine the Southern past
impartially, to discover its true role in national development. None of
the new scholars wrote as a native of a Southern State, but “from the
point of view of an American who is at the same time a Southerner, proud
enough of his own section to admit its faults, and yet to proclaim its
essential greatness.”
All
professional practitioners denounced quackery in history through the
medium of their Association, just as the doctors were doing through the
American Medical Association. The work of Southern [scientific]
historians, [even though it undermined the traditional Northern
interpretation of American history], was accepted because it was done
with the new technique and the approach of the new history.”
(The
American Historical Association, David D. Van Tassel, Journal of
Southern History, Volume XXIII, No. 4, November 1957, pp. 465-473,
481-482)
Only 1 percent of “terrorists” caught by the FBI are real
Via avordvet
Proponents of this
build-up argue that it’s made us safer. They point to hundreds of foiled
plots to make their case. But Trevor Aaronson, author of The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism, dug into these supposedly dastardly plots and found that they are much less than meets the eye.
Aaronson recently appeared on the AlterNet Radio Hour. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the discussion.
Joshua Holland: Trevor, the raw statistical data say that Americans have a significantly better chance of being struck dead by lightning than of being killed in a terrorist attack here at home. It’s obviously different for people in some other countries.
I got that from the official terrorism statistics put out by the FBI and other related agencies. And they also track foiled attacks. These law enforcement agencies say that these foiled attacks prove that they are saving American lives. How would you respond to that?
Trevor Aaronson: I’d say that the majority of the foiled attacks that they cite are really only foiled attacks because the FBI made the attack possible, and most of the people who are caught in these so-called foiled attacks are caught through sting operations that use either an undercover FBI agent or informant posing as some sort of Al-Qaeda operative.
In all of these cases, the defendants, or the would-be terrorists, are people who at best have a vague idea that they want to commit some sort of violent act or some sort of act of terrorism but have no means on their own. They don’t have weapons. They don’t have connections with any international terrorist groups.
"The Terror Factory" author Trevor Aaronson exposes the Bureau's undercover sting operations for the farce they are
In the dozen years since the 9/11 attacks, we’ve watched as
a classified new legal regime for government surveillance has been
hashed out, local police forces have become heavily armed military-type
units and a whole new layer of bureaucracy has hatched to provide us
with an abundance of “homeland security.”
Aaronson recently appeared on the AlterNet Radio Hour. Below is a lightly edited transcript of the discussion.
Joshua Holland: Trevor, the raw statistical data say that Americans have a significantly better chance of being struck dead by lightning than of being killed in a terrorist attack here at home. It’s obviously different for people in some other countries.
I got that from the official terrorism statistics put out by the FBI and other related agencies. And they also track foiled attacks. These law enforcement agencies say that these foiled attacks prove that they are saving American lives. How would you respond to that?
Trevor Aaronson: I’d say that the majority of the foiled attacks that they cite are really only foiled attacks because the FBI made the attack possible, and most of the people who are caught in these so-called foiled attacks are caught through sting operations that use either an undercover FBI agent or informant posing as some sort of Al-Qaeda operative.
In all of these cases, the defendants, or the would-be terrorists, are people who at best have a vague idea that they want to commit some sort of violent act or some sort of act of terrorism but have no means on their own. They don’t have weapons. They don’t have connections with any international terrorist groups.
More @ Salon
Ohio school district will allow teachers to carry guns starting this fall
Via Freedom Outpost
An Ohio school district has announced that it will implement a program that will allow teachers to carry guns on campus in a designated school safety zone.
According to a local news report, the board of education recently approved the new school safety plan for the Newcomerstown Exempted Village School District, a small rural school district located about 100 miles south of Cleveland, with just over 1,000 students.
The policy change will take effect in the fall of the 2013-2014 school year, and although the change has made news, the idea is nothing new.
“This is a discussion we’ve had for a long time. We’ve been very transparent. We want to keep our students safe,” said Superintendent Jeff Staggs. However, just because the discussion has been transparent doesn’t mean the details of the program are, which Staggs admits is part of the intent.
School board president Jerry Lahmers explained that it would be counterproductive to release too many specifics of the program, such as the number of people carrying firearms or which buildings they occupy.
An Ohio school district has announced that it will implement a program that will allow teachers to carry guns on campus in a designated school safety zone.
According to a local news report, the board of education recently approved the new school safety plan for the Newcomerstown Exempted Village School District, a small rural school district located about 100 miles south of Cleveland, with just over 1,000 students.
The policy change will take effect in the fall of the 2013-2014 school year, and although the change has made news, the idea is nothing new.
“This is a discussion we’ve had for a long time. We’ve been very transparent. We want to keep our students safe,” said Superintendent Jeff Staggs. However, just because the discussion has been transparent doesn’t mean the details of the program are, which Staggs admits is part of the intent.
School board president Jerry Lahmers explained that it would be counterproductive to release too many specifics of the program, such as the number of people carrying firearms or which buildings they occupy.
More @ GUNS
Man swims 5 hours to save his family
Via Freedom Outpost
Emily Horn, 9, was among those saved from a capsized boat.
John Franklin Riggs left family members clinging to a capsized boat
and for their lives in a sea of stinging jellyfish, swimming miles and
climbing rocks at the shoreline in pitch blackness to reach help at the
first house he saw.
Thank goodness somebody answered the door.
“He came to the right house,” said Angela Byrd, whose dog’s barking awakened her quiet house in Chance at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. There stood Riggs, soaking wet and barefoot.
“He said, ‘I’ve been swimming since sundown; I need help,’ ” she said.
Emily Horn, 9, was among those saved from a capsized boat.
Absolutely amazing.
Thank goodness somebody answered the door.
“He came to the right house,” said Angela Byrd, whose dog’s barking awakened her quiet house in Chance at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning. There stood Riggs, soaking wet and barefoot.
“He said, ‘I’ve been swimming since sundown; I need help,’ ” she said.
More @ Delmarva Now
Witnesses: Police kicked gun rights actvist, ransacked home
Via avordvet
Delish, who was inside the Kokesh residence when the raid occurred, said, “After two loud knocks at the front door and a brief pause, the police broke down the door with a battering ram.”
Once the police were inside, they threw a flash grenade into the foyer area, she said. “I thought someone got shot.” A flash grenade is a non-lethal explosive that produces a blinding flash of light and loud noise, devised to temporarily disorient a person’s senses.
There were eight adults inside of the home and one pet, she said. “Luckily Adam’s pit bull Baloo was safely secured in his crate at the upstairs of the home.”
“The 30 to 40 police officers that entered had lasers, body armor and creepy-looking helmets,” she said.
Delish said she was shaken-up by the incident that lasted six hours. “I went towards the back of the home to exit, and there were four or five police officers on the back porch with drawn firearms.”
The adults were ordered into a small front room, their cell phones were taken, and they were summarily handcuffed without being Mirandized, she said. Miranda is a warning given by police to criminal suspects in police custody before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements in a court of law.
“Their behavior was unprofessional and their search of our persons and the home gratuitously unconstitutional,” she said.
“They ransacked the two-story home, and pushed items into piles,” she said. “One of the officers purposefully knocked over a glass of water on my possessions.”
One of the adults had a Glock 30 pistol in his possession, Delish said. “He immediately informed the police and they retrieved his firearm.”
“Later he was punched in the back of the head for asking to use the rest room,” she said. “I witnessed Kokesh being kicked by a police officer while he was handcuffed and seated.”
“The police used every opportunity they could to rough us up,” she said.
Delish, who was inside the Kokesh residence when the raid occurred, said, “After two loud knocks at the front door and a brief pause, the police broke down the door with a battering ram.”
Once the police were inside, they threw a flash grenade into the foyer area, she said. “I thought someone got shot.” A flash grenade is a non-lethal explosive that produces a blinding flash of light and loud noise, devised to temporarily disorient a person’s senses.
There were eight adults inside of the home and one pet, she said. “Luckily Adam’s pit bull Baloo was safely secured in his crate at the upstairs of the home.”
“The 30 to 40 police officers that entered had lasers, body armor and creepy-looking helmets,” she said.
Delish said she was shaken-up by the incident that lasted six hours. “I went towards the back of the home to exit, and there were four or five police officers on the back porch with drawn firearms.”
The adults were ordered into a small front room, their cell phones were taken, and they were summarily handcuffed without being Mirandized, she said. Miranda is a warning given by police to criminal suspects in police custody before they are interrogated to preserve the admissibility of their statements in a court of law.
“Their behavior was unprofessional and their search of our persons and the home gratuitously unconstitutional,” she said.
“They ransacked the two-story home, and pushed items into piles,” she said. “One of the officers purposefully knocked over a glass of water on my possessions.”
One of the adults had a Glock 30 pistol in his possession, Delish said. “He immediately informed the police and they retrieved his firearm.”
“Later he was punched in the back of the head for asking to use the rest room,” she said. “I witnessed Kokesh being kicked by a police officer while he was handcuffed and seated.”
“The police used every opportunity they could to rough us up,” she said.
Excerpt above more @ Human Events
Another Birmingham employee alleges racism at City Hall, seeks federal intervention
Via Billy
An EEOC charge is the first step before an individual may file a federal discrimination lawsuit.
In the charge sent to the Equal Opportunity Commission today, Charles Yates, a supervisor in the Public Works Department, says his problems began when Bell took office.
Yates, who is white, claims he was forced to take a lower-paying position and demeaned, including being told to stay out of City Hall or take a service elevator when in the building.
"Within days, my supervisor Adlai Trone, Director of Public Works, informed me that Chief of Operations (Jarvis)Patton issued a directive forbidding me to appear in City Hall for any reason," Yates' complaint alleges. "I was instructed that should I be called to City Hall, I was to arrange for one of my subordinate supervisors to handle the call. Approximately two weeks later, Public Works Director Trone reminded me again that the Mayor's Office did not want to see my face at City Hall."
Yates alleges his treatment further deteriorated when he spoke out against racism at the city, specifically regarding long-time city accountant Virginia Spidle who waged a protracted legal battle with the city to keep her job.
Spidle won her appeal to regain her job and now has a pending federal discrimination lawsuit against the city.
Bell
What comes around, goes around.
Another longtime Birmingham city employee has filed a federal charge
of discrimination alleging racism, professional humiliation and
retaliation within Mayor William Bell's administration.
In the charge sent to the Equal Opportunity Commission today, Charles Yates, a supervisor in the Public Works Department, says his problems began when Bell took office.
Yates, who is white, claims he was forced to take a lower-paying position and demeaned, including being told to stay out of City Hall or take a service elevator when in the building.
"Within days, my supervisor Adlai Trone, Director of Public Works, informed me that Chief of Operations (Jarvis)Patton issued a directive forbidding me to appear in City Hall for any reason," Yates' complaint alleges. "I was instructed that should I be called to City Hall, I was to arrange for one of my subordinate supervisors to handle the call. Approximately two weeks later, Public Works Director Trone reminded me again that the Mayor's Office did not want to see my face at City Hall."
Yates alleges his treatment further deteriorated when he spoke out against racism at the city, specifically regarding long-time city accountant Virginia Spidle who waged a protracted legal battle with the city to keep her job.
Spidle won her appeal to regain her job and now has a pending federal discrimination lawsuit against the city.
More @ AL
Ex-Police Chief Claims He Was Pressured and Then Fired for Not Arresting George Zimmerman: ‘They Just Wanted an Arrest’
Via avordvet
Former Sanford, Fla., police chief Bill
Lee on CNN Wednesday claimed he was fired last year because he refused
to arrest George Zimmerman just to appease an outraged public. Hey says
there wasn’t enough evidence to warrant an arrest in the killing of
Trayvon Martin, a fact that didn’t matter to some city officials.
When he refused to make the arrest, Lee
claims he was fired from his position after just 10 months on the job.
Officials argued they let Lee go because the public and elected
officials had lost trust in him.
“I had one of the city commissioners
come to me on two different occasions and say, ‘All we want is an
arrest.’ And I explained to them, ‘Well, you just can’t do that, you
have to have probable cause to arrest somebody.’ And it was related to
me that they just wanted an arrest, they didn’t care if it got dismissed
later. And you don’t do that,” Lee told CNN’s George Howell.
When asked how Zimmerman was able to remain free for 40 days after shooting Martin, Lee said the evidence just wasn’t there.
Lee argued he did not get a “fair shake” in the Zimmerman case, despite upholding his oath of office.
“I’m happy at the end of the day I can
walk away with my integrity,” he added. “I’m at peace with it on most
days. I’m a man of faith. But it stings.”
More with video @ The Blaze
Second Amendment Revoked: The Unbelievable Reason Why This Army Vet Can’t Own a Gun
Via avordvet
An Army veteran in Texas is fighting
for his Second Amendment rights after learning that a misdemeanor pot
conviction from 1971 has disqualified him from ever owning a gun.
Ron Kelly, who retired from the Army in
1993 after 20 years of service, was recently turned away when he tried
to buy a .22-cal rifle at a Wal-Mart in Tomball, Texas, after a
computerized background check flagged the 42-year-old arrest. The story
was on the front page of the Houston Chronicle on Wednesday.
Kelly said he had forgotten about his minor pot violation from high school — the federal government, on the other hand, has not.
The Army vet spent one night in jail
and was given one year of probation. Though he didn’t realize it at the
time, he was also apparently stripped of his Second Amendment rights for
a lifetime.
More @ The Blaze
NC: Stop Harry Reid's Senate Rules Shell Game
Our friends at the Gun Owners of America (GOA) have highlighted a crafty plan by Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) to break Senate rules in order to achieve his leftist goals. If he gets away with it, he will be able to push through radical appointments that otherwise would never stand against the Constitutionally mandated 'advise and consent' process. Among other things, the results of Reid's scheme will dangerously threaten the Second Amendment rights of every gun owner across the nation. It's important that you be aware of this, and we need your help to stop it. Please see below for details provided by the GOA, and to learn what you can do to shine a light on Reid's deceptive plan to circumvent Senate rules.
From our friends at Gun Owners of America:
Harry Reid Moves to Destroy the Senate Rules that are Blocking Passage of Gun Control
You can’t be “just a little bit pregnant.”
Similarly, you can’t cheat “just a little.”
Once you have made it clear that you are willing to break the rules in order to win, the rules are meaningless.
So it is with some alarm that we note that Harry Reid -- in an exercise of raw power -- intends within the next week to try to openly break the Senate rules in order to confirm all pending Executive Branch nominees.
You may remember that, at the beginning of the year, Reid made the specious argument that you could change the rules at the beginning of a two-year congressional session -- and only at the beginning of the congressional session.
Well, we are no longer at the start of the term.
A quarter of the 113th Congress had now come and gone. And even the pseudo-intellectual arguments for obliterating the Senate rules are gone.
This is an exercise in raw political power. This is an effort by Reid to say: “I can cheat whenever I want. And no one can stop me.”
The first showdown case will occur over efforts to fill the National Labor Relations Board. You may remember that Obama was slapped down by the courts for appointing these “members” as “recess appointments” when Congress wasn’t in recess.
Now, having been caught cheating, Obama and Reid are threatening to tip over the chess board in order to confirm these illegal “recess appointments.”
But that’s just the beginning.
Once it is impossible to filibuster Executive Branch appointments, Obama will soon carry through on his word to slam through a rabidly anti-gun zealot to head the ATF.
And does anyone think that the Senate would comply with the niceties of the rules it has obliterated -- if what was at stake was an anti-gun zealot nominated to the Supreme Court in order to overturn the Heller and McDonald decisions?
Finally, it is just not credible for Reid to say: “I’m going to cheat. But I’m going to define the way in which I cheat to limit my cheating to this narrow way.”
All year, MSNBC has been whining that Democrat gun control has been thwarted by the Senate filibuster rules.
If the Senate’s filibuster rules are obliterated, you can be sure that the Toomey-Manchin amendment -- with its universal gun registries -- would soon be brought up again and passed.
Gun owners should realize that the Feinstein gun and magazine bans lost by such a large margin only because a lot of anti-gun senators knew they would not muster the 60 votes needed. If there were a 50-vote margin -- and their votes made a difference -- many of these anti-gunners would switch their votes and pass Feinstein.
So the reason gun control did not pass is because the Senate rules allowing us to filibuster it. They may seem dry and boring, but the question of whether we win or lose will depend on them.
ACTION: Contact Your Senator. Tell him to oppose Harry Reid’s “cheat scheme” to violate the Senate rules in order to change the Senate rules.
www.gunowners.org
Zimmerman Judge Was Well Out Of Line
GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Now to the testy exchange between judge and defense lawyer Don West. Now, it all started when the judge asked Zimmerman directly if he wanted to testify.
JUDGE DEBRA NELSON, FLORIDA CIRCUIT COURT: Mr. Zimmerman, like I said before, you're aware that during this trial, you have the absolute right to remain silent. You do not have to say anything, do anything, prove anything. Is that correct?
GEORGE ZIMMERMAN, MURDER DEFENDANT: Yes, your honor.
NELSON: And you have the right to testify if you want to. Do you understand that?
ZIMMERMAN: Yes, your honor.
NELSON: And I've given you an opportunity to discuss with your attorneys whether or not you want to testify in this case, and you have indicated that you have had those discussions?
ZIMMERMAN: Yes, your honor.
NELSON: And have you made a decision, sir, as to whether or not you want to testify in this case?
DON WEST, GEORGE ZIMMERMAN DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Your honor, I object to that question.
NELSON: OK. Overruled. Have you made a decision as to whether or not you want to testify in the case?
WEST: I object to that question. I think that's...
More @ Fox
Jury can consider manslaughter, but not felony murder (based on child abuse) in Zimmerman trial
Prosecutors convinced the judge presiding over George Zimmerman’s second-degree murder trial Thursday to allow jurors to consider manslaughter, but their surprise bid to include felony murder -- based on child abuse -- in the jury instructions was denied after a heated morning session in which an angry defense attorney called the effort a "trick."
Judge Debra Nelson ruled against the prosecution's request that jurors be able to consider a third-degree felony murder charge based on child abuse. Under felony murder statutes, a defendant can be charged with murder if he or she causes someone's death while committing a felony, in this case, according to the prosecution, child abuse. At 17, Trayvon Martin was a minor when he was killed.
"I just don’t think that the evidence supports that," Nelson said of the felony murder charge. "And if I’m not sure about that, I’m not going to charge the jury on that."
Earlier, defense attorney Don West bristled when the prosecution first proposed the third-degree felony murder charge, alleging it was a "trick" by the state.
"Just when I thought this case couldn't get any more bizarre, the state is seeking third degree murder charges based on child abuse?" he said after the prosecution's request. "It's outrageous that the state would seek to do this at this point."
More @ Fox
Marine pulls gun on rampaging carjacker
That's what the police are here for." (Yeah, right)
It was a retired Marine who was carrying a concealed weapon that brought a halt to Montalvo’s alleged crime spree, which included a series of attempted carjackings in Orange County, Fla., this week.
According to WFTV-TV in Orlando, the suspect allegedly tried to steal four cars, one after another, on Tuesday.
More @ WND
Top televangelist: America must 'rise up' like Egypt
A famous U.S. televangelist is urging Americans to take an example from Egyptians who ousted former President Mohamed Morsi and “rise up” to stop Obamacare.
“You know they revolted in Egypt against the oppressive actions of the Muslim Brotherhood, and this example of state socialism is something that Americans should rise up against,” Pat Robertson said Wednesday on the “700 Club,” referring to President Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
More @ WND
Federal judge refuses to block Colorado’s ban on high-capacity magazines
A federal judge in Denver won’t block a controversial new law banning ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds since the law has already gone into effect, according to the Associated Press.
The sheriffs sought an injunction against the magazine ban pending the outcome of their lawsuit to overturn it. The suit also seeks to overturn another law requiring universal background checks.
“It is already the law of the state and there is nothing for me to enjoin,” Judge Marcia Krieger said.
More @ The Daily Caller
GOP Bill Targets Anti-Gun Hysteria in Schools
Kids will be kids no matter what a school’s policy is on playing with imaginary weapons. They’re going to play cops and robbers, they may chew their pop tart into the shape of a gun and yes, even throw imaginary grenades to save the world from evil forces.
In the wake of the Sandy Hook massacre, teachers and school administrators exercised zero-tolerance policies with regard to weapons—real or imagined—but they took it way too far. A heightened sensitivity after such a horrific event is understandable but not exercising any judgment is ridiculous. For many of the kids affected by such policies, it wasn’t just a matter of getting scolded—most of them got suspended and will thus have that on their permanent record.
Now, one lawmaker is taking action. Rep. Steve Stockman (R-Texas) introduced legislation this week that would block federal funding for schools that enforce policies that punish students for playing with imaginary weapons. Via The Hill:
More @ Townhall
Judge Andrew P. Napolitano defends Jack Hunter and Rand Paul
Via WiscoDave
Jack’s sin in their eyes was having spoken favorably of states’
rights, and negatively of Lincoln. They can’t seem to recognize that
states’ rights–even secession–does not equal racism; it constitutes a
brake on the feds’ march to totalitarianism. Most modern day states’
rights advocates recognize the sovereignty of the states and their
inherent ability to nullify and avoid federal violations of the
Constitution in order to protect life and liberty from an overgrown,
intrusive federal leviathan that literally now interferes in or spies on
every facet of our lives. And most historians and legal scholars who
appreciate personal liberty and limited government recognize that the
history of Lincoln’s assaults on civil liberties is a topic capable of
divergent views and worthy of exposure.
But really, the hawks and neocons weren’t attacking just Jack—who possesses profound intellectual honesty and who has a gift for reducing complex arguments to understandable terms–for his views on federalism. Everything that was “broken” in the “news” story in the Free Beacon has been public information for a long time. It was not hidden. And it was not news. Some of it was youthful hyperbole, and all of it was sliced and diced out of context.In other words, the neocon world view, which assaulted our civil liberties in a way that would make Lincoln blush and brought us 12 years and two trillion dollars’ worth of useless wars, is crumbling. And it isn’t just crumbling on its own.
It has a sledgehammer being taken to it every day by Senator Rand Paul. So, when someone does a hit piece on the Senator’s gifted aide, or when you see a vicious attack on the Senator himself as you no doubt will, think about why it is happening. The attacks are coming from those on the losing side of history.
Yesterday you saw some hawks, whose
ideology is dying and whose worldview is being discredited every day,
launch an attack on Senator Rand Paul by attacking one of his brillian
aides, Jack Hunter.
But really, the hawks and neocons weren’t attacking just Jack—who possesses profound intellectual honesty and who has a gift for reducing complex arguments to understandable terms–for his views on federalism. Everything that was “broken” in the “news” story in the Free Beacon has been public information for a long time. It was not hidden. And it was not news. Some of it was youthful hyperbole, and all of it was sliced and diced out of context.In other words, the neocon world view, which assaulted our civil liberties in a way that would make Lincoln blush and brought us 12 years and two trillion dollars’ worth of useless wars, is crumbling. And it isn’t just crumbling on its own.
It has a sledgehammer being taken to it every day by Senator Rand Paul. So, when someone does a hit piece on the Senator’s gifted aide, or when you see a vicious attack on the Senator himself as you no doubt will, think about why it is happening. The attacks are coming from those on the losing side of history.
Complete article, Establishment Attacks Rand Paul on Support of Tenth Amendment, States’
Rights, @ Tenth Amendment Center
Effort To Create New State Called ‘North Colorado’ Grows
Via Bill
There’s a growing effort to create a 51st state out of parts of northeast Colorado.
Ten counties, including Weld and Morgan, started talking about seceding last month. Now some people Lincoln and Cheyenne counties say they want to join a new state they’d call “North Colorado.”
Organizers of the secession effort say their interests are not being represented at the state Capitol.
Representatives from the 10 counties held a meeting on Monday in the town of Akron in Weld County to begin mapping the boundaries for the new state they say will represent the interests of rural Colorado.
There’s a growing effort to create a 51st state out of parts of northeast Colorado.
Ten counties, including Weld and Morgan, started talking about seceding last month. Now some people Lincoln and Cheyenne counties say they want to join a new state they’d call “North Colorado.”
Organizers of the secession effort say their interests are not being represented at the state Capitol.
Representatives from the 10 counties held a meeting on Monday in the town of Akron in Weld County to begin mapping the boundaries for the new state they say will represent the interests of rural Colorado.
More with video @ CBS Denver
SystemD as a Game (Trailer is worth a watch)
Here's a video trailer of a new game from Ubisoft.
It's a dramatic interpretation of what I talk about in Brave New War.
More @ Global Guerrillas
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