Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Senate Democrats Move to Reverse Supreme Court’s Heller decision
Reid-Leahy move would gut the Second Amendment in the eyes of the courts
Having failed to get gun control
passed in the Senate, Democrats are now making a last ditch effort to
reshape the Supreme Court.
Well, we hate to say it, but we predicted this would happen.
You remember when Harry Reid was threatening to destroy the Senate filibuster in January -- and later in July -- in order to approve Leftist Obama-supported nominees?
You remember, at the time, we said that, if Reid “pulled the trigger” on this so-called nuclear option to destroy the filibuster in some cases -- thus eliminating the need for Reid to garner 60 votes some of the time -- there would be no impediment to Reid doing anything he wanted with 50 votes (plus Biden) in other cases?
And you remember we said that it wouldn’t take long before Reid tried to limit the filibuster and use a mere 50 Democratic votes to approve other things as well -- like an anti-gun Supreme Court justice to replace Supreme Court “swing vote” Anthony Kennedy? The immediate ramification of such an appointment would be to overturn the Heller case (which held that the Second Amendment is an “individual right,” not just the right of a state to raise a militia).
Finally, you remember that Harry Reid said, at the time, that his shady precedent would just apply to Executive Branch nominees, not judges?
Well, it hasn’t taken long for his lie to be exposed.
The anti-gun Democratic Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has just called for blowing up the Senate rules to approve judges with 50 votes.
See Roll Call, “Leahy Eyes ‘Nuclear Option’ Threat to Confirm Judges,” (August 2, 2013).
Although Leahy doesn’t explicitly say so, this would eventually include Obama’s prospective anti-gun replacement to the 80-year-old Kennedy -- and would mean that the Second Amendment, in the eyes of the courts, would no longer exist.
Again, Justice Kennedy cast the deciding vote on the 5-4 Heller decision. So, if he is replaced by an anti-gun Obama nominee, Heller is gone.
ACTION: Click here to urge your Senators to oppose the anti-gun “nuclear option” to blow up the Senate rules. Tell them that any vote in favor of weakening the filibuster rules for judicial confirmations will ultimately result in a reversal of the Heller case -- and a body-blow to the Second Amendment.
Well, we hate to say it, but we predicted this would happen.
You remember when Harry Reid was threatening to destroy the Senate filibuster in January -- and later in July -- in order to approve Leftist Obama-supported nominees?
You remember, at the time, we said that, if Reid “pulled the trigger” on this so-called nuclear option to destroy the filibuster in some cases -- thus eliminating the need for Reid to garner 60 votes some of the time -- there would be no impediment to Reid doing anything he wanted with 50 votes (plus Biden) in other cases?
And you remember we said that it wouldn’t take long before Reid tried to limit the filibuster and use a mere 50 Democratic votes to approve other things as well -- like an anti-gun Supreme Court justice to replace Supreme Court “swing vote” Anthony Kennedy? The immediate ramification of such an appointment would be to overturn the Heller case (which held that the Second Amendment is an “individual right,” not just the right of a state to raise a militia).
Finally, you remember that Harry Reid said, at the time, that his shady precedent would just apply to Executive Branch nominees, not judges?
Well, it hasn’t taken long for his lie to be exposed.
The anti-gun Democratic Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has just called for blowing up the Senate rules to approve judges with 50 votes.
See Roll Call, “Leahy Eyes ‘Nuclear Option’ Threat to Confirm Judges,” (August 2, 2013).
Although Leahy doesn’t explicitly say so, this would eventually include Obama’s prospective anti-gun replacement to the 80-year-old Kennedy -- and would mean that the Second Amendment, in the eyes of the courts, would no longer exist.
Again, Justice Kennedy cast the deciding vote on the 5-4 Heller decision. So, if he is replaced by an anti-gun Obama nominee, Heller is gone.
ACTION: Click here to urge your Senators to oppose the anti-gun “nuclear option” to blow up the Senate rules. Tell them that any vote in favor of weakening the filibuster rules for judicial confirmations will ultimately result in a reversal of the Heller case -- and a body-blow to the Second Amendment.
57 ships Anchored off shore of NJ, MD/VA
Not sure what’s going on, might be nothing, but never saw this before. In a Weather Program I use I have the program set to get Weather and Ocean reports from anchored ships off shore. In this case ships anchored offshore in the Mid Atlantic States off the coast of NJ and MD/VA.
On the marinetraffic.com website this is not shown, might be due to being to far off shore.
4 days ago there was 12 ships anchored in a group 100 miles offshore of MD and VA. Right now theres 23 ships anchored in this group.
The last 2 days another group of ships, but spread a bit further apart is anchored off the NJ shore starting from 25 miles out to aprox 150 miles off shore. In all 32 ships are anchored.
In the FULL RES screen capture images I uploaded you will see this. Look for the Green Anchor Icons. Each Icon is a Anchored Ship. The blue flags are wind direction and wind speed reports from those ships. For more info I hover my mouse over the ship (which you will see in second image)
More @ Investment Watch
Goodies from Ol' Remus
Return of the War Party
Thomas Hill, undated
Thomas Hill, undated
Finally,
someone has cut through the bat guano and had the guts to say precisely
what's wrong with way too many public schools — and public school
systems — in America today.
Miceli decided to tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may.
That's why he goes to the top of my 2013 list of heroes, says Gregory
Kane in this article, A brave Baltimore teacher speaks the truth about schools, students, at the Washington Examiner.
I've argued from day one that Obama's goal was to create a two class
society. The two classes are the super-rich, who are beholden to Obama
for corporate welfare, bailouts, and government contracts, and the poor
who are beholden to Obama for checks to survive. Look no further than
the new immigration bill to see the final destruction of middle class
wages, says Wayne Root in this article, Why we can kiss the US economy goodbye, at Fox News.
After decades of attacks against the Constitution and laws consistent
with it, they have overcome most of the constraints. Just as most of the
last century was marked by advancing freedoms and wealth, this century
will be one of regression. The repressive forces of tyranny are slowly
depleting the essence of America and other developed Western countries.
The effect is to reverse the progress made by a proud nation to one that
will be increasingly characterized by mediocrity and poverty.
Moving out of New York State - We’re
looking for a more friendly environment for our business. Maybe we
could have stayed here and built a plant, but the way the bill was
passed left us feeling there were a lot of uncertainties going forward.
Why take a chance when we can be in a state where they’re not looking to
cause us any problems?
Cocktails and Self-Segregated Black Liberals
Via Bill
Michele Norris is the race-obsessed journalist and former co-host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
Norris, her husband Broderick Johnson, and her family have been coming to racially segregated Martha’s Vineyard for over 20 years.
Talk about an incestuous relationship: President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama attended a cocktail party this evening at the Martha’s Vineyard home of National Public Radio host/serious journalist/dear friend and ally, Michele Norris.
After flying into the Vineyard this weekend and patiently awaiting the arrival of dozens of the president’s basketballs and Bo the family dog, both of which arrived with a security detail on a Marine chopper the following day, the Obamas got all gussied up and moseyed on over to a cocktail party hosted by friends in the unbiased media.
Michele Norris is the race-obsessed journalist and former co-host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”
Norris, her husband Broderick Johnson, and her family have been coming to racially segregated Martha’s Vineyard for over 20 years.
More @ The Black Sphere
Meshnet activists rebuilding the internet from scratch
Via Bill
Worried about the NSA snooping on your email? Maybe you need to start creating your own personal internet
Worried about the NSA snooping on your email? Maybe you need to start creating your own personal internet
THE internet is neither neutral nor private, in case you were in any doubt. The US National Security Agency can reportedly collect nearly everything a user does on the net,
while internet service providers (ISPs) move traffic according to
business agreements, rather than what is best for its customers. So some
people have decided to take matters into their own hands, and are
building their own net from scratch.
Across the US, from Maryland to Seattle,
work is underway to construct user-owned wireless networks that will
permit secure communication without surveillance or any centralised
organisation. They are known as meshnets and ultimately, if their
designers get their way, they will span the country.
Dan Ryan is one of the leaders of the
Seattle Meshnet project, where sparse coverage already exists thanks to
radio links set up by fellow hackers. Those links mean that instead of
communicating through commercial internet connections, meshnetters can
talk to each other through a channel that they themselves control
.
Each node in the mesh, consisting of a
radio transceiver and a computer, relays messages from other parts of
the network. If the data can't be passed by one route, the meshnet finds
an alternative way through to its destination. Ryan says the plan is
for the Seattle meshnet to extend its coverage by linking up two
wireless nodes across Lake Union in downtown Seattle. And over the
country at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, student
Alexander Bauer is hoping to build a campus meshnet later this year.
That will give his fellow students an alternative communications
infrastructure to the internet.
More @ New Scientist
Sale of Slave Tom in New Jersey
The
only Northern State to outlast New York in preserving African slavery
was New Jersey, holding onto this labor system until 1865. New York in
the early 1700s was increasingly dependent upon the slave trade and
suffered great mortality in imported slaves – so much so that New York
was referred to a “a death factory for black people” (Slavery in New
York, Berlin/Harris, 2005, pg. 12)
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"
Sale of Slave Tom in New Jersey
“Know
all men by these presents, that I, Enoch Williams, of the township of
Newark, in the County of Essex, and State of New Jersey, for and in
consideration of the sum of one hundred and eighty dollars paid, or
secured to be paid by Phineas Crane of the Town, County and State of the
aforesaid, unto the said Enoch Williams, for which payment I have
given, granted, bargained and sold unto the said Phineas Crane, my Negro
man named Tom;
[T]o
have and to hold the said Negro man unto the said Phineas Crane, for
himself, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns; and doth
warrant, secure, and forever defend the sale of said Negro man named Tom
unto the said Phineas Crane, his heirs and assigns forever.
In
witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twenty-ninth
day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
nine. Enoch Williams
Sealed and delivered in the presence of: Elizabeth Crane[and] Polly Williams.”
(History of Montclair Township, State of New Jersey, Illustrated, Henry Whittemore, Suburban Publishing Company, 1894, page 32)
GOP congressman: Global warming is a liberal plot to ‘create global government’
California Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher told town hall meeting attendees that global warming is a “total fraud” designed to create a global government to “control all of our lives.”
“Just so you know, global warming is a total fraud and it is being designed by — what you’ve got is you’ve got liberals who get elected at the local level want state government to do the work and let them make the decisions,” Rohrabacher said in front of the Newport Mesa Tea Party last week.
“Then, at the state level, they want the federal government to do it. And at the federal government, they want to create global government to control all of our lives,” Rohrabacher said.“That’s what the game plan is. It’s step by step by step, more and bigger control over our lives by higher levels of government. And global warming is that strategy in spades.…” he added.
More @ The Daily Caller
Lindsey Graham Censured By SC County GOP
Tonight at the regular monthly meeting of the Chesterfield County Republican Party, members utilized a roll call vote to pass a 29-point resolution in favor of censuring one of the current United States Senators from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham. The yeas carried the evening with 98% of the vote. This reflects the continued frustration of many in the party with officials who are elected as Republicans and then seem to forget the doctrine of the party when they assume office.
“The Chesterfield County Republican Party upholds traditional conservative Republican principles and we expect those who are elected under its banner to also adhere to this same standard,” Chesterfield County Republican Party Executive Committeeman Glenn Gulledge proclaimed. “Lindsey Graham has committed a long series of actions that we strongly disapprove of and hold to be fundamentally inconsistent with the principles of the South Carolina Republican Party. The 29 points documented in this censure clearly illustrate this trend and make it clear that he is not consistently representing some of our most valued, time-honored tenets.”
More @ Freedom Outpost
Patriot Plate – III to III
Via WiscoDave
My 20th wedding anniversary was approaching and I figured that this
would be the perfect chance for me to get a set of body armor. How could
my wife possibly say no?
Then I started looking into prices and found that maybe, just maybe she could say no. $350 and up for a full set plus a carrier?! I know she loves me but…
I talked to Kenny about his thoughts and he mentioned that while he wanted some there was no way that even he, a world famous award winning blogger, could afford it.
My “mission” started. What if I could make my own and sell it at, basically, cost?
I looked into steel used for plate. I found a supplier. Kenny put up a post and less than 24 hrs later Patriot Plate was born!
This literally started out as a garage project and 13 sets were produced. (13 sets, 13 Colonies?)
Kudos to Dave, y'all!
Bringing quality, affordable protection to the Patriot Community.
Dave “WiscoDave” Dietz
Dave “WiscoDave” Dietz
Then I started looking into prices and found that maybe, just maybe she could say no. $350 and up for a full set plus a carrier?! I know she loves me but…
I talked to Kenny about his thoughts and he mentioned that while he wanted some there was no way that even he, a world famous award winning blogger, could afford it.
My “mission” started. What if I could make my own and sell it at, basically, cost?
I looked into steel used for plate. I found a supplier. Kenny put up a post and less than 24 hrs later Patriot Plate was born!
This literally started out as a garage project and 13 sets were produced. (13 sets, 13 Colonies?)
More @ Knuckledraggin' My Life Away
State Dept Offers $10 Million Reward For Kill or Capture Of 'Enemies Of Islam'
Via LH
This is one step beyond The Twilight Zone .... it's the O'Zone, just as poisonous and deadly. (Thanks to Armaros)
Obama's state department is now calling devout Muslims "enemies of Islam." This is madness. Are counter jihadists considered enemies of Islam?
State Dept Offers $10 Million Reward For Kill or Capture Of 'Enemies Of Islam' IJ Review, August 12, 2013
As with most things his administration does, I’m sure Obama will be shocked when he reads in the newspapers about the State Dept. declaring a $10 million bounty on the head of what it calls an “enemy of Islam.”
From a State Department Press release:
This is one step beyond The Twilight Zone .... it's the O'Zone, just as poisonous and deadly. (Thanks to Armaros)
Obama's state department is now calling devout Muslims "enemies of Islam." This is madness. Are counter jihadists considered enemies of Islam?
State Dept Offers $10 Million Reward For Kill or Capture Of 'Enemies Of Islam' IJ Review, August 12, 2013
As with most things his administration does, I’m sure Obama will be shocked when he reads in the newspapers about the State Dept. declaring a $10 million bounty on the head of what it calls an “enemy of Islam.”
From a State Department Press release:
More @ Atlas Shrugs
Anonymous' Secret Presence In The U.S. Army
Via LH
There are more than you would think, more heavily in the techie world [of the military] — especially at Fort Huachuca, where all the intel people are. A lot of them wanted to get the job [there] because they want to learn secret stuff and have a better personal understanding of how the world actually works.
How do you know who is in Anonymous?
Excerpt
Every six months you are mandated to
get a Threat Awareness and Reporting Procedures Brief. It used to be
very much like how to … spot the Iraqi contractor who is pacing off your
base.
Now it is, “Look at the person at your left and right. Are they
espousing social beliefs that don’t line up with Army values? What
websites do they go to at work?” With the caveat that it is OK to have
political beliefs that are different. You get a heavy-handed feeling.
************************************
Don’t despair yet my friends - - our saviors are in the wings.
“There are people who I only know as screen names but I have put my career in their hands.” One member tells all.
A Guy Fawkes mask on the dashboard is
just one way this Army captain tips off other soldiers that he’s a
fellow member of Anonymous.
An active-duty Army captain and
member of Anonymous describes how the organization operates, his own
involvement in the Arab Spring, how the crackdown on Bradley Manning and
Edward Snowden has affected soldiers, and how more leaks are on the
way.
He has agreed to speak with BuzzFeed on the condition of anonymity.
Are there a lot of members of Anonymous in the Army?
There are more than you would think, more heavily in the techie world [of the military] — especially at Fort Huachuca, where all the intel people are. A lot of them wanted to get the job [there] because they want to learn secret stuff and have a better personal understanding of how the world actually works.
More @ Charleston Voice
Female shooter takes top prize for NRA's Prone Metallic Sights Championship
Via Another Day
Shot at distances of up to 100 yards, the the Metallic Championship is
the aggregate of six separate matches fired over a two day period.
Courses of fire include a Dewar course (20 shots at 50 yards and 20
shots at 100 yards), 40 shots at 50 meters, and 400 shots at 100 yards.
Coming out on top, with a score of 2400-202x (the X stands for bullseyes) is New York's Reya Kempley.
Here are the top seven:
Dated.
The NRA National Smallbore Rifle Championships continue this week in
Ohio as the Prone shooters take to the field. First on the agenda is
the Metallic Sights Match.
Coming out on top, with a score of 2400-202x (the X stands for bullseyes) is New York's Reya Kempley.
Here are the top seven:
More @ NRA
Lawrence, Kansas
On 12 August 1863 Confederate guerrilla William Quantrill's Raiders
attacked & sacked Lawrence, Kansas revenging hundreds of raids and
murders by unionist Redlegs into Southern sympathizing Missouri.
One of the best movies made about the War and certainly the fairest
about the war in Missouri is Ang Lee's movie Ride with the Devil. Six
counties in Missouri under the wartime unionist governor were subject
to the first ethnic cleansing in America (after the Indians).
WSJ's Moore: Sequester Has Already Succeeded Beyond Expectations
The automatic government spending cuts that drew howls of protest from Washington when they began March 1 have turned out splendidly, says Stephen Moore, a Wall Street Journal editorial board member.
"The biggest underreported story out of Washington this year is that the federal budget is shrinking and much more than anyone in either party expected," he wrote Sunday.
Annual spending peaked at about $3.6 trillion in fiscal 2011. Many experts had expected outlays would reach $4 trillion by 2014, Moore reported.
Instead, spending dropped to $3.54 trillion in fiscal 2012, and is on track to dip below $3.45 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of fiscal 2013. That would represent the first time government spending has decreased for two straight years since the end of the Korean War, Moore noted.
More @ Newsmax
Report: 400 US Surface-to-Air Missiles Went Missing in Benghazi
A lawyer representing one of the whistleblowers with knowledge of the deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi last September says 400 surface-to-air missiles were "diverted to Libya" during the attack and fell into "the hands of some very ugly people."
In an interview with Washington, D.C., radio station WMAL on Monday, Beltway lawyer Joe diGenova said he "does not know whether [the missiles] were at the annex, but it is clear the annex was somehow involved in the distribution of those missiles," Breitbart.com reported.
Saying his information "comes from a former intelligence official who stayed in constant contact with people in the special ops and intelligence community," diGenova said the U.S. intelligence community is terrified the missiles might be used to shoot down airliners — and that fear, in part, fueled the closing of embassies in the Middle East last week.
More @ Newsmax
GOP congressman: Probably have enough votes in House to impeach Obama
Rep. Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican, told constituents at a townhall over the weekend that the House of Representatives would “probably” have enough votes to impeach President Obama.
Farenthold was in Luling, Texas on Saturday, and after stepping past a question about the president’s birth certificate, suggested that the House would have the votes to impeach the president, but the Democratic Senate would kill the effort.
“A question I get a lot — ‘If everybody’s so unhappy with what the president’s doing, why don’t you impeach him?’” Farenthold said.
More @ Daily Caller
Florida mom gets 20 years for firing warning shots
Via WiscoDave
This absolutely insane. Mind boggling.
A Florida woman who fired warning shots against her allegedly abusive husband has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Marissa Alexander of Jacksonville had said the state's "Stand Your Ground" law should apply to her because she was defending herself against her allegedly abusive husband when she fired warning shots inside her home in August 2010. She told police it was to escape a brutal beating by her husband, against whom she had already taken out a protective order.
CBS Affiliate WETV reports that Circuit Court Judge James Daniel handed down the sentence Friday.
Under Florida's mandatory minimum sentencing requirements Alexander could receive a lesser sentence, even though she has never been in trouble with the law before. Judge Daniel said the law did not allow for extenuating or mitigating circumstances to reduce the sentence below the 20-year minimum.
More @ WTSP
Grassley Says Officials Stonewalling in O'Donnell Tax Case
Delaware state revenue officials are refusing to cooperate with a congressional inquiry into the disclosure of tea party favorite Christine O'Donnell's federal tax records, The Washington Times reports.
The tax snooping incident under review by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa occurred during O'Donnell's unsuccessful 2010 race to fill the Senate seat vacated by Vice President Joe Biden.
On March 9, 2010, the IRS filed a lien on a home once owned by O'Donnell, but later admitted the lien was placed in error.
The Washington Times broke the story last month that O'Donnell's tax records had been accessed by David Smith, an investigator with Delaware's Division of Revenue, an action that prompted the inquiry by the U.S. Treasury Department.
More @ Newsmax
NC: Ruger Expands production, buys third factory – Up to 10 new gun lines
Excerpt
The Facility and Labor Force
Ruger seems to have found the ideal location in Mayodan, NC, and is expecting to finalize the purchase this month. That would give the company up to four months to bring one of these new guns online in time for the SHOT Show 2014 in January.
The 221,600 sq. ft. facility is a former textile plant that has been unused since 2007. There is little work needed to bring the plant online Fifer said in the company’s August 1 earnings call.
The Mayodan plant sits on more than 50 acres, which would allow for additional expansion by Ruger at a later date.
Statements by Fifer on April 30 suggest about 50 employees will be hired immediately and up to 100 by year’s end.
Fortunately for Ruger, Mayodan has a good labor force and the state appears to be welcoming the company with open arms. So far, the company has held two job fairs and the response has been excellent.
“[The] caliber of potential employees is impressive,” said Fifer.
Ultimately, the Mayodan facility could employ up to about 500 – 700 people, with roughly 100 each year being added until the company reaches that number. That would be close to Ruger’s Prescott facility that employs around 750 people.
More @ Human Events
Photographer Collection: Horst Faas in Vietnam
A wounded Vietnamese ranger, his head heavily bandaged with only slits
for the eyes and mouth, is ready with his weapon to answer a Viet Cong
attack during battle in Dong Xoai on June 11, 1965. Photo by Associated
Press photographer Horst Faas, who accompanied the rangers on the battle
mission. (AP Photo/Horst Faas)