Confederate flags flying in front of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts today!

Texas Court Throws 2nd, 4th Amendments Under The Bus

Via Knuckledraggin' My Life Away

 Texas courts have ruled that because legally owned firearms represent “a threat of physical violence” to police, officers may ignore the 4th Amendment rights of Texas residents by treating ALL legally issued warrants as “No Knock” warrants, even if the issuing judge has made it clear that officers “…must knock on the door and announce their identity and purpose before attempting a forcible entry.”

More @ The Western Center For Journalism

Sherman and Total War

William T. Sherman: Mad General

In an order to one of his generals, Thomas Ewing (Order #11) Sherman said “There is a class of people (in the South), men women and children, who must be killed or banished before you can hope for peace and order.” 

And again to his wife he wrote from north Georgia, “I begin to regard the death and mangling of a couple thousand men as a small affair, a kind of morning dash.”

 

*********************************************

“In North America, European influence had always dominated and this logically included modes of warfare mostly in accordance with European standards. There were of course departures from this but usually armies fought each other rather than terrorizing civilian populations – the war with Mexico being an example which did not revert to total war against noncombatants. 

In his book “Advance to Barbarism, F.J.P. Veale writes: “. . . the first historic break with European practice . . . took place in the sanguinary American Civil War (or “The War Between the States,” as the Southerners still prefer to designate it).  It was the Northern or Federal armies which produced this historic reversion to primary or total warfare.  The North had endured much more bellicose contact with the Red Indians and was much less influenced by Europe than the South.” (C.C. Nelson, 1953, pg. 121)

Veale finds “the traditional habit of saddling [Sherman with the] Northern departure from civilized warfare” unjust.  He saw that “Sherman only executed the most dramatic and devastating example of the strategy which was laid down by President Lincoln himself and was followed by General Ulysses S. Grant as commander-in-chief of the Northern armies. 

Veale continues:  “That Lincoln determined the basic lines of Northern military strategy has been well-established . . . [and] Grant only efficiently applied Lincoln’s military policy in the field.  [Professor Harry T. Williams writes that Grant] “grasped the . . . concept that war was becoming total and that the destruction of the enemy’s economic resources was as effective and legitimate a form of warfare as the destruction of his armies.”  

Hence it is apparent that Sherman was only carrying out effectively the military policy which Lincoln and Grant had adopted (pg. 122).

More @ NCWBTS

Nidal Hasan whining about jail

While sitting in jail awaiting his death sentence, Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan has been a major pain in the American taxpayer’s pocketbook and nearly an equal pain in his jailor’s neck.

An investigation into Hasan’s jail time revealed the U.S. government spent millions of dollars on unique security measures and privileges for the mass murderer, yet a long record of the inmate’s obstinate behavior has prompted exasperated jail officials to tell him, “You’re a grown man, act like it.”

Official records from Hasan’s 3-year stint at Bell County Jail in Texas, for example, reveal the inmate sent frequent complaints and demands to his jailors, insisted the temperature of his cell be kept at 70 degrees, asked for a thermometer to monitor it, harassed his caregivers and during one episode even began defecating in his trash can instead of the bathroom.

More @ WND

NC: Bird lovers flock to see rare owl on Cape Hatteras shores

Via The Drawn Cutlass

During the first week of December, Jill Peleuses and Michelle Frazier set off on a two-day journey to the Outer Banks hoping to spy a lingering interloper - a non-native snowy owl who'd been spotted hanging out on the beach at Cape Hatteras.

"We have the fever," said Peleuses, owner of Wild Bird & Garden in Wilmington. "We were so excited. Neither one of us had ever seen a snowy owl before. It was the day after the Bonner Bridge closed, so it was a series of two ferries and probably eight hours of travel one way. And the whole time we're hoping, 'Please don't let that bird fly away.'"

The trek may seem extreme but was well worth it for the birders, who viewed the excursion as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spy a snowy owl in person. This winter, North Carolina has seen an unprecedented influx of the birds, which are native to the Arctic tundra in Alaska and Canada and almost never fly this far south. Since October, 14 owls - white, with black markings and bright yellow eyes - have been spotted in the state, from Wrightsville Beach to Cape Hatteras and as far west as Asheville.

More @ Star News

Angler wasn't reeling for a record

 

Andy Moore simply slid the fish back into the water and watched it glide away under the ice.

It wasn't the triumphant ending many fishermen might have dreamed of after catching a potential state record, but it was the right one for Moore and his brother Scott.

“Qualifying a fish for a state record, you more than likely have to kill it,” Andy Moore said. “I wasn't prepared to do that.”

More @ Omaha

Desert Tactical Arms Refuses Sale to Pakistan – Turns Down Millions

Desert Tactical Arms chooses people over profit. Desert Tactical Arms of Utah has made a decision to turn down millions of dollars in business and not sell guns to Pakistan.

The company’s management originally decided to throw their hat into the ring when an open-bid situation became available. However, after they learned that they were the front runner to win the contract they changed their mind. Desert Tactical Arms decided to make a decision that was based on morals and not on dollars.

KSL.com reports:

More @ Freedom Outpost

Man Shot and Killed in Florida Home Invasion

Two home invasion suspects are on the run and a third was shot and killed by a Davie resident Thursday night, police said.

The incident happened at a home on the 6100 block of Southwest 48th Street, Davie Police spokesman Capt. Dale Engle said.

Three armed men entered the apartment and pistol-whipped the resident inside, police said. He then confronted the suspects.

“The resident of the apartment had possession of an AK-47 and after he received this beating he was able to get possession or control of that, and started shooting at these suspects as they were fleeing,” Engle said.

More @ NBC

Cops make arrest in hateful ‘knockout’ spree

 

It was his turn to get knocked out.

The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force busted a Brooklyn man for at least seven “knockout” assaults, cops said Friday.

Barry Baldwin, 35, punched out the victims between Nov. 9 and Christmas Eve in Canarsie and Midwood, police said.

All of the victims were white women and most were Jewish, a law-enforcement source said. At least two of the attacks occurred on the Sabbath.

“Everyone will sleep a little easier,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who said the attacks frightened the community.

More @ New York Post

WASP - Women Airforce Service Pilots

 

ENLARGED

Frances Rohrer Sargent

WASP - Women Airforce Service Pilots

Some time ago I sent some information about my Mother In Law, Francis R. Sargent that you posted. She was a WASP, class 42-W4, assigned to Camp Davis Army Air Field. She was also an instrument instructor and Professor of Aviation at Miami Dade Community College (ret).

Fran passed away Friday December 27, 2013. She was 93. 

CELESTIAL FLIGHT: 

She is not dead --
But only flying higher,
Higher than she's flown before,
And earthlly limitations
Will hinder her no more.

There is no service ceiling.
Or any fuel range,
And there is no anoxia,
Or need for engine change. 

Thank God that now her flight can be
To heights her eyes had scanned,
Where she can race with comets,
And buzz the rainbow's span. 

For she is universal
Like courage, love and hope,
And all free, sweet emotions
Of vast and godly scope.
 
And understand a pilot's Fate
Is not the thing she fears,
But rather sadness left behind,
Your heartbreak and your tears.
 
So all you loved ones, dry your eyes,
Yes, it is wrong that you should grieve
For she would love your courage more,
And she would want you to believe
She is not dead. 

For you should have known
That she is flying higher,
Higher than she's ever flown.
 
by Elizabeth MacKethan Magid, WASP 44-W-2
copyright 1979

Terry

Fla.

NC: Homeowner kills Maxton man during break-in

 

A Maxton man was shot to death on Wednesday when he and three others attempted to break in to a Rowland home housing illegal video poker machines, according to Robeson County Sheriff Kenneth Sealey.

Christopher Deshon Page, 24, was found dead in a car by deputies at about 11:15 p.m. after he was shot by 54-year-old Keith Ryan Bowen at at 8528 Fairley Road, Sealey said. Bowen is the homeowner, but lives on Wesley Road in Rowland, according to Sealey.

The sheriff said Christopher Page, along with Dedric Dwayne Page, 21, an unidentified male and an unidentified female knocked on the door of the home. When Bowen opened the door, he saw that at least one of the people was carrying a handgun, Sealey said, and the intruders forced their way into the home.

More @ Laurinburg Exchange

59% 'Negative' Experience With Obamacare Exchanges

A new poll of uninsured Americans seeking health-care options through the Obamacare health insurance exchange websites shows that 59% had a "negative” experience -- 30% "negative" and 29% "very negative," for a "total negative" of 59%.

That "total" rating is down only slightly from October/November, when 63%  ranked  their Obamacare exchange website experience as a negaive, according to Gallup. In the new poll, a total of only 39% ranked their experience on the exchanges as positive -- 32% "positive" and only 7% "very positive."

More @ CNS News

President Obama leads the “Top Ten Most Wanted Corrupt Politicians” for 2013, named by the Washington watchdog Judicial Watch.

This year the “honor” is for acting “as a one-man Congress, rewriting entire sections of federal law on his own.”

Judicial Watch annually releases a list of the top politicians who misbehave while purportedly representing taxpayers in Washington. The 2013 “honors” go to, in alphabetical order, House Speaker John Boehner, CIA Director John Brennan, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder, former IRS commissioner Steve T. Miller and former IRS official Lois Lerner, ex-DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, Obama, Sen. Harry Reid and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Several are perennial selections, including Obama, who has been on the list for seven years already, and Holder.

Obama, the organization contends, “is a master at catch-me-if-you can, corrupt politics.”

“Not only is his administration secretive and dishonest; its callous disregard for the rule of law undermines our constitutional republic,” the report said.

More @ WND

Obamacare confusion reigns as frustrated patients walk out of hospitals without treatment

Hospital staff in Northern Virginia are turning away sick people on a frigid Thursday morning because they can't determine whether their Obamacare insurance plans are in effect.

Patients in a close-in DC suburb who think they've signed up for new insurance plans are struggling to show their December enrollments are in force, and health care administrators aren't taking their word for it.

In place of quick service and painless billing, these Virginians are now facing the threat of sticker-shock that comes with bills they can't afford. 

'They had no idea if my insurance was active or not!' a coughing Maria Galvez told MailOnline outside the Inova Healthplex facility in the town of Springfield.
She was leaving the building without getting a needed chest x-ray. 

'The people in there told me that since I didn't have an insurance card, I would be billed for the whole cost of the x-ray,' Galvez said, her young daughter in tow. 'It's not fair – you know, I signed up last week like I was supposed to.'

More @ Daily Mail

Issa: End Saturday Mail and Save Billions for Military Pensions

Should have cut it long ago.

 Rep. Darrell Issa has introduced a bill to replace proposed military pension cuts by scrapping Saturday mail delivery, Postal News reported Friday.

Issa believes that cutting Saturday service would create an estimated $17 billion reserve over 10 years, replacing a one percent annual cost of living adjustment for some retired military veterans that was included in the 2013 bipartisan budget deal.

"This legislation will restore cost of living adjustments for our military retirees and not only replace the savings but nearly triple them, saving $17 billion over 10 years according to conservative USPS estimates," Issa (R-Ca.), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said in a statement.

More @ Newsmax

Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers dies at 74

 

Phil Everly, who with his brother, Don, made up the most revered vocal duo of the rock-music era, their exquisite harmonies profoundly influencing the Beatles, the Beach Boys, the Byrds and countless younger-generation rock, folk and country singers, died Friday in Burbank of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, his wife, Patti Everly, told The Times. He was 74.

“We are absolutely heartbroken,” she said, noting that the disease was the result of a lifetime of cigarette smoking. “He fought long and hard.”

During the height of their popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s, they charted nearly three dozen hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, among them “Cathy’s Clown,” “Wake Up Little Susie,” “Bye Bye Love,” “When Will I Be Loved” and “All I Have to Do Is Dream.” The Everly Brothers were among the first 10 performers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame when it got off the ground in 1986.

More @  LA Times

PHOTOS: The Everly Brothers through the years

Alicia Rhett: ‘Gone With the Wind’ actress dies at 98

 

Alicia Rhett, an actress who played one of the sisters of Ashley Wilkes in “Gone with the Wind,” died Friday. She was 98.

Rhett died of natural causes about 5 p.m. at the Bishop Gadsden Episcopal Retirement Community in Charleston, said Gadsden spokeswoman Kimberly Farfone Borts.

Rhett was the oldest surviving cast member of the 1939 film starring Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable, Farfone said.

Still-surviving cast members include Olivia de Havilland, 97, who played Ashley Wilkes’ cousin and wife, Melanie Hamilton; Mary Anderson, 93, who played Maybelle Merriweather; and Mickey Kuhn, 81, who played Beau Wilkes, Farfone said.

More @ The Washington Post

A World of Destitution

 

Some of the greatest political events in America, perhaps the world, were initiated by Christians. When Christians fled Britain to gain freedom from the dictates of the Church of England, they went to America; populating a far-off land under dangerous, even deadly circumstances. They established religious freedom and infused the New World with the concept of liberty.

Once in America, Christians developed the earliest educational and humanitarian organizations, most of which survive today, though many have shed their religious cloak and have taken up the task of destroying religious endeavor.

Early Abolitionists were also almost exclusively Christian. Many of the great movements that brought America into enlightenment were founded by the clergy. The Boy Scouts were Christian, once.

Why is it then that Christians are absent from the great debates of today?

More @ Christian Mercenary

The Death of Johannesburg

Via WRSA

Dear Readers

I have just added a whole batch of new images to this blog. There are far too many to fit on one page, as I have done till now, so I have split them up into their own pages.
Please visit them -- you won't be dissappointed -- and each page as a link back to this "Death of Johannesburg" Main Page so you can navigate back here and and have a look at the next set.

The new gallaries are:

More