Friday, February 2, 2018

GOP Rep. To Seek CRIMINAL PROSECUTION of FBI, DOJ Officials over “TREASON” in FISA Memo +2

Via Billy


In a letter published Friday, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) announced he will seek the criminal prosecution of FBI and Justice Department officials in response to the “treason,” laid out in the recently released FISA abuse memo.

“The FBI knowingly took false information from the Democratic National Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign and then used it to smear Donald Trump in order to hurt his campaign,” wrote Gosar.

“The full-throated adoption of this illegal misconduct and abuse of FISA by James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates and Rod Rosenstein is not just criminal but constitutes treason,” Gosar continued.


Trump Attorney: " What a breach of trust to the American people "

Michael Flynn Jr. Reacts to FISA Memo: I WANT JUSTICE! 


Killed for the Flag

 

Anthony Hervey was born in Water Valley, Mississippi in 1965. He grew up in Oxford, served in the military for a short period, then went on to the University of Mississippi, where he studied sociology and Afro Studies. He then traveled to London, England where he studied Race & Ethnicity at the University of London and served as an intern in Parliament. Hervey loved to debate and was often seen in London debating on economic, political and social issues, which drew large crowds.

In 2006, Hervey wrote a book titled “Why I Wave the Confederate Flag, Written by a Black Man.”

He had been an outspoken supporter of Confederate symbols for many years, argued against the changing the Mississippi’s state flag, and often protested poverty at the base of the Confederate Soldiers Monument in Oxford.

Fitton: FISA Memo Is 'Devastating Blow' to Mueller's Russia Investigation

Via Billy

http://www.thedailysheeple.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Russia-gate.jpg

A controversial memo that shows alleged U.S. government surveillance abuses is a "devastating blow" to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, according to Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.

The memo, which was released on Friday by Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee, contains a number of allegations, including that the FBI and Justice Department relied on the infamous anti-Trump dossier to secure FISA surveillance warrants to spy on at least one member of the Trump team.

On "Outnumbered Overtime," Fitton said if that's true, then that means there would be no Mueller investigation without the unverified dossier, which was funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee.

"The whole thing, I think, really, is subject to being called off now by the Justice Department if they're brave enough, based on these disclosures," Fitton said.

More @ Fox

Shocking memo reveals how Comey disgraced an honorable FBI

 https://i1.wp.com/truepundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/160707-comey-cr1147_02_f080a4b12d0f012f3fe7689ba9a9cbbe.nbcnews-ux-2880-1000-18.jpg?resize=1500%2C575&ssl=1

The information contained in the memo released by House Republicans on Friday that accused FBI and Justice Department officials of improperly obtaining permission to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser shows a tragic failure of leadership on the part of former FBI Director James Comey.

But importantly, the memo does not in any way reflect on the outstanding work of the more than 35,000 dedicated men and women of the FBI.

It pains me – as a former FBI executive who loves and respects the organization – to say that Comey’s short tenure at the FBI has proven to be the worst thing to happen to the agency since Director L. Patrick Gray was fired during the Watergate scandal.

If the facts stated in the memo are true – despite the highly political nature of congressional committees – then there was either incompetent or deliberate manipulation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court to get approval of the surveillance.

More @ Fox

Tea Party Patriots Action Rosenstein Ad


Hannity: Manafort, Flynn charges 'need to be dropped'

 http://thehill.com/sites/default/files/hannitysean11142017getty.jpg

Fox News host Sean Hannity on Friday called for the criminal charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and former national security adviser Michael Flynn to be dropped.

Hannity's comments came hours after Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee released a controversial memo alleging that FBI and Department of Justice (DOJ) officials misused their authority to obtain a surveillance warrant on a former Trump campaign adviser.

"If we as a country, if we care about the Constitution, if we believe in civil liberties, if we believe in those protections, then the special counsel must be disbanded immediately," Hannity said on his show.

More @ The Hill

More memos: Devin Nunes says House Intelligence is in 'phase two' of investigation

Via Billy

http://mobile.wnd.com/files/2017/03/devin-nunes-1.jpg

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., suggested that more memos, in addition to the one released Friday that outlines alleged surveillance violations by the U.S. government, may soon be released, with the next one targeting the State Department.

“Yes, this completes just the FISA abuse portion of our investigation,” Nunes told Fox News host Bret Baier on Friday, referencing abuses related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

“We are in the middle of what I call ‘phase two’ of our investigation, which involved other departments,” Nunes said. “Specifically the State Department and some of the involvement they had in this.”

BREAKING: Rod Rosenstein Threatened to House Intel Members 3 Weeks Ago


FBI Officials Knew Political Origins of Dossier, But Used It Anyway

 US President Donald Trump will defend his economic record in his State of the Union address

The House Intelligence Committee released its classified memo detailing alleged abuse by senior FBI and Justice Department officials on Friday, after the president approved its release.

“The Committee, which is responsible for overseeing the activities of the Intelligence Community, hopes the publication of this information will help inform the public about abuses that have occurred at the DOJ and FBI, and spur needed reform and accountability at those agencies so that similar abuses will not occur under any administration, Democrat or Republican,” the committee said in a statement accompanying the memo.

“The government’s surveillance capabilities are extraordinary powers that must be carefully circumscribed to protect Americans’ civil liberties. Any use of these powers for political purposes or any purpose other than defending the American people is intolerable,” it said.

Democrats, as well as senior officials at the Justice Department and the FBI, had pushed back hard against its release.

Among the memo’s findings are:
More @ Breitbart

James Comey Signed FISA Applications Utilizing Same Dossier He Publically Called ‘Salacious and Unverified’

 WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 08: Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill June 8, 2017 in Washington, DC. Comey said that President Donald Trump pressured him to drop the FBI's investigation into former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and demanded Comey's loyalty during the one-on-one meetings he had with president. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A four-page House Intelligence Committee memo alleging abuse of surveillance authority raises immediate questions about former FBI Director James Comey’s role in utilizing the infamous, largely discredited 35-page anti-Trump dossier to obtain a FISA court warrant to monitor an individual associated with Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

One glaring possible inconsistency centers on Comey’s June 8, 2017 prepared remarks for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where he referred to the anti-Trump dossier as containing “salacious and unverified” material.

Yet, according to the memo crafted by House Republicans, Comey personally signed three FISA court applications utilizing that same dossier that he labeled “salacious and unverified” eight months later to obtain FISA court warrants to conduct surveillance on Carter Page, who briefly served as a volunteer foreign policy adviser to Trump’s 2016 campaign.

More @ Breitbart

Illegal Receives 3 LIVERS Ahead of American Citizens

Via comment by Reborn on Immigration lies and hypocrisy

 https://mrb562.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/picture16.png?w=612&h=205

No America citizen should have to fight to be put ahead of illegals. But such is the case when Democrats crave new voters.

And that’s why Americans find ourselves in jeopardy. Along with double the crimes committed by illegals, their status notwithstanding, there exist other perils.

As the LA Times reports, illegals can now get on America’s organ donor registry:

Ana Puente was an infant with a liver disorder when her aunt brought her illegally to the U.S. to seek medical care. She underwent two liver transplants at UCLA Medical Center as a child in 1989 and a third in 1998, each paid for by the state.

Just so we are clear, a non-citizen of the United States brought her illegal niece to America. And she received two livers ahead of other citizens. So Puente potentially killed two Americans waiting on livers.

 More @ What Did You Say

A Kingdom from Dust

Via Cousin John

https://dh1rvgpokacch.cloudfront.net/atavist/24442/image/derivative/scale~1200x1200x0x0~0204empiref-1517357042-20.jpg

 

On a summer day in the San Joaquin Valley, 101 in the shade, I merge onto Highway 99 past downtown Fresno and steer through the vibrations of heat. I’m headed to the valley’s deep south, to a little farmworker town in a far corner of Kern County called Lost Hills. This is where the biggest irrigated farmer in the world — the one whose mad plantings of almonds and pistachios have triggered California’s nut rush — keeps on growing, no matter drought or flood. He doesn’t live in Lost Hills. He lives in Beverly Hills. How has he managed to outwit nature for so long?

More @The California Sunday Magazine

And Now it Begins In Earnest.

Via comment by JWMJR on Gov. Mike Huckabee: "No way to downplay this... (M...

 
Nancy Pelosi's inner self will be on full display for all to see.



Comey and the Democrats apparently would have us forget that the FISA court requires the presentation of exculpatory evidence as well as evidence of probable cause when seeking a warrant. The FBI and DOJ clearly had exculpatory material that would raise serious questions about credibility of the sources of the material being presented. The deliberate exclusion from the  FBI/DOJ affidavits represents perpetrating a fraud on the court and is a serious felony. This is precisely what the Democrat have been trying to hide from the American public. More importantly the publication of this memo is only going to be the first of many revelations to come. It is impossible to minimize the seriousness of these abuses.

While the apoplectic rage of the left will no doubt erupt anew, not that it ever stops, The President and his lawyers are laying their plans as we speak.

At soonest he is going to make his move after the Superbowl. You can bet that his lawyers are going to make sure they have their evidence and legal precedents lined up before they present their case to the public, the Congress and the courts. They probably have been working on the briefs for some time already.

Given the near parallel natures between the FISA court and the Supreme Court, I would not be surprised if the Administration takes it's case directly to the Supreme Court citing both the need to curtail the politicization of government agencies and to re-establish the public's confidence in how our investigative and judicial processes work.

We all have to hope that the Supreme Court sides with the rule of law over political agendas. If they don't we can either lower the curtain on our 400 year experiment in self governance and or prepare for another civil war.

Gov. Mike Huckabee: "No way to downplay this... (Memo) & more

Via INFO WARS

Gov. Mike Huckabee

...Forget your political views-when highest law enforcement officials use false info paid for by political campaigns to spy on American citizens, the 4th amendment has been shredded and none of us are safe.

Dan Bongino @dbongino
It’s now crystal clear, the Democrats and the Clinton campaign were the real “Russian bots.” What a bunch of corrupt frauds.

Paul Joseph Watson @PrisonPlanet
Memo proves everything we've been saying. The Obama administration conspired with the Clinton campaign to abuse the power of government in an effort to to sabotage Trump's campaign. The entire "Russian collusion" narrative is a hoax based on this hyper-partisan scheme. 

Katie Pavlich @KatiePavlich
So, the Clinton campaign/DNC worked with a foreign spy to develop a salacious and phony dossier on Donald Trump, gave the dossier to the FBI and they used it to open an investigation and obtain a FISA warrant to spy on Trump campaign members. Unreal.

Sean Davis @seanmdav
In a nutshell: Federal officials conspired to spy on a rival political campaign using information they had not verified from people they knew were untrustworthy. And these officials deliberately and repeatedly defrauded the judiciary by withholding key information.

Bill Mitchell @mitchellvii
BOTTOM LINE: FBI knowing used Clinton paid oppo research which was unvetted to seek FISA warrants against the opposition party candidate. Obama weaponized the FISA Courts.That is HUGE.Talk about "meddling with elections"...

Donald Trump Jr. @DonaldJTrumpJr
That whole “Obama had no scandals” narrative is aging really poorly right now. 

Tom Fitton @TomFitton
Memo: No FISA warrant without Dossier. Which means no Russia collusion story without Dossier. Which means no Mueller special counsel without Dossier paid for by Clinton/DNC. Shut it down.

Sean Hannity @seanhannity
An unprecedented Government abuse of power and corruption case. Those involved used HRC bought and paid for Russian lies as the basis to obtain a FISA warrant vs an opposition party candidate and Potus elect. And worse, they knew it was full of lies, and not verified.
  
 Buck Sexton @BuckSexton
MEMO summary: Foreigner working for DNC (STEELE) was fed information by foreigners (RUSSIANS) and he passed that information to a US Intelligence agency (FBI) and the media (YAHOO) then FBI used STEELE and YAHOO as basis to spy on an American (PAGE) >>>>>>THE DEEP STATE IS REAL

Tommy Robinson catches Muslim man who threatened to kill his family after Police failed to act

Via Billy


TOMMY ROBINSON was forced to find the man who was threatening his family after authorities failed to act.

Last week Robinson reported abuse to the Police, but Tommy found the abuser before Bedfordshire Police acted.

The ex-EDL leader turned journalist for Rebel Media posted the shock encounter on his Facebook Page.

Tommy Robinson said: “I caught the Muslim who has been threatening my family.”

He added: “How has it been left to me to find this man.”

More with @ Politicalite

It's first and goal for a just federal judiciary

Via Billy

https://hotair.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/appellate-reversal-rate.jpg

What if the Super Bowl were officiated by liberal judges?

Imagine your football team is about to win the Super Bowl by four points. As the clock ticks down the game’s final seconds, your quarterback takes the snap, his knee hits the ground, and the crowd storms the field in celebration.

Just then, though, the referee — let’s say he’s also a judge on the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals — waves his arms and blows his whistle. He has never liked the fact that the National Football League sets a 60-minute time limit for its games. After consulting with the umpire, the down judge, the field judge, the line judge, the side judge, and the back judge, he declares that even though time has expired, the game is not over.

The crowd at the year’s biggest game goes wild with half-booing, half-cheering, and everyone bewildered.

Treason

Via comment by Reborn on House Intelligence memo released: What it says

James Comey’s twitter account has a header “a higher loyalty”, and what that actually means is the loyalty to the higher ruling elite, which comes in well above such petty things as America and the constitution. 

With the publication of the FISA memo, you’re going to be getting finely detailed analyses, retrospective construction of the timelines, what’s actually in it and so on. Instead of following that route, I’d like to make some general observations, drawn from my own experiences dealing with similar but more modest situations, about how the events detailed in it could ever come about, who I think are the other culprits ducking furiously the fan-propelled ordure, the eternal question of what is to be done, and last but not least, what are the deeper implications of the insight America has just had into what President Trump rightly named the Washington swamp.

As usual, Trump has used the opportunity to its most devastating effect. It’s another Trump Zugzwang, with no non-damaging way out of it for the opposition. He’s been extremely careful to stay remote from its production but its timing, or rather the long delay in bringing it to the public, has worked beautifully to both build a massive feeling of expectation, and all against the counterpoint of various parties such as the FBI, DoJ and the DNC insisting it shouldn’t be published (guilty conscience), names should be redacted (hide the traitors), demanding the people who produced it be fired (plain silly at this stage) and of course cobbling together their very own memo about something or other that they seriously think is going to get a minute’s notice from anybody but CNN in the coming days.

More @ The Pointman

Budget Bill Should Require Clinton Special Investigation With Equal Resources

Via Billy


Choice must be taken away from corrupt DOJ in light of IG's report and Nunes memo


What if the DOJ were forced to hire a real special counsel to investigate the Clintons? What if they had to give that investigator just as much time, money and other resources as Mueller has been getting for his Russia debacle, but to investigate Clinton, Wasserman-Schultz, emailgate, the DNC primary, pay-to-play at Hillary's state department, etc.? And what if President Trump got final say over who that special counsel would be?

Congress could make that all happen. They could do it next week.

More @ Free Martyg

7 biggest takeaways from the FISA memo that was just released

Via John

The bottom-bottom line is this: Obama/Clinton/DNC/DOJ colluded with the FBI to prevent Donald Trump from being elected, and failing in that effort, began working (and continue to work) to illegally orchestrate Trump's removal from office. This is better known as a coup d'etat. This is the first attempted coup in American history and the FBI plotters must be fired and/or charged along with the participating members of the Obama administration, Clinton campaign officials, the DNC leadership, et al.
At the center of this mess is one person, James Comey, the 'exonerator' of Crooked Hillary Clinton, a fired and now platitudinous tweeting platypus; i.e., an odd mammal who is the very thing he glibly accuses others of being. In 2016, he turned the FBI into the 'FIB' - an organization comfortable with lying to the people who pay them....us.....and he oversaw these now exposed criminal actions more reminiscent of the Soviet-era KGB than the former FBI.
What else could we expect when we elect crooks and liars to run our government as we did in 2008 and 2012?  Thankfully, that time has ended and the rule of law is being again restored to the Republic. Roman senators once assassinated Julius Caesar in an effort to save the Roman Republic from Caesar's growing dictatorship. We don't do that sort of thing today, BUT - We the People should consider charging Barack Hussein Obama, and his accomplices, with the related crimes of treason and sedition - for trying to illegally influence the outcome of a presidential election and later, undermining the presidency of his unwanted successor. Convene the Grand Jury. Give them the evidence.  Bring the conspirators before the Jury and let justice again reign supreme in our land.-JP1

The FBI knew the DNC and Clinton campaign were behind the dossier–but didn’t disclose that knowledge to the FISA court
By declassifying the memo, President Trump just blew up Washington, D.C.

The controversial FISA memo, released by the House Intelligence Committee to the public on Friday, contains a number of bombshell revelations related to the FBI’s surveillance on the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.

At least one Republican, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, concluded that the document shows “clear and convincing evidence of treason.”

Here are the biggest takeaways.

Oil giants Exxon Mobil, Chevron win $8 billion windfall from GOP tax cuts

Via Billy

http://cdn.washingtonexaminer.biz/cache/1060x600-c26f953455fe77b1bf04e9a2deabafee.jpg

The energy companies join an array of S&P 500 stalwarts reporting billions in one-time benefits from the bill, which lowered the top corporate rate to 21 percent from 35 percent and created a territorial tax system that will halt the application of U.S. levies to profits earned and taxed overseas, then brought back to the country.

Trump to Democrats: Compromise on Immigration Now or Get Nothing After Election

 amnesty

President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that the GOP could postpone his immigration-and-amnesty push, and instead pass a no-compromise immigration rewrite in 2019.

“We have to get help from either side [to pass a bill in 2018] — or we have to elect many more Republicans,” Trump told GOP legislators gathered at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia.

Electing more Republicans “is another way of doing it,” he said, prompting cheers. He continued:
Really, that is another way of doing it. And based on the [election related] numbers we just saw, we have a real chance of doing that …  [Immigration] is now an election issue that will go to our benefit, not their benefit.
Trump said his four-part immigration and amnesty plan “includes reforms that are overwhelmingly popular with the voters, including Democrats … Americans want an immigration system that works for everybody.”

Trump’s suggestion is a 2018 threat to Democrats largely because Trump’s immigration priorities are far more popular than the Democrats’ pro-migrant, cheap-labor policies.

 More @ Breitbart

Immigration lies and hypocrisy

Via Billy

https://www.ammoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Illegal-Immigration-600x428.jpg

President Donald Trump reportedly asked why the U.S. is "having all these people from s---hole countries come here." I think he could have used better language, but it's a question that should be asked and answered. I have a few questions for my fellow Americans to consider. How many Norwegians have illegally entered our nation, committed crimes and burdened our prison and welfare systems? I might ask the same question about Finnish, Swedish, Welsh, Icelanders, Greenlanders and New Zealanders. The bulk of our immigration problem is with people who enter our country criminally from Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. It's illegal immigrants from those countries who have committed crimes and burdened our criminal justice and welfare systems. A large number of immigrants who are here illegally -- perhaps the majority are law-abiding in other respects -- have fled oppressive, brutal and corrupt regimes to seek a better life in America.

NORTH CAROLINA SEEKS ONLINE INPUT

http://docsouth.unc.edu/static/commland/monument/106_modern_front.jpg


In the first 48 hours of public comment on three Confederate statues outside the North Carolina capitol, more than 2,000 people offered their opinions through a state website.

Gov. Roy Cooper proposed removing the memorials from the capitol grounds in Downtown Raleigh while State lawmakers have argued over the legality of moving the monuments. According to a law made in 2015, Confederate memorials can only be moved in cases involving public safety concerns. Cooper sought the insight of the North Carolina Historical Commission, which decided in the fall to postpone a decision until April. The plan was to accept public input, and at a meeting on January 22, the committee opted to launch a website on January 29 for online submissions.

Click here to respond to survey.

We need to use this as an opportunity to politely remind the State of North Carolina that they do not have the legal ability to remove the statues. Jake Sullivan provided a statement on behalf of the NCSCV which said that the qualification of a monument for putting public safety at risk means the physical condition of the monument creates a danger to people nearby.

Public safety does not come into play when there is a threat of a mob, and the government should not give in to a mob.

So we "are asking our readers and the members of the general public to register their disgust with Governor Cooper and the Historical Commission via the public comment portal.

The Historical Commission has not set a deadline for people to complete their online submissions. There will be at least one public forum where people can voice their opinions in person, but the committee has not set a date.

President Trump speaks on FBI memo


House Intelligence memo released: What it says

Via Billy

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., wrote up the FISA memo. He never wavered in his determination to make the information available to the public. President Trump agreed, and, as required by House rules, gave his approval for release. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

The House Intelligence Committee has released its controversial memo outlining alleged abuses of secret surveillance by the FBI and Justice Department in the Trump-Russia investigation. Here are some key points:

* The Steele dossier formed an essential part of the initial and all three renewal FISA applications against Carter Page.
* Andrew McCabe confirmed that no FISA warrant would have been sought from the FISA Court without the Steele dossier information.
* The four FISA surveillance applications were signed by, in various combinations, James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Sally Yates, Dana Boente, and Rod Rosenstein.
* The FBI authorized payments to Steele for work on the dossier. The FBI terminated its agreement with Steele in late October when it learned, by reading an article in Mother Jones, that Steele was talking to the media.
* The political origins of the Steele dossier were known to senior DOJ and FBI officials, but excluded from the FISA applications.
* DOJ official Bruce Ohr met with Steele beginning in the summer of 2016 and relayed to DOJ information about Steele's bias. Steele told Ohr that he, Steele, was desperate that Donald Trump not get elected president and was passionate about him not becoming president.

A Legendary American Sea Captain

 https://d3m7xw68ay40x8.cloudfront.net/assets/2013/05/28203711/john-newland-maffitt.jpg

There is a particular irony in a famed Confederate sea captain, who, in the immediate prewar times, was celebrated as a liberator of Africans taken from their home aboard New England slave ships, captained by New Englanders. In late 1865, John Newland Maffitt’s daughter Florie married Wilmingtonian and Lieutenant Joshua Grainger Wright of the First North Carolina Infantry, a veteran of Boonsboro, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville before being seriously wounded. Wright was a postwar member of the United Confederate Veterans as well as the historic Cape Fear Club; he was buried on the last day of the nineteenth century, with Colonels John Lucas Cantwell and John Douglas Taylor among his pallbearers.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com   The Great American Political Divide

A Legendary American Sea Captain

“In 1858, Maffitt took command of the [USS] Dolphin and received orders from President [James] Buchanan to capture slave ships in the Bahama Channel, the Straits of Florida, the northwest coast of Cuba, and the Gulf of Mexico.

During his command of the Dolphin and, later, the Crusader, Captain Maffitt captured four slave ships. From one ship alone, he freed 500 naked blacks and treated in such a way that he won praise in the islands and in the States.

“The courtesy and commiseration of Captain Maffitt and the officers of the Crusader toward the captured Africans were a theme of particular commendation at Key West and Havana. In the course of this [antislavery] crusade, he had captured more slave ships and set free more enslaved Africans than any other officer of the United States Navy, or of any Navy.”

In 1861, after resigning from the United States Navy, he joined the Confederate forces as a lieutenant. His initial duty was as Engineering Officer to General Robert E. Lee [and by] 1862, Maffitt was running the blockade. He pierced the blockade many times with ships like the Florida, the Owl, the Lillian and the Florie, which was named for his “beautiful daughter,” Florence Maffitt.

Captain Maffitt . . . was promoted to Commander on April 29, 1863 “for gallant and meritorious conduct in running the blockade in and out of Mobile against an overwhelming force of the enemy and under his fire, and since in actively cruising against and destroying the enemy’s commerce.”

On the night Fort Fisher fell [January 15, 1865], Captain Maffitt was close to shore when fireworks began to go off all around him. Maffitt, seeing that the parties were aboard Union ships, quickly began to steal back unnoticed through the celebrating blockade; out to sea and then to the islands.”

(The Wrights of Wilmington, Susan Taylor Block, Wilmington Printing Company, 1992, excerpts pp. 96-100)

70,000 New York Permit Holders Are Now Felons for Failing to Register Handguns


On Thursday of this week, more than 70,000 New York pistol permit holders woke up as felons. 

Law-breakers.

What was their crime?  They didn’t register their handguns with the state.  Now, why on God’s green earth would they have to do that?

Emperor Gov. Andrew Cuomo rammed through the NY Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act in 2013.  This insidious law requires pistol permit holders to register their handguns and recertify their licenses every five years.  Failure to do so is a Class E felony.

More @ Guns America

H&K – The Protest is Over: USMC fields M27 IAR — SHOT Show 2018

 

The protest period has ended, which means H&K has officially received the contract for the USMC to replace the M4 carbines. The H&K model selected is the M27 Infantry Automatic Rifle, a derivative of the famous H&K 416. The M27 features a 16-inch  barrel. This is important for the velocity needed to make 5.56 lethal at that range. It is nice to see the Jarheads getting some nice toys, and some thought put into small arms.

In 1840 North Carolina was the premier winemaking state in America

 Scuppernong grape arbor beside a dwelling in northeastern North Carolina as depicted in an 1859 engraving in Harper's New Monthly Magazine. North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library. 
Scuppernong grape arbor beside a dwelling in northeastern North Carolina as depicted in an 1859 engraving in Harper's New Monthly Magazine.


From my vineyard.

******************** 

In June 1823 Thomas Jefferson ordered a 30-gallon barrel of "the pure juice of the grape" through a Plymouth factor named Cox. 

Scuppernong grape, named the state fruit of North Carolina in 2001, is a bronze-green variety of the muscadine grape (Vitis rotundifolia). It is one of the best-known names in North Carolina's (and the nation's) viticulture, being the first grape actively cultivated in the United States. Once also called the white grape, the big white grape, and the Roanoke grape, the scuppernong gained popularity and noteworthiness as a wine grape on the south side of Albemarle Sound. In 1811 it was named after Scuppernong River, Scuppernong Lake (now Lake Phelps), and the settlement of Scuppernong, all around Washington and Tyrrell Counties. The word "scuppernong" comes from the Algonquian askuponong, meaning "place of the askupo," which is the sweet bay tree (Magnolia virginiana). Old, variant spellings of the word include scoponum, coscoponum, cuetupcaning, skoupernong, and cascepunong.

Samuel Huntington Perkins, a Yale graduate on his way to Lake Landing Plantation on the southeastern shore of Lake Mattamuskeet, arrived at Roanoke Island in October 1817 and remarked in his diary, "The fig & grape here arrive to perfection. The inhabitants supply themselves with good wine, but manufacture little or none for exportation." In June 1823 Thomas Jefferson ordered a 30-gallon barrel of "the pure juice of the grape" through a Plymouth factor named Cox. In 1840 North Carolina was the premier winemaking state in America, its largest vineyard a six-acre farm at Brinkleyville in Halifax County. Sixty years later another Halifax vintner, Paul Garrett, won a prize in Paris for scuppernong wine; in 1904 a sparkling scuppernong called Paul Garrett's Special Champagne took top honors at St. Louis's Louisiana Purchase Exposition. Within a few years, Garrett's sweet Virginia Dare wine was among the most popular vinous drinks of the United States.

When Frank Hollowell of Bayside Plantation, Pasquotank County, put in scuppernongs there in 1973, he cited as his inspiration other up-and-coming growers of that day such as the Wood family in Chowan County and the Sell family in Brunswick County (who perfected an absolutely dry scuppernong wine). Today in Duplin County, the Fussell family operates Duplin Wine Cellars, vintners of a white scuppernong wine, a scuppernong blush, and a sparkling scuppernong with a recipe "developed from an article written by Sidney Weller in 1853" and boasted "to be the oldest and best champagne produced in America." These contemporary growers and vintners have all followed an old tradition, as North Carolina for the better part of two centuries has been an American leader in utilizing its native grapes.