Monday, February 11, 2019

The Slaves of New England

Image result for Virginia’s Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession, Beverley B. Mumford 

“The Underground Railroad was not a route but a network; not an organization, but a conspiracy of thousands of people banded together for the deliberate purpose of depriving their Southern neighbors of their property and of defying the Fugitive Slave Laws of the United States.”

A great irony of history is Massachusetts adopting in 1837 the first of the so-called personal liberty laws, ostensibly to protect free Negroes in the United States, given that Massachusetts stood in the front rank of those responsible for bringing enslaved Africans to American shores. No such laws were necessary until the rise of the New England abolitionists, and their incessant agitation, which eventually brought on a war which claimed a million lives, both black and white.
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.org   The Great American Political Divide

The Slaves of New England

“At the time the Constitution was adopted, slavery existed in every one of the thirteen States except Massachusetts, though in some other acts had been passed providing for its gradual abolition.

It was deemed essential, therefore, to the peaceful relations of the several States as well as the legal rights of slaveholders that some provision should be inserted into the Federal Constitution dealing with the return of fugitive slaves as well as fugitives from justice.

The necessity, as well as the justice, of fugitive slave laws was recognized almost contemporaneously with the introduction of slavery into this country. Thus, in the Article of Confederation adopted in 1643, between the colonies of Plymouth, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Haven, it was provided:

“If any servant runn away from his master into any other of these Confederated Jurisdiccons, that in such case upon the Certiyficate of one Magistrate in the Jursidiccon out of which the said servant fled, or upon other due proofe, the said servant shall be delivered either to his master or any other that pursues and brings such certyficate or proofe.”

Provisions of like character were incorporated in many of the treaties between the various colonies and the Indian tribes, and later between the United States Government and the Indians.

On the 12th of February, 1793, Congress passed an act providing for the method of carrying into effect the section of the Constitution relating to fugitives from justice and fugitive slaves. It passed both houses of Congress by practically unanimous votes – Washington approving the bill with his signature.

With respect . . . to fugitive slaves, the authority and burden of dealing with their return was placed upon officers of the Federal Government as well as upon certain State officials. But with the rise of the Abolitionists at the North, difficulties in executing the law began to appear – especially as to fugitive slaves. The Abolitionists, by every form of suggestion and appeal, incited and assisted slaves to desert their masters, while the Underground Railroad provided increasing facilities for accomplishing the result.

Professor A.B. Hart, of Harvard University, says:

“The Underground Railroad was not a route but a network; not an organization, but a conspiracy of thousands of people banded together for the deliberate purpose of depriving their Southern neighbors of their property and of defying the Fugitive Slave Laws of the United States.”

(Virginia’s Attitude Toward Slavery and Secession, Beverley B. Mumford, L.H. Jenkins Publisher, 1909, excerpts pp. 201-205)

No Union Saved


Image result for Slavery, No; Secession, Yes, Joseph Sobran, Sobran quotes


“The notion that Lincoln “saved the Union” is as naïve as the notion that he “freed the slaves.” The Union he saved was not the one he set out to save. The Civil War destroyed the “balance or powers” between the States and the federal government which he had promised to protect in his 1861 inaugural address.

This was not Lincoln’s intention, but it is the reason many of his champions praise him. James McPherson celebrates Lincoln’s “second American Revolution”; Gary Wills exults that Lincoln “changed America” with the Gettysburg Address, which he admits was a “swindle” (albeit a benign one).

In other words, Lincoln’s war destroyed the original constitutional relation between the States and the federal government. His own defenders say so – in spite of his explicit, clear and consistent professed intent to “preserve” that relation.

The Civil War wasn’t just a victory of North over South; it was a victory for centralized government over the States and federalism. It destroyed the ability of the States to protect themselves against the destruction of their reserved powers.

Must we all be happy about this? Lincoln himself – the real Lincoln, that is, – would have deprecated the unintended results of the war. Though he sometimes resorted to dictatorial methods, he never meant to create a totalitarian state.

It’s tragic that slavery was intertwined with a good cause, and scandalous that those who defend that cause today should be smeared as partisans of slavery. But the verdict of history must not be left to the simple-minded and the demagogic.”

(Slavery, No; Secession, Yes, Joseph Sobran, Sobran’s Real News of the Month, March 2001, Volume 8, Number 3, excerpts pg. 9)

A Party Of Bigots


Jew-hating congresswoman Ilhan Omar tweeted a standard anti-Semitic trope on Sunday. As Ben Shapiro explained in his piece today, anti-Semitism is endemic in the modern Democratic Party. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Keith Ellison have all been guilty of it, though Omar might be the most explicit and gleeful in her anti-Jewish bigotry.

Bigotry is a common theme among Democrats. This, after all, is the party that subjects Christian judges to unconstitutional religious tests, examining their belief systems and their religious affiliations. In one of the most bigoted statements uttered by an American politician in recent memory, Senator Dianne Feinstein famously told Amy Coney Barrett that her Catholic dogma "lives loudly within" her. "That's a concern," she added.

Sheriffs storm Capitol Hill to demand border wall, ICE funding

Via Billy

Image result for Sheriffs storm Capitol Hill to demand border wall, ICE funding

Angered with efforts by House and Senate Democrats to cut funding for President Trump’s border wall and ICE facilities that hold criminal illegal immigrants, dozens of U.S. sheriffs are storming Capitol Hill Monday to more money to enforce immigration.

“We are at wits end on this,” said Bristol County, Mass. Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson. “This really is a catastrophe,” he said of the anti-Trump proposal backed by Democrats including Speaker Nancy Pelosi and progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

Hodgson is one of 60 key sheriffs meeting with the House Freedom Caucus on the steps of the U.S. Capitol today before hitting individual House and Senate offices to lobby for wall and ICE funding. He spoke to Secrets from the bus transporting him and sheriffs from Arizona, Texas, Massachusetts and Ohio to the Hill.

Mexico impresses with new border effort: 'First time that I've seen them do something'

Image result for Mexico impresses with new border effort: 'First time that I've seen them do something

Federal and local officials here are impressed with Mexico's new effort to slow down the rate at which Central American migrants are allowed to cross into Texas.

Mexico has opened up a facility in the Mexican border town of Piedras Negras to house and feed migrants while they await to file their U.S. asylum claim. Mexico is also paying for hundreds of federal police to stand guard outside the facility’s fence and keep them from crossing into the U.S. — anyone caught trying to break out of the facility gets deported from Mexico.

The new effort is making an impression on U.S. officials charged with monitoring the border in Texas.

Wanted: Most Valuable Pistols


Why do people collect pistols? Well, you could put that type of question to those who collect coins, stamps, rare books, or even butterflies, and if you ask one hundred of them, you’ll get about that many different responses. Simply put, certain individuals have developed a passion for something, like finding the most collectible pistols and often they can’t even give a concrete explanation as to why.

In the case of pistols, sophisticated collectors enjoy the challenge of finding the right ingredients in a handgun that makes it a special addition to their collection. Here are some of the traits they are seeking:

More @ Widener's

Historic Montgomery church removes pew honoring Confederate President Jefferson Davis

A plaque marking the pew that was occupied by President of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis and his family in St. John's Episcopal Church in downtown Montgomery, Ala.

At our planning retreat this past weekend, I asked the Vestry to consider some information regarding the Jefferson Davis Pew. Most of this information, while not itself new, was not formerly known by the group and had a striking effect on us all. Here is a summary of what we considered.

The plaque which memorializes the Jefferson Davis Pew states that he was a communicant of St. John’s while his family was in Montgomery when he was first elected President of the Confederacy. The Davis family was in Montgomery for three months. Jefferson Davis was not Confirmed as an Episcopalian until he went to Richmond. His wife was an Episcopalian. We have no way of knowing how many times he or his family attended, perhaps only a few times or perhaps as many as a dozen times. Since Davis was not Confirmed, it is probable that he never received Holy Communion here and technically was not a communicant.

More @ St. Johns

Comment on Majority of Germans think Islam does not 'belong' in their country

Via David
Germany


Why are people so critical of Muslims?

The Paris murderers were Muslims.
The Madrid train bombers were Muslims.
The Times Square bomber was a Muslim.
The Bali nightclub bombers were Muslims.
The Kenyan mall massacre was by Muslims.
The London subway bombers were Muslims.
The Moscow theater attackers were Muslims.
The San Bernardino murderers were Muslims.
The Boston Marathon bombers were Muslims.
The Iranian Embassy takeover was by Muslims.
The Pan-Am Flight#103 bombers were Muslims.
The Air France Entebbe hijackers were Muslims.
The Beirut US Embassy bombers were Muslims.
The Libyan US Embassy attack was by a Muslim.
The Buenos Aires suicide bombers were Muslims.
The Kenyan US Embassy bombers were Muslims.
The Israeli Olympic Team attackers were Muslims.
The Saudi Khobar Towers bombers were Muslims.
The Beirut Marine Barracks bombers were Muslims.
The Beslan Russian school attackers were Muslims.
The Achille Lauro cruise ship attackers were Muslims.
The 1993 World Trade Center Bombers were Muslims.
The Bombay and Mumbai India attackers were Muslims.
mass beheading of 21 Egyptians in Libya were Muslims.
The September 11th, 2001, airline hijackers were Muslims.
The Kidnapping of 300 teenage Nigerian schoolgirls. Muslims.

This evil is still in progress asserting itself EVERY DAY.

--conradca

Dick Morris: Will 2020 Be a Repeat of 1972?

Via Billy

AOC, Omar

As George Santayana wrote, “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

While it is unfair to ask the new leftists of today to recall the events of 1972 (that happened 17 years before Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was born), they would do well to study its history.

Because they may be reliving it.

The election of Richard Nixon and defeat of Democratic candidate Hubert H. Humphrey in 1968 was a seminal moment in our history. The left’s hatred of Nixon was then as great as it is of Donald Trump today, but of longer vintage. The liberals had been anti-Nixon ever since he began his career in 1946.

Humphrey was the Hillary Clinton of his day. A perennial candidate, he was the presumptive Democratic nominee.

More @ WJ

Comment on How US Army Can Secure Border Under Natl Emergency...

Image result for image US Army Can Secure Border Under National Emergency...

Indeed. Mirrors my 'wall strategy':

Rush and all the Right's pundits say a court challenge to Trump's National Emergency Order will stymie securing the border.

Poppycock.

FDR stood up to the Supreme Court and they blinked.

Reagan didn't worry about a court order for Grenada.

It's called the 'How many divisions does the Pope have?' option...courtesy of Uncle Joe Stalin.

Trump must reestablish the primacy of the authority of the Commander in Chief in securing the country while ignoring judicial or legislative roadblocks.

3 Courses of Action...used separately or together:

1- Declares a national emergency and deploys active engineer units to begin securing the border...and ignores any court order. 'Wobbly' commanders are relieved of duty until an officer who can follow 'legal, moral, and ethical' orders (the Lieutenant Calley standard) takes command. (How many battalion commanders does the 9th Circuit direct?)

2- Declares that all National Guard and Reserve units, as part of their 'Annual Training' (2-week ATs each summer), are 'redirected' in their training plans to remote areas of the border near Ft. Bliss, Ft. Huachuca, and Yuma Proving Grounds, to install hundreds of tons of concertina wire, pickets, and barrier material that is rusting away in motor pools across the country from the Gulf wars (ALL already paid for).

3- Redeploys the forces from both Syria and Afghanistan to 'demobilization' training to areas vicinity Ft. Bliss, Ft. Huachuca, and Yuma Proving Grounds for temporary duty installing wire, pickets and barrier material in the most remote areas of the southern border.

Is it a wall? No.

Is it a steel barrier? Kinda.

It is a barrier though, helps channel illegals to more actively secure locations on the border, demonstrates resolve to secure the border, reestablishes the President's role and authority as Commander in Chief, and 'moves the ball forward.'

--Anonymous