This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Tuesday, July 5, 2016:
Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst, one of just a very few being currently vetted for Donald Trump’s running mate for vice president, met with The Donald on Monday. Also in attendance were Paul Manafort, Trump’s chief campaign strategist, and Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). Following the meeting, Ernst told reporters:
This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, July 1, 2015:
In their rush to “do something” to fend off some of the negative impacts of the Supreme Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that are certain to fall on individuals and institutions reluctant to climb on board the same-sex bandwagon, Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Utah) have offered a bill that would cement that ruling into place.
Called the First Amendment Defense Act (FADA), the bill, if passed into law, would
This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, June 15, 2015:
Within days of learning that Kansas Governor Sam Brownback signed into law the state’s Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA), then-Attorney General Eric holder sought to put the upstart governor and his insignificant state in their place: SAPA was null and void. Federal officials would continue to operate in Kansas in spite of the new law, and if one of them were arrested, there would be trouble!
Wrote Holder:
This article appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, June 15, 2015:
U.S. District Court Judge Julie Robinson punted last week on the Brady Campaign’s lawsuit against Kansas’ Second Amendment Protection Act by declaring that the Brady Campaign lacked standing to bring the suit in the first place. She wrote:
At this time, Brady Campaign has not alleged an actual or imminent injury that is fairly traceable to the enforcement of the Act [that would therefore] be addressable by a favorable decision by this Court.
Brady Campaign, therefore, lacks … standing to mount a constitutional challenge to the [state’s] Second Amendment Protection Act.
This allowed Judge Robinson to avoid considering all the various “issues” raised by Brady: “The Court therefore need not reach the other issues raised in Defendants’ motion to dismiss.”
What “other issues”? For starters is the law’s declaration that “any act, treaty, order, rule or regulation by the government of the United States which violates the Second Amendment of the United States is null, void and unenforceable in the state of Kansas.”
This article first appeared at The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, May 11, 2015:
Once perceived to be invincible, government bureaucrats issuing decrees and mandates from on high are being exposed for what really are: Wizards of Oz. It was Tom Woods’ book, Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century that let the genie out of the bottle.
All Woods did was explain how the founders intended for the states to be the last line of defense against federal overreach. It put in place the Bill of Rights which contains the Tenth Amendment:
This article first was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Monday, May 11, 2015:
Once perceived to be invincible, government bureaucrats issuing decrees and mandates from on high are being exposed for what really are: Wizards of Oz. It was Tom Woods’ book, Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century that let the genie out of the bottle.
All Woods did was explain how the founders intended for the states to be the last line of defense against federal overreach. It put in place the Bill of Rights which contains the Tenth Amendment:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Thomas Jefferson expressed the matter slightly differently:
This article first appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Monday, May 11, 2015:
The Bill of Rights
When Minnesota State Representative Nick Zerwas was 15 years old, he was told he had only months to live. Informed that he wouldn’t be able to get a heart transplant, Zerwas was told by his doctor that he might be saved by a surgical procedure that was still experimental. Said Zerwas: “That was my right to try. I fully believe life is worth fighting for, and government has no role in getting in the way.”
On May 1 Zerwas’ bill, the Minnesota Right to Try Act, passed the state house unanimously, 123-0. It had previously passed the state senate, 60-4, on April 21, and on May 5, Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton signed it into law.
In general the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prohibits access by patients to experimental drugs, but
This article first was published by the McAlvany Intelligence Advisor:
In a dreadfully slanted and intellectually dishonest offering from Associated Press writer David Lieb on Friday, efforts by the several states to nullify unconstitutional federal laws are derided as irrelevant and the matter already settled.
So why did he write it? Perhaps that’s the underlying message: the feds are getting nervous.
He calls the possibility that a state might actually arrest a federal agent for enforcing a federal law that a state thinks is unconstitutional “farfetched” but “conceivable.” He refers to the bill about to become law in Missouri as
Yesterday I opined that I could hardly wait to see what would happen following Eric Holder’s letter to Kansas Governor Sam Brownback over the new Kansas law nullifying federal attempts at gun control in Kansas.
I didn’t have to wait long! Here is Brownback’s response:
Professor Tom Woods wrote Nullification: How to Resist Federal Tyranny in the 21st Century back in June 2010 which got a lot of attention – a lot of it favorable, some not so – because it spelled out the constitutional protections against an overreaching federal government.
Some folks in Kansas decided to got for it and passed a law which contained this language:
It is unlawful for any official, agent or employee of the government of the United States, or employee of a corporation providing services to the government of the United States, to
Late last Friday, as both houses of the Kansas legislature were ending its current session, Senate Bill 102 and House Bill 2199 were passed overwhelmingly, putting the matter firmly
This study from Pew Research clearly illustrates the enormous divide between Republicans and Democrats in their views about guns and gun laws. The headline of the study – “Why Own a Gun? Protection is Now Top Reason” – hides what they really confirmed.
Minuteman statue at sunset (Photo credit: Muffet)
This is a local issue, but it represents a much larger, much more important issue: pushback against – or more properly, nullification of – unconstitutional federal intrusions into state and local matters where they don’t belong.
This morning, Tuesday, January 22nd, at approximately 9:30AM, the El Paso County Board of County Commissioners will be considering, and likely voting favorably for, a “Resolution in Defense of 2nd Amendment Rights.”
As is typical in such a resolution, there are lots of “whereases” but the first “whereas” is the most important:
Whereas, the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that “a well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed”…
And then it gets to the good stuff:
(Photo credit: tango.mceffrie)
A modest little bill, H.B. 0104, called the “Firearms Protection Act” has the potential to re-ignite the whole states’ rights issue that many think was long settled by the Civil War. All it says is this:
Any official, agent or employee of the United States government who enforces or attempts to enforce any act, order, law, statute, rule or regulation of the United States government upon a personal firearm, a firearm accessory or ammunition that is owned or manufactured commercially or privately in Wyoming and that remains exclusively within the borders of Wyoming shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be subject to imprisonment for not less than one (1) year and one (1) day or more than five (5) years, a fine of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both.
That’s all. Simple. Easy. Clear. And profoundly important in the freedom fight. Alex Newman, writing for The New American, says it exactly right. This is “nullification legislation that would void unconstitutional infringements on the right to keep and bear arms, even providing prison time for any federal agents who may try to enforce Washington, D.C., gun control in the state.”
The key word here is
d war on drugs birthday (Photo credit: dmixo6)
And none too soon, either. The War on Drugs has been an epic failure, costing taxpayers billions of dollars and huge invasions of privacy. A Harvard professor has estimated that the war costs US taxpayers $100 billion a year. And The New York Times has tallied up the rest of the cost. It concludes that “the struggle on which [the government has] spent billions of dollars and lost tens of thousands of lives over the last four decades has failed.
Doug Bandow from the Cato Institute is joyful over the victories in Colorado and Washington:
The most important vote on November 6 was not reelecting Barack Obama as president. It was legalizing marijuana in Colorado and Washington. Drug prohibition is the latest addition to the endangered species list. The fight over drug policy will go on for a long-time. But the Drug War is ending.
Surprisingly the battle against the war has been going on for forty years!
Opposition to the Drug War has been steadily rising. The first mini-wave began with Oregon in 1972 and resulted in a dozen states decriminalizing marijuana use. Over the years the process continued to slowly advance; in June Rhode Island joined the club. The measures varied, but in general turned personal use of pot into a criminal misdemeanor or a civil offense and/or made marijuana prosecution a low priority.
The fight has been gaining significant momentum. One could almost call it a
(Photo credit: alepuz)
Although this article is more about “marijuana tourism” in Colorado and Washington, it gives me a chance to highlight the much more important issue in the freedom fight: state nullification of unconstitutional federal interference.
Kristen Wyatt, the AP writer, mentions it only in passing, wanting instead to explore the tourism issue:
Marijuana legalization votes last week in Colorado and Washington state don’t just set up an epic state-federal showdown on drug laws for residents. The measures also open the door for marijuana tourism.
She’s right. This amendment to Colorado’s constitution does set up “an epic state-federal showdown” and I welcome it. In my opinion, (and not just mine, as you’ll see) the feds are going to end up on the losing side. The only way they can avoid losing is to acquiesce, which opens the door wider for
Statue of Liberty (Photo credit: Cochraneium)
Since leaving the election watch party at a friend’s home last night, I’ve considered what I might say to you this morning.
I just checked the Weather Channel and noted that the sun is supposed to rise at 6:33AM this morning. And it looks like it going to happen in about 9 minutes.
That is no small thing. When you think about all the things that must mesh together to make this happen, I’m quick to realize that it is simply beyond my comprehension to understand. What I do understand, however, is that it is predictable, ordered, and follows certain laws of physics. By definition a law of physics has no exceptions, that’s why it’s called a law. And in order to have such a precise mathematical system that we can predict when the sun will rise, there must be an order-maker behind the scenes making it happen. What a wonderful comfort that is!
That’s because the enemy of freedom never sleeps. Imagine what we would be feeling of Romney had won. Flawed as he is, and controlled by evil forces as he is, wouldn’t “conservatives” have celebrated last night? Wouldn’t they have relaxed, even a little bit, saying that it was a good fight after all?
No. What I see is the edge of naked aggression now manifesting itself. The gloves are coming off and Obama’s true intentions will be abundantly clear even to those who blindly voted for him, thinking somehow that he was a better choice.
As Herb Stein said, “if something can’t continue, it will stop.” Or put another way, with Washington continuing to kick the can down the road, eventually we’re going to run out of road. That will be especially painful to those who have allowed themselves to become dependent on the government. They will have to learn how to become dependent upon themselves once again, and that will be painful.
Others will write much more extensively about them elsewhere. I might even comment on them here in the next few days, as I am ever the optimist and am always seeking to see the glass as half full, not half empty. I refer specifically to Proposition 64, the legalization of marijuana in Colorado, to be treated under the same rules as alcohol.
This is huge. Without realizing it, vast numbers of those voting for it have essentially said to the federal government, up yours, we’re going to enjoy our freedom and we dare you to do something about it. Since this is an amendment, this is the first challenge to the feds over a state constitution’s provisions.
Little did they know it but voters have taken the first important step towards state nullification of federal laws deemed to be unconstitutional. It’ll be very interesting to see just how the feds react to such a blatant challenge – in your face! – to their alleged authority to regulate behavior at the state (and individual) level, now guaranteed by Colorado‘s constitution.
This is what happened at the birth of the republic. As observers watched events unfold, they became increasingly aware of the intrusions of the King into their daily affairs. The more blatant those intrusions became, the stronger the movement for liberty became. I welcome those intrusions – I say let them come! – and they will hasten the strengthening of the freedom movement. Push us and we’ll push back. Push us harder, we’ll push back harder.
Margaret Mead is alleged to have first uttered the phrase: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” That statement has now been proven to be true:
“When the number of committed opinion holders is below 10 percent, there is no visible progress in the spread of ideas. It would literally take the amount of time comparable to the age of the universe for this size group to reach the majority,” said SCNARC Director Boleslaw Szymanski, the Claire and Roland Schmitt Distinguished Professor at Rensselaer. “Once that number grows above 10 percent, the idea spreads like flame.”
What Obama and his czars and minions will successfully do as they begin to implement their totalitarian, police state mandates on the civilian population of the United States is to push those “committed opinion holders” beyond 10 percent, It may already have happened, but we won’t know that, of course, until long after it has taken place.
Obama is pushing against a law. And remember, a law has no exceptions.
For myself, I will lumber on, moving forward, onward and upward, with the light I have been given, praising God for the opportunity to make use of the ability He has given me to make a difference. The rest, as it always is, is up to Him.
This is from the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, in 1774:
Resistance to tyranny becomes the Christian and social duty of each individual. Continue steadfast, and with a proper sense of your dependence upon God, nobly defend those rights which Heaven gave, and no man ought to take from us.
Image by NObamaNoMas via Flickr
U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who has earned a “Freedom Index” rating of 90 percent in the current Congress to date, has introduced a bill in the House to repeal ObamaCare. In her press release, Bachmann reminded her constituents that “the government already owns or controls about one-third of U.S. economic activity through the takeover of General Motors, the bankruptcy reorganizations of Chrysler, the partial ownership of two of the country’s largest banks in Bank of America and Citigroup, and the seizure of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as AIG. Taken all together, [with ObamaCare] we’re looking at half of the American economy in the grip of the federal government.” Bachmann said that it “will do nothing to spur economic growth … [but] will serve only as an obstacle to actual recovery and smother the spirit of innovation and freedoms that made this country great.”
Her bill is simplicity itself:
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