Dixie Heritage News – Oct 20, 2017
Is anything still sacred?
A Federal Appeals Court ruled on Wednesday that a nearly century-old monument honoring World War I veterans is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion.
In a 2-1 decision, a panel of the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia found the monument in Bladensburg, Maryland “breaches” the wall in separation of church and state, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The American Humanist Association sued the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, the agency that owns the title to the property, in 2014. In 2015, the lower court ruled against the Humanists who then appealed the case to the 3-judge panel. The Humanists argued the cross violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause because the monument contains a concrete Celtic cross, locally referred to as the “Peace Cross,” which was erected in 1925 by the American Legion and stands on a pedestal on a highway medium about a half-hour drive from Washington, D.C. It honors 49 men from Prince George’s County who died in World War I.
Hiram Sasser, a co-defendant in the litigation and lawyer with the First Liberty Institute, said the defendants are considering their appeal options and may take it to the Supreme Court to review the decision. “It would be shameful for our nation to tear down a veterans memorial almost a hundred years after it was put up,” Sasser said.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) commented on Thursday, saying this decision was “what’s wrong with radical, left-wing judges.” “A century-old cross honoring WWI vets is unconstitutional?” Cotton tweeted. “This is what’s wrong with radical, left-wing judges!”
The ruling in the 4th Circuit has come as a result of a similar ruling in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California where they ruled against the inclusion of a cross on the Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego. The case was resolved when Congress authorized the sale of the memorial’s property to a private entity.
Lexington, Kentucky Removes Confederate Statues After Attorney General OKs Jurisdiction
Two Confederate monuments were removed from Fayette County courthouse grounds overnight Tuesday.
Monuments to former U.S. Vice President John C. Breckinridge and Confederate General John Hunt Morgan had stood in downtown Lexington for more than 130 years.
In August the Lexington Fayette-Urban County Council leaders voted to remove the statues, according to NBC affiliate LEX 18. However, the City previously said the Kentucky Military Heritage Commission had to approve the decision.
Attorney General Andy Beshear advised the Mayor’s Office on Tuesday that the removal could occur without the consent of the commission.
The unexpected removal occurred around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. A small crowd cheered as the statues were readied for removal, according to the Herald Leader.
Just past midnight on Wednesday, the John Hunt Morgan statue was lifted by a crane and put onto a flat bed. Both statues have been moved to a storage facility until the City finalizes agreement with Lexington Cemetery.
$75,000 DONATED SO FAR
Private donors have pledged $75,000 so far to pay for relocating the two Confederate statues from the lawn of the former Fayette County courthouse to Lexington Cemetery.
What’s the actual cost? The City is still figuring that out, said Susan Straub, a spokeswoman for the City of Lexington. “Our plan is for the private funds to pay for expenses related to the cemetery move,” Straub said.
Duncan Machinery and Prometheus Bronze Foundry volunteered to move the statues of John C. Breckinridge and John Hunt Morgan at no cost to the City, but Straub said installation at the cemetery could also involve additional security measures, which can be costly.
Morgan, a former Confederate general, and Breckinridge, a former U.S. Vice President and Confederate Secretary of War, are both buried at the historic cemetery.
It’s not clear if the Military Heritage Commission – which is scheduled to meet next month – will challenge the City’s decision to move the statues. A spokesman for the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet has not returned repeated messages. The Tourism Cabinet oversees the Military Heritage Commission.
US SUPREME COURT SET TO DISMISS MISSISSIPPI FLAG CASE?
Attorneys for the Mississippi Governor say two levels of federal courts have been correct in blocking a lawsuit that challenges the Confederate battle emblem on the State Flag.
Representing Governor Phil Bryant, assistant state attorneys general filed papers Wednesday with the U.S. Supreme Court. They said Carlos Moore, a black attorney from Mississippi who sued the State, has failed to show he suffered harm because of the Flag.
Moore filed his lawsuit in February 2016. A federal district judge and an appeals court ruled against him, but his attorneys asked the Supreme Court in June to consider the case during the term that began this month. The court accepts a fraction of cases on appeal.
In their filing Wednesday, attorneys for the governor wrote of Moore: “All in all, Petitioner alleges that he personally and is deeply offended by Mississippi’s State Flag – and the sincerity of those beliefs is not doubted.” But the state attorneys said a lawsuit must show an “allegation of discriminatory treatment,” and Moore failed to do that.
During an appearance Wednesday in Jackson, Bryant repeated his position that if the Flag design is to be reconsidered, it should be done in another statewide election. “I just think it’s a frivolous lawsuit and I don’t think the Supreme Court is going to take it up,” Bryant told reporters.
VANDALIZED REPEATEDLY
In Richmond, a Confederate statue in Virginia has been vandalized for the second night in a row.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports the word “racist” was again found spray-painted in red on the base of the Jefferson Davis statue in Richmond, this time joined by the words “Ban KKK.” The word “racist” was found in the same spot Tuesday, before being cleaned.
The latest vandalism is the third such incident in the state this week, after “#2 BETTER LUCK NEVER” was spray-painted on a memorial to the Confederate dead in Norfolk on Monday.
Richmond’s Davis statue is on Monument Avenue, home to several other Confederate statues that have also been vandalized in the past year.
YO MAMMA ELEMENTARY SCHOOL – I MEAN OBAMA ELEMENTARY
In Jackson, Mississipi a n elementary school named after the Confederate President will be renamed next year after Barack Obama.
Earlier this month, the school board voted to rename the school Barack Obama Magnet IB.
The change will go into effect with the 2018-19 school year.
Civil War re-enactors replaying the Battle of Cedar Creek in Virginia on Saturday went ahead with their demonstration despite the group organizing the event receiving a letter threatening “bodily harm” to anyone who participated.
The battlefield was temporarily cleared on Saturday when a “suspicious device” – possibly a pipe bomb – was discovered. The FBI is investigating.
From the Washington Post:
“We wanted to send a message,” said Keith MacGregor, 56, from Lebanon, Pa., who was playing the role of a Union infantry captain for the reenactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek, held not far from here. “We wanted to show the U.S. that we aren’t going to let some terrorist, or some nut, stop the event. I was never prouder of people in our hobby.”
Before and after the minute-long “U.S.A.” chant, the two sides who acted out the battle came together and thanked each other for coming – and for staying. “The Star-Spangled Banner” was played and sung. So was “Dixie.”
“You did not see any reenactors in Charlottesville,” said Confederate reenactor Terry Shelton, referring to the gathering of white supremacists in the Virginia city in August. The event turned violent and led to three deaths.
The public was not allowed onto the battlefield or into the reenactor camps Sunday, but could watch the battle from a distance.
Local and federal law enforcement officials declined Sunday to describe the “suspicious item” found at the battlefield here about 4 p.m. Saturday, which prompted law enforcement to evacuate the immediate area. Several reenactors said they were told it looked like a pipe bomb.
In a statement Sunday, the FBI said that “the device was located during an annual reenactment of the Battle of Cedar Creek. No persons were harmed and the device was rendered safe by the Virginia State Police.”
Dee Rybiski, an FBI spokeswoman, said Sunday that the bureau “was not elaborating on the device.”
The FBI is investigating the incident, along with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the Virginia State Police; the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office; and the Middletown Police Department.
The battle reenacted Sunday took place on Oct. 19, 1864, and was a Union victory.
One of our readers submitted the following:
We live near Cedar Creek and I know several of the local police.
It was a BIG pipe bomb found in the Confederate camp,well made with some very powerful explosives inside and filled with steel ball bearings!
The police do not know who planted it yet.
Rick
Re-enactors play a vital role in preserving American heritage and specifically WBTS battlefields that have been under assault for decades by developers. Most battlefields have shrunk considerably, especially in the east, where towns and cities have grown up around what was formerly farmland and forest. Re-enactor groups fight for the land upon which our ancestors blood was shed
Beyond the dedication of re-enactor groups to preserving our heritage, there is the meticulous and loving way they go about their “hobby.” Every aspect of their clothing, utensils, armament, and living conditions are carefully and faithfully reproduced to come as close to authentic as humanly possible. Outfitting a re-enactor can cost a couple of thousand dollars if done right. Some re-enactors make their own clothing, trying to duplicate the process down to using sewing machines and other tools from that era.
And now they have become a target of the destroyers of our nation’s history.
When the Cedar Creek re-enactors sang both the National Anthem and Dixie, they weren’t making a statement on race. They were, in the purest sense, re-enacting. They were doing exactly what Southern and Northern soldiers would have done. That these dedicated living history re-enactors would be threatened for trying to preserve an important part of our history shows that those who claim to be fighting racism are nothing more than ignorant terrorists, trying to destroy what they can’t possibly understand.
NON “HERITAGE” NEWS EFFECTING THE SOUTHLAND
Last week Friday the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against three members of President Donald Trump’s administration, including Acting Secretary of Health and Human Services Eric Hargan.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a minor who is only referred to as “Jane Doe,” who entered the country illegally without her parents and who is seeking to have a tax-payer funded abortion.
According to CNN, the 17-year-old is staying in a Texas shelter funded by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan told the Hill that Doe’s legal status doesn’t negate her “constitutional rights,” and dismissed the argument that she is not allowed to leave the facility. However, a statement from the Administration for Children & Families at HHS stated federal law grants the Office of Refugee Resettlement the “legal responsibility” to care for the “health and well-being” of unaccompanied undocumented immigrants and their unborn children.
“There is no constitutional right for a pregnant minor to illegally cross the U.S. border and get an elective abortion while in federal custody,” the statement said, according to CNN. “We cannot cede our responsibility to care for minors and their babies by releasing them to ideological advocacy groups.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and six others argued in a brief that if a judge rules that Doe has a constitutional right to an abortion, it could have a snowball effect and turn Texas into a sort of sanctuary state. “If, on the facts this case presents, Doe has a right to an abortion, it is difficult to imagine what other constitutional protections she would not enjoy by extension,” the brief stated. “The free-for-all that would flow from that perverse incentive burdens the public at large as well as the governmental entities who will be tasked with honoring these newfound rights.”
Chutkan, who was appointed to the bench by Barack Obama in 2013, ruled on Wednesday that the Trump Administration must release their prisoner from custody and transport her to a facility to have an abortion.
Cruz, Lee Warn Trump Not to Tap Former Clinton Aide
Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee are urging President Trump not to appoint as ambassador to Colombia a prominent career State Department official who served as a top aide to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and worked closely with her in the aftermath of the Benghazi attacks.
Joseph MacManus, a 30-year veteran of the foreign service, is a top candidate to become ambassador to Colombia and was considered the frontrunner before conservatives began voicing opposition to his nomination a few weeks ago, according to several GOP sources.
His nomination has the support of both Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Tom Shannon, a career foreign service diplomat who serves in the State Department as undersecretary for political affairs and is considered Tillerson’s right-hand man.
The two conservative senators this week expressed deep concern that MacManus was too close to Clinton during her tenure, doesn’t share Trump’s “America First” agenda and other conservative foreign-policy goals, and, as one of Clinton’s closest advisers, was deeply involved in the State Department’s initial response to the Benghazi attack.
The comments from Cruz and Lee suggest MacManus will likely face a nasty confirmation battle that will touch on the role he played as Clinton’s top aide in the immediate aftermath of the Benghazi attack, as well as during the scandal over her use of a private email account while serving as secretary of State.
The National Football League is in a golden age right now: It’s been 23 days since one of its players has been arrested.
The average time between arrests is just seven days, while the record without an arrest is slightly more than two months, at 65 days, according to NFLarrest.com, which “provides an interactive visualized database of National Football League player Arrests & Charges,” the site says.
Players get arrested for a variety of crimes: drunk driving, drug offenses, domestic violence, assault and battery, gun violations, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, theft, burglary, rape and even murder.
The NFL virtually embraces players who abuse women. Take this report in the Chicago Tribune: “In the first round [of the 2017 draft], the Oakland Raiders drafted Gareon Conley, who has been accused of rape. In the second round, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Joe Mixon, who in a much-viewed video punches a woman so hard that she falls down unconscious. In the sixth round, the Cleveland Browns selected Caleb Brantley, who was accused of doing pretty much what Mixon did.”
The hypocrisy is so stark that Donald Trump Jr. fired out a fierce tweet on Sunday.
The top team – at least in arrests – is, weirdly, the Minnesota Vikings, according to NFLarrest.com. Rounding out the Top 5: Denver, Cincinnati, Tennessee and Jacksonville.
By year, 2006 was a doozy: 71 arrests of NFL players. 2013 had 62 arrests, while last year was the lowest in the data base at just 28 arrests. This year, the players are setting a torrid pace:
Assault and battery – 7
Drugs – 6
DUI – 5
Domestic violence – 5
Disorderly conduct – 4
Resisting arrest – 2
Guns – 1
License/traffic – 1
Other – 1
That makes 32 arrests – and we’re only in Week 3.
The top crimes are:
DUI – 218
Drugs -100
Domestic violence – 98
Assault – 74
Disorderly conduct – 44
The most arrests: Adam Jones, with 10. Jones has played for both Tennessee and Cincinnati, and he’s been accused of poking a hotel worker in the eye, punching a woman, spitting in a woman’s face at a nightclub, and was “charged with felony coercion in connection to strip club shooting that paralyzed a man” (take a look at all his arrests here).
The top positions of those arrested:
Wide receiver – 140
Linebacker – 119
Cornerback – 116
Running back – 99
Defensive tackle – 80
So, maybe – just maybe – NFL players aren’t the best ones to be preaching to America about the perils of police brutality.
IN OTHER SPORTS NEWS
Just what did Cubs manager Joe Maddon tell the Umpire Wednesday night right before his ejection?
The truth is that Maddon was right to protest. The Umpires were reviewing a play that, under the rules, is NOT subject to review. So when the Umpires were assembling to overturn a good call with a bad one, that’s when Joe Maddon lost it. He walked right into the middle of their little conclave and unsuccessfully urged the umps to watch the slow-motion replay of the swing that was playing on repeat on the gigantic video board above the left-field bleachers. Funny how when reviewing the call the Umpires insisted on keeping their backs turned to the instant replay.
I’ll just say it, for me, the constant challenges and reviews made post-season football unbearable to watch years ago. Now the review and instant replay are ruining baseball. The umpires calls (good and bad) and the managers arguing with the Umpires, well, thats just part of the game!
According to MLB’s “Morning Line-up” he told the Umpires:
“If Granderson hits the next pitch out, I might come running out of the clubhouse in my jockstrap,” Maddon said afterward. “That was really that bad.”
They Are Coming For Our Guns
By Dr. Chuck Baldwin
Chuck Baldwin is a radio broadcaster, syndicated columnist, and pastor. In 2004 he was the VP Candidate for the Constitution Party. In 2008 He was the Presidential candidate for the same party.
Predictably, in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shootings (which I am convinced was another government false flag involving multiple shooters) the U.S. Congress is taking aim at our guns. Specifically, at least 16 gun control bills have been filed in Congress since the Vegas shootings. Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) President Gary Marbut recently sent out this summary of current gun control bills in the U.S. House and Senate.
U.S. House
HR 3947 – Bans parts and accessories that increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic firearm
HR 3962 – Bans online sales of ammunition
HR 3984 – Repeals the Lawful Protection in Commerce law that would allow lawsuits against FFL’s and manufacturers
HR 3986 – Would require the placement of tracking ID into ‘all’ firearms sold in America
HR 3987 – Would require a fee to purchase a firearm through NICS and use these monies to fund the CDC to conduct research on gun violence that was previously found to be biased by Congress
HR 3998 – Bans firearms for known or ‘suspected’ terrorists
HR 3999 – Bans parts that increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic firearm
HR 4018 – Institutes a ‘3’ day waiting period nationally for purchase of handgun
HR 4025 – Expands reporting of multiple firearms sales
HR 4052 – Would ‘ban’ possession and transfer of large capacity magazines (More than 10 rounds)
HR 4057 – Expansion of Prohibition for firearms ownership for being on a Terrorist Watch List
U.S. Senate
S. 1915 – Would require all firearms to be personalized for restricted access and use
S. 1916 – Bans parts and accessories that increase the rate of fire of a semi-automatic firearm
S. 1923 – Expands background checks of firearms
S. 1939 – Repeals the Lawful Protection in Commerce law that would allow lawsuits against FFL’s and manufacturers
S. 1945 – Would ‘ban’ possession and transfer of large capacity magazines (More than 10 rounds)
Each of these bills is an egregious assault against the Second Amendment, but the proposed bills that would “ban parts that increase the rate of fire for a semi-automatic firearm” are especially draconian.
Ostensibly, these bills are aimed at banning “bump stocks.” Police in Las Vegas are telling us that “lone wolf” shooter Stephen Paddock had “bump stocks” on a couple of rifles that he used to kill 59 people from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel-a feat that was virtually impossible. If out-of-shape (in other words, FAT), untrained, inexperienced 64-year-old-Paddock could use “bump stocks” as efficiently and expertly as authorities are telling us he did-and at a distance of some 400 yards at night-the Navy SEALS and Army Rangers are wasting a lot of precious time and money enlisting and training 20-year-old musclemen and equipping them with expensive machine guns. Instead, they should be actively recruiting a bunch of old fat guys-and giving them “bump stocks.” What a joke!
The wording of these gun control bills is so vague that the ATF or a gun-grabbing judge could interpret the bills to mean just about anything. This is just a clever way of giving the government another opportunity to ban whatever it wants-including banning the semi-automatic rifle itself. This is the REAL OBJECTIVE of gun control zealots.
What many people do not realize is that folks who know what they are doing can use a rubber band or belt loop to make a semi-automatic rifle mimic a full-automatic rifle in much the same way as a “bump stock” does. I’m not kidding. Look it up for yourself. Would the bill then ban rubber bands and belt loops?
I’m telling you folks: they are coming for our guns.
If Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton were in the White House right now, gun owners would be on high alert. But with the professing “pro-gun” Donald Trump in the White House, a host of gun owners are sound asleep, because they believe Trump is “their” guy. If Clinton or Obama were President right now, AR-15 rifles and 5.56 NATO ammunition would be flying off the shelves. But it’s not happening. Why not? Because people are trusting Trump.
The answer to gun violence is for government (federal, State, and municipal) to get rid of their life-endangering gun control bills and let the American people lawfully arm themselves. In other words, the “pro-gun” GOP White House and Congress (as well as State and local governments) should immediately eliminate America’s gun-free zones.
An armed American citizenry comprises the militia of the several states and is constitutionally authorized to provide lawful defense against any violent threat to life and liberty. It is NOT the job of police to protect us-and they never will. Police in Las Vegas did not save one single life. But what government has been doing over the past half century is denying the American people the right to defend themselves, which has cost hundreds of thousands of Americans their lives. And that’s what ANY gun control law does: it further restricts law-abiding people from being able to protect themselves.
Plus, to enact ANY gun control law is to give in to the erroneous notion that an inanimate object is the source of evil and that we must allow government to exercise dominion over our liberties in the name of protecting us from that inanimate object-whatever it is. The entire presupposition is fatally flawed. How anyone who claims to believe in liberty and the fundamental right of self-defense can swallow this illogic defies common sense.
And the above brings me to this salient point: the semi-automatic rifle is the ONLY defense tool that is capable of defending liberty.
I often hear well-intentioned people say things like, “Well, if we have to surrender our semi-automatic rifles, it doesn’t violate the Second Amendment. We still have other guns.” People who say such things prove they know nothing about the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment was not designed so we could go target shooting, duck hunting, or deer hunting. The Second Amendment was designed to ensure that the American people always maintain their role as a citizen militia in order to defend the citizenry against armed aggressors-whether those aggressors are domestic criminals, foreign governments, or our very own government.
I’ll say it straight out: the semi-automatic rifle is EXACTLY what the Second Amendment was talking about. The semi-automatic rifle is the preeminent defense tool in the modern world. Even fully automatic rifles do not compare to it.
Sadder still, I constantly hear pastors say, “Well, if government demands that we give up our semi-automatic rifles, as Christians we should submit and surrender those arms.” Hogwash! Christians are given no such instructions-except by these sorry, squeamish, sissified, sheepish slaves-of-the-state preachers.
When Jesus told His disciples, “He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one” (Luke 22:36 KJV), He was instructing them to obtain the preeminent defense tool of its day: the Roman sword. The Greek word translated “sword” in English in Luke 22:36 & 38 that speaks of the sword carried by the individual is the same word that speaks of the sword carried by government in Romans 13:4.
Nineteenth century Bible scholar Albert Barnes (1798 – 1870) wrote this regarding Luke 22:36:
But it should be remembered that these directions about the purse, the scrip, and the sword were not made with reference to his “being taken” in the garden, but with reference “to their future life.” The time of the trial in Gethsemane was just at hand; nor was there “time” then, if no other reason existed, to go and make the purchase. It altogether refers to their future life. They were going into the midst of dangers. The country was infested with robbers and wild beasts. It was customary to go armed. He tells them of those dangers – of the necessity of being prepared in the usual way to meet them. This, then, is not to be considered as a specific, positive “command” to procure a sword, but an intimation that great dangers were before them; that their manner of life would be changed, and that they would need the provisions “appropriate to that kind of life.” The “common” preparation for that manner of life consisted in money, provisions, and arms; and he foretells them of that manner of life by giving them directions commonly understood to be appropriate to it. It amounts, then, to a “prediction” that they would soon leave the places which they had been accustomed to, and go into scenes of poverty, want, and danger, where they would feel the necessity of money, provisions, and the means of defense. All, therefore, that the passage justifies is:
1. That it is proper for people to provide beforehand for their wants, and for ministers and missionaries as well as any others.
2. That self-defense is lawful.
Men encompassed with danger may lawfully “defend” their lives. It does not prove that it is lawful to make “offensive” war on a nation or an individual.
(Barnes, Albert (1884) [1832]. Frew, Robert, ed. “Notes on the New Testament: Explanatory and Practical. Vol. II – Luke and John.” London: Blackie and Son.)
I’m telling you, folks, they are coming for our guns. And if we sit back and trust Donald Trump to stop it, we are committing national suicide. We should be just as passionate and fervent and alert and vigilant to defend our gun rights when a Republican is in the White House as we are when a Democrat is in the White House. Anything less is a dereliction of duty on our part.
There is no reason for ONE additional act of gun control. Each mass shooting that takes place in this country is proof that gun control laws do not work and that gun-free zones do not work. Instead of talking about additional gun control, the American people should be demanding that Congress and the White House (along with their State and local governments) expunge existing gun control laws-and gun-free zones-and recognize their God-given right to defend themselves. And the shootings in Las Vegas in particular highlights the specific need of the American people to have their own semi-automatic rifles at hand with which to defend themselves.
Until Next Week,
Deo Vindice!
Chaplain Ed
Dixie Heritage
P.O. Box 618
Lowell, FL 32663
