Free Republic

As you've probably heard, this morning Google confirmed the rumors that Austin, Texas would be the second city in which Google Fiber is rolled out. Google still appears to be treating this as an experiment, rolling it out in just a few areas, but it's still worth watching what happens. For example, within hours of Google making the announcement, AT&T rushed out a somewhat hilarious press release insisting that it, too, would build a 1 gigabit fiber network in Austin. No one actually believes this is true. What you're seeing is a bit of gamesmanship, but which reveals something interesting.

The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday signed off on a sweeping, first-of-its-kind treaty to regulate the international arms trade, brushing aside worries from U.S. gun rights advocates that the pact could lead to a national firearms registry and disrupt the American gun market. The long-debated U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) requires countries to regulate and control the export of weaponry such as battle tanks, combat vehicles and aircraft and attack helicopters, as well as parts and ammunition for such weapons. It also provides that signatories will not violate arms embargoes, international treaties regarding illicit trafficking, or sell weaponry to...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS), the author of S. Con. Res. 7 – the bipartisan resolution which makes clear a United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that undermines Constitutional freedoms of American gun owners will not be ratified by the Senate – released the following statement today on Iran, North Korea and Syria blocking the U.N. ATT last night."I have said all along that negotiating the ATT with dictatorships was a bad idea. Last night, Iran, Syria, and North Korea made clear they have no intention of abiding by any such treaty. Therefore, any ATT would only...

U.S. Rights: As the world body meets this week to hammer out an agreement to restrict international arms trade, our Secretary of State commits us to pushing a treaty that may also restrict our Second Amendment rights. Last Friday, the day of the week when unpopular or controversial announcements are traditionally made, Secretary of State John Kerry announced U.S. support for the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), a final version of which is being hammered out in New York beginning this week. Certainly the ATT is controversial. Touted as a means of getting a handle on an international arms...

Only seven companies have offered corporate cash to help fund President Barack Obama’s upcoming inaugural festivities. In 2009, Obama banned corporate donors from paying for his inauguration, but he was still able to raise $53 million from private donors. However, this month’s inauguration is being held after the most expensive presidential campaign in history, and even with the corporate donations will be a scaled-down event. This year, fewer people are expected to attend the inauguration and there are only two official balls planned. … According to the Inauguration Committee’s website, more than 400 people have donated toward the events. So...

NEW YORK MILLS, N.Y. (WKTV) - Abraham Dickan, 79, of Utica, was angry with the employees at AT&T in New York Mills - anger that he had shown them many times before, but never in the way he did on Thursday, May 27. Shortly before 1 p.m. on that Thursday afternoon, Dickan walked into the cellular phone store on Commercial Drive, with a .357 magnum in his hand, and a list in his pocket containing the six names of the AT&T store employees to which he was holding such deep anger, and planned to kill as a result. "The suspect...

AT&T Inc, the largest U.S phone company, said 20,000 employees represented by the Communications Workers of America have begun a strike on the East and West Coast. The West contract covers more than 17,000 wireline employees in California and Nevada, while the East contract covers more than 3,000 in Connecticut, AT&T said today in a statement. Separately, AT&T reached a tentative agreement with the CWA in contract negotiations for more than 22,000 land-line employees in the southeastern U.S.

The Conference on the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (U.N. ATT) has broken down and will not report a draft treaty to the member nations. This is a big victory for American gun owners, and the NRA is being widely credited for killing the U.N. ATT. For nearly 20 years, the NRA has worked tirelessly to warn American gun owners about the United Nations’ efforts to undermine the constitutional rights of law-abiding American gun owners by putting in place international controls on small arms. NRA became a recognized Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) and has monitored all U.N. activities that could impact...

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Member states failed to reach agreement Friday on a new U.N. treaty to regulate the multibillion dollar global arms trade, and some diplomats and supporters blamed the United States for triggering the unraveling of the monthlong negotiating conference. Hopes had been raised that agreement could be reached on a revised treaty text that closed some major loopholes by Friday's deadline for action. -snip- The U.N. General Assembly voted in December 2006 to work toward a treaty regulating the growing arms trade, with the U.S. casting a "no" vote. In October 2009, the Obama administration reversed the...

Talks over the UN Arms Trade Treaty fell apart today, effectively killing the agreement. The Arms Trade Treaty Legal Blog reports that the process seemed to be moving to completion when the United States requested an extension to the time to negotiate the agreement. This opened the door to other countries to begin registering objections, and it soon became clear that reaching agreement within the allowed timeframe would be impossible. The proposed treaty, which raised considerable domestic opposition from gun rights advocates in the United States, died before it had a chance to become a threat. As a delegate from...

Small Arms Insurgents, armed gang members, pirates, terrorists - they can all multiply their force through the use of unlawfully acquired firepower. The illicit circulation of small arms, light weapons and their ammunition destabilizes communities, and impacts security and development in all regions of the world. Programme of Action Implementation Support System: PoA-ISSUN Meetings on small armsSecretary-General's report on small arms (2011)Secretary-General's report on small arms (2008) A worldwide scourge The illicit trade in small arms, light weapons and ammunition wreaks havoc everywhere. Mobs terrorizing a neighbourhood. Rebels attacking civilians or peacekeepers. Drug lords randomly killing law enforcers or anyone...

The United Nations‘ drive to gain control of the international arms trade is a mixed bag. The bad news is that it has the potential to infringe on the legitimate rights of American gun owners. The good news is that the treaty drafting process has been so dysfunctional that whatever emerges has little chance of getting through the U.S. Senate. The proposed United Nations Arms Transfer Treaty seeks to establish “common international standards for the import, export and transfer” of the billions of dollars of conventional arms traded annually. It would regulate tanks, military vehicles, combat aircraft, warships and missiles....

UNITED NATIONS – The arms trade treaty being hammered out by the United Nations is nearing completion, and the current draft shows it could lead to perpetual attacks on the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment and American foreign policy, critics say. The document, which critics say has been framed by countries hostile to U.S. interests, allows for future amendments to be approved by just two-thirds of states showing up at an amendment conference. That means it could be agreed to by the U.S., put into effect and then changed over Washington's objections. And even if the U.S. Senate refuses to ratify...

PREAMBLE             The States Parties to this Treaty. Guided by the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations.Recalling that the charter of the UN promotes the establishment and maintenance of international peace and security with the least diversion for armaments of the world’s human and economic resources;Reaffirming the obligation of all State Parties to settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered, in accordance with the Charter of the UN;Underlining the need to prevent, combat and eradicate the illicit trade of conventional arms and to prevent...

Inside the UN, world leaders take aim at gun rights, say critics. UNITED NATIONS – American Second Amendment rights and U.S. foreign policy interests could be directly threatened by the latest wording of a United Nations draft treaty seeking control over international trade in conventional weapons, FoxNews.com has learned. A U.S. delegate argued against the provisions during closed-door talks Friday, but insiders close to the proceedings say UN approval of a final document by the self-imposed July 27 deadline remains likely. The development comes just days after Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, warned there should...

When Barack Obama signs the United Nation’s Arms Trade Treaty late this month, the force of his signature alone could suffice to nullify the 2nd Amendment rights of the American people. How is this possible if a 2/3rds vote by the Senate—that is, constitutionally mandated ratification– is required before the United States may become a legal party to any treaty? Interested Americans have been told that the Arms Trade Treaty will regulate the international trade of conventional weapons, the purported goal being prevention of arms transfers to rogue or terrorist states. Naturally, one would think regulations intended only to manage...

It's widely known that the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), being negotiated as I type, is simply gun control by another name. Although it is being sold as a treaty to lessen the number of guns moving across borders illegally, it will ultimately require a national gun registry to be enforceable: perhaps even an international gun registry.And while all of us should be contacting our Senators to demand they refuse to ratify this ridiculous treaty when it comes before them, it behooves us also to remind them (and ourselves) that the 2nd Amendment transcends any U.N. treaty at any time...

But the Senate will never ratify, you say? Guess what, they don't need to... Speaking on Fox and Friends this morning, Dick Morris explained that when the US signs such an international treaty, the nation is bound until the Senate rejects it or the President renounces it. In just nine days from now, the terms of this treaty will be finalized. Morris went on to say that this heinous agreement -which would in-affect repeal the the Second Amendment and deny us all of the divine right to self-defense- will likely be signed by Obama... then Harry Reid will simply...

The United Nations is polishing up a global Arms Transfer Treaty (ATT) this month in a New York convention that would create a global registry of private ownership of firearms. This treaty — which would also mandate creation of a national collection agency for those guns and is contrary to the U.S. Constitution's Second Amendment — has the long-standing and enthusiastic backing of the Obama State Department, headed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. “Conventional arms transfers are a crucial national security concern for the United States, and we have always supported effective action to control the international transfer of...

The National Rifle Association (NRA) warned the United Nations on Wednesday that the effort to craft international rules for weapons sales will go nowhere in Congress if it includes civilian arms. Wayne LaPierre, the CEO of the powerful lobby group, said 58 senators have pledged to oppose the treaty if it covers civilian weapons, fearing an infringement of America’s gun rights. “I am here to announce NRA's strong opposition to anti-freedom policies that disregard American citizens' right to self-defense. No foreign influence has jurisdiction over the freedoms our Founding Fathers guaranteed to us,” LaPierre said at the UN Arms Trade...