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WASHINGTON (AP) - Forecasting the changing nature of threats against the U.S. for years to come, President Barack Obama says "America is at a crossroads." And so, too, is his presidency's counterterrorism policy, which has long struggled to balance protecting the nation from terror attacks while upholding Americans' rights. The Obama administration this week acknowledged that four Americans have been killed - three of whom were not specifically targeted - in secretive overseas drone strikes against al-Qaida extremists since 2009. And in a wide-ranging speech Thursday, Obama warned that Americans must be vigilant against increasing homegrown threats from within, including...

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That’s the full text of the First Amendment. But (with apologies to the old Far Side comic), this is what many in the press, academia, and government would hear if you read it aloud: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, blah blah blah, or abridging the freedom of the press, blah...

BOISE, Idaho — A lawmaker who had his firearms bill killed in the 2013 Legislature has complained to the secretary of state that it was torpedoed by lobbyists who weren't properly registered.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. said in a television interview Wednesday night that he agrees with the views of an anti-federal government group that recently gave him an award.During a interview on a range of topics with WISN-TV (Channel 12), Clarke was questioned about being named "sheriff of the year" by the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association and an image of Journal Sentinel columnist Daniel Bice's recent article about the award flashed in the background.Bice first reported that the association is the brainchild of Richard Mack, a former Arizona lawman who believes a sheriff's primary duty is...

Re: Veto Recommendations regarding "gun" legislation. Dear Governor Brown: As I have said previously, a government that does not protect us and will not let us protect ourselves does not deserve our respect or loyalty. The U-T San Diego newspaper reports a series of "gun" bills is headed to you for consideration. Sadly the State of California is presently violating its primary constitutional duty which is to protect the public from domestic threats such as criminal activity. In the 1980s, the legislature responded to the enormously high crime rate by "right sizing" the state prison system and making some overdue...

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -- It is a change that could affect all of us literally down to the core. This week the legislature will take up a plan by the governor that would require anyone arrested for a felony or convicted of a misdemeanor to give a DNA sample. "Present time anyone who is convicted of a felony is required to provide a DNA sample," said Harry Hertel. Hertel, an attorney with Hertel Law SC, sees a problem with the proposal. Mainly he says it requires good people who may have made a mistake to give up something very...

(article photo) In one of the less rational attacks on the NRA to date, the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence's Josh Horwitz used his May 20 column to make the case that the NRA doesn't understand the Constitution or the man who wrote it--James Madison. According to Horwitz, this was proven at the NRA's Annual Meeting in Houston during the first weekend in May. There, speakers gave speeches on what "sounded a lot like vigilantism and anarchy" and very little like the adoration for governmental power that Horwitz claims our Founding Fathers enshrined in the Constitution. To back up his...

One of the things which has so *maddened* conservatives during the oh-so-dolorous-and-slow Chinese water torture of the Obama administration, is the way that the Administration seems to be "above the law" or "unaccountable"; and at that, not only in a Nixonian sense, but in a Louis XIV sense ("L'état, c'est moi"). Look back at some of the initial scandals and/or muckraking topics from the first term, or from the campaign against Romney: "They acted stupidly" / beer summit The non-prosecution of the Black Panthers for voter intimidation The brouhaha over the "birth certificate" The non-closure of Club Gitmo The run-up...

When He appears officially it is played. Who is the Chief? Of what?Writing about Hail to the Chief here, I observed that President Obama is the chief only of the military. [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwJvxY7uENM?feature=player_detailpage] Video link The lyrics are not usually sung. Here they are: Hail to the Chief we have chosen for the nation, Hail to the Chief! We salute him, one and all. Hail to the Chief, as we pledge cooperation  In proud fulfillment of a great, noble call. Yours is the aim to make this grand country grander, This you will do, that’s our strong, firm belief. Hail to the one...

Bill Maher on Friday once again exposed himself as a total hypocrite. Minutes after telling his HBO Real Time panel "the Second Amendment is bulls--t," he admitted having two firearms in his house - "one upstairs and one down" - claiming, "As long as we live in the gun country, I ain’t giving up my gun"

Second Amendment Check is a great organization that enables you to support the right to bear arms with your wallet, rewarding companies who support the Second Amendment, and boycotting companies who don't. This organization deserves your support (click on the "Donate" button and email them a "thank you"). You should shop according to their evaluation of gun-friendly or gun-unfriendly businesses. Second Amendment Check "reach[es] out to companies via email and telephone" to determine which businesses support the constitutional right to bear arms. They rate those willing to participate. Note that Second Amendment Check states, "If we can't get in direct...

The US is no closer to the end of its “war on terror” than before, even after having beheaded al-Qaeda in the 2011 operation that wiped out the terror group’s leader Osama Bin Laden. Now a senior Pentagon official has predicted another 20 years of the mission against al-Qaeda. Speaking to the Senate Armed Services early Thursday, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations Michael Sheehan said the Pentagon wasn’t yet planning to wrap up its “war on terror.” When asked how long it might take the US to beat down terrorists, the official said: “At least 10 to 20...

DENVER (AP) — A group of Colorado sheriffs unhappy with recent gun control laws are planning to file a lawsuit to block them.

If right-to-carry concealed carry laws are deemed so dangerous by gun control proponents, letting anyone who is not a criminal carry a gun with no other regulations should be really bad, right? Well, on June 9th, if Illinois hasn't adopted a concealed handgun law by that point in time, it will be legal to carry a concealed handgun in Union county and probably effectively in the rest of the state. The problem for gun control advocates is the same as it is each time that states pass right-to-carry laws: they have made predictions about impending disaster that never occur. In...

Could the twin eruption of the Benghazi and IRS scandals over the past few days derail the Obama administration’s gun control agenda, despite the insistence of Vice President Joe Biden that at least four U.S. Senators are willing to revive gun regulation proposals on Capitol Hill? On a political scale, it's a cataclysm on par with the Mount St. Helens eruption a generation ago. However, President Obama reportedly said Monday morning that the IRS revelation is an "outrage" and he called the Benghazi flap a "politicdal sideshow" according to a report in the Seatte Times. He wants the IRS abusers...

House Bill 928, also known as the “Come and Take It” law, passed the Texas House on May 8. The legislation mandates that no state money can be spent to enforce federal firearm regulations that do not also exist in state law and is a push-back against proposed federal rules on firearms and ammunition. However, it does not penalize state law enforcement officers who help the feds. The legislation was written by Republican Representatives Matt Krause (R-Arlington), Scott Sanford (R-McKinney), Allen Fletcher (R-Cypress), George Lavender (R-Texarkana) , and Kenneth Sheets (R-Dallas). According to Matt Krause’s website, the idea for the...

The manhunt for the Boston Marathon bombing suspects offered the nation a window into the stunning military-style capabilities of our local law enforcement agencies. For the past 30 years, police departments throughout the United States have benefitted from the government’s largesse in the form of military weaponry and training, incentives offered in the ongoing “War on Drugs.” For the average citizen watching events such as the intense pursuit of the Tsarnaev brothers on television, it would be difficult to discern between fully outfitted police SWAT teams and the military. The lines blurred even further Monday as a new dynamic was...

The more militant members of the N.R.A. and most of its leaders may be un-American. By “militant” I don’t mean those who wish to protect recreational shooting and hunting; nor do I mean those who, like Justice Antonin Scalia, believe that there is a constitutional right to defend one’s home and family with firearms. These are respectable positions (although I am deeply unpersuaded by the second). I mean those who read the Second Amendment as proclaiming the right of citizens to resist the tyranny of their own government, that is, of the government that issued and ratified the Constitution in...

“Nullification” laws have been introduced in 37 states that technically make it a felony for law enforcement agents to enforce federal restrictions banning firearms, and a recent Rasmussen poll shows that 38 percent support such state laws.Nullification laws are a legal device used by states to “nullify” federal laws deemed unconstitutional by that state’s legislature and governor. They stem from a proclamation that Andrew Jackson issued in 1832, but in reality have little if any actual authority in overriding federal law. In fact, under the Supremacy Clause of Article VI, federal law is the “supreme law of the land,” and...

When Marion Bower decided to start her tea party organization in 2010, she didn’t know that it would take nearly two years for the Internal Revenue Service to approve her request for tax-exempt status. The Ohio woman also did not expect that providing information about the books her group read would be part of the application process. “I was trying to be very cordial, but they wanted copies of unbelievable things,” Bower told ABC News today. “They wanted to know what materials we had discussed at any of our book studies.” She ultimately sent one of the books, “The Five...

The IRS not only targeted conservative Tea Party groups and Jews… They also targeted conservative groups that taught the US Constitution. The Washington Post reported: >snip On Jan. 15, 2012 the agency decided to target “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform movement.,” according to the appendix in the IG report, which was requested by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and has yet to be released.

RELIGIOUS LIBERTY is being redefined in America, or at least many would like it to be. Our secular establishment wants to reduce the autonomy of religious institutions and limit the influence of faith in the public square. The reason is not hard to grasp. In America, “religion” largely means Christianity, and today our secular culture views orthodox Christian churches as troublesome, retrograde, and reactionary forces. They’re seen as anti-science, anti-gay, and anti-women—which is to say anti-progress as the Left defines progress. Not surprisingly, then, the Left believes society will be best served if Christians are limited in their influence on...

"To the petty dictators and one-world socialists who control the UN, the United States of America isn’t a “shining city on a hill” — it’s an affront to their grand designs for the globe."

The Right constantly claims devotion to our founding documents. The problem: Its policies completely violate them. Last month, 20 House Republicans, along with staffers from nearly 40 congressional offices attended the first meeting of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus. The three premises behind the Caucus, according to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who emceed the event, are “we’re taxed enough, we spend less than we take in, and we follow the Constitution.” This purported devotion to the founding documents echoes the themes reverberated at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, where Sarah Palin and former Rick Santorum declared that...

The Foundation for Individual Rights In Higher Education (FIRE) is the premier non-partisan organization fighting to protect free speech and other constitutional rights on campus.  The FIRE defends everyone’s rights, regardless of political affiliation.We have cited The FIRE numerous times here and at College Insurrection, and they have submitted a few guests posts on campus issues.The FIRE is not an organization prone to hyperbole.So when I received this email late this afternoon from FIRE Senior Vice President Robert Shibley, it got my attention: THIS. IS. OUTRAGEOUS. The government has mandated speech codes on all campuses. I hoped I would never see this day, but...

On Monday, the Texas House of Representatives passed a bill that would bar state officials from enforcing any new federal gun laws.  Via Kevin Drum, I see that the MaddowBlog’s Steve Benen calls the bill “crazy.” In this case, Texas’ nullification bill effectively hopes to freeze the status quo of federal gun laws in place indefinitely. The state is prepared to honor federal laws as they currently exist, but if policymakers in Washington expanded current laws in any way, Texas would ignore those changes — based on the “because I say so” theory of modern jurisprudence.It wouldn’t matter if new...

ALT LAKE CITY — Police have released dash-cam footage in a chase on I-15 last week that led police through Salt Lake County. The chase started at about 12:50 p.m. on I-15 near 12300 South. Dash-cam footage shows a woman driving a black Volvo passing a Utah Highway Patrol trooper in the emergency lane. The woman, identified as Lisa Anne Sovereen, 44, refused to pull over as speeds reached 80 mph. Sovereen called 911 and asked the dispatcher "that the trooper get off her back," according to UHP Cpl. Todd Johnson. She said she believed the trooper would try to...

In one of my first essays for NRO back in 2005 (“Are You an Originalist?”), I selected the Constitution’s “natural born Citizen” criterion for eligibility to be president—a provision that then seemed at the time to be beyond the distorting effects of political bias—to illustrate that everyone intuitively recognizes the common-sense principle at the heart of the interpretive methodology of originalism: namely, that the meaning of a constitutional provision is to be determined in accordance with the meaning that it bore at the time that it was adopted. The public debate in 2008 over whether John McCain, having been born...

(snip) Similarly, honest citizens should not have a general obligation to disclose to the government what firearms they’ve built or bought, provided they are for honest purposes. An honest person may wish to keep this information private to avoid becoming the target of thieves or unwanted political attacks. A desire for private firearms ownership is not proof of “criminal intent.” And if the government has a specific concern that someone is planning a crime with a gun (or any other tool), the burden of proof should be on the government prior to any search or other invasion of his privacy....

Cesar Conda is Marco Rubio’s Chief of Staff. He recently made his Tweets private (protected) so the general public can’t read them. Cesar Conda has been pushing amnesty for illegals on Twitter and else as Marco Rubio’s PR agent. Conda, who is an immigration lawyer, went to work for George Soros before becoming Rubio’s Chief of Staff. Cesar Conda worked on the editorial advisory board of George Soros magazine, The International Economy Magazine. Cesar Conda had been spinning lies about the amnesty bill about how illegal wouldn’t get welfare, wait more than 10 years for citizenship, etc. Those lies have...

Kansas governor Sam Brownback heard something recently. He received a letter from Attorney General Eric Holder stating that Kansas' newly enacted legislation prohibiting government agents from enforcing federal gun laws in the state "directly conflicts with federal law and is therefore unconstitutional." Unconstitutional, Eric? My, how antebellum of you. Meanwhile, the South Carolina House just passed a law criminalizing the enforcement of ObamaCare within its state borders, a move that critics will also attack with talk of the Supremacy Clause. Speaking of supremacy, AG Holder also told Brownback that the feds would litigate if necessary "to prevent the State of...

"I am in pain and moderate shock from what just happened which I am trying to write about. It is 4 am and I am still not calmed down enough to sleep! Tonight 6-10+ male Law enforcement Officers in heavy body armor broke into my home and did much destruction. I am injured, but do not know how bad." That is the beginning of a Facebook post that I received late Wednesday / early Thursday morning. The post came from Tim Manning a 62-year-old pastor who resides in Kernersville, NC. Manning states that he was on the phone with his...

I just saw this ad for a new PBS show called Constitution USA, which premiers this week. According to the ad, the show seeks to answer the question: "Does the Constitution have what it takes to keep up with the lives, limits and freedoms of modern America?" Judging purely by the ad, I'd say that our Constitution is in for a real shellacking at the hands of PBS. Here's an excerpt of a review of the show by Variety: Sagal (host of NPR’s “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!”) frames the discussion with a gimmick, riding across the U.S. on red,...

The Hill reports that Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback just signed into law a statute that "bars the federal government from regulating guns and ammunition manufactured and stored within Kansas state lines." Moreover, the new law makes it a felony for federal authorities to attempt to enforce federal gun control laws, treaties, or rules related to firearms within Kansas state lines. Federal agents would not be arrested but will be prosecuted on "a complaint-and-summons basis." Naturally, U.S. Attorney general Eric Holder is furious. Already he has sent a letter to Brownback promising, “The United States will take all appropriate action, including...

In 2008, Julius Genachowski served as candidate Barack Obama’s Chairperson of the Technology. Upon winning the Presidency, Obama thanked the lawyer by appointing him to serve as Chairman of the nation’s Federal Communications Commission. In September 2012, Genachowski instructed Commission staff to begin reviewing the Commission’s broadcast indecency policies and enforcement, arguing that present day indecency laws may not be in step with “First Amendment principles.”.....

It is understandable that a lot of people were relieved when the government was quickly able to identify and locate the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings. And it is also understandable why some people might want to treat the surviving attacker as an “enemy combatant,” given his ostensible beliefs in — and potential ties to — militant Islam. But that doesn’t make any of it right or just — or permissible under our Constitution. It’s been said that the first casualty in war is the truth. And it’s also been said that sometimes the truth can be inconvenient. But...

Proudly brandishing a target she had riddled with bullets, 62-year-old Sharon Schaefer could not hide her delight at joining America’s growing number of gun-toting women. “It was fun!” she exclaimed breathlessly, much to the approval of her instructor Teresa Ovalle. “You did a good job, Sharon,” said the former Marine, who had just given the senior citizen a crash course in pistols at the Fredericksburg Range, some 80 kms southwest of the US capital. On Thursday evenings the range has a pink theme — the color of T-shirts and logos worn by the members of the Pistol Packing Ladies. Gun...

Today is now officially “Loyalty Day”, where all of the tax slaves of the United States can celebrate their obedience to government. In recent memory Mayday is associated with workers protests and things of that nature, but it is important to remember that people in various culture have been celebrating Mayday for most of recorded history. Far before the middle ages, pagan cultures in Europe would celebrate mayday, and even they drew their traditions from older astrotheological cultures. This point on our calender now means many different things to many different people, and now you can add another one to...

President Barack Obama had better clear this up today, right now. Surely he is just allowing his handlers to throw up this kind of ridiculous, amoral, un-American trial balloon. I call on Obama to address this immediately with the American public, clear it up, and renounce these reports as the nonsense they surely in God's name must be. - Sarah PalinBreaking: Pentagon Confirms May Court Martial Soldiers Who Share Christian Faith

The Pentagon has released a statement confirming that soldiers could be prosecuted for promoting their faith: "Religious proselytization is not permitted within the Department of Defense...Court martials and non-judicial punishments are decided on a case-by-case basis...”. The statement, released to Fox News, follows a Breitbart News report on Obama administration Pentagon appointees meeting with anti-Christian extremist Mikey Weinstein to develop court-martial procedures to punish Christians in the military who express or share their faith. (From our earlier report: Weinstein is the head of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, and says Christians--including chaplains--sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ in the military...

You’re gonna love this. It turns out that two products that most of us use multiple times a day can trigger a false positive result for explosives during a TSA screening. The culprits? Soap and lotion. Don’t believe me? A few days after the Boston bombings, Linda, an Oklahoma native, was flying out of Port Columbus International Airport (CMH) in Ohio when she was randomly chosen for a hand swab at a security checkpoint. The TSA agent swabbed her hand and promptly informed her that she had tested positive for explosives, specifically nitrates. The poor woman was naturally befuddled and...

Opponents of federal gun control won a victory in the Senate Wednesday. But without a doubt, Congress will pass some sort of gun-control legislation. And that act will certainly violate the Constitution. Our founding document does not delegate firearm-regulating power to Congress or the president. No clause in the Constitution empowers the federal government to ban any type of gun or magazine, create a gun registry or implement a national system of background checks, and the Second Amendment actively restricts federal power in this area. It prevents the federal government from infringing on the right of people to keep and...

Among the many thoughtful details that the founders bequeathed to the rest of us is the purposeful naming of our nation; The United States of America. A single moniker like “America” would have neglected the composure of independence and cooperative defiance necessary to earn the crucial signatures on the Declaration of Independence and, soon afterward, the Articles of Confederation wherein the new country’s name was made official. The basic tenet behind the name is captured plainly in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments. The Ninth of our Bill of Rights reads, “The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not...

Almost every newspaper I have looked at for the last several weeks has had letters to the editor debating gun control. Most have missed one important detail: There is a "right" to have a gun. There are two types of "rights." The first is related to what a state cannot do to you, and which you have naturally unless it is removed from you by a powerful entity like a government. The Bill of Rights of the American Constitution enshrines these rights. A person has a "right" to freedom of conscience unless someone takes it away. Consequently, we have a...

Can't we just wait for heroes to save us? That's easy but won't work.A fascinating article titled The Good Guys are Not Coming to Save Us was posted on April 23rd at Free-Man's Perspective. The first paragraph observes, A lot of Americans know that the US government is out of control. Anyone who has cared enough to study the US Constitution even a little knows this. Still, very few of these people are taking any significant action, and largely because of one error: They are waiting for “the good guys” to show up and fix things. The article provides much food for thought....

Once upon a time, we were One Nation Under God. Sure, America had its faults, but overall things were fairly good and we worked to make improvements. The government understood that its purpose was to safeguard the Rights (note the capital “R”) with which we were endowed by our Creator; and most other legislative matters were left to the states per the 10th Amendment. America had public servants, but these people were just that – servants. They were there to uphold the Constitution. That was then. This is now. Today we have two nations, peopled separately by what I’ll call...

Craig — Craig resident Craig Rummel appeared before the Craig City Council on Tuesday night with a unique proposal. Citing years of attacks by the Colorado General Assembly on the industries that drive Craig and Moffat County’s economy — namely coal, power and hunting — Rummel asked City Council members to consider passing an ordinance requiring heads of households within Craig city limits to maintain a modern sporting rifle capable of accepting high-capacity magazines. A draft of Rummel’s proposal included exemptions for those not physically or mentally capable of operating a firearm; financially unable to afford purchasing a firearm; who...

In Eric Holder's America, there's no Constitutional right to gun ownership, no right to life for the unborn, no right of conscience for Catholics (or other people of faith) who disagree with elements of ObamaCare . . . but there is a "right to citizenship" as a matter of "civil and human rights" for illegal aliens. Witness Holder's newest utterance, offered in a major-league suck up speech to the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund: Holder calls amnesty a "civil right" "Creating a pathway to earned citizenship for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in this country is essential. The...

As the debate over the merits of an online sales tax policy that would allow states to collect tax from vendors outside their state boundaries brews, a lobbyist for the National Retail Federation, a group supporting the proposed legislation, dismissed the United States Constitution as an “18th-century document.”“The industry is evolving very rapidly, and the law today is a 20th-century interpretation of an 18th-century document that is holding back the entire retail industry as it adapts to 21st-century consumer preferences and demand,” David French, senior vice president for government affairs at the NRF, said in a statement provided to the Wall...

A common trope of many Second Amendment advocates is to urge more vigorous enforcement of existing federal gun control laws, as the alternative to enacting additional laws. Rhetorically, that’s very effective. But as a policy matter, it is not always a good idea. Consider legislation recently considered by the Senate: The Manchin-Toomey amendment was supported by the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA), although the group later dropped its support for reasons unrelated to the issues raised in this post. Section 102(3) of Manchin-Toomey was the finding that “Congress believes the Department of Justice should...