Free Republic

It's not hard to understand why President Barack Obama appalls supporters of traditional American liberties. In the first six months of his presidency, he's fought for radically expanded federal power, while asserting a quasi-royal prerogative to control the auto industry and pushing for a government takeover of the health care sector, as well as a cap-and-trade scheme that would regulate virtually every human activity that emits carbon dioxide. But if you're inclined to thank God for small favors, there's this at least: Obama hasn't yet proposed turning the U.S. military against American citizens. Last week, the New York Times revealed...

My reply to Linder's letter follows his letter. db Dear Mr. Bachert: Thank you for contacting me regarding the use of foreign military personnel in local law enforcement operations. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue. First, it is true that the U.S. Armed Forces will be holding training exercises in July 2009 with military personnel from Australia, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom in the Southeast region of our country. These multilateral operations are a part of the government's strategy to prevent and manage terrorist threats and attacks. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on our homeland, the...

A $226,000 armored vehicle for the North Richland Hills Police Department SWAT team arrived a few days ago to replace one the agency got in 1990. To many people that vehicle — and others like it used by police departments across the country — will go unnoticed. The public seems to largely accept the use of military-type equipment, technology and tactics as not only appropriate but also necessary to fight crime and make communities more safe and secure. Armored vehicles are used by law enforcement agencies in Fort Worth, Arlington and Bedford and at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, just to name...

SCHENECTADY, N.Y. -- Schenectady Police Chief Mark Chaires said, "This is unprecedented - all these officers getting in trouble at the same time for all these different reasons. Five Schenectady police officers recently accused of everything from driving drunk to beating up a man are leading city officials to look at taking drastic action to fix a department tainted by the few who may have acted illegally, like Darren Lawrence and Michael Brown who are accused of driving while intoxicated. Chief Chaires said, "Those two officers, we're definitely going to seek termination, and we're not ruling it out with any...

Geneva County (Ala.) Sheriff Greg Ward tells CNSNews.com that he was the one who called in U.S. Army troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., on the night of March 10 – during one of the bloodiest murder sprees in Alabama history. “I got a message from my 911 dispatcher that said we had a call from a lieutenant colonel at Ft. Rucker just to let us know that Ft. Rucker was there if we needed generators, lights, equipment and stuff like that. I told the dispatcher that I would get back with them,” Ward told CNSNews.com in a telephone interview. “You’ve...

The commander of the Alabama Bureau of Investigation office in Dothan, Ala., told CNSNews.com that neither he nor his agents called for U.S. troops to come to the scene of murders in Samson, Ala., on the night of March 10 -- but he was very glad they came. "I don't know who called them," Lt. Barry Tucker told CNSNews.com. “I didn't. I didn't have time to call anybody."

Much has been written about the Posse Comitatus Act. As a few others have noted, much of this commentary is “just plain nonsense.”2 The majority opinion, however, including that of the Department of Defense, maintains that this 19th-century law strictly limits almost all DOD participation in any activity related to “law enforcement” or “homeland security.”3 This fundamental mischaracterization, while understandable, is potentially dangerous to national security and has done nothing to protect civil liberties. So how did a racist law from the bitter Reconstruction period morph, in many minds, into shorthand for the respected principle that Americans do not want...

Excerpts from Obama's speech today at the dedication of Abraham Lincoln Hall at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C.: "The attacks of 9/11 signaled the new dangers of the 21st century. And today, our people are still threatened by violent extremists ... Yet terrorism and extremism make up just one part of the many challenges that confront our nation. ... A historic economic downturn has put at stake the prosperity that underpins our strength, while putting at risk the stability of governments and the survival of people around the world. ... Poverty, disease, the persistence of conflict and genocide...

From: http://www.oath-keepers.blogspot.com U. S. Military, Veterans, and Peace Officers Our oath is to the Constitution of the United States of America. It is NOT to the President..., and that oath will be kept,...... Oath Keepers is a non partisan association of currently serving military, veterans, and peace officers who will fulfill our oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God. Our oath is to the Constitution, not to the President, not to Congress, and not to any political party. In the long-standing tradition of the U.S. military, we are apolitical. We...

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As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons," Holder told reporters. I think closing the gun show loophole, the banning of cop-killer bullets and I also think that making the assault weapons ban permanent, would be something that would be permitted under Heller," Holder said, referring to the Supreme Court ruling in Washington, D.C. v. Heller, which asserted the Second Amendment as an individual's right to own a weapon.

DES MOINES, Iowa – Following publicized reports that the Army National Guard was planning a military training exercise on the streets of a rural Iowa town, the commanding officers have called off the mock "invasion." The Guard had planned a four-day urban military operation in tiny Arcadia, Iowa, population 443, sending troops to take over the town and search door-to-door for a suspected weapons dealer. The exercise was designed as a mock scenario to give soldiers the skills needed for deployment in an urban environment, and military officials stressed that only households that consented to be part of the drill...

My husband, two friends and I went to DC for the National March for Life, arriving the day after the Inauguration and staying until Saturday. On Friday we toured the Capitol, the Capitol Visitors' Center ("CVC") and the House Gallery. We were treated to repeated metal detectors at the CVC and at the Rayburn House offices when we visited our Congressman's office. However, there were several additional levels of security when we were being escorted to the Gallery. My purse was searched we went through a couple of more metal detectors, and all of our phones, cameras, and other "electronics"...

ARE you afraid that the eco nomic downturn could get out of hand? I mean, really out of hand? Well, don't worry. The US Army War College is on the case - ready to handle "unforeseen economic collapse" and the "rapid dissolution of public order in all or significant parts of the US." And you thought we were just dealing with a recession! In a report published Nov. 4 - just in time for the holiday season - the War College's Strategic Studies Institute posited a number of shocks that the country should be prepared for, including unrest caused by...

he California Highway Patrol in the High Desert and the Twentynine Palms Marine Base are receiving dozens of calls complaining about a controversial DUI checkpoint. Military Police joined the CHP for a recent checkpoint in Yucca Valley.

Proposal would allow civilians to activate Army to prevent 'environmental damage' New rules published in the Federal Register would allow certain civilians to call American soldiers into action inside the U.S. to prevent environmental damage or respond to "special events" and "other domestic activities." The alarming warning is contained in proposed rules published last week for the Department of Defense's "Defense Support of Civil Authorities" plan. Under the U.S. Constitution, soldiers inside the country essentially are tasked with the responsibility of quelling "insurrections" and repelling invasions as well as making sure each state has access to the republican form of...

New rules published in the Federal Register would allow certain civilians to call American soldiers into action inside the U.S. to prevent environmental damage or respond to "special events" and "other domestic activities." The alarming warning is contained in proposed rules published last week for the Department of Defense's "Defense Support of Civil Authorities" plan. Under the U.S. Constitution, soldiers inside the country essentially are tasked with the responsibility of quelling "insurrections" and repelling invasions as well as making sure each state has access to the republican form of government. But the new rules go far beyond that, essentially establishing...

It's for our own good And it will be an Orwellian Police State, too: Thoughtcrime is already subject to ostracism and vilification, and what with the UN ready to codify it, and Obama signaling that he wants to increase the importance and influence of the UN, how long will it stay out of the U.S.? And why is this necessary? Primarily "to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack." Of course, to call the Muslim community in America to account and compel it to stop teaching Sharia supremacism and hatred of Jews and Christians -- that...

Pentagon to Detail Troops to Bolster Domestic Security By Spencer S. Hsu and Ann Scott Tyson Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, December 1, 2008; A01 The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said. There are critics of the change, in the...

The U.S. military expects to have 20,000 uniformed troops inside the United States by 2011 trained to help state and local officials respond to a nuclear terrorist attack or other domestic catastrophe, according to Pentagon officials. The long-planned shift in the Defense Department's role in homeland security was recently backed with funding and troop commitments after years of prodding by Congress and outside experts, defense analysts said. There are critics of the change, in the military and among civil liberties groups and libertarians who express concern that the new homeland emphasis threatens to strain the military and possibly undermine the...