Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Guns are good for the goose but NOT for the gander.

 http://www.rocklandtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/1-Crosfield-Ave5-280x200.jpeg

Hilarious.  You get bitten once, you double down hoping you'll be bitten twice?  Brilliant.

A Clarkstown police report issued on December 28, 2012, confirmed that The Journal News has hired armed security guards from New City-based RGA Investigations and that they are manning the newspaper’s Rockland County headquarters at 1 Crosfield Ave., West Nyack, through at least tomorrow, Wednesday, January 2, 2013.

According to police reports on public record, Journal News Rockland Editor Caryn A. McBride was alarmed by the volume of “negative correspondence,” namely an avalanche of phone calls and emails to the Journal News office, following the newspaper’s publishing of a map of all pistol permit holders in Rockland and Westchester.

Due to apparent safety concerns, the newspaper then decided to hire RGA Investigations to provide armed personnel to man the location.

Private investigator Richard Ayoob is the administrator of RGA. He told the Clarkstown Police on Friday, December 28 that there had been no problems on site at the Journal News headquarters despite the massive influx of phone calls and emails.

McBride had filed at least two reports with the Clarkstown Police Department due to perceived threats. However, the police did not find the communications in question actually threatening. Incident-Report 2012-00033099 describes McBride telling police she was worried because an email writer wondered “what McBride would get in her mail now.”

Police said the email “did not constitute an offense” and did not contain an actual threat.

The Journal News caused an international stir when they released an interactive map of pistol permit holders names and addresses in Rockland and Westchester counties last Sunday, December 23. The editors have said they believe knowing where guns are is in the public’s interest. The newspaper has also taken a strident editorial position in favor of strict gun control.

Rather than take the map down following the public uproar, the executive board at the Journal News has decided to “stick to their guns” and double-down on their original decision, as they have said a map listing all pistol permit holders in Putnam County will soon to be posted.

The controversial use of the Freedom of Information Act to create the interactive map may come back to bite the Journal News and others who would prefer that pistol permits remain public record.

NC Teachers fill free gun training course

Via Michael Downing


VERBATIM

Local teachers are signing up for a free concealed carry handgun course in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. 


It is called Krav Maga -- it is hand-to-hand combat inherited from Israeli secret agents.

At the combat center in Cary they don't just teach Krav Maga, now the center is offering a free gun training course for school teachers. Instructors said they are seeing interest from all across the Triangle.

"Ever since we posted that we're offering free classes for teachers- we've been absolutely crushed, inundated. Teachers want to learn about firearms," Triangle Krav Maga's Molotov Mitchell said.

Since the massacre in Newtown, gun training classes for educators have popped up from Utah to Texas. Gun rights activists are lobbying the General Assembly to allow teachers with concealed carry permits to be armed on campus.

Triangle Krav Maga preaches that when it comes to guns and violence, knowledge is power.

"I think the more you know about potential attackers- about criminals, and the way they go about their business- the better you can be prepared for when that day comes," Triangle Krav Maga's Scott Woods said.

The free gun training course will be held Sunday. It is eight hours long and already has a waiting list.

Samuel Whittemore, My Hero

Artwork via The Lonely Libertarian

 

=====================

And he was  a Yankee!:)  Re-post NamSouth 2009 

"Samuel Whittemore, an eighty year old hard working farmer, was living in Menotomy, Massachusetts when he became the oldest known colonial combatant in the American Revolutionary War.

On April 19, 1775, British forces were returning to Boston from the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the opening engagements of the war. On their march, they were continually shot at by colonial militiamen.

Whittemore was in his fields when he spotted an approaching British relief brigade under Hugh, Earl Percy, sent to assist the retreat. To his families dismay, Whittemore loaded his musket and ambushed the British from behind a nearby stone wall, killing one soldier, then drew his dueling pistols, and killed two more. Whittemore then attacked with a sword. He was shot in the face, bayoneted thirteen times, beaten, and left for dead in a pool of blood.

His family not only found him alive, but trying to reload his musket to fight again! He was taken to Dr. Cotton Tufts of Medford, who held out no hope for his survival. However, Whittemore lived another eighteen years until dying of natural causes at the age of ninety-eight."

Kathy Griffin Makes Vulgar Comments and Gestures to Anderson Cooper on CNN

Must be an update from the last days of Rome..........

(Content Warning: Vulgar/Sexual Language and Gestures)
No matter what vulgar things Kathy Griffin does on CNN’s live New Year’s Eve broadcasts, the folks at the supposedly most trusted name in news continue to invite her back. On Monday night’s program, after first telling co-host Anderson Cooper “I’m going to tickle your sack,” she shortly after midnight actually kissed
his crotch.


Oh, brother..........

Via Ryan



A Letter Home


http://www.assonetart.com/TroianiTheBoyColonel.jpg
 THE BOY COLONEL
Battle of Gettysburg, 1 July 1863. This print is dedicated to the youngest
colonel in the Confederacy, 21-year old Colonel Henry King Burgwyn, Jr.
commander of the 26th North Carolina Infantry Regiment who was killed
in the engagement against the Iron Brigade at McPherson’s Ridge. Of the
895 men who had started the Battle of Gettysburg, only 3 officers and 67
men remained present for duty. The regiment’s total loss was a staggering
697; of those 174 were killed outright or died of wounds.
                                                         =====================

 Via The Lonely Libertarian
 

May it never come to pass

Written By: Bob - Dec• 31•12
Sept. 19
 Dear B.,

I hope this letter finds you in good spirits. I’ve heard it through command that the loyalists harassing I-40 have been dealt with, so you should be getting all the rice, flour, etc you could want within days, now that the port in Wilmington has been repaired.

Because of security I can’t tell you precisely where we are, but I can say that we can see the Washington Monument through the smoke from time to time. I’m not even sure how to describe the fighting. Spider says it reminds him of Hue. The younger Marine veterans speak of Fallujah. All I know is that loyalists have contested every inch since we dismounted in Lorton.

Most of the harshest fighting now is pile to pile. It reminds me of what I saw on the History Channel (remember TV?) about Stalingrad.

Tell the girls that I love them and that I think about them every day. I k
 
[Letter recovered near body of rifleman from Company E., 26th No. Car. Infantry, at Battle of Arlington Ridge on Sept 23, during the Second Third :) American Revolutionary War]

“LET THEM EAT GRASS”

 

VERBATIM

They were Dakota warriors. They met their fates with courage 150 years ago. The 38 condemned men, their hands bound behind them, rushed to the gallows that had been specially built for them on the edge of the Minnesota River in Mankato, MN. They danced in place as the rough-hewn nooses were pulled over their heads. All wore white muslin caps with flaps on them, pulled down to obscure faces adorned with ceremonial paint.

The 1862 Dakota War was coming to a deadly climax. According to an eyewitness report in The New York Times of the largest mass execution in American history, most of the men on the scaffold sang a slow Indian death song. Some of the condemned, including a few of mixed blood who had embraced Christianity, sang a song of their faith. Several had worked their hands free, and clasped a final grip with the man next to them.

Meanwhile, about 4,000 people watched. They were being monitored by more than 1,400 uniformed soldiers in the Minnesota Sixth, Eighth and Ninth regiments, there to ensure the warriors died of hanging and not of a mob attack. Just after 10 a.m. on Friday, Dec. 26, 1862 — 150 years ago — a drum was sounded three times. Capt. William Duley stood ready with a knife at the base of the platform to cut the rope holding all 38 trap doors closed. Duley had been wounded, had lost three children during the conflict, and his pregnant wife and two other children had been taken hostage. Laura Duley later said she was repeatedly assaulted and lost the child she was carrying during captivity, he would learn when they were reunited. As the final drumbeat echoed, Duley severed the heavy rope on his second try, releasing the traps beneath the warriors’ feet. All plunged down from the 20-foot-high platform. Some died instantly, their necks snapped. Others writhed in agony as they choked to death. One man, known as Rattling Runner, plummeted to the ground, the rope around his neck having broken. As he was brought back to the platform and a second rope placed around his neck, the crowd — and the soldiers — cheered long and loud when they saw all 38 bodies swinging in the frigid morning air.


One little boy, who reportedly had lost his parents in the 1862 Dakota War, was heard to shout, “Hurrah! Hurrah!” according to The New York Times report. That mass hanging was the culmination of the 1862 Dakota War, also known as the Dakota Conflict, the Sioux Uprising of 1862, and Little Crow’s War, among other names. The executions were held after weeks of attacks, skirmishes and battles between white settlers and soldiers and Indians angry about the loss of their homeland and being denied access to food.


Hundreds, many of them settlers who were surprised by sudden attacks, died in August and September 1862. The Mankato hangings were intended to put the war to rest, but it has remained a heated topic among many Indians and some whites for 150 years, while others, even some who live in the region, are completely unaware of the bloody late summer of 1862. Lyle W. Miller Sr., a Crow Creek teacher and 1993 Dakota Wesleyan University graduate, spoke on the 1862 Dakota War during a Dec. 14 presentation at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village. “When I think about that time in 1862, and I think about the reasons why it started — it had to happen,” Miller said. “A lot of people think war isn’t ever supposed to happen, but at this time, let’s put it this way: There’s no good about a war, but sometimes it has to happen. The little ones were starving. What do you do when you’re faced with a position like that?”

Reconciliation ride:


This month, dozens of American Indians, along with other supporters and friends, have ridden horses across South Dakota and into Minnesota. They are scheduled to arrive Tuesday in Mankato and will take part in a solemn ceremony at the site of the executions. Wilfred Keeble is taking part in the ride. The 54-year-old Keeble, a former Crow Creek tribal chairman, said he views the ride as a chance to connect with younger people, teach them their history, and guide them to reconciliation with white people. But he also understands why the Dakota attacked the settlers and soldiers; “I see the boys back then as being forced into it,” Keeble said. “I see justification for what happened.” He joined the effort to encourage reconciliation shortly after it was started in 2005 by Jim Miller. Miller had a dream in the spring of 2005 that he was riding horseback, headed to Minnesota. He said at the time that he had never heard of the 1862 Dakota War, or of the mass execution.


In the documentary “Dakota 38,” he explained what happened then; “When you have dreams, you know when they come from the creator. ... as any recovered alcoholic, I made believe that I didn’t get it. I tried to put it out of my mind, yet it’s one of those dreams that bothers you night and day.” He is not on the ride this year, but he has taken part in past 330-mile journeys from Lower Brule to Mankato. Miller said it’s an opportunity for his people to move on, and that’s what he wants the ride to symbolize; “We can’t blame the wasichus (greedy newcomers) anymore. We’re doing it to ourselves. We’re selling drugs. We’re killing our own people,” he said. “That’s what this ride is about, is healing.”

‘Let them eat grass’

Healing has come slow to a deep wound. By 1862, the Indians had surrendered most of southwest Minnesota in a pair of 1851 treaties, and still more land was lost after Chief Little Crow and other Indians leaders went to Washington, D.C., in 1858 to ask for explanations on why they were being cheated. In the 1850s, two reservations were carved along the Minnesota River from what was once the Dakotas’ land. They were named the Upper Sioux Agency, with headquarters in Granite Falls, MN., and the Lower Sioux Agency, based in Redwood, MN.


The Mdewakanton and Wahpekute bands of the Dakota, also known as the Santee Sioux, primarily resided in the Lower Sioux Agency. They were angry about lower than promised annuities and often felt cheated by the traders who were supposed to provide them with food and supplies. The loss of the land where they and their ancestors had hunted, fished and gathered wild rice and other food made the situation more desperate. At the same time, many Indians were following coverage of the Civil War in newspapers at the trading posts, and they saw that the North was losing, and calling for more men from its states. As more and more settlers poured into Minnesota, and statehood was granted in 1858, once cordial relations between the Indians and the whites became increasingly strained. All that was needed for an inferno of violence was a spark.

Enter Andrew Myrick, a blunt-talking trader who was mistrusted by the Indians.
During a dispute over access to a warehouse packed with grain and other food on Aug. 15, 1862, a loud argument broke out between Indians and whites, including Indian Agent Thomas Galbraith, who was also a state senator. The Civil War was raging, and the attention, and dollars, of the federal and state government were focused on that war. The treaty payments were late, again, and this time the traders were unwilling to extend credit. This caused a battle of words. Myrick reportedly said: “So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung.” The Indians who heard this were deeply offended, and shouted in anger. While the heinous statement has long been credited with sparking the war, it was just one of many factors. But it did have an impact on the warriors who were told of his remarks.

Blood is shed:

 The first bloodshed occurred on the night of Aug. 17, 1862, when four hungry young men, Sungigidan (“Brown Wing”), Kaomdeiyeyedan (“Breaking Up”), Nagiwicakte (“Killing Ghost”), and Pazoiyopa (“Runs Against Something When Crawling”) found a hen’s nest with some eggs in it on a farmer’s land; “Don’t take them, for they belong to a white man and we may get into trouble,” one of the Indians said to the others, according to an 1894 interview with Chief Big Eagle, who fought in the war and later served three years in a Minnesota prison. The would-be thief called his friend a coward and said he was afraid of white men. He promised to show them he was not afraid. That youthful boast started a deluge of slaughter that would roll across the southwest corner of Minnesota. The four young men killed Robinson Jones, his son-in-law Howard Baker and his wife and their 14-year-old daughter, and a Mr. Webster that night. The attack was sudden and unexpected.


The young warriors, fresh from the kill, then returned to their village and explained what they had done. Some of their people were excited, while others said the murders would lead to disaster for the Dakota. The Indians asked Chief Little Crow, who was in his 60s and weary of battle, to lead them against the whites in an effort to reclaim their land. Little Crow at first rejected the idea, telling the warriors that they were doomed, since he had seen the vast eastern cities during his trip to and from Washington, D.C., four years earlier. “Kill one, two, 10 — and 10 times 10 will come to kill you,” he famously said. But he also knew many of the white men were away, fighting in the Civil War. Perhaps they could win, the chief said, but he knew the odds were against them. He also realized the young men’s blood was up, and they were ready, even eager, for battle; “You will die like rabbits when the hungry wolves hunt them in the Hard Moon,” Little Crow said, and he then used his Indian name to inspire the warriors. “Taoyateduta is not a coward: he will die with you.”

There was one chance, he reasoned. The Dakota would need a swift victory, before the federal government could aim its forces at them. Miller, in his speech in Mitchell, asked his listeners to put themselves in Little Crow’s moccasins; “The young men were hard to control. Very young men,” he said. “Like the people in the military today. They want to do battle when something hurts the United States of America.” The first battle of the war was an Indian attack on the Redwood Agency on Aug. 18, 1862. Federal troops sought to aid the settlers, and they also fell under attack. Among the dead was Myrick, the foul-tempered trader. When his body was found after what became known as the Battle of Lower Sioux Agency, his mouth and stomach were stuffed with grass. “Myrick is eating grass himself,” several Indians said, according to numerous accounts of the battle.

On Aug. 19, Minnesota Gov. Alexander Ramsey named his predecessor as governor, Col. Henry Sibley, as commander of the American volunteer forces. Meanwhile, settlers in the area were killed as the Indians tore a bloody path through the area. Many settlers headed for the town of New Ulm, where a small barricade had been set up. On Aug. 23, more than 600 Dakota warriors attacked New Ulm. Almost 100 settlers and soldiers were wounded, and 34 of them died. The town burned, but as many as 2,000 settlers and soldiers huddled together as the attacks diminished. After two days, they fled to the north and headed for Mankato. Meanwhile, Fort Ridgely was under attack from Aug. 20 to 22, and hundreds of warriors kept the fort under siege until Sibley and 1,400 troops arrived on Aug. 27.

On Sept. 2, Little Crow led his warriors to victory over Sibley’s troops in the Battle of Birch Coulee. It was the crest of the Dakotas’ success, and was followed by a series of small skirmishes and attacks.

The desire for war against the whites was not universally shared among the Dakota. In the Upper Sioux Agency, most of the Sisseton and Wahpeton were against the war, and Chiefs Red Iron and Standing Buffalo said they would attack hostile Indians who encroached upon their area. When given a chance, they seized white captives and turned them over to Sibley. As the tide turned, the soldiers gained their first major victory on Sept. 23, when they turned the Indians back at the Battle of Wood Lake. Three days later, Sibley seized the Dakota reservation and eventually 2,000 men, women and children were taken into custody.

The war was over, and hundreds of people — perhaps as many as 1,000 — lay dead. Towns and villages had been ransacked, farms destroyed and buildings burned down. A large crop remained in the fields.

A devastating aftermath:

 What happened in the wake of the war further outrages Indians today. About 1,600 Indians and people of mixed blood, called “half-breeds” by both sides at the time, were rounded up and marched to Fort Snelling, where they were imprisoned for the winter of 1862-63. Many Indians today, including Keeble, refer to it as a “concentration camp.” The Indians were kept in inhumane conditions and suffered greatly. Between 130 and 300 died, according to the Minnesota Historical Society. The ones who survived reported being assaulted and starved. Many had to surrender what items they owned and agreed to sign over land deeded to them to get enough food and supplies to endure the Minnesota winter.


In May 1863, the Indians were dispersed, with some ending up in South and North Dakota, and others in Nebraska and Canada. Where once 6,000 Dakota had called southwest Minnesota home, only a few dozen remained. Some were taken to a new facility named Fort Thompson, located eight miles upstream of the small tributary stream called Crow Creek in modern-day South Dakota. The fort was named for Clark W. Thompson, its first superintendent, and the Crow Creek Agency was created as a “repository” for Indians. John P. Williamson, a Christian missionary, came to Fort Thompson with the refugees, who had briefly been held in Missouri. Williamson said 1,300 Indians were shipped there, and 300 quickly died in the harsh conditions. More died in the coming months; “For a time a teepee where no one was sick could scarcely be found, and it was a rare day when there was no funeral,” he wrote. “Soon were the hills soon covered with graves. The very memory of Crow Creek became horrible to the Santees, who still hush their voice at the mention of the name.” Miller said Fort Thompson was essentially a POW camp. “A lot of bad things happened at Fort Thompson. They didn’t have shelter, they didn’t have blankets … food, clothing,” he said. “The lowest level on the hierarchy of needs was not met. Lots of lives were lost.”

After three years, they were released from custody. Some went to Santee, NB, some back to Minnesota, while others stayed and settled in central South Dakota. They were adrift, ripped from their homeland, Miller said. As he discussed this, he started to cry. “My children are part Dakota. A lot of the students that I taught were part Dakota, ancestors of these people,” he said. “They suffer internally. Deep depression, a deep, generational depression.


Grudges remain:

It is a grim history. But some see shafts of light amid the darkness.
Wilson, the Mankato educator, will attend the reconciliation ceremony Wednesday. Wilson said the annual ceremonies are brief and beautiful. Their roots go back to the efforts of two Mankato-area men and fishing buddies, Amos Owen, a Dakota elder, pipe maker and from the Prairie Island Mdewakanton Community, and Bud Lawrence, a Mankato businessman. They started a conversation in the late 1950s on the need for healing, and in 1965 helped launch the first Mankato wacipi, or pow-wow, in almost 100 years. Since 1972, the three-day Dakota Mahkato Mdewakanton Wacipi has been held the third full weekend in September.


It is now held in the Dakota Wokiksuye Makoce Park, the Land of Memories Park. Wilson, who is of Cherokee origin, said she grew up attending the pow-wow and was always moved to see so many Indians gathered together. She said as time has passed, she senses more racial understanding.
“I do, I do,” said Wilson, 34. “We dealt with an awful lot of racism in the school system.” She said her father met racism head-on and would not allow any disdainful treatment to his children. That included explaining how terms and practices that whites thought nothing of were deeply offensive to many Indians. But Wilson said some white and Indian families in the New Ulm area “still hold grudges” over the war. “It’s taught generationally,” she said. Wilson said she also feels the history of the war has been too centered on men. Many of the victims were women and children.


That was pointed out to her when she went on the Dakota Commemorative Walk, a 150-mile sojourn dedicated to the memory of the Indian elders, women and children who were force-marched from southwest Minnesota to Fort Snelling, near the Twin Cities. “What about the innocent bystanders?” she said. But the reconciliation ride is another positive development, she thinks.
“I think it is raising the awareness of everybody to the true history of the area,” she said. “I believe it is reconciliation.” Miller said he is told the riders will receive a great welcome. “It’s about reconciliation and healing,” he said.

Reprinted from TwinCities.com Pioneer Press Saint Paul, MN article. Article by Maja Beckstrom – 12/26/2012


C.S.S. Florida

VERBATIM 



In latter part of 1861, the keel of the ‘SS Oreto’ was laid down at the shipyards of William Miller and Sons of Liverpool, England. From the outset, the ship was designed to be one of the fastest afloat in the 1860's, and for good reason. She was fitted with engines of a new design and manufacture by Faucett, Preston and Company, known and held in high regard for building some of the fastest maritime engines in the 19th century.

On March 22, 1862, ‘Oreto’ embarked on her maiden voyage as a civilian ship, bound for the port of Nassau in the Bahamas. It is a widely held opinion that her early departure was to carry much needed war supplies for the Confederate States. History records however, the 'Oreto' would have a short career in the civilian merchant role - rather, later to make her place in history as a Confederate cruiser.

Whilst 'Florida' was known in the shipyard as the 'Oreto' she was initially intended to be named ‘Manassas’ in confederate service. She had the distinction of being the first of several, foreign-built cruisers. For reasons unknown, Union records long continued to refer to her as the 'Oreto' and frequently, reports confused her with the CSS Alabama despite her being fitted with two funnels as opposed to the single-stacked Alabam
At Nassau in the Bahamas, ‘Oreto’ was intended to coal and had contrived to fill her bunkers although she was only entitled to take on enough fuel to make the nearest Confederate port. The Governor of the islands denied the 'Oreto' the opportunity to rendezvous with her tender in Nassau harbour and ordered the ship to be arrested - but on August 7, the British courts concluded that 'Orteo' was not an armed ship and released her. Only a few hours after their decision, the ship slipped out of Nassau harbour at night, making her way to the isolated Green Cay. Here, she met up with the British schooner 'Prince Alfred' carrying other essential supplies. By now, the yellow fever weeping the area had struck her entire complement with the exception of one fireman and four deckhands.

With only this skeleton crew, the Confederate ship received eight guns (two 7-inchs and six six-inches) and other ordnance. Lieutenant John Newlands Maffitt assumed formal command and declared his vessel was no longer 'Oreto',
'being hereby commissioned as the Confederate cruiser CSS Florida on this day, August 17th 1862, with the sole intention to raid Union shipping lines along the Gulf of Mexico'.
The following day Maffitt ordered the ship's company to began training on all main guns. It was at this point, his executive officer, Lieutenant Stribling made an unfortunate discovery. In their haste to break out of Nassau and away from the U.S. ships in the vicinity, the Oreto/Florida's company accidentally left essential naval artillery equipment in storage. As the ship would now be totally helpless in combat Maffitt, also stricken with the disease, decided to make for Mobile in Alabama, running the blockade for the irst time – a risky move he knew and one that could well see the end of the Florida’s burgeoning career. 

Despite a raging fever, Maffitt was determined to get his ship to the relative safety of America. In an audacious dash the ‘Prince of Privateers’ braved a hail of canon shot from two Federal blockade ships before finally anchoring beneath the guns of Fort Morgann. Maffitt and his crew were accorded a hero’s welcome. Asked why the Florida had not returned fire on the Union vessels, he revealed the necessary rammers, sights, beds, locks and quoins had not been loaded in the Bahamas as intended. Maffitt, impatient to get back to sea, delayed no longer than absolutely necessary. Having taken on-board all remaining stores and armaments, along with added crew members, the Florida finally escaped to sea on January 16, 1863.
 

Embarking on an extraordinary career which, over about the next year and a half would see the cruiser cross the Atlantic twice while destroying ships of the US merchant fleet. The spring and summer of 1863 saw the CSS Florida sink several US ships in the waters surrounding the West Indies and in the mid-Atlantic ocean. Maffitt during this period, made considerable use and benefitted directly from several friends in the British Royal Navy. On at least three occasions, the Florida found herself in 'close proximity' to one or more British ships of the line; and an exchange of goods and/or replenishment at sea was highly probable. According to the personal log of Midshipman Stephen Forsyth of HMS Resistance, a rare departure from Resistance's duties patrolling the English Channel, reveals 'a chance encounter with the Confederate Cruiser 'Florida' saw the transfer of coal, meat and light ordinance from the Resistance, before signals of farewell were exchanged'. During this period of Florida's operations, Maffitt made Nassau his home port; but as the number of ships the Confederate raider was sinking or capturing grew, the Federal authorities decided to dispatch a large naval squadron to pursue this troublesome, Confederate 'raider'. On being made aware of this; and despite many objections from the crew Maffitt and his officers decided to move their base of operations to Europe in the late summer of 1863.

Continuing to wreak havoc in the commercial shipping lanes between Europe and America, the CSS Florida eventually arrived in the port of Brest in August of 1863 needing to make repairs. French authorities impounded the Florida for the next few months, under France's neutrality laws. Immediately after this became known, United States diplomatic agents applied a near continuous stream of protests, threats, and requests for action to the government of Napolean III for the Confederate ship to seized on their behalf. As these ‘legal’ moves continued, employing the good offices of the Confederacy’s Naval Agent, Captain Maffitt ordered the vessel to be secretly repaired. Maffit however was now in declining health and was forced to relinquish his command to Lt. Charles M. Morris. Morris immediately had to contend with several serious discipline problems which had erupted during the ships period in port. Feeling the entire safety of his ship to be at risk, Morris finally discharged part of the original crew. In the end, American diplomatic efforts did not sway the French, and Lt. Morris was able to put to sea with his newly-equipped and newly-manned ship on 10 February 1864.


 
Florida crossed the Atlantic, making her way towards the shores of South America where she continued harassing and decimating the US merchant fleet for the next six months. On 10 July 1862, the CSS Florida enjoyed its most successful day as a raider, taking four vessels including 'Electric Spark', valued at nearly $1,000,000. Despite these successes, Morris decided his crew was in need of rest. There had already been one unsuccessful mutiny and the Captain had lost confidence in his crew’s ability to function effectively. Florida’s time was running out; and his ship would meet its final end as a Confederate cruiser, through an intelligence move and violation of international law by the US Government.

In the October of 1864, the CSS Florida found itself docked in the port of Bahia, Brazil, refitting and allowing an exhausted crew time to relax. The US Consulate in Bahia began operations spying upon the activities of the ship and communicating with the Federal Navy ships operating in the area. In violation of international laws respecting the rights of neutral powers in a conflict, Commander Napoleon Collins of the USS Wachusett, attacked the Florida while she lay at anchor in Bahia.

Catching the Confederate ship completely unprepared for combat, the USS Wachusett rammed the Florida, damaging her hull badly and forcing her Captain to surrender. The Wachussett then towed its prize to the US Navy's base at Hampton Roads, VA. Meantime, diplomats of Brazil and several other countries, filed legal protests against the US and the actions of Commander Collins. The US courts held that Commander Collins had indeed violated the international laws and treaties of the US and ordered the ship to be returned to Brazil. Before this could happen however, the CSS Florida was lost in a questionable collision with the US Army Transport, 'Alliance' in late November of 1864. It was widely believed the sinking was most likely arranged by Admiral David Dixon Porter, a close friend of the 'Alliance’s' Captain. Commander Collins for his action of illegal attack and seizure was court-martialed and convicted of violating Brazilian territorial rights; but the verdict was set aside by Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles. Collins subsequently won fame and eventual promotion for his daring and was hailed as a hero by the press and readership of the north.

No one can deny the CSS Florida, in spite of meeting such an ignominious end, enjoyed a stellar career as a Confederate cruiser. Sometimes plagued by an often ill-disciplined crew, she was directly credited with thirty seven ships either sunk or captured. In addition to this her crew took two ships that were later commissioned as the Confederate cruisers CSS Tacony and CSS Clarence. These ships were credited with another twenty three Federal vessels sunk or captured. Through daring and bold actions against all the odds, the officers and crew of the CSS Florida ensured a place for themselves and their ship in the annals of naval warfare history.

DOJ’s Eric Holder Confirms: Obama Looking at Taking Executive Action to Pass Gun Control

Via Don






 

Old, don't know how I missed it.

VERBATIM

Hours after President Obama’s new Gun Task force met for the first time, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that The Obama Administration may use executive order to implement gun control in the wake of the Connecticut School shooting.

According to Reuters, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that The Obama Administration will consider executive action as part of its new gun policy. Holder, who was once quoted saying we have to “Brainwash people into thinking about guns in a vastly different way”, told reporters that they are working on a range of options that will be rolled out over the coming weeks.

Holder is part of a new gun violence task force, created by President Barack Obama and headed by Vice President Joe Biden, that will guide the administration through their efforts to enact gun control legislation.

Thursday’s meeting included Attorney General Eric Holder, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. After the meeting concluded, Holder told reporters that any gun control measures would include a “strong and robust” Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
In my opinion, this action has been in the works for some time. In fact, back in August we reported how the DOJ was in the process of figuring out how they could use their power to make it more difficult for Americans to purchase guns.

Rand Paul on Bill of Rights, Indefinite Detention and Firearms

 Nuclear option destroys the Senate

.........If the Majority Leader is going to push rules changes with a simple majority vote, I shall push some ideas of my own.

I pledge to fight back by proposing my own array of rules changes if Reid launches his first strike. I intend on offering a new rule to mandate that the budget be balanced each year.

Another idea I have is to offer a new rule making it virtually impossible for the Senate to consider a bill that violates the Bill of Rights. To use a recent example, under this new rule I would be empowered to raise a point of order against legislation allowing the indefinite detention of American citizens, as such a provision is in direct violation of the constitutional right to trial by jury.

If legislation restricing the rights of Americans to defend themselves with a firearm were to be introduced, I could raise a point of order forcing a two-thirds majority to approve that legislation.

These are merely a few ideas of the many I have been drafting up for Senate consideration next January.

Americans should “mark” their dwellings with “gun free” signs.


That ought to work well for criminals.

The longstanding gun control advocate and Communitarian thinker Amitai Etzionai has advocated recently at the Huntington Post (HP) in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut, child massacre what many might consider to be the ultimate in gun control folly.  Etzioni’s latest venture in gun control follows in the footsteps of his agenda laid out in 1991 for a “Domestic Disarmament” entailing a virtually absolute ban on private handgun ownership.  Yet the arguments made by Etzioni and others for such gun control measures have not become any more convincing with the passage of time.

Calling on individual Americans to “not wait for our elected officials” like President Barack Obama to take effective action against future shooting sprees, Etzioni demands that Americans “should do our share.”  They should namely “mark” their dwellings with “gun free” signs.  “Parents,” moreover, “should notify their friends that they would be reluctant to send their child over for a play date unless the home was safe from guns.”  Not only should individuals turn their guns into plowshares at the scrap heap, but “[r]esidential communities should pass rules that ban bringing guns onto their premises, clearly marking them as gun free.”  “Anyone who puts up such signs will become an ambassador for gun control,” Etzioni envisions, “because they are sure to be challenged by gun advocates to explain their anti-gun positions.”

Citizens contemplating domestic self-defense will be quick to note the perhaps literally fatal flaws in Etzioni’s reasoning.  People publicly advertising their “gun free” status might very well not become an “ambassador for gun control”, but rather an ambassador for future criminal predators seeing in such signs veritable targets. 

Obama's New Economic Normal: Seven Devastating Facts

 

VERBATIM

America is entering a new economic normal, a reality where almost everything that should be going up is going down, and everything that should be going down is going up.

The United States begins 2013 in uncharted economic waters; America has never been here before.

Consider, for example, these seven “firsts” for the U.S. economy:

1. All-time record annual average gas price: In 2012, the average cost of a gallon of gas eclipsed the previous record by nine cents, bringing the annual average to $3.60.

2. All-time record food stamp participation: As of last month, for the first time in American history, 47,710,324 individuals -- roughly one out of every seven people living in the United States -- now receive food stamps.

3. All-time high youth unemployment: In the last four years, average youth unemployment eclipsed the previous record rising to 17.5% -- the highest ever in recorded U.S. history.

4. All-time high number of Americans no longer in the labor force: Never before in U.S. history have so many been sidelined from the workforce. Today, a record 88,921,000 Americans are no longer a part of the U.S. labor force.

5. All-time record number of Americans collecting disability: Medical advancements and technological innovations have increased life expectancy and made workplaces safer. Still, the number of Americans collecting Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) has skyrocketed in the last four years. Today, a record 8,827,795 individuals collect a disability check averaging $1,130.34 a month.

6. All-time record number of Americans living in poverty: According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a record 46.2 million people in America are living in poverty, the highest number in the 53 years that the Census Bureau has collected the figure.

7. All-time record U.S. debt: The last four years have exploded the U.S. debt to levels never seen before in American history. Presently, the United States is $16,400,000,000,000 in debt.

Will America continue on its present economic trajectory in 2013? Here’s hoping not.

Fiscal Cliff Deal: $1 in Spending Cuts for Every $41 in Tax Increases


According to the Congressional Budget Office, the last-minute fiscal cliff deal reached by congressional leaders and President Barack Obama cuts only $15 billion in spending while increasing tax revenues by $620 billion—a 41:1 ratio of tax increases to spending cuts.

When Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush increased taxes in return for spending cuts—cuts that never ultimately came—they did so at ratios of 1:3 and 1:2.

“In 1982, President Reagan was promised $3 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes,” Americans for Tax Reform says of those two incidents. “The tax hikes went through, but the spending cuts did not materialize. President Reagan later said that signing onto this deal was the biggest mistake of his presidency.

"In 1990, President George H.W. Bush agreed to $2 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax hikes. The tax hikes went through, and we are still paying them today. Not a single penny of the promised spending cuts actually happened.”

Video @ Breitbart

"I would not trust a single cop, even a relative for my security or freedom."

 

 Sad.


When my son was fifteen, I suggested he join the LAPD’s Explorer Program, because he was a bit lost. If memory serves, the recruits spent three months at the LAPD Academy for the basic training.

The first exercise on the first hour was to fall down eyes closed so your fellow recruits would catch you. After the last recruit had fallen to the hands of the comrades, the LAPD sergeant running the show declared, “I hope you now comprehend that the only ones you can rely on EVER are your fellow officers.”

No doubt the Explorer Program was great for a teenager. The LAPD provided a real adult playground for them, from real sting operations to meeting the rich and famous in several festivities. I was relieved, one son saved, two more to go.

My son then enlisted to the military (being under age for the Academy), and spent there for five years. Now he was old enough to apply to the real LAPD. Regardless of our feelings of the department, we’re proud of our son. He had excelled in the high school, Explorers, military and now in the LAPD. He is currently a detective, always seeking the toughest jobs from anti-terrorism to violent-criminal task force to gang units.

A bit over a year ago, when he was visiting with his wife, I asked how he felt about the continuing SWAT assassinations all over the country, especially at the wrong addresses. He was very reluctant to respond. I finally told him that I’m not going to let anyone come through my door and shoot me, because I know that I’ve never committed a crime in my life – not even a parking ticket.

He response was, “And then an innocent police officer dies.” I tried to explain that the LEO did not have reason to come to my home in the first place and kick down my door and then try to kill me. I, on the other hand, had all the grounds to defend my life.

In brief, after long and heated discussion: My son (I always thought he’d be an artist) preferred the life of an unknown village cop to his own, innocent father.

I’ve not spoken a word with him ever since. He will not apologize (tells my wife) and I will not forgive. Prior to the LAPD Explorer Program, we’d spent almost fifteen years traveling the world, living in numerous countries. We’re a very close family.

Based on the little information he (and the other cops in the family) has provided to me, I would not trust a single cop, even a relative for my security or freedom.

One more thing, there could not exist bad cops without the good looking the other way.

Tino

The Good Cops Need To Declare Themselves Now

 I pledge allegiance....


For the Oathkeepers, it is time to stand up. Whether they like being told what to do, or not, that is what needs to happen and pretty fast. We are at a point where we need to know who the good cops are, who the good people are.

The scenario is this: I just got busted for some nonsense illegal possession of a firearm charge, now maybe they just made my firearm illegal, or maybe they just made me illegal, i.e. I've been to the doctor for depression (don't worry not in real life) and now I cannot own a gun. So I am there, in the Oathkeepers squad car.

I ask are you OK? (meaning Oathkeepers of course).

You, as the law enforcement officer, ex-military say, after a pause to see if what I am asking is what you are about to answer, you say yes.

Now, we have a problem. Why in the hell am I in your squad car to begin with? You have violated your oath already, the first one to defend the Constitution, so help you God and the other when you swore to all of us you would stand up for us when the time came.

If you are OK, you should have let me alone, so I don't have to escape and rack up further charges.

Look, I know how the legal system works inside and out.

More @ TL In Exile

Several theories about Feinstein's splash of enthusiasm about gun banning.

  

VERBATIM
  1. She's grandstanding for her local electorate.
  2. It's a feint to draw the attention away from the economic depression.
  3. She's got some terminal disease and wants to become a martyr instead.
  4. She thinks this is the best time to actually accomplish a full ban on modern defensive arms.
Could be a combination of those factors. Just looking around, I see many formerly anti-gun people buying weapons, getting training and carry permits. I don't think this is going to get very far.