As someone who fights on the side of free speech, I’m the first to tell ya, we do have a tendency to strawman political correctness. You may have heard things like “them snowflakes just don’t like being ‘fended” or “they want to suppress the truth!” and though I agree in PC cultures worst form all these things are true, those aren’t the actual arguments they make.
So let me arm you with the intellectual tools you need to successfully contribute to the discussion! And if you’re PC, listen with an open mind- maybe I can change it.
One argument they actually make is that “political correctness” is just a bogeyman term invented to lash out against polite society without seeming crude or uncivil. That what we call “political correctness” is actually politeness, and we just don’t wanna be polite!
But this is just plain wrong. There’s a difference between being PC and being polite, and I can prove it! Let’s look at an example: Jim and Jill.
The Motivations to Be Polite vs. PC
Jill doesn’t like racist humor because it offends others, and she doesn’t want to be a jerk. Jill is polite. Jim doesn’t like racist humor because he believes problematic social attitudes inadvertently contribute to the upholding of systemic power structures that strengthen systemic bigotry and subconsciously influence us to commit acts of violence.
Let me break it down. Jim believes when you say bad words, you contribute to negative social attitudes which cause others to commit acts of violence. For example, trans people have a high suicide rate. When you question modern gender theory, misgender somebody, or commit another similar microaggression, you contribute to a culture which marginalizes non-gender-conforming people, and increases their suicide rate.
This may sound convincing – until you realize this logic can be applied to any group if you’re willing to make the same kinds of assumptions. Veterans and soldiers have a very high suicide rate and aren’t well cared for. But we can still criticize US foreign policy and military action. We even burn flags.
Young men have a very high suicide rate as well. Should male-bashing be a hate crime? We can do all the same mental gymnastics to make either case, and whether or not you’re taken in by them, it’s clear that the motivations for being PC and just being polite are different.
Jill doesn’t want to upset or alienate anyone with her language. Jim believes stumbling across improper uses of language is tantamount to violence.
Jill is a nice person. Jim is an ideologue.
Jill is polite. Jim is PC.
Jill: I’m polite.
Jim: And I’m PC. You know, there’s no difference between us, really.
Jill: I don’t know about that. I mean I want people to be polite, I don’t wanna ban impolite speech.
Jim: Neither do I, that’s just an insane strawman argument. Name ONE country where PC folks have gotten ANY forms of speech banned.
Jill: You mean besides Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland…
Seamus Coughlin is a comedy writer and animator with a deep interest in politics and morality. A good deal of his work can be found on the FreedomToons YouTube channel.
Sean Malone is the Director of Media at FEE. His films have been featured in the mainstream media and throughout the free-market educational community.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Dont-Be-PC-Be-Polite.jpg360640Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2017-06-20 07:28:152017-06-20 07:28:15Common Sense Soapbox: Don’t Be PC, Be Polite by Seamus Coughlin and Sean Malone
“The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees… by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other – until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country’s official ideology.”
One of the great uncontested absurdities, which has become the official ideology of today, is “diversity.”
From the 2000s legal and illegal immigration picked up [in Europe]. Boats regularly set out from Turkey and North Africa to enter Europe illegally. Syrians fleeing civil war pushed into the Continent, soon joined by people from across sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa, the Middle East and Far East.
Today the great migration is off the front pages. Yet it goes on. On an average weekend nearly 10,000 people arrive on Italian reception islands alone. Where do they go? What do they expect? And what do we expect of them?
To find the answer to these and other questions it is necessary to ask deeper questions. Why did Europe decide it could take in the poor and dispossessed of the world? Why did we decide that anybody in the world fleeing war, or just seeking a better life, could come to Europe and call it home?
The reasons lie partly in our history, not least in the overwhelming German guilt, which has spread across the Continent and affected even our cultural cousins in America and Australia. Egged on by those who wish us ill, we have fallen for the idea that we are uniquely guilty, uniquely to be punished, and uniquely in need of having our societies changed as a result.
Former U.S. Army Chief-of-Staff General George W. Casey, Jr. after the Fort Hood slaughter on November 5th, 2009 said that this was a case of “work place violence” and that the real victim of the shooting were not the soldiers murdered by Nadal Hassan – rather it was “diversity.”
Ayn Rand warned, “There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.”
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/diversity-1.jpg360640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-06-20 06:57:442017-06-20 08:04:02MIGRATION: Death by Diversity
Thanks to reader Denise for making a very cool flyer to remind you to call your Washington representatives to counter the lobbying campaign by the refugee industry this week. They are ginning-up thousands of calls to Congress in advance of World Refugee Daytomorrow.
This is a very handy way to get the phone numbers for your representatives. I just tried it, and in addition to my reps in Washington, I received phone numbers for my state reps too!
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/flyer-to-call-congress.jpg334640Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2017-06-19 18:03:082017-06-19 18:21:09TAKE ACTION: Put the brakes on the refugee resettlement program
Here we are in the month of June. June represents a month of pride for many. The Islamic holiday of Ramadan is this month. This is also Gay Pride month. Rather ironic that the two would cross paths on the calendar.
But, obviously Muslims and LGBTQ people are not proud just one day or one month per year. They exude their pride all year long.
So I wondered, how about a month of plain old, good natured, old fashioned American Pride?
Across this land we have a number of communities, ranging from apartment complexes to various kinds of condominium complexes to municipal ordinances that limit the showing of American Pride to just a few days per year.
You may tell me that is not true. I would then direct you to a plethora of rules, regulations and laws that dictate that the American people can fly the American flag only on a few days.
Memorial Day.
Independence Day.
Veterans Day.
Flag Day.
I count four, just four days. That is not even a week. Obviously far short of a full month.
How did we let this happen? How did it come to be that Americans were shamed in their feeling and showing pride in their nation? How?
It is due to a relentless attack on all things American. Don’t doubt me. We have a political party all geared up to oppose all things great about America. We cannot feel special. We cannot feel exceptional. We are told over and over again by the Democratic Party that we are not great and that we never were great.
They even go so far as to tell the American people that the only way for America to be great is to drop this sill notion of American Pride and join the world community as citizens of the world. A one world government.
When America joins this one world government, then we can feel pride. Not the pride of being an American but the pride of capitulating that kind of pride to the false pride of being a citizen of the world.
Donald J Trump campaigned for President of the United States on American Pride. His slogan was, and still is “Make America Great Again”. Make America, not the world.
Mr. Trump ignited the fire of American Pride in many. He instilled the values that have been attributed to “Traditional America”. He made is safe to feel Pride in America. He made it cool again.
I don’t know about you, but I get puffed up with pride, American Pride, every time I see the great American Flag waving on someone’s house or business. I give a silent salute to the driver of that pick-up truck that has the American Flag flying high and free in the truck bed. I am brimming with pride when I see a motorcyclist with an American Flag on his bike.
I giggle with delight and pride when I see a child with a flag on their bicycle or Big Wheel or peddle car. I tear up with pride when I see flag after flag on the graves of the fallen heros who bravely defended our flag.
Make no bones about it. I am full of American Pride and I will be damned if I am forced to admit and show that pride only four days out of the year.
If gays get a month, America gets a year. Every year.
There is no shame in American Pride. There is no room for apology for having American Pride. Negativity does not reside with having pure, unadulterated American Pride.
So the next time someone tells you that you should limit your American Pride, simply respond “I am a Proud American every day of the year. Period”
Any questions?
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/american-flag-mountains-in-background-e1443173318385.jpg423640Rod Eccleshttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngRod Eccles2017-06-19 08:26:202017-06-19 08:26:35American Pride
Miami, FL – U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and Foreign Relations Committee, appeared on CNN’s State of the Union, CBS’s Face the Nation, Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures, and NBC’s Meet the Press today to discuss President Trump’s announcement on U.S. policy towards Cuba, the Russia investigation and healthcare. A partial transcript of key exchanges is below.
RUBIO: Well, the one thing I would say to you is that they challenge the world to do more to create stability in their own regions. And the Western Hemisphere is the region that we’re in. And I would say it’s in our national security interest to have human rights and democracy in our region because the absence of those two things leads to migratory pressure and instability, whether it’s Haiti or Cuba, or Mexico or Central America, so much of the migratory pressure on the United States is created by instability in the Western Hemisphere. And so there is a national security interest in our region in creating stability and democracy.
And the other thing I would say is, if you look at the Western Hemisphere thirty years ago, the majority of the countries were governed by dictatorships or strongmen. Today every country in the hemisphere has had at least one free and fair election in the last decade and a half or so, except for one—the island of Cuba. So hopefully we’re getting closer to the day where that happens there as well.
RUBIO: This basically says that American travelers to Cuba, they’ll continue to fly on commercial airlines or get there on a cruise, but when they get there they have to spend their money primarily with individual Cubans who own these private businesses, which is everybody who supported the Obama opening was always bragging about. They were saying, there was all these new small businesses, well we want to put them in a privileged position. And so American travelers to Cuba will have to spend their money with them instead of the Cuban military. That was the goal of this, is to empower individual Cubans to be economically independent of the Castro military and of the Castro regime.
RUBIO: Look at the migratory pressure, whether it’s people coming across the border from Central America or Mexico or people on rafts coming from Haiti or Cuba, it’s all driven by one thing. And that is the lack of political freedoms, and the lack of human rights, and economic rights.
And so the United States, as national security interest, needs stability in our region. If you look at the Western Hemisphere, every country in the region has had at least one free and fair election in the last decade and a half or so except for one. Cuba has not had a free election in almost 65 or 70 years—that needs to change.
Now the Obama policy towards Cuba made all sorts of concessions. Those concessions have allowed the Cuban military, which controls upwards of 50, 60 percent of their economy, to enrich itself and to tighten its grip through a monopoly that they control and we’re reversing that—the president is reversing that.
What he is saying is that if Americans travel to Cuba now you will have to spend your money with private individual Cubans, not with the Cuban military. That is a very appropriate thing. And I don’t understand how anyone could argue that we should not have a policy that enriches the Cuban people instead of the Cuban military.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/rubio-heritage-foundation.png332640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-06-18 18:35:152017-11-26 20:46:40VIDEOS: Senator Rubio on President Trump’s ‘New Cuba’ Policy
President Donald Trump withdrew from Obama’s anti-American Paris Climate Agreement saying, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
The Paris Accord was one of many anti-American agreements made by the most lawless anti-American president ever to hold office.
Obama is a Globalist whose “hope and change” for America was/is the destruction of American democracy and sovereignty in favor of socialism and internationalism.
Oama’s anti-American Paris agreement was another attempt to internalize laws in preparation for an internationalized world and imposition of one-world government ruled by the globalist elite. Obama joined the Paris Agreement in 2016 without Senate approval, pledging to cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
“The Agreement endangers America’s capacity for self-government. . .It empowers one administration to make legislative commitments for decades to come, without congressional authorization, and regardless of the outcome of future elections.”
Of course it does. That was Obama’s purpose and was his intention for his globalist legacy Hillary Clinton. The unexpected defeat of Hillary Clinton threw Obama’s eight year Globalist march into disarray. No matter. True to his radical Leftist training, Obama followed mentor Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals and reconstituted himself as the leader of the “resistance” movement to overthrow our Constitutionally elected President Donald Trump.
President Donald Trump is an unapologetic America-first nationalist and the single greatest obstacle to one-world government in the world today. In spite of intense lobbying efforts from globalist corporations, globalist green lobbyists, globalist U.N. bureaucrats, infamous globalists like Al Gore, and even some family members, Trump recognized the Paris Accord as a very bad deal for American sovereignty and jobs and he kept his campaign promise to withdraw.
Staying in a bad deal for “diplomatic” reasons is absurd. Donald Trump was elected precisely because he does not play diplomatic political games. Trump is an anomaly in politics because he actually means and does what he says.
Surrendering control of the Internet to the United Nations was another one of Obama’s anti-American effort to internalize laws in preparation for an internationalized world and imposition of one-world government ruled by the globalist elite.
The Obama administration surrendered American control of the internet to Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) without getting Congress approval, another example of Obama executive overreach. Assigned names and numbers refers to the Domain Name System (DNS) on the Internet which is how a specific web address, the Uniform Resource Locator (URL), connects to the correct server and opens a specific website. All of the information including names, numbers, and any other data that DNS needs to do get to the specific website is stored in one central file known an the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
Before the surrender ICANN’s function was to oversee how web addresses on the Internet were passed out and to regulate the IANA. Now, ICANN formally owns the IANA. It is not difficult to see how internationalizing the operation of the Internet could be used to help the globalist elites impose one-world government by manipulating information or access to information worldwide.
Obama surrendered United States technical management of the Internet to ICANN which is a global organization of governments around the world. ICANN includes a Government Advisory, which has representation from 111 states around the world, including 108 UN members and the Holy See, the Cook Islands and Taiwan. Many of these governments are anti-American and pro-globalism.
In the sixties Americans openly criticized Communist countries for propagandizing their citizens with exclusively government controlled information – we prided ourselves on our freedom of speech and open access to information. In the 21st century after 9/11 Americans openly criticized Islamic countries for propagandizing their citizens with exclusively government controlled information – we prided ourselves on our freedom of speech and open access to information. Obama’s surrender of Internet control to ICANN makes it possible for the United States to lose our freedom of speech on the Internet – Obama sacrificed American interests to the international community he supports.
Ted Cruz has argued that online freedom is now in jeopardy and that authoritarian governments who are members of ICANN can inhibit freedom of speech on the Internet. Cruz observes, “foreign governments and global corporations will have an increased voice within ICANN moving forward,” which can allow them to censor speech.
It is no surprise that the giant globalized technology companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, Cloudflare and Yahoo all support a more globally controlled Internet – of course they do. These giant corporations are run by Globalists whose businesses are global and whose self-interest is in internationalizing the world for greater profits and marketshare. They are using a business profit prism not a human rights prism for policy decisions even though their owners talk of humanitarianism, altruism, social justice, and income equality.
There must be no confusion between global trade and Globalism. Global trade is simply the sale of goods around the world between nations. Global trade can be fair or unfair among nations. If the New World Order of one-world government is imposed then global trade will be a meaningless concept because there will be only one nation, one marketplace, and one government.
Globalism and the New World Order has been romanticized and dishonestly marketed as the international system that will provide the world with income equality and social justice. Songs have been written about Globalism. John Lennon’s “Imagine” is the globalist anthem. Consider its lyrics:
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people living life in peace, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people sharing all the world, you
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope some day you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Lennon’s lyrics clearly describe a Utopian New World Order of peace and harmony. So far so good. The problem with Lennon’s dreamscape as the anthem for Globalism is that it has no relationship to objective reality. The essential quality of dreams is that they are not encumbered by time, space, gravity, people, or any other consideration in objective reality. Dreams are the epitome of subjective reality.
In objective reality all groups large and small have some organizing principle. Families, communities, states, countries – the larger the group the more important the organizing principle becomes.
Lennon’s dreamscape is not encumbered by an organizing principle even though the world is the largest conceivable group. The New World Order most definitely has an organizing principle even if John Lennon does not sing about it. The left-wing liberals singing John Lennon’s song are imagining their own personal dreams of one internationalized world at peace in harmony with all people of the world equal in every way. The problem is their imagined universe has nothing whatsoever to do with the reality of one-world government imagined and described in unapologetic chilling detail by elitist aristocrat Lord Bertrand Russell in his 1952 book The Impact of Science on Society.
Russell’s one-world government is a binary socio-political system of the ruling few and the enslaved population whop serve them. The left-wing liberals, progressives, and anarchists lobbying for Globalism are the useful idiots unwittingly advocating for the regressive return to a master/slave society of tyranny.
Globalism is a very old song being sung anew by the naive Left and the laughing globalist elite who have successfully duped them.
Americans who wish to preserve their national sovereignty and individual freedoms understand Pittsburgh is the priority not Paris – and that’s the way we like it!
EDITORS NOTE: Here is KC & The Sunshine Band singing their 1975 hit single That’s The Way (I Like It):
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/Pittsburgh-Pennsylvania.jpg371638Linda Goudsmithttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngLinda Goudsmit2017-06-17 17:34:552017-06-26 06:21:25Pittsburgh Not Paris: And That’s The Way We Like It
When refugees were initially being placed in the county where I live (now more than 10 years ago), our community’s first impression was that the ‘Christian’ resettlement agency—the Virginia Council of Churches—was basically dropping off a couple hundred refugees, placing them in deplorable housing, and then not providing them with some of their basic needs.
I wanted to know what sort of program was this. Did the government allow this? But, of course as we know now, nine major federal resettlement contractors (including World Relief)*** are federal government contractors who oversee a network of over 300 subcontractors. The nine sign agreements with the US State Department laying out what services they will provide refugees in their care. Indeed the contractor is paid by the head for each refugee it is assigned.
Over the years, we have reported on many cases like this one being made in Tennessee that the contractor is not fulfilling its end of the bargain.
During the March “Murfreesboro Muslim Youth” (MMY) meeting soliciting help for refugees brought to Rutherford County by federal resettlement contractor World Relief, it was disclosed that goods and services that the government paid for were not provided to the new refugees.
Abdou Kattih
According to Abdou Kattih, founder and president of MMY, were it not for his organization, special emergency needs such as getting medical care for the refugee who arrived with a broken jaw or simply providing household essentials and even clothing, would not have been addressed, explaining they had taken care of “someone that does not have literally anything but the clothes they had off of last month.”
Melissa Sohrabi, who merged her group “Roots for Refugees” with MMY, was more direct in detailing the deficiencies of the government contractor in this talk she delivered in March:
“There is an expectation of what should happen and there’s reality of what really does happen. . . Why didn’t World Relief give them a table and chairs? Why didn’t they bring them a couch? What’s going on? . . . Not only did it not happen but if it did happen, those families are charged for every belonging, every item that is donated to World Relief, the family is then charged for, for having it delivered to them.”
World Relief (WR), based in Baltimore, is one of nine national refugee resettlement organizations that sign a “Cooperative Agreement” with the U.S. State Department to receive federal funding to resettle refugees. This is taxpayer money allocated for each refugee brought to a community; the funds are split between the refugee and the agency. In addition, the resettlement agency is required to provide the goods and services as detailed in the signed agreement.
Between fiscal years 2016 -17, WR was paid over $40 million by the federal government to resettle refugees in communities where they operate local offices which also receive federal funding through grants administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
One of several things that came to mind when I read this, is something I have been wondering about for some time. Five of the nine resettlement contractors are ‘Christian charities’, one is Jewish and three are secular.
They all eagerly resettle Muslim refugees, but I have wondered when will some Muslim charity demand to get in on the federal gravy train? Laying the groundwork in this story?
Here are the nine federal contractors that monopolize the US Refugee Admissions Program:
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/World-Relief’s-REACH-program.jpg352640Ann Corcoranhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngAnn Corcoran2017-06-17 17:13:442017-06-17 17:17:30Tennessee: World Relief accused of not taking care of their refugees
Gun control groups expend an awful lot of ink, time and money advocating for “common-sense public safety laws” like “universal” background checks because such restrictions, they claim, will keep guns out of the hands of criminals and other dangerous people.
It’s peculiar, then, that many of these entities don’t do a better job of background-checking their own adherents and associates. Not too long ago, then-California state senator Leland Yee (D), whose staunch support of gun control measures earned him a spot on the Brady Campaign’s “Gun Violence Prevention Honor Roll,” was accused of committing various felonies, including illegal firearms trafficking and money laundering offenses. Following a plea agreement in which he acknowledged his participation in a firearms trafficking conspiracy, among other offenses, Yee was sentenced to five years in jail.
Members of the Michael Bloomberg-founded Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG), now reconfigured as Everytown for Gun Safety, popped up in the news with such embarrassing regularity due to arrests and convictions for crimes, including gun crimes, that the New York Post ran an editorial in 2013 titled “Illegal mayors against guns.”
And last month, a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Illinois alleges that a certain Francisco Sanchez violated a federal gun law that prohibits possession of a firearm by a felon. The snag is that at the time, Mr. Sanchez (a.k.a. “Smokey”) was apparently working as a supervisor at CeaseFire Illinois, as highlighted in a February feature by the Everytown-funded website, The Trace.
The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint states that Mr. Sanchez was convicted of murder and aggravated battery in 1986, and adds the more disturbing allegation that he is the “national leader of the Gangster Two-Six Nation,” a street gang “prevalent throughout Chicago” and in other states. Mr. Sanchez’s arrest occurred as part of a larger federal investigation of gang-related gun and drug trafficking in which other suspected gang members or associates were apprehended and over 100 firearms were seized.
Of course, the complaint contains only allegations, not evidence, and Mr. Sanchez and his fellow defendants remain innocent until proven guilty. However, the arrests – which took place shortly before the Memorial Day weekend – coincided with a drop in gun homicides as compared to last year’s holiday weekend.
We’ve written before about how criminals get guns, including this study at Chicago’s Cook County Jail that concluded criminals bypass legal sources in favor of guns obtained from “family, gang members, or other social connections.”
Expanded background check laws won’t stop criminals because criminals ignore the law. Nonetheless, Everytown and others of its ilk will continue to call for ever-increasing restrictions and laws affecting law-abiding gun owners in the name of prohibiting felons, violent criminals, and gang members from obtaining guns. Honest gun owners will continue to do what they’ve always done: obey the law.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/police-crying-woman-victum.jpg360640NRA Institute for Legislative Actionhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNRA Institute for Legislative Action2017-06-17 07:17:362017-06-17 07:17:36The Loophole in Background Check Thinking: Criminals Obey the Law
It is refreshing to finally see some common sense coming out of a court in NJ, as the state is notoriously known for its illogical and Draconian gun laws that do little more than make felons out of law-abiding gun owners.
Last week, the Supreme Court of New Jersey upheld the right to lawfully possess and hold a weapon for self-defense in the home, rejecting arguments advanced by the State that would treat a citizen like a criminal for simply answering an angry knock at his own door while holding an object that was legal to possess.
The case, Montalvo v. State, arose out of a commonplace neighborhood dispute. Daleckis, downstairs of Montalvo, banged on the ceiling to let Montalvo know he was upset about the noise from upstairs. Montalvo then knocked on the Daleckis front door, and, getting no response, threw a table off their shared porch, which he acknowledged was a “stupid” thing to do. Shortly after, Daleckis went to the Montalvo apartment to confront him over the broken table. Montalvo and his wife claimed Daleckis was not just knocking but angrily kicking and slamming on their door. Uncertain of what to expect, Montalvo took the precaution of picking up a machete – used in his work as a roofer and kept with other tools – before opening the door. In the exchange that followed, Daleckis said Montalvo pointed the machete at him, while Montalvo testified he held the machete down the entire time. Both agreed, though, that Montalvo never stepped outside of his own apartment.
By the time the police arrived, the quarrel had fizzled out (Daleckis ultimately refused to provide a statement to police). Montalvo was arrested on charges that included two weapon possession offenses. The first count, possession with a purpose to use the weapon unlawfully, requires an intent to use the weapon against another’s person or property. The second was a violation of N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C:39-5(d) (knowingly possessing the machete “under circumstances not manifestly appropriate for such lawful uses as it may have”), which prohibits possession of a weapon other than a firearm where the defendant has not yet formed an intent to use the object as a weapon, but possesses it under circumstances in which it is likely to be so used. This second count became the focus of the litigation.
Because New Jersey law defines a “weapon” as “anything readily capable of lethal use or inflicting serious bodily injury,” Section 2C:39-5(d) criminalizes possession of ordinarily lawful objects (scissors, razors, kitchen knives) in circumstances where the possession is not “manifestly appropriate” for lawful use, regardless of the actual intent of the possessor. This offense is a fourth degree crime, punishable by between three and five years’ incarceration on conviction.
At Montalvo’s trial, the model instructions to the jury directed that only three elements were necessary for a Section 2C:39-5(d) conviction: a weapon, possessed “knowingly,” in circumstances where a reasonable person would agree the object was likely to be used as a weapon. In response to the jury’s questions about self-defense, the judge advised that self-defense could not justify possession unless the defendant had armed himself as a “spontaneous” response to repel an immediate and compelling danger – anticipatory self-defense did not qualify. So instructed, the jury found Montalvo guilty of the Section 2C:39-5(d) offense but acquitted him on the first charge, and he was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
In his appeal, Montalvo argued the jury had been misdirected on self-defense, and that his conviction criminalized the possession of an otherwise legal weapon in his home in violation of the Second Amendment. After an appellate court affirmed his conviction and sentence, Montalvo launched a further appeal to the state’s highest court, the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
The Attorney General of New Jersey took the unusual step of filing a “friend of the court” brief in the appeal, arguing that, while citizens are entitled to possess lawful weapons in the home for self-defense, the State is concurrently authorized to regulate the manner in which these weapons are possessed. “Everyday objects, which are entirely lawful to possess in their own right, even a pencil, can be used as weapons. The Legislature did not issue a wholesale prohibition on such lawful objects, but rather sought to regulate only the circumstances under which such objects may be possessed.” (Emphasis added.) This brief, consistent with the submissions by the prosecution, claimed the Second Amendment could not apply because Montalvo’s “disproportionate” response, arming himself where there was no “actual threat,” exceeded the boundaries of the right of self-defense in the home. In furtherance of this extremely narrow interpretation, the Attorney General’s brief asked that the court modify the model jury instructions for use in future cases to clarify that weapons for active self-defense in the home could be used only if the person armed himself spontaneously to repel an immediate danger.
A unanimous Supreme Court of New Jersey rejected this outlandish approach as both unworkable and unsupported by U.S. Supreme Court decisions in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. City of Chicago (extending to “all instruments that constitute bearable arms”).
Justice Fernandez-Vina, writing for the court, noted at the onset that the case did not demand “an extensive Second Amendment analysis. We need only observe that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to possess weapons, including machetes, in the home for self-defense purposes.” Montalvo’s possession of the machete was lawful and it made no difference “whether his possession was for roofing or for self-defense because either would qualify as a lawful purpose.”
The interpretation of the law promoted by the State and the Attorney General was inconsistent with the very core of this fundamental right. The right to possess a weapon in the home for self-defense would be almost useless “if one were required to keep the weapon out-of-hand, picking it up only ‘spontaneously’” when and if the circumstances made clear an immediate danger existed. Calibrating the right so exactly to the presence of an immediate danger made it impossible to hold a weapon in anticipation of such potential, but not yet imminent, threats. This did not mean Montalvo could threaten the use of a machete merely for the purpose of inciting fear in another, but it did mean he could answer his door simply holding a weapon.
The court reversed the judgment below confirming the conviction and remanded the case; at the same time, the court directed a review and revision of the jury charge for Section 2C:39-5(d) offenses. The revision language, as suggested by the court, would clarify that possession of a lawful weapon in one’s home could not form the basis of a conviction under Section 2C:39-5(d); that a person may possess, in the home, objects that serve multiple lawful purposes, including the purpose of anticipatory self-defense; and that a person who responds to the door of his home with a concealed weapon that threatens no one acts within the bounds of the law.
Although we welcome this common sense ruling by the Supreme Court of New Jersey, this case affords yet another illustration of the importance of the courts and how dependent, in practice, the exercise of Second Amendment rights is on what any particular court considers to be the boundaries of the law. Since the Supreme Court’s rulings in Heller and McDonald, there have been all too many judges that have concluded the right to keep and bear arms is some kind of second-class constitutional right.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/pencil-scales-of-justice.jpg360640NRA Institute for Legislative Actionhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngNRA Institute for Legislative Action2017-06-17 05:32:572017-06-17 05:32:57NJ Court: State Can’t Criminalize Possession of ‘Pencils’ and Other Lawful Objects for Home Self-defense
Miami, FL – Speaking ahead of President Trump’s announcement regarding changes to Cuba policy, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) praised the new terms, saying they will empower the Cuban people instead of their oppressors in the Castro regime.
“A year and a half ago, a president, an American president, landed in Havana, to outstretch his hand to a regime,” said Rubio. “Today, a new president lands in Miami to reach out his hand to the people of Cuba.”
REMARKS OF SENATOR MARCO RUBIO:
The Sunday after the presidential election, I was at Dadeland Mall, I was in the parking lot of Dadeland Mall, and I called President-elect Trump on his cell phone to congratulate him on his victory.
And one of the first things he said to me is, “what are we going to do to help the Cuban people?”
A few weeks later, I had the honor of flying with him to Central Florida on Air Force One, and he again, in the midst of that conversation, asked, “what are we going to do to help the Cuban people?”
My wife and I had the opportunity to dine with him and the First Lady in the White House, and in the middle of that conversation he asked, “what are we going to do to help the Cuban people, and the people of Venezuela who are also living under a dictatorship?”
Six weeks ago in the Oval Office, the president of the United States, gathered with the members of his cabinet, made a very clear decision: we are going to do whatever it takes to empower the Cuban people, so that they can be free and live in a democracy and have economic and political liberties that they deserve, like everyone else in this hemisphere deserves. And he has not faltered in that commitment.
The cooperation, the hard work, the commitment that this White House and that President Trump has shown to this cause, I believe has no precedent, certainly in the modern history of this great cause.
We have been helped by many who have aligned with us, some who could not be here today. I do want to recognize Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González of Puerto Rico, nuestra hermana de la isla de Puerto Rico que está junto con nosotros, that’s who’s with us on this issue.
But what I want you to know, is that in every single one of those instances in which the president spoke about Cuba, he also spoke about Brigade 2506.
Because a few weeks before the election, first the first time in decades, he went to visit their museum, where they endorsed him – meaning the first time in decades that they had endorsed a presidential candidate.
And there isn’t a single time that I have spoken to the president about Cuba that he has not mentioned the brigade.
And that strikes me because it reminds us that, almost 60 years ago, when they were young men willing to fight and to die for the freedom of their homeland, they made an extraordinary sacrifice. And perhaps some of them felt that the time to make a difference for them had passed. But I want them to know that almost 60 years later, they have made a difference. That meeting, and their efforts, I believe as much as anything else, has brought us to this day.
And we just landed at the airport, I had the honor of flying on Air Force One. They have the best M&Ms on the planet. And you can take red lights when you’re part of the motorcade that comes in, legally. Without those crazy cameras. Nevermind, I don’t want to talk about that. [Laughter] Get rid of the cameras, yeah.
And it struck me as the plane landed and we were getting into the cars that brought us here, and we look at the president coming down the steps, he was greeted by dissidents, by freedom fighters, by people, some of whom and on the island of Cuba have suffered greatly in the hands of this repressive regime. And less than a year and a half ago, an American president landed in Havana, greeted by a regime.
A year and a half ago, a president, an American president, landed in Havana, to outstretch his hand to a regime. Today, a new president lands in Miami to reach out his hand to the people of Cuba.
And I close with this. I close with this. Many will characterize this as an effort to punish the Cuban regime. And it will punish the Cuban military that oppresses its people and helps Maduro oppress their people in Venezuela. But more than anything else, this change empowers the people of Cuba. Not the government, not the regime, but the people. So that they can enjoy the freedom and the liberty, with a very clear message: America is prepared to outstretch its hand and work with the people of Cuba, but we will not, we will not empower their oppressors.
And you mark my words. And you mark my words. Whether it’s in six months, or six years, Cuba will be free. And when it is, and when it is, and when it is, I believe that the people on the island and history will say, that perhaps the key moment in that transition began on this day, here in this theater, with each of you, and with a president that was willing to do what needed to be done so that freedom and liberty returns to the enslaved island of Cuba.
Voy a ser bien breve, voy a ser bien breve que es muy difícil para un Cubano y para un senador ser breve pero lo voy hacer porque quiero mandarle un mensaje al pueblo de Cuba. Y este es el mensaje: que antes teníamos un presidente que le daba la mano al régimen que lo oprime. Pero ahora tenemos un presidente Americano que le da la mano a ustedes, el pueblo Cubano. Que los días en cual la politica exterior de este pais ayuda al régimen se están terminando y los días en que la política norteamericana ayuda al pueblo Cubano para que ellos puedan tener la libertad, la democracia y los derechos que se merecen que Dios le ha dado. Y cuando ese día llegue, que Cuba será libre por fin yo les aseguro que este día que estamos aquí hoy, la historia va decir hoy que es el principio del fin de este régimen. Gracias a un presidente llamado Donald Trump que hizo lo que tenía que hacer para que la democracia y la libertad regresa a la isla de Cuba.
Muchísimas gracias. God bless you. Thank you.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/rubio-cuba-e1497655690899.png339640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-06-16 19:29:122017-06-16 19:30:35Senator Rubio: ‘America is reaching out its hand to the people of Cuba’
Manuel Artine Buesa (center) is pictured with President John F. Kennedy.
President Donald Trump on Friday, June 16th, 2017, announced a ban on doing business with Cuban military during a trip to Miami, from the Manuel Artíme Theater and signed a Presidential Memorandum to deal with the Communist regime before returning to Washington, D.C.
The theater is named after Manuel Artíme Buesa who was a Cuban physician. Artíme was a Cuban-America and fierce anti Communist.
Artíme was born in Cuba on January 29, 1932. Before embarking on a career of politics, Artime received a degree in medicine, and may have served as a medic in the war against Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista (although this is often denied by Castro supporters).
After moving to the U.S. in opposition to Castro (with Tony Varona, Rafael Quintero, Aureliano Arango and Jose Cardona) he helped establish the Movement for the Recovery of the Revolution.
At the 1960 Democratic National Convention, Artíme met future president John F. Kennedy.
Artine became the leader of the failed U.S. supported Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961. Artine was later ransomed from his Cuban jail for $500,000.
Dr. Artine died of cancer in Miami, Florida on November 18th, 1977 at the age of 45.
National Security Presidential Memorandum on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba
Section 1. Purpose.
The United States recognizes the need for more freedom and democracy, improved respect for human rights, and increased free enterprise in Cuba. The Cuban people have long suffered under a Communist regime that suppresses their legitimate aspirations for freedom and prosperity and fails to respect their essential human dignity.
My Administration’s policy will be guided by the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States, as well as solidarity with the Cuban people. I will seek to promote a stable, prosperous, and free country for the Cuban people. To that end, we must channel funds toward the Cuban people and away from a regime that has failed to meet the most basic requirements of a free and just society.
In Cuba, dissidents and peaceful protesters are arbitrarily detained and held in terrible prison conditions. Violence and intimidation against dissidents occurs with impunity. Families of political prisoners are not allowed to assemble or peacefully protest the improper confinement of their loved ones. Worshippers are harassed, and free association by civil society organizations is blocked. The right to speak freely, including through access to the internet, is denied, and there is no free press. The United States condemns these abuses.
The initial actions set forth in this memorandum, including restricting certain financial transactions and travel, encourage the Cuban government to address these abuses. My Administration will continue to evaluate its policies so as to improve human rights, encourage the rule of law, foster free markets and free enterprise, and promote democracy in Cuba.
Sec. 2. Policy.
It shall be the policy of the executive branch to:
(a) End economic practices that disproportionately benefit the Cuban government or its military, intelligence, or security agencies or personnel at the expense of the Cuban people.
(b) Ensure adherence to the statutory ban on tourism to Cuba.
(c) Support the economic embargo of Cuba described in section 4(7) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 (the embargo), including by opposing measures that call for an end to the embargo at the United Nations and other international forums and through regular reporting on whether the conditions of a transition government exist in Cuba.
(d) Amplify efforts to support the Cuban people through the expansion of internet services, free press, free enterprise, free association, and lawful travel.
(e) Not reinstate the “Wet Foot, Dry Foot” policy, which encouraged untold thousands of Cuban nationals to risk their lives to travel unlawfully to the United States.
(f) Ensure that engagement between the United States and Cuba advances the interests of the United States and the Cuban people. These interests include: advancing Cuban human rights; encouraging the growth of a Cuban private sector independent of government control; enforcing final orders of removal against Cuban nationals in the United States; protecting the national security and public health and safety of the United States, including through proper engagement on criminal cases and working to ensure the return of fugitives from American justice living in Cuba or being harbored by the Cuban government; supporting United States agriculture and protecting plant and animal health; advancing the understanding of the United States regarding scientific and environmental challenges; and facilitating safe civil aviation.
Sec. 3. Implementation.
The heads of departments and agencies shall begin to implement the policy set forth in section 2 of this memorandum as follows:
(a) Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Commerce, as appropriate and in coordination with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Transportation, shall initiate a process to adjust current regulations regarding transactions with Cuba.
(i) As part of the regulatory changes described in this subsection, the Secretary of State shall identify the entities or subentities, as appropriate, that are under the control of, or act for or on behalf of, the Cuban military, intelligence, or security services or personnel (such as Grupo de Administracion Empresarial S.A. (GAESA), its affiliates, subsidiaries, and successors), and publish a list of those identified entities and subentities with which direct financial transactions would disproportionately benefit such services or personnel at the expense of the Cuban people or private enterprise in Cuba.
(ii) Except as provided in subsection (a)(iii) of this section, the regulatory changes described in this subsection shall prohibit direct financial transactions with those entities or subentities on the list published pursuant to subsection (a)(i) of this section.
(iii) The regulatory changes shall not prohibit transactions that the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary of Commerce, in coordination with the Secretary of State, determines are consistent with the policy set forth in section 2 of this memorandum and:
(A) concern Federal Government operations, including Naval Station Guantanamo Bay and the United States mission in Havana;
(B) support programs to build democracy in Cuba;
(C) concern air and sea operations that support permissible travel, cargo, or trade;
(D) support the acquisition of visas for permissible travel;
(E) support the expansion of direct telecommunications and internet access for the Cuban people;
(F) support the sale of agricultural commodities, medicines, and medical devices sold to Cuba consistent with the Trade Sanctions Reform and Export Enhancement Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7201 et seq.) and the Cuban Democracy Act of 2002 (22 U.S.C. 6001 et seq.);
(G) relate to sending, processing, or receiving authorized remittances;
(H) otherwise further the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States; or
(I) are required by law.
(b) Within 30 days of the date of this memorandum, the Secretary of the Treasury, in coordination with the Secretary of State, shall initiate a process to adjust current regulations to ensure adherence to the statutory ban on tourism to Cuba.
(i) The amended regulations shall require that educational travel be for legitimate educational purposes. Except for educational travel that was permitted by regulation in effect on January 27, 2011, all educational travel shall be under the auspices of an organization subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and all such travelers must be accompanied by a representative of the sponsoring organization.
(ii) The regulations shall further require that those traveling for the permissible purposes of non academic education or to provide support for the Cuban people:
(A) engage in a full-time schedule of activities that enhance contact with the Cuban people, support civil society in Cuba, or promote the Cuban people’s independence from Cuban authorities; and
(B) meaningfully interact with individuals in Cuba.
(iii) The regulations shall continue to provide that every person engaging in travel to Cuba shall keep full and accurate records of all transactions related to authorized travel, regardless of whether they were effected pursuant to license or otherwise, and such records shall be available for examination by the Department of the Treasury for at least 5 years after the date they occur.
(iv) The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Transportation shall review their agency’s enforcement of all categories of permissible travel within 90 days of the date the regulations described in this subsection are finalized to ensure such enforcement accords with the policies outlined in section 2 of this memorandum.
(c) The Secretary of the Treasury shall regularly audit travel to Cuba to ensure that travelers are complying with relevant statutes and regulations. The Secretary of the Treasury shall request that the Inspector General of the Department of the Treasury inspect the activities taken by the Department of the Treasury to implement this audit requirement. The Inspector General of the Department of the Treasury shall provide a report to the President, through the Secretary of the Treasury, summarizing the results of that inspection within 180 days of the adjustment of current regulations described in subsection (b) of this section and annually thereafter.
(d) The Secretary of the Treasury shall adjust the Department of the Treasury’s current regulation defining the term “prohibited officials of the Government of Cuba” so that, for purposes of title 31, part 515 of the Code of Federal Regulations, it includes Ministers and Vice-Ministers, members of the Council of State and the Council of Ministers; members and employees of the National Assembly of People’s Power; members of any provincial assembly; local sector chiefs of the Committees for the Defense of the Revolution; Director Generals and sub–Director Generals and higher of all Cuban ministries and state agencies; employees of the Ministry of the Interior (MININT); employees of the Ministry of Defense (MINFAR); secretaries and first secretaries of the Confederation of Labor of Cuba (CTC) and its component unions; chief editors, editors, and deputy editors of Cuban state-run media organizations and programs, including newspapers, television, and radio; and members and employees of the Supreme Court (Tribuno Supremo Nacional).
(e) The Secretary of State and the Representative of the United States to the United Nations shall oppose efforts at the United Nations or (with respect to the Secretary of State) any other international forum to lift the embargo until a transition government in Cuba, as described in section 205 of the LIBERTAD Act, exists.
(f) The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Attorney General, shall provide a report to the President assessing whether and to what degree the Cuban government has satisfied the requirements of a transition government as described in section 205(a) of the LIBERTAD Act, taking into account the additional factors listed in section 205(b) of that Act. This report shall include a review of human rights abuses committed against the Cuban people, such as unlawful detentions, arbitrary arrests, and inhumane treatment.
(g) The Attorney General shall, within 90 days of the date of this memorandum, issue a report to the President on issues related to fugitives from American justice living in Cuba or being harbored by the Cuban government.
(h) The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development shall review all democracy development programs of the Federal Government in Cuba to ensure that they align with the criteria set forth in section 109(a) of the LIBERTAD Act.
(i) The Secretary of State shall convene a task force, composed of relevant departments and agencies, including the Office of Cuba Broadcasting, and appropriate non-governmental organizations and private-sector entities, to examine the technological challenges and opportunities for expanding internet access in Cuba, including through Federal Government support of programs and activities that encourage freedom of expression through independent media and internet freedom so that the Cuban people can enjoy the free and unregulated flow of information.
(j) The Secretary of State and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall continue to discourage dangerous, unlawful migration that puts Cuban and American lives at risk. The Secretary of Defense shall continue to provide support, as necessary, to the Department of State and the Department of Homeland Security in carrying out the duties regarding interdiction of migrants.
(k) The Secretary of State, in coordination with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of Defense, the Attorney General, the Secretary of Commerce, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall annually report to the President regarding the engagement of the United States with Cuba to ensure that engagement is advancing the interests of the United States.
(l) All activities conducted pursuant to subsections (a) through (k) of this section shall be carried out in a manner that furthers the interests of the United States, including by appropriately protecting sensitive sources, methods, and operations of the Federal Government.
Sec. 4. Earlier Presidential Actions.
(a) This memorandum supersedes and replaces both National Security Presidential Directive-52 of June 28, 2007, U.S. Policy toward Cuba, and Presidential Policy Directive-43 of October 14, 2016, United States-Cuba Normalization.
(b) This memorandum does not affect either Executive Order 12807 of May 24, 1992, Interdiction of Illegal Aliens, or Executive Order 13276 of November 15, 2002, Delegation of Responsibilities Concerning Undocumented Aliens Interdicted or Intercepted in the Caribbean Region.
Sec. 5. General Provisions.
(a) Nothing in this memorandum shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This memorandum shall be implemented consistent with applicable laws and subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.
(d) The Secretary of State is hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.
Does the European welfare system promote hate by allowing people to avoid learning the lessons of mutual dependence and cooperation that the workplace teaches?
All Men Are Brothers
Consider for a moment how little we can do for ourselves. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the fuel we burn are mostly obtained through the efforts of others. Would we not perish in short order without what Rose Wilder Lane calls the “brotherhood of man”?
Rose Wilder Lane was the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Rose played a crucial role in bringing her mother’s Little House on the Prairie books to life. Lane’s deep understanding of the human condition shines through in her classic book, The Discovery of Freedom.
Since we cannot survive on our own, Lane explains, “All men are brothers, of one blood, of one human race. They are brothers in one imperative desire to live, in one desperate necessity to combine their energies in order to live.” Thus, “The brotherhood of man is not a pretty phrase nor a beautiful ideal; it is a fact.”Lane adds pointedly, “Men who behave as if the brotherhood of man were not a fact, are alive to do so only because it is a fact.”
In other words, those who harm others are themselves able to thrive only because the efforts of others.
Work is one way through which we learn to create value for others. At work, we are unlikely to succeed if we don’t experience the common humanity we share with our colleagues and customers.
Become a Stranger to Humanity
Now, consider the consequences when able-bodied individuals are paid to not work.
When we don’t work because taxpayers are supporting us, it is easier to lose touch with our common humanity with others. Without creating value for others, we may never develop the facility to appreciate the “brotherhood of man” that keeps us alive.
When individuals no longer must cooperate with each other to thrive, they have perverse incentives to act against the natural brotherhood of man. In Europe, jihadists and potential jihadists are paid to separate themselves from the brotherhood of man.
Consider these facts:
According to The Telegraph, the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi “is understood to have received thousands of pounds in state funding…even while he was overseas receiving bomb-making training.” Abedi never held a job in his life.
Danish citizens who have been granted a “disability” pension have gone to Syria to fight on behalf of ISIS. Other Danish jihadists are receiving unemployment benefits.
When the German newspaper Bild “ran an analysis of the 450 German jihadists fighting in Syria, it found that more than 20% of them have received benefits from the German state.”
Before the notorious radical Islamist preacher Anjem Choudary was convicted and jailed on terrorism charges in 2016, taxpayers in England had funded his hate-filled sermons for over two decades. Choudary had been receiving more than 25,000 pounds a year in benefits and was living in a home worth over 300,000 pounds. (Note, the English pound is worth more than the U.S. dollar.)
Choudary encouraged his followers to not work and instead to live off government benefits: “The normal situation is to take money from the kuffar [non-believers]. You [the kuffar] work, give us the money, Allahu Akhbar.” In Choudary’s warped world, he and his fellow jihadists are entitled to live off the labor of others.
Undermining the Brotherhood of Man
A basic economic law is that you get more of what you subsidize. The more you pay a person to not work, the more isolated, the more alienated that individual can become.
Are subsidized and alienated individuals more receptive to messages of hate? If the subsidized embrace hatred, their thoughts of hatred may go unchallenged by the realities of work life that demand cooperation, not conflict, with others.
If we understand our existence depends on our brothers, we understand the truth of Lane’s observation: “Any man who injures another, injures himself, for human welfare is necessary to his own existence.”
The jihadist living off the sweat of others has no such understanding. Jihadists may believe God is on their side, but radical jihadism is at odds with the truth of the brotherhood of man.
The great divide is not between Muslims and non-Muslims. The great divide is between those who respect the brotherhood of man and those obsessed with hatred.
Why is Europe undermining the brotherhood of man by subsidizing those who hate?
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/uk-eu-flags-e1497652208542.jpg356640Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2017-06-16 18:30:192017-06-16 19:19:55Europeans Are Paying to Subsidize Jihadists by Barry Brownstein
SB 8-A — Medical Use of Marijuana implements the provisions of Art. X, s. 29, of the State Constitution. The bill builds on the existing compassionate use of low-THC and medical cannabis program with additional provisions to implement the Constitutional Amendment passed by Florida voters in the 2016 General Election.
Provisions in the bill relating to patients:
Exempt marijuana and marijuana delivery devices from sales and use tax that would otherwise be imposed under ch. 212, F.S.
Establish procedures for physicians to issue physician certifications to patients who have qualifying medical conditions. The bill includes all debilitating medical conditions listed in the State Constitution as a qualifying medical condition: cancer, epilepsy, glaucoma, HIV, AIDS, PTSD, ALS, Crohn’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis, or other debilitating medical condition of the same kind or class as or comparable to those enumerated. The bill also includes as a qualifying medical condition:
Chronic nonmalignant pain, which is defined as pain that is caused by or that originates from a qualifying medical condition and persists beyond the usual course of the qualifying medical condition.
A terminal condition.
Eliminate the 90-day waiting period before the qualified physician may register a patient as qualified to receive low-THC cannabis or medical marijuana.
Ensure that qualified patients can receive low-THC cannabis as well as full-THC marijuana.
Allow marijuana edibles and vaping, but prohibit the smoking of marijuana.
Establish residency requirements for patients to be issued a Medical Marijuana Use Registry Identification Card (ID card). The bill specifies documentation that must be provided to document residency, including documentation required for a seasonal resident.
Grandfather in existing patients from the low-THC and “right to try” programs registered in the compassionate use registry so that they may continue receiving their medication ordered through those programs.
Provisions in the bill relating to caregivers:
Establish qualifications to become a caregiver, which include:
Being at least 21 years of age and a resident of this state.
Agreeing in writing to assist the qualified patient and serve as the patient’s caregiver.
Passing a 2-hour caregiver course that is administered by the Department of Health (DOH).
Passing a background screening unless the patient is a close relative of the caregiver.
Limit the number of caregivers each patient may have and the number of patients each caregiver may assist.
Require a caregiver to be registered on the medical marijuana use registry and possess a caregiver identification card. The caregiver must be in immediate possession of his or her medical marijuana use registry ID card when in possession of marijuana or a marijuana delivery device and present the ID card upon the request of a law enforcement officer.
Require a caregiver to purchase or administer marijuana for medical use by a qualified patient who is younger than 18 years of age.
Prohibit a caregiver from receiving compensation, other than the actual expenses incurred, for any services provided to the qualified patient.
Provisions in the bill relating to qualified physicians and physician certifications:
Require a physician to complete a 2-hour course and examination relating to the requirements of this law for approval as a qualified physician. A qualified physician must also comply with a 2-hour continuing education requirement for licensure renewal.
Prohibit a qualified physician from being employed by, or having a direct or indirect economic interest in, a medical marijuana treatment center or marijuana testing laboratory.
Establish standards for a qualified physician to issue a physician certification to include:
Conducting a physical examination while physically present in the same room as the patient and a full assessment of the patient’s medical history.
Diagnosing the patient with at least one qualifying medical condition.
Determining, and documenting in the patient’s medical record, that the medical use of marijuana would likely outweigh the potential health risks for the patient. If a patient is younger than 18, a second physician must concur with this determination and this determination must be documented in the patient’s medical record.
Determining, and documenting in the patient’s medical record, whether the patient is pregnant. A physician may issue a physician certification for low-THC cannabis only, to a patient who is pregnant.
Reviewing the patient’s controlled drug prescription history in the prescription drug monitoring program database.
Reviewing the medical marijuana use registry to confirm that the patient does not have an active physician certification from another qualified physician.
Registering as the issuer of the physician certification for the named qualified patient on the medical marijuana use registry.
Updating the registry with specified relevant information concerning the physician’s certification for the patient’s medical use of marijuana.
Limit certifications to no more than three 70-day supply limits of marijuana.
Require a qualified physician to evaluate an existing qualified patient at least once every 30 weeks before issuing a new physician certification for that patient.
Provisions in the bill relating to Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers (MMTCs):
Require the DOH to license the seven existing dispensing organizations as MMTCs. These MMTCs may begin dispensing marijuana pursuant to this law on July 3, 2017.
Require the DOH to license as MMTCs 10 applicants by October 3, 2017.
The first group of licensees, which are to be licensed as MMTCs by August 1, 2017, include applicants that submitted an application under the compassionate use law in 2014, which was reviewed, evaluated, and scored by the DOH; which had an administrative or judicial challenge pending as of January 1, 2017, or had a final ranking within one point of the highest final ranking in its region; which meets the requirements of this law; and can document that it has the ability to begin cultivating marijuana within 30 days after registration as an MMTC.
The next group of licenses must be licensed by October 3, 2017. These applicants must submit an application to be reviewed, evaluated, and scored for selection to be licensed as an MMTC. Within this group, one license must be awarded to an applicant that is a recognized class member of specified litigation and a member of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association-Florida Chapter. All applicants must meet the requirements of this law. In the scoring of applications, the DOH is directed to give preference for up to two of these new licenses to applicants that demonstrate in their applications that they own and will use or convert a facility or facilities that are, or were, used for the processing of citrus fruit or citrus molasses for the processing of marijuana.
Require the DOH to license four additional MMTCs within 6 months after the medical marijuana use registry contains 100,000 active qualified patients, and upon each additional 100,000 active qualified patient registrations.
Limit MMTCs to 25 dispensing facilities statewide until the medical marijuana use registry contains 100,000 active qualified patients. When that occurs, an additional five dispensing facilities are authorized for each licensed MMTC.
Upon each additional 100,000 active qualified patient registrations, an additional five dispensing facilities are authorized for each licensed MMTC.
The bill also requires each MMTC to locate its authorized dispensing facilities within five regions statewide according to county population estimates for the counties within each region.
An MMTC that chooses not to establish a dispensing facility within a region as authorized, may sell that regional slot to another MMTC.
These limitations on dispensing facilities expire on April 1, 2020.
Detail requirements for MMTC applicants and standards that each MMTC must meet to obtain and maintain licensure; including a diversity plan that promotes and ensures the involvement of minority persons, minority business enterprises, or veteran business enterprises.
Authorize alternate forms of assets to satisfy the performance bond requirements.
Require an MMTC to perform all functions of cultivating, processing, transporting, and dispensing marijuana for medical use; including ensuring that low-THC is available for the medical use of qualified patients.
Require MMTC processing facilities to pass a Food Safety Good Manufacturing Practices inspection by a nationally recognized certifying body.
Require laboratory testing of MMTC products and create a certification program for medical marijuana testing laboratories.
Establish standards for advertising and requirements for a professional appearance and operation of dispensing facilities.
Require background screening of MMTC owners, officers, board members, managers, and employees, and of medical marijuana testing laboratory owners and managers.
Authorize a change of ownership for an MMTC under specified parameters and prohibit ownership in multiple MMTCs or certain profit-sharing arrangements.
Preempt the regulation of cultivation and processing of marijuana to the state.
Authorize local governments to ban MMTC dispensing facilities within their borders. However, if a local government does not ban dispensing facilities, it may not place any restrictions on the number of dispensing facilities allowed within its jurisdiction. Also, it may not adopt any regulations or fees for dispensing facilities that are more restrictive than its ordinances regulating pharmacies.
Additional provisions in the bill:
Establish administrative, disciplinary, or criminal penalties for prohibited acts by physicians, patients, caregivers, MMTCs, medical marijuana testing laboratories, and other persons. These prohibited acts include, but are not limited to:
A qualified patient or caregiver cultivating marijuana or acquiring marijuana from anyone other than an MMTC.
A qualified patient or caregiver in possession of marijuana or a marijuana delivery device who fails or refuses to present his or her marijuana use registry identification card upon the request of a law enforcement officer. However the bill includes certain mitigating actions that may enable a patient or caregiver to avoid prosecution.
An MMTC providing kickbacks to a qualified physician.
Unlicensed activity.
Counterfeiting marijuana or a marijuana delivery device purporting it to be from a licensed MMTC.
Possessing or making a counterfeit or otherwise unlawfully issued medical marijuana use registry identification card.
Authorize the DOH to pursue certain enforcement action for violations of this law.
Specify that this act does not limit an employer’s ability regarding a drug-free workplace program or policy, does not require an employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in the workplace or an employee working while under the influence of marijuana, does not create a cause of action against an employer for wrongful discharge or discrimination, and that marijuana is not reimbursable under ch. 440, F.S., relating to workers’ compensation.
Require the DOH and the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles to establish public educational campaigns related to the medical use of marijuana.
Require the Department of Law Enforcement to develop initial training and continuing education for law enforcement agencies relating to activities governed by this law and criminal laws governing marijuana.
Create the Coalition for Medicinal Cannabis Research and Education (Coalition) to conduct rigorous scientific research, provide education, disseminate research, and to guide policy development for the adoption of a statewide policy on ordering and dosing practices for the medicinal use of cannabis.
Include rulemaking and other provisions to aid the DOH in adopting rules and implementing the provisions of Amendment 2 within the time frame specified in the amendment.
Require each district school board to adopt a policy and procedure for allowing a student who is a qualified patient to use marijuana obtained pursuant to this law.
Rename the Office of Compassionate Use in the DOH, the Office of Medical Marijuana Use.
Rename the compassionate use registry, the medical marijuana use registry.
Provide a severability clause so that if any provision of the act or its application is held invalid, the invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications which can still be given effect.
Include appropriations for the state 2017-2018 fiscal year for the DOH, the education programs, and the Coalition.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/marijuana-florida-Large-840x440-1.jpg335640Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2017-06-15 20:26:422017-06-15 20:27:09Florida’s Medical Use of Marijuana Law
One of the bulwarks of conservatism is personal responsibility, and it is not to be set aside for political convenience. So let’s place the blame for today’s shooting squarely where it belongs: on the man who pulled the trigger 50 times.
A liberal Democrat from Illinois who volunteered for the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders and was a super fan of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, opened fire on Republican Congressmen who were practicing for the annual charity baseball game between Republicans and Democrats. The man apparently asked to make sure it was Republicans on the field, then pulled the triggered about 50 times on a long rifle before Capitol Police killed him. The shooter wounded House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and injured four others. Scalise is in critical condition.
Too much talk radio was quick to blame the “toxic political environment” created by the extreme and irrational liberal response to the Trump presidential election — despite talk radio wrongly being the butt of blame in previous violent events.
Yes, we have a toxic political environment right now. It’s not the worst ever in our nation, but really bad.
Yes, people like Kathy Griffin holding President Trump’s bloody head feeds the toxicity. Actions like Shakespeare in the Park assassinating Trump; politicians like Democrat Vice President candidate Tim Kaine tweeting about “fighting them in the streets;” Maxine Waters’ general insufferable extremism; groups like Antifa with overt violence against Trump supporters; and the general state of overheated, too often dishonest journalism all feed the toxicity. But truthfully, so do some of Trump’s tweets and some talk show hosts who support Trump, like the loathsome Alex Jones. I hope some of these folks will re-think their level of vitriol.
But as is the case in every situation such as this — from the massacres at Columbine and Sandy Hook, to the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore, even to Kathy Griffin’s repulsive act — personal responsibility takes center stage. The “culture” or “environment” is not to blame for an individual’s actions. That’s a cheap escape card. Griffin tried to blame Trump. No. Griffin did it, and that’s on her.
Every man and woman stands on their own decisions. We make thousands and thousands of personal decisions in our lives and accept the consequences. Some children grow up in inner city poverty to a struggling single mom and rise to become brain surgeons and presidential candidates. Dr. Ben Carson. Some come out of the exact same situation and wind up in prison for life. Because it was not their environment, it was their personal choices.
I remember well when Democrat Congresswoman Gabriel Giffords was shot in 2011 in Tuscon, Arizona, and the immediate blame went to the “environment of hate” supposedly caused by conservative talk radio and Sarah Palin’s map targeting congressional districts with crosshairs. But of course, it turned out that the shooter was a drug abusing whackjob who had a personal fixation on Giffords. He also made personal choices.
Neither is it right to clump this evil man with “leftists” in general, as I heard too much today. I know many liberals and Democrats who I constantly disagree with and occasionally get irritated with (both parts mutual) — whose ideas are noxious to me and I believe to the nation — but they should not be tainted for the murderous actions of this man. Conservative ideas can defeat liberal ideas every time. That is where the battle is joined.
So while Bernie Sanders and other heroes of today’s shooter certainly add political toxicity — and each should reflect on their responsibility for doing so —they are not responsible for a shooters actions. Neither is the gun he used, which was immediately jumped on by the left.
The shooter alone is responsible. And he has apparently received his just reward.
I heard Rush Limbaugh say things are looking good regarding Republicans passing health care. Paraphrasing, Rush said if that happens Leftists’ bad behavior will elevate to new levels.
When the GOP passes health care fake news media will gleefully incite Leftists to new levels of violence. Fake news media created the anti-Trump crazies for the distinct purpose of inflicting punishment on Trump supporters. They hope chaos in our streets will ultimately lead to removing Trump from office. In worship and furtherance of their Leftist agenda, fake news media gladly throws American lives on the alter to be burned.
Folks, I wish I could magically open the eyes of low info-voters to see that fake news media’s sole motivation is advancing their anti-Christian agenda and usurping power to control every aspect of our lives. They are not tolerant of any other point of view. They are arrogant, believing themselves to be superior.
While touting their superior compassion and preaching give peace a chance, Leftists beat the crap out of anyone they catch wearing a “Make America Great Again” cap or t-shirt. Bloody pictures of Trump supporters attacked by peace-nick Leftists are all over the internet.
The crews at CNN, MSNBC and the DNC are despicable human beings with blood on their hands. Their relentless 24/7 spewing of lies about Trump for the purpose of generating violence is harming people. In essence, they have launched a clarion call to their enraged base and George Soros funded hit-men to punish Trump supporters. Victimized women, seniors and children are deemed acceptable collateral damage. This is evil from the pits of hell folks. Insidiously, fake news media shroud their disdain for everyday Americans and Trump in intellectual sounding words.
Frustratingly, the masses are clueless regarding the tsunami of Leftist assaults on innocent Americans who voted for Trump out of love for their country.
Here are just a few.
An 11 year old was punched and kicked in class by a mob of students for admitting he voted for Trump in their mock election. His wounds were so severe he was sent to the emergency room. Can you believe that folks?
At Berkeley, an elderly gentleman wearing a MAGA hat was assaulted. He collapsed in pain after being
Across America, fake news media inflamed crazies are physically attacking anyone who dares show support for Trump. (WARNING: graphic video)
Leftists Kathy Griffin, Snoop Dogg and NYC’s Shakespeare in the Park mock assassinated Trump. Jim Carrey said he dreamed about attacking Trump with a golf club. Madonna expressed her desire to blow up the White House. Clearly, these Leftists are sending a message to anti-Trump crazies.
Upon the repeal of Obamacare, fake news media will subliminally send marching orders to their minions to kick-up their resistance/violence to unprecedented, possibly deadly levels.
When will fake news media be unmasked for the masses to see them as the cold-calculating instigators of violence they truly are?
Do not be deceived folks. Resistance Summer is code for Leftists’ Summer of Violence and fake news media could not be happier. How many Americans will suffer and possibly die?
Meanwhile, CNN, MSNBC, Hollywood and Democrats look down their noses while lying to us, claiming they have our best interest at heart. Totally disgusting and evil.
After completing this article, I went to lunch at a Chinese buffet and glanced up at the TV. A Bernie Sanders nut case shot five at a Republican baseball practice. Fake news media pretending to be outraged over the shooting is as absurd as a farmer planting corn and acting shocked when stalks of corn appear. Fake news media’s and Democrats’ summer of violence has begun.
By the way, I have ordered my “Make America Great Again” t-shirt.
https://drrichswier.com/wp-content/uploads/fakestream-media-e1481896139347.jpg349640Lloyd Marcushttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngLloyd Marcus2017-06-15 08:30:312017-06-16 05:12:36The Fakestream Media Has Blood on Their Hands
