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Author Topic: A Well-Regulated Militia.  (Read 8766 times)

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #32 on: August 08, 2022, 04:14:43 AM »
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Oath Keepers militia members charged with sedition

The leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group and 10 others have been arrested for seditious conspiracy.

Watch:


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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #32 on: August 08, 2022, 04:14:43 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #33 on: August 08, 2022, 02:51:28 PM »
3 Oath Keepers plead guilty in Capitol riot, Stewart Rhodes' attorney says it doesn't matter
https://www.cbsnews.com/dfw/video/3-oath-keepers-plead-guilty-in-capitol-riot-stewart-rhodes-attorney-says-it-doesnt-matter/

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #34 on: August 10, 2022, 03:30:03 PM »
Right-wing militias were a ready weapon for Trump on January 6th

Alex Wagner talks about the level of preparation by right-wing militia groups ahead of January 6th, and the noteworthiness of even rival factions coming together for Trump's cause.

Watch:

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/right-wing-militias-were-a-ready-weapon-for-trump-on-january-6th-143945285846

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #34 on: August 10, 2022, 03:30:03 PM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #35 on: August 10, 2022, 06:35:16 PM »
Right-wing militias were a ready weapon for Trump on January 6th

Alex Wagner talks about the level of preparation by right-wing militia groups ahead of January 6th, and the noteworthiness of even rival factions coming together for Trump's cause.

Watch:

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/right-wing-militias-were-a-ready-weapon-for-trump-on-january-6th-143945285846

Donne said "stand back and stand by".

Offline Rick Plant

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #36 on: August 17, 2022, 03:39:39 AM »
Right-Wing Militias Were A Ready Weapon For Trump On January 6th

Alex Wagner talks about the level of preparation by right-wing militia groups ahead of January 6th, and the noteworthiness of even rival factions coming together for Trump's cause.

Watch:


JFK Assassination Forum

Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #36 on: August 17, 2022, 03:39:39 AM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #37 on: August 19, 2022, 03:56:12 AM »
GOP’s links to extremism surface in congressional primary



WASHINGTON (AP) — A congressional candidate whose compelling personal story of military valor and unfathomable loss helped him win former President Donald Trump’s support has connections to right-wing extremists, including a campaign consultant who was a member of the Proud Boys.

Republican Joe Kent, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington state in the Aug. 2 primary, has also courted prominent white nationalists and posed recently for a photograph with a media personality who has previously described Adolf Hitler as a “complicated historical figure” who “many people misunderstand.”

An Associated Press review of internet postings, court records and campaign finance disclosures depict a candidate with a more complicated biography than the compelling personal story that turned the 42-year-old Kent into a favorite of conservative media.

Square-jawed with wavy black hair and sleeve tattoos, the former Green Beret served 11 combat deployments before retiring from Special Forces to join the CIA. He also endured unspeakable tragedy: His wife, Shannon, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by a suicide bomber in 2019 while fighting the Islamic State group in Syria, leaving him to raise their two young sons alone.

But taken broadly, Kent’s recent relationships and activities reinforce concerns about the GOP’s ties to extremist groups. The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol has drawn attention to the role such organizations, particularly the Proud Boys, played in the effort to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power after Trump’s reelection loss in 2020.

“There’s a through line,” said Dave Neiwert, an author and journalist who has covered right-wing extremism in the Pacific Northwest for decades. “Many (Republican) politicians play footsie with it. Kent is just unabashed.”

Kent’s campaign declined to make him available for an interview.

“Joe Kent’s platform of inclusive populism rejects racism and bigotry and invites all Americans to support his aggressive America First agenda of rebuilding our industries, ending illegal immigration, and stopping stupid military interventions that don’t directly support our national interest,” Matt Braynard, a Kent strategist, said in a statement.

Ahead of the final slate of primaries that unfold in August, Kent is not the only House candidate worrying some Republicans who fear an otherwise favorable political climate to regain control of the House could be threatened by candidates seen as too extreme.

In Michigan, John Gibbs, a former Trump administration official challenging Republican Rep. Peter Meijer, once spread false claims that Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign chairman participated in a satanic ritual that involved bodily fluids.

In New York, Carl Paladino, a former GOP candidate for governor now running for the House, praised Hitler last year as “the kind of leader we need today” and once emailed racist comments about Michelle Obama to a Buffalo newspaper for publication. And former Trump administration official Max Miller, the Republican nominee for an Ohio congressional seat, was accused of physical abuse by his ex-girlfriend, Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. Miller denies the allegations and has sued Grisham for defamation.

A representative for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the organization responsible for helping the GOP regain control of the House, declined to comment, citing a policy of not interfering in primaries. A Trump spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Of those soon facing elections, Kent stands out for the breadth of his ties to a deep-seated extremist fringe that has long existed in the Pacific Northwest but is often obscured by the region’s overwhelming liberal politics.

Campaign finance disclosures reveal Kent recently paid $11,375 for “consulting” over the past four months to Graham Jorgensen, who was identified as a Proud Boy in a law enforcement report and was charged with cyber stalking his ex-girlfriend in 2018. The charges were dismissed in late 2019. But a judge in Vancouver, Washington, issued an order of protection requiring Jorgensen to stay away from her, records show.

Kent’s campaign said Jorgensen was a low-level worker who hands out literature and puts up signs and denied he has any current affiliation with “outside organizations.” They declined to make Jorgensen available for an interview.

Since establishing the group in 2016, Gibson has organized demonstrations in Portland, as well as the city’s Washington state suburbs, where he and his followers have clashed with left-wing groups. Many of the demonstrations were coordinated with the Proud Boys.

The often violent rallies organized by Gibson drew anti-government activists, extremists as well as white supremacists to unite in common cause — namely fighting left-wing activists.

Photos from the events archived online by the group Rose City Antifa demonstrate how in some cases Kent’s allies have associated with people who have expressed white supremacist views. In numerous instances, Gibson as well as Jorgensen, the Proud Boy on Kent’s payroll, were recorded standing next to Jacob Von Ott, who has posted racist and antisemitic views online and expressed admiration for the founder of the American Nazi Party.

Von Ott did not respond to a request for comment sent to an email address listed to him, but he has previously denied that he’s a white supremacist.

“The danger with these groups is it can be an initial foray into this extremist space. And once you’re in this extremist space, you can become further radicalized,” said Emily Kaufman, an Anti-Defamation League researcher who tracks extremist activity in the Pacific Northwest.

Gibson regularly promotes Kent’s campaign on social media and spoke at a Kent fundraiser last year. When it was Kent’s turn to speak at the event, he lavished Gibson with praise, explaining that Gibson “defended this community when our community was under assault from antifa.”

Gibson was acquitted last week on felony riot charges after an altercation with left-wing activists at a Portland bar

Kent’s ties to extremism aren’t limited to the Pacific Northwest.

Braynard, one of Kent’s top advisers, was the architect of a Washington, D.C., rally last year that sought to build sympathy for those arrested during the insurrection by rebranding them as “political prisoners.” Kent spoke at the rally, which was poorly attended.

And his candidacy is endorsed by far-right Arizona state lawmaker Wendy Rogers, who has identified herself as a member of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group that played an outsize role in the storming of the U.S. Capitol. Kent publicly thanked Rogers for her endorsement and has raised doubts about the circumstances that led to the arrest of Oath Keepers over their role in the attack.

Kent has also sought support from figures associated with the white nationalist “Groyper Army” movement led by Nick Fuentes, an internet personality who has promoted white supremacist beliefs and attended the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, as well as the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

Kent has acknowledged that a political consultant set up a call early in his campaign that Fuentes was part of, where expanding his campaign’s reach on social media was discussed. But he denied that there was any sort of formal arrangement and distanced himself from Fuentes in March after their affiliation became broadly known. Kent tweeted at the time that he did not want “want Fuentes’s endorsement due his focus on race/religion.”

After the rebuke, however, Kent appeared on a far-right YouTube channel where he echoed sentiments similar to those held by many white nationalists.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with there being a white people special interest group,” Kent said during the YouTube interview with a group called the American Populist Union. He also said the immigration situation between the U.S. and Mexico wasn’t as bad as in Europe because “their version of Mexico is Africa and the Middle East.”

In April, Kent was photographed at a fundraiser giving a thumbs-up with Greyson Arnold, a Groyper-aligned commentator who identifies as a “Christian American Nationalist.” Like Fuentes, Arnold was also at the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection.

Arnold has shared memes online that refer to Nazis as a “pure race” and has called Hitler a “complicated” and “misunderstood” historical figure. He also hosted a “White Boy Summer” celebration in Lake Havasu, Arizona, in June 2021, drawing the event’s title from a popular meme that was circulating among white nationalists and racist groups.

Arnold did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Braynard, the Kent strategist, said the candidate does not know Arnold and the campaign “does not do background checks on the thousands of people who’ve asked to take selfies with Joe.”

Tom Davis, a former Virginia congressman who led House Republicans’ campaign arm during George W. Bush’s first term, said GOP leadership in Washington, D.C., faces a difficult set of choices when deciding what to do about candidates like Kent.

“You don’t want to go too heavy on this guy because if he’s nominated you want to hold the seat,” said Davis. “The problem for Republicans is you can probably get away with this in 50 districts in the country. But this does not strike me as the kind of district where you don’t pay a price.”

https://apnews.com/article/2022-midterm-elections-donald-trump-campaigns-race-and-ethnicity-be616cae0967ca6ee9c78ac1efee8e31

Offline Joe Elliott

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #38 on: August 20, 2022, 03:40:26 PM »

The 'Gun Dude' and a Supreme Court case that changed who can own firearms in the U.S.

https://www.npr.org/2022/08/14/1113705501/second-amendment-supreme-court-dick-heller-gun-rights

Quotes from this article:

Quote
The Second Amendment states that "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."

Quote
While Heller may not be a household name, the case that bears his name redefined gun ownership, as it marked the first time the Supreme Court affirmed an individual right to gun ownership that was separate from the "militia clause" in the Second Amendment.

Quote
Writing for the majority in the 5-4 decision, Justice Antonin Scalia, now deceased, said that the Second Amendment "protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home."

Quote
Prior to Heller, "you didn't have any kind of federal Second Amendment rights that were unrelated to one's membership in a militia," Miller says.

"There was pretty consistent agreement among courts, and really scholars," says Alex McCourt, director of legal research at the Center for Gun Violence Solutions at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. They believed, he said, "that the Second Amendment did not confer an individual right."

McCourt, who studies firearms policy, says the 2008 decision was the first time that the Supreme Court recognized the individual right over the collective rights theory, as embraced by the older view of the militia clause that had previously prevailed.

To be sure, long before the Heller case, the NRA and other gun-rights advocates had pushed the idea that the Second Amendment conferred just such an individual right. It's a view that former Chief Justice Warren Burger, speaking in a 1991 interview, forcefully rebuffed, calling it "one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime."

Clearly, the Supreme Court in 2008, just as they have now done in 2022 with abortion rights, have legislated from the bench.

The writers of the U. S. Constitution and the first ten amendments were pretty good at communicating their ideas clearly. They didn't write:

Congress shall make no law:
. . .
The need for preachers to freely express their ideas to their congregations, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
. . .
The need for men who are running for political office to clearly state to the voters their opinions, Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech,


This would have been confusing. Did this mean that the freedom of religion only applied to preachers? Does this mean that the government could still arrest all who attended certain churches, except for the preachers?

Did this mean that only politicians could freely speak their minds? Anyone who had not previously announced their candidacy for an office would still be subject to arrest for expressing the 'wrong' opinion?

Instead they wrote:

Congress shall make no law:
. . .
respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof
. . .
or abridging the freedom of speech,


Their choice of words for the Second Amendment clearly is intended to limit the scope of the 'Right to Bear Arms". Just as they clearly did not intend the scope of the law for "freedom of religion" or "freedom of speech" to be limited. The Second Amendment does not just give the reason for it, but shows the limit to its scope. The Second Amendment is meant to be limited. The Right to Bear arms does not extend to everyone. It does not extend to people who have murdered people but are now free, maybe because of "temporary insanity". It does not extend to losers who are threatening schools with violence. It does not extend to everyone. It only extends to those who deserve it. To those who are members of good standing with a well regulated militia. A militia under the control of the governor or the legislature of a state.

The current Supreme Court ruling effectively just erases the phrase "A well regulated Militia" from the Second Amendment. The court just rewrote the Second Amendment they way they thought it should be written, not the way it was really written.


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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #38 on: August 20, 2022, 03:40:26 PM »


Offline Rick Plant

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Re: A Well-Regulated Militia.
« Reply #39 on: August 23, 2022, 03:32:31 AM »
For the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, Jan. 6 Was Just the Start
https://time.com/6195133/jan-6-proud-boys-oath-keepers-growing-threat/