On Thursday, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam signed a bill to prohibit the state from implementing or enforcing federal gun “laws,” rules, regulations and orders that are contrary to the Tennessee state constitution. It passed 74-20 in the House, and 29-1 in the Senate.
Introduced by Sen. Richard Briggs, Senate Bill 1110 (SB1110) will ban Tennessee state or local public funds, personnel or property from being used for the “implementation, regulation, or enforcement of any federal law, executive order, rule or regulation regulating the ownership, use, or possession of firearms, ammunition, or firearm accessories” if such use “would result in the violation of Tennessee statutory or common law or the Constitution of Tennessee.”
Originally introduced in the House as HB1341 by Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver, the bill represents and important first step to ending federal gun control in the state.
“I’m from the cut that there is no need for Washington D.C. to be the end all and be all with regards to the regulatory world,” said Weaver. “We should respect our 10th Amendment and shift the power back to the states and that’s what House Bill 1341 does.” (Read more from “Here’s a State That Is Trying to Block Federal Gun Control” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-05 22:48:032015-05-05 22:48:03Here’s a State That Is Trying to Block Federal Gun Control
On “The O’Reilly Factor” last night, Megyn Kelly shamed host Bill O’Reilly for daring to criticize Pam Geller’s absolutist version of free speech, saying that he was “catering to the jihadis.”
The pair were discussing the shooting of two Islamic extremists in Garland, Texas, on Sunday when O’Reilly echoed Donald Trump and claimed that Geller and the American Freedom Defense Initiative “provoked” the attempted attack.
Geller and the AFDI — an organization that has been labeled a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) — were “trying to make a point about the First Amendment and free speech,” Kelly said, by hosting their “Draw the Prophet” contest at the same facility that had hosted a seminar on Islamophobia in January.
“So they wanted to defy the fear the jihadists have imposed on the world?” O’Reilly asked.
“On the free speech principle — on the First Amendment principle — she’s 100 percent correct,” Kelly responded. She claimed that the First Amendment was designed to defend “the most outrageous, offensive, incendiary speech — speech at the fringes, debate at the edges, things that make people upset.” (Read more from “Should We Get Rid of All the Jews?”: Megyn Kelly Accuses Bill O’Reilly Of “Catering to the Jihadis” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-05 22:47:522015-05-05 22:47:52“Should We Get Rid of All the Jews?”: Megyn Kelly Accuses Bill O’Reilly Of “Catering to the Jihadis”
The North Middle School in Joplin, Missouri, is taking eighth-grade students to a Christian ministry on May 7.
The Friendly Atheist notes that the trip is a reward for the students who have been preparing for the Missouri Assessment Program tests.
The permission/liability form for parents lists the destination on the cover page as the “Victory Sports Complex,” but the Friendly Atheist notes it’s actually called the Victory Ministry & Sports Complex . . .
The Friendly Atheist notes that the permission/liability form states in the fine print:
“We (I) understand that the officers, officials, agents, other participants and employees of Victory Ministry and Sports Complex may be inviting me or (my) our students to Bible studies and local churches of the Christian faith. While at any Victory Ministry and Sports Complex location or event (my) our student(s) has permission to participate in worship services, Bible studies or any other activities that may pertain to the Christian faith.” (Read more from “Public School to Reward Students With Trip to Christian Ministry” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-05 22:47:402015-05-05 22:47:40Public School to Reward Students With Trip to Christian Ministry
A Ruby Tuesday’s server in Hawaii profanely lashed out at the entire military over an alleged stingy tip from a service member over the weekend, and the Facebook post created an Internet uproar.
In the heavily-circulated outburst, waiter Matt Heflin started off: “Next time some military piece of s— leaves me a quarter on $60 tab I’m going to jail! F— all those dumb uneducated motherf—ers. And f— you uncle sam.” His message also included “F— THE MILITARY” in call caps.
The brief soliloquy shared by Facebook page “U.S. Army W.T.F! moments,” among others, pushed Rick Nakashima, a co-owner of multiple Ruby Tuesdays in Hawaii, into damage-control mode. Nakashima told Army Times that “this is not us, this is not how we think” as he separated “one apple” from his more than 500 employees. He expressed appreciation for everything the military does . . .
Nakashima, after learning of the incident, wrote an apology on the Ruby Tuesday Hawaii Facebook page on Sunday:
“I am a partner in Ruby Tuesday Hawaii and have just been notified of one of my employees [sic] negative comments towards a Military guest. PLEASE accept my sincere apology and know that we appreciate all you do for us and your patronage. My father was a Captain in the USAF and I have the utmost respect for the Armed Forces. We will take immediate action on this employee. Thank You for your understanding.” (Read more from “Waiter’s Anti-Military Rant Sparks Outrage” HERE)
A mainland Chinese student visited my office last week, asking for a letter of recommendation for his transfer to another university. It is hard to lose a student like this—enthusiastic and bright, the sort who sits on the front row of a large auditorium lecture class and asks good questions.
He gave the usual reasons for wanting to transfer: he liked Pepperdine, of course, but it did not offer the technically specialized majors he or his parents were seeking. When asked where he was applying, he listed some elite East-Coast schools, but he seemed most interested in two Hong Kong universities. When asked why, he mentioned a girlfriend, but emphasized that he had a cousin back in China to whom he was extremely close: “He is like a brother to me.”
Since our conversation I keep returning in my thoughts to this student’s strong tie to his cousin. It is not unusual for cousins to be very close, of course, but that is not what is so striking in this case. I have been privileged to know many mainland Chinese students over the last two decades at Pepperdine, but none has ever mentioned so much as a brother or a sister, much less a cousin. On one side of this student’s family, his grandparents brought two children into the world in the teeth of a one-child policy backed by a totalitarian state.
I don’t know any details of how they managed it—through connections, wealth, or endurance amid persecution—only that they did. In bearing the cost, they realized a gift for themselves, and perhaps were aware that they were giving each of their children the gift of a sibling. I wonder if they realized what a gift they were giving to their grandson: a cousin who was “like a brother” to someone who had no brother or sister . . .
China’s one-child policy has stripped the social space between the state and the individual of every protection that the most natural community, the family, can provide. How much more damaging must be the collapse of family size in Chinese culture, in which family ties have played such an important role? I know I’m not saying anything new (see Nick Eberstadt on the economic effects of the policy), but we cannot remind ourselves too often of what is lost as family sizes have collapsed (through state coercion or, more sadly, voluntarily). (Read more from “What We Lose With Only Two Children per Family” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-05 22:47:122015-05-05 22:47:12What We Lose With Only Two Children per Family
By Lydia Warren. The former terror suspect shot dead by police on Sunday after he and another gunman stormed an anti-Islam art contest in Texas had said he intended to ‘fight to the death’ for Allah.
Elton Simpson, 30, and his roommate Nadir Soofi, 24, were killed outside the Curtis Culwell Center in Garland after a security guard was shot during a controversial competition for the best caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
Court documents have now revealed that Simpson, who was born in Illinois before moving to Phoenix, Arizona and converting to Islam, was well known to the FBI.
In 2010, he was convicted of lying to federal agents about his plans to travel to Somalia, where they suspected he planned to join a terror group.
‘The defendant falsely stated to special agents of the FBI that he had not discussed traveling to Somalia, when in fact he had discussed with others traveling to Somalia for the purpose of engaging in violent jihad,’ a complaint reads. (Read more from “Chilling Recorded Conversations of American Muslim Who Opened Fire on Anti-Islam Event in Texas” HERE)
How Texas “Terror” Shooter Elton Simpson Avoided Prison in 2011
By James King. The attorney who once defended one of two men who opened fire at a “Draw Muhammad” event in Texas on Sunday says she was “shocked” to learn that he was involved in the attack. She says she has represented a number of people charged with terrorism-related crimes. Some of them are the “worst of the worst,” but Elton Simpson was “one of the good ones,” she said.
“He was always respectful to me and my staff—did everything he was supposed to do,” attorney Kristina Sitton told Vocativ.
According to Sitton, Simpson didn’t come from a Muslim family and didn’t convert to Islam until he was in high school. “He said he was running with a bad crowd in high school—smoking, drinking and stuff,” she said. “He said Islam got him away from that stuff.”
Sitton defended Simpson against charges that he made false statements to an FBI agent in 2010 about a trip he was planning to take to Somalia to study Islam. He was facing up to eight years in prison if federal prosecutors had been able to convince Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Mary Murguia that the trip was related to international or domestic terrorism. Ultimately, Murguia in 2011 sentenced him to three years probation for the false statement. According to federal court records obtained by Vocativ, the judge determined that the feds didn’t make their case—despite audio recordings of Simpson talking about “jihad” with an FBI informant. (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-05 00:15:222015-05-05 00:15:22Chilling Recorded Conversations of American Muslim Who Opened Fire on Anti-Islam Event in Texas [+video]
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) member Ajit Pai said over the weekend that he foresees a future in which federal regulators will seek to regulate websites based on political content, using the power of the FCC or Federal Elections Commission (FEC). He also revealed that his opposition to “net neutrality” regulations had resulted in personal harassment and threats to his family.
Speaking on a panel at the annual “Right Online” conference in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, Pai told audience members, “I can tell you it has not been an easy couple of months personally. My address has been publicly released. My wife’s name, my kids’ names, my kids’ birthdays, my phone number, all kinds of threats [have come] online.”
Pai, one of two Republicans on the five-member FCC, has been an outspoken critic of net neutrality regulations passed by the agency on Feb. 26. The rules, which are set to take effect on June 12, reclassify Internet providers as utilities and command them not to block or “throttle” online traffic.
However, Pai said it was only the beginning. In the future, he said, “I could easily see this migrating over to the direction of content… What you’re seeing now is an impulse not just to regulate the roads over which traffic goes, but the traffic itself.”
Continuing, he said, “It is conceivable to me to see the government saying, ‘We think the Drudge Report is having a disproportionate effect on our political discourse. He doesn’t have to file anything with the FEC. The FCC doesn’t have the ability to regulate anything he says, and we want to start tamping down on websites like that.’” (Read more from “FCC Commissioner Threatened, Warns Feds May Come for Drudge” HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-05 00:10:482015-05-05 00:10:48FCC Commissioner Threatened, Warns Feds May Come for Drudge [+video]
By Alan Rappeport. For the Republican Party, the presidential candidates keep coming.
The next wave arrives this week, with Carly Fiorina announcing her long-shot bid for the Republican nomination Monday morning and former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas set to announce his own on Tuesday. Ben Carson announced his bid on Sunday night. They will join Senators Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul in the race.
Ms. Fiorina started things off low-key on Monday with an announcement, which is to be followed by a call with reporters and a virtual town-hall-style meeting. Later in the week, she will head to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
A former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, Ms. Fiorina is the second woman to make a run for the White House in this election cycle, following Hillary Rodham Clinton’s announcement last month. Ms. Fiorina brings strong business acumen and a promise to be a more compassionate version of Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee. And she has suggested that she is the perfect antidote to Mrs. Clinton, who many believe has an easy path to the Democratic nomination.
“I think that if Hillary Clinton were to face a female nominee, there are a whole set of things she won’t be able to talk about,” Ms. Fiorina said at a breakfast in Washington last month. (Read more from “Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee Joining G.O.P. Race on Heels of Ben Carson” HERE)
Famed Neurosurgeon Ben Carson Announces White House Campaign
By Ed White. Retired surgeon Ben Carson has made it official, telling a crowd in his hometown of Detroit that he’s running for president.
The former head of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins hospital has never run for public office. But he’s a star among some conservatives and will try to parlay his success as an author and speaker into a competitive campaign.
He told his rally: “I’m Ben Carson and I’m a candidate for president.” (Read more from this story HERE)
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-04 23:28:112015-05-04 23:28:11Carly Fiorina and Mike Huckabee Joining G.O.P. Race on Heels of Ben Carson [+videos]
Politics is notorious for dirty tricks. But the one Ethan Berkowitz and his team pulled off last week, with the full cooperation of the mainstream media, takes the cake.
The Tuesday April 28th edition of the Bernadette Live show on KFQD was guest hosted by the former morning host Casey Reynolds. What Reynolds didn’t disclose at the time was that his long-time girlfriend was a paid staffer of the Berkowitz campaign.
Two days earlier, Anchorage Baptist Temple pastor Jerry Prevo had publicly called Ethan Berkowitz out for his public stance on gay marriage, and more particularly for comments he made on KFQD regarding his libertine views back in the fall of 2014.
During that broadcast, the Democrat mayoral candidate went so far as to say that it was alright with him if a father wanted to marry his own son as long as they were consenting adults. But at the time Jerry Prevo raised the question about Berkowitz’s statement, no one seemed to have the podcast of the radio show in question.
What came next is one of the most sinister political stunts I have ever seen.
Reynolds invited Anchorage mayoral candidate Amy Demboski on the show, purportedly to talk about the mayor’s race and her vision for the economic future of the Municipality.
But it appears Reynolds’ primary motive was to ambush Demboski with the incest question in an attempt to divide her base and exonerate Berkowitz.
The problem is, Demboski didn’t cooperate. Instead she affirmed that she too had heard the conversation in question, and wouldn’t presume to speak for Berkowitz.
Repeatedly, Reynolds pushed Demboski to affirm that Ethan Berkowitz didn’t really mean what he said. She continued to decline and referred Reynolds to Berkowitz for an interpretation of his own comments. Reynolds responded by accusing Demboski of implying that Berkowitz approved of incest.
The next day, Alaska Dispatch News ran a story with the headline “Demboski stuns radio host by implying opponent might approve of incest.” It was a complete fabrication.
Until the Reynolds interview, Amy Demboski had never mentioned Ethan Berkowitz’ obscene comments, and declined to editorialize on them when they did come up.
Fast forward five days. Berkowitz’ co-host on that fateful October day has now come out with an op-ed affirming that Ethan did indeed make the comments, the station manager at KFQD, Joe Campbell, has also confirmed that the conversation happened, and a number of other witnesses who recall hearing it have come forward.
And now, a copy of the podcast has found its way into the public sphere.
But the media continues to coddle Berkowitz, refusing to demand answers. A KTVA guest columnist on Sunday evening even went so far as to call his conduct in the campaign “gentlemanly.”
How is it gentlemanly to sit silently by while someone else is punished for your crimes? For days, Berkowitz was silent while Amy Demboski was pummeled by the media and subjected to verbal abuse on social media just for having the audacity to admit she heard the Berkowitz conversation, and refusing to comment on it.
The truth is, Ethan Berkowitz dragged the public through the gutter, and blamed Demboski for it.
Berkowitz has serially sought to mislead the public by deflecting, saying only that he wasn’t going to dignify the question with an answer.
When finally Berkowitz was forced out of the closet by his co-host, he would only say that he does not support father-son marriages, calling the substance of his earlier comments on talk radio an “obscene accusation.”
On the May 4th edition of Bernadette Live, Mr. Berkowitz opined, “It’s incredibly sad that people put me in a position where I have to deny things that are false and obscene, but those accusations are false and obscene.”
But who made the accusation? According to witnesses – and now the podcast itself – it obviously came out of Ethan Berkowitz’ own mouth. Not only is Ethan Berkowitz not squaring with the public, he has compounded his error by feigning virtue.
And that gentlemanly thing – apparently marriage isn’t the only thing he wants to redefine.
Where I grew up, a gentleman acted out of noble motives, took personal responsibility, and told the truth.
Ethan Berkowitz has missed the mark on all counts. Not only has he failed to do the right thing, he has sought to transfer the blame for his own words to his opponent.
It’s not for Amy to defend Ethan’s indefensible comments, as the media would have her do. Nor is it her responsibility to absolve him, as though she had the power to do it.
It’s time for Ethan Berkowitz to stop hiding behind Amy Demboski’s skirt, man up, and take responsibility for his own actions. The public deserves an explanation.
https://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.png00Joe Millerhttps://joemiller.us/wp-content/uploads/logotext.pngJoe Miller2015-05-04 23:27:002015-05-04 23:27:00It’s Time for Ethan Berkowitz to Man Up! [+video]
