THE OPERA WON’T BE OVER ‘TILL THE FAT LADY SINGS’—IN FEDERAL COURT—AND THE OPERA ISN’T OVER YET.

AMERICANS MUST SMOKE OUT RENEGADE CONGRESSIONAL REPUBLICANS

“It’s déjà vu all over again.” ~Yogi Berra, Baseball legend and cultural icon. In November 2014, in an article posted both here and on Ammoland Shooting Sports News, the Arbalest Quarrel predicted that centrist Republican Senators—more concerned about promoting themselves and maintaining the status quo than in serving Americans and acknowledging the needs and desires of their base—would create dissension, tearing the Republican Party apart, thereby handing the U.S. Presidency over to a thoroughly despicable individual: Hillary Rodham Clinton. We said,“Unfortunately, there are already disturbing signs from some centrist Republican Senators that, when dealing with Obama, compromise and conciliation will be the strategies employed. Confrontation is the strategy centrist Senators will reserve for their own Tea Party base. They intend to keep the base in line. Should that occur, these centrist Republicans will certainly tear the GOP wide open, and they may very well hand the White House over to Hillary Clinton in 2016.”The first part of our prediction has, we are sad to say, already come true. Centrist Republican Senators and Centrist House Republicans have torn the Party apart as we predicted. If those Republicans don’t mend their fences, and do so quickly, Hillary Rodham Clinton will take the White House. No doubt about it. In that event, our second prediction will, as well, also prove true. That will be absolutely disastrous for our Country and for the Nation’s citizenry even if those average Americans, who relish a Hillary Clinton Presidency, think that this would be something to applaud. Such Americans are wrong in their thinking, but they will realize their error too late—much too late—to rectify that error. And all Americans will suffer the horrific consequences of the erroneous beliefs of those Americans who had supported Hillary Clinton’s bid for the White House.Mainstream newspapers are already proclaiming a Democratic Party victory this November. The mainstream newspapers believe—or, if not, are nonetheless, sowing the seeds in the mind of the electorate, through application of yellow journalistic exploitation and distortion, that a Hillary Clinton victory is inevitable. But, as Yogi Berra also sagely said—as the above title to this article may possibly be attributed to: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over.’” And, the matter of bringing Hillary Rodham Clinton to justice isn’t over just yet—not by a long shot. But it is up to those Americans—Americans who hold sacred our unique and priceless Constitution, who truly believe in the sanctity of our system of laws and of our jurisprudence, and who demand that the “rule of law” be applied and adhered to, not simply mouthed as one would an empty, trite platitude—to demand that Hillary Rodham Clinton be brought to account for serious misconduct against our Nation, against our Nation’s Constitution, against our Nation’s laws, and against our Nation’s citizenry.What can we Americans do to preclude a catastrophe from occurring in November 2016? One thing will definitely operate as a wrench thrown into Hillary Rodham Clinton’s plans to secure the U.S. Presidency: Clinton’s indictment on federal criminal charges. Is this still possible? You bet, but only if more Republicans in Congress grow a backbone. Americans must see that they do.The mainstream media, working overtime on behalf of the Democratic Party machinery, says an indictment of Hillary Clinton on federal criminal charges won’t happen—that Hillary Clinton’s indictment on felony charges is essentially “old news” and“water under the bridge.”The mainstream media refers to and relies on the July 2016 statement of Loretta Lynch, Attorney General, when Lynch said: “Late this afternoon, I met with FBI Director James Comey and career prosecutors and agents who conducted the investigation of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email system during her time as Secretary of State. I received and accepted their unanimous recommendation that the thorough, year-long investigation be closed and that no charges be brought against any individuals within the scope of the investigation.” The Justice Department has closed its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s misuse of private email servers to conduct sensitive Government business. It did so by simply handing the public a short, perfunctory statement, essentially washing its hands of the entire matter.Clearly, the United States Department of Justice refuses to mete out justice, failing to follow through on the F.B.I.’s manifest obligation to the American people as set forth on the F.B.I.’s website: The Bureau’s Public Corruption program focuses, inter alia, on: "Investigating violations of federal law by public officials at the federal, state, and local levels of government." Yes, the investigation of Clinton’s serious misconduct may be over for the U.S. Department of Justice, but that investigation is not over for the American people—not by a long shot.What can be done? Well, we know that at least a few honorable Republicans in Congress—and we may forget about the dishonorable Republicans who explicitly or implicitly support a Clinton Presidency and we may certainly forget about the Democrats in their entirety—are trying to do something to bring Hillary Clinton to account for her misdeeds and clearly criminal conduct even as the U.S. Justice Department has failed to do so—even as the U.S. Department of Justice has in fact failed our Nation and has failed the American people.These honorable, concerned Republicans have duly requested a copy of the F.B.I.'s interview notes of Hillary Clinton—the F.B.I.’s Form 302—although Americans have learned that those notes will not be released to the public.The Director of the F.B.I., James B. Comey, has, at least, responded appropriately to those Congressional Republicans who requested a copy of the F.B.I.’s notes of the Hillary Clinton interview. He has, we have learned, dutifully turned over the F.B.I.’s investigative summary, “Form 302,” to Congress. This, apparently, is rarely done; the F.B.I. doesn’t ordinarily turn its closed investigative files over to Congress.Not surprisingly, the mainstream media, an obvious tool of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (“DCCC”)—and a tool, too, of other secretive, nefarious individuals and organizations both here and abroad—manifests a concern over the general release of F.B.I. agents’ notes through Form 302, even the limited release of notes to members of Congress. Clearly, foreign and domestic power brokers and corrupting interests and influences, along with the DCCC, want to see their puppet, Hillary Rodham Clinton, seated in the Oval Office. They do not want Congress, much less the U.S. citizenry, to view the F.B.I.’s criminal investigative files on Clinton. That’s very American of them, isn’t it? So, Congress has obtained the F.B.I.’s Form 302—the document summarizing the F.B.I.’s interview of Hillary Clinton. That is an impressive first step. But, it is only a first step. By itself, it isn’t enough to bring Hillary Rodham Clinton to justice.The Report will undoubtedly demonstrate—as strongly implied in the F.B.I. Director’s unprecedented statement to the American people, delivered to the American people on July 5, 2016—that Hillary Clinton is a corrupt, lying, criminal scoundrel who should be indicted on federal criminal charges. Even so, the United States Congress can do nothing to compel the Justice Department to do its job—to indict Hillary Clinton on federal criminal charges. Congress can do nothing, at this point, because the Department of Justice has closed its case on Hillary Clinton, and, at the moment, only the Justice Department has authority, under the law, to bring action against Hillary Rodham Clinton on federal criminal charges. And that places this Nation in a bind.The U.S. Department of Justice does not—notwithstanding the most serious matter to face our Nation in recent times—choose, as it should, as is required of it, to uphold the law. And that places this Nation in a bind. The U.S. Department of Justice apparently answers to some secretive cabal of crafty and treacherous outsiders who will do whatever it takes to prevent a Donald Trump Presidency; and the best way to prevent that—in fact the only way to prevent that—is to guarantee that no individual or entity has legal standing to bring federal criminal charges against Hillary Clinton and that the one entity that, at present, does have legal standing to bring federal criminal charges against Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Department of Justice, a Department that falls within the purview of the Executive Branch of Government, is prevented from doing so. Barack Obama, through the puppet masters who pull his strings, has, one may reasonably conclude, seen to that.The U.S. Department of Justice apparently answers to evil forces intent on seating their puppet—Hillary Rodham Clinton—in the White House. The U.S. Department of Justice apparently answers to those ruthless, wealthy, powerful individuals and entities who seek to place, in the highest Office of the Land, a person they can control; a person whom they have controlled in the past; a person whom they can count on controlling in the future; a person whom they have paid hard cash for; a person whom they know will always do their bidding—who will do what they, the puppet masters demand, even though such demand is in contravention to and in defiance of the laws of our Nation, and in contravention to and in defiance of our sacred Constitution, and contrary to the well-being and security of our citizenry.Hillary Rodham Clinton and her husband Bill will, as ever before, operate to the detriment of our Nation, lining their pockets with cold, hard cash, titular rulers to the puppet masters who control them, selling our Country out and throwing its citizenry down the drain, even as they claim, duplicitously, that they have the best interests of our Nation at heart and that their policies are designed only to effectuate what is best for our Nation. Nonsense!Something more must be done to prevent Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton from stepping foot in the White House—apart from the mere hope that the American public will come to its senses on election-day and preclude a Clinton Dyarchy from taking root. But, what can Congressional Republicans do to follow through on Comey’s release of the F.B.I.’s Form 302 to Congress? What must they do? Just this: Congress must appoint independent counsel to reinvestigate Hillary Clinton’s misconduct and to prosecute Clinton on federal criminal charges if independent counsel finds probative evidence to indict her. Two Republican Congressmen have already taken the necessary steps to see that this is carried out.Ohio Republican Congressman, Michael Turner sponsored, and Georgia Republican Congressman, Rick Allen, cosponsored, a bill, the “Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 2016,” H.R. 5271. If enacted, the bill—introduced in the House, on May 17, 2016, over three months ago—would allow for the appointment of outside counsel to reinvestigate the serious misconduct of Hillary Rodham Clinton, involving, one, Clinton’s mishandling of classified Government information; two, Clinton’s prevarication to Government officials engaged in official criminal investigative work; and, three, Clinton’s likely criminal use of the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, as a vehicle for the funneling of cash bribes to the Clintons in exchange for favors she was in the position to deliver, as Secretary of State in the Obama Administration, and likely, has delivered.But, what is the status of H.R. 5271? No one seems to know. The mainstream media isn’t asking, and Congress isn’t saying.Take it from a liberal Op-Ed writer for the New York Times, though, to point out why Republicans, en masse, aren’t bending over backwards to enact H.R. 5271. The reason is this: Centrist Republicans are flocking to Hillary Rodham Clinton’s corner. This is unheard of—something truly bizarre. Yet, true all the same. Many Congressional Republicans want Hillary Clinton to succeed Barack Obama as President of the United States. Lest there be any doubt about this, take a look at Frank Bruni’s opinion piece, titled, “Hillary’s Summer of Love,” that appeared in the New York Times Sunday edition, on August 7, 2016. Bruni asserts in critical part: “Dozens of prominent Republicans have come out and said that they’ll vote for her [Hillary Clinton] or consider it, including, just last week, the Silicon Valley titan Meg Whitman, the Jeb Bush confidante Sally Bradshaw, and Maria Comella, a former spokeswoman for two of Trump’s most pugnacious promoters, Chris Christie and Rudy Giuliani. You can expect that list to grow. The Clinton campaign clearly does. As Bloomberg Politics and The Washington Post reported last week, Clinton’s aides have gone so far as to set up something of a special operation — a defection watch — to monitor news accounts and any other public hints that a Republican leader is thinking of renouncing Trump, so that someone on Team Clinton can reach out and ask him or her to take the next step. The Times’s Jonathan Martin revealed that Clinton herself called Whitman a month ago. The breadth of G.O.P. affection for Clinton shouldn’t be overstated. The grudging nature of it can’t be overlooked. If Trump stormed off and a more appetizing Republican was put on the menu, these Clinton converts would most likely revert to their usual diet. And there’s a real limit to the number of Republicans who will publicly embrace her.But many, many more Republicans are privately rooting for her. By making clear that they won’t vote for Trump, they intend to throw the election her way. After decades of demonizing her and all those Benghazi hearings, a noteworthy contingent of Republicans are giving her a degree of active and passive help that less polarizing Democratic presidential nominees never received.”You can bet the Bushes, who audaciously and contemptuously snubbed the Republican nominee for President of the United States, Donald Trump, through their failure to appear at the Republican National Convention, held in Cleveland, Ohio in July 2016, certainly rank among those secretly supporting a Hillary Clinton Presidency.With many Republicans covertly, and, in some cases, even overtly, actively supporting a Hillary Clinton Presidency, should there be doubt in anyone’s mind why the bill, H.R. 5271, rests, apparently, dormant in Committee. House Republicans will not, apparently, allow it out of Committee. If that is true, then those House Republicans are secretly colluding with House Democrats to keep the bill stalled in Committee. We do not need to speculate why certain Republicans would wish to do this since Bruni has provided us with a depressingly clear answer: they want Hillary Clinton to win the election. No question.Certain House Republicans—the Centrists—don’t want an open debate. And, they don’t want a vote on the bill. Why is that? For this reason: if the bill proceeds to the Floor of the House for a full House vote, and some Republicans vote, “nay,” those Republicans are, then, clearly acknowledging their acquiescence in Executive Branch corruption. They are on record of saying they willingly accept corruption in the Executive Branch of the United States Government. We say this with conviction and logical validity because H.R. 5271, if enacted, resurrects the Ethics in Government Act of 1978—in Act this Nation sorely needs to get the Nation back on track—to get this Nation on the right footing, to gets this Nation where it is supposed to be, as the founders of our Nation expected to be—one that demands that the federal Government abide by the Constitution our founders drafted and adopted. Our Constitution mandates integrity in its public officials.This Nation’s Government cannot ably do the business of Government, on behalf of its citizenry, if corruption exists in Government. Corruption in Government cannot, indeed, must not be tolerated. Corruption in Government must never be tolerated. For, if corruption is tolerated, it grows exponentially, infesting and negatively impacting everything and everyone it touches, including, and especially, the U.S. Department of Justice—a Department in whom Executive Department Officials are compelled to be held accountable to the people.If the U.S. Department fails to indict those officials of Government who have been entrusted to serve the people—and, we have seen that the Department of Justice has failed to serve the people, in whom power and authority ultimately reside, then the Department of Justice has committed a double sin.The U.S. Department of Justice has not only allowed corruption in Government to foster, it has condoned it. In condoning the presence of corruption in high level Executive Department Officials, the U.S. Department of Justice has tarnished its image as a bulwark of law and order, and has undermined the very system of law upon which this Nation derives stability and continuity. The U.S. Department of Justice has converted our Constitution to little more than a doormat, to be thrown out at the pleasure of the corrupters of Government who demonstrate no regard for it anyway.When the U.S. Department of Justice fails the American people, by turning a blind eye to the worst sort of crimes of Federal Officials, it behooves the Legislative Branch of Government to step in. And, Congress has, in the past, done so, demanding integrity in the Executive Branch, when the U.S. Department of Justice fails to police Executive Department Officials, itself.Congress enacted the Ethics in Government Act of 1978 as a response to the Watergate Scandal. The Act compels integrity in the Executive Branch of Government. If Congress doesn’t compel integrity in the Executive Branch of Government, then Congress is complicit in the corruption that besets the Executive Branch. The “Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 2016” resurrects the Ethics in Government Act of 1978—the very Act Congress failed to reauthorize in 1999, during the Senate’s impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton, on federal corruption charges. Corruption, Americans see, runs in the Clinton family. Must the American people suffer another conniving Clinton in the White House—actually two of them—a real two-fer for the American people: two duplicitous monsters for the price of one. Isn’t that nice?Centrist Republicans are willing to acknowledge their tacit—and in some cases, of late, even explicit—support of and endorsement of Hillary Clinton. That is most disturbing, to be sure. But, none of these Centrist Republicans wishes to be on record as saying he or she is content with corruption in public Office—in fact complicit in allowing corruption in public Office to exist—even though they are—to a person—certainly intelligent enough to know that Hillary Rodham Clinton, and her husband, Bill, are as corrupt as the worst individuals can possibly be.Indeed, the very name, ‘Clinton’ is synonymous with ‘corruption.’ Thus, for any politician, Democrat as well as Republican, to refuse his or her support of the “Independent Counsel Reauthorization Act of 2016” is to expressly acknowledge support for corruption in the Executive Branch of Government. Perhaps, the two Parties have become two sides of the same coin after all.The Centrist Democrats silence their progressive wing and the Centrist Republicans silence the Tea Party Wing, and neither Party is answerable to its base. Neither Party ever wished to be answerable to its base. The goals of the Centrists in both Parties are essentially the same: the dissembling of our Country and our Country’s Constitution in the pursuit of neoliberal policies and Globalist interests, to the detriment of the economic well-being of both workers and businesses in this Country, and in contradistinction to the very sovereignty of this Nation.The Centrists of both Parties are Statists and internationalists at heart. They are not nationalists. They think of nationalism as “old-school.” They tend to think of the very notion of National Sovereignty as a relic of a bygone age. Their policy goals reflect this. The Centrists of both political Parties are content with matters just the way they are and are content with the way matters are slowly and quietly proceeding; and, while seemingly playing off their base—one against the other—the Centrists of both political Parties are secretly working together, selling our Country out for pennies on the dollar.The Centrists of both political Parties support illegal immigration. The Centrists of both political Parties support disastrous trade policies. The Centrists of both political Parties support an influx of millions of Islamists into our Country, notwithstanding that Islamists can’t be properly vetted. Centrists support the WTO and the IMF. The Centrists of both political Parties emulate the EU, and are quietly, secretly working toward the creation of an EU styled Corporate-Governmental structure in this hemisphere.The Centrists of both political Parties support the continued existence of the central banking system—the scourge of Western Civilization, engineered, back in the eighteenth century, by the undeniably powerful, extremely secretive, deathly sinister, and unbelievably wealthy Rothschild clan (reportedly having a net worth running into trillions of dollars).The European Rothschild family is unaccountable to anyone, yet silently controls everyone. The family’s tentacles wrap around continental Western Europe and extend to Asia and to the Americas. The Rothschild family dictates policy to its puppets in Europe and even in this Country. It operates silently, insidiously and is not any true, meaningful sense answerable to Congress—as its presence is opaque. But the effects of its sinister operations are evident through the actions of the Centrists in Congress and in the White House.The Centrists of both political Parties support the spending of trillions of dollars on interminable, unwinnable wars—the true purpose of which is hidden from Americans—wars that have nothing to do with our National Security, but wars that, in fact, have, in the waging of them in the first instance, threatened our National Security. The Centrists of both political Parties truly care nothing about preserving our Nation’s sacred, Bill of Rights—a document also seen by the Centrists as a relic of a bygone era—an era they would wish better forgotten—a relic that must at some point in the not too distant future, be shredded. How can Centrists in Congress care about our Bill of Rights? Their actions forever belie their words. They seduce the ignorant and gullible and frightened among us—all the while working on behalf of the puppet masters—the Rothschild clan—to rend the very fabric of this Nation.The Arbalest Quarrel will not stand idly by as mere witnesses to the travesty of Hillary Clinton’s run for the U.S. Presidency. We won’t rest even as many Americans appear resigned to a Hillary Clinton Presidency—the Rothschild’s choice to occupy the White House. Evil begets evil.Because we won’t allow this matter to rest, we have drafted a letter to the sponsor and cosponsor of H.R. 5271. We will be mailing it shortly. We are asking the two U.S. Congressmen, Turner and Allen—the sponsor and cosponsor of the bill, H.R. 5271—to provide us with the status of their bill. We are imploring these men to take action now, to move this bill along.We intend to force the Republican Centrists’ hands in this. If Centrist Republicans don’t wish to see passage of this bill, then we want do know who they are. We want for both them and those in the Democratic Party to be on record as having opposed a bill that compels integrity of Executive Department Officials.If these Centrist Republicans don’t wish to see passage of this bill, then they are worse than their Centrist Democratic Party counterparts. They are hypocrites. They pretend to preside over a Party that holds to the sanctity of the U.S. Constitution when they, in fact, do not. We intend to smoke them out.Apparently these Centrist Republicans feel no sense of duty to Party or to their base, no sense of guilt, having, as they do, the gall to blatantly support Hillary Rodham Clinton for U.S. President. Yet, they obviously do feel the need to refrain from actively opposing a bill that is designed to preclude corruption in Government. Hence, they would rather such a bill not come up for debate, much less a vote—at all.We insist that these Centrist Republicans take responsibility for their actions. If these Republicans honestly support Hillary Rodham Clinton—a likely criminal and the most corrupt politician to run for the Office of the U.S. Presidency in recent times, if ever the most corrupt politician—then we insist that they be placed on record, consistent with their support of a corrupt politician, of having actively opposed enactment of a bill designed to curb corruption in Government. You can do your part too. Contact your Representatives in Congress. Demand that they bring H.R. 5271 to the House Floor for debate and for a Floor vote. We must act now to preserve our precious Constitution and our Free Republic. If Hillary and Bill Clinton secure the White House, we can bid our Constitution and our Republic, “goodbye,” forever.Once we receive confirmation of receipt of our letter by the addressees, we will post the letter on the Arbalest Quarrel website.Hillary Clinton and her supporters in Congress—Republicans as well as Democrats—think that Hillary Clinton has the 2016 U.S. Presidential election wrapped up. They are welcoming this creature with open arms. For true Americans, though, a Hillary Clinton Presidency is as welcome as a plague of cholera.For the sake of our Nation’s continued sovereignty and for the sake of our unique and precious Constitution, we intend to upend the Clinton applecart. For the sake of our Nation’s citizenry and for the sake of Americans unborn, we intend to wipe that smug look off Hillary Rodham Clinton’s face.We, at the Arbalest Quarrel, have worked, and we will continue to work, tirelessly and unceasingly to prevent a Hillary Rodham Clinton Presidency. We have done so and will continue to do so to the best of our ability.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2016 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

6/21/16 6/21/16

THE “TERROR WATCH LIST”—A GOOD IDEA? A GOOD IDEA GONE BAD? OR A BAD IDEA ALL ALONG?

“Someone must have been telling lies about Josef K., he knew he had done nothing wrong but, one morning, he was arrested. . . . But even that is all beside the point, the main question is: Who is issuing the indictment?” “The Trial,” a novel by Franz Kafka, published in 1925Who is issuing the indictment, indeed? Unlike Josef K., the protagonist, in Franz Kafka’s insightful allegory, we, Americans, don’t live in a dictatorship. But, is that true? Was that statement once true, but true no longer?How is it that, “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. . .” has devolved into “We the Government of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union. . . . ?” The phrases—“insure domestic Tranquility,” “provide for the common defense,” “promote the general Welfare”—are lost in time. The federal Government and the media circus subsume these phrases, appearing in the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution, under the ubiquitous, deceptive expression, “national security”—an expression that appears nowhere in it. What hath this Government in the name of “We the People” wrought for the People.Understand: Nothing—absolutely nothing—Congress, or the United States President, or the President’s legions of bureaucrats do is more invidious and insidious than disemboweling and dismembering the Bill of Rights in the name of national security. We should not excuse or laud emotional trumpet calls for action before pondering the legality and ethical merits of such Government action. We should not excuse or laud emotional trumpet calls for action before considering their impact on our free Republic. We should not excuse or laud emotional trumpet calls for action before recognizing their cost—the possible loss of our precious rights and liberties. For, once lost, they’re lost forever.When emotions run high, restraint is required. The denial of gun sales to anyone whose name appears on the Government’s “terror watch list” is a recent proposal bubbling to the surface as a result of the recent carnage wrought by a home-grown self-radicalized Islamic terrorist. On Monday, June 20, 2016, the U.S. Senate voted on a measure that would do just that: preclude a person from purchasing a firearm if his or her name appears on the Government’s “terror watch list.” Fortunately, sane heads prevailed. The measure was voted down. But, we may expect further attempts by antigun Legislators in both the House and the Senate to push a measure like this one, through. [Breaking News: At the moment, June 22, 2016, the foes of the Second Amendment are staging a sit-in on the Floor of the House. They won't "sit contented" until the Second Amendment is stricken from the U.S. Constitution].Secret Government lists, such as the “terror watch list” and the “no fly list,”—and perhaps others, of which we are unaware—are problematic in a free, democratic Republic. For, once an American’s name appears on a secret government watch list, his or her rights and liberties, guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, are in jeopardy. More to the point, such lists enable the federal Government to deny an American citizen his or her rights and liberties absent any charge of criminal wrong-doing. The Government, at the stroke of a pen, denies a person his or her rights and liberties without notice, without hearing, without reasonable means to challenge the inclusion of their name, in open court. Understand, we aren’t saying or suggesting those who seek to harm innocent Americans should have access to firearms. And, those Senators who voted down the “terror watch list” measure, on June 20, 2016, aren’t tacitly suggesting that American citizens who seek to harm innocent Americans should have access to firearms. These U.S. Senators have obviously asked themselves—and we need ask ourselves too—this profound question: Are we, Americans, ready to forsake, as a Nation, our sacred rights and liberties for the illusion of, or a mere modicum of, collective security? Is this something a free Republic, founded on a Bill of Rights and on a Constitution establishing a federal Government with carefully defined, demarcated, and limited power and authority, should accept or tolerate?The proposal came before the Senate—cavalierly bandied about by those who, despite assertions to the contrary, care not one whit about our Bill of Rights. That measure would deny Americans due process of law, a right guaranteed to all Americans under the Fifth Amendment. That measure would also deny Americans their natural right to keep and bear arms, a right codified and guaranteed to Americans under the Second Amendment.Millions of law-abiding citizens exercise their sacred right to keep and bear arms. They take responsibility for their own self-defense. They pose no threat to self or others. Are they expected to sacrifice that right, codified in the Second Amendment? Is that not asking too much of Americans? Would not that sacrifice operate as a capitulation to Islamic terrorism? Would not that sacrifice eviscerate our Bill of Rights and destroy one Amendment, in particular, that proclaims our uniqueness: that Government exists—truly exists—at the pleasure of the People and does not exist as a right unto itself?Lost in discussion—because of the frenzy of the moment—is any mention, any hint, how or whether Government intends to protect Americans from Islamist terrorists without infringing the sacred right of millions of law-abiding Americans who wish “to keep and bear arms.” Some Americans, we know, have no regard for that right. They seek to undermine it—are even counting on undermining it—in part, through application of the “terror watch list” to gun sales. They relish using a disastrous event to further a wicked agenda.What do we really know about this secret “list?”Consider: “The number of names on the terror watch list has grown steeply in the past decade, compounding the problem of inaccuracies. Whereas 288,000 names were on the list in 2005, the number had grown to 1.1 million by 2009. A Justice Department audit of the watch list in 2009 revealed a thirty-five percent rate of error, and disclosed that in seventy-two percent of the cases, the FBI failed to respond to these errors by removing the person from the watch list in a timely manner.” “Symposium: Inside America’s Criminal Justice System: The Supreme Court On The Rights Of The Accused And The Incarcerated: Bright Lines, Black Bodies: The Florence Strip Search Case And Its Dire Repercussions,” 46 Akron L. Review, 433, 461-462, Teresa A. Miller, Professor of Law, State University of New York, at Buffalo (SUNY—Buffalo)(2013).The critical problem presented by the Government’s “terror watch list” and other such “watch lists” is four-fold. One, an American loses his or her rights and liberties before commission of any crime or before probable cause exists an American has even considered committing a crime. This is a “Minority Report” scenario. Two, the Government’s “terror watch list” is secret. American citizens don’t know their name appears on the list until they seek to exercise a fundamental right and find they cannot. That alone should give all Americans pause. Three, fighting to remove one’s name from a secret list is extraordinarily difficult. The Government condemns an American citizen in secret, without notice, without hearing, without satisfactory legal recourse. Four, since the “terror watch list” is secret, the Government can add names to it at will—indiscriminately. This action results in millions of American citizens divested of their Second Amendment “right to keep and bear arms.” The existence of secret Government “watch lists” in a free society—in a free republic—makes mincemeat of one’s rights and liberties. True Congressional oversight doesn’t and cannot exist, regardless of assertions to the contrary. Such feigned oversight is window dressing, nothing more. In the name of “national security” the Government clamps down on one’s beliefs, thoughts, actions, even absent criminal wrong-doing.One academic writer says, “the insulation of national security conduct from external review obscures hard questions surrounding liberty and security, undermining the rule of law.” See, “Essay: Rule Of Law Tropes In National Security,” 129 Harvard Law Review 1566, 1566 (2016), Shirin Sinnar, Assistant Professor of Law, Stanford law School.”The problem boils down to this: whether the Government ought to deny an American citizen’s rights and liberties merely for displaying odd character traits. The existence of a “terror watch list” creates tension with the Bill of Rights.The existence and use of a “terror watch list” raises a host of questions. Do you know the factors Government uses when placing a person on a “terror watch list?” Do you know any factor?” Can you know how those factors, change, grow, evolve through time? If your name appears on a “terror watch list,” how do you contest that? What is the monetary cost for fighting Government action? How does the Government remove a name when it uncovers a mistake? When would Government act to remove a name—your name— appearing on the “list,” mistakenly? Would Government remove a name appearing on the list mistakenly? Why has the list grown from a few thousand names to tens of thousands, to hundreds of thousands, to over one million in the last several years?Suppose a person seeks to join or associate with a political group the Government targets. Would that not conflict with the free association clause of the First Amendment? Suppose a person seeks to affiliate with the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, the American Communist Party? Should that person’s name appear on a “terror watch list?” If so, how far do we go? Suppose a person seeks to affiliate with the Green Party, the Constitution Party, the Libertarian Party, or with various groups comprising the “Tea Party.” Which affiliation warrants placing an American citizen’s name on the “terror watch list?” Should any affiliation warrant placing a person’s name on the “terror watch list.” The First Amendment sets forth in principal part, as proposed by and as elucidated by one founder of our Nation, James Madison: “The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, to write, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable. The people shall not be restrained from peaceably assembling and consulting for their common good.” We have seen the insidious effects of fear-mongering before: the infamous McCarthy hearings of the 1950s, during the “Cold War.”We are now witnessing a new twist on an old ploy: an attempt to use a secret Government “terror watch list” to deny to hundreds of thousands, and conceivably eventually, to millions of Americans their natural right to keep and bear arms.Ought the Government suspend the civil liberties of potentially millions of law-abiding Americans if Government believes, rightly or wrongly, such harsh measures will reduce the carnage created by a few? Are we, as Americans, prepared to sacrifice, conceivably, all rights and liberties for the benefit of national security?Cannot an American citizen hold “extreme” views without fearing Government reprisal? Is it not the right of an American to hold and display views another American might find extreme, even distasteful? Are not American citizens slowly squeezed into a tight container as Government dictates to the public what is fit and proper thought, belief, and action?Are you willing to sacrifice free speech? Are you prepared to surrender your firearms? Are you willing to sacrifice freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures? Are you willing to abandon the writ of Habeas Corpus? Are you agreeable to forgoing the right to a fair and public trial? Are you prepared to give up friends and associates because the Government doesn’t approve of their idiosyncrasies? How would the founders of our Nation respond to these questions if posed to them? Do you have answers to these questions? If so, sound off.[separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2016 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.

3/19/16 3/19/16

CITIZENS BEWARE: JUSTICE SERVED ON A SILVER PLATTER SET TO DESTROY THE SECOND AMENDMENT

THE POSITIONING OF JUDGE MERRICK GARLAND FOR A LIBERAL-WING TAKEOVER OF THE U.S. SUPREME COURT

PART 2A

In the previous article in this series we began with a discussion of our concern over President Obama’s nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court. We analyzed a Second Amendment case brought before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Circuit. The case is Parker vs. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007), petition for en banc hearing denied, Parker vs. District of Columbia, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 11029 (D.C. Cir. 2007). An analysis of that case gives an inkling as to Judge Garland’s view of Americans’ Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms. It’s not good. In this Article we provide further perspective.Judge Garland presently serves as one of ten Judges on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Service on that Court is a stepping stone to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. In fact the late Justice Antonin Scalia also served as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit before President Reagan nominated him to the United States Supreme Court. The U.S. Senate subsequently confirmed the nomination in 1986. Justice Scalia served as an esteemed Associate Justice on the U.S. Supreme Court until his untimely death on February 13, 2016.Many legal experts consider the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to be the second most powerful Court in the Country. Other U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal give considerable deference to a decision by that Court, but they are not obligated to do so. A decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, though, has binding effect over the Nation and its territories. Given the monumental impact of a U.S. Supreme Court decision, it is incumbent on the U.S. Senate to be circumspect in handling a nomination to the high Court. The decisions of the high Court impact the very fabric of society and, in fact, the existence of a free Republic. The framers of our Constitution made certain the U.S. Senate shall have the final say on all appointments to the high Court. The President shall nominate but the only the U.S. Senate can confirm the appointment. The Senate proffers its advice and consent, consistent with Article 2, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Thus, the framers of our Constitution intended, and for good reason, to preclude a President from packing the Court. The U.S. Senate, though, seeks – and rightfully so – to protect the legacy of Justice Scalia, a man who devoted his life to – and focused his brilliant mind on – preserving our Bill of Rights.President Obama is improperly attempting to force the Senate’s hand in this matter and he is using the medium of a compliant Press to do so. He waxes poetic over the intellectual ability and moral character of Judge Garland and the Press echoes the President’s sentiments. One phrase President Obama uses in defining Judge Garland, though, should give the U.S. Senate and the American people pause.The President says Judge Garland is a “consensus builder.” Consider the meaning of that phrase for a moment. The President is saying Judge Garland would likely bridge the gap between the liberal wing of the Court and the conservative wing – a position, at the moment, filled by Justice Kennedy. But, Judge Garland is said to fall “to the left” of Justice Kennedy. Thus, the assertion that Judge Garland would act as a “consensus builder” on the high Court means, disconcertingly, that Judge Garland – serving as Justice Garland – would hand the liberal wing of the Court a decisive majority in every case. Justice Garland would likely support every cause promoted by the progressive left in this Country. The shattering of the Bill of Rights is not a pleasant thought to contemplate.The idea is not wild fancy. Judge Garland, sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court as Justice Garland, would take an active part in drafting opinions weakening the Second Amendment right of the people to keep and bear arms. Most news articles fail to mention Judge Garland’s clear antipathy toward the Second Amendment if those articles happen to mention the Second Amendment at all.Yet, it would be an affront to the memory of Justice Scalia to have, as his replacement, a man – regardless of ability and temperament – who would not continue Justice Scalia’s deference to our Bill of Rights.How do we know this? In our previous article we provided you with a comprehensive analysis of one Second Amendment case, Parker vs. District of Columbia, 478 F.3d 370 (D.C. Cir. 2007), petition for en banc hearing denied, Parker vs. District of Columbia, 2007 U.S. App. LEXIS 11029 (D.C. Cir. 2007). An analysis of that case gives an inkling into the mindset of Justice Garland. He is not at all a proponent of the Second Amendment. But consider: would President Obama honestly nominate a person to serve on the high Court if that person professed a strong propensity to preserve and strengthen the Second Amendment?Do we find in President Obama’s previous two nominations, whom the U.S. Senate confirmed, namely, Justice Elena Kagan and Justice Sonja Sotomayor, to be proponents of the Second Amendment? If you think so, you should take another look at the seminal Second Amendment case, District of Columbia vs. Heller, 554 U.S. 570, 128 S. Ct. 2783, 171 L. Ed. 2d 637 (2008). Those two Justices, along with Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer – the liberal-wing of the Court – dissented from the Majority in that case.Had Judge Garland served on the high Court in lieu of Justice Scalia, at the time the Heller case was decided, the outcome would have been entirely different. Of that, there can be no reasonable doubt. The liberal-wing of the Court would have had a majority and that majority would hold that: the right of the people to keep and bear arms does not entail an individual right, and that the Second Amendment has no meaning except in respect to one who serves in a military capacity.So, contrary to protestations of President Obama, as echoed through and trumpeted by a submissive news media, the U.S. Senate is not shirking its duty by refusing to consider Judge Garland’s confirmation. President Obama tells the Senate that it must do its job, just as President Obama has done his. He says, contemptuously, even perniciously: “to suggest that someone as qualified and respected as Merrick Garland doesn’t even deserve a hearing, let alone an up-or-down vote, to join an institution as important as our Supreme Court, when two-thirds of Americans believe otherwise — that would be unprecedented.” The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary takes its role very seriously and it has in fact acted by choosing not to act on the Garland nomination at this time. Indeed, it has taken the only appropriate action it can take at this time – a step necessary to protect our Bill of Rights. The U.S. Senate is fulfilling its obligation under the U.S. Constitution, as the framers of the Constitution entrusted to it. Keep in mind: through Obama’s two prior nominations that the Senate confirmed, the composition of the high Court now tilts dangerously leftward. Equilibrium would be entirely lost were the Senate to confirm the nomination of Judge Garland.In the next article in this series we take a close look at a second U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit case – one that Judge Garland had a hand in – a case that bespeaks a positive legal bent away from – not toward – the preservation of the Second Amendment – a case decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, eight years before Justice Scalia wrote the Majority opinion in Heller.Citizens beware! Our right to keep and bear arms is grossly threatened – more so than ever before. Stand up and demand that your elected officials protect the Second Amendment![separator type="medium" style="normal" align="left"margin-bottom="25" margin_top="5"] Copyright © 2015 Roger J Katz (Towne Criour), Stephen L. D’Andrilli (Publius) All Rights Reserved.