I too was caught up in the “we’ll light up their world like the 4th of July” emotion that swept the Nation after the heinous actions of radical extremists on September 11th.
But after 15 years, what has the countless wars brought our Republic other then thousands of grave-sites that were filled way too soon.
I support the brave men and women of our Armed Forces and those who have lost friends and family in our “war on terror.” Yes Saddam Hussein was an evil vile man, Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban were evil. But is the Middle East any better off today for our actions? Are we better off today for our actions?
I think if anyone takes the time to honestly think and reflect upon that question, the answer would be a resounding NO.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), a government agency that has no business existing, recently enacted ridiculously stringent guidelines that severely threaten the cigar smoking and pipe tobacco hobbies.
Amongst the asinine measures enacted by the FDA that went into effect last August is what amounts to a ban on charitable donations of tobacco products. Including those intended for the troops.
Via The Tampa Bay Times:
Among the regulations is what many interpret as a ban on the charitable donation of tobacco products. Premium cigarmakers and retailers like Thompson that have donated thousands of cigars each year risk fines or other sanctions if they keep giving.
Their hands, they say, are tied.
“The troops are out there putting their lives on the line to protect our freedoms, rights and privileges, and the federal government is taking away those same freedoms and rights,” said Rocky Patel, owner of Rocky Patel Premium Cigar Co. in Bonita Springs. “This is how we can give back to our country and it’s amazing the FDA unilaterally seeks to take that away. It just hurts me we’re not going to be able to do this anymore.”
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U.S. Army Lt. Col. Darron Wright, deputy commander, 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, smokes a cigar after crossing the border from Iraq into Kuwait, more than seven years after he drove into Iraq during the US invasion. (AP Photo/ Maya Alleruzzo)
The freeze on donations is a troubling development for Mark Van Trees.
Van Trees runs Support the Troops, a Wesley Chapel-based nonprofit organization that sends care packages to bases in locations such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
Cigars are the second-most-requested item in those packages, behind coffee and ahead of toothpaste and tube socks, Van Trees said.
…
“It means the world to these guys who love to sit by the fire and smoke some sticks,” Van Trees said. “This is going to put a huge hole in what we do for them.”
Retired Army Sgt. Charles Claybaker of St. Petersburg knows firsthand the joy of puffing on a fine cigar far from home.
In 2009, Claybaker was serving with a 3rd Ranger Battalion platoon at a base in a remote, mountainous part of Afghanistan when a “Support the Troops” package arrived with cigars and playing cards, among other items. As a commanding officer, Claybaker was charged with keeping up morale, and the stogies helped.
“After a long mission and you get into a firefight or something like that, it’s nice to have a cigar and play cards with your buddies,” he said. “For a few minutes, it just makes you feel like you’re back home, like you’re American again, especially in a place like Afghanistan that culturally is so extraordinarily different.” Read More…
U.S. Representative Kathy Castor (D-FL 14th District), is leading the fight in Congress to help put premium cigars back in the hands of our soldiers.
“The FDA’s regulation of individually-rolled, premium cigars in general is unreasonable and has led to unintentional, but very real consequences, like halting one of the most popular charitable donations to our troops,” Castor said in a statement, according to FOX News.
Yesterday, Castor filed H.R. 5955, a bill that would once again allow for the charitable contribution of premium cigars to U.S. soldiers serving the country around the globe.
HR 5955 is summarized as, “To amend the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to allow the charitable distribution of traditional large and premium cigars to members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes.”
Now 1) I would rather have our soldiers back home instead of nation building in the Middle East and 2) I’d rather see a bill that not only ends the FDA’s stupid regulations of the cigar industry but ends the FDA itself — but this is a good start. It’s not often that I get the opportunity to salute a Democrat, but kudos to you Representative Castor!
If you are trying to hide from law enforcement, it’s probably not a very good idea to advertise yourself to them on social media. Seriously, what is it about Florida that makes the criminals there so stupid?
Via ABC News:
Police responded to a call late Monday night about an alleged battery at a house in Stuart, Florida, Bossio told ABC News today.
Although the suspect had fled the scene, the alleged victim identified Mack Yearwood, 42, as the suspect and gave the officer an address where Yearwood was staying, police said. The officer passed that information along to his colleagues working the next day, police said.
Police said that as they began to research Yearwood, they discovered that he had two outstanding warrants in Florida, and they came across his Facebook page. Police then arrested Yearwood at his brother’s house on Tuesday in connection to those warrants, one of which was issued in Citrus County.
The mug shot he posted on Facebook came from that county. The Citrus County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
“The patrol guys, to look where he was and for some intelligence, they went to his Facebook page,” Bossio said. “They discovered that he used his wanted poster for his Facebook profile.”
Bossio added that Yearwood was sleeping at his brother’s home when officers arrived and asked an officer to hand him his pants. “When he was putting his jeans on, a bag of weed fell out,” Bossio said — resulting in a cannabis possession charge.
Yearwood asked police not to charge him for that, according to the police incident report.
He has not been charged in the recent battery allegation because the case is still under investigation, police said. Read More…
This past Friday evening, prior to his team’s preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided, in an act of protest, not to stand for the traditional playing of the national anthem prior to kickoff. Kaepernick defended his actions with the following statement:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. To me, this is bigger than football and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
I won’t go into the details of the type of responses towards his actions Kaepernick has received, but if you check out the comments section of any pro-Trump website or almost any twitter user that has the hashtag #TrumpTrain in their bio, you’ll be subject to some stuff that might even make the most hardcore Klansman blush.
Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t agree with Kaepernick’s actions one bit, furthermore, I disagree with his reasoning behind his refusal to stand for the anthem. The idea that the Unites States of America, in 2016, is a country that “oppresses black people and people of color,” is a flat-out ignorant belief to hold.
That being said I find it somewhat ironic that many of those who are the most vocal in their disdain of Kaepernick’s stance are those who consider themselves conservative. What is so conservative about blind devotion to the State?
Had our Founders wanted a national anthem at the creation of our republic, would they have not taken the time to adopt one? It wasn’t until the 20th Century, thanks to the father of the modern progressive movement, Woodrow Wilson, that we even had an “official” national anthem.
Woodrow Wilson, the man who pretty much spent his entire life trying to destroy the dedication to natural rights and limited government that the framers put into our republic through our founding documents, is the man who spearheaded the effort to make The Star Spangled Banner our national anthem. Let that sink in for a moment.
Patriotism and love of country are not bad things, as a matter of fact American conservatism has always included a strong sense of both. What is alarming in recent years, particularly in this most recent election cycle, is the confusion of patriotism and nationalism, the latter of which goes against the heart of the conservative principles of individual liberty and limited government of which our republic was founded.
The 49ers organization issues the following response to their quarterback’s actions:
The National Anthem is and always will be a special part of the pre-game ceremony. It is an opportunity to honor our country and reflect on the great liberties we are afforded as its citizens. In respecting such American principles as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, we recognize the right of an individual to choose and participate, or not, in our celebration of the national anthem.
They are absolutely right
If you disagree with Colin Kaepernick and want to show your displeasure with the 49ers and the NFL for not taking stiff action against his act of defiance by boycotting the team, the league or their sponsors that is also your right as well.
While I don’t hold the somewhat radical view that suggests that standing for the national anthem or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance is designed to deprive one of individuality while instilling blind nationalism — I can’t in good conscience deny someone the freedom to refuse to stand, even if I find his reasoning repulsive.
Apparently the old woman who “repaired” the fresco of Jesus in Spain, is now employed as a police sketch artist in Pennsylvania.
Berks County, Pa. (WTXF) Cumru Township police say they are searching for suspect wanted for a food mart robbery.
According to police, on Monday August 8, Cumru Township police were dispatched to the Valero–Shillington Food Mart, located at 110 Revere Blvd, for a robbery that had just occurred.
Police say the suspect entered the store wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt, possibly blue in color, with the hood up and pulled tightly around the suspect’s face. The suspect was also wearing gray sweatpants with white stripes down the side of the pant legs.
According to investigators, the suspect approached the counter, displayed a knife, and demanded money by stating, “Give me the money.” The suspect was described by the cashier as a white male, approximately six feet tall, with a thin build.
Police say after receiving an undisclosed amount of cash from the cashier, the suspect fled the Valero– Shillington Food Mart and ran north crossing Shillington Road into the Lincoln Park area of Spring Township, according to police. Read More…
Nicholas Salerno, 90, of Dennis Port, Massachusetts, was charged recently with solicitation of a prostitute. The charge came after he had called the police to report that the call girl had stolen a necklace from him after the act.
Salerno reportedly paid 48-year-old Karen Proia $100 on June 22nd to take a taste of his beefy bologna.
He told police she used the bathroom in his house and he later noticed his necklace was missing. He reported the alleged theft to police June 30, records show.
Police recovered the necklace at Bass River Coin, records state.
A police officer told Salerno he also would be charged with a crime, for soliciting a prostitute, to which Salerno responded, “I don’t give a (expletive). I’m 90 years old …” according to court documents. Read More…
According to the police report, Salerno informed the officer that arrived to file the theft report that he had made, that he had learned about Proia from a friend who had told him that he had paid her for a blowjob and she’d do it for him too.
Salerno’s necklace was found later at a local pawn shop, a worker there told police that Proia had recently brought it in.
The charge of soliciting for Salerno was eventually dropped and Proia faces a September 1st court appearance for prostitution and larceny.
In a just world she’d just be facing charges for stealing the necklace, the other thing was just a business agreement between the two.
Comedy Central’s @midnight with Chris Hardwick, recast The Golden Girls with Donald Trump, Mike Pence, Vladimir Putin and Little Fatty, I mean Kim Jong-un. The result is hilarious… and scary.
During his acceptance speech this past Thursday night in Cleveland, at the closing of the 2016 Republican National Convention, Donald Trump used the word “violence” a total of eleven times. The word “freedom” was used just once, and it was used in context of “freedom” from free international trade.
In contrast Sen. Ted Cruz, in his speech on the Convention’s third night, used the word freedom twenty-one times and the word “violence” just once.
Trump’s speech, which clocked in at 1 hour and 15 minutes, was a full on display of a spoiled egotistical madman demanding to be anointed into the highest office in the most powerful nation in the world. The Republican Party’s nominee painted a picture of an America that is under siege from urban crime, terrorism and rampant immigration.
Trump’s portrait is of an America that is fraught with rising homicide rates, filled with Americans being killed by those entering the country illegally. It was a portrait of an America that looks more like the events of the Purge film series then the America I see everyday when I step out of my door to head to work.
Trump’s entire speech was completely devoid of any substantial details as to how he would get anything done, just threats and points on how the government should be made bigger and stronger and given more authority with him at the head of it controlling every part of American life.
It has become a sad occurrence over the course of the last few Presidencies that political figures have been likened to evil dictators of the past. The code pink left during the administration of George W. Bush had constantly compared him to Hitler, leftist ideologues have a long history of trying to compare Republicans to Nazis, and they have always been wrong.
Republican’s have always, or at least have claimed to, stand up for the limited government, free market principles outlined by our Founding documents — principles that are against everything the Nazi’s (National Socialists) stood for.
Enter Donald Trump.
In 2016 the Republican Party has abandoned all pretenses of being the principled party of limited government, free people and free markets. This could not be anymore evident by the uproar over Sen. Ted Cruz’s great convention speech and the warm embrace of Donald Trump.
Sen. Ted Cruz urged Republicans to “Stand and speak, and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom… (so that) we will be able to say, ‘Freedom matters… ‘” and Trump’s supporters took it as an attack on their candidate. What does that say about Trump’s base, it says that they know that Trump is not a person of conscience or is principled enough to defend the Constitution.
Now under the reign of Donald Trump, the Republican Party now embraces liberal concepts of federal wage controls and fighting the “gender wage gap.” Trump’s Republican platform embraces a “do as I tell you,” message to private business and anti-free trade policies that will increase the cost-of-living for all Americans.
Some of the same useful idiots who were attacking Bernie Sanders for his socialist policies are now embracing Donald Trump for openly supporting those same policies. In the same way the hardline enforcers of long gone socialist regimes attacked anyone who would dare speak ill of the Dear Leader — Trump’s New Republicans have gone nuts on Ted Cruz for standing up for liberty, because if you are not for Trump you must be defeated.
Trump laid out an argument for unlimited government under a single man, but don’t worry he’s not a tyrant, he’s a “Republican.”
Thanks to the Republican party, a party that helped to fight the Cold War, Donald Trump is frighteningly close to achieving his vision for Trump style National Socialism. Donald Trump is a threat to not just everything that the Republican Party was founded on, but he is an threat to everything our Founding Father’s held near and dear. The Republican Party itself and the misguided idiots who claim to be liberty loving conservatives, yet look at Trump through the eyes lovestruck teenage girl looking at the latest teen idol, deserve just as much blame for allowing this to happen as Trump has for leading the charge.
Congratulations Republicans, you have become everything you have claimed to hate. It’s not Socialism, its “Republican Socialism”.
Being a law enforcement officer is a difficult and often times thankless job. Police officers are at risk countless times throughout the day while conducting their job duties, a potentially life-threatening situation can arise at any moment with no warning what-so-ever, because of this they have to be prepared for all possible scenarios with every encounter.
They are not highly paid, for a job at any given moment may cause them to pay the ultimate sacrifice while in the line of duty. The men and women who choose to put on the uniform to “serve and protect,” are husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, uncles and aunts.
The great Paul Harvey once said, “A policeman must be a minister, social worker, a diplomat, a tough guy and a gentleman. And, of course, he will have to be a genius, for he will have to feed a family on a policeman’s salary.”
However, they are still not infallible and they are most definitely not absolved from criticism, especially when that criticism is warranted. Much like it appears, upon an admittedly quick review, may be the case in two separate police involved shooting deaths this week in Louisiana and Minnesota. In both of those situations, the law enforcement officers were white and the shooting victims were black.
The first of the two incidents that occurred this week was in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 37-year-old Alton Sterling, was standing in the parking lot of the Triple S Food Mart, selling CDs, something he had done for years, with permission of the store’s owner.
Alton Sterling
According to a “source with knowledge of the investigation” CNN reports that at some point in the evening on Tuesday, Sterling was approached by a homeless man asking for money.
The man was persistent, and Sterling showed him his gun, the source said.
“I told you to leave me alone,” Sterling told the man, according to the source
The homeless man then used his cell phone to call 911, the source said.
The details about the 911 call shed new light into the Baton Rouge police’s high-profile fatal shooting of Sterling, a 37-year-old black man.
A graphic cell phone video of the shooting was shared widely on social media, quickly sparking local protests and drawing national attention. Federal authorities have taken charge of the investigation. Read More…
In the grainy first video that was released to social media Tuesday evening, Alton Sterling was seen being wrestled to the ground by two officers, someone can be heard shouting, “He’s got a gun! Gun!” One of the officers then holds a gun over Sterling. Soon after, multiple shots are heard.
A second video obtained by The Advocate, emerged Wednesday evening, also captured on a cellphone, but from a different angle.
Before you hit play, be warned, that it is violent and graphic.
After watching both the original video and then the second video posted above, I don’t know if I am ready to say that it was cold-blooded murder, but there is no doubt in my mind that Alton Sterling would be alive if not for the actions of those two police officers.
The second incident this week occurred Wednesday evening in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, where 32-year-old Philando Castile was shot and killed after being pulled over for a busted taillight. Much like the previous shooting in Louisiana, this one two was captured on a cellphone and shared to social media.
Philando Castile
Castile’s girlfriend, Diamond Reynolds, the passenger in the vehicle, live streamed the incident on Facebook, starting from the point after the shooting took place.
What we saw in the video was a remarkably calm & composed woman watching her boyfriend as he bleed out. We saw a police officer, weapon still drawn and pointed at the dying man, shouting and swearing and not keeping his cool.
Stephen Green, aka Vodkapundit, had an interesting breakdown, on his thought of the video, which I tend to agree with.
When you are legally carrying, you refer to your pistol as a “firearm” so as not to alarm the police when you inform them that you are carrying, and to indicate that you have received proper training. The word “firearm” is supposed to help put the officer at ease in a tense situation.
Throughout the video, Reynolds refers to Castile’s pistol as a firearm. That might be a small detail, but it is a compelling one. Reynolds kept her calm and used the proper language in a life and death situation. I’m inclined to believe then that she has had some kind of firearms training. When she says at the start of the video that “He’s licensed to carry, he was trying to get out his ID,” I’m inclined to believe that, too.
What the video doesn’t show is how Castile was pulling out his license. Was he as cool and calm as Reynolds? Was he moving quickly? Had he used the word “gun” or “weapon” when telling the police officer that he was carrying? Was he following instructions? Were those instructions lawful?
We just don’t know, but there are some things we may reasonably conjecture — subject, of course, to whatever new evidence may come out later.
According to Reynolds in the video, Castile had “never been in jail, anything. He’s not a gang member, anything.” Add that to the calm, good sense, and tactical knowledge demonstrated by Reynolds, and my inclination is to believe that Castile’s behavior during the initial phase of the traffic stop was also lawful and proper. Read More…
I agree with those sentiments, we don’t know what happened before the video started rolling, however based solely off Reynolds’ actions and demeanor in the video, I tend to believe that Castile would be alive today if not for the actions of that police officer.
In a press conference today Reynolds shed more light on the incident.
“I’m the woman who recorded the video,” said Reynolds, referring to the footage she streamed last night on Facebook Live, in which Castile could be seen bleeding through his shirt while Reynolds’s young daughter looks on from the back of the car and a police officer stands over Castile with his gun drawn.
“We got pulled over for what allegedly was supposed to be a broken taillight,” Reynolds said. “[The police officer] let us know that we had a broken taillight. He asked us, were we aware of it and we said no. As we said no, he tells us to put our hands in the air.”
According to Reynolds, she and Castile complied with the order, at which point the officer at the driver’s side window asked Castile for his license and registration.
“My boyfriend carries all his information in a thick wallet in his right side back pocket,” Reynolds said. “As he’s reaching for his back pocket wallet he lets the officer know, ‘Officer, I have a firearm on me.’ I begin to yell, ‘But he’s licensed to carry.’ ” According to Reynolds, the officer started firing shortly after.
According to Castile’s uncle, Castile died of his wounds around 9:30 p.m. at the hospital where he was taken after the shooting. According to Reynolds, “nobody checked his pulse” in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
Instead, Reynolds said, she was placed in the back of a police car as other officers “soothed” the officer who fired on Castile. “They pulled him over to the side and they began to calm him down and tell him that it was OK and he would get through this,” Reynolds said. Read More…
Philando Castile, a law-abiding and legally licensed concealed carry permit holder who was exercising his God-given 2nd Amendment rights is dead because of the petty law enforcement of a busted tail light. I apologize if that sounds like hyperbole, but it is the truth. A busted out tail light is the excuse that the officer had to stop Castile and begin an interaction during which some point something happened that made him uncomfortable or nervous. Was it Castile’s skin color? I don’t know, I’m not going to begin to question what is inside the heart of a man, especially with limited evidence.
I’m not going to go the “Trumpservative” route and say that all cops are great and Alton Sterling & Philando Castile have criminal records. I’m also not going to go all “social justice warrior” and say that cops are evil and are systematically targeting black men.
The truth is somewhere in between.
Shame on anyone who calls themselves a liberty-loving Constitutional Conservative and is not absolutely outraged at the total denial of the civil liberties of these two men. It doesn’t matter what their skin color, gender or sexual orientations were. They are both dead because their Civil Rights were violated and anyone who refuses to see that is blinded by hatred, bigotry or stupidity.
A lot of people are angry, and rightfully so. I don’t know what the answers are, I just hope that we are able to find it.
The mug shot he posted on Facebook came from that county. The Citrus County Sheriff’s Department did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
This past Friday evening, prior to his team’s preseason game against the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick decided, in an act of protest, not to stand for the traditional playing of the national anthem prior to kickoff. Kaepernick defended his actions with the 
According to police, on Monday August 8, Cumru Township police were dispatched to the Valero–Shillington Food Mart, located at 110 Revere Blvd, for a robbery that had just occurred.
Salerno reportedly paid 48-year-old Karen Proia $100 on June 22nd to take a taste of his beefy bologna.
Sen. Ted Cruz urged Republicans to “Stand and speak, and vote your conscience. Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom… (so that) we will be able to say, ‘Freedom matters… ‘” and Trump’s supporters took it as an attack on their candidate. What does that say about Trump’s base, it says that they know that Trump is not a person of conscience or is principled enough to defend the Constitution.
