[VIDEO] Banned from Handing Out Constitutions on Constitution Day

On Constitution Day this year, Robert Van Tuinen, an Army veteran and a student at Modesto Junior College (MJC) in California, was trying to pass out copies of the United States Constitution and drum up support for his proposed Young Americans for Liberty chapter on campus. School administrators at MJC didn’t like this and decided to shut him down in spite of the fact that MJC is a public university that must comply with the First Amendment.

Luckily, Van Tuinen caught the entire episode on tape.

In the video, school officials make a variety of vague justifications for shutting down his protected speech, including this gem:

School security: Who you are representing today is The Heritage Foundation.

Van Tuinen: I’m not representing The Heritage Foundation. They simply made the [pocket] Constitutions, which [are] the highest law of the land, that I am passing out.

Van Tuinen filed suit yesterday in federal court, alleging violations of his First and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Van Tuinen has some First Amendment heavyweights in his corner,including the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and the case appears to be a slam dunk. It is well-settled law that students don’t give up their First Amendment rights as soon as they enroll. Other, similar “free speech zones” have been struck down by federal courtsbefore.

Via: The Foundry

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Veterans toss aside memorial barricades, march on White House

Veterans from all over the country gathered at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. Sunday morning to protest the closure of the memorials during the partial government shutdown, throwing barricades placed in front of the memorials aside in heaps.

Organized by Brats for Veterans Advocacy, the Million Vet March on the Memorials drew in a crowd of vocal veterans fed up with the federal government’s shutdown decisions waving enormous American and “Don’t Treat On Me” flags and signs.

“I’m totally, thoroughly disgusted in our government’s decision to close these monuments,” said retired Army Green Beret Mike Freeman, who served in Vietnam.

Retired Master Sergeant  Jim Hanson also expressed his anger with the closures, telling The Daily Caller that veterans have every right to visit memorials erected in their honor.

“It’s a disgrace to close this memorial,” Hanson said, indicating the World War II memorial. “It cost more to close it than to let the veterans pay their respects. The government is not in charge of keeping people out of monuments that were put here in their own honor.”

An African-American vet who asked to remain unnamed was dismayed that patriotic commemorations were caught in partisan crossfire and that more black veterans were not joining in the protest.

“I think that things are getting bad when they can find the money to fund academy football teams but can’t find the money to give to widows and dead soldiers’ families. That’s just wrong,” he said. “My only regret is that there’s not a lot more black veterans here today. It’s not a black or a white thing, it’s not a Republican or a Democrat thing — it’s a right or wrong thing. I’m here today because it’s the right thing to do.”

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee and Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz all made appearances to thank the vets for their service and rail against the Obama administration and the closure of the memorials.

Via: Daily Caller

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National Guard Feels Shutdown Pain

Nearly 50,000 full-time National Guard employees have been furloughed as a result of the federal government shutdown. The standoff in Washington also has resulted in the cancellation of most of this weekend’s training exercises, depriving even non-furloughed guardsmen of the salaries they receive for drilling. 

The furloughed guardsmen are paid by the federal government, even though they are under the command of their states’ adjutant generals and governors. The guardsmen who have been affected generally work as full-time computer programmers, or are engaged in cybersecurity or administrative work. Guardsmen whose salaries come from state funds will not be furloughed.  In some states, that is about half of the total.

Most National Guard members are part-time, and hold regular civilian jobs. However, they are paid to train one weekend each month and two weeks each year, in case they are ever called for domestic emergencies or active duty military service.  Those whose training exercises have been canceled will not get paid, even though they have not been furloughed.

Many of the troops who have received furlough notices because of the shutdown were already taking furlough days because ofsequestration, the across-the-board federal budget cuts which took effect in March 2013.

Overall, there are 385,000 members of the Army National Guard and 114,000 members of the Air National Guard, according to the National Guard Bureau.

Several governors were furious about having to issue furlough notices to guardsmen in their states. “Some of these men and women have been deployed multiple times,” Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage said in a statement. “This is a shameful tactic to use against Mainers who have put their life on the line to protect our freedoms.”

Via: Pew States

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A war the Pentagon doesn’t want

Robert H. Scales, a retired Army major general, is a former commandant of the U.S. Army War College.

The tapes tell the tale. Go back and look at images of our nation’s most senior soldier, Gen. Martin Dempsey, and his body language during Tuesday’s Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Syria. It’s pretty obvious that Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, doesn’t want this war. As Secretary of State John Kerry’s thundering voice and arm-waving redounded in rage against Bashar al-Assad’s atrocities, Dempsey was largely (and respectfully) silent.

Dempsey’s unspoken words reflect the opinions of most serving military leaders. By no means do I profess to speak on behalf of all of our men and women in uniform. But I can justifiably share the sentiments of those inside the Pentagon and elsewhere who write the plans and develop strategies for fighting our wars. After personal exchanges with dozens of active and retired soldiers in recent days, I feel confident that what follows represents the overwhelming opinion of serving professionals who have been intimate witnesses to the unfolding events that will lead the United States into its next war.

Via: The Washington Post

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IRAN AGGRESSIVELY RECRUITING ‘INVISIBLE ARMY’ OF LATIN AMERICAN CONVERTS TO INFILTRATE U.S. THROUGH ‘SOFT BELLY’ OF THE SOUTHERN BORDER

Iran is recruiting an “invisible army” of revolutionary sympathizers in Latin America to infiltrate the U.S. through the “soft belly” of the southern border, U.S. officials and national security experts told TheBlaze. And they’re using one website in particular to do it.

Iranian President Hassan Rowhani, middle, attends a session of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran on Sept. 3, 2013. Iran’s Assembly of Experts is a body that selects the supreme leader and supervises his activities. (Getty Images)

The Iranian regime’s conversion efforts are becoming increasingly aggressive, especially over the Internet, with the goal of conducting operations against United States interests in the Western Hemisphere, according to U.S. government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the nature of their work in the region.

Islamoriente.com, which focuses on religion and politics, is one of Iran’s main recruitment and conversion websites for Latin America on the Internet, TheBlaze has learned. The site, which launched in 2008, includes links to Iranian television for Spanish speakers, anti-American news stories, essays on reasons to convert to Islam, chat rooms and a personal message from the Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran.

Even as President Barack Obama waits for Congress to make a decision on Syria, the Iranian website wastes no time and has no shortage of stories ridiculing the U.S. administration for threatening to strike President Bashar Assad’s regime, a staunch ally of Iran.

Jim Phillips, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation and expert in Iranian affairs, said Iran’s focus on Hispanic converts is a new evolution in Iranian operations in Latin America. Phillips said Khamanei’s message titled “The Importance of Work and the Nobility of the Worker” in Islam, is significant because the Ayatollah is “normally a background player in these sorts of efforts and doesn’t usually play such a public role.”

Via: The Blaze

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Obama Reduces 2014 Pay Hike for U.S. Troops, Still Fighting in Afghanistan

(CNSNews.com) - As promised in his Fiscal Year 2014 budget, President Obama has just informed Congress that he will cap next year's pay raise for U.S. military personnel at 1 percent, instead of the 1.8 percent raise set by the formula Congress established.

The announcement came on Friday afternoon, at the start of the long Labor Day weekend, in a letter to Congress.

"I am strongly committed to supporting our uniformed service members, who have made such great contributions to our Nation over the past decade of war," President Obama wrote to congressional leaders. "As our country continues to recover from serious economic conditions affecting the general welfare, however, we must maintain efforts to keep our Nation on a sustainable fiscal course. This effort requires tough choices, especially in light of budget constraints faced by Federal agencies."

Obama said he has decided to "exercise my authority under section 1009(e) of title 37, United States Code, to set the 2014 monthly basic pay increase at 1.0 percent" for members of the military.

"This decision is consistent with my fiscal year 2014 Budget and will not materially affect the Federal Government's ability to attract and retain well-qualified members for the uniformed services," Obama wrote. 

Via: CNS News

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Obama Executive Order Triples Number Of Agencies Required To Track Guns…

President Obama is tripling the number of Cabinet agencies with gun control law enforcement responsibilities in his new bid to track guns, adding six agencies to the three typically included--Justice, Homeland Security and Defense.

Section 1.e of his executive order released Wednesday adds State, Treasury, Interior, Agriculture, Energy, and Veterans Affairs. It reads: "For purposes of this memorandum, 'Federal law enforcement agencies' means the Departments of State, the Treasury, Defense, Justice, the Interior, Agriculture, Energy, Veterans Affairs, and Homeland Security, and such other agencies and offices that regularly recover firearms in the course of their criminal investigations as the President may designate."

Most federal agencies have a police or security arm, but typically law enforcement doesn't included those other six agencies. Justice, in fact, defines law enforcement this way on its web page:

"A federal law enforcement agency is an organizational unit, or subunit, of the federal government with the principle functions of prevention, detection, and investigation of crime and the apprehension of alleged offenders. Examples of federal law enforcement agencies include the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). BJS has surveyed federal law enforcement agencies seven times since 1993. The 2008 Census of Federal Law Enforcement Officers (FLEO) included agencies that employed full-time officers with federal arrest authority who were also authorized (but not necessarily required) to carry firearms while on duty. The officer counts exclude officers in the U.S. Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast Guard), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the Transportation Security Administration's Federal Air Marshals. Findings are based on the 2008 Census of Federal Law Enforcement Officers."

Via: The Examiner

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Mitt Romney Just Hammered Obama On Libya In A Big, Wide-Ranging Foreign Policy Speech

Republican nominee Mitt Romney gave a highly pumped-up foreign policy speech Monday that hammered President Barack Obama's foreign policy direction, including his handling of the recent attacks in Libya that left a U.S. ambassador dead.

Here's the full text of Romney's speech:

"I particularly appreciate the introduction from my good friend and tireless campaign companion, Gov. Bob McDonnell.  He is showing what conservative leadership can do to build a stronger economy.  Thank you also Congressman Goodlatte for joining us today. And particular thanks to Gen. Peay. I appreciate your invitation to be with you today at the Virginia Military Institute.  It is a great privilege to be here at an Institution that has done so much for our nation, both in war and in peace.  

For more than 170 years, VMI has done more than educate students.  It has guided their transformation into citizens, and warriors, and leaders.  VMI graduates have served with honor in our nation’s defense, just as many are doing today in Afghanistan and other lands.  Since the September 11^th attacks, many of VMI’s sons and daughters have defended America, and I mourn with you the 15 brave souls who have been lost. I join you in praying for the many VMI graduates and all Americans who are now serving in harm’s way.  May God bless all who serve, and all who have served.

Of all the VMI graduates, none is more distinguished than George Marshall—the Chief of Staff of the Army who became Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, who helped to vanquish fascism and then planned Europe’s rescue from despair. His commitment to peace was born of his direct knowledge of the awful costs and consequences of war.

General Marshall once said, “The only way human beings can win a war is to prevent it.”  Those words were true in his time—and they still echo in ours.

Via: Business Insider

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Last of US Surge Troops Leave Afghanistan

AP

Last of US Surge Troops Leave Afghanistan, Officials Say

U.S. officials say that nearly two years after President Barack Obama ordered 33,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to tamp down escalating Taliban violence, the last of those surge troops have left the country.

The withdrawal leaves 68,000 American forces in the warzone. It comes as the security transition to Afghan forces is in trouble, threatened by a spike in so-called insider attacks in which Afghan Army and police troops, or insurgents dressed in their uniforms, have been attacking and killing U.S. and NATO forces.

And it's called into question the core strategy that relies on NATO troops working closely with Afghans, training them to take over the security of their own country so the U.S. and its allies can leave at the end of 2014 as planned.

Via: Fox News

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