Category: Courts

Southeastern Legal Foundation FILES HISTORIC FEDERAL LAWSUIT CHALLENGING CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN SCHOOLS

Rumble — Real America - Dan W/ General Counsel for Southeastern Legal Foundation, Kimberly Hermann (July 1, 2021)

SEE: https://www.slfliberty.org/

Grandma Charged With ‘Parading’ at Capitol Riot Told by Attorney to Denounce White Privilege Before Judge Sentenced Her

Re-Education for Capitol Protesters, Communist-Style:

THREE YEARS OF PROBATION, $500 FINE FOR RESTITUTION, 40 HOURS OF COMMUNITY SERVICE

It's been clear from the first arrests of the Capitol protesters that their prosecutions were highly political, but it is only worsening. Court records from the first conviction show that Anna Morgan-Lloyd was given materials meant to re-educate her Soviet-style with anti-American-themed literature, then she was required to write demeaning book reports (like a child), which were submitted to the court as evidence of corrected wrong-think as her defense. The fact that she walked through an open door at the Capitol was never her real offense, but it was rather that she held the wrong political opinions, which the system is seeking to 'fix'. Others are getting the same gulag type of treatment, and they face lengthy prison sentences if they express disagreement with hating America. They are essentially having judicial Critical Race Theory forced upon them, and they are required to agree with it. Never again say that it couldn't happen in America.

SARAH CORRIHER, PRESENT AT THE CAPITOL JANUARY 6, 2021, REPORTS:

BY VICTORIA TAFT

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/victoria-taft/2021/06/25/woman-arrested-for-trespassing-in-capitol-riot-case-told-to-denounce-white-privilege-by-her-own-defense-attorney-n1457110;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

An Indiana grandmother up on trespassing charges in the Capitol riot case was told by her court-appointed public defender to denounce her “white privilege.” The defense attorney gave her a reading list to reprogram her political views in order to cut a deal for no prison time for trespassing on January 6. She’s the first of the trespassers to be sentenced.

Capitol riot

This sickening reaction to a woman, Anna Morgan-Lloyd, who walked through the open door of the Capitol Building and did nothing wrong for a five- to ten-minute period of time — except be there — is about as Kafkaesque as it gets in U.S. jurisprudence. It is a scene repeated over and over in the cases against people near, outside, or inside the Capitol Building on January 6.

It signals yet again the bizarre and wrongheaded belief that the people who were in D.C. to watch President Trump’s speech on January 6 were somehow white supremacists — never mind that there were people of all ethnicities present.

It also shows how the full weight of the U.S. government against these 500 people, many of whom simply walked through an open door under the watchful eyes of Capitol Police, has ruined their lives and finances.

Julie Kelly writes in American Greatness that in court on Wednesday, 49-year-old grandmother Anna Morgan-Lloyd was encouraged — or ordered — by her attorney to denounce her whiteness and prostrate herself before a federal judge for her lawless act … of “parading”… through the open Capitol door.

“My lawyer has given me names of books and movies to help me see what life is like for others in our country. I’ve learned that even though we live in a wonderful country things still need to improve. People of all colors should feel as safe as I do to walk down the street.”

That passage is part book report, part white privilege mea culpa submitted to a federal court this month by Anna Morgan-Lloyd, one of the more than 500 Americans arrested for her involvement in the events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. The 49-year-old grandmother of five from southern Indiana was charged with four counts of trespassing and disorderly conduct even though she walked through an open door and was inside the building for about five minutes. She was ratted out to the FBI by a county worker who saw her January 6 posts on Facebook.

On Wednesday, Lloyd, who has a clean criminal record, pleaded guilty to one count of “parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building”—but not before she consented to undergo a reeducation exercise at the urging of her court-appointed lawyer. (Like many January 6 defendants, Lloyd does not have the means to hire a private attorney.) [emphasis added]

It goes without saying, although we do say it a lot here at PJ Media, that rioting and hurting cops is wrong.

The Indiana grandma did neither.

Apparently “parading” is now a federal offense worthy of being jailed (which she was while waiting for her case to be assigned to a judge), and the payment for said offense is re-education camp.

She wasn’t throwing Molotov cocktails, blinding police officers with lasers, or setting buildings on fire as Portland Antifa and BLM rioters did.

It has probably never occurred to Antifa's federally appointed free lawyers — in the unlikely event they ever needed one — to require their clients to denounce their bizarre, racist, and wrongheaded beliefs before going before a judge.

Kelly writes that judges in the January 6 cases “routinely lecture January 6 defendants about the wrongthink of a ‘stolen election’ while prosecutors openly mock their political beliefs, including homeschooling and gun ownership.”

 

Morgan-Lloyd’s federally appointed defense attorney, Heather Shaner, assumes that people driven to be in Washington, D.C., on January 6 are de facto racists.

“I have had many political and ethical discussions with Anna Lloyd,” Shaner wrote in her motion agreeing to the plea and probation for Lloyd. “I tendered a booklist to her. She has read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, Just Mercy, and Schindler’s List to educate herself about ‘government policy’ toward Native Americans, African Americans and European Jews. We have discussed the books and also about the responsibility of an individual when confronting ‘wrong.’”

Shaner also told the court that Lloyd watched the “Burning Tulsa” documentary on the History Channel as well as “Mudbound,” a story of two families, one black and one white, living on the same property after World War II.”

Shaner bragged in Huffington Post about giving her “captured audience” (her clients) what the publication called “remedial lessons in American history.”

Shaner regularly sends her clients who are incarcerated pretrial books to read: “They’re a captured audience, and it’s life-changing for a lot of them.”

As Kelly notes, Lloyd was not charged with anything remotely having to do with racism, but her attorney assumed that, of course, she must be racist! Here’s what Kelly reports she said in court on Wednesday.

“I apologize to the court, to the American people, to my family,” she told Lamberth. “I was there to support Trump peacefully and am ashamed that it became a savage display of violence.” She said she’s never experienced racial negativity but “realizes many people do.”

The federal attorney in the case said in court that there was no political test for prosecutions– but come on, who are we kidding here? The “shock and awe” prosecutions have everything to do with politics. If trespassing and “parading” were offenses worthy of prosecution, hundreds of Portlanders would be serving prison sentences right now. But they aren’t. Kelly reports, “Nearly every charging document filed by Joe Biden’s Justice Department in the Capitol breach probe mentions the defendant’s belief about the 2020 presidential election as evidence of wrongdoing.”

In the “statement of facts” for the case against Lloyd, it states that she and a friend “violated 40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2)(D) and (G), which make it a crime to willfully and knowingly (D) utter loud, threatening, or abusive language, or engage in disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place in the Grounds or in any of the Capitol Buildings with the intent to impede, disrupt, or disturb the orderly conduct of a session of Congress or either House of Congress, or the orderly conduct in that building of a hearing before, or any deliberations of, a committee of Congress or either House of Congress; and (G) parade, demonstrate, or picket in any of the Capitol Buildings.”

As we’ve reported before, somehow the screaming and threats by people who tried to break down the doors of the Senate Judiciary Committee chambers during the Brett Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation hearings, the countless times Medea Benjamin and her Code Pinko anti-U.S. activists interrupted congressional hearings, and Senator Chuck Schumer standing on the Supreme Court stairs threatening jurists before an amped-up mob — among many other examples — don’t count as uttering “loud, threatening, or abusive” actions worthy of prosecution.

Lloyd is now on probation for three years, during which time she may not own guns. It bears noting that the woman, who also lost her job over this prosecution, was turned in to the FBI “by a confidential witness” after she applied for a gun permit. The “witness” knew that Lloyd had been in Washington, D.C., on January 6.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Rothstein said in court Wednesday that “we don’t prosecute people based on their beliefs.”

Try not to laugh.

Governor DeSantis Wins Major Victory to Protect Florida’s Cruise Industry

SEE: https://www.flgov.com/2021/06/18/governor-desantis-wins-major-victory-to-protect-floridas-cruise-industry/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, the federal district court in Tampa delivered a major victory for Governor Ron DeSantis against the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and its obstructionist No Sail Orders that have flatlined Florida’s cruise industry for over a year. Ruling in favor of Florida’s Motion for Preliminary Injunction, Judge Steven Merryday concluded the CDC’s restrictions are likely unconstitutional and overstepping their legal authority. The Cruise Industry will soon be permitted to set sail again thanks to the lawsuit brought by Governor DeSantis and Attorney General Moody. The state fought on behalf of the cruise industry in Florida to secure the ability to resume operations without overly burdensome requirements that discriminate against children, leave most of the ships sitting in port, and disregard the freedom of Floridians to make decisions for their families.

Beginning July 18, the CDC’s orders will become mere “guidance,” and cruise ships will hit the open waters once again free from the CDC. As Florida continues to thrive while open for business, the return of the cruise industry marks an important milestone in the fight for freedom.

“The CDC has been wrong all along, and they knew it,” said Governor Ron DeSantis. “The CDC and the Biden Administration concocted a plan to sink the cruise industry, hiding behind bureaucratic delay and lawsuits. Today, we are securing this victory for Florida families, for the cruise industry, and for every state that wants to preserve its rights in the face of unprecedented federal overreach.”

Included in the ruling, the Middle District Court of Florida found that:

  • The CDC cannot discriminately keep children and families from cruising;
  • Neither the CDC, nor any federal agency, can require a vaccine passport; and
  • The CDC must create an actual framework for businesses to resume operations, rather than forcing them to conduct burdensome and bureaucratic tests without any standard by which to be measured.

In its ruling, the court says “Never has CDC (or a predecessor) detained a vessel for more than fifteen months; never has CDC implemented a widespread or industry-wide detention of a fleet of vessels in American waters; never has CDC condition pratique as extensively and burdensomely as the conditional sailing order; and never has CDC imposed restrictions that have summarily dismissed the effectiveness of state regulation and halted for an extended time an entire multi-billion dollar industry nationwide. In a word, never has CDC implemented measures as extensive, disabling and exclusive as those under review in this action.”

Judge Merryday also cites a previous ruling stating, “When an agency claims to discover in a long-extant statute an unheralded power to regulate ‘a significant portion of the American economy,’ we typically greet its announcement with a measure of skepticism.”

Find the full ruling here.

Judge Blocks Biden’s Anti-white Farm Program. Gov’t Can’t Forgive Loans Only for Minorities

Judge Blocks Biden’s Anti-white Farm Program. Gov’t Can’t Forgive Loans Only for Minorities

BY R. CORT KIRKWOOD

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/judge-blocks-bidens-anti-white-farm-program-govt-cant-forgive-loans-only-for-minorities/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

A federal court has bluntly shut down the Biden administration’s plan to discriminate against white farmers by creating a loan forgiveness program only for blacks and other minorities.

In a temporary restraining order issued June 10, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin blocked the Agriculture Department’s Farm Services Agency from forgiving the loans pursuant to the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The law sought to help farmers supposedly affected by the China Virus pandemic.

Judge William C. Griesbach sharply stated Biden and his agriculture bureaucrats cannot discriminate against whites.

Not So Fast, Biden

The five original plaintiffs, all white farmers, argued that ARPA’s provision trespasses the Constitution’s prohibition of racial discrimination.

As the FSA said of the program, “the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provides historic debt relief to socially disadvantaged producers including Black/African American, American Indian or Alaskan native, Hispanic or Latino, and Asian American or Pacific Islander.”

Tranlsation: Whitey need not apply.

Argued the white farmers:

While Defendants’ public statements about ARPA describe their generalized goal of ending “systemic racism,” such broad goals do not override the constitutional ban on race discrimination. In fact, the Supreme Court has “rejected the interest in remedying societal discrimination because it had no logical stopping point. … In short, “[t]he way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.” …

The liberty protected by the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause contains within it the prohibition against denying to any person the equal protection of the laws. …

The racial classifications under Section 1005 of ARPA are unconstitutional because they violate the Equal Protection guarantee in the United States Constitution.

The number of plaintiffs grew to 12 before the judge ruled.

Court Agrees

The court issued the temporary restraining order (TRO) because the white plaintiffs are likely to succeed in their claim, Judge Griesbach wrote.

Though the defendants “point to statistical and anecdotal evidence of a history of discrimination within the agricultural industry,” that doesn’t justify harming whites:

Defendants cannot rely on a “generalized assertion that there has been past discrimination in an entire industry” and they “have no evidence of intentional discrimination by the USDA in the implementation of the recent agriculture subsidies and pandemic relief efforts.

Nor did Biden and his anti-white subalterns “establish that it has a compelling interest in remedying the effects of past and present discrimination through the distribution of benefits on the basis of racial classifications.”

Even better, the judge explained that “the obvious response to a government agency that claims it continues to discriminate against farmers because of their race or national origin is to direct it to stop: It is not to direct it to intentionally discriminate against others on the basis of their race and national origin.”

Biden “cannot discriminate on the basis of race.”

Though the administration argues that loan forgiveness is meant to help “socially-disadvantaged farmers affected by COVID-19,” Griesbach wrote, “it does not provide relief based on losses sustained during the pandemic.”

Instead, the only consideration in determining whether a farmer or rancher’s loans should be completely forgiven is the person’s race or national origin. Plaintiffs are completely excluded from participation in the program based on their race. If the Court does not issue an injunction, the USDA will spend the allocated money and forgive the loans of minority farmers while the case is pending and will have no incentive to provide similar relief on an equitable basis to others. Plaintiffs are excluded from the program based on their race and are thus experiencing discrimination at the hands of their government.

The judge ruled that white farmers “have established a strong likelihood” the loan forgiveness section of ARPA is unconstitutional.

Though Biden’s side said any TRO should apply only to the plaintiffs, the judge disagreed and issued a nationwide injunction:

Defendants’ proposal to set aside funds to pay off any of Plaintiffs’ qualified loans is unworkable. If the USDA forgave Plaintiffs’ loans, it would be required to forgive every farmer’s loan, since the only criteria for loan forgiveness is the applicant’s race. Plaintiffs estimate that this would increase the cost of the program to $400 billion. In addition, nothing would prevent Plaintiffs from amending the complaint to add other farmers and ranchers as plaintiffs to this action. To ensure that Plaintiffs receive complete relief and that similarly-situated nonparties are protected, a universal temporary restraining order in this case is proper.

The ruling means Biden and Vilsack “are enjoined from forgiving any loans” under the unconstitutional law.

HUGE: Significant Election Irregularities Exposed in Fulton County, Georgia

BY MATT MARGOLIS

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/matt-margolis/2021/06/17/huge-significant-election-irregularities-exposed-in-fulton-county-georgia-n1455273;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Documents from Fulton County, Georgia, that were submitted to state officials for the election audit “highlight significant irregularities in the Atlanta area during last November’s voting, ranging from identical vote tallies repeated multiple times to large batches of absentee ballots that appear to be missing from the official ballot-scanning records,” reports Just The News.

Thousands of ballots are potentially impacted by these irregularities, suggesting they could be results-changing, as Joe Biden’s state-certified victory in the state was by fewer than 12,000 votes.

Just The News reviewed memos that included “handwritten tally sheets for all absentee ballots counted by the county as well as a private report from a contractor hired by Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to monitor the Atlanta-area election process.”

The report, which chronicled seven days of problems, recorded troubling behavior like the mysterious removal of a suitcase of sensitive election data known as polls pads, used to authenticate voters.

“Learn that Rick reprogramming poll pads earlier was setting up a new precinct for SC11 because someone took the wrong suitcase but only took one,” the contractor Seven Hills Strategy wrote late on Nov. 2, the night before Election Day. “Seems to be a mystery who this person was –> Should have chain of custody paperwork!! That means that a stranger just walked out with sensitive election materials?”

The contractor also observed that sensitive election materials were left on a dock at a warehouse without supervision. “Several cases (including SC11) were just left out on the loading dock outside the warehouse,” he wrote. “Thankfully the seals were intact.”

Last month, Henry County Superior Court Judge Brian Amero unsealed approximately 145,000 Fulton County absentee ballots from the 2020 election, approving them for an audit. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported at the time that the audit “cannot change the election results, which were certified months ago and have already been confirmed by multiple recounts. But the plaintiffs say an examination of ballots would get to the bottom of what they see as suspicious activity by election officials at State Farm Arena in November.”

Related: Arizona Officials Dispute Report Claiming a ‘Couple Hundred Thousand’ Ballots Are Missing

Lawyer Bob Cheeley, who’s leading the audit, told Just the News that the evidence he’s seen so far points to “election tabulation malpractice,” though experts and state election officials disagree on whether the evidence is proof of fraud or gross incompetence. They are, however, mostly united in the opinion that top election supervisors in Fulton County should be removed.

Just The News reviewed the Fulton County documents.

Among the problems those memos exposed:

  • More than 100 batches of absentee ballots — each containing approximately 100 or more ballots — were assigned tracking numbers before being sent to one of the five absentee vote-counting machines in Fulton County but are not subsequently recorded in the handwritten logs showing which batches were scanned and counted, raising concerns the ballots may be missing.
  • More than two dozen batches of absentee ballots were identified as having been double-scanned on the tally sheets.
  • Five sequential batches of absentee votes each appeared with the exact same vote count of 392 for Biden, 96 for President Donald Trump, and 3 for Libertarian Jo Jorgensen, a count that state officials admitted was a statistical impossibility.
  • Many control sheets for absentee ballot batches counted during the state’s audit did not check a box indicating the ballot came from a secure container, raising the possibility that ballots were stored insecurely or that multiple batches of ballots were sealed in a single container.

Fulton County’s paperwork is also so “shoddy” that one state official said it left open the possibility that fraud or misconduct occurred. “An audit is only as good as the data that’s input, and in this case, Fulton County’s records are so problematic I’m not sure a reasonable person can trust them,” the official said. “When you add in the reports of ballots magically appearing under tables or being moved out of the counting center, there are legitimate outstanding questions.”

Hypothetically speaking, if the Maricopa County, Ariz., audit and the Fulton County, Ga., audit both found enough fraud to change the results in those states, Joe Biden’s lead in the Electoral College would shrink to 279, and Trump’s Electoral College vote count would be 259—which would still not be enough to alter the results of the election. Another audit may be coming to Pennsylvania. If an audit finds results-changing fraud in Pennsylvania, which the Trump campaign alleges happened, that would mean that Trump’s true Electoral College vote total in 2020 would have been 279, to Joe Biden’s 259. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean that the 2020 election would be invalidated and Trump would assume the presidency again.

“The election was lawless, six states allowed their delegates to vote by false certifications, but the [Electoral College] process happened,” explained Jenna Ellis, Trump’s former legal adviser. “The Constitution has only one process for removal of a sitting president: impeachment and conviction.”

“The best thing we can do as constitutionalists moving forward is to ensure this utter disregard for states’ election laws never happens again,” Ellis continued. “That’s why election integrity is the number one issue facing America today.”

CANADIAN Pastor Tim Stephens arrested on new charges after ‘underground’ church services

Rumble — Rebel News' Adam Soos and Kian Simone were on scene as police in Calgary, Alberta arrested Pastor Tim Stephens of Fairview Baptist Church for a second time on new charges stemming from his hosting of 'underground' church services the past two weekends.
FULL REPORT from Adam Soos: https://rebelne.ws/2TxRz4h

BY ADAM SOOS

SEE: https://www.rebelnews.com/breaking_pastor_tim_stephens_arrested_on_new_charges;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Pastor Tim Stephens was arrested on Monday afternoon on new charges after Fairview Baptist Church gathered for underground worship for the second week in a row since their church was effectively seized by Alberta Health Services last Saturday.

Alberta authorities were forced to drop other charges against Pastor Tim last month, after discovering that Alberta Health Services never served Pastor Stephens with the court order he was accused of having violated, a requirement under the order. That effectively ended the case against Pastor Tim, but he will now be facing another legal battle.

Over the weekend, an ever-growing crowd gathered at the undisclosed location and shared the word, sang songs of praise and heard Pastor Tim preach.

As worship progressed, a police helicopter discovered the gathered congregation.

It is unclear if police were actually searching for the group or simply happened upon it, as the helicopter was significantly north of the location of worship and continued towards the city. It wasn’t until several minutes later that the helicopter returned and completed repeated passes overhead.

Minutes later, police vehicles were seen circling the location, but they never moved in to interrupt worship or make arrests.

Ironically, all efforts to suppress worship by Alberta Health Services, whether at Pastor Artur Pawlowski’s or Pastor Tim’s church have only served to significantly bolster church attendance. As public health restrictions continue to be relaxed, these churches are not facing defeat at the hands of overreaching officials, quite the opposite — they are stronger and larger than ever before.

Despite worship continuing, Pastor Tim was arrested in front of his family on Monday. He is fortunate to be represented by the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, who will be working for his immediate release.

To help support pastors like Pastor Tim and Pastor Artur Pawlowski who are fighting for religious freedom, please donate at SaveArtur.com.

This story is developing. Keep checking Rebel News for updates.

 

Polish Pastor Found Guilty of Exercising Free Speech; Sentenced to Community Service, Slapped with Steep Fines

Polish Pastor Found Guilty of Exercising Free Speech; Sentenced to Community Service, Slapped with Steep Fines

BY ANNALISA PESEK

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/polish-pastor-found-guilty-of-exercising-free-speech-sentenced-to-community-service-slapped-with-steep-fines/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

On June 10, the government of Poland, a democratic republic, joined the increasingly despotic regimes of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and, oh, Communist China, where the persecution of dissenting voices, particularly Christian pastors, is increasingly on the rise.

In an extraordinary move, the Polish state ruled against evangelical pastor Paweł Chojecki, punishing him for exercising his freedom of speech and for publicly criticizing in his sermons and via his online platform “the remnants of communism” in Polish President Andrzej Duda’s current leadership. Chojecki is also accused of attacking Catholic dogma with which he disagrees as a Protestant.

The 58-year-old founder of New Covenant Church and creator and editor-in-chief of Against the Tide TV was convicted in a District Court in Lublin, Poland, on Thursday of “insulting the religious feelings of Catholics, and insulting President Duda.” Judge Andrzej Klimkowski delivered the guilty verdict, concluding Chojecki’s months-long criminal trial that began this past March.

State Prosecutor Katarzyna Urban accused the pastor of insulting President Duda with the terms “ram,” “traitor,” “coward,” and “sleeping agent,” and demanded Chojecki serve up to five years in prison for such “assaults” on the state. Judge Klimkowski ruled in favor of a lesser but still restrictive sentence of eight months of community service and fines of more than 20,000 Polish złoty, the equivalent of roughly $6,000.

During his TV program on Thursday, Chojecki announced plans to appeal the judgment, which he claims is “not legally valid.”

“The greatest harm that this judgment does is that it has already gone out to the public,” exclaimed Chojecki. “I have been humiliated and stigmatized in front of the whole of Poland. The biggest victim of this verdict is the Polish nation, not me. It is our freedom that has been harmed!”

Dangerous Criminal?

Chojecki has long claimed that the current Polish state bears no resemblance to the once-great Western power of yore, when, in his own words, “religious disputes were separated from patriotism and a common concern for the state’s good.”

“It is the Poland of that period [the 16th century] that is known for its ingesting of religious freedom and tolerance,” he told The New American in May. “Poland was the power of Western civilization in the 16th century, which we know as the Golden Age. It was then that the discoveries of the Reformation about the role of the Bible published in national languages and salvation as a personal decision of faith in Christ reached our freedom-loving nation.”

It is extraordinary that in a free Poland, a pastor would be dragged to the courts over exercising his right to free speech. Yet Chojecki is no stranger to investigation by the Polish authorities; he’s been surveilled for years. A one-time member of the free-market, conservative Real Politics Union — in 2008, Poland’s most libertarian community — which he reportedly left after it adopted pro-Russian rhetoric in the once-communist nation, Chojecki at present exercises his freedoms by tackling controversial social issues via his sermons and online conservative Christian platform. Through this work, he has amassed hundreds of thousands of devoted followers.

On December 31, 2020, an indictment by the District Court in Lublin was issued against the pastor for “insulting the President of the Republic of Poland and inciting hatred on the basis of sectarianism.”

“I have been a Christian since the times of communism,” said Chojecki. “I converted [to Christianity] in 1986…. I was afraid [then] that I would be prosecuted by the Ministry of Public Security or the courts. Thank God this did not happen…. That the Polish State will punish me [now] for my beliefs and words…. I have not experienced something like this in my life. I don’t think any pastor in Poland has been convicted of criticizing the dogmas of another church.”

Allegations against Chojecki involving offending the religious sensibilities of Catholics by ridiculing Catholic dogma specifically involve his criticism of Catholic teachings on transubstantiation — “the change of the whole substance of bread into the substance of the Body of Christ and of the whole substance of wine into the substance of the Blood of Christ” — which he considers a form of idolatry. He also has allegedly suggested that the Catholic belief in the apparition of Our Lady of Fátima is a denial of what Christians know the Word of God says.

He further made this controversial statement: “You eat the little Jesus, and He will stay in you for up to 15 minutes. If someone digests faster, for example, if the priest has drunk wine, the digestion is faster, and Jesus lives in a priest for 5 minutes. As for a poor man who only drinks water, his gastric juices dilute it a little, and Jesus stays for 15 minutes.”

“Honestly speaking,” said Chojecki, “I do not know which object of religious worship is offended here and which words are an insult in this description. It is a humorous paraphrase of a fragment of an article from the Catholic portal Deon.pl: ‘So we can say that after consuming Holy Communion, this physical presence of Jesus lasts from 10 to 15 minutes in our bodies because this is how long the process of digesting takes more or less.’”

What’s Next?

Even if the judgment is overturned by the court of appeal, the punishment has already made a strong impact on the pastor’s reputation and sent a severe message of what will happen to others who dare share his viewpoints.

“The judge sent a clear signal to those who criticize the Catholic Church and the power of Law and Justice to be very careful about the words, because they will share my fate…. This punishment is intended to make me think about how my dogmas are presented. As I understand it, the point is that I have to think about my Christian beliefs. I wonder how the Poles will react. Is it really the court’s job to shape the dogmas of the faith of Poles?”

At the core of Chojeck’s trial is the issue of freedom of speech. Krzysztof Kilian, professor of ontology and theory of cognition at the University of Zielona Góra, offered these remarks in response to the judge’s ruling:

From what I know about it, in any literature on the subject, “religious feelings” have not been defined. If they have not been defined, it is difficult to talk about what has been offended, or what has not been offended…. There is exactly one definition in our Supreme Court that defines religious feelings as a mental state. The question arises, how can one offend someone else’s mental state?

A second query might be, why is the court taking the time to address the potential personal and religious feelings of Catholics throughout Poland?

Though Chojecki says he was prepared for such a verdict, he admits he has accepted it with great sadness. Quoting Philippians 1:29, “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him but also to suffer for His sake,” Chojecki urged his supporters to continue to stand in solidarity with other Christians and to pray for him.

“Thank you very much to all those who have been with me during this time,” said Chojecki to his supporters. “My family, the crew, you as well. After all, the action #SupportPastorChojecki involved a few hundred people, numerous messages. This has been a great experience. I know we’re entering dark times. This is the [government’s] message: keep your trap shut! But the question now is: Are Poles free people?”

Consider learning more about Chojecki’s legacy in the video below and spreading the word about who he is and why he is fighting for principles of freedom, liberty, and justice for all.

It is imperative that we make our voices heard to the Polish government. To easily contact the relevant Polish officials in favor of the dismissal of charges against Pastor Chojecki, visit The John Birch Society’s action alert here.

Persecution: Capitol Protesters Held in Solitary Confinement ’23 Hours a Day’ – 513 People Charged

BY RENEE NAL

SEE: https://rairfoundation.com/persecution-capitol-protesters-held-in-solitary-confinement-23-hours-a-day-513-people-charged/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

A group of Republicans are thankfully starting to pay attention to the people who were arrested in the wake of the events at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021.

A group of Republicans are thankfully starting to pay attention to the people who were arrested in the wake of the events at the Capitol building on January 6, 2021. As RAIR Foundation USA observed on January 9, 2021: “If citizens do not push back against these political arrests, they will only continue and get worse.”

In a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland dated June 7, 2021, U.S. Senators Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) addressed the clear disparity in treatment of Capitol protesters versus Black Lives Matter and Antifa rioters.

They write in part that the “potential unequal administration of justice with respect to certain protestors is particularly concerning.” There have been reports of “Stop the Steal” Rally protestors being held in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. 

The Senators ask about the number of people “incarcerated for allegedly committing crimes associated with the Capitol breach,” and of those, how many “are or were placed in solitary confinement”. According to Insider, 513 people have been charged.

While the Senators refer to January 6th as the “Capitol breach,” is it really a “breach” if police officers opened the doors to the protestors? Consider this video, where police officers were casual with protestors. In the background, someone is chanting “ACAB, ACAB, ACAB.” ACAB is a BLM chant for “All Cops Are Bastards:”

 

Despite the media’s obsession with January 6th,

…leftist activists have made an art of swarming into state buildings, often receiving praise for their efforts by politicians and the media. Now, Trump supporters who were waved into the Capitol by police are facing federal charges for something leftist activists do on a regular basis.”

The Senators also want to know how many FBI personnel and DOJ prosecutors have been assigned to work on the events at the Capitol, versus the riots from last summer, that led to at least 25 deaths and caused $2 billion in damage.

The letter asks questions that are to be answered by June 21:

Spring and Summer 2020 Unrest:
  • Did federal law enforcement utilize geolocation data from defendants’ cell phones to track protestors associated with the unrest in the spring and summer of 2020? If so, how many times and for which locations/riots?
  • How many individuals who may have committed crimes associated with protests in the spring and summer of 2020 were arrested by law enforcement using pre-dawn raids and SWAT teams?
  • How many individuals were incarcerated for allegedly committing crimes associated with protests in the spring and summer of 2020?
  • How many of these individuals are or were placed in solitary confinement? What was the average amount of consecutive days such individuals were in solitary confinement?
  • How many of these individuals have been released on bail?
  • How many of these individuals were released on their own recognizance or without being required to post bond?
  • How many of these individuals were offered deferred resolution agreements?[9]
  • How many DOJ prosecutors were assigned to work on cases involving defendants who allegedly committed crimes associated with protests in the spring and summer of 2020?
  • How many FBI personnel were assigned to work on cases involving defendants who allegedly committed crimes associated with protests in the spring and summer of 2020?
January 6, 2021 U.S. Capitol Breach:
  • Did federal law enforcement utilize geolocation data from defendants’ cell phones to track protestors associated with the January 6, 2021 protests and Capitol breach? If so, how many times and how many additional arrests resulted from law enforcement utilizing geolocation information?
  • How many individuals who may have committed crimes associated with the Capitol breach were arrested by law enforcement using pre-dawn raids and SWAT teams?
  • How many individuals are incarcerated for allegedly committing crimes associated with the Capitol breach?
  • How many of these individuals are or were placed in solitary confinement? What was the average amount of consecutive days such individuals were in solitary confinement?
  • How many of these individuals have been released on bail?
  • How many of these individuals have been released on their own recognizance or without being required to post bond?
  • How many of these individuals were offered deferred resolution agreements?
  • How many DOJ prosecutors have been assigned to work on cases involving defendants who allegedly committed crimes associated with the Capitol breach?
  • How many FBI personnel were assigned to work on cases involving defendants who allegedly committed crimes associated with the Capitol breach?
RAIR Foundation USA has some additional questions:
See RAIR’s coverage of the events that took place on January 6, 2021:

CONSERVATIVE “America First Legal” BEGINS ITS DECONSTRUCTION OF THE BIDEN LIBERAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL ORDERS IN COURTS

SEE: https://www.aflegal.org/about;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

MISSION

We believe that all Americans deserve a government that puts their needs, their interests, and their country FIRST.  This is the sacred obligation of every elected leader.  This is the system our Founding Fathers established.  This is the priceless heritage of every American citizen.

Yet America First principles are now under attack like never before.  Our security, our liberty, our sovereignty, and our most fundamental rights and values are being systematically dismantled by an unholy alliance of corrupt special interests, big tech titans, the fake news media, and liberal Washington politicians.

We founded America First Legal to save our country from this coordinated campaign. With your support, we will oppose the radical left’s anti-jobs, anti-freedom, anti-faith, anti-borders, anti-police, and anti-American crusade.

WHAT WE DO

The radical left is using its power inside and outside of the government to destroy our country.  It is opening America’s borders, shutting down American energy, trying to take over American elections, and violating the fundamental civil rights of the American People.

At America First Legal, we are building a team of some of the nation’s best legal, political, and strategic thinkers to challenge this lawlessness at every turn. We will use every legal tool at our disposal to defend our citizens from unconstitutional executive overreach. We will also stand up against corporations that restrict free speech and violate our citizens’ civil rights.

We are committed to fighting for all Americans–regardless of race, color, religion, or creed. We will defend the rights of all Americans from attacks by anyone, in any party, who would seek to attack their freedom, their dignity, and their equal rights under the law.

For years, progressives have used the court system to attack our founding documents, undermine the rule of law, and erode our nation’s most cherished principles and traditions. 

With America First Legal, we are turning the legal tables on the radical activist left. We will wage a forceful defense of our rights, our country, and our cherished American way of life.

__________________________________________________________

AFL-Former Trump Chief of Staff is fighting the Biden agenda

Mark Meadows: America’s first legal "tip of the spear" against Biden agenda

Rumble — Conservative activist group America First legal, founded by former Trump administration officials Stephen Miller and Mark Meadows, secure their first win against the Biden administration. One America's John Hines has more.

FEDERAL JUDGE FORCES CHRISTIAN COLLEGE TO VIOLATE RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS, CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

Rumble — Real America - Dan W/ Campus Reform Reporter & University of Florida Student, Ophelie Jacobson (June 4, 2021)

TRANSGENDERISM FORCED ON CHRISTIAN COLLEGES, UNIVERSITIES, SCHOOLS DUE TO BIDEN'S EXECUTIVE ORDER

District Must Reinstate Teacher Who Opposed Transgenderism

Rumble — Real America - Dan W/ Virginia Elementary School Teacher, Tanner Cross & Attorney representing Tanner, Tyson Langhofer (June 8, 2021)

Judge Orders School District to Reinstate PE Teacher Who Opposed Transgender Policy

BY TYLER O'NEIL

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/06/08/breaking-judge-orders-school-district-to-reinstate-pe-teacher-who-opposed-transgender-policy-n1452994;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

On Tuesday, a judge ordered the Loudoun County, Va., school district to reinstate a physical education teacher who dared to speak out against a policy that would require teachers to endorse transgender identity by using female pronouns to refer to male students and vice versa. Roughly 24 hours later, the district suspended the teacher and barred him from setting foot on school property. The judge ruled that this suspension likely violated the teacher’s First Amendment right to free speech.

“The Court finds that the Plaintiff’s speech and religious content are central to the determination made by the Defendants to suspend Plaintiff’s employment. The Court further finds that the weight of the evidence and the totality of the circumstances, clearly show that the four prongs for issuance of a temporary injunction have been satisfied,” Judge James E. Plowman, Jr. of the Twentieth Judicial Circuit of Virginia, wrote in his order.

Plowman granted Byron [Tanner] Cross, the PE teacher, the temporary injunction he sought. Under the terms of the injunction, the school district “shall immediately reinstate [Cross] to his position as it was prior to the issuance of his suspension and remove the ban that was placed upon him from all buildings and grounds of Loudoun County Public Schools.” The injunction will remain until December 31, 2021.

Recommended: Va. School District Suspends PE Teacher Who Opposed Transgender Policy. Now, He’s Fighting Back

“Nobody should be punished for expressing concern about a proposed government policy, especially when the government invites comment on that policy. For that reason, we are pleased at the court’s decision to halt Loudoun County Public Schools’ retaliation against Tanner Cross while his lawsuit continues,” Michael Farris, president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), the law firm representing the teacher, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“Educators are just like everybody else—they have ideas and opinions that they should be free to express. Advocating for solutions they believe in should not cost them their jobs,” Farris added. “School officials singled out his speech, offered in his private capacity at a public meeting, as ‘disruptive’ and then suspended him for speaking his mind. That’s neither legal nor constitutional.”

“Dozens of other teachers have shared their beliefs on various policies without retaliation; Tanner deserves to be treated with the same respect,” the ADF president concluded.

Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) suspended Cross less than 48 hours after he dared to speak out against LCPS Policy 8040 and the proposed changes to LCPS Policy 8350, which would require teachers to refer to students by preferred gender pronouns, rather than the pronouns that correspond to a student’s biological sex as male or female.

“My name is Tanner Cross, and I am speaking out of love for those who suffer with gender dysphoria,” Cross, the PE teacher at Leesburg Elementary, said during the public comment segment of the school board meeting. “Sixty Minutes this past Sunday interviewed over 30 young people who transitioned but they felt led astray because lack of pushback or how easy it was to make physical changes to their bodies in just three months. They are now detransitioning.”

Cross referenced the 60 Minutes segment on detransitioners in order to highlight the danger of transgender ideology. In pursuit of false gender identities, men and women have permanently mutilated their bodies, only to later reject the transgender identity.

“It’s not my intention to hurt anyone, but there are certain truths that we must face when ready,” Cross insisted. “We condemn school policies like 8040 and 8350 because it would damage children, defile the holy image of God. I love all of my students, but I will never lie to them, regardless of the consequences.”

“I’m a teacher but I serve God first and I will not affirm that a biological boy can be a girl and vice versa because it’s against my religion, it’s lying to a child, it’s abuse to a child, and it’s sinning against our God,” Cross concluded.

Recommended: Va. School District SUED For Retaliating Against Teacher’s Free Speech

LCPS claimed Cross’s remarks had been “disruptive,” but Judge Plowman noted that the school had received only five emails from parents complaining about Cross’s remarks before the district suspended him. The school has at least 391 students, so “the Court views the magnitude of parental complaints to be de minimis given the size of the Leesburg Elementary School community.” Therefore the complaints “could not reasonably be construed as so disruptive to school operations to justify the decision taken by [LCPS].”

Since Cross spoke out on a matter of public concern, in his own private capacity outside of his duties at work, Plowman ruled that LCPS’s “retaliatory action adversely affected [Cross’s] constitutionally protected speech.” The judge ruled that Cross is likely to succeed on the merits of his case, that failure to issue the order would cause Cross “irreparable harm,” that Cross posed no serious threat to justify the suspension, and that granting him relief from the suspension is in the public interest.

It is heartening to see Cross restored to work after LCPS egregiously violated his rights. While school districts across the country may seek to enforce transgender ideology, this ruling sends a clear message that school districts cannot retaliate against employees who voice their disagreement with transgenderism.

Recommended: Former Students Sue to Force LGBT Orthodoxy on Christian Colleges

Cross’s legal battle is far from over, but at least LCPS cannot bar him from school property for the duration of this case.

_______________________________________________________

SEE ALSO: https://thenewamerican.com/judge-orders-reinstatement-of-virginia-teacher-suspended-for-opposing-trans-policy

MoveOn Fights To Destroy Pro-Trump Business Owner – Raises Massive Blood Money Funds

BY RENEE NAL

SEE: https://rairfoundation.com/moveon-fights-to-destroy-pro-trump-business-owner-raises-massive-blood-money-funds/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

Jim Worthington is being targeted for being a vocal supporter of President Trump. He is fighting back. ALL Americans should support Jim Worthington’s right to openly support a duly elected president.

The owner of a prestigious fitness center in Bucks County, Pennsylvania has been a major target since defying coronavirus lockdowns and openly supporting President Trump. In April, Jim Worthington filed a lawsuit against radical left group MoveOn and local MoveOn member Greg Bullough for promoting a petition targeting his business’ local “partnerships”.

MoveOn.org Member Greg Bullough

Specifically, Bullough claimed that the owner of the Newtown Athletic Club (NAC) “sponsored and organized three bus-loads of people to participate in what became the January 6th shameful riot and insurgency in Washington DC” and called on “organizations listed on NAC’s ‘Community Partner’s’ page to end their partnership and association” with the business.

Worthington defended his group on social media in the wake of horrific vitriol. None of the people associated with Worthington’s trip to Washington, D.C. violated any laws, yet MoveOn is doubling down in their defense of the shameful petition.

On June 3rd, MoveOn sent a mass email requesting money for legal fees. “This Trump backer is demanding what could be hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages,” the email said in part. It should be noted that as they beg their supporters for money, MoveOn received $49,833,034 just in 2019-2020 according to Opensecrets.org.

Wealthy Californians Wes Boyd and Joan Blades founded MoveOn.org during the Clinton Administration to urge Americans to “move on” from Bill Clinton’s predatory affair with then 21-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Should MoveOn be held accountable for deliberately trying to destroy a business that employs hundreds and serves the community?

Jim Worthington is being targeted for being a vocal supporter of President Trump. He is fighting back. ALL Americans should support Jim Worthington’s right to openly support a duly elected president.

See screenshot of email:

Covid-19 vaccine maker Johnson & Johnson has a LONG history of crimes, fines and violations in the medical “product” business

Image: Covid-19 vaccine maker Johnson & Johnson has a LONG history of crimes, fines and violations in the medical “product” business

SEE: https://www.naturalnews.com/2021-06-06-jj-long-history-of-crimes-fines-violations-medical-products.html

EXCERPTS:

(Natural News) How about we make the big corporations pay “reparations” for health, medical and human life “damages” for all their years of besieging Americans with toxic products and treatments, including vaccines, chemotherapy and thousands of personal care products? Let’s start with the big guns, like J&J. Johnson & Johnson already had to pay $2.2 billion to resolve CRIMINAL and civil investigations, which according to court documents, included fines for paying out kickbacks to doctors and pharmacists for pushing J&J’s toxic drugs on patients.

It’s called healthcare fraud settlement, but it should be called premeditated health and life endangerment and stealth coercion of patients via doctors and pharmacists. All those found guilty should serve time in federal prison.

Many J&J products are not “safe and effective” but rather dangerous and harmful 

J&J’s pharmaceutical business that developed the “single-shot” Covid-19 vaccine made $12 billion in revenue already

J&J’s wrap sheet of crime and abuse by the manufacturing, marketing and selling of faulty, toxic medical and personal care products, including baby products

Ashli Babbitt’s Family Sues D.C. Cops to Learn the Identity of Her Killer

BY KEVIN DOWNEY, JR.

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2021/06/05/ashli-babbitts-family-sues-d-c-cops-to-learn-the-identity-of-her-killer-n1452348;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

The family of Ashli Babbitt is suing Washington, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to learn the identity of the officer who fatally shot Babbitt in the Capitol on January 6.

Court documents show that the plaintiff, Aaron Babbitt, filed the lawsuit on April 21, 2021. Under Washington code, the MPD was supposed to produce the requested information or prove that the department is legally exempt from doing so within 15 days. As of June 4, the department has yet to do either.

Aaron Bobbitt’s attorney, Terrell Roberts, stated the problem with the lawsuit is that Capitol Police are not subject to the law regarding the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

“The complication here is that the Capitol Police are not subject to FOIA. However, they used the Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia to conduct their investigation,” Roberts explained. “In other words, the United States Attorney’s Office did a criminal investigation and relied upon the Metropolitan Police Department to conduct their factual investigation. And so now that they’ve decided against bringing charges I am going to seek any kind of records that they may have collected in their investigation, including any records which identify the officer.”

The Department of Justice (DOJ) decided not to press charges against the Capitol Police officer who shot the unarmed Babbitt as she was attempting to climb through a broken window to get into the House speaker’s lobby, stating, “Based on that investigation, officials determined that there is insufficient evidence to support a criminal prosecution.”

Roberts alleges that the officer who killed Babbitt didn’t give her a verbal warning before fatally shooting her with one shot to the neck.

We have seen plenty of shootings where the identity of the cops involved in a shooting are known immediately, including the shootings of young teens like Tamir Rice and Adam Toledo (Rice was holding a pellet gun and Toledo was holding a real one). Personally, I can’t recall a shooting where we didn’t learn the name of the officer involved except for Babbitt’s killer.

Babbitt’s killing seems even harsher knowing that almost half of the Seattle rioters had their federal charges dropped — charges including arson and assault against cops. Ashli Babbitt didn’t start a fire or throw rocks at police officers but a mysterious cop who won’t be named or charged decided lethal force was necessary.

UK: Rotherham police only secured charges in 1 out of 34 Muslim rape gang cases

BY CHRISTINE DOUGLASS-WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.jihadwatch.org/2021/06/uk-rotherham-police-only-secured-charges-in-1-out-of-34-muslim-rape-gang-cases;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

There has been no justice for these victims, only politically correct maneuvering by authorities in Britain’s so-called justice system, which appears to be primarily interested in protecting Muslim perpetrators. The intent has been to avoid the label of “Islamophobia” and provide cover for these mostly Pakistani Muslim men. As a result, they continue to escape justice, and are given the green light to continue “grooming” infidel girls. It has also been happening to Sikh girls for decades.

The Network of Sikh Organisations “called on the media to stop referring to grooming gangs that are predominantly comprised of perpetrators from a Pakistani Muslim Pakistani as ‘Asian’, which inaccurately incorporates much of the British Hindu and Sikh communities.”

“Rotherham Police Secure Charges in Only 1-in-34 Child Sex Abuse Cases,” by Jack Montgomery, Breitbart, May 31, 2021:

The British police force which oversaw the Rotherham “grooming gangs” child rape scandal is securing charges for just one in 34 crimes flagged as having links to Child Sexual Exploitation, it has been revealed.

All told, South Yorkshire Police secured just 16 charges out of some 540 crimes officers flagged as Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) related, according to data secured by The Times through the Freedom of Information Act.

West Midlands Police, which has been slated for a wide variety of so-called “grooming” gang failures over the years, disclosed an only marginally less embarrassing figure of one in 28 offences linked to Child Sexual Exploitation resulting in a charge.

Across all 34 police forces which responded to the Freedom of Information requests from The Times, the average number of crimes flagged as having CSE links which “resulted in a charge or summons” was a mere one in 14.

“The low charge rate staggers me. My concern is that known perpetrators are slipping through the net. We need absolutely zero tolerance for this crime,” commented Sarah Champion, a Member of Parliament for the left-wing Labour party whose frontbench career as a shadow government minister was swiftly ended after she wrote an article saying that “Britain has a problem with British Pakistani men raping and exploiting white girls.”

“We will actively continue to investigate all CSE reports and take any action possible to prosecute and disrupt the perpetrators who commit these despicable acts,” claimed South Yorkshire Police in a statement quoted by The Times, in defiance of what appears to be statistical evidence to the contrary.

Less than a week ago, The Times reported on internal reports which found there is “little evidence of the exploiters being investigated” by West Yorkshire Police, with South Yorkshire Police being one of a number of forces refusing to disclose the findings of internal reports on their handling of child sexual abuse cases….

Judge: No July Fourth Fireworks ‘Bursting in Air’ Over Mount Rushmore

Judge: No July Fourth Fireworks 'Bursting in Air' Over Mount Rushmore

BY CHARLES KIM

SEE: https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/fireworks-rushmore-monument-july4/2021/06/02/id/1023694;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

A South Dakota federal judge has further denied Republican Gov. Kristi Noem’s request for a permit allowing fireworks over Mount Rushmore to celebrate Independence Day, The Hill reported Wednesday.

President Joe Biden's administration initially denied Noem’s permit request to celebrate the Fourth of July with fireworks, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and respect for Native American tribes as reasons.

“Potential risks to the park itself and to the health and safety of employees and visitors associated with the fireworks demonstration continue to be a concern and are still being evaluated as a result of the 2020 event,” wrote Herbert Frost, National Park Service regional director, at the time the denial was issued. “In addition, the park’s many tribal partners expressly oppose fireworks at the Memorial. These factors, compiled with the COVID-19 pandemic, do not allow safe and responsible fireworks display to be held at this site.”

Noem sued to appeal the denial.

U.S. District Judge Roberto Lange, an appointee of President Barack Obama, issued the 36-page decision, which denied preliminary judgment to Noem based on the unlikelihood of her prevailing in her suit against federal officials, according to the report.

“This Court fully understands the State's position and why this suit was brought,” Lange’s decision read. “But under governing law, the State is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its claims and has not met the requirements for interim legal relief.”

Lange said in his decision that the reasons cited by the Biden administration were not "arbitrary and capricious."

Noem said she would appeal the decision.

"I am disappointed that the court gave cover to this unlawful action with today’s decision. But rest assured, this fight is not over," Noem said. 

"My legal team will appeal this incorrect decision so that we can return the Fireworks Celebration to Mount Rushmore and celebrate our nation’s birthday at America’s Shrine to Democracy for next year and in the future,” Noem said in a statement following the ruling.

Last year, President Donald Trump held a national celebration at the monument for the first time since 2009, when the celebration was paused due to concerns about wildfires, CNN reported at the time.

The gathering was criticized for the lack of masks and social distancing amid the pandemic.

Related Stories:

CALIFORNIA: GOVERNOR Newsom to Pay More Than $2 MILLION For Violating Religious Freedom

Churches Wrestle $2M From Gavin Newsom Over COVID Lockdowns

BY TYLER O'NEIL

SEE: https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2021/06/02/churches-wrestle-2m-from-gavin-newsom-over-covid-lockdowns-n1451576;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

The State of California has agreed to pay more than $2 million to a San Diego church and a Catholic priest who challenged Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom’s unconstitutional COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, which violated the Christian leaders’ religious freedom. In two separate settlements, the state agreed to pay $1.6 million to South Bay United Pentecostal Church and $550,000 to Catholic Priest Father Trevor Burfitt. Judges also granted permanent injunctions to protect their religious freedom rights.

“The South Bay case represents an unprecedented three trips to the United States Supreme Court in a one-year period, which resulted in a landmark decision that opened up the churches in California for 40 million people,” Charles LiMandri, a special counsel at the Thomas More Society who represented South Bay, said in a statement on the settlement. “The permanent injunctions in these cases uphold and protect one of the most cherished principles of our republic: The Free Exercise of Religion.”

“Restrictions on churches cannot be more severe than restrictions on retail. We are pleased with the final results in these two important cases,” Paul Jonna, another South Bay lawyer, added.

South Bay challenged Newsom’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy,” which lifted some COVID-19 restrictions but treated religious services more harshly than retail and dine-in restaurants. The church’s challenge ultimately prevailed when the Supreme Court ordered the lower court to reconsider the case according to the precedent in Tandon v. Newsom (2021). In that case, the Supreme Court overruled the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, granting an injunction allowing in-home prayer meetings.

The Burfitt case, meanwhile, paved the way for Tandon. Father Burfitt challenged Newsom’s Blueprint and Judge Gregory Pulskamp issued a preliminary injunction in the priest’s favor, ruling that the Blueprint had failed to treat houses of worship in a manner “equal to the favored classes of entities” referred to as “essential businesses.”

Thomas More Society lawyer Christopher Farrah cited that injunction while celebrating California’s ultimate capitulation to Burfitt’s religious liberty claim.

“The injunction in Burfitt was the first of its kind in the country, anticipating what the Supreme Court would later hold definitively, that houses of worship must receive the same treatment as the most favored secular comparators,” Farrah noted. “If favored businesses are allowed 100% occupancy during a pandemic, so must churches be allowed.”

LiMandri and Jonna are currently representing Grace Community Church Pastor John MacArthur, who is still fighting COVID-19 injunctions against the church.

Recommended: COVID Tyrant Newsom Can’t ‘Move the Goalposts’ on Religious Freedom, Supreme Court Rules

These hefty settlements send a powerful warning to governors like Newsom. Violations of religious freedom will not be taken lightly. These two cases have cost Newsom’s government more than $2 million, and they likely won’t be the last.

Texas Healthcare Workers Refuse to be “Human Guinea Pigs,” Sue Hospital Over COVID Vaccine Mandate

BY Veronika Kyrylenko

SEE: https://thenewamerican.com/texas-healthcare-workers-refuse-to-be-human-guinea-pigs-sue-hospital-over-covid-vaccine-mandate/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

A Houston hospital was hit with litigation on May 29 for allegedly making its employees and doctors get the COVID-19 vaccine to keep their jobs.

The Houston Methodist Health System network became the first hospital in America to require all employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Currently, it oversees eight hospitals and has more than 26,000 employees. Houston Methodist gave workers a deadline of June 7 to get the vaccine — if not, staffers risk suspension and termination.

As a result, 117 employees have joined a lawsuit in Montgomery County that alleges the hospital is “illegally requiring its employees to be injected with an experimental COVID-19 mRNA gene modification injection or be fired.” “Methodist Hospital is forcing its employees to be human ‘guinea pigs’ as a condition for continued employment,” the lawsuit states.

Hospital CEO Dr. Marc Boom sent out a letter in April to staffers announcing that employees have to be vaccinated by June 7. “Please see the HR policy that outlines the consequences of not being compliant by June 7, which include suspension and eventually termination,” the letter, which was included in the lawsuit, stated.

The employees who are challenging the hospital believe they should have freedom of choice to take the vaccine without “force, deceit, fraud, threat, solicitation, or any type of binding or coercion,” and that the mandate is a violation of the Nuremberg Code, a medical ethics code that bans forced medical experiments and mandates voluntary consent.

The lawsuit cited that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its first emergency use authorization (EUA) for COVID-19 in December 2020, but the vaccines are awaiting full FDA approval and licensing, which will likely take months for the agency to review additional data.

Jennifer Bridges, a nurse who has worked at the Texas hospital for six years, is the lead plaintiff in the case. She said she wants more time for the FDA to gather more research on the vaccine before she gets it.

“People trying to force you to put something into your body that you’re not comfortable with, in order to keep your job, is just insane,” Bridges told KHOU-11, Houston’s CBS News affiliate.

Dr. Boom responded to the lawsuit, saying that 99 percent of Houston Methodist employees have already met the requirements for the vaccination mandate against the “deadly virus,” and added, “As health care workers, it is our sacred obligation to do whatever we can to protect our patients, who are the most vulnerable in our community. It is our duty and our privilege.”

He went on to state that “It is unfortunate that the few remaining employees who refuse to get vaccinated and put our patients first are responding in this way. It is legal for health care institutions to mandate vaccines, as we have done with the flu vaccine since 2009. The COVID-19 vaccines have proven through rigorous trials to be very safe and very effective and are not experimental.”

“Fact-checkers” back Dr. Boom’s claim that “COVID vaccines are not experimental,” arguing the shots have not skipped any trial stages. But the formal stages that the COVID jabs went through are far from enough to consider them “not experimental.” This type of reasoning seems to be purely sophistic since the FDA grants EUA for “investigational” drugs. All three injections that got EUA — Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and J&J — were defined as “investigational” by the FDA.   

According to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), an investigational product refers to a preventative (vaccine), a therape​utic (drug or biologic), device, diagnostic, or palliative used in a clinical trial. An investigational product may be an unlicensed product or a licensed product when used or assembled (formulated or packaged) differently from the approved form, when used for an unapproved indication, or when used to gain further information about an approved use.

The FDA guidance on “Emergency Use Authorization of Medical Products and Related Authorities” explicitly states that people “have the option to accept or refuse the EUA product.” Until the drug gets full approval, an informed consent of the recipient to use it is necessary.

However, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), state and local mandates are subject to state and local laws.

“The federal government does not mandate (require) vaccination for people. Whether a state or local government or employer, for example, can require or mandate COVID-19 vaccination is a matter of state or other applicable law.”

Also, the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission (EOEC), a federal government agency that protects workers from discrimination, issued a new guidance on May 28, that, ironically, promotes discrimination against workers who refuse to get an experimental gene injection. The guidance allows employers to legally require COVID-19 shots to re-enter a physical workplace as long as they follow requirements to find alternative arrangements for employees unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons or religious beliefs.

Some of those accommodations include allowing an unvaccinated employee to wear a face mask and social distance while at work, to work a modified shift, get periodic tests for COVID-19, or be given the opportunity to telework or accept a reassignment, according to the guidance.

Hence, the outcome of the lawsuit filed by the Texas healthcare workers is hard to predict.

POLICE STATE NJ AG Grewal Misusing His Office To Extort & Shut Down Out-Of-State Gun Firms

BY LEE WILLIAMS

SEE: https://www.ammoland.com/2021/06/nj-ag-grewal-misusing-his-office-to-extort-shut-down-out-of-state-gun-firms/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational & research purposes:

New Jersey’s anti-gun Governor, little Phil Murphy, has let his radical Attorney General, Gurbir Grewal, target, entrap and harass legal firearms retailers across the country. This is another reason Phil Murphy must lose in his reelection efforts in the NJ governor’s race.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal

New Jersey – -(AmmoLand.com)- New Jersey’s Attorney General is ordering firearm products banned in the Garden State, and then extorting thousands of dollars from out-of-state firms through lawsuits.

When I worked at a newspaper in Delaware, I was intimately aware that if I strayed across the border into New Jersey with any weapons, ammo, or mags and got caught, I would likely spend the rest of my life in state prison.

Back then, New Jersey officials were content with only targeting individual gun owners, either those who weren’t familiar with their crazy gun laws or those from free states who may have taken a wrong turn.

Nowadays, things are different. New Jersey officials, [under the leadership of rabid anti-gunner Phil Murphy] are actively targeting citizens of other states, who may have never even set foot in New Jersey.

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal is using “undercover” detectives to entrap firearms retailers and manufacturers – especially those in other states – in the hopes that the exorbitant fees and penalties he will extort from them will force the owners out of business.

This is a new kind of gun control.

So far, AG Grewal has targeted retailers who sell firearm components designed for home-builds and, of course, those who sell standard-capacity magazines.

Even the judges are in on the AG’s scheme. A New Jersey state court recently ordered a Florida firm to pay the state $150,000!?

Their crime? They refused to turn over their customers’ names and addresses to the Attorney General.

Grewal v. 22Mods4ALL

According to the civil complaint, 22Mods4ALL is a small, mom-and-pop retailer with less than 10 employees located in Longwood, Florida.

22Mods4ALL sells ARs and AR components, as well as the accessories you’d expect. (They actually have 5.56 in stock at $0.66 per round.)

I reached out to them seeking comment for this story, but have not heard back. I can’t say I blame them. They’re up against a team with unlimited resources paid for by taxpayer dollars. Besides, the prosecution seems very personal. Whoever wrote the civil complaint Grewal’s office filed against the small shop has a flair for the dramatic. It’s based upon emotion, rather than facts.

The complaint begins in El Paso, where the author describes a mass murder committed by an AK-47 and “extra magazines capable of holding at least 30 rounds of ammunition each.” Then misdirects the reader on to Dayton, Ohio, and describes “a shooter equipped with an AR-15 style rifle, a 100-round drum magazine, and 250 rounds of ammunition.” Then it’s Parkland, Florida’s turn, followed by Tucson, Arizona, and then, finally, New Jersey, where the author defines “Large Capacity Magazine.”

“To prevent gun violence, and to mitigate the risk of mass shootings, the State of New Jersey has long banned possession of large capacity ammunition magazines (“LCMs”) — firearm magazines capable of holding more than the standard number of rounds provided by the manufacturer,” the complaint states.

You’ll notice that New Jersey’s LCM definition is flawed on its face. AR manufacturers designed 20- and 30-round magazines for the rifle – that’s the “standard number of rounds provided by the manufacturer.” [Standard Capacity Magazines or “SCMs”]

Regardless, the New jersey penalties are very clear: “Any person who knowingly possesses an LCM is guilty of a fourth-degree crime, punishable by fines of up to $10,000, and by a term of imprisonment of up to eighteen months,” the complaint states.

22Mods4ALL – allegedly – sold six 30-round magazines to “to New Jersey undercover detectives from the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice (“DCJ”),” the complaint states. During a second purchase, the gun shop allegedly sold the detective three more. The Attorney General then sent 22Mods4All a cease-and-desist letter, which the gun shop honored. It stopped shipping mags to New Jersey, but that wasn’t the end of the malicious prosecution.

“The Attorney General also demanded Defendant provide the details of all past sales of ammunition magazines capable of holding fifteen rounds or more to any New Jersey address since January 1, 2014, including the name and address of the purchaser and the specific ammunition magazine purchased,” the complaint states.

In other words, the AG wanted the names of any New Jersey residents who may have bought a magazine, which would likely have been followed by a knock on their front door.

That may have been too much for the good folks at 22Mods4All who, evidently, respect their customers’ privacy and don’t want to see any of them carted off to prison.

“Defendant, despite repeated attempts at contact, has ignored the Subpoena for months. As a result, the CFA authorizes the Attorney General and the Director to obtain a judgment from the Superior Court directing compliance with the Subpoena,” the complaint states.

Last week, a New Jersey judge ruled that the gun shop owners must pay a civil fine of $150,000 for not cooperating with the AG’s subpoena and turning over a list of customers’ names and addresses.

Legal Reaction aka Extortion

The New Jersey AG is weaponizing his office to push a political agenda, according to former Florida prosecutor Lisa Chittaro.

Last year, Chittaro ran for State Attorney of Sarasota County but lost during the Republican primary to the incumbent. She had been endorsed by the National Rifle Association in the race.

“This is a crafty and questionable use of litigation,” Chittaro said. “Because of their elected position, this seems designed to impede and attack a legitimate business – a business that did not target the citizens of that state – for the sole purpose of attacking the Second Amendment.

“This attorney general is trying to harness access and regulate the spread of the internet, and hold a legitimate business accountable,” Chittaro said. “This is an attack on the Free Market, an attack on the Second Amendment – it’s an attack. They are using their office as a political weapon. They are pushing through their political agenda of gun control, and they are overreaching into the state of Florida. New Jersey is trying to put a legitimate Florida firm out of business.”

Takeaways

In my humble opinion, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal has two reasons for his cross-border shenanigans. First, he wants to make a name for himself. That much is very clear. Second, he wants to close down gun shops – as many as he possibly can – because of his anti-rights political agenda.

As bad as AG Grewal tries to paint them, the good folks at 22Mods4All look like heroes.

They should be commended for protecting their New Jersey customers – if they have any, of course. Standing up to a bully sounds good, but they’re standing up to a bully who can put them out of business. That takes balls – big brass ones. The problem is exacerbated because AG Grewal desperately needs a win – something he can show off to his constituents.

Right now, Attorneys General from 24 states have filed a brief asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn New Jersey’s ban on standard-capacity magazines.

“The Amici States the Attorneys General serve are among the forty-three states that permit the standard, eleven-plus capacity magazines that New Jersey has banned…and have advanced their compelling interests in promoting public safety, preventing crime, and reducing criminal firearm violence without a magazine ban such as the one here,” the brief states.

I certainly hope the Justices will take up the case. In the meantime, someone needs to take a hard look at Attorney General Grewal. He is clearly misusing the powers of his office to further his own political agenda.

There’s a term for that. It’s called public corruption, and it’s always been a problem in the Garden State.

About Lee Williams

Lee Williams, who is also known as “The Gun Writer”, has been writing about the Second Amendment, firearms, the firearms industry, and the gun culture for more than 10 years. Until recently, he was also an editor for a daily newspaper in Florida. Before becoming an editor, Lee was an investigative reporter at newspapers in three states and a U.S. Territory. Before becoming a journalist, he worked as a police officer. Before becoming a cop, Lee served in the Army. He’s earned more than a dozen national journalism awards as a reporter, and three medals of valor as a cop. Lee is an avid tactical shooter.

Lee Williams

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