Boy Scouts selling off storied camps under pressure from sex abuse claims, bankruptcy — and locals are worried
January 26, 2023
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Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) was cornered on CNN's "The Lead" Tuesday by anchor Phil Mattingly with a "come and take it" video he posted in 2020, of a weapon similar to that used in the rampage at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee this week that left six people dead.
"You know, the president has once again reiterated his call for a reinstatement of the assault weapons ban," said Mattingly. "You know, back in 2020 you went viral. You posted this video after a similar plea. Take a watch."
"I have a message for Joe Biden and Beto O'Rourke," said Buck in the video, gesturing at a rifle on his office wall. "If you want to take everyone's AR-15 in America, you swing by my office in Washington, D.C. and start with this one. Come and take it."
"Look, I come from a place where all my friends have guns, and many of them use ARs," said Mattingly. "I guess my question is, do you concern, as a federal official, lawmaker, somebody who legislates, that something like that maybe diminishes the impact of what this moment is and kind of the conversations that's happening, at least if you're trying to reach a resolution on issues?"
"Well, if Joe Biden is interested in reaching a resolution on the issue, let him deal with the southern border. We have drugs coming across the southern border and this crisis this mental health crisis that we have in this country has a direct relationship to our drug laws being loosened and the lack of funding at the state level for mental health services," said Buck, skating over the fact that the drug cartels in Mexico actually get most of their guns from the United States. "My heart goes out every time we have one of these shootings, to the victims and their families of these shootings. But it doesn't — it doesn't lessen the burden that Joe Biden has in finding solutions to these problems other than just blaming the gun all the time for the problem that he, in part is causing by his policies on the border."
IN OTHER NEWS: ‘Horrified’: Oath Keeper juror reacts to defendant’s ‘stunt’ that aimed to evoke sympathy
"So even if I stipulate everything you said, related to the president, what's the burden on you? As a lawmaker? In the wake of these?" Mattingly pressed him. "You noted, every time one of these happens, your heart goes out. You feel awful. The fact that they happened so many times that you have to say every time, that would seem to be a pretty significant problem nationally. So what's the burden on you? As a federal official, as a lawmaker, to do something about this? Regardless of what you think it is, but to do something right?"
"No, I absolutely acknowledge that and my burden is to make sure I follow the Constitution," said Buck. "As you said, you have some friends with AR-15s. They're not a danger to anybody. The idea that we're going to confiscate 2 million weapons in this country is pure folly. The idea that we're going to ban a particular kind of weapon as if some other weapon won't be used. I can remember. 20 years ago, the ban was on handguns. We've gotta, we've gotta stop handguns from being used, and handguns kill far more people than a rifle like an AR-15 ... so ultimately we need to stop the violence by making sure we take violent criminals off the streets and addressing the mental health issue that we face. That's my burden."
Watch video below or at this link.
Phil Mattingly grills Ken Buck about AR-15s www.youtube.com
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‘Horrified’: Oath Keeper juror reacts to defendant’s ‘stunt’ that aimed to evoke sympathy
March 28, 2023
A juror in the trial of six Oath Keeper defendants said she and her fellow jurors were “horrified” by the treatment of an autistic defendant by his own lawyer in what appeared to be a legal “stunt,” Politico reports.
The trial resulted in the conviction of four defendants for obstructing Congress in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The juror, identified as Ellen, told C-SPAN’S Brian Lamb that several jurors were brought to tears when William Isaacs, who suffers from autism, was questioned by his attorney Charles Greene.
“His defense attorney tried to get him to fall apart by yelling at him and not letting him wear his headset,” Ellen said.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump supporter arrested outside Manhattan courthouse after pulling knife: Fox News reporter
“He was torturing his client to get us to feel sympathy.”
But it turned out to be a moot point when the judge later instructed the jury not to consider autism as a defense, meaning the incident was “a waste of time,” Ellen said.
The jury deliberated for six days, and Isaacs was among four defendants convicted on all charges, the report said. A fifth defendant was convicted of one felony count and one misdemeanor, but was acquitted on the remaining charges, and sixth defendant was convicted of one misdemeanor and acquitted on all other charges.
Greene admitted to trying to evoke the jury’s sympathy.
“The strategy was: The jury’s going to hate me, but usually when you kick a puppy, the jury hates the person who kicks the puppy but they have sympathy for the puppy,” Greene told POLITICO.
Greene said preparations for Isaacs’ testimony including checking with family members to make sure it wouldn’t lead to a medical episode, but he didn’t alert his client because he sought a genuine response.
“We had to wing it … He couldn’t be prepared for it. He couldn’t know what was coming,” Greene said.
“I was crying. I didn’t like doing it. The days leading up to it, just thinking about it, it was traumatic for me too. I had to do it in a way that came across as heartless.”
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Far-right Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate described as 'unfit to serve' in a scathing op-ed
March 28, 2023
In Wisconsin on Tuesday, April 4, voters will elect either a far-right MAGA Republican or a liberal to a seat on the state's supreme court. Republican Dan Kelly is up against liberal Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Janet Protasiewicz, who has been railing against Kelly relentlessly over his severe anti-abortion views as well as for his sympathy for election denialists.
Kelly has given Protasiewicz plenty of material to work with. On March 21, he spoke at an event headlined by the Rev. Matthew Trewhella — a Christian fundamentalist who has described killing abortion providers as "justifiable homicide." Trewhella, a supporter of the militia movement, has also called for evangelicals to receive paramilitary training and wage a holy war against adversaries.
The seat on the Milwaukee Supreme Court that Kelly and Protasiewicz are competing for is up for grabs because of former Chief Justice Pat Roggensack's retirement. In an op-ed published by the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on March 28, Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Ellen Brostrom — who is Roggensack's daughter — endorses Protasiewicz and emphasizes that Kelly is "unfit" for the position.
"As judges, we take an oath to support the constitutions of the United States and the State of Wisconsin," Brostrom argues. "Instead of supporting our constitutional rights, however, Kelly has worked to undermine the constitution and our democracy. He has never served as a front-line judge, and instead, most recently served as a legal advisor to the Republican Party of Wisconsin as it implemented the fake elector scheme — part of a multifaceted conspiracy to overturn the 2020 presidential election."
The judge continues, "In the United States, we proudly elect our leaders. Our leaders do not install themselves. Our entire democracy — indeed, the very idea of America — is built on this bedrock constitutional right. Whatever our flaws and shortcomings, America, and Wisconsin specifically, has been a 'city on a hill' for the peaceful transition of power."
Wisconsin is among the five states that former President Donald Trump won in 2016 but lost in 2020. And Brostrom slams Kelly for being sympathetic to the MAGA Republicans who tried to overturn the democratic election results in a state that now-President Joe Biden won fairly.
"Instead of peaceful transition, however, since the last presidential election, the country has been subject to a massive fraud designed to convince fellow citizens that the election was stolen," Brostrom explains. "It seems the losing side — led by President Trump, Fox News, and his allies — believes the results should be overturned by any means necessary. To that end, they have intentionally lied to the American people and conspired to keep Trump illegally in power."
Brostrom continues, "Kelly assisted in this scheme, and that makes him unfit to serve on our state's highest court…. I believe we all have a patriotic and moral obligation to vote against candidates who have helped this conspiracy along, even if we are not fully comfortable with their opponent or would not vote for them otherwise. Kelly helped this conspiracy along, working to overturn the 2020 presidential election. That is not 'conservative,' and it is not American. Kelly is unfit to serve on our highest court."
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