Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Why States Must Revitalize The Militia


Treason, Cowardice, and the Islamic Invasion: Why States Must Revitalize The Militia


Why States Must Revitalize The Militia 2




To All State Governors and State Legislators:

War is coming to America. Obama is importing young able-bodied males to make civilizational jihad on us and Congress can’t summon up the moral courage to stop him.

To see what is ahead for us, watch this 20 minute video. It depicts the Islamic takeover which is right now going on throughout Europe as European countries are being repopulated by millions of young able-bodied Muslim males (euphemistically called “refugees“) who are explicit about their intention to breed the native Europeans out of existence, and replace the European cultures with Islamic culture.

And Obama is bringing it here.

This paper discusses the two courses of action set forth in Federalist Paper No. 46 for situations such as this: (1) The States must refuse to cooperate with the federal government; but if that doesn’t solve the problem, (2) The States must use their State Militia to defend their State and Citizens.

Invaders are not “Refugees” or “Immigrants”


Those pushing for an Islamic takeover of Europe and North America are referring to these able-bodied young Muslim males as “refugees”. The use of that term brings the Muslims who are brought into the United States within the federal Refugee Resettlement Act. And since the Constitution delegates power over immigration to Congress, and Congress re-delegated refugee policy to the President, the States must submit to Obama’s Will and accept the “refugees” he forces on them. Thus goes the specious argument recently made by Ian Millhiser.  But we will look at the Truth.

 

What does our Constitution say about Immigration and Naturalization?


Immigration (or migration) pertains to new people coming to this Country to live.1
Naturalization refers to the process by which an immigrant becomes a Citizen.
Our Constitution does delegate power over immigration and naturalization to Congress. Article I, §9, clause 1, delegates to Congress (commencing January 1808) power to control migration. 2 Article I, §8, clause 4, delegates to Congress power to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization.
But what is going on now with the importation of large numbers of able-bodied young Muslim males is not “immigration” as contemplated by our Constitution. It is an act of war being committed against the People of the United States by their President. The plan is to overthrow our Constitutional Republic and set up an Islamic Caliphate over America. 3
That is Treason – it is Insurrection. It is not “immigration”, and it is not “refugee resettlement”.

 

The States must refuse to cooperate


Michael Boldin’s recent informative article explains how the federal resettlement program works: The federal government coordinates resettlement of “refugees” with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) located within the States, and thus circumvents state and local governments. Accordingly, the States should promptly stop all such NGO involvement; take control of the programs themselves; and then refuse to cooperate with the federal government.

James Madison, Father of our Constitution, spells this out in Federalist No. 46 (7th para). Respecting unpopular acts of the federal government:
“…the means of opposition to it are powerful and at hand. The disquietude of the people; their repugnance and, perhaps, refusal to co-operate with the officers of the Union; the frowns of the executive magistracy of the State; the embarrassments created by legislative devices, which would often be added on such occasions, would oppose, in any State, difficulties not to be despised; would form, in a large State, very serious impediments; and where the sentiments of several adjoining States happened to be in unison, would present obstructions which the federal government would hardly be willing to encounter.”
But if the federal government persists, then the States must move to the next Step.

Our Constitution Imposes the Duty on the Federal Government to protect us from Invasion Article IV, §4, requires The United States to protect each of the States against Invasion:
“The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion…” [emphasis mine]
In Federalist No. 43 (3rd para under 6.), Madison says of this provision:
“A protection against invasion is due from every society to the parts composing it…” [emphasis mine]
Article I, §8, clause 15 delegates to Congress the power:
“to provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions“.
Article 1, §8, clause 16 delegates to Congress the power to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia. The States retain the power to appoint the Officers and conduct the training.

Article II, §2, clause 1 makes the President Commander in Chief of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States. [But remember: the federal government may call forth the Militia only for the three purposes listed in Art. I, §8, cl. 15].   

But the federal government hasn’t called forth the Militia to protect the States from the Islamic invasion. To the contrary, the President is importing the invaders and foisting them on the States. 

So! What are States and The People to do? Because the President is aligned with the invaders, and Congress filled with moral cowards, must we passively submit to having ourselves and our
Christian and Jewish children killed, and then let our surviving burka dressed daughters and granddaughters be handed over to the clitoris cutters?


No! The People have the Natural Right of self-defense; and the States have the reserved Power to defend their Citizens. With the State Militia, The People and the States have the means to exercise this Natural Right and reserved Power.

The States must Revitalize their State Militia


What is the Militia? As Dr. Edwin Vieira’s excellent series
4 on the Militia and how it guarantees the right to keep and bear arms shows, the Militia has a long history in America. That history began with the English settlements in the early 1600s. Every free male was expected to be armed and prepared at all times to protect himself, his family, and his community. Laws in the Colonies gave effect to this requirement. So at the time of the drafting of our Constitution in 1787, everyone knew of this 150 year long history of free American males being required to be armed, trained, and ready at a moment’s notice to answer the call of Duty.

Accordingly, the above identified “militia clauses” were written into our Constitution of 1787.

In 1792, Congress implemented these militia clauses and passed “An Act more effectually to provide for the National Defense by establishing an Uniform Militia throughout the United States“. This Act required all able-bodied male citizens (with a few exceptions) between the ages of 18 and 45 to enroll in their State Militia, get a rifle and ammunition pouch, and train.

As Section 1 of the Act shows, the adult able-bodied male Citizens of a State are The Members of their State Militia. So, continuing the long-standing colonial tradition, Members of Congress in 1792 thought it such a fine idea that all male citizens be armed and trained and members of their State Militia, they required it by federal law! 

So! As Art. I, §8, cl. 15 shows, Congress is authorized to provide for calling the Militia into national service to “execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions”. But what if the federal government refuses to act?

Alexander Hamilton provides the answer in Federalist No. 29. Hamilton shows that one of the purposes of the Militia is to protect the Citizens of the States from threats to their liberties posed by the federal government (7th & 12th paras); and that the States’ reservation of power to appoint the Officers secures to them an influence over the Militia greater than that of the federal government (9th para).

And on the use of the Militia to repel Invasions, Hamilton says (13th para):
“In times of insurrection, or invasion, it would be natural and proper that the militia of a neighboring State should be marched into another, to resist a common enemy, or to guard the republic against the violence of faction or sedition…”
True, it was contemplated that the “United States” would be the entity which protects the States against Invasion (Art. IV, §4). But when the federal government has demonstrated its determination that the States ARE TO BE OVERRUN BY INVADERS, then the People have the natural right to defend themselves, and their States have the retained Power to employ the Militia to defend them from those into whose hands the federal government has demonstrated its determination to deliver them.

The States are within their retained Sovereign Power to call up their State Militia to fend off invaders. Article I, §10, last clause, is an expression of this retained sovereign Power of States of self-Defense:
“No State shall … engage in War, unless actually invaded…”
Clearly, the States may use their State Militia to engage in War to defend the States from Invasion.5
James Madison spoke to the same effect as Hamilton respecting federal tyranny. In Federalist No. 46(9th para), Madison speaks of a federal government so consumed with madness that it sends its regular army against the States:
“…Let a regular army … be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. … [To the regular army] would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. … Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms [an insurmountable] barrier against the enterprises of ambition…” [boldface mine]

 

Look to Your State Constitution for Provisions re Your State Militia


Article VIII of the Constitution for the State of Tennessee provides for Tennessee’s Militia. Consistent with the tradition which has existed in this Country since the early 1600s, all Tennessee Citizens are members of this Militia. Article I, §28, TN Constitution says:
“That no citizen of the state shall be compelled to bear arms, provided he will pay an equivalent, to be ascertained by law.”
Read your State Constitution. 
What does it say about the Militia? 
What do the implementing State Statutes say? 
Is your State Militia active? Why not? 

For information on revitalizing your State Militia, see Dr. Vieira’s three part series, “Are You Doing Your Constitutional Duty For “Homeland Security”?

 

Conclusion


Madison closes his magnificent 9th paragraph in Federalist No. 46 with this:
“…Let us not insult the free and gallant citizens of America with the suspicion, that they would be less able to defend the rights of which they would be in actual possession, than the debased subjects of arbitrary power would be to rescue theirs from the hands of their oppressors. Let us rather no longer insult them with the supposition that they can ever reduce themselves to the necessity of making the experiment, by a blind and tame submission to the long train of insidious measures which must precede and produce it.” [emphasis mine]
But we became “debased subjects of arbitrary power”. So now, will we lay down before the Invaders and Insurrectionists and those in our federal government who aid and abet them?  
Or we will man up, revitalize our State Militia, and show the world that we still have some “free and gallant Citizens of America” in this land?

 

Endnotes:

 

1 Our Framers contemplated that immigration would be restricted to people who shared our culture and values – e.g.,
Federalist No. 2, 5th para.

But Americans got conned into believing that an ideal culture is multicultural. Thus, with Teddy Kennedy’s immigration reform act of 1965, our borders were opened to all. We congratulated ourselves on our new virtues of “tolerance” and “diversity”. But the goal of the multiculturalists was to eradicate our unique Culture – we were too gullible to see it. So now, the enemy is inside the gates, and more are coming in. And Islam doesn’t tolerate multiculturalism.

2 “Open borders” adherents bristle at the assertion that Congress has constitutional authority to restrict immigration. They insist that Art. I, §9, cl. 1 addresses only the importation of slaves and says nothing about free immigrants. But the text distinguishes between “migrations” and “importations”, and the Duty is levied on “importations”, not “migrations”. Slaves, being “property”, were “imported”. Free Europeans “migrated”. 

The power of the States to determine such persons as it was proper to admit, expired January 1808. There are various letters and speeches from our early days confirming this. I’ll write it up when I get time (if this doesn’t turn on the light). For now, see Federalist No. 42 (6th para):
“…Attempts have been made to pervert this clause [Art. I, §9, cl. 1] into an objection against the Constitution, by representing it on one side as a criminal toleration of an illicit practice [slavery], and on another as calculated to prevent voluntary and beneficial emigrations from Europe to America. I mention these misconstructions, not with a view to give them an answer, for they deserve none, but as specimens of the manner and spirit in which some have thought fit to conduct their opposition to the proposed government.” [boldface mine]
Our Framers understood that the national government must be able to determine who is allowed to come here. That’s why Art. I, §9, cl. 1 delegates to Congress power to control immigration, commencing January 1808. And isn’t one of your complaints against the federal government that it has refused for so long to control our Borders?

3 See the website for The Center for Security Policy (Frank J. Gaffney) HERE. There you can read The Plan of the Muslim Brotherhood to infiltrate and take over all American Institutions. They are working to make this Country part of a global Islamic caliphate. Open your eyes NOW.

4 Do read all 8 of Dr. Vieira’s papers in this series. They get very moving.

5 “Troops” as in Art. I, §10, last clause, are professional full-time soldiers. States may not keep “Troops” absent consent of Congress. But the States’ Militia is a permanent State institution. The States retain their pre-constitutional powers over their Militia, subject only to the federal government’s limited supremacy set forth in the 3 Militia clauses [See Part 2 of Dr. Vieira’s paper HERE.] PH

 

About Publius Huldah:

Lawyer, philosopher & logician. Strict constructionist of the U.S. Constitution. Passionate about The Federalist Papers (Alexander Hamilton, James Madison & John Jay), restoring constitutional government, The Bible, the writings of Ayn Rand, & the following: There is no such thing as Jew & Greek, slave & freeman, male & female, black person & white person; for we are all one person in Christ Jesus. She also writes legal and Constitutional commentary at her site: Publius-Huldah.

http://www.dcclothesline.com/2015/12/01/treason-cowardice-and-the-islamic-invasion-why-states-must-revitalize-the-militia/

 

ALERT! HELP! IMPORTANT SENATE VOTE THURSDAY!!!!



#BabiesLivesMatter - Senate can
defund Planned Parenthood 
tomorrow!! 



Wednesday, December 2, 2015

As early as tomorrow (Thursday), the Senate could vote on a bill to defund Planned Parenthood and repeal key parts of ObamaCare using a budget procedure called "reconciliation." Through this process, passing this measure only requires 51 votes in the Senate. Debate in the chamber begins today, with amendments and a final vote expected on Thursday.

The Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act (H.R. 3762) will cut close to 80% of the taxpayer dollars given to Planned Parenthood. While the special rules on Reconciliation cannot be used to defund ALL federal funding for Planned Parenthood, it CAN be used to cut millions from their pocket.

Repealing major portions of ObamaCare would also be a huge pro-life victory. The ObamaCare provision would alleviate federal pressure on people and employers who are forced to purchase health insurance which they may find objectionable, like abortion.

Please urge your senators to vote FOR the Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act; and ask them to support defunding Planned Parenthood and to repeal as much of ObamaCare as the budget rules allow.

Contact Your Senators Now!

Thank you for standing with us, because...#BabiesLivesMatter!


Tim Wildmon, President
American Family Association

  
American Family Association
P O Drawer 2440  |  Tupelo, MS 38803  |  1-662-844-5036


CBS News Exposes the Media


Investigative Journalist For CBS News Exposes How Mainstream Media Brainwashes The Public


141031_AttkissonVideo_Quinn1-1024x532
Amanda Froelich | True Activist



If you’re aware that only a handful of corporations (6, to be exact) control over 90% of the media, you’re one of the few. What this means is that everything you hear on the radio, read in the news, and see on television (including the ‘news’), is controlled by one of these six corporations: General Electric (GE), News Corp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner, and CBS.

This startling truth has become more commonly accepted in recent years, especially since Operation Mockingbird, a CIA-based initiative to control mainstream media, was exposed.

Popular avenues of information are now bombarded with clever marketing tactics telling the public what to think and what to buy, how to look, and where to spend hard-earned dollars. Such is evident once you wake up and note the blatant lies continuing to spam the TV screen and newspaper headlines – especially concerning the topics of health, food, war (“terrorism”), poverty, and more.

Sadly, people aren’t even aware of how brainwashed they’ve become. That’s where Sharyl Attkisson comes in.
For her eye-opening TEDx talk (below), the veteran investigative journalist (and former CBS News investigative reporter) reveals how “astroturf,” or fake grassroots movements, funded by political, corporate, or other special interests very effectively manipulate and distort media messages.

It’s time the populace wake up and question everything with integrity. 

http://www.dcclothesline.com/2015/12/01/investigative-journalist-for-cbs-news-exposes-how-mainstream-media-brainwashes-the-public/

Climate change? Or ISIS?



Which is the REAL threat?


Government Weather Manipulation Exposed

Flashback: Government Weather Manipulation Exposed

Learn the secrets behind government weather manipulation

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Open Letter to General Dunford and the Joint Chiefs of Staff



AN OPEN LETTER TO GENERAL DUNFORD
AND THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF




Anna von Reitz
November 12, 2015
 


The Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Dunford, Chief of Staff
9999 Joint Staff
Pentagon
Washington, DC 20318-9999

Dear General Dunford and Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff:


Today, it is our sad duty to reiterate the facts. Our nation has been all but overrun by British-backed inland pirates making “war” upon innocent civilian non-combatants who are owed the Good Faith and Service of both the British Monarch who is supposed to act as our Trustee on the “High Seas and Inland Waterways” and the City-State of Westminster aka Inner City of London, which promised us “amity in perpetuity” under the Treaty of Westminster 1794.
 

These Breaches of Trust and Treaty by declared “friends and allies” and the criminality involved in their secretive execution of agreements revealed by the Secret Treaty of Verona (1845) led to the issuance of private privateer’s “licenses” to Bar Association Members including Members of the American Bar Association.
 

It should also be clear that the resulting theft of our resources and labor and the abuse of our Armed Forces has occurred on the watch of your predecessors, all of whom have taken their paychecks from our treasury while turning a blind eye to the corruption in which they have participated and benefitted from.
 

The jig, Sirs, is up.
 

Your duty is clearly to the American People and failure to perform will not be excused. The false legal proceedings which have allowed the criminals responsible to “redefine” freeborn Americans as debt slaves belonging to the District of Columbia Municipal Corporation and to falsify the probate court records is now fully exposed and has been published worldwide. 

Similar mechanisms of fraud simulating legal process have been employed throughout Great Britain, the Commonwealth, Western Europe, and Japan.
 

A popular press article entitled “So What Does All This Mean?” elucidating the legal fraud mechanism and documenting the way in which it was put in place is attached.
 

An original wet-ink signed copy of the referenced “Declaration of Joint Sovereignty” and “Sovereign Letters Patent” submitted to the UN Trust Committee-North America and to the UN Security Council is attached, as is an original wet-ink signed copy of our published, printed, and bound affidavit of probable cause, “You Know Something Is Wrong When.....An American Affidavit of Probable Cause”.

Your offices are already in receipt of the General Civil Orders issued by the American People acting under the Last Man Standing Rule of our Lawful Constitution.


Your duty and the duty of the International Trustees to protect us and to protect our assets both public and private has been clearly enunciated along with our intention to live our lives in peace and our determination to stop this criminality in its tracks.


It’s our credit that has been abused to pay your salaries and buy your “toys” and it is our sons and daughters who fill your ranks and give your offices meaning. You will obey us and you will perform your duty to protect our currency and protect our national trust or we will fire you and hire someone else.


We are the lawful beneficiaries and inheritors of the American National Trust(s) and we are speaking in that capacity as Beneficiaries making demand upon the Trustees to act in our favor and according to our direct instructions.


No presumption that any incorporated entity  than our long-established States of America “represents” us may be maintained and no claim presented by any Member of the American Bar Association may be deemed credible. These con men have been waging a form of commercial war against innocent Third Parties, entrapping and entangling innocent non-combatant civilians in their private abusive bankruptcies.

Not all lawyers and bankers are bad people and many have participated unknowingly in this rape and pillaging of America. Those that have known and have willfully participated in these nefarious acts have operated as Undeclared Foreign Agents and have committed capital crimes including press-ganging, inland piracy, conspiracy  against The Constitution, and unlawful conversion of National Trust assets.


They are Public Enemies of the highest order, as they have abused positions of Public Trust in order to carry out their actions. They have also committed numerous lesser crimes including personage, barratry, impersonating elected  officials, simulating legal, reverse and secondary trust fraud, fraud by semantic deceit, and constructive fraud.

If your Oath means anything to you, if your country means anything to you, these crimes and those committing them must be brought to a stop. This continuing criminality is our Number One National Security issue.
 

Sincerely,

______________________________________________

Anna Maria Riezinger, all rights reserved.

______________________________________________

James Clinton Belcher, all rights reserved.

Contact: c/o Box 520994, Big Lake, Alaska RFD 99652 and as previously shared.


Enclosed: 

Wet-ink bound copy of affidavit of probable cause 
Wet-ink copy of Declaration of Joint Sovereignty and Sovereign Letters Patent
Copy of editorial “So What Does All This Mean?”

********************************************
POSTERS COMMENT... TIME TO GET YOUR ARSE IN HIGH GEAR GENERAL... AS YOU SEEM TO BE WAFFLING ON EACH SIDE OF THE LINE... WE THE PEOPLE ORDER YOU TO 1. STOP THE CHEMTRAILS... 2. STOP ALL HAARPS.... 3. GET THE ARRESTS DONE.... IF YOU CAN'T GET THIS DONE, GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN.... THIS IS FOR STARTERS.....
 

Obama IGNORES warning beeps to end his 'speech' at Paris climate change meeting


Obama Exceeds 3-Minute Speaking Limit at Climate Change Gathering — Watch What Happens When He                        Gets Signal to Wrap It Up






Ranchers Blamed for Illegals Dying on Their Land !!!



Ranchers Blamed for Illegals Dying on Their Land




Thousands of illegals set upon a perilous journey when they decide to illegally cross into the United States. Many set off on foot and hike over a hundred miles through deserts that will kill you if not prepared. Others are dropped off in the desert by their human traffickers before reaching check points.

In the summer, temperatures can reach well over 100 degrees, draining anyone of energy and water. Unless they are protected from the intense sun and carrying several gallons of water, the desert will consume them, yet they peruse their illegal journey anyway.

So who is to blame when an illegal that is not properly prepared to survive for days in the desert and ends up dying?

In Brooks County, Texas, located about 70 miles north of the Mexican border, 41 illegals have been found dead in the harsh desert. A number of human rights groups are trying to place some of the blame on the ranch owners. They claim that ranchers do not allow enough access to their lands to groups that want to search for distressed and missing illegals. Among the missing is a woman from Honduras.

Susan Kibbe, Director of the Texas Property Rights Association, said that in the case of the missing woman from Honduras, both Border Patrol and law enforcement had access to the land where she is missing, however the ranch owner has not given permission to anyone else. She also told the local media:
"We just think the landowner shouldn't take the blame on this.""Somehow the U.S. is blamed for their deaths, or ranchers are blamed on their deaths, or others are blamed for their deaths. When they know when they come into this country illegally, they're taking this chance."
I can tell you first hand that many ranch owners don’t want people on their land because they trash it up and often leave gates open which allow livestock to get lose. In my experience, many do-gooder groups are among the worst at disrespecting the property of anyone they disagree with, especially ranch owners.

If someone goes hiking in a national park or wilderness area and dies from the elements, you don’t hear anyone blaming the federal government, do you? Some people decide to scale a tall mountain in the US and ends up dying, you don’t see anyone blaming the government, do you? So why should anyone blame a ranch owner when someone decides to illegally cross their ranch and ends up dying as a result of their own actions?

People who cross our borders illegally are the only ones responsible for their own welfare. If they succumb to the elements trying to cross many miles of harsh desert, then the fault is solely theirs and those who helped them get there.

Of course if the extremely effective border fence being used in the Yuma, Arizona area was extended over the entire length of Mexican border and we have our military help guard the border, then there probably wouldn’t be nearly as many illegals dying in America’s deserts.

Military Benefits and Retirement - casualty of war


Latest Casualty of War: Military Benefits and Retirement





President Barack Obama just signed the defense authorization bill, which drastically changes how we compensate soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and Coasties.

Instead of a retiree-take-all pension scenario after 20 years of good service, typical for career military personnel for decades, the new approach is blended and allows even those who serve only two years some retirement compensation through a 403(b) type account.

This would bring the military more in-line with private sector retirement compensation packages. There are at least three glaring problems with this plan.

CLEVELAND, GA - JULY 14: U.S. Army U.S. Army Capt. Kristen Griest (2nd L) takes part in mountaineering training during the at the U.S. Army Ranger School on Mount Yonah July 14, 2015 in Cleveland, Georgia. U.S. Army Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver were the first female soldiers to graduate from Ranger School. (Photo by Yvette Zabala-Garriga/U.S. Army via Getty Images)
U.S. Army U.S. Army Capt. Kristen Griest (2nd L) takes part in mountaineering training during the at the U.S. Army Ranger School on Mount Yonah July 14, 2015 in Cleveland, Georgia. U.S. Army Capt. Kristen Griest and 1st Lt. Shaye Haver were the first female soldiers to graduate from Ranger School. (Photo by Yvette Zabala-Garriga/U.S. Army via Getty Images)


One, the salaries of military vs. civilian employees doing virtually the same job is skewed towards the private sector, providing little or no incentive for young, bright and brave citizens to stay in the military beyond the training phase of their military career.

Two, there are no private sector companies that are expected to perform the same tasks as our military, i.e. conduct war.

And three, if you offer financial parachutes all along the way you will severely and critically weaken the most important aspect of a winning military team: Experience and leadership.

Leaders are rarely born, but they are routinely trained by the military. Commitment to excellence is a hallmark of career military personnel. All along the way in the professional life of a soldier there are higher and higher standards of achievement and performance that are required for someone to advance in their career. Leaders are constantly being culled for higher positions of responsibility.

These challenges are unlike anything in the civilian world. They deserve and require an attractive and generous compensation and retirement package to keep the interested and capable few in the profession that needs them most.

The degradation of compensation benefits that the latest National Defense Authorization Act includes would discourage long term commitments from those most capable. Higher civilian salaries and the same risky retirement plans would eventually pull away the best and brightest that we cannot afford to lose.

The world keeps getting more dangerous, not less so. The challenges and needs of the finest fighting force on the earth requires the very best we can give, and more if we want to remain safe and secure in the decades to come.

The rationale for changing the compensation ranges from a more fiscally efficient management of personnel, to responding to complaints of those who only want to serve for a short period, but apparently have no fiscal maturity to save on their own.

It’s really not that difficult to save in the military. Your food, housing and clothing are virtually paid for. Savings plans for college have been an integral part of military compensation since World War II, starting with the G.I. Bill.

A traditional retirement plan is just what the doctor ordered to keep the best military folks focused on the hunt for longevity.

In a capitalist society, competition makes us strong. Imagine a system where there is no competition for promotions. Where there are more slots to fill than bodies to fill them. This would bring us back to a draft, and then we will be in a world of hurt.

No offense to those who were drafted for past conflicts and then served their country with honor and distinction, for there were many, but the difference between an all volunteer professional force and one that is dragged kicking and screaming into service cannot honestly be compared.

This plan is flawed and dangerous. Many details still need to be worked out. But there are no credible analyses of the plan that conclude the new plan is better than the current plan for the military retiree.



Lost in the shuffle (as usual) are National Guard and Reserve personnel who may have served Active Duty other than training, i.e., in combat and in multiple tours, like yours truly. Me for example: 22 years of good service, nearly two and a half years of active duty for deployments in the Global War on Terror, one each for Operation Enduring Freedom, Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom. Yet, unlike my Active Duty colleagues, who may begin to draw retirement pay immediately after serving 20 good years, I must wait until age 57 ½ to begin to draw decidedly less retirement compensation.

If we both began service at 23 years old, my counterpart would begin receiving retired pay at 43. I have to remain alive another 14 years with absolutely zero compensation. If I left service by resigning my commission as an officer I would be paid in dollars relative to the year I resigned. If I simply become a “gray area” retiree, I can receive current value dollars when I become eligible for retired pay. But, I am therefore vulnerable for reactivation should a national emergency require my services. Again, all the time between my retirement to a potential re-activation, I receive absolutely nothing.

I’m not complaining. I am getting exactly what I signed up for, no more, no less. I am merely pointing out the differences in compensation.
 
One, the salaries of military vs. civilian employees doing virtually the same job is skewed towards the private sector, providing little or no incentive for young, bright and brave citizens to stay in the military beyond the training phase of their military career.

Two, there are no private sector companies that are expected to perform the same tasks as our military, i.e. conduct war.

And three, if you offer financial parachutes all along the way you will severely and critically weaken the most important aspect of a winning military team: Experience and leadership.

Leaders are rarely born, but they are routinely trained by the military. Commitment to excellence is a hallmark of career military personnel. All along the way in the professional life of a soldier there are higher and higher standards of achievement and performance that are required for someone to advance in their career. Leaders are constantly being culled for higher positions of responsibility.

I’m not complaining. I am getting exactly what I signed up for, no more, no less. I am merely pointing out the differences in compensation.

Only about 20 percent of Active Duty personnel make it to retirement. Only about 13 percent of Reserve Component military personnel make it to retirement. So why the drastic changes? What better way to try and show fiscal responsibility than cutting compensation for the county’s largest employer?  The result, however, is a budget military. And remember, you get what you pay for.

NOTE: Very little in the NDAA addresses the pathetic status of homeless veterans and the endemic problems within the Department of Veterans Affairs, which should receive ZERO tolerance from any of us. It is our badge of shame. Until every homeless veteran who served honorably is in an honorable situation, we bear the responsibility, collectively as a nation, for honoring those who never came home alive by taking care of those who did.

Montgomery Granger is a three-times mobilized U.S. Army major (Ret.) and author of “Saving Grace at Guantanamo Bay: A Memoir of a Citizen Warrior.” Amazon, Blog, Facebook, Twitter: @mjgranger1

http://www.theblaze.com/contributions/latest-casualty-of-war-military-benefits-and-retirement/ 

Baby Zeke's Visit with Santa goes Viral!!!!



Sweet Photos of Santa and Sleeping Baby Go Viral

Santa and Zeke have been melting hearts around the world
Beth Greenfield
Senior Writer
November 30, 2015
A sleeping infant, unbeknownst to him, became an overnight Facebook sensation when his adorable photos with Santa (see above and below) drew attention from around the globe.

It all started when 6-month-old Zeke went with his parents, Donnie and Kelli Walters, to meet Santa at a mall in Evansville, Ind. But when the family reached the point of being second in line, Zeke — apparently less excited about the event than his parents were — let out a huge yawn and fell sound asleep in his stroller.

“We discussed leaving and then returning later,” Donnie tells Yahoo Parenting, but then a mom behind them advised sticking around because the Eastland Mall’s Santa was a veteran who had a particularly unique approach to dealing with sleeping babies.

When their turn came, Donnie says, “Santa came over and said, ‘Please stay and keep him asleep.’” He instructed them to lift Zeke carefully out of his stroller — he woke up only for a second — and place him in the crook of the arm of Kris Kringle, who lay slumped in his green armchair with the book The Night Before Christmas, as if he and the baby had dozed off while reading together. The results are both funny and precious.

“The pictures were so cute that when I looked over at my mother-in-law, she was crying,” Donnie says about the photo shoot. 

And the images have resonated in an amazing way on Facebook, where Donnie — a disabled Army vet with an injured shoulder who is a stay-at-home dad to Zeke — first posted them to his page, “Donnie’s Daddy Daycare.” 

From there, he said, they “took off like wildfire.”

The photos have since been liked more than 375,000 times and shared more than 198,000 times, and have inspired more than 22,000 joyful comments.            

“It’s been crazy,” says Donnie, whose story has been covered in media outlets from Boston to London and who has been invited with Zeke and Kelli, a social worker, for a live TV broadcast in New York.  

The family, who returned to the mall over the weekend to visit Santa and let him know the photos had gone viral, learned that it wasn’t exactly his first brush with fame: Last year, photos of him eating breakfast at a local Bob Evans with a 3-year-old fan who couldn’t bear to see Santa eating alone also got lots of attention. But Zeke was still unimpressed. As soon as they returned for the visit, Donnie says, the little boy fell asleep again — providing another great photo op, natch! 

https://www.yahoo.com/parenting/sweet-photo-of-santa-and-sleeping-baby-goes-viral-174312202.html