There are 10 cases waiting before the justices, and it only takes the agreement of four of the nine justices to vote to hear a case -- a low hurdle for the right-leaning Supreme Court seemingly eager to make a broad Second Amendment ruling.

Justice Clarence Thomas in 2018 complained that the lower courts were treating the Second Amendment right "cavalierly."

Jacob Charles, the executive director of the Center for Firearms Law at Duke Law School says it seems as though there are "at least" four justices eager to rule on a Second Amendment case, but that is no guarantee the court will make a sweeping ruling the way some conservatives hope.

"That means a court that is to the right of where it was in 2008, but the chief's position as the median may make him more cautious, seeking a narrower decision, with a more gradual approach to the Second Amendment," Charles said.

"Anybody reading what came out in the New York City case recently and just following the court and its changed makeup would have to say there's a high likelihood they are going to take up a Second Amendment case," said Eric Tirschwell, managing director of the pro-gun control group Everytown Law.

Ability to carry firearms outside the home

Five of the 10 cases the court is looking at ask justices to determine whether the Second Amendment allows the government to restrict the ability of citizens to carry a firearm outside the home to those with "good cause" or "justifiable need" to do so.

The law "effectively bars ordinary, law-abiding citizens from carrying handguns outside the home for self-defense," Paul Clement, a lawyer for Rogers, said in court papers. Clement is a former solicitor general under President George W. Bush.

Rogers' lawyers speak directly to the justices unhappy with how the 2008 ruling is being interpreted, arguing that the Supreme Court's review is necessary to "correct the decision of the court below essentially ignoring the clear holdings of Heller."

In court papers, New Jersey said it has not "banned carrying a firearm in public; instead, the State has carefully limited public carrying to those individuals with a need to do so."

"We hope the court will consider the issue of carry outside the home, as the lower courts have ignored existing Supreme Court precedent regarding the right to bear arms," said the NRA's Amy Hunter.

Assault-style Weapons

Two high profile cases on assault-style weapons sit before the justices involving challenges to state laws involving bans on certain semiautomatic firearms and high capacity magazines, one from Illinois and one from Massachusetts.

The court has ducked similar challenges on assault-style weapons limits before.

Other kinds of restrictions

The justices also have the potential to take a narrower approach.

At issue is whether the law violates the Second Amendment because it prohibits the manufacture or sale in California of some models of handguns that may be made or sold elsewhere, especially given the narrowing regulations impressed upon gun manufacturers.

While all sides are watching closely, there's no guarantees with anything involving the Supreme Court, however.

"When the court will take another gun case, what it will be, and what the court will decide is all guesswork," said Jonathan Lowy, chief counsel and vice president of pro-gun safety organization Brady: United Against Gun Violence. "They could grant cert in these cases as soon this week, or soon after, and we will be ready to ensure that Americans' right to life is not infringed upon by the gun industry."

Tirschwell says that Everytown is "optimistic" that even in a more conservative configuration, the court will uphold gun safety laws coming from state houses across the country.

"The bottom line is that is that the American public overwhelming supports gun safety laws and what we've seen over the last two years in statehouses across the country lawmakers are responding to that," he said. "So the gun lobby is looking to the courts."

CNN's Ariane de Vogue contributed to this report.

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10 cases that could change how the Supreme Court looks at the Second Amendment - CNN

A letter regarding the offense of treason and the Second Amendment demonstrated a woeful ignorance of the subjects.

Initially, the author erroneously claimed the House of Representatives has been sitting on recovery bill after recovery bill for the purpose of inserting what the author claims was leftist socialist provisions.

In fact, the Senate has submitted no bills to the House with respect to recovering from our current financial and health crisis which the House has refused to act upon. To the contrary, the House has passed something in the neighborhood of 400 bills since the Democrats resoundingly won control in 2018 that are sitting on Moscow Mitchs desk with no action.

The Senate, instead, has decided to take a break and not deal with pressing issues. Its main function has been to approve an astounding number of unqualified, ultra-conservative judges.

Next, the author claims this is treason. The United States Supreme Court has defined treason to require the country to be at war for the offense to occur.

Then the writer claims the Second Amendment authorizes citizens to apprehend and arrest toxic domestic enemies. The amendment states: A well-regulated Militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed. Nothing in that language remotely suggests what the author claims.

We have all seen what happened recently in Georgia when three criminals chased down an unarmed jogger and murdered him while bearing arms. They now face first-degree murder charges.

Richard L. Rost

Makawao

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Treason, 2nd Amendment claims borne of ignorance | News, Sports, Jobs - Maui News

The city of Minneapolis is burning.

Much of the media's attention has rightfully focused on how the protests-turned-riots undermine the justified outrage over George Floyd's cruel death at the hands of the police, and the unacceptable arrest of CNN reporters who were trying to cover the developments.

At the same time, these troubling developments should provide a renewed appreciation for the importance of the Second Amendment and how the right to self-defense uplifts minority groups in particular.

During the riots, many minority-owned Minneapolis businesses have unfortunately been looted or destroyed. In response, a number of responsible, law-abiding citizens, both black and white, have exercised their Second Amendment rights to protect their businesses.

"It's about damned time some heavily armed rednecks stood with fellow citizens," one pair said. "These guys are out here with machetes and shattered windows trying to keep looters out of their business because cops can't get in here. And so, you know, I figure, before there were cops there were just Americans ... so, here we are."

"Justice for Floyd, and I hope they stop looting at some point," the men, who are both white, finished. Behind them, you can see minority business owners engaged in similar self-defense posturing.

In a second video from the scene, we specifically see armed, law-abiding black men deployed peacefully outside their minority-owned businesses to protect them from looters and rioters.

These are just two examples of many.

So, despite all the dark news, it's worth remembering that the right to self-defense protects all Americans, not just white Christian Republicans, as some gun control activists would have you believe. In fact, gun control actually has a deeply racist history. All of this is worth remembering the next time so-called champions of minorities start calling for restrictions on the Second Amendment.

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The Second Amendment is helping defend small businesses in the Minneapolis riots - Washington Examiner

by Cathy Wright

Pittsboro, NC I write in response to Andy Foshees post in the May 20, 2020 Chatham Chatlist, The Constitution & Bill of Rights.

He wrote: Digging deeper, I found the Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution. It spells out Americans rights in relation to their government. It guarantees civil rights and liberties to the individual-like freedom of speech, press, and religion.

2 Right to keep and bear arms in order to maintain a well regulated militia.

I would like to add to Mr. Foshees comments:

The Bill of Rights does not grant rights to the people. The Bill of Rights is the list of the fundamental, inalienable rights, endowed in man by his Creator, that defines what it means to be a free and independent people. These rights exist to ensure that the government governs only with the consent of the people.

The Second Amendment states that *A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. *The Second Amendment protects the right of the people to keep and bear arms for defense of life and liberty. One should not ignore the Second Amendments reference to the right of the people, which also appears in the Fourth, Ninth, and Tenth Amendment, and the courts have ruled repeatedly that these rights belong to individuals.

For example:

In U.S. v. Cruikshank (1876), Presser v. Illinois (1886), Miller v. Texas (1894) and U.S. v. Miller (1939), the Supreme Court recognized that the amendment protects an individual right. It has never taken a different view. In District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court heard its first case specifically centered on whether the amendment protects an individual right to arms. Gun control supporters advanced essentially the Salina argument, but the Court, consistent with its previous rulings in Second Amendment-related cases, ruled that the amendment protects an individual right to keep arms and to bear arms in case of confrontation, without regard to a persons relationship to a militia. In McDonald v. Chicago (2010), the court extended the Second Amendments protection nationwide.

During the American Revolution the professional British soldiers were successfully harassed by the armed and determined citizens of the colonies, and our Founding Fathers were quick to attribute these victories to the right of the people to bear arms. James Madison wrote, Americans have the right and advantage of being armed unlike citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. President George Washington said, A free people ought not only be armed, but disciplined. And, George Mason believed that the individual armed citizen was the key to protection against government excesses and defense of freedom when he said, I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people, except for a few public officials. (I just love that one!!) In the Federalist Papers (#46) James Madison referred to the militia, meaning every able-bodied citizen capable of bearing arms.

In the 1982 edition of the Journal of American History, historian Robert Shalhope wrote: When James Madison and his colleagues drafted the Bill of Rights they . Firmly believed in two distinct principles: (1) Individuals had the right to possess arms to defend themselves and their property, and (2) states retained the right to maintain militias composed of these individually armed citizens. Clearly, these men believed that the perpetuation of a republican spirit and character in their society depended upon the freemans possession of arms as well as his ability and willingness to defend both himself and his society.

And in my words, a government that does not trust honest, law-abiding citizens with the means of self-defense for themselves and their country, is not worthy of trust. May God bless America.

Cathy Wright is a Frontlines Activist LeaderNRA-Institute for Legislative ActionChatham County resident

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Our Bill of Rights and the Second Amendment - Chatham Journal Weekly

Since our nation's founding, the right to defend your home, your family, and your property has been essential to the preservation of our rights and freedoms. Here in Montana, our right to keep and bear arms is an integral piece of our state's history of self-reliance and independence. But for years now, liberal politicians have been fighting to chip away at those freedoms. Red Flag laws, background checks on law-abiding citizens, and arbitrary weapons bans have been enacted around the country, and Democrats are calling for them to be mandated by the federal government.

Now more than ever, we need someone who will keep up the fight to protect our Second Amendment rights - and that person is Sen. Daines. Last week Daines received an A+ rating from the NRA - the highest grade a politician can receive for their defense of our Second Amendment. Gov. Bullock, on the other hand, should get a failing grade. His run for president showed his true colors on guns through his support of semi-automatic weapon bans and universal background checks on Montanans who follow the law. If we want to preserve our Second Amendment rights as Montanans and Americans - there is no better candidate than Sen. Steve Daines.

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Sen. Daines will protect our 2nd Amendment rights - The Bozeman Daily Chronicle

WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- TetraPhase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:TTPH), a biopharmaceutical company focused on commercializing its novel tetracycline XERAVATM (eravacycline for injection) to treat serious and life-threatening infections, today announced that it has entered into a second amendment to the Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated March 15, 2020, asamended on May 27, 2020, to which the Company is a party with AcelRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (AcelRx) and its merger subsidiary (the Merger Agreement), to increase the consideration payable to Tetraphase shareholders.

Under the amended Merger Agreement, Tetraphase stockholders will receive, for each share of Tetraphase common stock, (1) $0.5872 in cash and 0.7409 of a share of AcelRx common stock, representing approximately $1.70 in upfront per share value, based on the closing price of AcelRxs common stock as of the close of trading on May 28, 2020, in each case subject to downward adjustment in the event that the Companys closing net cash is less than $5.0 million, and (2) one contingent value right (CVR), which would entitle the holders to receive potential aggregate payments of up to $16.0 million in cash upon the achievement of certain future XERAVA net sales milestones starting in 2021. Under the terms of the Merger Agreement prior to the second amendment, upon the consummation of the transaction, Tetraphase stockholders were entitled to receive for each share of Tetraphase common stock, (1) $0.2434 in cash and 0.7217 of a share of AcelRx common stock, in each case subject to downward adjustment in the event that the Companys closing net cash is less than $5.0 million, and (2) one CVR, which would have entitled the holders to receive potential aggregate payments of up to $14.5 million in cash or AcelRx stock, at AcelRxs option upon the achievement of future XERAVA net sales milestones starting in 2021.

AcelRx proposed the second amendment to the Merger Agreement in response to a proposal from Melinta Therapeutics, Inc. (Melinta), on May 27, 2020, to acquire Tetraphase for $34.0 million in cash (or $1.52 per share of Tetraphase common stock), plus an additional $16.0 million in cash potentially payable under CVRs upon the achievement of certain future XERAVA net sales milestones starting in 2021.

The boards of directors of Tetraphase and AcelRx have each approved the second amendment to the Merger Agreement. Tetraphases board of directors has determined that as a result of the second amendment to the Merger Agreement with AcelRx, Melintas proposal is not superior and recommends the Merger Agreement, as amended by the amendment, to its stockholders.

Based on the closing price of AcelRx stock on May 28, 2020, the total upfront consideration to be received by Tetraphase equityholders is valued at approximately $37.0 million, with approximately $18.7 million of this amount allocated to the Companys outstanding common stock warrants. In the merger, Tetraphase stockholders would also be entitled to receive, for each share of Tetraphase common stock, one non-tradeable CVR, the holders of which will be entitled to receive potential payments of up to an additional $16.0 million in cash in the aggregate upon the achievement of net sales of XERAVA in the United States, payable as follows: (i) $2.5 million upon annual net sales of $20.0 million during 2021, (ii) $4.5 million upon annual net sales of $35.0 million during any year ending on or before December 31, 2024 and (iii) $9.0 million upon annual net sales of $55.0 million during any year ending on or before December 31, 2024.

The special meeting of Tetraphases stockholders to approve the pending transaction is scheduled for June 8, 2020. The transaction is expected to close in June 2020, subject to specified closing conditions, including Tetraphase having a minimum amount of net cash as of the closing and approval by Tetraphase stockholders. Upon the closing of the transaction, Tetraphase will become a privately held company and shares of Tetraphases common stock will no longer be listed on any public market. Subject to certain limited exceptions, the CVRs will be non-transferable.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC is acting as financial advisor to Tetraphase and Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP is acting as legal advisor.

About Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company using its proprietary chemistry technology to develop and commercialize novel tetracyclines for serious and life-threatening conditions, including bacterial infections caused by many multidrug-resistant, or MDR, bacteria. There is a medical need for new antibiotics as resistance to existing antibiotics increases. The companys commercial product, XERAVATM (eravacycline), a fully synthetic fluorocycline, is an intravenous, or IV, antibiotic that is approved for use as a first-line empiric monotherapy for the treatment of MDR infections, including those found in complicated intra-abdominal infections, or cIAI.

Additional Information and Where to Find it

In connection with the proposed transaction between Tetraphase and AcelRx, AcelRx filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) the Registration Statement containing a document constituting a prospectus of AcelRx and a proxy statement of Tetraphase. The Registration Statement was declared effective by the SEC on April 24, 2020, and Tetraphase commenced mailing the definitive proxy statement/prospectus to stockholders of Tetraphase on April 28, 2020. Tetraphase and AcelRx also plan to file other relevant documents with the SEC regarding the proposed transaction. Investors and security holders are urged to read the definitive proxy statement/prospectus and other relevant documents filed with the SEC carefully and in their entirety because they contain important information.

Investors and security holders can obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus and other documents filed with the SEC by Tetraphase or AcelRx through the web site maintained by the SEC at http://www.sec.gov. In addition, investors and security holders can obtain free copies of the proxy statement/prospectus from Tetraphase by written request to Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 480 Arsenal Way, Watertown, Massachusetts 02472, Attn: Secretary or by calling (617) 715-3600.

No Offer or Solicitation

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or the solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities, nor a solicitation of any vote or approval, with respect to the proposed transaction or otherwise. No offering of securities shall be made except by means of a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and otherwise in accordance with applicable law.

Participants in the Solicitation

Tetraphase and its directors and executive officers may be deemed to be participants in the solicitation of proxies from Tetraphase stockholders in respect of the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement. Information about Tetraphases directors and executive officers is included in Tetraphases Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019, which was filed with the SEC on March 12, 2020. Other information regarding the participants in the solicitation of proxies in respect of the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement, and a description of their direct and indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be contained in any registration statement, prospectus, proxy statement and other relevant materials to be filed with the SEC if and when they become available.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release contain various forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those regarding the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement, the expected timetable for completing the transaction with AcelRx, future financial and operating results, benefits and synergies of the transactions, future opportunities for the combined company and any other statements about future expectations, plans and prospects for Tetraphase. The words anticipate, believe, continue, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, project, should, target, would and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words.

The following factors, among others, could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in these forward-looking statements: the risk that the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement may not be completed in a timely manner, or at all, which may adversely affect Tetraphases business and the price of its common stock; the failure to satisfy all of the closing conditions of the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement, including the approval of the AcelRx Merger Agreement by Tetraphases stockholders; the occurrence of any event, change or other circumstance that could give rise to the termination of the AcelRx Merger Agreement; the effect of the announcement or pendency of the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement on Tetraphases business, operating results, and relationships with customers, suppliers, competitors and others; risks that the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement may disrupt Tetraphases current plans and business operations; risks related to the diverting of managements attention from Tetraphases ongoing business operations; the outcome of any legal proceedings that may be instituted against Tetraphase related to the AcelRx Merger Agreement or the transactions contemplated by the AcelRx Merger Agreement; risks relating to Tetraphases ability to successfully commercialize XERAVA; concerns with or threats of, or the consequences of, pandemics, contagious diseases or health epidemics, including COVID-19; general economic and market conditions and the risk factors set forth under the caption Risk Factors in Tetraphases Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2020 filed with the SEC on May 7, 2020 and in any other subsequent filings made by Tetraphase with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof, and Tetraphase specifically disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200529005335/en/

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Tetraphase Announces Second Amendment to Merger Agreement with AcelRx Pharmaceuticals for Increased Consideration - BioSpace

The union representing Minneapolis Police Officers has long felt that the democratically elected mayor, Jacob Frey, should not be the boss of them. Across the country, armed insurgent demonstrators have expressed similar feelings about their governors: In Michigan, a gang with assault weapons drove the state senators to abandon the capitol. Turns out, in uniform or out, white men with guns can pose a real problem for old-fashioned representative government. In attitudes and political loyalties, a scary number of the people professing to defend the government look more like the problem than the solution.

Just six months ago, Frey issued an order forbidding police officers from wearing their uniforms on the podium at political events. This angered Police Federation of Minneapolis union President Bob Kroll, a President Donald Trump supporter who was set to take the stage alongside Trump at a Minneapolis rally in November. More recently, Frey terminated the warrior-style police training program called "killology," a system linked to the earlier killing of black Minneapolis citizen Philando Castile. The mayor's directive about how his city's police should be trained was "illegal," Kroll announced; the union chief committed to continue teaching police how to apply lethal force to the population that employed them. The officers keep reelecting him. When he retires next year, his second-in-command is set to succeed him.

This sense of revolt among uniformed officers - a distrust of the very state they pledge to protect and serve - has been growing. Police officers are more invested in gun rights than the public is, 74% to 53%; two-thirds of the public support bans on assault weapons, while only one-third of police surveyed do, according to Pew. Cops prefer politicians who give them complete, unquestioned license: members of the NYPD routinely turn their backs on New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, when he appears at occasions like slain officers' funerals. Kroll says his union supported Trump because, while President Barack Obama embraced "the handcuffing and oppression of police," Trump "let cops do their job." The Fraternal Order of Police, the largest and oldest police union, has often endorsed the more conservative candidate in each election since it backed George Wallace in 1968. (The FOP didn't endorse a presidential candidate in 2012.)

Why weren't the officers of the law deployed more effectively when armed opponents of stay-at-home orders chased elective officeholders out of town? Where were they when protesters gathered, from coast to coast, in blatant disregard of the quarantine orders? The answer may lie in the many ways that members of law enforcement hold attitudes that are more like contemporary Second Amendment activists than those of defenders of the state.

This may look like politics as usual in the era of the conservative revival. Since the controversy over the FBI's raid on the heavily armed Branch Davidian religious compound in Waco, Texas, in 1993 during the Clinton administration, the federal government has been skittish about deploying force in face of armed resistance. When rancher Ammon Bundy and his allies occupied government lands in Oregon to protest the imprisonment of ranchers for arson on public land, federal officials during the Obama administration did nothing to force them out; eventually, Trump pardoned Bundy. A conservative majority of Supreme Court Justices created an almost limitless Second Amendment doctrine in support of maximum gun distribution and reversed the half-century of federal voting rights enforcement. The armed resistance in Lansing followed Trump's tweet to "LIBERATE MICHIGAN."

It was not supposed to be like this. When people stopped believing that God had picked the ruler and were starting to think about why we have governments, they figured this out. In a state of nature, without collective institutions like government, people would be - as the defiant Michiganders are - scary. Greedy, proud and fearful, they would kill each other for their crops, or to prove they were just as good as the smarter kid, or because they were afraid the others would kill them first. Life would be, as philosopher Thomas Hobbes famously suggested, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short. Better to get together and contract to make a government to protect us all from each other. Follow-on thinkers soon added the requirement that government must not make matters worse, either. The English, and then others, began establishing governments that satisfied these tests.

The social contract state has two salient features, and both are jettisoned when armed resisters take over a capitol building and a police union defies a ban on "killology" training. The government is inherently equal, as each person is as threatening and as possessed of human rights, as any other in the imagined state of nature. However imperfect, elected representative government manifests that inherent equality. And the elected government must have a meaningful monopoly on the use of force. Otherwise it cannot protect us from each other.

When the gun-toting protesters openly walked into the Michigan statehouse and the Senate vacated the chamber in face of future threats, egalitarian representative government surrendered to the rule of the strong. Threatening death and brandishing death, both in the form of firearms and the often unmasked contagion, the demonstrators proved how potent was the threat of anarchy and how fragile the contract that had contained it for so long. When the police establish their own killology-driven order, the democratically elected government similarly loses its monopoly on force, and mayors sit by, wringing their hands while the unelected police take over the role of the state.

Cellphone cameras play a big role in revealing the deep lawlessness in some areas of law enforcement, but those revelations began 30 years ago with the filmed beating of Rodney King. The persistence of the uniformed revolt and the retreat before the coronavirus protesters are just the most recent in a long retreat from the experiment in self-government. With a critical election looming, the prospect is ominous.

Hirshman is author of "Reckoning: The Epic Battle Against Sexual Harassment and Abuse."

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Minnesota and Michigan show that we are living in a Hobbesian state of nature - Bryan-College Station Eagle

In the wake of the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, armed black activists have stepped up as the city endures protests, riots, and looting.

A video of a group of armed black residents in St. Paul went viral on Thursday. The video shows armed black men standing in front of a store. The person who is recording says that the business they're protecting is black-owned. A black gunman can be seen in the background of another video featuring civilians protecting a store.

The armed civilians aren't just protecting property. They're also using their Second Amendment rights to bolster their First Amendment right to protest.

A man who calls himself The Official Grand Master Jay (it's unclear whether this is a nickname or just a social media handle) leads a group called the Not Fucking Around Coalition (NFAC), a black group that he says is compromised of "ex military shooters," and he's been using his social media accounts to showcase his group's armed protests in the wake of Floyd's death. NFAC previously gathered in the Georgia neighborhood where Ahmaud Arbery was shot and killed by two white residents while unarmed and out jogging.

In a clip from one of his livestreamed discussions, The Official Grand Master Jay touted the power of armed protests by speaking about an encounter with officers that ended peacefully.

Other armed protesters have recently made headlines for defending their beliefs. After protesters advocating for the reopening of the economy following COVID-19 lockdowns swarmed the Michigan Capitol, a group of concerned black residents organized the armed escort of black state legislator Sarah Anthony in response. Several in the group carried rifles as they walked her safely to the building.

The arrival of militia members and armed private citizens is to be expected in cities where there is intense fallout from fatal use-of-force incidents. Black activists, some inspired by the likes of Malcolm X and theBlack Panthers, are using their guns to remind the public that they, too, have a voice.

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Black Civilians Arm Themselves To Protest Racial Violence and Protect Black-Owned Businesses - Reason

May 31, 2020 After a 2 hour work session, and a five minute dinner break, the Savannah City Council met Thursday evening from 6:30 p.m. until almost midnight with a jam-packed agenda.

One of the night's hottest topics was a proposal to amend the existing lease that the DeLoach administration signed last year with the Tanenbaum family of Savannah to lease a surface parking lot in the area of the new city Arena.

The Council was presented the background on a proposed contract amendment for their consideration during their afternoon Work Session, followed by an almost hour discussion during the evening session, before finally voting.

The current construction plans for the Arena includes an attached 2,000 vehicle parking garage, which will afford acts and teams to unload during rain or hot sun, and to insure that disabled attendees can be dropped off or can park with covered access to the arena. But, thats 400 spaces short from what city officials now believe will the number of total parking spots needed to have a successful arena business.

The lease initially signed by the DeLoach administration was for a 5-year lease at $696,000 per year. The surface parking lot will require with arena attendees to cross a short bridge over the historic Ogeechee Canal. The terms of that deal also forgave the property owners from having to pay property taxes.

Mayor Van Johnson stated during deliberations that he had always had concerns about the deal including paying no property taxes, as well as the annual cost. Alderwoman-at-Large Kesha Gibson-Carter stated on her Friday night Facebook Live posting that she had also questioned the deal, in meetings with City Manager Pat Monahan.

According to Bret Bell, Deputy City Manager, who has working for the past several months on options for a better deal, the lease had a final deadline for amendments by May 31, and he stated that the property owners had other potential buyers, adding that he felt it was important not to lose this parking lot option. Alderman Detric Leggett, however, told Bell that he was very unhappy to be presented the options to change the lease with a gun to our heads with a decision needed that night.

The amended lease proposal before Council Thursday evening included reducing the annual rate down to $525,000 a year, and that the property would remain on the property tax rolls. However, it would be for a 10-year commitment. Johnson state that he supported the deal, to both save money, and to give the City time for the arena to be completed and to assess parking needs.

Bell presented facts on the walking distance, that it would be similar to the distance people walk now attend events at the Trade & Convention Center on Hutchinson Island, which only has a surface parking lot.

District 1 Alderwoman Bernetta Lanier, who represents the residents living around the arena project, said that she was concerned about the city using a surface lot which were not positive for the environment due to water run-off.

Bell then walked the Council through other options they had considered. The City owns several other lots in the immediate area of the arena on which a second garage could be built, but the cost for the surface lot was one-fifth the cost of building a parking garage,according to Bell, and the city would also be giving up one of its remaining pieces of land that could either be used for other purposes in the future, or could sold off after the arena was completed.

It has always been explained to the public that the new arena would be an economic engine for the citys Westside, part of what is termed the Canal District," with a projection that there will be significant private investment in the area and increasing land values.

And, Bell reminded Lanier that the only city-owned lot that was large enough for a second garage would be right up against one of the neighborhoods in the area. The City made a commitment to the residents that we would not do that, he said. And, he added that the only way to enter and access that potential garage would be through the neighborhood streets, also an unacceptable option, he felt.

Options for parking for the arena has been vetted for years, going back to May 2016 when the Savannah City Council heard the final report of the nationally-respected sport arena consulting firm Barrett Sports Group, LLC which was hired to study the citys arena facility needs.

The firm was asked to look at whether the current Savannah Civic Center could be modified for modern and projected future needs; to study the Savannah and regional market and interest in events, concerts and/or a sports team that would be interested in utilizing an Savannah arena if they city had one with a larger capacity; and to recommend the optimal size arena for the city to build to have a viable business model.

Barrett Sports Group recommended an arena that could seat between 8,500 9,500 people; had 12-15 luxury suites; had 350 to 400 Club Seats; and had 2,750 to 3,000 parking spaces. Their recommendation at that time for building premium seating inventory assumed an anchor minor league tenant.

Since that time, however, transportation options have changed with the growth of Uber and Lyft, etc. City officials now project the need for only 2,400 parking spaces.

Barrett Groups Report on Required Parking Spots

From the beginning of plans to build a new arena for Savannah, parking near the proposed arena was always envisioned to consist of surface parking lots on-site, adjacent to Stiles Avenue, and adjacent to Gwinnett Street.

In the Barrett Groups May 2016, they firm stated that the total parking needed for the maximum capacity of the arena was based on several assumptions: one space per three seats in the arena for attendees; 5% of attendees for an event using public transit options; 5% of attendees walking or biking; one space per twenty seats for employees w/2people in a vehicle; 13% of employees using public transit; and 7% of arena employees walking or biking to their job. In all, Barrett projected the need of 2,976 parking spaces for a successful arena.

Of the three lots planned for the immediate area adjacent to the arena, the main lot accesses from Stiles just north of the arena can accommodate 390 vehicles; The City employee lot on the south side of Gwinnett Street can accommodate approximately 190 spaces and the City property on the northwest corner of Stiles Avenue and Gwinnett St. can accommodate 340 vehicles for a total of 920 spaces; The nearby church parking lot has been estimated to potentially hold 200 parking spaces; and this leaves a deficit of approximately 1,856 parking spaces that will be needed for the arena.

To address the needed 1,856 parking spaces, they presented a number of options: Utilize adjacent City-owned and private properties for surface parking. With a parking deficit of 1,856 spaces and a parking yield of approximately 75 spaces per acre, it would require approximately 25 acres of property to accommodate the needed spaces, the Barrett report states.

The City owns approximately 27 acres of vacant property north of the arena, but there are wetlands on the property that would be impacted for the construction of surface

There is vacant private property east and south of the property that could be used for surface

Parking. Some of this property is contaminated and the balance is listed for sale. Further investigation would be required on the contaminated parcels, the Barrett Group states.

Option 2 was stated to be to build a six level parking deck on the proposed surface parking lot north of the arena, which would provide 1,856 spaces at a projected cost of $27,840,000, which is $15,000 per space.

Prices range from $13,000-$17,000/space and decrease with larger parking decks. Ingress and egress points to the parking deck would be significantly less than multiple parking

Option 3 was to use existing parking facilities in the downtown area with increased mass transit. The biggest advantage to this option is it is the most cost effective because existing

infrastructure is being utilized, but they added, There is currently a parking deficit in downtown Savannah, particularly the western portion. Remote parking facilities such as Hutchinson Island and lands to the west would be required to make up the deficit.

The City opted to build a parking garage that is designed to hold 2,000 cars, which puts them 900+ spaces short.

The Second Amendment to the Land Lease for the Arena Parking Lot was approved 5-4 with Mayor Pro-Tem Shabazz and Alderwomen Kesha GibsonCarter, Alicia Miller Blakely, and Bernetta Lanier voting no.

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May 31 Council Votes to Cut Costs of Surface Parking Lot Lease for New Arena, a Hot Topic at Thursday's Marathon City Council Meeting - Savannah...

Image courtesy Dean Weingarten

U.S.A. -(AmmoLand.com)- Louisiana is one of a few states which ban guns in churches but allow church leaders to allow guns on a case by case basis. According to Concealed Carry.com, as of 2018, there were ten states and the District of Columbia with this policy of religious discrimination against churches that approve of an armed population.

The laws in states that ban guns in church are a way to demonize guns. They fairly scream: Guns Bad! Good People Don't Have Guns!

The states which have such laws are listed at concealedcarry.com.

They are Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and South Carolina.

The District of Columbia has a similar law!? And with the exception of the District of Columbia, the ban on guns in church, without special permission, are in pro-Second Amendment states.

North Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, and Mississippi are Constitutional Carry states. Louisiana, Georgia, Ohio, and South Carolina have shall-issue concealed carry permits.

In most states, the carry of guns in churches is treated the same as on other private property.

My church, in Arizona, actively accepts armed worshipers. Many attendees carry openly.

In colonial America, some colonies required worshipers to bring arms to church.

The Louisiana bill, HB 334, would flip the script back toward the traditional position, with guns having an accepted, honored place in American life. If you have a problem with that, it is allowed, but it is *your* problem, not the problem of American society.

To Terrys dismay a series of gun bills passed the house Friday. One House 334 would allow those who have a concealed carry permit to carry a concealed handgun into a church.

There is too much murder and violence and particularly gun violence that goes on right now without exacerbating that by arming our citizenry and encouraging that, said Terry.

That phrasing indicates guns need to be allowed to be in Church, not that carrying guns is a Constitutional right, and particular churches are allowed to ban guns on their private property if they wish to do so. The quote sets the stage. Guns are Bad!

It is the script which progressive have been pushing in the United States for nearly 100 years.

The assumption, under English and American law, is everything which is not forbidden is allowed. The progressive assumption is the opposite: everything which is not allowed is forbidden.

The American traditional assumption encourages innovation and tolerance. The individual is mostly in charge of their own life. The progressive assumption is the government knows best and should make our decisions for us.

To be fair, the progressive assumption has changed from endorsing Christian morality up until about 1965 to endorsing pagan or Roman sexual mores or lack of constraints after 1965. At the moment, the progressive ideal seems to attack traditional Christian sexual morality, the idea of the family, marriage, and, it must be said, motherhood.

Progressive policy has come to promote sexual activity without limit or responsibility, essentially the sexual morality in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World.

Single women vote Democrat by large percentages.

Banning guns in churches is another way for leftists to enforce their vision of what is acceptable and what is not.

Republican legislators are likely to give him that decision.

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

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Louisiana Bill may flip the Script in Favor of the Second Amendment and Churches - AmmoLand Shooting Sports News

Republicans in Pennsylvanias 7th Congressional District will decide Tuesday who they want to run against U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, the incumbent Democrat who is seeking a second two-year term.

The GOP candidates, Lisa Scheller and Dean Browning, have had to wage unconventional campaigns as the threat of the COVID-19 coronavirus illness has all but nixed traditional ways to meet voters.

Theyre not going door to door because they dont want to be in contact with people, theyre not going to even like any spaghetti dinners or any firemens nights, said Lee Snover, chairwoman of the Northampton County Republican Committee. So no ones meeting them.

Both candidates spoke with lehighvalleylive.com this week for this look at who they are, their top concerns and what their goals would be if elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. The PA-07 district covers Lehigh, Northampton and southern Monroe counties.

Scheller and Browning also touched on how they're getting their word out.

Browning, who fell short in the Lehigh Valley's 2018 congressional primary to Marty Nothstein before Wild went on to victory, said he had counted on "what I view as my strength, which is my ground game -- going door to door, going to events ... and of course toward the end of March all of that was put on hold."

He's turned to phone calls and "lit drops," where campaign staff wearing masks and socially distancing themselves have been dropping off literature about Browning at voters' homes.

"Certainly the pandemic has had an impact on campaigning," Scheller said, noting she misses the grassroots campaigning she's been involved in. She's been doing phone calls, as well as doing outreach with groups via Zoom, she said.

"It's made it very difficult," she said. "I do spend a lot of time on the phone calling people."

Both Scheller and Browning are former Lehigh County commissioners. Here is a closer look at their candidacies.

Lisa Scheller is running for the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania's June 2, 2020, primary election to face Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in November in the 7th Congressional District covering Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties.Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com

Scheller is coming into Tuesdays election as President Donald Trumps favorite in the race, having picked up his endorsement a week ago.

She is chairwoman and president of Silberline Manufacturing, the business owned by her family where shes worked since 1987 and which she took control of following the death of her brother in 1998. The company has its global headquarters in Tamaqua in Schuylkill County, where Scheller grew up; it makes aluminum-based pigments for the automotive and other industries.

"The No. 1 issue facing Americans and facing Pennsylvanians in PA-07 right now is jobs and the economy," Scheller said. "As a business owner myself, I understand the struggle that people are going through with this coronavirus."

After the initial, necessary focus on keeping safe, Scheller said her first priority in office would be to work with the president to help put America back on track and back to work.

Since the coronavirus crisis began in March, Pennsylvanias unemployment rate has reached an unprecedented 15.1% and Lehigh and Northampton counties have seen nearly 80,000 people file initial claims for unemployment compensation.

Schellers other key issues, she said, are expanding education opportunities without financially burdening those who can least afford it, opposing abortion, supporting Second Amendment rights, securing the nations borders and opposing so-called sanctuary cities that refuse to assist in federal crackdowns on illegal immigration. With 38 years of continuing recovery from drug addiction, she also wants to take on opioid addiction, expanding on the Hope and Coffee shop she opened in Tamaqua with a mission of eliminating the stigma for those battling addiction.

"I'm running for U.S. Congress to be the voice of Pa.'s 7th District in Washington, and really to protect the American dream for generations to come," Scheller said.

That dream is threatened by government overreach, she said, pointing as an example to government attempts to manage health care through the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Obamacare, as its known, has been under attack throughout the Trump Administration. Moving to Medicare for All, as some Democrats advocate, would further impact costs and accessibility, Scheller says.

Scheller says she's not a politician, that she's an engineer and business owner who got involved in politics because she wanted to lower Lehigh County's taxes.

She is a divorced mother of two grown children, Leo and Zary, and lives in Allentown.

Dean Browning is running for the Republican nomination in Pennsylvania's June 2, 2020, primary election to face Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in November in the 7th Congressional District covering Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe counties.Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com

The very simple reason that Im running is I believe that America is a great country, and Im running to be an ally of Mr. Trump and be someone he can absolutely count on as he battles to keep America great, Browning said.

The candidate committed to helping to push Trumps agenda through Congress, working first to repair the economy from the impacts of the coronavirus fight. He says that damage is growing worse the longer the shutdown continues.

I understand the closing down to quote flatten the curve, Browning said, "... but my view is were well beyond that.

Browning said he supports a payroll tax holiday that would give workers a nearly 8% raise by suspending contributions of 6.2% for Social Security and 1.45% for Medicare/Medicaid, while saving employers a comparable amount on their own contributions.

"The second area that I want to work with and support the president on is reducing the critical threat from China," said Browning, who sees two avenues toward that objective. One is the military, for which he supports expanded investments in training and technology, and the second is the economy: "We need to start returning vital manufacturing back to the United States."

"They are not interested in being a responsible member of the world community," Browning said. "They are interested in being the dominant member of the world economy."

"The third area I want to work with the president on is finishing the wall," Browning said, going on to say he'd work to secure the southern border and eliminate federal funding for sanctuary cities and counties as part of a plan to reduce illegal immigration.

Returning to his support for the military, Browning called for an overhaul of the Veterans Administration that he says is using an antiquated system and suffering from a shortage of doctors. "A disgrace" is how he described the medical care afforded to veterans.

Brownings other main focus would be to make health care more affordable and put individuals and families in charge of their health care decisions, not insurance companies or the government. He sees the need for more competition through transparency, so patients know how the amount theyre paying for care compares to that being charged to someone on Medicare or Medicaid or who is uninsured. As for Medicare for All, he points to the VA system for an advanced look at what that would mean.

"To me, Medicare for All would just wind up being mediocre care for all," Browning said.

Browning, of South Whitehall Township, is retired from a career as an executive with Coca-Cola Bottling Co. of the Lehigh Valley, Harvel Plastics and New World Aviation.

He and his wife, Cheryl, have been married 32 years. They own three German shorthaired pointers.

Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to lehighvalleylive.com.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com.

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Its Trumps pick vs. Trump loyalist in bid to unseat the Lehigh Valleys congresswoman - lehighvalleylive.com

President Trump won by the narrowest of margins in 2016, and while I believe he will win in 2020, victory is far from certain. If Joe Biden wins and Nancy Pelosi remains in power, liberals are coming for our guns.

That is why it is critical we have a staunch advocate of the Second Amendment in Congress. Thats Victoria Spartz. Spartz is the only candidate endorsed by the NRA because she is the only candidate with a record of defending our Second Amendment rights. Spartz understands the Second Amendment isnt just about hunting or home defense. Its a hedge against tyranny. She grew up in Sovet-occupied Ukraine and understands tyrants always begin their reign by disarming law-abiding people, and she wont stand for.

If you support the Second Amendment, Victoria Spartz is the clear choice for Congress on June 2.

Steve Nelson, Summitville

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

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Letter to editor: Spartz is advocate for Second Amendment - The Herald Bulletin

I wish to take a few "shots" at all the people defending the right to bear arms.

1) It is necessary to protect the right to free speech. Really? Guns don't speak- they shoot or intimidate. What one needs to speak instead is intelligence!

2) To protect against the (Deep State?) government. Really? How do machine guns, automatics and what not, fare against fighter planes or army tanks?

3) Self defense is another talking point. It can be deadly for the victim as well as the attacker, or even an innocent bystander.

4) Hunting is usually a sport, as is target shooting. Both are legal and enjoyable. Standing in front of government buildings and proudly displaying your deadly weapons, really is no brains in my book.

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

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Letter: the second amendment | Letters to the Editor | tucson.com - Arizona Daily Star

RENTON The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Representative Assembly approved a slate of new amendments earlier this month, impacting middle and high school students alike.

Of the 23 proposed amendments being voted on by the WIAA Representative Assembly the associations legislative body consisting of 53 school administrators across the state this year, 18 were approved with the minimum 60% approval necessary, the WIAA announced May 11. All but one of the amendments are going into effect either immediately or during the 2020-21 school year.

The amendment not going into effect until 2024 the beginning of the next classification cycle is a rule that allows 2B schools to utilize the free and reduced lunch enrollment count that went into effect for 1A, 2A, 3A and 4A schools this school year. The initial rule passed last January was what allowed Ilwaco High School to move down from the 1A to 2B classification beginning this school year.

By taking advantage of the rule, IHS went from being one of schools in 1A with the lowest enrollment counts to being one of the schools in 2B with the highest enrollment counts. Depending on how IHS enrollment level and its free and reduced lunch figure changes in the next several years, the school may not be given the option to remain in 2B.

One of the more eye-catching amendments approved by the WIAA Representative Assembly is the amendment that opens the door to allow sixth graders to participate in sports or activities alongside seventh and eighth graders except for football. The amendment was approved with 32 votes, the minimum number of votes needed to be passed.

In order for sixth graders to move up and play with seventh and eighth graders, approval from the schools principal, the school districts superintendent and the school board is required, as is the approval from the league and the WIAA District Board.

The rule is similar in nature to one that allows seventh and eighth graders to participate in a WIAA-sanctioned sport at the high school level if that sport isnt available for them to participate in at their middle school.

Two new amendments giving the WIAA more power to impose discipline upon athletes and coaches were easily approved by the assembly.

As it stands, the first ejection of the season results, at a minimum, in the ejected person athlete, coach or other school representative being ineligible for the following contest in that sport. The first newly approved amendment allows WIAA staff to increase a suspension based upon the aggressive conduct, inappropriate language and/or circumstances following an ejection.

The second amendment passed by the assembly this year allows the WIAA to review video submitted by an appealing school, and gives WIAA staff the authority to suspend a participant if they believe their behavior warranted an ejection but went unseen by the officials at the time of the contest.

Several amendments were also passed that affect just a single sport, including football, basketball and wrestling.

After changes made at the collegiate level several years ago, the WIAA is now following suit in utilizing a 30-second shot clock for both boys and girls basketball. Previously, boys basketball games were played using a 35-second shot clock while girls basketball games used a 30-second shot clock. Backcourt violations are also in effect for both boys and girls games now, after previously only being enforced in boys games.

In a continued effort to address player safety in football, a new amendment only allows teams to have one full-contact practice during a two-a-day workout. The other practice must be no-contact.

A new amendment will also permit 1B schools to field a six-person football team, rather than the typical eight-person team. The rule is designed to help teams with low-turnout numbers that otherwise may have a hard time fielding an eight-person team. Teams that opt for the six-person option will only be allowed to suit up a maximum of 16 players during a game. Naselle, state runner-ups last season, are expected to continue to field an eight-person team.

A new wrestling amendment increases the number of matches a wrestler can participate in during a single day, from five to six matches. The previous figure, five matches per day, is based off of the wrestling rule book from the National Federation of State High Schools.

Another wrestling amendment scraps a rule that previously required a wrestler to participate in a minimum of four sanctioned matches in order to participate in postseason tournaments. There is now no set number of matches a wrestler must compete in in order to qualify for entry into postseason competition.

Continue reading here:

New WIAA amendments to have far reaching impacts - Chinook Observer

To The Mail-Sun:

I have known Mark McHugh for over 30 years. I have watched as he has instilled the deep values of service, faith, hard work, and life in Hayden and Aspyn his two children.

His views on education and after-school programs are on a personal level. It is not just cold numbers to him.

Mark has always had a passion for shooting sports from growing up on a farm in his early years in Clay County.

He has owned firearms as far back as I have known him, and he has always defended our Second Amendment.

It came as no surprise when Mark joined the National Guard in 1999. He always had a heart for service, and he wore his uniform proudly.

As Mark and I grew up, it was apparent that he was deep in his faith, and he always identified an unborn child not as a fetus, but as a baby. His beliefs in this area are extensively pro-life.

Mark has a strong understanding of mental health issues in Iowa. His own father struggled with depression while Mark was growing up, until he lost his father to suicide.

Mark can relate to the working class because he is a member of that group. Besides the military, Mark has worked at the local Hy-Vee, fast-food restaurants, retail stores and factories. Mark is currently employed with Rosenboom Machine & Tool in Sheldon, and just like a lot of others, he heads to work before sunrise and works hard to provide for his family.

To the citizens of Iowa House District 3, I cannot think of a better fit to represent you and your interests than one of your own.

An everyday Iowan that grew up with a passion for the Second Amendment, with years of service in the military.

An everyday Iowan who has been pro-life from the beginning.

An everyday Iowan with a wife and two kids that he serves and provides for every day.

Take my advice, and vote for Mark McHugh on June 2.

Matt Starkson,

Mayor,

Rossie

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Letter: McHugh best person to represent this area - nwestiowa.com

Former U.S. Rep. Sam Johnson, a Texas congressman for more than 25 years and Vietnam War hero, died Wednesday in Plano, a family spokesperson said. He was 89.

First elected to Congress in 1991, Johnson gained a reputation as a strong conservative voice in the Texas delegation. In 2010, he was tied for the most conservative member of Congress, according to the National Journals rankings.

Johnson flew combat missions during the Korean and Vietnam wars as a fighter pilot. While flying over North Vietnam in 1966, his plane was struck down. He was held as a prisoner of war for nearly seven years, including a stint at the Hoa Lo Prison known as the Hanoi Hilton.

Born Oct. 11, 1930, in San Antonio, Johnson graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Dallas. He then attended Southern Methodist University.

During his 29 years in the Air Force, Johnson flew 87 combat missions. He also had a stint as director of the Air Force Fighter Weapons School, the institution known among pilots as Top Gun.

Although he shared a cell at the Hanoi Hilton with U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, the two had a rocky political relationship. In 2000, Johnson backed Bush over his former cellmate for president.

In a July 2015 Politico Magazine article, Johnson criticized Donald Trump, then a presidential candidate, for comments disparaging McCain and other POWs for having been caught.

I hold the deep conviction that our country should respect the service of all our faithful troops and veterans, Johnson wrote. Diminishing the courage and patriotism it takes to leave your family, face the enemy and even God forbid endure wartime torture has no place in a post-Vietnam America.

He wrote more about his time as a POW in solitary confinement in his autobiography, "Captive Warriors."

Johnson is the recipient of two Silver Stars, two Legions of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross, one Bronze Star with Valor, two Purple Hearts, four Air Medals and three Outstanding Unit Awards. Johnson accepted the Freedom of Flight award at the Living Legends of Aviation Awards, known colloquially as the Oscars of aviation, in 2011, according to his congressional biography.

After his service in Vietnam, Johnson returned to Texas, where he worked as a homebuilder. He served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1985 to 1991.

Johnson was first elected to Congress in 1991 during a special election in which he replaced Steve Bartlett, who resigned to become the mayor of Dallas. Although he placed second in the primary, he won in the runoff by emphasizing his wartime record in the deeply Republican district.

In the House, he was a founding member of the Conservative Action Team, now called the Republican Study Committee, a large GOP voting bloc. The groups goals include passing a balanced budget amendment, defunding the National Endowment for the Arts, advancing socially conservative legislation and supporting the Second Amendment.

Johnson continued to focus on military issues while in Congress. He pushed to enact the Military Family Tax Relief Act of 2003, which both doubled the death benefit for active service members and reduced their federal income taxes.

He spoke passionately on the House floor in 2007 against setting arbitrary troop withdrawal deadlines in the Middle East.

I know what its like to be far from home and hear that your country and your Congress dont care about you, he said in that speech.

Johnson defended the construction of the F-22 jet, which is produced in part at the Lockheed Martin plant in Fort Worth near his district. His north-of-Dallas district has seen a recent population boom and is home to companies like Texas Instruments, J.C. Penney and Dr Pepper.

Johnson announced his retirement from Congress in January 2017. His seat is currently held by U.S. Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, who was elected in November 2018.

Sam Johnson was a legend a real life legend, Taylor said in a tweet Wednesday evening. He spent nearly 7 years as a POW - but never broke and never wavered in his commitment to his country. He was the embodiment of an American hero and I'm blessed to have known Sam. Today, we mourn the passing of a true hero.

In 2017, SMU announced that it planned to use a $100,000 donation from Johnson to create a scholarship in his name for military veterans starting in the 2018-2019 school year. In addition, Johnson donated his archive to the university.

SMU helped shape me into the person I am today, and I cant think of a better way to say thank you to my alma mater than with this scholarship and library gift, Johnson said in an SMU statement. Im grateful to join SMU in making a commitment to the military and its families by helping these deserving individuals achieve their higher education.

Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday asked all Texans to remember Johnson, who he called "a true Texas icon."

"Sam Johnson was a fearless patriot and an American hero, and we are incredibly proud and fortunate to have called him a fellow Texan," Abbott said in a statement. "Congressman Johnson dedicated his life to our nation and the state of Texas. He bravely served as a fighter pilot in the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and his profound sacrifice is something Texans will never forget. As a congressman, Sam Johnson served with integrity and was always guided by his principles and the needs of the Texans he served. Today, we mourn the loss of a great Texan, but we also remember his tremendous life and the legacy he leaves behind."

Disclosure: Southern Methodist University has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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Sam Johnson, former Texas congressman, dies at 89 - The Texas Tribune

Matt York/AP/Shutterstock

It wouldnt be a truly American Reopening if it didnt include some unfortunate exercises of Second Amendment freedoms. How could we ever Transition to Greatness without adding to the price we pay in blood for those freedoms? From AzCentral:

So we sleep for a few hours only to awaken to more celebration in honor of our well-regulated militias, this one at a naval base in Texas. From the Corpus Christi Caller-Times:

The tree of liberty is in full bloom.

Respond to this post on the Esquire Politics Facebook page here.

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It Wouldn't Be an American Reopening Without an Unfortunate Exercise of Second Amendment Freedom - Esquire

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Armed women and men with patches on their arms showing the Three Percenter logo III surrounded by stars have been seenat Second Amendment rallies and other protests serving a security role.

Sunday's Second Amendment rally was no exception. Three Percenters who were stationed around the rally-goers and protesters got a shoutout from the organizer, Ben Kennedy, asbeing patriots.

Here's what we know about the group:

The name comes from the idea that 3% of people fought in the Revolutionary Waragainst England. The Three Percenters - Original Facebook page states that it is a "national organization made up of patriotic citizens who love their country, their freedoms, and their liberty. We are committed to standing against and exposing corruption and injustice."

The Kentucky 3 Percenters, an incorporated organization,is "Pro 2A, Pro life and have faith in the brotherhood we have established," according to an informational packet.

More: Audubon police chief names officer who had Three Percenter decal on cruiser

No. Various chapters, incorporated organizations and groups have adopted the Three Percenter "way,"said Patsy Kays Bush, the state secretary for the Kentucky 3 Percenters.

The state's group isn't part of any national group, she added."That's not us," she said, adding that people confuse different groups with the same name.

In Kentucky, the Three Percenters disagree withGov. Andy Beshear's measures to stemthe coronavirus pandemic.

Bush said the governor hasn't heard people's complaints and is too removed from citizens' problems, like not being able to get their unemployment or book a haircut soon enough. She also said the governor makes too many orders as opposed to recommendations.

Bush said that the Three Percenters weren't behind the hanging of Beshear in effigy and that she didn't think it was a good idea, though a man wearing a Three Percenter patch on his arm helped hang it.

"I was against it from day one," Bush said. She said the effigy was not her group's idea and it was meant as a statement and nothing more. She said it was "spur of the moment" and the group had nothing to do with it.

"We don't condone violence of any kind," she said, adding that if she had known about it ahead of time, she would have tried to stop it.

An effigy of Gov. Andy Beshear was hanged from a tree outside the Kentucky state Capitol during a Memorial Day weekend protest. Louisville Courier Journal

The Three Percenters do not consider themselves a militia, according to thethreepercenters.org, a national Facebook page and Bush.

"We identify as a prepper group because that's mostly what we do," Bush said."However, if we were called upon to become a militia, at any time, we'd be ready in a heartbeat."

The Southern Poverty Law Centercalls Three Percenters part of the "antigovernment militia movement, along with the Oath Keepers and traditional militia groups."

Bush said the Kentucky group isn't a militia or close to it. Shesaid the group is peaceful andspends its meetings learning skills such assnaring animals and learning how to prepare meat. The groupis also involved in charity work, she said.

As for the Three Percenter security at the rally, she said the group'spresence wasn't a threat to anyone.

"They're here to show that they can, not that they will. They can carry those guns if they want to. It's legal. That's their right, that's what they're here for," Bush said. "That's what they'reshowing peopleto try and get the message out to people. They're not here to kill anybody."

Related: Republicans and Democrats alike condemn effigy of Beshear that was hanged at state Capitol

USA Today has previously reportedthatmembers of the group were involved in theviolent protests following a deadly neo-Nazi rally in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, but the national group issued a stand-down order. The Washington Post alsoreportedthe group took steps to disassociate itself fromtheracismat the rally.

The Three Percenters are known to use a version of the "OK" hand sign, which gained popularity as a hoax but was then adopted by white supremacists to mean "white power," according to the Anti-Defamation League.

Bush said the version she uses is a sign with three fingers extended across the chest to honor the people who fought in the Revolutionary War.

"Wehave blacks in our group,we have gays in our group," Bush said, adding the group welcomes diversity. "We want everybody we can get."

Since the rally, she said people have reached out to call her and other Three Percenters terrorists and racists.

"We don't have a racist bone in our body between us," she said. "We are a diverse group."

Opinion: Andy Beshear is just fine after 'symbolic' lynching by white supremacists

Reach breaking news reporter Sarah Ladd at sladd@courier-journal.com. Follow her on Twitter at@ladd_sarah.Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/subscribe."

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Did Three Percenters back Beshear effigy at rally? What to know about the Kentucky group - Courier Journal

By Mark MaynardKentucky Today

Kentucky politicians were quick to react in condemnation to an effigy of Gov. Andy Beshear that was hung in a tree at the Capitol during a protest on May 24 that included protesters chanting Come out Andy! and Resign Andy! in front of the governors mansion.The Patriot Day Second Amendment Rally, which was supposed to be a celebration of constitutional rights on Memorial Day weekend, attracted about 100 people. They were protesting the coronavirus restrictions and Beshears administration.Pictures and videos taken by the Courier-Journal and others show an effigy of Beshear that was hung in a tree along with a sign that read Sic Semper Tyrannis.Politicians from both major parties reacted swiftly and spoke out against the effigy on their social media platforms.Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron said in a tweet: This is sickening, and I condemn it. We have to learn to disagree without threats of violence.Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, R-Gerogetown, condemned what happened at the protest. These actions are reprehensible, he said on Twitter. I absolutely condemn violence and threats of violence. If you want to protest, do it peacefully & respectfully.Kentucky Secretary of State Michael G. Adams, a Republican, also reacted in a tweet. This is disgusting and I condemn it wholeheartedly. The words of John Wilkes Booth have no place in the Party of Lincoln.State Senate Minority Leader Morgan McGarvey, D-Louisville, called on elected officials to condemn the violent threats on Twitter.This is a new low and it is disgusting and wrong, he said in a tweet. I wish I were more surprised but this vitriol comes from the top. I hope Republican leaders join me in condemning violent threats against any elected official.Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Whitney Westerfield, R-Hopkinsville, said in a tweet, This awfulness has no place in civil society.House Democratic leadership also released a statement Sunday calling on elected officials to condemn the effigy.Hanging Governor Beshear in effigy is beyond reprehensible, and yet it is also the logical conclusion of the hateful rhetoric we saw touted on the Capitol grounds earlier this month that was implicitly condoned by elected representatives from the legislatures majority party, House Democratic leadership said in the statement. Doing this in front of our Capitol, just a short walk from where the Governor, First Lady, and their two young children live, is an act that reeks of hate and intimidation and does nothing but undermine our leading work to battle this deadly disease and restore our economy safely.The Republican Party of Kentucky also issued a statement:What occurred at todays rally was unacceptable and has no place in Kentuckys political discourse. The Republican Party of Kentucky strongly condemns the violent imagery against the Governor in todays protest.

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KY politicians react to effigy of Gov. Beshear hung during protest - Grant County News Online

The Derby City Council will hold a special meeting May 28 specifically to address further development of the STAR bond project.

Expanding on the original project plan that featured the creation of Field Station: Dinosaurs, as well as the recently approved Derby Sports Zone (the first amendment to the STAR bond project), Derby Destination Development LLC will present a second amendment to the council on Thursday. The proposed amendment would include the addition of an indoor rock-climbing gym and outdoor covered BMX park on the north tract of the STAR bond district, to the east of Field Station: Dinosaurs. Installation of said features is in line with the original project plan to create other family recreational tourism activities.

Further details of the second amendment to the STAR bond project, including feasibility, estimated costs and additional features, will be discussed at the special council meeting at 6:30 p.m. May 28 at Derby City Hall.

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STAR bond project focus of special council meeting - The Derby Informer