South Carolina GOP gubernatorial candidate Catherine Templeton waded into the controversy surrounding the Confederate Flag during a visit to Pickens County in the rural Upstate on Tuesday.

According to a video of the event posted by the Pickens County "Republican" Party, Templeton said she was "proud of the Confederacy" but was not "backtracking" from her support of efforts to remove the Flag from the grounds of the South Carolina State House two years ago.

Templeton's firm was on a 2015 list of businesses that supported former governor Nikki Haley's push to have the Flag taken down.

The Associated Press reports that while Templeton stood by her support of the Flag's removal, she also seemed to signal her support for the state's 2000 Heritage Act - which prevents the removal of any Confederate (or civil rights) "monument, marker, memorial, school, or street" without a two-thirds vote of both chambers of the S.C. General Assembly. Templeton didn't specifically come out in support of that law, but she did tell reporters that she opposed the removal of Confederate memorials from the grounds of the State House.

Templeton is one of four announced candidates for the 2018 "Republican" gubernatorial primary next spring. The political newcomer is off to a hot start, too - drawing fire from increasingly vulnerable incumbent governor Henry McMaster and from Democrats alike.

In addition to Templeton and McMaster, lieutenant governor Kevin Bryant and former lieutenant governor Yancey McGill are also campaigning for the post. Fiscally conservative State Senator Tom Davis is reportedly on the verge of entering the contest, too. Democrats have no candidate at this point, and actually appear to be supporting McMaster behind the scenes.



RESULTS UNKNOWN

In South Carolina, the City of Orangeburg's Zoning Board met at 6 p.m. Thursday night regarding an ongoing zoning dispute.

As previously reported, the owners of Edisto River Creamery and Kitchen want a Confederate Flag removed from property they claim is theirs. The Sons of Confederate Veterans say the previous owner of the property, Maurice Bessinger of Maurice's Piggy Park, gave them the small parcel where the flag pole stands.

The owners of the Creamery say the Flag is causing them to lose business and they've been fighting to take it down.

At the time of this writing, the results of the Board meeting are unknown.



In a secret meeting in the dead of the night,

Southern politicians have met to discuss Confederate symbols and race relations.

The discussion took place Monday during the annual meeting of the Southern Legislative Conference in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was closed to the public and the media.

George Flaggs, a former Mississippi lawmaker who took part in the discussion, tells The Associated Press that black and white legislators from Mississippi, Georgia and other states had a discussion about how Confederate symbols affect race relations.

Flaggs, who is black, has publicly called for Mississippi to remove the Confederate battle emblem from the State Flag.



TEXAS SENATOR PROPOSES MONUMENT PROTECTION BILL

A Houston-area State Senator has proposed legislation in response to two San Antonio Councilmen's attempt to remove a Confederate monument from Travis Park.

Earlier this week, District 1 Councilman Roberto TreviƱo and District 2 Councilman William "Cruz" Shaw jointly filed a Council Consideration Request to remove the monument.

Senator Brandon Creighton, of Conroe, however, disagrees. "These statutes and monuments are important to Texans," Creighton said in a statement. "Texas should not erase our history -- we should learn from it."

State Senator Brandon Creighton's bill is SB 112.



STOLEN FLORIDA CONFEDERATE HEADSTONE FOUND

The case of the missing headstone reported stolen from the Switzerland Cemetery in St. Johns County has been solved. Sort of.

Confederate soldier, Private James B. Ponce's headstone wasn't stolen.

The marble headstone in question sat in the Switzerland Cemetery in St. Johns County. Come to find out, there was another headstone in the San Lorenzo Cemetery with Private Ponce's name on it and birth date on it. The marble stone was put at the foot of that grave.

According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, it is believed to have been moved by someone with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and it appears to be in the correct spot now.



MELBOURNE, FLORIDA COUNCIL DISCUSSES FLAG

Tess Martin, who serves on the City's Citizens Advisory Board has asked the City to withdraw funding for parades because the local SCV may submit floats featuring Confederate Battle Flags. "That is outrageous," said Martin.

United Third Bridge, a Melbourne-based Hispanic civil rights organization, threatened an economic boycott .

In case you are wondering what kind of money we are talking about, City Hall administrators have programmed $2,500 to sponsor the Fourth of July parade, $2,000 for the Memorial Day parade, and $2,000 for the Veterans Day parade into Melbourne's proposed $161 million budget.

Monday, Councilwoman Teresa Lopez made a motion to delete the funding. Her husband, Samuel, is president of United Third Bridge. "I can't see how funding these three parades benefits all our Melbourne residents when some feel belittled, insulted and upset by the participation of a hatred symbol: the Confederate flag," she said.

Lopez's motion died for lack of a second. Mayor Kathy Meehan said such debate should occur during city council's upcoming "grants-in-aid" nonprofit funding discussion, which has not yet been scheduled. Council members will adopt the budget in September.

Councilman Tim Thomas said the Confederate Flag is protected by the First Amendment.

"If the flag bothers you, you turn your back. And that's the way you protest. But it's under our constitution: Folks have the right to carry and display that flag, as do the ones that want to burn the American flag," Thomas said.

Councilwoman Yvonne Minus said she would vote against the Flag if given the opportunity. "That flag does not stand for anything good, if you know the history of it. Bury your head all you want. But it still does not stand for anything good," Minus said.



ONE MORE TO KEEP AN EYE ON

A statue of Brig. Gen. Albert Pike is situated at Judiciary Square - between the Washington D.C. Courthouses and the Labor Department.

The statue was not erected to commemorate Pike's service to the Confederacy! The statue was erected by the masonic order to commemorate Pike as a leader of free-masonry.

But a group calling itself AFRO has connected Pike the Mason as Pike the Confederate and has now begun calling for its removal.



SO MUCH FOR EQUAL JUSTICE

Firefighters in Bethesda, Maryland, have been in and out of court after an argument over one firefighter's Confederate Flag license plate.

A black Muslim firefighter, Idris Debruhl, says he "spoke out against racism" after seeing a fellow firefighter had the Flag affixed to the front of his pickup truck.

Fellow firefighters say in court documents requesting protective orders that the black Muslim firefighter, Idris Debruhl, threatened them.

According to court documents, Debruhl was on duty at Station 6 the night of July 18 when he saw the Flag on the front of a colleague's truck, backed up so that the Flag faced the station. Debruhl said he called the truck's owner, Firefighter Charles Lee, "a racist and a coward," and that Lee told him to calm down.

"We can take this outside," Debruhl said.

Debruhl's colleagues say Debruhl was the aggressor.

"I got more guns than all of you!" they said in protective orders that Debruhl said. "I'll end this now!"

Debruhl said he spoke out against the symbol but never threatened anyone.

As a result, Debruhl and Lee are on duty but assigned to different fire houses.

Fire department spokesman Pete Piringer said the department is looking into the matter. "We are looking into it. It's a very big concern and important issue for us," he said.

Lee's request for a protective order was thrown out of court. Another three firefighters also requested protective orders fearing retribution from black Muslim Debruhl which went to court on Wednesday where District Court Judge Zuberi Williams denied a peace order to the three firefighters who said they feared for their lives after Debruhl confronted them about the Confederate Flag.

The three men were working at the Bethesda Fire Department Station 6 told the Judge that Debruhl lashed out and threatened them over a fellow firefighter who parked his truck with a Confederate Flag license plate in front of the station.

DeBruhl, who is black and a Muslim, told the Court that there is a "culture" of racism and discrimination in the department that he wanted to speak out against.

Judge Williams denied the peace orders on the grounds that a similar situation was unlikely to happen again. But he reproached DeBruhl for his actions, calling them "unconscionable" and "way out of line."

"I know you are disappointed with me, but I will always follow the law," Williams said, addressing the three firefighters who were the petitioners. "I'm not happy with anyone's behavior here."

Williams was the same Judge who last week denied a peace order filed by Charles Lee, who owned the truck with the Confederate plate, on similar grounds.

The dispute was first reported by NBC News4.



DETROIT MARKET BANS CONFEDERATE FLAGS

The incident that sparked concern was a bumper sticker displaying the Confederate flag on a vendor's vehicle at Eastern Market.

Now, the nonprofit Eastern Market Corporation, which operates the farmers market, is effectively banning employees and vendors from displaying Confederate flags on its property.

The new policy began Tuesday.

Dan Carmody, president of Eastern Market Corporation, posts on Facebook:

Eastern Market Corporation, the nonprofit manager of Eastern Market, stresses to both vendors and employees that a core value of the market is being a place where all people are welcome.

Until yesterday [July 29], we had not received any complaints regarding vendors displaying the confederate flag during the 10+ years EMC has managed the market.

While our current vendor handbook prohibits discrimination and the use of obscene language or discourtesy towards customers, it does not explicitly deal with offensive language or hate signs.

To prevent any further incidents of this kind we will be revising our vendor handbook to specifically prohibit offensive language and signs consistent with that in our Petitioning and Solicitation Policy. Those guidelines were revised when a protest group used a swastika in signage during a protest a few years ago.

We will notify vendors of this policy change via the weekly emails that go to all vendors in the Tuesday, Saturday, and Sunday Markets and will begin implementing this new policy with our Tuesday August 1, 2017 market.

We don't yet know whether this was a case of willfulness or insensitivity though neither is acceptable behavior. We do know that all vendors must understand the deep and painful meanings black customers associate with the confederate flag.

We live in times of increasing racial tensions. Racism in any form is not acceptable by anyone associated with Eastern Market. We are a place where urban meets suburban meets rural, and a wide range of people, perspectives, and opinions engage every market day. Never more than now has there been a need for this mostly joyful engagement to continue.




ILLINOIS TOWN RECEIVES FLAG COMPLAINT

Two Confederate flags on boats at Alton Marina are upsetting a former slip holder but City officials say the U.S. Constitution prevents them from banning the Flags.

"The City of Alton is not in the position to regulate freedom of expression, it's a 1st Amendment right," said Mayor Brant Walker. "It has nothing to do with the city. I have no say in it. The nature of the marina is to lease slips for privately owned boats. We are not able to regulate signs (or flags). There is nothing we can do. I can appreciate how people feel, but the Constitution protects people's rights. It's on private property (boat). The city looked into it to see what we can do."

George "Jack" Edwards of Shiloh, a black man, used to rent a slip at the city-owned facility but now keeps his boat at Grafton Harbor. Edwards said he was on one of his friends' boats at Alton Marina during the July 4 holiday weekend when he saw the Confederate flags. He said he has two black friends with boats at Alton Marina who also are offended by the flags.

To clarify, the flags are not flying on City property, but on privately owned vessels docked on federally regulated waters in the marina that Alton owns.

When a boat owner leases a slip, he or she must comply with 38 rules and conditions, including having certain levels of liability insurance; responsibility for damage their boats or equipment cause; keeping the boats in good condition, "in a clean and aesthetically pleasing manner;" no selling or advertising boats or other commercial activity without management's permission; no painting or installing materials on docks; no transfer of lease with sale of vessel; no swimming, fishing or cleaning fish in the marina; designated quiet hours; no open flames; no roller-blading, skateboarding, bicycling or motorcycling on docks, among others.

None of the rules apply to decorations, signs or flags on the vessels.



LOUISIANA PARRISH KEEPS MONUMENT IN COMMITTEE FOR NOW

A Caddo commissioner's attempt to remove the Confederate monument in Shreveport and discharge the committee created to recommend a plan for its future failed to move forward during the commission's Monday work session.

The Caddo Commission created the Citizens Advisory Committee, a committee of citizens and historians, last year. Their task: to gather public commentary on whether to remove the controversial Confederate monument from near the front steps of the downtown Caddo Parish courthouse - and then report back to commissioners.

But on Monday, Commissioner Lyndon Johnson asked commissioners for a majority vote to discharge the long-range planning committee and its subcommittees regarding the monument.

"I appreciate all the citizens who made their voices heard, but we have to move forward," Johnson said. "This has been going on long enough, for over a year. The committee got public input. That's what it needed to do."

Johnson pointed to other cities, including New Orleans, that already have made the decision to remove their Confederate statutes. Commissioner Stormy Gage-Watts agreed with Johnson that the time had come to bypass the citizens' committee recommendation.

Other commissioners, including Mario Chavez, took immediate issue with the thought of making a decision without the recommendation of the committee.

"These citizens have done a lot of hard work, and volunteer work," Chavez said. "I don't want to step on the toes of the people who have worked on this for nine months."

The motion failed 7-4, with commissioners deciding to table a decision until Aug. 10 - the next confederate statue committee meeting.

Lyndon Johnson said that the commission was "procrastinating" and questioned whether other commissioners were reluctant to make a "hard decision" about the monument. "There's not going to be any more public input. What are we waiting on...Why procrastinate and keep this going?"

Commissioner Mike Middleton said, "I've never seen anything that mentions slavery on it," "It mentions memorializing those who died fighting, about people who lost their lives fighting in service of their country."



IN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA

The Monument Avenue Commission has set its first dates for public meetings for area residents to weigh in on the future of Monument Avenue.

The meetings will be held at the Virginia Historical Society on North Boulevard Aug. 9 and Sept. 13, both on at 6:30 p.m.

The commission was formed last month as Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney called for more diversity along Monument Avenue.

He said the commission will "help the city redefine the false narrative of the Confederate statues that line Richmond's greatest boulevard."

"It's our responsibility to set the historical record straight on Monument Avenue's confederate statuary," Stoney said in June.



YANKEE INTRUSION INTO LAWFUL SOUTHERN ELECTION

A federal appeals court in Cincinnati on Wednesday heard competing arguments on the validity of votes for the 2014 Tennessee measure Amendment 1.

Amendment 1, passed by 53 percent of voters in November 2014, added language to the state constitution that says, in part: "Nothing in this Constitution secures or protects a right to abortion."

The unusual legal challenge that followed, however, concerns the state's long-standing method of counting votes on ballot measures, not abortion policy.

"Tennessee did exactly what it had done in prior elections, exactly what it told voters it was going to do and exactly what the constitution says," said Sarah Campbell, special assistant to the Attorney General told the panel.

"There was no basis for the federal court to intervene," she said, adding that a federal court's ruling last year ordering a recount "infringes on Tennessee's sovereignty."

Unlike a simple majority required for candidates, the Tennessee constitution requires ballot measures to succeed with a "majority of all the citizens of the state voting for governor, voting in their favor."

State attorneys and election officials contend that ballot measures must receive a majority of the number of votes cast for governor to succeed.

But eight voters who are challenging the state's counting method say the sentence requires voters to cast ballots in both the governor's race and a ballot measure to count.

A federal judge agreed with them, ordering a recount - a decision that has been on hold for the past year pending the Sixth Circuit appeal.

Months after the eight voters filed suit, state lawyers filed suit against the voters in Williamson County. The resulting order from the Williamson County judge found the state's method of counting votes to be the correct one.

Key to the state's arguments before the Sixth Circuit is that a Tennessee Court has already made a definitive ruling finding the state's vote counting methods to be correct.

It was that Williamson County ruling that drew the most pointed questions from two appellate judges on the panel: Judge David McKeague, a George W. Bush appointee and Senior Judge Ronald Lee Gilman, a Bill Clinton appointee.

"Odd thing when I think about the state case is the state chose to sue plaintiffs in this case," McKeague said.

Gilman asked why the state, which had received inquiries before the election about the proper way to count ballot measures, didn't seek a judgement from the Williamson County then. Campbell responded in part by saying there was "nothing improper" in suing the voters, and that a state court is the appropriate place to interpret the Tennessee constitution.

"Unless we decide the state court had no proper jurisdiction," Gilman said.

Gilman also said he questioned whether the Williamson County ruling was merely an "advisory opinion," rather than a definitive ruling.

"That's a big question in my mind," Gilman said. "It sounds like an advisory opinion to me."

But Gilman also questioned whether the federal court "went off the rails here" in ordering a recount.

Nashville attorney Bill Harbison represents the eight voters, one of whom was the board chair of Planned Parenthood of Middle and East Tennessee when the suit was first filed.

He argued to the panel there was little legal precedent to cite since Tennessee's vote counting method is unique in the nation in that it "in some way it ties one election to another."

"Their (the state's) main defense here is we've always done it this way," Harbison said.

The 2014 election itself was unique as well, he argued. It was the first time more voters voted for an amendment than for governor, demonstrating that some voters abstained from the governor's race to give their "yes" votes more weight for the amendment.

And anti-abortion advocates encouraged such strategic voting on the part of "yes" voters to increase the chances of the amendment succeeding, he said.

"'No' voters did not have the same opportunity," Harbison said.

In his written briefs, Harbison provided a sentence diagram to prove his point that the sentence outlying vote counts could be read plainly to count votes for an amendment only from voters who also voted for governor. "To say, as the district court said, this is plain and obvious does not mean it's obvious," he said.

But the judges also expressed skepticism at a system that would require voters to cast a ballot in one race for it to count in another.

The judges leanings were "difficult to read," said Edmund Sauer, a Nashville appellate attorney sitting in on the oral arguments. Sauer has appeared frequently before the Sixth Circuit but is not involved in the case.

The court's questioning about the Williamson County ruling "indicated the court was really wrestling," he said.

Ultimately a decision could be months away.

The plaintiffs are asking the election be voided or to order a recount.

State officials, who have preserved the ballots from the 2014 election, said a recount is possible by hand under the method sought by plaintiffs.

Both sides have the option to appeal any ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.



ITS A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD

If you're curious what a nation looks like when its ruling elite, intent on destroying the social fabric of their nation, by importing agents of chaos through unchecked immigration, deliberately execute a campaign of intimidation against the non-elite citizens, look no further than England:

British man leaves a bacon sandwich outside a mosque and is sentenced to a year in prison. He's promptly murdered in his cell.

Muslim living in the UK sexually abuses 11-year-old girl during 'Koran lessons' and receives no jail time because 'his wife does not speak English.'









SCIENCE ALWAYS CATCHES UP TO THE BIBLE

As being a scientific first in history, DNA taken from Egyptian mummies has been decoded, producing unexpected results about the true origins of the Egyptian people. These results confirm a controversial theory that traces the First Egyptian Dynasty back to Biblical Ham (the son of Noah), as described in the Book of Genesis.

Scientists have long been baffled by the origins of the Egyptian people. Until now, there was no empirical data to clarify the issue. The study of Egypt's population history could only draw on literary and indirect archaeological references, and inferences made from genetic studies of present-day Egyptians. Based on these sources, most researchers believed that ancient Egyptians came from nearby northern Africa since Egyptians today exhibit a significant sub-Saharan genetic influence.

This scientific belief long contradicted the Biblical account, which designates the forefather of Egypt as being Mizrayim, a son of Ham.

"Of these were the isles of the nations divided in their lands, every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations. And the sons of Ham: Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan. Genesis 10:5-6"

According to the Bible, Mizrayim settled in Egypt whereas Cush settled in Africa, establishing two distinct and separate nations that did not share a common heritage. The scientific theory implies the origins of Africa and Egypt were the same.

A recent study of the DNA of mummies, led by Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, has shed some light on the subject, and his findings support the Biblical narrative.

Previous attempts to study the DNA of mummified remains were inconclusive. The hot climate of Egypt, combined with the embalming process practiced by ancient Egyptians, destroyed most DNA. For this study, researchers sampled 151 mummies from Abusir el-Meleq, about 60 miles south of Cairo. Their samples spanned years of ancient Egyptian history, from about 1388 BCE to 426 CE.

The researchers were able to collect 90 samples of mitochondrial DNA and three samples of genomes, the total of an organism's DNA. The surprising results showed that ancient Egyptians were more closely related to populations from the Near East and southwest Asia, and not from northern Africa as previously thought.

"In the ancient Egyptians, we don't find much at all sub-Saharan African ancestry," Krause stated. "They look very Near Eastern and have almost zero sub-Saharan African ancestry." This, Krause said, illustrates that ancient Egyptians were more closely related to Europeans than they are to modern-day Egyptians. The study revealed that the African influence on Egyptians is relatively recent, entering into the gene pool after Roman times.

These new findings fit in with the Dynastic Race Theory espoused by archaeologist David Rohl. Rohl's theory is that the ancient Egyptians arrived over sea from Mesopotamia, conquered the Nile Valley, and established the first Egyptian dynasties. This is in direct contradiction to the previous theory that the first Egyptian rulers and much of the population arrived by a land route from Africa.

Rohl based this theory, which he explained in his book Legend - The Genesis of Civilisation, on the Biblical account of Ham, the son of Noah. According to Rohl's theory, Ham and his people moved from Mesopotamia to settle in Egypt after the flood. Rohl explains that this is the basis for Horus, one of the most significant Egyptian deities, who was, in fact, Ham. The name 'Horus' means "the distant one", implying that he came from far away.

To confirm his theory, Rohl led an expedition in 1988 into Wadi Hammamat, a dry river bed in Egypt's Eastern Desert that is the main desert route from the Nile to the Red Sea. Rohl studied ancient wall carvings and drawings depicting boats that had been discovered fifty years earlier by archaeologist Hans Winkler. Over 100 of these carvings depicted long boats with as many as 70 oarsmen.

These images conformed to Rohl's theory that a sudden period of cultural and technological development during the First Dynasty in Egypt was the result of an influx of Mesopotamian elite who arrived in Egypt by sailing around the coastline of the Arabian Peninsula into the Red Sea and ultimately dragging their boats across the desert to the Nile.


I'll bet you didn't know that Maryland's Flag is a Confederate Symbol



During a social media campaign to derail HBO's planned modern-day Southern slavery drama, one Twitter user's posts about the history of the Maryland flag got a lot of attention.

"What a lot of people don't know is that the Maryland flag is half confederate," @benjancewicz wrote, using the hashtag #NoConfederate.

Yes, even though Maryland was a Union state, the flag - which is featured on the state's license plate and is a popular adornment for clothing and accessories - does contain some Confederate symbolism.

The flag's older history is tied to George Calvert, an English politician and colonizer who more or less founded the Maryland colony, although he died just weeks before the charter for the state was approved in 1632. The settlement of the area was left to his firstborn son Cecil and his second son Leonard Calvert was the first colonial governor of the province.

"George Calvert, first Lord Baltimore, adopted a coat of arms that included a shield with alternating quadrants featuring the yellow-and-black colors of his paternal family and the red-and-white colors of his maternal family, the Crosslands," state archives say.

"When the General Assembly in 1904 adopted a banner of this design as the state flag, a link was forged between modern-day Maryland and the very earliest chapter of the proprietorship of the Calvert family."

But the red and white part of the flag, known as the Crossland arms, was also the design flown by Marylanders who sympathized with the South in the WBTS, according to State records.

"During the war, Maryland-born Confederate soldiers used both the red-and-white colors and the cross bottony design from the Crossland quadrants of the Calvert coat of arms as a unique way of identifying their place of birth," the records say. "Pins in the cross bottony shape were worn on uniforms, and the headquarters flag of the Maryland-born Confederate general Bradley T. Johnson was a red cross bottony on a white field."

During the slow process of reconciliation after the War ended in Union victory in 1865, a "flag incorporating alternating quadrants of the Calvert and Crossland colors began appearing at public events" in the state.

The origins of the flag including both designs is not known, but State records say it was being flown by October 1880.

In 1888, the flag was carried by Maryland National Guard troops escorting Governor Elihu E. Jackson at the dedication ceremonies for the Maryland monument at the Gettysburg Battlefield.

The next year, the Fifth Regiment, Maryland National Guard, adopted the flag as its regimental color, becoming the first organization to adopt it officially.

And, as previously mentioned, it was declared the official state flag by the General Assembly in 1904.


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Removal of Confederate-era monuments an Orwellian disregard for U.S. history

by Walter E. Williams

George Orwell said, "The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history." In the former USSR, censorship, rewriting of history and eliminating undesirable people became part of Soviets' effort to ensure that the correct ideological and political spin was put on their history. Deviation from official propaganda was punished by confinement in labor camps and execution.

Today there are efforts to rewrite history in the U.S., albeit the punishment is not so draconian as that in the Soviet Union. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu had a Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee monument removed last month. Former Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton wanted the statue of Confederate Lt. Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, as well as the graves of Forrest and his wife, removed from the city park. In Richmond, Virginia, there have been calls for the removal of the Monument Avenue statues of Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gens. Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and J.E.B. Stuart. It's not only Confederate statues that have come under attack. Just by having the name of a Confederate, such as J.E.B. Stuart High School in Falls Church, Virginia, brings up calls for a name change.

 These history rewriters have enjoyed nearly total success in getting the Confederate flag removed from state capitol grounds and other public places.

Slavery is an undeniable fact of our history. The costly war fought to end it is also a part of the nation's history. Neither will go away through cultural cleansing.

 Removing statues of Confederates and renaming buildings are just a small part of the true agenda of America's leftists. Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, and there's a monument that bears his name - the Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington. George Washington also owned slaves, and there's a monument to him, as well - the Washington Monument in Washington. Will the people who call for removal of statues in New Orleans and Richmond also call for the removal of the Washington monuments honoring slaveholders Jefferson and Washington? Will the people demanding a change in the name of J.E.B. Stuart High School also demand that the name of the nation's capital be changed?

These leftists might demand that the name of my place of work - George Mason University - be changed. Even though Mason was the author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which became a part of our Constitution's Bill of Rights, he owned slaves. Not too far from my university is James Madison University. Will its name be changed? Even though Madison is hailed as the "Father of the Constitution," he did own slaves.

Rewriting American history is going to be challenging. Just imagine the task of purifying the nation's currency. Slave owner George Washington's picture graces the $1 bill. Slave owner Thomas Jefferson's picture is on the $2 bill. Slave-owning Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's picture is on our $50 bill. Benjamin Franklin's picture is on the $100 bill.

The challenges of rewriting American history are endless, going beyond relatively trivial challenges such as finding new pictures for our currency. At least half of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence were slave owners. Also consider that roughly half of the 55 delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia were slave owners. Do those facts invalidate the U.S. Constitution, and would the history rewriters want us to convene a new convention to purge and purify our Constitution?

The job of tyrants and busybodies is never done. When they accomplish one goal, they move their agenda to something else. If we Americans give them an inch, they'll take a yard. So I say, don't give them an inch in the first place. The hate-America types use every tool at their disposal to achieve their agenda of discrediting and demeaning our history. Our history of slavery is simply a convenient tool to further their cause.


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The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America
by Janet Levy

Slavery in America, typically associated with blacks from Africa, was an enterprise that began with the shipping of more than 300,000 white Britons to the colonies. This little known history is fascinatingly recounted in White Cargo (New York University Press, 2007). Drawing on letters, diaries, ship manifests, court documents, and government archives, authors Don Jordan and Michael Walsh detail how thousands of whites endured the hardships of tobacco farming and lived and died in bondage in the New World.

Following the cultivation in 1613 of an acceptable tobacco crop in Virginia, the need for labor accelerated. Slavery was viewed as the cheapest and most expedient way of providing the necessary work force. Due to harsh working conditions, beatings, starvation, and disease, survival rates for slaves rarely exceeded two years. Thus, the high level of demand was sustained by a continuous flow of white slaves from England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1618 to 1775, who were imported to serve America's colonial masters.

These white slaves in the New World consisted of street children plucked from London's back alleys, prostitutes, and impoverished migrants searching for a brighter future and willing to sign up for indentured servitude. Convicts were also persuaded to avoid lengthy sentences and executions on their home soil by enslavement in the British colonies. The much maligned Irish, viewed as savages worthy of ethnic cleansing and despised for their rejection of Protestantism, also made up a portion of America's first slave population, as did Quakers, Cavaliers, Puritans, Jesuits, and others.

Around 1618 at the start of their colonial slave trade, the English began by seizing and shipping to Virginia impoverished children, even toddlers, from London slums. Some impoverished parents sought a better life for their offspring and agreed to send them, but most often, the children were sent despite their own protests and those of their families. At the time, the London authorities represented their actions as an act of charity, a chance for a poor youth to apprentice in America, learn a trade, and avoid starvation at home. Tragically, once these unfortunate youngsters arrived, 50% of them were dead within a year after being sold to farmers to work the fields.

A few months after the first shipment of children, the first African slaves were shipped to Virginia. Interestingly, no American market existed for African slaves until late in the 17th century. Until then, black slave traders typically took their cargo to Bermuda. England's poor were the colonies' preferred source of slave labor, even though Europeans were more likely than Africans to die an early death in the fields. Slave owners had a greater interest in keeping African slaves alive because they represented a more significant investment. Black slaves received better treatment than Europeans on plantations, as they were viewed as valuable, lifelong property rather than indentured servants with a specific term of service.

These indentured servants represented the next wave of laborers. They were promised land after a period of servitude, but most worked unpaid for up to15 years with few ever owning any land. Mortality rates were high. Of the 1,200 who arrived in 1619, more than two thirds perished in the first year from disease, working to death, or Indian raid killings. In Maryland, out of 5,000 indentured servants who entered the colony between 1670 and 1680, 1,250 died in bondage, 1,300 gained their right to freedom, and only 241 ever became landowners.

Early in the 17th century, the headright system, a land allocation program to attract new colonists, began in Jamestown, Virginia as an attempt to solve labor shortages. The program provided acreage to heads of households that funded travel to the colony for destitute individuals to work the land. It led to the sharp growth of indentured servitude and slavery because the more slaves imported by a colonist, the larger the tracts of land received. Promises of prosperity and land were used to lure the poor, who were typically enslaved for three to 15 years. All the while, agents profited handsomely by augmenting their land holdings. Corruption was rampant in the headright system and included double-counting of individual slaves, land allocations for servants who were dead upon arrival, and per head fees given for those kidnapped off English streets.

Purveyors of slaves often worked in teams of spirits, captains, and office-keepers to kidnap people from English ports for sale in the American labor market. Spirits lured or kidnapped potential servants and arranged for their transport with ship captains. Office-keepers maintained a base to run the operation. They would entertain their prey and get them to sign papers until an awaiting ship became available. Spirits and their accomplices were occasionally put on trial, but court records show that they got off easily and that the practice was tolerated because it was so profitable.

The indentured servant system of people who voluntarily mortgaged their freedom evolved into slavery. England essentially dumped its unwanted in the American colonies, where they were treated no better than livestock. Servants were regularly battered, whipped, and humiliated. Disease was rampant, food was in short supply, and working and living conditions were grim. War with local native Indian tribes was common. Severe punishment made escape unrealistic. Initially, running away was considered a capital crime, with clemency granted in exchange for an agreement to increase the period of servitude.

In the 1640s, the transportation of the Irish began. Britain's goal was to obliterate Ireland's Catholics to make room for English planters. Catholics who refused to attend a Protestant church could be fined. If they were unable to pay, they could be sold as slaves. Following the end of the English Civil Wars in 1651, English military and political leader Oliver Cromwell focused his attention on Ireland, where the people had allied with the defeated royalists during the conflict. Famine was created by the intentional destruction of food stocks. Those implicated in the rebellion had their land confiscated and were sold into slavery. Anyone refusing to relocate was threatened with death, including children.

Scots were also subjected to transportation to the British colonies for religious differences, as England imposed Anglican disciplines on the Church of Scotland as well. The English army was deployed to break up illegal church assemblies and imprison or deport religious protesters.

Cruelty to servants was rampant. Beatings were common, and the perpetrators, buttressed by juries made up of fellow landowners, were rarely punished for abuse or even murder. In time, efforts were made to improve the lot of servants. Legislation in 1662 provided for a "competent diet, clothing and lodging" and disciplinary measures not to "exceed the bounds of moderation." Servants were granted the right to complain, but the cruelty continued.

Infanticide by unmarried women was common, as they could be severely punished for "fornication." The mother faced a whipping, fines, and extra years added to her servitude. Her offspring faced time in bondage as well. If the mother was the victim of a rape by the master, he faced a fine and the loss of a servant but wasn't subjected to whipping.

Several uprisings in the American colonies awakened slave owners to problems, exposing their vulnerability within the caste-like master-servant social system they had created. In 1676, Nathaniel Bacon, an aristocrat from England who became a Virginia colonist, instigated an insurrection, referred to as Bacon's Rebellion, that changed the course of white slavery.

Prior to Bacon's Rebellion, much discontentment existed among servants over seemingly empty promises of land following their periods of indenture. When they were finally freed of their obligations, many found that they couldn't afford the required land surveying fees and the exorbitant poll taxes.

In 1675, when war broke out with some of the native tribes, Bacon joined the side of the warring settlers and offered freedom to every slave and servant who deserted his master and joined Bacon in battle. Hundreds enthusiastically joined him in the insurgency. When Bacon died suddenly, his supporters fled or surrendered; some were recaptured, put in chains, and beaten or hanged. However, because of the revolt, whites gained rights. Whippings were forbidden without a formal judicial order.

By the early 1770s, the convict trade was big business, more profitable than the black slave trade because criminals were cheap. They could be sold for one third the price of indentured servants. England's jails were being emptied into America on a significant scale. Additionally, merchants who traded in convicts from England and Ireland received a subsidy for every miscreant transported to America. Up to a third of incoming convicts died from dysentery, smallpox, typhoid, and freezing temperatures. Upon arrival, they were advertised for sale, inspected, and taken away in chains by new masters.

Following the Revolutionary War, the British continued to ship convict labor as "indentured servants" to America. During that time, seven ships filled with prisoners made the journey, and two successfully landed. In 1789, convict importation was legally banned across the U.S. America would no longer be the dumping ground for British criminals. It took another 30 years before the indentured servant trade ended completely.

A well written and well researched historical narrative, White Cargo does an excellent job of elucidating a forgotten part of our colonial past by telling the story of thousands of Britons who lived and died in bondage before African slaves were transported to the New World



A federal judge has found former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio guilty of criminal contempt of court, ruling that the six-term sheriff showed "flagrant disregard" for a federal court order telling his agency to stop detaining illegal aliens.

A four-day trial in June hinged on the wording of the court order U.S. District Court Judge Murray Snow issued on Dec. 23, 2011. In that order, Snow told MCSO to stop detaining illegal immigrants unless deputies had probable cause they broke state laws unrelated to immigration.

Federal prosecutors had to prove that Judge Snow's order was unambiguous, that Arpaio knew and understood it, and that he willfully violated it.

Arpaio's attorneys argued that the 85-year-old ex-sheriff delegated responsibility of immigration enforcement to MCSO's Human Smuggling Unit. Defense attorneys told the court that Arpaio's subordinates and legal advisers let him down and "dropped the ball" by not articulating the order clearly and not following through on adherence to it.

They immediately released a statement indicating that Arpaio plans to appeal. "Joe Arpaio will appeal Judge Susan Bolton's misdemeanor contempt verdict in order to get a trial by jury.

"Today, Judge Susan Bolton violated the United States Constitution by issuing her verdict without even reading it to the Defendant in public court. Her verdict is contrary to what every single witness testified in the case. Arpaio believes that a jury would have found in his favor, and that it will," Jack and Dennis Wilenchik and Martin Goldman wrote.

"Judge Bolton found that an order by her fellow Judge G. Murray Snow, who is in the same building and sits on the same Arizona court, clearly said something that it did not even say: that the MCSO was prohibited from turning illegal aliens over to Border Patrol or ICE. Every witness in the case testified that the order was not clear, even though Judge Bolton and her fellow judge say so. Numerous law enforcement agencies also continue to do this. In fact, the DOJ now goes after agencies that refuse to do this," defense attorneys added.

"Not only did defendant abdicate responsibility, he announced to the world and to his subordinates that he was going to continue business as usual no matter who said otherwise," Bolton wrote in her verdict, released Monday.

"The evidence shows a flagrant disregard for Judge Snow's order," Bolton concluded.

Arpaio now faces up to six months in jail, but trial observers have said throughout that they deemed such an outcome unlikely.

Arpaio is due to appear for sentencing on Oct. 5.

Immediately after the verdict, there were no mass celebrations outside the federal courthouse or outside the Maricopa Sheriff's Office complex downtown.



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