Not So Crazy Now…

People thought I was crazy when I posted this several years ago, and said we needed to make preparations for it. Seems I’m not so crazy after all.

Not so crazy now…

Why We Are Headed for a Civil War

November 3^rd, 2020 culminated years, no, DECADES of straying from the civic foundation of our nation.  The journey has been an incremental one, but has accelerated to one of giant leaps and bounds in recent years away from the Godly, Constitutional REPRESENTATIVE republic we began with.  So, why do I say we are headed for a civil war?

In a word, UNDERSTANDING.  In this case, understanding of our system of government, how it was founded, and the benefits of our system of government when compared to every other form of government in the history of the world to this point.  And even MORE to the point, the problem is LACK of understanding.

How did we get to the point of this lack of understanding?  Lack of education, and transition to indoctrination.  Most schools today teach only a very superficial level of civics.  Ask a high school senior or most college students today a series of civics questions that go deeper than who was the first president, and the overwhelming majority will not be able to answer them.  What are the Federalist Papers?  How was the Constitution ratified?  What struggles were there in ratification?  Why are we a REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC, and NOT a democracy?  Why did states INSIST on the electoral college as part of our system of national elections?  What would our country look like WITHOUT the electoral college?  Why didn’t we start by adopting something resembling socialism?  Has socialism EVER succeeded ANYWHERE in the world?  In the world’s history, what has socialism ALWAYS resulted in?  These and many, many more topics were things that CITIZENS were once upon a time REQUIRED to learn in school.  Part of being a responsible citizen, and casting an EDUCATED vote, is thoroughly understanding how your government is SUPPOSED to work.  If you don’t know your history, and you don’t know WHY your government is the way it is, you can EASILY be lied to and fooled into believing any number of falsehoods concerning government.  Thus, the INDOCTRINATION most of our students are receiving now at the hands of teachers who were first NOT educated, and THEN indoctrinated into a system of beliefs that is not based in reality, and which seeks to destroy our Constitution and the Republic.  Think I’m getting ahead of my skis?  How many stories have you heard of “teachers” literally humiliating, or school systems punishing students who espouse a conservative viewpoint or for wearing something with conservative logos?  Dozens, perhaps hundreds.  How many stories have you heard of the opposite, where a student is humiliated by a teacher for espousing a leftist viewpoint?  I won’t say it has never happened, but if it has, it is so infrequent as to not even register on the national radar.  This is ONE SIDED indoctrination, in a system that has been slowly and insidiously taken over by leftists/socialists/communists who HATE what our nation stands for.  Nikita Khrushchev, the former Soviet communist dictator, predicted this would happen.

That is the short version of how we have gotten to the point where half of the population is willing to vote for a candidate whose platform does not contain a SINGLE thing that is based in OUR Constitution.  If you open a copy of our Constitution, and sit it side by side with the Ten Pillars of Communism, then look at each point in the democrat party platform, you will not find ONE thing they support that is Constitutionally based.

Now that we are in the aftermath of the November 3^rd election, and awaiting the final outcome, with half of the country that has NO understanding of civics, half that does, and a system that has been compromised to the point that NEITHER side trusts it, it doesn’t matter WHO ultimately wins the election, half of the voters will not accept the outcome.  The civically uneducated half have also not been raised as ADULTS who can cope with life in general, and can’t handle not getting their way.  This is the half that will FORCE us into a civil war.  They are ALREADY burning down cities, shooting police officers, threatening to storm the White House to “remove” President Trump, threatening to “punish” Trump supporters simply for voting for Trump, etc, etc.  The left does NOT say let’s have a FAIR election that is fully transparent.  They do NOT allow people from the opponent’s side to simultaneously verify votes and processes so NO ONE can say anything was done illegitimately.  No.  The left in areas they control, exclude their opponents from poll watching, verifying signatures, counting ballots, monitoring election machines, etc.  The left demands removal of safeguards designed to prevent corruption at the ballot box.  So, when one side demands fairness, and will accept whatever the outcome as long as it’s fair, and the other side demands cheating and will only accept the outcome they want, the outcome is going to be predictable.  Civil war.

The only way to legitimately head it off now in a way that no one could argue with would be to do the election over again.  This time, it MUST be done with STRICT controls, deadlines, and thorough oversight of EVERY part of the process by BOTH sides so that NO ONE can say at the end of the day that the other side cheated.  What are the odds that will happen?  ZERO.

So, what alternative remains in a country so divided, with one side that refuses to even attempt consensus, and refuses any concession to the other side?  As I see it, the LAST opportunity to avoid bloodshed is for both sides to go their separate ways.  That means an old-fashioned word known as SECESSION.  We agree to divide the nation, do our own thing, and leave the other side alone.  We can trade with each other, but there is no TAKING or redistribution.  How would this play out?  Think of who produces the overwhelming majority of things in this country, and where they are produced.  It’s NOT in the deep blue cities that dominate the POPULAR vote in this country.  Your food is grown largely by conservatives.  Most of the things you NEED to survive on a day to day basis are produced by conservatives, in conservative states.  If red and blue states separate, within a week when the store shelves stop being stocked by trucks coming from conservative states, you will see a zombie apocalypse in the “blue country.”  That will mean either BEGGING us to reunite, or the same civil war we saw in the 1860s, but for somewhat different reasons.

Again, do I think either of these will ACTUALLY be the chosen path, and will either of these avoid a bloody civil war?  No.  I pray to God for a civil, peaceful, Constitutional resolution to our problems.  But I just don’t see it happening.  I fear a civil war is inevitable, and a lot closer than we think.

American Thinker: America’s Second Civil War Has Already Begun

I’ve been saying this for a long time, and I can find very little wrong with Mr. Gensert’s analysis.  Whether he knows it or not, he hit on the ONE key to heading off the civil war.

“…even should Trump win, without a complete reversal by the Democratic Party, a renewed free and fair media, and a return to the principles upon which this nation was founded, this war will continue…”

There it is.  REVERSE THE DEMOCRAT/LEFTIST AGENDA.

Sounds so simple, yet historically the Republican party has at best put the democrat agenda on hold when they are in power.  Credit where credit is due, the democrats FIGHT for what they want and believe, much more so than Republicans do.  Why do Republicans so often fail to take advantage of opportunities to roll back the democrat agenda?  There are many reasons, but for some it’s because they don’t want to put their seat at the table at risk.  Rather than do what’s right, they do what’s comfortable.

This is why Donald Trump is such a threat to BOTH parties.  Despite resistance from BOTH parties, he has managed to actually ROLL BACK parts of the anti-American democrat agenda rather than merely put it on hold.  But Donald Trump won’t be in office forever, and without many more actual CONSERVATIVES who will actually fight to roll back the democrat agenda, it will inexorably continue to roll forward in fits and starts toward the red line (pun intended) that most of America simply will not go beyond.  

When we reach that point, the already raging civil war will move from the yelling-and-name-calling phase to the shooting phase.

No sane person wants this to happen, but most intelligent people don’t see a way to avoid it. 

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March 1, 2019

America’s Second Civil War Has Already Begun

By William L. Gensert

In an excellent article by Jeff Lukens here on American Thinker, he asks the question, “Is a second civil war coming?”  In reply, I say that America’s second civil war has already begun.  Its opening shots were fired by Barack Obama when he stated, “We are five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”

Most of this country is center-right and never considered America a place that needed transformation.  Most people can think of things they would change but few believe the nation needs to be torn down and rebuilt.  Obama failed but the left soldiers on in its quest for a new America remade in their own image.

When Obama went on his world apology tour, he wasn’t apologizing for America, he was apologizing for Americans.  This is the essence of this second civil war.  Leftists are demi-gods who believe they are America and that anyone who does not believe in them cannot lay legitimate claim to this country as their own.

Yes, this war has begun.  The opening skirmish was the Obama presidency itself, which history will see as a failure, despite what the media want us to believe in the here and now.  Sure, he passed ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank, overregulated, and ruled by executive diktat to great media acclaim.  Yet, ObamaCare and Dodd-Frank have been whittled away by legislation and judicial rulings, while Trump has prioritized deregulation and reversed many of Obama’s illegal executive orders.

The war’s second battle was the 2016 presidential election when Hillary Clinton, Obama’s chosen successor, lost to a television personality whom very few took seriously as a candidate.  Trump won despite the Obama administration conspiring with the Clinton campaign to steal the election and has remained as president even as that conspiracy fundamentally transformed into a failed coup attempt to depose him.

Trump’s presidency has been the third battle and with his string of successes, the battle is being won.  This, despite near-universal acrimony and condemnation among the media, the Democrats, and the left.

But, “what difference, at this point, does it make?” because these victories are pyrrhic.  As the eminent Michael Walsh said of the left, “they never stop, they never sleep, they never quit.”  Democrats are chipping away at this nation with their policies.  This is a war of attrition and we Americans are being attrited.

For example, their “open borders” policy is effectively importing a new electorate — one guaranteed to vote for them.  The left agrees with Obama, there is nothing wrong with America, it’s those damn Americans, so they are going to drown the conservative vote with new Democrats.  It’s the same with their policy of “everything should be free.”  Why vote for someone who promises equal opportunity when someone else promises a better outcome?

Nuclear winter became global warming became climate change became “we want total control over everything.”  The reason why Democrat candidates for the presidency so quickly signed on to my congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal is its promise of comprehensive control over every aspect of our lives.  Eliminating planes, trains, and automobiles will keep us close to our homes and jobs or for those “unwilling to work” in their basement enjoying their “universal basic income.”  Dependent people without mobility are easier to control.

The 2020 election looms as the next battle and it will be hard fought because Democrats have myriad policies that may sound great but are really about control.  They have always been masters of micturating down our leg and telling us it is raining.

Yet, they don’t need to trick us into acquiescence, because even should Trump win, without a complete reversal by the Democratic Party, a renewed free and fair media, and a return to the principles upon which this nation was founded, this war will continue, and it is only a matter of time before the left again wins the Presidency, or the House, or the Senate — or all three.

When that happens, this civil war will become hot because the Democrats are going to come for our guns.  An armed citizenry is a free citizenry, and they can’t have that.

The third most populated nation with 330,000,000 people, America has an estimated 350 million guns in circulation; any effort to seize them will call for the total mobilization of our armed forces, city and state police, and the National Guard.

People are not going to turn in their guns and politicians who think they will do so are being naïve.  Fighting will surely ensue as the forces of the regime go door to door to try to take them.

Many of those empowered to confiscate weapons won’t obey orders.  Defections will be common and there will be fighting in the streets, limited at first, but it will soon break out into open rebellion.  The regime will become increasingly strident and many states will refuse to comply.  Using Democratic-run “sanctuary cities” as an example of state nullification of federal law, talk of secession will become rife.

The ruling leftists will, of course, be surprised, and orders will be given to the remaining loyalist forces to put down the rebellion.  In the end, the death toll will far exceed the 620,000 people who died in our first civil war.

To people who say it can’t happen here, I say history is replete with examples of places that no longer exist where people believed “it can’t happen here.” 

It can’t happen here?  Open your eyes, it has already begun.

Please follow William L. Gensert on Twitter at @williamlgensert.

 

Tim Kaine promises bill to legalize illegal immigrants in ‘first 100 days’

The democrats have thrown down the gauntlet.  This is it.  This is where you must choose.  Do you side with American citizens, or with illegal aliens?  Do you stand for the rule of law, or the rule of men seeking their own benefit?  Do you support our Constitution as the rule of law, or the rule of dictators and oligarchs? 

Tim Kaine and Hillary Clinton have made it quite clear that they stand with the law breaking illegal alien before they stand with the American citizen.  We all know what Hillary Clinton thinks about the rule of law.  And Barack Obama made it clear what democrats think about the US Constitution. Kaine also states another bitter truth in that Paul Ryan will without a doubt cave in to the democrats, as he always has in the past.

If Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine (Kaine and Unable) win, or more likely steal the election in November, there is nothing else left to hold the union together.  The Constitution is the contract that binds the country together, and the democrats have shredded it.  Conservative states must secede as the last chance to avoid an all out revolution.  Then it will be up to the blue states and the democrat tyrants to decide whether there is a war or not.

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By Stephen Dinan – The Washington Times – Monday, July 25, 2016

PHILADELPHIA — A new Clinton administration would pursue a bill to legalize illegal immigrants in “the first 100 days” of her tenure, vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine told Spanish-language network Telemundo in an interview Monday, presenting a deep contrast with Republicans.

Secession: A RIGHT of the People

This article was from 2012 when many Oklahomans and others began seriously considering secession. The so-called “experts” all poo-pooed the idea saying it couldn’t be done. Here are a few examples.

“It’s ridiculous, the states cannot secede. We saw that in 1865. Six hundred something thousand men lost their lives to prove that the union is indissoluble. It can’t be done,” Historian Bob Shalhope said.

“It has got to be the federal government or congress saying it’s okay, agreeing to it, but you know that is slim to none,” Political Scientist Michael Hirlinger said.

“It’s empty talk and rhetoric, nothing is going to come of it. It lets them blow off their emotions and blow off steam,” Shalhope said.

“The power of secession is not a power reserved to the state. It’s not worth discussing,” Shalhope said.

That last one is pretty rich. This pompous ass blows off the anger rising in America against the federal government by saying that secession isn’t a power reserved to the states. Hmmmm. This idiot doesn’t seem to realize that all the things the federal government is doing that we are pissed about are NOT powers reserved to the FEDERAL government.

So, let me get this straight. Just because secession isn’t written into the Constitution, when the federal government becomes tyrannical and exceeds its authority, we’re supposed to just sit back and take it?

No.

Perhaps you remember when a group of colonies were being oppressed by a tyrannical king. Did the colonies have the power delegated by King George to secede? Nope. But they RIGHTLY did it anyway. Perhaps I should remind these simpletons of the words penned by our founding fathers in our Declaration of Independence.

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

The Constitution is a CONTRACT between the states and the federal government. The government has violated the terms of that contract, thus rendering that contract null and void. We have EVERY RIGHT to secede, and on our current path it is not only our right, but our duty if we want to preserve any shred of our liberty for ourselves and our children.

Link to article:  http://www.news9.com/story/20090233/okc-historian-police-scientist-its-impossible-for-oklahoma-to-secede-from-union

Independence Day -Another One Is Coming

The GOP Has Surrendered to a Tyrant. Governors MUST Act

Republican governors, are you paying attention? Who is going to pay for this executive amnesty? WE ARE.  Our already cash-strapped states and communities will be forced to foot the bill for benefits for millions of newly “legalized” illegal aliens. The progressive establishment leadership of the GOP in Washington DC is planning to do NOTHING to put a stop to this. I’m afraid that we can wait no longer for anyone in Washington DC to do the right thing. If you all band together, we can stop all of this mess with one proclamation. Red states, band together and SECEDE. The progressive states could do little or nothing to stop it, and could not survive without us. Once they realize they will die on the vine without us, we can reunite the republic on OUR terms. What other choices do we have left? All three branches of the federal government are off the constitutional reservation, and the military has been castrated and appears unwilling to honor their oath to protect and defend the Constitution. If the goal is the restoration of the republic, the rule of law, and the Constitution, then it would seem the only alternatives left are a chaotic and bloody civil war, or secession. I believe a mass secession has the best chance of succeeding.

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An Open Letter to the Men and Women of the Connecticut State Police: You are NOT the enemy (UNLESS YOU CHOOSE TO BE.)

This letter sent to the Connecticut State Police is a great example for all of us, and sums up very well the crossroads at which we stand.  We are at a time and place in our history when our government has left the reservation that the citizenry established for it, and that government has now turned against the people whom it is supposed to serve.  The government is forcing us into a corner from which the only escape is to fight.  The bloodshed and violence toward which this nation is heading at breakneck speed will happen by the government’s choosing, nor ours.

The question is, when the government begins trying to enforce its unconstitutional laws (in this case, gun registration and confiscation), will law enforcement stand on the side of the Constitution and the people, or will they be our enemies?  There are many who have come out publicly stating they will not enforce these laws.  I applaud these patriots.  Those who have refused to say they will not enforce unconstitutional laws have done us the favor of identifying themselves to us as collaborators whom we will be pitted against once the ‘festivities’ begin.  At least we know who they are.

Get to know your local police, and your sheriff.  Find out where they stand.  Also petition your state government to follow the course of nullifying unconstitutional federal laws, and making it illegal for federal agencies to attempt to enforce them with your state’s borders.   Also find out where your governor and legislators stand on the possiblity of secession and a constitutional convention.  Those may be the only chance we have left for a peaceful resolution to our predicament.  However, I suspect that the federal government won’t let us go without a fight since those power hungry tyrants want control, and without people to control they have no power.

Our only hope to salvage our constitutional republic is to stand UNITED behind our Constitution.  But we must stand with resolve backed up by force, and the willingness to use it.
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Saturday, February 15, 2014

 The following letter was sent via email to members of the Connecticut State Police, Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection. There are 1,212 email addresses on the list. There were 62 bounce-backs.

15 February 2014
To the men and women of the Connecticut State Police and the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection:
My name is Mike Vanderboegh. Few of you will know who I am, or even will have heard of the Three Percent movement that I founded, though we have been denounced on the national stage by that paragon of moral virtue, Bill Clinton. Three Percenters are uncompromising firearm owners who have stated very plainly for years that we will obey no further encroachments on our Second Amendment rights. Some of you, if you read this carelessly, may feel that it is a threat. It is not. Three Percenters also believe that to take the first shot in a conflict over principle is to surrender the moral high ground to the enemy. We condemn so-called collateral damage and terrorism such as that represented by the Oklahoma City Bombing and the Waco massacre. We are very aware that if you seek to defeat evil it is vital not to become the evil you claim to oppose. Thus, though this letter is certainly intended to deal with an uncomfortable subject, it is not a threat to anyone. However, it is important for everyone to understand that while we promise not to take the first shot over principle, we make no such promise if attacked, whether by common criminals or by the designated representatives of a criminal government grown arrogant and tyrannical and acting out an unconstitutional agenda under color of law. If we have any model, it is that of the Founding generation. The threat to public order and safety, unfortunately, comes from the current leaders of your state government who unthinkingly determined to victimize hitherto law-abiding citizens with a tyrannical law. They are the ones who first promised violence on the part of the state if your citizens did not comply with their unconstitutional diktat. Now, having made the threat (and placed the bet that you folks of the Connecticut State Police will meekly and obediently carry it out) they can hardly complain that others take them seriously and try by every means, including this letter, to avoid conflict.

Obama Power Grab: Serves 14-State Governors With Warnings of Arrest

This needs to spread like wildfire. This is just one of many potential trip wires for kicking off a revolution. If the federal government retreats to the Constitutional reservation on which it is supposed to exist, it has nothing to worry about from the states. But if they keep pushing, all bets are off.

Obama has some pretty big balls to accuse these governors of treason.  It is Obama who has and is WILLFULLY disregarding his constitutional duty.  He REFUSES to secure our borders.  He instructs his DoJ to willfully disobey current laws that he doesn’t like.  He himself disobeys laws (War Powers Act among others).  With the aid of democrats in the house and senate, he passes laws that are blatantly unconstitutional.  If he can’t get the law he wants passed, he just gets his executive agencies to legislate via regulation, thus circumventing congress.

And he has the gall to accuse ANYBODY else of treason?  Keep blustering, peckerhead.  Start trying to arrest governors for this, and the s#$^’s gonna get real.

UPDATE:

1.  Forgot to provide the link to the original article (http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2013/05/obama-serves-14-state-governors-with-warnings-of-arrest-and-why-is-this-not-front-page-news-2636456.html)

2.  The day after the original article was posted, they posted another article that said “An unconfirmed report states that President Obama has “served 14-State Governors in the United States, National Security Letters (NSLs)” (http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2013/05/state-defense-forces-governors-form-militia-protection-against-martial-law-2641174.html)

3.  There are a number of states with State Defense Forces (http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2012/02/why-more-states-should-establish-state-defense-forces)

4.  If you want more information on the various State Defense Forces, why not contact them?  CNN’s Clark Howard posted an article on how to do just that (http://www.clarkhoward.com/news/clark-howard/employment-military/state-defense-force-sign/nFZ8/)

5.  The NSL claim in the original article is unverified.  Snopes says not, but Snopes has proven to be the National Enquirer of the internet.  As Beforeitsnews corrected, the claims are “unconfirmed.”  With the current events in Washington (IRS, AP, Benghazi, DoJ, etc), you’re not likely to here about this again soon.  But in light of what we have learned about Obama administration tactics from just those scandals, and other threats and coercion by the DoJ in reference to gun control, you decide whether or not this is at least plausible.
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Obama Serves 14-State Governors With Warnings of Arrest: And why is this not front page news?

Tuesday, May 7, 2013 11:57
by Ken Larive

Barack Hussein Obama had served 14-State Governors in the United States, National Security Letters (NSLs) warning that the Governor’s actions in attempting to form “State Defense Forces” needs to be halted “immediately” or they will face arrest for the crime of treason. The employment of NSLs was authorized by the Patriot Act introduced by George W. Bush. Contained within the section related to these letters, it is forbidden for anyone receiving a NSL warning to even acknowledge the existence of said communication.

Obama is angered by the several State Governors who have reestablished “State Defense Forces.” These forces are described as: “State Defense Forces (also known as State Guards, State Military Reserves, State Militias) in the United States are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government; they are not regulated by the National Guard Bureau nor are they part of the Army National Guard of the United States. State Defense Forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state. State Defense Forces are distinct from their state’s National Guard in that they cannot become federal entities.”

Mr. Obama is fearful of these State Defense Forces, in that he does not have control of said forces, and with the U.S. Military stretched to near breaking from multiple deployments and theatre actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, these State military forces would be under the direct command and authority of the Governors in which states have said forces. In essence, the Governors would have “de facto control” of the United States.

The two Governors leading this move are: Tim Pawlenty, Governor of Minnesota; and Rick Perry, Governor of Texas. Both of these State Governors stated they have: “…deep fear the President is destroying their Nation.” Governor Pawlenty’s fear of Obama is that since Obama took office he has appeased America’s enemies and has shunned some of America’s strongest allies, especially Israel. Governor Perry has declared that Obama is punishing his State of Texas by dumping tens-of-thousands of illegal Mexican immigrants into the cities and small towns of Texas. Governor Perry further recently stated: “If Barack Obama’s Washington doesn’t stop being so oppressive, Texans might feel compelled to renounce their American citizenry and secede from the union.” (Yeeeeessss!!)

Obama fearing a revolution against him by the states, has moved swiftly by nationalizing nearly all National Guard Forces in multiple states; Georgia, Alabama, Kansas, Minnesota, Tennessee, Virginia, Louisiana, South Carolina – to name a few. The Governors of the Great States of Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia still have under their Command-and-Control the State Defense Forces to go against U.S. Federal forces should the need arise. Also important to note: There are NO U.S. laws prohibiting National Guard troops from also joining their State’s Defense Forces. This dilemma occurred during the Civil War with many “citizen soldiers” choosing to serve their states instead of the Federal Government.

This is a fluid and still developing situation that warrants close attention.

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