World News Korner

Obama allegedly wrote the following letter to a schoolteacher in Texas concerned about Obamacare.










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(Nov. 26, 2013) — The Post & Email can exclusively report that the Tennessee state attorney general’s office has stated on the record that the “foreperson” of all grand juries in Tennessee is IS NOT A JUROR as Tennessee state statutes require.

The office of the Tennessee Attorney General and Reporter claims that the grand jury foreman is a state employee, not a juror empaneled by state statutes

In December of last year, CDR Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III was convicted in the Monroe County, TN Criminal Court of “tampering with government records,” with Judge Walter C. Kurtz presiding.

Defense Attorney Van Irion submitted an appeal in the case of State of Tennessee v. Walter Francis Fitzpatrick, III protesting CDR Fitzpatrick’s innocence. One of Irion’s points was that the grand jury foreman had over-served her legal term of one year. Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) states that following their service on any jury in the state, jurors cannot be resummoned for a minimum of 24 months.

This past September, in his official capacity as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Justice Division, Kyle Hixson responded to the Fitzpatrick appeal, writing a brief on the state’s behalf of which The Post & Email first came into possession last Thursday afternoon.

At the bottom of page 13 of his brief, Assistant Attorney General Hixson wrote:

“…the foreman of the grand jury is not ‘impaneled’ from the ‘summoned’ members of the ‘jury pool.’ See Tenn Code Ann. §§ 22-2-306, -307, and -310. The foreperson is ‘appoint[ed]’ by the trial court. Tenn. R. Crim. P. 6(g)(1). As such, section 314, by its terms, does not apply to the appointment process of the grand jury foreperson.”

The state’s entire argument can be read here: HIXSON BRIEF

Section 314 reads as follows:

“22-2-314. Limitation on jury service.

“A juror who has completed a jury service term shall not be summoned to serve another jury service term in any court of this state for a period of twenty-four (24) months following the last day of such service; however, the county legislative body of any county, may, by majority vote, extend the twenty-four-month period.”

Hixson clearly reports that grand jury forepersons do not come from the “jury pool,” are never “summoned” to jury duty, are never “impaneled” as a jurors, and never subject to state laws which deal with jurors and jury duty. Simply stated, Hixson affirms on behalf of the State of Tennessee that grand jury forepersons are never jurors.

However, Tennessee state law commands exactly the opposite: Tennessee statutes say that grand jury forepersons must always be jurors.

Tennessee state law, as tailored and refined by the Rules for Criminal Procedure, require that thirteen (13) jurors (or members) populate all state grand juries.

Hixson has now said, in clear terms in a statement against the state’s self-interest, that criminal court judges add a non-juror to the grand jury by their selection of the foreman. The 12 jurors plus one non-juror combination consequently leaves Tennessee grand juries one short of the lawfully-mandated requirement of thirteen (13) jurors. This has been and remains the case for decades.

Tennessee state law requires that all state residents, in the process of becoming jurors, must initially be randomly selected into the jury pool. From that pool, a smaller number of individuals are randomly selected to be issued summonses to report to the courtroom on a particular day, at which time jurors for the grand jury and trial juries are selected in but a third process of random selection.

In each of these three random selection rounds, the process used must be one that does not allow for the possibility of “human intervention.”

The Tennessee District Attorneys General Conference describes the grand jury as:

…a group of thirteen citizens chosen from the jury panel. One of these thirteen is the fore person and will preside over the grand jury.

Assistant Attorney General Hixson now reports that criminal court judges have always been permitted to install a handpicked non-juror foreman, that is, to “appoint” the foreman from, as Monroe County Court Clerk Martha M. “Marty” Cook has said, “from wherever they choose because the state laws that apply to jurors do not apply to non-jurors.

As readers of The Post & Email are already aware, Fitzpatrick’s challenges to the scope and operation of Tennessee grand juries arose upon his discovery in 2010 that the Monroe County Tennessee de facto grand jury foreman, Gary Pettway, had held that position since 1982, a period of twenty-eight (28) consecutive years. Moreover, there was no appointing order or evidence that Pettway had ever been duly sworn in.

Fitzpatrick placed Pettway under citizen’s arrest in April 2010. State law enforcement officials ignored Fitzpatrick’s complaint and arrested Fitzpatrick instead. The Monroe County grand jury then indicted Fitzpatrick for attempting to intimidate a juror, Gary Pettway.

Indictment against Fitzpatrick for the alleged felony of intimidating a “juror,” Gary Pettway, who the State Attorney General’s office says is not a juror

Fitzpatrick has demonstrated that the grand juries and trial juries in Tennessee are unduly influenced by prosecutors, grand jury foremen, and court personnel and contaminated by jurors serving consecutive terms in violation of state law (TCA 22-2-314). In one case in Davidson County, a grand jury foreman chosen by a judge was discovered to be a convicted felon, which violates Tennessee statute and required the review of approximately 800 cases over which the illegally-serving foreman had presided.


Grand jury foremen in Monroe County are reportedly “picked from wherever” the judge “chooses” by means of an unknown vetting process. Throughout Tennessee, grand jury foremen have served for decades or multiple times with occasional breaks in service.

Tennessee Code Annotated provides no special selection process for the grand jury foreman.

Grand jury tampering and judicial misconduct have been reported to The Post & Email in Campbell County, Roane County, Sevier County, and Madison County. Crimes against District Attorney General R. Steven Bebb of the Tenth Judicial District have been alleged but dismissed by Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr., although members of the Tennessee General Assembly are working to remove Bebb from his post.

Now, for the first time ever, Kyle Hixson explains that (1) Gary Pettway was never a juror, resulting in (2) the law limiting jury service does not apply to grand jury forepersons such as Pettway, and (3) judicially “appointed” Tennessee residents are allowed to serve in a career position as a county employee called the “grand jury foreman.”

Tennessee Code Annotated (TCA) 40-12-206 is the only state statute which details the composition of every Tennessee state grand jury. The law commands that all grand juries be populated with thirteen (13) jurors (members) and up to five (5) alternates. The law does not provide for the judicial appointment of a “foreman” into a Tennessee grand jury.


The same law makes no distinction among the jurors (members). There is no distinction or separate-identity, non-juror “foreman.”

The process by which all jurors are to be selected is described as (1) Randomly populate the “jury pool,” (2) Randomly select potential jurors from the “jury pool,” (3) “Summon” the potential jurors to court for random selection into the grand and trial (petit) jurors for identified term dates, and (4) “Impanel” the grand juries and trial jurors.

Hixson, representing the state of Tennessee, publicly declared in his September 2013 appeals brief that, in Tennessee, grand jury foremen are not jurors.

Restating the state’s now first-time ever publicly pronounced policy position more clearly:

• The grand jury foreman is not a juror.
• A criminal court trial judge individually and personally selects, then specifically delegates (appoints, employs) grand jury foremen in Tennessee state.
• The grand jury foreman does not come from a randomly-selected jury pool.
• The grand jury foreman is not summoned to a courtroom to participate in the process of jury impaneling.
• Tennessee state statutes that apply to jurors and jury duty do not apply to the grand jury foreman who is, rather, a paid Tennessee state employee.
• Judicial appointment of a grand jury foreman who is a “non-juror, as Hixson described the office and process, is illegal under the Tennessee statutes.

The Post & Email asks if the State of Tennessee is committing the same crime as that which the U.S. Navy continues to perpetrate after more than 23 years in which an honest person is sacrificed and condemned for the sake of preserving a criminal enterprise in which a judge’s personal appointee masquerades as a member of the grand jury, unduly influencing that body and often casting the decisive vote to indict.

———————

Editor’s Note: More articles on Tennessee grand jury foremen and the law will be forthcoming in the near future.

Source link. © 2013, The Post & Email. All rights reserved.

RELATED: Audio: CDR Fitzpatrick Appeals Hearing; Judges Protecting Criminal Enterprise - CLICK HERE.

- Image Credit: The JAG Hunter -

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Boy that Willow's a friendly gal isn't she?

I love how in the spirit of Christmas Palin steals that old man's pen, uses it to sign two other people's books but not his, and then forces him to wrench in out of her hand to get it back.

I also noticed that in this video Palin manages to ignore the Levi Johnston questions, the same questions to which later in the day she could no longer resist responding.

By the way as of this posting Palin's faux Christmas book is back up to 278 in the Amazon bestsellers rank, which must mean that some conservative group made a bulk purchase in order to help her save face. Calling in those favors Sarah?

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Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:

American Atheists and other secular groups are taking the IRS to court over what they say is the preferential treatment the tax-collection agency gives to religious organizations.

Studies show that Americans subsidize religious organizations to the tune of an estimated $71 billion annually, in the form of tax-exemptions. “This is about equality,” American Atheists President David Silverman said in a statement.

“This is about the U.S. government holding everyone to the same standard and giving the same rights to all. No exceptions. We are seeing religions getting preferential treatment by our government, a government that is supposed to serve us and respect us all as equals, and that’s wrong. It’s not what this country is about and it’s unpatriotic.”

Dave Muscato, a spokesman for American Atheists, told Newsweek, “We find it discriminatory, so we’re suing. The way that this is set up, we all pay for it. We’re all supporting churches for what they do.”

Because religious organizations are automatically granted a tax-exempt status and are not required to file forms that non-religious organizations must, American Atheists claim secular groups are unfairly burdened, while religious organizations have a fundraising advantage that includes not having to reveal their donors.

I know I am looking at this from a very prejudicial angle, but you have to admit American Atheists have a point.

It is unfair to ask nonmembers of a religious organization to subsidize churches through their tax dollars, when often the churches themselves have money to burn.

Churches should pay their fair share, ESPECIALLY if they are going to dabble in politics, which is increasingly the case these days. Not only that, but I think that the new Pope would agree with me on this topic.

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Courtesy of Accounting Today:

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service said Tuesday they are issuing initial guidance regarding qualification requirements for tax-exemption as a social welfare organization under Section 501(c)(4) of the Tax Code after a scandal erupted earlier this year over claims that the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status.

The proposed guidance defines the term “candidate-related political activity,” and would amend the current regulations by indicating that the promotion of social welfare does not include this type of activity. The proposed guidance also seeks initial comments on other aspects of the qualification requirements, including what proportion of a 501(c)(4) organization’s activities must promote social welfare. The initial guidance is expected to be posted on the Federal Register later today.

The Treasury is issuing the guidance in response to a recommendation in a report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration on how the IRS selected inappropriate criteria for screening applications from tax-exempt status from various groups. Ahead of the release of the TIGTA report. Lois Lerner, the former head of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations, touched off a firestorm of criticism of the IRS after she disclosed in May that the agency was using terms such as “Tea Party,” “Patriot” and “9/12” to filter through applications for 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status from conservative organizations. It later emerged that the IRS was also using terms like “progressive” and “Occupy” to filter out applications from liberal groups. Lerner was eventually forced out of the agency along with other officials such as former acting commissioner Steven T. Miller.

His replacement, the current IRS acting commissioner Danny Werfel, has pledged to stop using so-called “BOLO,” or “Be on the Lookout,” lists, and to enable streamlined processes for tax-exempt status including allowing 501(c)4 organizations to self-certify themselves as tax-exempt until their applications have been examined. Meanwhile Congress has been grilling IRS officials at a contentious series of hearings and introducing legislation as recently as last week to reform the process further (see Congress Introduces Bill to Change IRS Reviews of Tax-Exempt Organizations).

The TIGTA report recommended that the Treasury Department and the IRS chief counsel develop guidance on how to measure the primary activity of 501(c)4 social welfare organizations.

The whole kerfuffle over the IRS trying to determine who was gaming the system, which used key words like "Tea Party" and "Patriot" to identify groups that required extra scrutiny, would be completely unnecessary once these new guidelines are in place.

Then the conservatives could not accuse the IRS of targeting them, because the new rule changes would affect EVERY group who claimed to be a "social welfare group" but were in fact partisan smear merchants.

Of course, as you can imagine, this rule change has already sparked anger from one side of the political aisle:

"The fact that the administration's new effort only affects social welfare organizations - and not powerful unions or business groups - underscores that this is a crass political effort by the administration to get what political advantage they can, when they can," said Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican. Some of the biggest spenders in the last election also expressed outrage at the proposal.

In my opinion ANY rule change that pisses off Darell Issa is a good rule change.

And remember there is NOTHING saying these groups cannot exist, that would be un-American, they simply cannot claim tax exempt status.

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Todd and Trig, well at least we know THEY live in Alaska.

Courtesy of Arizona's own political pole dancer's Facebook page:

Friends,

Thanksgiving offers us invaluable time to spend with our family (So your finally going to spend time with them? Does Trig even know who you are anymore?) and reflect on our many blessings. In 1789, George Washington declared a day of national Thanksgiving for our new country to render unto God our "sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection."

But even before that first proclamation from a new nation, pioneers across America celebrated Thanksgiving as a time to give praise to God for full harvests and Divine Providence. (Holy crap, not only does she want to make sure that only Christians celebrate Christmas, now she wants to take Thanksgiving away from us as well!)

And indeed, America has been richly blessed. From coast to coast, we enjoy an abundance of natural resources, plentiful harvests, beautiful cities and our most precious gift of all—a people who value liberty and continue to stand as an example to the world of all that can be accomplished by a free and hard-working people. (So it's NOT about turkey, stuffing, and football?)

This Thanksgiving, join me in a moment of prayer to give thanks for the thousands of American men and women in our armed forces who will spend Thanksgiving away from their homes and families, facing danger overseas to protect our way of life.

When we sit down to enjoy a family meal on Thursday, I will give thanks to God for the blessing of a strong and diverse family life that has taught me so much about loyalty, selflessness, and compassion. I will pray for God's continued blessings on my family, and on yours, and on this great nation of ours. (Yep gotta pimp that Christian cred, after all she has a book to sell.)

From my family to yours, God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving!

With an Alaskan heart, Sarah Palin

Look she signed it with "an Alaskan heart" so doesn't THAT prove she is still an Alaskan resident?

I mean what more does she have to do, move to Alaska?

Palin also posted this video on her ghostwritten post, which I THINK was supposed to demonstrate how much people sill love her, but which to me simply showed a woman who appears sickly, undernourished, and desperate for attention.

P.S. By the way if you want to read a rather different, more accurate, take on the Thanksgiving story, from a couple of teachers, just click here.

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An article topic previously published by BirtherReport and GatewayPundit has now been picked up by Investors Business Daily along with Rush Limbaugh. IBD asks if voters are victims of an elaborate con. Well, Duh!



Excerpt: If someone else wrote the book the president has repeatedly claimed he did — a book that proved significant in his election and earned him millions in late royalties — it not only exposes him as a fraud, but further indicts the national media for failing to properly vet him.

In fact, the media elite used the book to help promote him for the presidency. Time magazine, for one, gushed that "Dreams From My Father" "may be the best-written memoir ever produced by an American politician."

Others waxed proudly about how his tangled and biracial life story reflected "the diversity of America."

But this myth-making was recently busted by Obama biographer David Maraniss, who documented at least 38 instances in the president's life story that were fabricated. Obama made up people, events and history. Much of the book was pure fiction.

The real story may be that Obama was deeper in bed with an unrepentant America-hating militant socialist than he has admitted.

Did America elect a fiction to the White House? Are voters victims of an elaborate con? It's high time the national media started asking hard questions. [...] - Continued at IBD. Also at Breitbart News here and here.

@ IBD: Don't forget about his fabricated birth certificates and selective service card... Both felonies!




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One of Bitcoin enthusiast Mike Caldwell's coins in this photo illustration at his office in Sandy, Utah.


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By By Wanfeng Zhou of Reuters

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, here attending the General Synod in London Wednesday, Nov. 20, acknowledged the 'revolution' of attitudes toward homosexuality in general society.


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By Reuters

President Obama feeling the love from Californians. A state where Obamacare is working quite well.

Courtesy of Salon:

The confluence of two pieces of news last week will place Republicans at a moral crossroads — either by this weekend, or whenever Healthcare.gov can legitimately be described as a “working” website.

The first came from Jeffrey Zients — the Obama administration point person in charge of fixing Healthcare.gov — who told reporters on Friday that the site will be able to handle 50,000 users at a time and 800,000 users a day by the the end of next week. That’s double the current capacity, and right in time for an expected surge in demand just before the end of the year.

The second came from the pro-reform group Families USA, which examined options available to 15 million people who are currently covered on the individual market (many of whose policies have been canceled and will lapse by the end of the year) under the Affordable Care Act.

According to Families USA, over 70 percent of those currently insured will either qualify for premium tax credits on state-based insurance exchanges, or become newly eligible for Medicaid coverage under the healthcare law.

“Nationally, 71 percent of people in the individual market under age 65 have incomes at or below 400 percent of poverty,” according to Families USA. “Under the Affordable Care Act, these people are income-eligible for financial help to purchase an insurance plan, either through new premium tax credit subsidies or through expanded Medicaid.”

Together that combines all of the ingredients any marketplace needs to be successful:

1) An appealing product.

2) A large population of motivated shoppers.

3) Affordable prices, either by design or by discount.

4). A fast-moving checkout counter.

For the past couple of months, the Healthcare.gov failure allowed Republicans to ignore the moral imperative they face to direct these constituents toward new options. The cash registers aren’t working, they could tell themselves, so what good would we be doing by directing people to the market anyhow. This was always dodgy logic, but it enjoyed a real sheen of plausibility. And that’s why Republicans have spent most of November soliciting Obamacare horror stories, rather than trying to help the narrators.

A working site that can service nearly a million people a day destroys that excuse. Some conservative groups have been craven and reckless enough to actively discourage people from enrolling in Affordable Care Act coverage. Elected Republicans have generally used their influence more subtly, by drawing attention to the hassles and supposed dangers of using Healthcare.gov. Manipulation vs. direct appeal. They’ve also maligned an administrative solution President Obama devised that will allow carriers in some states to reissue canceled policies.

But the real fix for 70 percent (or so) of people whose policies have been canceled is to get new, subsidized coverage through exchanges, or to enroll in Medicaid. Once Healthcare.gov is working at high capacity, they’ll owe people with canceled coverage more than just the play-acting they’ve offered for the past month.

A picture courtesy of Dennis Zaki who says these are everywhere in California.

There has always been a shelf life for the Republican attacks against the ACA, and the website problems certainly extended it, but once those problems are worked out the GOP will have to come up with a different strategy to use to attack Democrats and this President.

Gee I can hardly wait to see what that will be.

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I know that some of you expressed a desire NOT to see this video this morning, but much like seeing Uncle Harold pass out with his pants unzipped in front of the football game after dinner this too is a Thanksgiving tradition.

Besides WHO can really get tired of watching Sarah Palin fail so hilariously at trying to mimic the President turkey pardon.

My favorite part is that according to my friend Linda Kellen Biegel, (Celtic Diva) who was there that day, the cameraman suggested that she might want to move to a different location, but she looked back and then said she was fine right there.

And the rest is Thanksgiving history.

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I don't know how I missed this, but apparently Stephen Colbert predicted that John McCain would pick Sarah Palin as his running mate way back in 2006.

You know I don't usually buy into prognostication but I have to admit THAT is just freaky.

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