Sen. Cruz Releases Inaugural Report on Obama Administra​tion’s Unpreceden​ted Attempts to Expand Federal Power

Press Release of Senator Cruz 

  Sen. Cruz Releases Inaugural Report on Obama Administration’s Unprecedented Attempts to Expand Federal Power 
 

Contact: (202) 224-5922 / press@cruz.senate.gov
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
 

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) today released a report – “The Legal Limit: The Obama Administration’s Attempts to Expand Federal Power” – that analyzes six instances in the last 15 months where the U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously rejected the Obama Administration’s arguments for increased federal power.
“When President Obama’s own Supreme Court nominees join their colleagues in unanimously rejecting his Administration’s call for broader federal power six times in just over one year, the inescapable conclusion is that the Obama Administration’s view of federal power knows virtually no bounds,” said Sen. Cruz. “This is a deeply troubling pattern that we will continue to highlight as long as this Administration continues seeking ways to expand its power in direct violation of Americans’ constitutional rights.”
Sen. Cruz’s report highlights the six cases that the Supreme Court has unanimously rejected since January 2012. Had President Obama’s Department of Justice been successful in its cases, the federal government would have the power to:

• Attach GPSs to a citizen’s vehicle to monitor his movements, without having any cause to believe that a person has committed a crime (United States v. Jones);
• Deprive landowners of the right to challenge potential government fines as high as $75,000 per day and take away their ability have a hearing to challenge those fines (Sackett v. EPA);
• Interfere with a church’s selection of its own ministers. (Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. EEOC);
• Override state law whenever the President desires. (Arizona v. United States);
• Dramatically extend statutes of limitations to impose penalties for acts committed decades ago. (Gabelli v. SEC); and
• Destroy private property without paying just compensation. (Arkansas Fish & Game Commission v. United States).

The arguments advanced in these cases demonstrate an astonishing view of federal power on behalf of the Obama Administration that is worthy of further examination.

View the full report HERE: The Legal Limit: The Obama Administration's Attempts to Expand Federal Power

Colt AR-15 Manufacturing Company Moving to Texas

the following is from Ace of Spades HQ:

April 08, 2013

Colt Manufacturing Company Moving to... Texas

Pardon the vague headline -- I can't tell from this article if the company in question is a licensee of Colt, or a branch of Colt, or some sort of corporate entity affiliated with Colt.
Point is, whatever they are, they make AR-15s under the Colt name. And they're moving to Texas.

The move by Colt Competition into Breckenridge comes as the CEO of Colt Manufacturing in Connecticut has said there will soon be few good answers to keep his company in the state. Connecticut passed some of the nation’s most restrictive gun laws this week. It also comes weeks after Governor Rick Perry reportedly sent letters to gun companies, encouraging them to move to Texas. Perry sent a message on Twitter to Colorado company Magpul as recently as March 21, saying “Come on Down to Texas.” The Governor’s office did not confirm Friday if it had sent a recruitment letter to Colt Competition.

This goes beyond the 2nd Amendment. Texas is attracting companies because it's offering economic freedom. And it goes beyond that, too: This is about a fundamental dispute about whether our government exists to serve us and get out of the way of our exercise of our own free initiative, or whether government exists to instruct us and limit us as if we were schoolchildren in their care, permitted only to do the things the agreed to by a consensus of ill-educated moral scolds.
It's also about pluralism vs. monoculture. Liberal Connecticut would certainly like to imagine itself as the pluralistic society, and Texas as the monoculture, but in fact that's backwards. As Connecticut (and the various other former democracies of the east) claim that a "social consensus" has now been reached, politically, on a great many "issues" previously not thought to be political in nature at all, and more and more establishes an Official State Position on every question a Free Man might have, with those disagreeing with the party orthodoxy punished, or at least burdened, by official state sanction.

read rest of article here: http://ace.mu.nu/archives/338956.php

Texas Activists Given Hundreds of CCISD Election Ballots by Harris County Clerk - NO ID - Ballot integrity Alert

Two activists, Lianne Russell and Tanya A. Robertson, walked into the Harris County Elections Division (Houston, TX) last week and are given ACTUAL ballots when they only asked for Mail In Ballot Applications. They were given these ballots without even being asked to show a photo id or proof of identity!

It gets worse, the hosting entity (Clear Creek ISD) is the School District that will benefit from their own election. They handle their own ballots, count their ballots, and police their election.

A simple mistake? Even if it was, it still goes to show the importance of having measures in place to prevent voter fraud and to protect ballot integrity. Heck, these two activists did not even want ballots and they walk right in and out of the Harris County Clerk’s office with hundreds of them!

The following is a statement that was emailed to me from one of these Texas Activists:

Lumberton, TX Woman with Gun Shoots Robber/Rapist Terrorizing Lumberton Residents

A woman in Lumberton, TX shot and stopped a robber this morning before sunrise. This was not just Around 3AM this morning, this group of armed robbers sexually assaulted and robbed at gun point a woman in Lumberton. After the robbery and sexual assault this morning (at the corner of Raider Lane and Village Creek Parkway near the middle and primary schools), the group of 3 black males from Beaumont tried to attack another woman at her home on Dennis Drive in Lumberton. This time though, the woman was exercising her 2nd Amendment rights and she pulled out her handgun and shot one of the criminals. All three men were quickly apprehended soon after by the Lumberton Police Department. The man shot, Scott Allen Wills Jr, is still in the hospital but is expected to recover. As I write the article, the Hardin County Jail says they have not booked the other two men, Malik Washington and Ariel Malveaux, so they are still in the custody of the Lumberton Police Department.
any robber. This robber was part of a group of men who had gone on a crime spree over the past 2 weeks in Beaumont's West End and now in Lumberton.

This attack is just another example that proves the importance of having a Constitutional right to bear arms. The quiet community of Lumberton was also shown this morning that we are not as safe and quiet as we used to be anymore. There are some in Lumberton who want the city to grow into a bigger city instead of just a bedroom community so that we can bring more money into the city. Well, with the growth and desire for more money, we can expect to see an increase in crime as well. It is funny how people will move out of a bigger city to get away from problems but then they turn around and want all the amenities a big city has to offer, and next thing you know, they the problems we moved away from have been brought right into out backyard.

So what happened this morning in Lumberton? I found out about this shocking series of events from Kel Lindsey who posted the following message on his Facebook wall:

"This mourning in my own back yard, two black males robbed and sexually assaulted my sister in law. They held her at gun point and demanded money from her, they made her drive them to a store and take money from an ATM. By the grace of God they brought her back alive and they fled on foot. These two pieces of shit then proceeded to rob another house in our neighbor hood and were met with a joyous sound of a gun being brought to bare. As this human less pile of shit lays clinging to life, I hope one more good person will now arm themselves against this violent and corrupt society so that scum will know that they cannot get away with this shit anymore. Good people with guns stop bad people with guns. amen."

I contacted Kel to confirm the details. As you can see from the Facebook post above, Kel is a big supporter of gun rights and was glad that at least one of them was stopped by a woman exercising her right to bear arms.

Brandon Darby: FBI Stranded as Mexican Cartels Increase Networks in USA

the following article is fro Brandon Darby posted at Texas GOP Vote:

FBI Stranded as Mexican Cartels Increase Networks in USA

• By Brandon Darby

  

Special Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) risk their lives and the safety of their families to protect and serve, yet politicians in Washington, D.C. have left many of them stranded, without fuel, and feeling as though their operational integrity has been compromised. As a result of politically-motivated sequester cuts, many in the FBI worry they cannot do their jobs as well as when they had adequate funding.
Some FBI offices have ordered staff not to use their government vehicles, as sequestration has left them with no monies in their fuel budgets. Without use of their vehicles, FBI Special Agents cannot do their jobs effectively. Such cuts, combined with sequestration, ripped more than $700 million from the FBI’s 2013 budget.
National security and public safety are supposed to be the top priorities of government, but were treated in the sequester as equivalent to other forms of discretionary spending. The administration has also abused its own discretion in assigning cuts, as in its controversial decision to free detained illegal aliens.
The cuts to the FBI come at a time when Mexican cartels are increasing operations in the U.S. through prison gangs, which operate outside the cell walls as the Mexican Mafia and the Aryan Brotherhood; when prosecutors are being slain in broad daylight or at home; when a federal prosecutor resigned from a case due to fears over his safety and that of his loved ones; when U.S. Border Patrol Agents have leaked images of Mexican drug smugglers being escorted by men with an AK-47 on US soil, and when there exists a high likelihood that the Mexican Gulf Cartel has begun using the Aryan Brotherhood in the U.S. as assassins and ground troops.
One FBI Special Agent spoke to me on the condition of anonymity about concerns for the men and women of the FBI and the safety of the American public. The Special Agent stated:

We are meeting at a Starbucks in the morning and carpooling in a private car. Once at the office, we are not allowed to use our government vehicles to perform our duties. I am concerned about the integrity of our mission. What is going to happen if a terrorist attack or other emergency occurs when we do not have gas in our vehicles and aren’t allowed to use them.

The Special Agent explained why they cannot use their personal vehicles in the commission of their work:

Long before money problems, there was a culture of not using our own vehicles, both because of the liability to the Bureau and because it exposes our identities and bad guys can find our spouses and children much easier. If we are doing surveillance or doing the necessary interviews with sources or bad guys that are required to keep Americans safe in our personal vehicles, they can easily find us or who we are.

Claims about the FBI’s field operations being impacted by a severe lack of funds was confirmed by both the president FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) in an exclusive telephone interview with Breitbart News and in an official statement issued to Breitbart News from the FBI Headquarters Public Information Office.
The claims of fuel shortages and Special Agents being left unable to use vehicles was confirmed only by the FBIAA, but FBI Headquarters did not contradict or deny that claim in their response to Breitbart News.
The FBIAA's president, Special Agent Konrad Motyka, confirmed to Breitbart News the most explosive assertions from the unnamed FBI source. He stated that “Rural Special Agents' jobs have become impossible in some instances because they cannot use public transportation like the FBI can in larger cities.”
“Some FBI offices are telling agents to commute in their private cars,” says Motyka . He added: “Obviously, FBI field divisions having to cut back so drastically has an effect on operational abilities. There will be fewer meetings with human sources and fewer surveillances can be conducted. Fewer investigations can be done and they will take longer.”
Motyka also addressed the long-term effects of recent cuts on public safety: “People are retiring. There's a hiring freeze, new hires are needed to replace those who are leaving. This will effect the ability to protect and serve. Our ability to use sophisticated techniques in investigations will suffer because research dollars are needed to keep up with technology.”
Motyka said the FBI was considering furloughing Special Agents for 9-14 days without pay between now and October 1, 2013. He said: “There will be fewer agents to work on cases, the investigations will suffer.”
Knowing the men and women who serve our nation in the FBI will do everything possible to carry on their mission in the face of monetary

read rest of article here: http://www.texasgopvote.com/issues/restore-families/fbi-stranded-mexican-cartels-increase-networks-usa-0053191

TX Atty General Greg Abbott Declares "Red Flag Alert" in Response to UN Arms Control Treaty

article below from Bob Price posted at Texas GOP Vote:

TX Atty General Greg Abbott Declares "Red Flag Alert" in Response to UN Arms Control Treaty

• By Bob Price

The United Nations passed an arms control treaty that could, if signed by the President and ratified by the Senate, radically alter Americans' Second Amendment rights. In response to this treaty, Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott declared a "Red Flag Alert" to a group of bloggers and other media in a conference call held this afternoon. General Abbott said this treaty not only represents a threat to Second Amendment Rights but is also a threat to all American liberties protected by the U.S. Constitution.
The treaty is aimed primarily at the trafficking of tanks, armored vehicles and other conventional weapons of warfare. There are provisions in the treaty, however, that call for nation states to provide gun registrations to the U.N. and to restrict the sale of yet to be determined small arms.
Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement today, "As the United States has required from the onset of these negotiations, nothing in this treaty could ever infringe on the rights of American citizens under our domestic law or the Constitution, including the Second Amendment."
Gen. Abbott strongly disagrees and is prepared to defend the rights of Texans and all Americans by suing the federal government in court should the treaty be signed and ratified. He cited Reid v Covert, a 1957 case before the U.S. Supreme Court where the court held that the United States cannot use its treaty powers to violate Constitutional rights. "When the Constitution says 'the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,' that means no one - including the U.N. - can infringe on that right." Abbott said.
In a letter to President Obama today, Gen. Abbott stated, "Treaties do not trump constitutional liberties. Even if you, as the President, signed and the Senate ratified the UN Arms Trade Treaty, our Constitution remains the Supreme Law of the Land and would supersede any treaty provision that violated Second Amendment rights."
Abbott is rightly concerned that if our government can use the U.N. to circumvent the Constitutionally guaranteed liberties of the Second Amendment, it could equally be used to attack and strip other liberties protected by our Constitution. "Regardless of their position on gun rights, all Americans should oppose any treaty that does not adequately protect our constitutional rights. If the Second Amendment can be trusted to international organizations that do not share our constitutional traditions, then why not the First Amendment? Why not the Fourth Amendment or the Fifth Amendment?," Abbott continued in his letter to Obama.
For the treaty to become law in America, the President of the United States must first accept the treaty by signature and then present it to the U.S. Senate for ratification. Ratification requires a 2/3rds majority of Senators to approve the treaty for it to become law.
In a statement today, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said, "The UN Arms Treaty should be rejected outright by the U.S. Senate. It is international gun regulation, plain and simple, and it must never be ratified." Cruz' Press Secretary told TexasGOPVote today that Sen. Cruz has signed on to Sen. Jerry Moran's Senate Resolution 7, a bipartisan resolution which states the U.N. Arms Control treaty clearly infringes on Constitutional liberties and will not be ratified by the Senate. The resolution already has 33 signers, which is enough to block ratification of the treaty.
Texas Senior Senator John Cornyn renewed his opposition to the treaty and has also signed the Moran resolution. "The United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty contains unnecessarily harsh treatment of civilian-owned small arms and I urge President Obama to reverse course and block any further negotiations," Cornyn said in a statement today. "“Not only would it violate Texans’ Second Amendment rights, including the right to self-defense, it also raises US sovereignty and national security concerns. Law-abiding Texans who are in the market for an imported shotgun, pistol, or rifle ought to be very concerned by any future development of this treaty.”
I asked Gen. Abbott if he thought the defeat of Sen. Feinstein's Assault Weapons

read rest of article here: http://www.texasgopvote.com/regions/texas/tx-atty-general-greg-abbott-declares-red-flag-alert-response-un-arms-control-0053031

Bill Will Strengthen Texas Open Records by Allowing Access to Private Email Accounts - Rep. Todd Hunter

This is a GREAT Bill. When a government official is conducting business, the public has a right to see what is going on. That includes access to the government official's emails. the problem is, when an official does not want something to be seen, the official just sends the email using a private email account. This is wrong. Texas State Rep. Todd Hunter has introduced a bill to create guidelines/regulations dealing with open records requests and officials using private email accounts to conduct public business.

read more here: http://pushjunction.com/l/CiZ

46 Senators voted to cede our 2nd Amendment Gun rights to the UN

Senate Bill 139 passed 53-46. 46 US Senators voted against this: “To uphold Second Amendment rights and prevent the United States from entering into the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty.”

See list of the 46 Senators here: http://thedaleygator.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/here-are-the-46-leftist-traitors-in-the-us-senate-who-voted-to-turn-your-gun-rights-over-to-the-un/

Democrat Praises Moderate Republican Texas Speaker Joe Straus for being "inclusive"

Liberal Texas State Representative Donna Howard praises Moderate Republican Texas Speaker Joe Straus for being "inclusive."

read story here:
http://pushjunction.com/l/CiT

Hispanic Conservative Forum Apr 6th, Austin, TX - “Una Nación Under God: A Dialogue”

the following is from Adryana Boyne

3/15/13

 “Una Nación Under God: A Dialogue”

Dear  Friend:

On behalf of VOCES Action I am pleased to extend an invitation to you to attend our next event scheduled  in our  beautiful Texas State Capitol  from  10 AM to– 3 PM on Saturday April 6th is at Texas State Capitol  112 E 11th St, Austin, TX 78701 Room number E2.1002                                                                                                                                  .   The theme of our event is: Una Nacion Under God: A Dialogue  and will kick off a national effort to focus on Hispanic conservative values and on the need to engage Hispanic on conservative answers to current issues including the need  we have in the USA to fix our current broken immigration system and to implement a guest worker visa.     We will have a discussion panel with different key people from different backgrounds, experiences in, work, entrepreneurship, elected office, ministry, business and work with Hispanics. We will also separate speeches from different people, elected officials and community leaders. It promises to be a stimulating and thought provoking day from 10 AM to 3 P.M including a boxed lunch .Your attendance and participation will be appreciated. San Antonio Tea Party and Conservatives in Action are co- hosting this event and we are very grateful for all the participation in the logistics and planning of this event. Please RSVP to attend this event with Sharon Hall  at sharonhall2755@sbcglobal.net The event does not have any cost but donations will be appreciated via www.vocesaction.org . This event will be covered by invited media. VOCES Action is a non-profit (501(c) (4) organization promoting conservative  fiscal and social issues, focusing on the Hispanic population and educating non- Hispanics in how to interact with Hispanics . Donations to 501(c)(4) groups are not tax deductible. Cordially, Adryana Boyne National Director of VOCES Action www.vocesaction.org 979-450-9238 Voces.adryana@gmail.com                                                                           Among the confirmed speakers are: ·       Francisco ”Quico“ Canseco - Former US Representative ·       Todd Staples - Texas Agriculture Commissioner, ·       Adryana Boyne, National Director of VOCES Action and Director of Development of VOTO Honesto (True the Vote) ·       Dianne Costa -Former Mayor and Former candidate for US Congress ·       David Medina - Former TX Supreme Court Justice ·       Dr. Alex Mandes - Evangelical Free Church Hispanic Director ·       Dr. Daryl Boyne -  President of VOCES Action ·       Dr. Richard Land- President of The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission ·       Mr. Rafael Cruz - Father of Senator Ted Cruz ·       Sonja Harris- Conservatives in Action, ·       Bob Price-  Communications Director US Border Watch, ·       Aaron Peña - Former TX State Representative ·       Brad Bailey - Texas Solution. ·       Ivan Andarza- Immigration Attorney ·       Manuel “Manny” Rosales-National Chair Latino RNC, Former Deputy Coalitions Director of RNC ·       Joshua Trevino- Texas Institute of Policy ·         David Zapata – Director of Outreach Republican  Party of Texas   ·