Earlier this fall, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, frustrated and angry at the Biden regime’s purposeful inaction on securing the border, stepped up and issued a threat: He will use his authority and empower his own personnel to start arresting illegal aliens in the absence of federal enforcement.
“By virtue of the power and authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the State of Texas, I hereby order that the Texas National Guard assist DPS in enforcing Texas law by arresting lawbreakers at the border,” Abbott’s letter to Texas Adjutant General Major Gen. Tracy Norris said in July, when he first issued the order.
USA Features News, which reported on the declaration at the time, added:
Last month, Abbott said during a summit to discuss border security that any migrants who criminally trespass into Texas or commit other offenses would be subject to arrest and jailed.
In addition, the GOP governor announced plans to build new sections of border wall so as to plug gaps left when President Joe Biden canceled federal wall construction begun under the Trump administration.
In arguing as to why National Guard members should be empowered to make arrests, Abbott noted in his letter that “more manpower is needed” to deal with the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have been crashing the Tex-Mex border since Joe Biden took the oath of office for a presidency that was stolen on his behalf.
In addition, Abbott explained that according to the Texas constitution, his powers as “Commander-in-Chief of the military forces” of the state grant him the authority to issue arrest powers to his Guard troops.
Abbott also “likewise recognizes that the governor can call on state military forces ‘to enforce state law’ and ‘to assist civil authorities in guarding [or] conveying prisoners,’” said the letter.
2 dead after man says he shot people who broke into NC home
FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Two people are dead after a North Carolina man told officers that he shot home intruders on Saturday, police said.
Fayetteville officers were sent to respond to reports of a residential break-in shortly after 5 p.m., the police department said in a news release.
While the officers were on their way to the scene, a caller said he shot people who broke into his residence.
Police confirmed when they arrived that the two people were dead, according to the release. The shooter has not yet been identified, and the names of the victims won’t be released until their relatives are notified.
Authorities did not immediately say whether any charges would be filed.
Video shows armored truck driver turn tables on would-be robber in Philadelphia
As the suspect announced the robbery, the Brinks driver pulled out a gun and opened fire.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — The FBI released surveillance video showing the moment a gunman tried to hold up a Brinks Armored truck in North Philadelphia.
It happened around 4:30 p.m. Monday along the 1900 block of North 5th Street, in a crowded parking lot of the Cousin’s Supermarket.
Cameras show a 2017 Nissan Altima drive up near the truck.
When the guard walks to the vehicle, you see the would-be thief jump out and run toward him with a gun.
As the suspect announced the robbery, the Brinks driver pulled out a gun and opened fire.
Police said the attempted robber did not get away with anything, and no one was hurt.
Woman shoots man during Fort Worth burglary attempt
A woman shot a man during an attempted burglary Wednesday in the 6000 block of Starling Drive, police said. Police responded to the area after receiving a report of shots fired. Upon arriving at the scene, officers found a man who they believe is in his 30s suffering from a gunshot wound. He was taken to a hospital and is expected to recover.
The man and woman were in a relationship in 2020, police said. The man faces charges after his release from the hospital, police said.
CNN Once Again Shows How Leftists Miss the Point on Gun Control
A CNN opinion columnist recently revealed she knows as much about the gun issue as Alec Baldwin does about gun safety (too soon?). Author Jennifer Tucker recently published a piece titled “Now that guns can kill hundreds in minutes, Supreme Court should rethink the rights question,” in which she argued that the types of firearms one could carry should be limited even further.
In the piece, Tucker referred to the “Theoretical Lethality Index” (TLI), which was developed by a U.S. Army colonel named Trevor Dupuy, who conducted a study in 1964 to examine the effectiveness of various weapons. The study produced a table in which various weapons are ranked by how many strikes can they can achieve in an hour. For instance, a mid-19th century rifle could strike 102 times while a World War II-era machine gun could strike 3,463 times, making it the more lethal weapon.
Tucker seems to indicate that certain guns like the AR15 have the potential to be exceedingly lethal firearms. She writes:
In the 20th century, bullets became smaller and lighter, enabling soldiers to carry more, while design changes increased the damage they caused upon entering the human body. Today, the highly popular civilian AR-15 is a vastly different and substantially more lethal machine than the flintlock muskets that were in use when the Founders crafted the Second Amendment.
The author continues, recalling the tragic Las Vegas shooting which occurred in 2017 when a gunman murdered 58 people and injured 850 others within a span of 10 minutes. “This would have been physically impossible for a single shooter to do in 1791,” she writes.
Then, she makes an argument typical of anti-gunners: The Founding Fathers did not anticipate the evolution of weapons. She argues:
If the Constitution had been written in the 1880s instead of the 1780s, the Framers would have been much more aware of the pace of innovation. The Founders lived in an era when they could be forgiven for thinking that “a gun is a gun is a gun,” because — as the TLI shows — the killing power of the basic flintlock hadn’t changed in the previous 150 or so years. Dramatic changes occurred, however, during and after the Civil War.
The author insists that “given the rapid technological change we’ve seen in firearms over the last century and a half, the notion that guns should be viewed equally across all times and places is logically flawed.”
She goes on to contend that “just as courts don’t regard the bleeding and purging of patients as the gold standards of health care … “common sense dictates that the law must take into account technological change in firearms.”
Her overall point can be summed up in this statement:
There is room for looking at the lethality of modern firearms when considering the constitutionality of gun regulation. The court implicitly acknowledged this in its Heller decision when it stated that machine gun bans were acceptable. It’s a difficult concession to explain unless the court is considering the modern capabilities of firearms outside of the historical scope of regulation.
The Supreme Court is set to adjudicate what could be a landmark case when it comes to gun rights. The judges will review New York Rifle & Pistol Association vs. Bruen, which is a case targeting New York’s gun licensing scheme. The plaintiffs allege that the state’s approach to deciding who is allowed to possess a license to carry a firearm violates the Second Amendment.
In her piece, Tucker argues:
Weapons designed with an ever-increasing capacity to kill large numbers of people in battle, with long barrels and large-capacity magazines, have no place in public spaces, supermarkets, and shopping malls — not on the grounds of a generic right to self-defense. When it takes up this new gun case, the Court should take technological innovation into account and acknowledge that guns are now exponentially more lethal than they were when the Constitution was written.
We’ve heard these arguments before, haven’t we?
One More Time™:
When the people who say its a crisis, start living their lives like it’s a real crisis, I’ll think about considering that it may be a crisis.
Joe Biden Forgets Mask, Coughs into His Hand, then Shakes Hands with Democrats
President Joe Biden again forgot to put his mask back on after a speech in New Jersey on Monday and even coughed into his hand before greeting Democrats with handshakes as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
The president arrived at his event wearing a mask but after removing it to speak, he walked away from the podium without it.
Coughing into his hand, Biden exited the stage without his mask and began shaking hands with several New Jersey Democrat officials before an aide rushed up to give him another mask.
All other New Jersey officials were wearing masks as they greeted the president.
Biden continues to promote mask wearing across the country, even though he frequently forgets to put his mask on after a speech.
Last week, Biden was caught exiting a Washington, DC. restaurant without a mask, even though the mayor continues to keeo a mask mandate in place.
The White House defended the president’s mistake as a “moment” that should not distract from his overall support for masks.
“We know masks work. They are uncomfortable sometimes, and they get tired of wearing them. I understand. I really do,” Biden said in September. “And I wear them in the White House.”
Yale Doctor: I’d Pull a Healthy Kid From School Before Giving Them the COVID Vaccine
Dr. Risch from Yale says if they mandate the vaccine for his children he would pull them out of school and homeschool them. He would only recommend the vaccine to children if they have some kind of chronic illness. pic.twitter.com/eUNMVHJ02a
— The Dirty Truth (Josh) (@AKA_RealDirty) October 25, 2021
Last week the Biden White House rolled out a plan, ahead of FDA authorization, to administer the Wuhan coronavirus vaccine to children ages 5-11. The administration is moving forward despite the disease being low risk to children.
“In anticipation of the FDA’s independent advisory committee meeting on October 26 and the CDC’s independent advisory committee meeting on November 2-3, today the Biden Administration is announcing a plan to ensure that, if a vaccine is authorized for children ages 5-11, it is quickly distributed and made conveniently and equitably available to families across the country,” the White House released in a “fact sheet.” “The start of a vaccination program for children ages 5-11 will depend on the independent FDA and CDC process and timeline, but our planning efforts mean that we will be ready to begin getting shots in arms in the days following a final CDC recommendation.”
California’s Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom also prematurely mandated the vaccine for admission to public schools.
But during an interview over the weekend with Fox News, Yale epidemiologist Dr. Harvey Risch explained why he’d rather pull a healthy child from school than give them the vaccine.
“If the child has chronic conditions that make their risk appreciable, then there’s reason they should be considered for vaccination. Other than that if it were my child, I would homeschool them. Honestly, I would organize with other parents to take them out of the school and create homeschooling environments,” Risch said. “On the average the benefit is higher for homeschooling than it is for vaccination and being in school.”
Meanwhile the CDC and U.S. Surgeon General are insisting that even after children are vaccinated, they must wear a mask while in school.
Do tell……………
New study finds little effect from Massachusetts gun control measures on violent crimes
A new study from American University found that the tightened gun-control measures that went into effect in Massachusetts six years ago had little effect on the violent crime rate in the state, raising questions about enforcement of these laws.
“Gun violence remains at the forefront of the public policy debate when it comes to enacting new or strengthening existing gun legislation in the United States,” said Janice Iwama, assistant professor of justice, law, and criminology at AU, who conducted the study. “Yet the political polarization and relatively limited scholarly research on guns and gun violence make it difficult for policymakers and practitioners to enact and implement legislation that addresses the public health and safety issues associated with gun violence.”
The study, published in Justice Quarterly, used modeling and FBI data from 2006 to 2016 to examine the impact of the 2015 gun law on crimes including murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.
The law, enacted in the wake of the Sandy Hook, Conn., school shooting by former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, paved the way for the creation of a web portal for gun dealers to check the validity of a firearm license and track sales and transfers of firearms. It also tightened requirements for background checks on the sale of firearms and licensing procedures.
Iwama, who authored the study, noted that the entire country, including the Bay State, experienced a drop in crime since the 1990s. Still, Massachusetts had 287,000 violent crimes from 2006 to 2016, including “198,402 aggravated assaults, 70,361 robberies, 19,107 rapes, and 1,698 instances of murder or non-negligent man-slaughter.”
About 1% to 5% of adult residents in each Massachusetts county have a firearms license.
She found that a one percentage point rise in denied licenses and denied licenses due to unsuitability increased robberies by 7.3% and 8.9%, respectively, after the new law took effect. For every other type of violent crime, including rape, murder and aggravated assault, she found no statistically significant change.
Iwama suggested the issue could be caused by uneven enforcement of the laws across counties, an overall lag in enforcement and/or because residents are obtaining firearms in neighboring states with looser gun laws. She recommended that policymakers revisit the legislation to ensure it’s being property applied and enforced.
The Brit MP got stabbied by a moslem jihadi import, but **Giffords** tries to use this BS article to push for more gun control over here.
**Not Giffords herself, her handlers. Anyone with one more functioning synapse one can listen to her speak for more than 5 words and can tell she’s nothing more than a cabbage head ChattyCathy pull the string doll, which makes the odds she can write such an article as this highly unlikely.
As the stabbing of Amess makes all too clear, the problem of politicized violence is endemic around the world. But in the United States, this problem is exacerbated by our tragically lax gun laws……………
State Senator Pat Stefano Introduces Legislation To Expand Pennsylvania’s Castle Doctrine Law
HARRISBURG (KDKA) – State Senator Pat Stefano (R-32) is pushing to expand Pennsylvania’s Castle Doctrine law.
HARRISBURG (KDKA) – State Senator Pat Stefano (R-32) is pushing to expand Pennsylvania’s Castle Doctrine law.
Castle Doctrine governs how far a person can go to defend their property.
Stefano introduced new legislation Thursday that would allow Pennsylvanians to use self-defense beyond their home to their property line.
“Forcing law-abiding Pennsylvanians to wait to defend their loved ones until a criminal enters their home could result in the unnecessary loss of innocent life – a tragedy made worse because it could have been prevented,” Sen. Stefano said. “The right to defend oneself should not be limited, as it is in the current weaker standard, based on whether individuals are inside their dwelling or on their property.”
Stefano said the expansion to the law would provide citizens with the ability to, “better protect themselves, their family, and their property.”
The president of Firearms Owners Against Violent Crime, Kim Stolfer, told KDKA the extension in self-defense protections is “absolutely essential.”
So many Americans have been holding out hope that maybe, possibly, Joe Biden might relent and build a border wall for the sake of national security. Well, the wait is over: He’s doing it!
DHS pays over $455k to build 'security fencing' around Biden's beach home https://t.co/vLfoMn8Zmc pic.twitter.com/fejk1KMcDI
— New York Post (@nypost) October 22, 2021
I’ve got a phone number for them to call – 800 CRY BABY
I’ve spent much of the past six months interviewing people across the United States in the leadup to the [New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen] case—part of research for a book I’m writing about the cultural and racial effects of U.S. gun laws. Although I uncovered a wide range of opinions, these interviews have given me a greater appreciation for the ways that high-level political games become grounded in the ostensibly “organic” political instincts of everyday Americans.
Among conservative white gun owners in the South and Midwest, I found there is often reflexive support for the idea that northern and urban gun-control laws should be overturned. This was true even for many interview subjects who had never been to the cities in question—and particularly so when I explained that the case centers around gun laws in New York. “New York—well that says it all right there,” a Tennessee Uber driver in his fifties told me. “Hell yes I would want to carry my guns in New York [should I ever go there],” said a Michigan real estate agent in her forties. For these and other conservative interviewees, gun laws in cities like New York represented symbolic northern affront to their notion of uninfringed liberties (“It’s my constitutional right to carry anywhere I want”)—and in places where they imagine they would need to defend themselves against threats from racial others (“I might get carjacked!”).
But I also found a surprising current of pro-gun sentiment among a not insignificant minority of people who identified as liberal and who lived in the very cities in question—especially among people under forty. “Criminals have guns, so why shouldn’t we?” a thirty-seven-year-old white woman art dealer in Brooklyn told me. “Why should police have all the guns?” asked a twenty-six-year-old Black male programmer from Manhattan. A thirty-three-year-old white woman realtor from Boston explained that “hopefully this will make it easier for my friends and me to take shooting classes.”
These types of replies reflect an almost perfect storm of factors that have hardened, enhanced, or shifted attitudes toward guns in 2020 and 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic ushered in near-apocalyptic levels of anxiety and mistrust. In the early months of the pandemic, guns and bullets flew of the shelves as quickly as Purell and toilet paper—spurred by then President Donald Trump’s alarmist rhetoric that urged supporters to “save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”
Gun sales then rose by over 300 percent in the aftermath of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed—both among protesters concerned about police violence and among white people with deep fears of racial protest. Not missing a beat, the NRA ramped up efforts to sell more guns to communities of color. When they stood on their St. Louis lawn waving guns at passing protesters, Mark and Patricia McCloskey became the clown-car villains of the left—but heroes of the castle-doctrine right. All the while, gun manufacturers retained unprecedented immunity from lawsuits, and (thanks to the Trump administration) expressly pro-gun justices [presided] over ever-more courthouses across the country—including the Supreme Court.
Evidence suggests that even people from groups that have historically been the strongest supporters of gun control began packing heat as a result of these cultural shifts. Ranks of liberal and Democrat gun owners grew exponentially in 2020 and 2021. Washington Post columnist Karen Attiah describes the “allure” of guns and gun groups for Black women “feeling a need to protect ourselves in an anti-Black and misogynistic society.” Armed Black self-defense—the very thought of which was once a rationale for white anxiety, Black oppression, and stricter gun control—has witnessed a revival as a viable movement of people who are “Black and up in arms.”
The confluence of these factors has led even many supporters of gun regulation to question its utility or, worse, to despair that gun control is a “lost cause.” “What are we even doing? America feels like it’s moved on from this issue,” a GVP organizer and activist in Nashville told me, even as shootings and deaths spiked in the city.
— Jonathan M. Metzl in The Supreme Court Is Poised to Put Politics Ahead of Gun-Violence Prevention
Comment O’ The Day
I am a physician. The Hippocratic oath is not a law.
However, HIPAA is, and requires at a minimum a medical screening exam, and whatever medical stabilization of an existing condition is required.
Also, stealing a phone like that is a misdemeanor, and assaulting mom is potentially a felony.
This is getting out of hand. At some point, when a child/spouse/elderly parent is denied care, I can see a family member deciding that who made that idiotic decision pays for it more dearly than they can possibly imagine.
Covid Unvaxxed Teen Boy Denied Medical Treatment
A teen boy in Indiana was refused treatment for multiple infections because he was not vaccinated against Covid 19. In the video made by the teen’s mother, it’s not just the denial of treatment but the borderline violent behavior of a medical personnel that is shocking.
Let us stipulate that states mandate vaccines for students attending government schools. Measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and tetanus vaccine requirements are a good thing, in my opinion. There should also be exceptions, even with those vaccines. The death rate, before vaccines, for measles was quite high. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC):
In 1912, measles became a nationally notifiable disease in the United States, requiring U.S. healthcare providers and laboratories to report all diagnosed cases. In the first decade of reporting, an average of 6,000 measles-related deaths were reported each year.
In the decade before 1963 when a vaccine became available, nearly all children got measles by the time they were 15 years of age. It is estimated 3 to 4 million people in the United States were infected each year. Also each year, among reported cases, an estimated 400 to 500 people died, 48,000 were hospitalized, and 1,000 suffered encephalitis (swelling of the brain) from measles.
On the other hand, the death rate from Covid for teens 15-19 is .00049, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. When one takes into account the lack of reliable data regarding long term effects of the mRNA jabs, we could understand parents who thought 100 or more times before jabbing their teens. There is also the fear of myocarditis:
Federal health officials have verified 226 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis in people ages 30 and younger who have received an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine and are investigating about 250 more reports.
While rare, the rates for ages 16-24 following a second dose are above what is expected, prompting an emergency meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) next week.
Teens and children are not good spreaders of the Covid. The have a very, very low death rate. So, parents could be forgiven for casting a gimlet eye at a vaccine that could put their teen out of commission for three to six months and whose long term effects have not begun to be studied.
When our children are sick, mothers (fathers, too) turn into vicious beasts with killing claws. Don’t get in our way, because we will cut you. You may not even know when we will take our revenge on you or how. Case in point is the Indiana teen boy who was denied treatment for multiple infections. I got this story from Defiant America.
The mother, in this case, brings her teen boy in to be checked because he is not feeling well. The young man looks athletic. What we don’t see before the mother starts filming is that the Nurse Practitioner has already diagnosed the teen with sinusitis, an ear infection and bronchitis. Then, because the teen has not been vaccinated for Covid, the Nurse Practitioner refuses to prescribe antibiotics. That is when the mother starts filming. This is short. Don’t miss a second:
Cray cray. Give the kid some antibiotics for goodness sake.
Nurse “Karen” at RediMed in Fort Wayne grabs the mom’s phone.Wake up people. Not about healthcare.
Has anyone told this her what’s coming? pic.twitter.com/zh1FhByGKU— Michele Sipe (@RetailBroker412) October 22, 2021
Now go back and watch that again.
Having had a teenage son, I know that my son would be saying, “Mom, Mom”, too. I feel for the kid. But that Nurse Practitioner is one sick twisted Nurse Practitioner Karen Ratched. How inhuman can one person be? Don’t answer that. I know. The hatefilled Leftists have been “othering” the unvaccinated for months. This is the logical outcome of this othering. This woman has already diagnosed the young man. She is refusing to prescribe antibiotics. That is some sick shite.
Let’s watch it one more time:
When NP Ratched tried to grab the Mom’s phone, I gasped. That’s some crust. Power drunk Ratched there. I understand why the mother didn’t bite off Ratched’s hand, her son’s prescriptions were more important. Yes, Ratched go call security.
In case you are interested, this power mad woman works at the RediMed in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
We used to believe in our medical professionals. We used to have faith in them. We believed their Hippocratic Oath. Everything has been politicized.
Nurse Practitioner Ratched let down her patient and her profession. Her license should be cancelled.
UC Berkeley Students Happily Pledge Money to Help the Taliban Kill Americans Inside the U.S
Anyone who may still be skeptical about the assertion that today’s college students are taught to hate America should take three minutes to watch this video from filmmaker Ami Horowitz, in which he asks students at the University of California, Berkeley to pledge money to the Taliban so that the jihad terror group can strike inside the United States and kill Americans.
“We’re trying to raise money for the Taliban,” Horowitz tells student passersby, and as if that wasn’t hard enough in itself to believe, he piles on more absurdities: “Tax deductible. I mean, if you earn money in Afghanistan, so that’s probably less helpful to you guys.” Horowitz explains to one man: “We’re Taliban 2.0. We’re kinder, gentler. Not really, but okay. You know, it’s our, it’s the way, it’s the way we roll.”
Those who stand there and take all that seriously get even more: “We want to be able to train our fighters to fight back against American interests. There’s a lot of weapons that were left there, we need money to train them how to use it against American forces.” It gets even worse: “We want to train our fighters to strike back against American interests around the world and in the homeland.”
Horowitz knows just what to say to move woke Berkeley students to open their wallets: “Before America got there, we used it as a base to strike against America. We want to do that again….We got to fight back, you know? And America’s destroying the world, and we want to secure it for striking against the American homeland.” He tells another student: “So we want to be able to create a bulwark against America in Afghanistan, to fund and help its enemies around the world strike back against American interests, both abroad and in the homeland.” And: “Basically we want to create a safe space for enemies of the United States….9/11 was a lesson, but this is, they didn’t learn their lesson from 9/11. We want them to do that again like we did it in 2001.”
The pitch couldn’t have been clearer that the money was going to go for jihad massacres on American soil. Horowitz tells a student that he wants to “create a safe haven for America’s enemies.” To another avidly listening young woman, he says, “We want to strike the US both abroad and in the homeland, to teach them a lesson. Life means nothing to them, and America needs to be brought to heel.” The student replied: “Very true.”
Other students in the video respond enthusiastically as well. To one young woman, Horowitz says, “I don’t know if you know that much about American imperialism.” She responds, “Oh, yes, yeah.” Horowitz continues: “So you know how damaging the US is.” Her reply: “Definitely!”
One student hears Horowitz’s pitch and responds, “Okay, that sounds great!” Another tells him, “Appreciate what you’re doing here.” A third says, “What you’re talking about is really important and I agree with you fully.” One young man tells Horowitz, “I would work for you.” One student pledges $50; Horowitz gives him a hug and exclaims, “Do you know how many Taliban fighters we can train on that?”
Horowitz told the New York Post: “Every time I dream up an idea for a new video, I always have the same conversation with myself: ‘I’ve gone too far, this is too insane.’ There’s no way that people will accept the premise I’m going to present them with. I thought, ‘How can I go to a major American university and ask people to give me money for the Taliban, specifically to kill Americans? What universe do I have to be in to find American kids willing to give me money to kill Americans?’ But that’s exactly what we found….This is probably one of the only times where if someone punched me in the face, I’d be happy. Not a single person told me to go to hell or go f–k myself….The majority of people who stopped and talked to me decided they’d give me money for this — to fund the Taliban and specific use of proceeds to kill Americans, and strike back at America, and fund a new 9/11 on the US homeland.”
Even the cameraman, whom the Post describes as “a left-of-center San Franciscan,” was shocked, and asked Horowitz, “Am I being punked right now? Are these actors? I don’t understand what’s happening.”
I do. So do you. Every day at UC Berkeley, these students’ professors regale them with propaganda about how America is an evil agent of imperialism, colonialism, and racism, and that the Americans among them should regard their American nationality with shame. This relentless indoctrination bears the fruit it was intended to bear: a generation of Americans who not only wouldn’t fight to defend this country but would cheerfully aid in its destruction. That fruit is what this video shows us.
From what little time I spent in Maryland, I wouldn’t want to be a part of the state either.
Justice to call special session for three Maryland counties to join West Virginia
After five Maryland lawmakers from three western Maryland counties announced that they want to secede from their state to join West Virginia, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has begun planning a special session to try to make it happen.
The lawmakers represent three counties that border West Virginia – Allegany, Garrett and Washington. Allegany and Garret are the two counties within the narrow strip of northwestern Maryland that extends between Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Part of Washington is also in that strip of land.
This week, the lawmakers sent letters to West Virginia House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay and Senate President Craig Blair, R-Berkeley, requesting the state to add them as constituent counties of West Virginia. The letters said they believe the change would be beneficial to both states and requested to be advised on the next step.
All five lawmakers are Republicans in a state that is mostly Democratic. Former President Donald Trump received a majority of votes in all three counties in a state in which nearly two-thirds of the vote went for President Joe Biden. The counties are in a more rural and more conservative part of Maryland.
Justice, Hanshaw and Blair all expressed support for the change.
“Our state supports personal freedoms, we value the Second Amendment, and we love the rights of the unborn,” Justice said in a statement. “We love and embrace our energy industry. Moving to West Virginia means job opportunities like crazy and a chance to live in paradise. No matter where you’re from, we’d love to have you in West Virginia.”
There are more than 251,000 people who live in the three counties and if they joined West Virginia, two of the cities would be among the state’s 10 largest cities: Cumberland and Hagerstown.
Person shot on Ferrell Parkway in Virginia Beach, shooter stayed on scene
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Police are investigating a shooting that happened on Ferrell Parkway in Virginia Beach, near Indian Lakes Boulevard.
Dispatch first received word of shots fired in the 5000 block of Ferrell Parkway around 7:50 a.m. on Wednesday.
Unofficial scanner traffic announced: “Attention 425 Zone a gunshot wound 5048 Ferrell Parkway.”
When officers arrived on the scene, they located a man suffering from an apparent gunshot wound.
Following a preliminary investigation, officers determined the incident happened in a parking lot between a Wawa and a Harris Teeter. Neither store would comment, nor would Virginia Beach police except for a basic narrative on what happened.
Police say the suspect approached the victim and lunged at him with a knife. The victim, who possesses a concealed carry permit and was armed, shot the suspect.
Scanner traffic said after the shooting, the man put his gun in his truck.
The man who had the knife was transported to a local hospital for treatment.
Shooting update: Harris Teeter parking lot Farrell Parkway. Update from Police
“adult male (suspect) approached and lunged at another male (victim) with a knife. The victim, who possesses a concealed carry permit and was armed, shot the suspect.” @AndyFoxWAVY— Andy Fox (@AndyFoxWAVY) October 20, 2021
School Board Refuses to Fire Employees Who Don’t Comply With Washington State Vaccine Mandate
In August, Inslee implemented what was then the strictest vaccine mandate for state workers in the US and provided no option for workers to submit frequent testing in place of the COVID-19 vaccine. Since then, Mayor Bill de Blasio in New York City has done the same. Inslee also announced a vaccine requirement for all employees, on-site contractors and on-site volunteers in K-12 schools.
Ronda Litzenberger said she made the motion “with a heavy heart.” After the motion was seconded, Litzenberger said during a brief discussion, “…just for public record, to know that we have done everything in our ability as a school board to try to accommodate, and hopefully offer multiple opportunities for these individuals to really work with them. That is my understanding as a school board director, and it’s my hope that that has been the experience of every individual on this list. And we’re very grateful for the service that they’ve given to Eatonville School District.”
Grain complex worker stops active shooter using shotgun stored in office
A man fired from a south central Nebraska grain complex Thursday returned to the facility and started shooting at his former colleagues killing two, and injuring another according to the Nebraska State Patrol.
The gunman, identified as Max Hoskinson, 61, was shot and killed by another employee of the Agrex facility in Superior, Nebraska.
The Nebraska State Patrol was called to assist the Nuckolls County Sheriff’s Office and Superior Police Department with a response to an active shooter incident at the Agrex Elevator in Superior at 2:00 p.m. Thursday.
They found one person dead, Hoskinson and another person gravely wounded and a third person with a minor injury. Hoskinson later died at the hospital in Superior.
According to investigators, Hoskinson returned to Agrex shortly before 2:00 p.m. and opened fire with a handgun. He was stopped by someone who used a shotgun stored in the Agrex office to shoot the gunman.
The victim seriously wounded was taken to Bryan Health West Campus in Lincoln by helicopter with life-threatening injuries. NSP says the victim has since passed away.
The third victim has been treated and released from the hospital in Superior.
Names of the victims had not been released Thursday evening.
“The news of the attack on Agrex Elevator in Superior is shocking and devastating. Susanne and I are praying for the victims of the attack, said Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts in a statement.
The Nebraska State Patrol is leading the investigation with assistance from the Nuckolls County Sheriff’s Office, Superior Police Department and Nuckolls County Attorney’s Office.
Intended victim foils robbery by pulling gun, firing at suspect in Spotsylvania
A Spotsylvania man was arrested after he was shot at by another man he is accused of trying to rob at an ATM in the county, authorities said.
Sheriff’s Maj. Troy Skebo said the victim was at the Bank of America ATM in the 10300 block of Courthouse Road at 9 p.m. Friday holding his cash in his hand when the suspect approached in a “threatening” manner. He then hit the victim several times, Skebo said.
The victim, a concealed weapon permit holder, responded by drawing his firearm and firing several shots at the suspect, Skebo said.
The suspect, who was not hit, ran across Courthouse Road in the direction of Mill Garden South subdivision. Deputies were already responding to the reported robbery attempt when the suspect called 911 and reported being shot at while at the ATM.
After determining that the 911 caller matched the description of the suspect at the ATM, the man was taken into custody in the area of Hamway Drive, Skebo said.
Trey Khiry Turner, 24, was charged with attempted robbery and placed in the Rappahannock Regional Jail under no bond.
Skebo said the robbery victim suffered minor injuries during the incident. Turner was not injured.
Court records show that Turner was previously convicted of attempted robbery and using a firearm in the commission of a felony as the result of a July 10, 2016, incident in Spotsylvania. He was ordered to serve three years in prison as the result of those convictions.
Observation O’ The Day
“Alec Baldwin has now killed more innocent people than Kyle Rittenhouse.”