Philly filmmaker dies 'suddenly in his sleep' at age 45 on Thanksgiving; Frank Tartaglia had been in 'good health,' family says



Frank Tartaglia, a filmmaker and beloved fixture in the south Philadelphia arts scene, died suddenly last week, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Here's how writer Mike Newall described Tartaglia's passing:

On Thanksgiving Day, just weeks after his first major film headlined the Philadelphia Festival to positive reviews, Frank Tartaglia died suddenly in his sleep at his family home in South Philadelphia. He was 45. The family said they did not yet know the cause of death. Family members said they were shocked — and that he had been in good health and excited about the success of his film.

Who was Tartaglia?

Tartaglia was described as a "writer, filmmaker, comedian, painter, singer, and arts enthusiast, who first found show business success as a childhood performer," the Inquirer said, adding that he was "celebrated as much for his endless originality, sweet nature, and outgoing personality as for his openness about the struggles of living a creative life, and his unflagging encouragement for those who chose the same path."

Tartaglia's brother Joseph died in 2013 at the age of 44 after a six-month bout with an aggressive form of brain cancer, the paper added.

“That spirit, that energy, the color they brought to the entire neighborhood — it’s irreplaceable,” Peter Pelullo, co-owner of Connie's Ric Rac club with the Tartaglia brothers, told the Inquirer. “There is never going to be another Frankie — his whole spirit was creative.”

The Ric Rac — a storefront near Ninth and Washington that the Tartaglia brothers' dad gave them in 2006 — became a gathering spot for local artists but closed permanently during the pandemic in 2021, the paper said.

“It really did become a sort of public living room on Ninth Street for artists,” improv comedian PK Kelly recalled to the Inquirer. “If there was a crack in the door, I would pop in to find something special happening behind the doors.”

By age 11, Frank Tartaglia got into an HBO kids' comedian contest; at 15, he and a friend won the $10,000 grand prize on "America’s Funniest People"; and soon he was writing — still in his teens — for MTV comedy show "Squirt TV," the paper said.

He also fronted a rock band, the Discount Heroes, the Inquirer noted. Here's a clip of Tartaglia (left) singing with cofounder of the group Robert Ogus in 2011:

The Original Discount Heroes "Where Did You Go" December 2011 youtu.be

“He was endlessly fascinating, a Dickens character straight out of South Philly, full of droll self-awareness and a never-ending knack for helping to amplify the creative spark of hundreds of dreamers who wandered in and out of Connie’s Ric Rac over the years,” James Doolittle, a Philadelphia producer and longtime friend, told the paper.

Tartaglia also worked on numerous film projects over the years, and the Inquirer noted that his first major film, the recently released crime drama "Not for Nothing" — based in south Philly and starring actor Mark Webber — was praised by critics as a “gripping tale.”

Here's a behind-the-scenes vignette about creating "Not for Nothing," in which Tartaglia and others offer commentary. (Content warning: language):

Not For Nothing - BTS Pt. 3: Filmmaking in a Pandemic youtu.be

“It hadn’t happened yet, but he was going to be huge,” Pelullo added to the paper.

Tartaglia's family will greet relatives and friends Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Burial Company funeral home at 1327 Broad St., the Inquirer noted. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. at Casa Mexico at 1132 S. South 9th St., the paper said. The interment is private, the Inquirer said, and in lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Tartaglia's memory to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN, 38105.

Horowitz: 4.9 million reasons we no longer need a federal government



With the federal government not only failing to do its job but being complicit in the war on national sovereignty, why then should we suffer the internal tyranny it is imposing upon us? At this point, isn’t the federal government all pain and no gain?

Our founders never envisioned the federal government would have so many policing entities with the technology, resources, and manpower it has today. Because the police power was left to the states, Madison actually feared the states would be the more likely culprit in usurpations than the federal government, which is why he originally wanted to give Congress veto power over state legislatures. Now, we not only have the DHS, FBI, ATF, and DEA, which are larger than the standing army the founders envisioned, but even the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Labor, and Department of Education have tactical response teams.

According to a 2015 CRS report, out of the (only) 13 agencies that responded to their questionnaire, there were a total of 271 federal tactical teams across the different offices and departments. There are now 200,000 federal employees (outside the Department of Defense) with firearms along with their badges, larger than the size of the U.S. Marines.

Almost none of it is used upon enemies of the country and to protect our liberties. It is all used to monitor, record, surveil, and now apprehend political dissidents. Thus, if we have given up our freedom to such a behemoth, what have we gotten in return?

At its core, the most important job of the federal government is to protect us against external enemies. That begins at our border. There have now been a total of 4.9 million known border incursions since Biden took office, nearly the population of Ireland. These comprise roughly 3.9 million apprehensions and close to a million gotaways (which is probably lowballing it). Our government has not only abrogated its most important responsibility to the states – protecting against invasion – but it has been complicit in the smuggling and criminal conspiracy that has brought over sex trafficking, drugs, and dangerous criminals.

Our founders didn’t fear this degree of federal government not only because it was not supposed to have all these federal police agencies, statutes, and executive authority over every aspect of our lives (including breathing without masks!), but because it was supposed to be busy working on external affairs. In one of the most important descriptions of the federalist arrangement, Madison laid out the design in Federalist #45 as follows:

The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negociation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.

The operations of the Federal Government will be most extensive and important in times of war and danger; those of the State Governments, in times of peace and security. As the former periods will probably bear a small proportion to the latter, the State Governments will here enjoy another advantage over the Federal Government.

So why did he not fear federal tyranny so long as his design was followed?

The more adequate indeed the federal powers may be rendered to the national defence, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger which might favour their ascendency over the governments of the particular States.

Well, given that we now have record numbers of DHS and DOJ law enforcement agents with zero regard for protecting our national border, they have all the resources imaginable to focus on you and me.

Perhaps we need the federal government for the military, you might say. Really? A woke and broke military that only exists for critical race theory, transgenderism, and nation-building for every other border but our own? Again, once a federal force is no longer used for its proper purpose, it can only serve as a menace to our liberties in the long run.

So now that we have uniform weights, measures, and currency, why exactly do we need a federal government to abrogate its core defense responsibilities just to prevent the states from securing the border? All other activities were supposed to be done by the states. Founder Tench Coxe, a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress, listed in a 1788 essay the following as off-limits to the federal government:

They cannot interfere with the opening of rivers and canals; the making or regulation of roads, except post roads; building bridges; erecting ferries; establishment of state seminaries of learning; libraries; literary, religious, trading or manufacturing societies; erecting or regulating the police of cities, towns or boroughs; creating new state offices; building light houses, public wharves, county gaols, markets, or other public buildings; making sale of state lands, and other state property; receiving or appropriating the incomes of state buildings and property; executing the state laws; altering the criminal law; nor can they do any other matter or thing appertaining to the internal affairs of any state, whether legislative, executive or judicial, civil or ecclesiastical.

Rather than just railing against the FBI and making this all about Trump, conservatives must compel a broader discussion in red-state legislatures and among the governors about how we return to this original design. They need to cut off the spigot of federal funding for all of the aforementioned functions, along with its accompanying officious litany of regulations, and with it, the police power to capriciously enforce nebulous (or even phantom) laws against political opponents.

Contrary to Mike Pence’s sentiments, dismantling these agencies is not akin to abolishing the police. Our founders envisioned state and local police and a national military – not dozens of national police forces larger than a military. Police power is the bluntest instrument of government, and it needs the scrutiny of local politics inherent in elections for sheriff, mayor, and county legislative and executive positions. When Madison warned during the Constitutional Convention, “A standing military force, with an overgrown Executive will not long be safe companions to liberty,” he certainly never envisioned this degree of an executive branch with this number of paramilitary organizations.

The purpose of forming a federal union was to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity” for things that states were inherently incapable of doing. Yet what we have today is a government that engages in the antithesis of justice by fanning and fomenting true violence and framing its opponents, gutting our military, empowering the cartels to control our border, and creating monopolies for transhumanist World Economic Forum types at the expense of the general welfare and liberties of the people.

Rather than protecting the ideals spelled out in the preamble of the Constitution, the federal government abrogates every one of them and prevents others from upholding them. Nowhere is this more evident than at the border. If you simply abolished the federal government, then the states could have a fighting chance to secure the border. Yet now, Fox’s Bill Melugin is reporting that while the Texas Guardsmen close the gates to illegal aliens, Border Patrol comes and opens them!

\u201cThis was the moment Border Patrol arrived with the key and let the migrants in. The landowner allows both TX DPS/National Guard and Border Patrol to work here. The gate has always been left open in the past. TX is now closing it, & migrants have to wait for BP to be let in.\u201d
— Bill Melugin (@Bill Melugin) 1660758167

Which leads us back to the original question: At this juncture in time, if our desideratum as a civilization is justice, tranquility, the common defense, general welfare, and securing the blessings of liberty, why even have a federal government? I can sure think of a lot of revolting activities of the federal government we can live without. Now, can you think of one we must live with?

Horowitz: Most important outcome of Dobbs decision? Making state legislatures great again



It’s the body of government closest to the people, yet it’s the most forgotten, overshadowed, and weakened body in recent years. However, with the Dobbs opinion returning the power to regulate abortions to state legislatures, we now have the opportunity to focus our attention on legislative elections, sessions, and policies and settle our acerbic cultural and legal differences in the most prudent and democratic process.

We are an irrevocably divided nation, and it will only get worse over time. We can’t agree on the definition of a marriage, a woman, a citizen, a criminal, a fundamental right, or the purpose of our existence, much less the purpose of our government. We can either continue forging ahead with a winner-take-all approach to politics and have the federal executive bureaucracy – the least accountable and transparent branch of government and most distant from the people – decide every important political question. Or we settle those debates in state legislatures – the branch closest to the people where most members are elected every two years.

Whether you abhor abortion as murder or think it’s the greatest sacrament of virtue, the reality is that red states are going to ban abortions (many already have) and the blue states are going to obsessively expand access to them. Unlike the seven justices who initially banned all regulation of abortion in 1973, all those legislators in each state will be subject to removal every two or four years. For the most part, the legislators will vote in a way that reflects the values of the majority in their areas. This is the self-sorting process we’ve always needed. This dynamic needs to expand to every other important issue of our time. It’s not a perfect process, but it’s much better than where we are today, and it will allow us to live side by side harmoniously in a de facto amicable separation, albeit with shared custody over certain issues that are national in scope.

In the coming months, conservatives will be trained by their favorite Fox News media figures to obsess about the potential of a RINO takeover of Congress and the coming presidential election, even though the latter won’t even be relevant, policy-wise, until 2025. But the reality is that Republicans control trifecta supermajorities in a number of states today and will only expand that dominance next year. Come January, they have the ability to make those states de facto sanctuaries for our rights and values – if only we focus our pressure on elected state Republicans and educate them concerning the enormity of their power. It’s time to use it.

In his national design for governance, Madison explained the state vs. federal arrangement in Federalist #45 as follows: “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will for the most part be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects, which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties and properties of the people; and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.”

Think about issues like COVID fascism and transgenderism. Internal order, liberties, and property, etc. – this can all be rectified at a state level. Anything outside war and foreign commerce is fair game. This is where conservatives failed to act during the lockdowns and COVID fascism. They should have activated the legislatures immediately and forced debate for the states to immediately reject the federal policies. It’s still not too late to change course.

In responding to the Biden administration’s immoral and illegal policies and edicts over the next two and a half years, conservatives should have a one-track mind and be singularly focused on how they can pressure their legislatures to interpose against the federal tyranny. Conservatives have long been distracted away from a state legislative focus, but perhaps the Democrats will teach them how it’s done. Believe me, the blue states will immediately take action and juice up funding for abortion while expanding its legal scope – perhaps even to after the birth of the baby.

Likewise, most GOP legislatures and attorneys general seem to have acted swiftly to immediately ban abortion at the first opportunity. But we now need to see this swiftness on other issues as well. For example, Biden’s Department of Education just promulgated a rule putting any school or university on the hook for sexual harassment if they don’t call men who think they are women by female pronouns. This is the sort of illegal federal regulation that states must immediately stop. Legislatures should instantly convene and block its implementation within their states.

The big problem we have in legislatures, though, is that so many of them are only in session for a few months a year. In states like Texas, they are only in session every other year. This means that, for example with COVID, when you have federal and state executive branches suspending the republic, we often have to wait months or years for legislatures to act. It was OK to have a part-time legislature when we had a part-time executive branch and the legislature was the only organ of government that legislated. However, now that the federal and state departments of health and education legislate 365 days a year without any checks or balances, the concept of a part-time legislature actually harms us.

As such, conservatives must begin pushing reforms to make it easier to call legislatures back into session, and it should not be tied to the whims of the governors. We don’t need state legislatures voting on bills all year, but we must reserve the prerogative to get them back into session at a moment’s notice to interpose against tyranny.

For years, Republicans have accumulated a ton of power in many states, have done nothing with it, and have failed to clean up their own cultural Marxist swamps within state-run agencies. Abortion was the only red line conservative voters established and held their elected representatives to. It succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Now it’s time we harness that energy for issues like medical freedom, Pfizer liability, transgenderism, illegal immigration, crime, First Amendment protections, and interposition against the tyrannical Biden administration. What the Dobbs victory has clearly shown is that we will only enjoy the rights and policies commensurate with our desire to fight for them.

Trump on Afghanistan: 'It's like the captain of a ship jumping the ship before the people are off the boat'



Former President Donald Trump joined BlazeTV's "Rick and Bubba" morning show Friday and hit the Biden administration hard on the tragic military exit from Afghanistan.

Rick kicked off the interview with a most pressing question: Will Trump run for president in 2024, or will he be a rally man behind the scenes?

"Maybe both," Trump responded, adding, "because of the campaign laws, you aren't allowed to say [if you plan on running] but, I think a lot of people are going to be very happy."

"What was your plan for [the U.S.] leaving Afghanistan?" Rick asked.

"Our plan was going to be very simple: We get the civilians out, and we get others out that need to be gotten out," Trump replied. "We get our billions of dollars of equipment out. ... We don't leave it to these people [the Taliban] knowing that they are probably going to be taking over as soon as we stop fighting. Then we bomb the hell out of our military bases. Then, last but not least, comes out our military, and everything is done."

Trump went on to say that his plan was seamless and simple and that "a first-grade student knows you have to get civilians out first." Trump added that the Biden administration displayed "gross incompetence."

"It's like the captain of a ship jumping the ship before the people are off the boat ... that is what we did. It's crazy," Trump said.

Later, Trump explained how he would clean up the mess in Afghanistan if asked? He recalled a phone conversation with a Taliban leader.

"I said, 'Look, here's the story, if you do anything to hurt Americans, anything that is out of line, we're going to hit your town, and we're going to hit harder than anybody has ever been hit before.," Trump said.

Trump offered his thoughts about why Twitter banned him from using their platform while still allowing the Taliban access to the Twitter community.

"These [Twitter] are radical Left maniacs ... it's not only them. It's Facebook, and it's Google. That whole group is all the same. They work together," Trump replied.

Watch the video for the full interview. Can't watch? Download the podcast here.


Want more from Rick and Bubba?

Subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution and live the American dream.

Minnesota National Guard soldiers injured in drive-by shooting attack in Minneapolis



A Minnesota National Guard neighborhood security team says it was attacked early Sunday morning. Two guard members were injured from a drive-by shooting in Minneapolis, according to the Minnesota National Guard.

A neighborhood security team comprised of Minnesota National Guardsmen and Minneapolis Police Department officers were reportedly fired on around 4:19 a.m. on Sunday near Penn Avenue and Broadway Avenue in Minneapolis.

"A light-colored SUV fired several shots" at a security team involved with Operation Safety Net, a "joint effort among the Minneapolis Police Department, Hennepin County Sheriff's Office, the State of Minnesota and local jurisdictions" to "ensure the safety of the public during the trial of Derek Chauvin; committed to protecting people, property, and freedom of speech."

Two Minnesota National Guard members sustained minor injuries from the attack.

"One Guardsman sustained an injury from shattered glass requiring additional care and was taken to a local hospital to receive treatment," the Minnesota National Guard reported. "The other Guardsman received only superficial injuries."

"I am relieved to know none of our Guardsmen were seriously injured," Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke, the Adjutant General of the Minnesota National Guard, said. "This event highlights the volatility and tension in our communities right now. I ask for peace as we work through this difficult time."

In a separate incident, video posted by Alpha News shows a man verbally harassing Minnesota National Guard members in Minneapolis on Saturday.

(Content Warning: Explicit language):

Minnesota National Guard harassed in Minneapolis (explicit language): https://t.co/m3klF86Kf1
— Alpha News (@Alpha News)1618700824.0

The Minnesota National Guard will attempt to provide security during the trial of Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis Police Department officer who was involved in the arrest of George Floyd, who died in police custody last May. Chauvin has been charged with second and third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Floyd. The trial is expected to reach a conclusion this week, and many expect widespread violence and riots in Minneapolis if Chauvin is not convicted.

The Minnesota National Guard attack happened hours after Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) told protesters "get more confrontational" if Chauvin is not found guilty of murder.

With the concern of violence because of the Chauvin trial verdict, Minneapolis Public Schools decided to not hold in-person learning from Wednesday to Friday, April 21 through 23.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) told WCCO-TV, "The verdict is going to be a pivotal point in our state's history, and how we respond to that is going to shape us."

Retired Army general tapped by Nancy Pelosi to review Capitol siege flagged over attacks on Republicans



Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré has been leading a review of security measures at the U.S. Capitol at the direction of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) following the Jan. 6 attack on the building by a mob of Trump supporters.

But recent inflammatory comments made by the 74-year-old retired Army general against Republicans are raising questions about whether he was the right pick for the job.

What are the details?

Fox News' Tucker Carlson alerted his viewers Wednesday night to a tweet Honoré made on Jan. 11, days after the siege, when he said of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), "This little peace of s**t with his @Yale law degree should be run out of DC and Disbarred ASAP," tagging Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), whom he dubbed "aaa hats," and adding, "these @Yale and @Harvard law grads is high order white privilege."

Content warning: Language

@tribelaw @MaxSchnauzer2 This little peace of shit with his @Yale law degree should be run out of DC and Disbarred… https://t.co/RRKchmXwN6
— Russel L. Honore' (@Russel L. Honore')1610460380.0

Hawley and Cruz led high-profile efforts on Jan. 6 to reject some Electoral College votes cast in favor of President Joe Biden, the same day Trump hosted a rally in Washington, D.C., in protest of the election results before the mob of activists stormed the Capitol.

Carlson also pointed out unfounded speculations Honoré made in the media in the days following the attack, such as his assumption that those in charge of security at the Capitol — including a high percentage of Capitol Police officers could have been "complicit" in the attack and whom he dubbed "Trumpers."

You may view Carlson's segment in its entirety below. His coverage of Honoré begins around the 16:30 mark:

Tucker Carlson Tonight 2/17/21 FULL | FOX BREAKING NEWS Feb 17 ,21www.youtube.com

Anything else?

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) also slammed the Honoré appointment Wednesday night, tweeting, "General Honoré is an extreme partisan and should be the LAST person to head up an investigation of what happened at the Capitol on Jan 6th."

General Honoré is an extreme partisan and should be the LAST person to head up an investigation of what happened at the Capitol on Jan 6th.
— Senator Ron Johnson (@Senator Ron Johnson)1613612348.0

Johnson pointed to a Fox News article from last July when Honoré told MSNBC that then-acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf needs "to be run out of Washington" due to what he called "bulls***" tactics used by federal agents to contain mobs in Portland, Oregon, amid unrest in the city.

Honoré also tried to get his Twitter followers to "stop buying" what he called the "s*** stocks" of companies that advertise with Sean Hannity, saying the Fox News host "speaks #Russian iNFO OPERATIONS TO SUCK UP TO #45."

Horowitz: Caravans of young men head toward our border, as military is dispatched … against the American people



We owe the Guatemalan government gratitude for caring about our border security more than our own government does. Guatemala's effort to halt the coming caravan invasion aimed at our border will give us at least a few weeks to ponder and plan for our future.

James Madison explained in Federalist #45 that the powers of the federal government are "few and defined," applied "principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce." He warned: "The more adequate, indeed, the federal powers may be rendered to the national defense, the less frequent will be those scenes of danger which might favor their ascendancy over the governments of the particular States."

Well, because we now have a government that not only fails to block external invasion but actively invites it, it is no surprise that that government is using the military domestically rather than to repel an invasion. In the same way, it is using a border wall around the Capitol to keep out Americans while opposing a wall to keep drug cartels and previously deported sex offenders from returning. In other words, per Madison's warning, a government that fails to protect our border controls our life, liberty, property, and free speech.

Even before the formation of the latest caravan, individual illegal aliens have been increasing their presence at our border. In December, Customs and Border Protection apprehended 73,513 individuals, the highest number in 17 months. The border flow for the first three months of this fiscal year is 69% greater than over the same period in FY 2020. The Biden/Harris welcome mat is not lost on the world.

A caravan formed in Honduras consisting of at least 6,000 individuals who appear to be mainly young males was stopped at the Guatemalan border on Sunday, thanks to a multi-layered security apparatus. There are reportedly still about 2,000 of them camped out near the border of Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala. In the long run, there is no way those countries have the ability to stave off the stampede of people coming for the promise of amnesty.

Google translate: "Thousands of migrants traveling to the United States moved through Guatemala on Saturday, as the… https://t.co/2i0BysOCgK
— Todd Bensman (@Todd Bensman)1610895206.0


Honduran migrant: President-elect Biden is "going to help all of us." https://t.co/LkrVCsXcSb
— The Hill (@The Hill)1610987328.0

They know that the only security our government cares about is building a wall and using the military against its own people. In August, Joe Biden promised, "There will not be another foot of wall constructed on my administration." Now with an East Berlin-style wall erected around the Capitol, perhaps we can see they were saving resources for a different type of wall. One Democrat Congressman even has a bill to direct the architect of the Capitol to build a permanent security fence around the entire complex.

Imagine if the wall and the military were deployed in full at our border as the caravans came up. Our border would look as quiet as D.C is this week. During the border crisis of 2018-19, when Trump deployed the military to the border, we heard endless cries of Trump violating posse comitatus. Even the Trump administration refused to use the military for anything beyond a humanitarian mission and for observation. Mexican soldiers even snuck up on our military on our own soil and jumped two of our soldiers because they weren't deployed for combat. A Marine was attacked in El Centro, California, in May while sitting unarmed in one of these blacked-out Mobile Surveillance Camera vehicles.

So even the Trump administration felt that somehow our military couldn't be used for the quintessential purpose of repelling an invasion on our soil. Yet now that 30,000 troops are being paraded all over D.C. with no violence in sight, we are to believe this doesn't run afoul of the law against using the military to enforce domestic laws.

In November 2019, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) accused Trump of "using the military as his own private militia" simply for securing our border against foreign invaders during the worst border crisis ever. Where is she now that Biden is holding a Stalin-style inauguration backed by more troops than are still in our last three war theaters combined? It sure looks like a private military junta to me.

Sadly, anything and everything is being justified under the guise of protecting Biden's inauguration, just like everything was justified to combat a virus. Which is perhaps why they won't justify using the military at the border, for that would block the entry of Biden's most prominent inaugural parade.

Horowitz: Constitutional sanctuary movement begins to grow



"Let us remember that if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom. It is a very serious consideration, which should deeply impress our minds, that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers in the event." ~Sam Adams, Oct. 14, 1771

All politics is local. That is a principle patriots will have to use and maximize to its fullest extent in the coming weeks. As the federal government and many state governments violate the Constitution with COVID fascism and, likely soon, by clamping down on protected political speech, local law enforcement and elected officials will have to step up to the plate and defend our constitutional rights.

Trump won 83% of the counties, in addition to roughly half the states. There is no reason why each one should not become a constitutional sanctuary. If the local sheriff, county commissioners, county executive, school board officials, and prosecutor are all in favor of declaring the county a sanctuary from civil liberties violations, then "there shall be left to mankind an asylum on earth, for civil and religious liberty," as Sam Adams predicted when embarking in the struggle for independence.

The constitutional sanctuary movement that started with the Second Amendment is gradually moving into COVID fascism and hopefully will be used to push back against any tyranny at the federal level in the coming months.

On Monday night, the Monument Board of Trustees declared Monument, Colorado, to be a sanctuary from restrictions on businesses. This small town in El Paso County voted 7-0 on "A resolution reasserting the rights of the Town of Monument and its residents and condemning the unconstitutional limitations imposed upon their freedoms by the governor of Colorado."

Specifically, the resolution announced the town will "not abide by any executive orders limiting attendance of and free speech at public meetings within the town." The trustees called upon each individual business owner to assess his own risk level and willingness to butt heads with the state government.

This is a good start, but county and town governments need to make it clear that they will unite and resist unconstitutional orders against state authorities. We must stop saying things are unconstitutional and then treat them as if they are constitutional. Either "life, liberty, and property" have meaning or not.

To that end, all of the officials in Bargara County, Michigan, a rural area in the Upper Peninsula, united in a letter declaring Governor Whitmer's orders unconstitutional. The letter, which was posted on County Sheriff Joe Brogan's Facebook page, noted how the people have not endured such tyranny since the settlement of this continent. "Our citizens' rights to assemble, to freely practice their religion, to travel, to keep their property, businesses, and jobs, even to dress as they please have all been swept aside, and to what end?" declared the letter, which was signed by the county commissioners, prosecutor, clerk, and treasurer.

The sheriff notes that every state and local official swears an oath to the Constitution. If these measures are not unconstitutional, especially after 10 months of utter failure to even move the needle on taming the spread of the virus, then that document quite clearly has no meaning. "We hereby put the state of Michigan on NOTICE that we have no intention of participating in the unconstitutional destruction of our citizens' economic security and Liberty," continued the letter. "We further declare our intention to take no action whatsoever in furtherance of this terribly misguided agenda."

Another Upper Peninsula county, Delta, passed a resolution supporting the right of businesses to open their establishments. There are a number of cities and counties across the country now considering these resolutions in addition to the nearly one-third of counties that have already declared themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. SanctuaryCounties.com is keeping track of these developments.

What ultimately needs to happen is that, pursuant to the doctrine of lesser magistrates, communities work together with all their local officials to actively defend – both legally and morally – business owners who are attacked by state or potentially federal officials. Republicans control 31 state legislatures. They have an obligation to pass sanctuary resolutions statewide. In many of those states they have supermajorities to override the veto of a Democrat or RINO governor.

Every county, state, and federal official swears an oath to uphold the Constitution — the same oath taken by federal judges — no more, no less. In justifying why federal courts should have concurrent (not exclusive, as some erroneously think) jurisdiction over constitutional interpretation instead of upholding even unconstitutional laws passed by the legislature, Justice John Marshall pointed to this very oath. "How immoral to impose it on them if they were to be used as the instruments, and the knowing instruments, for violating what they swear to support!" declared an indignant Marshall in his famous Marbury opinion.

In defense of judicial review, Marshall rhetorically asked, "Why does a judge swear to discharge his duties agreeably to the Constitution of the United States if that Constitution forms no rule for his government? If it is closed upon him and cannot be inspected by him?"

Well, as state officials swear the same oath and wield even more robust power directly affecting the lives of citizens than judges do, don't they have the same obligation to use their powers to counter illegal executive edicts that impose the most unconstitutional social changes imaginable? Changes to our law and society that violate the foundation of natural law and nature's God, to whom that oath is directed?

If California and New York were able to offer sanctuary to the most vile criminal aliens – and even criminalize the enforcement of duly passed immigration law – then most certainly red counties and states can and must be sanctuaries for American businessmen, schoolchildren, and the Bill of Rights from the clutches of evil and illegal executive power.

Trump speaks from Walter Reed as more updates indicate his health is improving: 'Substantial progress'



President Donald Trump addressed the nation in a four-minute video late Saturday, explaining that his health has improved since arriving at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

"I came here, I wasn't feeling so well. I feel much better now," Trump said. "We're working hard to get me back. I have to get all the way back because we still have to make America great again. We've done an awfully good job of that but we still have steps to go and I have to finish that job. I'll be back, I think, I'll be back soon."

"We're going to beat the coronavirus, or whatever you want to call it, and we're going to beat it soundly," he later added.

https://t.co/gvIPuYtTZG
— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)1601765518.0

Indeed, Sean Conley, D.O., the president's physician, released another update Saturday evening indicating Trump's health continues to progress as he battles coronavirus.

President Trump continues to do well, having made substantial progress since diagnosis. This evening he completed his second does of Remdesivir without complication. He remains fever-free and off supplemental oxygen with a saturation level between 96 and 98% all day.

He spent most of the afternoon conducting business, and has been up and moving about the medical suite without difficulty. While not yet out of the woods, the team remains cautiously optimistic.

The plan for tomorrow is to continue observation in between doses of Remdesivir, closely monitoring his clinical status while fully supporting his conduct of presidential duties.

In addition, the White House released two photos of Trump working while isolated inside the executive suite at Walter Reed.

The man never stops working! #45 President @realDonaldTrump https://t.co/WCUQBzgslN
— Judd Deere (@Judd Deere)1601780577.0
The guy’s a machine. @realDonaldTrump getting work in at Walter Reed. 🇺🇸 https://t.co/yX1eeUqt7h
— Ben Williamson (@Ben Williamson)1601780247.0

The positive update came after conflicting reports triggered a wave of confusion earlier in the day.

Just minutes after Conley had concluded a press conference updating the media on the president, an anonymous source told the White House media pool that Trump's health had been worse than what was being said publicly. "The president's vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning, and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care," the source said. "We're still not on a clear path to a full recovery."

White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was later identified as the anonymous source after he was captured on video and audio asking the media pool to talk off the record.

However, Meadows struck a much more hopeful tune Saturday evening.

Meadows told Fox News that Trump "is doing extremely well. In fact, I'm very, very optimistic based on the current result," the Washington Examiner reported.

"He's made unbelievable improvements from yesterday morning, when I know a number of us, the doctor and I, were very concerned," Meadows explained.