Category: Bob Small

Institute For Justice And Public Interest Law

By Bob Small

Yet another group we learned about at the Bill of Rights Banquet was The Institute for Justice which describes itself as “ a nonprofit, public interest law firm. Our mission is to end widespread abuses of government power and secure the constitutional rights that allow all Americans to pursue their dreams”

So far, they have won 10 of their 12 cases at the Supreme Court and “returned $21 million in wrongfully seized assets”, among other victories.

The Institute can be traced to 1992 Chip Mellor’s Enduring Legacy of Liberty as a civil law firm “to protect the constitutional rights of ordinary Americans”.

Cases in which it was involved included i The FBI wrongly raided this family’s home, which involved an Atlanta family by an FBI SWAT raid on the wrong Atlanta house and the subsequent refusal of the FBI to reimburse for expenses; an issue of “civil forfeiture” in which Nevada Court Shuts Down Police Use of Federal Loophole

The case meant “Law enforcement hadno business profiting from civil forfeiture,” said IJ Attorney Brian Morris. “ See also Court shuts down highway patrol’s civil asset forfeiture …

Source Watch, in their evaluation of IJ, Institute for Justice – SourceWatch mentions that PFAW (People for thr American Way) , a Progressive organization, has described IJ as a “one of the litigation groups that has “eagerly sought out potential court challenges in lower-income urban communities” and has loudly claimed “the mantle of supporters of education for the disadvantaged.” Whether Charles Koch, who provided seed money for IJ, would regard this favorably, is a moot point.

Influence watch has a similar article Institute for Justice – InfluenceWatch mentions their cases on free speech and qualified immunity etc.

In Pennsylvania, see Nazareth Man Sues Borough Over Law Criminalizing ‘For Sale’ 

To summarize, IJ may be claimed by both the Left and the Right depending on the case.

Maybe these Left/Right divisions are blurring. Any thoughts?

Institute For Justice And Public Interest Law

Activists Have 50 State Trump Protest

By Bob Small

In times of Protest

Musk rat Musk rat

DC’s middle-aged brat

So let’s say you were raised in a time when the belief that Trans Rights were just another component to be added to the hard-won GLB rights, that there was only one side to the wars in the Middle East, that the “guv mint” is the ultimate and only problem solver and we need ever-increasing amounts of it and-suddenly there’s a loud crash!

The 50/50 Movement is a nationwide “grassroots” anti-Trump movement.. They managed to hold 50 protests in 50 states, hence the title. They are working with Our Revolution: HOME, founded for the 2016 Presidential Campaign of Bernie Sanders. Didn’t Presidential Sanders have a nice ring to it Protests happened in Harrisburg and Philly though not in Swarthmore. Where were our Democrats?!

See also Where in Pennsylvania is 50501 movement happening?

Amazingly, not everyone believes in the legitimacy of this movement, understanding that it went from a “grassroots organization to a progressive Democratic organization (see above).

Note:This followed A Day Without Immigrants. To be clear, the Day without Immigrants happened under the Biden./Harris inner interregnum.

There were some injuries during these fifty/fifty events, though none in Philly including one 17-year-old boy who was stabbed. There have not been any updates on his condition, though one witness claimed “the stabbing was unexpected”.

The website is New Subreddit for the 50501 Movement here in Pittsburgh and the Instagram address is We the American People (@50501movement) Many of my generation have stopped at Facebook. Then again, as someone reminded me, this group is more youth-oriented.

Some of the rally participants/slogans were interesting as per 50501. For instance Wisconsin’s 50/50 day included the John Brown Gun Club , Californians had signs “F Elan and the Felon”.Oregonincluded The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an Ohioan had a sign “Jesus was a refugee”?!,

Let’s leave the last words (partial quote) to Stuart Adams the GOP President of the Utah Senate . We think it’s worth reading   “ I think we need to give him some time to see the results of his action. I think to actually criticize something before the policies actually have a chance to have the effect that they’re trying to achieve, I think is probably premature”.[107]

Activists Have 50 State Trump Protest

Considering The Tenth Amendment

By Bob Small

What does the Tenth Amendment mean?

Constitutional Scholars, of which I am not one, can have discussions about various aspects of the Constitution including the Tenth Amendment. To Quote “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

This led Michael Boldin to start theTenth Amendment Center as we learned about while at The Bill of Rights Banquet. TAC (Tenth Amendment Center) lists various articles but one of the most important,

in our eyes, is the nullification article.

The principles of nullification were first formalized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison “in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798.  “This actually was a pre-revolutionary idea;

Congress used nullification as a way to force the UK Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.

There is further discussion under the Nullification section.

See also A Founding Father in Dissent.

Most recently Maryland Defend the Guard Act Would Set Foundation to …

There is a movement to prevent “the governor from releasing any unit or member into ”active duty combat” unless an official “act of war” was declared.

See their Blog for other examples.

Now it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t delve into some critics of Michael Boldin and the Tenth Amendment Center. But these critics need their own facts checked.

Media Bias/Fact Check says the the TAC has a “use of strong appeals in wording” to which we’d reply ” well yeah isn’t that what writers do”.

The SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) has an article on Michael Boldin. “Michael Boldin is an ideologue who has spent years promoting the idea that states can “nullify” federal legislation they don’t like — the very same argument pushed by defenders of slavery and segregation, and just as baseless now as it was then,” they say.

However, we also have Abortion Rights Ballot Measures Pass in Seven States – which we haven’t found the SPLC railing against.

Let’s leave us with this question; When is states’ rights rights right and when is states’ rights wrong?

Legislatures Are Home To The Elderly

By Bob Small

One of my favorite “modern” composers, Philip Glass, turned 88 on January 31 and continues to compose.

Listen to here: Philip Glass • Piano Concerto No. 3 (complete).

Having said that, someone of that age might not be nearly as qualified to continue serving in the US Congress, making decisions that affect our lives. Does that qualify as ageism. Possibly.

There were almost 20 members of the US Congress who are at least 80 years old.

We all have to make concessions to age and legislators are not any different from the rest of us.

Then it occurred to me that we should be able to review the same data for Pennsylvania. However when you use Google, Duck Duck Go, or even Perplexity A. I. By the way Perplexity A.I> was perplexed and replied“Based on the provided search results, there is no specific information about Pennsylvania legislators over the age of 70.”

One response was to review every listed member for date of birth,which sounded extremely tedious.

Finally, we received a response from a staffer (who shall remain anonymous) from our local state Sen. Timothy P. Kearney. The staffer left the names by phone. The two oldest legislators are Tina Pickett and Gene Yaw (81) if my source is correct.

My deeper question is “Why was this information so damn difficult to find”?!

This doesn’t apply to New Jersey. See Maps: Ages of New Jersey legislators,

However, Perplexity A.I. is similarly perplexed about Delaware legislators “ Based on the available search results, there is no specific information provided about Delaware state legislators over the age of 70 “

Shouldn’t there be a discussion of term limits for federal and state legislators?Discussion yes. Legislation no

Peronal disclaimer; At my age of three score and fifteen, this writer will be running in the Judge of Election slot as a Swarthmore Republican.

Coda: As a Republican, one probably loses, here.

Legislatures Are Home To The Elderly

Immigration Considerations For Donald Trump

By Bob Small

““As Commander in Chief, I have no higher responsibility than to defend our country from threats and invasions, and that is exactly what I am going to do,” said Donald Trump during his the Inauguration speech.

Trump’s Immigration Executive Orders: What to Know

In 2023, Time Magazine thought they knew where the immigration debate was going. “Trump’s defeat and stronger than projected midterm performances by Democrats suggest that anti-immigrant cynicism is misplaced and a fundamental misread of American sentiments on immigration.”

Only two of their suggestions seem worthy, finding a pathway to immigrants already in the US and seeking to ascertain immigrants with special skills. The latter opens up all kinds of debates.

This Brookings article brings up a few unique ideas. It notes that the implications of the globalization of migrants is “enormous”.They mention that the background checks for border agents take months, sometimes years”. As a recovering government worker, I believe we need to ask why? Not that Border Agents shouldn’t be vetted but should it years?!

The problem of “surge management” is also discussed. Surely, these surges in border crossing have been going on long enough that they should have a process for dealing with them.

Another article from two years ago is 4 proposed solutions to the U.S. border crisis

They mentioned the following proposed act “The Border Safety and Security Act of 2023, authored by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), would mandate that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) block entry at the border to anyone who doesn’t have a visa. This is constantly introduced and dies. These congressional stalemates remains part of the problem.

Lastly, from mid-November Immigration Is a Mess. Here’s How to Fix It.

Some of the suggestions that are positive include “On deportations, take steps that build credibility and support, like expelling criminals and recent immigration-law violators and hiring additional immigration judges as quickly as possible to address the case backlog. 

For legal immigration, it proposes enacting an improved version of the first Trump administration’s “public charge” rule that bars the immigration of those unable to support themselves ‘

Hopefully, what President Trump plans on Immigration will be allowed, so as to address these issues.

Discovering Victory at Sea

By Bob Small

Because we neither cable nor stream we rely on DVD and VHS which requires occasional forays to our local Goodwill or library. At Goodwill, we gathered the VHS Version of the 1950’s documentary Victory at Sea, which, amazingly, we had never seen. We recently finished all 26 episodes initially shown from Oct. 26, 1952 to May 1, 1953. It snared an Emmy in 1954 for best Public Affairs program. We learned an incredible amount of “hidden history” in the month we gave ourselves to watch this program.

If you’ve ever wondered why this generation was dubbed “the greatest generation”, this goes a long way to answering that. Personal note; Both our fathers were members of the US Military and our mothers contributed on the “home front”.

The idea of Victory at Sea was conceptualized by Henry Salomon about whom very little is known, at least on the Internet. This US Navy veteran and writer served as a research assistant to Samuel Elliott Morrison, author of the 15-volume History of United States Naval Operations in World War II.

Salamon discovered the huge amount of filmage by all the involved navies. NBC approved the idea in 1951.

The music was written by Richard Rogers, of Rogers and Hammerstein and Rogers and Hart with Robert Russell Bennett,a leading arranger and orchestrator on Broadway — think The King and I and South Pacific.

Trivia note Perry Como‘s“No Other Love” became a 1953 #1 hit using the melody from Episode 9, Beneath the Southern Cross, with words by Oscar Hammerstein.

The narration was by Leonard Graves Leonard Graves, an American Actor and singer who was later manager of the Memphis Opera and finished his career with the Israeli National Opera.

See also An Update on Memphis Singer and Actor Leonard Graves

Note; If you purchase a DVD set, check to see it it’s the full set. You won’t have that problem with the VCR set.

We’re now looking to find a DVD/VHS version of Soviet Storm. WW2 in the East (The Great War). Very little of Victory at Sea included the Soviet Eastern Front, for obvious reasons.

We’re now returning to our usual fare of murder mysteries and westerns.

Delco Chesco Freedom Links

By Bob Small

These are the Delco and Chesco links from the Program for the 2024 Bll of Rights Commemorative Banquet . Please inform me of what I’ve missed. Perhaps some industrious soul could create a database in the future.

Chesco United lists its town hall meetings at The Desmond Hotel. See also Keystone Town Hall. They’re also busy with radio programs on The Conservative Voice. Their events are widely publicized,here and otherwise

In Delco, we have DelcoXposed (@DelcoXposed) / X, which is on X, Pinteret and Tik Tok, serves as a clearinghouse for various events. Do not confuse it with DelcoExposed, which is something else entirely.

Delco Republicans Grass Roots is yet another clearinghouse. Among the other groups listed are Pennsylvania Coalition for Informed Consent | Empowered .. and, of course, Bill Lawrence online, which you are reading right now. This group has ten other groups listed.

There is also United4Delco.

Lastly, we have Home | Right For Bucks Organizatio They have a calendar of events, a very active blog and a fairly extensive resources page.

Does anyone think it would be a good idea to have a central database that would list alternative websites Just asking.

Freedom Links For 2025

By Bob Small

Part of the program for the 33^rd Annual Bill of Rights Banquet had an additional resource page. Below are links from this page, with brief explanations.

Before we start, a quote from Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) who, in a recent interview said “And I think that we’ve now learned that we have to build our own infrastructure” (Thanks to Dom Giordano for mentioning this.)

So what are CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, and many more.? Are they right wing? Hardly. Why can’t the Democrats admit Trump was a better candidate than Biden/Harris? Then they would have to re-examine their whole process and structure. Better not to change.

Patriot.Online is the creation of Gregory Stenstrom , co-author of The Parallel Election: A Blueprint for Deceptionwhich should be required reading for anyone curious about the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. He also has writings about “The Council” among other topics. An xmail is requested for Patriot online.

The next link on the page was unfamiliar to many of us is Free Roger Ver Campaign | #FreeRoger

Roger Var is the author of Hijacking Bitcoin: The Hidden History of BTC – Uncover the . and a voice for the transformative power of Bitcoin. His various incarcerations, in both Spain and the US are various shades of questionable.

We now move to Garrett Ziegler, known for Marco Polo | Substack which describes itself as “The opposition research group for the American People”. He is better known for being sued by Hunter Biden in the matter of the infamous Hunter Biden laptop. See also Hunter Biden sues former Trump White House aide over  and ‘You Nazi piece of s—‘: Hunter Biden’s wife confronts …

Now, before Hunter Biden, there was Billy Carter, who was not pardoned from a year in jail by his brother Jimmy.

Wonder if Brian Schatz (see above) has followed the Hunter Biden saga? Just asking.

Freedom Links For 2025