The Weekly Sam: Gaza Declares War on Israel By Samuel L. Blumenfeld (Article written 15 years ago.)

 

The declaration by the head of Hamas in Gaza that they are going to resume sending
rockets into Israeli towns is, in fact, little else than a declaration of war against the Jewish
state. The Hamas leader threatens war, and the United Nations just yawn.
The president of Iran tells the UN General Assembly that he will wipe Israel off the map,
and many delegates applaud. I thought that genocide is illegal, and that the UN is
against it?

Jews can’t live in Palestine, but Arabs can live in Israel. Some of the Jewish “settlers” in
Gaza actually said they were willing to live under a Palestinian government provided
they were treated as equal citizens. But the Israeli government preferred destroying
Jewish Gaza than encourage a multiethnic Gaza run by Palestinians. The Jewish
“settlers” had employed thousands of Palestinians to work on their highly productive
farms and greenhouses. In fact, Jewish Gaza produced the best vegetables in the Middle
East.

But now that the Arabs have Gaza all to themselves, their chief enterprise has become
kidnappings and bombings. The Israelis proved that Gaza could be turned into a Garden
of Eden. But Hamas wants to turn it into a hell on earth.
So what can Israel do? The Israeli government has launched a public relations effort to
justify to the civilized world that a full-scale war against Gaza is inevitable. But it is
doubtful that the world press will buy that. If Israel retaliates against Gaza, it will be
seen as Israeli aggression against a tiny, enclave full of peace-loving Arabs.
Of course, Gaza’s declaration of war against Israel has hardly been reported in the
Western press. You can only find out about these things by reading Israeli Internet sites
or World Net Daily.

But once Israel launches its assault on Gaza, it will be all over the liberal press. Big Israel
will be accused of attacking Little Gaza. The world expects Israel to tolerate rockets
being launched over its towns, while no other country would tolerate such attacks.
The United Nations has become a farce. It has been a farce for many decades, but now it
is so obvious that no one with half a brain can expect it to do anything constructive.

 

The Weekly Sam: America Started with Educational Freedom By Samuel L. Blumenfeld

One of the reasons why the United States of America got off to such a great start is
because we had total educational freedom. When the Constitution was written, there was
already by then a great variety of teaching institutions. The Dames Schools were colonial
preschools in which children were taught the three R’s in preparation for going on to an
academy. The academy was a private school run by an educational entrepreneur. It
prepared students for higher learning or a trade or profession. They were considered the
most appropriate educational institution for a free people. Their responsibility was to the
parents who put their children in the academy.

Home tutoring was also very common in those days. There was no such thing as
“compulsory school attendance.” Parents were free to provide their children with any
fonn of education which met their needs. Children were taught to read and write in the
Dames Schools, which were keenly aware that Biblical literacy was an absolute necessity
in a society based on the teachings of the Bible.

In New England, laws had been passed requiring parents to educate their children. This
spurred the creation of Common Schools throughout the region. Towns hired teachers to
run such schools. Their main function was to prepare the students for future studies in
the colleges. They were owned and operated by the local folks who usually paid the
schoolmasters with commodities rather than money.

The beauty of this high degree of freedom was that education was practical, its
foundation based on reality. Whatever was taught was intended to improve the
knowledge, skills, and aptitUdes of the students. The community’s basic purpose in
education was to pass on to the future generation the knowledge, wisdom, religion and
morals of the previous generation. There was no such thing as religious neutrality. The
United States was a Christian nation and all agreed that children should be inculcated in
the tenets of Christianity. And anyone who went into the education profession knew its
spiritual purposes.

But then the question arises: why did Americans give up educational freedom so early in
their history when its benefits were so obvious? Believe it or not, it had nothing to do
with economics or poor teaching. Literacy was very high and education was available to
everyone. There were even excellent charity schools that provided education for the
children of the poor. There was no need for the government to get involved in education.
.

But in Boston, the government did get involved in establishing the Boston Latin School,
an elite school to prepare students for Harvard. It was funded by the city even though the
parents of the students could easily have paid its costs. But the liberals in Boston were
already looking to government to establish an elite institution separated from the church.
What happened to create this state of mind? It was the rise of the Unitarian heresy at
Harvard among the descendants of the Puritans. Intellectual pride became the spearhead
of religious Liberalism.

The Unitarians no longer believed in the Trinity or in the divinity of Christ. If Christ was
divine it was in the sense that we are all divine. But while Christ was considered a great
teacher, he was not considered to be the source of salvation. The Unitarians also rejected
Calvin’s view of man as being innately depraved who needed to be saved by Jesus Christ.
The Unitarians believed that man was basically good, and that all he needed was a good
secular education to achieve moral perfectibility.

And so the Boston Unitarians launched a strong campaign to create government primary
schools in which Calvinist teachings would be eliminated. They were successful because
they learned how to influence the press, control the legislature, and get what they wanted.
As the public school movement grew, the orthodox were in a dilenuna as to whether or
not to support it. In 1849, the orthodox General Association of Massachusetts decided in
favor of support with this very important stipulation. They wrote:

“If after a full and faithful experiment, it should at last be seen that fidelity to the
religious interests of our children forbids a further patronage of the system, we
can unite with the Evangelical Christians in the establishment of private schools,
in which more full doctrinal religious instruction may be possible.”

There is no question that the “full and faithful experiment” has been a colossal failure,
and that millions of Christian children have been spiritually harmed. While many parents
have taken their children out of the public schools, and hundreds if not thousands of
church schools have been founded, the vast majority of Christian parents still put their
children in these anti-Christian public schools. In other words, we have still to learn the
lessons of history.

(The above article came from the Sam Blumenfeld Archive. http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/main.htm

The Blumenfeld Archives

Pilgrims to Patriots: A Celebration and Rededication to the Forefathers Monument

A delegation from Camp Constitution were honored to attend the Pilgrims to Patriots celebration and rededication of the Forefathers Monument last Saturday August 1, 2026.  This daylong event took place in ‘America’s Hometown”-Plymouth, MA.  Our well-staffed information table was busy with attendees from all over the United States stopping by to pick up T-shirts, books, pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution and get their pictures taken holding our Brown Bess firing replica musket.

The program stared at 10:00 AM at the Pilgrim Memorial Park-the original site of Plymouth Plantation with the Massachusetts 1775 Colonial Navy Fife and Drum from Fall River presenting their colors, and an opening prayer offered by Pastor Matthew Dembinsky.   The event had an excellent line up of speakers which included Leo and Nancy Martin of the Jenney Museum, https://thejenney.org/ Bill Federer of the American Minute, Dr. Jerry Newcombe of Coral Ridge Ministries, Tim and David Martin of WallBuilders, and actor and author Kirk Cameron who produced the documentary “Monumental.”  The Pilgrims to Patriots Band performed between the speakers which included a rendition of “My Country Tis of Thee.”

After an afternoon break, the group reconvened at the nearby Forefather’s Monument where the monument was rededicated.  Nancy Martin read the original dedication which took place on August 1, 1889 and Kirk Cameron gave an historical and spiritual overview as well as his personal connection to the Monument which inspired the creation of his documentary.

At 6:00 PM, we participated in a sold-out testimonial dinner for Leo and Nancy Martin and a fund raiser for the Jenney Museum at the 1620 Hotel in Plymouth.  (Readers who would like to donate to the Jenney:  https://www.networkforgood.org/donation/MakeDonation.aspx?ORGID2=900133398&vlrStratCode=9wKJQGl1rasPHo7YmGMedYfKNEvpeEocIQHRRM0CdWr%2fy%2fEA375LpFfLe%2fqTi8%2bf

Thanks to Maura Shurteff, Penny Stevens, Kathy Mickel, Bonnie Manchester, Jessica and Willow Whitworth, Rev. Steve and Edith Craft for helping out at the info table or with videotaping, and a special thanks to Roberta Stewart

 

The Third Crusade by Bill Federer

 

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Palm Sunday, 937 A.D., Caliph al-Radi ordered the destruction of Jerusalem’s Church of Calvary and the Church of the Resurrection.

 

What was the background?

Jerusalem had been a Jewish city since King David, around 1000 BC, and it had been a Christian city since Emperor Constantine, circa 325 A.D …

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What Every American Needs to Know About the Qur’an-A History of Islam & the United States

Muslim warriors under Caliph Umar took Jerusalem away from the Byzantine Patriarch Sophronius in 637 A.D.

“Caliph” is the title of Islam’s supreme religious, political and military leader.

Caliph Umar forced Christian and Jewish inhabitants to live as second-class citizens under “Jim Crow” style laws called “dhimmi.”

In the 700’s, Christians were banned from giving religious instruction to their children and displays of the cross were banned in Jerusalem. Pilgrims to the Holy Land began to be harassed, massacred and even crucified.

In 846 AD, 11,000 Arab Saracen Muslim warriors invaded Rome, Italy, and damaged the Basilica of St. Peters and the Church of St. Paul Outside the Walls, desecrating the graves of St. Peter and St. Paul.

In response, Pope Leo IV built a 39 foot wall around the Vatican.

In 923 A.D., Caliph al-Muqtadir of the Abbasid Caliphate began enforcing sharia in Jerusalem, inciting Muslim rioters to destroy churches in Jerusalem.

In 937 A.D., on Palm Sunday, Abbasid Caliph al-Radi ordered Muslim rioters to plunder the Church of Calvary and the Church of the Resurrection.

In 1004, Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah of the Fatimid Caliphate, known as the “Mad Caliph” or the “Nero of Egypt,” began a ten year persecution of Christians and Jews.

Thousands were forced to convert or die. 30,000 churches were destroyed.

In 1008, Mad Caliph al-Hakim forbade Christians from having their annual Palm Sunday procession from Bethany.

 

In 1009, al-Hakim ordered frenzied rioters to use picks, hammers and fire to destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, considered the holiest site in Christendom.

In Egypt, al-Hakim demanded everyone speak Arabic. Those caught speaking the traditional Egyptian language of Coptic had their tongues removed.

In 1958, Egypt, President Gamal Nasser told a gathering:

 

“I met with the head of the Muslim Brotherhood and he … made his requests … to make wearing the hijab mandatory in Egypt … I told him, if I make that a law they will say that we have returned to the days of al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, who forbade people from walking at day and only allowed walking at night.”

In 1075, Seljuk Turkish Muslims captured Jerusalem from Arab Muslims.

Travelers returning from pilgrimages to the Holy Land shared reports of Islamic persecution of “dhimmi” Christians.

Italian city-states of Pisa, Genoa and Catalonia fought the Muslims who were raiding Italy’s coasts, Majorca, Sardinia, and Catalonia.

By 965, Muslim forces had succeeded in their 130 year conquest of Sicily.

Nearly a century later, in 1057, the Norman adventurer Robert Guiscard fought against the Islamic warriors of Sicily and gained control of Calabria in the “toe of Italy.”

In 1071, the Seljuk Turkish Muslims inflicted a major defeat on the Byzantine Christians at the Battle of Manzikert and took control of all but the coastlands of Asia Minor.

 

Cries for help were carried back to Europe. Europe sent help, it was called the Crusades.

Europeans had just two centuries of crusades compared to Islam’s fourteen centuries of jihad crusades which are still continuing, killing an estimated 240 million.

The Europeans’ nine major Crusades lasted from 1095 till 1291, when Acre was finally recaptured by Islamic forces.

 

The First Crusade began when, in desperation, the proud Byzantine Emperor Alexius the First Comnenus humbled himself and sent ambassadors to the Council of Piacenza in March of 1095, appealing for aid from his religious rival, the Roman Catholic Pope.

The seriousness of this call for help is underscored by the fact that it occurred just a few years after the Great East-West Schism of 1054, where the Byzantine Church and the Roman Catholic Church split.

Pope Urban II gave an impassioned plea at the Council of Clermont in 1095 for Western leaders to set aside their doctrinal differences and come to the aid of their Byzantine Christians brethren.

Pope Urban described how Christians were treated by Islamists, who “compel (them) to extend their necks and then, attacking them with naked swords, attempt to cut through the neck with a single blow,” as recorded by Robert the Monk in Medieval Sourcebook, Fordham University.

With Spain exuberant after successfully driving the Muslim occupiers from Toledo and Leon a few years earlier, the First Crusade began in 1097, led by Godfrey of Bouillon. It freed Iconium, though it was later lost.

The First Crusade defeated Islamic warriors at Dorylaeum and Antioch, and captured Jerusalem in 1099, holding it for nearly 100 years.

 

After Muslims conquered Edessa, another crusade was called for by Bernard of Clairvaux in 1147.

It was made up of French and German armies, led by King Louis VII and Conrad II.

In 1148, Turkish ruler Nur ed-Din of the Zinged Dynasty slaughtered every Christian in Aleppo.

The Second Crusade failed to take Damascus and returned to Europe in 1150. Bernard of Clairvaux was disturbed by reports of misdirected violence toward some Jewish populations.

On July 4, 1187, the Muslim leader Saladin, founder of the Ayyubid dynasty, captured Crusaders at Hattim and ordered their mass execution.

 

In 1190, Pope Gregory VIII called for a Third Crusade. It was led by German King Frederick I, called Frederick Barbarossa — meaning Redbeard — who was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

He was joined by Richard I of England and Philip II of France.

Frederick led 100,000 soldiers across Byzantium, driving out Muslims and temporarily freeing Iconium.

He most likely would have freed Jerusalem had he not fallen off his horse while crossing the Göksu River in Cilicia, Asia Minor.

 

Being 67 years old and weighted down with heavy armor, Frederick Barbarossa drowned in waist deep water and the Crusade went into confusion.

Richard the Lionheart was suddenly in charge leading the Third Crusade and successfully captured Acre.

Due to rivalries, Philip II, without warning, abandoned the Crusade and returned to France in 1191.

Richard’s troops came within sight of Jerusalem in 1192, but grew weary as it did not look like they were making an impact.

Then word came to Richard that Phillip II was trying to take away Normandy from England, so Richard quickly ended the Crusade to go back and defend his kingdom.

 

Richard later discovered Saladin was on the verge of defeat and was propping up dead soldiers along the walls.

Saladin allowed some Christians to leave Jerusalem if they paid a ransom, but according to Imad al-Din, approximately 15,000 could not pay their ransom and were enslaved.

Richard sailed away, but was shipwrecked and attempted to travel on foot across Europe in disguise.

 

He was recognized near Vienna and captured by Duke Leopold V of Austria. The Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI, imprisoned Richard at Dumstein for three years.

Legend has it that Richard’s loyal minstrel, Blondel, traveled from kingdom to kingdom across Europe trying to find him by singing Richard’s favorite song.

When Richard heard the song, he sang the second verse from the prison tower, and was found. Richard’s brother, King John, had to raise taxes for the “king’s ransom.”

This was the origins of the story of Nottingham, Sherwood Forest, and Robin Hood.

The Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VI, prepared for another crusade in 1197, but died from malaria.

Once back in England, Richard ruled only a few years before being shot with an arrow during the siege of a castle in Normandy.

His brother, King John, once again ruled, where he raised taxes oppressively.

 

When he lost Britain’s claim to Normandy after the Battle of Bouvines in 1214, English baron’s were upset, as they also lost their titled lands there.

Angry barons then surrounded King John on the plains of Runnymede on June 15, 1215, and forced him to sign the Magna Carta – the cornerstone of English liberty.

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The Weekly Sam: From Rhodes Scholars to Alinsky Disciples By Samuel L. Blumenfeld

 

In the past it seemed that the best way to become President was through several
well-established routes: by climbing the power ladder in either of the two political
parties, by having gone to Harvard or Yale, by having had a Rhodes Scholarship to
Oxford, or by belonging to the secret Skull & Bones Society at Yale.

Nixon clawed his way up the ladder of the Republican Party. Born in California in
1913, he got his law degree from Duke University School of Law in 1937. In 1946 he
was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican. He gained fame among
Republicans by putting Soviet agent Alger Hiss in jail. After many ups and downs he
finally became the 37th President in 1968.

Jimmy Carter, our 39th President, was born in Plains, Georgia in 1924. He graduated from
Plains High School and then attended Georgia Southwestern College. He served as a
Georgia State Senator and then Governor. As a liberal statist he created two new
departments when he became President, the Department of Education and the Department
of Energy. He seems to have been chosen by the powers that be in the Democrat Party
to run for President. In 1976 he won the race against Gerald Ford. His Presidency is
considered a disaster by conservatives. Yet, he remains something of a fluke in the
annals of American presidential politics.

John F. Kennedy was born in Massachusetts in 1917, attended private prep schools,
studied at the Fabian Society’s London School of Economics in 1935, then entered
Harvard in 1936. He graduated cum laude in 1940. After the war, he got into politics and
was elected to the House of Representatives as a Democrat in 1946. In 1952 he became a
Senator. His father had always wanted one of his sons to become President. The eldest
was killed in the war, but John, No. 2, was available. With the help of the family
fortune, Jack finally became the 35th President in 1960 in a very close race against
Richard Nixon.

After Kennedy, came Lyndon Johnson, who also clawed his way up the
political ladder of the Democrat Party, and became President after JFK’s assassination.

George H. W. Bush, born in Massachusetts in 1924, came from a family of Wall Street
investment bankers. His father was not only a Yale Bonesman, but also became a U.S.
Senator. George followed his father’s footsteps to Yale and the Skull and Bones Society.
After graduation he got into the oil business in Texas. There, as a “moderate” Republican
he was urged to run against a candidate in the primary who also happened to be a
member of the “extremist” John Birch Society. He won the primary, but lost the election
to a Democrat.

In 1966 he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although generally
considered a Rockefeller Republican, he tended to vote conservative. In an effort to
become a Senator, he ran against a conservative in the primary. He won that battle but
in 1970 lost the election to a Democrat. When Gerald Ford became President after
Nixon’s resignation, he appointed Bush to be Liaison Officer with Communist China
where he spent 14 months. In 1976, Ford appointed Bush head of the CIA.

In 1979, Bush decided to run for the Presidency. He vied with Ronald Reagan for the
nomination but lost. Reagan then asked Bush to become his running mate. In 1989, after
serving two terms as Vice President, Bush finally made it to the White House. He was
expected to continue Reagan’s conservative policies, especially on taxes. But when he
reneged on his pledge not to raise taxes, he went down to defeat in1992 against Bill
Clinton.

Ronald Reagan, our 40th President, was born in Illinois in 1911. He graduated from
Eureka College in 1932. He became a famous movie star and then a spokesman for the
free enterprise system. He entered elective politics in the 1960s, becoming Governor of
California in 1967. A conservative Republican, he turned out to be one of the most
popular Presidents in our history. He combined charisma and a vision of America that
thrilled the hearts of most conservatives. To Reagan, America was “the city on the hill.“
His strong anti-communism also endeared him to conservatives.

Clinton, born in 1946 of lower middle class folk in Arkansas, decided as a teenager to get
into elective politics. He graduated from Hot Springs High School. Then, with the aid of
scholarships, was able to attend the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
in Washington. His professor, Carroll Quigley, who had access to the private papers of
the Council on Foreign Relations and the Rhodes Round Table, helped him get a Rhodes
Scholarship at Oxford. After Oxford, he entered Yale Law School, got his degree in
1973, met Hillary, a fellow student and Saul Alinsky disciple, whom he later married.
From there Clinton returned to Arkansas where he worked his way up the Democratic
Party, became Governor in 1978, and finally made it to the White House in 1992. As a
Rhodie, he met many other ambitious politicos at Oxford, who later became members of
his team during his Presidency.

George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, was born in Connecticut in1946. He
followed his father and grandfather’s footsteps to Yale, where he became a member of
the Skull and Bones Society. After graduation in 1968, he attended Harvard Business
School and got his MBA degree in 1975. He then worked in the Texas oil business, and
finally entered elective politics in 1977. He ran for the House of Representatives, but lost.
In 1994 he became Governor of Texas. He was elected President in 2000 after a hotly
contested race against Al Gore.

So far we have seen how individuals can rise to the Presidency via traditional channels of
Republican and Democratic political activity. But now we have a new source of potential
candidates for the White House: Saul Alinsky’s Chicago school for Marxist
Revolutionaries. Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are Alinsky disciples, and
they have tried to impose Marxism over the American people. Hillary first tried to do it
when her husband was elected President, giving her the opportunity to organize an effort
to impose socialized medicine on the nation. Thanks to Republican opposition, that
effort failed.

But it was Barack Obama, on being elected President, who went to work immediately to
impose socialism on the American people. Of course, he had the help of Nancy Pelosi,
the most leftist Speaker of the House to hold that position, and Senator Harry Reid of
Nevada, whose leftism seems to have been adopted as a means of gaining support of the
leftist unions.

Pelosi is a San Francisco liberal who really doesn’t know the difference between
socialism and capitalism. She is not a thinker. She came from an Italian Catholic
family that was very active in Baltimore Democrat politics. She attended Catholic
schools and probably absorbed enough Liberation Theology to solidify her liberal beliefs,
which became the basis of her left-wing politics. She is the least philosophical woman
ever to be elected to Congress. When she was asked if the National Healthcare Bill was
constitutional, her answer was: “Are you serious?” Which means that she has no
conception of what a Constitutional Republic is and probably doesn’t want to know.

Harry Reid was born to a very poor family in Searchlight, Nevada. After graduating
high school he attended Southern Utah University and graduated from Utah State
University. From there he went to George Washington University Law School.
He returned to Nevada with a law degree and first served as Henderson city attorney. He
was then elected to the Nevada Assembly in 1968. He then ran for Lieutenant Governor
of Nevada, but lost. He also lost a bid to become mayor of Las Vegas. But due to his
very strong political connections he was able to become chairman of the Nevada Gaming
Commission in 1977.

When a gambling entrepreneur tried to bribe Reid, he turned the
individual in to the FBI. That helped improve his political qualifications. The result is
that he was elected to Congress in 1982. In 1986 he ran for the Senate and won.
In reviewing Reid’s political career, which consisted of party loyalty above all else, one
can see why he was able to beat his opponent in the last election. His connections in
Nevada guaranteed his reelection. He is clearly not a Marxist. He’s a Democrat, and
the Democratic Party has become the chosen vehicle for the Marxists’ to gain political
power in Washington. He is a party loyalist above all else. For him the political game
has nothing to do with the Constitution or the principles of the Founding Fathers. So he
can loyally serve a Marxist President without any qualms.

And so neither Nancy Pelosi nor Harry Reid are conscious Marxists. They probably
know very little if anything about Saul Alinsky. And since many of the precepts of Karl
Marx’s Communist Manifesto have already been adopted by the United States under the
guise of liberalism, how can anyone call it socialism?

One good thing the Tea Party movement has done is bring to the new Congress men and
women who actually believe in the Constitution and the principles of the Founding
Fathers. They are not Marxists. They are not socialists. They are Constitutionalists or
Americanists. And they know that Marxists and Socialists move about Washington under
the label of liberalism. So the Tea Partiers are more aware of the semantic trickery of
the left and will not be fooled by it any longer. They are also the harbingers of the
conservative counter-revolution that is so badly needed in Washington. That is why
2011 will prove to be one of the most decisive years in American history.

(The above comes from the Samuel L. Blumenfeld Archives:  http://blumenfeld.campconstitution.net/main.htm )

The Blumenfeld Archives

Europe’s lost Jewish communities underscore why Israel must defend itself

Contact me: pkdriessen@gmail.com

New Article from APC: The Scheme to Eliminate Private Property and Reorganize Human Society by

 

“The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.” Founding Father John Adams.

Today, the very root of our nation’s freedom, prosperity, and private property ownership by individual citizens, is under attack across the nation. Eminent Domain is the weapon of choice to allow private corporations to simply take property at will under the excuse of the “common good.” Wind and solar farms, carbon capture pipelines, and massive AI data centers now cover vital farmland and private neighborhoods. The property owners are given no choice in the matter. It’s gone. How is that possible in a nation built on the very concept of private property ownership and protection?

For decades we have faced the globally organized juggernaut called “Sustainable” designed by powerful forces to completely change and control human society. However, from the very beginning of the plan our nation, which is based on the very concept of private property, has stood in the way.

Now, today, the tool every tyrant has ever dreamed of for complete control is in their hands – AI! So, the train for control is ready to leave the station, but the way is blocked by those infernal property rights! What to do to allow tyranny to commence?

Well, the real answer was found just over twenty years ago and is now in full swing. Here is the story. It started with five black robes named Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Kennedy, and Breyer. In 2005, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down an opinion that shocked the nation.

It was the case of Susette Kelo, et al. v City of New London, Connecticut, et al. The issue: “The government taking of property from one private owner to give to another private entity for economic development constitutes a permissible “public use” under the Fifth Amendment.”

In 2000, the city of New London saw a chance to rake in big bucks through tax revenues for a new downtown development project that was to be anchored by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. The company announced a plan to build a $270 million dollar global research facility in the city.

The local government jumped at the chance to transform 90 acres of an area right next to the proposed research facility. Their plans called for the creation of the Fort Trumbull development project to provide hotels, housing and shopping areas for the expected influx of Pfizer employees.

There were going to be jobs and revenues A-Go-Go in New London. Just one obstacle stood in the way of these grand plans. There were private homes in that space.

No muss – no fuss. The city fathers had a valuable tool in their favor. They would just issue an edict that they were taking the land by eminent domain. To get started, the city created a private development corporation to lead the project. It’s first priority was to obtain the needed property.

Put yourself in the shoes of the homeowners in that targeted neighborhood. You bought a home for your family. It’s a place you could afford in a neighborhood you liked. The children made friends. You intended to stay for the rest of your life.

However, as you planted your garden, landscaped the yard, put up a swing set for the kids, and molded your land into a home, unknown to you, certain city officials were meeting around a table with developers. In front of them were maps and photographs of your home. They talked about dollars. Big dollars. Tax revenues for the city, huge profits for the developer. Expensive condos, hotels, and a shopping center with all the trimmings began to take shape.

You weren’t asked for input or permission. You weren’t even notified that your home was targeted until the whole project was finalized and the only minor detail was to get rid of you.

Susette Kelo bought a nice little pink house in that quiet neighborhood now targeted in New London. Little did she imagine that warm, comfy place would soon become the center of a firestorm. She’d spent a considerable amount of money and time fixing up her little pink house, a home with a beautiful view of the bay. She planted flowers in the yard, braided her own rugs for the floors, filled the rooms with antiques, and created the home she wanted.

Less than a year later, the trouble started. A real estate broker suddenly showed up on her door representing an unknown client. Suzette said she wasn’t interested in selling. The realtor’s demeanor then changed with a warning that the property was going to be condemned by the city. Then, one year later, on the day before Thanksgiving, the sheriff taped a letter to her door, stating that her home had been condemned by the City of New London.

Then the pressure began. A notice came in the mail telling her that the city intended to take her land. An offer of compensation was made, but it was below the market price. The explanation given was that, since the government was going to take the land, it was no longer worth the old market price. Therefore, the lower price was “just compensation,” as called for in the Fifth Amendment. It was a “fair price,” the homeowners were told repeatedly.

Some neighbors quickly gave up, took the money and moved away. With the loss of each one, the pressure mounted. Visits from government agents became routine. They knocked on the door at all hours to demand that Susette sell. Newspaper articles depicted her as unreasonably holding up community progress. They called her greedy. Finally, the bulldozers moved in on the properties already sold. As they crushed down the houses, the neighborhood became unlivable. It looked like a war zone.

When a homeowner caved in and sold, the house was immediately crushed by the bulldozer. The next homeowner then came under great pressure to sell. More phone calls, threatening letters, visits by city officials at all hours, demanding they sign the contract to sell. Finally, the intimidation began to break down the most dedicated homeowner’s resolve. In tears, they gave in and sold. Amazingly, once they sold, the homeowners were then classified as “willing sellers!” As each house was bulldozed the monster machine was moved next door to the next house, sitting there like a huffing, puffing dragon, ready to strike.

Eventually Susette’s little pink house stood nearly alone in the middle of a destruction site. Over 80 homes were gone, seven remained. As if under attack by a conquering army, she was finally surrounded, with no place to run but to the courts. The United States was built on the very premise of the protection of private property rights. How could a government possibly be allowed to take anyone’s home for private gain? Surely justice would finally prevail.

Under any circumstances the actions of the New London government and its sham development corporation should have been considered criminal behavior. It used to be. If city officials were caught padding their own pockets, or those of their friends, it was considered graft. That’s why RICO laws were created.

Finally, her case was heard by the highest court in the land. It was such an obvious case of government overreach against private property owners that no one considered there was a chance of New London winning. The city was backed in its appeal by the National League of Cities, one of the largest proponents of eminent domain use, saying the policy was critical to spurring urban renewal with development projects.

Property Rights legal foundations, particularly the Institute for Justice, came to Susette’s rescue to serve as her advocate before the high court. They were joined by a wide array of groups such as the American Association of Retired People (AARP) and the late Martin Luther Kings’ Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Truly this was seen as a civil rights case.

The Supreme Court had always stood with the founders of the nation on the vital importance of private property. There was precedent after precedent to back up the optimism that they would do so again. However, to the shock of everyone involved, private property rights sustained a near death blow that day.

This time, five black robes named Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, Kennedy, and Breyer shocked the nation by ruling that officials who had behaved like Tony Soprano were in the right and Susette Kelo had no ground to stand on, literally or figuratively.

These four men and one woman ruled that the United States Constitution is meaningless as a tool to protect individuals against the wants and desires of government. Their ruling in the Kelo case declared that Americans own nothing. After deciding that any property is subject to the whim of a government official, it was just a short trip to declaring that government could now confiscate anything we own, anything we create, anything we’ve worked for – in the name of an undefined common good.

In defending the decision, Justice Stevens simply wrote, “Promoting economic development is a traditional and long accepted function of government.” He mentioned not a word about the long tradition of government in the United States that had always stood for the rights of the individual. Not surprisingly, The New York Times and The Washington Post supported the decision.

Justice Sandra Day O’Conner, who opposed the Court’s decision, vigorously rebutted Stevens’ argument, as she wrote in dissent of the majority opinion, “The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the state from replacing a Motel 6 with a Ritz-Carlton, any home with a shopping mall, or any farm with a factory.”

Justice Clarence Thomas issued his own rebuttal to the decision, specifically attacking the argument that this was a case about “public use.” He accused the Majority of replacing the Fifth Amendment’s “Public Use” clause with a very different “Public Purpose” test. Said Justice Thomas, “This deferential shift in phraseology enables the Court to hold against all common sense, that a costly urban-renewal project whose stated purpose is a vague promise of new jobs and increased tax revenue, but which is also suspiciously agreeable to the Pfizer Corporation, is for a public use.

Incredibly, after the Supreme Court decision that literally destroyed the nation’s oldest and most revered right of private property ownership, it turned out that the entire action by the New London government had been for absolutely nothing. There was no great “revitalization” of downtown. No jobs. No development. Nope. The New London development was never completed. The proposed hotel-retail-condo “urban village” was never built. The developer failed to come up with the necessary funds. Pfizer, whose employees were supposed to be the clientele for the project, pulled out and abandoned their planned research facility. Instead, they decided to merge with a new partner, Wyeth. Rather than completing the New London project, the two pharmaceutical giants decided to create a combined facility in another city.

The land where Susette Kelo’s little pink house once stood remains undeveloped to this day. In the aftermath of 2011’s Hurricane Irene, the now-closed New London redevelopment area was turned into a dump for storm debris such as tree branches and other vegetation. No tax revenues are generated by the now-wasteland of government greed. But the precedent of the Kelo decision for government takings of land across the nation has grown to unimaginable levels.

So, in a five to four vote, the Supreme Court said that it was okay for a community to use eminent domain to take private land or destroy and reorganize an entire neighborhood, if it benefited the community in a positive way. Specifically, “positive” meant unquestioned government control and more tax dollars.

The Kelo decision changed the rules. The precedent was set. Land can now be taken anytime at the whim of a power elite. The tyrants now have the tool for control they’ve always dreamed of. The tyrants call it the common good! Mission accomplished.

 

(A short video Camp Constitution did in 2013 at the site of Suette Kelo”s house in New London, CT:

 

https://youtu.be/PGmnQzvGaU8?si=bbJdURchqqd24Ica

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Recreation Brings Learning to Life at Camp Constitution by Kathy Lynch, Recreation Staff

 

It was an honor to work with the campers in recreation at Camp Constitution this year. I had a wonderful time and truly enjoyed being part of their experience.

One of my favorite activities was leading the volleyball tournament. As a starter on my high school’s undefeated, championship volleyball team on Long Island, and later a college player, I was excited to share my knowledge and love of the game with the campers.

When I arrived at camp, I noticed the volleyball court boundaries were not marked, so I made sure we painted court lines. The campers appreciated having a properly marked court—after all, how can you tell if the ball is in or out when there are no lines?

Beyond the competition, I spent time teaching players how to rotate correctly, communicate effectively, and work together as a team. The tournament was filled with close matches, enthusiastic participation, and plenty of excitement. Most importantly, the players demonstrated excellent sportsmanship, congratulating one another and shaking hands at the conclusion of the tournament.

It was especially rewarding to watch the campers’ skills and confidence grow throughout the week. Recreation activities included volleyball, wiffle ball, basketball, relay races, swimming, chess, and much more. Saphire Giminez and I worked together to provide a variety of fun and engaging activities, helping create a positive and memorable experience for everyone.

While Camp Constitution is known for teaching young people about our nation’s founding principles and the U.S. Constitution, recreation plays an important role as well. It gives campers the opportunity to stay active, enjoy the outdoors, develop leadership skills, and build lasting friendships. Judging by the smiles, laughter, and enthusiasm seen throughout the week, the recreation program was a great success.

Thank you to the campers, staff, and volunteers who made this year’s camp such a memorable experience. I am already looking forward to next year!

Video

A Report on our 18th Annual Family Camp

 

Camp Constitution’s 18th annual family camp held at the Singing Hills Christian Camp in Plainfield, NH concluded last Friday (July 17).  Attendees came as far as California, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and even Plainfield, NH.Monday, our first full day, began with an optional swim and/or run and then the morning devotions, prayer and flag erasing followed by a recitation of the Preamble of the Constitution led by Mrs. Edith Craft, our junior camper director.

Keeping with our American 250 theme, the first class taught by Pastor David Whitney of the Institute on the Constitution was “The Declaration of Independence.”

Altogether, there were eighteen regularly scheduled classes and three optional afternoon classes held for our older campers and adults.  Instructors included Catherine White of the Constitution Decided, authors Felecia Nace and Alex Newman, Kurt Hyde, Tom Moor, atmospheric scientist Professor Willie Soon, Camp Chaplain and author Rev. Steve Craft, Charmaiain Rondon, Pastor David Whitney, Geroge Dewhurst, Keith Hanson and Julie Wilkinson.

Our junior camper (ages 5-11)) instructors were Edith Craft, Donna Desantis, Jessica Whitworth and Kathy Mickel who also served as our camp nurse.
Our room counselors were Willow Whitworth, Josh Viliniskis, and Seamus Fitzgerald.  Support staff included Roberta Stewart, Vito Viliniskis, and Phil Polizotto  our videographer.

Morning room inspection was conducted by our head counselor Elden Stahl and Camp Newspaper Editor Mark Afleck.  We not only look for cleanliness but a Christian and Patriotic theme.  Rooms are graded each day, and the winner is declared in the Thursday paper.

After lunch, campers participated in running an obstacle course organized by Mrs. Sapphire Giminez, former college basketball player.

For the third year in a row, martial arts expert George Dewhurst conduced an optional workshop called Christan Self Defense.

Throughout the week, attendees enjoyed the pond and pool as well as the numerous recreational opportunities including basketball, volleyball, a Gaga pit, and ping-pong and chess tournaments.

After dinner on Monday, we sang “Happy Birthday to the United States and several camper celebrating birthdays.  Two more classes were conducted and between classes, we had a flag lowering ceremony.

The night ended with our evening campfire where campers and staff sing songs, play musical instruments, conduct skits,  tell “Dad Jokes”, and enjoyed a fireworks display.

     

On Tuesday Mr. Keith Hanson of Critical Dynamics taught a class on the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, and in the afternoon, he conducted an optional marksmanship class giving campers-many for the first time-the opportunity to shoot a .22 rifle.

Wednesday afternoon was an optional field trip to the Billings Farm Museum in nearby Woodstock, VT.

We had visits from Cynthia Rusis of Turning Point USA and Ann Savastrano of  First Love Works who discussed the activities of their organizations.  Our guest instructor Julie Wilkinson who played the abortion nurse in the movie “Unplanned The Abby Johnson” story.


(Guest speaker Julie Wilkinson)

The Johnson Family brought their violins are performed at our evening campfire and also did a rendition of the “National Anthem” before class

Before lunch on Thursday, Junior Campers dresses in colonial attire participated in their annual parade.   Thursday afternoon was our annual wiffle ball game.  For the first time in many years, the Shurtleff All Stars lost to the Newman Barnstormers.


Junior Campers on Parade                         Sapphire Giminez taking a swing

Thursday night was our closing ceremonies that included remarks by Rev. Steve Craft and Pastor David Whitney, speeches by those who entered our essay contest and   the announcement this year’s “Super Campers”-a boy and a girl who are awarded camp tuitions to our 2027 camp.  This year’s winners were Hailey Lankford, and David Tyrun.  The winner of our essay contest “Why I Love America” was Madyson Rokiki.

The “Hal Shurtleff Award” given to a staffer went to Mrs. Sapphire Gimenez who did an outstanding job as recreational director, and The “Willie Soon” Award given to an instructor went to Mr. Alex Newman.

Friday after breakfast, we picked up, cleaned up, packed up and headed home.  Next year’s camp will be held at the same venue Sunday July 11 to Friday July 16,2027.  For more information, please visit our website   https://www.campconstitution.net

A link to a playlist on YouTube containing our classes and activities:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLNmlnj-pnPt0

And a link to photos of the camp:  https://s3.amazonaws.com/camppictures/2026/index.html

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