Off-Script Ohio

h/t Flopping Aces

A cartoon that all you OSU TBDBITL fans will appreciate.

Presidential Primary Debates : Links

The first GOP primary debate between Republican candidates for President is in Cleveland in a couple of weeks:

Thursday, August 6, 2015

9pm ET - Republican Primary Debate 

Aired On: Fox News Channel

Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH

Sponsors: Fox News, Facebook

Moderators: Bret Baier, Megyn Kelly and Chris Wallace

Rules: Top 10 candidates in an average of 5 national polls

Candidates: To be determined

Notes: Fox News has added a candidate forum at 1pm ET the same day for candidates who don't make the debate cut

The website with details on subsequent debates is here. 

The website for upcoming primary debates between Democrat candidates is here; details are not yet posted.

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Presidential Forum Saturday 11:00am EDT-7:00pm EDT on C-SPAN

Today (Saturday)

The 2016 Presidential Forum Saturday 

11:00am EDT-7:00pm EDT on C-SPAN

The Family Leadership summit brings together national conservative leaders from across the country -- including TEN presidential candidates  -- and you can watch it live (or from the beginning) on C-SPAN.   

This is NOT your usual forum.  No stump speeches.  No talking points.  It is an unrehearsed interactive discussion between the speakers and an audience of over 2,500 Iowans about policy and vision.

Here's the tentative C-SPAN schedule of candidate interviews (EDT):

Marco Rubio	11:22am-11:44am
Donald Trump	11:56am-12:18pm
Ben Carson	1:03pm-1:25pm
Ted Cruz	2:48pm-3:10pm
Mike Huckabee	3:33pm-3:54pm
Rick Perry	4:48pm-5:10pm
Lindsay Graham	5:39pm-6:01pm
Bobby Jindal	6:23pm-6:45pm
Rick Santorum	6:46pm-7:08pm
Scott Walker	7:18pm-7:40pm

You can tune in and watch it live, or watch it from the beginning at the C-Span website here.

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Action Alert: Time to Defund Illegal Sanctuary Cities!

Action Alert     

In response to the senseless killing of Kate Steinle by an illegal immigrant who was a convicted felon and had been previously deported numerous times, Congressmen Lou Barletta (R-PA) introduced the Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act....

The Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act (HR 3002) prohibits any federal funding for a minimum period of one year to any state or local government which has a policy or law that prevents them from assisting immigration authorities in enforcing federal immigration law.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) lists more than 200 such localities in the United States. Barletta’s bill directs the attorney general to compile an annual list of such cities and issue a report on any particular state or locality upon request from a member of Congress. 

A state or local government would only regain federal funding eligibility after the attorney general certifies that its laws and policies are in compliance with federal immigration statutes. (Read More)

These havens for illegal immigrants, better known as "Sanctuary Cities," operate in defiance of federal immigration laws, ignoring those laws as though they did not exist. In the case of Kate Steinle, the illegal immigrant charged in her slaying, readily admits that he continued returning to the US after being deported because he knew San Francisco was a "'Sanctuary City' and he would not be pursued." (Click here for video)

It is difficult to put an exact number on the total Sanctuary Cities and/or cities with sympathetic policies, but the number exceeds 200. In Ohio alone, there are at least 6 designated Sanctuary Cities (Columbus, Dayton, Lima, Lorain, Oberlin, and Painesville), with many other municipalities moving in that direction.

Please call your Congressman and tell them to put the well-being & safety of US citizens over the funding of cities that defy federal law & protect illegal immigrants by supporting Rep Barletta's Mobilizing Against Sanctuary Cities Act.

To find contact info for your Congressman, click here.

Below is a list of GOP Congressmen from Ohio. 

** Update**

Rep Jim Renacci & Rep. Dave Joyce have signed on as co-sponsors.  Thank you Rep. Renacci & Rep Joyce for putting US citizens before illegal immigrants.

Rep. Steve Chabot, OH-1
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-2216
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3012
Email: http://chabot.house.gov/contact/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepSteveChabot
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repstevechabot

Rep. Brad Wenstrup, OH -2
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-3164
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-1992
Email: http://wenstrup.house.gov/contact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepBradWenstrup
Twitter: https://twitter.com/@RepBradWenstrup

Rep. Jim Jordan, OH-4
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2676
D.C. Office Fax: (202)226-0577
Email: http://jordan.house.gov/contact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/repjimjordan
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jim_jordan

Rep. Bob Latta, OH-5
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6405
D.C. Office Fax: (800)278-8203
Email: http://latta.house.gov/contact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/boblatta
Twitter: https://twitter.com/boblatta

Rep. Bill Johnson, OH-6
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5705
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-5907
Email: http://billjohnson.house.gov/contact/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/RepBillJohnson
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepBillJohnson

Rep. Bob Gibbs, OH-7
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-6265
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3394
Email: https://gibbs.house.gov/contact-me
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepBobGibbs
Twitter: https://twitter.com/repbobgibbs

Rep. Mike Turner, OH-10
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-6465
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-6754
Email: http://turner.house.gov/contact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepMikeTurner
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RepMikeTurner

Rep. Pat Tiberi, OH-12
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-5355
D.C. Office Fax: (202)226-4523
Email: http://tiberi.house.gov/contact/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepPatTiberi
Twitter: https://twitter.com/tiberipress

Rep. Dave Joyce, OH-14
D.C. Office Phone: (202) 225-5731
D.C. Office Fax: (202) 225-3307
Email: https://joyce.house.gov/email-me
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RepDaveJoyce
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RepDaveJoyce 

Rep. Steve Stivers, OH-15
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-2015
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3529
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rep-Steve-Stivers/116058275133542
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/RepSteveStivers
Website: http://stivers.house.gov 

Rep. Jim Renacci, OH-16
D.C. Office Phone: (202)225-3876
D.C. Office Fax: (202)225-3059
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/repjimrenacci
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/repjimrenacci
Website: http://renacci.house.gov

John Boehner pledges “Immigration Reform”

Art credit: www.examiner.com and numbersUSA

From our friends at NumbersUSA:

Spread the word: Speaker Boehner tells audiences overseas that he will get amnesty and immigration increases through the U.S. House of Representatives.

This hasn't made U.S. headlines...yet.

At the Irish Times, Arthur Beelsey reports: 

“The speaker of the US House of Representatives John Boehner has told a Dublin audience of his determination to overcome Republican resistance to immigration reform.... [emphasis added]

“...His remarks indicate he may yet move to confront opponents of reform within his own Republican party, which is in the vanguard of resistance to it and has a majority in the House.

“The speaker, second in line for the US presidency after Joe Biden, was addressing the Independence Day lunch of the American Chamber of Commerce Ireland.”

Speaker Boehner's website also has a write up of the event...but does not mention his comments on immigration. Readers can comment on the blog.

After the mid-term elections, Boehner and soon-to-be Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote: “We are humbled by this opportunity to help struggling middle-class Americans who are clearly frustrated by an increasing lack of opportunity, the stagnation of wages, and a government that seems incapable of performing even basic tasks.”

“Immigration Reform” in the context used by Boehner is commonly understood as (1) granting work permits to approximately 11 million citizens of foreign nations who are in the U.S. illegally, (2) increasing new permanent work permits granted via green cards; and (3) increasing “temporary” work permits via expanded guest worker programs.

Spread the word.

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Thoughts for Independence Day

art credit: dailybail.com

Thoughts to share with family and friends 

over the Independence Day weekend

It’s more than backyard barbecues and fireworks. From military.com: 

On July 4, 1776, the thirteen colonies claimed their independence from England, an event which eventually led to the formation of the United States. Each year on July 4th, also known as Independence Day, Americans celebrate this historic event.

Conflict between the colonies and England was already a year old when the colonies convened a Continental Congress in Philadelphia in the summer of 1776. In a June 7 session in the Pennsylvania State House (later Independence Hall), Richard Henry Lee of Virginia presented a resolution with the famous words: "Resolved: That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved."

Lee's words were the impetus for the drafting of a formal Declaration of Independence, although the resolution was not followed up on immediately. On June 11, consideration of the resolution was postponed by a vote of seven colonies to five, with New York abstaining. However, a Committee of Five was appointed to draft a statement presenting to the world the colonies' case for independence. Members of the Committee included John Adams of Massachusetts, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Robert R. Livingston of New York and Thomas Jefferson of Virginia. The task of drafting the actual document fell on Jefferson.

On July 1, 1776, the Continental Congress reconvened, and on the following day, the Lee Resolution for independence was adopted by 12 of the 13 colonies, New York not voting. Discussions of Jefferson's Declaration of Independence resulted in some minor changes, but the spirit of the document was unchanged. The process of revision continued through all of July 3 and into the late afternoon of July 4, when the Declaration was officially adopted. Of the 13 colonies, nine voted in favor of the Declaration, two -- Pennsylvania and South Carolina -- voted No, Delaware was undecided and New York abstained. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, signed the Declaration of Independence. It is said that John Hancock's signed his name "with a great flourish" so England's "King George can read that without spectacles!"

Today, the original copy of the Declaration is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and July 4 has been designated a national holiday to commemorate the day the United States laid down its claim to be a free and independent nation.

From Rush Limbaugh’s father, we learn what our Founding Fathers risked; this extract is always available at Rush’s website:  

Much To Lose

What kind of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who, by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown? To each of you, the names Franklin, Adams, Hancock and Jefferson are almost as familiar as household words. Most of us, however, know nothing of the other signers. Who were they? What happened to them?

I imagine that many of you are somewhat surprised at the names not there: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry. All were elsewhere.

Ben Franklin was the only really old man. Eighteen were under 40; three were in their 20s. Of the 56 almost half - 24 - were judges and lawyers. Eleven were merchants, nine were landowners and farmers, and the remaining 12 were doctors, ministers, and politicians.

With only a few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few men had in the 18th Century.

Each had more to lose from revolution than he had to gain by it. John Hancock, one of the richest men in America, already had a price of 500 pounds on his head. He signed in enormous letters so that his Majesty could now read his name without glasses and could now double the reward. Ben Franklin wryly noted: "Indeed we must all hang together, otherwise we shall most assuredly hang separately."

Fat Benjamin Harrison of Virginia told tiny Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts: "With me it will all be over in a minute, but you, you will be dancing on air an hour after I am gone."

These men knew what they risked. The penalty for treason was death by hanging. And remember, a great British fleet was already at anchor in New York Harbor.

They were sober men. There were no dreamy-eyed intellectuals or draft card burners here. They were far from hot-eyed fanatics yammering for an explosion. They simply asked for the status quo. It was change they resisted. It was equality with the mother country they desired. It was taxation with representation they sought. They were all conservatives, yet they rebelled.

It was principle, not property, that had brought these men to Philadelphia. Two of them became presidents of the United States. Seven of them became state governors. One died in office as vice president of the United States. Several would go on to be US Senators. One, the richest man in America, in 1828 founded the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. One, a delegate from Philadelphia, was the only real poet, musician and philosopher of the signers. (It was he, Francis Hopkinson not Betsy Ross who designed the United States flag.)

Richard Henry Lee, a delegate from Virginia, had introduced the resolution to adopt the Declaration of Independence in June of 1776. He was prophetic in his concluding remarks: "Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law.

"The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repost.

"If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American Legislatures of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens."

Though the resolution was formally adopted July 4, it was not until July 8 that two of the states authorized their delegates to sign, and it was not until August 2 that the signers met at Philadelphia to actually put their names to the Declaration.

William Ellery, delegate from Rhode Island, was curious to see the signers' faces as they committed this supreme act of personal courage. He saw some men sign quickly, "but in no face was he able to discern real fear." Stephan Hopkins, Ellery's colleague from Rhode Island, was a man past 60. As he signed with a shaking pen, he declared: "My hand trembles, but my heart does not."

"Most Glorious Service"

Even before the list was published, the British marked down every member of Congress suspected of having put his name to treason. All of them became the objects of vicious manhunts. Some were taken. Some, like Jefferson, had narrow escapes. All who had property or families near British strongholds suffered.

[Many harrowing stories of the signers are here.]

Lives, Fortunes, Honor

Of those 56 who signed the Declaration of Independence, nine died of wounds or hardships during the war. Five were captured and imprisoned, in each case with brutal treatment. Several lost wives, sons or entire families. One lost his 13 children. Two wives were brutally treated. All were at one time or another the victims of manhunts and driven from their homes. Twelve signers had their homes completely burned. Seventeen lost everything they owned. Yet not one defected or went back on his pledged word. Their honor, and the nation they sacrificed so much to create is still intact.

And, finally, there is the New Jersey signer, Abraham Clark.

He gave two sons to the officer corps in the Revolutionary Army. They were captured and sent to that infamous British prison hulk afloat in New York Harbor known as the hell ship Jersey, where 11,000 American captives were to die. The younger Clarks were treated with a special brutality because of their father. One was put in solitary and given no food. With the end almost in sight, with the war almost won, no one could have blamed Abraham Clark for acceding to the British request when they offered him his sons' lives if he would recant and come out for the King and Parliament. The utter despair in this man's heart, the anguish in his very soul, must reach out to each one of us down through 200 years with his answer: "No."

The 56 signers of the Declaration Of Independence proved by their every deed that they made no idle boast when they composed the most magnificent curtain line in history. "And for the support of this Declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Read the rest here.

Happy Independence Day!

art credit: roadtripsforfamilies.com (Roger Mastroianni photog)

Ohio Health Care Compact vote postponed

art credit: autoenrolment.org. 

Ohio Patriots: The Ohio Health Care Compact (HB 34) vote that was scheduled for yesterday (Tues., June 30) has been postponed. The vote will be re-scheduled most likely after the summer break. We'll send out updates in due course.

Meanwhile, thank you to all patriots who phoned or emailed legislators in Columbus earlier this week. Ultimately, support of the bill in the House looks good.

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