Charlottesville’s Mayor claimed Thursday that he and other members of the city council “were not given the security plan for August 12,” which was developed and closely held by the City Manager, the Police Chief, and the Fire Chief.

Mayor Mike Signer’s Facebook statement about city preparations in Charlottesville prior to the brawls between self-described white supremacists, white nationalists, and progressive street groups said:

I asked the Police Chief what I could do to be helpful during that day as Mayor, he answered, ‘Stay out of my way.’ Despite repeated requests, I was not allowed into the City’s Command Center (run by City staff) and was instead asked to be in the Emergency Operations Center (where fire, rescue, and other stakeholders were monitoring the situation).

Signer revealed the political motivations behind the City of Charlottesville’s actions leading up to the August 12 “Unite the Right” rally in Emancipation Park:

Understanding from our staff and other experts that the state of our law regarding these events meant that any attempt to cancel the rally would certainly have been shut down in court, I spent dozens of hours conferring with lawyers, law professors, staff, other mayors, security professionals, and other experts to develop another option.

That option was to move the event to a more spacious location where there could have been substantial “green field” between the protesters and counter protesters. After reviewing all locations in the City with the City Manager, the best option was McIntire Park. In the weeks leading up to August 12, I advocated for McIntire Park, including extensive discussions with my colleagues and staff. I successfully led the drive to hire an outside law firm to advise the City Manager and Police Chief on how such a plan could be developed on the strongest legal grounds.

Despite these efforts, the state of First Amendment law regarding these events is badly antiquated. We saw what happened. After the City Manager and Police Chief announced their decision that the rally would be relocated to a safer location—relying principally on the advice from our attorneys that the size of the event was the most “content-neutral” grounds for moving it—Jason Kessler immediately stated he would not respect the decision: that he would still head with his people to Emancipation Park. We were then sued by the Virginia ACLU and the Rutherford Institute. And a federal judge ruled against our decision on Friday night, just as we had feared.

Maurice Jones was named the City Manager in 2010, and Al Thomas was named the Police Chief in 2016.

Signer declared in January that Charlottesville would become a “capital of resistance” to recently inaugurated President Donald Trump.

On the morning of August 12, the groups from both factions clashed early as the white supremacists/white nationalists pushed their way through a human barrier of progressive protesters — which assembled under a street barrier declaring “Diversity Makes Us Stronger”  — and then got themselves into the park.

The rally was legally permitted to begin at noon on August 12, but Governor Terry McAuliffe ordered it shut down at 11:22 a.m. The City of Charlottesville Police Department tweeted out and posted on Facebook at 11:35 a.m. that “unlawful assembly had been declared at the rally.”

The Virginia State Police then pushed the “Unite the Right” rally out of Emancipation Park, and into the large crowd of counter protesters gathered in the street at the south entrance of the park. The violence between the two groups spread as a long line of white-power groups walked back through the gauntlet of progressives and away from the park.

At about 1:42 pm, a Dodge car drove into a crowd of counter protesters, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer. “The driver of the Dodge, James A. Fields, Jr., 20, of Maumee, Ohio, was taken into custody and charged with one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of hit-and-run,” the City of Charlottesville reported.

Before the riot, “during that week [from August 7 to August 12], City Council was under firm instructions not to speak about the rally at all, except to refer to its size,” Signer wrote:

For a public looking for condemnation of groups like the KKK and Nazis, this was very frustrating. It was frustrating for me, too. But if we had spoken out against the content of the speech that was coming to Charlottesville—against its bigotry and hatred—it would have made it even more likely that a judge would have found the removal decision to be “content-based.”

So we were muzzled. And it didn’t even make a difference, because in the tragic decision issued at 9:30 on Friday night, the federal judge still cited prior statements I had made about the bigotry and hate coming to our loving town. Our public statements of our feelings about this evil were held against us.

I hope this has explained some of what City Council can and cannot do. Where City Council does have a role, though, is in accountability. The City Manager works at our pleasure, and he is responsible for the staff under his command, in our form of government.

That is why we have called for an independent review of all decisions related not only to August 12, but the July 8 KKK rally and the prior torch-lit rally at Emancipation Park. This review will also include recommendations of reforms and new policies going forward. This process will require care and diligence, and will take skilled professionals 2-3 months. I expect the review to be announced shortly.

Signer explained that “this is why City Council deemed it necessary to hold an emergency closed session today with the City Manager to discuss personnel matters.”

“The events on August 12 have raised serious questions about the City’s handling of security, communications, and governance. These are questions Council can and should ask as the ultimate authority over the City Manager in our form of government, and we are starting that process today,” Signer concluded.

Last Wednesday, Breitbart News reported on the timeline of events leading up to the declaration of unlawful assembly at the Emancipation Park rally on August 12, and Signer’s statement confirms many of the details reported in that story.

Last Thursday, Breitbart News reported that Virginia Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran told Richmond radio talk show host Jeff Katz that Governor McAuliffe “made the decision . . . to shut things down” at the Emancipation Park rally at 11:22 am on August 12. Signer’s statement also confirms many of the details reported in that story.

You can read Signer’s full statement on his Facebook page below:

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The American Bar Association just proved that it cares less about the rights of Americans than it cares about the liberal agenda on gun control.

In a single move, the ABA made an overt attempt to cut Second Amendment rights during its 2017 annual meeting held Aug. 10-13. The ABA adopted a resolution to urge “state, local, territorial, and tribal governments to enact statutes, rules, or regulations authorizing courts to issue gun violence restraining orders, including ex parte orders.”

Cutting away the legal talk, that can be summed up in one word: Confiscation.

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As the NRA Institute for Legislative Action explains, “Gun violence restraining orders force a gun owner to surrender their firearms to law enforcement, or authorize law enforcement to seize said firearms, absent a disqualifying criminal conviction.

“NRA has opposed such legislation where introduced because such orders diminish the due process afforded an individual before they are stripped of their Second Amendment rights, and because of these orders’ obvious potential for abuse.”

To be clear, the ABA has decided that the government snatching guns without due process is acceptable under certain conditions.

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And if the history of American liberalism is a reliable guide, once certain conditions are OK for government exaction, it’s only a matter of time before those conditions expand.

For now, here’s what the ABA sees as appropriate for such horrendous legislation according to the revised copy of its resolution:

1. “That a person (a “petitioner”) with documented evidence that another person (a “respondent”) poses a serious threat to himself or herself or others may petition a court for an order temporarily suspending the respondent’s possession of a firearm or ammunition;

2. “That there shall be a verifiable procedure to ensure the surrender of firearms and ammunition pursuant to the court order; and

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3. “That the issuance of the gun violence restraining order shall be reported to appropriate state or federal databases in order to prevent respondent from passing a background check required to purchase a firearm or obtain a firearm license or permit while restraining order is in effect.”

So, all someone — anyone apparently — needs to do is document that a gun owner is, according to some evidence, a danger to society and/or self, send it to the court, and then BAM! The court has the right to strip you of your freedoms.

There’s no due process, here — can you see how egregiously this could be abused?

The American Bar Association does not have power of its own, not really — but it does have some serious influence.

Our rights are constantly under attack by the left — whether it’s overt or not. This resolution of insanity is one of the worst assaults on your rights you have.

Without the NRA, we might never have heard of it.

H/T Young Conservatives

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Boxing hero and Grillmaster General George Foreman is setting himself up as a champion of American patriotism by calling out NFL star wannabe Colin Kaepernick and NBA athlete Kevin Durant over their anti-patriotic attitudes and disrespect for President Donald Trump.

Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, is infamous for his behavior, kneeling during the national anthem and not voting. Durant, the Golden State Warriors basketball star, has said that if the NBA champion Warriors are invited to the White House, he would not go because of his dislike Trump.

“I don’t respect who’s in office right now,” Durant said, according to Fox News.

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Foreman has some pretty strong opinions on this country and why Kaepernick and Durant behave the way they do, which he shared on Monday’s podcast of “Offended America.”

“I love the United States,” Foreman said, according to a transcript provided by Fox News. “They (Kevin Durant and Colin Kaepernick) haven’t been brought up with people who were patriotic.”

“A lot of people died so that they can have that privilege,” Foreman said.

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What’s perhaps the most frustrating of all of the things that these guys have said and done is the fact that Kaepernick didn’t vote.

Do you know how many people in this country died for freedom in this country? It’s enough that Kaepernick should be ashamed.

Foreman also noted that some of his patriotism came from the time in which he was so active — he went and competed in the Olympics in 1968.

“We came in the era we were patriotic. The greatest day of my life was when I put on the colors, representing the United States,” he said.

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Maybe Kaepernick and Durant could learn a thing or two from Foreman. Well, they definitely could. They just won’t.

The left has got it in their heads that patriotism and the anthem are not in vogue, and they couldn’t be more wrong.

H/T Sarah Palin

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