9th Circuit Court Says the Second Amendment Protects the Right to Carry a Gun in California

From Per Eugene Volokh at the Washinton Post …

So holds today’s Peruta v. County of San Diego (9th Cir. Feb. 13, 2014) (2-1 vote).

The court concludes that California’s broad limits on both open and concealed carry of loaded guns — with no “shall-issue” licensing regime that assures law-abiding adults of a right to get licenses, but only a “good cause” regime under which no license need be given — “impermissibly infringe  on the Second Amendment right to bear arms in lawful self-defense.”

This comes as quite a welcome surprise as the 9th Circuit Court is hardly considered conservative leaning in its rulings.

As the NRO opines, in other words the decision states that, one has the right to carry a gun. The state can elect to recognize this by permitting either “shall-issue” concealed-carry or “shall-issue” open carry, but it cannot restrict or prohibit both.

The FULL opinion can be read HERE.

Former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin Guity on 20 of 21 Counts of Bribery & Corruption Charges

Ray Nagin, the former Democrat Mayor of New Orleans (The Chocolate City) has been found guilty on 20 of 21 counts of bribery, fraud and corruption charges.

Ray Nagin, the former two-term mayor of New Orleans indicted after he left office, was convicted Wednesday of 20 federal corruption charges for illegal dealings with city vendors, dating back to 2004. A jury delivered its verdict just before 1 p.m., after six hours of deliberations that followed a nine-day trial.

Nagin, 57, joins a list of Louisiana elected officials convicted of misdeeds while in office, but he is New Orleans’ first mayor to be convicted of public corruption. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he could face a 20-year prison term, possibly more, lawyers have said

CNN:

Ray Nagin came into the mayor’s office in New Orleans as an avowed scourge of corruption and led the city through the worst disaster of its modern history.

He left a federal courthouse a convict Wednesday, after a jury found him guilty of taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and other favors from businessmen looking for a break from his administration. Of the 21 counts against him, he was convicted of 20.

“He got a lot of media attention as being a reformer, a non-politician, first run for office — a businessman who was going to come in and get it right,” said Pat Fanning, a veteran New Orleans lawyer and no fan of the former two-term mayor.

After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city in 2005, the onetime cable television executive would reassure people queasy about sending taxpayer money to a state with an epic history of corruption by telling them, “Google me. You’re not going to find any of that in my record,” Fanning said, quoting Nagin. “Well, Google him now.”

Nagin, who left office in 2010, had little to say as he left the courthouse Wednesday afternoon, telling reporters only, “I maintain my innocence.” A small knot of supporters yelled, “Keep your head up” and “He’s just a patsy,” CNN affiliate WDSU reported.

UPDATE I: Ray Nagin juror: Defense should have put on more evidence.

To the juror who wished that Nagin’s defense team had provided more evidence during the ex-New Orleans’ Mayor’s trial … the answer is, because they couldn’t.

A juror wished Ray Nagin’s defense attorney put on more evidence to help his client in the federal corruption case that ended with convictions on 20 counts that could send the former New Orleans mayor to prison for 20 years, possibly more.

Speaking outside the federal courthouse after the verdict was read, Lisa Hamaker, a juror from St. Tammany Parish who described herself as a “stay-at-home-mom,” said she wished defense attorney Robert Jenkins put on more evidence. Much of the prosecution’s case went unchallenged, she said

The Gateway Pundit has a list of the 20 charges that Nagin was found guilty.

Count 1: Conspiracy – Guilty
The charge: Creating, through a variety of bribes and kickbacks, “a scheme and artifice to defraud” the residents of New Orleans of his honest services as a public official. Many of the individual elements of this scheme make up the other 20 crimes with which Nagin was charged.
Maximum prison term: 5 years

Count 2: Bribery – Guilty
The charge: Accepting $60,000 from the three principals of Three Fold Consulting, an engineering firm, in exchange for special treatment.
Maximum prison term: 10 years

Count 3: Bribery – Guilty
The charge: Accepting a $2,500 bribe from Rodney Williams, a principal in Three Fold Consulting, in exchange for favorable treatment.
Maximum prison term: 10 years

Count 4: Bribery – Guilty
The charge: Accepting a shipment of granite from Frank Fradella’s company, Home Solutions, in exchange for favorable treatment.
Maximum prison term: 10 years

Read the rest here.

Democrats Courting the Felony Vote … Atty Gen. Eric Holder Urges States to Lift Bans on Felons’ Voting

Obama administration looks to get the “felon” vote …

Hmm, do you think those that would abduct and abuse a child the right to vote? Do you think child rapists should have the right to vote? Do you think that child murderers should have the right to vote? Do you think individuals who would partake in the human and sex trafficking of minors and adults should have the right to vote? Do you think an individual that would physically assault a woman, rape and molest a woman and murder a woman the right to vote? Barack Obama’s AG Eric Holder does. So who really has a war on woman and children?

Why would anyone want a man like convicted child rapist Eric Bradley  or anyone like him who had the ability to be paroled, a commuted sentence or serving time the right yo vote ever!!!

Convicted Child rapist Eric Bradly

Imagine this, Attorney General Eric Holder is urging states to lift bans on laws that make it illegal for felons to vote. Of course this has nothing to do with the studies that show that felons who have been denied the right to vote were far more likely to have voted for Democrats than for Republicans. Of course Holder has no authority to change such law as this is a State’s right to pass their own voting laws, but far be it from the Obama administration to over-extend their Constitutional authority. This request by Holder is most likely a non-starter and going nowhere, but that will not stop Holder and the Obama administration to use another issue to be divisive along racial lines. This is just more gutter politics from the Obama administration looking to scrape up any vote they can from the bottom of the barrel.

Really? We do not have voter ID laws in the United States to make sure that there is not voter fraud going on in elections, but instead Eric Holder wants to allow felons to vote after they have served their sentence. Truth be told, he probably would not care if they had the right to vote while they were serving time in prison. Its an Obama world.

Hmm, Holder wants felons to vote but thought the above NBPP thugs did nothing wrong with voter intimidation

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. called Tuesday for the repeal of laws that prohibit millions of felons from voting, underscoring the Obama administration’s determination to elevate issues of criminal justice and race in the president’s second term and create a lasting civil rights legacy.

In a speech at Georgetown University, Mr. Holder described today’s prohibitions — which in some cases bar those convicted from voting for life — as a vestige of the racist policies of the South after the Civil War, when states used the criminal justice system to keep blacks from fully participating in society.

“Those swept up in this system too often had their rights rescinded, their dignity diminished, and the full measure of their citizenship revoked for the rest of their lives,” Mr. Holder said. “They could not vote.”

Mr. Holder has no authority to enact the changes he called for, given that states establish the rules under which people can vote. And state Republican leaders made clear that Mr. Holder’s remarks, made to a receptive audience at a civil rights conference, would not move them.

Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. on Tuesday urged states to repeal laws that prohibit felons from voting, a move that would restore the right to vote to millions of people.

The call was mostly symbolic — Mr. Holder has no authority to enact these changes himself — but it marked the attorney general’s latest effort to eliminate laws that he says disproportionately keep minorities from the polls. “It is unwise, it is unjust, and it is not in keeping with our democratic values,” Mr. Holder said at civil rights conference at Georgetown University. These laws deserve to be not only reconsidered, but repealed.”

African-Americans represent more than a third of the estimated 5.8 million people who are prohibited from voting, according to the Sentencing Project, a research group that favors more liberal sentencing policies. And in Florida, Kentucky, and Virginia, more than one in five African-Americans has lost the right to vote.

Federal Prosecutors Will Seek the Death Penalty Against Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

FINALLY ATTORNEY GENERAL ERIC HOLDER GETS SOMETHING RIGHT, FEDS WILL SEEK DEATH PENALTY AGAINST DZHOKHAR TAARNAEV …

United States federal prosecutors will seek the death penalty against  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev for his role in the Boston Marathon bombing that took place on April 15, 2013 that left three dead and many more seriously injured losing limbs. U.S. attorney in Boston, Carmen Ortiz, said in a statement that prosecutors there supported the decision and that the “trial team is prepared to move forward.” It can’t come soon enough. If there was ever a case for the death penalty, this would be it. Let’s give Dzhokhar Tsarnaev his fair trial, let the jury deliberate and let’s hope that common sense prevails and he is found guilty and sentenced to death.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev better hope that Boston Red Sox’s Big Papi is not selected for jury duty …

The Justice Department announced Thursday that it would seek the death penalty against Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the 20-year-old man whom prosecutors have accused of bombing the Boston Marathon, killing three people and injuring more than 200 others.

“The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said in a short statement.

The U.S. attorney in Boston, Carmen Ortiz, said in a statement that prosecutors there supported the decision and that the “trial team is prepared to move forward.”

The case is in its early stages, and prosecutors could yet use the threat of death to strike a plea bargain with the young man and avoid a lengthy trial with bombing victims taking the stand to recount the attack.

Notice to seek the death penalty can be read HERE.

NOTICE OF INTENT TO SEEK THE DEATH PENALTY

The United States of America, by and through its undersigned counsel and pursuant to 18 U.S.C. §3593(a),notifies the Court and
Defendant DZHOKHAR TSARNAEV that the United States believes the circumstances of the offenses charged in Counts One through Ten
and Counts Twelve through Eighteen of the Indictment are such that, in the event of a conviction, a sentence of death is justified
under Chapter 228 (Sections 3591 through 3598) of Title 18 of the United States Code, and that the United States will seek the sentence
of death for these offenses. (more)

CNN has audio of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s mother reaction and for some reason decides to report on the news that  Dzhokhar’s mother thinks he is innocent of the Boston Marathon bombings and the murders that took place in the aftermath. CNN also then reported that many in southern Russia are distrustful of the US government’s case against  Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. I wonder why their ratings are waning?

The Indictment and Complaint can be read HERE, via LAWFARE.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) Hammers DOJ’s Eric Holder on Compromised Integrity of IRS Investigation

How could this not be considered a conflict of interest?

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) questioned Attorney General Eric Holder on the impartiality and conflict of interest in the IRS investigation of conservative groups and Tea Party organizations by the IRS. To data no one has been held accountable, even though President Obama and Holder both initially proclaimed their outrage. However, of all the attorneys in the Justice department, he managed to find one to lead the investigation that was a big Obama campaign donor. ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! What would happen if a Republican administration did the same? These folks are as corrupt as it gets.

“In the 280 days since that inspector general report, nobody has been indicted,” Cruz said. “Not a single person. In the 280 days since that inspector general report, it’s been publicly reported that no indictments are planned. Today in this hearing, you were unwilling to answer a question whether even a single victim of targeting has been interviewed.”

And, Cruz said, “most astonishingly, it has now been publicly reported that the lead lawyer heading the investigation was, No. 1, appointed from the civil rights division, which has historically been the most politically charged division in the Dept. of Justice. And even more astonishingly, is a major Democratic donor and donor to President Obama.”

Hmm, what does the Obama administration and IRS have to hide … I thought this was supposed to be the most transparent presidency ever? Time to appoint an independent prosecutor. Where is the MSM reporting this abuse of power?

The Blaze:

Attorney General Eric Holder had a long day on Wednesday. He clashed with a number of no-nonsense lawmakers during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee, including Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Cruz pressed Holder on the Justice Department’s investigation into the IRS targeting scandal, calling the results of the probe “astonishing.”

“In my view, the integrity of the Department of Justice has been severely compromised,” Cruz told Holder. “Predecessors of yours in both parties, Democrat and Republican, when faced with serious charges of abuse of power for partisan gain have made the right decision and appointed special prosecutors.”

“I would call upon you to carry out the tradition of independence that attorneys general have honored that office with for centuries and protect the integrity of the Department of Justice,” he later added. “Given the political sensitivities, given the fact that individual citizens believe they are being persecuted by the federal government for partisan reasons.”

Full VIDEO fron CSPAN can be seen HERE.