Tag Archives: The IRS

Bill Lockwood: Former Army Officers Laying Groundwork for a Military Coup against Trump? 4 (2)

Posted on by Leave a comment

by Bill Lockwood

“If Donald Trump refuses to leave office at the expiration of his constitutional term, the United States military must remove him by force …” “the one-unthinkable scenario of authoritarian rule in the United States is now a very real possibility.” The “clock will strike 12:01 PM, January 20, 2021, and Donald Trump will be sitting in the Oval Office.” So write two retired Army officers, John Nagl and Paul Yingling, to General Alexander Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to a news release of defenseone.com.

“The street protests will inevitably swell outside the White House, and the ranks of Trump’s private army will grow inside its grounds. The speaker of the House will declare the Trump presidency at an end, and direct the Secret Service and Federal Marshals to remove Trump from the premises. These agents will realize that they are outmanned and outgunned by Trump’s private army, and the moment of decision will arrive.”

Nagl and Yingling suggest that “U.S. military forces escort the former president from the White House grounds” while urging the senior officer of the United States that his “duty is to give unambiguous orders directing U.S. military forces to support the Constitutional transfer of power.”

America is not only seeing the systematic demonization of law enforcement by the Democratic Party, the gutting of police forces throughout the nation, but now an organized effort is already in the works to legitimize a military coup against President Donald Trump.

Yingling & Nagl

Both Yingling and Nagl are retired Lt. Col.’s from the Army. Yingling fought in the Gulf War and has been deployed to Bosnia. He later earned a degree in international relations from the University of Chicago and taught at West Point. Nagl is a Rhodes scholar from Oxford University, a former instructor at West Point, and is currently the headmaster of The Haverford School for young men in Haveford, PA.

Their letter is addressed to General Mark A. Milley, U.S. Army general and current the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Using the Socialist/Democratic playbook of fearmongering in order to manipulate the public, the retired officers raise the specter of president Donald Trump refusing to leave the White House. “We do not live in ordinary times,” they warn. President Trump “is actively subverting our electoral system, threatening to remain in office in defiance of our Constitution.”

This dire admonition is due to the fact that Trump has questioned the integrity of an election based upon mail-in voting, for which the Democrats are now pressing. However, it was House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY) who warned in 2004 that paper ballots are “extremely susceptible to fraud.” Now that Trump issues the identical warning it is taken as a secret plot to remain in the White House despite an election. The legs of the lame are not equal.

Trashing the Constitution?

The Army officers worry about Trump ignoring the Constitution. Where were Yingling and Nagl as President Obama single-handedly shredded the Constitution with scores of unconstitutional actions such as the 2011 Invasion of Libya without congressional approval; the unconstitutional full-court press for ObamaCare built upon the grand public lie that “if you like your doctor you can keep your doctor”; the vicious targeting of Tea Parties by the IRS; the inauguration of public policy called DACA for illegals– solely from Obama’s hand, plus the issuing of work and residence permits despite Congress’ lack of movement on the topic; or Obama’s EPA Cap and Trade orders in 2015 which set limits on carbon dioxide emissions which Congress had specifically rejected in 2009; and a host of other dictatorship actions?

The imperial presidency of Barack Obama did not bother the Army commanders as much as that Trump has expressed concerns with mail-in voting. “Mr. Trump may refuse to leave office,” they gravely warn.

Once again, gentlemen, that was President Obama, whose socialist comrades in Congress supported a repeal of the 22nd Amendment—the removal of the two-term limit set on presidents. This striking move was offered by NY Rep. Jose Serrano in order to allow the dictatorial presidency of Obama to continue.

Yingling and Nagl even wring their hands that to solidify Trump’s unconstitutional stay in the White House, the president has raised a “private army” of “little green men” that will have to step aside for a “good morning’s work for a brigade of the 82nd Airborne.” If the US military remains “inert” the “Constitution dies.”

Once more, Yingling and Nagl have been firing their weapons in the wrong direction on the range. It was former President Obama, while campaigning in July 2008, who ominously called for a national police force.

“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives that we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well funded.” That was no problem with these veterans. But the fiction of a private army of “little green men” that will have to be swept aside by military force is a real possibility.

It is difficult to imagine a greater danger to the Republic of the United States that rogue commanders such as Nagl and Yingling actually floating ideas to the Joint Chiefs of Staff against President Trump. They are evidently laying the groundwork for a military coup against him and should be disciplined in military court. Instead, they will receive backing from the Democrats.

It is a later hour than one might think.

American Division, Class Struggle and the Progressive Income Tax 0 (0)

Posted on by Leave a comment
American Division, Class Struggle and the Progressive Income Tax – “What has happened to us? Why has partisan animosity replaced thoughtful discussion and debate?”

by Bill Lockwood

America is arguably more divided now than ever in its history. Cleavages exist between races; whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, Pacific Islanders, American Indians; between political parties, Democrat versus Republican; between classes rich and poor, middle class supporting the welfare class.  We are daily fed a diet of radical divides between the police and minority communities; even variances between Californians, some of which are ready to splinter off and form their own state and others who are prepared to join Mexico again. Multiculturalists in the universities commonly celebrate foreign cultures while denigrating Americanism. The states are becoming even more balkanized than during the Civil War in which north and south soldiers still respected each other on the battlefield.

What has happened to us? Why has partisan animosity replaced thoughtful discussion and debate? Why is it that everyone who differs from me becomes either a xenophobe, homophobe, Islamaphobe, or some other phobe? Besides the obvious fact that our culture has retreated from God–which lies at the heart of our division–is the “class struggle” sponsored by Marxist philosophy. Deep wedges are being driven into our once-peaceful culture.

Anti-communist researcher James D. Bales wrote, “Class struggle is such an essential part of the Marxian philosophy that one cannot abandon it without abandoning Marxism.” A summary of Karl Marx’s views indicates that a class is made up of a group of individuals who sustain the same relationship to the ownership or the non-ownership of the means of production. The two basic classes are those who own the means of production and distribution (the bourgeois) and those who do not (proletariat).

Friedrich Engels, Marx’s partner in crime, explained that the great lever to effect social change is to divide society along “political, religious, philosophical or some other ideological” class. In this way, by driving these wedges, Marx produced the collision in society necessary for socialism. It is without argument that Marx’s class struggle has become tremendously successful in America. But how did these wedges get a foothold among our once united people?

The Income Tax

Granted, many divisions are natural, such as between races. But the primary method of exacerbating these natural divides and creating more class division is the Income Tax. Karl Marx knew this, therefore, after the abolition of private property, Marx’s second plank is: a “heavy, progressive income tax.”

Our founding fathers knew the dangers of progressive taxation as well. They warned against it, even writing into the Constitution: “All duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States” (Art. 1.8). But the so-called “Progressives” (read, socialists), taking their cues from Karl Marx instead of James Madison and Thomas Jefferson, inaugurated the Progressive Income Tax in 1913. America has been in the throes of class struggle ever since.

Some History

Twenty years prior to the infamous Income Tax of 1913, as Progressivism began to take hold, Congress had experimented with another income tax (1894) that was designed to tax only the top 2% of wealth holders. The Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional (Burton Fulsom, Founders on Taxation).

Stephen Field, a veteran of 30 years on the Court, was outraged that Congress would pass a bill to tax a small voting bloc and exempt the larger group of voter. At age 77, Field not only repudiated Congress’s actions he also penned a prophecy. A small progressive tax, he predicted, ‘will be but a stepping stone to others, larger and more sweeping, till our political contests will become a war of the poor against the rich.’

This is exactly what occurred. Under the influence of the Progressives at the turn of the last century liberal Republicans and Democrats both crafted bills in Congress designed to “soak the rich.” Conservatives who blocked the unconstitutional idea were labeled as favoring “the part of the rich.”

Class warfare had begun in earnest. Uniform taxation was a thing of the past and along with it equal protection under the law. The government, by nature, now became the aggressor to shake down the little man. By the time of Franklin Roosevelt votes were being bought and sold by means of the IRS code while on the flip side Roosevelt’s opponents were subjected to IRS investigations and continual government harassment.

Elliot Roosevelt, the president’s son, stated in 1975 that “my father may have been the originator of the concept of employing the IRS as a weapon of political retribution.” As Burton Fulsom points out, Elliot added, “each of his successors followed his lead.”

What is the point of this history? Barack Obama’s employment of the IRS to target conservatives while Lois Lerner headed the Exempt Organizations Unit is nothing new. Obama was featured on a major magazine as Roosevelt himself. Now other government agencies, including the entire Justice Department, is being revealed as a partisan player in power politics. Witness the disgrace of James Comey and the leadership of the FBI.

James Madison was right all along. “The spirit of party and faction” would prevail entirely in the United States if Congress could tax one group of citizens and confer benefits on another group. Our social unrest will continue until the Income Tax is repealed.

Free Market Pulpit 0 (0)

Posted on by Leave a comment

Free Market Pulpit

by Bill Lockwood

When the British first landed in New York during the Revolutionary War, their first order of business was to burn down one half of the churches. The obvious reason was that the pulpits of America were, in the words of Alexis de Tocqueville, ‘ablaze with righteousness’ to free us from the British oppressor. The Frenchman would say, “Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it must nevertheless be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of free institutions.” Or, as stated in the sacred text, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”

But many pulpits today have lost that spirited edge. However, it is more than the “spirited edge” that has been destroyed. It is FREEDOM of SPEECH. As the federal government nanny state curtailed what can and cannot be spoken in the churches, many Christian communities simply grow accustomed to receiving their marching orders from Uncle Sam. In place of a “Free Market Pulpit,” we have now a manipulated lectern. Instead of blazing righteousness against Obama’s trans-sexual bathroom edict, they remain silent.

How Did This Occur?

The year was 1954. Lyndon Johnson was in the Senate, having been first elected in 1948. Conservative and liberal historians agree that his election to the Senate had been won by massive voter fraud. He had won by only “87” votes. Coke Stevenson, his opponent, had challenged his election even showing evidence that hundreds of votes had been faked. With court injunctions Johnson blocked Stevenson’s efforts. Now in 1954 the liberal Johnson was being hammered by anti-communist groups, which in those day, were frequently directed by informed preachers.

Johnson therefore retaliated by pushing through Congress language into the IRS code that prohibited non-profit organizations, including churches, from actively participating in political elections. Conservative churches in Texas had been a thorn in the side to Johnson. Now he had his gag order in place. This in spite of the fact that the First Amendment clearly states, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech …” Thumbing their nose at the Constitution, a compliant Congress went along with devious Johnson on this removal of First Amendment protection of rights.

What Shall We Say To These Things?

First, as stated above, it is a blatant violation of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. Americans have for too long been complacent about this matter. Consider the words of IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson at the City Club of Cleveland, Ohio on February 24, 2006. “Freedom of speech and religious liberty are essential elements of our democracy. But the Supreme Court has in essence held that tax exemption is a privilege, not a right, stating, ‘Congress has not violated [an organization’s] First Amendment rights by declining to subsidize its First Amendment activities.’”

In other words, the tax code extends “privileges” not “rights” by means of exemption. And, extending or removing this exemption status is reward or punishment for speech, clear and simple. Thus, churches operate under threat of punishment for “political” speech or activity. Note Everson’s language: “Freedom of speech and religious liberty are essential elements ….BUT…” A clear signal that liberty is lost. Just as the government holds hostage various states by means of federal money extracted by heavy taxation it also threatens churches with its tax code.

This is the problem with BIG government that transgresses its assigned Constitutional role. It takes in hand to decide what it will and will not allow. In this case it is free speech that is hampered. Just who is to decide if pulpit speech is “political” or not? Will preaching against abortion be considered political? Many liberal politicians think that is exactly what is taking place when they hear sermons against killing the unborn. Will preaching against the sin of homosexuality be penalized as that lifestyle choice is now becoming “protected” by government manipulation? American Christians should be galvanized into resistance against the government sitting in the seat of Herod deciding what teaching may issue forth from our churches. Curtailing FREEDOM is what is occurring.

Second, many church-goers perhaps agree with the IRS that churches should not be mentioning political issues from the pulpit. But that again gets into the question as to who defines what is political? The main issue here is that America was founded upon freedom of the marketplace, and that includes the marketplace of ideas, religion included. What if worshippers do not appreciate what is being preached in a particular church? They have the option, just as in the economic realm, to go elsewhere. Purchase a different product; go elsewhere to worship—find a teacher more to their liking.

How did churches manage to maintain their integrity prior to the Johnson Amendment of 1954? Without Big Brother Government watching out for the churches it is a wonder that churches survived. Policing the pulpit is all for our own good, we are told.

Third, where is the IRS in monitoring the National Council of Churches as they propagate their radical socialistic agenda, even supporting President Obama’s nationalized health care? Where are the G-men from Washington, D.C. curtailing the Green Agenda as is espoused by the false theologians at the NCC? It is amazing to witness the blatant double-standard at play here. Only conservative churches seem to be singled out—such as are opposed to the socialistic agenda issuing forth from Washington.

Preachers have not only a Constitutional right to address issues of the day in their churches, but an obligation to do so. This includes speaking out boldly pertaining to the behavior of elected officials or their ungodly policies. If we believe in the Free Market idea of the economy, and we do, we need also to uphold the Free Market concept of the Pulpit. Church-goers are adults who have the right to support or shun the pulpit of their choice without government watchdogs overseeing all of the flocks.

Back To Homepage