NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT
"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams
In the sixty-four-page order, Judge Jeff Weill not only calls for a new election but also finds evidence of fraud and criminal activity, in how absentee ballots were handled, how votes were counted, and the actions by some at the polling place.
In his ruling, the judge said that sixty-six of eighty-four absentee ballots cast in the June runoff were not valid and should never have been counted. Nicholas Holliday was declared the winner by a 37 vote margin. Robert Devaull challenged the results in court.
Judge Weill found many irregularities with absentee ballots. He issued a bench warrant for notary Dallas Jones, who notarized absentee ballots. During a hearing, Jones admitted violating notary duties.
“When you have an absentee ballot, there’s an envelope, you vote, fold the ballot, put it in an envelope, lick the flap, sign across the flap, then notary signs your election certificate, she testified that she didn’t sign in front of anybody, didn’t see anybody sign it, she just notarized it, just stamped them,” said Lydia Quarles, attorney for Robert Devaull.
It is amazing how many Republican Governors eagerly stuffed the Bill of Rights down the garbage disposal and put millions under martial law house arrest.
(Newswars) - Hosting a holiday party in Aberdeen, Mississippi, this year could result in a hefty fine, or worse, end up on the police department’s naughty list.
While there was no mention of possible arrest for breaking the new public health orders to limit gatherings, this certainty suggests draconian measures are being implemented that could jeopardize Christmas.
According to Townhall, in a shocking Facebook post on Wednesday, the Aberdeen Police Department (APD) said they would enforce a mandate from the governor’s office regarding public health orders surrounding gatherings.
We are now under a mandate that has been set by the GOP governor’s office that will be enforced.
The mandate says 10 people on the inside and 50 on the outside.
If you scheduled events, please start making provisions to cancel them if they are going to be on the inside. Please don’t try and figure out how you can get around it because the fine will take the majority of your profit. -APD wrote in the Facebook post.
APD continued and said the new “curfew” begins Monday and will be applied from “11:00 p.m. – 4:00 a.m. attitudes and cussing will be giving a citation for disorderly conduct and possibly a vehicle being towed so heed the warning.”
And here it is: “As far as Christmas parties, pop-up shops, card games, any social gatherings that exceed 10 people, we will be writing the tickets. We ask that you follow the mandate.”
Dozens of people were shocked; some were outraged:
“Wow, I thought this was a joke when I saw it. Sounds like 1984 come true. Complete abuse of power,” wrote one resident.
“This is a disgrace that this is happening in Mississippi,” one irate resident wrote. “I’m pro-police. I back the blue. Until you overstep your boundaries. And this post is blatant tyranny. If you want citizens’ support, I’d suggest more professionalism and knowledge on the law.”
Another said: “Glad I don’t live here. This is awful and probably illegal and unconstitutional.”
The attempt to cancel Christmas appears to be nationwide, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said this past week with coronavirus cases surging and hospitalizations rising, people should “seriously consider” minimizing their travel plans over the Christmas holiday season.
A nation of fucking pussy snowflakes who never want to feel "uncomfortable"
(Sun Herald) - The Biloxi School District got complaints about the wording in “To Kill A Mockingbird” — an American classic being taught in 8th grade English Language Arts classes — and pulled it from the curriculum.
It was an administrative and department decision, a member of the school board said, and not something that the school board voted on. It happened Wednesday or Thursday.
Kenny Holloway, vice president of the Biloxi School Board said, “There were complaints about it. There is some language in the book that makes people uncomfortable, and we can teach the same lesson with other books.
When asked Thursday morning if the book had been pulled from the course, Superintendent Arthur McMillan issued a statement five hours later that said: “There are many resources and materials that are available to teach state academic standards to our students. These resources may change periodically. We always strive to do what is best for our students and staff to continue to perform at the highest level.”
McMillan did not answer any questions on the issue.
Sun Herald received a email from a concerned reader who said the decision was made “mid-lesson plan, the students will not be allowed to finish the reading of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ .... due to the use of the ‘N’ word.”
The reader said, “I think it is one of the most disturbing examples of censorship I have ever heard, in that the themes in the story humanize all people regardless of their social status, education level, intellect, and of course, race. It would be difficult to find a time when it was more relevant than in days like these.”
The current themes for 2nd term language arts classes in Biloxi this year are the Golden Rule and taking a stand. With “To Kill A Mockingbird” specifically, the teens were slated to learn that compassion and empathy are not dependent upon race or education, according to the school’s website.
Thank God real men were alive to defend us against Hitler and Imperial Japan. Today America's youth need "safe spaces" from the evil of bananas.
With little else to worry about, University of Mississippi students attending a Greek Life retreat this past weekend were traumatized by the sight of a banana peel on a tree. . . . .
McNeil said that around noon on Saturday, she was walking with friends to their group session across camp when one of her sorority sisters pointed at a tree 15 feet away. She said that about six feet up the tree’s trunk sat a lone, fresh-looking banana peel.
“It was so strange and surreal to see it there,” McNeil said. “We were all just sort of paranoid for a second.”
She said the image was especially disturbing in light of an incident on American University’s campus in May of this year. The morning Taylor Dumpson was to take over as the school’s first female black student government president, students found bananas hanging from nooses across campus. Some of the bananas were inscribed with references to Dumpson’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha.
“That, to me, was a slap in the face to see that banana hanging in a tree after talking about the personal truths of our campus,” McNeil said.
McNeil said that by lunchtime, people throughout the camp knew about the incident. As lunch rolled into the afternoon discussion group, the banana peel dominated chatter. That afternoon’s group discussion session served as an open forum on the incident.
“As the staff member responsible for the wellbeing of our community, I felt it was imperative to provide space immediately to students affected by this incident to allow them an opportunity to voice their pain and concern,” Arndt wrote in her statement.
Question of the day - Why it is legal to breed in Mississippi? and why do they elect complete retards to office?
(CNS News) - Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) wondered aloud on Thursday why President Obama hasn't instructed the U.S. military to prevent civilian deaths in Syria "by taking out" Syrian President Bashar Assad's air force. "We have not declared war on the Syrian regime, Senator," Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford replied.
"You're not saying it would take a congressional declaration of war to take that action?" Wicker asked Dunford at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee. "I think it would take the president directing us to do that, Senator," Dunford said. Congress has never declared war -- a power bestowed by the Constitution -- against the Islamic State terrorists that President Obama has promised to "degrade and defeat." Nor has Congress authorized military action specifically against ISIS/ISIL in Iraq and Syria, as the 1973 War Powers Resolution requires.
Notes From The Police State - The nation gaped at the sight of a military-grade Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle trundling through Ferguson, but it turns out that was relatively restrained policing.
Relative, that is, to San Diego, where police will use a similar steel behemoth for the city’s schools. .
The San Diego Unified School District Police Department has acquired its own vehicle, known as a MRAP, and expect it to be operational by October.
“I can totally see people thinking ‘Oh, my God. Are they going to be rolling armored vehicles into our schools and what the hell’s going on?’” Captain Joe Florentino told local media reports The Guardian.
Police intended to use it to rescue children – be it from rampaging gunmen or natural disasters, he said. “When we have an emergency at a school, we’ve got to get in and save kids.”
An entire classroom of 30 to 40 elementary students could be evacuated “during every trip into a danger zone”, said Florentino. “Our idea is: ‘How can we get in and pull out a classroom at a time of kids if there’s an active shooter? If there’s a fire (or) if there’s an earthquake, can we rip down a wall?’ Stuff like that.”
Military hardware for police use was on display at last week’s Urban Shield trade show, an annual gathering in Oakland, but in the wake of this summer’s riots in Ferguson, Missouri, there are signs of backlash.
Veterans Are Reason For Police Militarization
Mississippi Cops are Armoring Up The acquisition of military-grade armored vehicles from federal surplus by Mississippi law enforcement agencies might appear tone-deaf at a time when the nation is starting an overdue conversation on the militarization of police. . The two sheriffs in Mississippi who are beefing up their vehicle fleets with armored vehicles say they’re doing so to protect the officers under their command and are saving the taxpayers money by acquiring quality vehicles at little or no cost. They say the vehicles, designed to protect military troops from improvised explosive devices and mines, can shield their officers from even the most high-level threats. . “I know an MRAP is overkill for public law enforcement, but I know that I don’t have to worry about anything in Rankin County penetrating it,” said Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, whose department has applied to receive one of the surplus Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles via the Department of Defense 1033 program. . (Mississippi Watchdog.org)
"A standing army, however necessary it may be at some times, is always dangerous to the liberties of the people. Such power should be watched with a jealous eye."
I thought Sean Hannity was going to piss himself on live radio when reports came out that Blacks in Mississippi voted for a Conservative Republican Senator in the primary. Gee, I thought we wanted African Americans to vote Republican.
Thad Cockran is not exactly a flaming liberal. He has a 79% American Conservative Union rating for 2013. Compare that to Harry Reid's 16% ACU rating.
Maybe Republicans should look on this as an opportunity to grow the party.
Senator Thad Cochran (R., Miss.) needs to reward the black voters who crossed party lines to support him in his runoff against tea party challenger Chris McDaniel by backing some concrete policy initiatives, according the the state’s only member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“We have historically black colleges in our state who do the best job they can trying to educate our citizens,” Representative Bennie G. Thompson told National Review Online during a Wednesday interview at the Capitol. ”I’d like to see efforts that they receive full funding. I’d like to see the health care of our citizens improved; our children die too young. I’d like to see an increased effort to make sure that the minority unemployment rate inn our state is reduced. So, there are a lot of opportunities for us to start with.”
Thompson said that it wasn’t difficult for Cochran to rally black voters against McDaniel. “I don’t know anybody black who likes the Tea Party. So, if a tea-party person is running against another Republican and you ask a black person, they’re going to support the regular Republican,” he said.
“Their platform is counter to a lot of the beliefs of many African Americans. We think there is a place in government to make the lives of its citizens better; that there is a place in government to make sure that education, health care, and other things are available to all citizens. So, that’s a reasonable expectation of government. But this ‘limited government’ and other things that you hear from a lot of tea-party candidates does not resonate well with the black community.”
Congressman John R. Lynch Republican, Mississippi Major, United States Army Served tours in Cuba and the Philippines. . In the 19th century the GOP stood up for the Civil Rights of African Americans and was rewarded with the vast majority of their votes. Maybe if there was less Republican bitching and more genuine reaching out then the Democrat lock on the Black vote could be broken. . John Roy Lynch (September 10, 1847 – November 2, 1939) was born into slavery, he became free in 1863. In 1873 he was elected as the first African-AmericanSpeaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives. During Reconstruction after the American Civil War, he was among the first generation of African Americans elected to the U.S House of Representatives, serving 1874-1877 and again in the 1880s. . In 1876 the Democratic Party of Mississippi contested Lynch's third-term election; for years, elections in the state were increasingly accompanied by violence and fraud as Democrats worked to regain political power. Since 1874, the Red Shirts, a white paramilitary group active on behalf of the Democratic Party, had worked openly to intimidate and suppress black voting, assassinating blacks and running Republican officers out of town. . By then Congress was dominated by Democrats, and the Elections Committee ruled against Lynch in this contest. As a result of a national compromise, in 1877 the federal government withdrew its troops from the South, and Reconstruction was considered ended. The Democrats had taken control of the state legislature. . In 1880 Lynch ran against the Democrat James R. Chalmers, and contested the Democrat's declaration of victory. Lynch fought for a year and was awarded the seat by Congress in 1882. The next election was close, leaving him little time to campaign. Lynch lost re-election in 1882 by 600 votes. . Lynch served as a member of the Republican National Committee for Mississippi from 1884 to 1889. In 1884, future President Theodore Roosevelt made a moving speech by which he nominated Lynch as Temporary Chairman of the 1884 Republican National Convention in Chicago, Illinois. Lynch was the first African American to chair the Convention. . See more John R. Lynch
Black Republican Leaders, 1875 Many of the newly enfranchised Southern black men now formed "Black and Tan" clubs, which along with similar organizations like the Union League, helped to institutionally tie these voters to the Republican Party.
No matter which side you support we increasingly see outside interest groups buying seats in Congress.
By Gary;
GOP Establishment Senator Thad Cochran narrowly survived the toughest election of his four-decade political career, holding off an insurgent tea party challenge from state Sen. Chris McDaniel in Tuesday night’s runoff.
Cochran beat McDaniel 50.9 percent to 49.1 percent.
The corrupt Washington D.C. Elites were not to be caught napping by the Tea Party.
Total spending in the Thad Cochran-Chris McDaniel GOP primary battle has reached at least $17.4 million, most of it from super PACs and other outside groups.
The Cochran campaign had raised about $4.5 million at last report. McDaniel had raised about $1.5 million. More than 30 outside groups have spent at least $11.4 million with some $7.3 million helping McDaniel.
Outside groups loyal to Cochran have been spending big too. The Chamber of Commerce has spent $500,000 on ads supporting the incumbent in the past week. Main Street Advocacy has spent $100,000 on field work for Cochran in the past two days. Mississippi Conservatives, a super PAC that received $250,000 from Michael Bloomberg.
Voters have become pawns
of outside groups who have
no connection at all to the
local state or district.
Local Voters Have Little Say
When the Republic was founded House members were selected by voters in small Congressional districts. Everyone knew each other. Cracking open a barrel of whisky at a rally was perhaps the largest campaign expense.
U.S. Senators were elected by the state legislatures. Campaign spending was near zero.
Today "voters" are given the choice of candidates selected for them, and funded by, wealthy pressure groups from outside of their districts and states.
Endless millions of outside dollars flood targeted seats to make sure that the "correct" candidate wins. Correct from the point of view of the outsiders, not of the local voters.
The vast bulk of these outside groups are not giving millions of dollars out of civic pride. Hell, they don't even live in these states. They want to be paid back by the winner in one form or another out of the U.S. Treasury with either tax breaks for their industry or government contracts.
Increasingly voters have simply become pawns of the Elites. Their elected "representatives" truly represent the big money power brokers who funded their campaigns . . . they no longer represent the people.
Calls for reform go nowhere. The bought and paid for political elite will never vote for any reform that reduces their power and increases the power of the people. Welcome to Oligarchy.
The GOP Elites Are Pouring in millions in cash into Mississippi to defeat the Tea Party.
Supporters in D.C. and Mississippi have opened their wallets for Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., since he came up 1,400 votes behind his GOP primary challenger last week and was forced into a runoff.
In the eight days since, the six-term incumbent has raised $370,000, according to multiple 48-hour reports filed to the Federal Election Commission as of Friday morning. That includes contributions from supporters back home, lobbyists and his fellow senators, including Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, John Cornyn of Texas and Jerry Moran of Kansas, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
And there is more coming in. The NRSC hosted a 250-person fundraiser for Cochran on Tuesday that raised $820,000, a committee official confirmed. Some of those funds are likely reflected in his 48-hour reports Roll Call.
Michael Bloomberg loves Thad Cochran. What does that tell you?
Cochran started out the second round of the primary with a financial edge over his tea party-backed opponent, state Sen. Chris McDaniel. He still had $408,000 in cash on hand as of June 4, the day after the primary, according to his pre-runoff fundraising report — though much of that could be general-election-only funds. McDaniel’s report showed he had just $60,000 remaining for the June 24 runoff.
The outpouring of support has allowed Cochran to air two TV ads already as part of a shift in messaging that highlights specific examples of how his Capitol Hill influence has brought both money and jobs back to Mississippi — and what could happen if his opponent wins. Cochran’s second ad, released Thursday, featured former Sen. Trent Lott.
McDaniel has raised more than $50,000 since June 4, according to 48-hour reports filed to the FEC. But he also received air support this week from the Club for Growth, whose political action arm launched TV and radio ads Thursday critical of Cochran’s record and urging conservatives to get to the polls.
Cochran is benefiting from outside help as well from Mississippi Conservatives, which reported Thursday another round of direct mail opposing McDaniel.
In its pre-runoff report, the super PAC reported receiving $250,000 contributions from both former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Napster founder Sean Parker as part of nearly $1.3 million raised during the pre-runoff period of May 15 to June 4. It’s had to reload as well after finishing the primary with $54,000 in the bank.
During the period the super PAC spent $999,259 on independent expenditures against Christopher McDaniel, R-Miss., and $71,467 on independent expenditures supporting Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss.
Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) provided his latest head-scratching comment in public, this time joking he engaged in illicit activities with animals as a child.
“[We’d] get back [to the Pine Belt-Hattiesburg area of Mississippi] as often as we could because it was fun—it was an adventure to be out there in the country and see what goes on,” Cochran said of his childhood and how parts of his family lived in the central part of the state. “Picking up pecans, from that to all kind of indecent things with animals.”
The audience laughed at that point, video published by the Jackson Clarion-Ledger shows. Cochran’s facial expressions did not change, nor did his stance or demeanor. “I know some of you know what that is,” he continued. “The whole point of the story is not just coming here to visit cousins and get to know aunts and uncles better, you absorb the culture and you know what’s important to people here. I feel very comfortable here and have an identity with this area of the state that’s different than any other.”
Cochran made the speech at the Forrest General Hospital in Hattiesburg, an area of the state known as the Pine Belt where his primary challenger, conservative state Sen. Chris McDaniel, massively over performed in last Tuesday’s primary reports Breitbart.
The Clarion-Ledger's Geoff Pender described Cochran’s comment as “a joke, apparently about harassing wildlife or livestock.”
Cochran’s campaign spokesman Jordan Russell didn’t return a request for comment about specific details on what types of “indecent things” Cochran did “with animals” as a child, but Russell did brush it off to the Daily Caller. “I’ll check with my political correctness department and get back to you,” he told that publication.
Sen. Thad Cochran appeared to fall short of claiming the GOP nomination for a seventh term Tuesday, sending the longtime incumbent and his tea party challenger stumbling into a costly runoff election and scrambling the general-election landscape in one of the nation’s most conservative states. . Already a savagely personal race, the duel between Cochran and activist state Sen. Chris McDaniel could now drag on until the next vote on June 24 and present national Republicans with a dilemma: Whether to continue supporting the senator and tearing down McDaniel at the potential cost of damaging the party’s eventual nominee. . With 98 percent of precincts reporting, McDaniel held less than a 1-point lead over Cochran, the second-longest serving Republican in the U.S. Senate. Neither candidate has won the simple majority needed to avert a second round of voting: At midnight, McDaniel had 49.6 percent of the vote to Cochran’s 48.8 percent, a difference of about 2,500 votes out of more than 300,000 cast. . An obscure third candidate, Thomas Carey, had 1.6 percent – probably just enough to prolong the political plight of Republicans in the state and nationally by another three weeks. . Outside groups have already spent more than $8 million in the Republican Senate primary, an extraordinary sum in a small state that rarely hosts competitive federal elections.
Sarah Palin-endorsed, Tea Party-backed Dr. Monica Wehby
Oregon .
Pediatric neurosurgeon Monica Wehby defeated state Rep. Jason Conger in the Oregon Republican Senate primary on Tuesday and will challenge first-term Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley in the fall.
That will be an uphill battle for Wehby in the blue state — but her primary success is a triumph for party operatives who hope the recruit can appeal to moderate and female voters and, as a doctor, credibly criticize the Affordable Care Act and its troublesome rollout in Oregon. Wehby drew 53 percent of the vote, compared to 34 percent for the more conservative Conger, with 54 percent of precincts reporting in the all-mail primary, The Associated Press said.
“Dr. Wehby is an exciting candidate, a mom, and a pediatric neurosurgeon who has dedicated her life to healing children and has firsthand knowledge when it comes to Oregonians’ health care needs,” National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Jerry Moran in a statement. “Democrats are now on defense in Oregon.”
Iowa J.
Joni Ernst won Iowa’s five-way Republican Senate primary on Tuesday, clearing the 35 percent threshold necessary to avoid a convention nomination fight.
Ernst, a state senator who ran as “a mother, soldier and conservative”and spoke of castrating hogs in one of the year’s breakout ads, will face Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley in the fall election.
In a statement released by her team after her win, the 43-year-old Ernst thanked her supporters and pivoted to slamming Braley, who she tagged as a “rubber stamp” for President Barack Obama and other Democratic leaders.
“This campaign will come down to a very simple choice: our shared Iowa values, versus Bruce Braley’s liberal Washington values,” Ernst said.
According to the statement, Ernst, a lieutenant colonel in the National Guard who served a tour in Iraq, will start a statewide tour on Wednesday alongside Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad and Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds. She’s due to report for National Guard duty once that tour ends, the statement says without giving an exact timeframe.
After 42 years in Congress, Thad Cochran is clueless
what is going on out in the real world.
Senator Thad Cochran (R-MS) confirmed on Wednesday evening that he is still unaware of the five-year-old Tea Party movement that has rocked U.S. politics, including the U.S. Senate in which he has served for 36 years.
“I heard...I read newspaper articles about them, and that’s about all I knew. It’s kind of like Will Rogers, you know. He said he knew what was in the papers.”
Cochran was referring to comments he made a month ago when, referring to the Tea Party, he told WAPT NBC News in Mississippi, “That is something I don’t know a lot about.”
Will Rogers--the icon Cochran cited--was one of the world’s most famous movie stars in the 1920s and 1930s. Beginning around 1915, before Hollywood noticed him in 1918 and turned him into a movie star, he was a vaudeville stage comedian. “Well, what shall I talk about? I ain't got anything funny to say. All I know is what I read in the papers,” Rogers would say when he took the stage, before making jokes about the news of the day in the 1910s.
Cochran was born in 1937, two years after Rogers' 1935 death. He has served in the U.S. Senate for 36 years and in the U.S. Congress for 42 years. He was first elected to the Senate in 1977 and has been serving since 1978, after three terms in the House.
Cochran’s unawareness of the Tea Party movement comes as he is facing a primary challenger from its ranks, two-term State Sen. Chris McDaniel. McDaniel has the support of Tea Party leaders like former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, radio host Mark Levin, Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, FreedomWorks, Tea Party Express, Club for Growth, and various others.
McDaniel, for his part, ripped Cochran for being out of touch because of his unawareness of the Tea Party movement for five years. “After 40 years in Washington, it is sad to see Sen. Cochran more familiar with his lobbyist friends than the conservative folks here in Mississippi,” McDaniel said in a statement. “If Sen. Cochran wants to learn about the conservative tea party movement, he should join me at one of my town hall meetings and actually get to know the folks who make our state and Republican Party great.”
What the fuck??? - The so-called "Conservative" Republican Party in Mississippi is not only pissing on the Bill of Rights in public but also telling families that they have no right to privacy in the birth of children.
If a girl younger than 16 gives birth and won't name the father, a new Mississippi law — likely the first of its kind in the country — says authorities will by force if need be, and without a warrant, collect umbilical cord blood and run DNA tests to prove paternity as a step toward prosecuting statutory rape cases.
The law took effect July 1 but hasn't been used yet. Cord blood samples would be taken by Government Agents immediately after birth. The state medical examiner is setting administrative rules for how the blood will be stored by the All-Powerful-State.
Megan Comlossy, health policy associate for the National Conference of State Legislatures, said she thinks Mississippi is the first state to enact a law authorizing the collection of blood from the umbilical cord to determine paternity reports the Alabama Republican-American News. .
Critics say that the procedure invades the medical privacy of the mother, father and baby.
And questions abound: At roughly $1,000 a pop, who will pay for the DNA tests in the country's poorest state? Even after test results arrive, can prosecutors compel a potential father to submit his own DNA and possibly implicate himself in a crime? How long will the state keep the DNA on file? .
Screaming think of the children, "small government" Republican Governor Phil Bryant says "It is to stop children from being raped."
Think of the Children
The "children" are used as the excuse of every crackpot out there to undermine the
Bill of Rights and grow the power of the Police State.
The Big Brother Blood Police. Stand back. Your blood and your DNA belongs to the State.
Republican Governor Phil Bryant “The blood is the life!”
(AP File Photo)
Kentucky only ratified the amendment in 1976, after having rejected it in 1865.
The Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which outlaws slavery, was passed 150 years ago. But the state of Mississippi never ratified it – until the movie ‘Lincoln’ led to the discovery of the missing paperwork.
Mississippi has already come into the spotlight for its inaction regarding the official ban on slavery. It wasn’t until 1995 that the state voted to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, long after all other states had voted to do so. But even though lawmakers unanimously voted for the resolution, the paperwork was never submitted and the amendment failed to become official reports RT News USA.
After watching the movie ‘Lincoln’, which premiered in late 2012, a Mississippi professor’s curiosity led to his discovery of the state’s shortcoming. Dr. Ranjan Batra, an associate professor of neurobiology and anatomical sciences at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, conducted further research on the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment after watching the film.
The recent immigrant from India then discovered something that state lawmakers had failed to notice: a clerical error prevented the ratification from becoming official after the Senate voted upon it in 1995. The state had never officially notified the US Archivist, the Clarion Ledger reports.
Batra immediately informed Ken Sullivan, an anatomical material specialist for UMC’s body donation program, of his discovery – and Sullivan conducted further research to confirm his colleague’s findings.
“What an amendment to have an error in filing,” Dick Molpus, former Mississippi secretary of state, told the Clarion Ledger. “Thanks to Ken Sullivan for being a good citizen in bringing this oversight to light, so it can be corrected.”
In the months since Batra noticed the error in November, the state has worked towards completing the paperwork to officially ban slavery. The Office of the Federal Register received a copy of the resolution on Jan. 30, and the state officially ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on Feb. 7.
General Ulysses S. Grant
“We’re very deliberate in our state. We finally got it right,” Charles Barth, director of the Federal Register, told the Clarion Ledger.
“Now it’s officially filed and recorded.”
The move is long overdue: 36 US states had already ratified the amendment when it was adopted in 1865 and most other states added their votes in the late 1800s. Kentucky ratified the amendment in 1976, after having rejected it in 1865.
But even though all US states have been opposed to the use of slavery for decades, Mississippi did not officially ban the use of slavery and involuntary servitude until the year 2013.
“It was long overdue,” Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann said after the final papers were filed this month.
And 150 years after the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, Americans can finally rest assured that every state has agreed to it.
Marching Through Georgia
So we made a thoroughfare for freedom and her train,
Sixty miles in latitude,
three hundred to the main;
Treason fled before us, for resistance was in
vain
While we were marching through Georgia. .
Hurrah! Hurrah! we bring
the jubilee!
Hurrah! Hurrah! the flag that makes you free!
So we sang the
chorus from Atlanta to the sea
While we were marching through Georgia.
