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Layers and details involved in the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer are still unfolding 24 hours after the federal case was announced.

We are learning more about the men arrested in Antrim County.

Some of the men involved in that investigation were part of the April Second Amendment rally in Lansing.

The picture below was posted by a downstate senator back on April 30.

The first, third and fourth men in this picture were arrested for their roles in the plot against the governor.

The man on the far right is William Null, one of the four men charged in Antrim.

The April rally ended with many storming the Capitol building to protest the governors response to the coronavirus crisis.

The investigation spans 18 communities with 13 people arrested.

Court documents show this investigation took months of work by investigators and informants inside the two militia groups.

The federal complaint shows the group had several plans to kidnap Governor Whitmer.

Those plans included:

The FBI says they were communicating through an encrypted group chat and using code words to avoid detection.

The group had this all planned to happen before the November election.

They wanted to try her in Wisconsin for treason because they were upset with her actions during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Man Charged in Antrim Co. for Plot to Kidnap Governor Attended 2nd Amendment Rally in Lansing - 9&10 News

With only a few weeks until Election Day, voters are feverishly hearing from candidates running for offices from your local town board to president of the United States.

Though rallies, town halls and campaigning are mostly virtual this election season, candidates are articulating their visions and appealing to voters interests. As an electorate, we are being demographically portioned into groups the suburban voter, the millennial voter and the Second Amendment voter.

However, one major constituency is not being highlighted in the current debate, which is why, as a pediatrician, I plan to vote like childrens futures depend on it in November. Children are 20% of the population but 0% of the vote, and their problems dont get addressed unless physicians, parents, teachers and those who care for kids make their issues our own.

Nothing is more fundamental to child health than health insurance and the ability to see a doctor when your child is ill. For healthy children, insurance coverage allows kids to access preventive care like autism screening, vision/hearing/dental screening and life-saving immunizations.

But while the current Covid pandemic has highlighted disparities in childrens access to internet and quality virtual education, long-standing income-based gaps in childrens health insurance coverage have gone largely unnoticed.

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Another Voice: Cast a vote for kids and ensure Medicaid is protected - Buffalo News

Opinion | LetterThe Democrat solution is to raise taxes and grow government

By Verdell Jackson // Oct 12, 2020

Vote to enhance our freedom and make sure our government is fiscally responsible. Excellenceinvoting.org is a web site that provides honest information on candidates. We need a governor and legislators with skill and expertise to deal with the funding deficit we will have as the result of COVID-19. The Democrat solution is to raise taxes and grow government, which will not build a strong economy. Greg Gianforte is a proven Montana job creator. He continued his work in Congress by protecting our freedom and securing federal relief and health care. He gives most of his income away each year. As governor he will have the support of conservative Senate legislators in the Flathead such as Carl Glimm, SD2, who chaired House appropriations last session, Keith Regier, SD3, who chaired Judiciary, Bob Brown, SD 7 who chaired Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and holdover senators Bob Keenan and Mark Blasdel.

Conservative House candidates are Rep. Mark Noland, HD10, Matt Regier, HD4, John Fuller, HD8, and Derek Skees, HD11. Their voting records demonstrate that they strongly support the constitutions of Montana and the United States, freedom, jobs, and protection of our water from aquatic invasive species. They opposed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Compact, which would give the tribe off reservation water rights to control use of water in western Montana.

New conservative candidates are Braxton Mitchell, HD3, who is making a huge positive impact on young people in his fight to protect our property rights, Second Amendment, public lands and our constitutional republic. Catherine Owens, HD5, supports lower property taxes by coming up with creative ways to generate revenue, protecting our public lands and water and does not support the CSKT Compact which her opponent supported. Amy Regier, HD6, also does not support the CSKT Compact and will work to lower property taxes, support the Second Amendment, promotes family values and access to public lands.

Verdell JacksonKalispell

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Elections Determine Our Freedom and Wealth - Flathead Beacon

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Opinion columnist Published 4:00 a.m. ET Oct. 8, 2020

Riots over George Floyd predictably resulted in billions in property damage, but it might be a surprise that they have strengthened the argument for gun rights.

This yearsriots, sparked by the death of George Floyd and continued in the names of several others, have destroyed billions of dollars in property, cost numerous people their livesand businesses and jobs,and promoted what will probably be a decade or more of de-urbanization.But whatever else happens, they will have accomplished an important social change.Thanks to these riots, the case for the Second Amendment and the personal right to own weapons is growing steadily stronger, as is the legal case for private gun ownership.

Thats the thesis of a new paper by George Mason University law professor David E. Bernstein, who also serves as the director of GMUs Liberty and Law Center.The Right to Armed Self Defense in the Light of Law Enforcement Abdication, notes that the experience of this years riots undercuts the classic argument against an individual right to arms.While gun-control proponents have for decades argued that individual gun ownership is unnecessary in the modern era, where we have police forces to control crime, that hasnt worked out very well this year for people in numerous urban centers around America.

Bernstein offers an extensive review of happenings in cities ranging from Seattle to Louisville, Portland to Chicago and New York and Raleigh, and many other cities. In case after case, police were told to stand down, in order to avoid provoking violence.And in each case, the result was more violence, more property destruction, and more damage to businesses and jobs, while political leaders stood by.

In Seattle, city officials not only allowed the creation of a police-free zone, the city actually helped the creators by supplying things like traffic barriers and portable toilets. How did that work out?

Open-carry activist on Sept. 17, 2020, in Lansing, Michigan.(Photo: Nicole Hester/Ann Arbor News via AP)

It was a debacle, despite Mayor Jenny Durkans initially comparing it to a block party.When it was finally ended, Bernstein notes, Durkan admitted that the rioting produced a 525% increase in person-related crime, including rape, robbery, assaultand gang-related activity.

Justice and law reform: Why defunding police, upping social budgets alone won't work

Likewise, in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and prosecutor Kim Foxx established an early policy of toleratingand even implicitly encouragingstreet violence through their lackadaisical response. Bernstein notes, EvenotherChicagoofficials whogenerallysupportcriminaljustice reformhavecriticizedFoxxsreluctancetopursuefelonychargesagainst thosearrested forriotingor looting.

Meanwhile, On a particularly violent weekend in early June, Lightfoot refused to deploy the National Guard beyond Chicagoscentralbusinessdistrict,drawingcondemnationsfromofficials representing districts on the south and west side of the city, which were left unprotected during Chicagos deadliest weekend in sixty years.Over that weekend, twenty-four people werekilled andatleast sixty-one injured by gunviolence,and thecitys911dispatchersreceived65,000callsina single day 50,000 more than normal. As chaos unfolded, one Democratic city councilwoman told the mayor on the phone, My ward is a shit show .... [Rioters] are shooting at the police. I have never seen the likes of this. Im scared.

Bernstein recounts, with heavy documentation, numerous cases along these lines from numerous cities around the nation. In addition, he notes other cities like Atlanta and Los Angeles, where police called in sick to protest the actions of city leaders, leaving citizens unprotected.

Reforming the police: Screams of 'defund police' misplaced. Instead, use military as example for progress.

Even in normal times, gun owners joke thatwhen seconds count, the police are only minutes away.But, sometimes, theyre not coming at all.Sometimes theyre not even allowed to show up. (And, historically, political leaders have sometimes used the denial of police protection to opponents as a means of opening those opponents up to violent attacks.)

Bernstein notes that this is something that courts should take into account when Second Amendment cases are argued. But its also something that the rest of us should keep in mind.In 2020, the police will protect you seemsparticularly hollow.

Glenn Harlan Reynolds, a University of Tennessee law professor and the author of"The New School: How the Information Age Will Save American Education from Itself,"is a member of USA TODAY's Board of Contributors.

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Riots of 2020 have given the Second Amendment a boost - USA TODAY

Before addressing the subject of this column, I wish to express an opinion on an issue which appeared in the recent grammar school brawl laughingly called a presidential debate. Good Ol Joe Biden followed his partys strategy of denouncing Donald Trump as a crypto-fascist. He seized on the presidents failure to condemn the Proud Boys as a fascist-nazi-racist-nasty hate group. The president yielded the point after the debate was over by condemning this group. I have no knowledge about the ideological convictions of this group, apart from displays of the American flag. All I know is that they have confronted Antifa rioters in Portland and Seattle. I enjoyed watching tapes of the Proud Boys knocking the rioters on their cabooses. I might have enjoyed watching a mob of Quakers doing the job more, but we must all settle for whatever is on offer.

Moving on to a more interesting issue, we can expect a lot of hectic chatter about Judge Barrett and her nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. Most of the emotion on the subject will be centered on speculation about what positions she may take on hot-button issues. These speculations will not concern her legal analysis. Her opponents and partisans will not show much interest. They are only interested in whether she will arrive at the desired outcomes. Some liberals fear that her Catholic convictions will bend her in the wrong direction. Its not that they object to Catholics as such, Good Ol Joe is Catholic after all and they are comfortable with him. Their problem is with Catholics who believe their churchs teachings.

Barrett is known as a disciple of the late Justice Scalia, who has argued that a Judge who is faithful to his oath of allegiance to the Constitution has to be prepared to accept legal decisions which will make him uncomfortable or, alternatively recuse himself from judgement. This is a reassuring principle but its not conclusive.

Leaving aside her religious beliefs Judge Barrett has a judicial record relevant to the Second Amendment. In Kanter v. Barr (2019) her decision accepted bans on gun ownership by persons

who have a clear record of a history of violence. She argued against a blanket rule that applies even to felons who have no such a record. She wrote that this it was wildly over-inclusive, to ban an honest-to-goodness felon convicted of redeeming large quantities of out-of-state bottle deposits in Michigan. Maine has a law against people importing recyclables for redemption. Its far from unlikely that some undetected scamp has already committed this crime. (Confessing here: I didnt look it up to find whether Maine classifies this malfeasance as a felony.)

Her position on Kanter gives Barrett the clearest record on the Second Amendment of any recent nominee. On broader Second Amendment issues the Supreme Court has ruled that it includes protection of the right of self-defense. Ginsbergs death leaves Justices Sotomayor, Breyer, and Kagan as determined defenders of the governments exclusive right to possession of fire-arms. Since the 2008 Heller and 2010 McDonald decisions which ruled against a governmental power to completely ban gun ownership was passed with five votes, Barretts views are of special interest to citizens who believe in a right of self-defense.

Since the nominee is commonly described as a disciple of Antonin Scalia his ruling on Heller, backed by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kennedy, Thomas and Alito, is our best guide on how Barrett may interpret the Second Amendment. Dick Heller, a special police officer authorized to carry a handgun while on duty, requested exemption from restrictions on keeping his weapon at home. Under the District of Columbia law he was obliged to disable the gun by taking it apart or fixing it with a trigger lock.

Scalias originalism doctrine argues that the Constitution must be understood by the voters. Judges must read its words and phrases as they are used in a normal and ordinary way.

The Second Amendment reads: A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. He argued that the preface about the militia announces a purpose and that the prefatory part does not limit or expand the scope of the operative part. He pointed out that shall not be infringed recognizes the existence of a pre-existing right, i.e., the Amendment did not create a right, it recognizes a right.

Scalia quotes Justice Ginsburgs interpretation of bearing arms in an opinion she wrote for an earlier case. She wrote as the Constitutions Second Amendment indicates wear, bear, or carry upon the person or upon the person, or in the pocket for the purpose of being armed and ready for offensive or defensive action in the case of a conflict with another person. Scalia reinforced this proposition by pointing out that nine state constitutional provisions written in the 18th century and the first two decades of the 19th century established the citizens right to bear arms in defense of themselves and the state, or bear arms in defense of himself of the state.

If Judge Barrett is called upon the decide a Second Amendment case while sitting on the Supreme Court its seems certain that she will follow her mentor in upholding the right of self-defense it was written to protect. Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi and the other Democrats in Congress are hoping for a liberal judge who will support the views of the liberal judges who will support the dissents in McDonald case when they wrote that the U.S. Constitution does not include a general right to keep and bear firearms for purposes of private self-defense. . . . the use of arms for private self-defense does not warrant federal constitutional protection from state regulation.

Supporters of Second Amendment rights should take note and make their candidates know about their concerns.

John Frary of Farmington, the GOP candidate for U.S. Congress in 2008, is a retired history professor, an emeritus Board Member of Maine Taxpayers United, a Maine Citizens Coalition Board member, and publisher of FraryHomeCompanion.com. He can be reached at [emailprotected]

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Amy Coney Barrett and the second amendment | Lewiston Sun Journal - The Bethel Citizen