The Case of CDR Benjamin Strickland, UCGC Vol. 01, Nr 01.

General David Petraeus, a 4-star general with over 37 years in the military, was the most senior officer to be prosecuted during the politically correct era. He was just one of many distinguished senior officers to be purged from all branches of the military services during that period. Commander Benjamin Strickland, U S Coast Guard was caught in this web of insanity.  This is a purge.

Consider the Case of CDR Benjamin Strickland.
To this day the list continues to grow.The Unrestricted Coast Guard Chronicles (UCGC) are a series of bio epics of interesting and sometimes strange events in the lives of Coast Guard personnel. This is the Case of CDR Benjamin Strickland.
 https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B006WQKFJM
This is a must read for all right thinking Americans, and people of goodwill everywhere.
 Sales of NEW BOOK began July 7, 2015. Send check or money order for $27.00, includes shipping and handling to: Steverson Books, Box 606, Haymarket, VA. 20168. 
Get the full story. The Case of Commander Benjamin Strickland, 114 pages. All pictures are full color. Many distinguished senior officers are being purged from all branches of the military services. To this day the list continues to grow.

On June 26, 2015 Commander Benjamin F. Strickland retired from the U. S. Coast Guard. This Unrestricted Coast Guard Chronicle (Volume 01, Number 01) was designed to coincide with that date. 

He will not be forgotten. His name will live on in the Chronicles of Coast Guard History. His story will forever be told around the Forecastle, at the camp fires, and in the restaurants and bars where retired service members gather to reminisce about life in the Nation’s oldest continuous seagoing armed force, the U. S. Coast Guard. 

His brilliant and distinguished career was brought to an abrupt halt for no explicable or rational reason, except that he did his job as he was required to do it. In doing so he became a victim.

No good deed goes unpunished. This means that life is unfair and people can do or try to do good things and still end up in a lot of trouble. Bad things happen to good people.  

Terrible and unexpected things happened to CDR Strickland.

. Power was misused; discretion was abused; authority was exceeded; rights were trampled; resources were mismanaged; and, our posterity has been neglected. 

We are at the mercy of the powers that be, and they appear to be devoid of all mercy. Heaven help us; and, God Bless America.

I'm Mad As Hell!! And, I'm not going to take it any longer. This is BIG! This is historical. This is a Case of First Impression. Maybe this is not the first time something like this has happened in the Coast Guard; but, this is the first time it has been thoroughly documented. This Case and this Book are the result of hundreds of man-hours of research, eye witness interviews, and analysis. The actual players in this tragedy were painstakingly interviewed and interviewed again. The facts were checked and re-checked. The facts are absolutely accurate and indisputable. The Time Line is accurate right down to the day, the minute and hour.
Two people can understand and analyze the same facts and come to different conclusions. We are all different in some ways. We are what we were then and when and where our characters and personalities were shaped; BUT, we cannot dispute the FACTS.
You are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts. The Facts are absolute. They are black or white; they cannot be a dirty shade of grey. Not one shade , nor fifty shades of grey.
This is a piece of living history. What price can you put on History? We are living in History, at a pivotal moment in history. Owning this book, is like taking a "selfie" in the Flow Of Living History. Imagine being able to capture yourself at The March on Washington, The Collapse of the Berlin Wall, at The WTC on 9/11, or some other historic event that took on epic proportions as time went by.
How would you be able to describe it to your children and get the facts right? How else would you be able to set the stage and get the passions and the emotions just right to explain and to understand what was happening in the country and the world at this crucial time in our history?
This Book captures it. It hits the nail right on the head. It nails it dead center. There has never been a Ben Strickland in the Coast Guard Officer Corps, and there will never be again. What happened here will probably never again be repeated, partially because it was recorded and exposed. Just like the first time a Coast Guard Academy cadet was court-martialed (Cadet Webster Smith). It too will never happen again. The book about that case exposed the fallacy, and the stupidity, and the utter futility of it.
The Case of CDR Benjamin Strickland will go down in history as being one of a kind, unique. The story will be told again and again. Rumors will abound. People will embellish. But, if you have the book, you have the facts, the Truth, the piece of living History. It is eternal. It will live in infamy. How can you put a price on that?
http://www.amazon.com/The-Case-CDR-Benjamin-St…/…/1514682737

Is Charleston Burning?

 Is Charleston burning? No! 
Why not? Well, I submit it is because Christians in the South, both black and white, love each other and they love Jesus. They are wise enough to not react to outside agitators and not burn their own town. And, to a certain extent, Blacks in the South, still know their place. 
But, there has been major progress in the South. Dr M L King said "the South will solve its race problem long before the North." In the South Blacks and white have lived next to each other forever, and most white babies were suckled by Black nurse maids. And Sunday morning is no longer the most segregated time of the week. 
It is inspiring and encouraging to see the mutual respect that white and Black Christians show each other. The memorial service at Emmanuel AME was beautiful to watch. Black and white Christians singing and praying together. 
God is love. His truth is ever lasting and His mercy endures forever. Bravo Charleston. You have shown the world that Love is stronger than hate; Black and white Christians can live together in peace.
People are praying for racial accord in a city that built its initial fortunes on slavery and has been shaped in part by racial tension and violence since its founding in 1670.

Charleston Appeals for Unity as Services Honor Shooting Victims

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church reopens; parishioners and civic leaders vow to build racial accord

Worshipers gathered at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., for the first Sunday service on Fathers' Day, June 21, 2015, since a shooting rampage there killed nine people.(Above: The Rev. Norvel Goff at the slain Rev. Clementa Pinckney’s empty seat. Photo: David Goldman/Press Pool Photo: AP)

(First, among the nine victims was The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41: A state senator and the senior pastor of Emanuel, he was married to Jennifer Benjamin and the father of two children, Eliana and Malana. He was a 1995 graduate of Allen University and got his master's degree at the University of South Carolina in 1999. He served in the state Legislature starting in 2000; The Post and Courier says black fabric was draped over Pinckney's Senate chamber seat on Thursday. I believe Senator Clementa Pinckney was the real target of the assassin. The other eight were collateral damage designed to coverup a political assassination.)

CHARLESTON, S.C.— Community leaders and parishioners across this historic city vowed on Sunday to build racial accord in the wake of last week’s killings of nine black members of an African-American church, allegedly by a white man.

Hundreds filled the pews of the historic church in Charleston, South Carolina.

"The doors of the church are open," declared the Rev. Norvel Goff during prayers. "No evildoer, no demon in hell or on Earth can close the doors of God's church," he proclaimed.

They sang hymns, prayed and remembered the nine church members shot to death Wednesday night during Bible study.

One of the victims was the church's pastor, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney. His seat behind the podium was shrouded in black cloth and uniformed police officers were present in the side aisles. 

Overcoming evil with faith in God was a theme throughout the service.

"It's by faith that we are standing here and sitting here," Goff said. "It has been tough. It has been rough. Some of us have been downright angry. But through it all God has sustained us."

But as church bells rang and black and white parishioners prayed together at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the site of the attack, and at other houses of worship, signs of how challenging that will be were apparent.
At Emanuel AME, a rapturous and racially diverse crowd packed the church, dancing, singing hymns and shaking tambourines to show that the killings could not shake the resolve or faith of one of the oldest black churches in the nation.
Churchgoers lined the walls and crowded the balcony in bow ties and three-piece suits. Hundreds of people stood in the streets, near speakers, to listen to the service. Numerous police officers guarded the proceedings, and teams of grief counselors were on hand.
“A lot of people expected us to do something strange and break out into a riot,” the Rev. Norvel Goff said from the pulpit. “Well, they just don’t know us. They don’t know us because we are a people of faith.” He praised the city for responding with love and compassion.
The minister also vowed to pursue justice for those slain. “We’re going to be vigilant, and we’re going to hold our elected officials responsible to do the right thing,” he said, calling for justice for “those who are still living in the margins of life.”
Charleston built its initial fortunes on slavery and has been shaped in part by racial tension and violence since its founding in 1670. The first shots of the Civil War were fired here, and much of its robust tourist industry plays to notions of a genteel antebellum South, a gentility that was propped up by the institution of slavery.
Over the past few decades the city has changed dramatically, with major companies relocating to the region and upscale shops and vogue restaurants dotting the downtown.
Large banners appeared on some buildings after the shootings, urging racial harmony. An interracial rally was planned for Sunday evening across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge, a dramatic span that dominates the city skyline.
Yet outer neighborhoods and nearby communities are impoverished, and many say racial tensions fueled by economic disparities and other issues linger beneath the surface.

As congregants left the church, a large, mostly white crowd greeted them by singing the song “Amazing Grace,” a show of support that brought tears to many peoples’ eyes as they stepped into the hot South Carolina sun.
A little more than a mile away, about 150 parishioners, almost all of them white, gathered for Holy Communion at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, one of the oldest parishes in the city. Both George Washington and Robert E. Lee once prayed at this ornate church, built in the 1700s, and Charles Pinckney, a signer of the Constitution and a prominent slave-owner, is buried in the adjacent graveyard.
Alfred T.K. Zadig Jr., the 47- year-old rector of St. Michael’s, said he was having dinner only a block away from Emanuel when the shooting took place Wednesday night, and the tragedy made him realize how little connection he had to the city’s black churches.
“I did not know one single person in that church,” said. Mr. Zadig, who has been St. Michael’s rector for eight years. The church now is committing itself to building a relationship with Charleston’s black churches, including contributing money to help Emanuel and inviting members of Emanuel to preach at St. Michael’s, the pastor said.
(By Cameron McWhirter, Josh Dawsey and Mara Gay)

The nine people who were killed in a mass shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday have been identified by the authorities.
The group of six women and three men had come together for a weekly Bible study meeting. The man who is suspected of killing them is now in police custody.
The Nine Victims are:
(1) The Rev. Clementa Pinckney, 41: A state senator and the senior pastor of Emanuel, he was married to Jennifer Benjamin and the father of two children, Eliana and Malana. He was a 1995 graduate of Allen University and got his master's degree at the University of South Carolina in 1999. He served in the state Legislature starting in 2000; The Post and Courier says black fabric was draped over Pinckney's Senate chamber seat on Thursday. I believe Senator Clementa Pinckney was the real target of the assassin. The other eight were collateral damage designed to coverup a political assassination.

In 1996, at 23, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, the youngest Black person ever to win such a seat.

Four years later, voters elevated him to the state Senate.

Pinckney became even more influential through his work as a legislator, pushing several causes -- like recently advocating for legislation to make police wear body cameras, believing it would protect lives, according to his cousin, state Sen. Kent Williams.

According to local media reports from the time, Rev Pinckney attended a vigil in North Charleston in the aftermath of the shooting of Walter Scott, an unarmed Black man by a white police officer.
Walter Scott’s fatal shooting by Officer Michael Slager was captured on camera by an eyewitness, and Rev Pinckney emphasized the significance of that video to the public’s perception of the case. Slager has been indicted for murder in the shooting and is awaiting trial.
Rev Pinckney led calls for mandatory police body cameras, and rallied the public to show their support.
"I think that if my colleagues will be moved by the fact that other people are moved by the need for body cameras, and also that there will be persons that will give testimony as to why body cameras are important,” he said.
“Body cameras help to record what happens. It may not be the golden ticket, the golden egg, the end-all-fix-all, but it helps to paint a picture of what happens during a police stop."

Following the shooting of Walter Scott by a North Charleston police officer in April, South Carolina state Senator Clementa Pinckney stepped up on the Senate floor to speak in support of legislation that called for the establishment and implementation of guidelines for the use of body cameras by the state’s law enforcement officers.
Pinckney, the pastor at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, was one of nine people killed in a shooting at the church on Wednesday night.
“Today, the nation looks at South Carolina and is looking at us to see if we will rise to be the body and to be the state that we really say that we are,” Pinckney said in April, adding that Scott’s death had created a “yearning for justice” across the country.
Scott’s fatal shooting by Officer Michael Slager was captured on camera by an eyewitness, and Pinckney emphasized the significance of that video to the public’s perception of the case. Slager has been indicted for murder in the shooting and is awaiting trial.
Pinckney compared those who would be skeptical of allegations that an officer shot an unarmed man in the back multiple times to Jesus’ apostle Thomas, who is described in the Bible as refusing to believe that Jesus had risen from the dead until he could see and feel Jesus’ wounds himself.
“Like Thomas,” Pinckney said, “when we were able to see the video, and we were able to see the gunshots, and when we saw him fall to the ground…and to see him die face down in the ground as if he were gunned down like game, I believe we all were like Thomas and said, ‘I believe.’”
“We have a great opportunity to allow sunshine into this process,” Pinckney told his colleagues, “to at least give us new eyes for seeing so that we’re able to make sure that our proud and great law enforcement officers and every citizen that we represent is able to at least know that they will be seen and heard and that their rights will be protected.”
The legislation, which gained bipartisan support, passed and was signed by the governor on June 10.
“I think that speech is what made the difference in that bill passing,” said state Senator Kevin Johnson.
Johnson, one of the legislation’s sponsors, said Pinckney delivered “almost a little sermon” that swayed some people who were on the fence about the bill and silenced some of its critics.
“That’s just what Clem was good at,” he said.
Johnson said Pinckney’s death will be a huge loss for the legislature, noting that he worked well with members of both parties and he knew how to bridge the gap between them.
“He’s one of those guys that everything he said made sense…You don’t find people like that just every day,” Johnson said.
Johnson said Pinckney genuinely cared about other people, and particularly about those in the state’s rural and small communities.
“He was the kind of person we need more of,” Johnson said.
Pinckney’s cousin, political commentator Armstrong Williams, called him a “peacemaker” in an interview with NewsChannel 8’s Bruce DePuyt Thursday.
“Clementa as a boy always wanted to be a preacher,” Williams said. “Politics was not something that was on his mind.”
Williams said Pinckney ran for the state legislature because people in his congregation kept encouraging him to do it, and because he saw that not enough was being done by politicians about the issues that concerned his community.
Pinckney was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1996 at age 23, and he was elected to the Senate in 2000.
“It was not something that he wanted to do,” Williams said, “and he decided to run and he won, and he made a huge difference. This guy was loved and respected on both sides of the aisle.”
“And yet, life gone for no reason at all,” he added.
(2) Cynthia Hurd, 54: According to the Charleston County Public Library, she was a 31-year employee who managed the John L. Dart Library for 21 years before heading the St. Andrews Regional Library. A statement said Hurd "dedicated her life to serving and improving the lives of others." The system closed its 16 branches Thursday to honor Hurd and the others who died in the shooting. County officials also say the St. Andrews library will be named for Hurd.
(3) The Rev. Sharonda Coleman-Singleton, 45: A pastor at Emanuel, she was also a speech therapist and high school girls track and field coach, both positions at Goose Creek High School, according to her LinkedIn page. Jimmy Huskey, the school's principal, called her "a true professional ... [who] cared about her students and was an advocate for them." Her son, Chris Singleton, is a baseball player and student at Charleston Southern University. Coleman-Singleton also had two younger children, writes the Post and Courier.
(4) Tywanza Sanders, 26: He was a 2014 graduate in business administration from Allen University in Columbia. Lady June Cole, the interim president of Allen University, described him as "a quiet, well-known student who was committed to his education." Known as Ty, he had worked in sales at department stores such as Belk and Macy's.
(5) Ethel Lance, 70: She had attended Emanuel for most of her life and worked there as a custodian, as well. From 1968 to 2002, she worked as a custodian at Charleston's Gaillard Municipal Auditorium. The Post and Courier quotes a former colleague as saying, "She was funny and a pleasure to be around. And she was a wonderful mother and grandmother."
(6) Susie Jackson, 87: Lance's cousin, she was a longtime church member.
(7) Depayne Middleton Doctor, 49: The mother of four sang in Emanuel's choir. She had previously directed a community development program in Charleston County. In December, she started a new job as an admissions coordinator at the Charleston campus of her alma mater, Southern Wesleyan University. SWU President Todd Voss said: "Always a warm and enthusiastic leader, DePayne truly believed in the mission of SWU to help students achieve their potential by connecting faith with learning. Our prayers go out to family and friends. This is a great loss for our students and the Charleston region."
(8) The Rev. Daniel Simmons, 74: Simmons survived the initial attack but then died in a hospital operating room. He had previously been a pastor at another church in the Charleston area.
(9) Myra Thompson, 59: She was the wife of the Rev. Anthony Thompson, the vicar of Holy Trinity Reformed Episcopal Church in Charleston.

An Independent Judiciary Checks An Imperial Presidency

THE IMPERIAL PRESIDENCY

Obama amnesty takes another hit in court

Judges affirm injunction against executive order-driven program

President Obama announces his executive action on immigration Nov. 20, 2014

A panel of three judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s order halting President Obama’s executive action delaying deportation for up to 5 million illegal aliens.
The 5th Circuit denied a motion to stay the injunction and narrow its scope because, determining the government is unlikely to succeed on the merits of its appeal.
The opinion said the government’s action “makes aliens who were not otherwise qualified for federal public benefits eligible for ‘social security retirement benefits, security disability benefits, [and] health insurance under Part A of the Medicare program.’”
“Further, ‘each person who applies for deferred action pursuant to the [DAPA] criteria … shall also be eligible to apply for work authorization for the [renewable three-year] period of deferred action.’”
Such procedures would allow illegal aliens to “‘obtain a Social Security Number,’ ‘accrue quarters of covered employment,’ and ‘correct wage records to add prior covered employment,’” the opinion said.
It warned that should the program ultimately struck down, the illegal aliens who participated would have benefited improperly.
The injunction, the judges said, preserves the status quo.
“Under the injunction, DHS can choose whom to remove first; the only thing it cannot do is grant class-wide lawful presence and eligibility for accompanying benefits as incentives for low-priority aliens to self-identify in advance,” the court said.
The ruling Tuesday, 26 May, upheld the injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen.
His preliminary injunction in February said: “The United States of America, its departments, agencies, officers, agents and employees and Jeh Johnson, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security; R. Gil Kerlikowske, commissioner of United States customs and Border Protection; Ronald D. Vitiello, deputy chief of United States Border Patrol, United States Customs and Border Protection; Thomas S. Winkowski, acting director of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Leon Rodriguez, director of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services are hereby enjoined from implementing any and all aspects or phases of the Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents.”
Hanen later refused a government request to lift his order halting Obama’s DAPA program.
The appeals court ruling marks a huge setback for Obama’s strategy of giving millions of Democrat-leaning illegals a pathway to legal residency, Social Security numbers and other benefits, including critics say, voting rights.
David Limbaugh’s book chillingly documents the destructive “transformation” of the United States — get “The Great Destroyer: Barack Obama’s War on the Republic”
The case was brought by 26 states, led by Texas.
The judge released documentation of what he described as the government’s misleading statements, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Hanen’s ruling followed tense exchanges in court between government lawyers and the judge. Hanen had expressed frustration with the government for failing to inform him that officials had given deferred action to 108,000 applicants shortly after Obama announced his plan in November.
“The court expects all parties, including the government of the United States, to act in a forthright manner and not hide behind deceptive representations and half-truths,” Hanen wrote.
Attorneys for the 26 states are arguing Obama’s executive action causes “irreparable harm” to their local interests.
WND reported Hanen ordered, at the time, the government to explain why federal officials had approved tens of thousands of three-year exemptions between Nov. 24, 2014, and Hanen’s injunction.
Hanen’s order, Feb. 16, did not block a 2012 plan that offers amnesty to those who were brought to the U.S. illegally as children.
But that program doesn’t provide for three-year exemptions, only two-year exemptions. The new exemptions are part of the administration’s November orders, which are the subject of the current case.
The Texas case was joined by Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who has a similar case before a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C..
Hanen’s order faulted the Obama amnesty plan because officials failed to comply with the Administrative Procedures Act.
Meanwhile, Obama, according to the Washington Times, told a Miami crowd he would move ahead with his executive action on immigration and vowed his administration would become even more aggressive in the weeks and months to come.
A filing from attorney Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch noted Obama said: “This is just one federal judge. We have appealed it very aggressively. We’re going to be as aggressive as we can.”
Wrote Klayman: “The Obama administration is continuing to signal not only its disagreement with the court’s order, which is its right, but beyond that its non-compliance with the court’s order.”
The Texas lawsuit was filed when the states suddenly faced massive new demands for public services such as schooling and health care from foreigners who previously had been subject to deportation.
Hanen granted a preliminary injunction that prevents the government from enforcing the Obama administration’s immigration orders. The ruling also confirmed WND’s exclusive report that, contrary to popular perception, the order to delay deportation was not an executive order by the president. Instead, it was a memorandum issued by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson at Obama’s direction.
Klayman even noted that according to a Weekly Standard report, Obama was threatening “consequences” for federal employees who followed the judge’s order instead of the amnesty memos from Johnson.
That report quoted Obama saying: “Until we pass a law through Congress, the executive actions we’ve taken are not going to be permanent; they are temporary. There are going to be some jurisdictions and there may be individual ICE official or Border Control agent not paying attention to our new directives. But they’re going to be answerable to the head of Homeland Security because he’s been very clear about what our priorities will be.”
He continued, “If somebody’s working for ICE … and they don’t follow the policy, there’s going to be consequences to it.”
Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., at the time described the administration’s action as “another program that has not been authorized by law.”
“There’s been no sense at all by President Obama, the Department of Home Security [Secretary] Jeh Johnson, the Democratic members of this Congress, no concern about the employment prospects of lawful immigrants, green card holders and native-born Americans,” Sessions told the Times. “The first thing we should do is be focusing on getting jobs for Americans that are unemployed. Are we going to keep Americans on welfare and benefits while we bring in more and more foreigners to take jobs when we’ve got Americans ready and willing to take those jobs?”
Sen Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also raised the issue of compliance with the court order.
“Violating an unambiguous federal court order by defying its instructions to cease and desist a particular activity would represent a significant breach of your authority, and would be an escalation in abuse of our separation of powers,” Cruz wrote to administration officials. “For a president and his cabinet to telegraph intent to violate a federal court order requires additional scrutiny from Congress.”
But administration officials were unabashed in their intent.
The Washington Times said Cecilia Munoz, White House domestic policy director, addressed the issue: “It’s important to put [Hanen's order] in context, because the broader executive actions are moving forward. The administration continues to implement the portions of the actions that the president and the Department of Homeland Security took, which were not affected by the court’s ruling.”
Even Obama himself said, however, he couldn’t grant amnesty alone.
House Speaker John Boehner has listed 22 times when Obama has made such statements.
For example, in October 2010, Obama said: “I am president, I am not king. I can’t do these things just by myself. … I’ve got to have some partners to do it. … If Congress has laws on the books that says that people who are here who are not documented have to be deported, then I can exercise some flexibility in terms of where we deploy our resources, to focus on people who are really causing problems as opposed to families who are just trying to work and support themselves. But there’s a limit to the discretion that I can show because I am obliged to execute the law. … I can’t just make the laws up by myself.”
WND also reported when yet another a federal judge in Pennsylvania declared the amnesty unconstitutional.
“President Obama’s unilateral legislative action violates the separation of powers provided for in the United States Constitution as well as the Take Care Clause and, therefore, is unconstitutional,” said U.S. District Judge Arthur J. Schwab.
The judge noted Obama “contended that although legislation is the most appropriate course of action to solve the immigration debate, his executive action was necessary because of Congress’ failure to pass legislation, acceptable to him, in this regard.”
“This proposition is arbitrary and does not negate the requirement that the November 20, 2014, executive action be lawfully within the president’s executive authority,” the judge wrote. “It is not.”
(By Bob Unruh, WND)