Chicago’s Violent Crime Rates Plummet After SCOTUS Removes Handgun Ban

by John Lott 

Murder and violent crime rates were supposed to soar after the Supreme Court struck down Chicago’s and Washington, D.C.’s gun control laws. Politicians predicted disaster. “More handguns in the District of Columbia will only lead to more handgun violence,” Washington’s Mayor Adrian Fenty warned the day the court made its decision. Chicago’s Mayor Daley predicted that we would “go back to the Old West, you have a gun and I have a gun and we’ll settle it in the streets.” The New York Times even editorialized last month about the Supreme Court’s “unwise” decision that there is a right for people “to keep guns in the home.”



But Armageddon never happened. Newly released data for Chicago shows that, as in D.C., murder and gun crime rates didn’t rise after the bans were eliminated; they plummeted. They have fallen much more than the national crime rate, but the national media has been completely silent. One can only imagine the coverage if crime rates had risen.

In the first six months of this year, there were 14% fewer murders in Chicago compared to the first six months of last year– back when owning handguns was illegal. It was the largest drop in Chicago’s murder rate since the handgun ban went into effect in 1982. Meanwhile, the other four most populous cities saw a total drop at the same time of only 6 percent.

Similarly, in the year after the 2008 Heller decision, the murder rate fell 2.5 times faster in D.C. than in the rest of the country. It also fell more than three times as fast as in other cities that are close to D.C.’s size.

And murders in D.C. have continued to fall. If you compare the first six months of this year to the first six months of 2008, the same time immediately preceding the Supreme Court’s late June Heller decision, murders have now fallen by 34%.

Gun crimes fell more than non-gun crimes. Robberies with guns fell by 25%, while robberies without guns have fallen by 8%. Assaults with guns fell by 37%, while assaults without guns fell by 12%. Just as with right-to-carry laws, when law-abiding citizens have guns, some criminals stop carrying theirs.

Read the full article at Fox News.

Big Government

How North Dakota Became Saudi Arabia

Harold Hamm, discoverer of the Bakken fields of the northern Great Plains, on America's oil future and why OPEC's days are numbered.

 

 By STEPHEN MOORE

Harold Hamm, the Oklahoma-based founder and CEO of Continental Resources, the 14th-largest oil company in America, is a man who thinks big. He came to Washington last month to spread a needed message of economic optimism: With the right set of national energy policies, the United States could be "completely energy independent by the end of the decade. We can be the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas in the 21st century."

"President Obama is riding the wrong horse on energy," he adds. We can't come anywhere near the scale of energy production to achieve energy independence by pouring tax dollars into "green energy" sources like wind and solar, he argues. It has to come from oil and gas.

You'd expect an oilman to make the "drill, baby, drill" pitch. But since 2005 America truly has been in the midst of a revolution in oil and natural gas, which is the nation's fastest-growing manufacturing sector. No one is more responsible for that resurgence than Mr. Hamm. He was the original discoverer of the gigantic and prolific Bakken oil fields of Montana and North Dakota that have already helped move the U.S. into third place among world oil producers.

How much oil does Bakken have? The official estimate of the U.S. Geological Survey a few years ago was between four and five billion barrels. Mr. Hamm disagrees: "No way. We estimate that the entire field, fully developed, in Bakken is 24 billion barrels."

If he's right, that'll double America's proven oil reserves. "Bakken is almost twice as big as the oil reserve in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska," he continues. According to Department of Energy data, North Dakota is on pace to surpass California in oil production in the next few years. Mr. Hamm explains over lunch in Washington, D.C., that the more his company drills, the more oil it finds. Continental Resources has seen its "proved reserves" of oil and natural gas (mostly in North Dakota) skyrocket to 421 million barrels this summer from 118 million barrels in 2006.

"We expect our reserves and production to triple over the next five years." And for those who think this oil find is only making Mr. Hamm rich, he notes that today in America "there are 10 million royalty owners across the country" who receive payments for the oil drilled on their land. "The wealth is being widely shared."
One reason for the renaissance has been OPEC's erosion of market power. "For nearly 50 years in this country nobody looked for oil here and drilling was in steady decline. Every time the domestic industry picked itself up, the Saudis would open the taps and drown us with cheap oil," he recalls. "They had unlimited production capacity, and company after company would go bust."

Zina Saunders

Today OPEC's market share is falling and no longer dictates the world price. This is huge, Mr. Hamm says. "Finally we have an opportunity to go out and explore for oil and drill without fear of price collapse." When OPEC was at its peak in the 1990s, the U.S. imported about two-thirds of its oil. Now we import less than half of it, and about 40% of what we do import comes from Mexico and Canada. That's why Mr. Hamm thinks North America can achieve oil independence.

The other reason for America's abundant supply of oil and natural gas has been the development of new drilling techniques. "Horizontal drilling" allows rigs to reach two miles into the ground and then spread horizontally by thousands of feet. Mr. Hamm was one of the pioneers of this method in the 1990s, and it has done for the oil industry what hydraulic fracturing has done for natural gas drilling in places like the Marcellus Shale in the Northeast. Both innovations have unlocked decades worth of new sources of domestic fossil fuels that previously couldn't be extracted at affordable cost.

Mr. Hamm's rags to riches success is the quintessential "only in America" story. He was the last of 13 kids, growing up in rural Oklahoma "the son of sharecroppers who never owned land." He didn't have money to go to college, so as a teenager he went to work in the oil fields and developed a passion. "I always wanted to find oil. It was always an irresistible calling."

He became a wildcat driller and his success rate became legendary in the industry. "People started to say I have ESP," he remarks. "I was fortunate, I guess. Next year it will be 45 years in the business."

Mr. Hamm ranks 33rd on the Forbes wealth list for America, but given the massive amount of oil that he owns, much still in the ground, and the dizzying growth of Continental's output and profits (up 34% last year alone), his wealth could rise above $20 billion and he could soon be rubbing elbows with the likes of Warren Buffett.

His only beef these days is with Washington. Mr. Hamm was invited to the White House for a "giving summit" with wealthy Americans who have pledged to donate at least half their wealth to charity. (He's given tens of millions of dollars already to schools like Oklahoma State and for diabetes research.) "Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, they were all there," he recalls.

When it was Mr. Hamm's turn to talk briefly with President Obama, "I told him of the revolution in the oil and gas industry and how we have the capacity to produce enough oil to enable America to replace OPEC. I wanted to make sure he knew about this."

The president's reaction? "He turned to me and said, 'Oil and gas will be important for the next few years. But we need to go on to green and alternative energy. [Energy] Secretary [Steven] Chu has assured me that within five years, we can have a battery developed that will make a car with the equivalent of 130 miles per gallon.'" Mr. Hamm holds his head in his hands and says, "Even if you believed that, why would you want to stop oil and gas development? It was pretty disappointing."

Washington keeps "sticking a regulatory boot at our necks and then turns around and asks: 'Why aren't you creating more jobs,'" he says. He roils at the Interior Department delays of months and sometimes years to get permits for drilling. "These delays kill projects," he says. Even the Securities and Exchange Commission is now tightening the screws on the oil industry, requiring companies like Continental to report their production and federal royalties on thousands of individual leases under the Sarbanes-Oxley accounting rules. "I could go to jail because a local operator misreported the production in the field," he says.

The White House proposal to raise $40 billion of taxes on oil and gas—by excluding those industries from credits that go to all domestic manufacturers—is also a major hindrance to exploration and drilling. "That just stops the drilling," Mr. Hamm believes. "I've seen these things come about before, like [Jimmy] Carter's windfall profits tax." He says America's rig count on active wells went from 4,500 to less than 55 in a matter of months. "That was a dumb idea. Thank God, Reagan got rid of that."

A few months ago the Obama Justice Department brought charges against Continental and six other oil companies in North Dakota for causing the death of 28 migratory birds, in violation of the Migratory Bird Act. Continental's crime was killing one bird "the size of a sparrow" in its oil pits. The charges carry criminal penalties of up to six months in jail. "It's not even a rare bird. There're jillions of them," he explains. He says that "people in North Dakota are really outraged by these legal actions," which he views as "completely discriminatory" because the feds have rarely if ever prosecuted the Obama administration's beloved wind industry, which kills hundreds of thousands of birds each year.

Continental pleaded not guilty to the charges last week in federal court. For Mr. Hamm the whole incident is tantamount to harassment. "This shouldn't happen in America," he says. To him the case is further proof that Washington "is out to get us."

Mr. Hamm believes that if Mr. Obama truly wants more job creation, he should study North Dakota, the state with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation at 3.5%. He swears that number is overstated: "We can't find any unemployed people up there. The state has 18,000 unfilled jobs," Mr. Hamm insists. "And these are jobs that pay $60,000 to $80,000 a year." The economy is expanding so fast that North Dakota has a housing shortage. Thanks to the oil boom—Continental pays more than $50 million in state taxes a year—the state has a budget surplus and is considering ending income and property taxes.

It's hard to disagree with Mr. Hamm's assessment that Barack Obama has the energy story in America wrong. The government floods green energy—a niche market that supplies 2.5% of our energy needs—with billions of dollars of subsidies a year. "Wind isn't commercially feasible with natural gas prices below $6" per thousand cubic feet, notes Mr. Hamm. Right now its price is below $4. This may explain the administration's hostility to the fossil-fuel renaissance.

Mr. Hamm calculates that if Washington would allow more drilling permits for oil and natural gas on federal lands and federal waters, "I truly believe the federal government could over time raise $18 trillion in royalties."

That's more than the U.S. national debt, I say. He smiles.

This estimate sounds implausibly high, but Mr. Hamm has a lifelong habit of proving skeptics wrong. And even if he's wrong by half, it's a stunning number to think about. So this America-first energy story isn't just about jobs and economic revival. It's also about repairing America's battered balance sheet. Someone should get this man in front of the congressional deficit-reduction supercommittee.

Mr. Moore is a member of the Journal's editorial board.

WSJ

Todd Palin A Modern Day Gary Cooper and a Man’s Man

Session host: Stephen K. Bannon | Session guest: Todd Palin

Todd Palin’s candid interview with Stephen K. Bannon

Chinese World Domination: Forming International Alliances

Posted by Brad Fregger Oct 3rd 2011 at 2:50 pm in Asia, China, Middle East, Russia, Strategy

As I think about the plethora of international alliances that China is forming, It reminds me of women who are fatally attracted to abusive men. Those men who don’t hesitate to beat any sense of self esteem out of their women, especially if they show any signs of wanting to gain their independence. During the courting stage this man manages to hide his abusive side and lavishes the woman with gifts and model behavior. She willingly believes she has met “Mr. Right.” But, once this particular type of monster believes that he is in control, that the “little woman” is completely dependent on him, things change and the potential for disaster is extremely high.

Right now, much of the world is in the courting stage with the Chinese Communists as they romance multiple countries on every continent. This process is important, as they will not be able to accomplish their economic, military, technology, or resource goals without strong alliances throughout the world. And, they will not be able to achieve their ultimate goal until most of the world’s countries are totally dependent on them.

Once they have achieved their goal of being the world’s only superpower, things will change and the potential for disaster becomes high.

ASIA
Last year, Global Research reported that Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping, desiring an alliance with Russia, said, “We are in favor of Russia playing an important role in international and regional affairs.” In Putin’s response he referred to China as Russia’s “strategic partner in the full sense of this word.”

 

In addition, The Heritage Foundation reported the following:

On July 16, the presidents of Russia and China signed a Treaty for Good Neighborliness, Friendship, and Cooperation in Moscow. … The treaty should signal to the Western world that a major geopolitical shift may be taking place in the Eurasian balance of power, with serious implications for the United States and its alliances.

Some authors even suggest that the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, … a major alliance between China, Russia, and a few other minor Asian countries, is really the beginning of a new cold war. The Herald in an article titled, “Leading historian issues warning of new cold war,” reported that Scottish historian Niall Ferguson believed the alliance was, “… more of a threat to the West than the credit crunch,”

Ferguson, a best-selling author, broadcaster and professor of history at Harvard University, said that the development of the new Russia-China power block was set to put the two economic heavyweights on a path to confrontation with much of the rest of the world.

The current concern about the alliance between Russia and China is even stronger among some Russian critics. Lev Navrozov, an influential Russian writer and historian, is extremely concerned about this alliance; obvious from his article at Newsmax.com,

Hypothetically, or rather quite realistically, it is this China-Russia alliance that will make Communist China the owner of the world.

There seems little doubt that China sees this alliance as critical to its goal of world domination. It also seems obvious that the current Russian leaders see an alliance with China as their only option.


Russia isn’t the only Asian country that China is interested in forming alliances with; China is also pledging closer ties with Japan.

China on Monday said it will work with Japan to promote mutually beneficial strategic relations after Japan’s prime minister sent a positive signal.

“We noted Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s comments on promoting strategic and mutually beneficial relations between China and Japan, and we would like to make joint efforts with Japan,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said at a daily press briefing on Monday.

In addition, the YonHap News Agency reports,

South Korea, China and Japan launched a cooperation office in Seoul Tuesday in a symbol of their commitment to improve relations and bolster exchanges in a region often unsettled by history and territorial disputes.

Chinese Ambassador Zhang Xinsen stated,

China, the ROK and Japan are countries with great influence both in Asia and in the world. To strengthen trilateral cooperation will not only benefit the peoples of the three countries, but also contribute to peace and development in Northeast Asia as well as in the whole world.

China’s Asian influence is also strong in Pakistan, as reported in the Associated Press of Pakistan,

Syed Hasan Javed, High Commission of Pakistan to Singapore. … reiterated that Pakistan-China relations cover a wide canvas of growing cooperation in strategic, security, defence, economic, science and technology, culture, education, civil society fields.

AUSTRALIA
The Australian reports there are some influential thinkers in Australia who believe that the United States is declining as a world superpower, among them Dr. Hugh White of Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, stating  that America is “rotting at its core.”

China is on the rise, an economic powerhouse that is Australia’s chief trading partner and therefore accounts for a good deal of its prosperity. Canberra, … should persuade the US to abandon any hope of primacy in Asia and share leadership with China; if hostilities escalate, Australia should tilt towards neutrality.

Futhermore, the International Business Times reports,

Prime Minister Julia Gillard ordered on Wednesday former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry to head the preparation of a white paper which aims to be the federal government’s blueprint to develop a strategic, economic and trade mandate in Asia.

The white paper, which would be titled “Australia in the Asian Century” is expected to be ready for cabinet discussion in early 2012.

AFRICA
Boston.com reports,

South African officials may block the Dalai Lama from celebrating the 80th birthday of his friend and fellow Nobel Peace Laureate, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, amid fears that Chinese pressure is trumping the country’s much-vaunted policies on freedom of speech and human rights. … The tensions over the Dalai Lama’s visa application also are a sign of how powerful China’s influence has grown in Africa.

WaltaINFO reports that the Chinese/Ethiopia “comprehensive cooperative partnership” has gained “new momentum.”

China reiterates its readiness to enhance political mutual trust, deepen traditional friendship, work hand in hand for common development, the [Chinese] Ambassador said, adding that a number of development agreements and protocols have [been] signed between the two countries.

Relations between China and Zimbabwe are also moving forward rapidly, with China involved in trade, building schools, and providing millions of dollars worth of food to this starving nation.

EUROPE
 China is working hard on its relationships in Europe. For example, the China Daily reports,

The relationship between the UK and China has made good progress, with communication and cooperation flourishing in various fields, [English Prime Minister] Cameron said.

Forbes reports, in an article on China’s economic expansion, that while China seems to be asking Europe to put “their own houses in order,” before asking China to bail them out, that China is not above using their economic clout to enhance their alliances within the European community of countries,

Mr. Wen made clear that China was not about to purchase sovereign debt without seeing anything in return. He said Europe needed to take “bold steps” in order to receive Chinese help, the first of which is to formally grant China full “market economy” status (MES). Many regarded Premier Wen’s remarks as a message that there could be a trade-off between China offering help and the EU granting China MES.

The extent to which China is “using its cash” to extend its influence throughout the world was clearly shown in the Forbes article:

… two Chinese state-controlled banks have lent more to developing countries than the World Bank. … [making] loans totaling $110 billion to … developing countries in 2009 and 2010. During the same period, the World Bank issued loans of just over $100 billion.

SOUTH AMERICA
 One of the benefits of this strive for global alliances is the strengthening of the yuan, ultimately to become one of the world’s major reserve currencies. CNN reports,

Chile and Venezuela, two countries in the opposite of the South American political spectrum, have something in common: both are interested in the Chinese yuan.

With the growing clout of the world’s second largest economy and the slow but constant strengthening of its currency, the yuan is an increasingly attractive choice for reserve currency. 

While there currently are restrictions in its transactions, the two South American countries lead the flight from the U.S. dollar in the region.

China is also deeply involved in loaning money to Ecuador as reported by Bloomberg,

Ecuador, South America’s seventh-biggest economy, has benefitted from higher oil prices and Chinese loans which allow the government to boost spending on … public works projects.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg; Chinese influence can also be seen in other South American countries like Brazil and Chile.

NORTH AMERICA
 China is deeply involved in Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, and their involvement is welcomed as confidence in the West is receding.  The Jamaica Observer states that,

… the way is clear for new alliances to be consummated with willing partners to fill the void created by declining levels of North American and European assistance.

In previous posts I have shown the influence that China is exerting in Cuba, Canada, and the United States; the Chinese are deeply involved with Canadian and U.S. governments and companies economically, technically, and in the struggle for resource acquisition.

This close relationship makes it difficult for us to remain competitive with the Chinese Communists in areas of National Security, as we find that our bargaining power in regard to foreign relations is dramatically lessened and our technology is given to the Chinese in order to have access to this large emerging market.

There’s no doubt that the Chinese are intent on spreading their influence throughout the world. However, I have deep concerns about how these alliances will work out in the future when China has gained effective control. Will they be the benevolent suitor, interested only in maintaining a peaceful environment where all countries and their peoples are free to search out their own destinies?

Or, will they prove to be the malevolent suitor? The one interested only in control and maintaining their own security, only satisfied when the rest of world is committed to accepting that China is the master and that doing their bidding is not a choice but a command. If so, they will have gained control over us all and we will have nobody to turn to for the help we need to get out of this disastrous relationship.

Finally, might this very real threat be exacerbated by those of us who seem to welcome the insurgence of a global socialist/communist government, believing in their hearts that such a government is the world’s best chance at peace and fairness for all? Just asking.

Big Peace

New Black Panther Malik Shabazz: Obama Evoked Tenets of Black Liberation Theology in Selma

by John Sexton

Today, Andrew Breitbart published some photographs of an event in March 2007 where Senator and candidate Barack Obama shared a stage with Malik Shabazz of the New Black Panther Party.

It was not, as the mainstream media wants to believe, a mere coincidence. Certainly not to Malik Shabazz himself.

It may be difficult to appreciate now, but at the time of that event, Senator Obama was still considered a long shot for the White House. Hillary Clinton was still ahead in the polls, and had already secured endorsements from civil rights icons like Rep. John Lewis (D-GA).

Meanwhile, Obama’s support among black Americans was weak. Just a few weeks before the event with the Panthers, Steve Kroft of CBS’s 60 Minutes had noted that some black voters were openly questioning Obama’s racial authenticity saying, “There are African-Americans who don’t think that you’re black enough, who don’t think that you have had the required experience.” Obama smiled at such dismissals, but it was clear he had work to do.

Obama’s trip to Selma was obviously intended as a solution to the problem. There, he was able to stake a claim to the mantle of the civil rights movement by participating in the annual remembrance of the famous ‘65 march with Rep. Lewis.

“Don’t tell me I don’t have a claim on Selma, Alabama,” Obama told the audience inside the Brown Chapel A.M.E. church.”

He also said: “I must send greetings from Dr. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. but I got a letter giving me encouragement and saying how proud he was that I had announced and encouraging me to stay true to my ideals and my values and not to be fearful.”

And as the pictures Big Government published this morning show, Obama also shared a podium outside with Shabazz and others.

I did find a radio interview Shabazz gave in May 2008 in which he reflects on his interaction with Obama in Selma. Some of the things he says about Obama are pretty interesting:

Aside from the confirmation that Shabazz did meet Obama in Selma, I’ll just highlight this bit of the conversation:

Question: What is it that he said either in Selma, Alabama or that you’ve seen him say recently that particularly pleased you?

Malik Shabazz: Well, when he was in Selma, when he spoke at the black church there and he was able to again draw out of the tenets of black liberation theology. Because he was teaching about the story of [inaudible - Jesus?] and Moses and Pharaoh and the children of Israel and the Pharaoh as it is written in the Torah or the Old Testament. And he was drawing the comparison to the struggle for justice through slavery here in America and comparing us to the children of Israel. And so I knew that he had a…a based in some sound theology that is rooted in our community. And at that point I knew that he…he understood what was going on.

Shabazz goes on to say “God is with this man.”

If you’re interested in hearing the speech Obama gave inside the AME Church in Selma, the one Shabazz is commenting on, it was broadcast by C-SPAN and can be viewed here.

Observers have speculated on Obama’s connection to black liberation theology since Reverend Wright came on the scene, but Shabazz is one more voice confirming that Obama does have an affinity for that viewpoint or, at the very least, understands it well enough to give a convincing sermon based on its tenets–one understood by its audience as such.

Big Government

Investor and Obama Donor Warned President Not to Visit Solyndra

by Larry O'Connor

As the mainstream media continue to obsess about a painted rock in Texas, the Solyndra story continues to grow.

“A number of us are concerned that the president is visiting Solyndra…  Many of us believe the company’s cost structure will make it difficult for them to survive long term. . . . I just want to help protect the president from anything that could result in negative or unfair press.”

Those words appeared in an email from Solyndra investor and Obama fundraiser Steve Westly to Obama senior adviser Valerie Jarrett in May 2010.  The correspondence is yet another indication that the White House had immediate warning signs that the $535 million loan guarantee of stimulus money pushed through by the Obama Department of Energy (DOE) was at great risk.

President Obama visited Solyndra despite the warnings, and the resulting video footage of the photo-op has become the perfect b-roll to accompany stories describing the failed “green jobs” initiative that the president held up as a shining example of how his administration was “Winning the Future.”

“If it’s too late to change/postpone the meeting, the president should be careful about unrealistic/optimistic forecasts that could haunt him in the next 18 months if Solyndra hits the wall, files for bankruptcy, etc.”

Hit the wall they did. Solyndra is bankrupt and over 1,000 people are unemployed. And yet President Obama had praised the fledgling company as an “engine of economic growth” and a model of his administration’s $80 billion stimulus-funded investment in clean energy technologies and companies.

As the House Energy Committee continues investigating the details behind the Solyndra hand-out, each day brings a new revelation of White House connections and foreknowledge of the impending failure.

Today’s release of memos came from Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. That suggests a loss of congressional support for the president, even as the emails themselves reveal a deep rift between warring factions of the Obama Administration.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) began voicing concerns about the company’s financial standing in early 2010, and complained that the DOE was either ignoring the problems or was unconcerned over the potential loss of $535 million in taxpayer funding:

“DOE … has one loan guarantee to monitor and they seem completely oblivious to this issue,” one OMB analyst said to another in an April 2, 2010, email.
“What’s terrifying is that after looking at some of the ones that came next, this one [Solyndra] started to look better,” another OMB e-mail exchange said of Solyndra. “Bad days are coming.”

The “bad days” appear to be here for the Obama Administration as House investigations focus on the influence of George Kaiser, an Obama donor and Solyndra investor who visited the White House multiple times in the days leading up to the loan approval for the now-bankrupt California company.

Investigations have also uncovered:

• Solyndra violated the terms of the original loan, but still received more money from DOE
• DOE re-structured the Solyndra loan to allow investors to get paid back before tax-payers (allegedly violating federal law)
• A Solyndra investor said the goal of the DOE loans was to lend credibility to the firm so it could “cash out” by going public
• Obama’s top economic advisers warned him that Solyndra and “green technology” in general was a risky investment and the White House should not tie federal stimulus money to individual companies, but to a broad market instead.

Big Government

Shock Photos: Candidate Obama Appeared And Marched With New Black Panther Party in 2007

by Andrew Breitbart 

New photographs obtained exclusively by BigGovernment.com reveal that Barack Obama appeared and marched with members of the New Black Panther Party as he campaigned for president in Selma, Alabama in March 2007.

The photographs, captured from a Flickr photo-sharing account before it was scrubbed, are the latest evidence of the mainstream media’s failure to examine Obama’s extremist ties and radical roots.

In addition, the new images raise questions about the possible motives of the Obama administration in its infamous decision to drop the prosecution of the Panthers for voter intimidation.

The images, presented below, also renew doubts about the transparency of the White House’s guest logs–in particular, whether Panther National Chief Malik Zulu Shabazz is the same “Malik Shabazz” listed among the Obama administration’s early visitors.

Tomorrow, J. Christian Adams, the Department of Justice whistleblower in the New Black Panther Party case, will release his new book, Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department (Regnery).

The book exposes Obama administration corruption far beyond the Panther dismissal, and reveals how the institutional Left has turned the power of the DOJ into an ideological weapon.
Adams’s book also describes, in detail, the Selma march at which then-Senator Obama was joined by a group of Panthers who had come to support his candidacy.

Among those appearing with Obama was Shabazz, the Panther leader who was one of the defendants in the voter intimidation case that Attorney General Eric Holder dismissed. Also present was the Panthers’ “Minister of War,” Najee Muhammed, who had called for murdering Dekalb County, Georgia, police officers with AK-47’s and then mocking their widows in this video (7:20 – 8:29).

Injustice includes a disturbing photo of Shabazz and the Panthers marching behind Obama with raised fists in the “Black Power” salute.

There are even more photographs.

I have learned that Regnery initially received approval from a person who took pictures of the events in Selma to publish these additional photographs in Injustice.

After the photographer wrote Regnery reversing his permission to include the photographs in Injustice, the images were removed from the photographer’s Flickr account.  Yet we were able to capture them before they disappeared.

The photographs show Obama sharing the same podium at the event with the Panthers.

In the first image, Shabazz stands at the podium, surrounded by uniformed Panthers, including Muhammed. In the second photograph, Obama commands the same podium.
Here are the images:

—

The First Amendment allows photographs of such enormous public importance to see the light of day. Cases, including one involving skimpy photographs of Miss Puerto Rico, have established that fair use and the First Amendment allow publication of these photos.

It is true that then-Senator Hillary Clinton and Al Sharpton were also in Selma at the same event. But the Panthers explicitly came to Selma to support Obama, as Adams details in Injustice.

They spoke with Obama at the podium shown above, and departed together with Obama for the main march itself, as shown by this grainer image captured from YouTube:



Obama seems not to be reviled by the Panthers in any of the video or photographs. And Obama’s own campaign website would post an endorsement by the New Black Panther Party in March 2008.  As Adams writes in Injustice:

Somehow, the fact that the future President of the United States shared a podium with leaders of the New Black Panthers, marched with them, and received a public, formal greeting from their party has vanished from the history of Obama’s campaign. Apart from [Juan] Williams’ single dispatch, no other media outlets ever reported it.

After NPR initially reported that the Panthers were present at the event with Obama, subsequent reports from Selma omitted any mention of the hate group appearing with the future President.

Had any of Obama’s opponents appeared at an event with the KKK or Aryan Nation, The New York Times would have had to double its ink buy.

Obama’s appearance does much more than expose mainstream media hypocrisy. It also exposes an association between a vile racist organization and a future President of the United States. Only the degree of association is subject to debate.

And only a few voices outside the mainstream media have continued to press the Obama administration about its past and present ties to fringe groups.

I have been calling for the White House to disclose which Malik Shabazz visited the private White House residence on July 25, 2009, two months after the DOJ voter intimidation case was dismissed.  So far, the White House has refused to do so, leaving open the question of which “Malik Shabazz” appears in visitor logs released to the public.

To reiterate: nobody, including Adams, is suggesting that Obama is a secret member of the New Black Panther Party. At a minimum, however, the events in Selma expose the media double standard that has buried this story until this week.

The mainstream media should ask Obama a few questions before they rush to his defense:

What did he and Malik Zulu Shabazz say when they conversed that day–something that Shabazz has said happened?

Did the Obama campaign play any role in having the Panthers travel to support his presidential ambitions?

Who posted the Panthers’ endorsement on the Obama campaign’s website, and at whose instructions?

Who–finally–was the Malik Shabazz who visited the White House residence on July 25, 2009?

Big Government