What took place in those critical moments was captured on audio recorded from police scanners, confirming that the blaze was intentionally set by police.

In a separate recording by a reporter on scene, we can hear police yelling “burn him out” “we’re going to burn him out” and “burn that motherfucker” right before the fire started at the house.

Appalling as it may sound, the events that unfolded in the wake of Dorner’s war against police, we should be wary of individuals who claim the right to be judge, jury and executioner beyond the scope of due process safeguards. Be it a disgruntled ex-cop, or the Judge Dredd wannabes that pursue him, our society suffers when we allow our concept of “justice” to be bent to the militaristic levels that we have witnessed.

[P]rivate gun collectors were working the large crowd as little makeshift gun shows began dotting the parking lot and sidewalks. Some even had “cash for guns” signs prominently displayed.

Police stood in awe as gun enthusiasts and collectors waved wads of cash for the guns being held by those standing in line for the buyback program.

People that had arrived to trade in their weapons for $100 or $200 BuyBack gift cards($100 for handguns, shotguns and rifles, and $200 for assault weapons) soon realized that gun collectors were there and paying top dollar for collectible firearms. So, as the line for the chump cards got longer and longer people began to jump ship and head over to the dealers.

John Diaz, Seattles Police Chief, wasn’t pleased with the turn of events stating “I’d prefer they wouldn’t sell them,” but admitted it’s perfectly legal for private individuals to buy and sell guns, FOR NOW. Mayor Mike McGinn said at a news conference the private transactions are a loophole that needs to be closed. “There’s no background checks, and some (guns) could be exchanged on the streets that shouldn’t be in circulation.”

But Schuyler Taylor, a previous gun retailer attending the event in hopes of buying weapons, asked “Why not offer them cash versus a gift card? I’m still taking the guns off the streets; they’re just going in my safe.”

People were reportedly, at one point, jumping out of vehicles whilst sitting in traffic – making on the spot deals with the gun buyers.

The free market works! “Cash for guns” is the new cash for gold, that’s golden.

To top things off, some crazy guy nearly ended up selling a used “launch tube assembly for a Stinger portable surface-to-air missile” to a private party to use in the coming revolution. MURICAAA!!!

I can’t wait for one of these silly gun buyback programs to be announced in my area so I can run out and outbid the laughably low prices being offered by law enforcement.

Today — on the double whammy auspicious date of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Obama’s Inauguration to a second presidential term — we high-five our brother in truth for this facebook rant:

May God damn all support given to Obama by brain dead Negroes and Blind arsed White Folk. White Liberals called Bush a War criminal. Yet Obama has killed an American without a trail and continues to kill innocent non-combatants overseas under the guise of fighting terrorism. That’s just for starters. Bush was no better.

Negroes support this NON-BLACK rooted devil while ignoring the fact that this man has not even addressed the issues of disparaging criminal prosecutions and sentencing of Negroes for the same crime committed by Whites who receive lesser sentences. He could have issued a simple Executive Order like he always does calling for a moratorium on these sentences and had the Justice Department investigate why the States behave as they do. Do you think Negroes give a damn? Hell no. What’s he gonna do for me is all most give a darn about. To hell with their sons and daughters getting life sentences for non-violent crimes.

You God Damn right, I’m pissed that Obama won and so to would MLK, Jr be as well. MLK spoke out against the Vietnam War. Do you think for one damn minute he would have supported Obama or Bush.

King also told the Negros who wanted him to sit down, “Hell no!” Separate but equal is crap without Justice, equal Justice for all. He once refused to press charges against a racist stating, “I want to address the system that caused him to be a racist.”

Likewise, he would have told Obama or any President, address the issues that creates poverty, crime, joblessness and such as opposed to supporting a system that feeds it. That system is the complicit cooperation Liberal God Damned Democrats and so called Republican Bastard Conservatives who are so damned crooked, they’ll need corkscrews to bury their arses.

You want to know why I’m so mad? Because I’m surrounded by a Nation of Idiots who won’t wake, politicians who think they are Little “g” gods and self serving Slick Daddy Pimp Pastors who lead their flocks to the wolves for slaughter.

~TMOT

TMOT continues to be a rising star in libertarian and constitutional patriot circles. He breezily bridges the racial divide — emulating Samuel L. Jackson’s righteous anger (and by gosh, voice), and combining it with Bill Cosby’s rational criticism of immorality in black society. More important though, he’s adept at addressing audiences as simply… American.

From us here at Hammer of Truth, we just wanted to say: Preach on minister, preach on.

Until last night, the conventional wisdom in Washington was that the Tea Party was on the wane. Congressional leaders of the nascent movement, like Allen West and Joe Walsh had lost reelection, or, like Jim DeMint, had decided to leave politics altogether. House Speaker John Boehner had stripped some of the more outspoken members of the Tea Party caucus of their congressional leadership posts, a sign that the GOP establishment was no longer going to be led by its ultra-conservative tail. The big money groups backing the Tea Party were falling apart in a spate of post-election season squabbling.

President Obama thanked Speaker Boehner after the House passed the Senate’s fiscal cliff legislation.

But after 85 House Republicans joined Boehner in raising taxes without spending reductions during the end game of Monday night’s fiscal-cliff negotiations, Tea Party leaders and conservative activists from around the country are dusting off their tri-corner hats and “Don’t Tread On Me” signs, and now say that their members are as energized as they have ever been since the first Tax Day protests in 2009. And the Republican Party, they add, had better beware.

“We now have 85 members of the House who have shunned their noses at us,” said Dustin Stockton, a Texas- and Nevada-based operative and the chief strategist of The Tea Party.net. “Our job now is to recruit and inspire and motivate people to run against those Republicans who did it.”

Anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist — during a Meet the Press panel with financial commentator Jim Cramer in early December — was among the first to sternly warn the Republican establishment that fiscal cliff and tax hike negotiations would breed dissent among conservatives:

“Tea party two is going to dwarf tea party one if Obama pushes us off the cliff,” Norquist said. “Let’s not pretend who’s pushing us over the cliff.”

Thanks to his anti-tax pledge, Norquist has been a prime target since fiscal cliff discussions picked up steam in November. Democrats have gone so far as to create an online petition against Norquist.

Whither Ron Paul? He’s taking a new tack in his rhetoric, hinting at the end of fiscal reform and the begin of a much more turbulent stage of America history:

“We have passed the point of no return where we can actually get our house back in order,” Paul begins, adding that “they pretend they are fighting up there, but they really aren’t. They are arguing over power, spin, who looks good, who looks bad; all trying to preserve the system where they can spend what they want, take care of their friends and print money when they need it.” With social safety nets available to rich and poor, there is no impetus for change and “the country loses,” but Paul concludes, the markets are starting to say “there is a limit to this.”

When the shoe drops on the next credit rating cut (and it will), I believe it will be the spark that ignites the whole powderkeg.

In New Mexico, the LP has ballot access through 2014 because Johnson got at least 0.5% of the vote.

In Georgia, all statewide LP candidates have ballot access through 2014 because Johnson got 1% of the vote.

In Nevada, the LP retains ballot access for House candidates because Johnson got at least 1% of the vote.

In Michigan, the LP retains ballot access because US Senate candidate Scotty Boman got at least 17,000 vote (he actually got over 83,000).

In North Carolina, the LP has ballot access through 2016 because gubernatorial candidate Barbara Howe got at least 2% of the vote.

In Utah, the LP retains ballot access for House candidates because US Senate candidate Shaun McCausland got at least 2% of the vote and because gubernatorial candidate Ken Larsen got at least 2%. Either one would have been sufficient.

In West Virginia, the LP has ballot access through 2016 because gubernatorial candidate Jesse Johnson got at least 1% of the vote.

In Wyoming, the LP retains ballot access in 2014 because US House candidate Richard Brubaker got at least 2% of the vote.

Source: Election results and http://www.lp.org/blogs/staff/statewide-libertarian-vote-totals-that-will-give-lp-ballot-access

Edit: Bruce Majors also secured future LP ballot access in DC.

Whether the establishment media will give Libertarian Party candidates equal time and coverage during elections still remains to be seen.

UPDATE: The LP blog confirms and adds that the party “has full ballot access in 30 states and the District of Columbia.” By gaining party status in these states, it should help clear a psychological block in voters’ perceptions in addition to the benefits of money and time that will saved by avoiding the minor party ballot petitioning process.

The Boston Globe has a heart-wrenching series of photos of showing the vast amounts of flooding and fires in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. As the Northeast begins to pick up the pieces and rebuild, some are estimating the dollar value of the freak storm could run more than $30 billion.

NASA has also released a video time-lapse of the storm from Caribbean inception to landfall, showing a massive spiral that stretched all the way to the mid-Atlantic.

While you’re at it, check out an International Space Station flyover video.

UPDATE: The New York Times has a time-lapse video from their office window. The blackout hits at Monday at 8:40PM.

But, the most disturbing similarity between the two is direct corporate sponsorship, and the more obscure soft corporate funding through their respective host committees. While the GOP Convention website proudly boasts their corporate sponsors on their homepage, the Democrats have also accepted corporate funding while trying to maintain the sheen of grassroots funding. Corporate funders for the GOP include Google, Microsoft, Wellcare, Walmart, Chevron and an assortment of energy companies among others. Democratic sponsors include AT&T, Bank of America, Duke Energy, Time Warner Cable, UnitedHealth Group, Piedmont Natural Gas, and US Airways. Coca Cola and Wells Fargo have covered their bets by sponsoring both conventions.

There will be no grassroots takeover happening anytime soon in either major party — they’ve successfully purged or assimilated them into the establishment. But hey, at least we know who’s pulling the strings on our duopoly puppet show.

Reason.tv reports: “Ron Paul-supporting delegates have accused the Republican establishment of changing the rules of the seating process in order to avoid embarassment for Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Their arguments are not without merit.”

“The Ron Paul faction did not go out quietly, cheering loudly whenever Ron Paul delegates were announced and yelling out the running tally of Paul votes every time the convention announcer failed to do so.”

“While Maine–and the broader Ron Paul movement–lost this symbolic battle, some delegates say that Republicans have made a bad mistake alienating the Ron Paul vote by picking this fight.”

“‘The party’s fractured. This was completely unnecessary, and it’s ridiculous,’ said Ron Paul supporter and Oklahoma delegate Steve Dixon.”

Paul supporters had vowed a floor fight, which has been handily snuffed out by procedural shenanigans.

“Work within the party,” they said. “You’ll be part of the process,” they said. Suckers.

UPDATE: The disunity has only just begun:

Members of Maine’s delegation to the Republican National Convention lost their battle to reseat 10 supporters of Ron Paul on Tuesday after a brief but boisterous floor fight, during which the hall echoed with chants of “Seat Maine now!”

Moments later, Paul’s delegates and alternates from Maine — some wearing clothespins on their noses — walked out of the convention hall in protest.

Eric Brakey writes:

After today’s exodus, the Maine Delegation held a rump national convention. I was elected National Convention Chair and we voted unanimously to nominate Ron Paul for President. It was over and done with in 60 seconds.

Our rump convention was held in jest, and yet it had more integrity and legitimacy than anything that took place inside that Tampa convention center.

Oh snap!

UPDATE II: Ron Paul’s supporters had embarrassingly more enthusiasm than Romney’s supporters when Ron Paul walked onto the convention floor championing a wreath of flowers (Hawaiian lei, we presume) around his neck. Tell us NBC:

Ron Paul’s appearance Tuesday on the floor of the Republican National Convention evoked split conventions of the past as the retiring Texas congressman received a hero’s welcome from supporters.

The former two-time GOP presidential candidate walked out to greet a roaring group of supporters from the Nevada delegation, one of several he won during the detailed process of allocating delegates to this convention.

When asked by NBC News what he hoped to accomplish by visiting the floor, Paul said, “Just saying hi to some friends from Nevada.”

Paul supporters started chanted, “Let Him Speak!” When Romney supporters started chanting “Romney, Romney!” Paul backers screamed “Ron Paul! Ron Paul,” drowning out the delegates pledged to the Republican nominee-in-waiting.

HA! Even NBC can’t cover for Romney when the enthusiasm gap has been exposed by Paul supporters in grand fashion. At his own convention, where we can finish laughing at the GOP presidency ambitions of 2012 when he’s handily beaten by entrenched incumbent Obama (or gasp, Gary Johnson) at the polls in November.

Don’t forget this moment.

UPDATE III: Linda Bean, scion of the LL Bean clothing empire is letting fly at Romney over being a control freak. Via Esquire:

“They just don’t want us on the floor,” Bean says. “They’re afraid.”

The latest hassle was a document the Romney wants them to sign. “They want us all to sign that we will agree with everything in the convention.”

Everything?

“Yeah, sign here that you will not oppose anything that Romney brings forth.”

That ain’t gonna fly with a bunch of libertarians, Bean says. “He’s too controlling.”

That’s not all.

“We aren’t even allowed to have our credentials for the next day — they’re passing them out new every day. What does that mean?”

Loyalty oaths are nothing new to the GOP, with George Bush bringing them in vogue during his 2004 re-election campaign. But Romney’s campaign seems to be getting ahead of themselves pushing such pledges at a contentious convention.

Here’s the photo causing so much heartache among pundits:

From CNN: “White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was asked about the photo on Tuesday and promised get some answers but so far nothing.”

“The photo is getting quite a bit of attention in overseas publications wondering about “hidden messages” or the “symbolic meaning” of the president holding the baseball bat.”

A variant of the story has been circulated by most major news outlets, but the White House remains tight-lipped as always as this is obviously a nice way to let the Chicago-bred politician have a meaningful prop for the media to speculate over… instead of how many “official” trips were made on Air Force One during July that also doubled as fundraising or campaign trips on the taxpayer’s dime (this is called “the real issue” folks, look it up).

I don’t see the problem here. I short, we should be happy he’s making $10 phone calls to handle the office — baseball bat in hand — instead of flying out to Turkey and realizing there was no chicken dinner fundraiser on the way.

Spotted at the Nevada GOP state convention by Gene Hahn.

The recent FEC filing from April 20th shows Newt 2012 is a whopping $4.3 million in debt.

The Huffington Post reports that March was one of the slowest fundraising months for Gingrich, “The debts run up by the campaign in March include payments for ordinary campaign consulting work, massive spending on private jets, expenses at a private security firm, and payments to staffers who had to cover their own travel and lodging expenses.”

“The campaign’s most absurd unpaid expenses were more than $1 million to the private jet company Moby Dick Airways, nearly $450,000 to a security firm, and more than $500,000 in travel reimbursements and other payments to individual staffers and consultants.”

Andrew Rosenthal at The New York Times draws comparisons to Greece, “Newt Gingrich is preparing to make the transition from forgotten-but-not-gone to gone-and-hopefully-forgotten by dropping his presidential campaign next week. And he’s doing it in good Reagan-and-Bush-era Republican fashion – carrying on about fiscal responsibility while piling up a nice fat budget deficit.”

“Mr. Gingrich currently has $4.3 million in debt, according to TPM Muckraker – about 20 percent of his Gross Campaign Product, which puts him in Greece territory. He has more debt than any other failed Republican presidential candidate since 1992.”

Observant readers will remember Gingrich was the subject of controversy last year after taking time off the campaign trail to go on a two-week Greek cruise.

Gingrich has stated he will attend more scheduled events, because he’s obviously not ready to just let it go already.

I don’t have much to add about the relevance of the date 4/20 and it being an anniversary of interest to those who intently fight the good fight to end the cannabis war (and the drug war in general). I’ll just chime in by saying yep yep yep and yep.

Now watch the biggest smoke session in the internet’s history. No fucks are being given.

Instead of more silly proselytizing to the converted, here’s the lyrics to John Lennon’s song Happy Christmas (War is Over), and we’ve oh so cleverly changed one word.

So this is Kushmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
And so this is Kushmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

A very merry Kushmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Kushmas
For weak and for strong
For rich and the poor ones
The world is so wrong
And so happy Kushmas
For black and for white
For yellow and red ones
Let’s stop all the fight
A very merry Kushmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
And so this is Kushmas
And what have we done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Kushmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young
A very merry Kushmas
And a happy New Year
Let’s hope it’s a good one
Without any fear
War is over over
If you want it
War is over
Now…

We’ve asked friend of Hammer of Truth singer/songwriter Ben Sommer to serenade us prog-rock style with this guaranteed hit, here’s hoping he’ll indulge us.

Or if you think you’ve got the musical talents, upload your videos to youtube/vimeo/whatevershit and use our comments to audition for greatness.

Ron Paul campaigned yesterday at Cornell University (you might have heard of it) in Ithica, New York and packed 4400 into the basketball stands:

The New York primary is this upcoming Tuesday, so whatever in the world is Romney doing in Ohio avoiding large crowds, I’m sure the Paul campaign can thank him for letting this contest get away from him in rally sizes. From what we’ve heard on the grapevine, there’s more massive events for the Paul campaign coming up.

Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich is busy taking heat over his Secret Service security detail, which is costing taxpayers a cool $50K per day. Romney also enjoys a security detail while Ron Paul has called it a form of “welfare” which he eschews.

As for his campaign engagements, Gingrich showed up to a NY GOP dinner and all but sealed his fate by (ed- all but) endorsing Romney, yum. He has a rally scheduled tomorrow where he should hope none of his anti-Romney supporters have heard the big news.

All the smart kids know not to bother worrying about accuracy on compete.com’s stat’s at our level of traffic (pushing 10K a month now, which is magnificent considering the daily post rate is severely diminished from 2006′s explosive peak). But while we fill a stadium’s worth of libertarians and curious onlookers every month, it’s always good to consider the big picture of the libertarian web.

We want to congratulate Lew Rockwell at #1, kicking ass and take names on libertarian’s behalf with all their articulate goodness. Bless them for waving the keyboards at The Fed with admirable consistency. They pull an eye-popping 790K people every month, which is more than the entire population of Austin, Texas and gaining on San Francisco.

The next nine sites in the top ten are a who’s who of liberty movement evangelists: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Ron Paul 2012 Official Campaign Website, Reason Magazine, Daily Paul, The Cato Institute, Ludwig von Mises Institute, AntiWar.com, RonPaul.com and The Tea Party Economist. I’ll be honest, I hadn’t heard of that last site until this list, then I realized it was the great Gary North.

An interesting aspect about this head-to-head match up of powerful libertarian platforms is that the EFF (363K) and the official freaking campaign website of Ron Paul (305K) combined wouldn’t match Lew Rockwell. Time will tell whether this list will ultimately prove the “winner take all” effect is really a measurable success them here, but it’s compelling data in its favor.

For all you upstarts out there: get hopping on WordPress and try to knock us off that #80 pedestal already!

Disgustingly scrawled in silver spray paint on the side of Ohio State University’s Hale Hall (home to the Frank W. Hale Jr. Black Cultural Center and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion). A video posted online by The Lantern shows it getting what it deserves: scrubbed away with solvents.

All sorts are now trying to stir up the flames of racial division, which of course leads to the street level provocateurs of property destruction — the calling card of professional haters.

I’m not really surprised this is in Ohio since we seem to have quite a few racist jackoffs up here. Most of them don’t have the guts to strut around with a sign and have to resort to this kind of childish behavior. Even more childish seems to be the comments the video is attracting.

Ugh, moving on.

BIDEN on the bin Laden raid: “You can go back 500 years. You cannot find a more audacious plan. Never knowing for certain. We never had more than a 48 percent probability that he was there.” – At a Morris Township, N.J., Democratic fundraiser Monday.

THE FACTS: Pick your audacity for the ages. A partial list of awfully bold and odds-defying plans of the last 500 years to stack beside the bin Laden raid for comparison:

-George Washington’s nighttime crossing of the Delaware in December 1776, capturing 1,000 prisoners with fewer than a dozen casualties in his own army, in a watershed for the American Revolution.

-Any number of daring feints and bloody raids of the Civil War.

-Dec. 7, 1941, the sneak assault on Pearl Harbor by more than 350 Japanese planes that killed more than 2,400 people, decimated the Pacific Fleet and drew the U.S. into war.

-June 6, 1944, D-Day, the surprise landing of 160,000 Allied troops on the massively fortified shores of Normandy, France, supported by 5,000 ships and 13,000 aircraft – a “nothing less than full victory” gambit that unleashed armies on a march across Europe to crush Nazi Germany.

-The Sept. 11, 2001, destruction of the World Trade Center, damaging of the Pentagon, downing of four airliners and deaths of nearly 3,000 people, at the hands of hijackers with knives, set loose by bin Laden’s al-Qaida.

Biden’s remark has prompted a U.S. Naval Institute blog to build a list of 500 audacious acts over 500 years – many with a seafaring flavor, given the contributors. Astonishing acts of courage, or foolishness, are recounted, some lost to the memory of all but the most ardent history buffs: British sailors paddling canoes into a Norwegian fjord to attach mines to the German battleship Tirpitz was one.

In 1519, the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez personified the audacity of hope when, after landing his men on the shores of Mexico, he ordered his ships burned, beached or scuttled so there could be no turning back. His invaders pressed on to defeat the Aztec empire.

D-Day is definitely the most audacious military action (in sheer size), for my own spit take. But hell, why not throw in the German Blitzkrieg, which any historian will argue has become the de facto standard of conduct in how to initiate a foreign invasion. The surprise nuclear bombing of Japan marks another. But this just marks a prime example of the kind of historical revisions and delusions of grandeur that cloud the heads of the mighty political creatures like Biden.

Biden’s egotism about his role in building the most audacious utopian killing machine in 500 years is pathetic though, but in his own way he’s probably right.

Paul also revealed he’s not all that concerned with his last place standing in the GOP delegate race, saying that a brokered convention could swing his way on a second ballot because “the second go-around, they can go with their conscience,” he said, “then, I believe, we’ll get a lot of the votes.” We’ll see.

Ron Paul fans may remember a few months ago when Saturday Night Live was spoofing all the GOP presidential hopefuls, they showed a fake Paul in a parking garage being abducted into a van, but moments later emerging victorious dusting off his hands after gunshots are seen and heard fired.

We’re pretty sure it would look something like that if anyone messed with Paul.

I haven’t been able to source the full video just yet, but suffice to say this is the one time you’ll probably nod in agreement with Rick Santorum on who to vote for when it comes to making sure the government has a limited role in business and private lives.

CollectiveCheckup writes, “A self-declared independent voter (but seemingly geared toward Ron Paul) attended a Rick Santorum event and asked what the reasoning was for Santorum choosing to vote for big government programs like Medicare Part D, No Child Left Behind, and five debt ceiling increases (which allowed government to borrow and spend more money).”

“In response and obviously backed into a corner given that no answer could be portrayed as conservative, Rick Santorum told the voter to just ‘vote for Ron Paul’ then.”

Mark your calendars, today a man who asked a question was given a short, honest answer by a politician. It’s like Santorum’s exhausted at having to hear about all this constitutionally limited government or whatever that all these people he’s meeting keep hinting at…. GOSH!