Deborah Sampson: Revolutionary War Heroine

History 6 Minutes

Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a young man and enlisted in the United States Army near the end of the Revolutionary War.  She saw combat, was wounded, and eventually was found out and honorably discharged.  Her story is truly amazing!

Early Life

Deborah Sampson’s parents were descended from Mayflower passengers and Puritan luminaries, but they did not prosper like many of their ancestors. When Deborah was about five years old, her father vanished. The family believed that he was lost at sea during a fishing trip, but it later emerged that he had abandoned his wife and six young children to build a new life and family in Maine.

Deborah’s mother, unable to provide for her children, placed them with other relatives and families, as was common for destitute parents of the time. Deborah ended up with the widow of a former minister, Mary Prince Thatcher, who likely taught the child to read. From that point on, Deborah displayed a desire for education unusual in a girl of that era.

When Mrs. Thatcher died around 1770, 10-year-old Deborah became an indentured servant in the household of Jeremiah Thomas of Middleborough, Massachusetts. “Mr. Thomas, as an earnest patriot, did much towards shaping the political opinions of the young woman in his charge.” At the same time, Thomas did not believe in women’s education, so Deborah borrowed books from the Thomas sons.

After her indenture ended in 1778, Deborah supported herself by teaching school in the summers and working as a weaver in the winter. She also used her skills at light woodworking to peddle goods like spools, pie crimpers, milking stools, and other items door-to-door.

Enlisting in the Army

The Revolution was in its final months when Deborah decided to disguise herself and attempt to enlist sometime in late 1781. She purchased some cloth and made herself a suit of men’s clothing. At 22, Deborah had reached a height of around five feet, eight inches, tall even for men of the period. With a wide waist and a small chest, it was easy enough for her to pass as a young man.

She first enlisted under the pseudonym “Timothy Thayer” in Middleborough in early 1782, but her identity was discovered before she made it into service. On Sept. 3, 1782, the First Baptist Church of Middleborough expelled her, writing that she: “Last spring was accused of dressing in men’s clothes and enlisting as a Soldier in the Army […] and for some time before had behaved very loose and unchristian like, and at last left our parts in a suden maner, and it is not known where she has gone.”

She ended up walking from Middleborough to the port of New Bedford, where she considered signing on to an American cruiser, then passed through Boston and its suburbs, where she finally mustered in as “Robert Shurtliff” in Uxbridge in May 1782. Private Shurtliff was one of 50 new members of the Light Infantry Company of the 4th Massachusetts Infantry.

Identity Uncovered

Deborah soon saw combat. On July 3, 1782, just a few weeks into her service, she took part in a battle outside Tarrytown, New York. During the fight, she was struck by two musket balls in the leg and a gash to her forehead. Fearing exposure, “Shurtliff” begged comrades to leave her to die in the field, but they took her to the surgeon anyway. She quickly slipped out of the field hospital and removed the bullets with a penknife.

More or less permanently disabled, Private Shurtliff was reassigned as a waiter to General John Patterson. The war was essentially over, but American troops remained in the field. By June 1783, Deborah’s unit was sent to Philadelphia to put down a brewing mutiny among American soldiers over delays in back pay and discharge.

Fevers and illness were common in Philadelphia, and not long after she arrived, Deborah fell seriously ill. She was put under the care of Dr. Barnabas Binney, who discovered her true gender as she lay delirious in his hospital. Rather than alert her commander, he took her to his home and put her under the care of his wife and daughters.

After months in Binney’s care, it was time for her to rejoin General Patterson. As she prepared to leave, Binney gave her a note to give to the General, which she correctly assumed revealed her gender. Following her return, she was called to Patterson’s quarters. “She says, ‘A re-entrance was harder than facing a cannonade,” in her biography. She nearly fainted from the tension.

To her surprise, Patterson decided not to punish her. He and his staff seemed almost impressed she had carried off her ruse for so long. With no sign she had ever acted inappropriately with her male comrades, Private Shurtliff was given an honorable discharge on Oct. 25, 1783.   

Becoming Mrs. Gannett

Deborah returned to Massachusetts, where she married Benjamin Gannett and settled down on their small farm in Sharon. She was soon the mother of four: Earl, Mary, Patience, and an adopted daughter named Susanna. Like many families in the young Republic, the Gannetts struggled financially.

Starting in 1792, Deborah began what would become a decades-long battle to receive back pay and pension relief from her time in service. Unlike many of her male peers, Deborah didn’t rely just on petitions and letters to Congress. To raise her profile and strengthen her case, she also allowed a local writer named Herman Mann to write a romanticized version of her life story, and in 1802 embarked on a lengthy lecture tour of Massachusetts and New York.

National Tour

Reluctantly leaving her children in Sharon, Gannett was on the road from June 1802 to April 1803. Her tour covered over 1,000 miles and stopped in every major town in Massachusetts and the Hudson River Valley, ending in New York City. In most towns, she lectured simply on her wartime experiences.

In bigger venues like Boston, the “American Heroine” was a spectacle. Gannett would give her lecture in female dress, then exit the stage as a chorus sang patriotic tunes. Finally, she would reappear in her military uniform and perform a complex, 27-step military drill with her musket.

Her tour was met with widespread acclaim until she got to New York City, where she lasted only a single performance. “Her talents do not appear calculated for theatrical exhibitions,” one reviewer sniffed. She returned home to Sharon soon after. Because of the high cost of travel, she ended up making a profit of around $110.

Petition for Benefits

In her long fight for benefits, Gannett had the support of some powerful allies like Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere, Massachusetts Congressman William Eustis, and her old commander, General Patterson. All would press her claims with the Government, and Revere, in particular, would frequently lend her money. Revere wrote to Eustis after meeting Gannett in 1804, describing her as “much out of health,” in part because of her military service, and despite the Gannett’s obvious efforts, “they are really poor.” He added:

We commonly form our Idea of the person whom we hear spoken off, whom we have never seen; according as their actions are described, when I heard her spoken off as a Soldier, I formed the Idea of a tall, Masculine female, who had a small share of understandg, without education, & one of the meanest of her Sex-When I saw and discoursed with I was agreeably surprised to find a small, effeminate, and converseable Woman, whose education entitled her to a better situation in life.

In 1792, Gannett successfully petitioned the Massachusetts Legislature for back pay of £34, plus interest. Following her lecture tour in 1803, she began to petition the Congress for disability pay. In 1805, she received a lump sum of $104 plus $48 a year thereafter. In 1818, she gave up disability pay for a general pension of $96 a year. The fight for retroactive payments went on until the end of her life.

Death

Deborah died at the age of 68, after a long period of ill health. The family was too poor to pay for a headstone, so her gravesite in Sharon’s Rock Ridge Cemetery was unmarked until the 1850s or 1860s. At first, she was noted only as “Deborah, Wife of Benjamin Gannett.” It wasn’t until years after that someone memorialized her service by carving into the headstone, “Deborah Sampson Gannett/Robert Shurtliff/The Female Soldier.”

SOURCE: THOUGHTCO.COM

Unknown's avatar

Published by pat frederick

Published

76 thoughts on “Deborah Sampson: Revolutionary War Heroine”

  1. Morning All!
    looks to be 40* out there this morning, but it’s too dark to see if the driveway has cleared or not.
    I DID all asleep in my chair in front of the fire yesterday…lol. hubby builds cozy fires!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Morning, Pat! I’ve got cloudy skies and 28 at the moment. Expecting some precip (rain/snow) the next couple of days but most of it should miss me. No Wheezer yet this morning. LOL – the trick is staying OUT of the chair, my dear! 😉😉😉😉😊😊😊

      Liked by 1 person

  5. gnome1949
    December 17, 2024 8:16 am

    When Sean Spicer was fired by the Biden Administration, he filed a lawsuit, claiming he was appointed for a specific term. A federal judge ruled THE INCOMING PRESIDENT CAN FIRE ANY APPOINTEES HE/SHE CHOOSES, regardless of any stated term of office.

    Thank you Sean Spicer. President Trump will wield that mighty sword beginning soon.

    Watch the new administration go through the federal government like a giant combine harvesting wheat, leaving nothing but stubble.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Bessie2003

    Bessie2003

    December 17, 2024 9:10 am

    in today’s Federal Register, Biden has established a new agency via creation of a ‘task force’. 3 pages, pdf format:

    https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2024-12-17/pdf/2024-30208.pdf

    The date of this creation is December 12, 2024 and titled “Establishment of the Countering Economic Task Force” creates an interagency entity incorporating 17 other government agencies to “oversee the development and integration of an integrated United States government strategy to respond to and deter coercive economic practices by countries of concern, including the PRC.”

    This appears to be one of those good sounding programs but in reality a creating by the administrative state to make sure its members, the permanent employees of these 17 agencies, can meet to continue what they do regardless of who is the actual, sitting, elected President of the United States.

    Wonder if the DOGE team is aware of this new entity.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Just The News: “Ukraine on Tuesday assassinated a senior Russian general in charge of nuclear defense forces in a brazen attack in Moscow that used an explosive-laden scooter, an escalation that came even as President-elect Donald Trump implored both sides to seek peace.

    Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the head of the Russian Armed Forces’ Radiological, Chemical and Biological Defense Troops, died in the explosion outside a residential building along with an aide, Russian officials said. Kirillov had been accused by the United States in October of using chemical weapons in the war against Ukraine.

    Ukraine officials credited the attack to its intelligence agency, the Security Service of Ukraine or SBU.

    Russia called the attack an act of terrorism, and a top official, Dmitry Medvedev, warned Ukraine would face “inevitable retribution.”

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Just The News: “The House Administration Oversight Subcommittee and its chairman Barry Loudermilk on Tuesday released an interim report on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, concluding the attack was preventable and also asking for an investigation into former Rep. Liz Cheney for criminally tampering with a witness during the Democrat-led congressional inquiry of the tragedy.

    “Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, numerous federal laws were likely broken by Liz Cheney, the former Vice Chair of the January 6 Select Committee, and these violations should be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” the report released by the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee and its chairman Barry Loudermilk stated.

    “Evidence uncovered by the Subcommittee revealed that former Congresswoman Liz Cheney tampered with at least one witness, Cassidy Hutchinson, by secretly communicating with Hutchinson without Hutchinson’s attorney’s knowledge.,” it added. “This secret communication with a witness is improper and likely violates 18 U.S.C. 1512. Such action is outside the due functioning of the legislative process and therefore not protected by the Speech and Debate clause.”

    Federal law criminalizes witness tampering of varying degrees, and subjects a defendant to as many as 20 years in prison.

    Final_Report_Compiled_Working_Doc__final_locked_version_.pdf

    The report also took direct aim at former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Cheney’s star witness at the nationally televised hearings, alleging that Cheney encouraged false testimony about a handwritten document and noting her sensational claim that former President Donald Trump tried to commandeer his presidential limousine that day to take it to the Capitol was directly refuted by the Secret Service.

    Loudermilk’s report suggested Cheney also bore responsibility for Hutchinson’s testimony.

    “The Federal Bureau of Investigation must also investigate Representative Cheney for violating 18 U.S.C. 1622, which prohibits any person from procuring another person to commit perjury,” the report said. ”Based on the evidence obtained by this Subcommittee, Hutchinson committed perjury when she lied under oath to the Select Committee.”

    The report delivers a second bombshell, revealing Loudermilk’s team uncovered “evidence of collusion” between Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Democrats’ Jan. 6 committee led by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Cheney.

    When Smith released a trove of documents in October that were used in his filings in the Trump case, present in the batch was an unredacted transcript from one Jan. 6 Select Committee interview with a witness. 

    “Given that the Select Committee did not archive, or otherwise destroy this transcript, and that the White House refused to
    provide an unredacted version to the Subcommittee, the only remaining explanation is that Special Counsel Smith received the unredacted version from one of the two institutions which did not cooperate fully with the Subcommittee,” Loudermilk’s committee concluded. 

    The report confirms numerous stories reported by Just the News over the last two years that have substantially changed the public’s understanding of that tragic day, including:

    • The Select Committee failed to preserve significant evidence from its investigation, more than one terabyte of data in total, that includes missing videos of witness interviews; 
    • Star witness Cassidy Hutchinson made significant material changes to her original testimony with the help of Vice Chair Cheney in an errata sheet where she introduced new narratives, some that conflicted with Secret Service testimony;
    • Speaker Pelosi took some responsibility for not ensuring adequate Capitol security in unaired footage recorded as part of an HBO documentary being made by her daughter; and
    • Department of Defense officials delayed the deployment of National Guard the Capitol despite standing orders from President Donald Trump to keep his speech and the Capitol safe. 

    Loudermilk accompanied the interim report with a personal letter to his House colleagues, saying his review of the Democrats’ Jan. 6 committee provided evidence that Congress has ventured into the business of misleading Americans for political gain and imploring them to help reverse that dynamic.

    “Americans expect and deserve a government that is small in size, limited in scope, and fully accountable to the people, as our Founders intended,” he wrote. “The actions of some elected officials and certain government bureaucrats in the aftermath of January 6, 2021, are evidence of how we have ventured far away from those basic principles of our constitutional republic.

    “Transparency, accountability, and equal application of the law are the only solutions to return our nation to one that is free, safe and full of opportunity,” he wrote.”

    Liked by 1 person

  9. this is so egregious. the Senate democrats on the Judiciary Committee do not know they CANNOT change the Constitution with a bill.

    BREAKING: A group of Senate Democrats introduce bill to abolish the Electoral College, restoring democracy by allowing the direct election of presidents through popular vote alone.

    BREAKING: A group of Senate Democrats introduce bill to abolish the Electoral College, restoring democracy by allowing the direct election of presidents through popular vote alone.

    — Senate Judiciary Committee (@JudiciaryDems) December 16, 2024

    Like

  10. Oh, my! Turning the lawfare against them now! It had to happen and I’m happy to see it!!! Long but definitely worth reading, IMO!

    ENTIRE ARTICLE @ Just The News: “Mainstream media enjoyed a subscription boon from what an analyst called their “oppositional” coverage of Donald Trump’s early first presidential term. The 45th president was especially lucrative for The Washington Post, which has lost a whopping half of its audience since 2020 and $77 million just in 2023.

    But the sustained sloppiness of the media in opposition coverage of Trump’s second campaign and others — what might be called slopposition — is threatening their bottom lines on the eve of Trump’s second term.

    ABC News paid off Trump on the eve of This Week host George Stephanopoulos’s deposition in the President-elect’s federal defamation lawsuit, shortly before Trump threatened to sue the Des Moines Register for “fraud” and “election interference” by publishing a spectacularly bad election poll right before his decisive victory.

    ABC News agreed to give Trump’s nascent presidential library $15 million and pay $1 million in attorney’s fees to settle claims over Stephanopoulos falsely stating as fact, 10 times in an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., that Trump was found “liable for rape” against author E. Jean Carroll. He was found liable for a different charge, sexual abuse.

    George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley said Stephanopoulos’s deposition was likely to embarrass ABC more than Trump’s deposition would have helped, and “could have revealed internal messages on the controversy.” 

    Turley mused that ABC’s top lawyer “may soon need a chair at the table” on its daytime talk show The View because of its hosts’ penchant for whoppers, noting the network forced the hosts to read four “legal notes” in a single episode. 

    The law professor also has a bone to pick with OpenAI’s ChatGPT for falsely claiming he was accused of sexual assault and then answering queries for his name with an error message, “digitally erasing me, at least to some extent,” though he says he wouldn’t sue.

    A Florida state judge refused to block potentially crippling punitive damages against CNN in a Navy veteran’s defamation suit based The Lead segment, introduced by host Jake Tapper, on Afghanistan evacuation contractors — specifically Nemex Enterprises owner Zachary Young — “charging exorbitant fees and exploiting Afghans” fleeing the Taliban.

    Messages showed correspondent Alex Marquardt saying he wanted to “nail this Zachary Young mf*cker” and his editors agreed that was the purpose, calling Young “a sh*t” and “a-hole.” Tapper and Marquardt further defamed Young in tweets, he claimed.

    Judge William Henry found Young was not a public figure, meaning he doesn’t have to show actual malice, the knowing or reckless disregard of a statement’s falsity. 

    “While Young was clearly trying to advertise his services, it can hardly be said that he played a sufficiently central role or was at the forefront in being able to influence the resolution of all those unable to escape Afghanistan,” the judge wrote. He also approved Young’s economic damages expert witness to be heard by the jury.

    It’s the second defamation-related setback for CNN since the election.

    The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a lawsuit against CNN by Project Veritas based on host Ana Cabrera’s false claim that Twitter banned the investigative watchdog in 2021 for “promoting misinformation” and its refusal to issue a retraction even though Cabrera previously tweeted the correct basis, so-called doxxing.

    “Project Veritas plausibly alleged that the statements were published with actual malice,” the unanimous three-judge panel wrote, dismissing CNN’s argument that Cabrera “must have subjectively known that her tweet directly contradicted her on-air statements.”

    “I never thought I’d see a major news organization downplaying the importance of telling the truth in its broadcasts,” Judge Ed Carnes wrote in a concurrence, marveling at CNN’s argument that “under the law it is no worse for a news organization to spread or promote misinformation than it is to truthfully disclose a person’s address in a broadcast.”

    The defamation action isn’t limited to the power centers of D.C. and New York.

    A New England newspaper that started under the first nonconsecutive-terms president is shutting down completely, as part of a $1.1 million settlement with a mayor it repeatedly accused of real-estate kickbacks and extortion, The Boston Globe reported.

    Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria’s attorney Jeff Robbins cited emails between Everett Leader owner Matthew Philbin and its publisher and editor Joshua Resnek that celebrate “devastating” and “crushing” DeMaria, frequently calling him “Kickback Carlo” in coverage. 

    While the defendants’ lawyers claimed the articles caused “little to no damage” to DeMaria, the mayor said his father told him “If what I’m reading is true, you’re not my son.”

    Vaccine-injury lawyer Aaron Siri blasted The New York Times in an X series for its “hit piece” on his supposed “polio petition” to the Food and Drug Administration. He filed it on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, not himself, and it sought review of a single vaccine “only for infants and children” that was approved after just a three-day safety review.

    Doctors led by Great Barrington Declaration coauthor Martin Kulldorff called on the Times to correct “several false and misleading claims” in a Nov. 27 column by Zeynep Tufekci, who played a disputed role in a “gold standard” research collaborative’s drastic reinterpretation of its systematic review of mask studies.

    They alleged Tufekci falsely claimed Trump’s nominee for National Institutes of Health director, Kulldorff’s coauthor Jay Bhattacharya, “repeatedly predicted” COVID-19 would kill up to 40,000 Americans, his local seroprevalence study “grossly overestimated infection numbers” and focused protection for populations most at risk for COVID could never work.

    The column falsely attributed to Bhattacharya “a headline he did not write” — “vaccinating the whole population can cause great harm” — and implied his article on natural immunity in India was tied to what she called “a deadly wave that killed millions of people,” a passage with such defamatory implications it should be removed, their Dec. 12 letter says.

    Kulldorff was joined by Rutgers University geneticist Bryce E. Nickels, Philadelphia cardiologist Anish Koka and Collateral Global Charity research fellow Kevin Bass, all of whom have questioned the mainstream COVID catechism in some way.

    University of California San Francisco epidemiologist Vinay Prasad wrote his own public letter in Kulldorff’s defense, calling on Harvard President Alan Garber — who was just permanently appointed to the role and publicly praised Bhattacharya’s nomination — to rehire the medical professor it fired for refusing to get a COVID vaccine based on his natural immunity.

    “He sought exemption declaring that his religion was science … while others were granted exemption for nebulous religious reasons,” Prasad wrote Dec. 14. “Martin was punished for having views ahead of his time.”

    Kulldorff will be in D.C. Wednesday for a Heritage Foundation event on “Restoring American Wellness” alongside former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.”

    Liked by 1 person

  11. NF: As for whether it matters whether she is trans or not, yes, it does matter since her psychological issues were clearly in play! She was only 15, same age as Piper – what on earth were her parents thinking??? Clearly, they weren’t supervising her at all!!! I’ll say this again: the parents should be charged as, at a minimum, accessories to her crime since they clearly allowed her access and appear to have done nothing about her mental issues.

    Just The News: “Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes on Monday night revealed that the suspected mass shooter at a private Christian school earlier in the day was a 15-year-old student, who died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on the way to a local hospital.

    The suspected shooter was identified as 15-year-old Natalie Rupnow, who went by the name of Samantha, according to the Associated Press. Rupnow allegedly killed two other people, a teacher and a student, and injured seven others, including two students who are in critical condition. 

    The shooting occurred at the Abundant Life Christian School at just before 11 a.m. local time. Barnes said the 911 call that notified local police of the shooting was placed by a 2nd grader.

    “Let that soak in for a minute,” Barnes said at the news conference. “A second grade student called 911 at 10:57 a.m to report a shooting at school.”

    Investigators are still looking for a motive, but the shooting was confined to one study hall classroom of mixed grades. Police said that Rupnow’s father is cooperating with the investigation, and there are currently no plans to charge either the parents with a crime. The attack appeared to be planned ahead of time, but officials are also not aware of any interactions with Rupnow prior to the shooting.

    Barnes said police cannot confirm the authenticity of a manifesto that was published online, but Madison police has contacted the FBI for help finding the person who posted the document, who claimed to have a connection with the alleged shooter.

    Police has not revealed much about the weapon that the alleged shooter used, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is helping police find out how the shooter acquired a handgun, per CNN.

    The police chief also declined to comment on speculation over whether the suspect was transgender, claiming that it did not matter.

    “I don’t know whether Natalie was transgender or not. And quite frankly, I don’t think that’s important at all,” he said. “I don’t think whatever happened today has anything to do with how she or he or they may want to identify … For what we’re doing right now, today, literally eight hours after a mass shooting in a school in Madison, it is of no consequence at this time.”

    Madison police said it expects to have another news briefing with further updates on the shooting at 1 p.m. Central time on Tuesday.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/george-floyd-heart-tissue-test-derek-chauvin/

    A judge ruled on Monday that lawyers for former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin can get tests done on preserved samples of George Floyd’s heart in the latest challenge to his 2022 federal conviction.

    Chauvin is simultaneously serving a 21-year federal sentence for violating Floyd’s civil rights and a 22 1/2-year state sentence for second-degree murder.

    In November last year, Chauvin’s attorney filed a motion to vacate the federal charges related to the May 2020 death of Floyd. Chauvin said he wouldn’t have pleaded guilty had he known about the theories of Kansas pathologist Dr. William Schaetzel, who does not believe Chauvin’s actions caused Floyd’s death.

    Schaetzel suggests Floyd died due to a high level of catecholamines — a neurohormone important in stress response, associated with the flight-or-fight response — or Takotsubo myocarditis, a heart condition that develops in response to an intense emotional or physical experience.

    The motion also accuses Chauvin’s attorney at the time, Eric Nelson, of ineffective counsel by failing to inform his client of Schaetzel’s theory and failing to test samples of Floyd’s heart despite the doctor’s recommendations. — CBS News

    Liked by 1 person

        1. i want to see blm founders sued to high heaven for taking all that $$—they need to forfeit the mansions they bought and give it to Chauvin..after all isn’t that what they did to alex jones?

          Liked by 1 person

              1. There have been 1 or 2 cases brought against the black woman, whatever her name is, who is considered to be the “founder.” IDK what the end resolution turned out to be.

                Liked by 1 person

  13. “Trump’s Reported Shortlist for ATF Features Familiar Names”

    Bearing Arms, By Cam Edwards | 9:31 AM | December 16, 2024

    AP Photo/Keith Srakocic

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “In the weeks since Donald Trump’s election we’ve heard essentially nothing from the incoming president or his transition team about his gun policy plans for his second term in office, but a story from the New York Times over the weekend may have shed a little light on his thinking. 

    While much of the Times‘ story focuses on current ATF Director Steve Dettelbach and Democrats’ consternation over his imminent departure, reporter Glenn Thrush also named some names under consideration as Dettelbach’s replacement. 

    As it turns out, a couple of the folks on the list should be very familiar to Bearing Arms’ readers and listeners/viewers of the Cam & Co podcast. 

    Transition officials have told gun rights groups that they do not expect Mr. Trump to pick an A.T.F. director before next spring, but caution that he is just as likely to tap somebody on impulse, at any moment, without consulting his transition team.

    Those said to be under consideration are: Blake Masters, a far-right conservative in Arizona who is close to the financier Peter Thiel and who mounted a failed bid for a House seat; Peter J. Forcelli, a former bureau official who wrote a book on the “Fast and Furious” scandal; Larry Keane, the head of the gun manufacturers’ trade association; and several current and former top A.T.F. officials, including Robert Cekada, Daniel Board and Rick Dressler.

    Forcelli didn’t just write a book on Operation Fast & Furious. He was one of the whistleblowers who called attention to the gunwalking scandal, and suffered retaliation from higher-ups in Obama’s Justice Department for his actions. 

    Forcelli’s also been a regular guest on Cam & Co since the release of his book The Deadly Path: How Operation Fast & Furious and Bad Lawyers Armed Mexican Cartels earlier this year, and I consider him to be a friend, so I’m thrilled that he’s being considered for the top slot at BATFE. 

    Forcelli is the antithesis of David Chipman, the former ATF agent who was working for the gun control group Giffords when he was tapped by Joe Biden to head up the agency (Chipman’s nomination ultimately tanked, leading to Dettelbach becoming Biden’s second choice). Forcelli doesn’t see the firearms industry or lawful gun owners as an enemy of the ATF, and he’s been vocally opposed to the ATF rules on unfinished frames and receivers, pistol stabilizing braces, and those “engaged in the business” of dealing firearms that have been implemented under Biden’s watch. 

    The National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Larry Keane has also been a regular guest on Cam & Co over the years, and despite Keane’s love of the New York Yankees I consider him a friend as well. With decades of experience in dealing with the agency from an industry perspective, Keane would be a fascinating (if polarizing) choice to head up the ATF, and like Forcelli and Masters would definitely be an agent of change if selected. 

    Of all the candidates named by Thrush, Keane would probably face the most opposition from Democrats and the gun control lobby because he too is the exact opposite of a committed gun control activist like Chipman. Keane’s first-hand dealings with the ATF over the past few decades gives him a unique insight into the many reforms that are desperately needed at the agency, and it would be interesting (to say the least) to have someone from the firearms industry heading up the agency in charge of enforcing federal gun policy.  

    I confess that I don’t know much about the other ATF veterans cited as potential replacements for Dettelbach, though I’ve heard from sources that Cekada is also a pro-2A guy. Board retired from the ATF earlier this year and is currently a director of government strategy and operations at the consulting firm SAIC, as well as running his family’s small Christmas tree farm in southwest Virginia. 

    Dressler is another former ATF official who last served as a supervisory special agent and program manager at ATF headquarters. In 2019 he was named vice president of federal operations at Armor Express, which makes and distributes of body armor systems. 

    If Thrush’s reporting is accurate, we might not know who Trump will pick for a few more months, but based on some of the names on his short list, gun owners and Second Amendment advocates are likely going to be pleased with whoever he lands on as Dettelbach’s replacement.”  

    Liked by 1 person

  14. stuff like THIS needs to stop!

    T. Turtle

    December 17, 2024 10:41 am

    hen Congress uses a continuing resolution it funds pre-existing appropriations at the same levels as in the previous year EVEN IF A PROGRAM HAS EXPIRED. The CBO tracks these “zombie” programs which operate without Congressional oversight & will cost $516 billion this year. Nice!

    When Congress uses a continuing resolution it funds pre-existing appropriations at the same levels as in the previous year EVEN IF A PROGRAM HAS EXPIRED. The CBO tracks these “zombie” programs which operate without Congressional oversight & will cost $516 billion this year. Nice! pic.twitter.com/j0Y0Mz51bT

    — Mike O’Donnell (@modonnell) December 16, 2024

    Like

  20. Just The News: “Luigi Mangione, the suspected shooter of the late UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, was indicted by a grand jury in New York on Tuesday on one count of first degree murder, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office.

    The 26-year-old was arrested at a McDonald’s in Pennsylvania on Dec. 9, following a major manhunt. He has been formally charged in Pennsylvania with one count of murder, two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, one count of second-degree possession of a forged document, and one count of third-degree criminal possession of a firearm. 

    Mangione was also charged in New York with two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as a killing in the act of terrorism; two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon; four counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon; one count of fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon; and one count of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, NBC News reported. He is fighting extradition out of the Keystone State.

    Pennsylvania authorities said they will help New York get the extradition approved, but the suspect will remain at Huntingdon State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania without bail in the meantime. He has pleaded not guilty to the Pennsylvania charges.

    New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to file an extradition order and paperwork shortly, now that the formal indictment has been handed down.” 

    Liked by 1 person

  21. EXCERPT: “When I wrote on Judge Juan Merchan’s ruling regarding the presidential immunity issue in relation to the Manhattan criminal trial against President-elect Donald Trump over falsified business records, I began with: “We knew the ruling would be coming at some point.”

    In similar fashion, I can add: We knew the response from Trump would be swift — and likely sharp. And so it is. The president-elect took to Truth Social Tuesday morning to let his thoughts on the ruling be known, and zero punches were pulled:

    In a two-parter Truth, Trump said: 

    BREAKING: In a completely illegal, psychotic order, the deeply conflicted, corrupt, biased, and incompetent Acting Justice Juan Merchan has completely disrespected the United States Supreme Court, and its Historic Decision on Immunity. But even without Immunity, this illegitimate case is nothing but a Rigged Hoax. Merchan, who is a radical partisan, wrote an opinion that is knowingly unlawful, goes against our Constitution, and, if allowed to stand, would be the end of the Presidency as we know it. Merchan has so little respect for the Constitution that he is keeping in place an illegal gag order on me, your President and President-Elect, just so I cannot expose his and his family’s disqualifying and illegal conflicts….

    ….I am the only Political Opponent in American History not allowed to defend myself – A despicable First Amendment Violation! Merchan took the Manhattan D.A.’s Witch Hunt, that, according to all Legal Scholars, including Jonathan Turley, Elie Honig, Andy McCarthy, Alan Dershowitz, Gregg Jarrett, David Rivkin, Elizabeth Price Foley, Katie and Andy Cherkasky, Paul Ingrassia, and many others, is a nonexistent case, barred by the Statute of Limitations, and should have never been brought and, through his fraud and misconduct, gave it a semblance of “life.” While Deranged Jack Smith was sent packing back to The Hague after losing all of his politically manufactured cases against me, Merchan, who is far worse and even more corrupt than Smith in his fight for my hopeless political opponents, just cannot let go of this charade. Is it because of his conflicts and relations that he keeps breaking the Law? This has to stop! It is time to end the Lawfare once and for all, so we can come together as one Nation and, Make America Great Again.

    Safe to say Trump will be appealing Merchan’s ruling — and neither will be receiving a Christmas card from the other…..”

    https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2024/12/17/trump-responds-to-judge-merchans-ruling-on-immunity-issue-and-pulls-no-punches-n2183310

    Liked by 1 person

  24. “Hollywood Celebrities Terrified That If Trump Deports Illegal Immigrants They May Have To Start Watching Their Own Kids”

    U.S. · Dec 17, 2024 · BabylonBee.com

    Article Image

    HOLLYWOOD, CA — A number of Hollywood celebrities have taken a strong stance against President-elect Trump’s deportation plans, terrified that they may actually have to start watching their own children if Trump deports all the illegal immigrants.

    According to a statement released by celebrities including Emma Stone, Jenna Ortega, and that one really buff Asian dude from ‘Shang-Chi,’ Hollywood promises to go on strike indefinitely if Trump follows through on his deportation plans.

    “What am I going to do for cheap babysitting?” lamented Stone, wringing her hands in dismay. “It’s just so cruel and inhumane that I might not be able to underpay illegal immigrants to watch my tiny brats while I’m out and about during the day. It’s so not fair! Evil, bad, wicked, terrible Trump! Orange man bad!”

    While Hollywood celebrities have protested policies in the past, complaining about the low-class, gas-guzzling cars that get their electric vehicles all grimy and the minimum wages that they are legally required to pay their household servants, the current backlash against Trump’s policies far surpasses anything prior. “Trump is going to separate children from their cheap migrant caretakers,” sobbed actress Chrissy Teigen. “It’s so evil I could throw up.”

    At publishing time, a number of Hollywood celebrities had also begun protesting abortion restrictions in the US in case they might accidentally end up with too many children for their hired nannies to take care of.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. “Moving the Litter, one at a time.”

    “Leopard Seal and his lunch”

    NF: Our roomie used to have one of these – we had some kickass party tapes!!!

    “Flying into the night”

    Liked by 1 person

  29. They had some neat stuff back then…I’m not even sure what this is, tbh!

    Ah! A Weimaraner – really smart, sweet dogs! I had a Lab/Weimaraner cross who was my best buddy when I was a kid! He was black w/a white patch on his chest.

    “Those drone sightings on the east coast are getting worse.”

    Liked by 1 person

  31. I am adding a short daily prayer to the board. I would invite each of you, if you wish, to also add one or maybe two of your own liking. I do not want to stifle anyone but please limit yourself to one or two religious postings. here’s one I found that I liked.

    Like

Comments are closed.