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Secede? Separatists Claim Texas Never Joined United States
New York Times ^ | 03/10/2015 | Manny Fernandez

Posted on 03/10/2015 7:26:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

The Republic of Texas is unlike any other volunteer organization in what used to be the Republic of Texas.

Its monthly meetings are called joint sessions of congress. Members have minted their own silver and gold currency and carry ID cards warning police officers they are diplomatic representatives of the nation of Texas. Its vice president, a retired telephone company worker, sent a letter in 2011 to the governor of Oklahoma, informing her that she faced indictment because her state’s counties and territories were “trespassing inside the geographical boundaries” of the nation.

Such letters have failed to convince the authorities of the group’s novel belief — that Texas never legally became part of the United States and remains a separate nation. As a result of that belief, the group claims it had a duty to form a government, with a state department and with a court system run in part by a chiropractor in the Houston suburb of Katy.

Members say their government is neither a mock system nor a prank, but a legitimate authority with executive, legislative and judicial branches. They spend their time sitting through eight-hour congressional meetings and debating legislation. (The letter to Oklahoma refers to Senate Bill No. 1102-1201.) Still, officials who receive one of the group’s many letters typically “just throw it in the trash can,” acknowledged the Republic’s president, John Jarnecke, 72.

Until last month.

The group’s Valentine’s Day meeting in Bryan had barely started at a Veterans of Foreign Wars hall — each woman in the audience had been handed a rose — when several local, state and federal law enforcement officials burst through the door. No one was arrested in the raid, which included F.B.I. agents, but dozens of the group’s supporters were detained. Some were fingerprinted,

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: secession; texas

1 posted on 03/10/2015 7:26:26 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind
Obama is acting like a dictator

All the States should secede

2 posted on 03/10/2015 7:28:46 AM PDT by Democrat_media (Obama illegally imposed socialist net neutrality on the Internet to ruin it)
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To: SeekAndFind
Secession is hardly enough.

Texans deserve reparations.

3 posted on 03/10/2015 7:33:41 AM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: SeekAndFind

I posted on the last article about this, but if they were truly about freedom, this raid would have had a far different outcome. They should have expected a raid, and every one of them should have been armed and prepared to defend themselves. But, like sheep, they bowed down. Let me know when we find a real freedom movement, cuz this ain’t it.


4 posted on 03/10/2015 7:41:41 AM PDT by dware (The GOP is dead. Long live Conservatism.)
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To: dware

Talk is cheap. They’ve been talking about secession for decades. They need to either put up or shut up...


5 posted on 03/10/2015 7:44:44 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: dware

The Texas Nationalist Movement is pushing hard to get a vote for independence on the ballot.


6 posted on 03/10/2015 7:48:14 AM PDT by mom of young patriots
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To: SeekAndFind

Do armed FBI agents burst into Mexican separatists meetings?

No. Their leaders run for Congress (Raul Grijalva) or get appointed to high government offices (Julian Castro) or end up in the White House (La Raza racist Cecilia Munoz).

Do armed FBI agents burst into Black Nationalist meetings where they plan violence and intimidation against voters?

No. The Attorney General of the United States runs cover for them and makes sure that no charges are filed and their activities can continue.

We could go on and on. Seen any FBI raids on radical mosques in Texas lately? No. But eventually there will be dead bodies from this apathy and much recrimination - but they will do nothing up front for fear of offending the perpetually offended.

But a bunch of old white folks? Yee Hah. Gittum. Let them know who’s Boss!


7 posted on 03/10/2015 7:50:20 AM PDT by Regulator
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To: jsanders2001

These old men (mostly) aren’t serious. From what I’ve read about this particular group and from what they’ve been quoted as saying, they were never serious. I think they stirred up a hornet’s nest that they weren’t prepared for.

Just my impression—


8 posted on 03/10/2015 7:52:23 AM PDT by Clara Lou
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To: SeekAndFind

So long as those “members” (and parents, and probably grandparents) have lived, Texas has been acting like a state. Even if the paperwork wasn’t perfect by modern legal standards, it kinda comes down to a statehood version of “common law marriage”: if a jurisdiction acts like a state and is treated like a state long enough, without any alternative behavior, it’s a state.


9 posted on 03/10/2015 7:58:17 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (Si vis pacem, para bellum.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Secession would be pointless unless the secessionists were willing to deport all “undesirables” from the state. Who truthfully sees that happening?


10 posted on 03/10/2015 8:00:37 AM PDT by TexasRepublic (Socialism is the gospel of envy and the religion of thieves)
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A couple of threads from Feb 25 if anyone is interested in reading the comments thereon:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3261435/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3261585/posts?

A couple of the Texas Secessionist organizations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Texas_(group)
Republic of Texas (group)

http://www.texnat.org/about/about-tnm
Texas Nationalist Movement


11 posted on 03/10/2015 8:37:52 AM PDT by deport
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