Monthly Archives: August 2010

Lt Col Terry Lakin update, Three star general supports Lakin, Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney affidavit, American Patriot Foundation

Lt Col Terry Lakin update, Three star general supports Lakin, Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney affidavit

Here is an update from American Patriot Foundation on the Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney affidavit in support of Lt Col Terry Lakin.

“McInerney’s affidavit can be viewed at www.safeguardourconstitution.com. The following are extracts:

The President of the United States, as the Commander in Chief, is the source of all military authority. The Constitution requires the President to be a natural born citizen in order to be eligible to hold office. If he is ineligible under the Constitution to serve in that office that creates a break in the chain of command of such magnitude that its significance can scarcely be imagined.

As a practical example from my background I recall commanding forces that were equipped with nuclear weapons. In my command capacity I was responsible that personnel with access to these weapons had an unwavering and absolute confidence in the unified chain of command, because such confidence was absolutely essential– vital– in the event the use of those weapons was authorized. I cannot overstate how imperative it is to train such personnel to have confidence in the unified chain of command. Today, because of the widespread and legitimate concerns that the President is constitutionally ineligible to hold office, I fear what would happen should such a crisis occur today.

In refusing to obey orders because of his doubts as to their legality, LTC Lakin has acted exactly as proper training dictates. That training mandates that he determine in his own conscience that an order is legal before obeying it…Indeed, he has publicly stated that he “invites” his own court martial, and were I the Convening Authority, I would have acceded to his wishes in that regard. But thus stepping up the bar, LTC Lakin is demonstrating the courage of his convictions and his bravery. That said, it is equally essential that he be allowed access to the evidence that will prove whether he made the correct decision.

For the foregoing reasons, it is my opinion that LTC Lakin’s request for discovery relating to the President’s birth records in Hawaii is absolutely essential to determining not merely his guilt or innocence but to reassuring all military personnel once and for all for this President whether his service as Commander in Chief is Constitutionally proper. He is the one single person in the Chain of Command that the Constitution demands proof of natural born citizenship. This determination is fundamental to our Republic, where civilian control over the military is the rule. According to our Constitution, the Commander in Chief must now, in the face of serious– and widely held– concerns that he is ineligible, either voluntarily establish his eligibility by authorizing release of his birth records or this court must authorize their discovery. The invasion of his privacy in these records is utterly trivial compared to the issues at stake here. Our military MUST have confidence”

Read more:

http://www.safeguardourconstitution.com/press-release/aug-31-three-star-general-swears-affidavit.html

Lakin court martial update, August 31, 2010, Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney affidavit in support of Lakin

Lakin court martial update, August 31, 2010, Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney affidavit in support of Lakin

Here is an update just in on the Lt Col Terry Lakin Court Martial,

From the press release.

Washington, D.C., August 31, 2010. Retired Air Force Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney has supplied an affidavit in support of Army Lieutenant Colonel Terrence Lakin, who faces trial on October 13-15. The retired Air Force three-star is the highest ranking officer yet to lend public support to LTC Lakin. His affidavit acknowledges widespread concerns over the President’s Constitutional eligibility and demands the President release his birth records or the court authorize discovery.

Read more:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=gmail&attid=0.2&thid=12ac9eb3d65b9c0f&mt=application/pdf&url=https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui%3D2%26ik%3D2485918dad%26view%3Datt%26th%3D12ac9eb3d65b9c0f%26attid%3D0.2%26disp%3Dattd%26realattid%3D6f024a698b56d0ee_0.2%26zw&sig=AHIEtbR2DU8QeqqkLAiiljxSG4IxVOXDDg&pli=1

Miki Booth speaker, Philip J Berg, Obama eligibility birth certificate rally, October 23, 2010

Miki Booth speaker, Philip J Berg, Obama eligibility birth certificate rally, October 23, 2010

**  Update Below  **

I received the following from Miki Booth this afternoon.

“Guys,
I will be speaking at this rally on OCTOBER 23 at the U.S. Capitol in DC Saturday October 23, 2010 12 noon to 4PM
Bring your birth certificates and meet Phil Berg (1st attorney to file a lawsuit against BO/BS), myself and others.
Please forward this to everyone on your lists and download and print the flyer to pass out at upcoming rallies and town halls. Mr. Berg personally handed out over 3,000 flyers at the Restoring Honor event. EVERYONE WANTED ONE!!
 For liberty!
Miki
obamacrimes.com
 


Miki Booth
Founder, Route 66 TEA Party
FairTax Community Coordinator
Patriotic Resistance OK Dist. 2 Coordinator
District Leader GOOOH
Former Candidate U.S. Congress”

** Update August 31, 2010 5:30 PM ET **

From Miki Booth:

” I will not speak at his rally however I still think its important for the flyers to get around because they might reach someone hearing about the issue for the first time so if you’ve sent them out that is fine.”

TheBlaze.com, The Blaze, Glenn Beck website, August 31, 2010, Huffington Post competition

TheBlaze.com, The Blaze, Glenn Beck website, August 31, 2010, Huffington Post competition

From the Washington Post August 31, 2010.

“Conservative Fox News host Glenn Beck, a frequent critic of the mainstream news media, has launched his own news site, The Blaze. The site appears to be modeled after The Huffington Post and not surprisingly, features stories with a conservative bent about some of Beck’s favorite issues, such as faith, terrorism, the imam behind the planned Islamic community center in New York City and Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday.

The site, which went live sometime Monday, features a welcome message from the man himself, timestamped just before midnight Tuesday:
If you are like me, watching the news or reading the paper can be an exercise in exasperation. It’s so hard to find a place that helps me make sense of the world I see.

Too many important stories are overlooked. And too many times we see mainstream media outlets distorting facts to fit rigid agendas. Not that you’ve ever heard me complain about the media before. Okay, maybe once or twice.

But there comes a time when you have to stop complaining and do something. And so we decided to hire some actual journalists to launch a new website — The Blaze. And we moved fast. We built the team and the site in just two months.
What was the overlooked story that Beck chose to lead with in the inaugural edition? Education Secretary Arne Duncan’s alleged encouragement of Education Department employees to attend the Rev. Al Sharpton’s Saturday counter-rally, at which Duncan spoke.”

Read more:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/08/glenn-beck-launches-conservati.html

I have a suggestion for Glenn Beck. How about covering Obama’s eligibility problems.

Glenn Beck, call me.

Chicago to Amsterdam flight, United Airlines, Ahmed Mohamed Nasser and Hezem al Murisi arrested, Preparation of a terrorist attack, August 31, 2010

Chicago to Amsterdam flight, United Airlines, Ahmed Mohamed Nasser and Hezem al Murisi arrested

From ABC News.
“Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with “preparation of a terrorist attack,” U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.

U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed “mock bombs” in their luggage. “This was almost certainly a dry run, a test,” said one senior law enforcement official.

A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecutor, Ernst Koelman, confirmed the two men were arrested this morning and said “the investigation is ongoing.” He said the arrests were made “at the request of American authorities.”

The two were allowed to board the flight at O’Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said.

The men were identified as Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi, of Detroit, MI, and Hezem al Murisi, the officials said. A neighbor of al Soofi told ABC News he is from Yemen.”

Read more:

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/united-flight-arrested-terror-charges-amsterdam/story?id=11517664

Obama the hustler birth certificate defiance, Judicial misconduct, US Constitution, Citizen Wells open thread, August 30, 2010

 Obama the hustler birth certificate defiance, Judicial misconduct, US Constitution

In response to Obama, the hustler, continuing to arrogantly defy presenting a legitimate birth certificate, an article from the Citizen Wells archives dated November 12, 2008 is presented.

Philip J Berg lawsuit
Judge Surrick ruling exerpts:
“If, through the political process, Congress determines that citizens, voters, or party members should police the Constitution’s eligibility requirements for the Presidency, then it is free to pass laws conferring standing on individuals like Plaintiff. Until that time, voters do not have standing to bring the sort of challenge that Plaintiff attempts to bring in the Amended Complaint.”
“…regardless of questions of causation, the grievance remains too generalized to establish the existence of an injury in fact. To reiterate: a candidate’s ineligibility under the Natural Born Citizen Clause does not result in an injury in fact to voters. By extension, the theoretical constitutional harm experienced by voters does not change as the candidacy of an allegedly ineligible candidate progresses from the primaries to the general election.”
Philip J Berg response to ruling:
“an American citizen is asking questions of a presidential candidate’s eligibility to even hold that office in the first place, and the candidate is ducking and dodging questions through legal procedure.”
“This is a question of who has standing to stand up for our Constitution,”  “If I don’t have standing, if you don’t have standing, if your neighbor doesn’t have standing to ask whether or not the likely next president of the United States–the most powerful man in the entire world–is eligible to be in that office in the first place, then who does?”
Mark J. Fitzgibbons is President of Corporate and Legal Affairs at American Target Advertising:
“October 29, 2008
Who Enforces the Constitution’s Natural Born Citizen Clause?”
“So if the Framers established that courts “shall” hear cases arising under the Constitution, and failed to authorize Congress to otherwise establish who may sue to enforce the document, then where might we find conclusively that Berg has standing to sue?
The 10th Amendment to the Constitution states that the powers not delegated to the federal government, nor prohibited to the states, remain with the states or the people.  Therefore it seems that any state or any person has standing to sue to enforce not just the Natural Born Citizen Clause, but other constitutional requirements and rights, absent some expressly written bar within the Constitution itself.”
“Chief Justice John Marshall, writing in Marbury v. Madison, said that judges have a duty to decide cases under our paramount law, the Constitution. I have lamented previously about how some judges tend to evade their duty to decide constitutional matters by resorting to court-made doctrines.  Judge Surrick’s reliance on case law to dismiss Berg’s suit for lack of standing is reasoned from a lawyer’s perspective, but not heroic and perhaps evasive of his larger duty.
His decision to “punt” the matter to Congress creates, I suggest, a dangerous, longer and perhaps more painful constitutional quagmire than had he heard the evidence in the case.  Even had the case lacked merit, the Constitution would not have been harmed.”
Read more here:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/10/who_enforces_the_constitutions.html
Ellis Washington, currently a professor of law and political science at Savannah State University, former editor at the Michigan Law Review and law clerk at The Rutherford Institute, is a graduate of John Marshall Law School and a lecturer and freelance writer on constitutional law, legal history, political philosophy and critical race theory. He has written over a dozen law review articles and several books, including “The Inseparability of Law and Morality: The Constitution, Natural Law and the Rule of Law” (2002). See his law review article “Reply to Judge Richard Posner.” Washington’s latest book is “The Nuremberg Trials: Last Tragedy of the Holocaust.”
Mr. Washington wrote the following response to the Philip J Berg lawsuit and Judge Surrick ruling in a World Net Daily article dated November 8, 2008 :
“Unfortunately, just 10 days before the election, a court of appeals judge threw out Berg’s lawsuit challenging the veracity of Obama’s U.S. citizenship status on technical grounds. Judge R. Barclay Surrick, a Jimmy Carter-appointed judge, amazingly (and with a tinge of irony), stated his opinion in part:
In a 34-page memorandum that accompanied the court order, the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick concludes that ordinary citizens can’t sue to ensure that a presidential candidate actually meets the constitutional requirements of the office.
Surrick defers to Congress, saying that the legislature could determine “that citizens, voters, or party members should police the Constitution’s eligibility requirements for the Presidency,” but that it would take new laws to grant individual citizens that ability.
“Until that time,” Surrick says, “voters do not have standing to bring the sort of challenge that Plaintiff attempts to bring.”
Judge Surrick, quoting from Hollander, concludes, “The alleged harm to voters stemming from a presidential candidate’s failure to satisfy the eligibility requirements of the Natural Born Citizen Clause is not concrete or particularized enough to constitute an injury.”
Surrick also quotes Lujan v. Defenders of Wildlife, which stated, in part, “The Supreme Court has consistently held that a plaintiff raising only a generally available grievance about government – claiming only harm to his and every citizen’s interest in proper application of the Constitution and laws, and seeking relief that no more directly and tangibly benefits him than it does the public at large – does not state an Article III case or controversy.”
Constitutionally speaking, Judge Surrick’s reasoning is completely illogical and a total dereliction of his duty as a judge to substantively address this most vital constitutional controversy. Instead, in a gutless manner, Surrick dismissed Berg’s complaint 10 days before the elections on a technicality of standing, which to any rational person begs the question: If Philip J. Berg as an American citizen, a respected Democratic operative and former attorney general of Pennsylvania doesn’t have the “standing” to bring this type of lawsuit against Obama, then who in America does have standing? The good judge in all 34 pages of legal mumbo jumbo didn’t bother to answer this pivotal question.
That Berg’s complaint is not “concrete or particularized enough to constitute an injury” is an amazing admission by any person that went to law school and even more so given the fact that Surrick is a respected appellate judge!
I am somewhat hopeful that Berg will successfully appeal Surrick’s outrageous decision to 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals and then to the United States Supreme Court if necessary, even if technically he doesn’t have standing to hold Obama accountable to the Constitution. Why? Because this is America, and out of 300 million people, someone should give a damn enough about this republic to make sure the person who holds the highest elected office in the land holds it legitimately based on the black letter text of Article II, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution.”
Read the complete article here:
http://worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=80435

Read more:

 
https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2008/11/12/obama-not-eligible-us-constitution-tenth-amendment-bill-of-rights-us-supreme-court-federal-judges-state-judges-state-election-officials-electoral-college-electors-philip-j-berg-lawsuit-leo-c/

Standing in court, Dr. Edwin Vieira Jr, Berg v Obama, US Constitution, Obama eligibility, Natural born citizen

Standing in court, Dr. Edwin Vieira Jr, Berg v Obama, US Constitution, Obama eligibility, Natural born citizen

Earler today Citizen Wells presented a great interview of Margaret Hemenway conducted by Andrea Shea King. During the interview a reference was made to Dr. Edwin Vieira, Jr,a legal expert, and his take on standing in court cases. Here is an article by DR. Vieira from October 29, 2008.
“America is facing potentially the gravest constitutional crisis in her history. Barack Obama must either stand up in a public forum and prove, with conclusive documentary evidence, that he is “a natural born Citizen” of the United States who has not renounced his American citizenship—or he must step down as the Democratic Party’s candidate for President of the United States—preferably before the election is held, and in any event before the Electoral College meets. Because, pursuant to the Constitution, only “a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of th[e] Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President” (Article II, Section 1, Clause 4). And Obama clearly was not “a Citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of th[e] Constitution.”

Whether the evidence will show that Obama is, or is not, “a natural born Citizen” who has never renounced his American citizenship is an open question. The arguments on both sides are as yet speculative. But Obama’s stubborn refusal to provide what he claims is “his own” country with conclusive proof on that score compels the presumption that he knows, or at least strongly suspects, that no sufficient evidence in his favor exists. After all, he is not being pressed to solve a problem in quantum physics that is “above his pay grade,” but only asked to provide the public with the original copy of some official record that establishes his citizenship. The vast majority of Americans could easily do so. Why will Obama not dispel the doubts about his eligibility—unless he can not?”
“The judge in Berg v. Obama dismissed the case, not because Obama has actually proven that he is eligible for “the Office of President,” but instead because, simply as a voter, Berg supposedly lacks “standing” to challenge Obama’s eligibility:

regardless of questions of causation, the grievance remains too generalized to establish the existence of an injury in fact. * ** [A] candidate’s ineligibility under the Natural Born Citizen Clause does not result in an injury in fact to voters. By extension, the theoretical constitutional harm experienced by voters does not change as the candidacy of an allegedly ineligible candidate progresses from the primaries to the general election.
This pronouncement does not rise to the level of hogwash.

First, the Constitution mandates that “[t]he judicial Power shall extend to all Cases, in Law and Equity, arising under this Constitution” (Article III, Section 2, Clause 1). Berg’s suit plainly “aris[es] under th[e] Constitution,” in the sense of raising a critical constitutional issue. So the only question is whether his suit is a constitutional “Case[ ].” The present judicial test for whether a litigant’s claim constitutes a constitutional “Case[ ]” comes under the rubric of “standing”—a litigant with “standing” may proceed; one without “standing” may not. “Standing,” however, is not a term found anywhere in the Constitution. Neither are the specifics of the doctrine of “standing,” as they have been elaborated in judicial decision after judicial decision, to be found there. Rather, the test for “standing” is almost entirely a judicial invention.

True enough, the test for “standing” is not as ridiculous as the judiciary’s so-called “compelling governmental interest test,” which licenses public officials to abridge individuals’ constitutional rights and thereby exercise powers the Constitution withholds from those officials, which has no basis whatsoever in the Constitution, and which is actually anti-constitutional. Neither is the doctrine of “standing” as abusive as the “immunities” judges have cut from whole cloth for public officials who violate their constitutional “Oath[s] or Affirmation[s], to support this Constitution” (Article VI, Clause 3)—in the face of the Constitution’s explicit limitation on official immunities (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1). For the Constitution does require that a litigant must present a true “Case[ ].” Yet, because the test for “standing” is largely a contrivance of all-too-fallible men and women, its specifics can be changed as easily as they were adopted, when they are found to be faulty. And they must be changed if the consequences of judicial ignorance, inertia, and inaction are not to endanger America’s constitutional form of government. Which is precisely the situation here, inasmuch as the purported “election” of Obama as President, notwithstanding his ineligibility for that office, not only will render illegitimate the Executive Branch of the General Government, but also will render impotent its Legislative Branch (as explained below).”

Read more:

http://www.newswithviews.com/Vieira/edwin84.htm

Margaret Hemenway Interview:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2010/08/24/the-andrea-shea-king-show

Margaret Hemenway interview, Lt Col Lakin spokeswoman, Andrea Shea King show, Citizen Wells open thread, August 29, 2010

Margaret Hemenway interview, Lt Col Lakin spokeswoman, Andrea Shea King show

From a Andrea Shea King article and interview on August 23, 2010

“The quiet military support for Lt. Col. Terry Lakin”
“No vacation for Obama over eligibility questions

About half the nation was aware of the concern over the absence of public documentation of Barack Obama’s eligibility to be president a year ago.  A few months ago the dispute got top billing on CNN, and just a few days ago a new poll revealed six of 10 Americans are uncertain the president was born in the U.S.”  

“Tonight Margaret Calhoun Hemenway, spokeswoman for Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, an Army medical doctor who has challenged Obama’s eligibility to serve as Commander-in-Chief, joins us on The ANDREA SHEA KING SHOW to discuss Lt. Col. Lakin’s case. Hemenway’s father-in-law John Hemenway represented a plaintiff in one of the lawsuits against Obama, Hollister v. Soetoro, which was dismissed by Judge John Robertson, who wrote in his opinion that Obama’s eligibility had been “blogged, texted, twittered and otherwise massaged” before the election.”
Interview:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/askshow/2010/08/24/the-andrea-shea-king-show
Read more:

http://radiopatriot.wordpress.com/2010/08/24/the-quiet-military-support-for-lt-col-terry-lakin/#comment-4056

Obama birth certificate rally, Eligibility rally, ObamaCare rally, Washington DC, October 23, 2010, Berg at Beck rally

Obama birth certificate rally, Eligibility rally, ObamaCare rally

From Philip J Berg August 28, 2010.

For Immediate Release:  – 08/28/2010
For Further Information Contact:
Philip J. Berg, Esquire         
555 Andorra Glen Court, Suite 12                         
Lafayette Hill, PA 19444-2531
Cell (610) 662-3005
(610) 825-3134
(800) 993-PHIL  [7445]
Fax (610) 834-7659

philjberg@obamacrimes.com
Berg will be with Volunteers
At Glen Beck Rally – Aug. 28th
Handing out Flyers
Regarding October 23rd Rally

The Obama Birth Certificate / Eligibility / ObamaCare
Rally in Washington
will be Saturday, October 23, 2010
U.S. Capitol – West Front
(Lafayette Hill, PA – 08/28/10) – Philip J. Berg, Esquire, the first Attorney who filed suit against Barack H. Obama challenging Obama’s lack of “qualifications” to serve as President of the United States stated that “WE THE PEOPLE” by and through Philip J. Berg and Obamacrimes.com is sponsoring the OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE / ELIGIBILITY/ OBAMACARE Rally in Washington on Saturday, October 23, 2010 – 12 Noon to 4:00 p.m. at U.S. Capitol – West Front.
 
The OBAMA BIRTH CERTIFICATE / ELIGIBILITY/ OBAMACARE Rally in Washington, D.C. is for the purpose of exposing Soetoro/Obama and demanding that he proves that he is “Constitutionally eligible” to be President, or for the benefit of the 308 million citizens of the United States, to resign from office.

All individuals participating are requested to bring a copy of their Birth Certificate.

The crucial issues regarding Obama, the “IMPOSTER”, continue to grow.  However, the most important issue is Obama not being Constitutionally eligible to be President: 1) not being “natural born” being born in Mombasa, Kenya; and 2) even more important the fact that Obama was “adopted” or legally “acknowledged” by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro, and his school record in Indonesia indicates the “Imposter’s” name is “Barry Soetoro”, his nationality being “Indonesia” and his religion being “Islam”.  Obama, the Imposter’s legal name is “Barry Soetoro”.  Obama must be stopped !  WE THE PEOPLE can, by way of the largest rally ever in Washington, DC, have a “Peaceful Revolution” and force Obama to prove he is “Constitutionally eligible” or resign from office.  YES WE CAN !  

The cost of the Rally in Washington is expensive.  We must raise Fifty Thousand [$50,000.00] Dollars to cover the cost of the Rally including advertising this important event.

Donate today to help cover the expenses of this Rally and defend our Constitution.

An updated flyer regarding our Rally is attached.  Please spread the word to as many people as you can and stay tuned to obamacrimes.com.

For copies of all Press Releases and Court Pleadings, go to:
http://obamacrimes.com

USS Cole trial on hold, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Obama administration, Political decision

USS Cole trial on hold, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Obama administration, Political decision

From the Washington Post.

“The Obama administration has shelved the planned prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged coordinator of the Oct. 2000 suicide attack on the USS Cole in Yemen, according to a court filing.
The decision at least temporarily scuttles what was supposed to be the signature trial of a major al-Qaeda figure under a reformed system of military commissions. And it comes practically on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the attack, which killed 17 sailors and wounded dozens when a boat packed with explosives ripped a hole in the side of the warship in the port of Aden.

In a filing this week in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the Justice Department said that “no charges are either pending or contemplated with respect to al-Nashiri in the near future.”

The statement, tucked into a motion to dismiss a petition by Nashiri’s attorneys, suggests that the prospect of further military trials for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has all but ground to a halt, much as the administration’s plan to try the accused plotters of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in federal court has stalled.
Only two cases are moving forward at Guantanamo Bay, and both were sworn and referred for trial by the time Obama took office. In January 2009, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates directed the Convening Authority for Military Commissions to stop referring cases for trial, an order that 20 months later has not been rescinded.

Military officials said a team of prosecutors in the Nashiri case has been ready go to trial for some time. And several months ago, military officials seemed confident that Nashiri would be arraigned this summer.

“It’s politics at this point,” said one military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss policy. He said he thinks the administration does not want to proceed against a high-value detainee without some prospect of civilian trials for other major figures at Guantanamo Bay.”

Read more:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/26/AR2010082606353.html?wprss=rss_nation