Work and travel have again conspired this week to delay commentaries!  But there is lots going on.

European collapse – Self-defense
Swedes Take to the Streets to Defend Their Neighborhoods
(Publicerat, Sweden) Stockholm. Faced by another night of terror at the hands of predominantly immigrant rioters, Swedes grown tired of the police’s inability to put an end to the unrest took to the streets Friday night to defend their neighborhoods.

Mama’s Note: So, of course, the police round up the defenders, not the rioters.

Nathan: Of course.  That is par for the course for as Tranzi a nation as Sweden.  The coppers deny it all, of course, but why would they NOT do it: ordinary Swedes, even Neo-Nazis and “football hooligans” are unlikely to firebomb the police stations or slit the throats of policemen (or their families), but the “immigrant’ (Even THIS guy won’t call them Muslims) rioters and their kind WILL burn and slit and probably rape as well.  (You wonder if some readers are so stupid that they think “immigrant” means British “football hooligans” and German “neo-Nazis” instead of the throwbacks to the 7th Century?) Or is the media so stupid that they think readers will believe this?

Theft by government – Corruption & Tyranny
IRS to Tea Party: ‘State the Reasons You Did Not Have a Candidate Rally for Lone Democratic Candidate’
(CNSNews.com) The Internal Revenue Service, in a letter dated November 16, 2011, asked the Albuquerque Tea Party why it didn’t host a “candidate rally” in 2010 for the lone Democratic gubernatorial candidate in New Mexico after it had hosted a “question and answer forum” for the Republican candidates.  On the Democrat side, then-Lt. Gov. Diane Denish was running for New Mexico governor unopposed, but five Republicans were running in the primary for the opportunity to face Denish in November.

Nathan: Ah, the bureaucratic mind at work when fronting for tyranny is a fearsome thing to behold.  This is a perfect example of how very small (and silly) things can be used as a pretext for cracking down on your political enemies.  End the IRS.  Now.

What we must remember is that this situation was inevitable, now that we have achieved the century mark for the federal income tax and the “need” for an organization like the IRS.  This is NOT a drastic change in IRS policy and impact: the IRS thrives on intimidation and abuse of those it feeds on – AND CONGRESS KNOWS IT.  It is just that it has reached the “final straw” stage and the political circumstances are such that people are now openly screaming about it.  But I do not think that there is any political will yet to do the only thing that would work: ending the organization, which requires scrapping the ENTIRE tax system at the federal level (and therefore, most states’s systems) and replacing them by something else.

It is also important to remember that ANY tax is, by its very nature, nothing but “legalized” theft.  There is NO MORAL DIFFERENCE between a decision by 268 people (1/2 of 535 Senators and Congressmen plus the guy at 1600 PA) to make you or me pay taxes and using the threat of armed force to make us “voluntarily” pay it, and the guy who whips out a gun on a dark street corner and says, “give me all your money.”  No moral difference.

Mama’s Note: No moral difference, and it wouldn’t matter what the IRS was “replaced” with. The practical difference between the IRS and the street corner mugger is the fact that the guy on the street will vanish, never to return – even if we don’t shoot him. The IRS holds that gun to our head daily, even hourly and robs us repeatedly and increasingly while we have little or no choice but to pay or start a revolution.

Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
It’s Terrorist Against Terrorist in the Widening Syrian War
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: A major reason that US forces – and US money stolen from taxpayers – has no business in Syria.  While “the enemy of my enemy may be my friend” in this case they are ALL our enemies, and (besides many other reasons) we need to let them kill and torture and destroy each other.

Stupid government tricks – the “messiah’s’ minions
Kerry: Africans’ Access to U.S.-Funded AIDS Drugs Is ‘Breathtaking Accomplishment’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Charity begins at home:  if this is so important to Africa, should not it be Africans that are paying for the access to these drugs?  And not American’s stolen money, ultimately to be impoverished by being the doctor and nurse as well as policeman to the world?

Mama’s Note: It’s even more complicated and insane than that, Nathan. There is a fair body of solid evidence to indicate that the drugs are far more deadly, in the long run, than the disease. Follow the money… the major pharma outfits who make the drugs are some of the few industries in the world still making money hand over fist.

World wars – Stupid, murderous government
Catholic Bishops Committee Chair: Obama’s Drone Policies ‘Seem to Violate the Law of War’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Seriously?  To say nothing of violating God’s moral law?  And the standards to which the world has held other nations?  “Seems to?”

Local tyranny
No Evidence Chicago Red Light Cameras Based on Safety — System Made $71 Million Last Year
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: “Safety” is the excuse, but that is nothing new.  Building inspections are also “justified” by safety, together with all the bureaucracy and permits and fees that bring in a lot of money to municipalities like Chicago – and to support corruption in almost every form.  Alternatives to government exist for ALL of these, if we will just use them.

Culture wars – Government-run, tax-funded schools
‘Boy or Girl?’ Gender a New Challenge for Schools
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: There seems to be a new story every week in various papers and media about this kind of thing:  parents who have decided (or allowed their five-year-old) to decide that five-year-old Johnnie is really “Joannie” no matter what the actual plumbing is.  And eager for fees, prestige, and power, psychiatrists and educators are eager to support the parents and make special rules for little John-Joan.  Strange, isn’t it, how for centuries this was never a significant problem (I realize that there have always been a few unfortunate people whose bodies or minds are abnormal), but only now is this a “major” problem with 1-2% of ALL students being “ungendered” or “transgendered?”  The causes are not known, but our present government and society make it more of a mess.

Hoplophobes – Stupid cop tricks
California: Microphone, Not Gun, Prompts Lockdown At Chaminade Prep. In West Hills
(CBSLA.com) A private San Fernando Valley high school was placed on lockdown Tuesday due to a report of a person with a gun near campus that turned out to be a student with a boom microphone. LAPD Topanga officers responded to a call from school officials at 9:30 a.m. stating the mother of a student saw a suspicious person near Chaminade College Preparatory High School, 7500 Chaminade Ave.

Mama Liberty: Job security for cops, I guess. I’m just so glad they didn’t start shooting before they discovered what he actually had. They are all on a hair trigger these days.

Nathan: I am sure the cops are pleased that they have created such a horrific climate of fear among parents.  These sorts of false alarms are taking place daily – most just don’t get reported nationally.