By Nathan Barton

Is there any hope left?  Every week, I see another half-dozen articles about the growing tyranny and brutality of the various governments in these formerly united States of America.  Every week, I learn of yet another group of people who have sold out liberty and honesty and a moral worldview for power and wealth.  Every week, I hear of yet another way in which the limited liberty I and the nation enjoyed back in the 1960s and early 1970s restricted still more.

Anyway, good morning.  Here are some of the stories of interest, pointing out the situation.  At the same time, there ARE some things that show that perhaps there IS a bit of hope in the bottom of the box, after all.

In Austin, Texas, where cops (on video) assaulted a woman jogger because she jaywalked, and then busted her on a variety of charges, the police chief put his foot in his mouth, saying local citizens should be glad that his cops aren’t raping them.  Even though it was in defense of his own, it is still a surprise to see a senior “law enforcement” official acknowledge how “rogue” cops are getting.  As I was discussing with someone yesterday, the cops doing this kind of thing (including killings of innocents weekly, like the teen shot and killed in his own front door because he was holding a wii controller) are a small minority of the police forces, but it is obvious that more and more are behaving this way and their superiors and the governments for which they work are SUPPORTING them.  We live in a police state, and there seems to be no hope of things getting better.  Each week, there are a half-dozen new stories about cops killing innocents, terrorizing innocents, tazing or beating or sexually assaulting people for minor crimes or even simple disobedience or self-defense, false arrests, and home invasions for the most minor of excuses.  Anyone even attempting to fight back (if they survive) is branded as a cop-killer or terrorist.  Their arrogance seems to grow without bounds.

Mama’s Note: While only a small number of “law enforcement” employees are actually committing the violent crimes, people like the police chief above and the unions pull out all the stops to excuse and cover for them. Even worse, however, is the fact that almost none of the other “cops” will lift a finger to stop the criminal behavior or work toward getting rid of the “bad apples.” As far as I’m concerned, they are ALL “bad apples” then. It is a crime to obstruct justice, hide or falsify evidence, ignore a crime being committed, or in any way facilitate harm to another human being. Any of those things would be grounds to prosecute and incarcerate any other person, and it is doubly shameful for this to be done with impunity under color of law.

Missouri is one of a number of states where the legislature is taking action to nullify various federal laws as unconstitutional.  I was surprised to see how far the matter has gone in that state (best known to me for its abusive police and the way the EPA has attacked both businesses AND state regulators in the past).  And I have my doubts: even if both houses pass this nullification act, will the governor really sign AND execute it?  There are so many ways for the FedGov to punish states who “resist” that it is hard to imagine Missouri as being willing to push back much at all.

Some of the folks over at CNS News have calculated that when DHS contracted to purchase 704 million rounds of ammo over the next 4 years, that amounts to 2,500 rounds per officer.  That is for 208 weeks, or about 12 rounds per week, or 52 per month.  Is that really enough to get them to shoot straight?  I, for one, have my doubts.  Even if they don’t spend time on the firing range during Christmas week.  We can be sure that virtually NONE of these will be fired “in line of duty” since the number of times a DHS “officer” has actually been involved in a firefight in line of duty is less than the number of times these “officers” have been involved in domestic violence or DUIs (their own, not someone else’s).  Yes, I know I am making light of this.  It is clear that a good many federal agencies are stockpiling huge amounts of ammo as compared to even a decade ago, and many people are trying to figure out why.  Meanwhile, even as gun prices at least remain fairly constant (supply keeping up with demand, but with inflation hitting hard), ammo prices are still insane and getting worse.  Again, it is supply and demand.  And a lack of hope that things will get better soon.

Meanwhile, overseas, the US and Russia seem to have cooperated (intentionally or not) in overthrowing a democratically-elected government which seemed to be abiding by its constitution.   Reports are mixed, but it appears that the “protesters” did as much (or more) killing than the police did in the last days of violence in Kiev.  Russia and the US are butting heads over Ukraine, but whether this is just for show or real is hard to tell. And now, it appears that the US’s Susan Rice may have threatened war on Russia if Russia seeks to restore constitutional government in Ukraine.

The ex-CBO Chief’ s comment that Obummerare’s work disincentive is ‘Exactly the same’ as welfare’s makes sense: why mess with a proven formula?  The disincentive to work is an incentive to surrender more and more control to the government: to become more dependent, as clientèle to the political bosses and bureaucrats.  Lazy and feckless people don’t want to make their own decisions, and are happy to get enough to eat, get high on, and ‘enjoy’ life. What hope is there of getting them to change?

An Afghani newspaper claims that the US has plotted to allow “christian missionaries” to steal Afghanistan’s youth by converting them to christianity and telling them they can then seek better lives in the West.  Clearly, the Afghan paper’s writers and editor don’t pay attention to, or understand, American politics; but you would think that they could read the mainstream media and see how this is really playing out.  Of course, this gives the FedGov and MSM an excuse to further crack down on churches and on religious soldiers (except Muslims, of course) in the ranks.

USDA’s Vilsack says that the agency’s biggest concern is “climate change” (global warming), but that the severe weather this winter is not necessarily proof.  This winter, and the way the Administration (including Vilsack) talks reminds me of the predictions of a downturn – global cooling – back in the 1970s and in recent books such as The Last Centurion.  There is no hope that the White House or its minions will change their chicken-little attitude.

Deutsche Telekom plans to launch a text and voice encryption app for smartphones. The privatized German telecommunications giant is responding to users’ privacy concerns after Edward Snowden’s revelation of NSA mass surveillance.  You would think that American telecoms would have responded as well, and sooner.  But the joke is on us.