By Nathan Barton

Good morning in an April spring.  As fields start to green up and leaves start to bud, many folks’ thoughts turn to farming and gardening.  Apparently, those who claim to rule over us, seem to be treating us “ordinary folks” more like livestock than just slaves, and as their attention is to the seasons, it appears to be about harvesting us, not just harvesting our labor.

Point to consider: the way the “City Fathers” of Albuquerque, New Mexico seem to issue their cops an unlimited hunting license for humans: twenty-three killed, at least fourteen seriously wounded, in the last three years.  Two dead, one seriously wounded in the last two weeks.  Protesters condemned as lawless and violent people who need to be done away with. This is NOT liberty, this is NOT American freedom: this is a police state: farming its people for power and profit.

It may be a surprise to many U.S. taxpayers (but not to readers of The Price of Liberty and other websites), but a whole bunch of Federal agencies — some whose responsibilities seem to have little to do with combating crime — carry active law enforcement operations. Here’s a partial list worth looking at: .Watchdog And be prepared when you see these agencies’ vehicles roar by like they “owned the road.”  According to them, they DO.  And you are just a servant or a crop to be harvested.

Mama’s Note: Or unnoticed roadkill if you get in the way.

As time goes on, more and more people find that the police are less and less trustworthy.  Sometimes, this is recognized and “corrected” long after the fact. Case in point:

Ronald Jones, a Dallas man caught between a malicious police officer and his destination one December night in 2009, went to jail for more than a year after Dallas cop Matthew Antkowiak fabricated a story that seemed to support an aggravated assault charge. Now Jones is free and $1.1 million richer. Again, farming people for the cops’ benefit.

South Dakotans, even our legislators, are showing more distrust of cops and local government, and are willing to extend that distrust to other states, especially Iowa.  Thanks to a law going into effect quickly, those with South Dakota license plates will be somewhat immune to red-light camera tickets issued in other states, and the stupid cameras are illegal in South Dakota.  There are still ways that other states can get us, especially if we travel in their state frequently, but at least South Dakota state and local governments will not be accessories to their police-state tactics, to their farming South Dakotans for their own profit.

Stupidity seems to concentrate in some states more than in others.  I am constantly comparing South Dakota and Colorado.  South Dakota is FAR from perfect, but Colorado just slides downhill more and more rapidly.  The General Assembly has gone one more step: a ban on “water-wasting plumbing” will almost certainly become a burden to ALL Coloradoans this year.

A report out from the Government Accountability Office this week reveals that the Federal government’s number of “information security incidents” wherein Americans’ sensitive personal information was breached has more than doubled in recent years.  This is, I think, a mixture of intent (with malice) and incompetence.  Of course, FedGov incompetence is nothing new.

Mama’s Note: I am convinced that none of this invasion of privacy is new either… it’s been going on for a very long time. They’re just getting caught at it more often now.

Americans, or I should say, the FedGov, have a well-earned reputation for incredible ineptitude for covert operations.  It appears we have a new example: a three year attempt by the FedGov to create an ersatz “Twitter” movement to spark revolution in Cuba, which spent a lot of taxpayer money and apparently failed with a tiny whisper.

Mama’s Note: “Failed?” Depends on what the original goal was, of course. It was a success funneling taxpayer dollars into the pockets of those involved. I’m sure they didn’t object to that, no matter what the actual goal of the program.

USA Today says that American consumers are less likely to shop and bank on-line thanks to NSA. You and I blame NSA. The FedGov (especially but not just DP Tranzis) blame Snowden and the tea party for ratting out the NSA. Attitude IS important.

On to other news, around the world:

Oddly enough, the media seems to have quieted down regarding Ukraine and the Crimea.  I don’t know if this is a good thing or not.  Conditions are NOT settled.  Among other things, NATO allies pledged to beef up eastern defenses out of “fear” of Russia.  American allies better take Kerry’s proclamation (of “US commitment to their security” as “unwavering”) with a grain of salt about a meter on a side.  What triggered Russian actions in the past two months was CONTINUED FedGov and NATO meddling in Ukraine.  The situation has calmed down, but it appears that a lot of effort is continuing to rile people up. Things happen behind the scenes, and then.. wham, bam, look at what is happening!

Secession continues to be in the news in several places as votes in Catalonia and Scotland loom ahead:

The Italian government is running scared: they have decided that the recent “unofficial” referendum, 83% in support of restoring the independent Republic of Venice, has created a terrorist threat to the “nation.” As a result, they are cracking down. For 130+ years, Venice (and the rest of the north) has been farmed for the benefit of Rome and the south.  People are sick of it.

Alaska has had an independence movement for decades, but now it seems that at least a few Alaskans are interested not in independence but in returning to Mother Russia.  I think this is unlikely to go anywhere: there are too few Alaskans with any real ties to Russia to be able to put up with the much different culture and concept of liberty.  Unless, the choice becomes “either or.”

Mama’s Note: The “independence” of Scotland is a sad, sick joke. Scotland has been socialist for a long time now, even worse than England, and that’s not apt to change any time soon. They may, however, find that their socialist leanings can’t be financed when they don’t have anywhere near as many other people to rob. So, in the end, they’ll either change their philosophy or go crawling back to the UK. I don’t hold out much hope for them either way.