By Nathan Barton

This was the news yesterday and overnight: Northeast coast of America on unprecedented lockdown: Shutdown hits 60 million people, bringing roads, tunnels, trains, bridges and businesses to standstill, and 3′ of snow threatens country’s most densely-populated areas. There were driving bans, threats of arrest, canceled planes, closed railways and metro systems and tunnels froze giant cities in five states. People are effectively banned from going outside as states of emergency were declared. A storm threatening to dump 3′ of snow from New Jersey to Massachusetts prompted states of emergency to be declared, with metro systems in New York City and Boston shut, and threats of $500 fines for drivers on roads barred in the evening to all but emergency vehicles. A 1/5 of the population of the U.S. was advised to shelter from the storm, with driving bans forcing a large swath of New York state, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts from the roads to make room for plows, police and ambulances. Governors and mayors told people to stay for all but the most vital reasons, while panicked residents cleaned out stores in anticipation of days trapped behind huge drifts of snow before the rigorous emergency measures kick in.

TODAY, this is the news:  NYC got MAYBE six inches of snow.  Some areas to the north and east (Long Island, eastern Connecticut, Rhode Island,  and Massachusetts) got 1-2 feet.  As a storm, it was a bust. As far as creating panic and more, well, it was a ROARING success. As I told a correspondent, it turned out to be bogus; an excuse for their governments to exercise new “emergency response” regulations and laws which made it a crime to be on the streets (on foot or in vehicles) without begging permission from some government official to do so.  If the people of NY and NJ and New England were frogs, the temperature of the water in the pot just got turned up a few more degrees: boiling is not far off.  Then “they’re done, stick a fork in ’em.”  Add to this the hysteria about how this was all the fault of “global warming” and the self-destructive nature of “Americans” in the Northeast is clearer.  People didn’t prepare in advance, panicked, turned into cornered rats in a ship that did not sink, and bowed low before government officials who have the collars ready to snap around their necks and connect to the chains.

RT (Russia Today) has disturbing reports from the winter fighting in Ukraine. First, a report that Military-clad English-speakers caught on camera in Mariupol shelling aftermath, fueling allegations, foreign mercenaries serve among Ukrainian troops. The port city in eastern Ukraine,under Kiev’s control, saw a surge of violence on Saturday, when several rockets hit a residential area in the east of the city, reportedly killing 30 civilians.  At the same time, Russian President Putin claims that the Ukraine army is NATO legion aimed at restraining Russia.  “We often say: Ukrainian Army, Ukrainian Army. But who really fights there? Indeed, some are partially official units of armed forces, but most are the so-called ‘volunteer nationalist battalions'”, said Putin, as he addressed students in the city of St. Petersburg.  Claims are being made by others that the fight against Ukraine is against racist, right-wing (read fascist/neo-National Socialist) groups, quoting certain fighters.  ‘To become an Azov fighter, you must be a proper white man,’ said an Azov Battalion fighter. Others say that the Ukrainian government is fighting AGAINST the fascists/racists. The lies are too complex, to contradictory, and can’t be debunked without tremendous work.  Oh, dear, is it best to leave the fight to those that are fighting, and not try to deny or provide support to ANY side?

It is easy to see the tactics of the Fuehrer in this nasty little deal.  The administration opens up the southern Atlantic coast to offshore drilling — but restricts it in Alaska.  The White House on Tuesday outlined a politically fraught plan for allowing oil drilling in U.S. coastal waters, announcing steps to open parts of the southeastern U.S. coastline for oil leasing while imposing new restrictions on environmentally fragile waters Alaska’s North Slope.  The Atlantic Seaboard proposal is dead on arrival: way too many people are having fits; but the minions can claim they “tried” to expand opportunities.  And meanwhile, shut the North Slope down completely (or leave it for the Russians and Canadians to exploit).

I predicted that this would happen, when I first discussed the Arizona law: New Hampshire: federal citizenship test for homeschoolers? New Hampshire is considering imposing a federally developed citizenship test on homeschoolers and private school students as a condition of graduation. HSLDA opposes this proposal.  As do I: and not just for the content.  There are many things wrong with this, including the state interfering in families.

The rush is on: FBI: 3 Russians charged with spying, 1 arrested in New York. Federal prosecutors have announced charges against 3 Russian men allegedly operating an international spy ring based out of New York City. US attorneys said Monday, Evgeny Buryakov, Igor Sporyshev, and Victor Podobnyy have been charged “in connection with Buryakov’s service as a covert intelligence agent on behalf of the Russian Federation”. Buryakov unlawfully acted as an unregistered agent of a foreign government, the federal complaint alleges, and his co-defendants are charged with conspiracy thereof, supposedly to do with hacking computer systems and stealing data. In other words, what the NSA is doing to American people and businesses every second of every day: the FedGov hates competition!

Canadian Premeir Harper’s anti-terror bill to criminalize the ‘promotion of terrorism’, clearly taking a hard line against pro-American Canadians who would support FedGov (US FedGov) war efforts worldwide.  Prime Minister Stephen Harper says his government will introduce promised new national-security legislation on Friday, including a provision drawing a(n unconstitutional and immoral) line between free expression and endorsing terrorism. Highlighting the new bill in a speech on Sunday, Mr. Harper said he will giving authorities new powers to protect Canadians from homegrown extremists – including the ability to prosecute people for “promoting terrorism”. …After the October attacks [false flags], Justice Minister Peter MacKay mused about giving police legal tools allowing for the removal of Internet posts “poisoning young minds”.  That is, “protecting Canadians” from any discussion of issues which does not toe the Ottawa line, at least for anyone under the age of 40 or so.  Showing how “young minds” have been poisoned in Canada since the days of Pierre Elliot Trudeau.

European dissatisfaction is expressed yet again.  Greece election: Anti-austerity Syriza wins election,  putting the country on a possible collision course with the EU over its massive bailout. With nearly 75% of the votes counted, Syriza is projected to win 149 seats, just 2 short of an absolute majority, though that number could change. Left-wing party leader Alexis Tsipras, wanting to renegotiate Greece’ debt, said “the Greeks wrote history”. The governing centre-right New Democracy [sic] has come a distant 2nd. People are angry with the depression and other troubles of Greece, but they do not understand that the reverse side of the coin of government politics is just as counterfeit as the obverse.

Home front: NORAD to patrol skies over Super Bowl XLIX. Military fighter jets and helicopters will patrol Valley skies this week to keep America – and the Phoenix metropolitan area, in particular – safe for football. Yeah, right: millions MORE spent to subsidize the football moguls and the obscenely rich players. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, (NORAD), will conduct aerial training exercises on Tuesday between 1500 and 1900, and will patrol the skies over Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday, as it has for every Super Bowl since the terrorist attacks of 2001… Tuesday’s exercise, code-named Exercise Falcon Virgo, is a joint operation of the Federal Aviation Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the Civil Air Patrol and NORAD.  All the baddies in one place – no, seriously, NORAD is really one of the few legitimate defense agencies: dedicated to defending the homelands (Fifty States and Canada) and not to running the world police state.  And the CAP is a fine example of volunteer, paramilitary organizations that help society in many ways.  But CBP and the FAA are tools of oppression FAR more than serving any legitimate need of society or the market.

Notice that NONE of these “fine organizations” did anything to prevent or really, properly deal with this bizarre incident:  It turns out it was a FedGov employee that “piloted” (controlled) the drone crashing at the White House.  A government employee told the Secret Service, he lost control of a small drone before it crashed on the grounds of the White House shortly after 0300 on Monday, officials said. The man, (not identified by the government) has  “fully cooperated” and “initial indications are, this incident occurred as a result of recreational use of the device”, the Secret Service said. (Only the USSS would call a drone a “mystery device,” by the way.) The pre-dawn incident triggered an early morning lockdown of the White House perimeter and “revived concern about the security of the presidential home.” Ha! This was a perfect excuse for the Fuehrer to insist that the FAA demands virtually OUTlawing use of the drones by normal people be implemented immediately.  Nice how a bureaucrat gets protected: if it had been a “ordinary citizen” working for himself or a private company, he’d be in jail, if not in Gitmo, charged with terrorism, and his name broadcast from on-high.  All for a two- or three-pound lump of styrofoam, and who flies drones “recreationally” at 0300 anyway south of the Arctic Circle in high summer?

Mama’s Note: You can get an ulcer trying to get anything they do to make sense.

Several more “aviation security concerns” after the Twitter bomb threats on aircraft near Atlanta last week.  This time, there were 2 planes evacuated in Seattle, and a 3rd flight diverted to Dallas.  The Seattle-Tacoma incident on Sunday was due to what a spokesman called a “security concern”. Airport spokesman Perry Cooper says a JetBlue flight from Long Beach, California, and a regional SkyWest jet from Phoenix were the planes involved. The flights arrived late Sunday afternoon. Additionally, a Delta Air Lines spokesman says a flight from Los Angeles to Orlando was diverted to Dallas Sunday afternoon due to “a security concern”.  Just WHAT is a “security concern?”  A compromised PIN code on a credit card?  An unescorted child? Someone not turning off their cell phone?  Who knows, but aren’t we so glad that these people are “protecting us” – and no doubt keeping young minds from being poisoned!

Homeowner’s Association in New York State: “You can’t park your pickup in OUR driveway in front of your house because it isn’t a passenger vehicle.” Never mind it can hold six or seven passengers (just like my son’s Ram 3500), the HA is suing the homeowners.  It is similar to another situation on the other side of the country, where a Homeowner’s Association in Louisiana says: “Take down the sign because of the law we just made up.”  Local tyranny like this attempts to impose your neighbor’s values and ideas on you, usually without any rhyme or reason, much less bogus “due process.”

Are we all insane?  No, just a lot of folks.  It appears that one-third of people with disabilities (and therefore receiving various kinds of public assistance, including SSI) have mental disorders, with 42.9 percent in DC having mental disorders (and that does NOT include many forms of public assistance in DC, like Congressional salaries or police wages!). Not only that, but those RECEIVING SSI and other forms of disability payments from the FedGov have increased almost 50% in the last decade. In the six states of New England, three have 1 in 2 disabled having mental problems, and all of New England has 40%+ with mental disorders.  Although the article doesn’t give many specifics, I wonder how many of these mental disorders are phobias, like fear of work, fear of responsibility, and fear of not watching television?

Mama’s Note: Such utter nonsense. The definition of “mental illness” has gotten so loosey goosey that it can mean just whatever you want it to mean. Using this as an excuse for more and more government control is the real mental sickness in the US, and probably much of the rest of the world.

Remember the “Most Dangerous Superstition.” That is the belief that any non-voluntary government, or their minions, can have any legitimate authority – regardless of the motives or intentions.