By Nathan Barton

Local tyranny? Bob Livingston, in Personal Liberty, tells us that it may soon be illegal to back into your driveway to park your car or truck in Jacksonville.  Why?  No, not safety, and not for creating possible traffic problems.  The reason is so that the police can see your license plate, since Florida is one of those states that has only one license plate, not one front and back.  I suppose this is just the first step: surely we must then ban closing garage doors, lest they not see the plates of those vehicles, either.  Why not play the game that Panama does, and require that the license plate number be painted on all four sides of the vehicle?  And why not also require that the number of the driver’s license also be displayed on the outside of the vehicle, in large enough characters for the cops license-plate-cams to be able to read them?  In addition to tattooing them on our foreheads or cheeks (after all, it is easy to hide if they are just on our arms.  However they do it, these are police state tactics.

More theft by government? Can the Petroleum Reserve Fund Our Highways? The Institute for Policy Innovation asks this question about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and comes up with an answer: “The federal Highway Fund is about to run out of money, and so lawmakers are scrambling to find more funds. Some Republicans have reasonably proposed funding the program through corporate tax reform — specifically, lowering the tax burden on the offshore profits of U.S. companies if they “repatriate” those funds. But others see the highway-funding shortfall as an opportunity to ding companies for even more tax money — an approach that likely won’t pass Republican opposition. While corporate tax reform is needed, there is little chance of doing that by July 31, when the Highway Fund hits empty.

So how about a short-term fix that could provide funds quickly and in the long run actually save the government (i.e., taxpayers) money? That solution?  Sell off part or all of the crude oil reserves in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). About 727 million barrels of crude oil can be stored at four different sites. While levels can vary, the feds usually keep around 700 million barrels in reserve.  The government has sold portions of the SPR many times over the years, especially as a way to lower oil prices when they are high. It eventually replaces those barrels when prices drop again.

Thanks to innovative drilling techniques, U.S. oil production has been rising for several years, and the U.S. may become a net oil exporter within the next few years. [Assuming DC allows us to sell crude oil off-shore… it is currently illegal.] Those changes have made the SPR an anachronism. The U.S. energy revival should force Congress to rethink some of its outdated policies, beginning with the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Let SPR, not taxpayers (corporate or individual), finance the Highway Fund. How much could the U.S. make from the sale of the reserves? About $35 billion, based on $50 a barrel; but the selloff should be done slowly to keep from tanking oil prices more than they have.”

Hmmm.  Assuming that DC would do it. BIG assumption. I don’t think they would because they’d be selling away their POWER. Why should we not allow transportation to be provided by a free market?  One of the major reasons that the highway fund is running out of money is that gasoline sales have dropped off significantly, due both to government action on fuel economy AND government action trashing the economy. Of course, we know that the likelihood of the governments selling off their highways, and the feds ending subsidies to the states for highway construction and maintenance, is slightly less than the likelihood of the Earth moving out to the orbit of Mars.

Celebrating Ramadan?  According to Personal Liberty, Islamists are answering a call to violent action to celebrate the “Holy Month” of Ramadan by attacking and killing heretics and other enemies of Islam; in just two days, nearly 200 are dead, including 50 in three attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait, and France.  They seem to be seriously competing with the FedGov for the “honor” of killing the most civilian Muslims in any week. Actually, the Caliphate has been winning that competition pretty regularly.  The killing goes on.

State tyranny?  Oh, no, this isn’t a mandate, just a restriction.  So goes the argument about California forbidding children to attend public school of they are not “minimally” vaccinated (just ten vaccinations, mind you), according to Motherboard.Vice.Com.  The law now passed in both houses of the People’s Republic, is sure to be signed by the governor and removes the “personal belief exemption” for allowing children to go to government-run, tax-funded schools without being “properly vaccinated.”  Vice considers this a good thing, of course, since they pooh-pooh the idea that vaccines are bad for humans except in very rare circumstances, and discuss the fear of widespread outbreaks of disease.  Well, maybe it IS a good thing to encourage those fence-sitting parents to GET THEIR KIDS OUT OF THE GRTF SCHOOLS.  Of course, PR California can soon be expected to make it illegal for unvaccinated children to go to private schools or play outdoors with other, vaccinated kids, so what is gained?

Really?  The entire “Chase the Confederate Flag” deal took a nasty turn in the last day or so, according to InfoWars.com (take with a grain of salt, of course), which says that Amazon and WalMart did not voluntarily stop selling CSA flags, but were ordered to by unidentified FedGov agents.  The hate on many websites and web postings against anyone who would buy a CSA flag (except for the purpose of burning on “Burn the Confederate Flag Day,” supposedly scheduled for today, Saturday, 27^th June 2015) is truly amazing.  If I were to believe them, I’d be amazed at the support that slavery has today.

Even some so-called “libertarians” claim that the only reason that people would own and display a Confederate Flag is because they support slavery.  Apple has removed all “Civil War” games from their apps store because – shockingly!!! – one of the two sides in all those battles is flying the Confederate Flag! Amazing what emotions can do to people. That sick old man, Louis Farrakhan, says he doesn’t know what the fuss about the Confederate Flag is; he wants to put down the US flag (validating Limbaugh’s prediction). Of course, students and professors at the University of California, Irvine, have already attempted to ban the US flag as a symbol of racism, imperialism, and hatred of mothers and apple pie.  Again, emotional responses and symbolism dictate too many things.

Mama’s Note: Everyone should realize by now that we are truly living in the Chinese curse of “interesting times.” The key for liberty is, of course, the same as it has always been. Do not comply, resist, and prepare for the worst which is yet to come.