The Veteran’s Apocalypse?

Posted on 2014-02-16 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

I just read something written by a person who is deeply fearful that “bringing home the troops” from Afghanistan and nearby countries will flood America’s cities and towns with tens of thousands of ex-soldiers, unemployed and badly damaged physically, mentally, and morally by what they have been through in more than a decade of war.  She is concerned that unless they are “decompressed” from their evil years “fighting for freedom” overseas, that they will return to America to rape their wives and children, blow up substations and banks and bulldoze down city blocks while shooting up whole neighborhoods.  It is not that she is some liberal: indeed, she is a very conservative, great-grandmother, long retired, but she has bought into a very big lie.  She doesn’t realize just how big a lie that is being sold to her and millions.

Civilians always seem to assume that the troops in Afghanistan and elsewhere have been there for the entire duration, and that “bringing them home” means that a huge number of troops will suddenly come back all at once.  Neither is true:  troops have been rotated constantly (and frankly, too much) between stateside, other locations worldwide, and the combat zones. The “decompression” you talk about has been standard for the last 14-15 years we’ve been fighting in Afghanistan and Mesopotamia (and elsewhere).  Not always successful, but being done.  People spend 12-18 months in the combat zones and then come home (usually) or are sent to someplace “safe” (like Korea or Germany or Italy or Okinawa).  As they return, it is normally by unit:  a battalion (about 500-1000 people) or even a company (80-150 people) at a time.  Each individual from the battalion commander (a Lt. Colonel) down to the privates is individually evaluated for physical health as well as mental health and morale and family problems and religious condition and about everything else.  There are counselors and they work with chaplains and non-military church leaders and community people and even some private businesses to help people “decompress” and adjust back to home conditions.

The problem is, the process isn’t always successful, and all too often, when people’s enlistments are up and they move into the VA realm and out into the private and public sector, they don’t follow up and no one follows up on them.  Especially when their home is a long ways from a military installation.  The VA’s competence is (as always) very marginal.  Too many people get hired to do jobs that DO capitalize on their skills and experience, but put them into situations where the decompression is reversed:  for example, as policemen.  And too many times, the families (not immediate family as far as wife and kids, but extended family) don’t really know what was done.

This idea that a withdrawal from Afghanistan will be a massive demobilization like troops returning from Europe and the Pacific in 1945-46 (or from France in 1919) is not true.  It is made up, in part to scare people here in the States into thinking that veterans are a threat – en masse as well as individually, and that they must be kept under close watch, have their liberties restricted, and are ticking time bombs waiting to go off.  There ARE always a few folks that can’t handle it, but they are in the very VERY tiny minority: 1/00th of 1 percent, maybe.  And those are usually the ones easily identified in the return and separation from service process, and which get the bulk of the attention from the VA and other organizations.  But 99% of the combat veterans of Afghanistan and Mesopotamia ARE already back, and at least 80% of them ARE already returned to civilian life – and have been for years.

They are not a threat to their families, their neighbors, or their communities.  What they ARE is a threat to the politicians in DC and the elites that think that they are the rightful leaders/rulers of this nation.  Because they have gotten the short end and have been on the sharp end of the stick and seen what a stinking mess the people in DC (and, admit it, the state capitols) have made for the last fifteen years.  And because they are not buying the “be quiet, be good, don’t rock the boat” lines.  And when I speak of politicians in DC, I include people like Tim Johnson (or at least, his handlers) and John Thune and Kristi Noem and Stephanie Herseth and the new crop trying to get elected (somehow I got on Rick Weiland’s email list, and his rants make me ill).

Each will respond differently: some WILL go off the deep end: join (or rejoin) street gangs or biker gangs or be recruited into drug cartels, others will become cops and get as dirty as their peers, some will become (or continue to be) alcoholics or drug users, some will become politicians (and go as bad as a John McCain or Bob Dole), some will become preachers and teachers.  But if ANY of us get pushed too far (and that is getting nearer and nearer), some will lash back at government – whether it is a city dogcatcher or yard inspector or a USDA or USFS employee, or a DEA or FBI or NSA type – in defense of themselves, their families, and their communities.  And it will be very ugly.

Every day I read another story or two about cops beating up or killing someone for no reason – or someone’s pet or service dog, for no reason.  Every day I read about someone else arrested for some petty offense where they were the wrong person, or just in the wrong place or doing the “wrong thing” as defined by the cop or some Mrs. Grundy. Every day I read another story about some student in a public school who is suspended or expelled or humiliated for some very stupid “zero tolerance” rule.  Every day I read about someone viciously attacked because they preach or do something that makes them a “homophobe” or “racist.”  Every one of those incidents is a potential spark point, for a veteran (whether Afghan, Iraq, Vietnam, Panama or someplace else) or just a “normal” conservative person to say, “It’s a good day to die,” and decide that they aren’t going to take it anymore.  That is IS better to “live free or die.”

There are lots of specific examples of how government at all levels is pushing and getting more and more extreme and out of control.  The woman shot to death on the steps of the Capitol in DC, her little girl in the car with her.  The “lockdown” of the White House and blocks of public streets around it for hours because someone tried to climb the fence. Traffic backed up on an interstate highway in NM or AZ for 10-15 miles SOUTHBOUND because the Border Patrol is searching cars – 150 miles NORTH of the border.

A cop shooting a service dog to death in the middle of a child’s birthday party because someone in the neighborhood complained about unleashed dogs roaming the area.  The state of Connecticut worried because the deadline for their new “assault weapon” registration was six weeks ago and only 50,000 of the 350,000 weapons they think are in the state have been registered: so there are the owners of 300,000 weapons who are willing to commit a FELONY by refusing to play.

A major community-invested company driven to bankruptcy by the state government, destroying $10 million dollars in investment, because there was too much sawdust coming out of their stack – in the middle of nowhere.  Another $10 million in investment missing when a company goes bankrupt under strange circumstances and then the manager “commits suicide” despite his ties to federal and state officials.  Germany trying to figure out what happened to the gold being “kept safe” for them in vaults in NYC. Homeschoolers being deported TO Germany so that the government can take their children away from them.  People subjected to hours of anal probing to “find drugs” -without a warrant – and then BILLED by the hospital for the “procedure.”  People with a warrant to investigate suspected credit card fraud of under $1000 where the warrant is served by a SWAT team in a no-knock raid because one of the people in the house had a concealed-carry permit.  The list can go on and on.

It is things like THESE that are more likely to cause a veteran to go ballistic than what they faced in the war zones.  Not that there won’t be some who DO go off the deep end, but really, not that much more than the civilians who never did any of that.

Psalm 13: 1-2

How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I take counsel in my soul
and have sorrow in my heart all the day?
How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

Habakkuk 1:2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?

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New Orleans: Cesspool and Solution

Posted on 2014-02-15 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

In my last column, I talked a bit about “lawless rulers” and how the thuggish nature of government is ever more visible.  Outside Chicago, Detroit, and DC, there are few places as corrupt and evil as New Orleans, so these stories can give us hope.

See, ONCE in a while, lawless “rulers” get their comeuppance:  former New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin was convicted on 20 Counts Of bribery and corruption, years after he helped totally trash New Orleans.  I am sure he will be severely punished: he might even lose some of his retirement, and have to spend a  short period of time in semi-retirement in a gated community where he has to use the same tennis court all the time.

New Orleans Catholic Archbishop Aymond announced that the Roman Catholic Church will shun persons and businesses who helped build a Planned Parenthood clinic.  This is great news, on multiple levels.  Especially since it seems to include the City of New Orleans’ employees.

First, this is the ONLY thing that a church – according to the Bible – can and SHOULD do:  withdraw fellowship (including worship with and EATING with “such a one”) to get them to see and repent from their error, and for those NOT in the church, shun them:  refuse to do business with them, refuse to socialize with them: do NOTHING to or with them but preach the Gospel, teaching them to, again, see that what they have done and are doing is evil and that they must repent of it.  If the NO’s archbishop is approaching it this way instead of demanding or begging government to do something, he is at least on the right track.  Paul teaches that we cannot withdraw totally from the world – from those who are not followers of Christ Jesus, but that we can say and do things to show them by our light what is right and what is evil in God’s eyes.

Secondly, it is something that DOES work: we have seen the power of boycotts and not purchasing impact strongly on many businesses and people.

Third, it indirectly attacks government. Because even though we all have to “do business” with government on the municipal level, it can be hurt by cutting sales and therefore taxes.  And the individuals that work for government can be shamed and shunned the other 16 hours a day and all day on weekends and holidays.  It is amazing that  a place like Louisiana can have hundreds of thousands who speak up boldly about not allowing horses to be killed for meat, claim that people are “oppressed” because their neighborhoods might be improved and attract “non-oppressed” neighbors and businesses, but cannot see that killing fifty babies A DAY is something that is monstrous and hideous.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-07D: Lawless government and nazgul

Posted on 2014-02-15 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

The Mainstream Media has its own perverted definitions of liberty and freedom, but even so, “Reporters Without Borders” has declared that the “messiah’s” administration’s pretense at ‘Transparent’ Government has dropped the US to 46th on the “World Press Freedom Index” down from 32nd last year.  Of course, the rest of us unprivileged non-reporters would rank the FedGov considerably lower, with very good justification.  Imagine if so much of the media didn’t worship the very ground the “messiah” walks on!

Some other folks are noticing it, however.  Senator Rand Paul filed a class action lawsuit against the NSA and its surveillance programs in a DC federal court which apparently also named the “messiah.”  Given the recent court decisions, I don’t think this suit will get very far at all, but I suspect that this is to position himself for further action, not because he thinks that the Constitution and his argument about violations of the 4th Amendment will get anywhere in the federal courts.  Paul is often contradictory in his actions and what he says, frustrating many libertarians, but his loyal following (like fandom) seems to grow and accept whatever he says (gee, is that like the “messiah’s followers?). So this could be establishing a base for further political actions and a possible 2016 run (after all, there is now an example of a first-term senator getting the White House) or as a reason for encouraging and taking extraordinary measures.  Could he be the one to lead a counter-revolution, furthering the ideals of his father?  It has happened before.  In Judaea two centuries before Christ, the Maccabeean brothers, following the lead and example of their father, successfully revolted against the Syrian occupation.  It could happen.

But will the courts listen even to the obvious fact that the NSA totally violates the Fourth Amendment?  After all, they haven’t been listening to congressmen stating the obvious, like Rep. Paul Ryan: ‘We have an increasingly lawless presidency’. Why listen to Rand Paul, or a dozen or a hundred or ten thousand of them?  We can compare the modern FedGov to the Seleucids of Syria except that the FedGov considers itself the most powerful government on the planet and in all history.  All-powerful, in fact.  And the USSC and the other courts are PART of this all-powerful organization.  And something that is omnipotent must also be omniscient which requires that the NSA be even more powerful, more intrusive than it is now.

Actually, as several people have pointed out this week, the only reason that Rand Paul can plead the 4th is because of that much-hated (and feared) Edward Snowden. It was HIS actions that revealed what was going on and cracked legal barriers that were set up by the FedGov to hide its own lawlessness.  (Which the government’s attorneys can argue is a moot point: since it is the FedGov that creates the law (God being consigned to the dustbin of history by them), there is nothing that they can do that is “lawless.”  And boy, haven’t we seen that a lot?

And of course, this would hardly be the first time in recent history that a government security agency has been lawless – breaking the written law of their own nation.  This week, someone pointed out that was the case in the OstZone for half a century. ProPublica notes that the Stasi collected metadata also, on at least a quarter of its citizens, during the Soviet-backed Communist regime after WW2. And in violation of the much-vaunted protections in the DDR’s constitution.  Since the FedGov is obviously more powerful and mighty than the DDR, it can do more.  Right?  And it is needed: Omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent.  The NSA is the Holy Ghost to the “Great White Fathers” of the Congress and of course, the “messiah” on his white horse (or house).

The Nazgul of 9th Circuit Court has struck down a California law restricting concealed carry, saying that San Diego County violates the second amendment by requiring a show of “good cause” before being allowed to obtain a CCP.  Mama Liberty pointed out, “I’m sure this will put all of the politicians and cops knickers into a twist. And it will probably get knocked down by another court. We can’t have those mundanes armed, you know.” I, personally, am amazed that it got this far.  What were they thinking? Of course, police and the state will pretend that these three judges are just people off the street, and will ignore this.  If they DO accept this and start massive issue of CCP, then they will use it (as the cops did in Ankeny, Iowa) as an excuse to do massive home invasions.

Mama’s Note: How many eons have people been indoctrinated into the “divine right of kings?” How many eons have people been bribed with “a piece of the action?” I suspect that the big mistake the “king” made was “allowing” all of the comfort and convenience of the last 50 years or so… Many can see now that they don’t really need a “king” at all.

Another chimed in, in the Examiner: Ninth Circuit gun rights win underscores need for SCOTUS carry ruling but Mama Liberty responded:” Well, actually no. The whole thing underscores the need to stop asking for “permission” at all. This just continues to feed the evil superstition that any “court” or “official” has any legitimate authority. If we no longer believed in ghosts, we wouldn’t need “ghostbusters.” Why don’t they get it?  It isn’t THAT complicated.  Lady Susan added: ” It doesn’t really do much in the long run. It is still not making California a “shall issue” state, let alone anything more freeing… but I guess it is good for those who still insist on staying in California and have more than a passing interest in self defense. A friend just got her “permit” in Northern California… but she’s still too afraid to actually carry the gun much. She works in an office with a “no guns” policy, so she “can’t” carry it to work and is terrified of leaving it in the car. I told her to carry it at home all the time until she gets used to it and stops freaking out about it. Then, once she is truly at ease with it, she can carry it to “work” and nobody will be the wiser.  Far too many remain convinced that the “law,” and those who make that law, have some legitimate authority to do so… and the more folks who give up that dangerous superstition, the better. I see encouraging signs all over the country.” Nathan: Some last thoughts.  This court decision is a pile of dung and ultimately means nothing.  The State (California OR DC) has NO authority: legal, constitutional, moral, or otherwise, to keep ANYone – citizen or not, from owning and carrying a gun for their own self-defense either openly or concealed, at any time or any place.  NONE.

Mama’s Note: I believe that we must not limit the discussion to guns or self defense, by any means. Our natural and inalienable right to self defense is INCLUDED in our natural and inalienable right to own our lives and bodies, to be self owners and control all of our actions, choices and possessions, being equally responsible for the consequences. When people actually become self owners, self governors, self defense is no more questionable or remarkable than breathing.

Another one bites the dust: Republican Doc Hastings of Washington State is to retire .  He is 73, and claims he still is not tired but that the folks in Central Washington need someone new with “new energy.”  That brings it up to about a dozen: we ONLY need another 430 or so.  And then MAYBE we can see something about lawless government going away.

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #14-07C: Stupidity rampant

Posted on 2014-02-13 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning, and my best wishes and prayers that you may have an idiot-free day; forlorn as that hope is for me and my companies and family.  Sadly, many stories today remind us that the idiots (or the stupid) are running around loose.  As usual.

Apparently, the true believers in global warming (and their reformed faith, “climate change”) have come up with an explanation for why nothing is warming up right now, but it is going to start getting warmer again soon.  It is because winds in the Pacific Ocean are causing the ocean to bring up deep cold water and cool things down.  No explanation of WHY the ocean is doing that (I’m sure the Gaea lovers would be glad to tell them about the sentient planet and all that), but of course, it is only temporary and we are still all gonna cook or drown (see my NG comments in a previous commentary).  IF this is true, and not just a religious mass psychosis, it just might be that the earth’s natural systems DO naturally balance out things, like massive releases of greenhouse gases in the past from volcanoes and forest fires and earthquakes.  Just maybe.  Meanwhile, the environists and global warming fanatics continue to demonstrate how stupid they are, and how unwilling to face reality.

Once again, I am reminded just how stupid and image-driven hoplophobes and hoploclasts are, as I read articles about how a gun manufacturer changed some of the design and appearance of an AR-15 so that the gun is now legal in New York.  At least until the government can panic again and spend a few million dollars on a special session to “close the loopholes.”  Funny, huh?  None of us ever thought that those old hokey Star Wars and other SF movie and television weapons would be useful for dealing with stupid laws and even more stupid people.

Tom Brokaw, that prime example of South Dakota Tranzi-dom, now 72, has cancer. It is a shame.  At the same time, considering all the damage the man has done over the decades to liberty and truth, it is hard to feel really bad for him.  He is, to some degree, responsible for the stupidity which seems to infect us so badly today.

I see today that Boehner is again playing games, helping the guy at 1600 Pennsy to ‘rewrite’ the Abominable Act (ObummerCare). Yeah, they are “examining all our options” on how to stick it to the nation yet again.  the ONLY acceptable solution is to repeal it.  (And every other federal health care law since about 1940, if not earlier.)  The longer they wait, the worse the consequences.  It may be that permanent, unrepairable damage to health care (at least under the current government we are saddled with) has been done.  Millions of Americans will die prematurely because of what has already been done.  But seemingly not just the Dems but Boehner and his inner circle are too stupid to do the right thing.

Guess what?  Only 7 US troops have been killed in Afghanistan so far this year .  If I calculate correctly, that is just 1 a week.  Of course, LOTS of other people (including the 21 Jihadis who were blown up by their own instructor) have been killed DAILY in Afghanistan.  As with ObummerCare and so much else, the FedGov has messed up things even MORE incredibly badly in Afghanistan than anyone could have imagined in their nightmares, and just getting out – not just troops but contractors and money  and anything at all – seems the only option left.  Nixon was actually pretty well off compared to what the squatter in 1600 Pennsy has to deal with – mostly because of his own actions. But I fear he and his advisors and the political generals in the Pentagon are too stupid to do what is needed.

It appears that the IRS (one of the more useful minions of the “messiah,” I admit) is now requiring that companies take an oath that they are not cutting their workforce in order to get special advantages in ObummerCare.  Thought crime, I guess. It is part of the patently illegal delay of implementation of the stupid and constitution-breaking “law.”  They can fire people or convert people to part-time, just as long as they don’t do it to avoid ObummerCare requirements, although cutting people or time DOES help them avoid the requirements.  Is this nuts, or what?  I guess it is typically liberal, like “don’t ask, don’t tell” and reams of the garbage spewed out from under the Capitol dome in recent years (not that that spewing didn’t start about the time the dome was built).

In some seriously weird (but funny) news, on Wednesday, eight Corvettes plunged into a sinkhole in Kentucky!  Strange things happen, and I am sure that the TV evangelists are going to see signs of the approach of Armageddon in this incident.  Wouldn’t it be funny if the sinkhole was the result of the collapse of the secret underground tunnel the Fed has been using to siphon all the gold out of Fort Knox? Thanks to Scott for this bit of news!  (I wonder, is this to be blamed on global warming?  And will their local government force them to move to a new location?  Even natural disasters serve government today, one way or another!)

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-07B: Police State Karma

Posted on 2014-02-12 by TPOL Nathan

What a week!  Good morning, all kinds of interesting things going on.  Here are a few of them.  Some really wacky ones, to start from the wonderful world of law enforcement and gun-haters and gun-fearers.

John Morales of Texas, the actor who played McGruff the Crime Dog (remember: “Take a bite out of crime!”) and made thousands of appearance and recorded PSAs played on radio and TV millions of times, is no longer a “scofflaw.”  He was recently sentenced to sixteen years in prison.  With our lousy court system, it took three years,  after police seized a thousand marijuana plants and twenty-seven weapons from his house in 2011. (One weapon was GASP! a grenade launcher.)  Did he think “Crime Dog” meant that he was supposed to be committing crimes?  (One person opined that maybe he took a bite out of crime and just really liked the taste of it.)  But there is more to this disturbing chain of events than just the irony of a public face of “law enforcement” going down for the count.  Cops  stopped Morales for speeding. Then they seem to have found designs in his car for his pot growing operation. Then raided his house (with a warrant, maybe?), and found the plants and weapons.  Karma?  Perhaps.  Certainly a total abuse of their powers, from the gitgo.  The idea that cops can search a vehicle to protect themselves from dangerous weapons surely does not extend to figuring out what is written on a bunch of pieces of paper.  What if they had found something really dangerous, like a copy of the Constitution?  Police state, indeed, and McGruff did (and is doing) his share!

In New York State, certainly, the police state is in full effect.  And another facilitator of the police state is getting a bit of his own back. Thanks to the insane and immoral Safe Act, it is now a felony to have a gun in a school, not just a misdemeanor.  It appears that one of the first victims of this crime (the stupid law) is one of the idiots who helped get the Safe Act passed. Not only that, but all these hoplophobic school types are appealing for leniency in his case because he is such a hoploclast – and hypocrite, obviously.  The report reads like a bad TV script: he was at a school meeting, police were called because someone saw a guy with a gun, and they locked down the school and started searching everyone, including the fifty students this idiot had assembled in the lunchroom.  They found his concealed gun on him, and he claimed he just forgot about it.

Of course, we see this kind of stupidity and karma not just in our homeland. In Mesopotamia, things are NOT going well.  Not only are dozens of people being murdered by both sides each day, but a suicide bomb instructor accidentally killed several of his iraqi pupils during training.   The worst sort of friendly fire.  As Mama Liberty commented: “Now, this isn’t really funny… but, I’m wondering why they’ve not run out of idiots yet.  This makes looking down the barrel of a gun look almost rational.” Of course, given that Islamic penchant for “Inshallah” (“As Allah [God] wills.”), clearly, no one pays attention to little details like safety devices.  It is, I have been told many times, why the Turks created their Janissaries by enslaving young christian men:  they still believed “God helps those who help themselves.”  (I.e., they weren’t Calvinists.)  Their children, raised as Muslims, could not train and fight effectively because they had this “calvinistic” idea that God would not allow them to fail if what they were doing was in accordance with His will and plan for the universe.

On to other news.

House Republicans caved to their leadership, Dems, and the White House, voting for a “clean” debt limit bill to raise the Nation’s borrowing limit without conditions, and increase spending immediately.  Boehner wimped out AGAIN, this time over a military pension provision that would have restored cuts from last year.  He and 27 other GOP types went along with the Dems.  As always, I ask, why bother to have two parties, when they function like this?

Meanwhile, the White House scored another victory for rule without law by once more extending the delay of the employer mandate, and it is the “messiah’s” own law!  Imagine how much attention they pay to other laws, if you can’t be bothered to keep track of how they constantly ignore or outright break the law.

It would logically seem like a good time for impeachment, but never fear THAT happening: Boehner “doesn’t have the votes.” Or the will.  Or, apparently, the brains.

As witness the way Boehner seems to be listening more to a Democratic strategist whinging that you don’t try to impeach someone because ‘They’re Black in the White House’. And just who might THAT be?  A recent rash of e-mails comparing the squatter in 1600 Pennsy to that wonderful guy who “occupied” Germany from 1932 to 1945 reminded me that even people with a skin color close to his said he wasn’t “authentically black” – and his bloodline shows it: half “white” and at least 1/8th Arab, and certainly not raised, socialized, or educated as an “American black,” it is harder and harder to see him as a victim of “racism” even while his supporters and speech writers and overlords seem to use that excuse more and more.

As I have often noted, what I call the “Crash of 2009” is still with us.  A report shows that the high school class of 2004 still has 13% neither working nor studying, and 23% are still living with their parents, a decade later. This is the college (BA/BS) class of 2008, or the post-graduate cohort of 2010-12.  The “Great Recession” or “Great Depression II” actually had its genesis in 2008 and the stupid decisions made by Bush II and his supposed replacement (the “messiah”), which converted a serious downturn into a major crash we are now still living in five years later.  This class of ’04 is just the first of many who are poorly employed, unable to be productive, and dominated as no generation since those becoming adult from 1940-1946 have been.  Dominated BY GOVERNMENT.  It is from this age group, born in 1986-1996, that will supply both the liberty-seeking counter-revolutionaries AND the modern version of the SS and Waffen-SS for 21st Century North America.  It is not a pleasant view.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-07A: Cold weather and politicians

Posted on 2014-02-11 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning.  Apparently, we are supposed to enjoy the cold weather and snow while we can.  We are at two-thirds, a very high level of snow-covered ground for the US right now, which is impressive.  But this is supposed to change, according to the National Geographic, still crying wolf about global warming.  They have maps to show how bad it is going to get, IF you believe that all the ice will melt and raise sea level 213 feet. I don’t.  So, in the eyes of the establishment, that is one more reason I am a bad guy.

It doesn’t surprise me that Pat Roberts doesn’t have his own home in Kansas, as he hasn’t had his heart there for years.  Not that Kansas always elects conservatives, despite its reputation: Kathleen Sebelius and her father were both “bestowed” on the nation as a whole by Kansas, and Bob Dole was certainly a better Army Air Corps officer than he was a politician OR a conservative patriot.  But really (as I’ve mentioned before) is there ANY reason that a state’s two senators OR their representatives shouldn’t have their offices in their state: surely each state could find a couple of suites in the State Capitol for their two senators, who could telecommute to DC for senate meetings, committee meetings, and everything – even whispering to lobbyists.  It would save billions, and help them remember WHO and WHAT they work for.  And you know, maybe if Roberts actually had to LIVE in Kansas City (KS) or Wichita, or even in Great Bend, on a daily basis, he might not do the really stupid things he does in supporting the White House and dealing with the admitted Tranzis in Congress.

DC Police were “forced” to shut down Pennsylvania Avenue on Friday as they arrested a man trying to climb the White House fence, for an hour.  What a crock of garbage.  It takes all of what, sixty seconds to stick a gun up his nose, read him his Miranda rights, and shove him in the back of a patrol car, or at best five minutes if they really get their rocks off by nearly kicking him to death before throwing him the back.  Apparently DC police, the Secret Service, and other agencies are THAT afraid of what people could or might do, that they “have” to use (“forced” to use) tactics that might have fit clearing a town in the Hurtgen in 1945 or a village in the Highlands in 1970 or a city quarter in Fallujah in 2008.  And each incident, each operation, ramps things up

Bill Grigg has an interesting piece of news and commentary at LewRockwell.com about military-style police methods that terrorize communities, and shows how they date back more than 20 years.  (Actually, we can find examples back a lot farther than that, of course, but in “modern” times we find it long predates the USA PATRIOT ACT often blamed for it.)  While I think that some of his comments are totally off the wall and distract from both the news and the argument (like attacking a police spokeswoman for a dull delivery he attributes to being tranquilized to zombie levels), it is a good reminder of what we have come to in a very short time, and why things like clearing off Pennsy Avenue for a full hour is almost “routine” now.  It is going to happen more and more.

It certainly is NOT as much a concern as police gunning down and beating PEOPLE to death, but in Bloomfield, in northeastern Nebraska, the city has reprimanded a cop for killing and hiding the corpse of an elderly couple’s cat.  This sort of evil just adds to the reasons to get rid of the police forces.  Rumors are that he has been doing it for years, but now he has been caught.  I also read El Neil’s emotional sendoff for his cat, Ambrose, which made me emotional, as well, remembering all the feline friends I and my family have lost over the years, which makes me much harsher towards both the idiotic cop and the city which only reprimanded him.

On to some other news.

Deutche Welle reports that the Confoederatio Helvetica (Swiss Confederation) has  narrowly passed a referendum to limit immigration, but the information in the article seems to contradict that claim: while the popular vote was 50.5 to 49.5 in favor, only 10 of the 26 cantons’ voters approved it, and the confederation requires that at least 14 of the cantons approve something like this.  Some libertarians attack a law like this, claiming it just reinforces invisible lines; I see it as similar to inviting someone into your home, or to join your family:  the family and community have the obligation and should have the power to set standards for who you allow to be either a guest or a permanent resident on your property, in your home: at a minimum, some indication that they are not going to abuse others who live there or steal from you.  This is not the same as “open borders” or freedom of travel, but about staying and becoming a part of the community.  This is NOT a perfect situation or solution, of course, it is really a decision that should be made by families and the local communities, including those selling property or renting.  But it is a better situation than the unlimited immigration/mass invasion, increasingly destabilizing and violent, which many other countries (Netherlands, Belgium, France, Spain all come to mind) are suffering.

Mama’s Note: Ah, excuse me… but how does that work? 50.5 to 49.5 — someone gave half a vote to both sides? Two people only recorded half a vote? Four of them only 1 quarter of a vote, two on each side? I knew the Swiss were different, but was not aware that their politics were so… fractionated. <grin> Forgive me, I couldn’t resist.

We are down to just nine months to the 2014 election, and in Texas (as usual) things are getting interesting.  Wendy Davis is getting her teeth kicked in by her supporters because she wants open carry to be legal in Texas (or so she claims).  Of course, the entire business is silly and probably intended to distract from a bunch of other things.  Frankly, Texas is as dead as a doornail, as liberal as Georgia, as far as liberty is concerned.  There is no hope in the east, but maybe West Texas has some possible opportunity to become free again.

Mama’s Note: Indeed… I do grow weary of the Texans who tell me how wonderful their state is, and how free they are. And then they act like raped chamber maids if you even mention carrying openly or suggest it is not the end of the world if a concealed gun “prints” or is seen. OC won’t happen in Texas until the gun owners there actually want it. And getting rid of the “license” will take even longer.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-06E: Schools and guns and a bit more

Posted on 2014-02-08 by TPOL Nathan

Apparently the superintendent of a school district near Chicago doesn’t like having drawings of guns on the outside of her schools, even when they are “No Guns Allowed” pictographs in accordance with a new Illinois law stealing rights from people.  This idiot needs to find a career where she doesn’t damage children.  She says that children will misunderstand the drawing and sign.

Actually, Mama Liberty and I really think that this Chicagoland teacher could put up another sign (below) that would work, even in Illinois.  Of course, first she’d have to teach her elementary school students how to read.  I assume that she can, and that at least some of the teachers and staff can, at least at a tenth-grade level.


How about this as an alternative?  Which will protect the children more?


According to that bird cage liner, the WaPo, the White House has suggested that Russia is behind the leaked call from State Dept. official to an ambassador, on which the State Department official says, “F— the E.U.”  Oh, dear, oh dear.  Never mind there are a lot of reasons maybe to even agree with the official, the guy has to learn to SHUT HIS MOUTH.  Clearly, there is no reason why Russia (or Norway, or Turkey, or CANADA, for crying out loud), would NOT be expected to listen to an unsecured phone line and to report what they hear.  Especially considering that Russians view the guy in 1600 to actually be afraid of Putin.

Montana governor could appoint Baucus replacement  as soon as Friday and I have finally realized (silly me!) WHY Baucus resigned early, so that the Dem governor (Bullock) can appoint ANOTHER Dem to keep the Senate firmly in Dem hands and give the new guy a big boost up in the elections as “the incumbent.”  I love Montana and Montanans dearly, but they are so stupid politically to keep sending  liberal statists to Helena and DC – together with a few “conservative” statists.  Baucus was confirmed Thursday as ambassador to China. Of course, Baucus has already demonstrated he has no business being the Ambassador to China, as he admits he knows very little about the Middle Kingdom.  (Apparently, Lieutenant Governor John Walsh was appointed.)

Still I guess he is better than the idiot whom the White House wants to be ambassador to Norway. Apparently he thinks that the place has a president (instead of a king) and has never even been there.  His qualifications?  He raised 1.3 million bucks for the 2012 election – winning side, of course.  Even the WaPo is upset  with this and about 22 other fundraisers given free rides to foreign vacations on the public’s dime.  Anyone who has ever read The Ugly American knows what this means.  It grosses me out.

Mama’s Note: It’s all a silly game any more, I think. Emperors and dictators don’t usually send actual ambassadors anyway, since they can’t afford to allow anyone to speak for them, and so indulging in this childish theater would be meaningless if they were not using stolen goods to pay for it.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-06E: Cannibalistic government

Posted on 2014-02-07 by TPOL Nathan

Governments turning on each other? That was part of my reading this week, along with other stupid government tricks. Maybe if we can portray government at all levels as they clowns they really are, we can all laugh ourselves back to freedom.

In California this week, the state turned on itself, when a CHP officer arrested a firefighter at a traffic accident scene, because the firefighter refused to do something stupid that the trooper ordered. Of course, photos of the scene show that the trooper himself was breaking the law and risking the safety of himself and the firefighters struggling to rescue injured people from the accident. The arrogance and stupidity of cops grows monthly, especially in states like California and Missouri. How long are we going to put up with this occupation force?

The newly in-office Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC) wants to close schools for Muslim holidays. Apparently ten percent of NYC students are Muslim, so everyone (taxpayers and the other ninety percent) get to be penalized. There are lots of technical reasons why this would be difficult, unlike traditional (Jewish and “Christian”) holidays, because of how Muslim holidays are scheduled. I am not sure about the schools, but according to Wikipedia, 37% of NYC are Catholic, 13% are Jewish, 6% are Protestant, and 17% are “unaffiliated.” That totals 73%, so I guess there could be that many Muslims. Seems like they could have “floating” holidays as long as the homework is turned in ahead of time. That way, even worshippers of the Flying Spaghetti Monster could have off whatever holiday that FSM worshippers have, too… Still, better to get your kids out of these institutions. Quickly.

A poll released yesterday (Wednesday) says that more Coloradoans want armed teachers and school staff, rather than more gun laws. This isn’t really surprising, even though the poll was flawed by having only two choices: a good many folks have come to realize that more gun laws don’t stop the nutcases from shooting people up. Or vandalizing whatever.

It was several months ago, but apparently a team of snipers attacked a power substation in California, knocking it out by taking down 17 transformers in 19 seconds and requiring a month to restore it to service. One agency claims it was a serious terrorist attack, but the FBI poohpoohs the idea. Did this really happen? Or was it a training exercise of some type? Or just a bogus event designed to create more panic and more demand for fortification and more security thugs on the payroll? Usually BusinessInsider.com is pretty good, but…?`

Mama’s Note: OK… but I’d like to know who timed the attack. How do they know it only took 19 seconds? Not saying they couldn’t, but it seems suspect to me that they’d mention such an exact time frame for something that was, evidently, not witnessed. Who was holding the stopwatch?

Meanwhile, a USSC justice (Scalia) says World War Two internment camps could happen again. Duh. Panic is panic, and the government LOVES panic, and they LOVE to lock people up. It has happened again and again, and will probably happen pretty soon, both here and elsewhere in the world. Meanwhile, other folks are claiming that the NFL is a co-conspirator in making their taxpayer-financed stadiums into these internment camps, training their security to work alongside Russian and Pakistani “guest-soldiers.” Right now, I want to know if there are any camps NOW. And no, despite the way the people attending the Superbowl in NJ were treated, I don’t think THAT counted.

Mama’s Note: I suspect that the inner city welfare zones are all the “internment camps” needed. Just no need to spend money for fence and guard towers. If they think they’ll be able to round up those who think independently… well, I suspect they are in for a bad surprise.

The US Postal Service is going to solicit to buy small arms ammunition soon, according to an official announcement. This is, of course, a good thing: we would hardly want someone going postal in the original sense of the phrase to run short of ammo. And we all want our mail to be protected against the rampaging mobs when the Social Security checks stop arriving (except that now, almost NO one gets SS checks by mail: they were all forced into direct deposit several years ago, along with retirees and veterans. The announcement does not say how much or what type of ammo: it could be anything from a couple of cartons on .22LR to a million (or BILLION) rounds of everything from .357 Magnum to .50-cal M2 ammo. But what I notice is how the conservative-libertarian comment community gets all het up about it, based on as little info as we have. Of course, one guy points out that the only armed branch of USPS is NOT mail carriers to defend themselves against dogs or mad rent-seekers not getting their coupons, but the “Postal Inspection Service” which has one of the WORST acronyms of any federal agency I’ve ever heard off (except maybe one their branches, the “Postal Inspection Secret Service”) – just teasing. Anyway, the PI Service apparently has not shot anyone in the line of duty in decades, or at least since they stopped shipping mail by stage coach (the kind with horses) and trains with wood-burning engines. And of course (as always) the USPS is broke. So maybe they aren’t buying too much?

Mama’s Note: Why shouldn’t they buy as much as they want? After all, it’s not like they were using real money… or as if they were using their OWN money.

Congress’ own poster child and basket case, Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) says that the top priority for Democrats right now is to write Executive Orders for [the “messiah”] to sign. Funny, I thought that Congress was supposed to be “lawmakers” and not ghost-writers for the (supposed) president. Congress smells more like Augustus’ Senate all the time. Of course, the reason she is reduced to ghosting executive orders is that much of the time, the GOP majority in the House at least acts as a speed bump to the Administration’s race to total tyranny. Still, it is the GOP’s gutlessness (only if you believe that they are truly conservative, and not just sham artists) that has let things go this far. I still figure that they are sham artists, as the next story seems to support.

According to one source, the five Senators most supportive of the “messiah’s” agenda are Susan Collins (R-ME), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), John McCain (R-AZ), Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Rob Portman (R-OH). It is Republicans like these (and a whole lot more) that make me skeptical of what a local politician means when he calls himself a “staunch Republican.” I’m sure that all five of these people are “staunch.” And obviously enemies of liberty.

Speaking of enemies of liberty, apparently the police force of Ankeny, Iowa (population 49,000) serves warrants for a suspected $1000 credit card fraud by conducting a no-knock raid/entry in the middle of the night. AND they ripped out the family’s security cameras – but didn’t get the video already recorded. There is no justification for this kind of aggression. This sort of vicious attack is NOT appropriate for a non-violent crime.

Mama’s Note: Actually, there is no possible justification for this kind of military attack on anyone, regardless of the crime involved. If people give them the authority for one, the other is inevitable.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-06D: New inventions and more

Posted on 2014-02-07 by TPOL Nathan

Good morning, all.  Today, there is some neat news about new ideas and inventions!

A school and lab in Karlsruhe (Germany) has developed a new material which is less dense than water, and stronger (in some ways) than many kinds of steel, AND which can be used in 3D printers!  This, coupled with news passed on from friends about BATFE and other fedgoon agencies in a panic about 3D-printed M-4 and M-16 clones (although using metal barrels), perhaps does see a time approaching when NO government can keep gun control as a real possibility.  Although the big news back in November was that BATFE “proved” that 3D-printed plastic guns were dangerous and exploded, the actual facts were ignored.  A Defense Distributed Liberator pistol printed using ABS (a common plastic used in construction) could fire AT LEAST nine shots, and cost $25 to print on a $2,000 printer.  Even with normal business costs, amortization, and a limited printer life, it is likely that the Liberator could be sold on the open market (admittedly, a BLACK market as far as the goons are concerned) for about $50 (plus postage and handling).

In still MORE high-tech news, researchers at UWis-Madison have come up with yet another way to turn trees and other plant mass into fuel both easily and economically.  Although they are doing it only on a small scale and at a cost equal to $5/gallon of gasoline, this conversion of cellulose to fuel-grade ethanol opens even more possibilities for fuel production on both a large and small scale and probably without the need of the huge infrastructure the petro-fuel industry now requires.  Not only that, but this ends the need to decide between food (as is the case with traditional ethanol) and fuel, and I suspect the price will drop very quickly as the process is refined (pun intended) and tinkered with.

And apparently, Dread Pirate Roberts is back in business on the Silk Road, according to a fascinating interview in Ars Technica. Using Tor and other techniques to work around the government (as more and more people are doing) is a good thing.  We can no longer afford to have the weight of government’s millstone around our necks as we try to swim even across the river.  DPR sounds increasingly not just libertarian but moving from minarchist to anarchist (with a ways to go, I admit).  In particular he (or she) points out “The State is no longer a protector of the people in many ways.”  (Actually, the State has become less and LESS a protector of any people except its own goons and the “elite” for a very long time.)

Mama’s Note: Correction! The non-voluntary government has NEVER actually been a protector of the people, except perhaps in the manner of the farmer protecting the livestock.

In St. Louis, a federal judge ruled that flashing your lights to warn others about cops radaring is “free speech” and cops can’t harass you or ticket you. Or at least not legally, but it took Michael Elli fifteen months to see justice done.  Apparently in Missouri, that free speech was punished by a $1000 fine.  Now, to go after a few thousand OTHER stupid laws…  And see if this ruling will apply across the nation.

Scott referred me to an NBC story about how Colorado pot shops are being terrorized by robber gangs, and asks, where were their guns?  Well, actually, the massive and continuing series of robberies, burglaries, and the like are MOSTLY (according to the story) in Denver.  Now, maybe that is just because the NBC idiots are too lazy to set foot into real Colorado, or maybe that IS the only place seriously being hit.  If so, it is obvious:  Denver has LONG believed that IT is above both the federal and state constitutions and works very hard to keep its citizens AND people just passing through Denver from being able to protect themselves with ANY weapon.  In reading the story, which does talk about similar problems in California (guess what, the whole state there is in the hands of the hoploclasts), it is obvious that government shares much of the blame for millions of dollars of damage and theft.  Why?  Because banks and other financial institutions are afraid of, and refuse to, get deposits from marijuana companies because they are still illegal in the eyes of the feds, including the FDIC and Federal Reserve.  And secondarily because apparently the Denver Police are too incompetent to adjust to, and respond to, the threat faced by hundreds of businesses and probably thousands of citizens.  (Indeed, I wonder how many of the criminals have some tie to law enforcement?)

Speaking of cannabis, apparently a White House minion, Michael Botticelli, admitted to Congress that marijuana is less deadly than alcohol, but not “benign.”  Clearly, the White House can’t get its act together, and the War on Some Drugs is fraying ever more badly.  Whether or not pot is “benign,” we know that the fight against it is anything BUT benign:  leading to thousands of deaths and billions of dollars of stolen money being squandered, each year.  Today, the cops have more excuse for militarization, but what started that trend was the War on Some Drugs, for the last forty years.  Of course, cannabis is not the only excuse for the War, as the next story reminds me.

An 82-year-old retired Army Veteran in Burlington, Vermont, will go to trial in April on felony and misdemeanor charges triggered by a mistake made by a pharmacist in issuing him the wrong prescription, in January of 2013.  He and his wife were attacked by a cop after the pharmacy called the police on them, and the entire thing is insane and evil.  With the end nearing on the “pot front” of the War on Some Drugs, the cops and federal agencies are cracking down on “prescription drug abuse” to keep their jobs, their funding, their task forces, their corruption, and their power going as the cannabis action winds down, state by state.  Now, where are the veterans and the rights groups and the rest of the “concerned persons” to help this man and his wife?

Like Tom (Freedom News Daily), I’d love to see Google, trashy though they are, move out of California entirely, in response to bureaucrats telling them their barge (under construction) has to leave Treasure Island.  How stupid to think that it is wrong – or even requires permits – to build a barge on a site that was constructed to build and maintain ships, and did so for half-a-century.  But that is government for you.

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FreeSpeechMe & Dot-Bit alternate domain registry

Posted on 2014-02-05 by MamaLiberty

By Carl “Bear” Bussjaeger
www.bussjaeger.org

I got an email from MamaLiberty regarding something called FreeSpeechMe. It looks interesting enough to mention, but I don’t know enough about it yet to recommend. Stripped to basics, FreeSpeechMe (FSM) is a Firefox add-on to make browsing “Dot-Bit” sites transparent and supposedly effortless. So what is “Dot-Bit“?

Dot-Bit is… an alternate domain registration system. Not just another registration company like GoDaddy or Network Solutions, but a parallel system, a separate DNS system. Normally, when you’re browsing sites, your computer looks at the names you type in (like “bussjaeger.org”), contacts a Domain Name Server to get the actual numeric address associated with that name, and -presto!- takes you there. Dot-Bit uses a different DNS system to look up address registered specifically to it and not in the conventional DNS.

On the face of it, that’s cool, but… no big deal. You can do as much with your localhost file, although you’d have to keep updating it manually to add new sites. But Dot-Bit doesn’t stop there.

The conventional DNS system has a bunch of [insert gross simplification] nameserver machines scattered across the world which serve as the reference for what domains are where. Those machines are vulnerable to faults such as a major telecom cough – WorldCom – cough locking the standby server offline, then turning off the primary (really happened; I was at work in another telecom company’s NOC that morning… fun… fun), or the FBI ordering them to redirect traffic for your “copyright infringing/terrorism supporting” site to one they prefer.

Dot-Bit is a distributed system. There is no one machine to be turned off or corrupted by government agents.If you’ve looked into new digital currencies like Bitcoin, you know something about distributed systems. [insert gross simplification] People voluntarily let their computer be used as peers to relay info. You keep a record of transactions for your coins, and when you make a new transaction, that info gets bounced around until it reaches you, complete with a virtual papertrail by which you can verify the legitimacy of the transaction.

Dot-Bit uses a similar distributed peer system to relay its domain data. More specifically, it uses the NameCoin system, a competitor to Bitcoin. In general, [insert gross simplification] NameCoin operates similarly to Bitcoin. This is important because…

Yoy may recall that the FBI busted Ross Ulbricht and got hold of his local Bitcoin wallet (which means they got the money; the only way to seize Bitcoins; freezing accounts doesn’t work). You may also recall that protestors used those very coins to send messages to the FBI, by sending tiny fractional Bitcoin transfers to Ulbricht’s wallet (the address of which is naturally in the distributed peer-to-peer Bitcoin universe) with messages attached. So the currency system can send more data than the money itself. Dot-Bit exploits NameCoin to disseminate DNS data.

Which finally brings us back to FreeSpeechMe. To browse .bit (the TLD for Dot-Bit, duh) sites, either you have to manually check the NameCoin-based Dot-Bit DNS for the latest domain updates, or your computer has to know when and how to do it for you. FSM automates the process in Firefox. [insert gross simplification] When Firefox encounters a .bit TLD, FSM goes out to the Dot-Bit DNS system, grabs the current numeric address, and -presto!- takes you there. Transparently.

Obviously Dot-Bit and FSM are stressing the anti-censorship capabilities of their system. Taking everything at face value, they’re right. It’s hard for the feds (or Chinese, or RIAA/MPAA) to find and shutdown a domain registration that isn’t pinned down in any one place. That’s a good thing. Also, as you may have realized from the WorldCom/DNS shutdown story, it can protect the system against accidental/negligent damage as well. That’s also a good thing.

But why stop there? There are various “dark ‘net” systems that work as alternatives to the “real” Internet [insert gross simplification] by creating a parallel physical network. People reprogram their little consumer grade home routers to act more like big time Internet edge routers. These routers interconnect, creating a “dark” Internet over WiFi. No telco DSL, cable company, Verizon FiOS, or whatever needed. It’s very short range, between one router and the next, but in theory volunteers can daisy chain enough routers to cross continents.1 And each router is also a user access point. If enough people were willing to do this, the commercial Internet could be obsolete (I’m ignoring certain bandwidth issues, of course).

The downside to such a dark net is DNS. Conventionally, someone would have to run those [vulnerable!] DNS servers. And the feds (or Chinese, or RIAA/MPAA) would simply move in and do their destructive usual.

Until now. Dark net, meet Dot-Bit. Dot-Bit, dark net. Play nice.2

1. If you wonder if this could be done with smartphones: Yes, it’s been done on a small test scale. We are very close to the point where old-fashioned telephone companies and Internet service providers are utterly obsolete.

2. I would expect that the dark net would need an intial connection to the existing Internet, since that’s where NameCoin/Dot-Bit currently are. But they would gradually migrate over to the free side.

 

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