Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-06C: Guns, schools, and governments

Posted on 2014-02-05 by TPOL Nathan

Good morning, thirty five days into 2014.  Everyone seems to be getting more excited, or is that just me?  We are finally getting some much needed snow in the Rockies and the Black Hills, and it is nasty cold, but if that helps the moisture, good for it!

Arizona legislators join Florida in effort to virtually nullify all federal gun laws , or at least they both are trying to:  these  are bills introduced into the legislatures, but I am not as confident as the writer of this article or those he interviewed that these will even make it to the respective governors to sign.  It is interesting that I read this article just minutes after a friend shared reports that the BATFE and other government agencies are in a panic about hundreds of 3D-printed M-16/M-4 clones showing up, using metal barrels (and presumably some of the screws) but otherwise completely 3D-printed with some polymer (the firing pin supposedly has metal bits in the polymer).  Again, this would seem to be exactly what my friend says: the beginning of the end of gun control.  But I suspect the game is not even to half-time.  Even if these DO pass, there is the same issue as has arisen over Colorado and Washington legalizing marijuana:  the feds will try to force compliance, and I expect that would get ugly.

Mama’s Note: I suspect the same people who followed/obeyed the nonsense before will continue to do so… and the same for those who ignored the nonsense.

The DIA Director claims that Snowden potentially put the lives of U.S. troops at risk; and the DNI claimed that the ‘Lives of members or assets of the intelligence community are at risk.’ My first thought is the “Loose Lips Sink Ships,” from WW2.  “Potentially” every Congressman is putting US troops at risk.  So is every telephone or e-mail call home or to headquarters from a US base somewhere.  And with the NSA and that garbage, I’m not exactly hyper about protecting “members” OR “assets of the US intel community.  Snowden had to make a hard decision, and I think he made the right one: better to risk some people’s lives in the field, or their covers, than allow the thugs in charge to strip away the liberty of every American in the cause of “security.”

Apparently the FDA has launched an ad campaign telling children that ‘Cigarettes Are Bullies’.  This seems to me, to be a total waste of time.  Teddy Bears and stuffed tigers have been saying things like this for a long time, and what good has it done?  Now, maybe if they did some PSAs featuring Smokey and Tony the Tiger???  This current “anti-bullying” fad in the schools and pushed by government is pretty lame.  I saw that Office Depot jumped on it for a while, but then one weekend, wham!  All the anti-bullying merchandise (which was pretty blah) was on the clearance table.  As for the bullying, well, the next story shows who really are the bullies.

A Wisconsin school has “played a game” in which children were instructed to rat out their parents to help build better relationships and stop bullying.  They were asked questions, in front of classmates, teachers, and administrators about whether they or their parents drank, used drugs, thought about suicide and other fun, highly-educational stuff.  Readers know that one of my continuing themes in writing commentary has been “get your children OUT of these government-ruined, theft-funded schools, and this really shows that it MUST be done.  Meanwhile, with lots of western states having their traditional winter legislative sessions, the statists and nannies are all filing bills to weaken protection for homeschooling and private schools so that you don’t have any choice on how to educate your children.

Mama’s Note: Oh, they’ll still have a choice. It might be more difficult, and it might involve some forceful self defense… but it will still be a choice. They just can’t think they can continue to milk the public cow for other things if they want to regain control of their own life.

An example from HSDLA is from South Dakota: “This bill would empower school boards to refuse to grant an excuse if a truancy complaint is merely pending against a child. In other words, even if the person is totally innocent, the school board could prevent them from homeschooling just because a complaint was filed.”  Even I was surprised by the list of sponsors: people who seemed to be friendly to home-schooling in the past.

Mama’s Note: STOP asking for permission!

Back to economics and national politics, MarketWatch reports Obamacare plans to exceed $1 trillion, create reluctant workers (a cost of two million FTE jobs).  Thanks to Freedom Outpost for this great news!  This is much higher than previous estimates, because we know now just how the system is supposed to work, expanding welfare into yet another part of life.  And pushing total collapse that much closer.

LA governor Jindal Calls for ‘High Walls and a Broad Gate’ in regards to immigration.  Well, I’ve heard worse.  Indeed, it makes sense:  indeed, a mark of hospitality:  a good fence and wide gates.  Walls or gates to protect against those who want to sneak in to rob and steal and behave as parasites, and open, broad gates for people to come visit and shop and sell and even settle.  Indeed, I’d be willing to trade two or three honest, hard-working Mexican or Honduran or Columbian folks for just one of the political scumbags that occupy the halls of the Capitol and the bureaucratic offices in DC.

White House Will ‘Make Sure’ Syria Meets Its Chemical Weapons Obligations right after the guy in 1600 PA fulfills all his campaign promises from 2008 and 2012.  Priorities are important.  Notice, NOTHING was said (or is being done) about the rebels and their chemical weapons, or about anything else.  If anything, the FedGov today is selective on what it is going to “make sure” of.

Russia, US Face New Strains Over Missile Defense but it seems to me that we could solve this by some good old-fashioned friendly competition: maybe a contest to see who can knock down a North Korean missile faster?  I see this conflict over missile defense to be as stupid as the attempt to disarm people so that they cannot defend themselves.  Missile defense systems are not really able to be used offensively, but they CAN make it harder for aggressive or just insane governments to do nasty things to your people.  They may not be able to take out a massive attack but can make even the nutjobs stop and think.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reports that the U.S. inventory of cattle and calves totaled 87.7 million animals as of Jan. 1. That was down by about 1.6 million cattle, or 2 percent, compared with this time last year. The agency says this is the lowest January inventory since 1951.  1951 (I’m told, wasn’t around then) was also a bad drought year, but still: US population was less than half in 1951 as compared to 2014.  Yes, people are eating less beef today, and the average cow produces a LOT more beef than in 1951, but I am glad, drought and all, that I do live in the West where most of the cows are – instead of at the end of the food chain in NYC or Miami or DC.  A typical cow has a live weight of about 1200 pounds, and dresses out at about 650 pounds of meat, or enough to allow 7 people to have a quarter-pound of meat every day for a year.  That’s not too bad; it is the COST of that quarter-pound that has us concerned.  But if things collapse, nobody going to be running freezer-trailers full of beef from Texas or Montana or Wyoming to the Rust Belt or to inside the Beltway.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-06B: White House Pronouncements

Posted on 2014-02-04 by TPOL Nathan

With Super Bowl and the State of the Union address over, it’s politicking time and everyone is going at it.  More and more people are calling for or predicting open revolt.  Others are calling for crackdowns on – well, you name it.  Here are a few stories I’ve seen in the last few hours

The “messiah” tells us, ‘We don’t want two classes of people in America’ which reminded me of an article on Freedom’s Phoenix last week, showing the classic authority pyramid of THREE classes: the “inner party” super-elite of 0.001% or so, their immediate minions (the “outer party” of maybe 5%?) and then the proles: “everybody else.”  This is similar to what Ringo, Weber, and Krautman have suggested IS the Tranzi goal of what could be considered “god-kings” and a “priest” class and then proles.  Actually, of course, we HAVE and WANT two classes: peaceful folks who mind their own business, and people who want to mind everyone else’s business and don’t think anything about breaking the law or inventing laws to let them do so.  Maybe we can figure out a way to get rid of that second class?

As Keystone XL Pipeline clears one hurdle, the White House seems to be planning further delay which makes you wonder about just why the White House let Kerry even accept this silly step of approving the EIS?  Is the “messiah” looking to throw Kerry under the bus?  Scanning briefly the responses the “messiah’s” shill made, it appears like nothing but tapdancing by idiots who don’t know how to dance.

The White House has again made it clear that the “messiah” won’t take executive action to remove pot from the narcotics list, which should not come as any great surprise to anyone who thinks much about it.  What surprised me was to find sources like Reason who seem to be ticked off that he is NOT using his “imperial mandate” to do so.  A tyrant is no less a tyrant just because his decrees are things that you agree with.  Why can we NOT get it through our heads how amazingly stupid it is to give government more power so that it can do something that WE want, when we KNOW inevitably that the government will then use that power to do all kinds of other things, most of which are stupid and evil?

An expert tells us that Obama’s MyRA plan is ‘encouraging people to buy government debt’, just like decades of war bonds and savings bonds and the like have done.  So?  People WANT to believe the propaganda that the FedGov is steady as a rock and that nothing will ever happen.  Just as they are willing to believe the hucksters selling everything else.  The “messiah” and his minions and controllers know that FDR was able to sell them a bill of goods in the 30s with Social Security, and LBJ was able to sell the people a bill of goods in the 60s with Medicare and Medicaid, and they themselves were able to sell a bill of goods six years ago with ObummerCare, so why not one more trip to the trough?  If SS was putting our toe into the polluted water of a communist pond, we are up to our necks, now.  Time to plunge in!     I see that most of my comments today are about the White House and the District of Criminals, so the next story fits in.

I see that a Gallup poll finds that Washington, D.C., is the most liberal place in the USA. Which again, certainly is no surprise (well, except maybe when you look at San Francisco, Berkley, and Boulder).  Polls don’t answer why, of course.  But it is amusing to speculate?  Is it the combination of government employees, lobbyists and corporate parasites on the government and the underclass supported by the dole?  Is it because people know what side their bread is buttered on?  Is it something in the water? Or is it because much of the rest of the country is getting more libertarian and conservative?  Or is it because the entire place is filled with liars.

Lest I be accused of America-bashing, we see more examples of government stupidity in the next couple of stories.

It seems that a new Saudi counterterrorism law criminalizes speech critical of government or society.  Wow!  Isn’t it a good thing that faithful, extreme muslims and Islamic nations so highly prize democracy and freedom?  (A quote from that Islamic website: “It goes without saying that Islam highly promotes democracy and encourages all people to act upon it. However, democracy should be positively perceived and applied, i.e., the positive face of democracy that contradicts tyranny and despotism is to be adopted, not the negative one that gives anyone the right to do anything he or she wants.”)  Imagine if Arabia were a tyranny run by a bunch of despotic gang members like the US and most Western nations are?

Mama’s Note: Not much difference anymore, is there? All of the “governments” that prattle about “democracy” make it clear that the people can “vote” for anything they want, but they’d better toe the line and do what they are told regardless. This is, of course, because all governments assume they have the ultimate authority to rule, however it is expressed. In essence, far too few people can even conceive of actually owning themselves, of having the only legitimate authority over their lives and property.

The UK news is in a dither about a “young” 31-year-old mom who is (according to the coroner) the first woman known in the UK to die of “cannabis poisoning.” Yet, when you read the story, the claim just doesn’t add up.  It appears that they don’t know WHY she died, and the fact that she smoked a small quantity to help her sleep is given as the reason.  Much else in the story doesn’t add up: she was “religious” and “fun” and had a fifteen-year-old son and two other children?  Loved parties?  Normal?  Really?  Of course, deaths from overdose of prescription drugs in the UK was 3,338 in 2011 (latest year I could find), and just tranquillizers and painkiller overdoses killed 807 people in 2013 in the UK.  Seems to me that they have a lot more to worry about.

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This is a Public Service Announcement

Posted on 2014-02-03 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

“EVERY SINGLE AMERICAN CITIZEN HAS THE RIGHT TO CARRY A CONCEALED WEAPON”

Correction:

Every human being (or sentient being, if you want to get technical) has the absolute, inalienable AUTHORITY of self ownership, which includes the use of any tool whatsoever, for any purpose whatsoever. Every self owning individual ALSO has the absolute and inalienable AUTHORITY to defend themselves, by any means he/she finds necessary, from any other individual who offers credible threat of great harm or death.

No person or group of persons has any legitimate authority to decide anything different for any other individual.

This isn’t limited to “Americans,” and it isn’t limited to “concealed weapons” or even guns.

Just so you know… if you even wondered.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-06A: stupid and tyrannical cops

Posted on 2014-02-03 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning to all, and I hope this finds you at home or work safe and out of the clutches of our “nation’s guardians” ™, the Law Enforcement Corps of America, whether  we are talking town marshals or county sheriffs or city police or state patrols or the federal alphabet soup agencies (‘specially BATFE, TSA, FBI, DEA, and ICE).  Sadly, many of your fellow inhabitants of these formerly united States are not so lucky.

In the Atlanta, Georgia area we have a rash of local police forces doing strip searches (or fondling) of people stopped for the most routine of traffic offenses, such as “following too closely,” obscured license plate stickers, and driving in the left lane (of a 4-lane highway).  Many who have their private parts searched inside their clothing are filing lawsuits.  While not as bad as the rectal searches done in a county in New Mexico, this is both disgusting and at best an abuse of authority.  There is a simple word for it: tyranny.  At least in this case, we have mainstream media station at least reporting it.

Mama’s Note: What the media is not reporting, of course, is that these stops have nothing to do with any actual “offense” against a person or their property, but merely official excuses for revenue enhancement. Since the “war on drugs” gives these cretins the best excuse to confiscate everything in sight, they have no reason not to go fishing for drugs,  and some are perfectly happy to manufacture such “evidence.” And then, of course, they get the thrill of sexually abusing people as a bonus.

It appears to be a good idea to stay away from Jeffersonville, Indiana, where they just released a woman who had been serving a “two day” jail sentence, after 154 days in the slammer.  Not only that, but a guy in jail for a thirty-day sentence got out after only 214 days.  Stupid cops, stupid courts, and more!

But those two people fared better than the 77-year-old man who had a heart-attack across from a DC fire station.  Firefighters refused to help and it took 30 minutes or more to get paramedics to him: he died later because of the delay.  It is increasingly obvious that more and more people who work for government just don’t care about anything except their pay and their union benefits.  (Readers know I constantly urge people to stay away from DC, but I’ll repeat the warning.)  Ironically, the elderly man worked for the DC parks department, and it was the prosecutor, of all people, who blew the whistle and got the woman out of jail finally.  How long are we going to put up with government treating people like this?

Mama’s Note: And then there’s the Armed and dangerous’ killer on the run after jailbreak from Michigan. Hundreds of officers from multiple agencies are hunting for Michael David Elliot, who broke out from a “secure area” at the Ionia Correctional Facility and then carjacked an older woman using either a knife or box cutter, said Michigan State Police Lt. Mardella Horhn, who described him as “armed and dangerous.”  Wonder how that happened… no hint in the news story.

The difference between government and God is perhaps seen best in completing this sentence:  “I saw you naked and…”  Government, in the form of TSA thugs, answers thus: “… and we laughed.” Of course, in Matthew 25:36, we find that the correct ending to this phrase is “… and I clothed you.”   So much for government service or protection, right?  Funny how their abuse and disregard for common decency is accompanied by a big serving of contempt.

Of course, laughing at us does not keep them from fearing us, and we have more and more examples of cops killing people for no apparent reason, only to have their leaders lie to defend them.  One of the most recent was in Pinal County Arizona, on 14 JAN 2014, when a man with his hands up was executed by a sheriff’s deputy in direct disobedience to his superior’s order.  The video tape clearly shows that the sheriff’s officers and police officer’s had nothing to fear from the man. And the stand off was clearly long enough to let their “car chase” highs relax IF they had been properly trained and understood that their job is not to kill people.  Ironically, this happened on the same day a California court acquitted deputies of beating a man to death.

Of course, some cops are more stupid than others: like those US-trained cops in Afghanistan.  Apparently, in Kabul, police are slashing tires on cars to supposedly keep the cars from being stolen.  Yes, really.  They cause hundreds of dollars of damage to prevent vehicles parked on the streets at night from being stolen.  Stupid is as stupid does.  Allahu akbar, anyone?

In Oregon, last October, a nineteen-year-old woman struck and killed two girls (11 and 6) with her SUV, and kept on going.  Her boy-friend tried to hide the evidence by washing the vehicle.  On Friday, the mothers of the two dead girls forgave her: she got 250 hours of “useful public service” and 36 months probation, in part due to the request of the families of the dead girls not to give her prison time.  Her boy-friend got 13 months in prison.  The woman apologized and apparently repented of what she had done, which is one reason I’m commenting on this story: forgiveness is not, CAN not be automatic and godly if there is not repentance on the part of the wrong doer.  The other reason is that the jail sentence of the boy-friend is both insult and further injury to the families: how much better if there had been some restorative justice: that the two could have paid for some of the cost.  Of course, I guess that they should be grateful that when they were tracked down, the police just didn’t execute them on the spot.

Mama’s Note: Furthermore, “forgiveness” does not necessarily include condoning the act, nor remove the need for serious consequences. Nothing can restore life to those little girls, obviously, and their families have a lifetime “sentence” to deal with the grief. Prison is obviously not a rational answer here, but the consequences need to be far more meaningful than some silly “community service” or “probation” – one of the more sadistic and useless parts of the US injustice system.

Back in Alabama, the spread of outlawry from the urban areas to rural fringe areas continues, but a group of neighbors responded to a three-person gang breaking into a home when no one was at home.  This is NOT self-defense, but it is community defense, and an example of being good neighbors.  No shots fired, by the way.  The cops?  Oh, they arrived after the hullabaloo was over, but they did arrest two of the three thugs before they went someplace else to threaten and rob and steal.

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What is government?

Posted on 2014-02-01 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

It helps, now and then, to sit back and ask, just what is this institution?  What is “government?”

We here in the formerly united States, from Maine to Hawaii, Alaska to Florida, are afflicted and infected with more governments than any other people in history.  Let’s choose (just at random, wink) a nice location in a nice state in the Black Hills.  There is “local-local” government: a sanitation district that is a water provider and a regulatory agency, with taxes disguised as fees.  And local government: the nearby city government exercises significant authority over the three-mile zone OUTside its official boundaries. There is the county government with its agencies.  And the school district.  And the fire protection district.  And the water protection district. There is a state government, and even in South Dakota, a whole bunch of agencies.  And there is the FedGov, with its myriad agencies and overlapping authority.  Here, right on the edge of National Forest Lands, with a large military installation nearby, there is LOTS of FedGov around.

Or how about another place, in Southwestern Colorado.  Again, you find local districts and companies that are really just disguised local “special services” districts for water and health and libraries and drainage. And fire and hospital service districts.  And irrigation (or water conservation) districts.  And natural resource (soil) conservation districts. And – get this – a television translator district.  And county government, and exercising some powers that reach outside their boundaries, National Park Lands and a tribal government and its supervisory BIA agency, and state agencies out the kazoo, and of course, more Federal agencies than you can find in the phonebook.

We Americans must LOVE government; we’ve created so many.  In some places, even the city governments have multiplied and created internal, somewhat separate districts, like the boroughs of New York City.  And there are “recreation districts” and “cultural and scientific facilities districts.” And more.  Some counties especially in the Midwest and Great Plains have townships: not a 6×6 mile surveying convenience, but a township government for roads and ditches and recreation.   And some areas have not just school districts but community college districts and educational services districts.

And sometimes, it is pretty obvious that some supposedly private companies are governments in all but name.  Like big utilities companies (Xcel in many states, CenturyLink in others, or BNSF).

And each and every one of them with a governing board (elected or appointed), a “chief executive officer” (or committee or board or manager), elections, taxes (even if sometimes they are called “fees”), and… ultimately, the power of the gun to enforce their laws and collect their taxes and make sure that you don’t stray from their definition of the straight and narrow.

But how do we define them?  The dictionaries are FULL of definitions, each one different. I’m not going to waste your time or mine (or the electrons) to quote the several dozen I found by typing “Definition Government” in Google.  You can do that yourself and see it is just about “anything goes.”  And usually, the definitions have some sort of propaganda built into them.  Here is just one, from “dictionary.reference.com”: “the political direction and control exercised over the actions of the members, citizens, or inhabitants of communities, societies, and states; direction of the affairs of a state, community, etc.; political administration: Government  is  necessary to the existence of civilized society.”

See the propaganda?  Government is not necessary to the existence of civilized society, as has been shown more often than we realize in the past.  Indeed, it is sometimes the thing that PREVENTS society from being civilized.

Definitions aside, we can all say, “we know one when we see one.”  At least usually: remember those companies.  To say nothing of the Hudson’s Bay Company, Dutch East Indies Company, or the Chartered Zarathustra Company.

But we can cobble up something that makes general sense.  Government is an institution (organization) that CONTROLS things.  It can control A thing (like a water system or sewer system or library) or a LOT of things (your imagination is not limited).  It normally has a geographical jurisdiction (defined in some way, but literally “to the stars and beyond” in some cases), AND it can use force (directly or indirectly, including both “legalized” fraud and theft) to enforce its control over those things.  And being under control of a government or having government in control of things that you supposedly own and control is INVOLUNTARY.  With a single big exception (moving – assuming you are allowed to – out of the jurisdiction) and a very few limited small exemptions (usually becoming some sort of an innocuous street bum living on handouts at the food bank and soup kitchen), you can’t get out.  (And no, you can’t break even, either.)

So, here is my own definition for “government.”  “Control that is involuntary on the part of the owners of what is being controlled, backed up by the threat and use of force.”  And yes, “things” includes YOU and ME:  our bodies, our time, and as much as possible, our very thoughts and each and every action are just THINGS to be controlled by government.

At this point, does it really matter that government is “democratic” or a “republic” or a “monarchy” or straight dictatorship or kleptocracy?  Not really.  Whether it is the thugs who are loyal to the king (or duke or count or knight or squire) or loyal to “THE PEOPLE”  or the “Senate and People” or “the town council” or the “annual town assembly” or “township board” or “school board” or “library board” or whatever, it is still a relatively small group of people with power (however they gained that power) who head up a hierarchy or bureaucracy or “volunteers” who do THEIR bidding and control your things – and you.   Which is why, at almost any level from a local homeowners’ association (whoops, didn’t list that one up there) to the General Assembly of the United Nations and All the Stars and Planets and Pieces of Rock in the Universe, it is really hard for a rational man or woman (after they overcome their environment (childhood teachings and all)) to see any difference between a “government” and a “criminal organization.”  (Indeed, one popular definition states that “criminal organizations” engage in “illicit activities.”  But who defines “illicit activities?” Well, … governments!  Which is why governments almost NEVER engage in illicit activities, since they can define things as they please.)

Well, shucks!  I’ve run out of space (remember, I’m a self-governor: _I_ decide what controls apply), so I’ll have to pick up this chain of thought later.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-05E:

Posted on 2014-02-01 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning, and the end of the week is upon us.  But rest assured, the stupidity of government officials does not flag.  Nor does that of the usual crop of statists, Tranzis, government-worshipers and nannies.

Alan Korwin of JPFO sent me info about a Fox News story “20 children hospitalized for gun injuries each day in US” that reports on a Pediatrics journal release about a Yale study, that as Alan suggested, is the latest Bloomberg effort to use bogus science to get more and more gun control.  While I may comment in a separate rant on this, I want to get my two cents in now.  First, although I haven’t seen the “study” yet, I can assume just from the short description that it makes all the usual wild accusations and produces the data in a way that maximizes their already shaky numbers:  for example, one common practice in gun violence studies is to define “children” as being under age 21.  Another is to classify intentional shootings by cops and other gangbangers and those fired in self defense as “accidents,” and according to the blurb, this count of 7,000+ a year includes broken bones and other injuries that are not directly inflicted by a gun.  (Maybe too excited about getting out of a house or yard that has been targeted for a drive-by shooting and injuring themselves and others?  I’ve seen it happen.)

Steve sent me an interesting article entitled “Why even failed activism succeeds” by David Swanson.  As Steve told me: ” I don’t claim to agree with the general philosophy of the author or his political leanings, but I wholeheartedly agree with his premise.  I have seen it first hand.” As have I.  And I also agree that I am NOT a supporter of many of the political causes Swanson discusses.  Still, like Steve, I agree with his premise, but he is still living in la-la-land.  Especially what he says here: “The beautiful thing about nonviolent activism is that, while risking no harm, it has the potential to do good in ways small and large that ripple out from it in directions we cannot track or measure.”  Any widespread nonviolent activism, if it starts to make a difference, WILL run serious risk of harm to the activists and those who are attracted to them and follow them.  MLKJr’s supposed “nonviolent activism” did that as did the follow-up to Rosa Parks’ nonviolent actions, and today we see it happening nationally and internationally on all points of the political diamond.

Deputy US Attorney General James Cole told the New York State Bar Association annual meeting on Thursday that the guy in 1600 PA will take “executive action’ to reduce prison populations. Now, given that “executive action” is often an euphemism for assassination, killing individuals or groups, and given the “messiah’s” bloody hands (he has ordered actions which have killed thousands of innocent women and children around the world, directly, and indirectly hundreds of thousands), it does pose a very “simple” solution to prison overpopulation.  Maybe I am thinking of this because of recent news stories about 55 graves at the Dozier School for Boys in Florida, from more than a century ago.  What are a few thousand more dead druggies and white-collar crime perpetrators to the people in DC?

The EPA Administrator has told scientists to ‘Speak the truth’ on Climate Change (aka Manmade Global Warmiing) to meet Obama’s ‘needs’, at a conference in Virginia (inside the Beltway, of course).  This amounts to “be good little political scientists” and I am sure that thousands will obey their massa’s commandments.  Is it not curious how the more evidence is actually found that global warming is NOT real, that the more the Administration and the Tranzis and their minions double down on it?

Doug Lawson, president and CEO of Kingdom Trust, a South Dakota firm, says that the “messiah’s” plan to told CNSNews.com call his new government-sponsored retirement program “MyRA” in Tuesday’s State of the Union address because that’s the same name as his firm’s four-year-old “keynote” investment product.  Doug, like many others, is learning that the government is a criminal organization that will steal ANYTHING.  I am immediately reminded of the story the prophet Nathan told King David about the rich man stealing the poor man’s only sheep.  Of course, perhaps the “messiah” and his minions can come up with a more accurate name: how about “Social Security eXtreme” – since all this piece of garbage that he spewed out on Tuesday IS, is a new version of the same old Ponzi scheme that FDR got passed through a greedy and stupid Congress.

Pope Francis is telling Notre Dame University: defend the freedom of the Roman Catholic Church. So sorry, but the REAL church is NOT amenable to the laws of man, as Christ Jesus told Pontius Pilate so long ago.  What he and other people of faith should be concerned about is the freedom of christians to live and practice their faith.  The pope, the cardinals and other bishops of the RC Church should be working to defend the faith – and therefore the liberties – of every one of their parishioners AGAINST government.  Anything less will just show that the hierarchy of the RC Church is STILL allied WITH the State against God.

Did you see this?  Attorney General Sergeant Schultz – opps! Holder, proclaims ‘I Don’t Know Anything…’ Holder denies knowing that the IRS investigator was an Obama contributor. What a familiar statement from this evil man.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-05D: Sad examples of government goons

Posted on 2014-01-31 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning!  There are always some bizarre things to report in the news.  If the thugs and mentally/morally-challenged people in government didn’t treat us all like serfs and lord it over us, they would be comic relief most of the time.  Today we have some examples of just how sad they can be.

Our beloved HSS (Homeland Security Secretary, emphasis on SS) tells us that all the border jumpers have ‘earned right to be citizens.’ Ignoring the dubious benefits in 2014 of being a citizen, exactly how have their earned it?  By finding their way across an imaginary line in the dirt (and sometimes over or under a fence)?  Even advocates of totally open borders have to view this as proof of the insanity of government and those currently in it.

Just to make it clear, I did NOT watch or listen to the big talk made by the squatter in 1600 Pennsie, but just reading to comments from both sides makes it clear he speak with forked tongue, big time, and that his imperial posturing is just getting more pronounced.  Among other things, apparently he has credited Michelle Obama with lowering childhood obesity and several folks have opined that he was just offering some new handcuffs to try on.  I don’t know why he would bother: plenty of those around already, and if you don’t have one handy, zip-ties work pretty well.  But the real thing to remember is that WE (you know, the American people) GAVE him and the rest of the goons the handcuffs.

Apparently, I was not alone in NOT watching, as it seems that Obama’s State of the Union attracts 33.3 million viewers, fewest since 2000 (or so sayeth the WaPo).  I am glad so many of us are learning not to waste our time.  And I bet stress levels nationwide on Tuesday night were lower than they could have been, too.

Well, “my” representative, Kristy Noem (R, SD) is crowing that she helped get the $956 Billion Farm Bill out of the House on a bipartisan 251-166 vote, It was ONLY 954 pages: what a BARGAIN!  Less than $1 billion per page.  And they DID NOT cut ANY money from SNAP (you know, the PC name for Food Stamps) so we will not see any bodies of people dead from starvation on the highways in South Dakota (just those who froze to death because of manmade global warming).  And as ALWAYS, it was filled with the tastiest kinds of pork to let all the usual participants feast for the next five years.  Congress is so NICE to us, isn’t it?

(By the way, I was reminded that one of the nifty little things hidden in this is a NEW tax of fifteen cents on every living/formerly living Christmas tree (I’m sure it is politically correct and refers to it as a “holiday tree”) sold in the US, to create a slush fund for the national Christmas tree growers association to blast us with advertising to “buy real.”  Since they could not get their growers and members to cough up the money voluntarily, they are using the fists and guns of the IRS and government in general to shake down their own, and therefore everyone of us who buys a tree.  (Not me: went artificial years ago.)

Mama’s Note: I have a potted Norfolk Island Pine tree in the living room. It’s been my “christmas tree” for a long time. I didn’t bother with any decorations this year, but usually it is hung with .22lr rounds as “ornaments,” and a few little bows. Fantastic conversation starter.

Were you shocked?  I sure was, to learn that the “chief minion” of the “messiah” (Vice President Joe Biden) thinks he’d make a good president starting in 2017.   At least, that is what his heart tells him! I was kind of hoping his heart would be like that guy in “Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy,” the worst poet in all of history, time and space, whose heart leaped out through his throat and strangled him to save the galaxy.  Of course, that would have been hard, with that foot in the way.  And I guess he IS of that branch of Tranzis or liberals or democrats whose hearts are Sooo big that they had to sublet space in the skull, which doesn’t leave room for any brains.

Reports come from the Philippines that dozens were killed after a “peace” agreement was reached in Mindanao apparently because cops tried to arrest some of the Muslim rebel leaders.  Mama Liberty pointed out that she can’t seem to get over how violent these people seem to be, Muslim or otherwise.  The Philippines’ history is in so many ways a continuation of 1300 years of Iberian history, and this is not the first (or even the tenth) “peace agreement” and is not much more likely to succeed than the previous ones.  Spain’s centuries of military government warring against Muslims continues halfway around the world for the same reasons: fear, hatred, revenge, and people unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions.

Meanwhile, in Nigeria, the shoe is on the other foot – or the other body.  Boko Haram, an Islamist terror organization, killed at least 85 people and injured 40 more in the latest Sunday attack against christian villages.  Islam continues to be a religion of peace – in death, at least.  It is this sort of thing that can make us more sympathetic to the attitude of the people in the Philippines, even though I condemn their aggression against the Moros.

A new study claims that humans can’t live in space, or so the mainstream media is slanting it.  The body isn’t prepared for space because we didn’t “evolve” in space, or so they say.  Putting aside the obvious error about “evolving,” this seems to be a typical Luddite/Tranzi reaction.  Folks, we are NOT getting out of this life alive!  We are all going to die, and even if our lifespans were cut decades short because we live in micro-gee in space, will it be any different than in the bad old days (you know, the 17th or 18th century, or the 20th century on most of the planet) where the average life expectancy was 50 or so?

Mama’s Note: The silly part of this sort of ludditism is the idea that humans can’t adapt and invent machines, etc. to compensate for the problems. Humans have had to adapt their machines and technology to survive in a great many hostile environments, and will continue to do so. Space is a very large challenge, on many levels, but it is not insurmountable in the long run.

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The government WILL disarm us, IF we let them

Posted on 2014-01-30 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Usually, the columnists over at FreedomOutpost.com are thoughtful, make pretty good analyses, and understand the world we live in.

Sadly, Tim Brown fails to meet that mark, when he writes, “Our government isn’t going to disarm us.” Although the headline is to the effect that government “can’t convincingly justify disarming” the people, he states baldly and wrongly a different proposition.  When I started reading the column, I thought he would point out how many millions of us are armed, how many millions of firearms and other weapons are out there, and how much ammunition and training and practice many Americans have.  I was wrong.

Here is part of what Tim Brown wrote.

“It can’t. Let me explain why. We currently live in a constitutional republic. Because of that, our elected and appointed leaders are legally obligated to defend and uphold the Constitution. Our Constitution currently protects our citizens’ right to keep and bear arms. There are really only two ways our government could disarm us: They could abandon the Republican principles upon which this country was founded, or the people themselves could willfully disarm.

“One way our government could disarm us would be to label us all enemies of the state. Historically, governments have disarmed people because they perceive them to be a threat.”

Tim, oh Tim, what on earth are you thinking?  This is pathetic.  I cannot believe that Freedom Outpost would even publish such a piece without extensive editing.

First, ONCE UPON A TIME we were a “constitutional republic.”  But no more: daily, in virtually every state and a hundred times in DC itself, the principles AND the letter of the Constitution are violated with impunity by government employees, from the very members of Congress and the occupants/employees of the White House down to meter maids and dog catchers and low-level bureaucrats in cities and towns and villages.

It has been decades since “elected and appointed leaders” (itself a poor phrase to use) have been held to their freely-taken oaths to “defend and uphold the Constitution.”  As L. Neil Smith and many others have pointed out, the Constitution protects NO rights, as it is toothless and ignored: not just the Second Amendment but EVERY one of the ten of the Bill of Rights.

The Federal government and state governments have long ago abandoned the republican (NOT “Republican”) principles upon which this country was founded, just as they have abandoned the basic and essential concepts or principles of liberty, moderation, and personal responsibility.  LONG AGO.  And much of the population of this country HAS willfully disarmed, desiring security more than liberty, allowing fear to rule their lives and lead them to try and rule the lives of others.

And Tim, virtually all Americans HAVE already been labeled as “enemies of the state,” including the very soldiers that Congress and the imperial White House send out to “police the world.”  Certainly anyone who actually believes that the Constitution has ANY authority in 2014 is such an “enemy of the state.”  But that is understandable, because we ARE a threat.  Indeed, the government officials and their minions have made us a threat, by treating us like slaves, stealing our liberties and our money and our self-respect, in ways that only a few great tyrants of history have dared to do.

Later in his article, Tim Brown goes on to caveat his initial words, but STILL refuses to admit the fact that the government of these formerly united States in 2014 is unconstitutional, illegal, immoral AND seeks and works actively, daily, to take away the liberties of its own people and people around the world.  This government HAS ceased to be representative, and it does not matter WHAT ideals it was founded on, those ideals have been abandoned.

The people in charge, not just in DC but in most state capitals, not just CAN disarm us, they are working actively to disarm everyone they possibly can.  And they WILL succeed if we let them.  And if we believe that all these things Tim claims that are so, we will let them.

The hollow, un-dead shell with its pretense to following the procedural elements of the Constitution is fooling Tim, I guess.  Let us try not to let it fool us.

Mama’s Note: Unfortunately, the “constitution” was a hollow shell as well – right from the start. “Representation” only works if the people so “represented” actually agree to it, and are free to repudiate that agreement whenever they wish. The difference is obvious if you compare any level of civil “government” and a person’s relationship with an attorney. You can hire and fire the attorney at will… can you opt out of the US Government?

Nobody in the world is actually free to opt out of the control and chains, regardless of the political system that claims the place where they live. Those with the means to do so may choose a lesser evil, a more benevolent master, or one that just doesn’t pay as much attention… but none of us are free. And none of us ever will be free unless we can eliminate the idea that any person or group of persons has any legitimate authority to control our lives – or even to “protect” them – without our full consent, and subject to our withdrawal at any time. There is no such provision in the “constitution” or the “republican” form of government.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-05C: Mexico and DC – partners in crime?

Posted on 2014-01-30 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

The Mexican government said on Monday it had caught a leader of the Knights Templar, one of the many violent drug cartels waging war against the Federales.  At the same time, Mexico City is co-opting the so-called vigilantes in the war against the drug cartels.  Why “so-called?”  Because most of them are NOT taking the law into their own hands:  vigilantes as in San Francisco in gold rush days acted as police, assault troops, judge and jury, and usually executioner.  These people are simply defending their communities and themselves against both the drug lords AND the thuggish state and federale police.  If they are co-opted (and if the Federales are telling the truth, I must add), that means that they have failed in their mission: now it is again Ciudad Mexico and Hermasillo or Monterrey or Ciudad Juarez calling the shots, not the local volunteers and their freely elected leaders.  Too bad.

The Pacific Research Institute point out what any real observer already knew: Health Insurance Was Not a Free Market Prior to ObummerCare. Comparing what we had in 2009 and what we have today is NOT comparing apples and oranges, but two different varieties (Jonathan and Delicious, maybe?) of rotten, stinking apples which have been pulled from the bottom of the dumpster after sitting in there the whole month of August.  Indeed, anyone who has studied the history of the decline of the medical profession and health care in this country can trace ALL of it back to government interference in the system, starting with the medical schools and licensing back in the early 1900s and continuing through the tax system messing with the insurance and all the rest, including ALL the parts of Medicare and Medicaid.  Which is WHY the Abominable Act is just causing the system to crash sooner than later: it is solving NONE of the problems, just making them worse.

Well, well, it seems 35.5% of disability beneficiaries Have ‘mental disorder’; 43.2% in D.C. and I would assume that many of them are ex-federal employees (and maybe not “ex” for that matter) or ex-elected officials.  No, it isn’t DC that drives them to distraction (I’m trying to be nice and not say “mad.”) but that they are ATTRACTED to it.  Like flies to… well, you get it. Which reminds me, did I tell you about that new “Bait-n-Blast” for coyotes?  It smells like long-dead cow, which is kinda what I figure the mental scent of DC is like.

The State of the Union (or is that “Stench of the Onion?”) speech last night once again featured the august, imperial presence and dominant personality of the “messiah” in a setting which is not quite as Romanesque as I am sure he would want, but which seems to have set all kinds of fireworks off on the GOP side of things, even the RINOS.  We have nasty things said by Cruz and King and Fleming, Gohmert and even McCain about the “messiah.”  Of course, we can always get a rise from reading what Ed Schultz (North Dakota’s revenge on the lower 47) has to say about how he worships the feet that the “messiah” walks on, and how he welcomes the dictatorship of The One.

You, like me, are hearing a lot about how evil “income inequality” is and how the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.  (It is really hard for the pollsters to pull the poor away from their cell phones and 50-inch wide televisions and monitors with their Tweets and latest downfeeds of Beiber’s latest piece of “musical” madness to tell the pollsters how bad off they are.)  But even the New York TImes admitted today that “upward mobility” has not declined in the past decade, when 20 percent of children born “middle income” found their way to the top.  I am not saying the poor are not “poor” in comparison to the rich and even what is left of the middle class, just that they are getting rich, too, just much slower than the rich are getting richer.  I suppose it IS harder to break into the upper class today, but people also have a much stronger incentive to do so, so it kinda balances out.  Thanks to a couple hundred years of limited government and relatively high individual personal and economic liberty, the United States advanced to prosperity that not only had never existed before (except maybe pre-Flood) but beyond that of the rest of the world.  Then we threw it away so we could “be like all the other nations.”  So today, even the poorest of the poor Americans are still living far FAR better than the average African or Asian – even in China.

Science Magazine is a brown-noser when it comes to government, and its latest story “Will Expanding Health Insurance Strain Emergency Rooms?” shows that they are just that, with a big “YES.”  Of course, I suppose it depends on what you consider “health insurance.”  Real people with real insurance are going to understand that their costs, out-of-pocket AND indirect, are going to go up if they run to the ER with a sniffle or a cut finger, and use urgent care clinics or their doctor’s office – or even just deal with it themselves. It is the government-faked insurance and especially that evil piece of stinky DC dripping “ObummerCare” that will keep the same number of people going to the ER, except that NOW they won’t be “uninsured” (maybe), just sucking off the taxpayer’s bottle.

Bill Janklow of South Dakota was famous for the sort of State Budget Gimmicks that one story reminds us of:  some of the most popular “tricks” used by legislators (and governors and state budget folks) to hide the true cost of government spending include underfunding pensions, inflating revenue projections, shifting funds and using one-time asset sales…  As it gets harder and harder to live in champagne style on a beer-drinker’s pocket lint after he’s been mugged, the legislators get more and more creative.  (A friend, not a libertarian even of the minarchist style, asked me a few days ago, how those we elect – who SEEM to be good and rational people – turn into tyrannical idiots?  ALL the time?  I didn’t and don’t have an answer, except to say that the only real solution is to take the power away from government.)

Common Core teaching/education standard have been around for five years now, but only in 2013 did the fight over them seem to heat up.  Some states (like South Dakota) adopted them in 2010 and 2011, but they didn’t become controversial until much later.  This controversy seems to be causing SOME changes: some states have dumped the Common Core Tests and take other actions.  Again, the fuss is NOT going to solve the problem, any more than the Common Core was going to solve the problems. Schools are poor at what they do because they are government controlled, and we know that government can do NOTHING well.  It has been proven for about 6,000 years, and we see more proof each day.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-05B

Posted on 2014-01-29 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning! Slow news days, apparently: a lot of folks are rehashing old stories, and no one seems to know what to do about the growing crises in many parts of the nation. And Matt Drudge has cryptically told his audience “Have an Exit Plan.” So even MORE people are panicking.

Snowden has disclosed that US and British spies “get personal data from Angry Birds” Well, I have never played the silly game, so I guess I am safe. Now if it were some of the three-in-a-row games… Seriously, we need a lot more imagination to fight off NSA and the several thousand agencies worldwide seeking to collect (steal) information about us. And if you believe NSA when it says, it ” was not interested in data beyond ‘valid foreign intelligence targets.'” then please call me, or better yest, just e-mail Mama Liberty your credit card numbers (don’t forget the three numbers on the back of the card) and your birthdate and place of birth, so that we can protect you from NSA. We’ll do a great job, we promise! (Mama’s Note: sarcasm alert! Please don’t send me that stuff!)

It turns out that all these wonderful, caring Congress types who are pushing to raise the minimum wage don’t even bother to pay their interns, but instead get free labor. Of course, they ARE Senators and Congressmen: the rules and fairness don’t apply to the “servants of the people.” Any more than they did to Party members in the old Soviet Union.

New week, new stories of killer cops. In South Carolina, a patient brought to a mental health facility was shot dead by a probation agent or officer (a cop). Another cop, doing what he was hired to, apparently: kill people. And in North Carolina, a grand jury finally decided to indict a police officer who shot and killed former FAMU football player Jonathan Ferrell in September. Still, after the business with the killing of a mentally handicapped man ending with “not guilty” for the cop despite video and other evidence, I’m sure this killer cop will not be punished.

Speaking of cops, William Grigg has a good column on the recent arrest and “resisting arrest” of a pop star in Florida. It isn’t just pop stars that are charged with “resisting arrest without violence” for responding the way anyone not sedated out of their mind would normally respond when you are grabbed by a thug in uniform.

Apparently, our massa-in-chief will bypass U.S. Congress to order a 39% hike in minimum wage for federal contractors. This is garbage piled high and deep for several reasons. First, there are few IF ANY federal contractors who pay their workers only the minimum wage: most are required to use Davis-Bacon Act rates which are incredibly higher than minimum wage. Second, he is telling agencies to spend more money on their contracts to allow this, even though Congress has not appropriated money based on this: so he is stepping on the toes of Congress. Third, if (as usual) the “minimum wage increase” is an excuse to raise ALL salaries and wages for the contracts by this insane 39%, at least SOME of the work the taxpayers are theoretically paying for in these contracts won’t get done because the money won’t be there. Which is (for the supporters of the “messiah” like labor unions) GREAT news: more excuses to raise taxes and borrowing.

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