Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-23A: Terrorism and Tyranny

Posted on 2013-06-10 by TPOL Nathan

War against some drugs – State tyranny
Colorado: Marijuana “porn law” found [sic] unconstitutional
(San Francisco Chronicle) “Colorado Attorney General John Suthers wrote yesterday that marijuana- related magazines like High Times are not the same as pornography. The statement is a major blow to a law that would have forced cannabis periodicals off newsstands in the state. Recently passed Colorado law HB 13-1317 would have placed High Times next to Penthouse and Hustler, behind the counter in liquor stores. High Times and the American Civil Liberties Union sued, saying the bill violated the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” (06/06/13)

Nathan: Of course, a state’s AG is not (YET) a jury or judge, but still, the General Assembly deserves a slap across its collective face for this insane bit of business.  It is time to revolt against this kind of stupidity.  But of course, the Attorney General is too stupid to note that the issue is NOT the First Amendment of the US Constitution that regulates here, but Section 10 of the Colorado Bill of Rights: Section 10. Freedom of speech and press. No law shall be passed impairing the freedom of speech; every person shall be free to speak, write or publish whatever he will on any subject, being responsible for all abuse of that liberty; and in all suits and prosecutions for libel the truth thereof may be given in evidence, and the jury, under the direction of the court, shall determine the law and the fact.

The AG and his boss have, of course, together with the Colorado “Unified Court System” already negated the last part of Section 10, since they do NOT allow the jury to determine the law, but that is what it says.  It is, again TIME FOR REVOLT against the arrogant politicians that infest Denver and have ruined a once-great state.

Theft by government – Parasites
Government[s] Employed 92,000 Additional People in May
(CNSNews.com) While federal employment is actually down, and government worker unemployment is up slightly, overall, there are more than 20 MILLION Americans working for government.

Nathan: Is this sick or what?  No wonder our economy can’t recover.  There are only about 160 million people employed in the US: so 1 in EIGHT are government! Yes, I know that many government workers CLAIM to be productive members of society, and a few actually ARE productive, paid for the services that they provide and some even paid VOLUNTARILY by those they provide services to.  But MOST are parasites, and we got almost a hundred thousand more parasites last month.

Congress in action – Theft by government – Abominable Act
Pelosi: ‘You’re Mandated to Have Health Insurance, Yes, You Will Have An Increase’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: To but it properly, she admits that she LIED.  To the American people, and to her constituents, in San Francisco, as I recall.  Of course, the majority of San Franciscans are completely morally bankrupt (just like her) so they don’t care if she lied or not.  Just like they don’t care if government steals.  It is time to revolt against this: just repealing the Abominable Act is not enough: getting rid of the parasites like this woman is also needed, and getting rid of all of Congress not beyond reason.

Tyranny – Terrorism
U.S. Spy Agency Taps Directly Into Google, Facebook, Yahoo, YouTube, Apple, Skype, AOL
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And you don’t think that they aren’t doing it on your home and business landlines, too, you are very, very stupid indeed.  It is insane to allow this to continue.  It is time to revolt against this.  It is time to end the NSA, the FBI, the CIA, and all the other tools of tyranny and the murdering, abusing, terrorist thugs who man them.  And the Congress that let this happen: no, that MADE this happen.

Mama’s Note: Well, a fair number of people are open to suggestions… how do you think we can put a stop to it?

Congress in action – Tyranny
Boehner: Let Obama Explain Why NSA is Collecting Verizon Phone Records
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Oh, he already has: it is to protect our liberties from the evil terrorists.  We have nothing to worry about, he is the government and he is helping us.  Folks, it is time to revolt, and that includes revolting against Congress and pusillanimous politicos like this idiot Boehner.

Tyranny – Terrorism
Clapper Insists Internet Data Mining Deliberately Targets Only ‘Non-US Persons’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, of course.  It is to help us keep our freedom, our liberty, our lives.  It is the government and they are here to help us.  Clapper lies now like Pelosi did about the Abominable Act.  It is time to revolt.  it is time not just to end the agencies, it is time to revolt against the evil, ugly tyranny that the federal government and state governments have become.  And I’ve got news for Clapper: “non-US persons” are people too – people with rights.   For more lies:

Congress in action – Tyranny
Feinstein and Chambliss on Metadata: ‘It’s Called Protecting America’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: What “America?”  They have killed it – and collecting metadata will not protect its corpse, just the Powers That Be.  And speaking of protecting something that does not exist:

Congress in action – Tyranny/War on religion
House Panel Moves to Protect Religious Liberty for Military
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: There IS no more religious liberty for military personnel and families or anyone else in this country: just privileges that they haven’t taken away from us yet.  But these Congressmen are either too stupid to understand that, or too much liars to speak the truth.

Home front – Self defense NOT
Looters cross country to rob devastated Oklahoma
MOORE, Okla. (AP) — Authorities say looters have come from as far away as New York and Virginia to steal from victims of last month’s tornado in Moore, Okla.

Mama’s Note: I thought the folks of Oklahoma were armed and free to defend themselves and their property. Why aren’t these looters being shot?

Nathan: The Powers That Be no longer allow people to defend their homes ESPECIALLY when they are destroyed:  they are, directly or indirectly even in Oklahoma, disarming them; driving them to fear even to CARRY lest they be arrested and thrown into prison for trying to defend their property and their families.  The federal and state and local governments are enabling the looters: perhaps they recognize kindred spirits, when push comes to shove.

Tyranny and Terrorism
Dirty Bomb Blows Liberty – Commentary by Al Lewis
(Wall Street Journal) Here’s how terrorism really works: Slaughter people on national TV, and watch a nation that prides itself on freedom as it shackles itself.

The feds at airports start patting privates and taking pictures with cameras that can see through clothes. Security cameras go up everywhere. The spooks in Washington set up massive Internet surveillance operations and obtain secret court orders to obtain everyone’s phone records. Once it starts, it can’t be stopped.

Nathan: Thanks to David and Debby for this one.  Terrorism HAS won; the only hope is that there will be pieces of liberty not contaminated with the dirty bomb.  Simply repealing the USA PATRIOT Act, simply impeaching, trying, and executing the man in 1600 Pennsylvania and his minions is NOT going to be enough.  You cannot glue Humpty Dumpty together again.  The corpse of the Republic has now rotted; the spirit is in perdition.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-22E: Tyranny+, Economics and Nanny State News

Posted on 2013-06-07 by TPOL Nathan

Tyranny – Verizon + “Scandal”
NSA Taps Into User Data on Internet Giants
(The Guardian, UK)  The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other US internet giants, according to a top secret document obtained by the Guardian. The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called PRISM, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says. The Guardian has verified the authenticity of the document, a 41-slide PowerPoint presentation – classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies – which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program. The document claims “collection directly from the servers” of major US service providers.

Nathan: This folks, is the icing on the cake; the final application of barbeque sauce to the well-done meat.  Not just metadata (who when where what) but the actual contents of the e-mails and chats and phone calls – Notice that Skype is included.  Yes, I know we can use PGP to hide the actual content, but who is gonna get picked up and charged with “grass too tall,” or “excessive litter” or “obscured license plates” or “missing license plate lamp” and hauled into a nice, well-soundproofed “interview room” to reveal the content of their messages?  Or will the mere USE of PGP or something else be “sufficient evidence” for their Star Chamber to pronounce indefinite detention?  Enemies of the state: those who think that Christmas carols can be sung in school programs?  Those who can quote one of the Bill of Rights?  Those who dare demand a warrant for searching a house or a car?  Those who buy “excessive” amounts of ammunition?  Or food?  Those who move out of a big city and settle in a rural or frontier area?  Or just those who have something that an informant wants and can get as a reward for turning them in?

Now, on to some miscellaneous news, again.

World WARS – EU-CHINA TRADE WAR
Europeans, comply or else…
(China Daily)  Following the European Commission decision to tax imports of Chinese solar panels, Beijing has decided to launch a probe on European wine imports. And if the 27 do not get the message, other retaliatory measures will follow, warns the Chinese official newspaper.

Nathan: World trade just got a LOT more complicated and potentially dangerous, at least to free trade or anything passing as such.  Once more, government’s stupid actions will punish their own people and businesses.  Remember the 1930’s disaster was made much MUCH worse by a series of trade wars and tariffs.

Theft by government  – Stupid people
Christmas Tree Tax: Round 2
(National Tax Union) In 2011, reports surfaced that the Obama administration was seeking to impose a 15-cent federal tax on Christmas trees. It turned out that the tax was actually sought by the Christmas tree industry through a regulatory process established by Republican lawmakers in the 104th Congress. Now this year, there are new headlines that House Republicans have revived the Christmas tree tax in a farm bill (some of the coverage is still attributing the tax to President Obama even though, as noted, it was being sought by the industry through a statutory process).

Nathan: As is too often the case, an industry is willing to encourage and support tyranny and theft by government for what they think is their own benefit.  Stupidity like this enables government to be even worse than it would be.  It is, in reality, aggression against some of the members of their own industry, who don’t want to “play” along.

Nanny State – Killing Their Own
Do No Harm: Doctors Killing Disabled People?
(Conservative Action Alerts) Ah, the beauty of our progressive society. It seems like only yesterday we were marveling at the UK politician who openly proclaims that disabled children should be killed “like deformed lambs… smashed against a wall.” This profile in postmodern courage is simply bringing back the oh-so noble idea of eugenics: a means of uplifting society by killing, er…culling out those lesser-evolved humanoids so the higher beings can flourish. Streamlining our species, really.

Nathan: Why not?  Clear out the land for the Muslims to inherit.  Get rid of all those old Brits, and keep them from having any children – or just get rid of the children if they aren’t perfect and don’t meet the standards of the new order.  That UK poliitician?  Read about him here.

Next?  They’ll have to speed it up: only 24 a week killed out of 50 million?  Hardly enough.

Tyranny – Verizon “Scandal”
Lindsey Graham ‘glad’ NSA tracking phones
(Conservative Action Alerts) “I’m a Verizon customer. I don’t mind Verizon turning over records to the government if the government is going to make sure that they try to match up a known terrorist phone with somebody in the United States. I don’t think you’re talking to the terrorists. I know you’re not. I know I’m not. So we don’t have anything to worry about.”

Nathan: There are clueless RINOs and then there are CLUELESS RRINOs (REALLY Republicans in Name Only) and then there are the people whom you wonder if they haven’t already had their brain extracted and pickled, like Graham.

Nanny government
Feds put brakes on self-driving cars
(Gasbuddy.com) National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was compelled [sic] last week to put its foot down and state that self-driving vehicles are not ready for use by the public.  NHTSA says it does not recommend that states authorize the operation of self-driving vehicles “for purposes other than testing at this time.” And Edmunds reports that it is discouraging states from even setting up rules governing self-driving cars. If a state does permit the “non-testing operation of self-driving vehicles,” the operator should have a special license. Such a separate license should have certain prerequisites, including passage of a test concerning the safe operation of a self-driving vehicle, NHTSA said.

Debby: Am I the only one who has problems with this self-contradicting “recommendation?”  I wonder who bought them off?  Taxi-drivers?

Nathan: The nanny state strikes again.  These are already legal in California and Nevada, but the NHTSA apparently believes that anyone who doesn’t work for the FedGov is too stupid to do this sort of thing. Maybe the unions in CA and NV don’t like the competition and compelled the NHTSA to do this?

Mama’s Note: Yes indeed, Debby… the operator of a self driving car… HUH?

I don’t EVER want anything to do with a “self driving” car. Far as I’m concerned, that’s too much like a “self shooting” gun!!! I don’t even like to drive, but this is just a bit too much for me. If, however, anyone else wants to take that risk, and accept responsibility for the consequences… well then, not my problem.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-22D: Minor Matters in the Mush

Posted on 2013-06-07 by TPOL Nathan

Given the revelations that the United States Government, including its top officials, with the obvious acceptance of Congress, has vacated what was left of the Constitution, anything else politically is a minor matter.

  • Why worry about how many people got killed because of Fast and Furious gunrunning?
  • Why be concerned about whether the IRS targeted “just” Tea Party and “Patriot” and “Liberty” groups or Jewish and Christian and Rastafarian groups?
  • Why be angry about the DOJ demanding that the press turn over phone records (when they are getting the records of millions of Americans from their phone companies)?
  • Why be upset about how the White House and State Department created the situation in which Americans were captured, tortured and killed in Libya?
  • Why get bent out of shape when a serving US Senator has photo ops with Muslim terrorists in a foreign land?
  • Why care that the Espionage Act has been used six times – more than ANY other president – against journalists: in essence criminalizing reporting?

For years, many of us have been lamenting the termination of the US Constitution.  Flawed though it was, it was better than what 99% of the world has had for the last 6,000 years of human history.  But it is a DEAD letter: a fact that this latest arrogant act of tyranny reinforces.  What is left is just details: minor matters.  My phone records, your phone records, can be used to build bogus cases against us for any number of matters of conspiracy in violation of the tens of thousands of pages of laws and regulations:  a suggestion that we “conspired” to help someone pay a little less tax, or avoid triggering environmental regulations, or transport an “illegal” ammo magazine, or give a family member a shotgun, or deposit too much money – or take too much against some imaginary line in the dirt.  “You spoke to a known con-artist on such and such a date,” never mind that the con artist was trying to steal from a family member: you are now linked to a criminal and therefore a criminal yourself.

But it is not the consequences – it is the mere act of DOING this that makes this government in DC a tyranny. I pray and hope strongly that this act will finally get enough of my fellow Americans to see what has happened.  It is time, and I pray that more and more of us will STOP trying to comply with laws promulgated and enforced by an illegitimate government, and when the thugs that work for this criminal organization try to force us to do so, defend ourselves by any and every means.

However, for now, on to some of those minor matters:

Hoplophobes and Hoploclasts
Experts lay out plan for comprehensive gun research
(NBC News)  “There is no question that this is a public health issue,” says Dr. Alan Leshner, who chaired the Institute of Medicine panel that issued the report. “We have no political agenda.” … Any funding for the research has to come from Congress. Obama asked lawmakers to allocate $10 million for studies by the CDC and other agencies, and $20 million to expand the National Violent Death Reporting System to all 50 states. Former Arkansas Rep. Jay Dickey, who sponsored the 1996 legislation cutting CDC’s firearms research budget, has since said he regrets having done so.

Mama’s Note: Of COURSE they have no political agenda….

Nathan: Yeah.  Of course they don’t.  Political scientists, indeed.  ALL they have is a political agenda: they are hirelings, nothing more.

Claire Wolf’s more succinct comments on the Verizon “Scandal”:
We’re all suspects: not just a angry civil libertarian’s claim any more

“…and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Somehow, “everybody who uses Verizon” just doesn’t seem all that “particularly described,” does it? Especially when you have to assume every other phone company is obeying similar secret orders.

Nathan: Read the comments, comment yourself.  I vented for hundreds of words: she is short and sweet in her comments.  Weird, huh, that we both agree (at least somewhat) with the New York Times?

Europe’s fall – Theft by government
Denmark’s Fat Tax Harms Economy
(Institute of Economic Affairs) Denmark’s fat tax had a very limited impact on the consumption of “unhealthy” foods — only 7 percent of the population reduced the amount of butter, cream and cheese they bought…

Nathan: Anyone who has enjoyed Danish butter or cheese understands what a crime this is.  And how stupid it is – it is amazing that anyone has reduced their consumption even a bit.  Not that Danes are particularly fat, anyway!  But this isn’t about food and it isn’t about health, it is about power and money – theft excused by exercise of power for the “good” of Danes.  Enough is enough.

Politics – The “messiah’s” minions
National security team shuffle may signal more activist stance at White House
(Washington Post) President Obama announced a major shuffle of his national security team on Wednesday, ushering out a cautious Washington insider and elevating two long-time proponents of a larger American role in preventing humanitarian crises and protecting human rights.

Nathan: HOW MUCH MORE activist can they get?  They are spying on at least 1 in 3 and probably 99% of Americans (I assume that there are a few Hopi or some Rainbow Nation folks that are avoiding it).  They are engaged in virtually every country in the world including those who are avowed enemies or trying to be neutral (What, you don’t think we have undercover operatives in North Korea and Iran and Switzerland?).  This is just shuffling the chairs in the Politburo and trying to make us think that things are changing:  now, with the FOURTH “scandal” (Verizon+) there are some people who can be used as scapegoats and sent off (like Rahm Emmanuel was) to do their dirty deeds on behalf of the “messiah” and his controllers elsewhere.

Tranzis and Home front
Al Gore calls Obama administration’s collection of phone records ‘obscenely outrageous’
(Washington Post) Former Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore on Wednesday night leveled some rare and harsh criticism at the Obama administration, attacking its reported collection of phone records for millions of Americans.

Nathan: If you ever wondered about the status of this hasbeen, now you know:  he has been dumped by anyone with power in DC, or he wouldn’t be saying things like this.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Obama the Tyrant

Posted on 2013-06-06 by TPOL Nathan

NATIONAL TYRANNY – THE “MESSIAH” REVEALED AS TYRANT
NSA collecting phone records of millions of Verizon customers daily
(Guardian, UK) Exclusive: Top secret court order requiring Verizon to hand over all call data shows scale of domestic surveillance under Obama

Nathan: Thanks to Debby for this one. Verizon has 120 MILLION customers: more than one out of every three Americans.

Is there ANY reason NOT to condemn this filthy administration, this “Occupy DC and the World” regime as a tyrannical, fascist, rogue and CRIMINAL organization? Is there ANY justification for not tearing this administration and its entire apparatus apart?  Is there ANY reason that ANY thing demanded by this regime NOT be resisted in every way possible, including the use of deadly force?  The Bush White House did the same thing – and deserves (even after the fact) the same condemnation.  Indeed, is there any statute of limitations that means that Bush and his officials cannot be tried for these crimes?  Scumbags like Lindsey Graham claim that if we aren’t talking to terrorists on our phones, we shouldn’t worry.  What sickness allows people to say this without being chased out of town in tar and feathers?  And listen to what the “messiah” has to say:

Obama administration defends NSA collection of Verizon phone records
(Guardian, UK) White House upholds ‘critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats’ as senior politicians condemn practice.

OBAMA THE TYRANT

The White House has sought to justify its surveillance of millions of Americans’ phone records as anger grows over revelations that a secret court order gives the National Security Agency blanket authority to collect call data from a major phone carrier.  Politicians and civil liberties campaigners described the disclosures, revealed by the Guardian on Wednesday, as the most sweeping intrusion into private data they had ever seen by the US government. But the Obama administration, while declining to comment on the specific order, said the practice was “a critical tool in protecting the nation from terrorist threats to the United States“. The secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (Fisa) granted the order to the FBI on April 25, giving the government unlimited authority to obtain the data for a specified three-month period ending on July 19. Under the terms of the blanket order, the numbers of both parties on a call are handed over, as is location data, call duration, unique identifiers, and the time and duration of all calls. The contents of the conversation itself are not covered.

Nathan: Oh, how reassuring!  I guess we can partly blame ourselves: we have allowed this thug to pull the wool over our eyes for five years, so he thinks he and his scumbag minions and his filthy traitorous allies in Congress (Democratic AND Republican) can get away with this shopworn excuse AGAIN.

This is probably only the tip of the iceberg:  Why get Verizon but not AT&T and T-Mobile and even Viaero?  And this pitiful excuse expired a long time ago.  We MUST fight against this, whatever it takes.  THIS is more than just an excuse for impeachment, this is a reason for rebellion.  Any organization which is doing this – even if it is only in Verizon – will ignore EVERY freedom, EVERY right, sooner or later: this way lies the Arbeitslager, the Gulag, the concentration camp, the executions by bullets to the back of the head in front of ditches, to rapes and torture and hard labor not just to “enemies of the state” but to anyone who happens to be in the way.  Graham and the rest see the Tea Party Movement as enemies and threats as much as Al Queda or Hezbollah or Cuban Communists (if not MORE).

Mama’s Note: Yes, of course. And yet, this is no worse than many thousands of acts of previous “administrations,” going clear back to Washington’s tax on whiskey. The abominations of theft, war, murder, slavery, conscription, confiscations, and all the rest are simply not news. And as long as ordinary people are willing to tolerate any of it, nothing will change.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-22C: Politics 2012, Self defense

Posted on 2013-06-06 by TPOL Nathan

Politics 2012
Gallup identifies flaws in 2012 election polls
(USA Today) “Pollsters at Gallup said Tuesday they have identified flawed methods that contributed to their incorrect prediction that Mitt Romney would win the 2012 presidential election, but they are still working to determine how to better identify who is likely to vote. The survey firm undertook a far-reaching review of its operations after its surveys came up short in the election: Gallup’s final pre-election estimate showed Romney with 49% support to Obama’s 48%, with a margin of error of +/-2%.” (06/04/13)

Nathan: Obviously, they didn’t take enough fraud into account, or figured that the GOP would be able to hack the electronic voting more readily than the Dems.

Self defense
NYC-Brooklyn: 10-year-old boy grabs gun from robber, fires shot
(NBC New York) “A 10-year-old boy fought back against two robbers who tried to break into his family’s home in Brooklyn Monday, grabbing a gun dropped by one of the suspects and firing a shot that scared them off, police said.” (06/04/13)

Nathan: Self-defense indeed.  I assume, this being NYC, that the two robbers have also been charged with corrupting a minor, allowing a minor access to a firearm, and all the other crimes that exist in Nanny Bloomberg’s eyes.  How much better if his parents had already had a firearm available to defend their home and their child!

Mama’s Note: How much better also if the teens had been taught NOT to open the door to a stranger. Far, far too many “home invasion” crimes start out with an unlocked door or the criminal being let in by the subsequent victim.

Hoploclasts – Self-defense
Pennsylvania police chief nullifies gun control in his jurisdiction
(Conservative Action Alerts) The remarks made by Police Chief Mark Kessler of Gilberton Borough, PA, were typical of the sentiment of the group. On January 3rd of this year, Kessler drafted a “Second Amendment Protection Resolution” for his Pennsylvania town which, when passed by city officials a few weeks later, nullified every single gun control law in the nation. “If you want to own a firearm,” Chief Kessler said, “the Second Amendment is your concealed carry permit, period. It has nothing to do with self-defense: it has to do with freedom from tyranny.” Police Chief Kessler went on to say: “Nullification is the key. We just have to tell them, ‘that’s it’. I drew my line in the sand back on Jan 3rd. One person can make a difference: you just need to do something about it.”

Nathan: I don’t know enough about Pennsylvania law to know if a Borough police chief has the authority normally part of a Sheriff’s duties, although the borough council certainly should be able to do this. But ANY rebellion against these unconstitutional acts is a good sign.  More and more opposition is necessary if things are not to slide further.  If predominantly “blue” states like this have centers of resistance.

Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
France says it is ‘certain’ that Syrian government has used sarin gas
(Washington Post )  The French government said Tuesday that it has confirmed the use of sarin gas by Syria’s government, and a U.N. panel reported that it has “reasonable grounds” to believe that chemical weapons have been used in the country’s civil war, deepening international suspicions that the red line set by President Obama has been breached.

Nathan: France is hardly a reliable source of such data.  It is as eager (more eager, perhaps?) as the US to strike at Syria, and this pushes matters a lot farther.  At the same time, I cannot agree that Israel is playing the “Serbia” in a rerun of the start-up of World War One, as too many people seem to claim (or hope). It is hardly the first time that an Arab (or Muslim) leader has killed his own people – whether it is with gas or just bullets or swords.

Home front – Economics 2013
YES! Amazon Will Start Delivering Your Groceries
(Business Insider) Amazon has been testing grocery delivery — AmazonFresh — in Seattle for a while, and was working on warehouse/refrigeration capacity logistics to roll it out nationally. (You can get a taste of Amazon’s grocery delivery business here.) Your local supermarket — you know, the one you’re forced to drive to — may be dead in the water, if Amazon gets its way. Bill Bishop, a prominent supermarket analyst and consultant, says everyone up the chain to Walmart is threatened by the plan:

Nathan: Don’t hold your breath.  Most big chains (Kroger, Safeway, etc.) already HAVE delivery services in the big markets, and they don’t do well.  There are always those people who are willing (or have) to do this, but most prefer to shop in a store (and the chains do, too: they know how to market in the stores and get impulse buying purchases).  If anything might help, it is the nostalgia market that might be a worthy target: for those few people who remember the days of home milk (and egg) delivery.

Mama’s Note: The regular home delivery of things like milk, eggs and bread is quite different than the proposed business here. It is easier to anticipate one’s use of milk, etc. and the quality from a given company is apt to be fairly consistent. That way, a regular delivery route can be planned ahead of time. The Schwan’s frozen food delivery routes perform the same service for regular customers. Case lots of all sorts of non perishable groceries can be delivered almost anywhere now, from a number of vendors, though shipping costs make large orders more practical.

But I can’t even imagine wanting someone else to pick out fresh fruits and vegetables for me. It’s hard enough to find anything worth having in the store where I can choose it myself.

Economy 2013 – Energy
Cheap Batteries for Backup Renewable Energy
(Technologyreview.com)  Investors recently chipped in $15 million to fund battery startup EOS Energy Storage, a company that says its batteries could eventually compete with natural-gas power plants to provide power during times of peak demand.  Cheap energy storage is becoming increasingly important as greater numbers of wind turbines and solar panels are added to the grid. If renewable energy is to replace the fossil fuels that dominate power supplies and serve to backup wind turbines and solar panels, very large-scale, inexpensive batteries like the ones EOS is developing will be needed (see “Wind Turbines, Battery Included, Can Keep Power Supplies Stable,” “Battery Could Provide a Cheap Way to Store Solar Power,” and “A Solution to Solar Power Intermittency”).

Nathan: Several friends in the industry tell me this is very important, and very likely to succeed, making a huge difference in the feasibility of economical solar and wind power.  I see it as a great potential to get off the grid and be able to survive any breakup and collapse.

Mama’s Note: Now if someone would just invent a reliable, inexpensive battery for ordinary devices. I’ve spent sooooo much money on batteries, of all kinds, and most of them are dead as a doornail when I really need to use them.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News #13-22B: True conversion? The “messiah” and his minions

Posted on 2013-06-05 by TPOL Nathan

Hoploclasts
Prof Who Accused NRA of Treason Apologizes; Says: ‘Freedom Best Served with an Armed Populace’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Do we have a true conversion here?  Taking his words at face value, we very well may indeed have one.  If so, it should be an encouragement that a man who took such a strong stand AGAINST gun ownership and defense of American freedoms was convinced by reasoned arguments by people who responded to his outrageous accusations and threats.  And publicly changed his stance.  If the conversion is true.  Now, we only have a few more million to go.

The “messiah’s” minions – Stupid people
Michael Eric Dyson on Holder: ‘He’s the Moses of Our Time and At Least for This Administration’
(CNSNews.com) “I think the attorney general should step down too, off of that plateau where he resides in high principle and whip some head, but he shouldn’t give up his office. What he should understand is that he is the chief law giver of the United States of America, so to speak. He’s the Moses of our time, and at least for this administration,”

Nathan: Oh dear, anytime the Tranzi start pulling out biblical allusions, you know it is going to be nasty.  No difference here.  The Attorney General is “the chief law giver” of the nation?  In what warped twisted universe?  Putting aside the fact that GOD is the lawgiver identified in the Old Testament (See Isaiah 33:22), under the (now-dead, admittedly) constitution, the “lawgivers” are the Legislative Branch: Congress.  The AG is nothing but an assistant to the chief executive to apply that law, and maybe propose some.  If Dyson is looking for a biblical allusion, Holder at best is one of Korah’s lieutenants in his rebellion against Moses (Numbers 16).  Or perhaps Balaam, urging rebellion against liberty and freedom.

The “messiah’s” minions – Home tyranny
Justice Dep’t Using ADA to Get Psychotic and ‘Intellectually Disabled’ Prisoners Out of Solitary Confinement
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: They need the room – for us.

Theft by government – Tyranny – Congress in action
Issa: ‘My Gut Tells Me That Too Many People Knew That This (IRS) Wrongdoing Was Going On’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Do we need to remember the irrelevance of Congress?  This should help.  I have no doubt that a LOT of people knew about this – including a lot of members of Congress – including some Republican members of Congress.  Why didn’t they say anything?  Fear.  Fear and sometimes a bit of “we’ll get ours back when we are back in power, but that won’t happen if we blow the whistle now.”   End the Fed, End the IRS.  It is time to fight for freedom.

Congress in action – Politics 2014
Schumer Warns Republicans That Scandals Alone Won’t Help Them in 2014
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, maybe I agree with him for once.  For one thing, the GOP will botch it, as usual.  For a second, more and more voters realize that the GOP will simply have their own version of these scandals.  What is needed is a reduction in power of government and these officials so that the constant scandals and abuse of power don’t really matter.  End the Fed.  End the IRS.  End taxes.  Restore liberty.

Islamic wars: Ottoman front
Turkish PM, Protesters Accuse Each Other of Undermining Democracy
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Implementing Democracy, maybe. They ARE the end result of democracy, that ancient evil:  the “Street Senate” on the one side and the Demogogic dictator on the other side of the coin. Of course, it is important that we remember too that for decades, Turkey has been touted as the “proof” that a predominantly Islamic nation can be democratic and have freedom.  Wrong!  Their PM is accused of being more a sultan or pharaoh than Morsi or Putin have been, and the liberties of peaceful protest and assembly are obviously not to be found.

Home front – Culture wars
Alabama: Native American [sic – Creek Indian girl] denied high school diploma for wearing tribal feather
(Raw Story)  “A high school graduate in Alabama is being denied her diploma after being fined $1,000 for wearing a feather reflecting her Native American heritage. ‘I don’t think it’s fair at all,’ 17-year-old Chelsey Ramer told WPMI-TV. ‘I feel like its discrimination.’ Ramer, a member of the Poarch Creek Band of Indians, wore the feather while taking part in the graduation ceremony at Escambia Academy High School in defiance of school policy forbidding ‘extraneous items’ from being worn without school permission.” [editor’s note: The story doesn’t mention that Escambia Academy is a private Christian school with an extensive, explicit and self-described “conservative” dress and appearance code. This is not a school that Ramer was forced by law to go to or that her family was forced by law to pay for – TLK] (06/03/13)

Nathan: Like Tom, this missing information (in every story I read, not just Raw Story) is key to the story, and changes the conditions greatly.  An honor feather is an important cultural item in many tribes, and I assume it is with the Creek as well as tribes I know better.  Unlike a similar situation where the Chamberlain (SD) Public Schools refused to allow a Lakota honor song to be sung at graduation (apparently because they considered it “religious” in nature) when a third of the class were AmerInd, and where it was a government-run, tax-funded school, this was a choice of the girl to reject conditions imposed by the administration to which she voluntarily submitted.  Lack of planning on her part (to either get the policy changed or withdraw from the ceremony) does not justify the Academy being forced to comply with her demands.  At the same time, the fine seems to be a wee bit harsh, as does the complete refusal to issue her diploma:

Mainstream media – Corruption
Tom Brokaw on Holder: If It Was John Ashcroft, ‘The Left Would Be Going Very Hard After Them’
(CNSNews.c0m)

Nathan: Of course, because Ashcroft was not part of the proper and acceptable ruling elite, but Holder IS.  Look, black people, whatever their nationality or ethnic claims and background, have been enslaving other black people for millennia, as well as white people and anyone else weak enough or stupid enough to entrap.  (As have whites and Anglos and Arabs and…)  Holder’s skin color no more keeps him from being a murderous, thuggish tyrant (or minion of one) than the nice suits he wears, or than their skin color kept Baby Doc, Idi Amin, or Robert Mugabe from being murdering, thuggish dictators.  He might take more pleasure in enslaving a white-skinned or red-skinned person than one with “color” but that doesn’t mean he won’t get ANY kick out of it.

The “messiah’s” minions
Next Scandal? Sebelius, Other Top Political Appointees Using Secret Email Accounts
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Must not be too secret if CNS knows about it.  Still, what difference do secret e-mails make?  There are enough high  crimes and misdemeanors around to warrant a whole host of show trials, and that doesn’t do anything to sway the fans, the masses.  I just heard again today about all the wonderful things that the “messiah” is doing and how wonderful his people are.  Even e-mails ordering out the death squads with pictures of him joining Gosnel there in Philadelphia in cutting off baby’s feet and of him clubbing baby seals in the Arctic wouldn’t get him brought to justice (Well, actually, the baby seal pix might come closer).

East Asian front
China Spurns U.N. Criticism After Sending N. Korean Refugees Back to Uncertain Fate
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course.  Not because the UN is sincere, but because the various UN factions must balance their reaction to actions by any of the major powers who hold permanent Security Council seats.  China has a hard row to hoe with North Korea, since even Kim’s silly little missiles can just as easily be pointed west as they can east to Japan or the US bases, and of course, because China was North Korea’s sponsor for such a long time.  And, they have to consider that at least SOME of these refugees are sleepers, planted by North Korea for “der Tag.”

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-22A: This and that

Posted on 2013-06-05 by TPOL Nathan

Theft by government – Government-run, tax-funded schools
$1.3M Grant for Newtown Schools Includes Funds for Creative Expression, Wellness Activities
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So now we know, at least from the federal government, how much a child’s or teacher’s life is worth.  Why don’t the close associates of EVERYONE killed by a criminal (or a cop) get this kind of federal money?

Stupid people
Protests Grow Amid Discovery of Genetically Modified U.S. Wheat
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: I’ve been warned by several people that this could turn out to be as bad a situation as the Russian wheat deal collapses back three or four decades.  To me, the panic over genie food is irrational and insane:  but it doesn’t stop the panic and the uproar from not being real.  Frankly, if Korea or Japan does not want to buy genie food (or food that “might” be genie or “might have” been NEAR genie food) from the US, I suggest that they go somewhere else to buy their food.  Oh, dear, no one produces it?  My, I guess they better start growing their own again, eh?  Maybe the First Consort can go teach them how, as she did the kids in the next story.

The “messiah’s” consort – Stupid government
Kids Who Planted Michelle’s Garden Rewarded with Snap-Pea Salad
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Guess they should have been students at Newtown.  Or “Palestinian” students in Canaan.  Cash, not snap peas, eh?

The mainstream media – The “messiah”
Brokaw: Obama Scandals Not Comparable to Watergate
(CNSNew.com)

Nathan: Of course not.  To Tom Brokow, Watergate was a direct attack on the organs of the rightful rulers and elite of this country by an upstart, middle-class-mud politician and his lame excuse for a political party: a bunch of jealous wannabe democrats.  The Triple-Dunce (IRS, DOS-Benghazi, DOJ-thuggery) scandals are preventative strikes by the rightful rulers (the Democrats) against scheming, conspiratorial would-be rebels and un-indicted enemies of the state.  No comparison at ALL.  My way of thinking right now?  Any DOS employee (“diplomat”) deserves however much lead his or her body can be ballasted with.  The tea-partiers and liberty-light “patriots” deserve what their naive actions led them to – bait and food for the fishes.  And the media is getting a very poetic punishment for their worship of the state.  Some lovers of liberty are calling for Holder to resign, some even think that the “messiah” might have to resign:  I want to know how much good hemp rope costs.

Mama’s Note: Resignation is anything but a punishment, let alone a deterrent to further criminal behavior – either of those who resign or their successors. They need to be arrested, charged with their actual crimes, tried by a jury and given whatever sentence would be given to any of us under similar circumstances. But, of course, that’s never going to happen. You might not be able to find good hemp rope, but I suspect that a coil of plain old nylon would do the job.

Border jumpers – Tranzis
Liberal Prof on Amnesty of 11 Million Illegal Aliens: ‘They’ll Be Supporting All of Us In Our Retirement Age’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Right.  Just like Europe’s guest workers are supporting all the native-born Europeans in THEIR dotage?  Sure: we can count on some of them to support the old-age pensioners: as they push them up into the cars of the trains to take them to the death camps.  Look across the Rio Grande to see what kind of future America will have with 20 million or more border jumpers who have NOT assimilated and vote for the Tranzis:  death camps would almost be a blessing.

Home front – Hoploclasts and hoplophobes
Caffeine Withdrawal is Now a Mental disorder
(Godfather Politics) something as insignificant as caffeine withdrawal being used as a pretense for gun confiscation. Since it’s now classified as a mental illness, all a mental health expert or doctor has to do is diagnose someone’s headaches or fatigue as caffeine withdrawal syndrome. That person would have a mental illness, and if he has any guns, they could be taken away. If he doesn’t have any guns, he could be barred from ever owning them.

Nathan: Brave New World indeed.  Soviet-style mental health treatment will not be far behind, as the disarmament allows more and more overt tyranny.

Mama’s Note: I’m afraid I’m starting to think of people who actually share such things with “mental health professionals” as just plain stupid. If you can’t even handle your coffee on your own…. good grief.

Politics 2013
Poll: Democrats Flip Flop on Gitmo to Support Obama
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: One trait common to GOP and Dem alike is this hypocrisy:  it is not WHAT is being done but WHO is doing it that is important. Gitmo, the “war on some terrorism,” the “war on some drugs,” the USA Patriot Act, the Medicare drug coverage, you name it.

Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
Turkey finds Sarin gas in homes of suspected Syrian Islamists – reports
(Russia Today) May 30, 2013 16:56 Turkish security forces found a 2kg cylinder with Sarin gas after searching the homes of Syrian militants from the Al-Qaeda linked Al-Nusra Front who were previously detained, Turkish media reports. The gas was reportedly going to be used in a bomb. The Sarin gas was found in the homes of suspected Syrian Islamists detained in the southern provinces of Adana and Mersia following Turkish police’ search on Wednesday, reports say. The gas was allegedly going to be used to carry out an attack in the southern Turkish city of Adana.

Nathan: Thanks to Scott for this.  Scott’s comments: [Sarin capitalized because it’s a German noun. And it’s not a “gas”. It’s a liquid with volatility comparable to water.] This may be a plant, but it shows that as usual in the Ummah (Dar Al-Islam: Lands of Submission or “Peace”) Muslims have no qualms about killing other Muslims or anyone that might happen to get in the way.  An evil and foreign religious and cultural mindset that is dangerous to everyone.

Home front: Stupid people – Collapsing society
Hispanic Guy Denied Job Because He is Not Bilingual
(The Last Resistance) Imagine being a fifth generation—born and bred—Hispanic American citizen and not getting the job because English is your primary language. Juan is a college student seeking employment. He applied for a position as a warehouse worker with a local company. He thought he possessed all the skills required, but his prospective employer did not agree. He was turned down for the job because he did not speak Spanish. Juan is furious and disgusted.

Nathan: So am I.  Imagine if this was a SPANISH-speaking Hispanic jobseeker who couldn’t speak English?  NO PROBLEM: we’ll hire you and accommodate you.  Upside down world, eh?  I believe that (despite the law) people should be able to hire people OR NOT hire people for any reason:  wrong color hair, doesn’t speak Russian, DOES speak Russian, too many kids, not enough kids, whatever.  But the law does NOT allow this – provided that you are of the “right” kind of group as established by Congress, the White House, or the bureaucrats.  Society: individual people and businesses and organizations, live in fear of lawsuits and enforcement actions by an evil multitude of federal and state (and local) alphabet agencies.  And we have this.  Society is decaying.

Hoplophobes and hoploclasts – The “messiah’s” minions
DOJ Memo:  Outlaw and Confiscate All Guns?
(Red Flag News) The National Rifle Association has obtained a Department of Justice memo calling for national gun registration and confiscation. The 9 page “cursory summary” on current gun control initiatives was not officially released by the Obama administration.

Nathan: Thanks to Scott for this one.  I haven’t been able to read the whole thing, but at first glance it may be a case of getting into a panic over an analysis paper that is NOT a policy paper – a series of “what if” type discussions.  It isn’t like it has Holder’s signature on it, or even one of his policy-makers.  I’m not discounting the idea that the “messiah” and his minions want to disarm EVERYONE that they possibly can (including, if they can, local police), just that this is not a smoking gun. Indeed, it may be just another distraction.  We need to ensure that we are NOT distracted from properly preparing for what they want to do.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-21D: Killer cops, stupid government, terrorism

Posted on 2013-06-03 by TPOL Nathan

Home front: killer cops – Local tyranny
Texas: Jerry Waller killed by cops in his own home without warning
(CBS) Jerry Waller, 73 years young, and his wife Kathy had gone to bed Monday night like they always did.  Shortly after midnight, they were woken by a neighbor’s burglar alarm and bright light.  Like a good neighbor, Waller grabbed his handgun and went to his garage to investigate the alarm.  Waller lives across the street from the where the alarm was sounding.  He was still behind his own house when the next thing he knew, two rookie police officers had opened fire on him, shooting him 6 times in the chest.  Waller was instantly killed.

Nathan: Thanks to Godfather Politics for this one.  This is more than rogue police, this is direct and unforgivable aggression against a private citizen on his own property with NO excuse.  Indeed, the two murderers were trespassing and Waller could have shot and killed THEM under both God’s law and Texas law.  This is terrorism, pure and simple. These men should be tried, and if convicted, EXECUTED as a warning to others of their types.  And Fort Worth should outlaw every member of this gang. I don’t care if one of the murderers broke down and cried when he realized what he had done.  He and his fellow killer cop, and no one else, is responsible for murdering an innocent, elderly man.  The police have taken over the natural functions of society: of people looking out for each other, and use natural and godly response as excuse to kill, steal, terrorize, and abuse citizens.  It is time to end this evil organization.  And not just in Fort Worth.

Government-run, Tax-funded schools
ACLU and School Wrangle over letting children think for themselves
(Godfather Politics)

Nathan: They are all nuts?

Mama’s Note: We both know this well: Perfect solution, for all those parents and others who truly care about the children: Withdraw from the sick and dying government “school.” Those who want can set up a network of private schools and homeschool support groups.

To all those who continue to think they can and must “reform” the public schools: Why waste time, effort and money fighting for something that can never actually serve the needs of free individuals? A government controlled “education” system will always serve the government first and foremost.

Stupid government – Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
State Dep’t.: Al-Qaeda Headed for ‘Defeat’, But Arab Turmoil Helping Other Terrorists
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is the same sort of Pollyana thinking that apparently helped cause the Benghazi massacre: incredibly stupid and out of touch with reality.  The more the US and the West fail to deal with the root cause of terrorism in the Muslim world: ISLAM ITSELF, the more terrorists will arise, whether there is “turmoil” or not.  Of course, the turmoil is a result of the evil teaching and practice of a religion which belongs on the ash heap of history along with the Aztec, the Carthaginian, and the Canaanite religions, which it more and more resembles.  Of course, this is NOT a responsibility of governments, but of individuals and churches.  So of course the State Department is incompetent and ineffectual in dealing with it.

Mama’s Note: So, how would that work? I’m just trying to understand how individuals and churches can “deal with” Islam without violating the non aggression principle. Seems to me that leaving them alone, and preparing to defend ourselves at need, is a far better plan.

Islamic wars: Persian front/actions
U.S. Finds ‘Marked Resurgence’ of Iranian Sponsorship of Terrorism
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: The terrorism and turmoil I discussed above is NOT limited just to Arab portions of the Ummah (the Muslim “world”):  the johnny-come-latelies in Persia who want to take over leadership of the Ummah are just one of several groups who are willing to kill and torture and threaten and destroy to force people to follow their way of political and religious thinking.  Of course, in this, they aren’t much different from the western governments they are fighting.

Stupid people – War on some religions
Ohio State President: ‘You Just Can’t Trust Those D**n Catholics’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Sounds like the kind of thing said back in the early 1800s, when the Pope was considered an evil foreign potentate.  But you wanna bet that the OSU administration, faculty, and student senate want to get the UK out of Northern Ireland?  And would never ever think of making a comment like this about Muslims?

Culture wars: homosexual activism
ExxonMobil Shareholders Again Refuse Special Protection for Homosexual Employees
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Oy veh!  What a bunch of redneck haters!  Never mind that these people, as private persons, have a God-given (and constitutionally-recognized) right to associate and NOT associate with whomever.  They are, in the eyes of an unholy alliance of homosexuals, environists, and various socialists, an evil corporation that must be destroyed – or at the least forced to do what others demand.  Funny, I am not aware of ANYone FORCED to buy from ExxonMobil, much less WORK for them or own their shares, but that no longer matters in our decaying society.

Hoploclasts and Hoplophobes
California Senate Approves Background Checks, Permits and Fees for Ammunition Purchases
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: WOW, what a tremendous business opportunity for hundreds or thousands of people:  not just street gangs and biker gangs (though I expect the biker gangs will really profit from this) but for everyday people.  Got relatives in California?  Ask them to work with you to visit back and forth and set up transportation.  I am sure small ads posted on bulletin boards in bars and truckstops will work:  “Hunter?  We can help keep you supplied.  Call (555)555-5555 today.  Best prices for great Wyoming and South Dakota products”  Talk to the folks that do this already with fireworks.

Culture wars: killing babies? – The Nanny State
Sebelius to Class of ’13: Good News, Obamacare Gives You Free Birth Control
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: What a charming thing to tell the graduates.  And how vital!  No jobs – thanks to government.  No freedom of speech or self defense – thanks to government.  No privacy or medical choice – thanks to government.  But free birth control (and free abortion, as soon as they can slide it under the table) – thanks to government.

Our right of self-defense
Veteran charged with unlawful gun use for defending himself
(The Last Resistance) (opinion)

Nathan: A great, sarcastic article worth sharing with folks.

Theft by government
Gov’t Spending $32M on Housing for 1,300 AIDS Patients: Average $24,874 Each
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: A month:  apparently, we DO have more than one kind of nobility in this country.  All you have to do (like about 95% of AIDS victims) is indulge in behaviors that are immoral, that you have been warned about for decades, and that are easily preventable.  Then you come up positive and get all this stuff for the rest of your life (admittedly, a shorter life than otherwise unless you were one of the 40,000 Americans who died on the highways, or the 100,000 or so who die in other kinds of accidents, or the “10 million or so” who are killed by guns each year (exaggeration for effect here, folks)).

Mama’s Note: I put that “ten million or so” into quotes there to keep our readers from going into respiratory or cardiac arrest – just in case they might not make it to your disclaimer!

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Libertarian News & Commentary #13-21C: Truth, lies, and government “facts”

Posted on 2013-05-31 by TPOL Nathan

Crash of 2009
Stock Prices: The Fed Is Manipulating the Numbers
(American Enterprise Institute) Three rounds of quantitative easing by the Federal Reserve have produced record-high stock prices, but real economic growth still remains below the levels expected in an economic recovery…

Nathan: I have long suspected this, as I watch new records reached by the market almost every day.  This analysis seems to confirm part of my suspicions; I still believe that inflation is the other major factor.  We have a sick economy, and the stock market prices just hide the truth.

Mama’s Note: Trying to gauge the economic health by the stock market numbers is pretty much like trusting your future and fortune to the odds given at a race track. If small businesses can’t hire workers because of tax and regulation burdens, it doesn’t matter a bit what “Wall Street” is doing. Too many people are treating an ever increasing debt and dependency ratio as some kind of “growth.”

The Abominable Act
Will Unions Be the Death of ObamaCare?
(AP) Last month, the union representing roofers issued a statement calling for “repeal or complete reform” of the Affordable Care Act…

Nathan: Really?  I suspect that they want MORE: a full single-payer, single-provider socialist system. Not that we are all that far from such a thing now.  Nice as it would be to believe that even unions are deciding that “enough is enough,” …

Islamic wars: Afghan front
Afghanistan: Suicide bombers’ attack on Red Cross is war’s first
(Columbus Dispatch)  “In a shock to humanitarian aid workers, suicide bombers in eastern Afghanistan yesterday assaulted the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross, an organization that has worked in the country for more than 30 years without suffering a concerted attack and has received praise from all sides. Security forces managed to evacuate all seven Western employees working in the Jalalabad compound, with only one injured, the provincial police said. One guard was killed and another wounded when one of the attackers blew himself up at the entrance to the compound, which caught fire after the blast. The other two attackers also died in the assault.” (05/30/13)

Nathan: Why?  A few nutcases?  An excuse for a personal vendetta?  An escalation?  Whatever the reason, it shows that it is likely that Afghanistan is a hopeless case and nothing in the past decade-plus has resulted in any long-term improvement.  It is a beautiful land, wealthy in many ways, and those people who do not try to enslave others (partially or fully, directly or indirectly) and aggress against others, and who try to live in peace, are nice and productive:  unfortunately, most Afghanis are corrupted by their religion and tribalism.  But it seems to be impossible to drain the swamp, given the political limits on the West and the West’s refusal to offer a true alternative to Afghani religion and society.

Mama’s Note: What does “the West” have to do with whatever alternative the Afghan people might make? The only obligation anyone has to them or anyone else is to leave them alone to live as they please – only defending ourselves against aggression. If some folks want to attempt to teach the Afghans about self ownership and personal responsibility…. they can go as missionaries.

Home front – Theft by government
72,600,000: Record Number on Medicaid; Outnumbers Populations of France and UK
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Coupled with the news about disability numbers (which this dwarfs, of course), this shows that we are a “gimme nation” indeed.  300 million of us, so one out of 5 or worse are getting medical care using money stolen by the state.  Meanwhile, the hospitals and other medical care industry members have become lying parasites living off the state: padding bills and then “writing” the padded bills off so that they qualify for more direct payments and show net losses even while their administrators and providers rake in big bucks.

Mama’s Note: If you want a good understanding of the whole issue, this is an excellent source. Dr. Keith Smith truly knows what he’s talking about. He’s showing other doctors and even some hospitals how freedom, the free market and medicine make a wonderful combination.

Islamic wars: Arab street revolt
Sunni Extremists Call for Jihad Against Shi’ites Over Syria
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Forgive me if I am being cruel and judgmental by saying, “Good.”  Let them wage war on and kill each other.  This won’t be the first time, by a millennium and a half or so.  Muslims started killing each other (as well as all those around them) before their Prophet even died.  If they are killing each other, whether in Mesopotamia or Libya or Afghanistan or Pakistan or Syria, they have less time and energy to kill ferengi.

Home front – Border jumpers – Theft on government
Giving Illegals Access to Welfare ‘An Assault on the U.S. Taxpayer,’ Researcher Says
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Giving ANYONE “access to welfare” is an assault on the American taxpayer.  Theft is theft, regardless of what the money is spent for.  If we truly want to have open borders, we need to jettison the entire welfare system.

Mama’s Note: Amen to that, along with all of the things that damage or destroy the free market, and therefore our lives and property.

Islamic wars: South Asian front
Pakistan Complains About U.S. Drone Strike That Killed Terrorist It Had Targeted in 2009
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course, this is standard Islamic belief, as seen by the call to jihad in Syria.  “I can kill my brother, but if YOU kill my brother, then that is evil and I will kill you for killing the same person I would have killed if I weren’t so incompetent and stupid.”  Pakistan is, at best, a pretend ally of the West, including the United States. Again, let them fight each other, and stop supporting – or attacking – ANY faction of Muslims.  Enough is enough.

New religions: global warming – Arrogant government
New Energy Secretary on Climate Change: ‘I’m Not Here to Debate What’s Not Debatable’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Tactic #233 of the “Big Lie.”  “The truth was decided already, so shut up.”  This is one reason that the “scientific establishment” is nothing but another form of tyranny, trying to control what we say and write and read and hear.

Theft by government – EPA tyranny
Wal-Mart to Pay $81 Million Settlement for What EPA Calls ‘Environmental Crimes’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Squeezing another golden egg out of the goose, eh?  The EPA smells like the IRS, doesn’t it?  End the IRS.  End the EPA.  End the Fed.

Mama’s Note: I read somewhere (can’t remember now) that the EPA is headed for their own scandal. Just as with the Muslim radicals, it would be nice if all of the alphabet soup gangs got into a big war and eliminated each other…

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Libertarian News & Commentary, #13-21B: Society and its collapse, American style

Posted on 2013-05-30 by TPOL Nathan

Society, at least at this time here in America, is fragile and fragmenting in many different ways.  Even the more stable and (relatively) more free states are showing the signs of decay.  This both due to the ease of travel: a gangbanger from San Diego or Chicago can be in Cody or Lewistown or Minot within a day or two; and due to the corrosive influence of the education system and mainstream media and the trash they serve up on broadcast and cable television and in the classrooms, it isn’t going to get better. Too many parents refused to accept the responsibility of raising their children right, and THEIR children don’t have the foggiest idea of what to do.  So the third (and fourth) generations are feral: no longer civilized except by a vague fear of being caught doing something that will get them in trouble.  As several stories point out today.

Self-Defense – Society
Clark, Wyo., struggles to cope with triple homicide
(Casper Tribune) Stephen Hammer, 18, and Tanner Vanpelt, 19, will be arraigned Wednesday in Park County District Court. The men are charged with 11 felony counts each, including murder. If convicted, they could face the death penalty. Park County did not have a homicide between 2001 and 2012, … the talk recently was of a shattered sense of security. Residents are now locking their doors; they never did before. “Guarantee if they weren’t packing before, they are now,” said Darren Torczon, a volunteer firefighter in Clark.

Mama’s Note: Indeed… it can happen anywhere. Wyoming response? Carry a gun.

Nathan: I don’t think ANY county in Wyoming, not even Albany, would respond much differently.  The reasons behind the killings are what worry and puzzle me (and I’m sure, others). And the age of the killers bothers me: is that generation so bloodthirsty?  Or is society collapsing so rapidly that we can expect more and more?

Mama’s Note: I’ve been saying for at least a year or two that younger and younger children are committing the most heinous of crimes. The 11 year old who murdered a woman three years ago is a chilling example. It’s possible they just didn’t often get into the news before, but I fear you are right and that these youngsters have become feral killers without conscience.

One of the remote, but increasingly real nightmares for those of us who carry a gun for self defense is being confronted with any young person, but especially a child. I would not want to have to shoot anyone, but I can only imagine the horror of being forced to shoot a child for any reason… and many could not do so. Not to mention the media circus and horrible aftermath, no matter how justified.

Government-run, tax-funded schools
Teacher disciplined for telling students of their constitutional rights
(Townhall via “The Last Resistance”)“An Illinois Social Studies teacher faces disciplinary action for reminding his students of their Fifth Amendment rights when filling out a school survey on behavior…John Dryden was collecting the surveys before class when he noticed the students’ names were printed on them. He looked to see what was being asked and noticed questions about alcohol and drug use…Dryden told his students that they had a Constitutional right to not incriminate themselves by answering questions on the survey.”

Nathan: The good news is that this is basically being reported by a religious webzine, which you would expect to have a kneejerk reaction against anything that might involve recreational drugs.  The bad news: that educrats are increasingly taking away the “First Amendment” rights of students AND faculty, just as “Second Amendment” and “Fifth Amendment” rights have been stolen.  These schools are great for teaching all about permissive sex and drugs (including alcohol but NOT tobacco, right?), but forget about teaching about liberty, freedom, and personal responsibility.  Parents, get your children OUT!

Home front
Record 10,978,040 Now on Disability; ‘Disability’ Would Be 8th Most Populous State
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is not a reason to deny disability compensation to those who are truly disabled: who have been injured in work or on duty or in accidents and who have legitimate problems.  But increasingly, we see the “disability” amounting to some mental diagnosis which could not be supported by true science, or exaggerating a condition which is a natural part of growing old, or which is not truly disabling.  At the same time, we need to be careful to remember that this is only about 3 percent of the nation’s population: so it may be a “crisis” that is NOT one.  Who benefits from such a crisis?  The government bureaucrats who are given power to “benefit” the disabled, of course.  And so they promote MORE disability and greater dependency on the state by the disabled.  No need to worry about getting work – everyone else will take care of them?  Again, how society has fallen.

Mama’s Note: Disability is a potential problem for everyone, and must be provided for by personal savings, insurance and community charity just like anything else. NOTHING justifies the use of stolen goods to support the “disabled,” no matter how genuine their situation. And, without the general theft and climate of dependence, truly disabled people would be rare as hen’s teeth.

The “messiah’s” minions – Border jumpers (2 stories)
Biden Tells Trinidad and Tobago: ’11 Million Undocumented’ in U.S. ‘Required to Constantly Live in Fear’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Fear of what?  Being sent home?  Being denied more benefits?  Not with this administration, not with this Congress.  The “documented” have far more to fear, as do those born and raised in this nation – not just from the government but from too many of these people who figure that everyone owes them a free ride.

DHS Can’t Locate 266 Illegal Overstays that ‘Pose National Security’ Risks
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Not even THESE people seem to live in much fear of – you know – getting caught, maybe?  Instead, the FBI wastes time with sting operations to suck stupid, immature, and emotionally unstable teens into enlisting in Al Queda.  And DHS is more concerned with playing bodyguard for federal officials who have to go talk to people – especially in rural areas that are targets for the Great American Commons.  Biden, on the other hand, is more concerned about the fear that border-jumpers have and obviously does not care about the fear that the people he is supposed to serve may have.

Not self-defense
Texas: Employee’s husband shoots man who allegedly held up check-cashing store
(Click2Houston)  “A suspected robber who tried to hold up an ACE Cash Express in north Houston is in the hospital after he was shot by the husband of one of the store’s employees. … Officials said two suspects entered the business through a hole in the roof and waited for employees to show up for work Monday morning. Police said an employee came face to face with two men with bandanas over their faces. They were wearing all back [sic]and holding guns. They told her to open the safe, but she could not, officials said. ‘Luckily for her another employee was waiting outside,’ said Sgt. Fernandez. ‘They spooked the suspects and they took off running.’ Police said the employee’s husband, who was a concealed handgun license holder, was with her. He took off after the men and pointed his gun, pulling the trigger and shooting one of the suspects in the arm. He held him down until police arrived.” (05/27/13)

Nathan: First off, this is NOT self-defense.  The threat was over, no one was in danger any more.  The crime had been averted.  Second, where was their situational awareness?  If he was with her when she was accosted, why did he not take action to protect her then?  Lack of awareness, or lack of training, or just being a coward?  By the way, does anyone else have a problem with the poor quality of writing of this story?  Or do readers really need to have explained the actions of pointing a gun and pulling a trigger?

Mama’s Note: Indeed… poor writing, poor reporting, NOT self defense, and so much more. BUT, it is good to see this kind of story reported even so, and more and more stories of armed self defense that is justified. You take the bitter with the sweet sometimes.

Posted in Commentary on the News | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment