Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-32A: America’s King Cannot Be Mocked

Posted on 2013-08-14 by TPOL Nathan

The “messiah” – Enemies list
Rodeo clown mocks Obama at Missouri State Fair – CNN.com
(CNN) A rodeo stunt at the Missouri State Fair has come under criticism after a clown donned a Barack Obama mask and stuck on a broom that …

Nathan: The thug that claims to rule this nation dare not be mocked:  his skin color and part of his ancestry make him sacrosanct, like some Roman god-emperor or some absolute French monarch.  And we must do NOTHING but bow down before him – a demand accepted and enforced even by those who claim to be his political enemies, like the GOP administration in Missouri who accepted the ban of this rodeo clown FOR LIFE.  There is no free speech at the Missouri State Fair – and don’t you forget it!

Self-defense
Raleigh resident shoots, kills armed intruder
(Guns.com) he told the dispatcher that a man had broken into his apartment and held a handgun to his face. However, Bellamy was able to pull his own gun and shot the intruder,

Mama’s Note: Ok, good for him. But I’d like to watch a video of this as it took place. I’m wondering how in the world the man could draw and fire a gun effectively, without getting shot himself, if the intruder was holding a gun to his face!! It either misfired, or the intruder simply didn’t pull the trigger for one reason or another.

Nathan: I had training years ago, on how to fight someone who is stupid enough to stick a gun in your face at close range (one reason that if you have to hold someone at gun point, it needs to be (a) out of arms reach if possible, and (b) from the side or back, NOT directly in front. It was part of SERE (Survival, Escape, Resistance and Evasion) training done back in the late 1970s.  So it IS possible, but it obviously is a great risk:  the key thing is to knock the weapon and weapon hand UP and to the side, not down, and while making eye contact and doing something to distract the person’s attention.  It is not the same as the technique used with someone threatening you with a knife. Just a quick check shows a lot of garbage and nonsense on line about doing something like this.  But most DO agree that training is needed.

Mama’s Note: Yes, but there is no indication this is what he did. Instead, the “report” merely states that he got his gun and shot the guy. If he could knock the other weapon aside while he drew, I can see it. And yes, I suspect one would have to train rather well to accomplish it. I’m not sure I could even forcefully LIFT my arm in such a terrifying situation. Hope I never have to find out.

One of the things I stress in my self defense classes is the idea that one should NEVER allow an attacker to get to within arms length for any reason if at all possible. And the thing that has been drummed into me, over and over in my own training, is that if my attacker has a knife, I WILL be cut… no matter what I do or how fast I can draw. The trick then is to minimize the damage if possible.

Women, and especially older women, simply do not have the arm and upper body strength to be very successful at this sort of defense – however long they train. The discussion of situational awareness takes on new meaning once we get to talking about what a man can do to a woman once he gets his hands on her… armed or not.

Abominable Act (ObummerCare)
Does Obama need OprahCare?
(The Hill by Elise Viebeck)  Could Oprah sell ObamaCare to America?

Mama’s Note: This woman is very dangerous to freedom… She’s got all the money she could ever use… so if she gets a taste for political power, she could really screw things up even worse. sigh.

Nathan: Oprah and her cult-worshippers have already done a lot to sell the “messiah” and Tranzi policies to the nation, and her following seems to be growing, as witness the brohaha about a Swiss sales clerk not wanting to show her a $40,000 purse.  She is part of the “circuses” part of bread and circuses, and is probably responsible for knocking several points off the average national IQ just by herself.

Mama’s Note: Something really squirrelly with this story. You know Oprah didn’t walk in there looking like a bag lady. I can’t imagine any clerk who would take the slightest chance of offending someone who offered to buy a “purse” for the price of a very nice new car.

Homeland Defense
Air Force nuclear missile unit fails safety & security test
(TheBlaze.com) An Air Force nuclear missile unit failed a safety and security inspection this week, the second wing of its kind to stumble on tests this year. The latest involves the 341st Missile Wing at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, which operates about a third of the 450 Minuteman III nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles, according to an Air Force statement. The wing received an “unsatisfactory rating” after making “tactical level errors” during one of several exercises conducted as part of the inspection.

Nathan: Contacts with current and retired friends in the Air Force tell me that this is the tip of the iceberg. Training and morale are nosediving, and political issues are working to tear things down still further.  People are hoping desperately to retire or find a way to make a living and get out.  And distrust of Congress and the Pentagon and its bosses (in the “messiah’s” administration) is climbing higher than ever.  Meanwhile, the senior command are smelling and looking more and more like the “messiah” and his sycophants.  Each service has its different troubles, but it is the Air Force and the Submarine Service that have the wherewithal to really mess things up, because of the nukes.

Islamic wars: Arab Street revolt
Egypt: Junta’s forces launch deadly crackdown against Morsi camps
(CBC News)”Egyptian security forces, backed by armored cars and bulldozers, swept in Wednesday to clear two sit-in camps of supporters of the country’s ousted president Mohammed Morsi, showering protesters with tear gas as the sound of gunfire rang out at both sites. At least three members of the security forces were confirmed to have died during the morning crackdown in Cairo, while the Health Ministry said nine protesters were killed and over 80 were injured.” (08/14/13)

Nathan:  The next scene opens in this current act.  Egypt’s cesspool is again exposed to the world.  The entire world needs to get OUT of Egypt and let them tear themselves apart.  Maybe once it has been reduced to smoking ruins, it will be safe to try and do something.  Egypt has always been a mess, and centuries of attempts by the Turks, the Brits, and even the French (briefly) have never succeeded: the Egyptians are their own worst enemies.  Enough is enough.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-31C: Stupid people

Posted on 2013-08-12 by TPOL Nathan

Guest commentary, from the ever-wonderful Carl B:

Your Tax Dollars At Work ON Vacation
First dog Bo is airlifted to Obama holiday home
(The Telegraph)

Carl: Bo, the president’s Portuguese Water Dog, arrived separately on one of two MV-22 Ospreys, a hybrid aircraft which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane. Arriving in the idyllic coastal retreat of Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, Mr Obama left him behind in Washington DC.

It was a national security issue. Couldn’t put him on the same plane as Michelle. You know how dogs fight.

Nathan: I wonder how many attendants the First Dog needs. After all, you have to keep up appearances.  Wonderful how the occupant of 1600 PA behaves just like his predecessors:  Tiberius, Caligula, Nero, Louis XIV, Charles II, and so forth.  Might be better if we had a “legitimate” royal family: at least in the British model, they are expected to pay part of their own way. But we Americans are too stupid to do something like that.

Stupid people – NOT Self-defense
Memphis cookie store owner in hot water after firing at robbers who took off with his cash
(Guns.com) A small business owner may find himself in a legal battle after shooting at three men who robbed his cookie store inside a Memphis mall on Wednesday, local media reported. The three men took off with $45, but not before the store owner chased them out and fired several shots from his 9mm, and in turn put him in the hot seat as he violated the mall’s no firearms policy.

Mama’s Note: First problem is shooting at fleeing criminals. Dumb, and pointless in most cases. Not self defense. Second, why in the world would he want to have his business in a place that forbids self defense? The crime rate is climbing there? No kidding.

Nathan: Third, $45 isn’t worth the risk of shooting up someone ELSE’s business or hitting a bystander, especially when he was stupid enough to work where he did.  And the Memphis crime rate IS climbing: the blacker and more liberal the city becomes, the greater the crime rate is.  Although “white America” is blamed for it, 90% of black people who are murdered (2012 data), are murdered by other black people.  The percentage of whites (including Anglos and Hispanics and Europeans) and other ethnic groups – except AmerInd – which are murdered by their own ethnic group is much lower: in large part because many of them are murdered by – you guessed it, blacks.  It appears at a quick glance that not just murder, but MANY crimes against black people – and especially black business owners and employees – are committed by blacks.

Of course, this isn’t really black people’s fault, is it?  Aren’t they forced to do that, because all white people do is enslave them and hate them and attack them?  Well, actually, it IS black people’s fault:  I suppose there are a few Fagans out there, but nobody forces the typical black gangbanger to go out and hold up a convenience store or mug someone, or go gun down a brother or some poor child by shooting up their house.  Far from it.  So yes, I blame the man (or woman) who commits the crime, NOT some “sick society” or some pre-1865 slaveholder or even some pre-1965 KKK or Dixiecrat.

Mama’s Note: “…$45. isn’t worth the risk…” What does the dollar amount have to do with it? NO amount of money is worth seriously endangering innocent bystanders with uncontrolled shooting at a fleeing thief. The answer, of course, is for the gun owner to be well armed, well trained and conscious of the difference between self defense and committing careless aggression. All of which is moot if one chooses to do business in a place that prohibits either the gun or self defense itself.

OPINION:  Lovers of Liberty
Voluntaryism Revisited
(Wendy McElroy via Freedom’s Phoenix) “As Voluntaryists, we reject the Libertarian Party on the same level and for the same reason we reject any other political party…”

Nathan: That is fine, and I wholeheartedly support their choice to do so.  Voluntaryists (and those who may not accept the title but share the idea) do not agree with those lovers of liberty who DO work in and with the Libertarian Party – even some who are free-market anarchists, and not just minarchists, too.  Again, that is fine.  But there are too many (Wendy is NOT one of them, I think) who want to become little political cops, and attempt to intimidate people they don’t agree with – but ONLY inside the “libertarian community.”  They do not practice what they preach, and this (surprisingly) makes me very frustrated and even angry.  Consistency is critical, whether it is in the “political” realm or is “anti-political.”

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-31B: Stupid government and Islamic war and Stupid Americans

Posted on 2013-08-11 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government – Islamic wars: worldwide actions
‘Credible’ Terror Threat: List of US Embassy Closures Now Includes Some in Sub-Saharan Africa
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Monday was, of course, the day that World War Three started with massive, bloody attacks on two dozen US embassies across the Islamic world, resulting in hundreds of American deaths and tens of thousands of local native deaths, followed on Tuesday by MORE attacks against soft American targets in the Homeland… NOT.  Once more, the net effect of supposed “credible” intelligence about threats to US outposts  seems to have been disruption of daily business and inconvenience and increased oppression of Americans and lots of other people.  The little boy has cried “wolf” once again.  Isn’t it time for a change?

Mama’s Note: Indeed, just like the nationwide bloodbath of racial conflict pushed by the media and threatened by a few others who like to cry “wolf.” Of COURSE there are wolves at the door, but they mostly wear police and SWAT uniforms.

Stupid government – Islamic wars: worldwide actions
Sen. Graham: U.S. Embassy Closures Show ‘We’ve Learned From Benghazi’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yes, it IS time for a change: time to get rid of people like this man and the next one, who rake in money directly and indirectly and dispense favors (power) and money stolen from the taxpayers.  The man (sadly) is not really an idiot, no matter how much he acts like one: his act is very much to his benefit and that of his family and friends.

Mama’s Note: No real difference between these two and all the rest of them. The only real change that would actually benefit the remnant of productive and self governing people in this country would be the elimination of all three branches of “government,” at every level.

Stupid government – Islamic wars: worldwide actions
Sen. Chambliss: ‘Most Serious Threat That I’ve Seen in the Last Several Years’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yeah, sure it is…  if you don’t care to do anything but believe in the garbage that the current administration feeds you.

Politics 2013
Limbaugh’s Favorite Republicans? Those Who Are ‘Fearless’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Well, we know that he pretty much HAS NO “Favorite Republicans” as even ones like Rand Paul have shown a wee bit too much fear of the “messiah” and the various agencies of the police state, now and then – even his father has shown that.  I don’t know if I really blame them, but they are NOT our friends or the people who will rescue us.

Stupid US tricks
$71M: Russia Triples Price to Fly U.S. Astronauts to Space Station
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Hey, when you are the only game in town, you charge what the market will bear: a lot, in this case.  Part of the collapse of the American Empire; the frontier of space has been surrendered to anyone who can.  This frankly stinks.

Mama’s Note: Or at least until there is private competition for the flights… But I suspect that will have to wait until the flights have some actual, practical purpose and some hope of an economic payback. The Russians are really dumb if they’re accepting payment in FRNs, or even worse, regular IOUs. 🙂

Self-defense
ILLINOIS: Woman fires at invader
(WIFR News) “A Rockford woman takes matters into her own hands after police say a burglar tried to break into her home. The incident happened just after 10 p.m. Sunday night …. Detectives say the woman pulled out a gun and shot toward the suspect while he was trying to get into her mobile home. Detectives say the man ended up running from the scene and remains on the loose.” (08/05/13)

Mama’s Note: Definitely a good thing for this lady, and I’m delighted she had a gun. Just sounds like too much lead being sprayed around. Doesn’t say how many shots fired. I suspect there are many more guns in Illinois than we even suspect. 🙂  Those 300+ million firearms have to be somewhere, and I sure don’t have them all. LOL

Nathan: Nor do I!  Or even my family, though we DO try.  The media still is stupid: the crack about “matters into her own hands” makes it sound like she refused police support or something.  The media was stupid, she was at least not stupid, just a bit excited.  Am I the only person who worries about a shot going wild or through someone and breaking something in my house or car?

Mama’s Note: Absolutely, you are not alone. When I talk to women about self defense, we take some real time to discuss the importance of good shot placement – both because it is the best way to stop the threat, and because an innocent bystander is far less apt to be harmed. We discuss the various size guns and ammunition, and how each might relate to those things. The best gun and caliber to carry or use is the largest one the shooter can reliably and consistently CONTROL – including shot placement, especially under stress. We even train under stress, just to make sure.

Opinion: Stupid government
Washington Thinks You Are Stupid
(Personal Liberty.com) There’s the old saying that if the government fears the people, there is liberty; but if the people fear the government, there is tyranny. The criminals in Washington not only do not fear us, they do not respect us. Washington looks upon Americans as stupid sheeple.

Nathan: Sadly, too many Americans ARE, which is one big reason that the government doesn’t fear us (in groups or individually) enough to keep a low profile and not do so many stupid things.  Still, this opinion piece has a lot of things to say – things that we should not need to hear and heed IF we got rid of this sick and evil institution called government.  But think how long it took to get rid of kings and how long it took to get rid of slavery (as well as how insidiously they sneak back when we aren’t looking): taxes and government will indeed eventually go away, but we are a long ways from it yet.

JUDGING

The following was received from a good friend, now “retired” and doing fishing and hunting guiding and running his family’s farm in Arkansas.  He makes a good point.

“We are told NOT to judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics.”

BUT…

We are encouraged TO judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics”

Nathan: The only people who are consistent in this matter are a very few libertarians who do NOT judge these two groups as groups, but as individuals.  The problem is not just the one Daryl talked about, but those who refuse to believe that a group (like Muslims, or cops, or attorneys) overall may be tainted so that many, most, or even the vast majority of them ARE threats to a larger or smaller degree. And that sometimes, the mere “membership” someone holds is reason to consider them dangerous:  Some members of the KKK may be very nice and loving; some Communists may be really great people who wouldn’t harm a fly or a human (I’ve met one of two of them), but that doesn’t mean it is reasonable to assume they all are.

Mama’s Note: Absolutely, Nathan. I’m careful to judge people as individuals, but part of that judgment is the company they keep and the values or principles their actions demonstrate. That those values or principles may be grounded in the culture or history of certain groups of people and may lead to an unfortunate judgment on my part sometimes, I can’t deny. But the alternative is to trust where no trust is earned, and that is not a good idea at all.

Luke 7:43
“A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.”

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-31A: Politics as usual, stinks

Posted on 2013-08-08 by TPOL Nathan

Goodness!  Did I really publish 9 different commentaries last week? My usual goal is to do five:  A through D and one “rant” but I appear to have exceeded my expectations, or my frustration at government.  So this week, I’m slow in posting, but here it is!

Abominable Act – Congress in action
Paul Ryan: ‘There Are More Effective Ways’ to End Obamacare Than Defunding–But Doesn’t Say What
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Yeah, but not necessarily palatable to most people:  “And it’s up against the wall, scumbag suckers…”  See Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:  “Voted most likely to be the first up against the wall…”

Mama’s Note: Oh, I can think of at least a dozen very effective things congress could do to eliminate Obummercare and so much more. Grow a spine and some balls, pass bills to repeal AND defund immoral and illegal “acts” of both president and congress, impeach the criminal in chief – and put him in a jail cell for life, along with all of his enablers and criminal minions. Of course this will never be “palatable” to most of those empowered to deal with it. There was only one member of the house who even proposed such things, and he never went far enough.

Congress in action
Rep. Holt: Conservatives’ ‘Psychological Disconnect’ Over Being Part of Government is Causing Gridlock
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Let them believe that; more and more people realize that it is just the opposite: the demand for more and more government, more and more spending, more and more taxes, and more and more control is what causes gridlock because people are getting sick and tired of it.

Mama’s Note: Gridlock is GOOD, especially when the action otherwise is evil. This idiot Holt is singing the same song the rapists and their apologists do… lay back, relax and enjoy the experience.

Islamic war – Stupid government
Carney: ‘No Question’ Al-Qaeda On the Run
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Consider the source – and ignore it.  The man is as big a crook as his boss.  And that is saying something.  Blame it on a lack of good parenting – good parents would have strangled this guy in his crib.

Theft by government -Stupid government
USDA Paid ‘Improper’ Subsidies to 1,799 Dead Farmers and Proper Ones to 28,613 Dead Farmers
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: As with voting, the dead CAN do well as far as government is concerned. One more handicap being overcome thanks to the FedGov.

Theft by government
USDA Assisting PBS Stations with $2.7 Million for Digital Conversion
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And speaking of the dead – Public Broadcasting IS dead – as dead as the Constitution.  It just hasn’t stopped moving yet.  Let us see how much more money can be wasted supporting this boondoggle.

The “messiah” – Lies and more lies
Obama Says Immigration Reform Would Boost Home Values
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: And whiten your teeth and freshen your smile!  Liar, liar.  You want to see what immigration – border jumpers who aren’t interested in coming to America to be free – does to home values?  Look at Detroit. folks.  Look at the border cities and look in the barrios and colonia.

Mama’s Note: The immigration status of the people in those areas is not the only problem, by any means. Something about a lack of a free market and freedom in general certainly comes to mind. Without the insane non-voluntary government, those who didn’t want to be free — well, they probably wouldn’t come, or at least they wouldn’t stay.

The nanny state – Stupid government
Gov’t Advisory Group Recommends Community-Level Obesity Watch
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: One more role for your local nanny-police state.  Another excuse for daily surveillance.  “Oh, look, Mrs. Jones must have put on another five pounds, look how she’s waddling across the intersection.  See how much heavier she looks than she did last month on the cameras? Tell Officer Smith he needs to issue her another fat ticket, pronto.  And notify the health care budget boards that she is getting another downcheck.  Someone else can have that liver.”

Crash of 2009 – New technologies and stupid business
Single-Copy Magazine Sales Fall 10 Percent in First Half of 2013
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Duh.  Look at the store shelves and the internet, and you will know why.  For one thing, the prices of single copies are farther from subscription prices than ever.  For another, there are tens of thousands of magazines competing, each zooming in on narrower and narrower markets.  For a third, the cost of ink and slick paper is astronomical, so despite the high issue prices, they are barely getting by.  More and more supermarkets and big box stores (including the book store chains) are on the edge and cutting back.

Mama’s Note: Outside of sitting in a rare waiting room, I don’t think I’ve picked up a paper magazine in better than 20 years. I have not subscribed to one for at least 40 years. Used to write for a few, long ago, but I’ve had no interest in them since the internet became available. I can see and read just about anything I want, and don’t have to store the paper or figure out how to get rid of it.

Theft by government – Corruption and lies
Competing Tax Groups Praise, Pan Obama’s Corporate Tax Reform Plan
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: If you hear someone praising this piece of garbage, don’t turn your back on them – not if you carry your wallet in your back pocket.  And if you don’t wear some body armor on your back.  Bad enough that they steal from us, but the lies get worse and worse.

Mama’s Note: Just a pack of thugs arguing about who gets to rob the tourists…  But, increasingly, the tourists are getting wise.

Stupid people tricks
Slow-Roasted, Milled Crickets Pitched As ‘First Viable Solution’ to Global Food Crisis
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is majoring in minors and mistaking effects for causes.  The major problem that causes the “global food crisis” is government:  we have the ability to produce enough food for all of us, and could if (a) the markets were free, fair, and open, and (b) if taxations, regulations, and wars didn’t prevent farmers from growing and logisticians from transporting the food from willing sellers to willing buyers.

Mama’s Note: If anyone wishes to eat crickets or grasshoppers – slow roasted or otherwise – they are more than welcome to come up to my place and catch every one they can get their hands on. I’d be delighted to be rid of them. But I much prefer to eat beef and antelope myself, thanks.

Culture wars: killing babies – Mainstream media
Late-Term-Abortion Advocate Gets Standing Ovation at National Press Club
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Of course: it is called preaching to the choir.  These people have been taught that it is evil to bring life into the world, and that an unborn baby is a worthless lump of flesh, or worse, a parasite inside a woman’s body.  They are one step away from Canaanite infant sacrifice and Roman-Greek style exposure of newborns, they are monsters in human form.

Stupid politicians – Home front
National Gang Task Force in the Works
(Guns.com) CHICAGO — The Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Illinois raised the specter of Chicago gangster Al Capone on Monday in calling on the federal government to become more involved in fighting modern-day street gangs nationwide. Mark Kirk appeared with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani in Chicago, where both men endorsed legislation that would provide $20 million for a national anti-gang task force. The federal government should exert the same focus toward breaking up street gangs that it exerted in helping to bring down Capone nearly a century ago, said Kirk, who is running for President Barack Obama’s former Senate seat. Kirk faces Democrat Alexi Giannoulias and other candidates in November.

Mama’s Note: Why, of course. Everyone knows we need another alphabet soup gang of thugs roaming America looking for victims.

Nathan: Gagggghhh!

(1) If the FedGov exercised the “same focus” as they did against Al Capone, they’d cut current manpower and spending on feral “law enforcement” by about 98%.

(2) This NAGTF (Nag-tiff?) would be one more seed pod of a true national police force, or Fe(de)ral Law Enforcement Agency (FLEA) – joking aside, this is just a size-15 boot in the doorway.

(3) This is one more example of how the GOP tries to outdo the Democratic Party in catering to the various lobbies, especially the FOP and all the other cop and bureaucratic unions.

(4)  This man, Kirk, appears to be another liberal in “conservative” or middle-of-the-road sheepskin.

An interesting side note: Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office fired its ONLY “drug cop” for “misconduct” this week; they may or may not replace him.  Among other things, the local DA refused to use the guy’s testimony because he was so much in trouble…

Another interesting side note:  Al Capone may have gotten caught, tried, convicted, and imprisoned, but it was for “tax evasion” – and today, his spiritual successors RULE Chicago and suck the blood of the third largest city in America.  Raum Emmanuel has far more in common with Big Al than with an honest businessman or even a normal, typical, corrupt “civil servant.”

Local Tyranny
NYPD to purge stop-and-frisk database of names
(Chicago Tribune)”The New York City Police Department has agreed to purge a database of names and addresses of people stopped by police under the NYPD’s controversial stop-and-frisk program but later cleared of criminal wrongdoing. The department will scrub the information as part of a settlement ending a lawsuit filed in 2010 in state court by the New York Civil Liberties Union, which announced the agreement on Wednesday.” (08/07/13)

Mama’s Note: If you believe that, do you want to buy a bridge?

Nathan: Of course they will purge the database – AFTER they back it up in a half-dozen places.

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Home front – killing people in the big urban areas

Posted on 2013-08-04 by TPOL Nathan

Home front – Killing people
L.A., Chicago hold nation’s top slots — for murder: Report
(Washington Times)  Los Angeles leads the nation in the number of gun murders, according to a new report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The overall number of gun murders among the United States’ 50 most-populous metropolitan areas for 2009-2010, the most recent years for available data, are as follows:

1. Los Angeles: 1,141
2. Chicago: 1,139
3. New York: 1,101
4. Philadelphia: 729
5. Houston: 701

Mama’s Note: Typical newspeak. No criminals were involved in the “gun murders,” evidently, or the young folks “killed by guns.” Where do they get all these self shooting guns anyway?

Nathan: The Wizard provides them, I think.  Remember, the CDC (as good minions to the “messiah”) and the mainstream media both promote the idea that guns are inherently deadly, like botulism toxin or hydrogen sulfide. Worse the staffers in both are victims of their own fearmongering.  Of course, since this is the Times and not the Post, there is probably another reason: incompetence and lack of training and experience:  The Times is usually more balanced, but they still use the same journalism schools as the Mainstream Media. In this case, the underperforming writer seems to have taken the CDC press release and didn’t bother to do much with it (as usual).

Mama: Houston being fifth was a little surprise. I figured it would be New Orleans.

Nathan: Of course, after Katrina, a LOT of the thugs which N’Orleans has been inflicted with since Butler ruled the city went to Houston, so maybe that is why.  Of course, Houston is also a LOT bigger than modern N’Oleans.  As you found, the death rate is much lower for Houston.

Mama: What they don’t say in the article is how this was counted. The sheer number is misleading, since these places all have a large population. How many per 100,000? How many criminal on criminal? Are they counting the justifiable self defense homicides? Those are the kind of facts that make the numbers mean something, and I worry that their definition of “murder” is a little too fluid.

Nathan: As are numbers which show deaths other than “gun murders” – like knife stabbings and hit-and-run and such.  But those distract from the message AND would only be done by someone who is NOT incompetent.  And as even old, liberal, press retirees are willing to admit, the current crops of reporters and writers are unbelievably stupid and lacking in many traits normally associated with basic literacy.

The actual report does give the rate per 100,000. Interestingly:
New Orleans – 2009–2010 -449 (total) 19 (rate)
Chicago – 2009 – 2010 – 1,139 (total) 6.0 (rate)
Denver –  2009 – 2010 – 117 (total) 23 (rate)

Mama: The murder RATE is far higher in Denver than in Chicago, but the demographics are totally different too. Correlation is not causation.

Nathan: The major reason is definitely demographic.  Both Chicago and Denver are the core cities and have most (not all) of the inner city zones where murder is common.  But the City of Chicago has 5.2 million of  the 9.5 million people in Chicagoland (Greater Chicago) (60% or so), whereas the City and County of Denver has just 620 thousand of 2.6 million people in Metro Denver (not even 30%).  Looking at it that way, the Denver rate is well under the Chicago rate.

CNS News reports: “The Los Angeles, Chicago and New York metropolitan areas also ranked one, two and three for the number of young people, ages 10-19, who were killed by guns in 2009-2010, with 251 10-19 year olds being gunned down in Los Angeles, 213 in Chicago and 203 in New York.”

Nathan: Again, since these are the three largest cities and metroplexes in the United States, it is natural to have this the case, but note that Chicago is second in dead “children” while it is third in population.  And by a big margin; according to Wikipedia, Greater New York has 20 million, Ellay has 13 million, and Chicagoland has only 9.5 million.  The simple answer (for the media and the establishment, at least) is that New York is “civilized” whereas Chicago is ruled by mobsters, and LA is just psycho.  Of course, maybe it is just that Chicago children can duck more quickly.  Not that an 18 or 19 year old is a “child” anyway.  Again, the CDC picks the stats to push their agenda.

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Government terrorism: the animal “welfare” excuse

Posted on 2013-08-03 by TPOL Nathan

Stupid government – terrorism
Wisconsin: SWAT team gets baby deer
(World Net Daily) “It was like a SWAT team. Nine DNR agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth,” animal shelter employee Ray Schulze told WISN-TV. Two weeks ago, Schulze was working in the barn at the Society of St. Francis in Kenosha, Wis., when a swarm of squad cars screeched up and officers scrambled onto the property with a search warrant. Were they hunting down an armed robber or escaped prisoner? Conducting a drug raid? Incredibly, they were gunning for a 2-week-old baby fawn.

Nathan: Thanks to Scott for this one; I’d heard the story but hadn’t found a link.  The picture below shows A face of evil in 21st Century America: a callous, powermad woman who KNOWS that she is right and everyone else is wrong, and who will do her “duty” in as thuggish a way as possible.  Unfortunately, she has LOTS of thugs to do her dirty work: state-sponsored terrorism.  Sadly, this is what Claire’s SSS: Shoot, shovel, and shut-up, is all about:  but if you are running an animal shelter, you don’t expect to have to defend yourself against an armed invasion.  One other thought:  vile as this woman and her crew are, there is a special place in Hell for the “do-gooders” who ratted out the shelter.  They apparently have nothing better to do with their time:  may they spend an eternity being tortured by the likes of these thirteen business-invaders!

The woman who ordered the invasion

It is her kind that give a bad name to the 1 to 2 percent of game wardens who do a good job of managing wildlife and protecting the public.  The face of evil all too often has a smile, and loves small children (and sometimes, although not in this case, apparently, small animals). We must not be deceived.  Evil finds a natural home in government, especially in agencies like the “environmental protection” and “wildlife” divisions or operations, where their perversions and sense of power can be easily fed.  It is like the attraction of pyromaniacs to the fire service, except that this is NOT a healthy sublimation of their character “twists” – since fire crews seldom have the opportunity to abuse and tyrannize humans the way wardens and “environmental inspectors” do.  Other forms of this evil can be found in PETA (People for Ethical [sic] Treatment of Animals) and the Dumb Friends League and too much of the ASPCA.

This isn’t about the animal as much as it is about the people:  the animal (and its senseless, brutal killing) was and is an excuse for Niemeyer and the local sheriff to brutalize and tyrannize people: in this case the volunteers and the family that was concerned about an animal.  This incident also shows the “militarization” of the former peace officers of this nation.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-30F: Government dirty tricks

Posted on 2013-08-03 by TPOL Nathan

This week is a nightmare for the formerly united States of America, at least by standards of the last fifty years: by standards of the next fifty, we will no doubt think of these as the good old days.  Government and society and economy are all grinding slower and slower, and much is coming to a halt: except for the power of the courts, the military we jokingly call the police and law enforcement, and the Neronian court at 1600 PA.  Here are some comments on a few of the stories in the last 24 hours or so.

Self-defense – Government-ruined, theft-funded schools
Arkansas school district’s plan to arm teachers ruled illegal
(NBC News) A controversial program to arm teachers and school staff members in an Arkansas town was shot down Thursday as illegal under state law.

Mama’s Note: Wish I could write to these people and remind them of the real and lasting answer to this problem… get the children OUT of the “public schools” altogether.

Nathan: More and more, the various legislatures and courts are hemming in people:  I would fully expect this school to go ahead and violate the law – or (as we both hope) secede from the public school machine and go private.  These people seem to be serious. Serious enough to give up public welfare.

Stupid scientists – New religions: global warming
Rise in violence ‘linked to climate change’
(BBC News)

Mama’s Note: Whatever happened to everything being Bush’s fault? Naturally, the weather affects people… in all sorts of ways. I was out in 100 – 120 degree heat occasionally for many, many years and never once considered doing violence. And I don’t know anyone else there who did.  Violence usually has a personal motive, and environmental factors can influence behavior, but I seriously doubt it’s much more than coincidental.

Nathan: No, of course it couldn’t be coincidental!  We all know that violence is NOT caused by a lack of morality (or moral teaching), is NOT caused by following the example of their “betters” and “peers” and “leaders” who use violence in every possible way, and is NOT caused by years or decades or centuries of being taught hatred and “might makes right.”  Seriously, these people are grabbing at anything to justify global warming as an excuse for tyranny.

Stupid people – Political correctness
WA: Seattle idiot pols call for ban on “potentially offensive” language
(Fox News) “Government workers in the city of Seattle have been advised that the terms ‘citizen’ and ‘brown bag’ are potentially offensive and may no longer be used in official documents and discussions. KOMO-TV reports that the city’s Office of Civil Rights instructed city workers in a recent internal memo to avoid using the words because some may find them offensive. ‘Luckily, we’ve got options,’ Elliott Bronstein of the Office for Civil Rights wrote in the memo obtained by the station. ‘For ‘citizens,’ how about ‘residents?”” (08/02/13)

Nathan: Now, why would the word “citizen” be offensive?  “Citizen” is and has been a proud title for people to claim, all the way back to Roman times.  Although libertarians may dispute this word, that is clearly not the reason for the Office of Civil Rights to do so.  Is it, just maybe, because border jumpers and even – gasp – legal residents (with green cards, ya know?) are not “Citizens” and so it “demeans” them to be “non-Citizens” in official documents.  Frankly, I find the word “resident” offensive because it disregards the importance and honor of citizenship – why don’t they just go ahead and use more honest terms like “inmate” or “subject” or “slave of the state.”  This applies to anyone stupid enough or unfortunate enough to have to live in Seattle.  As for “brown bag” – the only reason I can think that would be “offensive” is because (“obviously”) only poor people have to bring their lunch to work or school and can’t afford a fancy lunch box.  I wonder what Sonic is going to do (assuming there any in Seattle: they might be too plebian for the elites of that city).

Mama’s Note: I remember going to school in 1955 with my lunch sandwich tied in a large (reusable, washable) handkerchief because both paper bags and lunch boxes were too expensive. Offensive? Why in the world should I have cared? Oh, and we didn’t know we were “poor.”

The Abominable Act – Congress in action
Congress to be exempted from ObamaCare
(Market Watch) The White House has approved a deal that will create a regulatory fix for members of Congress and their staff related to some of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act, according to media reports. Under the law… lawmakers and their aides were required to source health insurance “created” by the law or offered through one of its exchanges; and without the subsidies they currently have, the members of Congress would have faced thousands of dollars in additional premium payments each year… However, the Office of Personnel Management now plans to rule that the government can continue to make a contribution to the health-care premiums of the lawmakers and their staff, according to unnamed congressional sources and a White House official.

Debby: Well, we knew that was coming.

Nathan: Yes, but so blatantly?  This shows the kind of scum we have serving in Congress, and the incredible lowlifes that work for them.  It is not like Congress’s members don’t get a very handsome salary – one that has no mandatory furloughs and includes exceptionally generous pension and employee expense benefits, while allowing them to rake in money from the outside in stupendous amounts.  But no, they must have their cake and eat it, too, all at the expense of the taxpayers and businesses and customers who support the 1,000-pound albatross hanging around their necks.

Crash of 2009 – Scummy government lies (3 stories)
July: 988,000 ‘Discouraged’ Americans Concluded There Were No Jobs for Them
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: While we are told that the recovery is progressing and jobless rates are down, THIS bit of data explains why: more and more people giving up trying to work, instead staying on the dole or going underground.  Not least of which are the minorities, as the next story relates.

Unemployment Climbs to 9.4% Among Hispanics; Double What It Was 7 Years Ago; Never Below 9.0% Under Obama
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: It isn’t just Hispanics, of course: blacks, AmerInd, and so forth expose the lie that the economy is improving.  Wall Street is up?  Well, look at inflation; even though gold and silver prices are down or stable, try buying what you need at the store or the gas station and compare to 2009 or even 2012.  good luck!  We can find the lies in this next “story” (actually a piece of propaganda published by the FedGov).

THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION—JULY 2013 – Bureau of Labor …
(PDF file) In July, 2.4 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, little changed from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) These individuals were not in the labor force, wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months. They were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey. (See table A-16.) Among the marginally attached, there were 988,000 discouraged workers in July, up by 136,000 from a year earlier. (The data are not seasonally adjusted.) Discouraged workers are persons not currently looking for work because they believe no jobs are available for them. The remaining 1.4 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in July had not searched for work for reasons such as school attendance or family responsibilities. (See table A-16.)

Nathan: Don’t you LOVE the way they can tap dance around the truth?  And this doesn’t point out that black youth unemployment is over 40 percent.  Nor that employment on reservations is DROPPING like a stone, as more and more businesses go under.  And it doesn’t take into account dirty tricks like furloughing “civilian” National Guard and Reserve Technicians for 11 weeks – a 20% cut in their pay and benefits (although at least they will still have SOME income, as these technicians are also drill-attending members of the National Guard and various military Reserve, and will get paid for the four-hour drill they will still serve each week they are furloughed).  Meanwhile, the spending by DC keeps going up and up and up.

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-30E: Scummy government extreme

Posted on 2013-08-02 by TPOL Nathan

Once, years ago, I ran into a very obnoxious Sergeant Major (not my own unit’s but another unit which I was working with).  When I addressed him as “Top” (as in “Top Soldier,” a common familiar address by officers to the senior NCO in a unit), he was very upset:  “Scum,” he told me, “rises to the top.  Don’t call me that.”  Of course, I didn’t – he was obnoxious but he was competent and had his act together: if it bothered him, I would certainly be willing to avoid that term of familiarity.  We got along fine after that.

But his statement is true: scum DOES rise to the top of a waste water tank or septic tank or sewage lagoon.  And the world’s biggest and richest sewage lagoon in the second decade of the Twenty-first Century is located in the District of Criminals and (thanks to people like the late Robert KKK Byrd) about 100 miles around it.  And the scum DOES rise to the top, and has for decades.  Elected, appointed, military, civilian: don’t breath too deeply, or you will truly be sick to your stomach.  Maybe today’s stories aren’t the worst smelling, but they show the point.

Abominable Act – Scummy government
Liberal Activist: ‘Thousands of People Will Die Every Year’ Under Obamacare
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: But is that not one of the key objectives of the Abominable Act (I mean, after trashing the economy and giving government almost total power over a major sector of the economy)?  People, there IS an alternative to government paying for or providing health care:  letting people VOLUNTARILY buy and provide health services, in a FREE MARKET.  Even then, guess what – PEOPLE WILL DIE.  We ALL will die, sooner or later.  But by having this kind of evil ObummerCare regime, we will just die poorer, more quickly, and in more misery.

Stupid government – Theft by government
EPA to Spend $6 Million for ‘Sustainable and Healthy Tribes’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Never mind that the Indian Health Service, another government agency, has been “responsible” for the health (public and private) of the tribes for a century plus.  Obviously, the EPA doesn’t even consider other federal government agencies to be competent: they want to do it all.  And as you’d expect, they will prove to be as incompetent in this as in other things, and as other agencies are.

Congress in Action – Theft by government
Rubio: If Obama Vetoes CR, Blame Him for Resulting Government Shutdown
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This is FAR too sensible a thought to have originated with ANY member of Congress, especially with a Republican.  How can they again be the fall guy for the “messiah” if they actually do this?  And will their words of blame be heard over the noise of their kissing his shoes on everything else? Of course, we know this will NOT happen: the GOP will cave as usual, the government will continue to operate illegally, and the money will continue to be stolen and wasted.  No change, right?

The “messiah” – Stupid government
Obama: ‘Economy Would Be Much Better Off’ With More Government Workers
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: Ah, the useful idiot of all the wrong people shoots his mouth off again: getting to be more like his chief minion (you know, Uncle Joe) all the time.  It is so insane that so many people believe this sort of garbage, either because they are too stupid to understand or because they are so enamored of this evil monster.  Anyone recall Jim Jones?  At least he was a private-sector loonie, unlike what we have in DC these days.

War on some drugs – Scummy government
Wildlife Biologists: Illegal Pot Farms Wreaking Havoc on Endangered Species
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: One more reason to end the war on some drugs, is it not?  One more reason to wake up to the fact that government does NOTHING well except tyrannize and terrorize people.  Of course, with the scummy government we have today, this is just an excuse to crank up the war on some drugs even more – it’s for the flora and the fauna, after all.

Islamic wars: Thugocracy – War on religion
Harsh ‘Blasphemy’ Sentence as Saudi Arabia Continues to Evade US Religious Freedom Sanctions
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: when will people understand that the ONLY reason that the FedGov imposes “religious freedom sanction” is when it is an avowed enemy and NOT a false friendly nation like Saudi Arabia, run by a gang of thieves and slavers and religious fanatics, that is doing the “religious abuse.”  The Saudis KNOW that they control enough that the US has to dance to their tune on all but the most critical of matters.  Especially when they have a useful idiot like the “messiah” in office.  There is more similarity between the FedGov and the Saudi regime than most people can imagine or are willing to believe.

Home front – Congress in action
Sen. Cardin: ‘But For Racial Profiling…Trayvon Martin Would Be Alive Today’
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: This democrat from Maryland does not seem to agree with the Martin family attorney or reality.  Betcha he gets brownie points from his black constituents for speaking nonsense?  Martin isn’t dead because he was “racially profiled,” he is dead because he attacked a man who was armed and able to defend himself.  But that doesn’t matter to our Conscript Fathers these days.  Scummy is as scummy does:  any excuse to pander to the extremists and parasites.

War on some drugs
Uruguay: MPs back marijuana legalization bill
(BBC News)”Members of Uruguay’s House of Representatives have passed a bill to legalise marijuana. If it goes on to be approved by the Senate, Uruguay will become the first country to regulate the production, distribution and sale of marijuana. The measure is backed by the government of President Jose Mujica, who says it will remove profits from drug dealers and divert users from harder drugs. Under the bill, only the government would be allowed to sell marijuana.” [FND editor’s note: Half a loaf then; but still a good sign! – SAT] (08/01/13)

Nathan: Good news, sort of, but hardly accurate.  First, if I am recalling correctly, it would be the FOURTH country to do so; the Dutch (Netherlands) did it years ago, and Washington State and Colorado did it last year.  Secondly, even the Tranzi thugs in Colorado’s General Assembly and Washington’s legislature didn’t try and make it a government monopoly.  “Half a loaf,” really?  Maybe a couple of slices.  I wonder just how Uruguay will deal with the UN and the American FedGov if this DOES pass?

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #13-30D: Lies and more lies

Posted on 2013-08-02 by TPOL Nathan

Lies and more lies
The Government “Revises” 84 Years Of Economic History This Week
(Zero Hedge) Don’t like how high debt-to-GDP figures are? Revise ’em. Unhappy at the post-‘recovery’ growth rates? Revise ’em. Disappointed at the pace of economic improvement in the last decade or two compared to the rest of the world? Revise ’em. This week “we are essentially rewriting economic history” as the BEA is set to revise GDP data from as far back as 1929. The ‘adjustments’ to account for intangibles (that best known of micro- accounting fudge factors) and as we noted previously in great detail, will increase GDP by around $500 billion. Of course, these changes are defended aggressively (just as the hedonic adjustments to inflation calculations ‘make perfect sense’) as GDP will now reflect spending on research, development, and copyrights as investment – and reflect pension deficits for the first time (think of all that potential future GDP from massive pension deficits now). With Q2 GDP growth estimates set for a dismal 1.1%, expectations are for the short-term economic data to be revised upwards (and with any luck the great recession never happened at all).

Mama’s Note: Just in case you had any lingering trust in government studies, reports, or functions…

Nathan: The growing incompetence of government at ANY level is frighteningly obvious.  They seem to have gotten so arrogant that the various managers and administrators and politicians think that people will believe anything.  L. Frank Baum had it right, with his portrayal of the “Wizard” – or should we say “Forecast” instead?  The next story shows that even with the tinkering with history and facts, they STILL identify this period as an economic disaster.

The “messiah” – Crash of 2009
1%: Average Annual Economic Growth Under Obama
(CNSNews.com)

Nathan: So?  The “messiah” and anyone else sitting in the White House cannot make the economy GOOD, they can only make it BAD.  Especially when that seems to be the goal: to push us into crisis, to make more and more people dependent on the government for everything, to destroy families and communities and businesses.  I am sure that the Tranzis are as disappointed in this as conservatives are, because the Tranzis would hope (as in Europe) for a decline in the economy. And seriously, I cannot and do not believe this number in any way: the economy has contracted nationally, over the past four-plus years in this “recession” and the administration and government agencies have made up and changed and twisted numbers to try and pretend otherwise.  With VERY few exceptions (like North Dakota), things are MUCH worse off than five years ago.  And it is this administration and the FedGov that deserves blame, immediately followed by the PREVIOUS administration.

Mama’s Note: What most people seem to ignore or fail to see is that no measure of “growth” is necessarily an indication of HEALTH for either a living being or an economy. Cancers GROW, and grow fast, but that does not mean the body is healthy. Government theft, coercion, regulation and control are all serious and obvious signals that the body of our society is suffering from a terrible cancer, and that the condition will be terminal if there is no radical surgery soon.

Stupid politicians – World wide
Japanese Finance Minister angers more people
(The Diplomat) Taro Aso has done it again. This time, the terminally gaffe-prone deputy prime minister has invoked the ire of a New York City-based Jewish human rights group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, after suggesting that Japan could learn a thing or two from Nazi Germany when it comes constitutional reform. “First, mass media started to make noises about Japan’s proposed reforms, and then China and South Korea followed suit,” Aso said in a speech at a right-leaning think tank on Monday. “The German Weimar Constitution changed, without being noticed, to the Nazi German constitution. Why don’t we learn from their tactics?”

Nathan: This is like what he said several months ago, as far as outraging people:

“Heaven forbid if you are forced to live on when you want to die. I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that [treatment] was all being paid for by the government,” finance minister Taro Aso said during a meeting of the national council on social security reforms. “The problem won’t be solved unless you let them hurry up and die.” (Emphasis added.)

Aso’s remarks constitute a classic gaffe, defined by journalist Michael Kinsley as a mistake that occurs “when a politician tells the truth — some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.” (As befits such a gaffe, Aso was forced to backtrack; outright lying, on the other hand, seldom gets a politician into serious trouble.)

Nathan: Truth accidentally told by a politician, or just callousness?

Mama’s Note: This is an incredibly incoherent statement, unfortunately all too typical of our supposedly highly educated masters. But if I understand what he’s saying, it is the classic error that comes when people believe that if the government doesn’t build the roads, nobody will – or worse, that nobody CAN build them. Same with things like “the poor,” and “national defense,” of course.

Politicians telling the “truth” accidentally? I don’t know about that. They’d have to recognize and understand what was true in order to do that. So far, I’ve seen little sign of that.  Oh, and I wasn’t aware that Vice Pres. Biden had a Japanese brother…

Stupid government
Government Fiddles, Our Nation’s Forests Burn
(TownHall.com) Over the past two decades, timber harvests in the 155 national forests have plunged 80 percent from 12 billion board feet per year in the 1980s to less than 2.4 billion board feet per year, says H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow with the National Center for Policy Analysis…

Nathan: The destruction of the nation in a simple and easy-to-understand examination of just a small part.  Timber and lumber come now from Canada and Latin America, because government regulations and the cost of doing business in the US drove domestic producers out of business.  Even in the Black Hills, there are fewer trees cut and fewer and fewer sawmills – from 1990, I’ve seen the industry all but vanish.  It is very difficult for small businesses to get going, and meanwhile, every year, more and more trees burn and are lost completely, except as more air pollution and more damaged areas of our economy.

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Home front: Vicious tyranny and fear

Posted on 2013-08-01 by TPOL Nathan

Three stories came across my desktop in the last 24 hours that share a common theme a lot of people have spoken about.  It is not just the militarization of the police force that we must be aware of and take action against, it is the attitude and the actions of the police and the courts that we must be aware of and change.

That attitude has elements of superiority and paranoia (“us” versus “them”), but increasingly it is an attitude of FEAR on the part of the cops, the court officials, and the politicians for whom they work.  They FEAR the people, each of us from the most elderly to very nearly the youngest.  They fear us individually and they fear us in groups: families, churches, companies, crowds, and mobs.  And their fear drives their actions.  These three stories are perfect examples.

Home front: Vicious tyranny
Arizona Court: Cops can take your guns
(CBS News) A new Arizona court ruling says police can take temporary custody of a person’s gun for officer-safety reasons even if the person’s contact with police was voluntary.

Nathan: “Temporarily” of course.  This in Arizona where they assault the “wrong” house and kill an American Marine defending his family – by letting him bleed to death after they shot him full of lead.  Where cops beat people up because the lights on their bicycle aren’t working.  Where mayors use cops to intimidate their political opponents.  Sure, “temporary.”  Just until you are dead.  Of course, there is a reason that the cops “have” to take your gun, even if you are contacting THEM for “aid” (which is, of course, an increasingly stupid idea): they are afraid that you will hate them and fear them as much as they hate and fear you, and will take advantage of the slightest opportunity to kill them.

Home front: Vicious tyranny
California man claims he was attacked by LA cops for no lights on bike
(CBS Local, Los Angeles) A 34-year-old man is recovering Monday from several injuries he said he sustained from a violent encounter with Los Angeles Police Department officers late last week.

Nathan: The cops came to the scene seemingly loaded for bear: guns drawn, aggressive, hyped with fear and eager to ensure “officer safety” by attacking first.

There may be more to this story, but the photos are pretty gruesome, although we know that LAPD officers are incredibly careful to treat EVERY citizen (and especially EVERY border jumper) with proper respect, courtesy, and kid-gloves. (sarcasm here, folks!)  It appears that the cops aren’t even worrying about offering the slightest justification for viciously attacking anyone; their report was that the contact with this man was a “routine traffic stop” and didn’t even try to claim that he resisted them, talked back to them or anything else.  Of course, the Arizona case above just gives them more of an excuse: everyone knows that people who ride their bikes at night without lights are armed to the teeth (and probably Hells Angels).  And if they hadn’t beat the guy, he might have escaped like the next guy.

Home front: Vicious tyranny
Cops: Escaped Suspect Drives Home With Hands Cuffed Behind Back
(Breitbart, by Jon David Kahn 31 Jul 2013) BURIEN, Wash. – Police say a man in custody on suspicion of driving with a suspended license escaped from Burien District Court on Friday, and the proceeded to drive to his home in Renton with his hands cuffed behind his back.

Mama’s Note: Handcuffed for paperwork? A “suspended license?” Oh brother… I still can’t figure out how he drove that way. But why did he go home? Seems pretty obvious he’s no criminal, but then again, he doesn’t seem too bright either. Clever, I’ll grant you, but not too bright.

What IS it with the handcuffs? The same stupid knee jerk reaction to everything. Tiny children and elderly, even those in a coma… insane. It’s about humiliation and absolute control, not much else.

Nathan: Not only that, but apparently driving with a suspended license (or being suspected of it) now requires that you be taken into CUSTODY?

This ties in with the LAPD brutality.  It IS about control, but I think that humiliation is third because the way that cops are trained/indoctrinated (in POST [“Peace Officer Standards and Training”] and other training) to fear ANYone that they come in contact with.  They are taught and rehearsed to react as though EVERY person that they contact hates them and has both the means and desire to kill or injure them.  Yeah, it doesn’t matter whether it is a “routine traffic” stop or a kid “illegally” selling lemonade or someone whose neighbor complained because their dog pooped in the yard:  in the eyes of a “properly trained” cop, we are ALL vicious, psychopathic would-be homicidal maniacs.  It is the same reason that they want us disarmed.  Yeah, there is a minority (small minority of 49% or so) of cops who get off on humiliating and demeaning anyone that they can get away with humiliating, but the fear justifies the control.

And we are full-circle back to the Arizona case: the judges apparently have the same sort of training and fear that cops do:  every person appearing in front of them, whether accused or witnesses or even plaintiff is assumed to be a vicious evil would-be judge killer. Or cop killer, or both.

In many ways, it is the fear that drives even the militarization of the police:  there is safety in numbers, in the brotherhood of the gang, and of course, armor is a necessary “security blanket.”  They see that (unlike the 1970s) the military are both honored and feared, and therefore, they want the trappings in the hope that they will be honored, and therefore less likely to be targeted by the normal citizens.  Not only that, but they want to and do recruit as many veterans as possible, to get a little of the glow from them – but they also get the instincts honed in Mesopotamia and Afghanistan of treating everyone on the streets as an enemy.  An enemy to be feared.  It feeds on itself.

I don’t know what the solution is – but maybe the Founding Fathers had the answer: a prohibition on standing armies.  What ARE the police today but a standing army?  For every cop that actually does things like protect people and property or solve crimes, there are five or ten that “patrol” – the same thing as in Germany 1945-55 or Mesopotamia 2003-12.  They are an occupation force, and the way occupation forces (usually outnumbered 100 to 1) keep themselves safe is by fearing the population and keeping them under control.

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