Many Americans are waking up from their slumber and discovering the hangover of tyranny in the guise of safety.
Rob Schneider (@RobSchneider)
Tweeted on October 2, 2021
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Category Archives: Freedom
Quote of the day—Jennifer Granick
Trawling through Google’s search history database enables police to identify people merely based on what they might have been thinking about, for whatever reason, at some point in the past. This is a virtual dragnet through the public’s interests, beliefs, opinions, values and friendships, akin to mind reading powered by the Google time machine. This never-before-possible technique threatens First Amendment interests and will inevitably sweep up innocent people, especially if the keyword terms are not unique and the time frame not precise. To make matters worse, police are currently doing this in secret, which insulates the practice from public debate and regulation.
Jennifer Granick
Surveillance and cybersecurity counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Exclusive: Government Secretly Orders Google To Identify Anyone Who Has Searched A Name, Address And Telephone Number
[As I have mentioned before I’ve been impressed with Granick on Internet freedom issues.
Avoid the use of Google. They are evil. Use DuckDuckGo or something similar, use a privacy window in your browser and consider using a VPN such as Private Internet ACCESS.—Joe]
Ugly behavior
Via email from Chet who says, “The crack down/revolt is just beginning”:
Education leaders decry ‘ugly’ behavior by attendees at Washington state school board meetings
It wasn’t their mask mandate to make, but school officials are getting the heat all the same.
…
To reduce the chances for these types of conflicts, some school districts have resorted to calling the police preemptively to monitor meetings, Aune said, or moved their meetings online. The Seattle School Board, seeing cases arise across the state and country, brought on extra security to monitor in-person meetings and escort staff back to their cars over the summer, said Chandra Hampson, the board’s president. To make sure there was enough security at schools when the year began, the board briefly returned to remote sessions. Meetings will resume in person later this month.
Across the country, there have been similar displays, prompting the National Association of School Boards to call for the involvement of the FBI, the Department of Justice and other law enforcement authorities.
While I think a lot of the “facts” quoted by the anti-vax and anti-mask people are taken out of context and/or distorted the politicians believing they have the legitimate power to shut down the economy and force people to accept injections get zero support from me. In fact, I’m sometimes cheering on those opposing the politicians even though I think the opposition is for the wrong reasons.
We live in interesting times. The “ugly behavior” is likely to get uglier on all sides. Prepare appropriately.
Temporary safety versus essential liberty
Quote of the day—Jim Bovard
The FBI’s power and federal legitimacy are far more tenuous than Washington recognizes. Beyond the nation’s big cities and the coastlines, federal authority hinges largely on the consent of local citizens. Once that consent vanishes, FBI agents are left to sit in their cars eating their lunches all by themselves. But plenty of pundits and congressmen still clamor for the government to confiscate everyone’s guns or forcibly inject their children. If the feds came in and started shooting mountain men who refused to surrender their firearms, they would likely quickly find themselves in a worse plight than Custer at the Little Big Horn.
Jim Bovard
September 27, 2021
He Thought I Was an Undercover Fed
[Consent of the governed is a concept in our country’s founding documents. With a nearly $30 Trillion debt, incredible overreach of the U.S. Constitution’s limits, and blatant violation of our specific enumerated rights, it is long past time to revoke consent.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Jefferson Mack
LEADERS ARE NOT TO BE TRUSTED AND FOLLOWED, THEY ARE TO BE CONTROLLED AND LIMITED.
Jefferson Mack
1986
Secret Freedom Fighter: Fighting Tyranny without Terrorizing the Innocent, page 61.
[Lots of good stuff in this old document.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Kevin Sorbo @ksorbs
We should have left our guns for the Australians not the taliban.
Kevin Sorbo @ksorbs
Tweeted on September 26, 2021
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Brandon Smith
Eventually tyranny has to put boots on the ground. A totalitarian system can function for a time on color of law and implied threats, but it will crumble unless it is able to establish a physical presence of force. Once those jackboots touch soil in a visible way and the agents of the state try to expand oppressive measures, rebels then have a free hand to disrupt them or bring them down. But this only works if there are objectives and enough decentralization to prevent misdirection of the movement.
Brandon Smith
September 22, 2021
Organizing Patriots In The Face Of Government Informants And False Flags
[Interesting post and associated comments.
See also my Boots on the ground blog post.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Accountability @Nocte_Insanire
Do not be confused. YOU are the carbon they want to reduce.
Accountability @Nocte_Insanire
Tweeted on September 19, 2021
[They’re not wrong. A good case could be made for this assertion.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Zachary Faria
The surge in new gun owners could have a political impact that lasts far longer than the pandemic and the surge in homicides that inspired it.
Between January 2019 and April 2021, approximately 7.5 million people became first-time gun owners. Nearly 50% of them were women. More than 40% are black or Latino. This is bad news for the gun control movement and, perhaps in the long term, for the Democratic Party.
…
Gun control, despite polling well as a collection of general platitudes, is already a losing issue throughout the country. Each time someone becomes a first-time gun owner, the chances of passing the strict gun control measures that the gun control movement and the majority of the Democratic Party want to see implemented go down. The pandemic will go away, and homicides will decline — but this will continue to shape our gun control politics for years to come.
Zachary Faria
September 17, 2021
The pandemic and the homicide surge will have a lasting effect on our gun control politics
[Help the trend to continue. Take a new shooter to the range.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Thomas Kendall
You can certainly be assured that they will not win. That’s not at issue. Their entire goal is to lose. If you ever doubted, you’ve had the better part of a year of their stupidity to reflect on. You can quit wondering. They will lose. They want to lose. The only question is who they lose to. They want to lose to China, but I think losing to the radical Islamic world is their consolation prize.
Let’s spoil their day. Let’s make them lose to America.
Thomas Kendall
September 7, 2021
US, AT THE GATE
[Interesting idea. It’s certainly worth considering.—Joe]
Quote of the day—J. KB
The Left fights for abortion because abortion is the easiest and lowest hanging fruit of Leftists desire for mass extermination to achieve utopia.
J. KB
September 8, 2021
Why the Left goes all in on Abortion
[This is an interesting hypothesis. I might even be willing to bet that a measurable fraction of leftists falling into this category. But I find it grating to state this in all inclusive terms with such certainty.
I don’t believe J. KB is capable of mind reading or has the raw data to back up this claim. Until data is in and analyzed I will think of it as a hypothesis worthy of testing.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Hank Archer
We wouldn’t have to be Fascists if you deplorables would just do as you’re told!
Hank Archer
September 10, 2021
Comment to Quote of the day—Leana S. Wen
[He was summarizing the position of those in support of a vaccine mandate.
It’s funny because it’s (mostly) true. I’m not sure they are self aware enough to “get it”.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Julius Ruechel
What other social engineering goals can be rolled into your annual booster shot in the future once you are permanently bound to these annual jabs and vaccine passports? In an atmosphere of hysteria, it’s a system ripe for abuse by opportunists, ideologues, power hungry totalitarians, and Malthusian social engineers. The snowball doesn’t have to grow by design. Mission creep happens all on its own once Pandora’s Box is opened to coerced vaccinations and conditional rights. The road to Hell is frequently paved by good intentions… and hysteria.
Julius Ruechel
September 2, 2021
The Snake-Oil Salesmen and the COVID-Zero Con: A Classic Bait-And-Switch for a Lifetime of Booster Shots (Immunity as a Service)
[Via email from Rolf.
I’m far more inclined to believe there is “mission creep” without “design” rather than a well executed grand conspiracy. Not that it makes all that much difference except, perhaps, in the penalty phase of their trials.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Leana S. Wen
President Biden’s much-hyped new strategy for fighting covid-19 is a tepid half-measure that falls short of the dramatic reset the country needs. The six-pronged strategy announced on Thursday can be summarized as “more of the same” — these are good steps in the right direction, but they’re not enough to get the job done.
…
Biden needs to acknowledge that we have reached the end of the line when it comes to asking individuals to get vaccinated. We’ve tried education, incentives and appealing to people’s patriotic duty. It’s not working. Now is the time for mandates, with the federal government using the full extent of its authority.
Leana S. Wen
September 9, 2021
Biden’s six-step covid strategy does not go far enough to compel vaccinations
[As President Biden said:
This is not about freedom or personal choice.
Actually, it is about freedom and personal choice. And the lack of authority of the executive branch to create law without going through the legislative branch. And the lack of constitutionality authority for the Federal government to force the injection of foreign substances into individuals without consent.
In short, this action is clearly illegal. It violates 18 USC 242 and probably numerous other laws.
Of course, the courts may not see this as clearly as the rest of us.
If the President has this authority then he also has the authority to force the injection of an abortifacient, a birth control drug, implant fertilized eggs, or sterilize those deemed unfit to reproduce (see previous link). We are no longer considered individuals with inalienable rights. We are little different from cattle in their treatment (no pun intended) of us.
For decades I believed the most likely spark to start Civil War II would be something related to guns. I now think the insanity over forced vaccinations could nudge out gun control.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Nick Gillespie
What kind of simulation are we living in where Mein Kampf is easier to purchase than McElligot’s Pool?
Nick Gillespie
September 7, 2021
Self-Cancellation, Deplatforming, and Censorship
[I hypothesize it is the Dystopian kind.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Hank Robar
You’ve got some people, they’ve got a little authority in a village and they always think they can push it a little further. But I think now people realize that they do have rights. You just gotta stick up for them.
Hank Robar
September 7, 2021
Meet the Property Owner Who Created a Toilet Garden to Protest Local Officials
[My impression is that more and more people are realizing they have rights and that they have to stick up for them.
I just wish we had prosecutors who would prosecute some politicians, but I realize that is extremely unlikely to happen.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Baron Bodissey
Initially, dictatorship is imposed via the abuse and manipulation of language, its function being to peddle falsehoods. Censorship comes next, and then the denigration and erasure of memories of the past. This process has an established pattern. First, the past is ridiculed. Second, it is demonised and, finally, criminalised.
It is when the first stage is segueing into the second that an open battle of wills begins to emerge between those demanding the reinstatement of their traditional culture, customs, and freedoms and the totalitarian few, gathered together with their imported alien foot soldiers, who are attempting to destroy everything that was and is.
At that point it soon becomes evident that the only viable end game is that one side must completely eliminate the other in order to survive. There is no longer any room, nor necessity, for the so often fatal trap of compromise.
Have no doubts about it: If the situation becomes kinetic, and history suggests this has a probability higher than 0.5, then only the brave, the most determined and ruthless will prevail.
Baron Bodissey
September 5, 2021
Crossing the Rubicon
[Interesting take on the current situation in Britain. I’m not sure Bodissey knows that much more on the topic than anyone else and I wonder how well it applies to the U.S.. But I can see some strong correlations to our situation.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Tim Pool @Timcast
If you ever wonder how Germany got to the point it did look at Australia. Insane authoritarianism, rising identitarianism, and apologists terrified of the state pretending to offer some opposition but defending camps for the ‘unclean’
Tim Pool @Timcast
Tweeted on September 4, 2021
[Via daughter Jaime:
See also here.—Joe]
Quote of the day—Robby Soave
The American appetite for social media censorship is apparently increasing: 48 percent of survey respondents now want the government to restrict misinformation, compared with just 39 percent in 2018.
…
That figure—48 percent—is significant. It means, that just about half of all people want the government to violate the First Amendment, which protects the free speech rights of private actors, including tech companies.
Robby Soave
August 20, 2021
48% of Americans Want the Government To Restrict Misinformation on Social Media
[I find it very telling that Democrats had a 25% jump in desire for government infringement upon the specific enumerated right to free speech.—Joe]