Category Archives: Freedom

Quote of the day—Eric Boehm

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Timbs is a good reminder of how ridiculous the argument in favor of civil asset forfeiture really is. During oral arguments in November, Indiana’s solicitor general got boxed into a corner by Justice Stephen Breyer, who managed to twist the government’s lawyer into arguing that Indiana should be allowed to seize vehicles for as small an offense as driving 5 mph over the speed limit, which literally elicited laughter in the courtroom.

After Wednesday’s ruling, there’s a better chance that more civil asset forfeiture cases will be laughed right out of court for being what they obviously are: unconstitutional, excessive punishments that don’t fit the crime.

Eric Boehm
February 20, 2019
Supreme Court Delivers Unanimous Victory for Asset Forfeiture Challenge
[And as Tam said:

When Clarence AND Ruth are on the same side of an argument, you gotta be kind of a weirdo to be on the other side of it.

This is great news.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Matt Shea

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The problem is I am not going to sit in a state that is going to try to take away our firearms, either by regulation, by cost or by confiscation, are you? So if they try to do that the only solution left is the 51st state. A lot of people say, ‘Why do you want to do that?’ It would better represent downtown Seattle’s values and our values in Eastern Washington if we split. They would stop calling us the welfare freeloaders, as one publication said. They would stop calling us names, we’re the ignorant hicks. Have your socialist values in downtown Seattle. It’s awesome. Go and do that do that experiment, but let us live free.

Matt Shea
Washington State representative
February 15, 2019
Supporters of forming 51st State of Liberty gather at capitol rotunda
[As Richard said yesterday:

Absolutely right about CW2. I have never experienced it, thank God, but have studied it enough to know I want no part of it. Trouble it takes only one side to start it. That is why I want a civil divorce before it is too late.

Sounds like a plan. Make it so.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Old 1811

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I’m probably the only commenter here who has arrested and convicted a genocidal mass murderer. During my investigation, I interviewed witnesses in two countries, and their statements still disturb my sleep fifteen years later. (Quick example: A witness was being chased by the murderer, and only escaped because the murderer stopped to shoot a baby.)

So whenever I read about a new barbarity, it dredges up unwanted memories that I can only try to dispel through sick humor. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

I remember reading somewhere about judging and being judged. Or maybe not.

Old 1811
February 13, 2019
Comment to Quote of the day—Benedict Rogers
[Yeah, I’d bet he is the only commenter with those credentials here. Those experiences are rather rare.

Old 1811, thank you for what you did. Are there things you can share which will help others avoid enabling more mass murderers? Any advice on any related topics?—Joe]

Quote of the day—Larry Lambert

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The problem with socialism is that you can vote your way into it but you need to shoot your way out of it.

Larry Lambert
January 30, 2019
Threat Assessment
[Via Oleg:

socialism_problem_2221web

It’s not the only problem, but it certainly is a significant one.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Doug Huffman

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My grandfather, Cecil Huffman served in the Army with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) Siberia.  On this day in February 1919, he wrote a letter to his parents that I have in my possession today.  All his letters were censored, and he knew the rules regarding what information he could send home, so none of his letters appear to have sections cut out or removed.  In his letters he often says there was nothing to write about even after he was involved in skirmishes with the Red Army led by Vladimir Lenin.  The attached letter is much like many others he wrote while in the Army.  On this day 100 years ago, Cecil wrote, “I know you expect to hear something in every letter, but there isn’t a thing to write about.”

The resolve of the people to fight the leftist forces of the communist revolution was not strong enough and resistance slowly folded as the Red Army advanced.  My grandfather and the rest of the AEF Siberia were pulled out of Vladivostok via transport ship in the fall of 1919.

In the decades that followed, Lenin and his successors went on to murder tens of millions of their own countrymen.  As communism spread in the 20th century, estimates are that up to 160 million people died worldwide through execution, starvation and politically motivated genocide under communist rule.  This happened in one nation after another as governments became too powerful, private industry was eliminated and free speech was restricted to only the politically correct line of thinking.

The majority of those supporting communism had no evil intent.  They fought for communism because they believed it would bring a better way of life for them and their children.

We must never forget the lessons of history.

1919-2-11 Cecil to Home (1)

1919-2-11 Cecil to Home

Doug Huffman
February 11, 2019
Email to extended family.
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Benedict Rogers

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Many prisoners of conscience—Falun Gong members, Uighur Muslims, Tibetan Buddhists and “underground” Christians—have been subjected to medical testing and had their organs forcibly removed. Those organs have fed an enormous trade in organ transplants.

Benedict Rogers
February 5, 2019
The Nightmare of Human Organ Harvesting in China
[Via email from Paul K.

Well, I guess that is one way to make true the communist claim of better health care than in capitalist countries. You can get your organ transplant in days instead of months or years.

Isn’t communism wonderful!? Aren’t you looking forward to government supplied health care so we can have the same benefits in our country?

Or as Paul put it, “It’s more like Larry Niven’s “organlegger” dystopian plot line.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Brinda Karat

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The tremendous achievements of the first Socialist State beckon us to understand what was possible and what is possible to create today. The Soviet Union created records, equally relevant today in wiping out poverty, backwardness, and illiteracy, in establishing equality among peoples and nationalities, between men and women. It is an inspiration of what was and what can be, and that is why we say that the era it established of the transition from capitalism to socialism is as relevant today. Capitalism is not the end of history.

Brinda Karat
November 9, 2017
The Russian Revolution Is Still Relevant Today
[Via email from Chet.

Delusions are often functional but I’m struggling to find the function in this whopper of a delusion. Perhaps Karat thinks they would be one of the leaders who would be in control.

I can’t imagine they believe conclusive evidence supports the claims they made. Just reading a few chapters of The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (Volume One) would dissuade anyone of sound mind that this is a path a society as a whole would knowing and willing venture.

And yet, via another link from Chet, we have Teen Vogue discussing the differences between resistance, rebellion, and revolution while speaking fondly of the Russian and Cuban revolutions.

We live in interesting times.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Rep. Steve Scalise

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Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing Wednesday on new gun control legislation Democrats plan to push on the American people. The top Republican on the committee, Doug Collins, R-Ga., asked committee Democrats if I could testify about this legislation in an appropriate setting to offer another perspective as both a survivor of a shooting attack and strong supporter of our Second Amendment rights. But the Democrats said no. While liberals may try to silence conservative voices, I will not be silenced. The American people deserve to hear all perspectives.

Rep. Steve Scalise
February 6, 2019
Rep. Steve Scalise: Democrats don’t want you to hear what I have to say about guns and the Second Amendment
[Socialists cannot tolerate the truth and must repress opposing points of view. Particularly when that point of view involves individual liberty. Socialism is about coercion. And an armed society is able to resist coercion and hence the view of people like Representative Scalise must be repressed.—Joe]

Quote of the day—James Woods‏ @RealJamesWoods

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The raging communist moron Bernie Sanders and half of Hollywood held Venezuela up as the Utopia of the future just a few short years ago. These liberals are also classic gun grabbers. So please enjoy this video of “Venezuelans Without Guns…”

James Woods‏ @RealJamesWoods
Tweeted on January 31, 2019

[Never give up your guns.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Sarah H. Hoyt

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It’s going to continue ramping up. That the enemy gets a say, doesn’t mean we’ve lost the war.  Note the game is always the same they’ve played, only it’s working less now, now that us thought criminals know we’re not alone. They are not by and large, safe for the antifidiots resorting to physical violence. (And the antifidiots only operate in the cities where they feel safe.) They’re yellow under all the black paraphernalia. They are using what they always used: doxxing, whisper campaigns, mobbing and destruction of reputations and livelihoods.

They’ve done this my whole life. It’s their modus operandi. It’s just that now half of their campaigns (at least) fall apart and what they wish to keep under the rug comes flying out.  And we’re not alone. And we know we’re not alone.

My guess is that we’re so far from alone that the end-game for the US is the same as Romania, in terms of the worm turning (hopefully not in terms of the stupid afterwards, but that is up to all of us.)  One morning the “progressives” are riding high and by evening they’re cooling meat.

Sarah H. Hoyt
January 30, 2019
The Liberation Won’t Be On The Payroll
[I have nothing to add.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Auschwitz Memorial‏ @AuschwitzMuseum

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When we look at Auschwitz we see the end of the process. It’s important to remember that the Holocaust actually did not start from gas chambers. This hatred gradually developed from words, stereotypes & prejudice through legal exclusion, dehumanization & escalating violence.

Auschwitz Memorial‏ @AuschwitzMuseum
Tweeted on November 26, 2018
[Correlation to present day circumstances are left as an exercise for the reader. Possible reference materials are here and here.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Dan Bongino‏ @dbongino

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Socialism is the religion of the imbecile. Support for it is blind faith in a governing system so devoid of reason that it signals either your complete lack of intellect OR your thirst to subjugate others. ANYONE supporting socialism is an accomplice to the destruction it causes.

Dan Bongino‏ @dbongino
Tweeted on February 10, 2019
[In part, because of their deficiency in their ability and/or interest in using reason they are far more likely to use violence than those unaligned with socialism.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Superkick Paulty @paulbensonsucks

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All gun owners are criminals. Only then will we be free.

Superkick Paulty @paulbensonsucks
Tweeted on January 31, 2019
[I know. I doesn’t quite make sense. But almost none of the rants from anti-gun people make sense anyway.

But if you put just a little bit of a twist on it then it makes sense in a different way. What if you were to interpret it as once gun owners are considered criminals they will be free to do what they want with us and the rest of the country? —Joe]

Quote of the day—John Robb

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In the past, winning meant having the largest army. That isn’t true anymore. Now, with new forms of warfare, any small group can successfully wage war. With simpler and more appealing goals almost any cause can raise an army. And they will.

John Robb
2007
Brave New War—The next stage of terrorism and the end of globalization, page 63
[What he says is possible hasn’t always become reality (see for example this description of how we might have fallen into civil war after the November 2016 election). But I have spent enough time in the security field and that I listen closely when he has something to say and I don’t think I have ever considered his ideas crazy or implausible.

In this book he tells how a society dependent upon vulnerable infrastructure can be brought to it knees with relatively few people and resources. The leverage exerted can be enormous. How much does the Molotov Cocktail cost versus the government vehicle it destroys? What is the cost to deliver it versus the cost to defend against it? What is the cost of a power outage versus the cost of a cutting torch to bring down a few transmission line towers? What does it cost to topple the towers versus the cost to defend them?

Go through the list of critical items in our world. Food, water, power, sanitation, communication, roads, bridges, etc. The list of leverage points is almost endless in a high tech society.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Michael Z. Williamson

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You know why these people fear the myth of a Trump Death Camp™? Because they know they belong in one. They also know that’s their ultimate goal to do to others.

Michael Z. Williamson
January 24, 2019
We’re Ever Closer To The Gloves Coming Off
[I’m pretty sure most liberals (the definition used in his context for the above quote) don’t “know they belong in one”. And unless they were actively involved in the illegal deaths of one or more people they almost for certain don’t belong in one.

So, it’s a little overstated but a plausible explanation that I’m willing to accept for conversational purposes. Sprinkle similar caveats here and there as you read the rest of his post for some potentially useful gems.—Joe]

Quote of the day—John Yarmuth‏ @RepJohnYarmuth

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I am calling for a total and complete shutdown of teenagers wearing MAGA hats until we can figure out what is going on. They seem to be poisoning young minds.

John Yarmuth‏ @RepJohnYarmuth
Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Budget Committee
Tweeted on January 20, 2019
[Democrats consider the First, as well as the Second Amendment, toxic.

Vote them out of office before they get a chance to deny us our right to vote as well.—Joe]

Translation of The Gods of the Copybook Headings

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Via a comment from bob r is this translation into modern day English of Rudyard Kipling’s poem I quoted from yesterday:

The simple substitution of a couple phrases made a huge difference in my understanding of this poem. Listen and marvel at so much substance packed into so few words and rhyme.

Agitators

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Twitter suspends account that helped ignite controversy over viral encounter

Twitter suspended an account on Monday afternoon that helped spread a controversial encounter between a Native American elder and a group of high school students wearing Make America Great Again hats.

The account claimed to belong to a California schoolteacher. Its profile photo was not of a schoolteacher, but of a blogger based in Brazil, CNN Business found. Twitter suspended the account soon after CNN Business asked about it.

The account, with the username @2020fight, was set up in December 2016 and appeared to be the tweets of a woman named Talia living in California. “Teacher & Advocate. Fighting for 2020,” its Twitter bio read. Since the beginning of this year, the account had tweeted on average 130 times a day and had more than 40,000 followers.

Late on Friday, the account posted a minute-long video showing the now-iconic confrontation between a Native American elder and the high school students, with the caption, “This MAGA loser gleefully bothering a Native American protester at the Indigenous Peoples March.”

…

Molly McKew, an information warfare researcher who saw the tweet and shared it herself on Saturday, later realized that a network of anonymous accounts were working to amplify the video.

Speaking about the nature of fake accounts on social media, McKew told CNN Business, “This is the new landscape: where bad actors monitor us and appropriate content that fits their needs. They know how to get it where they need to go so it amplifies naturally. And at this point, we are all conditioned to react and engage or deny in specific ways. And we all did.”

Basically someone, who probably is not a U.S. citizen, deliberated created a narrative and publicized a fake story to inflame millions of people against each other in this country.

We live in interesting times.

Quote of the day—Rudyard Kipling

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When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: “Stick to the Devil you know.“

Rudyard Kipling
1919
The Gods of the Copybook Headings
[This truth was well known 100 years ago yet people still believe the lie it refutes.

Closely related.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Noah Smith

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What if the government doesn’t have to pay back what it borrows, now or ever? This is the provocative thesis of an unorthodox economic theory that is rapidly gaining credence on the political left called modern monetary theory, or MMT.

Noah Smith
January 10, 2019
Don’t Be So Sure Hyperinflation Can’t Hit the U.S.
[Delusions are often functional. This particular delusion will give the political left a good shot at gaining absolute power over and destroying the United States.

Prepare for a civil war and/or buy gold and secure it in some other country.—Joe]