Let's Start Jailing Lawmakers Who Violate Their Own COVID Restrictions.  [Scroll down]  My commie Democrat mayor is something of an anomaly these days:  she hasn't been caught flouting the COVID restrictions handed down by the government.  Yet.  As we are all now well aware, there are more than a few who have.  California Gov. Gavin Newsom's mask-free mini-superspreader event at the pricey French Laundry is the most infamous of these recent transgressions.  In New York, Gov. Andrew "Fredo the Elder" Cuomo told the good citizens of his state to avoid traveling to see their families for Thanksgiving or having their families travel to see them.  After a few days of his finger-wagging, it was discovered that he was going to bring in his 89-year-old mother for Turkey Day.  Mrs. Cuomo is one of the few elderly people in New York who wasn't sent by her son to die in a nursing home.  It pays to be connected.

The Editor says...
No, don't jail the officials who violate their own restrictions.  Instead nullify and void any restrictions imposed by that official.

How to Steal an Election in Four Steps.  [Scroll down]  Alternately, if the coup succeeds and the Biden presidency is upheld the America we know is deceased.  Fill in the second date on the headstone.  There is no 2024.  If Trump cannot beat the deep state as the incumbent, what challenger will ever displace them?  The USA will become another EU, a puppet democracy with fixed elections, making laws irrespective of the consent of the governed, intentionally hobbling itself via immigration policy, speech restrictions, and legislation that punishes non-pc groups.  By instituting polices that antagonize a would-be peaceful society and blaming it on freedom, leftist governments incentivize the people to want intervention, until a Soviet Union or a China is gradually achieved, leaving the people wondering what happened to their rights, while the puppeteers smirk.  Since the Civil War, this coup-dressed-as-election-fraud may be the most dire threat to America's survival as a free country.

COVID "Mutation" Stories Show That The Lockdowns Are Designed To Last Forever.  For many months now I have been warning that the design behind the pandemic lockdowns is a perpetual one; meaning, the lockdowns are MEANT to last forever.  We can see this in the very commentary of the establishment elites that are pushing for the mandates; their most frequent argument being that the pandemic restrictions are the "new normal". This assertion is outlined by globalists like Gideon Lichfield of MIT in his article 'We're Not Going Back To Normal'. [...] The so-called "great reset" and "Fourth Industrial Revolution" has been in development since at least 2014 when the terms were first being injected into the mainstream economic media.  The ideas of a cashless society, the "sharing economy", biometric mass surveillance, social credit scores, etc, have all been part of the globalist agenda for decades.  The coronavirus is merely a useful crisis for them to exploit as a rationale for the draconian measures they have always wanted.

Give Me Liberty or Give Me a Face Diaper.  We were going to enjoy our unmasked walk no matter how many compliant sheep we had to pass.  Lone bikers, near no one, were masked.  Lone joggers were masked.  One jogger would pull up her mask when she passed someone and then pull it down after passing.  Little kids were masked.  Mothers, fathers, teens on dates, and young guys were all masked.  I couldn't help but think how government school indoctrination had worked wonders on these obedient serfs.  Have years of helicopter parenting created such a pathetic generation of infant like rule followers?  Are they so willfully ignorant they can't do the basic research to realize masks don't work, based on CDC studies and the actual case rates in states and cities with mandatory masking and lockdowns?  Based on my observations, at least 60% of these people, out getting exercise and fresh air (not too fresh with a filthy diaper on their faces), were obeying their tyrannical politicians and bureaucrats, or entrapped in fear by a flu with a 99.7% survival rate.

Silent Obedient Consent.  I am saddened by how easily the totalitarians have been able to use fear, propaganda, lies and misinformation to turn the vast majority of Americans into compliant sheep.  It is so clear to me that this engineered flu panic is nothing more than another chapter in the scheme to enslave global populations under the thumb of global elitist billionaires who want to control us and enrich themselves.

Salon Owner Files Lawsuit Over Oregon Governor Threatening to Have CPS Take Her Kids for Defying Lockdown.  An Oregon salon owner has filed a $100,000 lawsuit against Gov. Kate Brown for threatening to have Child Protective Services take her children away.  The lawsuit also outlines damages she sustained due to extended closures and excessive fines issued against her.  Glamour Salon owner Lindsey Graham says that the governor began "terrorizing" her after she defied lockdown orders and reopened her salon in May.  She was fined $14,000 for the defiance.  "As soon as I tried to open my doors against the governor's mandate back in May, she came at me with the full weight of the state," Graham told Fox News during an interview with The Ingraham Angle on Monday [12/28/2020].

Without Our Constitution, We're Under Occupation.  I don't know if fed up Americans will rise up in the near future and defend their liberties against an ever more abusive and oppressive system of government, but I do know that 2020 has revealed vividly the post-constitutional wilderness the nation has entered.  Not since the days of slavery or internment have federal and local governments attacked the natural rights and freedoms of individual Americans so concertedly as they have this past year.  Arbitrary house arrests; the denial of religious freedoms; the closing of private businesses without any equitable measures of compensation; the intentional disregard for the destruction of private property while anarchists are given general grants of immunity; and the absolute refusal by governors, secretaries of state, attorneys general, and judges to provide for and ensure free and fair elections have combined to produce a lawless year in the United States.

Get Ready for the "Climate Emergency"?  It has been widely noted that many of our government leaders seem to like the air of crisis and the exertion of emergency power that the COVID pandemic has enabled.  And there has been open support among the climatistas applying the kinds of strictures used to battle COVID to climate change as well.  The superficiality of this parallel will be lost on lots of people — after all, how well are the lockdowns and mark-wearing mandates working?  Thus we are starting to hear calls for proto-President Biden to declare climate change to be a national emergency when he takes office.

You're It.  I have a sinking, terrible feeling that the inauguration of Joe Biden will go off uncontested and Americans will have swallowed another helping of humiliation for the sake of peace, in order not to be labeled a cultist for Donald Trump, white supremacists or right-wing extremist.  It's a sobering moment in American history. [...] Once Joe Biden (actually Kamala Harris or some other Obama lackey in the cabinet) takes power over the military, federal law enforcement and commands the higher ground of government authority, it will be too late.  Like many, I would prefer the legal system and the constitution be the answer to a stolen election, but the evidence is there, open and voluminous, but no judge will hear it, no court will review it.  Truth itself is not a weapon, acting as a result of truth is.  The courts don't want to act, because they know the patriot is a civil being, honoring life and liberty and they are not the threat that motivated and protected activists like BLM and Antifa are a threat.  This is one of those times in American history when the peaceful are forced to violence out of the refusal of government to simply follow the law.  They think electing Joe Biden will put the nation back on the path of traditional governance, as corrupt as it is, it's known.  Following the law and revealing the corruption leads them into the unknown.  They seek normalcy, it's sometimes more powerful and reliable than corruption.

Holiday in Handcuffs?  Our state is governed by a petty tyrant.  We've had a mask mandate since June and because he has unchecked power and was just reelected, he extends mandates in perpetuity.  He has done his best to suck joy out of everything.  Unlike Cuomo, our southern king issues edicts in secret.  He actively avoids the press and has deputized a legion of Karens to help with enforcement.  Unfortunately, we ran into one at church.  We arrived to Mass early and sat in our usual pew.  As we have done since the church reopened in May, we went maskless.  I've learned to ignore the stares and no one has ever said anything.

Are We Really Going to Build Back Better After a Dark Winter?  The globalist elites, along with the Deep State and social media tyrants of Silicon Valley are rich, influential, and arrogant.  They have stepped out from the shadows and are now blatantly flaunting their capture of our government, electoral systems, financial systems, mainstream media, social media, and medical complex.  They have gauged the intellectual, ethical, and mathematical aptitude of the masses and found them wanting.  They have no fear of significant pushback as they commit treason by stealing a presidential election, trashing the Constitution, destroying small business owners, impoverishing what remains of the middle class, and imposing totalitarian restrictions upon a compliant obedient populace.  A nation once populated by independent minded, self-reliant, frontiersmen has rotted from within, as the country is now populated by millions of weak minded, submissive, docile sheep, allowing themselves to be bullied and propagandized into paralysis, while texting, tweeting and facebooking their every mindless thought to their followers.  Unless the Trump forces can prove fraud on a multi-state basis or are willing to take the drastic step of utilizing the September 12, 2018 Executive Order regarding foreign interference in elections as justification for using the Insurrection Act in overturning the fraudulent outcome of the election, the end of the nation as we know it will have arrived.  Losing the two Senate runoff elections in Georgia would greatly accelerate the decline.

2nd Circuit Court Takes On 'Essential' Discrimination.  After practically a year of this, the courts are finally tackling some of the basic lockdown questions.  One of the most basic of these is the entire premise that some businesses are essential while other businesses are non-essential.  And that these decisions about which business is essential and which business is non-essential can be made by political leaders.

"I'm Not Crazy!" — This American Has Had Enough.  As [2020] comes to an end, public outcries against various officials' authoritarian orders grow louder in the face of an increasing body of scientific studies exposing the lies (that Fauci just admitted to).  As more and more 'members of the public' educate themselves on the reality of the virus — its contagiousness, its deadliness, the ineffectiveness of mitigation techniques, and the fallacies of COVID test results — at least one American has "had enough", in her own words, "I'm not crazy... I'm done!"

Top Pandemic Scientist Admits Emulating Communist Chinese Model To Strip Civil Liberties Away.  Professor Neil Ferguson, an epidemiologist who played a key role in convincing the British government to adopt lockdowns, revealed that the country's lockdowns were meant to emulate those carried out by the Chinese Communist Party — modeled to strip civil liberties and exert authoritarian control over citizens.  In Ferguson's recent interview with The Times, he revealed that lockdowns he championed as part of Britain's Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) Board, were rooted in those carried out by the Chinese Communist Party.  Dubbed "Professor Lockdown" by many for his contributions to swaying the British government to adopt stringent lockdown measures, Ferguson ultimately stepped down from the SAGE board after he violated his own lockdown protocols.

The Editor says...
Covid-19 is not about public health.  Maybe it was at first, but now it's about authoritarianism and control.

California Bar Owner Reaches Desperation Point — Blocks COVID Health Dept Enforcer, Confronts Police.  Carlos Roman is the owner of a Bread & Barley restaurant in Covina, California, who reached his breaking point with health inspectors and COVID compliance officers when a public health dept. official ordered his restaurant to shut down.  Mr. Roman decided if he was going to lose everything; if his employees were going to lose their livelihoods; if the system was going to destroy them under the weight of unilateral decrees and fiats; then he was going to block the health inspector from doing his job.  The police were called-in to deal with Carlos Roman's act of defiance.

Rep.-elect Victoria Spartz, raised in Soviet country, says it's 'crazy' for Americans to want socialism here.  Rep.-elect Victoria Spartz grew up in Soviet-controlled Ukraine and saw the "misery" that occurs when socialism fails.  So the incoming GOP representative is alarmed by how the left, especially young people, have embraced socialism here in America as a solution.  She left Ukraine at the age of 21 for America for the promise of love and new opportunities.  Yet 21 years later, Spartz says her journey has come "full circle" as socialism is again at her doorstep.  "[I'm] going full circle in my 42 years of life.  It's unbelievable for me," Spartz, R-Ind., told Fox News in a recent interview in Washington.  "Of all of the countries in the world, our country put so much against this utopic socialistic idea that it's crazy for me to see how quickly we made the turn to the left."

5 Armed Police Disgracefully Shuts Down California Hair Salon!  Without warning, Wednesday, uniformed officers with the California Department of Consumer Affairs entered the Pomp Salon in North Stockton's upscale Lincoln Center.  "About five armed state police officers burst into our salon shouting drop everything you're doing.  Stop, you're being shut down," said Vicki Kirk, salon co-owner.  [Video clip]

Restaurant Owner Gives The Speech Of A Lifetime For Freedom.  Not sure who this gentleman is or which business he owns but his speech about a revolution that needs to be had is one for the ages.  This man is correct, there will never be a return to normal, now that the dark forces have discovered what control America's overlords can have over the people, bypassing the Constitution in the name of a so-called pandemic.  [Indeed], they were even to steal an election in broad daylight while using COVID as a battering ram.  [Video clip]

UNITE, Now is The Time — If Not Now, When?  Now is the time to unite, resist and push back against the unilateral decrees of local and state officials who have weaponized COVID compliance to destroy our nation.  An impassioned plea directly into the heart of patriots from coast to coast. [...] Those who construct the systems of control need to weaponize fear.  Fear of arrest; fear of losing a business; fear of losing liberty or financial security.  Local, regional and state officials rely on fear.  As soon as the people are no longer fearful, the control ends.  The overwhelming majority of dictates around COVID-19 mitigation are not laws.  There was no debate; no input from representative government; and no option for the public to weigh-in on the decisions.

If you want to travel next year, you may need a vaccine passport.  Now that coronavirus vaccines are starting to roll out in the US and abroad, many people may be dreaming of the day when they can travel, shop and go to the movies again.  But in order to do those activities, you may eventually need something in addition to the vaccine: a vaccine passport application.  Several companies and technology groups have begun developing smartphone apps or systems for individuals to upload details of their Covid-19 tests and vaccinations, creating digital credentials that could be shown in order to enter concert venues, stadiums, movie theaters, offices, or even countries.

Rand Paul:  Americans Should Never Have Allowed Governors to Become 'Dictators' Over COVID.  Sen. Rand Paul [M.D.] is sounding the alarm again over our continuing loss of liberty in the age of the coronavirus, and he's certainly not wrong.  In particular, the Kentucky Republican says Americans should really be pushing back — hard — on governors who have become "dictators" with their lockdowns, restrictions, and mandates, none of which, at this point, have anything at all to do with 'the science.'  "You know, nobody ever intended that governors would be sort of czars or dictators in charge of the economy," said Paul in a Christmas morning interview with Newsmax.

Marc Morano:  We Will Go From COVID Lockdowns To "Climate Lockdowns" Under Biden.  Climate Depot publisher Marc Morano warned Biden and Democrats are using the COVID lockdown model to prepare for "climate lockdowns" in an interview Monday night with FOX News host Tucker Carlson.  "The CEO of Harris Polling lamented that climate went from a top-tier issue in his poll, to second to last of all issues in the past year," Morano said.  "So they're freaked out that no one is talking and no one cares about climate among the public." "What they're trying to do, you saw Biden elude to it there with 'Build Back Better.'  They're trying to essentially use the COVID lockdown model for the climate emergency model.  And they are going to go from COVID lockdowns to climate lockdowns," Morano said.  "Senator Merkley (D-OR) came out today and is urging a President Joe Biden to declare a national climate emergency which would give him emergency powers that he could bypass democracy, much in the same way that blue-state governors have already done with the COVID lockdowns," Morano said.  [Video clip]

Will we go quietly into the night?  We've watched the rise of totalitarianism in disbelief as it has taken hold in the form of lockdowns, riots, censorship, and election fraud.  We have, for the most part, been obedient as a handful of "experts" told us what we can and cannot do after the coronavirus swept in.  We've tolerated demands to close our businesses, schools, and churches, not leave our house or have contact with aging loved ones, among other demonic edicts.  We've stood silently by as a "reimagined" police force issued citations, forcibly removed people from public spaces, padlocked doors, and made arrests because someone dared to live as a free American.  We've even been physically attacked while expressing support for the police, as the police stood by and did nothing.  On the heels of coronavirus lockdowns, came riots across the country as law enforcement was told to stand down.  And they obeyed.  Then the left pulled a poison arrow from their quiver and stole the election in their final coup attempt to deny a duly elected President his second term.  And nary a soul went to jail for any of it.  We're living in a world gone mad.  Lawlessness and criminal behavior has become a norm and no one does a thing to stop it.

PA restaurant owner opens in defiance of shutdown orders.  Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has continued to shut down or severely limit the operations of restaurants and bars around his state as part of his COVID response plan.  While this isn't unique in terms of what other states have done, the constant cycle of closing and opening has put a lot of owners on the brink of extinction and kept tens of thousands of workers in the food service industry on the unemployment lines.  But out in Washington County, Pennsylvania, just south of Pittsburgh, one owner of a popular eatery decided this week that enough was enough.  Michael Passalacqua, the owner of Angelo's Restaurant, announced earlier this week that his restaurant would be reopening on Friday with the usual social distancing protocols in place and the public was invited to come down for a meal.  And what will he do when Governor Wolf sends in the troops to bring him to heel?  He says he'll deal with it.

Legislators must reclaim power over health and elections or risk being sidelined.  In the Missouri state House, we represent the people.  Because of state legislators' small districts, we are more accountable to the electorate than either federal representatives or the governor.  The governor is not the "legislators' boss."  Rather, the branches are separate and equal.  It's time to remind legislators in every state of not only our power but also our obligations.  In 2020, when state legislators across the country faced massive executive overreach due to the pandemic and a deeply contentious election, it's more important than ever that we step up to defend our constitutional role as the mouthpiece of the voters.  This year, executive overreach has been more contagious than COVID-19.  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued 192 executive orders with far-reaching consequences, making would-be laws on everything from school closures to turning Michiganders into criminals for operating their businesses — or even boating on the lake.

Dem doc: re-educate Trump voters, purge social conservatives from government.  Congressional Democrats back "Secular America," a group that has sent a 28-page document to the Biden transition team advising him to strip First Amendment rights from Christians who advocate traditional biblical positions on the sanctity of life, marriage, education, and the nuclear family, Harbinger's Daily reports.  The letter was titled, "Restoring Constitutional Secularism and Patriotic Pluralism in the White House:  Prepared exclusively by Secular Democrats of America PAC for President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Transition Team."  The document, presented by Reps Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and Jared Huffman, D-Calif., and endorsed by Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., states that an incoming Biden administration must "educate the American public," particularly those identified as the "religious right," on the need to keep their "religious dogma" to themselves.  The document calls for a purge of social conservatives from all levels of government, labeling them as "white nationalist" and "conspiracy theorists."

Mob Law:  Time 'to Put the Foot Down Firmly'.  Government will collapse, Lincoln warned, when good men who obey the laws become so disgusted with a government that no longer protects them, that they feel they have nothing to lose.  We're getting there.  Today, we've seen the "vicious portion" of our population loot, burn buildings, and beat innocent people "at pleasure" and — shockingly — "with impunity."  They do it in plain sight, repeatedly, and are applauded by political vultures as peaceful protesters.  It's made the legs of government a bit wobbly.  But the street mobs are small beans compared to America's most dangerous hordes:  High-level, white-collar mobs who work like maniacs to uproot the philosophical underpinnings of the American Revolution and the Judeo-Christian ethic.  They are politicians, judges, rogue intel alums, media, activist organizations, celebrities, leftist billionaires, tech companies, and educators who butcher our history, defy our laws, and give moral and financial support to the thugs who loot and burn things to enforce white-collar mob law.

What's happening in Minnesota bodes ill for Democrats.  Across America, the Wuhan virus has allowed Democrats to implement some of their long desired plans for "reforming" America in a properly Marxist mold.  One of the most hallowed plans, which academia promotes, is "de-incarceration" (i.e., ending prisons).  The other one, although it's kept hush-hush, is to end that pesky, morality-driven, hardworking, freedom-loving middle class.  Minnesota's Governor Tim Walz is working on both issues, with disastrous results for good people.  That's why this arrogant societal manipulation could soon prove to be the Democrats' downfall. [...] For the crime of feeding her family, Walz, through the Minnesota attorney general's office, is filing documents to imprison [Larvita] McFarquhar for trying to stay afloat.

Do you see the difference?  In casinos, theaters, and bowling alleys people don't talk to each other.
Michigan extends indoor dining ban but allows casinos, cinemas, bowling alleys to reopen.  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state officials have extended a ban on in-person dining at restaurants through Jan. 15, while reopening casinos, bowling alleys and stadiums as well as allowing for in-person learning at Michigan high schools.  The casinos, cinemas, bowling alleys and stadiums are allowed to reopen on Monday [12/21/2020] with restrictions, according to a Department of Health and Human Services document obtained by The Detroit News.  Their capacity will be capped at 100 people, food and drink concessions must remain closed and social distancing must be observed.  "These past few weeks, Michiganders across the state stepped up and did their part to slow the spread of COVID-19, and because of our collective hard work, we are now able to begin the steps to carefully lift some of the protocols we have in place," Whitmer said.  "I am encouraged by the progress we have made since early November, and will continue to monitor the data closely during and after the holidays."

A Christmas Message for Dr. Fauci.  No one can be this clueless.  Not even Democrats.  Not even moronic Democratic governors.  Not even nanny-state government bureaucrats like Dr. Anthony Fauci.  Fauci just asked Americans to cancel Christmas.  He said, "...it's just one of those things you're going to have to accept."  He reported he would not even allow his own three daughters to come home for Christmas this year.  He wants all Americans to "painfully" isolate.  He says he and his wife will be spending the holiday alone.  I have a message for Dr Fauci: "[...] This is America.  This is a free country.  If we want to celebrate Christmas, we will.  If we want to go to church, we will.  If we want to spend the holidays with our children, we will.  We're adults.  We make our own decisions.  This isn't a nanny state.  It's not the Soviet Union.  It's not Nazi Germany.  We don't need government bureaucrats telling us what to do, how to live our lives or how to spend the holidays.

Robert Kennedy Jr Warns of COVID Compliance Creating The Dystopian End Game.  There are many issues where we may disagree with Robert Kennedy Jr., the weaponization of COVID fear is not one of them.  In this short video Robert Kennedy Jr, a passionate advocate against forced vaccinations of all types, talks about how professional politicians will lie to create the underlying source of their power, dependency.  [Video clip]

Top Ranking Catholic Cardinal Says COVID-19 Used To Advance 'Godless And Murderous Agenda', Usher In 'Great Reset'.  In early November, an Italian archbishop and Pope Francis foe, Carlo Maria Vigano, launched an attack against those behind pandemic lockdowns across the globe, warning President Trump in a letter of the coming "Great Reset" whose architects are "a global élite that wants to subdue all of humanity, imposing coercive measures with which to drastically limit individual freedoms and those of entire populations."

COVID Hysteria Serves Desire for Power.  We finally reached peak COVID-19 madness last week, when a family was ejected from a United Airlines flight because their two-year-old girl could not tolerate a muzzle.  So, on the apparent theory that you can't be too safe or too careful, even from a two-year-old, the airline enforced its zero-tolerance policy and booted the girl and her family from the plane.  "The health and safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority ... everyone onboard two and older wears a mask," said the airline.  "These procedures are not only backed by guidance from the CDC and our partners at the Cleveland Clinic, but they're also consistent across every major airline." In case you're unaware, doctors, immunologists, and epidemiologists are now the highest authorities in the land.  Under their very own mini-Mussolini, Dr. Anthony Fauci, they can override our constitutional liberties, such as freedom of assembly and religion, severely constrict our freedom of speech, limit our movements, commandeer our businesses, and eliminate our livelihoods with complete impunity.

When 2-Year-Olds Are Thrown Off Airplanes, You Know America Has Changed.  You may have seen the video of the family thrown off a United Airlines airplane because the 2-year-old daughter would not wear a mask.  Though the family wore masks and the father promised to cover his daughter's face with a mask that he placed on her face, it made no difference.  Though the child was completely asymptomatic, and though it is exceedingly rare for a child to transmit COVID-19 to an adult — that is why Sweden kept its schools open all spring and summer, with its students not wearing masks — the airline had its orders, and the flight attendant duly obeyed them.

Illegitimate Government and Control Mechanisms Require The Elimination of Communication.  It is not coincidental that bars and taverns have been targeted for closure and control under the auspices of 2020's COVID-19 fear and mitigation.  It is not coincidental that churches and fellowship gatherings have been targeted for closure and control under the auspices of COVID-19 fear and mitigation.  Both of these assembly points and gathering places have a deep history within the American rebellion. [...] Fast forward 250 years later and the modern rebellion against leftist authoritarianism is now facing an identical issue.  Individual members of the rebel alliance are having to use covert methods just to meet and discuss issues, grievances and concerns about liberty.  Additionally, modern social media communication has been intentionally throttled.  As seen in the recent actions by Google/YouTube any challenge to the command and control authority will not be permitted.  Any voices who raise questions about the legitimacy of our government will be silenced.  The effort to block communication is happening in real places (bars and taverns) and in the digital space (the internet).

Angry California Restaurant Owner Confronts Inspectors:  Why Are You Fining Me For Trying To Keep My Business Open?  Via the Daily Caller, which happened to be on the scene interviewing business owner Anton Van Happen when two California health inspectors showed up.  That sounds like an incredible coincidence but it isn't.  He's been trying to organize a little commercial rebellion against the new regional stay-at-home order, which I assume is why the Caller — and the inspectors — wanted to talk to him.

Time To Heel — Or Fight.  I'm infuriated every time I see an Applebees, Wal-Mart, or Amazon commercial touting their bravery and fortitude during these troubled times.  These mega-corporations, with powerful lobbying departments and unlimited financial resources, have reaped tremendous profits and seen their stock prices soar to all-time highs, while hundreds of thousands of small restaurants and retailers have closed for good.  Somewhere between one-third and one-half of all small businesses in America have closed or will close permanently.  The [disingenuous] slogan "We are all in this together" has been beaten to death by the propaganda media, while our wealthy elite overlords work remotely in their multi-million-dollar mansions, doing their daily Peleton workouts, sending their kids to expensive private schools and dining on white truffles and caviar at the French Laundry for $1,200.  We are not in this together.  It's us and THEM.  You know who THEY are.

N.J. Gym Owner Fined $1 Million for Refusing to Close Has a Message for Gov. Phil Murphy.  Atlas Gym has been continuously harassed by the government of New Jersey for refusing to shut its doors or impose mask mandates on its clients.  Owner Ian Smith has made headlines for staying open despite orders from the state to close up shop.  But now he's back with a viral video message he made for Governor Phil Murphy.  I don't think the state's sanctions on him are working, do you?  Filming in a full gym, Smith stands defiant against government interference with his right to work and feed his family.  I wish every business owner in America was this courageous.  That's all it would take to end the unfair targeting of small businesses while huge corporations are allowed to turn profits without fines.  Resist!

The Social Tyranny that Threatens Thoughtful Americans.  What we are witnessing today on our streets, in our businesses, in our schools where we play, and even in our homes is not tyranny by Big Brother, but a social tyranny.  John Stewart Mill's classic political philosophy treaties On Liberty warned not only against tyranny by government but what he called "social tyranny."  Social tyranny, Mill writes, is when we are told what is socially acceptable to think, say, and do.  An influential group in society, not the actual government, makes us do things at first we normally would not do, then over time they make us do things without thinking, to making us do things that are, well, unthinkable!  While Mill warned against a social tyranny by a majority that was promulgating what is customary, today we see social tyranny played out by a small, but growing group of citizens that has a chilling effect on the lives of the majority of Americans.  Do what the street mob wants or risk ridicule, be ostracized, suffer economic ruin, or be labeled a racist; and if this is not enough, we risk bodily harm.

Put on the handcuffs, hide under the bed and stay there.  We've never seen anything like it, have we — some state governments not just advising people on how to spend Thanksgiving with their families, but dictating how they do it or whether they do it at all?  Here was totalitarianism unknown in American history, cops just maybe arresting you if there were too many people at the table, and it did not stop there.  Some states have also dictated how many people can go to church despite precautions being taken.  And, yes, it is totally proper to give advice, to say lives could be at stake from COVID-19 if large numbers were gathering in close proximity, and, to go further, to say this isn't just about you but about the harm you can do to others through transmission.  But here's the thing.  If government travels an autocratic, unprecedented route with the pandemic, what's going to happen to liberty generally and with other matters, such as climate change?

COVID-19 And The Great Reset:  Global Effort "to revamp all aspects of our societies and economies".  Quite a few people today appear to have opted to give up a great deal of their liberty for what they perceive as safety, yet few of them are starving or especially threatened.  What they seem to want is absolute safety or something close to it, as so many people's reaction to COVID has demonstrated.  The COVID pandemic was a big test of an approach called The Great Reset, and the reaction to the rules promulgated in response to the disease has led The Great Reset's leftist boosters to feel that they can go ahead without too much objection.  The Great Reset is no shadowy conspiracy theory, either; its basic outline is right out there in the open.

As COVID-1984 Accelerates, Bill Gates Blames "Freedom" For Spread of the Virus.  Recently, Bill Gates gave an interview to the Rothschild partially owned Economist.  In this interview, Gates was asked about how he views the U.S. response to the outbreak.  His reply was:  ["]Aside from the high 'risk money' the US ponied up for vaccine research and development, he think the U.S. is doing a poor job overall.["]  Gates proceeded to directly blame the poor response on lack of preparation, but also freedom.  Yes, Bill Gates blamed our freedoms for the spread of the virus.  Bill Gates then went on to praise China's authoritarian response and said, despite the fact that people's rights were violated, China's response was really amazing!  This is right out of the 2010 Rockefeller Lock Step document that laid out a scenario for a world of tighter top-down government control and more authoritarian leadership.

Canadian Restaurant Owner Charged With 'Trespassing' [on his own property] After Reopening in Defiance of Lockdown Orders.  At 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, November 24, Adam Skelly opened his BBQ restaurant in Toronto and began serving customers.  Under ordinary circumstances, this would have been unremarkable.  But on that day, it was an act of political defiance, because a recent lockdown order prohibited restaurants like his from providing indoor and outdoor dining services.  Skelly, a 33-year-old husband and father of two, was specifically ordered to close by Toronto Public Health later that day, but he opened again on Wednesday and made it clear that he would continue operating as normal.  Then, early Thursday morning the police changed the locks on the restaurant to bar his access, and when Skelly showed up later that morning he was met by a significant police presence.  Police allowed him into a back part of the building behind the restaurant, but then he and his employees secretly broke into the restaurant from the back and kicked down the newly locked front door.

The Constitution is immune to coronavirus power-grabs.  In a matter of 244 years, we have gone from the understanding that "governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed" to "shut up, mask up, and obey your governors."  Amid the reams of debate written on the data, science, math, and policies undergirding the unprecedented governmental response to coronavirus, there is shockingly very little discussion about the legality of crushing the most foundational rights imaginable.  Can executive officials merely tout "COVID" in a sentence at a press conference and rule over our lives in any way they want for as long as they want?  This is the discussion that was needed eight months ago, but there's no time like the present to embark on it.

Cops raid home of fired Florida data analyst Rebekah Jones who accused state of misleading citizens on COVID.  Florida state police raided the home of a former data analyst for the Florida Department of Health on Friday, who claims Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) "sent the gestapo" to get her to "shut up."  Rebekah Jones was fired from her position in the DeSantis administration in May for allegedly modifying the state's COVID-19 dashboard unilaterally without authorization.  She claims the state was misleading citizens on the coronavirus numbers, and now she runs her own COVID-19 tracking sites from her house.  Jones tweeted Friday that state police served a warrant at her home that morning and seized property, claiming that officers "pointed a gun in [her] face" and "pointed guns at [her] kids."  She posted accompanying video showing the purported scene from inside her home as police entered.  Armed officers can be seen walking through the hallway, and pointing their firearms upward as they called for Jones' husband to come down the stairs.  Neither Jones' husband nor the couples' children are seen in the footage.

Cops raid home of Rebekah Jones, who said she was fired for not doctoring COVID-19 data.  Florida police on Monday [12/7/2020] raided the home of a former state data scientist who claimed she was fired from the Department of Health for refusing to doctor coronavirus figures.  Rebekah Jones posted video on Twitter showing officers with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement drawing their guns as they entered her house in Tallahassee.  "They pointed a gun in my face.  They pointed guns at my kids," she wrote.  Jones — who has been a vocal critic of Gov. Ron DeSantis' handling of the pandemic since she was canned in May — said agents seized her phone and computer.  "They claimed it was about a security breach.  This was DeSantis.  He sent the gestapo," she wrote.  [Video clip]

What Leftists Don't Get about Evil and the Law.  [Scroll down]  Churches have been meeting together for prayer and fellowship since before Pentecost.  During the early days, when the Roman Empire declared Christianity an outlaw religion, Christians were forced to meet secretly in caves and basements to avoid arrest, imprisonment, and death by torture, crucifixion, or lions.  Today, we're seeing a return to that same mentality among the secular left.  Governors and mayors around the country have used the excuse of the Wuhan virus to crack down on religious services, particularly of the Jewish and Christian variety (I dare say they're being somewhat more circumspect in their dealings with Muslim gatherings.)  Churches met regularly for services during the Black Plague in Europe (1346-1353) and every other pandemic or disease outbreak before and since.  Individuals were understood to have the capacity to make their own rational decisions about what was best for them and their families without being forced to obey a one-size-fits-none government mandate.

Democrat governors are the new royalty.  Power is intoxicating.  Until the COVID lockdowns I was unaware of the fact that so many Democrat governors and mayors want to destroy the small entrepreneurs — especially restaurant owners — who give our cities so much of their energy and vigor.  Who knew?  Well, now we know.  People are fighting back. [...]

Dehumanizing Americans.  As was the case in the USSR, powerful entities such as the media, academia and radicals in seats of power, visible and invisible, are openly hostile to the majority of American citizens.  Covid-19 regulations have psychologically strip searched every citizen.  Nearly the entire populace has been under the equivalent of house arrest. [...] Isn't it apparent that millions of Americans are enduring the equivalent of solitary confinement as the lockdowns continue indefinitely?  Isn't it clear the universal masking of the human face and the forced distancing from one another has distorted all relationships?  How many millions search for a human glance from individuals rendered featureless?

The Plot Against the Small Businesses.  As we near a year of lockdowns and sheltering in place, the long-term effects of pandemic policy on the economy are becoming clearer.  Almost every piece of legislation ostensibly designed to curb the spread of the coronavirus and protect workers has wreaked devastation on small businesses — while benefiting the largest corporations.  Roughly 100,000 small businesses have permanently closed due to COVID-19, while big-box retailers, tech giants, and pharmaceutical manufacturers have seen record profits.  America's small businesses currently face an attack on all fronts.  First, there are the more visible policies (e.g., lockdowns, mask mandates, and social distancing requirements) that strongly discourage people from patronizing brick-and-mortar retailers and restaurants.  These policies impact small businesses more than large chains and corporations.

The Great Reset and Klaus Schwab.  [Scroll down]  Instead, the Great Reset will remake the world — in Schwab's words, "to create a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable world going forward," all the platitudes neatly packed into one sentence.  Private property deforms the natural relations between human beings and must be abolished.  Private transportation will not be allowed.  "Contrary content" in the printing or production of materials will not be permitted, at the cost of access to social media and Internet domains.  Fossil fuels will be replaced wholesale by Green technologies.  Home gardens will be outlawed.  The Christian faith will be gradually suppressed (as is happening today).  Vaccines will become mandatory.  Society will become "cashless" and all standard monetary transactions replaced by digital currency and governed by electronic means, which can be cancelled by reigning authority at the slightest provocation.  Debts will be forgiven and creditors will face the prospect of bankruptcy.  The middle class and small entrepreneurs will be wiped out.  Commerce will become progressively "contact-less."

The Deep State and Democratic Party join hands against America.  Voters who imagine that they control what the government does are mistaken.  Our federal government is really at the mercy of the huge unelected bureaucracy, the Deep State, that represents the "big" in our bloated federal government.  Everybody who lives within 15 miles of Washington is part of it, or so it seems.  Of all the ways in which the Left is attempting to redefine America, its support for an enormous bureaucracy has been the most successful.  The people we elect — the president and Congress — are merely a front for the Deep State.  The federal government has become separated from the American public that it is supposed to serve.  Deep State power has reached the point where it is beyond the reach of constitutional safeguards.  "As the administrative state grows," says Mark Levin in Ameritopia, "the vote is less effective and the individual is increasingly disenfranchised."

'Because I Said So' Government Is a Disaster.  If any lesson has been driven home during the last year, it is that the public must stop thinking for itself and let the government do its thinking for it.  Questioning the wearing of masks is called "unpatriotic."  Questioning the authority of local politicians to ban family and church gatherings is called "selfish."  Questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election is called "dangerous."  In the United States, however, the government is not meant to be separate from the people. [...] There is nothing consensual about "because I said so" governing.  That's "rule by authority," a whole other monster that Americans have fought on global battlefields since the country's founding.  It's way past time for Republicans and Democrats holding elected offices to understand that millions of Americans find the wide proliferation of "because I said so" government as dangerous as any virus or any foreign attack.  Representative government in the United States is hanging by a thread, and there's nothing wrong with saying that out loud.

Garcetti issues stronger warning to Angelenos: 'Hunker down ... cancel everything'.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is again asking Angelenos to cancel all non-essential activities and "hunker down" as the city experiences a dangerous surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations.  The city revised its "Targeted Safer at Home Order" late Wednesday [12/2/2020]. While the new restrictions and allowable activities mirror those issued by Los Angeles County last week, the language and messaging is far stronger than before.  "Subject only to the exceptions outlined in this Order, all persons living within the City of Los Angeles are hereby ordered to remain in their homes," the mayor's order states.

What is the difference between this and martial law?
Los Angeles Orders Residents to 'Remain in Their Homes' or Face Fines, Jail Time.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday ordered residents to stay in their homes, with some exceptions, or face fines and jail time.  "Subject only to the exceptions outlined in this Order, all persons living within the City of Los Angeles are hereby ordered to remain in their homes," Garcetti, a Democrat, said in a public health order.  All public and private gatherings of any number of people from more than one household are prohibited, except for outdoor faith-based services and outdoor protests.  All travel, including travel on foot, bicycle, and scooter, is prohibited.  Only people participating in so-called essential activities are exempt from the order.  Those activities include all health care operations, grocery stores, and all media outlets.

Enough Already: 'Governor, May I?' Must End.  Where do these governors get the nerve to run point on a massive election fraud scheme?  Actually, we the people are giving them this power.  Though our Founders created a government by the people, we are allowing others to usurp that power, to take that power from us.  Enter the "pandemic," where state officials openly reject the Constitution and make government the ruling authority.  We've allowed their tyranny, and now we're trapped in a sick game of "Governor May I" where we need the governor's permission for every move we make.

Webster's New World College Dictionary, Third Edition, 1997, page 92.

The Georgia Runoffs and Our Embattled Constitution.  If Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff win Georgia's Jan. 5 Senate runoffs, Democrats will control both houses of Congress as well as the presidency.  The Republican Party, which won nearly half the national vote, will have no check on the Democrats, aside from the Senate's filibuster rule.  Although that rule requires a supermajority to pass some legislation and appointments, it can be abolished by a simple majority when the new Senate convenes.  Preventing one-party rule is one of the strongest arguments advanced by Republican incumbent Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.  They are reminding voters of the threat posed by Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who proudly announced:  "Now we take Georgia, then we change the world."  That might be a winning line for national fundraising, but it's more problematic for the Georgia electorate.  Not many voters there want to "change the world," so Warnock and Ossoff are downplaying it.

Poll watcher witness says feds showed up at door, made her feel like a criminal after fraud testimony.  Amid all the inquiries into where Attorney General Bill Barr has been in the face of voter fraud allegations, there has been a sighting of federal agents — the question is, what were they investigating?  Leah Hoopes, a Republican poll watcher on Election Day in the state of Pennsylvania, dropped what's being reported as a "bombshell," which is that special agents from the Justice Department paid her a visit at home after she testified before the Senate last week.  Hoopes testified that massive voter fraud may have taken place in Delaware County, Pa., and she appeared on Steve Bannon's podcast "War Room:  Pandemic" on Monday to talk about "special agents from the Attorney General's office showing up at my front door just for speaking the truth."

Conservatives must stop quitting before the battle is over!  [Scroll down]  The overall message is to surrender.  But we don't need to stand down, America; we need to step up.  We have to start with these drunk-on-power governors.  They have no right to issue, much less enforce unconstitutional orders.  And we don't need to wait on courts to set us free.  It's already done with the Constitution and ruled on by the Supreme Court.  Norton vs. Shelby County, 118 US 425, 442:  "An unconstitutional act is not law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed."

Thankful for the Rights That Democrats Want to Take Away.  This ungodly Chinese Bat Flu has brought out the worst in a lot of people, most of them Democrat elected officials.  There have been some Republican transgressors as well, but the majority of the bad actors have been liberal leaders in traditionally liberal states and cities.  Basic rights have been getting trampled upon in the name of public health. [...] The plague has amplified leftist assaults on the First Amendment.  We know that if a Democrat returns to the White House the Second Amendment will be under assault.  Democrats hate due process.  So many things in the Constitution that we have enjoyed and taken for granted for so long are being assailed by people who purport to be freedom-loving Americans, many of whom hold some of the highest positions in government.

NYC Will Have Covid Checkpoints at Key Bridges and Crossings.  New York City will have vehicle checkpoints at key bridges and crossings, and will strictly enforce the travel quarantine, Sheriff Joseph Fucito said.  The sheriff's office will conduct spot checks when out-of-state buses drop riders off at the curb.  Test and tracing teams will be on the ground to direct individuals to testing sites and provide education on quarantine, Fucito said.  The 14-day quarantine mandates that travelers quarantine or test out.  Violations of self-quarantine will be enforced, and may carry fines of $1,000 to $2,000, according to the mayor's office.

Fighting Words.  Democrats are not democrats; they are totalitarians.  They have declared war on the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, the Electoral College, the Senate, the Supreme Court, the election system, and the idea of civil order.  They have called for the Republican President of the United States to be de-platformed and jailed.  Their obvious goal is a one-party state that criminalizes dissent.  To them, support for such basic necessities as borders and law enforcement are racist.  If you oppose their efforts to legalize infanticide, they will condemn you as enemies of women, and if you make videos of their confessions to selling body parts of murdered infants, they will — like Kamala Harris — throw you in jail.  Progressives are not progressive; they are reactionaries.  They are out to abolish liberal value systems and create a status hierarchy where race, gender, and sexual orientation define and confine you to an unalterable place in their new social order.  If you are white or male or heterosexual or religious — Justice Kavanaugh was all four — you are guilty before the fact.

New Mexico governor shuts down grocery stores for two weeks.  A dozen grocery stores around the state have been forced to close for two weeks because of a public health order issued by Gov.  Michelle Lujan Grisham at a time when the state's residents are suffering from record high unemployment and food insecurity, critics say.  The order requires businesses with four or more rapid responses of COVID-19 cases reported within in a 14-day period to close for two weeks.  More than 25 essential businesses were shut down as of Monday afternoon, including a number of grocery stores and major retailers.  The closures include two Walmarts in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe, an Albertson's in Roswell, a Smiths Food & Drug Center in Albuquerque and New Mexico Food Distribution Center in Albuquerque.

New Mexico governor shuts down grocery stores with new public health order.  Just when we thought that liquor sales restrictions in Pennsylvania by Governor Wolf were arbitrary and, frankly, stupid, along comes Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham in New Mexico with a "hold my beer" response.  She has shut down a dozen grocery stores across the state.  Why would a governor make such a draconian move?  A public health order from the governor's office shut down more than 25 essential businesses Monday [11/23/2020] with four or more rapid responses of COVID-19 cases reported within a 14-day period.  The order requires the businesses to close for two weeks.  That's right, any business that reports four or more positive COVID-19 tests in a two week period must then shut down for two weeks, essential business or not.

Will Thanksgiving Mark The Beginning Of The Lockdown Resistance?  A country that's about to observe a holiday in which we express appreciation for our unique American blessings appears ready to shrug off the chains of petty tyrants.  For that, we give thanks.  Governors in, most infamously, California, New York, Oregon, and Minnesota, but also other states, have told constituents to limit their celebrations and travel.  They might not in every case have specifically cited Thanksgiving.  But it's obvious that the nagging has accelerated because of the holiday.  It's just as obvious that, after more than eight months of various lockdowns, some Americans have had enough.  In an unmistakable rebuke to Andrew Cuomo, sheriffs in New York have said they won't be enforcing the governor's 10-person limit at private gatherings.  Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo, for instance, said he didn't "see how devoting our resources to counting cars in citizens' driveways or investigating how much turkey and dressing they've purchased is for the public good." Erie County Sheriff Tim Howard has promised he will do what the busybody governor refuses to do and that is "respect the sanctity of your home."

7 Things That Used to Be "Crazy Conspiracy Theories" Until 2020 Happened.  [#7] Re-education camps:  Remember how we all used to joke about being put into FEMA camps? [...] Finally, for those of us who believed these conspiracy theories were conspiracy facts all along — oh — and for Trump voters — there's the discussion about how to re-educate us so we can rejoin society.  In a Twitter thread run amok, we saw the dark side of some "well-educated" Democrats who were sincerely trying to figure out how to redeem those of us who did not vote for Joe Biden.

From Ruling Class to Oligarchy.  [Scroll down]  And then Election Night.  As predicted, election officials in places controlled by the Left stopped counting until it was clear how many ballots it would take for Trump to be defeated.  The requisite number came, filled out by no one knows who.  And then... who wouldn't have predicted it?  The call came from all of society's commanding heights:  Trump's defeat had been declared.  By whom?  By the folks on these varied heights — certainly not by the authorities designated by the Constitution to decide who wins and loses.  But the more instances of fraud the Trump campaign sought to investigate, the louder and from more sources sounded the judgment that there was nothing to investigate.  It had been decided.  You peons shut up and obey.  That is how oligarchies work.

Time for a New Declaration?  [Scroll down]  Americans worked within the system for change, and the system changed the rules under the pretext of a health emergency.  When those Americans protest, their voices are censored, and their livelihoods are threatened.  There is a presumption among Obama Democrats and Big Government Republicans that Americans who take their freedoms seriously will simply roll over and obey if they are increasingly attacked, punished, and ignored.  If "taxation without representation" was enough to boil the blood of American patriots two hundred and fifty years ago, I have my doubts that "socialism without representation" will fare much better with their descendants.

Governors Cancelling Thanksgiving in Favor of Misery.  [Scroll down]  It started with "15 days to slow the spread" back in March.  Americans dutifully stayed home and washed our hands, as government experts told us.  Did we slow the spread or exacerbate it?  A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that draconian quarantine measures with strict social distancing and constant mask wearing did not stop the spread of COVID in their study population of Marine recruits.  These measures may have actually exacerbated the spread of COVID as the control group of non-participants had almost half the rate of COVID positivity at the end of the study compared to those under strict rules.  But our governors and health experts know better.  Safety measures they imposed on us for months worked so well that nine months into the pandemic, COVID is still not under control.  Or at least positive tests are not. [...] Most of America suffers COVID fatigue and now we are being told to get used to our new normal.

"How Do You Deprogram 75 Million People?" — California Democrat Calls For "Post WWII" Reeducation For Trump Supporters.  California Democrat David Atkins this week called for Trump supporters to be "deprogrammed" in "post WWII" type reeducation camps. [...] Atkins called the 75+ million people who voted for President Trump a "belligerent death cult against reality."  After taking heat for his tweets, David Atkins gaslighted by claiming he doesn't really mean "re-education camps" (he does).

Michigan Republicans Introduce Resolution To Impeach Gov. Whitmer.  Three GOP House members in Michigan have introduced House Resolution 324, which call for the impeachment of their tyrannical governor, Gretchen Whitmer, a woman who has made it clear she will usurp power from the constituents she's supposed to serve and use it to oppress them with reckless abandon.  Folks, this is exactly why our system of government works the way it does.  We have the right to decide who governs over us, and if they go against our wishes and violate our God-given rights, it's our duty to toss these folks out on the street.

Dems Using COVID to Gain Power, Reset US to Tyranny.  Democrats used the pandemic as an excuse to change the manner of voting in 2020 — and to possibly steal the election.  Now, it's being used to fundamentally change our society, our very beliefs, and traditions.  As President Trump was winding up what was arguably the most successful 4-year presidential term in American history, Democratic politicians latched onto the COVID-19 crisis as an excuse to enact universal mail-in voting.  Although they didn't quite get what they wanted, a sufficient number of states promoted vote-by-mail that, when added to other irregularities, a significant number of voters lost confidence in the election results.  Now, they're focused on using the pandemic to finish what the previous administration promised — to fundamentally transform the United States, as well as to answer the call of the Senate minority leader — to change the world.

Coronavirus Ushers in an Unconstitutional Hell for America.  Thanks to the dreaded Covid-19, it's good-bye Thanksgiving and, soon enough, farewell Christmas.  And after that, who knows?  Having discovered that Americans have lost their spines and are now easily penned inside their homes like two-legged sheep, the petty potentates who rule — not govern, rule — far too many states and municipalities have concluded that we will never fight back, never resist, and never reject their latest whimsical edicts.  For proof, look no farther than California, where 41 of the state's 58 counties have just been returned to most-restricted status, and a statewide curfew is now being bruited in Sacramento. [...] There are vague promises that things might begin to open again next year, but don't hold your breath.  "Two weeks to slow the spread" and "fifteen days to flatten the curve" have long since morphed into a semi-permanent nanny state in which the very act of slowing and flattening ensures that the virus will go on indefinitely by guaranteeing a continuous stream of new "cases" with which to frighten the public and increase government power.

Flashback: Biden Transition Leader Says He Wants To Restrict Free Speech.  President-elect Joe Biden's transition leader for U.S.-owned media outlets, Richard Stengel, supports restricting free speech and creating new guidelines that would make "hate speech" a crime.  In a Washington Post op-ed published last year, Stengel, who served as President Barack Obama's Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, suggested the government should make "statutes to penalize speech" that is offensive.  "Hate speech has a less violent, but nearly as damaging, impact in another way:  it diminishes tolerance," Stengel wrote.  "Why shouldn't the states experiment with their own version of hate speech statutes to penalize speech that deliberately insults people based on religion, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation?"

Roman Catholic diocese seeks Supreme Court emergency relief over Cuomo coronavirus restrictions.  The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is turning to the Supreme Court over coronavirus restrictions that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo imposed that include limits on how many congregants can gather for religious services.  The emergency court filing, submitted Thursday [11/12/2020], compares the prohibitions houses of worship face with the relative freedom afforded to many businesses under an order that Cuomo issued in October, in which he designated color-coded zones with varying degrees of limitations.  "While this Executive Order effectively closes churches and other houses of worship, all businesses deemed 'essential' by the Governor — including everything from supermarkets to pet stores, huge hardware stores to brokers' offices — are permitted to remain open without any capacity limitations whatsoever, even in the most restrictive 'red' zones.  In 'orange' zones, even the vast majority of nonessential businesses, including department stores, can remain open without limitation — yet churches cannot," the filing said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci Says It Is Time for Americans to Shut [...] up and Do What Their Betters Tell Them to Do.  Today [11/13/2020] in an interview, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases told an audience his solution for stopping the dread Chinese Lung AIDS epidemic dead in its tracks:  ["]I was talking with my UK colleagues who are saying the UK is similar to where we are now, because each of our countries have that independent spirit, I can understand that, but now is the time to do what you're told.["]  Bingo.  [Shut up] and do what you are told.  This is and has always been the agenda.  From the earliest day of this Wuhan pandemic, I've contended that the primary goal of all the "public health" types is not to save your life or keep you healthy because they [don't care] whether you live or die.  The real game is to create a "public health" carve-out to the First Amendment that gives unelected bureaucrats and elected officials the right to rule by fiat.  Early in this self-generated crisis, the first target was church attendance.  Now we're seeing the same nasty little fascists who locked down entire states, while sending patients still infected with Wuhan virus into nursing homes in what appears like a conscious effort to slaughter the elderly and infirm.

He's just now saying this?  Where was he in May and June?
Alito: COVID Has Highlighted 'Disturbing' Trend of 'Lawmaking by Executive Fiat' and 'Rule by Experts'.  During a speech before the Federalist Society on Thursday, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito said that the coronavirus pandemic has "highlighted disturbing trends" in the law such as "dominance of lawmaking by executive fiat, rather than legislation."  Which he characterized as "the movement toward rule by experts."  Alito began by cautioning that, aside from specific references to any Supreme Court cases, he isn't commenting on the legality of coronavirus restrictions and isn't making any statements as to whether the restrictions constitute good policy.

Justice Alito:  Pandemic Has 'Resulted in Previously Unimaginable Restrictions on Individual Liberty'.  Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Thursday said the coronavirus pandemic has "resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty" and warned that religious liberty is "in danger of becoming a second class right."  Alito's comments came during his virtual keynote speech to a conference of the conservative Federalist Society, in which the 70-year-old justice warned that the U.S. can't allow the restrictions on personal liberty to continue after the pandemic has ended, noting that houses of worship have been treated particularly unfairly.

Pennsylvania Court Rules Secretary of State Improperly Changed Deadline 2 Days Before Election Day.  A Pennsylvania judge ruled in favor of President Donald Trump's campaign on Thursday, saying Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar overstepped her authority to change an election deadline two days before Election Day last week.  "The Court concludes that Respondent Kathy Boockvar, in her official capacity as Secretary of the Commonwealth, lacked statutory authority to issue the November 1, 2020, guidance to Respondents County Boards of Elections insofar as that guidance purported to change the deadline ... for certain electors to verify proof of identification," Judge Mary Hannah Leavitt wrote in her order on Thursday afternoon [11/12/2020].  Boockvar, a Democrat, submitted guidance saying proof of identification could be provided to vote up until Nov. 12.  State law stipulates that voters have until Nov. 9 to deal with problems regarding a lack of proof of identification.  Boockvar, the top election official in the state, issued the guidance after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled mail-in ballots could be accepted three days following Nov. 3.  Boockvar issued the new guidance on Nov. 1, two days before Election Day.  Trump's lawyers had argued that the secretary had no power to unilaterally change the date.

Democratic blacklists and other odious hypocrisies.  In 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez complained that she and leftist allies were being placed on a blacklist by Democratic Party regulars.  It turns out that this was not a principled objection, for now, she wants to be the one making the list.  Disturbingly, this seems also to be the view of a wide range of Democrats, which is ironic because four years ago, they were accusing President Trump, baselessly, of course, of trying to take office and then arrest his political opponents.  Now, Democrats and Republican grifters allied to them in the poseur "resistance" are calling for the personal and professional destruction of everyone who has stood by or "enabled" Trump, including even the attorneys now assisting him in various state legal battles.  Their vindictive attitude is absurd and disgraceful on so many levels that it is hard to know where to begin.

AOC & Co.'s loathsome plan to keep lists of pro-Trumpies.  In Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado," a man named Ko-Ko appointed to the job of Lord High Executioner tries to figure out whom he should have killed.  "There will be," he says, "no difficulty in finding plenty of people whose loss will be a distinct gain to society at large."  And then he reveals that he has "a little list" — a list "of society offenders ... who never would be missed!"  Ko-Ko's example is being followed exactly by a group of petty and loathsome enforcers of pious attitudinal orthodoxy who have appointed themselves to the collective post of Lord High Career Executioner in post-Trump America.  They literally talk about the "lists" they are making of people who have committed the grievous evil of working for the administration they hated, with the stated goal of ensuring such people don't find employment afterward.  Last week, there arose something that calls itself the Trump Accountability Project. [...]

Leftist Back Down on Plans to Create Lists to Block Trump Backers From Jobs.  The Trump Accountability Project, which targets supporters of President Donald Trump by adding them to a list and "holding them accountable" after the election, has announced that it is "no longer active."  The announcement was made on the project's website, which has been promoted by former Pete Buttigieg staffer Hari Sevugan.

Organization That Made Public Blacklist of Trump Supporters Shuts Down After Massive Backlash.  The "Trump Accountability Project" was created shortly after media outlets declared Democratic nominee Joe Biden the winner in the presidential election, with its mission being to list those who worked in President Trump's administration to hold them "accountable."  Attention was first brought to the Trump Accountability Project after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) asked if there was such a list being created since Trump did not do everything Democrats perceive as being wrong.

The Editor says...
Did they shut down due to backlash, or did they realize that Biden may not have won the election after all?

Leftist cabal's sleazy plan to blacklist Trump-supporters blows up in their faces.  It looks as though the Trump Accountability Project, a vile, literally fascist scheme to hound and persecute former Trump supporters big and small in the presumed post-Trump era, is shutting down.  It had been touted by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former Pete Buttigieg spokesman Hari Sevugan as the next order of action. [...] Among other things, the "Trump Accountability Project" didn't jibe well with Joe Biden's call for "unity," making the so-called "president-elect" look like a sleazy, lying, hypocrite.  It may well be that someone from Camp Biden got to whoever these creeps are (which would tell you that they know who they are) and told them to cut it out.  After all, with Biden presumably in on a weak mandate, it was a public relations liability.

Dem activists urge violence, repressions against Trump voters.  Democrat party activists are calling for political retribution against supporters of President Trump and other Republicans.  According to reports on Tuesday [11/10/2020], many Democrats took to Twitter with calls to fire, shame and deny future employment to republicans.

Biden Plans To Create An Army Of 100,000 'Culturally Competent' Contact Tracers.  As if lockdowns and forced mask mandates aren't enough, there is another chilling detail of the hellish authoritarian state that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will preside over if he is installed into the White House.  Get ready for the creation of an army of political enforcers who will be imbued with the power of the federal government to act as "contact tracers" to keep tabs on Americans under the pretense of fighting COVID. [...] Biden has already made it clear that he is going to threaten Republican governors in order to pressure them into lockdowns as well as forced mask mandates but the conscription of at least 100,000 "culturally competent" contact tracers is directly out of the playbooks of history's most oppressive totalitarian regimes.

Of Course The Party Of Moral Authoritarianism Would Cheat On Elections.  We and many others were warning months ago that the Democrats were going to try to steal the 2020 election.  When the counting, recounting, and lawsuits are done, they might well have succeeded.  It's simply in their nature to do whatever they believe is necessary to further their agenda.  The belief in one's own moral superiority eventually erases the conscience.  After all, if one is morally superior to others, then no conscience is needed.  All actions and behaviors are acceptable because they're done in an effort to make the world a better place. [...] Just a few of the many screeds, rants, and tweets that have been issued since Election Day are evidence that the Democrats and progressive left feed on their moral narcissism.  They are convinced that their ideas are so righteous, their judgment so impeccable, their understanding so deep that anyone who disagrees with them must be cast aside, redeemed only after being re-educated.  Their moral narcissism is to be imposed on the rest of us by a moral authoritarianism.

The Coming Purge if Trump Loses.  [Scroll down]  Imagine if Trump had "a list", threatening those who opposed him?  The reality is far from it, as those who certainly deserve a reckoning, think Spygate, remain free, writing books, teaching, and bloviating on cable news shows.  It's the Democrats making lists.  Is this far-fetched?  I'm not suggesting half the country will be sent to a gulag or shot.  A hundred years after Stalin there are now nonviolent ways of purging opposition.  The administrative state, weaponized, can be a figurative gulag.  Look at what the Obama administration did to Trump via spygate.  Weaponizing the intelligence and justice departments against Trump, essentially putting Trump and his presidency into a bureaucratic gulag for most of his first term.  How many Trump supporters would face IRS audits?

The Left Threatens GOP: 'We Have a List' and You'll Never Work Again if You Helped Trump.  Former President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden used the power of the office to spy on the media and political enemies, including, of course, Donald Trump.  Obama kept a disposition matrix, an assassination list.  And now the D.C. Left is trotting out a new list.  It goes something like this:  If you complain about potential voter fraud in the 2020 election, you'll never work in this town again and if you ever worked for Trump, you're through.

Your Name Might be on This Nazi-Like Democrat Website Collecting Lists of Trump Supporters.  Democrats have made a website dedicated to compiling lists of thousands of Donald Trump supporters who have donated to his presidency using fec.gov data.  The website claims the list is of "Americans that give money to support a racist".  An individual researcher had found that not only is the website compiling personal information of thousands of Trump supporters, but when accessing the website, it collects your browser data as well.

Dems Start 'Enemies List' to Go After People Who Supported Trump, Including Fed Judges He Appointed.  There are a lot of things to be concerned about if Joe Biden were to win the presidency. [...] Now that some on the left believe that the President has lost and Joe Biden has won, their true colors are coming out.  Not only do they want control information, they want to make you pay if you supported Trump.  Prominent leftists and media folks are talking about making an "enemies list" to go after people.  The Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin called for making sure that Trump supporters not be allowed to work or accepted into "polite society."

Ocasio-Cortez Touts Secret List Targeting Trump Supporters For Retaliation.  There is no denying that the American left has become fully totalitarian as a result of the Democratic party's embrace of radical socialists and anti-Semites.  A prime example of the vicious element that has been growing increasingly powerful is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the taco bar revolutionary who in a twisted modern version of the classic fairy tale Cinderella, has become arguable the most powerful member of the Democrat Congress.  Since she burst onto the political scene in the summer of 2018, AOC has shown that she is a petty, vindictive, vicious and cruel person who lies without consequence and has a formidable Twitter mob that will rip any Dems who dare to question her to shreds.

AOC and other Dems' vows of vengeance on Trump supporters ensure a fanatical fight to the bitter end.  Since antiquity, military commanders leading expeditions have burned their boats so that nobody would be tempted to desert the battles ahead and head for the safety of home.  Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, by calling for lists of Trump supporters to be compiled, has in effect burned the boats for those Republicans tempted to concede the presidential election and pledge their support to Biden, so that the media and Democrats (they imagine) will be kind to them. [...] While ominous, neither of these avengers specify what they have in mind for those who disagreed with them in a presidential election.  Others were not so shy.  Jennifer Rubin, who poses as a conservative op-ed writer for the Washington Post, wants a blacklist that would deny the opportunity to make a living to those who supported the incumbent Republican president.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Suggests 'Trump Sycophants' Should Be Held Accountable 'In The Future'.  Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested Friday that "Trump sycophants" should be held accountable for their "complicity in the future."  The recently reelected congresswoman tweeted asking whether anyone was keeping track of comments made by "Trump sycophants."  She was likely referring to supporters of President Donald Trump who are alleging that voter fraud is causing the president to fall behind 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden.  Trump has not provided evidence that voter fraud is costing him the election.  "Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future," she asked.  "I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future."

Representative Ocasio-Cortez Requests Immediate Enemies List for Targeting After Biden Takes Office.  New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has requested the immediate assembly of a political enemies list so the far-left can target Trump supporters for elimination.  Not surprisingly former President Obama's data-assembly lead, Michael Simon, affirms the list is already being assembled.  Historically, the elimination of political opposition is a consistent approach by far-leftists who prefer to use ostracization, internment and ultimately extermination to avoid any further impediments upon their quest for ultimate control.  A reference is the Tea Party targeting list used by President Obama through the IRS.  A more recent reference was the call to action by President Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe.

Restaurants must collect diners' data under latest Gretchen Whitmer order.  Meals at Michigan restaurants came with a new side dish Monday:  What's your name and phone number?  The latest order kicked in from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's health department.  Restaurants must be able to contact customers if there's a virus case linked to the business.  Michigan's coronavirus cases have risen significantly, setting a new daily high Saturday at 3,792, the health department said.

The Editor says...
This means you can't anonymously buy a pizza, for example, with cash.  You must tell the State what you're doing and where you've been.

Desperate Minnesota Democrats Restrict Size Of Trump Rally.  In a clear sign that Democrats are starting to get nervous, Minnesota's top officials made a drastic move to interfere in the election by placing severe restrictions on the size of a planned rally by President Trump.  According to reports, the attendance for Trump's rally in Rochester has been downsized to a paltry 250 people after Democrat Governor Tim Walz and rabid socialist Attorney General Keith Ellison intervened.  Trump has made numerous trips to the battleground state hoping to capitalize on the public revulsion to the ransacking of Minneapolis this summer when the George Floyd video triggered a wave of violent riots and local Dems pushed to dismantle the police.  The rally was originally expected to draw up to 25,000 attendees before Walz and Ellison's power play which serves as another example of the exploitation of COVID-19 by authoritarian Democrats to abolish the right to free assembly.

The Editor says...
Overplaying the Covid card is even more tiresome than overplaying the race card.  There is no longer any doubt that Covid-19 is an all-purpose excuse for politically-motivated restrictions on the population as a whole, and Republicans in particular.

A New Round of COVID-19 Restrictions Drives Illinois Eateries to Rebellion.  With their survival on the line amidst a new round of government restrictions targeted at slowing the spread of COVID-19, many Illinois restaurants and bars are refusing to comply.  It's the sort of defiance that erupted during the early days of the pandemic, but more widespread and better organized by business owners who say they have nothing to lose, since their only other option is disaster.  This is a rebellion that could have been foreseen by anybody who understands how people necessarily respond when their backs are against the wall.  In fact, it was predicted, repeatedly.  That needs to be taken into account by government officials already imposing new lockdowns and poised to inflict yet more pain on a public growing increasingly unwilling to submit.  "Unless the state of Illinois takes a more reasonable approach to mitigation, thousands of restaurants are at risk of permanent closure," the Illinois Restaurant Association (IRA) warned last week.

California's Gavin Newsom goes bonkers issuing Thanksgiving COVID orders.  For someone whose previous career was in San Francisco's trendy restaurant industry, California's Gov. Gavin Newsom has some bizarre ideas about why people gather; what a comfortable dining experience is; and how people, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says, will do what they do.  Nope, he's got some weird stuff up, motivated, he says, by a supposed new wave of COVID: [...] Anyone with a lick of common sense knows that neither he nor his constituents are going to observe these ridiculous diktats on the country's biggest family holiday from the comfort of their own homes.  The arbitrariness of these regulations is incredible.  Two hours together?  Why not one point five hours instead?  Thousands of lives could be saved!

I'm Ready to Be Reeducated, Mr. Reich.  I volunteer to be the first guinea pig for Robert Reich's Truth and Reconciliation Commission during the period after the election in which he assumes a Biden victory. [...] I have several reasons I think I would be ideal for this task that I will get to in a minute, but first, for those who don't know or those whose memory is sketchy — it's already more than a week since Reich made his proposal — the former Clinton Labor Secretary wrote the following on Twitter, Oct. 17: "When this nightmare is over, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  It would erase Trump's lies, comfort those who have been harmed by his hatefulness, and name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe."

The American 'Truth and Reconciliation Commission' Will Be Coming For You — If Trump Loses.  In South Africa, they called it a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission."  It was set up to deal with the horrific crimes of the Apartheid regime that countenanced murder, torture, and a denial of basic human rights. [...] Actually, the left itself has made a case against a Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  Nothing Trump or his supporters and enablers have done rises to the level where a special tribunal is necessary.

Too many Democrats are creepily suggesting Trump voters should be jailed.  Trump voters beware: your ballot could get you jailed after January 20, 2021.  If Joe Biden wins the presidency, and takes the oath of office with one hand on Abraham Lincoln's Bible (hopefully not Das Kapital or Kendi's How to Be an Antiracist), open season may be declared on any American morally obtuse enough to believe that 45 deserved four more years.  "Trump must be defeated ... and his enablers, and his supporters ... must be prosecuted and convicted and removed from our society," ranted the always hot-blooded Keith Olbermann.  The former MSNBC anchor traffics in caustic bombast, and this declaration was not very different from his usual huffy diatribes against Republicans.  But the notion of revenge is going mainstream.

Biden lectures us on character?  C'mon man!  There can no longer be any doubt that the Democrats put party before country, politics before ethics and virtue.  One only has to read Robert Reich or listen to his intellectual peer Keith Olbermann to know that the Democrat party has morphed into totalitarianism.  Democrats vow to punish their opponents if Biden is elected.  Reich recommends "truth and reconciliation" camps, taking his cue from South Africa.  How's that for tyranny?  It is well and truly frightening.  The left has been steering us in this direction for decades, and it must be stopped if America is to survive.

Dems Want a Day 1 Purge if Biden Wins.  Democrats accuse Republicans of the things they do themselves.  And then they use that to justify further abuses.  The Trump administration tolerated and incorporated quite a few Obama holdovers.  Those holdovers often responded by seeking to undermine, leak and sabotage the new administration and its policies.  Meanwhile the media waxed outraged over every attempt to root out the holdovers.  But now the Democrats think they're going to win and are happy to lay out plans for a purge of holdovers.

Michigan Barber Who Defied Shutdown Mandates Has Charges Dropped.  Karl Manke, a 78-year-old barber in Owosso, Michigan, who has been cutting hair for 59 years, can rest a little easier.  Charges for violating local health orders and defying Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's COVID mandates were dropped last Friday [10/16/2020].  Manke gained national attention and notoriety as a "folk hero" among many who saw that Whitmer's edicts went far beyond the law.  When she shut down the state initially, Manke complied.  But after she unilaterally extended her mandates beyond April 30 without gaining approval from the legislature to do so, Manke reopened his barbershop, saying at the time, "I feel the governor is not my mother, never has been."  When reminded that he was violating Whitmer's mandates, Manke said, "I could care less.  If they want to put me in jail, put me in jail. ... I will be governed ... but not ruled.  This is a police state action."

Don't Believe Your Lying Eyes — or Joe Biden's Big Mouth.  The move by Facebook and Twitter to censor a New York Post story about Joe Biden was Silicon Valley's version of an October surprise.  Since publication of a story last week alleging that Hunter Biden was introducing foreign business colleagues to his father, Twitter has kept locked the account of the 200-year-old newspaper until it deletes its tweets about its Biden reporting.  By removing the story from news feeds, locking the accounts of the Trump campaign and White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany, and prohibiting editors of the newspaper from sharing the piece even from their own accounts — actions taken without evidence anything in the story was false — the tech oligarchy signaled it was throwing its weight behind what it believes to be the coming Democratic order in Washington.  It also provided Americans with an authentically shocking snapshot of the type of "managed" society that we now inhabit.  In the new American system, large Silicon Valley corporations use their government-sanctioned and immensely profitable monopoly status to routinely censor information and libel anyone they please at the behest of unelected partisan verticals that have colonized large segments of the federal bureaucracy and security agencies.  As each corrupted interest rubber stamps each other's actions, power is removed from public hands and public view.

As Australia Turns Into Police State, Owners of These Toy Guns Must Register or Surrender Them.  For Australians, the coronavirus pandemic has revealed an entirely new side of their government that is not too pleasant.  Severe lockdowns have been forced on the people, and protests against the strict measures have been met with an overwhelming and hostile police response.  With the pandemic far from over, it doesn't look like the police state down under will be going away anytime soon.  Unfortunately for citizens who want to fight back when this tyranny finally crosses the line, they're out of luck.  Australia passed the National Firearms Agreement after the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, a law which saw heavy restrictions placed on firearms.  Buybacks and voluntary surrenders of the newly illegal guns swept the nation as many rushed to hand over their weapons.

Democrats Don't Want to Build a Strong America They Can't Control.  When the government gets out of the way, the economy flourishes and real builders build.  That is what President Trump has been doing these past four years for businesses small and large — getting red tape and regulations out of their way so businesses can grow, hire more people, and pay them better wages.  He understands businesses and how to make them thrive.  The very opposite of what Democrats do and believe.  Democrats love to regulate.  It's what they live for.  They have never met a rule or regulation they didn't like.  They love taxes too.  They would like you to believe that the more taxes they impose on working people, rich people, and businesses, the better off everyone will be.  Unfortunately, that theory has been tried again and again throughout the history of the United States, and it has never worked — indeed, quite the opposite is true.  Higher taxes mean more unemployment, higher prices, and overall economic downturn.

More Melbourne Insanity:  Mom Arrested At Beach For Traveling "Outside Her Permitted 5km Radius".  We've previously detailed protests that have sprung up in various major cities across the Australian continent over authorities' ultra-restrictive coronavirus lockdown measures, which are especially stringent and far-reaching in the southeast state of Victoria.  There's been multiple instances caught on video of police cracking down on elderly people and even pregnant women for merely resting outside on park benches, supposedly in "violation" of coronavirus social distancing measures, even as case numbers have significantly dropped since August.  And now here's the latest incident to go viral as citizens flock to newly reopened beaches, after Victoria slightly relaxed some of its more severe lockdown restrictions: [...]

How Whitmer Plans to Circumvent MI Supreme Court's Lockdown Orders.  The Michigan State Supreme Court on Friday delivered a blow to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) and her Wuhan coronavirus lockdown orders.  Whitmer was relying on the 1945 Emergency Powers of the Governor Act to lock the state down without legislative approval.  The high court, however, voted 4-3 saying Whitmer's moves were unconstitutional.  A separate law, the 1976 Emergency Management Act, also prevented Whitmer from extending her original shutdown orders without legislative approval.  That means that the lockdown should have expired on Apr. 30th, unless the state legislature decided to extend it.  "Our decision leaves open many avenues for the governor and Legislature to work together to address this challenge, and we hope that this will take place," Justice Stephen Markman wrote in the majority opinion.

Dangerous Talk From Stupid People.  [Scroll down]  Remember, when someone says he wants you dead, he wants you dead.  And the people who want you dead here in the USA intend to use the people you currently rely upon to keep you safe and secure as the means to do it.  It's actually quite cunning — if they can keep the cops, agents and soldiers in line.  We've already seen lots of cops putting pensions over honor as they hassle citizens for mask crimes.  The high-ranking Obama officer corps has already sold its collective soul for a handful of stars, and lots of colonels and generals would gleefully set their forces on uppity citizens — not rioters, but people like you — to please their Democrat masters.  When the Biden administration orders the cops and agents, and maybe soldiers, to imprison or kill gun owners, the uniformed flinkies will be expected to spill blood if necessary, because when you send government officials with weapons to enforce a law, whether to bust a guy peddling loose Marlboros or to confiscate AR15s, you have to assume that a certain number of those encounters will end with dead citizens.

Pritzker Is Keeping Illinois Locked Down Not For Health But For A Federal Bailout.  Having moved past the initial shock and panic due to the frightening presence of an unknown virus, we've learned much about SARS-CoV-2 and have accustomed ourselves to new social practices.  Across the country, state governors are lifting restrictions and encouraging commerce.  We're returning to work, opening our storefronts, and sending our children to school.  Most Americans are, anyway.  In Illinois, unfortunately, life hasn't changed much since spring.  Although hospitalizations and deaths in the state have remained flat since mid-June, Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker refuses to fully reopen the state.  While much of the country returns to normal (more or less), he's reimposing and heightening restrictions.  Pritzker says his restrictions are based on science.  In reality, they're political calculations based on opportunism and election-year math.

Michigan Supreme Court rules against Whitmer on emergency powers.  The Michigan Supreme Court issued a split decision late Friday that ruled against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in a battle over her power to extend emergency declarations used to mandate COVID-19 restrictions over the last five months.  The court's opinion throws into question dozens of orders issued by Whitmer related to the coronavirus pandemic, appearing to void them.  At the same time, however, since the decision came as a response to questions submitted to the court by a federal judge — and not as part of a state case before it — it wasn't immediately clear what would happen next or when it would take effect.  Whitmer issued a statement denouncing the decision.

Keywords: dictator, monarchy, tyrant.
October Surprise:  Michigan Governor Extends Her Executive Orders.  There has never been a person who has loved bypassing a State Legislature more than Governor Gretchen Whitmer.  I think she dreams of ways to bypass them and can't wait until the morning where she can excitedly run into her staffers with her crazy new idea.  On Tuesday [9/29/2020], Whitmer continued her odd balancing act of allowing the peasants to open stuff up while extending her overzealous control of the State and deciding that she and no one else should have a say in how the State is run. [...] Hopefully, the Michigan State Supreme Court will end this very soon.  They heard a case regarding the authority she is claiming she has in the Michigan Constitution to continuously do this on Sept 9th and a decision should be coming any day now.

People Are Arrested For Not Wearing A Mask During OUTDOOR Prayer Service In Moscow Idaho.  Three people have been arrested after an Idaho church held a psalm-singing event without masks in a city hall parking lot in violation of a town's mask order.  Christ Church pastor and event organizer Ben Zornes told the Moscow-Pullman Daily News that Wednesday's event in the community of Moscow was aimed at criticizing what he called a "largely groundless" mask order.  It was issued by the city council in an effort to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.  [Video clip]

Biden's Authoritarian America.  [Scroll down]  Under a Biden administration, we will see a colossal escalation in the scope and power of government, projected by authoritarian policies, many of which were put in place under President Obama. [...] Though Joe Biden presents himself as a moderate, his authoritarian policies betray a more radical, Progressive philosophy that is gradually undermining and replacing America's social, political, and economic fabric.  Biden's administration will have no limiting principle to restrain the growth of government power.  By further consolidating control, he will hasten the erosion of numerous constitutional rights, inching us closer to tyranny.

The canary in the constitutional mine is gasping.  Ten years ago, the Affordable Care Act tested the limits of federal powers.  The barely noticed federal takeover of student loans, the mandated purchase of health insurance from a limited list of insurers with a limited list of doctors were only the start.  The federally defined "essential" medical services were a road map for future government controls.  We are now living through the consequences of government deciding what activities are "essential" in the lives of normal, sentient human beings.  Some congresspersons and assorted social justice warriors are treating the Constitution like the COVID-susceptible residents of New York nursing homes:  expendable.  Or like the 26,000 dementia patients whose death was hastened by the isolation resulting from unscientific lockdowns. [...] COVID-19 provided a justification for abridging freedom of assembly and religious freedom.  Is openly professing one's faith not essential to our well-being?  Certainly, religious services where congregations can easily be instructed on safely participating in group worship presents less risk than sauntering through Walmart.

Will the Lockdowns Outlast the Coronavirus?  There is a popularly repeated regret that COVID-19 resulted in the shuttering of so many small businesses and in the loss by so many of jobs.  This rumor is false.  Coronavirus was not the disease that did such lasting damage to the economy of the United States; tyranny was.  Tyranny is a virus that once it develops in the body politic always spreads and infects all the members until the body is left lifeless or until the cure is deemed more traumatic than the disease itself.  After the arrival of the coronavirus, state legislators and governors across the union began issuing statutes and orders mandating that residents remain "quarantined" inside their homes and that businesses close up shop until the healthcare community could catch up to the predicted press of victims of the virus.  This was the so-called "flattening of the curve."  The curve was flattened, but the trajectory of tyranny was ever upward.

William Barr Speaks Truth to (Illegitimate) Power.  The attorney general, bucking the behavior of attorneys generally, displays all the emotion of a mortician, approaches an audience with the calm detachment of a psychiatrist, and speaks in the reading-room volume of a librarian.  His bearing rarely proves contagious.  "The person in the white coat is not the grand seer who can come up with the right decision for society.  A free people makes its decision through its elected representatives," Barr noted in a speech Wednesday [9/16/2020].  "Putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest," Barr explained.  "Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history."  He continued, "Most of the governors ... treat free citizens as babies that can't take responsibility for themselves and others."

Judge rules enough charges against socialist Seattle city council member for recall efforts to proceed.  A Seattle judge has given the green light for a recall petition seeking to remove a self-proclaimed socialist member of the city council to proceed in court.  King County Superior Court Judge Jim Rogers ruled Tuesday [9/15/2020] that the process may move forward to remove Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant from office, according to The Seattle Times.  Four of the six charges brought against Sawant were determined by Rogers to have met the standard allowing the recall process to proceed.

Email Records Show Democrat Nashville Mayor Hid COVID-19 Data To Intentionally Inflict Economic Hardship on Bars and Restaurants.  While the background story of data manipulation to intentionally inflict economic damage is stunning, the severity of the position of Nashville Democrat Mayor John Cooper is actually not a surprise.  It must be remembered this is the same Nashville Mayor who created COVID-19 internment camps to forcibly detain people in a quarantine camp at a fairground.  When one person jumped the fence to escape the police hunted him down and Nashville authorities charged him with "escaping a penal institution."  COVID-19 was criminalized.  Two months after the internment camp incident a non-domiciled Nashville citizen named Joseph Bryant (61) was arrested for refusing to wear a face mask outside.  His bail was set at $500 and he was incarcerated for not wearing a face mask.  So it doesn't come as a complete surprise to discover the same officials hid data showing low COVID-19 infection rates in order to inflict the maximum amount of economic pain on business owners.

The Editor says...
The mayor appears to be making the virus threat look worse than it is, in order to give himself more power.

US District Judge Stickman Rules PA Governor Wolf's Coronavirus Restrictions Unconstitutional.  Governor Tom Wolf's (D-PA) COVID-19 restrictions have been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge.  The complaint was filed back on May 7, arguing that the governor's orders, limiting the size of gatherings, the stay-at-home order, and the closure of non-life-sustaining businesses, were unconstitutional.  The original complainants in the suit were the counties of Washington, Butler, Greene, and Fayette, (although the judge dismissed the county governments from the case), Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly, Republican State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, and various businesses including hair salons, a farmer's market vendor, a horse trainer, and drive-in movie theaters.  US District Judge William Stickman IV, ruled on Monday [9/14/2020] in a 66-page opinion that the restrictions were overreaching, arbitrary, and violated citizens' constitutional rights.

Why are Casinos Treated More Favorably than Churches During a Pandemic?  [Scroll down]  Consider the recent decisions of the Supreme Court to deny emergency relief to churches that have been subjected by states to restrictions that are more onerous than to casinos and other secular institutions and businesses.  The churches sought emergency relief under their First Amendment right of the free exercise of religion.  The Supreme Court, in two 5-4 decisions, has denied that relief, with the swing vote being cast by the deeply religious and strongly conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, who joined the four liberal justices.  The other four conservative justices dissented in both cases.  The first amendment's approach to religion is anything but clear or simple.  It contains several relevant provisions:  it prohibits "an establishment of religion."  It also protects against laws "prohibiting the free exercise" of religion.  Finally, it guarantees "the right of the people peaceably to assemble," although that provision seems geared more to political than religious assemblies — a distinction that may be difficult to make in an age in which everything, including religion, is political.

AG William Barr:  Coronavirus Lockdowns 'Greatest Intrusion on Civil Liberties' Since Slavery.  Attorney General William Barr said Wednesday evening "other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint," coronavirus lockdowns were the "greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history."  Barr's comments came during a Constitution Day celebration at Hillsdale College, commemorating the date in 1789 when the Constitution was signed by the Framers in Philadelphia.  Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, Barr has expressed alarm at the restrictions imposed by state authorities on First Amendment rights, particularly the freedom of religion.  In April, Barr's Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memorandum to all U.S. attorneys to "be on the lookout for state and local directives that could be violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of individual citizens."  He explained that while there might be "reasonable and temporary restrictions" on some First Amendment rights for the sake of public health, they should not become an "overbearing infringement."

Biden says he may have authority to implement nat'l mask mandate.  Joe Biden has reiterated he will implement a national mask mandate if he's elected president this year.  During a news conference in Delaware, the Democrat presidential candidate said his legal team believes he has the authority to mandate mask wearing.  This came after he previously stated he's not sure whether that order would even be enforceable.  Biden claimed if he can't impose it, he will propose the mandate to every U.S. governor.  He added, "We must do it."

The Conservative Argument Against Mask Mandates is Stronger than the Media Pretends.  [Scroll down]  But it is not just the birth story of mask mandates which has created enormous distrust of them among a significant minority of the population.  There are several other substantive reasons for our resistance which have very little to do with just not wanting to deal with the hassle of wearing one.
  •   In order to justify the extraordinary step of the government forcing the universal use of a mask, the burden of proving that masks are so effective, and the emergency so dire, as to validate such an extreme action is very high.  Far higher, on both counts, than the data/evidence from this pandemic has so far substantiated.
  •   If the government can force you to wear a mask, under penalty of law, what exactly can't they, in this nation once founded on the concept of liberty from tyranny, make you do?
  •   What is the end date for this mandate?  If we are forced to wear them now when only slightly more are dying per day than at the height of flu season, why would this edict ever be lifted?
  •   Joe Biden's promise of a "federal mask mandate" if he is elected has been downplayed because it could not be technically enforced, but it would cause profound problems in large parts of the country.  Imagine being in a "red" state with no mandate but having the "federal mandate" hanging over everyone's head and giving every business, school, sporting event the moral authority to effectively make their own rules in a way which would likely cause chaos and division.

Federal Judge Rules Pennsylvania "Lock-Down Rules", and COVID Compliance Decrees, Unconstitutional.  A federal judge in the Western District of Pennsylvania had ruled that Governor Tom Wolfe's dictates, decrees and rules were/are unconstitutional restrictions on liberty.  U.S. District Judge William Stickman IV concluded the governor's stay at home orders, limits on gatherings and closure of "non life-sustaining" businesses violated citizens' Constitutional rights.  The judge was responding to a lawsuit brought by a group of Pennsylvania businesses.

Akron's Highland Tavern becomes first Ohio bar to have liquor license revoked for violating coronavirus health orders.  The Ohio Liquor Control Commission has revoked the liquor license of Akron's Highland Tavern in connection with three violations of the state's health orders to curb the spread of the coronavirus.  Highland Tavern, on West Market Street in the city's Highland Square neighborhood, has also received a fourth citation, for which the commission has not yet held a hearing.  The bar's liquor permit is set to be revoked effective at the close of business on Oct. 2, according to an order issued by the Liquor Control Commission.

Group tops 400K signatures to repeal Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's virus powers.  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, faced with lawsuits challenging her use of emergency powers to fight the coronavirus, could continue to prevail in court.  But she may be unable to stop a Republican maneuver that would rescind a 75-year-old law that has enabled her to issue and lift COVID-19 restrictions unilaterally.  A ballot drive said Friday it was in the "home stretch" after collecting more than 400,000 signatures in just two months.  Its goal is 500,000.

John MacArthur banned from holding church services AGAIN.  Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church have experienced yet another setback in their court case against the County of Los Angeles.  As most of you know, there's been a lot of back and forth between the government and GCC since JMac FINALLY decided to hold in-person church services after spending months calling on churches to submit to virtually any governmental official's stated declarations, per Romans 13.  Thankfully, Pastor MacArthur came around to take a stand and is now embroiled in a legal battle with the County of Los Angeles, which is attempting to strip churches of their Constitutional Right to worship God as they see fit without governmental interference.  On one hand, it's a positive sign to see a pietist like MacArthur now talking about defending our rights and liberty.  One the other hand, I wish that he would simply come out and explain how he came to this change in his theological understanding of Romans 13.

Judge Grants Injunction Barring Grace Community Church From Constitutional Right To Worship.  Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff of the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a preliminary injunction Thursday [9/10/2020] that prohibits Pastor John MacArthur and Grace Community Church from "conducting, participating in, or attending any indoor worship services."  The ban also extends to services held outside "unless onerous restrictions are followed."  Since the church first began meeting in-person and defying local lockdown orders in July, Los Angeles County officials have threatened fines, arrest, and even terminated the lease held between the church and the county for parking lot space claiming health and safety concerns.

School district suspends student for attempting to come to school.  Officials at William Floyd High School in New York recently hit Maverick Stow, a 17-year-old student, with a five-day suspension for coming to school on a Tuesday in early September, a "designated remote learning day" for Stow.  The school district said Stow believed he should attend school in person five days a week, not four.  That's right, Stow was suspended for not skipping school.  To make matters worse, the student-criminal returned to school on the Wednesday [9/9/2020] and Thursday following his suspension and was promptly arrested by the Suffolk County Police Department for unlawfully entering school grounds.  Though the district said it agrees with Stow's view that in-person instruction should take place five days a week, it also said it was required to follow state social distancing regulations and labeled his actions as "irresponsible and selfish behavior."  And a "publicity stunt."  Huh?  State social distancing regulations allow students to attend school "in person" four days a week but not five?  Do the powers that be think trimming the number of students allowed on campus by 20% makes all the difference?

What are the Stakes?  This is an election like no other.  To treat it otherwise would be a grievous and perhaps irreparable misstep. [...] Currently, the ruling classes mostly disenfranchise undesirables through social opprobrium, labeling them "deplorable" and letting their attack dogs in the media do the rest.  But in the Obama era, they began to belligerently "weaponize" the federal government, using the IRS and intelligence agencies to thwart their political opponents.  If granted control of the White House again, the lesson they will draw from defeating Trump is not only that they will not be held accountable for such tactics, but that such tactics work.  They will use government agencies to kneecap their enemies in every conceivable fashion.  Those are the stakes.

Anthony Fauci, the great 'humanist,' sets U.S. sailing on globalist, anti-freedom course.  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, along with his agency colleague, the epidemiologist David Morens, warned in a report in the science journal Cell that if humans don't make significant changes in all activities, that more diseases — more terrible health issues like COVID-19 — will soon come.  Beware this report.  It's a globalist dream come true, a real treatise for elites to control nearly every facet of human activity, human life, human freedoms. [...] It's called "Emerging Pandemic Diseases:  How We Got to COVID-19," and it's presented as a scientific look at why we're where we are today with the coronavirus, and more importantly, what we can do to keep from facing such dramatic disease-tied devastations in the future.  But a better title might be, "How to Take Over the World, One Medical Fear At a Time."

The Coming Coup?  Democrats are laying the groundwork for revolution right in front of our eyes.  As if 2020 were not insane enough already, we now have Democrats and their ruling class masters openly talking about staging a coup.  You might have missed it, what with the riots, lockdowns and other daily mayhem we're forced to endure in this, the most wretched year of my lifetime.  But it's happening.  It started with the military brass quietly indicating that the troops should not follow a presidential order.  They were bolstered by many former generals — including President Trump's own first Secretary of Defense — who stated openly what the brass would only hint at.  Then, as nationwide riots really got rolling in early June, the sitting Secretary of Defense himself all but publicly told the president not to invoke the Insurrection Act.

COVID-19 Power Trips of Leftist Politicians, Teachers Unions Must Stop.  The COVID-19 pandemic has brought out political power trips like America has never seen before.  Governors and mayors have seized "emergency powers" that effectively shut down our economic engine and social culture.  Never before had Americans seen the day when they would be told they couldn't open for business, attend worship services, hold weddings or funerals, or send their children back to school.  Americans never anticipated they'd be forced to wear facial coverings if they so much as left their homes. [...] Many of these edicts are obvious political power grabs in order to keep people uncomfortable and inconvenienced, in hopes of affecting the November elections, but they will have destructive consequences we haven't yet fully realized and can't even anticipate.

NYC Restaurants File $2 Billion Suit Against Gov. Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio.  New York City restaurants have had enough.  Even as restaurants across the state have reopened for limited indoor seating, the Big Apple remains limited to only patio dining.  Now, as fall approaches and cool weather returns to the city, restaurateurs are demanding action from Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo.  A lawsuit filed last week in NYC lists Il Bacco Restaurant in Queens as the primary plaintiff in the suit that is seeking $2 billion in damages for their business and similarly affected businesses in NYC.  The lawsuit seeks repayment from Cuomo, de Blasio, the Office of the Attorney General of New York, and the city itself.  More than 350 NYC restaurants have signed on to the class-action suit.

Democrats Mistake Orwell's 'Animal Farm' for Instruction Manual.  [Scroll down]  However this worldwide hysteria was launched, its effects are now clearly observable all around us.  Just last night I was horrified to see a video of a young girl in Australia being choked by a police officer during her arrest for the crime of not wearing a mask in public.  We have all been treated for the past several months to the videos of police officers and sheriffs, or city employees sent by these Democratic politicians to
  [#1]   Arrest a solitary man jogging on a beach, or surfing in the ocean.
  [#2]   Arrest a mother pushing her child on a swing set in a park
  [#3]   Weld shut the gates of a park so no one could enter
  [#4]   Arrest hairdressers and other business owners who defied shut down orders.
None of these radical Democratic mayors and governors campaigned on engaging in this kind of behavior. [...] They all hid their true nature until they were established in office.  Had they revealed they would engage in this kind of tyrannical behavior while they were candidates, none of them would have been elected.

If the Vaccine Comes and You are Still Wearing a Face Mask, You're in for a World of Pain.  For twenty years, the average and above-average American alike have been laying in bed, ever since those planes hit the World Trade Center and government said "Go to your room.  We're in charge now."  It can be no surprise that some muscles have since atrophied.  The emergency they said they were handling never came to an end.  The terror alerts never stopped.  Some people never stopped talking about them.  To this day, I don't know what those terror alerts mean or why they matter, and not for the life of me do I care.  People have tried to explain it to me, perhaps not realizing that I stopped listening to them about twenty seconds before they started explaining, right around the moment where their tonality shifted away from the "I-am-telling-you-something-sincere-or-original" voice to the "I-am-now-delivering-a-preprogrammed-message" voice.  We still have alerts.  We still have security at airports that touch passengers' private parts "for the safety of all."

Charlie Baker should become a Democrat and stop kidding himself.  Why doesn't Gov. Charlie Baker just get it over with and switch parties and become a Democrat?  By the numbers, he's the worst governor in America.  Highest unemployment rate in the U.S.:  16.1%.  Third-highest death rate in the U.S.:  131 per 100,000.  Of the 8,791 deaths in Massachusetts, 5,781 have been in the nursing homes the governor is responsible for keeping safe.  And the nursing-home slaughter continues unabated — 26 of the last 36 deaths this week have occurred in those same death houses whose operators gave $52,000 to the governor Joe Biden calls "Charlie Parker."  Average age of Massachusetts decedents:  85.  Charlie Parker's prescription?  Pinball machines (but not casinos) shut down, no high-school athletics.  And now his latest overreach — mandatory flu shots for most children over the age of six months.  No hearings, no legislation, no expiration date — just another imperious, tyrannical order, to be enforced selectively against any parent who gets out of line and needs to be slapped down, like a gym owner who wants to reopen.

South Bay Baptist Pastor Fined for Violating Ban on Indoor Church Services.  A Santa Clara pastor posted a video this week after being slapped with $10,000 in fines for violating the health order.  "This is not a hot spot, we were told that thousands were going to die," said North Valley Baptist Church pastor Jack Trieber.  "There's not a pandemic here."  In the nine-minute video, Trieber uses the county's death rate to justify opening his doors to his congregation.  As of Thursday, the county reported 16,607 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 240 deaths.  Trieber was fined $5,000 twice over the weekend for holding indoor services and singing, which are both against the state's order.  According to the Mercury News, the pastor was fined another $5,000 on Wednesday for, once again, holding indoor services.

Having a party is a crime now?
TikTok celebrities criminally charged after LA house parties.  TikTok celebrities Bryce Hall and Blake Gray are facing criminal charges after they hosted recent parties in the Hollywood Hills despite the city's ban on large gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic, authorities said Friday [8/28/2020].  The Los Angeles city attorney's office filed misdemeanor charges Thursday against Hall and Gray.  The internet celebrities with millions of followers on TikTok share a home and allegedly held two parties less than a week apart.

America's Woke Red Guards Enforcing Goodthink by Harassing D.C. Restaurants Patrons.  I'm really excited about the new woke America and how everyone is pitching in to help bring truth, justice, and almost the American way to life.  Of course, if you don't pitch in to help, that's something of a problem.  But never fear, our very own version of the Chinese Red Guards are on the job and will ensure that those who are hesitant at giving their full support to the movement will be dealt with severely. [...] Goodthink is a state of mind.  And it's really not that hard to achieve.  Just sit down, shut up, cheer when you're told to cheer, boo when you're told to boo.  And most importantly, do what you're told.

Oregon Business Owner Says State Forces Him to Discriminate Against Certain Customers, Levies Huge Fine.  The only pharmacy in a sparsely populated Oregon county has come under scrutiny by the state's Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) for failing to enforce mask regulations on customers.  The owners are now speaking out, saying that the State of Oregon is requiring them to discriminate against the large number of customers they serve who also have disabilities.  In addition, OSHA has slapped them with $10,000 in fines.

Americans Must Oppose the Tyranny That Is Rapidly Spreading Across US.  As Adolf Hitler rose to power, he took control of churches, shut down businesses, encouraged neighbors to report each other, and created a public surveillance operation system.  If these actions sound familiar, they should.  Public officials and bureaucrats are now putting their own tyranny on full display, using the COVID-19 crisis to impose similar draconian tactics in the United States.  While Maryland officials keep the state in lockdown, they are encouraging citizens not only to snitch on one another for breaking "prevention guidelines," but they are allowed to do so anonymously!  The Maryland Emergency Management Agency, State Police, and Department of Health announced a "COVID Prevention Line" available 24 hours a day as well as an email address where citizens can "report situations of concern where prevention guidelines are being ignored and the potential for the spread of COVID-19 is high."  Reports will be followed up with a visit from the health department or law enforcement.  Since July 2, nearly 40 Anne Arundel County businesses and restaurants have received citations, including my church.  After an anonymous reporting on August 11, a female employee from the Anne Arundel County Department of Health showed up at our Sunday morning service.  The health official presented our associate pastor with a citation and an "Order for Immediate Compliance."

Governor Cuomo Bans Dancing.  Governor Cuomo has become Reverend Shaw Moore from the movie Footloose after issuing a new set of commands for New Yorkers that includes a ban on dancing.  This is not a joke. [...] ["]There is no dancing allowed in New York's bars and restaurants, even at a wedding reception, according to the New York State Liquor Authority.  To control the spread of the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's liquor authority has also specifically banned darts, pool, cornhole, karaoke and exotic dancing.["]  Bar owners are already struggling to stay open after being shut down for months.  The new rules are causing a lot of anxiety as business owners are being threatened with their licensing if they don't comply.

Utah Students Who Are Caught Without Masks In School May Be Hit With Criminal Charges, Even Kindergartners.  Students in Utah who are as young as being in kindergarten may be hit with criminal charges if they are caught not wearing a mask in school amidst the coronavirus pandemic.  The office of Republican Governor Gary Herbert reportedly confirmed the potential for K-12 students and staff getting misdemeanors for violating the mask mandate, according to The Salt Lake Tribune.  However, spokeswoman Anna Lehnardt added that it will be up to the schools whether to press charges, which are anticipated to be rarities.  "It's enforced on a district and superintendent level," she added.  "But we're not thinking, 'Let's slap a bunch of kids with misdemeanors.'"  This comes one month after Herbert issued a mask mandate for public schools.  Violators of the mandate can be punished with sentences of up to six months in jail and fines of up to $1,000, which is the same as a first offense for driving drunk.

The Editor says...
What exactly is the name of the law they are allegedly violating?  Disturbing the peace?  Disorderly conduct?  No matter what law the government chooses to criminally prosecute the refusal of a healthy person to wear a mask, it's bound to be thrown out on appeal.

Virginia Health Commissioner says he'll mandate a COVID-19 vaccine.  State Health Commissioner Dr. Norman Oliver told [WRIC] on Friday [8/21/2020] that he plans to mandate coronavirus vaccinations for Virginians once one is made available to the public.  Virginia state law gives the Commissioner of Health the authority to mandate immediate immunizations during a public health crisis if a vaccine is available.  Health officials say an immunization could be released as early as 2021.  Dr. Oliver says that, as long as he is still the Health Commissioner, he intends to mandate the coronavirus vaccine.

Democrats Have Proven They are Unworthy of Power.  If a person or entity has proven to be abusive or irresponsible with power, then it is the duty of the people, while freedom still prevails, to resist and to ensure that such a person or entity is never entrusted with such power ever again or, at least until they have regained the confidence of the people.  Such is the case with today's Democrat party. [...] In six months, with the pandemic and nationwide riots, Democrat leaders have revealed that their natural penchant is not for freedom, but tyranny.  The past six months have shown that we are long past the days of mere policy differences between the two political parties.  Now our battle is against Democrats, a party that has been usurped by the radical left, is literally for the preservation of America as founded.  This election is about whether America will remain a light of liberty or descend into the darkness of Soviet-style communism with elements of Nazism.  This is not hyperbole.

Child well-being check initiative withdrawn after uproar in Tennessee.  The Tennessee Department of Education has withdrawn a $1 million initiative to conduct well-being checks for all children in Tennessee from birth to age 18 after the program sparked uproar this week, with critics calling it a big-brother government overreach.  Gov. Bill Lee and Education Commissioner Dr. Penny Schwinn released the Child Wellbeing Check Toolkit during a news conference Tuesday.  As originally published, the initiative recommended well-being checks for all children in the state to verify well-being as school closures have left gaps for nutrition, health, and abuse reporting services amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Guidelines for the initiative were a collaborative effort of the 38-member Child Wellbeing Task Force, created by Lee in June in response to the pandemic.

Kamala Harris Is Far Worse Than Hillary Clinton.  Kamala Harris laughed uproariously at Joe Biden's suggestion that a president is constrained by the Constitution from ruling by executive fiat.  This clip ought to nauseate any constitutionalist:  Even Hillary Clinton would not have gone so far as to treat the Constitution as a joke.  Harris, moreover, has the most extreme position on abortion imaginable.  And when an undercover journalist, David Daleiden, made the abortion lobby look bad by accurately exposing the inner doings of Planned Parenthood executives, she brought the full force of the state down on his head, raiding his home and launching a vendetta that would result in nine felony charges against him.  Former Obama speechwriter and leftist pundit Jon Favreau calls it "hilarious" that anyone thinks Harris is a moderate because "she has one of the most liberal records in the U.S. Senate."

Wisconsin Forces Employees to Wear Masks at Home Alone During Zoom Meetings.  Wisconsin's state government is forcing government employees to wear masks while at home alone during Zoom meetings. [...] Even if you are in your own home alone (not that that should matter), the fascist Democrats who now run the Wisconsin state government are forcing employees to wear masks during online meetings.

Councilwoman Karen snaps, demands arrest of the unmasked.  A San Diego city councilmember heatedly criticized those not following social distancing mandates or wearing masks in Ocean Beach, urging authorities to arrest non-compliant people.  Covid is "the worst virus in the history of medicine," fumed Councilmember Jennifer Campbell in a press conference next to a popular beach park.  "The county sheriff should be here arresting people who are not wearing masks, who aren't distancing.  Behave or you're going to be in big trouble."

Los Angeles:  Why politicians' COVID bullying attacks will work.  Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti has learned how to govern like a third-world dictator.  His threat to shut down the water and power to large house parties that violate the city's coronavirus guidelines is right out of the totalitarian government handbook. [...] Starting on Friday [8/7/2020], Mayor Garcetti announced that the city would shut off the power and water to houses, businesses, and other venues that violated the strict corona virus safety guidelines.  This is in response to a large house party that police attempted to shut down.  It turns out these parties are cropping up because the bars and nightclubs are closed as the city institutes greater restrictions as reported cases increase. [...] And it will work.  In the Third World, which is what many of these cities have come to resemble, practical and authoritarian solutions prevail, especially when there is no one to enforce the rule of law.

East Village Bar That Criticized Cuomo's Food Mandate Has Liquor License Suspended.  Abby Ehmann, the owner of East Village dive bar Lucky, has had her liquor license suspended a week after she started a petition calling for Gov. Andrew Cuomo to reverse the state's new mandate that bars must serve substantial amounts of food with any alcohol purchase.  Ehmann says that two State Liquor Authority representatives visited the bar on Monday night at 8 p.m. to observe if the bar's eight customers had ordered food with their drinks.  After the visit, Ehmann received her first warning from the SLA on a piece of paper that did not list out the specific violations, she says.  Shortly afterward, and with no further warnings, Lucky's liquor license was suspended.  Neighborhood news site EV Grieve first reported on the suspension.

Federal Judge Rules Cuomo, De Blasio Exceeded Authority by Restricting Religious Services While Condoning Protests.  A federal judge on Friday [7/31/2020] ruled that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo violated the Constitution by restricting religious services to stem the spread of the coronavirus while simultaneously condoning mass protests that took place across the state.  U.S. District Judge Gary Sharpe granted a preliminary injunction blocking New York from enforcing its stringent coronavirus restrictions on religious services.  The state's current restrictions require houses of worship to operate at 25 percent capacity and later at 33 percent capacity when New York enters Phase Four of its re-opening plan.

Mayor Eric Garcetti Says DWP Will Shut Off Water And Power At Homes That Throw Large Parties.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday [8/5/2020] announced the city was taking action against those who throw large parties.  He called recent gatherings of mostly young people in the Hollywood Hills and Calabasas "flagrant violations of health orders."  "While we have already closed all bars and nightclubs, these large house parties have essentially become nightclubs," said the mayor.  He then indicated he would hold them to similar scrutiny.  "The same thing we would do with businesses," said Garcetti.  If the LAPD responds to repeated complaints and verifies that there have been violations at a home, the city will within 48 hours have the DWP shut off service at that home.

The Editor says...
Who decides what a "large party" is?

NYC looks more like a terrorist country than a city in a free nation.  On Wednesday [8/5/2020], NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio announced travel checkpoints and fines for those who do not comply with NYC quarantine restrictions.  The new rules were on top of state restrictions on out of state travelers that visit New York.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo had expanded on the already vast restrictions applying to 35 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.  If you fail to fill out the travel form that is required, you will be fined $2,000, just for landing in a NYC airport.  He announced random checkpoints to be established on the cities bridges and tunnels.  Suppose you break the rules, it is a $10,000 fine.  In his comments, De Blasio said this was not to punish people, but to help them understand the rules.  Just let that sink in a little bit.  Random checkpoints across NYC access points where they will determine if you are compliant or not.  Is this a free country?

States don't have the constitutional power to place travel bans on each other.  We are told that there is essentially nothing state officials can't do to our bodies and businesses in light of their "internal police powers" to somehow arrest an epidemic.  At the same time, those police powers seem to be missing in action as rioters loot, beat, vandalize, and block traffic with impunity.  Now, those internal police powers that seem so impotent and dormant are suddenly resurrected to regulate external affairs, such as interstate travel, with many states now placing travel bans or quarantine requirements on even healthy people from other states.  It's time to speak with one voice against this grossly unconstitutional trend.

A New Prohibition Is Silencing the Deplorables.  Due to the draconian responses to COVID-19, America has been seeing the temporary triumph of the new ax wielders.  A whole network of institutions that are the bedrock of neighborhoods are under attack, including shops, bars, pubs, restaurants, concert halls, movie theaters and churches.  Even some church choirs are silenced by a 'no singing' rule.  The smashers of neighborliness and camaraderie are, like Carrie Nation, doing so in the name of righteousness and the improvement of American's physical health — a principle that seems fair enough.  But if the health of Americans was truly the issue, there would not be so much arbitrariness and inconsistent application of rules and regulations.  The people who are under the laws of the new Prohibition can see the inconsistencies clearly.  It seems odd to them that COVID-19 virus is apparently far more active in churches, small businesses, and eateries, than it is in densely packed crowds of protestors whose righteous ideology apparently immunizes them from the virus's deleterious effects.

Democrats' Policies are Unfit for the Presidency.  The Constitution a president pledges to serve prescribes a government of strict limits, not the unlimited power to take what a person has earned and give it to other people for any desire under the sun.  One of the natural rights the Constitution is supposed to secure is to one's own property.  That's because what a person owns represents his life — his time and labor.  It can never be truly paid back after it is taken, because to take a person's property is to steal hours, days, weeks, years of his life that he will never get back.  It is to enslave him.  Democrats' entire plan for governance is a plan to abuse American citizens' natural rights to life, liberty, and property.  For health care or education or housing or any other material good to be a "right" requires that other people be forced into labor to supply such goods.  It is to proclaim a right to other people's work, which is to say their lives.  A right to control other people's lives is no right at all.  It is an abuse of power.  It is tyranny.  Pledges to accelerate tyranny, which equal treason against the Constitution, utterly disqualify a person and party from United States government.

The left isn't fighting against fascism.  Instead, they are fighting FOR authoritarianism.  [Thread reader]  They claim that their political message transcends the law; that it allows them to control cities; that it allows them to destroy property; that it justifies their designs on canceling heretics; that it permits them to block roads, create no-go zones for non-rioters, prosecute those who stand against them while themselves avoiding persecution.  Leftist-run cities have shown what happens when police and federal law enforcement are demonized and unsupported by elected leaders; when local leadership can seize "emergency powers" — then pick and choose who to punish:  rioters are exempt from lockdowns; you can sing in the streets but not in churches; masks are required, but not for them.  They can tell you what counts as a substantive meal, essentially holding businesses hostage to their arbitrary and incoherent edicts:  pot dispensaries and large warehouse stores can open; gyms and restaurants cannot.  They decide what hate is; what racism is; who is unclean; who is deserving of both punishment and reverence.  They presume to control and police every narrative, and in that way, control and police every person.

Police chiefs, sheriffs refuse to enforce mask mandates: 'You have the freedom to choose'.  Lang Holland, the chief of police in tiny Marshall, Arkansas, said he thinks the threat of the coronavirus has been overstated and only wears a face mask if he's inside a business that requires them.  He doesn't make his officers wear them either.

Michigan county treasurer rebuked for seizing retiree's home over $8 tax debt.  Officials in one Michigan county are demanding answers from their treasurer amid concerns that the county could be on the hook for millions of dollars in payments to former homeowners whose properties were seized under a tough forfeiture practice.  Oakland County commissioners sent an angry letter last week to Treasurer Andrew Meisner after the Michigan Supreme Court rebuked the county's decision to seize one homeowner's house after he underpaid his taxes by $8.41.  The commissioners said that they are forming a special investigative committee to look into the forfeiture practices and "make recommendations to protect the Oakland County taxpayers."

Roaming Mask Cops Writing Tickets for No Masks, Improper Wearing of Masks — 'We'll Arrest You Right Here'.  Another sad day for civil liberties in America — or what's left of it.  [Video clip]

Black Lives Matter v. Molon Labe.  Consider for a moment; we see mobs rampaging, demanding that white people take a knee in subservience and say "Black Lives Matter" to be "forgiven" for something in which they played no part — but this is not a thing that, once done, renders the supplicant absolved.  Those who prostrate themselves do not receive an "ally card" that indemnifies them from further humiliation.  George Orwell best described the never-ending nature of such demands:  ["]Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who's helpless.  If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever.["]  And while the "boot stamping" is merely of the verbal variety right now, we have seen enough violence, intimidation, and even murder from these supposedly peaceful protesters to know that physical abuse is not too far away.

Chief Justice Roberts Votes Against Churches, Huckabee Calls On Him To Retire.  Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, a supposed conservative and constitutionalist, has seemingly forgotten his oath.  In a stunning decision on Friday the chief justice sided with liberals yet again in keeping Nevada's churches, synagogues and mosques more limited than its casinos and movie theaters, CNN reported.  The decision brought scorn and consternations from the likes of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who called on Roberts to repent and retire.

Outdoor religious gatherings draw warnings and rebukes from health officials.  [T]he evangelical worship event took place on the sand near Lifeguard Tower 20 for the fourth Friday in a row, despite warnings that it was violating public health orders and permitting rules, officials said.  Its organizers estimate as many as 1,800 people attended for nearly two hours of musical performances, baptisms and prayers.  Days earlier, minister and musician Sean Feucht urged his fellow Christians to join him under the Sundial Bridge in Redding for a night of worship.

Americans kept from funerals, work, church fume over jammed demonstrations allowed in city streets.  A growing number of Americans concerned about continued coronavirus restrictions are questioning the need for such policies like business closures and mask mandates as tens of thousands gather in the streets around the country to demonstrate and protest.  Video clips from such gatherings, often involving thousands of mostly mask-less people, are replete on social media, drawing ire from Americans who are pushing for COVID restrictions to be lifted so that businesses can fully reopen, along with schools, sporting and concert venues, and others.  "It turns out you can attend church services in America.  As long as it's the church of social justice," tweeted journalist Barrett Wilson on Friday [7/24/2020], along with a Daily Caller video featuring scores of people in a tightly-packed crowd singing and holding candles.

Supreme Court (by 5-4 Vote) Declines to Exempt Nevada Churches from Gathering Size Limits.  From Justice Alito's dissent:  ["]The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion.  It says nothing about the freedom to play craps or blackjack, to feed tokens into a slot machine, or to engage in any other game of chance.  But the Governor of Nevada apparently has different priorities.  Claiming virtually unbounded power to restrict constitutional rights during the COVID-19 pandemic, he has issued a directive that severely limits attendance at religious services.  A church, synagogue, or mosque, regardless of its size, may not admit more than 50 persons, but casinos and certain other favored facilities may admit 50% of their maximum occupancy — and in the case of gigantic Las Vegas casinos, this means that thousands of patrons are allowed.  That Nevada would discriminate in favor of the powerful gaming industry and its employees may not come as a surprise, but this Court's willingness to allow such discrimination is disappointing.  We have a duty to defend the Constitution, and even a public health emergency does not absolve us of that responsibility.["]

The Problem in Portland Isn't the Law — It's the Lawlessness.  Despite the occasional looting, chaos, property damage, trespassing, rioting, graffiti, assaults, arson, and general mayhem, the media consistently assure us that Antifa "protesters" are "largely peaceful." [...] As far as we know, cops haven't broken any laws in the streets of Portland.  The protesters who cover their faces have broken tons.  With this in mind, it's been instructive watching many of the same characters who cheer on governors who take undemocratic emergency powers and shut down houses of worship without the consent of the people — and who sometimes arrest Americans for playing whiffle ball, attending church, or cutting hair — act as if policing portends the end of democracy.  The same people who incessantly clamor to empower the federal government when it suits their purposes now act as if protecting a federal courthouse is the Reichstag fire.

The Prosecution Never Rests.  In our constitutional system of checks and balances, ambition counteracts ambition.  But what happens when prosecutors are the most ambitious of all? [...] Of course, there are many kinds of prosecutorial ambition.  Some might be ambitious for lucrative law-firm partnership seats, or judicial appointments; others might simply like sending a message to criminals that they are the toughest guy on the block.  And others — surely the vast majority — are simply ambitious to do the best possible job they can, using all the legal tools at their disposal.  But here is the problem: there are many tools — and few practical limits upon their use.  While a prosecutor can't put a defendant in jail without a judge, or a jury, or the defendant's own guilty plea, there remains much that he or she can do to secure such convictions or plea bargains, or at least to make the defendant feel the pain of the criminal process.

Here's what I saw in the first half of 2020.  You told us to shelter in place.  We sheltered in place.  You told us to wear masks and we wore masks.  You told us to practice social distancing so we did.  You blocked entrances to our grocery stores so we used the one that you left available to us.  Then you made rules about which way to point our carts down the grocery aisle so we complied with that.  Then you set up hotlines so that our neighbors could snitch on us if we didn't wear our masks, or if we got in our cars and headed somewhere that didn't look like "essential" work.  You got back total compliance.  Total.  The very few among us who protested mask-wearing or social-distance-practicing or any of your other weird stuff, were put into situations where someone else would force the correct behavior. [...] Herd immunity works.  Masks and social distancing don't work.  And you people who think you haven't been obeyed enough, have started a whole new epidemic.  You are scarier than the actual virus.  You're like straight out of a Twilight Zone episode.  One of the earlier ones, the cautionary tales about Cold War paranoia.  That's you.

Los Angeles mayor says city is 'on the brink' of declaring another stay-at-home order.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti told CNN's Jake Tapper Sunday [7/19/2020] that Los Angeles is "on the brink" of another stay-at-home order.  Los Angeles County has seen a surge of cases recently, with new record high hospitalizations and infections.  The city has more than 150,000 cases.  "A lot of things went wrong," Garcetti said.  He pointed out that cases haven't increased as quickly in LA as in some cities, but said there is "no national leadership" in efforts to slow or stop the pandemic.  "It was politicized when it should have been unified."

The COVID Coup.  Panicked by fears manufactured by the ruling class, the American people assented to being put essentially under house arrest until further notice, effectively suspending the habits, preferences, and liberties that had defined our way of life.  Most Americans have suffered economic damage.  Many who do not enjoy protected status have had careers ended and been reduced to penury.  Social strains and suicides multiplied.  Forcibly deferring all manner of medical care is sure to impose needless suffering and death.  In sum, the lockdowns' medical and economic dysfunctions make for multiples of the deaths and miseries of the COVID-19 virus itself.  Bad judgments and usurpations — the scam, not the germs — define this disaster's dimensions. [...] In short, COVID-19 is not America's plague.  It did not shake America.  The ruling class shook it.  They have not done it ignorantly or by mistake.  They have done it to extort the general public's compliance with their agendas.  Their claim to speak on behalf of "science" is an attempt to avoid being held accountable for the enormous harm they are doing.  They continue doing it because they want to hang on to the power the panic has brought them.

Ohio County Creates Hotline for Neighbors to Report Non-Mask Wearers.  Cuyahoga County, Ohio, has rolled out a hotline for residents to snitch on those of their neighbors who do not wear masks, in line with an executive order by Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, mandating masks in public when "social distancing" is not possible.  County Executive Armond Budish made the announcement, telling the people of Cuyahoga that individuals who witness others not wearing a mask in public spaces should make complaints to the new hotline or file on a website titled "Mask Experience."  Once a complaint has been filed, county workers contact the subject of the complaint, whether it's an individual or business, to let them know.  The complaints are also forwarded to the Board of Health and the relevant village or city.  "This is not intended to be going out and finding people not wearing masks.  We want people to wear their masks....  We want people to do it voluntarily," Budish said.

Chicago threatens to bulldoze churches, lawyer says.  The lawyer representing two churches in Chicago fighting the city's coronavirus guidelines said he never thought he'd see the day when city leaders would threaten to bulldoze a church for allowing its congregation to worship.  That day has arrived.  Matt Staver, the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, said Wednesday that churches that he represents have received letters from the city's Board of Health that declared them "public nuisances."

Comrade Cuomo Announces Visitors into New York Must Show Papers and Register With State or Face $2,000 Fine.  Comrade citizens, those who travel in the Northeast zone should beware, Minister Cuomo is going all-in with the COVID compliance mandates.  All travelers into New York from "high-COVID" states, must provide their papers upon arrival or face a summons and $2,000 fine.

The Wrong Governors.  [Scroll down]  The decisions of Cuomo, Whitmer, Newsom, and Murphy regarding the movement of infected patients from hospitals to nursing homes and other long-term care facilities might be the worst and most consequential of the crisis.  Whitmer made odd and difficult-to-justify decisions, including banning the purchase of seeds, and her husband apparently "jokes" about being exempt from state orders.  California's coronavirus-testing programs stumbled right out of the gate.  Murphy violated his own order on large gatherings.  Very little of this has affected the job-approval ratings of these governors — in part because only some portions of the media world are interested in the flaws of the records of these governors.  The others prefer to stick to their preselected happy narrative.

Cops Raid Mansion Of St. Louis Couple Who Defended Home From Protesters, Confiscate AR-15.  St. Louis authorities confiscated an AR-15 used by Mark McCloskey, who made headlines with his wife Patricia last month when they defended their historic mansion from protesters who had broken down a gate to trespass on their private road.  Police executed a search warrant Friday evening at the McCloskey's home, seizing the rifle used in the June 28 incident, according to KSDK. The couple said their attorney was in possession of the pistol Patricia McCloskey brandished during the confrontation.  The raid comes two weeks after St. Louis circuit attorney Kimberly Gardner vowed to work with the St. Louis Police Department to conduct an investigation into the incident.  According to the report, there are no charges against the McCloskeys at this time, as the warrant was just for the guns.

Missouri couple who defended home have rifle seized during police search: report.  Authorities in St. Louis executed a search warrant Friday evening [7/10/2020] at the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the couple who made headlines last month when they took up arms to defend their home from protesters.  During the search, police seized the rifle that Mark McCloskey was shown holding during the June 28 incident, KSDK-TV of St. Louis reported, citing information from a source.  The couple claimed the pistol that Patricia McCloskey held during the June confrontation was already in the possession of their attorney, the station reported.

It Would Appear NBC Buried Some Key Details About Their Medical Expert's 'Coronavirus Battle'.  The George Floyd riots killed the lockdowns.  After weeks of being told to stay inside, the officer-involved death of Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25 lead to the media forgetting about the virus.  Go out and protest was the message from liberal America, with the media excusing or defending the rioters.  For two weeks, not really a lot of COVID coverage and when the rioting began to subside, we needed to get back inside.  Yeah, not happening.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, one of the most insufferable clowns in office, issued an edict banning large crowd gatherings unless you're protesting in support of Black Lives Matter.  They don't even hide their hypocrisy anymore.  Well, over at NBC News, there was something they tried to hide as well regarding COVID, which is that one of their contributors who they peddled as having the virus... never had it.

Can We be Allowed to be Adults, Please?  We live in unprecedented times.  How often have you heard that phrase recently in the media or from the politicians?  So often, it's become cliché.  The problem is the media and the politicians have it all wrong.  We aren't living in unprecedented times because of the COVID-19 outbreak or even because of the rioting following the death of George Floyd.  We live in unprecedented times because the United States of America has never seen a time in its history where the people's basic rights and liberties have been taken from them so quickly and on a such a large scale without their consent or due process.  The really scary part?  We allowed it all to happen and to a large extent asked for it.  A large majority of the media is gleefully scaring [...] everyone with a daily death count and we eat it up.  Our states' Governors have decided that executive orders allow them to become little kings, in some cases little tyrants, in their respective states making law by fiat without the legislature's consent.  Worse, the legislatures have decided that is just fine with them and we complied without any resistance.  There seems to be no limit to the executive powers that governors can take for themselves.  All of this is done in the name of "protecting" us from a virus.

California's Governor Forbids Christians From Singing in Church Houses.  Golden State Christians have been ordered by California's governor to stop singing in church.  This is a direct assault on the First Amendment, [...] The new guidance for places of worship was issued on July 1.  "Discontinue singing (in rehearsals, services, etc.), chanting, and other practices and performances where there is increased likelihood for transmission from contaminated exhaled droplets.  Consider practicing these activities through alternative methods (such as internet streaming) that ensure individual congregation members perform these activities separately in their own homes," the 14-page order reads.  The previous guidelines only encouraged churches to "strongly consider" ending corporate worship, the Sacramento Bee reported.  The governor's office did not indicate how he intends to enforce the law.  Can you imagine the optics of National Guard troops storming into California church houses and arresting choir members for singing, "A Mighty Fortress is Our God"?

Newsom Bans Singing In Houses Of Worship After Downplaying Spread Of Coronavirus At Protests.  Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has issued new restrictions limiting the reopening of the economy in nearly 20 counties across the Golden State.  One of the more controversial measures introduced Thursday will ban singing and chanting at houses of worships, which are already restricted to allowing 25% of guests or just 100 worshippers (whichever is lower). The Sacramento Bee reported that in late May, Newsom simply encouraged houses of worship to "strongly consider discontinuing singing, group recitation, and other practices and performances."

Anthony Fauci:  The Consummate Unelected, Unaccountable, Technocrat.  One would have thought that the legal lockdowns were sufficiently restrictive.  But once power has been tasted, the human tendency is to grab for ever greater control.  Soon, media pundits and politicians began to refer ominously to a less vibrant, prosperous, and free "new normal."  Flattening the curve quickly metamorphosed from a temporary measure to save hospitals into a permanent effort to prevent anyone from getting sick.  "Experts," such as the bioethicist Ezekiel Emanuel — a prime architect of the Affordable Care Act — told us with presumed authority, that we could not return to the way things were until a vaccine was developed, a time Emanuel estimated to be potentially as long as 18 months.  Justifying seizing greater control under the mantra, "if it saves just one life," some of our most influential experts began pounding the drum to make a future COVID-19 vaccine mandatory for everyone.  A committee of the New York Bar Association urged the organization to support legislation toward that end.  Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz went so far as to tell an interviewer that "the state has the power to literally take you to a doctor's office and plunge a needle into your arm."

Judge Nukes Ill.  Lockdown:  Pritzker 'Had No Authority' to Restrict Movement and Close Businesses.  Illinois Circuit Court Judge Mike McHaney ruled on Thursday that Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois had no lawful authority to declare endless disasters past the initial thirty days.  Ruling on a lawsuit filed by State House Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Ill.), Judge McHaney wrote, "The court declares that Defendant had no constitutional authority as Governor to restrict a citizen's movement or activities and/or forcibly close business premises in EO 32."  Bailey's lawsuit alleged that the governor had abused his powers and overstepped his authority by ordering Illinoisans to stay home and shutter their businesses because of COVID-19.

Third Reich Redux.  Major media, government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health, and politicians have pressured Americans to follow onerous lockdown orders put out by governors, such as ones from Michigan that both "prohibit in-person work that is not necessary to sustain or protect life" yet allow liquor stores to remain open.  Michigan's Governor Gretchen Whitmer issued edicts seemingly as whims struck her: allowing hardware stores to open yet not allowing large department stores to sell hardware supplies, allowing kayaking while not allowing boating in motorized boats, and encouraging food delivery but not allowing furniture delivery.  For the most part, those on the ideological left have strongly supported the mandates — in words, at least, if not always in deeds — while those on the right supported precautions so that people could make up their own minds about how to respond to the disease and railed against mandatory lockdowns wherein government chose workplace winners and losers.

Want to Kill the Economy Again?  Keep Threatening More Lockdowns.  The first time governments imposed business closures in the name of fighting the spread of COVID-19, the job market imploded. [...] It remains to be seen if the country even began anything that could realistically be called a "recovery" in June.  After all, new unemployment claims were still at over a million new applicants according to the most recent data.  That's still off-the-charts bad.  Nonetheless, we continue to hear about how, any day now, we'll see evidence of a "V-shaped recovery" in which jobs and economic growth will come roaring back.  But now we're already seeing governments — by which I mean a small cadre of governors and unelected bureaucrats who currently rule by decree — announcing another round of business closures and ongoing government regulations that micromanage every aspect of a business's daily interactions with customers.

The Coming Collapse of the Republic.  [Scroll down]  Democrat presidential sock puppet Joe Biden, echoing the man whose name he couldn't recall a while back (because echoes are all he has left), not long ago said we had to "fundamentally" change America.  But that fundamental change has already occurred.  Does the 2020 U.S. even remotely resemble its few-generations-back former self?  So the question isn't what's coming, but this:  Will you be ready?  When leftists take full political control federally, they'll mercilessly impose their agenda as they always do.  If you have no idea what that agenda is, you're likely not reading this.  But do know that it will be effected no-holds-barred.  For not only is there the critical-mass factor, but Machiavellian leftists have convinced their useful idiots, projecting all the way, that conservatives constitute a hateful, "racist," fascistic, White Supremacist™ threat to civilization.  They thus have an ideal pretext for iron-fistedly crushing opponents.

Stop Making Sense.  [Scroll down]  It's not about making sense.  It never was.  It's about making you kneel.  If you look at everything that is going on, the one common denominator is that every action the woke insurgents take is designed to strip you of your ability to defend your interests, or property, or rights, or life.  The idea is to leave you utterly vulnerable, totally exposed, at which point they can do with you as they see fit.  The nicer ones will merely reeducate you then demand humiliating submission and tribute.  History (and their social media feed) teach that others will happily murder you.  Doubt me?  Just ask your local kulak.  Stripping you of defenses takes many forms.  One form is defunding and abolishing the police.  Oh, someone will be wielding force in society.  It just won't be people accountable to or inclined to protect you.  Another form is literally stripping you of your defenses.  Why is gun control such a fetish for these creeps?  Because you with a gun have the ability to not just say "no" but to exact a price from those who wish to compel a "yes."  So, of course, they want to eliminate your ability to have weapons, but they also want to eliminate, as a practical matter, your ability to use them to protect yourself.

Suburban NYC County Uses Subpoenas as People Resist Contact Tracing.  Officials in Rockland County, New York, say they will have no choice but to issue subpoenas to get people to talk to contact tracers trying to combat the spread of coronavirus.  Local NBC affiliate NYC Channel 4 reports that health officials are looking into at least eight COVID-19 cases in the county that likely are the result of a large party held earlier this month.  But the county is running into a problem: people are not cooperating with contact tracers.  In order to force people to speak to contact tracers, the county says it plans to issue subpoenas.  It won't be the first time, either.  Rockland County issued subpoenas during a measles outbreak several years ago.

Are Americans a Pride of Lions or a Herd of Cattle?  Democrats are using COVID19 to purposely turn Americans into a herd of cattle that can be easily controlled through fear and subtle intimidation tactics.  Governor Cooper just announced he is keeping the State in phase 2 lockdown and is still refusing to allow gyms and bars to reopen.  In addition he is trying to get all of us to wear masks outside if we cannot guarantee the 6 ft. recommended distancing.  Let us look at the facts about the virus. [...] The actual virus death rate nationally is about 5%.  In North Carolina the numbers are similar yet better.  There have confirmed approximately 56,500 people to have the disease.  Yet the Death rate is just over 1300 or a rate of about 2.3%.  In New Hanover County there are 611 confirmed cases with 5 deaths or a rate of .008%. [...] Kids need to go back to school or we will never end this virus lock up.

Mask Wars.  As states begin to reopen and America tries to recreate normalcy, masks have replaced social distancing as the new moral statement.  Just as adherence to lockdowns was framed by many as a sign of virtue — with some arguing that those who refused to abide by the lockdown orders should forfeit medical care for Covid-related indications — masks have become a face-borne signal of righteousness.  As a virologist, I find this perplexing, considering the limited evidence in favor of masks.  More than anything, the scientific rationale behind masks appears to be that wearing them does little harm. [...]The viral particles that spread Covid-19 are tiny bundles of proteins and nucleic acids, about 0.1 micron in size — or one hundred-thousandth of a centimeter.  The CDC generously describes the evidence in favor of cloth face masks' efficacy as "emerging," but by the standards we use to assess clinical interventions, the efficacy of masks, especially nonsurgical masks, is undetermined.

The Editor says...
Okay, for the moment, let us agree that wearing a mask "does little harm."  The harm comes from forcing or coercing people to wear masks when those people don't feel it is necessary.  My local grocery store won't let me in without a face mask now, so I shop in another county!  It's a 25 minute drive to my new grocery store.  But I won't wear a mask just because some downtown bureaucrat tells me to, because I am not sick, and I am not afraid.  Now that July is here, masks are not about protecting public health.  Now it's all about making everyone comply and conform to whatever mandate comes forth from the government.  If the little tyrants discover they can demand that you wear a face mask, and then you actually do it, the next step is mandatory vaccinations, followed by mandatory RFID chips, followed by the day (which, I assure you, will definitely arrive) when one can no longer buy or sell without the right credentials.  These incremental changes don't come and go.  They are irreversible.  You set a precedent by complying to the mask order, and you've lost a little more of your freedom.

Covid-19 pandemic is 'fire drill' for effects of climate crisis, says UN official.  The coronavirus pandemic is "just a fire drill" for what is likely to follow from the climate crisis, and the protests over racial injustice around the world show the need to tie together social equality, environmental sustainability and health, the UN's sustainable business chief has said.  "The overall problem is that we are not sustainable in the ways we are living and producing on the planet today," said Lise Kingo, the executive director of the UN Global Compact, under which businesses sign up to principles of environmental protection and social justice.  "The only way forward is to create a world that leaves no one behind."  She said there were "very, very clear connections" between the Covid-19 and climate crises, and the Black Lives Matter protests around the world, which she said had helped to reveal deep-seated inequalities and "endemic and structural racism".

The Editor says...
This pandemic, or the next big scare (whatever it may be) has nothing to do with global warming, racism, 5G cellphones, Civil War statues, polar bears, or same-sex wedding cakes.  It's all about control.

Wisconsin small-business owner denied coronavirus relief funds after attending lockdown protest.  A small business owner in Wisconsin was denied coronavirus relief funds from the local government after he participated in a rally protesting statewide stay-at-home measures to combat the pandemic.  Dimple and Denis Navratil have owned Dimple's Fine Imports LLC in Racine, Wisconsin, for more than 20 years.  They applied twice for some of the $900,000 the city allocated to small businesses to help offset the financial burden of the health crisis, according to an investigation conducted by the Journal Times and published Sunday [6/28/2020].  Upon receiving his second denial, Denis Navratil was told by the city's mayor that his attendance at a rally in Madison on April 24 protesting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers's "Safer at Home" measures was used as a basis for his rejection.

If We Don't Act, 2% of the People Are About To Control the Other 98%.  There is now a small group of passionate people working hard to destroy our American way of life.  Treason and treachery are rampant and our rule of law and those law enforcement professionals who uphold our laws are under the gun more than at any time in our nation's history.  These passionate 2 percent appear to be winning.  Despite there being countless good people trying to come to grips with everything else on their plates, our silent majority (the indifferent) can no longer be silent.

Federal judge:  Cuomo and de Blasio can't limit the size of outdoor religious services if they didn't care about limiting the size of protests.  The subtext of the ruling, wrote Peter Spiliakos, is that "the NY state and city governments were treating left-wing protest as a de facto state religion and were discriminating against other faiths."  Gotta treat all creeds equally under the law.

Judge: New York State wrong to restrict religious gatherings while allowing protests.  A federal judge ruled on Friday that New York State is violating the First Amendment by restricting religious gatherings during the coronavirus pandemic while simultaneously allowing both much larger protests sparked by the death of George Floyd and the opening of other activities and businesses.  Senior U.S. District Judge Gary L. Sharpe, who was appointed by President George W. Bush and sits in Albany, issued a preliminary injunction that voids parts of an executive order issued by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo three months ago that included a fine against anyone who gathered in excess of set limits.

Joe Biden:  I Will Force Americans to Wear Masks in Public.  Former Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday [6/25/2020] that he would compel Americans to wear masks in public if elected president.  In an interview with Pittsburgh CBS affiliate KDKA, Biden said that he would use federal power to "mandate" masks.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo:  Police May Stop Cars with Out-of-State Plates to Enforce Quarantine.  Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) warned Wednesday that some out-of-state travelers to New York might be pulled over by police if they have license plates from states with high levels of the coronavirus.  Cuomo said that in addition to law enforcement, he would expect individuals such as hotel clerks and businesses in New York to question travelers from select states.

Counsel of the Woke.  For the first two months following the coronavirus outbreak, public-health experts insisted that we "follow the science" and implement their recommendations, even if it meant millions of lost jobs and significant restrictions on constitutionally protected activities, such as church attendance and freedom of assembly. [...] In hindsight, it's astonishing how quickly Americans ceded political authority to the public-health apparatus.  This isn't only antithetical to self-rule; it also accords constitutional protection to elite causes — and only elite causes.  Attending a Black Lives Matter protest is permissible.  Attending a church service is not.  Left unchecked, the progressive-scientific alliance will penetrate additional domains of life.  Whether it's "housing is healthcare," "harm reduction saves lives," or "antiracism is public health," slogans abound for subsuming science into politics.

Appeals court judges threaten 'contact tracing' for religious services.  The shutdowns mandated by government to minimize the spread of coronavirus have affected schools, stores, government buildings, sports, concerns and much, much more, including churches.  The conflict between the constitutional right to assemble and worship in churches and health officials' demands that people not gather in groups has been stark in many cases.  Dozens of fights have erupted as churches insist they have a constitutional right to exercise their religion, and government bureaucrats say no.  One prominent war over the issue has been going on in Illinois, where Gov. Jay Pritzker ordered no churches could have services involving more than 10 people, an order he later made a recommendation.

Whitmer extends Michigan's state of emergency through July 16.  Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended Michigan's state of emergency Thursday through July 16 as a federal judge asked the state Supreme Court to clarify the governor's emergency powers.  The declaration, which was set to expire Friday, allows the Democratic governor continued authority to issue the executive orders that have created the framework for the state's coronavirus-restricted activity in recent months.  Whitmer's response to the pandemic has so far included 122 executive orders.  "The aggressive measures we took at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic have worked to flatten the curve, but there is still more to be done to prevent a second wave," Whitmer said in a statement.

Federal judge asks Michigan Supreme Court to clarify Whitmer's emergency powers.  A federal judge asked the Michigan Supreme Court Thursday to clarify whether Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has the authority to continue issuing or renewing executive orders under either of the two state laws that govern her emergency powers.  The request came on the same day that Whitmer extended Michigan's state of emergency through July 16. [...] The federal and state lawsuits are seeking answers to whether state law allowed for the governor's emergency powers to continue after April 30, even without legislative approvals, and whether the emergency laws giving Whitmer virtually limitless authority violate the separation of powers between the governor and Legislature in Michigan's Constitution.

Americans Should Never Again Comply With Pandemic Lockdown Orders.  We're told a second wave of coronavirus infections is coming.  As businesses open back up and states relax lockdown orders, the number of new cases is ticking up in a handful of states.  We've heard warnings in recent days from the Centers for Disease Control and various public health experts and elected officials that a new series of lockdowns might be necessary.  What these experts and officials don't seem to realize is that Americans will never comply with their lockdown orders again.  They have burned their credibility to the ground, and they no longer have the moral authority to tell us what to do.  Simply put, the people in charge have shown themselves to be rank hypocrites who care more about politics than science.  For months, we were told that large gatherings were deadly because of the coronavirus, but when protests broke out in late May, large gatherings were suddenly okay.

Where are all the guns and ammo purchased under Obama?  During the last two years of the Obama administration, some unusual purchases were made.  Large quantities of ammunition were purchased, as were firearms, mostly for somewhat obscure agencies or agencies with no real need for such weaponry.  Estimates are that over 1 billion rounds of ammunition were ordered, which resulted in making ammunition scarce for the normal civilian market. [...] The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service spent $4.77 million purchasing shotguns, 7.62mm caliber rifles, night-vision goggles, propane cannons, liquid explosives, pyro supplies, buckshot, LP gas cannons, drones, remote-control helicopters, thermal cameras, military waterproof thermal infrared scopes and more.  The SBA loaded up their arsenals with Glock pistols.  The Fish folks spent approximately $410,000 on their Glocks and rifles and modified their Glocks with silencers.  The Department of Health and Human Services was outfitted with sophisticated weaponry normally carried by Special Forces, stored at an undisclosed location. [...] We now know that Obama and Holder set up selling guns to the Mexican drug cartels in what is known as Fast and Furious.  Perhaps it is high time that the president orders a detailed inventory and audit of these weapons and ammunition.  If anything is missing, where is it?  Also, has any of these weapons been used in any known crimes?

New York's 25,000 Lockdown Violations Give Me Hope for America.  If you are looking for hope in America, I give you Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) whining about "25,000 complaints of reopening violations" in his miserable, fascist state. [...] This is exactly what Americans all across the country should be doing, most especially in states like New York, New Jersey, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina — any state where the Democrat governor treats you like a second-class citizen and left-wing protesters, rioters, looters, and arsonists like first-class citizens.  It is nothing short of obscene for these Democrat governors to lock everyone down for no valid scientific or moral reason, to gleefully destroy the livelihoods and small businesses of millions of Americans, while at the exact same time they allow, legitimize, and, in some cases, join these massive protests that violate every social distancing rule known to man.  Beyond obscene, it is also un-American and un-Constitutional.

When Will We Stand Up To The Tyrants Of Woke Conformity?  Those who speak outside the narrative established by a hard-left mob that has marched through our institutions are blacklisted.  If we fail to mount a forceful resistance, there's a grim future awaiting us.  We've seen this coming.  The casualty list has been growing for years.  The purge is now white hot.  What was a non-controversial statement last week is grounds for a death sentence tomorrow.  It seems every day we see someone caving in with a groveling apology, declaring they suddenly have a lot to learn, swearing they're looking forward to the moment they can meet with their hostage-takers and work toward a resolution that will appease them.

The Federal Reserve Has Its Own Police and Is Part of a Vast Surveillance Center — Should You Worry?  Without any Congressional hearings on the matter, the USA Patriot Act in 2001 bestowed on the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks domestic policing powers.  While the Federal Reserve Board of Governors in Washington, D.C. is deemed an "independent federal agency," with its Chair and Governors appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate, the 12 regional Fed banks are private corporations owned by the member banks in their region.  As settled law under John L. Lewis v.  United States confirms:  "Each Federal Reserve Bank is a separate corporation owned by commercial banks in its region."  In the case of the New York Fed, which is located in the Wall Street area of Manhattan, its largest shareowners are behemoth multinational banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.  So what the USA Patriot Act effectively did was to give multinational corporations domestic policing powers in New York City via the New York Fed.

Contact Tracing Is A Fiasco Rejected By Most Americans.  There were supposed to be armies.  Grand armies of contact tracers crisscrossing every county in the country on the hunt for the Chinese virus.  This was the key we were told to a safe reopening, they have been telling us this since back when they still told us not to wear masks.  Soldiers in this army would interview anyone who tested positive and track down the people they spent time with.  Supposedly serious people with TV shows and everything said with straight faces that we might need 100,000 contact tracers, maybe more, maybe everyone needs to be a contact tracer.  In New York, Michael Bloomberg stepped out of ubiquitous presidential ads (remember that?) right into being charged with leading the new public health Manhattan Project.  The result looks more like a middling 4th grade science fair entry.  Oregon reported last week that that the state has no idea how many contact tracers it has in the field.  In New York, several upstate counties are opting out of the program because their own local policies work better for them.  Meanwhile in Gotham, Mayor Bill de Blasio betrayed the deeply unserious nature of his tracing efforts by telling his tracers not to ask if people who test positive had been at a political protest.

The Left's Premature Revolution.  Over the previous three months the nation has been racked with the economic and societal fallout of a lockdown indiscriminately and oftentimes incoherently enforced by various Democrat, thus left-wing, governors and mayors.  All sectors of the citizenry have been adversely affected, but those living in red states have been extraordinarily victimized.  Thus, an ever-growing percentage of the populace is being made aware of not only the mindset of left-wing politicians but the true-life consequences of their guiding philosophy.  After experiencing the devastating economic and societal costs of the lockdown, the bulk of the citizenry is not reacting well to the demands of the left and their militant army as they fan the flames of destruction and beat the drum of obligatory Marxist based fundamental transformation as the only means of curing so-called systemic racism.

If it's OK to protest, how can you ban funerals?  This week, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had big news — the city is opening up its iconic Lakefront Trail after months of closing it off as part of a COVID-19 lockdown.  That Lightfoot kept the trail closed even after Chicago had experienced large-scale Black Lives Matter marches — thousands just last weekend during the "Drag March for Change" — is one small instance of the flagrant social-distancing hypocrisy across the country in recent weeks.  If it's OK for throngs of people to pack the streets and shout and chant to protest the death of George Floyd, it also ought to be permissible for someone to ride a bike along the lakeside while keeping to himself or herself.

Police Search Home After Teachers See 11-Year-Old's BB Gun Hanging on Wall During Virtual Classroom.  After schools and businesses across the country shut down in February and March in an attempt to stop the spread of Wuhan coronavirus, millions of office workers, parents, students, and teachers were forced to quickly become familiar with virtual meeting technologies such as Zoom and Google hangouts as school districts transitioned to virtual learning environments. [...] In the world of virtual school, however, there's a very risky flip side to that window into someone else's home, as Baltimore mom Courtney Lancaster found out.  Lancaster's son, a 5th grader and Boy Scout who's conscientiously working toward the rank of Eagle Scout, has taken three levels of archery classes and learned to shoot Airsoft and BB guns/rifles.  His archery equipment and Airsoft and BB guns/rifles are stored in his room on a pegboard.  After his BB gun was spotted during a recent virtual school meeting, a screenshot was taken and sent to the school safety officer with a concern that the "weapon was not secured," the school safety officer contacted police, and police "felt a home visit was warranted."

Baltimore Fines Church For Holding Services While Thousands Protest In The Streets.  In the Baltimore suburb of Dundalk, Pastor Stacey Shiflett made some headlines recently when he stood at the lectern in the Calvary Baptist Church and tore up a cease and desist order he'd received from the government.  Declaring that his congregation was "going to do it God's way," he insisted that if Walmart could be open, then his church would serve the needs of the congregation.  He proceeded to do just that on the following Sunday, while ensuring that congregants observed social distancing rules and had their temperatures taken upon arrival.  Good to their word, the government turned around and levied a fine on the Pastor.  But now, one of Maryland's congressmen is vowing to have the Department of Justice launch an investigation unless the fine is rescinded by Tuesday [6/16/2020].

Gathering Is Essential — Unless You're Republican.  Destroying a business is tolerated, reopening one forbidden.  Democrats are bailing out rioters, and sending salon owners to prison.  Going to church is worse than trying to burn it down.  Protesting is a threat to public health, until experts declare your cause worthy enough.  These are the new, ever-changing rules of Democrats' America.  We'll forgive you if you have a hard time keeping up — but they won't.  After months shaming Americans who had the audacity to want to reopen their businesses safely as COVID-19 cases waned, social distancing is suddenly less important than "social justice," according to the media's health "experts." [...] These infringements must end.  We built up hospital capacity, flattened the curve, and under President Trump's leadership, delivered millions of medical and testing supplies.  The American people must be given the respect they deserve, and be trusted to make the best decisions for themselves and their families, communities, and customers, like many Republican governors have from the start.

Asbury Park, NJ gives restaurants blessing to defy state COVID lockdown.  Restaurants in Asbury Park, New Jersey are clear to resume indoor dining starting Monday, city officials have ruled — in defiance of Garden State Gov. Phil Murphy's coronavirus shutdown.  "We believe indoor restaurants can run in a safe manner provided they are subject to all the requirements outlined in Executive Order 152," said Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn, according to The Asbury Park Press.  A City Council vote in favor of the move was first reported by The Coaster, a local outlet.  Under Murphy's order, outdoor dining can resume on Monday [6/15/2020], but indoor dining remains a no-go.

Riots In Defense Of The Narrative Are No Vice.  It's widely known that our betters say it's OK to protest in massive groups despite the risk of coronavirus transmission, but small gatherings not in support of Black Lives Matter are still unacceptable.  Now we're told that it's also fine for protests to turn violent as long as it happens for the "right" reason.  Imagine, though, the howling that would have pierced our ears had there been a whiff of violence started by the protesters whose only demand was to be set free of the pandemic lockdowns.

We need malls to reopen or property taxes are going up, mayors say to Murphy.  A date for reopening New Jersey malls has not been announced by Gov. Phil Murphy and a group of mayors is pressing him on why.  The mayors of Bridgewater, Elizabeth, Paramus, Wayne and Woodbridge sent a letter to Murphy this week requesting a quicker reopening of malls in their towns.  "Willowbrook Mall is the largest taxpayer in our community and having them closed for so long is hurting our economy severely," Wayne Mayor Chris Vergano said in the letter.

After Stopping Anti-lockdown Protests, Dem Gov Says [he] "Can't Imagine" Stopping "Racism" Protests.  "I feel like we are living in a George Orwell novel." That was one reaction to New Jersey governor Phil Murphy's recent statement that he "can't imagine" telling George Floyd anti-"systemic racism" protesters to stay home.  This is the same politician who not only imagined telling anti-lockdown protesters to stay home, but did so, unabashedly.  Moreover, his state actually arrested a woman for trying to organize an anti-lockdown protest.  Murphy is also the man who's still keeping "nonessential" businesses closed and who just "allowed" (June 9) churches to reopen — with strict attendance guidelines.

Yes, Let's Defund The Police ... At The EPA.  Democrats have met the enemy, and it is the police.  Well, not all police.  They love the heavily armed federal police at agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. [...] What's the excuse for federal agencies such as the EPA, Food and Drug Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Education, and National Institute of Standards and Technology to be purchasing military-grade equipment?  A 2016 study by Open the Books found that from 2006 to 2014, more than 60 federal agencies spent a total of $1.5 billion on guns, ammunition and military-style equipment.  The EPA alone spent more than $3 million on such weaponry.

NC Governor Drops Hammer on Local Speedway After They Exposed His Outdoor Gatherings Hypocrisy.  Yesterday I wrote about how the owners of Ace Speedway, located in Elon, North Carolina, had become celebrities of sorts in North Carolina over the past few weeks by continuing to defy Gov. Roy Cooper (D) over the outdoor gathering limit outlined in Phase 2 of North Carolina's "reopening" plan.  To date, owners Robert and Jason Turner (father and son) have done it three times, with the last one being Saturday.  Saturday's race was especially noteworthy as it was held in spite of the fact that Cooper's attorneys had sent a strongly worded letter to Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson demanding that he take action against the owners of the speedway for their failure to obey the state's Phase 2 outdoor gathering limit of 25.  Johnson initially told the media that he would cite the speedway's owners Saturday but didn't, because Saturday's race was billed as being part of a peaceful protest.

Ace Speedway in N.C. ordered to shut down after repeated large crowds.  The administration of North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has ordered the closure of a small stock-car track that's allowed large crowds to gather repeatedly for weekend races, declaring it an "imminent hazard" for the spread of COVID-19.  The order signed by Cooper's health secretary says Ace Speedway in Alamance County, 65 miles northwest of Raleigh, is violating the governor's executive order limiting outside mass assemblies to 25 people.

Michigan Supreme Court Unanimously Rules Defiant Barber Had Right To Work Despite Governor's Orders.  In a ruling that could have future ramifications in the event a second wave of coronavirus strikes, a 77-year-old Michigan barber has won a legal battle against Michigan's Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who forced him to shutter his business.  Barber Karl Manke defied shutdown orders from Whitmer and reopened his shop despite state orders prohibiting retail reopenings.  Whitmer, who has drawn heavy criticism for her refusal to bend to demands on reopening businesses, subsequently pulled Manke's license, heavily fined him, and denounced his activity.

Michigan Barber Ordered To Close Wins Big In Court, Has Preliminary Injunction Vacated.  Remember when our biggest outrage was a barber in Michigan being fined and harassed by the state for opening his business?  Good times.  Flouting Governor Gretchen Whitmer's executive order keeping salons and barber shops closed, Karl Manke opened his barbershop at the beginning of May, but was quickly ordered to close.  Manke appealed the decision in court and was eventually ordered once again to shut down while the case weaved through the court system.  On Friday [6/5/2020] the 77-year-old barber got some very welcome news.

Opening up churches is NOT just about my faith.  It's my right!  The freedom of religion.  The freedom of speech.  The freedom of the press.  The right to assembly.  The right to petition the government.  These are the first five freedoms outlined and guaranteed by the First Amendment.  Of all the rights we are guaranteed, these are the first and arguably the most important of any of the freedoms recognized by our government.  But, they do more than just act as rail guards around the government's inevitable attempts to overreach into our lives.  They do more than just beat back the government's insatiable and ferocious appetite for control.  These essential rights also acknowledge out loud, for everyone to hear, that we are human.  As such, we are not the property of emperors or would-be kings or queens.  We belong to ourselves.  But a strange and dubious thing is happening under COVID-19 lockdowns.  Of these five basic human rights only one is not being questioned.  Only one is allowed to operate with impunity.  That is, the freedom of the press.

America in the 21st Century: 20 Long Years of Constant Brainwashing.  Then came the Wuhan Virus campaign to stay at home and wash your hands and wear your masks and never get within 6 feet of anybody, and now that's all gone away because you're supposed to love and respect a bunch of domestic terrorist rioters who aren't practicing any of that.  Oh, and at the same time, you still can't legally get a haircut in Michigan or hold a funeral or wedding with more than 10 attendees in California, Oregon, New York and Illinois.  And if you do those things, Mayors like Lori Lightfoot, who refuse to allow their police to try to control the riots, will send in the cops to shut your funeral home or church or barber shop down.

De Blasio Broke Up a Jewish Funeral a Month Ago — But Today Allows Thousands at George Floyd Funeral Service in Brooklyn.  In late April New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sent the NYPD in to break up the funeral for a popular rabbi in Brooklyn.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (Democrat) issued a warning to the "Jewish community" that he would arrest them for gathering in public as they did for a rabbi's funeral in the Williamsburg neighborhood in late April. [...] But today [6/4/2020] thousands of New Yorkers attended a memorial service for George Floyd.  De Blasio spoke at the funeral.  The city is still under de Blasio's quarantine.

Gretchen Whitmer has her 'let them eat cake' moment.  Michigan's Governor Gretchen Whitmer has become a laughingstock for imposing draconian lockdown restrictions on her constituents while her own family violates them.  Her husband was caught red-handed demanding special treatment because of his wife's office in violating her restrictions on boating and use of vacation houses, something she first lied about and then tried to pass off as a joke.  But yesterday [6/2/2020], she topped herself and uttered a phrase that should live on as her emblem of indifference to the suffering of those whom she oppresses.  Like the final generation French aristocrats before the revolution, she causally revealed her cluelessness of the misery of those she oppresses.  For those whose hair is too long, uncomfortable, or whose roots are showing her "let them eat cake" solution is to Google how to do a hair cut.  No kidding!

The Editor says...
If I attempt to cut my own hair, would I then be an unlicensed barber?

Supreme Court rejects church's challenge on mandatory limited attendance.  The Supreme Court ruled against a California church that was seeking to overturn the state's limits on attendance.  The court ruled 5-4 against the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, with Chief Justice John Roberts joining the four liberal Justices.  The church, which says it has crowds of 200 to 300 people, argued that the limitation placed on how many people can attend its services violates its constitutional rights protecting religious freedom.  It specifically made an emergency appeal so that it would have a ruling before services were scheduled to be held on Sunday.

Chicago Pastor Says Mayor 'Militarized' Police to Block Church Parking Lot.  The pastor of Elim Romanian Pentecostal Church in Chicago told "The Todd Starnes Show" on Monday that Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot "militarized" the city police department to prevent worship at his church amid the coronavirus outbreak.  Cristian Ionescu, the pastor, laid out the ways he said the city tried to intimidate his congregation prior to last Sunday's service.  He said about three days before the Sunday, city police put up fliers on the blocks around his the church to inform churchgoers and nearby residents that they would not be able to park there on Sunday.

Maine's Governor Janet Mills pulls the rug out from under restaurant owners she had okayed to reopen.  Maine restaurant owners are going to have a lot of rotting food and idled staff on their hands, after their governor suddenly reversed a decision to allow them to re-open on June 1st.  Having made the mistake of trusting their state governor, Janet Mills, the restaurants that were able to survive the lockdown spent scarce funds restocking their supplies and rehiring staff, in preparation for the promised reopening.  But not so fast!

Supreme Court rejects challenge to limits on church services; Roberts sides with liberals.  A divided Supreme Court on Friday [5/29/2020] rejected an emergency appeal by a California church that challenged state limits on attendance at worship services that have been imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus.  Over the dissent of the four more conservative justices, Chief Justice John Roberts joined the court's four liberals in turning away a request from the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, California, in the San Diego area.  The church argued that limits on how many people can attend their services violate constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and had been seeking an order in time for services on Sunday.  The church said it has crowds of 200 to 300 people for its services.

Roberts joins court's liberals to deny California church's lockdown challenge.  A sharply divided Supreme Court late Friday turned aside a church's urgent plea that California's coronavirus lockdown orders are putting an unconstitutional burden on religious freedom.  Chief Justice John Roberts sided with the court's liberals in rejecting a San Diego church's request for relief from Gov. Gavin Newsom's most recent directive limiting churches to 25% of their normal maximum capacity, with an absolute maximum of 100 people at any service.

Contact Tracing:  Your governors, red or blue, are coming after you.  [Scroll down]  All it takes is to spend 10 or 15 minutes sitting or standing within six feet of another human being who was infected.  These are all potentially infected persons who must be tracked down and sent into quarantine, then interviewed to get a list of their contacts.  In the end, one case such as that of James Daggett can ensnare hundreds of healthy, innocent Americans, and send them into lockdown, simply because they happened to breathe the same air that James breathed, or stood next to someone who did.  Contact tracers are trained to make sure all of these people, healthy or not, get thrown into complete isolation, away from their children, spouses and other family members while they get monitored for at least 14 days.

The Democrats' 'Governor Says' America.  Democrats have exploited coronavirus to override the U.S. Constitution to transform America into an evil game of "Governor Says."  By simply decreeing, "Governor says," our right to assemble and worship God is rescinded.  Governor says fake news media elites and government employees are essential and can earn a living.  Governor says Trump supporters are nonessential and cannot earn a living. [...] Out of nowhere, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that practically all Virginia business employees and patrons must begin wearing masks.  Northam's supreme-dictator decree comes on the heels of 35 states reopening and dramatically declining nationwide cases of COVID-19. So why on earth is he doing this?  The answer is political wickedness, folks.  It still blows my mind that by arbitrarily declaring a state of emergency a governor can force you to do something potentially detrimental to the health of yourself and your family.  Numerous health experts say masks are dangerous.

Religious liberty means COVID-19 restrictions cannot target churchgoers.  [Scroll down]  Last month, the city of Greenville, Mississippi, fined attendees at one such service at Temple Baptist Church $500 per person.  Their crime?  Sitting in their vehicles and listening through their car radios to their pastor speak.  This decision, whatever its motive, makes no sense, especially since the drive-in restaurant just down the street from the church had people in their cars eating their dinner and listening to their radios.  That's why the U.S. Department of Justice swung into action.  In the words of Attorney General William Barr, "even in times of emergency, when reasonable and temporary restrictions are placed on rights, the First Amendment and federal statutory law prohibit discrimination against religious institutions and religious believers."  On April 14, Mr. Barr filed a Statement of Interest on behalf of Temple Baptist.  The city of Greenville has dropped the fines, but it is still preventing people from meeting — in their cars, with the windows rolled up and no close social interaction.

Newsom Fiat:  No California Protest Can Have More Than 100 People.  Regressive Supreme Leader Gavin Newsom is angry.  On Saturday more than 2,000 showed up at the Capitol to protest his dictatorship, issuing 40 Executive Orders and changing close to 200 State laws, without a vote of the Legislature or even telling them in advance.  He signed over 400 NO BID contracts — some for firms owned by the Chinese Communist Party.  People are angry — so they protest.  Now, in the name of "safety and health", Newsom has issued another illegal edict — no protest can have more than 100 people.  Watch as that edict is violated in every corner of the State.  This is no different than what the Chinese Communist Party is doing to the people of Hong Kong.

From Speech To Consumer Choice, Democrats Believe Everything Must Be Policed.  The political left is driven by an urge to supervise every aspect of our lives.  It's a corrosive impulse that shouldn't be accepted anywhere in a free nation, let alone practiced.  The backlash needs to begin now.  If not, our liberty will eventually be overrun. [...] Nothing in recent times illustrates the left's inclination to control as does its response to the coronavirus pandemic.  The Democrats want to keep people and businesses locked down while Republicans, with some exceptions, want to free people and unleash commerce.  Don't think the Democratic governors, mayors, and unelected public health officials who have put the most restrictive limits in place aren't enjoying the authority they've given themselves.  It's as if they've waited their entire lives for this moment to exercise raw power over the masses.

Obama, Clinton 9th Circuit Judges Suspend Bill of Rights Until Coronavirus is Cured.  Perhaps these two lefty scholars can point us to where the First Amendment states, "except in an emergency".  [They are] proposing the suspension of the Bill of Rights until there's a cure.  Which may never happen.  Bizarrely, the Democrat judges are quoting a minority dissent arguing that speech could be censored if it was inflammatory.  Jackson was arguing that the authorities should have the right to stop Nazi supporters from saying racist things in public because it would lead to disorder and then America would go the way of Nazi Germany.  Jackson was a great man, but wrong in this case.  That he's being quoted by the majority in this ruling is troubling at best considering the original implications.  The Democrat judges did not address the fact that Newsom is discriminating against religious observance.

It's time to checkmate run-amok COVID-19 states.  Hopefully, many of the things that lie heavy upon the nation right now will be in our collective rearview mirror in the near future.  These things include constant mention of pandemic and crisis — hourly radio reports and TV news reports of coronavirus infections and deaths, face masks, the pronouncements of "experts" like the little gnome man and the scarf lady, and ubiquitous signs and messages that implore us to stay home and stay safe (OBEY!).  All of this is aimed at creating and reinforcing a state of fear and panic because scared people are easier to manipulate.  What will not, and must not, fade from our memory and consciousness is the stench of the actions of state governors and state officials who acted with little regard for the constitutional rights of their citizens.

Stopping Petty Tyrannies Is How We Beat the Serious Ones.  [Scroll down]  Americans are unlikely to tolerate, for long, nonsensical rules or enforcement policies that impede their day-to-day lives.  It was, after all, a long chain of large and small abuses by governmental authorities that led to the creation of this country.  And given the Constitution and remarkable political system created from it, we have a great deal of power to end abusive laws quickly.  Certainly, some of the coronavirus lockdown measures have had more serious implications for civil liberties than simple park closures.  While our federal system gives broad power to states and local authorities to act in the way that best serves their communities, it is still essential that Americans be wary of violations of the Constitution and their fundamental rights.  This important point was made by U.S. Attorney General William Barr, who directed U.S. attorneys in late April to be on the lookout for violations of civil liberties by state and local governments.

These Are The Most Illogical Coronavirus Restrictions Still In Place.  While most of the U.S. has begun to reopen, some parts of the country remain under burdensome restrictions that can't be justified by either science or logic.  Most of New York, Michigan and the Washington D.C. metro area remains under lockdown through at least Memorial Day weekend.  Some beaches in Virginia and New York reopened over the weekend, but Democratic New York Mayor Bill de Blasio made it clear that swimming is forbidden, saying beachgoers who swim in the ocean will "be taken right out of the water."

Chicago Mayor Launches Police Raid to Shut Down Black Church's Sunday Services.  On Sunday [5/24/2020], Chicago's first openly gay mayor, Lori Lightfoot, mounted a raid on a black South Side church for holding services in defiance of her coronavirus lockdown orders.  Lightfoot reportedly sent three marked squad cars and two unmarked cars full of officers to the Chicago Cornerstone Baptist Church in the South Side's Woodlawn neighborhood.  Woodlawn is just south of Hyde Park, the area in which the Obamas lived for a short time before Barack became president.

End of 'sanctuary' in Chicago:  Armed cops storm black church service.  On Sunday [5/24/2020], Chicago's mayor, Lori Lightfoot, launched a police raid to shut down a black church's Sunday services. [...] Hard to believe, but these Democrats are certainly loving this post-pandemic power, aren't they?  It reminds me of another Chicago story a few years ago.  You may recall that Elvira Arellano, an illegal alien, took refuge in a church in Chicago back in 2007. As you may recall, even the president of Mexico got involved in the story.  Mexico backed the young mother hiding in a church!  Chicago's local leadership warned ICE and federal officials from charging into a church.

I Am Criminal.  Fear is a tool of the tyrant.  Law is another tool of the tyrant.  When you put them together, you do not arrive at freedom, you arrive at more than even tyranny.  You arrive at terrorism, by means of law.  The very idea of a "business license" is one designed to ensure that the state has ultimate control over businesses, otherwise they don't arrive at the neo-communism practiced in America today.  The neo-communists have figured out that "state-owned" means of production is a non-starter, it makes the government responsible for production and when that production does not yield enough goods, people become disgruntled with the government and lean toward revolution.  But, "state-controlled" means of production allows them a buffer between the government and the people, the businesses themselves.  The business license claims all sorts of benefits.  It ensures that people who can't cut hair don't open hair salons.  The further justification is that some chemicals used in dying hair and other hair care procedures can be misused and harm the patron and the business license can be revoked by a bureaucrat with no accounting for due process. [...] The same with liquor licenses.  The license provides the threat.  Sell to underage people and your liquor license can be revoked by a bureaucrat with no accounting for due process, despite the fact that there are laws against it that can imprison the violator.  So, what purpose does the liquor law serve?  Now we know what the purpose serves.  It is all about control, not safety.

Insane News Tidbits.  There are other news tidbits about politicians drunk with power that we Americans have given them.  Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot told city residents who disobeyed her stay-at-home order:  "We will arrest you and we will take you to jail.  Period.  We're not playing games."  Meanwhile, in violation of her own stay-at-home order, Lightfoot slipped out and got her hair done.  She explained her decision, "I take my personal hygiene very seriously."  Ventura County, California, health director Dr. Robert Levin said that his department would forcibly remove COVID-19 infected people from their own homes and put them "into other kinds of housing that we have available."  Facing stiff criticism, Levin later explained:  "I either misspoke or it was misinterpreted.  I'll take the blame of having misspoke."  The biggest casualty from the COVID-19 pandemic has nothing to do with the disease.  It's the power we've given to politicians and bureaucrats.  The question is how we recover our freedoms.

Major changes ahead for American civil liberties are going to 'redefine us'.  As the coronavirus pandemic continues to play out and Americans see many of their leaders adopting draconian lockdowns, mandating business closures, and implementing additional policies that seem to run afoul of the Constitution, scores are concerned about what a 'new normal' may look like.  And not everyone is going to like it. [...] The technology to track people already exists and the concept already has a name:  Contract tracing.  However, the question isn't whether it can be done but whether it's legal to do so.

5 Things I've Learned From COVID-19.  [#3] You Can Understand How Hitler Happened.  Too many people enjoy imposing rules on others.  Corona has unleashed the militant side of busybodies who used to be harmless, grumpy old men and women and are now something akin to the neighborhood Gestapo.  They enjoy telling you how to ride your bike, how far away you have to stand for their safety, and how many times you can walk your dog.  I took my children surfing at a local beach and residents were demanding to know 'where we came from' — like Germans checking papers in the war.  My 15-year-old replied, 'Wuhan,' and that seemed to end the conversation quite effectively.  Stanley Milgram's electric shock studies from the 1960s, in which volunteers were prepared to inflict pain on others when ordered to do so, now make perfect sense.  I never really understood how Hitler brainwashed so many people for so long, until coronavirus came along.

Brainwashing & the New Vocabulary: 12 Words & Phrases I Never Want to Hear Again.  [Scroll down]  The word "essential" has also been corrupted.  If you were able to keep working throughout the entire lockdown, it's because you were an "essential" worker doing an "essential" job.  "Essential" was defined separately by the governor of each state, so it varied from place to place.  My daughter, who works in a beauty supply store, was initially not "essential" but a month in when everyone's roots began to show, she became essential and got the travel papers to prove it.  The word "essential" was also used to describe purchases that the government felt were important enough for you to be allowed to make in person, and for trips outside the home.  It was "essential" to go to the grocery store, the doctor, the pharmacy, and out to walk your dog.  However, the dog had to be walked on neighborhood streets with all the other people essentially walking their dogs, instead of on a trail out in the forest alone, because the trails were closed because they weren't essential.

Can We Sue Our Way Out of Quarantine?  State governors from coast to coast issued coronavirus-related lockdown orders about two months ago, closing businesses and restricting people's movements.  Government officials have taken unprecedented steps, seemingly without much calculation or forethought.  In New York, for instance, Governor Andrew Cuomo insisted on March 18 that he would not approve a shelter-in-place order; by March 20, he praised California's lockdown and announced Gotham's own stay-at-home regime.  New York and many other states have extended these orders indefinitely.  The reasons for the lockdowns have shifted.  Initially aimed at "flattening the curve" — slowing the rate of infection to avoid overwhelming hospitals — shutdowns keep getting extended, even as medical workers are furloughed and temporary field hospitals (set up to handle a surge in cases) are dismantled.  Officials have leaned haphazardly on broadly worded and mostly untested "emergency powers" statutes to justify whatever policies they deem necessary.  The command-and-control mode of leadership has struck many Americans as contrary to limited-government principles.

DOJ warns Los Angeles, Illinois of possible illegality of stay-at-home orders.  The Justice Department warned state and local officials Friday of the possible illegality of their stay-at-home orders, as the agency continues to monitor restrictions meant to contain the spread of COVID-19.  In a letter to Los Angeles officials, Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband said their recent comments suggesting that stay-at-home orders may stay in place longer "may be both arbitrary and unlawful."  The Justice Department also said that Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker's "sweeping limitations" on Illinois residents raise constitutional concerns.

The end is always three weeks away, yet you never quite get there.
Governor Whitmer extends Michigan's stay-home order to June 12.  Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed another Executive Order extending Michigan's stay-home order until June 12.  "While the data shows that we are making progress, we are not out of the woods yet.  If we're going to lower the chance of a second wave and continue to protect our neighbors and loved ones from the spread of this virus, we must continue to do our part by staying safer at home," said Governor Whitmer. [...] The order extends the temporary closure of theaters, gyms, salons and casinos among other things in an effort prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Police Shut Down Bernardsville Shop On Facebook Live Video.  A live video captures Bernardsville Police shutting down a borough business for repeatedly violating Gov. Phil Murphy's executive order for having a non-essential business open during the coronavirus pandemic.  Katherine Hermes of Peapack and owner of Country Home Store at 21 Olcott Square can be heard on the video making an emotional plea to the officer.  "I am just trying to save my business," Hermes says.  "I am widow with three children who need to eat."

Mandatory vaccination for coronavirus gains support from 'civil libertarian' Alan Dershowitz.  The media, computer modelers, epidemiologists, and the censors keeping dissenting views off of social media have succeeded in terrifying much of the political class and the American public into accepting far-reaching suspensions of civil liberties in the name of suppressing the spread of a Covid-19, a highly communicable flu strain whose lethality principally affects the elderly and those with comorbidities.  At the moment it is an open question whether the lockdown "cure" will end up being more lethal than the disease.  Last week, American Thinker took some flak, including from some conservatives for publishing Peter Barry Chowka's warning, "Mandatory coronavirus vaccination looming on the horizon."  But retired Harvard Law School Professor and prominent civil libertarian Alan Dershowitz has unburdened himself in favor of exactly that.

The Editor says...
If vaccines become mandatory, the any other drug could be mandatory, too.

Minnesota Gov:  Eateries can have 50 people.  Churches?  Ten.  Minnesota is moving into the third phase of its reopening under Governor Tim Walz's plan on June 1st.  After plenty of comments from the public, however, he's been making last-minute changes to the plan.  The most recent update offered more opportunities for people to out for dinner and put some food in their bellies.  Food for the soul, on the other hand, still won't be quite as available.  Restaurants will be allowed to host up to fifty customers on outdoor patio seating, but churches will remain limited to 10 congregants whether they are indoors or outdoors.

The Democratic Party:  A Robbery in Progress.  [Scroll down]  The Democratic Party is attempting to cash in on the nation's current pandemic fears so that they may finally dig themselves out from the mountains of debt they've created through vote-buying schemes and interest group bribes that have kept them in continuous power of their state and city governments while creating the most financially insolvent treasuries in the nation.  The truth is that our present pandemic nightmare has set in motion an event that has been fermenting for over fifty years.  Corrupt Democrat politicos have been fraudulently using the tax-and-spend powers of their offices to keep their natural constituencies financially beholden to their electoral success for generations and generations with no immediate plan for solving their growing financial albatross except the ephemeral hope that one day, somehow, they'd be able to offload the cost of all that graft and corruption onto the federal government's tab for the national taxpayers from faraway states to pay.

Gretchen Whitmer Allows Gay Swinger's Club to Operate While Barber Loses License.  There is perhaps nothing more confusing than Democrat governors' orders during the Chinese WuFlu pandemic.  Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is by far the worst.  That was made clear with the news that a gay swinger's club [...] is being allowed to operate under her nose in Lansing while she aims her business-killing death ray on 77-year-old barber Karl Manke for giving haircuts.

No Pandemic Exception to Constitution.  Does the Wuhan virus, which arguably escaped from a Chinese virology lab, supersede the rights guaranteed to American citizens under the U.S. Constitution?  The owners of a New Jersey gym think not.  They want to earn a living and pursue their American dream, and like most business owners and their customers are not stupid, suicidal, or children.  They are American citizens watching their unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness being ripped away by dime-store Napoleons who see this pandemic as a chance to pursue the liberal progressive dream of controlling every aspect of our lives. [...] As some states, mostly red states, open up and people begin to regain their lives and their liberty, it is clear this toothpaste is out of its tube.

Oregon Gov. Decrees Residents in Closed Counties Cannot Shop in Open Counties.  Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D-Portland) said that residents of counties that have yet to reopen may not travel to open counties to get haircuts or dine in restaurants. [...] Of course, Brown's lockdown orders have confused Oregonians since they began.  It turns out that many retail outlets shut down when they didn't have to do so.  As we approach the tail end of the pandemic, and as Oregon has consistently ranked in the bottom five states in terms of infections and deaths, Brown's scattershot approach to the virus has raised more questions than answers.

The Editor says...
In a free country, travel from one city to another is not restricted.

Virus Survey Reveals Most, Least Free States:  South Dakota Best, Illinois Worst.  States across the country are implementing their own plans for reopening in the wake of the coronavirus, with some allowing citizens to get back to their lives and livelihoods, while others continue to order people to remain at home and stay away from public places.  The personal finance website conducted a survey to determine which states have the most and least freedom as Americans are posed to celebrate Memorial Day.

We Were Never Asked.  [Scroll down]  Even as some states have started to open, leaders in mostly blue states and urban areas have held fast.  These new measures border on the sadistic.  Mandatory mask orders have appeared in many locales.  In Los Angeles, which has been only moderately affected by the coronavirus, the lockdown has extended through the end of July.  Illinois' governor, J.B. Pritzker, decreed that only two passengers would be permitted on recreational boats, regardless of size and whether everyone aboard lives in the same household.  Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, said her state's harsh and ongoing restrictions were based "on the best science, the best facts."  Skepticism and annoyance are now bubbling into anger and active resistance.  Protesters in Michigan have taken to carrying guns and making vague threats against their governor, who has taken a particularly hard line against all normal human activity. [...] No one likes to be told what to do, whether by a bully cop or a bully doctor in a white lab coat.  This is especially so when the people doing the telling have done so in the form of arbitrary decrees after mayors and governors have handed over the keys to their public health experts.  No one elected Anthony Fauci or the freakishly unhealthy-looking public health commissars in Los Angeles and Pennsylvania.  No one asked us if we would endure universal masking or indefinite shutdowns on their say so.  And, to the extent we were asked to give our consent for any of this, our consent for a lockdown was procured using false pretenses about its necessity, duration, and severity.

Despot-like Government Shutdowns:  Only One Threat to Religious Freedom.  [Scroll down]  In 2020, in the Land of the Free, religious liberty is under attack from those who suffer from the "great and powerful OZ" illusion.  Such attacks upon the people of faith are not yet as bad as the control and subversion of religion in Communist China.  Yet, when state governors can get away with determining that a church service is "non-essential" activity, when legal cases involving internal religious issues are decided by corrupt secularist judges, and when ministers are arrested for "hate speech" for delivering a biblical message, there is a serious disease spreading across America, and it is not COVID-19. Precedents are being set that will determine the future of freedom.

The Shutdown May Soon Collapse in Pennsylvania Thanks to Local Resistance.  As in the rest of the country, life in Pennsylvania has been greatly disturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the chaos that has resulted from the state government's attempts to handle the situation.  On March 16, Governor Wolf ordered that all "nonessential" businesses be closed for at least two weeks.  They are still closed today, and as a result, 1.8 million Pennsylvanians have filed for unemployment.  At the end of December of last year, the state estimated that there were roughly 6 million employed persons in Pennsylvania.  If we set aside all the workers whose incomes have been reduced through pay cuts or reduced hours, or who for various reasons have not filed for unemployment, still nearly a third of people who were working in December are now out of work.

Rural America Rebels Against the Madness.  New York City is the center of the Wuhan epidemic in the United States, and in response to the virus, governors across the country have imposed shutdowns that might possibly be appropriate in New York, but are bonkers as applied to local conditions.  Initially, most of us tried to be good sports.  But as shutdowns lingered from weeks into months, and small businesses were destroyed by the hundreds of thousands for no apparent reason, the spirit of rebellion began to grow.  No doubt there were a number of places where rebellion flared today, but the one I know about is Albany, Minnesota, population 2,734, where a bar and restaurant owner stood up for his constitutional rights against the arbitrary power of the state's government.

NJ Governor Goes Full Dictator After Video of Gym in 'Defiance' of Stay at Home Order Goes Viral.  New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy is levying new threats against citizens who dare to defy his "orders" after a video of a gym re-opening went viral yesterday [5/18/2020].  For background, here's the video, which includes clapping and cheering after police decided not to enforce the order with arrests.  [Video clip]

Anyone Swimming at NYC Beaches Will Be 'Taken Right Out of the Water:' Mayor de Blasio.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday [5/18/2020] that swimmers at city beaches flouting COVID-19 restrictions would be hauled out of the water by authorities enforcing compliance.  Speaking at a briefing on COVID-19, the disease caused by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, de Blasio said that "anyone [who] tries to get in the water, they'll be taken right out of the water."  Calling the outbreak "the worst health care crisis in the history of this nation," the mayor said that while social distancing rules applied, there would be "no swimming, no lifeguards, no parties, no BBQs" on the city's beaches.  He said failure to abide by restrictions may mean stricter enforcement, including potentially putting up police barriers on beaches, which the mayor said was not done to give people a chance to comply voluntarily.

County Judge Rules That Oregon Governor Kate Brown's Covid Restrictions are Unconstitutional.  She had no legislative authority for these diktats.  More and more, the left is straight-up endorsing tyranny.  For the public safety and health, you understand!

Wisconsin Supreme Court Invalidates State's 'Safer at Home' Order.  On May 13, 2020, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued its decision in Wisconsin Legislature v. Secretary-Designee Andrea Palm, et al. and declared the state's Safer at Home Order unlawful, invalid, and unenforceable, creating a rush by local jurisdictions to issue orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19, resulting in uncertainty for businesses as to how to operate.

Judge tosses out Gov. Kate Brown's coronavirus restrictions in Oregon.  A judge in rural Oregon on Monday [5/18/2020] tossed out statewide coronavirus restrictions imposed by Democratic Gov. Kate Brown, saying she didn't seek the Legislature's approval to extend the stay-at-home orders beyond a 28-day limit.  Baker County Circuit Judge Matthew Shirtcliff issued his opinion in response to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by 10 churches around Oregon that argued the state's social-distancing directives were unconstitutional.

Georgia Supreme Court Says Yes, Economic Liberty is a Constitutional Right.  The Georgia Supreme Court this morning reversed a trial court decision that had declared that the right to earn a living is not a right protected under that state's Constitution.  In a unanimous ruling, the justices held that "we have long recognized that the Georgia Constitution's Due Process Clause entitles Georgians to pursue a lawful occupation of their choosing free from unreasonable government interference."  The case involves the state's laws regulating "lactation consultants" — that is, people who help new mothers learn to properly breastfeed newborn babies.  In the Peachtree State, you need a government license to do that, believe it or not.  That licensing requirement was challenged by a group of lactation counselors represented by our allies at the Institute for Justice, who argued that requiring government permission to help mothers breastfeed is so irrational that it violates the state's Due Process of Law Clause — a provision of the Constitution that for centuries has been understood as a prohibition on irrational laws.  But the trial court threw the case out on the grounds that there's no such right as economic freedom to begin with.

Tyranny as far as the eye can see.  California governor Gavin Newsom is now warning of the potential for a third and fourth wave of the coronavirus, stating that we must remain humble by what we still don't know about it.  While there may be a lot that we don't know about this sickening virus that was thrust upon the world by communist China, we do know that what is unfolding is unsustainable and unconstitutional.  Our society is nearing a state of partial collapse due to protracted mitigation in blue states as the Constitution is trampled upon and set on fire.  Newsom, like Dr. Fauci, appears to view our lives through the singular lens of this virus.  But life is more complex than that (duh), and Newson is ignoring the larger reality (or at least pretending to) in order to hold onto power.  Citing what we still don't know about the virus leaves the door wide open for him to continue to rule like an evil emperor.

You're Nonessential — Keep Your Mouth Shut.  COVID-19 America has realigned itself into a two-part caste system, one made up of the essential hero, and the other comprised of the selfish, nonessential coward.  Essential heroes, like those who work in grocery stores, hospitals, Walmarts, and deliver for Amazon, are deserving of our admiration and praise. [...] My wife is one of these essential workers.  She's a clinician at a small hospital in Philadelphia, where dozens of people have tested positive for COVID-19.  In the middle of April she too tested positive, and subsequently gave the virus to me.  Luckily, our symptoms were minor, and we quickly recovered.  When my wife returned to work after her 14-day quarantine, there was a big sign on the front lawn that read, Heroes Work Here.  Although she was completely recovered and COVID-free, she still had to take a deep breath to keep from vomiting.  My wife was given special papers from her job to show she's an essential worker, just in case she was out driving around and a cop pulled her over and demanded to know why she was on the road.  I kid you not.

America Is Reopening Itself:  Will Politicians Be Able To Stop It?  As has been widely noted, we were initially told that we needed to shut down and shelter in place so that we would "flatten the curve" of infection growth to prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed by people sick with COVID-19.  That benchmark was met a little more than a month into the lockdowns. [...] Yet many Americans are still under shelter-in-place orders, some of which have been extended.  We hate to use a cliche, but politicians have been moving the goalposts.  Flattening the curve isn't good enough.  They want to keep people home until there's a vaccine; or science, which has sadly become a loose term that means whatever the user wants it to, has established an effective treatment; or maybe until there are zero coronavirus cases.  This has rankled more than a few.

Bills could pass with just 22 lawmakers present out of 435 under new House proxy voting rule.  The Democrat-controlled House's recent passage of a measure to allow a final vote on bills with just 22 members present on Capitol Hill is underscoring the partisan divide about coronavirus safety vs. abdicating congressional responsibility.  "A virtual Congress would be a Congress that is connected to the Internet, but disconnected from the American people," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted Sunday.  "Democrats are forever altering American democracy for the worse.  Unconstitutional power grab!"  McCarthy, the House's top Republican, has been at the forefront of the opposition, opposing the idea of proxy voting shortly after the House went into recess in mid-March as a result of the virus and began looking for alternative means of balloting.

Lock Up the Lockdown Governors.  The "never let a crisis go to waste" crowd continues to overplay its hand, which is why this would be the perfect time to begin some real push-back against them.  The expected spike in new COVID-19 cases in states that reopened early never materialized.  In fact, the opposite has been true.  States that have remained shut down have been seeing the spikes.  If we're really all about "SCIENCE!" then it's time to take a serious look at ending all of the lockdowns.  The governors who are arbitrarily extending lockdowns are now just fetishizing power grabs and making everything all about themselves.  They need to be reined in for the financial well-being of the people whose lives they're ruining with their uncontrolled egos.  There is a very real possibility that 20/20 hindsight will show us that little, if anything, was achieved by shutting down people's lives and livelihoods.  It will have been a self-inflicted and wholly unnecessary tragedy.

Lawsuit Against Cuomo Alleges 'Bloodless Coup' Has Stripped New Yorkers of Their Constitutional Rights.  The lawfare part of the lockdowns has begun in earnest with lawsuits being filed across the country against governors who ordered private businesses closed indefinitely with no due process and stripped them of their constitutional rights because of the Chinese coronavirus panic.  The latest lawsuit was filed by New York protesters in Rochester whose businesses have been shuttered by executive fiat.  The filing of the lawsuit was announced at a rally organized by RestartROC on Saturday [5/16/2020].

Some state governments vindictively using all tools at their disposal to ruin lives of lockdown resisters.  We are witnessing a shocking level of evil as tyrannical leaders inflict maximum harm to citizens trying to survive by reopening their businesses.  As most readers know by now, Karl Manke, the barber in Michigan who defied state orders and opened his business, has since had his business license revoked.  The witch of a governor would not tolerate his freedom to work, and one way or another she was determined to put an end to it.  Most recently in Oregon, salon owner Lindsey Graham opened her business in defiance of the lockdown.  She soon found herself the object of multiple investigations involving numerous state agencies.  She was fined $14,000 and has been threatened with having her business license revoked and the licenses revoked for all the hair stylists who work there (which would make it impossible for them to work anywhere in the state in their profession).

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown's Shady Way of Shutting Down Businesses:  Sticking CPS on Parents.  Lindsey Graham, the owner of Glamour Salon in Salem, Oregon, has been harassed by numerous government agencies for reopening her salon despite Gov. Kate Brown's (D) stay-at-home order.  During a Friday [5/15/2020] press conference, Graham said multiple government agencies, including child protective services, have investigated her for wanting to reopen her salon and make a living.  "And, if you can possibly believe this, on May 7th, Child Protective Services showed up at my home," she said, taking a deep breath while holding back tears.  "They questioned my husband and I.  They questioned my child, without me present.  They searched our home.  And I've never expected such a violent, aggressive, vindictive thing ever could have been done to me or my family because I'm trying to earn a living, because I'm trying to work."  According to the salon owner, CPS' case is still open, as far as she knows.

Italian Politician Demands Bill Gates Be Arrested For Crimes Against Humanity on Parliament Floor.  ara Cunial, the Member of Parliament for Rome, blasted Gates during her seven minute long speech on Thursday, claiming that he has been working on a depopulation policy and plans for dictatorial control over global politics.  The lawmaker blasted the shut down orders, handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and vaccines.  Cunial claimed that the "real goal of all of this is total control.  Absolute domination of human beings, transformed into guinea pigs and slaves, violating sovereignty and free will.  All this thanks to tricks/hoax disguised as political compromises."

COVIDictators Beware:  The American Rebel Spirit Is Still Alive.  In the current environment of uncertainty and government overreach into all of our lives, there seems to be some light at the end of the government built tunnel.  This is not because we have actually reached the end, but because as with most things built by the government, it's crumbling.  In the past few months, dollar store dictators from across the nation have been implementing strict draconian regulations, in what appears to almost be an attempt to break the back of the largest economy to have existed on this planet.  Those who have tried to fight back have been punished like Shelley Luther, a salon owner in Dallas, Texas who saw the inside of a jail cell for daring to put food on her own table.  Even more recently, Governor Whitmer of Michigan decided due process was not to be afforded to a 77-year-old barber who had his state licenses stripped after ignoring local health officials orders to close his shop.

Alderman: Mayor's Office Bans Parking On Ravenswood Streets Near Church That Plans To Hold Sunday Services.  People heading to Philadelphia Romanian Church in Ravenswood on Sunday might have a hard time finding a parking spot.  Ald. Matt Martin (47th) said no-parking signs have been put up for several surrounding blocks near the church at 1713 W. Sunnyside Ave.  The signs have been mounted on Sunnyside Avenue between Greenview and Ravenswood avenues, and Paulina Street between Lawrence and Berteau avenues, Martin's office said.  The parking ban is in effect from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.  Sunday, according to Martin's office.  Martin said the signs were put up at the direction of the Mayor's office, in response to plans by the church to hold one or more religious services — in violation of the stay-at-home order for the coronavirus pandemic.

Mitigating Tyranny:  Lockdowns and Flynn.  [Scroll down]  For reasons not based on science, but on fearmongering by the press and autocratic leanings of some governors (for the most part, Democratic Governors Cuomo, Newsom, Whitmer, Evers, Northam, and Inslee) draconian lockdown measures were instituted by executive order.  These orders were often backed up by health commissioners, themselves ill-equipped by education or experience to offer sound advice.  The consequences of these actions have been to jeopardize the health of the poorest and most vulnerable and destroy the livelihoods of those not able to work from home or on academic and government payrolls.  At the same time, they released from prison some really hardcore prisoners, ostensibly to protect them from the virus.  In sum, they have most harmed the members of the very lowest tranches of the economy, which they have always claimed to represent.  The rebellion against the orders by affected citizens and courts continues.  Counties, municipalities, and sheriffs are refusing to enforce these orders.  My favorite is the sheriff of Fresno, California, who said she was too busy rounding up the criminals Governor Newsom had released to bother enforcing his lockdown edicts.

Civil Rights Attorney Warns of First Amendment Lawsuit After Police Threaten Church With $1000 Fines for Holding Drive-In Worship Services.  The Rutherford Institute has warned that it will consider filing a First Amendment lawsuit if police continue to threaten a New York church with prosecution and $1000 fines for holding drive-in worship services that adhere to social distancing guidelines.  In a legal letter to the Chief of Police for the Town of Massena, NY, Rutherford Institute attorneys point out that while federal and state governments have adopted specific restrictive measures in an effort to decelerate the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the current public health situation has not resulted in the suspension of fundamental constitutional rights such as religious freedom, freedom of speech and the right of assembly.

The Coronavirus Fifth Column.  As left-wing Democrat-controlled states continue to keep people in lockdown, it is becoming apparent that they are using the pandemic as a means to gain ultimate control of people's lives.  In fact, leftists the world over are exploiting the pandemic in order to create their alleged utopias. [...] This is happening all across the United States.  The governors of states like Michigan, New York, New Jersey, California, and Pennsylvania continue to hold people hostage to their dictatorial impulses.

The Moral Busybodies Strike Again.  There's a weird cognitive dissonance happening right now that is as revealing as it is alarming.  Just as we learn more details about all the ways Barack Obama and his henchmen weaponized powerful federal agencies to punish Donald Trump, Americans, oddly, are surrendering their own power to the same type of god-like government authorities under the guise of the common good. [...] The effort to stop coronavirus, much like the attempt to stop Donald Trump, has been presented by ardent defenders as their call to duty, a selfless act undertaken not to gratify their lust for power but to protect the public's best interest.  There is no discernible difference between the high-minded hectoring of former FBI Director James Comey and that of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer — their decisions are above scrutiny because, as they often scold their lesser subjects, these decisions are made for your own good.

Covid-19 Internment Camps Being Set Up In Washington!  Internment camps are being set up at county fairgrounds in Washington State to house Covid 1984 patients.  The truth was announced though Rep. Matt Shea with an eyewitness coming forward and providing a photograph of the camps being assembled.  The witness confirmed that she spoke to the Mayor of Goldendale and it was, again, confirmed that these camps are being set up for Covid 19(84) patients.  These mandatory camps are being set up through what can be called a mandatory grant of money, as these counties are being required to set up these camps before they can open any new businesses, yet cannot afford to do so.  Trailers, as well as tiny homes, can be set up at the Fair Grounds, and hotels/motels could be used in some cases.  And it is required that these Internment camps are to be in place before the counties can move to "Phase 2" of Governor Inslee's plans.

More stories of government power grabs — and a new, loud voice in the wilderness.  The phrase "drunk with power" seems relevant to modern times in America.  New information about the Wuhan Virus indicates that it's here to stay and that a total shutdown is both ineffective and counterproductive.  Nevertheless, Democrat politicians are clamping down ever harder on their beleaguered constituents. [...] It seems as if, every single day, even as they murmur vaguely about "opening up," Democrat governments are tightening restrictions on the people unlucky enough to be in their jurisdictions.  The big news on Thursday [5/14/2020] was Washington State governor Jay Inslee's demand that restaurants make customers log information about themselves if they wish to dine.  Of course, this applies only if restaurants don't instantly go broke under the new rules: [...] Restaurants famously have one of the lowest profit margins of any business.  The only way a restaurant can remain in business when filling only 50% of its space is to double the cost of its food.

Governors are grabbing business licenses to punish lockdown violations.  Democrat politicians intent upon perpetuating the Wuhan virus lockdown — even as more data show that the lockdown is pointless — have resorted to snatching business licenses when the owners refuse to allow their primary asset to wither away because of a useless edict.  Revoking permits without due process is a powerful weapon that instantly destroys businesses because it makes the owners criminals if they continue to operate.  In Michigan, power-mad governor Gretchen Whitmer seized 77-year-old Karl Manke's business license when he refused to starve.  He has announced that he will keep cutting hair, even without a license.

NY Tourist Arrested In Hawaii After Posting Beach Photos.  A tourist from New York has been arrested in Hawaii after he allegedly violated state regulations that require travelers to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival.  Tarique Peters, 23, of the Bronx, arrived in Honolulu on Monday.  He then posted photographs on Instagram photos showing himself sunbathing at the beach and carrying a surfboard, state officials said.  "He allegedly left his hotel room the day he arrived and traveled many places using public transportation.  Authorities became aware of his social media posts from citizens who saw posts of him — on the beach with a surfboard, sunbathing, and walking around Waikiki at night," said a news release from the Hawaii COVID-19 Joint Information Center.

The Bait-and-Switch Blues.  Years from now, when the American public's memory of the Wuhan virus craze has crystallized into something coherent, it's a good bet most of us will see the economic shutdown that was the governmental reaction as the dumbest, most wasteful, and most abusive error made on this continent since a government not of the people passed the Intolerable Acts of the early 1770s and was shortly thereafter dispatched from the 13 colonies.  Unfortunately, we will not have the benefit of throwing off an out-of-touch foreign government this time.  The stupidity and abuse of the shutdowns comes from people we elected.  Those have been our mistakes.

Police State Dry Run [was] a Huge Success.  We have become part of a mass scale human experiment in government control and it turned out that stripping away our freedom wasn't all that difficult.  Under the guise of concern for our health and well-being, tyrants came out of the woodwork. [...] You tell me if what follows sounds like the United States, or China.  We've been told who can work and who can't, with language that separates us according to who is and who isn't "essential" as the almighty State supersedes individual rights and the family unit.  We've been physically and verbally harassed, threatened, fined, detained, arrested, jailed, and/or placed in forced quarantine.  Business licenses have been revoked.  Going to work without the permission of the government is now a crime.  So is going to the park or a beach.  Children playing together is also in defiance of the government.  So is placing flags on the graves of veterans.  The list of infractions goes on and on and on and on.  Examples read like the manifesto of a demented madman.  [Numerous additional links.]  Stay home.  Do not go out.  Do not earn money.  Do not pay your bills, feed your family, maintain your credit rating, live your life.  Do not make a single move without permission from the State or you will be punished.

If they get away with this, they can arrest you for having any disease.
Michigan Judge Authorizes County to 'Involuntarily Detain' Suspected Coronavirus Victims.  A Michigan judge has granted the Kent County Department of Health the authority to arrest suspected coronavirus victims it deems a "health threat."  On April 6, 2020, 17th Circuit Court Chief Judge Mark Trusock granted an order sought by Kent County Health officer Adam London, who was seeking the power to "involuntarily" detain suspected virus carriers.

Licensing Agencies Threaten Business Owners Who Defy California Governor's Orders.  California regulatory agencies have started threatening business owners who defy the governor's four-phase business reopening plan, and have been notifying barbershops and restaurants that they may have their licenses revoked if they operate outside the state-approved public health guidelines.  The California Department of Alcohol and Beverage Control, one of the agencies, has been visiting restaurants in Yuba and Sutter counties, two areas that have enacted less stringent public health measures than the governor's orders, and threatened to revoke their alcohol licenses if they don't stop in-person dining, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Criminalizing the businessmen is the socialist dream.
15 cops 'raid' restaurant allegedly over too many customers — Coronavirus violation.  [Scroll down]  Dave Carey, managing owner Lee's Landing, told the Whig he was following Hogan's social distancing and crowd size orders "to the letter of the law" and is upset that 15 uniformed officers from four agencies showed up to his establishment Sunday [4/26/2020].  He added to the paper that in addition to state police, deputies from the Cecil County Sheriff's Deputies, officers for the Maryland Transportation Authority, and Perryville police officers also arrived at Lee's Landing.  He said law enforcement found staffers wearing masks and other protective equipment while taking orders, placing them in tied-shut plastic bags, and handing them to customers who were in measured lines with proper spacing, the Whig reported.  In addition, Carey told the paper there were no more than 10 motorcycles in the parking lot, and customers waited for their orders and then departed.  "What exactly did we do wrong?" Carey asked the Whig.  "And who had the authority to take that many resources off the road?"  He added to the paper, "It's hard enough to get two cops at any other time.  If I called for a riot I wouldn't get that kind of response."

GoFundMe picks up the slack:
He's suspended for urging fellow officers to ignore stay-at-home orders — he also seems to be getting rich.  Greg Anderson, a Port of Seattle police officer and Special Forces veteran, has a problem with the direction this country is headed during the coronavirus pandemic.  He's prepared to lose his job over it.  In a viral Instagram video, Anderson urged fellow law enforcement officers to basically allow citizens their constitutional right to flout stay-at-home orders and go about their business.  "I'm seeing people arrested or cited for going to church.  I don't know what crime people are committing for doing nails in their own house," Anderson said in the video last week.  "We have to ask ourselves as officers, 'Is what I am doing right?'"

Seattle Cop Fired for Protesting Lock Down Just As Jay Inslee Declares He Will Confine People Without Food Who Don't Cooperate With Contact Tracers.  Sometimes two stories appear that that fit so nicely together that if you imagine this is all being done by a novelist with a gift for foreshadowing.  [On] Monday [5/11/2020], Port of Seattle Police Officer and Special Forces veteran Greg Anderson was terminated.  His offense, a viral Instagram post which he refused to take down.  You really need to read it.  [Video clip]  ["]I've seen officers nationwide enforcing tyrannical orders against the people and I'm hoping it's the minority of officers, but I'm not sure anymore.  We don't get to violate someone's constitutional rights because somebody in our chain of command tells us otherwise.["]  Bingo.  Across the nation we have seen police departments willingly accept orders to not apprehend many classes of criminals and divert officers to such important duties as arresting parents at playgrounds, rousting people off the beach, threatening ministers and church congregations with fines and involuntary isolation orders.  It is just a matter of time before a SWAT team shows up to shut down a restaurant.  Okay, we've already done that [...]

'Unlawful, invalid, unenforceable': Wisconsin Supreme Court nukes Dem Governor's lockdown extension.  Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers was dealt a blow as the state's Supreme Court struck down his coronavirus pandemic lockdown order and allowed businesses to reopen.  The unprecedented ruling handed down Wednesday [5/13/2020] found that the there was an overreach of authority when the Democratic governor's stay-at-home order was extended without consulting with the state Legislature.  President Donald Trump's son appropriately declared in a tweet that the court had "nuked" Evers' lockdown extension order.

Big police presence expected at Michigan protest of stay-at-home order.  A demonstration protesting Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order is set to take place on Thursday in the state capital of Lansing, with fears some might carry weapons inside the Capitol building. [...] The protest is organized by Michigan United for Liberty, which says it is a nonprofit with nearly 8,000 members, organized and formed in response to Whitmer's first stay-at-home order in April, which it views as unconstitutional.

Florida Gov DeSantis calls out other governors for 'draconian' lockdowns and says 'people have rights'.  Florida Gov Ron DeSantis tore into other governors who have ordered 'draconian' lockdowns during the coronavirus pandemic on Thursday as he took further steps to reopen his own state.  'You're not a dictator, you don't have unlimited authority, and people do have rights,' DeSantis said in an interview with Fox & Friends.  He made the comments after being asked if he thinks 'some of these governors that are just doing a one-size-fits-all for the entire state' are 'being too strict and going too far.'  'I don't think any governor has the authority to restrict anyone unless there's a direct relationship to combating this virus,' DeSantis replied.

Perpetual Lockdown in the City of Angels.  The Daily Wire editor-in-chief Ben Shapiro joins the podcast today to talk about lockdown from the perspective of the West Coast.  With his hometown of Los Angeles now planning to extend shelter-at-home guidelines well into the summer and early fall, what are the prospects that the public will abide by those recommendations?  And what are the chances that those who do will preserve their sanity?  [Podcast]

After She "Received Death Threats" Michigan Governor Says ANY Protester Holding Firearm Will Be Arrested.  A day after armed protesters against Michigan's stay-at-home order entered the statehouse in Lansing, Donald Trump once again expressed support for the rightwing movement.  Michigan's Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer, should he said:  "make a deal" with the demonstrators.  "The governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire," the president wrote in a tweet on Friday morning.  "These are very good people, but they are angry.  They want their lives back again, safely!  See them, talk to them, make a deal."  She didn't listen to the President's advice.  Protestors in Michigan planning to rally at the state Capitol on Thursday are being warned that if they bring firearms to the event they will be arrested.

Cops Arrest Brooklyn Rabbi for Letting Kids — Ages 11, 8, and 2 — Walk to the Store.  A Brooklyn dad who let his kids walk a few blocks to the local store was arrested on Sunday morning [5/10/2020] and charged with endangering the life of a child.  The charges against Noah Chakoff, a rabbi, were dropped about 12 hours later.  But the ordeal began when New York City police stopped the kids — ages 11, 8, and a 2-year-old in a stroller — as they were simply heading to their local bodega (a small candy-and-everything-else store). "I can understand them stopping the children, just to ask a few questions," Chakoff's attorney, Jason Goldman, tells Reason.  "But obviously I don't agree with them charging the rabbi and keeping him for hours and hours while everything was going on with the pandemic."

Michigan Gov. Whitmer says GOP challenging her 'unconstitutional actions' in lawsuit is 'power grab'.  Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer blasted state Republican lawmakers on Tuesday [5/12/2020] over a lawsuit they have filed challenging her emergency authority to deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, ironically accusing them of a "power grab."  Whitmer's office filed a legal response to the suit this week, claiming that while the Republican majority in the Legislature represents a "coequal" branch of government, they somehow don't have the authority to question her, no matter what she does.

Michigan strikes back by suspending elderly barber's license.  State regulators on Wednesday [5/13/2020] suspended the license of a 77-year-old Michigan barber who insisted on cutting hair despite an order to stay closed during the coronavirus pandemic.  Karl Manke has pledged to keep his shop open "until Jesus comes."  A judge declined the state's request to shut down his shop Monday without first holding a hearing.  Regulators took a different path by suspending his barber license and his shop license.

13 May LA County Supervisors:  Flashpoint for the Second American Revolution?  The LA County Board of Supervisors announced on May 12th a three-month extension of lock down or stay-at-home orders.  The LA Times concurrently reported that LA County's death toll stood at 1,613, which is said to be over half of the total for the entire state of California.  California has an estimated population of around 40 million people.  Which means coronavirus deaths in California represent around 0.000075 [percent] of the population, or about one thousandth of one percent.  And for this, all of Los Angeles will be subject to three more months of lockdown.  This is absurd and outrageous on its face.  Lethality rates for Covid-19 based on actual data do not justify this action in any way, shape, manner or form.  There isn't a shred of any 'science' backing up this decision; just political blather about insufficient testing making it too dangerous to conclude the worst is over.

No more anonymous dining in Washington:
State orders restaurants to collect private info of customers, keep logs to open for table service.  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is facing criticism for demanding that, as part of their upcoming reopening, restaurants begin collecting private information from their customers, including their names, their telephone numbers and their email addresses.  "If the establishment offers table service, create a daily log of all customers and maintain that daily log for 30 days, including telephone/email contact information, and time in.  This will facilitate any contact tracing that might need to occur," a "Phase 2 Restaurant/Tavern Reopening" guidance issued by his office on Monday [5/11/2020] reads.

Coronavirus: Ohio to test 1,200 residents at random.  Around 1,200 Ohioans might soon find out that they have been selected to be tested for the coronavirus as part of a statewide study.  The Ohio Department of Health plans to screen 1,200 residents in their homes for the virus through a nasal swab test and through an antibody blood test.  Screening could start as soon as next week, department spokeswoman Melanie Amato said via email.

The Editor says...
Is the government looking for diseased individuals or gathering DNA for a massive database?  Is it the proper role of government to go door-to-door looking for sick people?  Is it the proper role of government to lock up sick people once they are discovered?  If the government can do this because of the coronavirus, they could do it for any contagious disease.  Election day is coming in six months.  If you remain silent about this creeping tyranny, you deserve the consequences.

A New Day in a Fearful America.  This past week in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's banana republic known as Michigan, a 77-year old barber opened his doors and let the community know he was ready for business.  For this small, essentially non-consequential action, he could lose not only his business, but even his very liberty.  Karl Manke, a barber in the town of Owosso, woke up in a new America where his governor issued an executive order stating all "nonessential" businesses would have to close in order to stop the potential spread of the invisible enemy.  For Manke, his barbershop was one of those "nonessential" businesses.  The decree from up high however ignored an essential truth, that to manke, his shop was essential to his very livelihood.  "I was in despair," Manke told a reporter from the Detroit News.  "I don't have anybody paying me unless I'm doing work."  As word got around that Manke was open for business, customers from towns over lined up for their first haircut in months since the pandemic began.  Word also got around to local authorities. [...] What a new day it is, where 77-year old barbers are now treated as common criminals because they refuse to starve.

A Pandemic of Illogic.  When dealing with politicians, the less logical the statement or action, the more political the statement or action.  This truism is notably evident as we contend with the pandemic of COVID-19 and its attendant pandemic of illogic.  For example, Governors Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), Gretchen Whitmer (D-Mich.), and Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.), have instituted continuing lockdowns — some of questionable state and federal constitutional validity — to defeat the novel coronavirus.  In Whitmer's case, she has been notoriously lax about providing the sources of and the actual data driving her decision — now a unilateral one — to extend her emergency powers over the citizenry, not for the purpose of "flattening the curve" (which already has been done), but to prevent a hypothetical "second wave."  One need not be a constitutional scholar to be concerned by the threat of a governor unilaterally imposing constitutionally dubious emergency powers to stop a hypothetical event; however, to be the victim of the pandemic of illogic, it seems one's governor is required not to give a whit.

Orwell: No one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.  1984 describes the ultimate tyranny to come.  Or the retro-nightmare future that might-have-been, had it not been outdone by reality. [...] For Aldous Huxley, however, Orwell had missed the point.  The Nazis and Soviets were incomplete models for the emerging world order.  The real tyranny was scientific in its approach, sophisticated and slight in its maneuvered hand.  Mankind wouldn't face naked oppression as much as he would be pacified by easily obtained goods, engineered societal rewards and the use of literal opiates — refined pharmaceutical drugs — to make the masses "learn to love their servitude."  This would constitute the ultimate revolution — oligarchical domination administered by a scientific and expert elite.  What Orwell had described would be crude compared to the studied social programs of indoctrinated helplessness.  But Orwell had not missed the point at all (certainly not entirely) — he understood that this was domination nonetheless, no matter how concealed the bludgeoning arm was behind the velvet gloved-hand.  The true purpose of socialism is not the "good of others" [i.e. the masses] but the control by the few — the elite or oligarchy — of the many by an overarching system that made them controllable.

Power-Hungry Governors Must Understand an Economy Is Like Dominoes.  There are governors who fancy themselves kings and queens who want to continue the shutdown and enforce ridiculous executive orders, that for all practical purposes, treat the citizens of their states as if they were in prison, forbidding them to even venture outside for a breath of air, using drones and other spy tools to keep tabs.  What are they going to tell their prisoners when the store shelves are totally empty, there is no gasoline, the drug stores are out of medicine and can't fill prescriptions, because a few more weeks of an idle workforce and the supply lines, including the essentials of life, will begin to dry up?  The system that sustains our economy and very lives is interconnected, codependent, and a few segments cannot long exist without the others.

Georgia kicks off chilling door-to-door COVID-19 blood collections.  Let the government-pressed coronavirus-tied blood collections of citizens begin.  And begin they have.  They have in Georgia at least, where the state's Department of Public Health recently announced, in cooperation with both Fulton County and Dekalb counties' Boards of Health, that "to learn more about the spread of COVID-19," an "investigation" has commenced — and it's an "investigation" that's leading government officials to make random stops at randomly selected residences and ask random citizens for, get this, their blood.  Citizens' DNA in the hands of unelected government officials.  Hmm, what could go wrong there?

The Editor says...
Asking for a blood sample is okay.  (The answer is no.)  Demanding is not okay.  At this point, the virus emergency is all but over.  This blood collection isn't about public safety or studying the spread of a virus.  It is about gathering DNA information for a government database.  It may also be a test to see how much the government can demand without meeting any resistance.

Tennessee Police Arrest Citizen Who Escaped Forced COVID-19 Detention Camp.  Comrades, some readers might not be aware the Ministry of COVID compliance has set up quarantine camps, detention facilities in various areas.  Formerly free citizens who test positive for COVID-19 are forcibly taken to the quarantine camps and held under guard.  Last week one of the non-compliant captives demanded his freedom; he climbed the fence and escaped detention.  After a manhunt in Tennessee the subversive citizen was recaptured, arrested and brought back to the detention facility.  Alarmed yet?

The 'Freesistance' can Prevent Dems from Prolonging the Shutdown.  [Scroll down]  When the Michigan State Legislature tried to remove Gretchen Whitmer's ability to order around Michiganders, she decided to ignore the law and do as she pleased.  In Illinois, Pritzker issues "capricious coronavirus edicts" as if he is a Roman Emperor while insisting that the federal government give him $40 billion dollars so he can fill shortfalls in the state budget caused by years of Democratic Party mismanagement.  He has shut down churches indefinitely — gleefully threatening pastors with arrests and fines.  There can be no god but the state.  In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered nursing homes to accept virus-infected patients.  And since the virus is most deadly to the elderly and those with morbidities, this put New York's most at-risk population at the most risk possible.  While Cuomo has very publicly professed his love for his 88-year-old mother, even using her safety as justification for his prolonged shutdown, he has no problem killing other people's moms.  Out of the 21K+ deaths from the virus in New York State, more than 5K have been from nursing homes.

Trump is Not Weakening.  I characterize President Trump's behavior as strategic rather than weak.  Many Trump supporters are furious that Trump appears to allow Dr. Fauci and Dr. Birx to dictate when we reopen America.  At the same time, Democrats and fake news media absurdly claim Trump is responsible for thousands of deaths because he ignores science and health experts.  Fake news media is flooding the airwaves with their claim that over 100,000 people will die if crazy Trump irresponsibly reopens America.  Trump is damned if he does and damned if he doesn't.  I am confident that Trump will courageously press forward, doing what is best for We the People.  Out-of-control Democrats are using coronavirus to overrule our Second Amendment right to bear arms, release dangerous felons, and fund extreme leftist causes.  They have selectively implemented unconstitutional restrictions intended to punish Christians and Trump voters.  Insane with their newfound power, Democrats are actually considering going door to door to drag people out of their homes.  In a nutshell, coronavirus has liberated Democrats from the restraints of the U.S. Constitution.  Folks, we are at war with an evil enemy within, the Democratic Party.

Governor Greg Abbott has a Pen, a Phone, and a Tank?  [Scroll down]  The right to work to earn a livelihood is without question an unalienable right.  The government cannot take away that right.  Many in government want to take away the right to bear arms, but their efforts against the Second Amendment have led to conditions, not elimination.  Likewise, the government has no power to suspend or eliminate the right to earn a living.  With regard to the right to bear arms, the Second Amendment could, at least in theory, be abolished.  On the contrary, prior to lawfully suspending the right to produce income to survive, the government would have to first repeal the "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."  A silver lining may be that the COVID-19 pandemic has provided us the opportunity to consider the lawful reach of executive orders.  It is one thing to impose reasonable conditions of employment (masking, sanitizing, etc.) in perilous circumstances.  It is quite another to announce complete shutdown decrees from on high.

Dem governors will pay a huge price in November for unnecessarily long lockdowns.  In the nearly half year between now and the time the country goes to the polls, blue state voters are going to wonder why they should be imprisoned at home, their children out of schools, and their finances impoverished while elsewhere in the country it is still the land of the free.  Already, there have been protests in Michigan and elsewhere, demanding loosening of restrictions, and more are planned in Blue states like New Jersey.  Republican Senator Pat Toomey of purple state Pennsylvania agrees with me that American political leaders are "overstating the danger[."]  I think the Democrat governors are making a very bad bet.  Maybe South Dakota and Wyoming will become hot spots of infections, but in the meantime, the carnage of suicide, delayed medical treatments, domestic violence, and diseases of poverty will multiply in blue states.

Michigan legislature's lawsuit is necessary, reasonable.  The lawsuit filed by the Legislature is being broadly miscast as an attempt to strip Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of her powers to manage Michigan through the COVID-19 crisis.  That's not at all what legislative Republicans are attempting to do in suing the governor.  What they're asking for is a restoration of their Constitutional authority to provide oversight of an executive who has unilaterally declared herself the sole and absolute power in Michigan.

Dem Governors Face Dozens of Lockdown Lawsuits.  [D]uring the past two months, the nation's Democratic governors have clearly demonstrated that the temporary possession of emergency powers can unmask the hidden tyrant in even the most unremarkable politician.  Virtually all have overreached their legitimate mandates, and few show any inclination to relinquish their newfound authority.  This has not only produced widespread protests but has also led to dozens of constitutional lawsuits.  These governors behave as if they recognize no legal boundaries.  Consequently, the voters have sought to correct them.  New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy (D), for example, is the defendant in at least two federal lawsuits, including a challenge to his prohibition of religious services in the Garden State.  Rabbi Yisrael A. Knopfler of Lakewood has joined Rev. Kevin Robinson in a four-count lawsuit that points out the obvious fact that "churches and synagogues can easily accommodate the kind of social distancing that keeps some commercial businesses open."  Moreover, Murphy refuses to provide the voters with a target date for lifting his "indefinite" lockdown.

Gov Pritzker gives seemingly never-ending five-phase plan to reopen Illinois, churches among hardest hit.  To some Illinois residents, particularly those who practice religion, it may feel as if their state will remain under some state of lockdown until the end of time, in part because Gov. J.B. Pritzker's five-phase reopening plan does indeed seem like it extends until infinity and beyond.  Unveiled by the governor on Tuesday, the plan contains no definitive reopening dates but does offer to keep the religiously minded waiting an exceptionally long time.  The plan specifically calls for not allowing churches to reopen until phase three, which won't begin until May 29th at the earliest.  And even then, churches will be restricted to a maximum of 10 parishioners, which is practically nothing.

With appropriate distancing measures, Virginia churches should be allowed to conduct services.  The Justice Department's recent decision to weigh in on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's (D) stay-at-home order poses a fundamentally important question:  If governments rightly consider physical nourishment an "essential" service, should not the spiritual sustenance that churches can provide receive at least equal consideration?  The Justice Department intervened after the pastor of the Lighthouse Fellowship Church in Chincoteague, Va., received a criminal charge for holding a service that 16 people attended, more than the limit of 10 set out in Northam's order.  Its brief noted that the congregation abided by social distancing guidelines and that other establishments — including liquor stores and big-box retailers — do not have to abide by a 10-person limit on gatherings.

The Editor says...
The First Amendment prohibits any limits on the number of people who may attend a church.

Is California Thinking About Coronavirus Internment Camps?  Gavin Newsom, governor of the "nation-state" of California, is raising what he calls an "army" of 20,000 government employees who will trace the spread of coronavirus across the state.  Those found guilty, or rather, infected, are likely to run into an uncomfortable change in their lives.  In Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, a pilot program was launched this week to trace infections and exposure, according to County Health Director Dr. Robert Levin.  When infected persons are found, he said, they are "immediately isolated."  As more people are tested, Levin continued, "we will find more and more people who have COVID-19."  "We will isolate every one of them, and we will find every one of their contacts, and we will make sure that they stayed quarantined, and we'll check in with them every day."  Seems innocuous, even helpful.  But: [...]

Texas Woman Is Sentenced To 8 Days In Prison For The Crime Of Opening Her Salon.  Shelley Luther is the owner of the Salon À la Mode in Dallas, Texas, and she has been sentenced to seven days in prison and given a $7,000 fine for opening her salon despite the stay-at-home order from Governor Greg Abbott and the state and county's orders to close all non-essential businesses.  On Tuesday, May 5, Luther was sentenced to seven days in jail and fined $7,000.  Dallas County Judge Eric V. Moyé found Luther to be criminally and civilly in contempt of court and said that reopening her salon was a selfish act.  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
As a public service, I would like to introduce you to Judge Moye's opponent on the November ballot:  Jessica Lewis.  Whether you live in Dallas County or not, I'm sure she would appreciate your support.

Uproar when Bill de Blasio, NYPD commissioner declare protests won't be tolerated amid shutdown.  New York City's mayor and police commissioner think social distancing and coronavirus guidelines during the pandemic trump the constitutional rights of Americans.  Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea claimed this week that the First Amendment rights of free speech and assembly have to take a back seat to the executive orders issued in the efforts to stem the spread of COVID-19.

U.S. Constitution is so Meaningless, Leaders Don't Even Think About It.  Wednesday night [4/15/2020] New Jersey's Democrat Governor Phil Murphy appeared on Tucker Carlson to discuss his state's 'stay-at-home order.  Carlson asked him about his legal authority to issue such an order in obvious violation of specific constitutional rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights.  Stunningly, Murphy admitted what most of us already knew:  "I wasn't thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this.  We went to all, first of all, the data and the science.  And it says people have to stay away from each other."

Woman Getting Arrested For Not Wearing A Mask Gets Slammed Face First To The Ground.  An altercation between a Birmingham police officer and a woman over the woman's apparent failure to wear a mask at a store was captured on video and now has prompted an investigation.  The incident took place Tuesday night [5/5/2020] at Walmart in Roebuck.  Video of the incident has been shared thousands of times on Facebook and shows the officer handcuffing a woman who is not complying.  He then picks her up and takes her to the ground.  [Video clip]

TYRANNY: Kansas City is Now Requiring Churches to Keep Lists of People Entering Churches.  New reopening guidelines in Kansas City that require churches to keeps "lists" of attendees have worried advocates of religious freedoms in the area, according to a report from Metro Voice.  Mayor Quinton Lucas enacted the policy where houses of worship receive the same treatment as "non-essential" businesses when it comes to keeping information of those who attend a service or anyone who enters the building.  "Never in our wildest dreams could we have imagined Nazi-like measures designed to surveil, track and spy upon what was once a free American people," declared Liberty Council, founder and Chairman Matt Staver.  "That is exactly what Kansas City's misguided government officials are now demanding."

The Editor says...
Will the Kansas City mosques get the same treatment?

I'm Not Scared Anymore.  I have to confess that a few weeks ago I was scared.  Very scared.  Not of the coronavirus, which most likely will prove to be just as lethal, or even much less lethal than the flu virus that, coming from Asia, hits us almost every year.  No.  What I was scared of was the people President Trump appointed to protect us from the virus, particularly Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infection disease expert.  Why was I scared of him?  Because after just a perfunctory search on the Internet I found out that Dr. Fauci has been invited at least once to talk to the globalist crowd at the Harold Pratt House in Manhattan, headquarters of the nefarious Council on Foreign Relations.  But the CFR is not a simple organization like the National Association for the Protection of Stray Cats.  It is actually the visible head of the invisible government of the US, and the globalist conspirators do not invite people at the CFR to hear what they say, but to tactfully suggest to them what they must say if they want their careers to advance.

MSNBC: Americans are so 'freedom obsessed,' they are blinded to threats like virus or climate change.  An MSNBC contributor called out "freedom-obsessed" Americans and their aversion to big government amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Former New York Times columnist Anand Giridharadas blamed Americans obsessed with the idea of freedom for creating a vulnerability in the country to threats like climate change, speaking in the topic during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday [5/6/2020].

Illinois governor says churches may not reopen for a year or more because of coronavirus.  It could be more than a year before churches are allowed to resume their in-person gatherings, according to Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker.  Pritzker announced a five-phase plan to reopen Illinois that gives guidance to schools, businesses, churches, and other religious centers about when they will be allowed to reopen.  In phase three, gatherings of up to 10 people will be allowed.  In phase four, gatherings of up to 50 people will be allowed.  Gatherings of more than 50 people will not be allowed until phase five.

Dan Crenshaw reacts to jailing of salon owner, says some leaders 'drunk with power'.  Tuesday's jailing of a hair salon owner in Texas for defying a coronavirus shutdown order just doesn't cut it, U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw wrote Tuesday [5/5/2020]. In fact, the punishment dished out to Dallas business owner Shelley Luther was another example of public officials overstepping their authority during the crisis, the congressman wrote on Twitter.  "These punishments are NOT just," Crenshaw wrote.  "They are not reasonable.  Small-minded 'leaders' across the country have become drunk with power.  This must end."

Amid Plague, Press Takes a Powder On Religious Liberty.  A Worcester, Massachusetts, pastor, Kristopher Casey, will be punished with a $300 civil fine for convening more than 10 people at his Sunday church service.  If he does it again, the fine will increase to $500, and he could face criminal charges, Masslive.com reports.  Where has the press been in the face of what seems, on its face, to be an egregious violation of the First Amendment's protections of peaceable assembly and the free exercise of religion?  The newspapers have been basically cheering it on.

The Sheeple Are Worshiping at the Altar of Elitist Propaganda — Kiss Your Freedom Goodbye America.  A healthy economy requires freedom.  Locking up healthy people is insanity.  Covid-19 is a trial, a drill, a simulation of what the elitists want to do to America. [...] This is part of the plan for global governance, and few people recognize the massive deception.  Too many Americans have given up their freedoms, and their logic to untrustworthy and deceptive authorities. [...] The government has shown us just how quickly they can take over every aspect of our lives.  Authorities decree only "essential businesses" can be open.  We have allowed our civil liberties (the unalienable Bill of Rights) to be terminated.  You had better comply. [...] The states run by the Democrat Party, and even some run by neo-con Trotskyite Republicans, will not allow full reopening because they want this to last long enough to destroy Trump's economy during election year and they relish their control over the masses.  And what does the Gates Foundation have planned for us with mandatory vaccines?  Nothing good.

California Sheriff: 'I Refuse to Make Criminals Out of Business Owners'.  Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco reaffirmed his stance on not enforcing stringent stay-at-home orders, telling the Riverside County Board of Supervisors this week that he refuses to "make criminals out of business owners, single moms, and otherwise healthy individuals for exercising their constitutional rights."  Eight weeks ago, officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) "participated in something never done before in our nation's history," Bianco began.  Government "ordered residents into their homes, closed their businesses, made them wear masks, forbid them from going to church, and eliminated constitutional freedoms put in place over 200 years ago," he explained.

Continuing The Shutdown Is Downright Immoral.  This lockdown is fundamentally immoral and has been from almost the very beginning.  It took me a while to get to that place, but here I am and here is why.  First of all, let's address how the left views this.  They have framed this as a choice between certain death or making money for greedy CEO's.  They promote the argument that the jobs we have taken from 30 million (and still counting!) Americans should be dismissed as "amoral dollars and cents."  Amoral?  Please!  How is a young couple working entry level jobs to get their start in the work force and to put together a few coins to start a family, amoral?  How is a man working [...] to start and run a family business, who gives people their first opportunity in the labor force, amoral?  They aren't.  Period.  What is amoral, nay outright immoral, is arbitrarily deciding to deprive a certain class of American citizens of their fundamental right to feed their families.  What could be more immoral than restricting the movements of American citizens who have committed no crime.  Compounding said immorality, we did this based on little to no evidence that they posed any real danger to anyone but an extremely small segment of society.  That segment could have been easily protected without trampling on civil rights of the rest of our citizenry.

True Friends of Liberty Are Rare Indeed.  Since March this year, numerous freedoms — freedom of association, property rights, free exercise of religion, freedom of assembly — have been pulverized as the full power of the state has been unleashed by government agencies across the United States.  In genuine emergencies like war or plague, we let governments do things that we would never otherwise authorize them to do.  But the sheer ease with which this has occurred in recent weeks underscores how a strong in-principle commitment to liberty has weakened throughout America.

Democrats Will Sacrifice Americans to Win the Presidency.  We were first told we must "flatten the curve."  Then, as the curve flattened, they explained we needed to "test everyone."  That gave away the game.  America is a nation of 330 million citizens victimized by the Chinese plague.  To acquiesce to the new rules, each person would need to be tested not once, but probably at least twice or even three times.  To accomplish this monumental task, we would need at least a billion tests.  The amount of time necessary to produce, execute, and evaluate each test is not only incalculable, but unfathomable.  If that is to be the criteria, we will never reopen. [...] You see, the Democrat goal is to reopen not one day before November 3, 2020.  You know, Election Day.

Why does returning to normal after coronavirus lockdown have to be a fight?  In 2020 America, we should probably have expected that the eagerly-awaited prospect of a return to economic activity after the nationwide coronavirus lockdown would be greeted not with cheers but with widespread strife.  Understandably, some want their jobs and livelihoods back ASAP, not to mention everyone who simply hopes to retrieve newly-cherished freedoms such as strolls in the park.  And they see local politicians citing public health to exert questionable powers to enforce social distancing and prohibit even small gatherings, once a sacred liberty in this country.  Others, including majorities in some national polls, are not sure our society should move so quickly to restore an ill-defined normalcy, whatever that constitutes in the minds of 328 million people.  Understandably, they've been infected by the virus of fear, another affliction that's swept the land as history's 59th presidential general election cycle moves toward summer.  Fears have fueled some of history's most disastrous election results.

Your governor can't force you to stay in your state.  Period.  Truth be told, even when states were super-sovereigns, during time of the Articles of Confederation, they did not ban Americans from traveling from state to state, because that was recognized as a fundamental liberty interest that even King George didn't try to stop.  Even as states were free to regulate interstate commerce from 1776 to 1789, Art. IV of the Articles of Confederation unambiguously recognized the right of Americans to travel freely from state to state:  "The free inhabitants of each of these states ... shall be entitled to all privileges and immunities of free citizens in the several states; and the people of each state shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other state."

Wisconsin Sup.  Ct.  Justice:  Isn't state's lockdown order "the very definition of tyranny?".  The Wisconsin Supreme Court heard oral argument via video in the case brought by the Wisconsin legislature contesting the authority of state officials to impose a lockdown order. [...] I didn't have time today to watch the whole argument, so I can't express a view on who did better and who did worse, so draw your own conclusions.  From the reactions I'm seeing on social media, supporters of continuing the lockdown are expecting a loss.  [Video clip]

The third wave of the left's attempted destruction of America.  Personal freedom and free markets have made this the greatest economy and the greatest civilization in the history of mankind.  We have defeated fascism and communism.  Without us, the world would be an unbearably horrible place to live.  It is only because we love God and freedom.  That's it.  Since 2016, there have been three mortal attacks against these beliefs.  The left has attempted to continue Obama's (and Soros's) transformation of America away from its destiny as a savior of humanity into a prison of slaves ruled by their elite masters.  The first attack was a continuation of Obama's weaponization of the government, in orchestrating a coup d'état against the newly elected president.  This started with the attempt to subvert the Electoral College by threatening the delegates.  It ended with the Mueller investigation, the most corrupt government enterprise in American history.  It failed, but it distracted the administration and delayed enacting needed policy.  The second wave was the impeachment of the president by the House of Representatives, based on zero evidence.  From falsified testimony (called satire) from Rep. Adam Schiff to phony "whistleblowers," whose testimony was taken in secret and withheld from the public, this was an obvious sham from the start, quickly killed in the Senate.  But the damage was done.  More distraction and delay.  The third wave is not the coronavirus, but the reaction of the left.  Leftists desperately need to destroy the American economy and American lives and livelihoods in order to enact their agenda by any means necessary.

Yes, thank you, but many other cops don't have any such reservations.
Sheriffs defy 'unconstitutional' order: 'My conscience will not allow me to arrest someone who is trying to make a living'.  Two Arizona sheriffs have vowed that they will not arrest anyone for allegedly violating what amount's [sic] to state-required house arrest amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Mohave County Sheriff Doug Schuster and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb insist Ariz.  Gov. Doug Ducey's stay-at-home order is unconstitutional and they won't enforce it either through monetary penalties or taking anyone, including a small-business operator, into custody.  Even so, both sheriffs seem to be taking a measured approach to their dissent.  Ducey, a Republican, has extended the shelter-in-place mandate through May 15.  According to Ducey's directive, violators could face up to six months behind bars if convicted for a class one misdemeanor along with a $2,500 fine.

Restaurateur Defied Maine Gov To Open His Business, State Agents Are Moving To Shut Him Down.  State officials pulled a Maine restaurant's health and liquor licenses after the owner opened up in defiance of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills' emergency shutdown order.  Rick Savage, owner of Sunday River Brewing Co. in Bethel, opened his restaurant and bar on May 1 after openly challenging Mills on an appearance on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" the evening before.  After Savage reopened, officials from the state health department revoked the health and liquor licenses he needs to operate.  "We've tried to call the governor; you can't even get ahold of them.  The lawmakers are left in the dark, both Republicans and Democrats.  She's doing this all rogue on her own," Savage said on Fox News on April 30.  "We've had enough of it.  We are encouraging all businesses in Maine to open up.  We never should have been shut down in the first place.  We need to open back up."

Salons And Barbershops Across America Are About To Show How Unnecessary This Lockdown Was.  In the eyes of many, Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther has become the latest face of justified resistance against governmental tyranny for her steadfast refusal to back down on keeping her business open despite the prospect of going to jail.  Luther's Salon a la Mode opened for business last Friday [5/1/2020], then promptly got slapped with a court order to close because of coronavirus restrictions.  Instead of meekly complying, as most others doubtless would have, Luther stood outside her salon and literally ripped the thing to shreds.  Indeed, it was a moment that would have made Patrick Henry proud.  (I'm also pretty sure it would have made another person with the surname "Luther" proud too.)  The salon owner told media she has "had enough" of stupid, nonsensical restrictions on her livelihood and that of her employees, and is more than willing to go to jail to make her point.

MI Governor Abandons Liberty Amid Lockdown Protests.  Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D) appears to have abandoned liberty in a bid to bend the residents of that state to her will.  On April 30, just hours after protesters entered the Capitol building in Lansing to voice their anger at the Coronavirus lockdown, Whitmer extended those restrictions by executive order.  Some of the Lansing demonstrators were armed, and it is difficult to ignore the possibility that the governor's action was a direct response to the dissenters — as if she signed the order out of spite.  Michigan's emergency measures, which, as is the case in most states, shut down the economy and imposed draconian limitations upon everyday activity, were set to expire April 30. The Republican-controlled legislature refused to extend them beyond Thursday, and Whitmer has now practically granted herself extraordinary powers in defiance of both lawmakers and a large part of her state's population.

Jake Tapper to Governor Whitmer:  Do You See Michigan Stay-at-Home Protesters in the Same Vein as Charlottesville Neo-Nazis?  Thousands of freedom protesters converged on the Michigan capitol in Lansing in late April to protest Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her tyrannical orders during the state economic lockdown.  Whitmer's orders were some of the strictest and illogical in the nation.  The governor banned shopping at JC Penney's but Walmart shopping was approved.  Motor boats were not allowed but canoes were allowed.  Seeds were not allowed for sale during the April planting season.  The governor was drunk on her new-found power.

Say, Who's Up For A Post-Bat Soup Virus New World Order?  Seriously, this won't give the conspiracy theory folks ammunition, right?  Because it's not like former Obama State Department Policy Planning Staff member Edward Fishman is putting it to print, right? [...] Edward is saying that they want giant monster big world government, and will take advantage of the misery, fear, sickness, and even deaths of people to achieve it.

Two more California counties to reopen economies despite Newsom's stay-at-home order.  An additional two counties in California are reopening their local economies despite Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's statewide stay-at-home order.  Modoc County in California announced last week that all businesses and churches might reopen, but people must keep a 6-foot distance from each other.  Yuba and Sutter counties are now joining Modoc in reopening despite Newsom's stay-at-home order that is still in effect.

The Tyrannical Soul of Gretchen Whitmer.  [Scroll down]  Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer stepped into this boundless field at the end of April.  The legislature refused to extend her emergency powers as required by the Emergency Management Act of 1976, so she granted herself the extension the legislature refused.  She declared a new, separate state of emergency under a dubious interpretation of the Emergency Powers to the Governor Act of 1945, and granted herself the extension the legislature refused.  Sound statutory construction dictates that when two statutes cover exactly the same ground, the more recent statute governs, and the more recent statute limits the governor's power to 28 days unless extended by the legislature.  Even if both laws are still fully operative, they must be read in a way that is not nonsensical.  Whitmer's construction of the two acts effectively reads, "The governor's emergency power shall extend no longer than 28 days, unless extended by the legislature, unless the governor, according to her own unfettered will, shall choose to extend her own power, in which case it shall last as long as she pleases it to last."

U.S. district judge rules Pritzker's stay-at-home order constitutional.  A U.S. district judge issued a ruling Sunday upholding Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order for Illinois as constitutional.  The Beloved Church of Lena, an Evangelical church located about 50 miles west of Rockford, had filed a complaint Thursday seeking a temporary restraining order and injunction in order to resume worship services with its 80 congregants.  The church and its pastor, Stephen Cassell, still held in-person service Sunday without intervention from police, though the temporary restraining order was denied.

DOJ joins lawsuit against Blackface Northam after police threaten a pastor.  The Justice Department is siding with a Virginia church suing Gov. Ralph Blackface Northam.  Because of his orders, police threatened a pastor with jail time or a $2,500 fine for violating the state's coronavirus lockdown restrictions.  The pastor held a 16-person church service on Palm Sunday.  The DOJ decision came after police in protective garb served a summons to Kevin Wilson, the pastor of Lighthouse Fellowship Church on Chincoteague Island.  The service was held on April 5 and the 16 people were spaced far apart from one another in a church that could fit 293 people.

Anti-lockdown demonstrator falsely accused of holding white supremacist sign.  The lies never end when it comes to demonizing conservatives.  On April 20th, entrepreneurs, and their supporters participated in simultaneous rallies in both Pittsburgh and Harrisburg to send a message to Governor Wolf that it was time to safely reopen Pennsylvania businesses.  Organized by PA Small Businesses Against Governor Wolf Shutdown, the rallies boasted hundreds in Pittsburgh and in Harrisburg and were meant to send a clear message to Harrisburg; "Pennsylvanians want to get back to work again". Governor Wolf ordered a shutdown of nonessential businesses in mid-March.  One of the drive-in participants in the rally to call for the reopening of the state was Jill Cooper of Murrysville, PA.  Jill has been a long-time conservative activist since 2008. [...]

Michigan's Whitmer says armed protesters displayed 'worst racism and awful parts' of US history.  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer slammed the protesters who gathered inside the state's Capitol building on Thursday [4/30/2020] to demand she rescind her stay-at-home orders, saying they represented the "worst racism and awful parts" of U.S. history.  "There were swastikas and Confederate flags and nooses and people with assault rifles," Whitmer said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union."  "Some of the outrageousnesses of what happened at our capitol depicted some of the worst racism and awful parts of our history in this country."

The Freedom of Individuals Still Matters — Even If COVID Warriors Say It Doesn't.  Since all action is individual, purposeful, and subjective, in the case of a crisis it is impossible for government to take collective action that would not be coercive to almost everyone.  The coronavirus is a case in point.  At the present time (April 16, 2020), forty-one of the fifty US states have declared some form of what is called a "lockdown."  Supposedly "nonessential" businesses must remain closed, and there are various restrictions on the movement and interaction of the populace.  The stated purpose in all cases is to "stop the spread" of the virus.  Yet there is no way for a government bureaucrat to know which purchases and which businesses are truly "essential."  The individual himself must decide what action he will or will not take in order to both avoid catching the disease AND satisfy his other preferences, such as keeping a roof over his head and feeding his family.  If it were the preference of all people to isolate themselves, close their businesses, not patronize businesses, refuse to show up for work, or refuse to socialize with their friends and neighbors, then the government would not need to implement any of these measures.  The only conclusion to be drawn is that the state-imposed restrictions are violations of the preferences of many individuals.  Since it is only the individual who acts purposefully and not groups, government restrictions upon these individuals are illogical and cannot be justified.

Bill de Blasio warns New Yorkers that 'the nice weather is very much a threat to us'.  The weather in New York City is going to be quite nice this weekend, which gave Mayor Bill de Blasio another reason to remind citizens about what could get them arrested.

The constitutional guarantees of certainty, rule of law, and due process.  Some governors and mayors expanded and extended the restrictions, and the arbitrary nature of these became patent.  In Maryland, the owner of a drive-through car wash was cited for violating the lockdown rules.  In California, Governor Gavin Newsom opened some beaches to the public but not those in Orange County, apparently on the basis of a fake news account and without contacting local officials.  In Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order seems remarkably like imprisonment.  She has banned motorized boating, purchases of infant car seats and gardening supplies, and a drive-in movie theater was cited for violating her directives.  Does she imagine the virus travels from closed car to closed car?  If so, she may soon shut down Michigan's roads (and car factories). [...] While promulgating and enforcing (often arbitrarily) lockdown rules, many of the same political figures, actually have made infectious rates soar.  Governor Andrew Cuomo certainly has.

If 'Congress Shall Make No Law...' Why Can Governors?  The First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." That's unambiguous. [...] Yet governors across the country are ignoring or suspending almost every one of those rights enumerated at the top of the Bill of Rights, with little to no pushback from the press, which just happens to be the only part of the first two amendments not under assault.  It's actually not under assault — it's gone — suspended indefinitely in the name of "the common good."  Governors have declared coronavirus emergencies and wiped clean the rights our nation was founded for the purpose of putting those rights beyond the reach of government.  These suspensions were not done by vote; they were done with the stroke of a pen.  Constitutionally, they can't be done by either.  There is no provision of the Constitution allowing for the waiving of rights under any condition, but most legislatures are content to sit back and watch this all proceed without their fingerprints anywhere near it.

Hawaii Travel Paradise Is Deserted, With Recovery Further Off.  In Hawaii, the number of new cases has dwindled to five on April 30, compared with a peak of 31 on March 17, according to the state's Department of Health.  The state had 618 cases in total, and 16 deaths.  Even as Hawaii's cases fall, Governor David Ige extended the state-at-home order through the end of May and said visitors need to quarantine for 14 days.

Liberate California!  Thousands Protest Crackdown on Civil Liberties Across State.  Thousands of freedom-loving patriots staged massive protests across the state of California from the beaches of Orange County to the capitol building in Sacramento.  The protesters were demanding that Democrats restore their civil liberties and release citizens from what is a de facto house arrest.

Communion Banned in Knoxville, Tennessee Churches.  There's good news and bizarre news for Christians who live in Knoxville, Tennessee.  The government will allow you to return to your church house on May 1st, but there are a number of rules, regulations and hoops you will have to jump through to make that happen.

Is It Time for a Revolution?  It's time for America's business owners to fight back against a tyrannical government.  Some might call that a revolution.  But in this case, I'm talking about a war fought in the courts.  I'm talking about a legal battle.  It's time for lawsuits — lots of them.  It's time to defend our civil rights.  It's time to defend our property rights.  It's time to make tyrant governors understand this isn't a dictatorship and we're not their serfs.

The First Amendment [is] Suffering Under PC Attack.  The First Amendment is beyond doubt under attack.  The five freedoms protected by this most critical Amendment are the freedoms of religion, speech, press, petition, and assembly; the Coronavirus crisis has challenged every one.  People are forbidden from congregating and worshiping as they choose.  Those who speak against the set media narrative are pilloried.  For example, try posting information about the China virus and see how long your posts remain up.  Press agencies that do not kowtow to the World Health Organization are censored by big tech.  When protesters tried to assemble and to petition the state government of Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer declared that they could not.  This Coronavirus crisis has exposed the fragility of our relationship with our rights.  But it is not the first such attack.

Thousands protest at Huntington Beach against California Gov. Newsome's coronavirus lockdown.  [Video clip]

Tucker Carlson On Fire:  "Totalitarianism doesn't shock us any more".  "What are the limits to their power?"  [Video clip]

The Editor says...
The video clip is ten minutes long and well worth your time.

The Peasants Are Revolting — California Rebels Defy Comrade Gavin Newsom.  The Rebel Alliance is pushing back against the insufferable and silly rules of the little blue dictators hiding amid their governor mansions.  Yes comrades, the pesky red subversives have taken to the street and realized 'hey wait, there are more of us, than them.' [...] If the COVID Compliance Ministry tries to stop the uprisings, there could be trouble.

COVID-1984.  [Scroll down]  Made famous by George Orwell in his novel 1984, groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs within a group of people in which the desire for harmony or conformity in the group results in an irrational and dysfunctional decision-making outcome.  The desire for cohesiveness produces a tendency to agree at all costs, minimizing conflicts and resulting in decisions made without critical evaluation. [...] Today, the group demands we stay away from our friends and families and neighbors, that we stay away from our jobs and work and lives, that we stay away from our schools and leisure activities.  The group says people must not attend church, eat at restaurants, or walk in local parks or on local beaches.  The group demands that those who are good citizens report their friends and neighbors who are breaking the lockdowns to police.  People who question or protest these new rules are dangerous.  The group says we have no choice.  This is a pandemic, after all.  Opinions that don't align with the group must be silenced.

Trump says armed Michigan lockdown protesters are 'very good people'.  President Trump says the protesters who stormed Michigan's Capitol on Thursday — some of them armed with rifles — are "very good people" who are angry with the state's restrictive COVID-19 lockdown.  In a tweet on Friday morning, the president weighed in on tensions roiling the state and called on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to negotiate with demonstrators who are demanding parts of the economy be reopened amid the coronavirus pandemic.  "The Governor of Michigan should give a little, and put out the fire.  These are very good people, but they are angry.  They want their lives back again, safely!  See them, talk to them, make a deal," he wrote.

The Editor says...
We have already made a deal.  The deal is "the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."  ["]The Petition Clause protects the right to petition all branches and agencies of government for action.  In addition to the right of assembly guaranteed by this clause, the [Supreme] Court has also ruled that the amendment implicitly protects freedom of association.["] [Wikipedia]

Barr: 'Time to Start Rolling Back' Some Coronavirus Restrictions.  During a Twitter Q&A on Friday [5/1/2020], Attorney General William Barr stated that "it's time to start rolling back" some of the restrictions enacted to combat the coronavirus and that "in the appropriate case, we would consider taking action."

Ohio's stay-at-home order [has been] extended through Memorial Day.  Ohio's stay-at-home order is being extended through the end of May, impacting Memorial Day weekend throughout the state.  The state's stay-at-home order — first issued by Gov. Mike DeWine and health officials on March 22 — was set to expire late Thursday, but DeWine said during his daily coronavirus briefing it would be extended with exceptions for certain businesses.  "When retail opens up, that certainly will be a major exception for that," DeWine told reporters, WCMH reports.  "Certainly it's an exception in just few days when manufacturing and other companies are allowed to start back so, it will be extended."

Gov. Lujan Grisham announces lockdown of Gallup.  New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has locked down the City of Gallup.  Outgoing Mayor Jackie McKinney and new Mayor Louis Bonaguidi had both requested the governor invoke emergency powers under the state's Riot Control Act.  "A lot of people just don't seem to take it serious," Bonaguidi said.  "It's an epidemic, it's killing people.  All roads into Gallup were closed at 12 p.m Friday [5/1/2020].  Gallup police and the McKinley County Sheriff's Department will partner with New Mexico State Police, the New Mexico Department of Transportation and the New Mexico National Guard to enforce the emergency order and road closures.  Under the Riot Control Act, the restrictions will terminate automatically at noon on the third day after they become effective.

Wisconsin Police Visit Mom Because She Allowed Her Child to Play at Friend's House.  A video surfaced yesterday [4/30/2020] showing Wiscosin police officers visiting the home of a parent who allowed her child to play at their friends house during stay-at-home orders.  The video starts as the mom answers the door and is greeted by two police officers, one male and one female.

Alito orders Pennsylvania to respond in case asking Supreme Court to halt enforcement of stay-at-home order.  Justice Samuel Alito this week ordered the Pennsylvania government to respond to arguments from a variety of Pennsylvanians asking the Supreme Court to halt enforcement of Gov. Tom Wolf's strict stay-at-home order, aimed at fighting the coronavirus, because they say it is unconstitutional.  The Pennsylvanians behind the suit — called petitioners in Supreme Court parlance — are arguing that their rights under the First, Fifth and 14th Amendments have been violated through Wolf's order.  The petition lays out a variety of grounds on which it says the order is unconstitutional.

City of Dallas Goons Sue Heroic Salon Owner Who Refused to Shut Down.  CBS Local reported that Dallas city officials are filing a lawsuit against Salon À la Mode owner Shelley Luther.  In addition, the city of Dallas has filed a restraining order against Luther for violating the city and county's shelter-in-place orders that were implemented to allegedly fight the Wuhan virus.  BLP reported on Luther's bold action when she opened her salon in violation of the arbitrary order.

Blue States Become Laboratories of Despotism.  A number of Democratic governors have used the coronavirus pandemic as a pretext to "experiment" with constitutionally protected civil liberties.  Their states have, in effect, become laboratories of despotism.  California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), for example, has refused to say when his stay-at-home order will expire, even in a purported reopen plan that that he announced last Tuesday.  When asked when Golden State residents would again be able to exercise their First Amendment right to attend church, he vaguely replied, "months, not weeks."  In addition, Newsom was evidently so incensed by the number of people who went to the beach last weekend he decided to order all Orange County beaches and state parks closed to the public, effective May 1.  Such decrees have provoked increased impatience with Newsom, including a rant from Elon Musk, whose Fremont Tesla factory is shut down.

Hundreds Of Protesters — Many Of Them Armed — Enter Michigan Capitol — Police Block Doors To House Chamber.  Michigan Protest:  Hundreds of patriots gathered at Michigan's capitol building in Lansing on Thursday, many gaining entry to the lobby, to protest the state's proposed extension of its "stay-at-home" order.  Hundreds of photos and dozens of videos have been uploaded to the internet as people share a glimpse of what's to come nationwide if the country doesn't re-open soon.  Footage shows officers checking protesters' temperatures before entering the capitol building.

Armed Protesters Flood Michigan Capitol as Whitmer Attempts to Override State Legislature.  Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing as the legislature considered a measure to extend Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's state of emergency declaration.  The House of Representatives voted down an extension of the order, but Whitmer claimed she has broad authority to continue the lockdown regardless.  This response only adds to the evidence she is abusing her authority amid the coronavirus crisis.  Protesters waved American flags and open-carried firearms as some changed, "Let us in!" and "This is the people's house, you cannot lock us out."  Video of the protest spilling over into the capitol building went viral on social media.  Protesters crowded into the hallway and up the staircase as state police and the sergeant-at-arms blocked the entrance to the House floor.

Judge rules against Illinois Dem governor's stay-at-home order: 'Shredded the Constitution'.  An Illinois judge has ruled against Gov. J.B. Pritzker's extended stay-at-home order, citing a violation of civil liberties.  Republican state Rep. Darren Bailey filed a lawsuit last week challenging Pritzker's lockdown extension.  The suit asked that a judge determine whether Pritzker abused his power by extending the order, [...] [Paywall]

North Carolina Police Arrest Man for Attempting to Reopen His Business, Others May Follow Suit.  As RedState managing editor Streiff wrote earlier today [4/29/2020], the "Reopen" rebellion against North Carolina's stay at home order is in full effect.  The arrests of protesters are continuing as well, with four arrested during Tuesday's ReopenNC protest, which was the third one held to date.  But in a disturbing incident that happened around lunchtime today, an Apex, NC man was seen on video being being led away by police from his business in handcuffs after attempting to reopen his tattoo parlor.

Why Can't We Go To the Hairdresser?  The cynic in me thinks the press will urge a nationwide lockdown unless and until a Democrat sits in the White House at which time they will take a harder look at the diminishing Covid-19 fatalities and the increasing cost of the lockdowns.  In the meantime frustrated, increasingly broke Americans are asking what happened to such rights as free speech, assembly, worship, freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, right to bear arms, right to due process in criminal cases and privacy.  Fundamentally, why can't we go to the hairdresser or the gym, make routine visits to the doctor, the dentist, get elective surgeries, visit our families and friends, shop without looking like masked bandits?  The answer is not that complicated.  Unless the state governments, which have imposed these often-draconian measures, can justify them in court, you can.  But you have to get them judicially enforced by civil suit or in defending a criminal action against you.  Your rights are not self-enforcing.

'MAGA May Day' Freedom Rallies Planned Across America to Protest Lockdowns.  "MAGA May Day" freedom rallies are slated to pop up across America Friday, May 1, aimed to send a message to "local and state government tyrants" that it is time to safely and responsibly reopen the country.  The "drive-in" rallies for freedom encourage participants to head to their state capitol or local government building to protest the nationwide lockdowns and demand independence from China, not allowing the country to "control trade, supply chains, or anything else that affects the daily life, health, happiness of American citizens."

DOJ Instructs U.S. Attorneys To Lookout For State And Local Governments Violating Civil Liberties.  U.S. Attorney General William Barr instructed U.S. attorneys to monitor cases of state and local governments infringing on citizens' civil liberties Monday as municipalities remain on lockdown nationwide amid the pandemic over the novel Wuhan coronavirus.  "Millions of Americans across the nation have been ordered to stay in their homes, leaving only for essential and necessary reasons, while countless businesses and other gathering places have been ordered to close their doors indefinitely," Barr wrote in a department memo.  "These kinds of restrictions have been necessary in order to stop the spread of a deadly disease — but there is no denying that they have imposed tremendous burdens on the daily lives of all Americans."

CA Gov Newsom Warns Sun-Loving Newport Beachgoers "Aggressive" Measures Coming.  In a livestreamed update on the Golden State's response to COVID-19 this afternoon [4/27/2020], California Governor Gavin Newsom threw down the gauntlet to sun-worshippers in his state, who he was disappointed appeared to be enjoying life over the weekend.  That's something that just can't stand, man!  Newsom began his speech with a smile, by thanking "the 40 million" Californians who "over the course of the last number of weeks have not only bent the curve... but stabilized it."  But the governor's smile only lasted about 24 seconds, when he said this: [...]

Lockdown Protests Confound Anti-Trump Elites.  The Washington Monthly recently singled out yours truly as a typically deluded Republican, "desperately hoping" that Donald Trump's presidency can be saved by anti-quarantine protests, which we envision as "a renewal of the Tea Party spirit."  This fatuous nonsense is presumably based on a hasty perusal of a column warning the Democrats not to belittle the lockdown protestors lest they provoke an electoral backlash similar to that which they endured a decade ago.  The author of the article, Nancy LeTourneau, predictably deploys every demeaning cliché ever circulated about the Tea Party movement and the current protests that she can conjure, including the tired canard that racism has been the animating force behind both.

Mississippi Mayor Suspends Open Carry During Coronavirus Crisis.  Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba (D) of Jackson, Mississippi, issued an order over the weekend temporarily prohibiting law-abiding citizens from openly carrying handguns during the coronavirus crisis.  The Clarion-Ledger reports that Mississippi adopted open carry in 2013 and Y'all Politics quotes Lumumba claiming that "child deaths by firearms in the South have increased 72 percent."

15 Uniformed Officers From 4 Different Law Enforcement Agencies Rush to Target Restaurant Owner For Violating Maryland's Lockdown Order.  This is not about a virus.  15 uniformed officers from 4 different law enforcement agencies descended on a restaurant in Maryland and cited the owner for violating the state's lockdown order.  Dave Carey, the owner of Lee's Landing Dock Bar is facing prosecution because approximately 70 people were standing in line waiting for their takeout orders.  Mr. Carey said people waiting for their food were following the social distancing guidelines "to the letter of the law" but the police swarmed his establishment anyway.

Our Dress Rehearsal for a Police State.  All my life, I have dismissed paranoids on the right ("America is headed to communism") and the left ("It can happen here" — referring to fascism).  It's not that I've ever believed liberty was guaranteed.  Being familiar with history and a pessimist regarding the human condition, I never believed that.  But the ease with which police state tactics have been employed and the equal ease with which most Americans have accepted them have been breathtaking.  People will argue that a temporary police state has been justified because of the allegedly unique threat to life posed by the new coronavirus.  I do not believe the data will bear that out.  Regardless, let us at least agree that we are closer to a police state than ever in American history.

Why wasn't this memo issued a month ago?
Attorney General Bill Barr Issues DOJ Memo:  "The Constitution is Not Suspended in Times of Crisis".  The U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Bill Barr, has issued a memo (pdf here) citing a needed balance between COVID-19 mitigation efforts and U.S. civil rights under the constitution.  Notably AG Barr identifies both "religious freedom", and "undue interference with the national economy" within his memo.

Thank You, Democrat Governors, for Re-Electing President Trump!.  Government-imposed totalitarianism is not going over well in the land of the free.  Citizens are rising up across the nation against officials restricting their lives and destroying their livelihoods in ways unheard of here before now.  Sparked by the Operation Gridlock that recently brought ten thousand protesters to the Michigan capitol, citizens in dozens of states are creating their own gridlocks.  On the sunny Sunday of April 19 in Denver, Colorado, thousands staged a drive-by car protest, honking horns and flying flags for hours on streets around the Capitol.  A thousand more families and friends gathered happily on the Capitol lawn to cheer them on with homemade posters pleading with the Democrat governor to let them get back to work.  A fun picnic, but without the deviled eggs.  Facebook censors shut down the main group, Operation Gridlock Denver, the morning of the protest, but since many groups were publicizing the event, it wasn't hard for people to find information.  Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that Facebook has decided that these rallies are "harmful disinformation," so they will protect us by eliminating it.  Oh, thank you, mini-god Mark.  Nevertheless, the Denver Gridlock was a spectacular success.

Will Americans Let Coronavirus Panic Destroy Their Liberty?  There is a rumbling right now below our feet, though, and these tremors may well split the earth around us if our elected leadership do not yield to common sense and shared American purpose.  This moment in history is opening up before us two paths — one in which we reclaim for ourselves the truth that all legitimate power begins with individual consent and another that deviates sharply from our shared past by giving to the State the ultimate authority for determining what rights each one of us may freely call our own.  Down the path of freedom we must take solid steps, for the other path promises to swallow us whole.  I have no illusion that American liberty is destined to prevail over this new breed of socialism and government-by-fiat.  Life gives us no certainties — only choices and opportunities.  It's the other side that denies the existence of God while insisting that our historical fate is predetermined.  Our side has always cherished human freedom precisely because we know how rare it is.

Are Continued Shutdown Orders Constitutional?  Whether government action is constitutional is sometimes relatively straightforward:  Can the government impose prior restraints on speech?  Almost never.  Can it discriminate on the basis of race?  Same answer.  But for most questions that involve a restriction on liberty, courts tend to ask two less direct questions in deciding whether it violates the constitution:  What is the reason for the restriction?  And how is the government going about it?  Put another way:  is the purpose legitimate and are the means chosen properly to achieving that goal?  They are good questions for all of us to ask now.

Dan Bongino pleads with 'brothers & sisters in blue' to fight back against 'outrageous' orders.  With the image of a mother being arrested and placed in handcuffs for taking her children to the park as a backdrop, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino called on his "brothers & sisters in blue" to speak out against "outrageous orders."  "To My Brothers & Sisters in Blue, PLEASE, speak w/your fraternal organizations & speak out collectively against these outrageous orders to arrest Americans for exercising their Rights," Bongino tweeted early Sunday.  "We're losing the support of people who've defended us in crises for years.  This can't continue."

Wait, how long are we supposed to stay in lockdown?  What are we waiting for?  The question can be posed in either a wild, irresponsible way — or a sane, measured way.  In New York, our "pause" will continue until at least May 15, and New Yorkers are asking, in a measured, sane way:  What exactly are we waiting for? [...] We did our part; we flattened the curve.  So why is there no move to loosen regulations?  In February and March, expert and elite opinion seemed to understand that patience with lockdowns would at some point wear thin.  But not anymore.  Last week, Cuomo used a graphic in his daily presentation that listed the lengths of various wars and previous pandemics.  The 1910 cholera outbreak lasted a year.  World War II lasted six years.  And so on.  The message:  We haven't been living through this that long, and our ancestors had it far worse.  But if we are looking at years of lockdown, we need to be informed of it, we need a debate — and we need a plan.

Democrats' Fascism Shines Through.  Someone once said that if fascism ever comes to America, it will come in the guise of fighting fascism.  Updated version:  Fascism has come to America, in the guise of fighting a virus.  Nowhere has Democrats' totalitarian instincts come out more clearly than in their response to the coronavirus.  David Horowitz says:  "Inside every progressive is a totalitarian screaming to get out."  In the case of Michigan's Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, the totalitarian is not only out but goose-stepping toward the New Reich.  Instead of "Sieg Heil," it's "Obey or Else."  On April 17, 3,000 to 4,000 came to the state capital to protest the shutdown and some of the governor's more outrageous edicts, to wit:  You can't travel between two residences you own.  You can fish in a kayak, but not a motorboat.  You can buy lottery tickets but not garden seeds.

Napolitano warns freedom-stifling consequences of drones monitoring innocent citizens in name of safety.  Responding to the growing Orwellian trend of the authorities using surveillance technology to enforce social distancing protocols, Fox News legal analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said bluntly Thursday that such enforcement methods are illegal.  "We're not talking about a bank robber running out of a bank because there is probable cause to believe that he has committed a crime, and you don't need a search warrant to watch him," he said during an appearance on FNC's "Fox & Friends."  What "we are talking about," he continued, is using drone technology, as an example, to watch "people peaceably walking down the street or assembling in a public space."  And that is both Orwellian and frightening, not to mention illegal.

COVID Protests:  First Amendment Is an 'Essential' Service.  As anti-quarantine protests spread across America, so does the fight for individual liberty.  At a time when government has never been more powerful, Americans from Pennsylvania to the California are right to question its limits.  The coronavirus has jeopardized public health and wreaked havoc on the U.S. economy, but it has also exposed the dangers of an ever-encroaching government into once-protected corners of our lives.  On a daily basis, Americans are coping with the federal, state, and local government deeming what is "essential" and what isn't.  As it turns out, our cherished liberties — from religious freedom to free speech — don't make the cut.  Across the county, pastors and parishioners are being fined for daring to go to church.

Stupidity Kills.  Park authorities welcomed Tom Brady to Tampa by kicking him out of a public field.  Idaho cops arrested a 40-year-old mom in front of her children for the crime of bringing them to a playground.  Beautiful San Clemente dumped sand in ugly fashion on a local skate park.  From the beginning, tax-funded killjoys removed basketball rims from outdoor courts.  Tennis, a sport with social distancing baked into the game, sees its courts closed by order of people who threaten to get up close and personal to ostensibly thwart people who get up close and personal (even though they don't).

Government Goes Too Far.  I find it creepy how eager some people are for authorities to boss us around. [...] In Raleigh, North Carolina, people gathered to protest a "stay-at-home" order.  The police arrested a protester and tweeted, "Protesting is a non-essential activity."  I bet they got a chuckle out of that.  But our Constitution guarantees Americans the right to "peaceably assemble" and "petition the government for a redress of grievances."  The coronavirus doesn't override the Constitution.  Protests also erupted in Michigan, where Gov. Gretchen Whitmer imposed some absurd rules.  She declared, "All public or private gatherings of any size are prohibited."  Her executive order stopped people from seeing relatives and banned anyone with more than one home to travel between them. [...] Sweden took a near-opposite approach.  Yes, they encouraged older people to stay inside and sick people to stay home.  They didn't want hospitals overwhelmed.  But otherwise, Sweden is carrying on almost as normal.

Idaho Woman Facing 6 Months in Jail For Violating Coronavirus Lockdown Order by Holding Yard Sale.  Welcome to the new America where law-abiding citizens are arrested while criminals are released from jail.  An Idaho woman is facing 6 months in jail and or a $1,000 fine for holding a yard sale.  Christa Thompson was helping her husband Peter, a truck driver, sell his late father's belongings at a yard sale when police issued her a citation for violating the Governor's Coronavirus lockdown order.  Peter Thompson told the Idaho Freedom Foundation that after his father passed away he had a significant financial incentive to sell his father's belongings because his family took over his storage unit which [...] cost $1,000 a month.

Progressive Governors Indulge Their Inner Despot.  We've all seen the catalogue of overweening unilateral diktats enforced by police power coming down from Democrat governors.  Under the guise of enforcing social distancing in order to slow the spread of the disease, governors have quickly violated the Bill of Rights: closing gun stores at the same time they release felons from prison; shutting down church services while leaving liquor stores open; criminalizing the right to peaceful assembly; arbitrarily deeming some economic activities as "essential," like abortion clinics and pot dispensaries, while proscribing others like buying paint or vegetable seeds.  Even our freedom of movement that doesn't endanger others, such as surfing alone or playing with our children in a deserted park, has been interdicted by overzealous police.

Police Have Started Revolting Against Draconian Coronavirus Edicts From Local Tyrants.  Police chiefs from Texas to Washington are standing up against draconian orders from local leaders demanding strict adherence to extreme social distancing measures to curb the spread of the novel Wuhan coronavirus.  The Houston Police Officers' Union declared Wednesday [4/22/2020] that its members would refrain from enforcing local County Judge Lina Hidalgo's ruling deeming it mandatory for any individual over the age of 10 to wear a mask in public. [...] The police union said it had contacted the state attorney general's office to determine whether Hidalgo's ruling was even constitutional, noting that until then, members were encouraged to use discretion in enforcement of the measure as resources are already stretched thin from the pandemic.

Houston Police Officer's Union to Harris County Judge Hidalgo:  Take Your 'Idiotic' Mask Order and Shove It.  The Houston Police Officers' Union is not shy in expressing how they really feel about Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo's order that all residents of Harris County must wear a mask under the threat of fines and prison.  Governor Abbot began to lift restrictions across Texas earlier this week.  Hildalgo seems to be full of authoritarian glee and is giving Gretchen Whitmer competition for her status as the most hated woman in America. [...] The title "county judge" in Texas counties refers to the county executive and not a judge on a bench who presides over cases.  Hidalgo has been doing her best to unleash chaos in her county by trying to release 4,000 convicted criminals from the county jails.  That hair-brained idea was blocked by a federal judge earlier this month.  Hidalgo announced her newest edict on Wednesday.  It includes $1000 fines and up to 180 days in jail for anyone who will not wear a mask in public even though the infection numbers are flattening out according to Governor Abbot and his medical experts enough to relax some lockdown restrictions.

We Need a New Base Realignment and Closure Commission — Not a New Bureaucracy.  In times of crisis like the one we are now going through, calls to grow an already bloated bureaucracy abound.  Whether it's through more centralization, more powers to the federal government, or the creation of new bureaucracy to address the pandemic, the hope is that next time around, a new arrangement will allow for a better and faster response.  Not likely.  Yet, it happens each time there's a crisis.

In a National Emergency, Does the Constitution Still Apply?  An essential principle of the United States is that it is a free country, with individual liberties guaranteed, and government power limited.  That concept is now being tested. [...] President Trump proclaimed a national state of emergency under the National Emergencies Act on March 13, 2020.  However, nothing in that proclamation closed any businesses, confined anyone in their homes or infringed on any other constitutional rights or liberties.  That, and other actions by the federal government merely cleared away certain regulatory roadblocks that could interfere with the government's response to the pandemic.  By contrast, the orders issued at the state and local level have dramatically restricted the civil liberties of ordinary law-abiding Americans, shutting down all "non-essential" businesses, causing, at last count, 22 million Americans to lose their jobs, and confining the vast majority of the nation to their homes.

Amid COVID-19, Deep State Moves in for the Kill Against Churches.  With churches across much of America being shutdown by government decree as "non-essential," they are facing enormous and potentially existential threats.  On one hand, churches are being terrorized by state and local governments, with pastors and congregations literally being fined or even arrested for simply attending a service.  Then, when the churches try to stream online, Deep State-run Big Tech firms are censoring them or even shutting them down.  At the same time, many churches across America are lining up to receive government bailout money — cash that comes with dangerous strings attached, including LGBT mandates.  This represents a profound threat to religious liberty and the continued independence of the church in America.  It could be a perfect storm.

Governors, not gods:  State executives cannot simply do whatever they want indefinitely.  As soon as the president began talking about opening up the country last week, the media pounced on him and suggested that he is not a king and cannot control the states.  Even House Republican Conference Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., tweaked Trump and implied that the 10th Amendment gives states the power to shut down the people and our businesses.  They are right.  A president is not a king.  But most certainly, a governor, county commissioner, or sheriff is not king either.  We have natural rights given by God, and under no circumstances can any of those officials violate those rights indefinitely without due process, oversight, limitations, and checks and balances.  For decades we've been told that everything the Left has ever wanted to do is in the 14th Amendment and anything a state does contrary to those ideals is unconstitutional.  Whether it's early voting, voting without photo ID, affirmative action, abortion, redefinition of marriage, men in women's bathrooms, etc., it's all in the 14th Amendment, and federal courts can use it to strip state officials of their powers to govern.  Except, of course when the 14th Amendment actually applies. [...]

How Dare They Defy My Diktats.  Jobs are being destroyed, mortgages are in arrears, businesses have closed and many will never re-open.  If there's one thing that's becoming increasingly obvious about the coronavirus lockdown, it's that some people are getting really, really sick of it.  The last few days have been rife with protests, as people across the country let their governors know how they feel.  Onerous shutdowns are going to have to end soon or we're going to be facing genuine social disorder and economic collapse.  Nowhere is this more obvious than in Michigan.  Over the weekend, protests erupted in Lansing, and the Governor, Frau Whitmer, is none too pleased that her Michiganders have dared defy her quarantine diktats and her Bizarro-World definitions of "essential" and "non-essential." [...] What is clear is that her state is getting sick of her.  The recall petition has picked up steam.  Fair or not, she's become an avatar for the worst sort of capricious, nanny-state tyrant.  Whatever goodwill she enjoyed outside of Detroit and Lansing is quickly evaporating, and the anti-Whitmer voices are only getting louder.

Connecticut police to test 'pandemic drone' that monitors health of residents.  Police in Westport, Conn., said they will be testing a "pandemic drone" that can scan the body temperatures of residents to determine if they have fevers or other health symptoms in an effort to combat the coronavirus.  Aerospace company Draganfly announced in a news release the drones will be equipped with a specialized sensor and computer vision systems that can display heart and respiratory rates.  They can also detect people coughing in crowds, police said.

Killing Liberty, Coronavirus-Style.  It should now be self-evident for anyone with common sense that the Democrats, liberals, and their convenient Republican allies like "Republicans for the Rule of Law" are using the coronavirus as a cover to advance their deconstruction of America without opposition behind the veil of "saving lives" and "saving democracy."  This has been the dream of liberals for over a century.  Now they will not relent until they deliver the coup de grâce to their enemies:  Christianity, small businesses, and civil society as a whole. [...] Beneath our noses, the "guidelines" and "recommendations" — alongside the actual mandated orders by our political officials — serve as the first stage of widespread social engineering.  The intent is to break the spirit of independent Americans and shape them into a herd of conformity, which permits bureaucratic control over every facet of our lives.

Hobby Lobby Gets Last Laugh Over Dallas Judge Who Forcibly Shut Them Down and Insulted Them On Social Media.  Democrat Dallas County Commissioner Court Judge Clay Jenkins has stepped in it multiple times during this pandemic lockdown.  Not only has he taken the opportunity to exert his will over the people to the point where the rest of the court voted to strip him of his unilateral power during this crisis, he also used it as an opportunity to bash people and businesses he just doesn't like.  One of those businesses is the craft store Hobby Lobby.  Hobby Lobby stayed open after the lockdown of "nonessential" businesses began, making the case that the store sold all the necessary items allowing you to make masks for yourself and others.  Jenkins sent law enforcement to shut down Hobby Lobby locations, and forced patrons out of the store without allowing them to finish shopping.  As Jenkins is wont to do, he made a show of being a tough guy on Twitter and encouraging Dallas country residents to snitch on any business like Hobby Lobby trying to stay open at this time.

Will the Covid-19 PsyOp succeed?  [Scroll down]  Foreign Policy is an American news publication, founded in 1970 and focused on global affairs.  It's now owned by the Washington Post and the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos.  An article published there a week ago says it all:  "Only Surveillance Can Save Us From Coronavirus — Big data offers tools to stop the pandemic right now — if we change our definition of privacy."  And what is the purpose of total surveillance?  Like the Red Chinese model, it's mandated behavior and total control of every aspect of our lives.  Bret Baier, the lead anchor at the Fox News channel, reported last Thursday that high-level sources in the administration now have evidence the Covid-19 did in fact escape from the lab in Wuhan, China — but was not initially designed as a weapon.  The next day, Gordon Chang said that Chinese President Xi was guilty of malicious intent after he witnessed the potential disaster of the virus' release.  So, he dragged his feet on preventing Covid-19 from being exported because he decided to allow it to "level the playing field" according to Chang with other countries in terms of economic and political impact.  According to Business Insider, on Friday [4/17/2020] at the White House, Fauci rejected as a "conspiracy theory" the reports that the novel corona virus was created in a Chinese lab.

Montana County Demands Citizens Wear Government-Issued Arm Bands to Shop at Grocery Stores.  A Montana county is mandating citizens to wear a pink wrist band to go shopping at grocery stores.  The band represents the person has quarantined for 14 days.  You know who else had armbands?

Celebrities and the Media Shouldn't Sneer at Coronavirus Lockdown Protesters.  In their desperation to get back to work, some Americans are taking to the streets to demand that the government end the quarantine. [...] But there are legitimate grievances for protesters to air.  Whitmer's stay-at-home orders were, as Reason's Billy Binion put it, a "hot mess," prohibiting travel between residences (even to relatively uninhabited areas), buying gardening supplies, and motorboats (but not boats without motors).  Authorities in New York City have called on people to report each other for failing to abide by the most stringent social distancing measures.  People have been stopped, shamed, and arrested for merely going outdoors.  Voluntary compliance with social distancing has been remarkable, but forcibly constraining every last person has diminishing returns, and is not a good use of government resources.  That does not mean the quarantine protesters are, as conservative pundit Stephen Moore put it, "modern-day Rosa Parks."  But some of them are justifiably upset, and their frustration should be neither mocked nor ignored.

A Tiny Virus Further Sickens the Fevered Media Mob.  Within the sphere of politics, we have already seen short-term impacts to elections and how legislative bodies do their work, but the question of how the psychology of crisis will translate into permanent changes in the relationship between the governed and the government can only be answered with informed guesses.  Is the rebellion in Michigan against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stringent stay-at-home orders the first shot in a war against the nanny state or the last gasp of "consent of the governed"?  Will the electorate become enamored of receiving "paychecks" from the government for not working, or will it chafe at adding untold trillions to the national debt and demand new austerity measures?

Blue State Governors Demand Facebook Remove Information Organizing Protests Against Their "Orders" — Facebook Complies.  There's some misinformation quickly spreading about Facebook taking down all content where people are organizing protests against state "orders."  In reality what Facebook is doing is responding to requests from state officials to remove content the state dictators claim is defiance of their orders.  Facebook is complying with those removal requests.

Suspending the Constitution:  Police State Uses Crises to Expand Its Lockdown Powers.  [Scroll down]  In fact, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has been quietly trotting out and testing a long laundry list of terrifying powers that override the Constitution.  We're talking about lockdown powers (at both the federal and state level):  the ability to suspend the Constitution, indefinitely detain American citizens, bypass the courts, quarantine whole communities or segments of the population, override the First Amendment by outlawing religious gatherings and assemblies of more than a few people, shut down entire industries and manipulate the economy, muzzle dissidents, "stop and seize any plane, train or automobile to stymie the spread of contagious disease," reshape financial markets, create a digital currency (and thus further restrict the use of cash), determine who should live or die.  You're getting the picture now, right?  These are powers the police state would desperately like to make permanent.

America's Huddled Masses Yearn to Breathe Free.  Americans are tired of an oppressive government that, for our own good, they tell us, locks us in our homes based on computer models that have never been right from day one and health guidelines that keep changing so much they might as well be written on an Etch-a-Sketch.  They want to "flatten the curve" by crushing our hopes and dreams.  They seek treatments and a cure for a virus, ignoring the health-care costs of crushed lives and dreams, the human costs of lost jobs and careers, of nest eggs broken on the ground, of people who used to provide for their families fighting in stores over rolls of toilet paper.  We are being guided by the best infectious disease experts in the world, we are told, experts so smart they didn't anticipate or consider the lives lost from depression, suicide, drug and alcohol addiction, and despair in a land where abortion is considered an essential procedure but heart stints and CT scans not so much.  Americans are poor from an economy brought to its knees by an incompetent adversary, China, and a government whose leaders sit at home in their mansions in gated communities eating expensive ice cream stored in refrigerator freezers few Americans could afford when times were good and normal.

Wake up and smell the Alinsky:  Leftists use COVID-19 pandemic to bring about revolutionary change.  Communist-minded community organizer Saul Alinsky, in his prologue to "Rules for Radicals," explained that the most effective activists were those who worked within the established "system," not against it, so as to stir the revolutionary pots of change through fear.  His words:  "Any revolutionary change must be preceded by a passive, affirmative, non-challenging attitude toward change among the mass of our people.  They must feel so frustrated, so defeated, so lost, so futureless in the prevailing system that they are willing to let go of the past and chance the future," Archives.org noted.  This is Coronavirus Chaos, exemplified.

Cooperation vs. Coercion:  The Coming Cultural Conflict.  [Scroll down]  Other protests have sprung up in other places around the country because we've gotten to a point in this crisis where people's health is in far less danger than their livelihood.  The protestors realize that the enjoyment of life and liberty, the right to acquire and possess property of every kind, the right to pursue and obtain happiness and safety is on the line.  Meanwhile, the orders coming from various governors are no longer specifically tailored for the general good of the whole.  Many Democrat governors are doubling down on coercion at the exact moment cooperation is evaporating.  Now we may start to see hair stylists, along with their partially coiffed customers, being dragged out of their stores by the police;  now we may see state troopers blockading trucks carrying items considered non-essential to stores that have been forced to close; now we may be seeing cash-strapped Americans arrested for going to work.  Although these images would have hurt President Trump if they had been broadcast in March, they will destroy the Democrat Party if they're broadcast now.

Stir crazy.  Democrat governors and mayors are going nuts with power.  The pandemic panic has them turning into King George IIIs.  He had an excuse.  He was mentally ill.  For some reason, parks and beaches are closed across the nation but subways aren't.  I fail to see how being 60 feet away from anyone on the shore is a public health threat, but being jammed in a rapid transit car is perfectly OK.

Appeals Court Chills First Amendment Activity by Allowing Cops to Retaliate Against Nonviolent Protesters.  The Rutherford Institute is pushing back against an effort by police to chill constitutionally-protected civil rights protests through the use of retaliatory lawsuits.  In filing an amicus curiae brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Mckesson v.  Doe, Rutherford Institute attorneys are challenging a ruling by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that allows law enforcement officials to hold protest organizers financially liable when officers get hurt (accidental or otherwise) while carrying out their duties at a constitutionally-protected demonstration, even when the organizers themselves did nothing to cause the injury.  Incredibly, the lower court reasoned that organizers of a protest should be held responsible for engaging in activity that merely has the potential to involve police or require their presence, thereby exposing them to possible injuries.  The case arose after a police officer, positioned near a group that was protesting police brutality in front of police headquarters, was hit by a projectile thrown by an unknown, unidentified individual.  The injured officer sued one of the event organizers, DeRay Mckesson, for more than $75,000, despite the fact that Mckesson engaged in no acts of violence and did not incite or condone violence by others.

The Rutherford Institute's Statement on the Right to Religious Freedom During COVID-19.  At the moment, the government believes it has a compelling interest — albeit a temporary one — in restricting gatherings, assemblies and movement in public in order to minimize the spread of this virus.  Yet these lockdown measures — on the right of the people to peaceably assemble, to travel, to engage in commerce, etc. — unquestionably restrict fundamental constitutional rights.  While these measures might pass muster for a short period of time, they cannot be sustained for longer stretches constitutionally, nor should they be allowed to stand if the days and weeks of the government's social distancing campaign stretches into months-long quarantines.

The strange case of Gov. Murphy's selective drive-through tulip farm shutdown.  Something stinks in New Jersey.  Gov. Phil Murphy is doing his best to style himself as the Gretchen Whitmer of New Jersey by initiating a series of capricious, absurd, lockdown diktats in the name of combating the coronavirus.  In reality, they help no one.  He's a stupid guy all right, given that his fiats are killing his state's economy, for one.  And he was last seen trying to tell Fox News's Tucker Carlson that the Bill of Rights was "above his pay grade."  [Video clip]  More disturbing, he seems to be trying to outdo Whitmer, who banned the sales of garden seeds to locals anxious to grow their own food, with an even stupider measure of his own.  Murphy banned drive-through tulip viewing from inside cars at a farm at the peak of the crop's limited growing season.  And his goons threatened to arrest the owner if he did.

Could anti-lockdown protests be new Tea Party movement?  Growing discontent with stringent state-level restrictions imposed to mitigate the coronavirus is pouring out into the streets near state capitols in ways reminiscent of the last decade's conservative activism.  "They have a very Tea Party feel," said Tea Party Express co-founder Sal Russo of the demonstrations.  "The current protests are because of government overreaching and infringing on our rights," said Tea Party Patriots founder Jenny Beth Martin.  "The protests are an extension of what the Tea Party movement has stood for the last 11 years — constitutionally limited government, personal and economic freedom.  In the time of crisis and to remain on solid ground with those whom they represent, elected officials should lean on the Constitution, not abandon it."

New Jersey Directorate Arrests Subversive Citizen For Organizing Protest Against The State.  A liberty-minded woman in New Jersey has been charged with crimes against the state.  Her infraction was organizing a protest, a rebellion against state interests, and violating Governor Phil Murphy's quarantine.  For the crime of allegedly planning a protest against statewide stay-at-home orders, Mrs. Kim Pagan has been labeled an enemy of the state.  New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal and State Police Superintendent Colonel Patrick J. Callahan identified the woman's infraction in a daily offense bulletin intended to outline the identity of non-compliant citizens acting outside the boundaries of state authority.  Scofflaws will not be tolerated within the confines of the Garden State.  A rogue citizen could put a compliant society at risk of infection.  They may not just carry biologics they could carry a more alarming virus of wrong-thought against the interests of the state.  Rogue citizens would be subversive to our new society.

One US City Is Deploying A Chinese Firm's Drones To Police Americans Who Are Not Social Distancing.  Elizabeth, New Jersey, is using a Chinese company's drones to police citizens who fail to employ social distancing guidelines.  Past reports suggest the drones are feeding China data.  Elizabeth Mayor J. Christian Bollwage is deploying drones from Chinese-based company DJI to warn Elizabeth citizens who are walking outdoors not to get too close in physical proximity to other people.  The drones blare sirens and issue this warning:  "Stop gathering, disperse and go home."

Baltimore PD to Use Drone Surveillance for 'Social Distancing' Enforcement.  The Baltimore Police Department and "Persistent Surveillance," an Ohio-based company, signed a deal together to spy on the residents of Baltimore, Maryland with drones. [...] This shady company was under fire almost 4 years ago in 2016, for doing surveillance with the Baltimore Police Department and violating their own 45-day data retention policy. [...] The drones will be equipped with high-resolution cameras, capable of posing a real threat to the security of anyone deemed a "criminal."  The ACLU emphasized that this crosses a massive line, explaining that the plan places every resident of Baltimore "under constant aerial surveillance."

Draconian Lockdown Powers:  It's a Slippery Slope from Handwashing to House Arrest.  We still have choices.  Just because we're fighting an unseen enemy in the form of a virus doesn't mean we have to relinquish every shred of our humanity, our common sense, or our freedoms to a nanny state that thinks it can do a better job of keeping us safe.  Whatever we give up willingly now — whether it's basic human decency, the ability to manage our private affairs, the right to have a say in how the government navigates this crisis, or the few rights still left to us that haven't been disemboweled in recent years by a power-hungry police state — we won't get back so easily once this crisis is past.  The government never cedes power willingly.  Neither should we.

Why Politicians Focus on Trivia in the Midst of Disaster.  You've probably heard:
  •   The municipal government of San Clemente, CA trucked in 37 tons of sand, at a cost of at least $100,000 when you count removal, to forcibly close a skateboard park that was being used by no more than a few dozen people per day.
  •   Governor Christine Whitmer of Michigan required that all stores over 50,000 sq. feet close their garden centers, eliminating access to plants, seeds, and other supplies.  The Governor admonished:  "If you're not buying food or medicine or other essential items, you should not be going to the store."
  •   The mayor of Greenville, MS outlawed public gatherings, including religious ceremonies, and sent city police to issue $500 tickets to worshippers who were sitting in the parking lot, windows closed, listening to a "drive-in" sermon on Easter.  The order was later reversed, but the mayor remains unapologetic.
  •   In Rhode Island, National Guard troops have been used at roadblocks, and in some cases for actual house-to-house searches, to find people who have "escaped" from New York to second homes or houses of relatives in the Granite State.

Scores gather in Huntington Beach to protest coronavirus stay-at-home orders.  Scores of protesters defying stay-at-home orders gathered in downtown Huntington Beach on Friday [4/17/2020], rallying for an end to restrictions on businesses and public gatherings that health officials say are needed to save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.  Mobilized largely through social-media posts, several dozens of protesters gathered at Main Street and Walnut Avenue shortly before 1 p.m.  The crowd grew to more than 200 people, according to police.  Many had signs, such as "Live free or die."  Some wore masks.  The group periodically chanted "U.S.A" as some passing vehicles honked in support.

Stand by for a show trial, as the state makes an example of this lady.
Organizer of New Jersey Anti-Lockdown Rally Charged With Violating Lockdown.  A woman who helped organize protests against New Jersey's coronavirus-driven stay-at-home orders is now facing charges for violating those orders, authorities said.  Kim Pagan, of Toms River, allegedly helped organize the small crowds that gathered in Trenton Friday to protest Gov. Phil Murphy's order essentially shutting down the state due to the virus — which has infected nearly 80,000 people and killed almost 4,000 in just six weeks.  A video posted to Facebook by Central Jersey Libertarians shows police writing summonses to honking and shouting protesters in parked cars.  One woman can be heard to yell "we have the right to peacefully protest!" as an officer walks by a car with the word "Playdemic" written in the window.

Texas To Lead The Charge In The Return To Normalcy.  We're a long way from kicking the economy back into high gear, but the good news is there's finally a light at the end of the tunnel.  That's really good news for everyone who would rather be earning a paycheck than getting a handout, especially since there really isn't much 'free' money to go around in the first place. [...] Seven states managed to dodge the bullet, and never had to order stay-at-home measures:  Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, & Wyoming.

Congratulations, You've Just Won A 60-Day Trial of Authoritarianism.  The coronavirus pandemic is a real threat.  COVID-19 has become the leading cause of death in the United States.  I'm not and won't minimize any of that.  But no one should minimize the lengths governments are now going in the name of keeping us safe.  We've had pandemics before.  They didn't result in the strong-arm Big Brother government we are subjected to now.  Welcome to your free, 60-day trial of authoritarian government.  You have been compelled.  Some states have decided what you can buy, and what stores like Costco, Walmart and Target can sell.  Elizabeth, NJ is deploying its own miniature air force to make sure its residents stay the appropriate social distance apart.  Five drones equipped with loudspeakers now shout at people to stay the hell away from each other.  They have cameras on them.  They can and will take your picture.  Face recognition software is now part of most police departments' arsenals.  And you can be fined up to $1000 if you don't do what the drone orders you to do, so never forget to obey your drones.

Texas Protest Reflects Spreading Frustration With Coronavirus Closings.  Millions of Americans have sheltered in their homes for weeks in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, avoiding strangers and friends alike.  Mass gatherings have been canceled.  But in a public act of defiance, protesters in Texas are preparing to converge on the steps of the Capitol building in Austin on Saturday [4/18/2020] and call for the reopening of the state and the country.  It would be the latest in a wave of similar protests from North Carolina to Michigan to Idaho.  By merely assembling, the conservative activists and supporters of President Trump who are expected to participate in the "You Can't Close America" rally would be in violation of state and local stay-at-home orders that have been replicated across the country.  On Thursday, protesters demonstrated outside the governor's mansion, largely without incident.

Washington State Directorate Jay Inslee:  "The president is fomenting domestic rebellion".  Some language, some very specific wording, has a very specific meaning in the United States of America.  One of those words is "rebellion"; and it carries a deeper meaning to a nation of American citizens born into the idea of individual rights, liberty and freedom.  All of the various restrictions coming from state governors in response to the COVID-19 do not come from State House and/or State Senate decisions.  These are not laws.  The rules restricting liberty, in response to the crisis, have been pronounced without any representative voice supporting them.  All of the rules are arbitrary, and many of these rules will be challenged in court.  However, until those court challenges take place, the only option for a redress of grievance comes in the form of public protest.  Currently, there is no way for an citizen to appeal to a representative voice against the decrees from a state governor; other than a public protest.

Let freedom ring.  [Scroll down]  People who seek and obtain authority can be counted on to wield it arbitrarily and tyrannically when given the opportunity.  And so petty tyrants are spreading like contagion.  A father is arrested for playing catch with his daughter in an empty park.  Police try to apprehend a jogger on an empty beach.  Drive-in Easter services are declared illegal and worshippers are ticketed.  While the Chinese puzzle how to become more like America without giving up the iron-fists of their police state, certain American politicians puzzle how to become more like the iron-fisted Chinese.  They delight in the lock down, and relish their authority in enforcing it.  Or maybe they think an America in pain is an America that will vote against the incumbent president this fall.  That incumbent is President Trump.  Defying the lock-downers, this week he announced a plan to reopen America.  The reopening happens in phases in different locales depending on the local circumstances.  The feds will supply data, but the decisions and implementation are up to state governors and local mayors.

Strassel:  Here's Why the Democrats Keep Moving the Shutdown Goal Posts.  Politico reports that, according to comments House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made during a two hour conference call with her caucus this week, her conditions for ending the shutdown have changed.  She said that "Trump was putting Americans in grave danger if he rushes to reopen the economy at the end of this month."  The Politico story said, "Until a robust testing and contact tracing system is in place, [Pelosi believes] it would be impossible for the president to guarantee Americans a safe reentry into their normal life." 

The Editor says...
Even in the best years, the President cannot guarantee the safety of every American.  The President should guarantee the freedom of every American, and let us take care of our own safety.

Sheriff Allegedly Threatened Teen's Family If She Didn't Remove Posts About Having Wuhan Coronavirus.  There have been a lot of crazy stories about governmental overreach surrounding the Wuhan coronavirus.  But this one has to be right up there among the wildest.  A high school sophomore, 15-year-old Amyiah Cohoon, from Wisconsin took a spring break trip to Florida with her school band in March.  They returned earlier than anticipated on March 15, because of concerns about the virus.  But a few days later, Cohoon began to feel sick and then had trouble breathing. [...] Translation: she had a diagnosis from the doctors that she had it.  But what happened next is insane.  On March 27, her family got a visit from the police. [...] Police going after a family for what a teen posted on Instagram?  Maybe these guys and the police in Raleigh, N.C. need remedial education in the First Amendment?

Dystopian Drones Are Here to Make Sure You're 'Social Distancing'.  [Y]ou aren't safe anywhere from the dystopian surveillance state if you aren't complying with their commands.  Hence the reason it was so disturbing to see the tweet about this story of drones now being deployed in at least twenty-two states in the U.S. to surveil people to 'check on compliance with social distancing.'  "The drones, donated by DJI, a Chinese company, have gone to 43 agencies in 22  states, all to help enforce social distancing rules."  Oh, goody, we're importing Chinese dystopian ideas now.

The Tyranny of 'Scientism' and the Subversion of Science.  In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Wednesday [4/15/2020], New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy unintentionally defined this critical moment in America's history.  "We weren't thinking of the Bill of Rights when we did this," he explained about his draconian decrees, including a ban on religious gatherings, to fight coronavirus.  "First of all, we looked at the data and the science and it says people have to stay away from each other."  Murphy's comments undoubtedly buoyed the egos of academic "experts" across the country.  A leading politician boasted, without the slightest sense of remorse, that his fidelity to the almighty deity of "science" prevailed over protecting the rights of his state's citizens.  The first 10 amendments to the Constitution?  Meh.  The six-foot distancing rule concocted by a handful of careerist bureaucrats in Washington?  Bow and scrape.

California's top cop defends extraordinary virus shutdowns.  What would normally be broad constitutional protections for freedoms of assembly, religion — even buying guns — have their limits when they endanger others during the coronavirus pandemic, California's top law enforcement officer said in an interview.

Coronavirus Crisis:  Our Civil Liberties Are Being Crushed By Authoritarian Edicts.  Driven by fear, panic, and irrational reliance on deeply flawed statistical "models," state governors and local leaders have dangerously jeopardized more than 200 years of constitutional rights and civil liberties with their imposition of mandatory mass quarantine orders.  No exigent circumstances, however well-intentioned, can justify many of these authoritarian tactics employed to fight the COVID-19 contagion.  While it is true that the law authorizes states to respond aggressively during health emergencies, such actions have limits.  Restrictions must be rational, consistent, and justified.  Power is abused when the government orders quarantines that are arbitrary, oppressive and unreasonable because they arguably violate the 5th and 14th Amendments' rights of Due Process and Equal Protection.  Some actions have violated the Bill of Rights.

Four Michigan Sheriffs Say They Won't Enforce Governor's Totalitarian Orders.  Four sheriffs in northern Michigan declared Wednesday [4/15/2020] they would not be enforcing recent executive orders signed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer implemented to slow the spread of the novel Wuhan coronavirus in the state.  Citing concerns over violating civil liberties, sheriffs Mike Borkovich, Ted Schendel, Ken Falk, and Kim Cole who protect counties along Lake Michigan in the northwest part of the mitten said in a joint statement that the governor "has created a vague framework of emergency laws that only confuse Michigan citizens."

Coronavirus Authoritarianism Is Getting Out of Hand.  Under what imperious conception of governance does Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer believe it is within her power to unilaterally ban garden stores from selling fruit or vegetable plants and seeds?  What business is it of Vermont or Howard County, Indiana, to dictate that Walmart, Costco or Target stop selling "nonessential" items, such as electronics or clothing?  Vermont has 628 cases of coronavirus as of this writing.  Is that the magic number authorizing the governor to ban people from buying seeds for their gardens? [...] The criminalization of movement ends with 10 Philly cops dragging a passenger off a bus for not wearing a face mask.  It ends with local Brighton, Colorado, cops handcuffing a father in front of his family for playing softball with his daughter in an empty park.  It ends with three Massachusetts men being arrested, and facing the possibility of 90 days in jail, for crossing state lines and golfing — a sport built for social distancing — in Rhode Island.

Dangerous Distinction.  [Scroll down]  In the interest of public safety, many have tolerated the lockdown, but that limited leash is reaching its end.  Michigan has found a way to resist the communist nature of its governor and that method of resistance should continue and grow across the nation, putting more and more pressure on the oppressive governments to rescind their communist orders.  It does not undo the damage already done.  By once forfeiting the right to make such decisions on our own, we cannot reclaim them without force.  That is the ultimate question to be answered by patriots.  We have now seen communism demonstrated on these shores, the black hand of Marx spread throughout the states.  We have enough evidence of their intent and their methods to determine what they have in mind.  It is ours to start dismantling these forces peacefully, or not.

Ex-Police Officer Arrested in Empty Park for Playing Catch with Daughter During Pandemic.  A former Colorado State Patrol Trooper was arrested and handcuffed this week for playing catch with his six-year-old daughter during the Coronavirus crisis; prompting the Department to ultimately issue a formal apology.  "In an incident caught on video, a former Colorado State Patrol trooper said he was handcuffed in front of his 6-year old daughter on a near-empty softball field Sunday by Brighton police officers enforcing social distancing rules.  The department apologized Tuesday afternoon, calling the incident an 'overreach by our police officers," reports ABC News.

Possible 'Imprisonment' Or Fine Of Up To $5,000 For Violating Maryland's Executive Order On Face Coverings.  On Wednesday, during a COVID-19 press briefing, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced an executive order requiring citizens of the state to wear face masks or coverings while out in various public locations.  Violation of the order could be punishable with a hefty fine or even prison time, according to the text.  The order states that "a person who knowingly and willfully violates this Order is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding $5,000 or both."

Asking Tougher Questions.  On Wednesday's [4/15/2020] "Tucker Carlson Show," the clueless Phil Murphy, governor of New Jersey, announced that he had not considered the Bill of Rights when decreeing draconian limits on New Jersians' mobility and, even more concerning, that gathering for church was verboten.  (Hint, Governor, these are rights for every U.S. citizen, not suggestions or advisories). [...] Ask the Guv the kind of questions that would elicit answers outside of the stick-to-the-script monologue the left so often uses:  Governor, why did you arrest Jews in their Synagogue?  I think it's a fair question.  Jews were indeed arrested in their synagogue — for gathering for religious purposes, a right guaranteed since the founding of the country.  I'd have had some follow-ups:  Governor, are you planning on arresting more Jews?  Why are you only arresting Jews?  What do Jews have to do to avoid being arrested?  Do you consider Jews worshipping in their synagogue to be criminals?  Have you arrested, or are you planning on arresting, Muslims or Buddhists or any other religious group if they exercise their absolute right to gather for a religious ceremony?

Civil disobedience can end the coronavirus stupidity.  Most Americans, when first informed of the coronavirus, wanted to simply do the right thing and help their neighbors, help their communities and families, help their country. [...] Then things got stupid.  Really stupid.  Then government ran amok.  The Americans saw tyrannical types, up close and personal, up close and in their own communities, seize powers the Constitution doesn't grant and run roughshod over the rights of individuals and business owners.  And Americans saw how these tyrannies were taking place in the face of failed computer modeling that showed wildly inaccurate coronavirus numbers.  "Michigan cracks down on seed purchases and tiny gatherings," The Post Millennial reported, of Democrat Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's ridiculous executive-issued prohibitions against the purchase of plant seeds and grains in the state — and against neighbors from visiting their next-door neighbors.  Police state, anyone?

Lemons into Lemonade: Did President Trump Trick Dems into Going 'Full Authoritarian' during Virus Crisis?  [Scroll down]  Between them, the Democrat governors of California, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Mississippi, New York, et. al., have run roughshod over civil liberties during the Chinese virus crisis.  Democrat mayors of metropolises like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco have followed suit.  They have used diktats to, among other actions:
  •   Force the closure of lawful businesses and effectively ruin owners without due process or recourse
  •   Prohibit peaceable assembly, regardless of commonsense safety measures
  •   Target and harass religious congregations, including ones using commonsense safety measures
  •   Seize private property without due process and suspend lawful evictions, which amounts to the same thing
  •   Limit or deny access to firearms for qualified citizens
  •   Suspend in-person voting
  •   Force whole cities into a species of house arrest and monitored release absent any proof of wrongdoing or infection
  •   Bully citizens and businesses with arbitrary and capricious 'stop-where's-your-mask?' procedures
  •   Release violent offenders to prey on the population and withdraw law enforcement protection
These were not 'suggestions' nor appeals to public conscience, cooperation, and consent.  These were decrees enforced with fines, handcuffs, threats, and spying.  Millions of Americans have watched the news in horror and disbelief as well-known Democrat executives and lawmakers across the country have gone full authoritarian in just a few short weeks.

Liberate America by Turning the Political Pain up to 11.  [Scroll down]  Don't accept the silly argument I keep hearing that it is too difficult to determine who "the vulnerable" are in order to isolate them and let Americans get back to work.  Politicians wrote their emergency edicts, some of which are incredibly detailed, quickly, not wanting to be blamed if mass death followed.  Figuring out who the people are who still need to be shielded from the Chinese contagion and balancing competing interests in society while making a plan for the liberation of the country has to be easier than policing an America that has been turned into a minimum-security prison. [...] The politicians are listening and they're beginning to get worried.  They took draconian steps because it's what they thought you wanted.  Now you need to correct that impression if you want your God-given freedoms back.

First Amendment at a Tipping Point on Easter Sunday 2020.  Everyone should pause for a moment during the current craziness and read the full text of the First Amendment again.  The genius of our founding fathers is more evident in the full text of the First Amendment than in perhaps any other freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights.  And as we approach the most important holiday of the year in America's founding faith — Easter — let it sink in that nearly every state has now abolished every one of our rights encompassed in the First Amendment.  We're entering truly scary territory due to our backward response to an historic threat. [...] Without blinking an eye, 41 states abolished the free exercise of religion (except for in mosques, of course) and the right of the people to peaceably assemble.  Church services have been declared "nonessential" in many states.  A pastor in Florida was arrested for defying his states' order and continuing to hold services during the shutdown.

You Might Go to Prison for Singing in a Livestream Church Service in This California County.  Banning music sounds like something out of a dystopian nightmare, but in a northern California county, singing or playing wind instruments — even a harmonica — during a livestream video event can get citizens fined or thrown in prison.  This limitation expressly applies to a worship team's efforts to praise God in a church sanctuary, even if they are spaced out 6 feet apart and even though the order only allows four people in a sanctuary at once.  Mendocino County issued its current health order on April 10.  Near the top, the order includes a warning:  "Please read this Order carefully.  Violation of or failure to comply with this Order is a misdemeanor punishable by fine, imprisonment, or both."

"Our basic rights do not go away during a pandemic!"
First Amendment Fail — Raleigh Police:  "Protesting is a non-essential activity".  Our Founding Fathers never once said that the rights given to us by our Creator go out the door in the case of a viral pandemic.  In other words, the Constitution still exists and it still protects us from tyrants.  The Raleigh Police Department had the nerve to tell someone on Twitter that protesting is a non-essential activity. [...] The right to protest and freely assemble is absolutely an essential activity!  Do you know why the Founding Fathers added the freedom of assembly into the amendment?  The tyrannical English monarchy also did not find protesting or freedom to assemble an essential activity.  Quaker William Penn faced charges for simply preaching in public in 1670.  The jury found him innocent, but it made the citizens realize that they have a right to assemble.

Raleigh Police Shut Down #ReOpenNC Protesters In Their Cars, Claim 'Protesting Is A Non-Essential Activity'.  On Tuesday morning, the Raleigh Police Department shut down approximately 100 protesters with the libertarian group #ReOpenNC. The majority of protesters were demonstrating from their cars, abiding by North Carolina's social distancing guidelines.  The group gathered to protest Gov. Roy Cooper's executive order shutting down the state until further notice.  While many governors have given constituents an end date to shelter-in-place orders, Cooper signed North Carolina's order until he decides to rescind it.  "This Executive Order is effective immediately and shall remain in effect until rescinded," it reads.

Michigan Bans 'All Public and Private Gatherings,' Will Still Allow Lottery Sales.  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has issued an updated stay-at-home order — arguably the most constraining in the nation.[...] Some of the levers at Whitmer's disposal appear to be ineffective at best and draconian at worst.  Her directive forbids the in-store sale of paint, outdoor goods, and other allegedly nonessential items. (Home improvement stores can remain open, but they have to tape off those sections from customers.) It shuts down lawncare services.  It bans travel between Michigan residences.  It prohibits "all public and private gatherings of any number of people occurring among persons not part of a single household."  The order carves out a few exceptions, including for critical infrastructure workers and for those who have to take care of a relative.  Critics honed in on the lopsided nature of the order, which blocks the sale of all sorts of goods yet somehow still allows for the purchase of lottery tickets.

Under Pandemic Lockdowns, Bartending Is Illegal.  Is This the New Prohibition?  For bar culture, this is the darkest time since Prohibition.  Consuming alcohol is still legal, but bars and bartending as we have long known them are not.  Pubs everywhere have either shut down entirely or found themselves limited to takeout and delivery service.  The pandemic lockdowns have destroyed our ability to imbibe with friends and strangers, to enjoy the silent comforts of a cheap beer or a well-made cocktail, or to have conversations mediated by oak bartops and the taste of whiskey rather than the dim-blue glow of a screen.  They have destroyed an industry — and a community.

Here's One Thing Officials Can Do to Make Lockdown Life Better:  Stop Being Hypocritical Tyrants.  The sheer scale of the problems we face was unthinkable a few weeks ago and seemingly inescapable now.  Into this crisis has stepped not a generation of serious and sober leaders rising to the moment, but a whole bunch of opportunists who are happily flying their tinpot tyrant flag.  And it needs to stop, right now.  It's making a really bad, no good and quite terrible situation even worse.  Too many of our elected and unelected officials are acting like toddlers testing their boundaries. [...] There are the officials who decided Easter weekend was a good opportunity to start messing with churches struggling like everyone else to deal with the new reality.  California's Mendocino County is banning church singing on a livestream.  How does this help stop the spread of coronavirus?  Kentucky's Democrat governor took to taking down Christians' license plates for going to church in their cars.  How does this help halt the virus from spreading?  It doesn't.

Gretchen Whitmer Desperately Tries to Justify Her Orwellian Orders and Embarrasses Herself.  Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer must be feeling the heat from her own draconian methods of dealing with the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak as she's now trying to explain why it's not so bad and not doing a very good job of it.  Appearing on "Today," Whitmer explained that her orders to stop people from doing everything from traveling to their own properties in different parts of the state to planting gardens within the bound of their own home won't be that big of a deal because [...] there's snow on the ground.  Apparently snow justifies the suspension of Michiganders to do what they want on their own properties.

One Arrested as Raleigh, NC Police Suspend First Amendment; Declare Coronavirus Lockdown Protest "Non-Essential Activity".  Raleigh, North Carolina police suspended the First Amendment Tuesday [4/14/2020], dispersing a protest against the COVID-19 Chinese coronavirus lockdown and arresting one protester for failing to disperse.  The police issued a statement declaring "Protesting is a non-essential activity" that was in violation of an executive order by Governor Roy Cooper (D) prohibiting mass gatherings.

Coronavirus Authoritarianism Is Getting Out of Hand.  It's reasonable to assume that the vast majority of Americans process news and data, and calculate that self-quarantining, wearing masks, and social distancing make sense for themselves, their families, and the country.  Free people act out of self-preservation, but they shouldn't be coerced to act through the authoritarian whims of the state.  Yet this is exactly what's happening.  There has been lots of pounding of keyboards over the power grabs of authoritarians in Central and Eastern Europe.  Rightly so.  Yet right here, politicians act as if a health crisis gives them license to lord over the most private activities of America people in ways that are wholly inconsistent with the spirit and letter of the Constitution.  I'm not even talking about national political and media elites who, after fueling years of hysteria over the coming Republican dictatorship, now demand Donald Trump dominate state actions.  I'm talking about local governments.

Authorities begin enforcing shelter in place order with fines up to $1,000.  Some Bay Area residents are learning the hard way - violating the stay at home order can be costly.  But it really depends on where you are in the Bay Area.  Different cities and counties are enforcing the orders in their own way.  At Sea Cliff beach in Santa Cruz County, a San Jose woman who wished to remain anonymous was cited Thursday [4/9/2020] after snapping a photo during what she called a "mental break" from the confines of home.  "A sheriff's officer pulled up and told us that he was going to give us a citation for breaking the shelter in place," she said.

Behind the curtain of corona-madness.  Democrats and their fake news media enforcers cruelly created corona-madness as a weapon to further their failed transformation of America.  In their dream, America, government controls every aspect of our lives and the God of Christianity is banned.  Louisville mayor Greg Fischer decreed that he will not even allow a church to have drive-in parking lot Easter worship services.  Thank God the church is suing his dictatorial derrière.  Drive-in worship services are banned in Raleigh, N.C. Wake County even forbade a pastor from visiting his church members in hospitals and rest homes.  In Greenville, Mississippi, church members were given $500 tickets for sitting in their cars listening to their pastor's sermon on the radio.  Elmira, N.Y. has banned worship services in church parking lots.  Most arrogantly unconstitutional of all, NYC mayor de Blasio threatened to close churches forever.  We are talkin' tyrannical abuse of power on steroids.  Kentucky police recorded the license plates of churchgoers to fine them.

Greenie Gretchen's great war on garden seeds.  Within every liberal, there's a totalitarian dictator, screaming to get out, to paraphrase the great David Horowitz.  Nowhere is that more evident than in the case of Michigan's ambitious left-wing Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer.  She's declared war on garden seeds, forbidding their purchase from big box retailers now that there's a pandemic on, arbitrarily claiming they're not "essential."  This, from a governor who claims, of all things, to be a green, putting "climate change" at the "heart" of her governorship.  That's some green — a green who advocates for brown, at least among the locals.  Seems that changing the world "one act at a time," not to mention "growing local" and "going organic," isn't as important to her as being a tyrant and winning the approval of the Democratic establishment in D.C.  Oh, and she's widely touted as vice presidential material for doddering Joe Biden.  Imagine her giving orders at a national level with this record.

The Coronavirus Is Exposing Little Tyrants All Over The Country.  There's nothing like a crisis to bring clarity.  The response of some mayors and governors to the coronavirus pandemic in recent days has made it clear they think they have unlimited and arbitrary power over their fellow citizens, that they can order them to do or not do just about anything under the guise of protecting public health.  We've now witnessed local and state governments issue decrees about what people can and cannot buy in stores, arrest parents playing with their children in public parks, yank people off public buses at random, remove basketball rims along with private property, ticket churchgoers, and in one case try — and fail — to chase down a lone runner on an empty beach.  All of this, we're told, is for our own good.  The most egregious example of this outpouring of authoritarianism was an attempt by Louisville, Kentucky, Mayor Greg Fischer to ban drive-in church services on Easter.

Kentucky worshippers met with nails in road as they defy coronavirus lockdown.  A Kentucky church defied coronavirus-lockdown orders to hold a packed Easter Sunday service — despite a heavy police presence and even nails blocking the parking lots, according to a report.  Maryville Baptist Church appeared to have a near-full house for its Sunday service despite orders to avoid in-person services — and the heightened risk of catching COVID-19, the Louisville Courier Journal said.  Worshippers arrived even after police warned that they would record their car plates to force them into 14-day quarantines.  Many — including the defiant pastor, Rev. Jack Roberts — arrived with their plates covered, with officers instead recording their VIN numbers, the paper said.

Churchgoers Show up for Easter Services, Met With Nails and the Police After Governor Forbid Public Gatherings.  Some folks in Kentucky were determined to go to Easter services today, despite the order of the Governor of Kentucky Andy Beshear against public gatherings during the pandemic.  The Governor had threatened to record license plate numbers and then order a 14-day quarantine for anyone in attendance.  But that didn't stop folks at the Maryville Baptist Church from attending.  But the parishioners found a surprise on the ground in the parking lot — nails at every entrance — obviously an intended effort to hurt the cars of the folks in attendance.

Welcome to Kentucky.  [Thread reader]  I'm at Maryville Baptist Church, which continues to hold in-person services despite orders to cease.  This morning, piles of nails have been scattered at every entrance.  A few guys have finished cleaning all the nails up with about an hour to go until Sunday School.  The parking lot, cleaned of nails, is fast filling with cars now.  At least 2 have covered their license plates to avoid quarantine orders.  The church has set up a speaker outside and is playing the service through it.  "We shall rise."

KSP records license plates of Maryville Baptist churchgoers from in and out of Ky.  Despite governor's orders to postpone or cancel in-person mass gatherings in the state of Kentucky, Maryville Baptist Church hosted Easter services inside their church Sunday morning.  Bullitt County health officials had continued to urge Maryville Baptist Church to prevent spread of the novel coronavirus.  Their efforts had been unsuccessful, and on Sunday morning, cars were lined up in the parking lot to celebrate Easter in-person at the church.

A police state scene out of China appears in the United States.  [Two video clips]  In both China and our country, the individuals being removed resisted the authorities, but they were ultimately defenseless against a small army of state enforcers.  You tell me "social distancing' hasn't become a relatively benign expression for a dangerous experiment in government control?  Just wait until the left comes to power.  This is just a dry run to soften us up.  Trump had better grab the reins, because it appears that a handful of "experts" are running and ruining the country.

The Rise of Karen-ism Means This Lockdown Nonsense Needs To End Soon.  When you have some petty official commanding Christians not to gather together in worship, that's a line that they don't get to cross.  No official gets to ban religious services.  My church is doing its services by video, because that's what we decided.  Government officials don't get to decide.  The question of whether they can ban religious services got decided by the First Amendment, and while they may think it's a really, really good idea to tell us what to do, they don't get to.  As federal judge Justin Walker put it in a powerful opinion that every American of any faith, or no faith, should read in its glorious entirety:  On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter.  That sentence is one that this Court never expected to see outside the pages of a dystopian novel, or perhaps the pages of The Onion.  But two days ago, citing the need for social distancing during the current pandemic, Louisville's Mayor Greg Fischer ordered Christians not to attend Sunday services, even if they remained in their cars to worship — and even though it's Easter.  The Mayor's decision is stunning.  And it is, "beyond all reason," unconstitutional.

Enough Already With The Help.  As Benjamin Franklin said:  "Those who would give up essential Liberty to purchase a little temporary Safety deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."  Franklin recognized a false trade-off when he saw one.  It took yours truly only a couple weeks to see the same picture.  Every freedom you give up makes you more vulnerable, not safer.  There are two ways despots comes to power.  One is to kill their way into control.  The more insidious way is to promise to "take care of you."  Wannabe despots don't bother explaining the fine print: "They will decide what's good for you, once you've handed that power over to them."

The Worst Governor in America.  One word keeps recurring in online discussions of Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's latest orders to fight the state's raging COVID-19 outbreak:  "Insanity."  Last week, the first-term Democrat issued an order extending the state's stay-at-home policy, which had been set to expire April 15, until May 1. [...] But the devil is in the details, and Whitmer's new order instantly provoked a firestorm of outrage.  Among the complaints was that Whitmer had prohibited sale of seeds and other garden supplies, at a time when vegetable gardens need to be planted.  Executive Order 2020-42 is titled, "Temporary requirement to suspend activities that are not necessary to sustain or protect life," and is quite specific about which activities are and are "not necessary." [...] So if Grandma went to Walmart for groceries and hoped to pick up some tomato plants or cucumber seeds while she was there — sorry, Grandma!  You could get a thousand-dollar fine and 90 days in jail for disobeying Whitmer's orders.

Mississippi church sues police after congregants ticketed during drive-in service.  A Mississippi church is suing the city of Greenville after police shut down its drive-in service this week in accordance with a city ban on the practice amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  Attorneys with the Alliance Defending Freedom filed the lawsuit Friday on behalf of the Temple Baptist Church.  The filing challenges Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons' April 7 executive order that prohibits drive-in church services until a statewide shelter-in-place order is lifted.  The suit comes after eight uniformed Greenville police officers reportedly issued $500 tickets to congregants who refused to leave a parking lot where a drive-in service was being conducted Wednesday, the ADF said in a statement announcing the legal challenge.

[The sale of] Fruit and vegetable plants [is] 'nonessential' under [the] governor's order.  An extended "stay at home" order by Governor Gretchen Whitmer bans selling fruit and vegetable plants.  Workers at greenhouses and nurseries say that makes no sense.  The governor wants people to restrict their trips from home to getting the essentials such as fuel and food.  Retail garden centers have been ordered to close temporarily.  Callie Gafner works at a small garden center.  She says banning fruit and vegetable plants does not help limit the spread of COVID-19.  "If you're growing them yourself, you're reducing the contact between people because you're not going anywhere.  You're going out in your own garden and picking them up rather than going into the store and coming into contact with how many people?" Gafner explained.

Indiana Governor To Churches:  Worship As I Say Or Be Shut Down.  It is a fundamental aspect of constitutional law and historic American practice that no government may tell citizens how to worship.  How one worships is a sacred duty that our laws and traditions have reserved entirely to the individual's conscience, completely outside of the bounds of government interference.  Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, however, has decided that this natural right secured in both the Indiana and national constitutions is something he is allowed to waive.  Yesterday afternoon [4/9/2020], he demanded that churches perform services according to his edicts or be subject to government punishment.  His requirements are not only unconstitutional because they trespass on the constitutionally secured individual right to worship, they are discriminatory because they place restrictions on churches that do not apply to other organizations, groups of people, and establishments.  The governor is telling Christians how worship must be done and with stricter rules than for all other public gatherings.

Liberal Mayor:  You're Not Allowed To Attend Drive-In Church Service.  Judge Disagrees.  When a Christian church in Louisville, Kentucky, was told they were not allowed to attend Easter Sunday church service in their vehicles, the group sued the liberal mayor giving the order, and the city.  A federal judge ruled Saturday that the church was right about their religious liberties being violated, permitted the establishment to hold drive-up service, and offered a firm rebuke of the mayor for attempting to "criminalize" the "celebration of Easter."  On Fire Christian Church sued Mayor Greg Fischer and the city on Friday [4/10/2020], arguing the mayor's order banning drive-up service was in violation of their First Amendment rights, particularly since the churchgoers would be practicing safe "social distancing" recommendations.  According to Courier Journal, U.S. District Judge Justin Walker wrote in a temporary restraining order:  "On Holy Thursday, an American mayor criminalized the communal celebration of Easter."

Illinois State Police Warn Worshippers Who Attend Church On Easter Sunday Could Face Charges, Including 'Reckless Conduct'.  The police said that they will not be storming churches that violate the governor's stay-at-home order, but that charges could come "down the line."  Gov. J.B. Pritzker's stay-at-home order prohibits all gatherings of ten people or more through April 30, including church services.  Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly announced the potential for charges on Thursday [4/9/2020].

DOJ: 'Expect action' on government regulation of religious services amid COVID-19 outbreak.  The Justice Department (DOJ) may take action next week against local governments that have cracked down on religious services as widespread parts of the country are shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, a DOJ spokesperson said Saturday [4/11/2020].  "While social distancing policies are appropriate during this emergency, they must be applied evenhandedly [and] not single out religious [organizations]," DOJ Director of Communications Kerri Kupec tweeted.  She said the Attorney General William Barr is "monitoring" such regulations.  The DOJ move would come as some churches are standing up to city governments that have blocked them from holding in-person services during the outbreak — even in "drive-in" formats that keep people separated and in their own cars.

Judge Grants Temporary Restraining Order Against Louisville Mayor's Drive-In Church Ban.  Judge Justin Walker on Saturday granted a temporary restraining order against Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer's drive-in church ban on behalf of On Fire Christian Church.  Mayor Fischer doesn't want churches to host drive-in Easter services because somehow people parked in their cars with their windows rolled up risk spreading the Coronavirus.  The First Amendment is under siege right now and Christians across the US are being heavily persecuted by crazed government officials.  It's about time a judge legally slapped down this mayor for targeting Christians.

It's a Wuhan Virus Easter.  Some states clearly have gone too far.  In Mississippi, worshippers who attended a church service sitting in their cars with the windows rolled up and listening to their pastor on their car radios were fined.  In New York a cop demanded a married couple sitting on a park bench near each other maintain six feet of distance even though they explained they were married and lived together.  Not every gubernatorial diktat was smart nor was everyone hired to enforce it intelligent or reasonable.  States that are not densely populated and have few infectious cases can and should have less onerous restrictions than states where the virus is raging.  That's one of the most important lessons of federalism:  Localities can and should tailor laws to suit the circumstances where they live.

Democrats seem to be enjoying this authoritarian moment.  In Kentucky, Governor Andy Beshear has announced that if people attend Easter services, the police will photograph their license plates and summarily impose a 14-day quarantine on church attendees.  Governor Beshear is a Democrat.  The Kentucky governor is not alone.  In the city of Louisville, Mayor Greg Fischer has ordered his police department to write down license plate numbers of those who attend Easter services so the attendees can be locked down in quarantine.  Mayor Greg Fischer is a Democrat.  In Greenville, Mississippi, people who sat in their cars, with the windows rolled up, in a church parking lot to listen to their pastor give a sermon on the radio received $500 tickets.  These tickets weren't given just to the driver.  They were given to every person in the car.  Greenville mayor Errick Simmons is a Democrat.

Authoritarian Overreach Is Unnecessary to Fight the Pandemic.  It is the history of the United States that courts do not enter the fray while executive officials are grappling with a crisis — war, natural catastrophe, plagues.  The constitutional issues attendant to the inevitable police-power excesses will not be settled until after the crisis has subsided.  But the legal dispositions are secondary.  As a practical matter, the nation's federal, state, and municipal governments, deploying all their police agencies, could not conceivably enforce quarantines, social-distancing, and interstate travel restrictions against 330 million Americans absent the vast public's assent.  At a certain point, a free people — nearly 17 million of whom have now filed unemployment claims in an economy that was booming just a month ago — comes to realize that the de Blasios are pleaders, not rulers.  Common sense emerges in the clarity of lives torn asunder by willful acts of elected officials and faceless bureaucrats.  Our DNA reminds us that governments derive their just powers only from the consent of the governed.

Philadelphia man not wearing face mask seen being dragged off bus.  A viral video shows police dragging a Philadelphia man off a bus on Friday, seemingly in violation of coronavirus policy at the time.  The video, recorded Friday [4/10/2020], shows the man fighting the police as they lift him up and off of the bus.  He repeatedly shouts at them before demanding their badge numbers.  The man was not arrested or issued a citation.  [Video clip]  One passenger was asked to leave despite wearing a bandana over his face, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has suggested is a viable alternative.

Philadelphia cops drag man off bus for not wearing mask amid coronavirus.  The coronavirus crackdown on social distancing just might be going a bit too far.  This, after a group of cops physically removed a man from a public bus Friday morning [4/10/2020], all of it caught on video by a bystander with a cellphone.  The man's crime:  Not wearing a face mask while hopping on the bus for his morning commute.  As CBSPhilly.com reports, the incident is now under investigation by Philadelphia police.

Also posted under The police state on wheels.

Dr. Anthony Fauci:  National Immunity ID Cards May Be Needed.  This stuff is nuts.  People are seriously becoming unstable with this stuff.  In the latest batch of insanity apparently there is a movement toward a registration system where people will be designated as "immune" or "vaccinated"; and only with appropriate and verifiable registry ID's will citizens be permitted to engage in society.

Fauci suggests Americans should 'carry immunity papers' to 'prove' they are virus-free.  You know, we've been trying to cut Dr. Anthony Fauci a little slack with all of this coronavirus doom-and-gloom because it appears as though President Donald Trump trusts him.  But our patience with the president's lead virus task force health official just ran out.  Fauci appeared on CNN's "New Day" Friday [4/10/2020] — despite reports that the task force leader, Vice President Mike Pence, was banning appearances on that network — and was spoon-fed a loaded question from co-host Alisyn Camerota, who obviously would look much better wearing an "SS" uniform.  She asked Fauci if he could "imagine a time where Americans carry certificates of immunity" — as in, 'Show me your papers, please,' a la Nazi Germany or the former Soviet Union.  Fauci thinks that's certainly doable.

Your papers, please!
Dr. Anthony Fauci:  Americans could eventually carry certificates of immunity to coronavirus.  Dr. Anthony Fauci on Friday [4/10/2020] said it's possible that Americans could eventually carry around certificates of immunity to the coronavirus once proper testing is widespread enough.  "That's possible," Dr. Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on CNN's "New Day."  "It's one of those things that we talk about when we want to make sure that we know who the vulnerable people are and not," he said.  "This is something that's being discussed.  I think it might actually have some merit."

The expiration date on the "essential business only" doctrine has passed.  The most recent data I could find from the New York Times says that currently residents in at least 38 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and an additional 14 other major cities not in a participating state have been placed under "stay-at-home" directives from authorities in an attempt to quell the spread of COVID-19.  For those keeping track at home, that amounts to nearly 300 million people in our country who are being told not to go to school, or work, or anywhere, unless it is absolutely necessary.  There are exceptions, of course.  "Essential businesses" are exempted in all of these areas.  But what constitutes an "essential business?"  The truth is there is no fair or reasonable way for any governing authority to make such a determination, at least not for the length of time we are already enduring.

If You Like WuFlu Confinement, You'll Love Biden's Promised Green Prison.  [Scroll down]  If there's one thing Americans have always understood, it's this:  where speech and religion and personal defense are all outlawed, be an outlaw.  I, for one, welcome this grand display of government intrusion from coast to coast.  Unlike the invisible Chinese virus hunting us surreptitiously, this overbearing application of government force is right out in the open for all to see.  The more unscrupulous Democrat mayors openly brag about shutting down private businesses, banning gun ownership, and ripping congregants from church pews.  They're closing every house of worship in sight until their constituents learn to supplicate at the steps of City Hall and nowhere else!  Democrats are always gravely warning about creeping fascism from others, but they insist we ignore the rank smell of authoritarianism emanating from their every local executive order.  Lone drivers are pulled over for no other reason than to remind the riffraff that they are powerless before their local lords; neighbors are enticed by official favor and bounty to snitch on isolated joggers running through their streets; married nonagenarians are forcibly separated "for their own good."

Democrat Governor Recording License Plates Of Easter Sunday Churchgoers, Ordering Them To 14-Day Quarantine.  If you're attending a church service on Easter Sunday in Kentucky, the governor has ordered authorities to take down your license plate and report you to local health departments; you will then be ordered to a 14-day quarantine.  Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear "said local officials are being directed to record license plate numbers of participants to pass to local health departments," Kentucky.com reported Friday evening.  "Those who attend these gatherings can expect public health officials to show up at their doors with mandates that they self-quarantine for 14 days, the governor said."  "If you're going to expose yourself to this virus, it's not fair to everybody else out there that you might spread it to," the Democrat said Friday.  "Understand, this is the only way we can ensure your decision doesn't kill somebody else."

The Editor says...
This sounds to me like "an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."

Democrat Kentucky Governor Announces Plan to Record License Plates of Easter Church Goers and Force Them to Self-Quarantine for 14 Days.  The state of Kentucky is cracking down on Easter weekend worshippers by recording the license plates of people who attend services and forcing them to "self-quarantine" for two weeks afterwards.  The action is to discourage people from attending services.  In a statement provided to the Gateway Pundit, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul slammed the governor's plan.  "Taking license plates at church?  Quarantining someone for being Christian on Easter Sunday?  Someone needs to take a step back here," Senator Paul said.

Mike Huckabee Files Federal Lawsuit Against County and Law Enforcement For Blocking Use of His Private Beach During Coronavirus Lockdown.  Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee has filed a lawsuit against Walton County in Florida, and their Sheriff's Office, for threatening to arrest him and his neighbors if they use their private beaches.  Huckabee teamed up with several other residents to file a federal complaint over a county ordinance that closed all beaches, including the ones on private property, which they contend stops them from "being able to use or even set foot in their own backyards."

Tucker Carlson blasts 'mindless and destructive measures' imposed in response to coronavirus.  Tucker Carlson addressed some unanswered questions that have arisen from the coronavirus pandemic Friday, asking why America's leaders are making the choices they are during the crisis and questioning whether the country chose the right path in response. [...] Carlson criticized some of the responses to the virus by government leaders, saying "it would have been nice if the authorities had learned a lot more about it before they took such dramatic steps in response to it.["] [...] "Our leaders chose the Chinese model," Carlson went on.  "With every passing day, the response becomes more restrictive.  Requests that people stay indoors have become orders that people stay indoors.  People are being fined and arrested for driving alone, for playing catch in the park, for paddleboarding on the ocean.  How are measures like that keeping us safe?  The short answer is we have no idea that they are keeping us safe."

Crazed Michigan Governor Now Tells Home Depot to Shut Down Unnecessary Flooring, Tiles and Garden Centers.  In late March Michigan Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer limited access of doctors from prescribing the lifesaving drugs hydroxychloroquine and Z-Paks to save senior citizens in the state from coronavirus.  Hydroxychloroquine and Z-Paks have are widely used by doctors the world over to treat the coronavirus.  Democrat lawmaker Karen Whitsett said she had to beg for hydroxychloroquine that saved her life because her tyrannical governor limiting access to the drug with an executive order!  Now the far left governor is banning travel between homes for Michigan residents!  So kids can no longer play at their friends' house.  Families cannot travel for Easter.  And now the Democrat governor is calling on Home Depot and Lowes to shut down to close certain sections like flooring, garden centers and plant nurseries.

The Editor says...
Home Depot sells chewing gum at the checkout stand.  Is that really necessary?  In a free country, such a decision is left up to the consumer.  If I want to spend my quarantine time spreading fertilizer, why shouldn't I?

March Madness Without The Basketball.  As of April 1, 38 states and the District of Columbia had announced quasi-martial law, ordering residents to shelter at home except for "essential" purposes such as grocery shopping and medical appointments.  Around 297 million are affected by such orders, and people are already being arrested for violating the legally dubious restrictions.  A man in Charles County, Maryland, was arrested for disobeying Gov. Larry Hogan's order that people not congregate in groups of more than 10.  Hogan said the man's arrest for hosting parties "sends a great message to folks out there that we aren't playing around."  Some communities have gone even further:  Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot threatened individuals with arrest for going on runs and bike rides that police deem too long, while Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo sent the National Guard door-to-door to find fleeing New Yorkers and effectively place them under two-week house arrest.  Churches across America are being shuttered.  New York Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to permanently close any church or synagogue holding services in violation of his emergency order.

Stop this unconstitutional WuFlu insanity.  What manner of hubris is this, that computer 'what if' modeling has suddenly become the standard for violating the Constitutional rights given us in that founding document?  Suddenly, we can't worship; we can't 'peaceably assemble'; we can't travel?  Because of faulty computer modeling hysteria?  Unless martial law has been declared, no such powers exist for our government to take away our constitutional freedoms in such a manner:  even then, without good cause.  'What if' computer modeling IS NOT GOOD CAUSE.  Because, by that standard, EVERY civil right we're guaranteed could be abridged.

New order bans 'travel between residences,' with a few exceptions.  After Friday, Michigan residents will no longer be able to jump in the car — or cross the street — to visit friends and relatives inside the state, or to go to the cottage Up North, with limited exceptions.  That is one of the major changes in Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's "stay home" order, issued Thursday [4/9/2020], which also extends the expiration of the order to May 1.

Coronavirus COVID-19: Public Health Apocalypse or Panic and Anti-American?  [Scroll down]  State governors seem almost in a race to see who can cause the most dramatic removal of basic constitutional liberties.  Some states have police officers pulling people over to quiz them where they are going.  Some businesses have printed papers that their employees carry to show they are going to work in an essential business.  All of this for a projected 5909 deaths from the virus!  All of this is reminiscent of Nazi and communist state control of people.  It seems to be working; with their willing accomplices in the media, Americans at this time are seemingly eager to exchange their freedom for what they believe to be security and safety.  What they don't realize is if this is allowed to continue, they will lose their security, safety and their freedom.  What will happen with the next epidemic?  Will we do this for the next outbreak of flu?  Or Strep?  Or drug overdoses?  What type of precedent will this set?  Federal and state leaders are using bad public health policy to promote even worse regulation.  Several have remarked that this epidemic offers those who wish to subdue the population an excellent way to see what works and how long it takes to corral people into almost total submission; it's taking about a month.

San Francisco:  Journalist Gets $369,000 After Cops Raided His Home & Kidnapped Him For Refusing To Name His Source.  In the land of the free, journalists are raided by SWAT teams in an effort to find out their sources and this is in spite of the law protecting journalists from this very act.  Freelance journalist Bryan Carmody fell victim to the police state in California last year as multiple San Francisco cops with sledge hammers and weapons began breaking down his door in an effort to find out his source for a leaked police report.  Now, the taxpayers of San Francisco will be paying him $369,000 for it.

It's time to end the great American COVID-19 police state.  We now have the most severe, widespread, and protracted form of martial law in our nation's history ... except as it applies to dangerous criminals who are undeterred and released.  How much worse will we allow this to get until we call a foul on these gross constitutional violations?  As I observed last week, states have wide latitude to forcibly quarantine individuals or groups of people from the general population.  But they don't have the power to shut down the entire general population.  Also, as the Supreme Court has said many times, there are times when life, liberty, and property can be infringed upon, but it must be narrowly tailored to the least invasive means needed to achieve the compelling state interest.  What is happening now is anything but narrow. [...] At what point will we the people stand up to this capricious nonsense, especially as these same politicians release criminals and illegal aliens, while lying to us about the math and science behind their unilateral edicts? [...] Remember, if we don't rise up now, these tyrants are just getting started.

Ted Cruz Blasts Dems for Treating Americans Like We Live in a Police State.  Sen. Ted Cruz had had enough.  The Texas Republican — like much of the country — apparently has been watching the increasingly extreme steps being taken in some areas to keep residents from violating "social distancing" rules laid down by increasingly authoritarian governments.  But a story out of Pennsylvania apparently pushed him over the line.  Cruz was reacting to the story of a 19-year-old woman who, according to The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, was pulled over by Pennsylvania state troopers on March 29 for allegedly having a taillight out and then fined for failing to obey Democratic Gov. Tom Wolfe's "stay-at-home" order.  It's a violation that could mean a $200 fine, though the woman, identified as Anita Schaffer, told The Patriot-News she plans to fight it in court.

Colorado man handcuffed for playing T-ball with daughter in empty park.  A man in Brighton, Colo., is demanding an apology from the city's police department for handcuffing him in front of his daughter before briefly detaining him in a patrol car on Sunday.  The reason, per Denver TV station KDVR:  He was playing T-ball in an empty park.  Matt Mooney said a group of officers approached him, asked for his identification and said he was violating state social distancing guidelines.  There are no laws in Colorado banning people from going to parks, however; the park Mooney visited has a sign specifically allowing gatherings of fewer than five people.  Mooney's 6-year-old daughter and wife were with him.

Chuck Norris Warns of Rebellion, Martial Law if America's COVID Strategy Doesn't Change.  The nation is gripped with coronavirus panic, but there is also fear about what is going to happen to our freedoms and our economy once the crisis is over.  This pandemic has taken its toll on the United States and that is not lost on conservative actor Chuck Norris, who published an Op-Ed for WND wondering how long it would be until we were under martial law.  The actor said he believes in "being prudent and also being peaceful" but, he added, he had "tough questions" to ask.

Because all violent crime is completely under control...
Chicago Police to Conduct 'Roadside Safety Checks' to Educate Public About 'Stay-at-Home' Order.  Chicago police officers will conduct roadside safety and informational check points in each police district to provide information to motorists about the state of Illinois' ongoing "stay-at-home" order.  According to police, the checkpoints will take place beginning Tuesday night at 10 p.m.  The checkpoints will last approximately 45 minutes each night, and could take place between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m.  The checkpoints will also be deployed on Wednesday and Thursday nights, according to the department.

The Editor says...
The police are always on the lookout for an excuse to stop passing motorists, look for drugs and weapons, check the expiration date on your inspection sticker and your license, and sniff around for alcohol and marijuana.  The current virus hysteria is merely a convenient justification to suspend the Fourth Amendment.  After all, what are you going to do about it?

Amid 'Mandatory Lockdown,' Baltimore Officials Approve Spy-Plane To "Collect Images Of City".  For years, we've been documenting how spy planes have been flying over the Baltimore Metropolitan Area, transforming the region into a surveillance state.  To refresh your memory, the federal government used spy planes to monitor the 2015 riots in Baltimore City.  Even before the planes, the military was flying massive spy blimps over the region to "detect cruise missiles."  What you're beginning to understand is that Baltimore has been the testing ground over the last decade of how the surveillance state, now being ushered in by the COVID-19 outbreak, will be built across major metro areas.  Aaron Kesel of ActivistPost laid it out beautifully, "coronavirus outbreak is proving to be the Trojan horse that justifies increased digital surveillance."  Baltimore is dealing with several public health crises at the moment, one is a murder epidemic, and the other is the COVID-19 outbreak.  Blend it all together, and the city is on the verge of turmoil.  Hence why the National Guard was called in several weeks ago, not just to assist local area hospitals dealing with an influx of virus cases and deaths, but also to maintain public order.

Does a Health Emergency Give Government the Extraordinary Power to Violate Our Rights?  [Scroll down]  What kind of a health emergency constitutes the execution of these "extraordinary powers," for example?  To what degree must the emergency threaten the public for the government to employ these "extraordinary powers" that it supposedly has the authority to wield at such times?  And how "extraordinary" can those powers become without excessively infringing upon our rights?  Which civil liberties does the government have the right to infringe in these circumstances, and which does it not?  Are there any that it does not have the right to infringe?  Is it just "health emergencies," or other kinds of emergencies, too?  If arbitrarily-defined "health emergencies" are reason enough for the government to exercise the vague "extraordinary powers" to violate certain civil liberties, then why wouldn't it be so for other kinds of emergencies?  Using this exact logic, a progressive might say, for example, that the spate of mass shootings in recent years constitutes a national emergency which threatens Americans' lives, and in times of such emergencies, "the government has extraordinary powers to confiscate firearms from Americans."  You don't have to fall far down the rabbit hole before concluding that what is implied by that suggestion is a logical vortex toward justifying tyranny, if only on occasion, and especially when the public is crazed with fear.

Albany's Dead-Of-Night Coronavirus Vote Gives Cuomo Sweeping New Emergency Powers.  In the wee hours of Tuesday morning [3/31/2020], the state legislature approved $40 million in emergency funding to help contain the COVID-19 outbreak in New York.  Buried within the legislation is a provision that has alarmed progressive lawmakers and advocates: an extraordinary, broad, and little-understood expansion of Governor Andrew Cuomo's emergency powers.  "I'm scared or concerned because I don't know what the governor has in mind," said Assemblymember Richard Gottfried, the longtime chair of his chamber's health committee.  With the support of both legislative leaders, the emergency funding bill overwhelmingly passed the Democrat-controlled Assembly and State Senate.  Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Senate Majority Leader, and Carl Heastie, the Speaker of the State Assembly, pushed for its passage, overriding the concerns of the health committee chairs in both chambers.

Beware The Creeps Who Enjoy Their New Pandemic Power.  The problem with people referring to this bizarre pandemic life limbo as "the new normal" is that there are people out there, both in and out of positions of responsibility, who are digging this opportunity to boss us around.  And it is troubling to see that there are a number of prominent folks who are in no hurry to curtail their ability to boss us around.  We need to note carefully who these people are and ensure that they never get a chance to control anything again.  You are starting to see more of that as this drags out.  You have got Nancy Pelosi, Gavin Newsom and others thinking this is a great time to get our socialism on.  You also have functionaries — all of whom are still getting paychecks — who are way too eager to start issuing orders instead of relying on citizens to behave rationally.  We don't need to be ordered around, but they can't resist the ordering.

When the judge orders an ankle monitor so you don't break quarantine.  Returning to our continuing series on the limits of executive authority during times of declared emergencies, there is yet another potentially disturbing story coming to us from the state of Kentucky.  A Circuit Court judge there by the name of Angela Bisig has begun issuing orders for ankle monitors to be attached to persons who have been exposed to the novel coronavirus and subsequently refused to observe self-quarantine measures.  One person, in particular, a man only being referred to by the initials D.L. lives with an individual who has tested positive for the virus and another who is presumed to be positive.  But despite that fact, D.L. has reportedly been leaving home "often."  This resulted in the order for him to wear the tracking device for two weeks. [...] But once again, stupidity still isn't a crime.  Or at least it wasn't until we ran into a national crisis like this and governors began trampling on any number of constitutional rights, including restricting the free movement of citizens.

St. Louis Federal Reserve Head Says Americans Should Be Tested for COVID-19 Daily And Forced To Display a Badge on Their Clothing with the Result.  In an era when the government is using cell phone data to track our movements, drones to enforce compliance of lockdown orders, thermal imaging to monitor social distancing, pastors are getting arrested for hosting church, and ankle bracelets to ensure people stay quarantined, a Federal Reserve official proposed today yet another surveillance plan; daily coronavirus testing for every citizen, and we publicly display badges showing if we tested negative or positive.

Tyranny on Display - DC Police Shut Down The Wharf's Fish Market After Pics of Crowds Go Viral.  The DC police shut down The Wharf's Fish Market on Sunday [4/5/2020] after photos of crowds there went viral.  Washington, D.C., recently issued a very strict shelter-in-place order in response to the Coronavirus panic.  Residents may only leave their homes to go to the grocery store or to seek medical aid. [...] Apparently food is no longer essential in DC?

Tennessee Supreme Court Allows Police to Carry Out Warrantless, Suspicionless Searches of Probationers' Homes, Undermining Fourth Amendment.  Pushing back against government efforts to chip away at the privacy and security guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, The Rutherford Institute has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a state court decision allowing police to search the homes of probationers without any suspicion or justification.  In an amicus brief filed in Hamm v.  State of Tennessee, Institute attorneys have asked the Court to overturn a Tennessee court's ruling that police have carte blanche to search the residence of probationers, arguing that it violates the Fourth Amendment's overriding purpose to protect the sanctity and security of a person's home.

In What Sense Do You Think We Are Free?  Here's a sensible question.  If the mayor of the most notable metropolis in the country can openly suggest that the government has the right to permanently shutter the doors of a church if it refuses to comply with "social distancing" guidelines, or any other edict the government finds necessary in a given moment, then what can't the government do? [...] Consider this.  A junkie can wake up on a brisk morning in the streets of San Francisco, defecate on the sidewalk in plain view of onlookers, and insert a used needle into his arm to inject illegal narcotics into his veins.  The cops will make no effort to stop him, for, you see, that might be a violation of his supposed "rights." [...] Now, consider that he is far less likely to incur the attention of law enforcement, or even the news media, than you might incur for the crime of choosing to attend your local church, should it have the audacity to be open.  It is you, don't you understand, who is the public health menace.

Anthony Fauci goes nuts.  [Scroll down]  So when Fauci calls for a national order to keep every man, woman and child in America at home, behind closed doors, for the next 30 days or longer, he's only suggesting the best course of action that, in his medical opinion, would keep his patients — whom he's deemed to be all of America — safe and healthy, free of risks of catching the coronavirus.  But that doesn't mean he's right.  That doesn't mean his medical opinion ought to be taken as sacrosanct; all the other considerations — economic, political, social — tossed to the side as secondaries.  Americans are not lab rats, and America is not a science lab.  The country can't come to a grinding halt every time flu season approaches.  Because mark these words:  If we do it once, we'll be doing it again.  This season's coronavirus will be next season's something else.

President Trump needs to set the country free now.  It is very clear now exactly how this nation is divided:  Between those who love this country and the liberty and freedoms once guaranteed by our revered Constitution and those who hate this nation as founded and, like Rep. James Clyburn want to see it "restructured," socialized, communized.  A man was arrested in Malibu, CA for paddling by himself in the ocean.  He was endangering no one.  In a matter of a few weeks, we have become a police state, fascist and menacing.  The left now sees an opportunity to force upon us their regressive agenda which is far more deadly to us all than the Wuhan flu. [...] Wake up Americans!  We are by nature a civil and law-abiding people, but what we are being subjected to is monstrous.

Rebellion: 'This Is Not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia Where You Are Asked For Your Papers!' Says Maine Sheriff.  Maine's Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols has a strong message for the Governor of Maine, Janet Mills, who issued "stay-at-home" orders with threats of police punishment if not followed.  Sheriff Nichols issued a statement on the Franklin County Facebook page saying in no uncertain terms he will not follow the unconstitutional order.  "We will not be setting up a Police State.  PERIOD," he wrote.  "The Sheriff's Office will not purposefully go out and stop vehicles because they are on the road or stop and ask why people are out and about.  To do so puts our officers at risk.  This is not Nazi Germany or Soviet Russia where you are asked for your papers!"  The sheriff's announcement comes as a welcome sign to Americans who have been arrested for inane things like praying outside, surfing, or trying to drive to work.

Dallas County official:  Stay-at-home order will remain in place until April 30.  Hours after Dallas County Commissioners extended a disaster declaration until May 20, the county's top elected official announced on Twitter that the so-called "safer-at-home" orders would continue until April 30.  The late-afternoon tweet is a reversal after County Judge Clay Jenkins stressed early Friday that the strict restrictions he first established last month and were adopted by other large counties would be needed for at least 60 days based on the advice of hospitals and health experts.

Clyburn Defends Calling Coronavirus an Opportunity to 'Restructure Government'.  House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D., S.C.) on Friday defended his previous claim that coronavirus is a "tremendous opportunity" to advance Democratic policy goals.  "I find it kind of interesting that one of my colleagues said he has a problem with me because I'm a 'restructure government' person," Clyburn told Roll Call.  "Yes, Jim Clyburn is a restructuring government guy and everybody with any common sense, and looking at where we are today, needs to be a restructuring government person."  Clyburn has taken a prominent role in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D., Calif.) coronavirus response.  The speaker tapped the South Carolina Democrat on Thursday to lead her select oversight committee on coronavirus relief, which will monitor the billions in federal dollars spent fighting the pandemic.  Top Republicans criticized the decision, pointing to Clyburn's March comments calling the coronavirus "a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision."

How a Police State is Born.  Over the past four weeks and with little or no legal basis, one state governor has outbid another in their dramatic responses to the Coronavirus outbreak.  Invariably their actions revolve around the curtailing of individual freedom.  Arrest warrants are being issued for holding funeral services, fines are being levied for not maintaining proper distance, people are being arrested for holding gatherings of over ten people, fines and arrests are the order of the day for re-opening a business the state deems to be nonessential, and the national guard has been called out to enforce state borders and lockdowns.  Pastors have been arrested for holding worship services, and in New York City the mayor has threatened to permanently close any church, synagogue or mosque that violates his lockdown order.  The Second Amendment is under assault as 12 states either have ordered or are contemplating ordering all gun stores and retailers closed, thus depriving millions of their right buy a gun.  Neighbors and ordinary citizens, in the best tradition of the Soviet Union and Communist China, are being encouraged to inform the authorities if anyone they know is not adhering to state lockdown rules.  Stores, deemed essential by the state, are being told what in their inventory they can and cannot sell.

Seriously Unserious.  I live in Orange County, California.  Here's a sampling of what my leaders have done to impress — at least in their minds — the seriousness of COVID-19 upon me and my fellow citizens.  Locally, at 2:26 p.m. on March 17, we got an Order from the County (this Order and the aftermath all pre-dated the statewide shutdown, but is still instructive as to our leaders).  Here's what they ordered:  "Effective immediately... the following will be in effect in Orange County:  1. All public and private gatherings of any number of people, including at places of work... are prohibited."  Just to make sure you were paying attention, the County closed with a warning:  "this Order may be enforced by the Sheriff or chiefs of police."  Serious stuff.  Businesses were closed, effective immediately, and the cops could come after you for disobedience.  Where did this strong medicine come from?  This was the valid Order of Orange County's Health Officer.  Who is that and who elected her?  No one knew — before March 17 that is, when, suddenly, no one could go to work and each had ample time to Google this doctor who had just unemployed them.  Turns out she, ultimately, works for the County Board of Supervisors.  They are elected by the People.  But their bureaucrat doctor, seemingly without their approval, shut down by fiat all "non-essential" businesses in a county of over 3 million people.

Mandating a True Great Depression.  nother Thursday in the formerly free United States of America.  Now, we live in the terrified, scared, locked-down shadow of that America.  The streets are empty.  In Beverly Hills, Persians walk down the middle of the streets begging to be run over considering that so many rich kids here have Ferraris and McLarens.  Women run by with their ponytails swinging in the breeze.  But people are in a state of terror.  Out of their minds with fear.  Police give citations for walking in groups of more than two (that's in LA, not Beverly Hills).  The worst of it is the Ministry of Fear that is the combo of government and cable news — injecting dread into the national bloodstream.  I have stopped watching the news and its constant poisoning us with fear.  Our civil liberties are just a memory and all because of a virus that's very bad but not as bad as heart disease or cancer. [...] But we have 340 million people at least in America.  That's an infection rate (assuming 10 times reported cases) of roughly 5/7 of 1 percent.  The death rate is too low to be readily calculated.  But it's far less than what we got with the swine flu 10 years ago, and no one said a word about curtailing civil liberties over that.

Will Trump Betray Us after Corona?  Some people are stunned that government using computer models to predict high coronavirus deaths has many Americans willing to gift Democrats and fake news media their lifelong dream of ending the U.S. Constitution.  Panic-stricken citizens want everyone non-compliant with immediate dictatorial government demands thrown into jail.  Consequently, Democrats are behaving like power-drunk pirates, raping and pillaging our God-given and constitutional freedoms.  Incredibly, New York mayor de Blasio has threatened to close places of worship forever.  Virginia governor (supreme dictator) Northam decreed that residents stay at home until June 10, after the June 9 Republican primary.  Despite practicing CDC guidelines, a pastor was arrested for opening his church while the nearby Home Depot was packed with people.  Planned Parenthood dead-baby-body-parts-chop-shops deemed essential are allowed to remain open.  Across America, thousands of inmates are being released from prison because of the coronavirus.  Disease-infested tent city vagrants ignore corona restrictions while violators of stay-at-home orders are arrested.

Residents in Texas city can face $1,000 fine for not wearing 'some form of covering over their nose and mouth' after new motion.  Under a motion passed by the city council in Laredo, Texas, earlier this week, residents in the town can now face a fine of up to $1,000 for not wearing some form of covering on their nose and mouth in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.  According to the Laredo Morning Times, council members passed the motion in a vote earlier this week.  As part of the measure, all residents over the age of 5 are required to have their nose and mouth covered when entering public buildings, using public transportation and when pumping gas, the body said in a notice detailing the motion, which went into effect Thursday [4/2/2020].

Those Who Would Give Up Liberty for Safety, Deserve Neither.  To frame it in perspective, think of the indignity suffered by law-abiding New Orleans residents during Katrina being yanked out of their homes at gunpoint by government troops using the backdrop of tragedy to forcefully confiscate private arms.  Think of the search for the Boston bombers as government troops went door to door pulling people from their homes, conducting illegal searches in direct violation of their formidable 4th amendment rights.  Think of power-hungry Socialist governors using media coverage of a virus, forcing private businesses to close and putting millions of Americans out of work.  Not only does this threaten our economic survival but our constitutional right to bear arms during a time of media-driven hysteria, as well.  As the dinosaur media continue doing irreparable harm to the bedrock of our society by sowing the seeds of panic and fear over the coronavirus with incessant headlines and coverage worthy of a biblical apocalypse, the true nature of some politicians becomes evident.  None of these events in and of themselves, a storm, two terrorists, and now a virus, are the reason people were yanked from their homes, shut down their businesses, or lost everything they had.  On the contrary, it is the decisions made by a man or woman who has overstepped their legal and moral authority in their quest for power using the cover of these events to do so.

Using COVID-19 to Kill Vote Security.  Probably the worst part of the coronavirus lockdown is the realization that Americans will put up with virtually any edict, no matter how draconian, and any subsidy, no matter how ridiculous, if they are scared about their health and worried about the economy.  Our system will eventually return to normal, but we now know that it doesn't take much to jettison the country's various checks and balances and constitutional protections, at least temporarily.  We've got to be particularly careful, though, about activists and politicians who are using the coronavirus situation to push for far-reaching and permanent changes to our system.  One of the worst ideas now getting a serious hearing involves internet and app-based voting. [...] Yes, some reformers want Americans to vote using laptops and cellphones.  If such ideas get traction, however, it could mean the end of the integrity of our elections.

Governor Northam Closes Virginia Until Day After GOP Primary.  We had a call in the previous hour from woman in Cincinnati very, very worried that elections will never be the same because they're arbitrarily being canceled, delayed, shut down, and, in many cases, they're arbitrarily being delayed, shut down for the benefit of a particular political party. [...] Now, why did Governor Northam in Virginia choose Wednesday, June 10th, as the date that people can finally leave?  Well, guess what?  The Republican primary in Virginia is June the 9th.

Martial Law:  The Trial Balloon Abolishing Civil Liberties.  Many Americans are beginning to feel very uncomfortable with the destruction of our civil liberties.  Being locked in our homes for a couple weeks is one thing, but now New York Governor Cuomo is telling folks it may befour, six or nine months before this is over as the number of confirmed New York City cases surges past 15,000.  Cuomo warns 80 percent will get the virus over 9 months as Mnuchin tells 80m to prepare for 12-week shutdown.  That's not going to fly with the American people, or will it?  Have we become willing sheep being led to the socialist slaughter?  The communist conspiracy is attempting to create a new normal, a normal where citizens are comfortable asking for permission to leave their homes, to close their businesses, and give up their liberty for security.  Our entire economy will not exist after nine months; it is already gravely damaged after only a few weeks.

Floridians Feel The Brunt Of Big Brother.  The "new normal" in Florida hints at startling government encroachment against private property rights and individual human autonomy.  On March 30, Sunshine State Governor Ron DeSantis (R) issued a "Safer-at-Home" order for residents of three heavily populated southeast coast counties and Monroe County in the Florida Keys amid the Coronavirus health pandemic.  The move encourages millions of Floridians to stay inside and be aware of social-distancing protocol. [...] There is no evidence that individuals partaking of these isolated outdoor activities — private beach use, golfing at a private club, or boating — would be violating "social-distancing" directives issued by health officials, which restrict groupings of ten or more people.  Yet all these private pursuits are targeted, and residents are expected to comply, no questions asked. [...] As I stood on a railing by a Florida public beach the very same day this interview was posted on the CBS News website, a dark-painted helicopter swooped in and hovered low over the stretch of sand right near me for a full minute or two.  I gazed around.  Nobody was on the beach below the copter, although a couple of people sat on a section of private beach a bit further up.  Just as abruptly as it came, the helicopter sped off.  There weren't 100 people on the beach.  There weren't even four.  There were two.  And apparently they were on their own private property.

De Blasio threatens to permanently close places of worship that resist shutdown order.  New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned religious leaders that their places of worship could be shut down permanently if they did not follow the city's order to pause services during the coronavirus pandemic.  "A small number of religious communities, specific churches and specific synagogues, are unfortunately not paying attention to this guidance even though it's so widespread," the New York Democrat said Friday [3/27/2020] at his daily press briefing.  "I want to say to all those who are preparing for the potential of religious services this weekend:  If you go to your synagogue, if you go to your church and attempt to hold services after having been told so often not to, our enforcement agents will have no choice but to shut down those services," he added.

New York Mayor Bill deBlasio Announces Immediate Government Suspension of First Amendment.  New York Mayor Bill deBlasio is officially attempting to establish himself as the United States first totalitarian dictator by announcing a revocation of all New York City citizen rights under the first amendment.  A stunning move. [...] In a stunning announcement Mayor deBlasio threatens that all religious services will be forcibly closed by city authorities "permanently" if they do not comply with the established dictates of city government.  [Video clip]

LAPD helicopter orders people to leave skate park or FACE ARREST as city bids to slow spread of coronavirus.  An LAPD helicopter circles over a skate park in the city and orders people leave or face arrest on Saturday [3/28/2020].  Video shows the helicopter circling and a voice over the tannoy saying:  "The park is closed.  If do not leave, will be arrested for trespassing."  [Video clip]

Couple charged with violating N.J. coronavirus lockdown, endangering kids after cops break up big lawn party.  A Lakewood couple who hosted a gathering Sunday [3/29/2020] of 40 to 50 people on the lawn and street in front of the home have been charged with five counts of child endangerment and the husband was charged with violating the ban on gatherings due to the coronavirus outbreak, authorities said.

Florida begins coronavirus checkpoints, threatens jail time for out-of-state travelers who don't self-quarantine.  Florida, falling short of statewide lockdown, is now screening travelers from the New York City area and Louisiana "hotspots" both at highway roadblocks and at airports, threatening them with 60 days in jail if they don't self-quarantine as the number of confirmed cases in the state peaks to over 4,200.  Gov. Ron DeSantis has so far refused to issue a statewide stay-at-home order, similar to those enforced in at least 22 other states, including California, New York and Illinois.  More than 4,200 confirmed cases, with at least 56 deaths were recorded in Florida on Sunday [3/29/2020].

Stop the COVID-19 Insanity Now.  It is the gross overreaction of certain government and business leaders to the Wuhan coronavirus of 2020, otherwise known as COVID-19, that is the danger to the United States, not the virus itself.  The abundance of data show that the virus is far less dangerous than the seasonal flu, and if the overreaction is not stopped and reversed immediately, it will severely damage the economy and the lives that depend on it. [...] So we should be asking questions that the hysteria promoting media are apparently avoiding:
  •   Why haven't states or the federal government ever taken these kinds of measures before for any other illness in history?
  •   If the country is not shut down because of the flu, and wasn't for the H1N1 swine flu of 2009, why shut it down for COVID-19?
  •   How do the confirmed case rates of growth and fatality rates of growth in states with business closures compare with states without business closures? [...]
  •   If shopping at grocery stores is allowed, why is shopping at any other store different?
  •   How is it moral to have the government prevent small businessmen and their employees from earning a living and then demand of them the tax money to pay government employees who are not working during that same period?
  •   Where can people find the constitutional authority for the federal or state governments to shut down businesses, and restrict gatherings and internal travel?

Report: 20% of Detroit Police Officers Are in Quarantine as Fears of Civil Unrest Grow.  Fear is growing in the Detroit Metro area, as word spreads that 20% of the city's police force is now under quarantine.  Citizens are now worried about massive civil unrest unfolding in the city.  Currently, Michigan is under a very strict statewide "lockdown."  All non-essential businesses are closed and if you're an "essential worker" you have a laminated paper you must keep with you in case you're pulled over so you can prove why you're on the road.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Expands Quarantine to Louisiana Travelers, Installing Checkpoints on Roads.  Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is requiring travelers from Louisiana to self-isolate for 14 days and said the Florida Highway Patrol will install checkpoints on major roads to screen travelers from that area, he announced on Friday [3/27/2020].  DeSantis is imposing restrictions on travelers fleeing to Florida from Louisiana — particularly New Orleans, which is emerging as one of the hotspots of the coronavirus outbreak.

Colorado Governor Polis (D) issues stay-at-home decree.  Not one to let a good crisis go to waste, last night Colorado Governor Jared Polis (D) issued a decree ordering all Coloradans to stay at home "due to the presence of COVID-19 in the state."  He made this order claiming authority under the Colorado Constitution and the Colorado Disaster Emergency Act.  Polis originally declared a state of emergency on March 10th.  The order, which took effect at 6 am this morning, was broadcast to cell phones at about 8 pm last night using the weather alert system and again this morning at 8 am.

Rhode Island National Guard To Conduct House-To-House Searches, Texas National Guard House-To-House Coronavirus Checkups.  On March 13th Around 400 National Guard personnel have been activated across six states to support operations to stem the spread of novel coronavirus, the National Guard Bureau said in a press release.  The governors of Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Rhode Island, and Washington have all activated components of their Army and Air National Guard.  Guardsmen in California and Maryland are also expected to join their states' efforts today.  Things have become even more serious and some conspiracy theories suggested that we are on our way to martial law.  Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civilian functions by a government, especially in response to a temporary emergency such as invasion or major disaster, or in an occupied territory.

Trump Activates Armed Forces Reserves To Battle Coronavirus Pandemic — Up To 1,000,000 Individual Reservists.  President Donald Trump announced at Friday's coronavirus task force briefing that he has granted the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security the "authority to activate the ready reserve components of the Armed Forces" to help battle the pandemic.  "This will allow us to mobilize medical, disaster, and emergency response personnel to help wage our battle against the virus by activating thousands of experienced service members including retirees," Trump told the reporters gathered in the White House Brady Briefing Room.

The Editor says...
Is this for virus control, or population control?

Eating the Elephant.  There is no legal means by which to quarantine HEALTHY people, other than communist-level restrictions of liberty.  If we were a better educated people, it would be sufficient to request that we do the intelligent things to avoid any spread of the disease, but since the public school system has been utilized to convert logical intelligent people into obedient slaves of governmental dictates, these quarantines are the only means by which to ensure compliance.  Proceeding on the principle that no government has ever returned power once obtained from the people through deception, threat or overreaction we might as well recognize that these levels of restrictions will find a home within government power from now on.  Imagine how many "health issues" can be used to demand papers to allow travel.  How soon will "health" dictate that all travel is inherently dangerous and can be mitigated with permanent travel restrictions. [...] In one fell swoop of a minor pandemic the United States as a nation has abandoned both the republic and capitalism.  Individual rights are destroyed, never again to be seen as rational arguments against the power of the state.  Capitalism has lost out to the political and economic ideology of Soviet Russia allowing for such things as "travel permits" and sequestration of healthy individuals.

Rhode Island police "hunting down" New Yorkers fleeing the city.  With New York City in the grip of the novel coronavirus and looking more and more like a movie featuring Snake Plissken, many of the wealthier denizens of Gotham have been fleeing to vacation homes in nearby states with less viral activity.  As John recently noted, this has been getting on the nerves of many of the locals who aren't used to an influx of tourists over the winter months.  But now, the state of Rhode Island is taking things to another level.  The Governor has dispatched the police to "hunt down" any cars with New York license plates and they're looking to enforce a quarantine on any New Yorkers fleeing to her state.

COVID-19: Lakewood Police Crash Another Wedding.  Lakewood police cited yet another Jersey Shore wedding host for holding a large gathering during the coronavirus outbreak, authorities said.  Officers responding to another call Thursday saw 40 or so people gathered on Wayne Street, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said Friday [3/27/2020].  They issued a summons to local resident William Katzenstein, 39, for "violating any rule or regulation adopted by the governor," the prosecutor said.  Then everyone dispersed, he said.

The Left is Loving This.  Consider, for a moment, what ideas Americans seem to have generally accepted in the last few weeks. [...] Thirdly, this crisis appears to have nullified any devotion to the concept of individual liberty among Americans.  A friend in Chicago tells me that he and his young daughters daren't risk even walking to the park that his tax dollars built, as he risks a $500 fine for doing so.  The stiffest resistance encountered by the government officials imposing these infringements upon law-abiding citizens is the quiet grumbling that exists beneath all these loud sermons about "social distancing" and "flattening the curve."  And finally, as Americans are left unable to care for themselves because the government is prohibiting their free association in the economic marketplace, the government is now facilitating a massive transfer of wealth from taxpayers as cash payments to Americans below certain income thresholds.

Watch LA Mayor Announce Spy Program to Threaten Open Businesses During COVID-19 Scare.  California is bracing for its turn as the nation's hotspot for the COVID-19 outbreak and the state's leaders are flexing their statist muscles with all manner of edicts, spy programs, and threats of prosecution.  The state is currently in shut-down mode, with only "essential businesses" open and people ordered to socially distance from other possible germ carriers.  Restaurants can serve only take-out orders, grocery stores require people to line up outside until the crowds thin out inside.  In the beach communities, "outsiders" are being told to stay out.  Hiking trails, parks and even the beaches — the open-air beaches — are closed.  In the City of Laguna Beach, where drones are forbidden for you to use in public, cops are using drones to monitor whether scofflaws have hit the beaches and if people are keeping a socially acceptable distances from others.  So ingrained are these admonitions that if you're seen walking in a group, citizens will think nothing of calling the cops.

State legislatures must convene to control governors' growing tyranny.  We all went along with the severe social distancing and the termination of all public gatherings to help safety during this epidemic.  Even this is no picnic, because it includes the cancellation of all religious services as well as school.  We must recognize the danger of unilateral executive actions halting the most sacred constitutional rights.  Nonetheless, it was clear that these first actions were called for and passed the rational basis test of using the policies least restrictive of liberty to achieve a vital state interest.  Now, however, that states are moving to indefinite lockdowns without presenting any evidence that this is needed, over and above the severe distancing, it's past time for us to ask questions.  Placing Americans indefinitely under house arrest without any due process, transparency, time limit, guidelines, or checks and balances on a single executive is something that should shake us to our core.  That is true even if we were dealing with Ebola and a 60 percent death rate.

Fear Makes It Easy for Governments to Expand Power.  The coronavirus epidemic has for the past couple of weeks compelled panicked households to flood grocery stores in search of basic goods.  Until this past weekend, however, US governments had refrained from using special powers to order forced business closures and curfews.  Autocratic responses to the health crisis, it seemed, were being put in place exclusively by authoritarian governments such as China's Communist Party, which managed to allegedly contain the spread of the virus through martial law — barricading people in their homes, arresting those who wouldn't comply with quarantine mandates, and issuing passports to households so that authorities could verify whether individuals leaving their homes had already used up their weekly stroll quotas.  Following an announcement from President Trump, however, things changed.  After several states declared a state of emergency, some states took further steps by ordering forced business closures.  Ohio, California, Washington, Illinois, Massachusetts, and Indiana ordered owners of bars, restaurants, and wineries to shut down.

In Virgina, Go to Church, Go to Jail.  The Governor of Virginia has decided to ban churches from gathering in groups of ten or more.  The executive order applies to all gatherings, not just churches, so it is arguable constitutional.  But it also directly infringes on the First Amendment right to assemble and to freely exercise one's religion.  It actually makes it a crime to meet for church. [...] Churches should use common sense and avoid gathering right now.  But it is a fundamental right under the Bill of Rights and the Governor should have used the moral power of his office to work with churches instead of the hard power of state demands.

Lightfoot threatens to shut down parks, lakefront, Riverwalk.  Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Wednesday made an extraordinary threat — to shut down Chicago parks, Millennium Park, the downtown Riverwalk and the entire lakefront — if residents and visitors continue to thumb their noses at the statewide stay-at-home order aimed at slowing the spread of the coronavirus.  Lightfoot instructed Chicago Police officers to shut down large gatherings and threatened to use what she called "every lever at my disposal" to compel compliance.

Conservative Leaders:  Public Health Measures Must Still Protect Constitutional Rights of Americans.  The public health crisis facing the country is unprecedented, and a whole of government approach is underway.  However, using this crisis as a justification to violate the basic civil liberties of Americans is unconscionable, and in no way justified.  This is also true at the state level, where unprecedented shelter-in-place orders threaten civil liberties as well.  We urge governors to make any movement limitations temporary and tailored.  A federal shelter-in-place order should be avoided at all costs.  Public health must be protected, but so, too, should the rights of Americans under the Constitution.  Americans have mobilized with extraordinary speed and cooperation.  The Trump administration has lifted regulations and expedited actions to begin vaccine testing, facilitate production of necessary medical equipment, and restricted foreign access to the country as appropriate.  These actions are justified.  A dramatic expansion of the police state is not, and we emphatically oppose it.

California Police to Use Chinese-Made Patrol Drones Equipped with Night Vision Cameras to Patrol Streets for Quarantine Busters.  California is really ramping up its efforts to control the population after a couple dozen people died from the Coronavirus.  Governor Gavin Newsom recently said he was considering martial law after 12 people died from the Coronavirus.  Now a California police department is planning on using drones with night vision cameras and loudspeakers to monitor the population amid the Coronavirus shutdown after approximately 28 confirmed deaths in the state.

Drones with bullhorns.  Sounds like 1984 is being used as a how-to manual.
California police consider new uses for drones during coronavirus pan(dem)ic.  A police department in southern California is looking into different ways its drones can help during the coronavirus pandemic.  The Chula Vista Police Department recently doubled its fleet with the purchase of two machines.  The police department told the Financial Times that they would be outfitted with cameras.  "We have not traditionally mounted speakers to our drones, but ... if we need to cover a large area to get an announcement out, or if there were a crowd somewhere that we needed to disperse, we could do it without getting police officers involved," said Capt. Vern Sallee.

Coronavirus Panic is a Trojan Horse for Socialism.  Finally we're blinking our eyes with dawning realization that maybe this pandemic isn't as sickly serious as was once hyped by the same media which pees itself in anticipation for hurricane season.  That's because, in my opinion, Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats got greedy, thus exposing their hand.  Instead of providing relief to Americans who've stayed at home all because their state and local governments told them to, Pelosi and her band of ugly men stuffed a relief bill with socialism fan fiction. [...] It's almost like Democrats aren't taking this virus as seriously as they sold it.  It's almost as if they ginned up panic, with the full cooperation of the media, to push big government socialism when American fears were spiked.  It's almost as if Democrats and the media ripped a few pages from global warming alarmism and just doused it with gas, since not enough people were panicking and ceding their freedoms to government in order to save the planet.

Remember this if you ever have the urge to vote for a Democrat.
Yes, Virginia's Governor Has Made It a Crime for More Than 10 People to Attend a Church Service.  Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued an executive order on Monday that is aimed at stopping the new coronavirus — and, in the process, makes it a criminal offense to hold a church service attended by more than 10 people.  Yes, his order makes it a crime for more than 10 people to gather in a church.  There are two passages in the text of the governor's order that are relevant to this. [...] Conclusion:  The governor has issued an executive order that "bans" religious services that bring together more than 10 people.  His executive order expressly states that any "violations" of the paragraph in the order that bans "gatherings of 10 or more persons ... shall be a Class 1 misdemeanor."  Virginia law says that when a governor's executive order states that violating that order is a Class 1 misdemeanor, those violations are indeed Class 1 misdemeanors.  Virginians now live in a state where holding a church service attended by 11 people has been unilaterally declared a crime by the governor.

New Totalitarian Pandemic Power-Grab Idea:  Permanently Close Some City Streets to Cars.  These past few weeks have been far too filled with various attempts at crisis-induced power grabs by politicians, which isn't historically unusual.  A pandemic is the kind of thing that calls for extraordinary measures but politicians almost (I'm being generous there) always try to get a little too extraordinary with their responses.  It is almost as if they are genetically coded to try and take a mile every time a frightened public offers them an inch.  This is a truly bipartisan problem.  The September 11th attacks did prompt a Republican president to create the Dept. of Homeland Security after all, a fact that still makes conservatives cringe to this day.  Very little time was wasted before a host of overreactions were suggested during this crisis.  Over the weekend, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo really let his totalitarian lust slip out for public display: [...]

Eric Garcetti Threat:  Water, Power Shut Off if You Don't Close Up Shop.  Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti threatened "non-essential" businesses Tuesday that if they do not obey the city's "stay at home" order to close during the pandemic crises, he will cut off their water and their electricity. [...] Though the streets of the city have largely been deserted, some people have been going to work.  Some retail stores remain open; construction continues on unfinished homes; and gardeners continue to tend to yards and lawns.

Butter, Not Guns:  New Jersey Suspends Second Amendment; Gets Sued.  Firearm ownership may be guaranteed under our Constitution by the Second Amendment.  But it's secondary at best to the New Jersey officials who've closed down gun stores during our Wuhan flu panic, calling them non-essential.  Now two Garden State officials — who some would say are non-essential themselves — are being sued for trampling constitutional rights.  "The case was filed by the Second Amendment Foundation and the New Jersey Second Amendment Society on behalf of Robert Kashinsky and Legend Firearms, a gun shop in the state," reports WND.com.  "Defendants are Gov. Philip D. Murphy and State Police Supt. Patrick J. Callahan."  "'Gov. Murphy cannot simply suspend the Second Amendment, and neither can Supt. Callahan,' said SAF founder Alan M. Gottlieb," WND continues.  "Yet, under this emergency order, that's exactly what they're doing.  The Constitution, and federal law, don't allow that.  New Jersey may have been the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights, but they're the last state to recognize it."

Residents threatened with jail for leaving homes during pandemic.  The governor of New Jersey warned that "folks need to be jolted," so his attorney general is threatening jail for people who leave their homes in violation of the governer's order Monday.  Gurbir Grewal, the state's attorney general, said those who violate the stay-at-home order could be jailed or fined up to $1,000, NewJersey.com reported.  Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy signed executive orders that ban unapproved social gatherings and close all "non-essential" businesses.

The Editor says...
Does anyone else find it alarming that the state government has arrogated to itself the authority to approve social gatherings, and to decide which businesses should stay open and which ones should close?  We're no longer on the slippery road to tyranny.  We have arrived.

Inslee orders Washingtonians to stay at home to slow spread of coronavirus.  To combat the novel coronavirus, Gov. Jay Inslee is ordering Washington residents to stay at home, except for crucial activities.  Residents can still leave to buy groceries, seek medical care and go to work at essential businesses, Inslee said in a live televised address Monday evening [3/23/2020], and they can still engage in outdoor activities that can be done 6 feet away from others, such as walking and biking.  But the new order requires the closure of nonessential business places and, the governor said, "is enforceable by law," though broad crackdowns by officers aren't expected.

New Jersey Attorney General Announces That People Who Violate Stay-At-Home Order Could Face Six Months in Jail or Fines.  New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced on Monday that those who break the state's stay at home order could face jail or up to $1,000 in fines.  Gov. Phil Murphy signed executive orders over the weekend bar unapproved social gatherings and shut down all "non-essential" businesses.  The orders closed all retail "storefront and/or brick-and-mortar premises" and ordered that "all recreational and entertainment businesses must close to the public."

'Over My Dead Body': DOJ's request for new 'emergency powers' over coronavirus met with swift condemnation.  The Justice Department has quietly asked Congress for new "emergency powers" amid the coronavirus outbreak, including the power to ask chief judges to indefinitely detain people without trial.  The DOJ has proposed numerous emergency measures, according to Politico, which obtained and reviewed documents the DOJ sent to lawmakers.

Two reporters cover the same development.  This reporter is skeptical:
Swift response to unconfirmed reports that DOJ seeks emergency powers during corona crisis.  Keeping in mind that there has been no official announcement, a Politico report that the Department of Justice is requesting new emergency powers during the COVID-19 outbreak went over online like a lead balloon.  The Justice Department, under the leadership of Attorney General Bill Barr, "has quietly asked Congress for the ability to ask chief judges to detain people indefinitely without trial during emergencies — part of a push for new powers that comes as the coronavirus spreads through the United States," Politico reported.  In an article published Saturday, the news source said it had reviewed documents that detailed requests to lawmakers which reportedly included topics such as the statute of limitations, asylum and the way court hearings are conducted.

On the other hand, this reporter seems quite confident:
The Justice Department is asking for emergency powers.  It's not just private businesses and schools being impacted by the social distancing rules and lockdowns taking place all over the nation.  Our criminal justice system is feeling the pinch also, as courts deal with mandatory staffing reductions and the need to avoid having large groups of people gathered together in front of a judge.  This is restricting the ability of states to process suspects in normal fashion.  In response to this pressure, Politico reports that the Justice Department quietly filed a request to have emergency powers granted to them so they can maintain order without the normal procedures that are generally followed, and some of what they're asking for is disturbing to say the least. [...] There are more requests on the list, including the ability for the chief judge of any district court to "pause court proceedings" when the court is impacted by civil disobedience or other emergency situations.  Such a "pause" could be put into effect for pre-arrest, post-arrest, pre-trial, trial, and post-trial procedures.  In other words, this would effectively throw habeas corpus out the window for the duration of the pandemic.  You could, in theory at least, be arrested and tossed in a cell and left there indefinitely without getting the chance to appear before a judge and ask to be released, have bail set or anything else.

California's Stay-at-Home Order Is a Legal Mess.  California Governor Gavin Newsom's stay-at-home order may well be necessary as a matter of public health in the face of the new coronavirus — I will leave that to epidemiologists to determine.  But viewed as a legal declaration, it's a total mess. [...] The order is also drafted so badly that it creates contradictions with the state's own website explaining it, with the governor's own speech rolling it out, and with common sense.  As written, the order does not say clearly that Californians can leave their homes to buy food or medicine or other necessities.  It doesn't say whether they can go out to help family members or friends who are themselves vulnerable or otherwise in need.  It is silent on going out for exercise.  Although context suggests all these may be permitted, the formal legal implication of the text would be that all are prohibited.

New web threat:  Government plan to scan online messages.  A privacy organization warns a bill in Congress would violate privacy and security by requiring "every message sent" to be read by government-approved scanning software.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation said the EARN IT bill sponsored by Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., would spell the end of encryption online.  The bill's authors avoided the word "encryption," EFF noted, but they proposed "legislation that enables an all-out assault on encryption."

A Real-Life Story of How Coronavirus Hysteria Oppresses People.  Commentators have noted the dishonest reporting of statistics to buttress the false claim that deaths from the coronavirus (hereafter, COVID-19) are far in excess of mortality from the common flu when in fact the opposite is likely the case. [...] I was indeed shocked when Nathan called me on March 17 to report that the wedding and reception, for which all the invitations had gone out and for which they had planned for over a year, were being canceled on the "Order of the Health Officer of the County of Riverside."  I obtained a copy of the so-called "order" that "prohibits" gatherings of ten or more individuals in the County of Riverside.  According to the text of the decree, "Violation of ... this Order is a crime punishable by fine, imprisonment or both."  The edict exempts gatherings of government officials, including those at the Health Department and their colleagues who drafted the order.  Another curious exemption from the order is those involved in "congregate living settings."  I suppose that's to cover Riverside County, California's resident population of homeless bums, who are stuck living in "congregate living settings" in their feces- and needle-infested encampments.

Are America, and Trump, being played?  [Scroll down]  America has never been brought to her knees to the level happening right now, on Trump's watch.  Not in the Civil War.  Not in WWI or WWII, and certainly not at any time during the Cold War.  Forty million Californians sheltered in place — by order of an American government official?  Schools closed from coast to coast; and restaurants closed in every major state, by order of American government officials?  And movements toward gun control and limited rights to gather — by order of American government officials?  And nationalized healthcare achieved in important practical respects without the inconvenience of having to pass laws?  And all of this to fight a pandemic of still unclear comparative seriousness that originated in anti-American communist China, and is being cheered on, magnified and roiled relentlessly by the anti-American left, including especially the MSM.  If this isn't a deliberate plot to take down America and every safeguard of American freedom, how would it look different if it was?

Scientist with 4 Degrees from MIT Warns 'Deep State' Using Coronavirus Fear-Mongering To Suppress Dissent.  A decorated scientist with four degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology believes the coronavirus pandemic is being used by the "Deep State" for its own purposes.  Shiva Ayyadurai said on Twitter that "fear-mongering" over the outbreak is being used to push an agenda. [...] Think about what has transpired in less than a week's time.  We have handed control of nearly everything in our lives to the government.  In many places, they are telling us when we can leave our homes and when we must return to them.  They have decided what events or religious services we can attend, how many people are allowed to be there and which businesses are allowed to stay open.  In the process, the global economy has crashed with the assistance of the media stirring everyone into a mass panic.  People are hoarding and fighting over toilet paper as if it is the cure for COVID-19 and grabbing every canned and dry food they can find.

Will the Real Victim of the Wuhan Flu 'Crisis' Be Your Rights?  Right now, after nearly three months of the threat, the U.S. has had a total of 3,487 cases of the Wuhan virus, with 68 deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control.  That compares to 222,000 flu cases with a range of 22,000 to more than 50,000 deaths.  Yet, we're told repeatedly that, out of "an abundance of caution," we must shut down our economy.  From New York to California, state and local governments have declared "emergencies."  So has the federal government, part of a much-broader "crisis" response.  This gives government officials, including non-elected bureaucrats, extraordinary powers over all of us.  We should be alarmed.  It started with asking people to avoid gatherings of more than 250 people.  Now that's been shrunk to just 10.  And we're told restaurants, churches and other places where people usually congregate are now considered dangerous. [...] [T]he media focus has been hysterical to the point of absurdity, encouraging government to impose the most stringent controls in modern history.  That's bad enough, given the mainstream media's undisguised contempt for President Donald Trump.  But they're providing cover for those who would deprive us of our rights permanently.

San Francisco Initiates Forced Quarantine of all Residents, All Hours.  San Francisco has skipped the interim mitigation efforts and has announced a forced quarantine of all residents inside their homes 24-hours-a-day for the next three weeks.  A totalitarian dream.  All residents must remain confined inside their homes or residences and no-one will be permitted outside except for emergency services or monitored visits to the grocery stores.  The order remains in effect until April 7, 2020, and may be extended.

Executive order in Champaign could include banning sale of firearms, ammunition and alcohol.  Champaign Mayor Deborah Frank Feinen has issued an executive order declaring an emergency in the city.  City officials said the emergency is related to the COVID-19, which is anticipated to cause an impact on the health of community members.  Champaign Municipal Code allows the mayor to declare an emergency for a limited time.  Included in the executive order are ordinances that would give the city extraordinary powers to the Mayor.
  •   Violating parts of the Open Meetings Act
  •   Ban sale of firearms and ammunition
  •   Ban sale of any alcohol
  •   Closing of all bars, taverns, liquor stores, etc
  •   Ban sale or giving away of gasoline or other liquid flammable or combustible products in any container other than a gasoline tank permanently fixed to a motor vehicle
  •   Direct the shutoff of power, water, gas, etc
  •   Take possession of private property and obtain full title to same
  •   Prohibit or restrict ingress and egress to and from the City
There are no confirmed COVID-19 cases in central Illinois as of Thursday evening [3/12/2020].

The Editor says...
This is tyranny, whether it is for a limited time or not.

Gov. Inslee to restrict gatherings of more than 250 people, a move aimed at sports and concerts.  In the most drastic move yet to try to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, Gov. Jay Inslee is expected Wednesday [3/11/2020] to restrict gatherings of more than 250 people in King, Snohomish and Pierce counties, a move aimed at sports, concerts and other cultural events.  The measure will be announced during a Seattle news conference, according to a source involved in conversations with the governor's office but who has not been cleared to discuss the issue.  The measure would not affect retail stores, according to the source.

The Editor says...
The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees the freedom of peaceful assembly.  There is no mention in the Constitution of exceptions due to a public health crisis, real or imaginary.  If the governor can outlaw gatherings of 250 or more people, he can change the limit to 100 people, then to 20.  What if your church has 500 members?  That's not likely in Washington, I suppose, but what if?

Standing Strong on the Constitution.  America, in both its ideal and in its actuality, stands on two feet.  Under those feet is a foundation of Biblical wisdom and a knowledge of history that taught the founders what worked and what didn't.  With enormous care, those great men designed a nation with a stable underpinning of a constitutional rule of law and the right of each individual to have a say in how that rule would be implemented — in other words, the right to vote. [...] The left isn't at all interested in continuing the grand experiment that is America.  The left is about ending it entirely, and they are involved up to their skinny necks and wobbling dentures in pulling those two stable feet of the commonwealth right out from under us.  They are trying to eviscerate the Constitution by attacking every one the of Bill of Rights, and they are undermining the individual vote — local, state, and national.

Secret Babel Street app is being used by Feds to track cell phone 'movement' — without warrants.  As supporters of President Trump wait on Attorney General William Barr and U.S. Attorney John Durham to hold people at the FBI and Justice Department accountable for lying to the FISA Court to fraudulently obtain a surveillance warrant to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign, now comes a report that federal law enforcement agencies won't have to do that anymore.  And why?  Because they've spent millions on a contract with a tech company in Virginia that has developed an app the Feds are secretly using to track cellphone movements and, thus, the movements of any individual they choose.  No warrant necessary.

A warning:  Socialist Bernie Sanders vows to govern through executive actions.  As if Bernie Sanders's extremist positions alone weren't enough to give one pause, a look at how he intends to enact them is even more disturbing. [...] Instead of governing through the legislative process, he intends to govern like a dictator, pen and phone in hand, enacting extremely sweeping diktats through one-man rule.  This is pretty much what his heroes, such as Fidel Castro of Cuba, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, and Nicaragua's Sandinistas did:  proclaim the democratic bona fides, quiet the critics and fool the New York Times — and then move in for the kill, going all in on the maximo leader dictatorship model, proclaiming it in the name of "the people."  You want to know how all socialist regimes end up as dictatorships?  This is how, and we all know who Sanders's heroes up to now have been.

Assault Rifle Bans Turn Lawful Gun Owners Into Felons Overnight.  On January 20, 2020, the nation turned towards Virginia as a massive Second Amendment rally took place in Richmond.  Why did this "Right to Bear Arms" rally occur?  Because Virginians were afraid of an aggressive legislative agenda aimed at gun ownership in a historically pro-Second Amendment state.  The gun grab legislation that fueled the pushback was proposed on January 10, when House Bill 961 passed with a 51-48 vote.  This dubious legislation, in short, would have prohibited the sale, transportation, and transferring of newly defined "assault firearms."  The ill-fated bill also would have banned magazines with a capacity of 12 or more rounds, suppressors, and other elements — restrictions that are anathema to many residents of Virginia.

New California Bill Requires Retailers Create 'Gender-Neutral' Aisles For Children.  A new bill introduced in the California Assembly would require retailers to create "gender-neutral" floor-spaces for children's merchandise, with the goal of banning sex-specific labeling labeling such as "girls aisles" and "boys aisles."  The bill proposed by Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low, requires all retail department stores with 500 employees or more to comply with the newfound gender standards of the Left.

The Editor says...
In a free country, businesses are allowed to arrange their stores in any manner they choose.

Alabama Dem Introduces Legislation Mandating Vasectomies for Men at Age 50 or After Third Child.  An Alabama Democrat state lawmaker from Birmingham has introduced legislation that, if passed would mandate, "every Alabama man to undergo a vasectomy within one month of his 50th birthday or the birth of his third biological child, whichever comes first," according to a report from Alabama-based Yellowhammer News.  The bill, filed by State Rep. Rolanda Hollis (D) on Thursday [2/13/2020], is viewed by some a response to the 2019 passage by the state legislature of the Human Life Protection Act, a law that is currently making its way through the federal courts that ban abortion with very few exceptions.

Medical Journal:  CPS Should Take Kids From Parents if They Oppose Transgender 'Treatment'.  At the tail end of last year, the Journal of Medical Ethics published a paper advocating for government intrusion into the family if parents disagree with their kids about dangerous experimental transgender drugs.  Among other things, the paper suggested that Child Protective Services should remove children from their parents if the children identify with the gender opposite their biological sex and the parents do not wish for them to take dangerous experimental "treatments."  According to the abstract, the paper focuses on "how to proceed if a minor and their parents have disagreements concerning their gender-affirming medical care."  After studying "ethical, paediatric, adolescent and transgender health research," the authors "discuss three potential avenues for providing gender-affirming care over parental disagreement:  legal carve-outs to parental consent, the mature minor doctrine and state intervention for neglect."

Sorry, you cannot compel Americans to vote.  Democratic California Assemblyman Marc Levine has introduced a clearly unconstitutional bill which mandates that anyone registered to vote must attend a voting booth and file a response.  Levine says his intended law is justified and necessary because "democracy is not a spectator sport — it requires the active participation of all its citizens ... Those rights come with a responsibility by registered voters to cast their ballot and make sure that their voice is heard by their government."  While registered voters would not have to select a candidate in order to conform with Levine's desired law, they would have to file a ballot return, even if unmarked.  But as I say, this bill is patently unconstitutional.

Alabama: State Kidnaps Newborn From Mother After Falsely Accusing Her Of Drug Use.  Due process is something that is protected under the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution, but since the Trump administration has been pushing red flag laws and continuing in the Obama administration's footsteps with asset forfeiture, it's as though due process is a thing of the past, even though it isn't.  The latest evidence of the state and its agents violating due process, as well as the rights protected in the Fourth Amendment and engaging in kidnapping comes from the state of Alabama, where a young mother was issued a drug test without her consent that resulted in a false positive, for which the state ripped her newborn baby from her arms.

Coastal States Are in the Fight of Their Lives.  Is the Rest of America Listening?  [Scroll down]  Everyone should be terrified at the blatant stripping of constitutional rights happening right now in the west and the east.  How long before it bleeds into your state?  In Virginia, second amendment rights have been all but obliterated.  There is only one other right we have that it is more vital to a free and prosperous society and that is the very right that the second amendment was designed to protect.  If Americans allow this egregious fascism to stand for their Virginian brethren, a precedent will be set.  How long before that precedent reaches the borders of your own bubbles?  In case you have the audacity to be thinking right now, "It'll be a while" just ask yourself how long it took for the transgender revolution to infect your schools, workplaces and governance in the five years it's even been in the public discourse.

Can't Make This Up: New York State Is Now Mandating "Stargazing Permits".  Imagine this:  You're out with your family in one of the parks in New York state where you can actually see the stars when it gets dark.  You look up in the sky, see a constellation, and you point upwards to show your kids.  Along comes a park ranger demanding to see your Stargazing Permit, and issues you a citation because you didn't know you needed such a permit.  That's right, the state of New York is now demanding us peasants give them money so we can look up at the sky.

VA Bill Would Criminalize Criticism of Governor and Associates.  It's another day, another crazy proposed bill in Virginia.  While the state has been making headlines for their assault on the Second Amendment, that's hardly the only bullet point on their agenda.  The state doesn't have much respect for the Second Amendment, and we're about to see if their attitude is the same towards the First.  Bill HB 1627 is titled "Threats and harassment of certain officials and property; venue," and was introduced by Democrat Jeffrey M. Bourne on January 16th.

The Language of Virginia's New Anti-Free Speech Legislation Is Absolutely Unbelievable.  Virginia's current Democrat governance has devolved into an absolute dumpster fire.  Last week, protestors numbering in the tens of thousands took to the streets of Richmond to oppose a slate of new gun control laws which clear violate the letter and spirit of the 2nd Amendment.  For their trouble, the mainstream media smeared them as white nationalists and violent extremists.  In the end, things were peaceful and anchors at CNN were really sad, but the point was made.  Citizens were not going to sit idly be and be subjected to unconstitutional nonsense.  As I write this, hundreds of bodies in Viriginia have passed resolutions of non-enforcement and pledged to not expend resources to help Gov. Ralph Northam (also know as "Coonman" to his racist friends) in his crusade.  With the backlash that has formed toward the state's government in the aftermath of these laws, they've decided to respond in the most insane way possible.  Namely, attempting to legislate the 1st Amendment out of existence.  No, that's not an overstatement.

Virginia Democrats Push Legislation to Make Criticism of Government Officials a Criminal Offense.  In the wake of the Virginia gun rights rally on Monday, Democrats in the Capitol are not slowing down their push for tyranny.  They are moving a bill through the legislature that would effectively criminalize dissent against Governor Blackface Northam and other state government officials.  House Bill 1627 was introduced by Delegate Jeffrey M. Bourne last week.  The legislation "provides that certain crimes relating to threats and harassment may be prosecuted in the City of Richmond if the victim is the Governor, Governor-elect, Lieutenant Governor, Lieutenant Governor-elect, Attorney General, or Attorney General-elect, a member or employee of the General Assembly, a justice of the Supreme Court of Virginia, or a judge of the Court of Appeals of Virginia."  Language in the bill explicitly criminalizes free speech, in what would constitute a blatant attack on the 1st Amendment of the Constitution.

Schiff Tells Senators They Must Not Allow Trump to Run for Re-Election.  House Impeachment Manager Adam Schiff (D.-Calif.) told the Senate during the impeachment proceedings on Wednesday [1/22/2020] that it must remove President Donald Trump from office and not allow him to run for re-election.  If the Senate allows Trump to run for re-election, Schiff insisted that we could not know if the election was "fairly won.["]  "Instead, we are here today to consider a much more grave matter, and that is an attempt to use the powers of the presidency to cheat in an election," Schiff told the Senate.  "For precisely this reason," Schiff said, "the president's misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we cannot be assured that the vote will be fairly won."

The Editor says...
If the Democrats get out the vote at the local graveyard, and allow illegal aliens to vote, and allow Motor Voters to vote on both sides of a state line, then there is indeed some doubt that "the vote will be fairly won."

Washington Has a Dangerous Obsession With Secret Courts.  Article One, Section 9, clause 2 of the United States Constitution states, "the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety may require it."  It says something about the importance of that clause that, to this day, the right of habeas corpus has been suspended only twice in criminal cases: once in the case of Abraham Lincoln's prosecution of the Civil War (rebellion), and once in the case of detaining suspected terrorists during the Bush administration (which, at least in theory, was tied to preventing something like invasion). In other words, the idea of using secret courts to try citizens without their having any knowledge of their accuser, or of the charges and evidence, is fundamentally un-American, and our criminal law has broadly reflected that, in a remarkable show of consistency across our multi-century history.  But there's a wrinkle:  habeas corpus has only remained that foundational to American government in the realm of explicit criminal prosecutions.  When it comes to intelligence gathering, civil suits, and regulatory actions, the results are far murkier.

A Textbook Example of Tyranny.  Virginia introduces a bundle of radical laws to destroy 2nd amendment rights, militias, sale transfer and registration bills, and the People of Virginia says no, and we're going to vote you all out next term.  Virginia government responds by introducing a bill to eliminate voter ID.  Virginia says we're not going to wait, we'll petition your removal from office, and get almost a 3rd of the 240K signatures to remove the governor and starts petitions to remove delegates.  Virginia government responds by introducing a bill to raise the amount of signatures from 10% of the prevailing vote, to 25%.  Folks, this is the a textbook example of tyranny.

Man gets 12-year sentence for keeping phone after being arrested.  Judges have been accused of racial injustice for handing an African-American man a 12-year sentence after he asked a jail officer to charge his mobile phone.  Willie Nash, 39, had been booked in to the Newton County prison in Mississippi on a misdemeanour [sic] charge when the offence [sic] took place.  He was found to have brought the phone in when he asked an employee for "some juice".  The jailer took the request to mean Nash wanted a drink, until he handed over his handset to be charged.  The jailer gave the device to a deputy sheriff, who later unlocked it using a pass code provided by Nash and found he had sent text messages to his wife.  Justice Leslie King, the only African-American on the nine-member Mississippi supreme court, said Nash could have avoided punishment entirely because it was not clear whether he had even been searched, or told not to bring his phone into the jail.

The Potemkin Court.  As set forth below, I pose the question as to whether or not, based on its operations and recent events, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court ("FISC") can fairly be described as a Potemkin institution which in reality serves only to give the false impression that it is protecting U.S. citizens by imposing constitutional limits on the government's enormous, comprehensive, and thoroughly invasive powers of electronic surveillance. [...] Whatever its pretensions and judicial trappings, the FISC has been absorbed and co-opted by the surveillance state such that it now serves merely to put a reassuring smiley face on the alarming fact that the government has the untrammeled and unlimited power to inspect, catalog, and lay bare every nook and cranny of our lives.

Judge blocks Trump's attempt to let governors refuse refugees.  A federal judge ordered a halt Wednesday [1/15/2020] to the Trump administration's plan to give states and localities a veto over refugees being sent into their territory, saying the law doesn't allow them a say.  The ruling is a major victory for immigrant rights groups, who had feared some communities would shut their doors thanks to President Trump's executive order last year establishing the veto policy.  Judge Peter J. Messitte, an appointee of President Clinton to the U.S. District Court in Maryland, issued an injunction stopping the policy just days before it was to kick in.

New California Law Prohibits Showering and Doing Laundry on the Same Day.  "So all of the sudden I can smoke marijuana as much as I want but I can't take a shower?," newsman Mark Kriski said.  "Unbelievable.  That's where our state has gone."  KTLA news anchors and reporters debated on LIVE TV the stupidity of a new California law that effectively prohibits showering and doing laundry on the same day.

Why Americans Fear Trial By Jury.  Today, over 90 percent of American defendants waive that right in favor of a prosecutor's proposed plea bargain, because, as Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz notes in his new book Guilt by Association, they are warned that the penalty at the trial stage will be excessively higher.  Dershowitz offers frightening examples.  Two men picked up their uncle after committing a robbery, making him a passenger in a police car chase where a trooper was shot and killed.  The actual murdering robbers copped a plea and went to prison but the unarmed passenger uncle went to trial and was sentenced to death.  A doctor was offered one year if he pleaded guilty to Medicare fraud, but believing he had proof of innocence, ended up sentenced to 11 years after a trial.  Two businessmen accused of financial fraud were offered seven years on a plea but ended up with 80 years after trial.  A young mother accused of health fraud was offered a four year plea and ended up with 20 years after trial.

A Big And Bizarre Drone Mystery Is Unfolding In Rural Colorado.  [Scroll down]  Based strictly on the descriptions conveyed, it sounds like someone or some group is testing a broad-area surveillance capability with lower-end autonomous drones.  This could include something as simple as having a group fly a series of planned routes and return with the information gathered via autopilot.  By doing so, a group of small, relatively inexpensive drones can cover a large area quickly instead of single, far more expensive assets that could take more time and offer less redundancy.  Such a capability could be used for search and rescue, mapping, and general intelligence gathering.  This also doesn't require man-in-the-loop control that would necessitate line-of-sight connectivity.

Vermont rolls out mandatory composting.  Food scraps can't go in Vermont landfills beginning July 1.  Residents will have four ways to handle rotten leftovers and items such as peels, eggshells, seeds, pits, coffee grounds and oils, according to the state's environmental conservation department.  Vermonters can use a household compost bin, buy a Green Cone solar digester to break down the scraps, feed scraps to pigs or leave it to the composting professionals.  The universal recycling law will require trucking companies to provide food scrap collection services to nonresidential customers and multi-unit apartment complexes, the Burlington Free Press reported.  Restaurants, supermarkets and cafeterias must also comply with the law, which is the first state law of its kind.  The state hopes to reach a 60% recycling rate through mandatory composting.

The Editor says...
Recycling and composting may (or may not) be good ideas, but they should be voluntary activities.  In every state, other than Vermont, residents pay a nominal municipal tax every month for garbage pickup, except for areas out in the sticks where the trailer-dwellers have to dispose of their own trash.  The idea of mandatory composting is ridiculous, especially for a restaurant or school cafeteria, where there isn't enough room for a burial ground.  It sounds to me like somebody who owns a composting service has lobbied for the creation of this new law.

The Feds Don't Need To Tell You Or Get A Warrant To Collect Your Emails And Phone Records.  [Scroll down]  These records included calls allegedly with Devin Nunes, R-Calif., the ranking minority member on the Intelligence Committee, and John Solomon, a prominent journalist.  Americans began querying how Schiff could have obtained the phone call records for the report.  Some speculated that a secret warrant had been sought for them, that someone at the carrier (AT&T) had leaked them, that the National Security Agency had been tasked with obtaining them, or that a federal agency had issued a "natsec" letter to acquire them for the intelligence committee.  In reality, the government can obtain these records without taking any such extraordinary measures — and no judge even need be involved for Congress to get them.  It can simply send a subpoena to the carrier.

Virginia Dems Aim to Criminalize "Tactical Training."  A Trap for Gun Owners?  Virginia Democrats have put forth a bill that would strengthen current state law against "paramilitary" activity by criminalizing assemblies of persons with firearms.  The vague wording of Senate Bill No. 64 establishes that a person is "guilty of unlawful paramilitary activity, punishable as a Class 5 felony" if he so much as has the "intent" of intimidating a person or group.  The threat of SB 64 to defenders of the Second Amendment is the uncertainty of how "intent" would be decided.

Virginia Senate Bill No. 64: Declaring Tactical Training Illegal.  This is a remarkable development.  One refreshing thing is that the masks have all come off now.  With control of the Senate, House and Governor's mansion, the controllers want you to know where they stand and are willing to say so out loud and in the clearest possible terms.  Leaving aside the issue of whether one could ever demonstrate intent behind either the delivery or receiving of tactical training, what they really intend is to render illegal any training that involves CQB, small unit fire and maneuver tactics, or any combination of training in long range precision shooting, discrete communications, or battle tactics, techniques and procedures.  Only LEOs can have such training.  The truly remarkable thing is the stated reason: [...]

Virginia to outlaw Krav Maga, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, kickboxing, Tai Chi, firearms instruction and self-defense training under proposed law SB64.  The State of Virginia, now entirely run by truly insane Democrats who support infanticide and child murder, is proposing a new 2020 law known as SB64 which will be taken up by the Democrat-run Senate beginning January 8, 2020.  The law would instantly transform all martial arts instructors into criminal felons.  This includes instructors who teach kickboxing, BJJ, Krav Maga, boxing and even Capoeira.  It would also criminalize all firearms training classes, including concealed carry classes.  It would even criminalize a father teaching his own son how to use a hunting rifle.  Specifically, the law says that a person "is guilty of unlawful paramilitary activity" (a class 5 felony) if that person:  "Assembles with one or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, explosive, or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons..."

The Editor says...
If strictly enforced, such a law would also do away with Driver's Ed, the Boy Scouts, and high school football — all of which teach "technique[s] capable of causing injury or death."  Obviously the baby-killing Democrats would feel a lot safer if they ruled over a bunch of noodle-armed snowflakes.

Natural Rights Versus Political Rights.  A headline I read this weekend proclaimed that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, the Klan-hood-wearing gent formerly known at VMI as "Coonman," was "working on" possible gun confiscation in Virginia now that money on the Left has successfully buried his racism and bought the legislature for their party.  Aside from the obvious commentary about what happens when Democrats obtain power, the headline suggests a far deeper problem confronting our country.  It is only a matter of time before anti-constitutional forces seize control of the Senate, or perhaps the White House, and when they do, what historically American citizens consider to be unalienable rights will suddenly disappear.  The coming purge of natural rights is inevitable.

Who Can Stop Trump Now?  [Scroll down]  The rules of the impeachment process legalized by the House of Representatives turned out to be even worse than all assumptions.  Firstly, this is the first investigation of the current president in U.S. history, sanctioned by members of only one party:  the opposition.  Secondly, the new rules of impeachment legalize the de facto dictatorship of one person: chairman of the Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff.  Schiff gained almost unlimited power.  Now it is Schiff alone who decides who will be called in as a witness, what questions can be asked to the witness, and who exactly will get the right to ask questions.  Schiff obtained the right to terminate the hearing if his version of the events is disputed by some intractable witness.  Republicans were [...] given the right to be able to ask Schiff to call a defense witness, and then only Schiff would be able to decide to admit such a witness.  Only Schiff decides whether the hearing will be open or closed and whether a transcript of the committee's meetings will be made public.

The USA PATRIOT Act:  The Story of an Impulsive Bill that Eviscerated America's Civil Liberties.  The USA PATRIOT Act provides a textbook example of how the United States federal government expands its power.  An emergency happens, legitimate or otherwise.  The media, playing its dutiful role as goad for greater government oversight, demands "something must be done."  Government power is massively expanded, with little regard for whether or not what is being done is efficacious, to say nothing of the overall impact on our nation's civil liberties.  No goals are posted, because if targets are hit, this would necessitate the ending or scaling back of the program.  Instead, the program becomes normalized.  There are no questions asked about whether the program is accomplishing what it set out to do.  It is now simply a part of American life and there is no going back.  The American public largely accepts the USA PATRIOT Act as a part of civic life as immutable, perhaps even more so than the Bill of Rights.  However, this act — passed in the dead of night, with little to no oversight, in a panic after the biggest attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor — is not only novel, it is also fundamentally opposed to virtually every principle on which the United States of America was founded.

Democrats' Election Bill Allows The Government To Define 'Legitimate News'.  The House will vote today [10/23/2019] on the SHIELD Act, a Democrat-led and misguided effort to deter foreign interference in American elections.  While both parties agree that foreign interference, especially online, was a serious issue in the 2016 election, in fact, the GOP has its own bill, this Democratic effort fails in two major ways.  First, it threatens First Amendment protections on free political speech, and second, it fails to address the major issue in 2016 interference.  One of the major problems with the SHEILD Act regarding free speech is a provision that allows the federal government to determine what is and is not "legitimate journalistic activities" for the purposes of protecting them from the provisions of the act.  The obvious problem with this is that should the federal government decide a journalistic activity is not legitimate, it will have broad powers to silence it.

O'Rourke's America.  [Scroll down]  Democrats, no longer content to impose confiscatory taxes on income, now propose — here again, Sanders and Warren stand together — to seize Americans' savings, confiscating their property rather than merely levying their income.  If you don't like that, you can organize a political campaign against it — maybe, if the Democrats will let you.  But keep in mind that Democrats today also hold as an article of faith that the federal government should have the power to prohibit the distribution of videos critical of Democratic presidential candidates, which is what the Citizens United case was all about.

Now the Police Are Telling You What Pronouns You Can Use.  Today is International Pronouns Day.  Just in case you weren't aware of it, here's a senior British police officer explaining its significance.  [Video clip]

Political correctness versus common sense.  Not long ago, everyone understood the unchanging commonsense reality that human beings are either male or female.  Today in New York City, the rules have been changed — and failure to keep up can have dire consequences.  New York City's special 31 genders are surrounded by special legal protections.  Businesses can now be fined as much as $250,000 for refusing to address someone by his preferred pronoun.  As we have seen in the news, even in cities that have not yet have caught up with New York City in terms of imposing legal penalties, failing a test of political correctness about genders can result in public shaming or the loss of a job. [...] The important thing to understand is that the masters of political correctness are not done yet.  They have given us a glimpse of the future they have planned for us.  If they continue to have their way, more and more will be required of us, and the penalties will eventually go beyond mere fines and public humiliation.

In NYC the Term 'Illegal Alien' Can Cost You $250,000.  Before we consider the attack on the First Amendment that protects our freedoms of expression to guarantee freedom of thought by the increasingly radicalized Democrats of New York City, we must consider how we have come to this point where our political "leaders" and the mainstream media have, in essence, become the "Ministry of Truth" that is found in Orwell's novel, "1984."  In that novel of a terrifying dystopia future, the Ministry of Truth formulated propaganda and administered the expansion of Newspeak, and was backed up by the Thought Police.  The misuse language to confound understanding, at least where immigration is concerned, can be traced back decades to the administration of Jimmy Carter, who began process of expunging the term "illegal alien" and even the term alien from the official lexicon that pertains to immigration.

Rep. Tlaib: 'No Joke': Democrats Want To Arrest Trump Officials, 'Take Care Of Them'.  Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib says House Democrats are "trying to figure out" how to arrest Trump officials who resist subpoenas during the impeachment process, promising to "take care of them." [...] Tlaib suggested people like Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross could be jailed in Detroit.  "So I just want you to know I will relay your message, I will tell them they can hold all those people right here in Detroit, we'll take care of them, and make sure they show up to the committee hearings.  We won't hurt them.  We'll make sure they come and show, right?  I'll make sure that you're in charge."

Rep. Rashida Tlaib approves of coup, kidnapping.  At a recent town hall meeting with constituents in Michigan, Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib ran with a suggestion from an attendee that Democrats "hunt down" and forcibly remove Trump administration officials from office if they don't comply with their wishes.  Tlaib quickly stated that her fellow Democrats have already been involved in discussions pertaining to who could arrest administration officials, Trump presumably included, if they refuse to leave power in a timely manner. [...] Maybe they will "hold all those people" they've captured at Ford Field.  Sounds like there will be a lot of them.  Whoever "goes and gets them" will have to figure out where to detain the hostages.  Presumption of innocence?  Rule of law?  Due process?  Trial?  Don't be quaint.  Look what they did to Brett Kavanaugh, Roger Stone, Michael Cohen, and Paul Manafort, for example.  Today's Democrats are fond of wee-hour raids and drive-by lynchings, aided and abetted by their accomplices in the mainstream media.

This may work in Somalia, but it doesn't fly here.
Rashida Tlaib:  Democrats Exploring Ways to Arrest Trump Cabinet Members.  Far-left "Squad" member Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) told constituents on Tuesday [10/1/2019] that her Democrat colleagues are looking into how to arrest White House officials who refuse to comply with subpoenas as part of an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.  Speaking to her constituents at a town hall in her hometown of Detriot, Tlaib said Democrats are puzzled about how to arrest Cabinet secretaries, telling voters in a video captured by America Rising PAC that they could be taken into custody if Congress votes to hold them in contempt.

Unhinged: Rashida Tlaib Agrees US Marshals Should Hunt Down White House Officials.  During a town hall meeting with constituents in Michigan this week, Democratic Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib agreed that U.S. Marshals should "hunt down" White House officials and remove them from office if they "refuse to leave power."  This includes President Trump.  The idea was suggested by a man questioning Tlaib, who nodded in agreement, and then admitted Democrats on Capitol Hill have been having a discussion about who can arrest administration officials and where they could be held.

The government can now activate your phone camera to stream live video of whatever you are seeing.  A New Jersey police department recently implemented new technology that allows 911 operators in the area to stream live video from callers' smartphones with the touch of a button.  While callers will still have to give their consent to such monitoring, some media outlets have dubbed the technology a slippery slope towards automatic surveillance, whereby Big Brother will one day have immediate access to people's smartphones without their consent.  In the meantime, some police departments plan to utilize 911eye, as it's called, a product of Capita Secure Solutions and Services, for permission-based surveillance during emergencies, which will allow first responders to see exactly what callers are seeing before they arrive.

30 of The Biggest Lies & Hoaxes Perpetrated on The American People.  [#7] Child Protective Services & Foster Care:  Child Protective Services (CPS), and the foster care system are two of the most deceitful programs on this list.  Though there may be some wonderful people working in these systems or fostering children, those at the top have created these structures for purposes of kidnapping and trafficking children.  Yes, this is the reality.  A simple search will provide story after story, nightmare after nightmare, and report after report of the negligence, abuse, and criminality of these systems.

He'll have more flexibility after 2020 — and he's going to need it.  The swamp is bottomless.  Truly undrainable.  Unlike blood-sucking vampires that can be tamed with garlic necklaces, holy water and a stake driven through the heart, this THING cannot be stopped.  The Leviathan has become a glioblastomic tumor with roots so deep beneath the Potomac that they can never be wrenched out.  Its gnarly fingers of government intrusion slither into every thin cranny of American life.

D.C. Rally:  Tea Party Patriots Warn Against Growing Socialism in America.  Several hundred Tea Party activists gathered Thursday morning on the steps of the Capitol for a "Stop Socialism, Chose Freedom" rally hosted by the Tea Party Patriots and featuring members of the House and Senate and conservative activists, who called on fellow Americans to reject the resurgent socialism among the left.  Speakers pointed to positions of the 2020 Democrat presidential candidates, arguing that they have been skewing further left to meet the demands of progressives on everything from wealth distribution, gun control, health care, and abortion.

A California Court Dealt a Blow to Religious Liberty.  It's Time for SCOTUS to Act.  Several hundred Tea Party activists gathered Thursday morning on the steps of the Capitol for a "Stop Socialism, Chose Freedom" rally hosted by the Tea Party Patriots and featuring members of the House and Senate and conservative activists, who called on fellow Americans to reject the resurgent socialism among the left.  Speakers pointed to positions of the 2020 Democrat presidential candidates, arguing that they have been skewing further left to meet the demands of progressives on everything from wealth distribution, gun control, health care, and abortion.

Don't Smile for the Camera.  Our federal government's 60,000-person strong domestic spying apparatus already captures every keystroke — even those which we think we have deleted — on every device used to transmit digital data on fiber optic cable in the United States.  That covers every mobile, desktop and mainframe device.  The government, of course, will not acknowledge this publicly.  Yet some of its officials have told as much to me privately.  They have also told me that they believe that they can get away with this so long as the data captured is not used in criminal prosecutions.  Why is that?  The last thing the feds and rogue police want is for government agents to be compelled to answer under oath how they acquired the evidence they are attempting to introduce.  Yet the admission of spying assumes that the right to privacy, which is guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, is protected from governmental invasion only for criminal prosecution purposes.

The Bill of Rights Turns 230, and What Do We Have to Show for It?  We can pretend that the Constitution, which was written to hold the government accountable, is still our governing document, but the reality of life in the American police state tells a different story.  "We the people" have been terrorized, traumatized, and tricked into a semi-permanent state of compliance by a government that cares nothing for our lives or our liberties.  The bogeyman's names and faces have changed over time (terrorism, the war on drugs, illegal immigration, etc.), but the end result remains the same: in the so-called named of national security, the Constitution has been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded to such an extent that what we are left with today is but a shadow of the robust document adopted more than two centuries ago.  Most of the damage has been inflicted upon the Bill of Rights.

Red flag laws to fight mass shootings?  Fine for an ideal world, but we don't live in one.  In the world we actually inhabit, state-level experiments with "red flag" laws should give all Americans pause before handing over this kind of power to Washington.  First of all, the bedrock of America's legal system is all citizens' guarantee to "due process" before the government infringes on any of their legal rights.  Red flag laws around the country skirt or even trample due process.

The enforcement problems with gun-grabbing 'red flag' laws are even worse than you think.  Everyone is debating "red flag" laws like they're some new thing, but California has had variations of them for decades.  We call them domestic violence restraining orders, civil harassment restraining orders, workplace restraining orders, elder abuse restraining orders, mental health seizures and prohibition orders, and, more recently, gun violence restraining orders.  They're all meant to disarm dangerous people — but they're all fundamentally flawed.  None of these red flag laws would have prevented recent mass shootings.  And in my 23 years practicing law in the heart of Silicon Valley, I have litigated dozens of these cases.  I've seen firsthand the practical enforcement problems that emerge in real-life cases.

Democrat Congressman Reminds You What Life Would Be Like Under Left-Wing Rule.  While there has been some pushback the problem is not one Democrat "doxxing" more Republican donors.  It is much deeper.  The Obama years demonstrated that this is how the Left does its business.  When street thugs like the Black Panthers, BLM, or Antifa can't get it done, find and publish any information you can on anyone.  Send the message.  You could be next.  This is speech suppression, plain and simple. [...] Obama's IRS released Tax information to third parties who then protested and intimidated individuals and companies.  His administration raided and terrorized private business owners.  His FBI and CIA spied on everyone including private citizens, the press, and political opponents.  For one purpose:  to destroy them if the need arose.  It's the sort of thing you'd expect from another Castro family.  The one in Cuba.

Red Flag Laws in the Age of Political Psychiatry.  As a general matter, a goal of every healthy community is to prevent all violent crime.  But there is no way to accomplish this goal in practice without a draconian police state.  Crime has a cost, but so do infringements on civil liberties, such as detentions, convictions, institutionalization, and other lesser measures like injunctions and protection orders.  We know that our ability to detect criminal intent in the absence of a completed crime is a difficult matter.  If everyone who had threatened harm on the internet meant it, for example, our society would be awash in blood.

The Racist History of Red Flag Laws.  The idea that mass shootings are based on mental health issues seems sensible, as we would like to think nobody in his right mind can commit these atrocities, but that line of thought is as wrong as those who choose to blame the gun.  Psychologists understand there is a perfect storm of strain and stress that can cause anybody to go on a rampage when certain factors are culminated and met.  Academic circles know that mental health is often wrongly blamed for these tragedies, mostly by the mass media, who like to diagnose mass shooters themselves postmortem.  However, statistical research shows that less than 5% of those suffering from any sort of mental illness ever become violent.

There is No Actual Law or Justice in the B.E.A.S.T. System.  In the aftermath of the Sandyhook shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, President Obama issued 23 executive actions and proposed 19 legislative actions on guns.  After the Virginia Tech shooting, new rules were passed that allowed the Social Security Administration to provide information to the gun background check system of people with "mental disabilities". After Vegas and Parkland, it was bump-stocks.  Now, in the wake of the recent Gilroy Garlic Festival, El Paso, and Dayton mass shootings — all committed by crazed individuals and right on schedule, the politicians have announced bipartisan support for Red Flag Laws.  Do you see a pattern?  Unfortunately, the proposed "Red Flag" legislation has the support of President Trump according to his previous comments, and would allow just one of your neighbors to see something before saying something that would enable law enforcement to confiscate all of your guns and with no legal hearing whatsoever.

Skeptical of the government?  You're a potential terrorist.
The White Supremacy Hoax.  The Wall Street Journal on Saturday [8/10/2019] featured an essay by one Clint Watts, formerly of the FBI and West Point's Counter Terrorism Center.  Watts makes those proposals using the word "white" 16 times in 18 paragraphs.  The sociopolitical ideas rife among white people are the main matrix of terrorism in America, Watts contends.  Racial profiling, anyone? [...] Watts proposes legislation that would permit designating persons associated with what the government may identify as "white supremacist ideology" as subject to surveillance to "preemptively assess whether these white supremacists are taking a radical turn toward violence."  Watts also proposes "red flag" laws, that would allow the government to take away weapons from someone so designated.  Loss of weapons would be the least of burdens imposed on anyone so "red-flagged."  Career, reputation, possibly family, would be gone because someone in the notoriously impartial FBI so decided, perhaps with the agreement of the highly scrupulous FISA court, subsequent to ex parte, secret proceedings.

Liberty, If Not Already Annihilated, Is On The Brink Of Destruction.  The road to victory in the next election is narrow.  But it's like that when you have no principles and undercut the very base you used to put you in office.  We are where we are because enough people didn't ask Trump the hard questions on his core belief in gun rights (or enough people didn't listen when I asked the hard questions on core beliefs).  It appears he doesn't have any.

We're All Enemies of the State:  Draconian Laws, Precrime & the Surveillance State.  We've been down this road many times before.  If the government is consistent about any one thing, it is this:  it has an unnerving tendency to exploit crises and use them as opportunities for power grabs under the guise of national security. [...] It's all part of the grand plan for total control.  The government's proposed response to the latest round of mass shootings — red flag gun laws, precrime surveillance, fusion centers, threat assessments, mental health assessments, involuntary confinement — is just more of the same.  These tactics have been employed before, here in the U.S. and elsewhere, by other totalitarian regimes, with devastating results.  It's a simple enough formula:  first, you create fear, then you capitalize on it by seizing power.

Everything They're Telling You About Mass Shootings Is Wrong.  Democrats have complained about police brutality for years.  The police, they assure us, are out of control.  And, the story goes, they have it in for anyone whose skin is not lily white.  You can't trust the racist cops, they tell us.  Remember Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner, Philando Castile, Tamir Rice, and others.  But these same Democrats also tell us that the police are the only ones who should have guns, which is to say that the police we're not supposed to trust, who are guilty — in their view — of unspeakable crimes against Americans, should be given a monopoly on physical force and that private citizens should be deprived of their most effective means of defending themselves.

CO2 and the Supreme Power of sovereignty.  Sir William Blackstone defines sovereignty as "supreme power."  This power is unitary.  It cannot be shared or limited in any way.  Thus, "quasi sovereignty" cannot exist.  The Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency (2007) that carbon dioxide is an air pollutant under the Clean Air Act.  The result of that 5-4 ruling was that the EPA could be sued by the states for not controlling CO2 emissions.  The states, according to the court, have "quasi-sovereignty." [...] "Quasi" means "pseudo", "mock", "wannabe" or "virtual".  The states thus have the quasi sovereignty to accept the rules set down by the fully sovereign national government.  These rules are set by the nine lawyers collectively referred to as SCOTUS.

In case you haven't heard, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.

Schumer Calls for Amending First Amendment to Limit Political Speech.  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D.-N.Y., has determined there is too much political speech in the United States coming from sources he cannot abide.  So, he stood in front of the Supreme Court on Tuesday, along with Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin, D.-Ill., to announce he is backing Democratic New Mexico Sen. Tom Udall's proposal to amend the First Amendment.  The First Amendment, as it now stands, includes 10 unambiguous words about freedom of speech.  "Congress," it says, "shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech."  Schumer and Udall do not like this sweeping restraint on government power.  There are speakers whose speech they want to abridge.  The Bill of Rights — as correctly interpreted by the Supreme Court — stands in their way.  So, they are seeking to change it.

School district warns parents:  Pay lunch bill or kids may go into foster care.  A Pennsylvania school district received backlash after warning parents their children could be removed from their homes and placed into foster care if overdue lunch bills are not paid.  The Wyoming Valley West School District in Luzerne County, Pa., said about 1,000 student accounts owe a total amount of more than $20,000 in school lunch debt.  Four parents owe at least $450 each.

PA School District To Parents:  Pay Your Kids' Lunch Bill Or We'll Seize Them.  What happens when a school district needs to collect $20,000 in unpaid lunch fees from parents?  In Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, they, um ... repossess your kids.  A letter from the director of federal programs at the Wyoming Valley West School District warns delinquent parents that the district will force their kids into foster care if they don't pay up.

More about school lunches.

This Man Did Nothing Wrong, But He Faces 49 Years In Prison.  The weaklings and fools in the California state legislature decided that guns are bad, bad, bad, so they passed some stupid 'gun control' laws to fight crime.  But Mr [Girard Damian] Saenz was never charged with any crime other than having weapons the state didn't think he should have.  He didn't rob anyone, he committed no crimes using the firearms in his possession.  This is the natural result of the left's insanity when it comes to our Second Amendment rights:  the state legislature made simple possession of firearms it didn't like a crime in itself, but the crime they said that they were preventing never occurred; Mr Saenz was not even suspected of using the firearms illegally.  The Pyrite State created a crime where no crime existed, infringed a man's rights when he had infringed on no one else's.

Renting Your House On Airbnb Should Not Trigger Felony Charges.  A felony is often thought of as reserved for the worst types of criminals — those who commit violent offenses, harming individuals or their property.  But that's not reality.  Aaron Elinoff, a 34-year-old Colorado man, found this out the hard way.  Last week, the city of Denver filed criminal felony charges against Elinoff for allegedly violating the city's short-term rental laws.  The city and others across the country have deemed that people may not freely rent out their property on a short-term basis for extra income (commonly done through the website Airbnb), and sometimes have deemed this transaction worthy of criminal penalties.

FBI, ICE using state driver's license photos without consent for facial recognition searches: report.  The FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have reportedly been using driver's license photos for facial recognition searches without license holders' knowledge or consent.  The Washington Post reports the two agencies have used millions of Americans' photos, largely from driver's licenses, for the purpose of facial recognition searches, citing internal documents and emails from the two agencies that were obtained by Georgetown Law researchers over the past five years and shared with the news outlet.  The photos give the agencies a new layer of information on Americans and a new tool to potentially track both criminals and those who have never committed a crime, according to the Post, which adds that Congress has not authorized any such development of a facial recognition system.

Democrat Proposes 5 years in Prison For "Parody" Videos Of Politicians Before Elections.  Democrat Representative Yvette Clarke from New York is beside herself over something called deep fakes.  These are "photoshopped" or digitally altered videos or images.  And if her bill passes, anyone who fails to mark their production properly could face up to five years in jail.

Democrat Rep. Frederica Wilson:  People Who Mock Members of Congress 'Should Be Prosecuted'.  Democrat Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson stated Tuesday that those who mock members of Congress online should be prosecuted.  "Those people who are online making fun of members of Congress are a disgrace, and there is no need for anyone to think that is unacceptable," Wilson stated as she stood outside of the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Florida.

The Editor says...
Yes, I agree that "there is no need for anyone to think that is unacceptable."  Wait — is that mockery?  Are you gonna have me arrested?

Rep. Frederica Wilson calls for online pranksters to be 'prosecuted' if jokes target lawmakers.  Rep. Frederica Wilson has no love for social media's meme-makers and pranksters — she literally wants them prosecuted.  The Florida Democrat weighed in on free speech issues this week and told an audience that it should be illegal to mock lawmakers.  "Those people who are online making fun of members of Congress are a disgrace," she said while speaking in Homestead.  "We're gonna shut them down and work with whoever it is to shut them down, and they should be prosecuted.  You cannot intimidate members of Congress, frighten members of Congress.  It is against the law, and it's a shame in this United States of America."

The Editor says...
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Rep. Frederica Wilson demands prosecution for those who mock Congress online.  Democratic Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson asserted that people who mock members of Congress online should face prosecution.  "Those people who are online making fun of members of Congress are a disgrace, and there is no need for anyone to think that is unacceptable [sic]," Wilson said during comments made Tuesday [7/2/2019] outside of the Homestead Temporary Shelter for Unaccompanied Children in Homestead, Florida.  "We're gonna shut them down and work with whoever it is to shut them down, and they should be prosecuted," she continued.  "You cannot intimidate members of Congress, frighten members of Congress.  It is against the law, and it's a shame in this United States of America."

Funny how death threats against mini-Ocasio-Cortez came just as Frederica Wilson called for prosecuting congressional ridicule.  [Scroll down]  Last December, [Alexandria] Ocasio-Cortez started something with General John Kelly in defense of her friend [Fredericka] Wilson.  She had nothing to gain from it, she just wanted committee seat assignments at the time and Wilson had ties to all the right people.  I wrote about it here.  At the time, Ocasio-Cortez was trying to demonstrate her loyalty to the touchy, egotistic Wilson, who by the way, wears ridiculous hats.  Since then, Wilson has owed her one.  Wilson loudly called for censorship in prosecution form for making fun of congressional members, in an astonishing call to nullify the First Amendment.  It was weird at the time and people assumed it was because people made fun of her hats.  But now we see a little child targeted, first with threats, second with doxxing, all of which serve to silence in a far more brutal manner.  So the timing here is really very strange.

Democrats are Officially the Party of Derangement.  If any of the 20 Democrats win in 2020, we can officially say goodbye to our democracy as we know it.  College campuses have already been destroyed.  The two left coasts are a disaster and demographic changes are leading to several purple states turning blue as the Democrats' refusal to address the immigration crisis proves successful in their quest for power.  More ignorant, arrogant, and bigoted representatives will be elected to Congress in the manner of AOC, Omar and Tlaib and Republicans will find themselves more and more marginalized.  We can only hope that the majority of Americans watching this disaster unfold wake up and realize that intolerance for thee ultimately leads to intolerance for me.  Democrats do not care about Americans' rights — they seek totalitarian power.  They need to be stopped.

Supreme Court:  Police Can Forcibly & Warrantlessly Carry Out Blood Draws On Unconscious Drivers.  In a ruling that gives police greater leeway to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of anyone driving on a public road, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that police may forcibly and warrantlessly carry out blood draws on unconscious drivers suspected of drunk driving.  The Court's 5-4 decision in Mitchell v. State of Wisconsin found that an unconscious driver suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol constitutes an emergency situation that allows police to ignore the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement and draw blood from that suspect without consent or a warrant, regardless of whether there is an opportunity to obtain a warrant.

The Left is accumulating hellish power over us.  Project Veritas's latest work of investigative journalism has captured video of Google executive Jen Gennai expressing the company's effort to "prevent the next Trump situation."  She goes on to talk about her job, in drafting fairness algorithms to serve a community of people, "not those who voted for our current president."  Jen Gennai then decries Elizabeth Warren as being "misguided" in suggesting that the industry might be better served by breaking up large "monopolistic" companies like Google.

State GOP Learns to Love Big Brother.  In Great Britain, officials are arresting people who refuse to submit to a random face scan.  Their facial-scan system has proved wildly inaccurate, often leading to aggressive police actions against people misidentified as suspects.  You can't walk around any British city without being monitored by police cameras somewhere — something that has turned once-free citizens into the kind of sheep who have to be careful about anything they say or do lest it trigger a police visit.  American cities are trying to follow this police-state model, emboldened by tech companies that will earn a fortune by opening up this taxpayer-funded marketplace.  California agencies want body cameras not only to record police encounters — something that protects the public from abusive officers and officers from unfounded abuse allegations — but to alert the authorities if the person's face matches that of a suspect on some growing database.  The problems are obvious.

Spokane Pastor Arrested After Reminding Police of Free Speech Rights at Drag Queen Library Event.  A Spokane, Washington pastor was arrested for obstruction and taken to jail for a few hours on Saturday after refusing to move across the street from the Spokane Public Library while trying to protest a "Drag Queen Story Hour" event held at the library.  Pastor Afhsin Yaghtin of New Covenant Baptist Church was arrested after speaking with police officers, telling them the library is public property and that he should be able to protest next to the building rather than across the street, according to ChristianNews.net.

Pastor Jailed During 'Drag Queen Story Hour,' SWAT Team Snipers Positioned Atop Library Roof.  A Baptist pastor was arrested and jailed on Saturday [6/15/2019] after refusing to move across the street from the Spokane, Washington Public Library while exercising his free speech against a "Drag Queen Story Hour."  The event had a significant militaristic police presence, including camouflaged snipers positioned atop the roof to oversee the large crowd that stood both for and against the men dressed like women reading stories to children.  Afhsin Yaghtin of New Covenant Baptist Church was arrested for obstructing an officer as he contended with police that the South Hill Library is public property and that he should be able to speak adjacent to the facility instead of being required to stand across the street.

New York Bans Choice:  Public Health More Important Than 'Freedom Of Religion'.  The state of New York has eliminated the public's right to claim religious exemptions for vaccination.  The move, which was signed into law minutes after the measure passed, infuriated parents and defenders of individual liberty.  Now, in New York, parents do not have any say-so whether their children will be vaccinated or not... if they want to send their kids to public schools.

The Editor says...
In case you attended public schools, let me inform you that the Constitution says little or nothing about public health, vaccinations, or medicine, but it specifically protects freedom of religion.

The Omnipresent Surveillance State:  Orwell's 1984 Is No Longer Fiction.  1984 portrays a global society of total control in which people are not allowed to have thoughts that in any way disagree with the corporate state.  There is no personal freedom, and advanced technology has become the driving force behind a surveillance-driven society.  Snitches and cameras are everywhere.  People are subject to the Thought Police, who deal with anyone guilty of thought crimes. [...] Incredibly, as the various nascent technologies employed and shared by the government and corporations alike — facial recognition, iris scanners, massive databases, behavior prediction software, and so on — are incorporated into a complex, interwoven cyber network aimed at tracking our movements, predicting our thoughts and controlling our behavior, the dystopian visions of past writers is fast becoming our reality.

Rights Abridged: The Flawed Model for Red Flag Laws.  In fifteen states and the District of Columbia, new Red Flag laws allow judges to take licensed firearms away from individuals even if they have not committed or even threatened to commit a crime.  A simple petition from a third party triggers a court proceeding that could eliminate a person's Second Amendment rights and cause a cascade of consequences.  Florida is a good example of one of those states.  Some civil rights organizations have expressed concern about constitutional principles being violated by such laws, such as the right to due process and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty.  Red Flag laws seem intended to bypass processes that already exist to have someone adjudicated as mentally ill or guilty of a crime.  Initial Red Flag hearings, like other restraining order hearings, often do not allow the accused time to retain an attorney or present a full defense before having their rights abridged.

Heavy-hitter lefty actor warns what they have in mind for us when they win power.  If I have to choose between sneaky radical leftists who pretend to be small-d democratic activists and honest ones who admit they would stop at nothing in punishing people like me should they gain power, I would always choose the honest ones.  Like radical jihadists, they believe that their cause is so righteous that opposition is immoral, and the evil people who oppose them deserve no constitutional protections once they are in power.  In fact, the Constitution itself is an obsolete document, written by evil white slave-owners, and a hindrance to the utopia they believe is in reach if only we submit to their command.

California threatens to upend Catholic 'seal of confession'.  Catholic priests in California would be legally obligated to report to police sexual abuse confessions brought to them by fellow priests and other church employees if a bill quickly moving through the state legislature becomes law.  Religious liberty advocates, including representatives of Catholic dioceses in California, challenge the legislation, saying it would invade a sacred space and direct priests to violate the "seal of confession."

House Democrats' 'Equality Act' Is Both Unnecessary And Unacceptable For Religious Liberty.  House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has proclaimed H.R. 5, the "Equality Act," as a top legislative priority for the current Congress.  This putatively anodyne but actually harrowing piece of legislation would not only add sexual orientation and "gender identity" protections to our nation's civil rights laws, but would browbeat religious dissenters into submission without any remotely resembling proper dispensations.

Democrats Are All About Restricting Ballot Access If It Helps Stop Trump.  Earlier this month, California began to join the growing chorus of Democrat-run states that are restricting which candidates may be listed on the presidential ballot.  Normally, Democrats decry any limits on ballot access, be they for candidates or voters, but this bill is different.  Why?  Because it is an undisguised attempt to keep Donald Trump off the ballot, and when Trump enters the equation, his opponents throw all other calculations out the window.  The bill is dressed up as a law to compel the president to release his tax returns, but it is really a form of nullification of federal law, the act of Resistance enragés who care for nothing so much as the idea that Donald Trump should not be allowed to occupy the White House.  They will allow no law or Constitution to stand in the way of that goal.

D Is for a Dictatorship Disguised as a Democracy.  [Scroll down]  Indeed, while mainstream America has been fixated on the drama-filled reality show being televised from the White House, the American Police State has moved steadily forward.  Set against a backdrop of government surveillance, militarized police, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, eminent domain, overcriminalization, armed surveillance drones, whole body scanners, stop and frisk searches, roving VIPR raids and the like — all of which have been sanctioned by Congress, the White House and the courts — our constitutional freedoms have been steadily chipped away at, undermined, eroded, whittled down, and generally discarded.  Our losses are mounting with every passing day.  Free speech, the right to protest, the right to challenge government wrongdoing, due process, a presumption of innocence, the right to self-defense, accountability and transparency in government, privacy, press, sovereignty, assembly, bodily integrity, representative government:  all of these and more have become casualties in the government's war on the American people.  The American people have been treated like enemy combatants, to be spied on, tracked, scanned, frisked, searched, subjected to all manner of intrusions, intimidated, invaded, raided, manhandled, censored, silenced, shot at, locked up, and denied due process.

Couple must pay nearly $600G for removing oak tree from their property, judge rules.  A judge ordered a Northern California couple this week to pay nearly $600,000 for uprooting an almost 200-year-old oak tree from their property that was protected under a conservation easement.  Peter and Toni Thompson removed the 180-year-old heritage oak tree to move it to another home they built adjacent to the property.  More than 3,000 cubic yards of dirt was also removed in the process.

California bill targets Catholic priests first, but the rights of all religions are at risk.  California is considering a proposed law that is nothing less than an attempt to jail innocent priests.  California Senate Bill 360 seeks to change its law to force a priest, when he hears of sins in the confessional regarding sexual abuse, to make a choice.  He must choose to either maintain the confidentiality of the sacrament and face possible imprisonment or to betray that confidentiality and violate his deepest conscience and the laws of God and the Roman Catholic Church.  No priest I know would choose the latter.

The So-Called Equality Act:  Making Some Americans More Equal than Others.  Every totalitarian system has used the tactic of coercing people to affirm the regime's agenda, even when they disagree.  Forcing people to mouth politically correct dogmas that they know are false is designed to break their spirit and their resistance.  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said the worst aspect of Communist totalitarianism was not the economic poverty or the lack of political rights; it was being forced to repeat the regime's lies:  "The simple step of a courageous individual is not to take part in the lie."  Just a few years ago, few imagined that the greatest threat to liberty would come via the sexual revolution.  Its promise of liberation for some has turned into repression for everyone else.  Homosexual and transgender people are not a "vulnerable and marginalized population," as their propaganda puts it; they are now the favored few.

Parents Can't Monitor Autistic Son with GPS Tracker at School, Nevada Ruling Says.  The parents of an autistic child in Nevada who fought to have his school let him wear a GPS tracker with the ability to listen in on his surroundings lost their battle in a case that could resonate in school districts across the U.S.

23 reasons not to reveal your DNA.  DNA testing is a booming global business enabled by the internet.  Millions of people have sent samples of their saliva to commercial labs in hopes of learning something new about their personal health or heritage, primarily in the United States and Europe.  In some places, commercial tests are banned.  In France, you could face a fine of around $4,000 USD for taking one.  Industry giants Ancestry.com, 23andMe, MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA market their services online, share test results on websites, and even offer tutorials on how to search for relatives in phone directories, or share results in social media.  They often also claim rights to your genetic data and sell access to their databases to big pharmaceutical and medtech companies.

Elijah Cummings won't let witness have lawyer.  Democrats on the House Oversight Committee want to depose John Gore about his role in the Trump administration's decision to add a question to the 2020 Census about citizenship.  Gore was acting as Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights when the decision was made.  Gore is prepared to testify and the administration is fine with him doing so.  Attorney General Barr insists only that Gore be accompanied by an attorney.  Barr is right to attach this condition, one that, according to a Department of Justice spokesperson, is consistent with longstanding DOJ policy.  The lawyer accompanying Gore would be be able to assert any privileges the executive branch may possess, including executive privilege.

Rep. Cummings Throws a Tantrum After Trump DOJ Official Refuses to Give Deposition Without DOJ Lawyer Present, 'Massive Obstruction'.  The Democrat Chairman of the House Oversight Committee accused President Trump and AG Barr of 'massive obstruction' on Wednesday [4/24/2019] for ordering federal employees to ignore congressional subpoenas.  "Both President Trump and Attorney General Barr are now openly ordering federal employees to ignore congressional subpoenas and simply not show up — without any assertion of a valid legal privilege," Dem Congressman Elijah Cummings said in a statement.  Reuters reported that the Justice Department on Wednesday refused to allow John Gore, a deputy assistant attorney general in the Civil Rights Division to provide a deposition scheduled for Thursday if the committee would not allow a DOJ lawyer by his side.

Democrats Can't Win Based on Their Ideas, So They Want to Change the Rules of the Game.  One of the biggest criticisms of President Trump is that he violates so-called "democratic norms."  Leading Democrats, think tank officials, and newspaper columnists have continuously wrung their hands over how everything from Trump's tweets to his legitimate criticisms of the mainstream media somehow threatens American governing institutions. [...] Yet these same groups are conspicuously silent on Democrats' blatant and unapologetic attempts to subvert U.S. founding institutions in their lust for power that they cannot achieve through the existing governing framework.  In recent weeks, Democrats have called for abolishing the country's constitutional voting system, allowing children to vote, and packing the Supreme Court.

Brooklyn parents sue to stop mandatory measles vaccinations.  A group of parents in Brooklyn are seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent mandatory measles vaccinations from taking effect.  The parents' lawsuit against the New York City Department of Health called the emergency order "arbitrary and capricious" and the measures it necessitates "drastic."  The order, issued by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio last week, demands that all persons, starting at the age of 6 months old, who live, work or attend school within the specified zip codes of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, be vaccinated.

Mom Catches CBS Using Image of Her Vaccine-Injured Child, Falsely Claiming Measles Caused It.  For months now, the Free Thought Project has been reporting on the hype and utter hysteria being pushed by the government and the media alike in regards to the 2019 measles situation.  It started in January as mainstream media and social media giants began begging for the government to silence those who advocate for vaccine safety and it came to a head on Tuesday as New York began force vaccinating citizens and charging those who resisted it with a crime.

De Blasio Declares Health Emergency, Orders Measles Vaccinations In Williamsburg.  Mayor Bill de Blasio declared a public health emergency on Tuesday and has ordered mandatory vaccinations for people who may have been exposed to the virus in parts of Williamsburg amid a growing measles outbreak.  Since September, the city said more than 250 measles cases have been confirmed in the Brooklyn neighborhood.  "We have a situation now where children are in danger.  We have to take this seriously.  Every one of us has to feel responsibility for the situation because measles is so contagious, can spread so quickly," de Blasio said at news conference at a Williamsburg library on Tuesday morning [4/9/2019].

Health Freedom Is Being Destroyed All Over The Western World.  They tell us that we are "free", but it is just a lie.  In every country in the western world, there is layer after layer of rules and regulations that strictly govern just about every area of our lives.  But until just recently, there were certain lines that still had not been crossed.  One of those lines has to do with bodily integrity.  We have a fundamental right to say what goes into our bodies and what doesn't go into our bodies.  When any government violates that fundamental right, no matter how good the intentions are, they have entered the realm of tyranny.  And let there be no doubt — what is taking place in New York City right now is tyranny.  On Tuesday [4/9/2019], New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio used the pretense of "a public health emergency" to order mandatory vaccinations for all of the Orthodox Jews living in Williamsburg.

Media Goes Full Commie:  Christiane Amanpour Asks James Comey Why He Didn't Shut Down "Lock Her Up" Chants at Trump Rallies.  Christiane Amanpour asks James Comey if he is responsible for President Trump's victory in 2016 because HE ALLOWED Trump supporters to chant "Locker her up!" at Trump rallies.  Chistriane says this is "hate speech" and believes these people should have been silenced.

CNN Host Asks If FBI Should Have 'Shut Down' Trump Supporters Chanting 'Lock Her Up'.  CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour called "lock her up" chants by Donald Trump supporters "hate speech" in a new interview and asked James Comey if he wished he had "shut down that language" in his capacity as FBI Director at the time.  Amanpour recounted the frequent chants at Trump 2016 campaign rallies about imprisoning Hillary Clinton for her perceived crimes and wondered if they should have been legal, but Comey responded it was not the role of government officials to censor that speech.

House Democrats attack freedom of the press.  What part of "Congress shall make no law" does House Oversight Chairman Elijah Cummings not understand?  The Maryland Democrat, suddenly handed the investigative and subpoena powers of the House, must think there isn't enough executive branch misconduct to investigate.  That would explain why, when finally given the power to hold the Trump administration accountable, he is instead recklessly undermining the First Amendment's freedom of the press by questioning whether news organizations went and made editorial decisions he doesn't like.  Yes, it is every bit as dumb as it sounds.

Social media bosses face jail under 'world first' Australian laws.  Social media executives risk jail for failing to take down violent extremist content quickly, under controversial laws passed in Australia on Thursday — a "world first" in the wake of the Christchurch mosques massacre.  Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly in favour of the laws, which hold firms like Facebook and YouTube — and their executives — responsible for removing "abhorrent material" quickly.  The companies face fines approaching billions of dollars — or 10% of global annual turnover — for failing to enact the "expeditious removal" of footage of terrorism, murder and other serious crimes, while executives could face up to three years in jail.

House Democrats Want 'Oversight' over Fox News' Editorial Decisions.  Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives are demanding to know why Fox News did not publish a story prior to the 2016 election about an alleged affair years before between porn star Stormy Daniels and Donald Trump.  House Committee on Oversight and Reform chair Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) wrote to former Fox News reporter Diana Falzone last month demanding that she turn over any documents relating to Trump's alleged extramarital affairs.  An article in the New Yorker last month alleged that Fox News executive Ken LaCorte spiked the story to protect Trump — a claim LaCorte has vehemently denied, saying the story lacked corroborating evidence and that the network was merely practicing responsible journalism, as were other outlets who declined the story.

In New Zealand, a Democracy Turns Against Itself.  One of the oldest criticisms of democracy is that it's prone to degenerating into little more than mob rule, driven by the latest panic, hatred, or revulsion to consume people's attention.  When it comes to stoking such strong emotions, it's difficult to top the effect of the brutal mass murders committed at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.  In the wake of that crime, the country's government has succumbed to blind reaction by restricting speech, depriving innocent people of arms, and heightening domestic surveillance — intrusions into individual rights that are inherent whether or not governments and majorities formally respect them.  It's a grim illustration of just how vulnerable the "liberal" element of liberal democracy can be — as our own country has itself demonstrated in the past.

The Tsunami Approaches.  The European Union has decreed — fatwa'd — that beginning with the 2022 model year, all new cars shall be electronically gelded, forced by software to hew to every speed limit, all the time.  The same software — and hardware — that probably two-thirds of all new cars sold here already have — merely awaiting activation.  Helpful, convenient GPS mapping — so much easier than having to read and handle a paper map, as people used to.  Helpful, convenient "driver assists" — such as the little cameras that enable your car to automatically brake itself when those electronic eyes see another car up ahead, moving more slowly than your car.  These cameras also see — and know, via the GPS mapping data, updated regularly — what the speed limit is on every road you drive.  And the car knows exactly how fast you are driving, in real time — all the time.

The Democrat Leninist Revolution Is Here.  The parallels between the Bolshevik takeover, which begat the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the über-leftward turn of the Democratic Party are impossible to ignore.  Lenin and the Bolsheviks did not significantly differ ideologically from the Romanov monarchical dynasty they ended with their takeover, or from the Mensheviks, from whom the Bolsheviks spilt in 1903, just as the new Democrats don't differ much from the old Democrats.  In the lead-up to Lenin's hijacking, the various Russian factions all sold iterations of socialism, democratic socialism, and communism.  These -isms, at their core, are mostly the same.  Lenin sold a revolutionary narrative of a proletariat revolt, in which the political power rests with the peasants and workers, which would evolve into socialism — equal social ownership of all produced by the workers.

Child Protective Services Has Created A Gestapo Police State.  The Gestapo power that the state now wields over parents is a creation of "child advocates" who believe that it is the function of government to protect children from parents.  One consequence has been to erode parental control and to effectively end it in the case of rebellious children who respond to punishment by calling CPS and reporting their parents.  CPS has powerful incentives to seize children as it justifies the agency's existance and brings a federal payment for each child seized.  There are reports that many of the seized children end up in the hands of pedophiles, but governments seldom want to hear that they are doing harm rather than good.  Why has child safety changed so much over my lifetime that children need a police agency to protect them?  Why could I and my 5 year old classmates walk alone to our neighborhood schools, for example, but such a thing is unthinkable today.  Could the destruction of homogenuous neighborhoods by "diversity" have anything to do with it?  Could the redefinition of the parental control of my day as child abuse have anything to do with it?  Could all the forces that have broken up the family have anything to do with it?

Judge rules against Rockland County's state of emergency over measles outbreak.  A judge has ruled on behalf of several dozen parents who challenged Rockland County's emergency order banning children from public places unless they've been vaccinated against measles.  A state Supreme Court judge made the ruling Friday [4/5/2019] on the legality of Rockland County Executive Ed Day's order, which is part of efforts to stop a measles outbreak that has infected more than 160 people since October.  The 30-day order enacted on March 26 banned unvaccinated people under 18 years old from gathering places including schools, stores, churches and public transportation.

The Editor says...
Obviously the government cannot prohibit anyone from going to church.  That is, it's obvious to anyone who has read the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but apparently it's not obvious to the reporter at WABC-TV, or the officials who run Rockland County.

Swat Team Takes Children from Home because of Political Liability.  On 26 February, 2019, the Chandler Police SWAT team raided a home where the children were sick.  The parents had not committed any crime, nor was any child in any substantial danger.  The raid itself created far more danger than the danger it was supposed to mitigate.  It was a perfect storm of the conflict of rights and the Nanny State, parental responsibility and bureaucratic fear of liability.  In short, it resulted from the basic conflict in our society between those who insist on perfection, and reality.  It shows how creeping tyranny is advancing in society.

Mom Ignores Doctor When Her Sick 2-Year-Old Starts Feeling Better, Child Services Send a SWAT Team.  It was dinnertime on February 25 when the pregnant mother took her 2-year-old to the doctor with a fever of over 100.  The doctor told her to take him to the emergency room, fearing that because the boy was unvaccinated, perhaps he had meningitis — a life-threatening disease.  The doctor called the hospital to alert them.  But by the time the mother and child left his office, the boy was "laughing and playing with his siblings," according to this excellent piece by Dianna M. Nanez in The Arizona Republic.  Mom took his temperature again, and it was almost normal.  So instead of going to the emergency room, the family went home.  The mom called the doctor to say her boy's fever had broken and she wasn't going to the emergency room.  The doctor told her she should go anyway, so she agreed she would — but then she didn't.  That's when the madness began.

Arizona SWAT busts down door to take 2-yr-old unvaccinated boy with 105° fever away from home for help.  After the parents of a sick 2-year-old child refused a doctor's recommendation late last month that they take their unvaccinated son to the emergency room for treatment for the boy's 105 degree fever, he reportedly sicced a police swat team on them via the Arizona Department of Child Safety.  Shocking police surveillance footage released by the media this week shows Chandler Police Department officers busting down the parents' front door and storming into their home as if they were taking down drug dealers or trying to apprehend armed fugitives.  Except they were, in reality, looking for the 2-year-old because they incorrectly believed he was in danger.

Police knock down family's door, take their kids in overnight raid because mom didn't follow doctor's orders for child with fever.  The Arizona Department of Child Safety and the Chandler Police Department in Chandler, Arizona, have fallen under scrutiny, after officers conducted an overnight SWAT-team-style raid on a family's home and took the children because an unvaccinated toddler had a fever.

The Editor says...
We are rapidly approaching the day when your children will no longer be your own.  The state wants total control.  The "local news" on television is an infomercial for big government:  The police are universally depicted as "heroes" and anyone who defies the police is portrayed as a dangerous extremist.  The story above is about a parent who chose not to vaccinate her child, and the child got sick — quite possibly with some illness unrelated to the vaccine she declined.  But that's no reason to withhold treatment, and it does not justify the confiscation of children by the state.   There is apparently no middle ground on the vaccination issue:  On one side, the people who watch too much television say the government is the final authority, and doctors are always right.  On the other side, skeptics have the right to live life without vaccinations, preferring to depend on God's healing power and every normal kid's immune system.  (I had the measles and chicken pox when I was a kid, and so did most of the other kids in my elementary school.  It was no big deal.)  Additionally, you don't know what's in those vaccines.  Consider how many children now have asthma, peanut allergies, ADHD, various degrees of autism, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, previously unknown mysterious diseases, and other problems that were extremely rare or completely unknown until recently.  At this point, one has the right to make informed decisions and proceed accordingly.

N.Y. Suburb Declares Measles Emergency, Bars Unvaccinated Minors From Public Places.  In a move aimed at getting the public's attention, officials in New York's Rockland County have declared a state of emergency in response to an ongoing measles outbreak.  Among the measures: a 30-day ban on any unvaccinated people under the age of 18 from being in public places.  Of course, there's no practical way to enforce the measure.  But that's not exactly the point, anyway, says Rockland County Executive Ed Day.  Officials just want to make sure parents know how serious things are in Rockland.  There have been more than 150 confirmed cases of measles in the county since the fall, officials say.

Michigan's Big Brother Attorney General Will Crack Down Hard on Free Speech.  "Know this: we are watching."  Who makes this kind of threat?  Reinhard Heydrich, the notorious SS general and chief of the Gestapo?  KGB head Vladimir Alexandrovich Kryuchkov?  Big Brother?  They all talked that way.  Last Friday, it was Michigan Department of Civil Rights director Agustin Arbulu's turn to say it.  He and Dana Nessel, the new state attorney general, announced plans "to increase the documentation and prosecution of hate crimes and incidents" in the state.  Not just hate crimes.  Hate incidents.  What's a hate incident? you may ask.  The MDCR press release says, "Hate and bias incidents are those instances where an action does not rise to the level of a crime or a civil infraction."

Court Rules Father Cannot Halt Daughter's Transgender Hormones, or Even Call Her a Girl.  Last Wednesday [2/27/2019], the Supreme Court of British Columbia (B.C.) ruled that a 14-year-old girl may undergo transgender hormone "treatments" to support her transgender identity as a boy — without her father's consent.  The court went so far as to threaten to penalize the father's speech.  If he calls his daughter a girl, that would constitute "family violence," which would be punishable by law.  The B.C. Supreme Court ruled that the girl (referred to as A.B.) "is exclusively entitled to consent to medical treatment for gender dysphoria and to take any necessary legal proceedings in relation to such medical treatment," and that "attempting to persuade A.B. to abandon treatment for gender dysphoria; addressing A.B. by his birth name; referring to A.B. as a girl or with female pronouns whether to him directly or to third parties; shall be considered to be family violence under s. 38 of the Family Law Act."

Chicago Dem Candidate Says Socialism Should 'Control Every Facet of Our Life'.  A Democratic candidate for alderman in Chicago believes that socialism should have "control over every facet of our life." Ugo Okere, running against 35-year incumbent Patrick O'Connor, told the radical left publication Jacobin that socialism was "about Democratic control" of both politics and people's personal lives. [...] Of course, the "progressive left," who want to make our lives "easier," are just as clueless as Okere.  They're just not quite as honest.  In truth, the "transformation" that both the progressive left and radical socialists want would destroy America as we know it and bury human progress and freedom perhaps forever.

Incrementalism:
Cuomo Wants 7-Year Sentences for New Yorkers Who Lose Cool, Attack Transportation Workers.  Currently, some Metropolitan Transportation Authority workers such as bus drivers and station agents are covered under the Class D felony provision that levies a mandatory term of seven years in prison and a fine up to $5,000 for attacks on these workers.  Cuomo's FY 2020 budget would expand protected employees to include highway workers, contractors with the state Department of Transportation and Thruway Authority, municipal highway workers and contractors, and airport staff.  Other covered professions would include fare collectors, station maintenance workers, custodial staff, baggage handlers, ticket counter staff, and more.

A Citizen Suing the Department of Justice Needs More than Just a Winning Legal Argument.  As I fight on with my computer intrusion lawsuit against the U.S. government, it seems to intersect more clearly with current events every day.  And it points to an even larger story.  How widespread is improper government surveillance of journalists, politicians and other U.S. citizens in the name of the fight against terrorism?  A few of us found out we were targeted only because we were lucky enough to be alerted by inside sources or other unique ways.  How many others were targeted, monitored and watched by government officials but still have no idea it happened?

U. Minnesota Backs Off Plan to Punish People for Not Using Preferred Pronouns.  It's amazing that they thought this would fly in the first place.  That's how far we've drifted.

You may soon have to give your DNA to the state and pay $250 for the privilege.  Arizona could soon be one of the first states to maintain a massive statewide DNA database.  And if the proposed legislation passes, many people — from parent school volunteers and teachers to real estate agents and foster parents — will have no choice but to give up their DNA.  Under Senate Bill 1475, which Sen. David Livingston, R-Peoria, introduced, DNA must be collected from anyone who has to be fingerprinted by the state for a job, to volunteer in certain positions or for a myriad of other reasons.

Ten Thousand Commandments 2018.  Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute's annual survey of the size, scope, and cost of federal regulations, and how they affect American consumers, businesses, and the U.S. economy at large.  Written by CEI Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews, it shines a light on the large and under-appreciated "hidden tax" of America's regulatory state.  The current edition marks 25 years since the first report was published as part of the Journal of Regulation and Social Costs in 1993.  Federal government spending, deficits, and the national debt are staggering, but so is the impact of federal regulations.  Unfortunately, the financial impact of these rules gets little attention in policy debates because, unlike spending and taxes, they are unbudgeted and difficult to quantify.

Minnesota:  Christian Pastor Arrested at Mall of America Faces Hearing and Trial After Talking to Muslims.  Ramin Parsa, an ex-Muslim Christian pastor who was stabbed in Iran, imprisoned in Turkey, and then arrested in the Mall of America for sharing his testimony with interested Muslim women, faces a settlement conference in March and likely a trial in April.  The state of Minnesota has continued to prosecute his case, even though the Mall of America was wrong to accuse him of trespassing in the first place.  In late August 2018, Parsa was visiting the Mall of America in Minneapolis, Minn.  Two Somali-American women spoke with him and asked him if he was still a Muslim.  When he said he was not, they asked him to explain.  At this point, another lady complained to mall security.  Security took Parsa into custody, holding him handcuffed to a metal chair for four hours without water, and then turning him over to the police.

What if the Deep State wins?  Survival in a Post-Trump Heavily Centralized Socialist Police State.  Put aside your personal feelings, good or bad, about President Trump for a moment.  The undeniable fact is, he won't be President forever.  At some point Trump's Presidency will end — by impeachment, coup, death, defeat in 2020, or when his second term expires in 2024.  Regardless of when or how Trump leaves office, the deep state, the political class, the DC insiders, the collectivists, the socialists, the political & social activists, and the anti-Western elites in business, academia & the media will still be there. [...] Its not hard to predict where the Elites are wanting to take us.  Just look at where Obama was pushing us.  And where Hillary was going to push us had she won in 2016.  And where the Dems are openly saying they will push us.  Just look at where recent social, political, business, and technological trends are taking us.  Just look at the open hostility towards traditional values and beliefs.

Hundreds protest in Washington state for right not to vaccinate children amid measles outbreak.  Hundreds of anti-vaccination supporters demonstrated outside a public hearing in Washington state on Friday [2/8/2019] to protest a bill that would make it harder for families to opt out of mandatory vaccinations for children, the Associated Press reported.  The protest took place amid the state's worse measles outbreak in more than two decades.  Health officials have reported at least 56 cases in Washington and Oregon.  An estimated 700 people demonstrated in Olympia, Washington, most of whom opposed stricter requirements, The Washington Post reported.

Journalist Arrested at Press Conference for Not Being Mainstream.  A rather disturbing situation unfolded in Las Vegas on Wednesday [1/30/2019] as two independent journalists — attempting to exercise their First Amendment right of the press — were arrested and cited for trespassing.  Joey Lankowski, Kelly Patterson, and Ronald Mecklosky were at the Las Vegas police station attempting to cover a press conference about one of their officers shooting at a man for holding a cane.  Lankowski tells the Free Thought Project that he'd been in contact with the Metropolitan Police Department so he could get the details of another press conference over police shooting another man and attend it.  However, according to Lankowski, officials from the department lied to him and refused to tell him when the actual press conference would take place and held it in secret on Monday.

One of the largest at-home DNA testing companies is giving the FBI access to its records.  DNA home testing kits that can trace ancestry and find missing relatives are a dream come true for genealogists.  But as conspiracy theorists have long suspected, the tests are being used for other purposes, too.  BuzzFeed News reported that Family Tree DNA, one of the largest home DNA testing companies, is allowing FBI agents to search its databases in their quest to "solve violent crime cases."  The company's database has about 1,021,774 records, Jezebel.com reported.  Public genealogy databases are often used by police to solve cold cases.  One of the most notable ones that used DNA from a public database was the Golden State Killer case.

Is Big Tech Merging With Big Brother?  Kinda Looks Like It.  China's social rating system, which was announced by the ruling Communist Party in 2014, will soon be a fact of life for many more Chinese.  By 2020, if the Party's plan holds, every footstep, keystroke, like, dislike, social media contact, and posting tracked by the state will affect one's social rating.  Personal "creditworthiness" or "trustworthiness" points will be used to reward and punish individuals and companies by granting or denying them access to public services like health care, travel, and employment, according to a plan released last year by the municipal government of Beijing.  High-scoring individuals will find themselves in a "green channel," where they can more easily access social opportunities, while those who take actions that are disapproved of by the state will be "unable to move a step."

Texas transgender bills to 'ban Christianity' in Texas?  While LGBTQ activists across the Lone Star State are confident that the upcoming state bills will enhance the so-called "gay rights" of Texans, many conservative pastors in the state are fearful that the proposed laws, that would add gender identity and sexual orientation to Texas discrimination laws, will diminish their right to express their faith.

IRS Becoming Big Brother With $99-Million Supercomputer.  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is building a $99-million supercomputer that will give the agency the "unprecedented ability to track the lives and transactions of tens of millions of American citizens," tax expert Daniel Pilla reports.  The IRS is already dangerous enough, notes Pilla.  "The IRS lays claim to your data without court authority more so than any other government agency.  And to make matters worse, they share the data with any other federal, state or local government agency claiming an interest, including foreign governments."  The IRS already receives billions of tax documents annually, and the amount of information the agency receives continues to grow.

Uncle Sam Wants Your DNA: The FBI's Diabolical Plan To Create A Nation Of Suspects.  Actually, if the government gets its hands on your DNA, they as good as have you in their clutches.  Get ready, folks, because the government — helped along by Congress (which adopted legislation allowing police to collect and test DNA immediately following arrests), President Trump (who signed the Rapid DNA Act into law), the courts (which have ruled that police can routinely take DNA samples from people who are arrested but not yet convicted of a crime), and local police agencies (which are chomping at the bit to acquire this new crime-fighting gadget) — is embarking on a diabolical campaign to create a nation of suspects predicated on a massive national DNA database.

New IRS Spy Software.  The IRS lays claim to your data without court authority more so than any other government agency.  And to make matters worse, they share the data with any other federal, state or local government agency claiming an interest, including foreign governments.  In 2019, there will be about 152 million individual tax returns filed with the IRS.  There will be roughly another 100 million business tax returns filed.  There will be millions more miscellaneous tax returns, including trust, estate and gift tax returns.  On top of that, over 3.6 BILLION information returns (Forms W-2, 1099, etc.) will be filed.  There is quite literally a river of data flowing into the agency.  The flow cannot be stopped, and as far as the IRS is concerned, they need even more.

Oregon Could Become the First State to Require In-Home Surveillance of Newborn Babies.  If Oregon Governor Kate Brown has her way, the Beaver State will become the first to require universal home visits for newborn children in the care of their own parents.  Senate Bill 526, introduced this month in the Oregon Legislative Assembly as part of Brown's budget, orders the Oregon Health Authority to "study home visiting by licensed health care providers."  Lawmakers went so far as to declare that SB 526 is an "emergency" measure — one that requires a resolution by the end of the year.

Twenty Things You Probably Didn't Know about Kamala Harris.  [#2] Harris strongly supports "familial DNA searching," in which police take DNA samples from crime scenes and compare them to existing databases to look for not just any direct matches in criminal databases, but any familial matches.  Police have gradually expanded the practice's reach, from checking DNA collected against existing samples of convicted criminals to checking them against samples in the databases of genealogy web sites and genetic-testing companies like 23andMe and Ancestry.com.  California allows the collection and preservation of DNA samples from anyone who is arrested, even if they're not charged with a crime.

On January 1, I became a criminal in my hometown of Boulder.  It's not the intolerance of progressives that is so insulting.  It is the denial of their intolerance that is so abusive.  When I was growing up it was the liberals who more often held the moral high-ground.  Those of us raised in the 1970's heard it all the time — "the end doesn't justify the means." [...] Progressives have not just rejected that proud tradition, they have remade it into the ugly opposite — the end justifies all:  Coercing speech with speech codes and forcing cake bakers to create statements against their core religious beliefs; social justice warfare and identity politics; the nanny state banning everything from plastic straws to tobacco products; and forcing private health insurance products at gun-point.

If you love free speech, get acquainted with the Lindsay Shepherd case.  A great many people — including many strong advocates of free speech — have only a passing acquaintance with the Lindsay Shepherd matter.  This lack of awareness is unfortunate, because nothing more chillingly reveals the way in which universities are violating the free speech principle.

Boston Mayor's Office to Force Doctors to Identify and Document Patients Who Own Guns.  Joseph Stalin's firearms registration and confiscation was a tremendous success for the Socialist state.  Under the Tsar, Russia was one of the most heavily armed societies on earth.  That all changed when Stalin and the communists took control.  Stalin was able to control, starve, punish and imprison a defenseless people, after he took their guns. [...] It's no secret that Democrats are hoping to repeat this history here in the United States.

GAO: IRS Had 4,487 Guns; 5,062,006 Rounds of Ammunition.  The Internal Revenue Service had in its weapons inventory 4,487 guns and 5,062,006 rounds of ammunition as of late 2017, according to a report published this month by the Government Accountability Office.  Included in this arsenal, according to the GAO, were 15 "fully automatic firearms" and 56,000 rounds of ammunition for those fully automatic firearms.  The same report — "Federal Law Enforcement:  Purchases and Inventory Controls of Firearms, Ammuntion, and Tactical Equipment" — says that the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services had 194 fully automatic firearms and 386,952 rounds of ammunition for those fully automatic firearms.

Government Shutdown Or Not, The Police State Will Continue To Flourish.  [N]othing about this government shutdown will diminish the immediate and very real dangers of the American Police State with its roadside strip searches, government surveillance, biometric databases, citizens being treated like terrorists, imprisonments for criticizing the government, national ID cards, SWAT team raids, censorship, forcible blood draws and DNA extractions, private prisons, weaponized drones, red light cameras, tasers, active shooter drills, police misconduct and government corruption.  Shutdown or not, war will continue.  Drone killings will continue.  Surveillance will continue.  Censorship and persecution of anyone who criticizes the government will continue.  The government's efforts to label dissidents as extremists and terrorists will continue.  Police shootings will continue.  Highway robbery meted out by government officials will continue.  Corrupt government will continue.  Profit-driven prisons will continue.  And the militarization of the police will continue.  Indeed, take a look at the programs and policies that are not affected by a government shutdown, and you'll get a clearer sense of the government's priorities, which have little to do with serving taxpayers and everything to do with amassing money, power and control.

Incoming House Democrats Ready Bill to Criminalize Private Gun Sales.  The incoming Democrat House majority is readying legislation to criminalize private gun sales.  Ironically, the push comes nearly 227 years to the day after private gun ownership was hedged in by the Founding Fathers via the Second Amendment, which was ratified on December 15, 1791.  Politico reports that Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA) is spearheading the current gun control push through "universal background" legislation.  Such checks criminalize private gun sales, making it illegal for a neighbor to sell a firearm to his neighbor, a friend to his lifelong friend, and even a father to his son.

That Giant Liberty-Sucking Sound From the Tolerant Left.  Various leftist grievance groups have insisted for years that they just want equal treatment and equal rights, that they only want to end discrimination and that they come with an attitude of "live and let live."  Nope. [...] There is no semblance of tolerance in their bones.  They are militantly aggressive and spoiling for any opportunity to pressure and intimidate people into submission.  This suppression of our liberties doesn't just emanate from the government; the long arm of the private sector often enforces uniformity of thought with the same coercive power.

California Dem Ted Lieu say he would 'love to regulate' speech, bemoans US Constitution that prohibits him.  California Democrat Ted Lieu bemoaned on Wednesday that though he would "love to be able to regulate the content of speech," including that on Fox News, he can't do it because of the U.S. Constitution.  Lieu made the comments during an interview about the testimony of Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a House Judiciary Committee hearing, where he dismissed the allegations that the tech giant amplifies negative stories about Republican lawmakers, saying "if you want positive search results, do positive things."  CNN host Brianna Keilar praised Lieu for his performance but asked whether other Democrats should have used the committee to press Google on conspiracy theories that spread on their platforms.

Congressman:  "I Would Love To ... Regulate The Content Of Speech".  You know, often we react to things emotionally and would love to "regulate" others on things we disagree with, and the representatives of the people are human.  Fortunately, our forefathers put in plain English the First Amendment that specifically states "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech."  Yet, they have done it on so many occasions in violation of their oaths of office and criminal acts against the people.  Now, California Democrat Congressman Ted Lieu says he would love to regulate speech too.  "I would love to be able to regulate the content of speech.  The First Amendment prevents me from doing so..."  Lieu told CNN concerning the testimony of Google CEO Sundar Pichai at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Virginia teacher fired for refusing to use new pronouns for transgender student.  "You will be made to care," wrote Eric Erickson in RedState back in 2013.  He was referring to a court case in Colorado of a Christian baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple and was fined for it.  Today, we are being threatened, intimidated, and bullied into caring about people who believe they are trapped in the wrong body — that their biological gender is incorrect and that they are actually someone of the opposite gender — or some other gender created out of whole cloth.  A Virginia French teacher found out the consequences of trying to balance his religious beliefs with the new paradigm of "transitioning" to another gender.

The Editor says...
The people who say they believe in science (above all else) are willing to say that biology is sometimes incorrect.

Mastercard and Microsoft have a frightening plan to create universal "digital identities".  Sometimes a business inadvertently drops the pretense and just tells the world its real intentions.  We saw this yesterday, when Amazon bragged about how it "allowed" an employee to lose 100 pounds by endlessly delivering boxes.  Amazon saw this as a heartwarming tale about how great it is to work for the e-commerce juggernaut.  It completely missed the subtext:  Who needs a gym when someone can physically labor for their corporate overlord and lose weight?  Now we have another, possibly darker example.  Mastercard announced a new partnership with Microsoft that is tackling "digital identities."

Indiana Solicitor General:  It's Constitutional to Seize a Car for Driving 5 MPH Over the Speed Limit.  Civil asset forfeiture is such a farce that it took Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer only about 100 words to twist Indiana's solicitor general into admitting that his state could have the power to seize cars over something as insubstantial as driving 5 miles-per-hour over the speed limit.  Yes, really.

Democrat Congressman:  We Should Confiscate Guns and If You Fight Back, the Government Has Nukes to Deal With It.  California Democrat Congressman Eric Swalwell is calling for government confiscation of all semi-automatic rifles.  In other words, every rifle in America.  [Tweets]  Further, he's warning citizens of nuclear annihilation should people refuse to comply.  [More tweets]  When he was confronted, Swalwell tried to backtrack with some context and further explanation.

Dem Rep. Eric Swalwell:  If We Confiscate Your Guns And You Fight Back, We Will Nuke You.  I know he's running for president in a [very] crowded field and has to strain to get noticed.  But between this and shrugging off death threats aimed at Susan Collins, it seems like there must be a better way. [...] "Find common ground with us or risk incineration by your own government" is a top-ten all-time tweet by a federal elected official.

Dem congressman:  Government can always nuke resistant gun-owners.  [Scroll down]  It's worth noting just how radical [House Democrat Eric] Swalwell's suggestion is.  He isn't arguing for a "ban" of sales or imports, in the vein of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, for example.  He is arguing for federal confiscation of millions of weapons that the federal government may arbitrarily deem too deadly for individual Americans to own.  As should be clear to anyone, the prospect of such legislation implies two distinct outcomes.  Federal agents would be forced to physically visit Americans' homes to seize their weapons if they choose not to surrender or "sell" them to the government, and there will be a penalty of violence for a failure to comply.

Kansas Governor-Elect Wants to Block Law Protecting Religious Adoption Agencies.  The governor-elect of Kansas, Laura Kelly, said in a news conference on Thursday, Nov. 8 that she will try to block enforcement of a new law that protects religious adoption agencies from being forced to place children in homes that violate their beliefs.  The Adoption Protection Act, which took effect in July, allows adoption agencies with "sincerely held" religious beliefs to refuse to place children in LGBTQ homes.  According to the Associated Press, Kelly, who has called the law the "adoption discrimination" measure, "said she will have her staff review how far the state can go to avoid enforcing the law."  "If there is way to direct the agency to not implement that, then I will do that," said Kelly, a liberal Democrat.

New York coffee shop fined $300 by Sanitation Department for sign announcing how many cups they've kept out of landfill.  A coffee shop in New York was allegedly fined $300 by the Department of Sanitation for a misplaced sandwich board on the sidewalk, which announced that the business had kept over 2,000 cups out of the landfill in 2018.  Smith Canteen's owner, Kerry Diamond, posted about the ironic incident on Facebook, claiming the sign has been in the same spot for the past seven years.  "I've been spending a lot of money and time trying to figure out waste reduction, composting, and single-use plastic alternatives at the Canteen, so this really burns me," she wrote.

It Doesn't Matter If You Love The Constitution If Your Neighbors Don't Know What It Says.  A study conducted last year by the Annenberg Center of Public Policy at the University of Pennsylvania showed that only 26 percent of Americans could name all three branches of government, while more than a third (37 percent) surveyed couldn't name even one of the five freedoms or rights guaranteed by the First Amendment — religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition.  Former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia once lamented Americans' ignorance of the Federalist Papers:  "It is such a profound exposition of political science that it is studied in political science courses in Europe.  And yet we have raised a generation of Americans who are not familiar with it."  Indeed, most states' history and civics classes today are "mediocre to awful," according to a 2011 study published by the American Bar Association.  When states' standards for history classes were graded for "content and rigor" and "clarity and specificity" on scales from A to F, a whopping 28 states earned grades of D or F, while only 9 earned an A- or B.  This self-destruction of our popular constitutional culture has gone hand-in-hand with another dangerous trend.  With civic awareness at dismal lows, the people's unique relationship to the Constitution has also been systematically usurped by lawyers and legal elites.

Leftists Expand Their War Into All Corners of Society.  The simple reality is that from judicial appointments to pop culture, from schools to restaurants, from sports to internet searches, to nearly everything in contemporary life, the political left is waging an ideological war.  So conservatives and libertarians may not be interested in the politicization of all things, but the left's politicization of all things is interested in them. [...] One can't even watch a football game or select shoes anymore without descending into the politicized swamps.  More ominously, that same expanding leftism has entered social realms of greater consequence to everyday Americans, including internet searches and banking.

FBI makes suspect unlock iPhone X in first confirmed instance of forced Face ID.  The incident occurred on Aug. 10, when the FBI searched the house of Grant Michalski in Columbus, Ohio during a child abuse investigation, Forbes reported on Sunday, citing court documents.  Special agent David Knight ordered Michalski to face the iPhone, triggering Face ID.  Michalski was ultimately charged with receiving and possessing child pornography.  The search uncovered related Kik conversations, including a chat with someone who was really an undercover officer.  Only some data was obtained from the iPhone however as the FBI didn't have Michalski's passcode, which put up roadblocks for forensic tools after the device had been locked for more than an hour.

Mom investigated for letting 8-year-old walk dog around the block.  Just after returning home from a walk around the block with her dog, Marshmallow, an 8-year-old Wilmette girl expected a visit from a playmate.  Instead, police officers arrived at the family's door.  An anonymous caller had contacted police after seeing the girl walking the dog alone, said her mother, Corey Widen.  While police never pursued charges, the seemingly common activity launched an Illinois Department of Children and Family Services investigation to see if Widen was neglecting her children, she said.

Las Vegas Hotel "Security" Enters The Big Brother Age After The Vegas Shooting.  What would you do if you owned a hotel on the Las Vegas Strip after the Vegas shooting to increase security?  Why, of course... you'd perform surprise security checks on the most paranoid group that visits there — DEF CON.  Caesar's Palace in their stupidity has allegedly implemented a practice where hotel security, using keys to the rooms there, are doing random security checks where they enter the rooms without knocking and seize items from the rooms.  And if Caesar's Palace is doing it, the rest of the hotels on the Strip won't be far behind.  Any highrise hotel will fall in line.  You probably don't have to worry about Best Westerns or Holiday Inns... yet.

Democrats attempt to stifle dissent:
'Survival of our democracy' depends on banning sites like InfoWars, Dem senator says.  Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., is calling on other tech companies to ban more sites like InfoWars, and says the survival of American democracy depends on it.  "Infowars is the tip of a giant iceberg of hate and lies that uses sites like Facebook and YouTube to tear our nation apart.  These companies must do more than take down one website.  The survival of our democracy depends on it," Murphy tweeted Monday [8/6/2018].

The Mask Slips In Santa Barbara.  A little noticed detail in Santa Barbara's recent drive to criminalize plastic straws, which culminated in the Santa Barbara city council taking testimony from a nine-year-old about the planetary menace, has come to light in recent days.  During that council session, councilman Jesse Dominguez said the following in response to citizens who asked "what's next?":  "Unfortunately, common sense is just not common.  We have to regulate every aspect of people's lives."  Take that one in for a moment, for it expresses the core impulse of liberalism today.

'We Have to Regulate Every Aspect of People's Lives'.  A Santa Barbara city councilman inadvertently let slip the primary purpose of progressivism in 21st century America.  The city recently criminalized the use of plastic straws.  Speaking to that issue, Councilman Jesse Dominguez said, "Unfortunately, common sense is just not common.  We have to regulate every aspect of people's lives."  Got that?  "We" are smarter than you and know what's best for you better than you do.  Perhaps realizing that his comment revealed a fundamental truth of progressive thought, Dominguez tried to walk back his gaffe: [...]

Drive to Regulate Speech On the Internet Is Gaining Steam.  Last week the House of Commons' Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport released an interim report on fake news and disinformation.  While couched in the usual do-good language, it illustrates the seriousness of the threat to free speech, most of which takes place, nowadays, on the internet.  The report is worth reading in its entirety.

Shock Survey: 40% Of Americans Cannot Name A Single Right Guaranteed By The First Amendment.  The survey of 1,009 American adults was conducted in May and June of 2018 by the Fors Marsh Group in partnership with Lata Nott and Gene Policinski of FFI.  The survey has a margin of error of 3.7%.  When asked to name the freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment, only one person was able to name all five.  2% of respondents were able to name the right to petition the government for redress of grievances; 12% were able to name the right of peaceful assembly; 13% were able to name freedom of the press; 15% were able to name freedom of religion; and 56% were able to name freedom of speech.

Sen. Mark Warner's Memo Calls for the Government to Regulate Internet.  Axios obtained a memo written by the office of Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, that plans for the government to takeover the internet and regulate digital platforms.

Town Orders Family to Stop Hosting Bible Studies on Farm.  The owners of a Pennsylvania farm have been ordered by the Sewickley Heights Borough to cease and desist holding Bible studies on their private property.  Borough leaders accused Scott and Terri Fetterolf of improperly using their 35-acre farm as a place of worship, a place of assembly and as a commercial venue.  They were served a cease-and-desist order in October 2017, the Post-Gazette reported.

Air Force veteran sells home after being fined $100 a week for displaying US flag in flower pot.  A Florida man had to sell his house after his homeowners association told him to remove a 17-inch American flag he had placed in a flower pot on his front porch.  Larry Murphree, who spent half a dozen years as an Air Force air traffic controller according to the Washington Post, received a letter in the mail from the Tides Condominium in Sweetwater seven years ago telling him to remove the "unauthorized object" or be fined $100 a day.  He refused to remove it and took up the issue with his lawyer after reaching $1,000 in fines.

Democrats Endorse Judicial Tyranny.  For example, legalizing pornography, coddling criminals, declaring abortion to be a fundamental right, redefining libel/slander, and redefining marriage have all been the result of the Supreme Court defining policy, not interpreting the Constitution and the law.  In most cases the Court went directly against the expressed will of the people and imposed laws on Americans that were only supported by the tiny elite who run the Democratic party. [...] 55,000,000 Americans had voted against redefining marriage — even uberliberal California resoundingly passed Prop 8, which declared that marriage was between a man and a woman, but the Supreme Court decided that the people didn't know what was best for them and imposed what Democrats wanted on the people.

UK Doctor Sacked For Blasphemy.  In the UK, the National Health Service has thrown out a doctor:  ["]A doctor has been 'sacked' as a medical assessor for a government department after refusing to renounce his Christian belief that gender is determined at birth, the Sunday Telegraph can reveal. [...] The 55-year-old father of four believes sex is genetic and biological, so established at birth.["]  Wait a minute.  Holding the view that people are born male or female is now a theological belief?  Do you see how radical this is?  Here's the theology angle:  this doctor was fired because he blasphemed against the militant new religion.

Mob Violence and Gun Ownership.  The future votes of illegals who will someday attain amnesty is the singular objective of the present version of the Democratic Party.  They have made clear that they will ignore MS-13, drug-trafficking, human-trafficking, rampant violence, and crime across the country by illegals, if that means that one day these future Democrats will control the outcomes of elections in every state the Democrats cannot presently rig, and will provide cheap labor for the Republicans who seem fine with never wielding political power again.

The judicial war on God and the Declaration of Independence.  Poor North Carolina just can't get a break.  It appears that the state's original concerns about joining the federal union in 1788 have been proven correct.  Over the past year, the Fourth Circuit has nullified the state's voter integrity laws; federal, state, and even county-level political maps; and gender sanity laws.  Now the court has banished God from county government prayers.  On July 14, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Rowan County, North Carolina, commissioners can't begin their session with a public prayer delivered by an elected official.  And the vote wasn't even close.  This once conservative panel voted 10-5 to banish God from the public square.

Border patrol agents are stopping people on highways in New England to check their citizenship.  Far from ground zero in the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration along the southern border, US Customs and Border Protection checkpoints on highways in Maine and New Hampshire are catching the eye of civil liberties groups.  On Interstate 95 near the remote northern Maine town of Lincoln this week, the Border Patrol said it made nine drug seizures and two arrests for immigration violations during an 11-hour checkpoint operation in which agents asked motorists about their place of birth and citizenship status.

Florida Candidate Promises To Ban 'Assault Rifles' By Decree.  While I really try not to focus on political parties here at Bearing Arms, sometimes, it's difficult.  The thing is, there are Democrats who support the Second Amendment, and as a writer covering the Second Amendment, I don't want to alienate those readers.  We all agree that candidates who oppose our right to keep and bear arms are a problem, and their party really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.  Their lack of respect for our civil rights, however, does.  However, I can't help but think of how many Democrats are screaming about "fascism" ever since the election of President Donald Trump, but remain completely silent when a political candidate for governor announces that they've figured out a way to ban a certain type of gun by decree, completely circumventing anything resembling democratic process.

California Man Has Home Raided, Guns Confiscated After Trying to Register Firearm.  A California man had his home raided, guns seized, and will appear in court this week to face a dozen state felony charges after attempting to register a rifle in accordance with state law.  Jeffrey Scott Kirschenmann attempted to register an AR-15 with the California Department of Justice last month but instead found himself in significant legal trouble.  The California DOJ accused Kirschenmann of illegally modifying the rifle he attempted to register.  Law enforcement officials raided his home in Bakersfield before ultimately confiscating a dozen firearms and a few hundred rounds of ammunition, then charging him with a dozen felonies, KGET reports.  Kirschenmann was accused of possession of assault weapons, two silencers, and something referred to as a "multi-burst trigger activator."  He does not appear to have been charged with any violent crimes.

Seattle cracks down on renters, free speech — and common sense.  Good luck trying to rent an apartment.  The Seattle City Council seems to think the right to speak is a privilege it can grant or withhold at its pleasure.  It has slapped a year-long ban on the use of certain housing websites that allow renters to place bids on advertised rental housing, while it reviews the sites.  Officials say they fear the sites might violate local housing laws or inflate housing costs, so the City Council wants to study the sites while forbidding their use in the meantime.  While city leaders try to figure things out, landlords are barred from posting ads on the sites, and renters can't even do a simple search for Seattle housing on the sites.  This is a clear restriction of speech protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Today's Two Main Political Camps Are Pro-Thought Versus Anti-Thought.  Let's remember that all of the other First Amendment rights follow in logical order from the first freedom of religion/belief/conscience/thought.  Freedom of speech is the right to express what you think and believe.  Freedom of press means the right to record those expressed thoughts in writing or other media.  In this vein, freedom of association would mean being able to deliver your ideas to anyone willing to listen.  It means the right to peaceably assemble and have open conversation with other people.  The heavy hand of the state has no right to cut off or interfere in our ability to spark thoughtful conversations.  If the state violates our First Amendment rights, the First Amendment also gives us the right to petition as a means of fighting back against that abuse of power.

Clapper: We Need Regulation for Social Media — 'Something Akin' to the FCC.  Thursday [6/7/2018] on Hugh Hewitt's radio show, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper argued for more regulation of social media.  The embattled critic of President Donald Trump suggested an agency akin to the Federal Communications Commission could be suitable for such a regulatory role.

The Department Of Homeland Security Plans To Compile A List Of All Bloggers, Journalists And "Social Media Influencers".  Many were hoping that once Barack Obama was out of office we would see less of this Big Brother surveillance nonsense, but instead it seems to be getting even worse.  In fact, the Department of Homeland Security has just announced that it intends to compile a comprehensive list of hundreds of thousands of "journalists, editors, correspondents, social media influencers, bloggers etc.", and collect any "information that could be relevant" about them.  So if you have a website, an important blog or you are just very active on social media, the Department of Homeland Security is going to put you on a list and will start collecting information about you. [...] And if I was just a name on a list in some database somewhere, that would be bad enough, but instead it sounds like the DHS will be collecting any "information that could be relevant" about all of us.

The Editor says...
Note to Homeland Security:  Please let me know when I'm on The List, and be sure to spell my name right.

Secret Courts Guarantee Abuse.  I testified against the Patriot Act because I feared the abuse of secret tribunals.  I'm usually far off in my predictions, but it was obvious from the get-go that the FISA courts would be abused by the Intelligence Community, and indeed those secret courts have almost always done what the FBI and CIA asked, even when — as in the case of General Michael Flynn — the IC had to ask several times, and even when the "evidence" consisted of an unverified "dossier" produced by a political campaign.  The Intelligence Community has long considered itself a state within the American state, dating from its creation just after World War II.  Most of the time, the IC has used its power to support presidential policies — the CIA snooped on the Senate Intelligence Committee in 2014, and on the McGovern campaign, and the FBI spied on the Goldwater campaign — but when a president acted against the IC's convictions, the spooks advanced their own interests and beliefs.

Progressives on the Brink.  The left now demands the right to govern permanently and without opposition, regardless of the outcome of elections.  This is evidence that the left today has lost respect for democratic institutions and that, if they were ever to find themselves firmly in control of government, leftists would not willingly relinquish power, even if voted out in a fair election.

New Technologies Nurturing Big Brother.  Our governmental bureaucracy has been growing increasingly out of control over the past few decades, grasping ever more deeply at most aspects of our social interactions.  The government has decided that it knows better than the rest of us what we should think on various social issues, what politically correct language we should use, what views we should have of different racial or religious groups (for example:  Muslims are nice and peaceful, white males are suspect, American patriots are the neo-Nazis, Israel is an apartheid state, and most Christians are bigoted).  The overreaching government has exerted ever growing control over public school curricula, and it even tells us what we should eat (NYC has banned sodas over 16 ounces).  Some of these government initiatives are well meaning, like forcing restaurants to post calorie counts of meals, but teaching students what to think instead of how to think is a scary tendency.  In medical services, the government is already playing a major role and wants to expand it into single-payer, total government control.

Amarillo Man Arrested for Clapping.  Let it be known that clapping is not allowed at Amarillo City Council meetings.  Just ask Kip Billups, who was arrested Tuesday [4/3/2018] at the request of Amarillo Mayor Ginger Nelson after applauding a speaker during open forum.  Ironically, the arrest was made in an attempt to create a "less intimidating" environment during city council meetings.  "We are not going to clap," Nelson said at the beginning of the meeting.  "I want to make sure that we create an environment that's not intimidating for folks ... If that's not something you can abide by that's fine, you can leave now."  Billups, along with other attendees, applauded in response to public comments made by resident Michael Greene, who expressed grievances with the city council's conduct.  Of those grievances, Greene noted city council's repeated violations of the Open Meetings Act as well as Nelson's "clapping ban" infringing on First Amendment rights.

Amarillo man involved in the "clapping controversy" explains his applause.  Applause is used to express approval, but clapping got one Amarillo man in trouble with the law.  He spoke exclusively with ABC 7 News about the incident at Amarillo city council Tuesday night [4/3/2018].  "You can all clap if you want," said Mayor Ginger Nelson.  It was a statement followed by applause after the Amarillo city council issued a proclamation on child abuse awareness.  Minutes later that changed during public comment.  "We are not going to clap," said Nelson.  She followed that statement with a loud bang of her gavel.

'We are not going to clap' at council meetings, mayor said.  One guy even got arrested.  Clapping may be commonplace at council meetings when officials give out keys to the city or other grip-and-grin awards, but let it be known, there is to be no applause during the public comment portion of City Council meetings in Amarillo, Texas.  You might even be arrested for it, as was Kip Billups, a local homeless advocate, according to the Amarillo Globe-News.

No, Being A Christian Does Not Require You Meekly Submit To Leftist Tyranny.  Maybe you didn't notice, but they do not accept the concept that we have any legitimate interests or rights.  They hate us.  And, if we are weak and stupid enough to allow them to take power, they will act on their bigotry and prejudices.  Baking cakes is only the start.  Resistance is not merely an option.  It is a duty.

California Demands That Christians 'Evolve'.  There's a new legislative proposal banning all conversion therapy as a fraudulent business practice — by not just mental health providers but anyone.  Since the "independent fact-checkers" are quick to swarm around conservative "misinformation," FactCheck.org, PolitiFact and Snopes have all cried "False" at the idea that this bill is a threat to the sale of the Bible.  They declared that a threat against Bible sales is nowhere in the text of California Assembly Bill 2943, offered by gay assembly member Evan Low.  That is correct ... on its face.  It doesn't mention the Bible.  However, the bill would amend the state Consumer Legal Remedies Act, adding the ability to sue for damages for "advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual."  Any efforts to change someone's sexual orientation "in a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer are unlawful."  That's more than therapy.  It's any kind of an argument.

Christians' Munich Moment in California.  Scarcely any moment in American history is as important for America's Christians as the developing crises over religious freedom now happening in California.  The legislature of Sacramento not only is underhandedly banning books opposed to the doctrines of the transgender religion (including the Bible), but also has threatened Christians' rights to free assembly and freedom of speech.  According to its website, Summit Ministries, an organization devoted to advising Christian youths on how to live out a Christian worldview, has canceled its scheduled appearances at Biola University in Los Angeles "due to concerns that California will forbid some of what it teaches."  Summit's concern is real.

Here are 1,366 well sourced examples of Barack Obama's lies, lawbreaking, corruption, cronyism, hypocrisy, waste, etc.  [#362] In October 2013, the Obama administration announced the following on loudspeakers at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas:  "Inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest."

An Imminent Counterattack Begins the Fight of Our Lives.  Unparalleled government abuses of power are about to become public.  The question is what we, the people, will do in response to this overt attempt by deep state players to strip us of our freedom. [...] The Left's ongoing refusal to accept the results of the 2016 election and live according to the rule of law, along with their willingness to destroy people's lives, are irreconcilable with a constitutional republic of self-governing people.  There can be no negotiated settlement over such fundamental differences.  We must boldly reclaim the righteousness of liberty and equal justice under the law on behalf of all Americans.

They Keep Telling Us Who They Are.  The California legislature is processing a bill to ban and criminalize all speech, all writing, that goes against "LGBTQ priorities".  Assembly Bill 2943, which has already sailed through two committees, would criminalize "efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions."  It seems to be aimed at practicing psychologists, psychiatrists, or counselors whose clients ask them to help them get rid of unwanted sexual attractions; but the bill is so vaguely written that it could be used against virtually anybody — commentators who dissent from the agenda of Organized Sodomy, parents who teach their children that there are only two "genders," and Biblically orthodox churches where homosexual acting-out is presented as a sin.

Socialism's Gateway Drug.  There's open talk of a divorce between individualists and collectivists; i.e., a separation of the US into at least two separate countries.  Can chaos be far behind when so many see the corruption from top to bottom, and are giving up belief in The Great Experiment? [...] The corruption in government is not just for enrichment or power.  It's to sow the seeds of WHY BOTHER? among the population. [...] The flood of third-world immigrants is not just for "diversity".  It's to sow the seeds of violent civil unrest as the natives of America and Europe finally resist at the 11th hour. [...] The deficit spending of every Western government is not just to buy votes.  It's second-level intent is to sow the seeds of an inevitable financial collapse, leading to societal chaos. [...] Look around you at what's happening.  Look at everything — every single thing — the Left does, in the context of trying to precipitate chaos.

A deputy sheriff came to inventory family's property — over a $160 trash bill.  Joe Kirby was at work in Maryland when he got the phone call.  He drove back to his Pennsylvania home, texting his boss that there was an emergency.  His wife, Christina, was hysterical.  There was a member of the York County Sheriff's Office going through every room of their house, taking inventory of their property to eventually put up for sale.  The deputy sheriff told her he'd already done it with the cars in the driveway:  a 2002 BMW 3 Series and 2007 Volkswagen GTI.  It was over their unpaid trash bill to Penn Waste.

Yes, California Is on the Verge of Banning Some Christian Books, Here's How.  Late last week, I wrote an article that caused a bit of a furious reaction in social-justice Twitter.  Activists claimed I was lying, arguing in bad faith, and/or exaggerating the effect of California's AB 2943, a bill that purports to declare "sexual orientation change efforts" to be an "unlawful business practice."  I claimed the bill was so broad that it could even ban books.  And I'm right.  It can and would.

California Bill Would Criminalize Speech, Books Opposing LGBT Agenda.  In a direct assault on the freedoms of speech and religion, the California Assembly on Thursday [4/19/2018] overwhelmingly approved a bill that would, in effect, prohibit the dissemination of traditional Christian teaching on homosexuality and transgenderism.  The Assembly voted 50-14 to criminalize "a transaction intended to result or that results in the sale or lease of goods or services to any consumer" that consists of "advertising, offering to engage in, or engaging in sexual orientation change efforts with an individual."  The bill defines "sexual orientation change efforts" as "any practices that seek to change an individual's sexual orientation.  This includes efforts to change behaviors or gender expressions, or to eliminate or reduce sexual or romantic attractions or feelings toward individuals of the same sex."

Arizona residents will soon need 'travel ID' to board planes.  The Arizona Department of Transportation has announced that state residents will require a new form of identification to pass through Transportation Security Administration screeners in the near future.  As of Oct. 1, 2020, Grand Canyon state residents traveling out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Phoenix Mesa-Gateway, Flagstaff, Tucson International and Yuma International airports will need to carry "Voluntary Travel IDs" or be grounded, AZ Family is reporting.  The new ID will also be requisite to access restricted federal buildings and military bases, as standard credentials will no longer suffice.

The Editor says...
That doesn't sound voluntary to me.

American Greatness and its Enemies.  President Trump's railing against political correctness, and his disparaging of the deep state, show that he has a visceral understanding of these two core fissures in American culture and society.  It is that understanding that resonated with the Americans who voted for Mr. Trump, a group that was enough to hand him a victory in the electoral college.  So committed are his enemies, so unyielding are their beliefs, and so dangerous is the Kafka-esque legislative structure that we have created, that the American understanding of sovereignty and experiment in popular government is now at grave risk.

Homeland Security to Compile Database of Journalists, Bloggers.  The U.S. Department of Homeland Security wants to monitor hundreds of thousands of news sources around the world and compile a database of journalists, editors, foreign correspondents, and bloggers to identify top "media influencers."  It's seeking a contractor that can help it monitor traditional news sources as well as social media and identify "any and all" coverage related to the agency or a particular event, according to a request for information released April 3.  The data to be collected includes a publication's "sentiment" as well as geographical spread, top posters, languages, momentum, and circulation.  No value for the contract was disclosed.

Making the government less larcenous.  On Sept. 21, 2015, [Gerardo] Serrano drove up to the Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing, intending to try to interest a Mexican cousin in expanding his solar panel installation business in the United States.  To have mementos of his trip, he took some pictures of the border with his cellphone camera, which annoyed two U.S. Custom and Border Protection agents, who demanded the password to his phone.  Serrano, who is what an American ought to be regarding his rights, prickly, refused to submit to such an unwarranted invasion of his privacy.  One agent said he was "sick of hearing about your rights" and "you have no rights here."

They Take the Second Amendment First and the First Amendment Second.  We have talked a lot about the liberal assault on our right as American citizens to keep and bear arms for the defense of ourselves, our families, our communities, and our Constitution, but it is a mistake to think of a disarmed population as their desired end-state.  No, that's merely the first step toward the subjugation of the Normals.  What they want is not only for us to be disarmed, but to be silenced.  They are not going to stop with the Second Amendment.  Next, they are going to move to finish off the First Amendment.  They don't want you to speak freely.  They don't want you to have access to a free press.  They don't want you to practice your religion as you see fit.  And when you are disarmed and silenced, and you are stripped of any god but government — the government they control absolutely and forever — then they will have achieved their dream.  You will no longer be a citizen; you will be a serf.

California Democrat Introduces Bill to Force Websites to Use 'Fact-Checkers'.  California State Senator Dr. Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) has proposed a bill, the "Online False Information Act," that would require anyone who posts news on the Internet to verify their information through "fact-checkers."  The bill, filed quietly in late February as SB 1424, requires all California-based websites to develop a plan to fight "fake news," to use "fact-checkers," and to warn readers — including via social media — of "false information."

The Editor says...
Why stop at social media?  Why not require the same of broadcasters and newspapers?  Is CNN always 100% accurate?  Is MSNBC never misleading?  Is The New York Times not biased?

How Federal Surveillance and "Parallel Construction" Undermine the Rule of Law.  When we talk about NSA spying, most people's eyes glaze over.  They just don't think it will have any impact on them.  After all, the surveillance agency only spies on foreigners and terrorists, right?  And if some Americans' data ends up in NSA databases in the process, well, that doesn't really matter.  It's the price we pay for security.  But in fact, federal surveillance and the investigative practices it fosters undermines and subverts the fundamental rule of law in the United States.  State and local law enforcement agencies use the reams of data the NSA collects to prosecute Americans.  Most of these cases have nothing to do with terrorism or national security.  In fact, the vast majority relate to the so-called "war on drugs."  In the process, these state and local cops shred due process, obliterate the Fourth Amendment and make a mockery out of the "rule of law."

Yes, They Are Coming for Your Guns.  Today we have a multitude of reasons to have a high concern about a government that has become far too large, too invasive in too many issues and operated by people who are almost impervious to being fired for normal matters that citizens have to face in their own lives.  When I have discussions with people wanting to shrink the rights of gun owners, they discount this essential aspect of why citizens should be allowed to own guns.  When I ask them to explain the explosion of armed representatives of the government in non-military agencies, they are universally ignorant of that fact.  Here are just a few:
    [#1] The IRS has 2,300 Special Agents armed with AR-15s, P90 tactical rifles and other heavy weaponry.  The IRS recently spent $12 million on ammo and weapons.
    [#2] The Small Business Administration (SBA) spent tens of thousands on Glock hand guns.
    [#3] In 1996 the Veterans Administration had no armed employees.  Today they have 3,700 officers armed with millions of dollars worth of guns.
The list goes on.  As a Jew, I have a problem with any government having all the guns.  The last time we allowed that to happen, it ended with millions of dead Jews.  I believe any Jew who denies that reality puts their own political naiveté above the survival of the Jewish people.

Rep. Debbie Dingell to Introduce Gun Confiscation Legislation.  Debbie Dingell (D-MI) used an April 2 Fox News Live appearance to announce that she is preparing to introduce legislation to create a federal law allowing firearm confiscation orders.  Such laws, generally referred to as Extreme Risk Protection Orders, are already in place in California, Indiana, Oregon, and other states, and Dingell believes the ability to seize firearms is crucial for pubic safety.  During [the] live broadcast Dingell said, "Fred Upton (R) and I are looking at introducing ... legislation ... at the national level."

Boss Hogg and His Ingraham Angle.  There is plenty to criticize about David Hogg's actions and statements, yet that is not permitted.  Hogg is permitted to slander and slime anybody from the president on down.  If you disagree with him, blood is on your hands.  But don't dare mock one of his tweets, as Fox News host Laura Ingraham did.  The tragedy at Parkland has somehow transformed Hogg into an oracle we must honor and worship even as he ironically seeks to transform America into a gun-free zone.  In a rhetorical sense, he has become bullet-proof.

If the Second Amendment falls, our entire Bill of Rights falls.  The startling new proposal by 97-year-old former Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment to our Constitution's Bill of Rights is unwise, dangerous and totally unrealistic.  For 227 years, the amendment has guaranteed that "the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed."  We should not abandon it.  The first 10 amendments to the Constitution make up the Bill of Rights.  These amendments are the foundation of our liberty and the lasting legacy of the Founding Fathers who so wisely created a Constitution designed to protect the freedom of generations far into the future.  These rights are a major factor in what makes America an exceptional nation and a beacon for freedom that attracts people from the world over.

Do Not Give An Inch On The Second Amendment.  [A]s liberals line up behind a shield made of children to march on the Second Amendment, it's important to remember what happens when you attempt to compromise with people whose ultimate goal is your obliteration and why no amount of compromise will ever be enough. [...] There is no compromise with someone who doesn't want you to exist, there is only incrementally losing ground until you no longer exist.  A right diminished will never return, government does not cede back power once seized.  The NRA is right to hold its ground, it's why the organization exists in the first place.  Liberals are not honest brokers when it comes to the issue of guns, and neither is the media.  Trying to appease leftists never works because nothing short of everything they want is ever enough for them.

Bad science puts innocent people in jail — and keeps them there.  Since the onset in the 1990s of DNA testing — which, unlike most fields of forensics, was born in the scientific community — we've learned that many forensic specialities aren't nearly as accurate as their practitioners have claimed.  Studies from the National Academy of Sciences and the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology have concluded that there's insufficient research to support the claims of the broad field of "pattern matching" forensics, which includes analyses of such things as hair fiber, bite marks, "tool marks" and tire tread.  These forensic specialties were never subjected to the rigors of scientific inquiry — double-blind testing, peer review — before they were accepted in courtrooms.  Most are entirely subjective:  An analyst will look at two marks or patterns and determine whether they're a "match."  Most of these disciplines can't even calculate a margin of error.

'Something Smells Like a Rat': Mark Levin Calls for 'Abolishing' the FISA Court.  "Life, Liberty and Levin" host Mark Levin sounded off on alleged abuses committed before the FISA court in relation to the obtaining of a surveillance warrant against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.  Levin said Congress must look into whether representatives of the Department of Justice and FBI committed acts of "misconduct" before the court — in part by using an unverified dossier linked to an opposition research firm and former British spy as evidence.  He added that the judges on the FISA court deserve scrutiny too.

Arm The Teachers Or Disband The Schools.  It's hard to understand the future from the present. [...] Right now it is impossible to envision a return to liberty where every law is first judged by the impact to personal liberty and whether the government has the right to impose such a law.  It is so distant, this idea of a society based around liberty (the way it was supposed to be before the progressive movement over a hundred years ago got ahold of our government and turned it against liberty) that many can no longer even see it.

The First Amendment Is In Far Greater Danger Than The Second.  On the gender ideology issue, elites have been wildly successful in completely removing debate over transgenderism from the public square and even politics.  On abortion, they have largely failed as pro-life sentiment among the people has proven too strong for elites to overcome.  And on guns, the jury is still out, but elites are engaging in perhaps their most brazenly outrageous effort to silence opposing views to date. [...] We are instead operating in a country now where elites demonize the populist position with such ferocity that many are afraid to voice their opinion at all, which is, of course, the entire point of their strategy.  Our fight is no longer just over political issues — it is a battle against the very tactics being used by elites to stifle debate and destroy the essence of what makes America great.

Counterattack Hard Against Liberal Attacks on Our Gun Rights and Other Civil Liberties.  We're now supposed to give up our guns because it's the 21st Century, people, and the cops will totally protect us and oh, you can't dare criticize the FBI for failing to disarm yet another ticking time bomb and what kind of crazy nut would expect a police officer to actually confront a gunman?  Show of hands:  Who thinks this stops, even slows down, once those mean old not-actually-assault weapons get banned?  That liberals have taken a hard stand in favor of cowardice does not exactly fill one with confidence that once we give up our Second Amendment rights that we'll be safer or freer.

Busybodies battle outbreaks of freedom.  The majority leader of California's state Assembly has introduced legislation that would impose a fine of up to $1,000 on any waiter or waitress who offers a plastic drinking straw to a customer without being asked.  The Washington Post notes that this is part of a growing anti-straw movement, which is driven by alarm over the 500 million straws that are used every single day — which is almost certainly a fake number, seeing as how it is based on an unconfirmed phone survey by a 9-year-old boy.  (Yes, really.)

Parents Lose Custody of Daughter for Opposing Transgender Medical Treatments.  Parents of a 17-year-old girl lost custody of their daughter for opposing her wish for transgender medical treatments.  Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon of Hamilton County, Ohio has allowed the girl to be taken into the custody of her grandparents — who support her medical transition — allowing them to make decisions that will further along her physical transition to the opposite sex.  According to CNN, Hendon ordered that the family's names not be released.  The parents reportedly continued to call their daughter by her given name, rather than a male name, and refused to consent to hormone treatments that were recommended by her medical team.  The girl claimed she became suicidal as a result of her parents' refusal to accept that she wanted to transition to a male.

The Transgender Totalitarians Can Now Legally Take Your Kids.  An Ohio court has removed a teenaged girl from the custody of her parents because they refused to consent to dangerous and experimental medical treatment.  The teenager wants to undergo irreversible treatment (hormones and probably sex-reassignment surgery) that she hopes will alleviate the depression associated with her gender dysphoria.  Based on 1) the scientific facts that such treatment will convert her into a lifelong medical patient and probably fail to alleviate her suicidal tendencies, 2) their religious belief that created reality is unalterable, and 3) their fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their minor child, the parents said no.  But the court concluded they have no right to make that decision.  If they reject the radical new orthodoxy that replaces science with ideology, their authority to act for the good of their child is simply extinguished.

North Carolina mom begins serving jail sentence for baptizing daughter.  A North Carolina mom started serving a week-long jail sentence for having her daughter baptized, according to reports.  The 2016 baptism at St. Peter's Catholic Church when the girl was 2 years old defied a judge's order in a custody battle between unmarried couple, Kendra Stocks and Paul Schaaf, who are no longer together.

The IRS Is Coming for Your Passports.  Beginning this month, the Internal Revenue Service will begin denying passports to some American citizens with unpaid taxes and, in some cases, revoking the passports of Americans with tax delinquencies.  The government will in effect place those with unpaid taxes under arrest, effectively denying them their right to travel.  To be clear:  We are not talking about Americans who have been convicted of tax evasion or tax fraud, or who are awaiting a criminal trial on charges related to tax matters.  These Americans have not been charged with a crime, must less convicted of one.  They simply have unpaid taxes amounting to $50,000 or more.  More precisely:  They have an unpaid IRS liability amounting to $50,000 or more.  The IRS's aggressive schedule of interest and penalties for unpaid taxes ensures that a relatively small amount of unpaid taxes can turn into a $50,000-plus liability with remarkable speed.

Driver's licenses could soon be replaced by cell phone apps.  Your driver's license could be replaced by a cellphone app if a pilot program involving four states and the District of Columbia works out.  "We see great utility in the future with mobile driver's licenses that don't exist today with the physical plastic cards," said Paul Grassi with the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology.  "With innovation occurring on mobile platforms it almost makes too much sense to add this as an option."  NIST provided a $2 million grant to a cybersecurity company called Gemalto to design and test a digital license in a two-year pilot program.

The Editor says...
Interesting.  The government doesn't want you to talk on your phone while driving, but in this case, they would insist that you have your phone handy while you drive.  That's a case of mixed signals, at best.  But the thing about cell phone apps is, they can be turned off at any moment, and at that point, you don't have a license any more.

When Federal Prosecutors Go Bad.  [Sidney] Powell and [Harvey] Silverglate write about the horror faced by regular, even prominent citizens whom the FBI and DOJ destroyed, or tried to destroy, using their unlimited resources and the trust of the courts and the public.  From the very beginning of the prosecution when the affidavits for charges are submitted to the court, the honesty and fairness of the prosecutors is tested, and all too often, ambitious and aggressive prosecutors betray that trust.  Most of all, these books warn that the character and virtue of prosecutors are the critical factor in the proper conduct of a prosecution, the choice of target, the charge made, and the conduct of the discovery and the trial.  Prosecutors have all the cards, and if they don't conduct an honest and fair prosecution, innocent people are harmed, destroyed by their striving for conviction at any cost, even by cheating or by abuse of the process.

Driverless Cars and GPS: The Fearful Master.  Driverless cars contain innovations far too numerous to describe in this article, but the key piece is the GPS connection that allows the car to navigate to its destination. [...] Once your car becomes beholden to a central data center for its destination, you lose control not only of the car's operation from moment to moment, but of your own ability to travel freely on a daily basis.  Remember that GM's Cruise AV has no steering wheel.  You cannot take control of the car yourself.  You must give a destination to the GPS device so that your car can deliver you to that destination.  Programming your car before each trip will be the equivalent of an airplane pilot filing a "flight plan" before taking off.  As fun as this idea might seem, there is a 900-pound elephant in the room that few people are discussing.  Automobiles and transportation are among the most heavily regulated aspects of 21st century life.  If you think that the regulators are simply going to allow you to plug any destination into a GPS and ride off without a care in the world, you are fooling yourself.  The government has policy interests in your travel plans that are too numerous to mention.

The Russia 'Fake News' Scare Is All about Chilling Speech.  [Scroll down]  Democrats have manufactured panic over amateurish Russian propaganda not only to claim that Russian president Vladimir Putin was "meddling" in the election but also to argue that his purported interference had the power to turn the election to Trump.  With this risible idea in hand, they have created paranoia about social-media interactions and rationalized infringements on expression.  Not long before she demanded forensic investigations into hashtags, Feinstein was demanding that Twitter, Facebook, and Google restrict their content more tightly, threatening, "Do something about it — or we will."  Democrats have attempted to control interactions through the Fairness Doctrine or the IRS, and now through the Russia scare.

How a Civil War Happens.  Right now, Federal judges are declaring that President Trump isn't allowed to govern because his Tweets show he's a racist.  How long until they say that a president isn't even allowed to take office because they don't like his views?  That's where we're headed.

Sending Waiters to Jail for Offering Plastic Straws.  It makes absolutely no sense to me that a state that's worked so hard to lower its prison population would even consider passing a law that might clog its jail population full of people whose only crime was asking "Would you like a straw?"

Big Brother on America's Fishing Boats.  The plague on the commercial fishing industry isn't "overfishing," as environmental extremists and government officials claim.  The real threats to Northeastern groundfishermen are self-perpetuating bureaucrats, armed with outdated junk science, who've manufactured a crisis that endangers a way of life older than the colonies themselves.  Hardworking crews and captains have the deepest stake in responsible fisheries management — it's their past, present, and future — but federal paper-pushers monitor them ruthlessly like registered sex offenders.  Generations of schoolchildren have been brainwashed into believing that our seas have been depleted by greedy commercial fishermen.

Trump Needs to Transfer All Federal Land Back to the States.  [Scroll down]  However, most readers will remember the Cliven Bundy incident, the Nevada rancher who refused to pay $1.2 million in grazing fees to the BLM on grounds the land belonged to Nevada, not to the feds.  When the Bureau threatened to seize the ranch in 2014, hundreds of cowboys and militia members poured in from all over the country to defend the property.  Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the feds backed down.  Many Americans were shocked at the appearance of armed citizens, but the reality is that our founding fathers argued in favor of gun ownership precisely for the purpose of resisting government tyranny.  The Bureau of Land Management's police-state actions at the ranch were recently exposed, thanks to former BLM Special Agent and whistleblower Larry Wooten, whose shocking report details the agency's complete disregard for the rights of the Bundy family.

Hate-speech Laws USA? California Prosecutes Man for Anti-Muslim Posts.  California is already flouting federal immigration law with its "sanctuary" status.  Now it's also ignoring the most American of laws — the First Amendment — prosecuting a man simply for posting five anti-Muslim messages to Facebook.  The hapless defendant is 41-year-old Mark Feigin, who expressed his opinions at the Islamic Center of Southern California's (ICSC) Facebook page in 2016.  Feigin is certainly an acerbic, acid-tongued, foul-mouthed fellow, and he admits to sending the messages.  But while many may not like their substance and/or style, they're clearly an example of constitutionally protected speech.

In 'Caliphornia' you can be unconstitutionally prosecuted for exercising your First Amendment right to criticize Islam on Facebook.  California has leveled misdemeanor charges against 41-year-old Mark Feigin after he sent five anti-Muslim posts to the Islamic Center of Southern California's (ICSC) Facebook page in 2016. [...] The Los Angeles Police Department arrested Feigin Oct. 19 and interviewed him.  Feigin is now arguing that his charges should be dismissed because they are based on an unconstitutional application of the law.

California Parents Barred from Opting Kids Out of Mandatory LGBT-Inclusive Textbooks.  California has become the first state in the union to mandate the use of LGBT-inclusive textbooks in elementary schools and have given parents no way to opt out.  The choice has been made for them.  It's the law.  That law requires a "fair, accurate, inclusive, and respectful" treatment of homosexual, bisexual, transgender, and lesbian Americans despite the historical insignificance.

Lawmakers Seek Investigation After Whistleblower Exposes Federal Thugs.  Outraged by new whistleblower revelations of horrifying wrongdoing by federal officials in the Bundy case — one official kept a "kill list," others withheld evidence from the defense — prominent lawmakers in Western states are asking Congress and the Trump administration to investigate.  The government's case, which gained national attention after a 2014 armed standoff in Nevada between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Bundy family and its supporters, appears to be crumbling.  But even as it appears increasingly likely that the defendants will soon walk free, officials say the alleged crimes perpetrated by government officials must not be allowed to go unpunished.  As The New American reported on December 19, a memo by whistleblower Larry "Clint" Wooten, who served as the lead BLM investigator on the case, revealed an incredible array of misconduct by heavily armed bureaucrats.  Among the most alarming revelations:  Special-agent-in-charge Dan Love, already under investigation by Congress, kept a "kill list" as a "trophy" commemorating ranchers whose deaths he contributed to.  Apparently the bureaucrat was proud of his role in driving three Utah ranchers to commit suicide. [...] Throughout the explosive memo, aside from the unethical conduct and the bigotry against Mormons expressed by officials, there is also evidence that some BLM officials wanted to instigate a conflict and even kill some of the defendants and their supporters.  On top of that, there are several allegations that officials withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense.

Whistleblower: Federal Thug Behind Bundy Fiasco Had "Kill Book".  The government is in big trouble.  At least it will be, if there is justice.  The now-infamous standoffs in Nevada and Oregon could have ended in disaster for liberty and ranchers.  And for some, such as rancher LaVoy Finicum, who was shot dead by government officials while traveling on a public highway, it did end in tragedy.  But after years of terror and pain felt by the embattled Bundy family and those close to them, there may finally be a very happy ending visible on the horizon for the Nevada ranchers and for justice.  It seems the tables have turned, dramatically against the out-of-control Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other elements of the federal bureaucracy.  In fact, rather than putting the liberty-loving ranchers and their staunchest supporters behind bars for life — or even six feet under, as some Obama administration officials apparently hoped — there is now explosive evidence from a whistleblower that could put some of the rogue bureaucrats on the case in prison for extremely serious crimes.

The FBI's Secret State Police.  The FBI's current stonewalling bears more than a passing resemblance to the Geheime Staatspolizei, the National Socialists' secret state police.  The people's representatives have been seeking answers on the probe of Russian influence in the 2016 election.  Former FBI boss Robert Mueller has failed to turn up any evidence of "collusion" in more than a year, but other matters have come to light.  FBI man Peter Strzok has been Hillary Clinton's Odd Job, changing gross negligence to extremely careless, failing to keep records of the interview with the former First Lady, and allowing her aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills to tell more than 300 lies about the unsecured server Clinton used to send classified material.  Representatives such as Trey Gowdy and Jim Jordan want to know if Strzok played a role in the compiling the fake dossier with Russian content.  They also seek to know whether Strzok was the one who deployed the dossier to gain a FISA warrant to enable spying on the Trump campaign and unmask U.S. citizens.

American Gestapo.  Any government agency with law enforcement and surveillance authority that uses those powers for political purposes is the definition of a secret police, no better than the Nazi Gestapo or the Soviet KGB.  There is indeed probable cause to conclude, meaning indictable offenses, that employees of the Department of Justice and/or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), sympathetic to the Democrat Party, used the power of their offices and with the assistance of foreign nationals to influence the 2016 election in favor of Hillary Clinton, first to exonerate her and then obtain information to prevent the election of Donald Trump or to provide a basis for his impeachment should he win.  It is also abundantly clear from the Congressional investigations involving the Department of Justice and the FBI that those institutions of government are protecting themselves at the expense of transparency and accountability to the American people.  In other words, the government employees involved consider the survival of the Deep State more important than the survival of the Constitution.  That is the definition of tyranny.

Jail Time for Too Much Meat on a Sandwich?  Time and time again, the federal government has encroached into a sector of the economy and imposed a one-size-fits-all regulation that stifles competition, hurts small businesses, and creates troubling criminal penalties for lack of compliance.  This is epitomized in federal involvement in menu labeling — regulations and requirements for private businesses to disclose caloric information on physical menus.  Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) is leading the charge on rolling back this overreach through the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act, H.R.772, to provide relief for convenience stores, restaurants, coffee shops, and pizza chains alike.

Ohio demands Christian parents provide gender reassignment for daughter.  In the state of Ohio, social workers are asking a court to side with a teenage girl who is asking for gender reassignment treatment at a hospital instead of the counseling desired by her parents.  Filed in Hamilton County Juvenile Court, the complaint is petitioning Judge Sylvia Hendon to order Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center to provide treatment for the girl against her parent's wishes.  Documents filed with the court indicate that the parents do not acknowledge their daughter's desire to transition to a male persona.  The parents are seeking counseling consonant with their Christian beliefs, while they have not approved of her change in appearance to resemble a male.

Nothing About Collusion.  There is a basic lesson here for anyone who enters government service:  do not ever talk to the FBI unless your lawyer is present.  Just ask Scooter Libby, who was punished for making allegedly false statements to FBI investigators.  In the Flynn affair, there was no need for the FBI to ask any questions about the telephone chats, since the transcripts were available from the get-go.  It is said that a skilled prosecutor can indict a ham sandwich, and a special counsel has even greater powers.  Furthermore, prosecutors' motives are not limited to the pursuit of the truth.  The "accomplishments" of aggressive prosecutors often have very little to do with the facts, but rather with the number of scalps they can hang on their war belts.  Rare is the person who can insist on his innocence — of anything — if a special prosecutor is out to get him.  The prosecutor can catch you giving an incorrect or confused answer to questions ... about anything.

Gates Pushes InBloom's Massive Data Tracking System for Everyone in America.  InBloom, which has already been caught selling student information, would store student's scores, attendance, needs, disabilities, disciplinary record.  If you were suspended in third grade, it would follow you for life.  InBloom is working with nine states:  Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York and North Carolina.  InBloom goes hand-in-hand with Common Core and standardized testing and they all mesh together to form a nationalized education program run by the federal government.  It is unconstitutional but this approach does an end-run around the constitution.  Many on both the left and right of the political spectrum are opposed.

Obama's Trans Fat Ban May Force Iconic Cookie Company To Close.  The makers of Berger Cookies in Baltimore, Md., are concerned that that new rules will force them to discontinue their iconic cookie due to federal rules.  Under current proposed rules, companies will no longer be allowed to sell food containing partially hydrogenated oils, which contain trans fats, after June 18, 2018.  That rule will make it difficult for Charlie DeBaufre, president of DeBaufre Bakeries, to continue making the chocolate covered soft German-inspired cookies because the recipe contains trans fats.  DeBaufre has not been able to create the Berger cookie taste without the using trans-fat-free ingredients.

Judicial Tyranny:  William Orrick, a Name That Will Live in Infamy.  The Constitution and the laws passed by Congress define one person who determines and executes U.S. immigration policy and U.S. District Judge William Orrick is not it.  Yet there is Judge Orrick once again imposing his will on the expressed will of the American people through their elected representatives by issuing a permanent ban on President Trump's executive order defunding sanctuary ciies:  A federal judge in California has blocked President Trump's executive order to cut funding from sanctuary cities that don't cooperate with U.S. immigration officials.  U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick issued the ruling Monday in lawsuits brought by San Francisco and Santa Clara counties.  According to the judge, Trump can't set new conditions on spending approved by Congress.

FBI Raids on Homes of Anti-Government Activists.  Repeatedly, the FBI has raided homes on the flimsiest of evidence.  In 2014, it raided the home of prepper Martin Winters, claiming he was some kind of domestic terrorist.  But nothing was found aside from food stocks and other survivalist gear.  Then there's Terry Porter, also a prepper, whose house the FBI raided in 2012 using twice as many agents as in the Branch Davidian raid.  Again, nothing alarming found there.  Since when did anti-government preppers become terrorists?  The FBI raids group meetings as well, such as when it raided a Republic of Texas secessionist movement meeting in 2015.  No one was arrested because no one did anything illegal.  But once again, the FBI treated a handful of elderly men discussing constitutional issues as a terrorist plot.

Media Silent as Fed Committee Quietly Passes Act Allowing Warrantless Searches.  It has been over one month since the latest dangerous piece of legislation meant to infringe on Americans' constitutional rights was introduced, and Congress is now moving forward with the bill that will have serious ramifications for all Americans by blatantly violating the freedoms guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment if it becomes law.  The USA Liberty Act has passed the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 27-8, and as Congressman Justin Amash noted, all privacy advocates should be concerned about the overwhelming support the bill is receiving from Congress.

Doctor who refuses to use computers loses medical license.  Holding manila folders filled with pages of her handwritten reports, Dr. Anna Konopka insisted her system for keeping track of her patients' medical conditions and various prescriptions works fine.  But the New Hampshire Board of Medicine disagrees.

Post-Constitutional America and the Second Amendment.  In a series of articles I wrote last week about post-Constitutional America, I mentioned how everyday Americans have grown complacent with their God-given rights and how this has led to a growing acceptance of the idea that Constitutional rights are negotiable if the government gives them something in return.  The consequences of this mindset has been devastating.  Freedom of speech is silenced on college campuses in the name of political correctness.  Freedom of the press is threatened by the White House and Congress.  Freedom of religion is under attack by politicians and pro-LGBT radicals.  Freedom from unreasonable search and seizure is compromised at the hands of a growing police state.  Now, with incidents of mass shootings dominating the headlines, a new threat has risen — the willingness to surrender the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in exchange for a little bit of safety.

School District Orders Coaches to Stop Bowing Heads in Prayer.  Heaven help the coach who bows his head to pray in Coweta County, Georgia.  The Coweta County School District issued an edict banning all coaches and other employees from participating in student-initiated or student-led prayer or other forms of worship while acting in their official capacity.

Europe: Climate Dictatorship Proposed To Solve Global Warming.  [T]he current Paris promises will cost each American $500 per year, each European $600 and each Chinese $170.  Of course, most Americans and Europeans are unlikely to elect leaders that will actually incur a much larger cost than most people are willing to pay.  Moreover, these promises will not solve global warming — indeed, they will together achieve almost nothing:  By the UN's own estimate, the Paris Treaty will reduce emissions by less than 1% of what would be needed to keep temperature rises under 2°C and yet cost $1-2 trillion per year by 2030, mostly in reduced GDP growth.  So Paris will deliver far less than what most people expect, yet will cost much more than most people are willing to pay.  Of course, most smart people would be against paying lots for achieving little or nothing.  If anything, this suggests that democracy works just fine.  But [Professor Jørgen] Randers instead takes this unwillingness to spend fortunes on little benefits as an argument for ending democracy.

What is the deal with those FEMA/DHS AM backup transmitters?  In the light of current government trends where the FBI engages in a one year sting operation on a Amish farmer selling raw milk, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms is running guns to Mexican drug cartels, the US Department of Education employing its own SWAT team to serve warrants for delinquent student loans (they say no but offer no other explanation), Gibson Guitars being repeatedly raided for improperly labeled wood products, and so forth, makes me wonder what the government is doing.

REAL ID Allows Feds to Suspend Driver's Licenses for "Cause".  Thanks to Real-ID, DHS has created a national ID system right under everyone's noses.  [Video clip]

Why Are Federal Bureaucrats Buying Guns And Ammo? $158 Million Spent By Non-Military Agencies.  [Scroll down]  Federal agencies spent $44 million on guns, including an "urgent" order for 20 M-16 Rifles with extra magazines at the Department of Energy ($49,559); shotguns and Glock pistols at the General Services Administration ($16,568); and a bulk order of pistols, sights, and accessories by the Bureau of Reclamation whose main job is to build dams, power plants, and canals ($697,182). [...] The government spent $114 million on ammunition, including bulk purchases by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ($66,927); the Smithsonian ($42,687); and the Railroad Retirement Board ($6,941).  The Social Security Administration spent $61,129 on bullets including 50,000 rounds of ammunition plus 12-gauge buckshot and slug ammo.  The EPA special agents purchased ammunition for their .357 and 9mm revolvers and buckshot for their shotguns.  While Bernie Sanders claimed that the biggest adversary to the United States was climate change, the EPA stood ready to fight in ways we couldn't have imagined.

New California law allows jail time for using wrong gender pronoun, sponsor denies that would happen.  California health care workers who "willfully and repeatedly" decline to use a senior transgender patient's "preferred name or pronouns" could face punishments ranging from a fine to jail time under a newly signed law. [...] The bill itself is aimed at protecting transgender and other LGBT individuals in hospitals, retirement homes and assisted living facilities.  The bill would ensure those facilities accommodate transgender people and their needs, including letting them decide which gender-specific bathroom they prefer to use.  "It shall be unlawful for a long-term care facility or facility staff to take any of the following actions wholly or partially on the basis of a person's actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status," the bill reads.

Florida Threatens Woman with Fines, Jail for Giving Diet Tips.  The State of Florida is threatening a woman with jail unless she stops telling people what to eat.  To clarify:  Heather Kokesch Del Castillo of Fort Walton Beach is not wandering around the supermarket in giving unsolicited advice.  People have been asking her — and paying her — for dietary and nutritional advice.  Though all she is doing is talking to people as a health coach, the state has declared her an unlicensed dietitian and fined her more than $750.  She faces misdemeanor charges if she doesn't shut her mouth, with further fines of up to $1,000 for each incident and possibly even a year in prison.

Detroit-area mom jailed for not vaccinating 9-year-old son.  A suburban Detroit woman was handcuffed Wednesday and sent to a jail for seven days for failing to follow an agreement to have her 9-year-old son vaccinated.

Mother Faces Tough Decision:  Vaccinate Your Child Or Go To Jail — This Is Bad For Everyone.  Do you think that a government has the right to force your child to get vaccinated or go to jail — well that's what one Oakland County mother now has to deal with, and the consequences of not doing it will be rough.  [Video clip]

Are you ready for airport security checks — Just to enter a hotel?  It didn't take long after Sunday's [10/1/2017] mass shooting in Las Vegas for resort hotels there to begin implementing new, far more strict security screenings simply to enter the building.  Hotel guests at Wynn's resort stood in line with a 10-minute wait to be screened.  That's likely to become a new normal as the country's worst mass shooting forces major tourist meccas to radically re-imagine potential threats and expand their thinking about security against a new range of threats.  As they did at any airport before boarding their flights to Vegas this week, patrons of Wynn's now have their bags searched before entering and their bodies scanned by metal-detecting wands wielded by uniformed security guards.

8 Really Bad Laws That Went Into Effect Today.  [#1] Touching your phone in Oregon:  From this day [10/1/2017] forward, Oregon drivers are prohibited from touching their cellphones while operating their vehicles, except to make a single swipe intended to turn a phone off.  While lawmakers passed the prohibition to make it easier for cops to enforce cellphone while driving laws, the "single swipe" exception is sure to muddy that.  The law will apply to cellphones, tablets, and GPS devices, but not for police officers, of course.

The FTC Raided My Office, Found Nothing, And Is Destroying My Business Anyway.  In early May, federal investigators raided my small tech-support company, Vylah Tec LLC, d/b/a "V-Tec," on suspicion of "deceptive" sales practices.  The raid was part of a politically hyped campaign by the Federal Trade Commission with the Florida Attorney General's office, dubbed Operation Tech Trap, to "crack down on tech-support scams."  The problem:  My business is not a scam.

What ARE the mysterious $100M metal towers popping up at tunnels and bridges all over New York and why won't the MTA say?  New York's public transportation system has come under fire for spending a whopping $100 million on mysterious metal towers that have popped up at the entrances of tunnel as many New Yorkers remain baffled over how they work.  The 30-feet-tall MTA Gateway Towers are a part of Gov Andrew Cuomo's $100 million vision to redesign the MTA's bridges and tunnels in the city.  Some people are still unsure about the purpose of these towers, including folks on the MTA board, but according to some officials, the towers will host equipment related to homeland security, such as anti-terror technology.

Tire Tyranny.  You visit the tire shop to buy a new set.  Used to be that you'd either tell the guy behind the counter which tires you wanted or discuss options with him.  Then you'd buy them and he'd install them.  Now the guy behind the counter will scan your car's VIN — which is tied to the DMV — and first find out all kinds of things about you and your car.  Then he will tell you which tires you're allowed to buy.  Yes, really.

Food Truck Giving Free Food to Hurricane Workers, Kicked Out of Town for Not Having a Permit.  After Irma devastated Florida, most restaurants and stores were shut down in certain areas.  Green Cove Springs was one of those places.  So, when Jack Roundtree, owner of the Triple J BBQ food truck, arrived in town, not only was he welcomed with open arms — he was desperately needed.  As he sold BBQ to paying customers, Roundtree used the extra money to feed utility workers for free for all their hard work.  However, once officials saw a man who'd dare sell food in their town without paying them first, police were called in to make quick work of this entrepreneurial good samaritan.

Mystery Surrounds Metal Towers Popping Up In Tunnels & Bridges.  Mysterious metal towers are popping up at local tunnels, and soon they'll start appearing at bridges, too.  But even people on the MTA board in charge of the towers can't say why they're being used or what's in them, CBS2's Dave Carlin reports.  Jose Lugo said the tall metal towers quickly appeared up after the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel tolls booths came down.  "We don't really know what's the purpose of this," he told Carlin.  It's a $100 million MTA project shrouded in secrecy, with 18 of them for tunnels and bridges.  So what are they exactly?

The Editor says...
It doesn't matter if these devices are lights, riot control machines, automatic license plate readers, or surveillance cameras.  If the project costs $100 million and they won't tell anybody what it's for, it's not going to be good.

Governments Turn Tables by Suing Public Records Requesters.  Government bodies are increasingly turning the tables on citizens who seek public records that might be embarrassing or legally sensitive.  Instead of granting or denying their requests, a growing number of school districts, municipalities and state agencies have filed lawsuits against people making the requests — taxpayers, government watchdogs and journalists who must then pursue the records in court at their own expense.

How Obama's EPA Nearly Bankrupted John Duarte's Farm.  EPA Chief Scott Pruitt has set out to transform the agency he leads to a greater extent than any of Trump's other cabinet appointees, pledging to end what he dubbed the agency's "anti-energy agenda" by loosening requirements on carbon emissions and eliminating land use restrictions.

Can You Get Fired for Missing Work During a Hurricane Due to Mandatory Evacuation?  What happens to your job if you flee the path of a hurricane due to a mandatory evacuation order?  What if you would simply rather be safe than sorry?  Many Floridians who have evacuated are currently considering this very question and concerned about the status of their employment upon returning home.

Mayor de Bolshevik.  In a wide-ranging and candid interview with New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio casually noted that the "way our legal system is structured to favor private property" provokes his "anger, which is visceral."  The mayor elaborated on this point, insisting that "people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be."  The mayor begs the question of who would build anything under these strict conditions.

What Country Is This?  Forced Blood Draws, Cavity Searches and Colonoscopies.  Forced cavity searches, forced colonoscopies, forced blood draws, forced breath-alcohol tests, forced DNA extractions, forced eye scans, forced inclusion in biometric databases:  these are just a few ways in which Americans are being forced to accept that we have no control over our bodies, our lives and our property, especially when it comes to interactions with the government.  Worse, on a daily basis, Americans are being made to relinquish the most intimate details of who we are — our biological makeup, our genetic blueprints, and our biometrics (facial characteristics and structure, fingerprints, iris scans, etc.) — in order to clear the nearly insurmountable hurdle that increasingly defines life in the United States:  we are now guilty until proven innocent.

U.S. Governor Orders Seizure of Privately Owned Guns, Ammo Ahead of Hurricane.  Gov. Kenneth E. Mapp there has activated the National Guard and has now ordered all guns, ammo and property needed by the National Guard seized.  Silly me... I thought that was unconstitutional and illegal.  The wording of the order is tricky as it allows the seizure in the performance of the National Guard's duties.  Mapp issued this emergency order and signed it on Monday [9/4/2017] in preparation for the storm.  It smacks of martial law.

Justice Department Forces Christian Pastor to Testify on Islam Views.  The United State Department of Justice has issued subpoenas to force a Christian pastor in Virginia to disclose under oath his views on Islam.  Pastor Steve Harrelson of the Mt.  Lebanon Baptist Church in Boston, Virginia, has been served with a wide-ranging subpoena by lawyers for the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.  The subpoena demands his presence to testify under oath in response to questions from Justice Department lawyers about his views on Islam as well as several other issues.

Is Your Dog 'Contraband'?  An awful ruling for pet owners has come from a federal court, in a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge George Caram Steeh.  But the threat is not just to Fido and Fluffy, because, as anyone familiar with how precedent becomes corrupted knows, the ruling will be cited and abused far beyond its original, flawed bases. [...] In deciding an unlicensed dog is "contraband" not protected by the Fourth Amendment, the ruling confuses government "licenses" with "title," i.e., private ownership and possession.  The ruling will eventually be cited in cases involving property other than dogs and other unlicensed activity in our overly license-happy statist society.

Federal Court Rules That Officials Can't Block Trolls On Social Media.  I first wrote about a lawsuit brought by the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University a couple of months ago.  As you may recall, it involves a group of people who had been blocked on Twitter by President Trump after some of their "constructive criticism" (read: trolling) apparently generated enough spam in his mentions column to be noticed.  This was somehow interpreted as a First Amendment violation, leading to the pending lawsuit.  While the entire premise sounds like some sort of parody stolen from the pages of The Onion, we may have an early indication of how the courts will be treating such questions.  This case doesn't deal with the President, but instead an obscure fight involving the Board of Supervisors in Loudoun County, Virginia.  The board's chair apparently blocked a constituent, Brian C. Davidson, on Facebook (for a period of 12 hours before unblocking him) and deleted a post of her own which contained a comment from Davidson.  The results from the initial hearing at the federal district court are disappointing to say the least.

Betrayal: Republicans Push Anti-Free Speech Bill Written By Islamic Terror-Linked Groups.  The United States already has strict laws on the books that protect against hate crimes, so one reasonably asks, "why do we need this new resolution?"  Yes, this particular legislation is merely a "resolution" or a formal statement by a legislative body, but might the continued discussion of this matter really seek to prepare us to slowly move toward the next step in the process and expand the concept of what actually constitutes a "hate crime," — perhaps to include speech that some may find offensive?  In fact, its bent is quite the opposite and could end up landing you in federal court for espousing a politically incorrect opinion.

Washington's DUI-E Law Now Makes It Illegal to Text, Smoke and Even Eat While Driving.  The charge of "driving under the influence" used to only apply to drivers who were under the influence of drugs or alcohol — but it will now apply to drivers who text, eat, smoke, read or groom while driving in the state of Washington.  The implementation of the Driving Under the Influence of Electronics Act was expedited from January 2019 to July 23 after Washington Governor Jay Inslee signed a partial-veto, and insisted that "public safety is better served by implementing this bill this year."

Judge to Marine vet:  Give up Second Amendment gun rights to foster grandson.  On Wednesday [7/19/2017], Fox News reported that William Johnson of Ontonagon, Michigan, was told that he would have to give up his Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms if he wanted to foster his grandson.  Not only was he told this by caseworkers with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS), he was instructed by a county judge that, "if you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights."  As a result, Fox said, a lawsuit was filed in federal court on Monday [7/17/2017].

State officials fume after leak shows how feds planned to use armed troops.  An organization representing top state election officials is complaining it's being kept in the dark by the federal government after a new report showed the Obama administration was quietly making extensive plans — including the possibility of deploying armed troops — in the case of an election day cyberattack or last-minute propaganda efforts from Russia.  Time Magazine reported on a document it obtained showing the administration's plans, which noted that state and local governments would have the primary jurisdiction, but called for the deployment of armed troops to counter a "significant incident."

Amish Man Sentenced to 6 Years in Prison for Improper FDA Labeling.  Samuel Girod is a farmer who belongs to the "Old Order Amish community" and a father to twelve in Bath County, Kentucky.  According to Ricochet, the 57-year-old Girod got in trouble with the government after selling homemade herbal remedies, [...] Girod, who said the FDA had no right to oversight since he made herbal remedies, wouldn't let them in.  His deeply-held beliefs require he "avoid the modern world as much as possible, including modern pharmaceuticals."  Unsurprisingly, the FDA disagreed with his assessment of their level of possible involvement, so the federal behemoth came down on him for the "vague medical claims" on his labels.

FBI Agent Indicted for Lying About Shooting in Oregon Refuge Standoff.  An FBI agent has been indicted for lying to state and federal investigators about firing at Robert "LaVoy" Finicum during a showdown between law enforcement and protesters last year in Oregon. [...] Oregon state police shot and killed Finicum on January 26, 2016.  He was fleeing a surprise traffic stop on a rural highway near the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where he was holed up with other protesters.  He crashed his truck into a snow bank and jumped out.  An autopsy determined that three rounds shot by state police killed him.  The U.S. Attorney for Oregon said the shots were "necessary and justified," since Finicum appeared to be reaching for his gun.  Investigators discovered that someone else fired as well before Finicum left his truck.  One round went into the roof of the truck.  Astarita failed to tell Oregon police officers that he shot two rounds at Finicum.  He also failed to tell the FBI's Shooting Incident Response Team.  Suspicions were aroused when two shell casings disappeared from the scene.

The Charlie Gard Case and Its Obvious Implications.  Most of the people following the macabre case of Charlie Gard were relieved when the British hospital holding the child hostage decided to let the 11-month old live until it has conferred with Perfidious Albion's High Court.  In a statement issued Friday [7/7/2017], Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) added that it had condescended to inform Charlie's parents of the decision, "and will continue to keep them fully appraised of the situation."  In a sane world most observers would shout, "What [if anything] does the court system have to do with this kid's care and why are his parents treated as mere bystanders?"

Worst media moments of the week.  The case of 11-month-old Charlie Gard is every parent's nightmare.  The child has "a rare genetic condition that has damaged his brain and left him unable to breathe without assistance," according to Fox News.  British authorities have refused to follow the parents' wishes to let them transport him to the United States for experimental treatments.  They didn't just give him a death sentence.  They said they get to decide what happens, not his parents.  ABC, CBS and NBC didn't care about the story, though American conservatives were up in arms about it.  None of the three networks mentioned the case.

Court Rules To Kill Baby, Denying Parents the Right To Pay for Surgery.  Charlie Gard is a ten-month-old baby who suffers from a rare, crippling disorder called mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome.  Baby Charlie is condemned to die.  But not because of his condition.  No, Charlie will die because a judge ordered that he should.

Court Rules Hospital Can Overrule Parents and Yank Their Disabled Son's Life Support.  Charlie Gard, a little baby on life-support with a debilitating genetic disease, has lost his last court battle.  His parents' heroic battle to bring 10-month-old Charlie to the United States for an experimental medication has lost out to a London hospital evaluation that he deserves "death with dignity."  A majority of seven judges in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) Tuesday rejected, as "inadmissible" the plea by Charlie's parents to overturn three rulings in the UK court system against their son.  The ECHR had agreed to intervene June 19th to maintain Charlie's life-support in the interest of preventing "imminent risk of irreparable harm."

State Tyranny Exposed.  The bureaucracy decided that the parents had no rights in [the Charlie Gard] case.  They had raised the money to seek experimental treatment in the United States, and the British courts decided that, even though there was no cost to the British taxpayer, the parents had no rights.  They couldn't even take their child home to die in peace with his family.  I'm sure the experimental treatment was a long shot.  It probably wouldn't have worked anyway.  But God knows, if this were my child, I'd fight to the last, to the most extreme chance possible.  The public largely agreed with them, that's how they were able to raise the donation money in the first place.  But the primacy of the State cannot be questioned by us mere peasants.

Lynching Free Speech:  The Intolerant State of America.  Here's the thing:  if Americans don't learn how to get along — at the very least, agreeing to disagree and respecting each other's right to subscribe to beliefs and opinions that may be offensive, hateful, intolerant or merely different — then we're going to soon find that we have no rights whatsoever (to speak, assemble, agree, disagree, protest, opt in, opt out, or forge our own paths as individuals).  The government will lock down the nation at the slightest provocation.  It is ready, willing and able to impose martial law within 24 hours.  Indeed, the government has been anticipating and preparing for civil unrest for years now, as evidenced by the build-up of guns and tanks and militarized police and military training drills and threat assessments and extremism reports and surveillance systems and private prisons.  Connect the dots, people.

Government bureaucrats now have the power to take children away from their parents if they oppose non-biological 'gender identity'.  It seems like something out of a dystopian novel written by a conservative Christian, but it is actually happening.  A child decides to play at being the opposite sex, but the parents object, perhaps on religious grounds.  In the Canadian province of Ontario (which contains nearly 40% of Canada's population), "child protection" bureaucrats may now remove that child from the parents' care, in order to permit the child to express its chosen identity at variance from the dictates of biology.  Presumably, this could extend to allowing genital mutilation of the child as a so-called "sex change" operation despite the parents' strong objections.

Ontario Makes Disapproval Of Children's Gender Confusion Child Abuse.  American Lens goes on to note (using an article from Gender Trender) that Canada is looking to legalize gender confusion nationally with Bill C-16, which "would establish a government recognized class of people based on their personal feeling that sex stereotypes form an integral and desired component of their legal identity."  This would be a part of the criminal code, so, it should turn out great, right?  Perhaps it is time to stop tolerating this insanity and ruining kids' lives by allowing them to perpetuate fantasies that they're the other sex, which is encouraged by insane leftists with political agendas.

In Canada, Big Brother Is Ready to Raid Your Home and Steal Your Child.  We have not been crying wolf.  We have not been exaggerating the danger.  The unthinkable is now reality in Canada.  And it could be coming to America next.  In 2012, headlines announced, "Homeschooling families can't teach homosexual acts sinful in class says Alberta government."  As the article explained, "Under Alberta's new Education Act, homeschoolers and faith-based schools will not be permitted to teach that homosexual acts are sinful as part of their academic program, says the spokesperson for Education Minister Thomas Lukaszuk."

Canada's New Law Lets Government Take Children Away If Parents Don't Accept Their Gender Identity.  A Canadian province has passed a law that gives rights to the government to take away children from families that don't accept their kid's chosen "gender identity" or "gender expression".  The Supporting Children, Youth and Families Act of 2017, also know as Bill 89, was passed in Ontario by a vote of 63 to 23, The Christian Times reported. [...] Minister of Child and Family Services Michael Coteau, who introduced the bill, said "I would consider that a form of abuse, when a child identifies one way and a caregiver is saying no, you need to do this differently."  "If it's abuse, and if it's within the definition, a child can be removed from that environment and placed into protection where the abuse stops."

City: You can't sell blueberries unless you affirm gay marriage.  The Tennes family has been farming in Michigan for generations.  They grow all sorts of crops at the Country Mill Farm — organic apples, blueberries, pumpkins, sweet corn.  And for the past seven years, Steve Tennes and his family have sold their produce at the farmer's market owned by the city of East Lansing.  But this year — city officials told the devout Catholic family that their blueberries and sweet corn were not welcome at the farmer's market — and neither were they.

Farmer Fined $2.8 Million for Plowing His Own Land.  It's a case that involves property rights, due process of law, constitutionally protected rights, and rule by bureaucratic fiat.  A farmer in California's Tehama County will undergo a trial this August in an attempt by the federal government and the state of California to fine him $2.8 million for failing to get a permit to plow his own field and plant wheat.  John Duarte, owner of Duarte Nursery, purchased 450 acres near Modesto in 2012 with the intention of growing wheat.  But the property included land designated "wetlands" by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  Because of this, Duarte employed a consulting firm to determine which areas provided drainage for some creeks, making them "waters of the United States."  This information would enable him to avoid plowing areas that could cause conflict with governmental authorities.

Illinois Purges Social Workers And Foster Families Who Don't 'Facilitate' Transgenderism.  The science-deniers are running the LGBTQ show over at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), and dissenters will not be tolerated.  The department's new "enhanced" policies promoting the "well-being of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer/Questioning (LGBTQ) children and youth in the Department's care" ratchet in one direction only: encouraging children towards LGBTQ identities.  DCFS has drawn a rainbow-colored line in the sand, announcing it "will not tolerate exposing LGBTQ children and youth to staff/providers who are not supportive of children and youths' right to self-determination of sexual/gender identity."

The Editor says...
When did "self-determination of gender identity" become a right?

Farmer Faces $2.8 Million Fine For Plowing His Own Field.  A California farmer is facing a $2.8 million fine for failing to get a permit to plow his own field.  John Duarte bought 450 acres of land near Modesto in 2012 and is now being sued by the federal government for plowing near areas the government considers to be "waters of the United States."

He plowed his field; now he faces a $2.8 million fine.  A farmer faces trial in federal court this summer and a $2.8 million fine for failing to get a permit to plow his field and plant wheat in Tehama County.  A lawyer for Duarte Nursery said the case is important because it could set a precedent requiring other farmers to obtain costly, time-consuming permits just to plow.  "The case is the first time that we're aware of that says you need to get a (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers) permit to plow to grow crops," said Anthony Francois, a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation.  The libertarian-leaning nonprofit fights for private property rights and limited government.

A new GOP bill would make it virtually impossible to sue the police.  The bill would create new federal crimes, impose federal police over the will of local officials and voters and shield police officers from virtually any civil liability, even in cases of egregious misconduct.  Let's look first at the new federal crimes.  The bill would create new federal crimes for killing, attempting to kill or conspiring to kill a state or local law enforcement officer who works for a police agency that receives federal funding.  Because nearly all police agencies receive some sort of federal funding, including most local sheriff's departments and town police, the bill basically makes it a federal crime to kill, attempt to kill or conspire to kill any police officer (as well as any judge or first responder).  The bill would also allow for the federal death penalty in such cases, and it would impose limits on the ability of defendants to file habeas petitions in federal court after they've exhausted their appeals.

Vermont DMV Caught Using Illegal Facial Recognition Program.  The Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles has been caught using facial recognition software — despite a state law preventing it.  Documents obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont describe such a program, which uses software to compare the DMV's database of names and driver's license photos with information with state and federal law enforcement.  Vermont state law, however, specifically states that "The Department of Motor Vehicles shall not implement any procedures or processes... that involve the use of biometric identifiers."

How Reality Is Being Manufactured.  Reality is being manufactured to manipulate your emotions and actions!  In this video, Melissa Dykes of Truthstream Media brilliantly breaks down how our reality is created in the Information Age using very interesting Google Trend charts.  It used to be if you controlled the oil, you controlled the world.  Now it's if you control the information, you control the world.  That is why they are cracking down so aggressively on independent media.  [Video clip]

Former FEC Chairwoman Calls for 'Regulations' of Political Speech on the Internet.  The former Federal Election Commission chairwoman Ann M. Ravel says that political speech must be controlled on social media.  She presented her remarks in a speech at UC Berkeley, calling for regulations against "fake news."  Speaking at an event called "Future of Democracy," Ravel argued the proliferation of "fake news" and political advertising on platforms like Facebook influenced elections.  She warned that the lack of disclosure by the creators of these campaigns was becoming a huge problem.  "We know that there's a lot of campaigning that's moved to the internet, whether it's through fake news or just outright advertising and there is almost no regulation of this, very little," she said.  "And so that the disclosure that we expect as to who is behind campaigns is not going to exist soon"

Government Burglars.  The legitimate purpose of government?  It is to protect citizens from force and fraud, to defend individuals against violent and criminal attacks on their persons and property, and, beyond that, to leave them at liberty to pursue their own happiness.  Tyranny, conversely, is what we call governments that engage in force and fraud, committing violent and criminal acts against innocent people — even when those crimes are cloaked in the costume of legality.  In these United States, at this modern moment in time, which is it?  Do we live in a legitimately governed country or an abject tyranny?  Or is it somewhere in between?

The Government Doesn't Care About You.  We have reached a point in our nation's history where we have put far too much power in, trust in, and dependence on government.  Shortly after the nation was founded, government began to encroach on our freedom, making us more reliant on the federal government for our daily needs.  In recent decades, that government creep has accelerated exponentially, to the point where every single thing in our lives has some form of regulation touching it.  The more government intrudes through regulation, the fewer rights we have as individuals.

Appeals Court Says Right To Bear Arms Isn't A Right If Cops Are Banging On Your Door In The Middle Of The Night.  Qualified immunity — a legal doctrine that originates from court decisions rather than statute — received another boost from the federal court system last week.  Qualified immunity is the concept that allows overreaching and abusive government employees and officials to stay one step ahead of accountability.  If their actions don't "clearly violate" established law and/or precedent, police officers, etc. can walk away unscathed from deprivations of other people's life and liberty.

How California police are tracking your biometric data in the field.  [Scroll down]  Nine of the agencies have responded to our requests with documents, while many more claimed they didn't have any records.  Of those that did respond, most employed a digital fingerprinting device.  Facial recognition has also been widely embraced among agencies in San Diego County, with Santa Clara County law enforcement agencies close behind.  In addition, In addition, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department's biometrics system includes tattoo recognition, while the Orange County Sheriff's Department is also investigating iris recognition.

Cops Given Pass For Shooting Innocent Man In His Own Home.  At issue in this case isn't whether these shootings by cop will continue in the future.  They will, and this case just makes that more likely, but judges should not be deciding cases based on their social import.  In other words, there is an objective standard against which their actions should be judged in this particular case, and that doesn't change one iota based on what may or may not happen in the future.  Judges aren't social workers, soothsayers or witchdoctors — or at least, they shouldn't be.

Cops given pass for shooting innocent man in his own apartment.  There was no warrant and no reason to suspect the apartment resident in Lake County, Florida, of a crime.  But police officers who said they were investigating a speeding motorcyclist, to which the man had no links, pounded on the door at 1:30 in the morning.  When Andrew Scott, 26, answered the door, carrying a weapon for defense because of the vigorous knocking at an unlikely hour, an officer shot and killed him.  Now, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has given the officer a pass for the killing, prompting an outraged dissent from four justices on the panel.

Oregon Man Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail — for Collecting Rainwater on His Property.  A rural Oregon man was sentenced Wednesday [3/29/2017] to 30 days in jail and over $1,500 in fines because he had three reservoirs on his property to collect and use rainwater.  Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Ore., says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County (Ore.) Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called "three illegal reservoirs" on his property — and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff.

N.Y. bill would require people to remove 'inaccurate,' 'irrelevant,' 'inadequate' or 'excessive' statements about others.  [U]nder this bill, newspapers, scholarly works, copies of books on Google Books and Amazon, online encyclopedias (Wikipedia and others) — all would have to be censored whenever a judge and jury found (or the author expected them to find) that the speech was "no longer material to current public debate or discourse" (except when it was "related to convicted felonies" or "legal matters relating to violence" in which the subject played a "central and substantial" role).  And of course the bill contains no exception even for material of genuine historical interest; after all, such speech would have to be removed if it was "no longer material to current public debate."  [...] But the deeper problem with the bill is simply that it aims to censor what people say, under a broad, vague test based on what the government thinks the public should or shouldn't be discussing.

Today's Riot-Prone Mobs Are A Product Of America's Cult-Like Education System.  Today's street theater is the culmination of decades of radical education revision.  The radical Left's systematic attack on the study of Western Civilization has essentially been an attack against the study of any and all civil societies.  It is an attack on the features that make a society civil and free.  Those features include freedom of expression, civil discourse, the Socratic method of figuring out truth, value of the individual, and a common knowledge of the classics of history and literature that help us understand what's universal in the human experience.  All of that had to go.  Now, as we see students marching to demonize as "fascists" proponents of free speech, their ignorance is in full view.  This is really a full frontal attack on the rule of law, the Constitution, and a system of checks and balances that guards against the consolidation of centralized power.  That's the whole point of the education these students have been fed.

USDA Threatens To Shut Down Farm For Conservative Article In Break Room.  For hundreds of years, the meat-packing industry bore the responsibility for transforming Bessie the Cow into carnivores' favorite source of protein, and more recently the Food Safety and Inspection Service inspectors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture ensured that the finished product was "safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged."  Not so anymore.  Due to agency rules issued during the Obama era, FSIS inspectors enjoy expanded duties, including monitoring facilities for any "disrespectful" or "insult[ing]" communication (no, not among the animals).

Rubber stamp court:
9,400 to Zero:  For 6 Years, Spy Court Denied No Electronic Surveillance Applications.  In the last six years on record (2010-2015), the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court did not deny a single application out of the 9,400 the government submitted seeking authority "to conduct electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes" under the terms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, according to reports filed by the U.S. Justice Department.  The last time the court denied an electronic surveillance application under FISA was 2009.  That year, the court denied one application outright and denied another in part.

FISA Court: Whatever Obama Wanted Obama Got.  FISA became a rubber stamp for the Obama administration.  Between 2010 and 2015, FISA did not deny even one of the 9,400 applications submitted by the federal government.  These applications sought "to conduct electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes," according to reports filed by the U.S. Justice Department.  FISA Court, executive overreachWithout any real checks and balances, Obama could say, "I saw Trump drinking a Black Russian one night, ergo let's put him under investigation."  The Justice Department's annual report provides the status of their 2015 FISA requests.  The court denied a grand total of zero government FISA applications from 2010 through 2015.  However, the court did modify some applications that it approved.  And the government withdrew some of those it submitted.

U.S. Marshals Scan Passenger Retinas to Board Flight.  During the war on terrorism, Americans compromised their liberties to fight for freedom.  Now, during the war on immigration, Americans will again be compelled to sacrifice liberties for American sovereignty.  In the name of security, anywhere, anytime.  All measures will be justified, everyone will be authorized and the population will be controlled.

This Is How Free Speech Slowly Dies.  [Scroll down]  The result is a world like many Americans live in today, where they keep their mouths shut at work, they keep a tight rein on their social-media feeds, and they confine their true opinions to the most private forms of communication.  This culture isn't everywhere, of course, but ask conservative employees in entire areas of public- and private-sector employment if they're as free to speak as their progressive colleagues, and the answer is a resounding "No."  How free are they to disagree with their diversity trainer?  Can they argue against same-sex marriage with the same vehemence that their colleagues ask for "marriage equality"?  Are they as free to discuss, say, the border wall or Trump's executive order on immigration as their progressive friends?  One thing I can say for certain, I have conservative friends who are afraid to test the proposition.  They have mortgages to pay.

The Illusion of Freedom:  The Police State Is Alive and Well.  Anytime you have an entire nation so mesmerized by the antics of the political ruling class that they are oblivious to all else, you'd better beware.  Anytime you have a government that operates in the shadows, speaks in a language of force, and rules by fiat, you'd better beware.  And anytime you have a government so far removed from its people as to ensure that they are never seen, heard or heeded by those elected to represent them, you'd better beware. [...] The gravest threat facing us as a nation is not extremism — delivered by way of sovereign citizens or radicalized Muslims — but despotism, exercised by a ruling class whose only allegiance is to power and money.

Texas bill seeks to label attacks against first responders as a hate crime.  The father of a Dallas police officer murdered in the July ambush says he fully supports a sweeping new hate crime bill.  The father of Patrick Zamarripa says he wants his son's murder to have a purpose and hope a Texas bill, designed to protect first responders, does that.  Rick Zamarripa knows nothing he does will bring his son back.  But he hopes by pushing new legislation to make attacking police officers a hate crime will give his son's death meaning.

The Editor says...
I'm very sorry that Officer Zamarripa was amushed and killed, along with four other officers, but legislation of this sort means that "first responders" will be first-class citizens and everyone else will be something less.

The Real Force Chipping Away at Your Right to Speak Your Mind.  As odious as they are, campus speech codes and angry rioting leftists are not the biggest threat to most Americans' free speech.  No, the much more common and insidious threat to the average American is their employer's human resources department freaking out about a social-media post done off the clock.  Alexandria Brown suggested the actual threat to an American's free speech rights is someone else reporting their off-the-clock private social media posts to the employer's HR department. [...] We're creeping closer to a society and an economy where holding a sufficiently controversial opinion or making a sufficiently controversial remark makes you unemployable or barely employable.

A legal analysis of the Ninth Circuit's dangerous usurpation of presidential power.  What we have here is a creeping constitutional coup.  As long as President Obama was in charge and had a massive open-door policy at our borders and at our airports, in violation of statutory law, the judiciary was content to be silent.  But when Donald Trump became president and tried to use the powers of the presidency to put some national security safeguards into place, the judiciary sprang into action.  The judiciary has usurped the executive branch's powers and has created a parallel constitution — one that bears no relation to the founding document of our nation.

Trump Is Right.  Churches Should Be Free To Express Themselves Politically.  In 1954, Sen. Lyndon Johnson, worried about opposition at home, came up with an amendment to the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3) that prohibited campaign speech by nonprofits and tax-exempt churches.  There was no floor debate on the law, and one assumes, those voting for it saw little downside in quashing church criticism in their own states.  One also imagines that the folks writing the First Amendment didn't expect their pastors would be monitored by a central government agency and forced to watch what they say in the pulpit.  Yet, ignoring our rich tradition of religious activism, which includes the abolitionist movement, we've normalized the idea that pastors, priests, and rabbis should avoid talking about candidates, even when those candidates attack foundational ideas of faith.  We now task the IRS with monitoring every utterance in every church by every religious organization in the United States, and then deciding which of those thoughts constitute acceptable speech or "issue advocacy."

Hate Crime Laws Codify Inequality.  Because hate crime laws elevate some victims above others, their scope tends to expand over time.  If race and religion are covered, doesn't fairness demand that disability, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity be included as well?  A Louisiana law that took effect last summer classifies attacks on police officers, firefighters, or paramedics as hate crimes too.  Similar "Blue Lives Matter" bills have been introduced in several other states.  This unseemly competition, in which interest groups vie for recognition and status, has very little to do with justice, which requires equal treatment under the law.

Oregon Couple Told They Have No Water Rights, Forced to Destroy Their Own Pond.  Remember the Oregon 'Rain Man' or Gary Harrington — who was sent to 30 days in Jackson County Jail and slapped with a $1,500 fine for collecting rainwater on his 170-acre property?  He was ordered to breach his dams and drain his ponds that held more than 13 million gallons of water, enough to fill 20 Olympic-sized swimming pools.  Now, an Oregon couple faces a similar fate as Gary Harrington because the rain belongs to the overbearing government, because corporate greed claims water is not a human right, and because Americans are not entitled to do what they please on their private property.

Army, Navy, Air Force, EPA.  During the period covered by the Open the Books report, EPA spent over $3 million on military equipment, including guns and ammo, tanks, drones, helicopters, camouflage, night-vision goggles, and other military hardware. [...] Other agencies with military-style equipment and cops include the Department of Commerce, Internal Revenue Service, Food and Drug Administration, and the Smithsonian Institution (guards to protect museum artifacts are one thing, but drones, helicopters, and SWAT teams?).  The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland has its own cops with a fleet of Crown Victoria police cars, as do the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Library of Congress, National Park Service, Forest Service, BLM, Fish and Wildlife Service, Marine Fisheries Service, and even the Government Printing Office.  Do all these agencies really need police with guns, badges, arresting authority, and military equipment?

EPA May Crack Down on Wood Stoves in Alaska.  Many Alaskans rely on wood-burning stoves, which left-wing bureaucrats regard as offensive to environment. [...] A few weeks ago, it got down to -37°F in Fairbanks.  The high for the day was -27°F.  But never mind keeping warm.  According to liberal theory, global warming will see to that.  The important thing is to comply with the dictates of the regulatory bureaucracy.

EPA To Alaskans In Sub-Zero Temps:  Stop Burning Wood To Keep Warm.  [Scroll down]  But alas, now comes the federal government to tell the inhabitants of Alaska's interior that, really, they should not be building fires to keep themselves warm during the winter.  The New York Times reports the Environmental Protection Agency could soon declare the Alaskan cities of Fairbanks and North Pole, which have a combined population of about 100,000, in "serious" noncompliance of the Clean Air Act early next year.  Like most people in Alaska, the residents of those frozen cities are burning wood to keep themselves warm this winter.  Smoke from wood-burning stoves increases small-particle pollution, which settles in low-lying areas and can be breathed in.  The EPA thinks this is a big problem.  Eight years ago, the agency ruled that wide swaths of the most densely populated parts of the region were in "non-attainment" of federal air quality standards.

EPA To Alaskans:  We Might Fine You For Burning Wood To Stay Warm.  Well, in the Alaskan interior, winters can be brutal.  With temperatures dropping below zero, burning wood is the only viable way for Alaskans in these rather desolate areas to stay warm.  Yet, government thinks this is a problem concerning small-particle pollution.  In fact, the Environmental Protection Agency is so concerned that they're mulling fining people who burn wood to stay warm.

Obama Administration Yanks Second Amendment Rights from SSI Recipients.  Last week, the Obama administration put the finishing touches on a new policy that would deprive recipients of disability insurance and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) of their Second Amendment rights.  The administration will now characterize those citizens as "mental defectives," thereby having their ability to own a firearm subject to the federal Gun Control Act.  Supplemental Security Income helps blind, disabled, and elderly people with little to no income.  Previously, it was understood that "mentally defective" referred to one's mental health.  Citizens who have been institutionalized against their will are restricted from owning a firearm.  The new definition of "mentally defective" has nothing to do with being mentally ill.

Obama Quietly Signs Bill Declaring War On Independent Media.  The human wrecking ball that is Barack Obama is refusing to be a good lame duck and just go away.  In a flurry of blows to America and a key Middle East ally, Obama stabbed Israel in the back at the United Nations and set the conditions for a total war on independent media.  The fiendish Obama waited until the Christmas weekend to quietly sign off on the creation of a new federal entity to combat "Russian" propaganda and target websites deemed to be sources of fake news.  Snuggled warmly within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to fund the military was a nasty and secretive provision that thanks to Congress, creates an Orwellian Ministry of Truth.

Obama Quietly Signs the "Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act" Into Law.  Late on Friday [12/23/2016], with the US population embracing the upcoming holidays and oblivious of most news emerging from the administration, Obama quietly signed into law the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) which authorizes $611 billion for the military in 2017. [...] But while the passage of the NDAA — and the funding of the US military — was hardly a surprise, the biggest news is what was buried deep inside the provisions of the Defense Authortization Act.  Recall that as we reported in early June, "a bill to implement the U.S.' very own de facto Ministry of Truth had been quietly introduced in Congress.  As with any legislation attempting to dodge the public spotlight the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016 marks a further curtailment of press freedom and another avenue to stultify avenues of accurate information.

A Hostile Environment For Truth.  [Scroll down]  There is no way for the owner of a website to know the absolute validity of any information found on the Internet then transmitted to the public.  In fact, without being able to go back and look at H.R. 6480, I would not know for sure that what I had heard was true.  What is known is that any website might fall under the clause (H.R. 6480, Sec 501(a)(1)(A-F)) without knowledge and be held legally culpable.  The thing I find odd about this clause is that it singles out Russia, rather than the more common "by foreign nations."  This has political intent and is not designed to enhance national security, rather it is designed to enhance political security.  It is not just the Democrat leftists who seek protection from the truth, the Republican globalists are shocked, scared and desperate.  If the media establishment cannot control the narrative for globalism, they are in trouble, so they agree with this Title and clause to intimidate websites that call them out for their distortions and extortions.  Trump and his election signals a victory for the unwashed and the globalists are already fighting back in every way they can.  The war has begun and the first battlefield is the Internet.

Very Stupid Idea Arises From Florida.  A government lawyer in Florida would like courts to impose community service and forced speech on you if you're unpleasant, and a prominent Florida newspaper is taking it seriously. [...] I'm not a fan of lunatics shouting at barristas about Donald Trump.  But honestly, I am far more offended by lawyers — especially government lawyers — promoting civic illiteracy by proposing patently unconstitutional policies.

Senate Quietly Passes The "Countering Disinformation And Propaganda Act".  While we wait to see if and when the Senate will pass (and president will sign) Bill "H.R. 6393, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017", which was passed by the House at the end of November with an overwhelming majority and which seeks to crack down on websites suspected of conducting Russian propaganda and calling for the US government to "counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence ... carried out in coordination with, or at the behest of, political leaders or the security services of the Russian Federation and the role of the Russian Federation has been hidden or not acknowledged publicly," another, perhaps even more dangerous and limiting to civil rights and freedom of speech bill passed on December 8.  Recall that as we reported in early June, "a bill to implement the U.S.' very own de facto Ministry of Truth has been quietly introduced in Congress.  As with any legislation attempting to dodge the public spotlight the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016 marks a further curtailment of press freedom and another avenue to stultify avenues of accurate information.

Trump will get power to text all Americans.  President-elect Donald Trump will have access to a system that can send unblockable texts to every phone in the US once he takes the oath of office.  Wireless Emergency Alerts are part of a program created by a 2006 act of Congress.  WEAs can be targeted messages sent to all mobile phones in a particular area, like Amber alerts, or to all phones nationally, like an alert issued by the president, according to a report by New York Magazine's Select/All blog.  The Trump office didn't immediately return a request seeking comment as to how the incoming president might use the system.  The FCC, which provides a guide to the WEA program, also didn't respond to a request for comment.

The State Wants to Raise Your Child.  The state's intervention into everyday life can be worrisome, whether it's a new tax policy, a new environmental regulation, or more government surveillance.  But it's something people can usually live with.  But in her new book, No Child Left Alone, Abby W. Schachter delves into how the federal government has been meddling in the bedrock of human society:  the family.  Whether it's letting your child stay home, packing your child's lunch, or sending your child to daycare, the federal government wants control.  Schachter discusses how the state's involvement has impacted the mental and physical development of children as well as how it strips away the rights of the parents to raise their children as they see fit.

Bureaucratic Tyranny in Trump's Crosshairs.  We have a VA that purposely lets vets die without medical care.  We have an EPA at war with the energy industry.  The Department of Education threatens public schools with loss of federal funds and mandates progressive lies about American history, teaching generations of schoolchildren to be ashamed of America and ignorant of our Constitution and our forefathers.  Universities are forced by the DOJ to hire feminist and racialist thought police under an Obama bureaucrat's interpretation of the Civil Rights Act.  We have an IRS that has a political enemies list its employees punish at the behest of Democrats.  Homeland Security and FBI are under a gag order that forbids them to use the term jihad or Islamic extremism.  Everywhere we look, regulations are strangling business, intruding into the personal lives and property rights of ordinary citizens.

People's Cube Artist Faces 5 Years in Prison for Hanging Up Anti-Terror Posters at GMU.  The artistic genius behind the highly acclaimed conservative satirical site The People's Cube has been arrested and released on $8,000 bail for putting up pro-Israel posters to combat a pro-Islamist conference at George Mason University.  He now faces the prospect of five years in prison for allegedly committing a "class 6 felony."  Beloved satirist Oleg Atbashian (who has contributed to PJ Media) has gotten in trouble for defying authorities before:  "Back in my Soviet dissident days, when I was collecting signatures in defense of Andrei Sakharov, I was screamed at, threatened, and lectured by the KGB and Communist functionaries," Oleg says.  "What I never imagined was that in the United States, the land of the free, I would not only be subjected to similar treatment, but go to jail."

Who Knew It Was A Crime To Hang Anti-Terrorism Posters?  My friend and compatriot Oleg Atbashian found that out the hard way.  Imagine my surprise this morning to find out he had been roughed up and arrested in Fairfax, Virginia.  His crime was hanging anti-terrorism posters on the university campus.  Oh, and bonus... he wasn't even read his rights.  He is now out on $8,000 bail for putting up pro-Israel posters to combat a pro-Islamist conference at George Mason University.  He faces the very real prospect of five years in prison for allegedly committing a "class 6 felony."  Oleg is an artistic genius.  His satirical site, The People's Cube, is one of the very best out there.  Oleg did the graphics for NoisyRoom and has done work for Trevor Loudon and Cliff Kincaid as well.  He is a member of a small circle of commie hunters out there.  We all have very long memories and we take it very personally when one of our own is treated like this.

Obama Quietly Signs Executive Order To Advance Global Vaccination Agenda.  So basically, the agenda is to push vaccines and normalize quarantine procedures across nations during outbreaks. [...] Bill Gates provided the CDC with a surveillance tool that helps identify "district-level measles risk" based on immunization records.  What's more, the HHS recently proposed giving the CDC the power to detain and quarantine people without due Process.

Single Mom Faces Jail Time After Participating in Facebook Food Group.  A Stockton woman faces an impending trial and potential jail time after she joined a social media community food group, and sold some of the meals she cooked, which county San Joaquin County officials say is against the law.  Mariza Reulas was cited by San Joaquin County for selling an illegal substance, but it wasn't a powder, a pill or a plant.  It was her bowl of homemade ceviche.  "It was just like unreal that they were saying you could face up to a year in jail," said Reulas.

State demands pastor turn over sermons, notes.  The state of Georgia is demanding copies of the sermons and related notes of a lay pastor who was fired by the Department of Public Health after it investigated what he said in his church.  But Dr. Eric Walsh is resisting, issuing a statement via his legal team that he will not comply with the demand from state lawyers.  The state's demand is in response to a lawsuit filed by Walsh against the Department of Health charging discrimination based on his religion and other civil rights violations.

Hillary Clinton Is The Greatest Threat to the Second Amendment Ever.  Law-abiding gun owners are preparing for what the Founding Fathers warned us about:  a tyrannical government that is out to limit our Constitutional rights.  We're stocking up on our guns and ammo, and not without good reason.

How The Cloward-Piven Strategy Is Driving The United States To Collapse.  Since Obama took office in 2008, the political elite has tried everything from smuggling illegal guns to Mexican drug cartels, attempting to make ammunition expensive through regulation to convincing banks to refuse to extend credit or loans to gun store owners.  Schemes like these are intended to make gun ownership such an impossible venture, that eventually no one will own any, thereby making any attempts to establish a hard tyranny slightly easier.  Although disarming law abiding Americans is an important step in implementing the Cloward-Piven strategy, the political elite must also establish an enforcement mechanism for the new government they intend to create.  Coincidentally, over the past five years, reports of numerous and excessively large transactions have occurred between federal agencies and ammunition manufacturers.  While some agencies need ammunition for training purposes and to do their jobs, why do agencies such as the EPA or the Department of Education ammunition and weapons as well, especially in an era where there isn't even enough for the military?  One possible answer to this vexing question is that even if the political elite succeeds in gutting the military completely, they likely don't trust the average soldier or Marine to carry out orders for a hard tyranny.  Therefore, the political elite likely intends to use federal agencies to carry out tyrannical orders, all in the name of "law enforcement".  If this is the case, it would likely explain the comments made by President Obama during a speech he made in Colorado, where he argued for a domestic force that was equally as well-equipped and funded as the military.

Obama Calls for 'Truthiness Tests' for Media Companies.  President Barack Obama floated the notion of a test for media organizations, griping about the wide-spread existence of alternative media available in America.  He was critical of the current Wild West online environment where people could say anything on social media or on news websites.  "We are going to have to rebuild within this wild-wild-west-of-information flow some sort of curating function that people agree to," he said.

Eric Holder named to lead effort to destroy GOP after Hillary wins the presidency.  This election is for keeps:  plans are being implemented, with President Obama already signed on, staff hired, and money being raised.  Perhaps lulled into complacency by the MSM polls, the Democrats have already constructed and staffed their strategy to permanently disable the Republican Party.  Eric Holder is the perfect henchman, a man above nothing in his quest for political dominance, unbound by old-fashioned concepts of justice.  The GOP will remain in existence as the token opposition, useful for legitimizing the actual one-party regime, the essential element of the election rituals reminding us of the Republic we once enjoyed.

Podesta Pal:  We 'Conspire to Produce an Unaware and Compliant Citizenry'.  One of John Podesta's emails released by WikiLeaks this week exposes how progressive elites seek to exploit the unwashed masses.  The email features one of Podesta's colleagues from the Center for American Progress admitting that the institutional left "conspires to produce an unaware and compliant citizenry," ostensibly to impose their radical agenda on us without much resistance.  The correspondent is Bill Ivey of Global Cultural Strategies, "the online representation of the ideas, writings, and affiliations of author/consultant Bill Ivey."  He is an author trained in folklore and history, a trustee of the Center for American Progress, a former team leader in the Barack Obama presidential transition in 2008, and the former chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts in the Clinton administration.

The All-Out Assault on the First Amendment.  From the IRS targeting conservative groups to those trying to limit the ability of Americans to freely practice their religious beliefs, to membership organizations being forced to disclose their donors, the First Amendment is being assaulted on all sides.  Americans are familiar with the recent attacks on religious liberty, present in everything from forcing religious business owners to oyer abortion-inducing drugs and perform same-sex wedding services that violate their fundamental beliefs to the exclusion of churches from secular public projects.  Cases questioning the government's encroachment on religious liberty continue to come before the U.S. Supreme Court, [...]

Pentagon joins Homeland, FBI in eyeing oversight, control of elections.  Concerns about Russian hacking into the November 8 election have now reached the Pentagon where the military's top cyber official has outlined a plan to help the FBI and Department of Homeland Security to track an election altering attack.  What's more, Adm. Michael S. Rogers, commander of U.S. Cyber Command, has added his voice to that of Homeland Secretary Jeh Johnson who is considering whether the election system is critical infrastructure, like the power grid and financial sector, and subject to federal oversight.

Clinton Camp "Demands" "Compliant Citizenry" for Her Master Plan.  An email released in the recent Wikileaks dump laid out Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's real plan for the future — and it didn't include justice, equality or fairness.  Instead, Clinton's plan for the future revolved around maintaining political power while working to create an "unaware" and "compliant" citizenry.  The email came from Bill Ivey, who was appointed Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts during President Bill Clinton's second term.  It was sent to Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta on March 13, 2016.

Kansas woman who claimed police told her to stop praying in her home fights court ruling.  [Mary Anne] Sause, a retired Catholic nurse on disability and rape survivor, was at home on the night of Nov. 22, 2013, when two police officers approached her door and demanded to be allowed in.  Sause said the officers did not identify themselves, and she could not see them through her broken peephole, so she did not open her door.  The officers left, but returned later and demanded that Sause let them in.  When Sause came to the door and the officers asked why she didn't answer the first time, she showed them a copy of a pocket Constitution given to her by her congressman.  One officer laughed and said, "That's just a piece of paper" that "doesn't work here," while still not explaining the reason for their presence at her home.

Federal Agents Can Secretly Read Every E-mail of Every American.  Not only is the federal government able to read every e-mail ever sent by every American regardless of any reasonable belief that the target has committed any crime, they have these decisions upheld by secret courts where the owner of the e-mails has no right to question the accusers.  How did the federal government get this power?  They were given it by federal judges who allowed the government to define "premises" in a clever, crafty, and contemptuous way.

A Banana Republic, If We Choose to Keep It.  ## In court documents made public in 2002, an IRS official admitted that legal opponents of former President Bill Clinton were singled out for tax audits, including 10 more than 20 conservative organizations such as the Heritage Foundation and American Spectator magazine, as well as a number of individual Clinton accusers, like Paula Jones and Gennifer Flowers.  If Hillary wins, she brings Bill with her to the White House.

Global Bureaucrats Invited By Obama To Inspect US Elections.  Hundreds of foreigners are expected to enter America within the next month in order to observe the American electoral process.  The United States sends representatives to other nations with dubious democratic processes to survey the voting systems and look for fraudulent practices.  But now it seems that America is the one being inspected and scrutinized.  With the help of President Barack Obama, the Organization of American States (OAS) will send roughly 30 to 40 spectators to polling locations across the country for the first time ever, according to The Washington Post.  The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has been consigning a small contingent of bystanders to U.S. elections since 2002, but this time it plans to send extra reinforcements.

FEC war:  Dems reject call to protect Internet news, talk radio from regs.  In the latest partisan escalation on the Federal Election Commission, a top Democratic commissioner has ripped a Republican commissioner's bid to protect books, radio and Internet media from regulation as "pitiful."  Ann Ravel, a former FEC chairwoman, joined other Democrats at a meeting this month to block Republican Lee Goodman's proposal to explicitly expand the "press exemption" from regulations to books, satellite radio and Internet-based news media.

No More Accidental Criminals.  Consider the retiree on a snowmobile outing in Colorado who got lost in a blizzard and unwittingly crossed into a National Forest Wilderness Area; the Native Alaskan trapper who sold 10 sea otters to a buyer he mistakenly believed was also a Native Alaskan; and the 11-year-old Virginia girl who rescued a baby woodpecker from her cat.  The first two incidents resulted in misdemeanor and felony convictions, respectively, while the third led to a fine (later rescinded) and threats of prosecution.  All three qualify as federal crimes, even though the perpetrators had no idea they were breaking the law.  The federal code contains something like 5,000 criminal statutes and describes an estimated 30,000 regulatory violations that can be treated as crimes.

Legislation Without Representation — A 2016 Perspective.  [Scroll down]  The analogy is a critical frame of reference because the time for wondering about "what if" has passed.  We have already destroyed the tea.  There is no retreat from this moment, and more importantly, we have nothing left to lose.  There are many who use a frame of reference about 'saving a constitutional republic'; while I do not mean to be dismissive of this benevolent sensibility — in case you have not been paying attention we've long since passed the threshold of that possibility.  The architecture of our own U.S. government is now operating independent of the electorate (Obamacare, Omnibus etc.).  Congress is consistently passing legislation without appropriate representation (PR Bailout, Ominbus, Corker/Cardin amendment, Fast-Track Trade Authorization etc.), and the various operational constructs, divisions, and agencies within the DC UniParty are now fully weaponized against us (IRS targeting, FBI Comey/email non-finding, etc.).

Hillary's Talk of 'Implicit Bias' Should Scare Every American.  You're guilty and you don't know it.  Sure, you think you're a decent person who treats people fairly, judging them on the content of their character and not the color of the skin.  But let's face it:  You're deluded.  Especially if you happen to be white, you're biased and you don't even know it.  You're unaware of your own privilege, and of the extent to which your beliefs, speech, and even mannerisms oppress people of color.  It's time to confess.  It's time to be re-educated.  It's time to rid yourself of your false consciousness.  This is the message of the modern campus radical, of the diversity trainer, and, increasingly, of the Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton.

Police use TEN different types of checkpoints, with more on the way.  Police and the Border Patrol are using 'general crime control checkpoints' to harass and detain motorists across the country. [...] Sixteen years ago, the Supreme Court held that checkpoints established for general crime control purposes are unconstitutional.  So why are police and the Border Patrol stopping innocent motorists?  DHS admits DUI checkpoints are REALLY about checking a person's immigration status.

Pulling the Plug on America.  When the president, the attorney general, the director of the FBI, et al. have conspired to not merely shield a crook from prosecution, but elect her to the highest office in the land, they resemble mobsters who use bribes, threats, and murder to expand their criminal syndicate.  What the Founding Fathers put together is now on life support, and the grasping fingers of criminal collusion and left-wing dogma are about to pull the plug.

Obama's America — transformed indeed.  More Americans than ever now mistrust government.  And although such skepticism can be good, it is not healthy that citizens feel they are neither listened to nor represented by those in power.  Our divided country's rare consensus that Washington can't be trusted has much to do with President Obama.  His failures have taken the hammer to several quaint 20th-century assumptions.  The public no longer believes politicians understand how economies work, or that government has practical solutions to ordinary people's problems.

Nationalizing U.S. Elections — Obama's Most Dangerous Idea?  Not content with taking over health care and virtually nationalizing the financial markets, the Obama administration has another in a long line of great ideas:  Let's put our election system under federal control, too.  It's a terrible idea for which there are vastly better alternatives.

Why Democrats aren't serious about overcriminalization.  Among other things the Democrats want to change policing policy, reform the prisons, reduce sentences, and eliminate the death penalty.  All that is typical fare for Democrats.  But the Democrats don't care a bit about the more foundational issue of who is labeled a "criminal" in the first place.  Their platform says nothing about the average American who accidentally stumbles over an arcane regulatory tripwire, makes a simple mistake of fact, or commits the "crime" of holding an unlicensed croquet game in a national park.  They totally ignore the rapidly-growing tangle of federal criminal laws and the maze of criminally-enforceable administrative regulations, which are estimated to number in the hundreds of thousands.

'Pre-Search' Is Coming to U.S. Policing.  News that the city of Baltimore has been under surreptitious, mass-scale camera surveillance will have ramifications across the criminal justice world.  When it comes to constitutional criminal procedure, privacy, and the Fourth Amendment, it's time to get ready for the concept of "pre-search." [...] Since January, police in Baltimore have been testing an aerial surveillance system developed for military use in Iraq.  The system records visible activity across an area as wide as thirty square miles for as much as ten hours at a time.  Police can use it to work backward from an event, watching the comings and goings of people and cars to develop leads about who was involved. [...] But the technology collects images of everyone and everything.  From people in their backyards to anyone going from home to work, to the psychologist's or marriage counselor's office, to meetings with lawyers or advocacy groups, and to public protests.

Homeland Security to Take Over Elections.  The Washington Examiner reported that the Department of Homeland Security is considering taking control of elections by declaring them "critical infrastructure." [...] The federal government never wastes a good crisis to gain more power, and this is no exception.  Officials are already talking about speeding up the process in the wake of election cyber attacks:  Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said, "We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid."

Homeland eyes special declaration to take charge of elections.  Even before the FBI identified new cyber attacks on two separate state election boards, the Department of Homeland Security began considering declaring the election a "critical infrastructure," giving it the same control over security it has over Wall Street and and the electric power grid.  The latest admissions of attacks could speed up that effort possibly including the upcoming presidential election, according to officials.  "We should carefully consider whether our election system, our election process, is critical infrastructure like the financial sector, like the power grid," Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said.

Regulators Are Running Amok.  Late last week, the Transportation Department issued a proposed rule that would require new commercial trucks and buses to have speed-limiting devices installed in them.  The government says the move is about increasing safety and reducing emissions, but what it's really about is showing how federal regulators can pretty much do whatever they want these days.

The Enemy Is Us.  Your government is on red alert:  between 2006 and 2014, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), an agency of the Department of Agriculture, spent nearly $4.8 million to purchase shotguns, propane cannons, liquid explosives, pyro supplies, drones, thermal imaging cameras, and more. [...] This is one of many revelations found in a new investigative report titled "The Militarization of America:  Non-Military Federal Agencies Purchases of Guns, Ammo, and Military-style Equipment" published by American Transparency, a nonpartisan watchdog group.  Former U.S. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK), chairman of the organization, points out that, "In the nine years until 2014, we found 67 agencies unaffiliated with the Defense Department bought $1.48 billion in weapons and ammunition.  Of this total, $335.1 million was spent by agencies traditionally viewed as regulatory or administrative, such as the Smithsonian Institution and the US Mint."

Voting machines should be seen as critical democracy infrastructure.  At the Open Source Election Technology Foundation (OSET), a 10-year old Silicon Valley based nonprofit election technology research institute, we are encouraged by valuable dialog underway about how to protect America's aging and vulnerable voting machinery and evolve our systems with technology for ease and confidence.  Setting aside some misunderstanding about the challenges elections officials face in administering a nationwide patchwork quilt of election technology, there is a critical mass on the left and the right discussing how to protect our "critical democracy infrastructure."

Obama Administration Plotting to Usurp Control Over Elections.  Under the guise of providing increased "security" for "critical infrastructure," the Obama administration is plotting to insert itself and the federal government into the American elections process.  While voting is constitutionally the responsibility of state and local officials, Obama's Homeland Security Secretary, Jeh Johnson, pointed to the alleged threat of cyberattacks to justify the latest proposed usurpation of power.  The controversial scheme was floated amid growing national concerns, fueled in part by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump's warnings of a "rigged" election, that America's electoral system might be vulnerable to major manipulation.  Critics and experts, though, warned that the White House scheming may be a first step toward illegally nationalizing the electoral process — with all the dangers that would entail.

Having solved all other energy problems...
DOE Imposes Efficiency Regulations on Wine Chillers.  The Department of Energy (DOE) has now developed an energy efficiency regulation specific to wine coolers.  On July 15, DOE released a final rule requiring manufacturers to test the energy efficiency of refrigerators used for wine.  It estimated the rule would cost the average small business $12,500 to test whether their equipment meets specifications.  While DOE said the $12,500 testing cost is "unlikely to represent a significant economic impact for small businesses," it did not address the costs to or impact on individual consumers who have or might purchase wine chillers for their homes.  The regulation set standards for temperature settings and energy use for 'coolers' with one or more doors, capable of maintaining compartment temperatures either no lower than 39°F, or in a range that extends no lower than 37°F but at least as high as 60°F," according to the final rule.  The temperature for wine chillers should be 55 degrees under the new rules, the DOE said.

NY bill would make assaulting a cop a hate crime.  Violence against police officers prompted a New York state lawmaker to draft a bill that would make it a hate crime to assault a police officer anywhere in New York.  It comes after recent murders of cops in Dallas and Baton Rouge.  Those who support it say the measure is needed to further deter people from attacking men and women in blue.

Martial Law Coming?  How much violence against authority would it take for President Obama to declare martial law and stay in power?  Less than you think.  Television coverage will make every act of violence seem a hundred times worse than it is.  I don't predict that we will see martial law in this country.  But all of the ingredients are in place.

We Thought We Were Free.  The America we live in, our nation, our people, our society, is not the America most of us were born in at all. [...] The transformation has occurred through the slowly creeping separation of not only the government from the people, but the people themselves from their country.  It has taken place so gradually and so insensibly that the majority of Americans, preoccupied with the latest crisis happening in their own lives, have failed to see the slow motion underneath of the whole process of our government and the spirit of our country growing more and more remote.

There Will Be No Second American Revolution:  The Futility Of An Armed Revolt.  We are poised at what seems to be the pinnacle of a manufactured breakdown, with police shooting unarmed citizens, snipers shooting police, global and domestic violence rising, and a political showdown between two presidential candidates equally matched in unpopularity. [...] For instance, anticipating civil unrest and mass demonstrations in connection with the Republican Party convention, Cleveland officials set up makeshift prisons, extra courtrooms to handle protesters, and shut down a local university in order to house 1,700 riot police and their weapons.  The city's courts are preparing to process up to 1,000 people a day.  Additionally, the FBI has also been conducting "interviews" with activists in advance of the conventions to discourage them from engaging in protests.  Make no mistake, the government is ready for a civil uprising.

Is government preparing for a new war?  [Scroll down]  Perhaps it's propaganda, maybe simple rumors, so take it with a grain of salt.  However, I have gained information on this matter from several sources, a few very hard to question.  This is about rather small military vehicles, apparently a bit smaller than a three-quarter ton, but containing armor on the sides.  According to reports, a rather long train carrying nothing other than such vehicles was observed in the West.

Federal Government Says a Farmer Broke the Law by Plowing His Land.  Earlier this month a federal court in California ruled that a farmer plowing his land without a permit from the federal government is breaking the law.  In 2013, the Army Corps of Engineers, without any notice or due process, ordered the owners of Duarte Nursery to cease use of their land for allegedly violating the Clean Water Act (CWA).  The violation:  plowing.  The California court agreed with the federal government's action, despite the fact the CWA specifically exempts normal agricultural activities like plowing from regulation.  This overreaching assertion of federal power is not an isolated incident.  For decades, the EPA and the Army Corps have aggressively sought to stretch the bounds of the CWA.  When Congress passed the CWA, the federal government was given regulatory authority over "navigable waters," which the statute additionally defines as "waters of the United States."  While the word navigable may seem to have an obvious meaning to most Americans as bodies of water that can be navigated by watercraft, federal bureaucrats have identified these terms as a license for a massive regulatory land grab.

These three FEC commissioners must be removed from office.  Democratic senators are now trying to weaken Second, Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights in their push for new gun laws.  They also controversially voted in 2014 to weaken the First Amendment, specifically to let both Congress and state legislators regulate political speech.  Yet even they have not yet dared to launch an attack on the freedom of the press.  But their fellow partisans on the Federal Election Commission do not scruple to take such a step.  They are completely out of control; they voted, it was revealed Wednesday [6/29/2016], to regulate the press and the editorial judgment of its members.  After years of chomping at the bit to go after conservative bloggers and aggregators on the internet, the three Democratic commissioners on the FEC went even further with an unprecedented effort to insert themselves into a cable news network's editorial judgment.

Cafe told to remove 'God Bless America' banner.  [Scroll down]  You would think most folks would appreciate the sentiment behind "God Bless America."  Lord knows we need it.  But rules are rules and the town board does not seem interested in accommodating Jennifer [Aquino]'s patriotic banner.  "The fact that I'm being asked to take it down is wrong," she said.  "It's against my First Amendment rights.  People need to open up their eyes.  If we start letting them tell us we can't do this — it's going to get worse."  Lots of folks seem to agree with Jennifer's sentiment.  Hundreds and hundreds of supporters have posted messages on the café's Facebook page and several customers have dropped off money — to help pay for any fines.  Jennifer tells me she never imagined there would be a day like this in America.

What Is The Government Preparing For?  You may not be getting prepared for a major national disaster, but the government sure is.  I have been informed that in recent months numerous emergency food companies have been contacted by the government, and they have been told that their inventories could potentially be seized in the event of a significant emergency.  And as you will see below, the government recently participated in an exercise that simulated "an unprecedented global food crisis lasting as long as a decade".  In addition, NPR has just revealed details about the very secretive Strategic National Stockpile program that is storing billions of dollars worth of medical supplies in warehouses around the nation.  This is a program that most Americans do not even know exists.  On top of everything else, strange reports of military vehicles with UN markings have been coming in from all over the nation.  So what in the world is the government up to?  Why are they working so feverishly hard to get prepared?

FEMA Contractor:  Unrest After 395% Food Price Spike Coming Soon.  Preparations by various cogs of the national security complex, including FEMA, indicate a coming worldwide food shortage — and a resulting crisis marked by extreme civil unrest around the globe.  As Motherboard noted of two reports published previously by CNA Corporation, but which largely escaped attention, the world's food supply could be insufficient to maintain even current populations much further into the future.  And the crisis — which several factors indicate may already be underway — may begin to worsen considerably as early as 2020.

Why Our Leaders Won't Name The Enemy.  [Scroll down]  The real reason that our leaders won't name the enemy is that they don't like us and they don't trust us.  Running through their heads are nightmare scenarios like Brexit and Trump.  They see their job as shepherding us away from our "worst impulses" toward a proper role within the global community.  They are quite capable of recognizing Islamic terrorism for what it is.  They may not be terribly bright, but people in their positions have more than enough access to information for the conclusions to be inescapable.  But they are determined not to allow Islamic terrorism to disrupt their larger plans for us.  It isn't another 9/11 or 7/7 that worries them, but a resurgence of nationalism in response to it.  That is why they will lie, mislead and even criminalize any dissent.  Their response to every Islamic terrorist attack is to make us feel responsible, ashamed and helpless by transforming Muslims into the victims.  For these same reasons they will push mass Muslim migration no matter what the terror risks are.  They will champion the hijab, even though they know it harms Muslim women.  Why?  Because these policies undermine our values and transform our countries.  And that is their overriding agenda above all else.  That is what we are up against.

America's Constitutional System is Hanging By a Thread.  [Scroll down]  What today means is separation of powers is hanging by a thread.  That is, our constitutional system is hanging by a thread, and the greatest fear that the Framers had:  this concentrated power in a centralized government is here.  You're staring at it.

After Trying to Kill 1st, Democrats Move on to 2nd and 5th Amendments.  In September of 2014, Senate Democrats voted to repeal the First Amendment.  They were enraged by a Supreme Court decision holding that ordinary constitutional protections for free speech prohibited the government from punishing political activists who had shown a film critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the run-up to the 2008 presidential election.  This was a straightforward case of classical political speech — critics of Mrs. Clinton arguing that she'd make a poor president and distributing a film making that case — and Democrats, including every single Democrat in the Senate, insisted that that isn't what the First Amendment is intended to protect.  They started at the beginning, and are making their way down the Bill of Rights, with the Second Amendment and the Fifth Amendment.

Supreme Court OKs warrant-less breathalyzer tests in drunk driving arrests.  The Supreme Court on Thursday [6/23/2016] issued a split ruling on a trio of drunk driving cases, deciding that while law enforcement may require a breathalyzer for suspected drunk drivers without a warrant after an arrest, a warrant is required for a blood test in the same circumstances.  The consolidated cases, referred to as Birchfield v.  North Dakota, came from three separate drunk driving arrests where the men arrested were prosecuted or threatened with prosecution for refusing a blood or breath test.

The Editor says...
The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution clearly states that "No person [...] shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself."

Militarized USDA and EPA using SWAT teams to terrorize innocent people including lemon growers and small farmers.  The federal government is becoming increasingly militarized, with numerous agencies now employing their own SWAT teams to conduct raids on raw milk producers, beekeepers, lemon growers — or anyone else who runs afoul of agency policies.  The trend has increased during Obama's presidency and is not only costing taxpayers enormous amounts of money, but also terrorizing citizens who could hardly be considered dangerous criminals by any sane estimation.  The USDA is just one example.

New rule lets feds hack your computer anywhere, anytime.  A proposal that Washington bureaucrats be given nearly unfettered permission to hack into private computers, which WND reported earlier was being described as the ultimate "Big Brother" move, is drawing strong opposition from privacy activists and members of Congress.  "We're in the midst right now of one of the biggest battles in the privacy world that we have faced," said U.S. Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, on a website mobilizing opposition.  "If we keep down this path, we're going to wake up in a few years in George Orwell's 1984.  This is why, as we fight for security, any intrusion on privacy needs to be narrowly tailored and aggressively overseen."

There Are Now More Bureaucrats With Guns Than U.S. Marines.  There are now more non-military government employees who carry guns than there are U.S. Marines, according to a new report.  Open the Books, a taxpayer watchdog group, released a study Wednesday that finds domestic government agencies continue to grow their stockpiles of military-style weapons, as Democrats sat on the House floor calling for more restrictions on what guns American citizens can buy.  The "Militarization of America" report found civilian agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014.  Examples include IRS agents with AR-15s, and EPA bureaucrats wearing camouflage.

Armed Federal Officers Now Outnumber the US Marines?  Titled "The Militarization of America", the report also confirms the IRS spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition and "military-style equipment" between 2006 and 2014, but they're not alone.  It seems other non-law enforcement related agencies are following suit, buying up heavy firearms, ammunition and tactical equipment in a pattern of militarization repeated throughout the executive branch of the government.  The other primarily administrative federal agencies militarizing their departments include the Environmental Protection Agency, The Department of Veterans Affairs, The Department of Health and Human Services, the Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Inspection Service.

The Militarization Of America.  We quantified $1.4 billion in non-military federal agencies purchase of guns, ammunition and military-style equipment during the last nine years.  We estimate that federal non-military agencies now employ more officers with arrest and firearm authorization than there are U.S. Marines. [...] Sixty-seven non-military federal agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment.  Of that total amount, 'Traditional Law Enforcement' Agencies spent 77 percent ($1.14 billion) while 'Administrative' or 'General' Agencies spent 23 percent ($335.1 million).  Non-military federal spending on guns and ammunition jumped 104 percent from $55 million (FY2006) to $112 million (FY2011).  Nearly 6 percent ($42 million) of all federal guns and ammunition purchase transactions were wrongly coded.  Some purchases were actually for ping-pong balls, gym equipment, bread, copiers, cotton balls, or cable television including a line item from the Coast Guard entered as "Cable Dude".  Administrative agencies including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Small Business Administration (SBA), Smithsonian Institution, Social Security Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, United States Mint, Department of Education, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, National Institute of Standards and Technology, and many other agencies purchased guns, ammo, and military-style equipment.  Since 2004, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) purchased 1.7 billion bullets including 453 million hollow-point bullets.  As of 1/1/2014, DHS estimated its bullet inventory-reserve at 22-months, or 160 million rounds.

U.S. Air Force assaults veteran for mentioning God.  On April 3, 2016, at the retirement celebration of a colleague at Travis Air Force Base in California, retired Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez, a 33-year veteran of the Air Force who had been invited to deliver the flag-folding speech, was assaulted and dragged out of the room by four uniformed airmen for mentioning God.

Exclusive Video:  Veteran Forcibly Dragged from Air Force Ceremony for Mentioning God.  When a veteran started offering traditional remarks at a military flag-folding ceremony, several uniformed airmen assaulted him, dragging him out of the room because his remarks mentioned God.  Now First Liberty Institute lawyers representing retired Senior Master Sergeant Oscar Rodriguez are demanding that the U.S. Air Force apologize and punish those responsible or face a federal civil-rights lawsuit.

Five Ways an Innocent American Could End Up on Obama's Secret Gun Control List.  [#3] The government made a mistake.  The federal government is not perfect, and can often make mistakes.  Sometimes, those mistakes have resulted in lawsuits.  In 2004, an FBI agent erroneously marked California resident Rahinah Ibrahim as a potential terrorist, barring him from boarding a plane in the United States.  Years later, Ibrahim, a doctoral student at Stanford University, ultimately sued the federal government.  But it didn't stop there.  The Obama administration cited "state secrets privilege," according to Wired, which served as an attempted coverup of the clerical error.  In 2014, she won the case after a judge ruled the federal government violated her due process rights.

Judge Rules Seattle's Warrantless Garbage Search Unconstitutional.  King County Judge Beth Andrus ruled Seattle's warrantless searches of garbage violates Washington State's constitution, banning Seattle sanitation workers from looking for possible violations of the city's composting law in residents' trash.  The April 27, 2016, ruling in Bonesteel, et al. v. City of Seattle shows states are able to grant rights beyond those guaranteed in the U.S. constitution.  According to the Washington State Constitution, "No person shall be disturbed in his private affairs, or his home invaded, without authority of law."

Why Does the IRS Need Guns?  Special agents at the IRS equipped with AR-15 military-style rifles?  Health and Human Services "Special Office of Inspector General Agents" being trained by the Army's Special Forces contractors?  The Department of Veterans Affairs arming 3,700 employees?  The number of non-Defense Department federal officers authorized to make arrests and carry firearms (200,000) now exceeds the number of U.S. Marines (182,000).  In its escalating arms and ammo stockpiling, this federal arms race is unlike anything in history.

Report: IRS Spent $11 Million On Guns, Ammo In The Past 10 Years.  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) seems to be building an army.  The IRS spent nearly $11 million on guns, ammunition and "military-style equipment" between 2006 and 2014, according to a new report.  IRS investment in heavy firearms and tactical gear is a new trend for the agency, but it follows a pattern of militarization repeated throughout the executive branch of the government.

6 Things To Know About Tying Gun Sales To A Watch List.  [#6] It is no vice to want to respond forcefully to terrorist attacks.  But in this case the response looks exactly like the Democrats' last call for gun control.  In the months since they last pushed this legislation, the Democrats have not granted even for a second that the due process concerns that defeated it last time are reasonable.  This strongly suggests that the Democrats do not have the due process rights of Americans in mind in this legislation.  One can reasonably wonder why the Democrats' response to terrorism seems to set its sights on something other than terrorism.

NYTimes Editorial:  Congress Should Secretly Suspend Second Amendment Rights.  A New York Times editorial advocates for a new law allowing a secret court to take away citizens' right to own a gun at the discretion of the federal government.  Citing the Orlando terror attack that left 50 dead including the shooter and 53 wounded at a gay nightclub, the piece advocates for a "no-buy" list similar to "no-fly" lists.  Under the law, suspected terrorists would not be able to buy a gun.  In an attempt to ensure the integrity of the lists and preserve due process, the author proposes people only be added to this no-buy list after a secret court rules they are ineligible, similar to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court hearings where the federal government obtains permission to wiretap.  Under this proposal, an American who has never been convicted of a crime could be denied their right to buy a gun simply because a secret court decided it should be that way.

The Editor says...
If the Bill of Rights is secretly suspended, you could be secretly arrested, tried and imprisoned. That's the kind of country the New York Times wants us to live in.

He Flew a Drone to Take Photos for a Friend.  Now Faces $55K in Government Fines.  Mical Caterina is addicted. [...] But what Caterina has considered a hobby — and an "addictive" one at that — has landed him in trouble with the Federal Aviation Administration, which has levied $55,000 in fines against him for violating five aviation regulations, all of which he disputes.  Caterina's monthslong battle with the government underscores the frustrations drone hobbyists and commercial users have with the FAA as the agency has slowly debated how to keep the rapidly growing drone population under control.

Obama DEA Wants Access to Prescription Drug Records Without a Warrant.  Of course they do.  And with the advent of ObamaCare, it's natural the federal government aparatchiks feel they have every right to snoop into our medical records because, well, they're our boss now.

DEA Wants Inside Your Medical Records to Fight the War on Drugs.  Marlon Jones was arrested for taking legal painkillers, prescribed to him by a doctor, after a double knee replacement. [...] "There were three police officers pounding on the door.  They said they had a warrant for my arrest and they were going to take me in," he said.  "It was the middle of the day, on my front doorstep, in front of my wife and daughter.  I'm handcuffed and stuffed into a police car and they haul me to jail."  Jones was hit with 14 felony counts but all of them were later dropped.  Now the Drug Enforcement Administration wants that same kind of power, starting with access to an Oregon database containing the private medical data of more than a million people.

Crafty plan to give FBI warrantless access to browser histories axed.  A sly attempt to grant the FBI warrantless access to people's browser histories in the US has been shot down by politicians.  Unfortunately, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) Amendments Act of 2015, which would have brought in some privacy safeguards for Americans, was cut down in the crossfire.  The ECPA Amendments Act is very simple:  it amends the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which gives cops and agents warrantless access to any email that has been read or is more than 180 days old.  That 30-year-old act made sense back in the day of 20MB hard drives and when we stored own emails on our own computers:  if we deleted something to save space or to simply destroy it, it was gone.  But in today's cloudy world, where we have no real control over our information, it has proven a privacy nightmare.

Judge Nap Slams Congress Over Web Browsing Access That Promotes 'a Police State'.  The FBI may soon enjoy the authority to access the internet activity of any citizen without a warrant — a continuation of what Fox News judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano described as a decades-old "assault" on the Fourth Amendment.  Lawmakers are considering proposed legislation this week that would grant the FBI that uninhibited access.  Critics, including Google and Facebook, have argued such changes would be a violation of Americans' privacy.  But, in Napolitano's view, elected officials will argue under the "facade" that it is necessary for the population's safety.  [Video clip]

FBI wants access to Internet browser history without a warrant in terrorism and spy cases.  The Obama administration is seeking to amend surveillance law to give the FBI explicit authority to access a person's Internet browser history and other electronic data without a warrant in terrorism and spy cases.  The administration made a similar effort six years ago but dropped it after concerns were raised by privacy advocates and the tech industry.  FBI Director James B. Comey has characterized the legislation as a fix to "a typo" in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which he says has led some tech firms to refuse to provide data that Congress intended them to provide.

The Editor says...
If they get this passed, you can be sure that the warrantless access won't stop with terrorism cases.

School sends sheriff to order child to stop sharing Bible verses.  A public school in California ordered a 7-year-old boy to stop handing out Bible verses during lunch — and they dispatched a deputy sheriff to the child's home to enforce the directive.  "This is a clear, gross violation of the rights of a child," said Horatio Mihet, a Liberty Counsel attorney representing the first-grader who attends Desert Rose Elementary School in Palmdale.  They are also representing his parents, Christina and Jaime Zavala.

Obama Regulators Lose Case to Apply Future Laws to the Past.  In a little-watched case in the Midwest, the Obama administration's Medicare regulators were dealt an embarrassing blow this week by the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals.  Judges ruled that the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) improperly pursued an $800,000 fraud fine against "homebound" therapy provider Caring Hearts, which services Medicare patients, by applying new regulations after-the-fact.  The court wrote that CMS was "unfamiliar with its own regulations" and is "struggling to keep up with the furious pace of its own rule making."

Thanks to EPA and Army Corps of Engineers, American farmers are a newly endangered species.  It is getting harder and harder, and in legal terms more dangerous, to be an American farmer these days, thanks to the aggressive behavior of the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.  I know, because I'm paid as a consultant to advise farmers in California on how best to comply with federal regulations under the Clean Water Act (CWA).  Increasingly, those regulations are changing at the arbitrary say-so of the Corps regulators who implement the EPA's regulations on the ground, even though most practices followed by American farmers have been exempted from CWA prohibitions since it was written in 1977.  In the past few years, those regulators — many of whom admit that they know very little about farming or agricultural practices — are radically reinterpreting the rules to limit what farmers do, even on land where they have done similar things for decades.

This Is Not The America My Parents Immigrated To In 1957.  This country is ruled by force, not law.  Governmental assassinations of US citizens.  A highly militarized police with almost unlimited powers to harass, intimidate, and brutalize with impunity.  TSA groping whereby in any other setting would be considered sexual harassment.  Overseas detention, torture and assassinations carried out against anyone, including American citizens, without due process — and without recourse if later cleared.  Warrantless GPS tracking by the FBI. The IRS targeting religious groups.  Some people now actually be charged with pre-crimes.  Checkpoints up to one hundred miles inland from all our borders (including the two oceans and Gulf of Mexico) in an area stunningly known as a "Constitution Free Zone".  No Ride / No Fly lists which are extrajudicial, secret, and form a guilty-until-proven innocent framework that subverts freedom instead of protecting it.  A See Something/Say Something program which goes beyond the already high-tech surveillance apparatus of the NSA and turns each of us into an unpaid employee of the police state similar to what the East German Stasi did to their citizens.  Web cameras and surveillance proliferating like a wildfire, data mining, recording all your phone conversations, all your web searches, all your emails, and all without your consent.  An FDA, which has near-total food control and usually renders anything healthy as toxic, and all that is toxic as healthy, and does insane [things] like jailing folks who buy raw milk.  Literally tens of thousands of regulations which literally invade every facet of society, whereby it has been said that almost all of us commit three felonies per day, and every violation of these laws will be met with the full force and fury of the State which promises fines, penalties, forfeiture of properties, or imprisonment.  Does any of this even remotely resemble a representative democracy, or does it sound more like a dictatorship?

Louisiana Passes 'Blue Lives Matter' Law To Make Attacking Cops A Hate Crime.  Louisiana enacted a new law Thursday [5/26/2016] to make it a hate crime to attack police officers.  Democratic Gov.  John Bel Edwards signed the "Blue Lives Matter" bill Thursday afternoon, adding police to the list of protected categories under hate crime law such as race and religion.  Louisiana law adds an additional five years in prison and $5,000 in fines for an offense against one of the listed groups, which now includes cops, firefighters, and EMS personnel.  "The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana," Edwards said.

Louisiana Makes it a "Hate Crime" to Target Police Officers!  State Rep. Lance Harris introduced the bill after Darren Goforth, a Texas sheriff's deputy who was in uniform, was killed in 2015, while getting gas for his patrol vehicle.  "It looked like it was strictly done because someone didn't like police officers, like a hate crime," Harris told CNN.  "In the news, you see a lot of people terrorizing and threatening police officers on social media just due to the fact that they are policemen," he added.  "Now, this protects police and first responders under the hate-crime law."  A similar bill was introduced at the federal level in March.

Blue Lives Matter bill makes targeting police a hate crime in Louisiana.  Thursday [5/26/2016] the Democratic Governor of Lousiana, John Bel Edwards, signed a bill making it a hate crime to target police officers or other first responders.  The bill is known as blue lives matter, a take off on the Black Lives Matter movement that has been critical of police in the past year.

Louisiana governor signs 'Blue Lives Matter' bill.  Louisiana's governor signed a first-of-its-kind bill Thursday afternoon [5/26/2016] that makes it a hate crime to target police officers and first responders.  Called the "Blue Lives Matter" bill, the measure expands the state's hate crime law to include law enforcement officers, firefighters and other emergency medical services personnel.  "The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana," Democratic Gov.  John Bel Edwards told FoxNews.com in a written statement.  He added that he has "great respect" for the work that law enforcement officers do and the daily risks they take.

The Editor says...
Criminal justice is supposed to be administered without regard to the class or status of the parties involved.  For example, one does not (ostensibly) receive a lighter sentence for a violent crime if one is caucasian.  Hate crimes introduce variable punishment based on the perpetrator's thoughts.  That idea is bad enough, but this proposed new law features increased punishment based on the status of the victim, regardless of the perpetrators thoughts or intentions.  It puts cops, firemen and paramedics into a new category of better-than-first-class citizens.  Once we get accustomed to it, the law will probably be modified to include all government workers.  This proposed law is nothing more or less than a means of putting more people in prison with longer sentences.

Louisiana governor signs 'Blue Lives Matter' bill.  Louisiana's governor signed a first-of-its-kind bill Thursday afternoon that makes it a hate crime to target police officers and first responders.  Called the "Blue Lives Matter" bill, the measure expands the state's hate crime law to include law enforcement officers, firefighters and other emergency medical services personnel.  "The overarching message is that hate crimes will not be tolerated in Louisiana," Democratic Gov.  John Bel Edwards told FoxNews.com in a written statement.  He added that he has "great respect" for the work that law enforcement officers do and the daily risks they take.

The Editor says...
Hate crime laws will always exhibit "mission creep" — incrementally expanding in one direction only, to include various new features that would never have been approved at the outset.

The FBI Wants To Keep The National Biometric Database A Secret.  In early May the U.S. Department of Justice released a proposal which would exempt the FBI's biometric database from public disclosure. [...] Although the database does contain biometric data on convicted criminals, it also contains information on individuals who were only suspected or temporarily detained under the suspicion of a crime.  The system also features data from people fingerprinted for jobs, licenses, military or volunteer service, background checks, security clearances, and other government processes.  Essentially the FBI is arguing that it will prevent individuals from knowing if their information is in the massive database if the release of information would "compromise" a law enforcement investigation.

Hawaii could be first to put gun owners in federal database.  Hawaii could become the first state in the United States to enter gun owners into an FBI database that will automatically notify police if an island resident is arrested anywhere else in the country.

'Do No Harm Act' Would Forbid Religious Objection to 'Any Healthcare' Service.  Reps.  Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) and Bobby Scott (D-Va.) introduced the Do No Harm Act Wednesday, which would amend the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) to specify that religious exceptions should not apply to "protections against discrimination or the promotion of equal opportunity" and "access to, information about, referrals for, provision of, or coverage for, any health care item or service."  The legislation is intended to "clarify that no one can seek religious exemption from laws guaranteeing fundamental civil and legal rights."

NYC Mayor de Blasio to fine businesses that fail to use correct gender pronouns.  Greeting customers as "Mr." or "Mrs." could be costly for New York City businesses under Mayor Bill de Blasio.  The Gotham mayor's Commission on Human Rights says businesses that fail to address customers by their preferred gender pronouns are in violation of the law and could be subject to penalties.  The Commission issued a "legal enforcement guidance" for the New York City Human Rights Law, which apparently "requires employers and converted entities to use an individual's preferred name, pronoun and title (e.g., Ms./Mrs.) regardless of the individual's sex assigned at birth, anatomy, gender, medical history, appearance, or the sex indicated on the individual's identification."

Resisting Obama's Transgender Directive:  A Hill to Die On.  [Scroll down]  Specifically, the administration's directive last week requires every public school in the nation to provide transgender students access to all activities and facilities consistent with their gender identity, at the risk of losing federal funds.  The Framers are rolling over in their graves, not just because of this inversion of moral standards but also because of the lawless manner in which this is being forced down the throats of the states, the American people and the public schools.  President Obama knows he doesn't have the legal authority to issue such an order, but he is determined to create as much chaos as he can and to unilaterally impose his iron will to the fullest extent before his term expires.  No one will convince me that this has anything to do with the rights of transgender people.  Rather, Obama and his fellow leftist tyrants are seeing how far they can push the envelope — how much they can fundamentally transform America against the people's will and against the protections guaranteed by the federal and state constitutions.

Indiana High Court Rules People Cannot Resist Illegal Entry by Police Into Homes.  People have no right to resist if police officers illegally enter their home, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled in a decision that overturns centuries of common law.

Dems on FEC shift from regulating Drudge to conservative cellphone texts.  The Democrats on the Federal Election Commission, following efforts to muzzle conservative news sites and even an anti-Obama movie maker, voted in secret to regulate conservative text messages despite a staff recommendation that the agency drop the case.  The three Democrats, in dismissing the advice from the FEC's own legal staff, voted to punish a Virginia firm that issued anti-Obama texts days before the 2012 presidential election, a move that would have set a sweeping precedent in advance of the upcoming election.

Obama's Lawsuit Against North Carolina Isn't About Civil Rights.  It's About Crushing Dissent.  Some of us care little about the debate over public bathrooms.  We do, however, care about the ongoing destruction of federalism, individual choice, and good-faith debate.  One reliable way to quash dissent and force moral codes on others is to liken your cause to that of the civil rights fight.  Every liberal issue is situated somewhere on the great historical arc of "equality" and "justice."  If a person stands against even one of these causes — which were once great but are increasingly trivial — they have, according to the cultural imperialists of the Obama administration, aligned themselves with the Klan.  Literally.

DOJ's Lawsuit Against North Carolina Is Abuse of Power.  North Carolina has sustained unrelenting and coordinated attacks from big business, the entertainment industry, the American Civil Liberties Union, and now the federal government over its commonsense bathroom policies.  Gov.  Pat McCrory and the North Carolina Legislature have had enough of this bullying and filed separate lawsuits against the Department of Justice Monday in the reasonable expectation that a federal judge will order the ideologues at the Department of Justice to back off.

Wyoming welder, facing $16M in fines, beats EPA in battle over stock pond.  A Wyoming man threatened with $16 million in fines over the building of a stock pond reached a settlement with the Environment Protection Agency, allowing him to keep the pond without a federal permit or hefty fine.  Andy Johnson, of Fort Bridger, Wyoming obtained a state permit before building the stock pond in 2012 on his sprawling nine-acre farm for a small herd of livestock.  Not long after contruction [sic], the EPA threatened Johnson with civil and criminal penalties — including the threat of a $37,500-a-day fine — claiming he needed the agency's permission before building the 40-by-300 foot pond, which is filled by a natural stream.

The Editor says...
This sounds like an Eighth Amendment issue:  Does the act of building a stock pond justify fines of $37,500 per day?  Does the pond do that much damage?  For that matter, can anyone beyond Mr. Johnson's fence tell if he has stock pond or not?

Judge tosses Seattle ordinance requiring garbage-can searches for food waste.  A state judge threw out a portion of a Seattle ordinance requiring garbage collectors to snoop through residents' trash in search of food waste, calling the provision unconstitutional.  King County Superior Court Judge Beth M. Andrus issued an injunction against the garbage inspections but not Seattle's residential food-waste ban, which forbids throwing away food scraps and compostable paper.  "This ruling does not prohibit the city from banning food waste and compostable paper in SPU-provided garbage cans," the 14-page decision said, referring to the Seattle Public Utilities.  "It merely renders invalid the provisions of the ordinance and rule that authorize a warrantless search of residents' garbage cans when there is no applicable exception to the warrant requirement, such as the existence of prohibited items in plain view."

Fired for preaching:  Georgia dumps doctor over church sermons.  Bi-vocational pastors be warned — what you say from the pulpit on Sunday could get you fired from your public sector job on Monday [4/18/2016].  Dr.  Eric Walsh, a renowned public health expert who also serves as a lay minister, has filed a federal lawsuit against the Georgia Department of Public Health alleging he was terminated for delivering sermons on issues ranging from homosexuality to evolution.  "No one in this country should be fired from their job for something that was said in a church or from a pulpit during a sermon," said First Liberty attorney Jeremy Dys.

Licensing Arizona.  [Scroll down]  For decades, states have been putting ever more jobs off-limits to anyone who doesn't have special government permission.  In the years right after World War II, "less than 5 percent of U.S. workers were required to have a license from a state government in order to perform their jobs legally," according to Morris Kleiner, professor of public affairs at the University of Minnesota.  Now it's estimated at nearly 30 percent.  Every now and then, and with great effort, a state will remove the license requirement for a job:  Kentucky, for instance, just eliminated a requirement that hair-braiders be licensed by the Kentucky Board of Hairdressers and Cosmetologists.  But the longstanding trend runs the opposite direction.  Though licenses put up hurdles, if not roadblocks, to people looking for work, states keep adding new occupations to the lists.

Michigan Family Arrested for Overdue Library Book.  After receiving four notices from the library asking them to return the books and pay the resulting late fees, the Duren family did indeed return The Rome Prophecy.  However, they did not return A Hatful of Seuss, as their son had lost it.  Because the Durens did not return the Dr.  Seuss book, the library contacted the Economic Crimes Unit (ECU) of the Lenawee County Prosecutor's Office.  A detective by the name of Robert Kellogg became involved, demanding the family pay the library late fees; the amount owed has not been disclosed.  However, local reporting by The Tecumseh Herald found that between 2013 and 2014, library patrons had a total of 248 overdue items, and those overdue items generated $3,061 in late fees.  That equals, on average, around $12 in fees per item.  The actual amount the Durens owed to the library remains unknown, but the Dr.  Seuss book can be acquired on Amazon for as little as 63 cents.

Michigan couple faces jail time over lost Dr.  Seuss library book.  A Michigan judge told a couple Thursday [4/14/2016] they could get up to 93 days in jail and face a maximum $500 fine for failing to return a Dr.  Seuss book and a novel borrowed from a public library.  Cathy and Melvin Duren, of Tecumseh, appeared in Lenawee County court to each face a misdemeanor charge of failure to return rental property.  The pair owes about $35 in late fees for "The Rome Prophecy," borrowed in April 2015.  They lost a Dr.  Seuss book their son borrowed for their granddaughter in July 2014.  "I can't image [sic] going to jail over it, but I certainly will fight these charges because I'm not guilty," Cathy Duren said.

Microsoft Sues U.S. Over Orders Barring It From Revealing Surveillance.  The software giant is suing the Justice Department, challenging its frequent use of secrecy orders that prevent Microsoft from telling people when the government obtains a warrant to read their emails.  In its suit, filed Thursday morning [4/14/2016] in Federal District Court in Seattle, Microsoft's home turf, the company asserts that the gag order statute in the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 — as employed today by federal prosecutors and the courts — is unconstitutional.  The statute, according to Microsoft, violates the Fourth Amendment right of its customers to know if the government searches or seizes their property, and it breaches the company's First Amendment right to speak to its customers.

Lawyers in GWB scandal case argue creating a traffic jam is not a crime.  Lawyers for two former associates of Gov.  Christie accused of engineering massive traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge to exact political revenge have hit back at government prosecutors, insisting that their clients violated no laws.

Obama just gave cops the OK to simply take your stuff.  When Attorney General Loretta Lynch decided late last year that the Justice Department would end the federal civil-asset forfeiture program, criminal-justice reform advocates proclaimed it a "significant deal.  But late last month, less than four months later, the Obama administration reversed itself and reinstated the Asset Forfeiture Fund's Orwellian "equitable sharing" program.  That's a shame, particularly when the only supporters of the policy are the law-enforcement agencies that directly benefit from it.  Indeed, the federal program's combined annual revenue has grown more than 1,000 percent in the last 15 years, filling the coffers of federal, state and local police departments.

Parents to face charges if they approach school to pick up child under new policy.  Texas parents have had enough of an elementary school's new pick up policy that reportedly could have them face trespassing charges if they try to get their child after the school day is over.  Bear Branch Elementary in Magnolia implemented the policy at the beginning of the school year.  Under the new rules, if a student does not take the bus, parents must wait in the mile-long car pick up line to get their child, according to Fox 26 Houston.  Now, some parents have pulled their kids from the school.  "She's threatening to arrest people," Wendy Jarman said about Principal Holly Ray to the Fox station.

School's new policy bans parents from walking children to school.  Pick your child up from school and you could be charged with trespassing.  That's the threat against parents at Bear Branch Elementary School in Magnolia ISD.  This is the school's tactic to keep parents who live close to the school from walking on school grounds.  Bear Branch is losing students over this pick up policy, that's been in place since the beginning of this school year.  The principal has decided that no matter how close the student lives to the school, the student must either take the bus, or the parent must wait in a long car pickup line.  Try to walk your student off the campus and you could face criminal charges.

The Editor says...
No matter how close you live, you can't walk to that school.  Is the school not on public property?  Can pedestrians with no connection to the school walk by?  Why are the schools centrally located in neighborhoods if the kids can't go there on foot?  And aren't these the same nanny-state bureaucrats who preach about childhood obesity?  Maybe walking to school would be good for them.

Texas School Threatens to Punish Parents Who Walk Children Home.  In September, Houston's KPRC 2 News (NBC) reported the new rule prohibited parents from walking to the Magnolia Independent School District campus to retrieve their own children.  Parents cannot drive to the school, park their cars at the school, or go inside to get their children early.  Their options are to send their children home by school bus or drive to the school and wait for their children in a very long pickup car line assembling for the 3:25 p.m. dismissal.

Magnolia ISD threatens to arrest parents for walking kids home from school.  It's a bad time to be a kid at Bear Branch Elementary.  The new principal this year, Holly Ray, may look as sweet as sunshine, but parents says she's got some wicked ways!  For one, she won't let parents walk up to the Magnolia elementary school to get their kids after school.  They have to be in a car.  And she's serious!

The Editor asks...
What if you don't own a car, or your car is in the repair shop?

Texas School Bans Parents From Walking Children Onto and From School Property.  One Texas elementary school is coming under fire after the principal banned parents from walking their children to and from school, and who is threatening parents with arrest.  The trouble began in September when the principal at Bear Branch Elementary School in Magnolia, Texas, decided to implement a policy that not just discourages but prohibits parents from walking their children home from school or walking inside the school to retrieve their children after parents had parked their cars, according to KPRC-TV.

Texas Principal Wants to Arrest Parents Who Let Kids Walk to School.  'They have been threatened, if they step one foot on school property, they will be arrested and charged with who knows what.'

5 Indicators The Left [Doesn't Care] About Freedom.  [#4] Pursuing Legislation To Crack Down On Religious People.  The left wants to mandate that religious people be slapped with a legal duty to serve people whom they feel are engaging in sin.  And they claim that anyone who fights for their right to practice their religion in their daily life is a bad guy.

The Government Wants to Regulate Your Portable Air Conditioner.  The Department of Energy (DOE) recently determined that portable air conditioners meet the criteria set under the Energy Policy Conservation Act (as amended) for efficiency mandates.  Like all other efficiency regulations, mandated appliance standards remove choices from individuals and empower Washington to override personal preferences.  DOE concluded that the average household use of electricity for portable air conditioners exceeds the limit to trigger consideration for regulation.  The energy use threshold for DOE bureaucrats to begin inspecting and testing an appliance is low.

Chase Bank Decides ATM Withdrawals Over $1000 Are Shady.  Not kidding.  Regular Americans must be stopped from taking out $1001 at a cash machine because it's probably shady, but Iran getting $150B is just fine.  The new ATM rule, f[o]r the moment, applies to non-Chase account holders.  Give it a little while and I bet it'll apply to Chase accounts sooner than later.

If You Don't Rent to Criminals, Are You a Racist?  You're a private landlord, renting apartments in a building you bought with your savings from years of hard work and modest living.  You take pride in maintaining your property, keeping it clean, comfortable, and attractive.  You charge a fair rent and treat your tenants with courtesy and respect.  Your tenants, in turn, appreciate the care you put into the building.  And they trust you to screen prospective tenants wisely, accepting only residents who won't jeopardize the building's safe and neighborly character.  That's why you only consider applications from individuals who are employed or in school, whose credit scores are strong, and who have no criminal record.  Most Americans would look at you and likely see a prudent, levelheaded property owner.  Not the Obama administration.

Say goodbye to freedom of association.
Obama Admin Tells Landlords They Can't Refuse To House Criminals.  The Obama administration released a warning Monday [4/4/2016] telling the nation's landlords that it may be discriminatory for them to refuse to rent to those with criminal records.  The Fair Housing Act doesn't include criminals as a protected class, but the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says refusing to rent based on a criminal record is a form of racial discrimination, due to racial imbalances in the U.S.  justice system.

Obama: Not Renting to Criminals is Racist.  Disparate Impact has been the crazed monster living chained up in the civil rights basement.  No administration dared to completely unleash it because of the madness it would entail.  But Obama is releasing the beast.  Recently, Obama's Lynch declared that fines were racist because they had a larger impact on minorities.  Now we move on to renting to criminals.

The Green Witch Hunt.  Led by agenda-setting New York State and radical left-winger Al Gore the progressive persecution of climate change skeptics by the states is underway.  Top law enforcement officers in several states are joining with the Chicken Littles of green activism to weaponize the scientifically dubious argument that human activity is not only changing the earth's climate but that unprecedented world catastrophe awaits unless draconian, economy-killing carbon emission controls are imposed more or less immediately.  The litigation offensive has nothing to do with justice.  It is aimed at forcing those few remaining holdouts in the business community who stubbornly cling to science to confess their thought crimes and submit to the know-nothing Left's climate superstitions.  It is part of modern-day environmentalism's ongoing assault on knowledge, human progress, markets, and the rule of law.

Killing Knowledge in K-12.  John Dewey and his socialist brotherhood, a hundred years ago, decided they would use the public schools to transform the entire society.  They first had to seize control of what is taught in K-12 classrooms.  Dewey and his successors settled on two major strategies for controlling what educators call "content."  First, they discarded as much of the traditional curriculum as possible — i.e., knowledge was thrown out the window by the boxload.  Secondly, they invented many techniques for scrambling classroom instruction so that knowledge was no longer taught efficiently.  So we have here, across a wide front, a well organized war against knowledge and the transmission of knowledge.  Dumbed down schools were created intentionally in order to create dumbed down students.  That, my research suggests, is the horrible reality.[...] Where does all this go?  The American people are increasingly like a big blob of jelly.  They can't think critically because they don't know much.  If leaders lie to them, who is going to realize this?  If the media tell them only half of what's going on, how could they know the difference?

Elizabeth Warren Wants The SEC To Help Her Ban Free Speech.  Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) wants the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to prohibit organizations from "saying whatever they want about Washington policy debates," according to a letter she sent to the agency on Thursday [3/31/2016].  Warren sent a letter to SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White calling for an investigation into alleged discrepancies between statements insurance executives made to their investors and complaints these same individuals made about the impact new government regulations would have on their businesses, The Wall Street Journal reports.  The new regulations stem from a Department of Labor rule change that will make it tougher for investment firms that handle retirement funds to operate.

It may soon be a crime to walk and text in New Jersey.  The US state of New Jersey may keep the inattentive amongst us from walking into brick walls or plunging into manholes, [...] even if it has to throw us in jail or fine us to get the point across.  The Associated Press reports that it's going to do this — in theory, at least — by banning walking while texting.  A new measure recently introduced by New Jersey Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt would ban distracted walking, forbidding pedestrians on public roads from using electronic communication devices unless those devices are hands-free.

The Editor says...
Who will enforce this?  The local cops, of course, who frequently talk on their radios while walking — and occasionally while running as fast as they can.  Hands-free devices free up the hands, but not necessarily the brain.  This is sort of law opens the door to numerous other restrictions on what we may or may not do while walking, or while talking on the phone.  Please don't protect me from myself.

EPA Fines Wyoming Man $16 Million for Building a Pond on His Property.  Farmers and ranchers call the EPA's new water rule the biggest land grab in the history of the world.  It is a massive land grab, especially in a country that has been built on the right to own property.  The administration is changing all that.  A new oppressive water rule gives the EPA jurisdiction over all public and private streams in the United States that are "intermittent, seasonal and rain-dependent."  It will regulate what are normal daily ranching and farming practices and take control of their land.  According to congressional budget testimony, waters of the United States would give the EPA authority over streams on private property even when the water beds have been dry, in some cases, for hundreds of years.

EPA Spends $295,507 to Track Energy and Water Use of Office Workers.  The Environmental Protection Agency is spending nearly $300,000 to develop technology that will track the energy and water use of office buildings, with a colored light bulb system that will send "visual messages" to employees when they are using too much.  Lucid Design Group, a California-based software company, received the funding from the agency with the goal to "change the habits" of Americans at work.  "Through this project, Lucid is focused on reducing energy consumption in commercial buildings by influencing people's behavior," the EPA said in a press release announcing the project.  "With this award, it will further develop, test and commercialize low-cost high-tech approaches that can reduce electricity use in commercial buildings by providing real-time feedback to office workers."

The Age of Mafia Government.  When black-helmeted men circle your home, break down your door, throw your children from their sleeping beds onto the dew-ridden lawn, and shoot you 22 times because some meathead mistook your house for a drug dealer's, it's clear government has gone from protecting you from threats to becoming a threat itself.  More directly, however, thanks to "The Godfather" and "The Sopranos," everyone knows that the mafia's presence means frequent, mysterious deaths.  That's also a hallmark of this administration.  Fast and Furious and the Benghazi massacre are the two most obvious examples.  It's been years, in both cases, and it's still an utter mystery as to why Americans died in foreign lands, where all those guns went, who used what money, where it all came from, and why.  That may have something to do with the Justice Department's utter lack of curiosity about massive crimes being committed on its watch, but remember:  where there are mafia, there are corrupt police, district attorneys, and courts.  The mystery isn't who did it, but proving it.  Part of the reason it's impossible to find evidence to prove what everyone knows is that no one will talk.

Protesting Donald Trump is Now a Federal Crime.  The Orwellian-named "free speech zones" Protected by the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act on college campus and political rallies are nothing new to regular readers of Reason, and suppressing political dissent with the brute force of government has been a feature of the American system since shortly after 9/11/01, when the Secret Service and local law enforcement entities began confining demonstrators to "protest zones."  What might be a surprise is the fact that quietly and right under our noses in 2012, Congress nearly unanimously passed H.R. 347 (a.k.a. the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act) which makes it a federal crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison to "willfully and knowingly" enter a restricted area or to engage in "disorderly or disruptive conduct" that in any way impedes "government business or official functions." [...] Dahlia Lithwick and Raymond Vasvari wrote in Slate that "the law makes it easier for the government to criminalize protest.  Period."  They also assert the words "disorderly" or "disruptive" could be defined down to mean almost anything with regards to "impeding government business."

Charleston's storied history is off-limits to the unlicensed.  [Scroll down]  And of course there's more antebellum mansions than you can shake a stick at.  And if I were telling you all of this while standing on a street in Charleston, there's at least a small chance I'd be arrested for doing it.  That's because anyone who wants to talk about Charleston's history must first obtain a license from the city.  Getting that license means passing a 200-question written exam — a passing grade is 80 percent or higher — and then passing an oral exam conducted by taxpayer-funded city officials.  To pass both exams, would-be tour guides have to memorize pretty much the entire history of Charleston.

Minnesota men facing felony charges for selling beer.  Two men in Maple Grove, Minnesota, were arrested this week and slapped with felony charges of transporting alcohol for resale without a license.  They were nabbed as part of what the Star-Tribune called an "unusual bust" involving undercover state investigators.  Unusual, yes.  Anachronistic too.  The illegal beer was a keg of Spotted Cow, a popular brew made in Wisconsin by the New Glarus Brewing Company.

Wisconsin Farmers Fight Tough Bakery Regulations.  Three Wisconsin farmers are fighting the state government over an obscure safety regulation requiring baked goods made for sale to be cooked in a government-approved "food processing plant" or other commercial-grade kitchen, subject to annual government inspections and licensing fees.  Represented by the Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit public-interest law firm, the farmers filed a lawsuit in the Lafayette County Circuit Court, in January, asking the court to overturn the state law.  Currently, violations of the "cookie ban" are punishable by six months of jail or fines of up to $1,000.

How Fiduciary Rule May Censor Financial Broadcasters Like Dave Ramsey.  Popular financial radio show host Dave Ramsey caused a firestorm on Twitter last week when he weighed in against the "fiduciary rule" — the controversial pending Department of Labor regulation that would impose new restrictions on a vast swath of financial professionals who handle IRAs and 401(k) accounts.  Yet, Ramsey was only echoing concerns about the costs of the rule already expressed by Members of Congress from both parties.  Ramsey Tweeted, "this Obama rule will kill the Middle Class and below ability to access personal advice."

Donald Trump Is The Next Barack Obama.  Today, nearly all the rules under which we live are made, executed, and adjudicated by agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and countless boards and commissions.  Congress no longer passes real laws.  Instead, it passes broad grants of authority, the substance of the president's bureaucracy decides in cooperation with interest groups.

Trump wants to weaken libel laws amid feuds with reporters.  Feeling maligned by the media, Donald Trump is threatening to weaken First Amendment protections for reporters if he were president and make it easier for him to sue them.

Trump Wants to 'Open Up' Libel Laws to Easily Sue Media.  A freshman senator whose endorsements included Sarah Palin is going after Donald Trump for talking about changing libel laws so he can more easily sue news organizations.  At a rally today in Fort Worth, Texas, Trump railed against major newspapers and said if he wins the presidency he'll "open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money."

Donald Trump: We're going to 'open up' libel laws.  Donald Trump said on Friday [2/26/2016] he plans to change libel laws in the United States so that he can have an easier time suing news organizations.  During a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, Trump began his usual tirade against newspapers such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, saying they're "losing money" and are "dishonest."  The Republican presidential candidate then took a different turn, suggesting that when he's president they'll "have problems."

A scheme to say how land is used.  It sounds like a bad dream — a really bad dream — but in a matter of days or at most weeks the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could become our national zoning board.  Some say that, with the passing of Justice Antonin Scalia, the chances just became much bigger.  The reason is that the Supreme Court is about to decide whether to give the environmental agency the authority to make land use decisions throughout the nation.  The court will not even have to hear arguments in American Farm Bureau Federation v. EPA to do this.  It will only have to decide not to hear the appeal of a Third Circuit decision.

Turning back the leviathan of the administrative state.  There are two stacks of papers in Utah Senator Mike Lee's office that should cause all Americans to pause.  One stack is 400 pages; the other is over 80,000 pages.  The short stack is all of the laws Congress passed in 2014.  The 11-foot tall tower is all federal regulations.  Senator Lee and other members of Congress see this disparity as indicative of not just a growing government, but an erosion of the separation of powers.  They are correct.  When James Madison authored Federalist 47, he gave voice to a sentiment shared widely by the Founders:  consolidating executive, legislative, and judicial power into one entity is "the very definition of tyranny."  To preserve self-government, the Constitution separated those powers into three branches.  As new laws may restrict liberty, separated power ensures that one faction of society cannot run roughshod over another.  Debate, compromise and consensus should ensure that any new regulations are enacted with wide public agreement.

Drone owners are warned that their aircraft will be SHOT DOWN if they fly within 32 miles of the Super Bowl.  Drone owners have been warned to leave their aircraft at home during the Super Bowl.  The FAA has released a statement insisting any unmanned planes flying within 32 miles of Levis Stadium in Santa Clara, California, on Sunday [2/7/2016] will be shot down.  The government agency produced a 20-second video that tells people to bring their lucky jerseys, face paint and team spirit to the game — but leave the gadgets as it is a 'No Drone Zone'.

The Editor says...
I suppose they've got to draw the line somewhere, but... 36 miles?  Why not 136 miles?  Most battery-powered drones are barely able to lift a TV camera.  How much damage could such a device possibly do?  If the cops shoot down a drone someplace just inside the 36-mile radius, isn't that (falling debris) a threat to public safety?  Does that not deprive the drone's owner of his property without due process?

The FAA says it will shoot down your drone if you fly within 36 miles of the Super Bowl.  The Federal Aviation Administration is taking a tough stance on drones at the Super Bowl this year:  bring them, and we'll shoot them down.  The "no-drone-zone" spans much further than just the stadium itself too, extending out 36 miles from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California.  The no-fly zone encompasses nearly all of San Francisco to the north and west, Santa Cruz, Morgan Hill and Gilroy to the south, and San Jose and Pleasanton to the north and east.

The new way police are surveilling you: Calculating your threat 'score'.  As a national debate has played out over mass surveillance by the National Security Agency, a new generation of technology such as the Beware software being used in Fresno has given local law enforcement officers unprecedented power to peer into the lives of citizens.  Police officials say such tools can provide critical information that can help uncover terrorists or thwart mass shootings, ensure the safety of officers and the public, find suspects, and crack open cases. [...] But the powerful systems also have become flash points for civil libertarians and activists, who say they represent a troubling intrusion on privacy, have been deployed with little public oversight and have potential for abuse or error.

EPA, FDA stocking up on body armor during President Obama's watch.  As the U.S. engages in a national debate over the militarization of the police, federal data shows that government agencies charged with largely administrative roles are spending tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to purchase SWAT and military-style equipment.  Since FY 2006, 44 traditionally administrative agencies have spent over $71 million on items like body armor, riot helmets and shields, cannon launchers and police firearms and ammunition, according to federal spending data from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.com.

The Editor says...
What is a cannon launcher?

House Democrats Move to Criminalize Criticism of Islam.  December 17, 2015 ought henceforth to be a date which will live in infamy, as that was the day that some of the leading Democrats in the House of Representatives came out in favor of the destruction of the First Amendment.  Sponsored by among others, Muslim Congressmen Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, as well as Eleanor Holmes Norton, Loretta Sanchez, Charles Rangel, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Joe Kennedy, Al Green, Judy Chu, Debbie Dingell, Niki Tsongas, John Conyers, José Serrano, Hank Johnson, and many others, House Resolution 569 condemns "violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States."  The Resolution has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.

Muslim Student Association demands all 'Islamophobic speech' be punished.  The Muslim Student Association at San Diego State University is demanding that administrators combat Islamophobia by developing a "zero tolerance policy explicitly for Islamophobic speech and actions."  The demands, modeled after similar ones issued by black student associations at campuses across the nation, were lodged after a female Muslim student was allegedly attacked by a white man in a campus parking lot on the afternoon of Nov. 19, about a week after the Paris terrorist attacks, which killed 130 people. [...] Several comments on the article expressed incredulity over the attack, questioning whether it is a hate-crime hoax.

Democrats Pass Resolution Condemning Anyone Who Speaks Against Islam.  Stephen Coughlin alerted me to a House Resolution introduced on December 17th, H.Res. 569, "Condemning violence, bigotry, and hateful rhetoric towards Muslims in the United States.114th Congress (2015-2016)."  As of this writing, the country remains clueless about this development.  The resolution was introduced by Virginia Democrat Donald S. Beyer, and sponsored by Frank Pallone, a New Jersey Democrat, and endorsed by seventy-one other Representatives, most of them Democrats, and possibly a sprinkling of Republicans.  The resolution has gone into committee, but one can predict with confidence that it will emerge virtually unscathed and unaltered.  After all, the "victims" are Muslims, and the House wishes to put it in the record that certain of its members are against hurting anyone's feelings.

The Omnibus and the Left's Merry Statemas.  The list of victories in the spending package for the Left is so great that Nancy Pelosi had to preemptively warn her caucus not to gloat before it was passed for fear of scaring off any Republicans not fully aware of what the bill contained.  Harry Reid also tweeted that Democrats met all their omnibus goals, including "roll[ing] back sequester."  The forces of big government, in other words, are quite pleased with the outcome.  They have every reason to feel that way.  The omnibus rightly ended the crude oil export ban, a pointless and destructive anti-trade provision.  But that victory was paid for not only by extending wasteful and distortionary handouts to renewable energy, but also by establishing a slush fund to pay for the Paris climate deal, a global redistribution scheme beyond even the wildest dreams of Karl Marx.

Report: Facing Investigations, DOJ Claims Right To Avoid Investigations.  Beset by several investigations, the Department of Justice is claiming the right to avoid being investigated.  As reported by PJMedia, the Office of the Inspector General's job is to combat problems of waste, fraud and abuse within the federal government.  But Attorney General Loretta Lynch has no intention of allowing any investigation.  She told the House Judiciary Committee that her office will simply ignore any request from the OIG at will.

The Democrats' Theme for 2016 Is Totalitarianism.  Donald Trump may talk like a brownshirt, but the Democrats mean business.  For those of you keeping track, the Democrats and their allies on the left have now:  voted in the Senate to repeal the First Amendment, proposed imprisoning people for holding the wrong views on global warming, sought to prohibit the showing of a film critical of Hillary Rodham Clinton, proposed banning politically unpopular academic research, demanded that funding politically unpopular organizations and causes be made a crime and that the RICO organized-crime statute be used as a weapon against targeted political groups.  They have filed felony charges against a Republican governor for vetoing a piece of legislation, engaged in naked political persecutions of members of Congress, and used the IRS and the ATF as weapons against political critics.

FEC chair who sought to regulate Drudge slams colleagues as 'dysfunctional'.  Since assuming the chair's position in January, [Ann] Ravel has pursued an ambitious regulatory agenda that includes stricter regulation of campaign spending, eliminating some of the commission's members, and, as noted by the Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard, new controls over online political content on outlets like the Drudge Report, Google and Facebook.

The Democrats' War on Due Process.  [Y]ou don't actually have to be a terrorist to be "suspected" of being a terrorist.  You don't have to be a terrorist to have been "identified" as one by the FBI.  You don't have to be a terrorist to be arrested as a terrorist or indicted as a terrorist — any more than you have to be guilty of murder to be charged and tried for murder.  Some people who are accused of murder are innocent.  That's why we have trials, instead of sending every "person of interest" straight to the gallows.  Likewise, some people on the no-fly list are not terrorists.  But unlike people accused of murder, most on the no-fly list have never been charged, judged by their peers, or given the chance to prove they're not terrorists.

Gun Control: An Incipient Tyranny's Desperate Last Stand.  The governing establishment sees it coming, is terrified of the people, and desperately wants them disarmed.  It really isn't hard to understand why that would be the case.  After all, if your power and wealth depended upon lying to the people, abolishing their freedom, destroying their livelihoods, and sending their sons and daughters off to die in pointless wars, would you want them to have weapons?  The American people are buying guns and ammunition in record numbers in absolute defiance of a massive and coordinated gun control propaganda campaign.

The Man Who Can't Stop Lying.  As predicted, Barack Obama attempted to misdirect the American people during his prime-time Oval Office address last night.  The absentee President's relatively brief addressed seemed more concerned with protecting his view of the nature of Islam than the lives of American citizens, and he quickly pivoted towards asserting that American gun owners were the real threat.  Toward this end, Obama pushed his call to weaponize his enemies list.  He wants to be able to arbitrarily put American citizens that he doesn't like on one of several list, and then strip them of their constitutional rights by executive fiat.

Agents performing warrantless searches are the hallmark of totalitarianism.  In an effort to draw attention away from the intelligence failures that permitted the attacks of 9/11 and create the impression that it was doing something — anything — to avoid a repeat, the federal government tampered seriously with freedoms expressly guaranteed in the Constitution.  Its principal target was the right to privacy, which is protected in the Fourth Amendment.  At President George W. Bush's urging, Congress passed the Patriot Act in October 2001.  This 315-page statute passed the House of Representatives with no debate, and there was very limited debate in the Senate.  I have asked many members of Congress over the years whether they read this bill before they voted upon it, and I have yet to find a member who did.  In the House, that would have been impossible; the bill was made available to representatives only 15 minutes prior to their vote.

Man charged with felony for passing out jury rights fliers in front of courthouse.  A Mecosta man is charged with a felony for obstruction of justice and misdemeanor of tampering with a jury for passing out fliers about jury nullification rights on the sidewalk of the Mecosta County courthouse.  Keith Wood, 39, faces these charges after handing out about 50 fliers on Nov. 24, which the Fully Informed Jury Association wrote, that describe juror rights that are typically not given by judges during jury instructions before a trial.

Using the Terrorist Watchlist Against Gun Owners.  If you want to keep your right to keep and bear arms, you need to contact your congressman and U.S. senators now.  Amid the horror and outrage over last week's Paris terrorist attacks, on the pretext of stopping terrorism, New York Democrat Congressman Pete King is pushing a scheme to deny your Second Amendment rights — and deny your right to due process in the bargain — by banning firearm sales to anyone on the FBI's so-called Terrorist Watch List.

Three Liberties Being Threatened After the Paris Attacks.  In the wake of the horrific terrorist attacks in Paris recently, statists and power-hungry bureaucrats have seized the opportunity to try and expand governmental power.  In the spirit of never letting a crisis go to waste, they hope to capitalize on fear to place new restrictions on individual liberties.  Here are three ways in which the forces of ever bigger government are seeking to exploit the Paris attacks to erode personal freedoms.

It's official: 'Homophobia' now a mental disorder!  If you think there might be something wrong with homosexuality, you most likely have a mental disorder, according to a recent study by a team of Italian researchers.  Discussing the study, lead researcher Emmanuele A. Jannini, M.D., stated:  "After discussing for centuries if homosexuality is to be considered a disease, for the first time we demonstrated that the real disease to be cured is homophobia, associated with potentially severe psychopathologies."  That's right.  The research team specifically found that "psychoticism," "immature defense mechanisms" and a "fearful attachment style" were associated with a greater "homophobic" attitude in individuals.

Hackers Catch Prison Phone Company Securus Recording Attorney Calls.  In an example of Aaron Swartz's SecureDrop technology working as intended, the Intercept received a trove of dumped Securus phone records recently.  Securus, for those who have never been jailed in the United States virtually anywhere, is a phone services leader in the justice industry.  That particular part of the prison industrial complex, communication, is worth about $1.2 billion annually.

Obamatrade Isn't Free Trade — It's A 5,544 Page Statist Monstrosity.  Read the TPP's Preamble.  The United States Constitution has a Preamble.  ObamaTrade's Preamble negates the Constitution's.  Note:  the spelling is British, not American.  This pretty well says it all.  The American lawyers and bureaucrats who negotiated this deal know who is on top.  It is not the United States of America.  This deal is the handwork of the New World Order and the multinational corporations that run it.  With this deal, the NWO will get inside the national governments as never before.  This is a massive surrender of national sovereignty.

TPP Trade Deal Hits 5,544 Pages, Longer Than Obamacare PLUS Rubio's 'Gang Of Eight' Cheap-Labor Amnesty Bill.  Rubio's immigration bill — which never cleared Congress — was just under 1,200 pages long, weighed roughly 24 pounds and was criticized for its large size and complexity.

Jeff Sessions: Kill The "Anti-Democratic" Trans-Pacific Partnership In The Crib, Repeal Fast Track Authority Now.  Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Immigration and the National Interest, is calling for the immediate destruction of the 5,554-page Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trans-global trade deal introduced on Thursday [11/5/2015].

Why Did the Environmental Protection Agency Spend $1.4 Million on Guns?  "We were shocked ourselves to find these kinds of pervasive expenditures at an agency that is supposed to be involved in clean air and clean water," said Open the Books founder Adam Andrzejewski.  "Some of these weapons are for full-scale military operations."  Among the EPA's purchases:
  •   $1.4 million for "guns up to 300mm."
  •   $380,000 for "ammunition."
  •   $210,000 for "camouflage and other deceptive equipment."
  •   $208,000 for "radar and night-vision equipment."
  •   $31,000 for "armament training devices."
The list goes on.  It's filled with the kind of equipment you'd expect to be purchased by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, not an agency ostensibly designed to protect the environment.  But as it turns out, armed, commando-style raids by the EPA are not unheard of. One such raid occurred in 2013, in a small Alaskan town where armed agents in full body armor reportedly confronted local miners accused of polluting local waters.  Perhaps the agency is gearing up for more operations like that one?

What did the EPA need with $1.4M worth of guns?  This comes on the heels of previous revelations, such as the discovery that the EPA had run up a $92M tab for designer furniture recently.  But this one is even more curious.  Rather than blowing moderately big dollars on designer roll away desks, the EPA has apparently been dumping more than a million dollars into equipping a small army.

Mic Cut, Police Chopper Sicced on Breitbart Event.  We are reaching the point where patriots are no longer able to meet in public.  A Breitbart meetup in the Phoenix suburb Scottsdale Wednesday night was aggressively silenced.

Millions of Americans might need passports to fly domestic.  A decade ago, the U.S. government issued stricter standards for state-issued IDs, including drivers licenses.  But four states have refused to comply:  Louisiana, Minnesota, New Hampshire and New York.  The deadline for upgrading is coming up in 2016. If those four states don't upgrade their ID systems by the deadline, the TSA will demand that residents of those four states use passports rather than drivers licenses to board flights next year.  About 9.5 million drivers licenses have been issued in those states, according to government licensing records.

Also posted under the proposed National ID Card.

Google, the NSA & DHS are creating a global DNA database.  According to the Verge, Ancestry.com, is seeking permission from the FDA to create a national DNA database.  Ancestry.com claims they'll use your DNA to assess your families disease risk.  Would it shock you to know that Google, the NSA and DHS are using "front companies" to create a GLOBAL DNA database?

Wow! Just What We Need! Fully Armed EPA Agents!  The Washington Times and The American Spectator have picked up an article by Open the Books, a watchdog group, that has found evidence the EPA has spent millions of dollars on guns, ammo, body armor, camouflage equipment, and even night-vision goggles to arm its agents in the war on polluters.  Why do they need this and where are we going with this?  I'll tell you where.  CBS News has an article every day on the alleged impending climate change catastrophe.  Today, for example, they reported that Miami and New Orleans could be washed away by rising seas at the end of this century.  This is according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  They can't predict the weather two hours from now, but they can predict what will happen in 85 years.

DHS Goes Alarmist... Brings Back Terrorism Alert System for Domestic Threats.  Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced earlier this month at the UN that she would be working in several American cities to form what she called the Strong Cities Network (SCN), a law enforcement initiative that would encompass the globe.  Now Jeh Johnson has decided what is really needed is an alert system to warn everyone of pending terrorist attacks on US soil.  I'm detecting a very unpleasant trend here.  The old one that these morons came up with was never used.  It went unused.  At least Bush's made sense — this one is only two levels.  'Elevated' and 'We're all about to die.'

What Does The EPA Buy With The Millions Of Dollars They Spend On Weaponry?  The EPA isn't content to trash river systems and destroy the American economy in an effort to prevent the emission of carbon dioxide, which is plant food and a net positive to ecology as its concentrations in the atmosphere increase.  No, the EPA must have a military wing complete with military equipment.

Armed EPA Agents? The Truth Is Way Out There.  According to a report released last week by a watchdog group called Open the Books, the EPA has spent millions of dollars recently on guns, ammo, body armor, camouflage equipment, and even night-vision goggles to arm its agents in the war on polluters.  The Illinois-based investigative group examined thousands of checks totaling more than $93 billion from 2000 to 2014 by the EPA, and its auditors indicate that about $75 million is authorized each year for "criminal enforcement" of America's clean air and water laws.  This includes cash for a cadre of 200 "special agents" that engage in SWAT-style ops.

EPA spends millions on military-style weapons, watchdog group reports.  The Environmental Protection Agency has spent millions of dollars over the last decade on military-style weapons to arm its 200 "special agents" to fight environmental crime.  Among the weapons purchased are guns, body armor, camouflage equipment, unmanned aircraft, amphibious assault ships, radar and night-vision gear and other military-style weaponry and surveillance activities, according to a new report by the watchdog group Open the Books.

Braiding without a license: A crime in Texas.  Isis Brantley, an African-American entrepreneur, told a small, but rapt audience Tuesday [10/6/2015] about her two-decade legal battle to operate a braiding business and school in Texas.  Brantley's problem was that for most of her career she operated without the state's approval.  It demanded that she have a cosmetology license even though braiding and cosmetology are two different things.  It wasn't for public safety reasons, either.  It is legal in Texas for anyone to braid hair for free.  But charging a fee made her a criminal.  Brantley's home was eventually raided by seven police officers.

Washington DC may regulate personal trainers.  [Andrew] Killion oversees one of the largest Crossfit gyms in Washington D.C. with six full-time employees — called "coaches" in the Crossfit lingo — who help more than 400 members sweat their way through daily workouts in a 10,000-square-foot warehouse near the booming Navy Yard waterfront.  Now he worries city officials will take it all away.  Killion and other gym owners in the nation's capital could soon be subject to the first set of occupational licensing laws targeting personal trainers.

Obama issues executive order for government use of behavioral data.  A new executive order from President Obama directs all government agencies to use psychological science and data to help connect more Americans to government programs.  The order instructs government agencies to use "behavioral science" — a tactic used by Obama's political campaigns to harness data from their supporters to target them effectively.  The program has already existed in an experimental form, but now Obama has formally established the federal "Social and Behavioral Sciences Team," ordering them to to use psychology and experimental behavior data to make government more user-friendly.

Recycling is now mandatory.
Seattle sued over recycling inspectors keeping tabs on residents' trash.  When it comes to garbage, the city of Seattle has launched a waste war.  Nine full-time solid waste inspectors have been hired as part of a controversial program to check city trash to make sure people are recycling.  Additionally, contracted waste haulers have been effectively deputized as trash police, given the authority to tag bins when people fail to recycle and compost enough.  The program is now the subject of a lawsuit, as residents fume over what some call an intrusive government program.

Men's Barber Shop Fined $750 for Not Cutting Women's Hair.  Our rulers' authoritarian obsession with stamping out "inequality" and "discrimination" is not making it easy to do business in Pennsylvania. [...] Once this was a free country in which business owners decided for themselves who their clients would be.  But then came "civil rights."

Pennsylvania Barber Fined For Not Cutting Women's Hair.  A Pennsylvania barber got slapped with a fine for refusing to give a woman a haircut.  The owner John Interval says his shop is a place for men to relax with a cocktail or a beer.  But now, he's facing legal action from the state's Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs.  Interval says he didn't know he has to service both genders.

The Terrifying Tentacles of One World Governance.  Citizens do not understand U.N. Agenda 21's damaging ramifications to their private property, to their ability to make a living, to use their land, grow food in their gardens, sell their fresh produce freely, engage in agriculture, sell their land, and pass it on to future generations.  Local land owners do not have the opportunity to provide their input into the decision-making process; they are at the mercy of "visioning committees" and the board of supervisors, often plants or paid subscribers to the one world government idea.

Who are the Lawbreakers?  We're told that if we don't pay our taxes we will go to jail but we're also told that illegals can break the law and live off our tax dollars with no consequences.  In fact, we're told that we're racists if we don't believe that criminals should have at least as nice a lifestyle as taxpayers.  We're told we can't steal from our children but by spending mountains of money we don't have the DC elites steal from our children with impunity.  We're told we can't steal from our neighbor but the elites steal money from taxpayers to support the lazy and the illegal.  The reality is that that Kentucky clerk is not the lawbreaker.  The real lawbreakers are the Supreme Court Justices who simply dictated that the votes of 55,000,000 Americans don't matter and that the clear intent of the Constitution doesn't matter.  The Constitution says nothing about marriage.  Only by ignoring it could the Supreme Court decide that Americans must submit to the whims of the ruling elite disguised as a "Constitutional" mandate.

Can a Christian Be a County Clerk in America?  This is a question it now appears may ultimately be decided by five Supreme Court justices.  With it, too, will ride such questions as:  Can a Christian be a doctor?  A nurse?  A public-school teacher?  In June, when five justices declared that the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment creates a right to "same-sex marriage," Justice Clarence Thomas issued a warning.  "In our society, marriage is not simply a governmental institution, it is a religious institution as well," Thomas wrote in his dissent.  "Today's decision might change the former, but it cannot change the latter.  It appears all but inevitable that the two will come into conflict, particularly as individuals and churches are confronted with demands to participate in and endorse civil marriages between same-sex couples.  "The majority," said Thomas, "appears unmoved by that inevitability."

Nine Signs of the Impending American Collapse.  Race relations in the U.S. have markedly deteriorated under the suzerainty of the present administration, in some places resembling guerilla warfare as black-on-white violence proliferates and race riots are becoming an almost regular occurrence. [...] Civil disorder is radical community organizer Saul Alinsky's formula for revolutionary triumph, and his handbook Rules for Radicals is the Democratic Party's bible.  Alinsky was the subject of Hillary Clinton's senior thesis at Wellesley College and Obama's teaching at Chicago University Law School.

Religious liberty: The Kentucky county clerk and the Muslim flight attendant.  The New York Times and the rest of the national media are giving front page treatment to Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk who refuses to issue marriage licenses to same sex couples on religious grounds. [...] A Muslim-American group plans Tuesday [9/1/2015] to file a discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against ExpressJet Airlines for allegedly failing to accommodate a Metro Detroit-area Muslim flight attendant who objects to serving alcohol based on her religious beliefs.

Inhofe: EPA's Trying To Regulate Sewers.  A top Senate Republican is worried the EPA's new Clean Water Rule gives the agency the power to regulate sewers and stormwater systems — giving EPA a much more expansive reach than the agency had previously claimed.  Oklahoma Sen. Jim Inhofe sent a letter to Jo-Ellen Darcy, the assistant secretary of the Army for Civil Works, and Ken Kopocis, who heads up the EPA's Office of Water, asking them to clarify how the Clean Water Rule would impact city sewage systems.

Supreme Court rules against Kentucky clerk in gay marriage case.  The Supreme Court on Monday ruled against the Kentucky county clerk who has refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and the clerk will arrive at work Tuesday morning [9/1/2015] to face her moment of truth.

Call Cease-Fire in the War on Cash.  Last summer, London buses stopped accepting money.  To pay your fare, you now have to wave either a prepaid Transport for London Oyster card or a contactless payment bank card at a receiver.  For some, not having to dig out a handful of coins is a welcome relief.  For others, though, the disappearance of cash represents a dangerous threat to our liberty.

EPA Politburo Takes Control of Ditches in 37 States.  U.S. District Court of North Dakota Chief Judge Ralph Erickson put a temporary hold on the EPA's new water regulations on Thursday [8/27/2015], but the EPA, an unelected and unelectable body of bureaucrats, has decided to defy the judge and move ahead on states that did not sue.  Except for the 13 states that filed the North Dakota lawsuit, The Clean Water Rule aka Waters of the U.S. rule is in effect as of August 28.  The EPA has assumed jurisdiction over ditches — ditches that flow from streams — tributaries, streams, and other small waterways.  Every farmer, rancher, land developer and land owner is now subject to federal enrichment actions under the Clean Water Act if they have small waterways on their property.  More taxes, more regulations, more bureaucracy heaped on farmers, ranchers and land developers by an enormous, incompetent government agency.  The EPA says it does not interfere with or change private property rights but that's all they do.

Kentucky clerk asks Supreme Court to intervene in marriage case.  Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis, who opposes to gay marriage for religious reasons, asked the nation's highest court on Friday [8/28/2015] to grant her "asylum for her conscience."  The Supreme Court ruled in June that the Constitution guarantees gay people the right to marry.  However, Davis contends the First Amendment guarantees her the right of religious freedom.  She stopped issuing all marriage licenses in the days after the landmark decision.  Two gay couples and two straight couples sued her, arguing that she must fulfill her duties as an elected official despite her religious conviction.  A federal court judge ordered Davis to issue licenses and an appeals court upheld the decision.

Appeals court upholds order that holdout Kentucky clerk issue marriage licences to gay couples.  A federal appeals court has upheld a ruling ordering a Kentucky county clerk to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.

What First Amendment? Virginia State Police Forced BBC Journalists to Delete Video.  So I assume you have all heard that a homosexual African American shot and murdered to straight whites on live TV.  This was, of course, not a hate crime and never will be labeled as one.  This story from PRI caught my eye and makes me wonder why we even claim to have a First Amendment:  "Virginia police order BBC journalists to delete footage of suspected shooter's crash." [...] What I find especially insulting about this is that it happened to BBC journalists.  I don't know if they are British themselves, but it is galling to have a British media outlet learn just how flimsy our Bill of Rights really is.  What is the point of having a First Amendment if the police can simply order censorship?

More about Vester Lee Flanagan II a/k/a Bryce Williams.

Colorado Baker Case Latest Defeat for Religious Liberty.  The Colorado Court of Appeals has handed the concept of religious liberty for individuals yet another defeat, with its August 13 ruling against suburban Denver baker Jack Phillips.  The appellate court upheld a lower court ruling that the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop had illegally discriminated against two homosexual men by refusing to bake a cake to celebrate their "marriage."  The two men, Charlie Craig and David Mullins, had filed a complaint with the aid of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), citing Colorado's anti-discrimination law.  Phillips told them that to accede to their wishes would violate his religious beliefs.  When the two men ordered the cake in 2012, Colorado did not recognize same-sex marriage; however, the court held that the refusal by Phillips to bake the cake ran afoul of the state's law which prohibits discrimination based upon "sexual orientation."

Judge opens door for cops to storm your home.  The Third Amendment, which guards against the quartering of soldiers in citizens' homes — and which came into being because of the abuse of British troops against American patriots — has just been dinged by a judge who ruled the provision doesn't apply to police.  In essence, that means police on official business could claim the legal right to bust into a private citizen's home and occupy it.  The determination from federal district court Judge Andrew Gordon was rendered when he dismissed a Third Amendment claim from a Henderson, Nevada, family who suffered that very fate.

"There is no area of our lives the leftists won't invade."
Progressives Want to Ban Barbecue Aromas And So Much More.  The city council in Austin, Tex. took up "the smell of barbecue and a proposal to control it," the New York Times reported in April, "in response to some citizen complaints."  They plan to order the restaurants to control the odors because it is a "public nuisance."  Austin is known for its barbecue restaurants and food trucks.  Most would close, perhaps all.  "A public nuisance is an activity that threatens the public health, safety or welfare, or does damage to community resources."  The city of Austin wants to take a handful of citizen complaints and make them into a public health hazard.  We won't ban illegal immigration but we will ban the aromas from restaurant barbecues.

The Editor says...
This problem is easily solved.  Let the left-wing liberal authoritarians shut down all the barbecue joints in Austin.  Better yet, all the restaurants that emit any discernable aroma.  Then sit back and wait for the outcry from the low-information voters who haven't been paying attention.  The restaurants will be back open in a few days, and the experience may make Libertarians out of a lot of hungry citizens.

Florida council official caught on camera telling resident the smoke from his barbecue 'cannot leave the property'.  A bizarre video has emerged out of Florida showing a man who says he is a council official telling a resident that the smoke from their barbecue is not allowed to leave the property.  The video, which went viral over the weekend, shows the male resident arguing with the apparent official and not believing what he is being told.  'I'm only here because of the odor, I'm only here because of the smoke,' the official says the clip.  [Video clip]

Bruce Jenner, Brett Favre, and the cultural totalitarians.  In a truly surreal display, NFL great Brett Favre is being denounced by the left's new cultural commissars for not clapping long and hard enough at ESPN's ESPY awards, as Bruce/"Caitlyn" Jenner received a "Courage" award for his efforts to become a woman.  Oddly, Favre did applaud — not doing so would have been a grave heresy to America's new church of progressive inquisitors.  His sin was not applauding enthusiastically enough.  The New York Post placed a video of Favre's blasphemous insufficient clapping, juxtaposed with Jenner's celebratory ascent to the stage. [...] No, I'm not making this up.  In the New America, not only must we accept transgenderism, but we must literally applaud it — and literally applaud it long, loud, and hard.  And remember, Big Brother is watching you.

The Editor says...
The same thing happens in North Korea:  If you don't applaud the Supreme Leader vigorously enough, you're taken away and re-educated — or worse.

It looks like Lois Lerner may have also been behind conservative targeting in Wisconsin.  Remember those horrifying police raids in Wisconsin a while back?  With no hyperbole, it was modern-day tyranny that should have incensed the entire nation, regardless of political affiliation or viewpoint.  Instead, very few ever even heard about it.  Why?  Because progressives were the perpetrators and conservatives were the targets.  The raids were part of a so-called "investigation" of conservatives who were supporting Scott Walker.  Well new email evidence suggests that Lois Lerner may have been in cahoots with a Wisconsin official regarding the investigation.

H8 Wins: Oregon Threatens Home Of Christian Bakers.  Fox News is reporting that the fascist state of Oregon is ramping up its persecution campaign against Christian bakers who declined to bake a wedding cake for a same sex lesbian couple.  Aaron and Melissa Klein, the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, have been told that if they don't pay the $135,000 awarded to the lesbian couple who sued them, a lien will be placed against their home next week.

The Gay Lifestyle Fallacy.  The United States is sinking into the moral decay of tribal warfare.  No longer can Christians state their case without a torrent of hatred coming from both atheists and those in the gay rights cabal.  Any opinion that does not toe the progressive line will not be tolerated.  This comes from the party of tolerance.  Your identity, your lifestyle, even you very dignity will be trashed if you do not comply.  This way of thinking will soon be a coercive force in every citizens life.  Much of it starts with those who speak out from within the gay community, or those who have been raised inside the gay community and have felt its corrosive way of thinking first hand.

We 'refuse to comply': Christian bakers won't be bullied by gag order.  It's going to take more than a gag order from a state bureaucrat to shut up two Christian bakers under assault for refusing to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple in Oregon.  As reported by Bizpac Review on Saturday, Aaron and Melissa Klein were not only hit with a $135,000 fine for refusing to bake the cake, but they were also ordered by Oregon Labor Commissioner Brad Avakian to stop speaking out about the case.  The Kleins, owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa, told Fox News' Todd Starnes they have no intention of obeying what they see as a clear violation of their First Amendment rights.

Wasserman-Schultz on Bakers Fined $135K Over Wedding Cake: 'You Shouldn't Be Able to Turn People Away'.  Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz said the marriage debate is over.  "The marriage equality decision is settled.  Love is love and now everyone in America enjoys the protection of the United States Constitution when it comes to who they choose to marry legally," Wasserman-Schultz told The Daily Signal.  She also weighed in on the religious liberty debate.  "That doesn't mean that churches and religious institutions have to conduct same-sex marriages and it doesn't mean that religious institutions aren't able to practice their own values.  But, in this country, we do not allow people to discriminate."

Democrat Senator: 1st Amendment Doesn't Apply To Individuals.  Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.) says the 1st Amendment's religious liberty protections don't apply to individuals. [...] Democrat Senators Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein already believe that 'freedom of speech' only applies to the mainstream media.  They're both on record claiming that bloggers don't deserve 1st Amendment protections because in their eyes, we aren't genuine journalists.  To them, to be a real journalist you have to work for a nationally recognized media conglomerate, have a degree from an accredited school of journalism, collect a paycheck and be answerable to an editor for what you say.  In other words, they (the government) want the power to threaten to have you fired if you dare speak out of line.  Bloggers, being self employed, in their opinion, are renegades because they have no way to intimidate us into silence.

Cultural aggression, destructive policies, and ceaseless smearing are wearing out a great people.  [Scroll down]  Ask Aaron and Melissa Klein what they think of the state of our civil liberties, after an Oregon judge not only sanctioned the destruction of their wedding cake business but denied them the freedom to discuss their plight.  Ask Brendan Eich, the former Mozilla CEO who committed the crime of writing a check to support organizations opposed to gay marriage.  Ask any conservative attempting to ply a trade in Hollywood or academia.  The Left's cultural fascists have perfected the ability to silence their opposition without the use of jackboots and truncheons as in the past, though as we've seen an angry mob or a riot squad here and there is hardly out of the question.  Next up will be the forfeiting of tax exemptions by churches — unless the Left is willing to make exceptions for those it deems "helpful" to the cause.

United We Stood, Divided We'll Fall.  [Scroll down]  Oh the gay community and their supporters will argue it was a huge win, an in-your-face slam-dunk.  But beneath all the hoopla, behind the well-designed scenes, the gays lost.  We all lost because the real victor, the hands-down big winner is government.  You see, the dirty little secret is that gays, like blacks and Hispanics, are being used to declaw the silent majority.  Politicians have tried over and over again to stop those constitutional nuts who keep waving the American flag and quoting the Constitution.  It hasn't been easy, these conservatives have been the majority since colonial days.  They still are the majority, the silent majority; too silent.  But they're an obstacle to power nonetheless so they must be put down.

Surrender to judicial tyranny? I will protect religious liberty, not retreat.  America didn't fight a revolution against the tyranny of one unelected monarch so we could surrender our religious liberty to the tyranny of five unelected lawyers.  The Supreme Court is not the Supreme Being, and the Court can no more repeal the laws of nature and nature's God on marriage than they can the laws of gravity.  Last Friday's same-sex marriage decision by the Court, which rejected the will of people in over 30 states, is an out-of-control act of unconstitutional judicial tyranny.  While some cowardly politicians will wave the white flag and surrender to the false god of judicial supremacy, I refuse to light a match to our Constitution.  We must resist and reject judicial tyranny, not retreat.

No Truce With the Left.  Republicans are still trying to figure out a truce on gay marriage.  They retreated to civil unions, then accepted a full defeat on gay marriage and then acted baffled when Christian bakery owners were dragged into court for refusing to participate in gay weddings.  When the left insisted that gay marriage was a civil rights issue, they refused to take them at their word.  Now they're wondering how an accommodation can be made with tranny rights.  A brief look back at gay rights will show that the only possible accommodation is one in which men in dresses have a legal right to use the ladies room and every single closed female space and event.  And yes, that means your business will be shut down if you object to Steve using the female locker room.

Same-sex marriage is only the beginning.  That the majority threw a bone to religious people, their churches and institutions, saying they could continue to preach and teach that homosexual marriage is wrong, will almost certainly be challenged by gay activists and secularists whose goal is to drive religious people, and especially Christians, out of the public square.  What might be a preview of things to come occurred last week when the Fairfax County (Va.) School Board voted 10-2 to approve a "gender identity" curriculum for children starting in seventh grade.  News reports said the crowd that showed up for the vote overwhelmingly opposed the decision, but majorities no longer matter.

'Disparate Impact' Ruling Emboldens Obama's Diversity Cops.  Armed with a Supreme Court-licensed shakedown weapon, President Obama's race cops will wage an even bigger war against lenders, insurers, employers and whoever else fails their "disparate impact" test.  Attorney Gen. Loretta Lynch said she and her civil-rights goons are "bolstered by this important ruling" by the high bench, which by a narrow 5-4 vote upheld bogus disparate-impact theory as a tool to enforce laws against housing, lending and insurance discrimination.

15 Reasons 'Marriage Equality' Is About Neither Marriage Nor Equality.  Same-sex marriage is a notion that contains within itself the seeds of its own destruction.  I doubt many have thought this through, with the ironic exception of the elites who have been pushing the agenda the hardest.  Most people are weary of it all and going along to get along, especially since dissent has become such a socially expensive proposition, almost overnight.  That in itself should deeply concern anyone who values freedom of expression. [...] The same-sex marriage agenda is more like a magic bullet with a trajectory that will abolish civil marriage for everyone, and in doing so, will embed central planning into American life.  And that, my friends, is the whole point of it.  Along with Obamacare, net neutrality, and Common Core, genderless marriage is a blueprint for regulating life, particularly family life.

The Day the Constitution Died.  I have sadly come to the conclusion that many of my colleagues are correct...  our Constitutional form of government is now dead and Obama's transformative 'change' is all but complete.  Things are now snowballing and it is more than most Americans can take or bear.  From gay marriage and the ensuing infringement on free speech and our religious rights, to enforced Obamacare, to forced wealth redistibution in our neighborhoods, to the EPA run amok... our freedoms are being absolutely nullified.  States are now saying they won't comply with the EPA on coal and who can blame them?  Americans will get very dangerous when they are hungry and cold.

[The] Moral Life of [the] Nation Could be Decided by One Judge.  [Quoting Robert Bork:]  There's no end to the gall of some of these folks.  But amending the constitution is the clearest route.  Beyond that, the cures are longer term.  They would involve replacing these judges with other judges.  If it's an elective system, when they come up for reelection, vote them out and get new judges.  If it's not, wait until they retire or die, and then get new judges.  But as long as we insist upon treating judges as the final word no matter what they say, we're in trouble.

Democracy Is Dying; Persecution Is Coming.  You will not be surprised that the majority opinion in Obergefell, written by Justice Anthony Kennedy, is full of gaseous eructations from the judicial pyloric, e.g., "the right to marry is fundamental because it supports a two-person union unlike any other in its importance to the committed individuals."  And who says a two-person union is unlike any other in its importance?  This is groundless assertion.  You really must read the four dissenting opinions in the case.  Even I am shocked by the bracing quality of the rhetoric and the analysis.  If these justices are correct, this is a dark day for American democracy, and for the practice of traditional religion in America.

SCOTUS invents new right to same-sex "marriage," outlawing Christianity.  Let me tell you how this is going to play out.  See what the progressive fascists are doing with the Confederate flag?  See how they're erasing it from every nook and cranny of America?  See the defacement of Confederate monuments?  Hear the calls for censorship of classics like Gone With The Wind?  You ain't seen nothin' yet.  Because the rainbow-shirts are coming.  And they're coming for us.  I figure the first church burning is only hours away.  Within days it'll be impossible to say the words "homosexual" and "sin" in the same sentence anywhere in America.

Scalia: 'This Court' is a 'Threat to American Democracy'.  In his dissent from the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision [6/26/2015] in Obergefell v. Hodges, which declared that same-sex marriage was a right, Justice Antonin Scalia declared that this Supreme Court has become a "threat to American democracy.  "I write separately to call attention to this Court's threat to American democracy," Scalia said.  "This practice of constitutional revision by an unelected committee of nine, always accompanied (as it is today) by extravagant praise of liberty, robs the People of the most important liberty they asserted in the Declaration of Independence and won in the Revolution of 1776:  the freedom to govern themselves."

EPA to Monitor Family's Water Use in Colorado.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to monitor how much water families use in Boulder, Colorado.  The agency submitted a solicitation Thursday [6/18/2015], announcing its plans to hire a contractor for the purpose of "Water Monitoring Equipment and Collection of Data" of apartments in the city.

A Thirsty Colorado Is Battling Over Who Owns Raindrops.  When Jason Story bought an old soy sauce barrel to collect the rain dripping from his downspout, he figured he had found an environmentally friendly way to water his garden's beets and spinach.  But under the quirks of Western water rules, where raindrops are claimed even as they tumble from the sky, he became a water outlaw.

The Government Wants You to Get Its Permission Before Discussing Gunmaking Information on the Internet (or Anywhere).  The NRA notes with alarm last week something that, if it were paying attention, it would realize is not a fear on the horizon but a nightmare certain people are already living: [...] As readers of Reason know well, Cody Wilson is living proof the government has already been acting on the belief they have this power to prevent certain technical details about gun making from spreading to the Internet without their approval — in Wilson's case, CAD files to for a 3D printed plastic handgun.

NRA: Gun blogs, videos, web forums threatened by new Obama regulation.  Commonly used and unregulated internet discussions and videos about guns and ammo could be closed down under rules proposed by the State Department, amounting to a "gag order on firearm-related speech," the National Rifle Association is warning.  In updating regulations governing international arms sales, State is demanding that anyone who puts technical details about arms and ammo on the web first get the OK from the federal government — or face a fine of up to $1 million and 20 years in jail.

Obama Plans To Muzzle Gun-Related Speech.  The foreign-raised President of the United States — who never set foot on the U.S. mainland until he was an adult — has proven throughout his rogue administration that he has no respect at all for the Constitution.  He's proving it yet again with a dual attack on both the First and Second Amendments, with an attempt to twist ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) regulations to ban online speech about firearms, claiming that information posted online is "exporting" data.

Don't be fooled, America, your government is still lying to you.  Last week, we learned that the FBI is operating low-flying planes over 100 American cities to monitor folks on the streets and intercept their cellphone use — without any search warrants.  Earlier this week, we learned that the Drug Enforcement Administration has intercepted the telephone calls of more than 11,000 people in three years — without any search warrants.  We already know that local police have been using government surplus cell towers to intercept the cellphone signals of innocent automobile drivers for about a year — without search warrants.  How dangerous this is.  The Constitution is the supreme law of the land.  It applies in good times and in bad, in war and in peace.  It regulates the governed and the governors.  Yet if the government that it regulates can change it by ordinary legislation, then it is not a constitution but a charade.

NRA: Gun blogs, videos, web forums threatened by new Obama regulation.  Commonly used and unregulated internet discussions and videos about guns and ammo could be closed down under rules proposed by the State Department, amounting to a "gag order on firearm-related speech," the National Rifle Association is warning.  In updating regulations governing international arms sales, State is demanding that anyone who puts technical details about arms and ammo on the web first get the OK from the federal government — or face a fine of up to $1 million and 20 years in jail.

Isn't this what Fort Hood, White Sands and the eastern half of Nevada are for?
City says loud explosions were Army training exercise.  It was a peaceful afternoon, and then residents said it seemingly turned hostile.  "I was standing there, and all of a sudden, boom!" Jean Glenn said.  "I mean it was loud, it blew up the whole sky or whatever, it was like four or five big bangs," Annette Humphrey said.  Explosions you'd expect in a war zone echoed through Flint.  People's homes shook and those inside were caught off-guard.  It all went down Tuesday [6/2/2015] at the shuttered Lowell Junior High on the city's east side.  The blasts are just an Army exercise.

EPA boss threatens to come knocking on doors.  Next time there is a knock at the front door, it just might be the head of the Environmental Protection Agency waiting to deliver a message.  EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy dealt a warning Wednesday to Americans who do not place environmental stewardship above everything else.

America's Own FIFA: the EPA.  An unprecedented power grab.  That's the only accurate way to describe the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) new Waters of the United States (WOTUS) rule, which was made final on Wednesday [5/27/2015].  It twists the plain language of the Clean Water Act, which regulates the "navigable waters" of the United States, out of all recognition, to give the Obama administration powers over any land that might at any time be occupied by water, such as seasonal pools or drainage channels.  Your use of your own property could become subject to veto by the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers — and you might not even know it until they stick you with $75,000 a day in fines.  And if the rule itself is an abuse of power, the way in which it was finalized is just as outrageous.

When They Come for the Smaller Groups...  The Nazis, obviously, used the principle successfully.  One by one, different groups were marginalized and demonized in the public opinion, until it was clear no one would come to their defense, because "we are not them."  Jews.  Socialists.  Trade Unions.  Military personnel.  Gypsies.  Mentally ill people.  Roman Catholic Priests.  Protestant pastors.  Step by step, the general population was divided in groups and subjugated through repressions and terror.  By the time many people realized the murderous nature of the Nazi regime, no one was in a position to unite the remaining groups in opposition to the government.  The Soviet Communists did the same.  They also started with a broad appeal to all the "classes," marginalizing and demonizing only small groups.  The "capitalists."  Then the priests.  Then the "intellectuals." [...] It was Solzhenitsyn who later realized that if the people didn't remain passive but united to shoot at government agents when they came to do arrests, millions of lives would have been spared.

The case for conservative civil disobedience.  [Scroll down]  In parallel, the legal system has become a vehicle for progressive social aims, growing arbitrary and subjective.  Murray points to lower bars for bringing lawsuits, broader rules of discovery and the rise of strict liability that doesn't require specific negligence to find guilt.  All this has conspired to create a system in which defending yourself is prohibitively costly, laws are so complex as to be unintelligible and prosecutors enjoy corrupting discretionary power.  Instead of a world where acts are criminalized because they are malum in se (wrong in themselves), Murray argues that a large proportion of crimes in the federal code are "malum prohibitum — not things that are bad in themselves but things that warrant criminal penalties because the government has said they do."

DOE Secretary Backs Public Boarding Schools: 'Certain Kids We Should Have 24/7'.  Education Secretary Arne Duncan on Tuesday proposed the idea of public boarding schools, saying there are "just certain kids we should have 24/7."  "One idea that I threw out ... is the idea of public boarding schools," Duncan said at the National Summit on Youth Violence Prevention in Crystal City, Va.  "That's a little bit of a different idea — a controversial idea — but the question is do we have some children where there's not a mom, there's not a dad, there's not a grandma, there's just nobody at home?"

The Editor says...
In what rent-free "home" would an orphaned minor live without adults?  I assert that no such example exists, and this boarding school idea is simply an incremental step toward the federal takeover of all children.

This took place on an Amtrak train.
DEA to traveler: Thanks, I'll take that cash.  [Joseph] Rivers, 22, wasn't detained and has not been charged with any crime since his money was taken last month.  That doesn't matter.  Under a federal law enforcement tool called civil asset forfeiture, he need never be arrested or convicted of a crime for the government to take away his cash, cars or property — and keep it.  Agencies like the DEA can confiscate money or property if they have a hunch, a suspicion, a notion that maybe, possibly, perhaps the items are connected with narcotics.  Or something else illegal. [...] A Washington Post investigation last year found that local, state and federal agents nationwide have seized $2.5 billion in cash from almost 62,000 people since 2001 — without warrants or indictments.

Also posted under The police state on wheels.

'We Will Not Obey': Christian Leaders Threaten Civil Disobedience if Supreme Court Legalizes Gay Marriage.  "We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line," read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage.  "We stand united together in defense of marriage.  Make no mistake about our resolve."  "While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross," the pledge states.

Obama's Lawyer Basically Tells SCOTUS That Religious Schools Are Toast.  During oral arguments made in the same-sex marriage case heard by the Supreme Court on Tuesday [4/28/2015] (Obergefell v. Hodges), Justices Roberts and Alito questioned Solicitor General Donald Verrilli about the rights of religious schools if the Court decides to impose same-sex marriage on the states.  Justice Roberts asked if religious schools that provide housing to married students would be required to offer such housing to same-sex couples.  Verrilli demurred, saying there is currently no federal law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.  "Those issues are going to have to be worked out," he said.

Idaho city's ordinance tells pastors to marry gays or go to jail.  Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, city officials have laid down the law to Christian pastors within their community, telling them bluntly via an ordinance that if they refuse to marry homosexuals, they will face jail time and fines.  The dictate comes on the heels of a legal battle with Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers who own the Hitching Post wedding chapel in the city, but who oppose gay marriage, The Daily Caller reported.  A federal judge recently ruled that the state's ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional, while the city of Coeur d'Alene has an ordinance that prevents discrimination based on sexual preference.

Largest Bank In America Joins War On Cash.  Just a week ago, the infamous Willem Buiter, along with Ken Rogoff, voiced their support for a restriction (or ban altogether) on the use of cash (something that was already been implemented in Louisiana in 2011 for used goods).  Today, as Mises' Jo Salerno reports, the war has acquired a powerful new ally in Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., which has enacted a policy restricting the use of cash in selected markets; bans cash payments for credit cards, mortgages, and auto loans; and disallows the storage of "any cash or coins" in safe deposit boxes.

Gov. Walker Supporters Claim Police Raided Their Homes Over Politics.  Megyn Kelly shared new information tonight [4/23/2015] about a series of terrifying raids which were reportedly a form of political retribution against supporters of Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI).  She explained that a few of the people who were raided came forward and spoke to the National Review about what they experienced.  Kelly reported that Cindy Archer had a raid conducted on her home when she was sound asleep one night.  Archer claims that more than a dozen police officers were yelling and pounding on her door.  She said that police would not tell her why they were there as they ransacked her home, Kelly reported.

America's Soft Police State.  Today Americans live in a soft police state.  We may not sense its severity and doom like runaway slaves or Anne Frank, but the freedoms of the greatest number of Americans have never been more threatened and violated institutionally — both openly and secretively — by our own government.

Involuntary Servitude Returns to America.  Given that America no longer allows involuntary servitude, why do florists, photographers, bakers or printers have to work for anyone who requests his services?  Why are they not protected by the Thirteenth Amendment?

'Free-Range' Parents Will Sue CPS for Grabbing Their Kids.  The Meitivs are lawyering up, and will file some kind of lawsuit against Montgomery County, Maryland, officials who took their children while the youngsters were walking outside by themselves. [...] Aren't prisoners allowed one phone call, or is that just on TV?  Because the Meitiv kids weren't able to contact their parents in the six hours they were held by the authorities.

Green Terrorists are Sabotaging the U.S. Economy.  Environmentalist extremists are controlling our policies at all levels of local, state and federal government.  The environmental terrorists are consuming land in the name of frogs and assorted creatures and putting cost prohibitive regulations on farmers and ranchers, raising the price of essential services and goods such as food and transportation.  They are lowering our standard of living in the name of non-essential wildflowers and prairie chickens.  They have infiltrated the government at every level so that you now see the DOD tweeting their latest green initiative as ISIS, Al-Qaida, and Iran compete for hegemony in the Middle East and do so without resistance.  Americans are afraid to resist the lies on which they build their power.  The majority have been silenced into blindness though truth is hiding in plain sight.  The EPA is a group of unelected bureaucrats — tyrants — who now act as an arm of extremists, pushing regulations on individuals, on every household, and every business without our permission.

The state presumes to own your children.
Maryland Parents Panic When Their Kids Are Once Again Confiscated By CPS.  Danielle Meitiv, the Maryland Mom who lets her children play outside by themselves — despite the government's ridiculous demands — just called me.  She and her husband were on their way to the Child Protective Services Emergency Crisis Center.  Why?  The police picked up the kids while they were outside again sometime Saturday afternoon [4/11/2015], and this time the cops took them without telling their parents.

NYT Writer: Christians 'Must Be Made' to Embrace Gay Lifestyle.  In the wake of the Indiana donnybrook over religious liberty, which somehow was transformed overnight into a question of gay rights, it couldn't be long before the New York Times weighed in against Christians.  Yet who could have expected the draconian measures the Times would propose?  Either Christians fully embrace the gay lifestyle, or you will be coerced into doing so.

No More 'Speeding' for You!  Someday — and that day might be closer than you want to know — we'll look back fondly on speed traps. [...] Tomorrow, you may not be able to "speed" even if you wanted to.  Because your car will not allow you to.

FBI Admits All Registered Motorcycle Owners Are On Classified Gang List.  MSNBC correspondent Jeremy Lancaster sat down with government official Darrin Cornia to discuss recent rumors that have been in circulation in regard to registered motorcycle owners being placed on a classified FBI gang list.

A List Of Things Potential Senate Minority Leader Schumer Has Tried To Ban.  It's long been said that the most dangerous place in Washington is between Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and a TV camera. [...] So what kind of leader is Chuck Schumer?  He is among the very most trivial politicians to serve in that crucible of triviality, mediocrity, and dead weight we call the U.S. Senate.  Here's a list of quickly ginned-up headlines of what our next illustrious Senate leader has been up to over his time in Washington.

Dem Suggests Kids Should Be Drug-Tested Before They Can Inherit From Their Parents.  Democratic Rep. Linda Sanchez offered a baffling defense of the death tax Wednesday [3/18/2015] during a hearing examining the sometimes unbearable burden it places on family farms and businesses.  People receiving food stamps have to pass drug tests or meet work requirements to receive taxpayer dollars, Sanchez reasoned, so it's only fair that those "lucky" enough to inherit wealth should have to do something to earn it or, in this case, pay a tax.  "What work requirements are there to inherit up to $10 million tax free?" she asked a witness, rhetorically.

The EPA wants to watch you in the shower.  [Scroll down]  You can bet that before too long, there will be a move by the EPA to place one of those gizmos in every single home in America.  It will eventually be connected to the home's water system, with an auto-shutdown valve to enforce their idea of how much water you should be using to get clean.  You may be washing your hair when the water is suddenly turned off, leaving you with a headfull of suds and anger management issues.

EPA wants to monitor how long hotel guests spend in the shower.  The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants hotels to monitor how much time its guests spend in the shower.  The agency is spending $15,000 to create a wireless system that will track how much water a hotel guest uses to get them to "modify their behavior."  "Hotels consume a significant amount of water in the U.S. and around the world," an EPA grant to the University of Tulsa reads.  "Most hotels do not monitor individual guest water usage and as a result, millions of gallons of potable water are wasted every year by hotel guests."

The Editor says...
No sane person spends any more time in a hotel shower than is absolutely necessary.  But the EPA is to blame for low-volume shower heads in hotel rooms, which cause the guests to spend more time in the shower.  This results in near-zero water savings.  The amount of water "wasted" by hotel customers cannot be determined without a gross invasion of privacy.  In any event, the hotel guest pays in advance for the privilege of a long hot shower.

The Sasquatch carbon footprints of the sanctimonious environmentalists.  While the stars of former and present-day politics and religion get to burp carbon into the environment, the little guy is about to be spied upon by EPA when in the shower.  Not only does the EPA want to monitor how long hotel guests are spending in the shower, they have a $15,000 grant to create a device to "modify" guests behavior.

Obama's EPA Now Wants to Prevent You From Showering Too Long in Hotels.  On vacation?  Want to relax with a nice long shower in your expensive hotel room?  Well, if Obama's EPA has its way, the President's scolds will be there to harass you if your shower lasts longer than Obama has decreed that you are allowed to.

Obama's EPA Prepares a Crackdown on Long Hotel Showers.  The Obama administration's Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to crack down on shower sneaks.  You know who you are.  You're the type of selfish person who steps into a hotel shower and lingers too long.  Maybe you're trying to get clean.  Maybe you're shaving.  Maybe you enjoy the sensory blast of instant hot water on your skin that isn't going on a home water-heater bill.  The EPA doesn't care about such frivolous things.  Its concern is the amount of water you are "wasting."  Whatever it is, it's too much.

Reclaiming Legislative Power.  The power to make laws rests wholly in Congress — at least that is what the Constitution says.  Yet who makes the "laws" in our federal system today?  Vast amounts of legislative power have been "delegated" to independent federal regulatory agencies like the Federal Communications Commission or to the president or his cabinet secretaries.  The sheer volume of these rules is mind-numbing.  Consider that in 2014, the year that just ended, 75,000 pages of new regulations were adopted by the Executive Branch, either by the Obama administration directly or through independent regulatory agencies.  This is in addition to the myriad executive orders the president gives to his various departments regarding how to administrate federal laws.

Backyard burger and wiener roasts targeted by EPA.  The Environmental Protection Agency has its eyes on pollution from backyard barbecues.  The agency announced that it is funding a University of California project to limit emissions resulting in grease drippings with a special tray to catch them and a "catalytic" filtration system.  The $15,000 project has the "potential for global application," said the school.  The school said that the technology they will study with the EPA grant is intended to reduce air pollution and cut the health hazards to BBQ "pit masters" from propane-fueled cookers.

Couple denied role as foster parents over permits to carry guns.  A Nevada couple were denied their request to serve as foster parents because they have permits to carry guns.  Brian and Valerie Wilson, of Las Vegas, told "Fox & Friends" Sunday that they have always planned to become foster parents and eventually adopt, but have been denied permission to do so because of a state regulation that prohibits the carrying of loaded weapons with foster children.

Obama is Looking into Raising Taxes by Executive Order.  We already knew that President Obama was happy to continue waging war in Libya even after his lawyers told him he needed Congressional approval.  We already knew that he was willing to alter and delay major portions of Obamacare, regardless of the statutory language.  And we already knew that he was eager to indefinitely suspend deportations for millions of illegal immigrant adults — and proactively give them legal work papers, making them eligible for billions in tax credits — despite years of explicitly arguing that he didn't have the authority to do so.

Atlanta-area garbage collector jailed for going to work too early: 7 Online.  A sanitation worker in an Atlanta suburb is behind bars for getting to work too early.  Kevin McGill was sentenced to 30 days in jail for violating a Sandy Springs ordinance that says workers can only haul trash between the hours of 7am and 7pm.  McGill was cited for picking up the trash just after 5am one morning.

Elijah Cummings is Knee Deep in IRS Scandal.  Cleta Mitchell, who is representing True the Vote, has filed an ethics probe against Elijah Cummings on February 6th (2014) with the Office of Congressional Ethics.  Last fall, True the Vote started receiving 8 and 9 page letters from Cummings, claiming he was conducting an investigation of their organization as part of the House Oversight Committee.  One problem.  The House Oversight Committee is only allowed to investigate government agencies.  Going after a private citizen is illegal.  Mitchell wants to find out if Cummings is responsible in part or completely for the harassment of Catherine Engelbrecht, founder of True the Vote.  After Cummings launched his "investigation", Engelbrecht had her business audited twice, her personal taxes once, two visits from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, a surprise visit from OSHA, seven visits from the FBI.

King v. Burwell Is Much Bigger Than Obamacare.  John Adams, in a 1775 essay referencing the Roman historian Livy and other sources, wrote that a republic was "a nation of laws, not of men."  As recently as fifty years ago, most Americans would have intuitively understood his point and why it was relevant to their lives.  Today, it isn't clear that the President of the United States, the leaders of the Democratic Party, or the members of our "news" media would grasp the meaning of Adams' words, much less that they still matter today.  We will soon discover if the same can be said of the Supreme Court.

Bozell to CPAC: 'Cultural Fascism Has Arrived in America'.  "Cultural fascism has arrived in America," Media Research Center President Brent Bozell said Friday [2/27/2015] in a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference.  "Tyranny is knocking at our door," Bozell said.  "Webster defines fascism as 'a tendency toward or actual exercise of strong autocratic or dictatorial control,'" he said.  "Cultural fascism has arrived in America."

Feds Seeking 'Wearable Alcohol Biosensors' to Track How Much Americans Drink.  The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is offering up to $300,000 for the creation of bracelets that can track how much Americans drink.  The federal agency issued a challenge on Monday for individuals and businesses to invent a "wearable alcohol biosensor" that shows a person's blood alcohol level in real time.  The government envisions a device that can be worn by Americans "in the course of their daily lives."  "Current technologies for real time monitoring of alcohol consumption, used in criminal justice applications, have performed adequately, but have disadvantages for broader use," the NIH said in a notice announcing the challenge in the Federal Register.  The NIH's National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) said it wants a device that can store data on how much a person drinks.

The Editor says...
Oh, I see.  The government wants to monitor our alcohol consumption "in the course of [our] daily lives," using a sensor that we will (all) have to wear, presumably 24/7.  For our own good, of course.

Exposed: The Planned Subjugation of America's Population.  Citizens about to be cast into the shadows is only courtesy of the natural order when the current administration in D.C. operates not on the way its own unsuspecting citizens presume, but on a long term in place, carefully mounted 'Shadow Government'.  It was the 'Shadow Government' that built its own "civilian national security force that's just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded as the military"; a Shadow Government that gives us a false image as Barack Obama as president when 'Shadow Woman' Valerie Jarrett, for whom not a single vote was cast, is running the show.

Bozell: Left Using IRS, FEC and FCC to End Free Speech.  President of the Media Research Center, Brent Bozell told an audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Friday [2/27/2015] the "radical left" is using government agencies in "a relentless campaign to destroy the last vestiges of freedom in America."

"Caveman" blogger wins right to blog advice about food and fitness without a state license.  North Carolinian Steve Cooksey had gone through an intense personal journey he wanted to share with the world.  He had been obese, diagnosed with Type II Diabetes, and almost keeled over, but emerged from his near-death experience to adopt a simple, "Caveman" or paleo diet of meat, nuts, and veggies along with exercise.  He lost a lot of weight, felt great and healthy, and wanted to share with the world, so he started a blog, wherein he dispensed advice about food and fitness.  Recipes, grocery lists, general advice.  The state of North Carolina declared this illegal "counseling and assessing" without a license provided by the state.  For three years, he has been fighting for the right to blog without a license.

State Says 70-Year-Old Flower Shop Owner Discriminated Against Gay Couple. Here's How She Responded.  In a phone interview with The Daily Signal, Barronelle Stutzman said the decision — and its accompanying fines — will put her flower shop out of business, or worse.  After the fines and legal fees, "There won't be anything left," Stutzman said.  "They want my home, they want my business, they want my personal finances as an example for other people to be quiet."

Judge Rules Against Grandma Florist For Refusing To Service Gay Wedding.  A Washington grandmother and florist of 40 years who refused to service gay weddings because of her faith will now be forced to arrange flowers for gay ceremonies, a judge ruled Wednesday [2/18/2015].  On top of that, the woman, Barronelle Stutzman, will have to pay the legal penalties imposed by the judge as well as attorney's fees.  Benton County Superior Court Judge Alex Ekstrom ruled in a summary judgement that Stutzman violated anti-discrimination and consumer protection laws.

The Editor says...
This serves as a warning:  Democrats can and will use any legislation — even something as innocent as "consumer protection" or "voting rights" or "clean air" laws — against us in the future.  That's why it is important to oppose every plank in the Democrat platform:  There's always something rotten under the candy coating.

The Reckoning.  What is terrifying about government now is not just that Obama has made it a tool of fundamental political transformation, by ignoring the enforcement of laws, overriding statutes through executive orders, and expanding entitlements to create new Democratic dependent constituencies.  Scarier is the new 1984 state.  The IRS is a rogue, but politicized organization that considers your politics in choosing audits.  What exactly is NASA doing?  The Justice Department sees the law as a hindrance to social justice.

When letting your kids out of your sight becomes a crime.  One recent Saturday afternoon, six police officers and five patrol cars came to my home in Silver Spring.  They demanded identification from my husband and entered our home despite not having a warrant to do so.  The reason for this show of force?  We had allowed our children to walk home from a neighborhood park by themselves.  A few hours later, a Montgomery County Child Protective Services (CPS) social worker coerced my husband into signing a "temporary safety plan" for our children by threatening to take the children "right now" — a threat she backed up with a call to the police.

President Barack Obama's Complete List of Historic Firsts.  [For example,]
  •   First President to Triple the Number of Warrantless Wiretaps of U.S. Citizens  (Source: ACLU)
  •   First President to Sign into Law a Bill That Permits the Government to "Hold Anyone Suspected of Being Associated With Terrorism Indefinitely, Without Any Form of Due Process.  No Indictment.  No Judge or Jury.  No Evidence.  No Trial.  Just an Indefinite Jail Sentence"  (NDAA Bill)  (Source: Business Insider)

Dems on FEC accused of taking partisan turn.  Democrats on the federal agency responsible for enforcing campaign finance law are being accused of taking a partisan turn, by voting to give liberal-leaning groups and campaigns a pass for alleged violations — though the agency was tough on conservatives when they were under the microscope.  The claims come as the Federal Election Commission prepares for a hearing on Wednesday [2/11/2015] that will examine, among other matters, the hot-button issue of whether it should regulate election-themed Internet videos — an area that for years has been largely hands-off for the government.

How about banning political discussions over the telephone?  Is there any difference?
Federal Election Commission to Consider Regulating Online Political Speech.  The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is holding a hearing today to receive public feedback on whether it should create new rules regulating political speech, including political speech on the Internet that one commissioner warned could affect blogs, YouTube videos and even websites like the Drudge Report.  The hearing is a response to the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in McCutcheon v. FEC last year, which struck down the FEC's previous cap on aggregate campaign contributions from a single donor in an election cycle.

Seattle's Garbage Police Ticketing Those Who Throw Away Food.  Seattle residents, beware:  The garbage police are on the prowl.  If you put too much food — as defined by the Seattle City Council — into your trash, you will be publicly shamed.  And if you keep doing it, you will be fined.  Last September, the city council, in a move the Seattle Times said did not require a public hearing, made formerly voluntary composting and recycling guidelines mandatory for all Seattle residents.  As of January 1, anyone caught with a trash can containing more than 10 percent food or recyclables gets a big red tag stuck on his can and, beginning in July, an extra dollar added to his garbage bill.

Seattle to Fine Residents for Throwing Food in the Garbage.  In an attempt to shame residents of their city, a new Seattle law will levy a fine on homes that do not properly sort food out of their garbage.  Emblazoned with a red citation tag, violators will start to be fined anywhere from $1-$50 in July.  For now, Seattle residents will be publicly shamed by the 'Scarlet Letter'-like tags.

Is The Global War On Terror Being Used To Bring In A Global Government Of Terror?  We see these officials act rather strangely after these supposed "terror attacks."  They seem to conglomerate on cue and ally themselves to condemn the acts — yet not the actors.  In the end, they ask the people to give up their rights while attempting to disarm them for the "global good."  Additionally, they attempt to forge new powers against the very people they are supposed to represent.  Concerning the current Obama administration, terror is nothing more than a created battering ram to upend government sovereignty in order to implement a new totalitarian government and establish a global government.

Are You Too Shy, Very Sad, Have Senior Moments? You Might Be Crazy!.  Pretty much everyone in the country is crazy and needs medication.  There is another advantage beyond supplying Big Pharma with customers.  The left wants doctors to report patients who might be mentally ill and who have gun permits.  This could provide a pathway to gun confiscation though saying that makes me a conspiracy theorist and possibly crazy.  None of these have a scientific basis but they will do a lot of harm unless you're a drug company which stands to benefit.

The overcriminalization of America.  It is surprisingly easy for otherwise law-abiding citizens to run afoul of the overwhelming number of federal and state criminal laws.  This proliferation is sometimes referred to as "overcriminalization," which affects us all but most profoundly harms our disadvantaged citizens. [...] Congress creates, on average, more than 50 new criminal laws each year.  This has translated into more than 4,500 federal criminal laws spread across 27,000 pages of the United States federal code.

Domino's to Obama Admin: Calorie Rule is 'Unworkable'.  The final Obamacare regulation forcing restaurant chains to display calorie information is causing headaches for companies who say it is "impossible to comply" with the new rule.  Domino's Pizza, one of the regulation's most outspoken critics, said the rule from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is vaguely written and carries the possibility of jail time.

Obama Tells States They Can't Block His Immigration Order.  Obama claims his unconstitutional immigration order is unreviewable.  He has also banned public input.  While we are watching the events in Paris, twenty-five states, that have sued to block Barack Obama's executive order allowing millions of illegals to stay in the U.S., have been told by the federal government that it is above judicial review.  The Dictator is not only ignoring Congress, he is ignoring the courts and he is trampling states' rights.  His goal is to destroy the co-equal branches of government and the constitutional protections against a rogue president.  It is not hyperbole to call him a dictator.  He is dictating.

Lamenting Liberty Lost.  The Framers believed in the presumption of liberty, which declares that we are free to make personal choices, and the government cannot interfere with our liberties unless we violate the rights of others.  Stated differently, the federal government cannot interfere with our personal choices by writing any law it wants; it can only regulate behavior or spend money when the Constitution authorizes it to do so.  But for the past 100 years, the federal government has rejected the Madisonian concept that it is limited to the 16 discrete powers the Constitution delegates to it, and has claimed its powers are unlimited, subject only to the express prohibitions in the Constitution.

Ferguson grand juror sues over gag order.  A member of the grand jury that declined to indict the Ferguson police officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown asked a federal court Monday [1/5/2015] to remove a lifetime gag order preventing jurors from discussing the case.

The Editor says...
Never before have I heard of a lifetime gag order imposed upon a juror.

Guns Confiscated after Man Seeks Insomnia Treatment.  In the old Soviet and East German police states of the Cold War, police kept secret files on scores of common people.  Information was fed to the police by thousands of clandestine sources — and a seemingly banal or routine interaction with nearly anyone could lead to a surprise "knock on the door" by authorities.  During the late Soviet era, communist leadership moved away from the executions and purges of the Stalin years and began to increasingly rely upon medical professionals to diagnose "enemies of the state" as insane — thus, a routine trip to your doctor could lead to a visit from police.

FBI Agents Pose as Repairmen to Bypass Warrant Process.  This is a creepy story.  The FBI wanted access to a hotel guest's room without a warrant. So agents broke his Internet connection, and then posed as Internet technicians to gain access to his hotel room without a warrant. [...] Basically, the agents snooped around the hotel room, and gathered evidence that they submitted to a magistrate to get a warrant.  Of course, they never told the judge that they had engineered the whole outage and planted the fake technicians.

Supreme Court Erodes Key Check On Government Power.  Briefly, the facts in Heien v. North Carolina are that a North Carolina police officer pulled over Nicholas Heien because one of his car's brake lights was out.  The state's law requires only one light to be working, so the stop was based on a mistake of law.  After Heien was pulled over, he gave consent for the officer to search his car.  The officer found cocaine in the car, then placed Heien under arrest.  Heien later claimed the initial stop was not legal under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.  The Supreme Court ruled that the mistake for the initial stop, which was a seizure under the Fourth Amendment, was reasonable and therefore lawful.

The Obama administration and race-baiting pundits are paving the way for national policing.  Well America, the "change" you voted for is here.  Six years ago, you voted into office a community organizer who vowed to change America.  That same community organizer, while campaigning, argued for a "civilian national security force."  But how can you create a national force when we already have local agencies?  Easy, you sow distrust in the local cops until the divide is so great, people start clamoring for the feds to come to the rescue.

CPS Threatens Dad: Let Your Kids Play Outside and We'll Take Them Away.  I received an update from the Maryland mom of two who was contacted by Montgomery Country Child Welfare Service in November after she let her kids, ages 6 and 10, play at the park two blocks from home by themselves.  She was cited for allowing a child under age 8 "to be locked or confined in a dwelling, building, enclosure, or motor vehicle while the person charged is absent."  The CPS worker decided "confined in a dwelling" was the same thing as "outside in a park."  The higher ups at child services agreed that this was insane, and the case was closed — until this week.

Wisconsin Police Ask Residents To Volunteer For House Gun Search.  In an effort to reduce gun violence, police in Beloit, Wisconsin, have kicked off a new initiative asking residents to volunteer to allow police to search their homes for guns.  "Gun violence is as serious as the Ebola virus is being represented in the media, and we should fight it using the tools that we've learned from our health providers," said Police Chief Norm Jacobs.  Skeptical that people will actually call, Jacobs' hope is that the ones who do will allow the cops to find guns that residents did not even know were there.

Obama Says His Job Is Assuring Equal Protection Under the Law — Really?  When it comes to the great constitutional principle of equal protection under the law in the age of Obama, it is not that there is a black America and a white America.  It is that there are political supporters of the president who get one quality of justice, and political opponents and convenient political scapegoats for whom "justice" is a weapon their government has turned against them.

Fishing without a license in NJ? The game warden has a machine gun, aimed at you.  Why does a New Jersey game warden need an M-14?  Because, shut up.

Should Tour Guides Be Licensed?  When Dan Leger applied for his tour guide's license in Savannah, Georgia, six years ago, he had to strip, give blood and urine samples, detail his sexual history and submit to the dreaded "cough test."  Leger has also had to undergo additional physicals to renew his credentials, per Savannah's ordinance on tour guide licensing.  The city's regulations also require tour guides to pass a background check and a 100-question history test, as well as pay multiple fees.  "This is all simply so you can walk around and tell a story," Leger, who goes by the moniker Savannah Dan, says.  "The city of Savannah shouldn't have the authority to license my free speech."

Crypto Wars II.  There is absolutely no evidence, either statistically or even anecdotally, that criminals are going free because of encryption.  So why are we even discussing the possibility to forcing companies to provide insecure encryption to their users and customers?

How Long Must A Long Train Of Abuses Be?  I say we have been disposed to suffer long enough.  The Founders rose up over less than we are experiencing now.  The Constitution has been overturned in a Stealth Coup that took slightly over a century to achieve.  The current Leftists in Power And Control are merely firing the final shots into it's critically wounded corpse.  How long is long?  You say a century is not long enough a train.  Many of us say it is too long, that it is so long we stand a very good chance of not being able to derail it.  I say the situation is insufferable, intolerable, that it is time to act.

SWAT Team Tasers, Pepper-Sprays Homeschoolers.  A Missouri homeschooling family is suing a sheriff and another officer who forcibly entered their home without a warrant, Tasered the father, pepper-sprayed the mother and put their children in the custody of social service workers.  A court already has ruled that the actions of Sheriff Darren White and Capt. David Glidden of Nodaway County, Missouri, violated the U.S. Constitution, resulting in the dismissal of charges of child endangerment and resisting arrest against the couple, Jason and Laura Hagan, of New Hampton.

This is what a police state looks like:
More Federal Agencies Are Using Undercover Operations.  The federal government has significantly expanded undercover operations in recent years, with officers from at least 40 agencies posing as business people, welfare recipients, political protesters and even doctors or ministers to ferret out wrongdoing, records and interviews show.  At the Supreme Court, small teams of undercover officers dress as students at large demonstrations outside the courthouse and join the protests to look for suspicious activity, according to officials familiar with the practice.  At the Internal Revenue Service, dozens of undercover agents chase suspected tax evaders worldwide, by posing as tax preparers, accountants drug dealers or yacht buyers and more, court records show.

Navy veteran fired for posting Homeland Security vehicles on Facebook.  A Facebooking employee of Chesterfield's Drury Plaza Hotel is out of a job after curiosity over dozens of Homeland Security vehicles in the hotel garage got the best of him.  His photos on social media got him fired.  Mark Paffrath saw the collection of vehicles last Thursday [11/13/2014], and it certainly got his attention.  "It was very odd that there was a bunch of Homeland Security cars there and I was shocked and took a picture and a short video and posted them to Facebook with the status update, 'What are these vehicles doing here?  I wonder if it has anything to do with Ferguson?'"

Redskins War Continues as Bill Introduced to Revoke Team's Tax-Exempt Status.  Congress coming back into session after the long campaign break means quick legislative action — against the Washington Redskins.  D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) introduced on Wednesday [11/12/2014] a bill to amend section 501 of the Internal Revenue Code to "prohibit tax-exempt status for professional sports leagues that promote or allow a member club or franchise connected to that league to benefit from the Washington football team name, a derogatory term that has officially been found offensive."  It's companion legislation to a bill filed in the upper chamber by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.).

The Editor says...
It's a sad and dangerous day when the government can declare specific terms to be "officially" offensive.

House Committee Demands Answers on Truthy Project.  The Truthy project, being conducted by researchers at Indiana University, is under investigation for targeting political commentary on Twitter.  The project monitors "suspicious memes," "false and misleading ideas," and "hate speech," with a goal of one day being able to automatically detect false rumors on the social media platform.  The web service has been used to track tweets using hashtags such as #tcot (Top Conservatives on Twitter), and was successful in getting accounts associated with conservatives suspended, according to a 2012 book co-authored by the project's lead researcher, Filippo Menczer, a professor of Informatics and Computer Science at Indiana University.

Obama's FEC Wants to Criminalize Political YouTube Videos.  What is it with this administration and YouTube videos anyway?  Obama and Hillary blamed Al Qaeda terrorism on a YouTube video and sent a guy to jail over it.  Now Obama wants to ban political YouTube videos.

Dems on FEC move to regulate Internet campaigns, blogs, Drudge.  In a surprise move late Friday, a key Democrat on the Federal Election Commission called for burdensome new rules on Internet-based campaigning, prompting the Republican chairman to warn that Democrats want to regulate online political sites and even news media like the Drudge Report.  Democratic FEC Vice Chair Ann M. Ravel announced plans to begin the process to win regulations on Internet-based campaigns and videos, currently free from most of the FEC's rules.  "A reexamination of the commission's approach to the internet and other emerging technologies is long over due," she said.

FEC Democrat pushes for controls on Internet political speech.  The FEC deadlocked in a crucial Internet campaign speech vote announced Friday, leaving online political blogging and videos free of many of the reporting requirements attached to broadcast ads — for now.  While all three GOP-backed members voted against restrictions, they were opposed by the three Democratic-backed members, including FEC Vice Chair Ann M. Ravel, who said she will lead a push next year to try to come up with new rules government political speech on the Internet.

Democrats Push for New Heavy Regulations on Internet Postings, Drudge, and Blogs.  As the media prepared to vacate newsrooms for the weekend, Democrats snuck in a last minute proposal that the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) be allowed to heavily regulate political content on internet sites such as Youtube, blogs, and the Drudge Report.  Obama FEC Vice Chairperson Ann M. Ravel announced late on Friday that the FEC was preparing new regulations to give itself control over videos, Internet-based political campaigns, and other content on the web.  She insisted that, "A reexamination of the commission's approach to the internet and other emerging technologies is long overdue."

A Government Bureau Is The Nearest Thing To Eternal Life We Will Ever See On This Earth.  It is no secret that government today is far overreaching and intrusive.  This past year alone we have seen privacy breaches by the NSA, the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS, and the disastrous consequences of Obamacare on small businesses and families.  Obama has even said, "I can take steps without legislation."  This self-righteous statement underscores that he has no respect for the Constitution — a document meant to protect the rights of all Americans and prevent our government and our leaders from trampling on those rights.  Unfortunately, today we have a President and federal officials who are no longer accountable to the American people because they consider themselves to be above the law.

The feds' 'truthy' new chill on free speech.  Earlier this week, the federal government's National Science Foundation (NSF), an entity created to encourage the study of science — encouragement that it achieves by awarding grants to scholars and universities — announced that it had awarded a grant to study what people say about themselves and others in social media.  The NSF dubbed the project "Truthy," a reference to comedian Stephen Colbert's invention and hilarious use of the word "truthiness."  The reference to Mr. Colbert is cute, and he is a very funny guy, but when the feds get into the business of monitoring speech, it is surely no joke; it is a nightmare.  It is part of the Obama administration's persistent efforts to monitor communication and scrutinize the expressions of opinions it hates and fears.

Houston's 'sermon-gate' and the abuse of subpoenas.  Friday [10/17/2014], the City of Houston filed a revised subpoena removing the word "sermons" among the documents being demanded, but leaving the word "speeches."  Legally, this changes nothing.  It is a distinction without a difference.  City Attorney Feldman apparently didn't bother to check a dictionary (any dictionary will do) which describes "sermons" as "religious discourse or speech."  Pastors are therefore still required to turn over to the city their sermons.  Feldman is fooling no one.

California forces Churches to pay for abortions, immediately.  How soon will Leftists take the next step and force doctors and nurses to participate in abortions or face losing their license?

Houston to pastors: Forget your sermons, now we want your speeches.  Five Christian pastors will no longer have to turn their sermons over to attorneys for the city of Houston.  Instead, they will be forced to turn over their speeches related to the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO).  I don't mean to point out the obvious here — but what do those attorneys think a sermon is?  It's a speech.

The Houston Mayor Who Tried Harassing Pastors Says She's the Real Victim.  [I]t's tough being Houston mayor Annise Parker:  "One word in a very long legal document which I know nothing about and would never have read," Parker said on Thursday /10z16z2014=, "and I'm vilified coast-to-coast."  That's Parker's crack defense of the subpoenas, issued to five local pastors, that demand "all speeches, presentations, or sermons related to [Houston Equal Rights Ordinance], the Petition, Mayor Annise Parker, homosexuality, or gender identity prepared by, delivered by, revised by, or approved by you or in your possession."  Among other demands:  communications between the pastors and their congregants (including Facebook messages and text messages) and between the pastors and their attorneys.  First Amendment protections, attorney-client privilege — Parker's legal team has run roughshod over all sorts of rights.

Bozell: Network Censorship of Houston Mayor's Subpoenas Part of Left's 'Relentless Assault on Free Speech'.  According to a new analysis by MRC Culture, over the past two days the broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC) have completely censored liberal Houston Mayor Annise Parker's attempt to subpoena sermons of five pastors critical of the mayor, homosexuality, gender identity, or the city's new "equal rights" ordinance.  MRC President Brent Bozell released a statement in response to the networks' refusal to cover Parker's brazen attack on religious freedom and free speech:  "When the government mandates what a pastor can or cannot say, and criminalizes preaching the Bible, we're no different than Red China. [...]"

Texas Attorney General tells Houston city hall: Stop bullying Christians.  Stop bullying people of faith.  That's the bottom line of a harshly-worded letter written by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott to Houston City Attorney David Feldman.  Feldman's office sent subpoenas to five Houston pastors last month demanding that they turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality and gender identity issues.  They also wanted sermons or correspondence that referenced Annise Parker, the city's first openly lesbian mayor.

Houston Mayor Backs Off From Subpoenas to Pastors.  Houston Mayor Annise Parker has backed down from the subpoenas the City of Houston issued to several area pastors, Breitbart Texas has learned.  Breitbart Texas reported earlier about the controversy, stemming from litigation challenging the city's anti-discrimination ordinance and subpoenas asking the pastors for the content of their sermons, speeches and communications with church members.  Texas Senator Ted Cruz weighed in, firmly supporting the pastors in their efforts to fight the subpoenas, while Mayor Parker initially remained adamant that the city had the right to request those records.  Despite posting comments on Twitter just hours before that seemed to indicate she would continue to fight this issue, she told a Houston radio station that she had changed her mind.

City officials try to distance themselves from sermon subpoenas.  Amid outrage from religious groups, Mayor Annise Parker and City Attorney David Feldman on Wednesday [10/15/2014] appeared to back off a subpoena request for the sermons of certain ministers opposed to the city's equal rights ordinance, with Parker calling the request "overly broad."  The subpoena, handed down to five pastors and religious leaders last month, came to light this week when attorneys for the group of pastors filed a motion to quash the request.  The pastors are closely tied to Christian conservative activists who sued the Parker administration this summer when the city announced the group had failed to gather enough valid signatures to force a repeal referendum.  The subpoenas were issued as part of the discovery phase in that case, which will be heard in district court in January.

Pastors to mayor: Don't mess with Texas pulpits.  Christians across the nation are mobilizing to defend a group of Houston pastors who were ordered by the city to turn over any sermons dealing with homosexuality, gender identity issues or Houston mayor.  Their message is simple — Don't Mess with Texas Preachers.  Dave Welch, the executive director of the Texas Pastor Council, is one of the five ministers who received a subpoena.  He said he will not be intimidated by Annise Parker, who is the city's first openly lesbian mayor, nor will he comply with the city's demands.  "My answer to that is — bring it on," he said.

Twitter Blocks Campaign To Protect Pastors From Having To Hand Over Their Sermons and Emails To The Government.  Twitter blocked a petition campaign Wednesday to protect Houston pastors from having to hand over to the city government all of their sermons and personal emails dealing with the issue of homosexuality.  The Christian organization Faith Driven Consumer's Twitter hashtag campaign #HoustonWeHaveAProblem was censored by Twitter minutes after launching so that users could not Tweet the petition and a warning was placed on Twitter-based links to the petition website.  The group's previous campaign #iStandWithPhil defending Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson was also blocked by Twitter at one time.

Houston's Mayor Throws Out Citizens' Petition, Goes after Local Pastors.  'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  Unless you're in Houston, Texas, in which case you had best render everything to Mayor Annise Parker — or else.  Earlier this year Parker, a Democrat, spearheaded the passage of an "Equal Rights Ordinance" (ERO) that added "sexual orientation" and "gender identity" to the city's non-discrimination provision, which includes, among other things, "public accommodations" — for example, restrooms.  Citizens, among them church leaders, balked.  They launched a referendum petition that, with the requisite 17,269 signatures, would require the city council to repeal the ERO, or to put the measure up for a vote.  They obtained 55,000 signatures.  The city secretary, who has sole responsibility for certifying such petitions, signed off.

Houston's Mayor Backtracks on Church Subpoenas, Tosses Her Own Lawyers Under the Bus.  Houston's power-mad Mayor Annise Parker has backtracked on those subpoenas that she had the city issue to five city pastors, at taxpayer expense.  The mayor made the move as Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott sent a letter to Parker asking that she withdraw the subpoenas "immediately."

Houston Demands Oversight Of Sermons.  Officials with the city of Houston, Texas, who are defending a controversial ordinance that would allow men to use women's restrooms now have demanded to see the sermons preached by several area pastors.  The recent move came in a subpoena from the city to pastors for copies of their sermons and other communications in the city's legal defense of a "non-discrimination" measure that allows "gender-confused" people to use public restrooms designated for the opposite sex.  A lawsuit challenging Houston's move alleges the city violated its own charter in its adoption of the Equal Rights Ordinance, which in May designated homosexuals and transgender persons as a protected class.

Even in Houston, Texas, You Will Be Made to Care.  Houston, TX is not thought of as a bastion of liberalism, but it has gone quite rapidly off the deep end.  Earlier this year, Houston's City Council voted on non-discrimination legislation that provides equal protection to the entire swath of the BLTGCZQDLMAO alphabet silliness.  In short, if a guy decides he's a girl and wants to go hang out in the girl's bathroom, it is a-okay in Houston, or it would be except the law will not be enforced pending a court challenge.

Big Brother in Texas: Houston Demands Pastors Turn Over Sermon Notes, Private Communications.  After decades of warnings on the right about liberal politicians threatening religious liberty, a Democratic mayor in Texas is now subpoenaing pastors to turn over their sermons.  Houston city officials are demanding that city pastors opposed to Houston's "Bathroom Bill" — "a law that allows members of the opposite sex into each other's restrooms" — turn over sermon notes and "communications with church members" to ascertain which pastors have (or haven't) "opposed or criticized the city."

Commission says Christian business owners should leave religion at home.  The Human Rights Commission in Lexington, Kentucky has a chilling message for Christian business owners who refuse service to LGBT organizations:  leave your religion at home.  "It would be safe to do so, yes," Executive Director Raymond Sexton told me.  "Or in this case you can find yourself two years down the road and you're still involved in a legal battle because you did not do so."  On Tuesday [10/7/2014], a Lexington Human Rights Commission hearing examiner issued a recommended ruling that the owner of a T-shirt company violated a local ordinance against sexual-orientation discrimination.

Judge Wants To Force A Printer To Make Pro-Gay T-Shirts.  An administrative law judge has ruled that a Kentucky printer's refusal to print gay pride t-shirts "constitutes unlawful discrimination," and, by extension, that printers cannot refuse to print materials promoting ideas they disagree with.

The Empire of Progressive Poverty.  Western resources are not innately centralized, which makes seizing control of them and routing them through a central point more difficult.  This has to be done legislatively and has to be justified by a universal benefit or a crisis.  One example of this is FDR's Agricultural Adjustment Act which allowed the government to control wheat grown on a farm for private consumption.  Another is nationalizing health care by routing the commercial activity of medicine through government organs.  Both services and commodities can be controlled in this manner.  But the larger challenge is that the West is rich and a water empire depends on scarcity.  Central control is much less potent if there is plenty of the commodity or service available.  It's only when shortages are created in bread or health care that the system really wields power by rationing a scarce commodity or service.

Ebola Patient's Family Ordered To Stay Inside After Trying to Leave.  "There were violations of the request to not leave their premises," Dallas judge Clay Jenkins said of the breach that prompted the Texas Department of State Health Services to order the quarantine.  [Thomas Eric ] Duncan was staying with family members in Dallas when he became ill and is now confined to an isolation unit at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.  His family members, including five school age children, were told to remain at home.

The Editor says...
If it's just a "request," what is the "violation" if one ignores the request?

Forest Service says media needs photography permit in wilderness areas, alarming First Amendment advocates.  The U.S. Forest Service has tightened restrictions on media coverage in vast swaths of the country's wild lands, requiring reporters to pay for a permit and get permission before shooting a photo or video in federally designated wilderness areas.  Under rules being finalized in November, a reporter who met a biologist, wildlife advocate or whistleblower alleging neglect in 36 million acres of wilderness would first need special approval to shoot photos or videos even on an iPhone.  Permits cost up to $1,500, says Forest Service spokesman Larry Chambers, and reporters who don't get a permit could face fines up to $1,000.

The Editor says...
When the government prohibits photography in a large but specific area, it is reasonable to infer that the government is currently working on something, or is about to do something they don't want to publicize.  Like building a FEMA camp, or a missile silo, or something more sinister than just blocking the production of oil — although oil drilling is also out of the question if the area is locked down as tight as they seem to prefer.

"What do you call a man who claims voters' choices have no place in government?"
Brown's Final Nail In Prop. 187 Is Really A Blow To California's Voters.  [I]n 1994, millions of California's voters, by a margin of 59% to 41%, voted in favor of denying "free" welfare, education and other benefits to illegal immigrants on the clear logic that a burglar who breaks into someone else's home doesn't have the right to eat the owner's food.  It was a legitimate decision for a people to make, given that in any democratic system, the participants have the right to control the purse.  But [Governor] Brown's statements and those of his political allies, including those in the press, suggest an imperial contempt for the will of California's voters.

White House May Check Tourists Blocks Away.  As part of the screening, the Secret Service would establish several checkpoints a few blocks from the White House, the officials said. The screening would likely be limited to bag checks and not include measures taken at airports by the Transportation Security Administration, which include metal detectors and body scans. Along with giving Secret Service agents and uniformed Secret Service officers a chance to check for explosives and weapons in bags, the screening would allow them to interact with the visitors and try to identify those who may pose a problem, the officials said.

The Editor says...
The Washington DC version of Checkpoint Charlie won't be anything like the airport screening process — at first!  No, these things have to be done in small increments — small enough so that anyone who objects to such tiny changes can be labeled a paranoid bitter-clinger tea-party bigot.

Silent Coup.  [Scroll down]  Two levels of government would be permitted "to criminalize and censor all issue advocacy that mentions or refers to a candidate under the argument that it supports or opposes that candidate."  Recall that Citizens United, which the Udall amendment is supposed to address, was not about Tea Party Astroturf.  It was about the FEC's attempt to censor a film critical of her royal highness [Hillary Clinton]. The mandarins at the FEC and IRS, as well as their counterparts at the state level, would be responsible for distinguishing political communications that "support or oppose" a candidate from those that do not.  They would penalize the individuals and groups they subjectively deem violators of administrative diktat.  If this is not about "limiting free speech," what is?

An Open Letter To My Friends In Law Enforcement.  Let me just be blunt: ever since Ronald Reagan left office, both Republican and Democrat presidential administrations — along with both Republican and Democrat congresses — in Washington, D.C. are turning the United States of America into a giant Police State. [...] The totalitarian regimes of history could not have succeeded in implementing their enslavements over the people without the submission and cooperation of the citizen-policemen within their countries.  Nor can a Police State be constructed in America without your submission and cooperation.  My concern is, the Police State is already being constructed in this country; and most of you don't seem to even realize it — or don't want to realize it.  In fact, some of you become angry with people like me when we try to warn the American people about it.  This shows that you have already become acclimated and accepting of it.  Here is the problem:  in today's America, virtually every police agency and sheriff's office is being dictated to, intimidated by, and bribed by the federal government.  Much of the policies you operate under — and training you receive — comes straight out of the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Justice Department.

Government to Track 'False, Misleading' Ideas on Twitter.  One G-man's "social pollution" is another free man's First Amendment right.  The very term sounds like something out of a 1920s Italian fascist tract.  And why is the federal government even deciding which ideas are "false and misleading," let alone tracking them?  According to the project's grant, the service "could mitigate the diffusion of false and misleading ideas, detect hate speech and subversive propaganda, and assist in the preservation of open debate."  In 2004, dissent was "the highest form of patriotism."  A decade later, it's called "subversive propaganda" and categorized as the lowest form of treason.

Feds Creating Database to Track 'Hate Speech' on Twitter.  The federal government is spending nearly $1 million to create an online database that will track "misinformation" and hate speech on Twitter.  The National Science Foundation is financing the creation of a web service that will monitor "suspicious memes" and what it considers "false and misleading ideas," with a major focus on political activity online.  The "Truthy" database, created by researchers at Indiana University, is designed to "detect political smears, astroturfing, misinformation, and other social pollution."  The university has received $919,917 so far for the project.

Anything You Don't Say Will Be Used Against You.  In People v. Tom, California's Supreme Court justices upheld the prosecution of a man based on the district attorney's argument that the defendant's silence was evidence of guilt.  The cop shows make these matters seem simple.  A person is arrested.  The officer reads the suspect the Miranda wording.  Suspects can then clam up and wait for an attorney.  In real life, though, these matters can become more complicated and legalistic.

The Wane of Government by Consent.  From local politicians legally looting their communities to federal government that uses the IRS as a weapon of politics, there are real objections to be made.  In practical terms, we have a government that interferes with our lives and livelihoods far more than did the one our Founders threw off.  Which is not a call for revolution — it's a call for rebalancing, for reestablishing exactly who works for whom.

Liberty vs. License.  As unions decline, occupational-licensing requirements are on the rise, facilitated by back-scratching among industries and legislators both state and federal.  In 2012, the Institute for Justice (IJ) released a study identifying 102 occupations that require licensing somewhere in the nation and in which practitioners made less than the national average income:  EMT and cosmetologist are on the list, as are preschool teacher, vegetation-pesticide handler, florist, and a host of others.  According to economists Morris Kleiner and Alan Krueger, just over one-third of jobs in the United States today require some sort of licensing.

Who rules America?  A shattering new study by two political science professors has found that ordinary Americans have virtually no impact whatsoever on the making of national policy in our country.  The analysts found that rich individuals and business-controlled interest groups largely shape policy outcomes in the United States.  This study should be a loud wake-up call to the vast majority of Americans who are bypassed by their government.  To reclaim the promise of American democracy, ordinary citizens must act positively to change the relationship between the people and our government[.]

Connecticut Supreme Court Says State Cops Can Detain You Simply For Being In The Vicinity Of Someone They're Arresting.  Gideon, the pseudonymous public defender who blogs at A Public Defender, has a thorough rundown of a very disturbing ruling recently issued by the Connecticut Supreme Court. It involves every Connecticut citizens' civil liberties, which have now been thrown under a bus bearing the name "officer safety."  The court's decision basically makes everyone a suspect, even if they're suspected of nothing else than being in the relative proximity of someone a police officer suspects of committing a crime, or someone simply "matching the description."

Obama's FBI to hire firm to rate 'positive and 'negative' stories about the agency.  The FBI is hiring a contractor to grade news stories about the agency as "positive" "neutral" or "negative," but the agency won't say why officials need the information or what they plan to do with it.  FBI officials wouldn't even reveal how they will go about assigning the grades, which were laid out in a recent contract solicitation.  The contract tells potential bidders to "use their judgment" in scoring news coverage as part of a new "daily news briefing" service the agency is seeking as part of a contract that could last up to five years.

The IRS's God Complex.  Is the Internal Revenue Service a threat to religious liberty?  As the IRS continues to come under well-aimed fire for harassing conservative groups, on Friday [8/1/2014] it secured a final court order formalizing what amounts to a secret agreement to monitor the pulpits of ill-favored churches.  The serious danger, as former Justice Department attorney J. Christian Adams told Fox News, is that the IRS will start treating "theology as politics," and regulate it accordingly.  Lovers of liberty should be very concerned.

Obama's Rogue IRS Strikes Deal With Atheists To Monitor Churches — But Not Mosques.  Government's assault on religious liberty has hit a new low as the IRS settles with atheists by promising to monitor sermons for mentions of the right to life and traditional marriage.  A lawsuit filed by the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) asserted that the Internal Revenue Service ignored complaints about churches' violating their tax-exempt status by routinely promoting political issues, legislation and candidates from the pulpit.  The FFRF has temporarily withdrawn its suit in return for the IRS's agreement to monitor sermons and homilies for proscribed speech that the foundation believes includes things like condemnation of gay marriage and criticism of ObamaCare for its contraceptive mandate.

IRS Strikes Deal With Atheists To Monitor Churches.  Government's assault on religious liberty has hit a new low as the IRS settles with atheists by promising to monitor sermons for mentions of the right to life and traditional marriage.

Feds raid S.C. home to seize Land Rover in EPA emission-control crackdown.  When it comes to environmental regulation compliance, the Department of Homeland Security isn't playing — as evidenced by a recent federal raid of a South Carolinian's home to confiscate a Land Rover that violated EPA emission rules.  Jennifer Brinkley said she saw a line of law enforcement vehicles approaching her home and wondered what was wrong, the local WBTV reported.  Homeland Security agents then went to her 1985 Land Rover Defender and lifted the hood.  "They popped up the hood and looked at the Vehicle Identification Number and compared it with a piece of paper and then took the car with them," she said, WBTV reported.

Homeland Security Seizing Cars That Violate EPA Standards.  Jennifer Brinkley of North Carolina says when saw a line of law enforcement vehicles coming up her driveway earlier this month she didn't know what to think.  "I haven't done anything wrong."  According to WBTV, the Homeland Security agents were not there to take her away, they were looking for illegally imported Land Rover Defenders.

IRS Strikes Deal with Militant Atheists to Monitor What Your Pastor Says In Your Church.  Democrats routinely campaign from the very pulpit of majority black churches.  It happens every single election cycle.  Pastors in those churches regularly push parishioners to support the Democratic Party, to support specific government social policy, and even specific candidates for office.  The Freedom From Religion Foundation has not sued to get the IRS to investigate any of that.  Its targets are churches that align with the more conservative Pulpit Freedom Sunday movement.  That tells us what the foundation and the IRS will really be investigating.  The IRS will be monitoring churches to listen for pastors supporting the right to life, the sanctity and traditional definition of marriage, traditional values in general, perhaps even patriotism.  Those are the churches, based on the angle that the foundation lawsuit takes, that will potentially find themselves under IRS investigation.

IRS Strikes Deal With Atheist Group to Monitor Content of Sermons.  Alliance Defending Freedom asked the Internal Revenue Service Tuesday [7/29/2014] to release all documents related to its recent decision to settle a lawsuit with an atheist group that claims the IRS has adopted new protocols and procedures for the investigation of churches.  Pastor Holding Bible ca. 2000 [A.D.] submitted the Freedom of Information Act request after learning of the IRS's agreement with Freedom From Religion Foundation in a press release the group issued on July 17 concerning its lawsuit Freedom From Religion Foundation v. Koskinen, which accused the agency of failing to investigate churches the way the atheist group would like.

A Government Feared and Distrusted.  [Scroll down]  The proposed regulations are so onerous, they could literally make farming of some areas impossible.  But if you don't comply, the EPA could label you a "polluter" whose wages should be garnished.  Case example:  the agency has threatened fines of up to $75,000 per day on Wyoming homeowner Andy Johnson.  He built a pond on his rural property.  Think twice before you build that koi pond in your own backyard — or collect rain water on your property, like Gary Harrington, an Oregonian now serving a 30-day sentence for violating water regulations.  An encyclopedia would be required to list all the examples of executive and governmental agency overreach.  But note the theme:  the examples above are violations of Americans trust by non-elected governmental agencies.  You, Joe Average, have no say in what is decreed.  You are not represented when thousands of regulations are enacted.

Terror watchlist can include dead, acquitted suspects.  Federal rules for adding someone to the government's terrorist watchlist are broad enough to include people who are dead or have been acquitted in court of terrorism charges, according to a government document that emerged on Wednesday [7/23/2014].  A 166-page guidance for the government database that includes the "no-fly list" and other lists declared that agents do not require "concrete facts" or "irrefutable evidence" that someone is a terrorist.  Instead, the system requires officials have a "reasonable suspicion" that someone could be connected to terrorist activity, which can include "violent acts" that could harm people or property and "intimidation or coercion" that affects the government or public.

Passionate Farmer Takes On Her Government Harassers.  With her life's dream of being a small family farmer in Virginia, Martha Boneta obtained 64 acres in Fauquier County, Va in 2006 to raise vegetables, herbs, raw honey, eggs, and host small animals.  Little did she know that a birthday party with eight ten-year old girls would trigger zealous county regulators who saw the party as an event needing special exception permits and required a hearing that would impose fees.  Thinking she had all the right commercial permits and licenses, Boneta was still threatened with $5,000 per day fines despite Virginia being a right to farm state, where local governments are considered unable to use zoning laws to bring nuisance suits for customary farm operations.

The Police State we've all feared is already here.  It would make complete sense if one was attempting to create a police state, first disarm the civilian population through crushing legislation and regulations and during that same time, proceed to arm as many different government agencies that were not previously armed before, using "false flag" operations to create public outrage against privately owned weapons and the immediate need to control them, or even outlaw private weapon ownership completely with an executive order.  What lies in store for us in the near future, if the EPA catches you polluting dear mother earth, or contributing to global warming, will they whip-out their sub-machine guns and blow you away for that?  Why on earth would the USDA or the EPA need to be armed at all?  What's really funny, is the fact that so-called "liberals" are leading the charge to curtail as much of our personal freedoms as possible by "Big- government" intervention.  I'd say that the "police state" we've all feared, but never thought would happen in America, is already here!

Federal agents swarm Livingston, Ill.  Homeland security, the US Customs and Border Patrol and other police agencies swarmed Livingston, Illinois.  They all parked in the field of a grade school.  The peacefulness of the town of 850 was broken by all the excitement.  The law officers would not comment about their operation, even to the school superintendent and they were using the school district's land.

Rep. Campbell: Government, IRS, EPA Are 'The Police State'.  Rep. John Campbell (R-Calif.) called the government, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) "the police state" at a Financial Services Committee hearing at the Capitol on Thursday [7/10/2014].  At the July 10 hearing, Legislation to Reform the Federal Reserve on Its 100-year Anniversary, the Federal Reserve Accountability and Transparency Act (HR 5018) was discussed, legislation which would require "the Federal Reserve to provide the Congress with a clear rule to describe the course of monetary policy."  The act would also require the Fed to conduct cost-benefit analysis, require transparency on bank stress tests and international financial regulatory negotiations, and would order the Fed to disclose the salaries of highly paid employees.

Advisor: Obama, NSA use internet to silence critics like Tea Party.  The Obama administration is expanding its online data search of Americans to find potential civil unrest — like the 2010 Tea Party movement — and squash it before they take root, a prominent financial advisor has warned clients.  David John Marotta compared the administration's efforts to those used by former FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover against his critics and 1960s activists.  Targeting activists isn't anything new.  J. Edgar Hoover made it his life's work.  What has changed is the vigor with which the government has assumed its own activism against certain groups, he said.

The Age of Mafia Government: People Wind Up Mysteriously Dead.  The ultimate way to earn power over other people is to threaten not just their livelihood, but also their lives, and the lives of those they love.  On that note, perhaps it's appropriate to mention that the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of Education each have their own SWAT teams. [...] When black-helmeted men circle your home, break down your door, throw your children from their sleeping beds onto the dew-ridden lawn, and shoot you 22 times because some meathead mistook your house for a drug dealer's, it's clear government has gone from protecting you from threats to becoming a threat itself.

House Leaders Question $461 Million Training Center.  The Foreign Affairs Security Training Center, years in the making, would consolidate similar training operations in one place.  To be built on 1,500 acres of public land that was home to the Fort Pickett Army National Guard in Blackstone, Va., the security training center will look and feel like a real U.S. embassy surrounded by urban-style streets, buildings, and facades, State Department officials announced in April.  Some 10,000 students per year will practice shooting on firing ranges, driving at high speeds on race tracks, and detecting improvised explosive devices.

The Editor says...
I suspect they're training for house-to-house urban combat against us!

America's expanding police state.  Spying is one thing, but control is, in fact, key.  During the Obama administration, most of us have grown concerned about the massive buy-up of ammunition of various federal agencies.  The U.S. Postal Service, the Department of Agriculture, the Commerce Department and even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, among so many other agencies, have acquired billions of rounds of ammunition.  In an article for Newsmax, Mrs. Chumley spoke with Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, who asked a telling question:  "Why exactly does a weather service need ammunition?

The Federal Octopus.  [Scroll down]  In pre-Obama times, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had a necessary and narrowly defined mission:  to protect individual achievement from improper infringement.  But under Obama it too is now not a disinterested government agency but an arm of the White House, which can be enlisted in the furtherance of a larger social agenda.  Most recently it waded into the controversy over the name of the Washington Redskins by rescinding the football franchise's trademark rights to its name — on the basis, apparently, that the president finds that name hurtful to Native Americans.

Has the Dept. of Homeland Security become America's standing army?  VIPR task forces, comprised of federal air marshals, surface transportation security inspectors, transportation security officers, behavior detection officers and explosive detection canine teams have laid the groundwork for the government's effort to secure so-called "soft" targets such as malls, stadiums, bridges, etc.  Some security experts predict that checkpoints and screening stations will eventually be established at all soft targets, such as department stores, restaurants, and schools.  DHS' Operation Shield, a program which seeks to check up on security protocols around the country with unannounced visits, conducted a surprise security exercise at the Social Security Administration building in Leesburg, Fla., when they subjected people who went to pick up their checks to random ID checks by federal agents armed with semi-automatic weapons.

Panel: Baker must make cakes for gay weddings.  Colorado's Civil Rights Commission on Friday ordered a baker to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, finding his religious objections to the practice did not trump the state's anti-discrimination statutes.

Make Them Bake Cake!.  The Colorado's Civil Rights Commission has ordered a suburban Denver baker named Jack Phillips to make wedding cakes for same-sex couples, finding that his religious objections do not supersede the state's anti-discrimination statutes.  Because if the Constitution should be subordinate to anything it's the local thought police and nuptial pastries.

Inside the Ring: Directive outlines Obama's plan to use the military against citizens.  A 2010 Pentagon directive on military support to civilian authorities details what critics say is a troubling policy that envisions the Obama administration's potential use of military force against Americans.  The directive contains noncontroversial provisions on support to civilian fire and emergency services, special events and the domestic use of the Army Corps of Engineers.  The troubling aspect of the directive outlines presidential authority for the use of military arms and forces, including unarmed drones, in operations against domestic unrest.  "This appears to be the latest step in the administration's decision to use force within the United States against its citizens," said a defense official opposed to the directive.

Police Militarization, Abuses of Power, and the Road to Impeachment.  Never in the history of this country have we been so weakened and polarized by what many view as deliberate government policy. Now anti-gunners in the U.S. Congress, the Obama administration, and legislatures across the country are seeking to exploit the Newtown tragedy to promote their "gun control" agenda that envisions federal, universal background checks on gun purchases, and that could lead to gun registration and confiscation.  At the same time, the increasing militarization of law enforcement, most visibly demonstrated by the growing use of massive, SWAT-type raids on businesses and individuals, sometimes with federal involvement or authorization, is heightening concerns that this country is moving toward a police state.

What's behind the national ammo shortage?  It's a question many hunters and gun enthusiasts across the country have been asking for months:  Where's the ammo?  Subsistence hunters in Alaska usually spend this time of year preparing for the return of seals and migratory birds to the Bering Straits region.  But this year many are preoccupied by the state-wide shortage of .22-caliber shells, one of the most popular and common types of ammunition in the world.

ObamaCare vs. religion: Why Media Research Center has filed suit against the government.  In its attempt to broaden the notion of a "right to health care," the Obama administration has shrunk our rights to practice our religion.  In requiring employers to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives, the government has trampled on people who believe artificial contraception to be wrong as a matter of morality and ethics.  The Media Research Center has filed a lawsuit against the federal government, challenging the HHS mandate.  This lawsuit is about religious freedom and the conscience rights of individuals to operate their enterprises free from government coercion, reprisal, or punishment.

When baloney inspections go bad, you've got to be prepared!
Dept of Agriculture Orders Submachine Guns with 30 Round Magazines.  A May 7th solicitation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture seeks "the commercial acquisition of submachine guns [in] .40 Cal. S&W."  According to the solicitation, the Dept. of Agriculture wants the guns to have an "ambidextrous safety, semiautomatic or 2 round [bursts] trigger group, Tritium night sights front and rear, rails for attachment of flashlight (front under fore group) and scope (top rear), stock collapsible or folding," and a "30 rd. capacity" magazine.

The Fine Print Everyone is Missing on the New USDA Ballistic Vests Order...  The 6 pouch and tactical vest requirement description on this USDA quote confirm that these are ASSAULT vests.  They're what troops wear in an attack evolution.  This is a full military-styled kit, not designed for typical defensive security work.

Update:
DOJ to Release Federal Weapon Count for First Time in 6 Years.  For the first time in six years, the Justice Department is taking inventory of the guns owned by the various federal agencies and will report that number, as well as the number of agents who "carry guns and have the authority to make arrests."  According to The Hill, this move is in response to "conservative and libertarian complaints about an excessively gun-happy government."  This announcement comes less than two weeks after a Breitbart News report about the Department of Agriculture's (USDA) order of submachine guns with 30-round magazines.

How am I to know what's "technically secret?"
Obama Policy Bans Employee Use of Leaked Material.  The Obama administration is clamping down on a technique that government officials have long used to join in public discussions of well-known but technically still-secret information:  citing news reports based on unauthorized disclosures.  A new pre-publication review policy for the Office of Director of National Intelligence says the agency's current and former employees and contractors may not cite news reports based on leaks in their speeches, opinion articles, books, term papers or other unofficial writings.

First Amendment's worst enemies are in nation's capital.  [Scroll down]  The Washington Examiner's Paul Bedard reported Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee Goodman's warning that "there are impulses in the government every day to second-guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers."  There have already been several proposals before the FEC to regulate conservative media outlets, Goodman said.  The proposals were defeated, but only because the FEC is evenly split between Republicans and Democrats.  The Democrats voted for the proposals.

FEC chairman warns agency's desire to regulate media 'alive and well'.  The chairman of the Federal Election Commission warned Wednesday that officials at the agency want to start regulating the media, despite a longstanding congressional ban on doing so.  "The impulse to regulate the media within the FEC is alive and well," Chairman Lee E. Goodman told FoxNews.com in an interview.  Goodman pointed to several recent decisions and developments that stoke concerns about the commission — which is supposed to regulate money in federal elections — sticking its nose in the affairs of the press.

FEC chair warns that conservative media like Drudge Report and Sean Hannity face regulation — like PACs.  Government officials, reacting to the growing voice of conservative news outlets, especially on the internet, are angling to curtail the media's exemption from federal election laws governing political organizations, a potentially chilling intervention that the chairman of the Federal Election Commission is vowing to fight.  "I think that there are impulses in the government every day to second guess and look into the editorial decisions of conservative publishers," warned Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee E. Goodman in an interview.  "The right has begun to break the left's media monopoly, particularly through new media outlets like the internet, and I sense that some on the left are starting to rethink the breadth of the media exemption and internet communications," he added.

FEC Chairman Warns Conservative Media Could Be Regulated Like PACs.  As conservative media grows, the head of the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) is warning that he thinks liberals will look for ways to regulate conservative news outlets just like they do political PACs.  Federal Election Commission Chairman Lee E. Goodman is vowing to fight back against such regulations by putting a stop to efforts to undermine the media's exemptions from federal election laws.

FEC chair warns that conservative media like Drudge Report and Sean Hannity face regulation — like PACs.  Government officials, reacting to the growing voice of conservative news outlets, especially on the internet, are angling to curtail the media's exemption from federal election laws governing political organizations, a potentially chilling intervention that the chairman of the Federal Election Commission is vowing to fight.

Virginia proposal would limit size of gatherings at private homes.  A plan to ban "frequent and large gatherings at neighborhood homes" is a lawsuit waiting to happen, a Fairfax County supervisor predicts.  Officials will get an idea Wednesday when public-comment hearings begin in Virginia's most populous county.  "I believe the county is risking a lawsuit and/or a Constitution challenge by interfering with peoples' right to assemble," Supervisor Pat Herrity said in a statement.

Can Your County Shut Down Home Bible Studies? Mine Is.  I never imagined when I agreed to host a Bible study in my home that such an action may one day be a violation of law.  Yet that's exactly what my very own Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is prepared to do right here in Virginia.

Federal Regulators Could Be Empowered To Enter Your Property To Inspect Your Cars.  President Barack Obama's $302 billion transportation bill gives federal regulators the power to enter the premises of car dealerships to determine if their vehicles are in compliance with federal fuel-economy mandates.  The Department of Transportation (DOT) could see its vehicle inspection authority expanded if Congress passes Obama's Grow America Act.  Currently, DOT officials are only allowed to inspect records and information from companies that must comply with federal fuel economy standards.  But Obama's bill would allow federal bureaucrats to enter the premises of car dealerships to physically inspect to see if vehicles are in compliance with federal fuel economy standards.

Calif. moves to ban judges affiliated with Boy Scouts.  California is proposing to ban members of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) from serving as judges because the Boy Scouts do not allow gay troop leaders, The Daily Caller has learned.  In a move with major legal implications, The California Supreme Court Advisory Committee on The Code of Judicial Ethics has proposed to classify the Boy Scouts as practicing "invidious discrimination" against gays, which would end the group's exemption to anti-discriminatory ethics rules and would prohibit judges from being affiliated with the group.

The United States of SWAT?  Regardless of how people feel about Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy's standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management over his cattle's grazing rights, a lot of Americans were surprised to see TV images of an armed-to-the-teeth paramilitary wing of the BLM deployed around Bundy's ranch.  They shouldn't have been.  Dozens of federal agencies now have Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams to further an expanding definition of their missions.  It's not controversial that the Secret Service and the Bureau of Prisons have them.  But what about the Department of Agriculture, the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?  All of these have their own SWAT units and are part of a worrying trend towards the militarization of federal agencies — not to mention local police forces.

37% of Voters Fear the Federal Government.  Thirty-seven percent (37%) of Likely U.S. Voters now fear the federal government, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.  Forty-seven percent (47%) do not, but another 17% are not sure.  Perhaps in part that's because 54% consider the federal government today a threat to individual liberty rather than a protector.

Governor Sandoval: Send in the Guard.  The fact that this situation could have been pulled from the script of the 1974 movie Chinatown or any of the Godfather movies is well known and must be exposed, but not before immediate action is taken to assure the preservation of life and liberty.  The current critical nature of the crisis cannot be understated.  In alleged response to a 20-year-old battle over "illegal cattle grazing," along with a more recent claim related to ostensibly protecting the allegedly endangered desert tortoise, the federal Bureau of Land Management has been dispatched to the Bundy ranch.  Do not be fooled by the innocuous sounding name of this federal agency, however, as the deployment now consists of some 200 heavily armed federal troops, transported by military troop carriers and equipped with sniper rifles and other military armaments.  It is an army by any other name.

More about the Bundy Ranch and the Nevada Bureau of Land Management.

What Does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Need with 96 Armed Agents?  The proliferation of federal agencies with armed agents is one of the most worrisome aspects of the growth in government.  Just last summer the EPA carried out an armed raid on a mine in Alaska to enforce the Clean Water Act — a bit of government intimidation that residents say was totally unnecessary. [...] And who can forget the Gibson Guitar raid by armed agents of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  The EPA, the USFWS ...the Department of Education?  It's getting ridiculous — and frightening.

Fox News Special Report: Enemies of the State.  Fox News aired a special, Saturday night [4/5/2014] called "Enemies of the State" which focused on everyday Americans who somehow found themselves in the crosshairs of their own government.  Fox News reporter John Roberts talked to Wayne Hage, a rancher battling the Bureau of Land Management over his cattle farm.  Roberts pointed out that in one 105 day grazing season, the family was visited by government employees 70 times and received an additional 40 certified letters containing various citations and notices.

Suit Against SAFE Act Claims it Allows 'Warrantless' Police Searches.  The registry process of New York's SAFE Act allows for warrantless police searches into gun owners' homes, a violation of the Fourth Amendment, according to plaintiffs of a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court Eastern District.  The law firm representing plaintiff Gabriel Razzano argues the registry process is "essentially secret and results in a mandatory, warrantless Penal Law 400 gun removal visit from police."  "The entire purpose of the registry is a sham to permit intrusions into a person's home on consent without a warrant for a 'gun removal,'" La Reddola, Lester and Associates said in a release.  "The entire registry and database seek to justify warrantless police searches, which my client and I now believe to be the real purpose of the SAFE Act."

NLRB Wants to Stop Businesses From Moving.  Richard Griffin, the new general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, wants to give unions a veto over a unionized employer's decision to relocate.  If Griffin has his way, and he most assuredly will, some unionized businesses will be pinned in place at the discretion of their unions.  The change Griffin is contemplating is unnecessary and inconsistent with both the law and the dynamics of our free-enterprise system.  It will upset the balance mandated by the Supreme Court and should send a chill up the spine of unionized companies contemplating relocating an operation.

Insanity: NLRB Wants Power To Prevent Businesses From Relocating.  In the Leftist dream world, Big Labor would have the most financial influence in politics and be in complete control of the companies they plague (and will eventually bankrupt).  These aren't the unions of old, which genuinely protected the rights of workers.  These are power-hungry madmen who don't [care] about any rights other than theirs to power.

Limbaugh is right about Obama's war on suburbs.  [Scroll down]  Under the regulation, in October the Obama administration will be empowered to condition eligibility for community development block grants on redrawing zoning maps to create evenly distributed neighborhoods based on racial composition and income.  In 2012, HUD dispersed about $3.8 billion of these grants to almost 1,200 municipalities.  And, apparently, if the National Council of La Raza is to be believed, the new rule will help millions of illegal immigrants resettle in communities across the U.S.

Progressivism Unbound at HUD.  [Scroll down]  Why the push to move into traditionally white communities?  It's about power, not what's best for minorities.  President Obama and Shaun Donovan have an ambitious plan to integrate Afro-Americans and other minorities into traditionally white middle and upper-class communities.  HUD is forcing Westchester, N.Y. and affluent areas in Los Angeles and across the country to integrate. [...] HUD calls it de facto segregation.  Not enough blacks and Hispanics live on every block and neighborhood within the county.

The Editor says...
Moving minorities into white neighborhoods is a roundabout means of gerrymandering.

Update:
Obama's Assault on Suburbs Stymied.  Earlier today [6/10/2014] the House of Representatives approved an amendment offered by Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar prohibiting the Department of Housing and Urban Development from implementing President Obama's rule on "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing" (AFFH).  This is an important setback for Obama's plans to transform the way Americans live.  The Obama administration has consistently downplayed its "regionalist" policies, delaying the release of successive versions of AFFH until after the 2012 and 2014 elections.  Obama understands how politically unpopular these policies would be if widely known.

Shock verdict — Mark Witaschek guilty of possessing muzzleloader bullets in D.C.  In a surprising twist at the end of a long trial, a District of Columbia judge found Mark Witaschek guilty of "attempted possession of unlawful ammunition" for antique replica muzzleloader bullets.  Judge Robert Morin sentenced Mr. Witaschek to time served, a $50 fine and required him to enroll with the Metropolitan Police Department's firearm offenders' registry within 48 hours.

Witaschek surrenders to D.C. police 'Gun Offenders Registry'.  Mark Witaschek never had a firearm in the District of Columbia, but he is now on the city's Gun Offenders Registry.  This bizarre case has drawn national attention because an upstanding citizen was tried and convicted of possessing unregistered ammunition for muzzleloader bullets, which are simply pieces of lead and copper.

Supreme Court says regulatory law means whatever EPA says it means, today.  On Monday, the [U.S. Supreme] Court declined to accept an appeal from Arch Coal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's reversal of its 2007 issuance of a 2011 Clean Water Act permit for the company's Spruce Mine operation in West Virginia.  By refusing to hear the appeal, the court upheld EPA's authority to change its mind on a regulatory permit decision, even though doing so inflicts substantial financial and other losses on appellants.  The court's denial also creates a damaging new regulatory uncertainty because it casts potential doubt on the legitimacy on any federal permitting decision, not just those by EPA under the Clean Water Act.

Replica bullets, dud shell earn weapons conviction for former Washington man.  Replica bullets and a dud shotgun shell got a man convicted of weapons charges in the nation's capital, in a case gun rights activists say shows how overzealous authorities are trampling the Second Amendment.  On Friday, just two days after his conviction of attempted possession of unlawful ammunition, Mark Witaschek went to a Washington, D.C., police station to register in the city's Gun Offenders Registry.  The act was part of a sentence meted out after Witaschek lost his two-year legal battle that began when police searched his home and found an inert shotgun shell, a spent shell casing and a box of muzzle-loader bullets.

Political correctness and the slavery of Obamacare.  Some well-known radicals have very publicly written and stated that in order for their idea of a utopian, egalitarian society to emerge in the United States, the government must control health care, which ensures the dependency of the populace on government.  Historical analysis of many countries that have gone this route demonstrates obliteration of the middle class and massive expansion of the poor, dependent class with a relatively small number of elites in control.  This is sobering information, and those who want to fundamentally change America would much rather demonize someone who is exposing this agenda than engage in a conversation that they cannot win.

Ben Carson: America's now 'very much like Nazi Germany'.  Noted conservative speaker and nationally recognized neurosurgeon Ben Carson took his blunt talk about the state of the nation in a direction that deviated from his usual references to God and faith — remarking on America's resemblance to Nazi Germany days.  In a recent public event in New York, Dr. Carson spoke of living "in a Gestapo age," Mediaite reported.  Following, Fox News contributor Mallory Factor asked him to explain.

Wyoming welder faces $75,000 a day in EPA fines for building pond on his property.  All Andy Johnson wanted to do was build a stock pond on his sprawling eight-acre Wyoming farm.  He and his wife Katie spent hours constructing it, filling it with crystal-clear water, and bringing in brook and brown trout, ducks and geese.  It was a place where his horses could drink and graze, and a private playground for his three children.  But instead of enjoying the fruits of his labor, the Wyoming welder says he was harangued by the federal government, stuck in what he calls a petty power play by the Environmental Protection Agency.  He claims the agency is now threatening him with civil and criminal penalties — including the threat of a $75,000-a-day fine.

EPA Wants to Slap $75K a Day Fine on Landowner Who Built Stock Pond on Own Property.  Senators are trying to intervene on behalf of a Wyoming landowner facing $75,000 a day in Environmental Protection Agency fines for building a stock pond on his own property.  The EPA compliance order against Andrew Johnson of Unita County claims that he violated the Clean Water Act by building a dam on a creek without a permit from the Army Corps of Engineers.  Johnson says it was a stock pond, which would make it exempt from CWA permitting requirements.  The EPA is telling him to restore the creek as it was or face penalties.

Feds to Alaskans: No road for humans, lots of land for animals.  In one of Alaska's most remote outposts, where a thousand hardy souls make their homes, the Obama administration has put the fate of birds and bears above the lives of people, blocking construction of an 11-mile gravel trail connecting a tiny fishing hamlet to a life-saving airport.  For more than three decades the predominantly Aleut fishing community of King Cove has been fighting to build a one-lane, gravel track connecting the Cove to the nearby hamlet of Cold Bay.  What they have gotten is 30 years of flat-out federal refusals or stall tactics.

Obama's Trifecta.  In its violations of the First Amendment, the Obama administration has consistently relied upon self-serving definitions of press, religion, and political speech.  Holder justified violating Rosen's press freedom on the grounds that he somehow wasn't acting as a legitimate member of the press.  Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has arrogated to herself the right to determine what is and what is not a "religion."  She claims the HHS mandate doesn't violate religious freedom since groups that serve the public aren't religious according to her criteria.  She declared at the time of the mandate's release that only purely sectarian groups are deemed religious under Obamacare and thus worthy of an exemption.  The Federal Election Commission plays the same game on what constitutes political speech, defining the concept ever more narrowly to justify restrictions on ordinary participation.

DHS Contracted To Purchase 704 Million Rounds of Ammo Over Next 4 Years: 2,500 Rounds Per Officer.  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is contracted to purchase 704,390,250 rounds of ammunition over the next four years, which is equal to a total of about 2,500 rounds per DHS agent per year, according to a January 2014 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report entitled Ammunition Purchases Have Declined Since 2009.  "If DHS were to purchase all 704 million rounds over the next four years, and if they were used by 70,000 DHS agents and officers, it would be roughly 2,500 rounds per agent per year," David Maurer, author of the GAO report, told CNSNews.com.

Pardon My Paranoia.  In a February 5, 2014 article on Infowars.com, Kit Daniels reported that "The U.S. Postal Service is currently seeking companies that can provide "assorted small arms ammunition in the new future.  The U.S. Postal Service joins the long list of non-military federal agencies purchasing large amounts of ammunition."  What has a growing number of Americans concerned is this arming of government agencies we do not associate with the need to be heavily armed.  "Since 2001, the U.S. Department of Education has been building a massive arsenal through purchases orchestrated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms" reported Daniels.  "Back in July, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also purchased 72,000 rounds of [.]40[-caliber] Smith and Wesson, following a 2012 purchase for 46,000 rounds of .40 S&W jacketed hollow point by the National Weather Service."

Despite setback, the FCC's snout is under the tent.  After a week of mockery, derision, and disdain, the Federal Communications Commission has announced that it won't put observers in newsrooms after all.  FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai's op-ed in the Wall Street Journal on Feb. 10 had alerted the public to the dangers of having government representatives querying news bosses about how they decide what stories to cover — and which ones not to cover.  The implicit threat of such heavy-handed research is that the government could be on the verge of announcing that IT will decide what stories are important to cover, just as it has decided what kind of cars you should buy (no "clunkers"!), what kind of health insurance you should have (Obamacare!) and what kind of dust is the right kind (whatever kind the EPA says!).

Mark Levin: Obama Admin Using The Law Against Us Is The Definition Of Tyranny.  The FCC, call it whatever you want, Barack Obama's henchman, Barack Obama's comrades, there, that's right, all over the federal government have hijacked the institutions of government and are now turning them on the people.  Whether it's the EPA, or the Department of Justice, the Interior Department, NOAA, this, that or the other, they're using the government, they are using a law against us.  Which is the definition of tyranny.

Is Obama trying to kill a free press?  The FCC is launching a new study, taking upon itself the task of deciding what news the public "needs" to hear, versus the news the public wants to hear.  The agency will conduct a "General Population Survey" that will "measure community members' actual and perceived critical information needs."  Got that?  What you think (perceive) you need to know is different from what the government says you need to know.  Next, the FCC will send monitors to newsrooms across the country who will ask questions regarding the "philosophy" of the newsroom, inquire about possible conflicts between reporters and their bosses, and even determine how much influence each individual has in deciding what to report.

More about the FCC.

US Army Builds Fake American Town to Practice War on Americans.  In Virginia, the U.S. Army has built an American city, replete with a church, a mosque, an embassy building, a bank and a working subway system, in order to practice assaulting American cities.  Welcome to Obama's America, folks.  The town took six years to complete, is built on a 300-acre plot of government-owned land in Virginia and cost taxpayers $96 million.  It is designed to, "replicate complex operational environments and develop solutions."  The "training" facility was completed and opened in January of this year and is operated by the U.S. Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group.

Government's insane hallucinations.  Once upon a time, people could start businesses in America and run them as they saw fit.  People can no longer do that.  Instead, businesses must conform to insanely expensive one-size-fits-all health insurance requirements imposed by a group of people who have never run a business, never met a payroll and never had to worry about making a profit.

USDA Gave $303,890 in Wool Loans to Couple Who 'Owned No Sheep'.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) gave $303,890 in wool loans to an Iowa couple that "owned no sheep."  Howard "Jack" Aleff and Reena Slominski, of Knoxville, scammed the federal government for six years and were ordered to pay the United States $1,376,670 in a civil judgment announced on Jan. 29.  The married couple filed 132 fraudulent applications for "sheep that were never sheared" to receive loans awarded by the Farm Services Agency intended to encourage wool production.  The program spent $7 million in fiscal year 2012.

Failing Liberals Turn To Oppression To Hold On To Power.  The Federal Communications Commission just floated a trial balloon about going out to radio and television stations to evaluate reporters on how they cover the news.  There was a time when journalists' response to a government inquiry into how they did their job would be "Go to hell, you goose-stepping bureaucratic flunky."  Not anymore.  Now, their response is slavish submission to their progressive governmental dominatrix.  When supposedly independent, iconoclastic liberal journalists let themselves to be dominated by the feds, their safeword is "Hillary."  Liberalism has to muzzle the truth because it operates on lies.  It is built on lies, fueled by lies, and creates an empire of lies.

Man-given rights and government gone wild.  Our formerly constitutional government, in the form of the Federal Communications Commission, has developed a plan to put observers in the nation's newsrooms in order to better understand "the process by which stories are selected."  Of course, they won't just "understand" the process; they will most assuredly and dangerously alter it, merely by the implied threat of their presence in the formerly sacrosanct newsroom.  Just ask anyone who ever worked for a newspaper in Soviet Russia or Hitler's Germany or even Chavez's Venezuela.

The FCC Plan To Police The Newsrooms.  The FCC has cooked up a plan to place "researchers" in U.S. newsrooms, supposedly to learn all about how editorial decisions are made.  Any questions as to why the U.S. is falling in the free press rankings?

DC Man Set for Hearing After Arrest Over Inoperable Shotgun Shell.  A Washington, D.C. man is facing a large fine and possible jail time after he was arrested for having an inoperable shotgun shell in his home.  The shell was a souvenir that Mark Witaschek decided to keep from a hunting trip years earlier.

Another strange Obama admininstration arms purchase.  On July 29, 2013, the Department of the Army in a Combined Synopsis/Solicitation, Solicitation Number W15QKN13T8513, asked the General Services Administration to procure "592,825 (approx) AK Rifle Magazines: 7.62x39mm Caliber, New Production, Steel, 30 Round Capacity".  That many magazines would require 17.8 million rounds just fill each magazine once.  What nation or even what moderate Syrian rebel group needs that kind of firepower?  That request is far beyond what is needed by any nation that issues AK's to its soldiers except Russia and China.  Of course, the US armed forces do not use AK rifles as standard issue.

Obama's Weaponization of Government.  For all the folks — primarily on the left — who screamed and yelled that the Patriot Act was shredding the Constitution, far more intrusive tactics that have nothing to do with the NSA or Homeland Security are being deployed right under our noses during this Administration.  Those tactics reduce every Americans' personal and economic freedom.  There is a dangerous arrogance of power among the President and senior-level Democrats that should concern every American.  Last week a senior United States Senator gave a speech stating that the IRS should be used to target and punish groups that disagree with the Democratic Party's political agenda.

A sorry state of the union — what if Obama believes he answers to no one?  What if the government spies on all of us all of the time and recognizes no limits to its spying?  What if its appetite for acquiring personal knowledge about all Americans is insatiable?  What if the government uses the microchips in our cellphones to follow us and listen to us as we move about?  What if the Constitution expressly prohibits the government from doing this?

TSA Harasses Police Chief.  Traveling by commercial airlines from Albuquerque, NM to Las Vegas, NV, [Police Chief Shane] Harger was asked by TSA to show his credentials.  Minutes later a man flashed a badge claiming to be a federal agent (agency unknown) also demanding to see Harger's credentials.  Harger was told that he was a person of interest, and the federal agent wanted to know where he was going and why.  Bear in mind, no one is required to provide this information under these circumstances.  Harger said that the federal agent told him that the he, the federal agent, was paid to be suspicious of everyone.

Aggressive SWAT Team in Full Body Armor Raids Home, Confiscates ONE Dud Shell Casing, Federal Charges Laid.  At 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, SWAT agents showed up at Mark Witaschek's D.C. home to execute a search warrant for "firearms and ammunition ... gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts."  Witaschek's 14-year-old daughter answered the door and let about 30 officers, who were in full tactical gear, inside.  The officers immediately charged upstairs and demanded that Witaschek and his girlfriend, Bonnie Harris, surrender, face-down.  Both were handcuffed.

More about SWAT teams.

Oregon: Christian Businesses Must Follow Demands of Gay Customers.  The owners of a Christian bakery who refused to make a wedding cake for a lesbian couple are facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines after they were found guilty of violating the couple's civil rights.  The Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries said they found "substantial evidence" that Sweet Cakes by Melissa discriminated against the lesbian couple and violated the Oregon Equality Act of 2007, a law that protects the rights of the LGBT community.

Supreme Court Will Review Ohio Law Criminalizing 'Lies' About Politicians.  The U.S. Supreme Court announced on January 10th that it will consider a First Amendment challenge to an Ohio law that makes it a crime to "lie" about political candidates, which a pro-life PAC says was used to censor its political speech during the 2010 mid-term congressional election.

Pennsylvania town's $1,000-a-day fine is for the birds, residents say.  A retired Pennsylvania couple is facing a $1,000-a-day fine for feeding birds at their Bethlehem Township home, The Morning Call reported.  The couple has been feeding the birds for 25 years at their home, which is north of Philadelphia, but their bird feeder has been deemed out of compliance with town code.

EPA Decree Shrinks Size of Wyoming by a Million Acres.  Why is the EPA altering state boundaries in Wyoming — and reversing over 100 years of established law?  Well, apparently the city of Riverton now falls under the jurisdiction of the Wind River Indian Reservation.  This, obviously, isn't sitting well with the governor's office — which is urging the EPA to reconsider its ruling and respect the rule of law. [...] "This should be a concern to all citizens because, if the EPA can unilaterally take land away from a state, where will it stop?" Governor Matt Mead said in a press release on January 6.

Court Rules No Suspicion Needed for Laptop Searches at Border.  A federal court today [12/31/2013] dismissed a lawsuit arguing that the government should not be able to search and copy people's laptops, cell phones, and other devices at border checkpoints without reasonable suspicion.  An appeal is being considered.  Government documents show that thousands of innocent American citizens are searched when they return from trips abroad.

Interior border guard checks spur ACLU complaint.  Border Patrol agents routinely violate the constitutional rights of southern Arizona residents when they stop drivers at interior checkpoints on major highways and state routes near the border, according to an official complaint filed Wednesday [1/15/2014].  The complaint sent to Homeland Security's Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties alleges that checkpoint agents conduct searches and detain people without justification and use immigration enforcement as a pretext for "fishing expeditions" for potential criminal activity.

The Real Purpose of Oakland's Surveillance Center.  City leaders have argued that Oakland needs a massive surveillance system to combat violent crime, but internal documents reveal that city staffers are also focused on tracking political protesters.

DOE Plugs Energy Rating For Homes Similar To MPG Rating For Cars.  The Energy Department on Tuesday [1/14/2014] is rolling out new, improved software to help Americans measure the energy efficiency of their homes.  DOE says its energy-scoring software — called the Home Energy Scoring Tool — is like a vehicle's mile-per-gallon rating because it allows homeowners to compare the energy performance of their homes to other homes nationwide.  It also provides homeowners with suggestions for improving their homes' efficiency.

The Editor says...
First of all, it's never a good idea to compare your house to someone else's house.  It only leads to pride and arrogance, or jealousy and envy.  All that aside, this is apparently the government's way of being "helpful" to home buyers that are too stupid to ask the right questions when shopping for a house.  It sounds harmless enough, but that's the way automobile gas mileage ratings got started, and now fuel efficiency standards are mandatory — and constantly tightening.

Does the Constitution Force Bakers to Bake?  Several recent court cases have resulted in small business owners, who create the wares and services that they sell, being ordered by a judge to sell their custom-made products (e.g., wedding cakes and floral arrangements) or services (e.g., wedding photography) to gay couples despite the small business owners' refusal to do so based on their religious principles.

Free Exercise Thereof.  We are in a post-republic America.  There is no rule of law, there is only a rule of judges.  Legislation is equal to a dictate from the king.  That we elect the barons and the lords to rule over us does not lessen tyranny, but it makes us feel better; it gives us faith in the "system" and that is all the government really needs.  Through several supreme court decisions, largely where they have ruled on Obamacare, the message as been sent:  Whatever the government chooses to do is within its power. [...] The laws against privacy and guns are passed by legislators.  The laws against religion are passed by judges.

Labor Department tells Arkansas businesswoman she can't have volunteers.  Ladies and gentlemen, be careful who you volunteer for — you could be doing them a lot more harm than good.  The federal government sometimes takes dim view of such generosity.  Just ask Rhea Lana Riner.  She owns a small Arkansas-based business that organizes consignment sales.  Since August, the Labor Department has been threatening her with stiff financial penalties, saying her business practices are illegal.  It has even been contacting donors to her events and encouraging them to instigate legal action against her.

EPA overrides Congress, hands over town to Indian tribes.  Have you heard the story of the residents of Riverton, Wyo.? One day they were Wyomingans, the next they were members of the Wind River tribes — after the Environmental Protection Agency declared the town part of the Wind River Indian Reservation, undoing a 1905 law passed by Congress and angering state officials.  The surprise decision was made by officials of the EPA, the Department of Interior, and Department of Justice early last month, and has invoked the ire of Gov. Matt Mead, who has vowed not to honor the agency's decision and is preparing to fight in court.

Obama Regime Issued Record 3,659 Economy-Crushing Regulations In 2013.  And they've picked up where they left off, issuing 141 new regs during the first three days of 2014.

Portion control — how the government plans to dictate what's on your dinner table in 2014.  Would you rather sip on unpasteurized milk or a cold glass of soda? Do you prefer Saturday lunch at a fast food joint or a farmers market?  Regardless of your choices, your food freedom — your right to grow, raise, produce, buy, sell, share, cook, eat, and drink the foods you want — is under attack.

Former NSA Head: Americans Have No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy.  Former NSA Director Michael Hayden says that collecting billions of phone records in no way violates the Fourth Amendment and that Americans should have no reasonable expectation of privacy.  Major Garrett was guest-hosting CBS's Face the Nation Sunday discussing Judge Richard Leon's recent ruling that collection of telephony metadata is unconstitutional.  For Hayden, though, it is "inherently constitutional."  Still, he said, our history "demands that we be alarmed."

Team Obama Refuses To Allow Small, Critical Road Through Wildlife Refuge.  I'm all for wildlife refuges, protecting the majesty and beauty of nature.  One road won't hurt.

Local courts reviving 'debtors' prison' for overdue fines, fees.  As if out of a Charles Dickens novel, people struggling to pay overdue fines and fees associated with court costs for even the simplest traffic infractions are being thrown in jail across the United States.  Critics are calling the practice the new "debtors' prison" — referring to the jails that flourished in the U.S. and Western Europe over 150 years ago.  Before the time of bankruptcy laws and social safety nets, poor folks and ruined business owners were locked up until their debts were paid off.

Now Hear This: Big Brother Wants to Talk to You. Right Now!.  Apparently, the world has become so dangerous — and Americans, to put it bluntly, so stupid — that the federal government has concluded that it is vital that the president or other "authenticated public safety officials" be able to tell you what to do right now.  Kind of like the loudspeakers the North Korean government has wired into every home.  Only wireless, too.

Also posted under Liberals think you're stupid.

Red flags raised after local drivers asked for DNA samples at police checkpoint.  Drivers in St. Charles County were asked to take part in a government survey that involved the odd request of blood and saliva samples.  One driver who emailed News 4 said a deputy and others dressed in safety vests directed drivers to take part and answer questions about alcohol and driving.  The study is being conducted by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration and is supposed to be voluntary.  Constitutional Law attorney Bob Herman said the study does raise some red flags.

Judge Orders Colo. Cake-Maker to Serve Gay Couples.  A baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex ceremony must serve gay couples despite his religious beliefs or face fines, a judge said Friday [12/6/2013].

Washington Times sues Homeland over seizure of reporter's notes.  The Washington Times and one of its former journalists on Thursday [11/21/2013] sued the Department of Homeland Security, accusing federal agents of illegally seizing the newspaper's reporting materials during the execution of a search warrant in an unrelated case.  In a motion filed in federal court in Greenbelt, The Times and reporter Audrey Hudson asked a judge to force the federal agency to return all reporting files and documents it seized from Ms. Hudson's home office during a raid in early August.

Photographer sued for refusing to take pictures at lesbian couple's ceremony goes to the Supreme Court.  A photographer sued by a lesbian couple after she refused to take pictures at their commitment ceremony is taking her fight for religious freedom to the Supreme Court.  Elaine Huguenin, who runs a photography business in Albuquerque, New Mexico, refused to take the snaps for the happy day of Vanessa Willock and Misti Collinsworth in 2006.  The women then filed a discrimination lawsuit again Ms Huguenin.  New Mexico law prohibits businesses from discriminating against people based on their sexuality.

Harry Reid's Nuclear Hypocrisy.  On Monday [11/18/2013], for the third time in less than a month, Senate Republicans filibustered an Obama nominee to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  That's the court that's checked the president more than once, as when it said he couldn't make "recess appointments" when the Senate wasn't in recess.  So in a Tuesday closed-door lunch, Reid moved closer to ending the practice, [...]

52 Democrats Change Two-Century-Old Senate Rule: Abolish Filibuster of Nominees.  Sweeping aside a century of precedent, Democrats took a chunk out of the Senate's hallowed filibuster tradition on Thursday [11/21/2013] and cleared the way for speedy confirmation of controversial appointments made by President Barack Obama and chief executives in the future.

Our Kids: Victims of the Rough Grasp of the State.  Wake up, Mom and Dad:  your government has its paws all over your children during school hours — always figuratively, and too often literally.  If parents are taken out of the education equation completely, something will fill the vacuum.  And that something is bound to be the police state.

War on the Little Guy.  Marty the Magician performed magic tricks for kids, including the traditional rabbit-out-of-a-hat.  Then one day:  "I was signing autographs and taking pictures with children and their parents," he told me.  "Suddenly, a badge was thrown into the mix, and an inspector said, 'Let me see your license.'" [...] Marty's torment didn't end with a demand for his license.  "She said, from now on, you cannot use your rabbit until you fill out paperwork, pay the $40 license fee.  We'll have to inspect your home."  Ten times since, regulators showed up unannounced at Marty's house.

Big Government is a Clear & Present Danger to our Liberty.  Congressman Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) has been a steadfast supporter and ally within Congress of the Tea Party movement.  Unlike many of his Republican counterparts who attempt to distance themselves from the Tea Party brand, many who actually attack it, Huelskamp embraces it.

Will Government Be Able to Remotely Control Your Car?  In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published its "Preliminary Statement of Policy Concerning Automated Vehicles."  It pointed to a "continuum" of automobile development that "runs from vehicles with no active control systems all the way to full automation and self-driving." [...] But, if the driver does not control the vehicle, who does?

Wisconsin Political Speech Raid.  Americans learned in the IRS political targeting scandal that government enforcement power can be used to stifle political speech.  Something similar may be unfolding in Wisconsin, where a special prosecutor is targeting conservative groups that participated in the battle over Governor Scott Walker's union reforms.  In recent weeks, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz has hit dozens of conservative groups with subpoenas demanding documents related to the 2011 and 2012 campaigns to recall Governor Walker and state legislative leaders.

Political terrorism in Wisconsin: The American Police state begins.  Cops are bursting into homes, seizing computers and other "evidence" while groups are being hit with subpoenas that require them to turn over voluminous and sensitive information — including the names of political donors. [...] In Wisconsin, special prosecutor Francis Schmitz is going after conservative groups that were involved in the fight over the recall of Governor Scott Walker and Walker's union reforms.  Subpoenas are requesting "all records of income received, including fundraising information and the identity of persons contributing to the corporation."  They are seeking lists of conservative donors.

America's descent from rule of law to jungle law via Obamacare.  The Obamacare debacle and the president's attempts to fix it have created yet another notable episode in our political history.  This one will long live in infamy.  The federal government has been directed by President Obama to ignore the Constitution, to which the president and members of Congress have sworn an oath.  Obama has unilaterally delayed implementation of the provisions of Obamacare that have shattered his frequently repeated "If you like your insurance, you can keep it" promise.  The one-year delay is not really the issue here.  The more fundamental issue is that American Citizens have meekly and timidly accepted a blasphemy against our constitutional freedoms.

Americans' personal data shared with CIA, IRS, others in security probe.  U.S. agencies collected and shared the personal information of thousands of Americans in an attempt to root out untrustworthy federal workers that ended up scrutinizing people who had no direct ties to the U.S. government and simply had purchased certain books.  Federal officials gathered the information from the customer records of two men who were under criminal investigation for purportedly teaching people how to pass lie detector tests.  The officials then distributed a list of 4,904 people — along with many of their Social Security numbers, addresses and professions — to nearly 30 federal agencies, including the Internal Revenue Service, the CIA, the National Security Agency and the Food and Drug Administration.

MA Politician Wants Unannounced Home Searches by Police to Enforce Gun Law.  Swampscott, Massachusetts Selectman Barry Greenfield is pushing a measure to give police the authority to conduct home searches to check proper storage of firearms.  Greenfield said "state law requires Massachusetts gun owners to keep their firearms locked away or rendered inoperable."  There are "600 registered gun owners in [Swampscott]," and the selectman wants police to be able to drop in unannounced, enter the homes of each gun owner, and verify compliance.

The Editor says...
The 4th Amendment very clearly prohibits blanket searches of every house in town, looking for guns, drugs, cash, or whatever the cops can find.  If an idea like this were to be met with no resistance, those unannounced searches would become a daily routine, and the 4th Amendment would be an archaic technicality.  Even the mere proposal of such a law (by the state of Massachusetts) is what one would expect to see only in Cuba, North Korea or East Germany.

Minneapolis School Bus Driver Fired for Praying With Students.  A Minneapolis school bus driver was fired from his job after someone complained about his practice of praying with students on his route.  The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported that George Nathaniel, who is also a Minneapolis area pastor, was in his second year of service with Durham School Services, the bus company under contract with the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage district.  After receiving a previous complaint about Nathaniel's prayers with students, the company gave him a warning and assigned him a new route.

Seattle [is the] Latest City to Install DHS Surveillance Equipment.  Add Seattle to the list of local governments taking money from the Department of Homeland Security to put their citizens under federal surveillance. [...] Perhaps wiring the city with high-tech, federally funded surveillance equipment is what Seattle mayor meant when he described the city's budget as "a moral document.  It puts resources behind our vision of the city we want to see."  Apparently, part of those resources are coming from the federal government and they are earmarked for use to putting the city under the vision of the Department of Homeland Security.

Senior Navy civilians investigated in alleged scheme to defraud military for $1.6 million.  Federal authorities are investigating three senior Navy intelligence officials as part of a probe into an alleged contracting scheme that charged the military $1.6 million for homemade firearm silencers that cost only $8,000 to manufacture, court records show.  The three civilian officials, who oversee highly classified programs, arranged for a hot-rod auto mechanic in California to build a specially ordered batch of unmarked and untraceable rifle silencers and sell them to the Navy at more than 200 times what they cost to manufacture, according to court documents filed by federal prosecutors.  The purpose of the silencers remains a mystery.

The Editor says...
I can see why the Mafia might need such a product, but why is the Navy ordering "unmarked and untraceable rifle silencers"?

Lawsuit: Chaplains Banned From Saying "Jesus".  Two Baptist chaplains said they were forced out of a Veterans Affairs chaplain training program after they refused orders to stop quoting the Bible and to stop praying in the name of Jesus.  When the men objected to those demands they were subjected to ridicule and harassment that led to one of the chaplains leaving the program and the other being ejected, according to a federal lawsuit filed Friday [11/8/2013].

The Editor says...
Are there similar restrictions against Islamic, Hindu, Wiccan, or earth-worshiping eco-fruitcake prayers?  What if one of the chaplains prays directly to Barack H. Obama?  Would there be a reprimand or a promotion?

The unspoken success of ObamaCare.  Despite what you are being told, the Affordable Health Care Act (ACA), commonly known as ObamaCare, is already proving to be a resounding success. [...] First, it is vital to understand that the ACA is not now, nor never was, about providing affordable health care.  It is merely disguised as such.  Rather, it is the vehicle that is being covertly used to conduct the most massive transfer of power to the Executive Branch of government that this nation has ever experienced.  It is being done methodically and for a specific purpose.  It is the vehicle that will ultimately disassemble and destroy significant parts of the United States Constitution and further enslave United States citizens.

Now is the time to support Jana Winter.  [Scroll down]  While Ms. Winter's report was a world class scoop, defense attorneys complained that her law enforcement sources had denied Holmes a fair trial by violating the judge's gag order and leaking her potentially incriminating information.  After 14 law enforcement officials denied having been her source, the Colorado judge in the case ordered her to turn over her notes and testify about who gave her the information.  The court also demanded that New York enforce its certificate, then subpoena Ms. Winter and require her to return to Colorado on January 3, 2014 and testify about her sources, which she has refused to do.

Update:
New York's top court rules Fox reporter cannot be forced to reveal sources in Colorado.  New York's top court today [12/10/2013] spared FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter from jail for refusing to reveal confidential sources for a bombshell story following the Aurora movie massacre.  In a 4-3 ruling based on New York's shield law, the state Court of Appeals reversed a lower court's decision that could have resulted in Winter being forced to appear in the Colorado murder trial of James Holmes.

Court Rules Fox's Jana Winter Doesn't Have to Reveal Sources in James Holmes Case.  On Tuesday morning, New York's top court ruled that FoxNews.com reporter Jana Winter cannot be forced by a Colorado court to reveal her sources regarding a major story about the Aurora movie theater shooter.  Voting 4-3 in favor of Winter, the New York State Court of Appeals reversed a lower court order and effectively prevented Winter from having to be subpoenaed by the Colorado court.

The tyranny of bureaucracy.  [Scroll down]  Do not millions of people owe their allegiance to the government for the privilege of receiving food stamps, unemployment insurance, welfare, business or individual tax credits, college loans, agricultural subsidies, and now even health insurance?  Is there any branch or even twig of life through which the sap of federal subsidies does not run?  No wonder the Tea Party, with its insistence on turning off the federal spigot, is being painted by progressives as a danger to the national well-being.  The national well-being, after all, is a state of stuporific addiction to entitlements and congressionally approved benefits spooned out by thousands of federal bureaus and agencies that prove their worth by keeping the populace in what de Tocqueville called "perpetual childhood."

The Progressive Degradation of Freedom.  Socialized medicine teaches that you must not value your life above that of other men.  Not only should no doctor care about your personal survival, but you yourself should stop thinking your survival is any kind of priority.  You should wait your turn in the only line in town, and be grateful if you do eventually get what you need from central command.  After all, what choice do you have?

The Drift toward Despotism.  [Scroll down]  But one notes that the Supreme Court has dramatically circumscribed Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure when it occurs at America's border, and post-9/11 the "border" has been redefined to mean anywhere within 100 miles of the actual frontier.  Many European countries are not 100 miles wide in their entirety.  A hundred-mile buffer zone from Belgium's northern border, for example, would be well south of the southern border and deep into France.

Fox Reporter Faces Jail Time for Protecting Sources.  In July 2012, Fox reporter Jana Winter reported that James Holmes, the shooter in the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre who murdered 12 people during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises, had sent a University of Colorado psychiatrist a notebook "full of details about how he was going to kill people."  The notebook had pictures of a stick-figure shooting other stick figures.  She got the information, she reported, from "law enforcement sources."  Now, Winter may lose her journalistic freedom.

Our Cash For Obama's Clunkers.  [Scroll down]  Seventy years in advance, [Henry] Hazlitt gave us the job descriptions of Health & Human Services head Katherine Sebelius, Obama's former Energy Secretary Steven Chu, and his master of deception Jay Carney.  If all that is not enough to upset your wallet, despite the dismal failures of their efforts, keep in mind that no matter how bad the results, no one gets dismissed from the Obama administration. [...] That's right, you can waste over $600 million on a website, spend more than Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn combined, have it fail and keep your job.  That's good enough for government work.

Dissent must be crushed — just like in East Germany.
Feds Threaten to Prosecute Merchant for Selling 'Department of Homeland Stupidity' Coffee Mugs.  The Department of Justice, on behalf of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has threatened to criminally prosecute a novelty store owner for selling mugs and t-shirts that say, among other things, "Department of Homeland Stupidity" and "The NSA: The only part of government that actually listens." [...] The NSA and DHS sent "cease and desist" letters to Zazzle stating that the parody products violate statutes that protect their official seals from misuse.

Commentary on the incident described above:
Troubling sign of incipient national security tyranny.  Now that we know the National Security Agency is collecting every telephone call and email we make, and that the Department of Homeland Security is free to grope us and inspect our nude images when flying, we have every reason to fear abuse.  Knowing that the potential abusers will not be mocked is seriously scary.

FCC to police news media, question reporters in wide-ranging content survey.  The Federal Communications Commission is planning a broad probe of political speech across media platforms, an unprecedented move that raises serious First Amendment concerns.  The FCC's proposed "Multi-Market Study of Critical Information Needs," which is set to begin a field test in a single market with an eye toward a comprehensive study in 2014, would collect a remarkably wide range of information on demographics, point of view, news topic selection, management style and other factors in news organizations both in and out of the FCC's traditional purview.  The airwaves regulator would also subject news producers in all media to invasive questioning about their work and content.

Is Obama a Dupe or a Totalitarian, Megalomaniacal Liar?  [Scroll down]  In the progressive era 100 years ago, that presidential attitude brought us the Federal Reserve, the federal income tax, Prohibition, World War I, prosecutions for speech critical of the government and the beginnings of official modern government racial segregation.  That same attitude in our era has brought us the Patriot Act, which allows federal agents to write their own search warrants, government borrowing that knows no end — including the $2 trillion Bush borrowed for the war in Iraq, a country which is now less stable than before Bush invaded, and the $7 trillion Obama borrowed to redistribute — and an NSA that monitors all Americans all the time.

More hot water for Sebelius and the ObamaCare crew.  One of the reasons that allowing Sebelius to keep her job is ridiculous is that under ObamaCare, the HHS Secretary becomes the single most powerful bureaucrat on the planet.  The Affordable Care Act's huge stack of regulations include hundreds of matters left to the discretion of the Secretary.  Another example is the hangman's noose of regulations that have been strangling so many insurance plans over the past few weeks.

Federal agents' pre-dawn raid on reporter's home raises questions.  Audrey Hudson's husband had just left for work on August 6 when suddenly, her dog began barking.  The nationally-known journalist walked over to the curtains and peeked outside to discover her Chesapeake Bay home was surrounded by law enforcement officers wearing full body armor.  The phone rang.  It was her husband.  "I'm in the driveway," he said.  "The police are here.  Open the door."  And so began Hudson's nightmare — held captive by armed agents of the U.S. Coast Guard, Maryland State Police and the Department of Homeland Security as they staged a pre-dawn raid in search of unregistered firearms and a "potato gun."

Exclusive: Feds confiscate investigative reporter's confidential files during raid.  A veteran Washington D.C. investigative journalist says the Department of Homeland Security confiscated a stack of her confidential files during a raid of her home in August — leading her to fear that a number of her sources inside the federal government have now been exposed.

Silencing dissent by SWATing messengers of truth.  [Scroll down]  Ms. Hudson is now speaking out because of what the agents of this Gestapo-like tactic took from her home.  While the search warrant was limited to any alleged guns on the premises — again — stemming from a quarter-century old incident reportedly involving her husband, their reach well exceeded their authority.  What was taken from the home of Audrey Hudson was more valuable than any gun.  What was taken from Audrey Hudson, in addition to her freedoms as an American citizen and a Pulitzer Prize nominee for her journalistic prowess, were her pages of notes and names of sources inside and outside of government who had confidentially provided her information over the years.

Armed agents seize records of reporter, Washington Times prepares legal action.  Maryland state police and federal agents used a search warrant in an unrelated criminal investigation to seize the private reporting files of an award-winning former investigative journalist for The Washington Times who had exposed problems in the Homeland Security Department's Federal Air Marshal Service.  Reporter Audrey Hudson said the investigators, who included an agent for Homeland's Coast Guard service, took her private notes and government documents that she had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act during a predawn raid of her family home on Aug. 6.

'Clearly Intimidation': Feds Seize Reporter's Files During Pre-Dawn Raid.  A conservative reporter alleges that in a pre-dawn raid, the Feds took her files while searching her home for a toy potato gun.  Audrey Hudson, Washington correspondent for the Colorado Observer, thinks the government may have an ulterior motive for conducting the search.  In her first television interview, Hudson told Gretchen Carlson on The Real Story that the raid stems from her husband purchasing a potato launcher online five years ago.  The search warrant presented said they came to recover the gun.  However, she said, "Once they were in the house, the first thing that the Homeland Security officer asked me was 'Are you the same Audrey Hudson who wrote all of the Federal Air Marshal stories for The Washington Times?'"

Ten Thousand Commandments 2013: An Annual Snapshot of the Federal Regulatory State.  Total costs for Americans to comply with federal regulations reached $1.806 trillion in 2012.  For the first time, this amounts to more than half of total federal spending.  It is more than the GDPs of Canada or Mexico.  This is the 20th anniversary of Ten Thousand Commandments.  In the 20 years of publication, 81,883 final rules have been issued.  That's more than 3,500 per year or about nine per day.

When Frogs Jump.  [Scroll down]  How far would today's American ruling elite go to stamp out real and concerted resistance to their brazen violations of individual liberty?  What steps would they not take to force submission to, and compliance with, their socialized medicine, their compulsory schooling, their EPA violations of private property, and so on?  In short, is there a point of coercive incivility beyond which you are certain they would never step to enforce their anti-constitutional, anti-natural rights, anti-rational plans?

Mission Creep: EPA Agents Enter Drug War.  A large-scale narcotics investigation and sentencing in Montana has revealed that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has entered the enforcement of U.S. war on drugs.  The EPA has full federal law enforcement capabilities, and their charter allows them to participate in the investigation and prosecution of "criminal conduct that threatens people's health," according to the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division (EPA CID).

The EPA's regulatory authority, coming to a stream or estuary near you?  You may recall the egregiously costly saga of the Sacketts, the Idaho couple personally persecuted by the Environmental Protection Agency for developing their half-acre of lakeside private property that the EPA belatedly and arbitrarily deemed a "protected wetland."  The Sacketts fought the EPA's demand that they either stop development and "restore" the property (with non-native plants!) or else face fines of up to $75,000 per day, but the EPA claimed that the Sacketts didn't even have the right to seek judicial review against the EPA's administrative compliance order, because the compliance order wasn't their "final enforcement action" — which is basically made-up hogwash that roughly translates as, "We're the EPA, we do what we want."

D.C. businessman faces two years in jail for unregistered ammunition, brass casing.  Mark Witaschek, a successful financial adviser with no criminal record, is facing two years in prison for possession of unregistered ammunition after D.C. police raided his house looking for guns.  Mr. Witaschek has never had a firearm in the city, but he is being prosecuted to the full extent of the law.  The trial starts on Nov. 4.  The police banged on the front door of Mr. Witaschek's Georgetown home at 8:20 p.m. on July 7, 2012, to execute a search warrant for "firearms and ammunition ... gun cleaning equipment, holsters, bullet holders and ammunition receipts."

Who Will Tell Obama He has no Clothes?  Before this phony government "shutdown," if you had asked whether I believed that American military and law enforcement personnel would follow an order from Barack Obama, or any other president, to turn their guns on their own countrymen, I would have said no.  However, after witnessing the behavior of armed National Park Service officers unnecessarily closing our national monuments, parks, and even our military cemeteries in Europe, while simultaneously allowing a protest demonstration by illegal aliens on the National Mall, I am no longer confident in that belief.  It's as though Obama is using every weapon in his arsenal to create civil division among the people.  Why?

The International Monetary Fund Lays The Groundwork For Global Wealth Confiscation.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) quietly dropped a bomb in its October Fiscal Monitor Report.  Titled "Taxing Times," the report paints a dire picture for advanced economies with high debts that fail to aggressively "mobilize domestic revenue."  It goes on to build a case for drastic measures and recommends a series of escalating income and consumption tax increases culminating in the direct confiscation of assets.

ATF's prescription for leaking secrets: A firing squad?  After months of anguished debate over mass shootings, gun control and Second Amendment rights, the Justice Department finds itself on the defensive after a training manual surfaced that suggests federal agents could face a firing squad for leaking government secrets.  A photo in the online manual for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — complete with a photo of a turn-of-the-century firing squad — was obtained by The Washington Times from a concerned federal law enforcement official, and it immediately drew protests from watchdogs who said it showed a lack of sensitivity to gun violence and the continuing hostile environment toward whistleblowers.

I'm From the Government and I'm Here to Spy on You.  The big portals showing the masses what the government is really up to all came last April, and until Obama's gone from the White House, civilian life will never be the same.  It was last April when a judge in Texas denied a request by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for what he described as a warrant to remotely "hack a computer suspected of criminal use", raising questions about the legal requirement for the government to use computer hacking techniques in investigations.  (Wall Street Journal, April 23, 2013).  "By "surreptitiously installing software" — a technique typically associated with computer hackers — investigators are able to infiltrate computers and gather extensive information, according to a document in the case.

A Step Toward Facebook.gov?  Get ready for the government to determine what bullying online is (and therefore, what free speech isn't).

An obvious affront to the First Amendment:
TSA introduces loudspeaker warnings threatening travelers with arrest for cracking a joke about airport security.  Travelers who attempt to make a joke about strict security procedures at airports have been warned they face arrest.  A loudspeaker announcement made by the Transport Security Administration warns the public:  'Any inappropriate remarks or jokes concerning security may result in your arrest.'  Concerned passenger Matt Miller recorded the loudspeaker message while passing through George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas.

Is Obama Creating a Martial-law-ready Military?  Let's start with a hypothetical.  Let's say you were a hard-left-wing commander in chief who wanted the military firmly in your corner.  You'd certainly note that our armed forces have been a bastion of conservatism and Christian faith, and you'd know that its members generally weren't very fond of you.  So how would you go about changing this?

The Slippery slope of Obama's constitutional contempt.  From where we stand today, it is merely a matter of degree before we are ruled by decree.
  ·   America's Bill of Rights is under assault.
  ·   Federal authority bullies 50 States and over 300 million Americans into unconstitutional compliance.
  ·   Common Core in schools indoctrinates communism and ignores America's founding values.
  ·   Christian belief and speech in the military are unlawfully restricted; Islam and atheism are favored.
  ·   The People's right to keep and bear arms is abrogated by Executive edict and UN treaty.
  ·   SWAT teams swoop in on Americans accused of crimes not criminal, written by nameless bureaucrats.
  ·   IRS is used to target and punish Americans who speak out against Obama and his cronies.
  ·   NSA and a host of other agencies scoop up and log every tidbit of personal communication for review.
  ·   NDAA allows arrest and indefinite detention without warrant, trial or writ of habeas corpus.
Yet this litany of abuses barely skims the surface of the foul stew Progressives have boiled up.

Also filed under The Clamor for Obama's Impeachment.

Faculty: Sexual Harassment Policy Approved by Feds 'Orwellian'.  Of special concern is a requirement that those professors who fail to complete training are being reported to the federal government.  Faculty members questioned exactly what information the university felt obliged to report to the DOJ and asked how the agency plans to use the information in a letter to University of Montana President Royce Engstrom, the Missoulian reported last week.

The Face of Tyranny.  It is beginning to dawn on a lot of people that Barack Obama is the face of tryanny, a man for whom the Constitution, the democratic process and its need for compromise, exist only to be spurned.  Any President who is happy to preside over closing the White House to public tours, who authorizes placing barricades around Washington War Memorial that is normally open 24 hours a day as well as the Normandy, France D-Day cemetery where our soldiers are buried, is more than merely heartless, but represents a level of evil intent never before seen in anyone who has held that office.

Are these the people you want running your health care?  [Scroll down]  The federal government is using its police power to punish the public!  Has this ever happened before?  Not to my knowledge.  We all understand the police blocking a road when there has been an accident or a washout or some other event.  Ditto for closing public spaces for good reason, perhaps unsafe construction or a terrorist threat.  But to close them simply to inconvenience the public or damage it in some other way?  Never!  Think of that!  Never before!

The Audacity of Bureaucrats.  To wit, to be a successful government bureaucrat this past week, you would have had to play your part in closing down parks, lakes, monuments and sporting events that are frankly none of your [...] business.  Whether your job was ordering Barry-Cades, procuring orange warning paint, police tape, or stapling notices to fences, trees and so on, you had to choose between being a good bureaucrat or a good citizen.  This is not an exaggeration. [...] On a positive note, these turbo charged Barney Fifes are finding out that their Park Service badges and yellow tape garnered absolutely no respect.

ATF tries to block Fast and Furious whistle-blower from publishing book.  The ATF agent who blew the whistle on Operation Fast and Furious has been denied permission to write a book on the botched anti-gun trafficking sting "because it would have a negative impact on morale," according to the very agency responsible for the scandal.  After first trying to stop the operation internally, ATF Agent John Dodson went to Congress and eventually the media following the death of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.

ATF tries to block whistleblowing agent's 'Fast and Furious' book.  The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is blocking the main whistleblower in the Fast and Furious case from publishing a book, claiming his retelling of the Mexico "gun-walking" scandal will hurt morale inside the embattled law enforcement agency, according to documents obtained by The Washington Times.  ATF's dispute with Special Agent John Dodson is setting up a First Amendment showdown that is poised to bring together liberal groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and conservatives in Congress who have championed Mr. Dodson's protection as a whistleblower.

Two D.C. Attacks and a Series of Unfortunate "Coincidences".  No one would have ever believed beforehand that the President might conspire with his Department of Justice and other agencies to funnel weapons to Mexican drug lords in order to precipitate a panic over America's rampant "gun culture" — but indeed, this occurred.  Nor would Americans have thought that the President would clandestinely provide arms to the same Muslim fanatics who attacked us in 2001, then order an attack on the compound facilitating such action when it became a liability.  No one would have believed that Obama would allow American personnel to perish at that compound in order to preserve his power. [...] If that is not definitive of a tyrant — and one who would employ any means necessary in order to attain his objectives — then what is?

I Will Not Comply.  Like most members of the Congress that passed it and, undoubtedly, the president of the United States who signed it, I have not read the entirety of the ill-named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.  Yet there is one aspect concerning that legislation of which I am certain:  I will not comply.  I will not comply because I am a free citizen of the United States, not a subject of its government.

Bullied by the IRS.  I've always paid my taxes and have never been arrested or charged with any crime in my life.  I am a successful small-business man.  But in January of this year, I woke up to find that my business' entire bank account — more than $35,000 — had been wrongly seized. [...] Adding insult to injury, federal civil forfeiture law does not even grant me a hearing before or soon after they snatched my account.  They've had my money for 10 months.  I've been forced to spend thousands of dollars on lawyers just to get a hearing before a judge.  Even more bizarre, under civil forfeiture, the government's case is not against me, but against my property.  This is why the official case has the ridiculous name, United States of America v. $35,651.11 in U.S. Currency.  This is not just absurd; it's unconstitutional.

Connecticut judge declares 'No one should have guns'.  A Superior Court judge in Bristol "expressed his contempt for the right to keep and bear arms' in a closed door meeting in his chambers, the state gun rights group Connecticut Carry reported last Thursday in a media advisory.  Judge Robert C. Brunetti "exposed his bigotry for fundamental civil rights in front of at least three defense attorneys," the group explained.  "No one in this country should have guns," the judge reportedly stated, adding "I never return guns."

'Elephant in the Room' Ignored by Prosecutor After Conviction of 'Beat the Polygraph' Instructor.  As someone who spent much of the past four years conducting an exhaustive investigation of the U.S. Government's use of credibility assessment technologies, including the polygraph, I didn't expect MacBride to mention the proverbial "elephant in the room" — that is, the fact so many countermeasures exist to make it possible for any individual to "beat" or pass a polygraph exam.  And he didn't.

Indiana Man Sentenced to Prison for Teaching People How to Beat Polygraph Exams.  Eight months in prison.  That was the sentence handed down to Chad Dixon today by a federal court judge in Alexandria, Va.  His crime?  Teaching people — in particular, government job applicants — how to beat polygraph exams.

The Editor says...
Sounds to me like a violation of the defendant's rights to free speech, freedom of expression, and freedom of association.  He is apparently being silenced because the government does not want the general public (jury pool) to know that it is possible to spoof a polygraph exam.

Another 250 Million Rounds Of Ammunition For An Agency.  In the middle of December 2012, the Customs and Border Protection Agency presented a pre-solicitation for 50,000,000 rounds of .40 S&W caliber ammunition, ostensibly for training.  The contract would provide a total of 250,000,000 rounds over the life of the 5 year contract.  The contract was to be issued on 20 January 2013.  CPB, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has included the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency with this solicitation.

Now The Gov't Wants to Regulate ... Dinner Parties?  I suppose it was only a matter of time before the Bloombergians of the world decided to extend their regulatory impulses to ... dinner parties.  The local CBS affiliate in New York reports on the crackdown on "illegal" dinner parties.

Left With Nothing.  On the day Bennie Coleman lost his house, the day armed U.S. marshals came to his door and ordered him off the property, he slumped in a folding chair across the street and watched the vestiges of his 76 years hauled to the curb. [...] The duplex in Northeast Washington that Coleman bought with cash two decades earlier was emptied and shuttered.  By sundown, he had nowhere to go.  All because he didn't pay a $134 property tax bill.

A Journalist-Agitator Facing Prison Over a Link.  A Dallas-based journalist obsessed with the government's ties to private security firms, [Barrett] Brown has been in jail for a year, facing charges that carry a combined penalty of more than 100 years in prison. [...] By trying to criminalize linking, the federal authorities in the Northern District of Texas — Mr. Brown lives in Dallas — are suggesting that to share information online is the same as possessing it or even stealing it.

The Editor says...
If you have confidential information that you'd like to keep to yourself, don't put it on the internet.  If you put it on the internet, protect it with a password.  If your sensitive information is available just by clicking on a link, you are giving it away.  Aside from copyright infringement or or other intellectual property issues, you cannot accuse anyone of stealing your stuff if you leave it out in the open.

Warning: D.C. cops under orders to arrest tourists with empty bullet casings.  Washington police are operating under orders to arrest tourists and other non-residents traveling with spent bullet or shotgun casings, a crime that carries a $1,000 fine, a year in jail and a criminal record, according to a new book about the city's confusing gun laws.  "Empty shell casings are considered ammunition in Washington, D.C., so they are illegal to possess unless you are a resident and have a gun registration certificate," pens Emily Miller in her investigative book, "Emily Gets Her Gun: ... But Obama Wants to Take Yours."

The Editor says...
How is an empty shell casing considered ammunition?  It's useless as a weapon.  It's just a piece of brass!

Armed EPA raid in Alaska sheds light on 70 fed agencies with armed divisions.  The recent uproar over armed EPA agents descending on a tiny Alaska mining town is shedding light on the fact that 40 federal agencies — including nearly a dozen typically not associated with law enforcement — have armed divisions.  The agencies employ about 120,000 full-time officers authorized to carry guns and make arrests, according to a June 2012 Justice Department report.  Though most Americans know agents within the Drug Enforcement Agency and the Federal Bureau of Prisons carry guns, agencies such as the Library of Congress and Federal Reserve Board employing armed officers might come as a surprise.

E.P.A. is the New Gestapo.  Just recently, a task force including members of 10 state and federal law enforcement agencies descended on a gold mine in the tiny town of Chicken[,] Alaska[,] with a population of 17 last month, in what locals described as a raid.  "Imagine coming up to your diggings, only to see agents swarming over it like ants, wearing full body armor, with jackets that say "POLICE" emblazoned on them, and all packing side arms," gold miner C.R. Hammond told the Alaska Dispatch. [...] According to the EPA The investigation was into possible violations of the Clean Water Act.  The officers were part of the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force and visited the outpost near the Canadian border during the third week of August to investigate water discharges into rivers, streams, lakes and oceans.  This is how the EPA handles an investigation, with rifles, handguns and bullet proof vests?

Parnell orders investigation of mining raids.  Enforcement officers with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and Bureau of Land Management were armed and wore body armor, according to Parnell.  He said an investigator with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation joined the agents, who said they were looking for violations of the Clean Water Act.

The Editor says...
I suspect this investigation could have been carried out by two little old ladies with a smart phone and a laptop.  Instead they sent a SWAT team.

Where is the Rule of Law?  Maybe the new Rule of Law is now the plain clothes police everywhere, who no longer serve and protect since we don't know who they are to ask for help in an emergency, they just ticket us to death for speeding, or the drones hovering over quiet residential neighborhoods, or the EPA police surprising a few law-abiding miners in Alaska, or the fully geared and assault ready police in the metro, the TSA molesting and irradiating us at airports, or the IRS making sure that we pay all of our taxes, including the Affordable Care Act tax?

Christian bakery closes after LGBT threats, protests.  A family-owned Christian bakery, under investigation for refusing to bake a wedding cake for a lesbian couple, has been forced to close its doors after a vicious boycott by militant homosexual activists.  Sweet Cakes By Melissa posted a message on its Facebook page alerting customers that their Gresham, Ore. retail store would be shut down after months of harassment from pro-gay marriage forces.

Every action requires a permit.
Police Stop Effort to Feed the Homeless.  In Raleigh, North Carolina the non-profit religious group, Love Wins Ministries, makes an effort to feed and help the homeless every Saturday and Sunday.  But this weekend was different.  The group was attempting to hand out coffee and sausage biscuits when the police officers arrived.

Airmen Punished for Objecting to Gay Marriage.  A 19-year veteran of the Air Force said he was relieved of his duties after he disagreed with his openly gay commander when she wanted to severely punish an instructor who had expressed religious objections to homosexuality.  "I was relieved of my position because I don't agree with my commander's position on gay marriage," Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk told Fox News.  "We've been told that if you publicly say that homosexuality is wrong, you are in violation of Air Force policy."

New Mexico Takes a Stab at Nullifying the Constitution.  Given that a person exercises his religion by living his life in harmony with his beliefs, any attempt by government to force people to commit sins is a clear and direct repudiation of the targeted individual's First Amendment rights.  Nonetheless, the New Mexico Supreme Court has found that a photographer who declined to photograph a gay "wedding" was at fault.

NM Supreme Court Finds Refusing to Photograph Gay Wedding Illegal.  The New Mexico Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that, by refusing to photograph a gay wedding, a photography studio violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act (NMHRA).  The court found that Elane Photography's refusal to serve Vanessa Willock violated the act, which "prohibits a public accommodation from refusing to offer its services to a person based on that person's sexual orientation," according to the ruling.

New Mexico photographer loses gay marriage case.  A commercial photography business owned by opponents of same-sex marriage violated New Mexico's anti-discrimination law by refusing to take pictures of a gay couple's commitment ceremony, the state's highest court ruled unanimously Thursday [8/22/2013].

Reserving the right to refuse service.  In yet another topic sure to enrage, Sterling Beard — writing at The Corner — catches up with the latest news on a strange case coming to us from New Mexico.  It's now gone all the way to the state Supreme Court, and the story may be at an end.  In case you hadn't heard, wedding photographers can't refuse to take pictures at a gay wedding or they have violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act.

The Editor says...
Notice if you will that the homosexuals have "human rights" but the rest of us don't.

Tolerance, Health and Fascism.  Last week, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that an event photographer's refusal on religious grounds to shoot the commitment ceremony of a same-sex couple amounted to illegal discrimination.  The photographer had never objected to photographing gays.  She did not, however, wish to be part of a ceremony to which she religiously objected.  In America today, thanks to myriad laws and progressive justices, people can go to prison for refusing to participate in an event to which they object.  This is what happened to a florist in Washington state who had always sold flowers to gay customers but refused to be the florist for a gay wedding:  sued and fined.

Judge: Clerks must issue marriage licenses to gay couples.  On Monday, Judge Alan Malott ruled it unconstitutional to ban same-sex couples from getting married in Bernalillo County.  Malott ruled that the Bernalillo and Santa Fe county clerks must grant marriage licenses to gay couples who apply for them.

TSA plans to procure nearly 3.5 million rounds of ammo.  The exact quantity of .357 SIG caliber training rounds sought in the RFP is 3,450,000, which means the TSA could fire off more than 9,400 rounds per day, every day of the year, to consume that entire quantity annually.  However, TSA insists that the manufacturer warrant that the "usable storage life" of the ammunition without degradation is a minimum of three years.

Why Did a Tennessee Grade School Ban Pork?  A Tennessee elementary school banned students from eating ham sandwiches, BLT's and anything else made with pork, but eventually lifted the ban after parents complained. [...] "No meats containing pork," read the memorandum.  "Starting Monday, August 12, 2013 your child must provide their own snack from the above approved snack list." Kids could nosh on raw vegetables without dips or sauces, fresh fruit, crackers, pretzels, and popcorn — but no ribs or pork rinds.

The Editor says...
The ban was quickly lifted, but don't ever forget that they tried to impose Islamic (halal) restrictions on food that the kids were bringing from their homes!  Even the Food Police have never been so brazen, but the Muslims are, and I suspect that's who is at the root of this ill-conceived order.

"They Kidnapped our Child": Why CPS Needs Transparency Now.  In April 2013, police officers and a social worker from Sacramento County's Child Protective Services entered the home of Anna and Alex Nikolayev and took their baby, Sammy, away from them.  They had no warrant.  "What they'd done was, basically, kidnapped our child with the help of police," says Alex Nikolayev.  The young, first-time parents were not notified of where Sammy was being taken and wouldn't find out for a full 24 hours.

Mark Levin's New Book Could Help Americans Regain Their Liberty.  Only those happily trampling on the last vestiges of freedom will deny that our federal government as a constitutional republic has ceased to function.  The president can no longer control (nor does this one want to control) the enormous and ever-expanding bureaucracy functioning as a government by fiat.  The legislative branch, so corrupted, so drunk by the allure of power, so disdainful of its constituents, is unable to stop its bankrupting ways.  The judiciary is perhaps worst.  The Supreme Court is openly rejecting the authority of the Constitution itself.

Capsizing the Republic — Cloward and Piven on the Southern Border.  Glenn Beck pointed out last week that we, as a nation, are being ruled by 535 people in the Congress — 535 politicians are forcing 350 million into accepting Amnesty and the majority don't want it.  Why are we letting this happen? [...] It's an invasion that is being invited in by treasonous individuals on both sides of the political aisle who stand to gain from the destruction of America, the plundering and redistribution of our resources, and the subjugation of the freest society the world has ever known.

Is Obama 'Insuring' Softball Questions?  [Scroll down]  With 80,000 pages of federal laws, rules, and regulations, there is an endless array of charges that can be brought against anyone.  Even frivolous charges, even with charges of prosecutorial misconduct being leveled for bringing a case in the first place, the defendants would be forced to spend enormous amounts of money to defend themselves, plus having to know that part of their taxes are being used to prosecute them in the first place.

Are we a modern-day Gomorrah?  In Florida, the building of a new nuclear-power plant has been canceled, but the residents of the county are still going to be forced to pay the bill for the $250 million facility that will never be built.  Most Americans are now too scared that voicing an opinion will earn them an IRS audit or a visit from Homeland Security, the Secret Service or some other goon squad.  We are buying our own Treasury bonds with money being printed on worthless paper to give the illusion that the economy is doing well, when that is a lie as well.  We have the city of Detroit in bankruptcy, with others to follow.

President Obama is turning up the heat on the melting pot.
HUD Proposes Plan to Racially, Economically Integrate Neighborhoods.  The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a new plan to change U.S. neighborhoods it says are racially imbalanced or are too tilted toward rich or poor, arguing the country's housing policies have not been effective at creating the kind of integrated communities the agency had hoped for.  The proposed federal rule, called "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing," is currently under a 60-day public comment period.

Does White House Want To Say Who Lives Where In America?  If any question remained about the Obama White House's appetite for running everyone's life from Washington, it should be settled now.  This administration even wants to dictate neighborhood makeup.

Time For Third Party.  [Scroll down]  What in the world gives the bureaucrats at HUD the unmitigated chutzpa to think that they have a right to determine who lives where?  Or perhaps even worse, that they are the arbiters of neighborhood "balance?"  In keeping with the true nature of progressivism, this is nothing less than the attempt to regulate society irrespective of talent, ambition and, above all else, liberty.  Once again, it illuminates the left's lust for control and their pathetic misunderstanding of human nature.

The Editor says...
That alone is not a justification for a third party.  The problem is that the second party isn't counteracting the first party.  Unfortunately, everyone with an inclination to get involved in politics is already active in one of those two parties.  If a third party were to organize overnight, where would all if its candidates come from?

Exclusive: FBI allowed informants to commit 5,600 crimes.  The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation's top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.

Government Police Raise Issues on Liberty.  Earlier this year, agents from the Department of Homeland Security, presenting themselves as national "police," were deployed across the country to "monitor" Tea Party activists who were peacefully protesting the Obama administration regarding the targeting of conservative groups by the IRS.  From California to Florida, armed DHS functionaries, according to protesters in attendance, were turned out to intimidate and spy on them.  These DHS agents arrived in large Homeland Security vehicles that were emblazoned with large letters reading "police" and were dressed in "police" uniforms.  Exactly who are these DHS "police?"  They are part of the Federal Protection Service (FPS), a division of the National Protection and Programs Directorate of the DHS.

We're living '1984' today.  It appears that the police now have a device that can read license plates and check if a car is unregistered, uninsured or stolen.  We already know that the National Security Agency can dip into your Facebook page and Google searches.  And it seems that almost every store we go into these days wants your home phone number and ZIP code as part of any transaction.  So when Edward Snowden — now cooling his heels in Russia — revealed the extent to which the NSA is spying on Americans, collecting data on phone calls we make, it's not as if we should have been surprised.

A "Nudge" To Tyranny.  In a bid to make Americans do "what's good for them," Obama administration social engineers have come up with a "Nudge" program to manipulate public choices.  This won't end well. [...] First, the government hasn't a clue as to what's good for the public.  To take one example, take a look at the food pyramid still promoted by the Agriculture Department — a high-carbohydrate recipe that claims to offer a healthy diet.  Studies show that carbs cause obesity, but the government still pushes its old message — which is a guaranteed way to gain weight.  Second, it's doubtful this plan will remain just about heathy diet choices.

Turning public schools into forts.  As surveillance cameras, metal detectors, police patrols, zero-tolerance policies, lockdowns, drug-sniffing dogs and strip searches become the norm in elementary, middle and high schools across the nation, America is on a fast track to raising up an Orwellian generation — one populated by compliant citizens accustomed to living in a police state and who march in lockstep to the dictates of the government.

San Antonio proposal could set the stage for barring Christians from city council.  The San Antonio City Council is proposing an updated non-discrimination policy that effectively bans any city council member from being elected if he or she has ever "demonstrated a bias."  "No person shall be appointed to a position if the city council finds that such person has, prior to such proposed appointment, engaged in discrimination or demonstrated a bias, by word or deed, against any person, group or organization on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, age, or disability," the ordinance reads.

Dallas suburb cannot bar housing to illegal immigrants, court rules.  A federal appeals court on Monday [7/22/2013] rejected a Dallas suburb's controversial law that would have prevented illegal immigrants from renting housing.

HUD's New 'Fair Housing' Rule Establishes Diversity Data for Every Neighborhood in U.S.  To ensure that "every American is able to choose to live in a community they feel proud of," HUD has published a new fair-housing regulation intended to give people access to better neighborhoods than the ones they currently live in.  The goal is to help communities understand "fair housing barriers" and "establish clear goals" for "improving integrated living patterns and overcoming historic patterns of segregation."

HUD Launches Scheme To Racially Diversify Suburbs.  Now even ZIP codes are racist, and according to this race-obsessed administration, you're racist for living in a suburban area with little public housing.  And it plans to change that.

Team Obama Steps Up Racial Standards for Neighborhoods.  The federal government is getting serious about pushing racial and ethnic diversity into America's neighborhoods — and is using big data and big money to achieve its aims.  A new interactive database will help regulators, local housing officials and individuals take action on a newly proposed regulation that would require agencies to "affirmatively further" the inclusion of minority residents in white neighborhoods.

Should 3rd Amendment prevent government spying?  If the government places a surveillance device in your home, is that sufficiently like quartering troops there to trigger Third Amendment scrutiny?  What if it installs spyware on your computer or your cable modem?  What if it requires "smart meters" that allow moment-to-moment monitoring of your thermostat settings or toilet flushes?

Defending American Principles Is Now a Revolutionary Act.  Progressives want to limit the freedom of the press to only those designated media outlets they know will back the status quo, calling their censorship "campaign finance reform."  The government, defending the McCain-Feingold Act, once even told the Supreme Court that it was perfectly constitutional to charge an American citizen with a crime for writing a book critical of a politician.  Think about that.  Our government actually argued that it was A-OK for the feds to stick you in jail for writing a book.  Fortunately, the conservatives on the High Court rejected that insanity.

In a police state, everything is either mandated, prohibited or tightly regulated.
Watch him pull a USDA-mandated rabbit disaster plan out of his hat.  Marty Hahne, 54, does magic shows for kids in southern Missouri.  For his big finale, he pulls a rabbit out of a hat.  Or out of a picnic basket.  Or out of a tiny library, if he's doing his routine about reading being magical.  To do that, Hahne has an official U.S. government license.  Not for the magic.  For the rabbit.  The Agriculture Department requires it, citing a decades-old law that was intended to regulate zoos and circuses.

Homes, Businesses to Pay 'Rain Fees' In Nine Maryland Counties.  Despite a Republican filibuster attempt in the Senate, the Maryland General Assembly has passed legislation that would implement a stormwater pollution fee to raise revenue to clean up the Chesapeake Bay.  Approved by the Senate and House of Delegates minutes before the end of the legislative session, HB 987 requires nine counties and Baltimore City to establish a watershed protection and restoration program.  Senate Republican Leader E. J. Pipkin proposed 12 amendments, none of which were adopted.  Pipkin said the bill was essentially an attempt to tax rain water.

Court Mandates EPA Crack Down on New Emissions.  Should the federal government regulate emissions produced by dead trees?  A federal appeals court said yes, striking down the Environmental Protection Agency's attempt to delay regulation of biogenic carbon dioxide emissions from non-fossil fuel sources on Friday [7/12/2013].  The court affirmed the need for such emissions to be regulated under the Clean Air Act, negating the exemption made by the EPA for "biogenic carbon dioxide."

The Editor says...
When citizens are taxed for activities over which they have no control, that is tyranny.

U.S. Repeals Propaganda Ban, Spreads Government-Made News to Americans.  For decades, a so-called anti-propaganda law prevented the U.S. government's mammoth broadcasting arm from delivering programming to American audiences.  But on July 2, that came silently to an end with the implementation of a new reform passed in January.  The result:  an unleashing of thousands of hours per week of government-funded radio and TV programs for domestic U.S. consumption in a reform initially criticized as a green light for U.S. domestic propaganda efforts.

Leaking Distrust.  We understand that the FISC has to operate in secret.  But we know, from various sources, that the court almost never denies the government's applications for orders or even limits them.  Perhaps this is the result of the fact that the court operates unique among American courts in non-adversarial proceedings.  Only the government's side of the case is heard.  There is no "defense" side in any case.

Army apologizes for buzzing helicopters above city in Washington state.  An Army official apologized Friday for conducting an unannounced training mission around the small city of Port Angeles, Wash., using special operations helicopters that the mayor said "terrorized" his city.  Dozens of alarmed residents called police to ask what was going on and said the noise and light from the mystery helicopters buzzing around the city panicked horses and other livestock, The Peninsula Daily News reported.  The Army said the helicopters involved included both twin-engine Chinooks and Blackhawk attack helicopters.

The Editor says...
The Army has plenty of other places to conduct operations like this; for example, Fort Hood.  There is no reason to carry out a drill of this sort in a city, unless (1) they're softening up the populace for some future operation, or (2) they're just trying to see what they can get away with.

Is FISA Out of Line?  The American surveillance apparatus has come under more scrutiny than ever before in the wake of the Edward Snowden revelations.  On Saturday [7/6/2013], the New York Times expanded on this theme with a new piece arguing that the FISA courts, which review the constitutionality of the government's data collection programs, have effectively become a "parallel Supreme Court" with little oversight from the public or the rest of the legal system.

EPA Wants Gov't To Control How Cold Your Beer Can Be.  In a seemingly innocuous revision of its Energy Star efficiency requirements announced June 27, the Environmental Protection Agency included an "optional" requirement for a "smart-grid" connection for customers to electronically connect their refrigerators or freezers with a utility provider.  The feature lets the utility provider regulate the appliances' power consumption, "including curtailing operations during more expensive peak-demand times."  So far, manufacturers are not required to include the feature, only "encouraged," and consumers must still give permission to turn it on.

More about the so-called smart grid.

Who is a Journalist?  Sen. Dick Durbin thinks it's time for Congress to decide who's a real reporter.  In The Chicago Sun-Times last week, he wrote:  "Everyone, regardless of the mode of expression, has a constitutionally protected right to free speech.  But when it comes to freedom of the press, I believe we must define a journalist and the constitutional and statutory protections those journalists should receive."  How do you decide who is a journalist?

Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin Wants Government to Decide Who Qualifies as a Real Journalist.  What qualifies as "legitimate journalism" or a "news website" in Durbin's mind?  Anyone can tweet something that constitutes news and the broadcast of which can be deemed journalism.  Tweets of ordinary citizens molested by the TSA have become news stories.  As we've seen repeatedly over the past several decades, so-called journalists can bury stories harmful to powerful politicians or pet causes.

Memo To Dick Durbin: All Americans Are Journalists.  Congress, when controlled by Democrats, already has the mainstream media under its thumb.  So it's not ABC, NBC, CBS, the New York Times and the Washington Post that Durbin is worried about.  It's the bloggers, tweeters and Facebook users that he wants to control. [...] With the mainstream press in their pockets, what Durbin and others truly fear are citizen journalists and the free and open dissemination of ideas that threaten the political class' agenda.

A tip of the hat to Armed and Safe.
Carolyn McCarthy, barrel shrouds and 'assault slings'.  McCarthy, though, apparently thought a ten year prison sentence for a strap would be appropriate — that it would be both desirable and Constitutionally permissible to mandate that rifles be more difficult to carry and to shoot accurately, on pain of a decade in prison.  The intent here is not to claim that gun slings are in danger of being banned, but to illustrate the mindset of fanatics like McCarthy, who has nevertheless managed to be elected to Congress nine times.  McCarthy and her noxious ilk don't care about the specifics of how they attack gun rights — in their twisted minds, any infringement on that which shall not be infringed is a step in the right direction.

Obama's Fundamental Transformation of a Nation He Despises.  [Scroll down]  From the flow per second of your morning shower to the temperature at which you set your thermometer at night, from the car you drive to what you eat, from where and how your children are educated to how you fund your retirement, Obama wants government to control every moment of your existence.  Long ago, in a glorious revolution, Americans rejected this sort of tyranny when it was imposed on them by the British Crown.

Free Justin Carter Now.  In the state of Texas, a 19-year-old man named Justin Carter sits in prison, ruthlessly stripped of his freedom for making an offensive joke. [...] For this he was arrested by Austin police, charged with making a "terroristic threat," and thrown into prison. He may languish there until the start of the next decade. [...] He's been incarcerated since March without trial.

Immoral decision stifles legitimate disagreement.  So now the wrong has been declared right, not by a consensus of Americans, but rather by government fiat, the way they do it in nations where people live under the thumbs of tyrants, having no voice in their own affairs.  We once pitied them.  Now we're beginning to resemble them.  What happened yesterday was an abomination, not only in the way the Supreme Court trashed the institution of marriage, but also in the way its liberal branch slapped a muzzle onto the populace, in effect ruling the will of the people is of no consequence in an issue that strikes at the heart of who we are and what we believe.

Reining in religious freedom.  Think now about the world of big government.  Dallas has an ordinance requiring people who feed the homeless to register and be certified.  Dallas would like to keep Big Heart Ministries from feeding people on the streets.  The city of Alhambra, Calif., has accused the First Baptist Church of violating its zoning and fire codes by hosting homeless families. [...] The state of Montana recently ordered the Hutterite Big Sky Colony to purchase workers' compensation insurance over their religious objection.  The Hutterites take a vow of poverty, hold their possessions in common and self-insure.

Worse Than It Sounds, and It Cannot Be Cabined.  These decisions, handed down by the Court today, [...] lay down the predicates for litigation that will clearly unfold now, and with short steps sure to come, virtually all of the barriers to same-sex marriage in this country can be swept away.  Even constitutional amendments, passed by so many of the states, can be overridden now.

Homeland Security: Stop Complaining or Face Arrest.  [Scroll down]  That's when the trouble began.  A Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation deputy director warned the group that "unfounded complaints about water quality could be considered an 'act of terrorism.'  We take water quality very seriously.  Very, very seriously."  Attendees stared dumbfounded as the speaker continued, "You need to make sure that when you make water quality complaints you have a basis, because federally, if there's no water quality issues, that can be considered under Homeland Security an act of terrorism."  After a brief moment of stunned silence, one audience member asked if the speaker could "say that again, please."

The microwave tax.  The Energy Department is once more deciding what kind of appliances are good for you.  Like the "standards" the federal government imposed on light bulbs, toilets, washing machines and other essentials, the rules are all about taking choices from consumers and requiring them to buy machines that don't work or don't work as well as they once did.  On Monday, the Obama administration published new rules that will make microwave ovens less efficient and more expensive.  It's in the service of the global-warming scam.

No right to silence.  Monday's decision scales back the Miranda decision.  Not only can your words be used against you, but the Supreme Court says your silence can be, as well.  Genovevo Salinas found this out after he was questioned by Houston police regarding the 1992 murder of two brothers.

Big Brother is Listening: Granting DHS Domestic Spying Capabilities Will Open Citizens to Arrest.  [F]ar from apologizing for the betrayals of the public's trust, the Obama Administration has thrown another log onto the fire of public outrage.  According to a Reuters report, the Obama Administration is considering granting the Department of Homeland Security the same kind of powers the NSA has used to monitor the phone usage of millions of Americans who have done nothing more to arouse suspicion than use a cell phone.

Guns, public education, and stupidity.  [Scroll down]  But wait, there's more.  In Calvert County Maryland, the son of Bruce Henkelman, of Huntingtown (an appropriate name) was suspended for talking about guns on a school bus.  "He said, I wish I had a gun to protect everyone.  He wanted to defeat the bad guys.  That's the context of what he said," Henkelman said.  "He wanted to be the hero."  The bus driver took the 11-year-old back to school, where the principal and a sheriff's deputy questioned him.  It gets worse.  The deputy wanted to search the Henkelman residence for firearms without a warrant.

Goodbye 5th Amendment? Supremes rule silence can be used in court.  In a 5-4 decision regarding Salinas v. Texas, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a potential defendant's silence can be used against them during police interviews prior to arrest and reading of Miranda rights.  In 1992, Genovevo Salinas voluntarily entered a Houston police station to discuss the murder of two brothers, Juan and Hector Garza.  He complied with officer's questions, but when asked whether shotgun casings would match his firearm, he fell silent.  Texas prosecutors convinced jurors that his silence was an admission of guilt.

Big Sister: Homeland Security hopes to get same cyber-spying powers as NSA.  Domestic spying capabilities used by the National Security Agency to collect massive amounts of data on American citizens could soon be available to the Department of Homeland Security — a bureaucracy with the power to arrest citizens that is not subject to limitations imposed on the NSA.  Unlike the DHS, the NSA is an intelligence agency, not a domestic law enforcement agency.  It cannot arrest those suspected of wrongdoing.  That power of the federal government lies with agencies under the jurisdiction of the Justice Department, the Treasury, Homeland Security and other law enforcement agencies.

The False Excuse of National Security.  Does the Obama Administration actually want to fight terrorism all that much?  Or are they primarily interested in gathering vast amounts of information about American citizens?  Do their actions tell us where their attention is focused?  The proof, they say, is in the notorious pudding.  The government is being highly successful in invading the privacy of Americans and increasing control and surveillance.  The government is not doing so well fighting terrorism.  The actual behavior of the government points to development of a 'Big Brother" surveillance state and exposes national security as a phony excuse.

Our Enemy, the Bureaucrat.  The emerging grassroots movement for smaller government presents an existential peril to bureaucrats — of which they are sharply aware.  Public sector unions have been Democrat bastions for years, of course.  What the Obama presidency has done is embolden federal worker bees to coordinate directly or indirectly with a president who wants hypergovernment.  Barack Obama is a pro-growth president — for Uncle Sam's bureaucrats.  Through the IRS scandal and the NSA phone records sweeps, federal bureaucrats are revealing themselves as enemies of the people [...]

Spying on Americans: the Legal Status of Emails.  This topic has several main issues.  At the top of the list is President Obama's outrageous statement that Americans may need to give up some freedom for security from terrorism.  The president has no right to decide what degree of freedom Americans can have.  The freedom Americans have is defined not by any one elected official but by the Constitution.  The Fourth Amendment of the Constitution has very precise language that directly applies to the NSA's seizure of personal information.

When government can't be trusted.  What has led to this distrust?  The Benghazi cover-up, the IRS fiasco, the Justice Department's monitoring of reporters, the commandeering of phone records of private citizens in the name of national security, "data mining," the so-called "kill list," drones with the power to spy and kill, the proliferation of surveillance cameras, DNA swabs after arrests, ObamaCare, unrestrained spending and unending debt.  This is the federal government encroaching on our civil liberties.  The federal government long ago exceeded its constitutional boundaries.

Mark Levin: The Constitution's Churchill.  Suddenly, awash in headlines about the abuses of the IRS, the Justice Department seizing the phone records of the Associated Press, monitoring the calls and emails of Fox correspondent James Rosen and now the "metadata" gathering activities of the National Security Agency — Levin's constant warnings of the dangers in ignoring the Constitution are gaining considerable traction with Americans well beyond his already huge radio audience.

How much more will Americans take?  The "fundamental transformation" of America proceeds apace.  The erosion of our freedoms and traditions, once incremental and barely perceptible, accelerates daily.  Armies of bureaucrats commanded by political ideologues remarkable mainly for their galactic incompetence intrude on ever more aspects of our lives — aspects both large and small.  They tell us what light bulbs we're allowed to use and how much water we may flush.  They stick swabs in our mouths to collect our DNA and order us to buy health insurance we don't want.  They can seize our land if they think they know how to use it better, or stop us from using our land because a favored amphibian might live there too.

A Little Wisdom from Benjamin Franklin.  [Scroll down]  Just like those unpleasant chaps in Orwell's 1984, the fact that we are now and apparently ever shall be on a war footing means that we are living in a state of perpetual emergency, which in turn means that he, the man in charge, can do pretty much whatever he wants to whomever he wants, and so can his minions. [...] Few people, I think, would deny that extraordinary situations call for extraordinary measures. [...] But what we have here is the fabrication of perpetual emergency in order to justify the unlimited and permanent expansion of of government power.  The other word for that process is tyranny.  It doesn't happen all at once.  But it's happening pretty fast.

"Justice is supposed to be blind, not stupid."
US snooping is slippery slope to abuse of civil liberties.  A Top Israeli security official zeroed in on the American system of airline security:  "You worry about what people are carrying.  In Israel we worry about who the people are." [...] The sweeping collection of data on private behavior is every bit as indiscriminate and flawed as the airport-screening system.  In both, everybody is guilty until proven innocent.  Because one terrorist hid a bomb in his shoe, we all must remove our shoes before flying.  Because one terrorist hid a bomb in his underwear, we all are subject to X-ray- like screenings.

Two times the government used its anti-terrorism powers to target Americans not engaged in terrorism.  The revelations detailing the extent of the National Security Agency's espionage capabilities raises the specter that their powers could be misused to target Americans who have nothing to do with terrorism.  In fact, allegations of such misconduct already exist.  Here are two examples where anti-terrorism powers granted to law enforcement were allegedly used to target American citizens not engaged in terrorism.

Mark Levin On NSA Tracking: "We Have The Elements Of A Police State Here".  On Thursday's broadcast of Fox News Channel's "Your World with Neil Cavuto," conservative talk show host Mark Levin reacted to recent revelations that the National Security Agency had been collecting the phone records of millions of Verizon customers.  He said that the NSA news in addition to other openings for intrusion by the federal government are the makings of a "police state."

Good news: Government's recording your conversations on the bus too.  A timely video from Reason TV on the surveillance state's newest venture: Cameras and microphones on city buses, just in case Al Qaeda decides to plan its next attack on municipal transportation within earshot of other passengers.  Not every city does this, but the practice is spreading — early adapters include San Francisco, Baltimore, and Hartford with funding from, you guessed it, DHS.

We should be shocked at the American tapping scandal, and shocked that Obama doesn't seem to care.  You know all those bearded survivalist types holed up in places like Idaho with their paranoid anti-government conspiracy theories?  Suddenly they're looking rather less paranoid.  The rest of us, by contrast, are rushing to adjust our world view.  The revelation that the U.S. Government systematically taps online communications challenges the way we think about freedom, the way we think about privacy, the way we think about the Internet and, not least, the way we think about America.

What is the difference between a hunch and a profile?
Dept. of Homeland Security: Laptops, Phones Can Be Searched Based on Hunches.  U.S. border agents should continue to be allowed to search a traveler's laptop, cellphone or other electronic device and keep copies of any data on them based on no more than a hunch, according to an internal Homeland Security Department study.

Fascism In America.  Ours has become a system of virtually limitless central governmental power.  Whatever one thinks of the IRS and Justice Department scandals — targeting conservatives and evangelical Christian and orthodox Jewish organizations, spying on AP reporters, and labeling a Fox News journalist a felon — their common theme is that the federal government can do anything it wishes.

From Verizon's 'Can you hear me now' to NSA's "Yes, every eavesdropped word".  When "Big Brother is Watching You" was the cold war mantra of the day, there were no cellphones, no iPads, no satellite communications of any kind in the hands of the unwashed masses.  Today Big Brother is not watching you, he's stalking and harassing you — right in the place you call home.  There's nowhere to hide; nowhere to run to and no one to turn to in a world where a government that has learned how to slip being held accountable has all the tools on its side.

Law enforcement applaud ruling on DNA swabbing.  The Supreme Court has ruled that is now legal for law enforcement to take the DNA of people arrested, even though they have not yet been convicted of a crime.  The decision was a big victory to police and victim rights groups in the fight over how and when your DNA can be used, with the justices being nearly split down the middle.

Court: Police can take DNA swabs from arrestees.  A sharply divided Supreme Court on Monday [6/3/2013] cleared the way for police to take a DNA swab from anyone they arrest for a serious crime, endorsing a practice now followed by more than half the states as well as the federal government.

Court's DNA Ruling Brings U.S. a Step Closer to 'Gattaca'.  The day that DNA cheek swabs officially became the new fingerprints deserves to be marked and remembered — and not just because of the inevitable march of technology.  No, the Supreme Court's 5-4 holding today [6/3/2013] in Maryland v. King, that anyone arrested for a "serious crime" can have his or her DNA taken without any suspicion, is a landmark because it represents a major step toward a "Gattaca" world.  This means that evidence of a crime can be collected without any particular suspicion, avoiding the pesky requirement of a warrant that the Founding Fathers thought would give us liberty and privacy.

"The Justice Department is trying to curtail free speech by promising increased scrutiny of any Internet posts which mention Islam."
People Power Against the Department of Justice.  The Department of Justice (DOJ) and its allies, the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Southern Poverty Law Center, are on the defensive after thousands of people turned out in Tennessee on Tuesday night [6/4/2013] to protest a scheme to censor criticism of Islam.  The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), a key component of a network of Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the U.S., called the turnout a "mob" and praised the Obama/Holder Justice Department for standing up to local residents.

Free Speech and Islamic Sensibilities.  Apparently a United States attorney in Tennessee is seeking to use civil rights statutes to criminalize criticism of Islam or inflammatory statements that offend Muslims.  According to the Tullahoma News, Bill Killian, the U.S. attorney for Eastern Tennessee, believes "Internet postings that violate civil rights are subject to federal jurisdiction."  Though the newspaper makes clear that Killian's intent is to promote better community relations and to prevent discrimination against Muslims that is based on the false notion that all are terrorists, his willingness to dump the First Amendment rights of some in order to protect the sensibility of others ought to scare all Americans.

Another Obama Assault on Free Speech.  The Obama Administration's latest assault on the freedom of speech is so audacious that it leaves me speechless — and that's the idea.  According to Politico, Bill Killian, the Obama-appointed U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, "is reportedly vowing to use federal civil rights statutes to clamp down on offensive and inflammatory speech about Islam."  Said Killian:  "We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we're here, they're going to be protected."

US Attorney Bill Killian: Posting Something Mean About Muslims on Social Media Might Be a Criminal Action Under Federal Civil Rights Laws.  The First Amendment served us well for a time, but now it's outdated.  Remember reading that England had arrested a guy for anti-Muslim Twitter postings in the aftermath of the Woolrich slaughter?  And remember thinking, "Well, this is America, that can't happen here"?  Oh yes it can.  Obama's Attorney for the Eastern district of Tennessee wants you to know that if you say something untoward about Muslims, the Federal government may imprison you.

DOJ: Watch what you say about Muslims on social media.  How many civil-rights prosecutions are currently in progress against Muslims who say inflammatory things on social media? [...] This is also the same government that flagrantly abused the power of the Internal Revenue Service, and other agencies, to oppress political dissidents.  There are a lot of Tea Party groups who wish the only thing they had to fear from Democrat politicians is offensive Facebook chatter.  No one in this government seems terribly concerned about protecting their hurt feelings, or encouraging the rest of the American public to treat them with dignity and respect.

DoJ places a chill on criticism of Islam.  By "spreading information considered inflammatory against Muslims" — even if it's true — you could violate the civil rights act and be subject to prosecution.  We all know that this new ruling will target those considered to be "blasphemers" against Islam.  Muslims here and around the world have been after western governments to enforce their idea of blasphemy and to punish those who speak out against Islam.

More about President Obama's undeniable favoritism toward the Muslims.

Washington state and the ACLU sue florist for refusing to sell flowers for gay wedding because of Christian beliefs.  The American Civil Liberties Union joined the state of Washington by filing its own lawsuit on Thursday [5/30/2013] against Arlene's Flowers and its proprietor, Barronelle Stutzman, over the woman's refusal to sell flowers for a same-sex wedding.

DOJ Tells Employees to Verbally Affirm Homosexuality.  The Department of Justice has been accused of religious intolerance and viewpoint discrimination after workers were sent an email directing them to verbally affirm homosexuality, according to a law firm specializing in religious liberty and now representing a DOJ whistleblower.  Liberty Counsel said DOJ employees were emailed a brochure called "LGBT Inclusion at Work: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers."  The brochure was created as a resource from DOJ Pride, an association of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees of the DOJ.

Durbin wonders: Does [the] First Amendment apply to bloggers, Twitter?  Thanks to the Obama administration's attacks on the Associated Press and its representation in federal court that Fox News' James Rosen is a spy for asking questions, one has to wonder whether the First Amendment applies to anyone in the Age of Hope and Change.

The VanderSlooting of America.  [Scroll down]  But what the massive abuse of the IRS illustrates is a tyranny of a different sort.  A bloodless yet still quite decided tyranny.  A tyranny of the American Left designed not just to chill free speech — although that is a primary goal.  What has evidenced itself in the Obama era is a tyranny designed not just to silence dissent, but to deliberately, willfully damage if not ruin outright the reputations and businesses of Americans across the land.

More about the use of the IRS as a weapon.

America's cry for help lost in the White Noise.  Tyranny, the same kind that kept the people of the former Soviet Union and environs in the stranglehold of communism for 70 years, is making its way — unhampered — through the USA.  The Obama administration started off by identifying Tea Partiers, returning war vets and Christians as terrorists — and got away with it.  Now news reporters like James Rosen, a Fox News correspondent has been openly branded a "possible criminal co-conspirator" for his alleged role in publishing sensitive security information.  The only difference between soft tyranny and hard tyrannies is that in the latter, those deemed enemies of the state are jailed and killed.  But a cursory read through history teaches that hard tyrannies usually got their start as soft ones.

Congressman: IRS asked pro-life group about 'the content of their prayers'.  During a House Ways and Means Committee hearing today, Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., grilled outgoing IRS commissioner Steven Miller about the IRS targeting a pro-life group in Iowa.  "Their question, specifically asked from the IRS to the Coalition for Life of Iowa:  'Please detail the content of the members of your organization's prayers,'" Schock declared.  "Would that be an inappropriate question to a 501 c3 applicant?" asked Schock.  "The content of one's prayers?"

Abolish the IRS (and the Income Tax With It).  The Internal Revenue Service has been caught engaging in political profiling while processing applications for tax-exempt status.  In this case it was against organizations with "tea-party" or "patriot" in their names and other right-wing groups.  Next time it could be libertarian or left-wing antiwar and pro-civil-liberties groups.  No dissenter can ever rest assured he is safe from the arbitrary power of the IRS.

Washington bureaucrats use force to suffocate liberty.  Remember Armand Armendariz, the Environmental Protection Agency regional administrator who resigned after regaling an audience of Big Green activists with a history lesson to illustrate his agency's approach to critics of the EPA's harshest policies?  When the Romans conquered a new province, he said, they would "... find the first five guys they saw and they'd crucify them ..." to make the province "really easy to manage for the next few years."  The EPA, he continued, also makes "examples of people who are not complying with the law, you make examples out of them, use it as a deterrent method ... Find people who are not complying with the law and you hit them as hard as you can and make examples of them."

Keene sues six parking meter 'Robin Hoods' who put money in expired meters.  The city has filed a lawsuit against six citizens, part of a group dubbed Robin Hood of Keene that patrols downtown armed with video cameras and pockets full of change to fill expired parking meters.  Also known as Robin Hooders, the six are associated with the Free Keene group.

The Editor says...
Note that the city is filing a civil suit, not a criminal complaint, because the "Robin Hood" people didn't do anything illegal.  The issue has nothing to do with orderly parking.  It's all about money and control.

Small Business Struggles to Survive, All Because of Gun-Shaped Lighter.  The owner of a small business in New York City is facing a $60,000 fine, thousands in legal fees, and the potential loss of his business — all because he carried a dozen three-inch, gun-shaped lighters which caught the eye of a city inspector.  "When you hear something like this, you're going to have a couple of nightmares," Fred Shayes tells me, leaning across the counter of his midtown Manhattan shop, US Camera & Computer Inc.  Nervous, he won't let me photograph him or tape-record the interview.

New York City Shop Fined $60,000 For Selling Gun-Shaped Lighters.  Not sure what Mayor Bloomberg finds upsetting about a gun-shaped lighter.  Does it have a bayonet attachment making it an "assault" lighter?  Does it ignite 10 times instead of 7?

Biometric Database of All Adult Americans Hidden in Immigration Reform.  The immigration reform measure the Senate began debating yesterday would create a national biometric database of virtually every adult in the U.S., in what privacy groups fear could be the first step to a ubiquitous national identification system.  Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named "photo tool," a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver's license or other state-issued photo ID.

Bill Gives DHS Sec. 'Virtually Unlimited Discretion to Waive Any Manner of Crimes,' ICE Council Warns Congress.  [Scroll down]  The letter concludes that ICE officers would continue to be "powerless" to protect the public and do their jobs if the bill becomes law:  "If this legislation were enacted tomorrow, ICE officers would continue to be powerless to effectively enforce our nation's laws and provide for public safety as S. 744 does nothing to end these dangerous agency- and department-level directives."

DOJ Won't Require Warrants for Email, Chat Seizures.  In blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable search and seizure, the Department of Justice has apparently declared that they do not require warrants for grabbing Americans' emails and Facebook chats.  The ACLU has gotten hold of the documents from the FBI and DOJ that show that a subpoena, which comes from a prosecutor, is all that is necessary to seize emails and chats.

A Federal Takeover of Elections?  On March 28, President Obama issued Executive Order 13639, establishing a Presidential Commission on Election Administration "in order to promote the efficient administration of Federal elections and to improve the experience of all voters."  The ostensible premise behind this effort is the idea that some voters were forced to wait too long in line to cast their ballots.  Yet a growing number of critics see something entirely different:  they see this as an attempt to initiate a federal takeover of elections.

Leave your vuvuzula in the car.
Liquids banned from Obama's Ohio State speech despite past heat-related medical emergencies.  President Barack Obama's speech at the Ohio State University graduation ceremony Sunday will be on tight security lockdown, with graduating students subject to "airport-like security screening" and a strict list of prohibited items for graduates and their relatives attending the event at Ohio Stadium (capacity: 102,329).  Attendees are prohibited from bringing liquids into the stadium, despite high temperatures.

Floridians Encouraged to Report Neighbors Who "Hate Government".  That we actually have a County Sheriff, here in the great Sunshine State of Florida, a man sworn to protect and defend ALL of the Constitution, against every enemy, foreign and domestic, plus each and every word, that would want to even initiate a program like this shows that distrust for the Government is growing and that dissention has been noticed and it will not and cannot be allowed by the Progressive enemies of the Constitution.  This hot line for reporting on Patriots, Conservatives, Christians, Gun Owners, Tea Party members and yes, even probably members of this Foundation, will go into place unless Governor Scott says no and puts a veto in place.

Achtung, Baby: Are People Being Encouraged to Rat On 'Anti-Government' Neighbors?  [Scroll down]  The teams will respond to citizen phone calls to a 24-hour hotline with a knock on the door and a referral to services, if needed reports the Palm Beach Post.  Bradshaw makes it clear that the kind of behavior which could prompt a visit from the authorities includes anti-government political statements that may be deemed a prelude to violent action.  The program will also include "public service announcements to encourage local citizens to report their neighbors", reports the newspaper.

Ron Paul: Police manhunt for Boston Marathon bombing suspect scarier than attack.  Former Rep. Ron Paul said the law enforcement that swarmed around Boston in the days following the marathon bombings was scarier than the actual terrorist attack. [...] Mr. Paul, a former libertarian political candidate who served in Congress as a member of the Republican Party, said the door-to-door searches police conducted in Watertown for the bombing suspects were particularly alarming.  They reminded [him] of a "military coup in a far off banana republic," he said, Politico reported.  "Force lockdown of a city.  Militarized police riding tanks in the streets.  Door-to-door armed searches without warrant.  Families thrown out of their homes at gunpoint to be searched without probable cause.  Businesses forced to close.  Transport shut down."

An Unbearable Aroma of Self-Righteousness in SWAT Nation.  [Scroll down]  The so-called "voluntary lock-down" in Watertown — a more appropriate phrase might be "martial law" — offered a chilling spectacle for anyone who cherishes his personal freedom.  Remember the Fourth Amendment?  That guaranteed that "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated."  Yet in Watertown, platoons of heavily armed police in combat gear went from house to house, guns drawn, banging down doors, screaming at people to come out of their own houses with their hands on their head.  There were "a lot of big guns pointed at us," said one Watertown resident.  Several news outlets used the word "surreal" to describe this concentrated display of the coercive power of the state.  What worries me is not that it is "surreal" but that it is, increasingly, all too real.

Inconvenient Truths of the Boston Bombings.  It is understandable that a lot of people were relieved when the government was quickly able to identify and locate the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombings.  And it is also understandable why some people might want to treat the surviving attacker as an "enemy combatant," given his ostensible beliefs in — and potential ties to — militant Islam.  But that doesn't make any of it right or just — or permissible under our Constitution.

Is this an excuse to get a sample of everyone's DNA?
Federal panel says everyone 15 to 65 should have HIV test.  Citing recent evidence that HIV infections are best managed when treated early, an influential panel of medical experts has finalized its recommendation that all people ages 15 to 65 be screened for the virus that causes AIDS.  The recommendation from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force seeks to address one of the key challenges in the fight against HIV/AIDS:  The window during which patients respond best to treatment is also the time when symptoms of the disease are least noticeable.

Surveillance's dark downside.  Cameras follow us like gum stuck to a shoe.  But while official Washington is fixated on law enforcement efficiency in the wake of Boston, you might wonder about the precautions taken by those protecting us.  That's especially true given the rise of facial recognition, zoom technology, biometrics and the overall ability to track us from one camera to another, right across town.

The Pressure is Building!  [Scroll down]  Two of the more dangerous issues, aside from gun CONTROL, amnesty, EPA dictates, Fast & Furious, the Benghazi Massacre, NDAA, drones being used against U. S. citizens within our borders, Dodd-Frank, the Sequester, etc., are U. N. Agenda 21 and Common Core.  The low information voter is blissfully ignorant of these assaults, thanks to the media.  The media will not discuss these issues because if people/parents knew about these assaults, they would get involved.  If people were to become involved, the layers on the onions of lies, fraud and malfeasance may be unwound.

Why Does DHS Need More Bullets Per Officer Than [the] Army?  Homeland Security's procurement officer is grilled in Congress on why federal agents who rarely fire weapons need several times more bullets annually than an Army officer.  Who or what are they shooting at?

Mayor Bloomberg's Personal Reading Of Constitution.  New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says that in light of the Boston Marathon bombing, our interpretation of the Constitution will "have to change."  Americans should be appalled at such a statement.

Big Sis: Obama Admin Can Pick Which Laws to Enforce.  During her testimony on the "Gang of Eight" immigration bill before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday [4/23/2013], Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared that she, President Barack Obama and other political officials at the top of this administration have the authority to decide which laws to enforce, and which ones to ignore.

Napolitano: Obama Regime can decide which laws to enforce.  In a startling and candid admission, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano argued to the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday [4/23/2013] that regardless of oaths to uphold the law, the President and the executive branch can choose what laws are to be enforced.  Tensions rose as the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Napolitano over the enforcement, or lack thereof, of current U.S. immigration policies.

Big Government Mind-Readers.  Like Big Brother, Big Government cannot read minds.  But he can read your emails (at least, the IRS can, and apparently without a warrant) and your social media.  He can obtain your Google history and data.  He knows which candidates you voted for and how much you contributed to political campaigns.  Big Government can calculate how much you're worth, what you earn, spend, and owe, whether you pay bills on time, and how much you dropped in the offering plate at church.  He knows what kind of car you drive, where you drive it, and how quickly it guzzles gas.  If you use public transportation, he can see what you packed for the trip and then pat you down.

Trick Language In Senate Gun Bill Turns All Gun Owners Into Felons.  While President Obama and Mayor Bloomberg talk about "gun sales," the actual legislation moving through Congress aims to regulate far more than sales.  It would turn almost every gun owner into a felon.  The trick is that the language under consideration applies not only to sales but also to "transfers," which are defined to include innocent activities such as letting your spouse borrow your gun for a few hours.

Why Are the Feds Trying to Identify All Gun Owners in Missouri?  They keep telling you they have noting but good intentions, that to worry about the feds coming for your guns makes you part of "the black helicopter crowd."  But then things like this happen:  In Missouri, federal investigators have demanded and obtained from the state government — apparently twice — the entire list of Missouri concealed weapon permit holders.

The IRS is reading your email, and doesn't care a court said they can't.  If you aren't encrypting your email, the IRS is probably reading it right now.

It Wouldn't Take Long for Martial Law to be Imposed.  This is how Obama will impose martial law, if he chooses. [...] It will be done by presidential order, as has been the pattern of most of his illegality.

The Militarized DHS: 5 Shocking Purchases.  The Department of Homeland Security has alarmed people, including members of Congress like Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) and Doug LaMalfa (R-Kan.), with the truly massive amounts of militaristic gear that it's buying.  Why does the DHS need enough gear to equip an army on the move?  Is there an ominous reason behind it or is DHS merely stockpiling gear for training purposes?  While we're waiting for Republicans in D.C. to fully investigate the matter, it's worth taking a look at the sort of purchases that have caused so much concern.

Fight for the right to grow raisins.  Since the 1930s, the Agriculture Department has turned California raisin growers into pawns of its Raisin Administrative Committee, which can commandeer up to half of the farmer's crop and then pay them little or nothing for the product.  Marvin Horne, a 67-year-old raisin farmer in Fresno, Calif., was fined almost $700,000 for refusing to surrender control of much of his harvest to the government committee in 2002.  Horne, who has been growing raisins for more than 40 years, has battled the raisin committee for more than a decade and describes its regime as "involuntary servitude."

"You don't know what freedom is, because you've never lost it."
Gun-rights testimony from a communism survivor.  I am always amazed — amazed — when anyone has the gall to dismiss, even laugh off, the suggestion that the right to keep and bear arms is a smart and necessary provision for a free society.  Human history (not to mention current events!) is too chock-full of examples of nefarious regimes violently abusing and controlling their people, and the freedoms enjoyed by American citizens are the exception, not the rule.

U.S. Army lists Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism, and "Islamophobia" as forms of "Religious Extremism".  This is the politically manipulative and ridiculous nonsense that has replaced truthful information about Islam and jihad.  And the implications of it are quite ominous.  Evangelical Christianity, Catholicism and "Islamophobia" are forms of "Religion Extremism" on par with al-Qaeda and Hamas?  Then how long will it be before the Obama Administration goes to war against them, as it has repeatedly declared that it is at war with al-Qaeda?

The Editor says...
That's the handiest part of the "war on terror" — the list of designated enemies can be flexed and expanded at any time.

Army lists Christians, Catholics and Jews as Religious Extremists.  How nice of them to include the Ku Klux Klan on the list of Religious Extremism.  Who knew political ideologies were a religion.

Don't Fire Until You See The Whites of Their Cassocks.  When I first saw the headline, I assumed it must all be a little less obviously bone-crushingly stupid or at any rate more nuanced once you got into the story.  But I invite you to look at the accompanying poster for the Equal Opportunity training brief issued by the Army Reserve in Pennsylvania.  It lists "extremist" groups, starting with "Evangelical Christianity" at Number One, "Al Quaeda" (misspelled under any Roman rendering of Arabic) at Number Five, "Hamas" at Six, and "Catholicism" rounding out the Top Ten.

Has U.S. Army Declared War On Christianity?  It has been said that there are no atheists in foxholes, but like so many things askew in our politically correct modern-day universe, there are apparently some.  An atheist U.S. soldier made a formal complaint about the steeple and crosses on a chapel located at Forward Operation Base Orgun-E.  "We can confirm that those items were removed from the chapel," said a spokesman for the ISAF Joint Command.  "These items were removed out of respect for the beliefs of other faiths."

The Editor says...
Obviously this is just another means of appeasing the Muslims, while diminishing all religious beliefs through homogenization.  There is nothing wrong with standing up for your faith, if it means a lot to you.  The problem with expressing "respect for the beliefs of other faiths" is that some other faiths do not have beliefs that are worthy of respect.

Police Militarization, Abuses of Power, and the Road to Impeachment.  The Internet is abuzz with news that the Department of Homeland Security is purchasing over 1.6 billion rounds of pistol and rifle ammunition, 2,700 Mine Resistant Armored Vehicles (MRAP), and 7,000 fully-automatic "personal defense weapons." [...] Instead of asking why DHS needs 1.6 billion rounds of ammo, the real question we should be asking is, "Why does DHS need 55,000 law enforcement officers?"

Hundreds Of DHS Armored Trucks Are On The Move. Should You Be Freaking Out?  At first glance, it does seem more than a bit strange that the government is buying truly massive amounts of ammunition, body armor and military style vehicles.  That's why even members of Congress like Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.) and Doug LaMalfa (R-Kan.) have become concerned enough to publicly request that the DHS explain itself.

A declaration of war against the American public?  Retired U.S. Army Captain Terry M. Hestilow has written his U.S. senator, Senator John Cornyn, Texas, stating that he believes the Department of Homeland Security is preparing for war against, well, us.  He advances in his letter the proposition that the Dept. of Homeland Security is without legal or constitutional authority to have acquired the war powers it has.
No capitalization in original.  (Must be a public school student.)  Corrected by The Editor.

Technologies of Surveillance.  The NYPD is testing a new type of security apparatus that uses terahertz radiation to detect guns under clothing from a distance.  As Police Commissioner Ray Kelly explained to the "Daily News" back in January, If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation — a weapon, for example — the device will highlight that object.  Ignore, for a moment, the glaring constitutional concerns, which make the stop-and-frisk debate pale in comparison:  virtual strip-searching, evasion of probable cause, potential racial profiling. [...] We're scared of both terrorism and crime, even as the risks decrease; and when we're scared, we're willing to give up all sorts of freedoms to assuage our fears.  Often, the courts go along.

NYPD Commissioner says department will begin testing a new high-tech device that scans for concealed weapons.  The department just received a machine that reads terahertz [sic] — the natural energy emitted by people and inanimate objects — and allows police to view concealed weapons from a distance.  "If something is obstructing the flow of that radiation, for example a weapon, the device will highlight that object," Kelly said.  A video image aired at a Police Foundation breakfast Wednesday [1/23/2013] showed an officer, clad in a New York Jets jersey and jeans, with the shape of a hidden gun clearly visible under his clothing when viewed through the device.

The Editor says...
No doubt the system is being fine-tuned to search for marijuana.  Overlapping objects could easily appear to be a gun, which could lead to an unfortunate misunderstanding.

DHS Buys Another 360,000 More Rounds of Hollow Point Ammunition.  While you were sleeping — DHS bought another 360,000 rounds of hollow point ammunition.

Is it time to ask: What's Homeland Security up to?  Following the statement by presidential candidate Barack Obama about his Civilian National Security Force, Rep. Paul Broun, in an Associated Press interview, said he feared that then President-elect Obama would establish a security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.  He said, "It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he's the one who proposed this National Security Force." [...] The lack of transparency and explanation about the need for such acquisitions certainly has contributed to conspiracy theories similar to that expressed by the congressman.  With all this ammunition, it is useless without a means to discharge it.  The DHS has also attempted concealment of the purchase of 7,000 assault weapons, and has again censored information about its $1.5 million no-bid contract with Remington.  Normally this would be required to be done in an open, full, and competitive bidding process.  What is the emergency that compels them to avoid this legal bidding process?

DHS Won't Answer Congress On Billion Bullet Purchase.  As we have noted, DHS has been buying lots of ammo, enough by one calculation to fight the equivalent of a 24-year Iraqi War.  Peggy Dixon, spokeswoman for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, Ga., told the Associated Press that the training center and others like it run by the Homeland Security Department use as many as 15 million rounds every year, mostly on shooting ranges and in training exercises.  The massive purchases are said to be spread out over five years and due simply to the best practice of saving money by buying in bulk what comes down to five rounds of ammo for every man, woman and child on the U.S.  That's a lot of practice and training.

DHS Has Declared War On the USA.  DHS is not your friend.  They are not combating foreign terrorists.  Their mission is not to protect you from Al Qaeda.  Their mission is to protect the global elite from you and your anticipated failure to submit to the tyranny being rolled out across the country in the form of an administratively imposed martial law.  I am not going to mix words in this report, DHS is an enemy of the state, the legitimate state, not the state that has been hijacked by foreign bankers on behalf of the globalists.  Janet Napolitano is a domestic enemy of the state and she serves under a foreign enemy of the state, "President Obama."

The Great DHS Ammunition Stockpile Myth.  There are dozens of articles hyping government purchases of ammunition over the last nine months.  After spending weeks researching this topic, this is a collection of commonly held myths that are based more on panic than fact.

DHS Denies Massive Ammunition Purchase.  The Department of Homeland Security responded Friday [3/22/2013] to questions from Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., about why the agency was allegedly planning to buy some 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition over the next five years.  DHS told Whispers it regularly fills all of its goods and services requirements at one time because it's cheaper for the agency, and that the 1.6 billion number was misleading because the language of DHS's purchase said it would need "up to" a certain amount.

The Editor says...
Still, the central question remains:  Why does the "Homeland Security" department need that many bullets?  All 1.6 billion rounds are intended for use on the "homeland."  If DHS is expecting an invasion of the "homeland," isn't that what the Army is for?  The U.S. mainland has never been invaded because every foreign country knows we all have our own guns, even if the entire Army is defeated — or told to stand down by a traitorous commander in chief.

DHS buys 1.6 billion rounds "for practice"? But they're hollow-points.  Are hollow points used for target practice?  A former Marine says no.  A former Army Major says 'no.'  Here's the thing, hollow points are safer for everyone but the bad guy you're aiming at.  A hollow point will not exit your target and hit the person behind him/her.  Here's the other thing, hollow points are twice as expensive as the full metal bullet.  So why would they be used for target practice, especially when the taxpayer is paying for it, and practicing with either ... aiming with either, doesn't impact for accuracy of the person 'practicing?'

Retired Army Officer: DHS Must Surrender Their War Weapons to Dept. of Defense.  On Saturday March 23, Terry M. Hestilow, a retired Army officer with nearly 30 years of service under his belt, posted this letter he sent to Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) this week.  Hestilow wants DHS to hand over their war weapons to the Department of Defense.

First bullets, now assault rifles bought by Feds.  The federal government's grab for bullets is now being matched with a buy of assault-style rifles that would be banned for civilians under President Obama's gun control law.  The Drug Enforcement Agency has just issued a solicitation for AR-15-styled rifles that include other elements that the president and his Democratic allies in the Senate would ban:  30-bullet magazines and a pistol grip.

Police Departments Beg And Barter For Ammo.  The nationwide shortage of ammunition has left many police departments scrambling to get their hands on the necessary rounds — with some even bartering among each other.  Meanwhile, Rep. Timothy Huelskamp (R-Kansas) says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to respond to multiple members of Congress asking why DHS bought more than 1.6 billion rounds in the past year.

Family's Home Raided over Facebook Photo of Child's Rifle.  New Jersey police and Dept. of Children and Families officials raided the home of a firearms instructor and demanded to see his guns after he posted a Facebook photo of his 11-year-old son holding a rifle.  "Someone called family services about the photo," said Evan Nappen, an attorney representing Shawn Moore.  "It led to an incredible, heavy-handed raid on his house.  They wanted to see his gun safe, his guns and search his house.  They even threatened to take his kids."  Moore was not arrested or charged.

Family says NJ overreacted to boy's gun photo.  The ruddy-cheeked, camouflage-clad boy in the photo smiles out from behind a pair of glasses, proudly holding a gun his father gave him as a present for his upcoming 11th birthday.  The weapon in the photo, posted by his dad on Facebook, resembles a military-style assault rifle but, his father says, is actually just a .22-caliber copy.  And that, the family believes, is why child welfare case workers and police officers visited the home in Carneys Point last Friday [3/15/2013] and asked to see his guns.

The Other Drone Question: Is Obama Building A Federal Police Force?  [Scroll down]  Put it all together, and it sure looks like Obama is building the backbone for that national police force he wanted the first time he ran for office.  Worse yet, both Democrats and Republicans are now openly discussing a plan to put all the drones flown in America's skies, including those owned and operated by local police departments, under the ultimate supervision of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, consolidating the country's surveillance and law enforcement powers under one powerful federal police jurisdiction.

DHS deploying in Homeland with 'weapons of war'.  Compounded by the administration's now "on the radar" push to further restrict civilian firearm ownership, the recent controversy over the potential use of drones over American soil to kill citizens without due process, and a longstanding and documented train of abuses tied to the militarization of law enforcement activities, those who keep an eye on such things are noticeably distressed.

U.S. to let spy agencies scour Americans' finances.  The Obama administration is drawing up plans to give all U.S. spy agencies full access to a massive database that contains financial data on American citizens and others who bank in the country, according to a Treasury Department document seen by Reuters.

DHS Approves Two $4.5 Million No Bid Contracts For More Weapons and Ammo.  According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm.  DHS also reportedly purchased 2,700 Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicles (MRAPs) to go with their bullet stockpile.  ATK is one company that won a contract with the Department of Homeland Security to provide 450 million rounds of .40 caliber ammunition in 2012.  Now this...

1.6 Billion Rounds Of Ammo For Homeland Security?  The Denver Post, on February 15th, ran an Associated Press article entitled Homeland Security aims to buy 1.6b rounds of ammo, so far to little notice.  It confirmed that the Department of Homeland Security has issued an open purchase order for 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition.  As reported elsewhere, some of this purchase order is for hollow-point rounds, forbidden by international law for use in war, along with a frightening amount specialized for snipers.

What does DHS need with 2,700 armored vehicles?  You see a story like this — and the one about a billion bullets bought by the government — and you wonder why no one in Congress has bothered to look into it.  I am totally unconvinced there are any dark designs by DHS on American citizens or our democracy.  But this seems a colossal waste of money — if true — and isn't ferreting out waste like this what we are paying those jamokes on Capitol Hill for?

Isn't this what Fort Hood is for?
Special Forces axe their plan to infiltrate Utah and tame the indigenous population.  The U.S. Army chose a quiet community in central Utah as the training ground for Special Forces soldiers needing to develop Jason Bourne-like skills and to learn how to build a resistance movement by infiltrating the town leadership.  With the deeply religious culture present in Manti, Utah and the desert landscape of the area, residents were deemed ideal candidates by the Defense Department to role play with soldiers in the 10th Special Forces as part of a two week training exercise in July on unconventional warfare tactics.

DOJ: Children Do Not Need — and Have No Right to — Mothers.  The Obama Justice Department is arguing in the United States Supreme Court that children do not need mothers.  The Justice Department's argument on the superfluity of motherhood is presented in a brief the Obama administration filed in the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which challenges the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative that amended California's Constitution to say that marriage involves only one man and one woman.

Why Is Obama's Growing DHS Army Buying Armored Vehicles?  The sequestration question du jour is why the Department of Homeland Security, busy releasing hundreds, if not thousands, of deportable and detained illegal aliens due to budget constraints, is buying several thousand Mine Resistant Armored Protection (MRAP) vehicles?  And just who are they intended to be used against?

The Tyranny of ObamaCare Continues to Unfold .  According to a lawyer for the Obama Regime, the federal government has the authority to compel you to commit the most appalling crimes against your conscience — even to murder children — regardless of how grievously this would betray your religious beliefs.

The Growing Tyranny of the Political Elite.  So much power has now been concentrated in the hands of a handful of appointees, most of them reporting directly to the president, that it is now doubtful whether America can still be considered a democratic nation.  Government has become the enemy of the people, because it is now in the hands of left-wing elitists who are opposed to traditional American values and who have only contempt for the democratic process.

DOJ to Federal Judge: We Can Force Your Wife to Violate Her Religion.  While presenting an oral argument in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia last fall, a lawyer for the U.S. Justice Department told a federal judge that the Obama administration believed it could force the judge's own wife — a physician — to act against her religious faith in the conduct of her medical practice.  The assertion came in the case of Tyndale House Publishers v. Sebelius, a challenge to the Obama administration's regulation requiring health-care plans to cover sterilizations, contraceptives and abortion-inducing drugs.

Clearing Away the Rubble...with Black Hawks, Tanks, and Loads of Ammo.  I've lived in this country my entire life and never heard of government agencies stockpiling millions of rounds of the hollow-point "training ammo" listed in its solicitations or shooting blanks from military aircraft over our neighborhoods and cities.  Not until now.  None of this makes sense if things are as peachy as the president claims, and I think these circumstances raise enough questions to warrant a congressional hearing.

Veterans Receive Letters From VA Prohibiting Ownership or Purchase of Firearms.  This must be Barack Obama's way of thanking our veterans for serving.  US veterans are receiving letters from the government informing them that they are disabled and not allowed to own, purchase or possess a firearm.  If the veteran does decide to purchase a firearm he will by fined, imprisoned or both.

Clearing Away the Rubble...with Black Hawks, Tanks, and Loads of Ammo.  What's with the Black Hawk helicopters and urban warfare drills?  The Army took over an empty high school in southeast Houston without warning last month in a Department of Defense drill.  Terrified residents mistook blank fire for live rounds.  At a City Council meeting the next day, Mayor Annise Parker decried "a shocking lack of sensitivity to community concerns" that caught even some in the police department by surprise.  About the same time council members were meeting in Houston, "federal law enforcement" agents were rappelling down ropes from military helicopters hovering over the Capitol in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Warrantless Searches Proposed — for the Third Time — by WA Democrats.  In this case, liberal Democrats in the legislature have introduced an assault weapon ban that includes annual inspections of the homes of people that already own assault weapons to make sure that they are being safely stored.  There is no need for a warrant; there is no probable cause requirement; and the Seattle Times columnist writing about this clearly unconstitutional law observes that the sponsors include "Sen. Adam Kline, D-Seattle, a lawyer who typically is hyper-attuned to civil-liberties issues."  After a stream of criticism, the author withdrew the warrantless search section of the bill, calling it a "mistake."

That Could NEVER Happen Here...  On February 19th, 1942 FDR willfully and intentionally violated The Constitution, an act for which he should have been impeached.  I am speaking of the Japanese internment — the rounding up of over 100,000 people who were frog-marched into Concentration Camps on American soil.  Far more than half were American Citizens with a full and complete set of alleged Constitutional Rights.

Feds Buy 2 Billion Rounds of Ammunition.  Something strange is going on.  Federal non-military agencies have bought two billion rounds of ammunition in the last 10 months.  The Obama Administration says that federal law enforcement agents need the ammunition for "mandatory quarterly firearms qualifications and other training sessions."

Mark Levin: US preparing for societal collapse by buying up billions of rounds of ammo.  On Friday's [2/15/2013] night broadcast of his radio show, Mark Levin speculated that the federal government is stockpiling ammunition to ensure the rule of law in the event of a total societal and economic collapse.  On Feb. 8, Investor's Business Daily editorial writer Andrew Malcolm penned a piece about the Department of Homeland Security amassing what he called "sufficient firepower to shoot every American about five times — including illegal immigrants," or more than 1.6 billion bullets.

Homeland Security Now Armed With Enough Ammo for 24 Year-Long Iraq War.  The government reportedly repositioned several of their Homeland Security ammunition containers recently. [...] Mark Levin told his audience the government is buying the vast amounts of ammo to prepare for the collapse of our financial system and our society.

An ominous warning from Canada.  Sun News Network news anchor Brian Lilley warns Americans that if we allow our government to create a national firearms registry, it WILL lead to gun confiscation.  He explains how registration led to confiscation in Canada and how a man who recently defended himself with a gun is now being prosecuted by the government.

Would New Gun Laws Spark Widespread Civil Disobedience?  In his State of the Union address, President Obama doubled down on his gun-control proposals, again demanding that Congress ban so-called "assault weapons" and "high capacity magazines."  This is not a surprise.  What has been a surprise are the increasingly open calls for defiance from gun owners, state legislatures, and local law enforcement.  If the president's proposals become law, he may move the country into turbulent waters we haven't seen in many years.

Utah Resident Forced to Forfeit Gun Used to Stop Home Invasion.  In late January, 64-year old Clare Niederhauser was arrested for shooting at burglars fleeing from his property.  At a plea deal hearing, he apologized for firing the shots, agreed to pay a $700 fine, take a weapons class, and forfeit the weapon he used.  Fellow residents of Layton, UT are coming to the aid of the elderly man, who was arrested after firing a shot at a burglar's vehicle and a fleeing accomplice after they attempted to break in to his property with a crowbar.

Obama's license to snoop.  Uncle Sam is downloading the contents of laptops, cellphones and digital cameras belonging to international travelers.  The widespread snooping may help agents discover whether someone illegally downloaded music before boarding a long flight, but it also has chilling implications for personal privacy.  A report released Jan. 29 by the Department of Homeland Security's internal civil liberties watchdog saw nothing wrong with the searches.

A Property Rights Revolution for 2013.  Martha Boneta had a business license for her tiny farm store in scenic Paris, Virginia, yet she was threatened with fines of up to $5,000 per violation per day for selling organic tea and wool products crafted from her rescued animals, and for hosting a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls.  Officials from Fauquier County using zoning ordinances to bully Mrs. Boneta never obtained a warrant nor set foot on her property to gather actual evidence.  Instead a county bureaucrat relied on unscrupulous, unlawful methods to make these charges against Mrs. Boneta.  Her store remains closed out of fear of further uncertain charges carrying even criminal penalties.

Yes, he is a tyrant, just like the Founders warned us against.  [Scroll down]  PDWs of the kind desired by DHS are very fascinating short-range firearms, with a very specific mission profile.  The question is, what sort of mission profile would benefit from extremely short rifles for DHS?  There are only two that I can easily think of.  One is for the security details of high-value individuals, which isn't a publicly-known mission of DHS, and would appear to beyond the scope of their mandate.  The other use for such weapon in the DHS's hands is "door-kicking;" close quarters combat inside structures.  Why does the Department of Homeland Security need to outfit so many agents for close quarters combat within the United States?

Mold? Leaky Roof? Clutter? Obama Administration Says All Americans Must Have 'Healthy Housing'.  Under the broad banner of "health," the federal government not only is telling Americans what to eat, it's also telling us to make our homes safer.  This week, the Obama administration released a "bold new vision for addressing the nation's health and economic burdens caused by preventable hazards associated with the home."

The Editor says...
The maintenance of my house is my business, not the government's — especially if I'm the one paying for repairs and upkeep.

DHS Ammo Purchases: Gun Control by Another Name?  According to reports, the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled over 1.6 billion rounds of ammo for its various agencies, and one of the worst side effects of this appears to be a shortage of ammo for private gun owners.  The question is — what if the shortage is intentional?

Why are the feds loading up on so much ammo?  In a puzzling, unexplained development, the Obama administration has been buying and storing vast amounts of ammunition in recent months, with the Department of Homeland Security just placing another order for an additional 21.6 million rounds.  Several other agencies of the federal government also began buying large quantities of bullets last year.  The Social Security Administration, for instance, not normally considered on the frontlines of anything but dealing with seniors, explained that its purchase of millions of rounds was for special agents' required quarterly weapons qualifications.  They must be pretty poor shots.

Is DHS Ammo For Obama's "National Security Force"?  As Andrew Malcolm has noted on these pages, the Department of Homeland Security has been buying lots of ammo, enough by one calculation to fight the equivalent of a 24-year Iraqi War.  Some have speculated about a link between the stockpiling between candidate Obama's off-prompter campaign remarks about a national security force and the stockpiling by DHS of more than 1.6 billion (with a 'b') bullets.  DHS has been buying more than bullets.  As [IBD] noted in a recent editorial, DHS is seeking to acquire 7,000 5.56x45mm NATO "personal defense weapons" (PDW) — also known as "assault weapons" when owned by civilians.

Why is the Department of Homeland Security buying so many bullets?  Online rumors about a big government munitions purchase are true, sort of.  The Homeland Security Department wants to buy more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the next four or five years.  It says it needs them — roughly the equivalent of five bullets for every person in the United States — for law enforcement agents in training and on duty.

Mark Levin: Obama Administration is Preparing for Economic and Social Collapse.  This topic has been right-wing blog-fodder for many months, but when the well respected Andrew Malcolm of Investor's Business Daily finally asked, Why are the feds loading up on so much ammo?  on Feb 8, syndicated radio talk show host, Mark Levin took notice. [...] When the welfare checks stop coming, when those EBT cards stop working, when the ObamaPhones turn off — what are those people going to do?  They are going to do what they always do.  Loot and riot in the streets.

Waters: We Have 'Database That Has 'Everything On Everyone'.  "The President has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life," Representative Maxine Waters told Roland Martin on Monday.  "That's going to be very, very powerful," Waters said.  "That database will have information about everything on every individual on ways that it's never been done before and whoever runs for President on the Democratic ticket has to deal with that. [..."]

This Dog Can Send You to Jail.  [Scroll down]  He said that he was going to write me a warning, and I said, 'OK, that's fine.'  He asked me if I had any drugs in the car.  I said, 'No, sir, I don't do drugs, and I don't associate with people who do.'  He asked me would I mind if he searched my vehicle, and I said, 'Well, yes, I would mind if you searched my vehicle.'"  But thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, the deputy did not have to take no for an answer.  In the 2005 case Illinois v. Caballes, the Court declared that "the use of a well-trained narcotics-detection dog... during a lawful traffic stop generally does not implicate legitimate privacy interests."

The Canary in the Culture.  It may seem that asking Catholics and others who believe that abortion-inducing chemicals are tools of murder and as such something they cannot directly pay for is not that big of a deal.  That's precisely why the HHS mandate is the canary.  It's true that the HHS mandate is not on the same level as China's forced abortion policy.  But the core philosophical assumption that powers the HHS mandate, even in its latest revision, would allow the government to institute a forced abortion policy or reinstitute slavery.

Court Silences Man Who Painted Protest Sign on His House.  William Bowden painted "Screwed by the Town of Cary" on his house after a road-widening project (allegedly) directed runoff onto his property, damaging his North Carolina home.  Within hours, zoning officials paid him a visit, ordering him to remove the sign or pay fines of up to $500 for each day of noncompliance.  When Bowden sued, the town argued the sign was a safety hazard for passing motorists.  Officials presented no evidence for this assertion — no studies or experts.  An estimated 15,000 drivers passed the sign every day for months and, according to court testimony, had precisely zero accidents.

The Tyranny Before Us.  Adolph Hitler was not always a tyrant.  As he rose to political power his vision for a better Germany lifted his nation from the depths of a severe depression and the humiliation of defeat.  But more importantly, he gave his countrymen hope for better future while he returned to them their pride in their homeland, the pride they so passionately desired.  Tyrants are not uniformly evil.  They are capable of great good and small kindnesses.  They smile, they laugh and they love their children.  But eventually they embrace the evil which defines their tyranny, and then those who gave them their power begin to pay a terrible price.  First a tyrant tells you he cares for you, then he presumes to think for you, then he simply tells you what to do.  This is the essence of tyranny.

Cuomo: Gun Control Would Have Never Happened If Public Was Allowed to Review It.  In order to pass the New York SAFE Act, which substantially erodes a citizens Constitutionally granted Second Amendment right to bear arms, Governor Cuomo had to circumvent his own state Constitution.  That document has an amendment requiring a three-day public review of all laws.  By issuing a "Message of Necessity", Cuomo was able to pass the law without public scrutiny, with the Senate actually voting on the bill a mere 30 minutes after receiving it.  The process led to State Assemblyman Steve McLaughlin to say that, "Moscow would be proud of our state Legislature and Executive Chamber, but every New Yorker should be outraged."

Trusting Your Own Government (or Not).  Many in the media and academia who largely reject American Exceptionalism want us to believe instead that our government is exceptional in light of the history of governments.  In how easily they dismiss the Second Amendment as being obsolete, they are telling us that there are no circumstances whatsoever in which some future American government would ever turn feral.  They are willing to stake the lives of their children and grandchildren on that assertion.

Obama Administration: We Will Still Force Christians to Act Against Their Faith.  The Department of Health and Human Services on Friday [2/1/2013] set the stage for a massive showdown between the federal government of the United States and American Christians who believe the government has no right to force them to act against their faith by mandating that they buy, provide or facilitate health-care coverage that includes sterilizations, contraception, or abortion-inducing drugs.

Web of environmental rules threatens Gulf Coast businesses with jail, steep fines.  According to a new report by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, thousands of people are being prosecuted for environmental crimes every day they didn't know were even on the books.  They've been threatened, fined and thrown in jail.  The trend is especially prominent along the Gulf Coast, but is becoming a national issue.

Army drill scares residents on Houston's south side.  The sight of Army helicopters and the sound of gunfire created a lot of concern Monday afternoon [1/28/2013] in one Houston neighborhood. [...] The U.S. Army along with other agencies took over the old Carnegie Vanguard High School near Scott and Airport.  There were armed men in fatigues, plenty of weapons and what many thought were real live rounds.

Feinstein Gun Control Bill to Exempt Government Officials.  Not everyone will have to abide by Senator Dianne Feinstein's gun control bill.  If the proposed legislation becomes law, government officials and others will be exempt.  "Mrs. Feinstein's measure would exempt more than 2,200 types of hunting and sporting rifles; guns manually operated by bolt, pump, lever or slide action; and weapons used by government officials, law enforcement and retired law enforcement personnel," the Washington Times reports.

Emphasis in original.

New York Gun Owners [Defy] "Assault Weapons" Registration Law.  New York Governor Cuomo the Junior may have rushed through his new gun control law with such speed that police will avoid its restrictions only through the blessed miracle of selective enforcement, but he may have a little trouble getting the state's firearms owners to attend his party.  The new law requires owners of those scary-looking rifles known as "assault weapons" to register their property (amidst assurances that, oh no, the registration lists will never be used for confiscation), but gun rights activists are actively urging gun owners to defy the new mandate.

Empty gun stores shelves, empty words and memories of ObamaCare.  There is a run on firearms and ammunition and its scope is beyond what the world has ever witnessed.  In the last two months, American citizens have purchased enough guns to outfit the entire Chinese and Indian armies, combined.  Membership in the NRA grew by a quarter million in one month.

Gun stores running low on popular ammunition.  People who have managed to buy a gun despite the high demand and empty shelves at many area gun stores may now be facing a new problem.  Gun stores around Nashville are running out of ammunition.

Gun Owners Must Contact Schools In Proposed Legislation.  Missouri state Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal wants parents to notify schools if they own a gun.  Anyone enrolling in a private or charter school will need to notify the school district or governing body if they own a firearm.  The state senator also wants to make failing to prevent guns getting into the wrong hands a class A misdemeanor.  If someone kills or injures another person with the weapon then it would be a class D felony.  That means spending 2-7 years in prison if someone is injured or killed with your gun if it is stolen or unsecured.

Litmus Test for Top Officers: Willingness to Fire on Americans?  [Jim] Garrow is a respected activist who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his work rescuing baby girls from one-child China.  His source is "one of America's foremost military heroes."  This certainly gives the urgent drive to disarm law-abiding citizens some perspective.  It could also help us make sense of massive ammunition purchases by the increasingly frightening Department of Homeland Security.

NJ town proposes flag ban.  The Hudson County town of West New York is considering a widespread sign regulation that could include banning American flags from being flown.  The Board of Commissioners have a draft ordinance for "General Sign Regulations".  Among the prohibited signs under the proposal would be "Flags, banners and pennants."

Gov't: Food allergies may be disability under law.  The Justice Department said in a recent settlement with a Massachusetts college that severe food allergies can be considered a disability under the law.

No Guns, No Freedom, No Country.  Will the gun rights issue be the tipping point for the American public, (over half of which voted for the alien traitor in the White House)?  One major issue after another, robbing Americans of Constitutional rights, has passed before the treacherous Congress of the United States, and no successful effort has been made.  Will the gun control laws be the straw that breaks the camel's back?

Guns and the Government.  The Supreme Court has ruled consistently and countless times that the "police power," that is, the power to regulate for health, safety, welfare and morality, continues to be reposed in the states, and that there is no federal police power.

Study: Environmental regulations turning outdoorsmen into eco-felons.  Five Gulf Coast states have over 1,000 laws that allow prosecutors to target people with criminal sanctions over rather minor infractions related to the environment and outdoor living, a new study shows, even in cases where the accused did not cause any harm or knowingly break the law.

Plead Guilty or Go to Prison for Life.  Chris Williams, a Montana medical marijuana grower, faces at least five years in federal prison when he is sentenced on February 1.  The penalty seems unduly severe, especially because his business openly supplied marijuana to patients who were allowed to use it under state law.  Yet five years is a cakewalk compared to the sentence Williams originally faced, which would have kept the 38-year-old father behind bars for the rest of his life.

This Metamorphosis Will Require a Permit.  [Scroll down]  Yet it wasn't until the workmen we hired had ripped apart most of the first floor that the phrase "building permit" first wafted past us.  Turns out we needed one.  "What, to repair our own house we need a building permit?"  Of course.  Before you could get a building permit, however, you had to be approved by the Zoning Authority.  And Zoning — citing FEMA regulations — would force you to bring the house "up to code," which in many cases meant elevating the house by several feet.  Now, elevating your house is very expensive and time consuming — not because of the actual raising, which takes just a day or two, but because of the required permits.

Obama's Panicked Gun Control Won't Solve Gun Violence.  House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, in an interview last week, very tellingly said regarding new gun-control laws, "the safety of our country cannot go as slow as the slowest ship in the House of Representatives or even the United States Senate."  Translation:  Democrats are determined to bypass the normal, orderly process of congressional hearings and votes by the elected representatives of the American people.  And how coincidental that the House of Representatives has a Republican majority.

Biden: Obama May Use 'Executive Orders' to Crack Down on Guns.  Earlier today [1/9/2013], Vice President Joe Biden addressed the ongoing discussion and debate surrounding gun control.  Rather than relying strictly upon the legislative process, he said that Obama "is going to act" — and potentially without Congress' blessing.  Before meeting with gun safety and victims' groups, the vice president told reporters that "executive orders" may be an avenue that the administration will use to take swift action on firearms.

When the government tells you how to pray, or what to exclude from your prayers, you live in tyranny.
Politically Correct Checklist for Those Praying at Inauguration?  Once again, liberal activists have demanded a theological litmus test for the pastor who will pray at President Obama's Inauguration ceremony.  Pastor Louie Giglio of Passion City Church in Atlanta has been forced to withdraw his acceptance to pray at the inauguration because activists found a sermon from the mid-1990s where he preached the Biblical doctrine defining marriage as one man and one woman.  Because Giglio applied that doctrine to homosexual behavior, activists howled that he must not pray at the inauguration.

Obama Power Grabs on the Horizon.  Almost a dozen new gun control bills were introduced on the first day of the new congressional session.  Joe Biden's task force continues its frenzied pace of activity, even as it broadens its scope far beyond the reinstatement of the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, moving into such arenas as universal background checks for gun buyers, a national database tracking the movement and sale of weapons and measures that Obama could enact by executive order.  Yet such an imperious manner of governance will not be limited to gun control.

Biden: Obama Will Bypass Congress for Gun Control.  Vice President Joe Biden, who has been charged by President Obama with running the task force to prevent situations like the Sandy Hook massacre, announced that he wouldn't be raising legislative solutions at all.  Instead, he said that President Obama might simply declare his preferred gun policy the law of the nation.

Krauthammer: 'Unconstitutional' gun confiscation 'would cause insurrection in the country'.  On Wednesday's "Special Report," Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer acknowledged a link between gun ownership and gun violence, but said Americans would revolt if Congress implemented sweeping, unprecedented gun control legislation.  "I think we are going to end up exactly where we started," Krauthammer said.

Let it begin here.  Word has come down in recent days that the President of the United States may attempt to gut the Second Amendment via an executive order, reclassifying popular self-loading firearms as Title II weapons the same as hand grenades, rocket launchers, and crew-served machine guns.  In doing so, he would force you to register your firearms with the Federal government, pay a draconian tax for merely keeping what you already own, and shred your right to privacy, allowing the federal government into your home unannounced to "check up" on or confiscate your guns at any moment they see fit.

What To Expect On Gun Control In The Coming Months.  If new gun control measures pass to the President's desk (in which case he will surely sign the measures into law), it means more than just new background checks.  All semi-automatic firearms will be taxed, required to be submitted to the ATF for approval, controlled from crossing state lines, and prohibited from being bequeathed to your children or grandchildren in your wills.  Violation of any of these rules will turn you into an instant felon.  Of course, this would mean a resistance for which America isn't prepared.

Politicized, Militarized Homeland Security Department Unveils New Panzer Division.  To the list of recent unsettling developments at DHS and other federal agencies — such as FEMA camp expansions, massive DHS ammo buys, a creepy new biometric surveillance system just being rolled-out by the FBI, and drones buzzing our backyards with cameras — we can now add the appearance across the country of not just heavily-armored military grade Humvees, but 'GLS' armored personnel carriers (APC's) such as in the picture [here] — 2500 of them to be exact.

Nobody needs an assault weapon!  We are told that it is a small thing to give up semi-automatic rifles, which the political and cooperating media elites will dutifully call "assault weapons," even though nobody can quite define the term.  In any case, we are told, nobody needs an "assault weapon" with a thirty-round magazine.  Well, actually, almost nobody needs them.  Apparently, Mr. Security Agent and his comrades need them, lots of them.  Tens of thousands of new "assault weapons," enough to shoot all of the billions (with a "b") of .223 and .40 caliber hollow-point bullets recently purchased by our federal law enforcement agencies in unprecedented new acquisitions.  Are we suddenly expecting a foreign invasion I missed reading about?  Wouldn't that be the job of the military?  Why do our federal law enforcement agencies suddenly need tens of thousands of "assault weapons" and billions of new hollow-point (not training) bullets, many times more than in previous years?

Who (or What) Are They Looking For?  TSA is omnipresent.  Trains, planes and automobiles.  Now railroads and buses.  Next it will be dog walkers and model airplanes.  Homeland Security peers through every remote camera and surveillance platform.  The federal decision to see and record everything is approaching total coverage.  You're even recorded and surveilled in many national parks.  Who, or what, are they looking for?

State Rep's anti-Free Stater post draws local, national criticism.  A Democratic state lawmaker's recent web post critical of the libertarian-leaning Free State Project has gone virtually viral in the past few days and, as one might expect, has drawn criticism.

New Hampshire Legislator: We Need to 'Restrict Freedoms' of Conservatives.  A New Hampshire legislator wants her constituents to know that she feels conservatives are the "single biggest threat" her state faces today, and she wants to use her powers to legislate to "pass measures that will restrict" the freedoms of Granite State conservatives.

Gov't Posts 61 New Federal Regulations, Including 500-Page Rule to Protect 'Critical Habitat' of Flycatcher.  The federal government posted 61 new regulations in the Federal Register on Friday [1/4/2013], including the Department of Interior's 500-page document outlining a new rule to protect the southwestern willow flycatcher's "critical habitat" in six states. [...] "The effect of this regulation is to conserve the flycatcher's habitat under the Endangered Species Act," the summary of the regulation states.

Something funny happened on the way to tyranny.  [Scroll down]  There were no less than six clerks working feverishly with the dozen or so customers, so I simply stepped to the side and walked the aisles.  The cases of ammunition that typically lined the far wall were picked to pieces. [...] Every weapon of military utility designed within the past 100+ years was gone.  This isn't a society stocking up on certain guns because they fear they may be banned.  This is a society preparing for war.

What you'll see in the rebellion.  Let me explain, gun grabbers, how your confiscatory fantasy plays out.  Let us imagine for a moment that a sweeping gun control bill similar to the one currently suggested is passed by the House and Senate, and signed into law by a contemptuous President.  Perhaps 50-100 million firearms currently owned by law-abiding citizens will become contraband with the stroke of a pen.  Citizens will either register their firearms, or turn them in to agents of the federal government, or risk becoming criminals themselves.  Faced with this choice, millions will indeed register their arms. [...] Tens of millions of Americans will refuse to comply with an order that is clearly a violation of the explicit intent of the Second Amendment.

Feinstein: More Power, More Money to ATF to Register All Guns.  As the day on which Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) "assault weapon" ban will be introduced draws closer, another troubling aspect of it has come to light — namely, that it will give new funding and expanded powers to the ATF for the purpose of registering all guns and gun owners in the country.  In other words, in addition to banning "assault weapons" and handguns like Glocks, Sig Sauers, Smith & Wesson M&Ps, and H&Ks, the legislation will also empower the ATF to be sure every gun is placed on a government registry.

Rand Paul Condemns Indefinite Detention.  Referring to indefinite detention as "an abomination," Senator Paul urged his colleagues to vote against the FY 2013 NDAA Conference Report.

Gun Control and the Long Night of Tyranny: a Cuban Exile Speaks.  One of the first steps historically taken by would-be totalitarians is to disarm the population to be ruled:  the Bolsheviks did this in Russia, the Nazis in Germany and the occupied countries, the Maoists in China, the Castroites in Cuba, and on and on.  In some cases, as in Cuba, weapons of limited military value, like single- or double-barrelled shotguns, are allowed — as a privilege and under permit — to be possessed by the well-behaved ... though permitted ammunition is generally limited to birdshot.

Oliver Stone to RT: 'US has become an Orwellian state'.  "He has taken all the Bush changes he basically put them into the establishment, he has codified them," Stone told RT.  "It is an Orwellian state.  It might not be oppressive on the surface, but there is no place to hide.  Some part of you is going to end up in the database somewhere."  According to [historian Peter] Kuznick, American citizens live in a fish tank where their government intercepts more than 1.7 billion messages a day.  "That is email, telephone calls, other forms of communication."

Welcome to the Salazar Wilderness.  [Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar] seems to think that turning a tiny portion of the lovely coastline of California's Marin County (part of the National Seashore) into the first marine wilderness in the continental United States also requires destroying a family-run oyster operation that has conducted business in the same spot for eight decades.  So Mr. Salazar recently ordered the business to close within 90 days — a decision that will spell ruin for the Lunny family, owners of Drake's Bay Oyster Farm, which supplies 40% of California's oysters.

Oliver Stone: Obama-era America is 'Orwellian'.  In an interview with the English language Russian news website RT on Friday [12/28/2012], the oft-controversial filmmaker said the Obama administration was as guilty of violating the Constitution and the rule of law as the previous Bush administration.  "He has taken all the Bush changes.  He basically put them into the establishment.  He has codified them," Mr. Stone said.

Too Much Bipartisanship.  The 112th Congress has not been a bright one for our civil liberties.  While new champions have emerged like Rand Paul and Mike Lee in the Senate and House freshmen like Justin Amash, in national security state matters, the majority of both parties are in agreement.  First, there was the so-called "Patriot" Act reauthorization.  After a drawn out fight over 2011, the statists extended three controversial provisions until 2015.  Then came the FY 2012 NDAA and Section 1021 authorizing indefinite detention of American citizens, effectively turning America into a "battlefield" where anyone captured may be considered an enemy combatant.

Feinstein unveils sweeping gun-control agenda.  Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., plans to introduce sweeping gun-control legislation at the beginning of the congressional session in January. [...] The senator describes the proposal as a version of the assault-weapons ban that expired in 2004.  Feinstein's legislation ban scores of firearms, including military-style "assault" weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices.  It also calls for the creation of a federal register that would require millions of gun owners to be fingerprinted and photographed.

The 10 Worst Regulations of 2012.  Most of these rules increase the cost of living, others hinder job creation, and many erode freedom.  Not all regulations are unwarranted, of course, but increasingly, the rules imposed by the government have less to do with health and safety and more to do with whether government or individuals get to make basic pocketbook and lifestyle decisions that affect them.  And it is not just the regulators who are to blame.  Congress writes laws that give unelected bureaucrats the broad powers they wield.

The latest from "DHS Insider".  As Fred states here and I have to agree with his thoughts, make of this what you will.  There are too many incidents, reports, things that just do not 'add up' and when one looks at massive ammo purchases by numerous government agencies, the 'facts' about Newton NOT adding up as reported by the LSM, one had better be thinking about the coming collapse and worse.

The Day The War Began.  If you were a farmer without a radio during Pearl Harbor, you would not have known that the world had just gone to war and it would not end without the deaths of millions and millions.  If you don't know that the American Civil War Deux just started, I pity you for you have no radio. [...] You do not see what is coming your way.  You are going to be drafted into a war you have not even heard of, yet.  You have experienced Pearl Harbor without knowing it.

Presumed Guilty in the Name of Fighting Terrorism.  [Scroll down]  The change in the standards by which the NCTC now is able to troll data means every action a person takes that is logged into a government database, is subject to scrutiny for criminal behavior.  Probable cause or reasonable suspicion — constitutional standards for invading a person's privacy by government snooping — are irrelevant in such a scenario.  We are all presumed guilty of engaging in potential terrorist acts.

Hey Senator Feinstein, You Say You Want A Revolution?  Senator Feinstein and her statist friends want to make America safer by taking guns away from honest people who don't commit gun crimes.  Such is liberal logic.  Feinstein, who knows as much about guns as she does fiscal responsibility, is going to introduce a bill that will "stop the sale, transfer, importation and manufacturing of military-style assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition feeding devices."  Her bill will also affect handguns and require registration of firearms with photos, fingerprints, makes and models, and serial numbers.  I know you'll all be lining up to comply!

Feinstein's Gun Control Bill Will Trigger The Next American Revolution.  Over the past two years alone, multiple draconian policies have been enacted through executive order by the Obama Administration which build upon the civil liberty crushing actions of George W. Bush and press far beyond.  The Patriot Acts, the FISA domestic spy bill, the bailouts of corrupt international banks, attempts at CISPA and SOPA, actions like the NDAA authorizing the treatment of U.S. citizens as "enemy combatants" without rights to due process; all paint a picture so clear only a one-celled amoeba (or your average suburban yuppie) would not see it.

Feinstein: All Gun Owners Should Be Registered, Fingerprinted.  Even as news that Sen. Dianne Feinstein's (D-CA) "Assault Weapon" ban is really a ban on some of the most popular civilian-owned handguns in the U.S., details of her promised legislation also show that it will require gun owners to register their guns with the government. [...] This will require not simply the registration of the specific gun's serial number but also a photograph and fingerprints of the owner as well.  This would necessarily take away the ability of people to sell guns in private sales to friends or family members too.

Democrats Seek the Holy Grail of Gun Control.  Dianne Feinstein has announced that she will introduce sweeping gun control legislation in the Senate.  Under her bill, countless standard handguns apparently would now be banned, and for the first time a federal register that may include many millions of gun owners, fingerprinted and photographed, would be created.

December 27, 2012: The Day Freedom Died in America.  Just two days after Christmas, the American Senate is coming for your guns, in a move that will toss the Founding Fathers' cherished Second Amendment into the dustbin of history.

Softening up the public for the end of the Second Amendment:
Arne Duncan: 'We Have Common Values That Go Far Beyond the Constitutional Right to Bear Arms'.  Americans value their children, their safety, and the right to pursue their dreams without fear — and those "common values" trump the rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said last Friday [12/21/2012] in a speech at a Washington, D.C., elementary school.

Just Freeze! EPA Says Burning Wood Is Bad, but so Is Natural Gas, Coal, Oil.  So, you're living in Fairbanks, Alaska, and it's 45 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit.  The high today will be -39 degrees below zero.  The weather services all project lots more double-digit minus numbers in the coming days and weeks, with dips into the minus 50s and 60s.  Heating oil prices are killing your family budget, so you crank up the wood stove and start burning some of the firewood you collected last summer.  Uh-oh!  Now you're in trouble!

What about bubble-gum cigars?
Old fashioned candy store threatened with fine for selling sugar cigarettes.  Owners of an old-school soda shop in St. Paul, Minnesota, have been warned to kick the habit and stop stocking novelty candy cigarettes.  City inspectors threatened a misdemeanor citation and $500 fine if Lynden's soda fountain is caught selling the fake smokes again.

The coming drone attack on America.  Drones on domestic surveillance duties are already deployed by police and corporations.  In time, they will likely be weaponised.

Did someone mention drones?

Beware! Regulations Incoming!  The problem, of course, is not simply the number and cost of new regulations.  The larger concern is about the way these regulations are actually being made and enforced.  The process is often unconstitutional and empowers bureaucrats instead of American citizens.

The government already controls too much.  Last week, a lengthy article in the Wall Street Journal detailed how the federal government's "little-known National Counterterrorism Center" can now, under new authority, examine "the government files of U.S. citizens for possible criminal behavior, even if there is no reason to suspect them."  It "can copy entire government databases — flight records, casino-employee lists, the names of Americans hosting foreign-exchange students and many others," keeping "data about innocent U.S. citizens for up to five years ... to analyze it for suspicious patterns of behavior."

Mandatory Voting: Is This The Obama Administration's Goal?  [Scroll down]  Remember this as the Obama administration mounts a drive to federalize voter registration, a step toward making voting mandatory.  Attorney General Eric Holder considers it self-evidently alarming that 60 million adult citizens were not registered in 2008.  He wants Washington to register everyone automatically.

IRS rule threatens to shut down the small businesses that prepare tax returns.  Small business owners who prepare tax returns for a living every year must either seek additional training or close their doors due to a new Internal Revenue Service regulation set to take effect at the end of this year.

Marxist EPA Wants to Regulate Water As a Pollutant in Virginia.  Ken Cuccinelli likes to call the EPA the "Employment Prevention Agency."  In addition to preventing job creation, the EPA wants other peoples' private property and their money for non-existant or minor problems.

More information — none of it favorable — about the EPA.

U.S. Can't Afford Obama's No-Debt-Limit Credit Card.  The president tells business leaders he wants to do away with Congress when it comes to raising the country's legal debt limit and be able to do it all by himself.

Man sits in jail while unable to pay alimony that exceeds his income.  For nearly seven weeks, John Waldorf has been in the county jail on a "non-support" charge for allegedly failing to pay alimony.  He claims he is a victim of New Jersey's "antiquated" alimony system and many people agree with him.  In late October a small protest was held outside the courthouse.

Regulators R Us: Feds Crank Up Regulations — on Everything.  Get set for the Obama administration's post-election tsunami of business-killing, job-killing, economy-killing federal regulations.  It's already begun.  Take a look at www.regulations.gov, the administration's regulatory website.  The home page informs us that in the last 90 days, the administration has posted 5,934 new regulations. [...] A cost analysis by the Small Business Administration in 2008 found that the cost to our national economy of compliance with federal regulations was an astronomical $1.75 trillion!

New federal law may make replacing your furnace much costlier.  Replacing an aging furnace could cost homeowners thousands of dollars more after May 1, when new federal energy efficiency standards take effect for northern states, including New Jersey.  The new energy-efficient natural gas furnaces aren't that much more expensive themselves, but they must be vented directly to an outside wall rather than through the chimney, which can increase installation costs dramatically, home heating contractors say.

Your Future in Obama World.  Right now, you can wander the USA all day without running into a person in military uniform or a government office more threatening than the Post Office.  That may change.  Recently, the federal government has been issuing regulations at the rate of 68 per day, controlling healthcare, food, energy, education, law enforcement, travel and transportation, commerce, communications, the environment et cetera.  Don't expect its attention to detail to stop anytime soon.  ObamaCare calls for creation of 159 new agencies or programs.

State Dept. Official to Attend OIC Meeting Today on Banning 'Defamation of Islam'.  After the disaster of trying to blame an obscure YouTube video for the attack on the CIA operation in Benghazi and Obama's prophecy at the UN that "the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam," Hillary Clinton's State Department appears to be taking another run at the First Amendment free speech rights of American citizens.

The $4,000 Trash Can.  [Martha] Boneta, a Fauquier County farmer, hosted a birthday party for eight 10-year-old girls — an occasion for which she lacked the proper "events permit."  For this, the county slammed her with a $5,000 fine.  She also got in hot water for selling items, such as yarn and birdhouses, that she had not made herself.

California vs. Texas.  Certainly, many government workers are working in legitimate government functions: police, courts, and prisons.  But what are the others doing? They are creating regulations, checking paperwork, inspecting businesses, and generally putting obstacles in the path of citizens living their lives and operating their businesses.  California has substantially more people erecting these arbitrary barriers than Texas.  In short, California has more people snooping and prying into the lives of its citizens than Texas does.

6,125 Proposed Regulations and Notifications Posted in Last 90 Days — Average 68 per Day.  It's Friday morning, and so far today, the Obama administration has posted 165 new regulations and notifications on its reguations.gov website.  In the past 90 days, it has posted 6,125 regulations and notices — an average of 68 a day.

Obama Administration Makes A Mockery Of The Rule Of Law.  Arbitrary ObamaCare waivers are bad enough by themselves.  They are truly ominous as part of a more general practice of this administration to create arbitrary powers that permit them to walk roughshod over the basic rights of the American people.  The checks and balances of the Constitution have been evaded time and time again by the Obama administration, undermining the fundamental right of the people to determine the laws that govern them, through their elected representatives.  You do not have a self-governing people when huge laws are passed too fast for the public to even know what is in them.

Federal Judge OKs Installation of Surveillance Cameras Without a Warrant.  On October 29, a federal district court judge ruled that police can enter onto privately owned property and install secret surveillance cameras without a warrant.  The judge did set forth a few guidelines that must be followed before such activity would be permissible, but the fact that such a scenario is accepted as constitutional by a federal judge is a serious setback for privacy and for the Fourth Amendment.

A National Security Hybrid.  B.H. Obama has issued 139 executive orders since becoming president.  Some are fairly benign; many are deeply troubling, specifically as to the wholesale consolidation of emergency powers into the office of the presidency.  The newest executive order is a breathtaking assault on entire sections of Constitution and the rights, freedoms, and liberties of all Americans, carefully hidden within the stultifying and banal language of bureaucratic doublespeak.

Video: Truck Driver Stands Up To Unconstitutional Checkpoint.  A truck driver who passed through an unconstitutional checkpoint 30 miles from the Mexican border stood up for his 4th Amendment rights by refusing to answer questions in another example of how Americans are re-asserting their liberties. [...] This is just the latest in a series of confrontations caught on video showing Americans standing up to 4th Amendment-violating checkpoints that are creeping further and further inside America, in some cases as much as 100 miles from the border.

The food police inhibit freedom of speech:
Bad Rules.  Steve Cooksey started a blog about low-carb nutrition, which included "Dear Abby"-style advice.  The state told him that giving such advice without a license is illegal!  Cooksey stopped, but enlisted help from the Institute for Justice, the libertarian public-interest law group.  Together they sued the state for the free-speech violation.  Unfortunately, a federal court dismissed the suit, saying that since the state took no formal action, Cooksey was not harmed.  IJ will appeal.

Good news: Interior Department creating their very own climate-change committee.  I'd bet big money that this is not going to be a dispassionate, balanced committee looking for ways to keep bureaucrats noses out of Americans' private property and businesses; rather, it's going to 'inform' the Interior Department's already-made-up collective mind with contrived reasons to further regulate, control, and acquire land.

Interior Dept. creates climate change committee.  The Obama administration is creating an advisory committee on climate change to advise the federal government on future operations.  The Interior Department announced the new bureaucracy in a recent federal registry notice along with a call for nominations by Nov. 19 to seat the 25-member board.  The notice specifically states membership will be comprised of state and local government employees, non-governmental organizations, Native American tribes, academia, individual landowners and business interests.

The Mayor of East St. Louis is the New Baby Sitter.  A new restriction passed by Mayor Alvin Parks of East St. Louis has enacted a new curfew and dress code for the city's youth.  Anyone under 18 that is caught out of class during school hours, outside after 10pm or out of the house or school anytime without a parent or guardian, they will be arrested.  Additionally, the mayor decided that youth should also be prohibited from wearing any blue or red.

Why Sebelius Campaigns So Hard for Her Boss — and Why He Won't Fire Her.  In fact, if the president makes no appointments, or the Senate rejects the president's appointees, then all of IPAB's considerable powers fall to one person: the Secretary of Health and Human Services.  The HHS secretary would effectively become an economic dictator, with more power over the health care sector than any chamber of Congress.  If Obama wins in November, he would have zero incentive to appoint any IPAB members.

Another Obama Executive Order Allows Seizure of Americans' Bank Accounts.  The latest executive order (EO) emanating from the White House October 9 now claims the power to freeze all bank accounts and stop any related financial transactions that a "sanctioned person" may own or try to perform — all in the name of "Iran Sanctions." [...] And if the individual so "sanctioned" decides that the ruling is unfair, he isn't allowed to sue. In two words, the individual has successfully been robbed blind.  But it's all very legal.  The EO says the president has his "vested authority" to issue it, and then references endless previous EOs, including one dating back to 1995 which declared a "state of emergency" (which hasn't been lifted):  Executive Order 12957.

Read This While You Can.  Read this column by Diana West while you can — while we still have journalists brave enough to write the truth, and before the truth is censored.  West, a syndicated columnist and author, noted an astonishing statement within Obama's speech to the UN General Assembly, and dissected and explored its meaning and terrifying implications.

'Overcriminalization' Making Us a Nation of Felons?  Capitol Hill is probably the best place to start if you want more information on overcriminalization — the United States Code — Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.  There are about a thousand different pages that cover material considered to be a federal crime.  The problem is not all of the estimated 4,500 federal crimes are listed in the code.  There are about 50 volumes that cover all the different federal agencies that have the jurisdiction to enforce and interpret rules and regulations.  When you add all of that up you're somewhere in the neighborhood of 300,000 to 400,000 rules that could be considered a federal offense.

The TSA is flexing its muscles, just to see how much the public will tolerate.
TSA Lies About Bizarre "Freeze" Drill.  The footage shows travelers at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona being caught up in what the TSA calls "Code Bravo," a suddenly announced drill whereby passengers who have already passed through security are required to "freeze" on command.  The You Tube user who uploaded the video commented, "I suddenly found myself in a bunch of travelers who were being sharply told to "STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!  DON'T MOVE!".  A TSA employee was pointing his blue-gloved hand at anyone who moved a muscle (including airport workers) and barking these orders. [...] TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee admitted to the New York Times that travelers are not mandated to obey the order to "freeze".

Euthanasia for Obama-care.  [Scroll down]  For example, Obama-care is making it illegal for anyone in America (with the narrow exception of houses of worship) to freely sell or buy an insurance plan that fails to offer free birth control and sterilization.  But this ban is nowhere to be found in the 2,700 pages of the law itself.  Rather, it came as a decree from HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, exercising her newfound power.  If Obama-care isn't repealed, examples of such rule by fiat will proliferate.

Constitution Day: 225 Years in Passage of Time; Light Years in Loss of Liberty.  In increasingly sophisticated and insidious ways, today's national government weaves a web of monitoring that allows the national intelligence apparatus to keep most citizens under some form of surveillance nearly 24 hours a day.  Add to that the passage by Congress and the signing by the president of the National Defense Authorization Act — legislation that grants the president the unprecedented and unconstitutional power to deploy members of the U.S. military to apprehend and indefinitely detain anyone he suspects of posing a threat to national security.  Finally, with the Supreme Court's decision to deem ObamaCare a constitutional exercise of Congress' taxing power, all three branches of the federal government established in the document drafted in Philadelphia 225 years ago have colluded in the creation of a government whose power is nearly immeasurable.

So much for freedom of expression.
New Jersey tells drivers:  You can't smile too much in license photos.  With its infamous long lines, going to the Department of Motor Vehicles to get your license is usually nothing to smile about.  These days, it's a mandatory no-big-smiles policy in New Jersey, one of a growing list of states that tell drivers drivers to keep a poker face in their license photos.

Shame.  The people who booed the God of love, now rush to the defense of a hateful Allah.  The people who p***ed on the Christ of redemption, now bewail the hurt feelings of a damnable Islam.  The people who denounced the death of civil liberties under the Patriot Act, now make rationalizations as brown-shirted cops drag a man from his home at midnight for the crime of posting a video on YouTube.

Push to call blasphemy a crime.  Muslim leaders have vowed to discuss the offensive video from their UN platforms, sowing concern among free-speech activists of a fresh push toward an international law that would criminalise blasphemy.  Human rights groups and Western democracies resisted such a law for years and thought they had finally quashed the matter after convincing enough nations that repressive regimes used blasphemy laws to imprison or execute dissidents.

Obama's DOJ Can't Say Criticizing Religion Will Remain Legal.  [A recent exchange], between Representative Trent Franks and Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez, occurred in late July, but is particularly relevant today.  Representatvie Franks tries to extract an assurance from Perez that the Obama administration will not push a proposal to criminalize speech "against any religion."  He has a tough time doing so.

DoJ Civil Rights Division chief can't commit to protecting free speech.  Via Eliana Johnson and Michael Totten, the question that Rep. Trent Franks asked Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez in July shouldn't be very difficult to answer — especially for the man who heads up the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, and who swore to uphold the Constitution when taking that job. [...] If you read the First Amendment, the answer is simple.  Perez, however, does a two-minute dodge while Franks asks it four times.

ATF's latest gun grab.  The Obama administration is making it easier for bureaucrats to take away guns without offering the accused any realistic due process. [...] That means government can grab firearms and other property from someone who has never been convicted or even charged with any crime.  It's a dangerous extension of the civil-forfeiture doctrine, a surreal legal fiction in which the seized property — not a person — is put on trial.  This allows prosecutors to dispense with pesky constitutional rights, which conveniently don't apply to inanimate objects.  In this looking-glass world, the owner is effectively guilty until proved innocent and has the burden of proving otherwise.  Anyone falsely accused will never see his property again unless he succeeds in an expensive uphill legal battle.

Obama Expands ATF's Right to Seize Guns Without Due Process.  Obama has expanded civil-forfeiture rules making it permissible for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) to seize weapons from citizens without the hassle of due process.  This effectively gives Attorney General Eric Holder, of Fast and Furious fame, extended power over guns and gun-related property.  The rules were broadened under the guise of giving the ATF authority "to seize and administatively forfeit property involved in controlled substance abuses."  And if that doesn't strike you as extreme on first glance, consider the fact that this expansion of civil-forfeiture allows the ATF to forego almost all "due process" in making their seizures — in effect, placing the burden of proof on the citizen instead of federal agents.

The FBI's Nationwide Facial Recognition System Ends Anonymity As We Know It.  The FBI has begun installing state-of-the-art facial recognition technology across the country as part of an update to the national fingerprint database, Sara Reardon of the New Scientist reports.  The agency's $1 billion Next Generation Identification (NGI) program will also include iris scans, DNA analysis and voice identification by 2014.  RT reports that as of July 18, 2012, the FBI said the NGI program "is on scope, on schedule, on cost, and 60 percent deployed."

FBI to roll out $1 billion public facial recognition system in 2014.  They're watching you — or at least will be in a couple of years.  That's when the FBI is gearing up for a nationwide launch of a $1 billion project designed to identify people of interest, according to the New Scientist.  Dubbed the Next Generation Identification (NGI) program, the high-tech endeavor uses biometric data such as DNA analysis, iris scans and voice identification to track down folks with a criminal history.

The Editor says...
That sounds harmless enough, but with a large enough database, the government could track anybody's movements — not just criminals.

Activist Forced to Show Papers to DHS or be Detained for 72 Hrs.  Alex talks with Derrick Broze, a founding member of The Houston Free Thinkers.  Broze has covered TSA agents working in the Metro rail is Houston.  [Video clip].

Update on NDAA and drones flying over the US.  Let me challenge readers, the next time you go to church, ask your pastor what he is doing or what he would do to prevent military personnel from taking you off to a military prison without an arrest warrant, without issuing Miranda, without telling you why you are being seized, without allowing you access to an attorney, without recognizing that you have any constitutional rights, without any requirement to release you, or even without any requirement to keep you in the United States of America for a trial or judicial proceeding.  I challenge you:  ask him!

A blogger was dragged off to a mental ward because of his Facebook posts.  Exactly what you'd expect in North Korea, China, or Cuba.
'Outraged' judge frees veteran Raub from Virginia psych ward.  [Scroll down]  His saga began Aug. 16.  That's when [Brandon] Raub was taken into custody at his Richmond home by FBI and Secret Service agents and Chesterfield County Police.  He was not charged with a crime, yet he was handcuffed and placed in the back of a police vehicle.  From there, Mr. Raub was taken to a police station and then to the John Randolph Medical Facility in Hopewell, Va., for a psychiatric evaluation.  He was never formally arrested or charged with a crime, Mr. Whitehead said.  "He was in his underwear, in his living room, he sees a group of police, FBI agents walking up, he talks with them, he's asked about some Facebook postings, they handcuff him," Mr. Whitehead said.

Brandon Raub: Persecuted for Telling the Truth About the Federal Reserve .  Corporate media news reports state that former Marine Brandon Raub was arrested by the FBI and the Secret Service and detained in a psychiatric hospital for anti-government posts on Facebook.  A large part of Raub's post, however, was not directed at the government.  It was directed at the Federal Reserve.  The Fed is not the government.  It is a privately owned financial institution run by a cartel of banksters.

Thought police victim Brandon Raub ordered released from psychiatric prison.  The thought police are hard at work in America, crushing anyone who expresses ideas of liberty and freedom.  The latest case involves U.S. veteran Brandon Raub, who posted text on Facebook saying, among other things, that 9/11 was an inside job, that the country is being run by an evil cabal of insiders, and that the global elite are pedophiles who rape children.  Pointing to these opinion statements, the FBI, U.S. Secret Service and local law enforcement authorities in Virginia raided his home, kidnapped the 26-year-old, and stuffed him into a psychiatric hospital where he was to be detained for any number of weeks, months or even years.  Raub was not charged with a crime, was never read any Miranda rights, and was never given a hearing in front of a judge.  No judge, no jury, no rights, no nothing.  He was simply targeted, kidnapped, stuffed and cuffed because of his free speech posted on Facebook.

Attorney of Former Marine: Psychiatrist Threatened to 'Brainwash' My Client With Meds.  Earlier today [8/23/2012], 26-year-old former U.S. Marine Brandon Raub was released from a psychiatric facility via a judge's order, who ruled that the government had no legal grounds to hold him.  Tonight on Glenn Beck's show on GBTV, soon-to-become TheBlazeTV, John Whitehead, Raub's lead attorney and president of the Rutherford Institute, gave his first interview following his client's release to discuss the case.

Lawyer Says 20,000 'Civil Commitments' in Virginia Each Year Part of Bigger Problem.  Brandon Raub was scooped up in Richmond, Va. by federal and local law enforcement officials on Aug. 16 for making anti-government Facebook posts referring to "revolution" and statements that questioned the official story behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, said John Whitehead, Raub's lead attorney and president of the Rutherford Institute.  He was then sentenced to up to 30 days in a psychiatric facility on Aug. 20 — no trial, no arrest warrant, no charges filed.  He was finally released on Thursday [8/23/2012].

Brandon Raub is hauled in for a mental health examination because he's not too keen on the current administration,
while Joshua Scott Albert gets a pass for his unabashed hatred of Romney and cops.
Government Clamp Down on Free Speech: Marine vs. Occupier.  In mid-August, government and law enforcement officials went to former Marine Brandon Raub's door with no warrant.  They questioned Raub about what they considered ominous Facebook postings, handcuffed him, and forced him to undergo a psych evaluation at a local hospital.  The 26-year-old North Chesterfield, Virginia man was taken into custody by FBI and Secret Service agents as well as Chesterfield police for posting anti-government messages on his private Facebook page.  Raub was released on August 23, but not before he was transferred to a veterans' hospital psychiatric unit 188 miles away from his home.

"If you do not have the right to speak freely about food, what do you have a right to speak freely about?"
From Licensing to Censorship.  Every day, millions of Americans dispense advice to friends, relatives, and complete strangers through blogs, websites, and a variety of online publications.  And each time they do so, many of these Americans could be risking substantial fines and perhaps even imprisonment. [...] Across the nation, more than eight hundred different professions require a state license.  Among those professions are:  manure spreaders in Iowa, upholsterers in Utah, and florists in Louisiana.

I'll bet they wouldn't have stopped a Muslim from doing the same thing.
City tells woman she can't pass out free water in 112-degree heat.  The city of Phoenix is facing a possible lawsuit after a woman claimed a city worker told her she could not pass out free water in the Arizona heat without a permit.  Dana Crow-Smith tells ABC 15 she was passing out water bottles in the 112-degree heat along with others in an attempt to share their Christian beliefs with people attending a festival downtown last month, when a city worker ordered them to stop.  She said the worker told the group they would be cited if they continued passing out the water because they did not have a permit.

Presidential race boils down to one issue.  There's really only one issue in the 2012 presidential race; all the rest is trivia.  That one issue is:  Do you want to be in control of your life, or do you want government to control your life?  If you want to keep control over your life, then do not re-elect Barack Obama to a second term in the White House.  Hold tight to your liberty.  If, however, you want your life defined, channeled and limited by Obama's "we can't wait" executive orders and the bureaucratic rules of government agencies, then Obama is your guy.

Why does Homeland Security need 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition?  The Department of Homeland Security has purchased 1.4 billion rounds of ammunition — that is not a typo — during the last six months.  This includes 450 million rounds of .40 hollow point, 200 million rounds of .223 rifle ammunition, and 176,000 rounds of .308 168-grain hollow point boat tail (HPBT) that is used almost exclusively as ammo for sniper rifles. [...] We must never forget that tyrants throughout modern history (Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin and Mao) always disarmed their opponents before rounding them up and sending them to the killing fields.

Social Security Administration Explains Plan to Buy 174,000 Hollow-Point Bullets.  The Social Security Administration posted a blog on Thursday [8/16/2012] to explain why it was planning to purchase 174,000 hollow point bullets.  SSA posted a "Request for Quote for Ammunition" on the FedBizOps.gov website on Aug. 7.  The request listed the commodity that SSA desired as ".357 Sig 125 grain bonded jacketed hollow point pistol ammunition."  The quantity listed was "174 TH."

Who Does The Government Intend To Shoot?  The Social Security Administration (SSA) confirms that it is purchasing 174 thousand rounds of hollow point bullets to be delivered to 41 locations in major cities across the U.S.  No one has yet said what the purpose of these purchases is, though we are led to believe that they will be used only in an emergency to counteract and control civil unrest.  Those against whom the hollow point bullets are to be used — those causing the civil unrest — must be American citizens; since the SSA has never been used overseas to help foreign countries maintain control of their citizens. [...] If this were only a one time order of ammunition, it could easily be dismissed.  But there is a pattern here.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has ordered 46,000 rounds of hollow point ammunition.

US Homeland Security officials get the okay to amass a vast ammo cache.  According to a report on infowars.com: 'Back in March, Homeland Security purchased 450 million rounds of .40-calibre hollow point bullets that are designed to expand upon entry and cause maximum organ damage, prompting questions as to why the DHS needed such a large amount of powerful bullets merely for training purposes.'  This phenomenal cache of ammunition must be intended for use against Americans, because I understand that hollow point bullets have been illegal in international warfare since 1899.

Agencies tamp down speculation over hollow-point ammo purchases.  Obscure federal agencies triggered a firestorm of conspiracy theories this week after they put out orders for thousands of rounds of deadly hollow-point bullets.  But the agencies, most recently the Social Security Administration, are trying to put a damper on the speculation — noting the ammunition is "standard issue" and simply used for mandatory federal training sessions.

Obama Government On Ammunition Purchases — Move Along Now, Nothing To See Here...  Hundreds of thousands of rounds of hollow-point ammunition is being ordered up by various Obama government agencies, including the National Weather Service, leading for a growing number to question why?  The answer to that question from the Obama administration appears to simply "don't worry about it."

DHS Redacts Quantity of Ammo Order — Issues "Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition".  In a date-redacted document, DHS claimed "Unusual and Compelling Urgency" NOT to inform the public of quantities of ammo purchased with tax money ($4.6 Million) for Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the Federal Protective Service (FPS).

Why are Gun Ownership Numbers in U.S. Highest since 1993?  Why does the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration need to purchase ammunition?  NOAA is devoted to studying the weather and providing notice of events such as hurricanes.  Why would meteorologists need to be armed?  Why does the Social Security Administration need to purchase ammunition?  A spokesman for the SSA compared its investigators to state or local police officers who are armed while on "official duty."  Why would the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) specifically purchase 750 million rounds of hollow-point ammunition in March and follow up with an additional 750 million?

The Ammo Controversy.  Several facets of the government have recently purchased a variety of ammunition in large quantities.  In total, more than 1.2 billion rounds of ammunition was ordered between April and August of 2012.  This ammunition primarily consisted of .223 ammunition, which is used in military style weapons such as AR-15s or M16s.  The largest purchase of ammunition was placed by the Department of Homeland Security.  However, the amounts of ammunition were redacted in a later version of the purchase order.  Additional purchases were made by the Social Security Administration and the National Weather Service.

Bullets, False Flags and Biological Warfare: What Is the US Government Planning?  The Pacific Southwest Region of the US Forest Service has solicited ammunition that is supposedly needed for target practice.  In this instance, the amounts of hollow point bullets, 12 gauge rifle slugs, and other accessories are smaller than the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has requested through other federal agencies.  DHS previously ordered more than 63,000,000 rounds of .40 S&W jacketed hollow point bullets (JHP).  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a solicitation for 16,000 rounds of .40 S&W JHP.  The Social Security Office has also made a solicitation for 174,000 rounds of .357 hollow point bullets.  Earlier this month, DHS requested 700 pounds of high density ammonium nitrate and 700 pounds of A-5 Flake RDX explosives.  These ingredients are known to be very high powered explosives.

Christianity & gun owners in the crosshairs: Chilling tactic exposed.  If you are an outspoken Christian in America, you need to be concerned.  If you are an outspoken Christian in America who happens to be a gun owner, you need to be very concerned.  And if you are a Christian gun owner who disagrees with the Progressive anti-Christian agenda in America and have a platform to inform others, you better believe that you are under intense scrutiny. [...] It appears the war against freedom of opinion, freedom of speech, openly professing one's belief in God and the right to bear arms is now sufficient to earn you a medical diagnosis of "psychosis."

Man Sentenced to 30 Days for Catching Rain Water on Own Property Enters Jail.  Gary Harrington, the Oregon man convicted of collecting rainwater and snow runoff on his rural property surrendered Wednesday morning [8/8/2012] to begin serving his 30-day jail sentence in Medford, Ore.  "I'm sacrificing my liberty so we can stand up as a country and stand for our liberty," Harrington told a small crowd of people gathered outside of the Jackson County (Oregon) Jail.  Several people held signs that showed support for Harrington as he was taken inside the jail.

Warrantless searches without probable cause:
Local Government Stupidity Contest.  [Scroll down]  Contestant Number Two is the Metro Police in Washington, DC, which has decided to harass random travelers by searching their bags before they board the subway.  This is akin to the TSA's mindless bureaucracy — but even worse. [...] Good intelligence by the CIA and FBI is the way to stop these crackpots, not empty security theater that makes life more difficult for law-abiding people.

At-Home Bible Study Lands Man in Jail.  Gang-member-turned-pastor Michael Salman found himself behind bars after holding a Bible study at his home, reports Fox News.  Authorities say Salman violated zoning laws, and thus his probation, when he gathered some 80 people at his four-acre home, but the Phoenix man and his family are crying foul, saying his constitutional rights have been violated.  "Christians deserve the right to gather at their homes privately just like every other American has the right to gather for their reasons," says his wife.

EPA Moving to Control All Water in the United States.  There is a story in Net Right Daily about landowner, Dexter Lutter of Noble County, who thought he was cleaning up the water supply and creating a healthier environment for years to come.  Instead, he is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines from the EPA, whose main goal is complete control over all land, air and water.

Landowner engages in clean water act; receives EPA fine.  Dexter Lutter was expecting an award; instead he got a $20,000 fine.  He made environmental improvements on his land — his farm — by taking steps to clean up the water supply and better preserve the soil, but the Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers fined him for his efforts.  "That's how out of touch I am," Lutter says.  "I feel like we should have won a medal for what we did, but the EPA tells us we were wrong."

DOJ Official Won't Say Whether Justice Department Would 'Criminalize Speech against Any Religion'.  Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division Thomas Perez refused to say Thursday whether the Justice Department would ever "entertain or advance a proposal that criminalizes speech against any religion."  During a House subcommittee hearing examining fairness in voting rights enforcement, Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, referenced an article detailing a meeting between top Justice Department officials and Islamist advocates, where the advocates reportedly lobbied officials for "a legal declaration that U.S. citizens' criticism of Islam constitutes racial discrimination."

Oregon Man Sentenced to 30 Days in Jail — for Collecting Rainwater on His Property.  Gary Harrington of Eagle Point, Oregon, says he plans to appeal his conviction in Jackson County Circuit Court on nine misdemeanor charges under a 1925 law for having what state water managers called "three illegal reservoirs" on his property — and for filling the reservoirs with rainwater and snow runoff.

Federal court rules Wisconsin schools' graduations in church were unconstitutional.  A federal appeals court ruled Monday [7/23/2012] that two Wisconsin high schools violated the U.S. Constitution by holding graduations in a church — among the most recent decisions in a long-running debate about the separation of church and state.  A three-judge panel from the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in September the schools did nothing wrong by hold graduation in Elmbrook Church, in the southeastern part of the state.

Choose your Poison, Communism or Other Dictatorship?  I thought we had choices in a free country but I was wrong.  We moved as far away from the metro area as possible to escape [Home Owner Associations].  We could have bought a parcel of land in the woods somewhere, but I am sure, EPA regulations would have made it impossible since everything is close to marshland.  In Maryland, you can no longer build in an area without an established sewer system.  Governor O'Malley, through executive order, has forbidden septic tanks.  Houses can only be built along an approved corridor, thanks to UN Agenda 21's Smart Growth, which requires that a very large portion of our lands be given back to the wilderness.  We must move into high rises, five minutes' walk or bike from work, school, and play.  We no longer live in a free country; we just have an illusion of freedom.

The Drone Zone.  It took a few seconds to figure out exactly what we were looking at.  A white S.U.V. traveling along a highway adjacent to the base came into the cross hairs in the center of the screen and was tracked as it headed south along the desert road.  When the S.U.V. drove out of the picture, the drone began following another car.  "Wait, you guys practice tracking enemies by using civilian cars?" a reporter asked.  One Air Force officer responded that this was only a training mission, and then the group was quickly hustled out of the room.

DHS Labels Liberty-Lovers as Potential Terrorists.  By the Department of Homeland Security's standards, anyone who just celebrated the Fourth of July can be capable of terrorism.  A new study by the DHS states that "those who are reverent of individual liberty" may promote terrorism. [...] But while the report identifies seemingly average Americans as potential terrorists, it completely ignores any references to Islamic terrorism.  In fact, its table displaying the "hot spots" for religious terrorism indicates that there was no such terrorism in New York City in the 1990s — totally disregarding the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in that city.

Man Facing Jail For Hosting Home Bible Study.  A Phoenix man has been sentenced to 60 days in jail after he refused to stop hosting Bible studies in the privacy of his home — in violation of the city's building code laws.  However, the Phoenix city prosecutor's office said the violations have nothing to do with religious freedom — and everything to do with public safety.

The Editor says...
I'll bet they don't check for overcrowding at the neighborhood mosques.

Homeowner Jailed for Hosting Bible Study.  A Phoenix man who violated city zoning laws by hosting a Bible study in the privacy of his home has started serving a 60-day jail sentence for his crimes.  Michael Salman was found guilty in the City of Phoenix Court of 67 code violations.  He was sentenced to 60 days in jail along with three years of probation and a $12,180 fine.  A spokesperson for the city attorney confirmed that Salman reported to a county jail Monday afternoon [7/9/2012].

Government's total control.  How much power does the federal government have to control the lives of Americans and dictate our individual behaviors in any and all ways it chooses?  The answer, according to the Court, is that the federal government has complete and total control over all of us — it has the power to regulate everything we do and everything we choose not to do — provided Congress taxes the income of anyone who fails to comply with the government's dictates.

Gulf Coast States Chafe at Feds' Fishing Seasons.  Louisiana and Florida are considering joining Texas in allowing longer fishing seasons in state waters than federal wildlife officials allow in federally controlled waters further offshore.  Federal wildlife officials completely banned red snapper fishing in the Gulf of Mexico during 2010 and 2011, and they are allowing red snapper fishing for only 40 days in 2012.  Scientists and state wildlife officials say the federal restrictions are too stringent and that longer fishing seasons are warranted in states where red snappers are abundant.

4 Foods the Government Should Ban.  New York Mayor Bloomberg has decided that New Yorkers can't be trusted to have access to soda served in anything larger than a 16 ounce cup.  It's clear that New Yorkers can't be trusted in general, so this ban on soda is not so surprising.  The New York City Council is now eyeing popcorn and coffee drinks for a possible ban, because if you can ban one thing you can ban everything.

Pastors plan to defy IRS ban on political speech.  Setting the stage for a collision of religion and politics, Christian ministers from California and 21 other states will use their pulpits Sunday to deliver political sermons or endorse presidential candidates — defying a federal ban on campaigning by nonprofit groups.  The pastors' advocacy could violate the Internal Revenue Service's rules against political speech with the purpose of triggering IRS investigations.

Human Rights: A Governmental Power Grab.  [Scroll down]  This brings us to a dangerous scenario associated with human rights.  Namely, the way governments can use them as a justification for reaching deeper and deeper into the daily lives of their citizens.  A great example of this can be seen in the way President Obama and his surrogates couched many of their arguments for the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. ObamaCare, in the language of human rights.  According to them, health care is a human right which, in turn, justifies putting a system into place whereby every American has health care coverage.

Some laws are on the books just in case the cops can't think of anything else you've done wrong.
Use a Computer, Go to Jail.  If you are reading this column online at work, you may be committing a federal crime.  Or so says the Justice Department, which reads the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) broadly enough to encompass personal use of company computers as well as violations of website rules that people routinely ignore.  In April the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit rightly rejected this view of the CFAA, which Chief Judge Alex Kozinski noted could conceivably make a criminal out of "everyone who uses a computer."

This sounds like an idea you'd expect to hear in a communist dictatorship.
Desperation: Obama Surrogate Calls to Make Voting Mandatory.  Peter Orszag, former head of the Obama Office of Management and Budget, is desperate.  With even Roll Call recognizing that President Obama is fighting an uphill battle for re-election, Orszag is floating a trial balloon:  mandatory voting.

Voter Apathy Isn't a Crime.  It's a sure sign someone is losing when he demands that the rules be changed.  That might explain the renewed interest in forcing people to vote against their will.  Peter Orszag, President Obama's former budget director and now a vice chairman at Citigroup, recently wrote a column for Bloomberg View arguing for making voting mandatory.

McConnell: 'Radical, Dangerous' Obama Admin Seeks to 'Shut Up' Opponents.  [Scroll down]  McConnell is incensed over the administration's use of government and nongovernmental resources to target its political enemies.  "They've used the IRS, the FEC, the FCC, the SEC, their allies in the Obama campaign to go after people who disagree with them.  The Obama campaign has rifled through the divorce records of a major donor to an opposing super PAC.  The government itself is intimidating donors.  Appointees at the IRS and other agencies are pursuing similar efforts to ferret out who is contributing to outside groups critical of the administration so that they can scare them off the playing field and shut them up."

Federal Judge Reaffirms Her Order Blocking Indefinite Detention by Obama Administration.  Lest there was any lingering doubt, the federal judge who enjoined enforcement of the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) told the Obama Administration that it may not legally detain an American indefinitely based on a suspicion of support of terrorism unless the government can demonstrate a connection to the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Rhode Island House Defends Constitution, Passes Anti-NDAA Resolution.  After overcoming an attempted sandbagging by members of the Republican leadership, at about nine o'clock Tuesday night [6/12/2012], the House of Representatives of Rhode Island overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling for the repeal of the indefinite detention provisions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012. [...] The text of the resolution pulls no punches in its recrimination of the Congress and President for their role in pushing our Republic closer to the precipice of tyranny.

Meet John Brennan, Obama's Assassination Czar.  A relatively unnoticed article by Associated Press reporter Kimberly Dozier two weeks ago outlined new Obama administration policy changes which consolidated power for authorizing drone attacks and assassinations under political appointees within the White House.  The article identifies White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan as the official assuming the role of Obama's de facto assassination czar, raising concerns even within the Obama administration that the White House is increasingly turning into "a pseudo-military headquarters" under the direction of just a few senior Obama administration officials.  Adding to these concerns are serious questions about Brennan's qualifications for this role.

"Never in the history of the CWA has federal regulation defined ditches and other upland features as 'waters of the United States.'"
EPA power grab to regulate ditches, gullies on private property.  Lawmakers are working to block an unprecedented power grab by the Environmental Protection Agency to use the Clean Water Act (CWA) and control land alongside ditches, gullies and other ephemeral spots by claiming the sources are part of navigable waterways.  These temporary water sources are often created by rain or snowmelt, and would make it harder for private property owners to build in their own backyards, grow crops, raise livestock and conduct other activities on their own land, lawmakers say.

Wisc. Pastor Gets Two-Year Sentence for Preaching Spanking.  Black Earth, Wisconsin, pastor Philip Caminiti, 55, has been sentenced to two years in prison for preaching a message that was not well-received by some members of the community.  The message that landed Caminiti in prison is that parents should be spanking their children when they misbehave, even those as young as two months old, with wooden spoons and rods.

This Memorial Day, Freedom Is Dying Before Our Very Eyes.  What if Memorial Day reminds us of times when we had more freedom?  What if freedom is dying right under our eyes?  What if the memory of the past is more fulfilling than the reality of the present?  What if the federal government could write any law, regulate any behavior and tax any event, no matter what the Constitution authorized?

Not buckling up your pet in the car can mean big fines.  Judging from the alarming number of summonses issued so far for failing to buckle up in the back seat, motorists don't seem overly concerned about the current Click It or Ticket crackdown.  After all, most unrestrained drivers and passengers can afford a measly $46 fine.  But if you drive with an unrestrained pet, don't expect a slap on the wrist.  Penalties range from $250 to $1,000 and as much as six months in jail.

The Editor says...
Just imagine if they catch you with a box of kittens in the back of your truck!

43 Catholic institutions file suits over HHS mandate.  This is a critical moment for religious freedom in the US.  If the federal government can define religious expression, then it can control or even outlaw it.

Propaganda that was supposed to target foreigners could now be aimed at Americans, reversing a longstanding policy.
Congressmen Seek To Lift Propaganda Ban.  The new law would give sweeping powers to the State Department and Pentagon to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public.  "It removes the protection for Americans," says a Pentagon official who is concerned about the law.  "It removes oversight from the people who want to put out this information.  There are no checks and balances.  No one knows if the information is accurate, partially accurate, or entirely false."  According to this official, "senior public affairs" officers within the Department of Defense want to "get rid" of Smith-Mundt and other restrictions because it prevents information activities designed to prop up unpopular policies — like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

21 Unanswered Questions That They Don't Want You To Look Into.  [#1]  Why is the TSA being allowed to conduct warrantless searches at bus stations and train stations all over America?  According to an article in the Guardian, the following motto is displayed at the TSA's air marshal training center:  "Dominate. Intimidate. Control."  Why is there no outrage over this?  [#2]  Why does the TSA believe that it is necessary to pat-down a 7-year-old girl with cerebral palsy?  Does touching the private areas of disabled little girls really improve our national security?

Kentucky Supreme Court Rules Highway Checkpoints Illegal.  Kentucky's Supreme Court has ruled that highway checkpoints of drivers who refused to display a $10 city sticker in their window are in fact unconstitutional and therefore, illegal.  The city of Liberty required all 1,850 residents and anyone working within the city limits to purchase and display the sticker, but teachers at a local school had failed to do so, prompting local police to take action.  Those individuals who refused to purchase a $10 sticker and place it in their vehicle windows were targeted by city officials, who mandated that police set up roadblocks.

The Editor says...
This won't be the last case of its kind, as long as there are local politicians willing to implement such a scheme (for as long as they can get away with it), and as long as the local police do whatever they're told, without ever questioning the legality of their orders.  Unfortunately, I think several areas of the U.S. have those ingredients in place.

Federal Government is Keeping Tombstone, Arizona from Accessing Drinking Water.  Tombstone, Arizona, once dubbed "The Town Too Tough To Die," may finally have met its match in the Obama Administration.  According to a lawsuit filed against the United States Department of Agriculture, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and the USDA Forest Service by the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute, the Forest Service is endangering the town's supply of safe drinking water and ability to fight fires by cutting off the famous city's access to the mountain springs that has provided the desert town with water since the 1880s.

Y2Kyoto: Rise Of The Green Reich.  Not a minute too soon, the Department of Homeland Security has announced that it is creating "environmental justice" units that will be empowered to oversee regulations in conjunction with local governments throughout the country.  The framework for the Environmental Justice Working Group includes eleven federal government agencies, including the TSA, the Secret Service and FEMA.

The Department Of Homeland Security Is Buying 450 Million New Bullets.  The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office is getting an "indefinite delivery" of an "indefinite quantity" of .40 caliber ammunition from defense contractor ATK.  U.S. agents will receive a maximum of 450 million rounds over five years, according to a press release on the deal.  The high performance HST bullets are designed for law enforcement and ATK says they offer "optimum penetration for terminal performance."

The Editor says...
If the Immigration and Customs people need that many bullets, I'd say it's time to put the U.S. Army on the Mexican border.

21 Unanswered Questions That They Don't Want You To Look Into.  [#19]  Why are federal government agencies stockpiling massive amounts of food and ammunition?  Do they know something that we don't?

Why Does The Department Of Homeland Security Need 450 Million Hollow Point Bullets?  Somebody out there has decided that the Department of Homeland Security needs a whole lot of ammunition.  Recently it was announced that ATK was awarded a contract to provide up to 450 million hollow point bullets to the Department of Homeland Security over the next five years.  Is it just me, or does that sound incredibly excessive?  What in the world is the DHS going to do with 450 million rounds?  What possible event would ever require that much ammunition?  If the United States was ever invaded, it would be the job of the U.S. military to defend the country, so that can't be it.  So what are all of those bullets for?

Homeland Security seeking assault and sniper rifles.  The Department of Homeland Security issued a bid for 36 Colt LE901 rifle systems, which will accept and function any military specification (Mil-Spec) .223 caliber upper receiver, and is thus backwards compatible with all CBP/U.S. Border Patrol M4 upper receivers.  Not surprisingly in this matter is the recent award by DHS, but no solicitation can be found for, .223 caliber Remington Enhanced Performance ammunition.

CISPA Assumes Too Much Trust in Government.  In a surprise move the White House issued a statement on Wednesday [4/25/2012] threatening to veto CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) because of privacy concerns. [...] This is the first time in recent memory that the White House has expressed any such concerns.  When signing into law the controversial National Defense Authorization Act [NDAA] the White House blithely ignored its trampling of those same civil liberties through its "indefinite detention" provisions.

Rural kids, parents angry about Labor Dept. rule banning farm chores.  A proposal from the Obama administration to prevent children from doing farm chores has drawn plenty of criticism from rural-district members of Congress.  But now it's attracting barbs from farm kids themselves.  The Department of Labor is poised to put the finishing touches on a rule that would apply child-labor laws to children working on family farms, prohibiting them from performing a list of jobs on their own families' land.  Under the rules, children under 18 could no longer work "in the storing, marketing and transporting of farm product raw materials."

Is there a drone in your neighbourhood?  There are at least 63 active drone sites around the U.S, federal authorities have been forced to reveal following a landmark Freedom of Information lawsuit.  The unmanned planes — some of which may have been designed to kill terror suspects — are being launched from locations in 20 states.

Krauthammer On Drones Flying In US: "Stop It Here, Stop It Now".  "I'm going to go hard left on you here, I'm going ACLU," syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer said in opposition to the use of drones on the U.S. homeland.  "I don't want regulations, I don't want restrictions, I want a ban on this.  Drones are instruments of war.  The Founders had a great aversion to any instruments of war, the use of the military inside even the United States.  It didn't like standing armies, it has all kinds of statutes of using the army in the country."  "A drone is a high-tech version of an old army and a musket.  It ought to be used in Somalia to hunt bad guys but not in America.  I don't want to see it hovering over anybody's home. [...]"

Democrats And Republicans Together Assault Our Liberty.  Both Romney and Obama are enthusiastic advocates of America's bipartisan statist consensus.  More government, all the time and in most every way.  The United States government was created as an institution of limited, enumerated powers with a duty to preserve individual liberty.  Those who wrote the Constitution and the citizens who ratified that document vigorously debated what authority was to be placed into whose hands.  However, the Leviathan which now exercises its power around the globe has far outstripped its intended role.

Where Are the Rolling Heads from NOAA?  NOAA law enforcement collected close to $100,000,000 in fines and seized goods from fishermen over the past several years.  The Department of Commerce IG investigated and found that only about $60M could be accounted for, while some $40M is just plain gone.  This is not taxpayer money, but money taken in huge chunks from fishermen for infractions, some very minor.  Claims by the fishermen of coercion and extortion were validated by the IG.

Is Big Brother's black box coming to your car?  MAP-21 clearly bears the fingerprints of our nanny-in-chief, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, but it passed the Senate last month by a strong bipartisan vote, 74 to 22.  The massive bill federalizes everything within sight of the feds' roving eye. [...] Perhaps most troubling, at least for anyone who harbors even the remotest interest in privacy, MAP-21 mandates that within three years every single passenger vehicle in the country must be outfitted with a "vehicle event data recorder" — the proverbial "black box."

Big Brother's Next Target: Your Car.  Many are quite concerned about Senate Bill 1813, a massive piece of legislation supposedly devoted to transportation issues.  Besides including a provision allowing the IRS the power to revoke passports belonging to those who are delinquent with tax debt in excess of $50,000, it appears that the potential law may be used to measure the size of your carbon footprint each time you get behind the wheel.

Senate-Passed Bill Would Mandate Black Boxes in Cars, Plus More.  [Scroll down]  Approximately 85 percent of vehicles already come equipped with black boxes, notes the NHTSA, whose own guidelines for vehicles include the devices, even though they are not currently mandatory.  According to those guidelines, the boxes must measure such things as speed, position of the gas pedal, whether or not the brakes were pressed, seat belt usage, and the amount of time it took for airbags to deploy.  In fact, it was a black box that landed Massachusetts Lt. Governor Timothy Murray with a hefty fine following the 2011 accident that totaled his vehicle, because the device recorded that he was speeding and was not wearing a seat belt prior to the accident.  However, critics contend that the data box is part of the slippery slope to total surveillance of the transportation habits and whereabouts of Americans.

The Editor says...
The current generation of "black boxes" may only record what happened right before a crash, but there is no way to predict (the limits of) what future software "upgrades" might include.  The black box might be used to show that a vehicle spends a lot of time idling, or that the driver has a habit of excessive acceleration.  The box might also keep track of your movements and whereabouts.  One thing is fairly certain:  The evidence in the "black box" will only be available to the government.  You would have a hard time extracting the data if you needed it for a legal defense.

'Your' Car Won't Be After 2015.  First, the EDRs [Event Data Recorders] could be — and almost certainly will be — tied into your vehicle's GPS.  (Most new and late model cars, conveniently, already have this, too.)  Then data about your driving can be transmitted — as well as recorded.  To whom?  Your insurance company, of course.  Progressive Insurance already has such a system in place — voluntary, for the moment.  When EDRs are mandated, you will no longer have a choice.  We'll be told it's all for the sake of (groan) "safety" — just like the old 55 MPH highway speed limit and every radar trap in the country.  Of course, it's really for the sake of revenue — the government's and the insurance company's.

New federal agency OFR stirs 'Orwellian' fears.  Starting in July, the OFR [Office of Financial Research] Fiscal Year 2013 budget, estimated at $158 million, will be funded entirely through assessments — also known as taxes — on bank-holding firms with consolidated assets worth at least $50 billion.  But as became clear at Thursday's [4/19/2012] hearing by the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, a close reading of the law the president signed provides no limit on the growth of OFR's budget, nor on the taxes the agency can impose on big banks to fund it.

A Government of Waste.  The same Congress that professes outrage over the GSA and the Secret Service escapades does whatever it can get away with every day.  It writes whatever laws it wants; it regulates whatever behavior it chooses; it taxes whatever events it thinks will keep it in power.  And it does so with utter disregard to whether its work is permitted by the Constitution.  The president bombs whatever countries he wants and spies on whatever Americans he chooses and kills whatever persons he fears and lends tax dollars to whatever friends he wishes, as if the Constitution didn't exist.  And the courts look the other way.

TSA harassing and searching a 9 year old.  The only bad thing on our trip was TSA was at the Savannah train station.  There were about 14 agents pulling people inside the building and coralling everyone in a roped area AFTER you got OFF THE TRAIN!  This made no sense!

Sheila Jackson Lee partners with DHS, brings TSA to Houston Metro.  Originally only at the airports, the TSA has since began to expand across America in the form of Visible Intermodal Preparedness and Response or VIPR Teams.  Most recently cropping up in Amtrack stations in Florida and other cities, and setting up illegal checkpoints on state highways in Tennessee.  Now, Houston will be taking part in a national pilot program known as Bus Safe involving the DHS, TSA, Metro Police, Harris County Constables, and Congress woman Sheila Jackson Lee.

TSA expands power, VIPR Squads Roam Florida Train Stations.  Squads of TSA agents conducted random searches and patrols at a train station in West Palm Beach, Florida yesterday [4/21/2011] in yet another example of the expansion of TSA Tyranny beyond the nation's airports.

A Government of Waste.  The same Congress that professes outrage over the GSA and the Secret Service escapades does whatever it can get away with every day.  It writes whatever laws it wants; it regulates whatever behavior it chooses; it taxes whatever events it thinks will keep it in power.  And it does so with utter disregard to whether its work is permitted by the Constitution.  The president bombs whatever countries he wants and spies on whatever Americans he chooses and kills whatever persons he fears and lends tax dollars to whatever friends he wishes, as if the Constitution didn't exist.  And the courts look the other way.

Shredding the Constitution.  The Obama administration has expanded its executive branch powers under a comprehensive czar system and myriad executive orders.  Meanwhile, Congress quietly passes questionable legislation with the potential to limit personal freedoms — and U.S. agencies, such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), engage in activities that raise serious concerns about constitutional violations.  Even local law enforcement officials have become increasingly intrusive and hostile to civil liberties.

Michigan government unleashes armed raids on small pig farmers.  NaturalNews can now confirm that the Michigan Department of Natural Resources has, in total violation of the Fourth Amendment, conducted two armed raids on pig farmers in that state, one in Kalkaska County at Fife Lake and another in Cheboygan County.  Staging raids involving six vehicles and ten armed men, DNA conducted unconstitutional, illegal and arguably criminal armed raids on these two farms with the intent of shooting all the farmers' pigs under a bizarre new "Invasive Species Order" (ISO) that has suddenly declared traditional livestock to be an invasive species.

Why America is Devolving Towards Absolute Government Control.  The relentless encroachment of socialism upon America's economic, cultural and governmental landscape is like a bad dream to most red-blooded Americans.  When society changes it can seem like the ineluctable drift of evolution or chance.  But in the case of America's ongoing continued expansion of government powers, spiking taxes, and shrinking military, it's all part of a planned elitist push into socialism.  And one need not believe in secret conspiracies when contemplating this shift.

Zoning the ocean.  President Barack Obama has an ambitious plan for Washington bureaucrats to take command of the oceans — and with it control over much of the nation's energy, fisheries, even recreation in a move described by lawmakers as the ultimate power grab to zone the seas.  The massive undertaking also includes control over key inland waterways and rivers that reach hundreds of miles upstream, and began with little fanfare when Obama signed an executive order in 2010 to protect the aquatic environment.

AG Beau Biden, Mandates That Sheriffs No Longer Have Arrest Powers.  Sheriff Jeff Christopher of Sussex County, Delaware, when he was elected to the office in 2010, thought he was handpicked by the people to represent them as the highest-ranking law officer in the county.  Instead, he has found himself in the middle of a fight for the future of American law enforcement as a result of a nationwide effort to abolish the sheriff's office altogether.

The Editor says...
Any time there is a power struggle like this, it's not good — for us.

IRS may be given the authority to restrict travel.  Imagine someday in the not too distant future having to apply for a government permit to sell your home and move somewhere else.  Imagine that you apply for and are denied a permit to visit your grandchildren in another state. ... Americans best sit up and take note of this new encroachment on our rights.

5 New Ways the IRS Is [Harshly and Unfairly Treating] America.  [#2]  The United States Senate on March 14th passed a transportation funding bill that contained a slipped-in section authorizing the "denial, revocation, or limitation of a passport" for anyone with "a seriously delinquent tax debt in an amount in excess of $50,000."  The "revocation" bit is especially heinous:  Even the outrageous and barely-known State Department provision denying passports to those who owe $2,500 in back child support only deals with issuances and renewals.  Now the feds are apparently willing to actively hunt you down and take away your getaway card.

Freedom Is a Smoky Burnout.  How long before it becomes a crime to drive a pre-computer vehicle?

Five Ways that Barack Obama has Decimated the American Economy.  American businesses were vastly over-regulated before Obama got into office, but he has kicked things into high gear.  Hundreds of new regulations are being added each month.  There are different ways to estimate the staggering compliance cost for all of these regulations, but the numbers go as high as 84 billion dollars.  That's 84 billion dollars A YEAR that could be used to expand businesses, buy new equipment, and hire workers to increase production instead of doing paperwork for the federal government.

Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip-Searches for Any Offense.  The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.  Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the court's conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no position to second-guess the judgments of correctional officials who must consider not only the possibility of smuggled weapons and drugs but also public health and information about gang affiliations.

Obama's power grab.  In short, the order gives Mr. Obama the ability to impose martial law.  He now possesses the potential powers of a dictator.  The order is a direct assault on individual liberties, private property rights and the rule of law.  It is blatantly unconstitutional.  The executive branch is arrogating responsibilities precluded by the Constitution without even asking the permission of Congress.  The order gives Mr. Obama a blank check to erect a centralized authoritarian state.  This is a law one would expect to find in Hugo Chavez's Venezuela or Vladimir Putin's Russia.

Martial Law Executive Order: History Should Cause Concern, Not Comfort.  This executive order is but the latest document in President Obama's ever-expanding dossier of dictatorship.  The National Defense Authorization Act permits the President to deploy the military to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens without charge and without due process.  The Federal Restricted Buildings and Ground Improvement Act revokes the rights of speech and assembly protected by the First Amendment. ... Readers are encouraged to study the history of tyranny.  Demagogues are always crowned by the people with autocratic authority in response to the need for safety, particularly when faced with the exigencies of national emergencies.  Although its mention is nearly cliché, consider the example of Germany in the 1930s.

The Fear of Martial Law.  The President of the United States of America, Barack Hussein Obama, has generated so much fear that the most common theme of posted comments and private communications is that he will refuse to relinquish power if defeated in November or that, under some pretext, he will declare a state of martial law.  Many, myself included, did not like the Patriot Act that was enacted following 9/11 but there is little evidence that this law has been abused to deprive Americans of their fundamental rights and freedom, though surely some suspected of being terrorists were detained.  An Executive Order posted on the White House website on Friday, March 16, 2012, has generated a wave of fear.

The states recognize a threat on the horizon.
Virginia's Anti-NDAA Bill Set to Become Law; Ariz. Joins the Fight.  After agreeing to changes suggested by Governor Bob McDonnell, both houses of the state legislature of Virginia passed HB 1160, the bill sponsored (and shepherded) by Delegate Bob Marshall (left) that prohibits state officers and agents from participating in the unconstitutional detention of citizens of the Old Dominion.

Is the CIA in your kitchen?  The war on drugs has regrettably weakened the intended protections of the Fourth Amendment, and the Patriot Act — which permits federal agents to write their own search warrants — has dealt it a serious blow.  That act, which has not yet been ruled upon by the Supreme Court, fortunately has not yet animated the Supreme Court's privacy jurisprudence.  Last year, the court invalidated the police use of warrantless heat-seeking devices aimed at the home, and it will probably soon invalidate the warrantless use of GPS devices secretly planted by cops in cars. ... Relying on the Patriot Act, federal agents have written their own search warrants just like the British soldiers did [in the 18th century].  They have done this more than 250,000 times since 2001.

If our government can do this, what can they not do?  It's always fascinating when people on either side of a partisan divide give each other gifts.  Case in point:  President Obama's approval of a rule ordering Catholic institutions to offer insurance policies covering birth control, sterilization procedures and the morning after pill — all contrary to church teachings.  No one has fully explained why Obama took this step.

The CIA wants to spy on you through your TV.  When people download a film from Netflix to a flatscreen, or turn on web radio, they could be alerting unwanted watchers to exactly what they are doing and where they are.  Spies will no longer have to plant bugs in your home — the rise of 'connected' gadgets controlled by apps will mean that people 'bug' their own homes, says CIA director David Petraeus.  The CIA claims it will be able to 'read' these devices via the internet — and perhaps even via radio waves from outside the home.

CIA Chief: We'll Spy on You Through Your Dishwasher.  More and more personal and household devices are connecting to the internet, from your television to your car navigation systems to your light switches.  CIA Director David Petraeus cannot wait to spy on you through them.  Earlier this month, Petraeus mused about the emergence of an "Internet of Things" — that is, wired devices — at a summit for In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture capital firm.  "'Transformational' is an overused word, but I do believe it properly applies to these technologies," Petraeus enthused, "particularly to their effect on clandestine tradecraft."

US Secret Service Says No Anti-Obama Rallies Allowed!  When the US Secret Service discovered that the enterprising group of our Southeast New Mexico Patriots had, also, switched their plans and would drive to Roswell to engage in peaceful and Constitutionally allowed dissent against the Obama policies of the destruction of the United States of America, the SS began to put their respective feet down.  First, the SS made a strong request that the anti-Obama rally not occur... at all.  When the TEA Party members advised them that they still planned to do so, it was announced that the main road (Earl Cummings Loop) into and out of the Roswell airport would be closed.  In other words, ONLY the planned Obama sycophants, adherents and Adoration Groups will be allowed in... all others no longer have any free speech.

End The Tyranny — No Regulation Without Representation.  By 1760, our forefathers had popularized the slogan "no taxation without representation."  That was shorthand for their biggest complaint, that the government of Britain was imposing taxes on the colonists even though the colonists had no voice in the British Parliament.  They described it as a tyranny and our nation was born in the war fought over it.  Today, with Obama openly ruling through regulatory bureaucracies and without regard to Congress, justifying his acts by stating that "we can't wait" for Congress to act, our nation faces essentially the same problem of our 1750 colonialist forebearers — a tyranny.

Fifth Amendment Protects Suspects from Having to Decrypt Hard Drives.  Over time, whether one chooses to like it or not, governments may be forced to accept the reality that increasing amounts of data will remain beyond their abilities to successfully demand, regardless of sanctions and pressures applied to defendants or other interested parties.

Can the Secret Service Tell You To Shut Up?  When the Framers of the Constitution wrote the First Amendment, they lived in a society in which anyone could walk up to George Washington or John Adams or Thomas Jefferson on a public street and say directly to them whatever one wished.  They never dreamed of a regal-like force of armed agents keeping public officials away from the public, as we have today.  And they never imagined that it could be a felony for anyone to congregate in public within earshot or eyesight of certain government officials.  And yet, today in America, it is.

Another Brick Removed.  HR 347 was recently signed into law by President Obama.  This statute had wide support amongst both parties of Congress.  In essence, it criminalizes disruptive behavior upon government grounds, at specially designated national events (Super Bowl, nominating conventions, etc.) and anywhere that Secret Service is protecting "any" person.  Obviously, the goal of this law is to enhance the ability of the Secret Service to protect those persons it is charged to do so; but in extending this power, this law eviscerates the citizens' rights to assemble and petition under the First Amendment.

Business Owner Threatened with Jail Time for Flying American Flag.  A Georgia man was slapped with a ticket and threatened with jail time after he refused to remove an American flag that's been flying outside his business for more than thirty years.  An Albany code enforcement officer alleged that Tom Gieryic's flag was in violation of the city's sign ordinance.  The standard size American flag was posted on a pole outside Gieryic's automotive repair shop.

Justice Department to Force Public Pools to Install Elevators.  A new regulation from the Justice Department will require "public-access swimming pools across the country to install handicapped-accessible ramps and lifts or face a fine of up to $100,000," the Hill reports.  This regulation could cost "hotels and other organizations ...to spend up to $9,000 to stay in compliance with the rule."

Poolmageddon.  Today [3/14/2012] is "Poolmageddon" — the day when sweeping new regulations governing the provision of handicapped lifts for public swimming pools go into effect.  The rule, which Eric Holder's Justice Department somehow found time to promulgate in between gun-running excursions to Mexico, says that "all public access swimming pools must provide a lift capable of moving disabled patrons from their wheelchairs into the water," according to the Washington Examiner.

"Poolmageddon" postponed 60 days by our merciful Justice Department.  CNN brings us the joyous news that our wise and compassionate masters have realized their latest hyper-regulations might be just a wee bit difficult to comply with — by which I mean, "physically impossible" — and have generously allowed us an extra 60 whole days to get with the program.

Thanks again, Obama voters.
ObamaCare Subjects Nearly Every Phone and Computer to Government Control.  On July 19, 2011, the Obama Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff on Mobile Medical Applications[, i.e.,] our smartphone, tablet and computer apps.  The Obama Administration — the most unilateral-power-grab Presidency in our nation's history — is asserting that these mobile medical apps may pose "risks."  And thusly should be regulated as medical devices.

Those 'Rogue' Prosecutors.  North Carolina has no Speedy Trial law; a suspect may literally be jailed for years before trial.  Grand juries keep no transcripts, and a defendant indicted by a grand jury has no right to a probable cause hearing where he may contest the jury's conclusions.  In practice, a district attorney may accuse anyone before a grand jury, falsify evidence to get an indictment, and then hold his targeted suspect for years before releasing him.  This gives a prosecutor almost unlimited power to pressure defendants into accepting plea deals and inculcates in them a sense of invincibility.

Congress Passes Bill Severely Curtailing First Amendment Liberties.  A bill has just passed the House and the Senate that criminalizes protests anywhere near the presence of a designated government official.  On Monday [2/27/2012], the U.S. House of Representatives voted nearly unanimously (388-3) in favor of H.R. 347, the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011.  As part of this legislation, Congress expressly forbids trespass onto the grounds of the White House.  Many likely believe that such a law already existed and they are right.  The controversial aspect of this bill's restatement of that statute is that it expands the scope of the federal government's authority to bring charges against those deemed trespassers at any location placed provisionally under the jurisdiction of the Secret Service.  The present state of the law prosecutes White House trespassers under a local Washington, D.C. ordinance.  Prior to this latest federal action, violation of this ordinance was a misdemeanor.

Protests Near Secret Service Protected Folk Effectively Outlawed.  In case you question the value of having a Justin Amash or a Ron Paul in the House of Representatives, they were two of only three votes against H.R. 347, the "Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011." ... Although [Secret Service] protection isn't extended to just everybody, making it a federal offense to even accidently disrupt an event attended by a person with such status essentially crushes whatever currently remains of the right to assemble and peacefully protest.

Obama is judge, jury and executioner.  In a speech to students at the Northwestern School of Law, Holder asserted that Barack Obama had the lawful power to order "the killing of American citizens overseas" if the president believes, based on secret information, that the American citizen is an "operational leader of al-Qaeda."  Holder went on to state that the presidential power to declare an American citizen an enemy of the state based on secret information and order the death of that person was sufficient "due process."  He declared that the "Constitution guarantees due process, not judicial process" overturning 200 years of settled case law in one sentence.

Surveillance without proper authority is illegal.  On June 2, 2009, a janitor in an office building in New Brunswick, N.J., noticed what he thought was terrorist-related literature and sophisticated surveillance equipment in an office he had been assigned to clean.  He told his boss, who called the local police, who notified the FBI.  Later in the day, the FBI and the New Brunswick police broke into the office and discovered five men busily operating the equipment.  Four of the men were officers from the New York City Police Department, and the fifth was a CIA agent.  The conundrum faced by all of these public servants soon became apparent.  Who should arrest whom?

Paying Cash for that Latte? It May Land You on FBI's Terrorist List.  Really?  Yes, crazy as it sounds, in our post-9/11 snitch/spy/surveillance society, if you "always pay cash," you may be marked as a potential terrorist.  That's according to an FBI flyer that appears to be aimed at proprietors and employees of Internet cafés.

Church Ordered to Stop Giving Away Free Water.  A Louisiana church was ordered to stop giving away free water along Mardi Gras parade routes because they did not have the proper permits.  "We were given a cease and desist order," said Matt Tipton, pastor of Hope Church in Metairie, LA.  "We had no idea we were breaking the law."

Death of a nation.  It was bad enough when the Congress told all citizens of this country that we did not control our own health destiny — that we either accepted the dictates of the government or would be fined accordingly.  But now, to be told that the state controls not only our medical choices but also our moral choices — that is really too much to bear.

The Rising Fever of Despotism.  Nowhere in the Constitution do we find that Executive branch appointees, such as those comfortably ensconced at HHS, EPA, or Treasury may write laws that the people are expected to obey.  Congress and her law-writing committees were once responsible for actually writing all the Federal laws and regulations, down to the smallest detail.  Now Congress passes two thousand pages of overview legislation that specifically permits the unelected, unappointed, and unconfirmed bureaucrats to add cauldrons full of the devil brew to the details of new legislation.  The Founders of this country would be aghast at the powers so easily forfeited by Congress and hoarded by the Executive branch.

Impeach Them All.  The government has now grown to Leviathan proportions.  It is into everything from light bulbs to toilets and every other aspect of our lives.  No business is immune from inane and arbitrary bureaucratic regulations, most of which make no economic, environmental or occupational sense.  Faceless bureaucrats now run your life and your business, believing they are more knowledgeable and trustworthy than you.  Via force they have slowly crippled the productivity of American workers and companies.  In doing so, they raise the cost of living for all citizens.

California's New Frisbee Law Just Latest Attempt to Raise Cash.  This week, Los Angeles County okayed a new regulation banning the throwing of Frisbees or footballs on the beaches — which, of course, destroys the purpose of living in Southern California in the first place.  The first offense will earn you a hefty $100 fine; the second, $200; the third and beyond, $500.  You can, of course, apply for a permit.  For parents with industrious children, holes deeper than 18 inches are also banned — so get your kids the cheap plastic shovels or pay a fine.

LA County OKs $1,000 Fine For Throwing Football, Frisbee On Beaches.  When you head down to the beach for a little fun this summer, county officials want you to know about some updated rules.  The Board of Supervisors this week agreed to lift an all-out ban on playing with footballs, other balls and Frisbees on the beach, according to a media statement released by the L.A. County Department of Beaches and Harbors.

Los Angeles County Bans Frisbees on Beaches.  The moonbat micromanagers ruling La-La Land must finally be running out of things to ban.  Now they're suppressing fun on the beach.

Mark Levin: We're Living In A Post-Constitutional America.  We are not a representative republic really in the true sense anymore.  We have this massive administrative state with, you know, hundreds of thousands if not several million bureaucrats who are making laws and issuing them every day, 80,000 pages last year.  So that's not a representative republic.

On the Church, the Military, and the Descent into Tyranny.  If a chaplain can be commanded to change his archbishop's letter calling a government policy unjust; if he can be called seditious for reading the letter; if he can be commanded to change or expurgate the words of his spiritual superior, the archbishop; if the archbishop himself can be commanded to censor statements about Church doctrines and practices, then religious freedom and free speech in this country are dead, and no American is safe from attack by his own government.

Homeland Security: You're All 'Militia Extremists' Now.  A recently published "lexicon" distributed to thousands of federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) targets citizens concerned about their Second Amendment rights and the steady encroachment of the federal government, categorizing such as "militia extremists." ... So what drives militia extremism according to DHS now is "belief that the government deliberately is stripping Americans of their freedoms."  It is demonstrated by opposing "many federal and state authorities' laws and regulations, (particularly those related to firearms ownership)."  Would writing about those topics (as I am now) fall under "facilitation"?

The Military Is Now Telling Catholic Chaplains What They Can And Can't Say About The Obama Administration.  All the bishops in the country sent out a letter to be read in their parishes promising that the Church "cannot — and will not — comply with this unjust law."  Even Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who is in charge of Catholic military chaplains sent out the same letter.  But after he did, the Army's Office of the Chief of Chaplains sent out another communication forbidding Catholic priests to read the letter, in part because it seemed to encourage civil disobedience, and could be read as seditious against the Commander-in-Chief.

How states are restricting political speech.  Dina Galassini does not seem to pose a threat to Arizona's civic integrity.  But the government of this desert community believes that you cannot be too careful.  And state law empowers local governments to be vigilant against the lurking danger that political speech might occur before the speakers notify the government and comply with all the speech rules.

Obey the feds or else.  We have a socialist President and an aggressive Administration where disobedience to its new rules will be severly punished.  And, shockingly, such disobedience is already being punished in a park near you.  A single event can beautifully illuminate the darkness ahead.

Labor Dept. Targets the Family Farm.  Yes, sometimes the work is dangerous and accidents do happen.  They can be serious, even fatal.  But the rewards of the culture of the family farm have long been believed to far outweigh the risks, and government historically left parenting and farm family life alone.  That's about to change.  The Obama Administration is proposing to use the force of federal law to usurp the judgment of farm parents and replace it with government regulations.  Led by big labor, union advocate Hilda Solis, Secretary of Labor, the Administration is proposing a sweeping set of new rules ... Solis believes that some farm work is "too hazardous for children to be engaged in."  How she knows this is anyone's guess since she apparently has never lived or worked on a farm, nor do we find any evidence that she has children of her own.

Neither liberty nor safety.  Obama's FBI has obtained a court order against an American woman accused of mortgage fraud to force her to decrypt her PGP-scrambled hard drive so that the FBI can fish around without a warrant in her personal computer for incriminating evidence.  The judge said the Fifth Amendment did not apply.  For Obama, the Constitution (that "list of negative rights") does not apply whenever it acts to restrain his objectives.

Neither liberty nor safety.  "No Child Left Behind" has been expanded to collect not only student test scores and grades, but the government now keeps permanent records on students' disciplinary actions, economic status, and even pregnancies.  Worse, the feds discourage the states from allowing parents to access these "permanent records."  What police state has ever done without such record keeping?

Religious intolerance, California-style.  The Obama administration proved Friday that California laws continue to have national influence.  But this time, the pattern has wrought a serious violation of the First Amendment protection for religious liberty.

Do President Obama and his fellow Democrats seriously believe that "government should not intrude on private family matters?"  Let us count the ways!
Obama's Government vs. Your Family:  [Scroll down]  The idea that liberal Democrats like Barack Obama regard anything as a "private family matter" is ludicrous.  As far as they are concerned, every single thing that you and your family do is a proper subject for government regulation.  The doctrine of "choice" ends once your child is born.  If you think that there is some other aspect of your life, or your family's that is so personal and so private that the Democrats couldn't possibly want to regulate and control it — well, then, you are a fool.

Why is it necessary to conduct military exercises in a big city?
LA Military Exercises.  The training, which a department official said would involve helicopters, has been coordinated with local authorities and owners of the training sites, police said.  Police said safety precautions have been taken to prevent risk to the general public and military personnel involved.  The exercises are closed to the public, police said.

Obama and his Syndicate.  [Scroll down]  Now the extremely bad news for US citizens.  First, on 19 January 2012, multiple videos were made of a shipment — via rail — of hundreds of Bradley armored vehicles and related equipment moving from Northern California Southward. ... The US military, Department of Homeland Security and LOCAL Police are conducting "urban warfare exercises" in recent and unprecedented "showings of force" under the now undeniable (by any intelligent beings) Dictator-in-Chief Barack Hussein Obama.  These military forces are inhabiting the streets and air of and over Los Angeles, Boston, Little Rock, Miami and Colorado amongst others.

The Case Against Driver's Licenses:  Even a person merely walking down the street, having committed no crime, can be compelled to produce his ID.  And if that person lacks an ID, that person will very likely be arrested on the spot and held until his identity is ascertained.  This is the reality of Homeland America.  You must have permission to move.  You do not move freely.  Even if you are walking.

Moisturizing the EPA.  The Sacketts had purchased a small lot in Priest Lake, Idaho, to build their home.  The lot was in a residential area and they obtained all the necessary permits, graded the lot, and dumped gravel for the foundation.  Then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suddenly declared their lot a federally protected wetland under the Clean Water Act, and told the Sacketts they must restore it to pristine condition or face a fine of $37,500 per day.  They were told they could not appeal until they had exhausted all administrative remedies.

FEMA lives at your house.  FEMA is stocking barbed wire camps with food and water as if they are expecting lots of company.  The government does not need to round up people via FEMA.  They already have the ability to control you in your own home.  Government now knows through Smart Meters when you're home or away; how much power you use and effectively curtails your ability to choose certain products, like Mr. Edison's incandescent light bulb.  The Big Government noose around the neck of its citizens has been tightening all along.  The government made a FEMA prison camp out of your home a long time ago.

A Fine for Not Using a Biofuel That Doesn't Exist.  When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.  But there was none to be had.  Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.

EPA Fines Companies Because They Didn't Use A Fuel That Doesn't Exist.  The Orwellian nightmare of running a business in the shadow of the Obama Administration is nicely captured in this story from the New York Times, which explains why motor fuel companies are about to be fined $6.8 million for failure to use a biofuel that does not exist.

More about the EPA.

Obama's Fascist America in 10 Easy Steps.  [#4]  Set up an internal surveillance system.  Obama has set up and is setting up a heavy internet surveillance.  DHS has special spy technology capable of seeing through walls and has vans cruising city streets, spying on Americans indiscriminately.  And don't forget Obama's "Truth Squad" in Missouri, where elected Democrats were cruising the internet looking for examples of "misrepresentations" and threatening to use legal means to suppress opponent's "Lies."

Feds Want Judge to Force Suspect to Give Up Laptop Password.  Federal prosecutors want a judge to order a Colorado woman to provide the password to decrypt her laptop, which the government seized with a search warrant.  With backup from digital rights groups, the woman is fighting the feds, arguing that being forced to provide her password violates the Fifth Amendment's protection against forced self-incrimination.

Judge Orders Defendant to Decrypt Laptop.  A judge on Monday [1/23/2012] ordered a Colorado woman to decrypt her laptop computer so prosecutors can use the files against her in a criminal case.  The defendant, accused of bank fraud, had unsuccessfully argued that being forced to do so violates the Fifth Amendment's protection against compelled self-incrimination.  "I conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer," Colorado U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn ruled Monday [1/23/2012].

'Disappearing' dissenters in Obama's new Amerika.  Patriots, who long clung to the hope that in the end the US military would be on the side of the people, will now live in the real fear of being nabbed off their streets by the military and packed off to Gitmo.  The effects of this bill on American society are truly monstrous and were birthed by someone with a never-ending evil hatred of America and its people.

Connecting the dots on the National Defense Authorization Act.  While much of the bill deals with the mundane, sections 1031 and 1032 are raising the concerns of many, including some unlikely allies.  In plain speak, those sections of the bill broadly classifies certain U.S. citizens as terrorists, and allow for military intervention against such citizens on U.S. soil.  The language of the bill is cumbersome and difficult to assess, thus creating some plausible deniability for those who support this piece of draconian legislation.  Representative Justin Amash (D-MI) apparently agrees.  According to Rep. Amash, the language of the bill is "carefully crafted to mislead the public."

The NDAA and Suspension of Habeas Corpus: Not Just for "Enemy Combatants" Anymore.  Remember all those neocons and Republicans who cheered George W. Bush's "indefinite detainment" of "enemy combatants"?  Many of them — though, amazingly, not all — have lost their enthusiasm for trampling the Constitution now that Obama's administration has suspended habeas corpus for American citizens, too, with the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA).

Obama on Guns:  [Scroll down]  In fact, there is an undercurrent of Americans who are sick and tired of politicians turning their backs on the Constitution in their attempts to manage our lives and money, and are calling, no screaming, for a return of Constitutional principles of governing.  Now if those same politicians who turn a blind eye to the constraints placed upon them in the Constitution are successful in taking our guns away, we will find an America vulnerable to tyrannical government; a situation that will mark the beginning of the end of our Republic.

Tweeting the word 'drill' could mean your Twitter account is read by U.S. government spies.  The Department of Homeland Security makes fake Twitter and Facebook profiles for the specific purpose of scanning the networks for 'sensitive' words — and tracking people who use them.  Simply using a word or phrase from the DHS's 'watch' list could mean that spies from the government read your posts, investigate your account, and attempt to identify you from it, acccording to an online privacy group.

The Editor says...
In many other countries, you might be in big trouble if you merely mentioned a word like "dynamite" in your e-mail or telephone conversations.  We in the United States should have the freedom to communicate with almost any combination of words and phrases, especially if those words and sentences are not used in a manner which is unlawful, threatening, abusive, harassing, or defamatory, and as long as these words and sentences do not encourage conduct that would constitute a criminal offense.  Of course, if you're writing to a soldier overseas during a war, naturally your mail will be opened and read before it gets to its destination.  Just in the last 20 years or so, some governments around the world have begun to sift through every email and phone call, especially the ones travelling across international borders.  In the United States, there are fairly well-known systems in place to do this 24 hours a days and report suspicious words and phrases if any are detected.

Obama's Freeloader Economy.  Whether it is bullying people to buy mercury-filled light bulbs, or bullying Boeing to sign up for more union labor, or bullying people into government health care, or forcing the American people to pay good money to crony solar and wind capitalists, or jacking up the price of energy to save the planet, or bullying millionaires and billionaires into coughing up more taxes, it's the new dance at the predator's ball.

The Hitman Cometh.  When the first citizen was felled by President Obama's new citizen assassination program, the act was lauded by members of both parties as a tough and needed measure to successfully prosecute the war on terror.  I counseled that this new and self-declared power would quickly morph into something dangerous to both democratic dialogue and the expression of ideas, potentially putting anyone with the temerity to criticize the President at risk.  Since no one has seen the names of the persons supposedly on the classified "hit list," there is no accountability in the way the new program is leveraged or organized.

DC Resident Fined Thousands For Not Recycling Cat Litter.  Dupont Circle resident Patricia White says she has been fined eight times for throwing homemade cat litter in her trash.  The fines total $2,000.  White says she shreds old newspaper and junk mail to use as cat litter.  She believes she is helping the environment by reusing the paper and avoiding cat litter you will find in stores.  After being fined several times, White says she called the Department of Public Works inspector who issued the tickets.  According to White, the inspector admitted to digging through trash looking for violations.

Obama's Standing Army of Regulators among Us.  The Third Amendment, prohibiting the quartering of government troops in peacetime in private homes, seems irrelevant in modern times.  Yet how is the intrusion of government regulators into every corner of our lives substantively different from quartering troops in our homes without our consent?  While Americans have clashed in sharp debate over taxation from the very beginning, government regulation has, oddly enough, escaped scrutiny.  Yet regulators' destruction of a vibrant economy by strangling industry and commerce while depriving owners of their private property rights is as toxic and pervasive as taxation.

Washington doesn't need to regulate rain.  If the Supreme Court declines to review it, a recent ruling from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco will put federal courts into the business of managing every acre of privately owned timberland in America.  Farmers beware.  You could be next.  In May, the 9th Circuit determined that rainwater draining from forest roads into local streams, rivers and lakes is "point source pollution."  As such, it must be regulated in the same way effluent from sewage-treatment plants is regulated.  To make a long story short, rainwater that accumulates alongside logging roads has become a new target of environmental litigators.  Several lawsuits were filed within days of the 9th Circuit's decision.

Indefinite Detention and American Citizens.  I, like most Americans, want to ensure that we punish and prevent terrorism.  However, we must do so in a way that protects the rights of American citizens.  In his recent column, Andrew C. McCarthy simply has his facts wrong when he claims that last week's Senate debate on the 2012 defense-authorization bill was not about American citizens.  It was.

Top 10 Most Needed Government Reforms.  [#5]  Reduce regulations:  America is drowning in red tape, which is choking the entrepreneurial spirit of small businesses and hampering job creation.  The best way to get the economy moving again is to relieve the regulatory burden dumped on the private sector by overbearing federal bureaucrats.

Justice Dept. Targets Freedom of Information Act.  With the U.S. Justice Department and Attorney General Eric Holder continually under fire these days, it was something of a surprise, even to Capitol Hill insiders, that the Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, is now in the crosshairs, and that new rules are being advanced not only to deny the public access to documents, but to lie outright, telling requesters that either the documents never existed or don't exist now.

Secret Bill To Be Voted On Today Would Allow The Military To Sweep Up US Citizens At Home Or Abroad.  Either Monday or Tuesday [November 28/29, 2011] the Senate will vote on a bill that allows the US military to imprison civilians with no formal charges and hold them with no trial.  The ACLU reports even US citizens wouldn't be immune as the legislation aims to declare national territory part of the "battlefield" in the War on Terror.

The Declaration of Independence Defines Our Principles.  Is it not sad that the most fundamental aspects of our ability to live as a free people boil down these days to how nine Supreme Court justices choose to read and interpret a word or phrase?  Is it not sad that most basic violations of individual liberty are not intuitively obvious to so many citizens and members of Congress?  Or perhaps even sadder, that liberty may no longer be the objective?

Hydrophophia.  Americans retain control over their government, throwing the bums out from time to time.  But do we?  80,000 pages of regulations were published last year at the Federal level, alone.  That's just over 220 pages per day.  An unknown number of these federal regulations specify penalties for non-compliance, up to and including jail time.  Do any of them affect you?  Are you sure?  In reality, it is very likely you've already committed a federal crime or punishable infraction, and the day is young.

DOJ: Lying on Match.com needs to be a crime.  The U.S. Department of Justice is defending computer hacking laws that make it a crime to use a fake name on Facebook or lie about your weight in an online dating profile at a site like Match.com.

Members of Congress get away with activities that would send you or me to prison.
The Wonk Who Slays Washington.  [Peter] Schweizer had been struck by the fact that members of Congress are free to buy and sell stocks in companies whose fate can be profoundly influenced, or even determined, by Washington policy, and he wondered, do these ultimate insiders act on what they know?  Yes, Schweizer found, they certainly seem to.  Schweizer's research revealed that some of Congress's most prominent members are in a position to routinely engage in what amounts to a legal form of insider trading, profiting from investment activity that, he says, "would send the rest of us to prison."

Justice Breyer warns of Orwellian government.  A Supreme Court justice on Tuesday [11/8/2011] expressed major concerns that the government would engage in round-the-clock surveillance reminiscent of the totalitarian world of the George Orwell novel 1984 if the court ruled in the government's favor.  The court heard oral arguments in the Jones case, in which the outcome will determine whether warrantless GPS tracking by law enforcement is an invasion of Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure.

Why the Supreme Court GPS Decision Won't Stop Warrantless Digital Surveillance:  On January 23 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that law enforcement authorities do not generally have a right to affix a GPS tracking device to a suspect's car without first obtaining a valid warrant.  Of the many things that can be said about the case, which has been called the most important Fourth Amendment test in a decade, perhaps the most sobering in the long run will be this:  the decision is based on technology assumptions that are rapidly becoming irrelevant.

Levin: U.S. Has Become A 'Post-Constitutional Gov't' Heading For 'Utopian Tyranny'.  Speaking at the Americans For Prosperity (AFP) event at the DC Convention Center on Nov. 5, [Mark] Levin said the U.S. has become "a Post-Constitutional government transitioning into an increasingly Utopian tyranny."

Supreme Court justice: Warrantless GPS tracking 'sounds like 1984'.  The Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in United States v. Jones, a case that will determine whether the government has the right to use GPS devices to track the locations of criminal suspects without a warrant.  Several justices reportedly expressed concern over the government's argument, but Justice Stephen Breyer seemed particularly unnerved, bringing George Orwell into the legal debate.

When Did It Become Legal to Spy on Americans?  It just got easier for the federal government to collect information about innocent Americans — and those Americans have had surprisingly little say in the matter.  On October 15, the FBI reportedly implemented new rules that relax restrictions on, and oversight of, the FBI's intelligence collection activities.  Although they are not available to the public, reports indicate the changes permit FBI agents to search an individual's trash with the goal of finding material that might pressure him into becoming a government informant, grant agents the authority to search commercial or law enforcement databases without first opening an investigation, and reduce the type of investigations subjected to heightened oversight because of their relationship to protected First Amendment expression, association, or religious practice.

When Government Knows No Limitation: New DOJ Rules Allow More Intrusive Searches.  Shouldn't law-abiding citizens be able to live their lives free from the fear that our own government would underhandedly manipulate our rights in their pursuit of an investigation?  After all, the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution enumerates a limitation on the federal government, one that prevents "unreasonable search and seizure."  Today, this enumerated protection is being ignored by — of all institutions — the U.S. Justice Department, under the darkened shadow of Attorney General Eric Holder.

TSA's power grope.  As part of a "statewide safety operation," TSA employees fondled travelers at bus terminals in Nashville and Knoxville, hunting for "security threats."  Truckers were harassed at four Volunteer State highway locations between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. — prime time for terrorism, apparently.  Brian Gamble, a Florida firefighter, caught one of these intrusive VIPR operations on video after he got off a train in Savannah, Ga., earlier this year.  "They had the scanners and everything there," Mr. Gamble told The Washington Times.  "They had them pull up their shirts, patted them down, wanded them.  There were a couple ladies in our group getting searched. ... It's kinda ridiculous when you're coming off a train — it doesn't make any sense."

The FBI's latest assault on our privacy.  The FBI wants to track us using its new facial recognition system.  No, really.  The bureau is set to roll it out as early as January.  It's part of the FBI's "Next Generation Identification" program.  And according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), FBI officials explained at a biometric conference last year that one of the agency's goals is "for the program to be able to track people as they move from one location to another."  The FBI's fingerprint database now includes records on nearly one-third of Americans.  But it's now being expanded to include all sorts of biometric information, such as palm prints, iris scans, even voice information.

Bill Approved To Create Massive Surveillance Database Of Internet Users.  Legislation that will force Internet providers to store information on all their customers and share it with the federal government and law enforcement agencies was significantly beefed at the last minute yesterday and approved by a U.S. House of Representatives committee.  Under the guise of protecting children from internet pornographers, the House Judiciary committee voted 19-10 to approve a bill that will require Internet Service Providers to store temporarily assigned IP addresses for future government use.

OSHA is another Obama agency gone rogue.  [Scroll down]  OSHA has issued this directive under the assumption that a vague clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act gives OSHA the power to cite employers for something as specific and unpredictable as workplace violence.  Known as the "General Duty Clause," this provision requires employers to keep their workplaces "free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm" to employees.  Congress intended for this clause to be used only as a temporary measure, until OSHA could draft rules regarding specific hazards that had the agency had not yet addressed.  It was not intended to be used as a means for OSHA to issue citations for anything under the sun.

Why not $100?
Arizona prisons charge visitors $25 to see inmates.  Visitors to Arizona prison are being charged $25 to see inmates in a move believed to be the first of its kind in the U.S., it has emerged.  Relatives and friends of prisoners arriving at the jail have to pay the one-off 'background check fee' on their first visit.

Judge OKs warrantless tracking of suspect's cellphone.  Investigators seeking the location history of an armed robbery suspect's cellphone aren't required to obtain a search warrant before compelling the carrier to turn over the information, a federal judge has ruled.  The decision, issued by US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth of the District of Columbia, said the Stored Communications Act doesn't require investigators to get a warrant based on probable cause to access the suspect's location history pulled from cellphone towers.

More about the police using your cell phone to collect evidence against you.

Phoenix Cops Raid Blogger Critical of Police.  In what should send a frightening chill down the spine of every blogger, writer, journalist and First Amendment advocate in the United States, Phoenix police raided the home of a blogger who has been highly critical of the department.  Jeff Pataky, who runs Bad Phoenix Cops, said the officers confiscated three computers, routers, modems, hard drives, memory cards and everything necessary to continue blogging.  The 41-year-old software engineer said they also confiscated numerous personal files and documents relating to a pending lawsuit he has against the department alleging harassment — which he says makes it obvious the raid was an act of retaliation.

Jackson, Jr: Obama should 'declare a national emergency,' add jobs with 'extra-constitutional' action.  Illinois Democratic Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. told The Daily Caller on Wednesday that congressional opposition to the American Jobs Act is akin to the Confederate "states in rebellion."  Jackson called for full government employment of the 15 million unemployed and said that Obama should "declare a national emergency" and take "extra-constitutional" action "administratively" — without the approval of Congress — to tackle unemployment.  "I hope the president continues to exercise extraordinary constitutional means, based on the history of Congresses that have been in rebellion in the past," Jackson said.

Rivals from both sides slam Jackson's call to bypass the Constitution.  Political firebrands hit Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. from both his left and his right Thursday afternoon [10/13/2011], reacting to the Illinois congressman's call for the president to bypass the Constitution to deal with the jobs crisis.  During a Wednesday interview with The Daily Caller, Jackson said President Obama should "declare a national emergency" and use "extra-constitutional" measures to create jobs.

Gov't cameras in your car? E-toll patent hints at Big Brotherish future.  Imagine that you couldn't drive on major highways without agreeing to put a camera in your car — one that could film either the occupants or the vehicle's surroundings and transmit the images back to a central office for inspection.  You don't have to read George Orwell to conjure up such an ominous surveillance state.  You just have to skim through filings at the U.S. Patent Office.  It's hard to imagine Americans would tolerate such a direct, Big-Brotherish intrusion.  But they might not notice if the all-seeing cameras were tucked inside another kind of government tracking technology that millions of Americans have already invited into their cars.

DOJ: Feds Can Tell Church Who Its Ministers Will Be.  In yet another stunning attack on freedom of religion, President Barack Obama's Justice Department asked the Supreme Court last week to give the federal government the power to tell a church who its ministers will be.  The case involves a former teacher at Lutheran school, who along with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is pushing a claim that a Lutheran congregation should be forced to restore her ministry position.

CA couple ordered by city not to hold home Bible study.  Snooping around garage sales, regulating kids' lemonade stands — anything the government wants to do, can do, it will do.  Who's going to stop it?

State V. Church At High Court.  When government can make the rules for communities of faith, there's little else that stands in its way.  One such threat comes from an Obama administration that is trying to limit the hiring and firing powers of religious institutions.  It has taken up the cause of a teacher, Cheryl Perich, who was fired by a church-run Lutheran school in Michigan after filing a suit under federal disability law.

White House Won't Comment on Reuters Story About Secret 'Kill List' Panel.  Reuters' Mark Hosenball today [10/6/2011] reported that:  "American militants like Anwar al-Awlaki are placed on a kill or capture list by a secretive panel of senior government officials, which then informs the president of its decisions, according to officials.  There is no public record of the operations or decisions of the panel, which is a subset of the White House's National Security Council, several current and former officials said.  Neither is there any law establishing its existence or setting out the rules by which it is supposed to operate."

Senate Dems strip Republicans of power.  Senate Republicans tried to embarrass Democrats who don't support President Obama's job bill by forcing a vote on the measure Thursday [10/6/2011], but Democrats responded by stripping Republicans of legislative power.  The GOP tried to force Democrats to vote on Obama's $447 billion jobs-creation bill to prove that even the president's own party doesn't support the proposal.

Reid triggers 'nuclear option' to change Senate rules, end repeat filibusters.  In a shocking development Thursday evening, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) triggered a rarely used procedural option informally called the "nuclear option" to change the Senate rules.  Reid and 50 members of his caucus voted to change Senate rules unilaterally to prevent Republicans from forcing votes on uncomfortable amendments after the chamber has voted to move to final passage of a bill.  Reid's coup passed by a vote of 51-48, leaving Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) fuming.

Obama: Banks Don't Have 'Inherent Right' to 'Certain Amount of Profit'.  President Obama suggested on Monday [10/3/2011] that the nation's banks should "take a little bit less of a profit" rather than raise fees on customers.  In an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Obama was asked if the government can stop banks from imposing a new debit card fee on their customers.

This quote is being posted from multiple sources just so nobody can deny its authenticity.
Perdue suggests suspending Congressional elections for two years — was she serious?  Speaking to a Cary Rotary Club today [9/27/2011], N.C. Gov. Bev Perdue suggested suspending Congressional elections for two years so that Congress can focus on economic recovery and not the next election.  "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover.  I really hope that someone can agree with me on that," Perdue said.  "You want people who don't worry about the next election."

Democrat Governor Bev Perdue of NC Wasn't Joking.  We have the audio of Bev Perdue suggesting the elections be canceled and she's not joking, as you will hear, and it's quite interesting.  The Democrats, the more they get in trouble, and the more that things unravel, the more they show us who they really are.  She's not the first one suggesting we cancel the elections.  Peter Orszag, the former budget director of the White House, suggested pretty much the same thing in the New Republic last week.

Democrats Emerge From Closet, Oppose Democracy.  How many Democrats are National Socialists at heart?  Quite a few, I suspect, and every now and then the Democrats' totalitarian urges break through to the surface.  Thus, we have the Governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue, suggesting that we "ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years."  The press assures us that she was just kidding.  I would modestly submit that suspending elections is not something an elected executive should kid about.

Dem Governor suggests suspending elections.  During the Civil War elections were not suspended.  During the worst of the "Long Depression" (the Panic of 1873 until 1879) no elections were suspended.  And during the Great Depression, (1929 to 1939) no elections were suspended.  Why now?  What event has occurred that even warrants such obscene speculation?  ObamaCare.  The far left cannot have a new, and hopefully more conservative, Congress (House and Senate) repeal ObamaCare, as it is their not-so stealthy vehicle on which the far-left bases its hopes of destroying our Constitutional Republic.

(Un)Democratic.  Peter Orszag, formerly Obama's budget director and now a vice chairman at Citigroup, recently penned a column in the New Republic titled:  "Too Much of a Good Thing: Why We Need Less Democracy."  No joke, folks.  "To counter gridlock," he wrote, we may need to make our political institutions "a little less democratic."  "A little less democratic"?  As in you no longer have the right to object to what the government does?  Seems Hitler, Stalin and Mao tried that, but it didn't work out.  That's bad enough.  But North Carolina's Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue stuck her foot in it too, suggesting "we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years" so it can run up trillions more debt.

What was Bev Perdue thinking?  On Tuesday [9/27/2011], during a Q & A at a rotary club meeting, North Carolina Gov. Bev Perdue (D) made a very odd suggestion.  Asked what she could do to turn around the economy, Perdue gave a rambling, two-minute answer that included this tidbit:  "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover.  I really hope that someone can agree with me on that.  You want people who don't worry about the next election."

Warning: The threat of suspended elections is real.  It is crucial to not let this day go down without remembering what Perdue said.  Don't let the state-controlled mainstream media lure you back to sleep by saying if there is no election, then why is Obama so diligently campaigning.  Obama is not campaigning.  He is preparing for Stage Two of the Total Transformation of America, using taxpayer money to prepare his Internet-identified "troops" for the coming Marxist Revolution.  He must not be allowed to get away with it.

Democrat Strategies Right Out Of V.I. Lenin Playbook.  Vladimir Lenin, leader of the socialist revolution in Russia, published multiple tutorials for like-minded revolutionaries around the world.  Someone in the Obama administration must be familiar with his writings. ... The theme of "broken government" is popular among liberals — so much so that the governor of North Carolina, Bev Perdue, recently said:  "I think we ought to suspend, perhaps, elections for Congress for two years and just tell them we won't hold it against them, whatever decisions they make, to just let them help this country recover."  Peter Orszag, former director of President Obama's Office of Management & Budget, wrote an article titled "Too Much of a Good Thing — Why We Need Less Democracy."  Top mainstream Democrats such as Purdue and Orszag are in alignment with Lenin's teachings.

As Federal Crime List Grows, Threshold of Guilt Declines.  For centuries, a bedrock principle of criminal law has held that people must know they are doing something wrong before they can be found guilty.  The concept is known as mens rea, Latin for a "guilty mind."  This legal protection is now being eroded as the U.S. federal criminal code dramatically swells.  In recent decades, Congress has repeatedly crafted laws that weaken or disregard the notion of criminal intent.  Today not only are there thousands more criminal laws than before, but it is easier to fall afoul of them.

If Obamacare prevails, then what's to prevent Obamajobs?  Liberals assure us that we need not fear the Obamacare individual mandate.  It's simply a way to ensure that individuals behave responsibly, they say.  Fine, if it's such a great idea, then let's mandate that every individual be responsible and get a job.  Unemployment problem solved.

Serfs in Warrenville.  Elizabeth Warren is unsurprisingly a lawyer, even less surprisingly, a Harvard Law professor, still less surprisingly, she had a string of government appointments on influential committees.  Her resume is representative of how unrepresentative Harvard lawyers with government connections are to the people on whose behalf they claim to have abolished private property.

Manufacturers sue NLRB over union poster rule.  The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has sued the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to stop a new regulation by the board that would require employers to post notices informing their workers of their right to organize a union.

The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act Sets an Unusual Standard.  In response to attacks on researchers by animal-rights activists, Congress in 2006 passed the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act.  The bill made a critical change to the legislation it replaced:  Demonstrators could now earn a sentence in federal prison if the target of their attention felt threatened, regardless of the protesters' actual intention.

Farmers Worry Over Crop of New Rules.  Farmers are concerned that some new, tighter federal regulations on agriculture are stunting the growth of their businesses and say regulatory uncertainty makes it difficult for them to plan for the future.

More about the EPA.

It Strikes Me As Odd.  How did the federal government come to control the national economy?  The Constitution has only one provision giving Congress some influence over economic matters, the "interstate commerce" clause.  And yet, clinging to this weak reed, Washington manages to wield near-total power over the entire economy on the thinnest, purely legalistic, and often patently risible grounds.

EPA: Fundamental Transformation through Regulation.  What happens when the information our government's "specialists" provide becomes driven by agenda rather than fact? ... The EPA, finding organized resistance to its regulating machine, has turned to offering "guidance," which it then enforces as if said "guidance" were the product of regulatory channels.  The big difference, of course, is that "guidance" is not subject to the same rigors of accountability and oversight that regulations must meet.  These crone-tended kettles at the EPA are really just an end-run around the law.

Obama is using every federal agency to choke the life out of the country.
DOT targets farm tractors.  One of the rites of passage in rural life comes when parents decide a child is old enough to help out by driving the tractor.  If the Obama administration has its way that will be a thing of the past.  The Federal government now proposes to require that motorized farm equipment carry DOT ID numbers and that all users have a commercial drivers license.  Most of these vehicle never travel on public roads unless it is a short trip to another field or a neighbor's farm.

Fertilizer Control:  Another liberty lost.
DHS Creates 'Ammonium Nitrate Security Program'.  The Homeland Security Department on Tuesday [8/2/2011] announced the creation of an Ammonium Nitrate Security Program, which is intended to prevent terror attacks like the ones perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma City in 1995; and more recently, by a Norwegian man in Oslo.

The Editor says...
First of all, the actions of a single psycho in Norway should not affect U.S. laws or diminish our freedom.  Secondly, there is considerable doubt that a fertilizer bomb in a truck could have done the damage inflicted in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Team Obama Regulates Goat Herders' Workplaces.  The Obama administration is setting new workplace regulations to assist foreign workers who fill goat herding positions in the U.S., including employee-paid cell phones and comfy beds.  These new special procedures issued by the Labor Department must be followed by employers who want to hire temporary agricultural foreign workers to perform sheep herding or goat herding activities.

What is Liberty, That We May Defend It?  Is American Liberty under attack?  Perhaps more so than any time since the Revolution. ... The Constitution is displayed as an elaborate, ancient joke.  Politicians present themselves as gods, above error, who dismiss dissent as if it were the babble of infants.  Between irrational new laws, and the government's refusal to enforce common sense rules, Americans feel trapped and betrayed by increasingly tyrannical leaders.

DOJ: We can force you to decrypt that laptop.  The Colorado prosecution of a woman accused of a mortgage scam will test whether the government can punish you for refusing to disclose your encryption passphrase.  The Obama administration has asked a federal judge to order the defendant, Ramona Fricosu, to decrypt an encrypted laptop that police found in her bedroom during a raid of her home.  Because Fricosu has opposed the proposal, this could turn into a precedent-setting case.

Dude, Where's My Freedom?  Obama administration officials recently let slip that they are working on new gun control measures "under the radar."  Gun control is the classic example of foolishly exchanging an essential liberty for an illusion of security.  The U.S. states that respect the honest citizen's right to carry firearms in self-defense have consistently lower rates of violent crimes than states with strict gun control laws.

Homeowners' Associations Becoming Unavoidable and Quasi-Governmental.  Homeowners' Associations ("HOAs") are losing money due to the high numbers of foreclosures and are scrambling to make up for it by assessing additional fees on the remaining homeowners. ... To compensate, HOAs are acting like private investigators, even peering into homeowners' yards daily until one weed pops its head up, then nailing homeowners with fines.

These incremental changes only move in one direction.
F.B.I. Agents Get Leeway to Push Privacy Bounds.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation is giving significant new powers to its roughly 14,000 agents, allowing them more leeway to search databases, go through household trash or use surveillance teams to scrutinize the lives of people who have attracted their attention.

FBI's New Rules to Give Agents More Leeway on Surveillance.  The changes are expected to be outlined in a new edition of the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, a lengthy 2008 document detailing how far agents can go in tracking suspects.  They will expand the use of techniques ranging from dispatching surveillance teams to digging through trash cans.

High court urged to rethink ruling on resisting police.  A group of 71 state lawmakers is asking the Indiana Supreme Court to reconsider a ruling that says people don't have the right to resist police officers who enter their homes illegally.

Center for American Progress Finally Comes Out in Favor of Tyranny.  Buried deep within the Obamacare bill is the Democrats' plan for lowering Medicare costs — something called the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB). ... The Center for American Progress is more or less in favor handing off the whole of America's budget issues to a likely unconstitutional panel of democratically unaccountable bureaucrats with no meaningful oversight.  Or to put it more bluntly, this is basically a recipe for tyranny.

One law for us, another for you.  The California state Senate voted 28-8 Wednesday [6/1/2011] to exempt itself from the pointless gun-control laws that apply to the rest of the populace.  Legislators apparently think they alone are worthy to pack heat on the streets for personal protection, and the masses ought to wait until the police arrive.

California Bill Could Protect Cross-Dressing in the Work Force.  A California bill working its way through the state legislature providing more protection for transgender individuals in the workplace could allow for cross-dressing employees to wear whatever they want to work, despite workplace dress codes.

The Editor says...
Apparently the government's position is that employers do not have the freedom to associate — or refrain from associating — with whomever they choose.

Homeland Security system knows when you're even thinking about committing a crime.  The Future Attribute Screening Technology (FAST) security programme is designed to spot people who are planning to commit a terrorist act.  The U.S. government system can 'sense' when you are planning and measures physiological factors such as heart rates and eye movements.

The Editor says...
You might exhibit the same symptoms if you're just looking for the nearest restroom.

Albemarle Road church fined $100 per branch for excessive tree pruning.  The church was fined $100 per branch cut for excessive pruning, bringing the violation to $4,000.

Grand theft education.  Two cases of what might be called "grand theft education" raise serious questions for many states, especially California.  Tonya McDowell, a single mother from Bridgeport, Conn., was arrested and charged with first-degree larceny for "stealing education" by using the address of a baby sitter to register her 6-year-old son in a Norwalk school district where she didn't live.  Ms. McDowell, 33, could face repayment of more than $15,000 and 20 years in prison.

A Federal No-Fly Zone Over Texas?  Proving that the extortionist tendencies of the Obama administration aren't limited to the NLRB's suit against Boeing, the Department of Justice threatened the state of Texas with a complete suspension of air travel in and out of that state if its Senate approved HB 1937, a bill which would have banned "intrusive touching of persons seeking access to public buildings and transportation."  The penalty for doing so would have been a $4,000 fine and one year in jail.

TSA Threatens To Cancel All Flights Out Of Texas If 'Groping Bill' Passed.  Upset about invasive screening techniques at the airport, the Lone Star State was considering a bill that would make a TSA patdown that involves touching "the anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast of another person including through the clothing" a misdemeanor, allowing Texas law enforcement to arrest TSA officials and charge them with sexual harassment.  It would have meant that TSA officials could be fined $4,000 and spend up to a year in jail for doing their jobs of feeling up prospective fliers.

Emergency manager's autocratic power puts Benton Harbor in national spotlight.  For more than a generation, this city on the shores of southern Lake Michigan has been the state's poster child for poverty, racial division and dysfunctional government.  Now, it's starring on a national stage.

The Indiana Supreme Court Guts the Fourth Amendment.  A ruling by the state of Indiana's Supreme Court last Thursday [5/12/2011] in Barnes vs. Indiana has seemingly vacated the Constitution's Fourth Amendment provision against unreasonable search and seizure.  The case involved a domestic dispute and the Court ruled 3-2 that police can force their way into a person's home without a warrant if they deem such entry is necessary.

Court: No right to resist illegal cop entry into home.  Overturning a common law dating back to the English Magna Carta of 1215, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Thursday [5/12/2011] that Hoosiers have no right to resist unlawful police entry into their homes.  In a 3-2 decision, Justice Steven David writing for the court said if a police officer wants to enter a home for any reason or no reason at all, a homeowner cannot do anything to block the officer's entry.

Supreme Court gives police a new entryway into homes.  The Supreme Court, in an 8-1 decision in a Kentucky case, says police officers who loudly knock on a door in search of illegal drugs and then hear sounds suggesting evidence is being destroyed may break down the door and enter without a search warrant.

Department of Pre-Crime.  Moral of this story:  If you hear the cops at the door, quietly get off the john, and whatever you do, don't flush.  Read the whole account of the case, which ought to get your blood boiling.

Indiana Sheriff: If We Need to Conduct Random House to House Searches We Will.  According to Newton County Sheriff, Don Hartman Sr., random house to house searches are now possible and could be helpful following the Barnes v. State of Indiana Supreme Court ruling issued on May 12th, 2011.  When asked three separate times due to the astounding callousness as it relates to trampling the inherent natural rights of Americans, he emphatically indicated that he would use random house to house checks, adding he felt people will welcome random searches if it means capturing a criminal.

Giving too much license to cops.  A series of recent court rulings, including one this week from the US Supreme Court, appear to erode one of our bedrock defenses against the arbitrary, abusive power of the state.  At risk:  the Fourth Amendment guarantee to all American citizens of the right to be "secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures."

Home Insecurity.  While the U.S. Supreme Court said police may force their way into a home to prevent the destruction of evidence, the Indiana Supreme Court, in a less noticed decision issued the week before, said police may force their way into a home for any reason or no reason at all.  Although the victim of an illegal search can challenge it in court after the fact, three of the five justices agreed, "there is no right to reasonably resist unlawful entry by police officers."  They thereby nullified a principle of common law that is centuries old, arguably dating back to the Magna Carta.

US Police State Begins Exponential Expansion.  The recent Indiana Supreme Court ruling against the US Constitution, rendering the Fourth Amendment null and void in that State by patently leftist activist judges, is only the latest unconscionable step in a series of actions designed to unravel each and every portion of the Bill of Rights.  It is also one of the latest actions designed to compliment and enhance the already jack-booted Obama police State march into our States, our cities and homes.

Rally held in protest of 'unlawful police entry' ruling by Indiana Supreme Court.  Protesters showed up on the south steps of the Indiana Statehouse Wednesday [5/25/2011], to rally against a controversial ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court.  The ruling, which allows police to enter your home without a warrant, sparked threatening emails and phone calls from those angry with the court's decision.

Puddle Power Grab.  Barack Obama's EPA means to implement the major provisions of failed legislation by regulatory means, a massive power grab with frightening implications.  But with the American media preoccupied with a royal wedding and the assassination of Osama bin Laden, almost nobody seems to have noticed when late last month an important announcement was made by the Environmental Protection Agency. ... The administration would have us believe it to be concerned about water quality, but the real issues are land, power and control.  If implemented, EPA guidelines will allow the agency to decide the extent of their jurisdiction over every body of water of any size and eventually result in binding regulations that will affect us all.

'Eat your broccoli': Moms demand it. Can government?  About 20 minutes into Tuesday's [5/10/2011] hearings, Appeals Court Judge Diana Gribbon Motz told Liberty University lawyer Mathew Staver that she was surprised a certain topic had yet to come up:  "the broccoli question."  "There is a lot of talk in the papers about if Congress can do this, it can require people to buy broccoli," Motz said.

Sen. Schumer: Create 'Do Not Ride' list for railways.  Sen. Charles Schumer is calling for a "Do Not Ride" list for Amtrak following reports that terrorist Osama bin Laden was plotting attacks on U.S. railways before his death.  The list would be similar to the "Do Not Fly" registry that is checked before passengers board flights at airports.  Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that it's a lot easier for would-be terrorists to get on trains that it has been for them to board airplanes.

The Editor says...
I'm sure Osama bin Laden wanted to do all kinds of things.  But we should not constrict our society to protect ourselves from suicide bombers on trains, because if they're not on the train, they could be on a bus, or in a supermarket or taxi.

The Education plantation.  We are now approaching the end game with respect to sanity and the public school system.  A homeless woman who registered her 6-year-old son at a Norwalk, Conn. elementary school has been charged with first-degree larceny and conspiracy to commit first-degree larceny for ostensibly "stealing" over $15,000 worth of education.  Tonya McDowell, 33, was released after posting a $25,000 bond.  She faces a fine of up to $15,000 and as many as 20 years in jail.

The Best-ever Symbol of Government Incompetence?  America's largest coal mine fire is the marquee for government ineffectiveness and environmental activism's false pretense.  Centralia, PA is home to America's largest coal mine fire — still burning today since May of 1962.  Forty-nine years of government folly, environmentalist demonization, and media sensationalism have managed to fan the flames under Centralia, escalating the costs to end this ecological disaster from under $100,000 in the early sixties to over $600 million today.

Uncle Sam is slow.  As Ronald Reagan once said, "Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."  Government fails miserably at virtually everything it does, year after year, day after day, hour after hour.  Government is brutal.  Government violates our rights.  Government steals your money and property.  Government steals your liberty.  Government tries its best to control your thinking and your life.  Government wastes billions every day, trillions over time.  But most of all, government loves to use sleight of hand to distract you.  It manages to do one thing right and then tries to use it to make us forget all the incompetence and the misery it has inflicted on us.

Out-of-control government, unaccountable president.  Rejection of dictatorships and corrupt governments by citizens across the globe is the signature news story of the year.  People are rising up, roaring to demand their rights, defying decades of iron-fisted leadership in Libya, Syria, Egypt and beyond.  By sad contrast, here in the United States — "land of the free" — a huge segment of citizens go about their daily business oblivious to, or apathetic about, the assault on our Constitutional freedoms by the Obama Administration and its congressional supporters.  Unless more Americans wake up, our steady slide will continue into a soft tyranny of unconstitutional, intrusive laws such has Obamacare health reform.

Who is running Boeing?  Imagine you own a company and a five unelected appointees of a government board, among them two unconfirmed appointees, tell you where must open your new manufacturing plant.  Would you ever consider opening another manufacturing facility in the United States?  Is this the tyranny that Thomas Jefferson warned us of?

Can Boeing Really Fight The US Government?  When Boeing announced that it would be moving part of its 787 manufacturing capability from Washington State to South Carolina, it was only a matter of time before the Obama Administration would retaliate.  It wasn't a long wait.  The National Labor Relations Board last week filed a complaint against Boeing, saying that its decision to build a manufacturing facility in South Carolina amounted to unfair bargaining with its labor unions.  Everyone denied that politics were involved, an assertion believed by exactly no one.

Ex-Labor Board Chairman: Union-Backed Case Against Boeing 'Unprecedented'.  The former chairman of the National Labor Relations Board told FoxNews.com that a board attorney's bid to stop Boeing from opening a production line at a non-union site in South Carolina is "unprecedented" and could have serious implications for companies looking to expand.

Pulling Labor Law Out of Thin Air.  Last week, the National Labor Relations Board's general counsel — acting at the behest of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union — filed a complaint against Boeing.  According to the complaint, the company decided to locate a new production line for the Dreamliner 787 airplane in South Carolina (a right-to-work state) instead of Washington (a state in which unions are powerful and strikes have cost Boeing billions of dollars) out of anti-union bias.  Should the general counsel convince the board that Boeing violated the law, the company could be forced to operate the line in Washington.

Justice Dept. to Congress: Don't Saddle 4th Amendment on Us.  The Obama administration is urging Congress not to adopt legislation that would impose constitutional safeguards on Americans' e-mail stored in the cloud.  As the law stands now, the authorities may obtain cloud e-mail without a warrant if it is older than 180 days, thanks to the Electronic Communications Privacy Act adopted in 1986.

What Do Light Bulbs Have to do with the Commerce Clause?  We don't consume power from an interstate enterprise.  We buy power from a local utility.  And how about the homeowner who relies on a propane generator, solar panels, or a wind generator?  What's interstate about that?  Thus the feds cannot regulate residential appliances at least as far as electricity usage is concerned.

Trying to Avoid Regulations? The Department of Energy is Not Amused.  Last month, the Department of Energy issued a "Showerhead Enforcement Guidance" related to flow standards through consumer showerheads.  You see, it turns out that "efficiency standards" tend to upset people, as it usually leads to products being outlawed that people really like.  What happened was that certain showerhead manufacturers were taking a bit of creative license in interpreting the definition of a "showerhead," and selling showerheads that (by the DOE's standards) exceeded the maximum allowable 2.5 gallons per minute.

Tales of the red tape.  For years, there have been rules that restrict the flow of water to a shower head.  That was bad enough but now those rules have been tweaked.  The flow restriction no longer applies to each individual shower head, but to the whole shower.  The Energy Policy Conservation Act of 1992 set the restriction for each shower head at only 2.5 gallons per minute (half what Americans could have before then).  Now, if you install a shower fixture with two nozzles, it's down to 1.25 gallons per minute per shower head — and so on, for those who want to have more than two.

The worst homeland-security menace.  How much of your freedom are you willing to give up in the name of your personal safety?  That question is prompted by the latest news about the Transportation Security Administration, which has reportedly been contemplating expanding its controversial X-ray body-scanning program from airports to public events, mass transit and possibly even the streets where you live.  According to documents obtained by the nonprofit Electronic Privacy Information Center, the TSA in 2006 began planning pilot programs that, if ever fully implemented, would expand its reach into the everyday lives of American citizens.

No need to vote on this — the mayor knows what's best for you.
Menino Bans Sugary Drink Sales On Boston City Property.  Mayor Tom Menino issued an executive order to ban the sale of sugary drinks on Boston city property on Thursday.  "I want to make this a healthier choice, the easier choice in people's daily lives, whether it's the schools, the work sites or other places in the community," Menino said.

Menino expands sugary drink ban.  Mayor Thomas M. Menino said yesterday [4/7/2011] that he is expanding his ban on sugar-sweetened drinks in schools to include all city properties and functions, a sweeping restriction that means that calorie-laden soft drinks, juices with added sugar, and sports drinks like Gatorade will no longer be offered in vending machines, concession stands, and city-run meetings, programs and events.

Fed Judge: Now the Commerce Clause covers 'mental activity'.  According to federal Judge Gladys Kessler of the DC US District Court, the powers granted to the federal government on the Commerce Clause extend to regulating "mental activity."  Ruling on an ObamaCare challenge brought by two individuals, the good Judge made the leap from "physical activity" to "mental activity" in extending the reach of the federal government.  This is not a joke.

Federal Judge Rules Congress Can Regulate "Mental Activity" Under Commerce Clause.  In something right out of Harrison Bergeron, [U.S. District Court Judge Gladys] Kessler notes that Washington has the authority to regulate "mental activity":  ["]As previous Commerce Clause cases have all involved physical activity, as opposed to mental activity, i.e. decision-making, there is little judicial guidance on whether the latter falls within Congress's power...["]

Hands off My Mental Activity.  In the sense that so irked [Warren] Harding, Judge Gladys Kessler is a great good friend of Obamacare.  The U.S. district-court judge in Washington, D.C., delivered a more telling blow against the law in the course of ruling it constitutional than critics have in assailing it as a travesty.

It's illegal to recite the Gettysburg Address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.  It is illegal to deliver the Gettysburg Address on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial without permission from the U.S. National Park Service.  On President's Day — standing where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream Speech" — Phillip Howell, 25, recited Lincoln's famous address and was quickly stopped by a Park Police officer.  He told Howell that he could not give speeches on the steps of the memorial without a permit.

Congress Must Derail President Obama's Backdoor EPA Power Grab.  In last year's budget, President Obama called for Congress to enact cap-and-trade legislation, using a slush fund to disguise the cost of the program.  But cap-and-trade was decisively rejected in the 2010 election, so this year President Obama's budget simply funds the EPA to move forward with regulating greenhouse gases on its own — against the clear wishes of voters and without any legitimate legislative basis.  Congress must take responsibility, step in, and stop this power grab.

In the opinion of The Editor, the EPA is one of the greatest threats to freedom in America today.

Florida Bar vs. Free Press.  According to Mark A. Adams, writing for The Daily Censored, a news blog affiliated with Project Censored, "The Florida Bar has proposed a new rule to eliminate coverage of court proceedings by citizen journalists."  Outstanding investigative journalism by Adams has uncovered this proposed rule which would allow only an employee of a "traditional media outlet" or an official court reporter to bring audio or video recording equipment into a court room.  Not even a laptop computer would escape this infringement of free speech.

Spilled Milk.  Despite the old saying, "Don't cry over spilled milk," the Environmental Protection Agency is doing just that. ... The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has expanded its definition of "discrimination" to include things that no one thought was discrimination when the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed.  The Federal Communications Commission is trying to expand its jurisdiction to cover things that were never included in its jurisdiction, and that have no relationship to the reason why the FCC was created in the first place.

GOP All Set To Wimp Out On EPA?  Since the new Congress will not rubber-stamp Obama's socialist legislative agenda, the President will seek to socialize us via regulation — regardless of legality.  The EPA's climate regulation plan is unconstitutional on its face (only Congress, not federal agencies, can change laws).  Another example of the coming socialization-by-regulation is the Federal Communications Commission's recent party-line vote to implement net neutrality rules despite the a federal appellate court ruling that it lacks the statutory authority to do so.

Sisyphus in Boulder City.  Public officials cannot simply throw dissenters into a gulag and govern by decree.  But the city governors in Boulder City, Nevada, have found the next best thing.  Sue the people.  Regularly and repeatedly.  As a method of effectuating an oligarchy, what could be more American?

Your Papers, Please!  I recently received an e-mail from the St. Louis Association of Realtors detailing a new policy being implemented by the Missouri Real Estate Commission (the official governmental board regulating real estate practices).  In the next licensing period anyone licensed to sell or rent real estate will have to be fingerprinted and their fingerprints — along with a tougher background check — kept on file with both the state police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Of course, I will have to pony up $52.20 for this singular honor.  Granted, other states have had this provision, but why implement it in Missouri now?

Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill.  Fingerprints are considered to be among the most personal of information, and fingerprint databases created and proposed in the name of national security have generated much debate.  Recently, "Server in the Sky" — a proposed international database of the fingerprints of suspected criminals and terrorists to be shared among the U.S., U.K. and Canada — has ignited a firestorm of controversy.  As have cavalier comments by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that fingerprints aren't "personal data."

Are Borrowers Next?  [Scroll down]  I have still not been able to find any debate or justification for it, but it seems now that fingerprint requirements are a simplistic way for polticians to argue that they are getting tough about a particular problem, even if it's questionable how much fingerprinting will contibute to solving the problem.  Some commenters were right to note that this is an issue concerning federalism as well as privacy.  Through the CNET story, comments on the blog, and e-mails I have received, I learned about other state fingerprint registries of questionable justification for various professions.

More about the proposed National ID Card.

Labor Dept: If You Let Girl Scouts Sell Cookies, You Have to Let Unions Come in Too.  Obama's NLRB is trying to push a new rule that would force any business that allows Girl Scouts or any other local groups like baseball or football teams, school bands, charity groups etc. to sell their fundraiser items or solicit donations in front of or inside of their businesses to also allow unions into their businesses to cajole employees to organize.  Even when the purpose of many union actions are meant to drive customers away from the business in order to force the employer to accede to union demands, this rule would prevent a business owner from turning disruptive union activists away from their businesses.

The Perils of a Siege Mentality.  What bothers me endlessly about the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is that they operate on the policy that defeat by our enemies is implicitly conceded. ... What bothers me just as much is also the willingness of Americans to tolerate and endure the airport terminal as a police state. ... Obey, or suffer the consequences.  So, let us suggest here that, for example, the omnipotent IRS, as one controlling agency, has conditioned Americans to that kind of treatment, to sanction the hostage-taking of their values and to concede that they are but the wards of a guardian government.

The government usurps the role of churches and private charities:
City puts a stop to homeless outreach.  Bobby and Amanda Herring spent more than a year providing food to homeless people in downtown Houston every day.  They fed them, left behind no trash and doled out warm meals peacefully without a single crime being committed, Bobby Herring said.  That ended two weeks ago when the city shut down their "Feed a Friend" effort for lack of a permit.  And city officials say the couple most likely will not be able to obtain one. ... Anyone serving food for public consumption, whether for the homeless or for sale, must have a permit, said Kathy Barton, a spokeswoman for the Health and Human Services Department.

When cops knock, can they barge in?  Police came to Maria Huff's Burbank home in 2007 after hearing that her son had written a letter threatening to shoot up his high school.  They asked Huff if they could come in and she said no, not without a warrant.  When they asked if there were any guns in the house, Huff said she would get her husband, then headed inside, followed by her son, who was also at the doorway, and four officers.  After remaining for five to 10 minutes and finding no evidence of a crime, the officers left.  In short order they were hit with a civil suit by Huff, her husband and son — who had written no such threatening letter — for entering the home without any legal justification.

New Jersey may soon require teens and adults to register bikes.  New Jersey residents older than 15 may soon be required to register their bicycles — and attach license plates to prove compliance — if a recently proposed law passes the state assembly.  On Jan. 6, assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker of Newark introduced Bill A3657, requiring registration of all bicycles ridden on public roads.

Texas school police ticketing students as young as six.  School police officers in Texas are doling out more tickets to children as young as 6, who under past disciplinary practices would have been sent to the principal's office instead, according to a report by a Texas nonprofit.

Chafee to Issue Talk Radio Ban.  State officials in Rhode Island will soon be ordered to stay off the airways, provided the interviewer happens to be a talk show host.  A spokesman for Gov. Lincoln Chafee tells the Providence Journal that talk radio is essentially "ratings-driven, for-profit programming," and "we don't think it is appropriate to use taxpayer resources" to have state employees use work time to "support for-profit, ratings-driven programming."

New Food Safety Legislation Gives Gov't Power to Order Recalls, Increase Inspections.  The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will have the authority to order recalls of food products, increase inspections, and boost paperwork for food packaging companies under a bill President Barack Obama quietly signed into law on Tuesday [1/4/2011].

Outsourcing Democracy:  The past century or so has witnessed Congress outsource these and other powers to the Federal Reserve, the regulatory bureaucracy, the executive branch, and the courts.  This is bad news for the American people, whose direct role in electing congressmen stands in contrast to their indirect role in electing presidents and approving judges — let alone their impotence to hold anonymous bureaucrats accountable.  We have become more a government of, by, and for people unknown to the people.

Manmade famine in America.  It seems inconceivable, but people in America are going hungry en masse due to a famine caused by political authorities.  Fresno, California is not yet a sister city of Kiev, Ukraine, but the two cities, capitals of rich agricultural regions, share a history of mass hunger caused by central governments indifferent to the suffering of their people, in the pursuit of ideological goals.

Court OKs searches of cell phones without warrant.  The California Supreme Court allowed police Monday [1/3/2011] to search arrestees' cell phones without a warrant, saying defendants lose their privacy rights for any items they're carrying when taken into custody.  Under U.S. Supreme Court precedents, "this loss of privacy allows police not only to seize anything of importance they find on the arrestee's body ... but also to open and examine what they find," the state court said in a 5-2 ruling.

PC Airport Safety is an Oxymoron.  Freedom doesn't die all at once.  It gets chipped away, piece by piece, until what we once had becomes unrecognizable.  On December 22nd in Austin, Texas, 56-year-old Claire Hirschkind suffered the kind of indignity that is only possible in a society that is morally confused and, as a result, Constitutionally uninformed.  When she refused to have her breasts groped by a TSA agent at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, she was arrested.

'Civil Rights' Gone Wild.  The Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has no time to pursue voter-intimidation cases against black defendants.  But it has plenty of time to pursue local school boards that make common-sense decisions about student dress codes and accommodations for teachers' religious practices.

In England:
Big Brother Police Collecting Data on Those Who Report Crimes.  Millions of innocent people have had their details recorded and stored on police databases after reporting a crime, it has emerged.  Forces across England and Wales have amassed data about people who dial 999 or non-emergency numbers to report their concerns or pass on information.  Details such as age and ethnicity are being kept in databases without the callers' knowledge.

Digital Totalitarianism — The Conspiracy to Abolish Cash.  For many years figures on the political fringe, especially on the right, have claimed that the government and its corporate owners want to transform us into a cashless society.  Their warnings about the conspiracy against paper money fell on deaf ears, primarily because the digitalization of financial transactions seemed more like the result of organic business trends than the manifestation of some sinister conspiracy.  Now, however, those who want to do away with liquid currency are stepping out of the shadows.

The Political War on Cash.  These are strange monetary times, with negative interest rates and central bankers deemed to be masters of the universe.  So maybe we shouldn't be surprised that politicians and central bankers are now waging a war on cash.  That's right, policy makers in Europe and the U.S. want to make it harder for the hoi polloi to hold actual currency.  Mario Draghi fired the latest salvo on Monday [2/15/2016] when he said the European Central Bank would like to ban €500 notes.

Is reading wife's e-mail a crime?  Rochester Hills man faces trial.  A Rochester Hills man faces up to 5 years in prison — for reading his wife's e-mail.  Oakland County prosecutors, relying on a Michigan statute typically used to prosecute crimes such as identity theft or stealing trade secrets, have charged Leon Walker, 33, with a felony after he logged onto a laptop in the home he shared with his wife, Clara Walker.

EPA: For 'When Congress Resists Action'.  Surely you remember this dynamic from civics class, or even some more advanced inquiry into our system:  Congress only decides major domestic policy issues until unelected bureaucrats and political appointees decide they can no longer wait for our elected representatives.  Like (as the article also notes) the Department of Interior is for locking up land when Congress resists doing so, the FCC is for when Congress resists action on the Progressives' view of the internet, and so on through the alphabet soup of government.

Obamacare's unbridled bullying power must end.  Authority to enforce the law is inherent in police powers.  Enforcement means investigations into violations of law.  Given Obamacare's "unbridled" police powers, it would be a historic, massive expansion of government authority to investigate or audit businesses and households.  The power to investigate is the power to bully and deprive people of rights, which is why government investigations are subject to the Fourth Amendment.  Protections under the Fourth Amendment, however, have eroded as Congress expanded use of its powers to regulate interstate commerce.

TSA, under the direction of Napolitano, consent of Obama, collecting names, personal information, labeling them as potential "domestic extremists."
Taking names, Napolitano style.  [Scroll down]  As I stated in my original report, the new DHS procedures have everything to do with control and conditioning and nothing to do with actual security.  The TSA enhancements and the DHS databases are noticeably on the uptick, taking aim at law abiding American citizens who threaten the globalist agenda or the allegedly non-existent, once conspiratorial "New World Order" under global governance doctrine.

Al Sharpton Helping FCC Design Rush Limbaugh 'Free Speech' Show Trials.  [Scroll down]  This particular portion of the FCC trend towards the totalitarian may be explained thusly — they have in their employ as their inaugural Chief Diversity Officer Mark Lloyd.  Who in 2007 co-wrote a Center for American Progress-Free Press "report" — entitled The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio — that calls on the government to "equalize" Conservative talk radio.  Who wrote a follow-up essay that directed "community organizations" (run one would think by community organizers) to threaten the FCC broadcast licenses of stations with whom they do not agree politically.

Secret BLM Meetings Cause Uproar in Wyoming.  Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal (D) is leading a bipartisan challenge against the secretive nature of bureaucratic planning regarding federal lands in the state.  The U.S. Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management, which controls how federal lands are used, refuses to open its decision-making process to the public, and Wyoming residents are outraged about it.

The Editor says...
There's only one reason for this secrecy, and that is deception.

Behind the broccoli: Liberalism's war on liberty.  What this country needs is a crop of healthy, hunger-free kids — and now, thanks to the hectoring of Michelle Obama and the terrible swift presidential pen of her husband, it has one:  the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. ... ObamaCare and the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 are the things that expose modern liberalism for the iron fist in the velvet glove.  Can't feed yourself?  Dinner's on us.  Out of work?  We'll pay you to stay unemployed.  After all, you're too stupid to make your own best decisions in what used to be personal matters.  All we ask in exchange for your freedom is your vote.

Napolitano Says DHS to Begin Battling Climate Change as Homeland Security Issue.  At an all-day White House conference on "environmental justice," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced that her department is creating a new task force to battle the effects of climate change on domestic security operations.  Speaking at the first White House Forum on Environmental Justice on Thursday, Napolitano discussed the initial findings of the department's recently created "Climate Change and Adaptation Task Force."

The Editor says...
This maneuver by Ms. Napolitano is risible as well as ominous.  When ordinary weather is used as an excuse for the creation of a "task force" pertaining to "domestic security operations", it is obvious that the so-called Homeland Security people are hungry for additional power.  There has been no extraordinary climate change, but the threat of change is being used as a justification for expanded government power.  Global warming is a hoax.

No Such Thing as Carbon Neutral.  If you can't stop yourself from driving your car, cooking in your kitchen, heating and cooling your home, exhaling CO2, then 'They' will charge you fees you can't afford.  'They' have set up unelected local authorities through the EPA who have no accountability to voters and who will decide who uses what resources to 'their' ends.  To insure your submission and compliance with 'their' vision of utopia, 'they' will place Smart meters on your home, GPS devices in your car, tax you for your non-compliant appliances, take away your incandescent light bulbs, tax your airline flight, tax your tickets to entertainment venues, tax and cut your water usage, tax your hair-dresser, tax your nail salon, tax your local deli, tax your (exhale CO2) dry cleaner, anything that does or doesn't move.  'Their' will be done on earth.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.
Feds Force Oklahoma Bank To Remove Crosses, Bible Verse.  A small-town bank in Oklahoma said the Federal Reserve won't let it keep religious signs and symbols on display.  Federal Reserve examiners come every four years to make sure banks are complying with a long list of regulations.  The examiners came to Perkins last week.  And the team from Kansas City deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller's counter and buttons that say "Merry Christmas, God With Us." were inappropriate.  The Bible verse of the day on the bank's Internet site also had to be taken down.

Federal Reserve Orders Private Bank to Remove Crosses and Bible Verse.  While the Injustice Department is suing an Illinois school district on behalf of a Muslim teacher and a federal judge has issued an injunction against an Oklahoma measure prohibiting the use of Sharia law in court decisions, a private business in the Sooner State no longer seems to have First Amendment rights.  Outrageously, the Federal Reserve has ordered the small Payne County Bank in Perkins, OK to remove religious symbols and sentiments in deference to an anti-discrimination regulation.

Republicans rip the Fed after examiner tells Oklahoma bank to hide religious items.  The Federal Reserve quickly withdrew an order to an Oklahoma bank to remove religious items from public view on Friday [12/17/2010] after two Republicans blasted the action as an "assault on faith."  Sen. James Inhofe and Rep. Frank Lucas of Oklahoma sent a pointed letter to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke on Friday asking him whether he stood by a Federal Reserve examiner who told Payne County Bank officials to remove the religious references from their business.  The Fed examiner told the bank the religious items could discourage a person from seeking an application.

Democrat economics borrowed from Marx.  The Democrats lack a winning platform on estate taxes — work hard, save, invest and after death, Uncle Sam gets half.  Why would anyone in their right mind put any effort into work or take any chances on starting a new business if they knew half was going to the government?  It shows hard work and risk-taking isn't all it's cracked up to be.  Democrats don't realize that unlike the Joe Kennedys of this world, children might not keep accumulating wealth.

Does Berwick answer to no one?  Dr. Donald Berwick, President Obama's recess-appointed administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, may be the least accountable federal agency head.

The Confiscation Con.  If you've spent enough time in the gold community, you might be under the impression that the most imminent threat to the average American isn't terrorism or unemployment, but rather gold confiscation.  Starting with the fact that FDR confiscated gold during the last Great Depression, and continuing to the quite accurate forecast that we are headed into an even Greater Depression, unscrupulous coin dealers have been pushing investors to buy expensive "numismatic" or "collectible" coins that they claim would be protected from government seizure. ... If the situation really gets this bad, you aren't going to trust some government agent with the intelligence of your average TSA officer to judge whether your coins are "numismatic" enough to be exempt from confiscation.

FCC's "Public Value Test": An Essential Step To Dictatorship.  And so it begins.  Michael Copps, of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has suggested a "public value test" to determine who should, and should not, hold licenses for television and radio. ... Which segment of the "public" is to decide the nature of the "value" being tested?  It doesn't matter.  A few officials at the FCC will take care of that for you.  If this doesn't sound like Soviet Russia, Nazi Germany or any other totalitarian state, I don't know what does.

Another Victory for Islamic Jihad Courtesy of the TSA.  Reading several articles about how the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA's) full-body scans and pat-down "enhanced" security procedures violate the Fourth Amendment, I was struck by the utter irrelevancy of the argument.  Citing that Amendment against unreasonable searches and seizures would indeed present an unarguable efficacy if we lived in a political environment in which the rule of law otherwise prevailed.  No court could contradict the argument and still retain any credibility.  But we do not live in such an environment.  We are living in a political era of fiat law.

Obama's Malice Aforethought:  [Scroll down]  Even a "temporary" or "emergency" lock-up of this kind of speech is intolerable.  Under a statist regime, "temporary" means permanently.  The regime also decrees what is an "emergency."  Nazi Germany existed in a state of permanent emergency, from the day Hitler came to power in 1933 to its collapse in 1945.  Obama and his allies in government are pining for a Nazi-style "Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda" that would filter, interpret, suppress, and outlaw news and information they deem harmful to and critical of the government's policies, powers, and actions.  The Obama administration, at first defensive of its powers, policies and actions, has conducted an offensive against any and all who question the motive and wisdom of that administration.

TSA New Enemies List.  The TSA's policy is simply to ignore and overrule the Fourth Amendment, and to resort to brute force.  This is what it regularly tells travelers who question the policy.  It and the DHS will sooner or later decide to ignore and overrule the First Amendment, or freedom of speech.  It can claim that my writing — or anyone else's writing, no matter how calmly or emotionally composed — has caused others to oppose or "disrupt" the TSA's policies.  Whether the actions of those so inspired or so persuaded are criminal in nature, or lawful actions taken under the mantle of the Fourth Amendment, is irrelevant.  The threat implied in that directive is there are certain individuals and organizations that must sooner or later be silenced.

The TSA's "Protection" Racket.  There is a scene in Schindler's List in which all the inmates of the concentration camp are forced to strip naked en masse and run through a gauntlet of outdoor medical checks. ... Too eerily a parallel with the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA's) new "enhanced" security policies at American airports, which include full-body scans that show every detail of one's person beneath clothing and/or intimate "pat-downs" by manqués wearing blue surgeon's gloves, who are authorized to probe and grope infants, school children, adults, nuns, businessmen, well, everyone for combustibles or explosive materials.  Passengers are allowed to "opt out" for the pat-down, should they object to being seen naked, or if they're susceptible to involuntary radiation treatments.  Some choice.  No pressure at all, your choice — unless you choose to stop flying the unfriendly skies.

Obama Must Veto Omnibus Spending Bill.  The omnibus spending bill for fiscal year 2011, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid dropped on his colleagues yesterday, is more than 1,900 pages long, costs more than $1 trillion, and consists of some 6,600 earmarks.  The entire GOP leadership has come out strongly against the omnibus bill — on substance (it's terribly wasteful and profligate) and process (a lame-duck session of Congress should not be passing legislation of this dimension, which is clearly at odds with what most Americans voted for during the 2010 midterm election).

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood."

— James Madison    

Would Your Government Do These Things?  The individual has very little if any protections against a powerful, tyrannical government that has flagrantly and openly severed the bonds on its limits.  Strict adherence to the constitution by the government and the people is the only thing that stands between freedom and slavery.  It is only by banding together en masse, does a society have any hope of gaining control over that government and returning to one that respects and protects individual freedom.

A Tyrant's Thinking.  A member of the Federal Communications Commission appears to want Washington in control of broadcast news.  What a shame that people with such ideas are placed in positions of power.

FCC Commissioner Wants to Control the Content of Broadcast Media.  The First Amendment forbids Congress from infringing on Americans' right to free speech.  But the Federal Communications Commission is not Congress.  And Michael Copps, one of four FCC commissioners reporting to Chairman Julius Genachowski, seems intent on ignoring that pesky part of the First Amendment about "abridging the freedom of speech" when that speech is sent out over the airwaves.

Leasing Your Life From The State.  The right to own property is actually one of the most intellectually challenging aspects of our Constitutional system, as evidenced by how easily people are willing to abandon the defense of that right for others.  There is towering public outrage at the merest suggestion of compromised First Amendment rights for millionaire actors or musicians, but nary a peep at the idea those same millionaires don't have the right to pass their full estates — built with already-taxed earnings — along to their children.  You don't "own" anything that can be taken away from you when you're no longer alive to defend it.

Show Me Your Papers!!  With the introduction of the new body scanners that show what is essentially a nude image of the person being scanned, the American public is getting a taste of what it is like to live in a police state.

Feds Target School Bake Sales.  On December 3, the lame-duck House passed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act, previously approved by the Senate.  President Obama, doubtless preoccupied with such trivia as taxes, unemployment, Korea, and China, has yet to sign it into law.  A mere two hundred and twenty pages long, it has lots of provisions for allocation of funds, demonstration projects, and the like.  Many may be worthwhile.  However, included in the legislation is a provision authorizing the secretary of Agriculture to regulate school fundraising bake sales to ensure that they are infrequent and that the goodies sold are nutritionally acceptable.  Far from innocuous, that is yet another distasteful and unnecessary intrusion of the federal government into our daily lives.

Jekyll and Hyde Government.  Government is hopelessly out of touch and is trending authoritarian.  It is corrupt and inept.  Ordinary people see a ruling class thriving while they suffer.  Large corporations get preferred treatment while the little guy is supposed to play by the rules and bail out mistakes he did not make.  Politicians ask everyone but themselves and their cronies to "sacrifice."  Government is no longer trusted or believed.  No government can survive when it loses the confidence of the people.  We have nearly reached this dangerous point.

Will The Light Bulb Ban Inspire a Conversion?  Why is the incandescent light bulb ban such a lightning rod for Tea Party-inspired remorse from big government Republicans?  Simple:  it's a liberty-stealing assault on our privacy and common sense, outrageously expensive, and doesn't solve any of the problems it's intended to fix.  That's only for starters.  The most egregious feature is that the ban makes fools of the American people who willingly succumb to such nonsense from Washington, D.C.

The mask has slipped.  We've seen our national treasury looted, with the unaccounted for cash handed out to already fabulously wealthy financial houses.  We've seen core industries taken over and control given to thug unions who caused most of the financial woes the industries suffered from in the first place.  We've seen regulations heaped ever deeper on independent agriculture, making us further dependent on the Third World and large multinational corporations for our food.  Despite the wailing about dependency on foreign oil, Obama and his unindicted Democrat/RINO co-conspirators have — quite illegally — thrown up roadblock after roadblock to domestic oil production.  Bad as all this has been, with the stentorian efforts of the "mainstream" media, the fascists have managed to keep up the pretense that this is all for our own good.

Government By Executive Order.  Because President Obama will now have a tough time getting his liberal agenda through a more Republican Congress, many Democrats are urging him to ram it through using the executive branch's unilateral power.  John Podesta, head of the Center for American Progress, even issued a list of executive orders and rule-makings last month that Mr. Obama can use to "push the country to a better place."  If the Department of Labor is representative, his advice is in sync with moves already under way.

The Soft Dictatorship.  [Scroll down]  The final piece to the puzzle of the soft dictatorship is the completely unconstitutional creation of executive orders.  Not only is there no basis in the Constitution for executive orders, but executive orders are often used to outright violate the Constitution.  Franklin D. Roosevelt used executive orders to demand the seizure of all gold owned by Americans and imprison all Americans of Japanese ancestry. ... George W. Bush signed executive orders that, among other things, established an alternative government in the case of a presidentially declared emergency.  Barack Obama has continued the tradition of unconstitutional executive orders by granting wide powers to Interpol in America and sealing his own records from inspection, and he is now looking for means to impose gun control through executive orders.

Washington Set to Control Your Light Switch.  Smart Grid sounds harmless and modern, but it will be incredibly intrusive.  Appliances in the future will have microchips installed; when you plug them in, they will handshake with the grid, and a central authority will determine whether that appliance deserves to get power or not.  If a bureaucrat in Washington decides that it's not hot enough for you to put on the air conditioner, your air conditioner will not work.  If the Fed decides that Margaritas lead to too much trouble on Cinco de Mayo, all blenders can be disabled for the day.  They can also turn off radios, televisions and computers.  In the era of electronic information, restricting the freedom of the press is as easy as turning off the light.  The idea is to conserve power, but a Smart Government will be able to use the technology to retain power as well.

America: Closed Due to Terrorism.  [Scroll down]  I asked a friendly Capitol Police officer where I was allowed to go and if I could take pictures.  The fact that I felt it necessary to ask speaks volumes to the extent that the Muslim terrorists have driven America into adopting extreme security measures to combat fear.  I was told I could take pictures, but could only enter the Capitol through an underground visitor's center after being subjected to security measures similar to an airport.  America's government buildings are closed off from the populace in an effort to combat terrorism, resulting in America's government officials being increasingly closed off from ordinary Americans.

First Health Care, Next the Food Supply.  Just because the duck is lame doesn't mean it can't still do terrible damage to American freedom.  Our new Congress, especially the new House, isn't yet seated, and this current Congress can still wreak terrible havoc on our rights if not stopped.  Case in point:  Senate Bill 510, believed to be coming to the floor Wednesday, November 17.  This is the food safety version of ObamaCare.

TSA scanners are a front to implement biometric chips.  You might of heard that the TSA scanners at US airports are a front because the guy that owns part of the company also makes the rules.  If you dont know who this is then dont worry, that is not the story.  The same guy also claims that the TSA scanners are just a front to implement them in schools and make people used to the idea, they would rather choose the machines than being molested by TSA agents.  Their plan is to see a machine in every school, shopping mall and public building.  Just about everywhere.

More about the TSA's abusive and invasive searches.

Obama's Torrent of New Regulation.  The burden of regulation on Americans increased at an alarming rate in fiscal year 2010.  Based on data from the Government Accountability Office, an unprecedented 43 major new regulations were imposed by Washington.  And based on reports from government regulators themselves, the total cost of these rules topped $26.5 billion, far more than any other year for which records are available.  These costs will affect Americans in many ways, raising the price of the cars they buy and the food they eat, while destroying an untold number of jobs.

Why Air Security is the Issue.  One of the great freedoms provided by those resources is the ability to move about.  Those who attack one attack the other.  Citizens who are self-sufficient and on the go are much harder to control than those who are not.  It is no coincidence that liberalism flourishes in the big cities, where people live in close quarters in a high-rise urban lifestyle.  A nation of Seinfelds is easier to keep tabs on than a nation of Palins.  As such, the Seinfelds don't even feel the morphing grip of bureaucrats because they rarely do anything or go anywhere that threatens the bureaucratic state's ability to control.  The Palins of the country instinctively feel this grip and abhor it.

TSA Searches:  Are Trains and Subways Next?  "I understand people's frustrations," said president Obama from Lisbon over the weekend.  Obama said at present naked body scanners and pat down searches bordering on sexual molestation are the best way to prevent Muslims in caves from attacking the American people.  Secretary of State Clinton told Meet the Press on Sunday [11/21/2010] that "everyone, including our security experts, are looking for ways to diminish the impact on the traveling public" and that "striking the right balance is what this is about."  For now, that "balance" means a near minimum wage TSA worker will fondle your testicles and there is nothing you can do about it.  Protesting will only slow down traffic and prevent people from visiting their family and friends.

The Frogs Finally Notice the Water is Boiling.  Maybe it really did need to come to this.  Maybe Americans had to literally have their privates groped by a government bureaucrat to finally realize that they have been the proverbial frogs sitting in a pot of water, unaware that they are being incrementally boiled to death.  For those of you who still don't get it, let me make it clear:  The ultimate destination of Political Correctness is totalitarianism.

More about the TSA's abusive and invasive searches.

Conservatives Should Not Be Celebrating the Election Results.  [Scroll down]  If Congress doesn't know what is in its legislation with its army of lawyers, how likely is it that the average citizen will know what is in it?  We have a situation where there are thousands, and perhaps tens of thousands, of pages of laws that every citizen is subject to every day.  Do you know them all?  Remember, ignorance is no defense for breaking the law.  After you figure out all the laws that apply, now go work on the regulations.  Regulations passed by the EPA, DHS, HHS, SEC, and so on still have the full force of law, and you can still go to jail for violating them.

Are We Free?  We are required to have a social security number as individuals or a taxpayer identification number as a business.  We need a license to operate a business, get married, drive a car, hold a rally in a park, etc.  We ask permission from the building and zoning department to build a house or change the house we have.  We get fined if we do not wear a seatbelt.  We pay taxes for just about everything we do.  The government controls the airwaves, the waterways, the sky and highways.  They tell us where we are allowed to go in the national forests and parks.  We are charged fees to use public lands.  We are prohibited from using our own land if some rare insect is found there.  Our churches ask the IRS for permission to operate with tax favors.  Our leaders tell us what we can and cannot say.  The first two of the Bill of Rights have been trampled at every opportunity.  This list could go on and on, but you get the message.  We are controlled from cradle to grave.

A Crossroads Election.  Runaway "stimulus" spending, high unemployment and ObamaCare are all legitimate and important issues.  It is just that freedom and survival are more important.  For all its sweeping and scary provisions, ObamaCare is not nearly as important as the way it was passed.  If legislation can become laws passed without either the public or the Congress knowing what is in those laws, then the fundamental principle of a free, self-governing people is completely undermined.

Michigan Woman Prosecuted for Christian Roommate Ad.  A Michigan woman who posted an ad seeking a Christian roommate on her church bulletin board has been charged with violating the law.  The Fair Housing Center of West Michigan filed the complaint against the 31-year-old unnamed woman.  The complaint states the ad "expresses an illegal preference for a Christian roommate, thus excluding people of other faiths."

Seeking Promiscuous Heathen Female Roommate.  Harold Core, director of public affairs with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, recently told the Grand Rapids Press that the Fair Housing Act prevents people from publishing an advertisement stating their preference of religion with respect to the sale or rental of a dwelling.  And he made no distinction between an owner-placed ad and one placed by a prospective occupant.  Joel Oster, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is representing the Christian woman free of charge.  He says this case is simply "outrageous."

Update:
Federal government drops case against Grand Rapids woman seeking Christian roommate.  On the surface, an ad posted in a church by a 31-year-old nursing student seeking a Christian roommate does violate fair housing law, but other issues prompted the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to drop its case against her.

Criminal barbering?  Raids at Orange County shops lead to arrests.  As many as 14 armed Orange County deputies, including narcotics agents, stormed Strictly Skillz barbershop during business hours on a Saturday in August, handcuffing barbers in front of customers during a busy back-to-school weekend. ... In "sweeps" on Aug. 21 and Sept. 17 targeting at least nine shops, deputies arrested 37 people — the majority charged with "barbering without a license," a misdemeanor that state records show only three other people have been jailed in Florida in the past 10 years.

Is Unlicensed Yacht Dealing a "Serious Threat"?  The fear that rich yacht-buyers are getting ripped off by scofflaw boat salesmen seems pretty implausible.

Unions target your private retirement savings.  Will the government outlaw your 401(k) plan?  It seems like an absurd possibility, yet earlier this month two Democratic senators, Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., held a hearing on Capitol Hill exploring the possibility of doing exactly that.

Europe starts confiscating private pension funds.  Obviously, this is a cautionary tale for America.  If fiscal austerity becomes a real issue in the U.S. the way that it's been reaching critical mass in Europe — don't think that U.S. lawmakers regard your either your personal wealth or money they might owe you as sacrosanct.  Government has a habit of looking out for itself.

European nations begin seizing private pensions.  People's retirement savings are a convenient source of revenue for governments that don't want to reduce spending or make privatizations.  As most pension schemes in Europe are organised by the state, European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this money for their own ends.

How Safe are Americans' Private Retirement Savings?  In Europe, the cost of socialism is apparently reaching critical mass.  According to the Christian Science Monitor, five countries — Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland and France — are in various stages of confiscating or attempting to confiscate citizens' pension savings as a means of offsetting government revenue shortfalls.  Since most pensions plans in Europe are state-generated, such seizures are relatively easy to accomplish.  Yet while two of the attempts are being made to get back savings invested in national funds, the other three are grabs for "private personal savings."

Stealing Pensions.  Europe is trying to dig out of its budget hole by seizing private pensions.  It's a last-ditch effort to preserve socialism at the expense of the very assets that would sustain its future growth.

Is Your IRA Going To Be Raided?  The notion of government raiding personal retirement accounts for funds may seem extreme.  Perhaps it shouldn't.  Other governments have done it.  Argentina did in 2008.  Ireland has indicated it might.  The worsening financial crisis may eventually move other countries in that direction.  Surely the US would never do so.  Actually, there is little basis for assuming they would not and factual evidence they would.  Here are three good reasons to believe they would...

46 Percent Say Federal Gov't 'Poses Immediate Threat'.  The percentage of Americans who think the federal government poses "an immediate threat" to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens has increased significantly over the last seven years, rising from 30 percent to 46 percent, according to a Gallup poll conducted Sept. 13-16 and released today [10/13/2010].  Only 51 percent of Americans now say they do not think the federal government poses "an immediate threat" to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens.

Got student loans?  Feds make an offer you can't refuse.  Worried about how to pay off that student debt?  Head on over to the closest government agency, and you too can score loan forgiveness after ten years of "public service."  Does that sound too good to be true?  Well, Paul Winfree tells us that politicians voted to make these dreams (or nightmares) a reality.

A new threat is coming, and it's called Famlink.  [Scroll down]  Also with how corrupt CPS has been getting it is very easy for the Federal Government to forge documents and records in order to criminalize dissidents and take their children away.  One of these examples of John Irish and his wife losing their child over simply belonging to a Oath Keepers discussion board.  Although the Irish family managed to get their baby back after the court admitted defeat they aren't the only family to be persecuted by CPS.  Now What is FamLink?  Well through searching through many bits and pieces the U.S. Government forgot to cover-up (Save the documents while you can!) I was able to start putting together the pieces of what FamLink is.

The Hubris of NOAA.  Fisherman face declining fishing allocations, stormy weather, and fluctuating prices as routine dangers of their profession.  But federal regulators from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration are becoming even scarier.  This essay gives my assessment of the NOAA Fisheries Service Summary Report, which covers a series of meetings between the NOAA bureaucracy and the northeast commercial fishermen.

Beware the Cyberscare.  The same people who brought you the global warming and Y2K scares have dreamed up a scheme to assert greater federal control over the Internet in the name of cybersecurity.  According to Reuters news agency, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, intends to pass legislation on the subject authored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, and Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, West Virginia Democrat.  The forthcoming effort will trade the freedom of an important communications medium for the illusion of safety.

The Fifty Years' War.  This war has been fought over what defines American freedom.  Are Americans freer when they can pursue their dreams without government interference?  Or are they freer when the government ensures that all their needs are provided for?

The Bank of Central Planning.  The prospect of another big-government program is disheartening to all those who believe the federal government has grown far beyond its originally intended scope of authority.  Fear that the massive growth of the federal government will stifle technological innovation, harm the economy, and limit individual freedom is well-founded.  Every society that has relied on central planning has suffered with a stagnant economy, limited mobility, and a low standard of living.

If You Are Not a Leftist, Why Are You Voting Democrat?  The Democratic president and Democratic Party have expanded the American government to an unprecedented extent.  Moreover, they have done so in unprecedented ways:  Never before has such extensive society-changing legislation been passed without a single vote of the other political party; and unprecedentedly vast powers have been given to "czars" and their new federal agencies — with no congressional oversight.

Keen Graphs of the Obvious.  Government has grown by obscene amounts since William McKinley was president.  In 1900, federal, state, and local governments combined spent under 5% of Gross Domestic Product.  Today they spend 40% of GDP or more and account for half of all health care spending.  The federal government alone spends more than 20% of GDP, owns 29% of all land, and controls virtually all ocean activity, including oil drilling, for miles offshore.  This puts us square into the mix of European welfare states in terms of government spending and debt.

FBI agents seek the right to tap texts, emails and websites.  US intelligence services would be allowed to tap text messages, emails and networking websites under new powers being considered by Barack Obama's administration.

The Green Agenda.  In keeping with President Obama's promise to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet, the Energy Department has set new efficiency standards for 26 appliances and household products.  The list ranges from microwaves, to washing machines and dryers, to residential water heaters and dishwashers.  The department reportedly claims the new standards will save consumers from $250 billion to $300 billion on their energy costs through 2030.  But that's what Democrats always say about their green schemes:  "We're doing this to clean up the Earth, and we're going to save you money while we do it."  Don't believe it.

Your Insane U.S. Energy Department.  In mid-September, Cathy Zoi, an Assistant Secretary of Energy, said that the U.S. Department of Energy has a "mandate" to issue regulations about what household appliances should be available to Americans in the future. ... The DOE intends to "set efficiency standards for energy-consuming products."  These will include commercial clothes washers, small electric motors, water heaters, direct heating equipment and pool heaters, among the countless products consumers use on a daily basis.

Predatory Governance.  The American federal government increasingly resembles a redistribution racket that is run by operatives who call themselves public servants.  Many of us have been blind to this because we have been brainwashed by the decades of government propaganda dispensed through the public school system, universities, and the media.  But the behavior of the political class has recently become so brazen and outrageous that scales are falling from people's eyes everywhere.

We, the ruled.  We are not being governed.  We are not being led.  We are being ruled.  Ruled like subjects in a medieval kingdom.  Oh, we have more freedom than our medieval ancestors; we can usually say whatever we want, whenever we want to.  But that's where our influence seems to end.  Just consider a series of recent issues that have arisen and how our "leaders" have told us, in effect, to take our opinions elsewhere.

Random Pat-Downs Turn PATCO Into Police State.  Commuters who ride PATCO trains between southern New Jersey and Philadelphia should expect random searches of their clothing, pockets, bags and vehicles on their morning trip to work.  Twelve Transportation Security Administration screeners, armed with an explosive-sniffing K-9, checked 663 commuter bags randomly selected from the morning rush at the Lindenwold station Tuesday [9/7/2010]. ... "We can conduct any kind of search we want," said [Delaware River Port Authority Police Chief David] McClintock.

Seventy percent of Americans know they've been conned.  [Scroll down]  The 70 percent is appalled by the placebo economics practiced by the president and the Congress over the past two years, shocked by its profligacy with the wealth of the republic, and sickened by the looting of the next generation's opportunities.  The 70 percent did not want Obamacare, but it has been thrust upon them.  The 70 percent did not want federal judges to declare "game over" in the complex discussion of what marriage is and means.

Abridging Too Far.  Philadelphia is charging bloggers $300 for a "privilege" license.  In the city where the Declaration of Independence was adopted and the Constitution signed, a right has become a privilege.  The scheme went virtually unreported until the Philadelphia City Paper ran a story last week noting that the city requires privilege licenses for any business engaged in what local tax attorney Michael Mandale terms "activity for profit."

Next Year's Congress:  Deem and Don't Pass Go?  The very process the Democrats used to pass legislation could be denied Republicans to amend that same legislation next year, even if Republicans regain the House and Senate in November.

Eminent domain, by any other name ... still stinks.  Imagine you come home from work one day to a notice on your front door that you have 45 days to demolish your house, or the city will do it for you.  Oh, and you're paying for it.  This is happening right now in Montgomery, Ala., and here is how it works:  The city decides it doesn't like your property for one reason or another, so it declares it a "public nuisance."

Destroying Jobs at 2.5 Gallons per Minute.  In 1992, the Department of Energy managed to promulgate a regulation requiring that showerheads use no more than 2.5 gallons per minute as an effort to save... water.  This is a substance that's in such short supply that 75% of the planet is covered with it. ... For eighteen years, this regulation was interpreted one way — the limitation was per nozzle, so people desiring a more vigorous shower could simply install a couple more showerheads, or a multi-nozzle shower system.  A specialty arose in the marketplace:  the creative design of elegant and invigorating shower systems.

EPA's Gun Control.  The U.S. Supreme Court says Americans have an individual right to keep and bear arms.  The EPA says the bullets for those guns may be banned as an environmental hazard.

More about gun control and the EPA.

Court strikes down mall talk rules.  A California appeals court struck down a mall's rules banning strangers from talking about subjects other than the mall while inside the facility. ... The mall's rules, which were previously upheld by Placer Superior Court Judge Larry Gaddis, allow for conversations between two strangers on non-mall related topics only if an application is submitted 4 days in advance and approved by officials.
[Emphasis added.]

The Tyranny of Google.  In an astonishing interview with The Wall Street Journal, Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google, has outlined what he believes will be the future of web searches.  His vision is nothing less than the etiolation of free will by, and the surrender of individual autonomy to, the all-knowing, all-seeing priestly class at Google.

America's Slipping Grasp on Self-Governance.  A disregard for the law and the people's will is not confined to the judiciary.  From the bank and auto bailouts, to the stimulus bill and health care overhaul, the elected branches of the federal government have sneeringly answered petitions for fiscal sense with one of the most unreasonable bevies of laws ever passed.  The court decisions in Arizona and California and irresponsible federal legislation are more than maddening news stories.  These events lend stark perspective to America's slipping grasp on the right to self-governance.

Justice Department's Civil Rights Division is out of control.  [Scroll down]  It isn't just the South Carolina prisons in the crosshairs of the Civil Rights Division.  It is mortgage lenders and insurance companies.  It is movie theaters and flat-broke counties that don't print ballots in foreign languages.  It's also Amazon.com, which tried to sell a talking Kindle reader, but Justice said it couldn't because the button to make the Kindle talk didn't have Braille.  Never mind that books neither talk nor have Braille buttons telling them to talk.  The business community would be wise to wake up and recognize the immense power the Civil Rights Division exerts over the private sector.

What Really Happened to Erik Scott?  An accomplished young man is killed by police outside a Vegas Costco, and bystander accounts starkly contrast with official reports.

The Prophet of the Ruling Class.  So now the EPA has been petitioned to ban the use of lead in bullets and fishing weights.  For hundreds of years, human beings have used lead for those purposes, and life on earth has not exactly come to an end.  Now we are told that the lead used in hunting and fishing is harming animals and fish, and it must stop.  The scary thing is that one individual, EPA Director Lisa Jackson, has the power to impose such a ban.

Has the Time Come to Replace the Federal Government?  After Clinton appointed Judge Susan Bolton ruled Wednesday that — for all intents and purposes — Arizona does not have the right to protect itself or its citizens from invading drug cartels and the illegal foreign hordes that are bleeding it dry of its resources, it should have become apparent to even the dimmest that We-the-People no longer exist.  We are now living under a tyranny developed, directed, implemented and enforced by the Marxists in power.

Rep. Pete Stark doesn't believe there are constitutional limits on federal government.  What is Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., thinking?  Following the publication of a video in which the congressman derides his own constituents for their concerns over border security (suggesting that they probably "kill people"), Stark spoke at a town hall in which he noted that there are few limitations on the federal government.

Stark Raving.  The federal government, according to Democratic Rep. Pete Stark, can do anything it wants.  If there are indeed no checks on the state's power, as the congressman claims, then the state is a tyrant.

We the Serfs.  The Constitution of the United States of America under President Barak Obama is being transformed from a nation of "We the People" to "We the Serfs." ... Under this administration, we have seen government takeover of large companies, the implementation of a pay czar to determine compensation in private companies, a health care insurance mandate where you will be forced to purchase insurance or have the IRS withholding your refund or garnishing your wages, cap-and-trade legislation, and the EPA regulation of carbon, which will determine where we can set our thermostats in our own homes.

Convicted:  Woman 'disobeyed' illegal order.  An appeal is challenging a Christian activist's conviction for failing to obey a police officer's order to shut down her camera while she was filming fellow Christian missionaries at last year's Dearborn Arab Festival because the command apparently wasn't legal.  According to the Thomas More Law Center, whose attorneys have filed the appeal with the Circuit Court for Wayne County, Mich., the city ordinances in Dearborn require that if a police officer wants his orders followed he or she has to be acting "in the lawful performance of his duty."

Growing Number of Prosecutions for Videotaping the Police.  That Anthony Graber broke the law in early March is indisputable.  He raced his Honda motorcycle down Interstate 95 in Maryland at 80 mph, popping a wheelie, roaring past cars and swerving across traffic lanes.  But it wasn't his daredevil stunt that has the 25-year-old staff sergeant for the Maryland Air National Guard facing the possibility of 16 years in prison.  For that, he was issued a speeding ticket.  It was the video that Graber posted on YouTube one week later — taken with his helmet camera — of a plainclothes state trooper cutting him off and drawing a gun during the traffic stop near Baltimore.

Update:
Motorcyclist wins taping case against state police.  A Harford County Circuit Court judge ruled this afternoon [9/28/2010] that a motorcyclist who was arrested for videotaping his traffic stop by a Maryland State Trooper was within his rights to record the confrontation.  Judge Emory A Plitt Jr. tossed all the charges filed against Anthony Graber, leaving only speeding and other traffic violations, and most likely sparing him a trial that had been scheduled for Oct. 12.

The War on Cameras.  As citizens increase their scrutiny of law enforcement officials through technologies such as cell phones, miniature cameras, and devices that wirelessly connect to video-sharing sites such as YouTube and LiveLeak, the cops are increasingly fighting back with force and even jail time — and not just in Illinois.  Police across the country are using decades-old wiretapping statutes that did not anticipate iPhones or Droids, combined with broadly written laws against obstructing or interfering with law enforcement, to arrest people who point microphones or video cameras at them.

Bloggericide: Ohio Officials Charge Blogger With Campaign Violations.  Well, folks, this is bound to happen more and more as time rolls onward in this New Media world of ours.  A blogger is in trouble with local Ohio officials who are trying to shut him down using a badly applied campaign finance law all because he has been critical of county officials on his blog.  That's right, a county board is trying to silence the free political speech of a local Ohio blogger because he is critical of them.

Body language police.  Every middle-schooler knows that rolling your eyes at the wrong person can get you grounded.  In Elmhurst, it can get you thrown out of a public meeting.  Deprived of the opportunity to speak to a City Council committee about its plan to hire a $30,000 state lobbyist, Darlene Heslop apparently could not contain herself.  She sighed and rolled her eyes — and was promptly ejected from the June 14 meeting.

This is another step toward 24-hour ownership of your children:
Education secretary calls for 12-hour school days, longer school year.  If Education Secretary Arne Duncan has his way, kids would be spending a lot more time at school — and a three-month summer would be a thing of the past.  Duncan joked with attendees at a luncheon at the National Press Club Tuesday [7/27/2010] in Washington that he would like schools to stay open 13 months out of the year.  Then he told the audience of over 100 that he seriously supports longer school hours.

The most important story in American history, you'll never hear on network TV.  On April 7th of this year Obama authored the Presidential Assassination Program.  It allows for American citizens to be targeted for killing far away from any battlefield.  So be clear, we are not talking about enemy combatants like the so called American Taliban.  No, what we are talking about here is targeting Americans off the battlefield, who in the opinion of the President alone, that is an unchecked accusation by the Executive branch can call for the assassination of an American citizen that the President deems to be a terrorist.

Beware if you make an FOIA request of Homeland Security.  Over the past year, the Department [of Homeland Security] has tried to protect itself from annoying and unwanted requests for information that they were legally required to provide through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), according to a report by AP. ... Most disturbingly, the requesters themselves became targets of government investigation.

I'm from the Government, and I'm Here for Your BMI.  While the Stimulus Bill requires that the government have access to your Electronic Health Record (EHR) by 2014, it only vaguely defines what the government will do with this information.  Herein lies the danger.  Vaguely defined power in new laws always leads to broad interpretation of power by the government.

Cherry-Picked Constitutionality.  A federal judge ruled that only a state gets to define what "marriage" is in that state, and the federal government can't overrule it. ... At least two things about that line of reasoning are very bothersome, regardless of your opinion of gay marriage.  First, it was not quite the "state" of Massachusetts that redefined marriage in this instance; four justices on its supreme court did.  The state legislature did not redefine marriage.  There was no popular vote to redefine it.  The governor never signed legislation to redefine it.  Four justices on the state supreme court did this.  And now we have a federal judge ruling that the federal government must honor that decision of state judges.  At this point, we have a total of five people redefining marriage as a legal institution for the remaining 310 million of us.

Bill Approved by House Gives Feds Power to Subpoena Any Record from Any Financial Institution.  The final version of President Barack Obama's financial regulatory bill, hammered out in negotations between House and Senate Democrats, contains a provision that grants the federal government the power to subpoena any financial information it wants from any financial institution without showing probable cause that a crime has been committed.

Eric Holder and Federalist 45.  [Scroll down]  Why are the attorney general and the president pursuing this suit?  To show the world that Big Government is even bigger than you may have supposed.  In their view, Washington runs your life.  Washington tells you whether you can enforce the law.  Washington tells you what sort of health care you can have.  Washington tells you how much money you can make.  Washington is the machine:  you are but a cog.  According to Washington, that is.  What would James Madison have thought?

Future of the News.  It's a frightening thought:  government takeover of the media.  But having tightened their grip on health care, financial services, and energy, it's only logical that the Democrats should turn their attention to the media.  Discussions underway at the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission point toward a dangerous new effort to regulate what Americans read and hear.  The takeover under discussion would apply across the board to print media, radio and television, and the internet.  The result of proposed regulations would be nothing less than an end to free speech in America.

The government goes after the victim rather than the perpetrators.
Elderly man facing serious charges for shooting at thieves.  Legal analyst Dan Recht said he believes the Jefferson County District Attorney is "seriously overcharging" a Wheat Ridge homeowner, accused of attempted first degree murder for shooting at two thieves.  82-year-old Robert Wallace said he fired two shots at two men when they tried to run him over while stealing his flatbed trailer.  Wallace now faces twelve felony counts, including four counts of attempted first degree murder, for what he described as an act of defending his property and his life.

Stolen Trailers.  Say you're 82 years old.  Say that you see two people a third of your age with criminal records stealing your trailer.  Say that you run out to stop them and they almost run you over.  You fire two shots.  The thieves are let go, and you find yourself facing life in prison.  It's not a hypothetical scenario.

Racial, Gender Quotas in the Financial Bill?  [Scroll down]  I was searching the bill for a provision about derivatives.  What did I find [was] Section 342, which declares that race and gender employment ratios, if not quotas, must be observed by private financial institutions that do business with the government.  In a major power grab, the new law inserts race and gender quotas into America's financial industry.

Another Marylander Arrested for Recording the Police.  The city of Annapolis, Maryland recently received a Homeland Security grant for 20 new surveillance cameras in the downtown area.  The city of Baltimore already has nearly 500.  According to the watchdog site PhotoEnforced, the state of Maryland has at least 375 red light cameras and 80 speed cameras.  Your government is watching you, Marylanders.  But don't think for a second that it's going to tolerate you watching back.

America's Road to Serfdom.  Thanks to the attention from Glenn Beck, a recent top seller on Amazon.com is Austria's Friedrich Hayek's The Road to Serfdom.  The book was written in 1944 to fight the drift from individual freedom and free-market competition to a growing dependence on economies controlled by central planning authorities. ... Hayek's book remains a wakeup call to apathetic citizens who take for granted that the improvements achieved through democracy, individual freedom and capitalism have been "acquired once and for all."  Hayek knew what history confirms; freedom must be earned and reearned in every generation.

Obama's Straws And Our Tired Back.  Some of the more naïve who voted for Obama were taken back by his sudden rush to take over insurance companies, banks, student loans, and the auto industry. ... But then soon, others wondered how a truther and racial demagogue like Van Jones or a Mao aficionado like Anita Dunn ever got into the White House.

And the Voice of the Liar is Heard in our Land.  The [Obamacare] bill will break states.  It will break companies.  It will put a boot down on the head of the American economy.  Which is exactly its goal.  The Obama Administration is not interested in economic prosperity, it is interested in a government takeover.  People who can make their own way and pay their own bills, are poor candidates for a nanny state.  No, the people have to be robbed, browbeaten, left helpless, and only then will they agree to have the chains put around their necks.  Or least stop fighting against them as hard.

Obama's Assaults on Liberty Proceed Unabated.  The socialized medicine nightmare is already beginning.  Many of us warned that Obamacare would serve as an all-purpose justification for government intervention in every aspect of our lives.  Have we become so far removed from our founding principles that we don't grasp the perniciousness of such government encroachments into our private lives and personal liberties?  You must read the executive order*.  Then you'll understand that the council and "Advisory Group" it establishes will not be merely advisory.  The provisions of this "order" underscore the disturbing extent to which Obama and his band of authoritarians intend to control our lives.

Residents get 6 votes each in suburban NY election.  [Arthur] Furano cast multiple votes on the instructions of a federal judge and the U.S. Department of Justice as part of a new election system crafted to help boost Hispanic representation.

The Editor says...
Why stop at six votes?  Why not give a dozen votes to everyone who is not (for example) a white male?  How about allowing ten votes per Democrat, and one vote per Republican?  All in the interest of fairness, of course.

Goodbye to One Man, One Vote.  If you thought that "one man, one vote" reflected the full flowering of representative democracy, think again.  In the village of Port Chester, N.Y., just a few towns north of my locality in Westchester County, there is a new system.  It's "one (minority) man, six votes" — brought to us courtesy of the U.S. Department of Injustice and a lunkhead of a federal judge named Stephen Robinson.

How Is Rigging Elections Fair to Immigrants?  A Nebraska town wants renters to prove they are in the country legally, and Port Chester, N.Y., was forced to swallow a goofy voting scheme that makes sense only if the aim is to erase the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants.  Under the plan, imposed by a federal judge in response to a 2006 Justice Department civil-rights suit, each voter in the board of trustees election got six votes.  A voter could give all six votes to one candidate, or divide them among several.

Vote system that elected NY Hispanic could expand.  The court-ordered election that allowed residents of one New York town to flip the lever six times for one candidate — and produced a Hispanic winner — could expand to other towns where minorities complain their voices aren't being heard.

More about judicial activism.

America's House of Cards:  The Cloward-Piven strategy, the bible for liberal progressives, teaches that to undermine the system one need only do one thing:  Overwhelm the system.  The radicals who occupy the White House, students of Alinsky, are all-too-familiar with the methods that will bring this country to its knees and allow for a remake or "transformation" to an ideal society that will finally be acceptable to their brethren.  Using each and every "crisis" to add another control disguised as government benevolence, the Obama administration is packing regulation upon regulation on the American people.

Cap-And-Traitors.  The Senate just claimed the title of the world's most delusional body by refusing to strip unelected EPA bureaucrats of the power to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant.  This was the day freedom died.

Expert:  Photos erased from phone.  The attorney representing businessman James Adkins yesterday said an off-island expert has determined all photographs on Adkins' camera phone were completely erased, either through damage or by a master reset of the device.  Adkins has sued the police department for $3 million in federal court, alleging his civil rights were violated after Guam police arrested him for taking photos of an accident from inside his car on a public road.  They detained him and confiscated his phone.

Census workers can enter your apartment in your absence.  Thousands of census workers, including many temporary employees, are fanning out across America to gather information on the citizenry. ... What many Americans don't realize, is that census workers — from the head of the Bureau and the Secretary of Commerce (its parent agency) down to the lowliest and newest Census employee — are empowered under federal law to actually demand access to any apartment or any other type of home or room that is rented out, in order to count persons in the abode and for "the collection of statistics."

The Spike that broke the people's back.  Governments, Thomas Jefferson wrote so eloquently in our Declaration of Independence, derive "their just powers from the consent of the governed."  This founding idea serves as the most fundamental precept of American governance.  Yet, today it is regularly exiled from our politics.  The latest case is now playing out in North Platte, Nebraska, where city officials seek to scuttle a citizen initiative that residents petitioned onto next Tuesday's ballot.  A Lincoln County district judge offers a powerful assist by ordering that the votes on the measure cannot even be counted or reported.

Bloggers Beware — They're Coming After You!.  Just when you thought it was safe to start expressing your right to free speech, Democrats in Congress are gearing up for a vote on a new piece of legislation to blatantly undermine the First Amendment.  Known as the DISCLOSE Act (HR 5175), this bill — written by the head of the Democrats' congressional campaign committee — is their response to the recent Supreme Court ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission.

Chesapeake principal won't let mom pick up daughter.  The mother scheduled a Wednesday morning doctor's appointment for her daughter.  Come Wednesday morning [5/19/2010], the fourth-grader was taking a Standards of Learning exam.  The mother came to pick up her daughter.  The principal said no.

Bill Would Require Government to Track Body Mass of American Children.  A bill introduced this month in Congress would put the federal and state governments in the business of tracking how fat, or skinny, American children are.  States receiving federal grants provided for in the bill would be required to annually track the Body Mass Index of all children ages 2 through 18.

A Legislative Trojan Horse.  The basis of the EPA's regulatory efforts is the agency's finding that carbon dioxide is a "pollutant" that supposedly "endangers" us by causing global warming.  Once the EPA made this unprecedented and unsupported endangerment finding under the Clean Air Act, it put the enormous regulatory machinery of the federal government in gear to generate rules regulating CO2, rules that will damage every aspect of the U.S. economy.  Thankfully, substantive legal challenges to the endangerment finding and the rules the EPA is generating have been filed.

More about the EPA.
And incidentally, carbon dioxide is not a pollutant.

The next 2,000-page bill.  Big Brother wants to watch you more closely.  Especially how you spend your money.  His latest snooping plan comes from provisions in the banking bill being debated in the Senate.  The bill is being pushed by Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.

Dodd's Bank Bill:  Worse Than ObamaCare.  There are many bad things contained in Chris Dodd's Restoring American Financial Stability Act," ... But the most destructive portions of the bill — the one that would in my judgment go beyond even Obamacare in making the American free enterprise system unrecognizable — has been little discussed even by critics of this bill.  To put it bluntly but absolutely accurately, this bill sets up a mechanism for the Treasury Secretary, the Federal Reserve, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to nationalize virtually any business they deem to be a threat to American "financial stability."

Feds Tell Old Folks They Can't Pray Before Meals.  Big Brother says elderly visitors to federally funded meals at a Georgia senior citizen's center aren't allowed to pray to that absurd, dangerous Christian God of theirs.  Obama's Big Brother government contends that since it has paid for their meals the government has the right to slam its iron boot heel down on the necks of those seasoned citizens that dare to engage in such an apostasy toward the state.

Update:
Prayers Answered:  Seniors Can Pray Before Meals at Georgia Center.  The Georgia senior center that barred its elderly citizens from praying before meals has changed its policy after inquiries from Fox News and other news organizations.

Guilty no matter the intent.  In May of 2004, federal agents in a black sport utility vehicle ran Krister Evertson off the road, piled out of their vehicle in full SWAT gear, trained an automatic weapon at his head, and arrested him.  Evertson's crime?  He failed to put a federally mandated sticker on a UPS package.  A jury acquitted Evertson of the charges, but the feds later charged Evertson for "abandoning" hazardous material.  Evertson is an award-winning scientist working on fuel-cell technology, and the chemicals were both properly stored and necessary for his work.  Nonetheless, he spent 21 months in federal prison.

Does new bill propose 'federal takeover of water?'.  Rep. Greg Walden (R-Ore.) and the Congressional Western Caucus have joined in opposition to legislation introduced by Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) that seeks to provide the federal government with jurisdictional authority over all water across the entire United States.

And Just A Closing Thought.  You may not realize it, but our country, the United States, is rapidly becoming nothing less than a giant economic support system for government.  We are so very close to the point where Americans will no longer exist to pursue and fulfill their own potentials.  We will exist for one purpose ... to support government and those who depend on government.

Preparations for Reparations.  When the government decides what kind of light bulbs one can buy, what size toilet tank one can install, or how much salt can be added to one's food, then there is no limit to the depth and detail of government intrusion into one's life.  When every aspect of existence is decided or dictated by another, that is not freedom.  That is slavery.

Big Brother loves 'financial reform'.  The next time you make a withdrawal from an automated teller machine, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner might be watching over your shoulder.  Boosted by the sweeping, 1,400-page financial regulatory proposal currently making its way through the Senate, Mr. Geithner would have unprecedented, real-time access to a wealth of personal and corporate financial data — all in the name of protecting the public.

Reid:  'Someone' Should Offer Amendment to Financial Reform Bill.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says he wishes "someone" would offer an amendment to the financial regulatory bill to prevent the federal government from probing Americans' private financial records.  A provision in the bill would allow a new Treasury Department agency to demand "any data or information" from any financial firm and use a subpoena to get that information if necessary.

New recycling bins with tracking chips coming to Alexandria.  Alexandria residents soon will have to pay for larger home recycling bins featuring built-in monitoring devices.  The City Council added a mandatory $9 charge to its residents' annual waste collection fee.  That cash — roughly $180,000 collected from 19,000 residents — will pay for new larger recycling carts equipped with computer microchips, which will allow the city to keep tabs on its bins and track resident participation in the city's recycling program.

Do they have to put RFID chips in everything?

'Sedition' Is Constitutional.  For the past year, the Obama administration, unable to win arguments based on facts and merit, has been moving to criminalize the political opposition in an effort to artificially control the debate.  First, the DHS published reports classifying conservative viewpoints as terroristic.  Then hate crimes legislation was introduced to squash religious speech regarding sexual deviancy.  And finally, Regulatory Czar Cass Sunstein claimed the power to ban "falsehoods," an infraction Sunstein in his infinite nonpartisan wisdom would define and determine.  And now, the ultimate political A-bomb has been introduced into the public discourse:  the charge of sedition.

Just who do they think they own?  I have for some time been looking for a model to describe the relationship that currently exists between the people and the federal government.  At different times, I have labeled it as feudalism, serfdom or slavery.  None of them is quite right, and yet they all hint at the problem — the American people, who ostensibly still pride themselves on freedom have long since been co-opted as nothing more than a labor force by their masters in Washington.

Troubled Waters.  Rep. James Oberstar wants to rewrite the Clean Water Act.  If the Minnesota Democrat gets his way, the federal government will have even greater authority to take private property.  This isn't Oberstar's first attempt.  In 2007 he also tried to rewrite the water bill.  He and others weren't happy with Supreme Court rulings that defined the limits Washington has over bodies of water that have no nexus to navigable waters.  They want full federal control over all waters.

Big Government Crushes Christians.  Massive spending means massive government — a system that reaches into virtually every corner of our lives.  From house loans to student loans to light bulbs to toilets and even to the cars we buy and drive, we feel the government's direct hand.  Corporate executives worry about "pay czars," doctors worry about government-set prices for their services, and we all wonder if the Internal Revenue Service will be monitoring our health insurance choices.  Massive government means government control, the strings attached to money, to participation and even to expression as the government goes beyond the original purpose of its multitude of programs and attempts to alter social outcomes, favor certain viewpoints and — most ominously — suppress others.

Congress Becomes Madison's "Overbearing Majority".  The purpose of this bill is — as Pelosi put it — to "kick through this door" to prepare the way for even further "reform."  But what does this metaphor even suggest?  Who kicks through doors, anyway?  It is ordinarily the police — or even the secret police.  Not a constitutional legislative body of the United States of America.  Pelosi's phrase was profoundly aggressive, although perhaps she used it without complete consciousness of what she might be conveying.  But it was no accident.  This is an extraordinary way for a speaker of the House to talk, congruent with the Democratic Party's newly combative attitude towards the wishes of the American people.

DOE's Search and Seizure.  The feds are coming to inspect your home if you want to sell it, according to regulations buried in cap-and-trade legislation and standards decreed by the Secretary of Energy.  But there are numerous legal difficulties inherent in DOE "inspections."  Here are a few:  First, the regulations purportedly require homeowners to submit to a warrantless search of their property.

Federal judge rules Day of Prayer unconstitutional.  A federal judge in Wisconsin ruled the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional Thursday [4/15/2010], saying the day amounts to a call for religious action.

Obama's new tax on... Rainwater!?  Would President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency really force Americans to pay a tax on "rainwater runoff" from homes and small businesses?  You bet they would.  In fact, the EPA, under radical environmentalist Lisa Jackson, is proposing regulations to do just that.

Obama will now have his private army.  Of course, SEC. 430, Establishing a Ready Reserve Corps, lists in detail the commissioned Regular Corps and Ready Reserve Corps that will be trained up, fired up, lined up and controlled by Obama himself.  Naturally the purpose for this army is to stand by in case they are needed at short notice for a national health emergency or emergency response missions. ... In the history of our country, have we ever had such a massive, national health emergency that we needed a militia/military reserve ready to pepper the country and control things?

Using the FBI against the tea party:
Turning COINTELPRO on the tea party?  How comfortable are you with the idea of agents posing as activists to elicit anti-government tirades?  How comfortable would you be if the Bush administration had done the same thing with Code Pink in an effort to get a anti-war activist to threaten a Senator who voted in favor of invading Iraq?

Democrats continue campaign against individual liberty.  It's an absurdity that the federal government has the right to make Americans buy health insurance, but what's worse is the ha, ha, ha of the left that free people making their own decisions about the way they live is selfishness or shibboleth.  Heed that shrug of the shoulders — especially in the context of nanny-state interventions quietly disposing of all kinds of small freedoms all about us — and you have a taste of what's to come if the Democratic darlings of the left stay in power in the elections this year and in 2012.

Meet Your Lords and Masters.  There was a time in this country when the government of the United States followed the Constitution and had greatly limited powers.  Today, the Constitution is largely ignored and our Congress can do almost anything it wants — and it does just that.  Your Congress now essentially controls large parts of the automaking industry, banking industry, and it has put itself in charge of student loans.  It has taken over health care.  It takes tax dollars from your state and then tells you under what conditions it will allow your state to have its money back.  It's in charge of your retirement.  It even picks the lightbulbs you're allowed to have in your house.

Gun Nuts at 30,000 Feet?  [Scroll down]  After the flight landed, the marshals nailed another terrorist suspect — Robert "Bob" Rajcoomar.  He was handcuffed and taken into custody because, as TSA spokesman David Steigman later explained, Rajcoomar, "to the best of our knowledge, had been observing too closely." ... When the plane landed, Rajcoomar recalled, "One of these marshals came down to me and said, 'Head down, hands over your head!'  They pushed my head down, told me to bend down."  Rajcoomar said one of the marshals told him, "We didn't like the way you looked" and "We didn't like the way you looked at us."  Some air marshals apparently think of themselves as minor-league deities whom no mortal should be permitted to directly observe.

There Oughta Be a Law.  Bleary-eyed, I crawl out of bed, shuffle into the bathroom, and flip on the lights, but the bulb is out.  I remind myself to get to Home Depot and stockpile a few cases of good, old-fashioned incandescent bulbs while I still can.  After my morning business, I flush an extra time, since 1.6 gallons just doesn't seem to do the trick.  But at least we're saving water, huh?  Hop in the shower, where the water trickles out at an EPA-limited 2.5 gallons per minute.  I think I'll stay in here for an extra ten minutes or so.

Election Theft Underway in Wisconsin.  The far left has taken over the Democratic Party, and is aggressive changing the rules so as to entrench itself in power, regardless of the will of the people.  The same Alinskyite mentality that rammed through ObamaCare.  Rules are what you make the other guy live up to.  Now, with the same anti-transparency approach used on ObamaCare, Wisconsin Democrats plan to close down scrutiny while they tailor election practices to benefit themselves.  Chicago rules ruthlessness coupled to a far left structural agenda.

Love, Fear, and Tyranny.  We the people must remove the tyrants and preserve the Constitution.  But we must take care.  We find ourselves taunted by holier-than-thou Democrats and soulless media puppets.  "Violent right-wing extremism" would be the perfect excuse for banning the voice of liberty from the airwaves with an emergency "fairness doctrine."  So what can freedom-loving, traditional Americans do?

Without the Consent of the Governed.  Now that Obama & Co. have found the legislative mechanisms to subvert the Law of the Land on the federal health care grab, they intend to rush forward with the passage of "financial reform" — "energy reform" — and "Immigration reform" — none of which are any type of "reform." ... They plan to advance their anti-American agenda no matter how many stand opposed, and in such a manner that it can never be reversed.

Pelosi sends chill.  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered a most disturbing promise to PBS's Jim Lehrer on Wednesday [3/24/2010], proudly announcing that the methods employed and nearly employed to force ObamaCare on the American people (formerly the most free people on the planet) would, from this day forward, serve as her "model for future reforms."  Chilling words, indeed.

Congress and the incredible shrinking Constitution.  The House of Representatives [voted] on the SENATE health-care bill, which is illegal.  The Constitution mandates that "all Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives, but the Senate may propose or concur with Amendments as on other Bills."  What happened in this case is that the Senate took an unrelated bill that originated in the House, amended it by completely removing the previous provisions and then substituting 2,400 pages of bureaucracy-creating, money-stealing, rights-restricting health-care reform.  This is a blatant end run around the Constitution, and means that Congress can do anything it wants.

Forbes:  Is a Chavez-Style Media Crackdown Coming to America?  "Many of [Hugo] Chavez's most ardent supporters here in the U.S. come out of the 'media reform' movement, which believes that our corporate media has been thoroughly co-opted by capitalists bent on destroying the benevolent leadership of the likes of Chavez.  They think that our capitalist-plagued media world is in dire need of reform."  So ominously wrote Steve Forbes Wednesday [3/24/2010] in an article guaranteed to make right-thinking Americans from coast to coast wonder what's next in the Left's plans to control the press.

Obama Considers 'Zoning the Oceans'.  In requiring industries to disclose financial risks related to global warming and assessing national security concerns from rising sea levels, the administration has made an end run around Congress to ensure climate change is part of the national agenda.  One of the more insidious endeavors to implement climate change regulations without congressional action has been the administration's recent effort to regulate the oceans.  With very little fanfare, President Barack Obama quietly issued a memorandum last summer establishing an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force charged with developing recommendations for a national policy for oceans and coasts and the Great Lakes.

The coming of an American Reichstag?  While published reports confirm that Capitol Police have been contacted and are addressing security concerns of lawmakers and the incidents of vandalism, the involvement of federal agencies has not been publicly disclosed, nor will it likely be on any official level.  The reason, according to this source, is that high-level discussions between top lawmakers and agency heads are "exploring the application of the Patriot Act against any right-wing individual or group that poses a danger to government operations."

No Limits on Federal Power?  Every power the federal government has through the commerce clause is one the state has never had.  If everything that affects interstate commerce (which, by today's standards, is every imaginable activity) can be federally regulated, then the states never had any power.  If the states have no exclusive regulatory power, then they are simply temporary custodians of federal power until the federal government chooses to retake that power.  That states have no exclusive power is an absurd conclusion.  But it is not easy to see now because the federal government "discovers" one power at a time.  But if all activities affect interstate commerce, then what other conclusion is there?

'Commerce Clause' Totalitarians.  Make no mistake:  Congress is telling Americans that we are required to engage in commerce, whether we like or not — simply because we exist.  And the fundamental question Americans should be pondering as a result, is this:  if Congress can force you to engage in a particular activity against your will, if they can literally eliminate the freedom to choose not to engage in commerce, what is it they can't regulate?  Answer:  absolutely nothing — and that is the essence of tyranny.

Stop kicking in our doors, Madame Speaker.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi used an unexpected analogy Monday [3/15/2010] during a conference call with liberal bloggers to discuss Obamacare, saying "once we kick through this door, there'll be more legislation to follow."  At least four things need to be said about Pelosi's braggadocio.

Their Real Agenda:  Today's Democrats aren't interested in constitutional or traditional limitations on government.  They want to remake American life based on their notions of what's ideal, and they are more than willing to force leftward change on an ostensibly free people.  While this has been clear for some time, it still rocks us a bit when they acknowledge such plans out loud.  The loudest came Monday when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told a group of bloggers that turning the Democratic Party leaders' health care overhaul into law would embolden them to drive America away from its roots of liberty and independence.  "Kick open that door, and there will be other legislation to follow," she said.  "We'll take the country in a new direction."

Yet Another Government Takeover:  Student Loan Edition.  [Scroll down]  Since 1965, the Federal Family Education Loan Program has helped tens of millions of students and parents by providing low-cost, federally guaranteed loans. ... Yet right now, the Majority in Congress and the President want to make it more difficult to pay for college by putting the government between you and the money you need to pay for higher education.  The Administration wants to end FFELP in favor of a 100 percent Direct Loan program.  Under this approach, the federal government will become the sole originator and collector of student loans, forcing the roughly 4,000 schools who have chosen FFELP to the government-run alternative.

ObamaCare is Tyranny, Not Legislation.  What we're seeing in Washington, D.C. is not "politics as usual" with the arm twisting and "horse trading" that is typical in getting a bill passed; instead, it is ideological warfare.  What Obama, Reid and Pelosi are doing is not legislating; it is an act of tyranny — overturning all the rules and principles of government in a representative democracy. ... Apparently Obama, Reid and Pelosi aren't worried about losing control of Congress in 2010 or even the presidency in 2012, because their higher goal is to irrevocably institutionalize their ideology.

Why Obama, Pelosi, and Reid Won't Quit Pushing Health Care Reform:  Obama, Pelosi, and Reid are decidedly pale reds, or as was said in an earlier generation, "pinkos."  But all three have grand ambitions, make no mistake, to achieve through imposition the social — or should it be said, socialist — democracy that lies with deadening weight across the width and breadth of Western Europe.  These three Democratic leaders are working within our system of government to fundamentally alter government's relationship to the people.  If these three succeed, the American experiment in liberty will effectively end.

The Healthcare Bill Would Be Obama's 'Enabling Act'.  Why are Barack Obama and other Democrat leaders so intent on passing a government takeover of healthcare now…Now…NOW?  They must know that costs will rise and the quality of care will fall, right?  They must know that Obamacare would destroy the economy, right?  Of course they do.  But, they also know that the federal government would tighten its grip on the nation.

We, The People EPA.  It's been a pattern of this administration that if the American people are adamantly opposed to it, ram it through anyway.  So it's been with the health care overhaul, offshore drilling restrictions and now the Environmental Protection Agency threatening to become the uber-regulator of the air we breathe.  The New York Times says in a Saturday [3/13/2010] editorial regarding that last item that if Congress fails to enact cap-and-trade legislation such as Waxman-Markey or Kerry-Boxer, the EPA should jam it down our throats.

Serfs They Want Us To Be And Serfs We Will Become!  That's right.  It's over.  Their guns are bigger.  They control all the money.  They control the energy.  They control the land.  They control the food and they control the water.  Soon they will control our health care, down to the last detail on our electronic health care records being stored in a giant computer in Washington DC, from which they can determine if we are worthy of receiving health care.  The older we get, the less worthy we become.

Should It Be Illegal to Be a Jew in Massachusetts?  New legislation now being proposed in the Massachusetts state legislature to ban circumcision of any male children, including Jewish children, comes very close to saying, "Yes, it should be a crime."  Circumcision of infant males has been a requirement of Jewish faith and identity since the time of Abraham.  Meanwhile, just a year ago this week, two very powerful state legislators in Connecticut proposed a bill that would have had the government take over the finances of the Catholic Church.  (It took a rally drawing thousands of folks to the state capitol to persuade them to withdraw the measure.)

Consent of the governed — and the lack thereof.  According to a recent Rasmussen Poll, only 21 percent of American voters believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed.  On the other hand, Rasmussen notes, a full 63 percent of the "political class" believe that the government enjoys the consent of the governed. ... The remainder, presumably, are comfortable being tyrants.  These numbers should raise deep worries about the future of our republic.

What's so smart about 'smart meters?'  Maybe it's just me, but there is something unsettling about having a smart meter tracking my power consumption.  Will there come a day when excessive power usage will be treated as a crime?  Who will determine what is excessive?

The Editor says...
The so-called "smart power grid" is one of several "great ideas" that may not be so great after all.

Obama and the Government Employees:  [Scroll down]  Meanwhile, Big Brother, like many big brothers, has become a bully.  The Internal Revenue Service is on a hiring binge to crack down on taxpayers; fees on candy, plastic bags, iPod downloads, sugar, and many other things that make life fun are going up and up; our tax rates are inflating; and studies show that there has even been an explosion in parking tickets and fines for every picayune sort of "violation" that the bureaucrats can dream up in all their spare time — phantom taxes, they have been called.  The leviathan must be fed.

The Nanny State Nightmare with Judicial Teeth.  A bill before Congress would grant extraordinary power to activist judges to implement an agenda that usurps the power of parents.

The Content of Obama's Character.  [Scroll down slowly]  Another disquieting note is the overarching theme of Obama's first year of governance:  the determination to govern against the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, which states that government gains its just powers from the consent of the governed.  The American people do not consent to the $787-billion stimulus.  They do not consent to the cap-and-trade bill.  They do not consent to the federalization of health care.

Obama to California 'Water, Its Not a Right its a Privilege'.  On the list of insane public policy moves we have come to expect from the current administration, Cap and Tax, Obamacare and Union Card Check, a fourth has garnered relatively little attention, although the implications for all Americans may be among the most far-reaching.  The recurring theme is centralized control.

Privacy.  In a hearing at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, in an effort to overturn a lower court ruling, the Administration argued that a cell phone user has no expectation of privacy therefore the government can subpoena any and all cell phone records at any time for virtually any reason without the need for search warrant issued by a judge. ... Is the real motive to spy on US citizens?  On the surface it certainly appears so.

EPA's plan to set water-quality standards in Florida, a national first.  In a move cheered by environmental groups, the federal government on Friday [1/15/2010] proposed stringent limits on "nutrient" pollution allowed to foul Florida's waterways.  The ruling — which will cost industries and governments more than a billion dollars to comply — marks the first time the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has intervened to set a state's water-quality standards.

More information (none of it favorable) about the EPA.

The Taser's Edge.  The late Sam Francis once wrote about something he called "anarcho-tyranny."  Simply put, it's the growing tendency of the government to harshly treat ordinary citizens over even the most minor infractions while at the same time treating violent predators — real criminals — with disinterest and often minimal punishment relative to their deeds.  The growing use of "shock therapy" — tasers — on motorists who've committed minor traffic infractions such as failing to wear a seat belt or who grumble under their breath while being issued speeding tickets is Exhibit A.

Housing as Busing.  With a Westchester decision, the feds decree that neighborhoods must seek minority residents.

Ray Stevens:  Music Icon Takes On Obamacare.  Ray has been working steadily since 1958 and has won every music award you can imagine.  But he's not concerned about his status; he's worried about the future of his country.  "It's not about health care it's not about cap and trade... it's about control.  These people are socialists and Marxist and they want control and they want to be the elite ruling class and that's not what America is and America needs to wake up, and I think we are, finally, and kick the bums out," he told me.

The impudent tyranny of Harry Reid.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada is proving once again the maxim that darkness hates the light.  Buried in his massive amendment to the Senate version of Obamacare is Reid's anti-democratic poison pill designed to prevent any future Congress from repealing the central feature of this monstrous legislation.

Making criminals out of all Americans.  There are now more than 4,000 federal crimes, spread out through some 27,000 pages of the U.S. Code.  Some years ago, analysts at the Congressional Research Service tried to count the number of separate offenses on the books, and gave up, lacking the resources to get the job done.  If teams of legal researchers can't make sense of the federal criminal code, obviously, ordinary citizens don't stand a chance.

Democracy Under Arrest.  Universal jurisdiction originated centuries ago to deal with hostes humani generis ("the enemies of all mankind") such as pirates or slavers, who were not under any state's control but legitimately concerned them all.  It has grown explosively in recent years, as self-styled human-rights advocates have pushed to criminalize national actions that they find offensive.

The airport is a police state.
Military Blogger Michael Yon Detained, Handcuffed by TSA in Seattle Airport.  [Scroll down slowly]  Yon described the TSA officials as noticeably frustrated by his refusal to answer their questions:  "I always assume everything is being recorded.  I was trying to be professional."  Yon continued, "They said I wasn't under arrest, but I'm handcuffed.  In any other country, that qualifies as an arrest." ... "TSA people are out of control," he said.  "They are not doing their jobs, they are harassing people, creating animosity.  They ask you 'what time is your connective flight?' and they bully you until you miss the flight."

Interpol, In Your Midst.  None of us can object to a police force, or an army, because humankind is too adept at being stupid and wicked.  But, when a police force or army are used against the people they are meant to protect, they become agents of the wicked who wish to control us.

Why Does Interpol Need Immunity from American Law?  You just can't make up how brazen this crowd is.  One week ago, President Obama quietly signed an executive order that makes an international police force immune from the restraints of American law. ... That is, Interpol's property and assets are no longer subject to search and confiscation, and its archives are now considered inviolable.  This international police force (whose U.S. headquarters is in the Justice Department in Washington) will be unrestrained by the U.S. Constitution and American law while it operates in the United States and affects both Americans and American interests outside the United States.

Executive Order Amended Immunizing INTERPOL In America — Is The ICC Next?  [Scroll down]  For an added and disturbing wrinkle, INTERPOL's central operations office in the United States is within our own Justice Department offices.  They are American law enforcement officers working under the aegis of INTERPOL within our own Justice Department.  That they now operate with full diplomatic immunity and with "inviolable archives" from within our own buildings should send red flags soaring into the clouds. ... American sovereignty hangs in the balance if these actions are not prevented through public outcry and political pressure.

Interpol — From the Inside.  Well, Interpol has certainly started a tidal wave!  My inbox has been crammed with comments, from hostile to accepting, from ignorant to a pretence of knowledge.  I had one, indirectly, from someone who worked in Interpol Europe.  Also, many gun-owners tell me they would shoot it out with anyone who wants to arrest them for having guns.  I can only warn against a Waco conclusion if that happened.

Ron Paul's Hour of Power.  The decades-long campaign of Ron Paul to have the Government Accountability Office do a full audit of the Federal Reserve now has 313 sponsors in the House.  Sometimes perseverance does pay off. ... What opponents of Paul's audit are thus saying is that elected legislators must be kept out of the temple where the great decisions about the economy are made, that these decisions must rest with bankers and economists answerable, as is the Supreme Court, to themselves and no one else.

High Court Considers Whether Feds Can Make Everyone a Criminal.  The problem with government is that it tends to expand, including expanding its ability to throw people in jail.  Fortunately, the Constitution provides a check on this power.  Often these days, "due process" is used as a catchall to advance any number of legal theories, most of them liberal.  But one correct doctrine from the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment is that a statute can be "void for vagueness."

The ObamaCare Leviathan.  As the Democrats inexorably slog toward the finish line, lugging and wrenching their malformed health care bill, the most passionate debate has been on contentious issues like abortion, the public option, and Medicare cuts.  Yet the overriding danger of the Senate bill and its House counterpart is the massive government bureaucracies that will emerge as the legislation takes effect.

Another Federal Bludgeon.  Buried in the House financial reform is a provision that would muscle up the FTC and radically expand its mission.  Pushed by liberal barons Henry Waxman and Barney Frank, the language would empower the FTC to impose civil penalties on companies that are first-time offenders and make it easier for the agency to concoct new rules. ... Imaginative lawmakers will have all sorts of ideas for how to use the new powers.

Global Warming as a Political Tool.  As part of the enduring statist desire to penetrate ever deeper into every nook and cranny of our lives, Greens have wanted to find a way for the government to regulate CO2, a natural byproduct of fire and breathing, for decades.  Now they can.  That is why the White House will use [Lisa] Jackson as a Medusa's head, to petrify cap-and-trade opponents with the prospect of something even worse:  the effective seizing of the means of production.

More about the Environmental Protection Agency.

When government slippery slope goes vertical.  Libertarians often warn about the slippery slope of government intervention:  Let the government run the schools, and it may end up teaching your children values that offend you.  Let the government have new powers to fight terrorism, and it may use those extraordinary powers in the pursuit of ordinary crimes.  Let the federal government give the states money for highways, and it may eventually use its money to impose its own rules on the states.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold
  is for people of good conscience to remain silent."

— Thomas Jefferson          

This is an original compilation, Copyright © 2023 by Andrew K. Dart

The U.S. House of Presumptuous Meddlers.  As an American, I am embarrassed that the U.S. House of Representatives has 220 members who actually believe the government can successfully centrally plan the medical and insurance industries.  I'm embarrassed that my representatives think that government can subsidize the consumption of medical care without increasing the budget deficit or interfering with free choice.

Justice Dept. Asked For News Site's Visitor Lists.  In a case that raises questions about online journalism and privacy rights, the U.S. Department of Justice sent a formal request to an independent news site ordering it to provide details of all reader visits on a certain day.  The grand jury subpoena also required the Philadelphia-based Indymedia.us Web site "not to disclose the existence of this request" unless authorized by the Justice Department, a gag order that presents an unusual quandary for any news organization.

Ministry of Truth, Obama-style.  President Obama has been agitating for the authority to criminalize political opponents since he took office.  First there was the raft of DHS reports profiling conservatives as terrorists.  Then came the push for a new fairness doctrine, subsequently refined to be achieved in diversity regulations to be imposed on local radio stations.  Following these attacks on free speech was the much debated hate crimes legislation, considered by many to be a back-door path to silencing critics of the administration.  But, while dangerous to free speech, none of these draconian policies could do as much damage as new regulatory czar Cass Sunstein's shocking proposal to ban "falsehoods" — a term left up to the Obama administration to define.  If Sunstein succeeds, free speech will be truly dead in America.

Can Obama and Congress Order You to Buy Broccoli?  Can President Barack Obama and Congress enact legislation that orders Americans to buy broccoli?  If so, where did they get that authority?  What provision in the Constitution empowers the federal government to order an individual to buy a product he does not want?  This is not a question about nutrition.  It is not a question about whether broccoli is good for you or about the relative merits of broccoli versus other foods.  It is a question about the constitutional limits on the power of the federal government.  It is a question about freedom.

Where does the Constitution Authorize Congress to Order Americans to Buy Health Insurance?  [Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick] Leahy, whose committee is responsible for vetting Supreme Court nominees, was asked by CNSNews.com where in the Constitution Congress is specifically granted the authority to require that every American purchase health insurance.  Leahy answered by saying that "nobody questions" Congress' authority for such an action.

Pelosi:  'Are You Serious?' When Asked About Constitutional Authority.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) did not explain where Congress gets the authority to force Americans to buy health insurance, when asked by CNSNews.com, and dismissed the query with the response, "Are you serious?  Are you serious?"

Constitutionality of health overhaul questioned.  On top of all the other obstacles facing President Obama in his quest to pass health reform is this one:  Does the U.S. Constitution allow the government to require uninsured Americans to buy medical insurance or impose a tax penalty if they refuse?

California Assembly Expunges Santa Barbara Drilling Vote.  The California State Assembly is refusing to provide the names of assemblymen who voted to ban oil recovery off the coast of Santa Barbara.  Twenty-eight members supported the ban, but their votes cannot be found in the official state database.  Assembly leaders expunged the votes in order to spare lawmakers running for re-election an official record of their controversial decision.

The Editor says...
How can we have a representative government if the legislators conduct secret ballots?

Tribe's secrecy should concern community.  [Scroll down]  Tribal officers are fully empowered to make felony arrests of anyone in the county, to lodge those suspects in the Isabella County Jail, and to pursue criminal charges under Michigan law.  And, as it now stands, they have the ability to do so in secrecy.

The Editor says...
Secret police and tyranny go hand in hand.

Wabash Valley woman didn't realize second cold medicine purchase violated drug laws.  When Sally Harpold bought cold medicine for her family back in March, she never dreamed that four months later she would end up in handcuffs.  Now, Harpold is trying to clear her name of criminal charges, and she is speaking out in hopes that a law will change so others won't endure the same embarrassment she still is facing.

Buy too much cold medicine, go to jail.  [Sally] Harpold is a grandmother of triplets who bought one box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband at a Rockville pharmacy.  Less than seven days later, she bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her adult daughter at a Clinton pharmacy, thereby purchasing 3.6 grams total of pseudoephedrine in a week's time.

Every Drop of Water in America.  Some in the federal government want to exert control over ... every drop of water in America.  It is an attack on private property and it is emblematic of the real agenda of environmentalists.  It is Communism.  The American Land Rights Association recently issued a notice.  "Having been slapped down by the U.S. Supreme Court's two recent decisions that the words 'navigable waters' in the Clean Water Act limited federal agencies to regulation of navigable waters only, Democrats and liberal Republicans in Congress are striking back."

State of 'emergency'?  We're living in it.  Wednesday [9/23/2009], the Legislature approved Ted Kennedy's deathbed wish to repeal his 2004 nondeathbed wish to take away a (Republican) governor's power to appoint an interim senator.  See, now that the governor is a Democrat, the law is an "abomination."  The vote to change Teddy's law for Teddy was 24-16 in the Senate, 95-57 in the House.  That's not two-thirds.  But pay no attention to that pesky Constitution.  We'll just have the governor decide it's an "emergency."

Declaration Of Orders We Will Not Obey.  Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, reserves, National Guard, peace officers, fire-fighters, and veterans who swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic ... and meant it.

A Destructive Toy Story Made in Washington.  Last Thursday, the House Energy and Commerce Committee finally held a hearing on the highly controversial Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, the children's-product-safety law that took effect on Feb. 10.  Chairman Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) allowed a single witness:  Inez Tenenbaum, the newly installed chair of the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), who, like himself, is a strong advocate of the law.  Not one of the thousands of craftspeople, retailers and small manufacturers the law has sent reeling was permitted to testify.

New Government Policy Imposes Strict Standards on Garage Sales Nationwide.  Americans who slap $1 pricetags on their used possessions at garage sales or bazaar events risk being slapped with fines of up to $15 million, thanks to a new government campaign.  The "Resale Round-up," launched by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, enforces new limits on lead in children's products and makes it illegal to sell any items that don't meet those limits or have been recalled for any other reason.

Not Going Down Without a Fight.  [Scroll down]  Well, then, came along another government obstacle.  A law passed in 2008, called CPSIA, takes away my right to hand-create many things for children without third-party laboratory testing. ... I have purchased crafting items all my life.  I know who these people are.  Their cloth, their beads, their talent is American.  Toys, dresses, books, and such items are not meant for eating, and that is how these poisons are transferred.  We all want our children to be safe, but why punish those that have played by the rules and have their lives and blood invested in this?

Starting today, it is illegal not to recycle plastic bottles.  Starting today [10/1/2009], that old soda bottle and empty milk jug are no longer just garbage.  They must be recycled.  A new state law is taking effect that prohibits all plastic bottles from being disposed of in landfills.  Supporters of the law say it will boost North Carolina's burgeoning recycling industry, which has an unmet demand for old bottles that can be converted into new goods.

Oath Keepers organizer sees need to sound an alarm.  A vociferous group of Americans is warning that the country is not just headed in the wrong direction — but over a cliff.  They are mainstream media commentators, like Fox News' Glenn Beck.  They are religious leaders, like "Bible Answer Man" Hank Hanegraaff, who told radio listeners last month that "socialism and fascism" were "slipping quietly through the back door."  And they are everyday people like Rand Cardwell.

Sweet And Sour.  Government can't be allowed to use its taxation powers for an illegitimate purpose like directing the behavior of the populace. ... We've already let the government criminalize tobacco, fossil fuels and trans fat.  Will we now let Washington add sugar to its index of forbidden substances?

Home-schooler ordered to attend public school.  A New Hampshire court ordered a home-schooled Christian girl to attend a public school this week after a judge criticized the "rigidity" of her mother's religious views and said the 10-year-old needed to consider other worldviews as she matures.  Ever since the judge's ruling came out in July, the case has aroused the interest of home-schooling groups nationwide, who have asked why a court has the power to decide whether someone's religious views are too extreme.

The Editor says...
This is an issue far greater than home schooling.  No judge has the authority to rule on the merits of any person's religious values or beliefs.

Pay Czar Collects Firms' Proposals.  For years, the question of what constitutes fair and appropriate compensation for top business executives has been debated by legislators, corporate directors and activist shareholders.  Now, for the first time, a government voice will have a real say in what that pay should be.

Health Care Reform Is About Control, Not Health.  Liberals have always been fixated on controlling people. In America, they accomplish this through taxation, regulation, and unrelenting appeals to our leftist-dominated court system.  And when these avenues prove unsuccessful, liberals don't give up, they simply look for a covert means to reach their original goal.  ObamaCare is just such a covert means.

The Pay Czar's Power Grab:  Pay czar Kenneth Feinberg's official government title is "Special Master for Compensation." ... Asked by Reuters whether his powers include reaching back and revoking bonuses awarded to financial industry executives before his office was created earlier this year, Feinberg asserted broad and binding authorities — including the ability to "claw back" money already paid out. ... House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank has yapped all year long about extending pay curbs to all financial institutions and perhaps to all U.S. companies.

Did someone mention Obama's so-called czars?

School prayer charges stir protests.  Students, teachers and local pastors are protesting over a court case involving a northern Florida school principal and an athletic director who are facing criminal charges and up to six months in jail over their offer of a mealtime prayer.

This Can't Be the Same Country I Grew Up In.  [Scroll down]  I mean, we've got czars now.  Czars like John Holdren, who has proposed forcing abortions and putting sterilants in the drinking water to control population.  The latest is the nominee for regulatory czar, a Harvard Law professor named Cass Sunstein, who is a friend of Obama's and embraces the ever-so-popular "senior death discount" that calculates the lives of younger people as having a greater value than those of the elderly.  And he also believes in giving legal rights for livestock, wildlife and pets so they can file lawsuits.  Human rights for livestock?  This is not the America I grew up in.

Why the Founding Fathers Were "Birthers":  [Scroll down slowly]  There are TWO reasons why the "birther" movement is EXPLODING instead of going away, despite daily attacks and name calling from the lamestream press.  The Constitution, including Article II Section I either stands or it doesn't.  The people are watching the utter hourly destruction of their nation in Washington DC and they need a peaceful way to end that destruction legally, before things become violent.  The flaw in the left's plan to change the Unites States into a secular socialist One World Order is they have foolishly underestimated the desire for freedom and liberty in the hearts and minds of most Americans.

Health bill proposal for 'home visitation' sparks Big Brother fears.  A proposal for a government program that would send nurses into the homes of low-income women to counsel them about their pregnancies and parenting skills failed to gain support in Congress this year, but has been revived in the health care legislation.  The language, buried deep in the 1,000-plus-page House health care reform bill, has bipartisan support, though it never had enough backing to pass the House or Senate on its own.

Obama DOJ Threatened Oklahoma Over English-Only Vote.  The Obama administration believes that an inability to speak English is a civil right.  It is even more distressing that the administration, legally speaking, may be right.  In April President Obama's Department of Justice threatened to cut off federal funding to Oklahoma if that state's voters approve a state constitutional amendment making English Oklahoma's official language, Sen. James Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) revealed.

The Editor says...
The State of Oklahoma has a choice:  Take a handout from the federal government, or live in freedom.  Where did the federal government get the money it threatens to withhold?  The federal government has no money of its own — it is entirely parasitic.  Does anyone really believe that the U.S. government will cut off the State of Oklahoma from all federal funds while withholding taxes from Oklahomans' paychecks?  I say, call their bluff!

Senate Bill Would Fine People More Than $1,000 for Refusing Health Care Coverage.  Americans who refuse to buy affordable medical coverage could be hit with fines of more than $1,000 under a health care overhaul bill unveiled Thursday by key Senate Democrats looking to fulfill President Obama's top domestic priority.  The Congressional Budget Office estimated the fines will raise around $36 billion over 10 years.

U.S. Government Is After Your Pocket Knives, Second Amendment Group Warns.  Second Amendment supporters are warning Americans about what they call an "unwarranted knife grab by Customs agents."  On May 21, the Customs and Border Protection Agency proposed revoking earlier rulings that said "assisted opening knives" — including pocket knives — are not switchblades.  The proposed new rule would expand the definition of "switchblade" to include knives that are opened with one hand as well as old-fashioned slip-joint knives, even the type of folding knives that Boy Scouts typically carry.

Bid to expand knife ban doesn't cut it with critics.  Hunters, whittlers and Boy Scouts, beware — your knives may soon be on the government's chopping block.  The Obama administration wants to expand the 50-year-old ban on importing "switchblades" to include folding knives that can be opened with one hand, stirring fears the government may on the path to outlawing most pocket knives.

Health Care Bill Will Fund State Vaccine Teams to Conduct 'Interventions' in Private Homes.  There is a knock at the front door.  Peeking through the window, a mother sees a man and a woman, both in uniform.  They are agents of health-care reform.  "Excuse me, ma'am," says the man.  "Our records show that your eleven-year-old daughter has not been immunized for genital warts."  "And your four-year-old still needs the chicken-pox vaccine," says the woman.

No HAPI Ending.  The respect the federal government has for the American electorate, at least the amount it shows, has reached a new low.  The Healthy Americans Private Insurance plan, which incidentally goes by the acronym "HAPI," is the new plan the federal government has devised to force us to pay more in taxes and take a handout whether we want it or not. ... To put it bluntly, the federal government is saying we must enroll our family members and ourselves in a health insurance plan... or else.

Cap-and-Tax:  Government vs. America.  There is still time to stop the legislative monstrosity known as the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill before the Senate approves it.  But for that to happen, Americans must learn how bad it is. ... The American Issues Project has exposed Section 204 of the bill, called the "Building Energy Performance Labeling Program," which gives the federal government unprecedented authority over your home.  AIP says the section mandates that new homes be 30 percent more energy-efficient than the current building code on the very day the law is signed.  The requirement increases to 50 percent by 2014 and continues to increase until 2030.

Climate bill gives huge powers to government.  In less than a year, we have witnessed a government takeover of banks and lending institutions, a presidential firing of an executive at a major corporation — General Motors — and the toppling of established U.S. bankruptcy laws to the benefit of the president's political allies.  But this breathtaking claim of power may pale in comparison to the impact Americans will feel from enactment of the so-called American Clean Energy and Security Law, which has been passed by the Democratic-controlled House.

Green nonsense.  Waxman-Markey contains unpleasant surprises for Americans, including a provision which could prevent homeowners from selling their homes if they aren't retrofitted to meet federal "green" guidelines.  But the House passed the 1,400-page bill before its members had an opportunity to read it, much less ponder its implications.  Let's pray the Senate is more responsible.

Rep. Hastings' Amendment a "Disturbing Piece of Legislation"?  Approximately two weeks ago, the House of Representatives passed an amendment, introduced by Congressman Alcee Hastings, that would prohibit people affiliated with hate groups from joining the military.  The amendment is one of dozens tacked on to the National Defense Authorization Act for 2010 — the bill that OKs money to be spent on the armed forces.  The full bill passed the House and the companion bill was read aloud today [7/7/2009] in the Senate.

Alcee Hastings Paves the Way for Concentration Camps.  In the near future, voicing opposition to the radical left agenda being rammed down our country's throat could land you in a concentration camp.  Now's a good time to start resisting what liberals are doing to this country, because it won't be getting any easier.

Political opposition is not a hate crime.  Legislation quietly making its way through Congress would give the White House power to categorize political opponents as hate groups and even send Americans to detention centers on abandoned military bases. ... Section 2(b)4 allows the Secretary of Homeland Security to use the camps "to meet other appropriate needs" — none of which are specified.  This is the kind of blank check that Congress should never, ever sign. ... It's not paranoid to be extremely wary of legislation that would give two unelected government officials power to legally declare someone a "domestic terrorist" and send them to a government-run camp.  After all, the federal government has done exactly this sort of thing before.

233 Years Later, a New Independence Push.  President Obama and Speaker Pelosi have an ambitious agenda that, if implemented, would make Americans more dependent on their government than ever before — certainly more than our Founding Fathers would have envisioned.  From socialized medicine, ownership of car companies and large monetary infusions into failing private sector entities to federal control of our nation's energy and education sectors, the U.S. government is rapidly become increasingly powerful and increasingly intrusive.

Say NO to a Constitutional Convention.  What if Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi had the opportunity to re-write the United States Constitution?  What if the hordes of big-government liberals had the opportunity to write the Supreme Law of Land?  What would this document include?  I can guarantee that it will include provisions that make America look like Socialized Europe on a fast track to collectivism and statism.  If Conservatives join in the fight for a Constitutional Convention, we will be handing over the keys to the kingdom.

We the People Need a Tyranny Czar.  America's system of checks and balances, designed to safeguard against tyranny, is in shambles.  Thus, our tyrannical president, committed to replacing free and private enterprise with government run socialism, is able to do so, virtually at will.  That same tyrannical president is able to downgrade national defense, drive the nation to the cusp of financial ruin, and trash the best health care system in the world in favor of a government run HMO, again virtually unchallenged.

The regulation of essential elements of life.  The EPA is now considering designating CO2 a dangerous pollutant.  The regulation of essential elements of life by our government scares me.  It should scare us all.  I am devastated by the notion that our own government founded on freedom would regulate and control the most fundamental aspects of life on earth. ... We generally have too much water where we don't need it and too little where we do.  Are you planning to regulate water also? ... Carbon dioxide is just as essential to life as water and oxygen.  Carbon dioxide is no more a pollutant than oxygen or water.

We've heard this Washington song before.  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made history Wednesday [6/17/2009] by barring Republicans from offering any amendments to spending legislation.  This has never been done before in the entire history of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Man, 81, charged for clearing pothole for repair.  An Ohio man said he chipped away loose material to prepare a pothole for repair and thought he was helping the city, not breaking the law.  An undercover police officer spotted 81-year-old James Stacy in the street near Stacy's home with a pickax and a broom last week.

Video Shows Philly Officer Bullying Woman.  When Agnes Lawless and three friends were inside a Lukoil convenience store in the Northeast at 3 a.m. last August, they'd all but forgotten the fender-bender in which they'd been involved moments earlier.  There was little damage, and the other driver had left the scene, near Northeast Philadelphia Airport.  What they didn't know was that they'd been rear-ended by the son of a police officer who was on duty, and dad was about to get involved.

Couple: County Trying To Stop Home Bible Studies.  A local pastor and his wife claim they were interrogated by a San Diego County official, who then threatened them with escalating fines they continued to hold bible studies in their home, 10News reported.

Land Grab, Air Grab, Water Grab — S 787.  The CWA (Clean Water Act) regulates point source pollution discharges into "waters of the United States."  The United States Supreme Court has interpreted the phrase "waters of the United States" to exclude isolated waters, such as ponds, intermittent streams, and wetlands which do not have a "significant nexus" to a navigable waterway.  These bodies of water are not regulated by the CWA.  S 787 would change the CWA to significantly broaden the scope of the bill.

Judicial 'Activism' Isn't the Issue.  The growing dispute between conservatives and liberals over the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor obscures a more troubling point of agreement:  The government should almost always win.  Many conservatives who think of themselves as proponents of limited government would be surprised to discover that conservative judges begin their constitutional analyses in almost every context by placing a thumb firmly on the government side of the scale.

What's my pay, Mr. Czar?  The financial community clearly needed to revise compensation systems to shift incentives for executives, managers, traders and others from one-year to longer term.  And just as clearly, it needed to curtail salaries and golden parachutes that bore no realistic connection to executive value-added.  But that's not government's role.  Entertainers and athletes make too much, too.  But that's not the government's business, either.

Obama Butters Them Up In Cairo.  At one point, Obama fretted over the rise of new power that, to the horror of civilized people, exudes an obsessed and twisted view of "sexuality" and "mindless violence."  Islamo-fascism?  No, the Internet.  The guy is confronting one of the most evil and relentless mindsets in the history of man and he finds room in his big address to whine about the Internet — by far a greater tool for freedom than anything else.

'Job-Creating' Ordinance Makes Negligence of 'Green' Audit Criminal.  The government is continuing to encroach on freedoms more and more in the name of climate change.  Case in point:  An ordinance that went into effect June 1 stating if you sell your home in Austin, Texas and you fail to get a clean energy "green" audit, you will likely face criminal charges.  According to an ordinance passed by the Austin City Council in November 2008, any home 10 years or older will require an "Energy Conservation Audit.

The state despotic.  Would it even be possible to hold the American revolution today?  The Boston Tea Party?  Imagine if George III had been able to sit in his palace across the ocean, look at the security-camera footage, press a button, and freeze the bank accounts of everyone there.  Oh, well, we won't be needing another revolt, will we?  But the consequence of funding the metastasization of government through the confiscation of the fruits of the citizen's labor is the remorseless shriveling of liberty.

Pelosi appeals for China's help on climate change.  U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged Beijing on Thursday [5/25/2009] to cooperate on climate change, calling a safe environment a basic human right. ... "We have so much room for improvement," she said.  "Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory ... of how we are taking responsibility."

Don't call it 'socialism'!  The government effectively owns General Motors and controls Chrysler, and the president is deciding what kind of cars they can make.  Uncle Sam owns majority stakes in American International Group, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and controls large chunks of the banking industry.  Also, President Obama wants government to take over the business of student loans.  And he's pushing for nationalized health care.  Meanwhile, his Environmental Protection Agency has ruled that it reserves the right to regulate any economic activity that has a "carbon footprint."  Just last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said climate change requires that "every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory."  Rep. Barney Frank, chair of the Financial Services Committee, has his eye on regulating executive pay.

You'll Love Diversity — Or Else.  Racial and ethnic diversity is the key to happiness, success in the global marketplace and, not least, an interesting life.  So we are told in a batch of new "fair housing" radio ads that are the sort of treacly propaganda that cause sober drivers to run off the road.  Presented as a celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act, the ads were produced by the National Fair Housing Alliance, a private, nonprofit group whose stated purpose is to make sure the act is properly implemented.  The act bans housing discrimination and imposes stiff penalties for those who get caught.

Democracy and Majority Rule.  Democracy and majority rule give an aura of legitimacy to acts that would otherwise be deemed tyranny.  Think about it.  How many decisions in our day-to-day lives would we like to be made through majority rule or the democratic process? ... What about whether you drive a Chevrolet or a Ford, or whether your Easter dinner is turkey or ham?  Were such decisions made in the political arena, most of us would deem it tyranny.  Why isn't it also tyranny for the democratic process to mandate what type of light bulbs we use, how many gallons of water to flush toilets or whether money should be taken out of our paycheck for retirement?

Step Away From the Vehicle.  In August 1999 police saw Rodney Gant pull into the driveway of his Tucson home and arrested him for driving with a suspended license.  After handcuffing Gant and locking him in a cruiser, Officer Todd Griffith searched his car, finding a bag of cocaine in the pocket of a jacket on the backseat.  When he was asked at an evidentiary hearing why he searched the car, Griffith replied, "Because the law says we can do it."  Not anymore.

Tennessee Speeders Could Get Fingerprinted.  Motorists stopped for traffic violations in Tennessee could be fingerprinted if state lawmakers approve a bill pending in the legislature.  Currently, when drivers are cited during traffic stops, police officers ask for the driver's signature on the ticket, but the proposed bill would allow police departments to eliminate signatures and collect fingerprints.

FCC's Warrantless Household Searches Alarm Experts.  You may not know it, but if you have a wireless router, a cordless phone, remote car-door opener, baby monitor or cellphone in your house, the FCC claims the right to enter your home without a warrant at any time of the day or night in order to inspect it.  That's the upshot of the rules the agency has followed for years to monitor licensed television and radio stations, and to crack down on pirate radio broadcasters.  And the commission maintains the same policy applies to any licensed or unlicensed radio-frequency device.

Brown calls 1996 anti-affirmative action law unconstitutional.  Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown has told the California Supreme Court that Proposition 209, the anti-affirmative action measure passed by voters in 1996, violates the U.S. Constitution.  The state attorney general's stance marks the second time in six months that he has determined that ballot measures approved by California voters were unconstitutional.

Iowa, A Great Place To Be From.  The state in which I was born and raised has become the latest judicial laboratory for deviant social policy.  In a unanimous vote last week, the Iowa Supreme Court created the "right" to same-sex marriage.  As is always the case, the voters had no direct say in the matter.  Their state senators and representatives had acted responsibly on the matter several years ago by defining marriage as what it is — a union of one man and one woman.  But that no longer matters in America, where we now live not in a representative republic but rather under a left-wing judicial oligarchy.

Anything that isn't mandatory is now prohibited.
Hundreds of laws kick in Monday.  In California, driving with people in the trunk will be illegal.  In Alabama, landlords will have to provide livable conditions for tenants.  Illinois agencies will have to provide people to answer phones, not just automated messages.  These are among the hundreds of laws that will take effect Monday [1/1/2007].  Each New Year's Day, a flurry of legal experiments begin that shape Americans' lives.  The U.S. government spends twice as much money as state and local governments combined, but state government has the greatest effect on Americans' everyday lives — how they drive, how they get married and divorced, how they hunt and fish, and how they buy cigarettes and beer.

Some strings attached.  Last month, Congress enacted the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, popularly called "the stimulus plan."  It gives billions of dollars to the states, but the gift has strings attached.  One of its unique provisions changes state constitutions!  That provision is unconstitutional, and its defect raises problems about the whole enterprise.  The aphorism, he who pays the piper calls the tune, is one that Congress understands quite well.  If the state accepts funds, it also accepts a host of restrictions.

Hayward begins ticketing for smoking in public.  Lighted cigarettes meant lightened purses and wallets for smokers who were caught puffing in public this week, as the city began enforcement of a smoking ban that technically went into effect last summer.  The law, passed by the City Council last May, mandates a $50 fine for smoking on sidewalks, streets and other public places, including a 20-foot no smoking zone around outdoor patio areas of restaurants and bars, as well as parks, sports fields, playgrounds and municipal parking lots.  That zone also applies to windows, doors and ventilation ducts.

Out West, Catching Raindrops Can Make You an Outlaw.  Every raincloud that passes over her eastern Colorado ranch tempts state Rep. Marsha Looper to break the law.  A long, hard drought has settled across the land, and on those rare occasions when the sky opens, Ms. Looper longs to set out some rain barrels to collect the bounty for future use.  She'd like to use the rain to grow hothouse tomatoes.  But she refrains.  "I don't want to get thrown in jail," she explains.

Taking a bite out of crime...
Pennsylvania Pie Fight:  State Cracks Down on Baked Goods.  On the first Friday of Lent, an elderly female parishioner of St. Cecilia Catholic Church began unwrapping pies at the church.  That's when the trouble started.  A state inspector, there for an annual checkup on the church's kitchen, spied the desserts.  After it was determined that the pies were home-baked, the inspector decreed they couldn't be sold.

Good Ideas.  Thomas Jefferson advised, "Whensoever the General (federal) Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force."  That bit of Jeffersonian advice is dangerous.  While Congress does not have constitutional authority for most of what it does, it does have police and military power to inflict great pain and punishment for disobedience.

How To Peacefully Subdue a Monster!  It took 232 years for the American government to turn into a monster, but a monster it is.  It is a vicious, mostly mindless monster with a thousand tentacles that reach into every portion of our lives and the tentacles grow back if you cut one off.  It is a monster that once was controlled by rules, but it has grown so powerful, it now re-writes the rules to serve itself.  It is a monster with a ferocious appetite, an appetite for your money.

Every American Is Now a Criminal!  You think you are a law abiding citizen, don't you?  Think again!  You have been, you are now, and you will continue to break the law for the rest of your life, because there are too many laws, with millions more laws to follow.  Many of these laws are totally unconstitutional but have never been challenged in the courts.  Sometimes you break the law without any knowledge of it, even though ignorance of the law is not an excuse, if you are caught.  But worse, millions are breaking the law because they are convinced the laws are illegal, or just plain stupid.  With more people intentionally breaking the law, eventually the rule of law breaks down, as does our Republic.  The examples of stupid laws would fill volumes.  Examples of conflicting laws would fill even more volumes.

How Free Are We Really?  There is neither such thing as a people with complete freedom nor one completely bereft of it; it's a matter of degree.  While many realize this, few understand that there is a barometer with which liberty can be measured:  The number of laws in existence.  By definition, a law is the removal of a freedom, as it dictates that there is something you cannot or must do. ... Every year our nation enacts more and more laws but hardly ever rescinds any, which means every year we become progressively less free.  I call this "creeping totalitarianism."

Ignorance reigns supreme.  With limited thinking abilities and knowledge of our heritage, we Americans set ourselves up as easy prey for charlatans, hustlers and quacks.  If we don't know the constitutional limits placed on Congress and the White House, politicians can do just about anything they wish to control our lives, from deciding what kind of light bulbs we can use to whether the government can take over our health care system or bailout failing businesses.  We just think Congress can do anything upon which they can get a majority vote.

Farmers beware:  Big Brother may be watching.  Eastern Shore soybean farmer Steve VanKesteren learned that the hard way when he was charged with taking two red-tailed hawks, a violation of the federal Migratory Bird Act.  The evidence against him was a video recording showing him dispatching the birds with an ax.  Game wardens had put a hidden camera in a tree, pointed at VanKesteren's soybean fields, after receiving a complaint about protected birds getting caught in predator traps.

The Editor asks...
Where are all those people who were so upset about domestic surveillance a few years ago?

Prohibition's Second Act:  Last week saw the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition.  In Washington, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) — a group of former cops and drug-war veterans who have soured on America's war on drugs — gathered to celebrate the anniversary, and to argue for an end to America's current prohibition on marijuana and more serious drugs.  Essentially, they believe that the war on drugs creates criminals.

This War is Not the Answer.  I believe it is long past time to end the War on Drugs.  That's not because I approve of drug use or have any desire to encourage it.  But this particular war has already gone on longer than the ones in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq, put together, with no end in sight and far less to show for it.

Controversial measure would require DNA sampling at arrest.  Suspects arrested in cases as minor as shoplifting would have to give a DNA sample before they are even charged with a crime if a controversial proposal is approved by the Legislature.  State criminal defense groups and the American Civil Liberties Union say the House bill is unconstitutional.  It would mandate that police or jail staff collect DNA from all adults and juveniles arrested on suspicion of a felony or gross misdemeanor.

Toy-gun sales ban advances to House.  A bill aimed at reducing the risk of children getting shot by police cleared a state House of Representatives committee Thursday [3/26/2009] but some questioned whether it would do anything.  House Bill 2160 by Rep. Fred Allen, D-Little Rock, would ban the sale of certain toy guns.

Where have you gone, Sheriff Taylor?  [Scroll down]  Not long ago I reported on an even more absurd case, in Shreveport, Louisiana.  There, the police chief cooked up this hare-brained idea of holding gas station employees and owners criminally liable in cases where drivers drive away without paying.  I can almost hear your incredulity. ... Well, you see, the chief got the town council to require station attendants to make their customers pre-pay.  If they don't, and the driver drives off without paying, then the attendant is also a criminal!  This sort of regulation of everyday life is all too common.  The basic idea is to scribble out a criminal code to make it easy for law enforcement.

In Australia, don't take pictures of the police.
Mobile phone seizure an 'abuse of police powers'.  A man detained and threatened with arrest under the Terrorism Act for filming police on his mobile phone says police abused their powers.  Nick Holmes a Court ... said police forcibly took his BlackBerry phone and threatened him with arrest both under the Australian Anti-Terrorism Act and for allegedly disobeying a police directive.

Legislative Preoccupation with Licensing Needs Repair.  While many Texas families rightfully fear violent criminals and child predators, no police alert has yet gone out for an interior decorator on the loose.  Yet, as the Legislature continues to produce solutions in search of problems, a pending bill would criminalize thousands of interior decorators.  This legislation is part of a raft of bills that would license new occupations ranging from interior designers to auto mechanics, forcing those who do not qualify to choose between committing a crime and earning a living.

Do You Have a License to Move that Chair?  In 22 states, including Arkansas, it is illegal to call yourself an interior designer without going through an arduous and expensive certification process.  In Nevada, it's illegal to do interior design without a license.  That's right, advising someone about drapes could land you in the hoosegow.  Like many states, Arkansas has an Interior Design Board.  The sole purpose of this board is to register interior designers.

Exposing the Connecticut and Oklahoma Interior Design Cartels.  The attempted cartelization of the interior design industry by industry insiders represents one of the most flagrant affronts to economic liberty IJ [the Institute for Justice] has ever encountered, and we are making the most of it.

Red tape snarls interior designers.  Susan Roberts can design you a gorgeous living room or a charming kitchen, but don't call her an "interior designer" — she could be fined $500 and spend a year in jail.

Horse Teeth Floaters' Constitutional Lawsuit Will Proceed.  Unlike human teeth, horses' teeth grow throughout their lives.  This causes sharp points to develop along their molars that must be filed down (or "floated") periodically, which levels the teeth and helps ensure that the horse can eat properly.  Historically, this practice has been provided by non-veterinarian specialists called "floaters," just as horses' hooves are taken care of by non-veterinarian farriers.

Our way lost.  Liberty is the result of much sacrifice, suffering, and labor.  It often has to be defended with bloodshed.  It is that precious.  Yet we quietly sit by and let government continually encroach upon our liberties without so much as a whimper.  Higher taxes strangle our personal freedom.  The Fairness Doctrine threatens to replace viable media content with a government-mandated mix of information.  Local city councils condemn private property "for the public good" while all they really want is to increase the tax revenue they receive off said property.

King Bloomberg.  When Mayor Bloomberg deployed his vast personal and political power to overturn the term limits law, he began to demystify the public relations image he had purchased at considerable expense.  It was only then that New Yorkers began to recognize the danger of making Gotham's wealthiest man its chief executive.  That recognition is the reason his approval rating slipped by nine points in the latest Marist poll.  The public chose a mayor; they didn't expect an elected monarch.

Next Up for Nationalization:  the Internet.  Following the nationalization of investment banks, Fannie and Freddie, consumer banks, and private insurance companies, taxpayers are likely asking:  What's left for the federal government to nationalize?  How about the Internet?  Network neutrality, or net neutrality, is the beneficent-sounding name for sweeping new government regulatory power that would prohibit Internet service providers from innovating in their own networks.

The Emerging Surveillance State:  The new FISA bill allows the federal government to compel many more types of companies and individuals to grant the government access to our communications without a warrant.  The provisions in the legislation designed to protect Americans from warrantless surveillance are full of loopholes and ambiguities.  There is no blanket prohibition against listening in on all American citizens without a warrant.  We have been told that this power to listen in on communications is legal and only targets terrorists.  But if what these companies are being compelled to do is legal, why is it necessary to grant them immunity?  If what they did in the past was legal and proper, why is it necessary to grant them retroactive immunity?

Tyranny In the Name of Progress:
California court bans religious objections to same-sex pregnancies.  Once again, judges in California have taken sides in the culture wars.  On Monday [8/18/2008], in North Coast Women's Care v. Benitez, the Golden State's highest court ruled that doctors may not rely on their religious principles to refuse in-vitro fertilization for same-sex couples.  The decision runs roughshod over the First Amendment's free-exercise clause, seeking to supplant Judeo-Christian principles with the state-imposed religion of secularism.  This is a false choice under the federal Constitution, which makes room for both.

Servile Nation.  The janitor who cleans up a shopping mall in exchange for a paycheck is to be disdained as someone seeking his own economic benefit, while an AmeriCorps "volunteer" who cleans up a public park in exchange for money extorted from taxpayers at gunpoint is to be celebrated as the embodiment of the Common Good.  Yes, they both perform the same function, but only the labor of the latter has been consecrated through the exercise of government coercion.

Police in Thought Pursuit.  Denuded of euphemisms and code words, the Act aims to identify and stigmatize persons and groups who hold thoughts the government decrees correlate with homegrown terrorism, for example, opposition to the Patriot Act or the suspension of the Great Writ of habeas corpus.  The Act will inexorably culminate in a government listing of homegrown terrorists or terrorist organizations without due process; a complementary listing of books, videos, or ideas that ostensibly further "violent radicalization;" and a blacklisting of persons who have intersected with either list.  Political discourse will be chilled and needed challenges to conventional wisdom will flag.  There are no better examples of sinister congressional folly.

Suddenly, Denver is 'like a police state'.  They're calling it "Gitmo on the Platte."  With riot police on every downtown corner, security helicopters whomping overhead, news that police had secretly converted a northeast Denver warehouse into a detention centre enraged protesters and civil libertarians here yesterday who hoped for a different message with Barack Obama's Democrats in town.

ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors.  Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic Senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown's Palace Hotel.  Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.

ABC Reporter's Attorneys Want All Charges Dropped.  Lawyers for an ABC reporter and civil rights groups are demanding that Denver police drop all charges against a reporter who was arrested yesterday [8/27/2008] while trying to shoot video on a public sidewalk outside the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver.

A D.C. police state.  There is a neighborhood adjacent to Capitol Hill in Washington that is under siege.  But the police can't turn things around on their own.  On any given day, residents and visitors to the Trinidad area of Northeast are forced to traverse unfamiliar streets because D.C. police have barricaded the neighborhood as an anti-crime tactic — and when law enforcers accomplish that they are intent and in effect creating a police state in the nation's capital.

Nation's Capital Implements Measures Violating Rights & Property.  In order to curb the crime in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast, Washington, DC, police established "Neighborhood Safety Zones" where checkpoints were set up blocking access.  It's bad enough if law enforcement just about literally points a gun at the head of everyone coming into the neighborhood compelling motorists to permit officers to ransack through vehicles regardless of whether or not anything suspicious is going on.  However, things have gone beyond the limits of conscience when American citizens that have neither been convicted nor accused of a crime are then forbidden from proceeding down a free public street.

Update:
Appeals court rejects DC police checkpoints.  A federal appeals court said Friday [7/10/2009] that police checkpoints in a crime-plagued Washington neighborhood are unconstitutional and ordered a lower court to reconsider its refusal to block the program.

The Court defers to plain language.  Adrian Fenty, the mayor of Washington, said he would direct the D.C. cops to figure out a way around the [Supreme Court's] decision [upholding the Second Amendment]. … And why shouldn't he be cheerful about the actual effect of the decision?  Once the cops have a computerized list of gun owners, they can draw up a map showing where each of those owners lives.  Bureaucrats like maps with a lot of little colored pins.  This makes Big Brother's oversight easier.

When I Was a Boy, America Was a Better Place.  When I was a boy, America was a freer society than it is today.  If Americans had been told the extent and number of laws that would govern their speech and behavior within one generation, they would have been certain that they were being told about some dictatorship, not the Land of the Free.

45 days in jail for selling bacon-wrapped hot dogs.  "Bacon is a potentially hazardous food," says Terrence Powell of the LA County Health Department.  Continue selling bacon dogs without county-approved equipment and you risk fines and jail time.  Palacios knows all about that.  She spent 45 days in the slammer for selling bacon dogs, and with the lost time from work, fines, and attorney's fees, she fears she might lose the house that bacon dogs helped buy.

Abuse of Power in Texas:  The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, a misnamed bureaucracy if ever there was one, has demanded the children seized by the state and placed in foster care be immunized immediately against the wishes of their mothers, who fear negative effects.  Ahh, but those mothers are no longer mothers, explains Patrick Crimmins, spokesman for the department.  "We're the legal parents of the children, and we would like for them to be immunized," he said.

Boston police jump the gun with "Safe Homes".  The police department in that Massachusetts city has just launched an initiative that exhibits a cynical disregard for the rights of the citizenry, even as it cleverly cloaks the program in language pretending to protect the people toward whom it is directed.  I refer to the "Safe Homes Initiative," with its slick brochures and smooth rhetoric.

FBI compiling big database of physical traits.  The FBI has embarked on a $1 billion effort to build the world's largest computer database of peoples' physical characteristics, a project that would give the government unprecedented abilities to identify individuals in the United States and abroad.  Digital images of faces, fingerprints and palm patterns already are flowing into FBI systems….

Who Will Control Your Thermostat?  In California, we have 236 pages of state-mandated standards for building energy efficiency, known as Title 24. … What should be controversial in the proposed revisions to Title 24 is the requirement for what is called a "programmable communicating thermostat" or PCT.  Every new home and every change to existing homes' central heating and air conditioning systems will required to be fitted with a PCT beginning next year following the issuance of the revision.  Each PCT will be fitted with a "non-removable " FM receiver that will allow the power authorities to increase your air conditioning temperature setpoint or decrease your heater temperature setpoint to any value they chose.  During "price events" those changes are limited to ±4°F. and you would be able to manually override the changes.  During "emergency events" the new setpoints can be whatever the power authority desires and you would not be able to alter them.  In other words, the temperature of your home will no longer be yours to control.

The Editor says...
I can think of a couple of ways to defeat that FM receiver without touching it.  And I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before some hacker figures out how to shut off (or turn on) every air conditioner in town.

California Seeks Thermostat Control.  Next year in California, state regulators are likely to have the emergency power to control individual thermostats, sending temperatures up or down through a radio-controlled device that will be required in new or substantially modified houses and buildings to manage electricity shortages.

The Editor continues...
Scroll down to the end of the article to see a quote from Nicole Tam, a spokeswoman for PG&E, who claims that the thermostat control signals are hacker-proof because they "are encrypted and encoded".  What a relief!  We all know that no encryption scheme has ever been cracked by hackers.

California Proposes Taking Control of Thermostats.  The California Energy Commission has proposed requiring thermostats that allow the government to control the temperature of homes and businesses in case of high energy prices or shortages, a measure that some critics are calling "draconian."

Update:
Public Outrage Throttles California Plan to Control Home Thermostats.  Powered by a wave of public outrage that transcended party lines, California citizens have forced regulators at the California Energy Commission to abandon plans to control thermostat settings in private homes.  The Energy Commission had attempted to slip the thermostat provision into Title 24, a 236-page set of rules covering energy efficiency mandates on building construction.

Hillary's plan for economic ruin:  [Scroll down] This supposed deficiency of governmental intervention gets no support from a glance at the Federal Register, which includes tens of thousands of pages of new, old and proposed rules.  Nor does it help the thesis to note the cost of implementation, $1.1 trillion annually, according to the Small Business Administration.  All of this may seem as nothing to Clinton, but some fret that these endless, frequently obnoxious and sometimes pointless rules impose thousands of dollars on an average family each year, steal liberty from individuals and inflict mayhem as they goosestep their way across the business landscape.

The Taxpayer Frog In the IRS Pot:  There were few enough federal regulations in 1900 that the government did not do anything special to keep track of them.  That changed in the middle of the New Deal.  The Federal Register, the master list of federal regulations, came into existence in 1936.  In that year it had 2,620 pages of regulations.  The next year it had 3,450.  In the year 2000, it had 83,294 pages.

Magnum, P.C.?  New Texas Law Limits Computer Repair To Licensed Private Investigators Under the new law enacted in 2007, Texas has put computer repair shops on notice that they had better watch their backs any time they work on a computer.  If a computer repair technician without a government-issued private investigator's license takes any actions that the government deems to be an "investigation," he may be subject to criminal penalties of up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine, as well as civil penalties of up to $10,000.  The definition of "investigation" is very broad and encompasses many common computer repair tasks.

Stores reward hybrid drivers with choice parking spaces.  Wheelchair users and others with limited mobility have long had access to prime parking spaces.  Then expectant mothers got their own special spots.  Now some stores are setting aside coveted parking close to the door for fuel-efficient hybrids.

The Editor says...
How about "black only" parking spots?  That would be cheaper than reparations.  No, I'm not kidding.  Big Brother keeps making subtle changes in order to assist the needy or reward certain types of behavior.  Reserved parking places for certain disadvantaged minorities — and now hybrid car owners — is just an example.  The tax code is full of these little incentives.  But by putting these restrictions in place, in many cases the government is engaging in exactly the sort of discrimination it pretends to oppose.

Cigarette surveillance program begins today.  Starting today [9/27/2007], state Department of Revenue agents will begin stopping Tennessee motorists spotted buying large quantities of cigarettes in border states, then charging them with a crime and, in some cases, seizing their cars.  Critics say the new "cigarette surveillance program" amounts to the use of "police state" tactics and wrongfully interferes with interstate commerce.

Have Gun, Won't Travel.  The Gun-Free School Zones Act … made it a federal crime punishable by five years in prison to possess a gun within 1,000 feet of a school. … According to an analysis by gun control scholar Alan Korwin, the gun-free zones created by the statute cover so much of Phoenix and Cleveland that they are impossible for people traveling in those cities to avoid. The upshot, he says, is that "virtually all public travel with firearms is now a violation of law."

The Editor says...
Don't tell me that effect was just an "unintended consequence" of the law.  And don't tell me the 1000-foot radius will never be increased.

Pro-Gun Liberals?  The entire government machine is based on force or the threat of violence.  If I don't pay my property taxes, the government sends out a bunch of guys with guns to kick me out of my house.  If I don't claim all of my income on my "voluntary" federal income tax return, then you send out the guys with guns to put me in jail for tax evasion.

Behavior Worth Medicating?  Twelve adults gathered in a small, closed courtroom to decide how many powerful, anti-psychotic drugs that the child, who is currently in the custody of the state, would be required to take. … The verdict:  the little guy would be forced to take anti-psychotic drugs Risperdal, Concerta, and Seroquel, plus the stimulant Clonidine and the anti-anxiety drug Klonopin.  This outcome begs the question of whether a six-year-old child, let alone children as young as three, can be diagnosed as psychotic.  And, whether children should be drugged by potions so powerful that most of them are not approved by the FDA for use in children.

FDA Takes Tyranny to the Heartland.  In this age of almighty government, nearly every blade of grass is regulated, oftentimes heavy-handedly, as Michigan farmer Richard Hebron found out when the Michigan Department of Agriculture (MDA), on Oct. 13, 2006, carried out a highly orchestrated sting operation against him for transporting unpasteurized, unprocessed milk of the highest quality to enthusiastic consumers.  That day, his wife also was served a warrant in the dragnet.

When Your Only Tool is Coercion, Every Problem Looks Like Too Much Freedom.  There is a famous saying that when the only tool you have is a hammer every problem look like a nail.  For politicians, bureaucrats, and many activists when the only tool they have is coercion the cause of every problem looks like too much freedom.  And make no mistake; if you are committed to accomplishing your social goals by using government power, then, by definition, your only tool is the hammer of coercion.  As George Washington pointed out in his second inaugural address:  "Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force."  And when people choose to use government to accomplish their goals they are choosing to use force, not reason and certainly not eloquence.

A Gift from Divided Government.  The [Federal Elections Commission] from its very formation was a blatant grab at power by those who detest individual liberty and fundamental freedoms.  Taken to its logical extensions, the FEC is an outright repeal of the First Amendment's right to free speech.  When all political communication is regulated by politically appointed hacks, when only favored entities are allowed to engage in political action, when some people are severely limited in what they can say or do while others are given a free hand to do as they please, freedom ceases to exist.

The census has grown beyond its bounds.  While the Patriot Act and National Security Agency wiretapping have received enormous attention and criticism from the mainstream media, another federal agency has been quietly gathering far more personal information about U.S. residents than those laws ever can.  And this unreported project affects thousands more people.  Our inquisitive federal government has been demanding that selected U.S. residents answer 73 nosy questions.  They are threatened with a fine of $5,000 for failure to respond.

Data Disseminated by Federal Agencies Can't Be Challenged, Court Rules.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on March 6 ruled the Salt Institute, a nonprofit association of salt producers that provides public information on behalf of its members, lacked standing to bring a lawsuit challenging government-disseminated misinformation about alleged health risks of salt.  Because it is difficult to imagine a plaintiff who would suffer greater harm from erroneous data about the adverse health effects of salt than the Salt Institute itself, the decision raises grave questions about the public accountability of government agencies.

Chicken farmers protest homeland security rules over propane tanks.  Are chicken coops the next battleground in the war on terror?  Poultry growers are protesting proposed regulations from the Department of Homeland Security that would label propane gas a "chemical of interest" and require anybody with 7,500 pounds or more of the fuel to register with the agency.  At that amount, poultry farmers who use propane to heat chicken houses would have to fill out the forms.

UK Police Can Now Demand Encryption Keys.  Under a new law that went into effect this month, it is now a crime to refuse to turn a decryption key over to the police. … "The Home Office has steadfastly proclaimed that the law is aimed at catching terrorists, pedophiles, and hardened criminals — all parties which the UK government contents are rather adept at using encryption to cover up their activities."  We heard the same thing from FBI Director Louis Freeh in 1993.  I called them "The Four Horsemen of the Information Apocalypse" — terrorists, drug dealers, kidnappers, and child pornographers — and they have been used to justify all sorts of new police powers.

Car Payment Late?  Big Brother Won't Let the Engine Start.  Rashida Redd punched in a six-digit code in her Pontiac Grand Prix and got a new lease on life. … The device, the size of a cigarette pack and mounted under the dashboard, flashes green if she has made a car payment on time.  If she misses her $94 weekly payment, it won't let her car start.

[Obviously, if a loan company can do that today, it won't be long before such a device is standard equipment.  This would enable the state to put the brakes, so to speak, on people with unpaid traffic tickets or tollway charges.]

1984 sticks its camel nose under the Catholic cafeteria's door.  Big Brother dishes up mealtime regulations for students — but how did "sexual orientation" get on the menu?  A poster in a Catholic School cafeteria states that discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited.  Literally "cafeteria Catholics."

U.S. Supreme Court destroys the right to private property.  The U.S. Supreme Court [has] ruled in Kelo v. City of New London that local governments can seize private property for private development even when that property is not "put into use for the general public."

Property Rights Devastated by Supreme Court Ruling.  Any government 'purpose' means homes get bulldozed.

More opinions about this terrible Supreme Court decision can be found here.

"Robed Masters" Usurping Control of U.S. Government, Says Bauer.  Phyllis Hamilton is a federal district court judge in San Francisco — but Gary Bauer says she must believe herself to be a "higher authority" than the elected officials in Congress and the president himself.  How else, he wonders, could the Clinton appointee justify striking down a ban on partial-birth abortion that was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Bush?

Consent Decrees:  The Other Judicial Activism.  This loss of self-rule has come in the form of mandates passed by Congress over the last three decades which drastically impact our state and local governments. ... From 1970 to 1999 Congress passed 67 such mandates, the majority of them unfunded.  These mandates created a profusion of new rights in our country covering everything from rights for prison inmates to accessibility rights for people with disabilities to the right of everyone to breathe clean air.

A Truth Obama Won't Tell:  This episode … proves the impossibility of talking sense on the subject of illicit drugs during a political campaign.  That course of action would mean admitting the inadmissible:  that the prohibition of cannabis has been cruel, wasteful and fraudulent.  Cruel because it leads to the arrest of nearly 700,000 people a year for mere possession of a substance that is comparatively benign.  Wasteful because it expends billions of dollars in police, court and correctional resources that could be deployed against dangerous predators.  Fraudulent because it hasn't solved anything:  According to the federal government, nearly 100 million Americans have tried the stuff.

City may ban little baggies.  Tiny plastic bags used to sell small quantities of heroin, crack cocaine, marijuana and other drugs would be banned in Chicago, under a crackdown advanced Tuesday by a City Council committee.  Ald. Robert Fioretti (2nd) persuaded the Health Committee to ban possession of "self-sealing plastic bags under two inches in either height or width," after picking up 15 of the bags on a recent Sunday afternoon stroll through a West Side park.

The Editor says...
Why not also ban larger baggies, paper envelopes, shoeboxes, glove compartments, and any other storage device that might possibly hold drugs?  It is obvious (to me) that the war on drugs isn't really about the drugs — it is about control.

Repeal the Bradley Amendment.  When our supposedly compassionate federal government pokes its nose into areas that, under our principle of federalism, should be none of its business, the result is often unintended consequences, gross injustices, and of course massive costs.

Roy Moore, the Imperial Congress, and the Rule of Law.  Only such a person as Roy Moore could be expected to possess the courage and steadfastness sufficient to tackle the difficult issues threatening to cripple America and eradicate its future.  Win or lose, he is showing the nation what needs to be done if it is to have any hope of restoration.

US-VISIT:  Documents obtained by EPIC under the Freedom of Information Act from the Department of Homeland Security show that US-VISIT has resulted in many cases of mistaken identity.  Commercial aircrew members, vacationers, and businesspersons have all been delayed by the gaffes.  The problems caused unnecessary delays in the visitors' travels and resulted in the improper flagging of crewmembers by government watch lists.

EPIC's US-VISIT page:  US-VISIT includes the interfacing and integration of over twenty existing systems.  Among the systems used by US-VISIT are:  the Arrival Departure Information System, Advance Passenger Information System, Computer Linked Application Information Management System 3, Interagency Border Inspection System, Automated Biometric Identification System, Student Exchange Visitor Information System, and Consular Consolidated Database.  Some of these data systems contain more personal information than US-VISIT needs to operate.  Some of them also contain information about United States citizens and lawful permanent residents, not just foreign nationals subject to the US-VISIT program.

Chutzpah 1, Citizens 0.  With all the whining and carping about the balance of power between this branch of government and that, why is there nary a peep about the most fundamental of constitutional balances, that between the government and the people?

The highest security in inauguration history.  Sharpshooters will be deployed on roofs, while bomb-sniffing dogs will work the streets.  Electronic sensors will be used to detect chemical or biological weapons.  Anti-abortion protesters have been warned to leave their crosses at home.  Parade performers will have security escorts to the bathroom, and they've been ordered not to look directly at President Bush or make any sudden movements while passing the reviewing stand.

Apochryphal, yet believable:
Will Your Safe Deposit Box Be Seized During The Next Emergency?  What you can do now to protect your valuables.

Forget Spy vs. Spy — This is Cops vs. Cops.  The demonstrators arrived angry, departed furious.  The police had herded them into pens.  Stopped them from handing out fliers.  Threatened them with arrest for standing on public sidewalks.  Made notes on which politicians they cheered and which ones they razzed.  Meanwhile, officers from a special unit videotaped their faces, evoking for one demonstrator the unblinking eye of George Orwell's "1984."

Orwell Today  compares the world George Orwell described in "1984" with the world we are living in today.

Are we having fun yet?.  I've lived under dictator Francisco Franco in Spain when the Guardia Civil routinely stood on street corners with automatic weapons … But I've never experienced anything like American security in the land of the free.  It was chillingly ironic listening to President George W. Bush talk about liberty, a word he used about 15 times in his inaugural address – and our mission to help others liberate themselves – while we were being frisked, filmed and watched by snipers.

A Man's Home is Uncle Sam's Castle.  Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but not when the law wants your possessions. … This is why principle matters, folks.  Not too many complained when the EEOC sued business after business for alleged discrimination, or when the nanny state foisted mandate after mandate upon them.  But one thing leads to another.  Compromise the principle of private property rights and you've created a slippery slope, one of whose steeper drop-offs is called eminent domain, and at whose terminus can be found the netherworld of tyranny.

Reno's Raid on the Rule of Law.  Janet Reno's illegal seizure of Elian Gonzalez – in essence, a hit-and-run raid on the rule of law – threatens the liberty and safety of every American.

Elián's Odyssey.  In the story of a small Cuban boy is reflected the ordeal of our age – the struggle of truth and liberty versus lies and tyranny.

In Some States, Wine Shipment Is a Felony.  Interstate wine shipments using a common carrier, from a winery to an adult consumer 21 years or older, are prohibited in 24 states.

Judge's jailing of 20 in cell phone flap upheld.  A Niagara Falls City Court judge who jailed 20 defendants after a cell phone or wristwatch alarm went off in his court last year was acting within his judicial authority, a federal district judge has ruled.

What's in the Secret VEIL Test Results?  I wrote last week about how the analog hole bill would mandate use of the secret VEIL technology.  Because the law would require compliance with the VEIL specification, that spec would effectively be part of the law.  Call me old-fashioned, but I think there's something wrong when Congress is considering a secret bill that would impose a secret law.  We're talking about television here, not national security.

The War on Pot:  As the nation's "drug czar," John Walters is supposed to be saving us from the ravages of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine.  At least that was the original sales pitch for the "war on drugs" in the 1980s.  But the war has evolved into largely a fight against marijuana, which no one has ever claimed is a hard drug.  Walters is nonetheless committed, Ahab-like, to arresting every marijuana smoker in the country whom law enforcement can lay its hands on.

The left's vision:  Santa Monica, California, has decreed a fine of $2,500 a day for not cutting your hedges!  Has someone discovered some terrible health hazard or other danger from hedges that are too high?  Not at all.  The politicians who run Santa Monica have simply decided that people should not be able to build a high wall of hedges around themselves.

Misdemeanor Mistakes and Felony Forgetfulness.  It was a cool, clear October day in Washington, D.C., when the closing bell rang and twelve-year-old Ansche Hedgepeth ran out the door of Alice Deal Junior High School.  She stopped at a fast-food restaurant for an order of hot French fries and then headed for home.  Ansche took the escalator down into the Tenleytown/American University Metrorail station to catch her train.  In the station, she ate a single French fry.  Moments later, the junior high student was in handcuffs and headed for jail.

Update:
Court Dismisses Case of Girl Arrested for Eating French Fries in DC Metro.  While chastising metro officials for creating such a "foolish" operating procedure as the one mandating arrest for juveniles found eating, drinking or smoking in a metro station, District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan dismissed the case of a 12-year-old girl who was arrested for eating a French fry on the Washington, D.C. Metro.  Judge Sullivan stated that once probable cause of a violation had been established by Metro police, Hedgepeth had "no fundamental right to freedom from physical restraint."  Rutherford Institute attorneys intend to appeal the district court's ruling to the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

License Plate "Guns" and Privacy:  New Haven police have a new law enforcement tool:  a license-plate scanner.  Similar to a radar gun, it reads the license plates of moving or parked cars and links with remote police databases, immediately providing information about the car and owner.  Right now the police check if there are any taxes owed on the car, if the car or license plate is stolen, and if the car is unregistered or uninsured.  A car that comes up positive is towed.

Overthrowing the Constitution and Subverting Representative Democracy.  Too many judges can no longer be counted on to reach rational and reasonable decisions based on the law.  Instead, too many judges now regularly issue decisions based on the absurd and the fanciful.  To make matters worse, these same judges impose their political views on the rest of us through anti-democratic and politically unaccountable means and then they tell us the Constitution made them do it.

The open secret — who runs the show?  The legislative staffs at the federal level as well as in the states have far more power than it is polite to talk about.  Usually, politicians fear bringing the subject up.  They don't want us to realize how much they rely upon their professional staffs to keep cranking out their never-ending batches of half-baked legislation.  They only bring it up when they have to:  when a goofy provision just seems too goofy even for Congress.  Or when their careers are threatened with term limits.

Criminalizing Dissent:  The FBI's Project Megiddo, which warns against millennial terrorism, paints constitutionalists, devout Christians, hate groups, and militias with the same broad strokes.

The Lady in Red Tape:  Judy Hooper loves doughnuts.  That's one of the reasons she opened a bakery in Evanston, Illinois.  It's a small shop, bringing in about $50,000 in profits annually.  That's not enough to make her rich, but the challenge of running a small business and her talent for baking keep this 35-year-old Chicago native busy.  Ask Hooper about OSHA, however, and her face glazes over with disdain.  A 1994 inspection of her 30-person bakery by OSHA officials left Hooper with $13,000 in frivolous fines.  Her infractions included a failure to warn employees of the hazards of household dishwashing liquid.  To recoup the cost of the fines, she would have to sell 260,000 doughnuts, or 10,400 cakes, or 1,040,000 cookies.

Federal Regulations Back to Near-Record Levels.  Federal government regulators issued 4,148 new rules in the 71,269-page Federal Register in 2003, 19 fewer than they did in 2002.  The cost of those rules appears nowhere in the federal budget.  According to the Federal Register, the five most active rule-producing agencies — the Departments of Treasury, Transportation, Homeland Security, and Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency — account for 46 percent of the rules under consideration.

Ten Thousand Commandments 2011.  Thanks to the bailouts and other amplified spending, CBO projects a FY 2011 deficit of a previously unthinkable $1.48 trillion, greater than FY 2010's actual deficit of $1.294 trillion.  With the unveiling of the 2012 budget, President Obama projects an even larger FY 2011 deficit than CBO does:  $1.645 trillion.  This figure will be the largest deficit since World War II, at 11 percent of the entire U.S. economy.

Time to stop the flood of federal regulation.  According to the Competitive Enterprise Institute's just-updated annual snapshot of federal regulations — "Ten Thousand Commandments" — the federal government spent $49.1 billion to enforce regulations in 2008, costing businesses $1.17 trillion to comply.  In other words, businesses are being forced to allocate vast sums of money and time to comply with the federal government's bewilderingly complex rules and mandates.

10,000 Commandments (2010 edition).  Precise regulatory costs can never be fully known, because, unlike taxes, they are unbudgeted and often indirect.  But scattered government and private data exist on scores of regulations and on the agencies that issue them, as well as on regulatory costs and benefits.  Some of that information can be compiled to make the regulatory state somewhat more comprehensible.

Earlier issues of "10,000 Commandments":
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