Month: July 2012
For many of these links, H/Ts to MJR, PT, H, JS, WL, and I hope I’m not forgetting anybody else! First and best, this statement by MamaLiberty has been getting around — but deserves to get around more. “I Carry a Gun — Get Over It.” This one has also been getting around, and for the opposite reasons. At least one person in this DEA horror show seems to have gotten his just deserts. Appears the fedgov’s IP thuggery might soon be affecting our health. Silent Circle. From Phil Zimmerman & friends. Collect water on your own property, go to…
18 CommentsYesterday I began a post about the novel Alif the Unseen with this quote: “We’re living in a city run by an emir from one of the most inbred families on earth, where a few censors can throw someone in jail for writing things on the Internet and falling in love with the wrong person.” Dina reached out to be helped to her feet. “It went out of control a long time ago.” The book is about a young hacker of East-Indian and Arab extraction doing his best to foil the security state — and paying a price for it.…
3 CommentsWith a little help from my friends I’m just about done drafting the snitch book. Booklet, actually; looks like we’re succeeding in keeping it short. (It’s a miracle!) By the end of this week or early next, it’ll be ready to run past four or five reality checkers. (Hobbit and jw, I’ll be asking you soon; after the contributions you’ve already made, I ASS-U-ME you’ll say yes.) Right now we aren’t ready for proofreaders or copy-editors. That will come a little later. What we could really use at this stage are people with the voice of experience. We’ve got a…
5 CommentsAlif jerked his backpack over one shoulder. “I just feel like this whole thing is getting out of control.” “We’re living in a city run by an emir from one of the most inbred families on earth, where a few censors can throw someone in jail for writing things on the Internet and falling in love with the wrong person.” Dina reached out to be helped to her feet. “It went out of control a long time ago.” —– Alif the Unseen By G. Willow Wilson Grove Press, 2012 Alif (not a name, but a letter of the alphabet) is…
8 CommentsThe responses to yesterday’s post on Terry and the checkpoint goons — about evenly divided between “Good man, Terry!” and “He really didn’t win” (Or “Good man, Terry! But he really didn’t win”) got me thinking once again about the different styles among Freedom Outlaws. I suspect that this blog tends to attract a big share of Ghosts — people who’d rather quietly — but determinedly — go around Authoritah than confront it. But clearly there are plenty of Agitators hereabouts, also. I’m curious. Which type of Freedom Outlaw best fits you? Ghost? Agitator? Mole? Or Cockapoo? And what actions…
23 CommentsClick for Part II Three thousand four hundred and fifty-one days after being dragged out of his vehicle & arrested at an illegal roadblock conducted by Tohono O’odham tribal police (with the assistance of U.S. Customs agents and the U.S. Border Patrol), Terry Bressi settled his lawsuit. He received a $210,000 check. From the moment he filed his suit, he fought for exactly 3,087 days — all the while driving in the same area and becoming a target of enforcer rage. It wasn’t a complete victory. No individual officer paid a penalty. No principle of law was changed. Nevertheless, he…
15 CommentsDown the street in a dilapidated little house lives a somber, bedraggled boy. Call him Davy. He recently told me he’s 12 years old; I had figured nine or 10. The house, whose windows are covered with plastic and duct tape and are never opened, holds Davy, Davy’s fat, unprepossessing siblings, and Davy’s harried and vaguely slutty mother. No father of course. Davy has an air of refinement that doesn’t fit. My gut tells me that within a year or two he might be struggling with his sexual identity. But for now one of his biggest problems is that he…
43 CommentsDealing with some stuff right now. Having a chaotic and upsetting day (in part because of a dog rescue gone wrong and causing a neighborhood uproar). Should have a nice, content-heavy post soon, but for now, just so you’ll know I’m thinking of you … This is one of those gee-whiz-golly “security” inventions we can expect, and hope, never to hear about again. (Tip o’ hat to PT) Who really invented the Internet? How Batman lost his gun. From an anti-gunner’s (ugh) viewpoint. (Who knew that the Miller decision was “uncontroversial”?) Those cables that Wikileaks published and are now all…
11 CommentsJudge acquits Oregon man who stripped naked to protest TSA snoopery & gropery. (Tip o’ hat to PT) I always knew there was some reason I liked Lenovo. Aside from the fact that they make good computers, I mean. Wow. Just wow. Put yourself in this position: You inherit a multi-media work by a famous artist. However, because of the media used, the federal government forbids you to sell it. You’d go to prison if you did. So every appraiser says its value is $0. Ah, but not the IRS . They not only want millions in taxes, but the…
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