… Americans received word that the Japanese had surrendered. I don’t usually mark government anniversaries, especially military ones. But I received an email from a friend, a Marine whose family has been through multi-generational hell serving a country that … well, I’ll just let him tell it in his own words, without editing or embellishment. The man he honors is known as “LD, Jr.” some of you knew my Grandfather, most of you did not he was a ‘card’ – a little stumped up man of 5’4″ smoking his pipe he drove too fast, too close to people’s bumpers (maybe…
Category: Government
Government evils — but I repeat myself
Many hat tips today. To S, C^2 and Matt, another. Have you noticed that companies you deal with online increasingly force you to place symbols, capitals, and numbers in your passwords — under the illusion that their nannying guarantees a password stronger than any you could possibly invent for yourself? In its own inimitable style XKCD notes the folly of that. Another bank closes. But not for the usual post-crash reason. Nope. Just the usual governmental reason. “A right to be forgotten”? There’s an interesting concept. Could it really interfere with the right to free speech? More village self-defense. But…
Over the weekend — between Friday’s S&P downgrade and Monday’s 630-point oopsie on the Dow — I had a couple of conversations with world-watching friends. They went like this: FRIEND: Hang onto your carbine and check your dried lentils. Here it comes! ME: Yeah. Uh huh. Well. Maybe. “It,” of course, is the financial apocalypse. The long-fabled, eagerly dreaded financial apocalypse. The Big Event that’s finally going to implode the established systems and either a) allow freedom to arise phoenix-like from the ashes or b) bring about Zombie War III, from which only the hardest and most savage will ever…
“Three deputies equals one SWAT team.” A memory from reader ΛΕΟΝΙΔΑΣ (a former LEO) of a moment at the dawn of the “bad new days” of total militarization. Russian villagers defend their town. (Tip o’ hat to Matt, another.) A thorough history of “The Nixon Shock: How Nixon stopped backing the dollar with gold and changed global finance, a 40-year-old decision that still echoes in Greece, Ireland, and the U.S.” And a perfect example of how sloppily the most momentous decisions get made by Our Masters. AntiSec. Revenge of the nerds. Raising a fist to death in the Warsaw Ghetto.…
From wonderful radio host Brian Wilson comes the photo of the day: In case you’re city folk and can’t tell by the hose what that truck is actually for … oh well, you can guess. Hint: it ain’t milk. Woulda been even better had it said the “Bush-Obama” stimulus package. Or maybe even just “government.”
You know I’ve been trying to downplay the Bad Government News in favor of more positive freedom boosting. Every once in a while, though, some governmental savagery, idiocy, or abuse (but I repeat myself) must make its way here. One of those governmentisms is the woefully named FATCA, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act. One reason it’s turning up here is that it’s playing, or about to play, serious havoc on people who thought they were taking a huge step for freedom when they either moved offshore or set up offshore accounts to protect their resources. In short, FATCA is…
I haven’t considered this topic much worth writing about. All the “will they raise the debt ceiling or will the Apocalypse strike” nonsense of the last few weeks has just been political theater, signifying nothing. But Silver, who’s always good at casting light into the dark cracks of governmental chicanery nails it again.
A first-class rant from an ordinary small business person, Jim Garvin: Sad that he still feels a need to talk with the minions of Mordor at all. But I’ll bet you millions of folks who eventually listen to this will be cheering, “Yeah! What he said!” — starting with his very first question to His Betters: “Are all of you completely crazy???”
Radley Balko, who posts a lot of photos on his blog, has just posted the best two ever, bar none, no possible comparison: Cory Maye as a free man. How come Al Quaeda is always responsible, even when Al Quaeda isn’t responsible? “Playing to Your Strengths.” For some, this might be a no-brainer. But for others (e.g. who were forced or simply fell into their career paths), not so. Charles Hugh Smith is a wonderful thinker. He’s just come up with the best analysis of what the Euro really is and what the current goings on in European finances really…
Fred Reed nails it. As usual. This ties in nicely with my ongoing rants & is why I titled them for residents of the police state, not citizens of. Via Rational Review News.