Category: Government

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DHS may Not be our Friend

A New York Post article dated Feb 9, 2022 and another article in Law Enforcement Today talk about a DHS Bulletin describing the current heightened state of alert regarding threats to the nation.

There was a similar article yesterday in Breitbart. I’m not linking to that one. Some of these articles engaged in hyperbole suggesting that the DHS said If you question the Government you might be a terrorist. At least one article referred to Secretary Mayorkas press conference where he may have misstated or overstated the DHS Bulletin.

Titles like:

“We are all terror threats? DHS says “mistrust of US government” means you may be a terrorist“

While not incorrect, may lead a casual reader to incorrect conclusions.

The DHS Bulletin is uh, concerning, in one regard. I think it is worthy of noting the line that seems to have generated the attention.

“the proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions;”

To anyone raised in the 1960’s or 1970’s that line would raise eyebrows.

In those decades it was commonplace for the younger generation to apply the thinking, Question Everything, Don’t trust the MAN (meaning government), Trust no-one over 30.

These were turbulent decades. Mounting evidence that the American People had been lied to about many things peaked with the Watergate Scandal and President Nixon’s subsequent resignation.

For many, the revelations were heart breaking. Up to that time, it was sort of accepted as truth that our government was operating in the best interests of the people.

If someone in authority told a citizen to keep quiet about something in the interest of National Security, the citizen would do as asked. There was faith on the part of that citizen that they didn’t know all the facts, and that the Authorities knew the bigger picture and were in a position to invoke National Security interest. The citizen gladly did their patriotic duty.

After revelations about Agent Orange, Nixon’s resignation, revelations about DDT, scandals about vaccinations that went horribly wrong, government medical experimentation in Tuskegee, the unsafe effects of above and below ground nuclear weapons testing, and a long litany of scandals regarding Government Approved projects, our faith in government was, in my opinion broken.

As it turned out, those people asking questions, those who didn’t trust “The Man,” actually had a point.

These were the conspiracy “nut jobs” of the time. They had local meetings, and mimeographed, (if you don’t know that term, look it up. Acetone fumes in an enclosed space could get you high as a kite,) newsletters they passed out. The Information Age as we know it today didn’t exist. Agents from the FBI, CIA, NSA, or DIA were always infiltrating these conspiracy groups, just to keep an eye on them and learn what they knew.

You see us “Boomers” have heard statements like this before. What followed these statements often involved intimidation, threats, and arrests.

Senator Joe McCarthys famous line, “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party,” still echoed from 1954. The Hollywood black lists were still in full force in the ’60s and ’70s.

Involvement with some groups could get you labeled a “possible subversive” and that label could impact your employment options for years. It didn’t have to be true, all you needed was the label in a file that would show up on a background check. The FBI had files on anyone remotely associated with so called subversive organizations.

I once lived with a roommate who’d been involved with some three letter organization. For two solid years all of my mail was delivered opened and hastily stuffed back into the envelope.

It wasn’t until much later in my life that I found out I’d been carefully watched during those years as a possible security threat. This information came to me as part of an in-depth security check I’d agreed to for a particular employment situation.

That was the day, I wondered if I’d finally “Sold Out”, and was becoming “The Man”.

At the time I was well over 30 so I figured it was high time. The Job was a good one, the money was great, and I wasn’t building weapons.

Over the last 5 to 10 years I’ve concluded that in an ironic way, I’ve been building weapons for most of my career. The exception was during the time I worked for an actual defense contractor. The irony of that is also not lost on me.

The weapons I built weren’t conceived as weapons. They were mechanisms that were built with the altruistic goal of freeing information. I thought if information flowed freely that it couldn’t be controlled. The despots, elitists, and powerful couldn’t hide their misdeeds from the public as they’d done in the past.

I never imagined the way that such information flow and devices could be weaponized. I never imagined that anyone would want to monitor the communications of an entire nation. Although there was the example of the old USSR doing it. That should have been a “Spoiler Alert”.

I was laboring under the illusion that the American Government would never do it. I wanted to trust in the government once more. Then came the allegation that the Obama Administration was in fact monitoring cellphone communications and archiving virtually all of them, with the help of the NSA.

Shortly after, we found that your cellphone even without GPS, was trackable and that our Government had built software that could locate your phone in a given area, building a record of your daily movements, then putting those movements on a map.

Did the government need to know where you stopped for coffee every morning on the way to work? This was ostensibly to assist in fighting terrorism and dated back to the Patriot Act, signed into law by Bush. The very people and entities I was hoping to stop, took our good intentions, innocence, and idealism, and fashioned horrible weapons. Weapons not to be used in time of war against a common enemy, but weapons to be used against their own citizens.

Oppenheimer was right. We should not question if we can do a thing, but rather should we do a thing.

It’s been said that a modern cellphone with GPS is the NSA, CIA, and FBI’s, wet dream. Everyone carrying around a tracking device that can be tuned into easily and efficiently with a few strokes on a keyboard providing an individual’s location within a few meters is the stuff of Orwellian nightmares on its own. Add to that corporations willingness to censor contrary points of view, backed by calls from government officials to sanction such censorship is terrifying.

One could read…

“the proliferation of false or misleading narratives, which sow discord or undermine public trust in U.S. government institutions;”

… as a call for the Government to begin active censorship of all unapproved narrative. Coming as it does from the DHS, this chills me to the bone.

In that light, I ask when does the DHS rename itself “This Ministry of Truth”?

As a “Boomer,” admittedly I’m on the tail end of that designation, I’ve been astounded by the breathtaking compliance and lack of questioning on the part of the American People over the past two years.

If as the hyperbolic headlines suggest, those who question the government may be considered terrorists.

I ask, what the hell happened? How did the lessons of McCarthyism get forgotten? How did the lessons of the ’60s, ’70s, and even ’80s get memory holed? How is it possible, with information flowing freely and unrestricted, that we’re at this point?

Does this mean that now, in my 6th decade, I’m suddenly a seditionist, a terrorist, a criminal?

What would be my crimes?

Asking questions?
Thinking for myself?
Having a lifelong aversion to a government that I justifiably never fully trusted?
Speaking out against actions, I think unjust?
Calling out politicians or others that I think should answer the people, but who do not?

If these are crimes, then this blog site contains abundant evidence of my guilt. Should I put my affairs in order in anticipation of the knock on my door and eventual “Suicide” from a shot to the back of my head?

I doubt I’m worth a bullet to these people. After all I don’t have Joe Rogan’s following. No, they’ll break the door down at 4 am and seize all my electronics, they’ll try to silence me and others like me by denying us access to the information network.

The question is, would that silence us, or just radicalize us further?

I wonder how much an old manual typewriter and hand cranked mimeograph machine cost these days. Can you even buy Acetone anymore? I’d bet without checking, Acetone is on the list of controlled substances.

No matter, those of us of a certain age still remember our organic chemistry. Who knows? Maybe someone even remembers the recipe.

Truth and Freedom ring like a bell. A truth, spoken or read, resonates in individuals that encounter it.

That resonance spreads and builds to questions. Those questions demand answers and cannot be denied forever.

This seems to be the one thing that totalitarian states always forget.

Truth sets the innocent free, and damns the guilty.

Let’s hope that the DHS bulletin simply contains a poorly worded statement.

In the event that our government is moving in a totalitarian direction, it’s time for us all to speak out, demanding that our concerns are heard and acted upon.

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I’m enjoying Canadas Freedom Convoy

Honestly, I’m pretty sure that only Canada could have pulled this off without a ton of violence.

The Canadians, known for politeness and the way they interact with each other have shown us all what a protest is supposed to look like.

A big shout out and humble Thank You, to our neighbors to the North.

What mainstream coverage I’ve seen shows that even controlled media is having a tough time finding stuff to criticize.

(Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)

The non mainstream media has been a bit more “Man on the street” in Ottawa and the protestors have been multiethnic, multicultural, and generally say the same thing.

Their interviews speak of kindness, and sharing. Food, & Drink being offered freely. People enjoying each other.

One or two of those interviews have mentioned small outbreaks of rowdiness but that those outbreaks are being controlled well by the protestors themselves and the police.

The striking feature is the fact that Ottawa and Alberta are not in flames, there’s not a lot of trash, no dumpster fires, or broken windows.

Again, this is what a peaceful protest looks like.

As other countries now have similar protests, it looks as if the Canada model is being followed.

Be Kind, be peaceful, clean up after yourselves, keep the protest focused on the goal, don’t allow the protest to be derailed by stupid actions of a few.

The Canadians are also showing something that America’s founding fathers mentioned. I’m paraphrasing here, but it’s something to the effect that a Government who is afraid of the people is JUST. A government with no fear of the people will lead to tyranny.

Protesters playing street hockey (Photo by Dave Chan / AFP) (Photo by DAVE CHAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Justin Trudeau ran for the hills. He’s hiding in a spider hole somewhere and commenting on a few Nazi Flags.

A picture, I can’t find now, showed one of those flags had Trudeau’s name tacked directly under the Nazi flag.

That message is clear, the person carrying the flag was saying that They thought Trudeau was akin to a Nazi, not that the person carrying the flag supported any Nazi cause.

Now there are more signs being held up, These signs are calling for Canadian TV and the CBC to speak the truth about the protest. They’re calling out both organizations for spreading lies about the protest and its nature.

I’m sure that there are some people in Ottawa that have been greatly inconvenienced by the protests. Especially the functionaries of the Canadian government. You know, those people who are highly paid and can afford to live in apartments in Ottawa near the government buildings where they work.

But the fact that average people are reportedly dropping off food, water, and fuel, would suggest that non-governmental Canadians are supportive of the protest.

This appears to be proven by the mayor of Ottawa commanding the police to seize fuel and propane.

The mayor has also shown his true dictatorial colors by issuing edicts saying that anyone caught helping the protestors will be fined or otherwise punished.

Historically, we’ve seen this before. It happened in a little place called Germany when some people said, “No” to the extermination of Jews, Gypsies, and anyone who spoke out against the Nazi party.

We also saw similar laws enacted by the Democrats in the American South when they said anyone helping a runaway slave would be punished severely. Lincoln enacted one of his most brutal executive orders in response.

The Canadian protestors are now demanding that Trudeau face them. They’re demanding that he make his false statements about them being racist to their faces.

New Zealand’s parliament is today facing a trucker protest too.

The Prime Minister of New Zealand has been quoted as saying she’s too busy to address the protestors standing before her demanding to be heard.

Sounds a lot like the government of the United States just before January 6th… I still believe that if Congress and the Judiciary had been brave and honest enough to actually speak with the people things would have gone a lot differently.

Then again I’m naive, I believe that leaders of a country who are doing a good job, or who are willing to explain and justify legally why they’re doing something unpopular, shouldn’t fear being among the people they govern.

Yet again and again, we see “Leaders” making sure that they have walls, barriers, guns, guards, and snipers in place before they make any public appearance.

These same “Leaders” scurry like cockroaches in their tunnels, basements, and high security areas never seeing the light of day or witnessing the suffering their laws, mandates, and actions cause.

Inevitably they are surprised to discover that they are universally hated when they must appear before the great unwashed masses.

In case the video won’t play in your browser, here is a link to a woman calling Trudeau a traitor to his face. https://youtu.be/n3GoGGv8OR4

I saw this a few days ago and almost choked to death on my coffee. All I could think was, “You GO Girl!”

I’d love to see something like that happen with Biden, Harris, or Pelosi. I think it would be very educational and would rip off the mask of “affected civility” our government officials hide behind.

How would the American People react to a Mother or GrandMother being hauled off and shoved in a “black site” the way the Jan 6th protestors have been?

You know, the 700+ people our FBI and DOJ have effectively “disappeared”. The only reason that this particular injustice has been allowed to stand is that it’s being done in silence. These people have no voice, their stories are, in general being censored. Their families silenced by fear of retaliation.

This alone is enough to make me question how far off the rails our government has fallen.

The American government is searching for organizations that are radicalizing people, I’m sure the Canadian government is doing the same. To them I say this;

“Look in the mirror!”

I’m not affiliated with any anti government group. I’m an old man and I’m ready to grab my pitchfork!

I’d tell the Canadian Truckers, when the police have taken your fuel, just before your rig can’t move… Block all the streets and bridges then disable the electrical system. It should be good fun watching the police trying to get big rig tow trucks on site to move your trucks. The odds are good, a lot of the tow truck drivers will roll in, park their rigs and do the same.

I’d also suggest that all trucks in Canada and America pull off the roads (or not) and refuse to move an inch until our respective governments listen to the grievances of their people.

Yep, a lot of people will be inconvenienced, the liberals will scream bloody murder when they can’t get their $6 lattes. Grocery store shelves, and gas stations will be empty. There will be a lot of people that get really mad at the truckers, but all eyes will eventually turn toward our ineffectual governments and demand answers.

Our brothers and sisters in Canada have shown us a path that is non-violent and effective.

It is now up to the rest of the free people of the world to take that path.

The alternative is pitchforks and torches, or worse, and too terrible to contemplate.

Thank you Canada!

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As I attempt to focus on the positive…

Joe Biden’s Presidency has a redeeming side.

I’m learning about dementia.

I have aging parents. They’re not showing dementia symptoms but to be honest, I really hadn’t considered it as a possibly.

Watching Biden, I’m getting to see first hand what this looks like and how debilitating it is.

I learned a new term today regarding dementia. “Sundowning.” Apparently it’s quite common. As someone with dementia progresses through the day, they experience cognitive decline.

I’d argue that we all experience some decline as the day wears on. I guess with dementia patients it’s much more pronounced.

So I’m thankful for Joe. I’ll perhaps be more understanding and patient when or if my parents develop this condition.

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SCOTUS Ruling

It’s interesting to me that the SCOTUS ruled against the OSHA Vaccine Mandate but upheld the CMS version.

From what I’ve read thus far, members of the court had concerns about the vague language used in the OSHA version. In the CMS version, it appears they upheld it based on who was providing the money. CMS appears mostly Medicare related and therefore is using public funds.

There’s a lot more to read and I’m waiting for text of the actual ruling.

I suspect that the vague language issue leaves open the possibility for the Biden Administration to tighten up the language and the try to re-implement the OSHA rule.

I also find myself wondering if the SCOTUS ruling opens an entirely different can of worms.

What about those employees who did not want to get the vaccination but who felt the had no choice. Do they now have legal standing to sue their employers? Can they invoke the Nuremberg Code and demand compensation? Will they be able to sue the Biden Administration?

They, by definition were being coerced/threatened into accepting a medical procedure against their will. That’s a pretty clear violation of Nuremberg.

There will be some slimy lawyer that says they don’t have a case because they could submit to weekly testing, wear a mask, maintain social distance, etc. That is more or less true although some companies were saying everyone had to be vaccinated because it was too much work to keep track of testing schedules and results.

It should be interesting to see how that plays out.

I’m waiting to see the rulings before rushing to judgement. However many of the initial news pieces don’t mention any constitutional infringement that the court was concerned about. That concerns me.

If the SCOTUS found nothing constitutionally wrong with the OSHA mandate, then we can be sure that a revised mandate will rear its ugly head once more. I worry that without a constitutional “Stake” to the heart this OSHA mandate will rise from the grave and introduce more chaos into the job market. Companies don’t want to hire if they’re unable to predict which way the wind is blowing.

Year One of Biden has been a study in unintended consequences.

It’s funny. I just realized I’ve seen this before.

I’ve worked for companies that while owned by the founder were profitable and produced good reliable products. Typically, the founder has a clear vision of what products are needed and sticks to that vision. A lot of the founders I’ve known were essentially good folks, but they tended to be plain spoken, to the point of being “mean”. They weren’t mean, they simply had little time or concern for hurt feelings.

I’ve observed what happens to a company when they go public and suddenly you’ve got a board of directors, a bunch of executives given their positions by the board regardless of qualifications, and a bunch of legal red tape designed to protect the investors.

What seems to happen is the company loses focus. You start having “design by committee,” instead of a clear vision of the products. There’s usually a substantial loss of quality and often the executives will take one successful product and modify it iteratively, bolting on a new button or changing the color. They’ll call it “new” and improved. But it’s the same machine or software just with different lipstick.

It’s not uncommon for the founder to quietly bail and then there’s a lot of churn in the executive wing. For employees that’ve been through this process once, they also start looking for the exits.

I’ve been in companies where the new management is so unfamiliar with product or the company that they start hemorrhaging money on things that don’t add value to the actual work being done on the product. (Custom woven carpets for premium office space in an Irvine high-rise come to mind.)

As the company goes further into the red more committees get formed to investigate why the company is showing a loss. The management starts flogging the employees and demanding longer hours, restricting vacations, and of course cheapening the medical plan for the employees. But the executive wing is still getting raises, going on vacations, and getting bonuses. They also have awesome medical coverage.

There’s a point where the brain drain from employees bailing to greener pastures reaches a tipping point. That’s when a high level “Cleaner” executive comes in. This person’s job is to ready the company for immediate sale. The company itself will be shut down and all the patents and intellectual property will be sold to competitors.

Think of it as organ harvesting in the corporate world. It happens all the time! If I was a betting man, Now that Jack Dorsey is out of Twitter, and Jeff Bezos is out of Amazon… We might see either or both cannibalized over the next 10 years. I’d bet that Twitter will go first.

The Biden Administration reminds me a lot of the corporate process. There’s a lack of focus. The administration is trying to address too many pet issues and not considering the consequences. Many of the issues are low level, but because they’re being treated with equal weight to every other issue, nothing is being done well.

Unfortunately, we’re all going to have to suffer through it. It is my sincere hope that America will learn the bitter lesson this time around and choose better candidates for the 2024 Presidential election.

I’m not holding my breath but I have a smidgen of hope nonetheless.

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Another missed opportunity…

Joe Biden took office and said he was about unity.

Kamala Harris echoed that sentiment.

Today on the anniversary of the Jan 6th riot, both missed another opportunity to instill unity.

I’not not a fan of either Biden or Harris. Nonetheless, they are the President and Vice President.

I’m a big fan of our country regardless of who occupies the oval office.

I think the entire world realizes that Biden is fading out. It’s sad that Biden is being forced to expose his decline to the whole world.

He should be at his home, his dogs at his side, with his comfortable slippers on. The rigors of the Presidency are too much for him at his age. The man deserves some peace, let him enjoy photo albums and home movies of the happier times in his life.

That’s the nature of coming to the end of your life. A person should be allowed to put down their burdens and enjoy their time left in the garden appreciating the little things. That’s how I’d like to go out anyway.

President Biden continued banging the drum against former President Trump. That’s his right, but in the end, most of his words are just words. I think few people take them seriously.

After 6 years of Trump bashing from the Democratic Party and media, is anyone listening anymore? It’s all become the same old song. How many of us hear Trump did… and think, “There they go again should I bother to listen, or tune them out like a bad commercial on TV?”

It’s become just like the whole “Birther” bullshit about Obama.

Even if someone had produced “The Smoking Gun” proving that Obama was not born in this country after the first year, what would have been done? If we were a young and vibrant country he’d have been impeached, the VP would have become President and we’d have proven that our system and laws work.

But we’re not a young and vibrant country. We’re more like Grandpa who’s clearly lost driving to the grocery store but who can’t bring himself to admit it then ask for directions.

I think we’re in the same position with the 2020 election. It’s completely pointless to keep banging the drum about a stolen election. Even if all the irregularities Trump claims happened were to prove true, what then?

I can’t even imagine all the chaos surrounding the removal of Biden / Harris and their administration. Just imagine what that would look like after a year.

Pelosi as The President Pro temp, while the Supreme Court scrambled to undo executive orders, rolling things back to Trump? I can’t even imagine the constitutional complexities of installing Trump at this point. I don’t believe there’s any precedent for such a thing and what do you do with the fact that The Presidential term is four years? How do you resolve that disparity?

The economy and in fact the nation probably couldn’t take the strain. God only knows what the Nation would look like after everything was said and done.

We’ve got to come together, work through the problems and do better in the next election cycle.

Therein is the missed opportunity.

Kamala Harris’s speech where she spoke of dates that live in our collected memories was not incorrect.

There are dates that live in our national memory. April 19, 1775, April 12, 1861, Dec 7, 1941, and Sept 11, 2001 do have significance.

I disagree with her that the Jan 6th riot is on par with those particular dates. (I added the start of the revolutionary and civil wars.) I think her speech writers attempt to conflate a riot with actual wars is disingenuous. I also think that it adds fuel to the fire and does a dis-service to Vice President Harris.

The left media is nodding their approval and parroting the same talking points about a riot being an insurrection. The right media is using the conflation as a bludgeon.

Were I one of her speech writers I’d have suggested that The Vice President take the opportunity to attempt to unify the nation.

My thinking is along these lines. Instead of conflating the Jan 6th riot with attacks on the United States from without as was done. I’d have gone with Vietnam Protests, and The Watts Riots, the Civil rights movement, and even the BLM Protests.

Bear with me here. I know there are a lot of people who’re clenching their jaws and thinking, “fuck you!” I ask that you be patient.

The reason I’d have gone this particular direction is because the Vice President could have at that point said that these events were example of American citizens acting out because they believed their government wasn’t listening.

In the cases cited above, the leadership in Washington had to listen. These events caused change. While initially the government resisted the change, eventually the leadership conceded to the will of the people. We got out of Vietnam, the Civil rights movement saw the disparity addressed, imperfectly, but at least disparity wasn’t being ignored anymore. BLM has brought attention to abusive policing.

Vice President Harris could have used this opportunity to reach out to the people who apparently felt so disenfranchised that they stormed the capital, to express their displeasure. Her message could have been, “We’re listening, your leaders have heard you.”

The Vice President would at that point have been in a position to begin at least binding the wounds. To begin that unification promised on inauguration day. She’d have reaffirmed that the first amendment was alive and well, and that she as a leader, (We know she’s going to be President,) would honor the clause in the First Amendment regarding the citizens seeking redress of their grievances.

Whether she actually meant it or not is irrelevant. Every single politician will lie to their own mother to retain office.

She would have appeared for a moment as a moderate, competent leader and it would have played well with large swaths of Americans. She’d also have added fuel to the scattered reports that she and President Biden don’t see eye to eye. That would probably have played even better for her polling, since it’s been said that The President is restraining her, limiting her effectiveness, and cutting her out of governing processes.

I don’t know if I’d have believed her any more than I do normally.

I do believe she missed an opportunity to put a lovely banana peel under President Biden and it would have smoothed her inevitable transition into the Presidency.

In any case, I for one am tired of the divisive rhetoric and hyperbole coming from both sides of our leadership and press.

I don’t care if Trump was elected. I don’t care if Biden was elected. I do care that we put a stop to the claims after every election that come from the losers. This bullshit has been going on since Gore and the hanging chads.

There’s always a BIG LIE! The only difference is who’s telling it.

Both major parties have participated in election disputes for decades it’s not strictly one side or the other. That fact should be remembered as well.

Don’t we as a nation have the right, or the will, to put an end to this chaos? Don’t we have the right to be secure in the knowledge that the elected officials are really the choice of the majority of the people? We don’t have to agree with, or like the officials. We should however be able to move on with our lives within a month after an election and turn our attention to other matters of importance.

Think how difficult it must be for leaders of other nations to deal with this chaos. They can’t in good faith negotiate with a President that may at any moment be found to be illegitimate or impeached for the 20th time. I’d submit that it is the duty of the United States to clean up our voting issues for the benefit of, not only ourselves, but the world.

Alas, all administrations for the past 30 years or so have gotten lazy and in the habit of blaming the other guy for the problems in front of them.

It doesn’t matter, New Mr President, who actually spilled the milk. You’re the one standing over it, so go get a mop!