Archive for the Freedom / Liberty Category

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We Need Free Markets.  Oh, And Happy Fourth! (July 3, 2023)

Posted in Free Markets, Freedom / Liberty on July 3, 2023 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “We need free markets.”

J          “Agreed.  That is a need.”

. . .

K          “The federal government in the guise of the disguised ‘non-Federal’ Federal Reserve controls and directs almost every aspect of the economy and our daily lives more than any other command economy in history.  We need businesses to fail then to bail but not to be bailed out.”

J          “The very low interest rates until recently were a veiled daily bailout that insulated a company from the consequences of a normally functioning economy.  That is hard to miss, but it is missed.”   

. . . 

K      “The days of laissez-faire economics seem quaint and romantic.  And vaguely appealing.”

. . .

K          “That is a form of independence I would like to celebrate.”

J          “Me too.  We are not free until markets are free.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Is there something less fair about a dollop of laissez-faire in our lives?

Give freedom a chance, albeit not a big chance

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Juneteenth (June 19, 2023)

Posted in Freedom / Liberty, Slavery on June 19, 2023 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “We need to remember.”

J          “We cannot forget.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Humanity’s Motto: To Enslave And To Colonize (January 27, 2014).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

To Enslave And To Colonize.  Hey, it’s who we are.

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Truckers; Convoys; Politics; Race; Class; Religion; The American Effete And The PMC.  Oh, And Happy Valentine’s Day! (February 14, 2022)

Posted in Covid / Coronavirus, Freedom / Liberty, Vaccine on February 14, 2022 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “MAGA red.  Majority White.  Blue Collar.  And many waving the red, white and blue or flying them from their rigs.  Some Trump flags and signs.  Fewer “Let’s Go Brandon” banners.  Two or three miscreants carrying America’s homegrown swastika flag – the stars and bars.  Religious references and prayer.  Peaceful.  They stopped at stop lights and turned using turn signals.  They have been told what to do by dishonest and hypocritical forces too many times.  And in a world with so desperately few honest journalists, one must get out in the field and be one’s own journalist.”

J          “You don’t really fit in.”

K          “With Caucasian camo, a flannel shirt and dungarees, I was an almost invisible scrivener of people and events. I should be a platinum card-carrying member of the PMC, but the members of the PMC are furiously obedient and latently authoritarian. I really don’t fit in.”

. . .

K          “No one seems to get it.  What passes for the MSM is engaged in propaganda campaigns and concerted efforts to suppress any dissenting voices.  You can listen to the clip and hear what the spectators are saying and at the same time a microphone holder, albeit a pedestrian sports journalist covering an auto race, lies about it.  They say you should not believe your lyin’ eyes, but should you believe your lyin’ ears.”

J          “It is such a petty, puerile, and annoying phrase.  They are not fooling anyone.  Political discourse has become coarse and crass.”

. . .

K          “In September and October of 2011, the same attacks and aspersions were made during the Occupy movement.  Most of the Occupiers were white, middle class, politically left, disaffected, disconnected and agnostic.  And a few were willing to listen to advice on maintaining favorable optics while consuming Costco pumpkin pie seasonally-available at the time.  The key attribute they share with the truckers is the disdain of the American Effete.  The Democrats despise the “deplorables” and the Republicans deplore the “47 percenters” in the populace.”

J          “With the near total breakdown of manners and morals, the country is a jungle.  Whatever internal restraints and governors once may have existed are gone.  Even religion is not a reference.  There will be consequences.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Occupy America (October 10, 2011), Occupy America: The “Bonus March/Chicago Police Riot/Kent State” Of 2011? (October 17, 2011), An “Occupy Primer” (November 14, 2011), Civil War II.  Coming To A Country And City Near You (November 26, 2018) and From “Occupy” to “Occupation”:  Nine Year Later (September 14, 2020).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Upper Class Intellectual on board for the Convoy

Upper Class Intellectual for the Convoy on board

Occupy Ottawa

Keep on truckin’

When everyone is a racist and a terrorist, no one is a racist or a terrorist

“All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.”  George Orwell

We must destroy democracy to save it.  Justin Trudeau

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking:  What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family?  Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?  …  The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin’s thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt!  If … if … We didn’t love freedom enough.  And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation … We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.”  Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918 – 1956

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Oh, And Happy May Day And World Press Freedom Day! (May 3, 2021)

Posted in First Amendment, Freedom / Liberty, Newspapers, Press/Media on May 3, 2021 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Let us also proclaim it National Irony Days.  I cannot remember a time when there were more restrictions and road blocks by public and private entities on free speech.  The technology makes it so easy to throw a switch and disconnect a citizen.”

J          “Exercising your right of free speech if exercised to challenge those in power jeopardizes your personal freedom and threatens your life.  These actions are not just having a ‘chilling effect’ on free speech, they are ‘deep freezing’ free speech.”

. . .

K          “The threat to one’s life and the possibility of being suicided is very real and a clear and present danger.”

J          “And unreal.  Anyone raising a serious and fundamental challenge to the system knows that he or she risks his or her life, liberty, property and pursuit of happiness.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary on “Third Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2018 (April 9, 2018)”, “Alex J. / J. Assange And The First Amendment (August 13, 2018)” and “The Persecution Of Assange And The Feckless MSM (September 21, 2020)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Free the press

Antony Blinken Hypocrisy Award coming soon!

Low inventory!  This gear won’t last — Due to global supply chain issues we’re having trouble keeping gear in stock.

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Covid-19 PanICdemic/Plague:  Taking Stock (June 22, 2020)

Posted in Bankruptcy, Blue States / Red States, Book Reference, Covid / Coronavirus, Freedom / Liberty, Law, Medicine, Privacy, Public Health, Wall Street, War and Wall Street Party on June 22, 2020 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Taking stock of the stock market is the stock in trade of the Federal Reserve.  The only certainty throughout this Plague is the Federal Reserve doing everything possible to protect and serve Wall Street.”

J          “Those on every street in and out of uniform who are obliged to protect and serve have protected and served the interests of Wall Street not Main Street.”

. . .

K          “It has been a tough few weeks to be a statue.”

J          “Some had to be moved.  But in their uncontrolled and unfocused rage, they may topple a statue of Lincoln without knowing who he was or what he did, albeit with alloyed motives.”

. . .

K          “This is also a tough time to be a state in the Union.  The federal government can print money at will in unlimited amounts forever until the rest of the world unseats the United States as the purveyor of the world’s reserve currency.  The towns, cities, counties, boroughs, water authorities and other political subdivisions can always file bankruptcy.  But the states are stuck because they cannot print money and cannot deficit spend and cannot file bankruptcy.”

J          “And cannot pay their bills.  The federal government has an out, the other governments have an out and the state governments are left out.  It will soon manifest and not be pretty.” 

. . .

J          “My initial fear was that it appeared to be some variety of the Hantavirus which is far more virulent and infectious than Covid-19.”

K          “My continuing fear is that it is becoming more virulent and infectious.”

. . .

K          “I do not know what to make of “Event 201” in October 2019 with the powerful players playing war games and discussing the outbreak of a Coronavirus at the very same time that the Coronavirus was breaking out.”

J          “The exercise let everyone know that they had more than a clue that the Plague was coming, but they were absolutely clueless about what to do about it as it came.”

. . .

K          “The proper use of masks was obvious.  I joined the cover up immediately and was the first Occidental in my Costco to wear a mask way back in early February.”

J          “Make masks great again.  We have always known that fact despite what those in power said and misled.  However, based on recent findings, the concern with spreading by contact with paper, door handles and the like is still a concern but a less urgent one.”

. . .

J          “Faux libertarians say their right to swing their fists only ends an inch from my nose.  However, their swing is still a battery against me and my nose.  And their refusal to wear a mask and cover their nose and mouth hits me right in my nose and mouth.”

K          “They say it is the hit to the kisser that can be the kiss of death.”

. . .

K          “We are in the halcyon days of the Plague.  When do we enter the next stage?”

J          “That is what I fear.  That is what I don’t know.  I’ll simply go on record as prognosticating ‘Winter’ at this time.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “On Freedom and Liberty (May 24, 2010)” and “Who Is Your Big Bad Bogeyman? (March 26, 2007)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Make masks great again

“Every record has been destroyed or falsified, every book rewritten, every picture has been repainted, every statue and street building has been renamed, every date has been altered.  And the process is continuing day by day and minute by minute.  History has stopped.  Nothing exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right.”  George Orwell, 1984  Orwell’s “Party” = War and Wall Street Party?

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Turning Left.  The Other Right. (August 12, 2019)

Posted in Affirmative Action, Constitution, Drugs, Freedom / Liberty, Gay Politics, Gender, Sanders, Tea Party, Trumpi on August 12, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “They say the country’s growing tolerance for LGBT rights and increasing decriminalization of marijuana are signals that the country is turning to the left.”

J          “Or turning to the right.  The other left.  Tolerating those who reveal LGBT inclinations is fundamentally a conservative idea to respect individual choice even if the individual does not make the choice.  Decriminalizing marijuana respects the fundamental liberty interest of every citizen to be free of government direction and tyranny.”

K          “So the country is turning to the other left.”

J          “Right.  The other left is the right.  Many folks find it right to turn left to turn right.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “The Big Decision (December 13, 2010)”, “Less Government Regulation Series:  Love and Marriage (May 19, 2008)”, “Less Government Regulation Series:  Drugs (March 2, 2009)”, “A Second Party:  Trump or Sanders? (March 14, 2016)”, “Tea Party And Innocence Project Form ‘Liberty Alliance’ (September 9, 2013)”, “Constitutional Remedies With An Expiration Date? Affirmative Action and Marriage Neutrality. Again. (December 10, 2012)” and “On Freedom and Liberty (May 24, 2010)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Imagine using turn signals

So politics is a circle not a line or . . . a trapezoid with two parallel bases not a continuum?

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Senate Repeals Constitution.  Oh, And Happy Presidents’ Day! (February 18, 2019)

Posted in Congress, Courage, Democrats, First Amendment, Freedom / Liberty, Law, Law School, Republicans, Rule of Law on February 18, 2019 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “They cannot do that.  It’s treason.”

K          “Treason is not a good enough reason for them.  They did do it because they proclaimed themselves above the law and unbounded by the United States Constitution.  It’s the American political way.”

J          “They clearly violated their oath to support and defend the United States Constitution.”

K          “There is that.”

. . .

K          “In a grand irony, Senate Bill 1 purports to repeal United States Constitutional Amendment 1.”

J          “There is something surreal and unreal about it.  We need to generate public interest in moving America toward considering the adoption of the Rule of Law.  Like that is going to happen.”

. . .

K          “The Supreme Court already addressed the issue in an unanimous opinion in National Association for the Advancement of Colored People v. Claiborne Hardware Co., 458 U.S. 886 (1982), with Marshal obviously not participating and Rehnquist obviously only concurring.  The decision reaches the not surprising conclusion that the government cannot prohibit the peaceful advocacy and conduct of a politically motived boycott.  No one has even thought to question this established bedrock of Constitutional law.”

J          “Some of the senators actually have a flickering scintilla of integrity, except when it really counts and character is revealed.”

. . .

K          “Following the criminal indictment of each Senator and as a consequence, the law degrees of the lawyers among the pack also should be revoked.”

J          “Law schools do whatever advances their economic interests.  Bar associations do whatever advances their economic interests.  Some bar associations consider treason to be a reason to revoke a law license, but not all of them.  Placing graduates in the Senate is great for the law school’s financial bottom line.”

K          “Someone should tabulate a list of the law schools that spawned these critters.  Someone observed that American-trained lawyers are only concerned with whether they can get away with something, whereas European-trained lawyers are concerned with whether an action or decision comports with the law.”

. . .

K          “The judges who will be asked to review the treasonous repudiation of the Constitution are by-products of the same law schools that spawned the criminals and the criminality.”

J          “The feedback loop is bleak.  The prospects are terrifying.”

K          “Four Justices support the First Amendment and five Justices support the First Amendment when they like who the person is and what the person is saying.”

J          “Bleak and terrifying.”

. . .

K          “The vote provides much valuable . . . and free . . . insight and information.  Rubio along with Cruz, Graham, Klobuchar and Romney announced that they are unfit to be Senators and unqualified to be President.  Booker, Brown, Gillibrand, Harris, Hirono, Kaine, Sanders and Warren announced that they may be worth additional consideration for the top slot.”

. . .

K          “Yes, and Rand Paul who is the only Republican who voted to uphold the Constitution.  He is the only Republican qualified for the top slot.”

J          “Or fit for the Senate.  An entire political party less one is unconstitutional per se and all of its members less one should be impeached and indicted.”

K          “And half of the other political party is unconstitutional and those members should be impeached and indicted.”

. . .

[February 23 – No War on Venezuela Day]

[See the e-commentary at “At War With The First Amendment (February 27, 2012)”, “The Supreme Court On Drugs (June 25, 2007)” and the e-commentary under the Category “First Amendment”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Senate Bill 1 > United States Constitutional Amendment 1  United States Constitutional Amendment 1 > Senate Bill 1

Treason is treason.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”  Maya Angelou

“To know who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.”  Voltaire

A few years ago, the original vote card tallying the Senate vote on the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution that passed in 1964 was displayed at a National Archives exhibit.  For all time, there are check marks under “No” next to Ernest Gruening’s name and next to Wayne Morse’s name and under “Yes” is the name of every other Senator then in office. 

77 Senators Voted To Repeal The First Amendment / Constitution:  

Alexander (R-TN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Blunt (R-MO)
Boozman (R-AR)
Braun (R-IN)
Burr (R-NC)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Capito (R-WV)
Cardin (D-MD)
Casey (D-PA)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Collins (R-ME)
Coons (D-DE)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cramer (R-ND)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Daines (R-MT)
Duckworth (D-IL)
Enzi (R-WY)
Ernst (R-IA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Gardner (R-CO)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hassan (D-NH)
Hawley (R-MO)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Isakson (R-GA)
Johnson (R-WI)
Jones (D-AL)
Kennedy (R-LA)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Manchin (D-WV)
McConnell (R-KY)
McSally (R-AZ)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Moran (R-KS)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Perdue (R-GA)
Peters (D-MI)
Portman (R-OH)
Risch (R-ID)
Roberts (R-KS)
Romney (R-UT)
Rosen (D-NV)
Rounds (R-SD)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sasse (R-NE)
Schumer (D-NY)
Scott (R-FL)
Scott (R-SC)
Shelby (R-AL)
Sinema (D-AZ)
Smith (D-MN)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Tester (D-MT)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Toomey (R-PA)
Warner (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wicker (R-MS)
Wyden (D-OR)
Young (R-IN)

23 Senators Voted To Uphold The First Amendment / Constitution: 

Baldwin (D-WI)
Booker (D-NJ)
Brown (D-OH)
Carper (D-DE)
Durbin (D-IL)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Harris (D-CA)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Hirono (D-HI)
Kaine (D-VA)
Leahy (D-VT)
Markey (D-MA)
Merkley (D-OR)
Murphy (D-CT)
Paul (R-KY)
Reed (D-RI)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Udall (D-NM)
Van Hollen (D-MD)
Warren (D-MA)

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“Free” Speech At The “Free Speech Forum” (October 22, 2018)

Posted in First Amendment, Freedom / Liberty on October 22, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “They advertised the ‘Free Speech Forum’ as ‘a gathering open to everyone and anyone committed to free, open, unfettered and unbounded discussion of any and all topics and concerns’ and in the very fine print noted ‘(except topics and concerns that are too complex, painful or difficult to address as determined by the unfettered discretion of the Committee)’.”

J          “Calling it the ‘Forum After The Forum’ is intriguing and inviting.  I am intrigued; I feel invited.  ‘A gathering open to everyone and anyone committed to free, open, unfettered and unbounded discussion of any and all topics and concerns including but not limited to topics and concerns that are complex, painful and difficult to address’ sums it up.”

. . .

J          “There is no entry fee to the Forum, but there is a cost.”

. . .

K          “I hate to see folks doing to themselves what we try so hard to keep the government from doing to us.”

J          “You must make both gigs to find out what cannot be discussed and then to find out what must be discussed.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “NFL Protests:  Celebrating And Revering A Great American Tradition (September 25, 2017)”.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The Smith/Norman/Carlos tableau is a cross between the Statute of Liberty and the raising of the flag on Iwo Jima

If you want to know who controls you, consider those you are not allowed to criticize

Free Speech, why not?

Free Speech, what good does it really do if it is enslaved?

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Concerns, Troubling (July 9, 2018)

Posted in Civil Rights/Civil Liberties, Debt/Deficits, Freedom / Liberty, Money, Price, Society, Supreme Court on July 9, 2018 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Decreasing velocity of money.”

J          “Increasing inequality.”

K          “Inverting yield curves.”

J          “Perverting civil liberties.”

K          “Distending price-earnings ratios.”

J          “Exploding national deficit.”

K          “Imploding institutions.”

J          “Exploding personal debt.”

K          “Collapsing trust.”

J          “Decreasing freedoms.”

K          “Increasing prices.”

J          “Deflating credibility.”

K          “Disturbing climate patterns.”

J          “Destroying the [Supreme] Court.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Amtrak – The (Rail) Road to National Security (January 23, 2006)”, “Humanity’s Motto:  To Enslave And To Colonize (January 27, 2014)”, “Twenty Sixteen (January 4, 2016)” and “Prepping:  Public and Private Perspectives (April 27, 2015)”.]

Bumper sticker of the week:

A system that cannot go on forever will not go on forever

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A Second Party:  Trump or Sanders? (March 14, 2016)

Posted in Banks and Banking System, Democrats, Elections, Federal Courts, Freedom / Liberty, Republicans, Stock Market, Supreme Court, Tea Party, Voting, Wall Street, War, War and Wall Street Party on March 14, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J          “Do political ideas proceed along a line/continuum or around a circle?”

K          “The ACLU card-carrying citizen turns around and bumps into a ‘Who is John Galt?’ hat-wearing libertarian sporting an ‘Ayn Rand Paul’ button.  Each should wonder whether they have something in common.”

. . .

K          “Trump supporters yearn for someone who speaks his mind – right or wrong – rather than a politician who only lies and lies and lies and lies to them.”

J          “Can you blame them.  But it is still a message of hate and fear.  I can blame them.”

K          “Disturbing message and tone, I agree.  And then Sanders notes that socialism/crony capitalism has made the wealthy even wealthier and thus socialism without crony capitalism may offer some promise for the non-wealthy.”

J          “Two strains of populist messages at a strained time in the Republic.  Yet Trump’s authoritarian message is disturbing and threatening.  The message is no longer conveyed with dog whistles.”

. . .

J          “The two-ring circus to select the ‘D’ representative and the ‘R’ representative of the ‘War and Wall Street’ Party grinds forward.”

K          “Sanders is not the War candidate and not the Wall Street candidate, so he is doomed.”

J          “In the FIRE (‘Finance, Insurance, Real Estate’) World, Trump is more of a ‘Real Estate’ person than a Wall Street/‘Finance’ person, yet he is not interested in or even able to reign in the systematic criminal activities on Wall Street.  He is belligerent and he is bellicose, yet he does not fit in with the Neo-Cons who seek war everywhere all the time.”

K          “‘Belli’ means ‘war’.”

J          “Trump is mean and Trump means war on some groups.”

K          “So he is the Quasi-War and Quasi-Wall Street Party candidate.”

. . .

K          “The real war is over the Supreme Court.  In past years, the Democrats tended to appoint slightly less dishonest federal appellate and district court judges, although recent Democratic appointments are as dishonest as the Republican appointments.”

J          “They vitiated the last remaining tie breaker.  Now who do you vote for?”

. . .

J          “The Owners own Clinton, Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Romney and their ilk.  Sanders and Trump are speaking too freely.”

K          “Hillary Cruz, Ted Rubio, Marco Bush, Jeb Romney and Mittens Clinton.  No matter how you mix it up, it is all the same.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at Tea Party And Innocence Project Form ‘Liberty Alliance’ (September 9, 2013) and The “War and Wall [Street] Party” On The War Path (February 1, 2016).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Nihilism as a response to the deeply-entrenched Kleptocrary is not always irrational.

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