In the years just before the American movement for separation from Great Britain (it was not a “revolution,” properly speaking, as the American separatists had no desire to transform the government of Great Britain; they merely wished to be free of it) there was something called the committees of correspondence.
They were the 18th century equivalent of non-“authoritative” (i.e., official/corporate-government propaganda) Internet sites, such as the one you’re reading right now. A means by which people could share information – especially heretical information – among themselves, sidestepping the “authoritative” pabulum.
They spread more than information, too. They also spread hope, almost as important as the information itself. The people reading and back-and-forthing realized they were not alone. That others – intelligent, thoughtful people – shared their views.
The importance of this cannot be overstated.
They powers arrayed then – as now – count on isolation to demoralize the opposition. It is not mere coincidence that “social distancing” accompanies the tyrannizing of Americans today. People can’t easily communicate when they have to shout because they’re forced to stand no closer than six feet from the people they’re trying to talk with – and aren’t permitted to gather in groups.
Even their commerce must be conducted remotely – via “apps” and such. They wait curbside for a Fear Masker to hurriedly push the (sanitized) bag through the window.
And, of course, it is very hard to communicate ideas – and facts – contrary to all of this when the public discourse is subject to the approval (and redaction) of “authoritative” Lictors of the Allowable.
It is not coincidental that Fear Masking rises – even as the cold-equals-death narrative has become as transparently ridiculous as the “weapons of mass destruction” narrative – because millions of Americans are being programmed – the word has dual meaning – by their TeeVees and the other “authoritative” sources of orthodoxy. It is just as important – from the standpoint of the people behind the programming – to terrify people as to isolate them.
In the years preceding the outbreak of physical resistance to the British government, the government of Great Britain did the same. It warned the people of the American colonies that without the protection of the redcoats, they would be at the mercy of savage indians and rampaging French – the Coronavirus equivalents of the 18th century.
The fear, of course, was much greater than the threat – then as now.
But the good news- and we need it – is that we have even more effective means of discussing this truth among ourselves and spreading the truth to others, who join our side every day the “authoritative” elaboration of falsehood continues. It is critically important – psychologically – to understand that.
The Lictors of the Allowable will do all they can to prevent us knowing that.
They desperately need us to believe we’re doomed and alone – or small in number. That the battle is already over – and they have won it.
Not so! Do not believe this, ever.
Lenin and Hitler did not believe it. And while those men were evil beyond articulation, that doesn’t mean one can’t learn some valuable lessons from them. Both started out almost alone, with literally a handful of people on their side. They were regarded – derided – as fools, crazy and worse.
Both never gave up – even at the bleakest, most depressing and hopeless seeming moment. Their refusal to accept defeat is why they changed the world.
And so can we – for better.
In part because we have better means. We have committees of correspondence beyond the imaginings of the men of the 18th century, who had to mail copies of their correspondence to each correspondent. It generally took days if not weeks to correspond.
One way.
And then again, the other way.
The correspondence was also greatly limited by who could access it. A letter had to be mailed to someone whose name was known to the writer; you could only attend a meeting if invited. Most Americans of that time had no idea there was correspondence – although this changed as the correspondents grew in number and boldness and began to publish public correspondence, in the form of leaflets and pamphlets, the most famous of these being Thomas Paine’s explosive – because devastating in its dissection of the illegitimacy of royal rule – little book, Common Sense.
I have long admired Paine – even more so than Jefferson – because Paine was a better writer and had more backbone. Jefferson talked about Paine’s ideas – but often fell short of them (especially as regards slavery).
Paine also never compromised his principles – even if it meant jail. Even if meant death. Which he came within a hair’s breadth of, in France, for having annoyed the “authoritative” creatures who controlled the guillotine in post-revolutionary France.
Which brings up correspondence I’ve received from a reader urging me to compromise, with regard to Fear Masking, which I print here – along with my reply, which follows:
I’ve studied some of your writings over the years. You are quite talented and a man of principle. I can’t say that of most people these days. That being the case, we can’t afford to lose people like you. Ask yourself this: What might have happened, if we had lost Thomas Paine or Jefferson to an early conflict with the British? It might well have changed the course of history. In an age of information overload, people who can reach others though the power of words alone are more valuable than the slick graphics and cut and paste talking heads ever will be. . .
My reply:
Thank you for the kind words, first of all. I’m honored to be mentioned in such company. Paine (even more so than Jefferson) is a man I’ve admired since I was a teenager in part because of the brilliance of his style but also because of his moral courage. His refusal to compromise. I respect that.
And I’d lose respect for myself if I ever don a Fear Mask. Thus, I will not. If it means they Hut! Hut! Hut! me, so be it. I regard the Fear Mask as the Rubicon of our times – or the Lexington and Concord of our times. If this line is crossed – if we do not resist, now – then there will be no resistance when “authoritative voices” demand we submit to being vaccinated or denied the right to live (via denial of the right to engage in commerce, to leave our homes).
Understand that we are already at war.
It is not always necessary for shots to be fired for a people to be subjugated. Are we not in the process of subjugation? To deny this is to deny reality.
Which is why I will fight – by refusing to wear a Fear Mask.
Because I am not afraid of catching a cold.
Because I know I am not sick and refuse to pretend I am for the sake of the anxieties of neurotics and because I understand that submitting to this is submitting in advance to everything that will come. That if we submit, there will be more demands for submission to even more loathsome things.
To endless things.
These are the times that try men’s souls. If you’re not willing to risk the consequences of refusing to wear a Fear Mask – to not play your part in Sickness Kabuki – because you’re worried you might not be able to go shopping or because you might get a fine or even arrested, then by god what will you do when worse comes along and the populace, by dint of already accepting the former now demands your submission to the latter?
Blood spilling can be avoided – if we resist, now.
We have a moment, right now, to put a stop to all of this. If we have the heart. And in the strength of the knowledge that we are not alone.
And that we can win.
That we must win.
. . .
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The conclusion of the Russell Blaylock M.D. article states the following:
“It is evident from this review that there is insufficient evidence that wearing a mask of any kind can have a significant impact in preventing the spread of this virus. The fact that this virus is a relatively benign infection for the vast majority of the population and that most of the at-risk group also survive, from an infectious disease and epidemiological standpoint, by letting the virus spread through the healthier population we will reach a herd immunity level rather quickly that will end this pandemic quickly and prevent a return next winter.”
1. If you wanted to prevent the population from gaining herd immunity, which would further support the need and desire for a vaccine, what would be the best way to do that? Answer:Keep the young and healthy people at home and sequestered from each other.
2. If you were successful at preventing people from developing natural immunity by keeping all the healthy and young low-risk people apart from one another and thus wanted to increase the chances for a second wave of the virus in a few months, how could you increase the chances of those people becoming infected and ensuring a second wave once they are released from quarantine and begin mingling? Answer: Suppress their immune systems with fear, loss of income, lack of exercise and sunshine and face masks whenever going away from home.
Wow, what a genius gov, … it’s been months after the initial fear started, there’s no numbers no matter how hard they try to fake them, states are “reopening”, everyone is getting furious… so he decides NOW is the time to mandate masks? LOLOL what an idiot. TOO LATE.
Sorry about confusion… I’m responding to the VA thing.
Hey Eric:
Keep in mind I think it is STILL a felony in Virginia to appear in public with a mask.
Has that law been repealed? I don’t think so.
One arrested during Richmond gun rights rally for wearing a mask
https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/virginia/one-arrested-during-richmond-gun-rights-rally/291-bee0e90e-cc68-4d56-954d-2b5cd08bf54c
RICHMOND, Va. 20 Jan 2020 — Out of the 22,000 people who attended the “Lobby Day” gun rights rally in Richmond, one person was arrested.
The Virginia Capitol posted on Facebook claiming 21-year-old Mikaela E. Beschler was arrested around 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
She was charged with one felony count of wearing a mask in public in the 800 block of East Broad Street.
Anti Fed, the Law is what ever the War Lords say that it is. When they say that it is. Didn’t you get the memo? ^^
Not from any of my eight “bosses”. Have to get back to doing my weekly TPS report.
Not too far from the truth BJ:
§ 18.2-422. Prohibition of wearing of masks in certain places; exceptions.
It shall be unlawful for any person over 16 years of age to, with the intent to conceal his identity, wear any mask, hood or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place, or upon any private property in this Commonwealth without first having obtained from the owner or tenant thereof consent to do so in writing. However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons (i) wearing traditional holiday costumes; (ii) engaged in professions, trades, employment or other activities and wearing protective masks which are deemed necessary for the physical safety of the wearer or other persons; (iii) engaged in any bona fide theatrical production or masquerade ball; or (iv) wearing a mask, hood or other device for bona fide medical reasons upon (a) the advice of a licensed physician or osteopath and carrying on his person an affidavit from the physician or osteopath specifying the medical necessity for wearing the device and the date on which the wearing of the device will no longer be necessary and providing a brief description of the device, or (b) the declaration of a disaster or state of emergency by the Governor in response to a public health emergency where the emergency declaration expressly waives this section, defines the mask appropriate for the emergency, and provides for the duration of the waiver. The violation of any provisions of this section is a Class 6 felony.
Code 1950, §§ 18.1-364, 18.1-367; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1986, c. 19; 2010, cc. 262, 420; 2014, c. 167.
Hey Eric:
Keep in mind I think it is STILL a felony in Virginia to appear in public with a mask.
Has that law been repealed? I don’t think so.
[B]One arrested during Richmond gun rights rally for wearing a mask[/B]
https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/virginia/one-arrested-during-richmond-gun-rights-rally/291-bee0e90e-cc68-4d56-954d-2b5cd08bf54c
RICHMOND, Va. 20 Jan 2020 — Out of the 22,000 people who attended the “Lobby Day” gun rights rally in Richmond, one person was arrested.
The Virginia Capitol posted on Facebook claiming 21-year-old Mikaela E. Beschler was arrested around 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
She was charged with one felony count of wearing a mask in public in the 800 block of East Broad Street.
[B]Gov. Northam announces statewide mask mandate to begin Friday[/B]
[url]https://www.nbc12.com/2020/05/26/gov-northam-announces-statewide-mask-mandate-begin-friday/[/url]
By NBC12 Newsroom | May 23, 2020 at 5:46 PM EDT – Updated May 26 at 5:44 PM
RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) – Governor Ralph Northam announced a statewide mask mandate during his press conference Tuesday afternoon that will begin Friday.
The mandate will require anyone in an indoor public space to wear a face mask.
Gov Blackface Mandates Masks in all Virginia public places today.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/05/26/virginia-makes-wearing-masks-mandatory-in-public/
Hi AF -everyone –
If I disappear, it’s because I will not abide by this. If accosted, they will have to physically put me down. I will not wear a Fear Mask. That’s it. I’ve drawn my line – and the Coonman’s sign language twiddler can convey that to the deaf.
I agree and it will come down the same to me.
Keep us posted as best you can.
I will happily donate to bail if needed.
Godspeed brother.
Perhaps we need to start a GoFundme for your bail? Only half joking…
Eric. who do we contact if you are disappeared? Do you have a good friend? That can let us know. I think you get a lot of exposure. Not sure that PTB’s like that.
Hi Ugg,
I’ve got a couple of backstops. People who will at least take care of my cats if I am disappeared. I am hoping it doesn’t come to that but I just won’t live like this… forced to wear a Fear Mask… then forced to be vaccinated and tracked. It’s a bridge too far for me. Your mileage may vary!
Hi BJ,
What I’d like is to organize resistance – by refusal. To get large numbers of people together to Just Say No. No to Fear Masking. Yes to living our lives again – as normal people, not fear-riddled freaks. Anyone have any ideas? I’m a writer, not an organizer.
But I’m more than ready to do anything I can to get this going.
Eric, the problem is, those large numbers of people don’t exist- else things would never have gotten this far. Sadly, we’d have better luck finding large numbers of people who would demand that the state take more of liberties in order to “keep them safe”. (Yeah, how’s that working out for them? Are they safe enough yet?)
And what little protest there is, isn’t given press in the MSM- or is outright misrepresented or portrayed as subversive and dangerous, so the only way to even find the few who might support our cause, is the old-fashioned one-person-at-a-time way. (In Frankfort the other day, they burnt our Democrap fraud of a governor in effigy- did you hear of it on the TV?)
As I’ve long said, it’s not just Uncle who is our enemy- but it is most of the people around us- the slaves who would run and tell massa if they saw us going over the fence- and the corporations, etc.
We are living in a deluded, controlled, brainwashed and subverted society; we are just the few who for what ever reason have managed to escape the influences all around us.
We are the smallest minority. Members of The Church Of The Flying Spaghetti Monster outnumber us….seriously.
Even among our own here in your comment section, we’d only manage to scrape up a few souls who’d stand with us.
You’ve got that right, Nunz. The following is more like what large numbers of brainwashed people will rise up and do to those who dare to see that the emperor has no clothes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6UHtBpVFqk
Damn, Jason! That’s scary- even though I’d expect as much- ‘specially from Nu Yawkers! They’re even quoting the Three Stooges! “Spread out!” -If only the Stooges were still alive, they could be made the Czars of Coronavirus!
I’ve been thinking lately: Imagine if I hadn’t left NY, what my life would be like now? I’d have to off myself! Thankfully, not only have I avoided all of that by moving, but the intervening 19 years have been a joy…whereas if I had stayed in that cesspool, they would have been miserable ulcer-producing life-sucking wastes of time.
Glad you made it out too!
Oh, and funny too that it would be a Shoprite in the vid! I HATED what Shoprite had become, before I left. Years ago, there were some old Shoprites on Long Island- I used to frequent one in Bohemia- and it was the best grocery store ever! My mother and sister and I still to this day reminisce about how great it was, and what good stuff we used to get there.
Then they closed all of the old Shoprites in the 90’s, and opened new-style ones….which were completely different. I remember getting all excited when one was slated to open not far from where I lived- until I actually shopped there. Turned from love to hate, instantly!
The proles there seem to be on a feeding frenzy, ready to pounce on whoever the Inner Party deems an unperson (such as no-maskers). Very scary. Of course New Yawwwwk has really turned into a cesspool compared to what it was when I was there in the 1950s and 1960s.
I am surprised that another city that seems to have turned to shit is Toronto. I had visited there around 50 years ago and was impressed with what a clean, quiet, civilized place it was. One of the TV shows that the wife likes to watch is “Kim’s Convenience”, a recent comedy about a family of Chinamen who run a convenience store in Toronto. Street scenes show that Toronto has now become a hip-hop blaring, graffiti-encrusted hellhole. Yikes!
T’is the nature of cities, Jason- they foster collectivism and liberalism…so those things and their effects manifest themselves there first.
Hell, it’s to the point where virtually every city is like NY and Toronto now. San Fagcisco used to be known for it’s cleanliness and beauty- a jewel of the world. NOWE look at it! Savages crapping on the streets and the most rabid non-human genderless lumps of flesh giving out needles, drugs and free sex-change surgeries while punishing anyone who might qualify as a productive human being with an identifiable gender!
And it’s starting to spread to the smaller cities and towns now……
What that mask video really drove home, was how powerful propaganda and media are. That virtually overnight they have convinced masses of people to so fear the flu; that a mask will save them from certain death, and that people who don’t play along are now somehow the scum of the earth to be shunned and scorned and abused.
A few months ago, this would have been unimaginable. But now look at these hyenas! There thoughts and actions are completely controlled by a force of which they are not even aware; they see themselves as prudent and educated…… Yikes!
Organization/organizing, at scale is bogey forte. (Also its weakness.)
But it’ll never be an anti-bogey strength, will always be fatal weakness, in fact, to flatter bogey by emulation, to act out the training bogey has still managed to instill into not quite anti-bogey enough, & so receptive, nervous systems.
“Armoring up” via congregation – a meat suit meat overcoat – is nothing so much as accepting invitation to the BBQ.
The BYOself-to-be-bbq’d-bbq.
Is why walking about as a throwed down gauntlet, is a poor plan.
Best counterpunching improviser in the world is no match for bogey’s redundant layers upon layers upon layers of organized bbq sauce moppers.
If you’re going to push it, it’s a waste of good meat to push it spur of the moment.
And the only way to organize what you’d like to see organized is by example.
Not by organizing examples.
The organization you’d like to see needs be an emergent property of unorganized (at scale) efforts.
That’s how markets work.
And why bogey’s anti-markets don’t work, eat themselves & all connected, alive.
Also really the only ray o’ sunshine anybody should need: the hamartia in bogey’s ham-handed & meatheaded cooking is fatally flawed.
And that’s the poetry o’ Ozymandias, mang, against which Ming the Merciless ain’t got a chance.
Don’t waste good meat. (And meat overcoats ain’t a good look, anyway.)
Another problem too, is that most of us who are strongly liberty-minded, are also rugged individualists by nature. Me? I don’t joiun anything. I may stand and help defend my neighbors- kif only they’d take a stand!- But I don’t sign-up, join, register, or even throw my lot in with others…..it’s more of a case-by-case person-to-person basis…because really, that is what liberty is all about. I don’t lead, nor follow- I just go my own way. That is what differentiates us and separates us from the masses- and why collectivism is so common among them, for caring not about liberty, and not being staunch individualists, they must always lead or be led; they join and congregate and form hierarchies…as such is perfectly natural to them- but not to us.
This is why armies are highly regimented. Why the worst psychos always rise to the top in political organizations…. The model suits them. It is anathema to us.
Eric,
It seems to me your job is like Isaiah’s job, the Biblical Isaiah. Have you read “Isaiah’s Job by the great libertarian, Albert Jay Nock? If you haven’t here it is: https://mises.org/library/isaiahs-job.
Eric, I surmise that one of the problems is a majority of people fail to see the big picture. For example, Paul sees that he is being paid by Peter and has no protest about that, however, he does not see that he’s being robbed to pay Penelope and Patrick in separate but obscured (to him) taxes. So while he is thinking that he is benefiting from the system, taken as a whole Paul loses in the totality. Penelope and Patrick also think they have gamed the system in their situation as well. As a whole though, Paul, Penelope, and Patrick lose in the end, thinking that they are somehow more clever.
Thank you for your part in the fight (including the biting humor I love)!
A new, secretive committee of correspondence has arisen to re-purpose the lockdown to ends not foreseen by its originators: namely, the resurrection of the legendary Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash.
For those who don’t recall the 1972 original run, the iconic account by Brock Yates is posted here:
https://www.caranddriver.com/features/columns/a15143608/the-cannonball-baker-sea-to-shining-sea-memorial-trophy-dash-archived-feature/
Now we learn that opportunistic, devious minds, spotting the opportunity offered by deserted highways, have run the Cannonball Baker again, setting fresh records.
————
America’s most illegal record has been beaten seven times in the span of just five weeks.
The time to beat is now less than 26 hours. A sub 28-hour Cannonball Run was once unthinkable.
The drivers would have had to achieve an average speed of at least 107 mph for the 2,800-mile journey.
Ed Bolian states that the new record holders averaged 120 mph when crossing ‘several’ states.
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/features/car-culture/cannonball-run/
Best of all, a documentary is forthcoming. Presumably, the self-appointed cultural commissars of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter will ban all mention of this flagrant defiance of laws meant to ensure public saaaaaaaaaaaafety.
Wanna know how fundamentally this BS is going to change the very fabric of society? In NY, I was just reading that on the Lonmg Island Rail Road (LIRR) the country’s most heavily-used commuter railroad- they are implementing a new system now, where instead of just buying a ticket and boarding a train, one must instead make a reservation. People will not even be allowed on station platforms without a pre-purchased ticket/reservation. One’s temperature will be taken via mass thermal imaging* upon entering a train- and instead of the usual standing room only full capacity levels the trains usually run at, they will be using “social distancing” (Hence the reservation system) to only partially fill the cars.
We are now beyond 1984.
The good news is: This sort of nonsense is unsustainable- as the heavily subsidized trains always operate at a severe deficit even when packed…imagine when no filled to half of capacity?! Many people who commute from Long Island to NYC are now planning on driving (The roads were already packed long before Corona- it could easily take 2 hours to make the 60 mile trip, on a good day!- imagine with even more people driving?); Many others are planning to work from home permanently; retire early, or finally move to saner and more rural places- sadly though, not because they oppose the tyranny, but just because of the inconvenience they are facing.
But thing is: Things like this are going to hasten the already impending destruction of cities like NY and L.A.- They’re going to become wastelands- more so than they already are- and good riddance! The bad news is, as the fleeing masses flood the countryside in search of some quality of life [Remember, they don;t care about liberty- they were content to live under extreme tyranny and uber-high taxes for decades…until it became too inconvenient/quality of life got too bad), they will bring their tyranny, high cost of living and high taxes with them!
[*= I wonder what other things the thermal imaging will “see”? Amtrak is already doing it. It’s basically going to be airport level “security” now, just to board a train or bus!]- That Kim Jong Un guy could learn a few things from our dear “leaders”, eh?)
Hi Nunz,
It’s all so sad. I was born in Manhattan; spent the first eight years of my life in Stamford, CT. I have many memories of NYC – all the way up to my last visit there, as a grown man, in ’95. That was the year I made it to Hoboken in about two hours and 17 minutes in a brand-new Cobra R. I can close my eyes and see the Twin Towers/skyline as I got close, running full banzai on I-95 to get to the apt of a girl I knew back then. I know I will never see the Towers – or NYC – again.
AHhh! I’ll tell ya Eric, I still have fond memories of NYC too. When I was a kid, we’d go into the city to visit relatives; or I’d go and stay with my kooky aunt for a few days in the summers, and we’d go to interesting places. Then in my teens, we moved to Queens, -and at that time- the late 70’s/early 80’s the city was still a cool and very interesting place- and to be a teenager turned loose to explore it all, was just the best education (and the most fun!) one could have!
And Long Island in the 70’s was downright magical! A nice mix of suburban and rural at the time- lots of beautiful places, beaches, bays,….and only 60 miles to NYC.
It’s all gone now. May as well be North Korea or Soviet Russia. Haven’t set foot there since I moved 19 years ago…and never will again. It was already bad when I left; it’s hard to believe how much worse it is now. Truly one of the worst, least-free places on earth. And even the physical remnants of it’s glorious past -the relics of beautiful architecture and infrastructure from previous centuries, are all gone now too.
The good things which you and I got to see and which will live on in our memories, are things which no one else will be able to experience ever again. A place and time and culture that has vanished.
Hi Nunz! My daughter lives in Brooklyn, has been there the past 12 years or so, always wanted to live there, has friends who work in Broadway management and get her (and me occasionally) tickets to first run shows, just in general loves city life. That said even she is considering moving out, though probably only to the ‘burbs. Last time we talked she said that the homeless have completely taken over the subway system since it’s basically empty and out of the weather. Good luck getting rid of them when (if?) commuting gets back to what it used to be.
Hey Mike!
Brooklyn used to be a cool place, once upon a time. Now? I think of all places, I despise it more than anywhere in the world! It’s become the eastern base of liberalism and ‘diversity’
….and now with hipsters!
I hear they’ve even driven the Dagos out of Bensonhurst as of late!
I shudder to think of Brooklyn these days. It’s hard to believe that so many of the good old people I’ve known in my life came from there (All having come to Long Island from there when I was a kid)- Now it’s hard to imagine anything good possibly ever coming from Brooklyn.
My sister lived in NYC in the 70’s and 80’s. I loved visiting NY then. And I loved walking NY at all hours of the day and night from the upper Westside to down to Wall Street, Chinatown and The Village. By myself. And never once did I feel afraid or was ever accosted.
Darn, Art! We probably passed each other on the street! I also used to walk the city at all hours- and not just Manhattan. As an invincible teenager, I’d walk some wild places- like Atlantic Ave. in Brooklyn, from downtown to East New York…late at night- often after having walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. Somehow, I managed to live. Only even ever got hasled by the pigs on 2 or 3 occasions….
“This sort of nonsense is unsustainable- as the heavily subsidized trains always operate at a severe deficit even when packed…imagine when no filled to half of capacity?!” — Nunzio
In 2018, the Port Authority’s bridges and tunnels made $918 million in profit. Likewise, the MTA’s toll bridges and tunnels are money makers. These gains are used to subsidize money-losing subways and commuter trains.
But — OH NO! — mass transit ridership is sinking like a stone, while those who can afford the time, aggravation and expense (and who still have a job in the big city) now prefer to commute in their private vehicles.
Can NYC mulct drivers for enough to make up its widening losses on mass transit?
Not bloody likely.
Something’s got to give — probably the urban economy, as we knew it.
Jim, I’d love to see the “creative accounting” they did to come with that $918M in profit- Must be after all of the various billions in subsidies are figured in. When they want to raise the fares, they’re always broke; when they want to make a good show…they’re making hundreds of millions in profits.
People who work in NYC but live on Long Island and the northern ‘burbs have to pay an extra tax even to further subsidize the trains…even if they never ride them- just as someone living in Wyoming who never set foot in NYC helps pay for the $250M computerization of just one subway line, so they can run a train with just one motorman instead of a motorman and conductor….at night when it’s slow….
What a freaking mess that drags the whole country down.
Thanks Eric for standing your ground. That is the ONLY answer you can give and that is the ONLY answer for many of us. NO FEAR MASKS…EVER! Psychologically, we all wear a mask of some sorts and it is only through great personal introspection and the shedding of our egotistical insecurities do we rip of our perceived masks. The goons of doom want us to live in fear and terror. The psychological connection is then embellished within us to fear the unknown and walk around like zombies wearing silly masks, social distancing and staying cooped up like chickens in a hen house. For some, with other medical issues, it might be their choice. The bottom line is that without an immune system, all else doesn’t matter because we would all be dead soon after birth. If we do not resist this now and keep resisting, there will be no turning back. Another virus scare is inevitable, probably by the end of summer because the megalomaniacs have seized control of the brain dead politicians who are only worried about their re-elections. There is not one person in the world I would trust to make decisions for me. No politician, world leader or medical mafia honcho deserves my consideration.
Hi Tom!
Thanks for the kind words… and, “goons of doom”… brilliant! Hat tip, sir!
The reason: The world wide fiat currency and debt based economy was on the verge of collapse before corona flu appeared. The bank cartel, and their minions in government and media, realized such. The only avenue to prevent widespread blame being applied to those actually responsible, the bank cartel, was to create an alternative cause. Voila! They also realized that such would have to rapidly subjugate the entire population in order to prevent an uprising. Once you arrive at the camp, its too late. Resist now or die.
THat’s it, exactly, John.
The time to resist is now. Mind, I am not saying fight physically. Not yet. Just refuse to comply. Laugh at them. Do not allow them to claim legitimacy. Our enemies are little worms. There may be more of them. but they are worms nonetheless.
“Like a wur-um!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Po3HbErxC-c
“At length, when pretty well again, & sitting out, in the September morning, upon the piazza, & thinking to myself, when, just after a little flock of sheep, the farmers’ banded children passed, a-nutting, & said, “How sweet a day” – it was, after all, but what their fathers call a weather-breeder –&, indeed, was become so sensitive through my illness, as that I could not bear to look upon a Chinese creeper of my adoption, & which, to my delight, climbing a post of the piazza, had burst out in starry bloom, but now, if you removed the leaves a little, showed millions of strange, cankerous worms, which, feeding upon those blossoms, so shared their blessed hue, as to make it unblessed evermore – worms, whose germs had doubtless lurked in the very bulb which, so hopefully, I had planted: in this ingrate peevishness of my weary convalescence, was I sitting there; when, suddenly looking off, I saw the golden mountain-window, dazzling like a deep-sea dolphin. Fairies there, thought I, once more; the queen of fairies at her fairy-window; at any rate, some glad mountain girl; it will do me good, it will cure this weariness, to look on her. No more; I’ll launch my yawl – ho, cheerly, heart! & push away for fairy-land – for rainbow’s end, in fairy-land.” The Piazza, Herman Melville
Turnin’ worms over’s good for the synaptic soleil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZTsYYHCYGY&t=125s
I recall hearing bout this mean ole virus back in Feb and was pretty amazed at how quickly all the sickening slick commercials were rolled out from all the mega corps and tptb.
Then all the “new normal” ads.
Now this : http://www.covipass.com
Hi Blues,
Yup. I have come to the conclusion that this is Nahhnlevven all over – but “better” – from the point of view of those who manufactured the “crisis.”
The propaganda slogan that I really dislike is, “We’re all in this together”. The propaganda technique being used here is called “bandwagon”. Reminds me of a commercial from my youth: “Everybody’s doin it, doin it so why aren’t you?” Well, I too refuse to “doin it”.
picked up a package of fear masks(50/$30) and read the fine print. Yes, I do that. To paraphrase:
‘ This will not protect the wearer against airborne viral particles.’
I chuckled to myself and went my own way. I will not wear an admitted useless fear mask.
Here’s another chuckly package insert I read:
Roughly 8% of the human genome arrived not directly from our ancestors, but sideways by viral infection. “Horizontal gene transfer.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve bumped into peeps that was way more than 8% virus.
Though the governor of my state is gradually opening things up, my town, preferring the lockdown, has passed an ordinance that masks must be worn and physical distance maintained in the business district and in all places where people congregate including the park and the bike and hiking trails. (My church, by the way, will continue to worship virtually for the foreseeable future even though we’ve been given the green light to meet subject to safeguards.)
One of the best ways we can beef up our immune systems, especially if, like me, you’re among the most vulnerable, is to get plenty of exercise, fresh air and sunshine, particularly in a cloudy climate like New England where sunshine combined with low humidity, ideal for biking and hiking, is rare. To our detriment, the masks most of us wear, made of heavy fabric, impede the flow of air on the inhale and contain much stale air on the exhale. Still, not exposing others is the greater priority.
What’s perverse is that can one can bike and hike while easily distancing oneself from others while being masked can trigger an asthma attack and exacerbate allergic reactions. Also, families that live unmasked at home, picnicking off by themselves in the park, must still be masked except when they’re eating.
The mask is a fashion statement, status symbol and virtue signal all in one which, I believe, is why we’re clinging to them even in situations where they’re better left unworn.
All this over and above your point about the Lictors of Tyranny. It’s not the dictators in the state houses who enforce this tyranny so much as it’s our fearful neighbors. Not a witch was e’er hung but the crowd demanded that the judge pass the sentence.
Hi Imbroglio,
I weary of being presumed “drunk” . . . a drug addict… a “terrst” … and now, the carrier of a lethal contagious disease.
Enough. They can arrest me, even kill me. They cannot force me to wear a goddamn Fear Mask and by doing so, pretend that everything they are doing to us is legitimate rather than evil.
The time has come to stand up – or sit down, like a good little boy.
Eric if you think they are to kill you take some of them with you. that is what I will do if it comes to that
Indeed. It is something I desperately hope to avoid. But I will not just quietly accept being taken to the Sickness Archipelago.
At this point i wish i was a “dreaded spreader”
These people suck. It’ll be great to see them willfully board the cattle car.
Hi Anon,
This just in – from the “experts” at CDC: WuFlu mortality rate appx. .4 percent.
But people are dyyyyyyyying!!!
Ah, but the “importance” (caged cuz fiction…cept to those for whom it’s non-fiction, & who tend to write most of the fiction) is constantly stated, & ain’t that the definition of overstated?
Solitude’s a beautiful thing. Weus! perjoratives it – “isolation” – because it ain’t cut out for it & so projects its limitation in wide spectrum broadcast.
Put another way, if “social distancing” tyrannizes & demoralizes someone, they are already self-distant. A codependent condo divided cannot stand it.
Nobody is programmed that ain’t programmable.
If someone is programmable, that is his or her function & s/he *will* “see it” realized.
Which isn’t a problem to be solved.
The programmed to program & the programmed to be programmed just are. Just as have always been.
Hitler blew his brains out. Some programmer/s may have seen to it that Patton’s brains were bashed out – so that Lenin’s cub didn’t hafta’ blow his brains out.
So it goes.
So also does it have nothing to do with little ol’ solitudinous me.
Id•iots will keep id’ing each other, & any others they can lay hands on, too.
The future is unavoidable (the past unobtainable). Predicting it is void, not voir dire, & that jury is always out, is always peerless. Nuthin’ ever has to go any particular way & them as insist otherwise tend to be caught in the double-bind words/ymbols can be & all too often are.
Life don’t proceed by the lineal foot. Words say that’s the way it went & here’s why it had to go just that way. Circular. Starting not at the beginning, but with “the conclusion” & circlin’ back round to swaller that swell tale. Ouroborus.
Nice. Back to making no sense at all. Both of the Toms would defenestrate your prattlling.
Any lost plot in a storm’s a more comfortable zone than the open sea, has got the harbor seal of approval stamped right on its marked beast self.
Me transported “back”? Or the toxoplasmosis’d tomcats carried “forward”?
No philosophical windows in common would almost certainly mean no physical windows in common, hence no defenestration possible. (But, then, as always now, for any Hamilton would were’s, come get you some Burr….)
More likely that my physical person would be as far from that crowd of madders & doomed history repeaters – the slow kids, held back, never to graduate, except possibly as special olympians (in the minds of even slower kids) — as my contained therein philosophical one is.
Lot more room, in that time/place, would have facilitated my getting away from the usual congregant suspects. Still on the hunt for more room in this time/place.
Speaking of the usual suspects, remember first fate-met Fenster?
DeFensteration is born into usual suspects, & those accompli’s are par faited for the course. This course: ∞. X marks the spot, but never once & for all, always just over & over & over again.
It’s the drowning fish flimflam flipflop…put this booze in the blender…& soon it will render…that frozen concoction that helps me hang on…wasted away again…& again…& again…Polly parrotheads crackin’ the same amen phrase forever…cuz birds of a feather gots no say or choice in the matter, just gots to flock together & keep the beak wet & fed…left wing, right wing, one bird of pray for Weus! synonymers of self-destruction….
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmTDWPd7RgU
Bein’a poet’s how I know it: the framin’ fooker poets done gotcha’ & ya’ don’t even know it.
As I’ve writ before, Bernay’s merely tweaked the sauce you’re slathered in, he didn’t create it, that compulsive need to gobble creation fairy stories, & all the “Yes, Chef!” saluting.
” I regard the Fear Mask as the Rubicon of our times – or the Lexington and Concord of our times. If this line is crossed – if we do not resist, now – then there will be no resistance when “authoritative voices” demand we submit to being vaccinated…..”
This is the deceptive inference that you continue to push. You’re trying to convince your readers that refusal to wear a mask will in some way delay, or perhaps even prevent, attempted imposition of mandatory vaccinations upon everyone. I think you know better than that.
Perhaps this mask mania is part of some scheme to program your readers to get vaccinated as soon as possible, because “Once everyone is vaccinated, you’ll never have to wear, or even see one of those horrible masks again.” (That claim might be literally true.) You seem to be working hard to make your followers think that will be a “good thing.”
No, Mr Peters is correct. The sooner we ‘draw the line’ , the sooner they will either back off or push it to violence. I will not mask nor vaccinate. Period. Its a matter of principle, and if they dont like it, tough.
Either way, lets get it done.
Amen, Luke –
It saddens me that so many are willing to do a Michael Jackson/Howie Mandel impersonation, whether out of an unreasonable fear of catching a cold or out of a neurotic fear they will give a cold to someone who will then die or because they are willing to do practically anything they are told to do by the government and corporations.
If you’re not sick and willing to wear a mask, why not a diaper? It’s a serious question.
Why should anyone who is healthy – who has a functioning immune system – walk around in dread of catching a cold that won’t kill him even if he does catch it? Isn’t that the definition of a neurotic?
Isn’t it sick – in the head – to treat others as presumptively sick? If you think that’s equitable – then why not treat everyone as a presumptive drunk, drug addict and “terrist”? Oh. We already do that.
a diaper hahah. “men” should start wearing tampons for face mask as they are showing their feminine side anyway
Hi SPQR,
Yup; indeed. I keep asking people to explain why people ought not to be compelled to wear diapers if they must wear Fear Masks… as both are premised on the same shitty pretext. You might be sick! You might shit your pants.
You must be mentally ill to even entertain the thought that anyone here aside from the usual authoritarian types approves of vaccination, especially the government-fed type. I’m glad that all of Eric’s recent posts have at least made some of the ‘masks’ come off.
Hi Mike,
What is deceptive about my inference? A serious question. Maybe I am not understanding.
I have certainly been very explicit as regards my reasoning.
To me, wearing the Fear Mask – assuming one is healthy and not elderly and does so willingly, not because one is forced to wear it – infers genuine fear. Why else would one dress up like Michael Jackson – assuming, that is, one isn’t mentally ill?
In other words, Fear Masking (assuming the person isn’t mentally ill) is a visible expression of fear that the WuFlu is an extraordinary threat to otherwise healthy people and that, accordingly, such measures as Mask Wearing and “antisocial distancing” and all the rest are necessary. That it isn’t unreasonable to force healthy people to dress and behave like Michael Jackson.
If such measures are necessary, then does it not follow – how do you not infer – that vaccines are necessary and reasonable, too?
If not, why?
Please explain your reasoning.
As I see it, the underlying premise – if accepted – infers the elaboration I have just explained.
Yes, I do think that refusing to wear the Fear Mask stands a chance of preventing the imposition of a mandatory vaccine regime – if enough people refuse. If they do, the fear dies down. The spell begins to dissipate.
Look! People are not dying like flies!
It thus becomes harder to make the case for the forced vaccination of the population.
By submitting to the Fear Masking, you have embraced the narrative that there is a “crisis” when there isn’t one. Don’t you see?
How absurd, to put forth that resistance encourages compliance. Anyone with two or more brain cells that get along can easily reason otherwise. You and I, and I’m sure nearly if not all of your readers, have no fear of wearing a mask, as we often do when such is beneficial, as in working with chemicals or dust etc. What we fear is the voluntary subjugation wearing such for no reason implies. In any conflict in which one hopes to be victorious, one must have a “line in the sand” that will not be crossed. In your case, and mine, and I’m certain a great many others, wearing a mask is that line. I’m suspicious he is one of the many I’ve encountered in the past week, in various comment sections, that attempt to repudiate or discourage any statement favoring resistance, while pretending to be in favor of resistance.
Amen, John –
This whole thing is reaching a climax. It cannot be sustained; it will go one way – back to sanity – or the other. I will do everything inmy power to see to it that it does not go that way.
Action, reaction Eric. The delayed reaction is starting to build. How far it goes will be fascinating to observe. I suspect this was simply an arrangement of pieces into a pattern. Observation of the results, will inform the next gambit.
Yeah, and we were told that once the war on terror was finished.. no, never mind. They never told us anything. And they are not telling us that this will be over. Instead, there will be a “new normal.” Following “reopening.” We just passively accept the nonsense.
Ah, Fear Masks. Last week I took Vegas Vicky to the hospital for an elective surgery (because we are *allowed* to do that now…). A couple of doofuses in scrubs and masks are sitting right at the front door, making every person who enters the hospital sign in (for contract tracing, I suppose), don their Fear Mask (one will be provided, should you not have already succumbed to the paranoia), then rub their hands for 15 seconds with a healthy dollop of Fear Gel prior to being allowed to cross into the hospital proper. Fine, I played their game. However, once inside, I saw dozens…about half…of the hospital workers walking about, going from the waiting room to the surgical recovery wing with their Fear Masks hanging around their necks.
If these ‘medical heroes’ who are on the ‘front lines’ aren’t freaked out about this, why should I be? On the other hand, the bimbo who presents the daily 5 o’clock propaganda (AKA 30 minutes of fear) has to work from home so she can be properly socially distanced from the co-propaganda reader and the weather gal, so maybe I should be freaked out?
We were made of sterner stuff.
Almost to the day that modern Amerika was busy prostrating itself in fear to the technocrats, 245 years ago, citizen patriots outside of Boston opened fire on troops from the world’s most powerful military force, that had been sent to their towns to seize their firearms, beating them back to Boston and soundly defeating them in two subsequent battles.
They did this in the middle of a smallpox epidemic that killed one out of three that caught it.
Hi AF,
I aspire to that. In part because I’m so tired of this. I was willing to put up with a lot – in exchange for being able to live a more or less normal life. But masking to go shopping? No, I’m not doing it – and damn the consequences.
If it’s not enough to not be sick in order to be let alone then I no longer care to live in this sick society.
I am with you as well.
I refuse to comply.
Enough is enough.
OK, here’s what I see as the heart-of-the-matter that may help understand why we have the seemingly endless problems caused by government in today’s society.
But first I have to point out that the main culprit causing these problems is not that people in general are stupid (lack of brainpower) or ignorant (lack of facts). There’s much more going on here than simple mass rote stupidity/ignorance. And it’s why I cringe when I hear so many well-intentioned people advocating the seemingly urgent need to educate people. We’re constantly hearing things like, “The problems in this country today are because people are apathetic, uncaring and stupid”; or “it’s because they don’t understand the constitution.” And especially this one, “We just need to educate most people, and then, finally, they’ll see things our way.” Now I know what you’re thinking: “whatta you mean, don’t you know how dumb people are…are you nuts?” Well maybe…just bear with me for a second.
Now I’m not saying some people aren’t stupid or ignorant. Obviously the world is full of them. It’s just that the tactic of trying to enlighten the majority of those no longer works…because it can’t work. And for me it’s frustrating to see so many of those on our side continue to waste much of their time trying to educate those who don’t want to be educated that they too become disconnected from reality and fail to understand the driving force behind the ongoing destruction of Western Civilization. Those repeated cries for action to help people “see the light” distracts them from the more relevant issue that’s been overlooked for some time.
So here is what I see as the central key issue. The principle cause (but not the only cause) for the majority of these problems is the sad fact that most of the populace:
(1) have adopted, accepted, and are highly motivated by the “something-for-nothing mentality”, and, as a result they
(2) approve of and sanction certain forms of govt theft, and, believe govt is morally justified to enslave their fellow man.
In other words your neighbors are being bought off & rewarded with stolen gov’t loot by politicians and the parasitical political class in exchange for their votes & support. You might even be one of them and don’t realize it. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate: Farmers vote for and help elect the politician who promises to support farm programs. People in the defense industry vote for those supporting more military spending. Govt employees vote lockstep & donate big money to big government spenders. And the reason why people behave this way is for one reason and one reason only: they benefit from it – they receive a healthy dose of something for nothing from their government allies.
These people have a habit of conveniently overlooking the fact that what they do at the polling booth is a rubber stamp for government to use theft & enslavement for their benefit. This situation is summed up perfectly by a quote from a rather clever person who stated, “The problems we face today are there because the people who “work” for a living are outnumbered by those who “vote” for a living”. The majority of voters indeed have a vested self-interest in maintaining the current structure so they can continue receiving their illicit gov’t largess while the rest of us get stuck paying the tab. A pretty good deal don’t you think? The bottom line here is that these people do this not necessarily because of abject stupidity (although most probably are stupid, and morally bankrupt to boot), but because they are following their own greedy & avaricious money-grubbing self interest.
The hard fact is most adults today derive some or all of their income from government, and even people in California have figured that out. So until we clearly understand & acknowledge that so many now possess this particular moral defect, we’ll always be stuck in a perpetual state of confusion & frustration. The problem isn’t the politicians in charge, it’s the people who put them there.
“The message of most politicians on the campaign trail is ‘I will give you what you want and make someone else pay for it’.” – Don Grove
Well-said, Bagwan…
We’re dealing with generalized corruption. Of morality and intelligence (really, the ability to think; there are plenty of “smart” people who don’t). Either by itself is a bad enough problem. Combine the two and you have a big problem.
As mentioned, intelligence is not the central issue here (imho), the main problem is one of “morality”. Back when I was a kid in the 60’s it was generally believed that intelligence was correlated with morality. And in a sense that was true. That’s why bank presidents, corporate executives, attorneys & doctors were held in such high esteem. But not today. Most of those are now considered on par with used car salesmen, and for good reason. It takes a lot of moxie to be a successful pillager these days else you won’t be. And those named above are very adept at “playing the game”.
Either theft is immoral no matter what the purpose or it isn’t. It doesn’t matter if the bank robber gives every cent he steals to charity, theft is still theft. But as I see it, this larcenous mindset now infects the majority of the population (51% +) who believe that stealing — as long as it’s done by someone else (govt of course) — is OK with them just as long as they continue to get their “freebies” .
And it’s within this kind of atmosphere that we find ourselves facing an explosive amount of increasing corruption that will blossom to it’s ultimate conclusion. As more people climb onto the something-for-nothing bandwagon, more & more people begin to realize that in order not to be left out (or to even survive) they will join the party, & eventually it becomes an unstoppable mad stampede. Everyone everywhere will want his free “share” of the pie and will clamor to get it. And to hell with everyone else. Not a very pleasant prospect, eh?
precisely. [and a few more words thrown in so it will accept the comment]
bagwan, it breaks down in simpler terms. When you rob Peter to pay Paul, you can count on Paul’s continued support. People vote their wallets, with their conscience being a very minor (if even that) consideration.
That is one of the major problems we face today. Which is why its going to get ugly beyond belief, when Mordor on the Potomac, drives the economy into hyperinflation. All of those Paul’s, are going to be left holding an empty bag. Which means the Peter’s, had better run like hell.
Some smart people who’s brains are wired backwards or who don’t think are called Democrats. Sorry to be partisan. Just pointing out facts
It’s actually worse than that Mr. Bagwan. Next time you are in a group of people, 6 or more seems to be the threshold, state that the government should get out of “education” and that all public schools should be shuttered and education should be left to the parents and the free market.
I guarantee you that you will get at least one person looking at you like you are evil incarnate. Why? Because so many people either employed by The System (your contention) OR has an immediate family member, parent, spouse, sibling, offspring, employed by The System. In most parts of the country the largest employer is the government school system. This is usually followed by some other government entity, city, county or government run hospital.
As Alexander Fraser Tytler stated “A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage.”
I agree with what you have said however I also see folks who are just scared. I spoke yesterday with a friend who is a retired lawyer, not stupid and not looking for a handout but SCARED. He truly believes the lies and that he may die from catching a cold. I couldn’t break through his fear with logic. He sees Covid as an additional RISK on top of all the other risks, or should I say potential risks. The risk of dying is 100% and the only question is how each of us will die. How can you add risks up and live that way. It will always add up to 100%
Yeah, Das,
I have seen the same. A woman down the way screamed at my wife from the middle of the street for not wearing a “face diaper” because, in her mind, my wife didn’t care about anyone but herself. There is pure fear, almost terror in their eyes and in their voices. I wouldn’t doubt if she wore that fear mask in the shower and sleeps under her bed with a can of Lysol and a flyswatter and a pocket knife.
It’s just bizarre ….
Hi Blues,
I have been waiting for this to happen to me. I have been very provocatively not wearing the Fear Mask – including in stores where the Fear Sign “asks” people to. So far, I can’t even get people to meet my eyes. It may be that I give off Angry Redneck Vibe. No haircut in three months and – while I’m not what I was – I’m still 6ft 3 and 215 mostly solid pounds. Guys my size – who might challenge me – are generally not Fear Maskers. The rest apparently are too fearful.
Good.
It’s about time they feared screwing with us.
Damn straight Eric. But also keep in mind, that also makes us a target. Some situations require lower profiles.
that is why taxation WITH representation is WORSE then taxation without it.
Thanks again for persisting in this fight. This place is a refuge from all the madness. It’s good to know there are at least a few people of character left in our country. I am a young guy and seeing everything around me willingly destroyed by human cattle has left me utterly desperate to the point I wish I had been born 200 years in the past, but reading you and hearing you on the podcasts gives me some hope. Wish I could shake your hand and everyone else’s here who stays true to the principles of liberty, not just with words but with action, too.
Thanks, Robert!
Remember (per Orwell): Sanity is not statistical. Even if 300 million people disagree.
Good one. But it, that sanity metric, ain’t objective, either. Szasz, the man, the myth, the legend – & anybody else that sees straight the crooked.
The “insane” ain’t comin’ round, nor backin’ off, neither – well, they’s coming round & round; ha. And the ones whose wiring has em’ jousting that windmill also ain’t insane. But they do hear Johnny Nash backwards.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FscIgtDJFXg
Oh, you sure got him with more of that usual poorly typed relativistic nonsense of yours, Ozy.
Keep hiding.
Robert, have you bothered to really read what Oyz is saying? They write in that fashion for a reason. Many of these concept structures have different meanings, from different perspectives.
You do know that relativistic, is a reference frame problem? In other words a matter of perspective. Simply because someone approaches a problem, in a different fashion, doesn’t mean it is inherently inferior to yours. Situations flow, and so should your reactions to them.
The masks are a testament to the propaganda power of modern media and the corruption of progressive politicians. “Never let a crisis go to waste” has been their mantra. The communists have no intention of letting the Wuhan go to waste and will push this “crisis” as far as possible to expand control.
There have been encouraging signs in parts of the country as states and individuals have been taking steps to return to “normal”. As the virus weakens, the rational for fear becomes more tenuous and the motives of the politicians become more obviously about “control” and less about “safety”. The fact that some states are opening their economies while others are staying shutdown will provide real time examples of the corruption of progressive politicians. That progressives are willing to destroy the lives of so many in a manipulated crisis may be a wake up call to business owners, “non essential” workers and all citizens capable of independent thought.
Paine, Jefferson and Washington are real heroes whose actions and ideas are to be revered throughout time. The blueprints they created with the Common Sense, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution can serve as a path forward today. But 2020 is not 1776 and the methods of their revolution will not work for ours. Violence is not an option. Peaceful demonstration, civil disobedience, political organization and decentralized government are the paths to prosperity and freedom in the 21st century.
Griff, well stated and reasoned. But the time for peaceful change, expired before any of us was born. Thus, they have made the follow up inevitable. Pouring clean water into a sewer, simply results in more dirty water.
I submit that the last part of your post, is akin to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Especially given our current situation. Those who Rule (from behind the current set of War Lords) appear to be moving to the next phase of their campaign.
Only time will tell the tale, of the proper responses. Be flexible and creative. Take
advantage of their mistakes, and never play the game by their rules.
I am certainly not a violent person. However, there comes a time when that may be the only option…..
“Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion [that violence never settles anything] is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms.”
–Heinlein
You’ve got an AR15, shotgun and a Glock for home defense and maybe a 380 auto for carry. Great, they will work against a home invader and a couple thugs on the street. A well armed population does serve as a deterrence against federal aggression, but any armed resistance no matter how well justified will be spun by the communist media as right wing nazi racists wanting to kill all the innocent people of color. Plus, against a modern, well trained and organized military or para-military (law enforcement) force with automatic weapons, armored personnel carriers and helicopters and drones for air support, militias are just a training exercise. If there is a path to freedom in the 21st century it’s through peaceful political action in the individual states.
Hi Griff,
My position on this is simple: I won’t comply. And – if I am forced to do so – I will defend myself against this aggression just the same as any man worth the name would. We honor the brave people who stood up to the Nazis. They are honorable because they knew they were up against almost impossible odds and still, they would not give in.
Neither will I.
Hi Eric,
A sincere question. If you enter a store and are told to leave unless you put on a mask, what will you do? If you do not leave, you are trespassing which is a violation of the NAP and justifies, on libertarian grounds, your forcible removal. If you resist this removal, you are guilty, again on libertarian grounds, of assault.
Of course, one can ignore the mask fatwa and enter any “public accommodation” without violating the NAP, but you cannot stay, if asked to leave, without violating the NAP. This creates an interesting dilemma for libertarians. I applaud your determination and believe it to be necessary but it is a rather bleak choice; radically alter one’s lifestyle (which strikes me as a form of capitulation) or don the mask.
After a lot of thought, I’m pursuing a “middle” path. There is not a single grocery store in Santa Fe that does not have a person at the door checking for masks. That person is a legitimate agent of the owner of the store, and I may not enter, forcibly or not, without violating libertarian principles. Nor will I significantly decrease the quality of my own life and avoid all stores that require a mask (impossible where I live). I love to cook and I buy fresh ingredients every 2 or 3 days. I will not buy groceries on-line or deny myself choosing my own food in person, as doing so is also a capitulation.
Still, I do not want to don the mask and feed the hysteria. For the first few days I wore a mask that I fashioned from an old pair of underwear, both to allow me to do my near daily shopping and in the hope that the mask itself would get people to think. It made my face look a lot like Arnie’s junk, squeezed into his g-string, during his prime. It got a lot of laughs, not sure it made anybody think. Now I will no longer wear a mask, instead I will try to use the State’s laws against them. The tyrant in chief of NM “allows” exemptions for medical conditions and exercise (I have never worn the mask outside, including waiting in line to enter a store), so now I will inform the mask checker that wearing a mask puts my health at risk and that there is an exemption for such in the “fatwa”. If they refuse me entry, I will inform them that they are in violation of HIPPA statutes (I got the idea from a post someone made here).
This is certainly an imperfect solution but, I will no longer wear a mask, significantly reduce my quality of life or violate libertarian principles to make a symbolic, though important gesture.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hey Jeremy!
I’m trying to do my best Eric impersonation- Do these letters look like the ones he uses? 🙂
I hope I’m not depriving Eric of the opportunity of being the first one to respond to the question addressed to him…but I couldn’t resist!
Jeremy: “We want Eric! Get this Dago outta here!”
But seriously, your point about trespassing raises an interesting specter- and one that I have wrassled with also.
My feeling is, that if it truly a business owner’s wish that all customers wear a mask, then I would respect his right and leave his premises.
IMO though, it becomes a little less clear when the mask-wearing is mandated by the overlords- and the business-owner is complying with that mandate simply for fear of the consequences of not doing so.
Much like with sales tax, the business owner becomes a defacto agent of the state. Is it then the ontramanure’s right we are violating if we refuse to leave….or are we merely resisting an unjust dictate of the state which it has imposed on the entrepreneur as well as us?
As you may know, I’ve long supported a store’s right to check receipts while in their premises…..but it seems to me that the mask issue isn’t quite so clear when it clearly eminates from those who have no legitimate right over the private property of others [They are thus truly the trespassers/usurpers!] nor any legit authority to decree what we wear.
Nunzio, good points, but it was their choice to obey the War Lords dictate. Its their property, so I’d just leave.
Its the War Lords and their AGW’s, we have a beef with. Not private property owners.
Jeremy –
Who owns the market?
Is it an individual conducting business as a sole proprietor?
Is it a partnership of two or three individuals?
Is it a privately held enterprise?
Is it a publicly traded enterprise?
Who made the decision to require all patrons to don masks?
How was the decision made?
If the market is owned by a corporation or LLC, what specific provision in the company’s by-laws or operating agreement authorized the company to impose a mandatory mask policy?
If the market is owned by a corporation or LLC, and the by-laws or operating agreement do not specifically authorize the company to require its patrons to wear masks, how did the decision come to be made? Was there a meeting called with a proper quorum of stakeholders? Was there an emergency meeting called? Does the corporation or LLC charter permit emergency meetings? If so, under what circumstances?
All of the above are pertinent questions to ask in order to establish whether the owner(s) of the market had the requisite authority to impose a fear mask policy. If the authority is lacking, then that terminates the NAP inquiry as no corporation or LLC or any other limited liability enterprise has the authority to implement policy that is not authorized by the company’s charter, by-laws, or operating agreement.
In addition, given that the enterprise is operating with a goody conferred by the state, i.e., limited liability, one should not simply declare, without more, that, of course, the market can make up its own rules on the fly.
Now, for the sake of argument, let us assume that the company that operates the market has by-laws that specifically permit it to impose a mandatory mask policy. Let us also assume that the company had never imposed a mandatory mask policy until after the state mandated that all markets must require its employees and customers to wear masks.
Let us further assume that Eric enters the market sans mask and is approached, some minutes later, by a busy-body, “front-line hero,” demanding that he wear a mask or vacate the premises.
If Eric tells the aforesaid busy-body to go pound sand, and refuses to leave the market, is he violating the NAP?
NO, HE IS NOT. Why not? Because the market is acting as an agent of the state. The market is furthering the objectives of the state and is aggressing upon the inviolability of Eric’s corporeal integrity.
Thus, it is the market that is violating the NAP, not Eric. An owner or lessee of commercial property has no right to violate the bodily integrity of its patrons and it can not seek refuge under a fake application of the NAP.
Hi Mike,
Interesting analysis. I admit I was thinking in the simplest terms of ownership. One point. The market, unlike YouTube, Facebook, etc…, is not acting as an agent of the State, it is bowing to the dictates of the State. This does not excuse them, but they are not colluding with the State. No market had a mask dictate in place before the Tyrant in Chief of NM imposed it. Which is pretty compelling evidence that they did not want to require masks. These businesses are obeying the absurd mandate requirement out of fear or misplaced deference to authority. Nothing admirable about that, of course.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Yes, I agree that many businesses are implementing their mask policies out of fear and / or misplaced deference to the state.
Nevertheless, by cowering to the king, they have forfeited any right to make a legitimate NAP claim against Eric.
L. Mike,
Does not one have a right to cower to a perceived authority on their own property, and to demand the same of their guests?
And if we don’t care to abide by the rules imposed by a property owner, we then have the option to leave.
Despite all of the efforts to collectivise everything…it still ultimately comes down to a matter of property rights- as is the case with virtually everything.
It’s just a shame that people have so succumbed to collectivism, that few property(business)-owners will seek to avail themselves of any remaining such rights.
Nunzio –
Sorry, I have to reply here as I could not see the reply button appending your post.
What about Eric’s property rights?
What about an individual’s rights to bodily integrity?
Are such rights to be subordinated to the “rights” of the commercial real estate owner or lessee to cower to the king?
Yes, there would appear to be a conflict. Not of rights, but between Eric’s rights of bodily integrity and the property owner / lessee’s fealty to its progressive totalitarian overlords.
Again, if you become an agent of the state in connection with the implementation of a totalitarian mandate, you are not acting as a private property owner.
Hi Mike,
“Nevertheless, by cowering to the king,…”
How does one draw a meaningful line here? All businesses, except “illegal”, underground ones, cower before the King to some extent. The question is not snarky as I’ve thought about it quite a bit. For instance, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, etc… are quite clearly colluding with government to censor information. Libertarians who react with, “but – private” to any criticism of these institutions are fools.
Of course, I don’t advocate that the State intervene and stop the censorship (an absurd idea as the State is outsourcing the censorship to these “private” corporations), that leaves criticism, boycotts, etc…
To me, at least, the businesses that submit to the mask dictates are not nearly as bad as Facebook, et al. Most do so under threat, not because they wish to violate anyone’s bodily integrity. The social media platforms, on the other hand, actively collude with the State and openly brag about their censorship. These companies really are agents of the State, my local market is not, it’s just going along to avoid repercussions. Again, not admirable, but the State is one petty, vindictive son of a bitch.
Cheers,
Jeremy
Hey Mike,
***”if you become an agent of the state in connection with the implementation of a totalitarian mandate, you are not acting as a private property owner.”****
Yes, I do agree with you there. Therein lies a dilemma- while our rights are legitimately subordinate to those of a property owner while on his property (Our remedy being to leave his property if we demand the exercise of our rights), what you state is also undeniably true- in essence, the property owner has subordinated his rights to the king- so it becomers unclear when resisting the kings mandate whilst on someone else’s property if we are rightly resisting the illegitimate decree of the king, or the legitimate wishes of the property owner.
In a person-to-person situation it is more clear. If you go to someone’s house and they express their desire for you to wear a mask, then leaving is the proper thing to do.
But in a store, where you likely will never see the owner, and or which is likely owned by a corporation, the situation becomes less clear.
A good analogy also is if you are a passenger in someone’s car, and they demand that you wear a seatbelt, because by not doing so it could result in them being stopped by the goons and being ticketed, as in most states the driver is responsible now for a passenger’s seatbelt compliance.
Let’s say that you choose not to wear a seatbelt. What do you do? Decline to ride with the person; or insist that they accommodate your wishes at their own peril?
It’s a shame how convoluted the simplest of things can become when human interaction becomes warped by tyranny.
“Your property, you decide what goes on there and who you cater to” suddenly turns into volumes of laws and penalties…and all for what? Bastards!
Mike, you should apply to work for Mickysofts Tech support desk. What you just said was factual, but not helpful… ^^
The long and the short of it, is much more to the point. That is private property. Thus they get to decide on the terms of entry. If you disagree, you are free to take your business else where.
The Nap/Zap has to do with initiation of force. They are not initiating by setting the terms of access. Hand waving about them being agents of the State, is missing the point entirely.
Much of the rest is akin to discussing how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.
It reminds me of many of the arguments that the Sovereign citizen types, are overly fond of. Yes, they are technically correct. But that is NOT how the system actually functions.
The Law, is what ever those in power say that it is, when they say that it is, and they have the power to back it up.
Who do “they” fear he most? They fear the lone wolf.
I guarantee they have an undercover in every militia in this country. They figured that one out a long time ago.
They cannot stop a determined individual. How about a million of them? They call it decentralized enemy warfare and they are powerless against it, and it scares the hell out of them. Hence the laying of the groundwork for TOTAL surveillance. Contact tracing, anyone?
‘Zactly, Winston. The first step toward controlling/destroying any movement, is to first organize it. Once organized, it can be infiltrated, led, surveilled; the members identified, etc.
…or just invent Facebook……
Hence the ZuckerBorg… As testament to Them, not even bothering to be subtle any more ^^ The best organization is Me, Myself and I. Much beyond that, and things get iffy.
But cell systems work to mitigate some of that. If done properly, and if done preemptively.
Aye. Weus! “drives” a Prius.
But what is Their mot-e- vation?…
Eric, your dedication to the cause of freedom is admirable. If the objective is to overcome the progressive propaganda and open minds, I would suggest that video of you being arrested and taken to jail as a peaceful protest against the fear mask hysteria is way more positive for the cause you champion than a video of you barricaded in your home shooting it out with a swat team.
Griff,
Seeing someone get carted off with no resistance is disheartening. It’s defeatist. Our fellows already know what cowards the goons are, and loathe them- so seeing them cart someone off adds nothing to that- it just makes them think that they may be next.
By contrast, at least the shoot-out scenario puts at least a little fear into the other side. If they know we won’t go down without a fight; it’ll be messy; they’ll lose some guys; the neighbors will see it, etc. It just may become a little more difficult to deal with and so not taken so lightly. Make ’em think twice- “Is it worth it? Maybe we should just hold off since this guy isn’t a mass murderer or child rapist or anything…hge’s just not wearing a mask”.
But to go quietly into the night accomplishes nothing- if anything, it just emboldens our enemies- paints us as easy targets- “G oget ’em, they’re free for the taking!”.
Me? I will not go quietly. They will win the battle and the war either way…but it’ll cost ’em. I’m make damn sure of that! My life/liberty isn’t just there for the taking. It costs to frick with it!
Right Nunz! Solzhenitzen made that point, as has been mentioned here before. Make the bastards nervous before they smash in your door; is someone waiting on the other side with an axe? If they come for me it’ll be a 12 gauge. I’ve always liked the movie scenes where the pigs smash a door and then it explodes and blows them into the street, too bad you can’t do that without trashing your house at the same time 😆
“War is the continuation of politics by other means.” ~ some political warmonger
There is no political path to freedom; antithetical.
There might occasionally be pathless routes taken by individuals who conscientiously cover their tracks.
And look what happened in Nam. We were technologically superior in every way, including weaponry but got our ass kicked by a bunch of guys in silk pajamas with rifles…..
We didn’t lose ‘Nam because we couldn’t “beat them”, we lost because we weren’t allowed to. Our government and their superiors were playing both sides.
If “the troops” hadn’t been constrained, they would have easily slaughtered the poor rice-eaters…more so than they did.
We seemed to have been on a roll around that time: The Bay of Pigs; ‘Nam,……
You’d think those spectacles alone would have warned anyone off of ever becoming a mercenary for “the suhviss”…..but give ’em a paycheck and a gun, and the excuse to kill and do evil, and there never seems to be a lack of volunteers.
Nunzio, I have to disagree. Do you remember what that total bastard Westmoreland said (Afterwards)?
The only way to win, would have been to put all the South Vietnamese in ships out in the harbor, then kill EVERYTHING/ONE up to the border of China. Then, sink all of the ships.
Since that wouldn’t have gone over well, I guess we lost because they wouldn’t commit out right genocide. Though the best estimates I’ve seen range from about 1.7 million, all the way up to 3.8.
It wasn’t lost because of a lack of people killed. We lost more than 58,000 of our own people.
In a war, we should NEVER have been involved in. I ask you, what did all of those people (ours and theirs) die for??
Because of the Bug A Boo of the day “The Communist Menace” and the “Domino Theory”.
How about the “Global War on Terrorism”? Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace…
Its simply not possible to win certain types of wars, unless one is willing to become a total monster in the process. Even then, it might be difficult.
As Lind is fond of saying, the more high tech a military becomes, the less able they are to win against people, who refuse to play the game by their rules.
Griff, yet with all of their high technology, the Empire hasn’t really won a war since WW 2. Start with Korea, Vietnam, on and on, up to the Afghans. Sure, they have killed a LOT of people (mostly unarmed civilians…) and spent Trillions of dollars, but they haven’t won.
That being the case, perhaps an examination of why they haven’t won, and the tactics that prevented them from winning, is in order?
A fellow by the name of William Lind, has some of the answers.
We didn’t “WIN” World War Two either. Sure, we absolutely kicked the living shit out of the Krauts and the Japs. But what THEN did we get? Perpetual conflict with our one-time “Allies”, and further wars, just less in scope than the “Big One”.
A REAL victory meant we would have carried off the best loot and the best-looking women just like the Vikings of old, and bred a hardier race.
Picky Picky Picky Doug! ^^ But I stand corrected.
Tho not completely accurate, I like this one, too:
A harmless man is not a good man. A good man is a very, very dangerous man who has it under voluntary control. ~ Jordan Peterson
One of the Sages of the Ages, Oyz. Many insights, but unfortunately, targeted by mal factors.
I like that, Oye[Perry]ComoVa.
In the same vein:
[Paraphrasing] “Meek does not mean weak. A meek man has the ability and attitude to use force to get his way, but the character and humility to choose not to unless presented with unprovoked violence”
-The late Christian minister Raymond C. Cole.
Blue, the Master was well ahead of his time. Do you remember his remarks about what he called the Crazy Years? We are well into them.