If you haven’t looked into it, you might believe the majority of colonists living in what was then British North America – aka, the colonies – favored separation from Great Britain. In fact, it was a minority who did and it was their chore to persuade the reluctant majority – these were called Tories – to support the effort.
If you read the private correspondence of some of the men who were trying to make the case for separation, you’ll find out all about their frustrations trying to get their fellows to see that separation was the only way to achieve independence.
Of course, independence is not generally a popular thing, then or now. Most people seem to prefer to stick with what they know rather than try something new, even when what they are sticking with is sticking it to them.
Twitter, for instance. It has been rebranded, of course. But it is still the same old Twitter. By which I mean it operates on the same speech-suppressing model. I can personally attest to this because I have a large enough audience to notice when what I say – specifically, what I write – is being hidden from view.
That’s the trick, by the way.
Twitter/X does not generally openly prevent you from attempting to post something, such as a Wrongthinkful observation about this strange business of any questioning of the the policies of the government of Israel as being “anti-Semitic.” What happens is your observation is shunted into a kind of time-out room where no one else sees it. The genius of this being it makes the person who made the observation think he made it, as opposed to letting him know – as via not allowing him to “publish” (in air fingers quotes for the obvious reason) it that he didn’t. He is thus kept pacified, believing his “voice” is being heard when in fact he’s talking to the wall.
Now, as frustrating as that is, what’s defeating is that so many people know it and yet continue to cling to the leg of Twitter – so to speak – not unlike Stalin’s chicken. If you don’t know that story, here it is in brief:
Stalin was asked how he managed to retain the support of the average Soviet peon. It wasn’t put that way, of course – but that’s what the questioner meant to ask. Anyhow, Stalin showed how – by fiercely plucking a chicken until the bird was featherless and shivering at his feet. He then offered the bird some scratch corn he had in his pocket and the grateful bird pecked at the leavings by Stalin’s boots.
There are many such “chickens” still “Tweeting” – which is an apt term, since it’s exactly what little birdies do.
Caged birdies.
Birdies who refuse to leave their cage, to be precise. The door’s open, but the birdies would rather stay – and continue Tweeting. Even if no one’s seeing. Even though they know what they’re allowed to see – and say – is strictly monitored by the “free speech” controllers thereof who run Twitter/X.
They won’t fly away to a place where there is free speech – such as Brighteon, for instance – because (apparently) it’s just too much trouble. Or perhaps because they think it’s “free speech” because Elon Musk said it was.
This is truly spectacular in view of what Elon Musk does.
Musk is the greatest grifter this country has ever been milked by – at least insofar as his not being a politician. Biden’s grift is small potatoes in contrast; mere millions – milked from the public teat (and under the table, from shall we say interested parties) over the course of 50 years of “public service.” The service part being accurate in the sense that Biden has been serviced by an unwilling population. 
Musk is smarter than that. He uses grifters like Biden to amplify his own grift. This being both much more remunerative as well as making it more plausible for him to posture as a capitalist. It is the grifter iteration of styling mRNA drugs vaccines. It being useful to present these things as that which they aren’t, because of the positive associations. Of a piece with “asking” people to “pay their fair share.”
Musk is now the hero of the de-feathered, shivering birdies of the right, who thank him effusively for rebranding Twitter as X. And for the “free speech” crumbs he spreads at his feet.
And they ask me why I drink.
. . .
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I am a direct descendent of Lawrence Sutherland, b. 1763 in Suffern, NY. He served in the Revolutionary War. His son James served in the War of 1812. I served in Vietnam. Meh, 2 out of 3 were legal wars of defense. My bad.
Two days ago, I was upbraided by Eloi Muskrat’s AI for a reply to Riley Gaines, who posted about 3 injured (in one game) female players by a single MALE player. The team’s manager forfeited the game rather than risk a 4th injury.
I replied: “If all-female teams don’t allow men to join. If all-female teams don’t play
tranny teams. If stupid public does not attend, then this shit will end.”
Muskrat’s maniacal electronic minion jumped on in less than a minute:
“Your post was detected by our systems for violating the X rules against hateful conduct…promoting violence”…yatta-yatta-yatta.
Yeah, I was offering a way to end violence, but what the hell.
It took FB 14 years to ban me (they were slow to get the hint). Maybe TwiX will figure it out sooner. Or they’ll just shadow ban me to a hall of mirrors, where I’ll still see an audience. LOL!
EP’s forums are as close to social media that I choose to participate in. I was active in a popular hit ‘n’ miss engine forum but the founder’s daughter became overtly authoritarian after he got sick. As for Twitter / X, I just don’t see the value in it. Ditto Facebook, Instagram, etc.
BTW, not that anyone cares, but I am the direct lineal descendant of a Revolutionary War veteran. Also the direct lineal descendant of a War for Southern Independence veteran.
I’m only on Twitter to catch certain news from reliable sources. It’s a one way communication device for me most of the time. Libs of TicToc is a must follow.
I’m a direct descendant of a Cherokee chief from the 1800’s. That part of my family lost that war and was forced to relocate to Oklahoma, where I’ve lived all of my life.
A lot of the native Americans in OK are leftists now a days. But not all of em.
king charles the 3rd said the indigenous own the land…. not him…the crown…@ 9:30 in video…
the crown had allodial title in commonwealth countries…now king charles says they don’t…inferring the indigenous have allodial title now and always did……….this changes a lot….
this means the indigenous have allodial title to the land now…in all commonwealth countries….. about 20% of the planet….
The indigenous are starting their own government @ 09:30 in video
The indigenous are making their own marshalls…police force so they can get control…fight back……@ 11:10 in video…
The indigenous are also bringing in their own banking system and bringing their own currency…@ 12:45 in video
The indigenous are starting producing their own food supply @ 03:00 in video
Chief Muskwa Wahyaw Kayitapit, A Warrior For The People
https://rumble.com/v27sh7s-chief-muskwa-wahyaw-kayitapit-a-warrior-for-the-people.html?fbclid=IwAR3r5_urRG0h2JklxC5qk06771QqpQOY6PkRI3TF_9owutophPbnJdPy3ew
I don’t “get” social media. The people I know in real life I want to communicate directly, and not through the auspices of some spying censoring tech company and in which EVERYONE you communicate with sees everything that you say to everyone else, rendering actual private one-to-one conversations impossible.
Forums and sites like this are different in that they offer a way for strangers who share common interests or values whom you might never encounter in real life, to interact.
Hi Arthur!
Nor I – in re social media. Especially Twitter, which limits the “conversation” to a long sentence, maybe. It is not possible to engage in serious conversation this way. It’s just a tit-for-tat soundbite production line. Also, I object – as an adult – to “tweeting” as such. Isn’t that what little birdies (and 12-year-old girls) do?
You said it, Eric!
I was going to say that NOTHING is worse than Facebook, but seeing as I’ve never even seen a Twitter page, I could be wrong. It’s all the same garbage to me though. It appears that it’s all destroying (Rather than enabling) actual meaningful communication and people’s ability to express themselves.
Eric,
Though I still have my account on Twitter, er X, I hardly use it anymore. Even before Elon bought Twatter, I’d stopped using it much. Why? Like most of social media, it was a big time suck; I was wasting HOURS a day on there! It dawned on me that I have better things to do with my time, so I don’t do much social media anymore. BTW, another good, free speech platform with good values is Gab; I’d encourage all EP Autos readers to go there, not X.
WRT Elon, I wanted to like him, but I can’t. How can I, as a Christian, like anyone who wears a Baphomet costume in his avatar pic? How can I like someone who OVERTLY worships Satan? How can I like a descendant of Canadian, technocratic royalty? How can I like someone who’s the descendant of someone who tried to OVERTHROW the Canadian gov’t about a century ago? You want to know WHY Elon came from South Africa? That’s why; his maternal grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, was TOSSED OUT of Canada after trying to overthrow the gov’t there! And Eric, you’re right: Biden is a RANK AMATEUR when it comes to grifting; he has nothing on Elon! Elon has taken grifting to the next level. He’s ORDERS OF MAGNITUDE beyond Biden! At least he helped us get back into space cost effectively (reusable rockets); that’s something. But yeah, Elon has, shall we say, plenty of skeletons in his closet?
Tesla is in and of itself a good reason to dislike Elon Musk. Tesla’s only positive achievement in its 21 years of existence is to demonstrate once again why EVs are a cul-de-sac – why they fell out of favour a century ago, and why nothing of note has changed since then that would make EVs viable today. Of course, there are Elon bots out there, who make fools of themselves by parroting the usual pro-EV boilerplate, but that doesn’t change reality.
Indeed, Mark!
I use “X” as I would a public urinal. I don’t waste time there. I post links to my articles here, even though I know most of what I post there just disappears into the “time out” room. I have tried to promote Mike Adams’ Brighteon service but – depressingly – it seems most people cling to Twitter like Stalin’s chicken. So many people – including people who know the system is rotten – won’t remove themselves from the system, thereby perpetuating it.
I guess people cling to Twatter, er X, because all the “cool kids” are there. Perhaps it’s because it’s what everyone knows-the devil you know, that sort of thing? I don’t know. All I know is that, in addition to the malevolent intent behind all of social media (to monitor us, propagandize us, etc.), it’s a huge waste of time. Even on Instagram, which I use to follow a few YouTubers I watch, I just pop in for a few minutes at a time, then log off to do other things. I don’t see how or why folks would waste hours of their precious time on any social media, let alone care about how many likes they get.
But yeah, if you want a good alternative to X, I’d highly recommend Gab. It’s like Twitter, but better; you don’t have the character limits, for one thing. I think you do, but it’s like 2,000 characters, so you can make thoughtful posts on it vs. Twatter. You have true freedom on there. Oh, and it’s NOT a public urinal like Twatter is! If you don’t already have a Gab account, I’d encourage you to get one.
Despite all of the grifting that Elon has done, at least Elon has given a platform to Tucker Carlson.
Tucker’s interview of Putin has had millions of views. Most of these viewers have been exposed to the other side of this Ukraine proxy war for the first time, since the coverage of this war by the mainstream media has been nothing but Nato propaganda. Viewers got a chance to learn that Boris Johnson convinced the Ukrainian government to nix a peace treaty that they were prepared to sign, leading to the death of half a million Ukrainian soldiers, most of whom were drafted and sent to the front lines to be slaughtered. Tucker offered to interview Boris Johnson to give him a chance to give his side of this story. Johnson agreed to be interviewed for the price of a cool million dollars. So after being responsible for all of this death and destruction, Johnson still wanted to get paid.
Elon has also spoken out against the WEF depopulation agenda, indicating that be believes that the world needs more people, not fewer people. Elon does not seem to be a supporter of the WEF globalists, unless this is all a charade, which is certainly a possibility.
When Disney tried to blackmail Elon into more censorship of the X platform by threatening to withdraw its advertising, Elon told Bob Iger to go fuck himself. This made my day!
What’s happening here? Suddenly this comment section has turned into a sounding board for for statist politics where Libertarianism is left flapping in the wind while we debate which evil will be the slightly more tolerable evil. This is depressing. Instead, we should be using the current wranglings of the political crime families as an example of inevitable and never ending consequences of authoritarian governance.
Interesting story about Stalin and the chickens. Hadn’t heard that before. Lots to be learned from what happened in Russia 100 years ago. Is it a cautionary tale, or an instruction manual for the control freaks of the world? The story is still being written, so who knows? Things sometimes have a funny way of turning out how we least expect them. I think our Archduke Ferdinand moment might have already come and gone, we just haven’t realized it yet.
Not a single thing you wrote about Twitter is untrue. I have a slightly different take. The shadowing is real, just as it is across the entire internet to some degree or another. The one plus that Twitter offers that makes it useful is the DM.
I remember reading how it was used by those who opposed the Mullahs back in 08-09. They nearly overthrew the clerics using the DM to meet up and cause havoc. Had it not been for our government shutting it down on behalf of the PTB, Iran today might look a lot different.
In the year+ I’ve been on Twitter the only good to come of it was making some new acquaintances IRL and being invited to a local meet up group. They deal with issues we all hold dear, comms, food security, physical security, transport, WWROL. I may or may not have found the group on my own, IDK, but I’m glad I did.I’ve supercharged my garden game, thanks to a couple that live a few miles away from us. And yes the groups are full of feds, but that works both ways.
Who know where this kind of thing goes, the FEMA camp? Or, axes, hammers, pokers, and whatever else is at hand, used mercilessly against every single organ of the state. Plenty of opportunity exists to throw sand in the gears of the machinery. The left knows how to organize, but they will never control more than the big cities unless we let them. It sucks that because of our individualist natures, we are mostly marginalized. Seems like that is our major blind spot. Even a site like this that promotes reasoned discussion and exchange of ideas is to some degree preaching to the digital choir.
Fortunately a place like this still exists where the occasional lost soul wanders off the plantation and into the EP Autos forum. Some take the red pill and dive down the rabbit hole, others not so much. At the end of the day, we’re probably all just howling at the moon.
Kick ass comment, Norman Franklin.
Here in FlyOver country there’s this TeeVee station called, “Outlaw”… it’s showing a KungFu marathon.
At the opening of the episode they have this text ‘warning’ it went something along the lines of, “The contents of this film are not in line with todays outlook on life and may be offensive”.
Or, some such.
…Wish I woulda wrote it down verbatim. It was kinda mind-blowing seeing it, esp. on a cowboy-shoot-’em-up channel called, “Outlaw”.
It made me think of EPA & the bunch here, & elsewhere on The Net,.. “The contents of their minds… are not in line with todays outlook on life and may be offensive”. …Psft!
They even went so far as to stop short and Not show the part where KungFu carries the burning hot pot to the gates to get out.
Imho, that was like, the most important part… anyway, .
The Loyalists skedaddled to New Brunswick, wanted no part of the revolution.
Colonized the place. Free birds, you can fly away wherever you want to go.
I did a search for ‘nibs’, thought I would find the licorice candy, the search had a result of a pen company. A nib is the pen point, made in solid gold, a Birds In Flight pen is the one you want if you want to write it all down with ink.
“The Namiki Emperor Kisshomon Birds In Flight (Oiseaux en Vol) is a masterwork by legendary Maki-e artist Hyakusen Murata. We have just one pen, never used or inked.”
Forget the EV, buy the Birds In Flight pen for 55,000 dollars.
A small tool that allows you to write words, takes up very little space, wields a force mightier than the sword. Fill the pen with ink, never needs recharging.
Worth every penny. Might cost more than you can afford, form a writers’ guild and buy one, the only one, pass it around, make sure you give it back.
100 members, 550 dollars each contribution, you have a museum piece.
Avoid buying an EV, buy the Birds In Flight pen. One of a kind.
Far away over the sea there’s a river that’s calling to me, that river she runs all around in the place that I call my home town…
I’m lost and I wish I were found in the arms of my darling home town – John Prine, My Darling Home Town
If you’re on a budget cheaper fountain pens for around $5.00 delivered off of ebay write quite well, that’s what i usually use.
Musk ain’t a real person. He’s an obvious figment of the state. He’s an employee playing an absurd role as the script writers overextended his character’s reach well beyond Tony Stark.
If you’ve ever tried to start and grow a single company or have had the experience of working for someone who has in those startup days it should be clear to you.
[…] Guest Post by Eric Peters […]
The globalist/ technocratic elite launched a digital coup d’Etat in 2020, which is outlined in the Brownstone Institute piece posted on technocracy dot news……The draconian measures that governments implemented worldwide had NOTHING to do with “Protecting public health”, though there have been people who bought the complete bull crap that it was and attacked people who spoke out and/ or refused to comply with nonsensical diktats such as business closures, social distancing, universal face diaper wearing, and COVID jab mandates…….
https://www.technocracy.news/technocracys-coup-detat-is-fully-underway/
‘Caged birdies.’ — eric
On Tuesday, the ‘Biden’ entity posted a 2-minute tweet denouncing Putin and Trump (who in his confused mind, probably are the same person).
It contains 30 cuts — that is, one every four seconds on average.
Why? ‘Biden’ no longer is capable of reading a 2-minute speech from a teleprompter in one take, without slurring and stumbling over his words.
But with a couple of hours of grueling retakes, and several more hours of aggressive editing, Gramps sounds like a champ … or a chump, if you disagree with his message.
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1760073824387702853
This sad farce, bordering on elder abuse, will be over soon.
in his case, who cares? He has done nothing to stop the abuse being heaped on America’s middle class for 50 years. He aided and abetted the deindustrialization and destruction of this country. So, I really don’t care if he shits in his pants and has to smell it while he is delivering his convoluted message to the country, it is far better than what we may get in the form of a Big Mike or Krazy Camala.
I hope it goes on until Trump runs him out, if that’s possible.
As far as the numbers required to cause rebellion, what percentage of the people prefer moving Mickey’s hands twice a year? I don’t believe I know a single person in favor of Spring Forward, Fall Back. Even the medics are claiming it is literally killing people. (Ok, what’s their angle?) I can’t even count how many times I have heard “This is the last time you will have to do that!” Too many pressing problems like those pesky Ruskies and Palestinians. And what’s in it for the MIC if we do away with the time change?
I have been an advocate of secession for over 50 years. I think I have zero personal acquaintences who think it a good idea. It is going to be hard to arrive at the numbers even the radicals of those 18th century could muster. Most “understand” that Honest Abe settled that once and for all. He was just ranked best president, ever. (Ol’ Joe only placed 14th. Surely due to bias in the judges but they made up for that slight by placing Donnie dead last!)
If it makes you feel any better, I favor secession, the complete dissolution of “our democracy.”
DST is one of those “we’ve always done it this way!” issues. People are used to it. And like when the boot is slightly relaxed from your face, it feels pretty good to see the Sun after work, until you get used to it. And in the winter, well, it gives you something to grouse about around the water cooler.
And most people, because they enjoy the sunshine bump more than the darkness will want DST all the time, even though it really doesn’t have any real connection to circadian rhythms or how we evolved. IMHO there should be an adjustment of work hours instead of 8:00 (used to be 9:00) to 17:00, go with 6:00 or 7:00 to 15:00 or 16:00. But I’m an old man who gets up at 5:00am (and 4:00, 3:00 and sometimes 2:00).
How we designate time has always puzzled me. I never have understood why 1159 is AM but 1200 is PM. But then, I am pretty sure the century began on January 1, 2001. You only need to be able to count to 100 to figure that out. Oh, now I get it!
Hi RK,
I agree it’s mostly inertia – “we’ve always done it this way” – as you mentioned, except it wasn’t always done. Most studies prove all the reasons for doing it are dead wrong, if not having the opposite effect. Every year there’s a bill in Clowngress to end it and every year Lucy pulls the football. Most actual scientists seem to agree that standard time is more inline with our circadian rhythm, but I really don’t care so much about that as just pick one and stay with it, no more clock changing.
“We’ve always done it this way, because my whole life we’ve done it this way, so therefore it’s the only way to do something.”
Call it a generational habit.
Funny that the left liberals want to shake up everything that involves morals and fundamentals, but do nothing (or continue) stupid top-down edicts like DST (brought to us in the modern era by Woodrow Wilson, who wanted an extra hour to golf on weekdays).
A fairly recent (well, 30 years old) policy example of that was the repeal of the 55 mph speed limit. When I was a young kid during the 1980’s, there was an air of resignation about. The 55 mph speed limit was sitting with an 80 percent approval rating among the population. By 1986, the Gallup poll stated that it was at 75 percent, still a sizable percentage of the public.
It looked like we were never going to get rid of the speed limit.
After one stalled attempt to repeal the speed limit, the 97th congress took it up and handed Reagan a speed limit increase to 65 mph on rural interstates.
The 65 mph speed limit became legal in 40 states within a year and maybe 45 by 1995 or so. During the summer of 1994, a poll was taken showing that around 70 percent were happy with the 65 mph rural interstate speed limit. Fewer than 9 percent wanted it lowered to 55 mph.
Through fits and starts, a bill to repeal the 55 mph speed limit was handed to Clinton who reluctantly signed it into law as it was attached to a spending bill. The limit became history on December 8, 1995.
In 2008, we had an unprecedented increase in gasoline prices to over 4 bucks a gallon. A couple of bills were introduced in congress to return the speed limit to 65 mph. They failed remarkably.
The takeaway from the 55 mph limit is that the sheep generally follow the crowd, hate freedom, but are easily swayed by circumstance. At first they approved, then they discovered their freedom wasn’t as bad so they tacitly allow it. I don’t know. I hate people for that reason.
During the COVID “crisis”, I saw a potential repeat of this bullshit. I thought it may take 21 years to get rid of masks or vaccines. Instead, with the proliferation of information online, enough people did not want to let this continue.
Of course, the information readily accessible is what the establishment hates. Maybe that’s why they blacked out cell phones in their drill.
Correction – it was teh 100th congress, not the 97th. The 97th was 1981-82, the first congress of the Reagan Administration. the 104th congress repealed the speed limit entirely.
I’ll probably make some mad, but in reference to covid, i wouldn’t mind it back to some extent. In my perspective it took the sheep and worse, out of our life.
The simple and selfish reason was that I/we had the run of the place.
It also taught my kids a lot, and also how to fight and win.
The roads were empty, you could do 90mph and there was no cop going to pull you over.
Tested it.
You could find the restaurants that weren’t playing the game, and again you had the run of the place (an they were grateful for your biz)
Etc……
We enjoyed that time, cause we didn’t pay attention to it.
I enjoyed having a run of the roads. It felt like it was 1972 again, an era that I missed by about a decade. I didn’t get my license until 1980, during the depths of the 55 mph speed limit. I drove as I always do. I usually cruise at 80-85 and try to hit 100 mph every 200 or so miles on a long trip. The great thing about the highways were that they operated at a level of service A the whole time. You rarely had to change lanes to pass.
I never played the mask game very well, unless I was in an airplane or in a hospital visiting my dying mother in law.
I didn’t feel like I had a run of the place at all. I got thrown out of restaurants, shopping, and grocery stores. Sprouts is on my permanent ban list as a result. Since I never entered a Whole Foods or a Trader Joes during the mask mandates, I haven’t added them to the list, but no, the communists deprived me of my civil rights and civil liberties, with or without the color of law.
With the exception of the empty highways, I don’t miss a damned thing about it.
I had to buy a new car. The old Subaru XT’s head gaskets were gone so it wouldn’t go much over 60 anymore. I didn’t fell like getting the engine rebuilt, and considering all the other problems it was time for it to go.
The empty roads were so nice (so was the low gas prices too $1.16 one time, yes really). I could get to work in under 20 minutes (14 miles), instead of the sometimes 45 minutes now. Today I got a road rager upset when I honked at her when she cut me off, and then she was physically blocking me in when I tried to get away from her when the raging began. People are jack shit insane behind the wheel sometimes yikes.
Hi richb,
I’ve noticed that too, the rampant narcissism of some drivers; they violate all kinds of road rules and then go all ragey if called on it. I try to bite my tongue and avoid confrontation because you never know if these nut jobs are carrying a gun.
Amen!
Shares in EeeVee makers Rivian and Lucid are both down over 20 percent this morning, after reporting more losses.
Time for ‘Biden’ to step in with federal aid for these struggling startups … for the greater good. /sarc
Who will build the e-tanks and e-bradleys of the future for our troops? /LOL
“Who will build the e-tanks and e-bradleys of the future for our troops?”
Oh PLEASE let it be so. Nobody needs to waste a perfectly good RPG when the bad guys’ armor is self immolating…
This is some scary shite here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA5MxSLQoEY
O’keefe sent an undercover journalist to get some inside scoop on what’s going down at the IRS. You wonder why they are hiring by the thousands? AI will out the “cheats” everywhere, and they need personnel to go collect… and kill you if you resist.
I won’t even go into how bad it is. But, if you have a bill that is in dispute (e.g. the taxpayer does not owe it) forget that the IRS is going to read your mailed correspondence, forget trying to make an appointment with your local tax office to discuss the issue, or even get through on the phone line (taxpayer or practitioner). No one answers or nothing works.
Next in line: rolling out IRS Free File to twelve states this year. Yep, nothing like having the fox control the hen house. I am sure the IRS will offer all kinds of recommendations for legit tax deductions on your return (sarc).
I am retired, have no income with withholding, so am required to set up quarterly tax payments every year. Otherwise, I face tax penalties each time I file my taxes. This year, when I tried to sign on to my IRS account, which has been active for many years, I was refused. I had to use a “private” firm called IDme to prove who I am. That entailed uploading a copy of my driver’s license and then using my cell phone to let them take a “live” picture of me for comparison.
I have been fingerprinted several times over the years since I worked a lot of classified projects. Now, to schedule my quarterly estimates, facial recognition is required. This surely will lead to no good. When push comes to shove, (no pun intended) I chose it over sharing a cell with Brutus.
Hi Arylioa,
Why not just mail in a check or pay through IRS’s Direct Pay link? I refuse to register…and I am a freaking tax accountant. I will shutdown before I give them another ounce of information.
The IRS and SSA refused to allow us to file electronically this year for clients without registering. If they wish to make my life hard I too can make theirs more onerous. I prepared the W2s/1099s/etc. and mailed them in. Now the SSA and IRS have to hire more people to physically input the information. Bravo move SSA and IRS. Bravo!
I agree, I should have stopped the process. To tell the truth, I had no idea about Direct Pay or I would have used it. Sometimes one just gets so disgusted he is not willing to fight. I am sure that just my “Star” License already had my mug registered in some database. Let’s face it, I often ask people “You know they know we are talking about this?” and they laugh. Am I really joking, or just presenting the possibility (or certainty)? Winston and Julia thought they had evaded Big Brother in 1984.
I don’t think we are eluding Big Brother by any means. Our phones, TVs, cars are listening devices and there are cameras everywhere. But, I refuse to make it easy on them. They can pierce my information together if they want it so bad. Let them work through various government agencies, wireless networks, and subscriptions to get it. I am not handing it to them on a silver platter and I refuse to offer any additional information that is not mandatory.
Sometimes, the fun is in the chase. Other times it is in the evasion. 🙂
I’ve been mailing hard copies with an actual check for years. I refuse to make it easy on them. I owe about $4250 this year due to cashing an inherited savings bond that matured. I’m not going to figure the penalty for them either. Kids owed a bunch last year, I suggested payments but we all nixed that idea when the IRS required the intrusive IDme account for establishing a payment plan.
Hi Sparkey,
If you have to make an IRS payment and don’t want to send a check there is IRS Direct Pay. It allows you to pay a balance, make an estimated tax payment, extension payment, etc. without jumping through the hoops of id.me. It is pretty straightforward and doesn’t require pics, documents, or cell phone numbers.
FYI for anyone that makes payments online, especially to government agencies…always use a sub account. Never allow any agency, bill provider, vendor, etc. to have access to your operating or savings account. Personally, I don’t even allow deposits to go into mine. I use the sub account for everything and then transfer the amounts. We don’t know who is retaining the information and with the amount of hacking and cyberattacks it is always best to be protected.
Thanks! I’m torn on giving them an electronic payment, figure the paper check is one more physical piece of paper they have to handle so again not making it easy for them. This will come from a lone account at a separate bank either way, as I’m with you on hacking issues.
I have a friend that was a lawyer before going aerospace that insisted on paper as he (bit of a Luddite) claimed paper was the only legal transaction method in the Uniform Commercial Code. Humm. He literally was the last person in the company getting a paper paycheck vs direct deposit.
While Twitter censoring things that either they or .gov do not approve may well be a surprise to some it is not to me. As long as usage of a product or service is voluntary with no coercion expressed or implied I don’t see a problem. The problem is when they cover it up as they have been doing.
The problem then manifests itself when people think they are free to speak and are censored. As long as people accept this it will continue to happen.
Things like the below should be more concerning but I only heard about it today and ask myself what is next.
https://www.breitbart.com/2nd-amendment/2024/02/19/ca-democrats-push-bill-requiring-insurers-to-rat-out-homeowners-who-own-guns/
Two points:
1. There should be an app that aggregates all social media platforms so that you simply post on that app and it automatically uploads it to every social media platform that you direct it to. That way your voice and/or video is seamlessly published everywhere all at once. Dammit, if I had just learned to code when they advised I could be the new Elon, you know.
2. Elon’s a grifter no doubt, but one should give credit where it’s due. Permitting X to serve as a (seemingly) open platform to Tucker has been truly beneficial to mankind. For that Elon should be praised.
Wow, I didnt know Elon coded X.
Im impressed now. . . .
Did Elon actually invent anything?
Many Americans look for a savior. The rest of the world is suspicious of such idolization. I don’t know where the disconnect comes from…maybe because in the USSA we still live in a lap of luxury that the other half of the globe doesn’t experience.
Our delusion will get us killed. This morning a large section of the AT&T telephone network went down in the Southern half of the US. Verizon, Cricket, and T Mobile also experienced outages. Russia is considering launching a nuclear warhead into space to basically destroy communication satellites (not to nuke countries). Related? Maybe. Maybe not.
Are Americans prepared to deal with the consequences if communication is dismantled? Do we have a plan in place if we can’t reach our loved ones, the police, our neighbors, etc.? We better because it is not “if” it happens, but “when” it happens.
I am sure many on this site or more than aware of this, but the majority of our peers are clueless. Their inability to think about the next day, month, or year puts the rest of us into jeopardy, because non prepared people panic and panic nullifies safety. Not only do the able have to fight the enemy, but also the idiots who are causing the chaos.
The revolutionaries of the 1770s were intelligent. They understood the the majority would not follow them so they went around them. They didn’t share their plans knowing full well sheep will always follow. The cause, the leader, the issues are irrelevant to sheep. They are too hypnotized to take a stand.
When an attack happens on our infrastructure, rest assured it won’t be “Russians!”. Oh, it will be blamed on Russians, but it will assuredly be “our” guys that do it. I get the feeling Vlad and company don’t really wish to push any offense. I think they just want to be left alone, and they want to have teeth if push comes to shove. Can’t see anything wrong with that. It’s what America should be doing.
Any major “event” that “occurs will have come out of israel, especially if israel doesn’t get its way. Witness Gaza which is being totally destroyed by the jews per its mandate requiring EVERY man, woman, child, infant, blade of grass to be destroyed.
israel has had a “hard on” for Iran and expects its “lapdog” (USA) to do something about it.
With regards to Gaza, jews are doing nothing different than they did in old times.
You see, jewish mental illness is manifesting itself once again.
Judaism needs a wholesale change from its supremacist destructive ways. Jews have been kicked out of 109 countries throughout history as they did not know how to avoid overreaching and destroying their host societies.
As shitbot crawls outa the sewer grate. . .
This is a union contract renegotiation year for landline at AT&T. Many strange things may happen.
The company broke the union in 2009, but 15 years is a long time:
It must be for Verizon as well. It only took Verizon ten days to finally fix my business landline.
Verizon is next year.
They had a strike in 2016.
Why would we want to reach the police? To commit suicide? The police are at the top of the list of the very ones we should be avoiding at all costs. Remember? They are the matrix between our “rulers” and us. The ones who enforce their dictates while adding their own personal touch of extra violence and stupidity.
That’s why I cringe when I hear an ostensibly “conservative” person bleat on about how cops should do this or that. Or that we should respect them. Nonsense. Treat them with respect if you don’t want to die, but never respect them.
Because, when the EMT and the hearse show up to take away the bodies that you had to shoot for breaking into your home someone has to file the report. They are going to call the cops anyway….well, unless you have a bulldozer. Then you don’t have to call anybody.
Hi RG,
Or a chainsaw. Pieces are easier to dispose of. Make sure you get rid of the teeth and the hands, obviously.
Valid argument, Eric, but so much messier.
Of course, there is also the wonders of the Blue Ridge Mountains and a pack or two of helpful (and hungry) coyotes. They would probably do a lot of the hard work for us. I am all for the wildlife thriving.
Hi Eric
If anyone is going that way I suggest using a metal detector first as medical implants (hips, etc.) are serial numbered and records kept. As for the rest feed them to the hogs and decontaminate the area afterwords. 🙂
Tried Amazing Teutonic multi million body remover?
Suddenly the chat takes a macabre turn. lol
Backhoes are cheaper and more useful than bulldozers. And don’t forget the quicklime!
A friendly farmer with a pig farm can do amazing results when it comes to disposition and elimination of a human body. Pigs will take care of the problem in short order.
Picture a sty fulla well fed hogs fully equipped with Ti implants.
Most people need an internet connection to buy food…shut down the internet and many will starve……shut off the power and their EV is immobile….
With a diesel ice powered vehicle and cash you can get food…..maybe….
I’ve never had a Twitter account, and even after Elon Musk purchased it, I never will. He’s still a billionaire technocrat who advocates, among other things, carbon taxes and implanting chips into people’s brains. Didn’t he also brag recently about Neuralink having implanted its first human brain chip implant?
Musk is like Trump, to some degree. He’s a showman that likes stirring the pot, and making lot’s of money.
‘Biden’s grift is small potatoes in contrast; mere millions.’ — eric
As documented by Hunter’s laptop, the Biden family dissipates rather than accumulates wealth. For their corrupt sponsors, this is ideal. The Bidens are always in need of a cash infusion, and thus always amenable to doing a friend a favor.
Here’s an unsourced account of Biden’s day, which I deem credible:
Hour by sleepy hour, the VERY revealing details of a frail 81-year-old Biden’s day: Woken by his cat Willow … no work before 10 am … physical therapy and slip-proof sneakers … with his aides constantly terrified of disaster.
Aides schedule most of his public events between 10 am and 4 pm because, White House insiders say, ‘that is when he is at his sharpest.’
His news conferences are heavily limited, and he has clocked just half the number of them compared to Obama. He is often late to them, by up to an hour – aides refer to this tardiness as ‘Biden Time’. Follow-up questions are heavily limited in case disaster strikes, as it did recently when he got the Egyptian premier’s name wrong.
The fear of him tripping has consumed his aides and forced the Secret Service to put an extra agent at the bottom of the small Air Force One stairs, in case he repeats one of his calamitous stumbles.
To mitigate that risk, the commander-in-chief also tends to opt for slip-resistant sneakers rather than dress shoes that would usually go with a $2,000 custom Italian suit he pairs with.
————
Another credible forecast is that ‘Biden’ will withdraw his candidacy shortly after the Democratic convention in August. See Eric’s previous column, ‘Big Mike Is Coming.’ This is no joke, folks. ‘Biden’ has malfunctioned and he can’t be fixed. Change is in the air.
I hope not. As frail as he his, I want his kind clobbered by the American people. He spent his entire adult life grifting off our backs. The grifting isn’t what I have a problem with, though. It is the treason. There is a big difference.
The Twitter service itself is a long afternoon CS grad student project and nothing special save for the censorship tools.
What made Twitter “Twitter” is the app running on Apple sail phones, formerly Tweetie, what was initially a free third party program to access the message base in an appealing way.
Twitter recognized early the importance of the dopamine hit from the app, particularly on iOS, another dopamine hit on an OS level, and bought out Tweetie.
Since then, both Apple and Twitter have employed staff psychologists to keep the users coming back.
Twitter started as a way to broadcast SMS messages to friends and groups (that’s why it originally was 140 characters). It got noticed during South by Southwest as the beautiful people caught on. The idea of a web site or apps was only to generate texts, until the investors started pumping in money to make the second Facebook. That’s why the fail whale was a daily occurrence for years. Once someone figured out that sharing links was useful for promoting your content without having Facebook or bloggers copy your content it was taken over by mainstream media, who demanded certified accounts, and promotion. That’s fine, but it led to just another way for mainstream outlets to promote themselves. Likening and retweeting content is the real problem, as is the thread battleground.
South by southwest memory.
2013. So much pressure on Austin sewers that raw sewage is running across Barton Springs street from all those beautiful D mode phanz.
EV kid can have it.