Category: News You Need to Know

Preventing You from Leaving

Last week I gave my predictions for France, most of which were pulled from the book Pictures of a Socialistic Future [PDF]. Pictures of a Socialistic Future was a took written at the end of the 1800s that property predicted many things that would happen in socialist countries. One of the predictions was the socialist state would face a massive exodus of people and would implement laws preventing unapproved departures from the country. Such laws have been implemented in many socialist countries and are put into place to keep wealth and labor in the country by force. Guess what? The United States is officially announcing plans to implement such laws:

Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has a status update for Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin: Stop attempting to dodge your taxes by renouncing your U.S. citizenship or never come to back to the U.S. again.

[…]

At a news conference this morning, Sens. Schumer and Bob Casey, D-Pa., will unveil the “Ex-PATRIOT” – “Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy” – Act to respond directly to Saverin’s move, which they dub a “scheme” that would “help him duck up to $67 million in taxes.”

The senators will call Saverin’s move an “outrage” and will outline their plan to re-impose taxes on expatriates like Saverin even after they flee the United States and take up residence in a foreign country. Their proposal would also impose a mandatory 30 percent tax on the capital gains of anybody who renounces their U.S. citizenship.

The process of preventing people from leaving the United States has been underway for a while. Earlier this year legislation was announced that would prevent those who owe taxes from leaving the country. Now the state is moving to make laws that will make it legal for the state to plunder a great deal of your wealth if you decide to renounce your citizenship. Ladies and gentlemen, it doesn’t get much more blatant than this.

You are not a citizen, you are not a free individual, you are a slave according to the state. In their eyes they own you, you are their property. Honestly, if you have any wealth whatsoever get the fuck out of this country now. The ship is sinking and the state is looking to transfer any and all wealth from the people to its cronies and agents before there is no wealth left to take. Eugene Richter warned us what socialism would bring in Pictures of a Socialistic Future and nobody felt it was worth heading his warning. Right now the state is targeting the wealthy because they have the most to take but you can rest assured that laws preventing the departure from the United States will only expand.

Also, the the Expatriation Prevention by Abolishing Tax-Related Incentives for Offshore Tenancy Act? EX-PATRIOT Act? Really? Really?! Who the fuck is paid to come up with these acronyms?

I hat tip to Snarky Bytes for this revealing story.

So Much for a Straight Forward Case

The Zimmerman case has been extremely difficult to follow because of the vast amount of incorrect information be spouted by media outlets. Now that an official investigation is behind held to determine whether or not Zimmerman’s trail will go forward we’re getting more and more evidence supporting Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense. First information about Zimmerman’s injuries were released:

Medical records showing that George Zimmerman was treated for a fractured nose and cuts to the back of his head after fatally shooting 17-year-old Trayvon Martin will likely bolster Zimmerman’s argument that Martin attacked him, CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford said on “CBS This Morning” Wednesday.

The records came to light Tuesday. CBS News has also confirmed they show that Zimmerman had a pair of black eyes when he was examined by a doctor Feb. 27, the day after he shot Martin in a gated Florida community. Zimmerman, who has claimed self-defense, faces a charge of second-degree murder in the shooting.

“This now allows the defense to show up in the courtroom, let George Zimmerman tell his story and bring in a medical expert that says, ‘Black and blue under the eyes, broken nose, cut on the back of the head,'” said Ford, “and the defense can argue that’s consistent with George Zimmerman being attacked by Trayvon Martin, and then the Stand Your Ground defense comes into play.”

Now information has been released indicating damage to Martin’s knuckles that is consistent with the claim that he was punching Zimmerman in the face and that Zimmerman fired at point-blank range:

Cell phone records from Zimmerman that include text messages he sent up to one month after the shooting

There are also two surveillance videos, one from the 7-11 where Martin bought Skittles and an ice tea, the other from the clubhouse in the gated subdivision where Zimmerman shot him.

The special prosecutor’s case also includes Zimmerman’s medical report the day after the shooting. It listed a broken nose, two black eyes and a cut in the back of the head.

A source also told CBS News an unreleased police report noted Zimmerman’s sweatshirt had “grass stains, and was wet on the back.”

Details from Trayvon Martin’s autopsy show the bullet entered the left side of his chest, and shattered the ventrical, one of his heart’s two large chambers but the round did not leave his body.

It’s unfortunate that many people have such an emotional investment in this case that they are unwilling to acknowledge the possibility of Zimmerman’s innocence. I’ve already heard conspiracy theories that claim the doctors who testified to Zimmerman’s injuries were paid off, that the coroner fabricated the evidence of damage to Martin’s knuckles, and that the police have been continuing to fabricate evidence. Apparently Florida is so incredibly racist that it’s not even difficult to get so many people to hop on board this little conspiracy.

This is why the court of public opinion is a bad thing to rely on. If we had relied on public opinion then Zimmerman would likely have been hanged. Even if he’s ruled innocent based on the evidence being brought to light it won’t matter, many people have convinced themselves that Zimmerman is guilty and that law enforcement has generated a massive conspiracy to cover up a race-based crime. No matter what evidence is put forward these people will never believe Zimmerman is innocent and they may decide to exact “justice” after the trial is concluded or dismissed.

Whether he’s ruled guilty or innocent, Zimmerman’s life is probably ruined.

The NDAA Blocked in Court for Now

Some rare good news has finally emerged from our court system, parts of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) have been blocked:

A federal judge temporarily blocked enforcement of a part of the National Defense Authorization Act that opponents claim could subject them to indefinite military detention for activities including news reporting and political activism.

U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan today ruled in favor of a group of writers and activists who sued President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and the Defense Department, claiming a provision of the act, signed into law Dec. 31, puts them in fear that they could be arrested and held by U.S. armed forces.

[…]

Forrest’s order prevents enforcement of the provision of the statute pending further order of the court or an amendment to the statute by Congress.

Of course I expect an overturn or an amendment to the statute by Congress soon. I highly doubt the state is going to let a minor technicality get between it and total tyranny.

What About the Roads

In libertarian circles the phrase, “What about the roads?” has become a favorite when mocking statists. Statists believe that the government brought roads to humanity in the same way the Greek believed Prometheus brought fire. It is their belief that without the state there would be no roads so this story my be heresy:

Their livelihood was being threatened, and they were tired of waiting for government help, so business owners and residents on Hawaii’s Kauai island pulled together and completed a $4 million repair job to a state park — for free.

[…]

And if the repairs weren’t made, some business owners faced the possibility of having to shut down.

Ivan Slack, co-owner of Napali Kayak, said his company relies solely on revenue from kayak tours and needs the state park to be open to operate. The company jumped in and donated resources because it knew that without the repairs, Napali Kayak would be in financial trouble.

“If the park is not open, it would be extreme for us, to say the least,” he said. “Bankruptcy would be imminent. How many years can you be expected to continue operating, owning 15-passenger vans, $2 million in insurance and a staff? For us, it was crucial, and our survival was dependent on it. That park is the key to the sheer survival of the business.”

So Slack, other business owners and residents made the decision not to sit on their hands and wait for state money that many expected would never come. Instead, they pulled together machinery and manpower and hit the ground running March 23. Watch the volunteers repairing the road »

And after only eight days, all of the repairs were done, Pleas said. It was a shockingly quick fix to a problem that may have taken much longer if they waited for state money to funnel in.

Once again those evil capitalists stepped in and helped people. While the state claimed repairing the road would require $4 million, a massive sum they didn’t have available, business owners facing bankruptcy decided to move in and fix the roads necessary to get customers to the business. This also demonstrates one of many possible ways transportation can be provided without the state.

What good is a business if customers can’t get to it? None. Businesses need to have a means for customers to get from their homes to the places of business. Even Internet based businesses like Amazon require infrastructure to get their goods from warehouses to customers’ homes. The bottom line is transportation is needed for commerce so it’s in the best interests of businesses to ensure proper infrastructure exists.

Most people get caught up in a vicious cycle where they believe things are done the way they are done because that is the only way they can be done. Entrepreneurs are different, they see the way things are currently done as inefficient or ineffective and work to provide them better. This is why the free market works, innovators see a need and try to fulfill that need. Sometimes they are wrong and end up going broke but other times they are successful and are rewarded for their efforts by customers.

Roads are no different than any other good or service, they can be provided by any individual or group of individuals. The key difference is that, unlike the state, the reward individuals receive is based on how well they provide a good or service. If the good or service they provide is done so inefficiently then another entrepreneur will move in and provide it more efficiently. If the good or service they provide is unwanted by consumers then they go broke. When the state provides an inefficient servie the people are forced to pay for it regardless and no hope of competition exists in most cases. We get caught in a vicious cycle of being provided shitty goods and services while also being force fed the idea that the good and service can only be provided by the state, that the market is incapable of such a feat.

If You Haven’t Already Fled California You Should Soon

If I have any readers in California let me extend my sympathies. Not only do you have to suffer from draconian gun control laws but your state is also a sinking ship economically. Apparently the politicians of that state aren’t content with the people they’ve already driven off by their ever increasing tax rates since they’re looking to jack up the taxes again:

California also hopes for $1.5bn in revenue over the next year after this week’s Facebook stock flotation.

In outlining the proposal, the Democratic governor said on Monday the state could not overcome its deficit by cuts alone.

“It’s taken more than a decade to get into this mess. We’re not going to get out of it in a year,” he told reporters. “But we’re making real progress.”

California residents will vote in November on an increase in the sales tax as well as an income tax rise on those making more than $250,000 yearly. Both measures would be temporary and would also increase education spending.

First of all let me just remind people that temporary tax increases have a habit of becoming permanent. With that said those of you making $250,000 or more and live in California you can rest assured that your potential new tax rate of 10.3% is likely be temporary… because your government officials will try to increase it again and again. California is the poster child for stupid economic policies. It demonstrates what happens when the collectivists get their way. As the state moves to bleed every wealth producer dry those wealth producers leave the state and take their jobs with them. While the collectivists scream “Tax the rich!” they forget that “the rich” are the ones who have enough resources to pack up and go elsewhere.

If you live in that state you should get the heck out of there now before they start preventing people from leaving.

It’s Not the People Who Vote That Count, It’s the Machines That Count the Votes.

Many districts have been pushing hard for electronic voting machines. People believe that electronic devices are going to be more reliable for elections than any mechanical system could be. Machines that are used in the voting process are mechanically simple and thus it’s fairly easy to predict what kind of failures you’ll run into unlike complex electronic devices:

Tests on an electronic voting machine that recorded shockingly high numbers of extra votes in the 2010 election show that overheating may have caused upwards of 30 percent of the votes in a South Bronx voting precinct to go uncounted.

WNYC first reported on the issue in December 2011, when it was found that tens of thousands of votes in the 2010 elections went uncounted because electronic voting machines counted more than one vote in a race.

A review by the state Board of Election and the electronic voting machines’ manufacturer ES&S found that these “over votes,” as they’re called, were due to a machine error. In the report issued by ES&S, when the machine used in the South Bronx overheated, ballots run during a test began coming back with errors.

“After lunch [when the machine was idle for about an hour] almost every ballot was read incorrectly, in all orientations, even ballots that had read correctly just before lunch,” the ES&S report said.

Electronics are finicky and generally much more prone to unpredictable failures than mechanical devices. Minor variances in temperature, moisture, and electrical conditions can cause electronics to fail in strange and difficult to predict ways. Combine this with the fact computer software is almost impossible to write well and you have a perfect storm for massive electron fraud.

I Hope Bachmann Does the Right Thing

Michelle Bachmann, runner up for craziest Minnesota politician (Lynne Torgerson currently holds the title), has obtained a Swiss citizenship:

Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has been granted citizenship in Switzerland.

Bachmann’s spokeswoman Becky Rogness says the congresswoman has been eligible for dual citizenship since she married her husband of Swiss descent in 1978.

I hope Bachmann does the right thing and renounces her American citizenship. The quicker she’s out of the country the better this country will be.

The CIA Captured Their Own Man

The news has been covering the Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) foiling of the “updated underwear bomber.” I didn’t bother to cover this because I was waiting for the punchline and it has been delivered:

The would-be bomber in the recently-uncovered plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner leaving Yemen was an undercover intelligence agent. The plot was revealed to U.S. intelligence officials based on a tip by Saudi intelligence services, and had been revealed by a Saudi intelligence source who had been inside Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and providing information to the Saudis and the CIA for some time.

CBS News correspondent John Miller, a former assistant director at the FBI, reports that the double-agent revelation goes right to the heart of an intelligence agency’s nightmare, which is identifying a source that they’ve placed inside an organization.

Great job guys, you did some bang up investigatory work. You managed to not only foil an “updated underwear bomb” scheme but you also managed to catch one of your own agents. With quality work like this I feel safer already.

The Twin Cities Isn’t Kind to Metal Bands

At this rate metal bands aren’t going to come anywhere near the Twin Cities. First the lead singer for GWAR dies have playing here and now the lead singer for Opeth got into a car accident on his way to last night’s show.

I swear to Thor if anything happens to Sabaton when they “>come next week I will burn the entire Twin Cities region to the ground.

You Need the States Permission for Everything

It seems you need the state’s stamp of approval to do anything, including reincarnate:

In one of history’s more absurd acts of totalitarianism, China has banned Buddhist monks in Tibet from reincarnating without government permission. According to a statement issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs, the law, which goes into effect next month and strictly stipulates the procedures by which one is to reincarnate, is “an important move to institutionalize management of reincarnation.” But beyond the irony lies China’s true motive: to cut off the influence of the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual and political leader, and to quell the region’s Buddhist religious establishment more than 50 years after China invaded the small Himalayan country.

I’m not sure what China is thinking with this one. They want to reduce the influence of the Dalai Lama but I’m guessing Buddism doesn’t stipulate that the state must give one permission before they can reincarnate.

Honestly this ruling is just weird, I wonder if the politicians stopped to consider how this law would be enforced before passing it.