Tag: You’re Doing it Right

Mexican Citizens Taking Up Arms Against the State’s Decrees

What do you do when the state ruling over your area refuses to protect you and even goes so far as to make it illegal to protect yourself? You give them the middle finger, which is what many Mexican citizens are doing to protect themselves against the drug cartels:

In Mexico, where criminals are armed to the teeth with high-powered weapons smuggled from the United States, it may come as a surprise that the country has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the world.

Smuggled in by our government as part of Operation Fast and Furious.

But on July 7, 2009, close to 20 men showed up at Benjamin LeBaron’s house, according to his older brother, Julian LeBaron.

“They wanted to terrorize everyone into never opposing them,” Julian LeBaron says. “They dragged Benjamin out of his house, and [his brother-in-law Luis Widmar] came to help him.”

Then, he says, the criminals took the two men a couple of miles down the road and shot them.

The cold-blooded murders of Benjamin LeBaron and Luis Widmar galvanized the community, Julian LeBaron says. It prompted them to take a stance that is familiar to Second Amendment advocates in the U.S., but one that is taboo in Mexico.

“I think there would be less violence if there were more guns, in the sense that I could barge in here and do whatever I want, knowing that this guy doesn’t have a gun,” says Jose Widmar, the brother of slain Luis.

Today, if the gangsters return, the LeBaron colony is locked and loaded.

The average person in the United States and most European nations are fortunate that they can live a life relatively free of violence. Unfortunately relatively safe lives lead people to forget the necessity of self-defense and thus lose pasion for their right to keep and bear arms.

These lessons are quickly being learned in Mexico though, where armed drug cartels all but run the country and view human life as being without value. The Mexican government has been unable to protect the people yet demand the people be unarmed. Now people living in Mexico are going to the really free market (often incorrectly called the black market) to obtain the means of personal defense. I commend these people and demand those advocating for the disarmament of the citizenry explain what alternative these people have.

Supreme Court Puts the Kibosh on Warrantless GPS Tracking

The Supreme Court finally ruled on whether or not government agencies can use GPS tracking devices to track suspects without first getting a warrant. According to a unanimous ruling they can’t:

The Supreme Court on Monday unanimously restricted the police’s ability to use a GPS device to track criminal suspects in a first test of how privacy rights will be protected in the digital age.

The court rejected the government’s view that long-term surveillance of a suspect by GPS tracking is no different than traditional, low-tech forms of monitoring. But its decision was nuanced and incremental, leaving open the larger questions of how government may use the information generated by modern technology for surveillance purposes.

This ruling is one of those few speed bumps being encountered by the government as it speeds down the road to tyranny and I’m glad for it. Anybody with a couple of brain cells to rub together would be able to determine attaching a GPS tracking device to a suspect’s car without so much as a warrant is a complete violation of the Fourth Amendment.

The complete Supreme Court writeup can be found here [PDF].

Investigation into Google’s Relationship with the NSA Requested

Some people are finally finding Google’s relationship with the United States government a bit creepy and have asked “representative” Issa (the man who’s investigating Fast and Furious)to perform an investigation:

Consumer Watchdog, an advocacy group largely focused in recent years on Google’s privacy practices, has called on a congressional investigation into the Internet giant’s “cozy” relationship with U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration.

In a letter sent Monday, Consumer Watchdog asked Representative Darrell Issa, the new chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, to investigate the relationship between Google and several government agencies.

The group asked Issa to investigate contracts at several U.S. agencies for Google technology and services, the “secretive” relationship between Google and the U.S. National Security Agency, and the company’s use of a U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration airfield in California.

While such an investigation may be interesting it really won’t help people learn the lesson that your data is never private if it’s on a server you don’t entirely control. If the likes of Facebook, Google, and Yahoo don’t have your personal information they can’t give it away to anybody. With Facebook receiving money from the CIA’s venture capitalist fund and Google’s CEO being so tightly tied to the Obama administration there should be no belief any information stored with either service will not fall into the hands of Big Brother.

I really do hope Issa starts an investigation because I want to know how deep the rabbit hole goes. More importantly I want to see what maneuvers will be used to keep information about the rabbit hole away from the prying eyes of concerned citizens.

Ron Paul Introduces Legislation to Repeal Section 1021 of the Recently Passed National Defense Authorization Act

Now that I’m back in Minnesota I’ve been scrambling to catch up on any news I may have missed these last two days. I was very glad to see the following released by Ron Paul:

Mr. Speaker: I rise today to introduce a very simple piece of legislation to repeal the infamous Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act, quietly signed into law by the president on New Year’s Day.

Section 1021 essentially codifies into law the very dubious claim of presidential authority under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force to indefinitely detain American citizens without access to legal representation or due process of law. Section 1021 provides for the possibility of the US military acting as a kind of police force on US soil, apprehending terror suspects – including Americans — and whisking them off to an undisclosed location indefinitely. No right to attorney, no right to trial, no day in court.

Dr. Paul once again demonstrates that he’s the only presidential candidate, hell perhaps one of the only politicians, who actually gives a shit about the people. While Nobel Peace Prize winner and war monger Obama signed legislation that gave himself the power to indefinitely detain American citizens without so much as due process Paul is working to reinstate some of our most fundamental freedoms.

The EFF Files Suite Against FAA Regarding Drone Flights

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has filed a suit against the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regarding drone flights in the United States:

Today, EFF filed suit against the Federal Aviation Administration seeking information on drone flights in the United States. The FAA is the sole entity within the federal government capable of authorizing domestic drone flights, and for too long now, it has failed to release specific and detailed information on who is authorized to fly drones within US borders.

Up until a few years ago, most Americans didn’t know much about drones or unmanned aircraft. However, the U.S. military has been using drones in its various wars and conflicts around the world for more than 15 years, using the Predator drone for the first time in Bosnia in 1995, and the Global Hawk drone in Afghanistan in 2001.

[…]

Now drones are also being used domestically for non-military purposes, raising significant privacy concerns. For example, this past December, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) purchased its ninth drone. It uses these drones inside the United States to patrol the U.S. borders—which most would argue is within its agency mandate—but it also uses them to aid state and local police for routine law enforcement purposes. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reported in December that CBP used one of its Predators to roust out cattle rustlers in North Dakota. The Times quoted local police as saying they “have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base to fly at least two dozen surveillance flights since June.” State and local police are also using their own drones for routine law enforcement activities from catching drug dealers to finding missing persons. Some within law enforcement have even proposed using drones to record traffic violations.

The FAA, having total control over all aerial flights in the United States, are the only entity who is likely to both know where drones are flying and be unable to hide behind various military classifications. Obtaining this information would be of great value because it would allow us peasants to know if the government is using drones to spy domestically as well as abroad.

The Morality of Capitalism

I came across an excellent speech by Jeffrey Tucker where he talks about the morality of capitalism. As usual Tucker makes some excellent points that anybody but the most brainwashed statist could understand.

The best point Tucker made in his speech was the fact free markets are the only economic system that doesn’t require coercion. Other economics systems such as socialism, fascism, and mercantilism all require the use of force to ensure everybody plays by the established rules whereas free market capitalism holds no such requirements.

Massad Ayoob on the Brady Campaign Light a Candle Publicity Stunt

In the self-defense community Massad Ayoob is one of the advocates I respect most. He’s dedicated a great deal of his time to educated people on matters of self-defense. While Mr. Ayoob spends his time teaching people how to defend themselves instead of being victims the Brady Campaign spent its time telling people to light a candle in remembrance of those who have been killed by guns (because victims of other violent crimes don’t matter to them and they would rather a woman be raped than a rapist be shot). As usual Mr. Ayoob has some words of wisdom to share with us:

If some monster tries to rape or murder a woman I care about, I don’t want him to see the flickering light of a candle.

I want him to see a muzzle flash, from the front.

Damn right. While I’m entirely opposed to initiating violence I am entirely in support of the right of self-defense. If some piece of shit has decided your life is no longer of value you shouldn’t hold their life to be of value either.

An Open Letter to Anti-Gunners

There are many reasons why individuals fighting for gun rights win against those who fight to disarm the populace. Beyond the facts though another thing that really helps us is our community, which A Girl and Her Gun describes beautifully:

The gun community is a generous community. It is unlike any other I have been associated with.

I did, for a while, belong to the adoption community for a few years and though I am still crazy passionate about children and orphans.

Those are not my people.

I did, for a while, belong to the church going Christian community and though I am still crazy passionate about God.

Those are not my people.

Generally a group, any group, has an agenda. Stated or not. Conscious or not. No matter how well meaning, they almost always want something.

That something is usually steeped in power and control.

Politicians, religions, schools, the anti gun crowd, you name it. They want to bring you for what you can give them, which is often nothing more than a feeling of power and self worth for the leaders of the group.

They want to take something from you in order to gain something for themselves.

Not this group.

It’s a great letter and perfectly describes how great the gun community really is.

Vermin Supreme 2012

It’s no secret that I’m a big Ron Paul supporter but I think I may have found a presidential candidate that would be even better. Vermin Supreme describes himself as a friendly fascist who will promise is constituents everything because he has no intention of ever delivering on those promises. He also advocates giving every American a pony, a plan nobody could refute in its wisdom and clarity: