Two Choices

Well, here’s confirmation of something we’ve all been suspecting for a while:

Our government is preparing to monitor every word Americans say on the internet—the speech of journalists, politicians, religious organizations, advocacy groups, and even private citizens. Should those conversations conflict with the government’s viewpoint about what is in the best interests of our country and her citizens, that speech will be silenced.

Research by The Federalist reveals our tax dollars are funding the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) technology that will allow the government to easily discover “problematic” speech and track Americans reading or partaking in such conversations.

Then, in partnership with Big Tech, Big Business, and media outlets, the government will ensure the speech is censored, under the guise of combatting “misinformation” and “disinformation.”

Originally used as a marketing tool for businesses to track discussions about their brands and products and to track competitors, the DOD and other federal agencies are now paying for-profit public relations and communications firms to convert their technology into tools for the government to monitor speech on the internet.

The areas of the internet the companies monitor differ somewhat, and each business offers its own unique AI and ML proprietary technology, but the underlying approach and goals remain identical: The technology under development will “mine” large portions of the internet and identify conversations deemed indicative of an emerging harmful narrative, to allow the government to track those “threats” and adopt countermeasures before the messages go viral.

One would hope, of course, that this gross breach of the First Amendment would not pass judicial muster, but in true fascist form, the State has simply farmed its bastardy out to the private sector, thus creating a Clinton-like “technicality” that creates plausible deniability.

I also have no faith — none — that the Supreme Court will act in the Constitution’s best interests.  (Okay, maybe a couple of the conservative  justices may throw a hissy fit, but let’s just say that I wouldn’t put money on a full court decision because the Communist bloc will never vote against the socialist government, and the chief justice is a craven little fart who seems to caste his vote according to the New York fucking Times  editorial opinion.)

The two choices one faces in confronting this looming catastrophe are therefore:

  1. Try to go “underground” (e.g. using the Soviet-era samizdat  method) and hope that one can go undetected by the feral ferrets, or
  2. Stand astride the barricades, shouting “FUCK YOU!” at the top of your voice, at every opportunity.

The first choice is probably doomed to failure, if The Federalist is to be believed, because these bastards have already the tools to do what they want to do.  Remember, the power of samizdat lay on the fact that it used actual paper — hidden printing presses and such — to spread the counter-State “disinformation”.  Consider that your Epson or Brother printer already records everything you print and can therefore point a finger right at you, if you are judged to have written doubleplusungood crimethink, and the paper option disappears pretty quickly.

Longtime Readers will know that I’m far more likely to take the second choice, simply because that’s the path I’ve always chosen.  Yes, it’s most likely a stupid, futile gesture just like the Delta frat’s destruction of the Animal House town parade;  but always remember that in such a situation the Niedermayer character — the State — won’t be the only one carrying live ammunition.

And as I’ve said several times in the past that when it comes to dying I’d prefer to die in my wife’s arms;  but spitting and cursing at the State from the barricades surrounded by expended brass doesn’t hold much terror, either.

I’m speaking figuratively, of course, in the latter scenario — but unfortunately for the State apparatchiks, I took an oath when I became a U.S. citizen, and I take that oath really seriously.  My allegiance is not to the State — in whatever flavor it comes — but to the ideals and promises contained in the Constitution.

And I don’t need the fucking lawyers on the Supreme Court to interpret them for me.

Spying On Spending

Oh, here’s a nice one, if the meaning of “nice” includes having the State’s Big Dick shoved up your ass in real time:

Government Will Track Every Dime You Spend

  • Under this new digital currency, any transfer of funds to family, friends, charities, or clients would be able to be tracked by the nation’s central bank that issued this virtual money. Big Brother will be in your wallet every hour or every day. You will not be able to buy a stick of gum without a Federal Reserve computer knowing where, when, and to whom you just put down a buck.
  • We should be rightfully concerned about inflation, energy independence, aggressor nations armed with nuclear weapons, and woke public policies that denigrate the very foundation of this great country. But these are jabs compared to the enormous destructive power of a digital currency “option” slipped into Executive Order 14067.

Read the whole article to get a full flavor of this bastardy.

And by Executive Order, not through law voted on by Congress.  My suggestions:

Envious Socialism, Part 17

Here’s a headline which made the news recently:

BBC star Gabby Logan and her husband Kenny were paid more than £500,000 to promote major tax avoidance scheme to their celebrity friends

…followed by:

The tax avoidance scheme sparked a huge public backlash when it was exposed

…followed WAY down the page by this little admission:

There is no suggestion of illegality on the part of Mr or Mrs Logan, or any other celebrities mentioned.

In other words, these folks used their popularity and names to pimp a legal product to their friends.  Happens every day, so why the fuss?

Because some most  people in Britishland seem to think that tax avoidance is the same as tax evasion — which they aren’t of course;  the first is not only legal but praiseworthy, while the second is a crime, ask Boris Becker — the lovely Gabby and her handsome hubby are going to be “called as witnesses” in a court case which they aren’t involved with.

And let’s not even talk about the “public backlash” from the Perpetually Envious Set, who think that the government is “owed” tax money (when in fact it’s extorted at gunpoint).

Anyway, the pics of Gabby in the linked article are total crap.  Here are a couple of good ones, from my files:

All part of the service, no need to thank me.

Mission Creepy

As if we don’t have enough government tentacles encroaching onto every aspect of our private lives, we now have this bullshit:

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said, “Let me make clear, the United States and the allies, our support for Ukraine will be lasting and is unconditional. We stand with Ukraine and want to support Ukraine.”

Ummm since when did foreign policy fall under the purview of the Treasury Department?

Or is it all just One Big Gummint now (don’t answer that, or I’ll be forced to buy another 1,000-round case of AK ammo).

Bureaucrats And Politicians

I see that The Greatest Living Englishman will be back for a third season of Clarkson’s Farm, and I couldn’t be happier.

Having just binge-watched Season Two (on Amazon Prime), however, I must say that I now understand why Brits aren’t allowed to own AK-47s — because after watching the show-behind-the-show (Jeremy’s clashes with Parliament, the West Oxfordshire Council, and the local village council) which explains in excruciating detail how Britain’s farmers are being fucked six ways to Sunday by all the above, all I wanted to do was reach for mine and do a little hunting.

And not badgers, although they too need to be exterminated.  Badgers spread bovine TB, but they’re protected ergo you can’t kill them, so if you’re a cattle farmer, you are essentially powerless and you’re going to go out of business.

Time after time, Jeremy’s attempts to make his farm at least marginally profitable are thwarted by bureaucracy — good grief, just his struggle to “register” newborn calves with their unique ID codes (quoi?) had me climbing out of my seat in frustration.  But then there’s this:

Council:  All the farm store’s customers’ cars are parking on the roadside verges and causing traffic problems.
Clarkson:  Can I put in a gravel parking lot on my own land to accommodate them and end the problem?
Council:  No.

And then:

Clarkson:  Can I build a small restaurant (using an existing building) that will provide jobs for locals and help the local farmers, all of whom are going to go bankrupt because of government-created problems?
Council:  No.
Clarkson:  Why not?
Council:  Because you don’t have a parking lot to hold the customers’ cars.

If you haven’t watched the series yet, you should — if not at home (because you don’t have Doubleplusgood-Bezos), then at a friend’s- or family member’s house.  Apart from the frustrated hatred the show engenders, it’s also wonderfully funny, in a way that only Clarkson can create.

Just lock the guns away first, or a new TV might be in your future.

Leviathan

Via Insty, I see that our Stasi have grandiose plans:

The federal government is proceeding with plans to build a new FBI headquarters complex twice the size of the Pentagon building. 

Riveted into the colossal new project are woke regulations to ensure that the FBI center will comply with diversity, equity, LGBTQ+, and climate change political goals. 

The plan, unveiled last September, has received little attention. For years the FBI has sought to vacate its present headquarters, a brutalist concrete bunker on stilts and occupying two city blocks between the White House and the Capitol. 

Plans for the new FBI headquarters specify that it will be built on one of three sites in suburban Virginia and Maryland. Those sites are large parcels of 58, 61, and 80 acres.

You motherfuckers.  You can’t even do the job you’re supposed to do — but now we have to pay for a gargantuan edifice to house all your un-American activities (spying on angry parents, scanning social media to track down people who make “hurtful” comments, etc.)?  A pox on you all.

To our elected Republican representatives in Congress:  fund this bullshit, and expect voter fury.  And if you do decide to risk your political futures and fund this gross example of bureaucratic overreach, make sure that it’s located not on expensive real estate in Virginia and Maryland, but on inexpensive land in, say, northeastern Wyoming, eastern Montana or central North- or South Dakota — split across three states so that the states are not suddenly faced with a massive influx of undesirable Democrat-bureaucrat voters, and powered only by a wind farm and rooftop solar panels located on the property itself (because climate change).

I’m still in favor of the no-fund option, because fuck knows how we’re going to find the money to pay for this extravagance.

And fuck the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in case someone has any doubt of my utter loathing for this bastard bureaucracy.