Ending Stupidity

and about time, too:

It appears the Biden Administration has ceded to increasing calls for an onerous COVID vaccine mandate to end for international air travelers, along with federal workers and contractors.

Stuff doesn’t seem to have worked, caused possibly thousands of unnecessary deaths all by itself, and was the basis for so much governmental overreach and, in some cases, outright thuggery.

Good riddance, and don’t bother doing it again, no matter how scary the poxes and plagues look.  We’re not going to be panicked, or bullied, next time.

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.

Going Dutch

Looks like even the placid Dutch have had enough with the Gree Nude Heel:

The upstart populist pro-farmer party FarmerCitizenMovement (BoerBurgerBeweging, or BBB) shook the foundations of politics in the Netherlands overnight, securing a significant victory in Wednesday’s provincial elections on the back of growing resentment against the globalist government of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his plans to introduce Great Reset-style environmental policies.

At the time of this reporting, BBB is expected to pick up an astonishing 16 seats in the 75-seat Senate, after previously holding zero. With 94 per cent of the vote counted, turnout is projected to have been around 57.5 per cent, the highest since the 1980s.

…and with good reason:

The driving factor for the groundswell of support for the pro-farming party was opposition to the government’s plans to implement EU-mandated cuts on the use of nitrogen fertilisers by as much as 70 per cent in some areas of the country by the end of the decade, with 92 per cent of BBB voters citing the policy as a motivating factor for their vote.

The elections, which also will determine the makeup of the provincial governments, could see the BBB take power in the very regions that the government is trying to impose its green agenda, potentially spelling more problems for the globalist governing coalition, which saw its total number of seats fall from 32 to 24.

However:

Despite the trouncing in last night’s elections, the government’s minister for nature and nitrogen policy, Christianne van der Wal signaled on Thursday morning that the controversial nitrogen policy will continue to be on the agenda because the government believes it is mandated to push it through under EU law. 

From the newcomers:

In response, the BBB leader Van der Plas said that her comments were “complete bullshit” and that “everything can change, if you want.”

We could use some of that plain language Over Here.

Well done, Dutchies!

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.