Posts Tagged → laws
Should conservative Americans travel abroad?
Earlier this year several news stories circulated about American tourists being jailed in Caribbean island nations, because one or two loose and forgotten hunting bullets were found lodged deeply in remote seams and pocket corners of their luggage.
While firearms are mostly illegal in these Caribbean island nations, American tourists vacationing on Caribbean beaches were treated as violent criminals when single stray bullets were discovered in their luggage upon entering the islands. Reportedly, these bullets were left over from prior hunting trips, and they had escaped the scrutiny of USA TSA security personnel during the first leg of their trip.
Despite having committed a simple mistake, with the help of the TSA mind you, these travelers were roughly handled by island police, jailed, and held without much due process. Their dream vacations turned into nightmares, and spawned a lot of online discussion about whether or not Americans should risk traveling abroad these days. We are clearly no longer valued for our tourist money in these tiny places, but rather we are valued as political prisoners, symbols of an impotent laughingstock America run by a demented old man and his bribery-plagued family. That American government refuses to flex a little muscle to extract innocent US citizens from these ridiculous destinations is yet another indication of our empire’s forced decline.
Were I president of the USA, and one of these microscopic places dared to lay their filthy hands on an American tourist for some silly mistake, I would sail one or two large US Navy ships into their main harbor, and dispatch several thousand armed US Marines to forcefully re-acquire our illegally detained citizen, by any means necessary. Maybe it’s about time an American flag fly over these local places, anyhow.
Shifting gears to another big tourist destination, Americans have always felt most comfortable and welcome in the “United Kingdom” aka Britain, Wales, Scotland, and formerly Ireland, now its own nation. Because English is the native language or the common language in these places, countless American tourists have traveled there to sight-see, see relatives, marvel at world class museum collections. However, one must openly wonder if these destinations are also now tainted and dangerous for us to visit.
Not too long ago, several American hunters in different parts of Scotland ran into unexpected and undeserved criminal charges for doing exactly what Scottish law allowed, exactly following the directions of their hunting guides. These hunters, both women, had done nothing criminal. What they were guilty of was hunting and having anti-hunters get angry about it. Mind you, paid hunting is about eighty percent of the economic activity in rural Scotland, which is about 80% of Scotland itself. I have hunted in Scotland, and the views there are unbelievably majestic, the animals plenty wild and difficult to take, the “stalkers” (hunting guides) and “ghillies” (hunting assistants) incredibly talented.
But what happens if you follow all the laws, all the rules, and still get in trouble with the government? This bizarre official behavior at odds with the basic rule of law is the very core of lawless arbitrary and capricious government, and it is about the most evil sort of criminal law for a government to engage in. After all, how can you trust a government to host you as a tourist if you follow their laws and they put you in jail anyhow?
I don’t think I would return to hunt in Scotland. And while we are on the subject of the United Kingdom and its environs, I am not sure I would return to Scotland, or England or Ireland or Wales for any reason, for the simple reason that these jurisdictions are now enforcing unbelievably arbitrary speech laws.
In fact, over the past two weeks Britain has descended into complete tyranny, with senior police officials threatening to arrest Americans and others living abroad “wherever you live” for violating Britain’s new arbitrary and capricious speech laws. Britons are being jailed right now for posting simple questions on Fakebook, and apparently even criticizing the current government there can get you handcuffed and taken to jail, for years. Even little kids!
Canada’s lawless and violent customs officials are notorious for their brutality towards Americans who even question why their vehicle is being strip searched at the beginning of their family vacation. American families traveling to Canada have had their family dog shot dead in front of the kids by hyper aggressive Canadian customs agents, who unnecessarily but nonetheless sadistically revel in their complete power over helpless Americans. I would avoid Canada if possible, because it is a place that is also presently descending into lawless tyranny, run by people eager to unfairly make examples of political opponents.
(I wonder why the hell America has not turned Canada into our 51st state by now, but again, I am the kind of proud American who believes in using American military force for the benefit of America and Americans, and to send clear messages to our adversaries)
France just arrested the CEO of the social media company Telegram, because he believes in the free speech of his users. Screw France! France does not believe in individual rights or free speech. France also is descending into tyranny, for your own good, as the British tyrant Keir Starmer also asserts.
So one cannot help but wonder if Americans should refrain from traveling abroad much right now. Maybe this is not a good time for us to be tourists abroad. It seems that no one fears us, no one fears our government or military, and we Americans, used to our personal freedoms and free speech rights, and used to expressing ourselves plainly on every topic we wish, are placing ourselves in harm’s way by traveling abroad.
I don’t think the risk is outweighed by any possible benefits. The benefits of traveling abroad are outweighed by the risks right now.
Here in America we have an incredible array of national and state parks and monuments just begging for tourists and appreciative visitors, beautiful beaches from Maine to Texas, and all within the confines of a nation that at least will respect our right to have opinions. And by vacationing within America you don’t get ripped off by the money changers preying upon us in every other nation.
Americans, you and your tourism dollars belong here in America for the foreseeable future. The upsides are many, not the least of which are that you will see just how incredible this huge and majestic nation is, and why so many of us want to keep it free.
Joe Biden, domestic terrorist in chief
On January 6th, Joe Biden gave an outrageous speech, where he accused everyday law-abiding patriotic Americans of being terrorists. American citizen taxpayers who legally oppose Biden’s blatantly illegal and often ultra-violent government overreach were singled out for criticism and threats of further official violence.
His Department of Justice has labeled as “domestic terrorists” understandably angry parents attending school board meetings to voice their disbelief at the daily anti-taxpayer teacher-led insurrections against parental oversight of publicly-owned government schools.
The US military has recently put out a policy paper warning of “patriot extremism” as the number one threat to America. Not Islamic jihadism, or Burn Loot and Murder (BLM) arson and murder. But peaceful Americans who follow the law, revere the Constitution, and who believe in the first principles of a free America as it was founded, why we are “domestic terrorists.” According to Biden’s lawless Marxists illegally occupying our government offices, anyhow.
Biden’s military leaders are aggressively (and illegally) purging from the US military anyone who is a patriotic American, as defined by someone who believes in a constitutional republic, as America was founded. Such is the love these patriots hold for America that they are considered a dangerous threat to Biden’s Marxist revolution against America, and so they must be ejected from the military.
As recently as today, Biden’s FBI is still unwilling to say just exactly how a well known violent Pakistani jihadi entered America, or why he just targeted a synagogue in Texas, where he held hostages until he was killed yesterday. The FBI still won’t say that this jihadi’s official Islamic hate for everyone who is not Muslim, and especially for Jews, is the blatantly obvious cause of this infiltrator’s armed hostage taking at Congregation Beth Israel of Collyville, Texas.
But Joe Biden will stand aside and allow millions of unvetted, unscreened, unvaccinated, mask-less illegal aliens to pour over our southern border. So many from all around the world have crossed since last year that the Taliban recently threatened to unleash 2,000 suicide bombers inside America if America takes any steps in Afghanistan to save the lives of the many Americans the Biden Administration abandoned there. So weak is our wide-open southern border that our worst enemies have thousands of people here, ready to blow themselves up right here on our soil, in our shopping malls, our grocery stores, our churches and synagogues. This means you and your family are at great risk, dear reader, thanks to Joe Biden’s domestic policies.
If we are going to be honest about this situation, the truth is that Joe Biden is the real domestic terrorist. He has done more to foment domestic terrorism against everyday Americans than anyone else. He has done more to unleash illegal official violence against law-abiding Americans, going so far as to take and hold political opponent prisoners and hostages inside disgusting Washington DC dungeons as I write these words.
No one has done more to promote and visit domestic terror upon Americans than Joe Biden, the domestic terrorist in chief. And as today is Martin Luther King Day, we take heart from MLK: “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” Every American remaining with an American heart should be disobeying the lawless Biden Administration, whose unjust actions are actually against current law.
This billboard was displayed across Pennsylvania after Biden’s Afghanistan retreat debacle
Bad guys are on the run around Harrisburg
Toldja so.
Last year, several critical essays I wrote about PA AG Kathleen Kane were widely published, long before other people felt safe enough, I guess, to jump on the band wagon.
Kane’s incompetence and corrupt behavior were evident within a few months of her arrival in the PA Attorney General seat. She only got worse and worse, and was on a downhill slide to the point where she has now been indicted by a grand jury. Imagine that.
I feel vindicated. Sadly.
Harrisburg’s top cop may go to jail, or be fined, disbarred, and barred from holding public office. It says a lot about politics, that her Breck Girl smile and slow-motion hair tosses were enough for her to get elected.
For the record, I believe that if Pennsylvania absolutely must have a Democrat AG, then Katie McGinty would be the right person. McGinty is every bit as liberal and political as Kane, but Katie is also way too smart to let it show or implement it so egregiously. So, we’d end up with a partisan professional and not the corrupt political hack we have now. That’d be an improvement.
An even better improvement would be Ed Marsico as AG. Ed Marsico is the stellar DA for Dauphin County, and he is so a-political that the Republican establishment has passed him over in the past. Can you imagine, an AG who simply does the job of prosecuting bad guys? How refreshing that would be.
On to Harrisburg City, my home town and my family’s home since at least 1745. It’s a place I care about a lot. We moved here from Washington, DC, to enjoy the high quality of life, easy commute, and low cost of living. I love living in Harrisburg.
Yes, the city has problems. OK, that is true and I think people are genuinely working to solve them, even as many of the same people have worked to exacerbate them because they stood to make money from them (think: Public Parking). But that is another story.
Here’s a story that is just now unfolding: Harrisburg has decided to hold on to its illegal anti-gun laws. Harrisburg City remains happily and blatantly in violation of two state laws barring any PA municipality from passing gun laws. The city has been served notice that they may get sued over this, a costly loss because the city will have to pay money damages and legal fees to the winner.
And of course, the gun laws they have do zero to punish criminals or limit crime. They are designed to punish law-abiding citizens and turn them into criminals, because the zealot prohibitionist crusaders pushing these laws are against guns per se.
Late last Friday night a deranged man attempted to forcefully enter my home through the front door. He was banging away at it, working over the handle hard, and shouting at us.
My wife and kids cowered on the kitchen floor, with Viv talking with a surly 911 dispatcher (who actually yelled at me over the phone); our guests were in the basement.
I stood with a pistol pointed at the door, waiting for the guy to come barging through. Every warning I shouted to him through the door elicited a curse-filled response and harder efforts to get through.
Even I was scared. Someone trying that hard to break into your home is going to do damage once he gets inside.
Ten minutes later the Harrisburg police arrived and caught him, two doors up the street. They were professional and friendly to us taxpayers, and they used force to capture the crazy man because he was violent. I watched him fight with them and try to kick their police dog, Bo. He had some white powder drugs on him and acted like he was insane. Case in point here: Drugs are bad, m’kay?
Without my gun, immediately accessible, our family was a sitting duck for this guy.
We were lucky that he did not come through a ground floor window. Sure, I would have shot and killed him had he entered our home, but who needs that? And what about the other citizens who are neither armed nor prepared or able to defend themselves effectively against intruders?
Let’s ask the obvious question: What about “when seconds count the police are only minutes away” do you not understand, Mayor Eric Papenfuse?
Why are your illegal, ineffective gun laws more important than the safety of my family?
What makes people on the Left so cocksure about their illegal behavior? It must have something to do with the tradition of Leftist protests always being “right,” a mentality that undergirds everything they do.
We will see you in court, Mayor Papenfuse, because you may not inflict your illegal laws on the safety of my body.
What a week
This week started out wacky, with Oprah Winfrey claiming the death of would-be murderer Trayvon Martin was the same as the torture-murder of 14-year-old Emmit Till decades ago in the segregated South. Winfrey then went on to claim she faces all kinds of oppression and racism, not because people disagree with her odd personal views and decreasing credibility, but because she is black. There is no evidence to support her claim.
In the alternative, there is all sorts of evidence to support the claim that young black men are torturing and killing one another at record numbers across the nation. Not that it would be an issue, because the false notion that America remains a racist place must be kept alive, no matter how silly it appears. How sad for the young black men whose lives are disintegrating in front of the nation, that they have been abandoned by both blacks and white liberals. Perhaps they are mere cannon fodder in the larger culture war against traditional American values like responsibility, self-restraint, self-reliance, etc. On the left, it has always been the attitude that a few eggs must be broken to make the Saul Alinsky omelette…
But the fact is that this week is marked most by the wacky politics here in Harrisburg City. The nation’s first, best-known, and most broke city, if you break it down per capita.
To wit: Controller Dan Miller, a Democrat, won the Republican write-in vote in May, losing the Democratic race to arch-left-kook Eric Papenfuse, while former Republican candidate Nevin Mindlin won the Independent spot on the ballot.
Or did they?
Out of the blue came a young Mr. Nate Curtis, seeking the Independent spot, months after the issue was settled in the primary election. Republican establishment staffers were behind his candidacy.
Miller announced Monday he was not running on the Republican ticket, only to announce today that he was. Well-funded bipartisan teams from the establishment wings of both parties have descended on Curtis, Miller, and Mindlin to challenge every aspect of their candidacies, seeking to knock them out and leave the Eric Papenfuse race for mayor uncontested.
No matter how arcane the arguments, these attacks on Harrisburg’s chance to finally elect a qualified, competent, independent-minded mayor highlight something we have heard before about Pennsylvania election rules and laws: They suck.
Green Party candidates like Ralph Nader have complained that Pennsylvania’s election rules and laws are obviously skewed in favor of the two main parties, and are designed to create a labyrinthine environment in which only the most carefully constructed candidacies can survive. And of course, the only people who can carefully construct such a campaign are members of the two private, taxpayer-funded
political parties, the Democrats and Republicans, the folks who wrote and interpret the election rules and laws.
Curtis is truly vulnerable, because he has not resided in Harrisburg for the past year. Residency requirements are pretty straight forward, and there’s nothing wrong with demanding that you live among the people you seek to represent for at least one year.
Mindlin is not a member of any political party, so he believes he is immune from the charge that his campaign lacks the otherwise – required campaign committee sitting in the wings, waiting to select someone else if Mindlin fails to actually run for the office he and he alone is running for. Say what? See? Very silly, arcane stuff, not at all in the interests of expanded democracy or representative government. It is designed to trip up, disqualify, and eliminate candidates who lack huge infrastructure behind them.
Miller wants Papenfuse to lose, and he has plenty of supporters who feel the same way, so he will fight to stay on the ballot.
It may well be a three-way race between Mindlin, Miller, and Papenfuse. Or, it could be litigated and determined that only Miller and Papenfuse have standing to run.
In the end, Pennsylvanians remain badly served by arcane laws designed to keep them out of the way and on the sidelines, eating the thin gruel served up by an entrenched two-party apparatus and their respective special interests. And I dream of Mindlin or Miller winning this November…