Privatizing Tyranny

I wrote about this back in the Obama administration when I noticed that absent the ability to pass laws abridging second amendment rights, much the same could be accomplished through Operation Choke Point whereby the government could lean on the banking industry, which they heavily regulate, to curtail services to businesses the government didn't like such as payday loans and anything having to do with guns.

This was blatantly government interference with interstate and sometimes strictly local commerce and voiced were raised against the process. After all, where does this stop? Well, now we're finding out. Facebook and Twitter can shut down or outright ban anyone they please for any reason at all or none whatsoever up to and including the President. Banks are suddenly closing accounts and merchants are refusing to carry merchandise from “dangerous dissidents”. Oddly the ban hammer only seems to fall on the right, but again, this is fine because the Lords of the Platform are a private business and can run it to suit themselves. Just like Woolworths in 1960 or Bed, Bath, and Beyond today, eh?

Sort of along those same lines. I heard Mark Levin this morning commenting on the Judiciocracy he sees us living in, where the courts make up the law as they go along and no one seems to complain. Myself, I've noticed Slo Joe signing a stack of EO's on his desk like an author signing books for his adoring fans, except I'm pretty sure he didn't write any of them. Far more likely they are a product of a group of people including his staff, Pelosi and her staff, and Schumer and his staff, making up what might best be called the Central Committee. Here's a small group that can effectively write statute law without having to trouble any members of the legislature for an actual vote. For most members this is a good thing since even though they may approve of the stated objective of the orders, when they go bad, as they frequently do, they can't be held responsible for them and thus they get re-elected.

Question about Twitter

 If Twitter can censor its users over their political beliefs because they're a private company, and can, therefore, do what they want, does that not imply that back in 1960, that Woolworths was justified in not serving blacks at their lunch counter?

Enquiring minds want to know!

The Biden Pools

 Slo Joe is living up (down) to expectations warming the big chair in the Oval office, signing Nancy Pelosi's EO's as fast as she can produce them, which seems to make Pelosi the de facto president. She must be thrilled. 

Elections having consequences, let's have a look at some of the possible ones and offer up a chance to take a position on them. If you want to bet, you can set that up on one of the online betting forums but what would you like to see? Here are some predictions by various people with various records for your consideration. You get to bet not on the actual date, but rather on the over/under, or sooner/later. I have attached the predictors name to these when they have done the prediction on a public forum/blog/Facebook/Twitter. No fair outing your office mates prediction that Joe would commit Arkancide, moving Kamala to the big chair, who would then appoint Hillary to the VP slot. Kamala's not THAT dumb.

Anyway here's some predictions. Feel free to suggest others. I left off Socialist Utopia achieved by 2022 unless you want to define that as all major Republican voices sent to camps by 2022. Full disclosure: I'm usually wrong. The question here is which way and how far.

Kevin Baker (FB) – Gas to $3.00/gal by July

Billll          China to invade Taiwan by 1 August

Various         11 million illegals get green cards by end of year

Gateway Pundit National vote-by-mail, No ID required by July

Billll First federal office election with >100% turnout in 2022

Taking On A Project

 The Chinky Pox is an extremely dangerous disease. It traps you indoors in the winter, with nothing to do but stare at the computer, and nibble on snacks until none of your clothes fit. So I need a project:

Destiny calls and I ride! Maybe. What I'm thinking of is buying a Japanese Kei truck. This isn't as easy as it sounds as they are not normally sold in the U.S. Here's one I had been considering:

Cute, no? Vehicle shown is a Suzuki Carry. Many other makes are available but they all look alike. Similar vehicles are seen around here as Cushman vehicles used on golf courses or in large industrial settings to move parts or tools. In Japan, they are used to transport farm or industrial goods modest distances. Engine size = 660cc, top speed is about 68mph. Stay off the U.S. freeways.

People are discovering these things as a more comfortable transport for hunting, fishing, and farm and ranch work and are finding that if you're not going very far, they work well on the road. The sides of the truck bed all fold down to give you a true flatbed, and the truck bed is 4.5' x 7'. Steering is almost universally on the right and the vehicles themselves mostly feature 2/4wd with hi-lo ranges and a locking front axle. Pretty versatile. The big drawback is that U.S. standard crash protection is non existent, so be careful. This also means they only weigh about 1500 lb so they go OK even with no horsepower to speak of. 

These are imported for off road use only in the newer models, but after 25 years, the safety standards are waived and you can try to put one on the road. Every state seems to have different standards for these things so be sure to check before buying. Some have been licensed in CO so I know it can be done BUT...

I asked my county clerk for info on papering one of these if I bought it from an importer with a Japanese title and got this:

----------------------------------------------------------

1. Statement of conformity from NHTSA

2. Statement of fact from the importer (see wording below)

3. Any one of the following US Customs forms:

   a. CPB7523 – Entry and manifest of Merchandise Free of Duty

   b. CPB 3299 Declaration for Free Entry of Unaccompanied Articles

   c. CPB 3311 Declaration for Free Entry of Returned American Articles

   d. CPB 7501 – Entry Summary (does not require a Customs Inspector's signature)

   e. CPB 3461 Entry/Immediate Delivery Secure and Verifiable ID will be required

4. DR2698 Verification of Vehicle Identification Number (Colorado form)

5. A certified weight slip may be required when weight is not disclosed on the ownership documents. Weight in pounds = kg x 2.23

6. Odometer disclosure – Odometer disclosed on secure form. Owner must sign to begin odometer tracking.

7. English translation of all accompanying documents. Translation must be notarized.

Importers must sign a SOF stating the following: “All appropriate entry and conformity documents including photos were properly completed, signed, dated, and submitted to NHTSA for approval on ____________(date).

Agents, subagents, dealers, or notaries may witness (certify or notarize) the importers signature. Dealers may not sign in place of importer.

NOTE: If the odometer reading is in kilometers, it must be converted to miles. Use the following formula: Km x .621371 = miles.

NOTES: Item 1 Being over 25 years old, the vehicle should be exempt from this.

Item 2 Should come with the vehicle if you are the first US owner.

Item 3 CPB _7501 and 3461___normally come with the vehicle

Item 4 This is a Colorado form available at the DMV Must arrange an appointment and meet the nice CHP cop who signs these. What I have heard is that the existing VIN # will be acceptable.

Item 5 Self explanatory. I believe the Japanese title includes the vehicle weight. Just include the conversion to pounds in the translation.

Item 6 Again mostly self explanatory. Not sure what a secure form is. Probably notarized. See note above: Mileage in miles to 6 decimal places!

Item 7 Self explanatory. Metric numbers should also have US conversions.

The importers SOF as described above. This should accompany the vehicle.

Also required, but not mentioned, would be a proof of insurance (get some from Haggerty @ $45/mo or so) and since I live in a Very Special High Altitude Zone, I will also need an emissions test proving that the vehicle meets the requirements for one sold normally in the US for the year of manufacture. There are only 6 counties in the US that are included in this group, and 5 of them are in Colorado. And yes, I live in one of them.

That last item may be the really big stumbling block as the 1996 Kei vehicles, although described as having to meet “tighter emissions standards”, the standards in question are Japanese and I have no idea what those might be. Also fuel injection does not appear on the things until the late 90's and I have doubts about a carbureted vehicle getting through emissions. It could happen though.

If you are buying from an importing dealer, all items except #4 above should come with the vehicle. If you are buying one already titled, in Colorado or some other state, all you need is the bill of sale, insurance, and if you live near me, an emissions certificate. The emissions cert is required to get license plates but not to get a Colorado title. Anyway you can get the title and a temp tag good for 1 or 2 months regardless, so you can go to a testing station and watch the techs there explode their heads trying to test it.

If you decide to give this a try, and you live outside the Emissions Zone, your odds are pretty good. Others have done this and succeeded. In the Denver metro area getting one of these through emissions may be as easy as getting a good tune-up or as hard as having to replace the engine. Of course if it turns out you need to replace the engine, you can always just proceed to the point where you get a title, then sell the thing to someone in a less restrictive county. Ones I've seen offered for sale seem to sell the same day.

QOTD - Woke Edition

 Found at Power Line:

“White” basically means that you don’t swallow the nonsense being ladled out by the far Left. So, happily, people of all colors are now “white,” according to liberals. Is that unity and inclusion, or what?  -  John Hindraker

 

Fun With Hedlines - Animal House

 Found this article at WMD:

Voters enraged as Dems back away from $2,000 checks

 You Fucked up! You trusted us!

Fun With Headlines - Inaugeral edition

 Here's a goodie:

Acting DHS Deputy Secretary: Pelosi Wanted ‘Crew-Manned Machine Guns in Washington – That Was Rejected’

 I think she had in mind them being used on departing helicopters. The opening shots in a nationwide purge.

Election Fraud - Insurance

 Not to guarantee an outcome, but to reduce the possibility of the outcome being "guaranteed".

A groundswell movement at the state level for an election process less open to manipulation would be a good start. Demand that your state legislator carry a bill to ;

1. Close voting at 8 PM on election day. (Hard close. If there's a line, the poll worker will go out and pin a note to the back of the last person in the line at 8 PM saying "You snooze, you lose. Go home!)

2. Absentee ballots must be requested, NEVER sent out in bulk mail.

3. Ballot harvesting should be severely curtailed, limiting the possession to no more than, say, 2 completed ballots.

4. Addresses with multiple (>10) voters, i.e. Apartments, Nursing homes, Homeless shelters, bars, vacant lots, etc, need to be addressed.

5. Any electronic devices used to register or tabulate ballots MUST be sequestered for a minimum of 30 days following an election to provide for a supervised forensic examination by a reputable 3rd party should such an examination be required.

Some states have a provision for a runoff vote in races involving multiple candidates. In these cases, all voting devices used in a runoff MUST be electronically copied and/or forensically examined before being employed in the second balloting event.

6. Vote total tallies must be reported hourly as they are recorded from the precinct level up. Absentee ballot counting will begin at 7 AM on election day and continue until all are counted. Received absentee ballot totals will be reported at 7 AM on election day, and any received during election day will be reported separately. NO absentee ballots arriving after 8 PM on election day will be counted.

This should at least make fraud at least somewhat more difficult. Your legislator may complain about the increased workload imposed on election workers, but you can point out that overworked government workers every other year beats peasants with pitchforks and torches outside his or her office. Photo ID should also be required. The pols may object, calling it voter suppression. Push back. If the junkies in the homeless encampments can't be arsed to get a card and not lose it, then they probably shouldn't be voting in the first place. Make sure his constituents know that he or she was elected by people this stupid and ask if they want to be included in that group.

Cut this post and paste it in an email to your state Representative and Senator. Edit out my snarky comments to make it look professional. Lots more things should probably be included, but we have to work in the realm of the possible, not the realm of utopia. Get what we can, then move on to the rest. 

Fun With Headlines - Covid

 From the Epoch Times, this:

New York Gov. Cuomo Asks Pfizer to Sell COVID-19 Vaccine Directly to State

Unstated: He asks that they ship the stuff using Prime and just leave the packages on his porch at Gracie Mansion. 

Coup Theater

 This has been done so many times in so many equatorial countries that the U.S. Press doesn't even cover it any more except possibly to report the name of the new boss.

1. Various stuff happens, and the Old Boss is displaced from office. There may even have been an election involved although this isn't a requirement.

2. The New Boss in inaugurated, taking a solemn oath of office, administered by a long time crony of his in a black robe. This usually happens in a public place, say the steps of the capitol.

3. Proper stagecraft is de rigueur. This includes being surrounded by people in high office who supported him, and a couple of people in highly decorated military uniforms. This is to remind the losers what they will be facing if they get any funny ideas.

4. If the New Boss is really worried about the peasants questioning his legitimacy, he will also include a mass of heavily armed soldiers, facing outward, in the rows nearest to the podium/platform. Nothing clears your mind like looking down the business end of an assault rifle.

5. The follow-up includes arresting the Old Boss, confiscating all his possessions, and jailing or executing him. This is also frequently followed by pursuing any of his followers who do not immediately kow-tow to the New Boss and affirm their loyalty with sufficiently large donations to the New Boss Re Election Fund.

Pelosi has asked that the U.S. Nuclear codes be taken away from the president, and entrusted to the Speaker of the House. She has also asked the commandant of Marines for 5000* armed marines (!) to be present at the inauguration. She has also been informed, in case she didn't know, that she is NOT in any military chain of command and is NOT entitled to be asking for any of this.

To be asking for any of this is to be asking the military to support her coup d'etat in the finest traditions of banana republics everywhere. The proper response from the military is a resounding NO, and the proper response from the legislature should be a quick and broadly based removal from office. The proper response from the DOJ should be Federal charges against her and her inmost circle of supporters.

Unfortunately, while the military has responded correctly, the legislature has proven unsurprisingly spineless, and Chicago Rules apply to the DOJ.

UPDATE: My mistake. The correct number seems to be not 5,000 but 20,000 and the public is discouraged from attending, not that very many would have shown up anyway. Good to know the New Boss is supported by at least 20,000 men in full battle dress. 

Enlightenment Camps

James O'Keefe strikes again. Just imagine "enlightenment Camps" run by PBS & DHS.

Journalism?

 The most important thing to remember when running a newspaper is to NOT get on the wrong side of the Commissar of News. Our own local fishwrap, Pravda-By-the-Platte, keeps its ear to the ground and tries ad hard as it can not to wind up on the D.C. cancel list.

When the president looked like he would no longer be such a large contributor to their subscriber lists, Twitter and Facebook simply deplatformed him, and to insure that he stayed in media Siberia, they also are attempting to completely shut down possible competitors Parler and Gab.

Above: Deplatforming

Here's the paper giving the Committee for State Security as much reassurance as it can that they are solidly on the side of the coup and not to be denounced:

Why It's Different This Time

 

Having entertained myself watching the endless farce that is politics since about 1955, I've notices some things that never seemed to change. First off is the nature of the parties. The Republicans believe in minimal government, so when they are in they tend to leave us alone.

We'll call this phase one. This causes prosperity. Everyone gets a job, or starts a business, and makes money. This creates a demand for workers with the largest numbers at the bottom of the ladder, about where you'd expect things to start.

Next comes phase 2: This creates a problem, or so we're told. All those people at the bottom of the ladder need to be pushed up it, rather than letting them climb or fall according to their abilities. Or so the Democrats tell us. Tugging at our collective heartstrings, they loudly advocate for the poor, demanding that the very richest chip in a small part of their ill-gotten gains to help the less fortunate. This works, and they get elected, frequently in large numbers.

Now comes phase 3. Inevitably, they over reach. Regulate this, ban that, basically put the hobnailed boot of government on the throat of the public, driving small businesses out of business in favor of their model of One Big Business with government sitting on the BOD. The public notices this and usually, we next move to phase 4.

This happens, in general, after 2 years of a Dem trifecta. 1994 comes to mind. The Big Over Reach results in the Big Backlash, and the Reps take over one or both of the legislative houses, putting the brakes on the Dems. The result of this is to keep the Dem President from looking like an economic buffoon, and gets him re-elected on the premise that the economy is improving. Which it is, though not due to anything he's doing. Of course the Reps have to be on their toes here lest the damage abatement from the opposition legislature be ascribed to the Dem president. Usually people figure this out and the improved economy is eventually ascribed to the legislature, and a Rep president is elected.

This trick works both ways though, and Republican prosperity is used to call for a return to punishing the successful and rewarding the laggards. Now we're back to phase 1.

This time I believe is different. The Dems have discovered that to win elections you only have to win over 1 vote, which currently is Eric Coomer of Dominion, maker of the vote counting machines. It appears that these machines can be tuned to produce any results desired all by themselves, or set to allow operators to “adjust” ballots as they go along. This can speed up the process for stage 2, and eliminate the problems causing Stage 3. Over reach is no longer sufficient to get them run out of office, and after a couple of elections, the Republicans get the feeling that their state or country has been over run with Democrats and they can never vote them out no matter how bad a job they do, thus discouraging turnout.

The system works well, but you have to be careful. Simply adding ballots to the total will work up to a point, and having more votes cast than you have registered voters can be explained away by pointing to same day registrations, which no one seems to check post election to see if this is what actually happened. There is another safeguard which is comparing the number of people who voted to the total number of votes. A pretty strong case for fraud can be made if there's a significant discrepancy here, but so far doing this has never been a standard practice. Given the number of people voting and the number and varying types of ballots cast, it wouldn't surprise me a bit to see the numbers not match, but not by very much. Pennsylvania had a discrepancy of some 200,000 more votes cast than voters casting votes. About 4 times the margin of victory and way over anyones expectations. This is still being looked in to but Mr. Biden will be well into his term before any conclusions get drawn. 5 other states also had this issue, with enough electoral votes to swing the election. Again it's being looked in to. What if, by 2022, it is concluded that Biden was fraudulently elected? So what?

The Dem majorities in the legislature are very thin, and phase 3 says Biden should take a beating in both houses due to incompetence and over reach. 2020 was won by focusing on the presidential end of the ticket. The Senate was taken by being able to focus on only 2 races, in a state that already used compromised Dominion machines. By 2022, all the software in the Dominion machines will have been updated so as to allow a technician with a thumb drive, or maybe just a technician with an internet connection to make the necessary adjustments to the machines. Unless legislation is passed in all the states requiring a forensic audit of the machines following any election with said machines placed in quarantine when the polls close, I predict a great Dem sweep of the legislature.

Since this requires effort on the part of legislators I have no great hopes of seeing this happen. In states where the Dems control the legislatures, I have no expectation it will happen at all.

Bidens Opportunity

 Slow Joe is missing the opportunity of his lifetime. The Dems want Trumps scalp, to hang up with Nixons, and they're willing to do anything to get it. There isn't enough time to get an impeachment done before Trump would leave anyway, so Joe should step up to the plate and refuse to take the oath of office until Trump is officially impeached.

Keeping in mind that it takes 66 votes in the Senate to impeach a president, and with Rassmussen reporting Trump's popularity actually going up in the last few days, it may take a while to get to 66 votes, even with the 2 stolen Georgia seats. No problem. We can wait.

Biden Reacts

 This borrows from Theo Spark who seems to have forgotten to insert the html bits as html rather than plain text.