“Show me your papers” might be a term closely associated with Nazi Germany but it is getting closer and closer to being a reality in the United States of Amerika in 2021. Last week Herr Cuomo announced that New York would be introducing “COVID” vaccination passports for people who would like to reenter society and while the Empire State might be the first to do so it is just a testing grounds.
It did not take long for the Federal Government to follow suit, according to this story Joe Biden likes the idea so much his administration is working on Federal COVID vaccination cards as well. Here is more:
Along with private technology and travel companies, the Biden administration is working to develop credentials – referred to as passports, health certificates or travel passes – showing proof of vaccination as individuals and businesses emerge from lockdown, the Washington Post reported Sunday.
As individuals and businesses “emerge from lockdown.” Did you ever think you would hear those words describing the situation in the United States of Amerika? But I digress, back to the story:
According to the Washington Post, the administration’s efforts are housed in offices of Health and Human Services, with the White House this month taking a “bigger role coordinating government agencies involved in the work, led by coronavirus coordinator Jeff Zients.”
“Our role is to help ensure that any solutions in this area should be simple, free, open source, accessible to people both digitally and on paper, and designed from the start to protect people’s privacy,” Zients said at a March 12 briefing.
If you have to divulge medical information there is no privacy, but I digress again.
The passports offer a glimpse of a future after months of COVID-19 restrictions. Officials say getting vaccinated and having proper documentation will smooth the way to travel, entertainment and other social gatherings in a post-pandemic world.
If you want to travel, go to a ballgame or a movie, or simply go out to eat, according to this story, you will have to show your papers to the proper people or you will be refused admittance. Isn’t this the type of measure the Democrats usually call racist?
We are just a heartbeat away from losing freedom as we know it and it does not feel as if there is anything that can peaceably be done to stop the inevitable march toward totalitarianism. We should never have let it get this far, we should have fought back a year ago when the lockdowns began.
Sieg Heil!
Sunday, March 28th open thread: ‘The Patriot’
This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
Here is Topher with The Marine Rapper doing “The Patriot.” Enjoy:
Pete Buttigieg floats ‘vehicle miles’ tax
The idea of taxing people for how many miles they drive in a year is something that has been floated before and now Pete Buttigieg, the new Transportation Secretary, seems to be behind the idea. Here is more:
“When you think about infrastructure, it’s a classic example of the kind of investment that has a return on that investment,” the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor said.
“That’s one of many reasons why we think this is so important. This is a jobs vision as much as it is an infrastructure vision, a climate vision and more.”
Stop right there! The idea behind the miles driven tax is supposed to be to raise money for infrastructure but as you can see in that last quote this is really just another attempt at forcing part of the green new deal onto an unsuspecting populace. Okay, back to Pete Buttigieg:
A vehicle miles tax would cost drivers based on how far they drive, not how much gasoline is consumed.
“A so-called vehicle-miles-traveled tax or mileage tax, whatever you want to call it, could be a way to do it,” he said of the possibility of generating revenue to pay for the impending spending proposals.
It is not clear whether a vehicle miles tax would replace the federal gas tax or be in addition to it.
A mileage tax “shows a lot of promise if we believe in that so-called user-pays principle: The idea that part of how we pay for roads is you pay based on how much you drive.”
Two things about that last quote stick out to me. First; I think we all know that this will be in addition to the gas tax, there is no way the Democrats are going to repeal and replace. Second; in theory the gas tax already taxes a person based on how much they drive. The more a person drives the more he pays in taxes, that is pretty simple is it not?
In addition to the bureaucratic nightmare this will create and the unfair burden this will put on the lower income people who have to travel long distances to work there is the broken promise of not raising taxes on people making under $400,000…
Andrew Cuomo to introduce COVID ‘passports’
After depriving his subjects of their circuses for a year Andrew Cuomo is preparing to bring them back soon. However, if you would like to go to a concert, a baseball game, or some such event you had better be able to show your papers. According to this story Andrew Cuomo is set to announce new COVID “passports.” Here is more:
Starting Friday, New Yorkers will be able to pull up a code on their cell phone or a printout to prove they’ve been vaccinated against COVID-19 or recently tested negative for the virus that causes it.
The first-in-the-nation certification, called the Excelsior Pass, will be useful first at large-scale venues like Madison Square Garden, but next week will be accepted at dozens of event, arts and entertainment venues statewide. It already enables people to increase the size of a wedding party, or other catered event.
Like an airline boarding pass, people will be able to prove their health status with a digital QR code – or “quick response” machine-readable label. They’ll need to download the Excelsior Pass app, enter their name, date of birth, zip code and answer a series of personal questions to confirm their identity. The data will come from the state’s vaccine registry and also will be linked to testing data from a number of pre-approved testing companies.
The new pass is part of a growing but disjointed effort to provide vaccine “passports” or certifications, so people won’t have to hang onto a dog-eared piece of paper, worry about privacy issues or forgeries, or fork over extra cash to prove they’re not contagious.
Can I get me some HIPAA laws here? According to the article this is supposed to calm worries over privacy concerns and yet New Yorkers will still have to show the gestapo electronic medical papers after giving the State their personal information.
This is to be expected in New York because for the last year this dictator has been stopping out-of-Staters and asking them for their papers if they would like to enter his fascist State, this is just taking it to the next level. Now all New Yorkers will have to show their papers if they would like to attend any kind of event.
And this is only the beginning, you can rest assured that other States will follow suit.
Sieg Heil!
Over the last several years we have seen the filibuster whittled down to almost being nonexistent. Slowly but surely this process began with Harry Reid when he wanted to push through Barack Obama’s lower court appointees and it continued when Mitch McConnell needed to get Donald Trump’s Supreme Court and cabinet nominees through the Senate.
When doing this Mitch McConnell swore the filibuster on legislation would always remain in effect because the dangers to our democracy are too great, however now with the Democrats in control of the Congress and the Presidency and being unable to get much through the Senate with Republican opposition the talk is again beginning to circulate about ending the filibuster for legislation.
Now civil rights leaders are pulling out all the stops by playing the race card, basically calling Democrats who refuse to end the filibuster racists. Here is more:
Black civil rights leaders, voting rights advocates and elected officials are ramping up their lobbying of Senate Democrats to nix the filibuster, arguing that they can keep the rule in place or pass voting rights legislation, but not both.
Rev. Al Sharpton, the civil rights leader and former presidential candidate, said in an interview that he and others have begun talks to hold town halls and rallies in the home states of senators such as Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who have said they oppose scrapping the filibuster.
“The pressure that we are going to put on Sinema and Manchin is calling [the filibuster] racist and saying that they are, in effect, supporting racism,” Sharpton said. “Why would they be wedded to something that has those results? Their voters need to know that.”
It is very rare indeed that you hear them admit they are using race as a strategy but there you have it. If you support the filibuster so that the minority party in the country still has a small voice in what happens they are going to call you a racist and as we have seen in the past they will go after you and try to destroy your life, they will not stop at simply voting you out of office.
It is always entertaining when Democratic policies come back to bite Democrats and it is always entertaining when they become victims of their own political correctness, however this will have dire consequences in the end and we know that these Democrats who as of right now oppose ending the filibuster will wilt under the pressure. It is only a matter of time before the filibuster is ended and we can thank Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell for their short-sightedness.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
It looks like the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is at it again, this time the liberal court has ruled that the Second Amendment does not guarantee the right to open carry. Here is more:
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Hawaii gun regulation, ruling Wednesday that states can restrict the right to openly carry a firearm in public.
The 7-4 decision said restrictions on carrying guns in public do not fall within the scope of what is protected by the Second Amendment.
“The government may regulate, and even prohibit, in public places – including government buildings, churches, schools, and markets – the open carrying of small arms capable of being concealed, whether they are carried concealed or openly,” Judge Jay Bybee wrote for the majority.
“We have never assumed that individuals have an unfettered right to carry weapons in public spaces,” the majority ruled. “Indeed, we can find no general right to carry arms into the public square for self defense.”
“The en banc court held that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an unfettered, general right to openly carry arms in public for individual self-defense. Accordingly, Hawaii’s firearms-carry scheme is lawful.”
I would argue that the words “shall not be infringed” are pretty clear and yes, those words do guarantee an “unfettered, general” right to openly carry firearms, in fact it is a radical interpretation to decide otherwise.
Donald Trump had made some progress remaking the lower courts but it is clear the job was not completed before he was voted out of office and now this signals what we can expect in the lower courts with Joe Biden picking the nominees, and also what type of laws we can expect the Congress to pass. Even if this decision is overturned the onslaught from the Federal Government is just beginning.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Democrats might not like to admit this but Joe Biden has a history of saying some blatantly racist things, we talked about a few of the things he said on the campaign trail alone on this blog so I do not think we have to go over them again. I will say however that this did not start on the campaign trail and where there is smoke there is fire.
Now Tammy Duckworth, a Democrat, has noticed that Joe Biden’s cabinet is just a little too full of straight white people, at least in the top positions, and she has decided she will not vote for any candidate who is not a minority or gay. Here is more:
Sen. Tammy Duckworth is pressuring President Joe Biden to step up Asian American and Pacific Islander representation in top positions of the administration, saying Tuesday that she will not vote for any future nominees who are white and straight until the situation is addressed to her satisfaction.
“I am a no vote on the floor, on all non-diversity nominees. You know, I will vote for racial minorities and I will vote for LGBTQ, but anybody else I’m not voting for,” she told reporters.
“I am not going to be voting for any nominee from the White House, other than diversity nominees, probably a no on everyone until they figure this out,” said Duckworth, one of only two Asian Americans in the Senate.
Tammy Duckworth was insulted when the White House said come on man, you have Kamala Harris.
“To be told that, ‘Well, you have Kamala Harris, we’re very proud of her, you don’t need anybody else’ is insulting,” said Duckworth.
So she is no longer looking at qualifications, she will be judging people by the color of their skin and maybe I am old fashioned but that sounds like the definition of racism to me.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Media blackout at the Southern border is unprecedented
You might have heard about the media blackout at the Southern border, but then again you might not have because despite this happening to the media they have been oddly quiet about it. We have heard reports about how bad the crisis at the Southern border has become since Joe Biden told illegal immigrants to flood the border when he became President, but we have not been allowed to see it because sometimes seeing is much more powerful than reading about something. The full extent of the crisis, and the thousands of children being locked in cages cannot be grasped by mere words.
Well, now at least one photo-journalist is sounding the alarm, calling this blackout unprecedented. Here is more:
“I have photographed CBP under Bush, Obama and Trump but now – zero access is granted to media,” Moore wrote on Twitter. He didn’t type Biden’s name, but he specified it by omission in naming the other presidents.
“There’s no modern precedent for a full physical ban on media access to CBP border operations,” he said, again making the intent perfectly clear.
There is quite a bit more and if you follow the link above you can read all his tweets on this issue and his demands to see the border. This blackout is a far cry from just a few years ago when people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took cameramen to the border for photo-ops, now suddenly the free press is not so free.
And while there is some outcry from Republicans the public does not seem to care that there is a major crisis happening in our once free country and the President is not letting us see what is happening because it will make him look bad.
I still remember when Donald Trump was President and the left was all up in arms about how he was trying to stifle the press and how dangerous this was because a free press is vital to a democracy just because he kicked one reporter out of the White House, but under Joe Biden the press has become nothing more than the propaganda wing of the Party.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Miami Beach using SWAT team to enforce 8 PM curfew
One of the places where there is still some semblance of freedom in this country is Florida, and with it being Spring break Miami Beach has been flooded with freedom loving Spring-breakers. This of course is nothing new, Florida in general and Miami Beach in particular have long been destinations for college students looking to unwind after a couple of months in school. But this year it is different, with many States imposing draconian lockdown measures and trampling all over the Constitution it has been reported that there are more people than usual at Miami Beach this year.
At least that is the excuse they are giving to justify their totalitarian actions over the last few days. Miami Beach has imposed an 8:00 PM curfew and has called in the SWAT team to enforce it. Here is more:
Spring breakers invading Miami Beach have become so uncontrollable that authorities imposed a curfew on Saturday and declared a state of emergency as SWAT teams were seen moving in to clear people out.
A SWAT vehicle was filmed moving down Ocean Drive – a popular party street – and using an LRAD, also known as a sound cannon, to get people to disperse, video posted to Twitter shows.
The move to control the crowds followed weeks of wild partying in Miami Beach, which is no stranger to uncontrollable spring break throngs of young people.
But this year the volume is clearly higher than in previous years, said Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber, who’s expressed concern about the lack of coronavirus restrictions – like wearing a mask – in Florida.
‘I think it is in part due to the fact that there are very few places open elsewhere in the country, or they’re too cold, or they’re not open and they’re too cold,’ he said.
I guess this is what is known as the “new normal” in Amerika today. Sieg heil!
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, March 21st open thread: ‘Circle Back’
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 KJV)
Here is this week’s open thread. Please feel free to post links to interesting articles and to discuss whatever issues arise during the course of the day. Nothing is off-topic here.
You can subscribe to America’s Watchtower to receive email updates and you can also follow America’s Watchtower on Facebook and Twitter by clicking the links on the right.
Here is Topher doing “Circle Back.” You might want to check this one out before You Tube takes it down, enjoy:
“It’s pretty obvious, we all know you’re pretending
You have no actual facts for the lies that you’re defending
Conservatives not the only ones who find it condescending
The real reason you circle back is cause you know it’s never-ending
Round and round and round you go
Dancing like a puppet show
Just a simple yes or no
Thousands watching wanna know
The truth
I guess that’s too much to ask”
“Alright Jen Psaki, you’re the blunt of the joke
But this message is for anybody I see still fake woke
We see the strings of division that you all constantly stroke
And the fist full of propaganda you shove down our throats”
America's Watchtower 