Sunday, August 16 open thread: ‘United States of Eurasia’
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 Muse performing “United States of Eurasia” in 2010.
According to this story we got a second amendment victory from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that California’s ban on “high capacity” magazines is unconstitutional. Here is more:
The 9th U.S Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower-level court’s decision that ruled California’s ban on high capacity ammunition magazines is unconstitutional, according to documents published Friday.
Since 2016, California gun owners were unable to possess large-capacity magazines (LCM) defined as magazines built to contain more than 10 rounds.
Timeout. Calling a magazine that holds over 10 rounds “high capacity” is just plain silly , as we will see below, but I digress. Here is more on the decision:
Appellate Judge Kenneth Lee, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, wrote the majority opinion in which he said the ban on magazine capacity “struck at the core right of law-abiding citizens to self-defend by banning LCM possession within the home.”
“California’s near-categorical ban of LCMs strikes at the core of the Second Amendment-the right to armed self-defense. Armed self-defense is a fundamental right rooted in tradition and the text of the Second Amendment,” Lee wrote.
Lee went on to say the law imposed a “substantial burden” on the “right to self-defense,” noting the law criminalized magazines that come standard in most handguns.
Judge Lee got to the crux of the matter, this so-called high capacity magazine ban would have made most handguns illegal and I believe that this was nothing more than an attempt at doing just that. It is either that or the people who are writing the laws have no idea what they are talking about…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Spygate: FBI lawyer to plead guilty to falsifying document used to obtain FISA warrant
For several days now Donald Trump and Bill Barr have been teasing the release of the long-awaited Spygate investigation report and now it looks like the first domino is about to fall. According to this story a former FBI lawyer is set to plead guilty to falsifying a document. Here is more:
A former F.B.I. lawyer intends to plead guilty after he was charged with falsifying a document as part of a deal with prosecutors conducting their own criminal inquiry of the Russia investigation, according his lawyer and court documents made public on Friday.
The lawyer, Kevin Clinesmith, 38, who was assigned to the Russia investigation, plans to admit that he altered an email from the C.I.A. that investigators relied on to seek renewed court permission in 2017 for a secret wiretap on the former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, who had at times provided information to the spy agency.
He did not alter just any old document, he altered THE document which was used as justification by the FBI to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. And this is also not just any old lawyer either, this man was on Robert Mueller’s team investigating Russian collusion! He both falsified evidence and served on the investigation knowing it was based on faulty intelligence because he was the responsible party.
He is claiming he only altered the document to clarify it for his colleagues, evidently they are not as smart as he is, but is anybody really buying that excuse…other than those who want to believe in the Russian/Trump conspiracy?
Hopefully this is only the first domino to fall and there will be others tumbling behind him.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
If you are one of the people who still think the authoritarian measures being implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic are rally for our safety and not for controlling the masses I bring you this story from Wisconsin.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers has issued a mask mandate which went into effect on August 1st and here is the crazy part; if you work for the government and you are on a conference call while home alone in your house you still need to wear the mask.
In an email to employees sent out on July 31, the head of Wisconsin’s Department of Natural Resources not only reminded employees of Gov. Tony Evers’ mask order going into effect on Aug. 1, he also said that every DNR employee must wear a mask … even while on a teleconference.
“Also, wear your mask, even if you are home, to participate in a virtual meeting that involves being seen — such as on Zoom or another video-conferencing platform — by non-DNR staff,” Preston Cole said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “Set the safety example which shows you as a DNR public service employee care about the safety and health of others.”
They are admitting this does not do anything, but it looks good and it sets a good example. Of course we know this is not about setting a good example, this is about controlling people as I wrote above. Where is this insanity going to end?! In Wisconsin it is to the point now where anywhere you can been seen you can be regulated, where do we go from here? Telescreens to monitor the people when they are not on Zoom? People better wake up soon…
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Andrew Cuomo vastly under-reported COVID-19 nursing home deaths
Andrew Cuomo’s disastrous nursing home Executive Order which forced nursing homes to take patients with COVID-19 has been blamed for almost 7,000 deaths, but if this story is true the Governor of New York has vastly under-reported just how deadly his edict was.
New York’s coronavirus death toll in nursing homes, already among the highest in the nation, could actually be a significant undercount. Unlike every other state with major outbreaks, New York only counts residents who died on nursing home property and not those who were transported to hospitals and died there.
That statistic could add thousands to the state’s official care home death toll of just over 6,600. But so far the administration of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has refused to divulge the number, leading to speculation the state is manipulating the figures to make it appear it is doing a better than other states and to make a tragic situation less dire.
How big a difference could it make? Since May, federal regulators have required nursing homes to submit data on coronavirus deaths each week, whether or not residents died in the facility or at a hospital. Because the requirement came after the height of New York’s outbreak, the available data is relatively small. According to the federal data, roughly a fifth of the state’s homes reported resident deaths from early June to mid July — a tally of 323 dead, 65 percent higher than the state’s count of 195 during that time period.
Even if half that undercount had held true from the start of the pandemic, that would translate into thousands more nursing home resident deaths than the state has acknowledged.
Even some Democrats in New York are saying something is not right:
“That’s a problem, bro,” state Sen. Gustavo Rivera, a Democrat, told New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker during a legislative hearing on nursing homes earlier this month. “It seems, sir, that in this case you are choosing to define it differently so that you can look better.”
Despite the fact that Andrew Cuomo investigated and cleared himself some New York Democrats have been demanding an independent investigation into this deadly decision and now with this news I do not see how an investigation cannot take place.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Sunday, August 9th open thread: ‘Exo-Politics’
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.
In keeping with our Sunday “Musings” here is the band brining you “Exo-Politics” live in 2006. I apologize for the shaky video, however there are not many live versions out there and this one had the best audio/video combination.
“As conspiracies unwind
Will you slam shut
Or free your mind
Or stay hypnotized?”
“Will our leaders tell us why?
Fully loaded satellites
Will conquer nothing but our minds”
As the aristocracy in Washington continues to bog itself down by playing politics with the COVID-19 stimulus bill–a bill designed to help Americans struggling due to the crisis they created in the first place–Donald Trump has vowed to take Executive Action and it could happen next week. This action would include suspending the payroll tax, extending unemployment benefits, and more.
Here is more:
President Trump said Friday he would defer the payroll tax until the end of the year, using an executive order.
The president also said he would extend unemployment benefits, defer student loan payments and interest, and extend the eviction moratorium as well as an order requiring health insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions.
“If Democrats continue to hold this critical relief hostage, I will act under my authority as president to get Americans the relief they need,” he said.
The president said that the lawyers were drawing up the executive orders and that they could be signed by the end of the week.
Asked whether he was concerned about the legality of his executive order, Trump replied, “No, not at all. You always get sued, everything you do you get sued … we’ll see.”
The president also declined to specify whether or not he would extend federal unemployment benefit checks at the full $600 a week.
I have said it before and I will say it again, the best way to help struggling Americans is to open the economy back up! It is simple really, let Americans go back to work, let them earn a living, let them go out and spend their money on the weekends. Let businesses return, let the entertainment and sports industries flourish, let people get back to their lives. That is all we really want.
But that is not going to happen because these governors have decided they really like all this power they have usurped and they have no intention of letting it go any time soon. So with the Governors refusing to open up the economy we look to the aristocracy in Washington, but because they are trying to help themselves first–they are all concerned with making sure the other side does not get any credit for helping the American people, rather than actually helping the American people–Donald Trump is taking action but his action is using Executive Order to bypass the Congress to create and change tax law.
Does anybody else fear the precedent of letting a President change tax law? I know it scares the hell out of me! I do not see how this will be deemed Constitutional and we know the challenges are coming. Donald Trump knows they are coming as well and he said he is not afraid of that possibility.
However, that could be part of his plan. This is an election year and it could be that Donald Trump wants to get it on record that the Democrats sued him to stop him from getting relief to the American people after they failed to get relief to the American people. And if his Executive Order stands it will be a win for him, although I fear we will rue the day we put tax policy in the hands of a President.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
Los Angeles Mayor threatens to cut power and electricity to residents who have parties
If you thought the situation in New York was dire–where out-of-staters are being stopped in the airports and on the roadways and asked to show their COVID papers or else face what amounts to a 14 day house arrest order or pay a $10,000 fine–it is not any better in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has a message, or should I say a warning, for the subjects of his city. If you dare to throw a party be prepared to have your electricity and water shut off. Here is more:
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday announced the city was taking action against those who throw large parties.
He called recent gatherings of mostly young people in the Hollywood Hills and Calabasas “flagrant violations of health orders.”
“While we have already closed all bars and nightclubs, these large house parties have essentially become nightclubs,” said the mayor. He then indicated he would hold them to similar scrutiny. “The same thing we would do with businesses,” said Garcetti.
If the LAPD responds to repeated complaints and verifies that there have been violations at a home, the city will within 48 hours have the DWP shut off service at that home. Garcetti also indicated that county health inspectors and other city representatives would be on the lookout for violations.
This has nothing to do with keeping the people safe anymore, if it ever did, this is about an unabashed display of power. At least the Romans let its subjects keep their circuses to keep their minds off of the boot stamping on their heads. The subjects of Los Angeles are not being afforded that luxury as those who are drunk with power want everybody to see what they can and will do to those who dare oppose a royal decree.
I would like to know what happened to all of those leftists who were afraid Donald Trump was going to be a dictator now that we are seeing actually authoritarian measures slowly being put into place.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
New York City to set up roadway checkpoints to enforce mandatory quarantine for out-of-state travelers
The totalitarian crackdown in New York continues: Back in the middle of July we learned that New York Governor Cuomo was going to start sending out “enforcement teams” to airports to make sure travelers from out-of-state had their papers in order. Either you comply or you are fined up to $10,000.
At that time I speculated that it would only be a matter of time before New York would start pulling over cars on the road simply for having out-of-state plates and now that time has come. Roadblocks are now being set up to “randomly” pull over cars and order people to show officials their papers.
Here is more:
New York City will set up checkpoints at entry points to the city to find travelers from states with high coronavirus infection rates and order them to quarantine for two weeks, officials said Wednesday.
The new checkpoints at bridges and tunnels will stop cars and seek to enforce quarantine orders imposed by New York State, which require people coming from 34 states and Puerto Rico to self isolate for up to 14 days to avoid spreading Covid-19.
The city Sheriff’s Office will run the checkpoints and stop a random sampling of cars entering the city, reminding drivers of the quarantine order and requiring them to fill out a registration form if they’re coming from a high risk state.
People caught violating the quarantine — which applies to both residents of the high-risk states and New Yorkers returning from visits — can be hit with fines up to $10,000.
“The checkpoints, I think, are going to send a very powerful message that this quarantine law is serious,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
It amazes me that we have actually reached this point in what was once the land of the free, and I think what bothers me the most is that so many people do not seem to have a problem with any of this. People are just sitting back waiting for the government to tell them when it will be safe to return to normal but at this point I do not believe we are going to ever return to normal. Too many of our overseers are becoming addicted with this extra power and I fear the government more than I fear a virus.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
New York City Health Commissioner resigns over Bill de Blasio’s mishandling of COVID-19
New York became the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak due partly to the congestion in New York City and partly because of the mishandling of the epidemic by of Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio.
Now we are learning that the New York City Health Commissioner has resigned over a disagreement in the way Bill de Blasio is handling the COVID-19 crisis. Here is more:
New York City’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, resigned on Tuesday and voiced her “deep disappointment” with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s handling of the pandemic, renewing scrutiny of his leadership during the crisis just as the city faces pressing decisions about how quickly to reopen schools and businesses.
Dr. Barbot’s departure came after escalating tensions between City Hall and top city health department officials, which had begun at the start of the coronavirus outbreak in March, burst into public view and raised concerns that the feuding was undermining crucial public health policies.
As you can see the tensions began at the start of the crisis and have escalated. This was not a rash decision and it is not over one issue. Here is more:
“I leave my post today with deep disappointment that during the most critical public health crisis in our lifetime, that the health department’s incomparable disease control expertise was not used to the degree it could have been,” Dr. Barbot said in her resignation email sent to Mr. de Blasio, a copy of which was shared with The New York Times.
“Our experts are world renowned for their epidemiology, surveillance and response work. The city would be well served by having them at the strategic center of the response not in the background.”
Ironically she resigned because the mayor refused to listen to his experts, which is exactly what people on the left, such as Bill de Blasio, have accused the President of. But you do not need experts when you are being guided by politics and not by science. In his misguided zeal to make the President look bad he has neglected his duty to the people of his city.
malo periculosam libertatem quam quietum servitium
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