Tag: freedom

Former IRS official Lois Lerner has been recalled to testify again before a House committee in regards to the IRS’s harassment of conservatives.

5:30 am

Former IRS official Lois Lerner has been recalled to testify again before a House committee in regards to the IRS’s harassment of conservatives.

She took the fifth in her first appearance, while also making a statement announcing her innocence. According to numerous experts, this statement voided her ability to take the fifth. There might or might not be fireworks on March 5, when she has been called to return, as she will likely do nothing but cite the fifth amendment in her answers. How the congressmen respond to her non-answers will be interesting.

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A scientific study has found that name-calling and trolling on websites polarizes thought and blocks the ability of reasonable people to focus on the actual facts.

2:52 am

A scientific study has found that name-calling and trolling on websites polarizes thought and blocks the ability of reasonable people to focus on the actual facts.

This confirms my reasoning for banning such uncivil behavior here on Behind the Black. If we want to understand the issues the first thing we need to do is to make sure we are discussing the issues, reasonably, sanely, and politely. Strong words are okay, but they better be backed up with facts and solid reasoning.

Posted from Alon Shvut, West Bank, Israel, local time 1 pm.

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A Florida judge has ruled that it is illegal to live completely off the grid.

11:39 pm

Freedom dies: A Florida judge has ruled that it is illegal to live completely off the grid.

The judge stated that a woman, who has been trying to live without using any utilities, has to reconnect her water line, though she won’t be forced to use it. He also admitted that the law is outdated and should be changed. This quote however is revealing.

The widow and former real estate agent now has two choices. She can either restore her hookup to the water system by the end of March or appeal Eskin’s ruling to the courts. It is not known what action the city will take but city officials told Fernandez that they would be willing to let Speronis stay in her home if conditions are “sanitary.” At the hearing, Eskin noted that city officials have not actually been in Speronis’s home to make that determination.

It is so nice the government is “willing to let her stay in her home.”

Thugs.

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Eric Holder describes his belief that district attorneys don’t have to enforce any laws they disagree with.

10:35 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: Eric Holder describes his belief that district attorneys don’t have to enforce any laws they disagree with.

Holder’s real goal? Make the law less inconvenient so he and others in power can wield more power over everyone else. That goal is also shared by Obama as well as a large percentage of the politicians in DC from both parties. See for example this article about a man I disagree with strongly on many issues but who I know is totally on my side on this issue.

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The cop who shot and killed an already restrained 90 lb teen, saying “We don’t have time for this,” as he fired, has now been indicted for voluntary manslaughter.

2:18 pm

More good news: The cop who shot and killed an already restrained 90 lb teen, saying “We don’t have time for this,” as he fired, has now been indicted for voluntary manslaughter.

Too often the actual cops and government officials who commit acts of oppression get off scot free while their government has to pay the bills. This time, the punishment is being applied to the person who did the deed, a much better approach as it imposes personal responsibility from the individuals involved.

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Victory in the Ukraine for its protesting citizenry with the ouster of that country’s corrupt and tyrannical government.

2:07 pm

Some good news: Victory in the Ukraine for its protesting citizenry with the ouster of that country’s corrupt and tyrannical government.

The ousted President had won an election under suspicious circumstances, then arrested his opponent and put her in jail, then made numerous deals that brought him enormous wealth. He is now gone, and his opponent is free.

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“I don’t think we should be tolerating conservative views because that dominant culture embeds these deep inequalities in our society.”

8:27 am

The open-mindedness of a modern ivy league college student: “I don’t think we should be tolerating conservative views because that dominant culture embeds these deep inequalities in our society.”

Nor is this one student alone. She is typical of the bigoted, hateful leftwing mindset in the academic community, where tolerance is defined by how much you can censor and silence any opposing points of view.

Posted from Garden City, New York. I now shutting down and heading to the airport to fly to Israel. I expect that I will be out of touch with the internet until Sunday, at the soonest.

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A blogger with brains and a passion for free speech explains to the brainless and partisan mainstream press why the Obama administration thinks it can get away with monitoring the news gathering operations of the press and not face outraged criticism.

9:09 pm

A blogger with brains and a passion for free speech explains to the brainless and partisan mainstream press why the Obama administration thinks it can get away with monitoring the news gathering operations of the press and not face outraged criticism.

Read it all. If you happen to be a journalist with any ethics, it will make you sick.

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The next Falcon 9/Dragon launch to ISS will include the first test of legs on the rocket’s first stage, as well as an attempt to complete a soft touchdown on water of that first stage.

8:47 pm

The competition heats up: The next Falcon 9/Dragon launch to ISS will include the first test of legs on the rocket’s first stage, as well as an attempt to complete a soft touchdown on water of that first stage.

The article is chock full of interesting details about SpaceX’s effort to make the first stage of the Falcon 9 reusable.

Posted from Garden City, New York.

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The Obama administration is moving ahead with a FCC project to send government agents into newsrooms to make sure journalists cover certain topics the Obama administration considers important.

8:58 am

The first amendment is such an inconvenient thing: The Obama administration is moving ahead with a FCC project to send government agents into newsrooms to make sure journalists cover certain topics the Obama administration considers important.

I had read about this proposed project last week but had then seen reports that the FCC was backing down. Now it appears they are not.

What I can’t figure out is this: What news organization is going to agree to this? The FCC has no legal power over print journalism. If those researchers wanted to enter my newsroom or question my reporting, I’d simply tell them to go to hell, after I recorded the conversation. I would then report on that conversation, making it as embarrassing as I could for that researcher and the Obama administration.

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Off to Israel

1:00 pm

Posting for the rest of February will be spotty. I am heading to New York to give a lecture the Long Island section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics on Thursday night, then on to Israel for 10 days to visit family.

For an idea of what it was like to visit Israel last February, check out my earlier posts below, listed in chronological order. In each case, I think you will get a more accurate portrayal of the reality on the ground, in contrast to the political antisemitism of today’s modern intellectual culture.

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Our decadent elites.

9:41 am

Our decadent elites.

I don’t understand why members of Congress, the White House and the media become cooperators in videos that sort of show that deep down they all see themselves as . . . actors. And good ones! In a phony drama. Meant I suppose to fool the rubes. It’s all supposed to be amusing, supposed to show you’re an insider who sees right through this town. But I’m not sure it shows that.

We’re at a funny point in our political culture. To have judgment is to be an elitist. To have dignity is to be yesterday. To have standards is to be a hypocrite—you won’t always meet standards even when they’re your own, so why have them?

I have always tried to have judgment, dignity, and standards, which I guess explains why I have had so little success compared to today’s politicians and modern intellectuals.

Meanwhile, take a close look at who participated in the video Noonan describes above. It will tell you who we should not trust in the impending war over American freedom.

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University of South Carolina administrators refuse to teach the Constitution as required by state stature because they find it “inconvenient.”

1:08 pm

The law is such an inconvenient thing: University of South Carolina administrators refuse to teach the Constitution, as required by state stature, because they find it “inconvenient.”

State statutes maintain that all students at a South Carolina public school must spend a certain amount of time studying the Constitution and the Federalist Papers. Failure to abide by the statute is grounds for the removal of the head of the public institution–in this case, President Pastides. “Willful neglect or failure on the part of any public school superintendent, principal or teacher or the president, teacher or other officer of any high school, normal school, university or college to observe and carry out the requirements [of the statute] shall be sufficient cause for the dismissal or removal of such person from his position,” according to South Carolina law.

The USC administrators say the statute is inconvenient to enforce, however, since it would disrupt the university’s current course requirements.

It might inconvenient, and the law itself might be foolish, but it isn’t up the administrators to decide this. They should be fired.

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Communism fails again, and the Western intellectual elite puts blinders on so they don’t have to see it.

11:35 am

Communism fails again, and the Western intellectual elite puts blinders on so they don’t have to see it.

Communism and top-down state control of human activity has always failed in the past, continues to fail in the present, and will always fail in the future — no matter how good or sincere the intentions might be. If you want to make life better for people, give them freedom and then try to persuade them to do the right thing. Applying force simply does not work.

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NOAA’s official prediction for this winter was worse than monkeys working on typewriters.

9:58 am

The uncertainty of science: NOAA’s official prediction for this winter was as bad as monkeys working on typewriters.

“Not one of our better forecasts,” admits Mike Halpert, the Climate Prediction Center’s acting director. The center grades itself on what it calls the Heidke skill score, which ranges from 100 (perfection) to -50 (monkeys throwing darts would have done better). October’s forecast for the three-month period of November through January came in at -22. Truth be told, the September prediction for October-December was slightly worse, at -23. The main cause in both cases was the same: Underestimating the mammoth December cold wave, which brought snow to Dallas and chilled partiers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

But don’t worry. These guys know exactly what’s going to happen to the climate in a hundred years.

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A Boston hospital kidnaps a man’s daughter and then slaps a gag order on him to try to prevent him from talking about it.

4:35 pm

A Boston hospital kidnaps a family’s daughter and then slaps a gag order on them to try to prevent them from talking about it.

The Boston hospital, to which the girl was transferred on the advice of her original doctors in Connecticut, disagreed with the treatment and then forced their decisions on the family to the point of denying them access to their daughter. The father is now going public because he fears if she doesn’t get the right treatment “she is going to die.”

Though the story makes no mention of it, we must remember that Massachusetts is the land of Romneycare, where the government has stepped in to run the medical world. Somehow, I strongly suspect that fact plays a part in this story, if only as a cultural factor.

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