Does this make you feel safer? A SWAT team in Indiana broke down the unlocked front door, tossed in stun grenade, and then stormed into … (wait for it) … the wrong house.
Update: Thank you Steve for noting that I typed the wrong state, Illinois, in the post. This has now been corrected.
“It’s all up to the voters now.”
It always has been up to the voters. Sadly, my baby-boom generation has too often turned to the courts to absolve themselves from responsibility for making tough decisions as voters. With Obamacare, that is no longer possible. If the public wants to get rid of this turkey of a law, which every poll says they do, the public had better come out to the polls in November and vote for candidates who are in favor of its repeal.
What could go wrong? The IRS has announced that it is going to increase its investigations of tax-exempt political groups.
Note that almost all the groups being targeted by the IRS are conservative. I wonder why.
What could go wrong? Both Russia and the United States have developed a “pain ray gun” for dispersing protestors.
The beam has a much shorter wavelength than a microwave oven and very different effects. The waves penetrate only about 1/64 of an inch, and anyone caught in the beam experiences painful but harmless heating of their skin. It causes what developers call a repel effect; nobody can stand it more than a few seconds before having to get out of the beam.
That’s the American system, not yet used. The Russian system is similar, and the Russians seem ready and willing to put it into operation.
This is not a joke: A German court has declared the practice of Judaism a crime.
A TSA agent in Florida spilled the cremated remains of a man’s grandfather on the floor after illegally opening the jar to finger the ashes.
[John] Gross says about a quarter to a third of the contents spilled on the floor, leaving him frantically trying to gather up as much as he could while anxious passengers waited behind him. “She didn’t apologize. She started laughing. I was on my hands and knees picking up bone fragments. I couldn’t pick up all, everything that was lost. I mean, there was a long line behind me.” [emphasis mine]
Freedom dies, one security checkpoint at a time.
The TSA’s security checkpoint of the future.
After checking their luggage, passengers would identify themselves not with driver’s licenses and paper boarding passes, but by scanning fingerprints or irises to prove they have an electronic ticket. Passengers would walk with their carry-ons through a screening tunnel, where they’d undergo electronic scrutiny — replacing what now happens at as many as three different stops as they’re scanned for metal objects, non-metallic items and explosives. …
If screeners notice anything suspicious, a passenger would still be pulled aside and possibly patted down.
There’s a lot more. Read it all. For example, there’s this quote:
The so-called riskiest or unknown passengers would face the toughest scrutiny, including questioning and more sensitive electronic screening. Those who voluntarily provide more information about themselves to the government would be rewarded with faster passage.
I call this Orwell’s 1984 come to life, a totalitarian’s dream and a free person’s nightmare. Once in place, what’s to prevent this from spreading to all phases of life? Nothing. You give government this kind of power and it will use it, and that use will not be for your benefit, but for the government’s benefit alone.
I fear that freedom is dying, one security checkpoint at a time.
More guns, less crime: According to FBI statistics released last week, violent crime has declined for the fifth year in a row, the 18th time it has declined in the last 20 years.
Facts are hard things. You can claim that more guns will cause more violent crime, but the facts remain what they are: Wherever there are gun control laws, crime is higher. Wherever people are allowed to own guns, crime goes down.
We’ve only just begun: “So come and get me if you must, Mr. President. I will not bow to your wicked regulation.”
James Dobson is not to be taken lightly. Under the Obamacare HHS contraceptive mandate, his organization, Focus on the Family, would not qualify for any exemption and would be required to pay for contraceptives and abortion drugs. And if Dobson’s organization defies the federal government here, expect very loud fireworks, as Focus is very large with a very large following.
What could go wrong? The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has asked the Utah state legislature for permission to scan the license plates of all cars driving on Interstate 15.
Worse, they are already scanning plates in Texas and California, and plan to add Arizona to the list.
I especially like this quote from a Utah legislator in response to the request. “I’ll be quite frank with you. A lot of us in Utah don’t trust the federal government.” Do tell.
Not good: The man tapped to head Romney’s transition team should he win the election favors implementing Obamacare on the state level.
The Romney campaign responded to say that Romney intents to repeal Obamacare fully once in office. Still, to pick this man to head his transition team is worrisome.
Florida has decided to continue to purge its election rolls of illegal and ineligible voters, in defiance of the Obama administration’s demand that it stop.
The state is enforcing the law, as written on the books. Yet Eric Holder’s Justice Department somehow thinks that this is illegal. Maybe someone should teach Holder and his attorneys how to read.
In related news, Holder’s Justice Department is suing a Las Vegas casino because the casino followed the law in verifying that all its employees were legal residents of the United States.
