Opus 2026-077: Controversy

There is a definite conversation that we as Americans need to have.  Patriotic Americans that believe in absolute truth and eternal values have a tendency to look at the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence as being semi-inspired documents.  They would be just slightly below the Bible itself.  Because of that, we tend to get a bit idolatrous about them.

What brings this up is the problem that we are having now with the invasion by the Muslims.  Islam is a religion, but unlike other religions, it is also a political system.  It demands total and complete obedience in every area of life.  Sharia law is to be implemented wherever Muslims go.  We on the other hand, have a tradition of religious freedom.  The idea of executing someone because they leave your religion is anathema to Americans and yet it is foundational to Muslims.

Can these kind of differences survive in the current understanding of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.  More and more people are beginning to doubt it.  So what do we do?  We need to have some serious conversations while we still have time to disagree in a civil manner.

That conversation needs to take place on the internet, in coffee shops, over family dinners and any other forum that has two or more people.  One of the basic rules of civilized conversation and debate is at the base or our freedom of speech.  People need to explore ideas.  Just because someone says we might need to review the clause in the Constitution that outlaws religion tests for public office does not make them a hater or a bigot.  We need to listen and come up with better responses than, “Well, Oh yeah?”  This requires a bit of intellectual activity on our part.  Did you ever stop to think that the person who is retarded enough to disagree with you might have some part of their argument that makes sense?

It will also require a bit of courage.  We need to get over being afraid someone will call us a name or hurt our feelings.  We need to embrace the insults.  I am ready to exult in the accusation of White Privilege.  I yearn to be called a chauvinist.  I would love to be called racist by someone who does not see their own racism.  Deal with it.  Glory in it.  It means you have connected at least on some level.

We need to address the controversy.  If we don’t it will not go away, it will eat us alive.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-426: Lessons in History and Current Events

As we watch the regime change in Syria under the onslaught of unhappy citizens I asked myself could it happened here?  We have watched a central government quickly crumble under the attack of several different militia groups.  Is this the kind of thing that the deep state elitists of America are worried about?  Do they really think that this is possible?

Actually, they are trying to make it happen by destroying the liberties that we have guaranteed in the first and second amendment.  They are trying to make us a sectarian, Balkanized conglomeration.  

Take, for instance the first amendment.  Notice the first thing mention there is not freedom of speech or freedom of the press, but the limitation on the government starting a state religion or hindering anybody from practicing freely the religion of their choice.  That’s really what the whole first amendment is about and also the second amendment.  This document was written by people who remember their history and remembered how the government of England tried to control its people by controlling their religion.

Our Founders saw through this and saw that we needed as a group to be able to worship as we chose, not as we were told.  If you look at what’s happening in Syria, you find that one of the major differences in the groups is their religious affiliation.  The deposed dictator, Assad, belong to a minor sect of Islam.  Then you have the Russians, who up until recently were officially atheists.  And you have representatives of Iran, who are Shiite Muslim, and the supporters of Turkey which I assume is Sunni.  The battle may be over political power, but the roots are in their insistence that their form of religion is superior.

Somehow, I don’t see the Baptist and the Methodist going to war over the perseverance of the saints.  I don’t see Pentecostals going after Lutherans because they have a different view of spiritual gifts.  Sure the Anabaptists were once hunted and killed, but not in this country.  One of the side effects of saying the government can’t enforce a specific religion is that it teaches us to allow other people to exercise their beliefs without hindrance.  It makes us a tolerance society in the real meaning of tolerance.  We can be adamant about what we believe.  We cannot force others to believe.  And going along with that is the understanding that we don’t shoot somebody just because they disagree with us.

As I said, the elites are trying to destroy this root value of Americans.  The cabal that runs the Democratic Party and seems to be running the media and all the government agencies is doing everything they can to make Americans hate each other based on such things as race and gender.  It’s called identity politics.  It goes under many names from multiculturalism to DEI.  It says that we’re not all Americans because we don’t all agree with a specific group.  That in itself is un-American.  It is divisive.  It will eventually be murderous.  We see the hostility, growing all around us.

Could we become Syria?  Only if we abandon that phrase that is on our coins and money, “e pluribus unum.”  Only if we start ignoring the other phrase about “In God we trust” and start trusting in our government instead.

It could happen.  I am believing that it won’t.  Each of us makes a contribution.  If you are not ready to love your neighbor you might at least bake them some Christmas cookies.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-336: Say It

I’ve enjoyed the memes that show up with a picture from the Simpsons showing a classroom full of children, focused on one individual and yelling at that person to “say it”.  Then you have them say something and the one that comes to mind right now is for the FBI to say, “They were on our radar.”

The idea is that if someone is on the FBI’s radar, then the FBI should be doing something about it.  I want to take exception with that, and maybe issue a warning or concern.  I would venture to guess that most of us who have ever said anything that is outside the parameters of political correctness are on the FBI’s radar.  If you have traditional values, think there are two genders, have strong religious convictions or do not mumble “Orange man bad” this could apply to you.  If not the FBI, then one of the other alphabet agencies could be at your elbow.  They are listening.  They are watching.  They are taking notes.  They may show up at your front door someday.

Keep in mind that just because an agency of the government has you on their radar does not mean that they should be showing up at your door, arresting you, and dragging you into court.  Keep in mind this is what they have been doing to Donald Trump.  You’ve seen the poster which says, “They are not after me.  They after you and I’m just in their way.”

So no, don’t be pushing the government to start locking up everyone who makes people uncomfortable.  This is the philosophy of the red flag laws.  This is the philosophy of hate crimes.  This is the philosophyof cancel culture that is destroying our freedom of speech, assembly, petition, religion, and the right to bear arms.

It’s OK to laugh.  It’s OK to mock our government.  But keep in mind that it will get you on their list.  As long as we still have basic freedoms that is not a problem.  After all, even an FBI agent needs a purpose in life.  Just don’t let him exercise his discretion in the matter.

Until you start actually shooting, you are not a murderer.  Until you pick up that candy bar, put it in your pocket, and walk out of the store, you are not a shoplifter.  Because you think the government stinks does not make you an agent of an organization desiring to overthrow the government by violence, i.e. a communist.

Be careful what you wish for.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-287: Southwoke Airlines

My wife tells me that Southwest Airlines has made vaccination a requirement to fly on their airplanes.  I guess that seals it for me.  I had been avoiding flying because of the mask mandates and the obnoxious enforcement.  Now they have made it impossible for me to fly on their airline.  This is another step that touches me where I live.  Southwest used to be the airline of choice for our entire family.  In a normal year we would fly across the country, or its equivalent, at least twice.  Sometimes we would fly more, and it was always on Southwest.

Keep in mind that the Proregressives* that control the Biden administration and the shadow government are working overtime to negate the Bill of Rights.  If you read through the first two amendments and look at where all this is going you will notice they are on the attack of all listed there.  The mandates coming from Washington and state capitals are designed to limit your freedom of association.  Guess what shutting down the churches has violated?  How about calling parents who show up at school board meetings being called domestic terrorists?  Do the concepts of freedom of speech and redress of grievances ring any bells?  The left is also keeping people from expressing their views in the current versions of the printed media.  And topping it all off is the drive to declare you mentally unbalanced so they can take your guns.

Southwest Airlines is just another patsy in the war against the Republic.

Be ready to stand up, speak out and be counted.  It will either lead to liberty or the camps.

homo unius libri

Opus 2020-308: Resurrection of the Sit-In

What do we do in response to the fascist lockdowns?  The whole purpose of the lockdowns is to isolate us and keep us from working together against tyranny.  If they can get us one at a time, we can be picked off.  When they come to take our guns they will not call for an appointment.  They will come when our neighbors are at work or asleep in their beds.  They will deal with us and then move on to another isolated target.  The IRS will come after us one at a time.  The police will confiscate our property by accusing us of drug dealing.  The health department will take our certificates that say we are clean.  When there is only one of us and there are ten “To protect and serve” cadets we know how it will go.

I would suggest that we have daily defiance rallies.  We need to locate a selected location and just flood in by the thousands.  We need to stand there until the police show up and then go our way.  If necessary we can jack it up to actually block traffic.  We could use the tactics of the left and have city hall sit-ins.  We could do it at city counsel meetings.  We could do it on the sidewalk in front of the homes of selected elected officials.  We could do it so people could stop by on their way home from work.  Maybe they are already happening but we won’t hear about it on the news.

We need to get their attention.  They are not listening.  Too many dictators in training are able to ignore us.  Perhaps we could find a way to show them we care without going to the Second Amendment solution.  In much of the country there were Trump Trains and parades of boats.  We could try it in regard to our Representatives in congress and state legislatures.  They looked like a lot of fun.

Bring your MAGA hats.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-296: Cornerstone Considerations: BRI, Two Edged Speech

To those who did not vote for Democrats in the last election it is clear that the immense platforms provided by Facebook and You Tube are being used to censor and control the information available to those who believe what they see on MSM.  Actually they are trying to silence the rest of us too, but that is a bit harder at this point.  We tend to be outraged that they would do this.  At the same time we pay lip service to freedom of speech.

The significant part of the Bill of Rights reads,

“Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press;”

Are there limits to freedom of speech and the press?  Society has said, “Yes”.  The courts have said, “Yes”.  So what are those limits and how do we determine them?  We have fancy words like “defamation”, “libel” and “slander” but what do they mean?  Actually there are two factors that come into play:  Truth and intent.  The place where the law is clear involves making a statement you know is false in such a way that it damages someone who is not a public figure. 

We need clear lines between what is allowed and what is not.  We need clear penalties for crossing those lines.  We need to enforce the law and be willing to put up with everything that does not break it.  The sword must cut both ways in limitations and liberty.

The real checks will be found in culture, not in government.  Notice that the First Amendment says that “congress” is not to limit our speech.  That does not mean that social pressure cannot make a difference.  It used to be you could watch a movie or listen to the radio without a constant stream of F-bombs and smutty language.  The reason was not so much legislation as pubic outrage at such lack of decorum.  The industry policed itself because people demanded it.  You just did not do such things.  I know what locker room lingo is like but the mouthy adolescents who were showing how tough they were knew that they had better not talk that way in public.  Why did that worry them?  There mother would find out.  Now their mother is teaching them.

We as Americans need to start drawing limits.  That means we start with ourselves.  We need to start talking like we are on 1950's TV during family time.  And we need to start giving people the “look” when they use such language.  One thing I used to do was point out that I didn’t need to pardon their French because the word they used was Anglo-Saxon.

Like many things necessary to make life better, we tend to want liberty for ourselves and for others to toe the line.  If we don’t want to have laws enforcing speech codes in our homes like they are doing on University Campuses we need to start setting the example.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-135: Headlines: Who Is Tommy Robinson?

If our Progressive (Liberal, Democrat, Socialist, Elite, RINO) leaders have their way the experience of Tommy Robinson will soon come to a community near you.  If you don’t know about Tommy Robinson then you either are not paying attention or their plan has already isolated you in a Nanny State cocoon. 

Tommy Robinson was standing outside a courthouse in England where some Muslims were on trial for rape and assorted other crimes.  He was using Facebook to report on what was happening.  He was arrested for “breaching the peace”.  That sounds pretty serious.  Evidently he had done such a heinous things before and standing in public making comments on his Facebook page was a violation of his parole.  Within five hours he appeared before a judge and was locked up again for thirteen months.  It seems he was locked up in the same prison that contained the Muslims.  Then the judge passed down a gag order telling the news media not to tell anybody about it.  In this country you don’t have to do that because the media is so one sided, but London still has competing newspapers that like to get a scoop.

This is what the English system of justice has become.  It is what the Progressives want to see in this country.  I have often noted that our basic Bill of Rights is based on the English Declaration of Rights of 1689.  One noticeable difference is in the right to what we call Freedom of Speech.  It contains a mention of such but it only applied to members of Parliament.  The common, every day, man on the street had no such protection.

Our Founding Fathers made it clear that they were determined to break from the European model.  Today’s Bumbling Bureaucrats are doing everything they can to repair the damage.  The European Model involved hereditary class systems.  The European Model made common people subjects more than citizens.

Which brings us to the case of Tommy Robinson.  He is in jail because he spoke out against the politically correct desire to cover up and protect the atrocities being unleashed on the British people my the growing Muslim minority.  With his incarceration we are slapped up side the head with an awareness that England is not the land of the free.  It isn’t now.  Maybe it wasn’t then. 

It is time for the United States to renew its commitment to not being like Europe.  If we don’t then many of us will be facing jail time and a lot of misery.  Elections are coming.  Don’t vote for anyone who is not proud to be different from the rest of the world.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-218: Headlines: Stop Buying Rotten Fruit

The Washington Times had an article regarding a pole that shows how little respect the news media receives in this country.  If it is accurate, it comes as no surprise.  It reminds me of the joke about the judge threatening someone with contempt of court and he answered that he had plenty of contempt for the court.  I think it is safe to say that anyone who is paying attention and smart enough to work a remote control knows they cannot trust the news media.  They have an agenda.

The danger comes when we ask ourselves what should be done about it.  I have expressed my answer several times:  Stop patronizing them.  That means filtering the links you click on and refusing to go to anything from the left wing Democratic media.  It means not watching their programs and not buying their products.  It means not going to the movies they put out.  And horror of all horrors, it might mean finding an alternative to Face Book.  It is called letting the free market work.  That reinforces liberty.

We start down a slippery slope when we expect the government to protect us.

This is dangerous.  It is what the NY Times wants you to do.  The elites that control the major news outlets could love to see some kind of law passed making anyone who claims to publish news more accountable to the government.  At first this sounds good.  Who would not want a law demanding that the L.A. Times print the truth instead of their spin?  The problem is, who polices the police?

Take another example of a good idea that was corrupted by the elites:  Minimum standards to vote.  Today in order to vote all you need is citizenship, 18 years and register.  The Democrats have also found ways around all of those.  At one point in our history you had to be a white male, 21 years of age and of a social socio-economic standing.  At one point some well meaning people decided that the ability to read was important.  I can see that.  I can agree with that.  The problem was they began to use that to filter the voting base.  When poor black citizens would come in they would give them a reading test in a foreign language.  When whites came in they had something at 2nd grade English to read. 

If we allow the government to get involved we are throwing out the First Amendment.  Let liberty prevail.  We know they lie.  We don’t need to buy it.  Unless we allow them to control the internet, something they are trying to do, we will always have an alternative.  Ignore the poles and stop buying left.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-170: The First Amendment Applies to Left Wing Fools Too

We were all offended by the “humor” showing a decapitated president.  Rightly so.  It was offensive.

At the same time, it was her expressing her political opinion and is thus covered by the First Amendment.  The thing the left has forgotten is that freedom of speech is a right because it covers things that we find offensive.  We on the right cannot afford to forget.

It is also a chance for the free market to do its job.  We keep hearing the whining about how the president is bullying her.  Not really.  What is working to whip her into shape is capitalism.  She is not being cancelled because the venues disagree with her.  I imagine that before they stopped to think, the left wing thought the picture was a great expression of their desires.  She is being cancelled because the average Americans who pay money to attend events would refuse to let the cash flow to support such a sick mind. 

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.  By the time it is finished this picture will be worth a million dollars, or more.

Allowing her to display her true colors is a way of supporting our liberty.  Allowing her to crash and burn is also a way of supporting out liberty.  I just wish I could be there when she applies for her first EBT card.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-123: Headlines: Freedom Donates a Pint of Blood

As I checked out Drudge, looking for news about the most dangerous event in current history all I could find at the top of the page were links to the Republican budget and the Korean Krazy Man.  Those events are blips that generate a lot of worry but they are not the biggest danger to our liberty.  I had to scroll down to the bottom to find mention of Ann Coulter being censored by Berkeley. 

In case you missed it, Ann Coulter was scheduled to speak at Berkeley.  In order to speak she was required to agree to certain limitations.  She was required to speak at a place and time that would be inconvenient to students and not publicize the event until the last minute.  Then, after all was in order, tickets were purchased, hotels were booked and plans were made, the University cancelled for security concerns.

My understanding is that “censorship” is prior restraint of expression by a government agency.  For those who have not been paying attention, lets review Government 101 and the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Notice that the University is violating at least two of the rights guaranteed in this amendment.  As far as I know the University Progressives who had made this edict are not being disciplined or confronted by the Civil Rights Commission.

A short time before the ex-president of Mexico, Vincente Fox, came to Berkeley and spoke with no problems.  It would be interesting to see if he was required to sign the same agreements that Coulter was faced with.

This is chilling because it is a blatant example of how Big Government uses its monopoly on coercive power to limit free expression.  Tie it together with the filters being put on the internet by Google and Facebook and we start having issues with liberty.

I would call this “abridging the freedom of speech”.  I would call it an ax being put to the roots of the Tree of Liberty.

I am worried about the future of my country.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-107: Persecution Watch: Don’t Preach It, Brother

The Thought Police are on duty.  Today it is a Seventh Day Adventist, tomorrow it could be you.

It only made the Drudge Report one day.  I had to try several times to find it with Google.  It seems that Dr. Eric Walsh is both a government worker and a pastor.  His day job is, or maybe was, Public Health Director for the city of Pasadena, California.  In his private life he is an associate pastor in a Seventh Day Adventist church.  This man had the audacity to actually get in a pulpit and preach what the Bible teaches.  For this he has been put on administrative leave.  For this he has “withdrawn” from speaking at a commencement speech at the local community college.

Before I go any further, let me share a paragraph with you.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

In case you don’t recognize it, this is the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.  This is the supreme law of the land.  This is becoming hate speech.

The Bible has some clear moral teachings.  One very clear standard of God is that homosexual activity is a sin.  In spite of all the statements to the contrary there is really nothing to discuss.  This man, this ordained minister in a recognized denomination, had the vulgarity to actually stand in a pulpit and make a public statement that has been the standard of Western civilization for thousands of years.  He did not make these statements at work or in a general public forum.

For this he has been attacked by the Fascist (Progressives, Socialists, Communists, Educators, Democrats, Rhinos, elitists) Thought Police.  He has offended NAMBLA.  He has alienated the GLBT community.  He must be silenced.

You may not be concerned.  That is probably because you have been so neutered that you don’t have any thoughts that the Fascists (Progressives, Socialists, Communists, Educators, Democrats, Rhinos, elitists) are worried about.  They don’t care what you think of Beyonce.  They do care what you think about God’s standards of righteousness.

The persecution is on.  You are not free to express your opinions anywhere.  You will be recorded and hounded. 

Get ready.  Or just sit down, shut up, turn on the TV and veg out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2013-297: Cornerstone Considerations: Citizens Have Rights

Are you a citizen or a subject?  This is a question I hear in discussions of Second Amendment rights.  What is the difference? 

Most people in the world are subjects.  Although to us the concept of royalty is out of date, they all live in subjection to a king of queen.  That king may now be a prime minister, party chairman, ayatollah or labor leader, but they still demand submission to their authority because they are ordained by some superior power.  They may be benevolent or tyrannical but they are still worthy of your obedience because they are better than you.  They may listen to you but that is just because they are inclined to be pleasant.  Your opinions are of no value.  You are a subject.

Citizens on the other hand are individuals with rights because they have value.  The political leader is no different except that they have been given a temporary position to act and do what they can to implement the desires of the people who put them in that position.  The authority is in the citizen not the ruler.

This is the basis of the Bill of Rights in the Constitution of the United States.  The concept of citizen is given a strong foundation in the first two Amendments.  How many of you can list the five rights in the First Amendment?  It is scary how many don’t have any idea.  Briefly they are, in order, religion, speech, press, assembly, redress of grievances.  The Second Amendment is reserved for the right to bear arms.  These are rights reserved for people with political power, in our case citizens, and often denied to subjects.

Here is the complete text of the First Amendment.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”

Our current political leaders, usually but not always of both parties, feel that they are a privileged class.  They feel that their vision is better than those under them.  They feel that the end justifies the means because they have a better idea and we need their wisdom to guide us.  They want us to get out of the way, sit down, shut up and pay the bills.  That means they must convince us we are subjects, not citizens.

Until recently, America has never been a nation of subjects.  We have always been a group of people that believe that “all men (and women) are created equal.”  The elites of government, education and media are trying to make us forget that.  The youngest generation has nothing to forget because they were never taught. 

Elections have consequences, even at the school board level.  Next time you get a chance remember the antidote to revolution and violence is to vote the suckers out.

homo unius libri