Given the circumstances, the question anyone should be asking is, what is next? What direction should the country go? There are appear to be five main options: civil war, peaceful secession, decentralization, cultural and political homogeneity, or forced conformity. 

Civil War

This would presumably be the worst of all the options. The idea of war between the states and between the American people is unimaginable. However, there is a legitimate chance this could occur. In fact, 46% of Americans think a civil war is inevitable. None should dismiss this possibility, but if the path the United States takes is to be peaceful, there must be a serious awakening of the American people.

Peaceful Secession

As opposed to a violent civil war, peaceful secession proposes that certain parts of the country leave the jurisdiction of the United States without war and establish their own countries. The idea is gaining support, and there are movements like this on a smaller scale in Colorado and Oregon. Although this option seems unlikely, it is preferable to a violent civil war that also breaks the country apart.

Decentralization

Similar to the option of peaceful secession, decentralization is the process of distributing political power among the states and local jurisdictions rather than leaving power centralized with the federal government in Washington. In this case, decentralization is not even going outside the realm of what has been done in the United States before. 

Simply, San Francisco governs San Francisco and Knoxville governs Knoxville. In a way, decentralization is a watered down version of self-determination. Each locality or state can govern themselves while also having some accountability and responsibility on the national level. This option, while keeping the country intact, gives groups of people the ability to make their own decisions while minimizing the effect it could have on other groups. By far, this is a more satisfying and safe option.

Cultural and Political Homogeneity

Unlike decentralization, this option leaves power centralized and unifies the majority of the American people—an establishment of a new normal so to speak. In short, one of our political “sides” wins and that is the standard moving forward. An instance similar to the Reagan era where the political left had to respond with a more conservative candidate or the acceptance of the New Deal as a mainstay in American political life could serve as examples.

This new normal would at the very least end the current polarization and create a sense that the country is unified enough to continue standing. With this option however, one side would have to lose and lose gracefully at that. Under current conditions, this seems unlikely, but there is always the chance that some event or leader is capable of bringing the nation closer together, even if unwillingly. Do not be surprised if this is the chosen path of the United States in the future.

Forced Conformity

Like the option of homogeneity, forced conformity centralizes power and establishes a new normal. However, this new normal is established by whoever uses the power of the state first to put people in line. This is the creation of a totalitarian society via the means of the government gun. No longer will there be unnecessary squabbling over politics. There will be order and unity regardless if it is desired or not.

The political right likes to compare certain policies to that of George Orwell’s 1984, often incorrectly and entirely overused, but it is a legitimate possibility. With any state that has grown as large as the United States federal government, there is a real threat of it just asserting its own dominance to enforce order and control. Americans would like to think that they are immune to this totalitarian concept, but in the end humans have the aptitude to take such action. This option, along with that of civil war, should be seen as the most dangerous.

What Direction Should the United States Choose?

The scenarios above are general, and each has their own issues. However, for any average American, the prospect of violence between the people or coercion in the political sphere should be off the table. They are easily the worst options to anyone that seeks peace. 

As for the other options, it depends almost entirely on the issue of polarization. If the country is so divided that there is no chance at reconciliation, peaceful secession is the best path. If the ideological gap is serious, but not so bad that the American people cannot remain neighbors with their political opposites, decentralization seems optimal to increase everyone’s satisfaction. Should the polarization cease and a new normal is secured, the option of homogeneity is preferable. 

Regardless, the United States cannot stand as it is currently. The priority for the American people now needs to be focused on solving this crisis of country and truly becoming that shining city on a hill again.

The post Is the Future Really Dark? appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Kendall Tietz on November 24, 2021

• Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) is reportedly infusing Critical Race Theory (CRT) into its teacher training, which says “America is oppressive” and that “White supremacy is everywhere,” Carlos Turcios, an activist who spent four years on FWISD’s Racial Equity Committee and now organizes parent protests, told Fox News.
• The school district has asserted it does not teach CRT, but it advertised a class for teachers and staff that introduced CRT into the curriculum, according to the “Overview of Service Provided by the Division of Equity & Excellence,” from September 2020. The overview outlines “Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Fort Worth ISD: An Introduction.”
• The overview explains CRT’s central tenets as “Counter- storytelling, the permanence of racism, whiteness as property, interest convergence, critique of liberalism,” to discuss the “endemic nature of racism and white supremacy” in the U.S. from its founding “into the present.”

Teacher training at a Texas public school district teaches the tenets of Critical Race Theory, according to a document obtained by Fox News and videos provided by an education activist.

Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD) is reportedly infusing Critical Race Theory (CRT) into its teacher training, which states that “America is oppressive” and “White supremacy is everywhere,” Carlos Turcios, an activist who spent four years on FWISD’s Racial Equity Committee and now organizes parent protests, toldFox News.

CRT holds that America is fundamentally racist, yet it teaches people to view every social interaction and person in terms of race. Its adherents pursue “antiracism” through the end of merit, objective truth and the adoption of race-based policies.

The school district has asserted that it does not teach CRT, but it advertised a class for teachers and staff that introduced CRT into the curriculum, according to the “Overview of Service Provided by the Division of Equity & Excellence,” from September 2020. The overview outlines “Critical Race Theory (CRT) in Fort Worth ISD: An Introduction.”

The overview explains CRT’s central tenets as “Counter- storytelling, the permanence of racism, whiteness as property, interest convergence, critique of liberalism,” to discuss the “endemic nature of racism and white supremacy” in the U.S. from its founding “into the present.”

The course is self-paced, where participants learn that racism “is prevalent in all aspects of our society,” including the educational system. The “culminating activity” of the course involves participants developing “their own Racial Equity Strategic Plan to move more deeply into critical self-reflection and work towards implementing their plan into the participants current roles.”

“The superintendent and the bureaucracy are doing a disservice to the students by teaching them that color is everything, that America is oppressive, and that White supremacy is everywhere,” Turcios told Fox News. “Last time I checked, critical race theory doesn’t help kids learn how to pay the bills, pay their taxes, or pass that job interview.”

The school district’s overview also discusses “Students Organized for Anti-Racism (SOAR),” implemented to encourage students to do “anti-racism” work. The SOAR description says students in “predominantly White settings” should be “particularly open to alliances with students of color” and “not further isolate students of color, who are already historically marginalized and hypervisible within the system.”

SOAR advisers, the faculty members guiding the groups, should be “prepared to host racial affinity spaces as needed,” which involves segregating participants by skin color, according to the district’s overview. Advisers should also “be able to practice culturally responsive teaching” and “have an internalized understanding of critical race theory,” the document says.

At an optional district “Racial Equity Summit,” in March 2019, attendees had to divide themselves by race into “African, Biracial, African American/Black, Hispanic/Latinx, American Indian, Asian and White” groups, according to a videoshared by Turcios.

At the district’s school board meeting in November, FWISD Superintendent Kent Paredes Scribner discussed the “Introduction to Critical Race Theory” and “how to create an anti-racist classroom” by addressing implicit bias and microaggressions.

At the 2020 FWISD “Racial Equity Summit,” an instructor discussed a quote, “a little white man deep inside all of us,” attributed to James Baldwin, on a slide titled “Internalized white supremacy.”

During the session, the black speaker said many black people are “guilty of” hosting “internalized white supremacy” by thinking “our own traditions are not as good, somehow,” which is “internalized racism, because we internally believe that white is supreme.” She also said, “it requires a constant process of ridding ourselves of this colonized mentality.”

Turcios told Fox News that Scribner should resign, along with several other school district leaders who allegedly created a “toxic environment.”

On Nov. 9, at a FWISD school board meeting, a pro-CRT parent, Malikk Austin, told attendees that he has 1,000 soldiers “locked and loaded” for those who “dare” question the need for race-based curricula.

“Look at the word racism, this is something deliberately done to people of African descent to shackle us down, this hate, fear mongering ain’t gonna work no more,” Austin said. “It’s over with, we are not our ancestors. I got over 1,000 soldiers ready to go.”

When reached for comment, FWISD told the Daily Caller News Foundation that its offices would be closed until Nov. 29.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact

licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

The post Texas School District’s CRT Course For Teachers Purports ‘American Is Oppressive,’ ‘White Supremacy Is Everywhere’ appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Beck described the perilous journey of an unnamed 23-year-old Cuban mechanic who braved the trip from Cuba to the U.S. to escape Communism twice, only to be deported and back on Cuban soil four days after risking life and limb trying to make it to America.

“I want you to think about that; how hard is it for you to leave your friends, your family, and your job for something that you know. You’re moving to Denver; you’re moving someplace else. Think about the pressure that is on you, think about the butterflies that you have in your stomach. About finding new doctors, a new school for your kids, a new job, new friends. I don’t want to leave my friends—my family is all here. Now imagine you’re going to a place where you can never go back. You’re not going to see your parents and your friends,” Beck told his listeners.

Glenn called out the Biden administration and the Left for allowing immigrants to flood the country with no discrimination while refusing to allow Cubans in the country who are attempting to flee the country’s Communist regime.

He quoted the inscription on the Statue of Liberty, saying that he understood its true meaning. Beck suggested that one day Leftists might claim the monument was a symbol of hate.

Beck also called on Republicans to fly to Miami and to invite Democrats to come along to stand arm-in-arm with the Cuban people who love America.

“This might piss a bunch of people off, but what do I have to lose? I’d leave this country in a heartbeat. I’d renounce my citizenship in a heartbeat. I’d take down my American flag in a heartbeat. If you could come up with something better. If you had someplace or something, some idea that had a better mission statement than the Declaration of Independence and you had a better Constitution than this one, and you had people who were like our pilgrims and many of our founders— they were in it for people and freedom. I’d go, but so far that offer hasn’t come up.” Glenn said Monday.

Listen to Glenn’s full monologue here below:

Image: Gage Skidmore

The post Glenn Beck Says He’d Leave America If There Was Something Better appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

As I posted on Facebook on April 23 a few years back:

Happy St. George’s Day! How best to celebrate England’s national day? Have some tea and crumpets? Sip a gin and tonic in the afternoon? Skip a trip to the dentist? Colonize some far away land and introduce them to western civilization whether they want it or not? Simply go to work and have a productive day because those bloody bills aren’t going to pay themselves, you know?

(It’s not as simple as St. Patrick’s Day, which apparently just involves wearing green and getting snockered.)

The United States makes a huge fuss over St. Patrick’s Day while practically ignoring St. George’s Day. That’s super weird to me, because we owe much more to the English than we do to the Irish. Our legal system is based on English common law. Many of our cultural and musical traditions come from jolly old England. We have fought side by side with our English friends in several conflicts, leading to the coining of the term “The Special Relationship.” And obviously, we speak their language. (Though obviously not as well as they do. Everything sounds better in an English accent.)

If demographics are destiny, one would tend to think that the future looks very Chinese. Or maybe Hispanic. Neither of those things are necessarily bad; the worst thing about a Chinese future would no doubt be their awful system of government.

I hope that English manages to survive and even thrive in the future. While it’s a notoriously difficult language to learn and our spellings and pronunciations are all over the place, one can’t argue with the profound effect the language and the culture have had on the world.

Things haven’t exactly been copacetic in the mother country. The trauma of Brexit was largely driven by England while being staunchly opposed in Scotland and Northern Ireland. The U.K. leaving the European Union sparked some serious talk about the U.K. itself disintegrating.

If England were to turn its back on Europe, and even on some parts of its own island, where would they turn?

Why not us? Why not just put the band back together? As long America’s in charge. (Which, population-wise, we would be.)

The Anglosphere, loosely defined at the English speaking world, totals 6% of the world’s population and 17% of the world’s land. The “core” Anglosphere would be heavily dominated by the United States (328.2 million people), followed by the United Kingdom (67.8 million), Canada (38 million), Australia (25.7 million), and New Zealand (5.1 million.)

But wait, there’s more! A broader definition of the Anglosphere that brings in all the world’s English speakers would be considerably larger. The big prize here would be India and its 1.2 billion souls. Which could, technically, put them in charge of the Anglosphere. (And it has been my experience that many Indians are far more English in their mannerisms and habits than Americans are.)

But you would also bring in some other good-sized countries like Pakistan, Nigeria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, and even Israel. (Pakistan might be a stretch given that what happened with Osama bin Laden a decade ago, but if we can still be in NATO with Turkey at this point, anything is possible.) An extended Anglosphere would more than blunt the possible impact of Scotland going its own way, or Northern Ireland reuniting with the rest of Ireland. Though of course they would both be welcome to stay.

There already exists an organization of English-speaking countries: The Commonwealth of Nations. It’s largely a collection of former British colonies, most of which recognize the British monarch as their titular head of state. Conspicuously absent from the Commonwealth are Ireland and the United States. The Irish have their reasons, as do we. But you don’t even have to recognize the queen as your head of state to be in this group anymore; they’ve accepted republics since 1949 (though somewhat grudgingly.)

Why not take that concept and make a big free trade zone and military alliance? Think “Commonwealth Plus.” We’re already in bed militarily and intelligence-wise with the big players anyway through the Five Eyes and the UKUSA Agreement. I know libertarians are inherently hostile to foreign entanglements, but China doesn’t share these high minded ideals. Such an arrangement may be inevitable.

The bad:

Well, that whole monarchy business. Most Americans, despite our weird fascination with the House of Windsor, are never going to bend the knee. Even symbolically. But as noted above, republics aren’t out of the question in the Commonwealth.

Then there’s that whole weird thing about the U.K. having an official state religion. Again, that’s easy enough to deal with, as it’s not really a requirement.

Americans are never likely to become fond of cricket or hot tea.

The English may never completely go along with extensive dental work.

It also seems quite unlikely that our Commonwealth brethren will ever catch on with American gun culture, which is shame, because they’re totally missing out. That shit is fun.

And some parts of the extended Anglosphere, as noted before, may want to go their own way. Thinking maybe of Quebec or Puerto Rico here.

The good:

As mentioned, the largely shared language, legal system, and parts of the culture.

Plus let’s be honest: if there was an Anglosphere Parliament including the U.S., India, Pakistan, Israel, the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, Prime Minister’s Questions would be absolutely fucking lit. It would be must see TV. (Or “must see telly,” if you’re already getting all English just by reading this.)

Plus, the English could certainly teach us a thing or two about proper soccer hooliganism.

Last but not least, the flag. While everyone agrees that the Stars and Stripes is a fine looking flag, the Union Jack is absolute fire. (Even if you had to take out the Irish part.) The Grand Union Flag could be a compromise, bringing with it the best of both worlds.

Now, you might argue: “This whole Anglosphere idea is an ugly vestige of colonialism at best, and kind of racist at worst!”

The colonialism thing certainly has an ugly side. But have you ever noticed that most former British colonies maintain good ties with the mother country? (Even if, like us, it took them a while to come around?) Some former possessions of The Crown are still a little sore over the whole thing, sure, but by and large they came out better for it.

The idea that this concept could be racist is poppycock, balderdash, and rubbish. “English”, as a language and culture, goes far beyond actual Anglo-Saxons. The Commonwealth Plus, as proposed, would be in fact be the most diverse nation on the planet. From the Maori of New Zealand to the Blacks of the former British Caribbean to the Indians, Pakistanis, and Bangladeshis of the former British Raj, it would be hella diverse. Just all speaking the same language.

The best:

Even an ascendant China might want to think twice before messing with such a rowdy bunch.

The post I Cheer, You Cheer, We All Cheer for the Anglosphere appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

“I’m not the sort to back away from a fight.
I don’t believe in shrinking from anything. It’s not my speed;
I’m a guy who meets adversities head-on.”
– John Wayne.

These words by “The Duke” are not just an inspirational quote, but a creed I have strived to live by as my life with cerebral palsy has not been for the faint of heart. It has been filled with many challenges that I have overcome—others that I’m still tackling. Living with CP for the past 27 years has taught me several lessons that America would benefit from considering the current social climate of our country.

Our nation is facing troubling times. You don’t need me to tell you that. All you have to do is watch the coverage from the BLM/ANTIFA riots all over the country. It has been my observation that since the death of George Floyd, many good men and women all over the country have been exploited by a Communist organization without knowing it.

My experiences as a “disabled” man have taught me to have an extra ounce of empathy toward my fellow man. While I don’t know what it’s like to be a victim of police brutality, I do know what it is like to deal with unfairness and hurt due to circumstances which I have no control over. I have also been deceived and emotionally wounded by people I thought were friends who used me and then threw me away once they had gotten what they wanted. The feeling of incredible frustration, and even some anger due to lack of being understood, is something I understand all too well, having dealt with it from my teenage years into adulthood.

The need for criminal justice reform in America is real, but many of my fellow Americans are being taken advantage of by Marxists. I fear that my countrymen will not realize the bait-and-switch until the veil has been removed, and the masses see BLM and ANTIFA for the authoritarian organizations that they are. My concern is that by the time these good Americans who want to see bad cops brought to justice and reforms put in place realize the true objective of this death cult, it will have been too late.

The only genuine threat to the American Republic is that we would quite literally cut our own throat because we have allowed hate to conquer our hearts and begin viewing our neighbors as the enemy. There’s a real enemy among us, but it’s not your neighbor on the left or right of center, but those in our own government and leadership positions of groups such as BLM that want to burn our country to the ground. Those of us who still believe in individual liberty should talk to our friends and family who have been swept up in this movement of the authoritarian left. This requires that we stretch ourselves personally, intentionally exercising love for those with whom we disagree—compassion for the issues that affect our fellow Americans.

The issues we face in this country may seem impossible to overcome. You may have read all this and thought America has gone too far down this road to serfdom and thought all my talk of love and compassion is a load of crap; however, take it from a man who has been an overcomer since birth. Love and unity have to be at the forefront of the mission to preserve liberty. Libertarians should be in the business of building bridges to unite individuals—not walls to keep us divided.

It may not look like it right now, but I can assure you that if we remain determined to spread liberty and keep peace and love in our hearts, our best days are ahead of us! My life is a living testament to what one highly motivated man can do. Even if it appears the deck is stacked, I’ve got a few cards up my sleeve!

The post Love Conquers All: A Disabled Libertarian’s Message to Save a Hurting America appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

News flash:  our various levels of government aren’t libertarian, many are responding, and it’s still not working.  Maybe it really would have been easier to just cut out the middle man and do nothing.

Should federal, state, county, or municipal governments infringe on the rights of their citizens to save them from a virus?  No.

Will the American people and businesses take the virus seriously, step up, and self-govern their way around it?  Also no.

America was always destined to be first place in any pandemic competition.  We go big or we go home.  We have that “can do” spirit.  We are Ameri-cans, not Ameri-cant’s.  To quote Team America: World Police: “America, Fuck Yeah!”

As of this writing, there have been 6.32 million COVID-19 cases in our fair republic with over 189,000 deaths.  Worldwide there have been 27.4 million cases with over 894,000 fatalities.

If you think the U.S. versus the worldwide numbers are striking, it’s because they are.  While the United States has only about 4% of the world’s population, we account for about 23% of the planet’s COVID-19 cases.  We’re number one, baby!

(India is far behind us in second place for the most cases, lagging by over two million.  What gives?  They’re packed in a lot closer to each other than we are.  And the Indian people, in my experience, are not prone to slacking.  Get with it, India!)

Here’s my take on why COVID-19 was always destined to be a shit show here:

Freedom of movement is part of our nation’s soul

It sometimes bears remembering that our nation was founded as a loose confederation of otherwise independent states.  (That’s why they’re called “states”, not “provinces.”)  Even if the states are far from independent under our current setup, some vestiges of this still remain.  Perhaps chief among them is the Federal reluctance to restrict interstate commerce or interstate travel.

While the U.S. Constitution does contain the much ballyhooed Commerce Clause, which has been the source of some judicial chicanery over the centuries, the Federal government is by and large reluctant to flex its muscle when it comes to restricting actual commerce and actual travel.

A thousand years ago in college, our Cultural Anthropology (whatever that is) professor made us all pair up one-on-one with international students to socialize and compare notes.  I was hooked up with a polite young Chinese kid.  We only hung out once.  (We were supposed to hang out several times; I wrote completely fictionalized accounts of the remainder of our meetings.)  But in our one legitimate confab, I do remember him being completely amazed that an American could just pick up and drive from coast to coast without any sort of passport, permit, or even a plan.

Also, we are a people that consume things.  So, SO many things.  (We also make things, though not as many things as we used to.)  In order to satisfy our desire to consume, we have to move many things from Point A to Point B.  (Point B is often “our mouths.”)  This need to move things across state lines doesn’t stop during a war. Or a pandemic.

America is not a unitary state.  We do not have an iron-fisted national government (compared to many other countries anyway.)  We should be thankful.  The sweet chaos that ensues makes us who we are.

There are other things the Feds could do besides limiting travel, such as try for a nationwide mask mandate.  Former Vice President Biden actually floated that idea, but then wisely abandoned it. 

State inability to effectively enforce travel bans/quarantines

So the Federal government can’t do much.  What about the states, you ask?

Libertarian types are sometimes quick to tout states’ rights, when in reality, sometimes the states are just as bad (if not worse) when it comes to treading on us.  One need look no further than the reaction of the various states to the COVID-19 crisis.  Libertarian Party members often contend that you can’t tell the difference between the Democrats and the Republicans much of the time.  One area in which the donkeys and the elephants have been very different, however, is how they have approached this situation at the state, county, and municipal level.

Many red states (including Missouri) have taken a mostly laissez-faire approach to L’affaire Corona.  Several blue states, on the other hand, have taken aggressive actions regarding mask mandates, social distancing, business shutdowns, and so forth.  Yet the blue states have had the most deaths.

Did the state government interventions cause the deaths, or did the deaths cause the more aggressive intervention?  Yes.

Red states unfortunate enough to have blue governors have also experienced some heavy-handed responses; think Kentucky and Louisiana.  Kentucky’s Gov. Andy Beshear, whose mannerisms bear a striking resemblance to those of Kenneth Parcell from 30 Rock, is on my television all the time preening and primping.  (I live fairly close to the Bluegrass State.)  I do my best to change the channel immediately.

(Gov. Beshear was just very recently elected largely on the strength of his support from…teachers unions, who had an ongoing feud with his GOP predecessor.  Thanks so much, teachers unions, for all that you do!)

Some states (again, mostly blue) have even attempted to impose quarantines on visitors from other states during this time.  These orders are largely toothless.  Enforcement is spotty, if applied at all.  We are on an honor system, and well, Americans love to cheat.

With porous (or really non-existent) state “borders”, our nation is only as strong in a pandemic as its weakest link.  And we have many weak links.  If one state is infected, we’re all going to be infected, and as Americans we really wouldn’t have it any other way.

American love for travel and drunken revelry

‘Muricans love our cars.  And we love to drive them.  We also love to travel by plane, train, or boat.  We don’t sit still.  Even a homebody like me likes to hit the road, even if it’s not often ambitious trips we’re talking about.  We get stir crazy easily.  A little highly contagious disease ain’t gonna stop that.

We also love to party.  Sometimes we travel just so we can party; apparently there’s nothing quite like the feeling of being drunk someplace besides home.  We’re also the kind of people who go outside during a tornado warning, beer in hand, to try and get a glimpse of the twister.  To extend the middle finger to government while doing a keg stand in the face of death is the American way.  If we also want to lick doorknobs while we’re at it—well, it’s our Constitutional right.

The nation’s motto should be changed from e pluribus unum to hold my beer and watch this!  We have places to go and people to do.  Pool parties, motorcycle rallies, and crowded beaches are siren songs calling us to our doom.  (Not to mention protests and riots.)

American contempt for authority

One of the best ways to get an American to do something is to tell him or her that they can’t.  Think:  The American Revolution.  Or, the South.  We are notoriously defiant and ornery, particularly south of the Mason-Dixon Line.

The various authorities haven’t acquitted themselves well in the current clusterfuck.  The economy was probably going to tank when the initial panic set in, with or without government intervention.  Think mid-March, around the time of the Great Shit Ticket Crisis of 2020.  But then governments started making it worse by picking winners and losers.  Certain businesses were hobbled while others went untouched.  Certain gatherings were banned while others were overlooked or even encouraged.  Masks were considered unnecessary right up until they weren’t.  “Fifteen days to flatten the curve” turned into months and months of confusion.

The American people are right to be angry.  Our contempt for authority has been proven to be well earned.

A sizable portion of the population thinks the whole thing is a hoax

Conspiracy theories have been a part of this pandemic since day one.  A sizable number of people think:

a. The virus doesn’t exist at all

b.  If it does exist, it was was intentionally released by a Chinese lab

c.  It is no worse than the regular flu

d.  Even if it is worse than the flu, its effects are being greatly exaggerated for political benefit

e.  All sorts of other stuff

El Presidente himself has fueled some of these flames.  There is a fairly stark blue/red divide at play here, proving that Americans can make literally anything political.  It’s no wonder we can’t agree on policy when many of us think nothing is wrong to begin with.

Many Republicans think the whole thing is much ado about nothing.  Many Democrats think it’s the end of the world and a reason to flex their governmental muscle.  Libertarians think it’s a mild inconvenience that the nudie bars are closed, certain types of ammo are hard to come by, and normies are buying up our doomsday bunker supplies.

The disease just flat out isn’t killing enough people to seem like a real “crisis” to many

There is considerable debate over the actual COVID-19 death rate.  If one chooses to take the CDC’s numbers at face value, which I will do for the sake of this piece, it’s about 3%.  Which makes Americans yawn.  To quote the coked out Matthew McConaughey character from The Wolf of Wall Street: “Gotta pump those numbers up. Those are rookie numbers in this racket!”  We are a brave bunch, if a bit reckless and foolhardy.

To get our attention, you really need something more like Captain Trips, with a 99.4% fatality rate.   Even then, we’re going to get pissed off if we can’t get our hair done or go to the movies.  And maybe do a beer bong.

Speaking of Captain Trips:  most Americans at this point would rather see Randall Flagg walking down their town’s main street as opposed to Andrew Cuomo or Gretchen Whitmer.  At least with Flagg, you get a free trip to Vegas.

My two cents (or, ₿0.0000019)

I tend to take the middle position on the pandemic.  I think it’s real and I will take common sense precautions to try and protect my family.  I also believe it is being way overblown by a lot of people and is being used as a reason to grow government power.

The pandemic has brought us some good things.  The toilet paper shortage has sparked a boom in bidet sales.  (The bidet is the best French invention since the metric system.  Which we also don’t use…so never mind.)  A lot more things that can be done online are being done online, which is green as hell.  More attention is being paid to home schooling.  Workplaces have made a dramatic shift towards telecommuting, which is also causing some ripples in the real estate market.  People are better at washing their damn nasty hands.  Folks are keeping their distance from each other.  Large crowds are taboo (unless you are looting.)  Masks allow us to pretend we don’t recognize old acquaintances when we see them at the store.

To all of which I respond:  don’t threaten me with a good time.

The post US Covid Response Was a Totally Predictable Sh*tshow. And the Right Thing To Do. appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Ever since I had my political awakening in my early 20’s, I have struggled to celebrate Independence Day. Not because I don’t love America. In fact, you will be hardpressed to find an individual who loves the idea of America more than yours truly, but because I began to understand that “We the People” aren’t as free as I was taught in primary school.

America, as an idea, is pure and beautiful, and I will always fight to defend her honor. You will not find another nation in the history of the world that was founded on the idea that ALL men are created equal and have God-given rights that no other individual or government can take away. With that being said, America has been wooed by bad men who have tainted her honor by abusing her purity.

As our government continues to grow and trample on our natural rights of life, liberty, and property, I ask you – what are we truly celebrating? A people whose government spies on them without a warrant, has a national debt of 22.8 trillion and climbing, restricts religious liberty, and requires a permit for everything from firearm ownership to braiding hair can’t call itself a “free country.” I know full well that my previous words may have offended some of my readers’ sensibilities, but as John Adams said, “Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.”

I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but who gives a damn about fireworks and cookouts when we are allowing our nation to transform into something that has no resemblance to what our Founders envisioned for us? I am sick of the red, white, and blue flag waving, star-spangled obedience to government. I can no longer sit back and pretend that everything is okay, and that we are so awesome when we allow the posterity of ourselves and our children to be sold away because of our own apathy.

I realize that not everyone can run for political office or be a member of the media such as myself, but we can all do something. America as a land and a country, is our inheritance. It is our responsibility as the citizens of this nation to hold the tyrannical despots running this country and our respective states accountable. We as the people of this country, are without excuse when it comes to being so historically and constitutionally illiterate. We are also without excuse when it comes to continually voting for both major political parties, which have proven not to care about anything more than power, greed, money, and control.

Yes, it is true our nation does have a few warts on her nose, but I still believe that we are a force for good in this world, and that if we allow the idea of America to die, the world will suffer in a way never before seen in its history. These words are written with a pure heart, and my intentions are not to be grim, but rather to shed light on the fact that celebrating our 244th birthday as a country is pointless if we allow this country to fall victim to socialism or communism.

My prayer is that, as bad as things have gotten, we would remember who we are as Americans and refuse to live as slaves, but as free individuals as nature and Nature’s God intended. Now is the time to remember our rebellious heritage and dare to live free—not to cower and exist only as serfs indebted to their masters. As Thomas Sowell said, “If you are not prepared to use force to defend civilization, then be prepared to accept barbarism.”

The post Land of Weak and Home of the Slaves: What Are We Celebrating? appeared first on The Libertarian Republic.

Mary Rose Corkery on July 5, 2020

Kanye West said he’s “running for president” on Saturday.

“We must realize the promise of America by trusting God, unifying our vision and building our future. I am running for president of the United States,” West wrote on Twitter Saturday.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk endorsed the 42-year-old rapper’s potential presidential bid on Twitter.

“You have my full support!” Musk said.

West’s newest music hits carry an ongoing religious theme. His most hit, “Wash Us In The Blood” is part of an upcoming album,”God’s Country.”

The rapper has a history of supporting President Donald Trump and made a $2 million donation to the families of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery on June 4. West also donated to set up a college plan for George Floyd’s daughter, Gianna Floyd.

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Peter Hasson on July 4, 2020

Former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick denounced the July 4th holiday as a “celebration of white supremacy” on Saturday.

“Black ppl have been dehumanized, brutalized, criminalized + terrorized by America for centuries, & are expected to join your commemoration of ‘independence’, while you enslaved our ancestors,” Kaepernick posted on Twitter with an accompanying video.

“We reject your celebration of white supremacy & look forward to liberation for all,” Kaepernick added.

The former NFL quarterback has a history of making divisive statements.

He previously appeared to condemn the United States military for killing Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of Iran’s Quds Force and a designated terrorist believed to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American military members.

“There is nothing new about American terrorist attacks against Black and Brown people for the expansion of American imperialism,” Kaepernick wrote on Twitter following news of Soleimani’s death.

“America has always sanctioned and besieged Black and Brown bodies both at home and abroad. America militarism is the weapon wielded by American imperialism, to enforce its policing and plundering of the non white world,” he added.

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The day before Juneteenth, 2020, Senator John Cornyn announced his intention to introduce legislation aimed at making it a federal holiday. He called it, on the Senate floor, “an opportunity to reflect on our history, the mistakes we have made, but yet how far we’ve come in the fight for equality, and a reminder of just how far we still have to go”.

Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery, pegging it’s date not to the de jure dates of the Emancipation Proclamation or the 13^th amendment, but the de facto day that Gen. Gordon Granger brought Lincoln’s order to slaves in Texas which had never heard of their freedom, years after it was promised to them by a distant federal government.

It has been celebrated by many in black communities for over a hundred and fifty years, and is recognized by nearly all states since Texas codified it in 1980. It is a symbol of liberation, liberty, and freedom, and a recognition that all men were created equal, even as our history has struggled to make our founding promises a reality.

It would instantly become one of our nation’s most important and deserving federal holidays, and one of the few that seems actually justifiable.

One might question whether or not federal holidays should exist (or assuming they should, how many we should officially stack on our calendar). However, for the moment let’s just stack it up to it’s existing competition to see if such a holiday is worthy of our current and existing standards.

January 1st is New Year’s Day, celebrating nothing of note other than one more year Earth has made it around the sun. It celebrates, essentially, just the passage of time that is already implicitly acknowledged by the Gregorian calendar itself on which it’s based… and maybe the hope for a new start that most people inevitably squander as their new gym memberships lapse before February and diets give way to renewed gluttony. You and I may benefit from being able to drink our way into a new day without being penalized for our hangover the next day at work, but in terms of what it celebrates, well… it’s essentially a linear view of time rather than a concept worthy of celebration.

There are several holidays that deify people rather than their ideas, even if those people are best known for them. If we are to view people, historically, as what they are or were, rather than symbols, saints, or absolute sinners? Holidays modeled after specific individual people rather than the ideas they’ve advanced is a mistake.

For instance, most Americans rightly love MLK, but there’s nothing stopping us from having a Civil Rights Day rather than an MLK Day. Washington may have been a badass, but we’ve got Washington’s main contribution covered with the 4th of July, really. Columbus Day is offensive to some for obvious reasons. Christmas Day has the federal government celebrating a specific religion and the person of Jesus. The language of our Constitution could be read to oppose this, and it being done by the state could violate some basic founding principles. It definitely seems opposed to modern conceptions of the separation of church and state.

Maybe it’s apostasy towards tradition, but there’s a case to be made that it’s better to celebrate ideas or even events than people for federal holidays.

Memorial Day honors the sacrifice of our soldiers in conflicts fought since the time of the Civil War. It presumes that the sacrifice of these soldiers—primarily brave men and women fighting for what they believed—was not taken in vain and advanced the causes which underpinned the official justification of these wars.

Certainly, some of these conflicts necessitated such a sacrifice, and regardless of the righteousness of the cause, the willingness to die for one’s beliefs is absolutely admirable. Unfortunately, a good case can be made that many of these honorable, laudable, brave soldiers died in vain or for a cause that was unnecessary – or a lie. Many of these soldiers are victims themselves of an immoral system glorified by such parades and holidays that pretend themselves to be in their honor in order to recruit more fodder. Many of the wars America has fought since the Civil War had nothing to do with our freedoms, were mistakes, and do not deserve recognition as a matter of national pride on their own.

Labor Day is the slightly more moderate cousin of May Day, mirroring a cause promoted primarily by socialist and communist parties and individuals to commemorate not just the Haymarket Affair, but their own un-American ideologies. Granted, it’s a step removed and there have been domestic gains made by unions divorced from such toxic ideologies, but to many it will forever be tainted by it’s association, regardless of the contributions of “labor” in the abstract. Today, it is often viewed merely as an end of summer—but it’s radical history still remains.

Recently, Columbus Day has become the most contentious federal holiday, with many localities replacing it entirely with Indigenous People’s Day or dropping it alltogether. Opposition to the holiday was originally championed by the Know Nothings and the Ku Klux Klan as an occasion which celebrated the immigration of Catholics, especially from Ireland and Italy. However, in recent times, opposition has instead focused on how Europeans had treated the indigenous populations, with charges leveled of literal genocide. It is easily the least popular federal holiday, and the one most likely to offend modern sensibilities. Similarly, Thanksgiving has recently come under fire both for it’s association with whitewashing what Europeans did to the American indigenous population, and because of it’s religious roots.

Should we add Juneteenth as a federal holiday? Well, by the standards and precedents of the existing holidays, it would be an improvement over much of what is currently observed.

Juneteenth could showcase America’s national character as one that is constantly improving in the direction of liberty for all and equality of opportunity advocated by our admittedly hypocritical founders. Juneteenth showcases that the ideal of America advocated at our nation’s beginning has evolved and expanded—or been more perfected—as well as the hope that we can achieve ever greater gains towards a better world despite the sins of our fathers and the continued inadequacies of our modern world that many are just now noticing.

When the ideal of America and the state of the nation of America come into conflict, we should promote our ideals. The abolition of slavery is the greatest gain towards ‘liberty for all’ that America has ever achieved.

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