No Longer Free

• Cops Shoot Victim, Kill Good Samaritan, Arrest Suspect. But hey, the cop went home at the end of his shift, so at least there’s that.
• First there was this: Can the government seize your tax refund to pay a relative’s debt? Only if you let yourself be a peasant and let them take more than they should in withholdings. Then again, I suppose they would have simply sent Miss Grice a bill if that had been the case, much like Communists were known for sending the relatives of their victims bills for the expended cartridges.
• Then this happened: Social Security stops trying to collect on old debts by seizing tax refunds. You’d think this would end up in the Fighting Back section, but note what the government letter actually said: “We will be reexamining our responsibilities under current law for such referrals and will be notifying you of our conclusions upon completion of the thorough review.” They didn’t stop doing anything, and Congress doesn’t seem much interested in actually stopping them. Quote from Sen. Charles E. Grassley: “It is unclear where the government has that authority [to seize money from Peter to pay for Paul’s debts].” Unclear for him, perhaps. Not for normal people.
• Can the US Government Confiscate a Citizen’s Passport for No Apparent Reason? It Just Did. Due process is for suckers.

Fighting Back

• First Phase of TrueCrypt Audit Turns Up No Backdoors. Get the tools you need to protect yourself and your data, but don’t trust them, even if they’re audited and turn up clean.
• BREAKING: Up To One Million New Yorkers Seize Opportunity To Not Register Their Firearms Ahead of NY SAFE ACT Deadline. Molon Labe, if you dare.

Also, earlier this week there was a report that Jews in the Ukraine were being given flyers and told to register with the Russian government trying to take over eastern Ukraine. The next day came a report that this was just a rumor, or at the very least a government-doesn’t-know-who’s-doing-this situation.

Regardless, the proper way to deal with such a threat (and I’m a bit surprised that Jews in eastern Europe don’t practice this already) is to produce a pistol and stick it in the face of the one who tells you to register with the government. Either that or the phrase “never again” has a previously unnoticed asterisk after it.

Desire Liberty. Seek Freedom. Make Independence.