Posted on 05/14/2013 7:36:31 PM PDT by vannrox
Some days one can't help but look at the headlines and think of Ayn Rand.
With all the destructive measures by desperate governments from Cyprus to Argentina, it seems sometimes like we're reading from the pages of her seminal work, Atlas Shrugged.
But what we're seeing now seems to have far surpassed Atlas Shrugged. We're definitely into 1984 territory.
We've recently learned that the US federal government has (a) secretly tapped the Associated Press's phone records, and (b) used the nation's tax authorities to target opposition political groups.
This is the same sort of thing one would expect from Belarus or Azerbaijan. But these sad events are, unfortunately, no longer surprising in the Land of the Free. Nor are they isolated.
One appalling example is the case of Richard Hatch, who I spoke to a few days ago. You may remember that Richard won the first season of the TV series Survivor back in 2000/2001... and the million dollar prize that went along with it.
Tax-wise, it was a complex matter; the production took place off the coast of Borneo, so the prize money was technically Malaysian-sourced income. Plus a number of other issues.
But Hatch and his tax team filed returns. They claimed the prize money. They paid tax on it. They even sought additional guidance from the IRS.
Never once did the IRS issue a 'notice of deficiency', essentially a routine letter they send when they think you owe them money.
And yet, Hatch was ultimately charged with a crime-- 'attempted' tax evasion.
Now, it's absurd that tax evasion is even a criminal matter in the Land of the Free. It's even more absurd that 'attempted' tax evasion is a crime.
But it defies all reality that an individual, who was fully up to date on his filings and being advised by licensed tax professionals, was personally tried and convicted of such a ridiculous charge, having never once been notified by the government that he owed a single penny.
After this shocking conversation with Richard, I spoke to William Binney, a 35-year veteran of the NSA. During our call, Binney walked me through some very technical details about the government's illegal monitoring and archiving of ALL Internet traffic, and HOW they're doing it.
William Binney is a man of tremendous integrity; he resigned from the NSA to protest the wanton dismantling of the Bill of Rights.
Since then, government thugs have kicked down his door at gunpoint. He's been maliciously sued by Uncle Sam. He's had his private property seized. All because he continues to expose the crimes that they're committing.
And these are crimes, plain and simple... clear violations of the Fourth and Fifth amendment. Bottom line, EVERYONE is being monitored. Every email is being archived. And the data is being shared across the government spectrum with law enforcement as well. This is important.
Today, there are thousands of crimes on the books in the Land of the Free. If they want to, they can get you for anything, even 'attempted tax evasion'. You can't even apply for a passport without being threatened with jail time.
And with such ubiquitous surveillance, they can get any information they need to seize property or incriminate anyone they want on whatever stupid law they can dig up.
The easy course of action is to live in denial-- "It can't happen here, it won't happen to me." Everyone wants to think this. But it does happen. And given the trend, it's going to happen much more.
This isn't intended to be gloomy, rather a sobering wake up call. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is step back, look at the big picture, and realize that these tactics are no longer fiction. This is now reality in the Land of the Free. Welcome to 1984.
“Excellent examples. We had been looking to buy land in Colorado and backed out due to environmental issues in the contract. After finding out about some stupid law about catching rainwater, we felt we had dodged a bullet.
If we had in fact, bough that land,....I’d have captured rainwater to my hearts content. The state does NOT own the friggin rain!”
Law is designed to keep outsiders, “out”.
We have more guns than they do. And if we want arty, or aircraft, or anything else, we have to power to take it. Heck, we make it.
It's the people that set up the States. And the States that delegated certain limited powers to the Federal Government.
When that gets out of hand, it's the repsonsibility of the founder to set things right.
That would be us.
Sometimes they just need a gentle reminder. Lots of States are starting to do that in legislatures across the country. It's a beautiful thing.
/johnny
We declined purchase on a point of contract. Not over some stupid water catching law. If they are using that to keep outsiders out, that’s just stupid.
The contract had full costs of “potential environmental studies” on the purchasers dime. The realtor said nothing to worry about. We said, if there is no worry let the seller bear the “potential cost”. They wouldn’t. We didn’t buy. Simple as that.
If it was about catching rainwater, they could have kissed us where the sun never shines.
How does it feel after all these months to still support the guy that gave his own money and passed legislation to help people like Gonsel kill children in exchange for a win that never came?
Me? I sleep well at night knowing that I think there are more important things than defending losers. I get that people voted out of fear. What I don’t get is this fantasy your kind has that Romney wasn’t every bit the evil Obama is. Because their records are mirrors.
The Tree of Liberty and all that.
It's much better for the bully boys and the rest of us if they take the hint.
/johnny
Right. It’s time they get punched in the mouth. Hopefully, The Bengazzi fiasco, The IRS train wreck, The AP Tapping, Fast and furious, et al, will produce some fruit and the ruling class gets slapped down. But they will not stop their goal to have total control over us.
bkmk
A bully-boy group sets up a 'government' or takes over a beneficial government, and lives the good life at the expense of everyone else.
It's the human state, until the bully-boys delenda est.
/johnny
“Sometimes, a walk around the tree does the trick, without having to go all-in.”
Deep.. a nice take on that old saying.
So we’re back to the tree of liberty. The ongoing cycle continues.
Worked for the General, God rest him.
/johnny
Doesn’t work like that any longer. Two friends of mine had out of state vehicle penalties. Neither can renew their license. One had several parking tickets in New Jersey. He paid the fines, but is on hold until he pays the surcharges for each. His total surcharges are over $4k due to interest being applied to them. The other guy had a moving violation, had a lawyer take care of the ticket because he was being deployed to Iraq. Was told everything was taken care of(this was in 2006), fast forward to 2012, he went to have his DL renewed in Texas(moving violation happened in NC), he was unable to renew due to problem in NC. Turns out, the lawyer didn’t do anything. He never received a bench warrant from NC for failure to appear. Got another lawyer which did take care of legal matter. NC suspended his license for a year(failure to appear). He never had a NC drivers license. Always a TX one. Texas cannot renew his license due to NC’s suspension.
Hey J,
Hows life in Texas overall? Getting really tired of CA. Hiding my non-existent guns and all. planning to downsize soon.
When you’ve got a guy like Senator John McCain who says “The battlefield is the United States of America,” it tells you that almost nothing is safe in the Land of the Free.
Whatever remains of civil liberties is going to feel the full brunt of the state’s boot heel.
They’re already regulating some of the most fundamental aspects of life, from how we are allowed to educate our children to what we can / cannot put in our bodies to the very nature of money.
People are forced to hold their savings in insolvent banks backed by insolvent insurance funds backed by insolvent governments. And those insolvent governments have demonstrated that they are perfectly willing to directly confiscate accounts.
Retirement funds have proven to be an easy, tempting target. A number of countries including Argentina, Ireland, and Hungary have appropriated private pensions. Even the US government temporarily dipped into federal employee pensions.
Western governments are making every possible effort to take over the Internet. Despite every previous attempt (SOPA, PIPA, etc.) failing due to public outcry, they keep trying and trying (ACTA, CISPA, etc.).
They’re raising taxes, creating new ones (including Maryland’s new ‘rain tax’), imposing capital controls, racking up debt, and rapidly devaluing their currencies.
It all reeks of desperation... and it’s all so obvious. At least, for anyone paying attention.
Unfortunately it’s easy to lose sight of the truth. After all, how can there be any economic problems when the stock market is at an ‘all-time high’ and Nobel Prize winning pseudo-scientists tell us that debt levels don’t matter?
Truth is, these enormous challenges shouldn’t be ignored.
The entire global financial system is sitting on a bed of dynamite. Central bankers are dousing the pile with gasoline while politicians are standing around smoking.
The potential for epic disaster cannot be understated.
This is not to say that the world is coming to an end. Far from it. History is quite generous with past example of once-great civilizations that collapsed under the weight of their own hubristic debt.
Things didn’t end. They changed. Simple. And that’s what’s happening now in a textbook fashion.
Governments in trouble almost ALWAYS resort to the same destructive tactics. When things are clearly on the decline, rather than INCREASING freedom and opportunity, they try to control EVERYTHING.
We’re already seeing the early stages of this with competitive devaluation, basic capital controls, and bank withdrawal limits.
These will soon give way to wider capital controls, increased border controls, wage and price controls, asset confiscation, and more.
It only delays the inevitable. The more they control, the more rapid the deterioration becomes. Again, this isn’t some sensationalist prediction; it is the very common historical trend.
The other thing that history shows us, however, is that there are always a handful of people who see the writing on the wall and take action. And that action has almost universally involved looking abroad and diversifying internationally.
This is a time-tested strategy that was once available only to the wealthy landed class. But with modern air transport, digital communication, and global competition, solutions are now available to just about anyone.
I’ll be honest with you— moving one’s assets, business, and even family overseas isn’t easy. These are complicated topics with numerous tax, financial, and professional implications. So go carefully and rationally.
But when structured properly, history shows that a well-informed offshore strategy can have a generational impact should chaos ensue.
And, should nothing ever go wrong in the world, you won’t be worse off for it.
‘You could also move out west, change your name, and learn to run fenceline, if you think you can work with barbed wire.’
How much demand is there for that? I’m moving to AZ in a couple of weeks. I have a good paying job there, but the world is too much with me. I can see working a job like this, but it just can’t pay too much.
As some have said that'll just get you blacklisted for getting a license elsewhere.
I think the only real solution here is one people would call unreasonable.
/johnny
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