Frank Herbert on maintaining power…
Author: HP McLovincraft
Seeker of rabbit holes. Pessimist. Libertine. Contrarian. Your huckleberry. Possibly true tales of sanity-blasting horror also known as abject reality. Prepare yourself. Veteran of a thousand psychic wars. I have seen the fnords. Deplatformed on Tumblr and Twitter.
The war is upon us…
California governor’s office tells diners to wear masks “in between bites”
The California governor’s office put out a tweet on Saturday advising that restaurant-goers keep their masks on while dining. “Going out to eat with members of your household this weekend?” the tweet reads. “Don’t forget to keep your mask on in between bites. Do your part to keep those around you healthy.”
In California, masks are required for anyone going outside their home, as well as workers in customer-facing businesses, offices, factories, and health care professionals, among others, according to the state’s COVID-19 guidance.
More people were arrested for Cannabis possession than ALL violent crimes put together in the US last year
With legal recreational and medical cannabis now available in so many different US states, it is easy to get the impression that the war on cannabis users is over.
However, cannabis users still represent a significant portion of the people who are filling jails and courthouses throughout the country.
According to the FBI’s recent Uniform Crime Report, more people were arrested for cannabis possession last year than for all violent crimes put together.
The data showed that 545,602 people were arrested in the US for cannabis-related crimes last year. Meanwhile, just 495,871 people were arrested for violent crimes.
No fair!
Nebraska Supreme Court Just Killed November’s Medical Marijuana Initiative
Nebraska’s Supreme Court just ruled that a previously approved measure to legalize medical marijuana is “unconstitutional” and therefore cannot appear on the state’s election ballot in November. This is, of course, anti-democratic and infuriating, but let’s take a look at how this happened.
First off, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts is an idiot. Just last week he declared, “There is no such thing as medical marijuana.” Ricketts proclaimed this falsehood as the leader of a state where 77 percent of residents support legalizing cannabis for medicinal purposes.
Now on to the nitty gritty. Last July, the activist group Nebraskans for Medical Marijuana (NMM) collected more than enough signatures to qualify a medical weed bill to be included on the November election ballot.
Then, on August 28 the Secretary of State made it official: Nebraskans could decide for themselves whether or not to legalize medical marijuana by voting on Nebraska Medical Cannabis Constitutional Amendment (NMCCA).
Three days later, however, Sheriff Terry Wagner filed a lawsuit to block the measure, claiming it overstepped constitutional boundaries by covering too many topics for a single initiative. A state court initially tossed out the challenge. Yesterday, however, Sheriff “No-Pot” won.
The Nebraska Supreme Court declared that it agreed with Sheriff Wagner — a man who puts people in jail for possessing and using cannabis. With only two justices dissenting, the Supremes formally removed the proposal from the ballot.
COVID & The Escalation Of Medical Tyranny
The coronavirus crisis has served as a powerful tool in highlighting many of the faults that previously existed in society. It exposed which politicians have an inherent need to control and which ones are guided by humility. It reminded us of the political power that lies in fear, and how crucial it is to be skeptical of prevailing narratives. It emphasized the different economic realities for those who live paycheck to paycheck and those who benefit from economic financialization.
It should also make perfectly clear the danger of handing over healthcare to the state.
Already we have seen agents of the state, at various levels, seek to leverage a viral medical crisis to expand their power. Governors and local officials have sought to use vague “emergency” powers to lock down businesses and to create criminal penalties, and have then attacked any attempts by judiciaries to rein in their actions. Judges have sought to leverage the power they hold in deciding child custody to force citizens to make medical decisions they disagree with. Anointed government experts, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, in spite of his own inconsistencies, have been held up as the final word on science, at the expense of the voices of other credible scientists.
Whether by design or by the instinctual reaction, we have seen a concerted effort of government authorities—amplified by a corporate press with a particularly vivid political agenda, and supported by the credentials of an academic landscape that suffers from ideological capture—to weaponize a centralized scientific narrative for the purpose of achieving certain policy ends. It is appropriate that some have dubbed this union “the Cathedral,” as we have seen the divine right of kings renewed in the divine right of approved scientists.
None of this should be a surprise.
Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Murray N. Rothbard, and others have long warned of the dangers of “scientism.” As Jonathan Newman has noted on this site, we’ve seen it play out increasingly in American pop culture with the fetishizing of figures like Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye.
Now, luckily, the current healthcare system has limits on the degree to which we, as individuals, must submit to the power of the “scientific consensus.” How long, however, will that doctor-patient relationship remain sacred?
Instagram Bans QAnon Accounts, But Refuses to Remove ISIS Accounts Celebrating 9/11
Facebook-owned Instagram has announced that will ban all QAnon accounts, including ones that don’t promote violence, while refusing to remove ISIS propaganda accounts that celebrate 9/11 under the justification that “people may express themselves differently.”
In an update to its policy announced yesterday, Facebook said that it was moving beyond a measure taken back in August that removed QAnon accounts which contained “discussions of potential violence.”
“We’ve seen other QAnon content tied to different forms of real world harm, including recent claims that the west coast wildfires were started by certain groups, which diverted attention of local officials from fighting the fires,” said the social media giant.
Facebook specified that it would “remove any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content.”
Many pointed out the hypocrisy of Antifa accounts still being allowed on the platform despite the movement’s involvement in numerous violent riots over the last six months.
This time for real…
Six Men Charged for Conspiracy to Kidnap Democratic Michigan Governor to Try Her for ‘Treason’ Before the Election
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has arrested six men for plotting to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, so that they could try her for “treason.”
Whitmer, whose COVID-19 shutdown of Michigan was recently found to be illegal by Michigan’s Supreme Court, was repeatedly targeted on Twitter by President Donald Trump in recent months. In April, for instance, he tweeted in all caps: “LIBERATE MICHIGAN.” In May, armed militia members showed up at the Capitol building to protest and demand “freedom” from Whitmer’s stay-at-home orders.
According to the feds, Whitmer was targeted in the real world by at least six men. Adam Fox, Barry Croft, Ty Garbin, Kaleb Franks, Daniel Harris, and Brandon Caserta have been charged in a conspiracy to kidnap Whitmer.
Hellbound and Down 
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