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This Thanksgiving, Let's Say "No Thanks" To The Tyranny Of The American Police State
Submitted by John Whitehead via The Rutherford Institute,
“Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster, and what has happened once in 6000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.”—Daniel Webster
Thanksgiving is not what it once was.
Then again, America is not what she once was.
Americans have become so enthralled by the “bread and circuses” of our age—tables groaning under the weight of an abundance of rich foods, televisions tuned to sports and entertainments spectacles, stores competing for Black Friday shoppers, and a general devotion to excess and revelry—that we have lost sight of the true purpose of Thanksgiving.
Indeed, the following is a lesson in how far we have traveled—and how low we have fallen—in the more than 200 years since George Washington issued the first Thanksgiving proclamation, calling upon the nation to give thanks for a government whose purpose was ensuring the safety and happiness of its people and for a Constitution designed to safeguard civil and religious liberty.
This Thanksgiving finds us saddled with a government that is a far cry from Washington’s vision of a government that would be a blessing to all the people:
- governed by wise, just and constitutional laws
- faithfully executed and obeyed by its agents
- assisting foreign nations with good government, peace, and concord
- promoting true religion, virtue and science
- and enabling temporal prosperity.
Instead, as the following shows, the U.S. government has become a warring empire, governed by laws that are rash, unjust and unconstitutional, policed by government agents who are corrupt, hypocritical and abusive, a menace to its own people, and the antithesis of everything for which Washington hoped.
George Washington didn’t intend Thanksgiving to be a day for offering up glib platitudes that require no thought, no effort and no sacrifice. He wanted it to be a day of contemplation, in which we frankly assessed our shortcomings, acknowledged our wrongdoings, and resolved to be a better, more peaceable nation in the year to come.
It is in that true spirit of Thanksgiving that I offer the following list of things for which I’m not thankful about the American police state.
The U.S. has become a corporate oligarchy. As a Princeton University survey indicates, our elected officials, especially those in the nation’s capital, represent the interests of the rich and powerful rather than the average citizen. We are no longer a representative republic. As such, the citizenry has little if any impact on the policies of government. There are 131 lobbyists to every Senator, reinforcing concerns that the government represents the corporate elite rather than the citizenry.
Americans are being jailed for profit. Imprisoning Americans in private prisons and jails run by mega-corporations has turned into a cash cow for big business, with states agreeing to maintain a 90% occupancy rate in privately run prisons for at least 20 years. And how do you keep the prisons full? By passing laws aimed at increasing the prison population, including the imposition of life sentences on people who commit minor or nonviolent crimes such as siphoning gasoline. Little surprise, then, that the United States has 5% of the world’s population, but 25% of the world’s prisoners. The government’s tendency towards militarization and overcriminalization, in which routine, everyday behaviors become targets of regulation and prohibition, have resulted in Americans getting arrested for making and selling unpasteurized goat cheese, cultivating certain types of orchids, feeding a whale, holding Bible studies in their homes, and picking their kids up from school.
Endless wars have resulted in a battlefield mindset that is infecting the nation. The Departments of Justice, Homeland Security (DHS) and Defense have passed off billions of dollars worth of military equipment to local police forces. Even EMS crews and fire fighters are being “gifted” with military tanks, Kevlar helmets and ballistic vests. Police agencies have been trained in the fine art of war. It has become second nature for local police to look and act like soldiers. Communities have become acclimated to the presence of militarized police patrolling their streets. Americans have been taught compliance at the end of a police gun or taser. Lower income neighborhoods have been transformed into war zones. Hundreds if not thousands of unarmed Americans have lost their lives at the hands of police who shoot first and ask questions later. And a whole generation of young Americans has learned to march in lockstep with the government’s dictates.
Militarized police, shootings of unarmed citizens, SWAT team raids, misconduct and qualified immunity have transformed the U.S. into a police state. What we must contend with today is the danger of having a standing army (which is what police forces, increasingly made up of individuals with military backgrounds and/or training, have evolved into) that has been trained to view the citizenry as little more than potential suspects, combatants and insurgents. Despite propaganda to the contrary, it is estimated that U.S. police kill more people in days than other countries do in years. On an average day in America, at least 100 Americans have their homes raided by SWAT teams (although I’ve seen estimates as high as 300 a day), which are increasingly used to deal with routine police matters: angry dogs, domestic disputes, search warrants, etc. Every five days a police officer somewhere in America engages in sexual abuse or misconduct.
The barrier between public and private property has been done away with. Call it what you will—taxes, penalties, fees, fines, regulations, tariffs, tickets, permits, surcharges, tolls, asset forfeitures, foreclosures, etc.—but the only word that truly describes the constant bilking of the American taxpayer by the government and its corporate partners is theft. What Americans don’t seem to comprehend is that if the government can arbitrarily take away your property, without your having much say about it, you have no true rights and no real property. In this way, the police state with all of its trappings—from surveillance cameras, militarized police, SWAT team raids, truancy and zero tolerance policies, asset forfeiture laws, privatized prisons and red light cameras to Sting Ray devices, fusion centers, drones, black boxes, hollow-point bullets, detention centers, speed traps and abundance of laws criminalizing otherwise legitimate conduct—has become little more than a front for a high-dollar covert operation aimed at laundering as much money as possible through government agencies and into the bank accounts of the corporate oligarchy that rule over us.
The technologically-driven surveillance state has become the fourth branch of government. This fourth branch—the NSA, CIA, FBI, DHS, etc.—came into being without any electoral mandate or constitutional referendum, and yet it possesses superpowers, above and beyond those of any other government agency save the military. It is all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful. It operates beyond the reach of the president, Congress and the courts, and it marches in lockstep with the corporate elite who really call the shots in Washington, DC. This age of technological tyranny has been made possible by government secrets, government lies, government spies and their corporate ties. Beware of what you say, what you read, what you write, where you go, and with whom you communicate, because it will all be recorded, stored and used against you eventually, at a time and place of the government’s choosing. Privacy, as we have known it, is dead. The police state is about to pass off the baton to the surveillance state.
The schools, modeled after quasi-prisons, are churning out future compliant citizens. Within America’s public schools can be found almost every aspect of the American police state that plagues those of us on the “outside”: metal detectors, surveillance cameras, militarized police, drug-sniffing dogs, tasers, cyber-surveillance, random searches, senseless arrests, jail time, the list goes on. Whether it takes the form of draconian zero tolerance policies, overreaching anti-bullying statutes, police officers charged with tasering and arresting so-called unruly children, standardized testing with its emphasis on rote answers, political correctness, or the extensive surveillance systems cropping up in schools all over the country, young people in America are first in line to be indoctrinated into compliant citizens of the new American police state.
The courts have become courts of order in an age of government-sanctioned tyranny. With every ruling handed down by the courts, it becomes more apparent that we live in an age of hollow justice, with government courts, largely lacking in vision and scope, rendering narrow rulings that have nothing to do with true justice. This is true at all levels of the judiciary, but especially so in the highest court of the land, the U.S. Supreme Court, which is seemingly more concerned with establishing order and protecting government agents than with upholding the rights enshrined in the Constitution. Given the turbulence of our age, with its police overreach, military training drills on American soil, domestic surveillance, SWAT team raids, asset forfeiture, wrongful convictions, and corporate corruption, the need for a guardian of the people’s rights has never been greater. Yet when presented with an opportunity to weigh in on these issues, what does our current Supreme Court usually do? It ducks. Prevaricates. Remains silent. Speaks to the narrowest possible concern. More often than not, it gives the government and its corporate sponsors the benefit of the doubt. Rarely do the concerns of the populace prevail.
As I point out in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, these are abuses that no American should tolerate from its government, and yet not only do we tolerate them, but we help to advance them by supporting meaningless elections, allowing ourselves to be divided by partisan politics, and failing to hold the government accountable to abiding by the rule of law, the U.S. Constitution.
Mark my words: if we do not push back against the menace of the police state now, if we fail to hold onto the Constitution and our constitutional republic, and if we allow the government to remain the greatest threat to our freedoms, then future Thanksgivings will find us paying the price with tyranny at home and anarchy throughout the world.
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Not to change the subject, but didn't the early Americans eventually kill the indians who fed them?
That's what happens to a country when it rejects God and embraces Atheism >> http://wp.me/p4OZ4v-2WG
When was the last time a group atheist killed in the name of god? It was "gods will" to invade west, Manifest Destiny, and rid the US of its Natives. This is the American Exceptionalism that is oozing throughout the State's of fat religious self-righteous people.
Faith is absolutely powerful. But in the words of my guy, Seneca, man-made religion, on the other hand, "is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." That's why establishment republicans love war. Their religion has been weaponized. Read more of ZH, BlueViolet... you'll be better informed.
Anyway, The Right of Revolution is great when you have someone represent you. When will we represent ourselves? Liberty in its truest form.
When was the last time a group atheist killed in the name of god?
Karl Marx has been depicted as the creator of the greatest atheist system in world history. That system, under Lenin/Trotsky/Stalin and Mao alone, was responsible for the deaths of 120 million people.
Yet this author of the Communist Manifesto and a hate-filled atheist, believed in Satan. Therefore, he believed in God, whom he rejected. Marx wrote in his poem Prayer:
The hellish vapors rise and fill the brain,
Till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed.
See this sword? The prince of darkness sold it to me. -
For me beats the time and gives the signs.
Ever more boldly I play the dance of death.[p.12]
In his poem The Pale Maiden, he writes:
Thus heaven I’ve forfeited, I know it full well.
My soul, once true to God, is chosen for hell. [p.20
“Out of 100 men, one will read the Bible; the other 99 will read the Christian.” -- D.L. Moody
"That system, under Lenin/Trotsky/Stalin and Mao alone, was responsible for the deaths of 120 million people."
and here i thought that only specific individuals are capable of making moral choices, not "systems"? perhaps i was mistaken.
but to be fair, god (assuming she exists) made man mortal. billions of people have died as a result, far more than the 120 million you note above. so, to be logically consistent with your prior comments, it seems like the only honorable thing for you to do is to reject god, don't you think?
Just say no...to tyrants.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt2yGzHfy7s
What tyrants?
In order for tyrants to triumph, the masses need to be dumbed-down and complacent. Are you suggesting americans are idiots and they are accepting the rape lying down?
http://goo.gl/wbvm16
That's news to me. LOL
psychopaths believe in many religions, religion is the tool used to control the masses.
it would be safe to say athesists are controllable by these types. so is it the religion? or the human that deems him or herself special and having a "god" like status that rises and mystifies the majority. that godlike psycopath could be atheistic too, ha...
but, sure, blame it on religion, ha again...
God does exist, systems do kill people, and the powerful and the greedy and the ignorant are individuals who combine their forces to deny God and use those forces to kill innocent people by the billions. To deny this, knowing the history of tyranny from Stalin to Netanyahu, is somewhat surprising in this information age.
As Winston Churchill said, “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened.”
Bolshevism is a system. “The Bolsheviks, continuing (since 1917) under assassin Stalin, through and even after WW2, systematically executed, and inside (and outside) their thousands of Gulags, worked, starved and froze to death, SIXTY-SIX million people, not all, but most of them CHRISTIANS (whom the Bolsheviks hated). This mass death was THE LARGEST REAL ‘HOLOCAUST’ in modern history (Otrader).”
Belief in a god is wishful thinking. Pure illogical rationalization.
Hey, Jughead.
Is that a joke?
I mean, seriously, you are trying to imply that Atheistic Humanism is not a murderous thug-ocracy?
Well, if you are truly open-minded and willing to learn, you can start with this book:
The Drama of Atheistic Humanism, by Lubac. (This will introduce you to the thinkers behind this system you think is just a passive organization.)
From there, try:
The Black Book of Communism, multiple authors and editors.
"C C C C Can't we all just get along?"
- Rodney King
That was actually
"K K K Can't we get along?"
- Rodney King
I just love to hear all the religious freaks blaming the lack of god to the problems.
Hasn't religion caused enough wars.
Why can't people just respect other peoples religious beliefs or non beliefs and just have morals.
Whatever happened to morals.
How about don't do to others what you do not want done to yourself!
I cannot count he religous people I know who do not follow the ten commandments. oh ya just confess and it's all ok...
I do not care who your god is, just treat me with respect and I will always do the same in return.
"Life, faculties, production — in other words, individuality, liberty, property — this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it. Life, liberty, and property do not exist because men have made laws. On the contrary, it was the fact that life, liberty, and property existed beforehand that caused men to make laws in the first place." – Frederic Bastiat, The Law
The best part is, Muslims, Christians and Jews pray to THE EXACT SAME GOD. It's like everyone is praying to Stan Lee but they fight over whether Iron Man, Captain America or Thor are the best.
Weird, if momentary, analogy...
And, how did this turn into another stupid 'divide and conquer' fight about religion?
Would it not be better to figure out what we have in common, so as we can work together to end this masked and creeping oppression? No? You would all rather do little battle over the crumbs handed to you by your masters?
Don't look now, but you may already be the slaves in the 'land of the ...'
:o|
The imaginary magic man in the sky aolves all problems...funny.
You do realize that the USA was the first country in the world founded WITHOUT religion, right? You do realize a major reason we left England was because of their religious theocracy, right?
Thomas Jefferson in the Treaty of Tripoli: "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"
Absolutely nowhere in the Constitution or Bill of Rights does it refer to any type of god or religion other than to say there is a SEPARATION of religion from the state.
If you want religious rule or to live in a country that fully supports your God, move to Iran or Saudi Arabia. They worship that EXACT SAME god as Christians do. How's that working for them?
Only a fool would deny that America was not founded on Christian principles. Only a fool would equate God-given liberty with man-made enslavement. Since America’s inception, men have voted with their feet to reach these shores, seeking the opportunities permanently guaranteed to themselves and their descendants in this new land. For it was the Bible and revelations such as the sermon on the mount that created the desire for men to live together for mutual benefit with respect and with a basis for law based on God’s law.
Unfortunately, the pearls of wisdom found in America’s Declaration of Independence guaranteeing men their God-given right to regulate their own affairs are being trampled underfoot by fools whose ignorance knows no bounds. As the roadway to freedom that started the united states on their prosperous career closes, it behooves those of us who value the miracle that was wrought by our Christian Founders to choose once again the risk of fighting for our fellow men - to assure the greatest good to the greatest number.
Frederic Bastiat, author of “The Law” who did most of his writing in 1847 and 1848 when France was rapidly turning to complete socialism, explained that the socialism that is now permeating America “must inevitably degenerate into communism” if not halted. Bastiat understood that liberty exists only in a government that recognizes that “life is a gift from God,” where “the inventions of men are most nearly in harmony with the laws of God…
“God has given to men all that is necessary for them to accomplish their destinies. He has provided a social form as well as a human form. And these social organs of persons are so constituted that they will develop themselves harmoniously in the clean air of liberty. Away, then, with quacks and organizers! A way with their rings, chains, hooks, and pincers! Away with their artificial systems! Away with the whims of governmental administrators, their socialized projects, their centralization, their tariffs, their government schools, their state religions, their free credit, their bank monopolies, their regulations, their restrictions, their equalization by taxation, and their pious moralizations!
“And now that the legislators and do-gooders have so futilely inflicted so many systems upon society, may they finally end where they should have begun: May they reject all systems, and try liberty; for liberty is an acknowledgment of faith in God and His works.”
http://bastiat.org/en/the_law.html
No, that was kool cuz they were "savages."
But the modern plastic-trinket-loving folkses herding themselves into shopping sales on Wack Friday aint "savages." We be "consumers," and damn proud of it.
IMO that is the one reinforced word that slowly destroys everything.
We used to be citizens now we're consumers. No good.
Nothing will change because retards love tyranny. Until that changes forget it.
So ask some "indians" if they'd like to go back and live in teepees, no toilets, hot running water, computers, cars, government checks....
iPhones, NSA, MIC, Fed, IRS, militarized police, threat of nuclear war, mortgage, etc, versus living off the land. Crazy fucking indians.
More like lucky fucking indians, pal!
They are on sovereign tribal land luring the white man into their modern lodges and scalping their retarded asses silly, I'd say they are doing just fine...it's the retarded asses allowing the police state to thrive that pisses me off.
LOL. The ones who killed 'em didn't have that either. Can you imagine the Red Man inventing the transistor? Neither can I, but we'll never know what the world would have been like without colonial conquest and native subjugation. However, we do know what the world could be like without exponential centralization, police states, and bigEverything - the battle of our times.
Sometime in the future, some ward of the state might be saying:
"So ask some 'voters' if they'd like to go back and live with unpoisoned food, un-sold-out doctors/teachers/<list professions>, privacy, sound money, rule of law..."
p.s. I know how you roll amigo - offering me counterpoints to keep a balance.
Team Depends wants smaller government because he's a rebel who wants real change.
SkateyB man says "we'll never know what the world would have been like without colonial conquest and native subjugation."
The big question is - are we a snowflake? Are we so special today that we are able to know things people didn't know 500, 1500, 2000 years ago? I'm talking morals not technology.
Amigo, we as a whole are morally and everythingly bankrupt. Levels of compassion prevalent and expected among people only fifty or sixty years ago has completely vanished today.
Our ancestors, without the conveniences of modern life-easement and technology, were many many notches higher on the moral and spiritual ladder.
Spare the decadence and destruction of exponential-empire-building (e.g. Rome), today's collective "societes" can't even hold a candle to its predecessors 500/1000/2000/5000 years ago. For fuck's sake, look at the people who won't even look at you when you're speaking to them, instead staring at their smartpoop. Disgusting!
Agreed. Lol smart poop. I'm gonna use that line from now on. iPoop, smartPoop, ePoop
How do you know what the "Red Man" would have invented a few hundred years down the road?
"Where white men went wrong" (it's okay - I'm one of those)
Indian Chief 'Two Eagles' was asked by a white US govt official, "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done.
The Chief nodded in agreement.
The official continued, "Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?"
The Chief stared at the govt official and replied, "When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex."
The chief leaned back and smiled, "Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve a system like that."
They can keep their iCrap, govt checks, FS. Independence, freedom, land are truely infinitely better than all that. Problem is: that's hard starting from afresh from a slave mentality, fighting the agressors, defending our liberty has never been such a challenge with all the modern inventions.
Thus, I am hopeful, young, and determined to push back against tyranny till my last second here on earth so help me God (coming from the atheist). Using God as a guideline and metaphor is acceptable.
your house is probably overflowing with iCrap...
I have a Macbook (I like the quality), and have had iPhones in the past. I can also build my own computer, have before in the past, but instead I build other things like energy grids nowadays.
Would I trade any of those products for my freedom? Hell no.
I have a Macbook (I like the quality), and have had iPhones in the past. I can also build my own computer, have before in the past, but instead I build other things like energy grids nowadays.
Would I trade any of those products for my freedom? Hell no.
Lone Watie: We thought about it for a long time, "Endeavor to persevere." And when we had thought about it long enough, we declared war on the Union.
even more obvious to all except dullards would be to ask them if they want their native lands back
"didn't the early Americans eventually kill the indians who fed them? "
No.
The Mayflower Pilgrims pulled into Provincetown Harbor in November 1620. The Pilgrims sent out their own exploration parties, and during their third expedition they were attacked in camp early one morning by the Nauset. Shots were fired and arrows flew heavily, but in the end nobody was injured and the Nauset fled back into the woods. The Pilgrims continued their expedition around Cape Cod, eventually ending up in the abandoned Patuxet territory, where they decided to settle.
The Pilgrims lived out of the Mayflower, and ferried back and forth to land to build their storehouses and living houses: they labored all through the winter months of December, January, February, and didn't start moving entirely to shore until March. And during that entire time, they saw almost no signs of any Indians, aside from a few fires burning in the far distance. On March 16, they got a surprise: an Indian named Samoset walked right into the Colony and welcomed them in broken English. Samoset was from an Indian group in Maine, and had picked up a few English words from the fisherman that came into the harbors there. He informed them there was an Indian, Tisquantum, who had been to England and could speak better English than he could. Tisquantum made his first appearance on March 22, at which time he brought Massasoit and Quadequina. The Pilgrims used the opportunity to negotiate a peace treaty and to establish trading relations.
http://mayflowerhistory.com/tisquantum/
Here's a good history lecture from Rob Newman you won't find in a typical history book on the subject of early American settlers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bupST85KQ-E&t=2m6s
Right on, Mr. Whitehead. The one amendment of the Bill of Rights that has really been shredded beyond belief is the Sixth Amendment and its Confrontation Clause. How can the accused confront the witnesses against him or her if those illegal wiretapping witnesses are kept secret? No judge but a degenerate liar like Chief Justice Roberts would allow the government to send Americans to jail for decades on the perjured testimony of law enforcement officials shielding illegal wiretappers. When the history of the United States for the past twenty years is written, Roberts will be portrayed as the monster he is, a treasonous enemy of the United States Constitution (some of those illegal wiretaps were used by the accomplices of the Saudis to track and kill Americans who knew too much about 9/11).
Well, largely, not on purpose. Who knew they had no disease resistance to what we brought over. (Ancestors on Mayflower) Hell, we were still using leaches and bleedings at the time. The Black Death was a common memory. None of us knew anything about germs or viruses or contagion. You got sick; you either got better, or you died. Fact of life back then. Many didn't even name children until they were five or more years old.
We came, not expecting the place to be populated, and when we found it was we tried to adapt the natives to our culture. We were the earliest Muslims, in fact. We just didn't have the numbers. So we decided to convert them, and when that didn't work, then yep, we pretty much butchered them. Then filled their heads with drivel, poured addictions into them and locked them into enclaves.
(Um, I'm a decendent of Ceaser Augustus, Charlemagne, Lady Godiva, Hanna Dustin and others on the royal side; and a huge mix of Royal Irish (first King), some black, indian and mexican on the other side (fascinating shit in my family tree.)) Pretty much a mutt these days of average, not much of anything.
Early americans didn't kill the indians, we were too dependent on them. That came much later when we found out that they actually had a civilization, with cities and roads and commerce. Monroe Doctrine kicked in thereabouts...and it continued until the last, official, indian battle in my home town at Chimney Rock (a cliff at Lucerne Valley Dry Lake), Lucerne Valley, California. Weird how that all comes together isn't it?
Not to change the subject, but didn't the early Americans eventually kill the indians who fed them? --LetThemEatRand
“The Pilgrims had a deep and sincere friendship for the natives that endured for over fifty years... The peaceful relations between the Pilgrims and Indians had lasted 54 years, during the lifetimes of the Massasoit and the original members of Plymouth Colony."
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mosmd/
As for the “indians who fed them,” it was the institution of Christian capitalism that fed them.
In 1620, the Pilgrims had tried communism and abandoned it after only one year as totally unworkable. Governor Bradford wrote of Christian capitalism: “This had very good success for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been.”
This caused the Pilgrims to create Thanksgiving to thank God for the excess product caused them, “not to thank the Indians for saving them, but to thank God for giving them a better way.”
American free enterprise system was born. Bradford wrote:
"By this time harvest was come, and instead of famine, now God gave them plentie, and the face of things was changed, to the rejoysing of the harts of many, for which they blessed God. And in the effect of their perticular planting was well seene, for all had, one way and other, pretty well to bring the year aboute, and some of the abler sorte and more industrious had to spare, and sell to others, 50 as any generall wante of famine hath not been amongest them since to this day."
Source: William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, 1620-1647
Well after we abandoned to commons and used the Indian Three Sisters, yeah, we had plenty of shit grow. Corn, Tomato and Squash worked. Then we expaned on beans and pumpkins and all kinds of stuff. But the key was NOT TO STARVE TO DEATH. And not to piss off the indians that were helping us, teaching us what we needed to know for the new land.
Imagine being the first white asshole being handed a strawberry and ordered to eat just to see what it did to you.
Imagine being the first white asshole being handed some Jamestown weed and ordered to eat just to see what it did to you.
teaching us what we needed to know for the new land.
Imagine you’re an Indian and into your world, after hundreds of years, comes in one fell swoop farming tools, warm blankets, cooking utensils and glass…
The Pilgrims relationship with the Indians was a two-way street. Duane A. Cline writes in The Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony:
“Nine thousand years of coping with the wilderness had ceased with the arrival of a more advanced culture. Rugged cutting steel blades, farming tools, trim clothing, warm blankets, glass and metal containers and ornaments that no stone or shell work could duplicate-all these were available for trade. The Indians had all the makings of a good trade-plenty of pelts and a surplus of land. Outside their planting fields and villages lay vast tracts of unused countryside…
“Land transfer was not a simple matter. The colonial laws guarded the rights of the natives. Only through qualified agents could purchases be made. Interpreters must be present, as well as several witnesses for both parties. The Indian owner or his family must be present for the formal signing, for unlike communal tribal lands of the western Indians, much of the land was owned by individual tribesmen...
"And when all was said and done, he generally retained his right to hunt and fish on the property. To the twentieth century mind, trade goods seems a small price to pay for a slice of real estate. But values must be interpreted as to time and place, and the Algonquin was certain he had the best of the bargain…”
As always, wallets made decisions. But, I believe what actually happened that set the tone for irreconsiliable differences is the language barrier, different customs and appraised value placed on what they had to offer versus the settlers. As simple as that. The offerings were made. The wait for reciprocation, a gift in return. What little there was to offer was not enough, ornaments or beads and trinkets apparently, and the member of the community/tribe would be told to go steal back the original gift. A side of buffalo or a basket of fish, small game, furs, leather. Language barrier and tradition can be enough to feed hate if one feels slighted after an act of generosity when trade was livelihood.
Spaniards came in from SE and wiped out many on two occasions.. It was a battle between men and the Indians lost, maybe were unprepared, fragmented, poor leadership or unwilling to negotiate.
And let's not forget about the CANADIANS, AUSTRAILIANS, and as we see the Spaniards conquest of the Aztecs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_conquest_of_the_Aztec_Empire
"Alvarado allowed a significant Aztec feast to be celebrated in Tenochtitlan and on the pattern of the earlier massacre in Cholula, closed off the square and massacred the celebrating Aztec noblemen. The biography of Cortés by Francisco López de Gómara contains a description of the massacre.[5]"
Indians were always warring among themselves - killing, thieving and torturing their enemies. To think they were peaceful spiritual creatures living blissfully in nature is another myth. When they started attacking, killing and stealing from whites, they encourntered resistance. Better armed and smarter, whitey won out and eventually confined them to reservations so a white civilization could be established. If you are now ashamed of living in that civilization, it's because you've been brainwashed to think so. Read about how injuns really lived before you wallow in fake tears about their dispossession.
Only if you are intellectually lazy and believe the Howard Zinn rewrite of history and then spout his utter steaming bullshit to sound like a contrarian intellectual.
If you actuallly study US history though, which entails studying history written from multiple time periods and various historians, you'll find that, no, we did not "kill the Indians who fed them."
America is a fascist, police state run by the Deep State triad of the MIC, Wall Street and spooks from NSA/CIA. The Deep State has been in charge since at least November 22, 1963, when the CIA blew out JFK's brains after he had promised to shatter the CIA into a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.
Heavenly Father, we thank you for this beautiful feast which will nourish our bodies and remind us once again how fortunate we are to be Americans. Please give us the strength to combat the traitors who have sold us out and allowed our enemies to enter our borders. So many of us have turned our back on you. Please forgive them, and help us to change their hearts for we must be united to face the challenges ahead. Yours faithfully
God is Great.
Sounds less crazy in English, I must admit.
I would say it in Arabic, but that would put the NSA on me. Think about that for one moment, and I hate the fucking muzzies.
P.S. Christ was not born in the United States unless you are Mormon, and even they just think he buried secret rocks here. But clearly He favors the US in any event.
I also recall that Christ was concerned with people crossing the borders of the United States in 21 AD when he first became legal to drink his own blood and before the United States existed. I suppose he was all knowing that way.
Grew up as a devote catholic kid, LTERand, came >|< close to becoming a priest (until they told me what celibacy meant).
The one redeeming feature of Christianity that I still take to heart is "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
If we did that we'd actually be following the original Constitution as it was conceived. We'd be out of foreign entanglements, we wouldn't have a standing Army, and we wouldn't have a criminal cartel controlling our money and government. That simple change of mindset would have changed the world.
Too many psycopaths misread it to see "Do unto others before they do unto you."
And we keep electing them.
Amen, brother.
P.S. also raised Catholic. Dad was almost a priest. And I need an exorcism STAT.
MY holy water is mostly MGD and a portion of Tequila...and you definitely don't want it sprinkled on you...nor do you want the incense I personally pack.
I would say it in Arabic, but that would put the NSA on me
Heh heh.....pussy.
It is mind boggling. Non stop in 'murica you hear people saying "have a blessed day" or "thank god" or "praise jesus". Any time you talk about something good that you did/got/have you always have those nutjobs that instantly say "well, you know who to thank for that, right"?
Yet someone says basically the same thing (to the EXACT same god, mind you) in a foreign language and people here go NUTS.
P.S., Mormons do not believe that Christ was born in the U.S., they believe he came here though.
Every normal person is fucked, how is this new news?
The new normal is the thirty year old guy in his mom's basement. And he's never been actually fucked. It's all a fantasy as far as he's concerned.
quote: "There is not a dimes worth of difference between Democrats and Republicans."
Next thing is "bang!"
Severed spine. Don't be a hater dude.
Life in a wheel chair.
George Wallace
Parties known as Dems and Repubs are both privately owned corporations. Look it up. Our country is not ran by our representatives. It is run by a fraudulant charade system that tricks us into thinking we actually have a say. They do not listen to us because we, as a nation, have let them take over and dominate us.
We also have not listened to the fake leaders who have scammed their way into leading our govts. They have told us we are not capable of self government so they are going to run our lives for us. We didn't object. From their satanic point of view that is implied consent.
They own the movies, TV and radio, big interwebs, gaming etc. They use this to reinforce the false notion we are subject to them.
They are subject to us. The problem is, not enough of "us" understand this fact.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UagqOHScNs
No shit, any suggestions?
I feel like Lone Watie: I didn't surrender, but they took my horse and made him surrender. They have him pulling a wagon up in Kansas I bet.
What an article. Someone finally came forwward and said it all. AMEN! Hat's off!
Great - except it misses the core problem, which is a society of immoral people and we are past the point of no return ...mark those words and wait and see, for we ain't seen nothing yet..it is just getting started.
"Lord, deliver us from Evil!"
"Lord" has a spotty record here. You know, the "Mysterious ways" thing.
It is a hostage situation. What if in the disorganization of the Pentagon and it's cooked up books, dreamed up excuses and untrackable money also included misappropriated by the good guys into an account in order to build of the Russian military. What if there are as many US patriotics behind the scenes working covertly in order to stop the dissolution of USA? What if they are right here, wealthy men, academia, military, rich and famous?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO8vBVUaKvk -
"They were drinking from a fountain that was pouring from an avalance" - Butthole Surfers - Pepper
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/8f9c21fa-7957-11e5-933d-efcdc3c11c89.html...
"“We believe a campaign like the one they are running there right now would cost between $2.3m and $4m a day,” said Ben Moores, senior analyst at IHS Jane’s."
It's not toooooooo late for a Barry 3 Term Sticker which is more likely than a United States of Sheeple. hEAvy sArc
It's corrupt. Mob mentality. You gots to start your own gang. Back to feaudal lords, but in this world they are mob bosses.
It's corrupt. Mob mentality. You gots to start your own gang. Back to feaudal lords, but in this world they are mob bosses.
It's corrupt. Mob mentality. You gots to start your own gang. Back to feaudal lords, but in this world they are mob bosses.
Someone should sculpt the Ectasy of jesuschristling...
three times in a row, in seconds...that says something.
We know they can't win, they can only make us all very poor as they lose.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/patriot-games/
Thanksgiving Hmmmmmmmmmm!
An all-out US boycott on TURKEY would be a fitting response. Just Say No!
someone keeps giving me the 'bird'.
Almost everyone I know has drank the Kool-Aid. The cops are a necessary, the military is a necessary evil, government schools are here to educate instead of indoctrinate, the government is out to protect it's citizens, and so forth. Most people put more thought into what they are going to have for dinner than the future of their children, the nation, and mankind.
This is what I have noticed, and have been aware of for a long time.
We know they can't win, they can only make us all very poor as they lose.
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/patriot-games/
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/08/09/rules-for-flying-blind/
Mark my words: if we do not push back against the menace of the police state now, if we fail to hold onto the Constitution and our constitutional republic, and if we allow the government to remain the greatest threat to our freedoms..
Mark my words; we are way past the point of no return because we are an immoral nation who abandoned the fixed moral principals laid as our foundation and found on the pages of Scripture and even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
Jesus is not one to "toy" with; He means what He says and has authority to enforce what He has said and unlike us; He shows no partiality and unlike us; He has given us the way of escape form the second death. That is love, mercy and grace; that is Christ. Take Him lightly is a grave mistake and many make it.
great, another retarded "true believer".
take your tired "jesus" dogma and shove it.
jesus, if such a person even existed (unkown, there is some debate), died 2000 years ago.
to base your whole world view on some guy you never even met, but is only rumored to have existed, is truly pathetic.
grow up and be your own jesus.
http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-the-definition-of-enterprise-corr... "A person is guilty of enterprise corruption when, having knowledge of the existence of a criminal enterprise and the nature of its activities, and being employed by or associated with such enterprise, he: (a) intentionally conducts or participates in the affairs of an enterprise by participating in a pattern of criminal activity; or (b) intentionally acquires or maintains any interest in or control of an enterprise by participating in a pattern of criminal activity. !" "In the United States, the Organized Crime Control Act (1970) defines organized crime as "The unlawful activities of [...] a highly organized, disciplined association [...]".[5] Criminal activity as a structured group is referred to as racketeering." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organized_crime Jesus was no coward. He was a very much loved man who forced money changers to vacate. It may be that act sealed his fate. You owe it to this man you adore to fight until the bitter end. We have lived the most comfortable lifestyle than every before in our history. We surely can put some effort into stopping this gang of heartless murderers before we wave a white flag. Why is the answer always The End? If the hundreds of millions of religious people on the face of the would do the work of a human rather than deciphering and spreading the word of your bible, we'd have heaven on earth. You are scaring the kids.
Hate to be a spoil sport but our first president signed a bill authorizing a central bank saying he thought it was probably unconstitutional but signed it anyway. He also used federal troops to put down a rebellion of some americans protesting a whiskey tax. Many of those were veterans of the Revolutionary war.
Just pointing out the very first government had no problem with passing unconstitutional law and no problem using the military against citizens. This happened again when General MacArthur put down the Bonus Veterans requesting a bonus the government promised be paid.... This lying and poor treatment of veterans seems to be a common habit for this government.
Let's just be thankful we still don't have APC's and tanks patrolling our streets.... yet.
In actuality, it was the Sec Treas (A. Hamilton) who brought the troops to the Whiskey rebellion. President Washington actually pardoned everyone involved in the rebellion and slapped down Hamilton for his role in the matter.
I have posted many times that USA is the new China. When we lived in USA we increasingly felt that our rights were dwinding away. Here in Singapore it is no paradise, but the police do not shoot at will, they don't barge into your homes, guns blazing, in the middle of the night at the slightest threat, etc.
Yes, USA has changed and unfortunately NOT for the better.
Exactly there's F ALL to be thankful about!
The "we" is gone to fail by default.
There is no bread basket to give flesh to the body.
The "I think therefore I am" is state of art and not a, we think therefore we are.
The we as of practical non existence in guiding actions is unable to perform a job other than to remind to something painfully missing that possibly should be.
If we do not this or that, then - nothing will happen because we does not happen thus fubar is pleased to take place.
There is no we that could arrange anything lack of people that is dealing the currency.
The we in your composition should be handled carefully.
Do not make use of it other than in a demagogical context to heat up mood in respect to the missing, useful in front of a rueful I'am drilled audience and be aware it has a very short half-life.
It's almost like a meta-Haiku.
Logged in to say John Whitehead never ever dissapoints in clearly expressing what is going on and what is wrong with this country. He is lamenting the incredible Dumbing down, Dividing, Distracting, and the creation of Dependance of all US citizens. In only two generations it's been widely, beyond belief, successful and that's the problem. The majority of the population are too unthinking (brainwashed into stupidity), completely distracted, extremely dependent on governments and corporations and endlessly divided to the point of wrapping chains around their own necks, and revering the people and institutions that enslave them. Indeed, the ones that are paying attention actually are militant about it. Help us all.
Tylers : more John Whitehead please so more folks can wake up.
Shit has to be shared were the sheep graze.
That means facebook, instagram and whatever other stuff people flock to.
sheep are scared off by this sort of talk of wolves.
Skin one sheep, troll the others.
Fuck, do I have to tie your shoelaces, too?
I agree, moar JW! But, there is good news as well today:
"Pew Research Center found that 27 percent of registered voters say they think of government as an enemy, up 8 points since 1996."
Now, doing a little standard math, with 300,000,000 guns in this country, at a minimum, at 27%, that makes about 81,000,000 pissed off and armed Americans. That's a lot of firepower. Now, if we remove even half, because most people I know have more than one gun, it's still 40,000,000 armed Americans, slowly but steadily becoming more angry at DC. The politicians that are bought and paid for by corporate interests and Wall Street investment bankers should really take a good, long look at these numbers and contemplate the ramifications of pissing off the people more. As for me, I'm a man of peace. I detest violence. (Until it comes knocking on my door, then look out below!)
What to do? Well, it's really simple. Just don't feed the psychopaths.
Exactly!! Evade the unjust edicts and theft of the criminals who call themselves government whenever you can get away with it. Use cash at small businesses. Buy online without paying taxes. When waiting at a red light with no other cars in sight, consider whether you really want to be a "good doggie", and then run that stupid light. Refuse to give any more respect than than you would anyone else in the same situation, and even less as appropriate, to those serving any level of the criminal gangs known as a central government. Whenever you refer to them, always preface any comment about the evil monsters who call themselves central governments, at any level, anywhere. If you struggle with any of this, consider the following:
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness... To SECURE these rights (not grant or limit them in any way), governments are instituted AMONG men (not over them). The instant that a government goes any further than to "secure these rights", it immediately violates them. It becomes an evil parasite, which, as history has always shown, will then want to grow until it consumes its host society. Government at the most local level, if even that, is all that's needed to "secure these rights" and is all that can exist without ultimately violating "these rights".
Thanksgiving and Christmas is probably IMO based on cultures that sacrificed animals to the gods as a prequel to sacrificing humans.
Enjoy!
This "Thanksgiving" spare a turkey eat bacon!
Spare a turkey, serve up congresscritter.
One he forgot to put on the list is the evil CPS. The US governments child trafficking and family destroying arm.
CPS Involved In Child Trafficking Rings Explains Senator Schafer 1 of 4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwBBK7MOtDU
"CPS Of EVIL'https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAV4ul6pReE&feature=em-share_video_user
"...tyranny at home and anarchy throughout the world."
Young Americans are OK with that, it's just us diehards demanding change and take it back..soon we wont matter because we too squandered our chances.
"because no one wanted it, we were making too much money" TBTF
Not a bad article until it takes a hard left into the militarized police bullshit meme.
Thanksgiving is not a Christian holiday. It is more pagan in nature. It is my favorite.
It seems that the trolls who serve the lying, stealing, mass murdering degenerates who call themselves central government are taking the day off. This article would usually be like raw meat for those ignorant tools of the state.
Based on when they started posting on
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-25/russia-says-turkeys-attack-jet-...
the Langley trolls go to work at 9am EST
An opiate of mankind is that some god or destiny will eventually punish 'evil' doers. The induced stupor enables psychopaths.
Judge men by their acts, not expectations of some future justice.
I like what billionaire Nick Hanauer had to say in a Politico Magazine Article:
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/the-pitchforks-are-coming-for-us-plutocrats-108014
“….And so I have a message for my fellow filthy rich, for all of us who live in our gated bubble worlds: Wake up, people. It won’t last. …”
“… If we don’t do something to fix the glaring inequities in this economy, the pitchforks are going to come for us. No society can sustain this kind of rising inequality. In fact, there is no example in human history where wealth accumulated like this and the pitchforks didn’t eventually come out. You show me a highly unequal society, and I will show you a police state. Or an uprising. There are no counterexamples. None. It’s not if, it’s when. …”
I agree with Nick. I firmly believe this system will not last past 2030 with major disruptions every few years as it falls apart.