This is a collection of videos, they are linked but I know how tedious I find other people who scatter videos in blog posts as it demands a larger investment of time to digest. Apologies, but get over it.

My favourite video this week is this one (h/t Whale Oil Beef Hooked).

Homeland Security in the USA set up “immigration checkpoints” and some brave souls decide this is unconstitutional so politely refuse to answer their questions.

I think the thing that leaps out most from these interactions is the confusion in the voices of the Federal agents. They seem genuinely uncertain of either the reason why they need to ask these questions or the authority under which they can. There is presumably a legislative device from which these checkpoints have been implemented but none of these minions have been briefed to what it might be.

The freedoms we’ve lost so quickly will take a long time to win back. In the USA, freedom was won through a war of independence and has slowly atrophied away ever since. Recently that atrophy has sped up considerably. Witness people being detained on the road without probable cause to suspect them of committing a crime.

“You’re driving a motor home and it has a refrigerator”?

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

Benjamin Franklin

This week, Rand Paul tried to filibuster a motion to approve Obama’s nominee to run the CIA, John Brennan. The point he was really upset about was that Brennan had refused to rule out drone strikes on US citizens on USA soil. No trial, no warning, just BOOM! and the car you’re driving in is toast based on “intelligence” that you are an active threat.

Ultimately he failed but the point was made. Freedoms have been lost and are not likely to return any time soon.

Perhaps his most poignant comment was this;

Is perpetual war OK with everybody?

 

The speech went on for a while (that’s the nature of filibusters, I suppose) so here’s the end of the speech.

And finally, we’re back to the gloriously shambolic Bobby Gillespie at Glasters in 2005. He was a neighbour of mine back in London by the way, we’d often see him playing with his young daughter in the park. He wrote a letter to the local paper once complaining about the noise at closing time of a nearby pub. Ah the irony…

Anyway, if you don’t like their music, fast forward to 3 minutes 50 seconds.

The war on terrorism is a pretext for setting up an international police state.

That it is, young Robert, that it is.