Special Opinion to the Mirror by Chas Cornweller

Gaslight; verb. gerund or present participle: gaslighting – to manipulate someone by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.

Is this what has happened to the general public of the United States? Are we as a people, having been engaged in group-think (social media) for these past eight or ten years, being taken for a ride? (Ask yourself – how long have you been on social media/listening to conservative talk radio?) Are we being slowly and deliberately hoodwinked by the powers that be into believing that our nation is on course for the finest years yet? Are we being deceived into believing that America, under its present leader is destined for greatness? Do you truly believe that this is so?

We have been so inundated with fake news, red herrings, false narratives and the blathering of so many talking heads and mouths, many of us don’t even know which way to turn. I remember hearing a news report over the radio that interviewed stockbrokers having lunch just six months after the two thousand and eight market crash and subsequent housing market crash. We all remember, right? We remember that the banks and the markets had created these sub-prime mortgage bubbles that burst, leaving many of the larger banks such as Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch, along with many other international banks, on the brink of bankruptcy. But, in America, we the taxpayer bailed them out. Remember? From our pockets to theirs. Well, the interviewer was asking the average stockbroker why they felt the taxpayer should have to pay the banks (and eventually Wall Street itself by proxy) to bail them out for this misfortune. To a one, everyone said that “It wasn’t their fault.” They blamed real-estate agents, Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. They blamed poor investments on the public. They blamed everyone and everything. Everything but themselves or their firms or banks. They were completely blind to their own culpability to the whole affair. They weren’t lying, at least in their own minds. They were completely and honestly convinced of this fact. Feel better now? Aren’t you happy that you paid your hard-earned money to the banks so they wouldn’t fail? And today, folks wonder why wages aren’t keeping up with the general growth of the economic machine. Banks are profiting. Large corporations are profiting. CEO’s and upper management portfolios are growing and profiting. The average worker? Not so much.

And that is just one example of the giant spin game shelled out to you every day to keep you in blinders and looking straight ahead at the world they present. Because they know, with you looking closer, the things you might find, might just spook the hell out of you. Take for example, the latest example of the president’s summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un. Did it make the world safer? Do you believe it did? For me, it was just another prime example of manipulation of the world populace. I, for one, do not believe it made the world safer. I personally saw it as a Dog and Pony show. I honestly think that North Korea got the better end of the deal. But, that’s my personal opinion. But, Trump’s base might see it as a huge American triumph. By the end of this week, they’ll be convinced of it. Not me.

The interesting thing happening to America today is not so much as the disintegration of the basic Bill of Rights and law by Constitution, but how easily it is being done. Most folks would like to argue that it has happened fairly recently and is being done by bi-partisan means. Both are false narratives. The same folks who screamed “Fascists!” at our last president now regard executive privilege as an unalienable right of the White House. The very people who believed that the invasion of Iraq in two thousand and three was for national security and a bulwark of national defense now bemoan and decry the fact that we’ve been there for over fifteen years! And with nothing to show for it, but a beleaguered economy and tens of thousands of our soldiers suffering from PTSD or worst. These are but a few examples of just how deep within the rabbit hole of a gas lit society we have become. Polarized doesn’t even begin to describe the chasm dividing our country. Dysfunctional, under educated, over medicated and lied to by the media stream, public servants (politicians-in case you forgot their place), internet and religious leaders. Are you a victim of the gas light? Ask yourself. Read these eleven warning signs of a gas lighter and again, ask yourself if you recognize these…

1.  They tell blatant lies.2. They deny they ever said something, even though you have proof.3. They use what is near and dear to you as ammunition.

   4. They wear you down over time.

   5. Their actions do not match their words.

   6. They throw in positive reinforcement to confuse you.

   7. They know confusion weakens people.

   8. They project. They are a drug user or a cheater, yet they are constantly accusing you of that. This is done so often that you start trying to defend yourself, and are distracted from the gas lighter’s own behavior.

   9. They try to align people against you. Gas lighters are masters at manipulating and finding the people they know will stand by them no matter what—and they use these people against you.

   10. They tell you or others that you are crazy. This is one of the most effective tools of the gas lighter, because it’s dismissive. The gas lighter knows if they question your sanity, people will not believe you when you tell them the gas lighter is abusive or out-of-control. It’s a master technique.

   11. They tell you everyone else is a liar. By telling you that everyone else (your family, the media) is a liar, it again makes you question your reality.

 

Now, congratulate yourself…because if you recognize just what is going on, you just woke up. And if you can’t wake up, congratulate yourself anyway…you are the perfect cog for the New World Order.

“It is in vain to say that democracy is less vain, less proud, less selfish, less ambitious, or less avaricious than aristocracy or monarchy,” he wrote in a famous passage. “It is not true, in fact, and nowhere appears in history. Those passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence, and cruelty.” – John Adams

The great shortcoming of democracy is and always has been the culture, the people themselves.   The stupidity and hypocrisy displayed every day on social media is proof of that.

As was noted above, John Adams, and other Founding Fathers, were dubious about the idea of democracy, precisely because it provided the means to weaponize the general stupidity of people.

But isn’t America a democracy?

Well…despite what the anti-electoral college idiots tell you…the pledge of allegiance states, “and to the republic for which it stands.”

The Framers of the Constitution were, again dubious of pure democracy, “have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths”– (Federalist No. 10).

They instead opted for a republic. A democracy is a form of government in which the people decide policy matters directly–through town hall meetings or by voting on ballot initiatives and referendums. A republic, on the other hand, is a system in which the people choose representatives who, by proxy make decisions for them.

Over time, “democracy”, liberalism, has become a bit bastardized, adopted to mean a form of government in which the government derives its power from the people and is accountable to them for the use of that power. In this sense, the United States might accurately be called a democracy. [Read more…]

Special Opinion to the Mirror by Paul Plante

This past weekend, some 478.2 miles roughly north of Cape Charles, Virginia, in the tiny town of Poestenkill, New York, just to the east of the state capital of Albany, where Progressive Democrat and presumptive Democrat presidential front-runner in the 2020 presidential elections Young Andy Cuomo holds court, and this is according to eye-witness accounts, the New York State Police were seen scouring an otherwise quiet residential area for a fugitive from the law.

The person they were hunting was not some terrorist, or raper, or thief, or escaped murderer.

To the contrary, the subject of the dragnet or manhunt was a young woman who refuses to take psych drugs that make her feel suicidal.

Yes, people, you are reading that right – in New York state, according the law as written, a doctor can demand that someone be put on psych drugs, and if that person won’t take the drugs, the doctor can then issue an order to the New York State Police to have them pick the person up, and then deliver that person to the psych unit of a local hospital, in this case, the Samaritan Hospital in Troy, New York.

This is very reminiscent of a similar scheme, or scam, that was the subject of an Association Of Certified Fraud Examiners article entitled “Bribery on the Bench: A Look at Judicial Corruption” by Jordan Underhill, J.D., Research Specialist, ACFE, as follows:

In September 2009, a federal grand jury in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, returned a 48-count indictment against two judges, Mark A. Ciavarella Jr. and Michael T. Conahan.

The indictment included conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, conspiracy to commit tax fraud, honest services fraud, racketeering, bribery, money laundering and extortion.

The basis of these charges was an alleged kickback arrangement with private prison operators that netted the Luzerne County judges more than $2.6 million over at least seven years.

Conahan colluded with private prison operators to shut down the county-run juvenile detention center in favor of privately run facilities and Ciavarella did much of the sentencing that filled the new detention centers’ beds.

The private juvenile detention centers received state funding proportionate to the number of offenders that they housed; thus, they were incentivized to house as many individuals as feasible.

The judges deliberately funneled juvenile offenders (who were often advised by the judges that they did not need legal counsel) into the private juvenile detention centers, regardless of whether the charges merited the punishment.

One 16-year-old was arrested for gesturing with her middle finger at a police officer responding to a custody dispute involving her parents and sister.

Ciavarella sentenced her to six months in juvenile detention.

A 14-year-old was sentenced to three months in juvenile detention for mocking a school principal on Myspace.

At least 5,000 juveniles appeared before Ciavarella in the five years preceding the discovery of the scheme, many unrepresented and severely punished for minor infractions.

The FBI and IRS began investigating the judges after another Luzerne County judge, Anne H. Lokuta, accused Conahan of conspiring to remove her from the bench (she was, in fact, removed from the bench in November 2008).

Lokuta aided federal investigators in discovering the kickback arrangement.

After the full extent of the scheme was discovered, hundreds of juvenile adjudications were ordered overturned.

The so-called “kids-for-cash” scheme is an alarming reminder of the amount of damage that a dishonest judiciary can cause.

The scheme not only defrauded taxpayers of millions of dollars, but also violated the constitutional rights and severely disrupted the lives of thousands of children.

End quotes

In writing this, it is that last sentence I am focused on, because in New York State, once a doctor signs that order, essentially, one’s civil rights disappear, and I can say that with authority, because I had that happen to me in New York State, where the Mental Hygiene Law is used by the corrupt politicians as an offensive retaliatory weapon.

The law in question here, and I am speaking of this in the Cape Charles Mirror, one, because this is the only publication I know of in America where discussions of this nature can take place, and more importantly, because this law will be held up as a national model by the Democrats in these coming months, especially if they can win control of the congress in this year’s mid-term elections, is known as “Kendra’s Law.”

Hence, the people of America who do not live in New York State, and who are unaware of the ramifications of this law, as I was, up until just recently, should have the opportunity to be made aware of this law, and what it might mean to our future as a nation, especially when we are in the midst of a drug epidemic and a spate of teen violence that may well be linked to the side effects of these psych drugs being forced on the children and youth in America.

As to the laws of the state of New York as they relate to people accused of being mentally ill and dangerous becoming a model for the nation, I would refer the interested reader who wishes to educate themselves on this subject to a February 26, 2018 Press Release by New York’s Progressive democrat governor Young Andy Cuomo entitled “Governor Cuomo Announces Massachusetts, Delaware and Puerto Rico Join ‘States for Gun Safety’ Coalition to Combat the Gun Violence Epidemic,” where we are informed as follows:

Multi-State Coalition Now Represents Over 35 Million Americans

Massachusetts, Delaware and Puerto Rico Enter Agreement to Create Multi-State Database to Supplement Ineffective Federal NICS System

Multi-State Coalition Will Share Information, Trace and Intercept Flow of Out-of-State Guns, and Establish Nation’s First Regional Gun Violence Research Consortium

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy and Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo today announced Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker, Delaware Governor John Carney and Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló are joining the “States for Gun Safety” coalition — a multi-state partnership launched this month to combat the gun violence epidemic.

With the addition of these new members, the coalition of states now represents over 35 million Americans and will take action to stop gun-related violence in the face of continued federal inaction.

Massachusetts, Delaware and Puerto Rico will join a multi-state task force to trace and intercept illegal guns in the region.

The new members will work in cooperation with other partner states to enhance intelligence gathering, information sharing, and response efforts related to gun violence.

Participating states will leverage collective investigative resources in order to determine comprehensive, coordinated plans for gun violence responses.

Governor Cuomo said, “It’s time for the horrifying mass shootings that have plagued this country for far too long to spur real action and real policy changes.”

“Our states collectively already have better gun safety laws than the federal government, and by working together to share information and bolster enforcement, we will keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals and better protect our communities.”

“If the federal government refuses to act, we will work together to enact the important reforms families deserve, and I welcome these new states to our coalition.”

End quotes

There is our future as a nation and a free people shaping up there, people, and with respect to this manhunt going on in the Town of Poestenkill in New York State for a young woman who refuses to take psych meds that make her feel suicidal, it is not a pleasant one to contemplate.

In that same Press Release, Governor Malloy of Connecticut said, “The addition of Massachusetts, Delaware, and Puerto Rico to this multi-state coalition is an important step toward regional cooperation to prevent gun violence, and I applaud these governors for being a partner in this endeavor.”

“The massacre in Parkland – like the massacres in Las Vegas, Orlando, San Bernardino, Umpqua, Aurora, Sandy Hook, and countless others – are a tragic reminder of the urgent need to tear down political barriers and work together to make our communities, schools, and public places safer.”

“That said, while we can make a significant difference, we need real and substantive action from Congress if we are serious about ending this epidemic of gun violence.”

“It shouldn’t need saying, but the lives of children are far more important than any powerful special interest.”

“It’s time to act.”

End quotes

Yes, let’s protect our children from guns and the NRA, but are the lives of children more important than the powerful special interest known as BIG PHARM?

Not in New York State, they are not.

In New York State, through this “Kendra’s Law,” our children have literally been rendered as property of BIG PHARM, losing their right to refuse medication, as a result.

As to how this “Kendra’s Law” came into being in the first place, according to an official publication of the New York State Office of Mental Health titled “Kendra’s Law: Final Report on the Status of Assisted Outpatient Treatment – Appendix 2” by Keith J. Brennan, Esq., Assistant Counsel, New York State Office of Mental Health, on January 3, 1999, an event occurred which galvanized the mental health community, and served as a catalyst for an effort to identify and address the needs of the small population of persons who respond well to treatment when hospitalized, but who have trouble maintaining their recovery once back in the community.

On that date, Andrew Goldstein, a man with a history of mental illness and hospitalizations, pushed Kendra Webdale onto the subway tracks in a tunnel beneath the streets of Manhattan.

Ms. Webdale lost her life as a result.

What followed was a bi-partisan effort, led by Governor George Pataki, to create a resource delivery system for this population, who, in view of their treatment history and present circumstances, are likely to have difficulty living safely in the community.

End quotes

In the case of this young woman in Poestenkill who is now a fugitive from the law because she refuses to take psych drugs that have literally destroyed her young life, she was living safely in the community.

But that makes absolutely no difference whatsoever, anymore.

Getting back to “Kendra’s Law,” on August 9, 1999, Governor Pataki signed Kendra’s Law, creating a statutory framework for court-ordered assisted outpatient treatment (“AOT”), to ensure that individuals with mental illness, and a history of hospitalizations or violence, participate in community-based services appropriate to their needs.

The law became effective in November of 1999.

Since that time, 4,245 court orders have been issued for AOT statewide, together with 2,559 renewal orders.

The majority of orders and renewals have been issued in New York City.

End quotes

And now that the money-making potential of this law has been discovered outside of New York City, the abuse of this law has spread to upstate New York, all the way into small rural communities like this Poestenkill, where these manhunts for this young woman ae taking place.

When I first heard of this, I was not a sceptic; I was totally unbelieving.

This is monstrous, I said.

This is something you would expect to hear about happening in Nazi Germany, or Stalinist Russia.

This **** doesn’t happen here, I said, but I was wrong – it certainly does.

And a disturbing aspect of this law is as follows:

New York Mental Hygiene Law § 9.59

Immunity from liability

(a) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of any general, special or local law, an ambulance service as defined by subdivision two of section three thousand one of the public health law and any member thereof who is an emergency medical technician or an advanced emergency medical technician transporting a person to a hospital as authorized by this article, any peace officers, when acting pursuant to their special duties, and any police officers, who are members of an authorized police department or force or of a sheriff’s department, who are taking into custody and transporting a person to a hospital as authorized by this article, shall not be liable for damages for injuries alleged to have been sustained by such person or for the death of such person alleged to have occurred by reason of an act or omission unless it is established that such injuries or such death was caused by gross negligence on the part of such emergency medical technician, advanced emergency medical technician, peace officer or police officer.

End quotes

Who in their right mind can take comfort from that, especially in the case of the apprehension of a young person because they refuse to take drugs that are hurting them and destroying their lives?

In capturing this young woman, and surely she will eventually be captured, the police are given license to treat her roughly, with immunity from the law, while the burden would be on her to prove that gross negligence was involved, which is ridiculous.

And what kind of message does that send to a community already afraid of police violence?

As to Constitutional Challenges, the Office of Mental Health states as follows:

Kendra’a Law was signed into law by Governor George Pataki on August 9, 1999, and became effective on November 8, 1999.

Even before the law was implemented, there emerged a focused debate concerning the issue of whether the law achieved its goal of creating a mechanism to insure that individuals who met the statutory criteria remained treatment compliant while in the community, in a way that was consistent with the Constitutional rights of those individuals.

On one side of the debate, proponents of the law recognized the numerous procedural aspects of the law which were included specifically to meet constitutional standards, many of which were deliberately modeled after other provisions of the Mental Hygiene Law, which themselves had survived prior judicial scrutiny and had been found to be constitutional.

The supporters of the law argued that any compulsion occasioned by the law was justified by the law’s important objective of helping individuals with a history of treatment non-compliance resulting in violent acts and/or repeated hospitalization, to live safely in the community.

On the other side of the debate, opponents of the law primarily relied upon prior judicial decisions which found that forcible medication over objection required a finding of incapacity.

The opponents of the law read into these decisions a much broader proscription of any measures which might influence an individual’s decision to comply with treatment, even when those measures fall far short of forcible medication over objection.

This theoretical debate would not be resolved without judicial intervention and inevitably found its way into the courts.

In In re Urcuyo, the first court challenge to the constitutionality of Kendra’s Law, the Mental Hygiene Legal Service (“MHLS”) moved for dismissals on behalf of two respondents to Kendra’s Law petitions in Supreme Court, Kings County.

Respondents argued that Kendra’s Law violated the due process and equal protection guarantees of the New York State and the United States Constitutions because the statute did not require a judicial finding of incapacity prior to the issuance of an order requiring the respondent to comply with the AOT treatment plan.

The court rejected all of respondents’ arguments, and held that the statute was in each respect constitutional.

End quotes

And there, people, is where the nightmare always begins – with a politically-appointed judge determining where our constitutional rights begin and end.

With that law having been deemed constitutional, all challenged to the abuse of that law have become that much harder, because in reality, those merely accused of being mentally ill and dangerous have their constitutional rights stripped from them.

They become societal objects, no longer citizens with rights, including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Is this still America?

Or have we become something else?

The candid world would like to know.

Candidates for Cape Charles Mayor and Town Council gathered at the Palace Theatre for the 2018 candidates forum. This season’s election boasts a series of fresh faces, as well as a slate of highly qualified candidates. The forum was hosted by the Northampton Rotary Club.

The candidates bring solid, yet varied work and life experiences to the table.

The forum began with the Mayoral candidates Smitty Dize and Terry Carney. Each candidate articulated their qualifications, with Dize noting that Cape Charles is a water town, and he has spent his entire life working on or around the water, from commercial crabbing to a stint with the Merchant Marines. Carney countered that his previous career as an FBI agent provided him with the ability to analyze situations, but more importantly to listen to what people are actually saying. While Carney was able to articulate his vision a little better than Dize, Smitty was able to make the case that he has more history here and has a proven track record from his work as harbor master, and now as a manager of the Oyster Farm.

There is a lot to choose from for town council — Chris Bannon and Joan Natali represent current members of the council, David Gay, Tammy Holloway, Nioaka Marshall, Paul and Andrew Follmer are attempting to be first time members. While Natali and Bannon spent some time defending the current status of the town in areas such as the reverse-angle parking and water quality (taste and smell), the new kids on the block attempted to offer counterpoints such as attempting to find answers and alternatives to the current crisis of bad water and wierd parking angles.

After close to 5 hours of debate, the audience was left with the feeling that no matter who wins, there will be good folks occupying the seats.

Critique and Analysis

Can you say Kumbaya? That, in a nutshell, was the approach by all the candidates. There was no snarkiness, no confrontations, no insults or accusations. At one time, it looked as if Mayoral candidates Dize and Carney would actually start making out, right there on the stage. All this collegiality made for a really boring and an altogether waste of a Sunday afternoon. They basically all agreed with each other on just about everything. The only thing we really learned about the candidates is that they are more about slick presentation than being forthright about how they really feel about the state of things, except for saying, “I love this town! I have a passion for this town!” I swear, I think they all said this at one time or another.

Except for Dize and Bannon, everyone else seemed so rehearsed and professional. It seemed inauthentic as if you could have just put a manakin with a prerecorded message in a chair, and there would hardly be a difference. While the candidates may have felt this lent an air of authority and knowledge, it instead came off as, ‘Oh, here’s a bunch of come-heres trying to tell us how they are going to make everything so much better’. How’s that been working out for you?

Annoyingly, many of the candidates kept bringing up their former jobs as if that somehow gave them credibility and prepared them for a role in local government. We’re glad you all had great careers, really we are, but let it go. None of that really matters, and the fallacy that it does is what is destroying this place.

These people never seem satisfied, and just can’t leave this place be.  All afternoon, we kept hearing how the town had to “step up its game” or “take it the next level” or whatever. Here’s the scary part: after acknowledging that there is no commercial property left in Cape Charles for the town to “grow into”, the word “Annexation”, which until now has only been muttered and whispered behind closed doors, was actually said out loud. Grab your wallets people…they are coming for you. [Read more…]

Special Opinion to the Mirror by Paul Plante

Those who don’t know history are fools and those who make them their leaders and then follow them are even bigger fools, and we are privileged to be living in a time when that story is playing out all around us on the world stage, where the con-man, that being United States President and seemingly World-Class moron Donald J. Trump, the “Let’s Do A Deal Dude” who is running this country like it was a shady bidness in some third-world ****hole, has inflicted FIRE AND FURY (a very tired and hackneyed phrase these days) on Bashar Assad of Syria.

Except he didn’t, and the only ones who believe that crap spew that he did are the incurably incredulous in this country who watched the fireworks on TV and said to themselves “WOW, HOLEY MOLEY, ZOUNDS, LOOK AT THAT TRUMP PUTTING A REAL GOOD ***-WHUPPING ON THAT BASHER DUDE IN SYRIA WHO IS KILLING THE MERCENARIES WE HAVE OVER THERE TRYING TO OVERTHROW HIM!”

Except he didn’t.

Look at what Kenneth M. Pollack, a former CIA analyst and resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute has to say about it in the Washington Post article “Trump’s strikes on Syria risk retaliation, escalation in a war he wants to avoid” by Paul Sonne on 14 April 2018, as follows:

The allure of such strikes, Pollack said, is that they are “feel-good military operations,” which make the American public think they have done something to help Syrians.

“No we didn’t,” Pollack said.

End quotes
[Read more…]

Tough guys don’t dance…

This week, after Nasim Aghdam entered the Youtube campus, shot two people and then killed herself, the coverage was relatively subdued. Outside of an NY Times editorial that stated that big tech, Silicon Valley must now enter the gun debate, the story faded.

Not surprising, here are the details:

Nasim was not male, not “white” or a conservative. She was a vegan and she did not use an AR-15. She was not an NRA supporter and committed the crime in a strict gun control state, as well as in a “gun free zone”. Bummer, dudes. So much for the gun narrative de jour.

 

Here’s the problem. Since Parkland, the American political left, essentially Northeast Postmodern Bourgeois Liberalism, has attempted to frame an argument in the name of “common-sense gun control”, which, after pulling back the curtain is simply an argument for giving up more rights and being submitted to more government control. It’s really just about control.

What has been unmasked is the darkness and vicious nature of these proponents. While they bemoan the tragedy and hysterically cry about ‘children’s safety’, behind it all is an abject hatred for those that disagree with them politically, and the yen to dominate and control the ‘flyover people’.

NRA members have felt the brunt of this.

As an NRA member, you know that almost 100% of us believe in gun control, even as we insist on being able to legally purchase the proper firearms for the task, whether for self-protection, hunting, or range work. Rather than consulting the NRA, which was the first group in this country to promote gun laws and gun safety, the left has instead attacked them as terrorists, somehow blaming them for the actions a few very disturbed people.

And by the way, the AR-15 is a hunting rifle.

This is where we stop listening. We understand what this is about.

I’m less sad than disgusted by what this country has become. When did it become overrun by a bunch of Le Chattes? I understand that a large portion of the country has been lobotomized by eight years of Obama, but I never realized things had gone this far south. It made me remember something Norman Mailer said during a lecture many years ago at George Mason University. He was describing a scene from his novel Tough Guys Don’t Dance.  The main character climbs a 100 ft. tall monument, and once at the top, realizes he cannot get back down. But he wasn’t worried, because he knew that someone would eventually come and get him down. As Mailer noted, “individual responsibility, owning the good and the bad is all but gone…replaced by blame, or the belief that someone will be there to rescue you.” Free to be as stupid and boring as you want.

“The essence of spirit, he thought to himself, was to choose the thing which did not better one’s position but made it more perilous. That was why the world he knew was poor, for it insisted morality and caution were identical.” – Norman Mailer, The Deer Park

I get what he’s saying. We’ve lost some toughness somewhere. Not so much about fighting, but having some consideration, having a backbone, some grit. America used to be politeness and hard work. Now, you tell me.

We now occupy a world of #Dystopian Soda Flavors such as FBI Fig, Government Grape, Zuckerberry, Twitterlicious Tamarind, Cranberry Censorship and Social Justice Starfruit. As they like it.

As a programmer in the early 1990s, I remember the distinct excitement surrounding development around the world wide web. Then came the  Mosaic web browser, which was co-written by Marc Andreessen, and eventually, Netscape Navigator. What many of us believed, especially in the open source community, was that this tool represented freedom–freedom from government control and censorship, freedom from corporate domination. We were wrong. The Google motto of ‘do no evil’ has turned out to be a sham–it has been appropriated. Facebook willingly gave away personal data to ensure an Obama victory, Google and YouTube actively censor viewpoints and mines user data, Twitter and YouTube actively censor ‘inappropriate’ accounts (usually conservative).

We thought the web would be the tool to free us, it is instead the tool used to watch and keep us in line. Of course, that is what the progressive movement has wanted since 1912. Say hello to the NSA…Snowden knows.

That brings us back to the gun control “debate”. The fact that people are stupid enough to fall for this garbage is truly depressing. Face it, the chance of dying from a gunshot is very, very small. To be sure, your death is imminent, but the chance of meeting your end from the barrel of a gun is practically non-existent. You are more likely to get struck by lightning in a boat, or even more likely to die in a car crash…let’s not even talk about the threat of disease. For guns, if you take business (drugs, organized crime, etc.) and suicide out of the data, and it almost doesn’t exist.

Yeah, I know, murders and bad things happen every day…I drove a cab in the DC Metro area during the 1980s during the glorious reign of Marion Barry. I’ve seen it. However, back then just being in the vicinity of a murder, or being robbed at 2 a.m. didn’t make you an expert on anything…except on how to try and shake it off. You never really do though.

How do people really expect this thing to end? Instead of focusing on our relative affluence and all the real opportunities in the American world, the narrative of white privilege, the gun lobby, the evil alt-right, etc. is used to strategically divide and marginalize. People are just dumb enough to believe it. It just pisses the rest of us off.

With a populace anesthetized, lobotomized, weak, subdued and bathed by the phone and computer screen, the cult of personalities actively use the techniques of mass media, propaganda, spectacle, the arts, patriotism, and organized demonstrations and rallies to create an idealized, heroic, and very big lie.

It’s just so easy, and so attractive. Much more enjoyable than work.

Special Opinion to th Mirror by Chas Cornweller

The fight for the soul of Democracy, the heart of America, has come to this…the normalization of President Trump his methods by which he has come to try and win the hearts and minds of the citizens of America. This clash of wills is NOT between the ideals of the Left and the ideas of the Far Right. This battle is for the soul of middle America, the hard working, blue collared, down in the trenches, working pay check to pay check American who pay their taxes and tithes and have a true stake in the positioning of the United States today. Unfortunately, the weapons being used are so foreign to the ideals and thinking of the average American, they are unrecognizable as being a form of weaponization in the first place. By that I mean, most Americans are blind to the fact that they are being manipulated by the very battle that rages daily from our media sources.

That moment our leader or any leader for that matter disparages the very sources the American public relies on for its information, and its security and justice, then we have arrived at the slippery slope and the beginning of a downward fall. Our president began the alienation of the press (fake news/lying reporters) long ago. And he has disparaged our military (I know more than our generals/I know better than they on how to defeat ISIS) and our justice system (Corrupt FBI/Disparaged CIA and the Attorney General and by proxy, the Justice Department). The very moment the president relays his lack of faith in the system to his public, that system is set up to fail. Now, you know the system of which I am talking about. That system our fore-fathers had wisely set in place as a Checks and Balance on each other and on that system, itself. So, either Donald Trump is that lone voice in the wilderness calling out the system is corrupt and rotten to the core, or Donald J. Trump has something nefarious going on. It cannot be both. OR the third leg of this chair could very well be this…the presidency and all of his backers and supporters (not you middle America – you have no power) and those cronies that now hold him up, are vying for a destabilized American system (remember checks and balance) to replace it with a more powerful centralized government. A system run on propaganda, falsehoods, red herrings, division, mistrust, and obedience. A system characterized by dictatorial power, forcible suppression of opposition and ultimate control of industry and commerce. One that believes in the elimination of the liberal democracy replaced by a rule of law, governed by a small, all-powerful oligarchy. This is what the president has to make palatable to the American public. [Read more…]

Special Opinion to the Mirror by Paul Plante

First of all, I would again like to thank the Cape Charles Mirror for being egalitarian (relating to or believing in the principle that all people are equal and deserve equal rights and opportunities) and for presenting diverse opinions on this question of what is being called “gun control” in America right now.

A serious part of that debate has to do with denying access to guns to those deemed by somebody, obviously someone in a position of power, to be mentally ill and dangerous.

I am one of those who knows that in corrupt New York State, falsely accusing people of being mentally ill and dangerous is a political weapon, so I am asking those who are for that, and they are many, how that will not be abused by a government that does not want its citizens to have access to guns for political reasons, largely because the government does not trust its citizens, and to date, there has been no answer, which I find unacceptable, especially in the light of McKay v. New York.

We were introduced to McKay v. New York in here by our dear friend tkenny @ April 4, 2018 at 11:21 pm, as follows:

On February 26, 2018, the Hon. Frank P. Geraci, Jr. of the Western District Court of New York released his Decision and Order in the federal civil rights case of Donna McKay vs. the State of New York.

The victory for those like Donna, who are falsely accused of having been “involuntarily committed,” is in the dismissal of her case.

Victims of this systematic, false reporting by New York State to the FBI now have a clear course of legal action in county and federal courts to restore their Second Amendment and property rights.

End quotes

And let’s stop right there, people, and scroll back to the words “(V)ictims of this systematic, false reporting by New York State to the FBI,” where “systematic” means “done or acting according to a fixed plan or system; methodical.”

Now, that is our dear friend tkenny saying that, not myself, and in doing so, he does in fact validate what I have been saying about New York, which is that it abuses the process of declaring who is mentally ill and dangerous for political reasons, and so, cannot be trusted with that determination in connection with our 2d Amendment rights.

Where is the fail-safe against abuse, I want to know from tkenny and Cameron Kasky and David Hogg, and to date, no answers are forthcoming, only the sounds of silence.

Getting back to tkenny @ April 4, 2018 at 11:21 pm, he continued as follows, which in its turn led to this essay: “You see, the system can correct itself.”

“Some laws need a little tweaking because of unseen circumstances.”

End quotes

And no, tkenny, it is not a little tweaking – it is a whole lot of tweaking as we shall soon see.

So let us go without further ado to “Matter of License To Carry a Pistol Issued to Donna L. McKay,” 2016 NY Slip Op 26180 Decided on June 7, 2016 County Court, Yates County Falvey, J. published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431, decided on June 7, 2016, County Court, Yates County, State of New York, as follows:

The respondent, age 38 (DOB: xx/xx/1977) was issued a license (CW 08-03) to carry a pistol on March 12, 2008.
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