LIBERTY: Half of academic publishing is controlled by only five publishers?!?

Thursday, May 27, 2021

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2021/05/activists-mobilize-fight-censorship-and-save-open-science

Activists Mobilize to Fight Censorship and Save Open Science
BY RORY MIR
MAY 24, 2021

*** begin quote ***

Major publishers want to censor research-sharing resource Sci-Hub from the internet, but archivists are quickly responding to make that impossible. 

More than half of academic publishing is controlled by only five publishers. This position is built on the premise that users should pay for access to scientific research, to compensate publishers for their investment in editing, curating, and publishing it. In reality, research is typically submitted and evaluated by scholars without compensation from the publisher. What this model is actually doing is profiting off of a restriction on article access using burdensome paywalls. One project in particular, Sci-Hub, has threatened to break down this barrier by sharing articles without restriction. As a result, publishers are going to every corner of the map to destroy the project and wipe it from the internet. Continuing the long tradition of internet hacktivism, however, redditors are mobilizing to create an uncensorable back-up of Sci-Hub.

*** and ***

For example, there are federal bills like the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research Act (FASTR), or state bills such as California’s A.B. 2192, which can require government-funded research to be made freely available. The principle behind these bills is simple: if the public-funded the research, the public shouldn’t have to pay again to access it.

*** end quote ***

Sounds like EFF has heard the “kittens” all in a row.

I’m going to make “my” politicians “aware” and get them to make the same rule as FAST and CA, if the taxpayers paid for it, then it should be OPEN!!!

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LIBERTY: “masks required” posted under dures

Thursday, May 6, 2021

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/EricPetersAutos/~3/_dNt7nIRFSM/

Reader Question: Libertarians and Signs?EPautos – Libertarian Car Talk — by eric

*** begin quote ***

One, they are largely posted under duress; i.e., it is not a freely taken decision of the owner but rather the owner acting out of fear of government. Put another way, the government is using the “private” business to impose its “mandates,” via threats. In other words, it is an assault  on private property – as well as free association.

Two, this is nothing like ordinary rules regarding terms of service. It is about spreading a deliberate, dangerous lie – and about forcing complicity in the lie. The propagation of mass hysteria, no different, fundamentally, than shouting “fire!” in a crowded theater when there is no fire.

So, there is no dilemma. Certainly not morally.

*** end quote ***

Time for “We, The Sheeple” to resist.

Or they will have no choice eventually to board the trains to the camps.

It’s a slippery slope.

No exaggeration!

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? . . .” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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LIBERTY: Mailchimp makes its censorship rules official, outlines right to ban users for “inaccurate” content

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

At least Mailchimp, a US email and marketing automation service – doesn’t even try to pretend there is some objective, consensus-based way in determining what’s false and what’s true. Instead, they’re saying what many others in the tech industry are thinking and doing: “misinformation” is simply what we decide it is, because we can.

Source: Mailchimp makes its censorship rules official, outlines right to ban users for “inaccurate” content

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Glad I’m no longer using Mailchimp!

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LIBERTY: Seems like someone needs to “fact check” the memes

Monday, October 5, 2020

https://tomwoods.com/ep-1739-the-meme-policeman-on-how-to-smash-low-iq-propaganda/

https://memepoliceman.com/

*** begin quote ***

This site is dedicated to combating false and misleading memes that are being circulated around social media.  What exactly is a meme?  In this context, it’s a picture, short post or video that gets circulated on social media. Many outlets use these visuals as a way to present and further their ideological interests.  However, often times memes are outright false or misleading, yet are shared to thousands or even millions of viewers.  While most people understand they don’t carry the weight of respected news outlets or scholarly journals, they have a way of influencing opinions on subjects, as many people get their news and ideas from their Facebook feeds, and memes have a way of sounding authoritative.

The Meme Policeman takes on these tools of propaganda, and holds them accountable to the truth.  Feel free to browse memes by category using the navigation links on top, or go to the main page and view them chronologically.

If you’ve noticed a meme that seems questionable or outright false, please send it in! The best way is to become a Patron and access the private Facebook page which I monitor along with other fans. Or send a message via Facebook to the Meme Policeman, or via the contact form below.  It will be investigated, and, if necessary, “arrested”.  Together, we can help the truth out and shame the distributors of propaganda into thinking twice about their next meme.

*** end quote ***

Most “fact checking” is  worthless because of bias.

This site seems to be “fair”.

Certainly worth following.

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LIBERTY: The Tyranny of the Experts, by Sean Gangol

Saturday, July 18, 2020

Yes, I find it downright painful to hear somebody act like he’s an expert, when he hasn’t done the tenth of the research that I have on the subject. That being said I think the notion of letting the experts do all the thinking is downright ludicrous. It is true that Europeans and certain Canadians like to let the so-called experts do all the thinking. I remember this Canadian woman who posted under the name of Socialist Butterfly on the old My Space forum who called me ignorant, when I said that I didn’t agree with the conclusion made by The World Health Organization on which nation had the best healthcare. When I asked why she called me ignorant, she said it was because I ignored a conclusion made by experts. There was also a British soccer player on the forum, who was much more polite than that snooty woman from Canada, but he couldn’t comprehend how I could possibly question the self-proclaimed experts who resided at the WHO either. I would later come to realization that I probably shouldn’t have wasted my time arguing with a fool who called herself Socialist Butterfly. I also realized that I should have asked the nice soccer player from Great Britain how one is to decide who the experts are.

Source: The Tyranny of the Experts, by Sean Gangol

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So how does “We, The Sheeple” “decide who the experts are.”?

I’m an “expert” in my wants, needs, and desires.  So who are the politicians and bureaucrats to tell me I’m “wrong”?

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LIBERTY: State of Tennessee tests of 10th amendment guarantees against federal overreach

Sunday, March 17, 2019

2019-Mar-17

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/03/14/legal-heavyweight-will-represent-tennessee-in-appeal-of-refugee-resettlement-lawsuit/

Legal Heavyweight Will Represent Tennessee in Appeal of Refugee Resettlement Lawsuit
By Michael Patrick Leahy
14 Mar 2019

*** begin quote ***

The Tennessee case is the only refugee resettlement lawsuit based on the 10th amendment and is the only state resettlement lawsuit still active today,” Barnett added.

Substantial program costs of this federal program have been purposely shifted to state taxpayers over the years. In effect, the federal government is commandeering state taxpayer money for its own purposes, clearly a power that was not delegated to the federal government by the constitution. In fact, the Tennessee lawsuit argues that such dragooning of state resources by the federal government is forbidden by the 10th amendment.

“Objections to intrusive federal power have been around since the beginning of the republic. Federal assertion of authority over how a state spends state taxes is an abuse of the powers delegated to the federal government vis-a-vis state governments. Let’s hope the appeals court thoroughly airs this test of 10th amendment guarantees against federal overreach,” Barnett concluded.

*** end quote ***

“We, The Sheeple” really need to repeal the Seventeenth Amendment — “direct” election of Senators.

The Dead Old White Guys put this there to allow the Senate to represent the wishes of the States they represented.  A senator who permitted unfunded mandates on their state would not be there every long.

Of course, the “federalists”, from the Hamilton school of political theater, would like the States to just dry up and blow away.  Much like the ado about the Electoral College, the “federalists” seek to change the Constitution without the bother of following the amendment process.

For extra credit, it’s left to the reader to figure out, why banning alcohol required and Constitutional Amendment and yet banning “drugs” did not?  After that, you can think about the Sixteenth Amendment aka the “income tax” one.

Argh!

Perhaps, “We, The Sheeple” will come tot eh realization that “amendments” are just “amending” away the power of “We, The People”.

Argh! Argh!

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LIBERTY: Kavanaugh fight shows us that Washington is sick. Very sick. SO, REPEAL the 17th Amendment

Sunday, September 30, 2018

The collision of Kavanaugh’s nomination with the #MeToo movement — a demand for justice for victims of sexual assault — has paralyzed Washington and turned the once-solemn Supreme Court confirmation process into a theater of human suffering. It is the twisted result, one chief of staff to a Democratic senator said, of the two parties breaking their own system in a tit-for-tat brawl over nominations that led Democrats to end filibusters on lower-court judges and Cabinet nominees and Republicans to respond by doing the same for the high court.

Source: Kavanaugh fight shows us that Washington is sick. Very sick.

******

This will get a much better kind of political hacks into the US Senate.  If the State Legislature picks, then they will be immediately accountable to someone the local people can get their hands on.

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LIBERTY: Sicherheitsdeinst aka DHS

Friday, August 24, 2018

https://www.ericpetersautos.com/2018/08/21/the-no-fly-license/

The No Fly License
By eric – August 21, 2018

*** begin quote ***

Three years after the passage of the REAL ID Act, all 50 states had filed for implementation extensions. The creepily named Department of Homeland Security – creepy because it is a literal English translation of the Sicherheitsdeinst which existed in the Heimat of Nazi Germany, the same Nazi Germany that George W. Bush’s grandfather Sen. Prescott Bush snuggled up to prior to and during World War II – responded by issuing various fatwas demanding “full compliance” by such and such a date.

*** end quote ***

Let’s start to roll back the oppressive Federal Gooferment.

TSA, DoEd, and DOE would be a good start.

Get the pitchforks and torches.

Argh!

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LIBERTY: Iowa High Court Nullifies

Sunday, August 19, 2018

https://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2018/08/iowa-high-court-nullifies-horrible-u-s-supreme-court-fourth-amendment-precedent/

Iowa High Court Nullifies Horrible U.S. Supreme Court Fourth Amendment Precedent

*** begin quote ***

DES MOINES, Iowa (Aug. 16, 2018) – A recent ruling by the Iowa Supreme Court effectively nullified bad U.S. Supreme Court precedent in the state. The decision was a win for privacy and demonstrates the how state-level action can undermine overreaching federal power.

The case revolved around a police search of Bion Ingram’s car that led to drug charges. Under U.S. Supreme Court precedent, the search was considered constitutional. But instead of trying to fight the battle in federal court, Ingram’s attorneys chose to challenge the search in state court under the Iowa state constitution. Ultimately, the Iowa high court found that the search violated Article 1 Sec. 8 of the Iowa Constitution.

*** end quote ***

Great action to constrain the Federal Gooferment over-reaching.

The States created the Federal “Union”; not the other way around.

I hope that more States will stand up and protect their citizens and residents.

Nullification is the strategy and tactic that can bring us back to the “American Experiment”!

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LIBERTY: What was the AR about?

Wednesday, July 4, 2018

FROM TOM WOODS’ EMAIL BLAST

*** Begin Quote ***

Independence Day is coming up, and I wonder how many people really get why it matters.

In school, we were told this: “No taxation without representation.”

Zzzzzzzz.

The real principles were more like the following.

*** end quote ***

(1) No legislation without representation.

The colonists insisted that they could be governed only by the colonial legislatures. This is the principle of self-government.

This is why a Supreme Court ordering localities around is anti-American in the truest sense. It operates according to the opposite principle from the one the American colonists stood for.

(2) Contrary to the modern Western view of the state that it must be considered one and indivisible, the colonists believed that a smaller unit may withdraw from a larger one. Today we are supposed to consider this unthinkable.

(3) The colonists’ view of the (unwritten) British constitution was that Parliament could legislate only in those areas that had traditionally been within the purview of the British government. Customary practice was the test of constitutionality. The Parliament’s view, on the other hand, was in effect that the will and act of Parliament sufficed to make its measures constitutional.

So the colonists insisted on strict construction, if you will, while the British held to more of a “living, breathing” view of the Constitution. Sound familiar?

So let’s recap: local self-government, secession, and strict construction. Not exactly the themes you learned in school.

And not even what you’ll learn in graduate school.

One day I decided I had to know what my fellow Columbia Ph.D. students thought Independence Day was all about.

What could these left-liberals be celebrating? They don’t favor local self-government, which is what the war was all about. They don’t favor strict construction of the Constitution, while the colonists were insisting on precisely that, in a British context.

So what the heck did they think it was all about?

Only one person answered me: “There was a distance involved.”

So the problem was that the ruling class was too far away?

“Come on, men, we must continue making sacrifices so that we may someday have exploiters who live close by!”

I don’t think so.

*** END QUOTE ***
Never forget.
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