Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 31, 2012

With prisons overflowing in Idaho, the state department of correction chartered a private jet to transport 120 inmates to the Kit Carson Correctional Center in Burlington, Colorado. That prison, like the Idaho Correctional Center , is owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America. The inmates, who were clothed in orange jumpsuits and shackles, were greeted at the airport by a SWAT team in full stormtrooper regalia. 

Eventually more than 800 prisoners will be sent from Idaho to Colorado. Prison overcrowding wouldn?t be a problem if the government were to stop imprisoning people for non-violent offenses, something the corporate prison lobby well understands.

Over the last decade, CCA spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying on behalf of policies that increase the demand for prison space. In a 2011 corporate report, GEO Group, another prison contractor, described how its profits depended on the state providing a steady supply of inmates. This is why the company opposes ?the relaxation of criminal or immigration enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction, sentencing or deportation practices, [and] ? the decriminalization of drugs and controlled substances[.]?

This is a system designed to expand the profits of politically connected corporations, not to protect the public from violent crime.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 30, 2012

When did the United States Congress declare war on Guatemala? According to the Associated Press, 200 United States Marines are now engaged in combat operations along Guatemala?s Pacific coast. They are pursuing operatives of a narcotics syndicate created by Los Zetas, an elite Mexican military unit that was trained by the Pentagon.

According to Marine Staff Sgt. Earnest Barnes, the mission in Guatemala represents ?the largest footprint we?ve had in that area in quite some time.? Other branches of the U.S. military are making larger tracks elsewhere in the region. In Honduras, hundreds of U.S. Army troops, in tandem with paramilitary DEA operatives, are training soldiers and carrying out missions against suspected drug traffickers. U.S. personnel have been involved in several raids that resulted in the deaths of innocent civilians who had no involvement in the drug trade.

Although described as part of a strategy to combat ?transnational crime,? these are acts of war ? something most Americans would recognize if Guatemalan or Honduran troops were carrying out similar operations in the United States.

Drug Prohibition, which destroyed the Bill of Rights, will probably kill whatever remains of the rest of the Constitution. 

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 29, 2012

San Antonio,Texasis known to millions as the home of theAlamo? a monument to principled defiance of a tyrannical government. On August 27, the city will be the scene of a small but significant protest inspired by the desire to beat back the relentless encroachment of theSurveillanceState.

More than 4,000 inmates ofSan Antonio?s government schools have been conscripted into a pilot program involving mandatory tracking with ID tags containing embedded RFID computer chips. The so-called ?Student Locator Pilot? badges must be worn at all times, and will be monitored through a system of undetectable sensors.

The protest inSan Antoniowas organized by Dr. Katherine Albrecht, founder and director of a privacy watchdog group called CASPIAN. Dr. Albrecht has written several detailed studies of the use of embedded RFID chips as part of a comprehensive system that has been called ?human inventory control.? The objective is to make everything each of us does completely transparent to those who presume to rule us.

The RFID technology has inspired considerable opposition among people jealous of their privacy. The public school system, however, offers an ideal environment in which to test elements of this system using a captive population.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 28, 2012

The heavily armed, black-clad figures stalking bus and train stations in New Jersey weren?t deployed in response to a specific threat. Transit Police Chief Christopher Trucillo explained that the VIPR teams ? local police units supervised by agents from the Transportation Security Administration ? were part of an initiative called BUSSAFE, an outgrowth of RAILSAFE, which was launched a year ago.

The purpose of the program, according to Trucillo, was ?to increase uniform police visibility?. Just to step on a bus and have somebody visually look in the bus, and have the folks on the bus see a police presence, and to give a sense of security to folks who use the bus daily.?

That assessment assumes, of course, that people would find such a conspicuous police presence to be reassuring. One potent illustration that this isn?t the case was offered by the recent shooting at the Empire State Building in New York City, in which two people ? including the gunman ? were killed and eight others were wounded. All of the wounded victims were shot by panicking police, who sprayed their rounds indiscriminately at a target less than ten feet away.

Rational people will experience a variety of sensations when they?re surrounded by police. An enhanced sense of security won?t be on that list.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 27, 2012

San Antonio, Texas is known to millions as the home of the Alamo ? a monument to principled defiance of a tyrannical government. On August 27, the city will be the scene of a small but significant protest inspired by the desire to beat back the relentless encroachment of the Surveillance State.

More than 4,000 inmates of San Antonio?s government schools have been conscripted into a pilot program involving mandatory tracking with ID tags containing embedded RFID computer chips. The so-called ?Student Locator Pilot? badges must be worn at all times, and will be monitored through a system of undetectable sensors.

The protest in San Antonio was organized by Dr. Katherine Albrecht, founder and director of a privacy watchdog group called CASPIAN. Dr. Albrecht has written several detailed studies of the use of embedded RFID chips as part of a comprehensive system that has been called ?human inventory control.? The objective is to make everything each of us does completely transparent to those who presume to rule us.

The RFID technology has inspired considerable opposition among people jealous of their privacy. The public school system, however, offers an ideal environment in which to test elements of this system using a captive population.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 24, 2012

A propaganda video produced by the Kansas City Police Department unwittingly illustrates just how thoroughly militarized domestic law enforcement has become.

The clip begins with an on-screen narration by what appears to be a tranquilized female officer, who soothingly explains that when tactical teams ? that is, military units in black body armor ? serve search warrants, the element of surprise is important ?for the safety of everyone.? This does prove traumatic ?not only for occupants of the house, but for neighbors as well,? she continues. This is why post-raid neighborhood outreach by the stormtroopers is now standard procedure.

?Anytime we?re going to kick in a house like this, we?ve got kids in the neighborhood ? and it kind of resembles a military operation,? explains Sgt. Chip Huth. In fact, it is a military operation, an example of what the Pentagon, which now trains and equips local police departments, calls ?operations other than war.?

According to Sgt. Huth, ?We have to establish objective peace before we can move on to any community-building peace.? This is the language of military occupation: Pacify a targeted neighborhood, then try to win the ?hearts and minds? of residents.

Our colonial patriot forebears wouldn?t recognize us as their descendants.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 23, 2012

Lubbock County, Texas Judge John Head insists that a tax increase is necessary in order to expand local government operations. In addition to a pay increase for local prosecutors, Head seeks additional funding for the sheriff?s office in order to deal with the prospect of civic unrest if Barack Obama is re-elected.

?He's going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the UN,? Head told the local Fox affiliate. When that happens, predicted the judge, we will witness ?Civil unrest, civil disobedience, civil war maybe. And we're not just talking a few riots here and demonstrations, we're talking Lexington, Concord, take up arms and get rid of the guy.?

Judge Head promises ?to stand in front of their armored personnel carrier and say 'you're not coming in here'? in the fashion of the Chinese man who stared down an armored column at Tiananmen Square. Whatever Obama?s ambitions might be, the key issue for Lubbock County residents is that Judge Head is demanding more of their money to hire and equip the people who regiment their lives at the local level ? which is where the retail business of tyranny is transacted.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 22, 2012

Twenty years ago today, Sara Weaver saw her mother Vicki gunned down while holding a ten-month-old infant. Her father, Randy, was severely wounded by the same FBI sniper who murdered Vicki. The sniper had deliberately shot Randy in the back, attempting to kill him instantly by severing his spine.

Sara?s younger brother, Samuel, had been fatally shot in the back after discovering a team of U.S. Marshals who invaded the family?s property ? one of whom was killed in the ensuing gun battle. The federal assault grew out of an effort to frame Randy Weaver on firearms charges in order to blackmail him into becoming a federal informant. Charged with murdering the federal marshal, Weaver was acquitted, and his family subsequently received a large civil settlement from the federal government for its illegal actions against his family.

Sara, who is now 36 with a family of her own, says that her Christian faith has made it possible to forgive the people responsible for the murder of her mother and younger brother. If Lon Horiuchi -- the FBI sniper who pulled the trigger -- were any part of a man, he would emerge from hiding to do penance for his crimes.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 20, 2012

When tax inspectors from the Greek government descended on a small seafood restaurant on the island of Hydra, they expected to collect sales receipts and take the owner into custody. Things didn?t quite work out that way.

Facing the prospect of ruin for failing to collect the confiscatory value-added tax, the 55-year-old woman who owns the small business fainted when the tax police attempted to arrest her. Determined to take a hostage, the tax police handcuffed the woman?s 25-year-old son in her stead. This infuriated the island?s residents, who laid siege to the local police station where the young man was held.

When riot police were dispatched from Athens to rescue the tax collectors, a crowd converged at the port to prevent them from taking their hostage to the mainland. Eventually the tax collectors were permitted to leave.

Significantly, this incident received negative coverage in Germany, whose government-aligned banks lent huge sums to the Greek government. Greek citizens are depicted as deadbeats for refusing to pay off the foreign banks that are bailing out their failing welfare state.

Greek tax evasion could be considered informal repudiation of the government?s debt ? a trend that certainly won?t stop there.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

August 17, 2012

For decades, the left-wing pressure group called the Southern Poverty Law Center has compiled and published rosters of organizations it has designated as ?hate groups.? Some of them ? such as the Ku Klux Klan ? obviously meet that description. Others, such as the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, just as obviously do not.

The SPLC cynically capitalizes on violent crimes ? such as shootings ? committed by people it insists are somehow linked to its political opponents. The organization exploits those tragedies for fundraising purposes and to build its stature with the media and law enforcement agencies.

The SPLC has profited handsomely from this racket ? which may become a bit more complicated as a result of a shooting rampage by a gay rights activist at the Family Research Council.  Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank notes that the shooting took place one day after the SPLC published an ?alert? denouncing the conservative lobbying organization as a ?hate group.?

The SPLC promotes government action ? backed by the threat of lethal force ? against its political opponents. It can?t absolve itself of moral responsibility when a political ally decides to carry out the same campaign through private violence.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.