Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

June 12, 2012

A federal district court in Ohio has discovered a fascinating codicil to the Bill of Rights: Apparently, once a government agency steals your property, the Fourth Amendment?s provisions regarding seizure don?t apply, because the amendment deals with retaining property, rather than regaining it once it?s been seized.

Michelle Mathis of Columbus was in a traffic accident last January that resulted in her being hospitalized for the better part of a month. The Columbus Department of Public Safety towed her car and impounded it without sending Mathis written notice of those actions, or instructions about how she could reclaim her property.

Once she left the hospital, Mathis inquired after her car, but was told nothing about its whereabouts. She suspects, reasonably, that the city sold off the vehicle. Mathis filed a federal lawsuit against the city demanding redress under the Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth amendments.

The U.S. District Court for southern Ohio breezily dismissed Mathis?s lawsuit, insisting that her ?interest in regaining her vehicle ? is outside the scope of the Fourth Amendment? because its limitations on seizure only protect ?an individual?s interest in retaining possession of property?.?

The government never runs out of new ways to steal from us.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

June 11, 2012

New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman suffers from a condition called ?invincible ignorance?: Despite the fact that he is invariably wrong about everything, Krugman?s confidence in his own supposed wisdom never falters.

Krugman, who has suggested that the government stage a phony alien invasion in order to justify a huge spending program, recently dismissed the Baltic nation Estonia as a ?poster child for austerity.? Since he insists that government spending is the key to prosperity, Krugman considered this to be a wounding insult. People who reside in the reality-based community will reach a different conclusion.

Since freeing itself of Soviet domination, Estonia has become one of the world?s freest and most prosperous economies. It is consistently ranked higher than the U.S. in the annual State of the World Liberty Index. It is the only European nation running surpluses, rather than deficits, and the only one with a growing economy.  While profligate European social democracies are disintegrating, Estonia?s booming tech sector and low tax rates are attracting copious investment capital.

In reply to Krugman?s criticism, Estonia?s leaders politely invited him to restrict himself to subjects about which he has actual expertise. Hopefully Krugman will follow that advice; the merciful silence would be most welcome.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

June 8, 2012

Although it is advertised as a constitutional republic, the system of government under which we live is a form of corporate socialism that operates through bribery and extortion backed by military force. This is vividly illustrated by the case of Bonners Ferry, Idaho resident Tremain Albright.

Five years ago, Albright obtained a variance from the federal government to construct an elaborate treehouse on his property bordering the Kootenai River. According to the Feds, this was necessary because Albright?s property is near a levy that could be damaged if the tree were to collapse.

On June 5, the Army Corps of Engineers ? displaying the arrogant capriciousness typical of totalitarian bureaucracies ? informed Albright that the tree would have to be torn down. This would also destroy the $14,000 guest house that had been built in it.

Municipal officials consider themselves powerless to help Albright protect his property: The Feds warned them that if the tree isn?t removed, the city will lose $128,000 in funding for levy repairs and other maintenance.  As Albright points out, the city is ?pretty much held under the gun by the cost-share program.?

We once lived under the rule of law; now we?re subject to the whims of bureaucrats and the armed figures who enforce their decrees.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

June 7, 2012

If the car you?re driving is penned in by two police vehicles, and the officers approach you with guns drawn, you?re under arrest ? correct? Not according toLouisiana?s Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal.

After Robert Carter parked outside a convenience store, two undercover police detectives hemmed in his car and approached him with guns drawn. Attempting to escape, Carter threw his car into reverse, severely damaging the unmarked car behind him.

The detectives were responding to a tip from an informant who claimed that Carter would visit the parking lot in order to conduct a drug deal. Carter claims that the arrival of two armed strangers ? one of whom admitted in court that they didn?t clearly identify themselves as police ? caused him to panic.  After being convicted of felony malicious property damage, Carter ? a second offender ? was sentenced to 20 years in prison. On appeal, Carter insisted that the arrest was unlawful.

Incredibly, the appeals court ruled that what it called an ?investigative detention? is NOT an arrest ? while insisting that Carter had no right to leave what the trial judge called ?the arrested place [where] he?s supposed to remain.?

While Carter?s criminal history makes him an unsympathetic figure, this ruling has ominous implications for nearly anyone who operates a motor vehicle.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

June 6, 2012

Following an armed robbery at a local Wells Fargo bank, police in Aurora, Colorado arrested everyone in the vicinity until the suspect was found.

Believing that the alleged robber was stopped a nearby red light, the police barricaded that section of the street ? which could be considered a reasonable tactic. However, they dragged more than forty people from their vehicles, handcuffed them, and held them for more than four hours ? which is not.

Drivers and passengers ?were handcuffed, then  were told what was going on and were asked for permission to search the car,? recalled Officer Frank Fania. ?They all granted permission, and once nothing was found in their cars, they were un-handcuffed.?

Why was it supposedly necessary to handcuff people before asking permission? If the detention was justified, why did the police bother to ask for permission?

Fania insisted that the mass arrests were necessary and justified because it was a ?unique? situation. Actually, this was done not to protect the public but in the interest of ?officer safety.? This is the same reason why the police force in Colorado Springs, roughly 70 miles south of Aurora,  are using military-grade SWAT gear to carry out routine patrol functions.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

June 4, 2012

This year?s secretive meeting of the Bilderberg oligarchy attracted the ire of activists from both the Tea Party and Occupy movements.

The protesters gathered outside the Westfield Marriott in Chantilly, Virginia to denounce the elitist conclave.

 As the Guardian of London points out, in 2008 ?then-senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton paid a flying visit to Bilderberg ? after shaking off the press pack during the Democratic presidential campaign?.Bill Clinton was introduced to the political big league at Bilderberg 1991.?

The Bilderberg meetings could be considered the most important annual meeting of the international Power Elite, which includes the people who control the system of international finance, dictate the ground rules of electoral politics, define the parameters of ?respectable? public debate, orchestrate wars, and otherwise presume to define the future for us.

This is why it?s encouraging to see at least some street-level activists ignoring media-defined political labels and joining forces to oppose and expose the Bilderberg machinations. The rule of the Power Elite will continue as long as Americans imprison themselves inside the artificial partisan categories assigned to us.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 30, 2012

According to the May 29 New York Times, Obama has given specific approval for the extra-judicial execution of everyone mentioned ?on an expanding `kill list??..? This includes high school-age youngsters in Yemen suspected of ?militant? tendencies.

All that is necessary to be considered a legitimate target for a drone-fired missile is physical proximity to someone considered a ?militant.? Obama?s perspective, notes the Times, ?counts all military-age males in the strike zone as combatants ... unless there is explicit intelligence posthumously proving them innocent.? This standard permits immediate liquidation of such people, who might then be exonerated after the fact. The operating assumption is that ?people in an area of known terrorist activity ? are probably up to no good,? explains the Times.

This would include people like a young girl named Fatima, who was killed in a May 2010 Hellfire missile attack in North Waziristan. The same lethal fate befell hundreds of others who have been killed in drone strikes that have targeted funerals, or follow-up drone attacks that targeted first responders who arrived to rescue victims of a primary strike.

That?s what our government has become. What are you going to do about it?

Let us take back the liberty where with Christ has made us free. 

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 24, 2012

A legislative amendment proposed by Republican Congressman Justin Amash of Michigan and Democrat Congressman Adam Smith of Washington would have nullified a provision of last year?s National Defense Authorization Act permitting the president to order the indefinite military detention of U.S. citizens. That amendment ? which was defeated by the House of Representatives ? was described by former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy as a ?terrorist bill of rights.?

According to McCarthy, criticism of the NDAA is ?abject nonsense,? because it merely codifies the proposition that ?an American citizen who aligns with the enemy in wartime may be treated as the enemy.?

He omitted mention of two germane facts: First, no war has been declared by Congress since 1941; second, the Obama Regime claims the power to designate as an enemy of the state any American who opposes its national security policy. This was made clear in the administration?s responses to questions from Federal District Judge Katherine Forest.

In her injunction against the NDAA, Judge Forest observed that the NDAA?s detention powers apply to ?a wide swath of expressive and associational conduct? ? including peaceful activism and critical journalism protected by the First Amendment.

Despite Forest?s ruling, Obama retains the supposed authority to consign Americans to permanent military detention. Some dare call this arrangement a dictatorship.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 23, 2012

Gilbert , Arizona resident Karl Frost, who was riding a bicycle, encountered Kevin Thompson jogging in the bike lane on the morning of May 16. Thompson moved aside to let Frost pass ? only to be startled when the bicyclist attempted to run him down. Frost, who was several inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Thompson, pursued the jogger, seized him, and shouted ?Citizen?s arrest!? He then called 911 to demand that an officer come and take the supposed offender into custody.

When the police arrived, it was Frost who was put under arrest for suspicion of unlawful imprisonment. Since Thompson?s alleged lane violation was a civil offense, he wasn?t subject to arrest. Frost maintains that the arrest was justified because Thompson ?assaulted? him by trying to escape. Where would be get that idea?

Frost, a British expatriate, describes himself as a former SWAT operator who had served in the British Special Air Service. He told police that his training to ?meet conflict with violence? has left him struggling with ?inner demons? in civilian life.

If Frost was still wearing a government-issued costume, he would be able give those ?inner demons? free rein at the expense of those less privileged than himself.

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

Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

May 22, 2012

Frank Roder of Winfield Park, New Jersey took his soon to a nearby river to feed the ducks. The SUV came to a stop on a steep embankment, and Roder?s impatient 5-year-old son jumped out and started sprinting toward a ledge that was about 35 feet above the river.

Roder immediately leapt out of the SUV and chased down his son just a few feet from the edge. If he had taken so much as a second to set the parking brake, his son almost certainly would have plunged to his death. Instead, his Jeep Cherokee went tumbling over the edge and embedded itself in the river.

When police arrived, Roder was given two tickets ? one for failure to produce his insurance card, which was in the glove compartment of his ruined vehicle, and another for failure to set his parking brake.

The officious jerk who wrote the tickets chastised Roder for not setting the brake. He also said that if Roder?s child had fallen into the river instead of the Jeep, Roder would have been arrested for child endangerment.

Never forget: There is no bad situation that cannot be made instantly worse through police intervention.

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