It’s Day 342 of 15 Days to Flatten the Curve. Deb and I are fine.
Okay, about that header image… while digging through some things I had stored away, recently I came across a high-school football program from the early 1970s. I sat back and flipped through the yellowed pages, taking a trip back to my growing-up years in northeast Ohio. Lots of good memories in there.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at one of the ads — in the program’s back pages, among small blocks promoting beauty parlors, septic service and lawn-mower repair, was an ad for the No Tel Motel.
“Everybody Welcome,” it said.
Yes, that meant day rates. Love shack. Trysts. In our world, “no-tell motel” wasn’t just a figure of speech — this was The Real Thing, right there on old US 30, a mile east of the truck stop. We drove by it every time we went to town. (Imagine parents awkwardly explaining it to their kids.) The locals didn’t necessarily patronize the place, of course, but it was a fixture in our rural community.
So, boys and girls, where I come from the No Tel Motel advertised in our high-school football program. See, I told you I had a great childhood.
Let’s say you were in your late teens, or older, 20 years ago. At that age you had at least a shot at being aware of what was going on in the wider world, from politics to culture, media to the day’s events. Let’s have a show of hands — who remembers Congress passing the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001”? Anyone?
Because everything coming out of DC must have an acronym, this was no exception. So work it out — it’s the USA PATRIOT Act, sweeping legislation enacted just six weeks after 9/11.
According to the text of the bill, it was “an Act to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes.” Now another show of hands — who thought the Patriot Act was a good idea? How about constitutional?
Congress didn’t stop to think about it. The Patriot Act passed 357-66 in the House and 98-1 in the Senate. Those votes reflected the fear of an overwhelming majority of Americans, pearl-clutchers who were calling for Washington to do something, anything, to protect the homeland from terrorism. What we got was the Patriot Act, which, among other things:
- Increased the authority of government to spy on “enemies” foreign and domestic, including tapping phones here and abroad; and
- Redefined “terrorism” by expanding the list of activities that qualified as “terrorism.”
What could possibly go wrong?
That question is being answered before our very eyes, right now, with Daffy’n’Chuckles picking up where POTUS #44 left off. Their target is the same — true Americans, citizens who oppose their leftist agenda. They’re pursuing us with renewed vigor this time, with almost universal complicity of tech and media they didn’t have the last go-’round.
The Patriot Act — supported by a fearful populace indifferent to the Constitution — made it possible. Surveillance and enforcement actions will be undertaken and lives will be destroyed (or ended, if #46 takes a cue from #44) before the courts can catch up. We’ve watched this unfold for almost 20 years.
Hell, look at this “pandemic” nonsense — the fear, the desperation, the obeisance paid to State decrees and the submission to control. Different fruit, same tree.
It’s all the result of trading essential Liberty for the illusion of a little temporary safety. Our birthrights are in grave danger.
Take care of yourselves, Patriots. Stay calm. Stay sharp. Stay free.
#WiseUp #LibertyOrDeath