A dear old Alabama Law School buddy, who went on to be a country trial lawyer in south Alabama, then circuit court judge, then back to trial lawyer, told me in a dream last night that I needed to publish a white not particularly nutritious pastry I was sitting on.
I think maybe it was now departed from these premises Sancho Panza who introduced me to The Patriot Post (patriopost.us) some time ago. A free no paid advertising conservative blog and audience, mostly white men apparently, published by self-described patriot Mark Alexander. After reading the piece below by the managing editor, and some of the reader comments, I posted a comment that seemed to have the effect of a fox visiting a hen house.
Nate Jackson
The coronavirus lockdowns and mandates weren't severe enough, Democrats are increasingly asserting. At least that's the fundamental idea behind their recent statements.
"The one thing we do know," insisted Joe Biden, is that "masks make a gigantic difference. I would insist that everybody in public be wearing that mask." Would he use the heavy hand of the federal government to mandate it? "Yes, I would from an executive standpoint," he replied. "I would do everything possible to make it required that people had to wear masks in public." Nancy Pelosi heartily agrees, calling a nationwide mask mandate "long overdue."
The debate and inconsistent messaging about masks have been roiling since the beginning of the pandemic. What's uniquely interesting — and alarming — about Biden and Pelosi's comments is that they reveal yet again the default for leftists on any issue is to mandate things as far up the power structure as possible. These are the people, after all, who passed a law unconstitutionally mandating that Americans buy health insurance.
While states and local governments may have the authority to mandate masks (or other such things), the federal government decidedly does not. "This is what we call federalism," observes The Resurgent's Tom Searl. "If you watched the Democrats the past few years this may be a foreign concept to you."
Indeed, Democrats use every opportunity to consolidate power in Washington, DC. Ironically, this is why Donald Trump vexes them so much. Mandating masks at the federal level would be unconstitutional. It would trample the Ninth and Tenth Amendments — individual liberty and the power of the states and the people. But, because Democrats would be doing this "for your own good," they feel obliged to do it.
"Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive," said C.S. Lewis. "It may be better to live under robber barons than under the omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber barons cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
If the government can order individuals to purchase a product (health insurance), then the government can mandate all sorts of things "for your own good." As the late Justice Antonin Scalia said during the Supreme Court's hearing on ObamaCare, "Everybody has to buy food sooner or later. Therefore, you can make people buy broccoli." His remarks became symbolic of the leftist busybodies' power grabs. Eight years later, it's not broccoli but masks. Either way, it's the same authoritarianism that endangers American Liberty.
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Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
I'm white. I once practiced law in Alabama, was conservative, moved to middle of the road, don't particularly like the Republican or the Democratic parties, ain't swooning over Joe Biden, have yet to see any state, county or city face mask ordinance enforced with fines and jailings, can't imagine a federal face mask law, constitutionally legal or not, being significantly enforced. That preamble out of the way, I think any person who goes into crowded places maskless is a bioterrorist, and if such a person approaches me to shake my hand, hug me, or get in my face, can i shoot that mf in self-defense?
Honest Abe Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
The next “for your own good” step will be to confiscate citizens' firearms, which means you will be limited in your self defense.
Sloan Bashinsky Honest Abe • 2 days ago
It's been decades since I owned a firearm, to wit, 12 gauge Ithaca pump, .22 bolt action rifle with scope. S & W .38 police special. I do not oppose firearms, but don't see need for my next door neighbor to have a military-grade rifle, but given the flagrant violations of local mask ordinances and police doing nothing about it, maybe I should rethink doubting my next door neighbor doesn't need an assault rifle?
brewingbiker Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Good grief, please tell me you aren't one of those who thinks an AR-15 is a "military grade" rifle -or even more laughably, an "assault rifle". God I hope you're brighter than that.
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Sloan Bashinsky John Q Citizen • 2 days ago
You need and AR-15 to hunt deer, turkeys, squirrels, rabbits? There's only one thing you need an AR-15 to hunt in America - people.
brewingbiker Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
other than my muzzle-loading ones, or perhaps my bolt-action, I can be just as deadly with any of my semi-automatic rifles as you can with the AR-15. You clearly aren't as well versed in rifles as you would have us believe. Nothing particularly special about the Armalite Rifle other than it being the most popular platform with perhaps the widest range of accessories available. AS for accuracy at range or speed of cycling? No, there are plenty of other options. Even "scary" ones. And I hate to be the one to open your eyes, but the 2nd Amendment has absolutely NOTHING to do with hunting.
brewingbiker Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Oh, and btw, the AR-15 would make a fine medium-game hunting rifle. Why do you think it wouldn't?
John Q Citizen Sloan Bashinsky • a day ago
Yup. The way its going right now I need all the firepower I can get to protect my family and property from rioters and looters. If you think certain groups of people wont harm you, you may want to consider taking your head out of the sand or 4th point of contact (which ever it might be in).
Sloan Bashinsky John Q Citizen • a day ago
I never worried for the safety of my children and their spouses and children until Donald Trump was elected.
ImStillaYankee Sloan Bashinsky • a day ago
While the emperor was dividing the nation into a myriad of tiny subgroups & then pitting them against one another during his 8 year reign, you didn't worry about your family's safety? Says a lot.
Sloan Bashinsky ImStillaYankee • an hour ago
Until Trump was elected, I did not worry someone would physically injure or kill my children and their families. A great deal of venom is spewed at this website by what look like white men, to me, at anyone who does not agree with their version of how things ought to be. I see white women spewing same venom. I think they need to actually meet the Jesus they worship, if they are Christians. If they are not Christians, I think they simply need to meet God.
John Q Citizen Sloan Bashinsky • 21 hours ago
You should leave the country if you are that concerned. Did you think that the country was in a wonderful state under Obama?
BTW crime has existed for quite some time.... its unfortunately gotten worse because the left embraces it.
Sloan Bashinsky John Q Citizen • 31 minutes ago
I was told in my sleep in early 2008 that Obama had the potential to be the Anti-Christ. I published that on my blog and told people not to vote for him. After Obama was elected, he proved it by accepting the Nobel Peace Prize while still waging the his predecessor's rich white men's wars for corporate profit in Afghanistan and Iraq. I quit pooping and that only resolved a few weeks later when a violent poem burst out of me about the Evil thing Obama had done. Yet, I never felt my children and their families were at risk to physical harm from Americans until after Trump was elected. At risk from white Americans. I never dreamed a white president candidate would balk at instantly disavowing the endorsement of the KKK grand wizard David Duke and Nazis and Neo Nazis. I never dreamed I would see a white president taking sides with white people waving Confederate Flags, which mean only one thing in the South - White Supremacy. I tell my Republican friends that they voted fore that, too, when they voted for Trump.
brewingbiker John Q Citizen • 2 days ago
well, thats what he says, anyway. His posts tend to lead me to believe otherwise ;)
John Meckel Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Sloan, Rifles don't Assault anything or anybody! Only People! Do you call a car that rear ends you an assault car? Get over the Stereotype!
BiggieGuana Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Bioterrorist? I guess some people really feel that way. Those who do should wear N95 masks and stay home.
Sloan Bashinsky BiggieGuana • 2 days ago
Naw, I have as much right to be in grocery store, drug store, Walmart, Home Depot, as you have, for example. Under Amendment 1, U.S. Constitution, I have the unfettered right to call people who refuse to wear face masks in crowded quarters, including President Trump, bioterriorists, because that's what I think they are. The question then becomes, if I believe my life is threatened by a bioterrorist, can I shoot the mf and get away with it under self-defense / stand your ground laws? I don't have a gun, don't plan to get one, so the question is of a law school exam nature, which is somewhat familiar to me, having two law degrees, J.D. and LLM, in Taxation.
John Q Citizen Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
In most states being in fear for your life does not mean someone w/o a mask is breathing near you, worst case is you get sick. You have the right to free speech, what you say or think does not give you justification enough to kill another individual. I'm not a lawyer nor do I have a law degree so do not take anything I say as sound legal advise. Since you do not have a criminal law degree you should probably consult someone who does. Please don't purchase a firearm I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself.
Sloan Bashinsky John Q Citizen • 2 days ago
I think your comment is the first grown up comment I have seen under my comment. Of course, I have no right to kill someone for not wearing a face mask, who gets in my face without a face mask, say, in a grocery store. Sometimes, the absurd is used to make a point, try to wake the dead. Make no mistake, though, if you are going into, say, grocery stores without a face mask, you are a bioterrorist at heart, and in fact, if you know you are infected with C-19.
BiggieGuana Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
You already know the answer. What you don’t know is that we aren’t impressed with your attempt to mock us. I guess having two law degrees doesn’t necessarily equate to intelligence or respect for others.
Sloan Bashinsky BiggieGuana • 2 days ago
I see about zero respect at this blog for views contrary to what is published/posted here. This website reminds me of a white Southern Baptist church, whose members are convinced they all will die and go to heaven, and anyone not thinking like them will die and burn in hell forever. I know Democrats who similarly inclined about their views.
BiggieGuana Sloan Bashinsky • a day ago
You come in sneering and expect respect? You've received more than you deserve.
Sloan Bashinsky BiggieGuana • a day ago
I have read TPP for months and seen endless sneering at and mocking of people.
BiggieGuana Sloan Bashinsky • 21 hours ago
I don't disagree. Angry people worried about their nation's self-destruction are frequently over the top here, but do two wrongs make a right? If you have been reading TPP for several months then you've also seen calm, intelligent discussions as well. Why not engage in those and ignore the rest?
ChrisInIL Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Because you have a right to spout nonsense doesn’t mean you should exercise it. I do, however, support your right to do so. Please continue.
To answer another of your questions, no you do not have a right to “defend” yourself against someone because you have labeled them a “bioterrorist”. 1) People are around you every day carrying all kinds of pathogens that could harm you. 2) If they are not infected with the the virus, they are not a danger to you. 3). You can’t tell the difference.
Sloan Bashinsky ChrisInIL • 2 days ago
And, they don't know if they are infected, and they don't care if they don't know, and they resent being told to be responsible and respectful of other's'welfare, and they take huge offense at the suggestion they should be retaliated against where face masks are required by law? I cannot shove someone into a shelf of green beans, who comes up to me maskless and hugs me without my permission? My comment was a probe into what looks to me like right-wing fanatics, mostly, who seem to think they have everything all figured out, and they participate in writing and commenting under articles at this place to convince themselves they have everything all figured out. Democrats do that, too.
ChrisInIL Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Nice pivot. Your comments are nonsense. If you are accost by random “huggers” in grocery stores, whom you wish to respond to with murder, your problems can only be solved by a therapist, and not by ranting anonymously in a comments section.
Sloan Bashinsky ChrisInIL • 2 days ago • edited
I said shove into shelf of green beans. I never said I would shoot someone. I initially posed in this forum, "I think any person who goes into crowded places maskless is a bioterrorist, and if such a person approaches me to shake my hand, hug me, or get in my face, can i shoot that mf in self-defense?" I wanted the forum to actually try to put itself into the skin of people who dare to not like being around maskless people in crowded public places. Based on the many responses, this forum doesn't give a s how those people feel.
ChrisInIL Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Posing a statement as a question is disingenious.
You are attempting to elicit a reaction to your verbal trickery to boost your ego. You don't care about how anyone feels.
Stop projecting and you may be taken more seriously.
Sloan Bashinsky ChrisInIL • a day ago
I care a great deal about how people worried about catching C19 feel, and based on the responses to my initial and responsive comments, I don't see one person who gives a s about people worried about catching C-19. Worse, you put them down, mock them. I think that's inhuman, diabolical.
ChrisInIL Sloan Bashinsky • 18 hours ago
You only care about yourself. No one with any empathy would ever pose the statement (disguised as a question) regarding murdering someone who they believe to be a threat simply because of an article of clothing that victim is or is not wearing.
If you want to see diabolical, look into a mirror.
Sloan Bashinsky Sloan Bashinsky • an hour ago
And, where do you get anonymous? I use my birth name. I'm easy to find on Facebook and via Google search.
71911E Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
LOL, you're white? Prove it. In the meantime, troll elsewhere.
Sloan Bashinsky 71911E • 2 days ago
You have my photo right here to the left before you. You also can find me on Facebook and at my blog, but it's not allowed to put a link into comments there, so simply google search afoolsworkneverends, it's a google blogspot url. The Patriot Post doesn't troll? Someone sent me a link to it, who had found it. I nibbled some time back, been reading it off and on a while. Comment sometimes. Can't recall getting even one amen or like. Much same happens when I visit Democrat watering holes :-).
71911E Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
I know I've seen that photo in frames at Walmart. Nice try though.
Sloan Bashinsky 71911E • 2 days ago
Gosh, I need to call Mr. Walton and tell him he owes me a lot of money for selling my photo without my knowledge. You are so typical of many people I bump into on the left and the right; confronted with something that nails them dead between the eyes, or should, they toss out chafe like a high-tech war plane tosses out foil after a anti-aircraft missile locks in on it.
71911E Sloan Bashinsky • 14 hours ago
Chafe? Are you a little raw? Most likely a Freudian slip. You'd be wise to determine what the correct words are before you attempt to troll.
Go ahead, though, keep on trying!
Sloan Bashinsky 71911E • 9 hours ago
You understood the metaphor, and I imagine you are one who chafes at wearing mask in crowds, and if that's true, you are a bioterrorist in my opinion, and you really don't like me saying that.
Chris Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
You ask if you could shoot somebody who dared to hug you? I will allow you to approach such a dilemma on your own. Please don’t think too long. But if you do shoot that evil SOB who does try to hug you, maybe he could be treated by some of the medicines that have greatly brought down the COVID death rate, or not...
Sloan Bashinsky Chris • 2 days ago
Well, if someone points a gun at me I can shoot without retreating and claim self-defense or stand your ground, which is an even easier defense. But if someone violates a local face mask ordinance and gets in my face, I have to hug him and pray to God he doesn't have C-19, which, given my age, 77, and medical history, which is extensive and includes recurring respiratory tract and pneumonia infections. C-19 will kill me, or really f me up, if it doesn't kill me, unless I can somehow obtain hydroxychloroquine, which President Turmp's FDA director banned for C-19 treatment week before last, but I bet Trump will get HDQ again, if he catches C-19. Not to worry, I don't have a gun, don't intend to get one. It's a law school exam question, and the responses it evoked are ... interesting. Democrats don't seem to like me at their watering holes, either.
Chris Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
I see. You’re one of those looking down at us beyond the left-right paradigm. Have fun with that, I guess. By the way, HQ is not the only option as Remdesivir has proven effective as well. And your law exam question is, forgive me, ridiculous, as who would come up to you and aggressively hug you in public? I feel that wouldn’t really be an issue. But please continue to take precautions and stay healthy, sir. All the best to you and yours.
Sloan Bashinsky Chris • 2 days ago
Actually, I have had people try to hug me, shake my hand. But I simply told them, no thanks, there's a virus around, did you hear about it, you don't care if you might give it to someone else? I'm looking at the left and the right from the middle, and from other angles. Both parties remind me of children who have not resolved their childhood authority figure issues; who think they know everything and it's their way or the highway. Go back where you came came from, if you don't like America. What if Native (Real) Americans told white Americans to go back where they came from?
Chris Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
Good. You didn’t have to shoot them. See, no issue for such excessive force. And as for your angle of looking at things, you paint with generalizations and think that because you believe you are in the middle, you have some kind of superiority over those with different opinions, whether they be right or left. You do not. Philosophically, your opinions lean more to one or the other way on separate issues, even if you believe you are above the fray. Your opinions are yours, but mine do not make me intolerant or whiny. I do not believe I should compromise on the Constitution and my principles, yet I must compromise with others to get things in my life done, especially in a marriage! I don’t think I know everything either, but I have some convictions I follow (through process, not blindly). Again, believe what you want and take care, but know you possess the same good and bad qualities as me and others on this thread.
Sloan Bashinsky Chris • a day ago
Heh, I imagine I have done far worse things than most people in this forum, and I have laid myself bare at my blog many times, where from time to time I tell how I was taken over and stripped naked and reamed out and twisted and scalded and burned and scaled and scalped and drowned and thrown off cliffs and into abysses and ocean trenches and buried under icebergs, and otherwise ground into smithereens by what I wish would do the same to President Trump and Joe Biden and to all Republicans and Democrats, for starters.
Joe Blowe Sloan Bashinsky • 21 hours ago
If you haven't noticed already, I can advise that there are many people with computers who can't quite encompass the idea that not everyone is 100% liberal, or 100% conservative - and anyone who can find some space for a (even slightly) differing viewpoint from theirs is automatically completely wrong in every respect. I, for example, am pretty conservative when it comes to constitutional (and most other) issues, but there are a couple people on this forum that routinely label me as a "lefty" whenever I disagree with their obviously erroneous opinions. {;>)=
By the way, when it comes to constitutional (i.e. "law of the land") issues, it isn't "my way or the highway" - but I do insist that the constitution is written in ink, is not alive, and it means what it says, not what some idiot liberal (usually) judge wishes it said. I'm also not big on using "precedence" as an excuse to refuse to apply the actual laws to each case on it's own merits. Nice to see someone else who seems like they might be able to do that.
Sloan Bashinsky Joe Blowe • 10 hours ago
Maybe Chief Justice John Roberts is trying to keep America from splitting further in half? I am not in his head. The worst thing I saw the Supreme Court do in a while was give corporations constitutional rights. The Declaration of Independence started America. All men are created equal. White men. Not any other men. Nor any women. It's been kinda experimental ever since.
Sloan Bashinsky Joe Blowe • an hour ago
There is another thing about the Declaration of Independence's acknowledgement that all (white) men have unalienable rights (life, liberty, pursuit of happiness); it was written by a Deist slaveholder and includes several references to Deity, none of which resemble the Christian God. Same author led the charge to prevent his home state, Virginia, from adopting Christianity as its state religion.
XCpt Sloan Bashinsky • 2 days ago
It's an interesting question from a purely philosophical point of view. That being said how would you know if a person not wearing a mask was an active carrier of any biological agent that could cause you harm? Is it your position that because someone is not wearing a mask that they should be assumed to be spreading a biological agent and deserve to be shot? If you feared for your life because a person was not wearing a mask, that may or may not actually have any measurable value in relation to the spread of the virus, would that fear be justified considering the current mortality rate for COVID-19 is not 100% or even 10%.
Certainly someone approaching you brandishing a weapon (gun or knife) and exhibiting some degree of animosity towards you could be considered as having some intent to do you bodily harm, where a court may consider a position that you needed to act in self-defense, but I think you would be hard pressed to find any court, even in California, that would consider your self-defense plea to be supportable when the only cause for your fear is that someone was not wearing a mask.
Bioterrorism is the deliberate release of viruses, bacteria, toxins or other harmful agents to cause illness or death. If the person not wearing a mask was not sick, and was not aware of any symptoms to imply they were sick, would they still be considered "deliberately" spreading a virus to where you would be justified in shooting them because you were afraid they MIGHT be sick?
On a humanitarian note, if you saw someone not wearing a mask faint in front of you from an unknown cause and there was no pulse when you checked for one, would you administer CPR (to include mouth to mouth) to try to save them? Would you have the same answer if it was a young, beautiful, single woman?
Sloan Bashinsky XCpt • 2 days ago
Yes, I would administer CPR (to include mouth to mouth) to anyone under than scenario. That calling would trump any fear I have of catching C-19. President Trump redefines whatever he wants to redefine, and I haven't seen anyone in this forum bothered by that. Well, I redefined bioterrorism in my initial and later comments today, and since the father of the America anti-mask cult is President Trump, he is the bioterrorist-in-chief in America.
sloanbashinsky@yahoocom
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