When Will Freedom Arrive In The U.S.?
By: I&I Editorial Board
More Popular than COVID
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Read More »When Will Freedom Arrive In The U.S.?
February 2, 2022
December 1, 2021
Feb. 1 is the Danes’ new independence day. On Tuesday, Denmark rid itself of all of its remaining pandemic restrictions. But liberty in America, the nation that pioneered the guarantee of freedom to its people, is still under assault.
Denmark is the first country in Europe to reopen its boxed-in, abused, and drained society. No more indoor mask mandates, or vaccine passports for entry into private establishments. Other European nations have lifted some restrictions, as well, but only Denmark has gone all the way and dropped a self-isolation requirement for those who test positive.
Apparently the Danes learned the lesson that after nearly two years most nations haven’t been able, or willing, to figure out. Finland isn’t far behind.
But not America.
Yes, most U.S. states have freed their residents. Yet much of the country is still under the government boot.
California, the biggest state, with nearly 40 million government subjects, is still ruled by a do-as-I-say ( but-never-as-I-do ) governor, and local lawmakers and bureaucrats who slip on their jackboots every morning. This same governor called the pandemic an “opportunity for reimagining a progressive era … to reshape the way we do business and how we govern.” Which means “we’re going to further suppress your liberties.”
Politicians in New York are in a legal battle over mask rules, with the governor and attorney general fighting to keep as many faces covered as they possibly can.
Washington, D.C., is under the rule of a mayor who has issued more vaccine mandates and requirements than the average person can hope to keep up with.
Chicago also has a show-us-your-papers vaccine passport regime. So does Boston.
In Utah, Salt Lake County’s mask rule is a heated topic in the capital, where the Senate approved a resolution that would kill local mask mandates.
Oregon still requires everyone 5 and older to mask up indoors, vaccinated or not. Washington has a similar rule that includes outdoor venues when 500 or more are present.
An indoor mask mandate that disregards vaccination status and age is still in effect in New Mexico.
Social gatherings in some Hawaii counties remain subject to limits set by government.
Notice any commonality among these outposts where freedom no longer rings? They are all run by Democrats. If there is any indisputable fact in today’s politics, it’s that Democrats are anti-freedom. Quick, name a single liberty that Democrats support either through legislation or in the abstract.
It can’t be done because the party of the left is the party of central planning, reflexive intervention into private affairs, ever-expanding government, higher tax burdens, suppression of speech, stifling regulatory regimes, political society over civil society, violations of the Second Amendment, the accrual of raw political power, and fealty to its rule.
While that’s an exhausting but not exhaustive list, we know readers will get the point. The Democrats would rather reign than constitutionally govern. It’s a derangement they can no longer cover up.
— Written by the I&I Editorial Board
XXJefferson51 you have multiple times advocated for the return to biblical laws and rights. Since those laws allow slavery and limit women to 2nd class citizens, among other things, how does this equate to the "freedom" you are advocating in this seed? Is it freedom only if you are male and a christian?
I have never done what you wrongly accuse me of above. I don’t advocate dominionism or theocracy. Just original intent constitutional given inalienable rights.
Here's a few of your quotes.
All tge good that we are as a nation and as people is because God…
Our rights came only from God. He as our Creator created us equal in His sight. He is the author of our free will and inalienable human rights.
The Christian and political right are the salvation of America in theses dark times as we call the nation to reject secularism and its advocates as the enemy of Americas future that they are and return to our founding and to the principles of our founding and exceptional nation through its documents, history, culture, and tradition.
Our country if it ever actually abandons religion and walks away from God and His values will no longer deserve to be blessed or to even exist.
Many Presidents in our history have called for national days of prayer and of fasting. Now like in Lincoln’s day we need to add humiliation and repentance as well. Our secular movement has given God good reason to repent of us.
I'd have more, but too many of them relating to this were removed by moderators.
So you think that the Declaration and the constitution and the nation at the time of the founding was a theocracy or dominionist? Because nothing I said was inconsistent with the founding documents or with the religious mindset of the founders or the people then.
You advocated for the return to god's unalienable rights. Do you deny that?
As per Jefferson’s words in the Declaration of Independence you bet I did and do.
And you understand that those rights, as outlined in the bible, include slavery, misogamy, pedophilia, and murder, among others?
Actually they do not show any approval of those things. [deleted]
You've never read the bible have you?
Pro Slavery (both new and old testament)
Corinthians 7:21
Peter 2:16
Timothy 1:10 & 6:1
Eph 6:5-8
Col 3:22-24
1Pet 2:18
Titus 2:9-10
Exodus 21: 7-8 (sex slavery)
(less than half of them)
Pro Misogyny
Timothy 2:12
Leviticus 15:20
Deuteronomy 25:11-1
Pro Pedophilia
Genesis 19:31-36
II Kings 13:8-12
Numbers 31:1-18
Deuteronomy 20:10-14
Judges 21:7-11
Judges 21:20-23
Exodus 21:7-10
Pro Murder
Samuel 6:19
Deuteronomy 25:11-1 (again)
Deuteronomy 13:15
Jeremiah 18:21
2 Kings 10:25 & 11:8
Daniel 2:12-13
Not to mentioning killing the 1st born of Egypt and almost the entire human race in the flood.
Oh goodie. Now one can taunt an entire political ideology and get dinged for it by the oversensitive individuals among them even though it’s not directed at any one in particular. Of course such sweeping generalizations about religious people and conservatives are always welcome here.
The Bible is not pro any sin. Not even abortion or gay sex. Or any documented above. God directed His people in a fallen and sinful world to deal with the reality of the times in question for His people. Feel free to use your opportunity to challenge and question God to His face as to how He guided his people when the opportunity arises.
Slavery is ok then? It's not a sin, right?
But since the bible supports them, that means the bible doesn't think they are sins.
We've been through this before, the bible is pro-abortion, even against the woman's will (because they are 2nd class people).
He directed them how to get and treat slaves. He directed them how to marry, by raping young virgins. He directed them how to kill their own children by stoning them.
Not only that, but according to the bible HE CREATED THE FALLEN AND SINFUL WORLD, SO HE IS PUNISHING THEM FOR HIS OWN INCOMPETENCE.
I have, but he was too much of a yellow belly chicken shit to show up. I won the challenge in abstention.
You have the freedom to:
- kill yourself from unprotected exposure to a potentially deadly virus
- sell your military style rifle to a felon at a gun show
- rob further generations of a livable planet by personally contributing to climate change however you please
- start a church and push politics from the pulpit tax free
… among other inexplicably stupid freedoms. What are you still whining about?
I'd love to know what freedoms XX doesn't have?????????????????????????
So far to think for himself is the top of the list.
I haven't seen anyone name even freedom they lost. I still have the exact same freedoms now that I've always had.
To impose his will and beliefs on others?
At least we don’t have a PM telling us what inappropriate thoughts and ideas are. How’s he doing in hiding from his and your own people?
You have a former president doing just that and if his loose lips keep wagging he will need to go into hiding.
Our former President respected us citizens and preserved our inalienable rights, our personal freedom, and liberty as a free people under our federalism system of government.
Is that why he sought to take away votes from over half the residents of Georgia? Pennsylvania? Arizona? With his fake electors?
No, that’s what you want to do.
He tried and failed to stop the steal.
No, he didn't.
He tried and failed to prove the steal.
Documents from the Whitehouse show that he knew he'd lost, but was trying to overturn the election anyway.
So it’s flag disallowed when he says it of me and no value when I say it’s him not me? Bias much?
Actually, yes he did.
And videos show mules dumped harvested bundles of votes into drop boxes late night in a half dozen states.
He tried and failed
Full stop. Although “tried” is being awfully generous.
Don't forget the aliens beaming ballots into the ballot boxes from orbit...
Actually, no he didn't
Prove it!
You have a former president doing just that and if his loose lips keep wagging he will need to go into hiding.
Well there 's a strong possibility he will be jailed first.
And worse yet-- imagine if he's assigned someone like Giuliani as a cell-mate!
(Actually that might beconsidered "cruel and unusual punishment" and therefore be unconstitutional...
And people are saying that many Armadillos in Texas took suitcases of Republican votes out of the suitcases on polling places and ate most of them!
/sarc
Check this out:
Rejected Mail Ballots Are Showing Racial Disparities
SEATTLE — Among the thousands of mail-in ballots that were rejected in Washington state during the 2020 election, auditors have found that the votes of Black residents were thrown out four times as often as those of white voters.
The rejections, all of them because of problematic signatures, disqualified 1 out of every 40 mail-in votes from Black people — a finding that already is causing concern amid the national debate over voter access and secure balloting. Washington, a state with broad experience in mail-in balloting, found that rejection rates were also elevated for Native American, Hispanic, and Asian and Pacific Islander voters.
State officials said there were no signs that ballots cast by Black or other minority voters were knowingly singled out by poll workers, or that any of the ballots were deliberately falsified; the rejections were a result of signatures that were missing or did not match those on file, a possible result, the officials said, of voter inexperience, language problems or other factors.
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“It’s not acceptable, quite frankly,” said State Auditor Pat McCarthy, a Democrat, whose office conducted the audit. She urged election officials to take steps to address the disparities.
The findings in Washington state mirror mail-ballot research that has been conducted in other states in recent years, including Georgia and Florida. But they are crucial in a state like Washington, which in 2011 became the second state to adopt all-mail balloting, behind Oregon. Mail-in voting has been an option for all statewide elections since 1991.
Turnout in states with all-mail balloting has been among the nation’s highest, and is often seen as a key to attracting voters who may not otherwise cast ballots because of the challenges of work, child care or transportation. It has become an increasingly popular option during the pandemic, with 43% of voters around the country casting their ballot by mail during the 2020 general election.
Republicans have passed legislation in recent months to curtail mail voting, expressing concerns that mail ballots may be more vulnerable to fraud, intimidation or loss in the mail. President Donald Trump falsely claimed that mail elections would be rigged by ballots printed in foreign countries and children raiding mailboxes. Washington and other states with all-mail voting have seen little evidence of fraud, noting the bar codes, tracking and data-verification systems used to monitor ballots both before and after the election.
Democrats and voting rights advocates have called for making the mail ballot option more readily available, and a growing number of states have done so.
Eight states now send every voter a mail-in ballot by default, even as many of them continue to operate in-person polling places. Some states have allowed mail-in balloting for county or city elections. All states have some option for absentee ballots for voters who cannot make it to the polls on Election Day.
LaTosha Brown, a co-founder of the organization Black Voters Matter, said mail balloting is critical for expanding access, including to Black voters, who historically have faced legal and practical impediments to voting. She said it was essential to address the widespread rejection seen of mail ballots.
“That shouldn’t be concerning just for me as a Black American,” she said. “That should be concerning for anyone who cares about democracy.”
In Washington state, counties mail ballots to all voters about three weeks before an election. Voters have until Election Day to fill out the ballot, sign the envelope and return it — either in one of a series of drop boxes or by mail, as long as it is postmarked by Election Day. Election officials check the voter’s signature on the envelope against voter registration records to ensure a match and then process the ballot for counting.
Auditors found nearly 29,000 ballots that were rejected for various signature problems in the 2020 general election — either the signature was missing or it did not match what was on file. Looking for signs of bias, the state examined thousands of accepted and rejected signatures more closely, but the auditors largely agreed with the decisions that county election workers made and found nothing in the way the ballots were reviewed that would explain the disparity.
Other groups that had higher rejection rates were men, younger voters and less-experienced voters of all races and ethnicities. The audit also found that rejection rates varied by county, a difference the auditors said could reflect varying degrees of strictness in matching signatures.
Young voters who frequently vary their signatures and language barriers for some racial and ethnic groups could also explain some of the rejections, the auditors said.
McCarthy recalled that her own ballot was once rejected with a mismatched signature, with one featuring a shortened version of her first name and one her full name plus a middle initial.
Election officials are supposed to notify voters to give them an opportunity to resolve discrepancies. The audit focused on ballots that did not get resolved.
The disparities found in other states with rejected ballots mirrored those found in Washington. Researchers examining mail-in votes from the 2018 election in Georgia found that racial and ethnic minorities were more likely to have their on-time ballot rejected compared with white voters. Similar disparities were found during the 2018 election in Florida by researchers working with the American Civil Liberties Union, a review that also found disparities for younger voters, first-time voters and military personnel. Journalists have found similar trends in North Carolina and Colorado — and previously in Washington state.
Last year, two advocacy groups filed suit against a few counties in Washington state alleging discrimination against Latino voters and other racial minorities because of a comparatively higher rate of rejection of ballots from voters with Latino names. A Latino judge in the case recused himself, noting that his own ballot signature had been initially rejected during the previous election.
McCarthy, the state auditor, said she remained a strong supporter of mail-in voting, and said the audit that identified the disparities was one attempt to continue improving the voting system.
Her office’s report recommended that counties educate voters on the importance of having a matching signature, including an explanation of the signature-matching process, with targeted efforts among communities with higher rejection rates. It also suggested collecting several signature samples from each voter and renewing efforts to help voters fix mismatch problems when they arise.
Brown, the Black Voters Matter representative, said she would like to see the elimination of signature-verification checks altogether, saying that the process introduced the possibility of biased decisions from those who review the ballots, and also posed challenges for people who have changed how they write their names.
Robert Stein, a political science professor at Rice University who specializes in voting and elections, said some researchers have explored using personal identification numbers instead of signatures to avoid mismatch problems. But he said the core of the problem was probably inexperienced voters who made mistakes on their ballots.
“The question is, what can the state do to improve that?” he said.
© 2022 The New York Times Company
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What I'm wondering about that cartoon is why while its a crude attempt to bash the U.S., it also praises Canadian democracy.
Can't help but wonder why the cartoonist is praising Canada-- but apparently he/she hates the U.S. so much?
(Also noted-- that cartoon only got one vote...)
He votes up all his own posts because no one else will.
I'll vote up my own article, but not my own posts.
We can't forget that with the D.C. Mayor's mandates, she proved the "ID's are racist" wrong by requiring people to show ID and papers (just a little Nazi throwback) when they go out.
I saw that a bunch of Congress persons and senators frequented a restaurant that the wicked witch of DC closed down because they wouldn’t be her Jack booted thugs the other night.
Are you advocating we have a law limiting which restaurants people are allowed to visit?
(And more importantly, if that's the case...what do you think that would accomplish?)
For someone who purports day in and day out that the US is the freest nation on the planet, what are you whining about?
If you’d read the seeded article you’d know exactly what it is that I’m talking about. In the part of California I live in we’ve simply kept our freedom regardless what the Governor thinks or says.
So you can't answer the question then.
Other than posting quotes from the article you have yet to say anything. How's the g.o.p.book banning club going?
Last I checked the GOP isn't. The Democrats on the other hand...
But you'd know that if you read the article.
The article was naught but partisan tripe as are all the articles by the seeder.
I would not have commented had I not read it.
B.t.w., medicare in Canada is run by the provinces and even the virintly conservative run provinces have instituted vaccine mandates that make D.C.'s look minor in comparison. Y'all need to stop whining 'aboot' lost freedoms, you have not lost any.
It really means nothing to me when a citizen of another country tells an American what freedoms we have or shouldn’t have or what they think we lost or not.
Apparently the "law of Unintended Consequences" is starting to take hold! -
Holocaust Book ‘Maus’ Sales Soar After School Board Ban
“Maus” — the decades-old series of graphic novels about the Holocaust that was banned by a Tennessee school board last week — has skyrocketed to the top of an Amazon bestsellers list.
More than $83,000 also has been raised so far to give free copies to students.
The demand for it is so great that Amazon warned that copies would not be available until the end of February.
Don't like it, you do have the option to move along. But it looks as if the ability is lacking.
Apparently you didn't.
Nothing in my comment had a damn thing to do with Canada. I'm not Canadian, I don't live in Canada, why would I care about Canada's Medicare?
Does that mean if there's a state law y'all don't like...people there disobey it?
Well, you know what they say about assumptions...
But perhaps more importantly-- are you calling Hallux a liar?
Apparently you didn't.
Or am I misinterpreting your comment?
I would guess part of the reason for this is that over 81% of the Danish population is fully vaccinated. The US can only claim 64%. At least the Danes are earning their freedom by showing some responsibility.
Freedom is never something we earn or that government holds over our head until we comply. If it won’t give us our God given freedom, inalienable rights, and personal liberty, we simply take them by non compliance with said government.
Freedom comes with responsibilities to society as a whole too. Freedom is not unlimited or absolute under certain circumstances.
It’s what the constitution and bill of rights says it is without exception
So you're OK if someone threatens harm on another in the name of free speech or performs human sacrifice for the sake of religious freedom? No exceptions, right?
The constitution doesn’t call for such extremes.
Our founders understood responsibility. I believe they would be offended by this idea you seem to have that you can just do whatever the hell you want and you have no responsibility to the rest of society.
Remember (or perhaps you don’t know) that the Founders were heavily influence by the philosophy of Locke and Rousseau. Both wrote of a Social Contract between the people and government, where people would have to give up some liberty to enjoy the protections of government.
You don’t just get to stomp around like a toddler doing whatever you like and shouting “Muh Freedoms!”
Where does the Constitution limit it?
I’m aware of all of that. But our inalienable rights are just that. When there is a 180 degree disagreement as to what is warranted to be done for the common good we must err on the side of liberty. It’s ridiculous when so much of the country is free for the parts that are to double down on repression of freedom for those unlucky enough to live there.
Still no answer to my question. I'll take that as proof that you cannot answer much less prove me wrong.
WTF?
Those things did not come from God-- they came from American Patriots in the British colonies kicking out our cruel colonial overlords and instituting a democratic form of government!
But God herself is content to sit in her throne up in the clouds all day-- and watch what these strange beings she created doth doeth. (They're called "humans")
If she did it all herself without any effort, being omnipotent as she is, she'd get bored-- so created us to entertain her...
(And she has no attachment to the outcome...we watch netflix for amusement, She watches the games her creations play!
Nonsense.
Sure there are disagreements amongst us mere mortals. But when things start to get really nasty, She, God (Peace Be Upon Her-- PBUH) declares an "Impasse"!
Just like on Newstalkers....
And then once again there is Peace in the Valley!
And then the people who dwelleth therein celebrated, and they doth maketh much merrie and happiness and dancin!
Then you are ignoring it.
True-- its all a matter of luck!
(The inhabitants of a country have absolutely no control over what sort of government they put in place..its all a matter of luck!)
/sarc
Nice video