90 Miles From Tyranny

Thursday, December 23, 2021

The Criminalization of Preppers in Turkey: Will Our Country Be Next?

History has shown us that collectivism detests the individual. The man who can exist independent of the system, who thinks for himself, who is not easily swayed, and who has values rooted in absolute truth which he refuses to give up – this is the enemy of collectivism.

But if we take a closer look at one aspect of the individual – his ability to exist independent of the system – is it not clear this is an end goal of prepping?

Is that not what a prepper strives for – the ability to exist independent of the world around them so that disaster does not affect them in the way that it affects others?

It is, and this is why collectivism criminalizes preppers over and over again.

We’ve seen it before and we’re seeing it right now, most notably in Turkey.

Turkey is cooked, and we all know it.

For those who keep a fairly accurate pulse of world events, you know that the fiat currency of Turkey – the lira – is collapsing.

As of this year the lira has lost approximately 40% of its value, and from all appearances, it shows no signs of stopping its downward spiral anytime soon.

Inflation is rapidly leading to hyperinflation within Turkey and the Turkish citizens have recognized this. People began attempting to step away from the lira and delving into cryptocurrency in an attempt to protect themselves.

And then the Turkish government made crypto illegal as a form of payment on April 30, 2021. This was done to prevent “irreparable damage.” What’s ironic about this is that the Turks said this was because cryptocurrencies were “neither subject to any regulation and supervision mechanisms nor a central regulatory authority.” [source]

That’s a fun train of logic from the people that are in the process of destroying their own currency.

Crypto – long argued to be the libertarian response to centralized currency – is kind of scary to delve into if landing in a Turkish prison happens to those caught with it. And attempting to dump their personal lira savings into US dollars, euros, or any other fiat currency is practically impossible for Turks as well. Their hands are tied. What then is the natural response?

Your country is being rocked by hyperinflation. Your fiat money is worthless. Forex is regulated to the point of being impossible. Crypto is banned. The price of food has shot up 27.1%.

What do you do?

You don’t want to just watch your life savings be vaporized. You aren’t going to watch your family starve.

And so, you may think it’s a wise idea to put your money into something that will retain its value. This is the reason people invest in gold and silver after all, isn’t it? This is the reason James Wesley Rawles pushes guns, tools, and gear for investment, right?

And that’s exactly what people in Turkey started to do.

Then the criminalization of Turkish preppers began.

People there have started turning to tangibles. They saw what was coming – how things were taking a turn for the worse – and so they attempted to prepare for it.

Then, the ironically named Justice and Development Party (AKP) submitted a bill to the Turkish Parliament asking for fines of anywhere between what would be $7000 – $144,000 USD for those “hoarding….food and other goods”.

That was Step 1 in the criminalization of preppers.

Step 2 took place this past week as 51 various Turks were arrested by police for “panic hoarding” new cars. Turkish media widely reported people were investing in new vehicles as a means of inflation protection.

But this was deemed to be a threat.

These 51 individuals were accused of...

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It’s Time to Abolish the Teachers Unions

A disaster for students and good teachers alike.

"All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations when applied to public personnel management.”

The above caveat about government unions – usually known by the kinder and gentler “public employee unions” – was not issued by the Koch Brothers or Donald Trump. The statement was made by none other than progressive icon Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Additionally, George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO for 24 years, once stated, “It is impossible to bargain collectively with the government.” Both men understood that the very nature of government makes it wrong for its leaders to enter into negotiations with any union. When government unions negotiate, they often sit across the table from people they helped put in office with generous campaign contributions. And when these unions go on strike, they walk out on the taxpayer.

In the private sector, if a business is forced to pay its workers more money, those costs are passed on to the consumer. If the cost of a product is raised too high, the purchaser can choose to go elsewhere. Most unions get this and realize they can’t bargain for excessive salaries and perks. But some unions push things too far and ultimately price their members out of a job. An example of the latter is the United Auto Workers, whose exorbitant demands drove car buyers to Japanese models and automakers to produce cars elsewhere, thus sending Detroit down the road to ruin.

But the government unions are always a nightmare for consumers, as they can’t shop elsewhere for services provided by the state, because the government has a monopoly on them. When union negotiators and elected officials agree on exorbitant pay packages and protections for cops, prison guards, firemen and teachers, what can the public do? Call a different fire department if their house is burning down?

There is an exception here with schools, but unless there is a parental choice system in place, where public tax money follows the child, only the well-to-do really have a choice. In exercising that option, they must pay twice, however – in state and local taxes which go to their local public school and tuition payments for...

Tripled Vaxxed 4.5 Times More Likely to Test Positive For Omicron Than Unvaxxed

Not a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’.

According to figures released by the UK government via the Office for National Statistics, people who are triple vaxxed are 4.5 times more likely to test positive for Omicron than those who are unvaccinated.

The numbers also illustrate how the double-vaccinated are 2.3 times more likely to be infected with Omicron than those who haven’t taken any jabs.

The data, which is summarized by the Daily Sceptic’s Will Jones in this article, bolsters assertions that the Omicron variant is effective at evading vaccines.

“Note that this is the probability of an infection being Omicron given a person is infected, so it doesn’t tell us how likely a person is to test positive in the first place,” writes Jones.

“This means it doesn’t tell us that the vaccines are making things worse overall, only that they are making it much more likely that a vaccinated person is infected with Omicron than another variant. In other words, it is a measure of how well Omicron evades the vaccines compared to Delta. The fact that the triple-vaccinated are much more likely to be infected with Omicron than the double-vaccinated confirms this vaccine evading ability.”

Jones concludes from the data that, “The current Omicron outbreak is largely an epidemic of the vaccinated and is being driven, not by the unvaccinated, but by those who have been double and triple jabbed.”

The numbers completely demolish claims that the Omicron outbreak is a ‘pandemic of the unvaccinated’.

As Will Jones also documents in this piece, claims that NHS hospitals are being overwhelmed by the unvaccinated aren’t backed by any actual evidence.

Despite this, over the weekend UK Health Secretary blasted unvaccinated people for taking up hospital beds, telling them they “must really think about the damage they are doing to society.”

UK scientists will today present evidence that the Omicron variant is milder than previous strains of COVID-19, something that health experts in South Africa have been...

Meghan Urisko, who has worked at the Facebook founder’s philanthropic group since May 2021, identifies herself as a member of the communist-aligned group’s Steering Committee on her LinkedIn profile. While it is unclear whether Urisko still holds the leadership position within the DSA, she appears to be an active member of the group while working as a Senior User Experience Researcher for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Tweets from September 3rd reveal Urisko identifying herself as a “dues paying member” to the Los Angeles and national chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America while criticizing the group for not honoring a vote:
@DSA_LosAngeles I’m a dues paying member (National and local) and I would like to hear why the vote on this is not being immediately honored…

Urisko’s hiring follows the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative funneling hundreds of millions of dollars into influencing the outcome of the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden.

URISKO TWEET.

One of the primary recipients of the initiative’s grants was the Center for Tech and Civic Life (CTCL) which used the funds to overrule local election officials and increase turnout in – almost exclusively – Democratic districts. Proving the partisan conflict of interest, leaders from the CTCL overpowered and overruled local election authorities and, through coercion, accessed mail-in ballots ahead of the election.

Further demonstrating the close relationship between the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and...