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Will no one rid Slashdot of this meddlesome topic of the... I can't say more without getting unwelcome attention, and I'm sure they're already overworked, what with losing their prime work space and all.

And here you fall into the same trap that the 'official' Google response, like so much of the outrage to the post... anger that someone would dare say something they disagree with... without refuting a single word of what is said.

Someone may think they win an argument via insults & shame... but then quite a few people got sick of being called 'racist' at every turn and voted for Trump instead... perhaps that tactic has worn out it's effectiveness?

And this being said by a #NeverTrumper.

Regarding the diversionary topic of election problems, my favorite crazy solution (this week) is guest voting.

Yeah... good luck with that. I'm going to stick with my pushing for the Article V convention of the states which has a fair bit more historical support.

I know, right? After 8 years of so many here being just fine with someone ruling with a pen & a phone, I'm happy now that more and more people are suddenly worried about an all powerful central government.

Have you talked to your local rep about an Article V convention? If not, you should: http://www.conventionofstates....

Given that elections have consequences, shouldn't we work to reduce the risk from either side having enough of a majority in DC to ram through what they want?

Short of an armed revolution, what would you propose we Americans** do to remedy this situation?

http://www.conventionofstates.com/

It constantly floors me the foresight America's founders had. They had a process for amending the Constitution (pass two-thirds of Congress and be ratified by three-fourths of the States), but they asked, "What if the federal government gets to much power? How do you change it then? Surely, Congress won't pass an amendment that restricts its own power."

In response, they put in a second way to amend the Constitution that has never yet been used. Two-thirds of the states can call for a Convention of States, attended by delegates of state legislators. This cuts Congress and the federal government completely out of the loop. They can pass amendments that Congress would never vote for, like term limits. Best of all, whatever comes out of here still needs to be ratified by three-fourths of the states, so they can't go crazy.

See also: The Liberty Amendments

Hacking 'round encryptions
Gives Libertarians conniptions
Who really wants to be an unkempt slave?
From this fracas let be born
Finally, Federalist reform
Taking us to fabled fields of Burma Shave

the US is out of control. we all know this now and we all see it.

As an US citizen, I agree.

the question is: who has enough power to control the current top-dog and put him back in his dog-house?

The Founding Fathers provided two methods to amend the US Constitution. The first one is the one that has always been used. Congress passes an amendment by 2/3 of each house, and 3/4 of the states ratify it. However, the Founding Fathers asked, "What happens if the federal government is able to aquire too much power? Surely Congress would not pass an amendment to limit itself." They put in a second method for this case. 2/3 of the States can call for a Convention attended by state legislators, and whatever they pass gets ratified by 3/4 of the states. This takes the federal government completely out of the loop.

This has never before happened in US history, and it is starting to happen now. http://conventionofstates.com/ Believe me, the people who are most concerned about the US government being out of control are the citizens of the US. We realize that if the government can do it to you, it can do it to us.

The real question is: Are there enough US citiizens who think like I just said to pull the US government back from the brink? Or have too many of us gotten caught up in reality tv shows to care about the loss of freedom? When this effort succeeds or fails, you will have your answer.

Wolf-PAC has a petition on their site, plus this page with information about volunteering or donating. Volunteering would include actually meeting with local legislators to pitch the case for a convention and try and get a local resolution passed supporting it, so that eventually the state would approve its application for the convention.

The Convention Of States project is also actively seeking a convention. At least 3 states so far have approved their applications.

Farris starts at 9:50, and is worth your time.

Have. You. Understood. The. Project?
What you've got right now is just completely jacked up through the roof. I wouldn't accuse the CoS of being perfect, but it's the least-worst thing I've heard going yet.

Folks, it's time for a http://conventionofstates.com/ [conventionofstates.com]

No. It's guaranteed that whatever comes out of that will be worse than what we have now (and probably favor whichever party has the most representatives at the convention). Remember, the people who wrote the last constitution wrote the federalist papers. The ones representing us now haven't even read them.

Do you really think Citizens United magically transformed the U.S.? Really?
The House of Representatives has been frozen in size since 1910.
Since 1913:
- The IRS has eminent domain over your wallet.
- Your state, as such, is essentially voiceless in DC, now that Senators represent their parties.
- The federal government just borrows it forward to inflate the stock market and bind future generations in debt.
Blame Progressivism? Darn right I do.
Folks, it's time for a http://conventionofstates.com/

Armed insurrection is our only option at this point.

No, there is one last civil, non-violent option -- a convention of the states. Georgia has already passed a resolution calling for a convention. The Convention of the States group expects to have 16 by the end of this year.

It seems, lately, that there is a clearer-than-ever delineation between legality and enforceability. If our government commits an illegal act, who is able to enforce it? Who's able to hold them accountable? I wish I could say I had a good answer to that question.

The answer to your question is the same answer that's included in the Constitution, the same answer that's always been the ultimate answer to all out-of-control governments.

You. The citizens.

You and others that would be willing to put your lives on the line when all other options have been shown to be worthless/ineffective, to pick up a sniper rifle, build an IED, make Molotov cocktails, organize and plan, and target the criminal leaders and take them out..

There are still a few peaceful options left to try yet, like the recent push for a convention of States to amend the Constitution to rein in the Federal government.

http://conventionofstates.com/

However, if the government steps in to stop such reforms, there will be no alternatives left.

Strat

They're advocating a 'constitutional convention' to rewrite the Constitution to their liking,...

Yeah, first attack the messengers, then attempt to assign intentions and actions to them that are nowhere but in your mind.

Try actually reading the content and maybe actually do a little independent research instead of parroting talking points.

You can start with the FAQ: http://www.conventionofstates.com/sites/default/files/COS%20FAQs%20handout.pdf

But of course, that might disturb your established biases and world-view.

Congress has abrogated their duties and obligations by creating Federal agencies, departments, etc and transferring the ability to make laws and/or regulations with the power of law, which is prima facia un-Constitutional on it's face. The President thinks that he has the power to decide what laws and what parts he'll enforce and when, effectively bypassing a large portion of Congress' powers and checks completely.

Congress is no longer an effective check on expansion of Federal scope and power. It has become a club for career politicians who only want to increase their power, wealth, and control while using the power of the government and their position in it to make certain they remain in office, often for decades. It no longer represents the people or the best interests of the nation.

The US is on the ragged edge of an economic and social collapse. The government is the source of the problem, therefor cannot, is incapable of, and has no real will to fix the problems it has created. It's now up to the citizens to take action. If you've got a better idea, get up and do something instead of kibitzing on what others who actually take action do.

Talk is cheap.

Strat

Just remember, under the Old Regime, man oppressed man. Under the New Regime, they reversed that...

Agreed, in that both mainstream US political parties are nearly identical when it comes to screwing over US citizens. It's only the precise manner of implementation and rates at which individual liberty is lost that are up for debate.

Time for a convention of States. http://conventionofstates.com/

Strat

Interesting. A Tea Party site because the Republican Party just isn't conservative or reactionary enough, advertising BlazeTV because FauxSnuz isn't conservative enough either. They're advocating a 'constitutional convention' to rewrite the Constitution to their liking, doing away with things like taxes, the EPA, the FDA, all the social safety nets, and so forth. Sounds like some 'almost a good idea', except they didn't bother to think through the repercussions OR tell you what some of those repercussions will be. No EPA means we go back to the smoggy skies I knew as a kid in the 50's. No FDA means they can legally sell contaminated meat, mix e. coli and rats into your ground round and you can't do shit about it. No taxes means a miniscule and powerless government, which means ZERO protection from predatory corporations. Dave Koch, one-time Libertarian candidate for Veep, is a serious backer of this. His platform included the usual Teap bullshit - repeal income tax, destroy the IRS, the EPA, the FTC, in general, if there was a government agency that had standing to keep his companies honest and nonpredatory, he was against it, all for the 'public good' of course. Dave Koch and his brother inherited the John Birch Society from their daddy along with a few hundred million bucks, and morphed the JBS into the Tea Party. All a matter of public record, which, if they get their way, is gonna go byebye.

I saw an interesting thing about the 'abuse of executive orders legislating from the Oval Office'. Nice propaganda piece. Executive orders are how the President runs the Executive branch of the Feds. They have no standing outside the Executive branch, i.e., El Presidente can't write an executive order dismissing Congress or the Supremes and declare himself El Presidente For Life, or putting laws on the books because he thinks they need to be there for whatever reason. They just don't work that way. It's more of a thing of 'Congress has legislated Policy X, and the Supreme Court has upheld that decision, and it is now a matter of law. This is how we will implement Policy X to bring the government into compliance.'

Kennedy was able to dissolve the CIA by executive order because the CIA was part of the Executive branch, and the tasks it performed were to be taken up by the Department of Defense, also part of the Executive ('Commander in Chief', remember), as was the FBI, a part of the Department of Justice, which falls under the Executive branch. Congress could pass any legislation they wanted to to try to prevent it, but would have triggered a constitutional crisis that the Supremes would have had to sort out. Fortunately, for the CIA, at least, Kennedy got assassinated, and one of LBJ's first steps was to write executive orders saying 'Never mind!! Just kidding!! Go back to what you were doing when you pissed Kennedy off!!'

It's the same principle that the Supremes couldn't step in to rewrite the rules Congress operates under. Not their department, they have no say and no standing. The Supremes can write any decision they want to regarding the operation of Congress, and Congress can, quite rightly, tell them to go piss up a rope. This is called 'balance of powers', and is the way it's written in the Constitution to keep one branch of the government from going batshit crazy and fucking things up for the rest of government.

Just remember, under the Old Regime, man oppressed man. Under the New Regime, they reversed that...

Agreed, in that both mainstream US political parties are nearly identical when it comes to screwing over US citizens. It's only the precise manner of implementation and rates at which individual liberty is lost that are up for debate.

Time for a convention of States. http://conventionofstates.com/

Strat

If you knew anything about guns, you'd know it only takes a few basic tools and materials to make a functional gun that goes bang without killing its user. You don't need a 3D printer. There's no way to disarm anybody in any circumstances.

I do know something about guns and about metal machining and fabrication work. Making a Sten is dead-simple. Heck, I've got the plans.

You're correct that between the staggering number of guns that already exist in the US (and the majority of rifles & shotguns never having been registered) combined with the ease with which a gun that's at least good enough to get an enemy's gun is to make conventionally, it seems pretty impractical in the short term.

However, there's "simple" for some people and then there's "simple" for everybody else. It's dead-simple *IF* you have a lathe, drill press, sheet metal brake, and maybe a mill depending, along with multiple other ancillary tools and pieces of equipment like an arbor press.

*AND* you *also* have the requisite training, skills, & experience to operate that fabricating equipment well enough to produce more than a modern-art piece or a way to assure that you never need worry if you lose one of your mittens and/or your sunglasses. It's not a trivial skill set in the least.

The difference here is that you basically only need the printer instead of a pole-barn full of expensive machine tools, plus you don't need any advanced machining & metal fabrication skills or training to fabricate high-quality components.

The printer/software and the plan file supplies the majority of the training, experience, and skills otherwise necessary, while replacing multiple expensive pieces of metal working & fabrication equipment while also requiring less space. More like residential garage/shed/basement-size instead of pole-barn size.

A metal printer would also be a much more practical solution in the city. The printer is also far more portable than a bunch of machine shop equipment. It can be relatively quickly moved between locations and concealed compared to normal tooling.

Wishful thinking... It's not the lack of guns that keeps your tyrannical government in place, it's the lack of courage in a population that has turned bovine, uneducated, and more interested in shopping and watching reality shows on TV than in fighting for liberty and moral principles.

I agree. However, I'm hopeful that people are beginning to wake the hell up. I haven't seen the current levels and breadth of dissatisfaction and anger with government since the '60s/'70s, nor anywhere near the current numbers of people who seriously think the government needs to spend less and have fewer powers, and are actively getting involved and doing something about it.

When was the last time you remember *this* happening?

http://conventionofstates.com/

There may yet still be hope. Especially if you consider it was only about 10% of the colonists at the time who were actively for the US Revolutionary War and independence from England.

Can we scrape up 10% with a brain and a spine these days? Who knows. We'll find out, I guess.

Maybe the concept of free men governing themselves by common agreement dies here forever, technology guaranteeing the jackboot continues forever grinding the human face underfoot.

Maybe humans need another few 10, 20, or 100s of thousands...maybe even millions...of years of evolutionary advancement before mankind is ready to leave kings, dictators, tyranny, and authoritarianism behind us.

Strat

Because I definitely do not want the .gov overstepping their boundaries and ignoring my right to personal privacy. They have no reason to peek in and look at my personal life when I've done nothing wrong.

The problem is needing to protect oneself from un-Constitutional violations of the BoR by an obviously power-mad ruling elite in the first place.

With the immense resources of the US government available and few if any restrictions to methods, if the TLAs want in, they'll get in.

Until the size & power of government and the bureaucracy are massively rolled back and accountability plus term limits enacted and enforced, it's a losing game. They'll get to whomever they need to get to to make sure their abilities to un-Constitutionally spy and gather/analyze masses of data on anyone and everyone without consequence are retained. They already have enough data to blackmail just about anyone in or with power and lots more. Congress won't and can't fix this because of this reason.

We are forced to play by *their* arbitrary, constantly shifting, often counter-intuitive, sometimes retroactive laws, acts, and regulations which they are not constrained by because "national security" "that's classified" "redacted" and "fuck you".

I'm watching this move for a Convention of States (Article V).

http://conventionofstates.com/

It's not without it's risks, but something has to rein in this "Imperial Federal Government" and it's myriads of agencies, departments, "czars", the corruption, the blatant, damaging, and heinous violations of basic civil rights, militarized police terrorizing the citizenry, the crushing spending/debt, etc etc etc, or else living in the US will really begin to resemble living in the old USSR under Stalin.

Maybe that old meme that the US will eventually become socialist/communist/fascist/authoritarian and Russia/China become the new havens of capitalism and individual freedom has some validity.

Ah, the sweet, sweet irony if in 20-30 years, Russian (or Chinese) travelers are smuggling blue-jeans into the US.

Strat