Links for 12-23-22

what if the government is not us?

👉 FBI hits out 'conspiracy theorists' for questioning its Twittergate actions - but refuses to reveal contents of top secret messages to Twitter directly before Hunter Biden story was surpessed. From: Daily Mail. Evidence is mounting that the government is not us.

Governments worldwide abuse COVID surveillance powers. From Reason. Once the government has an excuse to electronically track everywhere you've been and everyone you've been near, abuses are predictable.

Omnibus leaves no boondoggle behind. From: James Bovard/NY Post. Congress will soon vote on the 4,155-page omnibus bill that was crafted in a back room by half a dozen congressional leaders. No amendments will be permitted on the House or Senate floors and members of Congress will get no time to read the bill before rubber-stamping $1.7 trillion-plus in new spending.

GOP can’t be successful until Mitch McConnell is gone. From: Mollie Hemingway/The Federalist. Republican voters are desperately concerned about the country and are looking for bold and persuasive leadership instead of comfort with a few small, intermittent successes.

Reparations: blackwashing slavery. From: Larry Elder/Creators. Will Africa reimburse American reparations-paying taxpayers?

Do you really have nothing to hide? From: Brownstone Institute. My government, which exists to protect me, arbitrarily removes rights and privileges from people based on false information that it generates. Sometimes they do it indiscriminately (such as during the pandemic); sometimes they pick their targets (such as what happened to me at the airport).

John Cleese on how wokeness smothers creativity. From: Reason. The Monty Python legend on giving offense and getting laughs.

SHORT: Paul Harvey - “To Serve”