My friend, Werner Buchner, was shot and killed for two cell phones and some cash. His wife, my dear friend, Estelle, broke both her arms in the struggle and remains hospitalized. Their son, Werner Jnr, is recovering after surgery and is in stable condition.
Two cell phones and some cash.
I am in shock. Louis and Werner went to University together. We have known them for more than 30 years. Parties. Weddings. Braais. Louis I visited Boslaagte whenever we made the trip back to South Africa, although we didn’t this last time. This last time, we didn’t manage to swing it, and we didn’t know it would be the last time. The last time to see Werner (55). R.I.P., boet.
Two cell phones and some cash.
How can this be? But this is what civil society on its last legs is: death, unnecessary, untimely, uninvited death. This is what society without laws and with envy, envy, envy at its heart delivers. When you teach people what is yours is theirs, because it’s “unfair” when someone else has more, this is where you ultimately end up.
When Americans ask me about what is happening in South Africa, I usually say things like: They’re trying but… Well, it has rolling blackout on a daily basis now. Well, it has 6 of the 20 most dangerous cities in the world now. Well, it has more than 30% unemployment now. Well, it has rioting and looting and lawlessness now. Well, it has farm murders, and it has people on tellie saying, “Kill the settler, kill the boere [farmers], one bullet, one settler.”
Werner was a farmer.
Werner was a father.
Werner was a husband.
Werner was a friend.
Werner was a good, God-fearing, DECENT man.
This malaise, this disease of socialism, tribalism, racism, this never-ending manipulation of the minds of the malleable must end. This spreading of the lies that property rights don’t matter and what is not yours, can be, without any effort, just for the taking, must end. This devolving of the world into darkness and lawlessness must end. This disregard for the lives of our fellow humans must end. This lie that you can live at the expense of others must end. This senseless, baseless killing must end.
But it didn’t end soon enough for my friend. Cry, the beloved country. Today, I cry with you.
Watch this VIDEO to see “the farm that freedom built. Where the pigs are fat and the libertarians are happy.”
This video is five years old and, as I said on Facebook when I re-shared it recently:
Wow! This is actually extremely p.a.i.n.f.u.l for me to watch from a “Holy hell, I was not well, AKA ‘what the fatty fat???'” perspective, but the principles of liberty and freedom I express are still spot on.
The reality is: If you don’t like something about yourself, CHANGE. It is UP TO YOU. No one else can do it for you. Only YOU are responsible for your health and wellbeing. (That realization is Step #1.)
I was unhealthy and anxious, and several years ago, I decided to do something about it. I changed my diet (ancestral/keto/low carb), quit alcohol, reintroduced my yoga practice, made sleeping a priority, started fasting, and through meditation and mindful journaling, learned how to evolve past an unmoored childhood to become someone *I* like and respect. I wanted to return to the person I was: healthy, sporty, ambitious, effective, and happy (with a little “wild and beautiful” thrown in for good measure!). So I did.
You can read about my journey here, but watch this clip to learn more about what Free Staters are trying to accomplish in NH. Our message is even more important NOW–as medical tyranny arises around us–than it was 5 years ago!
Join thousands of libertarians in New Hampshire: Where liberty lives! Learn more at the Free State Project. #LiveFreeAndThrive
Eight years ago today: press conference to decry the government’s militarization of our local police. They now also have encrypted secret communications, making law abiding citizens less safe, and have added drones to their arsenal. They used BEARCATS and ramming rods and drones to attack peaceful activists in Keene earlier this year… As our freedoms are crushed under the boot of the emerging police state, and as they lay claim to your body and say they can force you to do things against your will, remember the people who have been warning you for more than a decade AND offering solutions: Free Staters like me!
This week, we discuss the problems with police body cam footage being exempt from NH’s Right-to-Know laws, the mess with the charter school commission, and more!
Just so you know… today the FDA’s acting commissioner Janet Woodcock approved the Pfizer vaccine before the originally slated clinical trial timeframe was completed. She also approved the promotion of OxyContin for 11 year olds a while back. You know, oxys… The thing that helped cause the opioid epidemic. Trust her at your own and at your children’s peril…
“In its opioid decision-making, Dr Woodcock, and the division she supervised, consistently put the interests of opioid manufacturers ahead of public health, often overruling its own scientific advisors and ignoring the pleas of public health groups, state Attorneys General, and outraged victims of the opioid crisis,” the letter said…The letter accused Woodcock of “dereliction of duty” for allowing opioid manufacturers to spend years disseminating false claims that narcotic painkillers were less addictive and more effective than they really were, contributing to the rise of mass opioid prescribing and spread of an epidemic that has claimed more than 500,000 lives.”
SOURCE for quotes: https://www.theguardian.com/…/fda-janet-woodcock…
SOURCE for screen shot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_Woodcock
This past Saturday was busy! On top of yesterday’s fantastic Federation of Republican Women’s High Tea at the beautiful estate in Dublin, I attended this fundraising tailgate at the Honorable Jess Edward’s home in Auburn.
This great event brings together different reps and candidates from across the state who support liberty. Please consider supporting their efforts by DONATING TODAY! The Get Involved PAC recruits, trains, and helps elect pro-Liberty officials.
Below is my response to a dear friend who posted this on FB: “here’s what I don’t understand about the anti mask stance. It’s not just *your* body and your choice. People who don’t wear masks actually are putting others at risk, according to science. Which I believe in. If you don’t, that’s where this all falls apart. Why do you not believe the science, tho? How about all the proof of people winding up in the ER, dying, etc? I have personally known people who have died or almost died from it. And at its height, I laid my own eyes on big rig freezer trucks to store the bodies of the dead in NYC bc they couldn’t bury them fast enough. I’m all about freedom and rights too. But that stops when a particular freedom infringes on my or my unvaccinated nephew’s (because he is too young) rights. Like, you want restaurant employees to wash their hands after they take a shit, right? Or does that infringe on their rights? I’m truthfully not trying to start an angry debate – if anyone wants to, go ahead, but I won’t engage w anger – I’m just trying to understand your side of it.”
PART 1:
You’re free to believe “the science” you have been fed. I have delved deeper into the actual statistical data to make my own informed decisions, FOR ME.
“Science,” by its very nature, changes all the time. The more information we have, the better decisions we can make. When the government claims, as they now do, that there is only ONE TRUE SCIENCE, they are lying to you, and they are wrong. The censorship of any counterpoint to THE ONE TRUE SCIENCE is a “tell” that indicates something fishy is going on.
Did you know if you compare countries with or without mask mandates, it makes no statistical difference to the infection rates for a virus that has a 99.7% survival rate? I.e. regardless of what you have been told, masks don’t matter. If you feel better wearing a mask, more power to you. I don’t.
I understand you may be scared. I hope you also understand that you have actively and purposely bamboozled into thinking a certain way about this virus, and, unless you are willing to, say, champion AIDS or herpes or other communicable disease Passports next, you have to understand that arguing, as you do, that “*I* am in some way responsible for whether you get sick when you leave your house” is a terrible way for us to start interacting as a society…
Did you know the U.S. excess death rate was higher in 2017 than 2020? I.e., “In 2017, excess deaths and years of life lost in the United States represent a larger annual loss of life than that associated with the COVID-19 epidemic in 2020.” [SOURCE: https://www.pnas.org/content/118/16/e2024850118].
Did 2017 feel like a “pandemic” to you? (Did you know the WHO changed their definition of the word “pandemic” in order to take out “severity of illness” so that contractual obligations by nation states to buy vaccines is automatically triggered at a lower level of severity than before? Stated differently, did you know the WHO colluded with Big Pharma and said: Hey, if a virus spreads worldwide, regardless of how strong it actually is, we’ll say it’s a “super bad sounding pandemic” and guarantee to buy your stuff? Talk about perverse incentives!)
Did you spend 2017 living in fear? Did you feel the need in 2017 to protect yourself from, or judge, your friends and neighbors for their personal choices about their body autonomy? No.
Did you in 2017 think it was OK for unelected officials to ban what medicines doctors can prescribe to their patients? No.
What changed?
Hysterical propaganda from the government, aided by the legacy media and social media platforms, pushing a “product” for which there are NO long-term studies and for which no one can be held liable if it causes harm, to a population that has been literally scared out of their minds. On purpose.
Let me say that again: Scared out of their minds. On purpose.
What you have experienced this past year is basically like a WWII air-raid siren blasting nonstop in your brain, negatively affecting your amygdala and mental health. There is now a large body of work on “the science” of fear and “the science” of propaganda. I recommend you explore this area if you want to better understand what has been happening.
As a starting point, all I can advise is: Turn off the your TV, especially the news, and be careful about your screen time and innocuous seeming “push news” on your phone.
I don’t want to argue with you about this either, but I will not stand down from my position MY BODY MY CHOICE. I know it sounds harsh, but I do not have a duty to protect you from harm–YOU have a duty to protect yourself, and if you prefer to be around only masked or vaccinated people, that is your choice, but it better be in your home and not the public sphere. In public, I have as much rights as you, unless you now think you own me?
I’m unwilling to embrace the idea that I am a permanent germ vector that needs to be punished and forced to do something against my bodily wishes just for leaving my house.
Again, you do you, but you don’t own me. Not even one teensy bit, and definitely not my pie hole! 
That said, I love you, and I hope we can hang again in the future. Galt speed!
PART 2:
Also, unless you think there should be cameras in toilets watched by Big Bro Crap Police with fines, penalties and quarantine camps, that analogy falls way short. What if the person forgot to wash their hands, but there’s no shit or germs on their hands, should they still be punished even if they weren’t spreading a disease? Should we just pretend everyone is sick and diseased, or should we strive for a society where we don’t punish the healthy?
My hot yoga class has a sign from Buddha above the door: “You are what you think.” I suggest we all think about that…
This week, we catch up on Carla’s trip to Honduras, give advice on how to get your kids into the school works best for them, and more! Remember, “We HEART West Day” is September 4th at Rock Rimmon, starting at 1PM. Hope to see YOU there!