Part Two, which covers Day Two of FreedomFest 2022 and includes a pointer to coverage of Day One.
Day Three, Friday, July 15th, 2022, started out with Covid related presentations. Maj Toure had two talks. Rand Paul spoke on the main stage. It was reason day. Justin Amash and John Cleese rounded out the day.
Zuby
Zuby gave a brief presentation on the main stage about his thoughts on the Pandemic response. Zuby talked about each of his tweets. I don’t remember him elaborating on many. He elaborated a bit on his tweet about conspiracy theorists that they are often experts unlike the “experts” trying to debunk conspiracy theorists. He talked a bit about virtue signaling, which was not mentioned in his series of tweets, but I don’t have in my notes details of what he said about virtue signaling.
Del Bigtree
Del Bigtree of The HighWire explained why certain elements of the US Federal government were guilty of crimes against humanity due to their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Bigtree spoke so fast that I wondered if he thought he was trying out for an auctioneer job. I didn’t try to keep up with him and have only a few notes of what he said.
He pointed out that if HCQ was an effective treatment for COVID-19, it would push the COVID-19 vaccines aside. Bigtree said one widely quoted study used too high doses of HCQ, so it was set up to fail.
He talked about Pierre Kory’s work in coming up with treatment protocols for COVID-19.
Maj Toure
Maj Toure gave a short presentation on how to expand the liberty movement in urban areas.
Step One is Empathy. Listen and build rapport. School Choice and the War on Drugs are good areas as many people can agree that there are problems with schooling and the War on Drugs.
Toure pointed out that empathy is not pandering. Pandering is Nancy Pelosi kneeling.
Step Two is Facts. Know what is true and do not spread myths. As an example, he pointed out that Black fathers in his neighborhood in North Philly are involved in their children’s lives.
Step Three is Solutions. Education and Freedom of Choice are key.
reason Big Tech Panel
Some folks from reason had a panel on Big Tech versus Big Government. The panel members were Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Robby Soave, Nick Gillespie, and Peter Suderman.
Robby Soave started talking about conservative concerns about a right to speak online. Soave mentioned that he had a video “moderated”. The video included footage of Donald Trump. Soave thinks that because he did not call out Donald Trump, the video was “moderated”. I do not have in my notes what platform this video was on, or what exactly “moderated” means. Soave says that companies are operating at the behest of government, and conservatives should direct their anger at government.
Nick Gillespie said that if the Biden Administration can lean on social media companies to moderate or censor content, what can the next administration do? He says government should not be involved in private companies’ speech.
Peter Suderman noted that in 2020, Facebook lost users to TikTok.
This lead to Elizabeth Nolan Brown wondering what the security concerns with TikTok are. She thinks TikTok as a security threat is overblown. The Chinese have user names, passwords, and meta data. She says, “What could China do with this?”
The woman sitting next to me said to me, “She’s a real clown isn’t she?” I said, “Yes, yes she is.”
Suderman started talking about state level laws on prohibiting social media censorship (Florida for example). Gillespie thinks these laws are Kabuki theater. Gillespie added that social media has been great for conservatives.
Suderman said something related to regulatory capture. My notes aren’t clear here. Robby Soave added that mainstream media outlets tend to hate social media because of their lower barriers to entry. I think the two points were related, but my notes aren’t clear here.
Zhittya
Dr. Jack Jacobs of Zhittya gave a brief presentation on a new treatment for Parkinson’s. Zhittya is working with a drug called FGF-1, which stimulates angiogenesis. It can restore blood vessels and thus blood flow.
Zhittya is in human trials of the drug on Parkinson’s Disease patients. It showing promise. Dr. Jacobs showed before and after videos of Parkinson’s Disease patients going through motor skills tests. All of them showed improvement.
Zhittya is in the planning stages for trials for stroke patients.
James O’Keefe
James O’Keefe gave a short talk about what has gone on over the last year at Project Veritas.
He says that the New York Times defamation case involving Minnesota ballot harvesting is in discovery.
He talked about Project Veritas’ twitter expose, and showed a video of him chasing after one of the twitter employees featured in the expose. He showed a longer version of this video. O’Keefe said that the two restaurant owners shown in the linked video are fans of Project Veritas, which is why they acted as they did.
Rand Paul
Before lunch, Mark Skousen interviewed Rand Paul. The interview was punctuated with videos of Paul confronting people. I’ll link to some videos similar to or possibly the ones shown as the only notes I have are whom Paul was grilling.
The first was Paul vs. Anthony Fauci. Paul pointed out that he has received more death threats than Anthony Fauci, and that Fauci thinks he can’t be criticized.
Then we saw a clip of Paul vs. Mayorkas about the proposed government misinformation board. This turned into a talk about the Covid vaccine where Paul says there is no evidence of efficacy in kids.
Next was Paul vs. Levine. Paul called transitioning children child abuse and that Paul doesn’t care what adults do.
The final part started with Paul vs. Stephanapolis. I can’t read my handwriting beyond that this part was about election fraud and that Paul thinks volunteering as a poll watcher is an easy and effective thing to do to head off fraud.
Maj Toure’s Black Guns Matter Workshop
This was the second of two gun related talks I attended Friday afternoon. Unfortunately, I have no notes on the first of the two, and this article is going to be quite long with what I do have notes on, so I’m not going to try to dredge anything out of my memory about that first one.
Maj Toure was supposed to run a workshop based on his de-escalation classes he teaches for the Solutionary Center. Unfortunately, he had forgotten his laptop with the slides for the class. So he decided to turn the workshop into a Q&A session. Here are some, but not all, of the questions and answers.
Should you order an intruder who is in your house to leave, and therefore announce your position?
Toure thinks it doesn’t matter if you announce your position or not when there is an intruder in your house. The important thing, in Toure’s mind, is that you have a plan to get you and your family into a defensible position with your weapons. Your family needs to know this plan and be able to execute it. Once you execute this plan, if you want to yell at the intruder to leave, do it. If you don’t want to, don’t. Toure says that he will shout an order to leave at the intruder.
How do you promote liberty to blacks, especially if you are white?
I think the person that asked this question was white. Toure’s response was to find a way to build rapport. His example was during the masking insanity, if you saw a person not wearing a mask, you could use this as an opening to talk to the person.
What size of gun and caliber is best?
Toure started out by describing the different factors in picking a caliber. Stopping power, cost, weight. He also talked about recoil and how the weight of a gun affects felt recoil. Toure said the best gun and caliber are a personal choice. He suggests for a gun that people try several out to see what feels best to them. For caliber, he said people should weigh the different trade-offs. Toure likes 9mm because 9mm best balances stopping power and cost for him. He emphasized that this is a personal choice one takes after weighing the different factors.
How do you tell the difference between police executing a no-knock raid and a home invasion robbery?
A man who claimed to be a retired police officer asked this question. Toure answered with, “You don’t”. Toure added that he thinks no-knock raids should be banned. The questioner agreed.
Toure added that he thinks anyone kicking in his door is a threat. The important thing is to have a plan and practice the plan.
Lily Tang Williams
In the evening, Lily Tang Williams, at the time a candidate for US Congress for New Hampshire, gave a brief talk about how America has turned into something like the Communist China that she left.
She grew up in Communist China. Williams came to the USA in 1988 with little money, a job offer, and little English. She took advantage of the opportunities and freedom in America to build up a new life.
She called the radical Left racists. She pointed out their “My body, my choice” is quite limited. She drew parallels between lockdowns in Australia and lockdowns in China.
Justin Amash
Justin Amash opened his brief talk with “Congress is a lot worse than you think it is.”
Amash said every Speaker of the House during his time in Congress was horrible, but John Boehner was the best. One of the reasons, is that Boehner would allow floor amendments to spending bills to come up for a vote before the full house. Amash and others would take advantage of this, even though many of their amendments would fail. Paul Ryan ended this practice. When Paul Ryan was Speaker, any amendment to a spending bill had to be approved by House leadership in private before coming up for a vote. This means many amendments were killed. This practice has continued.
Amash said he thinks many members of Congress are just actors playing a role.
Amash thinks tearing down the country is not a good idea as the USA not perfect but it is a miracle when compared to everything else in the world. Amash suggests that voters vet candidates by asking if the candidate will stand up to leadership.
Babylon Bee
Kyle Mann and Brendan Steinhauser were part of a panel on Babylon Bee.
The background is the Bee was founded in the 2016 because the founder saw nothing from the Right for satire. He wanted something similar to The Onion, but for the Right. The intention is to make humor palatable. It is important to make fun of the Right and libertarians, but in a light-hearted way.
The panel talked about the Babylon Bee twitter account getting blocked. The tweet which got them blocked involved Richard “Rachel” Levine being awarded “Woman of the Year”. The Babylon Bee awarded Levine the “Man of the Year” award. The tweet announcing this got their account locked. The Babylon Bee refused to do what Twitter wanted, and so their account has not been unlocked.
John Cleese
John Cleese gave a brief talk, and then was interviewed by Nick Gillespie. This article is long enough as it is, so I will just link to this video of his interview with Gillespie.
Wrap-up
I attended the FreedomFest Punching Up Comedy Festival, which was good. Saturday had more talks, which I will write about at another time.
The social media thing is interesting because I think people vastly underestimate the power those companies have to manipulate public opinion.
Robert Malone has a good article on it up at his substack. There are entire corporations that are founded with the sole purpose of using social media data, bots, and censorship to sway the public. It’s really far more extensive than I had imagined.
And yes, ENB is an idiot. She’s demonstrated that multiple times over.
I think people also vastly overestimate the power those companies have to manipulate public opinion.
It’s not just that. Imagine the power of knowing the geotag of all those people who are tweeting about a color revolution in real time. Twitter provides that data service to anyone who is willing to pay for it.
Are there any Twits left who aren’t a part of the bubble?
Plenty. And accordingly, if you use a platform like Twitter for organization in a country with fewer users, you become easier to identify.
These tools aren’t just limited to Twitter.
These tools aren’t limited to twitter but the user base just isn’t as active, broad, or influenced by the content as people assume for any of the sites, even all of them combined. It’s a potemkin village of influence.
I think it’s too easy to project your own biases onto the broader population.
Most people just aren’t that informed. They get their information on the margins from their personal social networks. It’s dominated by ignorance and tribal identification. Nor do they really want to argue, so they go along to get along in the hopes that they’ll be ignored.
And the Benadryl just kicked in, so I’m going to sleep.
Good night.
Lily Tang is a badass. We need many many more of her.
Yes.
Unfortunately, she didn’t get through the primary for that US House district. Though, I doubt she will go away.
What is her party affiliation?
Republican.
Thanks for the write-up!
You’re welcome!
I have the first draft of Day Four’s writeup done. I need to proofread it and add links. I want to submit it for publication before the end of the week, but work has been dumping on me.
Paul thinks volunteering as a poll watcher is an easy and effective thing to do to head off fraud.
In a world where 99% of the ballots are cast in person, yes. That’s why TEAM BLUE wants mail-in voting.
For those who are looking for the Wednesday night zoom, here it is…
https://www.glibertarians.com/humpdayzoom
A URL hosted on this site’s domain?
*squints suspiciously*
-.-
(Yes, I get it’s just a redirect to make it easy to share)
Soon we will combine the links of Glibertarians and Zoom into the simple, easy to remember “gloom”
Gloom, Despair, and Agony
Yes! I was hoping that was the song you linked to.
Ah, a sing a long, thanks, Kinnath
Finally getting back to Sam’s story after two years.
It will come up at the end of October.
…and it is a doozy.
Good to hear the Sam is returning…
Thank you Swiss
Dispair and Deception, loves ugly little twins,
I let love in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eEmy9_AqYg
It’s there even if you’re not looking for it.
Schrödinger would like a word with you. And, yes, I spelled his name wrong.
*NO YOU DINNIT, EDIT FAIRY*
Thank you edit fairy for correcting ues to yes.
And for being hot.
Harumph!
I think you need to make sure you are signed into Zoom before entering the meeting.
This is good. At some point I will attend. I still work to teach about enacting labor, crimes against life, liberty, property, and other such lessons to those around me. Especially the young ones.
Thanks for these DEG. It’s almost like being there. Hopefully I can make it to one some time.
I sense a gathering. Maybe not for 2023, but 2024?
Yeah. That would be a great place for a meetup. We’ll have to wait and see where it is. 2023 is in Memphis.
Glibs Gulch is already established in Alfred, NY.
True. I will go there as well. I am aiming to go to CPRM’s birthday and then continue to wander throughout the year. I still wish to attend a FreedomFest.
I need to get his custom sombrero ordered. I want to get him something nice.
Something classy, like one with chips and dip!
Yes. And giant “CPRM” glitter letters.
Is that the only place we’re allowed to meet?
Oh…. 2024 will probably be in Las Vegas.
The FreedomFest organizers moved to Rapid City in 2021 because of Lil Rona Restrictions in Nevada at the time they needed to start planning, and Kristi Noem never locked down South Dakota. Though there were municipal lockdowns in South Dakota.
The organizers moved back to Las Vegas for 2022, but decided that since so many people liked having FreedomFest not in Vegas, that they would alternate between Vegas and other locations.
Since 2023 will be in Memphis, it’s likely 2024 will be back in Vegas. Mark Skousen at the end of FreedomFest 2021 said if there are ever lockdowns again in Nevada, they’ll never go back to Nevada.
I will be in Memphis for FreedomFest 2023.
I know. I am torn. CPRM announced his birthday party in Wisconsin. In May.
I saw that.
I haven’t put any thought into travel for next year.
I have mixed feelings about continuing on road trips for continued travel. The Lil Rona Panic Measures killed the last of my interest in flying, but on the other hand, driving takes a while.
It does. I can drive to CPRM’s, but overall that would be a week of time to travel and party. I far prefer driving but going sans family means the wife has to do everything at home. Flying is balls.
You’re welcome!
I have to be up early tomorrow for the gym and early work meetings. I will check this page tomorrow to answer any more comments/questions.
‘Night all!
Thanks DEG!
“John Boehner was the best”
We’re screwed. If that chain smoking scotch swilling country club Republican tearful fuck was the best we can manage to do we’ve had it.
All the rest are tied for 2nd?
“Congress is a lot worse than you think it is.”
Congress is made up of local politicians that were able to out lie their opponents. Every small time pol is busy scheming, trying to figure out how to get elected to the next higher office. Lily Tang hasn’t built her creds as a lifetime pol so getting elected is much tougher. Trump was the real outlier but he already had made a lifetime of scamming so the transition was easier.
I suspect if McCarthy becomes Speaker if the Republicans take the House, he will continue the trend of being worse than Boehner.
McCarthy has made some noise that make it appear he’s moving towards the Populist wing of the party and away from the Establishment, but I think that is just coopting the Populists/throwing them a bone..
Very nice write up, DEG.
Thanks!
Great rant on Kennedy tonight – consistently solid show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEJLm7-0vok
*boing*
Yeah, that was golden. Thanks, LCDR!
Speaking of Fox, I saw this chyron tonight and almost blew vodka:
“GROWTH ON NECK IS MORE COHERENT THAN THE POLITICIAN IT IS ATTACHED TO”
Watching Gutfeld?
Not tonight. Do like the show, though.
Are you telling me their straight news posted that chyron?
It was on Tucker.
There we go.
Re: the Alex Jones case….this is reportedly real? https://twitter.com/michaelmalice/status/1580340852311793664
Quite a find there. I can’t see how Elon can do that, since he has to buy Twitter too.
And invent a way to post tweets from 2023 in 2022.
Maybe Elon from the future can.
PS. That fucking popup Twitter throws up… I can’t even with that any more.
@Grosspatzer, my internet went kaput! Sorry about that!
Eh, de nada. Caught a few ZZZs before getting up to babysit some work stuff.
Via the Radio Free California Podcast @ NRO – new law signed by Newsom last week – haven’t heard anything about this till now…but not really surprising. Prime for a 1A challenge.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2022/10/07/new-california-law-forces-taxpayers-to-pay-for-union-members-dues/
Unbelievable. Every time I thought they could not be more shameless, they prove me wrong.
I wonder how much money the Dems will manage to hoover up for themselves before the obvious court challenge succeeds.
Nice write up, thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome!
DEG, this write-up really makes me want to attend one in the future. Looking forward to the next one.
Thanks!
Memphis in 2023. I plan to be there.
Thanks DEG. As always, you do a great job of bringing us along.
I really like some of the new crop (Maj, etc), but the Amash/reason crew just needs to go away. And yes, Bigtree is kind of a spazz, but he is interesting.
I probably need to stop being lazy and go to one of these.
You’re welcome!
As always, you do a great job of bringing us along.
The writing up is getting a little tedious. It doesn’t help that work has been dumping on me.
I really like some of the new crop (Maj, etc), but the Amash/reason crew just needs to go away.
I agree.
I probably need to stop being lazy and go to one of these.
Memphis in 2023.
Awesome summary, Deg. Appreciate it.
Thanks!
Ordered to pay a billion dollars. One guy? For saying the wrong things? US has gone batshit crazy.
It will likely get cut down on appeal. Having said that, Jones is already in deep trouble from the compensatory damages award. That one will stick.
Even if it does, the headline “$965 million” should disabuse any fence sitters that the justice system has imploded.
I disagree. This trial has been underreported. The crap Jones himself pulled, and then his lawyer, likely riled up the jury. Their award is huge but not irrational. It is very likely unconstitutional. So either the trial judge will cut it down on a post-trial verdict or an appeals court will.
I didn’t follow it closely, but the claim is that he called them child actors and it may have been fake? $100k and don’t do it again or next time it’s $500K. Something like that. It looks like they are trying to have the victims get whole again by taking everything from Jones because they can’t get anything from the actual shooter.
I think you are missing some important facts. But let’s agree Jones didn’t do the honorable thing by committing Hari-Kari so he got sued instead.
I’m sure I am missing things. I worry about excessive penalties for slander/libel in an era of hyper partisanship. You get the wrong judge or wrong jury pool and you’re screwed.
If Jones should have committed seppuku, then those parents should be drinking flavoraid for using their dead children as props against 1A and 2A. Fuck them, their lawyers, and their fucking hurt feelings.
If Jones should have committed seppuku, then those parents should be drinking flavoraid for using their dead children as props against 1A and 2A. Fuck them, their lawyers, and their fucking hurt feelings.
Seconded.
Also, I suspect the reasons for the default judgement are bullshit. I’ll admit, I might be wrong about this, but I suspect Jones is telling the truth that the documents asked for during discovery don’t exist and never existed.
You can say that again.
The US has gone batshit crazy.
Thanks for the write up DEG. It’s very cool they got John Cleese to attend.
You’re Welcome!
I was quite excited when that announcement came out.
I don’t usually include the social events in these write-ups, so I didn’t include the VIP reception with John Cleese. I attended. Attendees got their picture taken with John Cleese. When it was my turn, Cleese stuck his finger in my ear. The cameraman timed taking the picture perfectly.
In another era she would have been a eugenicist.
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2022/10/12/doctor-says-if-a-girls-testes-are-non-functional-why-wait-until-shes-age-18-to-remove-them/
Yup, not clicking it still.
⬆
Funny how their beliefs tend to line up with what would be lucrative in their careers. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? That little nugget applies to you too ladies.
In some eras, she would have been burnt at the stake.
I think we all saw this grift coming.
https://dailycaller.com/2022/10/12/facebook-whistleblower-haugen-omidyar-social-media/
They have a knack for finding just the right picture of people.
Sometimes I wish I was a scumbag so I could get filthy rich the easy way.
Russian propaganda.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ILxC2DVqw
The vegetarian part was dumb, but the black guy getting to skip the line was kinda too true. Remind me again how long my ancestors lived under serfdom and the domination of foreign powers?
It is dumb.
Well, it is what the Ds want.
The hilarious part is the naivete. We’re so used to it here that we truly have forgotten how crazy it is.
I have my phone on the table near the computer. Phone heard the Russians talking and wanted to get me involved in the conversation. Seems like someone is listening in on what Youtube is playing, I’ll have to keep the sound down low…
Mornin Glibs.
https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/yaaseen-bivins-roxborough-shooting-philadelphia-nicolas-elizalde/
He was on house arrest at the time of the shooting. 🙄
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/fowl-interrupts-eighth-inning-of-nlds-game-2/
Sportsball gets interesting for a minute.
Interestingly, a goose’s beak is primarily made of four elements: Hydrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Potassium
or H-O-N-K
Apparently Biden forgot how his son died? That is some serious decline/political grandstanding. Guy just loves standing on the bodies of his family to get places (e.g. his wife dying).
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/biden-son-iraq-death
Yes, Biden is just a normal, middle class guy whose sons learned to ski in Colorado- just like most easterners…
It’s a tactic that allows him to advocate for this policy or that and then to say you’re attacking his dead family members when you criticize the policy and the story associated with it. He’s not so much standing on the bodies as behind them but, yeah, now he’s forgetting the specific circumstances of the deaths it seems like.
At best, it’s a hell of a stretch if Beau’s brain cancer really was caused by exposure to toxic burn pits while in Iraq. “Close enough for government work,” I guess.
It is possible, but who knows. Given that Beau had political ambitions, a nd the clear dysfunction of that whole family… is it wrong to be glad he didn’t get a chance to make a political career?
Might be just as well. It seems as if Beau is the Biden family’s version of tragically departed war hero Joe K. Jr. How different would the world have been if Joe Jr. had made it to the White House instead of JFK? Would Jack, Bobby, and Teddy have turned out any differently in that alternate timeline?
Next up
“My other son is a junkie but he pulled himself up on my bootstraps”
World’s tallest sports photographer.
The logo for his website is also cool as it referenced something that happened in his baseball career.
ERMAGERD!!! 😃
Good morning, NaE, Stinky, Lack, and Sean! Bad news (kinda) is that the boss is back in the office today….but I kinda need something to do, so if he needs spreadsheet help with next year’s budget, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. Good news is it’s Friday eve AND I get to go to water aerobics again! 😃🏊🏼♀️
Boss-boss is out this week which is kind of a relief as today is ordinarily my least favorite weekly meeting that he runs.
‘Morning.
My boss has been sick/training all week, except Monday. Not good, since he is taking on all 3 roles directly above me, and his own boss is also filling in the for the role above him. *eyeroll*
Can you say leadership vacuum?
I recently started helping a new group at work, and the higher ups are trying to build a goal for that team… I don’t think it is going to go well for us/them.
Morning.
“We want to use these servers you’ve clearly marked and configured for a different purpose.”
“No, we requested the proper servers be built, and that’s already in process.”
“But these servers are already here, you just need to completely reconfigure them to suit.”
X <——- Bang head here.
I’m likely to win this one, because the team that builds the new virtual servers is the same one that would have to reconfigure the filesystems. So it makes no sense to pull them off building the new servers to reconfigure the wrong servers then go back to building the new, then have to reconfigure those to fill the role the old reconfigured servers were originally meant for.