Category: Bob Small

Big Brother Watches Us Everywhere

By Bob Small

Swarthmore College spies on it’s students, even in Crum Woods.

Kya Butterfield ’25 handled one of the observation cameras and was charged with violating the college’s vandalism rule in the Student Code of Conduct.

The initial penalty was $4,800.

Butterfield said, however, it was reduced to $2,400 “out of good faith.”

Swarthmore History Professor Timothy Burke estimated the first camera was installed 15 or 20 years ago.

Citing security concerns, Interim Director of Public Safety Colin Quinn would not disclose the number or location of the security cameras.

By comparison, in 2024 Haverford College reported 85 cameras on campus, up from 45 in 2022.

Swarthmore has re-defined disorderly conduct to include “any other action(s) that result in the unreasonable interference with the learning/working environment or the rights of others.”

Erin Picken sums up his argument by stating “If you only protest against a stubborn institution along the guidelines it has provided, how much change can you really make? 

The urban campus of the University of Pennsylvania, which has 120 officers and is the second-largest police force of any private university in the U.S.

Penn uses 145 pan–tilt–zoom cameras, which are constantly monitored, and more than 1,200 other fixed cameras. 

Student Milo Garcia notes he comes from small-town Mexico and was never attacked there.

“If it hadn’t happened to me in Mexico I wouldn’t think it would happen to me here,” he said.

According to the Campus Safety Publication more than 8 in 10 Campuses use security cameras .

One in four noted that they were upgrading because the video surveillance system doesn’t integrate with other security technologies.

See the article for other statistics.

See also https://billlawrenceonline.com/privacy-concerns-aired-about-swarthmore-security

Walking out of the Swarthmore College Library DVD section, I waved to the cameras.

Big Brother Watches Us Everywhere

Response To A Response

By Bob Small

Liberty4all asked in a comment to this article from Feb. 17 “What does the ratio of Left vs Right cases undertaken by (The Institute for Justice ) look like? And who is funding them now? “

First, taking a deep dive into current cases IJ listed; Cases Bowers v. Oneida County Industrial Development Agency This is an eminent domain case. “Can the government take your property just to hand it over to your business competitor? “ See article for the full explanation.

Then there was the free speech case Free speech or public nuisance? Nazareth resident fights ‘  which can be seen as neither left nor right.

Right ro privacy extends to another case: Pennsylvania Fish Cops

“First, in May 2023, WCO Moon pounded on the Thomas’ front and back doors, roamed around their yard and took pictures of their cabin, dock, and yard—all without a warrant—on the unfounded belief that Tim had been fishing without a license.”

Lastly, we have Norfolk, VA Camera Surveince “ In 2023, the city installed over 172 cameras around town. These are not your standard traffic cameras. The cameras are strategically placed to capture everybody’s daily travel. They’re straight-up surveillance cameras, set up to watch people 24/7 as they go about their lives. “

One couple who are donors, Jeremy and Katie Bencken How IJ’s Unique Narrative Counters Government Growth who are small business owners.;

Another long-time donor, the late Dr. John B. Wenders He was affiliated with the Commonwealth Foundation, among other conservative groups.

Brian Schar is a lawyer who says “We who fight for liberty are outnumbered and outspent by the multitudinous interests who depend on the state” His position seems libertarian, rather than simply left or right.

Rather than the Koch Brothers, I found a group called Four Pillars Society Supports IJ’s Future .

Looking through the article, there was again a mix of people,left and right and center. None of them, from my review, were named Koch.

My summation is that the Institute for Justice represents various interests and their theirdonors are a mixed lot who cannot be categorized.

MAHA Begins

By Bob Small

We’ve been supporters of Children’s Health Defense (CHD) since learning about it.

We had become Covid vaccine skeptics and I went so far as to attend the CHD 2023 Conference. It helped that this was in November in Savannah, GA. Any effort to beat back the medical-industrial complex is to be welcomed.

The possibilities of Make America Healthy Again or MAHA were broached by Trump Press Secretary Karoline Levitt after President Trump signed an executive order creating a MAHA commission and directing Bobby Kennedy Jr. “to investigate this chronic crisis plaguing our country and the minds and the bodies of the American people.”

Another possibility is further safety studies of food dyes and other additives.

Of course there are limits to what RFK, Jr. can do. Part of the problem is the multiplicity of Agencies. Tom Scully who worked in the George W. Bush administration a current CMS chart and “there are offices I never heard of when I was there 20 years ago,” .

Another factor is that the HHS Secretary “does make the final decision” on vaccine approvals.

There are some issues that members of the medical community want addressed. Number uno is the ever-rising costs of “maintenance” drugs.

Patients for Affordable Drugs , for instance, wants RFK, Jr. to take on Big Pharma

The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association (PCMA) wants him to address “the prices set by drug companies and misuse of the patent system that blocks market-based competition for more affordable alternatives like generics and biosimilars,” said JC Scott, president and CEO of PCMA.” However is PCMA also part of the problem?

Locally, some of the fear of change comes from CHOP (Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

“I think it’s a sad day for America’s children. I think it’s a sad day for public health when someone who is a science denialist, conspiracy theorist, and virulent anti-vaccine activist is [leading] the biggest public health agency in the United States,” says Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at CHOP.

See also (Pence) Advocacy group uses Trump’s criticism against RFK 

Blockade Ended Swarthmore Protest

By Bob Small

Swarthmore College is in the news again. The Swarthmore Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) staged a sit-in on Feb 19 (See also the letters)

Their demands were “ that the college drop its disciplinary cases against students for charges related to protests for Palestine and that the college divest from companies tied to Israel.

However this time Swarthmore Public Safety blockaded the building, preventing further protesters along with supplies, etc. This was the opposite of the previous lazes-faire reaction.

Last time, for instance, a number of us took photos. Now they were told not to take photos.

For a report that the SJP is an anti-Israel group.

It should be clarified that the FBI only contacted Swarthmore College after Swarthmore SJP put out a call for others to join them. My protest experience was that if you put out a call for others to join you that, inevitably, you would have some undercover Philly PD, State Troopers, FBI, etc.

The Swarthmore Administration in the person of Val Smith wanted to clarify that the College did not contact the FBI or any other federal law enforcement agency in response to the protest.

Meanwhile, on the Left Coast, Multiple pro-Palestine groups protest suspension of SJP, Graduate SJP on campus It seems the SJP violated UCLA’s Time , Place and Manner rules by protesting in Dickson Plaza and also in front of UC Regent Jay Sures Brentwood home on Feb. 5 and chanting “Jonathan Sures, you will pay, until you see your final day.”

If only the British had said “these are the official days and times for tea-tossing”.

Finally, this story about a Pro-Israel counter-demonstration, under the aegis of Who We Are | Let’s Do Something.

Probably no one on either side listened to each other because both knew, as Bob Dylan sang, that they were demonstrating With God on Our Side.

Unlike Sunday, Oct. 4, 1936, Battle of Cable Street where there were the Fascists versus the Anti-Fascists.

See also On third day of SJP encampment, protests continue …

Blockade Ended Swarthmore Protest

Institute For Justice And Public Interest Law

By Bob Small

Yet another group we learned about at the Bill of Rights Banquet was The Institute for Justice which describes itself as “ a nonprofit, public interest law firm. Our mission is to end widespread abuses of government power and secure the constitutional rights that allow all Americans to pursue their dreams”

So far, they have won 10 of their 12 cases at the Supreme Court and “returned $21 million in wrongfully seized assets”, among other victories.

The Institute can be traced to 1992 Chip Mellor’s Enduring Legacy of Liberty as a civil law firm “to protect the constitutional rights of ordinary Americans”.

Cases in which it was involved included i The FBI wrongly raided this family’s home, which involved an Atlanta family by an FBI SWAT raid on the wrong Atlanta house and the subsequent refusal of the FBI to reimburse for expenses; an issue of “civil forfeiture” in which Nevada Court Shuts Down Police Use of Federal Loophole

The case meant “Law enforcement hadno business profiting from civil forfeiture,” said IJ Attorney Brian Morris. “ See also Court shuts down highway patrol’s civil asset forfeiture …

Source Watch, in their evaluation of IJ, Institute for Justice – SourceWatch mentions that PFAW (People for thr American Way) , a Progressive organization, has described IJ as a “one of the litigation groups that has “eagerly sought out potential court challenges in lower-income urban communities” and has loudly claimed “the mantle of supporters of education for the disadvantaged.” Whether Charles Koch, who provided seed money for IJ, would regard this favorably, is a moot point.

Influence watch has a similar article Institute for Justice – InfluenceWatch mentions their cases on free speech and qualified immunity etc.

In Pennsylvania, see Nazareth Man Sues Borough Over Law Criminalizing ‘For Sale’ 

To summarize, IJ may be claimed by both the Left and the Right depending on the case.

Maybe these Left/Right divisions are blurring. Any thoughts?

Institute For Justice And Public Interest Law

Activists Have 50 State Trump Protest

By Bob Small

In times of Protest

Musk rat Musk rat

DC’s middle-aged brat

So let’s say you were raised in a time when the belief that Trans Rights were just another component to be added to the hard-won GLB rights, that there was only one side to the wars in the Middle East, that the “guv mint” is the ultimate and only problem solver and we need ever-increasing amounts of it and-suddenly there’s a loud crash!

The 50/50 Movement is a nationwide “grassroots” anti-Trump movement.. They managed to hold 50 protests in 50 states, hence the title. They are working with Our Revolution: HOME, founded for the 2016 Presidential Campaign of Bernie Sanders. Didn’t Presidential Sanders have a nice ring to it Protests happened in Harrisburg and Philly though not in Swarthmore. Where were our Democrats?!

See also Where in Pennsylvania is 50501 movement happening?

Amazingly, not everyone believes in the legitimacy of this movement, understanding that it went from a “grassroots organization to a progressive Democratic organization (see above).

Note:This followed A Day Without Immigrants. To be clear, the Day without Immigrants happened under the Biden./Harris inner interregnum.

There were some injuries during these fifty/fifty events, though none in Philly including one 17-year-old boy who was stabbed. There have not been any updates on his condition, though one witness claimed “the stabbing was unexpected”.

The website is New Subreddit for the 50501 Movement here in Pittsburgh and the Instagram address is We the American People (@50501movement) Many of my generation have stopped at Facebook. Then again, as someone reminded me, this group is more youth-oriented.

Some of the rally participants/slogans were interesting as per 50501. For instance Wisconsin’s 50/50 day included the John Brown Gun Club , Californians had signs “F Elan and the Felon”.Oregonincluded The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, an Ohioan had a sign “Jesus was a refugee”?!,

Let’s leave the last words (partial quote) to Stuart Adams the GOP President of the Utah Senate . We think it’s worth reading   “ I think we need to give him some time to see the results of his action. I think to actually criticize something before the policies actually have a chance to have the effect that they’re trying to achieve, I think is probably premature”.[107]

Activists Have 50 State Trump Protest

Considering The Tenth Amendment

By Bob Small

What does the Tenth Amendment mean?

Constitutional Scholars, of which I am not one, can have discussions about various aspects of the Constitution including the Tenth Amendment. To Quote “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

This led Michael Boldin to start theTenth Amendment Center as we learned about while at The Bill of Rights Banquet. TAC (Tenth Amendment Center) lists various articles but one of the most important,

in our eyes, is the nullification article.

The principles of nullification were first formalized by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison “in the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions of 1798.  “This actually was a pre-revolutionary idea;

Congress used nullification as a way to force the UK Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act.

There is further discussion under the Nullification section.

See also A Founding Father in Dissent.

Most recently Maryland Defend the Guard Act Would Set Foundation to …

There is a movement to prevent “the governor from releasing any unit or member into ”active duty combat” unless an official “act of war” was declared.

See their Blog for other examples.

Now it wouldn’t be fair if we didn’t delve into some critics of Michael Boldin and the Tenth Amendment Center. But these critics need their own facts checked.

Media Bias/Fact Check says the the TAC has a “use of strong appeals in wording” to which we’d reply ” well yeah isn’t that what writers do”.

The SPLC (Southern Poverty Law Center) has an article on Michael Boldin. “Michael Boldin is an ideologue who has spent years promoting the idea that states can “nullify” federal legislation they don’t like — the very same argument pushed by defenders of slavery and segregation, and just as baseless now as it was then,” they say.

However, we also have Abortion Rights Ballot Measures Pass in Seven States – which we haven’t found the SPLC railing against.

Let’s leave us with this question; When is states’ rights rights right and when is states’ rights wrong?

Legislatures Are Home To The Elderly

By Bob Small

One of my favorite “modern” composers, Philip Glass, turned 88 on January 31 and continues to compose.

Listen to here: Philip Glass • Piano Concerto No. 3 (complete).

Having said that, someone of that age might not be nearly as qualified to continue serving in the US Congress, making decisions that affect our lives. Does that qualify as ageism. Possibly.

There were almost 20 members of the US Congress who are at least 80 years old.

We all have to make concessions to age and legislators are not any different from the rest of us.

Then it occurred to me that we should be able to review the same data for Pennsylvania. However when you use Google, Duck Duck Go, or even Perplexity A. I. By the way Perplexity A.I> was perplexed and replied“Based on the provided search results, there is no specific information about Pennsylvania legislators over the age of 70.”

One response was to review every listed member for date of birth,which sounded extremely tedious.

Finally, we received a response from a staffer (who shall remain anonymous) from our local state Sen. Timothy P. Kearney. The staffer left the names by phone. The two oldest legislators are Tina Pickett and Gene Yaw (81) if my source is correct.

My deeper question is “Why was this information so damn difficult to find”?!

This doesn’t apply to New Jersey. See Maps: Ages of New Jersey legislators,

However, Perplexity A.I. is similarly perplexed about Delaware legislators “ Based on the available search results, there is no specific information provided about Delaware state legislators over the age of 70 “

Shouldn’t there be a discussion of term limits for federal and state legislators?Discussion yes. Legislation no

Peronal disclaimer; At my age of three score and fifteen, this writer will be running in the Judge of Election slot as a Swarthmore Republican.

Coda: As a Republican, one probably loses, here.

Legislatures Are Home To The Elderly