Frontier Liberty Blog

Liberty and privacy friendly solutions, alternatives. tools and tips!

[frontierliberty-blog]

Affordable Insurance Outside Obamacare Marketplace

What will we do about insurance if our premiums go up?  This is the question I am hearing more and more as people asking. Recently reported on marketplace.org, Trump's budget proposal includes big cuts in Obamacare subsidies. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, many people on both sides are beginning to worry about changes in the subsidized healthcare rates many have been receiving since Obamacare. Here is one option I use.

Here is one option for healthy people that I use with my family that is immune to changes made by any politician. It is called Christian Healthcare Ministries.

They have three plans:

Bronze: Cost: $45/month Deductible: $5000/incident

Silver: Cost: $85/month Deductible $1000/incident

Gold: Cost: $150/month Deductible $500/incident

My wife and I have the silver plan and our daughter has the gold. CHM is technically a bill-sharing-network, not an insurance, although they function VERY similar (aka the same) to that of an insurance company. But because they are not an insurance company, their premiums do not fluctuate with the political climate of the day. I have been with them since before Obamacare and the market place and their rates were the same as they are today. In fact, participating in a bill-sharing-network qualifies you for an exemption to the individual mandate provided in the Affordable Care Act.

Also, tell them Nick Reed sent you (member # 183303).

[frontierliberty-blog]

Does My Baby Need a Birth Certificate or Social Security Number to get a Passport?

In short, the answer is no. If your baby is anything like ours, he/she will not need a Birth Certificate (ever) and will not need a Social Security Number (SSN) until adulthood. What can one do to establish citizenship and identity? How will we travel? Won't the world come crashing down or men in black suits show up at our door asking for papers?

What follows is our story of how we got a passport (a powerful document which establishes both citizenship and identity) for our daughter without either a birth certificate or social security number.

We had our baby in a birthing center in Austin, TX. For some reason when she was born she looked nothing like the name we picked out for her. The midwives and administrative staff were on standby awaiting our instructions. We didn't want a birth certificate and social security number attached to a name we very well might not use. They told us if we did not pick a name then they would be inserting "Infant" as the first name and applying for us on our behalf. We asked them not to but they refused so we told them very kindly that we would not be signing any paperwork today. We didn't fill out any of the paperwork and explicitly told them not to apply for her a Social Security Number either until we had the naming business sorted out.

They were quite confused and probably afraid of not meeting their reporting requirements as a birthing institution. I could tell because they chased us out of the parking lot, stuffing paperwork in the car window (note: their requirements are met regardless of parent involvement).

With summer fast approaching, my wife began to nudge me to get this whole mess sorted out so we can fly to visit family overseas. I found our daughter's Birth Certificate, which read "Infant Reed." It would have taken a month or more to get this changed and mailed out to even begin the passport application process so I decided to apply without it.  After all, she was born here.

I found what the Passport Agency calls their "Secondary evidence of Identity" and "Secondary Evidence of Citizenship." And while no one at the entire Passport Agency, nor the application processor at the Post Office had ever heard of this and even insisted that my application will be denied, I succeeded and here is how. I gathered every alternative form of documentation I could think of: DS-11, Birth Affidavit, Witness Signatures, Baptismal Record, Doctor Records, Day Care Records, Announcement Cards, Passport Photos, a Private Birth Certificate, Family Bible Record and submitted them with a passport application. But that's not all that was needed.

After submitting the application, I actually received a letter in the mail saying that the documentation I submitted was insufficient to establish citizenship... "please submit a Birth Certificate" and here is how to order your birth certificate...

I called the agency and asked to speak with a supervisor. "I am certain that what I have submitted is not only sufficient but OVERKILL to establish identity and citizenship and have a feeling that because it did not contain primary evidence the processor did not even look at it." I sent her a link to their website and asked for her help and politely to "contact this processor and ask him/her to consider the documents presented as secondary evidence in the place of primary evidence and to please call me if they need any further explanation." I also explained our story and travel dates and plucked her heart strings on how I didn't want to become a "casualty in the bureaucratic process."

She was a very human and compassionate lady and must have wrote one heck of an email on my behalf. I called back a week later saying that I had not received a phone call and to my surprise was informed that this due to the fact that the application had been accepted. The hold had been taken off and the application and had been placed back in queue with all the accepted applications on their way to being printed and shipped.

I couldn't believe it! 

We shortly received her passport in the mail and celebrated with a trip overseas.  Moral of the story? Never make assumptions. What a powerful reminder that "the system" is in fact comprised of humans with hearts and minds and souls, some of whom are just waiting for the opportunity to make someone's day.

This is actually just one of many exemptions, secondary processes and opt-outs I now enjoy as a result of 'not making assumptions' and an unwavering faith in humanity to transcend systems of control. Compassion and respectful understanding are the real liberty enhancing technologies here, not just this secondary evidence process for getting a passport.

By the way, if you don't know where to start Frontier Liberty's own has done it before, and is here to help. Don't hesitate to reach out.

Update: my daughter has not needed a Birth Certificate or a SSN for anything since she was born. Besides traveling, she has not needed the passport either. She goes to doctors, daycares, and all the places other babies go. A Passport establishes both citizenship and identity, it is a powerful document and there is virtually nothing it cannot be used for in place of these other two liberty hostile documents.

When she needs a job, bank account and to do her taxes to avoid IRS mafia encounters, a SSN will be required. Many of these requirements such as the Customer Identification Program have been implemented because of the "temporary" measures put in place after 911 (2001) to combat terrorism. Others are federal funding contingent requirements which states comply with to get money from the Fed like the New Hire Reporting requirements which make SSN reporting by employers required to "track childcare payments[?]" I am hopeful that these temporary measures and funding contingencies will have been repealed by the time she comes of age. If not then my daughter will be set up for the civil rights case of the century and I am excited to give her such a worthy opportunity. That is planning for the future for you. Decision road is hers to walk though. She can ALWAYS get a SSN later but once a SSN has been assigned it cannot be "resent, removed or deleted" unless it is for a child for whom "(1) the number was issued through the Enumeration at Birth (EAB) program; (2) the parent did not request assignment of a Social Security number for the child at that time, and (3) the Social Security number has never been used." The International Social Security Association though just keeps coming up with new and exciting ways of solving world problems through tracking and enumeration of humans, even climate change.

Welcome to the Frontier of Liberty.

About the Author: Nick Reed is the Founder and Lead Consultant at Frontier Liberty, a first of it's kind liberty and privacy consulting service. Frontierliberty.com is a one stop shop for liberty and privacy tools and resources. You can follow Frontier Liberty on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Medium, and StumbleUpon. The original post can be found at www.frontierliberty.com/blog/2017/7/24/2017/7/24/does-my-baby-need-a-birth-certificate-and-social-security-number-to-get-a-passport

[frontierliberty-blog]

Opting-Out of TSA Airport Body Scanners: A Starting-Point for Aspiring Rights Activists

If you are an aspiring civil rights activist and are looking for a good place to get your feet whet, then this is the act for you. Saying these three magic words the next time you are gettingherded through those invasive naked body scanners at the airport and watch as you TSA agents swing open the gates for you, letting you bypass their most prized security feature. What are those three magic words?

"I'm-opting-out."

Here, 'flexing your rights' will NOT result in your arrest, detention or not being allowed to fly. In fact, you win a free massage! Luxury activism. Really.

The scanners were first introduced in response to the infamous underwear bomber.  Back in 2009 a Nigerian man tried to set fire to explosives hidden in his underwear on a Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Scanner manufacturers did not let this opportunity go to waste.

The TSA has been forced to create an alternative procedure for travelers called "opting-out." Tell TSA Agents that you "opt-out" and watch as you bypass their "security" (obedience) measures unscathed and un-scanned.

Opting out at the airport is the easiest and lowest risk way for an aspiring civil rights activist to get his or her feet wet. The risk is slim. Almost everyone just walks up, sticks it to the man and walks away with your first badge. But this opt-ion was bought with the blood, sweat and tears of liberty and privacy warriors in a time when opt out was not always a 'thing.'

As big of a 'thing' as it is now you will more than likely still be the only one doing it. the shy and timid freedom-lover will find a mild rush with this little rite-of passage.

Need some more fuel for your fire? Why opt-out?

CNET: "The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse." Apparently, the TSA actually requires scanners to be able to store pictures of naked bodies. Despite the fact that the TSA publicly stated, "scanned images cannot be stored or recorded" 100's were leaked online in 2010.

Need freedom coaching? Contact us here to see if our services are a good fit for you.

[frontierliberty-blog]

Battered Citizen Syndrome: Are You in an Abusive Relationship With Your Government?

 7 Easy Ways to Tell if Your Government is Abusive

 Most people know what abuse looks like when they see it. But what if the abuse was not coming from an individual, rather from a government? Could you recognize it? Domestic abuse and systemic abuse are two sides of the same coin. One deals with couples, the other deals with governments and citizens. Applying what you know about couples to government can be difficult. Dealing with the macro-level anything means a lot of moving parts. Here is a systemic abuse quiz which make it easy to determine if you are in an abusive relationship with a government. Ask yourself these 7 questions and replace the word “partner” with the word “government. If you score 4 or more then you not only in an abusive relationship with your government but you are able to recognize it.

 1. Does your partner ever threaten or intimidate you into doing actions against your will?

Coercion is one of the most obvious sign of abusive. Coercion can be physical abuse or verbal abuse in the form of demands, threats of negative consequences for noncompliance and/or surveillance. Coercion is a violation of human autonomy and is usually “the stick” in “the stick and the carrot.” Coercion says, if you don't do X then I am going to do Y to you and you're not going to like it. But human autonomy is to be respected regardless who the other entity in the relationship is, therefor this question should be effective in determining if there is an issue of abuse between couples as well as governments and citizens.

Ask yourself, is there anything that you do to avoid “the stick” coming from your government? Is there anything that the government makes you do or threatens that if you don't do it they will use force against you. Is there anything that the government threatens to take from you if you don't give to them? If so, add 1 point to your scorecard.

 2. Has your partner ever kept you from getting a job, or caused you to lose a job?

Question number 2 is a typical question used by domestic violence advocates and counselors to determine if there is economic abuse. Economic abuse is a form of abuse where one has control over the other's access to economic resources, which can impact the victims ability to support him/herself and forces him/her to depend on the perpetrator in one way or another.

But what about your government? Are you able to work with who ever you please whenever you please without strings attached? Does your government control your access to economic resources? Is there anything that the government requires of you which makes you depend on it for economic access? If so, add 1 point to your scorecard.

 3. Do you need your partner's permission to drive to the store or travel?

Question 3 is about isolation. Isolation is about restricting what you do, who you see, or what you read. The capacity to isolate a victim is the capacity to control their outside involvement. Isolation is 'divide and conquer.' If one is dependent on the other for permission to come and go as he/she pleases then his/her activities, destinations, and contacts are more likely to be limited to those approved by the perpetrator or risk loss of access to travel.

What about your relationship with government? Does your government engage in dividing and conquering either foreign or domestic? Can you drive to the store or travel without getting permission from your government? Are there some places you would not go, people you would not go meet, or things you would not go do because it might not be approved of by your government? Are there things which you either do or don't do in order to avoid having your right to travel restricted? If so, you can add one point to your scorecard.

 4. Would you feel anxious or afraid if you were to try and leave or end the relationship with your partner? Has your partner ever threatened to hurt you or him/herself if you were to leave?

The questions here assess the degree to which a relationship is voluntary in nature. To be healthy, a relationship must be entered into by both parties knowingly and voluntarily (as in any valid contract) and either party is able to absolve the relationship at any time for any reason. Anything other than this is at best unhealthy and at worst jealous, abusive and controlling. Extreme jealousy and possessiveness lead many perpetrators to either harm or threaten harm if the other partner tries to leave or stifle independence through the creation of physical, emotional, psychological and economic dependency so as to make it as difficult as possible. This feels like walking on egg shells in the former case and trapped and cornered in the latter.

But what about your relationship to government? Is it voluntary in nature? Did you enter into the relationship knowingly and voluntarily? Are you able to absolve the relationship at anytime for any reason? Are you able to enter into relationship with others (expatriate) or remain single (in a relationship with no governments) if you wish? Does your government ever do things to prevent you from leaving the relationship? Do you feel so physically, emotionally, psychologically or economically dependent on your government (or any government) that you could not leave if you wished? If so, add 1 point to your score card.

 5. Does your partner often rationalize controlling behavior as "over-concern for your safety" or because of your “lack of good decision making skills?"

Excuses rationalization and blame are all hallmarks of abuse. Perpetrators can be very manipulative and often will lie and use any available vulnerabilities to keep control over their victims. Creating real or perceived threats to safety are often used to justify controlling behavior while suppressing partner’s independence and access to information can justify treatment as an object or child. They work so well because often people will look for any explanation for abuse and we often don't see the larger pattern and context in which abuse occurs. If each incidence of control or manipulation can be seen as an isolated occurrence, then they can be rationalized as a fluke reaction to a certain problem like the perceived threat to safety or partner's lack of necessary information. Abusers often use their “problems” as weapons of control. It may sound like, “you should know I don't like/allow that,” “you're making me do this,” “your doing this to yourself,” “you know you'll just make bad choices.”

What is your relationship to government look like? Does your government ever lie or withhold information from you to “protect” you? Does your government claim it needs to make decisions for you because you just have “poor decision making skills?” Does your government ever use a problem or event to justify controlling and abusive behavior? If so, add 1 point to your scorecard.

 6. Do you feel anxious or afraid to publicly disagree with your partner or openly disclose some of the things your partner is doing?

Knowledge is power. Knowledge can be used for you or against you, for better or worse. Abusers gain control when their abusive behavior kept in the dark and nobody knows about it. Once brought into the light, the abusers control is threatened by natural human compassion. Exposing abuse enables support and works against isolation tactics. Often perpetrators will go to great lengths to intimidate, threaten, minimize, discredit and even limit outside contact in order to keep control in the dark.

How about your relationship with your government? Has your government ever done anything to keep it's abusive behavior in the dark? Has it ever used intimidation or threats in order to avoid exposure for abuse? Does your government minimize, discredit, twist or try to restrict speaking out against its wrong doings? If so, add one point to your scorecard.

 7. Is there a recognizable pattern of abuse in your partner's past relationships?

This questions is used to determine whether or not an incidence is an isolated occurrence or an expression of abuse when seen in a larger context. Assessing behavior over time and in past relationships can help shed light on behavior assumed to be disconnected in its cause from other controlling behaviors. Too often a single act may be interpreted as isolated occurrence which is always easier to justify than when in conjunction with a pattern expressed over a span of time and in a variety of different ways.

So what about your government? Does it have a history of respecting others independence and integrity (sovereignty)? Does your government have any abusive behaviors it has exhibited through out history regardless of who or what party is in charge? Do isolated actions which otherwise can be justified by some special problem or cause suddenly create a pattern of abuse when when looked at as a whole? If so, add another point to your score card.

Now that you have completed the 7 question quiz on systemic abuse, count up the points on your scorecard. What did your government score? A “0” means your relationship to your government is more than likely OK. The absence of an unhealthy relationship does not necessarily preclude a healthy one.

If your government scored a 1-4, your relationship with government is unhealthy at best and abusive at worst. The accuracy of your score will also rely heavily on how aware you are of your government and how it effects you and other citizens. Often when a person grows up in a multi-generational abusive environment it can become very difficult to discern what is healthy and not, even with a simple abuse quiz like this one! Poor souls such as this too often mistake the shadows for the objects that cast them.

A score of 4 or higher signifies a highly toxic and and abusive environment. It is more than likely you are feeling stuck, trapped, walking on egg shells, paranoia, and or depressed and hopeless. You're need for trust, autonomy, independence, emotional and physical safety and financial security are not being met and you will likely benefit from having tools to help you regain independence.

Frontier Liberty a highly curated directory of tools and resources as well as consulting services designed to help you protect/enhance your liberty, decrease dependency on involuntary systems and solve problems through the free market rather than bigger government.

  About the Author: Nick Reed is the Founder and Lead Consultant at Frontier Liberty, a first of it's kind liberty and privacy consulting service. Frontierliberty.com is a one stop shop for liberty and privacy tools and resources. You can follow Frontier Liberty on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Medium, and StumbleUpon.

Sources:

↑ http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined

↑ http://www.ncadv.org/need-support/what-is-domestic-violence

↑ http://www.ncadv.org/need-support/what-is-domestic-violence

↑ http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined

↑ http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined

↑ http://www.apa.org/topics/sexual-abuse/

↑ http://www.loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/types-of-abuse/#tab-id-2

↑ http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/10/13/21-warning-signs-of-an-emotionally-abusive-relationship/

↑ http://theduluthmodel.org/pdf/PowerandControl.pdf

↑ http://www.loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/types-of-abuse/#tab-id-5

↑ http://safeharborsfl.org/domestic-violence/teen-dating-violence/characteristics-of-abusers-and-victims

↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/02/07/us-violence-domestic-usa-idUSN0737896320080207

↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/02/07/us-violence-domestic-usa-idUSN0737896320080207

↑ http://www.ncadv.org/need-support/what-is-domestic-violence

↑ http://westislandwomensshelter.org/home/early-warning-signs-and-early-beginnings-of-an-abusive-relationship/

↑ http://www.biomedsearch.com/article/essential-elements-healthy-relationship-Relationships/99514103.html

↑ http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/domestic-violence-and-abuse.htm

↑ http://www.newhopeforwomen.org/abuser-tricks

↑ http://theduluthmodel.org/pdf/PowerandControl.pdf

↑ http://westislandwomensshelter.org/home/early-warning-signs-and-early-beginnings-of-an-abusive-relationship/

↑ http://stoprelationshipabuse.org/educated/warning-signs-of-abuse/

↑ http://www.domesticviolence.org/what-can-i-do-to-be-safe/

↑ http://www.domesticviolence.org/personal-protection-orders/

↑ http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/Certified%20Batterer%20Intervention%20Programs.pdf

[frontierliberty-blog]

Battered Citizen Syndrome: 7 Easy Ways to Tell if You’re in an Abusive Relationship With Your Government

Most people know what abuse looks like when they see it. But what if the abuse was not coming from an individual, rather from a government? Could you recognize it? Domestic abuse and systemic abuse are two sides of the same coin. One deals with couples, the other deals with governments and citizens. Applying what you know about couples to government can be difficult. Dealing with the macro-level anything means a lot of moving parts. Here is a systemic abuse quiz which make it easy to determine if you are in an abusive relationship with a government. Ask yourself these 7 questions and replace the word “partner” with the word “government. If you score 4 or more then you not only in an abusive relationship with your government but you are able to recognize it.

1. Does your partner ever threaten or intimidate you into doing actions against your will?                                                

Coercion is one of the most obvious sign of abusive. Coercion can be physical abuse or verbal abuse in the form of demands, threats of negative consequences for noncompliance and/or surveillance. Coercion is a violation of human autonomy and is usually “the stick” in “the stick and the carrot.” Coercion says, if you don't do X then I am going to do Y to you and you're not going to like it. But human autonomy is to be respected regardless who the other entity in the relationship is, therefor this question should be effective in determining if there is an issue of abuse between couples as well as governments and citizens.

Ask yourself, is there anything that you do to avoid “the stick” coming from your government? Is there anything that the government makes you do or threatens that if you don't do it they will use force against you. Is there anything that the government threatens to take from you if you don't give to them? If so, add 1 point to your scorecard.

2. Has your partner ever kept you from getting a job, or caused you to lose a job?

Question number 2 is a typical question used by domestic violence advocates and counselors to determine if there is economic abuse. Economic abuse is a form of abuse where one has control over the other's access to economic resources, which can impact the victims ability to support him/herself and forces him/her to depend on the perpetrator in one way or another.

But what about your government? Are you able to work with who ever you please whenever you please without strings attached? Does your government control your access to economic resources? Is there anything that the government requires of you which makes you depend on it for economic access? If so, add 1 point to your scorecard.

3. Do you need your partner's permission to drive to the store or travel?                                              

Question 3 is about isolation. Isolation is about restricting what you do, who you see, or what you read. The capacity to isolate a victim is the capacity to control their outside involvement. Isolation is 'divide and conquer.' If one is dependent on the other for permission to come and go as he/she pleases then his/her activities, destinations, and contacts are more likely to be limited to those approved by the perpetrator or risk loss of access to travel.

What about your relationship with government? Does your government engage in dividing and conquering either foreign or domestic? Can you drive to the store or travel without getting permission from your government? Are there some places you would not go, people you would not go meet, or things you would not go do because it might not be approved of by your government? Are there things which you either do or don't do in order to avoid having your right to travel restricted? If so, you can add one point to your scorecard.

4. Would you feel anxious or afraid if you were to try and leave or end the relationship with your partner? Has your partner ever threatened to hurt you or him/herself if you were to leave?                                              

The questions here assess the degree to which a relationship is voluntary in nature. To be healthy, a relationship must be entered into by both parties knowingly and voluntarily (as in any valid contract) and either party is able to absolve the relationship at any time for any reason. Anything other than this is at best unhealthy and at worst jealous, abusive and controlling. Extreme jealousy and possessiveness lead many perpetrators to either harm or threaten harm if the other partner tries to leave or stifle independence through the creation of physical, emotional, psychological and economic dependency so as to make it as difficult as possible. This feels like walking on egg shells in the former case and trapped and cornered in the latter.

But what about your relationship to government? Is it voluntary in nature? Did you enter into the relationship knowingly and voluntarily? Are you able to absolve the relationship at anytime for any reason? Are you able to enter into relationship with others (expatriate) or remain single (in a relationship with no governments) if you wish? Does your government ever do things to prevent you from leaving the relationship? Do you feel so physically, emotionally, psychologically or economically dependent on your government (or any government) that you could not leave if you wished? If so, add 1 point to your score card.

5. Does your partner often rationalize controlling behavior as "over-concern for your safety" or because of your “lack of good decision making skills?"                                              

Excuses rationalization and blame are all hallmarks of abuse. Perpetrators can be very manipulative and often will lie and use any available vulnerabilities to keep control over their victims. Creating real or perceived threats to safety are often used to justify controlling behavior while suppressing partner’s independence and access to information can justify treatment as an object or child. They work so well because often people will look for any explanation for abuse and we often don't see the larger pattern and context in which abuse occurs. If each incidence of control or manipulation can be seen as an isolated occurrence, then they can be rationalized as a fluke reaction to a certain problem like the perceived threat to safety or partner's lack of necessary information. Abusers often use their “problems” as weapons of control. It may sound like, “you should know I don't like/allow that,” “you're making me do this,” “your doing this to yourself,” “you know you'll just make bad choices.”

What is your relationship to government look like? Does your government ever lie or withhold information from you to “protect” you? Does your government claim it needs to make decisions for you because you just have “poor decision making skills?” Does your government ever use a problem or event to justify controlling and abusive behavior? If so, add 1 point to your scorecard.

6. Do you feel anxious or afraid to publicly

disagree

with your partner or openly disclose some of the things your partner is doing?                                              

Knowledge is power. Knowledge can be used for you or against you, for better or worse. Abusers gain control when their abusive behavior kept in the dark and nobody knows about it. Once brought into the light, the abusers control is threatened by natural human compassion. Exposing abuse enables support and works against isolation tactics. Often perpetrators will go to great lengths to intimidate, threaten, minimize, discredit and even limit outside contact in order to keep control in the dark.

How about your relationship with your government? Has your government ever done anything to keep it's abusive behavior in the dark? Has it ever used intimidation or threats in order to avoid exposure for abuse? Does your government minimize, discredit, twist or try to restrict speaking out against its wrong doings? If so, add one point to your scorecard.

7. Is there a recognizable pattern of abuse in your partner's

past

relationships?                                              

This questions is used to determine whether or not an incidence is an isolated occurrence or an expression of abuse when seen in a larger context. Assessing behavior over time and in past relationships can help shed light on behavior assumed to be disconnected in its cause from other controlling behaviors. Too often a single act may be interpreted as isolated occurrence which is always easier to justify than when in conjunction with a pattern expressed over a span of time and in a variety of different ways.

So what about your government? Does it have a history of respecting others independence and integrity (sovereignty)? Does your government have any abusive behaviors it has exhibited through out history regardless of who or what party is in charge? Do isolated actions which otherwise can be justified by some special problem or cause suddenly create a pattern of abuse when when looked at as a whole? If so, add another point to your score card.

Now that you have completed the 7 question quiz on systemic abuse, count up the points on your scorecard. What did your government score? A “0” means your relationship to your government is more than likely OK. The absence of an unhealthy relationship does not necessarily preclude a healthy one.

If your government scored a 1-4, your relationship with government is unhealthy at best and abusive at worst. The accuracy of your score will also rely heavily on how aware you are of your government and how it effects you and other citizens. Often when a person grows up in a multi-generational abusive environment it can become very difficult to discern what is healthy and not, even with a simple abuse quiz like this one! Poor souls such as this too often mistake the shadows for the objects that cast them.

A score of 4 or higher signifies a highly toxic and and abusive environment. It is more than likely you are feeling stuck, trapped, walking on egg shells, paranoia, and or depressed and hopeless. You're need for trust, autonomy, independence, emotional and physical safety and financial security are not being met and you will likely benefit from having tools to help you regain independence.

Frontier Liberty a highly curated directory of tools and resources as well as consulting services designed to help you protect/enhance your liberty, decrease dependency on involuntary systems and solve problems through the free market rather than bigger government.

Frontier Liberty Blog RSS

About the Author: Nick Reed is the Founder and Lead Consultant at Frontier Liberty, a first of it's kind liberty and privacy consulting service. Frontierliberty.com is a one stop shop for liberty and privacy tools and resources. You can follow Frontier Liberty on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, Twitter, Medium, and StumbleUpon.

Sources:

↑ http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined

↑ http://www.ncadv.org/need-support/what-is-domestic-violence

↑ http://www.ncadv.org/need-support/what-is-domestic-violence

↑ http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined

↑ http://www.thehotline.org/is-this-abuse/abuse-defined

↑ http://www.apa.org/topics/sexual-abuse/

↑ http://www.loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/types-of-abuse/#tab-id-2

↑ http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/10/13/21-warning-signs-of-an-emotionally-abusive-relationship/

↑ http://theduluthmodel.org/pdf/PowerandControl.pdf

↑ http://www.loveisrespect.org/is-this-abuse/types-of-abuse/#tab-id-5

↑ http://safeharborsfl.org/domestic-violence/teen-dating-violence/characteristics-of-abusers-and-victims

↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/02/07/us-violence-domestic-usa-idUSN0737896320080207

↑ http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/02/07/us-violence-domestic-usa-idUSN0737896320080207

↑ http://www.ncadv.org/need-support/what-is-domestic-violence

↑ http://westislandwomensshelter.org/home/early-warning-signs-and-early-beginnings-of-an-abusive-relationship/

↑ http://www.biomedsearch.com/article/essential-elements-healthy-relationship-Relationships/99514103.html

↑ http://www.helpguide.org/articles/abuse/domestic-violence-and-abuse.htm

↑ http://www.newhopeforwomen.org/abuser-tricks

↑ http://theduluthmodel.org/pdf/PowerandControl.pdf

↑ http://westislandwomensshelter.org/home/early-warning-signs-and-early-beginnings-of-an-abusive-relationship/

↑ http://stoprelationshipabuse.org/educated/warning-signs-of-abuse/

↑ http://www.domesticviolence.org/what-can-i-do-to-be-safe/

↑ http://www.domesticviolence.org/personal-protection-orders/

↑ http://www.futureswithoutviolence.org/userfiles/file/Children_and_Families/Certified%20Batterer%20Intervention%20Programs.pdf

[frontierliberty-blog]

New changes to Freedom-of-Information-Act Requests

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2017/01/still-looking-new-years-resolution-join-eff-foia-early-and-often

[frontierliberty-blog]

My wife memory has gotten better since pregnancy, she even developed special talents. Watch her time travel right before your eyes! #supernatural #swedesgonewild #photographicmemory #noidea #fml

[frontierliberty-blog]

Today I gave testimony at the Sunset Advisory Commission hearing on the Texas medical Board. At some point I realized attached I had become fixated on achieving a certain outcome and nearly forgot to enjoy the whole thing. But to hear Tony compare the TMB to a 'kid on Christmas... on their best behavior now that sunset is here...' how could anyone keep their composure:) Thank you Tony, you keep it real while keeping it light:) #tonyisabadass #kidonchristmas #tmb #burzynski #activism #texasrighttoknow #libertarian #constitution #limitedgovernment #frontierliberty (at Texas State Capitol)

[frontierliberty-blog]

Stop Financial Tracking and Profiling using These Privacy Tools

Ever seen those TV crime shows where police are able to find a missing person or a killer by tracing their last credit card transaction? The reality is more fact than fiction. Government agencies, credit bureaus and a number of other nefarious entities both foreign and domestic are engaged in spying, profiling and discriminating against individuals who's transactions exhibit risky behavior.

Known as behavioral modeling, data mining and psychographic behavior analysis, the monitoring of customer/citizen spending trends has been has been happening since the first credit/debit cards were issued. Credit card issuers use transaction history to make re-pricing decisions as well as credit line adjustment decisions. Government agencies use it to make determinations about an individuals threat level and what list to put you on for buying a pressure cooker and too much soap.

The author of an article published by CreditCards.com wrote "Representatives from the four top credit card issuers -- Bank of America, Citi, Chase and Wells Fargo -- declined to discuss details of how they use purchasing data internally. Many consider this highly proprietary information. A spokeswoman from a banking industry trade group acknowledged that the practice is common."

An internal branch of the NSA known as “Follow the Money” (FTM), monitors “international payments, banking and credit card transactions" according to German news source Der Spiegel (September 15th, 2013). When questioned, the NSA admitted to tracking financial information saying it only tracked potential terrorist financing and terror networks.

"This information is collected through regulatory, law enforcement, diplomatic, and intelligence channels, as well as through undertakings with cooperating foreign allies and partners" he says.

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), has over 10,000 banking organizations in 212 countries and is one of those “cooperating” allies .

Financial information is stored in the NSA databank Tracfin. (likely named after the French database created in 1990 'Tracfin' which was for tracking illegal financial transactions. In 2011, Tracfin contained 180 million records. Some 84 percent of the data is from credit card transactions” like the ones you will make this Christmas. Further, it appears that the NSA has been tracking the Visa credit card system, according to the documents leaked by Snowden.

Cash is very hard to trace but has obvious limitations like being unable to make online transactions. Cash is great for privacy in Point of Sale POS transactions.

 Solutions?

Here are 2 things (besides cash) that anybody can do to solve these problems right now using tools available to them in the free market.

Card Masking Services

There is only one card masking service in the game right now and that is Abine's service Blur. Blur enables an individual to make masked online purchases. Blur prompts you when you are checking out to mask your card and can generate a one time card in the amount of your purchase with a one time use card number, CVC #, expiration date, their billing address and whatever name on it you would like. All that shows up in transaction history is a charge to Abine.com. Of course, this is NOT a service for criminal activity but it IS a great tool for stopping warrantless surveillance of spending habits online.

Visa Gift Cards

Visa Gift Cards can be used POS as well as online transactions. Most Visa Gift Cards however require a social security number (SSN) to activate which prevents anonymity. Fortunately, there are still a couple exceptions which makes them one of the best little known financial privacy tools available.

VISA VANILLA

Visa Vanilla is a pre-paid credit card that offers anonymity with financial transactions and can be purchased cash requiring no personal identifying information from most corner stores, drug stores and grocery stores in the US. It can be used with almost all merchants where visa is accepted but require registration online through their website to use in online transactions. Can be loaded in amounts between (20 500 dollars). Tip: Pay for gas inside or it will automatically charge $75 to your card. They also cannot be reloaded.

SIMON VISA GIFT CARD

Simon Visa Gift Card is a non reloadable prepaid visa gift card that can be used at all merchants that accept visa. A great alternative to banks. This will let you make online purchases with privacy. They take up to $500, accept cash, and don’t ask for a name, nor address or SSN to set up. Their malls are everywhere and web interface lets you connect any name and address you want to each card, so you can use them with merchants that do AVS checks which means anonymous online purchases. (Note: will not help with masking physical addresses in shipping of products.)

And there you have it! You wont find better solutions than this to stop financial tracking, profiling and discrimination.

Sign up for our newsletter to receive updates about new tools and solutions here!

For more online privacy tools see here.

[frontierliberty-blog]

Frontier Liberty meetup tonight at 7pm. Stop profiling and tracking with financial privacy tools for online and offline privacy. Lean how, it's easy with these tricks? http://tinyurl.com/hudmpq2 (at SquareRüt Kava Bar Lamar)

[frontierliberty-blog]

Live talking about community crime prevention around 5pm on Come And Talk it. Call In Live (512) 643 - 5483. Listen Live On Air Sundays from 4 to 5:30 PM on Austin's TALK 1370 AM.

[frontierliberty-blog]

Community Crime Prevention: Phasing out Police

Police brutality and excessive use of force are on the rise as police receive an increasingly high concentration of trauma because communities rely on them exclusively to prevent crime. Here are a number of things communities can do right now to make police obsolete and solve the problem of police brutality through the free-market rather than bigger government (fox watching the hen-house).. Take back your right to self-police and bolster the ability of individuals to self-govern.

Burglar Bars

Burglar bars dont have to be prison bar style cages, they can be stylish and even appear to be shutters or blinds. Clear polycarbonate burglar bars are available as well and can be done yourself with polycarbonate from the local hardware store.

For preventing break-ins, burglar bars are second to none in crime prevention especially when they are on the inside of the window. The glass breaks and notifies you of the break in, but doesn't allow the burglar entry (unless the unsuspecting burglar has brought a hacksaw). Stylish gate-like burglar bars can be put in front of doors as well, ensuring all points of entry are covered.

Quick release measures are an option for burglar bars, allowing residents to exit from the inside in the case of a fire as well.

Door Reinforcements

If burglar bars are too much for your doors, you can use door reinforcements to ensure that the door cannot be kicked in. Door reinforcements reinforce the locks and hinges and when installed properly, your door can withstand thousands more pounds of pressure.

Door reinforcements are also helpful for people who have sliding glass doors on the back or side of their house which are difficult to secure. Door reinforcements can be placed on the inside of a room in the house to create a safe room. This enables residents to have a place they can go in the house that is secure from any intruder in the case of break-in.

Alarm Systems

Installing home alarm systems can alert you, authorities but most importantly neighbors to any break-in but scary noises do not stop break-ins, only deter them. If you are unable to install an alarm, if you have a car alarm that can be activated from a wireless key-chain, keep one on you or in your safe room and you can set off your own alarm to alert neighbors of a break in. Of course, this only works if you have communicated to your neighbors what the car alarm could mean, otherwise they may just put ear plugs in.

Personal Protection: Fire-Arm

Personal protection comes in a variety of forms and is important because it enhances ones ability to protect oneself and ones community members when in danger and unable to use the safeguard of a car or house. Public places, traveling to and from home, work, the car, the store, the dentist, are all examples of places where individuals are vulnerable and personal protection can enables communities to take back some of the responsibilities we have subjugated away to a few select police officers.The fire-arm is the one most people think of because it is very effective. It is effective because it gives anyone access to deadly force at the flick of a finger, literally, and with proper training and handling, can be very useful in community crime prevention when facing criminals with fire-arms.

To see gun carry laws by state, see here.

Other forms of personal protection include pepper spray, knives, night sticks, tazersand others.

Self- Defense Skills

There are no guns in the swimming pool. Likewise, there are a number of instances where fire-arms and other forms of personal protection are always less viable than good old fashion self-defense skills.

Hand combat skills are very empowering for both individuals and communities. I cannot tell you how many times I have felt confident intervening in acts of domestic violence and bullying because I am capable of defending myself and others. While a tumble with an abuser might be traumatic for a grandma, it can be very gratifying and empowering for a grandson able to defend his loved ones which is something missing from communities and families lives today.

There is no shortage of training available today for the average individual. Anything from the high school wrestling team to Kravmaga. For a still not comprehensive list of various martial arts, see here.

 Citizen's Arrest

Citizens Arrest is a right which is endangered because it is not being exercised. Citizens arrests have historically made up a significant percentage of felony arrests since medieval times, it is only recently that arrests have become an act absent in our culture and communities. Yet still, almost every state (see here for state by state laws on citizens arrest) has laws specifically protecting the right of citizens to make an arrest.

Little known laws codified into the statues of almost every state allow citizen's to make warrant-less arrests for felonies and breaches of the peace (some even for misdemeanors like theft). Today communities and individuals remain exclusively dependent on sworn peace officers for protection, mostly for fear of legal repercussions.

But exercising such a right requires the utmost attention to one's local laws about lawful arrest, detention, what constitutes a felony crime or breach of the peace. There are some significant differences between arrests made by sworn peace officers and private citizens. Citizens arrest" is a warrant-less arrest made by someone other than a sworn peace officer. While law enforcement can detain someone based on reasonable suspicion, a private citizen cannot. Citizen arrests can only be made for crimes (typically felony) occurring in his or her presence. Check your local state laws to knowledge-up before doing this.

Zip-Ties

While hand-Cuffs are bulky, heavy and often require a batman belt to carry around like police, Zip-Ties are very inexpensive, light weight and portable tool which can be be employed in community crime prevention and citizen's arrest.

   Cameras

Security cameras are a very effective to identify as well as deter offenders vandalizing and/or burglarizing your house. Dash-cameras are just as effective at documenting criminal activity in your car and both can be used to document events when trying to stop a crime.

I have a dash camera in my car which is also my Go-Pro I take with me when I am surfing. Technology has come to the point where hardly will you find a single function device and enables communities to communicate, document and protect themselves easier than ever before. Which brings me to my next tool.

Using Your Smart-Phone

One of the best things about community crime prevention in the 21st century is that almost everybody has a panic button in their pocket or purse at any given moment in time. Apps like Fivo Cam, Ustream, and Bambuser give you access to live video and audio streaming to a secure offsite server at the touch of a button. This way, if your phone is lost or destroyed, the documentation can be retrieved online.  Peace Keeper and Cell411 allow communities to organize and request help whenever there's a problem using real-time emergency management platforms. Its Uber for community crime prevention. Cell411 has a Panic Button you can buy to make it even easier than pulling out your phone. With the App Iwitness all you have to do is shake your phone, and it will alert both community members and the authorities you are in danger with your location, turn on the phone's light, sound an alarm, live video stream to a secure off-site server. Cell 411 allows for real-time tracking and navigation to lead your community to where ever you are.

If you have a smart phone, there is really no reason you should not have one of these apps with the contacts of your neighbors, friends and family in it. that is of course if you know your neighbors.

Personal Relationship

With social media, phones and email, who needs to have friends in real life? It is a growing trend now that people don't feel the need to know their neighbors or have any real ties to their local community at all. This is at our detriment. Police and many other government agencies are largely nothing but a substitute for our lack of community and first hand knowledge and personal relationship. We trust police because they have a badge just like we trust doctors because they have a license and a white coat but truth is that we dont know them at all and they dont know us. Excessive force and cases of "wrong guy" can easily be solved by crime prevention which employs first responders with personal relationship and knowledge of the people involved when possible.

You must get to know what the people in your community need in order to help one another so get to know your neighbors and build relationships with them so we can start solving this problem of the high concentration of trauma effecting police's ability to respond with appropriate force.

How can I do that? Have a potluck, block party, bring them a casserole, bring up their trash can, exchange contact info, borrow salt from them instead of going to the grocery store next time you are out. Be a human being in short.

Knowing your neighbors and being involved in your community enables individuals to solve problems which lead to criminal behavior in the first place. Maybe the Johnsons just got laid off and are in a high needs situation which is conducive to crime. Maybe the kid at the end of the block is having family problems and could use someone to talk to. Use your heart, exercise that muscle in the way it was intended, that is, using it for more than pumping blood to your judging brain.

Conflict Resolution Training

Lastly, which should be firstly, learn to defuse situations and solve problems outside of the criminal justice system which, right now we rely on exclusively to handle this, knowing that it is a racket, because communities do not have the skills or culture for it! 

Non-Violent Communication has a proven trackrecord and is my choice communication tool I employ when facing high tension situations. It focuses on the feelings and needs at the root of the conflict, allowing me to knock down walls that block empathy and the opportunity to uncover more effective ways of getting needs met than violence and destructiveness.

These communication skills have been used to settle multi generational feuds between waring tribes in Africa as well as were employed to diffuse tension during desegregation a half a century ago here in the US.

Trainings and meetup groups exist in virtually every major city in the world and resources can be found all over the internet for interested communities.

The police are becoming militarized and communities are relying on them too much to prevent crimes. It is time to take back our power and responsibility ourselves. Community crime prevention is not just empowering to communities, it is highly beneficial to police forces as well who currently bear the heavy burden exclusively creating a wealth of other problems because of the trauma of high exposure. They feel like they are in a war zone when they respond to crime all day everyday and it is all they see. They may be the only ones making arrests these days, but they are hardly the only ones capable. It should be a right of passage into adulthood or at least manhood to be able to protect yourself and your family from an offender, not a specialized profession far removed from communities.

[frontierliberty-blog]

We cannot change the system if we are dependent on the very system we are trying to change. That is why people need alternatives. #selfgovernance #givepeoplealternatives #bethechange #agorism #voluntaryism #votedontcount #optout

[frontierliberty-blog]

Get a baptismal certificate in the Catholic Church without a birth certificate? Yes you can! Watch me. Getting a passport without a birth certificate requires other forms of identification such as a baptism certificate. baptismal certificate requires a birth certificate... that is canon law.. unless you look up the exceptions in the hall of records like I did:) #livefree #nobirthcertificate #sovereign (at St Williams Catholic Church Round Rock Texas)

[frontierliberty-blog]

Ikea know what's up... #911wasaninsidejob (at IKEA USA)

[frontierliberty-blog]

3 minutes in the ring: Frontier Liberty vs Texas Medical Board (TMB) Just went off on TMB with Tony and Mike for using "standard-of-care" to suppress alternative treatments. Too much fun. #righttotry #righttoknow #frontierliberty #activism #alternativemedicine #burzynski #cancercure (at Texas Medical Board)

[frontierliberty-blog]

Decentralized Alternatives to State Medical Boards

State medical boards are full of corruption and are constantly getting caught suppressing alternative treatments. But how else can we have quality control in the medical industry? Is there any alternative that is less liberty hostile? There is! These consumer reporting and rating sites decentralize the quality control and let you solve this problem through the free market rather than big government.

Quality control in the medical industry is done primarily by state medical boards. These boards hold doctors accountable and have been tasked with protecting patients from medical malpractice. Unfortunately though, they have also been the gatekeepers of medical innovation and advancements. Through licensing and the narrowly defined "standard of care," medical boards have been systematically suppressing alternative treatments and cures in favor of special interests. But what else could people do to determine a doctors qualification, reputation, and track record besides a government agency to give their stamp of approval? The answer is doctor rating sites/apps.

Over the past decade, people have been turning to consumer reporting sites to decide whether they should use a good or service. For example, when you want to try a new restaurant, do you look up their license to see if they have the OK from the-man or do you look at their rating on Yelp or somewhere similar?

Across the globe, these decentralized consumer reporting sites have been changing the way that people approach quality control in a variety of industries. Yelp in the food and beverage industry, Uber rating system vs government taxi license, and now rate-my-doctor sites which are the yelp of the medical industry.

There are a number of these sites available, some having been around almost a decade. Almost every doctor has been rated on one or another of these sites and cares more about his reputation and rating more than his license, more and more at least as things change.

If you are looking for a medical quality control alternative to the tyrannical state medical boards we have now, check out one of these sites the next time you need a good doctor in your area and watch the old ways of government coercion fade into the sunset.

ratemds.com

healthgrades.com

ratemydoctors.com

vitals.com

drscore.com

doctorscorecard.com

doctors.healthgrove.com

patientrate.com

healthcarereviews.com

zocdoc.com

drsocial.org

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