Yes, I Still Oppose The Lockdown — Principles and Fear in the Age of COVID-19

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
April 22, 2020

On March 24, I wrote one of my most controversial articles. "Two Hundred And Thirty Years Of Rights And Liberties Shredded: Why I Oppose The Lockdown."

Of course, nothing said in the article should ever be considered controversial. I merely stated my opposition to the "Lockdowns" taking place all across the country, the violations of the 1st and 4th Amendments, and the deliberate crashing of the economy. In a well-educated rational society, such a statement would raise no eyebrows and even agreement would be expressed in the generic, "yes, of course" manner. But a well-educated rational society we do not have. In its place, is a society of emotion and fear and that is perhaps the most dangerous kind. 

In response to my article, I was treated to the typical responses that one might expect in the latter type of society. I saw criticism that I was putting money over people, claims that I was ignoring the severity of the virus, and insinuations that I was selfishly holding on to "rights" that apparently only exist in times of peace, prosperity, and good health. Further absurd accusations came that anyone who opposed the "lockdown" is a right wing extremist or even a neo-Nazi. 

On numerous instances, I was arrogantly challenged by another writer to "give it a week" and see if my position is still the same. Presumably, the virus outbreak would have worsened by then and I would be so horrified by the death and horror around me, I would retract my previous position about rights being sacred and come to love Big Brother. In a week, I would acknowledge that 2 + 2 = 5 and join the masses calling for lockdowns and shutdowns and whatever else "authorities" have in store for us. 

Well, it's been nearly a moth and my position is the same. It will be the same in another week and in another. What my critics, of course, fail to understand is that, if one has rights, those rights do not take a back seat to their fear of getting sick, being a victim of a terror attack, or of dying by any means. Ever. 

How Will America End? A Bang, A Whimper, Or Something Else

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
April 16, 2020

Hope is a wonderful thing. Even in the darkest of times, hope gives us the strength to keep working toward a goal in the face of impossibility or to keep fighting for life even though all evidence points to the contrary. Hope is what can lead to miracles, to beauty, and to revolutions.

But hope can be a treacherous thing as well. It can blind those standing on train tracks to believe that the train heading towards them will stop in time or to believe, despite hearing the whistle as clear as day, that the light at the end of the tunnel is not a train at all. It can fool people living in unbearable circumstances, who are listening to their own governments denounce them as criminals and parasites worthy of eradication to believe that things are going to get better. Things will get better, in their mind, because they have to.

Despite everything I have seen from all levels of government in the US, the mainstream media, and worst of all, from the American people, I still have to admit that I have hope that my country will realize the error of its ways and attempt to return to some sense of sanity and normalcy. I hope that the American people realize that deliberately crashing our economy, shredding the Bill of Rights, and placing the majority of the population on house arrest was not only a bad idea but an act of treason on the part of government officials and a terrifying lesson in why government by emotion, outrage mob, and fear always leads to the same thing - the imposition of tyranny, the erosion and elimination of civil liberties, and the empowering of would-be tyrants to no longer "would-be" but "be."

I still have that hope but I do not have expectations.

More Authority For Mental Health Agencies Not A Solution To Mass Shootings – Dangerous Course For Civil Liberties

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

February 27, 2018

After another tragic mass shooting, this time in a Florida high school, Americans are once again caught in a whirlwind of emotion, anger, fear, and debate. As per the usual, the mainstream corporate press has launched an undeniably biased anti-gun campaign that has the nation debating whether or not unalienable rights are actually unalienable. The gun argument aside, however, there is another topic being discussed in relation to the shooting as a possible solution to such incidents in the future – greater “mental health” programs and interventions.

The argument is simple since virtually no rational person would deny that an individual who would open fire on innocent people must have some level of mental health issues. The argument is thus that mental health services should be more available and that they should also have more authority to intervene. The former point is not contentious and it shouldn’t be. Unfortunately, the latter point doesn’t seem to be too contentious either and it should.

Like the medical industry, the psychiatric industry (which is firmly connected to Big Pharma and the police state), already has a broad range of assumed and legally backed authority. In fact, it’s a safe bet that most Americans don’t know just how much authority their mental health “authorities” actually have. They don’t know that these individuals are able to make subjective judgments on others with no basis in fact or logic that result in the detention, arrest, evaluation, hospitalization, and medication without consent. This isn’t the police state of the future, it’s the police state of today.

Keep in mind, these subjective decisions aren’t even made only in situations that warrant immediate concern; i.e. a patient is hallucinating demons and believes he should kill his mother who is possessed by a demon. Those situations exist, of course, but so also do situations that involve no risk to others such as delusions, depression, and paranoia. This practice is sold to many on the basis that someone suffering from these diagnoses could harm themselves or others. In other words, on the basis of pre-crime and completely devoid of the basis of individual rights not to be detained, kidnapped, held hostage, and medicated against their will by someone else who thinks they know what is best for them.

Vaccine Rights Movement Needs A Worldwide United Front

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

July 31, 2017

As Big Pharma gains more and more control over national governments, and authoritarianism becomes the order of the day, parents who are concerned about the safety of vaccines are watching their freedom and ability to protect their children from their harmful effects.

Indeed, it seems that the entire Western world is slowly watching the iron curtain being drawn around them on a number of issues, vaccines being one of them.

Both inside the United States and outside, governments are cracking down on individual rights by passing laws that make it difficult to choose whether or not to vaccinate and to even outright compel and force vaccines on children.

Across the Western world alone, 15 countries have mandatory and compulsory vaccination laws. The number is increasing and the laws are getting tougher.

And it isn’t just governments involved in the violation of rights – big corporations, academia and the media have all conspired to propagandize, silence anyone who dares question the sacred cow of vaccination.

For that reason, many parents and individuals may feel completely alone in their decisions and concerns and may feel helpless to do anything about the growing assault on parental rights and personal liberty.

There are a number of organizations, however, that are trying to fight back, but they are generally small in number and their effect is limited, particularly, when faced with Big Pharma money and government steamrolling efforts.

Herbal Coffee Controversy Reveals Fragility Of American Health

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze 

July 21, 2017

A new story is sweeping the news regarding a controversial “herbal coffee.”

Recently, New of Kopi Jantan Tradisional Natural Herbs Coffee, which was marketed as a male enhancement product has come under fire by the FDA for including undisclosed ingredients. the most notable ingredient not mentioned on the label is desmethyl carbodenafil, a compound that is structurally similar to the active ingredient to Viagra.

In addition, the coffee product also contains milk, although it is not listed as an ingredient on the packaging.

So before anyone rises up in arms against the FDA, it appears the agency is actually doing its job for once, i.e., ensuring that consumers know what they are consuming.

Regardless of how the FDA intends to pursue the issue, most reasonable people would not argue that Bestherbs Coffee LLC should not be able to sell its product with both milk and Viagra-like ingredients. Most reasonable people would also argue that they should inform consumers that their product contains these ingredients.

Bestherbs has voluntarily recalled the product nationwide, and the FDA is mostly concerned with the fact that desmethyl carbodenafil could pose a number of health issues when mixed with nitrates. Unfortunately many men with diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are prescribed nitrates to deal with their illness. The FDA is also concerned that the presence of milk could affect consumers with dairy allergies.

France Makes Vaccines Mandatory In 2018

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

July 7, 2017

Europe’s banana republic is at it again after being given a scare by Germany and Italy, France is making sure that it takes the lead as the most authoritarian communo-fascist country in Europe.

This is because a new French law will force all parents to vaccinate their children in 2018.

According to Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, all vaccines that are universally recommended by health authorities will be compulsory by law. These vaccines are 11 in total.

With a whole host of “services” that became “officials” and are now “authorities” it is no difficult task for the French government to monitor who is vaccinated and who is not.

Thankfully, for the French government, the country already has a robust police state completely unconcerned with individual rights so enforcing the law will be relatively simple.


While French officials are blaming the anti-vax movement for measles deaths in France, they are noticeably silent on the fact that France is coming a part at the seams. An economy on life support, an immigration crisis and tanking living standards are all contributing to lower quality of life and greater social unrest, two things that contribute to increased spread of disease

Still, despite the fact that France is largely a failed state, it has plenty of money for bombing. With all of this in mind we can only imagine that many Frenchmen are wondering how much better off the country would be if the French government would put this much effort in to preventing terrorist attacks and putting their heads together to prevent a situation that is ripe for such attacks to take place.

Regulatory Watchdog Calls On DEA To Halt Kratom Ban, Calls On OMB Intervention

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

September 16, 2016

On September 12, the Center for Regulatory Effectiveness, an independent think tank and regulatory watchdog organization, wrote an open letter to the DEAregarding the notoriously corrupt and rights-crushing agency’s recent ban onkratom. In this letter, the CRE has made a number of recommendations to the DEA that would at least put an element of logic to the agency’s actions.

The CRE points out that the DEA’s policy on kratom is in conflict with the policy of a number of other federal agencies and, thus, the legality of kratom falls under the jurisdiction of the Office of Management and Budget whose job it is to settle inter-agency conflicts of policy.

The letter reads:

The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has been described as the cockpit of the regulatory state. It is an organization that has a statutory mandate to manage and oversee the flow of regulatory actions taken by federal agencies. In the discharge of these duties OIRA is often involved in one-on-one discussions with agency personnel to resolve potential conflicts with OMB personnel.

However, in this instance, the DEA action to ban kratom, the conflict is considerably wider in scope. In this instance there is a sharp disagreement among a number of federal agencies. Consequently if there were ever a time for an OMB intervention this is it.

The CRE’s letter also calls into question the shaky “science” used by the DEA in order to push its ban when it states:

DEA War On Drugs, Kratom Once Again Puts America On The Wrong Side Of History

Jennifer Aldridge

Brandon Turbeville.com

September 16, 2016

Yes, let us, as a nation, be on the wrong side of history yet again. Let us imprison generations of working, law-abiding citizens for their use of a harmless ancient medicine. Let us take their possessions when the users are arrested. (To be clear, the wealthy will continue to have access to any medicine they choose, natural or synthesized.) The black market criminals love a new source of profit and power.

Yet-to-be-born Americans will judge this generation of American lawmakers and law enforcement harshly, if M. Speciosa is scheduled as a "controlled substance."  This scheduling will be viewed much as the American and European witch trials, viewed like the racist and classist prohibition of cannabis. It will be viewed as ignorant, xenophobic farce, and class warfare in addition. It will be viewed as greed and will be upheld tragi-comically, obvious to future gradeschoolers as corruption, obvious to future historians as a grim list of the evils of power imbalance.

The postponement of scheduling kratom would allow for public and private institutions to at least begin, if not complete, the studies necessary for a more complete picture of this plant medicine.

This medicine will be vindicated.

Kratom has not killed a single person. Ever.

If kratom is to be scheduled, postponement would hopefully allow for patients with chronic conditions to find a replacement. I pray the replacements will not be the toxic and ineffective opioids and dirty black market substances but, be assured, American government officials that have our best interests in mind, the replacements will be none other than those listed. People use kratom because conventional medications and the institution of conventional medicine itself, has already failed them. Humans cannot be flattened and sedated into productive and worthwhile living. The pharmaceutical and therapeutic offerings simply do not work for many suffering people.

Kratom Helped Me Turn My Life Around, Now The DEA Has Banned It

Morgan Joylighter

BrandonTurbeville.com

September 8, 2016

My fundamental issue has always been that I was raised by physically and emotionally abusive parents in near-cult-like isolation. That compromised my social skills, ability to feel relaxed or safe in normal human circumstances, and baseline neurochemistry in regards to contentment, happiness, and pleasure . I have spent most of my life bouncing around between one addiction or compulsive destructive behavior and another, trying to find ways to temporarily fill the void I felt by being unable to see myself as a good person, feel loved, enjoy normal social activities without anxiety and self-loathing, or even keep my neurochemistry at a high enough level to avoid feeling suicidally depressed for much more than half of the time. I was bipolar, manic depressive, had multiple anxiety disorders and probably ADHD besides, and between all of those I was on a constant roller coaster of either hating being alive or madly trying to distract myself from that fact with various pleasures. I accumulated a number of different vices over the years and cycled through countless attempts to quit them, only to see myself forced to swap one for another as the underlying issues went unaddressed and seemed increasingly unaddressable.

Unlike some kratom users I never actually delved into illegal drugs, but that was more a function of lack of opportunity caused by my sheltered upbringing than anything else. Even so, I found just about every other possible way to further screw up my health, and just about the best thing I can say for myself is that being a highly empathetic person, I kept my issues to myself and for the most part suffered in my own private hell, for fear of dragging anyone else down with me. But despite various attempts at trying psychology, psychiatry, and both mainstream and alternative health advice, I did not find any relief for my issues, and eventually began to despair that I would ever become the person I felt like I was born to be, a creative and cheerful novelist with a healthy social life who makes better the lives of everyone I come in contact with.

My Kratom Story

Adrian Smith-Madden
BrandonTurbeville.com
September 6, 2016

I have joined the fight to save Kratom. I was addicted to Narcotic pain medications for almost 30 years. During that time I lost so much, including my beloved husband. I became a totally different person. I used to be happy, carefree and outgoing. As my arthritis pain, heel spurs, migraine pain, Pseudo gout. and Fibromyalgia got worse I was given higher and higher doses of different drugs to combat the pain and depression that went with it. At one point I was on 80 mg. Morphine 3 times a day along with 10 mg Percocet 8 times a day. I lost interest in almost every aspect of living. Let me say this right now, I never ever abused those drugs. I only took them as prescribed. But I was still addicted and they took over my life. I would fall asleep at wrong moments including while driving my car. I am a smoker and I almost burned my home down several times when I fell asleep while smoking. My floors had/ and have cigarette burns all over them. I burned holes in almost every piece of clothing I owned. I stopped wanting to go places and be around people because I just didn't have the energy to mingle and think. The sad and typical part of these drugs is that they stopped fighting my pain. The pain got worse and worse making my need for higher and higher doses due to the rebound effect. In the early 2000's I had to have both of my knees replaced. The surgeons worried that they would not be able to control my added pain, as I was already on maximum doses of pain meds. It soon became impossible for me to work any longer as I could not stand on my feet for more than 5 to 10 minutes at a time. I used to walk 10 to 15 miles a day, now I can barely walk around a store without pain.

ACTION ALERT!!!: 8-31-16 - Help Stop The DEA's Attack On Kratom

Brandon Turbeville
BrandonTurbeville.com
August 31, 2016

ACTION ALERT!!!!!

The DEA has recently made an emergency decision to place Kratom on the Schedule I list of controlled substances.

Find more information about the issue here:

DEA Adds Kratom To Schedule I List Alongside Heroin

Kratom Now Schedule 1: Cartel Sex Scandal Shamed DEA Suppresses Herb Imports

What You Can And Need To Do:

1.) Support the American Kratom Association in their upcoming legal battle for civil liberties and health freedom. www.AmericanKratom.org 

From the AKA:

After talking with some high level D.C. political folks who put out some feelers for us today, I do have a glimmer of hope that we can challenge this. It's a glimmer but it's there, shining through all my pain and devastation. Are you ready to RAGE with us???

Please donate so that we can hire a well connected, experienced attorney in DEA matters, a federal lobbying firm AND a public relations firm. All 3 will be needed for us to have a chance. Plus all the great grassroots work that's already been started. We will have a more formal plan of action together shortly.

Www.americankratom.org/donate. *Or if the site happens to be down (we've created problems for our host today due to the amount of traffic 😱), PayPal to akratomassociation@gmail.com

It’s Time To Abolish The DEA

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

August 31, 2016

The Drug Enforcement Agency has long targeted Americans with the most non-sensical and ridiculous type of propaganda in order to convince them that the agency itself is actually useful and not the scourge of a civilized nation that it truly is. After all, if you are going to continue to launch a full-on military operation and establish a police state against adults who choose to consume specific plants, throwing otherwise peaceful people into cages, ruining their lives, and even killing them in the process, you need some rather extreme and immediate reason to continue to exist.

For this reason, the DEA – in addition to fleets of aircraft, military uniforms, machine guns, and other forms of war gear – has been funded liberally for over forty years for the purpose of waging war against the same taxpayers who are forced to fund it. But in addition to the hardware, the DEA is also tasked with convincing Americans the drug war is just and that it must be won, much less waged. Indeed, the DEA needs to justify its robbing, pillaging, and killing of American citizens to the same American citizens who the DEA will rob, pillage, and kill.

As a result, we see the most ridiculous types of propaganda – from deformed boneless teenagers (caused by marijuana) to zombies (caused by marijuana) and even the drunken businessman who inadvertently funds al-Qaeda by buying weed at a swanky nightclub, we are constantly reminded that a world in which adults can freely choose what they put into their own bodies is merely a step in the direction to a world of crack-smoking toddlers, elementary schools full of heroin addicts, and puppies tripping on acid. We get it. If we don’t have a paramilitary police force doing everything we were told only anti-American tyrants do overseas, the world will come to a fiery end.

But what if everything or, at least the majority, that the DEA has fed to us in its decades-long existence is simply bullshit? What if marijuana isn’t the same as heroin? What if kratom is not the same as either? What if, in a free society, adults do have the right to take LSD if they want? What if the United States didn’t waste so much money on preventing allegedly free adults from consuming substances they obviously want to consume? What if the United States didn’t waste incredible fortunes on the prison industrial complex and putting nonviolent people behind bars? What if the United States did not have the highest incarceration rate in the world while still lecturing other countries on freedom and democracy overseas?

DEA Adds Kratom To Schedule 1 List Alongside Heroin

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

August 31, 2016

Fresh on the heels of the CDC labeling kratom as an emerging “public health threat,” the notoriously fascistic U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency has filed a notice of intent to not only list it as a controlled substance, but the DEA is planning to add it to the most restrictive classification possible.

Mitragyna speciosa, aka kratom, and its two primary constituents, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are going to be placed onto schedule 1 temporarily beginning on September 30th.

This information comes from a filing from the DEA on August 30th, but the full announcement is scheduled to be published in the Federal Register on August 31st.

Kratom is not an opiate but functions in a similar manner, i.e. attaching to activating opioid receptors. The substance has been shown to alleviate chronic pain and anxiety as well as aid in overcoming addiction despite its own “euphoric effects.”

Studies in mice have actually demonstrated impressive results in overcoming addiction to cocaine. Many kratom users have also sung the plant’s praises in regards to heroin addiction. Kratom users claim that the substance is an excellent substitute for prescription pain medication as well as the addiction that comes with prescribed opiates.

The DEA is making its move after a few states toyed with the idea of placing kratom on their own controlled substances lists statewide, but failing to do so after public outcry got in the way. Never known for its attention to democracy, individual liberty or individual choice, the DEA is simply doing on a national level what Big Pharma and Big Government couldn’t do on a state level.

It is absolutely astounding even for the DEA that kratom is now listed alongside heroin. According to the DEA, kratom, due to its schedule 1 classification has no known medical use and a high abuse potential.

A Real New Deal For America - 43 Points

Brandon Turbeville

BrandonTurbeville.com

July 7, 2016

Before Americans become obsessed with debating useless policies and campaign promises or begin their 4 year ritual of “choosing the lesser evil,” it is important to remember that there are real solutions and demands available for a national recovery and a truly free America. A brief summary of some of these solutions and demands are provided below:

1.) End all bailouts of banks and financial institutions. End the concept of “Too Big To Fail.” Any public money given to private banks to maintain solvency must be clawed back by a variety of available means. Banks that find themselves insolvent must be seized by the FDIC for Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceedings. Immediate triage of the bank assets with derivatives being separated and eliminated during this process.

2.) In order to bring back the separation of banks, brokerage houses, and insurance firms, reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act.

3.) Ban Adjustable Rate Mortgages. Ban Credit Default Swaps.

4.) Enact a 1% Wall Street Sales Tax for revenue generation and to discourage dangerous forms of speculation.

FL Attorney Says Growing Vegetables Not A Fundamental Right

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

June 13, 2016

A new local controversy is brewing in South Florida surrounding yet another instance of local governments imposing fines on residents and persecuting them over maintaining gardens on their property.

After living in Miami Shores for 17 years, and growing vegetables in their front yard for the same amount of time, Tom Carroll and Hermine Ricketts were forced to dig up the garden in front of their home in 2014 when they were threatened by town officials with $50 a day fines if they did not. The threat of fines came only a few months after the Miami Shores Village Council passed a new zoning plan meaning that low-level bureaucrats wasted no time in fanning out amongst residential areas to uproot violators.

The couple is now suing on grounds that the ban on front yard gardens violates the Florida Constitution by imposing improper limits on private property rights as well as violating the equal protection clause. The couple is being represented by lawyers with Institute for Justice, a Libertarian non-profit organization that focuses on free speech and property rights among other issues.

See: City Forces Family To Destroy Their Vegetable Garden

Attorney Ari Bargil told circuit judge Monica Gordo, “we're not saying you can do anything you want on your property, we are simply saying you can grow vegetables on your property and that is protected by the constitution.”

Hillary Clinton's Civil Liberties Record

Image Source: FunnyJunk.com

Brandon Turbeville

BrandonTurbeville.com

February 22, 2016

By now, civil libertarians should be fully aware that, if they are looking for a candidate that reflects their values, the best rule of thumb would be to find Hillary Clinton on the map of the political spectrum and move in the opposite direction.

Perhaps the most obvious bell weather of Clinton’s respect and support for American civil liberties can be seen in her support for the PATRIOT Act.[1] Clinton wholeheartedly supported the passage of the PATRIOT Act in the dark days after 9/11, voting for the act as a member of the US Senate. Five years later, Clinton once again expressed support for the evisceration of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution by voting for the 2006 reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act.[2]

In April 2014, Clinton appeared at the University of Connecticut where she suggested that Snowden was guilty of treason and possibly working with the Russians and the Chinese. Although her words were not direct, her position was clear enough. As Emma Roller wrote for the National Journal,

Speaking at the University of Connecticut on Wednesday night, Hillary Clinton made a restrained but nonetheless damning attack against Edward Snowden.

At the event, an interviewer asked Clinton whether she thought the former National Security Agency contractor's disclosures about its domestic spying programs had any positive effects on American security policy or public discourse.

Without ever explicitly mentioning the NSA's spying programs, Clinton justified their utility in protecting the U.S. from another terrorist attack in the wake of 9/11.

Hawaii Vaccine Bill Dead On Arrival

Brandon Turbeville

Natural Blaze

February 8, 2016

After significant public outcry against a Hawaii state bill that many claim would have led to mandatory vaccination, Hawaii lawmakers have wisely killed the legislation. The death of the bill represents a victory for vaccine-rights advocates and proponents of civil rights and liberties.

Senator Rosalyn Baker said on Thursday that the bill would not move forward shortly after hearing opposition arguments. The bill was largely focused around adopting federal vaccination guidelines but apparently had many other provisions regarding vaccination requirements.

As the Daily Mail reports:

Baker said the bill didn’t pass because there seemed to be “so much confusion and a lot of misinformation” about what it would do. 

Sen. Will Espero, who is on Baker’s committee, said he hasn’t seen a lawmaker do that before. 

“Normally she would wait to the end of the agenda,” Espero said. “But in this case, she felt that it might be best before we get to the other bill to just share with them that, ‘FYI, I hear you, and I’ve made the decision.’ ” 

Baker’s decision shows how the public can be involved in making laws, Espero said.
Supporters of the bill say it would have helped the Hawaii Department of Health address public health crises quickly. They said given the potential for diseases to spread rapidly, it’s important to be able to adopt vaccination rules swiftly. 

New Task Force Guidelines Call for Screening Every Adult, Pregnant Women for Depression

Brandon Turbeville
Natural Blaze
Activist Post
January 26, 2016

A new recommendation has been released by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a government advisory group that is now recommending all adults be routinely screened for depression as part of their healthcare.

The first part of the recommendation suggests that all adults be screened, but singles out pregnant women and new mothers as a target population. The second part of the recommendation mentions the need to ensure that systems are in place that will allow for the proper diagnosis and treatment of people who are singled out through this screening. The guidelines, which were published in the journal of the American Medical Association, did not specify how often adults should be screened.

In regards to the implementation of these guidelines, the Task Force states:

The USPSTF recommends that screening be implemented with adequate systems in place. “Adequate systems in place” refers to having systems and clinical staff to ensure that patients are screened and, if they screen positive, are appropriately diagnosed and treated with evidence-based care or referred to a setting that can provide the necessary care. These essential functions can be provided through a wide range of different arrangements of clinician types and settings. In the available evidence, the lowest effective level of support consisted of a designated nurse who advised resident physicians of positive screening results and provided a protocol that facilitated referral to evidence-based behavioral treatment.1 At the highest level, support included screening; staff and clinician training (1- or 2-day workshops); clinician manuals; monthly training lectures; academic detailing; materials for clinicians, staff, and patients; an initial visit with a nurse specialist for assessment, education, and discussion of patient preferences and goals; a visit with a trained nurse specialist for follow-up assessment and ongoing support for medication adherence; a visit with a trained therapist for CBT; and a reduced copayment for patients referred for psychotherapy.2, 3 

SC Bill To Register, Determine Competency Of Journalists

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
January 20, 2016

South Carolina has long been known for the ridiculous and off-world bills its State House regularly submits to a vote. Indeed, the residents of the state are routinely subjected to a demonstration of the utter uselessness of the majority of its "representatives" as well as their lack of understanding and concern for civil liberties, Constitutional rights, and the general welfare of the State.

Enter another freedom-shredding bill submitted by the Constitutional non-scholar Mike Pitts, a Republican State House member from Laurens, S.C.

Pitts' bill would establish a "responsible journalism registry" to be operated by the South Carolina Secretary of State.

The summary of the bill states that it would "establish requirements for persons before working as a journalist for a media outlet and for media outlets before hiring a journalist" as well as establish penalties, fines, and jail sentences for violations. And, of course, "for other purposes."

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/politics-columns-blogs/the-buzz/article55449025.html#storylink=cpy

H. 4702 also states,

A person seeking to register shall provide all information required by the office including, but not limited to, a criminal record background check, an affidavit from the media outlet attesting to the applicant's journalistic competence, and an application fee in an amount determined by the office.

EU Court Rules UK Secret Court Not A Rights Violation

Activist Post

October 20, 2015

Never known for its respect for human rights and civil liberties, the European Court of Human Rights has once again demonstrated that secret hearings, detentions without trial and other violations of individual rights are well within the scope of the European Union. On October 20th, the ECHR in Strasbourg dismissed a claim by three Pakistani students who were detained in the UK for nearly two weeks while the UK courts held closed sessions regarding their arrest warrants.

The UK courts argued for its secrecy on the grounds of national security. The three students: Sultan Sher, Mohammed Rizwan Sharif and Mohammed Umer Farooq were arrested and held by police after authorities launched a series of “anti-terror raids” across Northwest England in April 2009. All three men were on student visas were held for 13 days. All three were released without charge.

All three students were brought before a court two times during the process in which warrants for further detention were granted. The students claimed they were denied “any open adversarial process” and the ECHR apparently agreed with them. And the ECHR agreed that some evidence being presented against them had been withheld from them. The court also pointed out that one hearing was even held in closed session for a short time.

Still, the ECHR ruled that the UK courts did not violate the rights of these students to lawful detention or in the manner in which the searches took place.

On April 21, 2009, all three men were released without charge, though they were served with deportation orders. They returned voluntarily to Pakistan in September of that year.