November 25, 2019

When the villain is Obama, not Trump, news suddenly becomes not worth reporting

fromNYPost: Using, or ignoring, facts in accordance with whether they create the desired impression is the principal agenda of today’s media.

Media Bias on Parade

Roger Stone, convicted for bragging

fromTownhall: The lesson learned is if you are a high-level Trump supporter, you can expect the Deep State to come after you. The left is sending a message to Trump supporters to beware of helping him in 2020.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption           Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Giving government vast snooping authority is one thing Democrats and Republicans both like

fromReason: They simply disagree over who should be in charge of misusing and abusing those excessive powers.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - The Proper Role of the Press

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: More relevant today than ever.

Media Bias on Parade

In Virginia, and elsewhere, gun supporters prepare to defy new laws

fromMSN: The concept is modeled after the “sanctuary city” stance that some localities have taken in response to federal immigration enforcement efforts.

2nd Amendment Assaults

Vaping panic ignores how e-cigarettes save lives

fromReason: H.L. Mencken defined Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." The rub against vaping, and other smokeless tobacco products, is that people enjoy it.

Regulation Nation

September 10, 2019

Why cats pay a lower price for CAT scans in Canada

fromEconomicPolicyJournal: In Canada, with socialized medicine, pets get an immediate MRI; human beings can wait months. The reason: pets are paying customers; humans are not.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - The Student Debt Crisis

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From Tucker Carlson Tonight, the inconvenient truth about student loan debt. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Trump Admin is considering using Amazon Echo to determine if citizens should own a gun

fromDailyCaller: Being considered: a proposal that would use Google, Amazon and Apple to collect data on users who exhibit characteristics of mental illness that could lead to violent behavior.
2nd Amendment Assaults             Government is Watching Every Move You Make

A man spent 82 says in jail on meth charges. The "meth' was actually honey.

fromReason: Government incompetence made an innocent man spend months in jail and lose both of his jobs.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Race and Economics

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: In excerpts from Tony Brown’s Journal (1984), Dr. Sowell shares timeless insights from his research on the economics of race and culture. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Democrats propose mandatory free speech buyback for dangerous ideas

fromBabylonBee: What the Babylon Bee says today, the Democratic Party will say tomorrow.
Indoctrination and Censorship

June 24, 2019

House votes down amendment to ban warrantless spying on Americans

fromDigitalJournal: The Charlatans, who are SO quick to swear on the Bible that they will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, have just effectively repealed the Fourth Amendment.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make           The Government is Not Us

Warrantless arrest and the role of probable cause

fromSearchLight: “Probable cause” are a powerful words for police officers, but that doesn't mean they can arrest a person on a hunch. Although there need not be absolute certainty, there must be more than mere suspicion.

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

The Jackboots are coming: Mass arrests, power grabs and the politics of fear

fromTheRutherfordInstitute: How do you persuade a populace to embrace totalitarianism, that goose-stepping form of tyranny in which the government has all of the power and “we the people” have none?

Police State America           The Government is Not Us

Sanders-Ocasio-Cortez plan to cap credit card interest rates will backfire on consumers

fromUSAToday: The effective elimination of usury ceilings transformed the credit card market, as many previously-excluded consumers gained access to credit cards for the first time.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Apparently, Bernie Sanders doesn't know the difference between revenue and profit

fromReason: Has AOC become contagious?

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Media freedom is almost over. Only one thing can save Julian Assange from dying in prison

fromTheCanary: And that’s if public opinion doesn’t stand for it.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle      The Government is Not Us      Indoctrination and Censorship

June 12, 2019

California Democratic Party: First Amendment ‘Limited to exclude hate speech’

fromDailyWire: The First Amendment exists primarily to protect unpopular speech (hate speech for some) since popular speech needs no protection, a concept lost on California's Democratic Party.

Indoctrination and Censorship        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

VIDEO: Rachel Maddow - Julian Assange and the Future of a Free Press

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: When the operations of government are shielded from public view democracy is a farce. Prosecuting the publisher of such information could only be acknowledgement that the government is not us.  

The Government is Not Us       Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - The Future of Free Enterprise and Liberty

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A warning about the trajectory of economic and personal liberty in America.  

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Empty words: Why Pelosi is suddenly saying she wants Trump ‘in prison’

fromWashingtonExaminer: The “in prison” line allows the speaker to look like a good anti-Trump ally, but it is clearly in service of avoiding an impeachment.  

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Not the Onion: Biden promises to cure cancer If elected

fromZeroHedge: This begs the question, why do politicians lie? Answer: Voters want the impossible and only a liar will promise it.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Federal court rules citizens well within the law to tell a cop “f**k you”

fromFreeThoughtProject: While a federal court ruled this month that citizens can swear at police officers and the police officers cannot arrest them for it, it is still not recommended.  

Indoctrination and Censorship        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

June 3, 2019

The predictable fate of Julian Assange: An assault against liberty

fromLewRockwell: The American herd will likely never understand the monstrous risk and extreme danger in what is being done to Julian Assange.

Indoctrination and Censorship        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Is AOC a white supremacist?

fromMises: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have exposed her true self, unleashing something so awful, so disgusting, so fascist and racist that it likely left many of her viewers triggered and in need of a safe space. 

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Illinois is on the verge of legalizing marijuana. Here Is what the bill would do

fromReason: New York legislators also are taking another shot at legalization. 

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

The welfare state is tearing Sweden apart

fromMises: Forced multiculturalism increases polarization and tribalism along the most basic, and most easily recognized dividing lines. 

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Dershowitz: Shame on Robert Mueller for exceeding his role

fromTheHill: No prosecutor should ever say or do anything for the purpose of helping one party or the other. 

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

A 16-year-old girl is facing child pornography charges for making a sex video of herself

fromReason: A finding of guilt would be an attack on the autonomy and self-ownership of all young people. 

Individual Liberty: America' First Principle

May 31, 2019

Alexa ‘could be about to get even creepier,’ Amazon patent reveals

fromYahooNews: It would alter how Echo works - so that instead of waiting for its ‘wake word’, Alexa, it would effectively be listening all the time. Only a potent 2nd Amendment will keep this from eventually being mandatory.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Victor Davis Hanson - Evaluating Donald Trump

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A brilliant analysis of the phenomenon known as Donald Trump.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Press freedom: Widespread confusion about who counts as a journalist and whether it matters

fromCreators: We have a First Amendment. Freedom is not a special privilege that belongs only to officially recognized journalists. It applies to all of us when we use technologies of mass communication.

The Government is Not Us     Indoctrination and Censorship

Cops strip-searched a 4-year-old after mom's errand took too long

fromReason: How dare the authorities not only second-guess a mom's very safe decision, but take their investigation so far beyond the bounds of common sense—and decency?

Police State America

Tide of public opinion is turning in Assange’s favor

fromConsortiumNews: The indictment of Julian Assange under the Espionage Act has profoundly affected press coverage of the WikiLeaks founder.

The Government is Not Us     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption      Indoctrination and Censorship

The Right’s latest tactic on gun laws? Just don’t enforce them

fromRollingStone: Counties across the country are sticking it to “big city elites” by declaring themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries”

2nd Amendment Assaults         Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

August 6, 2018

Survey shows shocking percentage of Americans are unable to name a single First Amendment right

fromIJR: Of the more than 1,000 people surveyed in May and June of this year, only one person was able to name all five First Amendment rights. A whopping 40 percent, however, couldn't name any.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Trump pumps the brakes on Obama-era fuel standards

fromReason: The administrations proposal will make cars more affordable and save lives.
Regulation Nation

Former federal state prosecutor worries about jury nullification In Manafort trial

fromNPR: Many statists worry the jury could see through their tyrannical strong-arm tactics and blatant political persecution and the judge isn't helping.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Feds spend $1.1 million creating apps for transwomen and gay teens with ‘hooking up simulations’

fromWashingtonFreeBeacon: Your tax dollars at work. You are now subsidizing T3, a "sex-positive" app targeting black men ages 14 to 17 who have sex with men.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery       The Government is Not Us

WATCH: Cop walks up to unarmed man, shoots him in the face then plants a weapon on him

fromFreeThoughtProject: A cop tried to claim an unarmed man tried to rob him but video shows the cop shoot the victim in the face and then plant a weapon on him.
Police State America

Criminal investigation launched against Detroit cop who was filmed beating a naked woman in a hospital

fromDailyMail: The officer is on paid suspension. It was announced that a criminal investigation has been launched.
Police State America

November 16, 2017

VIDEO: Why I Hate The Left, by Owen Benjamin

from Owen Benjamin/YouTube: In the video, Benjamin explains what he means by "the Left." He also talks about political debate, and the idea that if debate isn’t centered around common goals, it’s fruitless.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Gov't approves first-ever med with digital tracking system

from Newser: The stated pretense for this tracking pill is to remind mentally challenged patients to take their meds.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Hillary's Deception - The Trump-Russia Dossier

from LibertyPen/YouTube: A collection of news clips that explain the issues surrounding the Trump-Russia dossier, a phony document fabricated by British intelligent agent Christopher Steele and funded by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

John Stossel - Legalize Sex Work

from Creators: If you owned yourself, you would be free to rent yourself out. But you are not. That begs the question,
who owns you?
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

The Senate Intelligence Committee really wants to secretly snoop on Americans

from Reason: Every attempt to restrain and reform unwarranted domestic surveillance batted away.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make    The Government is Not Us

James O’Keefe: A truth seeker in an age of media bias

from The Epoch Times: Founder of Project Veritas on undercover journalism and holding the press accountable.
Media Bias on Parade

Green Light For Jury-Nullification Crusaders

by Emma Gannone.     The 10th Circuit upheld an injunction that lets protesters disseminate pamphlets about jury nullification outside a state courthouse in Colorado. Jury nullification describes the practice by which a jury acquits a defendant, despite evidence of his guilt, because the jury members believe the law at issue is immoral. Protests over   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Trump Appeal

Carey Wedler: Inconvenient Truths - 15 News Stories From 2015 You Should Have Heard About But Probably Didn’t

What we don't know does hurt us.    In 2015, the iron fist of power clamped down on humanity, from warfare to terrorism (I repeat myself) to surveillance, police brutality, and corporate hegemony. The environment was repeatedly decimated, the health of citizens was constantly put at risk, and the justice system and media alike were perverted to   ... MORE

Government Subsidies Will Erode Freedom Of The Press

by Jaana Woiceshyn.        Newspapers around the world are losing revenues, both subscription and advertising. As Terence Corcoran of the National Post reports, newspaper revenues in Canada declined 35 per cent ($1 billion) from 2012 to 2014, with a significant further decrease expected also in 2015, once all the numbers are in. Such declines, likely to ... MORE

David Harsanyi: The First Amendment Is Dying

Congress shall make no law, but...   "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;" Unless we're talking about a white chocolate-paneled cake for a gay wedding or perpetual funding for "women's health" clinics because it's the "right thing to do." "or abridging the freedom of speech;"   ... MORE

When You're Popular, You Don't Need Freedom Of Speech

by Andrew Sirios.    The rise of the left, the demise of the west. Free speech is not something that people would normally see as a realm of economics, but in many ways, an economic understanding of the support and opposition to free speech can shed a lot of light on what’s happening now in the West. The first thing that needs to be noted is that  ... MORE

25% Do Not See Widespread Corruption In Goverment

Political blindness strikes one in four.    Three in four Americans (75%) last year perceived corruption as widespread in the country's government. This figure is up from two in three in 2007 (67%) and 2009 (66%). While the numbers have fluctuated slightly since 2007, the trend has been largely stable since 2010. However, the percentage of   ... MORE

Reason Magazine Subpoena Stomps On Free Speech

by Virginia Postrel.      Wielding subpoenas demanding information on anonymous commenters, the government is harassing a respected journalism site that dissents from its policies. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York claims these comments could constitute violent threats, even though they’re clearly hyperbolic ... MORE

VIDEO: The First Amendment In Five Minutes

Jeffrey Lord: Kirsten Powers’ Profile in Courage

A liberal stands up for liberty. This is a book that had to be written — by a liberal. It won’t help Kirsten Powers for a conservative to say this, either. But in writing The Silencing: How the Left Is Killing Free Speech Ms. Powers has done a service to liberals — if they even understand her significant contribution, which is doubtful. She is a profile in   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Cool Commies

Ken Silva: The Government's War On Freedom Of The Press

Transparency in the crosshairs.    The U.S. plummeted to a dismal 49th place on the Reporters Without Borders annual Press Freedom Index, marking the country’s second lowest ranking since the list was created in 2002 and its lowest since 2006. Other countries ranked in the 40s and 50s include Haiti, Mongolia, and Chile. The index cited “judicial   ... MORE