April 15, 2020

COVID-19 and the war on cash: What is behind the push for a cashless society?

fromTheDailyBell: The war on cash is a concerted campaign to shift consumers towards a digital mode of commerce that can be monitored, tracked, tabulated, mined for data, hacked, hijacked and confiscated when convenient.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle                 Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Congress extends recess until at least May 4

fromPolitico: The longer tyrants are socially distanced, the better off freedom-loving Americans are.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

The surveillance state thrives during the pandemic

fromReason: Can we take government officials at their word that they'll eventually abandon their new powers?
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The real cost of anti-price-gouging laws

fromMises: Given that the rationale for anti-gouging laws is to benefit consumers, we ought to check whether consumers are actually made better off.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Tyrants never let a crisis go to waste

fromTheDailyBell: Here’s a roundup of what’s happening around the world in the name of protecting the people:
The Government is Not Us

Some shirts hide you from cameras—but will anyone wear them?

fromArsTechnica: It's theoretically possible to become invisible to cameras. But can it catch on?
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

March 24, 2020

Justice Department reportedly asks Congress for indefinite detention powers to fight coronavirus

fromReason: Congress should loudly and unanimously reject this insanity.

Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Why we need free markets to fight pandemics

fromMises: The free market price system allows for the rapid and intensive reallocation of resources that is necessary in a crisis scenario like a pandemic. 

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: Progressive cities and black education

fromCreators: A recent report by Chris Stewart has shed new light on some of the educational problems faced by black youth.

Indoctrination and Censorship

Californians calling cops on their neighbors if they hear them coughing

fromSummit: Some Californians are calling 911 if they hear their neighbors loudly coughing or sneezing, with paramedics being dispatched to homes in some cases. Yes, really.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make                Police State America

Israeli doctor in Italy: we no longer help those over 60

fromTownhall: No ventilators for anyone over 60. This is socialized medicine Italian-style. Be careful what you wish for.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

The media is even more garbage than usual

fromTownhall: This was the media’s time to shine, a moment when we needed clear, objective information delivered by intelligent people who asked the important questions.

Media Bias on Parade

June 7, 2019

Congress proposes legislation to screen adults and children to predict if you pose a threat

fromFreeThoughtProject: The TAPS Act would encourage law enforcement to give everyone a personal threat assessment (kids and adults) and single out those that they deem as future threats.   

Government is Watching Every Move You Make        Police State America

Republicans join Democrats to kill Rand Paul's Pennies Plan because no one cares about the debt

fromWashingtonExaminer: It wouldn't solve our debt crisis, but it would ameliorate it somewhat. So naturally, a large bipartisan majority voted to block it from the Senate floor.  

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Don Boudreaux - Why Free Trade is ALWAYS Best Policy

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Economist Don Boudreaux eloquently explains how, despite the economic policies of other countries, free trade is always the most beneficial policy for the citizens. 

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Hey Trump: Remember Wikileaks?

fromRonPaulInstitute: Governments hate it when the truth is told about them. They prefer to kill the messenger rather than face the message.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Watchdog says FBI has access to about 640M photographs

fromAP: A government watchdog says the FBI has access to about 640 million photographs — including from driver’s licenses, passports and mugshots — that can be searched using facial recognition technology.  

Government is Watching Every Move You Make        Police State America

Americans view fake news as a bigger problem than terrorism

fromAxios: And well they should.  

Media Bias on Parade

May 3, 2019

Extradition hearing "life & death" for Assange and journalism itself

fromZeroHedge:  Conviction under the 1917 law geared toward protecting the nation's military secrets and most sensitive security matters could result in life in prison or even the death penalty for Assange.

Indoctrination and Censorship

The real ‘bombshells’ are about to hit their targets

fromAmericanGreatness:  In the next several weeks, Inspector General Michael Horowitz is expected to issue his summation of the potential abuse of FISA by top officials in the Obama Administration.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

US abandons all semblance of rule of law to go after Assange

fromDailyBell:  Apparently a judge’s contempt of court order trumps due process, the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent, and all semblance of Western legal standards.

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

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - Should America Intervene in Venezuela?

fromLibertyPen/YouTube:  From Tucker Carlson Tonight, General Douglas MacGregor discusses the ramifications 
of U.S. intervention in Venezuela.

Defense Versus The War Machine

Time to abolish Congress

fromTownhall:  Congress has either ceded or overstepped its constitutional authority since long ago. Would we really be worse off without a federal legislature?

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Unable to persuade, Facebook moves to censor its political opposition

fromDailyMail:  If you can't win the debate, try to shut your opponents up. 

Indoctrination and Censorship          Media Bias on Parade

Jan 19, 2019

Congressman slams civil forfeiture as 'a series of government shakedowns'

fromForbes: Under federal law, property owners facing civil forfeiture are essentially guilty until proven innocent and must bear the burden of proof, unlike criminal cases.

Police State America     Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

VIDEO: John Stossel: Government shutdown shows private Is better

fromReason: Shutdown teaches us that much of government is NOT essential.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market       The Government is Not Us

How long can Congress keep pretending marijuana legalization isn’t the norm?

fromCourant: As more states vote to legalize adult recreational use, they are creating a powerful coalition against the federal government, which continues to classify marijuana as an illegal Schedule 1 drug on par with heroin.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

How U.S. surveillance technology is propping up authoritarian regimes

fromWashingtonPost: The sale of technologies such as spyware and facial-recognition systems to human rights abusers enables insidious social control and encroachment on basic civil liberties.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Why they keep coming - The migrant caravans

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A look at the incentives that attract migrants and have politicians blocking attempts to secure the border. Also, a look at the political dynamics driving the government shutdown.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Norway readies 'Big Brother' GPS-based taxation per mile-driven

fromZeroHedge: Coming to a tyranny near you. The idea is to transform the public to electric cars, then make up lost fuel tax revenue with a scheme like this.

The Government is Not Us

October 31, 2018

A national debt 6 times the size of the economy? That's where America is heading.

fromReason: While federal revenue will continue to rise as well, it will not keep up with spending.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

3 steps to get the government out of your life

fromTheDailyBell: Step one: stop taking the bait
The Government is Not Us

Trump’s tariffs are backfiring even on industries that were supposed to benefit from trade protectionism

fromAEI: Trump’s steel tariffs are backfiring even for the US steelmakers who were supposed to be the main beneficiaries of tariffs since the whole point of Trump’s protectionism was to artificially prop up high-cost.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Parents outraged after school shaved large patches of hair from kids’ heads to drug test them

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Government's compliant slave training. Students in a Kansas middle school were humiliated after officials removed large chunks of their hair to comply with the school's drug test policy.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     The Government is Not Us

How the government uses its giant facial recognition database

fromTheDailyBell: Government used the terrorism crisis to deploy its massive domestic surveillance scheme. 
Read about the real reason it exists.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Walter E Williams: Democratic-controlled House

fromCreators: The Founders recognized that we need government; however, they also recognized that the essence of government is force and that force is evil.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

April 11, 2016

The slippery slope to a Constitution-free America

fromCreators: The ease with which Americans accept routine invasions of their privacy and the dismantling of every constitutional right intended to serve as a bulwark against government abuses is beyond unnerving. 
The Government is Not Us     Police State America   

Congress should stop ‘policing for profit’

fromOCRegister: For decades, federal, state and local law enforcement agencies have been free to seize the property of Americans without so much as bringing criminal charges. It's legalized theft. 
Police State America

DHS wants to create profiles of journalists and “media influencers” who mention its name

fromActivistPost: The Department of Homeland Security wants to compile an extensive database on journalists, editors, foreign correspondents, and bloggers to identify top “media influencers” who mention its name. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Has the war party hooked Trump?

fromCreators: The sole beneficiaries of the gas attacks in Salisbury and Syria appear to be the War Party. 
Defense Versus The War Machine

‘Another false flag’: Fmr Congressman Ron Paul on Syrian gas attack

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Former congressman Ron Paul weighed in on the alleged gas attack which took place in Syria and noted how the deep state will use this likely false flag to push the US into another senseless war. 
Defense Versus The War Machine

If Laura Ingraham goes down for 'bullying,' you're next!

fromCreators: If Ingraham is a "bully," what do you call MSNBC's caustic, Trump-hating lineup of hosts?  
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery     Media Bias on Parade

January 18, 2018

Lawmakers want James Clapper prosecuted for his testimony lies before statute of limitations runs out

fromWashingtonExaminers: Congress looks to keep a big swamp gator from wriggling off the hook.

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

Minimum wage hikes inflict maximum pain

fromReason: Hiking the minimum wage is feel-good humanitarian idea that’s guaranteed to hurt actual humans.

Regulation Nation

Learn how California’s 2018 cannabis taxes work in two minutes

fromGetNugg: The new California taxes on recreational and medical cannabis purchases place a huge premium on the price of products compared to what we’re all used to. It’s important you understand exactly what these taxes mean and what they’re for.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

5 senators are filibustering an attempt to expand warrantless surveillance of Americans

fromMotherboard: 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans are filibustering the Senate vote on the reauthorization of FISA Section 702.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Everyone You Love Did Drugs

fromReasonTV: It turns out that a lot of accomplished, well-respected historical figures did drugs. From Winston Churchill taking amphetamines to Thomas Edison lacing his wine with cocaine.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Pew: US media bias ranks worst in the world

fromWashingtonExaminer: Americans on both sides of the political aisle believe the media does a poor job covering political issues fairly, according to a blockbuster new survey of media consumption in 38 nations.

Media Bias on Parade

January 12, 2018

Congress plotting to cut a hole in the 4th Amendment, again

fromCreators: Judge Andrew Napolitano asks whatever happened to the public promise to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution as it is written?

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Justice denied: The government Is not going to save us

fromRutherfordInstitute: A 26-year-old man was gunned down by police who banged on the wrong door , failed to identify themselves and then repeatedly shot and killed the innocent homeowner who answered the door while holding a gun in self-defense, but the justices of the high court refused to intervene to address police misconduct.

Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Twitter engineers to “ban a way of talking” to censor opposing political opinions

fromProjectVeritas: Former Twitter software engineer Abhinav Vadrevu on shadow banning: “they just think that no one is engaging with their content, when in reality, no one is seeing it”.

Indoctrination and Censorship

John Stossel: Punish poor people

fromCreators: When health totalitarians make suggestions, leftist politicians jump.
Regulation Nation

VIDEO: Don't Talk to Cops

fromYouTube: In praise of the 5th Amendment right not to be a witness against yourself.

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle     Police State America

Federal legalization of pot would generate 1 million jobs & raise $130 billion

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: In addition to putting dent in failed 'War on Drugs,' legalization could put hundreds of thousands of people to work and generate billions in revenue.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

November 20, 2017

The Clintons’ day of reckoning

from LewRockwell.com: When the Harvey Weinstein story broke about a month ago, I offered that the reason (after decades of such behavior) might have something to do with the democrats getting tired of telling Hillary to go away.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Trump brags about his deregulation—and he may be right

from Reason: Pruning back regulation doesn't have to be a partisan issue.
Regulation Nation

The FISA amendments reauthorization act restricts Congress, not surveillance

from EFF: The bill squanders several opportunities for meaningful reform and, astonishingly, manages to push civil liberties backwards, restricting surveillance reforms, not surveillance itself.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The disappearing right to earn a living

from The Atlantic: Want to become a florist in Louisiana? A home-entertainment installer in Connecticut? Or a barber anywhere? You’re going to need a license for that—and it’s going to cost you.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Why people will happily line up to be microchipped like dogs

from Zero Hedge: First come the sheep voluntarily, then come the holdouts brought in by force.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

What National Review gets wrong about the opioid crisis and the war on drugs

from TheDailyBell: Libertarians understand that drug prohibition itself has been the cause of the widespread use of hard drugs, while many conservatives remain blind.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

November 10, 2017

TSA fails most tests in latest undercover operation at US airports

from ABC News: Procedures that are highly effective in eroding individual rights are not so effective at detecting contraband.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Marijuana Legalization 2017: States and cities where weed won this November

from Inverse: Pot remains illegal at a federal level and is still seen as a “life-wrecking” substance by the country’s Attorney General. But cannabis advocates made enormous strides in elections across the country this week.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Could giving property rights to the world's poor unlock trillions?

from BBC: Some of the most important parts of our modern economy can't be seen - but they can be heard. That's what one Peruvian economist concluded while walking through the idyllic rice fields of Bali, Indonesia, in the 1990s.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Congress is blowing its shot at real NSA reform

from The Verge: This year’s 702 reauthorization is the best chance in years to rein in the NSA.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Senate pushes to eliminate Jeff Sessions' civil asset forfeiture program

from Civilized: A bipartisan group of senators released a letter yesterday in which they called on the legislative body to pass a law to restrict the ability of the Department of Justice to enact civil asset forfeiture programs.
Police State America

Founder of web browser Opera says worried about online privacy

from Reuters: People should worry about online data collection by technology companies because it gives them unparalleled insight into users lives, the creator of one of the biggest web browsers, Opera, said on Thursday.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Thomas Sowell: Supreme Hypocrisy

Politics as usual.  If there is one thing that is bipartisan in Washington, it is brazen hypocrisy. Currently there is much indignation being expressed by Democrats because the Republican-controlled Senate refuses to hold confirmation hearings on President Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Justice Antonin ... MORE

Demand Congress Back Down On Privacy Intrusion

by Ron Paul.     The FBI tells us that its demand for a back door into the iPhone is all about fighting terrorism, and that it is essential to break in just this one time to find out more about the San Bernardino attack last December. But the truth is they had long sought a way to break Apple’s iPhone encryption and, like 9/11 and the Patriot Act, a mass   ... MORE

UK Wants Authority To Serve Warrants In U.S.

by Kevin Johnson and Gregory Korte.   British and U.S. officials have been negotiating a plan that could allow British authorities to directly serve wiretap orders on U.S. communications companies in criminal and national security inquiries, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday. The talks are aimed at allowing British authorities access to a range of     ... MORE

VIDEO: It Is Time To Audit The Fed

VIDEO: Rand Paul - Power Of The Purse

American Gov't Has Lost The Consent Of The Governed

by Pat Caddell.  Fox News analyst and one of the country’s top pollsters, Pat Caddell, says there is “no doubt” that government has lost the consent of the governed in America today, pointing out that 90 percent say Washington “doesn’t work for the people,” but now works for its own interests instead. “Look at what’s happening there,” Caddell   ... MORE

Some Members Of Congress Want To Stop Squandering Tax Money On The DEA's Failed Marijuana Eradication Program

by Christopher Ingraham.    The Drug Enforcement Administration is not having a great year. The chief of the agency stepped down in April under a cloud of scandal. The acting administrator since then has courted ridicule for saying pot is "probably not" as dangerous as heroin, and more recently he provoked 100,000 petition-signers and seven       ... MORE

After Budget Deal, A Sense Of Futility Grows In Congress

by Nick Timiraos.   Cowards kicking the can. Congress ended an 11th-hour showdown when the Senate passed a bill Friday that raises the debt ceiling for the last time during Barack Obama’s presidency. Many policy makers wish it could be the last such standoff in a long-running drama over the nation’s borrowing limit. The brinkmanship has grown so    ... MORE

VIDEO: Official Deception - Protecting Chris Stevens