September 4, 2020

The social fabric of the U.S. is fraying severely, if not unravelling

fromTheIntercept: Why, in the world’s richest country, is every metric of mental health pathology rapidly worsening?
The Pursuit of Happiness

Here’s how a cashless society would affect day to day life

fromOrganicPrepper: There is an alarming amount of power in access. In a cashless society, you will NOT be able to access your money at will.
The Government is Not Us          Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

New York is dead forever ... here's why

fromJamesAltucher: This article explains SF and many other cities as well.
The Government is Not Us          Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

I stand with Tucker Carlson

fromCreators: He is one of us.
Indoctrination and Censorship           Individual Liberty: America's First Principle           Media Bias on Parade

Walter E Williams: Institutional racism

fromCreators: Most institutional racism is practiced by the nation's institutions of higher learning.
Indoctrination and Censorship

The lockdown has been a bonanza for billionaires

fromSpiked: While ordinary people have been plunged into economic turmoil, the world’s richest are cleaning up.
The Government is Not Us          Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

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

February 20, 2020

The socialist delusions of Bernie Sanders

fromReason: Central planning kills economic growth.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market.          Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Financial feudalism

fromReason: The oligarchy uses debt offensively (to increase wealth and power), while the masses must use debt defensively (to survive)...
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

6yo girl taken from school by police without parents’ consent, held in facility for 48 hours for tantrum

fromFreeThoughtProject: After the body camera footage was released, the school responded by claiming that police were not present when Nadia was allegedly throwing her tantrum.

Police State America

WaPo opinion piece calls for elites to have a 'bigger say in choosing president'

fromTownhall: “Democracy Dies in Darkness” may be The WaPos slogan, but many are wondering if it’s actually the paper’s mission statement.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

This crackdown on a jury nullification activist violates the First Amendment

fromReason: Apparently, the majority of Democratic presidential contenders want to parade student debt sob stories around. These stories don't show the full picture.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Cashless agenda? China is scrubbing cash notes to stop virus spreading so its paper money won’t kill you

fromActivistPost: Beyond China, this crisis might also be used by governments in different parts of the world that want to transition to a “cashless society” to justify their actions.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

January 20, 2020

Why laws against hate speech are dangerous

fromGatestoneInstitute: Pending legislation seeks to bar all kinds of large cash payments to "fight crime and money laundering." Banning cash will allow the government to monitor all citizen transactions for approval.

Indoctrination and Censorship            Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Top priority for California voters heading into 2020 primary? Homelessness

fromSacBee: Candidates visiting California will likely need to focus more of their energy on explaining how they’d tackle homelessness and work to make housing cheaper.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Michelle Obama’s school lunch program faces new cuts on former first lady’s birthday

fromImpact2020: The proposed rule announced Friday would increase “flexibility” for vegetable requirements and allow schools to change fruit servings during breakfast in favor of meats or meat alternatives.

Regulation Nation 

Trump and Comey are united against encrypted communications

fromReason: Don’t worry—America’s ruling factions still disagree over who should be in charge of the snooping.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Australia aims to ban cash spending

fromAsiaTimes: Pending legislation seeks to bar all kinds of large cash payments to "fight crime and money laundering." Banning cash will allow the government to monitor all citizen transactions for approval.

Regulation Nation               The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Proposed bill to make cellphone use under 21 a crime punishable by 1 year in prison

fromAsiaTimes: Pending legislation seeks to bar all kinds of large cash payments to "fight crime and money laundering." Banning cash will allow the government to monitor all citizen transactions for approval.

Regulation Nation                   Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

November 11, 2019

Why raw butter producers are suing the FDA

fromReason: Raw butter advocates are understandably salty about a prohibition on interstate commerce.

Regulation Nation

Another drug-war massacre

fromFFF: Drug warriors are scratching their heads over what to do about the latest drug-war massacre in Mexico. They are considering three options -- but only one can succeed.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Elizabeth Warren wants to raise taxes by $26 trillion

fromReason: What she and Bernie Sanders are proposing is nothing short of a wholesale transformation of the size and scope of government.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

Snowden autobiography makes a plea for the Fourth Amendment, the right to privacy, and encryption

fromReason: America's most famous whistleblower calls for restricting the power of government.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - A New Rebellion for Freedom

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Rand explains the governing philosophy of modern day society and advocates the path toward freedom.

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Japan wants to go cashless, but elderly aren't so keen

fromReuters: Only a totalitarian should be keen on a cashless society.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

July 3, 2019

Hong Kong protests show dangers of a cashless society

fromReason: Many digital payments can be tracked, potentially assisting an authoritarian crackdown.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Tech Tyranny - Censoring the Town Square

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Record-low American patriotism is the latest casualty of the sharply polarized political climate in the U.S. today. Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they are extremely proud to be Americans.

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

How Amazon and the cops set up an elaborate sting operation that accomplished nothing

fromVice: It was a scare marketing scheme by Amazon that failed when cops were unable to make any arrests.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The sinister, unconstitutional effort to ban secure encryption is back

fromReason: Government is demanding everyone be more vulnerable to hackers to protect their snooping.

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

U.S. Supreme Court rules police can forcibly carry out blood draws on unconscious drivers

fromRutherfordInstitute: Screw the Fourth Amendment.

Police State America

American pride hits new low; few proud of political system

fromGallup: Record-low American patriotism is the latest casualty of the sharply polarized political climate in the U.S. today. Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they are extremely proud to be Americans.

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

Feb 1, 2019

Andrew Napolitano: An American nightmare

fromPJMedia:  We see "the behavior of a police state where the laws are written to help the government achieve its ends, not to guarantee the freedom of the people — and where police break the laws they are sworn to enforce."

Police State America

Have gun, can't travel

fromReason:  New York City’s arbitrary restrictions on transporting firearms give SCOTUS a chance to curtail rampant disrespect for the Second Amendment.

Second Amendment Assaults

The war on cash ramps up in EU

fromEconomicPolicyJournal:  The 'war on cash' cContinues as a major halt to Eurozone issuance of €500 notes begins. The U.S. has already abolished currency denomination over $100. The pretense is always crime.

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle     Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Whatever Mueller finds, gag-orders and no-knock raids should appall everyone!

fromTheDailyBell:  This should raise red flags to the most rabid left-wing liberal, the staunchest thin-blue-line conservative, or anyone in between who cares one iota about personal freedom or an impartial justice system.

Police State America

Record cold forces rethink on global warming

fromPJMedia:  The precepts of environmental religion inconvenienced by reality.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Police in Houston promise to go after and ‘track’ those who criticize police

fromFreeThought Project:  "We’re going to be keeping track of all of you, and we’re going to make sure that we hold you accountable every time you stir the pot on our police officers."

Police State America           Indoctrination and Censorship

Dec 19, 2018

A crisis in the making: Know your rights or you will lose them

fromTheRutherfordInstitute: We are approaching critical mass, the point at which all hell breaks loose. The government is pushing us ever closer to a constitutional crisis.

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Why Banks will shut you down for nothing that is actually Illegal

fromArmstongEconomics: The government fines banks if its customers are caught doing wrong incentivizing the process of ditching customers who use cash instead of conveniently trackable credit cards.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

73% of top U.S. universities do not guarantee the presumption of innocence in sexual misconduct trials

fromReason: The long-held judicial concept known as the presumption of innocence is now hopelessly out-of-style. At college campuses, it must take a back seat to #MeToo feelgoodism. 

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery    Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Report: 9 in 10 colleges restrict free speech

fromWatchDog.Org: Ninety percent of public and private higher education institutions in the U.S. restrict the speech of their faculty and students, according to a new report produced by FIRE.

Indoctrination and Censorship

Democracy Is a threat to individual liberty

from71Republic: Democracy is flawed when it comes to protecting the rights of the individual, but is successful in restricting those rights.

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Mueller destroyed messages from Peter Strzok's iPhone; OIG recovers 19,000 new "FBI lovebird" texts

fromZeroHedge: Nothing to see here! After Strzok was kicked off the special counsel investigation, Mueller's Records Officer scrubbed Strzok's iPhone after determining "it contained no substantive text messages." 

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

September 13, 2018

California government tries new tactic to impose gun control: ammunition control

fromNYTimes: Sold from vending machines in Pennsylvania, feed depots in Nevada, pharmacies in Georgia and jewelry stores in Texas, ammunition is in many states easier to buy than cold medicine. But in California ...
2nd Amendment Assaults

The proposition that is on the ballot in November that could destroy California

fromEconomicPolicyJournal: Politicians seek to make the rent control measures that have destroyed housing in San Francisco throughout the state.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Likely 15M illegal aliens in U.S., giving blue states 20 additional Congressional seats

fromBreitbart: Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) says the counting of illegal aliens when dividing up congressional seats and electoral college votes is a violation of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

America moves closer to being a cashless society

fromMarketWatch: Cash if freedom. A cashless society is one in which government can track every transaction the citizen makes. Liberty lovers should boycott all cashless establishments.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Things you may want to buy now before Trump's tariffs kick in

fromEconomicPolicyJournal: Items primarily supplied by China and are on the 25% tariff list.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The real reason that 30 is the new 20

fromTheDailyBell: Teens used to get 7 years of apprenticeship and be experienced skilled workers by age 20. They were ready to support a family. They had practiced responsible behavior.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

June 26, 2016

VIDEO: The Disgraceful Origins of America's War on Drugs

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From the History Channel, a look at what really initiated the war on drugs. This is NOT what the government put on the front porch for the goats to consume.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Citizenship checkpoints start to spread across the Constitution-free zone

fromActivistPost: It is slowly beginning to dawn on people that when you restrict the freedoms of certain groups, that arbitrary system of oppression eventually boomerangs back upon you.
The Government is Not Us    Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

The final assault in the war on cash

fromZeroHedge: If you value sound money, political freedom, limited government, taxation with representation, enterprise and privacy… then you’re going to hate this preview of coming attractions.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: How Government Makes Air Travel More Dangerous

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A look at hiring practices instituted by the Obama administration that rewards unemployment and ignorance of science while punishing military experience and education to promote diversity.
Regulation Nation       The Government is Not Us

Why they hate Tucker Carlson

fromAntiWar: No one is allowed to dissent from the official Establishment line and Carlson is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness, and groupthink.
Indoctrination and Censorship       Media Bias on Parade

Judge rules cop can be sued for tasering teen’s genitals on video until he died

fromFreeThoughtProject: Despite police union protests, a federal judge has ruled that a police officer acted with excessive force when he tasered a teen's genitals—repeatedly—until the teen eventually died. 
Police State America

April 23, 2016

14 Years Ago Today, Pat Tillman was killed and gov’t covered up the truth to his death to sell war

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: On this day 14 years ago, former NFL player Pat Tillman was shot and killed by his fellow soldiers in Afghanistan, and the events surrounding his death still remain a mystery.
Defense Versus The War Machine

The rapid rise of San Francisco's surveillance camera network

fromSFGate: What started out as a pilot program with six privately-owned cameras around Union Square has morphed into a highly coordinated surveillance network of 350 cameras that share footage with police.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

In defense of cash

fromReason: Around the world, governments are trying to kill paper money. It's a terrible idea.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Bipartisan coalition emerges to support jury nullification appeal

fromTheLibertyConservative: First Amendment: Congress can make no law abridging free speech. They don't have to. The courts do it for them.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle       Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Andrew Napolitano: President Trump and the Attorney-Client Privilege

fromCreators: Records of whatever work Michael Cohen has been doing for him in the past 10 years will soon be in the custody of federal prosecutors who expect it to be evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the president himself.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Media war on Trump continues around the clock, and other proof of media bias

fromCreators: Every hour of every day, somewhere a major media outlet is attacking the president. It might be with a news show. It might be on an entertainment program.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption      Media Bias on Parade

April 4, 2016

The deep rooted crisis of police violence in the USA

fromReason: Executive Producer Eddie Conway and David Correia, author of Police: A Field Guide, examine police propaganda that criminalizes victims of police violence and works to halt any radical responses to it. See video
Police State America

Students stage walkout in support of Second Amendment

fromPJMedia: Unlike the first student walkout, this one was self-motivated and not under penalty of suspension from school officials. 
2nd Amendment Assaults

'Being cash-free puts us at risk of attack': Swedes turn against cashlessness

fromReason: Sweden’s central bank governor has called for public control over its payment system. Others say a fully digital system is vulnerable to fraud and attack. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: Discrimination and disparities

fromWalterEWilliams: I don’t mind saying that this column represents a grossly understated review of “Discrimination and Disparities,” just published by my longtime friend and colleague Dr. Thomas Sowell. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

The unintended consequences of the minimum wage

fromCapitalismMagazine: The federal government began dictating the minimum lawful amount an employer must pay someone working for them in 1933, as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation. 
Regulation Nation

Don't look to the state to keep social media companies from imposing ideological conformity

fromReason: Facebook, Google, and Twitter may be smug and presumptuous, but we can go elsewhere. 
Indoctrination and Censorship      Media Bias on Parade

February 24, 2018

Should teachers be armed?

fromLewRockwell: Government is the last place one should look for deciding how to protect school children, how to run schools, how to run police and how to produce law enforcement for its citizens.
2nd Amendment Assaults      The Government is Not Us

Police announce program to Illegally stop people for ‘SAFE driving

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Safe driving is now a reason for police to pull you over, check the inside of your car, demand your papers, and stomp what is left of the 4th Amendment into the ground.
Police State America

Idaho is ignoring Obamacare rules. That could set off a free market chain reaction.

fromVox: Forget Obamacare's tyrannical dictates. Blue Cross of Idaho said it hopes to start selling noncompliant plans by early March.
Regulation Nation      Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

A high school student faces expulsion for noticing the square root symbol looks like a gun

fromReason: No adults seem embarrassed by this reaction. They should be.
2nd Amendment Assaults      Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Johnny Carson Interview 1967

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From 51 years ago, a classic interview with Objectivist philosopher Ayn Rand.
The Government is Not Us     Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery   Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

“Cash must not be made the scapegoat”

fromWolfStreet: A rare defense of physical money by an ECB Board Member. “Protection of privacy matters to all of us. Privacy protects people from the risk of a surveillance state and thought police,” he said.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market      The Government is Not Us

February 7, 2018

Governments hate Bitcoin and cash for the same reason: they protect people’s privacy.

fromReason: Officials want to track every financial transaction you make, and they see cryptocurrencies and cash alike as barriers to achieving that goal.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market     The Government is Not Us

Nunes duels the Deep State

fromCreators: Patrick Buchanan: "That memo worked up in the Intel Committee of Chairman Devin Nunes may not have sunk the Mueller investigation, but from the sound of the secondary explosions, this torpedo was no dud."
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Is it a crime or free speech to flip off a cop?

fromIndyStar: Hint: The Constitution protects free expression but not does not insulate one from being butt-hurt.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Law enforcement uses smart meter parking apps to spy on everyone

fromMassPrivateI: Smart Meter Parking Apps are collecting tons of personal information and creating a huge database of where and when you park.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Walter E Williams: Let's Limit Spending

fromCreators: The true measure of government's impact on our lives is government spending, not taxing.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Jordan Peterson - Realize Your Potential

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: How to maximize your shot to have a fulfilling life.
The Pursuit of Happiness

December 11, 2017

Warning: ‘They need the markets to implode’ to usher in cashless system

from SHTF: Lynette Zang says, “Ultimately, they need the markets to implode so when they shift us from the debt based system to the digital system, we are more comfortable with it and more familiar with it”.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market   The Government is Not Us

CNN botches "bombshell" report "proving" collusion between Trump Jr and Wikileaks

from ZeroHedge: The leader in fake news strikes again. Glenn Greenwald: CNN still refuses to address the huge, glaring obvious question: how did "multiple sources" all innocently get the same date on the same email wrong?
Media Bias on Parade

California looks at dumping gas tax for per-mile fee as cars use less fuel

from SacramentoBee:  California's latest scheme to gouge taxpayers.  It seems "The Golden State" is NOT a reference to precious metal, but rather to that which constantly rains down on citizens.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Jonathan Turley - Wildly Expanding Executive Powers

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Law professor Jonathan Turley explains how the Obama Administration wildly expanded executive powers to the point where the American president can now order any citizen he wishes to be killed.
Politics and Other Acts of Corruption   The Government is Not Us

John Lennon was right: The government is run by maniacs for maniacal means

from RutherfordInstitute: All of the many complaints we have about government today—surveillance, corruption, harassment, political persecution, spying, overcriminalization, etc.—were used against Lennon.
The Government is Not Us

Deep State coup crumbling as Trump’s top intelligence official caught spying for George Soros

from TheFreeThoughtProject: Trump's top intelligence official authorized spying on Steve Bannon and Trump's children—
then sent the data to an intel facility owned by globalist George Soros.
Politics and Other Acts of Corruption   The Government is Not Us

October 19, 2017

This is how tyranny rises and freedom falls: The experiment in freedom is failing

from Rutherford Institute: We are being ruled by a government of scoundrels, spies, thugs, thieves, gangsters, extortionists, bounty hunters, battle-ready warriors and cold-blooded killers who communicate using a language of force and oppression.
The Government is Not Us

Government may ‘seize’ citizens’ fingerprints to unlock Apple devices, federal court rules

from ShadowProof: How a robe-draped tyrant made cops warm and fuzzy for Apple's iTouch technology.
Police State America

Chicago politician pushes ban on businesses banning cash

from ZeroHedge: Politicians fights back against VISA push for merchants to stop taking cash. A cashless society is a slave society. What do you do in cashless society when the power goes out?
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Cities are getting paid to turn street lights into spying SmartNodes

from MassPrivatei: The future of privacy in big cities is bleak, cities are now getting paid to convert street lights into spying SmartNodes (cameras, microphones, speakers etc., all-in-one light pole).
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

John Stossel: A CNN Smear

from Creators: Stossel finds Anderson Cooper's claims that Donald Trump's EPA director had conspired with the CEO of a mining company to "withdraw environmental restrictions so the company could dig "the largest open pit mine in the world in an extremely sensitive watershed in wild Alaska" has a big problem.
Media Bias on Parade

Cannabis credit union sues the creature from Jekyll Island 

from Gov'tSlaves: A credit union serving the marijuana industry has sued the Federal Reserve, asking a federal judge to enforce the 10th Circuit’s order to grant the credit union a master account despite its ties to pot.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

October 16, 2017

California politicians demand pet stores must sell rescue animals only

from LATimes: The option destroyers never sleep. Now they are dictating to pet store owners what they must sell.
Regulation Nation

In a cashless world, you'd better pray the power never goes out 

from Mises: Consider how screwed you would be if you were in Puerto Rico with no cash.
Economic Policy: Statism vs. The Free Market

NFL protests: Anthem controversy forgets who we are, and strive to be

from Detroit Free Press: Kneeling, or sitting, or otherwise protesting during the anthem may be seen as distasteful or even disrespectful. But it’s permissible expression. And nothing about it is actually infringing on anyone else’s rights.
Indoctrination and Censorship

⭐️ Video: Ayn Rand - How to Rule Mankind

from LibertyPen: Straight from the playbook of socialists and the politically-correct left.
The Government is Not Us

Amazon & Walmart's in-home and car delivery service will let police conduct warrantless searches

from MassPrivatel: Recently, Walmart shocked privacy conscious Americans by announcing they wanted customers to let Walmart employees inside their homes.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

A culture of compliance breeds despots and predators

from Rutherford Institute: It doesn’t matter whether you’re talking about a politician, an entertainment mogul, a corporate CEO or a police officer: give any one person (or government agency) too much power and allow him or her or it to believe that they are entitled, untouchable and will not be held accountable for their actions, and those powers will eventually be abused.
The Government is Not Us