Nov 30, 2018

Profitable penalties imperil justice

fromReason: Forfeit a $42,000 Land Rover for a minor drug offense? The Supreme Court is now looking at law enforcement's shameless policing for profit scheme.
Police State America     Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

What government scientists are doing to make their insane extreme climate forecasts

fromEconomicJournal: Dr. Patrick Michaels, director of the Center for the Study of Science at the Cato Institute, discusses the parameterization of the models, the cherry-picking that goes on and the skewed incentives.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Man who bit off cops finger free after jail beating video is revealed

fromDailyMail: Registered sex offender who chomped off piece of cop's finger and swallowed it is ACQUITTED after jail surveillance footage shows officers pinning him down and beating him.
Police State America     Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

VIDEO: This Stupid F*king Caravan

fromDailyMail: That stupid migrant caravan that Obama and the Left contended was "a lie" is now arriving.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

8 Shocking demographic trends which will greatly shape America’s future

fromEndofAmericanDream: We are witnessing a fundamental transformation of America.  Some welcome the changes that are happening, while others are greatly resisting them.  But one thing is very clear – the United States is a very different place than it was 40 or 50 years ago.

Mueller’s RussiaGate probe: Conflicts, presuppositions and special interests

fromDisobedientMedia: Rep Louie Gohmert: “Mueller has a long and sordid history of illicitly targeting innocent people that is a stain upon the legacy of American jurisprudence.”
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

August 21, 2018

Los Angeles to use body scanners at transit hubs as New York tests them

fromBostonGlobe: Los Angeles’ transit agency said Tuesday that it would become the first in the nation to use body scanners to screen passengers entering stations.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: The CIA Director Who Couldn't Be Trusted

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A look at why John Brennan was stripped of his security clearance and the hysterical press coverage surrounding the event.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption        Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: John Stossel on the Paris Climate Fraud

fromJohnStossel/YouTube: Los Angeles’ transit agency said Tuesday that it would become the first in the nation to use body scanners to screen passengers entering stations.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

John Brennan is no match for Trump

fromMoonofAlabama:Brennan is one of the most despicable former U.S. officials alive. There is no sound reason why anyone who does not work for the government, directly or indirectly, should have access to state secrets.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Sexual assault accusation against #MeToo hero Asia Argento relies on uncommon age of consent law

fromReason: An actress who helped take down Harvey Weinstein paid $380,000 to keep a 17-year-old quiet about their encounter.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

FBI dealt blow by DC judge; must address measures taken to verify Steele dossier

fromZeroHedge: Judge Amit Mehta - who in January sided with the FBI's decision to ignore the FOIA request, said that President Trump's release of two House Intelligence Committee documents changed everything.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

July 14, 2016

TSA screeners win immunity from abuse claims: appeals court

fromReuters: Whether it be Lois Lerner, James Clapper, Eric Holder, James Comey, Peter Strzok, the local cop or the TSA screener, we are reminded daily: government is NOT accountable to us.
Police State America      The Government is Not Us

Andrew Napolitano: Filling the swamp

fromCreators:  Trump has given us a nominee to the highest court in the land who typifies the culture he railed against when he claimed he'd drain the swamp.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Bernie Sanders asks nation to please stop mailing him books on economics

fromBabylonBee: Elderly hack decides to stay stupid despite outpouring of assistance.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Incentives Matter, Intentions Don't

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Economist Thomas Sowell explains what happens to intentions on the road toward results.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

A landmark legal shift opens Pandora’s box for DIY guns

fromWired: Cody Wilson makes digital files that let anyone 3-D print untraceable guns. The government tried to stop him. He sued—and won.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle        2nd Amendment Assaults

Remember when sea-level rise was going to cause Pacific Islands to disappear? Never mind.

fromWattsUpWithThat: Coral atolls getting larger, not sinking according to new study using satellite data.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

June 29, 2016

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Disparity is Not Discrimination

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Sowell looks at why economic and other outcomes often differ greatly among individuals, groups and institutions.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Trump's trade war requires handing more power to unelected bureaucrats

fromReason: One government intervention into the economy begets another, and American businesses are caught in the chaos.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Supreme Court will decide if civil forfeiture is unconstitutional, violates the Eighth Amendment

fromForbes: The U.S. Supreme Court will review the constitutionality of civil forfeiture laws, which allow the government to legally steal a citizen's property if law enforcement suspects them of crime.
Police State America        Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Why "Permit Patty" called the cops on an 8-year-old entrepreneur

fromFEE: This is a symptom of our society's "entrepreneurial decay." 
Regulation Nation

Three glaring examples proving Snopes and the AP have no business being official ‘fact checkers’

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Snopes and the Associated Press have been given power over social media to define truth but they are often wrong and the consequences are grave.
Indoctrination and Censorship

30 years of global warming forecasts all failed

fromLewRockwell: What actually happened, they got $1 billion for research by scaring the HELL out of everyone.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

June 15, 2016

How to drain the swamp: end the failed war on drugs

fromFFF: While the taxpayers of Flyover America were being shackled with what is now $20 trillion of public debt, the boondogglers and busybodies of the Imperial City were chopping up harmless cannabis plants.
The Government is Not Us       The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Radical plan to split California into three states earns spot on November ballot

fromLATimes: California’s 168-year run as a single entity, hugging the continent’s edge for hundreds of miles and sprawling east across mountains and desert, could come to an end next year.
The Pursuit of Happiness

Fact-checking the “fact-checkers”: Snopes & Politifact have a political agenda

fromOrganicPrepper: I never expected a hub-bub. I did my research, came to some conclusions, and titled my article, “Now It’s Illegal to Have a Shower and Do Laundry on the Same Day.”
Indoctrination and Censorship

Walter E Williams: Diversity and inclusion harm

fromCreators: The National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health are two federal agencies that fund university research and are consumed by diversity and inclusion ideology.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Chopping down own trees nets man $22,500 in fines

fromCBSNewYork: Cutting down the trees made his property safer however he failed to pay the Sheriff of Nottingham for the privilege. The notion of private property in America has become meaningless.
Regulation Nation

Disaster arrives for climate alarmists

fromRealClimateScience: Arctic sea ice volume is above normal, highest in thirteen years, and melting at the slowest rate on record
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

June 11, 2016

Social Security and Medicare going broke even faster than projected

fromSchiffGold: For the first time since 1982, Social Security will have to dip into its $3 trillion trust fund in order to cover benefits this year. The program’s expenses will exceed its revenue three years earlier than projected.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Berkeley scholar admits "climate change has run its course"

fromZeroHedge: Treating climate change as a planet-scale problem that could be solved only by an international regulatory scheme transformed the issue into a political creed for committed believers.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Trade clash: EU to hit US with $3.3 billion in tariffs next month

fromCNNMoney: Americans are about to start paying for Trump's economic misconceptions.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Jerry Brown wants to tax drinking water

fromTheDailyCaller: The California governor will not be happy until every penny you earn is transferred to the politicians who run the state.
The Government is Not Us      Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Cops swarm and beat a black man unconscious in Arizona for no apparent reason

fromTheDailyMail: Robert Johnson was beaten unconscious by members of the Mesa Police Department because he "wouldn't sit down", though the law prohibiting standing was not provided.
The Government is Not Us      Police State America

Venezuela’s oil meltdown defies belief

fromWolfStreet: The problems for Venezuela continue to mount, and the news that it is considering force majeure points to a more catastrophic decline in production and exports.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

June 7, 2016

DHS plans to compile a list of all bloggers, journalists and “social media influencers”

fromTheMostImportantNews: If LibertyPen's flame is extinguished, you will know why.
The Government is Not Us

Trump has broken the spell of climate change mania

fromGlobalWarmingPolicyForum: Since Mr Trump walked out of the Paris agreement one year ago, it has been fascinating to watch the decline of media interest in “saving the planet”.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Politicizing the FBI: How James Comey succeeded where Richard Nixon failed

fromTheDailyCaller: If there was any doubt about the political motivation of Comey, it was removed by his rhetoric following his ouster, clothed in talk of FBI independence and ethics, but revealing raging anti-Trump animus.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Donald Trump’s Tariffs get pushback from Koch Brothers

fromTheInquisitr: The Koch campaign might force other Republicans to reconsider their fiscal positions and publicly denounce Trump tariffs in an effort to connect with voters.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Hallmark of an economic ponzi scheme

fromHussmanFunds: The constant creation of low-grade debt in order to finance consumption and income shortfalls among some members of the economy, using the massive surpluses earned by other members of the economy.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Six sports betting legalization myths

fromARSTecnica: Thanks to the Supreme Court doing its job, the federal ban on sports betting has been overturned. Individuals can now command their assets. Now, let's dispel the popular myths.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

May 15, 2016

California politicians are hellbent on telling you how to live

fromReason: Now, our so-called "representatives" are seeking to force you on to buses and trains by making life more inconvenient. This is called public service.
Regulation Nation   The Government is Not Us

Walter E Williams: Kanye and Democrats

fromCreators: West raps, "See, that's the problem with this damn nation. All blacks gotta be Democrats. 
Man, we ain't made it off the plantation."
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption    Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

This Taco Bell can't get a liquor license because city officials don't like Taco Bell

fromReason: But the pizza place next door can have one.
Regulation Nation

California's boneheaded solar remedy for climate change

fromReason: Good intentions are a possibility, but awful policies are the routine reality.
Regulation Nation

Mueller may have a conflict — and it leads directly to a Russian oligarch

fromTheHill: A corrupt political weapon known as the FBI is slowly but steadily being exposed.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

On marijuana and opioids — the DEA has no clue what it’s talking about

fromTheHill: This is hardly breaking news but it is at least being finally acknowledged in some media.
The War On Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

October 25, 2017

Britain says no the term "pregnant woman" as it excludes transgender people

from FoxNews: For those suffering from gender dysphoria, it is apparently considered unkind to suggest a womb is necessary
in order to be pregnant.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

California's six-figure pension club has 62,000 members

from Reason: And seven retirees in Los Angeles pulled down more than $1 million each in retirement benefits last year. "Public service" has its privileges.
Economic Policy: Statism vs. The Free Market

Lies and manipulation: The sorry state of global climate alarmism

from WattsUpWithThat?: While practitioners of environmental religion fret about one-tenth of one degree, India has real concerns: food and water.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Europe: journalists against free speech

from GatestoneInstitute: Gone is all pretense that journalism is about reporting the facts.
Media Bias on Parade

Sens. Rand Paul and Ron Wyden unveil privacy-protecting surveillance reform bill

from Reason: Two senators fight back against the surveillance society and the police state to protect individual from their government.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Don’t call the cops if you’re autistic, deaf, mentally ill, disabled or old

from Rutherford Institute: Sometimes it’s dangerous enough calling the cops when you’re not contending with a disability. Unfortunately, the risks just skyrocket when a disability is involved.
Police State America

September 25, 2017

Has asset forfeiture gone too far? Damn right Skippy!

from FoxNews: How the legalized theft of one man's truck brings the morality of civil asset forfeiture to light.
Police State America

Oklahoma is imprisoning so many people it can’t hire enough guards to keep up

from In These Times: “Prison guard unions often have a strong incentive to push back against reforms, because so much of what we spend on incarceration goes to correctional officers,” explains John Pfaff, a Fordham Law School professor.
Police State America

Scientists go after the media for highlighting a study showing IPCC climate models were wrong

from Watts Up With That!: Sadly, these scientists cannot rejoice that things are not as bad as they thought because the new finding threatens their funding.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

UC Berkeley’s ‘Free Speech Week’ officially canceled, appeared to be set-up from the start

from The Mercury News: Email suggests organizers didn’t intend for the event to happen
Indoctrination and Censorship

Sweden's 'man-free' music festival prompts response from transgender people

from Fox News: The ban on men, it turns out, only applies to what Knyckare described as “cisgender men”—which is a term for men whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. That's not very PC.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Judge approves surveillance on Reno buses

from Mohave Valley Daily News: If you are in public, you are in government's space and will be monitored and recorded. That is what public means these days.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

September 14, 2017

📹  Our Amazing Debt (Cosmos Parody) 

from ReasonTV: The national debt just skipped past $20 trillion, which puts America's indebtedness at "unfathomably staggering." (And the chunk you owe personally at "a lot.") The math is so complex that Reason TV decided to lean on "Cosmos" to explain it.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Maine is nullifying federal regulations that cripple local farmers 

from Mises Institute: This is one path for the future of freedom. State nullification is the remedy for federal overreach and tyrannical anti-liberty regs.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Has the NYT Gone Collectively Mad? 

from Consortiumnews: "For those of us who have taught journalism or worked as editors, a sign that an article is the product of sloppy or dishonest journalism is that a key point will be declared as flat fact when it is unproven or a point in serious dispute – and it then becomes the foundation for other claims, building a story like a high-rise constructed on sand."
Media Bias on Parade

Calls to imprison "climate change deniers" grow in the wake of Hurricane Irma 

from Mises Institute: Environmental fanatics continue to grow more radical and intolerant. The movement seems to be dropping the guise of science, developing into a full-fledged religion.
Indoctrination and Censorship

In surprise vote, House passes amendment to restrict asset forfeiture 

from The Intercept: Could pass the Senate on anti-Sessions, anti-Trump sentiment, but if Trump is the tyrannical authoritarian some suspect, he will veto it.
Police State America

This new database is tracking how many cops are charged with crimes 

from Reason: A new database tries to answer one of the most vexing questions in the national debate over policing. The truly amazing thing is this hasn't been done before.
Police State America

Dear AG, Conspiring Against Free Speech Is A Crime

by Glenn Harlan Reynolds.    Breaking the law to shut up climate change dissenters. Federal law  makes it a felony “for two or more persons to agree together to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of   ... MORE

Jack Hellner: Prosecuting Free Speech

Speak up now or forever hold your peace.     The U.S. attorney general and the Democrat attorneys general in several states are indicating that they are considering legal action against people who believe that current climate change is natural and cyclical, as it has been throughout billions of years, instead of caused by humans.  Is it any wonder  ... MORE

A VERY Inconvenient Truth: Scientists Finally Admit Climate Models Are FAILING To Predict Global Warming

by Michael Bastasch.    A group of scientists recently put out a new study confirming the 15-year “hiatus” in global warming. That study made headlines, but what went largely unnoticed was a major admission made by the paper’s authors: the climate models were wrong. “There is this mismatch between what the climate models are producing     ... MORE

Global Warming Fund A Slush Fund For World’s Dictators

by Marian Tupy.  Wherever you stand on the subject of global warming, pay close attention to one under-reported aspect of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Paris Agreement. I am referring to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which is a financial mechanism intended "to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation    ... MORE

Hottest Year On Record? Claim Not Backed Up By The Data

from Investors Business Daily.    The narrative says we’re living in dangerous times as man’s carbon dioxide emissions heat Earth. But a scientist testifying before Congress showed that the temperature record telling that story can’t be trusted. When the media reported — gleefully because it allowed them to advance their agenda — that 2015  ... MORE

Coral Davenport: To Help Pimp Alternative Energy Sources, Obama Is Willing To Impose A $10-A-Barrel Fee On Oil

A tax on production, what could go wrong.     President Obama’s budget request to Congress will include a new fee on oil companies, requiring them to pay $10 to the federal government for every barrel of oil they produce, the White House said on Thursday. The money, which could bring in up to $32 billion in new federal revenue annually, would ... MORE

5 Ways We Know Al Gore Ran A Global Warming Racket

from Investor's Business Daily.    Fraud: Ten years ago Monday, Al Gore said we had only a decade left to save the planet from global warming. But Earth has been doing just fine. Why do we listen to this man? While preening at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006 during the premiere of his “An Inconvenient Truth” fib-umentary, Gore    ... MORE

10 Reasons That Show Global Warming Is Not Man-Made

by Mike van Biezen.   Physics Prof explains his switch to skepticism. It made sense. Knowing that CO2 is a greenhouse gas and that our industrialized world is adding a large amount of it to the atmosphere on a yearly basis, I accepted the premise that this would cause global temperatures to rise.  But one day about 7 years ago, I looked   ... MORE

John Stossel: Politicians Without Borders

Today's politicians seem to have few limits.     When driving on treacherous roads, guardrails are useful. If you fall asleep or maybe you're just a bad driver, guardrails may prevent you from going off a cliff. Recently, The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley Strassel used the phrase "no political guardrails" to point out how many of today's    ... MORE