Dec 4, 2018

Without an Obamacare penalty, many are planning to drop health plans. The consequences could be dire.

fromTheHill: Evidence that mandates are only necessary when persuasion has no chance. Premiums, even for a bronze plan with a deductible of more than $6,000, can cost more than $500 a month.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market     Regulation Nation

Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households

fromWashingtonExaminer: A majority of “non-citizens,” including those with legal green card rights, are tapping into welfare programs set up to help poor and ailing Americans says a Census Bureau finding.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

The aggressive (and subtle) faces of coercion

fromCSMonitor: China today: The portrait is appalling. Obedience is enforced at gunpoint. Fear is widespread. The desire to change others is put above every other consideration. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

George H.W. Bush's legacy holds little, nothing for libertarians to celebrate

fromReason: There is little to celebrate and much to criticize.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Our deficits may finally be coming home to roost

fromTheHill: The fact that our government is able to print money means that outright default is extremely unlikely; rather, the cost of excessive borrowing shows up in more subtle ways.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Author's anger after his book about reducing plastic is sent out shrink-wrapped in PLASTIC

fromDailyMail: An eco-friendly author has been left raging after copies of his anti-plastic book were dispatched wrapped in plastic. Hilarious.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: Richard Epstein - ObamaCare

Little Sisters Of The Poor Case Not About Contraception, It's About Gov't Forcing You To Violate Your Conscience

by Stephanie Slade.   This morning the eight justices of Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Zubik v. Burwell. The case will determine whether the Little Sisters of the Poor and six other petitioners (including Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik) can object to an "accommodation" from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that they   ... MORE

John W. Whitehead: Fascism, American Style

They’re all fascists. “If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States.” ― Henry A. Wallace, 33rd Vice President of the United States   This is an indictment of every politician who has ever sold us out for the sake of money  ... MORE

America’s Gestapo: The FBI’s Reign Of Terror

by John W. Whitehead.  “Don’t Be a Puppet” is the message the FBI is sending young Americans. As part of the government’s so-called ongoing war on terror, the nation’s de facto secret police force is now recruiting students and teachers to spy on each other and report anyone who appears to have the potential to be “anti-government” or “extremist.”   ... MORE

It’s Actually Easy To Force People To Be Evil

by Annalee Newitz.   We've known for a long time that people will do terrible things under orders—like hurt strangers. But why are we so easily persuaded to do things we wouldn't otherwise choose, even when nobody is holding guns to our heads? A new scientific experiment sheds light on this ancient ethical question. University College London neuroscientist ... 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

Rand Paul Weighs In On The Apple-FBI Dispute

by Elias J. Atienza.      Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) told CN2 that Apple shouldn’t be compelled to hack the encrypted iPhone of San Bernadino shooter, Syed Farook. Apple has strongly opposed a court ordered request by the FBI to open the phone, citing that it could create a backdoor and weaken the security and privacy  of users. “What’s extraordinary ... MORE

Debt Collection, At The End Of A Gun (Update)

by Scott Greenfield.     A good friend came to me decades ago with a problem. He received a letter from the Department of Education informing him that he had to repay his student loans that had been incurred decades earlier. He did repay them, he told me. “You have proof?” I asked. Are you kidding? It was 25 years ago. I threw the checks away decades  ... MORE

Kade Crockford: This Federal Appeals Court's Ruling Put A Dent In The Police Officers' 'Qualified Immunity' Defense

Cop to be held accountable in killing of unarmed man.    A police officer is not immune from accountability after he points a gun at a non-threatening person, with his finger on the trigger and the safety off, and accidentally fires. So ruled the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last week, in a case that has far-reaching implications for public ... MORE

Michael F. Haverluck: Homeschoolers Face 23 Years In Jail For Missing The Filing Deadlines Imposed By The State

Treating citizens like slaves.       Parents from two homeschooling families in Ohio face up to 23 years in jail for missing filing deadlines imposed by the state. Despite the fact that each of the families were relatively new to homeschooling in Ohio — along with hundreds of other families around the country who report having trouble navigating ... MORE

Daniel Holtzclaw And The Limits Of “Community Policing”

by Victoria M. Massie. At the sentencing last week of Daniel Holtzclaw — the 29-year-old former Oklahoma City police officer convicted on 18 counts of rape and sexual assault of African-American women in the neighborhood he was assigned to patrol — District Attorney David Prater told the media: “I think people need to realize that this is not a ” ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Immorality And Contempt For Liberty

Some Americans have become beasts of burden.   American immorality and contempt for liberty lie at the root of most of the political economic problems our nation faces. They explain the fiscal problems we face, such as growing national debt and budget deficits at the federal, state and local levels of government. Our immorality and       ... MORE

That Obamacare Penalty Will Be Bigger Than You Think

by Dan Mangan. The stick's getting a lot bigger — but it's not clear that many more people will choose the carrot as a result. Households that opt to go without health insurance in 2016 are set to get hit with an average Obamacare fine of $969. That is 47 percent higher than the average $661 penalty per uninsured household for this year, a new analysis  ... MORE

Jerry Brown Pimps 'Coercive Power of the State' In Paris

by Rob Nikolewski.     For the public good as determined by political elites. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) raised some eyebrows while attending the United Nations Climate Summit in Paris, proclaiming the "coercive power of the central state" is needed to promote good public policy, specifically when it comes to a cleaner environment.     ... MORE

Stephen Moore: Does EPA Need Guns, Ammo And Armor?

Government's environmental SWAT teams.  The Environmental Protection Agency spent millions of dollars over the last decade on guns, ammo, body armor, camouflage equipment, unmanned aircraft, amphibious assault ships, radar and night-vision gear and other military-style weaponry and surveillance activities, according to a new   ... MORE

High School Journalism Teacher Gets Suspended After Standing Up For Student Reporters' Free Speech Rights

by Zach Weissmueller.   Administrators at one California high school reacted in all the wrong ways when student reporters tried to write a newspaper article about the recent dismissal of a popular teacher and debate coach. San Gabriel High School principal Jim Schofield sent an email telling newspaper adviser Jennifer Kim to kill the story   ... MORE

Forced Silence Is One Way To Shut Up Political Opponents

by John Stossel.   Campaign finance rules = major threat to freedom. In a democracy, citizens must be able to criticize their leaders. It's a reason America's founders put free speech in the Bill of Rights. I assumed that right is safe in the United States. So I was shocked to learn what happened in Wisconsin. Before dawn, Deborah Jordahl was    ... MORE

Woman Flips Off Mayor, So He Sends SWAT Team After Her

by John Vibes.   Cops deployed as tools for politician. Tina Warren has been fighting her local government over rising water bills, leaving her at odds with the town’s mayor, Bill Kirkpatrick. Warren has been running a number of campaigns against his policies, and she has even been flipping the mayor the middle finger every time she sees him. Tina’s     ... MORE

Police State America: Video Shows Austin Cop Arbitrarily Arresting A Man For Eating A Hamburger In His Parked Car

by Grant Stern.      Cops making up the law as they go. This recently recorded arrest in Austin, Texas shows the five stages of police deciding to falsely arrest a citizen who contacted PINAC News and wishes to be called “Rick”. The YouTube video’s original caption to the video at the bottom of this story says it all: “Bought a burger and pulled over to have a  ... MORE