October 17, 2017

Survey find Americans’ views on free speech is a whole bunch of crazy

from the Daily Bell: Why a whole bunch of crazy?
"There are no contradictions. If you see a contradiction, check your premises. One of them is wrong" -- Ayn Rand
Indoctrination and Censorship

Who's the Harvey Weinstein of sex work? The police

from Reason: This week has a lot of people wondering "who's the Harvey Weinstein?" of their industry. For sex workers, the answer is all too often a local cop.
Police State America

Chicago's soda tax fizzles

from Reason: Everybody realized it was about bringing in money, not improving public health.
Regulation Nation

⭐️  Walter E Williams: Who pays what in taxes?

from Creators: Today, some politicians argue that the rich must pay their fair share and label the proposed changes in tax law as tax cuts for the rich. Let's look at who pays what.
Economic Policy: Statism vs. The Free Market

Rand Paul: The insurance companies are extorting us, Trump stopped that

from RealClearPolitics: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) discusses the president's executive order on the Affordable Care Act, why he says the plan is an attempt to empower consumers and why this could be a bipartisan issue.
Regulation Nation

ICE’s civil forfeiture guidelines leaked, and they’re not good

from RealClearPolitics: A government handbook reveals details of its legalized theft program. The concern is strictly about the value of property with no consideration of justice.
The Government is Not Us

October 14, 2017

A nigger and an Uncle Tom

from SlowtoWrite: Samuel Sey: The term Uncle Tom is a racial slur for Black men perceived as submissive to White people—Black men like me. I am perceived as submissive to White people because I do not submit to Black people.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

How we learned not to care about America's wars

from Common Dreams: Sixteen years of autopilot wars, but who’s counting?
Defense vs. The War Machine

⭐️ John Stossel: Let Them Leave

from Creators: America was founded on an act of secession from England. So why do so many people now see secession as a terrible thing?
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

How the minimum wage entrenches inequality and economic privilege

from the Federalist: Early minimum wage proponents knew what they were doing, by pricing “undesirable” workers out of the labor force to perpetuate minority poverty. Let’s not finish their work for them.
Regulation Nation

New TSA screening means airport security hell is about to get worse 

from The Manual: “Well, at least it can’t get any worse.” These days, that seems to be the mantra for most air travelers just before the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) enacts some new program that does just that.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The federal government never lets a serious crisis go to waste

from Reason: "The expansion of federal power has not been steady and inexorable; it has grown through sudden, quantum leaps in times of emergency, most especially war. The crises eventually subside, but many of the powers remain—to be built upon later when the next crisis unfolds."
The Government is Not Us

September 26, 2017

In Venezuela, they were teachers and doctors. To buy food, they became prostitutes.

from Miami Herald: As Venezuela’s economy continues to collapse amid food shortages, hyperinflation and U.S. sanctions, waves of economic refugees have fled the country.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

RT may soon be dropped by US providers, courtesy of McCain & Graham 

from RT: RT is a Russian news outlet and should be taken in context. The cellophane patriot McCain wants them censored, but that is not the values of the true American patriots who founded this land.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Walter E Williams: Not a Day Care

from Creator's Syndicate: Many colleges have become hotbeds of what might be labeled as enlightened racism. Students at the University of California, Berkeley created "safe spaces" for people of color.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

There's nothing funny about Trump's troubling policing edicts

from Reason: The president is sending a message that law enforcement has more latitude now to bend and break the rules.
Police State America

Chicago’s awesome new soda tax produces predicted results

from HotAir: "The local retailers report that more than 4 in 10 local stores have seen a drop in beverage sales of at least 30%."
Regulation Nation

St Louis protests: Journalists say they were beaten and arrested by police while covering demonstrations

from Independent: Cops beat up the reporters who were chronicling their actions.
Police State America

September 20, 2017

The silencing of dissent

from TruthDig: The ruling elites, who grasp that the reigning ideology of global corporate capitalism and imperial expansion no longer has moral or intellectual credibility, have mounted a campaign to shut down the platforms given to their critics.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Venezuelan price controls lead to predictable shortages

from Reason: Venezuelan grocery stores only have products shoppers don't want.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Princeton’s Constitution Day lecture titled ‘F*ck Free Speech’

from National Review: This logic-challenged professor knocks those who value free speech on campus, while using her position as a campus leader to spearhead a project that openly calls the president “racist” (hate speech if directed at a lefty).
Indoctrination and Censorship

Trump vindicated: report says Obama government wiretapped Trump campaign

from Breitbart: Just in case you watch CNN or were away for the weekend, you may have missed this one.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Governments turn tables by suing public records requesters

from Associated Press: The new tactic of corrupt government agencies is to sue those make  FOIA requests, banking that the high costs of defending themselves will silence them.
The Government is Not Us

Unapproved thought is violence

from American Thinker: The cockamamie rationale that uttering unapproved or unconventional speech is can be perceived as violence to some, thereby justifying actual violent behavior.
Indoctrination and Censorship

September 18, 2017

Should you tell the cops you have a gun?

from Reason: Some gun owners argue that disclosure is considerate and prudent, while others worry it will escalate a routine traffic stop into a tense, unpleasant, and possibly life-threatening encounter.
2nd Amendment Assaults

25 most commonly used recreational drugs in America

from St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The drugs Americans prefer most. Of course, all of them are either illegal or severely restricted and heavily taxed. Government reverence for the pursuit of happiness is not exactly that of the founders.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Irma watch: How likely are prohibitions on ‘price gouging’ to help the poor?

from The American Spectator: Some gun owners argue that disclosure is considerate and prudent, while others worry it will escalate a routine traffic stop into a tense, unpleasant, and possibly life-threatening encounter.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Gun rights top media poll

from The Daily Caller: Lost in the storm of hurricane coverage, a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll demonstrates Americans’ growing support for gun rights. 

2nd Amendment Assaults

John Stossel: The best part of the Constitution

from Reason: Stossel shares his thoughts about Constitution Day (September 17).
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Will Las Vegas be ‘Amsterdam on steroids’? Door opens for pot lounges

from NBC News: What happens in Vegas will still stay in Vegas — but perhaps no longer behind closed doors, at least when it comes to pot.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

September 15, 2017

230 years after the Constitution, we’re walking a dangerous road 

from The Rutherford Institute: A look at what it means to live under the Constitution today.
The Government is Not Us

🎬  Walter E Williams - What is a Right? 

from LibertyPen: There are many misconceptions about what constitutes a right. Professor Williams provides clarity.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Court lets DEA keep evidence from warrantless search 

from TechDirt: The government's lawyers with robes conveniently decided that possible cause is just as good as probable cause. The state may do as it pleases. The Constitutional protections of the Fourth Amendment are now officially gutted.
The Government is Not Us

A case against the minimum wage 

from Forbes: The case AGAINST minimum wage is the case FOR economic liberty. Supporters focus only on the beneficiaries without regard to those shut out of the job market each time the entry bar is raised.
Regulation Nation

What does child porn smell like? DHS is training dogs to sniff it out 

from ReasonTV: This may not qualify as politically correct, but it is hard to contest this being filed under other nitwittery.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Permanent reauthorization of Section 702 of FISA 'borders on insanity' 

from The Caldwell County News: The This would be a final and permanent nail in the coffin for the Fourth Amendment.
Say goodbye to the notion of the "sovereign citizen".
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

September 9, 2017

Defend Our Online Communities: Stop SESTA

from EFF: Don’t endanger our online communities. SESTA would swap responsibility for online posts from the individual to the web platform, providing the platform with incentives to censor. Stop SESTA.
Indoctrination and Censorship

🎬  Walter E Williams - Tyranny of the Elites

from LibertyPen YouTube Channel: Professor Williams explains how those that pretend to represent you really strive to control you. In fact, they will kill you if necessary to make that point.
The Government is Not Us

Public sector unions are beginning to panic

from Hot Air: When mandatory dues (extortion's first cousin) are gone, unions will be in a heap of trouble.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Teen marijuana use falls to 20-year low, defying legalization opponents’ predictions

from The Washington Post: Adolescence seems to be about rebellion. Legality ruins the fun Go figure.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Victor Davis Hanson: Media bias, bureaucracy drive liberal narrative

from Reason: Raising the bar to enter the job market always results in unemployment for the lowest skilled workers.
Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: Minimum Wage: Bad for Humans, Good for Robots

from Reason: Raising the bar to enter the job market always results in unemployment for the lowest skilled workers.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

September 7, 2017

National Guard Authorized to Seize Guns Ahead of Hurricane Irma

from The Daily Bell: Is this a testing ground to see what the U.S. National Guard can get away with?
2nd Amendment Assaults

Laws against 'gouging' are simplistic and wrong

from Reason: So-called price gouging helps send important signals to buyers and sellers. It is a necessary function to attract resources to where they are most needed.
Economic Policy - Statism vs The Free Market

Berkeley wimps out on free speech

from the NY Post: You really didn't think a leopard could change its spots, did you?
Indoctrination and censorship

CNN gets embarrassed again trying to tie Trump to Russia

from The New York Times:  CNN's elite reporting team has been exposed again. Story retracted.
Media Bias on Parade

Government barriers to private solutions hinder hurricane relief efforts

from Creators: "Raising prices of goods and services to the highest level the market will bear is not only what entrepreneurs do on a daily basis but also the mechanism that gives people access to a supply of goods they wouldn't otherwise have access to."
Economic Policy - Statism vs The Free Market

September 5, 2017

Prices should rise during crises like Hurricane Harvey

from Reason:  Prices serve an important function. They attract resources to where they are needed most. This is not price gouging, it is the beauty of capitalism at work.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Trump quietly nominates mass surveillance advocate to “protect” your privacy rights

from Activist Post: Like those who came before him, Trump is an authoritarian and as such wants to empower the state at the expense of the individual. The government is not us.
The Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The Utah nurse is not alone — police have a history of abusing professionals rendering aid

from The Free Thought Project: The Body Cam footage of a nurse being violent arrested for doing her job and refusing to break the law may be shocking, but it's not uncommon. Badges do not put one above the law.
Police State America

REPORT: America’s top universities deny students fair hearings

from FIRE: A new survey reveals that the overwhelming majority of America’s top universities fail to provide students accused of serious misconduct with the most basic elements of fair procedure.
Indoctrination and Censorship

September 2, 2017

Hollywood & New Yorkers Agree: We should aspire to be more like starving Venezuelans

from Squawker:  The Bernie Sanders' mentality of imposing universal poverty as a means to achieve equality.
Leftists would be wise to grasp the wisdom of Milton Friedman: “A society that puts equality before freedom will get neither.
A society that puts freedom before equality will get a high degree of both.”

Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Ohio’s Campus Free Speech Act helps build free minds, free people

from The Hill:  Free speech is the best antidote for poisonous ideas. That is why the intolerant left is so scared of it.
Students need to explore their ideas, not constrain them. Education is about learning how to think, not being told what to think.

Indoctrination and Censorship

FDA pushing forward with terrible menu-labeling rules

from The Hill:  Unless this idiotic provision of ObamaCare is repealed, menu labeling will continue to be abnormally costly and ineffective (since costly and ineffective is the normal state of government). 

Regulation Nation

Economic Policy: Statism Vs The Free Market

Latest Update: August 8, 2017

End stage socialism: Venezuela descends into predictable dictatorship
Walter E Williams: Minimum Wage Cruelty

Oregon seeks to reduce business flexibility and micromanage private work schedules

This is what socialism looks like: 'doctors flee desperate Venezuela' 

Pirates catcher Francisco Cervilli's compelling message to his fellow citizens of Venezuela

California has glut of electricity but residents still pay 40% more than national average

Walter E Williams: There's Nothing Free

VIDEO: The War on Cash: Your Money or Your Life

🌟 Jim Cardoza: Four Compelling Reasons to Vote for Donald Trump

Thomas Sowell: Old Lies

We expect to hear a lot of lies during an election year, and this year is certainly no exception. What is surprising is how old some of these lies are, and how often they have been shown to be lies, years ago or even decades ago. ... MORE

Walter E Williams - Compensating Differences

What economists call an ability to make "compensating differences" is a valuable tool in everyone's arsenal. If people are prohibited from doing so, they are always worse off. You say, "Williams, I never heard of compensating differences. 

What are they?" Jimmy Soul's 1963 hit song, "If You Wanna Be Happy," explained the concept of compensating differences. His lyrics went: "If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife. So from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you." His point was that an ugly woman would treat you better. But more importantly, a less attractive woman's willingness to compensate for her differences enables her to effectively compete with a pretty woman. ... MORE

VIDEO: Murray Sabrin - Economics & The Federal Reserve

The Cruelty Of The $15 Minimum Wage

by Nick Gillespie & Jim Epstein.   The $15 minimum wage just went from "laughable" to "viable"—as a New York Times headline put it—to the law of the land for millions of New York and California residents. In April 2016, the Empire and Golden states almost simultaneously passed laws that will boost the state-mandated wage floor to $15 over the     ... MORE

Raising Minimum Wage Is Perfect Way To Kill Summer Jobs

by Jonah Goldberg.   Expect more teenagers on the streets. I had a lot of summer jobs. I was a foot messenger in New York for a couple of summers. I worked as a receptionist and mail-room flunky. Before my junior year of high school, I briefly sold ice-cream snacks — sort of yuppie bonbons — on the street for a company called Love Bites.     ... MORE

Hyprocrisy On Steroids: California Labor Union That Fought To Impose $15 Minimum Wage Now Wants An Exemption

The point is to drive up the costs of their competition.  The labor union that led the charge for a $15 minimum wage hike in cities across California is now moving to secure an exemption for employers under union contracts. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor buried the exemption on the eighth page of its 12-page proposal for the  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Trump Appeal

Economic Inequality Is Not Increasing. Propaganda Is

by Gary North.    It never ends. We are besieged by articles on today's increasing economic inequality. These articles have three things in common: 1. Each one has a favorite explanation/boogeyman. 2. Each one calls for political reforms to make things more equal. 3. Each one fails to mention Pareto's 20/80 law. Here is the main problem with these  ... MORE