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 17, 2019

Judgment day for John Brennan

fromTheUnzReview:   What's ahead for the mastermind of the Russia hoax.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Stung by tariffs, farmers seek bailouts and more protectionism

fromReason:   While Trump prepares another round of aid payments for farmers, Marco Rubio is pushing for tariffs on Mexican fruits and vegetables that will send prices soaring.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

☆ VIDEO: Remy - People will die

fromReason/YouTube:   Remy channels his inner Elizabeth Warren to vilify the other side.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Fear, loathing, intolerance – and worse

fromWattsUpWithThat:   The climate-fearing, capitalism-loathing Left cannot abide questions or differing opinions.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Conviction will soon be required before civil asset forfeiture is initiated

fromTheUnzReview:   New standard may hamstring law enforcement's ability to legally steal.

Police State America

Las Vegas, which just authorized cannabis lounges, aspires to be the 'new Amsterdam'

fromReason:   The tourist mecca will be one of the few U.S. jurisdictions that give visitors a place where they can legally use the marijuana they can legally buy.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

May 15, 2019

Drivers beware: The deadly perils of traffic stops in the American police state

fromNationalReview:   Russiagate has always been a political narrative masquerading as a federal investigation.

Police State America

Barr appoints US Attorney to investigate FBI/DOJ spying on Trump; has investigated FBI before

fromZeroHedge:   US Attorney John H. Durham has been appointed to examine the origins of the Trump-Russia investigation to determine if the FBI's spying on the Trump campaign was "lawful and appropriate."

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

VIDEO: John Stossel - Moral panic over sex work

fromReason/YouTube:   Police often accuse people of "sex trafficking." Usually, it’s simply prostitution.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

'Fake news' is a really dangerous excuse for censorship

fromReason:   Whatever excuse they raise, government officials will always find an excuse to try to suppress criticism and ideas they find uncomfortable. It's our right to speak out anyway.

Media Bias on Parade          Indoctrination and Censorship

Russiagate: Law in the service of partisan politics

fromNationalReview:   Russiagate has always been a political narrative masquerading as a federal investigation.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Trump's latest trade war scheme might be the nuttiest one yet

fromReason:   The most likely end result of Trump's literal Buy American policy: lots of American farm goods rotting in federal warehouses.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

May 11, 2019

Mexico wants to legalize all drugs and negotiate with the U.S. to do the same

fromNewsweek:   “Prohibition policies have caused more harm to people and communities than the drugs they were intended to eliminate, and they haven’t come anywhere close to eliminating the supply or the demand.” 

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Gun crackdowns have already led to too many federal abuses

fromTheHill:  Gun control advocates have called for prohibiting possession of AR-15 rifles — a ban that could create five million new felons overnight.

2nd Amendment Assaults

Trump plans to redefine poverty, cutting Americans from welfare

fromZeroHedge:  “Because of this, changes to the poverty thresholds, including how they are updated for inflation over time, may affect eligibility for programs that use the poverty guidelines.” 

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

On free trade, even Karl Marx is smarter than Donald Trump

fromReason:  Marx “was a champion of free trade, and no friend of tariff barriers.” 

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

California's rent control advocates are about to get what they want, good and hard

fromReason:  Everywhere rent control is tried, the same things happen. Landlords exit the market. Developers stop building apartments. Supply drops significantly. 

Regulation Nation

Want to make money? Work for the government

fromCNSNews:  The median earnings of state and local government workers were higher than the median earnings in any of the four categories of private-industry and self-employed workers. Federal workers were even higher.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Feb 6, 2019

Donald Trump: ‘We’ve got to get out of these endless wars’

fromBreitbart:  President Donald Trump detailed his position Sunday on withdrawing troops United States from Afghanistan and Syria.

Defense Verses The War Machine

Major DNA testing company sharing genetic data with the FBI

fromBloomberg:  FamilyTreeDNA is the culprit. Unwitting citizens are paying to have their genetic information sent to the FBI and other government databases.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Are you a woman traveling alone? Marriott might be watching you.

fromReason: The surveillance tactics that have been adopted by hotel chains are part of a disturbing partnership between hospitality businesses and federal law enforcement to track the movements of people, especially women.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

How the drug war eats the poor

fromVice:  According to a new report by the NGO Health Poverty Action, prohibition drives poverty and criminality in places like Brazil and India.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Hawaii considers ban on cigarette sales

fromABC30:  Vice cops look for new products as busybodies seek to mind YOUR own business.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Capitalism has been the bane of poverty worldwide

fromReviewJournal:  Bill Gates noted that the proportion of people on Earth living in extreme poverty has declined from 94 percent in 1820 to below 9 percent today. “Most of the credit … must go to capitalism and free trade.”

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

May 1, 2016

The economic case for free trade is stronger than ever

fromReason: But working-class identity politics threaten to ruin everything.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Why Americans are avoiding the doctor

fromMarketWatch: Despite having insurance, the costs are too high.
Regulation Nation           Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Good drivers are creating a budget shortfall, proving gov’t needs you to break the law to fund itself

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: One state has found that relying on a significant percentage of its budget to be derived from traffic fees and fines leads to a massive shortage when drivers fail to break the law.
The Government is Not Us

Democrats lose ground with millennials

fromReuters: An online survey of more than 16,000 registered voters ages 18 to 34 shows their support for Democrats over Republicans for Congress slipped by about 9 percentage points over the past two years.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Here is why North Korea will give up its nuclear weapons

fromTheNationalInterest: Kim's declaration that promises the “complete denuclearization” of the Korean peninsula is about survival.
Defense Versus The War Machine

Republicans love federal snooping

fromReason: (Unless it's against Trump).
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

March 16, 2018

Facebook's war on 'conservative' sites

fromWND: The king of social media has been making algorithm changes seemingly intended to marginalize the traffic of right-of-center online news operations, and they have been effective. 
Media Bias on Parade

President Trump and the freedom of speech

fromCreators: The limits of power. Freedom of speech trumps Trump -- as it should. 
Indoctrination and Censorship

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - No Skin in the Game

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Williams contends that spending constraints will never occur so long as half of the citizens have no skin in the game. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

ACLU is suing the government for info about TSA device searches

fromMotherboard: The TSA won't release information about its warrantless searches of electronic devices carried by US citizens on domestic flights. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make      Police State America

John Stossel: Lies about Trade

fromCreators: All a trade deficit shows is that a country sells us more than we sell them. We get the better of that deal. They get excess dollar bills, but we get stuff.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Say no to “hardening” the schools with zero tolerance policies and gun-toting cops

fromRutherfordInstitute: Just what we don’t need: more gun-toting, taser-wielding cops in government-run schools that bear an uncomfortable resemblance to prisons.
Police State America

The Candidates' Public Disservice On Trade

by A. Barton Hinkle.   Almost three-fifths of Americans recognize that international trade offers the country an opportunity to expand the economy; only 34 percent see it as a threat. Unfortunately, the leading presidential contenders are doing their best to change that. Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have been spouting a  ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Gullible Americans

The willingness to buy a pig in a poke.   Jonathan Swift, satirist, essayist and political pamphleteer, is a favorite of mine. He wrote "Gulliver's Travels." One of Gulliver's voyages was to Laputa, where he visited the grand academy of Lagado, whose scientists have visions not unlike today's politicians who exploit mankind's gullibility. Before ... MORE

John Tamny: Why All Americans Should Support TPP

Rich countries open their borders to trade.        Quick question: could you manufacture all by yourself the computer on which you’re reading this opinion piece? Could you source and create the thousands of inputs that go into what on its face is fairly simple? If so, you’re in possession of superhuman mechanical skills. At the same time,    ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Trade With China

Economic Liberty Vs. Big Government Illusions

by John Hayward.      Economic freedom is the practical expression of liberty – if we’re not free to sell our goods and labor, spending and investing the proceeds as we see fit, we’re not truly “free” to do anything except complain about how the government treats us. And if we don’t have access to valid information about the government, and    ... MORE

VIDEO: Free Trade Debate - Trump Vs. Friedman

Sorry Leftists, Your Swedish Utopia Does Not Exist

by Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein.    As a Swede living in the U.S., one of the most common reactions when I tell people where I am from is the question of why I would ever leave Sweden in the first place. Many Americans seem to truly believe that life in the Scandinavian countries is superior to that in virtually all other places on earth, and that  ... MORE

VIDEO: 2016 GOP Candidates - The Liberty Rankings

Sheldon Richman: Trumps Trade Snake Oil

High import taxes won't "make America great" again. Donald Trump may think the media stenographers are out to get him, but if they were really doing their job, his head would be spinning. He doesn't know how good he has it. Or maybe he does. One need only think about the questions Trump is not asked to see what I mean. Take Trump's  ... MORE

Steve Chapman: The Democrats Abandon Free Trade

What happened to bipartisan consensus?   For a long time, there was a bipartisan consensus for free trade. President George H.W. Bush, a Republican, negotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement, and Democrat Bill Clinton got it passed. It prevailed in the Senate in 1993 with the support of 27 Democrats and 34 Republicans. The consensus  ... MORE

Steve Chapman: False Fears About Free Trade

Demonizing freedom is always a mistake. Political debates often pit fear against hope, and when it comes to international trade agreements, many Democrats prefer to scare. It's a durable strategy that they can't relinquish—even though it usually fails. If you're going to make a horror movie, you need a villain who can make your blood run   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Buy American

Yes, Of Course We Should Lift The Cuban Embargo

by Scott Lincicome.  President Obama’s announcement last week that his administration will seek to normalize relations with Cuba elicited strong opposition from many freedom-loving conservatives. Several aspects of the deal—the prisoner swaps, the president’s unilateralism and rhetoric, the timing, and so on—probably warrant scrutiny and,   ... MORE