June 13, 2020

The year gun control died

fromReason: Gun opponents would leave predatory cops armed and their victims helpless. So much for that idea.
2nd Amendment Assaults

It turns out you can spot a bad apple. You just can’t remove one.

fromJonathanTurley: Around the country, the percentage of civilian complaints that result in disciplinary action is astonishingly low. And the rate at which offending officers are severely disciplined is effectively zero.
Police State America

Sen. Rand Paul: Slapping someone could get you 10 years in prison under federal 'anti-lynching' bill

fromInformationLiberation: Senator Paul is "single-handedly" holding this atrocious bill up as the GOP-controlled senate is too cowardly to stand against it, lest they be perceived as "pro-lynching." 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Seattle "Autonomous Zone" now has a "heavily-armed" warlord as crime spikes 300%

fromZeroHedge: "Anarchists just took over Seattle and the Liberal Democrat Governor just said he knows “nothing about that”. -- Donald Trump
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

The extraordinary hypocrisy of public health experts

fromSpiked: They support BLM marchers but wanted to deny medical care to lockdown protesters.
Regulation Nation

Devouring its own: How many on the left fostered the violent movement now rioting across the country

fromJonathanTurley: Despite its violent history, some Democratic leaders have been enablers or outright supporters of the Antifa movement, insisting that such groups cannot be compared to extreme right wing groups.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

March 19, 2020

Panic will end but tyranny will not

fromDailyMail: We saw it with 9/11 and we’re seeing it the covid-19: people will give up their freedom and accept expanding government power when they’re afraid.

The Government is Not Us

Joe Biden’s plan to shut down the firearms industry

fromNationalReview: His political attacks on the industry are why we have a law barring attempts to hold arms manufacturers legally responsible for shootings.

2nd Amendment Assaults

To track virus, governments weigh surveillance tools that push privacy limits

fromWallStreetJournal: Geolocation and facial-recognition systems can locate vectors of infections, but they also gather highly personal data.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Civil asset forfeiture should be eliminated entirely

fromStarTribune: Police and prosecutors should be bound by criminal law, a system where citizens—and their stuff—are innocent until proven guilty.

Police State America

Orange County threatens to jail people who walk outside with others not in household

fromDailyMail: Covid-19 has given authoritarians carte-blanche to run roughshod over the rights of citizens

Regulation Nation                      The Government is Not Us

The plastic bag ban backfires

fromWallStreetJournal: While California's governor is quick to close bars under the pretense of stopping the spread of the virus, they promote reusable bags that are notoriously dirty transmitters.

Regulation Nation                      The Government is Not Us

March 16, 2020

This is a test: How will the Constitution fare during a nationwide lockdown?

fromtheDailyBell: What is about to unfold over the next few weeks is a test to see how well we have assimilated the government’s lessons in compliance, fear and police state tactics.

The Government is Not Us

Dems try taking advantage of coronavirus crisis to put new mandates on business

fromPersonal Liberty: Politicians will always see a crisis to be a golden opportunity to expand the size and scope of government.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

Life inside the Italian lockdown

fromSpiked: Panic is seldom an advisable guide to action. But, it does provide government with an opportunity to centralize more power.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

VIDEO: Joe Biden - Here's the Deal

fromReason: A fun/frightening look at the deal Joe Biden offers America.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Why ‘price gouging’ actually helps during a crisis

fromLibertarianInstitute: When prices aren’t allowed to move in response to changing economic conditions, those who most urgently need these critical items will likely find the shelves empty.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

Liberty activist ‘murdered as he slept’ by SWAT team seizing his guns

fromFreeThought Project: This case appears to be crystal clear. Police claimed the innocent man’s guns were illegal, raided his home to take them, and killed him in the process. He had harmed absolutely no one.

Police State America

March 3, 2020

2nd Amendment under fire in California

fromLibertyNation: Santa Clara County is forming what they call a “county gun team” – a unit of lawyers, analysts, and prosecutors authorized to seek out and confiscate firearms from those the state feels shouldn’t have them.

2nd Amendment Assaults

Democrats in 3 states want laws demanding private property owners allow homeless to camp on their land

fromGatewayPundit: Democratic Party controlled governments in Ohio, California and Oregon are telling private property owners they cannot remove homeless encampments from their property.

The Government is Not Us           Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

All U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan under peace deal

fromPolitico: 'Conditions-based' withdrawal will be complete in 14 months if Taliban keep commitments.

Defense Versus the War Machine

Walter E Williams: Another African tragedy

fromCreators: "Africa's locust plague is man-made. Economic development organizations and activist nongovernmental organizations have foisted "agroecology" on the poorest nations — an organic-style agriculture."

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

How government spending destroys wealth

fromMises: Santa Clara County is forming what they call a “county gun team” – a unit of lawyers, analysts, and prosecutors authorized to seek out and confiscate firearms from those the state feels shouldn’t have them.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

10yo boy handcuffed, arrested, charged with felony for playing with a nerf bow and arrow

fromActivistPost: The young lad is lucky he escaped this incident with a simple arrest and charges. A 14-year-old boy named Antonio Arce was not so lucky when he played with his orange-tipped toy gun.

Police State America

February 13, 2020

Five states face federal lawsuit over inaccurate voter registrations

fromJudicialWatch: Letters were sent to election officials in five states – California, Colorado, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Virginia – warning that they could face a federal lawsuit for their failure to update voter rolls.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Media’s horribly dishonest Antarctica propaganda

fromWattsUpWithThat: Although the NY Times tries to sell their paper with the slogan “The Truth is Worth It”, their misleading articles suggest you should spend your money elsewhere.
Media Bias on Parade

Instead of removing Trump from power, remove power from the presidency

fromReason: After Watergate, Democrats rolled back executive power. Under Trump, they just want to be the ones who get to wield it.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Pew Research 2019 survey: ‘climate change’ still ranks as low priority – 17th place out of 18

fromClimateDepot: No matter how hard the advocates try to sell it, Americans are just not buying it.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

How Venezuela’s good citizens were disarmed is a lesson for us

fromAmerica's1stFreedom: No tyrannical government can succeed without gun control.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Bernie Sanders confused by New Hampshire state motto 'live free or die'

 — 'both of those options sound horrible'

fromBabylonBee: “Living free is exactly what billionaires want,” Sanders told a crowd at a campaign stop. “That way they can accumulate as much money as they want."
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption       Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

February 11, 2020

Red flag laws and the consequences of good intentions

fromSalon: The consequences of disarming the uncooperative.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Louisiana prosecutors say they can't be sued over the fake subpoenas they used to pressure witnesses

fromReason: In several cases, victims received higher bonds than criminal defendants and were forced to go to jail.
The Government is Not Us              Police State America

The death of federalism: Lincoln’s real legacy

fromTenthAmendmentCenter: Are you certain that Lincoln's birthday is a day you should celebrate?
The Government is Not Us

Philosophy on one foot

fromAtlasSociety: Ayn Rand was once asked if she could present the basics of her philosophy, in short form, while standing on one foot. Here’s what she said: 
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

How Big Tech reshapes politics by censoring conservative ideas

fromWashingtonExaminer: The forces driving Big Tech’s online censorship are market pressures, de-platforming campaigns by liberal activists and journalists, and the fact that Silicon Valley is staggeringly one-sided politically.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Alabama bill would bar enforcement of any federal red-flag laws

fromTenthAmendmentCenter: The federal government relies heavily on state cooperation to enforce almost all of its laws. By simply withdrawing this necessary cooperation, states and localities can nullify most federal programs.
2nd Amendment Assaults

February 10, 2020

Background checks and bump stock bans: 2020 Democrats on gun control

fromNYTimes: Democratic presidential candidates have a variety of measures aimed at making self-protection more difficult for American citizens. Related article: Police have no duty to protect you, federal court affirms
2nd Amendment Assaults

A brief history of the traffic stop (or how the car created the police state)

fromObserver.: The story of the traffic stop shows the way the automobile fundamentally changed the relationship between the police and the citizenry.
Police State America

New York court says daily fantasy sports betting law Is unconstitutional

fromReason: Lawmakers legalized DFS betting. The state’s top justices say that’s not allowed. Such liberty is unconstitutional in New York state.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

A war over sex work is raging inside the nation’s biggest feminist group

fromTheDailyBeast: There’s a growing divide within the feminist movement on whether the sale and purchase of consensual, adult sex should be decriminalized.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Slapstick suicide

fromKunstler: With Adam Schiff and Jerrold Nadler cast as Laurel and Hardy, the Democratic Party entered the slapstick phase of its self-destruction.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Identity politics is really for rich (dumb) white people

fromSpiked: These women are paying up to $2,500 to attend dinner parties aimed at confronting their ‘racism’.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery           Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

February 5, 2020

The state owns you: The problem with "national service"

fromMises: Rather than attempt to persuade people that they ought to join the military or sign up for community service, the first instinct of draft supporters is to use coercion.
The Government is Not Us

America's self-inflicted wound: The war on drugs has been a 100 year war on our neighbors

fromMilwaukeeIndependent: For more than a century, the U.S. has worked to build a harsh global drug prohibition regime – grounded in draconian laws, enforced by pervasive policing, and punished with mass incarceration.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

New Jersey is now the 16th state to require convictions for civil forfeiture

fromForbes: But sadly, policing for profit continues to trample rights in the other 34 states.
Police State America

Lindsey Graham wants to use mistrust of big Tech to destroy your right to online privacy

fromFreedomBunker: Online platforms would have to "earn" speech protections by compromising encryption—
all in the name of fighting child porn.
The Government is Not Us

A new backlash to gun control begins in Virginia

fromNewYorker: Activists at a gun-rights rally in Richmond last week called Virginia, a state with a pro-gun tradition now on the brink of passing restrictions, “the canary in the coal mine.”
2nd Amendment Assaults

Mark Levin interviews Walter E Williams

fromFoxNews: From Life, Liberty and Levin, Mark probes the mind of Dr. Williams regarding capitalism and the future of liberty.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle          Economic Policy: Statism Vs The Free Market

January 31, 2020

Targeting of Greenwald and Assange shows governments ‘ready to stop the presses—if they can’

fromRawStory: A warning from Edward Snowden.
Indoctrination and Censorship         The Government is Not Us

Dead president walking

fromGuardian: "I don’t mean to sound alarmist, but the Resistance is running out of non-lethal options for removing Donald Trump from office."
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Another Obama solar company burns out – solar owners plead guilty to huge ponzi scheme

fromGatewayPundit: The schemers stole millions from individuals, companies and the US government. This solar project turned into the largest Ponzi scheme in Eastern California history.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market    Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Virginians respond to gun control proposals by purchasing almost 74,000 firearms in December

fromActivistPost: The number of guns sold totaled out to 73,849. The outlet reported the increase in sales was likely “due to growing fears of increased firearms restrictions backed by the Democrat-controlled state government.
2nd Amendment Assaults

NYPD uses $10 million lab with supercomputer generating millions of passwords to defeat encryption

fromGatewayPundit: No expense is too great when it comes to violating the citizen's privacy.
Police State America               Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The establishment doesn’t fear Trump, And it doesn’t fear Bernie. It fears you.

fromCaitlinJohnstone: Obviously the establishment would rather have someone in the White House who doesn’t constantly put an ugly face on the empire by accidentally exposing its mechanics all the time as Trump does.
The Government is Not Us                   Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

January 23, 2020

Why medical marijuana research can’t get off the ground

fromNJMarijuana: “They can’t conduct cannabis research until they show cannabis has a medical use, but they can’t show cannabis has a medical use until they can conduct research,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo D-Calif.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

How to get a jury to ignore the law and do the right thing

fromAbovetheLaw: The basics of jury nullification.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Why LBJ's Great Society flopped—and what it means for the 2020 election

fromReason: Amity Shlaes's new history of the late 1960s explains the failure of the last time the federal government tried to fix all that was wrong with America.

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency           Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

No 'insurrection' or violence at Virginia gun rights rally

fromReason: Plus: Clinton says "nobody likes" Bernie, Biden wants Section 230 revoked, Iran takes responsibility for Jan. 8 plane crash, and more...

2nd Amendment Assaults           Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Capitalism seen doing 'more harm than good' in global survey

fromNJMarijuana: A result of crony capitalism having replace laissez-faire capitalism

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

Denver Post columnist fired after arguing there are two sexes

fromFreeBeacon: Truth is the new hate speech.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

January 21, 2020

Fiscal analysis of Colorado's 'red flag' law assumes gun confiscation orders will be granted 95% of the time

fromReason: Such a high approval rate reflects the threat these laws pose to due process and the Second Amendment.

2nd Amendment Assaults

Tulsi Gabbard endorses legalizing drugs

fromForbes: The Democratic candidate joins Milton Friedman, Thomas Sowell, Carl Sagan, William F. Buckley and others in their understanding that the war on drugs is a war on you.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Virginia gun sales soar as Dems consider draconian "assault weapons" ban

fromZeroHedge: Ever since Virginia's Democrats retook the state assembly and Senate in November, Democratic Gov. Ralph "blackface" Northam and the legislature have been gearing up to pass a draconian gun control bill.

2nd Amendment Assaults

California energy policies are fueling the housing crisis and homelessness

fromWattsUpWithThat: Prices for electricity in California are already fifty percent higher than the national average for residents, and double the national average for commercial, and are projected to go even higher. 

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market                 Regulation Nation

Senators propose limits on police use of facial recognition

fromReason: Some privacy activists say the bill still falls short.

Police State America          Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Warren and Sanders and the wealth tax folly

fromCreators: You don't need to be the sort of person whose weeping could fill a mug to have strong doubts about a wealth tax. It has scant support among economists on either the right or the left.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market            Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

December 5, 2019

The destruction of American liberty

fromFFF: There is no way to reconcile a system of mandatory charity with the principles of a free society.

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency                 The Government is Not Us

Newspaper will stop reporting any news “traumatic” to snowflakes

fromDailyBell: The Daily Northwestern student paper, staffed by these aspiring journalists, recently apologized for covering a “traumatic” event on campus --  a speech by former Trump official Jeff Sessions.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: Top 10 Lies from the Democratic Debate

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Number one is epic, even by political standards. 

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption                   Media Bias on Parade

Walter E Williams - Scientists: Dishonest or afraid?

fromCreators: Environmentalists attribute the recent increase in forest fires to global warming. Not so, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: John Stossel: Government bans ambulance competition

fromReason/YouTube: 35 states have laws that let established businesses block new businesses. Consumers are the true victims of such policies.

Regulation Nation

California's restrictive gun laws still can't prevent shootings

fromReason: Instead of reducing the dangers posed by criminals, California's gun restrictions have increased the threat posed to decent people by the law itself.

2nd Amendment Assaults