February 7, 2020

Police have no duty to protect you, federal court affirms yet again

fromMises: “Police can watch someone attack you, refuse to intervene and not violate the Constitution.” The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the government has only a duty to protect persons who are “in custody.”
Police State America

Iowa might have screwed up the whole nomination process

fromFiveThirtyEight.: "There’s a good chance that the candidates who did well in Iowa get screwed, and the candidates who did poorly there get a mulligan." The Iowa vote count was a Hillary Clinton production.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Red flag nation: anti-gun laws, sanctuary cities and the Second Amendment

fromRutherfordInstitute: Even the most well-intentioned government law or program can be—and has been—perverted, corrupted and used to advance illegitimate purposes once profit and power are added to the equation.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Here's the medical marijuana ad CBS Banned From Super Bowl Broadcast

fromTMZ: Though ads pimping booze were in abundance.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

This may be the end of Iowa's political clout

fromNewser: Many predicting the end of the state's first-in-the-nation voting status. Without the usual parade of pandering politicians, ethanol may be in trouble four years from now.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption            Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

BREAKING: Punxsutawney to retire Phil the groundhog, replace him with Greta Thunberg

fromWattsUpWithThat: If globally respected child climate forecaster Greta Thunberg sees her shadow it will be an early and warm spring aided by climate change. If she doesn't, the world will end in 12 years.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

October 27, 2017

When it comes to surveillance, watch the watchmen

from NY Times: The relationship between security and liberty is often described as a balancing act. This act can’t take place if we’re not informed about the technology used to safeguard our security.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Hashd al-Sha’abi commander calls for US forces withdrawal from Iraq

from PressTV: "To the US secretary of state, your military forces must prepare now to get out of our homeland Iraq immediately and without delay once the ISIS elimination excuse is over."
Defense Versus The War Machine

Health care is not a right

from Capitalism Magazine: If your mere desire for something, anything, imposes a duty on other people to satisfy you, then they have no choice in their lives, no say in what they do, they have no liberty, they cannot pursue their happiness.
The Pursuit of Happiness

Major study shows legal weed reversed a decade of rising opioid deaths in Colorado

from FreeThoughtProject: The end of cannabis prohibition is paying many dividends for society.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Identitarianism and the Splintering of Democracy

from Quillette: This very good piece looks at how identity politics plays out in a representative democracy.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Sessions continues to push 'gateway drug' myth about marijuana

from Reason: "Much of the addiction starts with marijuana." Jeff Sessions attempts to peddle 20th century propaganda long after the train has left the station.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Richard Epstein - ObamaCare

Don't Blame Food Companies For What You Feed Your Kids

by Baylen Linnekin.    It's parents that feed babies candy, soda, and chips. A study of infant diets in one British city has revealed some uncomfortable truths about what many parents feed their children. The study, by lead author Pinki Sahota of Leeds Beckett University and several colleagues, tracked the diets of more than 1,250 babies in the   ... MORE

VIDEO: The Truth Behind The Affordable Care Act

Physicians Face Moral Dilemma In Drug War Conscription

by Jeffrey A. Singer.    Gov't wants the narco squad to be your doctor. America’s physicians have been conscripted as law enforcement agents in the never-ending War on Drugs, and it puts us in a moral dilemma. As media attention has turned to the recent national surge in prescription-opioid and heroin abuse, politicians feel compelled to be ready   ... MORE

Patients In Pain, And A Doctor Who Must Limit Drugs

Gov't declares war on pain relief. Susan Kubicka-Welander, a short-order cook, went to her pain checkup appointment straight from the lunch-rush shift. “We were really busy,” she told Dr. Robert L. Wergin, trying to smile through deeply etched lines of exhaustion. “Thursdays, it’s Philly cheesesteaks.” Her back ached from a compression fracture;   ... MORE

VIDEO: Permissionless Innovation - Doctors On Demand

Medical Marijuana Miracle: Watch This Mom Stop Her Daughter’s Violent Seizure in Its Tracks With Cannabis Oil

by Justin Garner.  Last week we reported on a historic study that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology in April. 10,000 neurologists from around the world will have a chance to see the remarkable effectiveness of using a cannabis extract called cannabidiol (CBD) to treat seizures. As medical science explores this pathway  ... MORE

ObamaCare: WORSE Than A Complete Waste Of Money

by John Hinderaker.  The findings of NPR and Harvard. National Public Radio collaborated with Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to survey Americans’ recent experience with health care. As to the Affordable Care Act, the survey’s findings are damning. They suggest that Obamacare has been   ... MORE

VIDEO: Best & Worst Moments Of Texas GOP Debate

Chris Johncox: Sweden Is Upgrading to Private Healthcare

Sweden’s trademark universal healthcare on its deathbed. When leftists fantasize about Northern Europe, the first thing they think of is the region’s enormous public spending and its overly generous welfare state. However, as with all dreams, the time is coming to wake up. Along with several other social services, Sweden’s iconic “free”     ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Economic Myths

Australia About To Legalize Growing Marijuana Nationwide

by Steve Mollman.      Australia appears set to legalize the growing of marijuana for medical use nationwide. A bill introduced to parliament Wednesday (Feb. 10) by the Liberal Party would amend the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. It looks guaranteed to become law, as the main opposition party immediately pledged support for it. Under the proposal a national ... MORE

VIDEO: Ted Cruz - Common Sense Health Care

Rick Manning; Donald Trump's Health Care Dance

Do issues still matter to Republican voters, or are they so mad at the failed GOP establishment that they have forgotten what made them mad in the first place? Donald Trump’s past flirtation with a nationalized government run health care system brings this question starkly into play. In his book, “The America We Deserve,” published in 2000,     ... MORE

VIDEO: Donald Trump - Government-Run Health Insurance

Sheri Fink: Healthcare Rationing Begins - Drug Shortages

The new incentives.   In the operating room at the Cleveland Clinic, Dr. Brian Fitzsimons has long relied on a decades-old drug to prevent hemorrhages in patients undergoing open-heart surgery. The drug, aminocaproic acid, is widely used, cheap and safe. “It never hurt,” he said. “It only helps.” Then manufacturing issues caused a     ... MORE

A. Barton Hinkle: To Reduce Inequality, Cut Red Tape

Regulation = upward redistribution of wealth.  A "considerable portion of America's exploding inequality," writes Steven Teles, "has been generated by government itself... While the state is sometimes the friend of those working to produce a more egalitarian society, it is just as often the tool of those who would entrench inequality." Exhibit A:    ... MORE

Shikha Dalmia: Obamacare Is Falling Apart

Insurers are bolting from the exchanges.   President Obama has been hammered for his failure on ISIS in the wake of the Paris attacks. But there's at least one bright spot for him in that criticism: At least it deflected the spotlight from the unfolding catastrophe that is Obamacare. Indeed, last month brought arguably the worst news for the     ... MORE