Showing posts with label police state. Show all posts
Showing posts with label police state. Show all posts

July 3, 2019


Hong Kong protests show dangers of a cashless society

fromReason: Many digital payments can be tracked, potentially assisting an authoritarian crackdown.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Tech Tyranny - Censoring the Town Square

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Record-low American patriotism is the latest casualty of the sharply polarized political climate in the U.S. today. Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they are extremely proud to be Americans.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption            The Government is Not Us

How Amazon and the cops set up an elaborate sting operation that accomplished nothing

fromVice: It was a scare marketing scheme by Amazon that failed when cops were unable to make any arrests.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The sinister, unconstitutional effort to ban secure encryption is back

fromReason: Government is demanding everyone be more vulnerable to hackers to protect their snooping.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make            The Government is Not Us

U.S. Supreme Court rules police can forcibly carry out blood draws on unconscious drivers

fromRutherfordInstitute: Screw the Fourth Amendment.
Police State America

American pride hits new low; few proud of political system

fromGallup: Record-low American patriotism is the latest casualty of the sharply polarized political climate in the U.S. today. Fewer than half of U.S. adults say they are extremely proud to be Americans.

June 24, 2019


House votes down amendment to ban warrantless spying on Americans

fromDigitalJournal: The Charlatans, who are SO quick to swear on the Bible that they will support and defend the Constitution of the United States, have just effectively repealed the Fourth Amendment.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make           The Government is Not Us

Warrantless arrest and the role of probable cause

fromSearchLight: “Probable cause” are a powerful words for police officers, but that doesn't mean they can arrest a person on a hunch. Although there need not be absolute certainty, there must be more than mere suspicion.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

The Jackboots are coming: Mass arrests, power grabs and the politics of fear

fromTheRutherfordInstitute: How do you persuade a populace to embrace totalitarianism, that goose-stepping form of tyranny in which the government has all of the power and “we the people” have none?
Police State America           The Government is Not Us

Sanders-Ocasio-Cortez plan to cap credit card interest rates will backfire on consumers

fromUSAToday: The effective elimination of usury ceilings transformed the credit card market, as many previously-excluded consumers gained access to credit cards for the first time.

June 14, 2019


Cuba rations food as its socialist economy enters crisis mode

fromMises: You probably know what is going on in Venezuela. You probably don't know what is going on in Cuba.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Great lakes reveal a fatal flaw in climate change ‘science’

fromIssues&Insights: "if nothing can disprove a theory, and every event, no matter how contradictory, is proof that the theory is valid, is that really science? Sounds more like a religion."
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

New cars to be equipped with breathalyzers, drivers given mental health assessments

fromActivistPosts: Seeking to emulate China, Rep. Kathleen Rice’s H.R. 3374 bill, otherwise known as the End Drunk Driving Act, would put breathalyzers and ignition interlock devices in every new car.
Regulation Nation

The city of Vallejo, California, has a police problem—and it's all being caught on camera

fromReason: A small city in California has been plagued by police shootings, costly civil rights lawsuits, and incidents of excessive force.
Police State America

From 2015 to ’18, Contra Costa cops seized $1.1 million from people not charged with a crime

fromMises: Marijuana made up $1.2 million, the largest single source of cash. If we are governed by consent of the people, the people must have been demanding this. Or, perhaps we should check our premises.

Rising conservatives are as hostile to freedom as the Leftists they disdain

fromReason: Republicans, who have gleefully warned the public about Democratic flirtations with socialism, shouldn't be quick to gloat given the emergence of an anti-freedom movement on the Right.

June 10, 2019


U.S. government’s moves against Julian Assange are a blueprint for making journalists into felons

fromTheStar: Empowering prosecutors to decide who does or doesn’t deserve press protections would restrict “freedom of the press” to a small, cloistered priesthood of privileged citizens designated by the government as “journalists.” The First Amendment was written to avoid precisely that danger.  
The Government is Not Us        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

VIDEO: Homelessness - California's Ugly Growth Industry

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: California has an epidemic of homelessness that is hard to believe. A look at what is going on in Golden State’s richest cities. Karen Hix, Tucker Carlson.  
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market      The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Hacking dirty government secrets is not a crime

fromCounterpunch: "Corporate media’s instant reversal on Assange—from rapist scum to First Amendment hero—elevates self-serving hypocrisy to high art. But that’s OK. Whatever gets Assange closer to freedom is welcome."  
The Government is Not Us        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Give up your password or go to jail: Police push legal boundaries to get into cellphones

fromNBCNews: “The world should know that what they’re doing out here is crazy,” said a man who refused to share his passcode with police.  
Police State America

You’re under arrest: How the police state muzzles our right to speak truth to power

fromRutherfordInstitute: "What the architects of the police state want are submissive, meek citizens who don’t talk back, don’t challenge government authority and don’t speak out against government misconduct."  
Police State America

Oakland, California decriminalizes magic mushrooms and peyote

fromUSAToday: The city council’s vote directed law enforcement to cease investigating and prosecuting individuals for using or possessing drugs sourced from plants, cacti and – most commonly – mushrooms.  

May 29, 2019


"The most destructive breach In history": Hackers use NSA code to grind Baltimore to a halt

fromReason: It has now been revealed that a key component of the malware used by cyber-criminals was actually developed just a short drive from Baltimore - at the NSA, according to the New York Times.
The Government is Not Us

Walter E Williams: Slavery is neither strange nor peculiar

fromReason: The favorite leftist tool for the attack on our nation's founding is that slavery was sanctioned.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

IRS defends giving refunds to illegal immigrants

fromFoxNewsInsider: In a letter to Congress, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen defended the decision to allow illegal immigrants to get refunds from the agency.
The Government is Not Us

Weapons of war on our streets: A guide to the militarization of America's police

fromAmmo: The only people with “weapons of war” on America’s streets are, increasingly, the police.
Police State America

“Truth ultimately Is all we have:” Julian Assange appeals for public support

fromGlobalResearch: “The US government or rather those regrettable elements in it that hate truth liberty and justice want to cheat their way into my extradition and death rather than letting the public hear the truth."
Indoctrination and Censorship

The inside story of how Denver decriminalized magic mushrooms

fromReason: Decriminalize Denver campaign director Kevin Matthews speaks about his winning strategy and the new frontier of drug policy.

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.

April 12, 2019


Alexa is listening to everything you say

fromBloomberg:  Tens of millions of very foolish people use smart speakers and their voice software to play games, find music or trawl for trivia
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The best reason to not buy any new car

fromEricPetersAuto:  Free health care, free college tuition, free child care are the beacons for the liberal Left. Everything but the freedom to think for yourself.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The miserable, squalid campaign to stifle Tucker Carlson

fromTheSpectator:  The Fox News host’s only real crime is daring to be provocative in a dull media world.
Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - The Shame of White Privilege and Other Leftist Crimes

fromLibertyPen/YouTube:  A look at the apologetic whining from Democratic presidential candidates for having been born white, advocating borders, failing to champion reparations to blacks and other high PC crimes.


Feb 18, 2019


VIDEO: Off the Rails - California's High Speed Boondoggle

fromLibertyPen/YouTube:  A tribute to the ability of politicians to rip off taxpayer money and grab citizen land with no accountability. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market         Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Feds collect record individual income taxes in calendar 2018--as debt climbs

fromCNSNews:  The federal government collected a record $1,665,484,000,000 in individual income taxes in calendar year 2018, according to the Monthly Treasury Statements for the year.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market       Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

These are dangerous times, and the government is to blame

fromRutherfordInstitute:  Mind you, it is not because of violent crime, which remains at an all-time low, or because of terrorism, which is statistically rare. The real danger comes from the U.S. government its powers to has granted to its standing army to steal, cheat, harass, detain, brutalize, terrorize, torture and kill.
The Government is Not Us         Police State America

You can't say that on Twitter

fromCreators:  She tweeted that "men are not women," and for that, Meghan Murphy, feminist journalist, was banned from Twitter. The truth qualifies as "hate speech" for some of the gnomes at Twitter HQ.
Indoctrination and Censorship          Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

The ‘war on drugs’ is causing great damage

fromTheGuardian:  Readers discuss the best way to combat the violence fueled by the drugs trade.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Majority of California residents want to leave: poll

fromBreitbart:  Sixty-two percent of respondents realize the Golden State's best days are in the past.

Feb 11, 2019


The real reason 4 cops got shot in Houston last week

fromDailyBell:  When you look deeper at the case, you realize these cops didn’t get shot because of anti-police rhetoric. They got shot because they invaded an innocent couple’s home without announcing themselves.
Police State America   

Green new deal—same old progressive policies

fromReason:  Using climate change to justify government-guaranteed jobs, health care, and housing.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Jackboots in the morning: No one Is spared from this American nightmare

fromRutherfordInstitute:  Whatever dangerous practices you allow the government to carry out now— rest assured, these same practices can and will be used against you when the government decides it wants.
Police State America

Bezos protests invasion of his privacy, as Amazon builds sprawling surveillance state for everyone else

fromTheIntercept:  If the surveillance powers of the NSA, FBI or other agencies were used to obtain incriminating information about Bezos due to their view of him as a political enemy ...
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

New York police killed her son, then refused to answer her questions. The law they’re hiding behind.

fromReason:  An obscure provision designed to protect personnel records makes it nearly impossible to hold the state’s cops accountable.
Police State America      Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

The libertarian case for a border wall

from71Republic:  Though the wall would require a small amount of force, its long-term savings in government spending shows a principled and pragmatic necessity.

Jan 21, 2019


Yes, the FBI is America's secret police

fromTheHill: In order to boost the credibility of the FBI’s investigations of the Trump team, much of the media is whitewashing the bureau’s entire history. But the FBI has been out of control almost since its birth.
Police State America

VIDEO: Rand Paul - The mindless Middle East war machine

fromTheHill: For several years now, Senator Rand Paul has worked tirelessly to extract American soldiers from perpetual wars in the Middle East. He explains his position and praises Trump’s decision to pull out of Syria.
Defense Versus The War Machine

A victory for the Chicago police code of silence

fromCreators: The acquittal was a shock but, in a city with a history of unpunished police abuses, not a surprise. No one ever got rich betting that Chicago police will face punishment for committing crimes in the line of duty.
Police State America

Fast food is getting more expensive as minimum wages rise

fromTheHill: Government regulators are relentless in their quest to lower the standard of living for Americans.
Regulation Nation      Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Florida to announce legalization of medical marijuana flower

fromForbes: When Florida legalized medical cannabis, one of the most highly debated regulations was Florida’s ban on flower sales.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Trump wants to leave NATO? It's not a bad idea

fromCreators: The military threat that the Kremlin once represented has shriveled.

Jan 15, 2019


The Democratic Party’s voters are becoming far more militaristic and pro-war than Republicans

fromTheIntercept: Trump's announcement that he intends to withdraw all U.S. troops from Syria largely provoked bipartisan outrage among Washington’s reflexively pro-war establishment.
Defense Versus The War Machine      Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Ominous new ‘fact checker’ approves MSM lies to start wars while attacking alternative media

fromFreeThoughtProject: "This fact checking service is being sold to the public under the name “NewsGuard” but the only thing it appears to be guarding is the establishment."
Media Bias on Parade

Walter E Williams: Politics of immigration

fromCreators: Does everyone in the world have a right to live in the U.S.?
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Supreme Court to consider whether police can order blood draws from unconscious drivers

fromReason: Warrantless "implied consent" laws are under review over Fourth Amendment concerns.
Police State America

4 reasons requiring background checks for all gun sales is a bad idea

fromReason: The policy is very popular and a top priority for House Democrats, but it would hurt innocent people without doing much to improve public safety.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Trade war’s wounded: Companies improvise to dodge cost hikes

fromSacramentoBee: The higher costs resulting from Trump's tariffs have yet to inflict much overall damage to a still-robust American economy, which is less reliant on international trade than most other countries are.

Jan 12, 2019


Boston mayor’s office to force doctors to identify and document patients who own guns

fromGatewayPundit: It is bad enough that doctor-patient confidentiality no longer exists, but now doctors are being actively co-opted into the police state.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make   2nd Amendment Assaults    Police State America

With government shut down, citizens forced to interfere in their own lives

fromBabylonBee: One of the primary functions of the government is to ignorantly muck around in the business of others, but the shutdown has forced citizens to try to fill that void themselves.
Regulation Nation

CNN has stopped being a new network and is airing nothing but talk shows

fromCNSNews: "Virtually all of its content is devoted to attacking President Donald Trump", said Brent Bozell of the Media Research Center, citing a recent example, in which 14 of CNN 15 headlines attacked Trump.
Media Bias On Parade

Mom tells neighbors her 9-year-old could help them do chores, cops arrive with child labor concerns

fromReason: "Apparently the ad generated multiple phone calls from paranoid neighbors thinking I was using my child as a slave.".
Regulation Nation

Fake news? How about no news?

fromEricPetersAuto: The mainstream press prefers you not know how energy taxes in the name of preventing "climate change" are tearing France apart.
Media Bias on Parade        Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market       

Denver could become the first US city to decriminalize psychedelic mushrooms

fromSFGate: More and more Americans are opening up to the idea of legalizing marijuana and other illegal substances, and some scientists have recently concluded that psychedelics could have positive effects.

Dec 28, 2018


The self-destruction of US farmers

fromCreators: Agriculture was a crown jewel of America's export economy. Then President Trump happened. He launched his "easy-to-win" trade wars, and our trading partners hit back right where the farm belt hurts.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Mom Arrested, Jailed for letting 7-year-old watch his 4-year-old brother at home alone

fromReason: State says not enough supervision so it puts mom behind bars. Ironically, the kids were watching the movie "Home Alone" when the cops showed up for no good reason to disrupt their lives.
Police State America        Regulation Nation

Michelle Obama ends Hillary Clinton's run as most admired

fromGallup: (Not from the Onion or CNN) This certainly has all the signs of Russian tampering. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

⇨ Let’s make free speech the great cause of 2019

fromReason: From state bans to corporate censorship, free speech is in trouble.

VIDEO: Police State America - The Persecution of Michael Flynn II

fromReason: What is happening to Michael Flynn could happen to anyone deemed a political enemy of the establishment.
Police State America        Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Marijuana legalization means safer borders and less smuggling, study shows

fromForbes: As more states have moved to create a legal supply chain for marijuana, less cannabis is being smuggled over the U.S.'s southern border.

Dec 24, 2018


Chinese-style social credits system a harbinger of US's future?

fromTownhall: With the nation’s increasing embrace of socialism and the rise of the PC snowflake culture, government intrusion into the minutest details of our lives is a commonplace today, it is not implausible.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Name one government agency that doesn’t do the exact opposite of its purpose

fromDailyBell: Case in point: The EPA and their continuing love affair with Monsanto (one of the worst environmental offenders, besides the government itself), producer of the alleged bee killer, Roundup.
Regulation Nation

Court Rules That Medical Marijuana Card Holders Can't Buy Firearms

fromFortune: In review: State agents (cops) are allowed to carry lethal weapons while under the influence of opiates such as hydrocodone but a citizen is stripped of their Constitutional RIGHTS to protect themselves.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     2nd Amendment Assaults     The Government is Not Us

Voters have high tolerance for politicians who lie, even those caught doing it

fromArcaMax: Even in the face of immediate and authoritative corrections, we humans don't budge easily, or for long, from established opinions about politics, politicians and the coverage they receive.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

'Smart' uniforms track Chinese students in truancy fight

fromFrance24: China today, America tomorrow.

Cops force doctors to sodomize man to look for non-existent drugs, injure him, then make him pay for it

fromFreeThought Project: Cops pulled a man over for failing to signal a turn fast enough and the stop turned into a nightmare in which this man was forced to undergo medical procedures to look for non-existent drugs.

Nov 7, 2018


San Francisco voters smack businesses with new tax to fund more homeless

fromCNBC: As high rents drive out productive citizens, SF seeks to build more homeless shelters to attract more unproductive citizens. 
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency           Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Federal judge advocates jury nullification in response to overzealous child pornography prosecution

fromReason: It just makes sense to let jurors know about their already established power to exercise discretion over bad laws and ill-considered prosecutions. 
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Walter E Williams: Skin in the game

fromCreators: It turns out that 45 percent of American households, nearly 78 million individuals, have no federal income tax obligation. That poses a serious political problem.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

It’s not just one bad apple. Little Rock’s police department Is rotten throughout

fromReason: Radley Balko thoroughly documents a culture of misconduct, incompetence, and poor training, and the unnecessary deaths that resulted. 
Police State America

Attorney: School needs lesson on Fourth Amendment

fromNewsNow: A public school district in Indiana has announced it will drug test students participating in extracurricular activities, a policy that is being criticized by a longtime civil liberties attorney. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Two NY Dems find brand new way to crap on the Constitution in an effort to regulate guns

fromTwitchy: They are “drafting a bill that would allow authorities to review 3 years of social media history and 1 year of internet search history for anyone who wants to buy a gun” 
2nd Amendment Assaults

October 13, 2018


Cops charged with home invasion because a man asked for a warrant and they broke In without one

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: The fourth amendment violations of two Detroit cops were so egregious that they were actually arrested and charged with home invasion.
Police State America

VIDEO: Victor Davis Hanson - WTF happened in California

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Victor Davis Hanson offers explanation as to why the once great state of California now dominates the nation in poverty, high taxes, poor education, and low performance. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Government police fail to make arrests In nearly half of murder cases

fromMises: Many urban police departments fail to make arrests in even half of the murder cases in their jurisdictions. Imagine if a private sector policing firm had a similar rate of failure.
Police State America         The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Ronald Reagan's Vision for America

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From “A Time for Choosing”, excerpts of Ronald Reagan on government spending, a balanced budget, property rights, regulation, Social Security, socialism and the future of America.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle         Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market    

John Stossel: socialism destroys

fromCreators: Famous actors recently made a commercial proclaiming that "democratic socialism" creates some of the best parts of America.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Amazon patents Alexa tech to tell if you’re sick, depressed and sell you meds

fromMises: Creepy Amazon app monitors your mood to know if you are getting sick so it can sell you medicine.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

October 10, 2018


The right not to snitch

fromReason: The First Amendment protects your right to not be a rat.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Brazil considers scaling back its gun control

fromMises: "In spite of stringent gun-control measures, Brazil's homicide rates are among the worst in the world. Now there's a movement to let more Brazilians defend themselves with private gun ownership." 
2nd Amendment Assaults

Creating a suspect society: The scary side of the technological police state

fromLewRockwell: It’s a given that Big Brother is always watching us. But, it is getting even creepier and more invasive, intrusive and stalker-like.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make        Police State America

L.A. County deputies stopped thousands of innocent Latinos in hopes of their next drug bust

fromLATimes: Trolling for revenue (civil asset forfeiture). The team of Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies cruises the 5 Freeway, stopping motorists on the Grapevine in search of cars carrying drugs.
Police State America         The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Americans spent more on taxes than clothing and food combined

fromBlacklistedNews: In 2017, the American people spent more money on taxes than on clothing and food combined, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistic’s data on consumer expenditures released this month.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Anti-PC writers tricked seven academic journals into accepting hoax papers on dog rape, fat phobia, etc.

fromReason: Surprise: If you work very, very hard at fooling people, you will often succeed.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

September 21, 2018


2 hours in jail for cop who killed Botham Jean. 2 nights for people protesting His Death.

fromReason: The state serves and protects its own agents. The public, not so much. 
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process       Police State America        The Government is Not Us

FBI, DOJ plan redactions despite Trump’s document order

fromBloomberg: So where is Jeff Sessions in all of this? The little rat-faced tyrant is probably too busy spreading lies about medical cannabis to do his job. 
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process     The Government is Not Us

Walter E Williams: Reasoning about race

fromCreators: In ordinary, as well as professional, conversation, we use terms such as discrimination, prejudice, racial preferences and racism interchangeably, as if they referred to the same behavior. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

New e-cigarette restrictions could be lethal

fromReason: The state serves and protects its own agents. The public, not so much. 
Regulation Nation

Medical marijuana patients decry state crackdown on pot purchases

fromOregonLive: The shameless government in Oregon, angry that citizens went over their heads with a cannabis-legalizing proposition, refuses to stop harassing medical users by pretending to fight the black market. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange        The Government is Not Us

Why the elites prefer a centralized legal system

fromMises: In America's beginning, the vast majority of legal matters were extremely localized. And it stayed that way up until the ruling class decided they wanted the power dictate. 
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process        The Government is Not Us