May 23, 2020

68% of unemployed workers in the U.S. “are eligible for payments greater than their lost earnings”

fromTownhall: Can anyone explain how we are going to motivate unemployed workers to go back to work when most of them can actually make more money camped on their sofas watching Netflix? 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The real climate science deniers

fromWattsUpWithThat: Manmade climate crisis promoters reject inconvenient evidence of natural climate change.
Indoctrination and Censorship

The railroading of Michael Flynn

fromCommentaryMagazine: Excellent. Compelling. Complete. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

In Michael Flynn case, Judge Sullivan's gross overreach turns justice into mob rule

fromUSAToday: The case against Micheal Flynn is abusive and should be dismissed, as the Justice Department requests. But Judge Emmet Sullivan has other ideas. 
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Democrats have abandoned civil liberties

fromNationAndState: Democrats clearly believe constituents will forgive them for abandoning constitutional principles, so long as the targets of official inquiry are figures like Flynn or Paul Manafort or Trump himself.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

COVID-19 patients’ right to privacy against quarantine surveillance

fromEFF: Automated location tracking is a grave intrusion on personal liberty, including by means of a GPS ankle shackle or compelled download of a surveillance app. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

April 24, 2020

The attorney general defends civil liberties against overreaching COVID-19 control measures

fromReason: While denying Donald Trump's dictatorial impulses, William Barr notes that public health emergencies do not give governments unlimited powers.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Hard times in America renew the call for mandatory national service

fromTheHill: Americans have complied in giving up Constitutional rights to comply with government dictates. So what's next? Some say indentured servitude.
The Government is Not Us

Big tech COVID-19 surveillance data and censorship threaten privacy and free speech

fromTheSociable: Big tech companies are collecting enormous amounts of data on the movement of private citizens while censoring free speech and removing any content that goes against official narratives.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make           Indoctrination and Censorship

VIDEO: What is COVID-19 'contact tracing'?

fromFoxNews: A 3 minute discussion of state efforts to track coronavirus patients with a 'contact tracing program' to identify those they’ve been in contact with.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Altruism and Selfishness

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Rand compares and contrasts the philosophies of altruism and rational self-interest as proper guides to action.

The coronavirus economy will bring inflation

fromNationalReview: It really doesn’t matter which economic theory you subscribe to, they all arrive at the same destination — more inflation.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

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 13, 2020

Senators push sneaky anti-privacy bill

fromReason: The EARN IT is an attack on encryption masquerading as a blow against underage porn. 

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

To avoid charges of price gouging, eBay bans sale of coronavirus supplies

fromReason: Attempts to impose low prices on emergency supplies often do far more harm than good. High prices bring essential items to where they are needed most.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: Rights versus wishes

fromCreators: Sen. Bernie Sanders said: "I believe that health care is a right of all people." He's not alone in that contention. That claim comes from Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives. 

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Bernie Sanders is all but done

fromPolitico: It wasn’t just the results on Tuesday. It was the realization that, for the first time, he had no excuse and nothing better to look forward to. 

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Why you can't solve a public health problem with economic stimulus

fromReason: Is a new stimulus package the right response to a pandemic?   

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Coronavirus vs. the mass surveillance state: which poses the greater threat?

fromRutherfordInstitute: Emboldened by the citizenry’s inattention and willingness to tolerate its abuses, the government has weaponized one national crisis after another in order to expands its powers. 

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

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

November 21, 2019

10 reasons why this impeachment ‘inquiry’ is really a coup

fromNYPost: Analysis from the incomparable Victor Davis Hanson.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Colorado's growing Second Amendment sanctuary movement

fromReason: What happens when cities and counties have their own ideas about a law that authorizes the seizure of guns from people who are mentally ill?

2nd Amendment Assaults

Walter E Williams: Young people ignorant of history

fromCreators: Today's leftists, socialists and progressives would bristle at the suggestion that their agenda differs little from that of past tyrants. But ...

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Pending ban on flavored e-cigarettes in Massachusetts authorizes forfeiture of vapers' cars

fromReason: The bill, which the state House passed yesterday, says police may seize vehicles in which they suspect untaxed vaping products. It was never about safety. It was always about property.

Regulation Nation          Police State America

Biden vows to keep marijuana illegal - right after Pew reveals 80% of liberals want legalized

fromZeroHedge: "The truth of the matter is, there's not nearly been enough evidence that has been acquired as to whether or not it is a gateway drug," he said.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption           The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

One bad apple? Over 1,000 cops caught illegally accessing police database to stalk citizens

fromActivistPost: ust as in other even more serious crimes involving law enforcement personnel, often records request violations resulted in very little punishment if any towards cops.

Police State America

October 18, 2019

Congressional hearings conflate vaping with smoking, legal e-cigarettes with black-market THC products

fromReason: Democratic legislators ignore the harm-reducing potential of smoke-free nicotine delivery.

Regulation Nation

Edward Snowden: Without encryption, we will lose all privacy.

fromTheGuardian: If internet traffic is unencrypted, any government, company, or criminal that happens to notice it can – and, in fact, does – steal a copy of it, secretly recording your information for ever.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The rise and fall of CNN, the most busted name in news

fromActivistPost: "If you’re looking for a person who embodies that fake version of reality most purely, you need look no further than Jeff Zucker."

Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: Ayn Rand- Love, Morality and the Rational Man

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From Night and Day with James Day, Ayn Rand responds to probing questions regarding her philosophy of Objectivism. 
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

ABC admits to using fake footage of Kurdish 'slaughter'

fromZeroHedge: "ABC News was just busted using two year old gun range footage while reporting on Turkey 'slaughtering' the kurds in the wake of a US withdrawal from the region. 

Media Bias on Parade

PG&E’s big blackout is only the start of its new Venezuela act

fromEconomicPolicyJournal: "The problem is, of course, poor maintenance, improper equipment and failure to keep up with the latest technology."

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

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.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption            The Government is Not Us

May 22, 2019

College students believe that hate speech is not free speech

fromNewser:   They are obviously not taught that the First Amendment expressly exists to protect unpopular speech, since popular speech needs no protection.

Indoctrination and Censorship

You’ve been warned: Widespread US face surveillance is ‘imminent reality’, says tech privacy report

fromRT:   Georgetown researchers are warning Americans about a sophisticated real-time face surveillance system that’s about to become an “imminent reality” for millions of citizens across the country.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

US prosecutors to 'help themselves' to Julian Assange's possessions

fromTheGuardian:   Julian Assange’s belongings from his time living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London will be handed over to US prosecutors on Monday, according to WikiLeaks.

The Government is Not Us       Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Walter E Williams: Socialist promises

fromCreators:   Socialism promises a utopia that sounds good, but those promises are never realized. It most often results in massive human suffering.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

His house Is worth $125K. The fine over his lawn Is $30k

fromNewser:   His lawn was higher than ten inches for two months. This is one way local governments are financing their deficit spending.

The Government is Not Us       Regulation Nation

Three reasons flawed capitalism is still better than perfect socialism

fromTheDailyBell:   With the example of suffering Venezuelans right before their eyes, it seems incredible that so many Americans are still buying into the promises of socialism.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

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.

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Feb 5, 2019

A no-knock raid in Houston led to deaths and police injuries. Should police rethink the practice?

fromTexasMonthly:  The official HPD narrative is the only one we’ll have. Acevedo said none of the officers had been wearing body cameras during the raid. Tuttle and Nicholas will never be able to tell their side of the story.

Police State America

Government to Facebook pipeline reveals a corrupt mix of social media and the state

fromFreeThoughtProject:  The official HPD narrative is the only one we’ll have. Acevedo said none of the officers had been wearing body cameras during the raid. Tuttle and Nicholas will never be able to tell their side of the story.

Indoctrination and Censorship

‘Cooling is warming’: climate hoaxters panic as US freezes, media provides cover

fromWaatsUpWithThat?:  But here is my personal favorite headline from, where else?, NBC News…. “Yes, it can be this cold outside in a time of global warming.”

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

How to cop proof your cell phone

fromTargetLiberty:  The official HPD narrative is the only one we’ll have. Acevedo said none of the officers had been wearing body cameras during the raid. Tuttle and Nicholas will never be able to tell their side of the story.

Police State America      Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Marine vet films traffic stop from his porch; California cop gives him a concussion

fromReason:  Adrian Burrell was well within his rights to record the officer.

Police State America

Walter E Williams: Is reality optional?

fromCreators:  Suppose I declare that I am a king. Should you be required to address me as "Your Majesty"? You say, "Williams, that's lunacy! You can't prove such nonsense." You're wrong. It's proved by my declaration.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Jan 9, 2019

When it comes to surveillance, who will watch the watchman?

fromMoneyControl: Without proper checks and balances such powers could be misused.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

"The criminals who run the Deep State will be exposed": Kim Dotcom teases "next round of leaks"

fromZeroHedge: Hacker and serial entrepreneur Kim Dotcom is out with a new prediction for 2019.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

2018 brought a bumper crop of bad gun laws to disobey

fromReason: Control freaks have turned to dishonest rulemaking and outright censorship in doomed but still dangerous efforts to take people's weapons away.

2nd Amendment Assaults

Kiss what is left of your medical data privacy goodbye

fromNakedCapitalism: Zuboff warns the state won’t do much to stop this trend, because it is often a beneficiary and co-conspirator. So it falls to us to throw sand in the gears when we can.

Regulation Nation     Government is Watching Every Move You Make

When can the feds hack into your computer?

fromBuffaloNews: The real answer is whenever they want. But what about legally? Case involving scam targeting Wegmans could decide.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T are selling access to their customers’ location data, and that data is ending up in the hands of bounty hunters and others not authorized to possess it, letting them track most phones

fromMoneyControl: "I gave a bounty hunter $300, then he located our phone."

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Nov 21, 2018

Thomas Sowell: Moral bankruptcy

fromCreators: The Democratic Party's attack on charter schools. "Denying children what can be their one chance in life is a new low, even for politicians." If only children had as good of a union as the teachers.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption     The Government is Not Us

The government says falconers have to give up their privacy and free speech rights in order to own birds

fromReason: Now the Falconers Are Suing. "I'm treated no differently from a common felon on parole." 
Regulation Nation       The Government is Not Us

Justice Department discloses no FISA court hearings held on Carter Page warrants

fromJudicialWatch: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance courts rubber-stamped the Carter Page spy warrants without holding one hearing on these extraordinary requests to spy on the Trump team. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Opponents of campus free-speech laws forgot the history of the civil rights movement

fromForbes: "In short, we all need the First Amendment. We all need legal protection of our right to question and debate, without which democracy declines into stagnancy".
Indoctrination and Censorship

AMA decries the impact of the CDC's opioid guidelines on pain treatment

fromReason: Politicians should not overrule doctors when it comes to pain control. The physician group says widespread "misapplication" of the guidelines is hurting patients. 
Regulation Nation      The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Walter E Williams: Fruits of college indoctrination

fromCreators: "Much of today's incivility and contempt for personal liberty has its roots on college campuses, and most of the uncivil and contemptuous are people with college backgrounds". 
Indoctrination and Censorship

Nov 11, 2018

Debt ceiling will be set to record high of $22 trillion

fromWashingtonExaminer: The federal government is set to reinstate its borrowing limit to a record $22 trillion but it won’t provide enough money to fund the government past summer.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Privacy vs. security: Why the widespread use of encryption is essential to national security

fromCNSNews: Government may not like it but privacy and security go hand in hand. The widespread use of strong encryption both guarantees individuals’ right to privacy while hardening society against waves of data breaches.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

FLORIDA: Rick Scott files suit accusing Dem officials of 'trying to steal the election' after his narrow Senate victory, while a mystery ballot box is found two DAYS after the vote... then Trump wades in

fromTheDailyMail: Florida Governor and Senator elect Rick Scott announced he was suing Broward County and Palm Beach County elections officials alleging 'rampant fraud'.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

8 ways in which Jeff Sessions sucked

fromReason: The former attorney general's worst hits -- and they were bad.
Police State America

A badge of shame: the government’s war on America’s military veterans

fromRutherfordInstitute: In recent years, military veterans have been increasingly targeted for surveillance, censorship, involuntary commitment, labeled as extremists and stripped of their 2nd Amendment rights.
Defense Versus The War Machine      The Government is Not Us

It's time for Congress to acknowledge the collapse of pot prohibition

fromReason: Two-thirds of the states have now legalized marijuana for medical or recreational use.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

September 17, 2018

The cure for homelessness

fromMises: One of most fascinating aspects of progressives is the blindness they display to the adverse consequences of their very own government programs.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market         The Welfare State: Promoting Dependence

VIDEO: Charles Murray - Regulation Nation: A Strategy to Fight Back

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Charles Murray puts forward a strategy to confront regulatory state tyranny.
Regulation Nation

Congress just passed a $150 billion spending package without any consideration for looming deficit

fromReason: Just days after the latest CBO projections showed the deficit getting worse, Congress signs off on another bi-partisan spending increase.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The game is rigged: Congress invites no consumer privacy advocates to its consumer privacy hearing

fromEFF: The upcoming hearing at the Senate Commerce Committee may be the launch pad for this strategy of undoing stronger state laws.
The Government is Not Us         Government is Watching Every Move You Make

WATCH: Cops dump 17 rounds into ‘good samaritan’ veteran as he tried to break up a fight

fromReason: A father of three and a Navy veteran was gunned down by two police officers as he tried to be a good Samaritan and break up a fight outside of a Portland bar. As usual, the cops are excused of accountability.
Police State America

Google caught on camera showing its bias

fromReason: The video within the article is evidence of the tech elitists who believe they should control what citizens see in searches so that Trump's trashed and all the successful things go unseen. 
Media Bias on Parade