Showing posts with label surveillance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label surveillance. Show all posts

January 24, 2020


Facial recognition and the danger of automated authoritarianism

fromReason: Hundreds of police departments are using facial recognition technology without oversight.


People no longer believe working hard will lead to a better life, survey shows

fromTripleHack: A growing sense of inequality is undermining trust in both society's institutions and capitalism, according to a long-running global survey.

Walter E Williams: Diversity and inclusion insanity

fromCreators: George Orwell was absolutely right when he said, "There are some ideas so absurd that only an intellectual could believe them."
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

The big loser in the Iowa debate? CNN’s reputation

fromFAIR: One really does get the impression that if CNN were holding a debate on the Titanic, the first question would literally be about rearranging the deck chairs.
Media Bias on Parade

The evil list

fromSlate: Which tech companies are really doing the most harm? Here are the 30 most dangerous, ranked by the people who know.

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - The Suicide of Capitalism

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: The principles of capitalism are the principles of American individualism. So why is economic freedom now under threat? An insightful look into this question from Ayn Rand. (1961)

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.

November 25, 2019


When the villain is Obama, not Trump, news suddenly becomes not worth reporting

fromNYPost: Using, or ignoring, facts in accordance with whether they create the desired impression is the principal agenda of today’s media.
Media Bias on Parade

Roger Stone, convicted for bragging

fromTownhall: The lesson learned is if you are a high-level Trump supporter, you can expect the Deep State to come after you. The left is sending a message to Trump supporters to beware of helping him in 2020.

Giving government vast snooping authority is one thing Democrats and Republicans both like

fromReason: They simply disagree over who should be in charge of misusing and abusing those excessive powers.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - The Proper Role of the Press

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: More relevant today than ever.
Media Bias on Parade

In Virginia, and elsewhere, gun supporters prepare to defy new laws

fromMSN: The concept is modeled after the “sanctuary city” stance that some localities have taken in response to federal immigration enforcement efforts.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Vaping panic ignores how e-cigarettes save lives

fromReason: H.L. Mencken defined Puritanism as "the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy." The rub against vaping, and other smokeless tobacco products, is that people enjoy it.

October 21, 2019


FISA court ruled that FBI improperly used NSA surveillance data to snoop on Americans

fromNola.com:  In 2017 alone, the FBI conducted over 3.1 million searches of surveillance data
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

A New Orleans man faced a felony marijuana charge; too many potential jurors wouldn't consider it

fromNola.com: Jury nullification. Learn it, love it, live it.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

The late great state of California

fromMisesInstitute: Are people leaving California? More people are out-migrating to other states than those coming in, but much of that was offset by international migrants resulting in a net population loss of only 38,000 (2018).
The Government is Not Us

Tulsi Gabbard: Canary in the Democratic coal mine

fromAmericanSpectator: The imminent demise of her presidential campaign portends disaster for her party.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Walter E Williams - Intolerance in academia

fromCreators: There's nothing better than the sounds of pocketbooks snapping shut to bring a bit of sanity to college administrators.

Mentions of government as top U.S. problem near record high

fromGallup: "Government," which includes negative comments about leadership and politicians, has been the top problem in 31 of Gallup's 34 readings since January 2017.

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."

September 30, 2019


Brett Kavanaugh debate exemplifies culture war between left and right

fromTheHill: Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh is either a sexual brute or a badly-aggrieved victim of a witch hunt. The debate on this question exemplifies two diametrically opposed approaches to justice.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Face masks to decoy t-shirts: The rise of anti-surveillance fashion

fromThompsonReutersFoundation: Fashion designers are coming up with novel ways to stay private in public.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Court says using chalk on tires for parking enforcement violates Constitution

fromNPR: Anything that weakens the state's ability to exploit the citizen with confiscatory fines is ok with me.
Regulation Nation

This law allows hospitals to kidnap you for profit

fromTheDailyBell: "Florida’s Baker Act allows doctors, police, or judges to involuntarily commit patients to psychiatric hospitals for up to 72 hours if they show signs that they may hurt themselves or others."
The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - That Existential Threat

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Tucker Carlson explores the veracity of claims that climate change is as “existential threat.” Do the presidential candidates who advocate policies based on that premise believe it themselves?
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery           Economic Policy: Statism Vs The Free Market

51% of young voters believe humanity could be wiped out within 15 years

fromScottRasmussen: No wonder poor little Greta is a basket case. She has been convinced that climate change is an existential threat. See video above.

September 27, 2019


A license for outrageous police conduct

fromReason: Qualified immunity protects cops from liability for actions that would land ordinary people in jail. Another double standard favoring government agents.
Police State America

IRS testing behavioral analytics to verify online users

fromNextGov: The agency is piloting a proof-of-concept that will track how individual taxpayers interact with its online systems by tracking behavior and movements through phones.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Food is freedom: How Washington’s food subsidies have helped make Americans fat and sick

fromTheDailyBell: All told, the U.S. government spends $20 billion annually on farm subsidies, with approximately 39 percent of all farms receiving some sort of subsidy.
Economic Policy: Statism Vs The Free Market

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Dismantling America

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Upon completion of his book Dismantling America, in 2010, Dr. Sowell is interviewed by Peter Robinson of Uncommon Knowledge.
The Government is Not Us

The world’s most-surveilled cities

fromComparitech: Six are in America (San Francisco is one of them).
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Why Is the CDC still fostering potentially deadly confusion about vaping and lung disease?

fromReason: Contrary to the evidence, public health officials and journalists continue to link the recent outbreak of respiratory illnesses with legal e-cigarettes.

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 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.  

June 5, 2019


Could prostitution be next to be decriminalized?

fromNYTimes: Marijuana has gone mainstream, casino gambling is everywhere and sports wagering is spreading. Could prostitution be next? It will happen just as soon as the government figures out how to replace the pimp as profiteer.  
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

"It's all a fraud": Deceptive edits found in Mueller Report

fromZeroHedge: Mueller's deceptive edits beg the question; what else may have been manipulated by the special counsel to make Trump look guilty?
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Police to use TSA-style scanners to spy on people in public places

fromMassPrivateI: TSA-style body scanners are coming to public spaces, and that should scare the hell out of everyone.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Julian Assange - Wikileaks and the 2016 Presidential Election

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Journalist Julian Assange gives a fascinating interview in 2016 by Going Underground host Afshin Rattansi, regarding the Wikileaks disclosures that affected the 2016 presidential election.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Cops raid innocent family, stop mom from breastfeeding for ‘smelling weed’—they found none

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: If you wonder why some folks have an adversity to cops, you need only watch these bullies harassing a family under the pretense of having smelled weed. And they claim to be public servants.
Police State America

Walter E Williams: Colleges committed to ideological diversity

fromCreators: Students "have to walk on eggshells, respect taboos, snitch on fellow students for politically incorrect jokes and learn to use ad hominem arguments as a means to attack ideas they find "disagreeable."

May 31, 2019


Alexa ‘could be about to get even creepier,’ Amazon patent reveals

fromYahooNews: It would alter how Echo works - so that instead of waiting for its ‘wake word’, Alexa, it would effectively be listening all the time. Only a potent 2nd Amendment will keep this from eventually being mandatory.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Victor Davis Hanson - Evaluating Donald Trump

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A brilliant analysis of the phenomenon known as Donald Trump.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Press freedom: Widespread confusion about who counts as a journalist and whether it matters

fromCreators: We have a First Amendment. Freedom is not a special privilege that belongs only to officially recognized journalists. It applies to all of us when we use technologies of mass communication.
The Government is Not Us     Indoctrination and Censorship

Cops strip-searched a 4-year-old after mom's errand took too long

fromReason: How dare the authorities not only second-guess a mom's very safe decision, but take their investigation so far beyond the bounds of common sense—and decency?
Police State America

Tide of public opinion is turning in Assange’s favor

fromConsortiumNews: The indictment of Julian Assange under the Espionage Act has profoundly affected press coverage of the WikiLeaks founder.
The Government is Not Us     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption      Indoctrination and Censorship

The Right’s latest tactic on gun laws? Just don’t enforce them

fromRollingStone: Counties across the country are sticking it to “big city elites” by declaring themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries”

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.

May 20, 2019


Why everyone in the U.S. who counts wants Julian Assange dead

fromCommonDreams:   It's not for being a jerk that the Establishment state wants the Wikileaks publisher dead. They want him dead for publishing videos like these. Only the bravest will watch the video contained within.
The Government is Not Us       Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption    Defense Versus The War Machine

Some US cities are moving into real-time facial surveillance

fromWired:   The lack of federal rules on facial recognition may create a patchwork of surveillance regimes inside the US.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Camille Paglia: Neo feminism teaching women to live in ‘a permanently juvenile condition’

fromCommonDreams:   “What I am saying throughout my work is that girls who are indoctrinated to see men not as equals but as oppressors and rapists are condemned to remain in a permanently juvenile condition for life."
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: Larry Elder - Reparations for Slavery

fromLibertyPen/YouTube:   Commentator/author Larry Elder comments on a scheme to extract money from people who were never slave owners and give it to people who were never slaves.

Federal funding for California bullet train boondoggle formally canceled

fromReason:   Jerry Brown's bait and switch scheme goes up in flames, as taxpayers suffer another ramification of the Obama administration.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Is California ready to ban gas-powered cars? Not yet. But they're thinking about it

fromUSAToday:   Fresh of the high-speed rail fiasco, state politicians plot yet another way to torture citizens.

May 13, 2019


President Trump's tariffs, once described as negotiating tools, may be here to stay

fromGreenwichTime:   Failure of the United States and China to reach agreement Friday on a comprehensive trade deal raises the possibility that high tariffs on imported goods may be a permanent feature of the U.S. economy.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - Trump's Claims of Spying

fromLibertyPen/YouTube:   From Tucker Carlson Tonight, a look back at Trump’s allegations that the Obama administration was spying on him and the accompanying media coverage as well as the upshot to the story.
Media Bias on Parade        Politics and Other Official Act of Corruption

Food prices to soar thanks to the trade war's tariffs

fromSHTF:   The consequences of the Trump Administration’s trade war on China and other countries will be rising food prices for the American consumer.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The new green serfdom

fromReason:   The Green New Deal is a path to a more militarized and authoritarian society.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Walter E Williams: Higher education in America

fromCreators:   "Colleges should be forced to share in covering loan defaults, namely they need to have some skin in the game. More importantly, Vedder says that we should end or revise the federal student aid program."
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Idaho repeals its regulatory code

fromMercatus:   Forcing a fresh start by repealing the entire regulatory code may be the newest arrow in the red tape cutter’s quiver.

April 27, 2019


The Feds are dropping child porn cases instead of revealing info on their surveillance systems

fromReason:  Human Rights Watch and other groups say these systems draw serious concerns. 

VIDEO: The original role of Clinton-Podesta in the Trump collusion narrative

fromTargetLiberty:  Amazing! Left-wing comedian uses facts and documents to show the original role of Clinton-Podesta in the Trump collusion narrative
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Taxpayers hit for $270k after cops beat, kidnap 4’11” grandma for refusing warrantless search

fromFreeThoughtProject:  For refusing to allow police to illegally search her home, an innocent grandma was attacked, kidnapped, injured and denied treatment -- and taxpayers, not cops were held accountable. 
Police State America

Google may be helping the government conduct warrantless searches in 'massive file scanning program'

fromDailyMail:  The Electronic Privacy Information Center filed an amicus brief concerning Google's role in helping the government seize data via warrantless searches. 

Assange’s imprisonment reveals even more corruption than WikiLeaks did

fromCaitlinJohnstone:  Understanding everything that WikiLeaks has done to shine light where powerful people want darkness makes it abundantly clear why powerful people want to sabotage it. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Facial recognition creeps up on a JetBlue passenger and she hates it

fromZeroHedge:  Facial recognition systems don't want you to stop and think about them. This is what happens when someone does. 

April 15, 2019


Julian Assange and WikiLeaks deserve our thanks for making governments more transparent

fromReason:  The world is a better place now that it's harder than ever for governments to keep secrets.
The Government is Not Us       Government is Watching Every Move You Make     

The Washington establishment seems pretty happy about Julian Assange’s arrest

fromReason:  Deep state tyrants figure to sleep a little better if they can eliminate Assange.
The Government is Not Us       Government is Watching Every Move You Make 

Assisted dying: The death panels are coming

fromGaryNorth:  Rationing is inevitable in a world of scarcity. You can ration by price: high monetary bid wins. You can ration by standing in line: first come, first served. You can ration by bureaucratic procedure: fill out forms. 
But there is always rationing.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Why an internet regulator is a bad idea

fromSpiked:  We should be stripping away curbs on speech – not adding more.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Looking into surveillance

fromProvidenceJournal:  If our government has improperly used its immense power to spy on citizens for political purposes, it is vital that it be stopped, and those involved be punished, lest we become a police state.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make        Police State America

Your Volvo will soon call the cops on you if it thinks you've been drinking

fromZeroHedge:  It is unclear if demand for Volvos will collapse as a result of big brother watching over every move, or if potential customers will welcome this latest incursion of their privacy.