October 17, 2017

Survey find Americans’ views on free speech is a whole bunch of crazy

from the Daily Bell: Why a whole bunch of crazy?
"There are no contradictions. If you see a contradiction, check your premises. One of them is wrong" -- Ayn Rand
Indoctrination and Censorship

Who's the Harvey Weinstein of sex work? The police

from Reason: This week has a lot of people wondering "who's the Harvey Weinstein?" of their industry. For sex workers, the answer is all too often a local cop.
Police State America

Chicago's soda tax fizzles

from Reason: Everybody realized it was about bringing in money, not improving public health.
Regulation Nation

⭐️  Walter E Williams: Who pays what in taxes?

from Creators: Today, some politicians argue that the rich must pay their fair share and label the proposed changes in tax law as tax cuts for the rich. Let's look at who pays what.
Economic Policy: Statism vs. The Free Market

Rand Paul: The insurance companies are extorting us, Trump stopped that

from RealClearPolitics: Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) discusses the president's executive order on the Affordable Care Act, why he says the plan is an attempt to empower consumers and why this could be a bipartisan issue.
Regulation Nation

ICE’s civil forfeiture guidelines leaked, and they’re not good

from RealClearPolitics: A government handbook reveals details of its legalized theft program. The concern is strictly about the value of property with no consideration of justice.
The Government is Not Us

September 26, 2017

In Venezuela, they were teachers and doctors. To buy food, they became prostitutes.

from Miami Herald: As Venezuela’s economy continues to collapse amid food shortages, hyperinflation and U.S. sanctions, waves of economic refugees have fled the country.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

RT may soon be dropped by US providers, courtesy of McCain & Graham 

from RT: RT is a Russian news outlet and should be taken in context. The cellophane patriot McCain wants them censored, but that is not the values of the true American patriots who founded this land.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Walter E Williams: Not a Day Care

from Creator's Syndicate: Many colleges have become hotbeds of what might be labeled as enlightened racism. Students at the University of California, Berkeley created "safe spaces" for people of color.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

There's nothing funny about Trump's troubling policing edicts

from Reason: The president is sending a message that law enforcement has more latitude now to bend and break the rules.
Police State America

Chicago’s awesome new soda tax produces predicted results

from HotAir: "The local retailers report that more than 4 in 10 local stores have seen a drop in beverage sales of at least 30%."
Regulation Nation

St Louis protests: Journalists say they were beaten and arrested by police while covering demonstrations

from Independent: Cops beat up the reporters who were chronicling their actions.
Police State America

September 11, 2017

If you hand out a pamphlet, you could be arrested

from WND: Stunning legal battle over 'historical weapons in the defense of liberty'. Thomas Paine would be in trouble these days
The Government is Not Us

The Deep State: How it came to be and why it fights so hard

from Intellectual Takeout: Members of the Deep State are fighting not only for money and power, but their very sense of being.
The Government is Not Us

New York mayor to property owners: drop dead

from Reason: De Blasio literally wants to tell people what to do with their land.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Why Cliven Bundy keeps beating the government

from Fox News Radio: Jury nullification are words periodically appearing in American history. Jury decisions reflect current culture and at the moment there is great distrust of the US government.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Read More: Why Cliven Bundy Keeps Beating the Government (Opinion) | http://newsradio1310.com/why-cliven-bundy-keeps-beating-the-government-opinion/?trackback=tsmclip

NBC, AP publish article saying crooked democrat Menendez on trial in New Jersey is a Republican

from Gateway Pundit: Fake news, dishonest reporting, call it what you will. At least the lefties at the NY Times neglected to give Menendez's party affiliation.
Media Bias on Parade

Fast-growing green energy 'scam' puts taxpayers and homeowners at risk

from The Washington Examiner: "Solutions" to our "global climate crisis" always seems to rely on the heavy hand of government.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

When Did The U.S. Repeal The Laws Of Supply & Demand?

by A. Barton Hinkle. Of soda taxes & minimum wage. Back in October, The New York Times reported that the law of supply and demand still works. "Yes, Soda Taxes Seem to Cut Soda Drinking," the newspaper told its readers, relating the results of Mexico's new tax on sugary beverages. Mexico's measure imposed a 10 percent tax on soft drinks, and so  ... MORE

Paul Bedard: Americans Are Now Spending More On Taxes Than They Do On Food, Clothing And Housing Combined

After April 24, you get to work for yourself.    A tax advocacy group on Wednesday revealed that Americans spend more on taxes than their whole budget for food, clothing and housing. The Tax Foundation, in its annual report on when the nation as a whole has earned enough to pay its taxes, announced the date as April 24. "Tax Freedom Day  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Students And Socialism

How Obamacare Just Made Filing Your Taxes Worse

by Nathan Nascimento.    It’s that wonderful time of year again: tax season. Some 150 million American businesses and individuals are expected to file taxes by this month, covering thousands of arcane provisions that determine how much you and your family will pay Uncle Sam and state governments this year. But this filing season is the second     ... MORE

Panama Papers About Gov't Corruption, Not 'Tax Evasion'

by Ed Krayewski.     The "Panama Papers" are the largest leak in world history, revealing millions of documents related to the offshore accounts of politicians, former politicians, and billionaires around the world. Despite much of the media's focus on tax evasion as the primary theme of the Panama Papers story, which embarrassed governments are   ... MORE

The Real Tragedy Is That The Presidency Matters

by Jeffrey Tucker.     Freedom lovers everywhere are biting their nails this election season, wondering how the damage can be limited. Depending on who gains control, we could have trade wars, nationalized health care, the pillaging of Wall Street, more war in the Middle East, a VAT tax, direct surveillance of your smartphone, internment     ... MORE

Michelle Malkin: Obamacare’s Tax-Time Torment

The bumbling Obamacare bureaucracy.   Thousands of taxpayers must do without a form needed to claim a tax credit for their overpriced health-insurance premiums. Where is my 1095-A? This is what it must be like dealing with a government agency in a third world country.” That was the lament on Twitter of just one poor citizen this week trying   ... MORE

California’s Carl’s Jr. Says So Long, Golden State

They know when they are not wanted.  States: To hear Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, you’d think that taxes can go up to 60% or even 80%, and businesses and investors will just … pay up. But the growing number of businesses stampeding out of high tax areas suggest that they’re very wrong. We got more evidence of that this week when CKE   ... MORE

John Stossel: Libertarian Lite

Lighten up, truth can be scary. In this year's Republican presidential primaries, Sen. Rand Paul got little traction. In 2012, his father failed. That year, the Libertarian Party candidate, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, got just 1 percent of the vote. We libertarians must be doing something wrong. Maybe our anti-government message is too   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Oliver - Special Districts (from HBO)

Walter E Williams: What Is The Fair Share Of Taxes?

Politicians exploiting the ignorant.   Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with President Obama, say they want high-income earners, otherwise known as the rich, to pay their fair share of income taxes. None of these people, as well as the uninformed in the media and our campus intellectual elites, will say precisely  ... MORE

Dozens Of Studies Libertarians Should Know About

The proof for economic freedom.         Over the years I have been running ‘Being Classically Liberal,’ I have done a bit of research and come across a number of empirical research papers which I find very interesting and relevant to many current socioeconomic debates. I figured I’d share them here, so that other people can use them as resources.  ... MORE

Victor Davis Hansen: The Medicine Has Stopped Working

In search of fixes for a fossilized economy.     The U.S. economy grew at an anemic rate of less than 1 percent in the last quarter of 2015. While the unemployment rate has dipped below 5 percent, the all-important labor force participation rate is at a historic low of just 62.7 percent. More than 90 million able-bodied adults are either not   ... MORE

Baylen Linnekin: Is Mexico's Soda Tax Really Working?

Less consumption, same obesity.    Mexico has become the most obese country in the world. In a purported effort to combat the problem, the country implemented a one-peso-per-liter excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in January 2014. That tax, supporters claim, is working. A 2015 working paper by University of Chicago Prof.   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - "Fair Share" Tax Policy

Coral Davenport: To Help Pimp Alternative Energy Sources, Obama Is Willing To Impose A $10-A-Barrel Fee On Oil

A tax on production, what could go wrong.     President Obama’s budget request to Congress will include a new fee on oil companies, requiring them to pay $10 to the federal government for every barrel of oil they produce, the White House said on Thursday. The money, which could bring in up to $32 billion in new federal revenue annually, would ... MORE

The Decline Of America's Economic Freedom Under Obama

by Anthony B. Kim.  Millions of people around the world are emerging from poverty thanks to rising economic freedom. But by sharp contrast, America’s economic freedom has been on a declining path over the past decade. According to the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom, an annual publication by The Heritage Foundation, America’s economic    ... MORE