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.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery        Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Dec 3, 2018

Yes, you have the right to talk back to the government, but it could get you killed

fromReason: “The freedom of individuals verbally to oppose or challenge police action without thereby risking arrest is one of the principal characteristics by which we distinguish a free nation from a police state.”
Police State America

High Court rules whites have to give their land to black South Africans without compensation

fromReason: South Africa's High Court rejected a legal challenge today brought by a group representing white farmers against President Cyril Ramaphosa's plans for land expropriation without compensation.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Details of the horrible carbon tax bill

fromHawaiiFreePress: The IRS and EPA will develop a cozy relationship to siphon cash from the vat of taxpayer funds for what the bill calls "Administrative Expenses" and "Other Administrative Expenses."
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

America is addicted to outrage. Is there a cure?

fromWallStreetJournal: A healthy society reserves anger for special occasions. Today taking 
offense has become a reflex.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Cop who enters wrong apartment and kills man is indicted for murder

fromCNN: A rare instance where a grand jury holds a police officer accountable for a wrongful death. Grand juries indict less than ten percent of cops brought before them.
Police State America     Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Gun control advocates in California now want to tax semi-automatic firearms

fromTownhall: Right now, it's unclear what the tax would look like but Levine's chief-of-staff said they're considering a $25 fee per firearm, which is similar to Chicago and Seattle's tax. 
2nd Amendment Assaults

December 4, 2017

Cops steal $91,800 from a musician, claiming he gave it to them

from Reason: Wyoming's roadside waivers are a thin disguise for highway robbery.
Police State America

Activists arrested in Atlanta for feeding homeless without a permit before Thanksgiving

from ActivistPost: Feeding the hungry without paying politicians for the privilege.
The Government is Not Us   Regulation Nation

Supreme Court could legalize sports betting nationwide

from DailyCaller: As a result of a challenge from New Jersey — home of gambling Mecca Atlantic City — the court could overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and allow sports betting in most states.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Four camera surveillance PODS coming to a city near you

from MassPrivatei: Welcome to Police State America, where one camera surveillance system is never enough.
Police State America   Government is Watching Every Move You Make

CNN calls for banning the term ‘fake news’

from DownTrend: In a related story, medicine show operators are calling to ban the term "snake oil salesman".
Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: William F Buckley Jr - Newt Gingrich: A Debate on the Legalization of Drugs

from LibertyPen/YouTube: (1990) Excerpts from: A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That Drugs Should Be Legalized. Also in the debate: Richard Dennis, Ira Glasser, Robert W. Sweet, Pat Schroeder, Charles B. Rangel, and, William von Raab.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

November 14, 2017

The death of individualism in America

from Liberty Nation: Historically America has been characterized as a civil society which has always elevated individualism. That is, personal independence and self-reliance were seen as virtuous and fundamental to who we are as a people.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

The fragile generation

from Reason: Bad policy and paranoid parenting are making kids too safe to succeed.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Justice department bizarrely uses Madoff to defend taking people's stuff without convicting them first

from Reason: Twisted incentives? What are those? Rod Rosenstein doesn't seem to have heard of them.
Police State America

Three kinds of theft

from The Daily Bell: Taxation is theft. But I’ve seen some people defend taxes with typical arguments like, “It’s not theft because you get something for your money.” Perhaps the confusion lies in the fact that not all thieves act the same.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The Boston Globe wants the government to confiscate your firearms

from DownTrend: The Boston Globe has had enough of this Constitutionally protected freedom and is actually calling on the government to confiscate firearms from law-abiding citizens.
2nd Amendment Assaults

The surveillance state: an inexorable march toward totalitarianism

from Zero Hedge: The Surveillance State has slowed down its rate of growth since Trump took office, however, it lies festering below the veneer of daily events, inexorably growing its tentacles and extending their reach.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

November 6, 2017

Should you put tape over your webcam?

from CircuitBreaker: Thinking about privacy.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Woman told her 90 acres now public after anonymous claim of grave

from WorldNewsDaily: Local government invents new means to steal land. Legal team questions where 'warrantless searches,' 'unbridled trespassing' are in Constitution.
The Government is Not Us

6 companies that are the most reliant on government contracts

from MotleyFool: In a $3.7 trillion federal government budget, there are going to be a lot of companies reaping a windfall.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

🎬   Edgar, the exploiter

from Bitbutter/YouTube: Understanding the economic dynamics put into place by minimum wage.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Republicans' tax plan crashes Jerry Brown's electric car fantasies

from Reason: Citizens in Kansas will no longer have to subsidize California's nitwittery.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Over a few bullets, man loses truck to civil asset forfeiture

from National Review: A Kentucky man recently reclaimed his Ford F-250 pickup truck after it had been seized and kept for two years by the Customs and Border Patrol. The justification? Agents had found a few stray bullets in the center console.
Police State America

October 23, 2017

America has built the most comfortable civilization in the world

from PJMedia: Human civilization can be described as a long crawl away from a life that was nasty, brutal and short.
America is winning that race.
The Pursuit of Happiness

3 stories that show Big Brother is alive and well

from The Daily Bell: 1. Getting Clever with Fear to Restrict the Internet. 2. Prosecutors pick a target, THEN find a crime.
3. Fitbit and pacemaker info used to catch criminals.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Why you may need a passport next year to fly from city to city within the United States 

from Reason: A passport to fly within the country, but no ID to vote. Government serves the politician not the people.
Regulation Nation

U.S. ran $666 billion deficit in fiscal 2017, sixth highest on record

from Wall Street Journal: "U.S. revenue and spending both hit record highs in fiscal 2017.
Economic Policy: Statism vs. The Free Market

Alabama police use asset forfeiture to ruin an innocent small business owner

from Reason: How government has set things up so police departments can take anything they want with impunity.
Police State America    The Government is Not Us

Former NFL players say league should allow players to use marijuana to treat pain, injuries

from Reason: Former player: If there's any sport or league that should be leading the way in experiments with cannibis,
of course it's the NFL.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: It's Back: Federal Asset Forfeiture Laws

Government gives itself a license to steal. No crime necessary.

Feds Resume Program That Lets Cops Steal From You

by Bonnie Kristian.      Well, that didn’t last long. In December, the Justice Department (DOJ) announced it would halt a program which made it easy for law enforcement agencies to profit from civil asset forfeiture: The “equitable-sharing” program gives police the option of prosecuting asset forfeiture cases under federal instead of state law.     ... MORE

Theft-by-Government Continues Through Eminent Domain

by A. Barton Hinkle.      Three years ago Virginia residents passed a constitutional amendment to limit legalized theft through eminent-domain abuse. The amendment required that property be taken only for a genuinely public purpose. No longer could governments take one person's land and give it to somebody else for economic development.   ... MORE

Force Awakens As Asset-Forfeiture Plunder Is Threatened

by Orange County Register editorial.    The Justice Department gave civil liberties advocates an early Christmas present last week when it announced that it would be suspending indefinitely its “equitable sharing” asset forfeiture program, which notoriously allowed state and local police agencies to bypass restrictions on forfeiture by partnering with  ... MORE

A Missouri Town Demands Substantive Due Process

by George Will.   Is this the future? If Pagedale, Mo., is a glimpse of the future, the future is going to be annoying. Pagedale might represent the future of governance unless some of its residents succeed in their lawsuit against their government. If they do, it will be because they successfully invoked the principle of substantive due process. Pagedale is  ... MORE

Drug Czar Wants More $ To Spend On Taking Your Stuff

by Nick Gillespie.       The Washington Post reports that the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) wants more money "to identify assets, prosecute cases and 'manage the massive paper flow associated with forfeiture.'"   Asset-forfeiture, in which law enforcement seizes property, cash, and goods that it says is connected to drug      ... MORE

Civil Forfeiture Laws: It’s Mine, Until The Police Take It

by Paul Samakow.        Civil forfeiture laws allow police in just about every state to take citizens’ property, including cash, cars, electronics, even houses, without due process, simply by stating they believe the taken property was somehow involved in a criminal activity. Property can be legally taken without any charges being placed, without an    ... MORE

VIDEO: Larken Rose: How To Be A Crook

Jason Snead: Why Police In Many States Can Seize Your Property Without Proving You’re Guilty Of A Crime

Politicians use cops to legally hold up citizens.      Civil asset forfeiture is a growing problem throughout the nation, driven by a profit incentive that encourages property seizures by law enforcement authorities even under dubious circumstances. That is the inescapable conclusion of the second iteration of Policing for Profit:        ... MORE

Man Jailed Over $5 Theft For Months Without Bail Dies

by Jon Swaine.  Jailer says 24-year-old died of natural causes. A young black man arrested by police in Portsmouth, Virginia, has been found dead in jail after spending almost four months behind bars without bail for stealing groceries worth $5. Jamycheal Mitchell, who had mental health problems, was discovered lying on the floor of his cell by guards ... MORE

Stop Predatory Policing: Close The Civl Forfeiture Loophole

by Chuck Devore.  Traveling with a large amount of cash can be risky in California. An owner of a food truck from Northern California traveled to Los Angeles to make a large purchase. He had $10,000 in cash with him – not unusual, given that he operated a cash-based business. Unfortunately, his $10,000 was taken – by law enforcement. His cash was seized ... MORE

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - The Enemy Of The People

VIDEO: Why Thieves Hate Free Markets

Did The TSA Agent Steal Jersey Honoring Yankee Legend From The Luggage Of His Window? She Thinks They Did.

from CBS New York.   The widow of a baseball icon was heartbroken Friday night over a missing jersey that she believes was stolen. Last month, the Yankees gave Soot Zimmer a jersey in honor of her late husband, Don Zimmer, who served as bench coach for the team for several years. But the jersey never made it back to Florida with Soot   ... MORE