March 2, 2020

Politicians want to destroy Section 230, the Internet's First Amendment

fromReason: Four myths about the law that made the modern internet possible.

Indoctrination and Censorship

John Stossel: Bloomberg the nanny

fromCreators: Bloomberg targeted smoking, flavored tobacco products, fattening sodas, loud music, grass clippings, cellphones in schools, salt, guns, Styrofoam and restaurant menus without calorie counts.

Regulation Nation

Schools are pushing the boundaries of surveillance technologies

fromActivistPost: Schools are experimenting with the very same surveillance technologies that totalitarian governments use to surveil and abuse the rights of their citizens everywhere: online, offline, and on their phones.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

California reinvents the English language yet again and other nitwittery

fromDailyBell: In the latest attempt to sugarcoat turds, California will now refer to “at risk youth” instead as, “at promise youth.”

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Vaping prohibition would create black markets and put American health at risk

fromTownhall: "Democrats are attempting to take things too far and are promoting prohibitionist policies that we know don’t work and often cause more harm than good."

Regulation Nation

How can Bernie Sanders happen in America

fromTownhall: Why would any people trade individual liberty for government control?

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

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.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption           Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

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.

Regulation Nation

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

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.

Regulation Nation

March 22, 2016

Poll shows Americans waking up, majority now suspects unelected shadow government in charge

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: A recent poll shows that both parties are waking up to the unelected shadow government that forms policy in secret and spies on its own citizens.
The Government is Not Us

Voters In Illinois' Cook County approve marijuana legalization ballot measure

fromForbes: Even though the president is convinced the people have too much freedom, the once sovereign citizens seem to disagree.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Government's option destroyers target menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigs

fromCreators: The FDA banned certain flavors in cigarettes in 2009, but menthol was excluded from those new rules, as were other tobacco products.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange      Regulation Nation

John Stossel: China's freedom-crushing 'social credit score'

fromReason: Americans should be wary of something similar.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Trump's 'tough' drug policies are not smart

fromCreators: Trump's plan is heavy on tactics that have already failed. For instance, he favors "spending a lot of money" on "very, very bad commercials" that will "scare" kids away from drugs."
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange      Regulation Nation

Obama and Trump insiders reveal Facebook ALLOWED them BOTH to spy on you

fromGovtSlaves: Facebook specifically granted the Obama administration access because, according to Davidsen, Facebook was “on our side.” 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

February 1, 2018

The humanitarian hoax of collectivism

fromReason: Collectivism encourages dependence, perpetual childhood, government control, and allegiance to a world community without national borders or national sovereignty. Collectivism is the enemy of individualism. 
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

California senate rejects license plate privacy shield bill

fromEFF: The California Senate has rejected a bill to allow drivers to protect their privacy by applying shields to their license plates when parked.
Police State America       Government is Watching Every Move You Make 

VIDEO: Give a Straw, Go to Jail

fromLibertyPen/You: California politicians seek to send waiters to jail for passing out unrequested plastic straws.
Regulation Nation

VIDEO: The Minimum Wage Explained

fromeEconomics/YouTube: David Angelo explains the dynamics of minimum wage.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Everybody's talking about 'the memo' and ignoring the surveillance debate

fromReason: Partisan posturing drowns out important civil liberties concerns.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Sonora man takes on feds over vape product regulations

fromTheUnionDemocrat: “These regulations don’t just harm small businesses and consumers, they undermine constitutional safeguards for individual liberty.”
Regulation Nation

November 27, 2017

Warning: one of these monopolies is going to control you

from TheDailyBell: It is time to break up the only true monopoly in the United States, the federal government.
The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - Social Security Lies and Deception

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Milton explains how Social Security, which was sold to the American people as an insurance scheme, is in reality a bad tax and a bad welfare distribution system.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

On Roy Moore: When did 'proof' become immaterial?

from WND: Most definitely a man in his 30s who tries to make out with a 14-year-old girl deserves 30 days in the electric chair. But have you ever forced yourself to face up to the other side of things? A Barry Farber column.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Freedom for Television and Radio

from Mises: There is one important area of American life where no effective freedom of speech or the press does or can exist under the present system. That is the entire field of radio and television.
Regulation Nation

Bay Area takes police-state approach to tobacco

from Spectator: San Francisco, Oakland, and other cities have banned vaping and flavored tobacco, thus exposing their progressive hypocrisy.
Regulation Nation

Facebook removed this small town business’s ads for American flags because it sell guns

from TheDailyCaller: Facebook unmasked. The Sportsman’s Shop says it can no longer advertise products like American flags on Facebook because its Facebook page promotes the sales of guns, and includes links that lead to the same.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Equating Vaping With Smoking Is Medical Malpractice

by Jacob Sullum.      Credibility up in smoke. Like most professional pundits, Margaret Cuomo has perfected the art of speaking authoritatively even when she does not know what she is talking about. Unlike most professional pundits, Cuomo is in a position to cause real damage. As a celebrity doctor spreading misinformation about the hazards of  ... MORE

Brad Rodu: Bootleggers, Baptists And E-cigarettes

The alliance to ban potentially live-saving devices.  E-cigarette users should be concerned about proposed Food and Drug Administration regulations that may eliminate most brands of these potentially life-saving cigarette alternatives, leaving only those products marketed by large tobacco companies with the resources to complete expensive    ... MORE

Robert Coolman: CDC Says E-Cigs Help You Quit Smoking

A helpful tool to quit traditional cigarettes.   According to a CDC report issued Saturday, electronic cigarettes (e-cigs) are strongly associated with attempts to quit regular smoking. E-cigs are battery-powered inhalation devices that typically deliver nicotine and/or flavored vapor in the form of an aerosol. Several studies have suggested a ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: A British Lesson On Vaping For The CDC

But do option-reducing regulators care?   Public Health England (PHE), a government agency, recently published a detailed report on electronic cigarettes that describes them as far less dangerous than the conventional kind and recommends them as a harm-reducing alternative. "Encouraging smokers who cannot or do not want to stop smoking  ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: E-Cigarettes Are Not Tobacco Products

The CDC misleads the public about vaping.     For years anti-smoking activists and public health officials have tried to justify their irrational hatred of electronic cigarettes by arguing that vaping leads to smoking, especially among impressionable young people who otherwise would never touch tobacco. But that is not happening. To   ... MORE

VIDEO: The War Against E-Cigs

Study Confirms E-Cigarettes Generate Virtually No Toxins

by Jacob Sullum. Does it matter to the option destroyers? Anti-smoking activists and public health officials who question the usefulness of electronic cigarettes in reducing tobacco-related disease often talk as if the content of the aerosol generated by these newfangled contraptions is utterly mysterious. While it may be plausible that the absence of ... MORE

Public Health Nannies Won't Admit: E-Cigs Save Lives

by Bill Godshall.     In sharp contrast to the Trib's fear-mongering headlines and Adam Smeltz's news story “Western Pa. cancer specialists call for electronic cigarette crackdown” , the scientific and empirical evidence indicates vaping is 99 percent less hazardous than smoking cigarettes, is more effective for quitting smoking than are FDA-   ... MORE

How Anti-Tobacco Activists Are Very Likely Killing People

by Ronald Bailey.  Last week, my colleague Jacob Sullum questioned a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine purporting to show that vaping is more dangerous than smoking actual cigarettes. The reason? Because vaping at high voltage produces high levels of the carcinogen formaldehyde. The New England Journal of Medicine even   ... MORE

Greg Gutfeld: New E-Cig Study Goes Up In Smoke

E-Cig attack vaporizes.    The New England Journal of Medicine ran a letter linking e-cigs to cancer and the panicky media gobbled it up like a pot brownie. But how sturdy is this research? What might happen if you tapped lightly on their findings? Yes, under closer scrutiny, this blockbuster collapsed faster than Michael Moore in a spin class. According to  ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Are E-Cigarettes Displacing the Real Thing?

Technology's healthier choice.  Survey results released last week indicate that use of electronic cigarettes by American teenagers continues to rise, even as their use of conventional cigarettes continues to fall. You might think these diverging trends would give pause to critics who worry that e-cigarettes are "reglamorizing" the old-      ... MORE

Science: E-Cigs Could Save Hundreds Of Millions Of Lives

As U.S. politicians try to ban the device ...   A group of 53 leading scientists has warned the World Health Organization not to classify e-cigarettes as tobacco products, arguing that doing so would jeopardize a major opportunity to slash disease and deaths caused by smoking. The UN agency, which is currently assessing its position on the matter,   ... MORE

FDA And Big Tobacco Join Forces To Choke Out E-Cigs

Anti-smoking device in the crosshairs.      Depending on what happens next, the electronic tobaccoless smokes will either rot in the land of once-hyped forgotten gadgets, or would-be smokers will instead spend late nights puffing away in a hip sweet-smelling vape lounge with a beer in one hand and a pimped-out mod in the other.        ... MORE