June 27, 2020

Venezuelans take extraordinary steps to beat water shortage

fromAP: Critics of the socialist government blame chronic infrastructure failures on years of corruption and mismanagement that have also left the electrical grid fragile and destroyed Venezuela’s once-thriving oil industry.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Will government mandate COVID-19 vaccinations?

fromTheHill: Government mandated vaccinations for adults would be a major and controversial step. But then government has taken a number of major and controversial steps recently, such as shutting down the economy.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

California agency blocks release of police use of force and surveillance training, claiming copyright

fromActivistPost:Our elected officials can pass laws regulating the police, and watchdog bodies can review law enforcement policies, but if training materials are kept secret, it provides a back door for manufacturers of surveillance technology and private organizations to influence police practices without oversight or accountability.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make        Police State America         Regulation Nation

Walter E Williams: Insults to black history

fromCreators: Both blacks and whites can benefit from a better appreciation of black history.
Indoctrination and Censorship

The pandemic's economic carnage looks worse than expected

fromReason: If you thought the economic toll wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic was only going to be horrendous, you may have been overly optimistic.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Black Wisdom Matters - Good Intentions of the Welfare State

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Thomas Sowell, Walter E Williams, Star Parker, Jason Riley, Bob Woodson and Larry Elder share their insights on how a half century of the welfare state has changed America and the American family.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

June 4, 2020

How to curb police abuses—and how not to

fromTheVolokhConspiracy: Much can and must be done to curb police brutality. The task is difficult, but far from hopeless. But riots and looting are both wrong in themselves, and likely to have counterproductive results. 
Police State America

Models can’t predict next week’s weather, so why should we trust them to predict climate change?

fromWattsUpWithThat: No one “knew” the weather would cancel the SpaceX flight, but rather scientists used data to make the best educated guess which is part of the scientific method we learned about in third grade.  
Indoctrination and Censorship

Where did policing go wrong?

fromMattTaibee: "We have two systems of enforcement in America, a minimalist one for people with political clout, and an intrusive one for everyone else." 
Police State America

It’s past time to examine how police unions protect bad cops

fromNationalReview: The issue of rogue police officers who routinely violate constitutional rights and their superiors and unions who protect them is no longer a right-versus-left issue. 
Police State America

Gun stocks soar as riots, looting erupt across America

fromFoxNews: Nothing has demonstrated the citizen's need for self-protection guaranteed by the 2nd Amendment after watching days of looters having free  reign, holding private property owners at their mercy. 
2nd Amendment Assaults

Walter E Williams: Some facts worth knowing

fromCreators: After accounting for income, charity and noncash welfare benefits, "the poorest 20% of Americans consume more goods and services than the national averages for all people in the world's most affluent countries." 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

February 24, 2020

Why it's so hard to escape America's "anti-poverty" programs

fromMises: The state has created a permanent underclass.

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Rand Paul: End the Afghanistan war and bring our soldiers home

fromNewsweek: Just as government cannot provide absolute safety at home, it cannot guarantee perpetual stability abroad. Nation-building only endangers our troops.
Defense Versus The War Machine

Death by socialized medicine

fromDailyMail: Laura Hillier, 18, died after waiting for a bone marrow transplant during a hospital bed shortage in Canada, despite having willing donors available.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Racism is the Lowest Form of Collectivism

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Ayn Rand identifies the true nature of racism and the steps that can be taken against it.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

California bill would require occupational licenses for porn actors, strippers, cam girls

fromReason: Adult performers are outraged at the proposed licensing requirements.
Regulation Nation

This is what happens when you take 550 doses of LSD at once

fromVice: A mindblower. You don't know what you think you know.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

January 23, 2020

Why medical marijuana research can’t get off the ground

fromNJMarijuana: “They can’t conduct cannabis research until they show cannabis has a medical use, but they can’t show cannabis has a medical use until they can conduct research,” said Rep. Anna Eshoo D-Calif.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

How to get a jury to ignore the law and do the right thing

fromAbovetheLaw: The basics of jury nullification.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Why LBJ's Great Society flopped—and what it means for the 2020 election

fromReason: Amity Shlaes's new history of the late 1960s explains the failure of the last time the federal government tried to fix all that was wrong with America.

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency           Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

No 'insurrection' or violence at Virginia gun rights rally

fromReason: Plus: Clinton says "nobody likes" Bernie, Biden wants Section 230 revoked, Iran takes responsibility for Jan. 8 plane crash, and more...

2nd Amendment Assaults           Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Capitalism seen doing 'more harm than good' in global survey

fromNJMarijuana: A result of crony capitalism having replace laissez-faire capitalism

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

Denver Post columnist fired after arguing there are two sexes

fromFreeBeacon: Truth is the new hate speech.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

September 13, 2019

The secret history of the monopolization of welfare by the state

fromAIER: Left out of today’s public discourse is the issue that guided classical liberals in the 19th century: should people be free or shall they be coerced to do what others consider to be “the right thing”?

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

NRA sues San Francisco over terrorist declaration

fromABCNews: "...accuses city officials of violating the gun lobby's free speech rights for political reasons and says the city is seeking to blacklist anyone associated with the NRA."
2nd Amendment Assaults

Climate change has been a routine scare tactic since the 1930's

fromArmstrongEconomics: It has long been a ploy of the socialist left to demean and destroy the concept of private property with apocalyptic predictions.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

John Bolton left because Trump wouldn’t let him start a war

fromVox: There was always going to be a conflict between Trump’s “America First” and Bolton’s “America Everywhere.”
Defense Versus The War Machine

9/11 Solidified the Destruction of Our Freedom

fromFFF: The saddest thing about 9/11 is how American politicians allowed a band of terrorists to successfully destroy American freedom.
The Government is Not Us

Flynn hearing reveals existence of bombshell DOJ memo exonerating Michael Flynn

fromSaraCarter: A bombshell revelation was barely noticed at Michael Flynn’s hearing, when his counsel revealed the existence of a Justice Department memo from Jan. 30, 2017 exonerating Flynn of any collusion with Russia.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

May 11, 2019

Mexico wants to legalize all drugs and negotiate with the U.S. to do the same

fromNewsweek:   “Prohibition policies have caused more harm to people and communities than the drugs they were intended to eliminate, and they haven’t come anywhere close to eliminating the supply or the demand.” 

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Gun crackdowns have already led to too many federal abuses

fromTheHill:  Gun control advocates have called for prohibiting possession of AR-15 rifles — a ban that could create five million new felons overnight.

2nd Amendment Assaults

Trump plans to redefine poverty, cutting Americans from welfare

fromZeroHedge:  “Because of this, changes to the poverty thresholds, including how they are updated for inflation over time, may affect eligibility for programs that use the poverty guidelines.” 

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

On free trade, even Karl Marx is smarter than Donald Trump

fromReason:  Marx “was a champion of free trade, and no friend of tariff barriers.” 

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

California's rent control advocates are about to get what they want, good and hard

fromReason:  Everywhere rent control is tried, the same things happen. Landlords exit the market. Developers stop building apartments. Supply drops significantly. 

Regulation Nation

Want to make money? Work for the government

fromCNSNews:  The median earnings of state and local government workers were higher than the median earnings in any of the four categories of private-industry and self-employed workers. Federal workers were even higher.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Dec 5, 2018

France's protesters are part of a global backlash against climate change taxes

fromSFGate: People of the world are revolting against extreme government taxes based on the pretense of climate change.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Pageant may show that men make the best women

fromTheBlast: Gamblers say transgender could be the next Miss Universe. Many observers conclude that feminism just got set back a good bit.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

San Francisco's wealthy leftists are making homelessness worse

fromMises: In S.F., the median price of a modest single family home now stands at $1.6 million. A family of four with a household income of $100k is considered at the poverty line and actually qualifies for assistance from HUD.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The Amazon deal shows why we must end corporate welfare

fromActivistPost: Amazon is but one example of local governments bestowing special favor on the few at the expense of those less able to petition for tax dollars.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Colion Noir - Guns and Reason

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From the Rubin Report, gun rights activist Colion Noir explains his advocacy of concealed carry and other gun rights and his opposition to universal background checks and assault weapon bans.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Paul Ryan Is kinda sorry he was a total failure at balancing the budget

fromReason: Ryan presided over three years of growing deficits and laid the groundwork for worse to come.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Dec 4, 2018

Without an Obamacare penalty, many are planning to drop health plans. The consequences could be dire.

fromTheHill: Evidence that mandates are only necessary when persuasion has no chance. Premiums, even for a bronze plan with a deductible of more than $6,000, can cost more than $500 a month.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market     Regulation Nation

Census confirms: 63 percent of ‘non-citizens’ on welfare, 4.6 million households

fromWashingtonExaminer: A majority of “non-citizens,” including those with legal green card rights, are tapping into welfare programs set up to help poor and ailing Americans says a Census Bureau finding.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

The aggressive (and subtle) faces of coercion

fromCSMonitor: China today: The portrait is appalling. Obedience is enforced at gunpoint. Fear is widespread. The desire to change others is put above every other consideration. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

George H.W. Bush's legacy holds little, nothing for libertarians to celebrate

fromReason: There is little to celebrate and much to criticize.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Our deficits may finally be coming home to roost

fromTheHill: The fact that our government is able to print money means that outright default is extremely unlikely; rather, the cost of excessive borrowing shows up in more subtle ways.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Author's anger after his book about reducing plastic is sent out shrink-wrapped in PLASTIC

fromDailyMail: An eco-friendly author has been left raging after copies of his anti-plastic book were dispatched wrapped in plastic. Hilarious.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

October 29, 2018

5 things Canada got right when it legalized pot

fromReason: Our northern neighbors are handling the transition from prohibition to regulation better than the U.S. in several ways.
Regulation Nation     The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Defaming Muhammad does not fall under purview of free speech, European court rules

fromScienceMag: Forget government permission. Forget those long lines at the pharmacy: Someday soon, you might be making your own medicines at home.
Regulation Nation      Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Walter E Williams: Price gouging during a natural disaster

fromCreators: Price gouging after natural disasters is often seen as evil exploitation by sellers to rip off desperate customers. Let's hold off on that conclusion until after you give thought to some very important questions.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

You could soon be manufacturing your own drugs—thanks to 3D printing

fromScienceMag: Forget government permission. Forget those long lines at the pharmacy: Someday soon, you might be making your own medicines at home.
Regulation Nation

Has America become a dictatorship disguised as a democracy?

fromRutherfordInstitute: We’re living in two worlds, you and I. There’s the world we see (or are made to see) and then there’s the one we sense (and occasionally catch a glimpse of).
The Government is Not Us

More than half of America gets more in welfare than it pays in taxes

fromMisesInstitute: Why exploding debt? More than half of Americans receive more money in various types of government transfer payments (Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Social Security) than they pay in federal taxes.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

August 25, 2018

52.1% of kids live in households getting means-tested government assistance

fromCNSNews: Will they be called The Welfare Generation? Today,  growing up in a country where the majority of their peers live in households that take "means-tested assistance" from the government.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Let there be light bulbs! Trump looks to flip switch on Obama

fromWND: An Obama administration decision to ban incandescent light bulbs was based on a misunderstanding of the law, according to DOE, meaning those faithful products that had been in use for a century may be returning.
Regulation Nation

The United States' perpetual war in Afghanistan

fromForeignAffairs: Why long wars no longer generate a backlash at home.
Defense Versus The War Machine

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - South Africa's Racist Land Grab

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Nearly 30 years after Apartheid, South Africa returns to racist policies, confiscating the land of whites without compensation. So far, the U.S. government has no problem with this.
The Government is Not Us

Why Cohen and the rest take whatever plea deal they can

fromArmstrongEconomics: 97 percent of ALL federal convictions plead to whatever the prosecutor tells them to say. If not, you go to prison for most of your life. In the 1970s, the conviction rate was 72%. Today, it is 98.7%.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption       Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Battlefield America: The ongoing war on the American people

fromRutherfordInstitute: When you’re a prisoner in your own town, unable to move freely, kept off the streets, issued a curfew at night, there can be no mistaking the prison walls closing in.
The Government is Not Us       Police State America

August 7, 2018

Kamala Harris is Martin Luther King's worst nightmare, choosing identity politics over individual liberty

fromFoxNews: A California politician advocates that people be judged as members of groups, not as individuals.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

The ACLU appears to endorse a ban on catcalling, despite huge free speech concerns

fromReason: The ACLU has been proven to not give a damn about civil liberties unless it forwards a leftwing cause.
Indoctrination and Censorship            Individual Liberty: America's First Principle 

Walter E Williams: Colleges, a force for evil

fromCreators: The threat to our future lies in the fact that today's college students are tomorrow's teachers, professors, judges, attorneys, legislators and policymakers.
Indoctrination and Censorship      Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

US Senators to introduce a bill regulating e-liquid flavors

fromVapingPost: Busybodies minding YOUR own business. 
Regulation Nation

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell: Legacy of the Welfare State

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Thomas Sowell explains the damage done by the welfare state mechanism.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Senate Democrats are circulating plans for government takeover of the Internet

fromReason: The end game of the Russian hoax is taking shape.  Plus: Testing telemedicine abortion and 3D printed guns.
The Government is Not Us          Regulation Nation

May 9, 2016

Andrew Napolitano: Prosecutors and the rule of law

fromCreators: The practice of indicting a person for a matter utterly unrelated to the core of the government's investigation in order to turn the indicted person into a government witness is commonplace.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

VIDEO: FBI as a Political Weapon

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Once a primary tool of justice, the FBI has now shown itself to be a weaponized political instrument, relentlessly harassing a series of political opponents.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption       The Government is Not Us

Walter E Williams: Before and after welfare handouts

fromCreators: Before the welfare state, charity embodied both a sense of gratitude on the behalf of the recipient and magnanimity on the behalves of donors. There was a sense of civility by the recipients.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Over-regulation is making us more vulnerable to disease

fromReason: Regulatory precaution, not rising temperatures, is the main driver for the increase in vector-borne disease.
Regulation Nation

In dysfunctional California, libraries are 21st century homeless shelters

fromUSNews: The Golden State is looking more like Venezuela every day.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The GOP needs a dose of Jordan Peterson

fromReason: The Republican Party needs to seek professional help. Badly. Perhaps it should consult with Dr. Jordan Peterson.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

March 26, 2016

New law will make it illegal for people to walk and smoke at the same time

fromTheFreeThought: NOT FROM THE ONION. Have residents of New York City just been deemed too dumb to smoke and walk at the same time? 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery     Regulation Nation

Scott Walker is making it harder to receive welfare in Wisconsin. Will this become a nationwide blueprint?

fromTruthOut: Trouble is, the legislation will cost the state's taxpayers about $37.9 million and federal taxpayers around $35.5 million. Somehow, Walker found a way for both recipients and taxpayers to lose.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

In gambling battle, both sides are wrong

fromReason: Neither supporters nor opponents want to consider personal liberty. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Canadian disabled man denied care but offered euthanasia

fromTheNationalReview: Will euthanasia be about money? Does CNN hate Donald Trump? A look at how socialized medicine works. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market      Regulation Nation

Venezuela experiencing free fall

fromTheGoldTelegraph: Socialism circles the drain. Worried about higher prices when you go to the supermarket? So are Venezuelans. Consumer prices saw a 6,147 percent annual increase in February. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

School district arms teachers with ‘bucket of rocks’ to defend students from mass shooters

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Not from the Onion. The superintendent said arming each teacher with a 5-gallon bucket of rocks is the most he can do under the current laws.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

January 26, 2018

How the government is gutting the right to trial by jury

fromReason: What the 2nd Circuit’s opinion in U.S. v. Tigano reveals about the state of our criminal justice system
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Andrew Napolitano: A conspiracy of silence assaults privacy

fromCreators: This marks a public policy determination that the Constitution can be ignored or evaded by majority consent whenever it poses an obstacle to the government's purposes.
The Government is Not Us    Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

VIDEO: Harry Browne - Eliminate Federal Welfare

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Author, financial expert and former presidential candidate Harry Browne contends that redistribution of income is not a proper role for the federal government.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Random Thoughts on the Passing Scene

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Author, financial expert and former presidential candidate Harry Browne contends that redistribution of income is not a proper role for the federal government.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market    The Pursuit of Happiness

NBA pushes for legal sports gambling nationwide and a cut of the action

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Author, financial expert and former presidential candidate Harry Browne contends that redistribution of income is not a proper role for the federal government.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Busybodies minding your own business: California may label coffee a cancer risk

fromCirca.com: A judge will decide whether coffee should be labeled as carcinogenic under a three-decade old law which is meant to warn Californians about potential harms.
Regulation Nation

December 23, 2017

The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook

from Politico: An ambitious U.S. task force targeting Hezbollah's billion-dollar criminal enterprise ran headlong into the White House's desire for a nuclear deal with Iran.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption   Defense Versus The War Machine

Cops kill 7-year-old boy while executing unarmed woman in a neighborhood full of kids

from TheFreeThoughtProject: Multiple deputies opened fire on an unarmed woman in a neighborhood full of children on Christmas break and they killed a 7-year-old boy.

Police State America    The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: The Vision of Harry Browne

from LibertyPen/YouTube: From C-Span (2000), former Libertarian presidential candidate Harry Browne shares his philosophy on the gun rights, affirmative action, taxes, Social Security, drug laws and other political topics.

Individual Liberty: America's First Principle   2nd Amendment Assaults

Rand Paul: Obama administration against Trump might be 'worse than Watergate'

from WashingtonExaminer: Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., argued Thursday that senior Obama administration officials might be guilty of trying to keep President Trump from getting elected last November.

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

The trillion dollar welfare program

from FFF: What is especially significant about fiscal year 2017 is that total outlays of the Social Security Administration (SSA) exceeded a trillion dollars for the first time

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

The myth of the playground pusher

from Reason: In Tennessee and around the country, "drug-free school zones" are little more than excuses for harsher drug sentencing.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

December 9, 2017

This anti-flash scarf makes you invisible in photos

from Circa: One way to protect your privacy in the surveillance era is to become invisible.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

John Stossel: I hate the New York Times

from Creators: Much of it is mean-spirited and absurdly biased.
Media Bias on Parade

New York prosecutors gave themselves $3.2 million in bonuses with asset forfeiture funds

from Reason: One Suffolk County prosecutor, facing criminal charges for covering up the beating of a suspect, received $70,000 in bonuses.
Police State America   The Government is Not Us

Court to cops: Forcing a teenager to masturbate in front of you is not reasonable

from Reason: A detective who was later charged with molesting children performed the humiliating search while investigating consensual sexting.
Police State America

Get government out of the welfare business

from MisesInstitute: Fighting poverty is a favorite pastime of government because politicians get to portray themselves as champions of the poor.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

VIDEO: 52 year old woman torn to shreds by k9 as cops admit she’s innocent

from FreeThoughtProject: A St. Paul woman was horrifically attacked by a police K9 for absolutely no reason other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Police State America   The Government is Not Us

September 19, 2017

How the government can steal your stuff: 6 questions about civil asset forfeiture answered

from The Conversation: Civil asset forfeiture laws let authorities, such as federal marshals or local sheriffs, seize property – cash, a house, a car, a cellphone – that they suspect is involved in criminal activity.
Police State America

Stop encouraging people to live in dangerous places

from Reason: Make Harvey and Irma our last blank checks, and from here on out, have people pay their own freight for living dangerously.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Walter E Williams: The Welfare State Legacy

from Creators Syndicate: So you think that the problems of today's black Americans are a result of a legacy of slavery, racial discrimination and poverty?
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependence

Internet raises $80k for hot dog vendor mugged by government

from Foundation for Economic Freedom: A cop steals money from a hot dog vendor's wallet. Then, the Internet provides justice.
Police State America

🎬  So you think money is the root of all evil?

from LibertyPen: Excerpts from Atlas Shrugged in response to the comment that money is the root of all evil. From the brilliant Ayn Rand
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

America does not need socialism, but more laissez-faire capitalism

from Capitalism Magazine: Very often bad ideas do not die. They simply reappear during periods of supposed social and political crisis in slightly different intellectual garb.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

The Government Is Not Us

Latest Update: July 30, 2017
It’s your money but you can’t have it:  EU proposes bank account freezes
State law forces bystanders to help police making arrest — or go to jail
Massachusetts drug bill would imprison you for having a hidden compartment in your car
Senate bill to force citizens to register cash not in a bank, violators get 10 years in prison
Colorado cops used warrantless searches on the poor to imprison them and train police dogs
All crimes are legal when government is the perp: The FBI and child porn
VIDEO: John Stossel: The Audacity of the Elites