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

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

January 17, 2020

The woke primary is over and everyone lost

fromReason: Maybe now would be a good time for Democrats to recognize that identity-politics signaling doesn't translate into votes.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Black America before LBJ: How the welfare state inadvertently helped ruin black communities

fromDailyBell: “We waged a war on poverty and poverty won.”  -President Ronald Reagan, 1988 State of the Union Address

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

DoJ begins second probe Into Comey's history of leaking classified intel

fromZeroHedge: It could be the straw that finally wrecks whatever is left of Comey's credibility in the eyes of the liberal press.

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

Vermont lawmaker: Decriminalizing prostitution will keep sex workers safe

fromWCAX3: Decriminalization means there will be no arrests made or charges brought if someone is caught engaging in prostitution-- but there will be no law on the books proclaiming that prostitution is legal.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: War, What is it good for?

fromLearnLiberty/YouTube: Absolutely nothing.

Defense Versus The War Machine

Robots takeover Domino's new supply chain center

fromReason: To fend off soaring labor costs, Dominos has opted to introduce automation and the elimination of humans from its supply chains to keep pizza prices low. 

Regulation Nation          Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

December 5, 2019

The destruction of American liberty

fromFFF: There is no way to reconcile a system of mandatory charity with the principles of a free society.

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency                 The Government is Not Us

Newspaper will stop reporting any news “traumatic” to snowflakes

fromDailyBell: The Daily Northwestern student paper, staffed by these aspiring journalists, recently apologized for covering a “traumatic” event on campus --  a speech by former Trump official Jeff Sessions.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: Top 10 Lies from the Democratic Debate

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Number one is epic, even by political standards. 

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption                   Media Bias on Parade

Walter E Williams - Scientists: Dishonest or afraid?

fromCreators: Environmentalists attribute the recent increase in forest fires to global warming. Not so, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: John Stossel: Government bans ambulance competition

fromReason/YouTube: 35 states have laws that let established businesses block new businesses. Consumers are the true victims of such policies.

Regulation Nation

California's restrictive gun laws still can't prevent shootings

fromReason: Instead of reducing the dangers posed by criminals, California's gun restrictions have increased the threat posed to decent people by the law itself.

2nd Amendment Assaults

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

June 3, 2019

The predictable fate of Julian Assange: An assault against liberty

fromLewRockwell: The American herd will likely never understand the monstrous risk and extreme danger in what is being done to Julian Assange.

Indoctrination and Censorship        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Is AOC a white supremacist?

fromMises: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may have exposed her true self, unleashing something so awful, so disgusting, so fascist and racist that it likely left many of her viewers triggered and in need of a safe space. 

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Illinois is on the verge of legalizing marijuana. Here Is what the bill would do

fromReason: New York legislators also are taking another shot at legalization. 

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

The welfare state is tearing Sweden apart

fromMises: Forced multiculturalism increases polarization and tribalism along the most basic, and most easily recognized dividing lines. 

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Dershowitz: Shame on Robert Mueller for exceeding his role

fromTheHill: No prosecutor should ever say or do anything for the purpose of helping one party or the other. 

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

A 16-year-old girl is facing child pornography charges for making a sex video of herself

fromReason: A finding of guilt would be an attack on the autonomy and self-ownership of all young people. 

Individual Liberty: America' First Principle

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

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

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