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

January 25, 2018

Things are getting worse, not better: round ups, checkpoints and national ID cards

fromRutherfordInstitute: We are not supposed to be living in a “show me your papers” society.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make   Police State America    The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Michael Boldin - Resisting Federal Tyranny

fromRutherfordInstitute: From the Tom Woods Show, Michael Boldin, founder of the Tenth Amendment Center, joins Tom to discuss actions by states to thwart federal overreach in a variety of areas.
The Government is Not Us    Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

State lawmakers push back on federal anti-marijuana moves

fromWeedMaps: Several national polls show that voters strongly support the right of states to set their own cannabis laws without federal interference.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Greedy California politicians make sure the black market for pot will thrive

fromNewsMax: "The existing black market for cannabis may prove formidable competitor to legal markets if new taxes lead to higher prices than available from illicit sources," the report warned. And they will.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Artificial intelligence is going to supercharge surveillance

fromTheVerge: What happens when digital eyes get the brains to match?
Government is Watching Every Move You Make   Police State America

WATCH: Over a dozen cops swarm, arrest tiny girl for sitting incorrectly on the subway

fromFreeThoughtProject: An unnamed LAPD officer had reportedly asked the small woman to remove her foot 
from an adjoining seat but she didn’t immediately comply.
Police State America    The Government is Not Us

January 24, 2018

Republicans hope to release 'jaw-dropping' memo on surveillance abuses

fromFoxNews: House Republicans are hopeful that a four-page memo allegedly containing "jaw-dropping" revelations about U.S. government surveillance abuses will soon be made public.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make    Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - The Seen Vs The Unseen

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Friedman explains why the majority of Americans are not represented in the crony capitalistic system that prevails in America.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption   Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page texted about ‘secret society’ after election

fromBreitbart: House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Trey Gowdy (R-SC) said the “secret society” discussion began the day after the election.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Unarmed high School sports star killed by police as he backed out of his own driveway

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: A high school track and wrestling star was gunned down by police conducting a welfare check. He was unarmed and merely backing his car out of his own driveway.
Police State America

Walter E Williams: We don't need bad law

fromCreatorsSyndicate: Our nation does not need stronger laws against libel. To the contrary, libel and slander laws should be repealed.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process    Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Privacy-focused search engine DuckDuckGo wants to keep you safe around the web

fromTheVerge.com: The company’s revamped app and browser extension will block ad tracking networks from companies like Google and Facebook.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

January 23, 2018

California moves to register illegal aliens to vote -- automatically

fromTheDailyMail: The California New Motor Voter Act is expected to add more than two million new registrants in the first year.
The Government is Not Us    Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Minimum wage hikes inflict maximum pain

fromReason: Hiking the minimum wage is feel-good humanitarian idea that’s guaranteed to hurt actual humans.
Regulation Nation

2017 might have been worst year in U.S. history for media bias

fromTownhall: A society is on the path to tyranny is when the majority of a nation’s journalists are committed to doing whatever they can to destroy one political group while feverishly covering up the scandals of another.
Media Bias on Parade

Jury nullification: A powerful tool for the advancement of liberty

fromReason: You may see no better opportunity to advance liberty on an individual yet highly effective level.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Taxpayers held liable after video showed cops make K9 “eat” handcuffed man

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: After police sicced their K9 on a non-violent man, who was not resisting, and actually handcuffed, they were found justified as the taxpayers shell out $250,000.
Police State America

'We loot or we die of hunger': food shortages fuel unrest in Venezuela

fromTheGuardian: End-stage socialism is an awful thing to witness.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

January 22, 2018

Government-approved workouts? The fight against fitness licensing.

fromReason: Crossfit is fighting to keep the government from regulating how Americans are taught to exercise. The health of the nation may be at stake.
Regulation Nation

California Dems propose surcharge on businesses to fund social programs

fromFoxNews: State busybodies have a new scheme to drive business out of the state.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Sean Hannity - The Deep State Assault on Democracy

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Often chided as a conservative puppet, Sean Hannity has earned his stripes with brilliant and insightful investigative reporting on Clinton-FBI collusion and corruption.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

VIDEO: Cops taser, assault handicapped vet—then arrest him for half a gram of cannabis

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Crossfit is fighting to keep the government from regulating how Americans are taught to exercise. The health of the nation may be at stake.
Police State America     The Government is Not Us

Sweden is preparing for a "civil war": PM wants to deploy army in no-go zones

fromReason: Can we admit there is something very wrong going on in Sweden?
Defense Versus The War Machine

Google has an actual secret speech police

fromReason: It’s not just terrorist videos that Google is censoring.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

January 20, 2018

The undoing of limited government

fromTheWashingtonTimes: The elites in the federal government and the deep state — the parts of the government that are unauthorized by the Constitution and that operate in the dark, what candidate Trump called “the swamp” — have formed a consensus that marches the might of the government toward total Orwellian surveillance.
The Government is Not Us      Government is Watching Every Move You Make    Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Silence is betrayal: Get up, stand up, speak up for your rights

fromTheRuthrfordInstitute: Enough with the deafening silence in the face of outright corruption, base immorality, denigrating language, demoralizing greed, abject cruelty, derision, cynicism, violence, oppression and tyranny.
The Government is Not Us 

Stop warrantless snooping on Americans

fromCreators: Over the course of two hours last Thursday morning, Donald Trump offered two diametrically opposed takes on a surveillance bill making its way through Congress. Both were wrong.   
Government is Watching Every Move You Make 

The originalist case for jury nullification

fromReason: Is there a place in our system for a jury to acquit because the jurors believe the underlying law is unconstitutional?
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

House bill seeks to end war on marijuana, spark recovery instead

fromForbes: Recovery from our generations-long war on cannabis must include a range of efforts at the federal level, from adjusting the role and responsibility of law enforcement to reinvesting in communities.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

John Stossel: Selling Hate

fromCreators: The Southern Poverty Law Center is now a hate group itself. It's a money-grabbing slander machine.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

January 19, 2018

The Case for Jury Nullification, Part I

fromPeoplesPundit: Nullification occurs when a jury votes “not guilty” because a law is either unjust or wrongly applied, not because a defendant is actually innocent.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Police now conducting mouth swab checkpoints to test drivers for marijuana

fromFreeThoughtProject: With the legalization of marijuana comes the bolstering of the police state and the new mouth swab checkpoints for weed are evidence of it.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     Police State America

The Case for Jury Nullification, Part II

fromPeoplesPundit: Nullification occurs when a jury votes “not guilty” because a law is either unjust or wrongly applied, not because a defendant is actually innocent.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

VIDEO: Our Corruption Coma

fromBillWhittle/YouTube: Remember when the world made sense and movies showed us evil just long enough to be vanquished? What happened? What spell have we been under?

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

You can't get $1 out of the bank in Venezuela. I tried.

fromCNNMoney: End-stage socialism is always a tragic sight. Cash is gone.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Duty, Charity and Love

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: The brilliant philosopher expounds on three powerful concepts.

The Pursuit of Happiness

January 18, 2018

Lawmakers want James Clapper prosecuted for his testimony lies before statute of limitations runs out

fromWashingtonExaminers: Congress looks to keep a big swamp gator from wriggling off the hook.

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

Minimum wage hikes inflict maximum pain

fromReason: Hiking the minimum wage is feel-good humanitarian idea that’s guaranteed to hurt actual humans.

Regulation Nation

Learn how California’s 2018 cannabis taxes work in two minutes

fromGetNugg: The new California taxes on recreational and medical cannabis purchases place a huge premium on the price of products compared to what we’re all used to. It’s important you understand exactly what these taxes mean and what they’re for.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

5 senators are filibustering an attempt to expand warrantless surveillance of Americans

fromMotherboard: 3 Democrats and 2 Republicans are filibustering the Senate vote on the reauthorization of FISA Section 702.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Everyone You Love Did Drugs

fromReasonTV: It turns out that a lot of accomplished, well-respected historical figures did drugs. From Winston Churchill taking amphetamines to Thomas Edison lacing his wine with cocaine.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Pew: US media bias ranks worst in the world

fromWashingtonExaminer: Americans on both sides of the political aisle believe the media does a poor job covering political issues fairly, according to a blockbuster new survey of media consumption in 38 nations.

Media Bias on Parade

January 17, 2018

A breath of healthcare freedom for the New Year

fromCapitalismMagazine: For more than a century we have learned to expect that government can only grow more powerful. The elimination of the individual insurance mandate of ObamaCare should be celebrated as a reversal of this trend.

Regulation Nation

House votes for six more years of warrantless surveillance

fromNakedSecurity: If you’re a member of the US “intelligence community” – the FBI, CIA and NSA – this past Thursday was a great day for homeland security.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Constitutional ignorance -- perhaps contempt

fromCreators: Is it ignorance of or contempt for our Constitution that fuels the movement to abolish the Electoral College?

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

3 lessons from prohibition, which started today in 1919

fromReason: The 18th Amendment was ratified, extending an existing ban on liquor passed during World War I.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Harry Browne - Abolish the FDA

fromNakedSecurity: American consumers are risking their lives, being deprived of medicines and having their options destroyed due to the power of federal government busybodies.

Regulation Nation

Start saving now, because Social Security is screwed

fromReason: If Congress doesn't address its insolvency issues, payouts will need to be slashed by a quarter starting in fewer than 20 years.
The Government is Not Us     Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

January 16, 2018

Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America?

fromLATimes: Given robust job growth and the prosperity generated by several industries, it's worth asking why California has fallen behind.

Economics: Statism Versus The Free Market     Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: Saint or Sinner, Government Eyes Are Watching Every Move You Make

fromYouTube/RutherfordInstitution: Every move you make is being monitored, mined for data, crunched, and tabulated in order to see who you are or what makes you tick, and how best to control you when and if it becomes necessary to bring you in line.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: California's High Speed Fraud

fromYouTube/LibertyPen: Jerry Brown’s high speed rail project appears to be an effective scheme to steal private property from farmers and landowners through eminent domain, but will not produce any value for fleeced taxpayers.

The Government is Not Us    Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Twitter employees paid to view “everything you post online” including private “sex messages”

fromProjectVeritas: “Everything you send is stored on my server… You can’t [delete it], it’s already on my server.”

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

The other ugly truth about minimum wage hikes

fromForbes: Walmart had good news and bad news for the hundreds of thousands of its employees recently. The good news is that it is hiking the minimum wage it pays them, the bad news is that it is closing dozens of its Sam Club Stores.

Regulation Nation     Economics: Statism Versus The Free Market

Marijuana legalization causing violent crime to fall in US states, study finds

fromTheGuardian: Rates of assault and murder decreasing in regions near Mexican border where cannabis use has been partially legalized.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

January 15, 2018

Seattle's minimum wage killed the 'five-dollar footlong'

fromReason: Unfortunately, that's not all it's doing.

Regulation Nation

Jeff Sessions gives a boost to legalization of pot

fromCreators: Just hours after his announcement, the Vermont House of Representatives approved a bill to allow recreational use of cannabis, which the Senate had passed last year, and Republican Gov. Phil Scott supports the idea.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

‘Don’t be evil’? Google is becoming a police state

fromTheFederalist: Google employees are creating their own enclave of mandatory wokeness, but they're not content to keep this ideological policing within their own walls.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make     Police State America

Video of cop beating, sexually assaulting handcuffed woman so bad, he’s now in prison

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Body camera footage of a Las Vegas cop abusing a woman was so bad that the cop was actually sentenced to prison this week.

Police State America

What has government done to our bathrooms?

fromAIER: People who have traveled the world, or are of a certain age and have long memories, are conscious, however inchoately, that something has gone very wrong in our bathrooms. Maybe you are among those who have noticed.

Regulation Nation

TSA detains ‘terrorist’ college student for flashing a finger gun

fromDownTrend: The list of stupid things you can’t bring on an airplane just got a little longer and a lot more stupid. Apparently you can’t bring your own hand if it is pointing.

The Government is Not Us