LibertyPen

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

January 31, 2018

John Stossel: How Free Are You?

fromReason: Where does the United States land on the 2017 Freedom Index? Not as high as you think..
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Marijuana mapped: the price of weed across the U.S.

fromBloomberg: It’s relatively cheap in Seattle, and L.A. and San Francisco are pretty competitive, but it’s an entirely different story on the East Coast, especially in the nation’s capital.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Harry Browne - Legalize Drugs

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From an interview with radio celebrity Art Bell, former presidential candidate Harry Browne argues to defund crime syndicates and empower citizens.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Walter E Williams: Immigration Lies and Hypocrisy

fromCreators: We should not fall prey to people who criticize our efforts to combat illegal immigration and who pompously say, "We're a nation of immigrants!" The debate is not over immigration. The debate is over illegal immigration.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

CNN has gone bananas and doesn't seem to care; and other horrible examples of media bias

fromFoxNews: Yes, CNN staffers have lost their minds. One year of Donald Trump’s America and he’s defeated them as thoroughly the New England Patriots beat, well, just about anybody.
Media Bias on Parade

January 30, 2018

How federal agents could gain access to your personal emails

fromTheNationalInterest: The Department of Justice wants the court to take liberty away from people, not to expand it.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Study shows one state has robbed its citizens of $42 million just to cover up police crimes

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: The investigation found that less than 1 percent of the 65,000 complaints filed in the state resulted in the officers being charged with a crime.
Police State America

California makes 20x what gas-station owners make on a gallon of gasoline, after tax hike

fromIntellectualTakeout: California's gasoline tax rose by 12 cents per gallon on Nov. 1, bringing it to nearly 40 cents per gallon.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - The Lesson of the Federal Reserve

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Five minutes of wisdom from the lips of the master.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Black woman sues Walmart for the ‘racism’ of locking up products that get stolen

fromDownTrend: Thieves demand equal opportunity.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Holding the FBI to account

fromCreators: Voters must demand transparency and accountability, or they will continue to witness the unraveling of our democracy and system of justice — one text at a time.
Police State America

January 29, 2018

Government will protect us from bad speech? That’s the fakest news of all.

fromReason: When government officials suppress critics, they do so only to help themselves.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Why can you buy a government but you can’t pay for sex?

fromNewsweek: Money equates to speech only when and where it is convenient for politicians. You can sell what you own. If only we owned ourselves.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: The Fix Was In - Corruption@FBI 5

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: It is becoming increasingly clear that the fix was in at FBI to deploy their powers for the purpose of clearing Hillary and vilifying the Trump campaign.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption The Government is Not Us

E-Cigarettes can be lifesavers

fromReason: Despite the efforts of regulators to curb usage, "laboratory tests of e-cigarette ingredients suggest that e-cigarettes are likely to be far less harmful than combustible tobacco cigarettes".
Regulation Nation The Pursuit of Happiness Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Bill would allow suicidal Californians to block themselves from buying guns

fromSFGate: Now, people who are having suicidal thoughts or fear they are in danger of taking their own lives can ask to be put on a list that prohibits them from buying a gun legally. Genius!
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery 2nd Amendment Assaults

Libertarian banned from Facebook for Tide pod joke that mocked liberals

fromReason: Chew on that.
Indoctrination and Censorship

January 27, 2018

Businesses are being forced to pay the police to let them spy on customers

fromMassPrivateI: In Michigan, politicians are mandating businesses install surveillance equipment connected to the police department.
Police State America Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Why no gadget can prove how stoned you are

fromReason: The truth contained within this article is for your consumption only. Don't expect it to influence authorities to who are vested in the prevailing wisdom being otherwise.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange Regulation Nation Police State America

Venezuela's economy circles the drain, inflation jumps 1000 % in just one day

fromEconomicPolicyJournal: Prof Steve Hanke reports: Yesterday, Venezuelan inflation surpassed 6,000% for the first time. Today, it has surpassed 7,000%, sitting at 7,155%. #Venezuela is in an economic free fall.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

New York governor wants taxpayers to fund college education for illegals

fromReason: Andrew Cuomo refuses to take a back seat to Jerry Brown in the crazy car.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Tyrannical Law will throw waiters in jail who offer customers unsolicited plastic straws

fromReason: Busybodies minding your own business. Lawmakers will use the barrel of a gun to enforce a tyrannical state laws to reduce customer service.
Regulation Nation

The plan is for driverless police cars to patrol freeways to insure zero speeders

fromDigitalTrends: The filings explain Ford’s autonomous patrol car would primarily rely on a vehicle-to-vehicle communication system.
Regulation Nation Police State America Government is Watching Every Move You Make

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

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

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