LibertyPen

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

December 8, 2017

Police in two states use hospitals to take motorists’ blood without a warrant

from Activist Post: Some police chose to not enforce the law, but to get around the law. "Trooper Dunlap did not need to get a warrant, because he knew that the hospital would take motorists’ blood without a warrant and give it to them."
Police State America The Government is Not Us

Legislators dust off medieval methods to address the opioid crisis

from Reason: Mandatory minimums are a favorite scheme of knee-jerk authoritarians dealing with victimless crimes.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Harry Browne: How to Make Decisions

from LibertyPen/YouTube: From Harry Browne's brilliant work, "Rule Your World, an empowering message of morality and individualism. http://www.LibertyPen.com

The Pursuit of Happiness

Wall Street Journal calls for deep state dirty cop Mueller to step down

from DownTrend: The jackleg scoundrel appointed to be the Trump slayer is having a few public relations problems this week after the triumphant news that he had flipped General Michael Flynn against President Trump had the left jumping for joy.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Another ugly civil asset forfeiture tactic -- highway stop 'waivers'

from Forbes: The national revulsion against abusive civil asset forfeiture has not kept police from trying to pocket as much as they can from people who are innocent of any wrongdoing.
Police State America The Government is Not Us

Wealth creation is not a zero sum game

from CapitalismMagazine: Freedom, and not income equality, should be our goal—if we want human flourishing and prosperity.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

December 7, 2017

House Republicans prepare contempt action against FBI, DOJ

from Bloomberg: The Deep State is being challenged at last. What will happen when push comes to shove?
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Supreme Court asked to stop warrantless searches of vehicles parked on private residential property

from Rutherford Institute: The Rutherford Institute has asked the Supreme Court to prohibit police from entering private residential property uninvited and without a warrant, in order to search a vehicle parked a few feet from the house.
Police State America

Wisconsin court affirms mom's conviction for swearing at son, without deciding First Amendment issue

from Journal Sentinel: The last count was for profanely berating and insulting her 14-year-old son after he burned some popcorn. The boy had been talking to a friend at the time, who heard the tirade over the phone.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Anti-white bigotry on the rise in college newspapers

from TheNewAmerican: Bigotry against blacks would never be given an outlet in a college newspaper. Neither should bigotry against whites — or anyone else.
Indoctrination and Censorship Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Swat-style raid over tea leaves headed to court

from USNews: Whether police lied about testing discarded tea leaves found in a Kansas couple's trash to get permission for a SWAT-style raid is the focus of a federal trial.
Police State America

Ex-coach cited malnutrition for poor performance by Venezuela’s national women’s soccer team

from Dangerous: The Venezuelan Soccer Federation claims that the under-20s national women’s soccer team was “largely insulated” from the country's food crisis, where citizens have been forced to raise pet rabbits for food, and even hunt flamingos.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

December 4, 2017

Cops steal $91,800 from a musician, claiming he gave it to them

from Reason: Wyoming's roadside waivers are a thin disguise for highway robbery.
Police State America

Activists arrested in Atlanta for feeding homeless without a permit before Thanksgiving

from ActivistPost: Feeding the hungry without paying politicians for the privilege.
The Government is Not Us Regulation Nation

Supreme Court could legalize sports betting nationwide

from DailyCaller: As a result of a challenge from New Jersey — home of gambling Mecca Atlantic City — the court could overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act and allow sports betting in most states.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Four camera surveillance PODS coming to a city near you

from MassPrivatei: Welcome to Police State America, where one camera surveillance system is never enough.
Police State America Government is Watching Every Move You Make

CNN calls for banning the term ‘fake news’

from DownTrend: In a related story, medicine show operators are calling to ban the term "snake oil salesman".
Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: William F Buckley Jr - Newt Gingrich: A Debate on the Legalization of Drugs

from LibertyPen/YouTube: (1990) Excerpts from: A Firing Line Debate: Resolved: That Drugs Should Be Legalized. Also in the debate: Richard Dennis, Ira Glasser, Robert W. Sweet, Pat Schroeder, Charles B. Rangel, and, William von Raab.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

December 2, 2017

We live in a police state, and our legal system is the cause

from InsiderSources: Things have gotten so ridiculous in the search for victimless criminals that police have even taken to setting each other up, if only inadvertently. Recently, Detroit officers posing as drug buyers brawled with officers posing as dealers.
Police State America The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

A non-political strategy for freedom

from LibertarianRepublic: You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. -- R. Buckminster Fuller
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

It's too easy for the government to invade privacy in name of security

from LibertarianRepublic: The use of the cellphone as a surveillance tool is at the heart of a major privacy case heard by the Supreme Court this week in Carpenter v. United States. At issue may be the very future of privacy in America.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Bill expanding concealed-carry gun rights advances in House

from NY Times: Gun rights legislation that would allow concealed-carry permit holders from one state to legally carry their guns to any other state passed a key House panel and appeared to be headed for a vote on the floor of the House.
2nd Amendment Assaults

When legal drugs harm and illegal drugs help

from ScientificAmerican: The frequently arbitrary nature of our drug classification schemes is causing more and more confusion.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Libertarians: Our rulers are wearing no clothes

from the Libertarian Institute: Libertarians have always said that our rulers are wearing no clothes. Now it’s turning out that this figure of speech is the literal truth.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

December 1, 2017

‘Surrender your firearms’ – gov’t now confiscating guns from medical cannabis users

from TheFreeThoughtProject: Gun owners in Hawaii who legally use medical cannabis have been told they have 30 days to “voluntarily surrender” their firearms to the police.
2nd Amendment Assaults The Government is Not Us The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Supreme Court justices voice support for digital privacy

from USA Today: A majority of Supreme Court justices voiced concerns Wednesday that the government's ability to monitor people through their cellphones violates their privacy.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Records show these prosecutors gave themselves huge bonuses using asset forfeiture funds

from Rare: The district attorney’s office in Suffolk County on Long Island, N.Y., has been caught funneling enormous sums of criminal asset forfeiture funds straight into employees’ pockets with huge bonuses as high as $108,886.
The Government is Not Us Police State America Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

A bipartisan tradition of enabling spendaholics

from Creators: Our national debt is $20.5 trillion and heading to $30 trillion by 2030. But rather than a wake-up call for Republicans, they want to get rid of the spending caps meant to constrain lawmakers' uncontrollable appetite to spend.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Macy’s parade security used to promote surveillance and police state

from TheDailyBell: The authorities make sure to push the idea that agents see you without you seeing them. They want everyone to know that embedded amongst the crowds are government spies. This is just getting people used to the idea of being watched.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

John Stossel: The Evil Rich

from Creators: As Republicans struggle to agree on a tax plan, Democrats and much of the media label each attempt at reform a "gift" to rich people. They are right in that any tax cut disproportionately favors rich people since the rich pay much more tax.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

November 30, 2017

On patriotic correctness

from TheLibertarianInstitute: Our society is one of the most prosperous and freest that has ever existed. But society and government are not the same, and we would do well to remember that.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

NY Times ‘Angry Hannity’ photo select confirms host’s belief of ‘liberal bias’

from Mediaite: And the NY Times has something of a predictable pattern of portraying progressive icons in a most flattering light. (see CNN’s Jeff Zucker, indie filmmaker Spike Lee and original Wikileaks discloser Chelsea Manning for example)
Media Bias on Parade

Why Net Neutrality was mistaken from the beginning (AOL edition)

from Reason: It turns out that Tom Wheeler, the FCC head who imposed the rules, doesn't know what he's talking about.
Regulation Nation

VIDEO: Carl Sagan - Science and Skepticism

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Scientist Carl Sagan is concerned about America’s future when citizens lack the scientific and technological understanding to make informed decisions.
Indoctrination and Censorship

FLASHBACK: Hypocrite Matt Lauer grilled Bill O’Reilly over sexual harassment

from NewsBusters: The time has come for Matt Lauer to answer the same questions he poised to Bill O'Reilly!
Media Bias on Parade

Cop tries to taser man for refusing to give ID, tasers fellow cop instead

from TheFreeThoughtProject: A man trying to assert his right not to give police his identification was arrested, but not before a cop tasered his own partner in the process.
Police State America The Government is Not Us

November 29, 2017

Supreme court cellphone case puts free speech – not just privacy – at risk

from Guardian: Carpenter v United States has rightly prompted concerns over surveillance. But it could also have drastic implications for personal freedom in the digital age.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

This awful SCOTUS decision helped create today's civil asset forfeiture racket

from Reason: Bennis v. Michigan should be overruled.
Police State America Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Teachers attend 'LGGBDTTTIQQAAP' sensitivity training (WTF?)

from PJMedia: The alphabet soup of PC gender nitwittery in Canada.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Nervous about traffic stops? I am. You should be too

from Rutherford Institute: We’ve all been there before. You’re driving along and you see a pair of flashing blue lights in your rearview mirror. Whether or not you’ve done anything wrong, you get a sinking feeling in your stomach.
Police State America

The real reason the media pushes “sexual liberation”

from The Daily Bell: When you pursue personal liberation, individual freedom, your life will only improve, right up until your last moments on this Earth. When you pursue so-called sexual liberation, your prospects of happiness decay day by day.
The Pursuit of Happiness

State courts say early-morning pot raids were gratuitous and illegal

from Reason: These cases show how blithely drug warriors resort to terrifying and potentially deadly tactics in response to "crimes" that violate no one's rights, even when safer alternatives are readily available.
Police State America The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

November 28, 2017

These laws are eroding public trust with police. And they are hurting good officers too

from Sacramento Bee: Here is the point that always gets lost in discussions about police brutality: The system is rigged in favor of the police every time it is alleged.
Police State America

The Motherboard guide to avoiding state surveillance

from Motherboard: A straightforward guide to privacy, messaging, and keeping yourself safe from passive and active surveillance.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Mother, Air Force vet kidnapped, sent to Rikers for traveling in NY with her legal Texas handgun

from TheFreeThoughtProject: For carrying her legally purchased and licensed handgun in her vehicle as she traveled through New York, a mother of two and honorably discharged veteran was arrested and charged with a felony.
Police State America 2nd Amendment Assaults

Walter E Williams: Black Self-Sabotage

from Creators: How long will black people accept the educational destruction of black youngsters — something that only benefits the education establishment?
Indoctrination and Censorship

Trump calls for media competition to win FAKE NEWS trophy

from DownTrend: The smart money is on CNN.
Media Bias on Parade

Legalization a boon to more than just marijuana markets

from the Las Vegas Sun: “Let’s put it like this: A rising tide takes all ships,” said Stuart Titus, CEO of San Diego-based General Hemp. “It’s incredible to see the growth in the industry.”
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

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

November 24, 2017

Good Samaritans shutdown, ticketed for feeding homeless during Thanksgiving holiday

from TheFreeThoughtProject: Feeding the homeless is now illegal in Atlanta and you will be ticketed and extorted unless you pay the state for permission beforehand.
Regulation Nation

VIDEO: Libertarian Car Talk

from LibertyPen/YouTube: From the Tom Woods Show, Eric Peters on the latest libertarian car issues.
Regulation Nation

NSA Internet surveillance under Section 702 violates the First Amendment

from EFF: It’s not just our Fourth Amendment rights to privacy that are in the crosshairs, but also our First Amendment rights. These rights to anonymously speak, associate, access information, and engage in political activism are the bedrock of our democracy, and they’re endangered by the NSA’s pervasive surveillance.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

How Jeff Sessions plans to end medical marijuana before the year is over

from Newsweek: Sessions is known for being one of the nation's toughest critics of legal pot. He once said the KKK was "OK until I found out they smoked pot."
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai: Killing Net Neutrality will set the Internet free

from Reason: Promises that "we're going to see an explosion in the kinds of connectivity and the depth of that connectivity" like never before.
Regulation Nation

Pro–net neutrality graphic makes argument against net neutrality

from Reason: Do net neutrality advocates fear consumer choice?
Regulation Nation