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 22, 2017

Can the FBI get away with getting Trump team emails?

from TheHill: From Andrew Napolitano. The FBI took the emails to be in a position to lead Trump White House staff members into a lying trap by asking them questions to which the FBI already had the answers.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Rand Paul threatens to filibuster long-term surveillance extension

from TheHill: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is threatening to filibuster any “long-term extension” of a controversial intelligence program that allows the government to collect data on Americans without a warrant.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

House Republicans quietly investigate perceived corruption at DOJ, FBI

from Politico: The group was born out of frustration over the Justice Department's refusal to explain how it used a disputed dossier.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

How to recapture the true spirit of Christmas in a toxic age

from TheHill: No matter what one’s budget, religion, or political persuasion, here are a few things we can do right now to beat the police state blues and recapture the true spirit of Christmas.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Rosie O’Donnell could face 15 years in prison for attempting to bribe senators

from DownTrend: Putting Rosie in a cage would be just one more step to make America great again.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Democrats stew as companies announce employee bonuses after tax reform passes

from DownTrend: AT&T celebrated the bill by giving workers $1,000 extra which will come in handy this time of year.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

December 21, 2017

VIDEO: Fox News Reports - Corruption@FBI 4

from LibertyPen/YouTube: James Rosen, Bret Baier, Greg Jarrett, Tucker Carlson and others report on the conflicts of interests and double standards in play within the FBI and how the credibility of their investigation is effected.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption    The Government is Not Us

‘Drugs are too expensive for the NHS – and people are paying with their lives’

from TheGuardian: The high cost of "free" socialized medicine in the UK.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Martial law in America: Cook County commissioner asks the U.N. to send troops to Chicago 

from ActivistPost: Liberal leaders in Chicago are now openly planning to declare martial law, complete with UN shock troops on the streets to police the American population.
Police State America

Trump and the GOP take a crucial bite out of the death tax

from WashingtonExaminer: Family-owned business across the country have extra reason to celebrate this Christmas season. President Trump will soon sign the GOP tax bill, which doubles the estate, gift and generation-skipping tax exemptions.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Net neutrality vs. Internet freedom

from CapitalismMagazine: The Internet is not a collectivist commune; it is a free, voluntary, and private association of individuals and corporations harmoniously pursuing their individual goals.
Regulation Nation

Because Cali legalized weed, 500,000 ‘convicts’ get a second chance at freedom

from FreeThoughtProject: Nearly half a million people who have been labeled as felons for possessing a plant, could see their cannabis convictions cleared in California.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

December 20, 2017

University teaches white employees how to overcome the ‘discomfort’ of being white 

from TheCollegeFix: The goal was to help participants in “unpacking Whiteness” to support students and staff with issues and efforts “related to identity and social justice,” the website added.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Walter E Williams: Fascism and Communism

from Creators: Death by government. The reason leftists give communists, the world's most horrible murderers, a pass is that they sympathize with the chief goal of communism: restricting personal liberty.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Bus drivers have become 'true police informants'

from MassPrivatei: For years, DHS and law enforcement have been turning buses into rolling surveillance platforms, outfitting them with surveillance cameras inside and out and using microphones to spy on passengers.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: The Vision of Barry Goldwater

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Barry Goldwater was a champion of the traditional American values of individual liberty and economic freedom. Excerpts from his 1964 Republican Presidential Nomination Speech.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Political journalists have themselves to blame for sinking credibility

from Reason: Sloppy work creates self-inflicted wounds.
Media Bias on Parade

Thomas Sowell: 'Tax Cuts for the Rich'?

from Creators: How is the claim of "tax cuts for the rich" false? Let me count the ways. More important, you can easily check out the facts for yourself with a simple visit to your local public library or, for those more computer-minded, on the Internet.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

December 19, 2017

Is the FBI really unaware of how they’ve abused its own surveillance?

from TheDailySheeple: It’s amazing when the fox guards the chicken house, and it’s no more apparent than with the recent testimony before Congress by FBI Director Christopher Wray.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Twitter deploys censorship to combat "hate speech"

from Alternet: Unpopular ideas have no place on Twitter as website becomes PC echo chamber.
Indoctrination and Censorship   Media Bias on Parade

$15 minimum wage studies predict bleak future for California, Seattle

from TheGazette: California became the first state to increase its minimum wage to $15 an hour, but that could mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, a report warned last week.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market    Regulation Nation

The big con: The truth behind Net Neutrality and why the sky Is not falling

from TheDailyBell: An Obama era regulation which attempted to police businesses was repealed, paving the way for the free market to run its course.
Regulation Nation

California wildfires don’t have to be the new normal

from Mises: When land is privately owned, owners have strong incentives to maintain its long-term value. In the South, this means that owners monitor their land for concentrations of deadwood that could spark fires.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market    Regulation Nation

Musician arrested, strip searched, thrown in jail for singing without a license 

from TheDailyBell: Insecure bully cops will arrest citizens for questioning their orders, and will charge them with “obstruction of justice.”
Regulation Nation   Police State America

December 18, 2017

The end of free speech

from Reason: In 2017, the left eats its own and the right shows its true colors.
Indoctrination and Censorship

FBI edits to Clinton exoneration go far beyond what was previously known; Comey implicated

ZeroHedge: The letter reveals specific edits in a coordinated conspiracy among top FBI brass to decriminalize Clinton's conduct by changing legal terms and phrases, omitting key information, and minimizing the role of the Intelligence Community.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Since feeding the homeless is now illegal, a group carried AR15s to give out food—it worked

from theFreeThoughtProject: A large group of well-armed good samaritans took to the streets this week to openly break a bad law to help the homeless and those less fortunate.
Regulation Nation

What happens after the next 9/11

from LewRockwell: We’re going backwards in most areas of personal freedom. And America, of all places, is leading the way.
Police State America

NYT prints government-funded propaganda about government-funded propaganda

from FAIR: Social media manipulation is in urgent need of robust discussion. But outlets that focus only on attempts by official US enemies, and never direct any criticism inwards, aren’t concerned with an earnest discussion of the problem.
Indoctrination and Censorship   Media Bias on Parade

Judicial Watch President: "Forget Mueller," The real question is "do we need to shut down the FBI?"

from ZeroHedge: Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said it's time to move beyond discussing whether it's appropriate to shut down Special Counsel Mueller's investigation and move on to consider whether it's now time to consider shutting down the FBI.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption   Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

December 16, 2017

Free speech is democracy's greatest safeguard 

from ToledoBlade: In a time of social turbulence, ensuring that all avenues of expression remain open and unabridged will ensure the preservation of our democracy and the promise of progress.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Trump calls conduct at the FBI ‘disgraceful’ in latest criticism of bureau

from TheWashintonPost: Trump has said the FBI’s reputation is “in tatters” over its handling of politically sensitive cases.
The Government is Not Us

Google Hiring 10,000 Certified Morons to Further Throttle Free Speech

from The BurningPlatform: Google openly and unabashedly champions censorship to curry favor with government authoritarians.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Have a statute of limitations for calling out men's behavior 

from StLouisPostDispatch: There should be a statute of limitations on calling men out on behavior that wasn't a crime then, and frankly is not a criminal offense now.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Residents outraged as DHS spraying town with chemicals—using them as human guinea pigs

from TheFreeThoughtProject: Residents of a small Oklahoma town fear they are being used by Homeland Security as test subjects for the chemical/biological warfare testing.
The Government is Not Us    Defense Versus The War Machine

Big Brother installing surveillance cameras in places of worship 

fromActivistPost: Places of worship are paying the government a $100 dollars a month to spy on families.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

December 15, 2017

Government is the cause of—not the solution to—online censorship

from Reason: As people worry about the net neutrality vote, public officials threaten our rights to free speech.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Bogus wiretap charges brought against man who recorded cops costs NH taxpayers $275,000

from TechDirt: Even though courts have found use of wiretap statutes in this fashion unconstitutional, in the Live Free or Die state, the statute lives freely and dies even harder.
Police State America

Bill O'Reilly: Secret tape exists of woman offered $200K to file sexual harassment charges against Trump

from ZeroHedge: The tactic of shaming, a favorite of the political left, seems to be kicked up a notch.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

FCC votes to repeal net neutrality rules

from The Hill: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has voted to repeal its landmark net neutrality protections, capping off a months-long campaign by the agency’s Republicans to deregulate the broadband industry.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Scared Cops Are Scary

from Reason: The acquittal of the officer who killed Daniel Shaver illustrates a double standard in judging self-defense claims.
Police State America

California Brags It Will End Gun Violence With Sudden Enforcement Of 50-Year-Old Law

from DownTrend: Significant as an admission by the state that instead of enforcing existing laws, they have been passing gun control laws that only restrict the rights of law abiding people.
2nd Amendment Assaults

December 14, 2017

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - Corruption@FBI

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Evidence is mounting that the FBI is in reality a weaponized political force for the Deep State, not an impartial information-gathering law enforcement agency.
The Government is Not Us    Police State America    Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

TSA to stop taking driver’s licenses from 9 U.S. states

from TravelZoo: Including California. Terrorists rack up another victory over American liberty. They have now succeeded in damaging America's freedom to travel, with the compliance of authoritarian U.S. bureaucrats.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Moral Values and Customs vs. Laws

from Creators: From the incomparable Walter E Williams. Customs, traditions and moral values have been discarded without an appreciation for the role they played in creating a civilized society, and now we're paying the price.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Liberate food trucks

from Creators: A John Stossel column. The rules, like demands for licensing of florists, moving companies, hair dressers, tour guides, etc., are passed by politicians. But often these politicians are in cahoots with owners of established businesses.
Regulation Nation

Welcome to the surveillance state: China’s AI cameras see all

from Creators: The future in monitoring human livestock. Coming to tyranny near you. Authorities showed a BBC reporter that they could use the system to identify and apprehend him in seven minutes.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Death and taxes: Trump's tax bill and the National Defense Authorization Act

from NationalPrioritiesProject: The $66 billion in war funding represents the permanence of the wars that began 16 years ago in Iraq and Afghanistan, with no end in sight.
Defense Versus The War Machine

December 13, 2017

Less regulation means less opportunity for government corruption

from Reason: Smaller government has the possibility to be more honest government.
Regulation Nation

CNN covers botched Don Jr. story 27 times more than correction

from DailyCaller: Joseph Goebbels: If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth. Goebbels would be proud to see his observation has become the mission statement at CNN.

Media Bias on Parade

Justice Sotomayor unintentionally highlights the danger of having too many laws

from WashingtonPost: Justice Sotomayor highlights a dangerous reality of our legal system. So long as there are vastly more laws on the books than the government can realistically hope to enforce, the rule of law will continue to be imperiled.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Want More Jobs? Fight Occupational Licensing!

from Reason: Getting a cosmetology license in Oregon requires 2,300 hours of classroom instruction, but getting a similar permit in New York requires a mere 1,000 hours of training.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

FBI agent becomes GOP public enemy No. 1

from TheHill: A slate of reports from multiple outlets have catapulted the once-anonymous intelligence agent into the political maelstrom over what Republicans say is a woeful double standard of political bias at the FBI.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Rebellious jurors make the world a better place

from Reason: Jury nullification has officials losing cases, changing policies, and fretting over the power of the people they abuse.

Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

December 12, 2017

Shocking VIDEO of cop executing an unarmed man begging for his life

from FreeThoughtProject: Even more shocking was the cop's acquittal. Read more here: Arizona Cop Acquitted for Killing Man Crawling Down Hotel Hallway While Begging for His Life
Police State America   The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - PC Nitwittery 2017

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Consider this a progress report on the dumbing down of America. A look at the explosion of PC nitwittery taking place on college campuses.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Britain considers making whistling at women a HATE crime

from DownTrend: The Metropolitan Police today revealed it is speaking with other UK forces to assess whether it is worth cracking down on gender-based hate crimes after a pilot scheme was launched in the East Midlands last year.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Albany marijuana advocate suggests jury nullification

from WALB10: Georgia marijuana advocates are making a push to convince jurors not to convict people charged with minor drug crimes. Don't forget: Government exists to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. (Declaration of Independence)
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process   The Pursuit of Happiness

20 of the Most Ridiculous Anti-Gun Moments of 2017

from BearingArms: Just when we thought things couldn’t get any crazier than the whirlwind year we had during the presidential election of 2016, we were served 2017.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Chief pathologist resigns to expose sheriff for falsifying autopsy reports to protect killer cops

from FreeThoughtProject: After resigning from his position as chief, an autopsy doctor is now calling out the sheriff for overriding his death investigations to protect officers.
Police State America   The Government is Not Us

December 11, 2017

Warning: ‘They need the markets to implode’ to usher in cashless system

from SHTF: Lynette Zang says, “Ultimately, they need the markets to implode so when they shift us from the debt based system to the digital system, we are more comfortable with it and more familiar with it”.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market   The Government is Not Us

CNN botches "bombshell" report "proving" collusion between Trump Jr and Wikileaks

from ZeroHedge: The leader in fake news strikes again. Glenn Greenwald: CNN still refuses to address the huge, glaring obvious question: how did "multiple sources" all innocently get the same date on the same email wrong?
Media Bias on Parade

California looks at dumping gas tax for per-mile fee as cars use less fuel

from SacramentoBee:  California's latest scheme to gouge taxpayers.  It seems "The Golden State" is NOT a reference to precious metal, but rather to that which constantly rains down on citizens.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Jonathan Turley - Wildly Expanding Executive Powers

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Law professor Jonathan Turley explains how the Obama Administration wildly expanded executive powers to the point where the American president can now order any citizen he wishes to be killed.
Politics and Other Acts of Corruption   The Government is Not Us

John Lennon was right: The government is run by maniacs for maniacal means

from RutherfordInstitute: All of the many complaints we have about government today—surveillance, corruption, harassment, political persecution, spying, overcriminalization, etc.—were used against Lennon.
The Government is Not Us

Deep State coup crumbling as Trump’s top intelligence official caught spying for George Soros

from TheFreeThoughtProject: Trump's top intelligence official authorized spying on Steve Bannon and Trump's children—
then sent the data to an intel facility owned by globalist George Soros.
Politics and Other Acts of Corruption   The Government is Not Us