June 7, 2016

DHS plans to compile a list of all bloggers, journalists and “social media influencers”

fromTheMostImportantNews: If LibertyPen's flame is extinguished, you will know why.
The Government is Not Us

Trump has broken the spell of climate change mania

fromGlobalWarmingPolicyForum: Since Mr Trump walked out of the Paris agreement one year ago, it has been fascinating to watch the decline of media interest in “saving the planet”.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Politicizing the FBI: How James Comey succeeded where Richard Nixon failed

fromTheDailyCaller: If there was any doubt about the political motivation of Comey, it was removed by his rhetoric following his ouster, clothed in talk of FBI independence and ethics, but revealing raging anti-Trump animus.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Donald Trump’s Tariffs get pushback from Koch Brothers

fromTheInquisitr: The Koch campaign might force other Republicans to reconsider their fiscal positions and publicly denounce Trump tariffs in an effort to connect with voters.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Hallmark of an economic ponzi scheme

fromHussmanFunds: The constant creation of low-grade debt in order to finance consumption and income shortfalls among some members of the economy, using the massive surpluses earned by other members of the economy.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Six sports betting legalization myths

fromARSTecnica: Thanks to the Supreme Court doing its job, the federal ban on sports betting has been overturned. Individuals can now command their assets. Now, let's dispel the popular myths.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

June 5, 2016

Badge of impunity

fromARSTecnica: Government courts do not hold other government agents accountable.
Police State America

The government’s cure for the opioid epidemic may be worse than the disease

fromReason: When the government's cure for the "epidemic" proves worse than the disease, it's time to try something new.  
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

White privilege has become a religion, complete with church ladies

fromTheFederalist: How enlightened these faithful must be to voluntarily enjoy having their sins denounced!  
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

SWAT team burns baby with flash distraction device while on drug hunt

fromARSTecnica: Cops send 2-year-old to hospital during quest to incarcerate nonviolent drug offenders.  
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Police use of Amazon’s face-recognition service draws privacy warnings

fromARSTecnica: “From a law enforcement or intelligence perspective, smart appliances are very valuable tools that can let us monitor or listen to individuals,” says a former FBI executive assistant director.  
Police State America     Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Civil asset forfeiture: highway robbery marketed as a drug enforcement tool

fromARSTecnica: The morality of theft doesn't change because it has been legalized. And, what citizens had this authority in order to delegate it to government?  
Police State America     The Government is Not Us

June 3, 2016

Your Home is your...snitch? When your appliances work as police informants.

fromTheMarshallProject: “From a law enforcement or intelligence perspective, smart appliances are very valuable tools that can let us monitor or listen to individuals,” says a former FBI executive assistant director.  
Police State America     Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Colorado set to become first In U.S. To use “smart pavement” to monitor drivers In real-time

fromActivistPost: The rise of connected smart cities is in fact based upon multi-use systems and is being imposed with very little debate. It is an all-encompassing agenda that politicians everywhere fully support.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Trump has cut federal payroll by 24,000 jobs

fromCNSNews: The federal government cut 3,000 jobs in May and federal employment has now dropped by 24,000 since President Donald Trump took office, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Mike Rowe - When safety and feelings become priorities

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: The safety first mentality is challenged at long last. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Breaking down America’s worst long-term challenges

fromTheDailyBell: Debt, the retirement crisis and the destruction of our currency. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - Spy Games - Corruption@FBI 13

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Now, we know the Obama FBI had implanted a spy within the Trump to deposit information that could later be used as a basis for investigation. 
The Government is Not Us       Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

May 31, 2016

How to get on a jury

fromReason: And, what you do once you're there is up to you.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Trump to sign 'right to try' bill next week

fromTheHill: President Trump will sign legislation next week allowing terminally ill patients to access experimental drugs not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle       Regulation Nation

Europe plans ban on plastic cutlery, straws and more

fromCNN: In the tradition of California, Europe's PC politicos continue to lower standards for their citizens. Ever drink through a paper straw?  Yuk.
Regulation Nation

The current status of prices in Venezuela

fromEconomicPolicyJournal: A sneak peek at what the Left is pushing America towards.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Britons rage over Robinson arrest as mass protests break out worldwide

fromZeroHedge: The UK is no longer a free country and awakening citizens are freaking out. And, they should be.
The Government is Not Us

John Stossel: How junk science sends innocent people to jail

fromReason: It’s time to reform our criminal justice system.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

May 21, 2016

Google’s Selfish Ledger is an unsettling vision of Silicon Valley social engineering

fromTheVerge: This internal video shows a Google concept for how total data collection could reshape society.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Study: Voters worried about political correctness flocked to candidate Trump

fromReason: "Support for Trump (and opposition to Clinton) is especially likely amongst people who feel emotional reactance to restrictive communication norms."
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Video of a bully cop getting owned by an informed citizen

fromTheDailyMail: Cops should learn the law just to avoid embarrassment if nothing else.
Police State America

It's time to put our federal meat inspection law out to pasture

fromReason: Outdated regulations are hampering the beef meat industry.
Regulation Nation

Want to listen to police scanners? Cops say no more

fromTheWallStreetJournal: In a police state, authorities operate in secret. Their actions are seldom made public.
Police State America

State sets massive precedent, passes law to effectively ban the NSA

fromTheVerge: Michigan seeks to become a sanctuary state from the privacy invasions of federal snoops by honoring the Fourth Amendment.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

May 19, 2016

Rhode Island governor signs executive order to seize guns

fromConservativeDailyPost: Gina Raimondo’s overreaching order allows law enforcement officers to take guns away from those in “red flag” cases.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Socialist Seattle deploys another tax against employment

fromConservativeDailyPost: Seattle's idiotic tax on workers put the tyranny of local government on full display.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

House passes another violation of the Tenth Amendment to federalize criminal law

fromConservativeDailyPost: This time they deploy a hate crime bill to codify cops as above the average citizen.
The Government is Not Us     Police State America

The Protect and Serve Act could make the fight against police brutality more difficult

fromPaste: Pimped by police unions, that was the whole idea.
Police State America

California cities are free to regulate gun stores out of existence

fromConservativeDailyPost: A "sanctuary" from the 2nd Amendment liberty? More setbacks in the Golden State as the Supreme Court declines to take a case about city zoning.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Why regulations are another elite war against common folk

fromTheFederalist: Regulation creates unforeseen issues, which are papered over by more regulations. Eventually what we’re left with is a 20,000-page bill destined to fail.
Regulation Nation

May 17, 2016

Supreme Court strikes down federal law that prohibited states from legalizing sports gambling

fromReason: “A more direct affront to state sovereignty is not easy to imagine.”
The War Against Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Seattle plans to punish the productive in order to subsidize bums

fromDailyMail: Democrats take care of their constituency. Seattle will tax companies including Amazon and Starbucks $275 per employee to provide shelter for the homeless in $48million scheme.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

The issue is liberty, not gambling

fromTheWallStreetJournal: The high court takes a rare stand in defense of the Tenth Amendment.
The War Against Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

The University of New Hampshire earns FIRE’s top rating for free speech

fromFosters: The free exchange of ideas continues to survive in some quarters.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Stop asking what happened before someone started filming police brutality

fromTheIntercept: Most folks don't wear camcorders and only start filming when things start turning ugly.
Police State America

Justices Thomas and Gorsuch just hinted they would end privacy as we know it

fromTheDailyBeast: The rights of the individual continue to shrink as the authority of the government continues to expand, as Thomas and Gorsuch seem to have joined the parade.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

May 15, 2016

California politicians are hellbent on telling you how to live

fromReason: Now, our so-called "representatives" are seeking to force you on to buses and trains by making life more inconvenient. This is called public service.
Regulation Nation   The Government is Not Us

Walter E Williams: Kanye and Democrats

fromCreators: West raps, "See, that's the problem with this damn nation. All blacks gotta be Democrats. 
Man, we ain't made it off the plantation."
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption    Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

This Taco Bell can't get a liquor license because city officials don't like Taco Bell

fromReason: But the pizza place next door can have one.
Regulation Nation

California's boneheaded solar remedy for climate change

fromReason: Good intentions are a possibility, but awful policies are the routine reality.
Regulation Nation

Mueller may have a conflict — and it leads directly to a Russian oligarch

fromTheHill: A corrupt political weapon known as the FBI is slowly but steadily being exposed.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

On marijuana and opioids — the DEA has no clue what it’s talking about

fromTheHill: This is hardly breaking news but it is at least being finally acknowledged in some media.
The War On Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

May 13, 2016

How a “location API” allows cops to figure out where we all are in real-time

fromCreators: Last week, The New York Times reported on Securus, a prison telecom company that has a service enabling law enforcement officers to locate most American cell phones within seconds.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make     Police State America

Texas Health Department considers cracking down on CBD

fromCreators: Why would government keep patients from a harmless pain-relieving substance? Because they can. They are regulators and the mission of regulators is to destroy options.
Regulation Nation    The War Against Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Feds collect record taxes through April; still run $385.4B deficit

fromCNSNews: Politicians succeeded to transfer more wealth from individuals to themselves but could not constrain their drunken-sailor spending.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

New law: Kansas cops can no longer have sex during traffic stops

fromCreators: This is no doubt about revenue. Good news: traffic citations can no longer be bartered away. 
Bad news: the police unions are not happy.
Police State America

The new battle over genetic privacy: How DNA sites became a police weapon

fromNewstatesman: Police are using sites such as GEDMatch.com to revive historic crime investigations.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Cop savagely beats his own daughter at school, and no one tries to stop him

fromTheFreeThought: Do you really think he treats the general public better than his own daughter?
Police State America

May 11, 2016

The lethal success of pain pill restrictions

fromCreators: Restricting access to pain pills also seems to be increasing the percentage of opioid users who begin with heroin. No wonder the drug warrior lobby wants this.
Regulation Nation    The War Against Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Promoted as a law enforcement tool, this practice is actually highway robbery

fromKMBC9: How the state has set itself up to legally steal you stuff even though you are never even charged with wrongdoing.
Police State America

Man protests police department's violation of speech rights, so cops arrest him

fromReason: Stamford, Connecticut, police chief objects to salty language on a sign. That’s not a crime.
Police State America

Illinois police claim if marijuana is legalized, they'll have to kill their police dogs

fromCreators: Dog gone. Cops now argue that nonviolent people must be imprisoned as a dog-saving program.
The War Against Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

John Stossel: Hating DeVos

fromCreators: An administrator who is fighting to empower parents and cut government is a natural target of the left.
Regulation Nation

Seattle’s proposed employment tax is just the city's latest self-inflicted wound

fromCreators: City officials seem dedicated to driving away the businesses that create prosperity. They are behaving as if they are in California.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market      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

May 5, 2016

Spy agency NSA triples collection of U.S. phone records: official report

fromForbes: The U.S. National Security Agency collected 534,000,000 records of phone calls and text messages of Americans last year, more than triple gathered in 2016, a U.S. intelligence agency report released on Friday said. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Surveillance oversight across the Golden State

fromEFF: Too often, law enforcement makes unilateral decisions about surveillance equipment in the dark, driven by the sales pitches of vendors rather than an open dialogue about the public safety needs of the community.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Venezuela hikes minimum wage by 155% -- should McDonald's and Walmart match it?

fromForbes: The ugly truth about Venezuela’s minimum wage hikes: they are part of the country’s problem rather than solution.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

John Stossel: Propaganda Networks

fromForbes: Why does American journalist Abby Martin do propaganda for socialist murderers? Few viewers know that teleSUR is funded by the tyrants who control Cuba and Venezuela. 
Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: Cathy Areu - Sherpa Guides Tucker Carlson Through Leftist Nitwittery

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From Tucker Carlson Tonight, Cathy Areu (publisher of Catalina magazine) explains the finer points of progressive thinking (also known as leftist nitwittery) to the traditional-thinking host. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Public support for marijuana is growing. Will lawmakers follow?

fromPBS: Politicians may wind up under so much duress that they are actually forced to represent the will of the people.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange