LibertyPen

March 29, 2016

A new backdoor around the Fourth Amendment: The CLOUD Act

fromEFF: Government's latest scheme to violate your privacy.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make The Government is Not Us

Walter E Williams: How Ignorant We Are

fromCreators: The worst kind of ignorance is not knowing just how ignorant we are. That leads to the devastating pretense of knowledge that's part and parcel of the vision of intellectual elites and politicians.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Immigration and Diversity

fromLibertyPen: The legendary economist and historian shares his insights on immigration policy as well as the value of diversity.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

John Stossel: The Red Pill

fromCreators: In the movie "The Matrix," swallowing a red pill reveals the truth, while downing a blue pill leaves you trapped in illusion. Today, "taking the red pill" means seeing the lies of mainstream media.
Media Bias on Parade Indoctrination and Censorship

Cop charged for shooting 9yo girl in the head as he tried to kill her tiny dog in room full of kids

fromTheDailyMail: What makes this a story is that the officer was charged. Betts becomes the first cop in decades to be charged in an on-duty shooting that resulted in an injury or death.
Police State America The Government is Not Us

'Facebook will NEVER sell your information without consent': Mark Zuckerberg's claim in a 2009 interview

fromTheDailyMail: Video footage of the conversation was posted to Twitter by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. No wonder he has political aspirations. He's a natural born liar.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

March 28, 2016

March madness, Washington-style

fromTheWashingtonTimes: The whole purpose of the Constitution is to restrain the government and to protect personal liberty. FISA and its enablers in both major political parties have done the opposite.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - The Art of Legalized Theft

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Williams explains what drives the political world.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

VIDEO: Rand Paul - An Unholy Alliance Against the People

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Rand Paul identifies why economic malfeasance is routinely delivered to the American people. http://www.LibertyPen.com

Economic Policy: Statism Versus the Free Market

People are freaking out that Facebook's Android apps collect call and text data

fromBusinessInsider: Apple does not have this problem because they sell directly to customers. Their customers want privacy. Android phones are sold to service providers and service providers like data collection.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Gun country

fromTheNewYorker: A new generation of American kids embraces firearms.
2nd Amendment Assaults

The psychology of progressive hostility

fromQuillette: Every new point of view we encounter can enrich our understanding even if we don’t embrace it entirely. But this comes with the risk of self-effacement and growing uncertainty.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

March 27, 2016

CDC admits Rx opioid deaths ‘significantly inflated’

fromThePainNewsNetwork: So-called epidemic is wildly exaggerated. Four CDC researchers say many overdoses involving illicit fentanyl and other synthetic black market opioids have been counted as prescription drug deaths.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange Regulation Nation

FDA’s low-nicotine cigarette scheme is an invitation to black market vendors

fromReason: People will find sources for what they want no matter what presumptuous regulators say.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange Regulation Nation

Unlawful FISA spying widespread under Obama administration

fromTheEpochTimes: Relaxation of privacy policies paved the way for FBI and NSA to spy on Americans.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

FL students who begged gov’t to take their rights away, now angry gov’t took away their rights

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: These poor little dupes were encouraged by government to protest—and now they are getting what they asked for—less rights.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange Regulation Nation

Study: More students are getting A's, but SAT scores aren't keeping up

fromCBSNews: New research shows that 47 percent of high school seniors graduated last year with an "A" average -- up from about 39 percent in 1998. But average SAT scores fell 24 points in that same period.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Chicago dungeon master to teach college students BDSM practices

fromTheCollegeFix: Higher education 2018.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

March 26, 2016

New law will make it illegal for people to walk and smoke at the same time

fromTheFreeThought: NOT FROM THE ONION. Have residents of New York City just been deemed too dumb to smoke and walk at the same time?
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery Regulation Nation

Scott Walker is making it harder to receive welfare in Wisconsin. Will this become a nationwide blueprint?

fromTruthOut: Trouble is, the legislation will cost the state's taxpayers about $37.9 million and federal taxpayers around $35.5 million. Somehow, Walker found a way for both recipients and taxpayers to lose.
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

In gambling battle, both sides are wrong

fromReason: Neither supporters nor opponents want to consider personal liberty.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Canadian disabled man denied care but offered euthanasia

fromTheNationalReview: Will euthanasia be about money? Does CNN hate Donald Trump? A look at how socialized medicine works.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market Regulation Nation

Venezuela experiencing free fall

fromTheGoldTelegraph: Socialism circles the drain. Worried about higher prices when you go to the supermarket? So are Venezuelans. Consumer prices saw a 6,147 percent annual increase in February.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

School district arms teachers with ‘bucket of rocks’ to defend students from mass shooters

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Not from the Onion. The superintendent said arming each teacher with a 5-gallon bucket of rocks is the most he can do under the current laws.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

March 24, 2016

The two parties are awful on almost everything important

fromReason: Be very afraid when Chuck Schumer reaches across the aisle to shower praise on President Trump.
The Government is Not Us

PornHub takes up the slack after YouTube bans gun modification videos

fromBBC: The free market comes to the rescue of the censored once again.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery Regulation Nation 2nd Amendment Assaults

Growing questions about CNN's airport monopoly as network veers left

fromFoxNews: CNN’s ubiquitous presence in airports -- where it broadcasts from thousands of screens to a captive audience of millions -- is facing new scrutiny after the cable network's hard left turn.
Media Bias on Parade Indoctrination and Censorship

VIDEO: The Andrew McCabe Firing - Corruption@FBI 9

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz joins Tucker Carlson to discuss whether FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe’s firing was justified.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Congress gives itself a bonus in Omnibus

fromTheFreeBeacon: Senate increases budget by $48 million, salaries by $12 million. Following the Venezuela model, public service" gets even more lucrative as debt skyrockets.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

State and local income, sales and property taxes all hit records in 2017

fromTheGoldTelegraph: The greedy hand of government is as relentless as time.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

March 23, 2016

Tolerance cuts both ways: freedom for the speech we hate

fromTheRutherfordInstitute: Reminder: The First Amendment affirms the right of the people to speak freely, worship freely, peaceably assemble, petition the government for a redress of grievances, and have a free press.
Indoctrination and Censorship Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner promised a criminal justice revolution. He’s exceeding expectations.

fromTheIntercept: What a justice warrior looks like. In his first week on the job, he fired 31 prosecutors from the DA’s office because they weren’t committed to the changes he intended to make.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

House passes bill that would give patients access to experimental drugs

fromNYTimes: It's your life, isn't it? About time government stops trying to impede your survival.
Regulation Nation The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Vivaldi browser taps privacy-first DuckDuckGo search

fromCNet: Block out government peeping toms. As your personal information leaks out through Facebook, one web browser offers a new option to keep a lid on it -- for private browsing tabs, at least.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Barry Farber: We can't go on like this

fromWND: Too many Americans hate President Donald Trump more than they love Americans.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

It didn’t take long for the U.S. to rack up another trillion dollars of debt

fromMarketWatch: Looking ahead, analysts see the nation much deeper in debt. The Committee for a Responsible Budget projects debt exceeding the size of the economy within a decade.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

March 22, 2016

Poll shows Americans waking up, majority now suspects unelected shadow government in charge

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: A recent poll shows that both parties are waking up to the unelected shadow government that forms policy in secret and spies on its own citizens.
The Government is Not Us

Voters In Illinois' Cook County approve marijuana legalization ballot measure

fromForbes: Even though the president is convinced the people have too much freedom, the once sovereign citizens seem to disagree.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Government's option destroyers target menthol cigarettes and flavored e-cigs

fromCreators: The FDA banned certain flavors in cigarettes in 2009, but menthol was excluded from those new rules, as were other tobacco products.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange Regulation Nation

John Stossel: China's freedom-crushing 'social credit score'

fromReason: Americans should be wary of something similar.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Trump's 'tough' drug policies are not smart

fromCreators: Trump's plan is heavy on tactics that have already failed. For instance, he favors "spending a lot of money" on "very, very bad commercials" that will "scare" kids away from drugs."
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange Regulation Nation

Obama and Trump insiders reveal Facebook ALLOWED them BOTH to spy on you

fromGovtSlaves: Facebook specifically granted the Obama administration access because, according to Davidsen, Facebook was “on our side.”
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

March 21, 2016

Cops want Google to provide user data for all people near crime scenes

fromFastCompany: Raleigh, North Carolina police push for unreasonable searches on people who just happened to be in the area at the time the crimes were committed.
Police State America

Snowden: Facebook is a surveillance company lying to the world about being “social media”

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: Snowden had this to say about Facebook. "Their rebranding as 'social media' is the most successful deception since the Department of War became the Department of Defense."
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Walter E Williams: Not always like this

fromCreators: Gun ownership is not our problem. Our problem is a widespread decline in moral values that has nothing to do with guns.
2nd Amendment Assaults

VIDEO: Mark Levin - Adam Schiff is a Shill for the Russian Government

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Mark Levin chronicles that which investigator Adam Schiff has no curiosity about and, in the process, exposes his true agenda.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

It’s your right to say not guilty, it’s your duty to tell someone else

fromWeedNews: No matter the evidence presented, if you do not believe a crime was committed, it is your right to say “not guilty”, and this has never been more important than now.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - The Four Legitimate Functions of Government

fromFastCompany: Professor Friedman offers a dose of reality while explaining government’s four legitimate functions.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

March 20, 2018

Why our world needs digital currency

fromMedium: A very easily understood explanation of cryptocurrency and why it should matter to you.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Trump to unveil opioid plan seeking death penalty for drug dealers

fromReuters: Authoritarian president advocates murder for those involved in approved voluntary exchange.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Amazon deletes reviews of conservative authors with no explanation

fromPJMedia: Every authoritarian worth his salt knows that good ideas can be rebutted, but great ones must be censored.
Indoctrination and Censorship Media Bias on Parade

San Francisco is suffering from the excesses of its own liberalism

fromTheFederalist: The astounding level of mismanagement and general deterioration of public decency will continue to plague the city until reasonable measures are taken to combat vagrancy.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

ACLU asks in lawsuit: Why is the TSA searching digital devices on domestic flights?

fromLATimes: Government's contempt of the Constitution, in general, and the Fourth Amendment, in particular, is beyond depressing.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

In gambling battle, both sides are wrong

fromReason: Neither supporters nor opponents want to consider personal liberty.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

March 19, 2018

National debt hits $21 trillion

fromWashingtonExaminer: This barely includes the effects of the recent fiscally irresponsible tax and spending legislation, which added more debt on top of an already unsustainable trajectory.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

VIDEO: A black man goes undercover in the alt-right

fromTED: Theo E.J. Wilson tells the story of becoming Lucius25, white supremacist lurker, and the unexpected compassion and surprising perspective he found from engaging with people he disagrees with.
Indoctrination and Censorship Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

VIDEO: Google's Thumb is on the Scale

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Google is not a champion of free thought but neither is the government.
Indoctrination and Censorship Media Bias on Parade Regulation Nation

Cops attack innocent family as they grieve the death of 2-month-old son

fromTownhall: Those who are driven primarily by emotion tend to see all imperfection as an outrage that must be corrected. To these people, trade-offs are heartless and vile. But -- there is a limit to endless outrage.
Police State America

7 techniques liberals use to silence conservatives

In California's rural, conservative north, there are big dreams for cleaving the state

fromLATimes: Hundreds of people cracked open wallets to help fund their dream of carving — out of California’s northernmost reaches — a brand new state.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

March 17, 2018

The implosion explosion of the Democrat Party

fromGlobalLibertyMedia: Those who are driven primarily by emotion tend to see all imperfection as an outrage that must be corrected. To these people, trade-offs are heartless and vile. But -- there is a limit to endless outrage.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Unlawful FISA spying widespread under Obama Administration

fromTheEpochTimes: The scope of the FBI’s accessing of Americans’ data is unclear, as the government is not required to provide the FISC with numbers on violations.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Judge makes Richard Simmons pay the National Enquirer $130,000 even though they verifiably lied

fromGlobalLibertyMedia: The judge says the false allegations that he was transitioning into transgenderism was not derogatory and was therefore frivolous. Insanity prevails again.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Larry Kudlow is a big upgrade for Trump's White House

fromReason: Let's hope he mitigates the president's worst protectionist instincts.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Turning schools into prisons with more cops is NOT a solution to shootings, it’s a deathblow to liberty

fromFreeThoughtProject: How do you convince a child who has been routinely handcuffed, shackled, tied down and locked up by school police—that he has any rights at all—let alone a right to stand up to oppression?
Police State America

Katy Perry is obviously a hopeless pervert who should be executed

fromGlobalLibertyMedia: The high profile singer turned predator assaulted an American Idol hopeful with an unwanted kiss. But will the good-ole-girl club give her a pass?
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

March 16, 2018

Facebook's war on 'conservative' sites

fromWND: The king of social media has been making algorithm changes seemingly intended to marginalize the traffic of right-of-center online news operations, and they have been effective.
Media Bias on Parade

President Trump and the freedom of speech

fromCreators: The limits of power. Freedom of speech trumps Trump -- as it should.
Indoctrination and Censorship

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - No Skin in the Game

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Williams contends that spending constraints will never occur so long as half of the citizens have no skin in the game.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

ACLU is suing the government for info about TSA device searches

fromMotherboard: The TSA won't release information about its warrantless searches of electronic devices carried by US citizens on domestic flights.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make Police State America

John Stossel: Lies about Trade

fromCreators: All a trade deficit shows is that a country sells us more than we sell them. We get the better of that deal. They get excess dollar bills, but we get stuff.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Say no to “hardening” the schools with zero tolerance policies and gun-toting cops

fromRutherfordInstitute: Just what we don’t need: more gun-toting, taser-wielding cops in government-run schools that bear an uncomfortable resemblance to prisons.
Police State America

March 15, 2018

New Jersey prepares to raise taxes on "almost everything" as it nears financial disaster

fromZeroHedge: Taxpayers to bear more and more burden in order to satisfy the spending (vote-buying) desires of state politicians.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

TSA accused of searching domestic travelers’ devices with no warrant

fromARSTechnica: TSA has failed to fully respond to FOIA requests from the ACLU.
Regulation Nation Police State America

VIDEO: Tucker Carlson - Sanctuary from Homicide

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: From Tucker Carlson Tonight, a look at how sanctuary cities provide illegal immigrants with protection — even from charges of homicide.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - The Political Value of Crisis

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Sowell explains the common political tactic of presenting a “crisis” as a means of forwarding their agenda.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

There ought not be a law

fromReason: The world is an imperfect place, but laws tend to make things worse, not better.
Regulation Nation

US drops four spots to 18th place in the happiness rankings

fromTheHill: "Perceptions of corruption in government and business have risen over time; and confidence in public institutions has waned."
The Pursuit of Happiness

March 14, 2018

More imprisonment does not reduce state drug problems

fromPewTrusts: Nearly 300,000 people are held in state and federal prisons in the United States for drug-law violations, up from less than 25,000 in 1980.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Why not private provision of many government services?

fromFFF: There are a wide variety of tasks that the private sector could better provide that many think must be supplied by the government.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Majority of college students say their campus climate hurts free speech

fromTownhall.com: An increased majority of U.S. college students, 61 percent, now agree that the climate on their college campus “prevents some people from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive.”
Indoctrination and Censorship