LibertyPen

September 25, 2017

Has asset forfeiture gone too far? Damn right Skippy!

from FoxNews: How the legalized theft of one man's truck brings the morality of civil asset forfeiture to light.
Police State America

Oklahoma is imprisoning so many people it can’t hire enough guards to keep up

from In These Times: “Prison guard unions often have a strong incentive to push back against reforms, because so much of what we spend on incarceration goes to correctional officers,” explains John Pfaff, a Fordham Law School professor.
Police State America

Scientists go after the media for highlighting a study showing IPCC climate models were wrong

from Watts Up With That!: Sadly, these scientists cannot rejoice that things are not as bad as they thought because the new finding threatens their funding.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

UC Berkeley’s ‘Free Speech Week’ officially canceled, appeared to be set-up from the start

from The Mercury News: Email suggests organizers didn’t intend for the event to happen
Indoctrination and Censorship

Sweden's 'man-free' music festival prompts response from transgender people

from Fox News: The ban on men, it turns out, only applies to what Knyckare described as “cisgender men”—which is a term for men whose gender identity corresponds to their sex assigned at birth. That's not very PC.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Judge approves surveillance on Reno buses

from Mohave Valley Daily News: If you are in public, you are in government's space and will be monitored and recorded. That is what public means these days.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

September 23, 2017

The treasonous media hates America

from LibertyCrier: Compelling evidence is presented in an 11-minute video of Trump's words and media coverage.
Media Bias on Parade

Unlawful rental registries: Coming soon to a city near you

from The Free Thought Project: Unlike the federal government, local government cannot print money. In order to grow, they have to mine for new revenue sources.
The Government is Not Us

Cop who threw handcuffed man into lake and watched him drown, gets only 10 days in jail

from The Free Thought Project: To prove once and for all that no one is above the law, the state punishes one of its own.
Police State America

Look around! Common law works. government statute doesn’t.

from The Daily Bell: Wouldn’t that be great if you could simply base your actions on common sense and respect for the standards of a community?
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Rand Paul: ‘I won’t be bribed or bullied’ on repeal vote

from The Hill: Rand Paul is one of the few politicians who was actually committed to repealing Obamacare. He has voted to do so each time. But he will not rubber stamp Obamacare Lite.
Regulation Nation

California demands money from Gatorade to protect water from slander

from Reason: California politicians take nitwittery to the next level in order to shakedown a productive corporation.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

September 22, 2017

The politician behind California high speed rail now says it's 'almost a crime'

from Reason: The creator of the scheme is suing to keep it from happening.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

In Florida it’s illegal to power your home with solar panels—thanks to lobbying

from The Free Thought Project: The function of government is about enriching cronies, not representing citizens.
The Government is Not Us

Unleashing the power of mockery on annoying social justice warriors

from Creators Syndicate: In a culture where humorless leftists scolds seek to impose their rule upon us normals by sucking every drop of joy out of life, it is the conservative smartass who is the true subversive.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

🎬 Do You Have the Courage to Dissent?

from LearnLiberty: Does peer pressure have you running with the crowd or are you guided by the judgment of your mind?
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

This is how Californians take back their privacy

from The Sacramento Bee: An internet privacy bill failed to pass California’s Legislature this session, so advocates are pushing a measure for the November 2018 ballot.

Feminist claims sex dolls can be raped

from Milo: If boys can be girls by simple proclamation, isn't anything possible?
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

September 21, 2017

Who truly imperils our free society?

from Creators Syndicate: A revealing and insightful look into the barbarians destroying America from within.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Hours after Hurricane Irma, Miami-Dade county tickets residents for code violations

from New York Post: Government wasted no time identifying Hurricane Irma not just as a storm but a windfall.
The Government is Not Us

John Stossel: Detoured by Government

from Creators Syndicate: More and more Americans are learning that licensing is about revenue collection and restricting competition for incumbent businesses. It is not about consumer protection but rather cronyism.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Police in Oklahoma City fatally shoot man who was holding a stick

from New York Post: 2 cops see a man accused of no crimes holding a stick. One tasers him and the other shoots. The man dies. Cops get a vacation, man gets a funeral.
Police State America

France set to make wolf-whistling at women illegal

from Milo: Governments are relentless in their efforts control every facet of human behavior. Even the most benign expressions of unapproved thought are to be criminalized. France takes the lead.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

DHS pays police millions to ticket and prosecute motorists

from MassPrivatei: The odds of being ticketed by police are increasing at an alarming rate, as politicians and law enforcement invent new ways to take money from the public.
Police State America

September 20, 2017

The silencing of dissent

from TruthDig: The ruling elites, who grasp that the reigning ideology of global corporate capitalism and imperial expansion no longer has moral or intellectual credibility, have mounted a campaign to shut down the platforms given to their critics.
Indoctrination and Censorship

Venezuelan price controls lead to predictable shortages

from Reason: Venezuelan grocery stores only have products shoppers don't want.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Princeton’s Constitution Day lecture titled ‘F*ck Free Speech’

from National Review: This logic-challenged professor knocks those who value free speech on campus, while using her position as a campus leader to spearhead a project that openly calls the president “racist” (hate speech if directed at a lefty).
Indoctrination and Censorship

Trump vindicated: report says Obama government wiretapped Trump campaign

from Breitbart: Just in case you watch CNN or were away for the weekend, you may have missed this one.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Governments turn tables by suing public records requesters

from Associated Press: The new tactic of corrupt government agencies is to sue those make FOIA requests, banking that the high costs of defending themselves will silence them.
The Government is Not Us

Unapproved thought is violence

from American Thinker: The cockamamie rationale that uttering unapproved or unconventional speech is can be perceived as violence to some, thereby justifying actual violent behavior.
Indoctrination and Censorship

September 19, 2017

How the government can steal your stuff: 6 questions about civil asset forfeiture answered

from The Conversation: Civil asset forfeiture laws let authorities, such as federal marshals or local sheriffs, seize property – cash, a house, a car, a cellphone – that they suspect is involved in criminal activity.
Police State America

Stop encouraging people to live in dangerous places

from Reason: Make Harvey and Irma our last blank checks, and from here on out, have people pay their own freight for living dangerously.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Walter E Williams: The Welfare State Legacy

from Creators Syndicate: So you think that the problems of today's black Americans are a result of a legacy of slavery, racial discrimination and poverty?
The Welfare State: Promoting Dependence

Internet raises $80k for hot dog vendor mugged by government

from Foundation for Economic Freedom: A cop steals money from a hot dog vendor's wallet. Then, the Internet provides justice.
Police State America

🎬 So you think money is the root of all evil?

from LibertyPen: Excerpts from Atlas Shrugged in response to the comment that money is the root of all evil. From the brilliant Ayn Rand
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

America does not need socialism, but more laissez-faire capitalism

from Capitalism Magazine: Very often bad ideas do not die. They simply reappear during periods of supposed social and political crisis in slightly different intellectual garb.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

September 18, 2017

Should you tell the cops you have a gun?

from Reason: Some gun owners argue that disclosure is considerate and prudent, while others worry it will escalate a routine traffic stop into a tense, unpleasant, and possibly life-threatening encounter.
2nd Amendment Assaults

25 most commonly used recreational drugs in America

from St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The drugs Americans prefer most. Of course, all of them are either illegal or severely restricted and heavily taxed. Government reverence for the pursuit of happiness is not exactly that of the founders.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Irma watch: How likely are prohibitions on ‘price gouging’ to help the poor?

from The American Spectator: Some gun owners argue that disclosure is considerate and prudent, while others worry it will escalate a routine traffic stop into a tense, unpleasant, and possibly life-threatening encounter.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Gun rights top media poll

from The Daily Caller: Lost in the storm of hurricane coverage, a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll demonstrates Americans’ growing support for gun rights.

2nd Amendment Assaults

John Stossel: The best part of the Constitution

from Reason: Stossel shares his thoughts about Constitution Day (September 17).
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Will Las Vegas be ‘Amsterdam on steroids’? Door opens for pot lounges

from NBC News: What happens in Vegas will still stay in Vegas — but perhaps no longer behind closed doors, at least when it comes to pot.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

September 16, 2017

Maduro drops all pretense, vows to become a dictator to ensure “economic peace” in Venezuela

from PanAm Post: End stage socialism for all to see. Leftists and children should be careful what they wish for.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Sheriff forced to pay own money for sending SWAT team after cop who criticized him

from The Free Thought Project: A Louisiana Sheriff, who sent a SWAT team after a fellow officer who exposed his corruption, is now being held accountable with a civil lawsuit. Of course, no criminal or disciplinary actions have been taken.
Police State America

🎬 Thomas DiLorenzo - The Revolution of 1913

LibertyPen: Ever wonder how our beautiful country, founded on individual liberty, has morphed into its present state of a powerful central government attempting to dictate every facet of your life? The events of 1913 contains the answers.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

The self-driving vehicle future will be the end of privacy

from The Activist Post: The vehicles sensors will constantly be sucking up data (weather, traffic, speed, location, time, date) and feeding it into the navigation system, potentially revealing private details to law enforcement and other hackers.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Cops claim standard procedure used as teen is tasered to death

from The Free Thought Project: Cops caught on video tasering a teen in his genitals until he died and saying they were going to kill him, now claim this is standard procedure.
Police State America

September 15, 2017

230 years after the Constitution, we’re walking a dangerous road

from The Rutherford Institute: A look at what it means to live under the Constitution today.
The Government is Not Us

🎬 Walter E Williams - What is a Right?

from LibertyPen: There are many misconceptions about what constitutes a right. Professor Williams provides clarity.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Court lets DEA keep evidence from warrantless search

from TechDirt: The government's lawyers with robes conveniently decided that possible cause is just as good as probable cause. The state may do as it pleases. The Constitutional protections of the Fourth Amendment are now officially gutted.
The Government is Not Us

A case against the minimum wage

from Forbes: The case AGAINST minimum wage is the case FOR economic liberty. Supporters focus only on the beneficiaries without regard to those shut out of the job market each time the entry bar is raised.
Regulation Nation

What does child porn smell like? DHS is training dogs to sniff it out

from ReasonTV: This may not qualify as politically correct, but it is hard to contest this being filed under other nitwittery.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Permanent reauthorization of Section 702 of FISA 'borders on insanity'

from The Caldwell County News: The This would be a final and permanent nail in the coffin for the Fourth Amendment.
Say goodbye to the notion of the "sovereign citizen".
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

September 14, 2017

📹 Our Amazing Debt (Cosmos Parody)

from ReasonTV: The national debt just skipped past $20 trillion, which puts America's indebtedness at "unfathomably staggering." (And the chunk you owe personally at "a lot.") The math is so complex that Reason TV decided to lean on "Cosmos" to explain it.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Maine is nullifying federal regulations that cripple local farmers

from Mises Institute: This is one path for the future of freedom. State nullification is the remedy for federal overreach and tyrannical anti-liberty regs.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Has the NYT Gone Collectively Mad?

from Consortiumnews: "For those of us who have taught journalism or worked as editors, a sign that an article is the product of sloppy or dishonest journalism is that a key point will be declared as flat fact when it is unproven or a point in serious dispute – and it then becomes the foundation for other claims, building a story like a high-rise constructed on sand."
Media Bias on Parade

Calls to imprison "climate change deniers" grow in the wake of Hurricane Irma

from Mises Institute: Environmental fanatics continue to grow more radical and intolerant. The movement seems to be dropping the guise of science, developing into a full-fledged religion.
Indoctrination and Censorship

In surprise vote, House passes amendment to restrict asset forfeiture

from The Intercept: Could pass the Senate on anti-Sessions, anti-Trump sentiment, but if Trump is the tyrannical authoritarian some suspect, he will veto it.
Police State America

This new database is tracking how many cops are charged with crimes

from Reason: A new database tries to answer one of the most vexing questions in the national debate over policing. The truly amazing thing is this hasn't been done before.
Police State America