June 14, 2019

Cuba rations food as its socialist economy enters crisis mode

fromMises: You probably know what is going on in Venezuela. You probably don't know what is going on in Cuba.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Great lakes reveal a fatal flaw in climate change ‘science’

fromIssues&Insights: "if nothing can disprove a theory, and every event, no matter how contradictory, is proof that the theory is valid, is that really science? Sounds more like a religion."

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

New cars to be equipped with breathalyzers, drivers given mental health assessments

fromActivistPosts: Seeking to emulate China, Rep. Kathleen Rice’s H.R. 3374 bill, otherwise known as the End Drunk Driving Act, would put breathalyzers and ignition interlock devices in every new car.

Regulation Nation

The city of Vallejo, California, has a police problem—and it's all being caught on camera

fromReason: A small city in California has been plagued by police shootings, costly civil rights lawsuits, and incidents of excessive force.

Police State America

From 2015 to ’18, Contra Costa cops seized $1.1 million from people not charged with a crime

fromMises: Marijuana made up $1.2 million, the largest single source of cash. If we are governed by consent of the people, the people must have been demanding this. Or, perhaps we should check our premises.

The Government is Not Us          Police State America

Rising conservatives are as hostile to freedom as the Leftists they disdain

fromReason: Republicans, who have gleefully warned the public about Democratic flirtations with socialism, shouldn't be quick to gloat given the emergence of an anti-freedom movement on the Right.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

June 12, 2019

California Democratic Party: First Amendment ‘Limited to exclude hate speech’

fromDailyWire: The First Amendment exists primarily to protect unpopular speech (hate speech for some) since popular speech needs no protection, a concept lost on California's Democratic Party.

Indoctrination and Censorship        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

VIDEO: Rachel Maddow - Julian Assange and the Future of a Free Press

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: When the operations of government are shielded from public view democracy is a farce. Prosecuting the publisher of such information could only be acknowledgement that the government is not us.  

The Government is Not Us       Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - The Future of Free Enterprise and Liberty

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: A warning about the trajectory of economic and personal liberty in America.  

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Empty words: Why Pelosi is suddenly saying she wants Trump ‘in prison’

fromWashingtonExaminer: The “in prison” line allows the speaker to look like a good anti-Trump ally, but it is clearly in service of avoiding an impeachment.  

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Not the Onion: Biden promises to cure cancer If elected

fromZeroHedge: This begs the question, why do politicians lie? Answer: Voters want the impossible and only a liar will promise it.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Federal court rules citizens well within the law to tell a cop “f**k you”

fromFreeThoughtProject: While a federal court ruled this month that citizens can swear at police officers and the police officers cannot arrest them for it, it is still not recommended.  

Indoctrination and Censorship        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

June 10, 2019

U.S. government’s moves against Julian Assange are a blueprint for making journalists into felons

fromTheStar: Empowering prosecutors to decide who does or doesn’t deserve press protections would restrict “freedom of the press” to a small, cloistered priesthood of privileged citizens designated by the government as “journalists.” The First Amendment was written to avoid precisely that danger.  

The Government is Not Us        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

VIDEO: Homelessness - California's Ugly Growth Industry

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: California has an epidemic of homelessness that is hard to believe. A look at what is going on in Golden State’s richest cities. Karen Hix, Tucker Carlson.  

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market      The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Hacking dirty government secrets is not a crime

fromCounterpunch: "Corporate media’s instant reversal on Assange—from rapist scum to First Amendment hero—elevates self-serving hypocrisy to high art. But that’s OK. Whatever gets Assange closer to freedom is welcome."  

The Government is Not Us        Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Give up your password or go to jail: Police push legal boundaries to get into cellphones

fromNBCNews: “The world should know that what they’re doing out here is crazy,” said a man who refused to share his passcode with police.  

Police State America

You’re under arrest: How the police state muzzles our right to speak truth to power

fromRutherfordInstitute: "What the architects of the police state want are submissive, meek citizens who don’t talk back, don’t challenge government authority and don’t speak out against government misconduct."  

Police State America

Oakland, California decriminalizes magic mushrooms and peyote

fromUSAToday: The city council’s vote directed law enforcement to cease investigating and prosecuting individuals for using or possessing drugs sourced from plants, cacti and – most commonly – mushrooms.  

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange