May 2013
3 tags
Obama's Empty Rhetoric →
Like the “War on Drugs,” a rhetorical phrase that the Obama administration has rejected even while continuing to wage the policy it describes, many ongoing activities of the government he presides over came under verbal attack from President Barack Obama this afternoon.
So the president says “journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs,” even though...
3 tags
Will liberals hold Obama accountable for civil... →
President Obama is dealing with revelations about the Justice Department’s spying on journalists and other scandals by changing the subject.
In a major national security address Thursday, he announced the phaseout of the Guantanamo prison facility and the CIA’s oversight of the drone program. But these are cosmetic changes that can’t conceal his record on the war on terrorism,...
2 tags
“Uh, I don’t have anybody to send out there,” the 911 dispatcher told the woman....”
– 911 Dispatcher Tells Woman About To Be Sexually Assaulted There Are No Cops To Help Her Due To Budget Cuts « CBS Seattle (via paleolibertarian)
Related: Make It Hurt
3 tags
“[Obama’s] words will be little consolation for 8-year-old Nabila, who, on Oct....”
– The Forgotten Victims of Obama’s Drone War (via theamericanbear)
4 tags
2 tags
Injustice For Cameron D'Ambrosio
letterstomycountry:
Every time I look at this young man’s photo, my heart breaks apart for him and his family:
Cameron D’Ambrosio should not be in handcuffs. He should not be in a court room. He should not have been arrested, and he damn well sure should not have been accused of Communicating a Terrorist Threat, or threatened with 20 years in prison for making what amounts to poor word...
4 tags
Los Angeles Voters Choose to Cap Number of Pot... →
I’m surrounded by ignorant, moralistic, state-worshipping bullies.
4 tags
A Virtual Weimar: Hyperinflation in a Video Game... →
Fascinating.
4 tags
““I think it is critical for us to understand that Guantanamo is not necessary to...”
– Ramzi Kassem, lawyer who represents seven detainees of various nationalities at Guantanamo and one at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
2 tags
With Government Abuses, The Problem is the Power,... →
The magic phrase “national security” is often invoked to justify these transgressions — often in transparently convenient ways (Attorney General Holder claimed the AP had put “lives at risk” with the story that sparked the scrutiny, even though John Brennan had said there was no such risk.) But intrusive surveillance is increasingly wielded in routine criminal...
5 tags
“…already Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., says he will insist that any federal disaster...”
– Roll Call (via brooklynmutt)
The alternative, of course, is “that any federal disaster aid be paid for through additional coercion by threatening individuals with violence (taxes or debt to be paid later with taxes).”
Which sounds more merciless and inhumane?
Ask any taxpayer, and...
3 tags
3 tags
Obama's "Balanced Approach" Proposal to Deficit... →
Of course, “spending cuts” are mostly decreases to projected increases. (And a trillion dollars less than he promised last month.) Overall spending will not actually decrease.
Additionally, some of those “savings” come in switching to “Chained CPI” as the measure of inflation. This tends to rise more slowly than other forms of measuring price inflation. But the...
3 tags
Obama on Drugs →
The repeal of Prohibition was the real reason for FDR’s popularity. Historians credit the New Deal and World War II, but both were negative. The New Deal did not get us out of the Great Depression (neither did WWII) and WWII did not improve living standards, but instead led to massive deaths and destruction.
With Repeal achieved, the entire alcohol industry, including distilleries, breweries,...
1 tag
3 tags
Authorities: Hofstra student killed by police →
A New York college student being held in a headlock at gunpoint by an intruder was accidentally shot and killed by a police officer who had responded to a report of the home invasion at an off-campus home, police said Saturday.
Andrea Rebello was shot once in the head Friday morning by an officer who opened fire after the masked intruder pointed a gun at the officer while holding the...
3 tags
Libertarian Link Roundup
Some interesting reading I’ve come across while sitting on a chair in the sky…
War
Lew Rockwell’s manifesto of peace.
Aeon Skoble’s thoughtful contributions to the subject of libertarianism and war.
Glenn Greenwald on the endless war on terror.
Has the Left made peace with the warfare state?
John Whitehead on the war on terror and the surveillance state.
Economics
...
1 tag
1 tag
The TSA is as loathsome as ever. And I get to deal with them three more times this summer. Yay.
5 tags
Why gold?
self-ownership:
rknjl:
Why not diamonds?
“Will you take half this diamond for your laptop?”
“Why certainly!”
“brb gotta try and cut this damn thing in half.”
Not to mention that even if the diamonds were easily divisible, they would not retain their value. A single diamond of 1 karat is worth more than four diamonds of a quarter karat each (of the same quality).
Unlike gold, diamonds...
How Commerce Expands Culture
thecurioustask:
The view that we exist in a cultural wasteland is both popular and mistaken. Contemporary humans have unparalleled access to the greatest amounts and qualities of expressive media created in any point in our history. The fruits of the division of labor and specialization have grown so bountiful that we can eat our fill of the raw necessities of life while having enough left...
3 tags
Libertarians and War: A Bibliographical Essay →
Anthony Gregory does yeoman’s work collecting books, essays, and opinions on the libertarian stance on war.
Read it, click the copious embedded links and spend a few days reading those, and be sure to bookmark it for future reference. It’s a veritable bounty of knowledge and insight…
3 tags
The Biggest Obama Scandals Are Proven and Ignored →
Yes, President Obama has broken the law on multiple occasions. Despite clearly stating, in a 2008 questionnaire, that the commander-in-chief is not lawfully empowered to ignore treaties duly ratified by the Senate, Obama has willfully failed to enforce the torture treaty, signed by Ronald Reagan and duly ratified by the Senate, that compels him to investigate and prosecute torture. As...
2 tags
2 tags
“I’d like to underline that none of the stress, the heightened security measures,...”
– Anthony Bourdain: LIBYA
5 tags
Our Civil Liberties, RIP →
Amidst all the justified outrage over the apparent targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups by the IRS, not to mention the Associated Press phone tapping brouhaha, an important point is being lost: this is nothing new. The Tea Partiers may be shocked – shocked! – that the Big Government they have spent the last few years complaining about really is a threat to our liberties, but the...
“[W]e do not face a choice between imperfect private economic decisions and...”
– Don Boudreaux, Façade Capitalism Means Façade Freedom
2 tags
Façade Capitalism Means Façade Freedom →
Very quotable speech by Don Boudreaux:
An economy is capitalist in façade-only if much of the direction of resources in that economy is governed by something other than the free choices of consumers and the genuine competition of producers – competition both for customers and for resources to be used to produce what producers anticipate customers will demand.
Likewise, a society is free in...
2 tags
WatchIt’s always great when Jon Stewart calls Obama out.
1 tag
Cotati, California Police Tase Man as He Films... →
A [couple] recently captured police, who were outside his home answering a call about a domestic violence complaint, in what can only be described as a very bizarre video.
The unidentified Cotati, Calif., man and woman tell the police from inside their home that “there is no domestic violence, just an argument with yelling.”
They also inform police that they have one child in the house and one...
3 tags
Michigan Father Killed in Marijuana Child Removal... →
thefreelioness:
A prosecutor in northern Michigan has cleared the police officer who shot and killed a Grayling man as police and Child Protective Services (CPS) employees attempted to seize his three-year-old. The attempted removal of the minor child came after a police officer who came to the scene on a call earlier that same day reported that he smelled marijuana and reported the incident to...
4 tags
“This past week, we learned that the IRS has targeted for additional scrutiny the...”
– Andrew Napolitano
The key point is that the last bit is always the truth: “the government can do as it pleases so long as it can politically get away with it.” Words on parchment can never restrain those who thirst for ever more power, nor hold them to any moral obligation whatsoever....
2 tags
Acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller has resigned... →
shortformblog:
President Obama announced minutes ago that, in response to the revelation that the IRS discriminately targeted conservative-leaning groups for scrutiny, he’s asked for and accepted the resignation of Miller, the acting IRS Commissioner. The commissioner at the time of the targeting was Donald Shulman; Miller didn’t assume the post of acting commissioner until November of last...
2 tags
“The IRS scandal is that they steal your money at the point of a gun — and...”
– Lew Rockwell
6 tags
The major sea change in media discussions of Obama... →
[I]t is remarkable how media reactions to civil liberties assaults are shaped almost entirely by who the victims are. For years, the Obama administration has been engaged in pervasive spying on American Muslim communities and dissident groups. It demanded a reform-free renewal of the Patriot Act and the Fisa Amendments Act of 2008, both of which codify immense powers of warrantless eavesdropping,...
4 tags
Florida quietly shortened yellow light standards &... →
A subtle, but significant tweak to Florida’s rules regarding traffic signals has allowed local cities and counties to shorten yellow light intervals, resulting in millions of dollars in additional red light camera fines.
The 10 News Investigators discovered the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) quietly changed the state’s policy on yellow intervals in 2011, reducing the...
2 tags
Baltimore Cops Sued (Again) For Destroying Citizen... →
[T]he Baltimore Police Department is being sued for attacking a woman and smashing her camera, marking the second time in two years it has been sued for destroying footage.
The first suit earned them a federal reprimand. The second will hopefully earn them a federal investigation.
In that suit, which was filed last week, Makia Smith says she was stuck in stand-still rush hour traffic in March...
3 tags
“In a few short weeks, [the Obama administration has] managed to show that when...”
– Jon Stewart
“The reason [so many vapers are libertarian] is... →
1 tag
1 tag
1 tag
“[Gas cans don’t pour well.] Soap doesn’t work. Toilets don’t flush....”
– Jeffrey Tucker
2 tags
Canadians Finally Figuring Healthcare Out
surgerycenterofoklahoma:
Dr. Jeffrey Singer wrote this piece for Reason Magazine this week. His article explains why the number of Canadians fleeing to the United States for surgery may have peaked and might indeed be falling. As the Canadian system continues its death spiral, private health clinics and mini-hospitals operating on a cash basis are springing up all over the country, this new...
1 tag
Cops Beat "Possibly Intoxicated" Man to Death in... →
Blood stains are still visible on the sidewalk at the corner of Flower Street and Palm Drive, where a Bakersfield man struggled with as many as nine officers and later died this week.
David Sal Silva, 33 and the father of four young children, died early Wednesday morning after deputies say he fought with them and CHP officers who’d responded to a report of a possibly intoxicated man...
5 tags
“Old fashioned Keynesianism, as practiced by the likes of [Paul] Krugman,...”
– Peter Klein
5 tags
Part-time workers to lose pay amid health act's... →
The law requires large employers offering health insurance to include part-time employees working 30 hours a week or more. But rather than provide healthcare to more workers, a growing number of employers are cutting back employee hours instead.
The result: Not only will these workers earn less money, but they’ll also miss out on health insurance at work.
As Don Boudreaux notes:...
1 tag
Cops being Cops
Cop denies woman in custody of her phone call. Handcuffs her, turns off camera in room. When camera is turned on again, handcuffed woman is on floor in a pool of her own blood.
Cops Shoot Pregnant Woman in Face After She Calls 911 For Help
Florida man flees seatbelt stop on foot, cop runs him over and kills him
Watch this video of what looks like a mugging. It’s actually a group of eight...
