Yeah. This. But without the “we” and without the sense of shock. Manipulate and control. It’s what governments do. Anybody who’s surprised just hasn’t been watching.
Category: Government
Government evils — but I repeat myself
Boys with sticks learn what sticks are for. Beautiful. Bovard on the latest “food insecurity” fraud. Hmph. Must be nice to be so powerful that airlines change their routes so you can get to your second home more quickly. Seven archeological mysteries that could be solved in this century. Another potential use for cannibis: preventing organ rejection after transplants. Much more research needed. The rise and fall of the Salem witch hysteria. This dog is a caretaker at a zoo.
Taking tacticool to an even more ridiculous extreme. (H/T jb) Remember that New Yorker article on the coming Cascadia “coast is toast” quake? Went a little over the top in places. Now its author, Kathryn Schultz is back with some pretty sound advice for staying safe when Cascadia decides to do its thing. This history of modern government medicine was a bit thick for me, I confess. But if you really want to know how we got in the fix we’re in, this is the article for you. (H/T ML) Look who’s pushing the international arms treaty and how they’re…
This oughta keep you busy for a while. Major hat tip to faithful contributor MJR, who went on a link-hunting tear this week. Um … Yes, Wired, you can do something about Spotify’s weird new anti-privacy policy: don’t use Spotify. And y’know, Spotify’s “clarification” doesn’t help one little bit. It amounts to, “Oh, we’ll never, ever abuse all those bits of your life we’re requiring users to give up to us. Trust us …” Now this is funny. How North Korea is handling shooting range budget cuts. Over at TZP, Nicki and Y.B. write about a pair of killers and…
Prisons and the reading matter they prohibit. $15 minimum wage: The Tony Soprano Enabling Act. Well. That’s yet another reason not to go to movie theaters. (H/T LA) Another puppycide by cop. Another example of sociopathic contempt for life, including human life. This in the City of Brotherly Love. Any maroon who’d sign up with an adultery website, handing over all manner of personal details in the process, is probably dumb enough to deserve this. And it’s yet another opportunity to snicker at that ubiquitous commercial Christian, Josh Duggar. (Less amusing is that some in their faction would prefer to…
🙂 Sword + righteous determination beats knife-wielding cowards. And that reminded faithful reader PT of “I’ll see your six …”. A rough, tough novelist pulls himself back from the brink of death. How well do you know Gandalf from Dumbledore? I was thinking about that while re-reading the Harry Potter books recently, so naturally I had to steal this when Wendy McElroy posted it. The 2015 Human Freedom Index from Cato, the Frasier Institute, and three other think tanks around the world. Once again, the U.S. doesn’t crack the top 10. “I Made an Untraceable Ghost Gun” by Andy Greenberg…
Panama was already better than many countries on guns. A smidge, anyhow. Now, in hopes of combating rising crime, they’re about to get better. Only a little better than the original smidge, but it’s something. Even the most worthless of petty bureaucrats now think they deserve to be treated and feted like Oriental pashas. Who are these people, anyhow? Once again, at least a few on the fringe are sending the message that they’ve had enough. (Tip o’ hat to jed) Yeah, now let’s see if the EPA and its employees get treated like a private corporation and its people…
Sorry. But when it comes to security, I can’t agree that this makes the Tesla any more secure than a Jeep. Nor do these systems make homes more “smart.” (The last bit, with the dog and the hot tub, was pretty good, though.) “This vet is not a threat.” Oath Keepers, three percenters, and even local sheriffs and legislators rally to prevent the VA from confiscating guns. The resistance is building. Meanwhile, the NRA would like to see more abuse of gun owners/buyers in the dubious name of “mental health.” They don’t get it, do they, what the rising tide…
No surprise at all: economic freedom creates personal happiness. One documentarian’s fight against the absurd (and profitable) copyright on “Happy Birthday.” Looks as if she now has some powerful ammo. Love it. A rogue Dairy Queen has been going its own way since 1949 (though why it doesn’t just go independent and avoid the franchise fees is a question). (H/T Jim B. in comments) As jed noted when he sent this item: good news, but not fast enough. 🙂 Bovard on how disability law went nuts Lessons learned (although probably mostly not learned) from the stupid, lying, inept drug raid…
Oh man, this creep should be Bloomberg’s next anti-gun spokesthing. “I just … um, yeah, I just found the gun right there on the bench! And as soon as I picked it up it started … um, going off all by itself! Three times!” I have no idea whether Ellen Pau should be fired. But this Reddit revolt is impressive in this day of corporatized Internet. I officially doubt this ever happened. But I can see good horror movie material here. (H/T Jim B. in comments) More on the Texas plan to repatriate and store the state’s gold. A hint…