That waitress who naively turned her $12k tip over to the cops? She’s getting her money back despite police claims that the cash … um, yeah, um … “smells like marijuana so we have to keep it, you know, for your own good.” (Amazing how self-congratulatory the jerks manage to be even after the whole country beat up on them for stealing from the poor woman.) Oh, Arizona, the silliness of your legislators never ends, does it? Now they’re trying to declare that you can be pregnant up to two weeks before having sex. Too late! Too late! You missed…
Category: Government
Government evils — but I repeat myself
Last June, I posted about a Southern California county’s all-out war on the little guy — and the little guy’s property rights. At the time, nobody was really sure why thuggish “code enforcement” teams were rampaging across the Antelope Valley, evicting homeowners and demanding that people tear down their homes. But we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it turns out to be yet another post-Kelo landgrab by a government on behalf of government cronies. (H/T to S for the update.) This time it’s the so-called green energy industry. And how can you blame them? After they get billions in…
… that now that the Supremes appear to be negative on Obamacare left-types oppose an “activist judiciary” and “legislating from the bench”? Haven’t they been cheerleaders for exactly that for lo these many decades? Aren’t they the folks who’ve always said the Constitution is a “living document” that means whatever it’s interpreted to mean at the moment? Oh. Wait. I forgot. That’s only because the decisions have nearly always gone in their favor. Chutzpah.
In China: rescuing dogs from the butcher. Survival Singles or doomsday dating. (Tip o’ hat to C^2) Memo to the fedgov: How not to attract tourists. The tale of Weela the lifesaving pit bull. Found this after a discussion of pit bulls came up in yesterday’s comments. It’s from quite a while back, but a wonderful story. Well. That about defines desperation. Ick. When clark mentioned in a recent comment section that a state government was about to raid small farms and slaughter their hogs, I wasn’t sure what he was talking about. But it’s pretty awful. He’s the nice,…
The Tireless Agorist looks at the burgeoning underground economy in Greece. And Forbes asks if Bitcoin might become the favored currency of an international System D. I’m as skeptical of Bitcoin as I am of every cyber currency (once burned …). And my first thought on reading the Forbes piece was, “What will the USA fedgov’s 900-pound gorilla do?” But one of these days, the flailing arms of that monster gorilla will be able to do … nothing. Some innovation in free-market money will defeat it. If it’s Bitcoin, good for Bitcoin.
Sometimes you run across a piece of opinionizing so cluelessly arrogant it takes your breath away. Here’s one sent to me by Jim Bovard: Michael Tomasky challenges us to name a single freedom we’ve lost to the Obama administration. Oh, except any freedoms that mostly only affect people of Arab descent. Because you see, Tomasky is snootily certain none of us actually care about them. (And he’s blissfully unaware that what can be done to the least popular today can be done to others tomorrow. As in “When they came for the [fill in the blank] …”) So before issuing…
Average cost of living $150,000/year? I freaking don’t believe it. Not sure I believe this, either. But it makes me all the more grateful for that freezer full of grass-fed beef. (H/T PT.) Now, this I definitely believe: Having power makes you stupid. Something actually good about Rick Santorum. I try not to lift too much from Radley Balko, since I figure a lot of the same people read his blog and mine, but this was too good: Why you can’t smoke pot. (Because there’s sooooooo much money and lobbying for the drug warriors.) “10 Rules for a Literary Feud.”…
The other day, RL sent this link. It’s to a nice, friendly, good-humored, free site that helps people compose letters to the FBI requesting their infamous files. You just fill in your personal info and the site produces a letter you can print out and send off to find out what the FBI’s got on you. Nice convenience. Naturally, despite all its cheerful disclaimers, the site makes me want to wrap my entire self in tinfoil several layers deep. There was a time, I suppose, when I held the common fear: If you ask for your FBI file and you…
Attorney General Eric Holder tells Northwestern law students that assassinating U.S. citizens is constitutional. The ACLU responds. My mind recoils from grasping that we now live in a country that not only does such things, but then drags poor Orwell out of his grave to justify them.