I wasn’t going to write anything to mark this anniversary. I can’t stand the annual rehashing, the verbal digging up of the dead, the demand that we always remember, remember, remember — but somehow never analyze, reflect, or correct. Then Jim Bovard reminded me of something that really matters. He noted that Thomas Szasz, who just died, was one of the prominent libertarians who stayed true to his principles after that handful of villains wrought their havoc 11 years ago. So many didn’t. So many people who claimed to be libertarian tossed their alleged principles out the window as fast…
Category: Resistance
Sometimes you need to say “no” to Big Brother
Finally got through my latest round of deadlines and returned to the snitch book this weekend. The first-round reality-checkers (lawyers, security people, ex-cops, people who’ve been hurt by snitches) gave valuable input. The second draft took less time than I thought once I got to it. So … you guys who volunteered to be second-round reality-checkers, get ready. I’m awaiting an answer on one biggish question. Then I’ll do one more quick run-through and the re-draft will be on its way to you. Around the end of this month or early October it’ll be time for the eagle-eyed proofreaders (of…
Apple has gotten a patent to remotely disable features on wireless devices based on their location. (This is from a not-always-reliable source, but is verified elsewhere.) I can’t think of a single legitimate reason to impose blanket blackouts like that based on location (language in the patent to the contrary). Lots of illegitimate ones, though. Halt recording at protests or public meetings. Or at cop checkpoints. Keep protestors from coordinating with each other on the spot. Not clear at the moment whether Apple plans to do this only on iPhones (one more reason not to have a smartphone). But no…
There are so many dogs being shot by cops that they now have a Facebook page. (H/T MLS) But this about takes the cake for puppycides. Gun-rights advocates outbid cops in a gun buyback. Joel already covered this better than I, but you’ll be glad shocked furious to know the ATF has been granted one more power to abuse. They can now steal your stuff in drug crimes. The ATF? Drug crimes? But you see, it’s okay, because as usual in these cases, there don’t actually have to be any drugs or any crimes. So it’s not like they’re exceeding…
I’ve been saving this for a weekend because it’s long. But if you want to know the mindset of a government enforcer or occupier, it’s important: “The Checkpoint.” This piece happens to explore the thinking of Israeli Defense Forces manning a checkpoint to control Palestinians. But … well, it goes way beyond that as you’ll see. These are people we increasingly meet in Police State America. (H/T JG)
Via Wendy McElroy, John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute interviews Brandon Raub, the young man locked in the loony bin because of his Facebook postings. Raub was released on a judge’s order because the petition for Raub’s detainment was “… so devoid of any factual allegations that it could not be reasonably expected to give rise to a case or controversy.” A wrongful-arrest lawsuit is now in the works. —– Of course, Raub violated the first commandment, which is …?
Fedgov issues “healthy meal standards” for schools that are so bureaucratic they threaten an actual healthy meal program (that even teaches kids about growing their own food). Don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that shows so profoundly how tangled and deep the relationships of snitches can be with both handlers and targets. Wish Mr. Aoki had agreed to talk more before he died. Not that anything he said would have been believable. The Tesla Museum: closer to becoming a reality thanks to a cartoonist’s crowdsourcery. Two cases in which dogs died in hot cars, apparently because air conditioning systems failed…
Jim Bovard reminded me of an anniversary I thought I’d never forget: twenty years ago today, the federal government murdered Vicki Weaver. Twenty years ago yesterday, federal marshals kicked off the Ruby Ridge seige by killing a boy and his dog. I was already a freedomista before the Weaver monstrosity, but that was my radicalization. I knew from the moment I saw the fuzzy helicopter images of the Weavers’ cabin on the little antenna-driven TV I had then that something was rotten, foul, unspeakable, and more wrong than words could express. While attending parts of the trial, I also got…
I’ve just begun reading Wendy McElroy’s new book, The Art of Being Free: Politics versus the Everyman and Woman.* Not far into it yet but on the very first page of the preface, I found a great quotable. Y’all know this already, but it’s good to be reminded: Whatever happens within society — from the free market to war — begins with the individual who agrees or dissents. The individual says “yes” or “no” and it is this lever of consent at which freedom lives or dies. You have the right to say “yes” or “no” on matters concerning your…
The topic of recording police and other members of the Authoritah class has arisen hereabouts. Specifically the legality (or otherwise) of recording them. Sad fact is that, although it’s clear as shiny Windexed glass that any citizen ought to be able to record any activity performed in public by “their” government, state laws are often ambiguous at best, lunatic at worst. Most laws about recording were written before half the planet carried video equipment in its pockets and were written in a panic over the horrors of “illegal wiretapping,” to boot. Perfectly innocent people have been threatened with serious prison…