The “Preparedness Priorities” series will resume before Monday (already have two more in the works). But I’d like your opinion on something else, please. ADDED: Wow. Got some really good reader submissions! So I’ve removed the original two covers and my own first revision (since all have been thoroughly trounced by the Commentariat). I think the mockup by Keith Perkins and the sketch by Travis (below) are better than the best I did. The anti-snitch book is roaring along, thanks to Anonymous Layout Guy’s speedy work. These are the two potential cover designs (one inspired by a photo MJR sent,…
Category: War on Some Drugs
Obama staffer: vote early and often. (H/T O) Those prescription drugs in your emergency kit might last longer than you think. Maybe decades longer. (I’d be cautious, though, especially with antibiotics.) Why is the Taliban so scared of little girls? And why are Muslim leaders always so quiet about monstrous acts like this? So, Barack, you wanna debate civil liberties? Why do Ashkenazi Jews tend to have such high IQs? Interesting speculations. I’ve been having trouble getting around to several things, including a review of Wendy McElroy’s new book, The Art of Living Free. So just let me say a…
Funny how we’ve been assured for the last century or so that fingerprints are infallible evidence. (Tip o’ hat to Jim Bovard) Do bike helmet laws indirectly do more harm than good? Handy Helpful Hints … on growing cannabis. (Via Brad Spangler’s Twitter feed) Are you doing your bit to be sufficiently “suspicious” to the homeland (achtung!) security state? C’mon, it isn’t that difficult (as John Silveira predicted years ago). (H/T O) Hm. Wonder if this’ll worry that pack of paranoids? Slave ants rebel and destroy the young of their oppressors. (Via the very nice and mild-mannered JG) Hey, at…
… or stream of consciousness narrative in lieu of lists of links The browsers are crowded. Thick with links. Bursting with information. But what to do with it all, dear readers? What to do? When the Internet tells one that Hua Hin, Thailand is an ideal ex-pat haven, but Honduras aims to lure us with private cities, where does one turn? We are wanted everywhere at the same time we are welcome nowhere. And I don’t mean merely where does one take one’s weary body when geography beckons. I mean, what does one do when swept away on the bit,…
Man steals rare antique gun. He’s so proud he goes on TV with it Speaking of guns, here’s more on 3-D printables. This is gonna change the world. A little drug-war surprise from Paul Ryan. Some dogs are better than their people (sad story). Cage ’em without charges until they die. It’s the new American Way. When he tweeted about the new Congressional Research Service report on the Posse Comitatus Act, Radley Balko noted that these reports are done only at the request of congressthings. So who suddenly needs an update on Posse Comitatus — and why? Ya gotta wonder.…
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…
Technological crime-solving marvel! Police cameras save us from the dreaded threat of … erm … cannabis residue on some guy’s teeth. (H/T JG) Seven myths about the police. (Civil-liberties left perspective, some f-bomb, good article.) “Did the great financial crisis start with the end of the gold standard?” Uh, yeah. Maybe it’s not what some of us would call simplifying. But for those still in the little rat-wheel it’s a fine start. (Tip o’ hat to Jim Bovard) Ah, it was nice, being an official part of “the lunatic fringe of the libertarian movement.” (One correction, though. Loompanics didn’t go…
The New Yorker excoriates cops in a long (must read) article about how they treat their snitches. The title says it all: “The Throwaways.” Informants are the foot soldiers in the government’s war on drugs. By some estimates, up to eighty per cent of all drug cases in America involve them, often in active roles like [dead young snitch, Rachel] Hoffman’s. For police departments facing budget woes, untrained C.I.s provide an inexpensive way to outsource the work of undercover officers. “The system makes it cheap and easy to use informants, as opposed to other, less risky but more cumbersome approaches,”…
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…
One of my neighbors got hauled off in handcuffs this afternoon — not an everyday occurrence, but not an unusual one ’round here. Cops followed him into his driveway, pried him out of his car, then set Officer K9 dancing around the vehicle. I was walking Ava past the place and feared that K9, a cute black lab, would get excited about the passing dog and get the poor guy in worse trouble than he was already in. But those drug dogs are focused. Fortunately this one didn’t alert to anything. Anyhow, it was only a three-cop bust. Small as…