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Tuesday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Wednesday roundup

It's going to be tight.

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Tuesday roundup

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NeoNote — Government is not your friend

I never expected Trump to do anything except disrupt.

Pardon, but you're making the same mistake they did. You think that if the right person was in charge, everything would be okay.

Government is not your friend.



We will have a government regardless - until we replace it. The replacement may or may not work as well, it may or may not get better, but the ability to replace is inherent in the promise of America.

We've not had a "better" government in decades. Good government is not measured by how much government controls, but by how much it doesn't. It's no accident that America's greatest advances come from places that government doesn't regulate.

Sometimes (and more times than we'd like to admit), the best way to fix something is to replace it. Sometimes the only way to replace something is to destroy it. It works that way with food, clothing, houses. It works that way with cars, companies, and marriages. And yes, sometimes it works that way with government.



There is some opinion that NASA exists to keep other (and particularly American private interests) out of space. There a fair-to-middling novel Kings of the High Frontier, that explores that. I'm rereading it right now.

We understood the principles behind the internet years before. AT&T had adopted some of them years before to keep long-distance phone calls from being interrupted. Even after the internet became public, the real driver for bandwidth and video compression was porn. Netflix owes it's existence to horny men looking for naked pictures.

Building roads has always been easy. Maintaining roads is the hard part. There government has failed so much that "infrastructure" is a code word for raising taxes.

My faith is in the free market, not consumer capitalism.

Trump is changing things (and disrupting things), but he's only a small part of what is happening.



First of all, they were poor before Trump was even a candidate. And they weren't helped by Obama's war on the coal industry. If you read the article, state and local authorities had a hand in there too.

I haven't looked at this in depth, but I know there wasn't much of an economic base to begin with. Despite what is claimed, that's not something that any government can create. At a minimum, it requires good ideas and private investment.

Oh, and the jobs vanishing overseas? That's something the Democrats and Republicans share the blame for.



Like Venezuela?

I could give you pages of proof, but long story short, central control distorts the economy. The more pressure focused in one area, the bigger the disruption. On a small enough scale, you may escape second and third order functions. But if you are using a healthy economy to support massive intervention, you are pretty much guaranteeing those second and third order disruptions.

Think of it like tapping a water main without turning down the pressure. It will give way, it will require replacement, and while it is being fixed most of the system will have to be shut down. The only question is when.



I'm not a conservative.

I picked Venezuela because in just a few short years socialism destroyed a robust, expanding, petroleum based economy.

Your other examples aren't exactly socialist either. They are more progressive than the US, but they have not nationalized their means of production. Unlike say, Venezuela.



Have you taken a closer look at the Obama Administration? Cronyism, emotional appeal, basically everything that Trump does except it was (mostly) within the system.

Government is not your friend.



I repeat, have you taken a look at the Obama administration? A good, long, hard, unbiased look? Have you seen how many of his contributors benefited?

Nor is the Obama administration alone.

This is what annoys me. You're all set to blame Trump and the GOP for crimes against humanity all while excusing the crimes and excesses of the Democrats. And you are still calling for more government control.

Now if you really want, we can match abuse of power against abuse of power. I can tell you horror stories about Congresscritters and technocrats. I can show how almost everything you've been told about economics is designed to confuse you and keep you quiet. I can prove that almost everything government tells you is a lie just to convince you that government is necessary and that one flavor of politics is better than the other.



How about I tell you truths instead?

Government is not your friend.

Politics is about control, not truth, not compassion, not liberty, and not funding.

There's no Man on a White Horse riding to the rescue. You shouldn't trust anyone who looks like that because they are cosplaying.

The Republicans and the Democrats are about equally as guilty for the mess we're in. Each will blame the other, then you for not caring enough. Each will want more money and more power.

There's no objective difference between the party on the right and the party on the left. The only difference is who gets screwed now and who gets screwed tomorrow.

Blame Trump. Blame Obama. Blame Smith. It doesn't matter because government is the problem.

Government is not your friend.



Obama didn't reduce the debt. He reduced the deficit. That means the government didn't overspend as much as it had in previous years. Oh, and by the way, they printed more currency to "cover" some of the difference which raised the inflation rate and the interest on the national debt.

Trump didn't nuke North Korea. He responded to provocation, as Presidents at least as far back as Kennedy have done. And by the way, the Norks are willing to negotiate now.

I don't remember seeing anything about Trump going after gay marriage.

Before you defend the ACA, take a look at the costs of healthcare starting when Medicare became law. It's no accident that the costs have exceeded inflation every year since. Thanks to the ACA, dozens of states are scrambling to try to cover healthcare costs. Some are opting out of the program. Legally they aren't supposed to, but there is no way they can cover costs.

I'm not familiar with Golden Valley.

Only Congress can decriminalize marijuana. Since they are exploiting an opioid crisis created by government action, I don't expect them to act soon. Basically when Obama's DoJ stopped enforcing marijuana law, they were breaking the law.

The cities and counties who have the strictest gun laws are the same cities and counties who have the highest rate of gun crimes. Pay specific attention to Chicago and Baltimore. Most of those areas have had Democrat administrations for decades.

"Vote Democrat." Why? So we can fall off the left side instead of the right side?

Government should be smaller than absolutely necessary.



You mean the multinational corporations who pay both sides but mainly the left ones to pass laws and regulations that benefit them and shut out competition?

You mean the alt-right is a bigger threat than unaccountable race hustlers and movements like BLM who focus on events that fit the narrative and exclude things like "black" on "black" crime in the major cites?

You mean like the attacks on Christianity that happen just because someone professes their faith?

And let's not forget all those people who are only too willing to tell "white" people what they can and cannot say, what they can and cannot think, what they can and cannot do, because of "white privilege."

Government is playing all sides (not both sides, all sides) against each other, and the politicos just keep getting taxes and more power.

Like I told you before, if you want to keep the people you distrust from having power over you backed by government force, the only sure way is to drastically reduce government power. That way you can't mess with them and they can't mess with you.



But it is possible.

Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense: “Society is produced by our wants and, government by our wickedness; the former promotes our happiness positively by uniting our affections, the latter negatively by restraining our vices.”

Milton Friedman wrote: “Government has three primary functions. It should provide for military defense of the nation. It should enforce contracts between individuals. It should protect citizens from crimes against themselves or their property. When government-- in pursuit of good intentions tries to rearrange the economy, legislate morality, or help special interests, the cost come in inefficiency, lack of motivation, and loss of freedom. Government should be a referee, not an active player.”

James Madison said: "There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."

People are perfectly capable of making their own decisions. Those choices won’t always be ones you agree with. Sometimes those choices will be bad ones with terrible consequences. Still, freedom is based on choice. Without choice, there is no freedom. Without freedom, we aren’t human.

You are perfectly capable of making your own decisions. That is your right, that is what makes you human, and f*ck all to anyone who tells you different.

KYFHO now and forever. The only protection you should get is the certainty that NO ONE ELSE can use government to control you.

But, if you expect that right for yourself, you’d better damn well defend if for others. Even if you don’t like them. Even if you don’t trust them. Especially if you don’t trust them. Otherwise you will lose your choice.

Otherwise you will lose your freedom.

It’s simple. If you want to live free, you can’t meddle in other’s lives.

The second you start meddling is the second you sacrifice your own rights.

“The greater good” is just as big a tyranny as “for you own good.”

You only think it’s fantasy because that is what you’ve been taught by those benefitting from the current power structure.
NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

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Friday supersized roundup

Florida vote to post 'In God we Trust' in schools prompts a question: Whose God?

Why does government think it can choose someone's religion?

Behind name redacted Rampage: Obama's School-Leniency Policy

Disturbing

Dick’s Sporting Goods Bans Some Rifle Sales…Again

Virtue signaling…again

Google is censoring shopping results for AR-15, handguns and more

Chilling. Do you really want Google deciding what you can see on the 'net?

A rural county legalized marijuana farms. It took their tax money – then voted to ban them

Literally taxes are theft

The IRS Is Coming for Your Passports

This is probably seven types of illegal.

Police Unions Defend Bad Cops Who Do Awful Things. Why Won't They Defend Broward County Deputy?

Follow the money

‘Chappaquiddick’ to Open Film Festival… on Martha’s Vineyard

Beyond surreal

Stop treating the Southern Poverty Law Center like it's a respectable and responsible organization

The SPLC is heavily biased against conservatives, and moderately biased against libertarians

China banned the letter N from the internet after people used it to attack Xi Jinping's plan to rule forever

Why we need a free and open internet

Still More Bad News (For Democrats) About The GOP Tax Cuts

Blacks, Hispanics, and women hit hardest

Koch Brothers Group Launches Ads Against Tax Breaks for Amazon HQ2

Why should any company be shielded from the taxes that other companies pay?

The Parkland Teens Fighting For Gun Control Have The Backing Of These Huge Organizing Groups

Yes, it's BuzzFeed which I don't like using as a source. It's also accurate.

Some Billings students are opposed to planned walk-out

Funny how only one side of the debate is hitting the national media

Facebook Keeps Secret Files on EVERYONE Including Non-Users – Here’s How to See Yours

Exaggerating, but not by much

What Mueller Has and What He’s Missing

There is very little doubt that this was an attempt to derail an elected President

Derry business turning away Republican customers

If the tables were turned, don't you think a business would be shamed into servicing Democrat voters?

Italian Voters Set to Shake European Union to Its Core as Anti Mass Migration and Euroscepticism Dominate Election

What? You mean Brexit was not an isolated event?

Trump the 'Big Second Amendment Person' Becomes 'Trump the Gun Grabber'

“Trump's embrace of gun control is consistent with his views before he ran for president.”

Pittsburgh Still Won't Let Anyone See Its Amazon Bid

There's no reason voters shouldn't know the details

Shocker! Rent Control Makes Housing Scarcer and More Expensive

“San Francisco rent control reduced affected rental housing by 15 percent while boosting citywide rents by 5 percent”

How can a place with 58,000 homeless people continue to function?

Excellent question

What Has Capitalism Ever Done For Us?

Capitalism holds the roots of freedom

'Get on the Right Side of History': A Phrase G.K. Chesterton Would Have Understood

“Telling others to 'get on the right side of history' is not just a form of intellectual bullying.”

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Tuesday roundup

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Monday roundup

Black History Month is a failure

Read Carter G. Woodson

Greg Gutfeld: How To Stop Mass Shootings Without Gutting the 2nd Amendment

Smart thinking here

Hillary Clinton Claims There Have Been ‘Over 230’ School Shootings Since 2012

Overhyped hysteria aimed at gun owners

Florida students turn to activism in wake of shooting

Feelings trump common sense

Top GOP donor threatens to cut off contributions unless party supports assault weapon ban

A reminder that most shootings in America use handguns

Women’s March organizing national school walk-out

More feelings trumping common sense

Google's firing of James Damore was legal, labor board says

Technically correct but morally wrong. Also ‘Advancing Gender Stereotypes’: You Can Be Fired for Telling the Truth, Feds Rule

Arizona House approves ban on harassment secrecy pacts

“The Arizona House on Thursday approved legislation allowing victims of sexual misconduct to talk to police or testify in a criminal case even if they signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of a civil settlement.”

‘Peace Through Strength’ Is a Racket

“The way to achieve peace is not to prepare for war but to reject militarism and empire, and embrace nonintervention.”

“Blockchain” Stocks Completely Disintegrate

Bubbles pop

‘Top Priority’ — Sessions Orders ‘IMMEDIATE REVIEW’ Of FBI, While FL. Gov. Calls For Director Wray’s Resignation

Not sure if it can be cleaned up, it might be time to blow it up and start over

Chronicle of a white supremacist PR crisis and the making of a hoax

Those who seek attention

Marijuana Criminal Cases Dropped En Masse by Philadelphia District Attorney

As Wendy McElroy asks, what about the people already in jail?

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Friday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Thursday roundup

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Thursday roundup

United Apologizes To Passenger Booted For Congresswoman

also Sheila Jackson Lee’s Long History Of Being An Entitled ‘Queen’

Half of America thinks we’re making it up

And they are not wrong

UK Muslim No-Go Zones ‘Heading Toward Disaster,’ Non-Muslims Scared, Businesses Stoned

Radical Islam is a cancer and still remain so until other Muslims take a stand.

Homeland Security’s Multibillion Dollar Comedy Show

This agency never should have been created

10 times the intel community violated the trust of US citizens, lawmakers and allies

In the words of Claire Wolfe, "Only ten?"

Freedom Necessarily Includes the Freedom to Act Self-Destructively

Don Boudreaux answers his mail.

#MeToo Is Turning Into a Witch-Hunt

What happens when the radical feminists destroy their own goals?

Why Does Blow-Drying Hair in Arizona Require 1,000 Hours of Training?

Occupational licensing has become a bane on American society

Collision with Reality: What Depth Psychology Can Tell us About Victimhood Culture

I despise the politics of victimhood. This goes a long way to describing it.

Sen. Ron Wyden cosponsors bill to legalize marijuana across U.S.

It's amazing to me that marijuana is considered more dangerous than alcohol, despite all evidence to the contrary

H.R. 38: Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017

A Federal law for gun freedom?

Roy Moore files lawsuit to block Alabama Senate result

Back in 2000, I blasted Al Gore for demanding the courts intervene. Here is a result.

Another Arctic blast poised to usher in 2018

But, but it's global warming climate change…

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Tuesday roundup

The Big Con: The Truth Behind Net Neutrality and Why the Sky Is Not Falling

“Net neutrality was the government’s response to an actual problem. As usual, their response ignored the problem completely.”

The Modern Art Of Pervs

Changing mores and the sexualization of children

The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook

“How Hezbollah turned to trafficking cocaine and laundering money through used cars to finance its expansion.” So Obama let them break the law. I don't agree with the War on Drugs, but the President should uphold the law.

CDC director says there are ‘no banned words’ at the agency

Well, I fell for this one too. I should know by now that the really bad stuff about Trump seldom turns out true. Also No, the CDC did not ban a list of words

Since Feeding the Homeless is Now Illegal, A Group Carried AR15s to Give Out Food—It Worked

Unsanctioned, unofficial charity.

The Other Tech Bubble

The ugliness behind the startup culture.

In Legalizing Marijuana, Uruguay Trips over the Dollar, US Laws, and Global Banks

or “Why Drug Lords Love the Patriot Act.”

3 Reasons Millennials Should Consider Ditching Karl Marx for Ayn Rand

“Karl Marx doesn’t align with what’s important to Millennials.”

Jedi Mind Trick: The Disturbing, Destabilizing Abnormal Is Now Normal

Change means disrupting the system. And there's plenty of disruption.

Is Your Cell Phone Protected by the Constitution?

The Supreme Court will decide, and it doesn't look good.

‘We Made This (Harassment) Law Up From The Beginning And Now We’ve Won’

Deliberately screwing up society.

Comey Should Be Indicted

It was obvious months ago, but now it's a given. It won't happen though. Indicting Comey is one step closer to HRC. And indicting HRC is one step closer to Barack Obama.

Right Wing Extremism vs. Islamic Extremism in the United States: A Look at the Numbers

Debunking the claim that most terrorism in the US is carried out by the right wing.

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Friday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Monday roundup

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Thursday roundup

Whatever Is On Imran Awan’s Smashed Hard Drives Likely Can Be Recovered

This will be interesting.


Danish 17-year-old girl who used a pepper spray to fight off a rapist near migrant asylum centre is told SHE will be prosecuted for carrying the weapon

It's headlines like this that make me wonder if Europe has a future.


Scientists Still Seek A Reliable DUI Test For Marijuana



How Civil Asset Forfeiture Reduces Economic Mobility

Related - Policing for Profit: Jeff Sessions & Co.’s Thinly Veiled Plot to Rob Us Blind. Someone please explain why civil asset forfeiture is not legalized highway robbery.


Maduro’s Stranglehold On Disarmed Venezuelans

Related - Venezuela's Price Inflation Hits an Annual Rate of 952%Venezuelan Opposition Leaders Detained at Gunpoint in RaidsVenezuelans killing flamingos and anteaters to stave off hunger amid mounting food crisisDeadly election day in Venezuela as protesters clash with troopsHungry Venezuelans Flee in Boats to Escape Economic Collapse — The elites and politicos are building a case for intervening in Venezuela. It's a bad idea.


Pulitzer-Prize Winning Reporter: FBI Report Shows It Was Seth Rich – Not Russians – Who Gave DNC Emails to Wikileaks

Related - Lawsuit says Fox knowingly faked Seth Rich story


“No Please Stop!” Dash Cam Shows Cop Fire 21 Shots as Unarmed Teens Beg for Their Lives

When will Americans start holding police officers accountable for breaking the law?


Commercial Crabber Of 50 Years Tells Gore Sea Level Hasn’t Changed Since At Least 1970

Take away the adjusted numbers and there is no climate change.


Navajo Nation Purchases Colorado Land

This has been in the works for a while. It gives the Diné a place close to the last of their sacred mountains.

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Thursday roundup

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Ehrlichman on drugs

You understand what I'm saying? We knew we couldn't make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities, We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.
     — John Ehrlichman

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❝The Sinister Reason Weed is Illegal❞ by Adam Ruins Everything

“The End of Cash; The End of Freedom”

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NeoNotes — Again

“Social Justice & Universities”

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