Libertarian Commentary on the News, #15-21A: Weather and other odd things

Posted on 2015-05-26 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Just whom do we believe?  Nearly every day I read some mainstream media news story, or something from a variety of special interest groups (especially but not only environist and liberal-political and government sites), to say nothing about the awful pronouncements by the guy squatting at 1600 PA, about how we are now beyond hope regarding manmade global warming (or climate change) and how the seashores are going to drown and every odd weather circumstance (such as the recent raining and flooding across the Great Plains, now moving east into the Old South, including the Hill Country of Central Texas which got ten inches of rain so far) is all due to carbon-dioxide and methane and other greenhouse gas emissions.  But at the same time, now and then I read an article like Matt Vespa’s recent summary in Townhall, which points out that all the indicators cited five to twenty years ago as “proof” global warming was going to destroy the world as we know it have turned out to be wrong.  Whom do we believe?  Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #15-20C: Poor News Reporting and Commentary

Posted on 2015-05-22 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

By now, you’ve probably read or heard a lot about Jade Helm 15, and the hype about it.  But now we see more things popping up, such as this video at Freedom Outpost.  This strikes me as bogus and obviously faked: amateurs pretending to be FBI agents and two guys obviously well-scripted to present their views on this operation.  Supposedly this took place in Colorado, but there is just a lot that doesn’t feel or smell right. Is Jade Helm real, hyped, or the severe threat that so many groups claim it is?  I don’t know, but watching either the mainstream media or the “independent media” and trying to learn the truth is getting to be harder and harder.  Don’t believe anything either side is telling you without proof. Much of what I see available about Jade Helm comes from such suspect sites as PrisonPlanet.com and InfoWars.com, and then is endlessly quoted by the alternative media. Continue reading →

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Libertarian News & Commentary #15-20B, 21 May 2015: Government Dictates and Stupidity

Posted on 2015-05-21 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan A. Barton

The hubris of government is awesome indeed: the dictates of the state are usually foolish and based on myths and warped perception of reality.  Consider this: The Guardian reports that Los Angeles is the largest US city to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour, to be done in steps through July 2020.  The City Council ignored decades of data showing that the minimum wage damages the well-being of marginal workers and the very people it is “supposed” to help.  Sadly, even relatively conservative jurisdictions have bought into this garbage, creating problems for their own people.  South Dakota voters, for example, last year approved an increase, part of which the legislature ameliorated with a law establishing a lower minimum wage for minors, which otherwise would have been priced out of the essential summertime tourist industry jobs with which hundreds of thousands of South Dakotans have started their working lives.  Expect more of this sort of nonsense, which together with ever more demanding regulations will further damage American businesses and the economies of cities, regions, and states. Continue reading →

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #15-20A: This and that

Posted on 2015-05-19 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

After a very lengthy illness and hiatus in this commentary, I am attempting to resume it at least part time!

According to Libertytalk.fm two of the Silk Road lead investigators who brought down the supposed Dread Pirate Roberts have been charged with money laundering.  Funny how the feral and state goons can commit crimes time and time again in their efforts to catch the “real” criminals.  We have an elite “ruling class” (bureaucrats and thugs) who are not just above the law, but working hard to break basic moral and ethical laws. Continue reading →

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Silly Season

Posted on 2015-05-16 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Unfortunately, Nathan is still not well enough to write the commentary. I’m missing his droll opinion on the start of the “silly season” for the 2016 elections.

Wouldn’t it be easier to list all the politicians who are NOT running for president this time? The primary ballots will have to come in bound volumes, I think – or at least for the Republican side.

You have to wonder just what they’re all trying to prove. One thing is clear to me… They are a bunch of control freaks, who think their personal opinions should be imposed on the world. And the world needs more of that? Continue reading →

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Book Review: Brightsuit MacBear

Posted on 2015-05-03 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

L. Neil Smith is unique, far as I’ve discovered, in believing that almost any living creature in the universe can be, or modified to be, a sentient, sapient being. This makes all of his stories exceptionally interesting, almost always hilarious, and occasionally philosophically very challenging. In a universe like that – with an infinity of alternate universes – finding something to eat might become very difficult unless one eats rocks or plasma from the sun. The carrots and peas might just begin arguing semantics or pull a gun…

But, as Neil says so often, I digress.

Brightsuit MacBear is a story of a young man, from a less than helpful family situation, who nonetheless has the integrity and intelligence to “smell a rat” and decide to do whatever it takes to make things right, even though he is singularly unprepared physically to actually carry that out. Continue reading →

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Guns – A Great Mother’s Day Gift

Posted on 2015-04-24 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Last Mother’s Day, one of my sons gave me a HiPoint 9mm carbine. We had talked about the fact that I was having a harder time shooting the larger caliber rifles, and even had problems with the much loved Mossberg 20 gauge shotgun. I just wasn’t shooting as much as I used to, even though I own a lot of different guns. I’m nearly 70 years old, with some serious problems due to an old back injury, and it is only going to get worse as time goes on.

Why would I concern myself with it? Why do I want to continue to be able to shoot well?

I had to shoot a man to save my life thirty some years ago. If I had not been holding a gun when the attack began, I would have been killed, most likely, as that was his stated intention. He was a stranger, discovered trying to break into my car in the middle of the night. Continue reading →

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Nathan

Posted on 2015-04-10 by MamaLiberty

Nathan remains on the sick list, unfortunately. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

I know I’m not doing a very good job posting new material, but I promise to do better.

MamaLiberty

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Are You a Citizen?

Posted on 2015-04-06 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Citizen… a word much used and abused. I suspect few people understand the classic meaning of the term. Far too many people who write about the current state of affairs in the world, even most of those who profess to want individual liberty, demonstrate poor understanding of it.

So, here it is:

Citizen
noun
1. a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government and is entitled to its protection (distinguished from alien ).

2. an inhabitant of a city or town, especially one entitled to its privileges or franchises. Continue reading →

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Book Review: Summer of the Eagles

Posted on 2015-04-04 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

What a great story! My father was born in 1886, worked on the family ranch in the Dakota Territory, then was a hunter bringing in game to feed the crews who built much of the railroad lines across northern America. He loved Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour, so I grew up reading “westerns.”

Summer of the Eagles is a tale set in the early days of Wyoming, about people who have honor and integrity amid strife and injustice, stitched together with friendship and love thought impossible. There are parts that had me shaking the pages shouting “NO,” and sections that brought me to tears of joy.

We read about bigotry and racism in our modern world, but I don’t think most people have much idea what it really means, or the incredible damage it can do to everyone involved. Probably no person alive in America today has ever experienced even a little of the prejudice and injustice suffered by the hero of this story – and so many others throughout history. It would be good to read this story if you took nothing more away from it than understanding your own good fortune, whatever your situation, and perhaps a clearer understanding of your own prejudices. Continue reading →

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