Libertarian commentary on the news, #15-01C: New Year doesn’t change stupid government.

Posted on 2015-01-05 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning!

Did you know? Who Is Paying Federal Income Taxes? The top 50 percent of taxpayers paid almost all of the nation’s income taxes — 96.7 percent… Incredibly, eh?  And that isn’t 50% of the POPULATION or the ADULT population or people with jobs.  That doesn’t count millions of people who don’t make enough to pay income taxes.  Government theft continues unabated.  The FedGov collected more taxes last year than ever before, but they also spent like the combined fleets of world history all being drunken sailors at the same time.

I suppose that is one reason to continue to distract us with stupidity like this next story. U.S. imposes sanctions on N. Korea following attack on Sony. The Administration imposed new sanctions on North Korea on Friday, the first known U.S. response since authorities concluded the repressive government was behind the cyberattack on Sony Pictures Entertainment. Read full article » Never mind that it has now been demonstrated that it was NOT the “Norks” that did this, but disgruntled Sony employees and ex-employees RIGHT HERE IN THE Fifty States!  The FedGov MUST find something, anything, to keep reminding us of the big bad boogymen out there that only THEY can protect us from. Such hypocrites. Continue reading →

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #15-01B: Government versus the economy

Posted on 2015-01-04 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning: still looking at things for the old year and the new year.

In 19 states, minimum wages went up on the 1st of January, passing the $10 mark in several states.  In one of the most bizarre and long-lasting of economic myths, people believe that minimum wages help the economy and help lower-income wage workers.  This is one more drag on the economy of every one of those states, including both South Dakota AND Colorado.

Postponing the Estate Tax is going to be attempted once again, in the new Congress. The federal estate tax — often called the death tax — is a tax on the transfer of a person’s assets at death… in essence adding insult to injury for a lot of folks.  People have tried to get rid of it for years, but it is a key part of the Transzi platform, to ensure that small, less wealthy families (NOT members of “the elite”) do not come to challenge the superrich, who can hide with all kinds of benefits.  Once more, government decisions harm the economy. Continue reading →

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Libertarian commentary on the news, #15-01A: New Year same as the Old

Posted on 2015-01-02 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Welcome to 2015!  Good morning and good day!

Denmark: Muslims beat random couple with bottle and iron chains in the face (graphic photos) This was one of many reports of Muslim violence during the Christmas season in Europe, in a land where fewer and fewer people really believe in the reason they claim for celebrating Christmas.

Mama’s Note: Of course they were unarmed and helpless. And not a word in the article even wondering if they might somehow have defended themselves, of course. Doesn’t matter if the attackers are Muslim or anyone else.

Nathan: Denmark was once a land of a proud, capable, and quite warlike people: it was ruled by a dynasty older than any other remaining on the planet, which made one massively-fatal mistake: for centuries they drove their most capable and independent people into fleeing to other lands, leaving them with a continually more docile population which is willing to submit to the state in every way. Today, the nation is sliding towards being a people of dhimmis who are willing slaves of Muslim fanatics.  Although similar attacks have taken place and been reported across Europe, which the Caliphate says will soon fall into their hands, and will include many of the 500 million people the Caliphate claims must die to ensure the dominance of Islam. Continue reading →

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Gunsmoke Gets In Your Eyes

Posted on 2015-01-01 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

Last time I wrote about shooting I covered a few things about ear protection. Earlier, I covered lead exposure. The same care should be taken to protect our eyes when we shoot, but I wonder how many people even give it much thought.

Most of the training materials I’ve seen indicate that regular glasses or sun glasses provide minimal protection, but nobody much explains what “minimal” means, or the possible consequences for taking that level of safety as “good enough” for granted. I can think of a number of situations where they would offer little or no protection at all.

Let’s take the most obvious first. The gun generates an amazing cloud of particles with each round fired. Much of that is composed of hot gasses, of one kind or another, and some lead particles. The amount will depend a lot on whether or not there is lead in your primers, and if you shoot jacketed rounds or bare lead. It will also depend on how often you clean your guns, of course. A coating of lead on the bore will result in much more lead particles tossed into the air around you. Continue reading →

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Energy Thoughts – Bureaucrats and Innovation

Posted on 2015-01-01 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Government bureaucracies are “conservative” in the sense that they want nothing to change, except for a very limited number of things which give them more power and wealth.  We see this in particular in high-tech, such as energy.  Here are two examples.

Federal Bureaucrats Threaten U.S. Energy Boom

Thanks in part to advances in hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”), America’s once dormant railroad industry has again shifted into high gear, transporting ten times more crude oil a year ago (2013) than it shipped five years earlier (2008). BUT that boon may begin to slow if the FedGov (specifically, that disaster called the Department of Energy) has its way. According to Independent Institute Research Director William F. Shughart, the agency want the industry’s fleet of cars to be replaced or upgraded within two years.  He discusses it in an article appearing in The Hill: Oil Trains, Pipelines and Tanker Ships, by William F. Shughart II (The Hill, 12/22/14) Continue reading →

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Live Long and Prosper

Posted on 2014-12-31 by MamaLiberty

My “resolution” for the new year is the same as it has been for the last ten years…

…to wake each day with gratitude for the opportunity to make the best of what life brings me, to appreciate the wonders and blessings around me, and to enjoy the process as much as possible, one day at a time. 🙂

Live long and prosper, my friends, with JOY. 🙂

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-53C: Goodbye, 2014!

Posted on 2014-12-31 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning, and just one day to go to get to 2015.  A big storm is sweeping the Four Corners, and bitter cold is hitting the northern Rockies and Great Plains, thanks to a really strange twist in the jet stream, as the winds flow southwest and then reverse over Cape Mendocino in far Northern California and sweep east across the continent.

Some news of interest:

Not only are government agencies becoming more inefficient and failures at accomplishing their missions (and “better” at wasting money), but the contractors are as well.  The WIPP fiasco was fairly low-key news almost a year ago, and it is good to see the contractor hit hard for its failure to accomplish what it is being paid for (losing 90% of their fee), but keep in mind, this is just their “fee” and all the costs of doing business for the contractor are being paid in full, in a “cost-plus-fee” contract like this. Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-53B: Looking forward, looking back

Posted on 2014-12-30 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning.  This morning, I’ll share a few stories and a lot of comments about them!

A 74-year-old German journalist spent 10 days with the Caliphate’s forces, and has explained that he believes they are far more dangerous than the West understands or admits, and they are not just willing to, but PLAN to, kill at least 500 million people to cleanse the Middle East, their Caliphate not just of unbelievers but of rival Muslim factions and Muslims who believe in such Satanic things as democracy and freedom of choice in religion.  His interview is important to read, and his conclusions worth pondering. Others’ impressions of his investigation can be found here. I know I’m beating the drum again, but it is clear that the only thing Western and “tame” Middle Eastern, Islamic or Muslim-majority governments are doing is making the threat worse: governments are doing the wrong thing, and increasing the likelihood of success of this Caliphate.  Todenhoefer has some suggestions: some I don’t agree with, but stopping the bombing raids seems to make sense to me: it IS a terrorist breeding program. Continue reading →

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WalMart the Welfare Queen?

Posted on 2014-12-30 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Does WalMart collect $2.6 billion a year in corporate welfare from the government?  Well, according to Freedom Force, the mega-corp does. That is, IF you buy the logic of Michael Snyder, who calculates how full-time employees of WalMart collect an average of $5,815 a year ($420,000 per store) in welfare benefits because they aren’t able to make it on WalMart’s poor salaries.  (Now, I admit that  Mr. Snyder took a lot of his “facts” from a Bloomberg article, not exactly the best source for someone who loves liberty. But then, nobody forced him to use that source, or fail to check it out.)

Now, there is no doubt that WalMart makes a LOT of money.  And has a lot of employees.  Some get minimum wage (currently $7.25), and some get a lot more.  There is a movement to double the minimum to $15/hour (for among others fast-food workers and Walmart).  There are supposedly 1.2 million WM workers in the US (according to Freedom Force and Bloomberg, but WalMart claims 1.3 million), so the argument goes that if every WalMart worker gets another $6,000 a year, $6.978, call it $7 billion, comes out of WM’s $17 billion in annual profits: shucks, less than half.  Except that “Freedom Force” can’t use a calculator or do the math, because $7.2 is a LOT more than the 2.6 they claim.  And for the average, “full-time worker” (getting 30 hours per week of work as defined by the Fuehrer and ObummerCare), their base pay is now $11,310 (if they just get minimum wage), and this would increase it to $17,310 ($11.10 per hour).  (Except that an enemy claims that the average low-end WalMart employee was already getting $22,000/year in 2013.) Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-53A: Slow weekend

Posted on 2014-12-29 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

The end of 2014 approaches, and the beginning of a new, and hopefully better, year for the world.  For the weekend between Christmas 2014 and New Year’s 2015, things seem to be pretty slow.  At least news-wise.  I noticed this when stopping to eat lunch in Alliance Nebraska today (Sunday): the local newspaper (the Times-Herald) main front page story was concerning the benefit of microorganisms in soil, and the second lead story was the local sugar production numbers from Great Western Sugar.  And goats eating Christmas trees.  Clearly not a “if it bleeds, it leads” sort of place right now.

Nationally and even worldwide, it seems much the same.  Yes, another Malaysian jet has disappeared over the water someplace, and no one can find it yet.  And there is still fighting and killing across much of the planet.  And the UN small arms control treaty went into effect on Christmas Eve (the US did NOT sign it).  And stock and commodity prices wobbled, as usual, during holiday sessions.  But Congress is NOT in session… always a good thing.  And of course, the Fuehrer is spending millions of taxpayer dollars a day enjoying his “homeland” White House in Hawai’i.  But there are a few things going on: Continue reading →

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