Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-52D: Boxing Day!

Posted on 2014-12-27 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good evening!  Another work day today, and with little to write about on Christmas, it is a short week.  Listened to Christmas Music some, and mostly to weather news, and not much else.

But there is still news, and some of it is good! I honestly cannot see spoiling the holidays with holiday-oriented attacks on anyone, can you? So here are a few good stories to share!

A home invasion “specialist” bit off more than he could chew when he met the young woman at the door by putting the muzzle of his pistol to her neck. But she had come to the door with her own pistol in hand, and fired three times into his body. His accomplice ran away as he died; the young woman was unharmed, because she was NOT unarmed. Continue reading →

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Christmas is for Sharing.

Posted on 2014-12-25 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Merry Christmas. Although I do not celebrate this day as a religious holiday, but simply a family event (yes, there are many people who are followers of the Christ who do NOT celebrate Christmas as the birthday of their Lord), I know that it is important to many people.  And if the spirit of Christmas in giving and love could expand even a little bit past midnight on 25 December (or even midnight on Twelfth Night, 06 January), the world would be a better place.

Here are a few stories to think about and enjoy for the season: Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-52C: Christmas Eve!

Posted on 2014-12-24 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Christmas Eve Gift!  And a Merry Christmas.

If you look, although there is a lot of bad news, there are plenty of good things around.  Between storms and shootings and bombings, we still find a lot of things that are good:  a few more people have jobs and have found a way to get a bit more income, people are showing a holiday spirit in giving, and travel to see family and friends is cheaper this year than for many years. Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-52B: Police and killing, Killing and police

Posted on 2014-12-23 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Killings, including executions, are in the news this week on a large scale.

The repercussions of the NYPD cop killings continue to spread.  Conservative talk show host Bill O’Reilly has called for New York Mayor De Blasio to resign, saying the “far-left” mayor has lost the confidence of the NYPD and “cannot run the city.”  These may be (almost certainly ARE) true statements, but do we want to further elevate the corruption and power of the police is this huge city by making them Pretorians?  Think about that for a bit: this is not a matter of saving the city from the tyranny of a chief executive, but about dethroning someone because he speaks ill of cops, and is a failure at administration. Continue reading →

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My Perfect Christmas

Posted on 2014-12-22 by MamaLiberty

By Susan Callaway (AKA MamaLiberty)

My "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree in Wyoming - 2014

1950 was a hard year. My father died and my mother was left with two small children. She was a “housewife” and had no particular marketable skills. She also didn’t have any family who could help her much. She was a recovering alcoholic and suffered from severe depression. Not a pretty picture.

This, of course, was long before the social workers, welfare, food stamps, WIC, or any of the alphabet soup government offices and “programs.” All she had was her faith in God and her children, the few friends who stood with her, and the understanding that it was her responsibility to raise her children and get on with life the best she could.

So, the winter of 1950 found us all staying with a friend’s family in a small Southern California desert town. Not the rich and beautiful part, but the dirt road, snowed in, wood stove outback of the Morongo Valley. There was no telephone or reliable transportation. Continue reading →

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New York Ambush: What next? (Was Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-52A)

Posted on 2014-12-22 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

I guess that the “big news” this weekend was the assassination of two NYPD cops in their vehicle in Brooklyn: killings immediately claimed as retaliation for the brutal behavior of NYPD, as most recently in the news following the failure of a grand jury to indict cops for the death of Erik Garner.

We have this news also: Police departments on alert after cop killings: “Big-city police departments and union leaders around the country are warning the rank and file to wear bulletproof vests and avoid making inflammatory posts on social media in the days after a man ambushed two officers and shot them to death inside their patrol car.” Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News: #14-51F: Schools and Cops Destroy Society

Posted on 2014-12-20 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Just a few days to Christmas, and so, Merry Christmas to all! All I want for Christmas is to get rid of corrupt “public” schools and corrupt cops.  Here are a few reasons:

A blind 7-year-old child, accused of waving his cane around on a school bus, was punished by having his cane taken away, replaced by one of those styrofoam “pool noodles” for two weeks.  I know how important canes ARE to blind people (my great-grandmother had one) and how EVIL this action is.  This is clearly child abuse and a complete overreaction to a simple incident.

Officials at a Virginia school turned an allegedly misbehaving 4-year-old preschooler over to law enforcement, where he was put in handcuffs and shackles and ordered to talk to jail inmates, Thanks to Margaret for this one:  the child may be scarred for life, not just “scared straight,” as seems to have been the object.  Criminals in schools deserve this and worse. Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News: #14-51E: Stupid government tricks damage the economy

Posted on 2014-12-19 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

IRS Commissioner threatens temporary IRS shutdown. And this is a bad thing, how? As Personal Liberty.com noted, “It’s hard to tell whether IRS commissioner John Koskinen has a realistic grasp of the way the agency he leads is perceived by more than half the Congress, as well as an unknowable number of American citizens. But he apparently believes casting the agency’s financial troubles in a pitiful light makes for a sympathy-generating tactic.”  Funny.  And here I thought that the IRS worked on the commission system, and since they collected a record amount of taxes in FY 2014, how can they be in the red?  Ah, I know.  It is because they are GOVERNMENT. Continue reading →

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Libertarian Commentary on the News: #14-51D: Money, money, money

Posted on 2014-12-18 by TPOL Nathan

By Nathan Barton

Good morning!

In my commentary on Texas, I discuss a plan whereby cops would be allowed to have stopped motorists pay their fines by credit card directly to the cop, to avoid going to court (or even jail).  Sadly, in many states, cops skip the credit card and go straight for the cash, the contents of the car, and even the car itself.  This “civil forfeiture” is a practice that was theoretically outlawed by the US Constitution, but has grown to be an even greater menace than ever before in English-speaking countries (unlike French- or Spanish- or German-speaking countries).

It is about the money, of course.  The US DOJ has agreements with local police agencies to let the agencies get wealthy off forfeiture for the property “committing” federal crimes. Continue reading →

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Now Hear This

Posted on 2014-12-18 by MamaLiberty

By MamaLiberty

I’m seriously hearing impaired. Though I hear a lot of actual sound, inner ear damage from early childhood restricts how much of it I actually understand because I don’t distinguish one sound from another very well. That is most troubling when listening to human speech, because the different sounds are usually quite subtle. I’ve had to read lips and watch body language all my life.

Now I am starting to experience other hearing loss from simple aging as well. So you can believe that I am very, VERY careful to maintain good hearing protection when I shoot. I’ve made the big mistake of firing a gun, or being nearby when one is fired without protection, and it has not happened often if I could do anything about it. Continue reading →

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