By Nathan Barton
Good morning. Just a little of this and that on the Home Front today, for our midweek review.
First, some home front news, showing how the police forces have continued to get even MORE corrupt (if that is possible). Because a cop refused to taze a man armed with a knife and threatening self-harm, and instead talked him down and got him to surrender peacefully (so that another, freshly-arrived cop could needlessly taze him), he was fired because he did NOT use violence to resolve the situation. So here we have a case of a “good cop” (assuming such exists anymore) who is punished for keeping the peace instead of resorting to violence. Soon no doubt to be followed by similar examples across the nation. Continue reading
Libertarian Commentary on the News, #14-50E: Tyranny at the state level
By Nathan Barton
Good morning.
People constantly seek ways to place the Fifty States in various orders of “liberty” and “tyranny” and best and worst place to have a business, own a home, or retire. But it seems impossible to track everything that makes life miserable for residents and everyone else who has to do business in or travel through the state. Consider Michigan: I’ve been fortunate to only have to be in that stinking, politically-polluted cesspool twice in my life, but there are millions of people trapped in the place. Today, as pro-government, pro-state a magazine as American Legislator features an article about How Michigan’s Absurd Laws Criminalize the Entire Population.” The stats are mind-boggling, including how many more crimes they create each year, that 27% of the state budget pays for incarceration of convicts, and that its penal code has more provisions and sections than Carter’s Little Liver Pills. As Lady Susan pointed out in a recent commentary, what does it matter if it is the FedGov or one of the Fifty States that owns the land, steals the money, and trashes liberty? At least it is easier to escape Michigan to a more free state (relatively) like Wyoming or South Dakota, than it is to escape from the Fifty States to Mexico or Canada. Just don’t think going to Illinois is an escape… Continue reading →