Monthly Archives: March 2016

…for standing up to the Israel Lobby, and the Political Class in general.  Relevant sentences: “Anytime a man can say to those who control the politics of America, ‘I don’t want your money,’ that means you can’t control me. And they cannot afford to give up control of the presidents of the United States.” Farrakhan said in the sermon. Though he said he admires Trump’s independence, the 82-year-old leader stopped short of endorsing the first-time novice politician for president.

Independence of the Political Class does not mean he’s for liberty, which should be obvious.  If Trump has ever espoused a consciously libertarian principle, it’s been purely by accident, and even Trump himself doesn’t realize it.  He’s no Ron Paul, he’s never spoken about liberty in his life, he only talks about what he’ll use government for. 

Larry Summers, who believes cash=terrorism and wants to ban the $100 bill.  It’s a point in Trump’s favor to have enemies like this, and like it or not, and I most certainly do not, Trump will be our next President.  Might as well replace Ben Franklin with Trump’s orange mug.

From Reason.  Relevant sentences: “…Apple’s battle isn’t against a one-off court order to crack an encrypted phone; it’s the latest skirmish in the government’s ongoing war against privacy protections—as well as an act of resistance against federal efforts to conscript the private sector into its crusade.

…The tech giant’s public resistance is a block to officials’ proven inability to keep secrets of any sort, and the emptiness of its promises to fulfill assurances of confidentiality.

…It’s almost certainly true that the FBI doesn’t intend to share the weakened operating system far and wide. But the very public battle between law enforcement and a tech industry giant escalated even as federal officials scrambled to clean up the mess left by hackers’ release of personal information on 20,000 FBI employees and 9,000 Department of Homeland Security officers.

…The weakened operating system sought by the FBI, easing access to iPhones, would logically be a very desirable target for hackers both freelance and state-sponsored. And while FBI Director Comey promises “We don’t want to break anyone’s encryption or set a master key loose on the land,” restraint in its use would depend not only on FBI intentions, but on the integrity of government security procedures that have proven to be insufficient to the task, time and again.”

It will only be a matter of time before the backdoor master key is stolen and “loose on the land” if Apple caves.  It’s only a matter of how many people will buy the “threat of terrorism” baloney that will be trotted out and escalated as the battle continues.

Says Michael Krieger of Liberty Blitzkrieg.

And make peace with the fact that liberty will not be restored through Presidential campaigns.  Focus all your energy on restoring liberty in your hometown and home state and ignore the siren calls of the DC libertarians, who are living it up and being completely ineffective.  If liberty is restored in your home state, its effects will ripple outward.  There’s no better front to fight on for liberty.

The Political Class loves for libertarians to buy a suit and migrate to DC, because they know that it will sterilize them of whatever effectiveness they previously had.

Pentagon wants to expand role in Iraq to thwart ISIS, a direct product of misguided US intervention in that country in the first place.  Here’s an idea: ignore ISIS completely.  Stop treating them as an actual threat to Americans and let them fizzle out.  Unfortunately, they’re the latest excuse for the War on Terror nonsense to continue apace.

They had it coming, says Laura Ingraham.  A bit hard to read, since it’s the same Ingraham who dismissed Ron Paul in ’08 and ’12, and she lists alternative pols that are clearly the steadfast servants of the political Elite.

Privacy from government is essential for a free society to flourish, that’s why government attempts to thwart and diminish it at every turn.  Privacy=terrorism has been the chief talking point for awhile now from the political class, to shame us all into relinquishing our privacy and ushering in total surveillance.  Hence the war on cash, the war on encryption, etc.  They want to surveil every breath you take, every transaction you make, and everything that gets in the way of that will be branded as terrorism.

More on cash and liberty from Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, who has an article in USA Today entitled, “Cash is the currency of freedom”, in which he discusses the push to abolish the $100 bill by former Treasury secretary Larry Summers.

How long will it take for that to be overturned?