Spiegel International.  Anti-flood-of-migrants party, ‘Alternative for Germany’, is surging in popularity among Germans sick unto death of Merkel’s Welfare State internationalism.

The Guardian.  Relevant chunks: A cashless society “…hand yet more power to the financial sector in that banks and related fintech companies will oversee all transactions. The crash of 2008 showed that, when push comes to shove, banks have already been exempted from the very effective regulation that is bankruptcy – one by which the rest of us must all operate. Do we want this sector to have yet more power and influence?

In a world without cash, every payment you make will be traceable. Do you want governments (which are not always benevolent), banks or payment processors to have potential access to that information? The power this would hand them is enormous and the potential scope for Orwellian levels of surveillance is terrifying.

Cash, on the other hand, empowers its users. It enables them to buy and sell, and store their wealth, without being dependent on anyone else. They can stay outside the financial system, if so desired.”

Time. Too funny.

Developed by Batman vs. Superman director, Zack Snyder.

The candidates prostrate themselves.

And the decline of playtime.  Quartz

Truth Out: “When it comes to foreign policy, more of the same — if not much worse — is promised by a Trump or Clinton win. The leading candidates aren’t offering solutions to mitigate the human suffering and violence caused by the US-sponsored war on drugs in Mexico. While Trump has proposed to seal off the US-Mexico border all together, Clinton is promoting President Obama’s previous bilateral policies with Mexico, supporting the Merida Initiative and hyping up the war against heroin production in Mexico.

Also known as Plan Mexico, the Merida Initiative is a security package that has funded Mexican security forces directly responsible for human rights abuses like the globally recognized disappearance of students from the Normal Rural School Isidro Burgos of Ayotzinapa on September 26, 2014. This is a big concern for US activists and Mexicans directly affected by the violence still gripping the country.”

The War on Drugs has only one solution, but it’s a solution that requires a drastic reduction in the power of government: complete legalization of marijuana, cocaine, heroin, etc.  The Drug War has been primarily responsible for the escalation of harder and harder drugs, due to the outlawing of safer highs.  The Drug War also provides thousands of government jobs, jobs that would disappear were the Drug War to end.  It also provides the excuse for liberty-destroying legislation, no-knock raids, militarized police, etc.  The entire domestic Police State piggy-backs on the Drug War.  End the Drug War, abolish the Police State.

Activist Post.  Socialism has had an amazingly effective PR campaign that obscures what lies at its heart: Total government control over your entire life.  But it does sound superficially appealing.  I think most Sanders’ supporters are right at the tipping point of becoming libertarian, so I don’t think it’s smart to demonize what could turn in to hordes of Ron Paul-type liberty junkies, like I seem to have become.  So a debate between social and liberty is a debate between the merits of coercion and voluntary interaction.

Liberty Blitzkrieg.  Offering “free” public Wi-Fi has got to be the best way for the Surveillance State to collect invaluable info on its citizens.  NYC’s will no doubt be put to good use by the NYPD, Michael Bloomberg’s “private army”.

Milwaukee PD have been using a Stingray, a device that captures cell phone data by mimicking a cell tower, in secret in over 500 investigations.  They, like every other police department that receives a Stingray, first had to sign a nondisclosure agreement with the FBI, who is the agency handing out these devices.  Now Congress has some questions for the FBI.