statism

Alaskan gold miners cry foul over ‘heavy-handed’ EPA raids

"When agents with the Alaska Environmental Crimes Task Force surged out of the wilderness around the remote community of Chicken wearing body armor and jackets emblazoned with POLICE in big, bold letters, local placer miners didn’t quite know what to think. Did it really take eight armed men and a squad-size display of paramilitary force to check for dirty water? Some of the miners, who run small businesses, say they felt intimidated. Others wonder if the actions of the agents put everyone at risk. How is a remote placer miner to know the people in the jackets saying POLICE really are police?" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAlaskan gold miners cry foul over ‘heavy-handed’ EPA raids

Guns, Badges, and Cartels

"Drug dealers are not going to obey laws that supposedly control guns. If you want to get drug dealers to stop buying guns, then you had better vote to de-criminalize drugs. But liberals want to criminalize guns, and conservatives want to criminalize drugs. If you think this argument makes no sense, then don’t expect liberals to respond to this argument: 'People who are prepared to defy the laws against murder aren’t going to obey laws against owning guns or large-capacity magazines.' Cartels want above-market income on state-protected turf. This takes guns. The debate is over who gets to carry the guns legally, and who will carry them illegally." Continue reading →

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G20 countries to automatically share tax records to crack down on cheats

"Tax records will be shared around the world by 2015 as part of a G20 pledge to crack down on individual tax cheats and global corporations with complicated arrangements aimed at paying as little tax as possible. As business increasingly moves online and international, cash-strapped governments approved an aggressive timeline to adopt the automatic exchange of tax information among the G20. The deal was solidified after China, the last holdout, agreed to the plan just days before the summit in St. Petersburg. 'We are committed to automatic exchange of information as the new global standard,' states the G20 final communiqué." Continue reading →

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If Congress says no, can Obama strike Syria?

"Initiating airstrikes in Syria would undermine rather than uphold the credibility of the UN Charter, which generally permits the use of non-defensive force only with Security Council authorization. That has not been granted. The charter’s purpose is in fact to prevent individual states from engaging in the sort of international policing the US is proposing to undertake in Syria. Ultimately, it isn’t clear where the administration could turn for legal justification in the event of a no vote in Congress. Even without a strong legal foundation, if the administration decides to proceed with airstrikes, there isn’t much Congress could do to stop it." Continue reading →

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IRS Finalizes Penalty for ObamaCare Mandate

"Last week, federal tax collectors finalized a rule to penalize individuals who do not obtain health insurance under ObamaCare. The regulation from the IRS formally codifies the fine charged to people without insurance under the health care law's individual mandate, says The Hill. Under the law, most Americans must either be covered by health insurance or pay a penalty. For the first year, the charge for not obtaining health insurance is $95 or 1 percent of household income. The penalty will increase, though, to $695 per person or 2.5 percent of household income in 2016 and then according to a cost-of-living formula for following years." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIRS Finalizes Penalty for ObamaCare Mandate

Ecuador seeks to extend libel penalties to cover social media

"The Ecuadoran government has proposed legal changes to punish libel disseminated over social networks like Twitter or Facebook, a top official said Wednesday. Alexis Mera, President Rafael Correa’s secretary for legal affairs, said the move aimed not to control content on social networks, but to extend to them the same rules that apply to other media. Under Ecuador’s penal code, slanderous libel, which involves a false accusation of a crime, carries a punishment of between six months and two years in prison. Correa has used the courts to sue for libel newspapers and journalists who have written critically about him." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEcuador seeks to extend libel penalties to cover social media

Russian legislators introduce bill to take children away from LGBT parents

"A Russian lawmaker has introduced a bill that would allow the state to remove children from homes headed by LGBT parents. The draft bill was published on the Russian parliament’s website Thursday morning and proposed to make the 'fact of nontraditional sexual orientation' grounds for removing or denying parental custody rights. The bill, if passed, would add sexual orientation to a list of disqualifying factors that includes alcoholism, drug addiction and a history of child abuse. Bill author Alexei Zhuravlev said that the law would be a natural extension of a law passed earlier this year that bans so-called 'homosexual propaganda.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingRussian legislators introduce bill to take children away from LGBT parents

Homeschool raid on family viewed as terror

"The German government is being accused of terrorism on its own citizens for a police squad raid in which officers armed with a battering ram forcibly took four children from their parents because they were being homeschooled. The accusations are being posted on a Facebook page for the German embassy in Washington. The reaction developed after, as WND reported, four homeschooled children, ages 7 to 14, were forcibly taken from their Darmstadt, Germany, home by police armed with a battering ram. The parents, Dirk and Petra Wunderlich, were told they won’t see the children again soon, according to the Home School Legal Defense Association." Continue reading →

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Urgency: A Tactic of The State

"Jam it through. Worry about the consequences later. This behavior goes way back. I'd like to quote Patrick Henry who was trying to talk some sense to the Virginia delegates who were voting to ratify the U.S. Constitution. Henry was desperately urging them not to give in. Listen to his words and compare it to what we're seeing with the rush to war with Syria." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUrgency: A Tactic of The State