WendyMcElroy.com

My latest article for the Dollar Vigilante has been posted: "The 2014 Master Auction and Battered Voter Syndrome." I have solved my problems with accessing the commentary thread and so I am now able to respond to posts entered there. I look forward to discussing the article with you.

Excerpt: Republican or Democrat? It's a trick question and a faux fight in the political war. Like a circus, it offers distraction from the real problem. The problem is not the face behind the office of power; it is the office of power itself which is unjust and destructive of all that is decent within man and society.

On some level, intelligent people understand this and so they chuckle cynically at jokes like “don't vote, it only encourages them.” Yet the same people will line up at voting stations in 2014 in much the same manner as they line up submissively at airports for screening. Some people will remain in the U.S. to cast a vote in the hope that a shift in leadership will fundamentally change society. Or, at least, change it enough so that America once more becomes a safe place to raise children and grow old. The joke is on them. But no one who cares about freedom will be laughing.

From the Morning Call: Pair Spends Month in Jail for Having Bag of ... Soap

From the Washington Post: Obama Wins 'Worst Year in Washington'. Scandals, ObamaCare steamrolled high hopes: Chris Cillizza

From imgr: Poor guy...but what a headline

From Global Economic Analysis: Protests Turn Violent in Madrid

From Cracked: 6 Harsh Truths That Will Make You a Better Person. An oldie but a goodie.

From Capitol City Project: Confidential Obamacare Navigator training manual uploaded online And a related article from Breitbart: House Report: Ill-Trained Obamacare Navigators Encouraging Fraud, Jeopardizing Private Info

From the Australian: Tim Wilson to head freedom campaign as human rights commissioner. Reputed to be a libertarian.

From USA Today: Federal judge rules against NSA spying

From the Atlantic: The 6,000-Page Report on CIA Torture Has Now Been Suppressed for 1 Year. It cost $40 million to produce, documents serious wrongdoing, and doesn't threaten national security. Team Obama won't release it.

From the New York Times: DEFIANT: 479 Sheriffs Refuse to Enforce New Laws on Gun Control...

From Reason: The Death of Obama's "Noble Lie." The disastrous ObamaCare rollout unmasks liberalism's paternalistic dishonesty.

From the New York Post: Inside the Saudi 9/11 coverup.Leaked from classified sections of CIA & FBI documents, “incontrovertible evidence” was found that the Saudi gov't financed & trained the 911 hijackers making 911 not just an act of terrorism, but an act of war.

From Variety: 2013 RATINGS CHAMP: FOXNEWS Draws More Viewers Than CNNCNNHNMSNBC -- Combined!

My latest article has been posted at the Daily Anarchist: "Who Can You Trust?" There is a commentary section at the end of the thread and I respond to posts made there. Come join the discussion!

Excerpt: Not government, not financial or religious institutions, not the media, not health or educational ‘services’, not corporations, not the legal system or police, not the military, not experts or academia. After you eliminate the State, who is left? Society – the dynamic of average people who produce and trade honestly through their own efforts.

A determination to personally disconnect from the state does not involve rejecting society. Quite the opposite. It means recognizing how destructive the state is to everything peaceful and productive, and deciding to live as much as possible within society rather than within the state. The decision can be risky because the state does not willingly cede authority over a single head that it claims as property. And your citizenship, your very birth brands you as part of the State’s herd. How do you minimize the risk of going rogue while embracing the advantages of Society? Click here to access the entire article and join the discussion.

From Huffington LatinoVoice: Uruguay's Prez Rips Into U.N. Official Over Marijuana Law: ‘Stop Lying'

From KGW: Obamacare exchange mistakenly debiting bank accounts

From Newser: 5 Most Uplifting Stories of Last Week

From Ted Rall: Why do you hate Obama? Go beyond the excellent cartoon strip and read the comment thread. Rall has been ridiculously lambasted for racism because he is drawing the same Obama caricature that he did when he was pro the President. But now that he is critical, well, it is a racist depiction. His critics have no shame.

From the Atlantic: The New Armor That Lets You Sense Surveillance Cameras

From YouTube: ACLU's parody of "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"...NSA is Coming to Town. Hilarious. Well done.

From the International Business Times: NZ Traveler's Electronics Taken At Airport; Interest in Snowden to Blame?

From FOX 4: City to evict woman for living "off the grid"

From the Wichita Eagle: Is it still a terrorist plot if you are the only one plotting? One moron and a whole bunch of FBI agents apparently say "yes"

From the Las Vegas Review Journal: Vegas Mansion Could Go for $8M—in Bitcoin

From TechDirt: TSA 'Security Fee' Expected To Double Next Year, Current Level Of Ineptness To Remain Unchanged

From Science News: Lawsuits Could Turn Chimpanzees Into Legal Persons

From the Onion: 30-Year-Old Has Earned $11 More Than He Would Have Without College Education

From PowerLine: Who funds the far left? It's surprisingly corporate.

From the New York Times: France Broadens Surveillance Powers; Wider Scope Than NSA

From the Guardian: NSA officials consider Edward Snowden amnesty in return for documents Would it be contingent upon the Guardian and others who have the documents returning them as well?

From Barrons: J.P. Morgan: Patent Filing for Virtual Payments Makes no Mention of Bitcoin

From Wired: Bitcoin Token Maker Suspends Operation After Hearing From Federal Gov't

From Buzzfeed: The 23 Worst Photoshop Fails Of 2013

From the Indie Register Dec. 14... UPDATE AT END.



In other words, she was arrested for contempt of cop. Apparently she refused to give her address when asked. Click here for more

UPDATE: Amanda has been release on her own recog. even though it is SOP to hold those picked up on Friday night until Monday. There is speculation that phone calls + publicity was a motive factor in her release. Anyway...here's the report I got.

[ Read the rest ... ]

From the BBC News: Iceland Jails Bank Bosses. Execs inflated share price before financial collapse

From Fark: 2013 headline of the year. Humor.

From Reason: 71 Percent Want to Eliminate Mandatory Minimum Sentences for Non-Violent Offenders

From Gateway Pundit: Another Al Gore prediction bites the dust 5 years ago today, warming prophet declared North Pole would be ice free by now

From New Scientist: Police could use radio waves to bring cars to a halt

From Newser: 5 Most Incredible Discoveries of the Week

From Spiked: How Madela’s worshippers are rewriting history by Brendan O'Neill.

From Liberty Unbound: Stephen Cox's eulogy of Barbara Branden.

From the Washington Post: Even by North Korean standards, this announcement of Jang Song Thaek’s execution is intense

From Breitbart TV: SHOCK VIDEO: Corrections Officer Smashes Suspect's Head in Florida Prison

From PoliFact: PolitiFact awards 'Lie of the Year': 'If you like your health care plan, you can keep it'. Last year the site ranked the statement as a half-truth.

From the New York Daily News: President’s Obamacare photo becomes comical 'Obama Holding a Sign' meme

From the Digital Journal: Church ordered to stop feeding the homeless

This from James Williams...

Greetings to you

An act of human kindness can often mean more than just giving money. In Portsmouth, on 18th December, 7 days before Christmas, the day is designated as Goodwill Day. It is not intended for giving money, but acting charitably towards others. Goodwill Day is for everyone on that day to do something positive to help another person as a gesture of goodwill.

You can help in a number of ways and not all of them mean spending money. Suggestions are: phoning up a relative you have not spoken to for sometime; helping a homeless man to find shelter; visiting a friend or neighbour who is living alone. There have been cases where a homeless veteran soldier has been helped to find a job and other cases when a dad who has not seen his kids for countless years has been phoned up by his daughter.

In any case, the idea is that on Goodwill Day you make someone happy that would otherwise not be able to enjoy such a privilege. Spread the word, so that Goodwill Day is not just a day in Portsmouth, but a day for the whole world to just show kindness to others.

From the National Post: Popular torrent site The Pirate Bay thwarts authorities by moving operations to remote volcanic island

From the New Statesman: There's a £60m Bitcoin heist going down right now, and you can watch in real-time Note: date of this is Dec. 02 but the story is still fascinating.

From YouTube: Nelson Mandela memorial fake sign language interpreter - what he actually said, according to signing experts. Hilarious.

From the Dollar Vigilante: Modern Prohibition Takes It On The Chin With Uruguays Marijuana Legalization by Gary Gibson

From the Washington Post: Americans are tilting more libertarian on foreign policy. Why it matters for GOP politics.

From Slate: Lockdown Nation. We routinely terrify and traumatize kids to spare them terror and trauma.

From the Onion: Psychiatrist Patiently Listens To Obama Complain About Every Single American

From Zero Hedge: The IMF Wants You To Pay 71% Income Tax

From Reason: Barbara Branden on Ayn Rand's Inner Life and Legacy. Write-up by Nick Gillespie, includes video of Barbara.

From Ben Swann: Georgia Will Introduce Legislation To Nullify Obamacare & Sue The Federal Government. First N.C., now Georgia

From Salon: Ayn Rand-loving CEO destroys his empire

Barbara Branden passed away yesterday. I will be writing more on her death tomorrow. Right now, I'm in a bit of shock. Here is an announcement. Her close friend Jim Peron has an obiturary in the Huffington Post. Barbara had been ill for quite some while.

My article "Obama Amends the Constitution by Statute" has just appeared on the Daily Bell. There is a commentary thread at the end of the article, and I do respond to posts and questions. You are cordially invited to join the discussion.

Excerpt: The US Constitution is clear. Legislation must be approved by the House of Representatives, the Senate and the president before it becomes law. With very limited exceptions, revenue bills must originate in the House of Representatives.

The Obama administration is using statute law to shred those constitutional provisions. Sections 3403 and 10320 of the 2,500+-page Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Obamacare or PPACA) created the Independent Advisory Board (IPAB). Or, rather, the IPAB has been mandated but is yet to be assembled. The IPAB is a 15-member panel of 'experts' who will be nominated by the president and subject to Senate confirmation. The IPAB's stated responsibility is save Medicare money by making legislative proposals to Congress to reduce Medicare spending. The board's proposals would be triggered whenever Medicare's per capita growth exceeds the gross domestic product plus 0.05 percent.

Previously, such proposals came from an agency called MedPAC and required an act of Congress to become law. IPAB's proposals would be different. In a Cato Institute paper entitled "The Independent Payment Advisory Board, PPACA's Anti-Constitutional and Authoritarian Super-Legislature," Diane Cohen and Michael F. Cannon explained, "When the unelected government officials on this board submit a legislative proposal to Congress, it automatically becomes law.... Blocking an IPAB 'proposal' requires at a minimum that the House and the Senate and the president agree on a substitute." [Emphasis in original] The substitute plan must save as much as the IPAB one. If the IPAB proposal is not blocked, then "the Board's edicts...can become law without congressional action, congressional approval, meaningful congressional oversight, or being subject to a presidential veto. Citizens will have no power to challenge IPAB's edicts in court."

For the entire article, please click here.

From Real Clear: Mandela sign language interpreter faked it all. Deaf people are saddened to learn that Nelson Mandela pickle hopped the yam bridge with digressive hat monkeys on fester twelve

From Tech Week: The UK Government Is Already Censoring The Global Internet. Specifically, the intellectual property crime unit of the police is doing so.

From AP News: Pension crisis endangers Chicago's future

From RINF: Texas Campus Cop Kills Unarmed College Student After Sarcastic Remark

From the Daily Paul: How to see what government agency is spying on your phone...

From CNN: Inventor: We can stop aging by reprogramming Stunning predictions for humanity's future

From WorldNetDaily: Now Obama gets 'executive power' czar. Specializes in bypassing Congress to enact 'progressive change'

From the Dollar Vigilante: Why Mourn Racialist, Commie Nelson Mandela? by Gary Gibson. Take a moment and browse the site's freedom tools.

From DNA info New York: NYPD Beat Family and Killed Pet Parakeet in Own Home, Lawsuit Says. I've heard about dogs...but parakeets?

From Reuters: Uruguay becomes first country to legalize marijuana trade

From Read/Write: Get Ready For The Streaming-Music Die-Off. The reason? Royalties. Hat tip to Manny Klausner who comments, Food for thought . . . (I don't endorse the choice of such words as "cockroach").

From the Business Insider: Bitcoin Proves The Libertarian Idea Of Paradise Would Be Hell On Earth. Weird article.

I have occasionally remarked that "libertarians eat their young," by which I mean that when a libertarian comes along with some promise, the most vicious attacks heaped upon him/her come, not from liberals or conservatives, but from other libertarians. It often seems that we are our own worst enemies.

So it is with some bemusement that I've been watching the same dynamic play out in the liberal blogosphere over the last week. Ted Rall has been accused of being a racist, because of his "apelike" portrayal of Barack Obama. No, Obama wasn't portrayed as hairy-chested, or with knuckles dragging the ground, or swinging from a tree or eating bananas. It seems that Obama's nose was too broad.

Now, I really enjoy Rall's cartoons, but he's no Michelangelo. His characters come with basically two noses: pointed for women, and rounded for men. In fact, except for skin color, his Barack Obama looks an awful lot like his Antonin Scalia...nose and all. As one observer commented, "Rall depicts powerful people he regards as advocating war, torture and oppression as being brutish and ugly." And Rall has been one of the few on the left willing to criticize Obama for his warmaking, cronyism, spying, secrecy, and hypocrisy.

Which is what landed him in hot water when he was invited to post (for no pay) at the Daily Kos. Over there, it seems, criticism of Obama = racism. So he was put on probation; but rather than recant his (nonexistent) sins, he packed his pen and pencil and went home. The Kossacks have been smearing him ever since.

Let me be clear: I am a libertarian anarchist; Rall is -- as nearly as I can categorize him -- a revolutionary socialist. I would hate to live in the world he seeks, and I doubt that he'd be happy in mine. But on some issues -- war, crony capitalism, civil liberties -- we are in agreement. And I respect him for staying true to his principles, and criticizing Obama from the earliest days of his administration, when it became clear that the Great Hope 'n' Change was merely just another power-seeking warmonger.

More to the point, I've been reading his cartoons for years, and to me it is utterly, jaw-droppingly ridiculous to assert that Rall is any kind of a racist. Unless "powerful" is a race. The actual problem is that Rall is color-blind...and he criticizes the misuse of power regardless of skin color. I think this is a good thing. The Daily Kos does not.

I don't know Rall, I doubt that we'd be friends, and he advocates some things that I can't stand. But I think it's hateful and despicable that he is being smeared as "racist" on the Internet, for the crime of not genuflecting to the Democratic Party. Good luck to you, Ted; chin up...and keep on drawing, even when you're poking fun at libertarians. -- Brad

From the Guardian: World's leading authors: state surveillance of personal data is theft

From Salon: NSA Hiring 15-Year-Olds

From Reason: It's Not Isolationist For America To Mind Its Own Business

From Yahoo Daily News: Seymour Hersh Alleges Obama Administration Lied on Syria Gas Attack

From the Daily Caller: New York City confiscating rifles and shotguns (Remember how believing registration would lead to confiscation was crazy?)

From the Daily Rash: President Obama’s Stunning Admission: ‘White Part of Me is Racist’ Satire.

From Mediaite: Stewart Hits Obama on Surveillance: ‘If You Like Your NSA Spy, You Can Keep Your NSA Spy’

From the Daily Caller: South Carolina poised to nullify Obamacare. Model for other states fed up with health-care law

From the Guardian: Xbox Live among game services targeted by US and UK spy agencies

From the Future of Freedom Foundation: Libertarian Missteps with Sheldon Richman

From Daily Mail Online: 'A public safety disaster': Obamacare could force THOUSANDS of volunteer fire departments to close

A lawyer friend forwarded to me a legally and politically prudent method of sending greetings this season....

From us ("the wishors") to you ("hereinafter called the wishee"):

Please accept without obligation, explicit or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, politically correct, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion or secular practice of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions.

Please also accept, under aforesaid waiver of obligation on your part, our best wishes for a financially successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of this calendar year of the Common Era, but with due respect for the calendars of all cultures or sects, and for the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith, choice of computer platform or dietary preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting you acknowledge that:

This greeting is subject to further clarification or withdrawal at the wishor's discretion.

This greeting is freely transferable provided that no alteration shall be made to the original greeting and that the proprietary rights of the wishor are acknowledged.

This greeting implies no warranty on the part of the wishors to fulfill these wishes, nor any ability of the wishors to do so, merely a beneficent hope on the part of the wishors that they in fact occur.

This greeting may not be enforceable in certain jurisdictions and/or the restrictions herein may not be binding upon certain wishees in certain jurisdictions and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wishors.

This greeting is warranted to perform as reasonably may be expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first.

The wishor warrants this greeting only for the limited replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wishor.

Any references in this greeting to "the Lord", "Father Christmas", "Our Saviour", or any other festive figures, whether actual or fictitious, dead or alive, shall not imply any endorsement by or from them in respect of this greeting, and all proprietary rights in any referenced third party names and images are hereby acknowledged.