#reason.com

[volunteerismandanarchy]

Congress needs to reassert its powers and bring the imperial presidency back down to earth.

[rodgermalcolmmitchell]

The Libertarian road: From ignorance, to malevolence, to treason.

There was a time when the Libertarians were a sort of third road between liberalism and conservatism, an anarchist movement that opposed both sides equally. No more. The Libertarian website, Reason.com, has gone full white supremacist, fascist, Fox News, Breitbart, Trump-bigoted denialism, as witness the following article: Punishing Rioters Is Wise. Bogus ‘Seditious Conspiracy’ Charges Are…

[pack-yr-romantic-mind]

i do gotta wonder what's with this phenomenon of mislocated self-identified Leftist instagram accounts that regularly post memes and propaganda from any and every vaguely anti-authoritarian center right politic but it's not important enough to figure out i guess

[loving-n0t-heyting]

i think this strawman character from one of the transfixingly awful parodies by reason.com's in house wannabe weird al has some reasonable points and we should hear him out tbqh

[itsslowsonic]

The Top 10 Things I Like About Kamala Harris (Part I)

10 - I like her special laugh. There are so many types of laughing, such as cute laughing, etiquette laughing, sarcastic laughing, fake laughing, etc. If you observe when she laughs, you will find out that her laugh is different from ordinary people's. Her laugh is nervous and lascivious laugh. You will find this laughter in a person who is either embarrassed or confused. It comes out as a reaction to the audience’s expression. A nervous laugh is usually rendered by a conscious effort in order to escape from a situation quickly. This laugh is a result of anxiety and tension. Instead of relaxing a person, nervous laughter tightens them more. And, it also makes you uncomfortable. What about the lascivious part? She laughs because she's happy about it. "I made that far just because I slept with the right person at the right time!" https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Dr3tRna3t0U

9 - I like her attitude to Generation Z. What word is she using to describe Generation Z? If you are a Generation Z and still vote for her after watching the YouTube short. Well done! It will prove that she was right. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bPCK2w51NCs

8 - I like her sudden popularity to become the Democratic Party's new nominee. She wouldn't commit to policy positions. She couldn't defend her past actions. The image of her as slippery—all ambition, no ideology—may contribute to her unpopularity among American voters. It's almost certainly more of a liability than the once-common critique that she was an overzealous cop and drug warrior. But all of a sudden, her popularity went skyrocketing. Why? Because the big bosses threw the old puppet and they need a new one now. Do they care about all other Democratic Party members? Of course not. Read these: https://reason.com/2024/07/21/its-been-easy-to-forget-how-bad-kamala-harris-is/ https://theconversation.com/democratic-partys-choice-of-harris-was-undemocratic-and-the-latest-evidence-of-party-leaders-distrusting-party-voters-236002

7 - I like her knowledge and common sense. We all know what AI is, right? Just watch this YouTube short, I don't need to explain more. Her common sense? I can hear her nervous and lascivious laugh right now. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SbAIEMxYAAg

6 - I like her economic policies. She wants Soviet Price Controls in every neighborhood grocery store. Fidel Castro had price controls, and people starved! Mao had price controls, and people starved! Stalin had price controls, and people starved! Now she is pushing the exact same policy. Why did the Soviet Price Controls never work? If it works, why do we need the market? Price controls will cause a goods shortage. You should know this common sense in middle school, right? https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DRZzbfjODs4

[darkmaga-returns]

Growing police power has gravely distorted interactions between cops and citizens. Officers arrive with not just a gun and body armor but with wide-ranging legal immunities and both the privilege and training to lie to you during questioning.

(Article by Patrick Eddington and James Craven republished from Reason.com)

Now they want to force you to unlock your phone.

The amount of personal data we keep on our smartphones is almost immeasurable, a reality the Supreme Court recognized in 2014 when it ruled that police must comply with the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement to search your device. But your phone has a simpler safeguard: a password that, under the Fifth Amendment, you shouldn't have to reveal unless the government overcomes your right against self-incrimination.

It's a right with deep roots, dating back to fourth-century Christian thinker St. John Chrysostom, who argued that no one should be required to confess their sins in public because it would discourage people from confessing at all.

By the 17th century, English common law had begun to develop these ideas into a right not to be interrogated under oath. The right achieved major recognition after the infamous Star Chamber sentenced prominent natural rights thinker John Lilburne to approximately 500 lashes for refusing to testify against himself. Lilburne remained a significant English philosopher and politician for decades while the Star Chamber was abolished just four years later.

Lilburne's case was so influential that colonial America enshrined the privilege against self-incrimination in nine state constitutions before it even became part of the Bill of Rights. Today, police act as if smartphones and digital technology invalidate those protections. They don't.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

This day in history

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TODAY (Apr 10) at UCLA, then Chicago (Apr 17), Torino (Apr 21) Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

#20yrsago Implicit ideology in video games https://reason.com/2004/04/01/free-play-2/

#20yrsago BBC tries DRM-free distribution https://web.archive.org/web/20040422090025/https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/reith2004/mp3.shtml

#15yrsago Statebook: how UK gov’t spooks see the Internet http://www.statebook.co.uk

#15yrsago Manchester’s streets to be patrolled by CCTV cars that film you picking your nose at the wheel and then send you a fine http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7994449.stm

#10yrsago Copy Me: a new critical animation series about copying, culture and copyright https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62-UT84-fXM

#10yrsago Everything is a Remix vs Patent Trolls https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il9nXHoprsU

#5yrsago Foxconn’s inconsistent, chaotic behavior in Wisconsin looks awfully grifty https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/10/18296793/foxconn-wisconsin-location-factory-innovation-centers-technology-hub-no-news

#5yrsago Victory! House of Reps passes legislation to restore Net Neutrality https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/04/victory-house-representatives-passes-net-neutrality-protections

#5yrsago Chicago is demanding that children on bail wear private-sector ankle-cuffs with mics that can record them without their consent https://theappeal.org/chicago-electronic-monitoring-wiretapping-juveniles/

#5yrsago Security keys are “transformative” and “revolutionary” for information security https://mrisher.medium.com/phishing-and-security-keys-b5c8e8e26931

#1yrago Alissa Quart's 'Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream' https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/10/declaration-of-interdependence/#solidarity-forever

[erebusvincent]

I haven't read a single positive word about Joker 2. The first one wasn't great, and Reason.com was probably accurate in describing it as "an ugly movie," but apparently the sequel is over the top bad.

I thought maybe Todd Phillips was just that upset that he felt forced to make a sequel to what was clearly a stand alone film and that's why he trashed it. But I saw a quote from him last night about how he was "deconstructing toxic masculinity" or something dumb like that. So he hated that the wrong people liked his movie, which reminds me of Eric Kripke throwing a tantrum that the wrong people liked his show.

It's dumbfounding to write horrible, irredeemable, antichrist-like characters but then slip in this tiny kernel of sympathetic bullshit and start crying about how some members of the audience noticed the aspect of the story that you wrote. Particularly when those audience members are male, with their tiny stupid brains and subhuman thinking capacity. You wrote the sob story childhood. You wrote the mental illness. You wrote the critical and cruel society. Your audience didn't write that.

To me, neither Arthur or John have a single shred of sympathetic characterization. I like when bad things happen to them. But, I'm not surprised that there are a few people watching that at least have the passing though, "gosh, some aspects of those guys' lives were kind of shitty. I wonder how anyone could experience that and not be damaged by it." You would have to have had no interaction with a single human being your entire life to be surprised by that.

Losers liked your dumb characters? Your characters are even bigger losers and you chose to suggest that maybe they're a little bit tragic and misunderstood too so that would make that losers in your audience also a little bit misunderstood and put upon and the real victims. Sure, the rest of us don't get it, but it clearly makes sense to the bottom quadrille. Drop the cringe bullshit or stop crying about it.

[hackernewsrobot]

Senate to Vote on Web Censorship Bill Disguised as Kids Safety

https://reason.com/2024/07/24/senate-to-vote-on-web-censorship-bill-disguised-as-kids-safety/

[volunteerismandanarchy]

"Democrats — it's time to come together and beat Trump," Biden added. "Let's do this."

But can Harris "do this"?

It's hard to conclude that Harris would fare worse than Biden, whose cognitive difficulties were so apparent his own party came to view him as a serious electoral liability.

Yet if one recalls Harris' own ill-fated run at the Democratic nomination in 2020, and her time in politics before then, the math in this equation becomes somewhat fuzzier—Harris was a truly bad candidate. And prior to that, she perpetuated some truly bad policies.

Kamala Harris the horrible campaigner and Kamala Harris the cop can be easy to forget if you're only considering what Harris has done lately. Her tenure as vice president has been almost entirely unremarkable. The most distinguishing feature has been a series of bizarre but benign word salads. And political memory is short.

So Harris isn't the best orator? Surely that's surmountable. Besides, the lack of distinguishing actions during her vice presidency could even be to her advantage. She's basically a blank slate, at least if you don't look back too far.

But what if you do look back?

[mediamonarchy]

https://mediamonarchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/20240402_MorningMonarchy.mp3 Download MP3 Swipe-fee settlements, palm payments and apocalyptic eclipse colliders + this day in history w/Coronavirus comet drives command teams to Cheyenne Mountain and our song of the day by K-Rino on your #MorningMonarchy for April 2, 2024. Notes/Links: Fans bid farewell to giant moving Gundam in Yokohama https://japantoday.com/category/national/update1-fans-bid-farewell-to-giant-moving-gundam-in-yokohama US-59 south of Sallisaw at the Kerr Reservoir is completely shut down at this time due to a barge that has struck the bridge. Troopers are diverting traffic away from the area. The bridge is going to be shut down until inspections of the bridge can be made. https://vxtwitter.com/OHPDPS/status/1774163632303079885 Video: Another bridge struck by a barge. U.S. 59 Bridge in Sallisaw Oklahoma; Dayton Holland and her family captured this video as they were fishing near the bridge. https://vxtwitter.com/HighImpactFlix/status/1774167830792941737 Family Dollar, Dollar Tree to close about 1,000 stores https://www.fox5ny.com/news/dollar-tree-closing-stores-family-dollar-march-13-2024 Here ye here ye: SWIFT planning launch of new central bank digital currency platform in 12-24 months https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/swift-planning-launch-new-central-bank-digital-currency-platform-12-24-months-2024-03-25/ Visa and Mastercard’s swipe-fee settlement could lead to a rewards fallout https://sherwoodmedia.com/snacks/business/visa-and-mastercards-swipe-fee-settlement-could-lead-to-a-rewards-fallout/ Video: Visa, Mastercard settle swipe fee lawsuit, agree to reduce rates and halt increases until 2030 (Audio) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOMBnFcd_vU FBI agent says he hassles people ‘every day, all day long’ their Facebook posts https://reason.com/2024/03/29/fbi-agent-says-he-hassles-people-every-day-all-day-long-over-facebook-posts/ Facebook Used “Man-in-the-Middle” Approach To Snoop on Users’ Encrypted Traffic in Secret Project https://reclaimthenet.org/facebook-used-man-in-the-middle-approach-to-snoop-on-users-encrypted-traffic-in-secret-project Feds subpoena YouTube viewers for certain videos https://www.pcworld.com/article/2278729/feds-demanded-id-of-youtube-users-who-watched-certain-videos.html Elon Musk announces more changes to X – after claims user numbers have plummeted https://news.sky.com/story/elon-musk-announces-more-changes-to-x-following-claims-user-numbers-have-plummeted-13103101 AT&T Says Data From 73 Million Current and Former Account Holders Leaked on Dark Web; Data from roughly 7.6 million current account holders and 65.4 million former account holders were released on the dark web, AT&T said. https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/att-says-leaked-data-set-impacts-about-73-million-current-former-account-holders-5618644 AT&T is investigating a leak that put millions of customers’ data on the dark web https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/30/att-investigating-breach-that-put-customer-data-on-dark-web.html Room 641A https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Room_641A Updates to Discord’s Policies https://search.brave.com/news?q=Updates%20to%20Discord%E2%80%99s%20Policies Video Game Publisher Take-Two Interactive to Acquire ‘Borderlands’ Maker Gearbox for $460M https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/take-two-interactive-borderlands-maker-gearbox-deal-1235861917/ Experts Warn of ‘Digital Enslavement’ as Amazon Pushes Palm-Scan Payment Service; Amazon has rolled out tech to facilitate palm-scanning payments, drawing criticism from experts on privacy and social surveillance and control. https://www.theepochtimes.com/business/experts-warn-of-digital-enslavement-as-amazon-pushes-palm-scan-payment-service-5618084 Video: Amazon Launches Sign-Up App For Its Palm Payment Service (Audio) https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XgHM6yDnNTs Image: Perspective is everything – Soyjack: Looking at the night sky makes me realize how puny and insignificant I am. // Based Chad: I am the result of 14 billion yea...

[ancaporado]

On February 21, law professor F.H. Buckley and Libertarian Party activist Jonathan Casey will debate the resolution, "The breakup of the United States into different regions is a workable option likely to bring a marked improvement in human affairs." The debate will be held at New York City's Sheen Center and hosted by The Soho Forum, which receives fiscal sponsorship from Reason Foundation, the nonprofit that publishes Reason. Taking the affirmative will be Buckley, a foundation professor at George Mason University's Antonin Scalia Law School. He is a frequent media guest, a senior editor at The American Spectator, and a columnist for the New York Post. He is the author of the 2020 book American Secession: The Looming Threat of a National Breakup. Some of his other books include Progressive Conservatism, Curiosity and Its Twelve Rules for Life, and The Republican Workers Party. Taking the negative is Casey, the founder and chair of the Libertarian Party Classical Liberal Caucus. He has worked and volunteered in the liberty movement for several years, specializing in communication. He founded the Classical Liberal Caucus to promote a professional and policy-based message from within the Libertarian Party.

[mitchipedia]

Gadgets and Gizmos that inspired Adam Smith

Virginia Postrel at Reason.com:

Pocket gadgets were all the rage in Adam Smith’s day….

The best known are watches. A pocket timepiece was an 18th century man’s must-have fashion accessory, its presence indicated by a ribbon or bright steel chain hanging from the owner’s waist, bedecked with seals and a watch key. …

… At a coffeehouse, a gentleman might pull out a silver nutmeg grater to add spice to his drink or a pocket globe to make a geographical point. The scientifically inclined might carry a simple microscope, known as a flea glass, to examine flowers and insects while strolling through gardens or fields. He could gaze through a pocket telescope and then, with a few twists, convert it into a mini-microscope. He could improve his observations with a pocket tripod or camera obscura and could pencil notes in a pocket diary or on an erasable sheet of ivory. (Not content with a single sheet, Thomas Jefferson carried ivory pocket notebooks.)

The coolest of all pocket gadgets were what antiquarians call etuis and Smith referred to as “tweezer cases.” A typical 18th century etui looks like a slightly oversized cigarette lighter covered in shagreen, a textured rawhide made from shark or ray skin. The lid opens up to reveal an assortment of miniature tools, each fitting into an appropriately shaped slot…. An etui might contain drawing instruments–a compass, ruler, pencil, and set of pen nibs. It could hold surgeon’s tools or tiny perfume bottles. Many offered a tool set handy for travelers: a tiny knife, two-pronged fork, and snuff spoon; scissors, tweezers, a razor, and an earwax scraper; a pencil holder and pen nib; perhaps a ruler or bodkin. The cap of a cylindrical etui might separate into a spyglass.

reason.com/2023/06/2…

Parallels to today’s smartphones and other pocket gadges are obvious. Mike Elgan discusses them in this prescient 2010 column predicting the return of the wristwatch:

www.computerworld.com/article/2…

Five years after Mike published his column, Apple introduced the Apple Watch. I did not wear a wristwatch when Mike published his column, but I do now.

Mike also wrote a column titled “Why Smartwatches Failed” in 2017. Nobody bats 1,000.

www.computerworld.com/article/3…

[nakediconoclast]

S. Ct. (SCOTUS) Will Review Whether Second Amendment Allows Disarming of People Subject to Civil Restraining Orders

https://reason.com/volokh/2023/06/30/s-ct-will-review-whether-second-amendment-allows-disarming-of-people-subject-to-civil-restraining-orders/

[msnewobsessioneveryweek]

Hey! Marsha Johnson was not at stonewall. She even said so herself :) https://reason.com/2020/06/30/marsha-p-johnson-didnt-start-stonewall-pride-might-not-have-been-trans/

Johnson said so herself. "I was uptown and I didn't get downtown until about two o'clock. When I got downtown, the place was already on fire, and there was a raid already," she told historian Eric Marcus in 1987. "The riots had already started."

You should probably actually educate yourself on gay history and stop spreading lies. Pride would still exist because it was started by homosexual men and women like Storme DeLarverie and Fred Saergent. Homosexual erasure is bigoted and homophobic

Hi? I never said anything about stonewall? Or Marsha Johnson? And I never said pride was STARTED by Trans Black women. I said we wouldn’t have it without them. I meant that as in, it wouldn’t be the same. Of course pride would still exist, just not what we have now. What I specifically said, was not a lie. And I hope to everything that is holy that you did not just imply that I’m homophobic, because I am the farthest from it.

[insidewarp]

It has now been revealed that the president attempted to bully the governor of Georgia into changing the presidential vote count for no other reason than that the president wanted it. It is hard to imagine a more flagrantly corrupt action on the part of a losing president short of simply attempting to bribe presidential electors or forcibly seizing ballots. If Republican legislators object to the counting of electoral votes for Biden, it is this brazen effort to steal an election that they will be assisting. Their attempted assistance might be as practically futile as the president's phone call itself was. They might not actually succeed in stealing the election. But their objections to the counting of properly certified ballots can hardly be interpreted as anything other than a desire to do so.

KEITH E. WHITTINGTON | 1.5.2021 3:34 PM

https://reason.com/volokh/2021/01/05/who-will-do-the-right-thing-on-wednesday/

https://www.lawfareblog.com/counting-ballots-and-stealing-elections