California Drought! Russians Hack U.S. Banks? France Record Unemployment!

My commentary on the FBI investigating Russians for hacking into U.S. banks (I.e. JP Morgan Chase), Germany’s Merkel hinting that the U.S. reign might be coming to an end, Germany cracking down on benefits tourism, France dealing with an economic crisis and Robin Williams suicide.

You NEED to Become a Libertarian

Jonathan Blanks - Beyond the Drug War: How Libertarians' Aversion to 'Black Issues' Impedes Their Own Relevance

Jonathan Blanks, a black Libertarian, writes about race and the Libertarian movement.

I have a new piece up at Rare today. In it, I lay out the case that color-conscious criminal justice reform is needed, and libertarians persistent refusal to take these problems head-on undercuts their message of individual liberty. 

Take the reaction to the Ferguson protests: only one third of white people surveyed by Pew thought tear gassing and pointing guns at peaceful black protesters (and journalists) was “too far.” Even subtracting the third who answered “I don’t know,” half of those who expressed any opinion thought the police’s actions against the primarily black crowd—captured on countless cameras, phones, and video recorders—were within the range of acceptable behavior.

In a world in which this well-documented, recorded, over-the-top enforcement is tolerated or condoned by a majority of Americans, relying on cameras to rein-in police behavior in minority enclaves or against minorities individually is probably quite naïve. 

Other big picture policy shifts like eliminating sex-work prohibitions, broad sentencing reform, and reducing the Pentagon programs that militarize and hyper-weaponize local police would also benefit millions of Americans. However, there’s no reason libertarians should not add an equal protection component to their criminal justice reform wish list and encourage law enforcement agencies to improve community relations with minorities. You can read the whole thing here.

You can read the whole thing here.

Kkali Pinckney - In The End, We Will Be Either Libertarians Or Slaves

If you haven’t noticed what has been going on in our society, culture, and our country as a whole, you are either blind, party-loyal (of which no one should be a loyal-Democrat or loyal-Republican), or you are socialist-leaning.

The United States was founded under the acknowledgement that the INDIVIDUAL human being has Natural (or God Given) rights. That merely by the sake of being human he is in control of certain facets of his own life (Speech, religion, ect). This is a clear acknowledgement that government DOES NOT allow or provide us our rights but government is forced to accept these rights as something it (government) cannot LEGALLY curtail because they are not “provided” or “granted” by the government.

These Natural (or God-Given) rights cannot be taken away by a government. A list of individual rights (The Bill Of Rights) were/are supposed to be inalienable — Meaning, they cannot be removed, seized, voted away, and you can’t give up your rights to government even if you wanted to; and you certainly cannot give up the rights of others.

Read complete article here.

Ferguson, Police Militarization, and the Culture of Harassment

  On August 13, 2014, Ferguson Police Department (FPD) and St. Charles County Sheriff's Department (SCCSD) dressed in riot gear fired rubber bullets and tear gas at Ferguson residents protesting the death of 18-year-old Michael Brown. An officer from the Ferguson Police Department allegedly shot Brown to death on August 9.

But by the night of August 14, things looked very different in this small Missouri suburb after the governor took security duties out of the hands of FPD and SCCSD and handed it over to the Missouri State Highway Patrol (MSHP).

"We are going to have a different approach and have the approach that we’re in this together," said Capt. Ronald S. Johnson of MSHP at a press conference. Johnson walked with protesters and posed for pictures with them later in the day.

While the atmosphere was free of a militarized police presence, and the mood of protesters was borderline celebratory, the resentment towards the Ferguson Police Department was palpbable.

Protesters told Reason TV that Brown's death was in line with a pattern of harrasment from police in the St. Louis area, ranging from excessive tickets and fines to overly aggressive officers. Many also said that the show of quasi-military force in response to the protest may have damaged the relationship between the people and the police beyond repair.

"We are not at war here. This looked like the demilitarized zone," says protester Earling McAllister Thomas.

Watch the video above. Appoximately 3 minutes. Produced by Zach Weissmueller and Paul Detrick.

Go to http://www.reason.com/reasontv for downloadable versions, and subscribe to Reason TV's YouTube channel for more content like this.

EBOLA: Experimental Serum Saves U.S. Patients? One-Dimensional Preppers!

My thoughts on an experimental serum saving the lives of two missionaries and why a prepper should never be one-dimensional.

Ebola outbreak: Stricken US missionary staff ‘improving’ after taking experimental serum
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wor...

Experimental Ebola Serum Grown in Tobacco Leaves
http://www.webmd.com/news/20140804/eb...