“Once police stop you, a ticket is the least of your worries,” writes Jacob Sullum early on in his new Reason article “10 Ways a Roadside Police Stop Can Go Wrong.”
After starting off with a short examination of the discretion police have to pull over vehicles on the road for a plethora of reasons, Sullum addresses, in turn, ten of the ways beyond a ticket that a traffic stop can be harmful. He starts with number one, having one’s driver license taken away, and proceeds on to number ten, being killed.
So you are curious whether you have coronavirus? You could take a coronavirus test to find out. Well, not really find out, since the test results are not reliable. Nonetheless, you can take a test to obtain at least a Magic 8 Ball level answer of if you are or are not infected with coronavirus.
Here is some information likely unknown to many people when they are tested: The names and addresses of people who test positive are often handed over to police departments that can input or tag those names and addresses in police databases.
Isn’t lifting the prohibition on reopening businesses that were required to close in the coronavirus crackdown supposed to provide greater respect for individual rights? It seems that that is not the view of some politicians, including Washington Governor Jay Inslee.
Continue readingPoliticians across America who have been trampling on liberty via a multitude of mandates imposed in the name of countering coronavirus should beware. There may be a court of jurisdiction stomping out your tyrannical efforts soon.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court led the way to restoring respect for limits on government power on Wednesday when it voided much of Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers’ restrictions on commerce, travel, and other exercises of liberty purportedly imposed to protect people’s health.
Tens of millions of jobs have disappeared over the last couple months after government actions taken in the name of countering coronavirus sank an already suffering economy, including through mandating that many businesses shut down. Nevertheless, one group of American businesses — military contractors — is still going strong and seeking to hire many people.
Continue readingIt is refreshing to see government officials across America refuse to participate in all or part of the ongoing coronavirus crackdowns. A new action in this admirable secession from the authoritarianism was taken by Eric Gonzalez, the district attorney for the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Gonzalez has chosen not to prosecute any of the 40 people police have arrested in the borough from March 17 through May 4 for violating social distancing mandates imposed in the name of countering coronavirus.
Continue readingMedia reports are relating that there have been in the last few days many new coronavirus cases in America, or in certain areas of the county. The reports often suggest that this is something about which people should be fearful. However, a high number of reported coronavirus cases does not provide as much reason for worry as many people presume.
Continue readingOn Thursday, I wrote about Rep. Justin Amash (L-MI), in a ten-minute interview at MSNBC focused on why he is interested in seeking the Libertarian Party presidential nomination, saying nothing libertarian. Further, I noted that, when Amash was asked about what a libertarian would do concerning coronavirus (a policy area where government is heavily restricting people’s exercise of liberty, intentionally shutting down much of the economy, and spending with abandon), Amash chose to promote adding a new government program to hand out money to people — something the host noted does not sound like a limited government proposal.
On Friday, Amash was back in another national media interview focused on why he would want to run for president as the Libertarian Party nominee. This time Amash was interviewed for five minutes by Rachel Martin at National Public Radio (NPR).
Second act, same as the first.
Talk about creepy. The Georgia Department of Public Health has announced that it, the United Sates Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and county health boards are together sending teams of government agents to randomly selected homes in two Georgia counties. These teams of government agents are charged with asking questions, including about household members’ health, and extracting blood from all the people living in the homes. The reason given for the home visits is — you may have guessed it — coronavirus.
Continue readingAfter Rep. Justin Amash (I-MI) established a committee this week to enable him to run for the Libertarian Party presidential nomination, he was interviewed for ten minutes at MSNBC regarding his candidacy. Did Amash use this time to advocate for accomplishing libertarian goals — terminating the drug war, ceasing foreign intervention, and ending the Federal Reserve, for example? No. Instead, Amash repeatedly avoided talking about any particular policy issues. Then, when asked by host Ayman Mohyeldin to weigh in on government actions taken purportedly in response to coronavirus, Amash even managed to address this matter that involves incredible rights violations and vast spending in such a nonlibertarian manner that Mohyeldin soundly challenged Amash for supporting big government — the opposite of advocating a libertarian position.
Continue reading