The Humble Libertarian original

It's not a good way to organize a society: comparing the one we have to a hypothetical perfect one in which nothing terrible ever happens. Life has always been a tragedy for everyone who's ever lived. Because there's so much pain. And sooner or later it always ends in death. But this is an amazing life most of us are living in America and even most of the world in the 21st Century! We've created an amazingly very stable, very healthy, very clean, very comfortable, and very safe society. I am all for progress to continue through our spontaneous cooperation to keep making things better every way we can, starting with our selves, and the wonderfully vast sea of good will and benevolence that most people have for others. I am opposed in principle to attempts at progress made via radical political changes to how our society is constituted, using one of the most blunt force trauma instruments in the history of the world: the United States federal government. Th...

From my latest article at The Independent Voter Network: In the never-ending fight / dance along the partisan line dividing the Republican and Democratic brands, each side adopts the tactics suited to its position at the moment, usually accompanied by a spectacular display of mass-amnesia on the part of the fierce partisans who always give their unqualified support to their party.

By NASSER al-AWLAKI The New York Times SANA, Yemen — I LEARNED that my 16-year-old grandson, Abdulrahman — a United States citizen — had been killed by an American drone strike from news reports the morning after he died. The missile killed him, his teenage cousin and at least five other civilians on Oct. 14, 2011, while the boys were eating dinner at an open-air restaurant in southern Yemen. I visited the site later, once I was able to bear the pain of seeing where he sat in his final moments. Local residents told me his body was blown to pieces. They showed me the grave where they buried his remains. I stood over it, asking why my grandchild was dead. Nearly two years later, I still have no answers. The United States government has refused to explain why Abdulrahman was killed. It was not until May of this year that the Obama administration, in a supposed effort to be more transparent, publicly acknowledged what the world already knew — that it was responsible for his death....

[ WIKILEAKS ] Statement from Edward Snowden in Moscow Monday July 1, 21:40 UTC One week ago I left Hong Kong after it became clear that my freedom and safety were under threat for revealing the truth. My continued liberty has been owed to the efforts of friends new and old, family, and others who I have never met and probably never will. I trusted them with my life and they returned that trust with a faith in me for which I will always be thankful. On Thursday, President Obama declared before the world that he would not permit any diplomatic "wheeling and dealing" over my case. Yet now it is being reported that after promising not to do so, the President ordered his Vice President to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions. This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to fright...

In this pretty shocking clip from The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, dated, September 16, 2008, the actor reveals that an FBI consultant for an action film told LaBeouf that the government logs calls and proved it by retrieving and playing the audio of a phone call LaBeouf had made two years earlier! Think he was telling the truth?

One can imagine Cody-- a UT Law student-- conducting a cross examination as effortlessly and effectively as he faces one here... 1:08 - Cody Wilson explains that what he's really doing here is law. He's concerned about the legal precedent his next interactions with the Washington regime might set. 1:28 - Oops. Used a technical word that a lot of your viewers might not know the meaning of. Forces you to speak up and ask me to explain what it means. Establish that I'm an expert on this subject and that you as the media and as the audience are consulting my expertise. Cue bashful smile: "Sure media. I'd be glad to explain what a CAD file is..." {gives a very concise, clear, articulate explanation of what a CAD file is} "Computer Aided Design files-- pieces of software that might in some sense represent material objects, but at the same time, are really just pieces of information or technical data." 1:40 - {seamless transition back into his ori...

#DEFCAD has gone dark at the request of the Department of Defense Trade Controls. Take it up with the Secretary of State. — Defense Distributed (@DefDist) May 9, 2013 I warned you about this . Push back against this intrusion on our liberty NOW. No, NOT by calling your Congressman! Download the gun files anyways ! It's easy. You can do it in under five minutes. 1. Download uTorrent and install on your computer. 2. Then visit the following link. http://thepiratebay.sx/search/defcad/0/99/0 That's where all the gun files are. 3. Click the magnet icons under the Liberator printable gun link and the most recent version of the DefCad Mega Pack link. Use uTorrent to download BOTH of these! This is important! This is urgent! This isn't even about the Second Amendment anymore. This is about the First Amendment. No, it's not even about that. It's about: are you afraid of the Washington regime, or are you laughing at it? UPDATE: DefCad....

Capitol Switchboard: (202) 224-3121 Phone Script [Be polite, friendly, and passionate]: Capitol Operator: How may I direct your call? Patriot: Hi, I'm calling regarding CISPA. Could I please get Senator [Your Senator's Name]'s office? ( Probably Underpaid ) Intern: Hello. How can I help you? Patriot: [Say quickly, clearly, and with conviction] Hi! I'm calling about CISPA. I'm a resident of [City] and a [Occupation]. I just want to urge the Senator to vote "No" when CISPA reaches the Senate in order to protect the 1st and 4th Amendments of the Constitution, to protect the freedom of American citizens, and to send a clear message to the terrorists of the world that we will not let terror change our form of government and the liberties we enjoy. Thank you!

Alternate headline: Hey Washington, even California 's getting sick of you! Ha ha ha. The Daily Caller reports : 'California lawmakers are pushing a bill that would exempt the state from federal laws authorizing indefinite detention of citizens. The California Public Safety Committee voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of the California Liberty Preservation Act, which was introduced by Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly. The bill passed the Democrat-controlled committee 6-0 with the support of a wide-ranging coalition that included the American Civil Liberties Union, Tenth Amendment Center, San Francisco 99% Coalition, San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Libertarian Party of California. The legislation is designed to free California from having to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012, which does nothing to prevent the potential seizure and indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. The California bill declares such federal power unc...

Senator Rand Paul knows real gun control means hitting your target:

When his parents found this sentence scrawled onto a piece of paper in their 4th grader's backpack, they could not believe their eyes: "I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure." The boy's classmates confirmed to his dad that they were instructed by the teacher to write this sentence, though the teacher is playing dumb and saying that the boy wrote this himself. Yeah right. I'm sure he'd think of that himself. The real irony is that most public school teachers are Democrats. This reads like something Dick Cheney would make school children write. Then again, this happened in Florida , land of Jeb Bush. Still I wonder if the teacher would have given this assignment to the students in 2004. And I don't wonder at all whether the progressive media and blogosphere would have jumped all over this in 2004; and I don't wonder at all whether they will now. Can you hear the silence on civil liber...

Exercise your 5th Amendment right! A law school professor and former criminal defense attorney tells you why you should never agree to be interviewed by the police. Not only is this incredibly informative, it's incredibly entertaining! It's like Robin Williams giving a lecture on how to exercise your rights.

Pictured above are the firearms my roommates and I took down to Georgia with us this Friday for our weekend trip to visit a libertarian friend and enjoy Saint Patrick's Day out in nature on his country ranch. Our hosts had a lot more guns waiting for us and I had a blast getting to shoot them all! As strongly as I support the Second Amendment here at this website , it's been too long since I've gotten close and personal with guns so the opportunity to shoot several, help clean them, and learn a little more about them and how to use them safely (and effectively ) was a real treat and a chance to get a little bit closer to being that ideal, responsible, vigilant citizen that every libertarian aspires to be. Hopefully I'll have one of the guys I met down here on the radio show sometime soon to share his quite extensive knowledge of guns with all of you. I'm also thinking of ways to get more awesome content here on the website related to guns and gun issues. I...

Earlier this month, Eric Holder essentially crowned Barack Obama King, granting him the power to kill his subjects in secret without due process. His legal reasoning was not only specious-- the entire debate centered on the 5th Amendment due process clause misses another part of the Constitution that explicitly deals with citizens who wage war against the United States... Read all about it in my latest article at The Independent Voter Network . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

There’s never been a better time in America for gun rights advocates. Starting in 2008 with the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Heller decision, continuing through 2010 with the McDonald case, and showing no signs of abating this Monday after the Woollard ruling was filed by a federal court in Maryland: in just a few short years the country has been swept with a wave of unprecedented court decisions that have amounted to nothing less than a revolution for gun rights and jurisprudence surrounding the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Before jumping to Monday’s Woollard ruling, which overturned some of Maryland’s notoriously strict gun control policy, a brief review of the “Second Amendment Revolution” is in order... Read the rest of my article at The Independent Voter Network . (It's one of the best I've written in a very long time!) Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

"The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday not to review a California Supreme Court ruling from last June that upheld the constitutionality of vehicle stops made by California game wardens to make sure motorists leaving hunting or fishing grounds haven’t bagged any wildlife out of season. By denying review of the ruling, the nation’s high court handed California game wardens the authority to conduct vehicle stops without a warrant. While it was the National Rifle Association that joined the defendant’s legal counsel in requesting a hearing from the Supreme Court, the ACLU might have had more at stake than the NRA in a case that has more to do with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution than the Second Amendment..." Read the rest of my article at The Independent Voter Network . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

While this may be a little incestuous, as Davi Barker is one of my own colleagues, another blogger here at The Silver Underground , I just have to take the lead on Rebel of the Week for this week and award it to Davi and his friend Theresa for how they handled the TSA during their recent trip through an airport security checkpoint. Davi doesn’t know I’m doing this and will be surprised when he reads this on the blog. I just had to after reading his account of what happened in his Monday blog post entitled, “ TSA Today: Davi’s First Opt Out .” As I read it I couldn’t help but nod vigorously and even vocally exclaim my enthusiastic approval for what they did– but more importantly how they did it. If you haven’t read Davi’s story , you absolutely should ! Davi’s friend Theresa opted out of the body scanner and for the pat down. As Davi explains, the purpose of this is to hold up the line, inconvenience the TSA, and make a cumbersome process even more cumbersome. Maybe if enough of us ...

A letter from YAL 's Jeff Frazee: Dear Patriot, I want to bring to your attention a breaking news story at the University of Cincinnati (see below). Cincinnati YAL Chapter President, Chris Morbitzer, has filed a lawsuit against his university, with the assistance of Ohio's 1851 Center for Constitutional Law and in cooperation with the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), to put an end to "free speech zones" on his campus. This is a historic case that could have lasting implications for freedom at Chris's university! So, I want to ask for your support to encourage Chris to keep going! If you are a defender of free speech on American campuses, please support this battle with a tax-deductible donation of 200, 100, or 50 this afternoon . And, be sure to read about Chris's compelling fight for freedom below. This is a significant and brave action by one of YAL's best activists. Please show your support. For liberty, Jeff Frazee ...

The Washington Post reports ( m ): Former senator Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) on Sunday defended a statement he made last October in which he said that he “almost threw up” when he read John F. Kennedy’s 1960 Houston address on the role of religion in public life. The statement by Santorum marks the GOP contender’s latest defense of his long-held views on the separation of church and state, although in his Sunday appearance he doubled down on the colorful language he employed in his October speech at a New Hampshire college. In remarks last year at the College of Saint Mary Magdalen in Warner, N.H., Santorum had told the crowd of J.F.K.’s famous 1960 address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association, “Earlier in my political career, I had the opportunity to read the speech, and I almost threw up. You should read the speech.” Now just what kind of things did Rick Santorum find so objectionable in Kennedy's speech? Things like this: "I believe in an America where the s...

In this series called " Libertarian Talking Points ," we pose a talking point that aims for the heart of an issue - avoiding the "politically safe" answer to actually try and convince people of both the moral and effectual justifications for liberty. You argue its effectiveness, or propose how to rephrase it to win hearts and minds. If the topic of viewing the Constitution as a "living" and "breathing" document comes up... "Yes, the U.S. Constitution is 'living' and 'breathing' in that it is not a static document. It is why amendments exist and the Congressional procedures by which to amend it. But, as for the notion that we should ignore this ritual altogether, and assume the enlightenment of non-democratically elected justices is better able to interpret the Constitution based not on its words, but on today's 'societal necessity', then no. The 'breath' of the U.S. Constitution is based upon the wor...