Blog 248 | The Libertarian Institute

‘Special Powers, Government Powers’: British Man Told He Can’t Be In His Own Yard

by Brad Hoff | Apr 10, 2020 | Blog

When UK police enact restrictions they (perhaps predictably) go insane.

Watch this encounter where a man in his own garden is told to get indoors or “the coronavirus will get you!”

At one point the officer even begins dictating how many times the man is able to go to the local grocery store. “I saw you carrying two bottles of pop earlier.”

INSANE.

First, this ‘policing’ defies minimal expectations of common sense.

Second, the nation is under house arrest – we’re restricted to our homes *including gardens obviously* and this is crystal clear in the regs.@syptweet will you apologise?

pic.twitter.com/UsCKCgrGxL

— Silkie Carlo (@silkiecarlo) April 9, 2020

Just maddening.

Of course the state never “apologizes”. Since the UK went on lockdown there’s been endless examples of such outlandish abuses.

Putting Sugar in a Gas Tank is Easy

by Scott Horton | Apr 9, 2020 | Blog

That’s what I would do if some scumbag ripped me off like this. And that’s if I’m in a good mood. Smashing a window or slashing a couple tires is pretty easy too. And I hear the cops have decided to stop enforcing laws against such acts in a few major cities already.

CNN: People Are Luring Instacart Shoppers With Big Tips — And Then Changing Them to Zero

Instacart must really hate their employees to allow this to continue. I wonder why Instacart wants a national reputation as a business that helps their customers steal from their employees?

Does that seem like smart PR to you?

The Fed’s War on Savings

by Jp Cortez | Apr 9, 2020 | Blog, Economics

During a March 17 address to the nation in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, President Donald Trump asked that Americans work from home, postpone unnecessary travel, and limit social gatherings to no more than 10 people. Ten days later, Trump signed a stimulus package of over $2 trillion dollars to provide relief to an economy on the precipice of collapse. The aid package includes handouts and loans to individuals, small businesses, and other distressed industries.

Read the rest at the Tenth Amendment Center.

COVID-19 Patients and Their Families Are Being Put on Police-Enforced Lockdown

by Scott Horton | Apr 9, 2020 | Blog

Reason magazine’s Elizabeth Nolan Brown has a great run-down of all the power-mad police state freaks exploiting the Coronavirus crisis to expand their powers over Americans lives.

As the old flyer a punk-rocker handed me on the drag across from UT Austin back in 1993 said:

WSJ: To Curb the Coronavirus, Hong Kong Tells the World Masks Work

by Scott Horton | Apr 9, 2020 | Blog

See here:

“In Hong Kong, there was never any doubt about the need for face masks. Most people here, including an epidemiologist helping guide the response, are adamant that widespread mask use has been crucial in keeping the city from becoming a viral hot zone.

“If not for universal masking once we depart from our home every day, plus hand hygiene, Hong Kong would be like Italy long ago,” said K.Y. Yuen, a Hong Kong microbiologist advising the government. “If you look at where we’ve had clusters, it’s places where the masks come off, like hot-pot family dinners or Buddhist temples.”

Which raises the question: Just how severely should U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams be punished for deliberately lying about this for months?

I think life in prison in the Florence, Colorado Supermax with the terrorist murderers Ramzi Yousef and Ted Kaczynski sounds about right.

Up to 150 Saudi Royals Infected With Coronavirus: Report

by Steven Woskow | Apr 9, 2020 | Blog

I don’t have much sympathy for them given all the death and disease they have caused in Yemen.

The infections are supposedly a key element in the Saudi decision to announce a ceasefire in Yemen, where Riyadh has been battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels on behalf of the country’s deposed president since 2015.

According to The New York Times, as many as 150 Saudi royals are believed to have contracted the virus, including members of the lesser branches of the extensive family. The Times cited a person close to the family as giving the information. Newsweek has contacted the Saudi government and its embassy in Washington, D.C. for comment.

Saudi Arabia reported its first coronavirus case six weeks ago. There have now been 2,932 confirmed cases in the kingdom, with 41 deaths and 631 recoveries, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Among them—according to the Times—is the senior prince and Riyadh governor Faisal bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. The prince, a nephew of King Salman, is in intensive care, according to doctors at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital—an elite institution where royals are cared for—who spoke to the Times.

An internal memo sent around the hospital has said that up to 500 beds have been prepared for royals and those close to them as the pandemic takes hold. King Salman, 84, is self-isolating at an island palace near the city of Jeddah on the country’s Red Sea coast.

Year Zero 109: The Fallout, The Aftermath, and The Future Of Liberty w/Mike Korbel

by Tommy Salmons | Apr 9, 2020 | Blog, Year Zero

Tommy invited Mike Korbel of The Invictus Mind podcast to come back on the show. They discuss how the hysteria around Covid19 has effected people, the potential for tyranny, and the future of liberty.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Why Politicians Do What They Do

by Sheldon Richman | Apr 9, 2020 | Blog, Justice, Libertarianism

I don’t think politicians relish closing down the economy, nor do I think they’ll be eager to do so in the future. For one thing, it’s contrary to their interests. They do what they do because when all you have is a blunt instrument, every problem looks like something that can only be solved with a blunt instrument.