In June of 2020, family and friends of Hannah Fizer, 25, were shocked to learn that their beloved daughter and friend had been killed during a stop over an alleged speeding violation. Then, four months later, they learned there would be no justice and the officer who killed the unarmed woman as she sat in her vehicle—was back on the job. Since then, Fizer’s father, John Fizer, filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Pettis County seeking damages against Pettis County Deputy Jordan Schutte. The lawsuit argues the shooting was an unjustified, an excessive use of force and that Schutte did not...
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Vaccines, Autonomy, and Mandates: A Libertarian Analysis
Prefatory Note Given the subject matter discussed below, I believe it prudent to state at the outset that I am not at all opposed to vaccinations themselves: indeed, I have received a COVID-19 vaccine, as well as all other normal-course vaccinations recommended for someone my age. Yet there are, it seems to me, interesting, difficult questions surrounding the state’s role in promoting or mandating vaccines. The goal here is to start a conversation not about the effectiveness of vaccines, but about the individual’s sphere of autonomy and what kinds of medical decisions are within it, and...
Lunatic With a Plan: Erdogan and Turkey’s Economic Woes
Since the first assault on Turkey’s finances in 2018, which I wrote about multiple times (here, here, and here), I’ve been the lone voice telling everyone that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a lunatic but he’s a lunatic with a plan. That plan is to de-dollarize the economy of a valuable member of NATO geostrategically. Since the first shots across the bow by the Trump administration at Erdogan’s toying with those powers east of the Bosporus (Russia, China and Iran) the Turkish lira has been the primary mode of attack against Erdogan. Erdogan has pursued what has been deemed unorthodox...
BBC Admits Syria Gas Attack Report Had Serious Flaws
This sham chemical weapons claim is what drove Trump to conduct a missile strike on Syria at the urging of his generals. "The BBC has admitted that a Radio 4 documentary on an alleged chemical weapon attack in Syria contained serious inaccuracies. The Corporation's Executive Complaints Unit (ECU) upheld a protest from Mail on Sunday columnist Peter Hitchens following last November's broadcast of Mayday: The Canister On The Bed. Adjudicators agreed that the programme by BBC investigative journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou failed to meet the Corporation's editorial standards for accuracy by...
The State Is All About Double Standards
There are some subjects that must be discussed multiple times until people fully grasp them. The subject of the “double standard” when it comes to State actors and their actions is one that I think about every day. On the right of the meme is a list of actions that you or I would be thrown in a cage for were we to perform them. Yet when the “State actor” does it, it is normalized. Let’s look at what the State calls “Enhanced Interrogation.” If they feel the need to get information out of a suspect, they have been given the right (mind you, by people that do not possess that right to start...
Armed Israeli Settlers Burn Hundreds of Olive Trees South of Nablus
Let's see, what would it be called if "armed Palestinian people-who-are-actually-from-there" burned hundreds of anything belonging to Israeli civilians, even trespassing "settlers"? Right. Exactly. "Terrorism." Well I like how George Carlin used to say: "We don't need two standards. One will do just fine."
Ten Reasons the COVID-19 Threat May Be Inflated
COVID-19 is a very serious problem that should be taken very seriously by individuals, organizations, businesses and governments but there are ways in which the public may get an exaggerated sense of the threat: 1. In general: Once a dominant narrative is formed (in this case: Covid-19 as huge threat) reporting will be more inclined to cover things that fit that narrative & ignore/dismiss things that seem to contradict it: The evidentiary standards for reporting that fits the narrative will be lower than for reporting that contradicts it. 2. Reporting focuses on *expected* problems...
Even by Afghanistan’s grim standards, 2019 has been particularly deadly for children
The real cost of war AP. A new report by the U.N. children’s agency, released Tuesday, says that in the first nine months of this year, nine children were killed or maimed every day as a result of war. Since the ICRC began its rehabilitation program in Afghanistan in 1988, more than 177,000 people, including more than 46,000 amputees, have been treated at its centers across the country. Among the amputees registered, 77% were landmine victims and 70% of those were civilians. The harm inflicted by more than four decades of war has been cumulative. In 2018 Afghanistan was the world’s most...
Medical kidnapping of children by the state
Disagree with your child's doctor and you may get a visit from a SWAT team. Child Protection Service, state legislators and the juvenile courts are using federal child protection acts to expand their police powers. In Arizona members of the judicial system set up a lobbying group called the Arizona Judicial Council. The group pushes for legislation that will expand the police powers of the judiciary including legislation that, reduces high school graduation standards for foster care children, require all members of a household to undergo background checks before a child can be returned...
It Was All a Lie
The short version? Mueller is done. His report unambiguously states there was no collusion or obstruction. He was allowed to follow every lead unfettered in an investigation of breathtaking depth. It cannot be clearer. The report summary states, “The Special Counsel’s investigation did not find that the Trump campaign or anyone associated with it conspired or coordinated with Russia in its efforts to influence the 2016 US Presidential Election…the report does not recommend any further indictments, nor did the Special Counsel obtain any sealed indictments that have yet to be made public.”...