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Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.
SHARE Friday, March 15, 2024 Congress Can Only Take Away Your TikTok If You Let Them
The proposed TikTok ban isn't about "national security," nor is it about your privacy.
It's about cultivating short-term moral panic for their political benefit.
It's about establishing their longer-term control over anything and everything you might choose to do.
And it won't take long to learn which American Big Tech lobbyists and campaign contributors it was ALWAYS about giving an economic gift to.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, March 15, 2024 UFOs: Don't Expect The Truth From Government
The US government isn't telling us everything it knows about UFOs. And we can be certain that at least some of what it IS telling us is untrue.
SHARE Sunday, March 10, 2024 The Danger in Medicalizing Murder
While some people tend to unduly write off avoidable atrocity as unavoidable tragedy, it's difficult to deny that brain trauma -- natural or artificial -- can play a role in turning otherwise reasonable people into killers.
SHARE Sunday, March 10, 2024 When Time Is Money, "Dynamic Pricing" Makes Everything Cheaper
Everything else being equal, nobody wants to pay more for food than necessary. But everything else is never equal. For some people, saving time is worth a little extra money; for others, saving money is worth a little extra time. For businesses, keeping demand more steady is profitable.
SHARE Tuesday, March 5, 2024 Then There Was The Time Tom Cotton Bemoaned "Extremism"
To Cotton's mind, the Israeli regime's murders of civilians in Gaza -- the current toll stands at 30,000 or more -- are morally justifiable and worthy of his support, while killing one's self in protest against genocide is "extremist" and supportive of "terrorism."
SHARE Thursday, February 29, 2024 "Solution" Or Not, There's Already a Palestinian State
Whenever there's talk of a "two-state solution" to the Israeli-Arab conflict in Palestine, Israel and its backers -- especially the US -- pretend that any "second state" is a proposal for the future, a proposal that can be rejected, temporarily or permanently.
That little bit of propagandizing becomes less and less useful as time goes on. The state of Palestine is not a proposal, it's a fact.
SHARE Thursday, February 29, 2024 Alabama IVF Ruling: When The Law Has A Personal Problem
What -- who -- is a "person" or "child" deserving of particular rights and protections?
As a philosophical topic, that question quickly becomes interesting and highly debatable.
As a political and legal question, it's likewise highly debatable and any answer produces controversial consequences.
SHARE Thursday, February 29, 2024 Return of the "Student Loan Forgiveness" Vote-Buying Scheme
Like previous rounds of "student loan forgiveness," this latest write-off is a $1.2 billion campaign expenditure, one that doesn't have to come out of the Biden campaign's $56 million in cash reserves, or be raised with donation drives.
(4 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 17, 2024 Russia: Why Navalny, and What's Next?
According to the Russian regime, he was incarcerated for crimes ranging from embezzlement to fraud to money laundering.
According to his supporters in Russia and elsewhere, he was a political prisoner whose anti-corruption work and campaigns for public office represented a threat to Vladimir Putin's rule.
I've always found his status as a darling of western Putin opponents puzzling.
SHARE Thursday, February 15, 2024 Suggestion for Presidential Candidates: Turn Cognitive Impairment Lemons Into Campaign Event Lemonade
When presidents and presidential candidates can't seem to hang on to important thoughts or remember key names and dates well enough to deliver their messages in complete and coherent sentences, voters WILL notice.
The candidates have two choices: Address it, or accept that not addressing it will cost them votes.
SHARE Wednesday, February 14, 2024 State of the Presidency: 46+25 = 47?
If Joe Biden can't remember basic facts or even be trusted to not throw important documents on the "donate to Goodwill" pile in his garage, is he competent to remain, let alone be re-elected as, president?
(4 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 7, 2024 Politicians Versus Your "End Of Life Options"
Nature (and human nature) preclude, at least for the moment, the choice to live forever. Illness, accident, and crime cut lives short every day despite the perfectly normal desire to continue living.
But the desire to NOT continue living, for whatever reason, brings up a choice that rightfully belongs to all mentally competent adults. Entirely. Completely. Without exception.
SHARE Tuesday, February 6, 2024 Regarding Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce, and Thorazine Shortages
Politics didn't make Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce popular and well-known. They accomplished that themselves. Even if Joe Biden needs them, they don't need him. But if they want a reason to endorse Biden, the MAGA weirdos are giving them one in the form of truly next-level wingnuttery.
SHARE Monday, January 22, 2024 Do We Need Terms of Service for Porch Pirates?
Is going onto other people's porches and stealing their stuff really a "private" activity?
And does recording (and, if one chooses, sharing) what happens on one's own property, or on "public" property visible from one's own property, violate anyone's reasonable expectation of privacy?
(2 comments) SHARE Monday, January 22, 2024 Overdraft Fee Cap: A Terrible Solution to an Already Solved Problem
Sometimes it's hard to tell whether the CFPB's mission is to actively and intentionally make life harder for poor people (as with its war on "payday loan" operations), or whether that's just a side effect of good-hearted but idiotic and unnecessary ideas.
SHARE Monday, January 15, 2024 Presidential Immunity: Trump Makes a Good Point Without Meaning To
What's so outrageous about suggesting that a president who orders American citizens murdered should be held to answer in the same way, and face the same penalties, as a Mafia don who orders a competitor killed, or a regular American who hires a hit-man to murder a spouse?
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, January 10, 2024 What's In Your Wallet? If CBDC Supporters Have Their Way, Nothing Reliable
CBDCs aren't cryptocurrencies. They're the digital opposite of cryptocurrencies in important respects. In fact, their main function is to serve as instruments of control over you, your activities, and your finances.