Source: Kent’s Hooligan Libertarian Blog
by Kent McManigal
“Beyond mere non-compliance, there is defiance. Defiance is more ‘in your face’ than non-compliance, and is more dangerous, but you can be smart about it. Practice non-compliance until you get comfortable dipping into defiance. Storming a government building only works if there’s a big enough crowd, and they don’t simply go home to be hunted down later. It’s the same with refusing to be taxed, refusing to have illegal gun rules imposed on you, and rejecting all licenses and permits. There’s safety in numbers. … There’s a tipping point at which defiance is less dangerous because of the number of people participating. It’s not here yet. Until then, you can at least work toward reaching that tipping point.” (04/17/26)
“Delaware and Vermont only have one Congressional representative each, elected statewide. It is literally impossible to gerrymander a statewide district. There is no process of drawing boundary lines; the state’s borders are the boundary lines. This in itself should be enough to completely discredit the argument being put forth. Anyone claiming a nefarious Democratic Congressional gerrymander of Delaware should take a big step back. If, after all, they have been fed and subsequently repeated a lie so moronic on its face, then what subtler lies are they also being fed and repeating?” (04/17/26)
“The US/Israeli war is indisputably unlawful. It constitutes one of the gravest crimes under international law — the crime of aggression. The legality of Iran’s regulation of the Strait is, however, less clear-cut. Though Iran has not formally blockaded the Strait, it required ships to coordinate with it and abide by its regulatory regime in order to pass through during the war and ceasefire. … Iran has also reportedly charged a fee to some passing ships. Unlike the United States, however, Iran can make a reasonable case that it is within its rights to do all these things under international law.” (04/17/26)
“Congress should not idle like Nero while the Constitution is in flames. Members should be inspired by the 56 signatories to the Declaration of Independence who signed their death warrants to secure unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness promoted by government by consent of the governed. Trump must be impeached and removed from office immediately before it is too late.” (04/17/26)
“In 2008, Congress added Section 702 to FISA permitting warrantless surveillance of foreign persons who communicate with Americans. The FISA court interpreted 702 to permit warrantless surveillance of Americans to whom foreign persons had spoken, out to the sixth degree. Thus, if you call or email a hotel in Rome to book a room, you are subject to warrantless surveillance under 702. If you call your mom, she is subject. If she calls her sister, your aunt is subject to warrantless surveillance, and so forth to the sixth degree. Behold the monstrosity that FISA has wrought. Can the data gathered by this warrantless surveillance be used by the FBI for prosecution purposes, as an end run around the Fourth Amendment? Congress said yes. That’s the American heresy, as it directly defies the history, values and plain meaning of the Fourth Amendment.” (04/16/26)
Source: CounterPunch
by John W Whitehead & Nisha Whitehead
“[W]hat happens when the president appears unable to discharge the duties of his office in a rational, coherent, and responsible manner? In other words, what can we do when the president appears to be losing his mind? The Constitution provides a remedy. The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides a process by which the government continues to function should the president be unable to carry out his duties. … while the president may be unraveling in plain sight, the machinery of the American Police State continues to expand—quietly, relentlessly, and with bipartisan support. Surveillance is expanding. Policing is becoming more militarized. Power is becoming more centralized and less accountable. And unlike the presidency, there is no 25th Amendment for the police state. No mechanism to declare it unfit. No procedure to remove it. Or is there?” (04/16/26)
“The Trump administration believes that the US Navy will prevent Iran from earning revenue from oil exports, while allowing other nations’ shipments to pass through the strait, thus resuming the transport of oil, gas, fertilizer, and other important items for global markets. This surgical outcome, however, may be harder to achieve than it looks. … The IRGC organized its navy around a meticulously planned asymmetric model—that is, like guerrilla fighters on land, it employs hit-and-run tactics against commercial shipping using small, fast attack boats and missile boats. More than 60 percent of the fast attack boats have survived US and Israeli air strikes. These smaller boats emerge from concealed underground pens or from hiding places among civilian boats, making them difficult for satellite reconnaissance to detect. Also, the boats can lay sea mines much faster than the slow, dangerous process of finding and neutralizing them.” (04/16/26)
“Taken together, the seven liberal arts of the Trivium and Quadrivium formed the core undergraduate curriculum in medieval universities during the 12th and 13th centuries, serving as prerequisites for the study of philosophy and theology at a higher level. Considering that the Trivium was regarded as teaching students to master language and thought through the study of grammar, logic, and rhetoric – the ‘three ways’ of literary education – it may be seen as a powerful reminder to us today that unless one knows how to employ language at these three levels, it would be futile to proceed to a different, and higher, level of study, because an inadequate grasp of linguistic meaning, logical relations of validity, and the rhetorical nuances of speech would invalidate understanding at all further levels – even in computer science, where linguistic communication is as essential as in the humanities.” (04/16/26)
“At a convention of Canadian Liberals, tech executive Patrick Pichette proposed that youngsters eager to escape Canada be charged a half-million dollars for what he apparently regards as a privilege, not a right. We must remind ourselves that the word ‘liberal,’ here, is used in its modern, anti-liberal sense: of the ideology of ever-increasing restraints on everybody. Very illiberal. Even if Pichette means Canadian dollars, that’s still $360,000 in real USD dollars. Hardly a ten-dollar processing fee. More like extortion. He rationalizes that the kids owe that much anyway thanks to Canada’s heavily subsidized education system.” (04/26/26)
