Category: rights

A Matter Of Units And Standards

     When it comes to individuals’ Constitutionally guaranteed rights, the lines are sharp and clear. The understanding of a right would not be possible otherwise, for a right divides the universe of actions into permissible and impermissible. Thus, it’s always possible to know when an individual’s right to his life, his liberty, or his honestly …

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Sovereign Immunity

     [The following piece first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 on June 14, 2016. And before you ask: No, I haven’t been to the kzinti homeworld since then. – FWP]      Some years ago, a friend of mine who sought to pursue an action against his township for mistakenly demolishing his house was told, in …

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Where The Power Is

     Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. – William Pitt      Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act. – The Talmud      One of the most illuminating bits of the Game of Thrones series …

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The Drones Of Labor Day: An Unpacking

     This tidbit should be inspiring more questions than it is at present:      The New York Police Department will dispatch drones to monitor backyard parties and private social gatherings over Labor Day weekend in response to any complaints. However, some are saying that drone surveillance by police would be an invasion of privacy.      …

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On Non-Payment Of Premiums

     Have a few quotes from the greatest of all Americans, the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson:      “The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept alive.”      “I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a …

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The Imperative Question

     Toward the end of Atlas Shrugged, Hank Rearden has a final meeting with the “looter elite” in which they propose a “Steel Unification Plan.” That “plan” is plainly just as vampiric as every other that emerged from the looter-ruled economy described in the novel. Yet the elite are solidly behind it…which causes Rearden to …

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The Plunderers Hunger Part 2: The Coin Of The Realm

     Let’s start the day off with a little Ayn Rand:      “Well, anyway, it was decided that nobody had the right to judge his own need or ability. We voted on it. Yes, ma’am, we voted on it in a public meeting twice a year. How else could it be done? Do you care …

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Wrong Turnings

     Please don’t misinterpret what follows. I love my Church, despite my handful of disagreements with it. But now and then some of its notables go off the rails so dramatically that I’m compelled to take exception to it.      The United States has a shortage of Catholic priests. Parishes from coast to coast find …

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There Are Days I Wish I Were A Journalist

     …especially one who conducts interviews with politicians:      U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) blamed the overturning of Roe v. Wade for the Republican party’s lackluster midterm showing during a recent appearance on Meet the Press. “It’s the reason we didn’t get more of a majority. We could have had a two dozen seat majority, …

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Statist In A Cleft Stick Dept.

     Men of good will should celebrate every event that compels the evil-minded to show their true colors. This is nowhere more important than when an individual right is under threat. An episode of this kind occurred just yesterday in upstate New York:      That’s all the specific information I have on this incident. The …

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Taking Exceptions

     Let’s spin up with a Blinding Flash of the ObviousTM;      The bottom line is that if you don’t have control over what gets injected into your own body, you have no meaningful freedom in any sense of the word. Any state that does not safeguard the right to full autonomy over what pharmaceutical …

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The Obfuscation Game

     The Left has adopted a new tack in its campaign against the right to keep and bear arms. A recent article in The Atlantic, a left-inclined publication, contended that the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is a “mystery” whose meaning is uncertain. While the article refers to several considerations (some …

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Accountability: A Conundrum

     From the most recent dump of Twitter Files:      38. Outside the United States, Twitter’s decision to ban Trump raised alarms, including with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Prime Minister Angela Merkel, and Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.      39. Macron told an audience he didn’t “want to live in a democracy where …

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Learned Soullessness

     I scratched around for quite a while, looking for a title for this piece. The above is the best I’ve got, and not very good at that, so please bear with me.      This is “Respect Life” weekend at my parish. We have the annual drive for funding for the local crisis pregnancy center, …

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Unmaking The Foundation

     There are a myriad things I could write about this morning – you should see my “Future Columns” folder – but one has risen above (below?) the rest to evoke a balled-fist tirade from my underappreciated main computer.      Courtesy of Dave Blount at Moonbattery, we have this piece of scrofulous garbage from LA …

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First California, Now New York

     Remember what I said about the “may issue” states and their opposition to the right to keep and bear arms?      Administrative processes can be made so painful and expensive that they deter effectively everyone from exercising their rights.      California is tightening the screws one way:      “Legal judgments of good moral character …

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Even When The News Is Good…

     …it’s unwise to rely on the honesty or candor of the political class.      A few hours ago, the Supreme Court struck down New York State’s “may issue” handgun-permit law:      The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a restrictive New York gun law in a major ruling for gun rights.      The justices’ …

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A Refutation

     It’s looking like another brain-trying, body-exhausting day for me – yes, it’s that again — so allow me a quick squib before I go forth to challenge Mother Nature once again.      The clip below should tell you what Democrats — any Democrat will do – really think of your right to keep and …

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Yes, Virginia, There IS a Great Replacement In Progress

     And you are not permitted to obstruct it:      I admire Paul Joseph Watson immensely. God alone knows how many people in the British Establishment would love to see him dead. The video above is the briefest taste of his oeuvre. All of it is worth watching.      While he usually writes (and videographs) …

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Fetishes And Fears

     Regard well:      That’s a crucifix pendant. It’s a large one as such things go, because it’s meant to be worn outside the clothes. I don it when I leave the house.      Does anyone else out there wear a crucifix pendant? Or a Miraculous Medal? Perhaps one of those cute “bracelet rosaries” that …

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