Category Archives: Liberty

Wherein Pino Fixes Immigration

Posted on July 8, 2015 | 2 comments

Immigration

Much attention to immigration in the last few weeks – heck, years.  All, or most, stemming from the flow of folks south of the American border.

For years, I have remained a staunch supporter of much more liberal immigration policies.  For example, my goto exercise has been this:

Me [to a conservative friend] – Close your eyes and describe ‘the perfect American’.

Friend – Hard working, God fearing, loves family.

Me – You just described every Mexican I know!

Further, I have implored people to justify a restriction on immigration.  Again, for sake of illustration, I would rather have a guy that has what it takes to risk EVERYTHING, and the GET HERE, to live in the absolute glory that is America than the typical citizen who just mails it in.

Every and any day!

Since then, however, I have tempered that due in large part to the importance of assimilation.  While I fully support allowing as many people as possible to enjoy the unequaled prosperity America offers, we need to be able to handle the challenges that excessive immigration poses.

All that being said, here is my solution to immigration to America:

– Make coming here legal.

The End.

Wanna live in Mexico, get your mail in Mexico and send your kids to Mexican schools but work in America?  Cool.   Sign up and go for it!

Wanna temporarily live in America while working a job [or three] to save money for later?  Cool.  Sign up and go for it!

Be aware – you are still a citizen of country of origin and are not eligible for the rights afforded to American Citizens.  You may drive but not vote.  No unemployment or insurance.  Hospital visit?  On your own.

Now – wanna move to America and BECOME AMERICAN?  Awesome, join the club and enjoy all the benefits afforded to citizens!  Sign up and go for it!

Oh yeah, the process for ‘signing up’ should be as difficult as obtaining a cell phone contract.

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Posted in Immigration, Liberty

Too Much

Posted on June 22, 2015 | 3 comments

Bad Government

Look, not all laws and government stuff is ‘bad’, but the amount of bad stuff out there is almost always due to ‘too much’.

For example, in what circumstance would a government care about patio plants?

MANKATO, MINN. — Marty Lewis, owner of Blue Bricks, 424 S Front St. in the City Center of Mankato was shocked to find that he had to close down the patio at Blue Bricks on Thursday, May 28th due to not having enough live plants.

“My managers told me that City of Mankato Associate Civil Engineer Landon Bode came into Blue Bricks on Thursday during lunch hour and told the servers that we did not have enough flowers on our patio and we were out of compliance with the City,” said Lewis “After the lunch crowd cleared, my managers went up to Drummers and picked up some shrubs, planters and hanging baskets and put them on the patio.”

Wanting to make sure Blue Bricks was in compliance, Lewis then called City of Mankato Associate Civil Engineer Landon Bode, who did not answer his phone and left a message.

“Landon Bode did not return my calls and I assumed that everything would be alright,” said a frustrated Lewis “Then at around 5:30 p.m. that day, two Mankato Police Officers came into the restaurant and told me that the patio was closed and we would have to clear the patio because we were out of compliance.”

Many things wrong with this picture, but two stand out:  One – Who thinks it is a governing bodies decision to dictate plant cover in a bar patio and Two – The enforcement of the rule is simply ludicrous.

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Posted in Government, Idiots on Parade, Liberty

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Nanny State – Parenting Style

Posted on June 15, 2015 | 4 comments

Nanny State

A story that is a little old – but important non the less.

We have what seems to be a set  of decent, hard working parents that love their kids.  However, because they have a different set of expectations regarding the safety of those kids, they have found themselves on the wrong side of the law:

Two Maryland children who received national attention as so-called “free range kids” earlier this year because of their parents’ decision to let them roam alone were taken into custody again Sunday by Child Protective Services.

Danielle and Alexander Meitiv’s children, ages 6 and 10, were picked up by police on Sunday at around 5 p.m., and taken to Montgomery County Child Protective Services. A neighbor apparently saw the children walking alone and called 911 to report it. WTTG reported the children were walking about a third of a mile from home at the time.

At 5 I was walking to and from school.  By 10 I had free range of multiple square miles of the town I grew up in.

These kids were less than 1/2 mile from home.

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Posted in Liberty

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Boeing Union Vote

Posted on April 29, 2015 | 2 comments

Unions

So, the International Association of Machinists wanna unionize the Boeing plant in South Carolina, however, they are running into resistance and have called off the vote:

The union said it was forced to call off its door-to-door canvassing campaign this week after two organizers were greeted with homeowners brandishing guns as they ordered them off their property and “others reported hostile and near-violent confrontations.”

I am absolutely loving the irony that is traditional union thug tactics.

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Where The Right To Freely Associate Ends

Posted on April 20, 2015 | Leave a comment

Liberty

In light of the recent “Freedom of Religion” laws being passed I have strongly advocated for the fact that we, as free and sovereign individuals, are free to associate, or not, with whomever we want.  And for how ever long we want.

In fact I have largely gone further than these laws and have claimed that we don’t have to invoke some ‘Freedom of Religion’ nonsense, we simply should be allowed to decide with whom we do business.

Where this ends is at [least] two places:

1.  When you are a government

2.  When you are an employee of a firm that extends association

First the second – consider a grocery store selling reasonable and common products hires you to check customers out in line.   You, as an employee, are not at liberty to both KEEP your job and refuse to service pork.

Second the first – As a government, you are not free to restrict access to public goods based on your discretion.

Senate leader Phil Berger filed a bill Wednesday morning that would allow magistrates to opt-out of same-sex weddings and allow assistant and deputy registers of deeds to not issue licenses based on “sincerely held religious objections.”

“I had, in my county, a situation where a magistrate felt like he had to resign in order to honor his religious beliefs,” Berger said, defending the bill. “A lot of folks, including myself, feel that shouldn’t be the case and that extending the rights of some should not infringe on the long held beliefs of others.”

The good Mr. Berger is wrong here; the magistrate is free to withdraw from performing this service, but he then disqualifies from holding office or his job.

 

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Posted in Liberty, Republicans Can Be Leftists Too

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A Sensible Response To Indiana

Posted on April 2, 2015 | 5 comments

NASCAR

People are people.  And as such, will find that they want to associate with people they find … agreeable.

I may find that association unacceptable – think my daughter and ANY boy – or not.  But the truth remains that we are free, it’s a hallmark, to associate with any one we want.

Indiana has sparked controversy, and many liberal groups have responded by “banning” behavior they find disagreeable.  Funny that.  Disagree with a Leftist?  Be banned!

But I like NASCAR’s response:

NASCAR is disappointed by the recent legislation passed in Indiana,” chief communications officer Brett Jewkes said in a statement. “We will not embrace nor participate in exclusion or intolerance. We are committed to diversity and inclusion within our sport and therefore will continue to welcome all competitors and fans at our events in the state of Indiana and anywhere else we race.

In short – “we disagree with Indian but will continue doin’ what we do!”

Redneck logic!

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Posted in Liberty

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Liberty – Indiana – Discrimination

Posted on March 31, 2015 | 10 comments

Freedom of Religion

There has been much ado over the recent bill signed into law in Indiana.  It would appear that the good state has legislated that a business may discriminate based on the owner’s religious bias.  The immediate thought comes to mind of the baker unwilling to create a wedding cake for a gay couple.

My immediate thought is that the law is silly.  There is no need to spell out and create a special exception for religious freedom.  After all, we are all free people and, as such, are free to associate with whomever we please.

But I must admit to the shock I am seeing from people over this bill.  As if it was news that we discriminate in our individual lives.

We discriminate on where we live, where we send our kids to school, who we hire as a babysitter.  Shit, we discriminate on who we date.  But when it comes to who we sell a cake too….back up!

We are a free people.  Free to do as we like with whom we like; as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others.  And no person has a right to a wedding cake.

Period.

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Posted in Liberty

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Destruction Of Individual Property Rights

Posted on February 23, 2015 | 2 comments

Propert Rights

Who would have thought that we would see the day where it would be illegal to invite people into your own house:

Raleigh, N.C. — City officials on Tuesday ordered a Raleigh man to stop renting out a room in his Five Points home through the Airbnb website while the city studies the growing trend of using such online services.
I applaud the explosion of options offered by Uber and Airbnb.  What better way to open more and freer markets to provide greater opportunities for individuals?

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Posted in Liberty, Politics: North Carolina

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Why America Is Great

Posted on July 5, 2014 | Leave a comment

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

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Thoughts On Free Speech

Posted on May 2, 2014 | Leave a comment

Free Speech

Cleaning out the stack.  This thought courtesy of The Coyote:

So now that the Turkish incumbents have been re-elected, the government will allow Twitter to be turned back on in the country.

I think that the vast, vast majority of Americans would agree that this turning off of a communications vehicle several weeks before an election was a pretty transparent dodge to protect incumbent politicians, and that most of us would oppose such steps — even be outraged by them.

So why the hell was McCain-Feingold‘s ban on 3rd party ad-based communications 60 days prior to an election any different?

I think that a fundamental concept often times forgotten in American politics is that we are free.  We are free.

 

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