The People’s Republic of California continues to lead the way in civilian suppression. Good luck to all of you subjects out there. Maybe you can leave one day and be a citizen again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xgLlsHuYclk

Cell phones are also not simple “containers” to the extent that modern phones show both local data and vastly more data information stored in cloud services, often all integrated together seamlessly to the user. These law enforcement searches are actually retrieving information stored in “containers” elsewhere.

What’s needed is an explicit law that says that a police officer or other government agent who uses a search warrant as a pretext to enter a property which is not listed on the warrant, or which the officer should know to be incorrectly listed on the warrant, is a burglar, robber, or worse, depending upon whether the property is occupied, and what the agent does with any occupants therein. Any officer who doesn’t want to be prosecuted (or, for that matter, shot) as a robber would be well-advised to inspect the warrant personally.

So why is there a different standard in place for palm-top computers and a different one for lap-tops? Or is it only a matter of time before police extend the “container” concept to everything in your car, on your person, and in your home, and claim they don’t need warrants? After all, your house is just a big box full of things too, right?

http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/landlords-property-owners-are-new-targets-anti-pot-strategy-12967

Take note of the comment at the end, even city council members and city managers who permitted the dispensaries might face prosecution from the feds. A lot of sick people are going to suffer because of this.

I would argue that for the last several decades Statist factions have, for the most part, controlled the direction of both parties. That doesn’t necessarily mean that both parties are entirely Statist. The Statists in the Republican Party are by and large the less conservative segment. The non-Statists in the Democrat Party are the ones that tend toward a Populist impulse. Over the course of the election cycles since Watergate the Republican Party has grown gradually more Conservative and (slightly) less Statist. While the process with the Democrats may have begun before 2006, in 2006 the most successful Democrat candidates were notably Populist. Then the leaders of the party, mostly Statists, grabbed the choice power seats in Congress. I suspect that we may be seeing a power struggle in the Democrats between Populists and Statists. To reject the two party system is all very emotionally satisfying, but it ignores certain subtleties. It will be far easier to make either (or both) of the two parties less Statist than it will be to bring a third party to sufficient prominence to have a real effect. For one thing, a third party will necessarily be opposed by the entirety of both parties.

It took us several decades to get into this Statist mess. It won’t change overnight, and that’s a good thing. A government that is truly efficient, and can turn on a dime, is an authentic menace.

I may be wrong, and you may well be right. I think that the two parties will, over time, move away from statism, with or without a third party. But a third party may be necessary, and is likely to be good anyway, if only to move the big two.

….and the entire Precinct went out en mass and ate a McDonalds franchise.

#38 | Boyd Durkin — “… a state that grants itself the right …”

Minor semantic quibble, but an important distinction nonetheless — States reserve powers, they do not grant themselves rights.

Rights are what citizens ostensibly possess, either naturally or constitutionally. Of course, in practice, the rights that citizens possess are limited by the willingness of the State to permit the citizens these rights.

Ultimately, the State is omnipotent as long as there is a willing citizen base to be taxed. There is no practical limit on the State except for some margin the State exceeds and its ability to tax or otherwise force the citizens to serve it is destroyed.

It has been written that the State has no marketable commodity, that it produces nothing. This is false. The State’s one marketable product is its restraint from using violence, i.e. limiting its own power. This is a commodity that is in very high demand, as evidenced by the lobbying industry.

but the government doesn’t respect amendments 1-4, so why stop at 5?

Thankfully, they haven’t found a pressing need to violate the third.

o/t a little…
Although I am reading a book now on WW2. I was shocked to learn that quartering was the norm for American soldiers in Europe. American troops would roll into town, tell the owners “get lost for two days”. The soldiers would take whatever wine and food they could find and maybe do a little looting. Then after a couple days, the soldiers would roll off to the next town.

Were it my home, this would greatly irritate me. I’m glad our military doesn’t seem to do this anymore.

Anyway, Mises talked about the laptop password case. It can be googled. There are plenty of people who have been arguing 5th amendment, but the government doesn’t respect amendments 1-4, so why stop at 5?