This and that on a hot late summer afternoon

Posted on 2026-09-06 by TPOL Nathan

A friend and correspondent shared some thoughts regarding the massive amount of Medicare and Medicaid billing fraud that various efforts are digging out. Among other claims, supposedly $42 billion in fraudulent invoicing by health care providers (many as fake as the Minnesota Somalian-related child care centers) was avoided in 2025 alone.

But the fraudsters are not limited to private (criminal) enterprises, nor to corrupt State and local officials.  Yet another correspondent shared more.

Consider now corrupt Medicare and Medicaid, the court system and insanity, beef, and the Epstein mess. Readers, share your thoughts!

Continue reading →
Posted in Commentary on the News, Guest commentary, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Law and liberty – malum this and that

Posted on 2026-09-05 by TPOL Nathan

For 41 years, many Americans enjoyed a single-panel daily comic strip, “There Oughta Be a Law” usually with a Sunday multi-listing. It made you laugh and think.

And apparently created a mental mind-set that is still with us today.

Oddly enough, it was John Nance Gardner, Speaker of the House and 32nd VPOTUS, who is remembered for this bit of wisdom: “The trouble today is that we have too many laws.” And that was back in the 1930s when he served under FDR, who got Congress to gush laws like Old Faithful.

(Of course, Gardner also said, “The Vice Presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm spit.” Yet another proven fact throughout American history.)

Cornell Law Library tells us: “Malum prohibitum is an act that is not inherently immoral but is prohibited by statute. Common examples of malum prohibitum actions include jaywalking and regulatory violations. Malum prohibitum offenses are generally found in statutes and include many crimes with strict liability components where the offender’s mental state is not relevant for culpability. 

The concept of malum prohibitum is contrasted with the concept of malum in se, which describes acts that are inherently immoral regardless of their legality.” 

Continue reading →
Posted in Ideas for liberty, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Mr. Mamdani, count your blessings!

Posted on 2026-09-04 by TPOL Nathan

Over a month ago, the socialist Mayor of NYC, Zohran Mamdani proclaimed that five city-owned (and operated) grocery stores would be built, one in each borough. These stores, he announced to the crowd’s cheers, would sell food at 30% below retail.

This is in addition to his other “popular” actions. These include freezing rents on a million apartments, taxing second homes, and a host of other American- and New York-style socialist measures, “for the people” and “for the children.” Again, the (no doubt, hand-picked) crowds have cheered.

But…

Apparently, many of the small grocery store owners and operators – often immigrant businessmen and women working hard to make a go of it in America – have and are protesting him. They see it differently: big, powerful government competing unfairly with small, family-owned businesses. And at a significant disadvantage. Mamdani’s super-dooper markets won’t have to pay high (insane) property taxes, will get subsidized by the City and State governments, and get much of their overhead expenses paid for and done by City bureaucrats.

They are, of course, ticked. Mamdani is changing the rules. Playing stupid government games.

Continue reading →
Posted in Commentary on the News, Nathan's Rants, Short Takes | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What is the greatest (most evil) tax?

Posted on 2026-09-03 by TPOL Nathan
 Here at TPOL, we’ve long believed and taught that the income tax is the greatest of evil taxes. We believe this for many reasons. Not only is it a form of fractional slavery. It is in many ways the easiest to scale up constantly (progressive – tax brackets, right?) and easiest for politicians to lie about (“soak the rich!). So of course, it penalizes success. But at the same time, it is easily tinkered with to push political agendas and at the same time, show that governments (unlike the Lord) are “respecters of persons” – the influential can skate and place the burden on others.
It is a key part of the platform of the Communist Parties of the world in the past, and of modern Tranzi movements (transnational socialist/progressive/regressive). Because it is so easy to tinker with and “fine-tune” it is also a massive paperwork headache for the slaves that pay it. And of course, it features all the goodness and kindness and affability of the Internal Revenue Service and the good company of the Revenuers!
 But we of course, being free-market anarchists here at TPOL do not think anything good of any taxation scheme or method. Sales and use taxes may be preferable to income taxes, but no more moral and no more desirable.
Now we come to what many consider as evil as the income tax. That is, of course, the property tax. We are pleased to share these images and thoughts from a correspondent, Bob. We find both his humor and his points great.
Continue reading →
Posted in History of Liberty, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Vigilante? No, showing love

Posted on 2026-09-02 by TPOL Nathan

It’s a crude graphic, but it makes an important point. When it is you, a family member, a friend, a relative, or even that irritating neighbor that is facing aggression from a maddened active shooter, what do you do?

No one in their right mind wants to actually kill someone.

But sometimes, that is the only sane choice. A choice to take lethal action, defensively, to end the ability of the shooter to harm (more) people. Some would claim that this is a “civic duty” or negatively, “taking justice into your own hands.” That is often labeled as being a vigilante.

We at TPOL believe it to be an act of love.

As several commentators noted concerning several recent or ongoing trials (the killer-mom in Massachusetts, for one), the mere act of killing an innocent person is a clear indication, even proof, that the killer is insane. Not in their right mind.

A sane person even must baulk and think carefully about killing someone who is trying to kill us or other innocent people.

Continue reading →
Posted in Commentary on the News, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mass murder and hung juries

Posted on 2026-09-01 by TPOL Nathan

As we write this, it technically is not a hung jury, under Massachusetts judicial procedure, though the first report by the jury that they could not come to a unanimous decision, the judge could and did send them back to deliberate more. This apparently can be done twice before it is officially a “hung jury.”

A good friend and political commentator just published this graphic regarding the Lindsay Clancy trial. As we noted to Stephen (while on a major project deadline and on the road yesterday, listening to and getting glimpses of news): a lot of people got taken in by fake news: we saw a dozen online headlines stating that she had been acquitted.

Stephen wrote (with this graphic): “I correctly predicted this and posted this before the Jury announcement. It was so obvious that a hung jury was the outcome, the entire trial was irrelevant.”

But was the trial truly irrelevant? Perhaps not.

Continue reading →
Posted in Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

You are the Flock???

Posted on 2026-08-24 by TPOL Nathan

Well, we know many libertarians who refer to most Americans as “sheep” or “sheeple,” don’t we?

But this is a bit different. We are referring to a recent news story stating that Apple is including external cameras in their next generation of AirPods.

The website GeekyGadgets.com posted this some time ago: Apple is expected to release AirPods with built-in cameras, likely called AirPods Pro 4 or AirPods Pro Ultra, as early as September, “featuring AI-powered visual awareness and gesture recognition.”

That is, cameras. Sticking out of your ears on both sides.

Please, dear readers, can someone please explain why people wearing these things need to have better visual awareness and gesture recognition? Frankly, it seems like the biggest problem with these pods (ear-buds) is noise distraction.

And does a sweet little voice whisper into one ear or the other when there is something/someone “visually approaching” or perhaps making rude (or even nice) gestures?

Continue reading →
Posted in Commentary on the News, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Mexico – “what’s free speech worth?”

Posted on 2026-08-21 by TPOL Nathan

Having recently pointed out the rapidly expanding authoritarianism of the State of Colorado, we at TPOL now turn our attention to their de-facto ally to the south. The State of New Mexico is yet another example of how history, culture, politics, and government have worked together to create a Woke State that demonstrates the evils of government more and more.

While the Demo Socialists of America are making headlines by having members (or fellow-travelers) of their Communist (International Socialist) philosophy winning more and more Democratic Party primaries, it is easy to overlook the fact that California, Colorado, and New Mexico already have implemented large portions of a typical socialist agenda. And for that matter, most States have significant elements of authoritarianism, even totalitarianism, as they seek to accommodate and coddle (read get the votes of) the products of modern government-run, tax-funded educational institutions.

These all feature attacks on, and denial of, various liberties of individuals and groups. Not just those “protected” by the federal and the State constitutions, but those that fall into the categories of the common law, traditional morals and ethics, and “other rights not enumerated.”

Continue reading →
Posted in Commentary on the News, Ideas for liberty, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The temptation of “public schools”

Posted on 2026-08-20 by TPOL Nathan

Still weeks from the end of August, most American schoolchildren are now again confined to these government-run, tax-funded institutions for another school year.

This graphic was and is intended for christians, but it is just as true for lovers of liberty with children, regardless of their religion.

To put it very bluntly: If you believe that government is wrong, then the last thing you should be doing is sending your sons and daughters to schools that are run by governments. At any level, whether we are talking the centralized school system of the Republic of France (as demonstrated by Charles de Gaulle decades ago), or a truly Independent school district run by a Board of Education in some West Texas county. (Don’t believe the title: they are no more independent than county governments or municipal administrations: Austin and DC dictate more and more.

Continue reading →
Posted in History of Liberty, Ideas for liberty, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

What happened?

Posted on 2026-08-19 by TPOL Nathan

An unknown person posted this recently online.

We think that the point is obvious.

(We have not been able to separately verify that these quotes are accurate, but they fit both the men and the times.)

What happened? Why, since June of 1942, has Congress never actually declared war, although appropriating money (stolen from taxpayers past, present, and future) to fight for literally decades? The constitution has not been amended to remove such language, or to give the Executive the power to go to war, since these three men wrote what they did.

Simply, the Constitution is being ignored. Not even having lip service paid to it.

Continue reading →
Posted in History of Liberty, Ideas for liberty, Nathan's Rants | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment