• mpt: RT @edkohler: The easiest way to shut down Wikileaks would be to have Yahoo! acquire it. Twitter / mpt (2010-12-17). mpt: RT @edkohler: The easiest way to shut down Wikileaks would be to have Yahoo! acquire it. (Linked Friday 2010-12-17.)

• Q: Why Has the ACLU Been Silent About TSA Abuses? A: Because You Haven’t Been Listening. Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2010-12-13). In May, Matt Welch noted a storm of criticism from the right toward the ACLU for not defending some kids who were sent home from school for wearing shirts depicting the American flag to a Cinco de Mayo celebration. The problem was that the ACLU had intervened on the kids'… (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• We Can Beat You, But Not Pay You. Modesto Anarcho (2010-12-13). The State is not welfare. It is not social service. The State is violence. (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• notjessewalker: Why can’t Americans just set aside mindless partisanship and embrace mindless bipartisanship? #nolabels. Twitter / notjessewalker (2010-12-13). notjessewalker: Why can’t Americans just set aside mindless partisanship and embrace mindless bipartisanship? #nolabels (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• The mirage of revealed preferences. Stephen Smith, Market Urbanism (2010-11-24). I often hear from libertarian-inclined defenders of the suburban status quo that the fact that American is so overwhelmingly suburban is proof that it's what Americans want. Economists call this "revealed preference," but it could also be understood as voting with your feet and wallet. People have made the decision… (Linked Monday 2010-12-13.)

• i can't do physics, because i can't do the math. but let me say. Captain Capitulation, eye of the storm (2010-12-13). i can't do physics, because i can't do the math. but let me say in defense of my turf that i don't think we should let physicists loose in the realms of metaphysics and epistemology. hawking, as the tls review puts it, thinks the reverse: philosophy is 'dead' because it's not… (Linked Tuesday 2010-12-14.)

• behind the curtain. flip flopping joy (2010-12-15). The State is male in the political sense. So is the Department of State. (Linked Wednesday 2010-12-15.)

• notjessewalker: Mixed metaphor alert: “The bottom line is that it is a fast moving train and that has become clear” http://bit.ly/dOogX4. Twitter / notjessewalker (2010-12-14). notjessewalker: Mixed metaphor alert: “The bottom line is that it is a fast moving train and that has become clear” http://bit.ly/dOogX4 (Linked Wednesday 2010-12-15.)

• Said It – Little Women, Big Men: Sexism and the Language of Size – Volume 4, Number 2. www.saidit.org (2010-12-12). … there is one area of language that feminists have ignored entirely: the metaphorical “language of size.” Language of size refers here to the vast collection of commonly used metaphors that associate — regardless of subject matter — whatever is positive with “big,” and whatever is negative with “small.” For… (Linked Sunday 2010-12-12.)

• Wilsonian Progressivism is far too close to Fascism. Marja Erwin (2010-12-10). I don’t get why anyone who identify as liberals or as leftist would identify with Wilsonian Progressivism. Let’s look at his legacy:1. Intervention in the First World War.2. The Espionage and Sedition Acts.3. Militant support for segregation.4. The First Red Scare.I think Naomi Wolf’s new column shows how these are… (Linked Sunday 2010-12-12.)

• Harry Truman: Advancing the Revolution. Mises Institute Daily Articles (Full-text version) (2010-11-16). Truman’s predecessor had vastly expanded federal power, especially the power of the president, in what amounted to a revolution in American government. Under Truman, that revolution was consolidated and advanced beyond what even Franklin Roosevelt had ever dared hope for. (Linked Sunday 2010-12-12.)

The SWAT Team Would Like to See Your Alcohol Permit. Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2010-12-13):

In August a team of heavily armed Orange County, Florida, sheriff's deputies raided several black- and Hispanic-owned barbershops in the Orlando area. There were more raids in September and October. According to the Orlando Sentinel, barbers and customers were held at gunpoint, some in handcuffs, while police turned the shops…

You may have been aware that government professional-licensing regulations are routinely used to burn out competition and protect the financial interests of politically-connected businessmen. What you may not have known is that, besides being used to uphold state capitalism, they are also now frequently used to uphold a police state, and allow hyperviolent SWAT raids against licensed businesses, without even the pretense of a warrant.

Do you feel secure in your person, house, papers and effects?

Balko notes that, “at least in the 4th Circuit,” the Fourth Amendment doesn’t prevent the government from sending a SWAT team to make sure your beer is labeled correctly.” I of course could not care less whether or not these completely unrestrained hyperviolent stormtrooper raids, conducted at the pleasure of government police against innocent people’s hang-outs and places of business, are or are not authorized by the Constitution. Either the Fourth Amendment allows them, or it can demonstrably do nothing to prevent them. In either case, it is unfit to exist.

Stop.

Everybody get Shameless.

It’s been a while, I know, but Shamelessness is like riding a bike. You know how this goes. What have you been up to this week? Write anything? Leave a link and a short description for your post in the comments. Or fire away about anything else you might want to talk about.