Houston Police Chief: Citizen Recordings of Violent, Thuggish Police Officers May Lead to Violent, Thuggish Behavior Against Police Officers. Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-28):

From the Houston Chronicle: Houston Police Chief Charles McClelland went on the defensive Thursday during a meeting with local journalists, saying officers have made recent traffic stops in which residents leave their vehicles to take pictures or shoot video — encounters he says could endanger officers and that have increased…

It must be so hard, being a police officer, having to deal with people getting in the way of your right to beat the living hell out of people in the privacy of a public street.

• “The Eastern Regions of Libya Are Now Free Regions” Jesse Walker, Jesse Walker: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-18). Col. Qaddafi has an eccentric habit of periodically declaring that he has abolished the Libyan government. His subjects suddenly seem interested in taking him up on the idea. Amid reports of severe repression, claims are coming in that the city of Benghazi is now "out of the control of the Gaddafi… (Linked Friday 2011-02-18.)

• And Just Across the Strait from Yemen… Jesse Walker, Jesse Walker: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-18). The BBC reports: Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Djibouti to call for President Ismael Omar Guelleh to step down. The demonstrators were reportedly monitored closely by security forces in riot gear. Mr Guelleh's family has governed the Red Sea city state since independence from France in… (Linked Friday 2011-02-18.)

• When rape is Your Tax Dollars at Work. Obsidian Wings (2011-02-19). Men in Uniform (Cont’d). (Linked Saturday 2011-02-19.)

• ST(O) : If all stories were written like science fiction stories. www.shrovetuesdayobserved.com (2011-02-19). (Linked Saturday 2011-02-19.)

• the basic problem with the notion of government is displayed in. Captain Capitulation, eye of the storm (2011-02-20). the basic problem with the notion of government is displayed in the "massive show of force." only it can do that. but even worse than that, only it can subject you to the indignity of using your own resources to intimidate and/or shoot you. surely it is occurring to someone this evening in… (Linked Monday 2011-02-21.)

• Of course we shouldn’t give more power to Google. Marja Erwin (2011-02-16). http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/02/16/new_book_explains_how_google_has_taken_over_knowledge_and_learning… but how would it be any saner to give that power to government-run replacements, who would use that power to control our access to knowledge, who would use that to share their news and suppress opposing news, and who would have a chilling effect on what people are willing… (Linked Wednesday 2011-02-16.)

• Pre-pub price for AK Press Proudhon anthology. Shawn P. Wilbur, Two-Gun Mutualism & the Golden Rule (2011-02-14). AK Press has posted an attractive sale price for the Proudhon anthology, Property is Theft!, which ought to be available any day now. There are other sale prices out there, but none that give you a good deal and also put the revenue in the hands of the radical business… (Linked Wednesday 2011-02-16.)

• Adventure Travel. Dorothy, Cat and Girl (2011-02-14). (Linked Thursday 2011-02-17.)

• as you read about the trail of Brisenia Flores's murderers... bfp, flip flopping joy (2011-02-14). Please note how rarely MSM is calling her murderers white supremacists and how rarely the organization they are a part of is called a hate group. Notice how key phrases like "hotly contested issue" keep coming up as code words for "white supremacist violence." Notice how the Minutemen are never… (Linked Thursday 2011-02-17.)

• Joseph and the Appalling Tyrannical Despot. Slacktivist, slacktivist (2011-02-12). Since it’s in the news, I thought we might revisit a story about Egypt — a story from long, long ago, from the book of Genesis. It’s a story that I’ve long found confusing and disturbing. The book of Genesis, as its name suggests, is a collection of origin stories…. (Linked Thursday 2011-02-17.)

• Better That 84,000 Be Libeled Than 10 Go Free. Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-17). Last weekend, visitors to some 84,000 websites, mostly personal and small business sites, saw this pop up on their screens: The domain seizures were part of "Operation Save Our Children," which according to a Department of Homeland Security press release, nabbed 10 websites that were distributing child pornography. The problem… (Linked Friday 2011-02-18.)

• I Believe the Germans Have a Word for This. Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-11). Incumbent food truck magnate in Austin develops totally-civic-minded-and-not-at-all-protectionist "health, safety and environmental concerns" over a massive increase in the number trucks that have sprung up to compete with him . . .   . . . demands city council pass stricter regulations of his own industry . . .   . . …. (Linked Friday 2011-02-18.)

• How Hard Is It To Fire a Police Officer? Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-16). According to the Orlandon Sentinel, Davie, Florida police officer Kevin Kilpatrick has been on paid leave for seven years. During that time, he has received full pay and benefits, plus annual raises. He has collected more than a half million dollars for doing nothing. The department has twice tried to… (Linked Friday 2011-02-18.)

• Sticklers for Procedure. Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-18). Legal lynching. (Cont’d) (Linked Friday 2011-02-18.)

• Welcome to the Era of Belt-Tightening. Radley Balko, Radley Balko: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2011-02-08). The U.S. Navy spent $450,000 to send four F-18 fighter jets from Virginia for a spectacular flyover before Sunday's Super Bowl. Or we'll just have to assume it was spectacular. It wasn't televised. And the stadium roof was closed. But I bet it sounded cool. CORRECTION: My mistake. The flyover was… (Linked Friday 2011-02-18.)

They include:

My alleged defects are an interest in the work of Kevin Carson and the other mutualist libertarians, and accusations that I am a national socialist.

— Sean Gabb, The Libertarian Alliance: A Plain View of What Has Happened, Free Life Commentary 203, 10th February 2011

So border-psychotic Jan Brewer, proponent of ethnic cleansing and arbitrary Governor over the state of Arizona, is unhappy with the U.S. federal government. The Feds recently got part of her racist Papers-Please police-state bill struck down in court; so she has decided to sue them back:

Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona said Thursday that she will raise private funds to countersue the federal government for failing to enforce immigration laws…. At a news conference, Ms. Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne said the Obama administration had failed to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the border in huge numbers and stuck the state with the cost of dealing with its failed policies…. In their legal challenge, the state intends to argue that it is being "invaded" by illegal immigrants from Mexico.

— Arizona: State Countersues Over Immigration Law, New York Times Briefs (11 February 2011)

This is of course a desperate stab at protecting a vicious and idiotic policy — in which a tiny minority of power-mongering Arizonans are trying to use a suit in federal court to get the U.S.’s paramilitary Border Patrol and Immigration Enforcement squads to pour into their state, in order to assault, imprison, and exile the large number of perfectly peaceful travelers and longtime residents of Arizona, who happen to be there without papers from the federal government; but in a typical statist inversion, it is the peaceful travelers and the longtime residents, not the militarized, due-process-free federal occupation forces that are described as invaders. Ho, ho.

However, while I can’t say I have any sympathy for Jan Brewer or her fellow power-mongers, I can say that I’m actually glad to hear about this lawsuit. Why? Because, as A Spokesman For The Department of Homeland Security puts it:

A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, Matt Chander said in a statement in response, A meritless claim such as this does nothing to secure the border.

— Arizona: State Countersues Over Immigration Law, New York Times Briefs (11 February 2011)

Precisely; that’s why, despicable as I think Brewer’s cause is, I’m happy to see the claim being pressed. Every day and every dollar that the state government spends fighting a futile court battle with the federal government is another day and another dollar that won’t go towards securing government control over borders, or to designing and passing more idiotic power-trip police-state laws like SB 1070. The more bickering they do and the less security they’re able to inflict, the better it’ll be for all peaceful people making an honest living.

I hope this stupid lawsuit lasts forever.