Trust Your Government megadump

I'm kind of disheartened that I have enough material for linkdump of this size this fast.

SMBC might give too much credit, even. Many such laws seem to be doing exactly what they were intended

 http://gunwatch.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-peculiar-story-of-united-states-v.html I've previously mentioned this one, but it fits in with a few others. The government, setting up a show trial to claim legitimacy for banning a whole bunch of things. The argument was that they weren't protected because the military (at the time) didn't use them, but now the military uses all of them extensively, so how about that?

http://onlygunsandmoney.blogspot.com/2013/12/calguns-does-little-digging-into.html Turns out a lot of what some locales try to ban as "excessive or unnecessary for self defense" are simultaneously mandated for self defense to the nobles who are exempt from gun law.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/06/salinas_v_texas_right_to_remain_silent_supreme_court_right_to_remain_silent.html Meanwhile, it has been decided that not only can anything you say be used against you, not saying anything can also be used against you.

http://reason.com/blog/2013/12/30/la-dui-checkpoints-now-with-more-saliva
http://reason.com/archives/2013/12/28/americas-internal-checkpoints In a related matter, papers please. Police checkpoints have been popping up all over the country, in some cases refusal to use a breathalyzer gets you forcibly dragged from your car to have blood taken. I am frankly astonished that nobody has reacted to this happening in the United States of America with a rifle round. 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/12/20/n-m-woman-billed-5000-after-cops-order-warrantless-redundant-cavity-searches/ By the way, try to stay calm when you've been forced to exit your car, and hope that there aren't any police with drug dogs who like to watch, or you can be warrantlessly medically raped and handed the bill for the violation of your privacy.

http://triggerfinger.org/weblog/entry/9215  Of course, warrants seem not to be treated as important as they used to be.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/instituteforjustice/2013/12/23/utah-made-it-easier-for-cops-to-seize-innocent-peoples-property-and-not-a-single-lawmaker-voted-against-it/ Don't worry, police only have the power to seize your property and force you to prove it wasn't used for anything nefarious for the public good. That some departments pay around 40% of their budgets by selling confiscated property is completely beside the point.

http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-obama-care/121813-683475-obamacare-interferes-with-residential-and-travel-liberties.htm#ixzz2nt5oKeR8 Back on the topic of travel and troubles therewith, don't forget that the wonderful new law so beloved by the American people makes your insurance pretty much only work at home, so you either can't travel or have to buy an extra plan to cover travel or if you tend to live in two different parts of the country during different parts of the year. One more thing to love about it, on top of its collection of all of your personal information on not-very-secure servers

http://gizmodo.com/surprise-its-super-easy-to-identify-people-from-metad-1489840907
http://gizmodo.com/the-nsas-trying-to-build-a-quantum-computer-so-it-can-1493410244
http://gizmodo.com/the-nsa-actually-intercepted-packages-to-put-backdoors-1491169592
Speaking of privacy, the NSA is pretty sure such a stupid concept is terrible for national security. Far safer to have the government monitor basically everything you say or do, any reasonable person would see that!

http://gunfreezone.net/wordpress/index.php/2013/12/30/no-need-for-mens-rea-you-can-also-be-a-felon/ Don't worry, your government only arbitrarily decides previously fine things are now illegal and that you must be arrested for violation because it loves you!

http://blog.joehuffman.org/2014/01/03/unarmed-man-goes-on-shooting-rampage/ However, if the police decide to open fire on you for whatever reason, some places think it's your fault if they hit anyone else. 

http://borepatch.blogspot.com/2014/01/boston-swpl-types-find-out-what-big.html At least some faint hope remains, as the encroaching bureaucracy's tendrils cause problems in Media Approved (tm) areas, and people actually hear about it.

http://gizmodo.com/the-complete-list-of-everything-banned-by-mayor-michael-1490476691 One of the kings of arbitrarily declaring things to be illegal just left office, and here's a handy list of everything he banned or tried to ban.
http://dailycaller.com/2013/12/31/bloomberg-leaves-office-today-protected-by-firearms/ It is of course important to note, he only thinks it's YOUR rights that should be infringed upon. Not his, of course, he's far more equal than you!

http://www.ma-rooned.com/2013/12/oh-this-is-gonna-be-gooooood.html Still, there's some hope. At least some nanny statists can be consistent! Too evil for the people, too evil for the police! I wish him the best of luck at showing his true colors and what he really thinks of people.

http://gunfreezone.net/wordpress/index.php/2014/01/02/instructions-to-all-persons-of-japanese-ancestry/ Just remember, your government loves you, and all those bad things that happen everywhere else could never happen here. Just remember, 1984 is a warning, not an instruction manual!


I think I need to go snuggle my cat, it's depressing how quickly I wound up with all this material.