Liberty Drip

  I don’t remember it firsthand but there was surely a time in this great country of ours when we had culture. There was surely a time when men of all social strata took their wives to the theatre (live theatre, not the movies) or to the opera. I’m sure there was a time when museums were relevant. I’m willing to bet that books were discussed. I bet ideas were shared and dissected. I’m sure there were spirited debates around water coolers and on construction sites. I’m sure there was a time in this country when people could tell you who the first president was or who the speaker of the house was. I don’t remember such marvels, but I have no doubt they were real. It’s impossible to believe that we always sat in waiting rooms or in restaurants staring at devices, at street fights and clever cats, at the same stale jokes being repeated over and over again. There was a time when we engaged one another in conversation. This cannot be the stuff of imagination. This was real. I’ve heard ab...

  For the longest time, I’ve said that if you want to lose what little faith in humanity you may still have, spend a little time on Twitter (X.com). As I subjected myself to this torture this morning, I was reminded of why I say this. Sure, there are positive things on the platform, the occasional cute puppy or funny cat video, and some other stuff, but I gravitate toward the political. My hope for the future of my country erodes every time I log on. After President Biden’s abysmal, but not at all surprising, performance in last week’s debate against Donald Trump, many on the left have called for his resignation, hoping he will be replaced by someone more capable of defeating Trump. I think at this point, they’ll settle for someone capable of stringing together enough words to complete a sentence. As if to add more pressure to the candidate, they want the words to all come out in the right order. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be such a tall order. These are interesting ...

 My generation was among the last of the free-range kids. We played outside. Our parents had no idea where we were unless we were hungry, hurt, or in trouble. We were out with the sunrise and in with the streetlights... sometimes. We were free in a way my kids can only imagine and my grand-kids will never believe possible. Times were different, they were simpler. We really were free. All in one lifetime. All in one lifetime. We didn't know it but we were bobbing in the wake of the 60's counterculture revolution and Vietnam and Watergate. I remember the Iran Hostage situation being on the TV at night and on the front pages of newspapers and the covers of magazines. I remember the image of a blindfolded man and each day, the number was higher. And then there's Ron. He turned it around, didn't he? Well, maybe not but he got the hostages back and gave America hope again. He put us on the path to prosperity. At least, that was how it felt. Reagan was cool. He was happy and o...

  By Adolfo Jimenez for The Liberty Block In 2018, New York Attorney General Letitia James called the NRA a terrorist organization and vowed to shut them down. This is not the first time that a radical anti-freedom Democrat has  referred to the NRA  in such a way. Now, it looks like she’s now trying to make good on her promise. In the lawsuit announced Thursday, she referred to the NRA’s “charitable mission.” Perhaps she was just using the accepted term for how an organization with the NRA’s tax status describes what it does, but I do not think that she deserves  the benefit of the doubt. Are they charitable (non-profit) or are they terrorists? Not sure the line between the two is a fine one. It would seem that Ms. James is flexible in her terminology. She’s an attorney and as such, language is the bat she swings, but there should at least be some consistency in her messaging. Wouldn’t you agree? The lawsuit alleges that NRA leadership, including long-time chief exec...

I had to walk into my bank today to have a document notarized. Good thing I made an appointment. The other customer who was there, like me, at one minute before opening time was not so lucky. She was sent away. She would have been the second customer in the branch. I’m not sure if the bank would have gotten in trouble for letting her in, but I did hear the banker tell her she was not allowed into the branch without an appointment. She had the mask. It matched her outfit. Bless her heart. I asked if I would need an appointment to access my safe deposit box. The banker said no, just walk right in. I don’t have a safe deposit box there but I’m glad exceptions to the rules of stupid can be made.   We are still being told by the guessers in charge that we should maintain social distancing, not shake hands and not go inside some places or outside anywhere. Unless you want to protest your local police, in which case, get out there! I wonder why many states and the federal government, who ...

I was in the third grade the first time someone called me a Cuban and meant it as an insult. One of my classmates showed up to class with two broken arms and no front teeth. He’d been in an ATC accident. In case you don’t know, ATC stands for All-Terrain Cycle. They were similar to the big four-wheeled ATVs that are popular today but had only three wheels. They were tricycles on steroids. They became illegal at some point because people were getting hurt. Thank you, Big Brother, for always keeping us safe. I asked the kid if he fell and he said, “I ain’t no Cuban. I flipped!”  To which I replied, “At least I have all my teeth and both my arms.” This kid was a jerk. He and I would continue to have run-ins throughout the rest of the elementary years. I don’t think I ever saw him again after that. I sure hope his teeth grew back. My junior high (middle school to you youngsters) was a private school in a predominately black section of Dade County known as Carol City. Most of the kids i...

MAY 23, 2020: I began to write this piece and never finished. Full disclosure: I work at home. My business has been affected by the illegal government shutdown of “non-essential” businesses, but I am still getting by. My wife is apparently an essential person, too. She is working from home as well. Our income has taken a pretty severe hit. We’re losing about sixty percent of our income. Our daughter, who worked her tail off to graduate high school a year early, has been denied her prom and her senior class trip. She is lonely and distanced from her friends. This is harder for all of us because she will be leaving for college in the fall.  Our government’s severe overreaction to the Coronavirus has resulted in a 26% unemployment rate. What is this doing for the mental health of the people who were struggling to get by? How many people will commit suicide when their economic situation becomes unbearable? How many already have? How many marriages will crack under the strain? Any stat...

Joe Biden’s recent assertion that “...if you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain’t black." has set off the usual, “Oh, that’s good old crazy uncle Joe,” from the left, and “see, he’s unfit for office,” from the right. Both sides are correct. Crazy uncle Joe is not fit for office. What I object to is that it is being characterized as a gaffe. If it happens once, it’s a gaffe. Twice is a screw up. A lifetime of these offenses is a pattern of behavior that Biden’s sycophants defend at their own peril. Are we overreacting? Are people too sensitive these days? I don’t know. I tried to do some “man on the street” interviews but there were no men, or women, on the street. Apparently there’s a quarantine going around. The bigger issue, which is being ignored, is that Biden’s statement exposed the fact that the democrats take minority votes for granted. This was not a gaffe, it was a statement of belief. The democrats feel they are the owners of min...

Like most Libertarians, I am occasionally asked what Libertarians believe, what they stand for or against.   Since this is my only chance to make a positive Libertarian-first-impression, my preferred response is that Libertarians believe the same things they believe, since after all they are half Libertarian. To explain, I propose the following thought experiment:   i magine that your worse case, your most feared, politician is in the White House, and that the same types of politicians have taken control of the Senate and House.   W hat is it that you want to be forced to do or prevented from doing?   How much power over your life do you want this government to have?   Do you want your access to abortion taken away, or perhaps your access to guns?   Do you want to be forced to donate through your taxes to building a border wall, or perhaps to donate to Plan Parenthood?   Do you wish to have your speech limited if you form a corporation or forced ...

Imagine a business. We'll call it L Corporation. There are employees and a product everybody wants and they have locations everywhere. In spite of the locations and all those employees, the business seems incapable of attracting enough customers to grow and the competitors, whom we'll call R Corporation and D Corporation, whose product is vastly inferior, own 90% of the market. In fact, the only customers this business has are, by and large, the employees of this business. And all they do is complain about the business and try to prove they are the only true customers  and the only loyal employees while the others are just browsing and taking coffee breaks. The business has a CEO and other C-level executives. They seem to care and be genuinely interested in the success of the enterprise as do the line employees. But this is one of those cases of too many chiefs and too few Indians. The CEO doesn't want to tell the employees how to behave or what to believe. There is no op...