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I Shrugged
Townhall.com ^ | July 3, 2013 | John Stossel

Posted on 07/03/2013 4:34:42 AM PDT by Kaslin

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1 posted on 07/03/2013 4:34:42 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

I don’t think this author gets it.

They speak of all the laws that nobody understands. -That leaves them up to GOVERNMENTAL interpretation.

Trust me, ALL of us are ‘guilty’ of some infraction or another -that they can find in all these nonsense laws.

So when you sqwawk about our government and they don’t like it, they have every bit of info on YOU. They’ll find SOMETHING on you. Just ask the filmmaker who got blamed for Benghazi.

This spying amounts to: WHEN they need to silence you, they will have EVERYTHING in your life from which to pick something by which to do so.

Soon, we will not even be able to gripe about it like we do here on the FR. Wait and see.


2 posted on 07/03/2013 4:53:23 AM PDT by joethedrummer
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To: joethedrummer

He doesn’t get it. He’s a sex-and-drugs libertarian, not a free speech and freedom from surveillance libertarian.


3 posted on 07/03/2013 4:58:40 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I want shrimp tacos.)
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To: Kaslin

The problem is they are not looking for terrorists, but rather tea party.


4 posted on 07/03/2013 5:02:44 AM PDT by logic101.net (How many more children must die on the alter of "gun free zones"?)
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To: Kaslin

To a point, I respect Stossel for his free market views and for having broken himself of leftist thought, which can’t have been easy in his circles.
But when you’re mentioning worse stuff the government does, you might want to mention protecting the killing of babies and other “inconvenient” people.
Because all the rest is just material.


5 posted on 07/03/2013 5:08:24 AM PDT by HomeAtLast
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To: Kaslin

Love ya John, but you’re wrong here.


6 posted on 07/03/2013 5:09:39 AM PDT by Timber Rattler (Just say NO! to RINOS and the GOP-E)
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To: Kaslin

Like drugs the interaction between thousands of laws can be devastating. If the government wants to make your life miserable and bankrupt you in the process as demonstrated by the IRS scandal, the government has unlimited resources to persecute(as distinguished from prosecute) you. The government has far too many powers as it is and we should be cutting back those powers rather than expanding them.


7 posted on 07/03/2013 5:18:30 AM PDT by monocle
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To: Tax-chick

He’s probably more of a “I don’t want to piss off my big-government worshipping employers at foxnews and lose my show like judge Napolitano did” libertarian.


8 posted on 07/03/2013 5:38:39 AM PDT by Orangedog (An optimist is someone who tells you to 'cheer up' when things are going his way)
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To: joethedrummer

I thought surveillance cameras were installed to create more criminals and revenue.../s


9 posted on 07/03/2013 5:40:53 AM PDT by jsanders2001
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To: Kaslin
We are less closely watched by government than citizens of other countries.

Non sequitur. Completely ignores the fact that this is the USA and our FedGov was given no power to run a surveillance based police State.

10 posted on 07/03/2013 5:42:37 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: Tax-chick
He’s a sex-and-drugs libertarian, not a free speech and freedom from surveillance libertarian.

Which is a libertine, not a libertarian. Yes, you are free to be as hedonistic as you want to be. You are NOT free from suffering the consequences of making such horrible life choices.

With freedom, comes PERSONAL responsibility.

11 posted on 07/03/2013 5:44:07 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: Orangedog

That has never slowed him down before... This is a serious departure for Stossel.


12 posted on 07/03/2013 5:45:35 AM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: Dead Corpse

I don’t know if he’s actually libertine in his personal life, or if it’s just philosophical. I’ve been reading his books and articles for years, and he mixes very sensible commentary about the damage of overregulation, for example, with mindless promotion - “What consequences?” - of drugs and promiscuity.


13 posted on 07/03/2013 5:54:38 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I want shrimp tacos.)
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To: Dead Corpse

Nah. He just knows where the end of his leash is. He’s just bright enough to do the math in his head so he doesn’t get his chain jerked hard to get him back in line like some of the the big guys in talk radio and cable “news” have in the past.


14 posted on 07/03/2013 5:56:26 AM PDT by Orangedog (An optimist is someone who tells you to 'cheer up' when things are going his way)
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To: Tax-chick
Yeah, I used to like Stossel. I think now that since he has a bully pulpit on FOX to preach from, that he's lost sight of his original opinions.

For instance.....Some perspective...We are less closely watched by government than citizens of other countries.

No need for any perspective here. Regardless of whether it's 3000 cameras, or 500000 cameras, or 1 camera, all are equally damming, and all should be done away with. The Stossel of 10-ish years ago would have made this point, I think.

15 posted on 07/03/2013 6:09:24 AM PDT by wbill
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To: Kaslin

Lame. Our tyrant is not as bad as their tyrant. (I feel better already)


16 posted on 07/03/2013 6:10:16 AM PDT by BubbaBasher ("Liberty will not long survive the total extinction of morals" - Sam Adams)
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To: Kaslin

It was a private security camera that captured the images of the Boston Massacre. Private companies can do what they want.


17 posted on 07/03/2013 6:22:38 AM PDT by Vermont Lt (Does anybody really know what time it is? Does anybody really care?)
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To: Tax-chick

Stoessel is correct that this government already is abusive. Just the national details t proves that. He’s downplaying a terrible abuse of power with the NSA crime. They collect data and sift through it to target political enemies, that is, anyone who makes them the least uncomfortable.


18 posted on 07/03/2013 6:37:04 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain and Proud of It! True supporters of our troops pray for their victory!)
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To: Kaslin
We are less closely watched by government than citizens of other countries.

Same old BS. Our government isn't putting us in gulags like some many others (yet), ipso facto we are much better off and should complain about other, more important things than having all aspects of our lives spied upon. Which will eventually lead to the gulags. Example: a 19 year old teen jailed without trial, apparently indefinitely, for tasteless online remarks.

19 posted on 07/03/2013 6:38:11 AM PDT by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s.....you weren't really there)
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To: xzins; wbill

It seems like he’s trying to say that if a situation or a government action, is not “the worst,” it’s not bad.


20 posted on 07/03/2013 6:44:16 AM PDT by Tax-chick (I want shrimp tacos.)
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