Welcome to my blog! I'm Victoria, and I love liberty, individual rights, and writing about politics, trials, and current events. Read more about me here.
Volunteers for the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund created a display of 20,000 flags on Boston Common for Memorial Day. The flags represent all of the Massachusetts soldiers who died in combat since World War I. I visited the display this weekend and it is truly something amazing to look at.
In memory of all who sacrificed their lives in defense of freedom, I give you a few pictures and a video of this amazing display.
Chris Matthews was on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Thursday, and one of the topics of discussion was Rand Paul, the libertarian-leaning Republican who just won the primary in the Kentucky Senate race. Matthews made the following comment about Paul:
“He’s a philosopher, and philosophers shouldn’t run for office. He’s an absolute purist.”
The comment was a reference to Rand’s opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, a federal law that prohibits private businesses from racial discrimination. Rand believes that private companies should be able to decide for themselves who to do business with, and the national government should not have the power to force them to accept customers if they don’t want to.
Although I don’t completely agree with him on this issue, I admire Rand’s opinions and his philosophy. Why does Matthews say that philosophers shouldn’t run for office? By “philosopher” and “absolute purist,” Matthews seems to mean someone who has a consistent set of beliefs, based on reason instead of conformity to popular opinion. At least that’s what Matthews is criticizing Rand Paul for. I don’t see why you wouldn’t want someone like that to run for office. Would you rather have a politician who stands for nothing and cares about nothing but getting elected? In my opinion, only philosophers and purists should run for office.
Rand Paul does not have any campaign experience, so he is still learning how to balance being true to his own beliefs with trying to get elected. It’s not surprising that he is already getting criticized in the press, since he actually stands up for liberty, and there are bound to be many people who oppose that.
I like to think that I have a consistent set of beliefs that I stick to. My philosophy is different in some respects from Rand Paul’s philosophy of libertarianism (or paleoconservatism, depending on who you ask) but there are also lots of similarities. In general, I admire people who have unpopular views and stand up for what they believe in, and Rand Paul, unlike the majority of politicians, is such a person. He is criticized for being radical, on the fringe, outside the mainstream, et cetera. But in a society where the mainstream consists of nearly unanimous support for income taxes, the Durham-Humphrey Amendment, and degrading airport security measures, I fail to see how being outside the mainstream is a bad thing. I hope that Rand sticks to what he believes in and resists the pressure to move toward the center. It reflects badly on our society that believing in liberty makes someone part of the “fringe.” A Senator with a consistent, pro-liberty world view and the courage to act on it would be one of the best things to happen to America in many years.
Rand Paul, libertarian Republican and son of Ron Paul, won the primary in the Kentucky Senate race! This is great news for the Republican Party and for liberty in America!
Clark Rockefeller, born Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, was in court today to ask for a reduced sentence, but his request was turned down. Last year he was sentenced to 4-5 years in prison for parental kidnapping and assault and battery convictions for fleeing with his then 7-year-old daughter from a supervised visit. His lawyer, Tim Bradl, asked a panel of three judges for Rockefeller’s sentence to be reduced to 0 to 2 years and for him to be given credit for time served, which would have made him eligible for parole almost immediately. Prosecutor David Deakin argued against an early release. Right after the short hearing, the judges sided with Deakin.
Rockefeller’s team plans to appeal his conviction, as opposed to just his sentence, in the coming months.
For more coverage, including pictures of Rockefeller in a new plaid suit, check out:
I apologize for the dearth of new posts in the past few weeks. I just wanted to alert you, if you live in Massachusetts, to gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker’s cool new campaign – the “Had Enough” tour.
Ad is from Baker For Gov’s Youtube account. Also be sure to follow the new tour on Twitter if you have an account, @MaHadEnough.
Go Charlie! Let’s vote out the Democrats and make this a two-party state again.
According to CNN…
A TSA worker at Miami International Airport in Florida was arrested for allegedly assaulting a co-worker who had repeatedly teased him about the size of his genitals.
The insults stemmed from an X-ray of the accused captured during a training exercise with the airport’s full-body scanning machines, the report said.
Rolando Negrin “stated he could not take the jokes anymore and lost his mind,” allegedly striking the victim with a police baton. According to the report, a witness heard Negrin say in Spanish, “get on your knees or I will kill you and you better apoligise [sic].”
If the scans are that revealing, how can people think it is okay for the TSA to require all air passengers to go through them?
And I love how the article describes these machines as ”technology some privacy advocates liken to a virtual strip search.” Who wouldn’t liken them to a virtual strip search? What else would you call a machine that creates pictures of your naked body?
It is unacceptable for strip search machines to be used as a primary method of airport security screening. Why are so few people outraged about this?