KN@PPSTER @ Liberty.me

I am, generally speaking, opposed to capital punishment as it is used by the state.To my mind it violates any reasonable conception of "limited government." What's "limited" about the legal power engage in the leisurely, cold-blooded, unnecessary killing of a disarmed prisoner? That kind of power of life and death is unlimited government in my opinion.I do support the death penalty for violent crimes, if administered at the time and scene of the crime, by the victim or someone plausibly acting on the victim's behalf, based on reasonable fear of death or serious bodily harm if they don't kill the attacker.But...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Sorry for the week-long absence, guys.My father died early last Monday evening, and I headed down to Tampa that night to catch an early morning flight to Missouri.I had planned on blogging at least a little while I was up there, but various factors made that difficult.Of course, there was a funeral to help prepare for, and the funeral itself, and so forth.Instead of the usual hotel with wi-fi, I stayed with my mother. That mean using a cell phone "hot spot" for Internet access, and since someone else pays for that data, I didn't want to use it any...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

But first, a message from sponsor Paul Stanton:All politics is local. Without local organization, state and national candidates cannot be successful.In This Episode: Thanks For Asking! (Party Loyalty; Bookwormery; Collateral Murder Viewing Break; The Shire) :: Venue Anti-Rant (for background, see here).Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Sponsor message from Paul Stanton:All politics is local. Without local organization, state and national candidates cannot be successful.Ask me anything (anything) in comments below this post. I'll answer in comments, on the podcast, or both.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Got the call a few minutes ago. I knew it was coming. That doesn't make it any easier.He taught me my first guitar chords. He taught me how to change the oil in my 1966 Impala. He taught me the meaning of work, and he was an expert at that. He did whatever it took to keep a roof over my head, a shirt on my back, and food on my plate and to get me out into the world equipped to survive.No, he wasn't perfect. But it seemed like the older I got the smarter he got, until one...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

After all, my whole life I've had people telling me that all politics is Lo Cal.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Today is the day when Big Content pretends to be "defending the free and open Internet" by protesting the possible repeal of the Federal Communication Commission's "Net Neutrality" rule.The main -- and quite sound -- argument against Net Neutrality is that it is a subsidy to Big Content at the expense of ISP customers.That is, Netflix and Amazon and Google don't want to pay the costs of building and maintaining fatter pipes to carry their high-bandwidth content (e.g. streaming high-definition video).Rather than be the ones hiking subscription fees or advertising rates for their customers, they prefer to let the ISPs...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

... I decided to look into creating "skills" for Amazon's line of voice-controlled devices (e.g. "Hey, Alexa, play the Grateful Dead channel on Amazon Music").Took about 10 minutes to create my first skill, which is awaiting certification now. If it is accepted, people will be able to add Rational Review News Digest to their news/"flash briefing" options. That is, when they say "Alexa, what's the news?" or "Alexa, what's my Flash briefing?" the device's pleasant female voice will read the most recent items from RRND's RSS feed to them.I'm not sure there's any point in doing the same thing with KN@PPSTER proper...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

Bordertarianism: "We can't have open borders because welfare state."NetNeutralitytarianism: "We can't have an absence of corporate welfare for Big Content because Big Telecom monopolies."Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Sky News reports that Amazon and Netflix intend to "choke their own services" tomorrow as part of a public protest campaign in support of the big-government power grab / corporate welfare scheme known as "Net Neutrality."I'm an Amazon and Netflix customer. I pay each of these companies a monthly subscription fee (Netflix's regular service and Amazon's Prime program) for video streaming (and from Amazon, audio streaming).And here they are just coming out and publicly saying that tomorrow, they plan to not deliver the product as advertised.If I have trouble streaming stuff tomorrow, I'm going to expect a pro rata refund for the day.I'm...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

I write three op-eds a week. Well, usually. If I'm sick or traveling it may just be two. But usually three. Call it 150 a year. Right now, I write them at/for/under the label of The William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism.My theory of topic selection goes something like this:It has to be "in the news cycle." That is, it has to riff on something that I'm seeing in the news right now and expect to remain in the news for at least a few days so that people aren't bored with it (or forgetting about it) by...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote2 0

A commercial-free episode (haven't heard from any of my sponsors with a message lately) ...In this episode: Thanks For Asking! (Qatar, Amazon, Regular Ax Grinders, Coyotes and Swanns) :: Chelsea Manning's Wrong, But Be Kind (thx to Socrates Wilde for Attempting to Educate Her).Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

A message from our (that's the royal "our") sponsor, Paul Stanton ...All politics is local. Without local organization, state and national candidates cannot be successful.Ask me anything (yes, anything) in comments below this post, and I'll answer in comments, on the podcast, or both ...Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Since IFTTT has become unreliable of late at automagically posting new KN@PPSTER content to Twitter and Facebook, I'm trying out OnlyWire.Actually, I tried it out yesterday or the day before, but it seemed to want to link to my rss feeds of my posts rather than to the actual posts. But that may have been my fault, so here goes ...... OK, still no good. It posted to Twitter (and to LinkedIn), using the first two words of the post's content as the post title. And it can't seem to maintain a connection to Facebook. Keeps bouncing and demanding re-authorization. So I...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

This time to grow Rational Review News Digest's audience. We've been around for more than a quarter century now (first as Libernet, then as Freedom News Daily, and since 2002 as RRND), but it's been some time since we've done a lot of promotion and advertising. My guess is we have a daily audience of about 5,000 across all our editions (web, email, Facebook, Twitter, Diaspora and Liberty.me), but that's just a guess. Whatever the real figure is, I'd like to double it.We're doing some advertising, and a HeadTalker campaign seems like the next step in getting our name out...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

From my inbox:Clicked thru and:Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Thing One, 1997: The Last Democrat. Why Bill Clinton Will Be The Last Democrat Americans Elect President, Richard D. Fisher (Author), Randal O'Toole (Author), Jr. Fred L. Smith (Author), Leon T. Hadar (Author), Victor Niederhoffer (Author), Caroline Baum (Author), Chester Alan Arthur (Author), Et Al (Author), R W Bradford (Editor), Stephen Cox (Introduction)Thing Two, 2017: Why the Democratic party is doomed, by Julian AssangeLike KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

Thing one is a headline at LewRockwell.com, by none other than Rockwell himself:Mises Was a Nationalist Thing two is a name change. Sean Gabb recently abdicated as head of the UK's Libertarian Alliance. His successor, Keir Martland, writes:the organisation I now own will not be called the Libertarian Alliance, but the Ludwig von Mises Centre (or Mises UK)The splintering of the paleoconservative movement away from libertarianism seems to be complete, or at least very near completion. That final break has been a long time coming.I suspect it became inevitable when Murray Rothbard died with head still fully jammed up anus...

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Time relates the story of a teenager who engaged in a publicity stunt at her local church:Her mother, Heather Kester, said Friday that her daughter was passionate about coming out in church to be a voice and example for other LGBT children who struggle for acceptance within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She asked that Savannah's full name be withheld to protect her privacy.No, I'm not putting her down. She strikes me as rather brave and I don't see any reason to condemn her for pressing her church on the subject, but yes, it was a publicity stunt....

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote0 0

Sorry about that. May was one of those months, June has turned into another one, and I'm preparing for a trip from the 1st through the 4th of July. A combination of family medical situations, writer's block, etc. has had me working as hard as usual (actually harder) but getting less done. That's how it goes.On the other hand, once one of those periods ends, I usually make up for it.Like KN@PPSTER? Check out Tom Knapp's work at the Garrison Center too!

By Thomas L. Knapp Vote1 0

A Brief Musing on the Prospective Role of Capital Punishment as Imposed by Non-State Actors Jul 25, 2017

… And He’s Back Jul 24, 2017

The KN@PP Stir Podcast, Episode 133: (Almost) On The Road Again Jul 18, 2017

Thanks For Asking! — 07/17/17 Jul 18, 2017

Donald L. Knapp, August 23, 1933 – July 17, 2017 Jul 18, 2017

I Guess I Understand The Trend Toward Soda Taxes Jul 14, 2017

A Reminder: “Net Neutrality” is Also an Internet Censorship Enabling Act Jul 13, 2017

While Awaiting Delivery of my Echo Dot* … Jul 13, 2017

The Two Most Prevalent Thick Libertarianisms I’m Seeing at the Moment Are … Jul 13, 2017

@amazon @netflix — It’s Dumb to Announce That You Plan to Screw Your Customers Jul 12, 2017

Nobody Knows The Topic Selection Troubles I’ve Seen Jul 12, 2017

The KN@PP Stir Podcast, Episode 132: The King of All Polemic Rides … Er, Podcasts … Again Jul 11, 2017

Thanks For Asking! — 07/10/17 Jul 11, 2017

This is a Test Jun 30, 2017

Yep, It’s Another HeadTalker Campaign … Jun 29, 2017

I Guess They’ve Decided It’s ALL Fake News … Jun 29, 2017

Hope Springs Eternal, I Guess Jun 28, 2017

Two Items Relating to Paleoconservatism versus Libertarianism Jun 25, 2017

Seems to Me That Ship Already Sailed Jun 25, 2017

Yes, I’ve Continued to be Somewhat Absent Jun 24, 2017