Ban the Scan NYC Video

Huge Surprise: NYPD wants to track you

Ok, so the headline of this post is rather sarcastic.  But with the New York City government already telling you where you can smoke, stopping random citizens on the street, heavily regulating rent prices, taxing citizens into olbivion, and being an all-around freedom-free zone, it’s not hard to believe what’s coming next.

One Airport; One TSA Agent; $400K in Merchandise Gone

While it’s recently made the news that one TSA agentat Newark Liberty Airport was able to steal $400,000 in goods (allegedly acting alone), there have been hundreds of cases of TSA theft.  A $2,500 laptop, $47,900 worth of camera equipment, $80,000 in cash – all went missing from passenger luggage while in the care of the TSA at New York area airports.   Some reports show that TSA agents made a regular habit of theft, stealing $400-$700 cash per day from passengers making their way through the security check points.

Readers of the NCLAG blog are already aware that theft of personal property by the TSA is the crime to which airline passengers are most likely to fall victim (not terrorism).  However, readers may not be aware of the extent to which TSA agents are involved in this theft.  NY Press’ Spencer Wilking recently wrote an excellent article outlining the failure of the TSA to keep passengers safe.  I highly recommend reading it.

Be sure to show up to Union Square on June 10th 4:30p-7p to support legislation to “Ban the Scan NYC!” Don’t for get to RSVP on the “Ban the Scan NYC” Facebook page.

Thinking of Opening a Business in NYC? Thought Not.

Ever wonder what is takes to open a restaurant in New York City?  Here is a shocking excerpt from National Review.  Mark Steyn writes:

For example, in New York City, applying for the “right” to open a restaurant requires dealing with the conflicting demands of at least eleven municipal agencies, plus submitting to 23 city inspections and applying for 30 different permits and certificates. Not including the state liquor license. Recognizing that this could all get very complicated, the city set up a new bureaucratic body to help you negotiate your way through all the other bureaucratic bodies.

The article, call “Tyrannous Regulation” can be read here.

Unintended Consequences: Lifetime Beer Distribution Contracts

While yours truly would love to have a lifetime beer (drinking) contract, laws requiring lifetime beer distribution agreements are having unintended consequences on small breweries (which are small businesses in the area).

New York City’s Poor Stock Portfolio

In last week’s Economist magazine, an article entitled “Good Losers” discussed the declining value of the US dollar.  The article says,

“There are good reasons for despising each of [the leading currencies of the developed world].
In recent months, however, it is the dollar that has suffered the most. As the chart shows, on a real trade-weighted basis it is now close to its lowest level in the post-Bretton Woods era of floating exchange rates. And this weakness has occurred even though the dollar’s greatest rival, the euro, is ensnared in a sovereign-debt crisis.”
…
“For all the talk of a “strong dollar” policy in Washington, it is hard to imagine the authorities taking any action, such as raising interest rates, with the specific aim of driving the greenback higher on a trade-weighted basis. After all, the boost to exports is rather handy. The Americans are like failed dieters who talk earnestly about their weight-loss programme while holding a chocolate doughnut.”

LGBTQ & Libertarians: A Love Story

Given that New York’s current marriage laws still prohibit same-sex unions, it’s no wonder that Jim Swimm of Swish, a gay straight alliance, pines for a more meaningful show of support from the straight (and particularly, straight male) population:

There’s been a group of people who seem to be “sitting this one out”. Though I’ve talked to a few who are genuinely troubled, men —specifically, straight men — don’t seem to speak very loudly, if at all, on this issue.

Despite the stereotype of libertarians as cold-hearted, logic-spouting, gun toting, free-market rambling machines, there is a softer side to many of the hard constitutionalists who presently walk the streets of New York.  Although libertarians espouse a willingness to be labeled as “conservative” because of a strict policy of adherence to the constitution and fiscal responsibility, most libertarians are anything but when it comes to social issues.

Decriminalization and Self-Incriminators

Many Americans, when asked to turn out their pockets by a police officer, do so for fear of retribution for their non-compliance – we’ve all seen those “failure to cooperate” and obstruction of justice charges on Law and Order.  Many more do not even know that a citizen is not required to acquiesce to the officer’s request.

Ban the Scan from NYC!

Join us on June 10, 2011, as the Manhattan Libertarian Party, We Won’t Fly, Campaign for Liberty and NYC LAG co-host a rally at Union Square in New York City to promote legislation currently being drafted by the New York City Council to eliminate TSA body scanners and pat-downs from NYC.

The event starts at 4:30 PM and features:

• Jim Babb, co-founder of We Won’t Fly
• Amie Stepanovich, National Security Fellow at the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
• NYC Councilmember Dan Halloran
• 9/11 Family Members and more.

An informal networking happy hour will follow.

Show your support and RSVP on the Facebook Event Page!

LaBaNeNis or Law Banning Neighborhood Nicknames

In a recent NY Times articletitled ProCro, SoBro, FiDi, BoCoCa: A Lawmaker Says, ‘Enough’, Cara Buckley writes a fairly comprehensive history of New York neighborhood and sub-neighborhood nicknames.

The abbreviation floodgates appear to have been opened by SoHo, a name that gained traction in the mid-1960s as artists began to live illegally in factory spaces south of Houston Street. It also had the allure of having a twin, nomenclaturally speaking, in London’s Soho, a centuries-old area whose name appears to have roots in a hunting call.