theDrahos

Most of us carry surveillance devices with us at all times. The East German Stasi could not have dreamed of a better system of surveillance than cell phones. Your phone probably knows more about you than you know about yourself. You need a tin foil hat for your phone. Your location and movements can be tracked by triangulating the signal from your phone with multiple cell towers. The GPS capabilities of your phone allows even more precise tracking. The same is true of the wifi signals that reach your phone. Police drive around picking up info from cell phones in … Continue reading →

Midwest –(Ammoland.com)- Like any other sport or hobby, shooting can be done on the cheap, if you want. And I’ve run across plenty of shooters who take pride in shooting on the cheap, even when they don’t have to. While cheap plinking is certainly possible, frugality is not always the best policy when it comes to the shooting sports. I have learned, many times over, the truth and wisdom of the old saying “You get what you pay for.” If you’re serious about shooting, then it is probably better to “cry only once” when you buy, and lay down some … Continue reading →

The recent 2015 measles outbreak in Disneyland has sparked an outcry against parents who choose not to vaccinate their children. Over 60 people have been diagnosed with measles in this latest outbreak. The hysteria surrounding this outbreak is beyond me. I have seen the articles stating that parents who choose not to vaccinate should be prosecuted. Parents who choose not vaccinate have been accused of child abuse. I say everyone needs to chill out—easy for me to write that in the midst of a foot of snow falling. Measles is a highly infectious disease. It is very common throughout the … Continue reading →

 “But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus.  The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you?  They said, Barabbas.” – Matthew 27:20-21 In the year following the Bush administration’s illegal and unjust war in Iraq, debate raged among media elites and the country at large regarding a biblical film depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ broke box office records and remains the highest grossing R rated film in history. The movie was released nearly two … Continue reading →

Ben Franklin noted that he showed skill for statism in his early years saying that he was often allowed to “govern” and to be a “leader” when doing things with other boys.  To demonstrate this innate ability, he described an occasion which he related because it showed what he described as “an early projecting public spirit.”  This incident, showing Ben’s ability at statecraft, involved an occasion when he and his gang had trampled down the edge of a private mill pond turning it into a quagmire.  He marshalled the boys directing them to steal all the stones that had been … Continue reading →

In my article on “Civilization and the Faculty Lounge,” I told the story of how New York University’s economics department treated Mises with contempt. The economics department of the University of Chicago did the same with F. A. Hayek, a soft-core version of Mises. NYU was a third-tier school. Mises was a greater economist than Hayek. The disparity today is obvious. The idea that the long-forgotten drones at NYU thought of Mises as a dinosaur is indicative of just how third-tier NYU was. Mises died in October 1973. In the late spring of 1974, a week-long meeting was held at … Continue reading →

New York’s schools are the most segregated in the nation, and the state needs remedies right away. That was Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch’s message to New York’s governor and Legislature. She said that minority children are disproportionately trapped in schools that lack teaching talent, course offerings and resources needed to prepare them for college and success. Simply calling for more school resources will produce disappointing results. There are several minimum requirements that must be met for any child to do well in school. Someone must make the youngster do his homework, ensure that he gets eight to nine hours of … Continue reading →

Ronald Reagan bedded more than 50 of Hollywood’s leading ladies at a luxury LA hotel bungalow, according to a sensational new biography. During his time as a young ‘B-movie’ Hollywood actor, Reagan courted screen sirens including Marilyn Monroe, Doris Day, Joan Blondell and Lana Turner at the three-bedroom bungalow in the grounds of the Garden of Allah hotel in Hollywood, the book claims. The revelations are made in a biography to be published on Valentine’s Day titled Love Triangle: Ronald Reagan, Jane Wyman & Nancy Davis, reports The Sunday Times. According to the book’s author Darwin Porter, Reagan was involved with around 50 women in Hollywood. ‘Nearly … Continue reading →

One intriguing—if barely discussed—aspect of the Paris massacre was the quick progress authorities made in their investigation. According to CNN, this was thanks to a staggering error—by one of the two now-dead alleged perpetrators. The man, Said Kouachi, reportedly left his identification card in the abandoned getaway vehicle. “It was their only mistake,” Dominique Rizet, police and justice consultant for CNN-affiliate BFMTV, opined. Said Kouachi’s ID card. Allegedly found in the getaway car. Nonetheless, it was a most curious mistake. After all, this is the same man who went to such trouble to seemingly hide his identity by wearing a … Continue reading →

There were 87 beheadings in Saudi Arabia in 2014, up from 79 in 2013. One thing that might cause you to lose your head in that great ally of the United States in the war on terrorism is drug trafficking. The last beheading of the year was of Sadruddin Saeedullah Khan, a Pakistani national, who was convicted of smuggling “a large quantity of heroin” into the Saudi kingdom. He was decapitated by sword in the western province of Mecca after both the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Judicial Council upheld the “religiously right” death sentence imposed by a local … Continue reading →

This is me driving a 2015 Acura TLX. Actually, it’s the Acura TLX driving me. The car (and other Acuras, including the new MDX) has a “steering assist” feature that uses cameras to keep the thing in its lane – more accurately, in between the yellow line to your left and the white line to your right – without you doing anything. Cameras “see” the painted lines – and electric motors steer the car. Neat, certainly. But is it a good idea? I think it’s an awful idea. For two reasons. One, though touted as a way to make driving … Continue reading →