All posts by Thomas L. Knapp

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Don’t Let Transgender be the New Black

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Sometimes large social and cultural changes roll out slowly, often at the expense of individual rights. Other times they roll out quickly, to the discomfort of those of us who are set in our ways. Gender identity seems to be taking the latter course.

The ability to physically reshape our  gender appearance and genitalia has been around for decades, popping up now and again as a controversial news topic, from  Christine Jorgenson in the 1950s to Deirdre McCloskey in the 1990s. But in this second decade of the 21st century, it’s become a topic of daily interest, from Chaz Bono to Laverne Cox to Caitlyn Jenner to Fallon Fox.

Look, I get it: I’m nearly 50 years old. I can remember when overt racism was considered normal and tolerable, even if it was on its way out. When I was a teen, homosexuality was widely considered immoral and a social stigma. Those two things are passing into history. I think — at least I hope — that a decade from now, or even sooner, transsexuals will find themselves well down that same path to social acceptance.

But right now, some people remain uncomfortable with the whole thing. There’s going to be a period over which old ways of doing things only grudgingly give way to more comfortably and lovingly seeing ourselves and others.

That should not be the case where the state is concerned, though. The use of legal force to impede — or advance — social change is always a bad idea. Transgender people should not be forced to march through Selma in order to claim equal treatment under the law.

As always, the libertarian approach is most fit for getting us through this transition period. Libertarianism is the only political philosophy which allows everyone to answer “yes” to the question “can we all get along?”

If you want to believe that Caitlyn Jenner is still Bruce Jenner, and insist on referring to her as him, well, you’re entitled to your opinion … right up to the point where you claim a right to impose that opinion by force.

And the same applies to me.

I can’t force you call her Caitlyn, and I wouldn’t want to if I could. Nor should you be able to get a politician to tell her which restroom she can use, who she can marry, or what box she has to check next to “sex” on a form.

The last thing any of us needs is another multi-decade round of identity politics, complete with legally enforced discrimination, de facto ghettoization and vexatious litigation. All we need to do is not aggress against others. Time and mutual respect will take care of everything else.

Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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Un-Reasonable: Feds Declare War on Web Commenters

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Liberty Leading the People
Liberty Leading the People (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I’ve previously written about Ross Ulbricht, an American political prisoner sentenced to life for the “crime” of running a business without the US government’s permission. Among libertarians, the response to Ulbricht’s abduction and show trial has been, in some cases, less than polite and temperate. Now, the state is moving against its critics.

Last week, as Ken White of Popehat reports, the US Department of Justice served Reason — a popular libertarian magazine and web site — with a grand jury subpoena demanding that it provide “any and all identifying information” it possesses regarding certain commenters on reporter Nick Gillespie’s coverage of Ulbricht’s sentencing.

Some of those commenters, it seems, waxed less than respectful of Katherine Forrest, the thug — er, “judge” — who ratified Ulbricht’s abduction and ordered it extended for life.

One or two of those commenters suggested that she should suffer the torments of hell, either in the afterlife or this one. Others referenced the use of a wood chipper to dispose of a body in the film Fargo as fitting punishment for her actions.

Just to be perfectly clear here, I agree 100% with the tone of those comments. While I have not publicly made such suggestions — I’ve limited myself to suggesting that she be thoroughly ostracized, that all persons of good character shun her — I really can’t think of any penalty that goes too far for what she has done and, presumably, intends to continue doing.

I have every right to such an opinion, and to its expression. So do you. Those rights are even enshrined in “the supreme law of the land” in which Forrest committed her atrocities (it’s in the First Amendment to the US Constitution).

This is, in a word, an outrage. But it gets worse.

The feds wanted Reason to keep the subpoena secret. It’s unclear whether they’ve issued a formal “gag order” in connection with the subpoena, but the document itself says that “[t]he Government hereby requests that you voluntarily refrain from disclosing the existence of the subpoena to any third party.”

So: The US government is trying to track down people who say things it doesn’t like — things which no reasonable person could construe as “true threats” — for possible prosecution (grand juries don’t subpoena people to offer them coffee and donuts). And it doesn’t want you to know it’s doing that.

Let that sink in. If you’ve ever doubted for a minute that America is becoming a police state, this chain of events should settle the question once and for all. The US government has declared war on free speech and the free press. It has declared war on YOU. Will you fight back?

[hat tip — Wendy McElroy]

Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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Ross Ulbricht is a Political Prisoner

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In early February, federal jurors convicted Ross Ulbricht on seven charges relating to the operations of the Silk Road online marketplace. He was subsequently sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

As documented in Alex Winter’s film Deep Web, calling the three-week farce preceding these convictions a “show trial” insults both shows and trials. The fix was in from the beginning.

The “judge,” one Katherine Forrest, consistently and flagrantly acted as a dedicated member of the prosecution team. She neither required the government to prove its case nor allowed Ulbricht’s attorneys to actually present a defense.

Forrest denied Ulbricht bail on the prosecution’s charges of conspiracy to commit murder. After those charges were dropped from the indictment — their sole purpose apparently being  to poison the jury well in advance — she allowed them to be used to justify hiding witness identities, and thousands of pages of discovery material, from the defense until a few days before trial.

She excused the prosecution from revealing how it had located and seized Silk Road’s servers, allowing evidence that appears to have been the “poisoned fruit” of illegal warrantless searches. She forbade the defense to present its theory of the alleged “crimes” involving other suspects or to dissect the FBI’s technical claims using expert witnesses.

At every juncture, Forrest acted not with a view toward reaching truth or justice, but with the sole and overriding aim of getting a conviction.

And the actual charges? Boiled down, they consist of this:

Ross Ulbricht was accused and convicted of operating a business, which coordinated the sale and purchase of goods between willing sellers and willing buyers, without the permission of people who think they’re entitled to control everyone else. Full stop. THAT is what Ross Ulbricht stands convicted of.

Ross Ulbricht was convicted of living his life as a free human being instead of as a compliant, obedient slave.

The state can’t tolerate free human beings. They call its own necessity into question and must be made examples of whenever possible.

Tyrants like US Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) — who made shutting down Silk Road a government priority — and bureaucratic thugs like US Attorney Preet Bharara and judge Katherine Forrest, who enforced his will, are the sworn and eternal enemies of freedom. Ross Ulbricht is their political prisoner. So long as we permit them to continue in power, so are we.

Thomas L. Knapp is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

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