By now, you’ve probably heard that Nick Gillespie and Matt Welch from Reason magazine have a new book out called The Declaration of Independents. I say you’ve probably heard this already because they’ve engaged in an insane amount of promotion, with daily posts at Hit&Run, appearances on television shows, and a national book tour (I’m …
Author Archives: Mark
More national greatness nonsense
We’re in a bit of a lull here at Nobody’s Business — I think all of us are busy with our day jobs at the same time — and I’ve been trying to find ways to fill it. I was planning a multi-part lecture series about free markets, but fortunately for all of you, I …
Linkavaganza
Stuff I can’t write a whole post about: Health insurance price controls: Because health insurance should be as easy to get as a rent-controlled apartment in New York. One of my complaints about government programs for the poor is that they never just give the poor some money so they’ll be less poor. Instead, they …
Denying the free will of prostitutes
When Dave Krueger of the currently-dormant Sex Hysteria blog first suggested Maggie McNeill as a contributor to Nobody’s Business, I was a bit hesitant. I was concerned that bringing aboard an ex-prostitute blogger would seem like a trashy stunt to boost our traffic stats. I’d read enough of Maggie’s Honest Courtesan blog to know that …
Roads
I’ve been on a road trip from Chicago to the east coast and back, and along the way I’ve been looking for something I can make into a libertarian lesson. For example, I could write about the poor selection of products at the rest stops along the limited access turnpike, which is an illustration of …
“No Knock Raid”
Most of you have probably already seen this, but as I’m taking a bit of a break for the next week or so, I thought I’d leave you with it. Warning: This music video features camera footage of actual SWAT raids where actual SWAT team members kill people, shoot dogs, and terrify children. It may …
Stories of consensual crime enforcement
If you read Radley Balko’s excellent Agitator blog (which you should) or one of the legal blogs which covers the injustices of our legal system, such as Scott Greenfield’s Simple Justice, you’re probably aware of the various ways in which the police, the prosecutors, and the courts are trampling all over our rights. I’m talking …
Nobody’s Business, now available in blue
I just switched Nobody’s Business over to version 1.1 of our theme. Basically, we were getting a bit tired of the traditional orange, and trying to find other colors that go with it was straining my limited design skills. So Rogier asked the artist who creates our banners — Len Peralta — to redo them in …
A brief and unnecessary defense of Radley Balko
I want to be Radley Balko when I grow up, so it pains me when I check out how he’s doing at his new job with the Huffington Post and see partisan lunacy like this: Huffington Post needs to spend some time checking out who writes for them and what their motivations are. Balko used …
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Peter McWilliams
This blog is named after Peter McWilliams’ amazing book, Ain’t Nobody’s Business If You Do: The Absurdity of Consensual Crimes in Our Free Country. The premise of the book is simple: This book is about a single idea—consenting adults should not be put in jail unless they physically harm the person or property of a …
How are we doing so far?
Since we launched this new blog, I’ve been trying to avoid obsessing over the traffic stats. Other than occasionally checking the average daily visitor count — currently hovering around 50-60 — I have been steadfastly ignoring the reports. Today, however, I finally gave into temptation, and here are some of the results for the month …
Professor Levitt’s “Daughter Test”
Economist Steven Levitt said something dumb, and I’m not sure whether to be amused or disappointed. He wants online poker to be legal, but he draws the line at cocaine and prostitution. Here’s his explanation: Levitt says he doesn’t usually get riled up over such issues, but then he realized why he got so angry: …