Thai people call foreigners "farang" (which also means "French").

The fundamental difference between the state and all other economic actors is that the state is (or rather can be) democratic, with everyone having a voice. So it is directly controlled by the populace, unlike corporations, and - properly implemented - can be trusted to operate in the interests of the society as a whole.

Every consumer can choose whether to buy products or services from any corporation or other individual. But you don't get that choice with the government. Try to stop paying for government services.

Then, of course, a regulating state breaking up monopolies is not itself a monopolist, since it does not own all the property, nor fully command it.

The regulating state is definitely a monopolist, since it has no competition.

thatz jus dum!

Torr-volts?

The virus may have set back a part of Iran's nuclear program -- the uranium enrichment part. But that is not all there is. If you knew the extent of Iran's nuclear capability (and how long they have had that capability), you would be surprised (or alarmed).

The media tells you a different story. That's great for people who want to believe Iran does not already have any nuclear weapons. And they ignore or downplay North Korea and Syria in that area too, while pretending Israel does not have nuclear weapons either. Maybe it's better if most people didn't know about these things.

Right and we also used to sit and stare in awe as a person used a phone from their car to make a phonecall.

I watch out for those people. There have been too many near misses from inattentive drivers using phones while driving.

Rather than have a government agency check us all, have each airline perform its own security checks. Airlines have an incentive to perform good security checks (to avoid the high costs of hijacking, bombing, etc.) balanced with good treatment of customers (not too intrusive or nosy, reasonably quick, courteous, etc.).

In that case, different airlines might have different levels of security and costs, so that each consumer could choose what level of intrusiveness was acceptable. Contrast that with the current situation of TSA 'service'.

Maybe if I show you promotional tourism videos of Cuba before I force the plane there, you won't grab me?

If anyone has not seen Life of Brian, please do. It is Monty Python's best.

From the linked article "Asieri had a pound of high explosives, plus a detonator inserted in his rectum."

Do you think body cavity searches are coming next?

I was at an interview a while ago and I was asked if I like to travel. I answered honestly and said, "I hate it," and this was before these damn scanners and pat-downs. I was thanked and never heard from them again.

You should always answer that question honestly.

Any company asking that question in an interview is telling you that this job will take a lot of travel time out of your life.

In that case, ask yourself:
Are they going to compensate me enough to want to do this job?

Governments tend to increase bureaucracy, and tend to become increasingly tyrannical.

If I am wrong, please name any time(s) government has become less bureaucratic and/or tyrannical.

Libertarians are not anarchists.

Many libertarians are in fact anarchists. (Not all are minarchists.)

For example, Murray N. Rothbard considered himself a libertarian, but he definitely believed in anarchy ('the absence of archy').

I enjoyed the scenes at the soccer stadium in El secreto de sus ojos. There was definitely some CGI that brings us from a helicopter view right down among the people in the stands.

And watch the camera go out off the ledge and down to follow the suspect as he jumps down to a lower level. (The camera man had a wire harness, and a quick crew behind him.)

That was pretty impressive filming, along with an interesting story and great acting. Unfortunately, if you have trouble understanding Argentinian Spanish, you'll have to read subtitles.

Who knew Angels & Demons was going to be a true story?