Doing the Rounds of the Police State.

I barely need comment on either of the below items: draw your own conclusions about where our social democracies have ended up, as I have stated clearly in my blog by-line above:

Firstly, from (behind the pay-wall) at NBR:

Auckland businessmen Andrew Tauber and Paul Webb have lost their appeal against the lawfulness of a tax department raid on their homes. … Messrs Tauber and Webb complained property was damaged in an intrusive search of their homes , which extended to a teenage girl’s underwear drawer. …

A tax partner at Ernst & Young says the court’s decision demonstrates the IRD has more powers than the police …

Secondly, from Sharechat:

Pyne Gould Corp and its trustee unit Perpetual Group are weighing up their options after the High Court ruled the Financial Markets Authority's raid for information was unlawful, though the market watchdog didn't have to return the information.

The High Court decided the FMA's notices to obtain information from Perpetual Trust were unlawful, Pyne Gould said in a statement to the exchange. The company is considering "the possible implications of the judgment," it said.

The fact you won’t find a single sitting politician who would be bothered about either of these (mis)uses of government force - the first immoral, the second illegal even under immoral law, but still with no consequence for any government officer involved - shows that not a single sitting politician deserves the vote of free men. I don't care what the excuse for each raid was: free men know that governments were never supposed to jackboot across this line into the voluntary society again. If the Fortress of Legislation has had to inveigle such draconian police state powers to sustain itself, then it  has long ago left a mandate to provide the rule of law in a free and civilised society.