Andrew Napolitano: Liberty In Shambles

Colonial intrusions pale in comparison to today's.      When British soldiers were roaming the American countryside in the 1760s with lawful search warrants with which they had authorized themselves to enter the private homes of Colonists in order to search for government-issued stamps, Thomas Paine wrote, “These are the times that     ... MORE

Jury Nullification, Not Pardon, For Edward Snowden

by Thomas Mullen. The whistleblower who has risked his life and his freedom to expose the NSA’s domestic spying program has fled to Hong Kong. Caught red-handed violating one of the most fundamental limits on its power, codified in the Fourth Amendment, the federal government has responded predictably. It wants to prosecute its accuser.      ... MORE

VIDEO: Walter Block - Prostitution

Why The 'Nothing To Hide' Crowd Should Be Worried

Scott Shackford on government surveillance.   Responding to a popular reaction to news of the National Security Agency’s massive data collection program, blogger Daniel Sieradski started a Twitter feed called “Nothing to Hide.” He has retweeted hundreds of people who have declared in one form or another that they are not concerned     ... MORE

Doug Altner: Why Delivering Beer Isn't Easy

Government regulations could leave you thirsty.    Anheuser-Busch InBev just wrapped up its controversial merger with Grupo Modelo - the parent company of Corona - despite initial opposition from the Department of Justice and then last-ditch efforts of consumer groups, rejected by the court. The merger, it was alleged, would lead to   ... MORE

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Something For Nothing

Rand Paul: Big Brother Says, 'Open Your Mouth!'

Overreaching government wants your DNA.  The Bill of Rights is and should be popular. It is something most Americans overwhelmingly support. Conservatives love the Second Amendment and honest progressives defend the First Amendment. But it is sometimes harder for the public to embrace and champion the due process of the    ... MORE

Why We Get The Police State We Deserve

by Nick Gillespie.   In the first flush of stories about how the National Security Agency is surveilling American citizens, one stomach-turning revelation hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves: we get the surveillance state we deserve because rank political partisanship trumps bedrock principle every goddamn time on just about every   ... MORE

Feds Claim Criminal Checks Discriminate Against Blacks

by Scott Thurm.     Federal regulators Tuesday accused two large employers of improperly using criminal-background checks in hiring, the latest salvo in a contentious debate over whether such screening amounts to discrimination against black applicants. In complaints filed in federal courts in Illinois and South Carolina, the Equal Employment      ... MORE

Sales of '1984' Spike Amid NSA Spying Scandal

by Michael Winter.   The revelations about government surveillance have introduced a new generation of readers to Nineteen Eighty-Four, as sales of George Orwell's dystopian classic soar. Sales of the "centennial edition" on Amazon.com had skyrocketed more than 5,800% as of Tuesday night. The novel that introduced the world to the all-seeing,  ... MORE

VIDEO: Edward Snowden & The Surveillance State

The Only Thing Children Really Need Is Freedom

by Chantal K. Saucier.       As parents, we are responsible for the "education" of our children. For me, that means simply this: if my daughter, now 7, grows up to be a responsible, self-reliant, self-motivated, honest, caring, freedom-loving good neighbor, and an overall happy person, then I’ve succeeded. I don’t have a career path   ... MORE

Gene Healy: The Very Real Threat Posed By NSA

"It can't happen here" just did. As a Senate candidate in 2003, Barack Obama called the PATRIOT Act "shoddy and dangerous." Once safely in power, Obama started demonstrating his remarkable capacity for "growing in office" -- expanding federal powers while piously moralizing about their potential abuse. As a senator, he voted to         ... MORE

VIDEO: Capitalism Is NOT Imperialism

4 Ways the Fourth Amendment's Already Being Pummeled

by Ed Krayewski.   Last week The Guardian and The Washington Post reported that the National Security Agency collects information on the phone and Internet habits of millions of Americans. Since then we've seen President Barack Obama argue against the strawman of combining “100 percent privacy and 100 percent security.” We've seen the      ... MORE

FBI Requests For Data On Citizens Up 1000% Since Obama

Welcome to the surveillance state.    Not surprising given recent revelations about the NSA, but as Michael Isikoff points out, the massive increase in requests for business records by the FBI under a provision in the Patriot Act, represents a sea change in the government's attitude toward privacy. The FBI has dramatically increased its use of a    ... MORE

Phyllis Schlafly: Big Brother Obama Is Watching

Public servants transmogrify to masters.   It has become evident that Barack Obama's definition of "fundamentally transforming the United States" includes Big Brother harassing selected conservatives while monitoring everybody's email and telephone traffic. These seem to be among the surprising duties of the Internal Revenue Service    ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Economics Vs. 'Need'

A labor shortage should lead to higher wages.     One of the most common arguments for allowing more immigration is that there is a "need" for foreign workers to do "jobs that Americans won't do," especially in agriculture. One of my most vivid memories of the late Armen Alchian, an internationally renowned economist at UCLA, involved a lunch ...  MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Stop Punishing Success

Edward Snowden: Hero Or Traitor?

by Robert Romano.    Let us take Edward Snowden at his word. For a moment, assume he disclosed publicly the National Security Agency’s (NSA) broad, sweeping surveillance of all telephone, Internet, and email communications everywhere — not to hurt people or undermine security but to stop an unconstitutionally intrusive program. Did he do  ... MORE

Philip Bump: How Big Is The NSA Police State, Really?

We don't know the half of it.      As you probably know, "the cloud" in Internet parlance isn't an actual cloud. The Internet's cloud refers to remote storage of information and the network that connects to it. What tech companies pitch as a nebulous intangibility is really just stacks and stacks of servers with direct connections to the rest of the world. Things   ... MORE

VIDEO: A New Monument In Our Nation's Capital


D.C. apartment building doubles as giant middle finger pointed at the White House

Walter E Williams: Unnecessary Tragedy

Freedom is the solution.   Last week a federal judge ordered Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to allow 10-year-old Sarah Murnaghan, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, to be moved to the adult lung transplant list. That gives her a better chance of receiving a potentially lifesaving transplant. Sarah Murnaghan's fate should  ... MORE

IRS Orders Coffee Trays With Hidden Cameras

Are they spying on themselves?  The news is replete with headlines about our government snooping and spying on Americans. We’re all being watched in some way or another. It kind of reminds me of that Simon and Garfunkel song “America,” where he sings, “The man in the gabardine suit is a spy. I said, ‘Be careful; his bowtie is really a camera.’”     ... MORE

Steve Chapman: Under NSA's Unblinking Eye

No secrets except for government.      Some years ago, when tax simplification was being discussed, a cartoonist came up with the most likely way the IRS would achieve it: a postcard-sized 1040 form consisting of two lines: 1) How much did you make? 2) Send it in. That's comparable to where Americans are headed when it comes to keeping    ... MORE

Liz Sidoti: Mounting Controversies Are All About Trust

Another day, another scandal.   As a candidate, Barack Obama vowed to bring a different, better kind of leadership to the dysfunctional capital. He'd make government more efficient, accountable and transparent. He'd rise above the "small-ball" nature of doing business. And he'd work with Republicans to break Washington paralysis. You can trust me,    ... MORE

VIDEO: Fox News - The State Against Citizens

Katie Kieffer: The Two Most Beautiful Women

Beauty for the ages.    Two women are tied for the title of Most Beautiful Woman in America. Veritable goddesses, they show no trace of vanity. Their beauty is a gift to America and they deserve our attention. Unlike Victoria’s Secret Angels, these two women are ageless; their attractiveness becomes more apparent with time. They echo    ... MORE

A. Barton Hinkle: The Great Farm-Bill Ripoff

Why are rock stars receiving government aid?   Anyone starting from scratch would not design a farm policy like the one America has. At least not anyone with a lick of common sense. But since common sense is as common on Capitol Hill as a unicorn stampede, we have: A confusing clutter of programs that pay farmers not to farm, reward them  ... MORE

VIDEO: Ron Paul Predicted The Future In 1984

Rand Paul Wants Answers On Gun-Running In Benghazi

by Emily Miller.   Sen. Rand Paul suspects the U.S. was secretly running guns through the consulate in Benghazi to arm Syrian rebels. The Kentucky Republican said the Obama administration must provide answers about whether firearms trafficking through Libya was related to the terrorist attack that killed four Americans, including Ambassador J.        ... MORE

Mark J. Fitzgibbons: Audit The IRS

Unlimited government always becomes lawless.      Lois Lerner and other officials at the IRS should be grateful that they do not live in 18th century America when tar and feathering were considered appropriate "remedies" against lawbreakers in government. Better yet for the IRS that this is not late 18th century France. The Tea Party   ... MORE

Donald Lambro: The Real Scandal Is Economic

Another scandal is Obama is clueless about.  In the sixth month of his second term, President Obama is still putting his national security team together and trying to figure out what he wants to do during the remainder of his presidency. So far, Mr. Obama, who spends much, if not most, of his time delivering speeches and not much else,      ... MORE

Why Obama Wanted NSA Data-Mining Program Kept Secret

by Mike Riggs. I was reading up on the National Security Agency's data-mining program when I came across this tweet by Matt Apuzzo of the Associated Press: If the programs needed secrecy to succeed, will NSA shut them down now? If not, did they ever need be secret? Or did I just blow your mind? — Matt Apuzzo (@mattapuzzo) June 7, 2013     ... MORE

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - Free Markets & Human Freedom

James Allen: The Toy Gun Buyback Program

More politically-correct nitwittery.   Strobridge Elementary School in Hayward, California is hosting a gun buyback program for kids. What a great way to get unwanted guns off the street, not to mention a great way to get guns out of the hands of minors. Guns are not toys, and gun buyback programs can get unwanted guns out of homes and off  ... MORE

The NRA, The NSA And The Politics Of Individualism


A reactive rise in civil libertarians.       Much of the right-wing resistance to the post-Newtown gun control push was animated, not by gun owners’ commitment to hunting or personal defense, but by the idea that an armed society is a fundamental safeguard against government tyranny. For example, in a hearing on gun control, NRA leader  ... MORE

VIDEO: Why Both Political Parties Sound The Same

Why Democrats Love To Spy On Americans

by Michael Hastings.      Besides Senators Ron Wyden and Mark Udall, most Democrats abandoned their civil liberty positions during the age of Obama. With a new leak investigation looming, the Democrat leadership are now being forced to confront all the secrets they’ve tried to hide. For most bigwig Democrats in Washington, D.C., the last 48 hours has  ... MORE

Lydia Warren: Government's $1.9 Billion Citizen Data Mine

Where our rulers store all of our information.     The personal data and private online conversations that the National Security Administration is accused of mining could be stashed in a one million square-foot, $1.9 billion facility in the Utah Valley. Concerns over what the government will store at the Utah Data Center have been    ... MORE