Chris Rossini: Why The State Likes To Frighten You

When the public shudders, government grows.           Many libertarians and Austrian economists consistently preach that the battle we are engaged in is a battle of ideas. Education is paramount. In other words, those who subscribe to this point of view believe strongly in winning the long-game. He who wins the long-game, wins.         ... MORE

Nick Sibilla: Florida Cops Made Millions Dealing Cocaine

The latest asset forfeiture outrage.     It sounds like a plot ripped straight from Grand Theft Auto V.  Police conduct “reverse” sting operations, posing as drug dealers to lure buyers with promises of cheap cocaine.  Once the deals go down, cops bust the buyers, and using state and federal forfeiture laws, seize their cash and cars. For years,   ... MORE

VIDEO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta - Marijuana And Charlotte's Web

WATCHDOG.ORG: Top Hospitals Opt Out Of ObamaCare

Obamacare problems deeper than implementation.  Wellpoint and Aetna's decision to not educate the public on its choices doesn't sit well with two experts. "There is no reason to keep that quiet. It's not going to be a good secret for very long when people want to use the plans," Wilensky said. "In many cases, consumers are shopping    ... MORE

John Stossel: End The Fed

Why should government be allowed to counterfeit?        I've always avoided reporting on the Federal Reserve. I know it's more important than much of the stuff I cover, but it's so boring. How can I succeed on TV reporting on the Fed? Fed chairs even work at being dull. Alan Greenspan said he tried to be obscure because he didn't       ... MORE

VIDEO: Why Thieves Hate Free Markets

Andrew Napolitano: Spying On The President

An unwitting dupe or a totalitarian micromanager?       When German Chancellor Angela Merkel celebrated the opening of the new U.S. embassy in Berlin in 2008, she could not have imagined that she was blessing the workplace for the largest and most effective gaggle of American spies anywhere outside of the U.S. It seems straight     ... MORE

Tenth Amendment Center: Why Nullification?

Is it valid? Is it a good idea?     Writing for the Tenth Amendment Center, a person finds oneself spending a lot of time and pixels defending the concept of nullification.  These defenses generally take the form of answers to two questions.  Is nullification a legally valid concept?  Is nullification a good idea?  The arguments about whether or not   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Spying On The Line

A challenge to the NSA's warrantless wiretapping.       Last Friday the Justice Department acknowledged for the first time that it is using evidence derived from warrantless wiretapping to prosecute someone. That development sets the stage for a Fourth Amendment challenge to a law that gives the National Security Agency     ... MORE

Carl Campanile: Docs Resisting ObamaCare Like Plague

They know bad medicine when they see it.      New York doctors are treating ObamaCare like the plague, a new survey reveals. A poll conducted by the New York State Medical Society finds that 44 percent of MDs said they are not participating in the nation’s new health-care plan. Another 33 percent say they’re still not sure whether to      ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Food Police Fatheads

Patriot Act Author Introduces Bill To Halt NSA Snooping

by Stephen Dinan. The Republican author of the Patriot Act in the House and the senior Democrat in the Senate teamed together Tuesday to write a bill that would stop the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records and require a court order if the government wants to search through Americans’ communications. ... MORE

Rand Paul Says He Will Block Yellen Unless Fed Is Audited

by Oliver Darcy.      Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) Tuesday that he will move to block Dr. Janet Yellen’s nomination as the next Federal Reserve Chair unless the Senate votes on his legislation which allows the Fed to be audited “I am writing to convey my objection to floor consideration of the nomination of Dr.     ... MORE

VIDEO: I'm ObamaCare (Temporarily Down)

ObamaCare: Latest Example Of Failed Central Planning

by A. Barton Hinkle.         When Planned Parenthood wanted to add operating rooms in Virginia Beach two years ago, anti-abortion groups tried to stifle the effort by urging the state to deny a required Certificate of Public Need. When a Richmond-area oncology center wanted to move a linear accelerator from one location to another four years     ... MORE

Jeffrey T. Brown: Can We Finally Stop Pretending?

Obamacare lies reveal a political strategy.          Every day, it seems, more people who have been screaming their hatred for those who predicted all we see coming true are admitting what we have known all along. The president is incapable of telling a truth, and what conservatives have been predicting for three years about        ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Is There A Way Out?

The inevitable road of legalized theft.         According to a recent Fox News poll, 73 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with the direction of the country, up 20 points from 2012. Americans sense that there’s a lot going wrong in our nation, but most don’t have a clue about the true nature of our problem. If they had a clue, most would have little ... MORE

Nick Gillespie: "Yes, You Can Keep Your Health Plan" --------------- or, What Part of *Screw You* Don't You Understand?

O-Team knew what they were doing.      Via the Twitter feed of Matt Cover (and National Review's Jim Geraghty) comes a link to this 2010 blog post by then-Obama special assistant and now CNN Crossfire host Stephane Cutter:  Yes, You Can Keep Your Health Plan ...A key point to remember is that while the Act makes many changes to the  ... MORE

VIDEO: Fox News - Homeland Security Intimidation

Peter Suderman: Health Care Rights And Responsibililties

What about the rights angle?      What happens when health care is thought to be a fundamental right? That's the question at the heart of David Kelley's January 1994 reason story, "The Rights Angle." Kelley's piece examined the large-scale health-care overhaul proposed under President Bill Clinton. Kelley came away worried. The "plan in   ... MORE

Andrew Taylor: Drunken Sailors Seek A Blank Check

Senate Dems back automatic debt limit hikes.      Democrats controlling the Senate proposed Tuesday to avoid future showdowns over the so-called debt ceiling by giving the president authority to authorize additional federal borrowing unless Congress can muster veto-proof margins to block him. The move by Sens. Charles Schumer,   ... MORE

VIDEO: ObamaScare: It's Coming

Thomas Sowell: Throw The Rascals Out?

Making it harder to be a tyrant.     Polls indicate that the public is so disgusted with Washington politicians of both parties that a surprisingly large proportion of the people would like to get rid of the whole lot of them. It is certainly understandable that the voters would like to "throw the rascals out." But there is no point in throwing the rascals    ... MORE

Fred Reed: Notes On The Wussification Of America

It is time to get women out of the schooling of boys.      It is way past time. Women in our feminized classrooms are consigning generations of our sons to years of misery and diminished futures. The evidence is everywhere. Few dare notice it. The feminization is real. More than seventy-five percent of teachers are women; in New York   ... MORE

Victor Davis Hanson: Beware Of Beautifully Misnamed Laws

Who opposes affordable care or farm security?      Washington has a bad habit of naming laws by what they are not. These euphemisms usually win temporary public support. After all, who wants to be against anything “affordable”? But on examination, such idealistically named legislation usually turns out to be aimed at special interests      ... MORE

Rails To Trails: A Train Wreck For Property Owners

by Kathryn Ciano.    Rails to Trails is a government program to convert abandoned railroad tracks to recreational trails. Sounds great, except that the tracks run over private property, and the private landowners haven’t been paid for this permanent land grab. A case before the Supreme Court this term, Brandt v. United States, demonstrates the program’s  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Foreign Aid

John Ransom: You Say You Want A Revolution

Liberty is about a lot of things; it’s a deep topic.      But at its core liberty can be summed up in one simple and reciprocal concept. That concept is respect. You know the 2010 election was about many things, but it was mostly about respect. It was about starting to restore the respect that people have in government, by getting the          ... MORE

Radley Balko: This Week In Innocence

Bad cop costs men 17 years in prison.      Two Washington state men will get $10.5 million after spending 17 years in prison for a rape they didn't commit. It's easy to dismiss these exoneration stories as the product of an imperfect system that sometimes makes mistakes. But read past the headline, and you'll see that they're often less the      ... MORE

VIDEO: What We Saw At The NSA "Stop Watching Us" Rally

Peter Schiff: A Green Light For Gold?

It is rare that investors are given a road map.         It is rarer still that the vast majority of those who get it are unable to understand the clear signs and directions it contains. When this happens the few who can actually read the map find themselves in an enviable position. Such is currently the case with gold and gold-related investments.      ... MORE

Daniel Raphael: End The War On Drugs

Just say no to liberty-trampling failure.      Many in Washington are against drug legalization, even though there is overwhelming evidence that prohibition does not work, and will never work. The Global Commission on Drug Policy reported that between 1998 and 2008, global use of opiates increased 34.5 percent, cocaine 27 percent,       ... MORE

Matt Sledge: High Court To Hear Asset Forfeiture Case

Will the Supremes uphold legalized theft?          A New York couple's case heads to the Supreme Court on Wednesday -- and the outcome could determine whether the government can prevent criminal defendants from selecting the lawyers of their choice by freezing their assets. The court is hearing oral arguments in the case of Kerri   ... MORE

FDA Seeks To Make Prescription Painkillers Harder To Get

Government steps up war on drugs.       A big change to legal drug policy is in the works. After years of pressure from public-health and addiction advocates, as well as the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Food and Drug Administration has recommended that access to drugs containing the highly-addictive opiod narcotic hydrocodone       ... MORE

ViDEO: Milton Friedman - Laissez-Faire Trade Policy

Taxi Wars: How Govt Tries to Kill Services Customers Want

by Nick Gillespie.        If you've ever tried Uber, the innovative car service available in about two dozen U.S. cities, or have been stuck waiting for a cab, watch the video. Rob Montz and William Beutler's short doc captures attempts by established interests and politicians in Washington, D.C. to crush a service that only added to         ... MORE

Victoria Jackson: "Thought Police" Ban All Words

The fundamentals of tyranny.        Seattle is considering banning the words “brown bag” and “citizen” because the words offend black people and illegals. Daniel Greenfield responds, “When Seattle one day gets around to banning all words, because language is inherently offensive to the illiterate, and everyone is reduced to communicating    ... MORE

VIDEO: Halloween Horror And ObamaCare

Why You Should Root For ObamaCare's Failure

by David Hansanyi.      In a news conference expected to feature a mea culpa for the Obamacare website fiasco, President Barack Obama turned the tables on his political opponents, scolding them for using their supernatural ability to transform the mere hope of failure into a reality. "It's time," he implored, "for folks to stop rooting for its failure,   ... MORE

Why Did The Cop Dressed As A Chicken Cross The Road?

To separate taxpayers from their money, of course.     When California police dressed one of their officers in a chicken suit they thought the sight would be enough to make drivers stop at crossings - but they were wrong. As a campaign to make Lake Elsinore crosswalks safer got underway on Thursday, 31 drivers were ticketed after failing  ... MORE