Kofi Annan: Stop The Global War On Drugs

Stop ignoring the evidence.     Each year, hundreds of thousands of people around the world die from preventable drug-related disease and violence. Millions of users are arrested and thrown in jail. Globally, communities are blighted by drug-related crime. Citizens see huge amounts of their taxes spent on harsh policies that are not   ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: End Runs Around The Constitution

A country of laws no more.       Two weeks ago we learned that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been spying on the chancellor of Germany and on the president of the United States. Last week we learned that it has spied on the Pope and on the conclave that elected him last March. This week we learned that it also has spied on         ... MORE

VIDEO: Walter E Williams: Black Families & Welfare State

How ObamaCare Rips Off The 'Young Healthies'

by Carl Schramm, WSJ.       When ObamaCare is under attack, its defenders retreat to several well-worn claims. Among them is a provision that compels insurance companies to allow parents to keep their "children" ages of 21 to 26 on their family policies. Yet this part of the Affordable Care Act was not engineered in response to any      ... MORE

Jury Nullification Signs In D.C. Spark Free Speech Debate

by Alex Hopkins.      A group of illuminated signs that have popped up near D.C. Superior Court touting the rights of jury members to “nullify” a law they disagree with has sparked a debate over whether the sign is an expression of free speech or an improper attempt to tamper with the legal system. The Montana-based Fully Informed Jury Association  ... MORE

VIDEO: The Heartbreak Of Silent Saturday


There's a new theory in child development--no cheering.

Jacob Sullum: Crack Canards And Meth Myths

Neuroscientist nukes popular misconceptions.           Growing familiarity with marijuana has been accompanied by growing support for legalization because people discovered through personal experience that the government was lying to them about the drug’s hazards. But it is easier to demonize less popular drugs such as crack cocaine and  ... MORE

AP: Obama Congratulates Pal On Election Win

Obama-light could represent GOP in 2016.       President Barack Obama has called Republican Gov. Chris Christie to congratulate him on his re-election in New Jersey. Christie won a second term on Tuesday, defeating Democrat Barbara Buono by more than 20 percentage points. Obama and Christie have developed an unusually close         ... MORE

J.D. Tuccille: U.S. Slipped In 4 Freedom Rankings This Year

Hope and change has been euphemism for less liberty.     It's not yet time to break out the phony passports or head for the secret compound in the mountains, but the United States is taking a bit of a drubbing this year when it comes to assessments of the country's freedom and, more specifically, the direction in which the government   ... MORE

The Tenth Amendment Is Not A Treaty Violation

by Jacob Sullum.           After Carol Anne Bond discovered that her husband had impregnated her best friend, the Pennsylvania microbiologist took revenge by spreading toxic chemicals on her ex-friend's car door, mailbox, and door knob. The poisonous prank was mostly ineffectual, inflicting nothing worse than a minor thumb burn. Bond's    ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Black Victimhood

Peter Morici: True Unemployment Now 13.6%

'High rate' becoming permanent.      The Labor Department on Friday is expected to report the economy added 120,000 jobs in October, below the 148,000 recorded in September and the trend for months prior. Unemployment should remain about 7.2 percent. The government shutdown and uncertainty about its precise impact on the data   ... MORE

Michael Barone: The Audacity Of Frack

In praise of creative destruction.          Capitalism, said economist Joseph Schumpeter seven decades ago, is a process of creative destruction. New inventions, new processes, new methods of organization lead to the creation of new profitable and efficient businesses and to the destruction of old ones unable to         ... MORE

VIDEO: Why Illegal Drugs Are Stronger Than Ever


The potency effect is explained.

John Stossel - Privatize Everything

More freedom please.        The market is fine for some things, people will say, but other activities are too important to be left to the market. Or too complicated. Or too fundamental to our democracy. I say: Privatize everything. To some of you, that will sound callous -- but failure to privatize services, keeping them in government hands instead,   ... MORE

Drug War Update: Routine Traffic Stop Results In 14-Hour Anal Cavity Search Including 3 Enemas And A Colonscopy

Cops claim to have acted within the law.        A New Mexico man stopped for rolling through a stop sign earlier this year was subjected to a nightmarish 14-hour anal cavity search after police became suspicious that he was hiding drugs. David Eckert says he was subjected to three enemas, two rectal searches, two x-rays and even a colonoscopy - all in   ... MORE

Big Brother's Stop-And-Snatch Asset Forfeiture Boom

by Bill Frezza.      Imagine you are a small town grocer whose business is not large enough for an armored car service, so you regularly deposit the day’s cash receipts in a local bank. You’re only insured for thefts up to $10,000, so you make sure to never have more on the premises. One day, without warning, the government swoops in and confiscates ... MORE

Steve Stockman: Treaties Don't Trump The Constitution

Will the High Court overrule the Constitution?           Can the President and Senate invest the federal government with new powers not enumerated in the U.S. Constitution simply by signing and ratifying a treaty?  Can the treaty power be used to override the Tenth Amendment and render it a dead letter?  Those issues will be argued before   ... MORE

VIDEO: Jay Sekulow - Who's Behind The IRS Scandal?

Thomas Sowell: An Old 'New' Program

Anything to expand government power.       Like so many things that seem new, ObamaCare is in many ways old wine in new bottles. For example, when confronted with the fact that millions of Americans stand to lose their existing medical insurance, as a result of ObamaCare, defenders of ObamaCare say that this is true only when those     ... MORE

Alyene Senger: ObamaCare's Impact On Doctors

More regulation, oversight and patients.     No class of American professionals will be more negatively impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), commonly referred to as Obamacare, than physicians. Third-party payment arrangements are already compromising the independence and integrity of the medical   ... MORE

VIDEO: eEconomics - Minimum Wage

Walter E Williams: Congressionally Duped Americans

The ponzi scheme entitlement.      Last week's column, "Is There a Way Out?", generated quite a few responses, some a bit angry. Some people were offended by my reference to Social Security and Medicare as entitlements or handouts. They said that they worked for 45 years and paid into Social Security and Medicare and how dare I refer to     ... MORE

ObamaCare's Failure Is Not Just A Technology Problem

by Doug Reich.       The rollout of Obamacare has been an unmitigated disaster. From a website that doesn’t work to skyrocketing premiums, Americans are finding out “what’s in it.” The administration and its lackeys have now begun characterizing the problems as due to nothing more than technical problems or so called “glitches” that will be  ... MORE

Jury Duty Gives Us Power To Decide The Law

by Jonathan Carp.       In Washington, D.C., Fully Informed Jury Association activist James Babb has placed informative billboards at Metro stations near the courts. These billboards tell passersby about jury nullification, the ancient right of jurors to judge both the facts and the law. The doctrine has a long and venerable history; the right of  ... MORE

The War On Pot Is Over! (If Obama Wants It)

by Nick Gillespie.     Years from now, 2013 isn’t going to remembered as the year when Obamacare went down faster than a Clinton-era White House intern, President Rand Paul made a name for himself by filibustering against drone strikes and secret kill lists, or Miley Cyrus twerked onstage as sexily as a Rhesus monkey with electrodes    ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Welfare State Incentives

Will Grigg: The Police As Privileged Peeping Toms

Cops force women naked to watch on surveillance.       The police department in Puyallup, Washington has a practice and custom of ordering female DUI suspects to undress completely in a room subject to video surveillance. This isn’t a security measure, since the women had already been patted down for weapons. And the procedure is    ... MORE

Teachers Union Fights Ban On Schools Hiring Sex Offenders

Convicted rapists? Come apply for work at the school.    The House of Representatives just passed a bill aimed at keeping convicted sex offenders and violent felons from working in schools. As it heads to the Senate with bipartisan support, the teachers unions are now objecting. Megyn Kelly asked on her show tonight, “What is the  ... MORE

VIDEO: Pastor Manning Shares His Thoughts On Obama


Pastor Manning risks arrest for passing federal secrets in this video.

Gary Jason: Young Frogs Hop To New Ponds

A recent story concerning the French youth is fascinating.   It reports that a poll conducted by the leftist newspaper Le Monde shows that the French are not happy with their socialist government.  Seventy percent now believe that taxes are too high, and 80% hold that President Hollande's economic policies are on the wrong track.  And 54%   ... MORE

D.C. To Decriminalize Pot With Legalization On Horizon

from  Fox News.          The nation’s capital is poised to decriminalize marijuana -- with some activists pushing for the city to legalize, tax and regulating the drug as Colorado and Washington state have recently done. The Democrat-controlled City Council appears ready to approve a bill that would decriminalize the possession of small amounts of pot,     ... MORE

Jim Yardley: What Truly Is Liberty?

Give some thought to what you are about to lose.       When was the last time you thought about, wrote about, or talked about the concept of liberty? That's not a question that needs to be answered by the talking heads, mainstream media, or political pundits, but the ordinary folk known to each of us. It might be your sister,       ... MORE

Advertising Jury Nullification Concerns Prosecutors

They fear good jurors may nullify bad laws.     The illuminated billboard in the Judiciary Square Metro station near the F Street entrance was strategically placed. Prospective jurors who take the subway to D.C. Superior Court and exit near the National Building Museum see these words: “Good jurors nullify bad laws” and “You have the right to  ... MORE

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - Roots Of The Welfare State

Economists Say Legalizing Pot Will Produce Health Benefits

by Jacob Sullum.        In their 2012 book Marijuana Legalization: What Everyone Needs to Know, Jonathan Caulkins and three other drug policy scholars identify the impact of repealing pot prohibition on alcohol consumption as the most important thing no one knows. Are cannabis and alcohol complements, so that drinking can be expected    ... MORE

The Humanitarian Shortcomings of the Affordable Care Act

by Sheldon Richman.      Web problems can be fixed. The problems inherent in the so-called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) are another story. Let’s stipulate that most people who favor the ACA have honorable intentions: they want everyone, including people in ill health, to have access to good and affordable medical care.     ... MORE

VIDEO: eEconomics: The Value Of Financial Regulation

Domestic Law Enforcement Paranoia And The Police State

by Bryana Johnson.           Judging by the way the Department of Homeland Security is spending your money, domestic unrest may be coming soon to a city near you. The DHS has been making purchases lately that seem to signal a federal fear of riots across the nation in the coming months. The obvious question is, what do they know that they  ... MORE

David Harasanyi: ObamaCare's Authoritarian Problem

Consumer choice trumps coercion every time.     You can't keep your insurance if you like it under Obamacare, because you're too ignorant to understand what's good for you. That's the argument we've been hearing from a lot of folks on the left -- an argument that pivots from "common good" to soft authoritarianism. President Barack Obama ... MORE