Who had more freedom? Was it the pioneer who rode horseback across the Midwest, settled in a wide-open space without paved roads, grocery stores or hospitals, and had to build his own home, cultivate his own food and educate his own children? Or was it the less-adventuresome brother he left behind in an Eastern city who lived next door to ... MORE
When Political Correctness Trumps Human Lives
Thomas Sowell on a very dangerous game. New York City police authorities are investigating a series of unprovoked physical attacks in public places on people who are Jewish, in the form of what is called "the knockout game." The way the game is played, one of a number of young blacks decides to show that he can knock down some ... MORE
John Stossel: War On The Little Guy
Bureaucratic regulators and their penalty flags. Marty the Magician performed magic tricks for kids, including the traditional rabbit-out-of-a-hat. Then one day: "I was signing autographs and taking pictures with children and their parents," he told me. "Suddenly, a badge was thrown into the mix, and an inspector said, 'Let me see your ... MORE
Labels:
business,
competition,
government,
inspection,
licensing,
politics,
regulation,
restrictions
Andrew Napolitano: The Shutdown And The Rollout
Here is a quick pop quiz. Which presented more harm to human life and personal freedom: the four-week partial shutdown of the federal government last month or the rollout of Obamacare this month? Obamacare is the greatest single expansion of federal regulatory authority in American history. In one stroke, it puts 16 percent of ... MORE
Cops Force Texas Drivers Off The Road To Take Survey
Probable cause not required to get red lights. Texas drivers are being pulled over and offered cash in return for DNA blood samples. Police say the national survey is '100 per cent voluntary' but drivers claim they felt trapped and were 'forced off the road' to give samples. Officers in the $8million National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ... MORE
Labels:
authority,
coercion,
force,
government,
police,
police state,
probable cause,
warrantless search
Jacob Sullum: The Punishment Is The Crime
Thousands serve life sentence for nonviolent offenses. Nine years ago, Ronald Washington swiped two Michael Jordan jerseys from a Foot Locker in Shreveport, Louisiana. Although the shirts were on sale for $45 each, they were officially priced at $60, putting their combined value above $100. The difference between the discounted price and ... MORE
John W. Whitehead: Coming To A Police Dept Near You
Drones, tanks and grenade launchers. Why does a police department which hasn’t had an officer killed in the
line of duty in over 125 years in a town of less than 20,000 people need
tactical military vests like those used by soldiers in Afghanistan?
For that matter, why does a police department in a city of 35,000
people need a military- ... MORE
Labels:
coercion,
force,
government,
law enforcement,
military,
police,
police state,
tactics,
weapons
Ken Dilanian: New Documents Detail NSA Privacy Violations
Lawless agency intentionally misused powers. The National Security Agency acknowledged that it repeatedly violated its own privacy guidelines in a now-defunct program to collect "to and from" data in American email, according to newly released documents that paint a picture of incompetence but offer no evidence that the agency ... MORE
Labels:
deception,
dishonesty,
government,
NSA,
police state,
privacy,
snooping,
spying,
surveillance
2014: Another Chance To Legalize Pot In California
Where to sign the petition in California. Possessing up to an ounce of marijuana in California is an
“infraction” punishable by a $100 fine. In other words, state law
treats pot smoking as a transgression akin to jaywalking or fishing
without a license. Yet growing and selling marijuana are felonies
that can send you to prison for years. ... MORE
Labels:
election,
individual liberty,
initiative,
legalize,
marijuana,
petition,
politics,
pot,
prohibition
VIDEO: Why You Should NEVER Trust Your Government
"Love your country, but never trust your government" - Robert Novak
Walter E Williams: Do Americans Prefer Deception?
Advice on how to never go broke. There’s more to the deceit and dishonesty about Social Security and Medicare discussed in my recent columns. Congress tells us that one-half (6.2 percent) of the Social Security tax is paid by employees and that the other half is paid by employers, for a total of 12.4 percent. Similarly, we are told that ... MORE
Barry Farber: More Fun Than A 1-Horse Open Slay
Obama's meltdown is quite delightful. If the president’s troubles make you want to sing, at least get the lyrics right. It’s not “We Shall Overcome.” It’s “They Shall Overreach”! “Don’t count chickens before they hatch!” is too stilted and cliché. I prefer the earthier Southern version, “Don’t count ‘taters afore grabbin’ time.” ... MORE
Another Official Lie: The 2012 Fake Election Jobs Report
John Crudele on an election deception. In the home stretch of the 2012 presidential campaign, from August to September, the unemployment rate fell sharply — raising eyebrows from Wall Street to Washington. The decline — from 8.1 percent in August to 7.8 percent in September — might not have been all it seemed. The numbers, ... MORE
INVESTORS.COM: Suddenly, It's OK To Talk About Repeal
The repudiation of ObamaCare is underway. Not too long ago, Republicans pushing to kill ObamaCare were called extremists, obsessives and traitors. Now even liberals are discussing the possibility of repeal. We've reached an important turning point. Back in May, nobody batted an eye when Bill Maher blasted the GOP's efforts to repeal ... MORE
Labels:
central planning,
government,
mandates,
ObamaCare,
premiums,
regulation,
repeal,
restrictions
VIDEO: Changing Laws By Proclamation
The executive branch is not the legislative branch, unless it wants to be.
Labels:
Congress,
Constitution,
executive,
government,
insurance,
law,
legislation,
ObamaCare,
popularity
Thomas Sowell: The War Against Achievement
Replacing inspiration and motivation with entitlements. A friend recently sent me a link to an inspiring video about an upbeat young black man who was born without arms. It showed him going to work -- unlike the record number of people living on government payments for "disabilities" that are far less serious, if not fictitious. How is ... MORE
Labels:
achievement,
disability,
entitlements,
government,
incentives,
inspiration,
motivation,
value
Police Shoot Handcuffed 14-Year-Old In Face With Taser
by Meghan Keneally on state-sponsored child abuse. A distraught mother is calling for an investigation into the police officers who arrested her son, saying that they brutally beat him when he was resisting arrest. Marissa Sargeant has released a picture of her 14-year-old son that shows him with a bloody nose, gashes on his forehead ... MORE
Jerry Brito: Bitcoin - More Than Money
Changing the future of currency. On August 6, Judge Magistrate Amos Maazant of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas made many a headline when he became the first known United States government official to declare that Bitcoin-the non-government and non-bank currency, payments network, and anarchic digital ... MORE
Christopher Cantrill: The True Face Of Collectivism
And it is not pretty. Most politicians are crafty. They hide the mailed fist of political power in a velvet glove of caring and compassion, and they conjure up an appealing picture of competence to hide the reality of blundering ineptitude. But not Barack Obama. He believes his own propaganda; he's even said so. He thinks that politics is ... MORE
A Constitutional Strategy To Stop NSA Spying
by Michael Boldin. The National Security Agency looks at literally millions of phone records. It captures millions of e-mails. It sifts through millions of megabytes of private data. And it does this all without following the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. It can be stopped. How that can be done in a moment -- but first, a closer look at ... MORE
Another Insurance Mess Government Has Gotten Us Into
Kathleen Pender on the flood insurance snafu. A complex new federal insurance law is having so many unintended
consequences that some of its original sponsors and backers are now
trying to delay it. It's not the Affordable Care Act. It's the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012. Its goal was to put the National Flood ... MORE
Labels:
flooding,
government,
insurance,
legislation,
premiums,
programs,
real estate,
risk,
subsidies
Steve Chapman: Head Start And Other Federal Failures
Expensive measures that leave little trace behind. When the government shutdown began on Oct. 1, it forced the closing of Head Start facilities in several states, stopping educational services for thousands of low-income kids. So heart-rending was this spectacle that a pair of Texas philanthropists gave $10 million to keep the programs going. ... MORE
Drone Malfunctions, Hits Navy Ship, Injurs Two
Previews of coming attractions within the 50 states. An aerial target drone malfunctioned and crashed into a United States Navy ship off the coast of southern California on Saturday, leaving two sailors with minor burns, a Navy spokeswoman said. Two Navy ships were involved in tracking the unmanned drone as part of a training exercise ... MORE
Bizarre Search Illustrates The Extent Of Drug War Madness
Jacob Sullum on the activities of drug cops. How is it possible that a motorist pulled over for a rolling
stop could end up being forcibly subjected to two X-rays, two
digital probes of his anus, three enemas, and a colonoscopy, none
of which discovered the slightest trace of the drugs that police
claim to have thought he was hiding inside himself? ... MORE
Labels:
authority,
drug war,
government,
law enforcement,
police state,
snooping,
warrantless search
Emily Ekins: ObamaCare Derails President's Credibility
Obama now widely seen for who he is. The latest Fox News poll
finds 55 percent of Americans now disapprove of President
Obama’s general job performance and 61 percent specifically
disapprove of his health care handling, the highest numbers since
they first began asking these questions in 2009. Not even during
the IRS or AP ... MORE
FTC Would Prosecute HealthCare.gov If It Were Private
by Andrew Stiles. The FTC has rules about deceptive advertising. But they don’t apply to the government. Conservatives often argue that the federal government should function more like a private business. Obamacare supporters should be grateful it does not, because otherwise HealthCare.gov would almost certainly run afoul of the Federal ... MORE
Support For Jury Nullification On Display In D.C.
by Joe Wolverton, II, J.D. Drivers traveling around the Washington, D.C. Superior Court may have
noticed lit signs encouraging jury members to “nullify” laws they
disagree with. The Montana-based Fully Informed Jury Association is behind the
displays, which read: “Good jurors nullify bad laws” and “You have the
right to ‘hang’ the ... MORE
Labels:
court,
individual liberty,
juror,
jury nullification,
justice,
law,
overreach,
police,
trial,
tyranny
FAA Announces Impending Lauch Of Surveillance Drones
by Beverly Eakman. Surveillance monitors and bracelets; key cards; Smart Cards; Radio Frequency Identification tags, labels, and toll collectors; followed by the newest wave of subdermal implants (ostensibly to keep the kids and Grandma safe). Hidden GPS satellite tracking; concealed webcams; and long-distance audio-visual ... MORE
Local Cops Have NSA-like Spying Powers For Social Media
Little Brother is in your business too. Local law enforcement is getting the kind of technological boost that used to be limited to three-letter agencies, thanks to Web-based software services that mine social media for intelligence. At last month's International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) conference in Philadelphia, LexisNexis showed ... MORE
Labels:
government,
local,
monitor,
police,
police state,
snooping,
social media,
spying,
surveillance
Bob Barr: Obama's "Society Of Fear"
Living under the threat of government surveillance. In observational experiments, researchers constantly battle a phenomenon called the “Hawthorne effect,” where subjects of experiments alter their behavior when aware of being studied. For example, in 2011, researchers at Carnegie Mellon mailed postcards to customers of an electric ... MORE
If You Liked ObamaCare, You'll Love ClimateCare
by Ronald Bailey. As Barack Obama’s signature health insurance program implodes,
some observers are
speculating that regulatory action on climate change could
afford the beleaguered president a second chance at establishing an
enduring policy legacy. Unfortunately, Obama’s climate policies,
like his health care policies, highlight his ... MORE
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