Supreme Court Decision Signals "Post-Constitution Era"

A chilling effect on investigative reporting.         Pulitzer prize winning reporter Chris Hedges – along with journalist Naomi Wolf, Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg, activist Tangerine Bolen and others – sued the government to join the NDAA’s allowance of the indefinite detention of Americans. The trial judge in the      ... MORE

Employers Prepare To Dump Workers Into ObamaCare

by Ed Morrissey.     Who didn’t see this coming? According to Kaiser Health News, employers are increasingly looking at the benefits of getting out of the health-insurance delivery process. Fueling this interest are ObamaCare-related spikes in health-insurance premiums, plus the opportunity to fix costs and reduce vulnerabilities presented    ... MORE

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - No Possible Employer

New Hampshire's High Court Allows 'COPSLIE' Vanity Plate

by Jeremy Blackman.       A rare victory for free speech. The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday that the state violated an activist’s free speech rights by denying him “COPSLIE” vanity plates.Aligning itself with the petitioner, Seacoast area resident David Montenegro, who goes by the name “human,” the court said a   ...  MORE

William Sullivan: Tilting At Climate Windmills

Another round of hope and change, anyone?        The sheer egotism in big government mouthpieces claiming that they can rescue mankind from all the natural threats which afflict us should be laughable.  And make no mistake -- for many of us, it is. For my money, the humor in such egotism doesn’t get any more obvious than then-governor  ... MORE

VIDEO: Think For Yourself! Understanding Risk


What does a 30 percent chance of rain really mean?

Andrew Napolitano: Finding The Truth At Benghazi

Only the deception is transparent.     When the White House, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by the fearless private watchdog group Judicial Watch, turned over an email about constructing the appropriate narrative response to the tragedy at Benghazi written by Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security    ... MORE

Ten Pot Studies Government Wished It Hadn't Funded

Inconvenient truths for prohibitionists. Number 10. Marijuana use has no effect on mortality: A massive study of California HMO members funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found marijuana use caused no significant increase in mortality. Tobacco use was associated with increased risk of death.          ... MORE

America: Where It's Dangerous To Think

by Barry Farber. The lynch mob blasted through town amid the cheers and unconditional surrender of all the inhabitants; at least almost all. In their triumphal rage they trashed traditions that had made America famous and successfully replaced those traditions with something awful for America. If Thomas Jefferson were alive, he’d drop dead!    ... MORE

Peter Suderman: The Ethanol Disaster

Bad for consumers, the environment, and the poor.      Last November, when the Environment Protection Agency (EPA) proposed moderating years of escalating mandates by reducing the amount of ethanol that must be mixed into gasoline, a top ethanol lobbyist seemed perplexed. "We're all just sort of scratching our heads here     ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Government's Moral Agenda

John Stossel: Offensive Speech

We need more speech, not less.   Last week, when the NBA banned racist team owner Donald Sterling, some said: "What about free speech? Can't a guy say what he thinks anymore?" The answer: yes, you can. But the free market may punish you. In America today, the market punishes racists aggressively. This punishment is not "censorship."        ... MORE

FDA And Big Tobacco Join Forces To Choke Out E-Cigs

Anti-smoking device in the crosshairs.      Depending on what happens next, the electronic tobaccoless smokes will either rot in the land of once-hyped forgotten gadgets, or would-be smokers will instead spend late nights puffing away in a hip sweet-smelling vape lounge with a beer in one hand and a pimped-out mod in the other.        ... MORE

VIDEO: 10 Dumbest Quotes About Video Games


The option-destoyers are relentless. Actual quotations from high-profile idiots!

Michael J. Hurd: Why Marijuana Should Be Legalized

Government and the people; who serves who?      The most common reason I hear people give for supporting Obama and his party is that he’s not the Republican Party. In other words, “Republicans won’t permit gay marriage, legalization of marijuana or abortion. How can you support them?” I actually don’t support Republicans (other than   ... MORE

One In Five Women Is Sexually Assaulted In College?

by Samantha Harris.       The White House's questionable data. In January, the White House announced the creation of a White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault. On April 29, that task force came out with its first report, Not Alone, which is intended to “help schools live up to their obligation to protect students from    ... MORE

Man's Las Vegas Casino Winnings Legally Stolen By Cops

Incentives of the drug war.     After a successful run at the casinos in Las Vegas, a man carrying a large sum of cash fell victim to a thieving police officer on his way back to California.  Without charging him with a crime or even giving him a speeding ticket, the cop seized 50,000 and let him go.  This practice of highway robbery is perfectly legal.     ... MORE

Donald Sterling And What We're Learning About Privacy

by Mitch Albom.     Now that Donald Sterling has been banned, fined and condemned — the proper, if ugly, conclusion, in my mind — we should discuss how it happened. Most of us don't need to worry about angry mistresses, Department of Justice investigations, discrimination lawsuits and a history of bigoted comments. But all of us need to worry  ... MORE

VIDEO: Fox News - Criminalizing Words And Thoughts

Thomas Sowell: Moral Bankruptcy

As if monetary poverty is not enough!     If you want to get some idea of the moral bankruptcy of our educational system, read an article in the May 4th issue of the New York Times Magazine titled, "The Tale of Two Schools."The article is not about moral bankruptcy. But it is itself an example of the moral bankruptcy behind the many failures     ... MORE

London Economists Slam The War On Drugs

New report details futility of drug war.      In an 81-page report released Monday evening, the best and brightest minds in the economic drug policy world send the United Nations a loaded message about the drug war: Enough. The individual analyses of the economists and drug policy experts, signed by five Nobel Prize winners in economics, ... MORE

VIDEO: Rusty Humphries: The Day Free Expression Died

In California, Political Correctness Trumps Free Expression

Confederate flag no longer legal to sell in state.        California state government departments will be prohibited from selling or displaying items with an image of the Confederate flag under a bill that passed the Assembly on Monday. AB2444 by Assemblyman Isadore Hall, D-Compton, is headed to the Senate after passing on a 72-1 vote.  ... MORE

Dustin Volz: House To Advance Bill To Curb NSA Spying

Public knowledge of it anyway.     A bill that would effectively end one of the National Security Agency's most controversial spy programs is finally getting its day in congressional court. The House Judiciary Committee will hold a markup of an amended version of the USA Freedom Act on Wednesday, a surprising and sudden move that would   ... MORE

How the Drug War Threatens Everyone's Privacy Rights

by S.M. Oliva.     The idea that all persons have a right to privacy and freedom from arbitrary government searches exists not only in the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution but in the constitutional documents of many nations. Unfortunately, many nations also share the U.S. government's belief that the peaceful sale and consumption of   ... MORE

Scott Johnson: The Courts Will Not Save Us

Just another branch of the federal government.     George Will seems to me the preeminent political columnist of our era, with the possible exception of Charles Krauthammer. Will and Krauthammer are in a league of their own. Both are conservatives, of course, and you have to wonder who the liberals can put up against them. Tom      ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - The Flat Tax

Walter E Williams: Coming End To Racial Preferences

An idea whose time has gone.     Last week's U.S. Supreme Court 6-2 ruling in Schuette v. Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action et al. upheld Michigan's constitutional amendment that bans racial preferences in admission to its public universities. Justice Sonia Sotomayor lashed out at her colleagues in a bitter dissent, calling them "out of touch     ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: The 'Tobacco Products' That Aren't

FDA's slow-motion ban of e-cigs.      The option-reducers never rest. The first time the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) moved to regulate electronic cigarettes, it tried to ban them. Last month it took a different approach that may ultimately have a similar effect. Much will depend on whether the FDA irrationally decides to treat e-cigs    ... MORE

VIDEO: Jobs Mysteriously Vanish As Min Wage Increases


Peter Schiff on our politicians' latest job-killing proclamations.

The American Government Treats All Of Us As Suspects

Everyone is a target says whistleblower Edward Snowden. The US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has warned that entire populations, rather than just individuals, now live under constant surveillance. “It's no longer based on the traditional practice of targeted taps based on some individual suspicion of wrongdoing,” he said. ... MORE

California Rep Wants State Minimum Wage To Be $26 Hour

The inmates are running the asylum.       Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said that she supports raising minimum wage in the state of California to $26 an hour, adding that she doesn’t think such a hike would hurt small business owners. Speaking on CNN’s “Crossfire,” the California Democrat disagreed with Republican congressmen looking to    ... MORE

Warrantless Vehicle Searches Approved In Pennsylvania

by Brett Hambright.               Police powers wildly expanded; 4th Amendment waylaid. Pennsylvania police officers no longer need a warrant to search a citizen’s vehicle, according to a recent state Supreme Court opinion. The high court’s opinion, released Tuesday, is being called a drastic change in citizens’ rights and police powers.       ... MORE

Bob Egelko: Bad News For Targets Of Federal 'Stings'

Federal judges legalize entrapment.     Police powers expanded at the citizen's expense. A prominent liberal judge, joined by a conservative colleague, had some harsh words Friday about far-reaching government sting operations and the courts that approve them. It can’t have been good news for the defense in another undercover case, the      ... MORE

VIDEO: Luis Fortuno: Serving Taxpayers, Not Politicians

Unemployment Down As Americans Drop From Labor Force

by Ed Krayewski.        The headlines say the news is good. Official unemployment in the U.S. dropped from 6.7 to 6.3 percent, the lowest rate in five years, as 288,000 nonfarm jobs were added, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The steep drop in the unemployment rate, however, was a function of more than 800,000          ... MORE

Tibor Machan: Laws Versus Regulation

Do politicians really know best?      Many moons ago I directed a conference on government regulation, out of which the book edited by me and the late M. Bruce Johnson, Rights and Regulation (Ballinger, 1983) was created.  In this book some of those who supported government regulation–and most mainstream contributors did so–maintained   ... MORE

VIDEO: Thank You For Vaping - Libertarians Vs. E-Cig Ban


New York nannies look to snatch more freedom.

Eileen Shim: Taking Police Brutality To A New Level

What 3 NYPD officers did last week.     It hasn't been a good PR week for the nation's finest. First, the sheriff's deputy from Knoxville, Tennessee, choked an unresisting college student until he passed out. And then the disturbing video of Buffalo cops beating up a suspect who was lying on the ground in handcuffs came out. But if any police ... MORE

Medical Marijuana's Dramatic Effect On Pain Relief

by Jan Hefler.    What the Surgeon General does not want you to know. Before buying cannabis at South Jersey's only medical-marijuana dispensary, patients must circle one of six animated faces that stare out from a clipboard. The row of smiling, wincing, frowning, and sobbing cartoon faces is being used to rank the degree of pain that   ... MORE