Look at Online Privacy Tools? NSA Labels You ‘Extremist’

by Joshua Kapstein.     The government is not us. Online privacy tools like Tor have become incredibly popular in the wake of Edward Snowden’s surveillance revelations. But according to an analysis of leaked source code from the National Security Agency, using or merely searching for information about those tools is enough to label someone    ... MORE

How Government Forces the Poor Into Black Markets

by Peter St. Onge.       From the left we often see tension between those who want to help the poor, and those who want to help the government. One recent example of this is the proposal to ban cash forwarded by Harvard’s Ken Rogoff. The gist of Rogoff’s beef with cash is that cash fuels the black market, and it makes it harder for the    ... MORE

VIDEO: Walter Williams - Government Requires Oppression

Sheldon Richman: A Slippery Slope in the Right Direction?

Or, did the blind squirrels in robes merely find a nut.       As far as it went, the Supreme Court generally got it right in the Hobby Lobby Obamacare contraception case. Unfortunately it didn't go nearly far enough. The court ruled that "closely held corporations" whose owners have religious convictions against certain kinds of contraceptives ... MORE

Real Impact of the NYC Soda Ban's Well-Deserved Defeat

by Baylen Linnekin.     The option-destroyers lose one. Last week, the New York State Court of Appeals—the state's highest court—dealt a final death blow to New York City's reviled soda ban. The decision, which upheld two lower court rulings, drew an important line in the sand across which New York City's activist health department may no longer  ... MORE

VIDEO: Cop Fishing In A Revenue Collection Trap


Is the issue public safety or simply separating citizens from their money?

The Shocking Way That Some Prisons Are Kept Full

by Brandon Weber.     Crony capitalism hits a new low. Let's see: Privatize prisons so companies make profits on them, create a financial penalty for the state or city they're located in if they don't keep them full, and bribe members of Congress to keep the system humming ... hmmm, can't possibly see how this could go wrong!       ... MORE

Jason Snead: Civil Forfeiture Criticized in Congress

Politician comes out against legalized theft.       The growing national chorus in favor of civil asset forfeiture reform gained new allies in the halls of Congress last week. Denouncing civil forfeiture as an “ugly development,” Representative Tim Walberg (R–MI) took to the floor of the House of Representatives to call for the practice to be     ... MORE