Borderlands: What’s Happening to America?

by Sheldon Richman. The place where rights vanish into thin air. A man, an American citizen, sits in his car as a U.S. Border Patrol agent insists that he roll down his window. He refuses. Agents use battering rams to smash the windows. Still, the driver refuses to leave his car, so he is hit with a Taser from two sides. He screams. It would be bad   ... MORE

Rand Paul Tries to Limit the State's License to Steal

by Jacob Sullum.           An effort to stop policing for profit. In 2003 a Nebraska state trooper stopped Emiliano Gonzolez for speeding on Interstate 80 and found $124,700 inside a cooler on the back seat of the rented Ford Taurus he was driving. Gonzolez said the money was intended to buy a refrigerated truck for a produce business, but the cops   ... MORE

VIDEO: The Invisible Hand In Politics

Brian Fung: Think The Supreme Court Protected Your Cellphone From Warrantless Searches? Think Again.

It was supposed to be a simple day trip to Niagara Falls. Little did he know the visit might land him in prison for the next 100 years. Ali Saboonchi was returning from the Canadian side of the falls with his wife in 2012 when he was detained by customs agents at the U.S. border. The agents eventually let the Maryland man go, but not  ...  MORE

Is The President Incompetent Or Lawless?

by Andrew Napolitano.       It has been well established under the Constitution and throughout our history that the president's job as the chief federal law enforcement officer permits him to put his ideological stamp on the nature of the work done by the executive branch. The courts have characterized this stamp as "discretion."        ... MORE

VIDEO: How Dirty Laws Trash The Environment

John Stossel: Healthy Profits?

More damage to the medical profession.    I'm the underachiever in my family. My parents also produced Harvard Medical School research director Thomas Stossel. Mom called him the one who had "a real job." For years, my brother annoyed me by not embracing the libertarianism that changed my life. It bored him. He was comfortable in his Harvard  ... MORE

The War On Poverty And The War On Drugs

by Randall Holcombe.     Fighting the big government fight. As an apparently war-minded people, Americans (or at least, our American political leaders) have been comfortable framing parts of the domestic policy agenda as wars for decades. Two of the most prominent have been the War on Poverty and the War on Drugs. Despite the      ... MORE

The IRS Scandal And The Politicization Of Justice

by Hans von Spakovsky and John Fund.       If you want a good illustration of how Attorney General Eric Holder has politicized the Justice Department and its prosecutorial decision-making, all you have to do is look at what Justice has not done in just one part of the IRS scandal. Despite its agreement to settle a lawsuit filed by the National    ... MORE

Frank Pariato: Jury Nullification Set Wild Bill Hickok Free

Although he killed a man illegally. On July 20 1865, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was playing in a poker game at the Lyon House Hotel in Springfield MO., when a friend of his, Davis Tutt showed up claiming Hickok owed him $45 from an earlier game. Hickok said he only owed $25 since he had paid Tutt $20 some days before. Tutt snatched   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Did They Really Say That?

Brenda Craig: Before You Blow The Whistle - Read This

A very risky business.      Washington, DC: Computer systems analyst and former National Security Agency contractor, Edward Snowden, unleashed an unprecedented volume of government secrets and became the world’s best-known whistleblower. Some of the details of American security operations are simply embarrassing. In other cases, the   ... MORE

Peter Morici: The Real Unemployment Rate Is At Least 18%

Dismal future for low-skill workers. Friday, the Labor Department is expected to report the economy added 235,000 jobs in July, and the unemployment rate remained steady at 6.1 percent, but that hardly tells the story. The jobless rate may be down from its recession peak of 10 percent, but much of this results from adults, discouraged by    ... MORE

VIDEO: Davy Crockett - Not Yours To Give

‘Udall Amendment’ An Assault On Free Speech

from Statesman Journal.   The effort to amend the U.S. Constitution to allow Congress and the states to regulate campaign finance isn’t simply misguided. It’s dishonest, and, even were it successful, it would be ineffective, as well. Senate Democrats are forging ahead with a plan to bring a joint resolution to the floor that would add a 28th     ... MORE

Time To Reform Draconian Marijuana Laws

by Jerome McCollom.      It's a war on us. The war on marijuana has been an attack on our constitutional rights and civil liberties for decades, since the government started lying to us about it. No enemy could hope to violate our rights as much as it has done. For example, in Temecula, Calif., an undercover officer at a high school befriended an     ...  MORE

Rand Paul Introduces Bill To Reform Civil Asset Forfeiture

by Radley Balko.       This is a pretty big deal, especially if Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) can round up enough co-sponsors to build some momentum. Sen. Rand Paul yesterday introduced S. 2644, the FAIR (Fifth Amendment Integrity Restoration) Act, which would protect the rights of citizens and restore the Fifth Amendment’s role in seizing property       ... MORE

NSA Spying Threatens Press Freedom and Right to Counsel

by Dan Froomkin.     Top journalists and lawyers agree. To do their jobs properly, journalists and lawyers sometimes need to be able to keep information private from the government. And because what journalists and lawyers do is so integral to safeguarding democracy and basic rights, the United States has traditionally recognized their need for   ... MORE

VIDEO: RetroReport, The End Of The Story

Thomas Sowell: Cease The Cease-Fire

Just get the job done.    Many years ago, on my first trip around the world, I was struck by how the children in the Middle East -- Arab and Israeli alike -- were among the nicest looking little children I had seen anywhere. It was painful to think that they were going to grow up killing each other. But that is exactly what happened. It is         ... MORE

Katie Kieffer: A Bullet A Day Keeps The Doctor Alive

You and I avoid visiting the doctor by eating well.     Doctors like Lee Silverman carry concealed in order to care for us when we do need them. Doctors and medical professionals should be allowed to carry concealed. Last week, a psychiatrist named Dr. Lee Silverman technically broke the letter of the law by carrying concealed at work.     ... MORE

VIDEO: Drug Warriors In New Mexico Go Too Far


Your public servants at work.

Walter E Williams: Please Stop Helping Us

Misplaced loyalty.     While reading the first chapter of Jason Riley’s new book, “Please Stop Helping Us,” I thought about Will Rogers’ Prohibition-era observation that “Oklahomans vote dry as long as they can stagger to the polls.” Demonstrative of similar dedication, one member of Congress told Vanderbilt University political scientist Carol Swain  ... MORE

Secret Government Rulebook For Labeling You a Terrorist

by Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Devereaux.    The Obama administration has quietly approved a substantial expansion of the terrorist watchlist system, authorizing a secret process that requires neither “concrete facts” nor “irrefutable evidence” to designate an American or foreigner as a terrorist, according to a key government document obtained  ... MORE

DC’s Gun Restrictions Takes One Between The Eyes

by Ross Kaminsky. Concealed weapons legal in DC until further notice. The ruling of Washington, DC district court judge Fredrick Scullin in the most important current challenge to that city's unconstitutional restrictions on Second Amendment rights takes judicial action against intentionally law-breaking jurisdictions to a most welcome new  ... MORE

David Bauder: NSA Surveillance Is Hampering Journalists

A chilling effect on truth-seeking.    Revelations over the past few years about how U.S. security officials have the ability to track people through phone, email and other electronic records are making it harder for journalists to report on what the government is doing, two human rights groups say. Human Rights Watch and the American Civil   ... MORE

VIDEO: ObamaCare Deception - Subsides

Frank Parlato: Jurors Have A Right to Judge the Law

Learn an important principle of freedom.        It has long been assumed that juries judge the facts and the courts judge the law. But Georgia v. Brailsford (1794) is the precedent that explains why that is a hasty assumption. It sets a precedent that the jury can also judge, and if it wishes, veto any law. Take a moment to understand what      ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Where Pot Might Be Legal Soon

Alaska, Oregon, and the nation's capital.    Last week a marijuana legalization initiative officially qualified for the ballot in Oregon. Voters will also consider legalization measures in Alaska and (probably) the District of Columbia this fall, so by the end of the year three more jurisdictions could join Colorado and Washington in allowing     ... MORE

VIDEO: Rand Paul Explains How Republicans Can Win

Peter Van Buren: Drone-Killing The Fifth Amendment

Murder is murder.       You can't get more serious about protecting the people from their government than the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution, specifically in its most critical clause: "No person shall be... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." In 2011, the White House ordered the drone-killing of American citizen   ... MORE

Paul Hsieh: Gun Violence Is Not A 'Public Health' Issue

Which of these things is not like the other?        1 Measles, 2 influenza, 3 tuberculosis, 4 murder. If you picked #4, “murder,” you’re right. The first three are medical diseases. In contrast “murder” is not a medical problem, although it is a tragic cause of death. But in recent years, anti-gun organizations (and some physicians) are seeking   ... MORE

David Firestone: Let States Decide On Marijuana

from NY Times editorial series.       In 1970, at the height of his white-hot war on crime, President Richard Nixon demanded that Congress pass the Controlled Substances Act to crack down on drug abuse. During the debate, Senator Thomas Dodd of Connecticut held up a package wrapped in light-green paper that he said contained $3,000    .... MORE

Your Drug Warriors At Work: Florida SWAT Team Shoots Teen Girl & Kills Dog During Pot Raid On The Wrong House

from InformationLiberation:     Orange County, Florida sheriff's deputies waging an armed raid for a suspected pot dealer entered a family's home guns blazing and shot a teen girl and her dog, only to find out the suspect they were looking for hadn't lived in the home for weeks -- despite their claim to have "surveilled" the home extensively   ... MORE

VIDEO: Connor Boyack - Teaching Liberty To Kids

L. Brent Bozell: Here Come the Indian Mascot Killers

Scalping free speech.    Anyone who thinks the cultural left is going to stop its political correctness with the Washington Redskins isn't reading USA Today. On the top of their Sports front page on July 22, the paper reported on activists taking a stand against "redface," championing a group called Eradicating Offensive Indian Mascotry. The thought   ... MORE

Pot's Popularity Creating Trying Times For US Prosecutor

by Joe Mozingo.       A lesson on jury nullification. Julie Shemitz watched warily as the judge asked prospective jurors whether they or anyone close to them had a card for medical marijuana. Ten hands lifted, a third of the jury pool. "Look at all those hands," the judge said. An assistant U.S. attorney, Shemitz knew that this would be a    ... MORE

VIDEO: Why Capitalism Is Better Than Socialism

WASH TIMES: Stopping Police Asset-Forfeiture Predators

Only the cops are against reform.        When the public is more afraid of the cops than the bad guys, the system is broken. There’s reason for some law-abiding Americans to worry about their pocketbook becoming lighter after a visit from the lawman. Bonnie and Clyde never pretended to be anything but robbers. A 64-year-old Texas      ... MORE

The Typical Household, Now Worth a Third Less

by Anna Bernasek.      Economic inequality in the United States has been receiving a lot of attention. But it’s not merely an issue of the rich getting richer. The typical American household has been getting poorer, too. The inflation-adjusted net worth for the typical household was $87,992 in 2003. Ten years later, it was only $56,335, or a 36 %    ... MORE