The manifestation of lawlessness and incompetence. In some respects, the recent admission by CIA Director John Brennan that his agents and his lawyers have been spying on the senators whose job it is to monitor the agency should come as no surprise. The agency's job is to steal and keep secrets, and implicit in those tasks, Brennan ... MORE
Country Moves Toward GOP On Every Significant Issue
New AP poll reveals verdict on hope and change. Although you wouldn’t know it from the lack of media coverage, or even the AP's own write-up of the poll (which gives new meaning to the phrase "buried lead"), a new Associated Press-GfK poll offers nothing but harrowing news for Democrats and the media who love them. Buried in the "pox ... MORE
Labels:
crisis,
foreign policy,
GOP,
government,
health care,
immigration,
media bias,
politics,
poll
Ex-Policeman Balks At "Indiscriminate Revenue Gathering"
Tells how to beat the rap on speeding tickets. My name is Stan. I am a retired Sergeant of the Police force for 14 years. I was also a police prosecutor at times, so I know what I am talking about. I spent half my life in Magistrates Court during my time in the Force. I was only ever a very fair copper, and I am proud of my time in the job, ... MORE
Labels:
fees,
fines,
government,
law enforcement,
police,
police state,
revenue,
speed traps,
ticketing
The Profit Motive Behind The NSA's Big Brother Spying
by Richard Byrne Reilly. The biggest scandal to ever roil the National Security Agency,
compliments of Edward Snowden, happened on his watch, but that hasn’t
stopped retired General Keith Alexander from demanding a seven-figure
technical consulting fee now that he’s a civilian. Alexander retired from the agency last year, and his ... MORE
Jonah Goldberg: Liberals Come Late To The Pot Party
40 years behind Friedman, Sowell and Buckley. With the usual fanfare and self-regard we have come to expect from the New York Times editorial board, the prestigious paper has changed its mind about pot. It now believes that the federal ban on the substance should be lifted and that the whole issue should be sent back to the ... MORE
Labels:
cannabis,
drug war,
government,
law,
liberalism,
marijuana,
policy,
politics,
pot,
prohibition
Meet A Town That's Had Enough Of Militarized Policing
by J.D. Tuccille. Barry Township, Michigan, with
a population of about 4,000, has four full-time
police officers, four part-time officers, two Humvees, two
armored personnel carriers (free, courtesy of the
Defense Department's 1033 program)—and, until recently, about
three dozen unpaid but armed and empowered reserve police officers ... MORE
Labels:
abuse,
brutality,
government,
law enforcement,
paramilitary,
police,
police state,
protection
A. Barton Hinkle: It's Time for Cops to Stop Shooting Dogs
Their dog good, your dog bad. The sheriff’s department in Prince Edward Co., Virginia, isn’t returning phone calls about Party. No great surprise. A deputy shot the dog in late June, killing it. The department issued a CYA press release, then dummied up—perhaps in the hope the whole thing would blow over. No wonder: According to a news ... MORE
2/3 Of US population Lives In “Constitution-free” Zone
by John Stokes. "Your papers, please." In 2003, the Seattle Times reported on random "spot checks" of cars and luggage that border patrol agents were performing on US citizens who were taking the ferry between Washington State and the San Juan islands. Because most of the passengers on these ferries had not actually crossed an ... MORE
Labels:
ACLU,
authority,
borders,
checkpoints,
government,
passport,
police state,
suspicion,
tyranny
John Stossel: Patrolmen Without Borders
America is no longer a free country. If I drive across a U.S. border, I expect to stop at a Border Patrol checkpoint. But imagine driving to the grocery store, or Mom's house, well inside America, and being stopped by the Border Patrol. Many Americans don't have to imagine it — it's how they live. Even as the federal government fails to control ... MORE
Jacob Sullum: Why Prosecutors Love Mandatory Minimums
Prosecutorial power hinders justice process. In 1996, when he was the U.S. attorney for the District of
Columbia, Eric Holder urged the D.C.
Council to reinstate mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent
drug offenses, which it had abolished in
1994. Two decades later, as an attorney general who has repeatedly
criticized "draconian" ... MORE
Fed Watchdogs Stonewalled By Obama Administration
The truth must not be their friend. Independent watchdogs from federal agencies decried on Tuesday what they said were Obama administration efforts to delay or stall their investigations. A letter to Congress from dozens of inspectors general cites specific instances in which watchdogs for the Justice Department, Environmental ... MORE
Jeffrey Folks: Regulating The Roads, And Everything Else
Devastating regulation. Aside from liberals in Washington and some at the New York Times, most economists agree that increased regulation strangles economic growth. Exactly how this works can be demonstrated by a simple experiment. In a group of 25 individuals, assign one the task of arranging the remaining 24 persons in order of height by ... MORE
All Of Us Are Criminals In The Eyes Of The Police State
by John W. Whitehead. Why are we seeing such an uptick in Americans being arrested for such absurd “violations” as letting their kids play at a park unsupervised, collecting rainwater and snow runoff on their own property, growing vegetables in their yard, and holding Bible studies in their living room? Consider what happened to Nicole Gainey, ... MORE
WASH TIMES EDITORIAL: The Tax Man's Politics
Taxpayers pay for lobbying to make the agency bigger. The Internal Revenue Service continues to keep Congress, or least the House half of it, busy with investigations into the harassment of the Tea Party and how email evidence of IRS abuse mysteriously disappears. The dogs are eating a lot of the homework at the IRS. The emails that can ... MORE
Let The Free Market Kill The Combustible Cigarette
by Michael R. Hufford & Gilbert Ross. Today approximately 14,000 people will die of tobacco-related diseases around the world. The same will happen tomorrow and day after that, leaving nearly 6 million dead in the coming year alone — more than 5 million from direct tobacco use. That does not include the lives lost from secondhand ... MORE
Labels:
choice,
e-cig,
free market,
health,
policy,
regulation,
self-interest,
smoking,
tobacco,
voluntary
Nanny-State Mindset Leads To Police Brutality
by Scott Rasmussen. Liberty is slowly being made illegal. In Florida recently, police pulled up to a young boy playing in the park and asked where his mother lived. According to a report on WPTV, the mom was then arrested for "allowing her son to go to the park alone." Her son had a cellphone, and she would check in with him along the way. ... MORE
Steve Chapman: The Courts Advance Concealed Guns
Concealed carry is the overwhelming norm. Gun-control advocates are learning the downside of getting their way. Recently, a federal judge struck down the District of Columbia's ban on the carrying of concealed handguns. Anti-gun forces have been losing in legislatures for a long time. Now they are finding that even where they win, ... MORE
NBC: Man Shot, Paralyzed Over Unpaid Parking Tickets
Police state 2014 update. A man was shot Thursday morning in Lehigh County when a Pennsylvania State Constable tried to serve him with a warrant over unpaid parking tickets. The constable told the district attorney he felt his life was in danger as he tried to serve 38-year-old Kevin McCullers. McCullers, who had 31 outstanding parking ... MORE
The SWAT Team Would Like to See Your Alcohol Permit
by Radley Balko. Using regulatory inspections to conduct warrantless searches. In August a team of heavily armed Orange County, Florida, sheriff’s deputies raided several black- and Hispanic-owned barbershops in the Orlando area. There were more raids in September and October. According to the Orlando Sentinel, barbers and customers were ... MORE
Labels:
brutality,
law enforcement,
police state,
raids,
regulation,
SWAT,
tactics,
warrantless search
Public Servants Acting As Public Masters
by Glenn Harlan Reynolds. "Nothing could be further from the truth. I mean, we wouldn't do that." That was CIA Director John Brennan's answer
in March when Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., charged the CIA with
breaking into computers used by Senate investigators looking into CIA
misconduct. It turns out that the CIA would do that — ... MORE
Labels:
bureaucracy,
CIA,
incentives,
investigation,
IRS,
legislation,
NSA,
Obama,
power,
Rand Paul,
tax
Thomas Sowell: Is Thinking Obsolete?
The evidence is mounting. Some have said that we are living in a post-industrial era, while others have said that we are living in a post-racial era. But growing evidence suggests that we are living in a post-thinking era. Many people in Europe and the Western Hemisphere are staging angry protests against Israel's military action in Gaza. ... MORE
Democrat Nanny Wants Every Teaspoon Of Sugar Taxed
by Eric Scheiner. A sweet deal for spending-crazed politicos. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) introduced this week the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Tax (SWEET Act), which aims to institute a tax of one cent per teaspoon – 4.2 grams - of sugar, high fructose corn syrup or caloric sweetener. The measure (HB 5279), introduced Wednesday says ... MORE
Labels:
busybody,
collectivism,
Democrats,
government,
liberalism,
nanny state,
politicians,
sugar,
tax
LV REVIEW-JOURNAL: End The Asset Forfeiture Racket
Theft shouldn't be legal. With so much of Washington preoccupied with increasing federal power at the expense of our rights — think IRS, NSA, DEA, and on and on — it’s cause for celebration when someone suggests decreasing government power to protect our rights. Now comes Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who seeks to end the racket known ... MORE
Walter E Williams: Western Anti-Semitism
Israel should be supported. Navi Pillay, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, has accused both Israel and Hamas militants of committing war crimes in the Gaza conflict. Her harshest criticism, as well as that of most nations, has been reserved for the Israeli government, charging that it has committed war crimes in direct violation ... MORE
Keep Them Down, Keep Them Dependent
How to prevent the young and poor from succeeding. Let’s face it. I’m not that young anymore. I’m also not poor anymore, and I live a comfortable middle-class American life. Most older, better off middle-classers like me got where we are through the dynamic market process. The trouble is, now that we’re doing pretty well, that same ... MORE
Labels:
demand,
dependency,
free market,
low-skill workers,
opportunity,
supply,
welfare state,
youth
Reihan Salam: It’s Time for Legalized Prostitution
There’s no way to end demand for sex work. So why are Sweden and Canada trying? Whom is it safe to hate? One of the reasons the cause of same-sex civil marriage has gained so much ground in recent years is that it is no longer socially acceptable to hold gay couples in contempt. Many if not most opponents of same-sex marriage ... MORE
Labels:
freedom,
government,
individual liberty,
law,
legalize,
prohibition,
prostitution,
sex workers
Tim Black: Yes, Freedom Of Speech Should Be Absolute
It shouldn’t be killed with qualifications. Imagine if the Founding Fathers had conceived of liberty and freedom in
contemporary terms, as problems to be managed, as sources of risk and
harm. Imagine if Thomas Jefferson had penned the Declaration of
Independence now, with the assertion that life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness ... MORE
Twelve States Sue EPA For "Overstepping Its Authority"
by Barb Berggoetz. The state of Indiana and 11 other states are suing the U.S. Environment Protection Agency over its recent carbon dioxide regulations, contending the agency is “overstepping its authority.” The lawsuit, filed today in U.S. Court of Appeals in the District of Columbia, charges that the EPA doesn’t have the legal ... MORE
Labels:
authority,
carbon tax,
energy,
environment,
EPA,
federalism,
government,
lawsuit,
regulation
Edward Snowden Is Trapped Without Legal Protection
from Amnesty International. The reports that Edward Snowden has been living in Russia with precarious “temporary leave to remain” rather than under any formal asylum protection is further evidence he must be allowed to travel to and seek asylum in the country of his choice, said Amnesty International today. Russia’s one-year permit for ... MORE
Labels:
asylum,
Edward Snowden,
NSA,
privacy,
rights,
snooping,
spying,
surveillance,
whistleblowers
IJ Announces New Site for Asset Forfeiture Reform
by Scott Shackford. The liberty-loving Institute for Justice (IJ) has put together a new one-stop shop for info explaining all the terrible problems with and government abuse of civil asset forfeiture laws for you to share with any friends or family who don't quite get it. And there's more to come. Check out the easy-to-remember ... MORE
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