Hollow Justice In Age Of Government-Sanctioned Tyranny

by John W. Whitehead.     “The Constitution is not neutral. It was designed to take the government off the backs of the people.”—Justice William O. Douglas   With every passing day, it becomes more apparent that we live in an age of hollow justice, with government courts, largely lacking in vision and scope, rendering narrow rulings focused on  ... MORE

From ListVerse: Top 25 Ayn Rand Quotes

Insights of a philosophic genius.     Ayn Rand, was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher. She is widely known for her best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism. She was an uncompromising advocate of rational individualism and laissez-faire capitalism,    ... MORE

VIDEO: Thomas DiLorenzo - The Real Abe Lincoln

Should NFL Players Be Allowed To Treat Pain With Pot?

Moralists clash with medicine. While Colorado is the first state to fully legalize marijuana, Denver Broncos players are banned from using the drug. However, as CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports, a former NFL player said the hits he took on the field made him, and others like him, turn to pot. "Pain is constant when you play       ... MORE

How Asset Forfeiture Allows Cops To Steal From Citizens

by A. Barton Hinkle.   It probably seemed like a bright idea at the time: Let the police seize the ill-gotten gains of alleged drug dealers and other suspected criminals and sell it, using the proceeds to buy much-needed crime-fighting gear. Unfortunately, the process—civil asset forfeiture—did not require convicting anybody of a crime.       ... MORE

VIDEO: Citizen Pulls Washington Cop Over, Gives Warning


A citizen schools a cop on the state law regarding unmarked police vehicles.

No Freedom: Inside The 'Darkest Place In The World'

by Deborah Weitzman.   A hell hole called North Korea. At 21 years old, a girl robbed of her youth, innocence and freedom has finally spoken out against her native North Korea - the 'unimaginable country' she was fortunate enough to have escaped from. In an emotionally charged speech, Yeonmi Park tells a harrowing tale about what life was   ... MORE

Ebola and the CDC's Dangerous Mission Drift

by Jacob Sullum.    Before Tom Frieden became director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2009, his two main nemeses were tuberculosis and smoking. Although both are commonly described as threats to "public health," they differ in ways that may help explain the CDC's stumbling, alarmingly amateurish response to Ebola in the   ... MORE

Doctors Go To Court To Fight Government's Marijuana Lies

by David Downs.      The U.S. government claims marijuana is a dangerous, addictive drug with no medical benefits. But that claim will be up for debate Monday in California when a federal judge is scheduled to hear testimony from doctors that conclude the opposite. Doctors Carl Hart, Associate Professor of Psychology at Columbia University   ... MORE

Justices To Rule On Warrantless Searches Of Hotel Records

Police demand arbitrary access to hotel records.  The Supreme Court agreed Monday to referee a dispute over police access to hotels' guest information without first getting a search warrant. The justices said they will hear an appeal by the city of Los Angeles of a lower court ruling that struck down an ordinance that requires hotel operators to   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - TSA Vs Private Airport Screeners

John Stossel - Federal Persecutors

A group of Washington overlords       — federal prosecutors — sometimes break rules and wreck people's lives. President Obama may soon appoint one of them to be America's next Attorney General. The prosecutorial bullying is detailed in a new book by Sidney Powell, "Licensed to Lie." She reports that the Department of Justice's  ... MORE

Minimum Wage Backfire: McDonald's Move To Automate

from the Wall Street Journal.       If there’s a silver lining for McDonald’s in Tuesday’s dreadful earnings report, it is that perhaps union activists will begin to understand that the fast-food chain cannot solve the problems of the Obama economy. The world’s largest restaurant company reported a 30% decline in quarterly profits on a 5%    ... MORE

VIDEO: A Rogue Prosecutor Makes The Drug War Personal


Sex, Spice and Small-Town Texas Justice.

Andrew Napolitano: Chilling Free Speech

What's going on here?   Earlier this week, the federal government's National Science Foundation, an entity created to encourage the study of science — encouragement that it achieves by awarding grants to scholars and universities — announced that it had awarded a grant to study what people say about themselves and others in social media. The    ... MORE

Federal Forfeiture Program: What Is It Funding?

by Nick Sibilla.    Cops are increasingly looking and acting more like soldiers. How are they paying for all this militarized equipment? One source of funding is particularly disconcerting for Americans’ constitutional rights: equitable sharing. Under this federal forfeiture program, local and state law enforcement can seize—and keep    ... MORE

Carl Sagan Wanted An Honest Drugs Debate 24 Years Ago

by Matt Ferner.     His questions remain spot on. Carl Sagan, a titan of scientific thought and communication, assumed many different roles in his life -- from science's "gatekeeper," to television star on the original "Cosmos," to marijuana user and advocate. Tom Angell, chairman of Marijuana Majority, recently posted a handful of Sagan's letters  ... MORE

UK Gun Owners Subject To Warrantless Home Searches

Previews of coming attractions?     Registered gun owners in the United Kingdom are now subject to unannounced visits to their homes under new guidance that allows police to inspect firearms storage without a warrant. The new policy from the British Home Office went into effect Oct. 15, permitting police and constabularies to conduct surprise ... MORE

VIDEO: Teachers' Unions Spend Big Bucks On Midterms

Marijuana Midterms: 3 states and DC Vote On Legalization

by German Lopez. On November 4, voters in several states could break down restrictions on a drug once known for Reefer Madness. In Alaska, Oregon, and Washington, DC, voters will decide if they want to usher in marijuana legalization. In Florida, voters will decide whether to amend their state constitution to allow medical marijuana. Here's a    ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Predatory Journalism

Exploiting the ignorant.  The New York Times is again on the warpath against what it calls "predatory lending." Just what is predatory lending? It is lending that charges a higher interest rate than people like those at the New York Times approve of. According to such thinking — or lack of thinking — the answer is to have the government set an interest  ... MORE

VIDEO: Shake It Off - Just Deny Reality!

How America Can Regain Its Economic Freedom

by A. Barton Hinkle.     If you’ve been wondering why the nation’s so-called economic recovery seems so weak, here’s one partial explanation: The United States has been moving in the wrong direction on measures of economic freedom. The Cato Institute, a Washington think tank, produces an annual report examining economic liberty around the globe.  ... MORE

The Hidden Privacy Threat of … Flashlight Apps?

by Robert McMillian. When I downloaded the Flashlight app to my iPhone, I was in a jam. I was camping, I think. Or maybe a pen had rolled under my couch. I remember that smug sense of self-congratulation after I downloaded the software, which converted the iPhone’s LED flash into a steady and bright beam of light. But I shouldn't have been so   ... MORE

The People Now Realize: America Is Out Of Control

by Wynton Hall.  A devastating new Politico poll reveals voters believe America has spun off its axis and is "out of control." "An overwhelming majority of voters in the most competitive 2014 elections say it feels as if events in the United States are 'out of control' and expressed mounting alarm about terrorism, anxiety about Ebola and harsh skepticism ... MORE

California Cops Become Mind Readers, Seize Your Guns

by Steven Greenhut.  Gun-control efforts often center on hardware, such as limiting or banning the ownership of particular firearms and ammunition. But in California this year, the most significant new gun-related law is less about the guns and more about identifying people who might be too dangerous to own them. A.B. 1014, which goes     ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Our Politically Correct Military

Walter E Williams: Embarrassing Economists

The first fundamental law of demand.      So as to give some perspective, I'm going to ask readers for their guesses about human behavior before explaining my embarrassment by some of my fellow economists. Suppose the prices of ladies jewelry rose by 100 percent. What would you predict would happen to sales? What about a    ... MORE

Son Of Draconian Drug Warrior Fails Drug Test

by Jesse Walker.    Vice President Joe Biden has been one of the most strident drug warriors of my lifetime. Mandatory minimum sentences, the crack/powder disparity, federal asset forfeiture, the RAVE Act—they all have Biden's fingerprints on them. The man may be responsible for the very phrase "drug czar." If the Drug War had its own Mount      ... MORE

VIDEO: 3 Reasons The US Military Should NOT Fight Ebola

Do People Really Hand Out Pot-Laced Halloween Candy?

by Jacob Sullum.     The urban legend continues. Last week the DPD posted a video in which Patrick Johnson, proprietor of Denver's Urban Dispensary, warns that "there's really no way to tell the difference between candy that's infused and candy that's not infused" once the products have been removed from their original packages.      ... MORE

Have Entitlements Become More Attractive Than Work?

A new food stamp pattern. The food stamp program (more formally, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) is intended to help low-income Americans with their food bills. Traditionally, the number of Americans receiving SNAP benefits rises during poor economic times and falls during good ones. But that is not what is       ... MORE

Is the NSA Grabbing All Americans' Phone Call Content?

by Thomas R. Eddiem.        The NSA and the National Director of Intelligence have consistently denied that they listen to the content of Americans' telephone calls, but the history of intelligence agency claims about the scope of its spying on Americans is one of lies and more lies. So the question must be asked: Are they lying again with respect  ... MORE

The High Cost Of Living In A Police State

by John W. Whitehead.     Who pays the price for the police shootings that leave unarmed citizens dead or injured, for the SWAT team raids that leave doors splintered, homes trashed, pets murdered, and family members traumatized and injured, if not dead? I’m not just talking about the price that must be paid in hard-earned dollars, whether    ... MORE

VIDEO: Economic Freedom And The Welfare State

John Stossel: Crumbling Constitution

Does the Constitution still matter?     When it was written, Ben Franklin said the Founders gave us a republic, "if you can keep it." Few people thought the republic would last another 227 years, but it has. The Constitution's limits on government power helped create the most free and prosperous country on earth. But now, some Americans,    ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Officially Killing Americans

Incentives of the drug bureaucrats.         The Food and Drug Administration can make two types of errors. It can approve a drug that has dangerous unanticipated side effects, or it can reject or delay approval of a drug that is safe and effective. Let's look at these errors, because to err on the side of under- or over-caution is costly.   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Oliver - Civil Forfeiture

Thomas Sowell: Local Or National Elections?

The stakes are high.     Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill once said, "All politics is local." That may have been true in Tip O'Neill's day, but some elections are decisively on national issues — and the Congressional elections this year are overwhelmingly national, just as the elections of 1860 were dominated by one national issue, namely slavery.     ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: The Government And Freedom

Don't trust your freedom to the government.      Earlier this week, FBI Director James Comey gave an interview to "60 Minutes" during which he revealed a flawed understanding of personal freedom. He rightly distinguished what FBI agents do in their investigations of federal crimes from what the NSA does in its intelligence gathering, when the    ... MORE