Body Cameras For Police Officers And Ordinary Citizens

by Steve Mann and Brian D. Wassom.      In the wake of the fatal encounters between police and citizens in Ferguson, New York and Cleveland, President Obama recently announced millions of dollars in funding to equip police officers with body-worn video cameras. The concept is not new; scores of police departments across the     ... MORE

Cuban Communism: Its Days Are Numbered

by Barry Farber.  It was already doomed. Over 99 percent of 3-year-olds believe the glass screen on a television set is to keep the people from falling out. And that’s smarter than what their parents are saying to each other and hearing from the media about Cuba, Obama the Castro brothers and this over-hyped, totally misunderstood, non-    ... MORE

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - The Road To A Collectivist State

Let Your Kids Play Outside And We Will Take Them Away

by Lenore Skenazy. CPS's threat to a dad.     I received an update from the Maryland mom of two who was contacted by Montgomery Country Child Welfare Service in November after she let her kids, ages 6 and 10, play at the park two blocks from home by themselves. She was cited for allowing a child under age 8 "to be locked or confined  ... MORE

We Should Know How Many People Die In Police Custody

by the Washington Post editorial board. The leaders of a protest movement against excessive police force are weighing their next steps, The Post’s Wesley Lowery reported this week. The assessment follows both greater success than anticipated in triggering rallies across the nation and some backlash that blamed the protests       ... MORE

VIDEO: Gov't Moves To Ban Body Armor For Citizens

IRS Probe Will Carry Into 2015 With Unresolved Questions

by Stephen Dinan.  Internal Revenue Service employees charged with scrutinizing tea party groups’ nonprofit status applications showed a marked antipathy to the organizations, with one examiner calling a group “icky” and others saying they were searching for ways to deny the requests, according to a congressional oversight report Tuesday. ... MORE

Chris Cassidy: The High Cost Of Drug War Mistakes

Wrongful death suit results from botched SWAT raid.      A federal wrongful death suit against a Framingham police officer who accidentally shot to death an unarmed elderly man during a SWAT raid in 2011 was allowed to continue by a judge yesterday. U.S. District Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV ruled that the constitutional rights of Eurie     ... MORE

The Christmas Hope: A To-Do List for a Better World

by John W. Whitehead.     As a child, my Christmas wish list came right out of the Sears and Roebuck catalogue—toys, board games, bikes, action figures, etc. My parents, like so many in their day, belonged to the working-class poor, so while I never lacked for the necessities of life, many of the items on my wish list never came to be. Even so,    ... MORE

Daniel Kish: Santa Comes Early Bearing Gift of $2 Gas

Are oil companies less greedy or what?  For most Americans, the annual Christmas journey to grandma’s house will be less expensive this year. Gas prices are at their lowest levels in five years, thanks largely to booming domestic oil production on state and private lands. That surge promises to put more money in our pockets—and perhaps more  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Operation Choke Point

Yes, Of Course We Should Lift The Cuban Embargo

by Scott Lincicome.  President Obama’s announcement last week that his administration will seek to normalize relations with Cuba elicited strong opposition from many freedom-loving conservatives. Several aspects of the deal—the prisoner swaps, the president’s unilateralism and rhetoric, the timing, and so on—probably warrant scrutiny and,   ... MORE

Robert W. Wood: Who Shares In Marijuana Taxes?

Will gov't tax drive pot back to the black market?   Taxes on marijuana are big, and it’s easy to see why. A discussion about legalizing marijuana often segues into one about tax revenues. Marijuana for medical use is legal in 23 states and the District of Columbia. Recreational marijuana is legal in DC and in four states, Colorado,      ... MORE

VIDEO: Copyright - Intellectual Property Or Privilege?

Rick Moran: In The Past Four Years, More Than 500 Vets Have Died In VA Hospitals Because Of Mistakes Or Delays

A hollow commitment to our nation's warriors. Veterans Affairs records obtained by the Washington Free Beacon reveal the startling fact that more than 500 vets have died in VA hospitals due to mistakes since 2010. Delayed treatment for cancer patients due to a failure to diagnose the disease and a failure to screen properly for suicide are      ... MORE

Ebola, Smoking, and Mission Creep at the CDC

 by Jacob Sullum.     Before Tom Frieden became director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in 2009, his two 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 stumbles in dealing with Ebola. Tuberculosis,  ... MORE

'Twas the Night Raid Before Christmas

by Justin Monticello, Paul Detrick & Alex Manning.  For police departments, Christmas is a time of taking. In the midst of buying your own gifts for family and friends this holiday season, remember that the cops can just as easily seize your property, your rights and even your shark fins.  Enjoy this Christmas classic: 'Twas the Night Raid    ... MORE

Feds Decide Better To Live In Pain Than Risk Drug Abuse

The rescheduling of hydrocodone.  Imagine being wheeled into an operating room for an eye lift. As the anesthesia begins to flow into your vein, you see that instead of small precision scalpels on the instrument tray next to you,  your surgeon will be using a hatchet and an ax. Panic swells as you slide defenselessly out of consciousness…      ... MORE

VIDEO: Andrew Napolitano - Free Speech And Government

Rand Paul Knocks Out Marco Rubio Like Ali Over Foreman

by Bruce Fein.   Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, has delivered a knock out punch against Sen. Marco Rubio to normalization of relations with Cuba to benefit the United States. The punch was as decisive as Muhammad Ali’s knock out of George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle 40 years ago. Mr. Rubio’s presidential ambitions are    ... MORE

Why Does Police Paranoia Trump The First Amendment?

Fearful cops attempt to criminalize Facebook post. A Chicopee man is facing charges after posting “Put Wings on Pigs” to Facebook, police say. Chicopee police said Monday that local residents alerted them to the “very disturbing post” by  27-year-old Charles DiRosa. On Saturday, two New York police officers were killed by a gunman while     ... MORE

VIDEO: Watch The Worst Anti-Gun PSA Of All Time


Don't scare your children about guns.

Thomas Sowell: Who's Responsible?

Playing fast and loose with the race card.     The cold-blooded murder of two New York City policemen as they sat in their car is not only an outrage but also a wake-up call. It shows, in the most painful way, the high cost of having demagogues, politicians, mobs and the media constantly taking cheap shots at the police. Those cheap shots   ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: Are E-Cigarettes Displacing the Real Thing?

Technology's healthier choice.  Survey results released last week indicate that use of electronic cigarettes by American teenagers continues to rise, even as their use of conventional cigarettes continues to fall. You might think these diverging trends would give pause to critics who worry that e-cigarettes are "reglamorizing" the old-      ... MORE

Owner Of Pot Dispensaries Gets 21 Years In Prison

by Joe Mozingo.    Why you should know about JURY NULLIFICATION. Noah Kleinman faced his moment of reckoning: Should he tell a federal judge his marijuana dispensaries were just a front to distribute bulk marijuana and make hundreds of thousands of dollars? Or stick to his claim of innocence? Kleinman, a 39-year-old salesman from Studio   ... MORE

Our Fear Of Opioids Leaves The World In Pain

by Helen Redmond.   Healthcare now dictated by DEA. Ever broken a bone? Recovered from a major surgery? Do you live with chronic pain? If so, you understand on a visceral level that access to opioids like morphine to manage pain is critical. Opioids are necessary to perform surgery, make recovery from traumatic injuries possible, and can grant      ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Healthcare Control Freaks

Walter E Williams: Black Progression And Retrogression

What if racism is not the problem?  There is no question, though it's not acknowledged enough, that black Americans have made greater gains, over some of the highest hurdles and in a very short span of time, than any other racial group in mankind's history. What's the evidence? If black Americans were thought of as a nation with their own gross ... MORE

This Is What An Economy In Free Fall Looks Like

by Rick Moran.      The Russian economy is in free fall as the ruble has lost half it's value during the dizzying slide in oil prices. Last Tuesday, the ruble tumbled 10% - a follow up to Monday's 10% slide.This precipitated panic buying in the stores as Russian consumers, fearing their rubles will only become less valuable in the near term, crowded retail       ... MORE

VIDEO: America Is Becoming A Surveillance State

Behold: The Atheist Ten Non-Commandments

What do you think of these?       What if, instead of climbing Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from God, Moses had turned to the Israelites and asked: Hey, what do you guys think we should do? Considering the Hebrews’ bad behavior in the Bible, what with the coveting of neighbors’ wives and murdering their own brothers,  ... MORE

Jared Meyer: Civil Forfeiture Creates A License To Steal

Incentives to police for profit.     Many Americans have not heard of civil forfeiture, but this outrageous, and expanding, law enforcement tactic is becoming more difficult to ignore. Civil forfeiture does not receive the condemnation it deserves because most people cannot believe that, in the United States, the government can take    ... MORE

Rep. Mark Meadows: ObamaCare's Christmas Surprise

If you like your health plan, too bad.   If you like your health care plan, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has a Christmas surprise for you! When will this new present arrive? December 25th. In an ongoing effort to keep Obamacare numbers elevated, CMS has embarked on the next step of its government takeover of    ... MORE

Dangerous Implications For Guns In Nebraska-Oklahoma Lawsuit Against Marijuana Legalization In Colorado

By Ilya Somin. Co-blogger Jonathan Adler and Vanderbilt law professor Robert Mikos have pointed out some of the flaws in the lawsuit filed by Nebraska and Oklahoma urging a federal court to invalidate marijuana legalization in neighboring Colorado. In the unlikely event that the plaintiff states prevail, they will also have set a very dangerous   ... MORE

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - The Physical Fallacy

Koch Brothers Are Not As Conservative As You Might Think

by Cliff Kincaid.  What they really think. Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham acted surprised that David Koch would give an interview to Barbara Walters and talk about his radical “libertarian” views. Koch appeared in Walters’ ABC special program on “The 10 Most Fascinating People Of 2014.” The interview was featured in various stories  ... MORE

Intolerant Conservatives In Conflict With Individual Rights

by Kerry McGill.       Leave me alone! Well, not me, exactly. But others who differ from others, such as homosexuals, atheists, creationists, evangelists, extremists and the like. It seems as though many people have a chip on their shoulder about someone with whom they strongly disagree. America used to be a "live and let live" society      ... MORE

VIDEO: The Best Of 'Don’t Cops Have Better Things to Do?'

'Tis The Season For Government Roadblocks In California

Warrantless searches to help spend $93 million grant.  What to do if stopped by a cop. 'Tis the season for DUI checkpoints and the California Highway Patrol is reminding you to think twice while you're out late with your friends this holiday season. Between December and January, more than 200 law enforcement agencies are armed    ... MORE

In The Rush To Blame Everyone For The Shooting Of NYPD Cops, Don't Forget To Include The Actual Shooter

by Nick Gillespie.       In the wake of the horrific and unjustifiable shooting of two NYPD officers who were sitting in a patrol car in Brooklyn, the mad rush is now on to indict a wide range of co-conspirators and "real killers." This is a tired and worn-out gambit and its high point (that is, low point) has already probably been reached in the Twitter feed of   ... MORE