Daniel Rivero: The FBI Convicted This Man Using Hair Analysis. Now We Know The Truth. It Was A Dog’s Hair.
What if the government wanted you convicted? For a while now, thanks in part to the reporting of the Washington
Post’s Spencer Hsu, it’s been known that something was not quite right
with the FBI’s hair forensics unit in the past. But only but only
recently has the FBI admitted that failings within the unit led to hundreds, maybe thousands ... MOREAll You Need To Know About Jury Nullification (PDF)
(but are prevented from hearing) What is jury nullification? Jury nullification is the term given to the process where the jury of a criminal case acquits the defendant regardless if he has broken the law in question. The jury would do this in a case where they judge law to be unjust, therefore the jury can vote find the defendant innocent since ... MOREForfeiture Funds Used To Oppose Marijuana Legalization
by Ray Stern. For a narco cop, freedom is bad for business. A law-enforcement task force in Yavapai County cut a $50,000 check from RICO funds to a substance-abuse group dedicated to fighting marijuana legalization in Arizona, New Times has learned. The deal between the Yavapai County-based Partners Against Narcotics Trafficking ... MORERick Ungar: The Prospect Of A Cashless Society Contemplating Ultimate Surrender To Government Control
Government's end game. Denmark, known to be the “happiest” nation on the planet, has a long and storied history of providing its citizens with a strong social safety net—a system designed, in the words of the nation’s official website, to provide its people with “the necessary material framework for living a reasonable life.” Yet, a ... MOREAndrew Napolitano: Rand And Ted On The Fourth
When do you need a warrant? A decision last week about NSA spying by a panel of judges on the United States Court of Appeals in New York City sent shock waves through the government. The court ruled that a section of the Patriot Act that is due to expire at the end of this month and on which the government has relied as a basis for its bulk ... MOREHow Jury Duty Almost Turned Me Into An Anarchist
by Matt Welch. A painful government process. "Jury duty!?!?" the former aide to a certain libertarianish senator wrote me Tuesday, after I had mentioned how I was spending my day. "A very anti-libertarian and statist idea. Compulsory service to the state. I treat jury duty like I treat voting—I show up if I feel like it. And I have not felt like showing ... MOREJohn Stossel: Disobey!
How to deal with stupid laws. Charles Murray, already controversial for writing books on how welfare hurts the poor, on ethnic differences in IQ and on (less controversial, but my favorite) happiness and good government, has written a new book that argues that it's time for civil disobedience. Government has become so oppressive, constantly ... MORESeattle Raised Its Minimum Wage, Now This Is Happening
by Meghan Raffa. As of April 1, the minimum wage in Seattle rose to $15. Small businesses have seven years to implement this change, while large companies must raise wages within the next two years. On one hand, it seems like a good thing that the government is mandating that low-income workers make enough money to help them meet ... MOREJacob Sullum: 2 Cases That Illustrate Warrantless Snooping Goes Far Beyond The NSA's Phone-Record Dragnet
If only the Fourth Amendment had teeth. Last week a federal appeals court said
police do not need a warrant to look at cellphone records that reveal
everywhere you've been. Two days later, another appeals court said
the National Security Agency (NSA) is breaking the law by
indiscriminately collecting telephone records that show ... MOREJeremy Egerer: Should Women Be Allowed To Drink?
A sobering thought. In an age of social liberalism, you can expect to see many things become legal. One thing that hasn't become legal and that almost nobody has considered legalizing is childhood drinking. And the reason nobody has really suggested it is because each and every one of us knows that children are idiots. You never really know what ... MORELarry Thornberry: Tobacco-Free Ball Yards By The Bay
More lost liberty to chew on. Go ahead and leave your heart in San Francisco if you please, but don’t leave your chaw. This might cause you to be nicked by the tobacco police. It’s another of those things that only make sense in San Francisco, so libertine in many ways, but puritan in others. An exotic mix of extreme permissiveness and micro- ... MOREFederal Court Strikes Down 'No-Speech Zone' That Let Deputies Confiscate Political Signs On Private Property
by Nick Sibilla. A small business owner who had his political signs confiscated by the government won a First Amendment lawsuit last month in federal court. John Russell owns an auto body shop in Cold Spring, Ky., not far from Cincinnati. He allowed the candidates he supported—both Democrats and Republicans—to put up political signs on his ... MORERadley Balko: The Increasing Isolation Of America’s Police
How did it get to us versus them. Politico has put up a fascinating profile of Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which is the country’s largest police union. More
than anything, the profile highlights how law enforcement is
politically positioned in a way that basically immunizes them from criticism
and oversight. ... MOREIn A Politically Correct World, The Bible Is Hate Speech
by Mike Masterson. I'm not interested today in unleashing yet another onslaught of name-calling and who-can-outslander-whom. We see plenty of that destructive behavior swirling around us. But the way I see it in this grossly politicized, increasingly divided country we've allowed to manifest, the following issue raises a question that must be asked and ... MOREWhy Kids Who Aren’t Poor Now Get Free School Lunches
by Valerie Strauss. Spreading the realm of dependency. It used to be that students from families with low incomes qualified
for lunches that were either free or available at a reduced price.
That’s still true — but now, new federal rules allow kids who aren’t
poor at many schools to get the same thing. The change in the
rules means not only that ... MORERand Paul Threatens To Filibuster Patriot Act Renewal
by Nick Morpus. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who energized conservatives, independents and even many progressives in 2013 with his 13-hour drone filibuster,
has now threatened to do the same if the Senate attempts to reauthorize
the National Security Agency’s mass data collection programs. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports: ... MORE
Bill Of Rights Doesn’t Amount To Much In A Cop Culture
by John W. Whitehead. Police officers are more likely to be struck by lightning than be held financially accountable for their actions.—Law professor Joanna C. Schwartz (paraphrased) If you can be kicked, punched, tasered, shot, intimidated, harassed, stripped, searched, brutalized, terrorized, wrongfully arrested, and even killed by a police ... MOREWalter E Williams: Some Odds And Ends
Wise observations. Occasionally, I wonder whether I'm alone in some of my wonderings. Look at the claim that conservatives or Republicans have launched a war on women as a part of their overall mean-spirited agenda. In the case of mistreatment of women — or of anyone else — assault, rape and murder are about as horrible as it gets. ... MORENullification Rising: Minnesota Invalidates FDA Restrictions
by Bob Adelman. When Minnesota State Representative Nick Zerwas was 15 years old, he was told he had only months to live. Informed that he wouldn’t be able to get a heart transplant, Zerwas was told by his doctor that he might be saved by a surgical procedure that was still experimental. Said Zerwas: “That was my right to try. I fully believe life is ... MOREKelly McLauglin: Morgan Freeman Makes Impassioned Plea For Legalization Of Cannabis While Discussing His Habit
'I'll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it' Hollywood's favorite narrator Morgan Freeman opened up about being an advocate for legalizing marijuana last week, claiming that 'pot is very useful'. Freeman, 77, is a longtime user who was turned on to the drug by his first wife 'many years ago'. 'I'll eat it, drink it, smoke it, snort it! This movement is ... MORENeetzan Zimmerman: Dad Calls Cops On Son To Teach Him A Lesson, Then Cops Respond By Shooting The Son Dead
Lesson learned. A
father's attempt to teach his son a lesson for taking his truck without
permission ended in tragedy Monday after a local police officer shot
the teenager dead. James Comstock told the Des Moines Register
he called the police on his son Tyler after the latter took the
former's truck in retaliation for refusing to buy him cigarettes. ... MORERick Moran: 175,000 Pages Of Federal Regulations
What "unfettered capitalism?" Whenever a liberal like Paul Krugman talks about the American system of “unfettered capitalism” I break out laughing. There are currently about 175,000 pages of federal regulations governing anything and everything about American business. In truth, many regulations have become necessary over the ... MOREThe Drug War Now Features Roadside Sexual Assaults
by Jacob Sullum. Last month the Texas House of Representatives unanimously approved a
bill that requires police officers to obtain a warrant before probing
the anuses and vaginas of motorists during traffic stops. The fact that
the bill was deemed necessary speaks volumes about the way the war on
drugs has eroded our Fourth Amendment ... MORE
40 Percent Of Americans On Food Stamps Are Obese
by Chuck Ross. A new study from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) finds that
Americans receiving food stamps are more likely to be overweight and
obese than those who do not receive assistance. The USDA analyzed data
from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for
the years between 2007 and 2010 and found that ... MORERand Paul: You Can't Have Open Borders & A Welfare State
by Kelly Cohen. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul has his priority list ready to go as he runs for president, and border security and immigration reform are definitely on it. "I think something has to be done. If you aren't for doing any kind of immigration reform, you're for another 10 (million) or 11 million people coming in unaccounted for," the Republican said ... MOREMichael Snyder: Police Abduct 10 Children From A Family In Kentucky Because Of Their ‘Off The Grid’ Lifestyle
More evidence the government is not us. If the government does not like the way that you are raising your kids, they will come in and grab them at any time without giving any warning whatsoever. Of course this is completely and totally unlawful, but it has been
happening all over America. The most recent example of this that has
made ... MOREDEA To Traveler: Thanks, I'll Take That Cash
by Joline Gutierrez Krueger. Public servants with a license to steal. Maybe he should have taken traveler’s checks. But it’s too late for that now. All the money – $16,000 in cash – that Joseph Rivers said he had saved and relatives had given him to launch his dream in Hollywood is gone, seized during his trip out West not by thieves but by drug ... MORESteve Chapman: Is the Terrorism Panic Finally Passing?
A return to sanity. One lesson of American history is that in times of war or crisis, American presidents, lawmakers and citizens often lose their minds. Another lesson is that they eventually regain their senses. When it comes to national security in the age of terrorism, it looks as though the national fever has broken. When Congress passed the Patriot Act in October 2001, it gave the federal government greater ... MOREBaylen Linnekin: Will The Austin Proposal To 'Control' Barbecue Cause Beloved Food Scene To Go Up In Smoke?
Suffering the stench of busybodies. Earlier this month, the city council in Austin, Tex. took up "the smell of barbecue and a proposal to control it," reports the New York Times, "in response to some citizen complaints." If that sounds ominous—and not just a reporter blowin' smoke—that's because it is. Daniel Vaughn, who writes for Texas ... MORESterotyping At Its Worst: DEA Steals Cash From Innocent Black Man Who They Claim ‘Must Be A Drug Dealer’
by M. David and Reagan Ali. Some thieves carry badges. They found no drugs on him whatsoever. They never saw him selling drugs or committing a crime of any sort. But the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) claims that they are “certain” that 22-year-old Joseph Rivers is a “drug dealer.” What makes them so sure? When the young ... MORE
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