What is liberty if not free to choose? Following the Supreme Court decision mandating legal same-sex marriage nationwide, the New York Times tells us that, “gay rights leaders have turned their sights to what they see as the next big battle: obtaining federal, state and local legal protections in employment, housing, commerce and other ... MORE
How Bitcoin Can Save You During A Financial Crisis
by Robert Taylor. A little rebellion. What would you do if the US government suddenly
announced a bank holiday, limits or bans on ATM withdrawals or other
types of cash and capital controls? Or implemented a “bail-in” where
part of your bank deposits were used to further pyramid debt and save an
oligarchical financial system? Is there any doubt ... MORE
Trump Cured A Cancer -- 'Political Correctness'
by Barry Farber. If Donald Trump were to cure cancer, wouldn’t you feel like thanking him? Even if you were another Republican competing for the GOP presidential nomination, you’d want to thank him. Even if all of your Mexican relatives were priests and missionaries and not drug dealers and rapists, you’d still want to thank him. So go ahead! ... MORE
Labels:
Donald Trump,
free speech,
immigration,
Mexico,
policy,
political correctness,
politics,
trade
Tim Cushing: This Asset Forfeiture Case Points Out Just How Far Government Will Go To Steal The Citizens Money
Everything is probable cause that a crime was committed. A federal judge has just ordered the government to return $167,000 it took from a man passing through Nevada on his way to visit his girlfriend in California. The officers really wanted that money, too. They used two consecutive stops to jerry-rig some probable cause… even though ... MORE
Veronique de Rugy: States Must Confront Pension Costs
State-Based Accounting 101: ranking fiscal condition. One of the most boring classes I took in college was on accounting. Over the years, however, I've come to understand the importance of proper and transparent accounting. As the disastrous examples of Greece, Puerto Rico, Detroit, and Chicago demonstrate, dodging long-term ... MORE
Labels:
budget,
debt,
economics,
fiscal,
government,
Greece,
obligation,
pension,
unfunded liabilities
Drug-Planting Judge Gets 5 Years In Federal Prison
by Kathryn Rubino. From high atop their perch on the bench, judges seem like masters of their domain, making decisions and occasionally creating laws that have a real-world impact on the peons in front of them. So there is some natural schadenfreude when judges find themselves at the mercy of a court, especially when they are accused of ... MORE
Charles Riggs: Parable Of The Sheep
When dealing with wolves. Not so long ago and in a pasture too uncomfortably close to here, a flock of sheep lived and grazed. They were protected by a dog, who answered to the master, but despite his best efforts from time to time a nearby pack of wolves would prey upon the flock. One day a group of sheep, more bold than the rest, met to ... MORE
Labels:
crime,
gun control,
gun-free zones,
incentives,
policy,
protection,
self-defense,
society,
weapons
The Effects Of The Minimum Wage Rise In San Francisco
by Tim Worstall. As we keep trying to point out to people there really isn’t anything even remotely resembling a free lunch when it comes to the discussion of wages and labor. Meaning that just because well meaning liberals wave their magic wand and decree that wages will rise there will indeed be countervailing effects. And in San Francisco, where ... MORE
John Stossel: Lots Of Democrats Want Socialism
The unintended consequences of socialists. Nearly 10,000 people turned out to hear Bernie Sanders in Wisconsin. Why? Apparently, many Democrats want socialism. Sanders is the Vermont senator who is running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Sanders calls himself a "democratic socialist," not to be confused
with New ... MORE
Labels:
central planning,
collectivism,
Democrats,
envy,
politics,
redistribution,
socialism,
wealth
John W. Whitehead: Jade Helm, Terrorist Attacks, Surveillance And Other Fairy Tales For A Gullible Nation
A cautionary tale. Once upon a time, there was a nation of people who believed everything they were told by their government. When terrorists attacked the country, and government officials claimed to have been caught by surprise, the people believed them. And when the government passed massive laws aimed at locking down the nation and ... MORE
Labels:
government,
Jade Helm,
liberty,
police state,
prisons,
spying,
surveillance,
terrorism,
tyranny
Jacob Sullum: Christie Vs. Paul On Surveillance & Security
NJ governor unconcerned about warrantless snooping. Chris Christie says Rand Paul, one of his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination, is "politicizing America's national security" by objecting to the government's indiscriminate collection of our telephone records. The New Jersey governor's puzzling charge against the Kentucky senator ... MORE
Labels:
Chris Christie,
GOP,
government,
privacy,
Rand Paul,
snooping,
spying,
surveillance,
tactics
Austin Petersen: Dead Idiot Blew His Head Off With Firework, Now His Mom Wants The Rest Of Us To Suffer
Either society or lack of warning label must be to blame. A dead moron from Maine was killed instantly when he fired a firework off from the top of his head. Predictably, he will now be used as a prop to advocate for stricter controls thanks to a grieving parent… who ought to bear at least some of the blame. From the AP: The mother of ... MORE
Labels:
busybody,
freedom,
nanny state,
nitwittery,
parents,
politicians,
regulation,
restrictions,
risk
High Cigarette Taxes May Be More Harmful Than Smoking
by Jonathan Nelson. The incentives created by government. New York's cigarette taxes are the highest in the nation, at $4.35 per pack. Some New Yorkers naturally will seek to avoid cigarette excise taxes. People are tempted to buy cigarettes in a low-tax state such as North Carolina and sell them in New York, says Jonathan Nelson. ... MORE
I Will Defend Your Right To Fly The Confederate Flag
by Wendy Kaminer. Don’t ask me to defend a Confederate flag display by the state. Unlike private individuals and associations, governments don’t have rights: they exercise power. And while hoisting a Confederate flag on state property isn’t an illegal use of power, it is a politically abusive one, for all the reasons so recently recited in the wake ... MORE
Thomas Sowell: Looking Back
Discovering what is important. After my 85th birthday last week, I looked back over my life and was surprised to discover in how many different ways I had been lucky, in addition to some other ways in which I was unlucky. Among the things I did not know at the time was that I was adopted as an infant into a family with four adults, in which I was ... MORE
New Mexico Cops Complain That State's Asset Forfeiture Ban Impedes Progress In Fighting The Failed Drug War
Police unhappy their license to steal has been revoked. Cops in New Mexico are complaining that a new law requiring them to obtain a conviction before taking residents’ property via civil forfeiture is hurting their ability to perpetuate the government’s long-failed war on drugs. New Mexico House Bill 560, which takes effect this month, effectively ... MORE
R Watson And J Burnham: Separation Of Powers, A Primer
Learn the Founder's vision. Constitutional concepts like free speech or the right to bear arms are ingrained in our popular culture, but just 36% of Americans can name all three branches of the federal government. Even fewer understand why and how our Constitution allocates power among the Legislative, Executive, and Judicial branches. As we ... MORE
Did The TSA Agent Steal Jersey Honoring Yankee Legend From The Luggage Of His Window? She Thinks They Did.
from CBS New York. The widow of a baseball icon was heartbroken Friday night over a missing jersey that she believes was stolen. Last month, the Yankees gave Soot Zimmer a jersey in honor of her late husband, Don Zimmer, who served as bench coach for the team for several years. But the jersey never made it back to Florida with Soot ... MORE
U.S. Losing Living Standard As Economic Freedom Erodes
Land of the heavily taxed, home of the highly regulated. With the United States sinking on several major indices of economic freedom as it celebrates its Independence Day, free-market advocates have reason to ask, “What ever happened to the land of the free and the home of the brave?” A review of several credibly researched global indices ... MORE
Labels:
economics,
freedom,
government,
incentives,
police state,
regulation,
standard of living,
tax
Flamin' Hot Cheetos Are The American Dream
by Katherine Mangu-Ward. I disapprove of what you eat, but I'll defend to the death your right to eat it. The story of Flamin' Hot Cheetos is the story of America. The illegitimate offspring of a cheese puff and a Dorito, the snacks are a triumph of food science. With their finger-staining red pigment, infinite shelf life, sui generis squiggly shape, ... MORE
Labels:
busybody,
choice,
food,
government,
liberty,
nanny state,
politicians,
regulation,
restrictions
Jacob Sullum: How Libertarian Is Rand Paul On Drug Policy?
More than the others, but there is room for improvement. Last week about 40 people paid at
least $2,700 each to hear Rand Paul talk about drug policy during the
National Cannabis Industry Association's conference at the Denver
Convention Center. That "private briefing" made the Kentucky senator the
first major-party presidential candidate ... MORE
Labels:
drug war,
GOP,
government,
legalize,
libertarian,
penalties,
prohibition,
Rand Paul,
regulation
Walter E Williams: Fiddling Away The Future
Let's list major problems affecting black Americans. Topping the list is the breakdown in the black family, where only a third of black children are raised in two-parent households. Actually, the term "breakdown" is incorrect. Families do not form in the first place. Nationally, there is a black illegitimacy rate of 72 percent. ... MORE
Liberal Dream: 11-yo Girls Can Now Get Birth Control Devices Implanted In Them Without Parents Knowing
by Matt Agorist. Between 1991 and 2013, the teen birth rate declined by 57% nationwide. Over this period, teen pregnancy has declined in all 50 states and among all racial/ethnic groups. Washington State is ranked 13 in the country for teen pregnancies with 20.5 births per 1,000 girls ages 15-19. That is a much better rate than Arkansas, which is more ... MORE
Why Do Media Still Take FBI Terror Warnings Seriously?
by Adam Johnson. Zero for 40 at predicting attacks. On Monday, several mainstream media outlets repeated the latest press release
by the FBI that country was under a new “heightened terror alert” from
“ISIL-inspired attacks” “leading up to the July 4th weekend.” One of the
more sensational outlets, CNN, led with the breathless warning on ... MORE
Nick Sibilla: Asset Forfeiture Laws Treat People Like ATMs
Having lots of cash is not a crime, it's just treated like one. Imagine a place where the government can seize property from people who have not broken the law. The police, sheriffs and prosecutors can auction their property off and use the proceeds to pay their own salaries. But this isn’t a Third World dictatorship. It’s California. ... MORE
Cautious Effort To Legalize Marijuana In California In 2016
by Steven Greenhut. By ballot initiative. Regardless of one's take on the Supreme Court's 5-4 decision on
Friday forbidding states from banning same-sex marriage, it's clear the
ruling didn't come in a vacuum. Analysts said the court "created" a new
civil right, but public attitudes have shifted dramatically in recent
years. The court simply gave its blessing ... MORE
Labels:
California,
cannabis,
decisions,
drug war,
initiative,
legalize,
marijuana,
politics,
Supreme Court
William L Schachte: A Declaration Of Energy Independence
Ending dependence on foreign oil. The United States is closer than ever before to fulfilling the vision
of our Founding Fathers. By achieving energy independence, we can
achieve freedom from foreign influence. Yet on the basis of alarmist and groundless claims, the Obama administration
is balking on two key elements of this new energy security: ... MORE
Labels:
dependency,
dishonesty,
drilling,
economics,
energy,
EPA,
fossil fuels,
fracking,
oil,
production
Support Grows For States To Ignore The Federal Courts
from Rasmussen Reports. Following last week’s controversial U.S. Supreme Court rulings on
Obamacare and gay marriage, voters believe more strongly that individual
states should have the right to turn their backs on the federal courts. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 33% of
Likely U.S. Voters now believe that ... MORE
TSA Finds $75,000 In Traveler’s Bag, Then Police Come Take The Money Even Though No Criminal Charges Filed
by Christopher Ingraham. Earlier today, Transportation Security Administration spokesperson
Lisa Farbstein sent the following tweet from her verified account: If you had $75,000, is this how you'd transport it? Just asking! TSA @ #RIC spotted this traveler's preferred method. pic.twitter.com/lriNbivmsT The photo, from the Richmond ... MORE
Labels:
abuse,
airport,
asset forfeiture,
civil forfeiture,
policing for profit,
theft,
transportation,
TSA
Stephen Moore: No, We Don't Need A Gas Tax Hike
Politicians want to fatten the pot from which they steal. It's summertime and that means millions of Americans will soon be cramming in the minivan for family vacation. But Congress may soon be raising the cost of those trips by increasing the federal gas tax. Why? The highway trust fund that finances our national highway system is running ... MORE
Labels:
Congress,
deception,
dishonesty,
economics,
gas prices,
government,
politicians,
spending,
tax
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