John W Whitehead: Drivers, Beware Of The Costly, Deadly Dangers Of Traffic Stops In The American Police State

"Comply or die" is the new police state motto. Trying to predict the outcome of any encounter with the police is a bit like playing Russian roulette: most of the time you will emerge relatively unscathed, although decidedly poorer and less secure about your rights, but there’s always the chance that an encounter will turn deadly. The odds weren’t    ... MORE

Supreme Court Gets Lowest Favorability Rating In 30 Years

by Jennifer Harper.   Even politicians in robes are having a bad year. “Following major, end-of-term rulings on the Affordable Care Act and same-sex marriage, unfavorable opinions of the Supreme Court have reached a 30-year high. And opinions about the court and its ideology have never been more politically divided,” reports the Pew Research   ... MORE

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - Reason And Atheism

Is Politics Obsolete? How People Outpace Politicians

by Max Borders and Jeffery A. Tucker.     Hillary Clinton talks of cracking down on the gig economy. Donald Trump speaks of telling American corporations where they can and can’t do business abroad. Bernie Sanders says we have too many deodorant choices. They all speak about immigrants as if it were 1863. What the heck are these    ... MORE

Felony Murder Case Linked To Marijuana Deal Illustrates The Need For Jurors To Know About Jury Nullification

Because justice is a result, not just a process.    A murder case that prompted a Wichita woman’s run for governor last year is in the hands of a Sedgwick County jury. Kyler Carriker, the son of former gubernatorial candidate Jennifer Winn, faces a life sentence without parole eligibility for 20 years if he is convicted of first-degree felony murder in the  ... MORE

VIDEO: Trees Are The Answer

Andrew Napolitano: Hillary Lies Again

It seems the truth is seldom her friend.    In a column I wrote in early July, based on research by my colleagues and my own analysis of government documents and eyewitness statements, I argued that in 2011 and 2012 then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton waged a secret war on the governments of Libya and Syria, with the approval of President   ... MORE

Leonard Pitts Jr: Police Brutality Is Everybody's Problem

Not just a black problem.      This will not be a column about Sandra Bland, although it could be. Certainly there is cause for outrage over the way a Texas state trooper escalated the routine traffic stop of an indignant African-American woman into a violent arrest; she died of an apparent jail cell suicide three days later. But Chuck would say that in      ... MORE

The Corrupting Influence Of Civil Asset Forfeiture

by Jacob Sullum.       According to the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Council (APAAC), "an asset forfeiture practice that supplements other law enforcement activities provides an opportunity that is unique among governmental agencies—the direct augmentation of the agency's budget through the performance of its designated function."     ... MORE

NatGeo: Science Seeks To Unlock Marijuana’s Secrets

by Hampton Sides. As the once-vilified drug becomes more accepted, researchers around the world are trying to understand how it works and how it might fight disease. There’s nothing new about cannabis, of course. It’s been around humankind pretty much forever. In Siberia charred seeds have been found inside burial mounds dating back to 3000 B.C.  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Eating Up Junk Science

The Making of the American Police State

by Christian Parenti.  How did we get here? The numbers are chilling: 2.2 million people behind bars, another 4.7 million on parole or probation. Even small-town cops are armed like soldiers, with a thoroughly militarized southern border. The common leftist explanation for this is “the prison-industrial complex,” suggesting that the buildup is largely    ... MORE

John Stossel: Governed By Zealots

Agendacrats gone wild. The government's environmental rules defeat even environmentalists. Thomas Collier is a Democrat who managed environmental policy for Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Then he noticed a mining opportunity in Alaska, one he calls "the single largest deposit of gold and silver that is not being developed in the entire world." Tom's    ... MORE

VIDEO: Are GMOs Good Or Bad?

Pragmatism Is Impractical In The Long Run

by Jaana Woiceshyn. Pragmatism—compromising principles to achieve goals—is prevalent not just among politicians (think of President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran). It is also a common hazard among business people, many of whom think that to succeed in business you have to compromise principles. It’s OK to compromise honesty and fake a little,     ... MORE

Alexa Corse: The Missing Hillary Emails No One Can Explain

A most convenient 2-month gap.  Among the approximately 2,000 emails that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has released from her private account, there is a conspicuous two-month gap. There are no emails between Clinton and her State Department staff during May and June 2012, a period of escalating violence in Libya leading up     ... MORE

Local Gov'ts Are Increasingly Poking Through Your Garbage

by Jenna McLaughlin.     "Nothing is safe, not even our trash."     Civil libertarians are worried about an increasingly common form of domestic surveillance that has nothing to do with listening to your phone calls or reading your emails; it has to do with looking through your garbage. Municipalities across the United States are implementing    ... MORE

Immigration Irresponsibility Well Documented

by Thomas Sowell. People who entered the United States illegally may be called "undocumented" in politically correct circles, but what is all too well documented is the utter irresponsibility of both political parties in dealing with immigration issues. Both Democratic and Republican administrations have left the border with Mexico porous for    ... MORE

VIDEO: Hillary's Private E-Mail Server - Act Two

J. Wilson: Regulation Growth Strangles The Economy

Whenever liberals complain about deregulation, show em this. One of the biggest arguments against conservatives and libertarians is the belief that evil deregulation is what caused the economic collapse in 2008 and the current income inequality. Politicians like Elizabeth Warren have built their careers around this false argument. They want to   ... MORE

Hillary's Solar Scheme Is Central Planning At Its Worst

by Ira Stoll.   Just when you thought gov't couldn't get any dumber. In a YouTube video released over the weekend, the leading Democratic candidate for president, Hillary Clinton, announced that "on day one as president," she would set "two ambitious national goals that will test our capacities." Said Clinton, "First, I will ensure we hit a target     ... MORE

VIDEO: Eminent Domain Abuse - The Story Of Susette Kelo

Celebs Protest Call To Decriminalize Prostitution

by Elizabeth Nolan Brown.  After a long and careful consideration of the evidence, global human-rights org Amnesty International has come to the conclusion that decriminalizing prostitution is the best way to "respect, protect, and fulfill the human rights of sex workers." But actress Anne Hathaway played a French whore in Les Mis, so she has feels   ... MORE

As Prices Drop, Gold Sales Explode at US Mint

by Joshua Krause.   Something doesn't add up here. A little over two weeks ago, a source within the US Mint announced that sales of their silver eagles had grown to the point that the Mint was running out, and would have to suspend all orders for several weeks. This claim was later officially confirmed by the US Mint, and ZeroHedge noted how strange   ... MORE

Chris Edwards: Coercion Is Bad Economics

Free markets spur better ways of doing things.       A common feature of Obama administration economic policies is the use of government coercion.   The Obamacare health law mandated that individuals buy insurance. The administration's tax increases grabbed more earnings from millions of people. And federal agencies are       ... MORE

A Bogus Warrant, A Burned Baby, And An Immoral War

by Jacob Sullum.   Bad cops manufacture probable cause. Shortly after midnight on May 28, 2014, Habersham County, Georgia, Deputy Sheriff Nikki Autry asked Magistrate Judge James Butterworth for a "no knock" warrant to search a house on Lakeview Heights Circle in Cornelia. In her application, Autry, a special agent with the Mountain Judicial   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Gender Gap Myths

Walter E Williams: Cure For Racial Dishonesty

Cut the incentives.     There have been several notable cases of racial fakery.   Years ago, then-law professor Elizabeth "Fauxcahontas" Warren falsely claimed that her great-grandfather was Cherokee Indian. A diversity-starved Harvard University jumped at the opportunity to hire her. She was so good at the racial fakery that a 1997 Fordham Law  ... MORE

Bill Perna: Why Some Americans Hate Edward Snowden

We can no longer be in denial.  Edward Snowden's actions confronts us with a vexing problem. Because of Snowden's actions we are now burdened with the knowledge and evidence that we live in a surveillance state. We are confronted with our complacency. A fundamental question begs an answer. What does it now mean to be an American?       ... MORE

VIDEO: What They Haven't Told You About Climate Change

Thomas Sowell: A Historic Catastrophe

Enabling nuclear bombs to radical Islam.  Distinguished scientist Freeman Dyson has called the 1433 decision of the emperor of China to discontinue his country’s exploration of the outside world the “worst political blunder in the history of civilization.” The United States seems at this moment about to break the record for the worst political   ... MORE

Drug War Update: Man Facing Felony Murder Charge For Telling An Acquaintance Where He Could Find Marijuana

by Matt Agorist.   Does it matter that he did nothing morally wrong? Kyler Carriker is a loving husband and a father whose life could be ruined because of the ridiculous nature of the state’s war on drugs. According to Carriker’s family, on April 17, 2013, Carriker and a friend had finished work and were headed out to go fishing. They were stopped by  ... MORE

The Tyranny Of The Criminal Justice System

by John W. Whitehead.   The American nightmare. Justice in America is not all it’s cracked up to be. Just ask Jeffrey Deskovic, who spent 16 years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. James Bain spent 35 years in prison for the kidnapping and rape of a 9-year-old boy, but he too was innocent of the crime. He was finally freed after DNA  ... MORE

Steve Chapman: Cops As Criminals

Those who enforce the law but do not obey it.   Late one night, during high school, I was driving home when several police cars zoomed by. Curious about what was going on, I followed them down a residential street, where they pulled up to a house. I drove by and saw some officers walking up the sidewalk, but couldn't tell what they might be    ... MORE

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Legacy Of The Welfare State

Feds Deploy Warrantless Database Fishing Expeditions

by Mark J. Fitzgibbons.   While focusing their resources and political energy on the NSA’s mass collection of metadata, privacy advocates have neglected the most dangerous institutionalized violations of the Fourth Amendment: administrative subpoenas. Now a United States District Court judge in Texas has ruled for the Drug Enforcement Agency        ... MORE

Pot Legalization Likely To Be On Michigan's 2016 Ballot

by Mara MacDonald.     It looks like Michigan voters will be deciding whether they want to legalize marijuana in 2016. Nearly 40,000 signatures have been collected in just 12 days as part of a push to get the issue on the ballot. There are two ballot proposals which have seen language approved by the state board of canvassers, but only one has   ... MORE

VIDEO: Does Capitalism Exploit Workers?

Hillary Could Strangle A Puppy On Live TV, And Dems Would Still Back Her (Worse Than You Think Update)

by Matt Welch.   When transparency and integrity are no concern. A quick recap: Hillary Clinton, as Secretary of State, violated guidelines from the National Archives and her own State Department by using her own private email server for professional correspondence, and then destroying whatever messages she deemed destructible. At first Clinton   ... MORE

Is The World Finally Turning Against Islamists?

by Barry Farber.  Not every country is sentenced to 18 more months of Obama.   If true, this one email I received could lead to America’s “Guadalcanal” – the turning point, the instant we stop losing and start winning the War on Terror! After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and destroyed our Pacific fleet, killing 2,500 Americans, Japanese   ... MORE