Public School Students Are The New Police State Inmates

by John W. Whitehead.   In the American police state, you’re either a prisoner (shackled, controlled, monitored, ordered about, limited in what you can do and say, your life not your own) or a prison bureaucrat (police officer, judge, jailer, spy, profiteer, etc.). When you’re a child in the American police state, life is that much worse. Microcosms of  ... MORE

Lawrence J. McQuillan: The United States Of America Now Has Less Economic Freedom Than Chile, Jordan, Or Taiwan

The verdict on hope and change is in.    Today the Fraser Institute in Vancouver, Canada, released the 2015 Economic Freedom of the World Report (pdf) and it’s bad news for the United States, where economic freedom is falling. The U.S. ranks only 16th in economic freedom trailing Chile, Jordan, and Taiwan. The EFW Report measures the level  ... MORE

VIDEO: Is The Free Market Survival Of The Fittest?

Why You Should Care About The Hillary Chronicles

by Andrew Napolitano.    America's criminal candidate. The bad news has continued to cascade onto the Hillary Clinton for President campaign, and none of it has anything to do with Clinton's opinions on issues. It all is about her fitness for office. Since Labor Day, we have learned that the folks into whose hands Clinton reposed her computer server for  ... MORE

Johan Bennett: New Bipartisan Bill Strikes At The Heart Of The Federal Government's Civil Asset Forfeiture Apparatus

Program allows property to be taken without due process. Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu and GOP Rep. Justin Amash just teamed up Wednesday to introduce a bill into the House with the goal of eliminating the Drug Enforcement Administration’s controversial marijuana enforcement program. The DEA uses the Domestic Cannabis    ... MORE

VIDEO: What Drives Donald Trump? A History Lesson

How Obamacare Lets Companies Punish Fat Employees

by Abby Ellin. Obesity police to issue fat fines. A few months ago, Tracy Raymond, a first-grade teacher in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, discovered that she was too fat for her school. A 50-year-old mother of two, Ms. Raymond has always carried around extra padding, but it never bothered her. “I know I’m heavier than I should be for my height, but I’m not   ... MORE

Nick Gillespie: Two Cheers For Rand Paul: The Kentucky Senator Brought The Libertarian Viewpoint To Debate

Unique, forward-looking policies.      At the GOP debate hosted by CNN (full transcript here), the Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul brought consistently brought libertarian—or at least libertarianish—perspectives on major policy debates. Whether that jumpstarts his presidential campaign is anybody's guess, but it was a bracing and welcome development. ... MORE

Why Do Free People Need Permission Slips To Die?

by Jacob Sullum.     In a CNN essay published last October, Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with terminal brain cancer, explained why she and her husband had moved from California to Oregon: so she could legally obtain the barbiturates she would use to kill herself on November 1. "I would not tell anyone else that he or she should choose death   ... MORE

Robert Verbruggen: Donald Trump And Eminent Domain

A brief history.       In a free market, there’s a pretty simple process for dealing with the situation that arises when one person covets another’s belongings: The coveter makes an offer to purchase them. If the offer is rebuffed, the coveter can make a new proposal, but he cannot simply take what he wants. It’s an effective way of recognizing the         ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Hunt Lions To Save Lions

Political Correctness At Colleges Is A Real Problem

by Ana Kasparian.     Obama gets it right. During a recent town hall in Iowa, President Obama addressed the issue of political correctness on college campuses. He specifically called out liberal students who have protested or banned conservative speakers at commencement ceremonies. “I’ve heard some college campuses where they     ... MORE

John Stossel: Law And Border

How many wars can we fight? Our presidential candidates demand "stronger action" against both illegal immigration and illegal drugs. But those goals conflict. The War on Drugs makes border enforcement much harder! America's 44-year-long Drug War hasn't made a dent in American drug use or the supply of illegal drugs. If it had some positive   ... MORE

VIDEO: Free Speech - Why Are Sex and Comedy Censored?

Tweaking The Propaganda: Obama Administration To Deploy "Behavioral Science" To Pimp Gov't Programs

by Charlie Spiering.       A new executive order from President Obama directs all government agencies to use psychological science and data to help connect more Americans to government programs. The order instructs government agencies to use “behavioral science”— a tactic used by Obama’s political campaigns to harness data from their         ... MORE

Learn About Jury Nullification: Medical Marijuana Patient Could Spend Close To 100 Years In Prison For Pot Charges

by Maria Ines Taracena.    The thought of possibly spending close to 100 years in prison terrifies Kyle Catlin. But he's mostly concerned about his mom. She's not in the best of health. If something were to happen to her, "I may not even be allowed to leave prison to go to my mom's funeral, and that's super fucked up," he says. "I'm probably not gonna   ... MORE

Are Elections Held For The Purpose Of Venting Emotions?

by Thomas Sowell.   Why have elections? In a country with more than 300 million people, it is remarkable how obsessed the media have become with just one — Donald Trump. What is even more remarkable is that, after six years of repeated disasters, both domestically and internationally, under a glib egomaniac in the White House, so many potential  ... MORE

Victimhood Has Become A Badge Of Honor On Campus

by Alex Pfeiffer.       Weaklings now revered. A journal article by two sociologists suggests the rise of microaggressions stems from a culture of victimhood that celebrates the aggrieved and perceives them as virtuous martyrs – most notably on college campuses. Making matters worse, this perception is fostered by administrations that coddle and       ... MORE

VIDEO: Rand Paul - Abolish The Department Of Energy

Rachelle Peterson: Divesting From Free Speech

Environmentalists shut down debate on campus.     Students campaigning to get universities to divest from fossil fuels are in two minds about free speech. They want it for themselves, but don’t seem keen on free speech for their opponents. The divestment movement didn’t invent free-speech hypocrisy, but divestment activists offer a range of  ... MORE

Detective Not Immune From Warrantless Entry Lawsuit

by Michael Booth.     Cops must abide the law as well as enforce it. A New Jersey appeals court ruled that damages may be awarded to a Vineland woman whose home was essentially occupied by the police while they waited for hours to obtain a search warrant. In a published ruling issued Sept. 11, the three-judge Appellate Division panel said    ... MORE

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - Is Capitalism Moral?

Cops Allow Police Dog To Maul Handcuffed Man’s Face

Those who enforce, but do not abide.  In a terrifying witness video uploaded to Facebook early Monday morning, Delray Beach police are seen surrounding a handcuffed man and allowing their police dog to maul his face outside a South Florida bar. “I’m usually not the one to post about the police of police brutality, but after what I witness tonight       ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Opportunity Versus Outcomes

Inequity fetishes don't help the poor.  A hostile review of my new book — "Wealth, Poverty and Politics" — said, "there is apparently no level of inequality of income or opportunity that Thomas Sowell would consider unacceptable." Ordinarily, reviewers who miss the whole point of a book they are reviewing can be ignored. But this particular confusion  ... MORE

Conservatives Do Not Understand The 4th Amendment Is A Protection From Big Government And That's A Big Problem!

by Mark J. Fitzgibbons.     Kelley Beaucar Vlahos at Fox News does a great job reporting on use of "administrative subpoenas" for warrantless searches of medical records. American Thinker reported on this story back on July 20 ("Feds Get the Power to Seize Medical Records on 'Fishing Expedition' Investigations with No Subpoena from a Judge") with   ... MORE

California Forfeits Common Sense; Picks Cops Over Citizens

More evidence the government is not us.     Last Thursday, the Sisyphean boulder of property rights and due process rolled downhill. SB 443, California’s attempt to summarily end civil-asset forfeiture and “equitable sharing” abuse, roundly failed passage in the State Assembly, 24 to 44. Oddly enough, this was after a 31-to-1 vote in the     ... MORE

VIDEO: Why John Stossel Supports Rand Paul

50 Spies Say ISIS Intelligence Was Cooked

Government lies about success against ISIS.   It’s being called a ‘revolt’ by intelligence pros who are paid to give their honest assessment of the ISIS war—but are instead seeing their reports turned into happy talk. More than 50 intelligence analysts working out of the U.S. military’s Central Command have formally complained that their reports   ... MORE

Video Of NYPD Officer's Assault On Tennis Star James Blake

Cops caught in the act of being themselves.       Surveillance videotape released by the New York Police Department shows Officer James Frascatore ambushing tennis star James Blake in what appears to be a startling, illegal arrest. Frascatore has been sued four times for excessive force in the past. Missing from the surveillance tape, released on ... MORE

VIDEO: Local Police Vs. National Police

Walter E Williams: Attack on Teachers

School violence is going to get worse.   As the new school year begins, you might like to be updated on some school happenings that will no doubt be repeated this academic year. After this update, I have some questions one might ask the black leadership. The ongoing and escalating assault on primary- and secondary-school teachers is not a       ... MORE

An 11-Year-Old Demonstrates Good Judgment And Good Marksmanship, Striking Down Home Invader With One Shot

Gun control means using both hands.   An 11-year-old Missouri boy shot and killed a 16-year-old boy during an attempted home invasion Thursday afternoon, St. Louis County police said. Police said two suspects tried to break into the home north of downtown St. Louis twice before the shooting on Thursday. On the third try, authorities said the     ... MORE

DEA Blasted For No-Warrant Searches Of Patient Records

by Kelley Beaucar Vlahos.     More evidence the government is not us. Drug Enforcement Administration agents have been accessing personal medical files without a warrant, generating a backlash from doctors and privacy advocates who say the practice is intrusive and unconstitutional -- and have taken the agency to court. “It’s just not right,”    ... MORE

Guy Bentley: Good News For Cronies: Study Shows Regulations Are Strangling New Businesses At Birth

Protecting incumbent businesses from competition. Businesses are being strangled at birth and prevented from hiring workers, according to a new study looking at regulations across 215 industries. Using data on the extent of federal regulations, the Mercatus Center finds that a 10 percent increase in regulation leads to 0.5 percent fewer firm   ... MORE

VIDEO: Why The Constitution Had To Be Destroyed

Should Police Be Able To Take Control Of Self-Driving Cars?

by Karl Bode.     Technology's dark side. As Google, Tesla, Volvo, and other companies make great strides with their self-driving car technology, we've started moving past questions about whether the technology will work, and started digging into the ethics of how it should work. For example, we recently discussed whether or not cars should     ... MORE

Unintended Consequences Of Seattle's Minimum Wage Hike

by Alex Vargo.     A cure much worse than the disease. Like any well-intentioned law, government-imposed minimum wage increase seem to help workers, at least on the surface. But is it really as easy as mandating that employers pay their employees more? In the restaurant industry, there are three possible consequences for young workers that    ... MORE

VIDEO: 8 Tips To Avoid Being A Drug War Statistic

Even In The Age Of Medical Marijuana, Court Rules Smell Of Pot Can Be Used As Pretense For Warrantless Search

by Tom Barlas. A New Jersey’s man attempt to use the state’s medical marijuana law to overturn a criminal conviction went up in smoke this week. A state appeals court ruled Tuesday that the smell of marijuana can still be used by law enforcement as the grounds for a warrantless search. The appeals court rejected George A. Meyer’s argument that    ... MORE

How Much Is A College Football Player Worth?

by Alexis Garcia.  Hint: More than the NCAA wants to admit. College football has returned to the airwaves and with it the debate over paying student-athletes. Though the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) brought in nearly $1 billion dollars in revenue last year, the organization continues to resist compensating student-athletes   ... MORE

Ian Lovett: California Legislature Approves Assisted Suicide

Individuals gain property rights over themselves.        In a landmark victory for supporters of assisted suicide, the California State Legislature on Friday gave its final approval to a bill that would allow doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives. Four states — Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont — already allow physicians to  ... MORE