Victor Davis Hanson: Can California Be Saved?

So naturally rich but so poorly run.  Crime is back up in California. Los Angeles reported a 20.6 percent increase in violent crimes over the first half of 2015 and nearly an 11 percent increase in property crimes. Last year, cash-strapped California taxpayers voted for Proposition 47, which so far has let thousands of convicted criminals go free  ... MORE

Why Overregulation Of Payday Lenders Is A Bad Idea

by Veronique de Rugy.  Combating bad ideas would be much easier if they were all backed by ill intent.   More often than not, however, the opposite is true, and the worst government policies are enacted with the intention to help.   Such is apparently the case with the aggressive campaign by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to      ... MORE

VIDEO: Rand Paul - Domestic Policies

Volkswagen’s Cheating Was Not Selfish But Self Destructive

by Jaana Woiceshyn.      Media coverage of Volkswagen’s astounding emissions-rigging scandal continues, for a good reason: the company’s (the executive’s who authorized the cheating and of all those who went along with it) immoral conduct led the company’s share price to fall by 35%, and the company can now expect $18 billion in fines as well as     ... MORE

Poll Says Marijuana Legalization Support Nears 60%

by Trevor Hughes.   More Americans than ever are smoking, eating and drinking marijuana, and they now overwhelmingly support full legalization of the long-banned plant, a new study and poll show. A Gallup poll released Wednesday shows 58% of American adults think marijuana should be legal, up from 51% a year ago, with just 40% believing it     ... MORE

VIDEO: Should Majorities Decide Everything?

Proof The System Is Broken Beyond A Reasonable Doubt

by Carlos Miller.        Serving the public like Colonel Sanders serves chicken. Juley Harris pulled into a Maryland gas station last December with his family and pumped some gas before stepping into the station’s convenience store and heating up a pizza. When he stepped out, a Charles County sheriff’s deputy was demanding his identification,      ... MORE

Stephen Moore: Winning the Debt-Limit Fight

Putting the brakes on exploding debt.   During his eight years in office, Barack Obama is on pace to have increased the national debt by a horrific $8 trillion — and, ironically, the folks on Wall Street and the mavens of the media still portray congressional Republicans as the fiscal bad boys for trying to slow down the blizzard of borrowing.    ... MORE

Global Cops, Precrime & The War On Domestic ‘Extremists’

by John W. Whitehead. Are you afraid that the government is plotting to confiscate your firearms? Do you believe the economy is about to collapse and the government will soon declare martial law? Do you display an unusual number of political and/or ideological bumper stickers on your car? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, you may  ... MORE

Forced Silence Is One Way To Shut Up Political Opponents

by John Stossel.   Campaign finance rules = major threat to freedom. In a democracy, citizens must be able to criticize their leaders. It's a reason America's founders put free speech in the Bill of Rights. I assumed that right is safe in the United States. So I was shocked to learn what happened in Wisconsin. Before dawn, Deborah Jordahl was    ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Rule Breakers Vs Regulatory State

Paul Albaugh: The Need for Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform

Because theft should not be a legal activity.    Among the many reforms needed in government, civil asset forfeiture might be near the top. While a majority of Americans are not affected by the practice, it’s a problem that if left unchecked could get more out of hand than it already is. The French philosopher Frederic Bastiat warned of “legal   ... MORE

The National Security Case For Free-Market Energy

by James Carafano.        The House has passed legislation calling for liberalizing energy exports.  Two Senate committees have approved similar bills.  Whether the legislation becomes law this year remains unknown.  But even if the bill doesn’t make it, pressure on Washington will continue to build. At the height of the “energy crisis” in the 1970s,      ... MORE

VIDEO: Self-Ownership And The Right To Say No

Federal Court Orders The DEA To Stop Harassing Medical Marijuana Providers And Instead Start Obeying The Law

Enforcement zealots must learn to obey the law. In a scathing decision, a federal court in California has ruled that the Drug Enforcement Administration's interpretation of a recent medical marijuana bill "defies language and logic," "tortures the plain meaning of the statute" and is "at odds with fundamental notions of the rule of law." The ruling     ... MORE

Republican Party Realizes It Has A Donald Trump Problem

by Peter Suderman.   Wait a minute—is Donald Trump actually going to win the Republican presidential nomination? All throughout the summer, critics (including me) dismissed Trump as a novelty item—amusing for a moments, but thoroughly disposable and certain to be disposed of. But now it’s the end of October, and Trump is still leading the GOP    ... MORE

Rumors Of Paul Campaign’s Demise Greatly Exaggerated

by Josh Guckert.     A CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday morning shows Rand Paul firmly in the hunt for the Republican nomination, as he is tied with 2008 runner-up Mike Huckabee and within the margin of error of overtaking both Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio, who are tied for third place behind Donald Trump and Ben Carson. Paul does exceptionally    ... MORE

Ted Cruz: Internet Freedom & Free Speech In Great Peril

by John Hayward.   Sen. Ted Cruz is issuing a strong warning about the threats to free speech and Internet freedom. “You know, the Obama FCC has invoked the Fairness Doctrine a number of times with sort of wistful glances to the past. Nostalgia,” he said. “You know if I had suggested years ago that the Obama administration would send government    ... MORE

VIDEO: FOX NEWS: Hillary Clinton and Gun Confiscation

Thomas Sowell: Undefined Words Are A Big Plus In Politics

Charlatans work the hot buttons.   At the recent televised debate among candidates for the Democrats' nomination for president, Hillary Clinton declared that "the wealthy pay too little" in taxes and "the middle class pays too much." Some people might wish to argue about whether that is true or not, but no rational argument can be made on either  ... MORE

Walter E Williams: The Liberal And Progressive Vision

Here's my question to you:     If an evil person is guaranteed that he can inflict physical pain upon others and guaranteed to never suffer pain himself, what happens to his willingness to inflict pain? You say, "What do you mean, Williams?" OK, I will make my question more concrete. Suppose a young punk knows that he can knock out an innocent person  ... MORE

VIDEO: Fighting ACLU's Attempt To Destroy School Choice

Police State America 2016: The Case Of An Unarmed Teen Who Flashed His Brights At A Cop And Ended Up Shot Dead

See the video from the police cruiser.   The family of an unarmed teenager shot dead by a sheriff's deputy during a Michigan traffic stop in February has filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit alleging that the officer's "entire course of action was illegal." The lawsuit, filed Wednesday against Eaton County Sheriff's Sgt. Jonathan Frost and the county, ... MORE

The Creative Destruction Of Nudity In Playboy Magazine

by Sarah Skwire.       Playboy has finally found a new way to shock and titillate America.The magazine has announced that it will no longer feature full nudity. Instead, it will be moving toward a partially clad, cheesecake pin-up style.When I heard the news, I immediately wondered what the great economist Joseph Schumpeter would have made  ... MORE

Peter Schiff: The Death Of A Patriot

Crushed for what he believed in.    My father Irwin A. Schiff was born Feb. 23rd 1928, the 8th child and only son of Jewish immigrants, who had crossed the Atlantic twenty years earlier in search of freedom. As a result of their hope and courage my father was fortunate to have been born into the freest nation in the history of the world.  But when ... MORE

Hillary Knows Civil Liberties And Executive-Power Abuse Only Matters When Republicans Run The White House

by Matt Welch.          Hillary Clinton is nothing if not responsive to the changing winds of Democratic Party opinion. As CNN's Anderson Cooper succinctly put it to her in the very first question of last week's Democratic presidential debate, "You were against same-sex marriage. Now you're for it. You defended President Obama's immigration policies.     ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - GOP Street Artist Sabo

Richard Juman: Why A Man Who Fought The Drug War For 30 Years Is Now Spearheading The Project To Stop It

Understanding Portugal's model.     When it comes to the War on Drugs, there are few people in a better position to comment on the futility, brutality and tragedy of the endeavor than retired Major Neill Franklin. He spent over 30 years participating in, and directing, state and local police anti-drug efforts before retiring to become the    ... MORE

Why These "Libertarianism-Is-Over” Stories Are Dumb

by Jack Hunter.     I’ve been asked about these types of articles a few times now. Earlier this month, Fox News published “The collapse of Rand Paul and the libertarian moment that never was,” by Jerry Taylor, president of the Niskanen Center, a Washington, DC think tank. Taylor wrote, “If there were any significant support for Libertarian    ... MORE

VIDEO: Where Can You Smoke Legal Pot In Colorado?

Nullification In Effect: Oregonians Defy Feds, Spend Millions On Marijuana In First Week Of Legal Sales

$3.5 million of sales on first day.        In the first week of limited marijuana sales in Oregon, dispensaries sold a staggering $11 million of weed – more than double the numbers from Colorado’s first week – proving state laws legalizing cannabis truly do nullify federal prohibition in practice. The Free Thought Project reported on the first week  ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: Why Is Hillary So Unhappy?

Her own worst enemy is hiding in the mirror.    Why is Hillary Clinton so unhappy? According to her, when she and her husband left the White House, they were dead broke. Yet they left with a truckload of valuable furniture, dinnerware and flatware that was the property of the federal government, for which they were never prosecuted.      ... MORE

John Stossel: Censorship In America

Hate speech is less dangerous than censorship. Support for the idea that it's good to hear all opinions, even offensive ones, is thin. A plurality of Americans now support laws against "hate speech." Conservatives once wanted to ban Playboy magazine, violent rap lyrics and offensive depictions of Jesus. Leftists then were right to fight    ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: The 'Gun Control' Farce

Another crack down on law-abiding citizens.  President Obama's intrusion into the mourning community of Roseburg, Oregon, in order to promote his political crusade for stronger gun control laws, is part of a pattern of his using various other sites of shooting rampages in the past to promote this long-standing ... MORE     The 'Gun Control' Farce: Part II.  

VIDEO: Richard Epstein - Income Inequality

Walter E Williams: Wealth, Poverty and Politics

Sowell's new book is a fun read.  Dr. Thomas Sowell, my colleague and friend, told me several years ago that he wasn't going to write any more books, but that was two books ago, and now he has just published his 45th. The man writes with both hands, as can be seen from his website, which lists his 45 books, 19 journal articles, 71 essays in       ... MORE

Stephen Moore: America's $12 Trillion House of Cards

A precarious situation indeed.       What is the price tag for the audacious Obamanomics experiment? How much has it all cost — the bailouts, the debt, the stimulus plans, the printing of cheap money, Obamacare and all the rest? The answer to that question is just shy of $12 trillion. That's the sum of the $8.3 trillion added to the national   ... MORE

VIDEO: What Does Liberty Really Mean?

Shaun King: Police State Torture - Savannah-Style

The cover-up of a man tortured to death in state custody.   It is now abundantly clear that Matthew Ajibade was murdered by police in Savannah, Georgia. For over 10 months, police and prosecutors have concealed the video evidence of his murder not only from the public, but from Ajibade's closest friends and family members. His death in   ... MORE

Poll: Gun Control Far Scarier Than ‘Mass Shootings’

by Awr Hawkins.       On October 13, Chapman University released its Survey of American Fears and revealed that more than twice as many Americans fear gun control than fear “mass shootings.” While those on the left may scratch their heads to wonder how this could be, the facts are that gun control leads to gun-free zones, which, in turn, appear   ... MORE