TSA Screens Holiday Travelers Once Again, With Feeling

by James Bovard.    Flyers must surrender privacy along with boarding passes. If you use hand sanitizer when traveling, the Transportation Security Administration can badger you as if you were a terrorist suspect. TSA is one of the biggest hassles many Americans will encounter this holiday season. I learned that firsthand while flying home from   ... MORE

Paul Bonneau: Why Renters Are Screwed

The forces are lined up against them.  Every now and then my wife and I get the itch to go into property rental. For example, we look at real estate listings on the Oregon Coast. A duplex would be nice, because we could take one unit for ourselves, and rent the other out. The renter could help watch our place while we were not around, and we  ... MORE

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - The Value Of Philosophy

Andrew Napolitano: The Spies Who Ruin Us

The Fourth Amendment has numerous virtues.   In an effort to draw attention away from the intelligence failures that permitted the attacks of 9/11 and create the impression that it was doing something — anything — to avoid a repeat, the federal government tampered seriously with freedoms expressly guaranteed in the Constitution.   ... MORE

Charles P. Pierce: That Whole "License To Steal" Thing

Civil forfeiture is a civil shitshow.       There was a very interesting statistic that popped earlier this month as regards criminals and criminal justice in the United States. According to economist Martin Armstrong, in 2014, the police seized through civil forfeiture more of the property of their fellow citizens than was stolen by all the burglars in the    ... MORE

VIDEO: Obama Thinks Gun Contol Will Deter Terrorists

Ed Krayewski: Video Captures A Knife-Wielding Man Surrounded And Executed By A Firing Squad Of Cops

Police admit five of the officers fired their guns.  Police in San Francisco shot and killed a man they say was a suspected stabber after he approached an officer while holding a knife. Video posted of the incident to Instagram shows at least nine officers pointing their guns at the man, who appears to be trying to walk away as an officer moves in   ... MORE

7 Ways The Government Wasted Your Tax Dollars Last Year

by Bre Payton. The federal government spent millions subsidizing Donald Trump’s new hotel, building a useless gas station in Afghanistan, and funding a study on the dating habits of senior citizens, according to a new report by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). The above findings are three of 100 ways the feds blew taxpayer dollars on ridiculous projects  ... MORE

Jacob Davidson: A Criminologist’s Case Against Gun Control

A law professor explains why he is skeptical.   In the wake of the recent mass shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood that claimed three lives, President Barack Obama called the incidents of gun violence in America “not normal.” “Enough is enough,” Obama said. According to one count, there have been 351 mass shootings in the United     ... MORE

NY Times Editorial: The Chicago Police Scandal

A conspiracy of concealment.    The cover-up that began 13 months ago when a Chicago police officer executed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald on a busy street might well have included highly ranked officials who ordered subordinates to conceal information. But the conspiracy of concealment exposed last week when the city, under court order, ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - The Value Of Freedom

Shikha Dalmia: Obamacare Is Falling Apart

Insurers are bolting from the exchanges.   President Obama has been hammered for his failure on ISIS in the wake of the Paris attacks. But there's at least one bright spot for him in that criticism: At least it deflected the spotlight from the unfolding catastrophe that is Obamacare. Indeed, last month brought arguably the worst news for the     ... MORE

Ted Abram: Big Government Caters To Crony Capitalism

Playing favorites. In the Democrat presidential debate, Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), an avowed socialist from Vermont, alluded to crony capitalism. “I'm running for president because as I go around this nation I talk to a lot of people. And what I hear is people concerned that the economy we have is a rigged economy.” In the Republican      ... MORE

VIDEO: Equal Pay - 77 Cents On The Dollar?

John Stossel: The Left Smears Inconvenient Truths

Like more guns mean less crime.   This week my TV show is on gun control. I interviewed activist Leah Barrett, who wants stricter gun laws. I pointed out that after most states loosened gun laws to let people carry guns, 29 peer-reviewed studies examined the effect. Eighteen found less crime, 10 found no difference and only one found an increase.  ... MORE

Free Speech Be Damned: Tyrannical Judge Orders Man Arrested And Jailed For Handing Out Jury Rights Fliers

by Barton Deiters.   Because justice is a result, not just a process. A 39-year-old former pastor was arrested and jailed in Mecosta County after he handed out fliers informing people about jury nullification in front of the county courthouse. Keith Wood said he was handing out pamphlets from the Fully Informed Jury Association on Nov. 24 while        ... MORE

David Kopel: The Costs And Consequences Of Gun Control

Weighing good and harm.   Today the Cato Institute published my monograph “The Costs and Consequences of Gun Control.” The policy analysis examines several gun control proposals which have been promoted by the Obama administration and the gun control lobby: bans on so-called assault weapons; bans on standard magazines; confiscation;   ... MORE

Lawrence J. McQuillan: Cutting Government Down To Size

#1 reason to elect Rand Paul.   The GOP debates so far have shown that the Republican presidential candidates are far from united on how best to boost the economy. Tax and regulatory reform are critical. But as a first step they should consider following the path Democrats took immediately after World War II: shrink the government. During  ... MORE

VIDEO: Ben Carson - Political Correctness

John W. Whitehead: The Surveillance State Is Alive & Well

Life in the electronic concentration camp.      Bottle up the champagne, pack away the noisemakers, and toss out the party hats. There is no cause for celebration. We have secured no major victories against tyranny. We have achieved no great feat in pushing back against government overreach. For all intents and purposes, the National ... MORE

J.D. Tuccille: Business Opportunities For Corrupt Cops

Drug laws and gun controls.  Following in the footsteps of so many people before him, Juan Pimentel saw opportunity in restrictive laws. It's an old story; government officials tell people they can't have what they want, and that prohibition creates a lucrative business opportunity for anybody willing to break the law to keep buyers happy. But     ... MORE

VIDEO: Is Climate Change Our Biggest Problem?

How To Rescue Free Speech In American Academia

by Nat Hentoff.       In last week’s column, I described how the national anti-free speech movement poses an imminent threat to freedom of expression in American academia. Those advocating for the anti-free speech movement attempt to interpret the “language of free speech” to their advantage so that it applies only to them, but not to      ... MORE

Civil Forfeiture Laws: It’s Mine, Until The Police Take It

by Paul Samakow.        Civil forfeiture laws allow police in just about every state to take citizens’ property, including cash, cars, electronics, even houses, without due process, simply by stating they believe the taken property was somehow involved in a criminal activity. Property can be legally taken without any charges being placed, without an    ... MORE

S. Fred Singer: The Burden Of Proof On Climate Change

Making America pay.      The burden of proof for Anthropogenic Climate Change falls on alarmists. Climate Change (CC) has been ongoing for millions of years – long before humans existed on this planet. Obviously, the causes were all of natural origin, and not anthropogenic. There is no reason to believe that these natural causes have     ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: A Resurgence Of Intolerance

Why do donors contribute to indoctrination centers?   Storm trooper tactics by bands of college students making ideological demands across the country, and immediate preemptive surrender by college administrators — such as at the University of Missouri recently — bring back memories of the 1960s, for those of us old enough to remember   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Dependency Culture Hurts Blacks

Walter E Williams: Can We Learn From Europe?

A valuable lesson for Americans.       Earlier this year, my column asked, "Will the West Defend Itself?" I pointed out that America's leftists and progressives believe that the U.S. should become more like Europe. I wonder whether they also want to import European policies that created barbaric extremism among its Muslim population. France's      ... MORE

Michael Lewitt: The Economy Is Coming Unglued

Signs that the wheels are coming off the wagon.     Commodity prices are plunging, the dollar is powering higher, Obamacare is collapsing, economies everywhere are faltering, and terrorism is spreading across the globe. That’s bad news. Unless you happen to be among the stock market investors who in the U.S. spent the last week bidding up stock   ... MORE

VIDEO: Legal Pot Will Soon Be Almost Everywhere

Obamacare Rules Brew Trouble For Craft Beer Makers

By Eric Boehm.  Obamacare regulations could be brewing up trouble for small breweries wanting to grow. Beginning next year, restaurant chains with more than 20 locations nationwide will be subject to new rules requiring calorie information on all menus. Restaurants will have to measure menu items made in-house, but when it comes to    ... MORE

Innocent Man Paralyzed After Unprovoked Police Beating

Cops arbitrarily destroy a man's life.    Family say a man beaten by three officers with the San Antonio police department last year is now paralyzed from the chest down after surgeons experienced complications attempting to repair his spine. Forty-three-year-old Roger Carlos was in the 10600 block of Westover Hills Blvd. in May, 2014 taking    ... MORE

John Kerr: Take Profit And Self-Interest Out Of Policing

All theft should be illegal.  Law enforcement officials have plenty of words to categorize property heists, including robbery, theft, burglary, embezzlement and larceny. Perhaps it’s time to add another term to the lexicon: civil forfeiture. Many Americans may not realize that civil forfeiture laws—which proliferated in the 1980s as the drug war   ... MORE

Phillip Schneider: Government May Be Too Tyrannical When It Seeks To Criminalize The Collection Of Rainwater

A war on self-sufficiency.   Collecting rainwater is classically seen as a safe and sustainable way of supplying your household with an off-the-grid water supply. Some people collect rainwater only for a backup reservoir, while others prefer to go all the way and maintain their household with pure off-the-grid rainwater collection. This method ensures  ... MORE

VIDEO: Andrew Napolitano - High Cost Of The War On Drugs

Alexandra Petri: In Defense Of Free Speech

A civil society does not require thought police.       I think it’s a great mistake to write off what is happening on campus right now as the demands of coddled youngsters for more coddling.  Good luck with that approach.  We are going to outlive you.  There is a much more serious discussion to be had.  Forty percent of millennials favor        ... MORE

Some Members Of Congress Want To Stop Squandering Tax Money On The DEA's Failed Marijuana Eradication Program

by Christopher Ingraham.    The Drug Enforcement Administration is not having a great year. The chief of the agency stepped down in April under a cloud of scandal. The acting administrator since then has courted ridicule for saying pot is "probably not" as dangerous as heroin, and more recently he provoked 100,000 petition-signers and seven       ... MORE

VIDEO: The Paris Terror Attack (2015) And Civil Liberty

The Corrupt System That Killed Laquan McDonald

by Conor Friedersdorf.  A Chicago cop now faces murder charges—but will anyone hold his colleagues, his superiors, and elected officials accountable for their failures? Thanks to clear video evidence, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged this week with first-degree murder for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Nevertheless, ... MORE

Economics Is About Scarcity, Property, and Relationships

by Michael J. McKay.   The other day I was having coffee with a new friend, a retired businessman who had customized luxury cars in California. I mentioned I had recently retired from owning an investment firm and had studied economics for many years, especially Austrian economics. Like so many people, he said, “I really don't understand economics    ... MORE