Conservative Icon Thomas Sowell Endorses Ted Cruz

by Jordan Schachtel.     The Supreme Court is paramount. Thomas Sowell, a leading intellectual who has been on the frontlines of the conservative movement for decades, is endorsing Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as his choice to be the next President of the United States. Writing in RealClearPolitics, Sowell explained that “the vacancy created   ... MORE

Politicians are Dividing Americans into Two Classes: Those Who Work for a Living and Those Who Vote for a Living

by James Bovard.      Success of a vote-buying scheme. In Iraq and Afghanistan, US military officers routinely handed bundles of cash to local residents to buy influence and undermine resistance to the American occupation. Such payments came in especially handy after US troops inadvertently killed innocent civilians or sheep. Billions of dollars  ... MORE

VIDEO: The Endorsements

John W. Whitehead: The People Vs The Police State

The struggle for justice in the Supreme Court.    The untimely death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia has predictably created a political firestorm. Republicans and Democrats, eager to take advantage of an opening on the Supreme Court, have been quick to advance their ideas about Scalia’s replacement. This is just the beginning of the     ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: Justice Scalia & Constitutional Fidelity

Integrity matters. When the sad news came of the sudden death this past weekend of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, I wept for my friend. We had developed a happy friendship during the past 15 years, one which I had selfishly hoped would endure. He permitted his friends to see all of him. We knew him to be in private just as he appeared in   ... MORE

VIDEO: What Is Social Justice?

Debt Collection, At The End Of A Gun (Update)

by Scott Greenfield.     A good friend came to me decades ago with a problem. He received a letter from the Department of Education informing him that he had to repay his student loans that had been incurred decades earlier. He did repay them, he told me. “You have proof?” I asked. Are you kidding? It was 25 years ago. I threw the checks away decades  ... MORE

Occupational Licensing Regulations Stifle Job Creation

from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.      How long do you think it takes to train to become a licensed barber in Nevada?   A month?  Six months?  Maybe a year?  Nope. Try 2½ years. In a recent piece for Politico, Andy Koenig points out that barbers are among dozens of entry- and mid-level professions harmed by out-of-control occupational      ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: The Lure Of Socialism

All that glitters is not gold. Many people of mature years are amazed at how many young people have voted for Senator Bernie Sanders, and are enthusiastic about the socialism he preaches. Many of those older people have lived long enough to have seen socialism fail, time and again, in countries around the world. Venezuela, with all its rich oil    ... MORE

Nick Gillespie: Donald Trump & Bernie Sanders Are Burning the GOP & Democratic Party To The Ground, Thank God

A little good news for libertarians.       With the South Carolina primaries and Nevada caucuses in plain view, there seems little to no question that 2016's key interlopers, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, are still a problem for their respective "parties" (I use scare quotes because neither of them is really a member of either group). This reality  ... MORE

VIDEO: Finally It's Lights Out For The Stupid CFL Lightbulbs

Tim Cook Is An American Hero: Apple Will Fight Against Court Order To Unlock iPhone To Government Searches

Side fighting for individual liberty is not the government. Tuesday night, a California court ordered Apple to assist the FBI in hacking an iPhone. It’s an unprecedented request, one with potentially huge repercussions for the privacy and security of every Apple customer. This morning, Apple CEO Tim Cook posted an impassioned defense  ... MORE

Global Warming Fund A Slush Fund For World’s Dictators

by Marian Tupy.  Wherever you stand on the subject of global warming, pay close attention to one under-reported aspect of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference or Paris Agreement. I am referring to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), which is a financial mechanism intended "to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation    ... MORE

VIDEO: Charles Payne - Negative Interest Rates

Armed Marshals Bust Man Over Unpaid Student Loan

by Michael Harthorne.   And they aren't stopping there. Seven armed US Marshals in combat gear showed up on the doorstep of 48-year-old Paul Aker's home Thursday in Houston, the New York Daily News reports. His crime? Failing to pay a $1,500 student loan he received in 1987. "I say, 'What is this all about?'" Aker recalls. "They say, 'Shut up,   ... MORE

John Stossel: Robot Cars

A safer way to travel.     The Tesla S is the closest thing to a totally driverless car available now. I had to leave my state to test-drive it. New York's archaic laws forbid taking both hands off the wheel. Once outside New York, the Tesla representative in the passenger seat had me turn on the autopilot. Suddenly, I was doing nothing. The car drove    ... MORE

How And Why Gov't Will ‘Borrow’ Your Retirement Savings

by Simon Black.    The stage is set. According to financial research firm ICI, total retirement assets in the Land of the Free now exceed $23 trillion. $7.3 trillion of that is held in Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). That’s an appetizing figure, especially for a government that just passed $19 trillion in debt and is in pressing need of new funding sources.  ... MORE

Jackie Mason Says That If Michael Bloomberg Is Serious About Gun Control, He Should Disarm His 12 Bodyguards

by Awr Hawkins.   Comic Jackie Mason says that if Michael Bloomberg is serious about gun control, he should disarm the 12 bodyguards who hedge in his every move. Otherwise, Bloomberg is just a hypocrite benefiting from the safety of a wall of guns, while calling for Americans to forfeit the safety that guns could bring to them and their      ... MORE

VIDEO: GOP Candidates - Replacing Justice Scalia

Thomas Sowell: Tragedy And Choices

Where Donald Trump may lead.     Amid the petty bickering, loud rhetoric and sordid attack ads in this year's primary election campaigns, the death of a giant — Justice Antonin Scalia — suddenly overshadows all of that. The vacancy created on the Supreme Court makes painfully clear the huge stakes involved when we choose a President of the United   ... MORE

NYPD Wants To Make "Resisting Arrest" Into A Felony

by Cory Doctorow.      Cops want sharper teeth. It's no secret that "resisting arrest" is the go-to excuse for violence committed against suspects by corrupt cops -- it's practically a running gag. But if NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton gets his way, resisting arrest will offer near-perfect impunity to his force's most violent and sleazy officers,    ... MORE

VIDEO: How Big Is The U.S. Debt?

US Bill Aims To Stop State Bans Of Encrypted Phones

by Lance Whitney.      Imagine not being able to buy an iPhone in your state because the device's data is protected by encryption. A couple of Congressmen are trying to make sure that can't happen. The Encrypt Act of 2016, short for Ensuring National Constitutional Rights of Your Private Telecommunications Act, would deny states the power to block  ... MORE

Felony Charge For Selling A Wisconsin Beer In Minnesota

by Brian Doherty.      Complete f-ing insanity from the outskirts of the Land of the Free, as reported by Minnesota Star-Tribune, about a former pair of publicans from Minnesota who will be going to court in March facing felony charges for selling Spotted Cow beer at the Maple Tavern in Maple Grove, Minnesota. The former owner and manager (the bar is    ... MORE

How The Politics Of The Next Nomination Will Play Out

by Tom Goldstein.   Excellent analysis!  This post substantially revises and supersedes my earlier one on how the political parties will likely approach the Scalia vacancy, in which I had concluded that Ninth Circuit Judge Paul Watford was the most likely nominee.  On reflection, I think that Attorney General Loretta Lynch is more likely.  I also   ... MORE

Socialism At Work: Venezuela Has Run Out Of Food

by Frances Martel.    Venezuela’s opposition legislature has declared a “nutritional emergency,” proclaiming that the country simply does not have enough food to feed its population. The move comes after years of socialist rationing and shortages that forced millions to wait on lines lasting as long as six hours for a pint of milk, a bag of flour,    ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Minimum Wage, Maximum Folly

U.S. Intel Chief James Clapper: We Could Use Your Fridge To Spy On You - Do Digital Searches Require A Warrant?

Our ubiquitous government.  United States Intelligence Chief James Clapper has come out and said the government can now use your refrigerator to spy on you, according to a report presented to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “In the future, intelligence services might use the [Internet of Things] for identification, surveillance, ... MORE

Bad News: Millennials Prefer Socialism Over Capitalism

by Katie Pavlich.    America's largest generation. When socialist Bernie Sanders beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in a landslide Tuesday in New Hampshire, he crushed her among young voters by a whopping 83 percent. Sander's message of "income inequality" (Hillary has one too, but her Wall Street ties and personal wealth make it transparent)  ... MORE

VIDEO: A Progressive's Guide To Political Correctness

Walter E Williams: Clinton And Sanders And Progressivism

The same Constitutional contempt as their predecessors. Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders seek to claim the "progressive" mantle. Both claim the other is not a true progressive. Clinton teased Sanders as being the "self-proclaimed gatekeeper for progressivism." Bernie Sanders said that Hillary    ... MORE

Baylen Linnekin: Is Mexico's Soda Tax Really Working?

Less consumption, same obesity.    Mexico has become the most obese country in the world. In a purported effort to combat the problem, the country implemented a one-peso-per-liter excise tax on sugar-sweetened beverages in January 2014. That tax, supporters claim, is working. A 2015 working paper by University of Chicago Prof.   ... MORE

Dennis Sevakis: Is It Possible To Restrain The Federal Judiciary Or Downsize The Federal Government?

A population frozen in an extended adolescence.      When one man, Justice Anthony Kennedy, acting as the deciding swing vote on the Supreme Court, declared that “gay marriage” was now the law of land for a country of some 320 million persons, he may as well have been seated on a planet other than the one originally occupied by the men who   ... MORE

Georgia Democrats Back ‘Assault Weapon’ Confiscation Bill

by Awr Hawkins.    On January 11, Democrats in Georgia’s state house introduced a bill that bans “assault weapons” and opens the door for the “seizure” of such weapons, along with accessories like “high capacity” magazines. According to the text of HB 731, the bill focuses on ” dangerous instrumentalities and practices” by prohibiting the    ... MORE

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Wealth, Poverty And Politics

Hayden Bird: Just Legalize Sports Gambling Already

The right to spend your money as you want.  NBA Commissioner Adam Silver reiterated a point in a recent TV interview that he famously made in a New York Times op-ed in 2014. Sports gambling, currently illegal in the United States, should be brought into the light. For the sizable demographic of people who oppose legalization of sports betting,  ... MORE

CTV News: Watch What You Say In Front Of A Smart TV!

You might want a dumb tv.     A "smart" TV that listens and responds to your voice commands? Sounds like a nifty idea -- until the manufacturer reminds you that your TV is listening to your private conversations too. Samsung recently unveiled a new line of Internet-connected Smart TVs that can stream customized content and show recommendations. ... MORE

VIDEO: Why Robots Won't Destroy The Human Race

Emails Reveal Press Literally Taking Orders From Hillary

by Jeff Blake.     The emails were obtained by Gawker as part of a large Freedom of Information Act request it made back in 2012. They show a 2009 exchange between Marc Ambinder, then-politics editor of The Atlantic, and Philippe Reines, a close assistant and adviser to Clinton during her days as Secretary of State. Ambinder asked Reines for  ... MORE

Twitter Is Gearing Up To Interfere In The Election

by Milo Yiannopoulos.       Last week, a report from BuzzFeed claimed that Twitter was about to implement an algorithmic news feed, a departure from the chronologically-ordered tweets which users have grown accustomed to, and by which the platform is defined. CEO Jack Dorsey sought to calm users by saying they had no plans to implement  ... MORE