Thomas Sowell: Football and Fallacies

This is a football story with both political and legal implications.

It was fourth down in a National Football League game, and the punting team came onto the field. The other team went into their formation to defend against the punt. Then somebody noticed that the man set to kick the punt was black.  ... MORE

Why The Veterans Administration Doesn’t Work

This Veterans Day offers an excellent opportunity to review the welfare of veterans, especially those who have suffered wounds — physical and psychological — on the battlefield. Happily, the great majority of wounded veterans seem to be doing fine. They have dealt with their wounds and returned to productive society — proud of their service and loyal to the flag. They will be much in evidence today marching in Veterans Day parades.

But many others are not doing nearly as well,  ... MORE


Thomas Sowell: The Left and the Masses

The greatest moral claim of the political left is that they are for the masses in general and the poor in particular. 

That is also their greatest fraud. It even fools many leftists themselves. 
... MORE

🌟Jim Cardoza: Why Hillary Clinton is Flashing a Devilish Smile

"Certainly, one does not need 20-20 vision to see warts on Donald Trump. They are neon. He is brash, arrogant, far too glib, frequently insulting and routinely defensive. Unlike a polished politician, he hasn’t learned to measure his words and shroud his intentions. But while he is admittedly flawed in a myriad of ways, he does present two very under-appreciated qualities in the era of FBI cover-upssecret domestic surveillance and other hidden agenda schemes."
https://libertypenblog.blogspot.com/2016/10/jim-cardoza-why-hillary-clinton-is.html

The Welfare State: Promoting Dependency

Latest Update: October 17, 2016
THOMAS SOWELL: The Left and the Masses 
VIDEO: Nathaniel Branden - The Entitlement Mentality
Gov't dependency a 'narcoticenabling racial tensions
Sex, drugs and freedom: Why we fail to fix homelessness
VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Legacy of the Welfare State
THOMAS SOWELL: Is Personal Responsibility Obsolete? Part II
THOMAS SOWELL: Is Personal Responsibility Obsolete?


Walter E Williams: Transgenderism Can Be Helpful

North Carolina's legislative body passed the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act, which mandates a statewide policy banning individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond to their biological sex, as opposed to their opinion of their sex. That means people must use bathrooms and other public facilities where occupants can be in various  ... MORE


Exposed: FBI Director James Comey’s Clinton Foundation Connection

FBI DIRECTOR DISCOVERED ON THE TAKE FROM THE CLINTON FOUNDATION

A review of FBI Director James Comey’s professional history and relationships shows that the Obama cabinet leader — now under fire for his handling of the investigation of Hillary Clinton — is deeply entrenched in the big-money cronyism culture of Washington, D.C. His personal and professional relationships — all undisclosed as he announced the Bureau would not prosecute Clinton — reinforce bipartisan concerns that he may have politicized the criminal probe. 
... MORE

Hillary Clinton Health Update: Now Her Eyes Are Going Crazy

As Hillary Clinton’s health continues to be an issue in the final weeks of this year’s presidential contest, there is suddenly a focus on the Democrat’s “mysterious” eye movements during a speech Monday in Philadelphia.

“Hillary’s eyes appeared not in-sync with one another, as the left eye looked to be cock-eyed and displaced, especially as she looked towards the left,” noted John Binder of the American Mirror. The ocular phenomenon even prompted the popular Drudge Report to splash a banner headline reading, “Unfocused.” It featured a black-and-white still shot from Clinton’s appearance. Clinton’s speech in Philadelphia came the same day two doctors told WND the Democratic Party nominee is suffering a serious neurological disease that should disqualify her from being president. ... MORE


Here’s Why Abolishing the Police is Not a Crazy Idea

Are police necessary? Although this existential question often produces a knee-jerk ‘of course they are, who would protect us?’ a growing call for the abolition of police — and working examples to back it up — deserves more than scornful dismissal, particularly amid epidemic-level violence by agents of the state.

Police are under no obligation to protect the public they putatively serve — a series of state and Supreme Court decisions stretching back more than three decades indisputably establish this fact — so the lingering question, ‘who will protect us?’ is of no consequence to the case for dismantling every police department in the nation.

On the contrary, police kill, maim, intimidate, harass, and generally brutalize the citizenry with alarming frequency — and rarely face consequences beyond a paid vacation farcically termed ‘administrative leave’ for doing so.

Rather than fight and solve violent crimes, police act as little more than heavily militarized code-enforcers, or as David Graeber of the London School of Economics aptly terms, “bureaucrats with weapons” — protecting us from broken tail lights, missing front license plates, and imperfect lane changes more often than from robbery, homicide, and rape. ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Old Lies

We expect to hear a lot of lies during an election year, and this year is certainly no exception. What is surprising is how old some of these lies are, and how often they have been shown to be lies, years ago or even decades ago. ... MORE


Walter E Williams - Compensating Differences

What economists call an ability to make "compensating differences" is a valuable tool in everyone's arsenal. If people are prohibited from doing so, they are always worse off. You say, "Williams, I never heard of compensating differences. 

What are they?" Jimmy Soul's 1963 hit song, "If You Wanna Be Happy," explained the concept of compensating differences. His lyrics went: "If you want to be happy for the rest of your life, never make a pretty woman your wife. So from my personal point of view, get an ugly girl to marry you." His point was that an ugly woman would treat you better. But more importantly, a less attractive woman's willingness to compensate for her differences enables her to effectively compete with a pretty woman. ... MORE


Government Eyes Are Watching Every Move You Make

by John W. Whitehead.  Government eyes are watching you. They see your every move: what you read, how much you spend, where you go, with whom you interact, when you wake up in the morning, what you’re watching on television and reading on the internet. Every move you make is being monitored, mined for data, crunched, and tabulated in   ... MORE

Licensing Laws Shut Young People Out Of The Job Market

by Ben Casselman.  Young people entering the job market have always faced challenges: a lack of skills and experience, limited professional networks, unfamiliarity with workplace culture and expectations. But increasingly, they are also facing another obstacle: legal requirements that can shut off avenues to jobs before they even get the chance  ... MORE

Limits To President Obama's Executive Order Authority

by Andrew Napolitano.      In 2014, President Barack Obama signed 12 executive orders directing various agencies in the departments of State, Justice and Homeland Security to refrain from deporting some four million adult immigrants illegally present in the United States if they are the parents of children born here or legally present here and if they    ... MORE

Thom Dunn: A 7-Month-Old Baby Is On The No-Fly List

Our proactive stance on terrorism.      In 2012, a 7-month-old baby was designated as a "known or suspected terrorist threat" by airport security and placed on the no-fly list. That baby is now 4 years old and is one of 18 plaintiffs listed in a lawsuit filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations in April seeking damages for those who have  ... MORE

The Profit Incentives Driving The Police State

by John W. Whitehead. If there is an absolute maxim by which the federal government seems to operate, it is that the American taxpayer always gets ripped off. Not only are American taxpayers forced to “spend more on state, municipal, and federal taxes than the annual financial burdens of food, clothing, and housing combined,” but we’re  ... MORE

50-Year Disaster Of Government Trains, Buses & Streetcars

by Daniel Bier.  Today, Less than 2% of trips use transit. Ronald Reagan once quipped that "government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it." There, in a nutshell, you have a short history of mass transit in America. CEI's Marc Scribner explains,  ... MORE

VIDEO: Murray Sabrin - Economics & The Federal Reserve

5 Reasons Conservatives Should Support Pot Legalization

by James McClure.   Ever wonder how to bring up marijuana with your conservative friends, family or coworkers? You're in luck because there's an activist group that specializes in getting that sort of discussion started. RAMP (Republicans Against Marijuana Prohibition) is dedicated to persuading people to rethink their position on cannabis. We     ... MORE

Ed Snowden Thinks A Global iPhone Attack Will Happen This Year As A Result Of The FBI's Battle With Apple

by Jason Lederman. A grim prediction in the wake the FBI's battle with Apple. In the wake of the FBI's legal battle with Apple, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has made a bold prediction. Snowden wrote in a pair of tweets today that he believes iPhones around the world will be globally compromised by August, due to the FBI's "refusal ... MORE

VIDEO: Comedy, College & The Fight To Save Free Speech

The Cruelty Of The $15 Minimum Wage

by Nick Gillespie & Jim Epstein.   The $15 minimum wage just went from "laughable" to "viable"—as a New York Times headline put it—to the law of the land for millions of New York and California residents. In April 2016, the Empire and Golden states almost simultaneously passed laws that will boost the state-mandated wage floor to $15 over the     ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: Obama Damns Hillary With Faint Praise

Excuse the gross negligence, please.    President Barack Obama's recent remarks to my Fox News colleague Chris Wallace about Hillary Clinton's email issues were either Machiavellian or dumb. It is difficult to tell from them whether he wants the mountain of evidence of her criminal behavior presented to a federal grand jury or he wants her to     ... MORE

The Crypto Wars Are About Power, Not Terrorism

by Andrea Castillo.        The FBI may have been able to unlock San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook’s work-related iPhone without conscripting Apple as an unwilling hacker, but that has not slowed down the government’s broader war on encrypted technologies one bit. It didn’t take long for another tragic terrorist attack, this one in Belgium, ... MORE

Green Light For Jury-Nullification Crusaders

by Emma Gannone.     The 10th Circuit upheld an injunction that lets protesters disseminate pamphlets about jury nullification outside a state courthouse in Colorado. Jury nullification describes the practice by which a jury acquits a defendant, despite evidence of his guilt, because the jury members believe the law at issue is immoral. Protests over   ... MORE

VIDEO: Stossel - Trump: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Another Sexual Assault In Service Of The Drug War

by Jacob Sullum.   Public servants or simple perverts, you decide. Yet another case of a driver sexually assaulted in the name of the war on drugs dramatically illustrates the dangerously broad power that police officers have to mess with motorists. According to a lawsuit filed last September, described in a February 3 ruling by federal judge in         ... MORE

Trump Movement Is Backlash Against Political Correctness

by Robby Soave.  Stephen Baldwin—the actor, outspoken conservative, and brother of Alec Baldwin—supports Donald Trump for president, and his main reason is this: Trump is against political correctness. "The first policy of his that I favor is this guy is gonna take a stand when it comes to the BS of the PC—the political correctness," said Baldwin in an interview  ... MORE

VIDEO: Top Three Lies Of Feminism

Protecting Consumers From Speech-Chilling Lawsuits

by Michael Beckerman.    Summer is almost here, which means sun, fun, and summer vacations. It also means many of us are going to be spending time browsing online reviews to preview the good, the bad, and the ugly on travel locations. Imagine a world in which a hotel company could sue customers because they didn’t like their stay. What if  ... MORE

John Stossel: Another Libertarian Moment?

An alternative to Clinton and Trump.  The Libertarian Party might get more votes this year. Before the primaries, Time Magazine, frequent pusher of trends that do not exist, put Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ken.) on its cover and called him the "most interesting man in politics." Then Paul fizzled, and pundits said the "libertarian moment," if there ever was   ... MORE

Juries Were Supposed To Be Able To Overturn Laws

by Clay Conrad.   History is clear. The law is unclear on exactly what a jury is. Juries can range from four to 12 members, depending on the state and case. In two states, criminal juries need not reach unanimous judgments. In some states, jurors can question witnesses. There have even been arguments for so-called professional jurors. Some believe   ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: The 'Voice Of The People' Fallacy

An understanding of convenience.      We hear many fallacies in election years. The fallacy that seems to be most popular this year is that, if Donald Trump comes close to getting the 1,237 delegates required to become the Republican nominee, and that nomination goes instead to someone else, then the convention will have ignored "the voice   ... MORE

VIDEO: Jury Nullification, Jury Rights & Jury Independence

Raising Minimum Wage Is Perfect Way To Kill Summer Jobs

by Jonah Goldberg.   Expect more teenagers on the streets. I had a lot of summer jobs. I was a foot messenger in New York for a couple of summers. I worked as a receptionist and mail-room flunky. Before my junior year of high school, I briefly sold ice-cream snacks — sort of yuppie bonbons — on the street for a company called Love Bites.     ... MORE

Hyprocrisy On Steroids: California Labor Union That Fought To Impose $15 Minimum Wage Now Wants An Exemption

The point is to drive up the costs of their competition.  The labor union that led the charge for a $15 minimum wage hike in cities across California is now moving to secure an exemption for employers under union contracts. The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor buried the exemption on the eighth page of its 12-page proposal for the  ... MORE

VIDEO: Ayn Rand - The Rational Mind

Red Light Cams Linked To Rear-End Collisions In Chicago

by Dan Kedmey.   New study casts doubts on the claims that cameras improve road safety. A new Chicago-focused study links red light cameras to a coinciding rise in rear-end collisions, casting doubts on claims that the mounted cameras improve safety at intersections. The study’s findings, published by the Chicago Tribune Friday, found that while   ... MORE

Dear AG, Conspiring Against Free Speech Is A Crime

by Glenn Harlan Reynolds.    Breaking the law to shut up climate change dissenters. Federal law  makes it a felony “for two or more persons to agree together to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in any state, territory or district in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him/her by the Constitution or the laws of   ... MORE

Europe Sacrifices Free Speech For Political Correctness

by Dr. Michael Hurd.     Europe has gone crazy. Yes, there are the terrorist attacks. But it’s the political correctness and censorship, too. Governments in Europe are literally sacrificing their citizens for the sake of not offending Islam. Here’s an example. Anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders went on trial last Friday for allegedly inciting hatred against the  ... MORE

More People Recognizing Copyright's 'Free Speech Problem'

by Mike Masnick.  For many years now, we've written about the fact that copyright law and the First Amendment are actually in quite a lot of conflict. After all, copyright is regularly used to stifle speech, and the First Amendment isn't supposed to allow for the barring of speech. Over the years, legal experts have been increasingly starting to realize    ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Trump Appeal

Economic Inequality Is Not Increasing. Propaganda Is

by Gary North.    It never ends. We are besieged by articles on today's increasing economic inequality. These articles have three things in common: 1. Each one has a favorite explanation/boogeyman. 2. Each one calls for political reforms to make things more equal. 3. Each one fails to mention Pareto's 20/80 law. Here is the main problem with these  ... MORE

Ed Spillane: Many Judges Continue To Jail Defendants Without Money To Pay Fines. Here Are The Alternatives.

Why one judge refuses to send such folks to jail.   Melissa J. showed up in my court last year with four kids in tow. Her children quietly watched from a nearby table while I spoke with her. The charges against her — driving with an invalid license, driving without insurance, not wearing a seat belt, failure to use a child safety seat properly  ... MORE

VIDEO: Why The Public Is Losing Respect For The Badge


Public servants or statist bullies? You decide. 

Walter E Williams: Attacking Our Nation's Founders

Undermining the Constitution to gain greater control.  During Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign visit to Liberty University, he told the students that our nation was created on racist principles. Students at a Christian-based university, such as Liberty, do not often hear the founders-as-racists argument. But it is featured at many other universities, ... MORE

$15 Minimum Wage Follies In California And New York

by Ronald Bailey.   Good intentions, but a near total failure as an anti-poverty policy. Both California and New York have just adopted measures to raise their minimum wages to $15 an hour over the next few years. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti hailed the increase, declaring, "Today California leads the nation once again, passing a historic    ... MORE