October 21, 2019

FISA court ruled that FBI improperly used NSA surveillance data to snoop on Americans

fromNola.com:  In 2017 alone, the FBI conducted over 3.1 million searches of surveillance data

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

A New Orleans man faced a felony marijuana charge; too many potential jurors wouldn't consider it

fromNola.com: Jury nullification. Learn it, love it, live it.

Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

The late great state of California

fromMisesInstitute: Are people leaving California? More people are out-migrating to other states than those coming in, but much of that was offset by international migrants resulting in a net population loss of only 38,000 (2018).

The Government is Not Us

Tulsi Gabbard: Canary in the Democratic coal mine

fromAmericanSpectator: The imminent demise of her presidential campaign portends disaster for her party.

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Walter E Williams - Intolerance in academia

fromCreators: There's nothing better than the sounds of pocketbooks snapping shut to bring a bit of sanity to college administrators.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Mentions of government as top U.S. problem near record high

fromGallup: "Government," which includes negative comments about leadership and politicians, has been the top problem in 31 of Gallup's 34 readings since January 2017.

The Government is Not Us

May 29, 2019

"The most destructive breach In history": Hackers use NSA code to grind Baltimore to a halt

fromReason: It has now been revealed that a key component of the malware used by cyber-criminals was actually developed just a short drive from Baltimore - at the NSA, according to the New York Times.

The Government is Not Us

Walter E Williams: Slavery is neither strange nor peculiar

fromReason: The favorite leftist tool for the attack on our nation's founding is that slavery was sanctioned.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

IRS defends giving refunds to illegal immigrants

fromFoxNewsInsider: In a letter to Congress, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen defended the decision to allow illegal immigrants to get refunds from the agency.

The Government is Not Us

Weapons of war on our streets: A guide to the militarization of America's police

fromAmmo: The only people with “weapons of war” on America’s streets are, increasingly, the police.

Police State America

“Truth ultimately Is all we have:” Julian Assange appeals for public support

fromGlobalResearch: “The US government or rather those regrettable elements in it that hate truth liberty and justice want to cheat their way into my extradition and death rather than letting the public hear the truth."

Indoctrination and Censorship

The inside story of how Denver decriminalized magic mushrooms

fromReason: Decriminalize Denver campaign director Kevin Matthews speaks about his winning strategy and the new frontier of drug policy.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

May 21, 2016

Google’s Selfish Ledger is an unsettling vision of Silicon Valley social engineering

fromTheVerge: This internal video shows a Google concept for how total data collection could reshape society.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Study: Voters worried about political correctness flocked to candidate Trump

fromReason: "Support for Trump (and opposition to Clinton) is especially likely amongst people who feel emotional reactance to restrictive communication norms."
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Video of a bully cop getting owned by an informed citizen

fromTheDailyMail: Cops should learn the law just to avoid embarrassment if nothing else.
Police State America

It's time to put our federal meat inspection law out to pasture

fromReason: Outdated regulations are hampering the beef meat industry.
Regulation Nation

Want to listen to police scanners? Cops say no more

fromTheWallStreetJournal: In a police state, authorities operate in secret. Their actions are seldom made public.
Police State America

State sets massive precedent, passes law to effectively ban the NSA

fromTheVerge: Michigan seeks to become a sanctuary state from the privacy invasions of federal snoops by honoring the Fourth Amendment.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

March 27, 2016

CDC admits Rx opioid deaths ‘significantly inflated’

fromThePainNewsNetwork: So-called epidemic is wildly exaggerated. Four CDC researchers say many overdoses involving illicit fentanyl and other synthetic black market opioids have been counted as prescription drug deaths. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     Regulation Nation

FDA’s low-nicotine cigarette scheme is an invitation to black market vendors

fromReason: People will find sources for what they want no matter what presumptuous regulators say. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     Regulation Nation

Unlawful FISA spying widespread under Obama administration

fromTheEpochTimes: Relaxation of privacy policies paved the way for FBI and NSA to spy on Americans. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

FL students who begged gov’t to take their rights away, now angry gov’t took away their rights

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: These poor little dupes were encouraged by government to protest—and now they are getting what they asked for—less rights. 
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange     Regulation Nation

Study: More students are getting A's, but SAT scores aren't keeping up

fromCBSNews: New research shows that 47 percent of high school seniors graduated last year with an "A" average -- up from about 39 percent in 1998. But average SAT scores fell 24 points in that same period. 
Indoctrination and Censorship

Chicago dungeon master to teach college students BDSM practices

fromTheCollegeFix: Higher education 2018. 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

February 2, 2018

The full text of the Nunes memo

fromVox: The draining of the swamp begins now. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption     The Government is Not Us

FISA memo "will shake FBI to the core" as Director Wray said to consider quitting

fromZeroHedge: The potential release of the memo penned by House Intelligence Chairman Rep. Devin Nunes has set up a standoff with Trump against both the FBI and Department of Justice. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption     The Government is Not Us

Cops raid licensed chef’s home, steal his cooking equipment—for feeding the homeless

fromTheFreeThoughtProject: A local chef, who had his food handler's license was raided by a dozen cops and health department officials who stole all of his equipment because he fed the homeless without a proper permit. 
Regulation Nation     Police State America

U.S. private sector job creation blows away consensus in January

fromThePeoplesPundit: Pro-free market measures help the service-providing sector added a whopping 212,000 jobs in January. 
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Real life has no safe spaces

fromCreators: Parents know there's no "safe space" in life, so why are colleges providing students with a false sense of security and thus not preparing them for life beyond the ivory towers on campus? 
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Americans wanted more privacy protections. Congress gave them fewer.

fromSlate: You don’t have to be a criminal or a terrorist to be affected by Congress’ Section 702 surveillance expansion. 
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

VIDEO: Walter E Williams - American Liberty Warrior

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Author/professor Walter E Williams has spent a lifetime advocating the moral superiority of liberty. 
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

January 20, 2018

The undoing of limited government

fromTheWashingtonTimes: The elites in the federal government and the deep state — the parts of the government that are unauthorized by the Constitution and that operate in the dark, what candidate Trump called “the swamp” — have formed a consensus that marches the might of the government toward total Orwellian surveillance.
The Government is Not Us      Government is Watching Every Move You Make    Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Silence is betrayal: Get up, stand up, speak up for your rights

fromTheRuthrfordInstitute: Enough with the deafening silence in the face of outright corruption, base immorality, denigrating language, demoralizing greed, abject cruelty, derision, cynicism, violence, oppression and tyranny.
The Government is Not Us 

Stop warrantless snooping on Americans

fromCreators: Over the course of two hours last Thursday morning, Donald Trump offered two diametrically opposed takes on a surveillance bill making its way through Congress. Both were wrong.   
Government is Watching Every Move You Make 

The originalist case for jury nullification

fromReason: Is there a place in our system for a jury to acquit because the jurors believe the underlying law is unconstitutional?
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

House bill seeks to end war on marijuana, spark recovery instead

fromForbes: Recovery from our generations-long war on cannabis must include a range of efforts at the federal level, from adjusting the role and responsibility of law enforcement to reinvesting in communities.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

John Stossel: Selling Hate

fromCreators: The Southern Poverty Law Center is now a hate group itself. It's a money-grabbing slander machine.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

January 17, 2018

A breath of healthcare freedom for the New Year

fromCapitalismMagazine: For more than a century we have learned to expect that government can only grow more powerful. The elimination of the individual insurance mandate of ObamaCare should be celebrated as a reversal of this trend.

Regulation Nation

House votes for six more years of warrantless surveillance

fromNakedSecurity: If you’re a member of the US “intelligence community” – the FBI, CIA and NSA – this past Thursday was a great day for homeland security.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Constitutional ignorance -- perhaps contempt

fromCreators: Is it ignorance of or contempt for our Constitution that fuels the movement to abolish the Electoral College?

Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

3 lessons from prohibition, which started today in 1919

fromReason: The 18th Amendment was ratified, extending an existing ban on liquor passed during World War I.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Harry Browne - Abolish the FDA

fromNakedSecurity: American consumers are risking their lives, being deprived of medicines and having their options destroyed due to the power of federal government busybodies.

Regulation Nation

Start saving now, because Social Security is screwed

fromReason: If Congress doesn't address its insolvency issues, payouts will need to be slashed by a quarter starting in fewer than 20 years.
The Government is Not Us     Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

December 22, 2017

Can the FBI get away with getting Trump team emails?

from TheHill: From Andrew Napolitano. The FBI took the emails to be in a position to lead Trump White House staff members into a lying trap by asking them questions to which the FBI already had the answers.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make     Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Rand Paul threatens to filibuster long-term surveillance extension

from TheHill: Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is threatening to filibuster any “long-term extension” of a controversial intelligence program that allows the government to collect data on Americans without a warrant.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

House Republicans quietly investigate perceived corruption at DOJ, FBI

from Politico: The group was born out of frustration over the Justice Department's refusal to explain how it used a disputed dossier.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

How to recapture the true spirit of Christmas in a toxic age

from TheHill: No matter what one’s budget, religion, or political persuasion, here are a few things we can do right now to beat the police state blues and recapture the true spirit of Christmas.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Rosie O’Donnell could face 15 years in prison for attempting to bribe senators

from DownTrend: Putting Rosie in a cage would be just one more step to make America great again.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Democrats stew as companies announce employee bonuses after tax reform passes

from DownTrend: AT&T celebrated the bill by giving workers $1,000 extra which will come in handy this time of year.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

November 22, 2017

HuffPo memory-holes piece blasting Al Franken’s alleged victims as partisan liars

from Brieitbart: On Friday, the day after two women accused Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) of harassment, HuffPo published an article titled, “The Framing Of Al Franken By Two Trump Supporters." The story was removed just a few hours later.
Media Bias on Parade

Black leaders silent over Mugabe’s destruction of Zimbabwe

from Capitalism Magazine: Walter E Williams: "There’s a deafening silence, the same silence when Africa’s black tyrants elsewhere on the continent commit brutalities making those committed by former colonial masters pale in comparison."
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Pennsylvania cops terrorize elderly couple after confusing hibiscus plants for marijuana

from PhotographyIsNotaCrime: The woman was forced to stand outside in her underwear and handcuffed for ten minutes, then walked barefoot down a gravel driveway to a squad car where she remained handcuffed for four and a half hours.
The Government is Not Us   The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Cop sentenced to 5 years for shooting into car of teens, 16 times

from TheFreeThoughtProject: Chicago police officer Marco Proano was sentenced for dumping 16 rounds into a car occupied by six unarmed teens who posed no threat.
Police State America

The good, the bad, and the unspeakably ugly: a reason surveillance reform bill primer

from Reason: Congress must make a choice before the end of the year on the level of protections Americans get from unwarranted snooping.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

FCC plans total repeal of net neutrality rules

from CNet: Chairman Ajit Pai says he's fixing the Obama-era "mistake," which allowed the US government to micromanage the internet.
Regulation Nation

November 21, 2017

Don’t just give thanks, pay it forward one act of kindness at a time

from Rutherford Institute: It’s been a hard, heart-wrenching, stomach-churning kind of year filled with violence and ill will. It’s been a year of too much hate and too little kindness.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Top NSA whistleblower claims "Russiagate" a fake to increase war-spending

from Zero Hedge: Basically, he is saying that the keepers of the keys are blocking the public from the truth, because they know that the truth will expose the fact that they’ve been lying to the public, all along.
Defense Versus The War Machine

Asset forfeiture: inherently abusive, and awful in Alabama

from YellowHammer: Outright thievery unmasked. One town uses a “speed trap” not just to generate outlandish fines but also to seize property.
Police State America    The Government is Not Us

VIDEO: Milton Friedman - The Expanding Nature of Government

from LibertyPen/YouTube: Friedman explains why the philosophy of government has become that of the cancer cell: growth for the sake of growth.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Sex, jobs and smoking: What's legal for teens in your state?

from Reason: In California, you can work and get an abortion without parental consent at 12, but you must be 21 to buy a vaping device.
Regulation Nation

Venezuela's default disaster

from Mises: Socialism always promises heaven and gives hell.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

November 10, 2017

TSA fails most tests in latest undercover operation at US airports

from ABC News: Procedures that are highly effective in eroding individual rights are not so effective at detecting contraband.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Marijuana Legalization 2017: States and cities where weed won this November

from Inverse: Pot remains illegal at a federal level and is still seen as a “life-wrecking” substance by the country’s Attorney General. But cannabis advocates made enormous strides in elections across the country this week.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Could giving property rights to the world's poor unlock trillions?

from BBC: Some of the most important parts of our modern economy can't be seen - but they can be heard. That's what one Peruvian economist concluded while walking through the idyllic rice fields of Bali, Indonesia, in the 1990s.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Congress is blowing its shot at real NSA reform

from The Verge: This year’s 702 reauthorization is the best chance in years to rein in the NSA.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Senate pushes to eliminate Jeff Sessions' civil asset forfeiture program

from Civilized: A bipartisan group of senators released a letter yesterday in which they called on the legislative body to pass a law to restrict the ability of the Department of Justice to enact civil asset forfeiture programs.
Police State America

Founder of web browser Opera says worried about online privacy

from Reuters: People should worry about online data collection by technology companies because it gives them unparalleled insight into users lives, the creator of one of the biggest web browsers, Opera, said on Thursday.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

November 2, 2017

Civil forfeiture: The ransacking of the American people 

from The  Villanovan: Civil forfeiture may be one of the most sordid rackets of the last couple of decades, a scheme so devious, so heinous, that it would make swine like Bernie Madoff and Charles Ponzi blush.
Police State America   The Government is Not Us

Is federal government flooding of Houston homes a taking?

from Washington Post: A "controlled flooding" inflicted extensive damage on thousands of homes and businesses that might otherwise have been spared the effects of the storm. Government argues that is not a taking.
The Government is Not Us

AG Jeff Sessions suggests prosecutions for marijuana growers, sellers and users in legalized states 

from ActivistPost: Sounds like bluster. Any serious move in this direction would be the end of Trump. Two thirds of Americans support marijuana legalization.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

John Stossel: Communism Turns 100

from Creators: This year marks the hundredth anniversary of one of the worst mistakes ever made: the Communist revolution in Russia.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Halloween is over — but surveillance state boosters still want to scare us

from Salon: Senate Intelligence Committee hopes to pass off major expansion of NSA’s spy powers as “reform.” No thanks.
Government is Watching Every Move You Make

🎬  New from Remy: Trigger (Thriller parody)

from Reason: A very scary Halloween video for fragile snowflakes, since we now know triggers cause meltdowns.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Government Is Watching Every Move You Make

Latest Update: May 26, 2017

Judge Nap: Lack of outrage over NSA's illegal searches is 'astounding'
The thinning line between commercial and government surveillance

Big Brother is still watching you: Don’t fall for the NSA’s latest ploy

Did the government spy on Trump? Of course. It spies on all of us!

VIDEO: John W Whitehead: The War on the American People

Feds find local police willing partners in surveillance state 

377 words you can't say online without being surveilled

VIDEO: Edward Snowden - Accountability In Government

The Real Tragedy Is That The Presidency Matters

by Jeffrey Tucker.     Freedom lovers everywhere are biting their nails this election season, wondering how the damage can be limited. Depending on who gains control, we could have trade wars, nationalized health care, the pillaging of Wall Street, more war in the Middle East, a VAT tax, direct surveillance of your smartphone, internment     ... MORE

Surprise! NSA Data Will Soon Routinely Be Used For Domestic Policing That Has Nothing To Do With Terrorism

by Radley Balko. Everyone is presumed guilty. A while back, we noted a report showing that the “sneak-and-peek” provision of the Patriot Act that was alleged to be used only in national security and terrorism investigations has overwhelmingly been used in narcotics cases. Now the New York Times reports that National Security Agency data will  ... MORE

Jacob Sullum: What Rand Paul Brought To The Race

The fate of the only small government candidate.  During the last Republican presidential debate in which he participated, Rand Paul condemned the National Security Agency's mass collection of Americans' telephone records, cautioned against reckless intervention in Syria's civil war, and declared that a "true fiscal conservative" must "look   ... MORE

VIDEO: Why NSA Spying Is Unconstitutional

VIDEO: John Stossel - Islamic Terrorism 2015

VIDEO: The NSA Wouldn't Let Us In This Building

 (But We Found Out What's Inside)