Nov 21, 2018

Thomas Sowell: Moral bankruptcy

fromCreators: The Democratic Party's attack on charter schools. "Denying children what can be their one chance in life is a new low, even for politicians." If only children had as good of a union as the teachers.
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption     The Government is Not Us

The government says falconers have to give up their privacy and free speech rights in order to own birds

fromReason: Now the Falconers Are Suing. "I'm treated no differently from a common felon on parole." 
Regulation Nation       The Government is Not Us

Justice Department discloses no FISA court hearings held on Carter Page warrants

fromJudicialWatch: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance courts rubber-stamped the Carter Page spy warrants without holding one hearing on these extraordinary requests to spy on the Trump team. 
Politics and Other Official Acts of Corruption

Opponents of campus free-speech laws forgot the history of the civil rights movement

fromForbes: "In short, we all need the First Amendment. We all need legal protection of our right to question and debate, without which democracy declines into stagnancy".
Indoctrination and Censorship

AMA decries the impact of the CDC's opioid guidelines on pain treatment

fromReason: Politicians should not overrule doctors when it comes to pain control. The physician group says widespread "misapplication" of the guidelines is hurting patients. 
Regulation Nation      The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Walter E Williams: Fruits of college indoctrination

fromCreators: "Much of today's incivility and contempt for personal liberty has its roots on college campuses, and most of the uncivil and contemptuous are people with college backgrounds". 
Indoctrination and Censorship

Thomas Sowell: Black Lives and Social Policy

VIDEO: Richard Epstein - Toward Fixing America's Economy

Obama's Feckless Defense Of Human Rights In Cuba

by Nat Hentoff & Nick Hentoff.   On January 8, the Associated Press reported that President Barack Obama “may travel to Cuba as early as this spring if he feels the rights situation here is improving and a presidential trip will help.” The Castro dictatorship’s response was immediate and severe. According to Elizardo Sanchez, the president of the      ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Black And White, Left And Right

A deeper look at politics and race.   Much is made of the fact that liberals and conservatives see racial issues differently, which they do. But these differences have too often been seen as simply those on the right being racist and those on the left not. You can cherry-pick the evidence to reach that conclusion. But you can also cherry-pick the evidence ... MORE

Is The ACLU Going Soft On The First Amendment?

by Damon Root.    That's the troubling question raised by University of Washington law professor Ronald Collins, who notes that the ACLU just began its annual fundraising campaign and released an accompanying "National ACLU Workplan," which, in the organization's own words, "lays out [the ACLU's] plans for the year ahead [and] always addresses  ... MORE

VIDEO: Does Fear Cost Us Our Liberty?

Anthony L. Fisher: France Cracks Down On Civil Liberties

Warrantless raids, house arrests and more. Last Friday, France's parliament overwhelmingly passed a three-month extension of the national state of emergency, granting broad powers to law enforcement and significantly curtailing civil liberties. The Guardian summarizes some of the new security measures: Expanded powers to immediately     ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: Paris And Freedom

Our liberties are NOT the problem.  The tragedy in Paris last Friday has regrettably been employed as a catalyst for renewed calls by governments in western Europe and even in the United States for more curtailment of personal liberties. Those who accept the trade of liberty for safety have argued in favor of less liberty. They want       ... MORE

Detective Not Immune From Warrantless Entry Lawsuit

by Michael Booth.     Cops must abide the law as well as enforce it. A New Jersey appeals court ruled that damages may be awarded to a Vineland woman whose home was essentially occupied by the police while they waited for hours to obtain a search warrant. In a published ruling issued Sept. 11, the three-judge Appellate Division panel said    ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: Religious Belief And The Rule Of Law

The lesson for Kim Davis.  Shortly before the Labor Day weekend, a federal judge in Kentucky ordered the Rowan County clerk incarcerated for violating his orders. Five days later, he released her. The judge found that the clerk, Kim Davis, interfered with the ability of same-sex couples in her county to marry by refusing to issue them applications for      ... MORE

Walter E Williams: Wasn't Always This Way

A conclusion not supported by the facts.   Academics and public intellectuals, who should know better, attempt to explain the highly visible and publicized pathology witnessed in cities such as Baltimore, Detroit, Chicago, Ferguson and others as a legacy of slavery. The argument is made that the problems encountered by many black Americans  ... MORE

VIDEO: Radley Balko - On Civil Liberties & Free Expression

Leonard Pitts Jr: Police Brutality Is Everybody's Problem

Not just a black problem.      This will not be a column about Sandra Bland, although it could be. Certainly there is cause for outrage over the way a Texas state trooper escalated the routine traffic stop of an indignant African-American woman into a violent arrest; she died of an apparent jail cell suicide three days later. But Chuck would say that in      ... MORE

And You Thought Civil Asset Forfeiture Was Bad Enough…

by Trevor Burrus.    Remember Megaupload.com? It was once the 13th most popular website on the internet, with more than 82 million unique visitors and a billion total page views during its seven-year operation. The site allowed people to store files on the cloud for later use — and some users inevitably stored copyrighted TV shows, films, songs,   ... MORE

The FBI Wants The Key to Your Data: Is Gov't-Resistant Encryption An Intolerable Threat To Public Safety?

by Jacob Sullum.      Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, FBI Director James Comey argued that data should never be transmitted or stored in a way that frustrates government snooping. Comey warned that encryption is a boon to criminals and therefore must be designed so that law enforcement agencies can decode it   ... MORE

VIDEO: Activist Court Enacts Same-Sex Marriage

Robby Soave: The ACLU Now Opposes Religious Freedom

Because Christians need it.     The American Civil Liberties Union has formally reversed its support for the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, signaling that the organization is no longer interested in mounting an ideologically consistent defense of all people of faith. It’s a disappointing retreat on principles for the ACLU, and the organization’s   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - The Right Way To Disobey

VIDEO: David Boaz - Libertarianism & The Republican Party