Showing posts with label overreach. Show all posts
Showing posts with label overreach. Show all posts

Steve Chapman: Is the Terrorism Panic Finally Passing?

A return to sanity.    One lesson of American history is that in times of war or crisis, American presidents, lawmakers and citizens often lose their minds. Another lesson is that they eventually regain their senses. When it comes to national security in the age of terrorism, it looks as though the national fever has broken. When Congress passed the Patriot Act in October 2001, it gave the federal government greater  ... MORE

The Time To Limit NSA Snooping Is Now

by Jacob Sullum.      Reauthorizing unamended PATRIOT Act would be reckless. When Congress passed the PATRIOT Act in 2001, it did not intend to authorize the indiscriminate collection of personal information about every American. But that is what Congress will be doing if it renews the law next month without changes aimed at protecting our privacy  ... MORE

How To Break The Internet

by Geoffrey A. Manne & R. Ben Sperry.     "Net neutrality" sounds like a good idea. It isn't. As political slogans go, the phrase net neutrality has been enormously effective, riling up the chattering classes and forcing a sea change in the government's decades-old hands-off approach to regulating the Internet. But as an organizing principle for the      ... MORE

More Executive Overreach, This Time from the EPA

by Ilya Shapiro.      Power brokers and their dictates. The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in Michigan v. EPA, asking whether it was unreasonable for the Environmental Protection Agency to ignore costs in determining the appropriateness of regulating mercury emissions from power plants. The EPA’s proposed regulations are expected ... MORE

Transforming The Food System: Plan Aims To Tax Deserts, Monitor Activity, Impose Plant-Based Diets & Much More

by Elizabeth Harrington.   Govt scheme to begin as guidelines. The federal committee responsible for nutrition guidelines is calling for the adoption of “plant-based” diets, taxes on dessert, trained obesity “interventionists” at worksites, and electronic monitoring of how long Americans sit in front of the television. The Dietary Guidelines   ... MORE

Matt Kaiser: Overpunishment And Rationality

Injustice by prosecutorial discretion.     Judge Jed S. Rakoff  has launched a firestorm of conversation about his criticism of the federal criminal justice system in the New York Review of Books and his proposal for how to fix it. First, a bit of backstory for those who do not turn to the New York Review of Books for commentary on the federal      ... MORE

Let Your Kids Play Outside And We Will Take Them Away

by Lenore Skenazy. CPS's threat to a dad.     I received an update from the Maryland mom of two who was contacted by Montgomery Country Child Welfare Service in November after she let her kids, ages 6 and 10, play at the park two blocks from home by themselves. She was cited for allowing a child under age 8 "to be locked or confined  ... MORE

Tammy Bruce: Another Blow To ObamaCare Privacy

Personal medical info to be shared with 35 federal agencies. Get ready to fight back: Last week, the Health and Human Services Department announced a plan to share your medical records with over 35 federal agencies — all in the name of “health care,” of course. All in the name of “efficiency,” the favorite excuse used by fascists    ... MORE

Matthew Hurtt: The Republican Plan To Cripple IRS

GOP attempt to reel in lawless thugs.     Imagine a world where there were not enough IRS agents to threaten your livelihood by pouring over years of receipts and tax filings. With the Republican takeover of the Senate, the Republican-controlled Congress is looking to severely de-fund the IRS in the wake of the ongoing scandal that revealed the   ... MORE

Nick Gillespie: Americans Trust Government Less and Less

Because we know more and more about it.   Fifty years ago, FBI operatives sent Martin Luther King, Jr. was has come to be known as the "suicide letter," an anonymous note suggesting the civil rights leader should off himself before his private sex life was made public. The information about King's extramarital assignations was gathered  ... MORE

E Harrington: Federal Court Rules Against First Amendment

Court says schools can prohibit American flag apparel.     A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling could have wide implications that limit free speech rights in schools, according to the lawyer who defended students who wore the American flag to school. More than four years after students were sent home for wearing American flag t-shirts on   ... MORE

Jurors Wield Power To Judge Law; Stop Gov't Overreach

You can fight tyranny.      Jury duty. It’s the setup to innumerable punchlines, a civic chore that some people dread and many try to avoid. But jurors hold a special place in society, serving as a final check and balance on government power. Consider the following scenario: An individual is charged with a victimless crime; a behavior our     ... MORE

Washington Is Trying To Get Your Retirement Account

by Charles Payne.      Big government's next big reach. Tuesday was another anxious day for the market, ahead of three major events beginning with the Fed decision getting announced today, Scotland’s vote on Thursday, and the debut of Alibaba on Friday. All along, I have felt that the past few sessions have been an orchestrated attempt to    ... MORE

Rand Paul Would Repeal Every Obama Executive Order

He just needs to get elected.    In front of a boisterous pub crowd of young voters here, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) ripped into President Obama over executive overreach and even vowed to repeal “all previous executive orders” in one of his first acts as president, should he run. Paul’s comments came to the New Hampshire chapter of      ... MORE

Thomas Sowell: Lawsuits And Impeachment

Foredoomed symbolic actions are overrated.        Whenever Democrats are in real trouble politically, the Republicans seem to come up with something new that distracts the public's attention from the Democrats' problems. Who says Republicans are not compassionate? With public opinion polls showing President Obama's sinking approval  ... MORE

Brent Skorup: Net Neutrality Nonsense

Ignore the scare tactics.     In January, for the second time in recent years, a federal court told the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that its net neutrality enforcement was illegal, sending the agency back to the drawing board. On May 15, the FCC proposed new rules.* Dozens of major news outlets have trying to read the tea leaves, with    ... MORE

NSA Surveillance And The Dangers Of Power

Love your country but never trust your government.    Every so often, we get proof that Barack Obama, when confronted with a grievous abuse of government power by his administration, will do the right thing. Sometimes, I mean. When he can't get away with it anymore, that is. Just as soon as he's tried everything else. That's the      ... MORE

Andrew Napolitano: Executive Order Tyranny

Obama yearns to be king.         Can the president legally bypass Congress and rule the government by decree? The answer to the question above is: No. But you wouldn't know that by listening to President Obama. In the past three weeks, the president has made it clear how he plans to run the executive branch of the federal government in the next  ... MORE