The Government Is Not Us

Latest Update: July 30, 2017
It’s your money but you can’t have it:  EU proposes bank account freezes
State law forces bystanders to help police making arrest — or go to jail
Massachusetts drug bill would imprison you for having a hidden compartment in your car
Senate bill to force citizens to register cash not in a bank, violators get 10 years in prison
Colorado cops used warrantless searches on the poor to imprison them and train police dogs
All crimes are legal when government is the perp: The FBI and child porn
VIDEO: John Stossel: The Audacity of the Elites

Don't Blame Food Companies For What You Feed Your Kids

by Baylen Linnekin.    It's parents that feed babies candy, soda, and chips. A study of infant diets in one British city has revealed some uncomfortable truths about what many parents feed their children. The study, by lead author Pinki Sahota of Leeds Beckett University and several colleagues, tracked the diets of more than 1,250 babies in the   ... MORE

Mark Levin: The Three Top Federal Gov't Responsibilities

by Michael Morris. On his new television show Levin TV on Wednesday, nationally syndicated radio talk show host Mark Levin asked and answered a question similar to the one posed to Donald Trump at a recent CNN Town Hall: “Well, what then are the three top responsibilities, let’s say, of the federal government?” “Well, what then are the three top     ... MORE

EPA Dodges Accountability For Flint Water Crisis

by Paul Dykewicz.  Government failures at the federal, state and local levels that led to toxic water flowing from the faucets in Flint, Michigan, spurred the House Oversight Committee to hold two hearings this week in which the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its former Midwest region administrator claimed agency officials    ... MORE

Kade Crockford: This Federal Appeals Court's Ruling Put A Dent In The Police Officers' 'Qualified Immunity' Defense

Cop to be held accountable in killing of unarmed man.    A police officer is not immune from accountability after he points a gun at a non-threatening person, with his finger on the trigger and the safety off, and accidentally fires. So ruled the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston last week, in a case that has far-reaching implications for public ... MORE

Pete Kasperowicz: National Debt Hits $19 Trillion

Only Rand Paul would halt the spending.  The national debt hit $19 trillion for the first time ever on Friday, and came in at $19.012 trillion. It took a little more than 13 months for the debt to climb by $1 trillion. The national debt hit $18 trillion on Dec. 15, 2014. That's a slightly stepped-up pace compared to the last few $1 trillion mileposts.  ... MORE

Benevolence Of Capitalism Vs Paternalism Of Welfare State

by Richard M. Ebeling.       We live in an era in which few can even conceive of a world without the welfare state. Who would care for the old? How would people provide for their medical needs? What would happen to the disadvantaged and needy that fell upon hard times? In fact, there were free market solutions and non-government answers to these     ... MORE

To End Campus Tantrums, Treat Young People Like Adults

by Maria Thielman.     The idea that a young person is someone to be protected, shielded, and treated delicately at all costs is part of what’s behind universities letting students force their professors out (as Yale just did) because they “hurt our feelings,” and part of why people don’t know how to debate anymore and just engage in shouting matches.   ... MORE

Peter Suderman: Democrats And Republicans Team Up To Bust The Budget With A $1.8 Trillion Spending Package

Politicians indulge themselves at taxpayer expense.     One way to understand the massive federal spending package is as a compromise between Republicans and Democrats to ignore the deficit. The deal is made of two different elements—a 2,009-page omnibus that folds in 12 appropriations bills and calls for $1.1 trillion in spending,     ... MORE

The Corrupt System That Killed Laquan McDonald

by Conor Friedersdorf.  A Chicago cop now faces murder charges—but will anyone hold his colleagues, his superiors, and elected officials accountable for their failures? Thanks to clear video evidence, Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke was charged this week with first-degree murder for shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald. Nevertheless, ... MORE

Syrian Refugee Policy Raises Serious States’ Rights Issue

by Bob Barr.      The flood of refugees from Syria and other Middle East countries that the Obama Administration is preparing to distribute to communities across the nation raises very real and understandable security concerns among government officials at the state and local levels, and among the citizenry generally.  It is, of course, facile for        ... MORE

After Budget Deal, A Sense Of Futility Grows In Congress

by Nick Timiraos.   Cowards kicking the can. Congress ended an 11th-hour showdown when the Senate passed a bill Friday that raises the debt ceiling for the last time during Barack Obama’s presidency. Many policy makers wish it could be the last such standoff in a long-running drama over the nation’s borrowing limit. The brinkmanship has grown so    ... MORE

VIDEO: Official Deception - Protecting Chris Stevens

VIDEO: John Stossel - Breaking Up With Government

Harry 'The Victim' Reid Sues Manufacturer Of Elastic Band Because It Slipped Out Of His Hand And He Hurt Himself

Bad things are always someone else's fault.      Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has decided to sue the makers of the exercise band that he says caused an injury that left him blind in his right eye.  The top Democrat and his wife Landra Gould are suing the companies that produce TheraBand for $50,000, according to a legal complaint, dug up   ... MORE

Craig Dunkley: 25 Ways To Be A Real Man

Modern men have lost sight of what's real.     In its Men's Style section, The New York Times recently published a somewhat ridiculous, liberalism-infused article entitled "27 Ways to Be a Modern Man."  While a few of the 27 ways made some sense, many of them were so soft-handed and weak that one wonders if the article was meant as a joke.    ... MORE

Are Elections Held For The Purpose Of Venting Emotions?

by Thomas Sowell.   Why have elections? In a country with more than 300 million people, it is remarkable how obsessed the media have become with just one — Donald Trump. What is even more remarkable is that, after six years of repeated disasters, both domestically and internationally, under a glib egomaniac in the White House, so many potential  ... MORE

California Police Unions Are Fighting Police Accountability

by Steven Greenhut.    They fear body cameras like Dracula fears holy water. As a reaction to national news reports about police killings, the California legislature had introduced a flurry of bills designed to provide better oversight of law-enforcement officials. In May, this column was optimistic about the focus on this long-neglected matter, and    ... MORE

John Crudele: Why The Federal Reserve Should Be Audited

Because ignorance is not bliss.  It is time for a comprehensive audit of Janet Yellen ’s Federal Reserve — and not just for the reasons presidential candidate Rand Paul and others have given. The Fed needs to be audited to see if its ruling body has broken the law by manipulating financial markets that are outside its jurisdiction. A thorough    ... MORE

Can A Free Society Work For The Less Clever?

by Stephen Hicks.     Honestly now: Do you have what it takes? We all like to think we’re smarter than average, but the math is cruel. Half of us are below median intelligence, and some of us are considerably lower. So why should we think that freedom is a good policy for everyone? I believe freedom is the best policy, but sometimes that is a hard     ... MORE