May 1, 2019

America’s drug war is ruining the world

fromTheNation:  It is verifiable. 
A half-century of Washington’s harsh drug prohibition policies has brought misery to millions across the globe.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

VIDEO: Andrew Klavin - Making Sense of a World Gone Mad

fromLibertyPen/YouTube:  From a speech delivered at Hillsdale College, commentator Andrew Klavin shares his insights on the modern war of ideas.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Can the damage done by the CDC's opioid guidelines be reversed?

fromReason:  It is no public service when the law enforcement establishment makes mandatory medical policy.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Kamala Harris: We need to raise taxes on the middle class and force workers into unions

fromTownhall:  Democrats like Harris would not only roll back middle class benefits by raising their taxes, they're gunning to undo the policy progress that has led to robust employment and GDP growth.

Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

NSA says warrantless searches of Americans’ data rose in 2018

fromTechCrunch:  You wouldn't know it now, but there was a time when the Fourth Amendment had teeth.

The Government is Not Us           Police State America        Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Activists say Biden's hardline drugs policies didn't apply to his children's cocaine and marijuana use

fromTownhall:  During his 36 years in the Senate, Biden helped craft some of the strictest anti-drug laws of the 1980s and 1990s. However, his own children were able to avoid the brunt of these laws.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

March 2, 2018

No jail sentence for woman who falsely claimed rape by three unidentified black men

fromReason: What should the proper punishment be in such cases?
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Brilliant Economic Insights

fromLibertyPen/YouTube: Professor Hanson looks at how the Obama administration deployed tribal affiliations to divide the American people by creation of a majority grievance culture.
Economic Policy: Statism Versus The Free Market

Andrew Napolitano: In Defense of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

fromCreators: The Second Amendment was written to protect the right to self-defense — whether against bad guys, crazy people or a tyrannical government bent on destroying personal liberty.
2nd Amendment Assaults

Police unions defend bad cops who do awful things. Why won't they defend Broward County deputy?

fromReason: "Why bad cops need to pay their union dues" or "Get-out-of-jail-free cards aren't free."
Police State America

Dick’s Sporting Goods announces end to ‘assault rifle’ sales — again

fromBreitbart: The operative word is "again". Dick's made the same grandstanding claim on December 18, 2012.
2nd Amendment Assaults

From the land of fruits and nuts: California city ban distracted walking

fromCBSLosAngeles: The greedy hand of government hopes to pluck $500 from the wallets of any pedestrian listening to headphones or talking on an iPhone.
The Government is Not Us     Regulation Nation

September 9, 2017

Defend Our Online Communities: Stop SESTA

from EFF: Don’t endanger our online communities. SESTA would swap responsibility for online posts from the individual to the web platform, providing the platform with incentives to censor. Stop SESTA.
Indoctrination and Censorship

🎬  Walter E Williams - Tyranny of the Elites

from LibertyPen YouTube Channel: Professor Williams explains how those that pretend to represent you really strive to control you. In fact, they will kill you if necessary to make that point.
The Government is Not Us

Public sector unions are beginning to panic

from Hot Air: When mandatory dues (extortion's first cousin) are gone, unions will be in a heap of trouble.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

Teen marijuana use falls to 20-year low, defying legalization opponents’ predictions

from The Washington Post: Adolescence seems to be about rebellion. Legality ruins the fun Go figure.
The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Victor Davis Hanson: Media bias, bureaucracy drive liberal narrative

from Reason: Raising the bar to enter the job market always results in unemployment for the lowest skilled workers.
Media Bias on Parade

VIDEO: Minimum Wage: Bad for Humans, Good for Robots

from Reason: Raising the bar to enter the job market always results in unemployment for the lowest skilled workers.
Economic Policy: Statism vs The Free Market

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: Teachers Unions Vs. Students

Here’s Why It’s All But Impossible To Fire A Fed

by Kathryn Watson.  Federal workers are far more likely to be audited by the IRS or get arrested for drunk driving than they are to be fired from the civil service payroll for poor performance or misconduct. The odds are one-in-175 for the IRS audit and one-in-200 for the drunk driving arrest, while the odds for a fed to be fired in a given year are one-in   ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Racial Tensions 2015

Terence P. Jeffrey: Can The Government Force You To Fund The Agenda Of GOP -- Or That Of A Teachers Union?

In a free country, the answer is obvious.    Yet in the Supreme Court last week, it was up to Justice Antonin Scalia to ask the question. "Is it OK to force somebody to contribute to a cause that he does believe in?" Scalia asked. Note: Scalia did not ask if it is OK to force somebody to contribute to a cause he does not believe in. "I wouldn't think,    ... MORE

Minimum Wage Hike Measures Ignore A Dismal Reality

by Steven Greenhut.  Polls show a majority of Americans favor raising the minimum wage. It's easy to understand the sentiment, given how tough it is to get by working in a low-wage job. Indeed, support for such efforts is so high in California that two unions are proposing dueling minimum-wage-hike initiatives for the November 2016 ballot, with the   ... MORE

Throwing Billions Down A Dark Tunnel For Bullet Train

Political nitwittery thrives in California.    For years, critics of the California high-speed rail project – from government oversight agencies to transportation and engineering experts to think tanks to local grass-roots organizations to these Opinion pages – have faulted the California High-Speed Rail Authority for its overly optimistic and ever-changing  ... 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

Police Union: No 'Just Cause' For Firing Ray Tensing, The Ohio Campus Cop Who Shot And Killed An Unarmed Man

Keeping murderers on the force.    Although former University of Cincinnati police officer Ray Tensing faces murder charges for shooting and killing Samuel DuBose as the man tried to drive away from a traffic stop over a missing front license plate, Tensing believes he ought to have his job—which provided him with a firearm and the authority to    ... MORE

John Stossel - The War On Uber

Hillary attacks Uber to protect taxi cartels.    Hillary Clinton gave a speech warning that the new "sharing economy" of businesses such as the ride-hailing company Uber is "raising hard questions about workplace protections." Democrats hate what labor unions hate, and a taxi drivers' union hates Uber, too. Its NYC website proclaims, "Uber  ... MORE

VIDEO: Who Perverted The Commerce Clause?

Supreme Court May Curb Power Of Public Employee Unions

by Michael Hiltzik. The author thinks this is bad news. To all those who detected a shift toward progressive thinking in the Supreme Court's rulings last week protecting the Affordable Care Act and legalizing gay marriage: You should stop celebrating now. That's because the court has taken up a case that poses a mortal threat to the cause of collective     ... MORE

VIDEO: Why Big Unions Have The Best Politicians $ Can Buy

VIDEO: John Stossel - Job Creation And Labor Laws

Radley Balko: The Increasing Isolation Of America’s Police

How did it get to us versus them.   Politico has put up a fascinating profile of Jim Pasco, executive director of the Fraternal Order of Police, which is the country’s largest police union. More than anything, the profile highlights how law enforcement is politically positioned in a way that basically immunizes them from criticism and oversight.      ... MORE

Did You Know Police Have Their Own Bill Of Rights?

by Eli Hager.   Why the public is still in the dark about Freddie Gray. It has been more than two weeks since Baltimore police dragged Freddie Gray into the paddy-wagon from which he would emerge, half an hour later, with a fatal injury to his spine. But as another day ticks by, Gray's neighbors and fellow citizens remain largely uninformed about  ... MORE

Rioting Threatens Public Safety. Police Unions Are Worse .

by Ed Krayewski.    How much does a lack of police accountability and transparency contribute to the anger that helps turn protests violent? Protests in Baltimore over the Freddie Gray's unexplained death while in police custody from a fatal spine injury are turning violent. As usual, authorities blame outsiders for the violence, a spurious claim.   ... MORE