Jan 4, 2019

The establishment will never say no to a war

fromNYMag: The question before us is a relatively simple one: What would be the criteria for removing our remaining troops from the Iraqi, Syrian, and more general Middle Eastern conflicts?

Defense Versus The War Machine

Defending a court’s discretion to allow arguments for conscientious acquittal

fromCATOInstitute: Throughout the entire Anglo-American legal tradition, the independence of citizen juries has been understood to be an indispensable structural check on executive and legislative power. Jury nullification!

Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

78-Year-Old man in wheelchair evicted to freezing streets for treating pain with legal medical pot

fromFreeThoughtProject: He had to steer his electric wheelchair half a mile in subfreezing temperatures to get to a homeless shelter.

The War on Unapproved Voluntary Exchange

Top 12 debunked climate scares of 2018

fromWaatsUpWithThat: From hurricanes to polar bears, a review of debunked climate change deceptions.

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

Google’s Earth: how the tech giant is helping the state spy on us

fromTheGuardian: We knew that being connected had a price – our data. But we didn’t care. Then it turned out that Google’s main clients included the military and intelligence agencies.

Government is Watching Every Move You Make

Feds spend $1,788,748 on virtual reality game for young gay men

fromFreeBeacon: Your tax dollars at work. The study, which began during the Obama administration in 2014, recruited young men over Craigslist and Grindr to practice different ways of disclosing they have HIV. 

Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery

August 6, 2018

Survey shows shocking percentage of Americans are unable to name a single First Amendment right

fromIJR: Of the more than 1,000 people surveyed in May and June of this year, only one person was able to name all five First Amendment rights. A whopping 40 percent, however, couldn't name any.
Individual Liberty: America's First Principle

Trump pumps the brakes on Obama-era fuel standards

fromReason: The administrations proposal will make cars more affordable and save lives.
Regulation Nation

Former federal state prosecutor worries about jury nullification In Manafort trial

fromNPR: Many statists worry the jury could see through their tyrannical strong-arm tactics and blatant political persecution and the judge isn't helping.
Justice is a Result, Not Just a Process

Feds spend $1.1 million creating apps for transwomen and gay teens with ‘hooking up simulations’

fromWashingtonFreeBeacon: Your tax dollars at work. You are now subsidizing T3, a "sex-positive" app targeting black men ages 14 to 17 who have sex with men.
Political Correctness and Other Nitwittery       The Government is Not Us

WATCH: Cop walks up to unarmed man, shoots him in the face then plants a weapon on him

fromFreeThoughtProject: A cop tried to claim an unarmed man tried to rob him but video shows the cop shoot the victim in the face and then plant a weapon on him.
Police State America

Criminal investigation launched against Detroit cop who was filmed beating a naked woman in a hospital

fromDailyMail: The officer is on paid suspension. It was announced that a criminal investigation has been launched.
Police State America

7 Harsh Realities Of Life Millennials Need To Understand

A guide to the real world.      Millennials. They may not yet be the present, but they’re certainly the future. These young, uninitiated minds will someday soon become our politicians, doctors, scientists, chefs, television producers, fashion designers, manufacturers, and, one would hope, the new proponents of liberty. But are they ready for it?   ... MORE

ObamaCare: WORSE Than A Complete Waste Of Money

by John Hinderaker.  The findings of NPR and Harvard. National Public Radio collaborated with Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to survey Americans’ recent experience with health care. As to the Affordable Care Act, the survey’s findings are damning. They suggest that Obamacare has been   ... MORE

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

More Defense Dollars Don't Guarantee A Better Military

by Daniel L. Davis.    Everyone agrees that federal spending is out of control, yet there’s little appetite to go after bloated Pentagon budgets. Americans from the left, right, and center all too often give the military a pass because they grudgingly believe current levels of defense spending are necessary for national security. But is there such a thing as  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel: Our Homeland Security

VIDEO: John Stossel - Pickpocketing Taxpayers

Veronique de Rugy: The Government Wasted Tons Of Money On 'Shrimp Fight Club' And A Million Other Things

Waste, fraud, abuse, and monkeys on hamster wheels.  In honor of the release of the new Star Wars movie, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), subtitled this year's "Wastebook" as "The Farce Awakens." The latest edition of this annual report details 100 spending programs—totaling $108.5 million—that are a complete waste of your money.    ... MORE

7 Ways The Government Wasted Your Tax Dollars Last Year

by Bre Payton. The federal government spent millions subsidizing Donald Trump’s new hotel, building a useless gas station in Afghanistan, and funding a study on the dating habits of senior citizens, according to a new report by Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.). The above findings are three of 100 ways the feds blew taxpayer dollars on ridiculous projects  ... MORE

Some Members Of Congress Want To Stop Squandering Tax Money On The DEA's Failed Marijuana Eradication Program

by Christopher Ingraham.    The Drug Enforcement Administration is not having a great year. The chief of the agency stepped down in April under a cloud of scandal. The acting administrator since then has courted ridicule for saying pot is "probably not" as dangerous as heroin, and more recently he provoked 100,000 petition-signers and seven       ... MORE

VIDEO: John Oliver Talks Sense On Pennies

A New Taxpayer Bailout To Cover Up ObamaCare’s Failure?

by Betsy McCaughey.      How dare the Obama administration bail out insurance companies with our money in order to hide ObamaCare’s failures. Thursday, just hours after giant insurer UnitedHealthcare said it’s losing money selling ObamaCare plans and will likely exit the health exchanges next year, the Obama administration quietly       ... MORE

Marcus E. Howard: The Pentagon Has Squandered Millions Paying Pro Sports Teams To Honor Soldiers At Games

It's like paying a whore to say, "I love you."   The Pentagon and National Guard paid professional sports teams to publicly honor soldiers at sporting events, according to a Senate oversight report released Wednesday that labeled the practice “inappropriate and frivolous.” Since the end of 2011, the military has spent $6.8 million on sports     ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Protected Out Of Work

John Tierney: The Reign of Recycling

Recycling 40K plastic bottles offsets 1 flight.       If you live in the United States, you probably do some form of recycling. It’s likely that you separate paper from plastic and glass and metal. You rinse the bottles and cans, and you might put food scraps in a container destined for a composting facility. As you sort everything into the right bins,   ... MORE

How The Postal Service Continues To Burn Money

by Ken Blackwell.     Most people are going to tell you that they can’t stand seeing good money go to waste. When it comes to the U.S. government, however, wasteful spending continues to be the name of the game. A repeat culprit of government waste — the United States Postal Service (USPS), which recorded a revenue loss of $5.5 billion    ... MORE

Is Obamacare Officially A Money Laundering Scheme?

by Mytheos Holt. Could the failed Obamacare exchanges have been merely an excuse to direct payola to safely Democratic states? Based on a new report from the Government Accountability Office, and the actions of acting head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Studies (CMS) Andrew Slavitt, the answer may well be yes. Let’s start with the report.   ... MORE

America Has Way Too Many Overseas Military Bases

There are 800 bases in foreign countries.  With the U.S. military having withdrawn many of its forces from Iraq and Afghanistan, most Americans would be forgiven for being unaware that hundreds of U.S. bases and hundreds of thousands of U.S. troops still encircle the globe. Although few know it, the United States garrisons the planet     ... MORE

Chris Edwards: Why The Federal Government Fails

The 5 structural reasons.        Most Americans think that the federal government is incompetent and wasteful. Their negative view is not surprising given the steady stream of scandals emanating from Washington. Scholarly studies support the idea that many federal activities are misguided and harmful. A recent book on federal performance    ... MORE