by Grant Gross. Ted Cruz: "An abuse of its authority." The U.S. Federal Communications Commission's new net neutrality rules could open the door to rate regulation and could drive some small broadband providers out of business, some Senate Republicans said Wednesday. Some Republican members of the Senate Commerce, Science and ... MORE
Seizing cash without warrants is legalized theft. Federal drug agents may be racially profiling and unjustly seizing cash from travelers in the nation’s airports, bus stations and train stations. A new report released by the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Justice examined the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s ... MORE
Do Democrats even care? What if Hillary Clinton's emails were hacked by foreign agents when she was the secretary of state? What if persons claiming to have done so are boasting about their alleged feats on Internet websites and in chat rooms traditionally associated with illegal or undercover activities? What if this is the sore underbelly of an .... MORE
by A. Barton Hinkle. One of the truly delightful things about college is that it allows earnest young people to try out all sorts of ridiculous ideas without causing much lasting harm. After graduation, most will grow up and learn how to laugh at their prior selves. (The rest will become professors.) Let’s hope the undergrads and grad students ... MORE
by Elizabeth Harrington. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants hotels to monitor how much time its guests spend in the shower. The agency is spending $15,000 to create a wireless system that will
track how much water a hotel guest uses to get them to “modify their
behavior.” “Hotels consume a significant amount of water in ... MORE
The suspense -- or rather, the suspension -- is over. The U.S. debt ceiling has been reset at $18.113 trillion, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. That new limit on public debt is about $1 trillion above where it stood in February 2014, when lawmakers decided to "suspend" the ceiling through this past weekend. That cool trillion reflects how ... MORE
by Radley Balko. The video below depicts the fatal police shooting of 38-year-old Jason Harrison in Dallas last year. Harrison’s mother had told the police that her son had been making threats, and that he was “bipolar schizo.” Police officials have previously said the body camera video backs up the officers’ accounts of self-defense, showing a fast- ... MORE
by Rory Little. How does requiring a warrant interfere with surprise police searches of hotel guest registers? The first case argued Tuesday morning, City of Los Angeles v. Patel,
was about whether a Los Angeles ordinance that requires motel operators
to allow the police to examine hotel guest registers, without seeking a
warrant first, is ... MORE
Money can't buy you love, but ... Rahm Emanuel, current mayor of my old hometown, Chicago, is not a gentle soul. But he's smarter than his big-spending predecessor, Richard M. Daley, and the union pawn, Jesus "Chuy" Garcia, who becomes the new mayor if he beats Emanuel in a run-off election April 7. Emanuel was the tough Obama chief of staff ... MORE
by D. Brady Nelson. What you don't see can hurt you. Perhaps due to it not being as readily quantifiable as government taxation, debt, welfare, and money creation; regulation has too often been superficially dealt with. In many ways, the largely “hidden tax” of regulation is a bigger threat to liberty, economy, and morality than other weapons of ... MORE
by J.D. Tucille. And you should too. My cell phone is encrypted. It also contains two apps—TextSecure and RedPhone—for
conducting secure communications. All I really need in addition is
something worth keeping secret, unless a few notes for articles and
photographs of my kid and my dogs make the cut. Still, it gives me a
warm, fuzzy feeling to ... MORE
by Paul Bedard. The Environmental Protection Agency has its eyes on pollution from backyard barbecues. The agency announced
that it is funding a University of California project to limit
emissions resulting in grease drippings with a special tray to catch
them and a "catalytic" filtration system. The $15,000 project has the "potential for ... MORE
Ferguson, Mo., is not the only guilty municipality. Most people have never heard the term "policing for profit," but they've certainly seen it in action. Speed traps on roads that run through small towns have long generated money for the local governments. Big cities also police for profit. Washington, D.C., raked in $92 million in ticket revenue ... MORE