Ronald Bailey: Someone's Watching

You can't escape the intrusive state. Privacy encompasses the real and virtual spaces where you can think your most heretical thoughts without the fear of social and political consequences and where you can seal the bonds of love and friendship. In Privacy, Garret Keizer grapples with the meaning and importance of maintaining places where   ... MORE

Gary Owen: Housing Crisis Redux

New wave of subprime loans demanded by government.    The 2008 melt down of the economy was a lesson.  The government learned well and is doing it better this time. A new wave of subprime mortgages is here, more powerful than the  tsunami that washed away the worlds economy with the Community  Reinvestment Act.  William Tucker informs us     ... MORE

James E. Miller: Law Enforcement Is Not Your Friend

Police arrogance and abuse have become commonplace.   Across the West, instances of abuse of authority by domestic police forces are becoming more prevalent.  Two weeks ago, two police officers in my hometown accosted my brother as he walked back to his car after purchasing a six pack of beer.  The officers, who thought my brother was up     ... MORE

Daniel Halper: U.S. On Track For $20 Trillion Debt In 2016

Obama budget adds $4.4 trillion in next four years.  By the end of this year, the federal debt is expected to be $16.2 trillion, which is $6.2 trillion more than when President Obama first came into office four years ago. Moreover, new analysis by the Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee finds that, over the next 4 years, if      ... MORE

VIDEO: Obamanomics: A Legacy of Wasteful Spending

How The Smokey Bear Effect Led To Raging Wildfires

by Christopher Joyce. The history of fire in the American Southwest is buried in a catacomb of rooms under the bleachers of the football stadium at the University of Arizona. Here rules Professor Thomas Swetnam, tree ring expert. You want to read a tree ring? You go to Tom. He's a big, burly guy with a beard and a true love for trees. Tree sections are       ... MORE

Paul Miller: Obama Or Romney? Libertarians Must Choose

It’s depressing to be a libertarian.  We usually spend election night with our few friends in a watering hole or in our parents’ basement listening to Rush albums. Libertarians are smarter than voters who blindly vote Democrat or support the Republicans who do more preaching about limited government than actually practicing it — that’s what we tell     ... MORE

VIDEO: How Property Rights Affect Everyday Decisions

Anna Marie Hartman: Legalizing Medical Pot On ARK Ballot

Freedom for doctors to treat patients.      A proposal to legalize medical marijuana will be on the November ballot in Arkansas. Medical marijuana advocates succeeded in getting their proposal before Arkansas voters after turning in more than 74,000 signatures to the Arkansas Secretary of State's office. The group called Arkansans for  ... MORE

Washington Free Beacon: Battling Obama At The Box Office

Interest in learning Obama's roots catching fire.   A politically charged documentary called 2016: Obama’s America turned heads last weekend when it grossed a whopping $1.24 million out of just 169 theaters. The $2.5 million independent film, which is being distributed by Utah-based Rocky Mountain Pictures, premiered in Houston six   ... MORE

Bill Herrie: Regulations Strangling The Economy

Cut the red tape, please.   According to the federal Small Business Administration, the cost of complying with regulations for the typical small business is $10,500 per year, per employee. A firm with 10 workers, for example, must pay more than $100,000 every year just to remain on the right side of the rules imposed by Washington. That's a drop in ... MORE

What Liberals Don't Understand About Ayn Rand

by Cathy Young.    Ayn Rand, the Russian-born writer and self-styled philosopher who died three decades ago, is back in the news as a favorite author of Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan. In recent years, the passionately individualist, pro-capitalist Rand has been embraced as a champion of freedom by many conservatives ... MORE

VIDEO: Thomas Sowell - Economic Decision Making

Ronald Bailey: Energy Regulators Think You're Crazy

New study shows what regulators think of consumers.   Federal regulators evidently believe that Americans are irrationally choosing to spend hundreds of billions more on energy than they should. Consequently, benevolent bureaucrats have imposed regulations to guide hapless consumers toward making the proper energy saving choices   ... MORE

Jason Koebler: Police To Use Drones Against Citizens

Warrantless surveillance deployed.  Law enforcement agencies that have requested permission from the Federal Aviation Administration to fly unmanned drones plan to use them for surveillance purposes, according to documents obtained by an Internet freedom organization. "With some exceptions, drone flights in the U.S. have been all about     ... MORE

VIDEO: The Hope And The Change

Jury Nullification May Be Only Hope For Raw Milk Farmer

by Dan Flynn.   We are going to have to wait a little longer to see if supporters of Wisconsin raw milk dairy farmer Vernon Hershberger can pull off a rarely used legal maneuver called jury nullification. Sauk County Judge Guy Reynolds has moved the start of the Hershberger jury tail to Jan. 7, 2013. Evidence and witness lists are due Oct. 19, and the final    ... MORE

A Government Of Unions, By Unions And For Unions

by Matt Patterson.    In 2009, the U.S. government bailed out the auto industry, ostensibly to save the livelihoods of thousands of Americans who work for automakers and their supporting companies. Sounds nice, except that this federal largesse was not distributed equally. In fact, some employees who were also members of the powerful, politically  ... MORE

Marine Gets NDAA Treatment: Detained Without Charges

“This should be a wake-up call to Americans that the police state is here.” - John Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute. 
Forced 30-day psych evaluation for Facebook post. Pitting human and First Amendment rights and freedoms against security, a 26-year old former Marine targeted individual was ordered Monday to undergo  ... MORE

Steve Gunn: Just Say No When The TSA Asks You To Chat

A bizarre and outlandish violation of the Fourth Amendment.   I came face-to-face with Big Brother the other day, and it was a frightening experience. He actually presented himself in the deceptive form of a young, attractive female officer, working for the Transportation Security Administration at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. At first she       ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - No, They Cant!