Snooping against Americans reauthorized. The NSA's bulk phone metadata spying program was renewed for another 90 days, the fourth time the warrantless snooping has been reauthorized following President Barack Obama promising reform last January, the government said Monday. That means the nation's telecoms will continue ... MORE
by Kevin Mathews. Did you know that, no matter the evidence, if a jury feels a law is
unjust, it is permitted to “nullify” the law rather than finding someone
guilty? Basically, jury nullification is
a jury’s way of saying, “By the letter of the law, the defendant is
guilty, but we also disagree with that law, so we vote to not punish the
accused.” ... MORE
Punishment based on preconceptions. The fiasco of "Rolling Stone" magazine's apology for an unsubstantiated claim of gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity house — and the instant rush to judgment of the university administration in shutting down all fraternities, when those charges were made — should warn us about the dangers ... MORE
by Sean Higgins. Legislation to tax Internet sales is dead for the year, a key Senate aide said. No bill allowing the taxation will be taken up before Congress' lame-duck session ends, meaning that purchases made through online merchants such as Amazon will continue to be tax-free for the foreseeable future. A coalition made up of state and ... MORE
by Jordan Richardson. Long overdue moves toward justice. Civil asset forfeiture enables law enforcement agencies to seize money and property that they suspect is being used to commit a crime or represents profits from criminal activity. Law enforcement agencies do not need to convict or even charge the property owner to make these ... MORE
Just wait until Republicans control Congress. The IRS scandal is not much in the news these days, but it is not going away. The more Obama’s minions stonewall this scandal, the more congressional Democrats discount the scandal, the more the leftist establishment media ignores this scandal, the more toxic it will be for the left. ... MORE
by Rob Barry and Coulter Jones. When 24-year-old Albert Jermaine Payton wielded a knife in front of the police in this city’s southeast corner, officers opened fire and killed him. Yet according to national statistics intended to track police killings, Mr. Payton’s death in August 2012 never happened. It is one of hundreds of homicides ... MORE
Govt's shrewed scheme to reduce the debt. The cost of renouncing U.S. citizenship will increase Sept. 12, from $450 to $2,350 per person, the U.S. State Department said. The new fee reflects what a U.S. Federal Register notice calls the "full cost" of the paperwork involved. "Documenting a U.S. citizen's renunciation of citizenship is ... MORE
How prohibition drives users to more dangerous drugs. Last week CNN ran a report called
"Deadly High: How Synthetic Drugs Are Killing Kids." The story
highlights the threat posed by "deadly new drugs on America's
streets designed to evade the law." In case you are not sure how
you should react to this menace, correspondent Drew Griffin ... MORE
by William Dotinga. An arrest is not a conviction. For the second time in three years, a state appeals court in San Francisco found that a voter-approved mandate authorizing police to collect DNA from arrestees is unconstitutional. The 3-0 ruling by a panel of the First Appellate District stems from the arson conviction of Mark Buza, whom a jury ... MORE
by David Harsanyi. Killed for failure to pay a cigarette tax. After news of the baffling decision by the New York grand jury not to indict a police officer in the killing of Eric Garner, I sent out a (slightly) hyperbolic tweet that wondered why Americans would want to entrust their free speech and health care to an institution that will kill you over ... MORE
by Andrew Loposser. Over the past few months, civil asset forfeiture has made national headlines. Thanks to hard work by folks at the Heritage Foundation, Washington Post, and journalists like Radley Balko, this corrupt police practice has been brought to the forefront of the debate on how the government erodes our civil liberties. Thankfully ... MORE