Michael Grable: The California Drought & The Free Market

Free markets free people.  Controlled markets control people. A long story in The Desert Sun (a Palm Springs daily) recently manufactured a lake out of a puddle in California's perennial water problems.  Maybe it's just Governor Moonbeam's gang feeding propaganda to the fourth estate, but it's a good example of how government regulation and media     ... MORE

Thousands Dead From Police Shootings, Few Prosecuted

from the Washington Post.    On a rainy night five years ago, Officer Coleman “Duke” Brackney set off in pursuit of a suspected drunk driver, chasing his black Mazda Miata down rural Arkansas roads at speeds of nearly 100 miles per hour. When the sports car finally came to rest in a ditch, Brackney opened fire at the rear window and repeatedly  ... MORE

VIDEO: John Stossel - Those Evil Koch Brothers

Stephen Moore: Greens Against The Poor

How the climate change agenda hurts the poor. Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Elizabeth Warren and the whole gang of Democratic leaders claim that one of their highest priorities is to lift up the middle class and reduce the income gap between rich and poor. That goal collides with what they admit is their very highest priority: stopping   ... MORE

State Seizes 11-year-old, Arrests His Mother After He Defends Medical Marijuana During A School Presentation

by Radley Balko.  From the website run by investigative journalist Ben Swann: On March 24, cannabis oil activist Shona Banda‘s life was flipped upside-down after her son was taken from her by the State of Kansas. The ordeal started when police and counselors at her 11-year-old son’s school conducted a drug education class. Her son, who had previously ... MORE

VIDEO: Free Range Kids & Gov't Fear Of Healthy Childhood

Walter E Williams: Some Thoughts And Questions

What's the true test of one's commitment to free speech?  It does not come when he permits people to be free to say or publish ideas with which he agrees. Not by a long shot. The true test of one's commitment to free speech comes when he permits others to say and publish ideas he deems offensive. In March, a video surfaced of   ... MORE

Jesse Walker: How About A Religious Nanny For President?

Mike Huckabee is your guy.     Mike Huckabee didn't confirm tonight that he's running for president, but he told us when he'd let us know. Interviewed by Fox News' Bret Baier, the Republican said he'd make a formal announcement in Hope, Arkansas, on May 5. Huckabee, who served as governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007, last ran for president  ... MORE

Sheldon Richman: Lessons For The Liberty Movement

Patience and empathy are key in presenting concept.   It goes without saying—I hope—that we libertarians should be patient and empathetic when we talk political economy with non-libertarians. Patience and empathy are generally virtues, of course, but libertarians have an additional reason to practice them in their political lives: they  ... MORE

Copyrights & Patents Have Become A Religion

by Tim Cushing.   If you've read Techdirt for any length of time, you'll have noticed that intellectual property laws have been decoupled from logic for several years now. Because the entities heavily-reliant on IP protections (and who mostly serve as gatekeepers and middlemen, rather than perform any creative work of their own) have trouble    ... MORE

VIDEO: Johan Norberg - The Power Of Economic Freedom

How To Break The Internet

by Geoffrey A. Manne & R. Ben Sperry.     "Net neutrality" sounds like a good idea. It isn't. As political slogans go, the phrase net neutrality has been enormously effective, riling up the chattering classes and forcing a sea change in the government's decades-old hands-off approach to regulating the Internet. But as an organizing principle for the      ... MORE

NY Times Gets Confused About Minimum Wage Again

by Tim Worstall.    The editorial page has been dumbed down. There was a glorious time, when America was young again, that the New York Times actually had the right idea about the minimum wage. The rate should be zero of course. No, really, here’s their headline: "The Right Minimum Wage: $0.00." That’s not an Op/Ed, that’s an editorial.  ... MORE

VIDEO: Freedom To Give - Why Liberty?

Ex-Drug Cop Says He Stole Cash, Planted Drugs Many Times

by MaryClaire Dale, AP.      A disgraced ex-police officer testifying against his drug squad colleagues acknowledged Tuesday that he stole drug money, planted evidence and lied on police paperwork too many times to count. Jeffrey Walker told jurors that the Philadelphia Police Department drug squad targeted white "college-boy ... khaki-pants types"   ...  MORE

John W. Whitehead: No Matter Who Wins The White House, The New Boss Will Be The Same As The Old Boss

Liberty is an individual, not a political, choice.    The American people remain eager to be persuaded that a new president in the White House can solve the problems that plague us. Yet no matter who wins this next presidential election, you can rest assured that the new boss will be the same as the old boss, and we—the permanent underclass in  ... MORE