P. J. Gladnick on an inconvenient irony. Somewhere far, far to the south where it is summer, a group of global
warming scientists are trapped in the Antarctic ice. If you missed the
irony of that situation, it is because much of the mainstream media has
glossed over that rather inconvenient bit of hilarity. As an example
here is an Associated ... MORE
The idea is spreading in Latin America. It’s barely been a month since Uruguay moved to legalize marijuana, and yet the effects of the decision are already being felt well outside of its borders. Neighboring Argentina, a long-time proponent of keeping marijuana illegal, gave its first indication that Uruguay’s pivot has tempted it to at least ... MORE
A necessary step on the road to totalitarianism. The end of free speech will not necessarily come when there are soldiers in the streets, secret police in the alleyways and a mustachioed man screaming at you on a television set that can’t be turned off no matter how hard you turn the knob or click the buttons. Some of these things ... MORE
67% call it a 'bad year,' 40% a disaster. Overshadowed by the bungled debut of Obamacare
and congressional gridlock, most Americans in a new poll dubbed 2013 a
bad year that will be quickly forgotten. For more than four-in-10, the
perils of 2013 hit home hard. “Put simply, most Americans are happy to see 2013 go,” said the latest ... MORE
by Sarah Hulett. A state lawmaker wants to make it illegal to seize people's assets if they have not been convicted of a crime. Right now in Michigan, law enforcement can seize your car, your house, or other things you own as part of an investigation, even if it results in no criminal charges. The bill’s sponsor says that runs afoul of the basic things ... MORE
by Rick Moran. If you are currently receiving a subsidy from the government for your health insurance, you better be aware that any "life changes" that occur during the year - marriage, divorce, increase in income - has to be reported to the IRS. Otherwise, you're liable to get a nasty surprise come tax time. Politico: It's a new responsibility ... MORE
by Steven Greenhut. “The art of government is to make two-thirds of the nation pay all it possibly can pay for the benefit of the other third,” mused Voltaire. Even that cynical French Enlightenment writer couldn’t imagine what would transpire one day in California, where a portion of the mere 15.3 percent of the public that works for government ... MORE
One hand of government washes the other. A federal judge on Friday found that the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of millions of Americans’ telephone records is legal and a valuable part of the nation’s arsenal to counter the threat of terrorism. U.S. District Judge William Pauley said in a written opinion that the program ... MORE
Deception as a primary political weapon. According to the Chinese calendar, 2013 was the Year of the Snake. For Americans, however, the year just drawing to a close will be known as the Year of the Lie. Not since the Nixon Administration -- which ended with Richard Nixon resigning in order to avoid being impeached -- has the credibility ... MORE
by S.A. Miller and Geoff Earle. Here comes the ObamaCare tax bill. The cost of President Obama’s massive health-care law will hit Americans in 2014 as new taxes pile up on their insurance premiums and on their income-tax bills. Most insurers aren’t advertising the ObamaCare taxes that are added on to premiums, opting instead to ... MORE
Coloring books, cartoons to placate terrified tots. Four-year-old Isabella Brademeyer had just learned about “stranger danger” at school, her family said. Perhaps that’s why the little girl was terrified when Transportation Security Administration officers at a Kansas airport separated her from her mother, told her to spread her arms and ... MORE
published in Russia Today. A Drone Survival Guide with hints and tips on how to thwart the
“robotic birds” has been published on the internet. With over 30,000
drones expected to be flying over the US by 2030, the Guide urges
readers to familiarize themselves with the craft. In light of the growing number of drones, the Guide advises a ... MORE
"The mission is already accomplished." In a message broadcast Wednesday on British television, Edward J. Snowden, the former US security contractor, urged an end to mass surveillance, arguing that the electronic monitoring he has exposed surpasses anything imagined by George Orwell in "1984," a dystopian vision of an ... MORE
By Ilya Shapiro. One of Barack Obama’s chief accomplishments has been to return the Constitution to a central place in our public discourse. Unfortunately, the president fomented this upswing in civic interest not by talking up the constitutional aspects of his policy agenda, but by blatantly violating the strictures of our founding document. ... MORE
by John Glaser. A domestic surveillance system established after the terrorist attacks of September 11 collects and shares intelligence on a mass scale about “the everyday activities of law-abiding Americans, even in the absence of reasonable suspicion,” according to a new report. The
report, released this month by the Brennan Center for Justice, ... MORE
Banning e-cigarettes because they look like real thing. A few weeks ago, as the New York City Council's health committee
considered a ban on using electronic cigarettes in public, several
fans of the battery-powered devices sat in the audience,
demonstrating their operation. "I'm watching puffs of vapor go up
in this room," ... MORE
A vote-buying technique called handouts. Politicians can be progressives, liberals, conservatives, Democrats or Republicans, and right-wingers. They just can't be dumb. The American people will never elect them to office. Let's look at it. For years, I used to blame politicians for our economic and social mess. That changed during the 1980s ... MORE
One more gift from big government. Washington offers many opportunities for Schadenfreude, that wonderful German word which means to enjoy the misery of others. The sudden realization of liberal professionals who voted for Barack Obama that they will be forced to spend thousands more on health insurance was one of those ... MORE
All cops are bad – by definition. Harsh statement? Certainly. It does not make it less true – like an accurate terminal cancer diagnosis. Pretending otherwise doesn’t alter the reality. Whether the cops themselves are conscious of their badness is immaterial. No doubt, many cops (as distinct from peace officers) believe in their hearts ... MORE
America has a "totalitarian process" in place. Bill Binney is the high-level NSA executive who created the agency’s mass surveillance program for digital information. A 32-year NSA veteran widely regarded as a “legend” within the agency, Binney was the senior technical director within the agency and managed thousands of NSA employees. ... MORE
by Brooke Magnanti. Yesterday, the long running saga of sex worker
Terri Jean Bedford's (pictured at right) challenge to Canadian
restrictions on prostitution came to a head as the Supreme Court of
Canada unanimously struck down
several such laws in
Canada v. Bedford. Declaring laws restricting
brothel-keeping, negotiating the ... MORE
by Jacob Sullum. A new A.P. poll finds that the number of Americans who oppose marijuana legalization has fallen dramatically in the last few years. In a survey completed last week, 29 percent of respondents said they opposed “legalizing the possession of small amounts of marijuana for personal use,” compared to 55 percent ... MORE
Rebecca Fudek on credibility forfeiture. “I’ve always paid my taxes and have never been arrested or charged
with any crime in my life. I am a successful small-business man. But in
January of this year, I woke up to find that my business’ entire bank
account — more than $35,000 — had been wrongly seized.” These are the words of Terry Dehko, who ... MORE
by J.D. Tuccille. The National Security Agency isn't the only arm of the government in the surveillance business. According to a September report from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), "every 90 days for the past seven years the FBI has obtained secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders compelling telecommunications ... MORE
Its dangerous to put off Social Security reform. In November 2004, President George W. Bush was re-elected after campaigning on personal accounts for Social Security. It was unfair, he argued at the time, to make a generation of young people pay into a system that's going broke. Bush's plan promised to make the program solvent, ... MORE
by John Giokaris. "The cupboard is bare ...There’s no more cuts to make." That’s what House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told CNN’s State of the Union in September during an interview about spending reform. Really? She can’t find any spending to cut in the federal budget? Why can’t she start with the $30 billion in government ... MORE
Edward Snowden: "These [NSA] programs were never about terrorism: they're about economic spying, social control, and diplomatic manipulation. They're about power." NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has offered to help the Brazilian government in its investigations around US spying in exchange for permanent asylum in the country. ... MORE
by Michael Bastasch. Hold your champagne glasses high this holiday season, because the end of 2013 marks the 17th year without global warming. This year has been trying for climate scientists and environmentalists who have been trying hard to explain away the 17-year hiatus in global warming and link “extreme weather” to rising ... MORE
Should political correctness trump individual rights? Poor Phil Robertson, "Duck Dynasty" star. He had the temerity to express opinions to GQ about homosexuality that landed him crosswise the nation's gay jackboots. Out came the truncheons, whacking not just Phil over the head, but anyone, anywhere, who has anything to do ... MORE
by Andrew Mangione. As if ObamaCare’s botched website, coverage cancellations, and higher costs were not bad enough, the Obama Administration has quietly dealt yet another blow – this time striking millions of the nation’s most vulnerable seniors. Specifically, the Obama Administration has decided to deeply cut funding for the ... MORE