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Wednesday March 27th, 2013
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Totalitarianism is the New Normal
posted 03/27/2013, 11:02 PM (Wendy McElroy)
[Category: Commentary]
 First it was a secret “kill list” on which Nobel Peace Laureate Barack Obama names those he wishes to be assassinated. The names included American citizens Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan who died in a drone strike in Yemen on September 30th, 2011. Neither was indicted or charged with a crime. They were killed as 'terrorists' at the discretion of one man whose signature now constitutes due process.
Then, on March 20th, the Obama administration put a $5 million bounty on each of two... (more) |
Why the Awlakis Were Killed
posted 03/26/2013, 11:21 PM (Jacob G. Hornberger)
[Category: Commentary]
While President Obama, the Pentagon, and the CIA have steadfastly refused to say why they assassinated American citizen Anwar al-Awlaki, one thing remains beyond dispute: It wasn't because Awlaki was trying to take away the freedom of the American people. It was instead because he was opposing the U.S. national-security state's interventionism in the Middle East and neighboring regions.
The issue is a simple one:
People over there are saying to the Pentagon and the ... (more) |
The Liberal Blind Spot
posted 03/25/2013, 10:05 PM (Jacob G. Hornberger)
[Category: Commentary]
 One of the distinguishing characteristics of liberals is their inability to focus on the unseen consequences of statist policies. They're able to see the direct, immediate consequences of such policies but they have a blind spot when it comes to the adverse consequences that cannot be seen.
A good example of this phenomenon occurred recently in a book review published in the Washington Post. The review was of a book entitled The Last Line of Defense written by Virginia Attorne... (more) |
On the Rich
posted 03/24/2013, 9:30 PM (James E. Miller)
[Category: Commentary]
 Try as he might, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon will never shake the label of being an overly privileged, money-grubbing banker elite. In business and politics, used to be heralded as a man of impeccable character. President Obama once called the head of the modern House of Morgan "one of the smartest bankers we got." When asked what candidate he thought would be splendid at running the U.S. Tr... (more) |
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Thursday March 21st, 2013
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North Korea's Prison Camps -- and America's
posted 03/21/2013, 11:19 AM (Michael Tennant)
[Category: Commentary]
 After returning from a recent trip to North Korea, former NBA star Dennis Rodman sat for an interview on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopolous. After Rodman declared that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, whom he had met on his trip, was "a great guy," Stephanopolous, apparently taken aback by the remark, said incredulously, "A great guy who puts 200,000 people in prison camps?"
Rodman replied that "it's amazing how we do the same thing here."
"We have pri... (more) |
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Wednesday March 20th, 2013
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Attorney General Eric Holder: If the President Does It, It's Legal
posted 03/20/2013, 10:42 AM (John W. Whitehead )
[Category: Commentary]
“I never thought I would see the day when a Justice Department would claim that only the most extreme infliction of pain and physical abuse constitutes torture and that acts that are merely cruel, inhuman and degrading are consistent with United States law and policy, that the Supreme Court would have to order the president of the United States to treat detainees in accordance with the Geneva Convention, never thought that I would see that a president would act in direct defiance of ... (more) |
Know Your Cop
posted 03/20/2013, 10:42 AM (Eric Peters Autos)
[Category: Commentary]
Traffic cops are becoming ever more dangerous to our wallets – and all-too-often, our persons. Since we can’t properly defend ourselves against their depredations, avoidance is therefore becoming all the more important. If you see them before they see you, you stand a good chance of not having to interact with them at all.... (more) |
The Little Red Hen Goes to Re-Education Camp
posted 03/20/2013, 10:41 AM (The Freeman)
[Category: Commentary]
What if Hollywood made a movie about World War II that was accurate all the way up to the D-Day invasion, then suddenly had the Russians landing at Normandy instead of the Americans, the British, and the French? We might wonder if somebody’s personal agenda got in the way of the facts.
I recently ran across an annoying rewrite of a story, though I admit it’s much subtler than the above hypothetical.... (more) |
Praising the Troops for Defending Our "Rights"ť and "Freedoms"
posted 03/18/2013, 2:56 AM (Jacob G. Hornberger)
[Category: Commentary]
Have you ever wondered what people mean when they praise the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for defending our rights and freedoms here at home? This is one of the most popular and important bromides of our time. Given that we hear it all the time, especially in church and at sporting events, wouldn't it be good to contemplate what people mean by it?
I think everyone by now will agree that the 9/11 attacks were not the first stage of a giant terrorist invasion of the United States.... (more) |
Gun Control: It Backfires
posted 03/18/2013, 2:54 AM (Jeffrey Tucker)
[Category: Commentary]
If I were an extremely cynical gun manufacturer, I would save some extra profits to give to Democratic candidates for president. Such presidents come to the White House under a cloud. No matter how many photo ops they hold with guns, many people suspect that they want to ban them.
It’s not a crazy assumption, either. In government’s ideal world, the politicians and their bureaucratic armies would have all the guns and the people would have none.
We know this from ex... (more) |
You Are An Anarchist. The Question Is: How Often?
posted 03/18/2013, 2:51 AM (The Freeman)
[Category: Commentary]
Classical liberals have long debated whether they should support a minimal state or no state at all. Unfortunately that debate is usually framed as an all-or-nothing proposition. Either you believe that “a minimal state is everywhere and always necessary” or that a “state everywhere and always does more harm than good.” This polarization is a mistake. Everyone, at least sometimes, is an anarchist.
Consider Cambodia in the late 1970s. The Khmer Rouge government intentionally killed... (more) |
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Thursday March 14th, 2013
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Doug Casey: If I Were President
posted 03/14/2013, 7:09 AM (Casey Research)
[Category: Commentary]
L: Hola Doug; what's on your mind this week?
Doug: Well, it occurs to me that for all the times we've criticized the counterproductive, foolish, or just plain wrong ideas of others and have sometimes offered sounder alternatives, I've never fleshed out a picture of what I would do if I could call the shots.
L: "If I were president"… But you're an anarchist!
Doug: ... (more) |
Private Prisons: The More Americans They Put Behind Bars The More Money They Make
posted 03/12/2013, 6:21 AM (The Economic Collapse)
[Category: Commentary]
 How would you describe an industry that wants to put more Americans in prison and keep them there longer so that it can make more money? In America today, approximately 130,000 people are locked up in private prisons that are being run by for-profit companies, and that number is growing very rapidly. Overall, the U.S. has approximately 25 percent of the entire global prison population even though it only has 5 percent of the total global population. The United States has the highest incarcera... (more) |
The War Against Bradley Manning -- A War Against All Who Speak Out Against Injustice
posted 03/12/2013, 6:20 AM (John W. Whitehead)
[Category: Commentary]
Time and again, throughout America’s history, individuals with a passion for truth and a commitment to justice have opted to defy the unjust laws and practices of the American government in order to speak up against slavery, segregation, discrimination, and war. Even when their personal safety and freedom were on the line, these individuals spoke up, knowing they would be chastised, ridiculed, arrested, branded traitors and even killed.
Indeed, while brave men and wom... (more) |
The Master Provocateurs
posted 03/12/2013, 6:17 AM (Jacob G. Hornberger)
[Category: Commentary]
Americans from across the political spectrum are finally waking up with deep concern over the president’s power to assassinate people, especially Americans. People are also increasingly concerned about out-of-control federal spending and debt. For the first time in recent memory, people didn’t fall for the fear-mongering and extortion that federal officials use to diffuse opposition to more federal spending and debt–i.e., that scary sequester that didn’t turn out to be so scary after all.... (more) |
Fifteen Benefits of the War on Drugs
posted 03/11/2013, 6:30 AM (Kevin Carson)
[Category: Commentary]
 With American drug use levels essentially the same as — and levels of drug-related violence either the same as or lower than — those in countries like the Netherlands with liberal drug laws, public support for the War on Drugs appears to be faltering. This was most recently evidenced in the victory of major drug decriminalization initiatives in Colorado and Washington. Some misguided commentators go so far as to say the Drug War is “a failure.” Here, to set the record straight, are fifteen ways ... (more) |
Rand Paul's Misplaced Celebration
posted 03/11/2013, 6:30 AM (Jacob G. Hornberger)
[Category: Commentary]
With his 13-hour filibuster of President Obama's nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director, U.S. Senator Rand Paul has drawn the nation's attention to the issue of whether President Obama claims the authority to assassinate American citizens here at home, on American soil.
The president, through Attorney General Eric Holder, initially stated that the president could use the military to kill Americans on U.S. soil but only in an "extraordinary circumstance." Holder emphasized, ... (more) |
Iraq Shows the Failure of Militarism and Socialism
posted 03/08/2013, 2:31 AM (Jacob G. Hornberger)
[Category: Commentary]
With the 10-year anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq upon us, there are three things that I find particularly fascinating.
First, the people who favored the invasion have different rationales for why they favored the invasion. Some of them say it's because Saddam Hussein conspired with al-Qaeda to commit the 9/11 attacks. Others say it's because there were terrorists inside Iraq. Others say that it was to bring democracy to Iraq. Others say it was to find WMDs, including thos... (more) |
What Holder Really Said
posted 03/08/2013, 2:31 AM (William Grigg)
[Category: Commentary]
It took a 13-hour filibuster from Senator Rand Paul to wring this terse statement from Attorney General Eric Holder:
"It has come to my attention that you have now asked an additional question: `Does the President have the authority to use a weaponized drone to kill an American not engaged in combat on American soil?' The answer to that question is no."
... (more) |
Obama: Dictator or Monarch?
posted 03/08/2013, 2:31 AM (Wendy McElroy)
[Category: Commentary]
As part of his strategy of shifting blame for the sequester onto Republicans, President Obama told reporters that his hands were politically tied. He stated, “I am not a dictator, I’m the president.” In other words, he could not bypass Congress to unilaterally impose his will.... (more) |
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Wednesday March 6th, 2013
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Move Over, Traffic Court, It’s Time for a New Money-Making Scheme -- School Truancy Laws Jail Parents and Levy Excessive Fines
posted 03/06/2013, 2:01 AM (John W. Whitehead)
[Category: Commentary]
We are now five years out from the worst financial crisis in modern history, and still the yoke around the neck of the average American seems to tighten with every new tax, fine, fee and law adopted by our so-called representatives. Meanwhile, the three branches of government (Executive, Legislative and Judicial) and the agencies under their command—Defense, Commerce, Education, Homeland Security, Justice, Treasury, etc.—have switched their allegiance to the Corporate State with its unassailable... (more) |
Economic Fascism and the Power Elite
posted 03/06/2013, 2:01 AM (David S. D'Amato)
[Category: Commentary]
 The state--the organization of the political means--is the institution that allows an idle, unproductive class of parasites to live at the expense of ordinary, working people, whose means are industrious activity and consensual exchange in the marketplace. We ought not assume, however, that the indigent segment of society, those who receive social welfare aid from the state, are necessarily foremost among the parasites of the political means. Rather, free-market libertarians from Albert Jay Nock... (more) |
Don't Rely on a Quack Doctor
posted 03/06/2013, 2:01 AM (Robert Higgs)
[Category: Commentary]
A man goes to his doctor for a routine checkup. The doctor performs a perfunctory examination and informs him that unless he receives an experimental treatment the doctor has devised, he will soon become disabled. "What's it cost, Doc?" the man asks. "Well, unfortunately it's not cheap, Mr. Smith, and I can't tell you exactly how much the total cost will be until the entire treatment has been completed, but unless you get this treatment, you will soon be in big trouble."
The man a... (more) |
Only Places Have Rights?
posted 03/06/2013, 1:57 AM (Wendy McElroy)
[Category: Commentary]
Geography is a peculiar way to think about rights. But the rights that people can exercise are being increasingly defined by the square foot of earth they happen to stand on. These ‘rights’ can change in the course of a two-minute walk.
I am not referring to the fact that various nations recognize rights in widely different ways. Nor do I refer to the rules of conduct laid down by property owners for anyone who wants to enter their homes or businesses. I mean the steady curtailing... (more) |
The Sequestration Boondoggle
posted 03/04/2013, 5:29 AM (Jeffrey Tucker)
[Category: Commentary]
Illegal immigrants will flood in! You will be stuck in security lines for hours! Children will go hungry! Planes will fall from the sky!
No, this isn’t a recap of the nightmare scenarios concocted by Y2K maniacs some 13 years ago. Instead, this is what the White House itself has said about puny and largely mythical cuts that will occur with the deadly plague known as “sequestration.”
It’s nothing short of a “devastating list of horribles” — something even worse than... (more) |
Immigration and Market Wonders
posted 03/04/2013, 5:29 AM (James E. Miller)
[Category: Commentary]
In response to the sequester savings currently taking effect in the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials reportedly let loose hundreds of detained illegal immigrants in order to comply with budget cuts. Many right-wing commentators were so perturbed by this blatant act of political wailing, their complaints inspired the agency’s head of enforceme... (more) |
Digits Won't Destroy Music After All
posted 03/01/2013, 12:17 AM (Jeffrey Tucker)
[Category: Commentary]
What’s called the “music industry” — which really means the big players in recording and performance — just climbed over the mountain. Global sales rose last year for the first time since 1999. That’s 14 years of hell ending with just a glimmer of light on the horizon.
Still, everyone is celebrating the change. And the source is rather obvious. It’s the download services. It’s the aggregator services like Pandora and Spotify. It’s the new reach and new technology. It’s advertising... (more) |
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Thursday February 28th, 2013
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"The Government is US?" Not Unless We're Citigroup
posted 02/28/2013, 12:03 AM (Kevin Carson)
[Category: Commentary]
Jill Lesser, head of the Center for Copyright Information (an intellectual property lobby posing as an “educational” body), recently assured the public that “six strikes” provisions of an agreement between the music and motion picture industries and several major Internet Service Providers won’t adversely affect provision of free wireless Internet by public libraries, restaurants, coffee houses and other public gathering places.
Nonsense, responded the Electronic Frontier Foundat... (more) |
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Wednesday February 27th, 2013
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To Free One's Mind
posted 02/27/2013, 2:03 AM (Jeffrey Tucker)
[Category: Commentary]
 People often ask me “when did you become an anarchist?” It’s not an easy question to answer. Deep changes in one’s intellectual outlook do not happen overnight. You first entertain the idea. Then you assess its plausibility. You might even embrace the idea fully, but only in the abstract. Real intellectual change comes when you can see how the idea works in the real world—even in your daily life. That’s when confidence in an idea comes.
For this reason, it always mystifies me why... (more) |
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Tuesday February 26th, 2013
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The U.S. Supreme Court: Architects of the American Police State
posted 02/26/2013, 12:20 AM (John W. Whitehead)
[Category: Commentary]
 “The unspoken power dynamics in a police/civilian encounter will generally favor the police, unless the civilian is a local sports hero, the mayor, or a giant who is impervious to bullets.” -- Journalist Justin Peters
From time to time throughout history, individuals have been subjected to charges (and eventual punishment) by accusers whose testimony was treated as infallible and inerrant. Once again, we find ourselves repeating history, only this time, it’s th... (more) |
Anarchy, State, and Gun Ownership
posted 02/26/2013, 12:16 AM (Mises Institute)
[Category: Commentary]
 The controversy over whether the Federal Government should ban the possession by citizens of certain types, or all types, of firearms has been raging back and forth for a very long time. I remember as a child seeing news coverage of horrific acts of violence involving firearms. I also remember the seemingly interminable "national conversation" that inevitably followed these events. It seemed, and still seems, to rouse people's emotions in a way that few other issues do. My parents, like most of ... (more) |
When They Came for the Raw Milk Drinkers...
posted 02/26/2013, 12:15 AM (Ron Paul)
[Category: Commentary]
While I oppose most gun control proposals, there is one group of Americans I do believe should be disarmed: federal agents. The use of force by federal agents to enforce unjust and unconstitutional laws is one of the major, albeit overlooked, threats to liberty. Too often Americans are victimized by government force simply for engaging in commercial transactions disproved of by Congress and the federal bureaucracy.
For example, the offices of Rawesome Foods in Venice, ... (more) |
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Monday February 25th, 2013
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The Gulag Takes Over the Gridiron
posted 02/25/2013, 12:18 AM (Will Grigg)
[Category: Commentary]
 In recent decades, professional sports franchises have increasingly relied on the sale of corporate “naming rights” – in addition to various kinds of government subsidies -- to pay for sports stadiums. This trend has caught on in college football, as well. As a result, a growing number of stadiums are named after companies that produce goods or offer services. Florida Atlantic University has sold naming rights to a company that warehouses convicts – and lobbies government to produce more of ... (more) |
What's Immoral for the Private Goose Is Moral for the Government Gander?
posted 02/25/2013, 12:18 AM (Robert Higgs)
[Category: Commentary]
Why do so many people consider certain actions to be immoral if taken by private persons, but not immoral—perhaps even morally praiseworthy—if taken by government officials?
One possibility is that people have become accustomed to government officials' taking certain actions (e.g., getting income by insisting that people either hand over their money or suffer punishment) over long periods, sometimes from time immemorial, and they no longer evaluate the morality of these actions at... (more) |
Meteors and Entrepreneurs
posted 02/25/2013, 12:15 AM (James E. Miller)
[Category: Commentary]
 American political culture is full of absurd myths. Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves because of a divine moral imperative and Harry Truman dropping the atomic bomb in the name of saving lives both come immediately to mind. In the realm of economics, practically everything espoused by the political class and its fawning press should be taken as a falsehood. This includes one of the greatest myths espoused in the past three decades: Ronald Reagan's toppling of Soviet Russia through a massive dom... (more) |
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Friday February 22nd, 2013
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No More Police Socialism
posted 02/22/2013, 2:42 PM (Scott Lazarowitz)
[Category: Commentary]
Murray Rothbard’s book, Power and Market, contains a section that promotes a free-market in defense and is republished on LRC, titled, No More Military Socialism.
I’m no Murray Rothbard of course, but I would like to submit a variation on that theme: No More Police Socialism. It is increasingly frustrating that our society continues to support such a scheme, despite its incompetence, its criminality and its horrors.... (more) |
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Wednesday February 20th, 2013
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Why Isn't the Murder of an American Boy an Impeachable Offense?
posted 02/20/2013, 4:26 PM (Jacob G. Hornberger)
[Category: Commentary]
 Article 2, Section 4, of the U.S. Constitution reads as follows: The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
In 1998, President Bill Clinton was impeached for perjury and obstruction of justice for matters arising out of the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal.
If perjury and obstruction of justice constitute high crime... (more) |
Identity Politics Über Alles
posted 02/20/2013, 4:25 PM (Wendy McElroy)
[Category: Commentary]
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY) is backing a bill to reinstate the draft, but he wants to include women this time. Gender and liberal feminists are responding in various ways, but they seem to have arrived at the same conclusion: an endorsement of drafting women.... (more) |
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Tuesday February 19th, 2013
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Will Obama Confiscate Guns and Gold?
posted 02/19/2013, 1:14 PM (The Dollar Vigilante)
[Category: Commentary]
Barack Obama often compares himself to Franklin D. Roosevelt. When he does, gold owners reach for a gun, of which they usually have several. Gold and guns are becoming politically entangled, and a connecting word is often “confiscation.”
The prospect of gun confiscation is fueling discussion of FDR's 1933 nationalization of gold ownership, which resembled Hugo Chavez's nationalization of Venezuelan gold mines in 2011. FDR did so by executive... (more) |
Political Problems Have Only One Real Solution
posted 02/19/2013, 1:14 PM (Robert Higgs)
[Category: Commentary]
Eldridge Cleaver famously declared, “You’re either part of the solution or you’re part of the problem.” Although I did not agree with this sentiment in its original context, it has more definite applicability in regard to what one might think of as "solving political problems.”
Notice, first, that politics consists in the struggle to control the power that allows one party (whether an individual or a gr... (more) |
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Friday February 15th, 2013
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Christopher Dorner and the Chaos Inherent to Government
posted 02/15/2013, 9:09 AM (Jason Lee Byas)
[Category: Commentary]
 LAPD officer Christopher Dorner's killings and the manhunt that they sparked left Angelenos in a state of terror. Innocent people were, wounded, or psychologically traumatized as a result of Dorner’s actions and those of his former fellow officers. These tragedies were not random flukes. They were a direct result of political government, its monopoly on “legitimate” violence, and the psychology of entitlement bred by its authority.
Maggie Carranza, 47, and her 71-year-old mother E... (more) |
Can the Internet Save Us?
posted 02/15/2013, 9:10 AM (Robert Higgs)
[Category: Commentary]
Many of my freedom-loving friends have great confidence that communication via the Internet and the World Wide Web will prove to be a game-changer in the fight against the disinformation and propaganda disseminated by the state and its running dogs, and that the greater ease of spreading the truth will shift the balance in favor of those who seek to protect and extend liberty. I have always had my doubts.
For one thing, the state continues to have a preponderance of physical power... (more) |
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The Century of the Self: The Untold History of Controlling the Masses Through the Manipulation of Unconscious Desires
Operation Gladio: The Hidden History of U.S. Sponsored False Flag Terrorism in Europe
The New American Century: The Untold History of The Project for the New American Century
On March 5th, a headline in the left-leaning 
The Associated Press .jpg)
On the same day that Kentucky Senator Rand Paul was filibustering the nomination of John Brennan to head the CIA over the nominee’s involvement in lethal drone strikes, Attorney General Eric Holder defended arbitrary power before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
In the fashion of 
Police Chief Ed Flynn of Milwaukee believes that his department is at war with the gun-owning public. 
“Much of our foreign policy now depends on the hope of benevolent dictators and philosopher kings. The law can’t help. The law is what the kings say it is.”
Cop Who Karate Chopped NY Judge In Throat Gets Off Scot-Free
Florida Cop Smashes Compliant Woman's Face Into Car -- "Maybe Now You Can Understand Simple Instructions"
VIDEO: Lapel Cam Reveals A Day In The Life Of A U.S. Police Officer (Tasing, Beating, Breaking & Entering, Stomping On Heads... and Laughing About It)
Caught On Tape: Officer Sucker Punches Inmate In Face, Files Report Claiming 'Self Defense'
Insult Person On Twitter, Go To Jail
SWAT Team Brings TV Crew To Film Raid Against Threatening Internet Critic -- Raids Innocent Grandma Instead
Cop Karate Chops NY Judge In The Throat
When the Right to Resist Becomes the "Duty to Submit"
The Missing Lesson From Norway: Never Trust a Man in Uniform
"They're Only Out To Make Cold Hard American Cash"; Park Police Crack Down on Bicycle Cabs in DC