As they often do, Andrew Rausa and a few friends spent the evening of July 4 lounging barefoot on the front stoop of a friend's brownstone home in Brooklyn and enjoying a few beers. Escaping the indoor heat, Mr. Rausa and two friends sipped cans of Brooklyn Summer Ale; his
Beating a tiny, handcuffed, pregnant woman is an appropriate use of force, according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
On July 4, a San Antonio police officer spotted Destiny Rios walking on a city street and asked her name. After discovering an active warrant for prostitution, the officer attempted to arrest Rios. Two other officers arrived, handcuffed her, and threw her to the ground, where one of them struck the screaming woman at least nine times.
Property rights are being absolutely shredded all over America. Buying a piece of land and enjoying it with your family has always been a big part of the American Dream. Unfortunately, in the United States today you don't actually own your own home. If you don't pay your rent (property taxes) your home will be taken away from you, and you are only allowed to use your property in very narrowly defined ways. The control freaks that run things tell us what we can build on ou... (more)
People tell me that I get overly worked up about small government regulations. But small matters. The building of civilization is revealed in small steps, tiny, bit-by-bit improvements in the things we have and do. In the same way, seemingly small government regulations can cause a reversal of the magnificent world that enterprise has built. Under the right conditions, these can create human catastrophes.
So I offer the following scenario, based on real events very recently in nor... (more)
Even after millions rallied against the passage of SOPA/PIPA, the House is still quietly trying to pass a related bill that would give the entertainment industry more permanent, government-funded spokespeople. The Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet Subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee recently held a hearing on Lamar Smith's IP Attaché Act (PDF), a bill that increases intellectual property policing around the world. The Act would create an Assistant Secreta... (more)
Harborside Health Center, California's largest and most well-known medical marijuana dispensary, has been targeted for closure by federal prosecutors. Workers at the dispensary's home base in Oakland and at its second store in San Jose found complaints from US Attorney Melinda Haag's office taped to their doors when they came to work Monday morning.
The complaints inform Harborside that federal prosecutors ha... (more)
I find it fascinating how American television sportscasters steadfastly hew to the official line regarding the continued occupation of Afghanistan. During virtually every game, the sportscaster will make some reference to U.S. soldiers who have died or lost limbs during the occupation. The sportscaster will remind us that the fallen and wounded have made heroic sacrifices to “defend our freedom” here at home.
Do you ever wonder whether these people really believe this ... (more)
The War on Drugs is a monstrous evil that has ruined more lives than drugs themselves. Taking drugs harms the person who partakes, but not those who abstain; the War on Drugs harms everyone, even those who abstain from taking drugs.
Yet the Drug War enjoys bipartisan support in Congress, is supported by the majority of Americans, is cheered by most religious people, is espoused by most parents with young children, is championed by liberals and conservatives alike, is enc... (more)
There's a fun little debate series over at U.S. News & World Report featuring some of the usual suspects squaring off over whether the drug war is the best or worst thing in the world (well, it can't be both). My favorite part is Kevin Sabet's attempt to make the drug war sound about as wholesome as a hug from a nun, which he accomplishes by pretending no one ever... (more)
This devastating photo tells the tragic story of a family dog, shot dead by a police officer as he pursued a robbery suspect on Sunday.
Monkey got caught up in the chaos of a foot pursuit along Hodges Street in Lake Charles, Louisiana as officers chased teens believed to have beaten a man in a mall parking lot before stealing his car which they then abandoned.
The dog was in a back yard on the street when she heard the commotion and ran out through an open gate. ... (more)
Over in Russia, they're preparing some new internet legislation that would censor the internet using the typical bogeymen. The claim from supporters is that the law is to block access to information on drugs, suicide and child porn -- all to protect the children. The way it works is with a giant blacklist, that I'm sure won't be abused at all (yes, that's sarc... (more)
Where would the European economy be today without Germany? Compared with all the other states in the European Union, Germany is the viable cash cow for the rest to milk, and that's only because of the economic reforms that took place before the Great Recession hit.
It was the Social Democrats, led by Gerhard Schroder (in power from 1998-2005), who did what had to be done. His government lowered taxes, consolidated welfare programs and liberalized labor law enough to spare Germany ... (more)
The media is now fixated on an apparently new feature dominating the economic landscape: a "fiscal cliff" from which the United States will fall in January 2013. They see the danger arising from the simultaneous implementation of the $2 trillion in automatic spending cuts (spread over 10 years) agreed to in last year's debt ceiling vote and the expiration of the Bush era tax cuts. The economists to whom most reporters listen warn that the combined impact of reduced government spending an... (more)
If you've ever seen Dr. Drew Pinsky on TV, you've seen the look: lips pursed, eyes narrowed, head slightly tilted to stage right. It's an expression that seems practiced in front of a mirror, designed to dispense to his troubled patients precisely the right dosage of compassion tinged with disapproval—but, instead, it makes him look like his mind is somewhere else, off golfing or figuring out... (more)
When police state thug border patrol agents ask Pastor Steven Anderson to show his papers and follow their orders, you know what he tells them? NO! This same man was viciously beaten and tazed by border patrol thugs a few years ago, yet he's still giving them hell!
Shortly before 8 a.m. on June 28, police in Broomfield, Colorado, shot and killed Kyle Miller after he brandished a gun at them. Miller was mentally ill. The gun was fake. Miller's younger brother told the police dispatcher both of these facts. For some unknown reason, reports the Denver Post, Broomfield police shot Miller anyway:
A 911 call recorded just before Kyle Miller was shot to death by Broomfield police officers last week shows that his family warne
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