Yearly Archives: 2013

8-year-old girl handcuffed, jailed for two hours

"An 8-year-old girl was handcuffed and held by Alton Police for two hours after throwing a tantrum at school. Jmyha Rickman was hauled in the back of a police squad car. Her guardian said she was treated like a criminal, all 70 lbs. of the young girl. Rickman’s ordeal began at Love Joy Elementary School late Tuesday morning when she apparently had a bad tantrum. At some point, school officials called the Alton Police to handle the situation." Continue reading →

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Janet Napolitano Asked About DHS’s 2,700 Armored Trucks

"At an airline security conference, Luke Rudkowski asked Janet Napolitano about the Department of Homeland Security's purchase of 2,700 armored trucks that will be deployed to local law enforcement agencies around the country. It is extremely difficult for anyone to have the opportunity to talk to Napolitano as she has a large number of Secret Service around her at all times that does not allow media anywhere near her." Continue reading →

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Can police collect DNA when someone is arrested? Supreme Court to decide.

"The US Supreme Court heard argument Tuesday in a case testing whether government officials can routinely collect a person’s DNA at the time he or she is arrested and then use that DNA sample to try to link the individual to unsolved crimes. At issue in the case is whether taking a DNA sample from an arrestee without first obtaining a court-authorized warrant is an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. DNA material contains a plethora of highly personal information bound within a person’s genetic code. DNA might someday reveal information about an individual’s susceptibility to future diseases and perhaps even personality traits." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCan police collect DNA when someone is arrested? Supreme Court to decide.

Supreme Court: Rights groups cannot prove harm from warrantless wiretapping

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that human rights groups do not have standing to sue the government over its warrantless wiretapping program because they have no proof that the wiretapping has harmed them. The vote was split 5-4 along partisan lines, with the conservative majority supporting the Obama administration’s argument that the FISA Amendments Act was above reproach in this case because the harms were 'speculative,' and not 'actual.' Roving, warrantless wiretaps were authorized by President George W. Bush after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, turning the National Security Agency into the nation’s spy machine." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court: Rights groups cannot prove harm from warrantless wiretapping

Supreme Court: Rights groups cannot prove harm from warrantless wiretapping

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that human rights groups do not have standing to sue the government over its warrantless wiretapping program because they have no proof that the wiretapping has harmed them. The vote was split 5-4 along partisan lines, with the conservative majority supporting the Obama administration’s argument that the FISA Amendments Act was above reproach in this case because the harms were 'speculative,' and not 'actual.' Roving, warrantless wiretaps were authorized by President George W. Bush after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, turning the National Security Agency into the nation’s spy machine." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingSupreme Court: Rights groups cannot prove harm from warrantless wiretapping

Bills to Require the Registration of the Buyers and Sellers of Gold and Silver Coins

"First they came to register your guns, and now they want to register when you sell (and sometimes when you buy gold) gold. A bill has been introduced in Illinois, the most anti-gun state in the US, that will require the registration of the buyers and sellers of gold. In Houston, a law has been passed in the city that requires any consumer selling gold to submit to fingerprints and mugshots." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBills to Require the Registration of the Buyers and Sellers of Gold and Silver Coins

Bills to Require the Registration of the Buyers and Sellers of Gold and Silver Coins

"First they came to register your guns, and now they want to register when you sell (and sometimes when you buy gold) gold. A bill has been introduced in Illinois, the most anti-gun state in the US, that will require the registration of the buyers and sellers of gold. In Houston, a law has been passed in the city that requires any consumer selling gold to submit to fingerprints and mugshots." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBills to Require the Registration of the Buyers and Sellers of Gold and Silver Coins

What Could Go Wrong with the Housing Recovery in 2013? Plenty.

"Given the preponderance of housing in bank assets, household wealth, and the perception of wealth, the key policies of Central Planning largely revolve around housing: keeping interest rates (and thus mortgage rates) low, flooding the banking sector with liquidity to ease lending, guaranteeing low-down-payment mortgages via FHA, and numerous other subsidies of homeownership. At least three aspects of this broad-based support are historically unprecedented." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Could Go Wrong with the Housing Recovery in 2013? Plenty.

What Could Go Wrong with the Housing Recovery in 2013? Plenty.

"Given the preponderance of housing in bank assets, household wealth, and the perception of wealth, the key policies of Central Planning largely revolve around housing: keeping interest rates (and thus mortgage rates) low, flooding the banking sector with liquidity to ease lending, guaranteeing low-down-payment mortgages via FHA, and numerous other subsidies of homeownership. At least three aspects of this broad-based support are historically unprecedented." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Could Go Wrong with the Housing Recovery in 2013? Plenty.

Former Fed Banker: Debunking the Myths About Central Banks

"Pursuit of price stability is the one goal that nearly everyone agrees is a central bank responsibility. Yet it is the one on which the Fed and other central banks have failed miserably. Since the Fed's founding in 1913, consumer prices have increased by a factor of 23 times. If the U.S. can extricate itself from fiscal deficits, price stability would be an attainable goal for central banks. Otherwise, central banking is nothing but mythology." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Fed Banker: Debunking the Myths About Central Banks