A nominee for the 2013 Streamy Award for Best Sci Fi or Action Series, and winner of Best Visual Effects – The future of war has a few upgrades, as DRONE takes a look at a rogue humanoid drone who has … Continue reading →
Although I’ve often criticized the constitutional tone-deafness of “progressives,” conservatives can sometimes exhibit such tendencies as well. Over atThe Seventh Amendment Advocate, Andy Cochran points out why trial by jury in civil cases—as guaranteed by the Seventh Amendment—is important, and how some conservatives disregard it. The problem arises because when constituency politics often trumps principle. Just…
The answer, in my view, depends on whether the U.S. can be “at war” with a non-state actor such as the Sunni rebel force in Iraq. Here’s my analysis: (1) The President has executive power and commander-in-chief power, and thus can direct the military and conduct foreign relations, so long as he does not do…
When it comes to its national intelligence community, the federal government has a major accountability problem. Agencies like the NSA and the CIA operate outside of constitutional bounds with little to no actual oversight. Trust in the Government Many perceive that every law Congress passes is constitutional. But Congress passes numerous laws despite James Madison’s…
Federal marshals recently seized a local police agency’s records on cell phone surveillance to keep it from public disclosure, demonstrating the importance of prohibiting dragnet surveillance at the state level. Sarasota, Fla. police were apparently secretly tracking individuals’ cell phones without a warrant using a device called a Stingray, according to the ACLU. “Stingrays track…
“After the financial crisis proved the government would spend tens of trillions of dollars to keep banks from going belly up, you would think that nothing will kill them. But now the ineffable forces of Stanford-branded reinvention are going after their customers. Do investors in publicly traded lenders need to get out before it’s too late? A case in point is student lending giant, SLM – formed as the Student Loan Marketing Association — which is in the cross-hairs of a San Francisco-based peer-to-peer lending powerhouse, Social Finance, Inc. (SoFi). As CEO Mike Cagney, a graduate of Stanford Business School, explained, SoFi is growing fast.” Continue reading →
“Federal Reserve officials, concerned that selling bonds from their $4.3 trillion portfolio could crush the U.S. recovery, are preparing to keep their balance sheet close to record levels for years. Central bankers are stepping back from a three-year-old strategy for an exit from the unprecedented easing they deployed to battle the worst recession since the Great Depression. The Fed is testing new tools that would allow it to keep a large balance sheet even after it raises short-term interest rates, a step policy makers anticipate taking next year. They would use these tools to drain excess reserves temporarily from the banking system.” Continue reading →
The federal government has once again failed to appropriately regulate its own behavior, with an Idaho federal judge ruling in favor of the constitutionality of the NSA’s spying program. According to a report from the Idaho Spokesman, U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill, in his eight-page decision issued [on June 3], found that under current U.S.…