CLibertyC

The impulse to ban

"You don’t have to be a libertarian, or otherwise opposed to large government, to desire proper analysis of a problem and its potential solutions before rushing into a ban. Yet the impulse in the general population is to ban, whether they are on the left or the right. Those of us involved in drug policy reform have seen so clearly first-hand the unmitigated disasters that can come from the rush to ban, and so are less susceptible, perhaps, to that impulse. But we need to help others see that banning is not equal to stopping the problem." Continue reading →

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Weight Watchers trying to cash in on Obamacare healthy workers initiative

"Called Health Solutions, the division partners with corporations to create incentive programs that range from partially subsidizing Weight Watchers program fees for employees to giving employees a discount on health insurance if they attend a certain amount of meetings. Employees can also attend Weight Watchers meetings in their office, or use online tools customizable to the company. The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, will raise the incentive level caps to 30 percent to allow employers to reward healthy employees with lower insurance premiums, or penalize unhealthy workers with higher premiums." Continue reading →

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How to Use Public Health to Control Everything

"The early focus on a holistic public led to the movement of 'racial hygiene' which appeared in 19th century Germany. A historian of public health, Dorothy Porter, explains that the movement considered 'the health, not only of individuals, but of the race as a whole.' The trend was also called 'social hygiene,' and spread to other countries. It reached its zenith under the Nazis. In his fascinating book, The Nazi War on Cancer, Robert Proctor mentions some Nazi slogans: 'You have the duty to be healthy,' 'Food is not a private matter,' 'Your body belongs to the nation.'" Continue reading →

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Targeted booze strikes: Aerial drone drops beer at South Africa music festival

"Revellers at a South African outdoor rock festival no longer need to queue to slake their thirst — a flying robot will drop them beer by parachute. After clients place an order using a smartphone app, a drone zooms 15 metres (50 feet) above the heads of the festival-goers to make the delivery. Carel Hoffmann, director of the Oppikoppi festival held on a dusty farm in the country’s northern Limpopo province, said the app registers the position of users using the GPS satellite chips on their phones. 'The delivery guys have a calibrated delivery drone. They send it to the GPS position and drops it with a parachute,' he explained." Continue reading →

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The Technological Evolution of Nonlethal Weaponry

"Over time, the one constant has been to invent a technology that conferred an advantage on the user in battle—or else served as protection against what the other guy had. And the reason for wielding any given weapon has always been to maim or, preferably, kill one's adversary. Before one got one's own self killed, of course. The concept of a weapon that is designed merely to temporarily incapacitate, with little or no lasting injury, is relatively new. In a way, the development of nonlethal weaponry (NLW) can be seen as an inevitable byproduct of the rise of democracy in the world." Continue reading →

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Third Maryland Jurisdiction Forced To Refund Illegal Photo Tickets

"These camera housings are now empty because the State Highway Administration noticed that the automated ticketing machine located on Berry Road had been posted 275 feet before the school zone for Daniel of Saint Thomas Jenifer Elementary School begins. The state agency notified the sheriff who agreed to cancel and around 4000 tickets, refunding any fines that have been paid because ticketing site did not meet legal standards. The photo ticketing setback in Charles County will take a serious chunk out of the $2,013,000 revenue the county expected to generate by allowing the contractor to issue 35,000 tickets." Continue reading →

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What It Means to Be An NSA “Target”: We Need Immediate FISA Amendments Act Reform

"In plain English: the NSA believes it not only can (1) intercept the communications of the target, but also (2) intercept communications about a target, even if the target isn’t a party to the communication. The most likely way to assess if a communication is “about” a target is to conduct a content analysis of communications, probably based on specific search terms or selectors. And that, folks, is what we call a content dragnet. Because the target remains a non-US person, the most robust protection for Americans’ communications under the FISA Amendments Act flies out the window." Continue reading →

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IRS agent: Tax agency is still targeting Tea Party groups

"Testimony released Thursday by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp reveals that an agent involved in reviewing tax exempt applications from conservative groups told a committee investigator that the agency is still targeting Tea Party groups, three months after the IRS scandal erupted. In closed door testimony before the House Ways & Means Committee, the unidentified IRS agent said requests for special tax status from Tea Party groups is being forced into a special 'secondary screening' because the agency has yet to come up with new guidance on how to judge the tax status of the groups." Continue reading →

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SWAT-Team Nation: The Militarization of the U.S. Police

"Inside, gallerygoers were looking at art and dancing to a d.j.; outside, on the patio, several young women were goofily belting out the lyrics to 'Hakuna Matata,' from 'The Lion King'. Only then did masked figures with guns storm the crowd, shouting, 'Get on the fucking ground! Get down, get down!' Some forty Detroit police officers dressed in commando gear ordered the gallery attendees to line up on their knees, then took their car keys and confiscated their vehicles, largely on the grounds that the gallery lacked the proper permits for dancing and drinking. More than forty cars were seized, and owners paid around a thousand dollars each to get them back." Continue reading →

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Why Have Police In America Turned Into Such Ruthless Thugs?

"What in the world does NASA need a SWAT team for? The police culture in America has fundamentally changed. In the old days, most police officers were extremely helpful and would give you directions or help you get your cat out of a tree. But if you stop and ask a police officer for help today, you will be lucky if all you get is some dirty language. These days, police all over the nation are actually being trained to bark orders at you and to respond to the least bit of resistance with overwhelming force. The results of this kind of training can often be extremely tragic. And with each passing year, it just gets even worse." Continue reading →

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