Resistance

What is an American? Forget the state and just be a child of the nation

"The act of renouncing U.S. citizenship should not 'diminish your personal identity'. If you want to think of yourself as an American that’s fine. Nobody can take that away from you. This is important. Why? Because the Obama 'Witch Hunt' against U.S. citizens abroad has forced people to reevaluate many of their fundamental assumptions. Few Americans abroad still view the United States as 'that great citadel of freedom and justice'. Few Americans abroad see themselves as 'tax cheats' because they have offshore accounts." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat is an American? Forget the state and just be a child of the nation

CFR Admits Drones May Be Creating Sworn Enemies of the United States

"With its so-called signature strikes, Washington often goes after people whose identity it does not know but who appear to be behaving like militants in insurgent-controlled areas. The strikes end up killing enemies of the Pakistani, Somali, and Yemeni militaries who may not threaten the United States at all. Worse, because the targets of such strikes are so loosely defined, it seems inevitable that they will kill some civilians. The drone campaign has morphed, in effect, into remote-control repression: the direct application of brute force by a state, rather than an attempt to deal a pivotal blow to a movement." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCFR Admits Drones May Be Creating Sworn Enemies of the United States

Indiana Appeals Court: Motorist Search Over Expired Tag Disallowed

"A motorist's bag cannot be searched because his car has an expired tag, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled last week. A divided three-judge panel overturned the conviction of Adam Miller, who was pulled over on January 9, 2011 for having an expired sticker on his license plate." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIndiana Appeals Court: Motorist Search Over Expired Tag Disallowed

Appeals court reverses course and says poker is gambling, not game of skill

"Poker may be a game of skill, but that does not protect a man who hosted games of 'Texas Hold ‘Em' from being prosecuted under an anti-gambling law, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday. The ruling by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed a decision last year that said Lawrence DiCristina could not be prosecuted because 'Texas Hold ‘Em' was a game of skill rather than chance. DiCristina was convicted under the law for running games of 'Texas Hold ‘Em' at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, which he publicized by text message and word of mouth. DiCristina faces 10 years in prison." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAppeals court reverses course and says poker is gambling, not game of skill

Fmr. NSA chief: Snowden defenders ‘20-somethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex’

"'If and when our government grabs Edward Snowden, and brings him back here to the United States for trial, what does this group do?' said retired air force general Michael Hayden, who from 1999 to 2009 ran the NSA and then the CIA, referring to 'nihilists, anarchists, activists, Lulzsec, Anonymous, twentysomethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex in five or six years'. 'I’m just trying to illustrate that you’ve got a group of people out there who make demands, whose demands may not be satisfiable, may not be rational, from other points of view, may not be the kinds of things that government can accommodate,' Hayden said." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFmr. NSA chief: Snowden defenders ‘20-somethings who haven’t talked to the opposite sex’

Britain considers life in prison for owners of ‘killer dogs’

"Owners of dogs that kill people could face life imprisonment if an online consultation run by the government demonstrates public support for more severe penalties. Public response will be one – but not necessarily the decisive – factor in shaping changes that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) plans to make to the 1991 Dangerous Dogs Act. Some 16 people have been killed by dangerous dogs since 2005. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents postmen and women and telecoms engineers, who suffer around 5,000 dog attacks each year, welcomed the consultation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBritain considers life in prison for owners of ‘killer dogs’

Kristin Davis, Libertarian Candidate for NYC Comptroller, Arrested By FBI On Drug Charges

"A cooperating witness (the 'CW') was arrested in or about December 2012, and has pled guilty in this district to narcotics conspiracy and distribution offenses. The CW is cooperating with the FBI and the Government in the hope of obtaining leniency with respect to sentencing in the CW’s case. From in or about 2009, up to and including in or about Fall 2011, KRISTIN DAVIS, the defendant, purchased controlled substances, including ecstasy pills, Adderall pills, and Xanax pills, from the CW. DAVIS told the CW that she purchased ecstasy and Adderall pills at least in part to provide them to others at house parties." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKristin Davis, Libertarian Candidate for NYC Comptroller, Arrested By FBI On Drug Charges

Drama: Yemen, Guantanamo Bay, Stamford, CT

"I commute to work in Stamford, CT. I take the Metro North almost daily. Today, in light of the 'terrorist' threat I was greeted with the Stamford Police and other law enforcement at the top of the escalator leading from the track. They were checking for traces of explosive material. Some people were being singled out to go through a swab test[...]. My co-worker who arrives later than I do told me he was singled out for a quick swab and when he complained he was told he 'better get used to it' and 'this is for our protection.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDrama: Yemen, Guantanamo Bay, Stamford, CT

Berkeley: What We Didn’t Know

"California investigative journalist Seth Rosenfeld adds significantly more in Subversives, which is based on some 300,000 pages of FBI documents, pried out of the resistant agency over more than two decades in a series of Freedom of Information Act lawsuits. I thought I knew all that was going on, but it turns out there was much that none of us knew, from the fact that the FBI secretly jammed the walkie-talkies of monitors directing a huge 1965 anti-war march I covered to the agency’s decade-long vendetta against Clark Kerr, the man who was first chancellor at Berkeley and then president of the University of California system." Continue reading →

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A Central Banker with Austrian Instincts

"Raghu Rajan is a very good neoclassical economist who has made important contributions to banking, finance, the theory of the firm, corporate governance, economic development, and other fields. He is also taking over as head of India’s central bank. Rajan is no Austrian, but he has a quasi-Austrian take on the financial crisis, and far greater appreciation for free markets in general than any of the key US or European policymakers. As I tweeted this morning, Rajan is about 1,000,000 times better than either Summers or Yellen. I’d gladly trade him for any US central banker." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Central Banker with Austrian Instincts