statism

TV’s Unnatural Monopolies

"The big loser in the battle between Time Warner Cable and CBS is not the cable company, the network or the viewers who lost access to their favorite shows. The big loser is Washington, whose efforts to regulate what used to be called television grow more futile with every new video technology. The absurdity of the current laws is clear: A regulatory system designed to keep local broadcasts available to viewers is causing disputes between cable companies and broadcasters, leading to the very blackouts the regulations were supposed to prevent. It's past time to deregulate video distribution." Continue reading →

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The Phony Trade-off Between Privacy and Security

"What Barack Obama, Mike Rogers, Peter King, and their ilk mean when they tell us that 'we' need to find the right balance between security and privacy is that they will dictate to us what the alleged balance will be. We will have no real say in the matter, and they can be counted on to find the balance on the 'security' side of the spectrum as suits their interests. Of course, our rulers can’t really set things to the security side of the spectrum because the game is rigged. When we give up privacy — or, rather, when our rulers take it — we don’t get security in return; we get a more intrusive state, which means we get more insecurity." Continue reading →

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Vote Harder: The Barack Obama Story

"He opposed the Iraq war, promised to shut down Gitmo and denounced warrantless domestic wiretapping by the NSA. But we see this 'progressive' superstar, who all but promised to usher in a 21st century Church Committee, presiding over the massive expansion of illegal drone warfare around the world and the largest expansion of the surveillance state in history. We see this man, who promised the 'most transparent administration in history,' pursuing vindictive reprisals — on a scale rivaling Woodrow Wilson or Richard Nixon — against whistleblowers who expose the surveillance state’s terrifying scope." Continue reading →

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How ancient Rome influenced European law

"The Roman Empire collapsed in AD 476. Isn’t it astonishing that its influence is still so great almost 2,000 years later? [..] When the empire fell, remnants of Roman law remained, coexisting with the common law of the barbarians. But it continued to thrive in the east of the Roman Empire. In the first half of the 6th century, Justinian gathered and compiled every legal judgement from the previous centuries. In the West, this compilation was rediscovered in Bologna, Italy, at the end of the 11th century. From that emerged the creation of Europe’s first university and first law faculty. From there, Roman law spread across all of Catholic Europe." Continue reading →

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The USDA Is Pushing Food Stamps Like a Drug Dealer at a Grade School

"Last year the USDA targeted Spanish speaking citizens (and non-citizens) with a radio 'novela' – which was basically a soap opera outlining how the lives of the characters improved as soon as they went on SNAP. In many locations, outreach programs are taking place – people don’t even have to go down to the benefits office to sign up. They can find out if they are eligible right in the grocery store parking lot. The USDA is spending an additional THREE MILLION DOLLARS not on providing food, but on providing outreach to convince people to accept benefits that folks never realized they 'needed'." Continue reading →

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Yes, We Live in a Communist Country

"Since the hunger strike began in February, the gulag-keepers in Guantanamo Bay have employed the same tactic once used by their Soviet forebears in dealing with dissenters: They have been punishing the hunger-strikers by force-feeding them, an act widely recognized as torture. This involves shackling a victim to a restraint chair, immobilizing his head, and either forcing a feeding tube down his throat, or snaking it down a nasal passage through the alimentary canal into his stomach. Former Soviet dissident Vladimir Bukovsky, who underwent force-feeding after being arrested by the KGB and sent to the Soviet psychiatric gulag, has described the experience." Continue reading →

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Government asks for 60-year sentence for Bradley Manning

"The US government has urged a military judge to sentence Bradley Manning to 60 years in prison, arguing that the solider, who leaked a huge collection of classified documents to WikiLeaks, 'deserves to spend the majority of his remaining life' in custody. Manning was found guilty last month of 20 counts, seven under the Espionage Act, but acquitted of the most serious charge of aiding the enemy. Captain Joe Morrow, a military prosecution lawyer, told the court that there may not be a soldier in the history of the US who had shown such an 'extreme disregard' for US security interests." Continue reading →

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Paris suburb to fight dog poop with closed-circuit television cameras

"A Paris suburb has come up with an innovative plan to fight a plague of dog droppings on local streets — catching offenders on closed-circuit television cameras. The commuter town of Montereau-Fault-Yonne southeast of Paris said Monday that municipal police would begin using a decade-old network of CCTV cameras to track down dog owners who don’t pick up their pets’ droppings. 'This will allow us to identify and seek out pet owners with no sense of civic duty and fine them' 35 euros ($47), town mayor Yves Jego told AFP. He said using the cameras against irresponsible dog owners was no different from filming traffic offenders." Continue reading →

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Florida Sheriff Arrested, Charged With Felony, Suspended For Protecting Gun Owner

"Rick Scott, Florida governor, stepped in and had Finch arrested. Governor Scott then appointed a new sheriff. Finch says he did not vote for the Governor. 'I’m not a republican, or a democrat. Just a man who believes in the Constitution,' says Finch. 'I do not expect to be convicted of the crime. However, I’ll fight it all the way to the Supreme Court if I have to. The state already made me an offer that if I resign they will drop the charges. To me, this means they do not have a case and it seems there are political motives to push me out rather than seek justice.'" Continue reading →

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‘Safe haven’ Chicago schoolhouse demolished despite community opposition

"Supporters of a Chicago community schoolhouse were arrested Saturday morning while protesting the facility’s demolition, as residents vowed to continue pressuring city leaders to live up to financial commitments. According to WLS-TV, the building had become a focal point for a neighborhood group, the Whittier Parents Committee, who used the facility to offer free workshops, computers and a library, and staged a 43-day sit-in in 2010 to keep it. 'They talk about safe passage, they talk about the violence,' committee member Gema Gaete said. 'We were an answer. We were providing an answer for free at no cost to CPS, and this is how they repay us.'" Continue reading →

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