statism

Anthony Gregory: The Habeas Corpus Myth

"We know many things about habeas corpus. We know that it goes back to the Magna Carta and that the U.S. Constitution affirmed this bulwark of Anglo-American liberty. We know that habeas prohibits jailing people without cause, and that it remained healthy throughout U.S. history, except during wartime, until George W. Bush’s 2006 Military Commissions Act. And we also know that in 2008, the Supreme Court guaranteed basic due process rights for Guantánamo’s inmates. The trouble is that none of these things are true." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnthony Gregory: The Habeas Corpus Myth

Paul Craig Roberts: Humanity Is Drowning In Washington’s Criminality

"Americans will soon be locked into an unaccountable police state unless US Representatives and Senators find the courage to ask questions and to sanction the executive branch officials who break the law, violate the Constitution, withhold information from Congress, and give false information about their crimes against law, the Constitution, the American people and those in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Guantanamo, and elsewhere. The US faces no threat that justifies the lawlessness and abuse of police powers that characterize the executive branch in the 21st century." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPaul Craig Roberts: Humanity Is Drowning In Washington’s Criminality

Muslim Brotherhood supporters to intensify protests against ‘military tyranny’

"Egypt’s government says 525 people were killed and thousands wounded in the worst day of civil violence in the modern history of the most populous Arab state. International condemnation rained down on Cairo’s military-backed rulers for ordering the storming of protest camps, six weeks after the army overthrew the country’s first freely elected leader. U.S. President Barack Obama canceled plans for upcoming military exercises with the Egyptian army, which Washington funds with $1.3 billion in annual aid. Senior U.S. and European officials were in contact with Egypt’s rulers until the final hour, pleading with them not to order a military crackdown." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMuslim Brotherhood supporters to intensify protests against ‘military tyranny’

U.S. Pulls Out of Egypt’s Bright Star War Game Over Massacres

"President Obama on Thursday cancelled the U.S. military’s participation in next month’s Operation Bright Star in Egypt – a biennial training exercise with the Egyptian military – following Cairo’s brutal crackdown on opponents that left more than 500 dead the day before. Continuing the charade – that the U.S. needs to continue to cooperate with Egypt to improve things there – would have been bizarre. The notion that such military cooperation can give the U.S. influence over a foreign military is dubious, despite the $1.3 billion in military aid the U.S. gives to Egypt annually, a bounty for signing the Camp David accords with Israel in 1978." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. Pulls Out of Egypt’s Bright Star War Game Over Massacres

Pfc. Bradley Manning Unsworn Statement during Sentencing Trial

"I did not truly appreciate the broader effects of my actions. Those effects are clearer to me now through both self-reflection during my confinement in its various forms and through the merits and sentencing testimony that I have seen here. I am sorry for the unintended consequences of my actions. When I made these decisions I believed I was gonna help people, not hurt people. The last few years have been a learning experience. I look back at my decisions and wonder, 'How on earth could I, a junior analyst, possibly believe I could change the world for the better over the decisions of those with the proper authority?'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPfc. Bradley Manning Unsworn Statement during Sentencing Trial

Bitcoin gets the FBI, Homeland Security treatment

"'The Committee directs the FBI, in consultation with the Department and other Federal partners, to provide a briefing no later 120 days after the enactment of this Act on the nature and scale of the risk posed by such ersatz currency, both in financing illegal enterprises and in undermining financial institutions,' said the bill, which was posted on the Committee's website, and reported Tuesday by several industry blogs. Jon Matonis, executive director of the Bitcoin Foundation, told CNBC that the wording of the bill is the type that encourages innovative startups to seek out more acceptable international jurisdictions." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin gets the FBI, Homeland Security treatment

The Eric Holder Memorandum on Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Explained

"In short, the Holder Memorandum directs prosecutors to prevent application of mandatory minimum sentences for a select group of less-culpable defendants. Isn't this A good thing? Yes, with a but. It's a good thing that the Jane Does of the world can be sentenced according to the judge's discretion and not according to mandatory minimum sentences. A lot of low-level, unsophisticated, and hapless mules and mopes and dupes will get far lower sentences, which is both just and less expensive for you, the taxpayer. But I'm not happy that the methodology for the change is a fairly dramatic expansion of prosecutorial discretion." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe Eric Holder Memorandum on Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Explained

Why does America have such a big prison population?

"America has around 5% of the world’s population, and 25% of its prisoners. Roughly one in every 107 American adults is behind bars, a rate nearly five times that of Britain, seven times that of France and 24 times that of India. Its prison population has more than tripled since 1980. The growth rate has been even faster in the federal prison system: from around 24,000—its level, more or less, from the 1940s until the early 1980s—to more than 219,000 today. Probably the biggest driver of this growth has been ever-harsher drug penalties." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhy does America have such a big prison population?

White House rejects petition calling for ‘Gun Free Zone’ around Obama, Biden

"President Obama needs armed security because he faces 'serious, persistent and credible threats on a daily basis,' the White House said in response to a petition meant to undercut his push for new gun controls. The petition garnered more than 40,000 signatures. The White House dismissed the call to disarm the president's security detail, noting that Congress mandated full-time protection of the president after the third assassination of a sitting president in 1901. 'Those who are the subject of ongoing threats must receive the necessary and appropriate protection,' the White House wrote in its response." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhite House rejects petition calling for ‘Gun Free Zone’ around Obama, Biden

As haze clears, are American opinions on marijuana reaching tipping point?

"When Washington and Colorado legalized pot -- with strict controls by established state agencies and a coherent tax structure -- opponents weren't able to raise the money to fight the initiatives. John Kane, a federal judge in Colorado, said in December he sees marijuana following the same path as alcohol in the 1930s. Toward the end of Prohibition, Kane explained, judges routinely dismissed violations or levied fines so trivial that prosecutors quit filing cases. 'The law is simply going to die before it's repealed. It will just go into disuse,' Kane said. 'It's a cultural force, and you simply cannot legislate against a cultural force.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAs haze clears, are American opinions on marijuana reaching tipping point?