statism

Charges Dropped Against Teen for Wearing NRA T-shirt

"14-year-old Jared Marcum, who was suspended and arrested in April over an NRA t-shirt that he wore to school, has had all charges against him dropped. The decision followed massive controversy, including a threat of a gag order. A local news station reported that the dismissal order signed by Judge Eric O’Briant stated, 'The state of West Virginia is not interested in the possibility of creating a juvenile criminal record for this defendant.' A statement which has brought Jared’s mother, Tanya Lardieri, to tears of joy." Continue reading →

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The Surveillance State: How The War On Drugs And The War On Terror Go Hand In Hand

"It is telling that in ten years there were only 15 terrorism related 'sneak and peak' warrants issued while the rest were predominantly for drugs. It is this mission creep which has led to many of the abuses behind not just the Drug War, but the War on Terror. It is the permanent state of war that has contributed to the lack of transparency that should concern all Americans as laws and technology collide. How do we balance the need for security and maintain our civil liberties? It is this discussion that requires the full light of day. Whether Edward Snowden’s leak of NSA information is heroic or treasonous, what he revealed about America should startle us all." Continue reading →

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NSA scandal separates liberty lovers from poseurs

"I’ve reported on government at the local and state level and have seen firsthand that agencies always grab as much power as they can. The most secretive agencies are the ones rife with abuse, and those agencies often cover up the misdeeds of their own agents. People often are drawn to power for less-than-noble reasons. That’s the nature of humanity and of government, although such lessons – at the core of the nation’s founding – are lost on the likes of McConnell and Obama. That coalition of left and right better expand rapidly or else this program will just be the stepping stool to another bigger and more effective governmental intrusion." Continue reading →

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Australian government forces citizens to answer intimate questions about sex partners or face jail time

"In an anti-democratic and coercive fashion, the Australian government forces citizens to answer intrusive, personally-disturbing questions or face harassment, fines, and prosecution. The Australia Bureau of Statistic's 'Monthly Population Surveys' have been used since 1960 in order to gather information about the country's workforce. Recently, the questions have begun to perturb citizens. Many are refusing to answer such heinous questions, which include detailing people's current and previous sexual relationships. One resident is speaking out about the forced sexual questions thrust upon him and the demand for information regarding his personal sex life." Continue reading →

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Secret flower planter threatened with arrest if he doesn’t stop planting flowers

"Along the north side of their Dupont Circle station, hundreds of mysterious morning glories and other flowers have been coming up in planter boxes along the Metro's north escalators. Metro found out who the secret flower planter was when they received a polite letter on June 3 written by the flower planter himself, Henry Docter. Henry sent a letter asking permission to continue caring for hundreds of flowers he had planted a week earlier at the Metro transit system. Immediately, the Metro responded to Docter on June 11 with a 'cease and desist' letter threatening 'arrest, fines and imprisonment' if Docter tried to weed, water, or tend to the flowers." Continue reading →

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6 Insidious Ways Surveillance Changes the Way We Think and Act

"When I moved to a Czech village in 1994 to teach English, I was fascinated by the cultural difference between Americans like me and my new community. At that time, the oppressive memory of the dreaded Communist secret police, the StB, was still fresh. As a brash young ex-pat, born after the era of McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover, I understood little of what it felt like to live under constant surveillance. The Czechs knew better. Several decades under the watchful eyes of the StB (and before that, the spies of the Habsburg Empire) had molded their attitudes and behavior in ways that were both subtle and profound." Continue reading →

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Mass State Surveillance Not About Privacy

"The way we’re encouraged to cope with this is to make it about privacy: to turn inwards, take stock of our personal inner domain, and decide just how much of our lives can be offered up to the state. Large scale, bureaucratic intrusion into our personal lives is a given, but we can fill out a customer response card if we have any comments about the degree of the intrusion. If this is about privacy, the onus is on us to define its limits, to guide our servant institutions to the right policies that will protect our newly cordoned-off personal space. And so they invent a clever distraction about what the limits of privacy should be." Continue reading →

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USDA Tells Missouri Magician to Write Disaster Plan for His Rabbit

"My USDA rabbit license requirement has taken another ridiculous twist. I just received an 8 page letter from the USDA, telling me that by July 29 I need to have in place a written disaster plan, detailing all the steps I would take to help get my rabbit through a disaster, such as a tornado, fire, flood, etc. They not only want to know how I will protect my rabbit during a disaster, but also what I will do after the disaster, to make sure my rabbit gets cared for properly. I am not kidding–before the end of July I need to have this written rabbit disaster plan in place, or I am breaking the law." Continue reading →

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Incoming police chief shoots woman while trying to kill her dog

"A woman in North Carolina says that the incoming police chief in one town did not react to provide immediate assistance after accidentally shooting her while trying to kill her allegedly aggressive dog. Tamara Whitt said that she couldn’t understand why Winston-Salem Assistant Chief Barry Rountree would take the chance of firing his weapon while she was standing so close to the 'very passive' dog. Doctors told Whitt that the 40 caliber bullet would have to remain in her leg because it was too dangerous to remove. Rountree was placed on administrative leave. The city, however, insisted that Rountree’s swearing-in would go on as scheduled on Sunday." Continue reading →

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U.S. government will finally retire most research chimpanzees but retain 50

"The US government said Wednesday it will send most of its 360 research chimpanzees into retirement but will keep a small colony of about 50 for possible future studies on vaccines and behavior. The National Institutes of Health announced after more than two years of examination it was accepting most of the recommendations of independent experts to phase out the bulk of biomedical research using the primates. One recommendation the NIH did not accept was that chimpanzees should be provided at least 1,000 square feet (93 square meters) per animal." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. government will finally retire most research chimpanzees but retain 50