 |
 |
|
|
|
||
A question. Has anyone yet attempted to leverage yesterday’s tragedy at Fort Hood into a defense of the Patriot Act’s “lone wolf” provision? Maybe the question is not if, but when. I’m thinking of starting a pool.
Of course it may not be necessary. Yesterday* the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to extend three provisions: roving wiretaps; [...]
Those who have been following my extended rant on speed cameras know that my objection to them is based on their role in the developing all-surveillance-state-all-the-time as well as their denial of any due process. I have also noted that their deployment is generally based on potential revenue generation rather than safety. Chevy Chase (not [...]
Filed under: liberties
Now that he’s in power, he’s a lot more amenable to keeping all the powers that George W. Bush accumulated. Today the Justice Department revealed that the administration will seek to extend Patriot Act provisions for roving wiretaps, monitoring “lone wolf terrorists,” and snooping on your business and library records. That a Democratic administration is [...]
Filed under: liberties
As an ex-Jersey Boy I sometimes get a fix by perusing the Garden State media. Today’s Star-Ledger is reporting a conference taking place at a hotel in Jersey City dealing with Homeland Security, most particularly the cybersecurity threat. I’m not too sure about the “threat” and what cybersecurity might mean. There are definitely a lot [...]
Filed under: liberties
The Supreme Court today ruled in favor of a firefighter suing the city of New Haven for denying him a promotion on account of his race (he’s white). In doing so, SCOTUS overturned an appeals court ruling from Sonia Sotomayor. Earlier in this session, the Supreme Court delivered two other rulings that might seem encouraging [...]
States’ rights and privacy-minded groups have been fighting hard against the Bush-era Real ID law — which sets federal standards for state ID’s and establishes new federal identity databases (in other words, it establishes a national ID in all but name). Now homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who opposed Real ID when she was governor [...]
Filed under: liberties
Impelled by religious zeal, a man commits an act of terrorist murder, targeting an individual he deems responsible for the slaughter of innocents. The charge follows: through the use of extreme language activist organizations, news outlets–the very opinions and beliefs they espouse–provoked the violence. By implication (or direct inference) these beliefs are discredited not by [...]
Filed under: Culture, Law, Politics, Religion, liberties, media
One of the dangers of nationalized health care (outside of the cost concerns) the potential explosion for litigation once health care becomes a right. Such litigation helped to increase health care costs from the 1980s onward and could make things more expensive in future, only this time its the taxpayers that will bear the brunt.
Not [...]
Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, who writes in the May Atlantic about government mining of Internet searches, would make a good Stasi agent, if only there were still an East Germany. He writes:
In fact, some searches could be viewed as a form of dialogue between citizens and their government. Why shouldn’t what constituents are exploring online be the [...]
Filed under: liberties
Last Friday, Jonah Goldberg wrote a post at The Corner arguing that there is something “unlibertarian” about opponents of drug prohibition who use claims about the drug war’s disproportionate effects on blacks in an attempt to demonstrate its injustice. This post prompted a lengthy response from Reason’s Jacob Sullum, who helpfully [...]
Filed under: Law, libertarianism, liberties