Connecticut school allows student to wear anti-gay shirt | Fox News

Connecticut school allows student to wear anti-gay shirt | Fox News: "The ACLU says it was prepared to sue the school district."

Drone, baby, drone... If you want more terrorists - Campaign for Liberty

Drone, baby, drone... If you want more terrorists - Campaign for Liberty: "[Gen. Stanley McChrystal] points out that, “…if you go back in history, I can’t find a covert fix that solved a problem long term.” He is referring to the reliance of Presidents on the CIA, Special Ops, and covert drone strikes."

Massad Ayoob » Blog Archive » YA CAN’T MAKE THESE FECES UP…

Massad Ayoob » Blog Archive » YA CAN’T MAKE THESE FECES UP…: "Ignore the fact that the ounce of lead you discharge with each pull of the trigger has got to come down somewhere…like a while back when a careless hunter emptied his muzzle-loader into the air, and the projectile came down and killed a teenage Amish girl far from the scene."

"The Drone Threat" - Campaign for Liberty

"The Drone Threat" - Campaign for Liberty: "he US government justified its attack on Saddam Hussein in Iraq and against Gaddafi in Libya, and elsewhere, with claims that these despots were killing their own citizens without trial or due process. It is true that extra-juridical killing is the opposite of justice in a free society."

The Deflationary Spiral Bogey - Robert Blumen - Mises Daily

The Deflationary Spiral Bogey - Robert Blumen - Mises Daily: "While the idea of lower prices may sound attractive, deflation is a real concern for several reasons. Deflation discourages spending and investment because consumers, expecting prices to fall further, delay purchases, preferring instead to save and wait for even lower prices. Decreased spending, in turn, lowers company sales and profits, which eventually increases unemployment."

It's a good thing that people haven't figured out that consumer electronics prices as been falling for decades! :-p If people thought there might be a future iPhone 6 that was better or cheaper they would never buy the iPhone 5!

Oh wait -- everyone does know that consumer electronics prices go down and they still buy lots of them!

Police: Gunshot reported at central Pa. college campus was actually newspaper hitting sidewalk | Fox News

Police: Gunshot reported at central Pa. college campus was actually newspaper hitting sidewalk | Fox News: "Gettysburg police Chief Joseph Dougherty says a Gettysburg College student had reported that someone in a white sedan fired a shot early Saturday morning. But Dougherty says police investigated and determined the sound came from a newspaper delivery driver throwing a paper from her vehicle."

Lawsuit claims Michigan hospital granted request for no black nurses | Fox News

Lawsuit claims Michigan hospital granted request for no black nurses | Fox News: "The lawsuit states he told the nurse in charge that he didn't want any African Americans taking care of his baby, then he pulled up a sleeve showing a tattoo believed to be a Swastika."

Texas teen wins right to have baby after suing parents | Fox News

Texas teen wins right to have baby after suing parents | Fox News: "A pregnant Texas teen has won the right to have her baby after she reached an agreement with her parents, who she had sued claiming they were forcing her to abort the fetus."

Shelby County v. Holder: Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act Conflicts with Section 2, Which Provides the Proper Remedy for Racial Discrimination in Voting | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute

Shelby County v. Holder: Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act Conflicts with Section 2, Which Provides the Proper Remedy for Racial Discrimination in Voting | Ilya Shapiro | Cato Institute: " the racial gap in voter registration and turnout, for example, is lower in states originally covered by Section 5 than nationwide. These problems undermine the Voting Rights Act’s successful legacy."

Assessing New Gun Control Proposals | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute

Assessing New Gun Control Proposals | Trevor Burrus | Cato Institute: "Assault weapons were defined under the 1994 law by features that have little or nothing to do with lethality. One such feature, a folding stock, allows people of different heights use of the weapon. Another feature, a “barrel shroud,” protects the user from touching a hot barrel. Collectively, these features make the guns look more dangerous, meaning they look more like guns used in movies, but they do not make them more dangerous.

Moreover, assault weapons are rarely used in gun crimes. In 2011, nearly 13,000 people were killed by violent acts, yet only 343 were killed by rifles of any type. By comparison, blunt objects (hammers, bats, etc.) killed 500. Furthermore, if assault weapons are banned, it does not follow that those 343 people would still be alive. The killers would just choose a different weapon."

"According to a 2001 Justice Department survey of state and federal prisoners, only 0.7 percent of weapons used by the prisoners were acquired at gun shows."

"Those with qualifying mental-health issues are already prohibited from purchasing a firearm, but records of mental disorders are often missing from the system."

Senator Paul Delivers Tea Party Response to State of the Union Address | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate

Senator Paul Delivers Tea Party Response to State of the Union Address | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate: "The President does a big “woe is me” over the $1.2 trillion sequester that he endorsed and signed into law. Some Republicans are joining him. Few people understand that the sequester doesn’t even cut any spending. It just slows the rate of growth. Even with the sequester, government will grow over $7 trillion over the next decade."

"It is often said that there is not enough bipartisanship up here.

That is not true.

In fact, there is plenty.

Both parties have been guilty of spending too much, of protecting their sacred cows, of backroom deals in which everyone up here wins, but every taxpayer loses.

It is time for a new bipartisan consensus.

It is time Democrats admit that not every dollar spent on domestic programs is sacred. And it is time Republicans realize that military spending is not immune to waste and fraud."

"This massive expansion of the debt destroys savings and steals the value of your wages."

"Competition has made America the richest nation in history. Competition can make our educational system the envy of the world.

The status quo traps poor children in a crumbling system of hopelessness.

When every child can, like the President’s kids, go to the school of their choice, then will the dreams of our children come true!"

Chicago police changing response to 911 calls | Fox News

Chicago police changing response to 911 calls | Fox News: "starting Sunday officers won't respond in person to lesser crimes. Those include vehicle theft or incidents where the victim is safe and doesn't need medical attention.

Those calls will go to another department and police reports taken over the phone."

3 bystanders reportedly shot by police during hunt for murder suspect | Fox News

3 bystanders reportedly shot by police during hunt for murder suspect | Fox News: "A vehicle that matched the description of Dorner’s truck was driving down the road, but was delivering newspapers, the report said. Two older women were delivering papers when police opened fire, the report said."

"Another person was shot driving a pickup truck after additional Torrance police arrived at the scene, the report said."

How could that happen?

Not so sinister: Homeland Security is stockpiling ammo _ for target practice | Fox News

Not so sinister: Homeland Security is stockpiling ammo _ for target practice | Fox News: "The Homeland Security Department wants to buy more than 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition in the next four or five years."

That works out to about 200 rounds per federal officers per month.

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Meet Watson, Your Doctor in a Pizza-Size Box

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Meet Watson, Your Doctor in a Pizza-Size Box: "The original Watson system  consisted of 90 IBM Power 750 servers taking up 10 full racks. That works out to 2,880 CPU cores and 15TB of RAM. Watson now fits in a pizza box."

"WellPoint points out that doctors miss early stage lung cancer diagnoses about half the time. Watson, on the other hand, is able to get the right diagnosis on these same cases 90% of the time. Although, Watson will still hedge its bets: When a medical professional consults the system, they will receive results on an iPad or computer in about 30 seconds with possible courses of action sorted by confidence level."

Book Review: Coolidge | Gene Healy | Cato Institute

Book Review: Coolidge | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: "If there was ever a time when the president could simply preside, it has long passed. As early as the Eisenhower era, political scientist Clinton Rossiter observed that the public had come to see the federal chief executive as “a combination of scoutmaster, Delphic oracle, hero of the silver screen, and father of the multitudes.” Under the pressure of public demands, the office had accrued a host of responsibilities over and above its constitutional ones: “World Leader,” “Protector of the Peace,” “Chief Legislator,” “Manager of Prosperity,” “Voice of the People,” and more."

"In politics, it’s often easier to “do something,” however unwise, than it is to hold firm:"

"But unlike modern supply-siders, Coolidge attacked the beast head-on, instead of hoping to “starve” it indirectly."

"The tax cuts that Coolidge and Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon orchestrated took millions of people off the tax rolls. Unlike Mitt Romney, Coolidge and Mellon didn’t worry that they’d created a new horde of “takers.”"

"Coolidge “removed William Burns, the head of the Bureau of Investigation, and curtailed wiretapping, one of Burns’s favored tools.”"

"Coolidge ordered the release of Wilson’s remaining political prisoners."

"for all Coolidge’s faults, “the itch to run things did not afflict him….He never made inflammatory speeches….No bughouse professors, sweating fourth-dimensional economics, were received at the White House.”"

Obama's Executive Death Warrants | Cato Institute

Obama's Executive Death Warrants | Cato Institute: "Khan and Awlaki senior probably weren’t any great loss to humanity, but there’s an important matter of principle here: Can a president really serve as judge, jury and executioner over any American he deems a security threat?"

"Legal scholar Ryan Alford observes that the 13th century marks “the last time when the executive branch of any country governed by the common law had asserted that it was legal to kill a citizen on the basis of an executive order.” Obama’s “executive death warrant” is more than a breach of the Fifth Amendment’s due process guarantee, he argues, it’s an affront to the entire Anglo-American constitutional order."

"It seems it’s perfectly legal for the president to deem you a terrorist and vaporize you with a drone. But there’s one thing that he can never do: penalize you for failure to purchase health insurance. That would be tyrannical, you see."

School bus driver who flunked drug test can keep job, New York court rules | Fox News

School bus driver who flunked drug test can keep job, New York court rules | Fox News: "A New York bus driver who was fired after failing a random drug test should be reinstated, the state’s highest court ruled on Tuesday.

The Albany Times Union reports that the Court of Appeals' unanimous ruling supports the conclusion of an arbitrator who determined the firing of Cynthia DiDomenicantonio in November 2009 was too severe a punishment for the 10-year district employee."

Massive protest movement emerges against Islamists in Bangladesh - CSMonitor.com

Massive protest movement emerges against Islamists in Bangladesh - CSMonitor.com: "A protest that has at times swelled into the hundreds of thousands entered its ninth day today in Bangladesh’s capital, touched off by the outcome of a war crimes trial that has awoken an astonishing struggle over this country's identity and the role that religion plays in its fractious politics."

State of the Union?

When was the last time that the "state of the union" was really a status update and provided new information? In this communication age is the constitutional requirement that "He shall from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union" really needed? Does it even make sense to call it the "state of the union address" when it is more like a annual policy speech?

Pennsylvania school district to lose $147G grant after teachers union balks at training | Fox News

Pennsylvania school district to lose $147G grant after teachers union balks at training | Fox News: "The union contends the district applied for the grant in January� 2011, at a time when teachers were working under an expired contract and negotiating the current pact, which went into effect retroactively to July 2011. Runyon said the training program, which includes some aspects his members find objectionable, should have been part of talks."

It was just a possibility -- why should it be rejected just because it wasn't included in the contract negotiation.

Cell phone subsidies claimed by many who can't prove eligibility | Mobile - CNET News

Cell phone subsidies claimed by many who can't prove eligibility | Mobile - CNET News: "The agency figured that around 15 percent of users would be determined ineligible, but the tighter rules discovered a lot more than that.
A review of the program by The Wall Street Journal found that 41 percent of the 6 million people who benefited from Lifeline were unable to prove their eligibility or failed to answer requests for verification from their carrier.
In total, the government spent about $2.2 billion on Lifeline last year.
Mobile phone subscribers pay around $2.50 per household to fund Lifeline and other subsidized programs. That money is used to pay carriers $9.25 per customer each month to deliver free or cheap mobile service, according to the Journal. Funding for Lifeline has risen over the years as more carriers have jumped onto the bandwagon."

"Until recently, subscribers didn't have to offer any proof of their income level. They could continue with the program without having to periodically verify their eligibilty. And no checks were made to see how many people in a household were taking advantage of Lifeline."

Reflections on Gun Control by a Second Amendment Advocate | Cato Institute

Reflections on Gun Control by a Second Amendment Advocate | Cato Institute: "but that would also mean individuals trying to defend themselves would not be seriously hampered by a 10-round limit. They too could reload very rapidly."

Reloading rapidly can require practice and criminals may practice significantly more than the average gun-owner.

"Criminals typically use handguns; assault weapons are expensive and difficult to conceal."

"Jamaica is particularly revealing. Beginning in 1974, handguns were virtually banned. You could get them with a license, but you had to prove need, and licenses were almost never issued. Since the ban, the murder rate has soared to become one of the highest in the world—now more than double other Caribbean nations, six times higher than before the ban, and a dozen times the U.S. rate. Naturally, the ban is not wholly to blame, but it certainly did not help."

"Banning popular semi-automatic rifles, merely because they come equipped with a pistol grip or some other attachment that has no effect on their lethality, makes no sense whatsoever."

"Survey data indicate that less than 2 percent of guns used by criminals are bought at gun shows and flea markets—and that includes sales through licensed dealers."

"That’s a conviction rate of 5/100ths of one percent. Either the remaining denials were false positives — legitimate purchases unjustly blocked by NICS — or, if the denials were proper, then 99.95 percent of the 79,000 rejected applicants escaped punishment. Neither conclusion offers much hope for an expanded system of background checks."

"A significant number of checks last 72 hours, and most gun shows are two-day events."

"because drugs are illegal, participants in the drug trade cannot go to court to settle disputes and enforce contracts. As a result, disputes are resolved by force. Meanwhile, the Drug Enforcement Administration has 10,000 agents, analysts, and support staff, who could be fighting terrorism or real crime—including gun violence."

"It is not the government’s role to pay for private medical care unless third-party rights are involved."

"It’s true that an armed guard did not prevent Columbine; but neither did the ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines then in effect. Moreover, the rules of engagement, which have since been changed, told the armed guard at Columbine to wait for SWAT team backup. No wonder the guard did not stop the carnage; although he did delay the killers, which gave some students time to escape."

"Congress has no role to play in funding armed school guards"

"In Norway, with tight controls and licensing, Anders Breivik gunned down 69 people. Here in the United States, our worst incident killed 38 elementary school children in Michigan. The weapon of choice was bombs, not guns."

"Researchers could not identify a single gun-control regulation that meaningfully reduced violent crime, suicide, or accidents. In 2003, the CDC reported on ammunition limits, restrictions on purchase, waiting periods, registration, licensing, child access prevention and zero-tolerance laws. Conclusion: None of the laws demonstrably reduced gun violence."

10-year-old child killed, 2 others wounded in apparently random Minn. shooting | Fox News

10-year-old child killed, 2 others wounded in apparently random Minn. shooting | Fox News: "A gunman apparently firing randomly at guns killed a 10-year-old and wounded the child's mother and another woman Monday night, Oakdale's police chief said."

This is in a suburb where you wouldn't expect that!

Obamacare's 'Giveaway' Is Anything But Free | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute

Obamacare's 'Giveaway' Is Anything But Free | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: "Indeed, as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations in December, the Obama Administration reportedly offered to change from the 90/10 match for Medicaid expansion to a “blended rate formula,” which would merge the new expansion reimbursement rate with existing Medicaid and SCHIP formulas, creating a federal funding level somewhere in the middle, but below 90/10. While the administration eventually backed off that offer, it shows just how tenuous federal funding promises really are."

Eric Cantor Hawks Medical Industrial Policy | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute

Eric Cantor Hawks Medical Industrial Policy | Michael D. Tanner | Cato Institute: "empirical studies suggest that the rate of return on publicly financed research is much lower than that of research financed by the private sector. While the private sector may be more focused on applied research, and the government is more effective at basic research, the distinction between those categories is rapidly disappearing.

Second, we should ask whether government funding of medical research is really necessary. There is no proof that the private sector is incapable of financing medical research, either for profit or as charity. While private companies undoubtedly have an incentive to fund research that they believe will ultimately prove profitable, even “orphan” drugs — one of the least profitable lines of research as they are designed for a small number of people with rare disorders — have found funding through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other charities."

"No evidence shows that government bureaucrats have either the qualifications or the incentives to make better decisions than private individuals and organizations about what research should be funded. After all, government involvement in research inevitably injects politics into scientific questions.

If a disease affects a favored political constituency or can mobilize a telegenic celebrity spokesman, it is likely to receive boatloads of money. If not, it is likely to be relegated to the back of the scientific bus.if private companies believe governments will pay for research, they may simply withdraw their own money. Thus, government funding in this area doesn’t result in more research, just a different funding stream."

"former NIH Director Elias Zerhouni has warned that congressional mandates to spend money on specific diseases have undermined the agencies’ research."

"an analysis of NIH grants found that black research scientists were 10 percent less likely to receive research funding than a white scientist from a similar institution and with the same research credentials.

Some researchers worry they can have their grants cut for challenging the scientific consensus or for reaching conclusions that are politically controversial. This is dangerous, because a willingness to rethink current theories is a key to scientific advancement."

How will the Catholic Church handle a living ex-pope? - CSMonitor.com

How will the Catholic Church handle a living ex-pope? - CSMonitor.com: "That could produce a situation where the former pope says one thing on an important matter, while his successor says something different."

Being Protestant and not having one church leader that seems like a weird problem to have.

Drone Policy Must Include Checks and Balances | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute

Drone Policy Must Include Checks and Balances | Benjamin H. Friedman | Cato Institute: "Courts, the memo argues, should not interfere in the president’s evaluation of due process rights, which he extinguishes by labeling you a terrorist."

"So a president, consulting with officials he can fire, is using a secret process that he can change to kill whomever he wants, wherever he wants, whether or not there is a war on, by saying the words al Qaeda. "

Get the Feds Out of Infrastructure | Cato Institute

Get the Feds Out of Infrastructure | Cato Institute: "Consider the two oldest federal infrastructure agencies — the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bureau of Reclamation. Their spending, often on water infrastructure, has always been based on pork-barrel politics, not “directed to the most effective” projects. Both agencies have been known for fudging their analyses of dubious proposed projects to gain approval. In his 1971 book on the Corps, distinguished engineer Arthur Morgan found that “there have been over the past 100 years consistent and disastrous failures by the Corps in public works areas … result[ing] in enormous and unnecessary costs to ecology [and] the taxpayer.”"

"Routes through rural areas account for only a small fraction of riders and cause most of Amtrak’s financial losses. Those routes exist because every lawmaker wants a train through his or her state, but it means that investment gets steered away from where it is really needed, such as the Northeast corridor."

BBC News - Twins' DNA hinders France sexual assault investigation

BBC News - Twins' DNA hinders France sexual assault investigation: "Police have been told it would cost upwards of 1m euros (£850,000) to conduct an ultra-sophisticated genetic test that would be able to tell one set of the twins' DNA from the other."

The Secret To Fixing Bad Schools - NYTimes.com

The Secret To Fixing Bad Schools - NYTimes.com: "The district’s best educators were asked to design a curriculum based on evidence, not hunch. Learning by doing replaced learning by rote. Kids who came to school speaking only Spanish became truly bilingual, taught how to read and write in their native tongue before tackling English. Parents were enlisted in the cause. Teachers were urged to work together, the superstars mentoring the stragglers and coaches recruited to add expertise. Principals were expected to become educational leaders, not just disciplinarians and paper-shufflers."

Mentally unstable people and access to tools for harm

If someone is not mentally stable enough to own a gun, are they mentally stable enough to own a knife, drive a car, own other tools that could cause harm (i.e. even a pencil), or live freely in society?

Women delivering newspapers in Torrance shot in manhunt for ex-cop - latimes.com

Women delivering newspapers in Torrance shot in manhunt for ex-cop - latimes.com: "Chase said that in both instances police came across vehicles they thought were similar to the one Dorner is believed to be driving."

How could that happen? It the emotion running so high that it impairs their judgement?

American Citizens Split On DOJ Memo Authorizing Government To Kill Them | The Onion - America's Finest News Source

Reference: "I wouldn’t mind if federal officials blew up other citizens and claimed it was in the name of my safety. But it’s just that when it comes to me, I guess I’d rather not be slaughtered by my own elected officials on charges that never have to be validated by any accountable authority. This is tough."

How Dictators Come to Power in a Democracy | Jim Powell | Cato Institute

How Dictators Come to Power in a Democracy | Jim Powell | Cato Institute: "Why, then, did the highly educated Germans embrace a lunatic like Adolf Hitler? The short answer is that bad policies caused economic, military and political crises — chow time for tyrants. German circumstances changed for the worse, and when people become angry enough or desperate enough, sometimes they’ll support crazies who would never attract a crowd in normal circumstances."

"By itself, reparations would have been daunting, but Germany also had a financially stressed-out welfare state. Almost 90 percent of German government spending went for a big bureaucracy, social programs, money-losing nationalized businesses and other subsidies - a portfolio of obligations uncomfortably familiar to us. The German government subsidized municipalities, much as U.S. states are begging the federal government for bailouts now. Germany had a troubled government-run pension system like our Social Security. The German government provided health insurance for millions of people. There were German government programs for 1.5 million disabled veterans. The government lavished subsidies on the arts. There were government-run theaters and opera houses. Government-owned railroads lost money. The German government even operated factories producing margarine and sausages, which lost money."

"Politicians commonly demand arbitrary power to deal with a national emergency and restore order, even though underlying problems are commonly caused by bad government policies."

"A political system with a separation of powers and checks & balances — like the U.S. Constitution — does make it more difficult for one branch of government to dominate the others.
Ultimately, liberty can be protected only if people care enough to fight for it, because everywhere governments push for more power, and they never give it up willingly."

Rand Paul's Foreign Policy Speech - Campaign for Liberty

Rand Paul's Foreign Policy Speech - Campaign for Liberty: "For Americans to grasp the mindset of Radical Islam we need to understand that they are still hopping mad about the massacre at Karbala several hundred years ago."

"Over 50% of Americans still believe Iraq attacked us on 9/11.  Until we understand the world around us, until we understand at least a modicum of what animates our enemies, we cannot defend ourselves and we cannot contain our enemies."

"Perhaps, we might want to ask:   will the Syrian rebels respect the rights of Christians, women, and other ethnic minorities?

In the 1980’s the war caucus in Congress armed bin Laden and the mujaheddin in their fight with the Soviet Union.  In fact, it was the official position of the State Department to support radical jihad against the Soviets. We all know how well that worked out."

"The cold war ended because the engine of capitalism defeated the engine of socialism.  Reagan aided and abetted this end not by “liberation” of captive people but by a combination of don’t mess with us language and diplomacy, not inconsistent with Kennan’s approach."

"If you enumerate your policy, if you telegraph to the Soviets that the Strategic Defense Initiative is a ploy to get the Soviets to the bargaining table, the ploy is then made impotent."

"Not one Democrat voted to support candidate Obama’s words and only ten Republican senators voted to support the notion that Congressional authority is needed to begin war."

"What would a foreign policy look like that tried to strike a balance?  first, it would have less soldiers stationed overseas and less bases.  Instead of large, limitless land wars in multiple theaters, we would target our enemy; strike with lethal force.

We would not presume that we build nations nor would we presume that we have the resources to build nations.  Many of the countries formed after WWI are collections of tribal regions that have never been governed by a central government and may, in fact, be ungovernable.

When we must intervene with force, we should attempt to intervene in cooperation with the host government.

Intervention against the will of another nation such as Afghanistan or Libya would require Declaration of War by Congress. Such Constitutional obstacles purposefully make it more difficult to go to war. That was the Founders’ intention: To make war less likely."

Tomatoes, Furniture, and Shrimp: Is Extortion the Main Purpose of the Antidumping Law? | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute

Tomatoes, Furniture, and Shrimp: Is Extortion the Main Purpose of the Antidumping Law? | Daniel J. Ikenson | Cato Institute: "Imagine your local supermarket operating on the same principles. Imagine ringing up your basket-full of groceries, paying $122.45, and then waiting a year to find out whether you get a rebate or have to issue a supplemental check. Gamblers might enjoy the thrill, but this kind of uncertainty is anathema to business. Most grocery shoppers would buy their groceries somewhere else, where the prices are final. "

"Every other major country that has an antidumping law has a “prospective” system, where under the duties assessed upon importation are final."

"U.S. producers of wooden bedroom furniture have been extorting cash from their Chinese competition in exchange for dropping pursuit of even higher antidumping duty rates at the Commerce Department.

The Journal reported that about $13 million was paid to a group of 20 U.S. furniture makers between 2006 through 2009, and that a much larger, but unspecified, amount of money went to pay the U.S. firms’ lawyers."

The Unhappy, Big-Government Feeding 100th Birthday of America's Income Tax | Cato Institute

The Unhappy, Big-Government Feeding 100th Birthday of America's Income Tax | Cato Institute: "Yesteryear’s income tax advocates would not recognize their handiwork today. The tax code is mind-numbingly complex, as dedicated to manipulating individual behavior as to raising government funds. By raising nearly a trillion dollars annually it has become the chief fiscal engine of government growth. Today policymakers assume there is no program, no matter how ill-considered or ineffective, for which money is not available. Even the latest budget contretemps has had only a minor impact on Congress’ spending behavior."

"The first income tax ran from 1% to 7%, though few Americans earned enough to owe anything."

"Judges across the land proclaimed that the Constitution prohibited diminishing their salaries (and those of the president and state employees) through taxation. They emphasized the point by issuing court rulings in their own favor, excusing themselves from the tax."

"During World War II half of the population was subject to the tax. Today 70 percent of the population nominally is liable, though about 60 million (out of 144 million) returns result in no tax due."

"According to the Congressional Budget Office, the total share of income tax liabilities paid by the top one percent of households has risen from 17.4 percent in 1980 to 39.5 percent in 2007 (the CBO’s latest figures). The corresponding increase for all federal taxes, including payroll levies, is 14.2 percent to 28.1 percent.

The top five percent of the population paid 61.0 percent of all income taxes, up from 34.9 percent in 1980. The same group paid 44.3 percent of all taxes, an increase from 28.7 percent. The highest earning ten percent has gone from 47.6 percent to 72.7 percent of income tax collections. The share of all taxes paid by the latter has risen from 40.0 percent to 55.0 percent."

"Governments need revenue. But the income tax makes it far too easy for politicians to spend more. Moreover, the levy creates a direct disincentive to work and investment. Perhaps even worse, the system invites legislators to manipulate people’s behavior by creating a bizarrely complex system of special interest deductions and credits, which act as the equivalent of cash subsidies, only carefully disguised as obscure provisions in the impenetrable tax code."

Police: Frail Kansas City teen found handcuffed in parents' basement; said he was there months | Fox News

Police: Frail Kansas City teen found handcuffed in parents' basement; said he was there months | Fox News: "Another adult in the home told police that the teen was "locked downstairs because in December they let him upstairs and he ate almost an entire bowl of fruit at one time.""

So sad!!!

Desperate Keynesians | Cato Institute

Desperate Keynesians | Cato Institute: "Mr. Krugman particularly complains that “harsh spending cuts” have not worked in Ireland or the United Kingdom. After their banking crisis, the Irish increased government spending as a percentage of GDP by almost 30 percent and now have cut that back so government spending is “only” about 16 percent higher than it was in the full employment days of 2007 — not exactly most people’s definition of austerity. The British, despite talking about cutting government spending, have yet to reduce it by even one full percentage point from 2011, and are still spending 11 percent more of their GDP on government than they were in 2007. Where is the “austerity,” Mr. Krugman?"

Colorado boy, 7, reportedly faces suspension for tossing imaginary grenade | Fox News

Colorado boy, 7, reportedly faces suspension for tossing imaginary grenade | Fox News: "Honestly, I don’t think the rule is very realistic for kids this age," Mandie Watkins, Alex's mom, told KDVR.com. "I think that when a child is trying to save the world, I don't think he should be punished for it."

Alex, for his part, told the station that he can’t believe he got "dispended."

Prosecutors ask for life sentence for leader of Amish group convicted of beard-cutting in Ohio | Fox News

Prosecutors ask for life sentence for leader of Amish group convicted of beard-cutting in Ohio | Fox News: "Federal prosecutors want a life sentence for the leader of an Amish breakaway group convicted in a series of beard- and hair-cutting attacks in Ohio."

Life?!?

"Universal Background Checks" – Absolutely Not

"Universal Background Checks" – Absolutely Not: "Imagine a grandfather who wants to give a family shotgun to his 12-year-old grandson having to do a background check on his grandson before giving him the shotgun.

Or a friend having to do a background check on his lifetime best buddy before lending him a hunting rifle.

Or, if your mother had a prowler at her home, having to do a background check on your own Mom before you could give her one of your guns for protection.

That's what "universal background checks" do. They turn traditional innocent conduct into a criminal offense."

"The penalty for selling a gun to a person who is a criminal, mentally ill, mentally incompetent, alcohol abuser or drug abuser is a 10-year federal felony. That's now, today, with no changes to the law."

"more than 72,000 people were turned down on a gun purchase in 2010 because they didn't pass the background check. Yet, only 44 of those cases were prosecuted. Why, when criminals are caught in the act of lying on the form to illegally purchase a firearm are they not prosecuted?"

"If the Obama Administration currently doesn't have the time or manpower to prosecute those who lie on background check forms, then why do they want more background checks, more paperwork and more forms?"

Global Lukewarming: Another Good Intellectual Year (2012 Edition) | Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger | Cato Institute

Global Lukewarming: Another Good Intellectual Year (2012 Edition) | Paul C. "Chip" Knappenberger | Cato Institute: "I am sure that most readers are already aware that in the U.S. the annual average temperature was the highest ever recorded (since 1895). But the U.S. makes up only about 2% of the globe and such small areas, especially located in the Northern Hemisphere extratropics, are subject to large regional variations.

Figure 1 shows the pattern of annual average temperature anomalies across the globe in 2012. Notice that the contiguous U.S. happens to be in the bulls-eye of higher than average temperatures. If you spent 2012 in Alaska, you’d probably be wondering what all the fuss was about, because there the state experienced its 11th coldest year on record (since 1918)."

Obamacare Alchemy | Cato Institute

Obamacare Alchemy | Cato Institute: "Just as it would make no sense to mandate a particular standard for homeowner, auto, or life insurance, it makes no sense to impose a set package for health insurance. We all are different and prefer different mixes of risks and benefits, as well as tradeoffs between health insurance and other uses of our money."

Are We Overreacting to the Threat of a Nuclear Iran? | Justin Logan | Cato Institute

Are We Overreacting to the Threat of a Nuclear Iran? | Justin Logan | Cato Institute: "dictatorial regime regularly lashes out with hysterical war propaganda and threatens to rain destruction on its neighbors. It regularly inveighs against American imperialism, and in return, American analysts regularly discuss preventive strikes against the country.

Then, with little warning, it conducts a nuclear test. Americans from all walks of life remember that day vividly. Their lives—indeed, the world—changed forever.

It was May 25, 2009. Don’t you remember?

That, of course, was the day the erratic, bizarre government in North Korea managed to successfully test a nuclear device. But the world didn’t end."

" My colleague John Mueller and Frank Gavin both catalog the embarrassing track record of false positives in predicting tipping points, cascades, chains, waves, avalanches, et cetera. Their bibliographies are full of embarrassingly wrong predictions—full enough that people ought to be chastened and reconsider just throwing around similar assertions as though they are obviously true."

Cuts could make USA a second-rate power, Panetta warns

Cuts could make USA a second-rate power, Panetta warns: "Defense Secretary Leon Panetta warned Friday the United States would become a "second-rate power" if Congress and the White House fail to reach a budget deal that would avoid an extra $500 billion in military budget cuts over the next 10 years."

So a 7% cut would reduce us to only spend 4.6 times (instead of 4.9 times) as much as the 2nd spender! I don't think "hyperbole" is a sufficient word to describe his claims.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures

Daily Caller: Sen. Ron Johnson on federal budgets: ‘I’m happy to start cutting agencies’ - In the News - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin

Daily Caller: Sen. Ron Johnson on federal budgets: ‘I’m happy to start cutting agencies’ - In the News - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin: "“In business if you’ve got a department that’s not performing properly, you cut its budget and they’re forced to become more efficient,” Johnson said, citing his own business experience before Wisconsin voters sent him to the Senate in 2010. “I think that’s what you pretty much have to do with some of these agencies.”"

Why American Citizens Need Assault Weapons

Why American Citizens Need Assault Weapons: "No one will ever convince me that current day humans do not have the ability to enslave, torture and murder large groups of other humans. History–even modern history–is replete with examples. "

"In the context of self defense, why do armed citizens need AR-15 style weapons? Because, the armed citizen faces the VERY SAME criminals that police face. The only difference is that police, because they are more often called TO the incident, face these criminals more regularly. Understand, though, criminals do not prey on police, but instead, they victimize the public."

Sen. Paul Introduces National Right to Work Act | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate

Sen. Paul Introduces National Right to Work Act | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate: "Sen. Paul’s Right to Work Act does not add a single word to existing federal law, it simply deletes forced unionism provisions in federal law."

State investigating use of DOJ helicopter at high school homecoming football game in Calif | Fox News

State investigating use of DOJ helicopter at high school homecoming football game in Calif | Fox News: "The station says it showed a DOJ agent dropping a football from the helicopter to his son, a player, on the field.

The cost to taxpayers for use of the chopper was between $900 and $1,300 for the stunt, not including the cost of personnel used to fly the aircraft."

Obama reportedly signs secretive cybersecurity policy directive | Security & Privacy - CNET News

Obama reportedly signs secretive cybersecurity policy directive | Security & Privacy - CNET News: "According to the Washington Post, he is said to have signed a secret policy directive last month that will give the military and other government authorities the ability to act quickly if the country comes under cyberattack."

"One of the major elements of the directive, according to the Washington Post, is that it deals with "offensive" versus "defensive" action and makes the distinction between network defense and cyber operations."

Georgia school where student shot classmate has metal detectors | Fox News

Georgia school where student shot classmate has metal detectors | Fox News: "A middle school where a 14-year-old boy was shot and wounded in the neck by a fellow student had metal detectors, and school officials were investigating how the shooter made it past them."

"An off-duty armed resource officer who was at the school was able to grab the gun away from the suspect, who was taken into custody."

"Hours after the Atlanta shooting, several school buses loaded with children pulled away from the school and stopped in front of a church about a half-block away. Parents tried boarding the buses. Police, who initially tried to stop them, finally relented and screamed at the drivers, "Let them off!" "

Johnson Requests BATF Briefing on Botched Milwaukee Sting Operation - Press Releases - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin

Johnson Requests BATF Briefing on Botched Milwaukee Sting Operation - Press Releases - Newsroom - Ron Johnson, United States Senator for Wisconsin: "When Mr. Salkin attempted to settle the unpaid balance of these funds with local BATF officials, he was eventually threatened and told his actions amounted to harassment of BATF agents."

"In September of last year, an agent parked his vehicle at a coffee shop while it contained three firearms: two handguns and a fully automatic M-4 .223 carbine, the very same type of rifle carried by members of the United States military.  When the vehicle was burglarized, all three weapons were stolen."

Is Clean Energy an Impossible Dream? | Peter Van Doren, Jerry Taylor | Cato Institute

Is Clean Energy an Impossible Dream? | Peter Van Doren, Jerry Taylor | Cato Institute: "If clean energy is the energy of future, then it’s news to the analysts within the Obama administration. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) — the analytic arm of the U.S. Department of Energy — predicts that renewable energy (excluding liquid biofuels like ethanol which are, at present, as carbon-intensive as crude oil) will rise from 8 percent of total U.S. energy consumption today to a grand total of 11 percent in 2040. Moreover, that modest gain in market share is not expected to come from improvements in clean energy’s ability to compete with fossil fuels. No, the EIA believes that this anemic growth stems “mainly from the implementation of … state renewable portfolio standard (RPS) programs for electricity generation” (that is, state programs that simply dictate that a certain amount of renewables are produced regardless of cost)."

"Even on the eve of a revolution in hydraulic fracturing, few forecasters saw anything but sky-high natural gas prices as far as the eye could see."

"carbon-rich fuels continue to give way — as they have historically — to hydrogen-rich fuels. Yesterday, it was coal displacing biomass, then oil displacing coal. Today, it’s natural gas displacing oil and coal. Tomorrow, it will likely be hydrogen displacing natural gas."

"the two instances in which the federal government has made Herculean efforts to turn ugly energy ducks into beautiful economic swans — nuclear energy and corn ethanol — have failed spectacularly despite decades of concentrated political effort and tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer assistance. Nuclear energy and corn ethanol continue to be so uncompetitive that, absent continuing government subsidy, those industries would largely disappear. There’s no reason to think that throwing the same effort into clean energy will turn out any differently."

The Torture Temptation | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute

The Torture Temptation | Ted Galen Carpenter | Cato Institute: " In Cohen’s case, he posits that interrogators know that not only is an attack on the scale of 9/11 imminent, but that the suspect they are interrogating has important knowledge about that attack.

Lifeboat examples are both artificial and largely useless in the real world. In the case of the situation Cohen sets up, there is no way interrogators can be certain of either aspect. What those who use a 9/11 lifeboat scenario are really saying is that if interrogators believe that an attack is imminent and think that the person in their custody has crucial knowledge about the plans, it is okay to torture him. That attitude leads to not just one but several slippery slopes."

"Yet another slippery slope is that if it is acceptable to use torture in terrorism cases, it will become easier and more tempting to use it in other settings. Why not, for example, involving cases of child abduction, when a child’s life might be in danger? Or how about using it to break up drug gangs that engage in turf fights that often kill innocent bystanders?"

"Proponents of the PATRIOT Act touted it as an essential weapon in the war on terror, but it is revealing that surveillance and other provisions of that law have been used in far more drug trafficking cases than terrorism cases—1,618 of the former, only 15 of the latter."

Senate Votes on Paul Amendment to Prevent Sale of F-16s to Egypt | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate

Senate Votes on Paul Amendment to Prevent Sale of F-16s to Egypt | Rand Paul 2016 | U.S. Senate: "I think this is particularly unwise since Egypt is currently governed by a religious zealot, a religious zealot who said recently that ‘Jews were bloodsuckers and descendants of apes and pigs.’ This doesn’t sound like the kind of stable personality we would be sending our most sophisticated weapons to."

Why is it logical to sell such advanced weapons to unstable foreigners but prevent U.S. citizens from owning weapons that are insignificant in power compared to an F-16?