Archives for: January 2014
Police Lie: Just Ask Officer Arrendondo
by Will
Liberty Minute January 30 2014
Like countless other Americans, Los Angeles resident Sergio Arreola was the victim of criminal violence by the police.
In April 2012, Arreola ? who was just finishing work ? got a phone call from his wife asking… more »
When Possession of Nothing is a "Crime"
by Will
LibertyMinute January 29 2014
A crime is an act of conscious aggression against the person or property of another individual. An act that doesn't inflict a demonstrable injury is not a crime. Very few of the acts or omissions criminalized by the gov… more »
No Joke: Justin Bieber's Arrest
by Will
Liberty Minute January 28 2014
Buried beneath the tabloid-bait aspects of Justin Bieber's recent arrest is an illustration of the absurd ease with which police can turn harmless behavior into a criminal offense.
In addition to a DUI count and rela… more »
Totalitarian Tribalism
by Will
Liberty Minute January 27 2014
Like too many of their rivals on the Right, many on the Progressive Left hate their opponents more than they love individual liberty.
Princeton historian Sean Wilentz produced a museum-quality exhibit of that mindset… more »
Police Brutality as a Reflex
by Will
Liberty Minute January 24 2014
Kang Wong is an 84-year-old New York resident who doesn't understand English. Late in the afternoon on January 19, Wong was crossing the street when a police officer, believing the elderly man was jaywalking, ordered hi… more »
Rising to Empire, Declining into Poverty
by Will
Liberty Minute January 23 2014
The United States of America was founded as a commercial republic. Since the end of World War II our country has metastasized into an empire ? a process that may have entered its terminal phase after 9-11. Over the pa… more »
Cops Don't Trust Each Other -- Why Should We Trust Them?
by Will
Liberty Minute January 22 2014
Redondo Beach, California resident David Perdue was nearly murdered by police on the way to the beach last February 7. Torrance Police Officer Brian McGee rammed his vehicle into Perdue?s truck and opened fire on the dr… more »
The Tattle-Tale Virus
by Will
LibertyMinute January 21 2014
Under totalitarian regimes like those that afflictedEast Germanyand Communist Cuba, citizens were expected and required to inform on each other. Too many Americans have embraced this mindset and eagerly look for excuses… more »
Totalitarian "Tolerance"
by Will
LibertyMinute January 20 2014
InCalifornia, a veteran actress named Maria Conchita Alonso was fired from a theater production after she made an advertisement endorsing a Tea Party-backed conservative candidate for governor. This decision wasn't made on… more »
Edward Snowden vs. the USSA
by Will
Liberty Minute January 17 2014
Some of Edward Snowden?s detractors criticized the NSA whistleblower for fleeing into exile, rather than facing trial for disclosing the agency?s illegal activities. One persistent theme in such criticism is that Snow… more »
North Korean Police: More Restrained than their U.S. Counterparts
by Will
LibertyMinute January 16 2014
On January 14, the PBS program Frontline aired a documentary entitled The Secret State of North Korea Among the scenes captured in that documentary are two encounters between women and police.
In the first confrontation,… more »
Soviet-Style Indefinite Detention for a Blogger in Alabama
by Will
Liberty Minute January 15 2013
In overtly Communist countries like China and North Korea, it is commonplace to see people imprisoned for speaking or writing in opposition to the ruling elite. Similar conditions exist in the State of Alabama, where the… more »
Police Have a License to Murder
by Will
LibertyMinute January 14 2013
There was never any dispute as to the identity of the people who beat Kelly Thomas to death outside a bus station in Fullerton, California. Nor was there any reasonable doubt that this act was one of aggressive violence by… more »
Why Does Rand Paul Want to Imprison Edward Snowden?
by Will
Liberty Minute January 13 2013
Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has announced his intention to file a class action lawsuit against the National Security Agency over its illegal eavesdropping program. An earlier suit filed by the group Judicial… more »
Texas Game Wardens Get their SWAT Freak On
by Will
Liberty Minute January 9 2014
Why would game wardens need to undergo SWAT training?
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department has announced the creation of what it calls a ?cadre of specialty teams? that have undergone SWAT-style tactical training.… more »
An Impatient Cop Murders a Teenager
by Will
Liberty Minute January 8 2014
When 18-year-old Keith Vidal suffered a psychological breakdown on the afternoon of January 5, his parents called 911 for help. Within a few minutes, officers from the local police department in Boiling Spring Lake, North… more »
"A Child is not a `Thing'"
by Will
Liberty Minute January 6 2014
Like her comrades at MSNBC, Melissa Harris-Perry uses her weekly program to peddle an alloy of embittered radical feminism and racial grievance-peddling to a small and dwindling audience. In a recent installment, Harris-Pe… more »
In Soviet America, Patriotism is a Prosecutable Offense
by Will
Liberty Minute January 3 2014
In an inexplicable but welcome break with the Establishment consensus, the New York Times editorial board has demanded leniency for whistleblower Edward Snowden. For the better part of a year, the former NSA employee has l… more »
A Light Sentence for a Privileged Molester
by Will
Liberty Minute January 2 2014
Over a two-year period, Milwaukee resident Michael Vagnini molested dozens of people at gunpoint, thrusting his hands into their anal cavities while associates held the victims at gunpoint. Under Wisconsin?s criminal c… more »
A Baby Survives Because of a "Neglectful" Doctor
by Will
Liberty Minute January 1 2014
The vast apparatus of regimentation and cronyism called ?Obamacare? is nothing more than a precursor to a fully socialized single-payer health care system. The architects of Obamacare have unflinchingly said that their… more »