Thoughts, essays, and writings on Liberty. Written by the heirs of Patrick Henry.

November 20, 2010

Airport Activism Anyone?

With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up (and busiest travel day of the year), a group of concerned citizens is calling November 24th “National Opt-Out Day.” Wednesday, November 24, 2010 is NATIONAL OPT-OUT DAY! It’s the day ordinary citizens stand up for their rights, stand up for liberty, and protest the federal government’s desire to virtually [...]

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November 18, 2010

Quote of the Day: 4th Amendment Be Damned Edition

“Nobody likes the 4th amendment being violated when going through the security line, but the truth of the matter is we are going to have to do it.”-Former. Asst. TSA administrator Mo McGowan So when the friendly TSA agents pull you out of the line for a groping or full body nudie scan as you [...]

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November 17, 2010

Men Cited For Engaging In Battlefield Simulations Near Childrens’ Playground

First it’s chess. Then Sun Tzu. Eventually you have a militia on your hands overthrowing the government. That’s how these things progress, right? The scourge must be stopped at its source! A group of seven mild-mannered chess players are due in criminal court next month after police officers from the 34th Precinct issued them summonses [...]

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November 12, 2010

Sarah Palin E-Mail Hacker Goes To Prison For Doing Something Uncle Sam Does Every Day

To paraphrase the sign on Ron Paul’s desk, don’t break into someone’s email account that’s the government’s job: A former University of Tennessee student who was convicted of hacking into Sarah Palin’s e-mail during the 2008 presidential election has been sentenced to a year and a day in custody. A federal judge recommended Friday that [...]

Posted By: Doug Mataconis @ 10:22 am || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Civil Liberties,Constitution,Individual Rights,Privacy,The Surveillance State
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October 30, 2010

Prop 19 Madness! A Message from the Galactic Government

“How will they learn to think for themselves if we don’t tell them what to think?” This video is fairly incredible. Great job to all involved.

Posted By: TomStrong @ 1:12 pm || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Civil Liberties,Freedom,Legal,Libertarians,Police Watch,Republicans,Sex,The Nanny State
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October 27, 2010

P.J. O’Rourke on Gay Marriage, Marijuana Laws

Posted By: TomStrong @ 6:01 am || Permalink || Comments Off || TrackBack URI || Categories: Civil Liberties,Democracy,Human Rights,Humor,Sex,The War on Drugs
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October 12, 2010

Aren’t You Glad To Be A Gamma?

I had a really interesting philosophical discussion with Brad Warbiany, our curator at The Liberty Papers, over a Facebook status I wrote. I had just re-listened to the CBS Radio Workshop rendition of Brave New World and had commented that it seemed like a far more livable situation than 1984. Warbiany added that California, if [...]

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October 1, 2010

Quote of the Day: No, Cops Do Not Have Any Expectation of Privacy Edition

Anthony Graber, the man who was charged for violating Maryland’s wiretapping law for recording on his motorcycle helmet cam and posting a video to YouTube of an undercover cop who pulled a gun on him during a traffic stop will not spend the next 16 years of his life in prison. Hartford County Circuit Judge [...]

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September 30, 2010

Nolan Exposes McCain’s Antipathy for Civil Liberties in Arizona Senate Debate

David Nolan, co-founder of the Libertarian Party and author of “The World’s Smallest Political Quiz” (to which the result is plotted on the “Nolan Chart”) is running against none other than the most recent Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain for his senate seat. KTVK-3TV hosted a debate last Sunday which included Sen. McCain along [...]

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September 25, 2010

Back to State’s Rights: Marijuana

At the time that Brad Warbiany and I had a debate about state’s rights, I’d just come back from CPAC in Washington D.C. where there had been a mix of the really good and the really bad. I volunteered at the Campaign for Liberty booth and found three copies of anti-Abraham Lincoln books for sale. [...]

Posted By: TomStrong @ 7:21 pm || Permalink || Comments (5) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Activism,Civil Liberties
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September 14, 2010

Cato Presents: Cops on Camera

As cameras have become more available to individuals and government alike, viral videos of cops behaving badly have become quite pervasive on the internet. This short video by The Cato Institute provides a few recent examples of this relatively new phenomenon and explains why recording the actions of police and government officials for all the [...]

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September 4, 2010

Police Kill Seventeen Year Old: How Much Is Enough?

Reason’s Radley Balko reveals another disturbing story of America’s increasing police force gone awry: Last Sunday night, police in Morganton, North Carolina shot and killed 17-year-old Michael Sipes. The officers were responding to a noise complaint called in by a neighbor in the mobile home park where Sipes lived. His mother says there were three [...]

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August 25, 2010

Ron Paul Breaks With Son Over Mosque

This is one of the Texas congressman’s best appearances since the heyday of his presidential run. I’ll admit my enthusiasm for him has waned mostly due to his son and a lot of the people who have associated themselves with Paul. Paul himself, however, is consistently a voice of reason over the irrationality and hatred [...]

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August 21, 2010

Jon Stewart Has Earned My Respect

I used to think that Jon Stewart was another garden variety left winger but lately, I’ve found him to be perhaps the most reasonable political commentator anywhere. Whether the issue is the controversial South Park episode featuring the prophet Mohammed, Obama’s about face on civil liberties now that he is president, or this most recent [...]

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August 18, 2010

City of Atlanta Agrees to Pay $4.9 Million to Kathryn Johnston’s Family; Vows to Change Police Culture

Ernie Suggs of The Atlanta Constitution reports: Four years after rogue APD narcotics officers killed 92-year-old Kathryn Johnston during an illegal raid of her home, Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed has offered her family a $4.9 million settlement. […] Reed said the resolution of the case is an important healing step for the city and the [...]

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August 17, 2010

Another Critique of the ACLU: Social Segmentalization

I did a critique as well as a defense of the ACLU for TLP not too long ago, but another aspect of the ACLU’s approach to defending civil liberties seemed worthy of analysis. Here goes. On my Facebook feed this evening, I found this snibbet: Every student deserves the opportunity to attend school and learn [...]

Posted By: TomStrong @ 9:53 pm || Permalink || Comments (2) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Civil Liberties,Education,Equal Protection,Freedom
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August 12, 2010

Obama: Judge, Jury, and Executioner in Chief

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject [...]

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July 24, 2010

Westboro Baptist Church: God Hates Nerds

The Westboro Baptist Church seems to be deadset on creating a gospel based on an ideology of high school populism, picketing all those who would have been outcasts during their teenage years. First it was “God Hates Fags” at the funerals of fallen military men and women and now it is the more comical and [...]

Posted By: TomStrong @ 4:57 pm || Permalink || Comments (5) || TrackBack URI || Categories: Civil Liberties
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On Islam, A Fine Line Between Criticism and Xenophobia

There are serious concerns about radical Islam and political Islam as a movement. It’s something we should be seriously conscious of. I’ve written about this extensively here at TLP. Given that, there is a very, very fine line between critiquing the retrograde nature of radical Islam and outright xenophobia. I honestly find it hard to [...]

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July 22, 2010

From the Left and Right, Marijuana Legalization Faces Opposition

At this point in time, there is reason to be optimistic about marijuana legalization. Andrew Napalitano was able to get Sarah Palin to back the “lowest criminal priority” position on his show, while Oakland, California seems to be positioning itself into a future marijuana growth mecca with a local ordinance allowing industrial marijuana production in the [...]

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