If the aftermath of 9/11 taught us anything, it is that centralized governments slouching toward totalitarianism never let a crisis go to waste. And, in a corollary, citizens are far more credulous and trusting when they have just experienced a trauma. So, in the wake of the Paris attacks, it doesn’t surprise me at all […]
Continue reading →According to the results of recent undercover tests, TSA airport security measures are hugely ineffective: An internal investigation of the Transportation Security Administration revealed security failures at dozens of the nation’s busiest airports, where undercover investigators were able to smuggle mock explosives or banned weapons through checkpoints in 95 percent of trials, ABC News has learned. The […]
Continue reading →The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is teetering on the precipice of a shutdown, and it doesn’t appear that either Democrats or Republicans are all that concerned about it. In this context, an article in Vox postulates that the DHS was never necessary and should be allowed to die: But the nonchalance with which both […]
Continue reading →In the wake of 9/11, the American civil government produced one of the most anti-constitutional laws ever to be passed: the USA PATRIOT Act. More about that and the misuse of the term “domestic terrorism” here. Not only did it seriously curtail many of your civil liberties, it also set the stage for every similar piece […]
Continue reading →John Brown, the famously violent abolitionist, attacked a federal arsenal in Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859. He took possession of its armory, and fully intended to use the weapons from the armory to arm slaves for a revolt. He was stopped by the U.S. Army (led by then Colonel Robert E. Lee), tried in a […]
Continue reading →