Is there a place where hundreds of thousands have protested, packed their Capitol building, nearly a million later signing election petitions, without violence, at limited public costs, and without fraud? What spot of peace and honesty, integrity and democracy, is like that? Could there even be such a place, in all the world? There is.…
Law
Corruption Probe, Daily Adams, Gov. Walker, Law, Politics
Wisconsin’s Shoddy Partisan Analysis
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Wisconsin has a fuller political calendar than most states: we’ve not merely the traditional state and federal races, but recall elections likely for May and June. A libertarian will look at these issues with sharp interest, but without a partisan attachment. Perhaps all those contests, sure to be fought tooth and nail, have made some…
Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty
Know Your Rights: Photographers | American Civil Liberties Union
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here’s a link to photographer’s rights from the ACLU. These are the rights of citizens, rights (among so many others) that they have as citizens. The linked page includes information on (1) general rights, (2) what to do if one is stopped for taking lawful pictures, (3) special considerations for video recording, (4) taking photographs…
Cycling, Law
Some Inquiries, No Matter How Lavish, Come to Nothing
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Technology
The ACLU on SOPA/PIPA
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The ACLU’s Rights Blog posted today on the controversy over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the post mentions the ACLU’s constructive role in limiting this latest regulatory overreach. (See, Online Protest Over SOPA Helps » Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union.) I have reproduced parts of their post…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Libertarians
LP Calls for Regulating Marijuana like Wine
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
America regulates marijuana, mostly, by prohibition. Despite criminalizing cannabis, and spending vast sums to find, fine, arrest, and jail pot smokers, the level of actual consumption seems unchanged. (Americans, by the way, are increasingly supportive of marijuana decriminalization. Government officials can only sell expensive ineffectiveness for so long. The trend toward decriminalization is clear.) I’ve…
Free Markets, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Institute for Justice fighting the good fight
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
From the IJ, highlights of ongoing work: Litigating for Liberty. The Wall Street Journal featured IJ’s founder and president, Chip Mellor, this past Sunday. Read the in-depth interview here. Georgia property owners are fed up with forfeiture. The state’s forfeiture law allows law enforcement to seize the property of innocent owners without convicting or even…
Law, Liberty
Pres. Obama Signs Indefinite Detention Bill Into Law
by JOHN ADAMS •
The indefinite detention bill passed the Congress with support from both parties, but that only means it was a bad idea with bipartisan backing: President Obama’s action today is a blight on his legacy because he will forever be known as the president who signed indefinite detention without charge or trial into law,” said Anthony…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Wisconsin
The Journal Sentinel on Justice Gableman’s Receipt of Free Legal Services (and a bit about the story, itself)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over the the Journal Sentinel, there’s a story about Justice Gableman’s deciding votes on cases in which the Michael Best & Friedrich firm represented the victorious party, despite his receipt of free legal services from that firm: State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman in two cases cast the deciding vote in favor of parties represented…
Freedom of Speech, Law, Liberty, Politics
Teenage mayoral candidate to ignore cease and desist demand from Sheboygan’s Mayor Ryan
by JOHN ADAMS •
Good for him: Sheboygan teenager and potential recall mayoral candidate Asher Heimermann said he intends to ignore a cease and desist letter from Sheboygan Mayor Bob Ryan to take down a fake Twitter account claiming to be Ryan, saying the account complies with the social media websites rules for parody and does not rise to…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Out in the Cold at Age 84: Wisconsin’s Ruthelle Frank Fights for Her Right to Vote
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ruthelle Frank is no less a citizen than anyone else in Wisconsin. I’ve posted before about Ruthelle Frank’s disenfranchisement under Wisconsin’s new voted ID law. She’s a citizen, lifetime resident of Wisconsin, and officeholder, but after eighty-four years, she now faces hundreds of dollars in fees to do what she has a right to do…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Wisconsin
The Disgrace of Wisconsin’s Photo ID Law: Rules leave village leader without right to vote
by JOHN ADAMS •
Although obviously a citizen by birth, and although she’s served on the Brokaw Village Board since 1996, Ruthelle Frank is now disenfranchised: Ruthelle Frank was born Aug. 21, 1927, in her home in Brokaw. It was a hard birth; there were complications. A doctor had to come up from Wausau to see that she and her…
Crime, Law
Bad News for Drug Warriors
by JOHN ADAMS •
Turns out Newt Gingrich, the man of a thousand shifting, contradictory, and I’ll-considered opinions, wants to escalate the Drug War. If there’s worse news for drug warriors than this, short of an endorsement from Syria’s Assad, I can’t imagine what that worse news might be. In an interview with Yahoo!, Gingrich finds his model for…
Law, Libertarians
Thanksgiving News Update from the Institute for Justice
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s a holiday recap of projects ongoing at the Institute for Justice: Happy Thanksgiving! We wanted to send you a quick update on what the Institute for Justice has been up to over the past month. Live in Connecticut? Want brighter teeth? It’s a felony for anyone but a licensed dentist to offer teeth-whitening services.…