from the Future of Freedom Foundation – PRESIDENTIAL FEAR-MONGERING vs. FREEDOM by James Bovard After the San Bernardino massacre late last year, Barrack Obama made a rare speech from the Oval Office. His most memorable line was his declaration that “freedom is more powerful than fear.” That epigram might have made John F. Kennedy’s speechwriters […]
Tag Archives | Surveillance
FFF: Census Bureau’s Latest Peril to Freedom
From the Future of Freedom Foundation – The Census Bureau’s Latest Peril to Freedom by James Bovard The Census Bureau is sending its hefty American Community Survey to more than three million households a year. I recently received this 28-page tsunami of questions about everything from my plumbing to my profession to my ethnicity and […]
Dilbert Nails Cell Phone Surveillance
Dilbert has been mocking govt. surveillance of cell phones this week. The FBI-Apple brawl is a hoot – though I am amazed at how many politicians & others still instinctively kowtow to federal intrusions. The government is apparently trustworthy simply because it is a government – regardless of it 7 million prior falsehoods.
USA Today: My Too Intimate Encounter with TSA
[for videos of my TSA encounter in Portland, see this blog entry- http://jimbovard.com/blog/2016/03/21/tsa-videos-foia-response-portland-thanksgiving-poking/ USA TODAY March 21, 2006 My too intimate relations with the TSA: James Bovard Airport security or Gitmo? Transportation security requires competence not sexual assault. The Transportation Security Administration finally obeyed a 2011 federal court order March 3 and issued a 157 […]
TSA Videos FOIA Response – Portland Thanksgiving Poking
Here’s some video and photographic material to accompany today’s USA Today article on my TSA encounter in Portland on Thanksgiving morning. The films were provided in response to my Freedom of Information Act request in December. The response included a bevy of internal TSA emails. I was surprised that the TSA Office of Chief Counsel […]
Rand Paul Demise: Botched Campaign or Apathy on Freedom?
Rand Paul announced that he is suspending his presidential campaign this morning. How much of the demise of the Rand Paul’s effort was due to poor campaign tactics vs. voters not giving a damn about freedom? In Iowa, Rand’s campaign targeted student voters. But as David Weigel of the Washington Post noted, that tactic fizzled […]
Democratic Debate Hoots & Huckstering
Tonight’s Democratic candidate debate was everything a cynic could have wished for. Government retained its power to perform miracles, though no one explicitly promised that it could raise the dead. It is amazing to see how far & easily both Hillary Clinton and Martin O’Malley ran from their records in office. Following are some of […]