The Humble Libertarian original

By NASSER al-AWLAKI The New York Times SANA, Yemen — I LEARNED that my 16-year-old grandson, Abdulrahman — a United States citizen — had been killed by an American drone strike from news reports the morning after he died. The missile killed him, his teenage cousin and at least five other civilians on Oct. 14, 2011, while the boys were eating dinner at an open-air restaurant in southern Yemen. I visited the site later, once I was able to bear the pain of seeing where he sat in his final moments. Local residents told me his body was blown to pieces. They showed me the grave where they buried his remains. I stood over it, asking why my grandchild was dead. Nearly two years later, I still have no answers. The United States government has refused to explain why Abdulrahman was killed. It was not until May of this year that the Obama administration, in a supposed effort to be more transparent, publicly acknowledged what the world already knew — that it was responsible for his death....

Alternate headline: Hey Washington, even California 's getting sick of you! Ha ha ha. The Daily Caller reports : 'California lawmakers are pushing a bill that would exempt the state from federal laws authorizing indefinite detention of citizens. The California Public Safety Committee voted unanimously Tuesday in favor of the California Liberty Preservation Act, which was introduced by Republican Assemblyman Tim Donnelly. The bill passed the Democrat-controlled committee 6-0 with the support of a wide-ranging coalition that included the American Civil Liberties Union, Tenth Amendment Center, San Francisco 99% Coalition, San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Libertarian Party of California. The legislation is designed to free California from having to comply with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2012, which does nothing to prevent the potential seizure and indefinite detention of U.S. citizens. The California bill declares such federal power unc...

When his parents found this sentence scrawled onto a piece of paper in their 4th grader's backpack, they could not believe their eyes: "I am willing to give up some of my constitutional rights in order to be safer or more secure." The boy's classmates confirmed to his dad that they were instructed by the teacher to write this sentence, though the teacher is playing dumb and saying that the boy wrote this himself. Yeah right. I'm sure he'd think of that himself. The real irony is that most public school teachers are Democrats. This reads like something Dick Cheney would make school children write. Then again, this happened in Florida , land of Jeb Bush. Still I wonder if the teacher would have given this assignment to the students in 2004. And I don't wonder at all whether the progressive media and blogosphere would have jumped all over this in 2004; and I don't wonder at all whether they will now. Can you hear the silence on civil liber...

Earlier this month, Eric Holder essentially crowned Barack Obama King, granting him the power to kill his subjects in secret without due process. His legal reasoning was not only specious-- the entire debate centered on the 5th Amendment due process clause misses another part of the Constitution that explicitly deals with citizens who wage war against the United States... Read all about it in my latest article at The Independent Voter Network . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

"The U.S. Supreme Court decided Monday not to review a California Supreme Court ruling from last June that upheld the constitutionality of vehicle stops made by California game wardens to make sure motorists leaving hunting or fishing grounds haven’t bagged any wildlife out of season. By denying review of the ruling, the nation’s high court handed California game wardens the authority to conduct vehicle stops without a warrant. While it was the National Rifle Association that joined the defendant’s legal counsel in requesting a hearing from the Supreme Court, the ACLU might have had more at stake than the NRA in a case that has more to do with the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution than the Second Amendment..." Read the rest of my article at The Independent Voter Network . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

While this may be a little incestuous, as Davi Barker is one of my own colleagues, another blogger here at The Silver Underground , I just have to take the lead on Rebel of the Week for this week and award it to Davi and his friend Theresa for how they handled the TSA during their recent trip through an airport security checkpoint. Davi doesn’t know I’m doing this and will be surprised when he reads this on the blog. I just had to after reading his account of what happened in his Monday blog post entitled, “ TSA Today: Davi’s First Opt Out .” As I read it I couldn’t help but nod vigorously and even vocally exclaim my enthusiastic approval for what they did– but more importantly how they did it. If you haven’t read Davi’s story , you absolutely should ! Davi’s friend Theresa opted out of the body scanner and for the pat down. As Davi explains, the purpose of this is to hold up the line, inconvenience the TSA, and make a cumbersome process even more cumbersome. Maybe if enough of us ...

When you think of an abusive relationship, what adjectives come to mind? Controlling? Violent? Humiliating? Jealous? Obsessive? Go figure, it doesn’t take a huge stretch of the imagination to apply these same adjectives to many of the world’s governments throughout history and certainly the absolute states that emerged in modernity with their absolute warfare, constant surveillance, and obsessive control of every aspect of their citizens’ lives from cradle to grave– the federal government of the fifty American states being no exception to this unfortunate state of affairs. To explore this idea a little further, I took a look at a list of warning signs of abuse, to see if our relationship with our government truly is analogous to an abusive relationship with a romantic partner. Spoiler alert: it is. The list was prefaced thusly: “The following questions ask you about your relationship. If you are not currently in a relationship, these are signs or ‘red flags’ to assist people in ident...

Tonight I'll be interviewed live on The People's America web-based radio program and talking about the alarming growth of the so-called national security state. I'm thinking about restarting my own web-based radio program and tonight might just remind me how much I love talking on the air! Please listen in if you have a chance: Here's the show page to listen in . We start streaming live to your computer at 8pm Eastern, 7pm Central Time. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Just launched a new line of libertarian merchandise at the official merchandise store of The Humble Libertarian : Three if by Drone . "One if by land, two if by sea..." --this is a 21st century twist on the famed "midnight ride of Paul Revere." Click the link or the image above to check out the t-shirts and bumper stickers sporting this powerful message. Get one for yourself or give one as a gift and you'll also be helping to support this libertarian blog! Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

The YAL Civil Liberties College Tour starts tonight at 8pm EST at Columbia University in New York City! The four tour stops feature Glenn Greenwald (liberal), Bruce Fein (conservative) and Jacob Hornberger (libertarian). They will discuss habeas corpus, the PATRIOT Act, extraordinary rendition, torture, regime change, and how the war on terrorism has infringed upon the rights of U.S. citizens in the name of making us safe. The tour will be moderated by YAL's own Jack Hunter, and hosted by YAL chapters in conjunction with The Future of Freedom Foundation. If you don't live near any of the stops, you can stream the events online . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Thought SOPA and PIPA were bad? Despite the Internet's incredibly successful SOPA protest , the world's troublemakers just can't seem to get their hands off the Internet. It's like the battle over ObamaCare. Remember how hard so many Americans fought to keep that from passing? Remember how many attempts there were to pass it over the objections of a majority of the voting public? Remember all the changing votes, back room agreements, and other shady dealings? And just through sheer force of persistence they passed it. The establishment is at its same old tricks with Internet regulation. After the SOPA blackout spooked enough lawmakers in Washington to forestall its passage, I just knew it would come back again with a new name. And if we fight the latest affront off, it'll come back with another new name. They'll rinse and repeat until they've got the Internet in their grimy little bureaucratic hands. So what's the latest affront? ACTA. The Guardian...

Here's Rand Paul on Freedom Watch with Judge Andrew Napolitano discussing his encounter with the police state TSA. Listen to the Judge's opening quip-- I laughed out loud: Meanwhile the TSA released footage of Sen. Rand Paul at Nashville International Airport. Rand Paul showed no visible signs of being “irate” as Nashville International Airport police asserted in an incident report, according to newly released video of a run-in with airport security: A security video of U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, at a Nashville International Airport checkpoint doesn’t show him being “irate,” as police asserted. The Kentucky Republican ran afoul of a millimeter-wave screening machine Tuesday morning that went off as he tried to enter the airport terminal. Airport officials asked him to undergo a pat-down, but he refused. An incident report describes the police response as being to “a passenger being irate.” But videos released by the Metro Airport Authority late Wednesday show P...

This is really disappointing news. If you thought the Supreme Court of the United States just scored one for liberty in the recent GPS tracking case, think again: By Davi Barker at The Silver Underground : In the case of US v. Jones the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that law enforcement required a warrant to install a GPS tracking device on nightclub owner Antoine Jones’ car. In doing so they tossed out his drug conspiracy conviction and life sentence. But before we celebrate we have to ask, why does all the coverage of the story read like, “law enforcement might need a probable-cause warrant” and “law enforcement  in most instances must get a search warrant.” Well, because that’s the language used by the Supreme Court Justices in what’s being called the most important Fourth Amendment case in the computer era. Although all nine Supreme Court Justices agreed to overturn the charges in this case, they disagreed five to four as to why. Justice Alito wrote that pol...

Senator Rand Paul, who has outspokenly defended the Constitution against the assaults of an ever-growing, federal police state , was detained by an agency of the federal police state Monday on his way through Nashville International Airport, where he refused a pat down by Obama's Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The Daily Caller reports : Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul’s press secretary Moira Bagley tweeted on Monday that Transportation Security Administration officials were detaining her boss in Nashville, Tenn. “Just got a call from @senrandpaul,” Bagley tweeted at about 10 a.m. on Monday. “He’s currently being detained by TSA in Nashville.” Texas Congressman and current Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul – Sen. Rand Paul’s father – placed a post on Facebook about the news as well. “My son Rand is currently being detained by the TSA at the Nashville Airport,” Ron Paul posted. “I’ll share more details as the situation unfolds.” Ron Paul adds, via...

Even while campaigning, Ron Paul is working hard as a legislator to fight for our rights, from rushing to Washington from South Carolina to vote against a debt ceiling hike, to introducing a bill this week that would undo the outrageous provisions of the NDAA that allow the president and military to arrest and detain U.S. citizens on U.S. soil and hold them indefinitely without charges. The New American reports : Texas Congressman and GOP presidential contender Ron Paul is continuing his battle for liberty even as he is focused on his fight for the White House. This week, he introduced legislation to overturn the dangerous provisions found within the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Rep. Paul spoke on the House floor, specifically against Section 1021 of the NDAA, which includes language which permits the government to detain anyone who “substantially supported al Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United State...

Click the image above or this link here to view all the products with this design at Freedom Unlimited, the official online merchandise store for The Humble Libertarian . My Martin Luther King t-shirt and bumper sticker design features the powerful quotation: "A time comes when silence is betrayal." It's time to break our silence in the face of oppression, tyranny, and injustice everywhere. It's time to get loud. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

In the video below, Professor of Law Jonathan Turley speaks to BBC on the National Defense Authorization Act of 2011 (NDAA), which allows for the indefinite military detention of US citizens without charge or trial in violation of the right to a jury trial guaranteed by the Constitution. Professor Turley addresses Obama's NDAA "signing statement" which seeks to downplay this broad new claim of authority, and the entire context of government encroachment on American rights since 9/11. He points out Obama's recent claim of presidential authority to order any American citizen assassinated without charge or trial when deemed suspected of terrorism, and the veil of secrecy which surrounds government proceedings for deciding who is and who is not a "terrorist." Hat tip: Daily Paul Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

No you didn't read that wrong. These kinds of incidents are the reason why more and more people in America are starting to agree that the police are OUT OF CONTROL . Allentown City Surveillance cameras capture Allentown police officer ramming a 14 year-old student against a parked car. After that he backs away and pulls out his taser. Although the minor puts up her hands in surrender, he zaps her in the groin, and she goes down in agony. She had to be hospitalized so the barbs could be removed from her. Date is 9/29/11. Lehigh Valley's Morning Call reports : The mother of a 14-year-old Dieruff High School student has filed a federal lawsuit claiming an Allentown police officer used excessive force when he shot her daughter in the groin with a stun gun during class dismissal in September. Victoria Geist says her daughter, Keshana Wilson, had her arms raised high to indicate she surrendered when officer Jason Ammary pointed a Taser at her on Sept. 29 outside the high sc...

The LA Times reports : Armed with a search warrant, Nelson County Sheriff Kelly Janke went looking for six missing cows on the Brossart family farm in the early evening of June 23. Three men brandishing rifles chased him off, he said. Janke knew the gunmen could be anywhere on the 3,000-acre spread in eastern North Dakota. Fearful of an armed standoff, he called in reinforcements from the state Highway Patrol, a regional SWAT team, a bomb squad, ambulances and deputy sheriffs from three other counties. He also called in a Predator B drone. As the unmanned aircraft circled 2 miles overhead the next morning, sophisticated sensors under the nose helped pinpoint the three suspects and showed they were unarmed. Police rushed in and made the first known arrests of U.S. citizens with help from a Predator, the spy drone that has helped revolutionize modern warfare. But that was just the start. Local police say they have used two unarmed Predators based at Grand Forks Air Force Base ...

As far as I'm concerned, this is a sexual assault. They'd be leading me out of the airport in handcuffs if they tried something like this with my grandmother or great grandmother. From The New York Daily News : An 85-year-old Long Island grandmother says she plans to sue the TSA after a humiliating strip search on Tuesday by agents at JFK Airport. Lenore Zimmerman, who lives in Long Beach, says she was on her way to a 1 p.m. flight to Fort Lauderdale when security whisked her to a private room and took off her clothes. “I walk with a walker — I really look like a terrorist,” she said sarcastically. “I’m tiny. I weigh 110 pounds, 107 without clothes, and I was strip-searched.” TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said a review of closed circuit TV footage from the airport shows “proper procedures were followed.” But Zimmerman, whose hunched back puts her at 4-foot-11, said her ordeal began after her son, Bruce, drove her to the JetBlue terminal for the Florida flight. She ...