Free Talk Live

f you were to put televangelist Pat Robertson, progressive media mogul Arianna Huffington, libertarian billionaire David Koch, and rap/reggae artist Snoop Dogg in a room together, do you think you could get them all to unanimously agree on anything?

Sounds like an impossible task. But actually there is common ground: they all believe our war on marijuana has failed. All of the above public figures believe in either the decriminalization or legalization of marijuana.

Charles and David Koch are each worth about $25bn, which makes them the fourth richest Americans. When you combine their fortunes, they are the third wealthiest people in the world. Radical libertarians who use their money to oppose government and virtually all regulation as interference with the free market, the Kochs are in a class of their own as players on the American political stage. Their web of influence in the US stretches from state capitals to the halls of congress in Washington DC.

An article from the nation that describes the activism that is pointed against the TSA as a hit piece from libertarian leaning political action groups, such as FreedomWorks and the Koch brothers. Discussed in this article is John Tyner's TSA incident, Meg McLain's incident as well as her involvement with Liberty on Tour, as well as Free Keene. I especially like the description of Keene, New Hampshire as a "libertarian quasi-commune"

The Supreme Court, finishing its first sitting of the new Term, agreed on Monday to hear a single new case, a plea by former U.S. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft for immunity to a lawsuit claiming he misused a federal law to detain terrorism suspects without charging them with a crime.  The Court’s order marked the second time in the past two years that the Justices had stepped into a dispute centering on the Justice Department’s reaction to the “war on terrorism.”  The last time led to a victory for Ashcroft in a case that then ended in lower courts.

On Fast and Furious, Obama invokes 'executive privilege.' What's that?

Facing a contempt vote, Attorney General Eric Holder urged Obama to invoke 'executive privilege' to avoid turning over documents to Congress. To be valid, the claim must bear on a core power of the presidency.

The New York Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit challenging a government regulation that unconstitutionally restricts photography on federal property, including public plazas and sidewalks.

The Vatican has been served with court papers stemming from decades-old allegations of sexual abuse against a now-deceased priest at a Wisconsin school for the deaf, attorneys for the accuser and the Vatican said Tuesday.
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The lawsuit was filed nearly a year ago in federal court on behalf of Terry Kohut, now of Chicago. It claims Pope Benedict XVI and two other top Vatican officials knew about allegations of sexual abuse at St. John's School for the Deaf outside Milwaukee and called off internal punishment of the accused priest, the Rev. Lawrence Murphy.

Two NYPD cops accused of punishing a Staten Island teen by dumping him in a swamp without his shoes or shirt will have to dip into their pockets to help settle a federal lawsuit, the Daily News has learned. Officers Richard Danese and Thomas Elliassen will each kick in $5,000 on top of the $140,000 the city agreed to pay to plaintiff Rayshawn Moreno, according to papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-officers-accused-dumping-teen-s...

Federal prosecutors in Baltimore on Tuesday unsealed an indictment against Calvin Ayre, the former Canadian billionaire who founded Bodog, one of the world’s biggest online gambling firms. Ayre is accused of operating an illegal gambling business involving sports betting and conspiring to commit money laundering.