Nick Hogan is free….but we want him not only to be free from jail, but a free man, without fear of idiotic “laws” dictating whether people may smoke in his pub. And without having to pay ransom to the state for his freedom.

Bravo!!!!! I am so pleased by this. Congratulations to Mr. Hogan and to Old Holborn.

Yesterday on the radio I heard an interview with Cheye Calvo, mayor of Berwyn Heights, Maryland, who recounted his family’s nightmare as they were attacked by a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team, which assaulted them, abused them, and killed their dogs. It was chilling. Radley Balko of Reason covers the story; “4.5 SWAT Raids Per Day”

After some shocking numbers about the huge numbers of SWAT attacks, Balko notes,

Worse even than those dreary numbers is the fact that more than half of the county’s SWAT deployments were for misdemeanors and nonserious felonies. That means more than 100 times last year Prince George’s County brought state-sanctioned violence to confront people suspected of nonviolent crimes. And that’s just one county in Maryland. These outrageous numbers should provide a long-overdue wake-up call to public officials about how far the pendulum has swung toward institutionalized police brutality against its citizenry, usually in the name of the drug war.

I don’t smoke. I don’t like smoking. I hate the smell it leaves on your clothes when others smoke around you. But that doesn’t change my views about this injustice: “Pub landlord is first person in Britain to be jailed over smoking ban”

‘Ninety per cent of people who come into my pub want to smoke, even the non-smokers think there should be a choice. These laws are ridiculous.’

If you’re like me and don’t like being around a lot of cigarette smoke, don’t go to places where other people smoke.

From the International Free Press Society:

These idiots should have their paper boycotted until they rescind their apology.

The editor of Jyllands-Posten, which originally printed the cartoons in 2005 and is published by the same media company as Politiken, said that its sister paper had failed in the fight for freedom of speech and called it a “sad day” for the Danish press.

….when a newspaper is intimidated by threats of violence.

“She cannot be present today, but I still want to tell you, my sweetheart, that I’m confident that your love for me will be as always.

Your love is sunlight that transcends prison walls and bars, stroking every inch of my skin, warming my every cell, letting me maintain my inner calm, magnanimous and bright, so that every minute in prison is full of meaning… My love is hard, sharp, and can penetrate any obstacles. Even if I am crushed into powder, I will embrace you with the ashes.”

From The Guardian.

“Libertarian” Playboy Mag Hates Choice, Loves Authentic Communism by Michael C. Moynihan includes, as a bonus, Moynihan’s interview with Gorki Aguila of the Cuban band Porno Para Ricardo.

Reason’s Jacob Sullum: “If We Make Sure We’re Not Killing Innocent People, We Might Not Get to Kill Anyone at All“

David Boaz and John Locke on the rights of the Na’vi: “Collective Property Rights in Avatar?”

(Note: I haven’t seen the movie, but it’s not necessary to understand the issues involved.)

One of the great speeches of American history
28 August 1963
Full text here

In a very smart letter to the editor of the Washington Post (“What didn’t happen after the D.C. handgun ban ended“: may require registration), Mr. William Ciucci notes that the Post’s reporting of the lowest absolute number of homicides in DC in 45 years did not mention the fact that 2009 was the first year since 1976 when residents could legally own handguns. He proposes a thought experiment:

If the numbers had, tragically, gone the other way, and 2009 had the highest number of murders in nearly a half-century, imagine the hue and cry that would have gone up from opponents of Second Amendment rights. There can be no doubt that The Post’s editorial page would have cried ominously that the increase was linked to the court decision, and anti-gun activists of all stripes would have been hysterical.

Actually, the Post’s editorial writers are usually more thoughtful. The headline writers, however, would have almost certainly spun the case that way. Mr. Ciucci is clearly smart and doesn’t attribute the lower homicide rate (note that it is in absolute numbers, not numbers per thousand of population) to the lifting of the gun ban. Such matters are complicated. But you can be certain that the opponents of individual rights would have spun it the other way had the trend moved in the other direction.

(Note: I was one of the original plaintiffs in the case and had the great pleasure of being there when the case [District of Columba v. Heller] was argued before the Supreme Court. I’m currently a plaintiff, along with George Lyon, Edward Raymond, Amy McVey, and the Second Amendment Foundation, in the case of Palmer v District of Columbia. We’re represented by Alan Gura, who argued the case that struck down the ban on ownership and possesion of guns. In this case, we seek vindication not only of the right to “keep” arms, but of the right to “bear” them, both of which are specifically enumerated as rights in the Constitution.)

Two former officials in the government of Vicente Fox have come out in favor of ending the drug war, which is causing enormous harm in Mexico.

Their book, El Narco: La Guerra Fallida (“Narco: The Failed War”) was reviewed January 1 in the Los Angeles Times, “Book takes Mexico drug war to task.”

I met Castenada in Mexico in 2008 at a Cato Institute event, where he made a brilliant case against the current policies. He’s a very impressive thinker.

(Note: I also had discussions in Afghanistan about the disastrous impact of US and European drug policies on that country. The US government is causing tremendous harm worldwide through its drug policies. It’s time to end them. Now.)

“Ali Hussein Sibat Must Not Be Executed,” by Raja Kamal and Tom G. Palmer

Arabic
English

UPDATE: It might help to save Mr. Sibat’s life to send letters to the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, His Excellency Adel A. Al-Jubeir at info@saudiembassy.net, or to use the form at the website of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (Those in other countries could contact the Ambassadors there.)

From Meklit Hadero. It brought tears to my eyes. I wish I could do more for him.

(Raja Kamal and I co-authored an article for the Washington Post about Kareem’s case; it’s reprinted in Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice.)

Raja Kamal of the University of Chicago and I co-authored an article that appeared today in the Daily Star of Lebanon (a pre-eminent English-language newspaper in the Middle East) on a truly horrifying case: a man sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia on the basis of allegations of “sorcery.”

“Ali Hussein Sibat must not be executed”
By Raja Kamal and Tom G. Palmer

From the Wall Street Journal Europe: “The West’s Betrayal of Iran: Europe’s ‘dialogue’ with the mullahs is just camouflage to cover up the trade and appeasement,” by Saba Farzan

I met Saba in Berlin last month and I certainly respect her passionate love of liberty for her native land, but I have queried her on just what she would have foreign governments do. (It is not clear from her article.) Trade embargoes have a terrible history of generating support for despotic regimes and even verbal criticisms can be used to tap deep wells of nationalism on behalf of such regimes. That said, many in Central and Eastern Europe recall fondly the remarks on the “Evil Empire” by Ronald Reagan during the Soviet occupation of those countries. (On the other hand, that was compatible with local nationalism, so it’s not clear that such remarks would have a similar impact on a population ruled by a domestic despotism.)

On the history of trade embargoes:
Cuba
Japan, Rhodesia, etc

I’ve met with some very sharp Afghan policy makers who understand well that the US “war on drugs” has terrible consequences for Afghans, who are victimized by the US DEA and the Afghan government it bullies into suppressing the market, and that it’s buying weapons for the Taliban. I’m hoping to work to prepare a report calling for a special drug regime that would allow Afghan farmers to grow poppies for the legal pharmaceutical market, which would actually increase incomes to farmers (who get a tiny share of the total price of illegal drugs, as most goes to the traffickers who smuggle it out of Afghanistan through Iran, India, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, and then those who ship it to markets in the US, Europe, and elsewhere, not to mention the final dealers), would cut out the profits to the narco-traffickers and terrorist networks, and would undercut the corruption that prohibition brings. It would be a good step toward bring civil peace to a country that has had thirty years of war. They deserve peace, and a change in the policies toward narcotics producers and buyers would be a big step in the right direction.

My old friend Dan Garrett sent me this remarkable judicial opinion: “USA vs. William J. Ruehle.” Read it and be happy that some countries have independent judiciaries.

For the news, see: “Broadcom: Court Drops Backdating Charges Against Nicholas, Ruehle; Vacates Samueli Guilty Plea” (My recent remarks on the rule of law here.)

The New York Times features my friend Hannes Gissurarson of the University of Iceland, who suffered from Britain’s outrageous libel laws, in today’s story: “Britain, Long a Libel Mecca, Reviews Laws“

Alan Charles Kors – Freedom Dinner 2009 Keynote from Atlas Network on Vimeo.