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Stop and frisk, no-fly lists violate gun rights, due process

New York’s stop and frisk program was ruled unconstitutional because it lacked probable cause for the seizure of any single person. (Photo Alan.com) Despite a rancorous campaign season, there is at least one belief that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton share: Americans have far too much liberty when it comes to firearms and due process. […]

Chattanooga 2.0 school scheme’s missing ingredient

Conflicting economic presuppositions between state school activists written up in the Times Free Press and free market and voluntaryist analysis by contrarian Charles Hugh Smith. (Photo David Tulis) Jared Bigham explains the goals of the group Chattanooga 2.0. (Photo Chatt2.org) The Sunday editions of the Chattanooga Times Free Press tell of a winning goal: “Smartest […]

Is cop abuse about race — or power against the people?

Hanson Melvin holds up his third child, born the day of a Hamilton County, Tenn., hearing against him prompted by a perjured police report. (Photo Facebook) One of the disputes I run with a constitutionalist friend is whether police killings and cop abuse of blacks is a racial issue — or something more significant. I […]

TN town tracks residents, travelers with license plate reader

Police are using license plate reading cameras mounted on hoods, trunks and roofs. (Photo Tenthamendmentcenter.com) LEBANON, Tenn. (Sept. 23, 2016) – A small-town Tennessee police department recently deployed an automatic license plate reader system that allows officers to collect and store data on the location of drivers in the city and feed it into a […]

Child-seizing state official charged with false statement

Brenna E. Cervino of Tennessee department of children’s services has been indicted for false statements. (Photo TBI) In the Hanson Melvin case and no doubt and many others the officer reaches the standard for his “disorderly conduct” charge by faking it in his police report. The disorderly conduct statute is stretched to fit the facts […]

Trump promises to sweep aside establishment dunghill

Donald Trump, the authoritarian Republican, promises to sweep aside neoconservative elites who press for war. (Photo Trump campaign) In the final stretch of a heated presidential election there are often significant political transformations and paradigm shifts that take place, but are overlooked. One such major shift has occurred, the steady removal of tares from the […]

Will cop be held accountable in false arrest, double perjury? Pinkston mulls case

Neal Pinkston, district attorney (Photo wdef.com) I would like to follow up on my suggestion of Aug. 24. It concerns the abuse of Hanson Melvin by officer David Campbell of the Chattanooga police department. The internal affairs division of the police department is reviewing the claims Mr. Melvin has made against officer Campbell. By David […]

Necessity in TN for reform of state’s punitive machinery

A young woman in Montgomery County pays off taxes, fines or fees that were cited in a letter she received saying her driver license was being revoked. A revoked driver license is for most people a form of civil capital punishment. (Photo Newchannel5.com) Every opportunity I’ve had to speak during the 2016 campaign I’ve talked […]

Idols that fail: Social media — more isolation, not less

Social media eats into life at home. (Photo Laura Schmalenberg) A case in point where technology not only fails but threatens a humane life is social media: Facebook, Twitter, the whole tribe of which I avoid like a rabbi shuns pork chops. By Franklin Sanders One valid charge laid against the modern age (for all […]