Consider this a MUST READ if you are concerned about abusive government and the absolute elimination of free speech and personal liberty.

(Reason) For the past two weeks, Reason, a magazine dedicated to “Free Minds and Free Markets,” has been barred by an order from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York from speaking publicly about a grand jury subpoena that court sent to Reason.com.

The subpoena demanded the records of six people who left hyperbolic comments at the website about the federal judge who oversaw the controversial conviction of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. Shortly after the subpoena was issued, the government issued a gag order prohibiting Reason not only from discussing the matter but even acknowledging the existence of the subpoena or the gag order itself. As a wide variety of media outlets have noted, such actions on the part of the government are not only fundamentally misguided and misdirected, they have a tangible chilling effect on free expression by commenters and publications alike.

Yesterday, after preparing an extensive legal brief, Reason asked the US Attorney’s Office to join with it in asking that the gag order – now moot and clearly an unconstitutional prior restraint – be lifted. This morning, the US Attorney’s Office asked the Court to vacate the order, which it did. We are free to tell the story for the first time.  (read more)

All y’all know what I think about this.  Listen and learn.

LITMUS TEST !!!   Enough is Enough

WESTMINSTER — An unruly public hearing on a proposal to prohibit the sale of tobacco products came to a sudden and rowdy halt Wednesday evening after shouting and clapping opponents of the ban repeatedly refused the chairwoman’s request to come to order.

The ban, proposed by the Board of Health in this Central Massachusetts town, would be the first of its kind in the state. It has led to angry reactions from residents who worry that it will hurt the local economy and allow government too much discretion in controlling private conduct.
“This is about freedom; it’s my body and it’s my choice to smoke,” said Nate Johnson, 32, a Westminster farmer and auto body worker. He was puffing on a cigarette at a rally before the hearing where opponents held signs saying “It’s not about tobacco — it’s about control” and “Smoke ’em if you got them.” (more…)

Ultimately research shows the IRS Targeting Scandal is a series of magnitudes greater than all other Obama scandals. The Federal Department of Justice weaponizing the IRS to go after political enemies within the U.S. electorate is far more serious than any other controversy.
Cleta Mitchell updates on hopes and concerns moving forward:

The Daily Caller is reporting on, what Judicial Watch is finding.   Both are beginning to find the trail to the “Schedule B” data used to assemble the “Red List”, or the targeting list.
Judicial watch FOIA inquiry has found internal IRS communications about a “Secret Research Project“. This project we have previously identified was a compilation of individual names and organizations the DOJ deemed antithetical to the goals of the Obama administration.
The “Red List” was created as an outcome of the Schedule B filings illegally released by the IRS to the DOJ as part of their collaborative efforts.

(Daily Caller) The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) improperly obtained donor lists from nonprofit groups as part of a “secret research project” being run by Lois Lerner and other officials.
IRS official David Fish revealed the “secret research project” in a June 27, 2012 email to Lerner’s direct subordinate Holly Paz, according to emails released Thursday by the nonprofit group Judicial Watch, which obtained the emails in a pending Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. (more…)

This story is developing – more will follow later – but I wanted to point out the IRS legal position in front of Judge Reggie Walton:

The IRS lawyers are claiming True The Vote cannot “prove” any Lerner emails were lost, therefore legally the IRS cannot be compelled to explain “why” the emails were lost.

You getting this ?

WASHINGTON DC –  A second federal judge has now ordered the IRS to explain under oath how the agency lost emails from former division director Lois Lerner, the woman at the heart of the Tea Party targeting scandal.
U.S. District Court Judge Reggie Walton told Obama administration lawyers on Friday he wants to see an affidavit explaining what happened with Lerner’s hard drive. The IRS claims her computer suffered a crash in 2011 that wiped her email records at the time clean.  (more…)

Headline reflects the “Cliff Notes” Version:

Finally someone, actually Howard Kurtz, asks the question that many people want to know the answer to.

BACKSTORY – For those who might not have paid attention over the past two years, Sharyl Attkisson was doing some great investigative reporting on the DOJ, Eric Holder and Fast n Furious gun running scandal. Her reporting then shifted to look into what actions were taken by the DOJ *AFTER* the scandal broke, and the wagon circling around the White House began.
Then, in the fall and winter of 2012 and 2013 Sharyl began looking closely at the Benghazi fiasco.
In the midst of her investigative reporting (May 2013) a mysterious series of hacks began into her computers both at home and at work, in addition her phone was tracked and hacked.
CBS publically admitted in June of 2013 something nefarious was going on.   Sharyl reported after several weeks of looking at the issue she knew ‘what’ and/or ‘who’ was to blame.
Howard Kurtz asks what was the outcome of all of this ?

(Via Moonbattery) For the liberal agenda to succeed, individual conscience must be eliminated, so that only the State and its affiliates determine what is right and wrong. That won’t happen so long as Christianity exists in a meaningful form.
Unfortunately for our liberal rulers, they do not yet have the political leverage to repeal the First Amendment, which explicitly prohibits restrictions on the free exercise of religion.
No worries; they simply twist the establishment clause of this same amendment to mean there can be no Christianity where there is government. In a country where government has bloated to the point of crowding out almost everything that is not coercion-based, that is virtually the same as a ban.
For example, colleges are heavily subsidized by the government; therefore, Christianity can be purged from college football teams. (more…)