Reason.com - Free Minds and Free Markets

Judge Slaps Administration Over No-Fly Lists, Dumbed-Down Mortgage Market, Krauthammer Cautions Against Gun Confiscation: P.M. Links

J.D. Tuccille | 1.10.2013 4:30 PM


  • The Obama Administration's insistence on using secret evidence to short-circuit challenges to the no-fly list was shot down by a federal judge who slapped the government's "persistent and stubborn refusal" to follow the law.

  • In its efforts to pin down a definition of "homeland security," the Congressional Research Service discovered that there is no definition — the phrase means whatever federal officials want it to mean, at any given time.
  • The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers bulldozed a Los Angeles park area the size of 40 football fields because, they said, it had become a hangout for gay men and homeless campers.
  • Restrictive new mortgage rules would severely dumb-down offerings in an effort to make them comprehensible to the least common denominator. Too bad for anybody looking for a more-sophisticated deal.
  • Virginia is caught up in yet another series of battles over abortion, apparently facing off fans of restrictions against proponents of subsidies in an everybody-loses match.
  • Proposed legislation in Pennsylvania would legalize marijuana, treating it just like alcohol.
  • Crusty political commentator Charles Krauthammer caused a bit of a stir by cautioning that outright confiscation of scary-looking firearms would be "unconstitutional and would cause insurrection." The NRA, by the way, remains popular with a majority of Americans.
  • Twitter is refusing French demands for the name of a racist user, saying it's subject only to U.S. jurisdiction.

Follow Reason 24/7 on Twitter: @reason247

Have a news tip for us? Send it to: 24_7@reason.com

Don't forget to sign up for Reason's daily AM/PM updates for more content.

J.D. Tuccille is a contributing editor at Reason.