5 Ways the Government Keeps Native Americans in Poverty.  Sad to read.  Now we just keep them in their place with bureaucracy and insane specialized laws.

Great look at the evolution in media in the US over the last few decades, from The Federalist:
The New Contras: Understanding The Left's Grip On Media.

This is an amazing story of the ultimate sacrifice.  Some people really are heroes.  

So the healthcare.gov website is going to miss the Nov. 30th deadline for smooth and functional operation.  Just remember the Democrats shut down the government rather than agree to a Republican plan to delay this nonsense for one year. So, while they were lying to the public that everything was completely ready, they really knew they were months and months away from a usable website that they had three+ years to build. Of course, putting the government in charge of anything this large is completely insane for anyone who has dealt with government bureaucracy at virtually any level, despite the laudable goals of helping the un-insurable and un/under-insured. Note that the payment processing system isn't even built yet. Seriously.

Legislation curtailing NSA surveillance powers might be the most useful bipartisan effort to come out of Congress in a long time.

12 True Tales of Creepy NSA Cyberstalking.  None were prosecuted.  And that is just the ones they know about.

Self defense and the rise of a well regulated militia are helping average people push back against gangs in Michoacan, Mexico.  Never underestimate the power of average citizens to take things into their own hands, especially in the face of government inaction and ineptitude.

Peggy Noonan really hits one out of the park with her latest piece on privacy rights: "What We Lost If We Give Up Privacy Rights".  The 4th Amendment is clearly being ignored by the powers that be in government, and it is time this massive overreach is rectified.  It continues to amaze me how many Americans are totally fine with the government reading all their communications and monitoring all their movements.  What the heck did we win the Cold War for if this is where we end up two decades later?

Radley Balko, writing for the Wall Street Journal, on the Rise of the Warrior Cop.  Scary trend towards police militarization in this country.  It needs to be reversed.

From Nirvana to Special Ops

Great story from the NYT about a guy who managed to get kicked out of Nirvana and Soundgarden, and then joined the U.S. Army and became a decorated member of the Special Forces.  Fascinating life.

Seems like all the good reporting these days is coming from the other side of the pond, with Glenn Greenwald leading the charge. He rightly makes the key point about Edward Snowden being charged with espionage, that the terrorists and Chinese and Russians all knew we were monitoring them, and the only ones who didn't were the American people. So it it espionage to inform the American people that their own government is secretly monitoring them???

Watch NSA officials repeatedly deny over the last year that they are collecting information on all US citizens.  From Forbes.

Great idea from Rand Paul and Pat Leahy to limit mandatory minimums for all federal crimes.  This could go a long way towards restricting prosecutorial overreach.  And letting judges judge, what a crazy idea.

Great work by Jake Tapper on CNN exposing President Obama's and Mayor Bloomberg's ignorance about guns.  They both have literally no idea what the difference is between fully automatic and semi-automatic.  Unbelievable.  And then you have CO Rep. Diana DeGette demonstrating her ignorance, showing that she doesn't even understand what a magazine is or how it functions.  But don't worry, she is sponsoring a bill banning high capacity magazines!

LA Magazine has a fascinating look at the science of parking.  In LA, this is obviously a big deal, and hopefully they start paying attention.  But it should get far more attention everywhere, as far too much real estate nationwide is wasted on unnecessary parking requirements that have no basis in science or reality.

Convicted terrorist working as a professor at Columbia?  Sure, why not.  She is a former Weather Underground, so she gets a pass, even though three people were killed in the attempted robbery she was a part of.  Stay classy Columbia.