Kelley Vlahos warns that the U.S. is dangerously close to a point of no return with regard to eroding Fourth Amendment protections, as the Supreme Court determines whether warrantless GPS tracking is permissible. Where will there the line be drawn on the surveillance state?

Why go so far as ‘a chip?’ Why not suggest that our cellular phones would give police the same ability — to track us everywhere, even in our homes.

As many Americans remember the sacrifices of veterans today, Vlahos shows that there are better ways to honor them than yellow ribbons and American flags.

Tom Engelhardt from TomDispatch explores the wreckage of George W. Bush’s American Dream for Iraq and the larger Middle East. The situation America now finds itself in is nothing short of a nightmare.

Bush’s American Dream was a kind of apotheosis of this country’s global power as well as its crowning catastrophe, thanks to a crew of mad visionaries who mistook military might for global strength and acted accordingly. What they and their neocon allies had was the magic formula for turning the slow landing of a declining but still immensely powerful imperial state into a self-inflicted rout, even if who the victors are is less than clear.

Where have all the granola conservatives gone? Rod Dreher reflects on the five years since the release of his book Crunchy Cons, and speculates on where the movement might go in the years ahead.

Maybe it’s a matter of time before neotraditionalist conservatism gains influence on the mainstream right, as the generation who thinks the war Reagan fought is still the war we’re in today passes from the scene.

They may not be conservatives, but those who embrace “crunchy” currency—local substitutes for the greenback—are also embracing their communities and challenging economic centralization. Vincent D’Agostino takes a look at local currencies, and how they operate outside of the increasingly global banking system.

George W. Bush was president for eight years without real opposition from his conservative base, despite overseeing a dramatic expansion of the government. Daniel Larison says that like Bush, a President Romney would likely flout conservative principles with little reprisal from his conservative base.

Mark Skousen reviews Grand Pursuit: The Story of Economic Genius by Sylvia Nasar and says she’s greatly marginalized the importance of key figures such as Milton Friedman and Adam Smith, while elevating Keynes and Marx.

If there was any hope among Rick Perry supporters that their Texan might two-step his way back to frontrunner status, it died Wednesday night at the CNBC debate. In political TV land, 53 seconds of awkward stuttering is an eternity. Have you ever seen a horrific accident on the interstate? You can’t bring yourself to look away.

https://youtu.be/zUA2rDVrmNg