FREEDOMWORKS 03/31/2015

1. Matt Kibbe on Harry Reid's Legacy, Ted Cruz, and Clinton Emails On Fox News Sunday, FreedomWorks President Matt Kibbe discusses Harry Reid's legacy, Ted Cruz's chances, and the Hillary Clinton emails. Syndicated columnist George Will, Carol Lee of The Wall Street Journal, and former Democratic Senator Evan Bayh also join the panel. Watch more here... 2. Civil Forfeiture Violates Property Rights and Freedom - Ted Abram For 38 years, Carole Hinders has owned Mrs. Lady’s Mexican Food in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Mrs. Lady’s only accepts cash payments. In August 2013, the Federal government seized Carole Hinders’ entire bank account of $33,000 because she had a cash-only business. In the best of scenarios, the Federal government merely surmised Hinders was hiding illegal activity. In the worse case, it was simply a shakedown to confiscate her money, and put more money away for the Federal government. In 2014, the Institute for Justice (IJ) began defending Carole Hinders. With the help of the IJ, Carole Hinders subjected herself to a deposition by Federal prosecutors, which was sworn testimony that could be used against her in a court of law. In time, the Federal government asked the judge to dismiss their lawsuit, and Carole Hinders had her money returned...nearly two years later! Read more here... 3. States Suffer from ObamaCare Regulations - by Daisy Belden ObamaCare was supposed to reduce the cost of insurance, hence the Affordable Care Act. But is this really what it did? States with less regulations before the law was enacted had more affordable health care costs. Take, for example, North Carolina and Nevada. They saw individual premiums for people in their twenties rise over 150 percent after the law was enacted. In North Carolina, a twenty-seven year old man, let's call him Peter, would have paid $80 per month on average for his health insurance. After ObamaCare, Peter is paying $217 per month for that same health care coverage. That is an increase of $137 per month, or $1,644 per year. Read more here... 4. Deneen Borelli Interviews Empower Member Markeece Young - by Trey Grover At a North Carolina Empower panel, FreedomWorks Outreach Director Deneen Borelli interviewed Markeece Young, a 19 year old activists. Learn more at Empower.org. 5. Empower Outreach Program Hosts Panel Discussion in North Carolina - by Deneen Borelli On March 28, I had the pleasure of hosting an Empower panel discussion in Durham, North Carolina. The successful event in Durham helped advance the goals of the Empower.org outreach program which is to educate black Americans on the impact of government policies on their community. Panel participants included: anesthetist Mrs. Felice Pete; nineteen year old college student Mr. Markeece Young; small business owner Mr. Jonathan Smith, Jr.; healthcare consultant Mr. Joel Hopkins; and Army veteran and civil rights leader Mr. Clarence Henderson. In 1960, Mr. Henderson was one of three black men that staged a sit-in at a Woolworth's lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina. Read more here... 6. Texas Republican Legislator Introduces Bill to Ban Civil Asset Forfeiture - by Jason Pye Texas has been a national leader on justice reform, passing and implementing landmark programs that have led to significant cost-savings for taxpayers, lower crime, and decreased repeat offender rates. Though the Lone Star State has proven that justice reform works, which is why some lawmakers in Congress are trying to replicate these efforts, it has lagged on another related aspect: civil asset forfeiture reform. One Texas lawmaker, state Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview), is trying to change the law to rein in the abuse of civil asset forfeiture by overzealous law enforcement. Innocent people often have their property seized without any real cause, leading to, as the Mount Pleasant-based Daily Tribune put it, an "extremely difficult and expensive" process for them to get it back. Even if the property owner is never charged or convicted of a crime, law enforcement agencies in Texas are able to keep the proceeds of the items seized. Read more here... 7. America Deserves a Vote on Email Privacy - by Logan Albright In this modern age of technological marvels and electronic wizardry, we keep a lot of personal information online. The average person’s inbox is practically overflowing with any number of details - from personal correspondence to sensitive financial information - that we would prefer not fall into the wrong hands. What most people don’t realize is that the government has claimed the right to read any email over 180 days old, regardless of whether the owner has been charged with any crime. The mere suspicion of any illicit activity is enough to let the feds into your inbox without your knowledge or permission. Read more here... Make freedom work, Iris Somberg Press Secretary, FreedomWorks