Good morning, City Desk readers (both insured and uninsured), and welcome to our muggiest Freedom Friday yet! Bad ideas thrive on attention, and the Henry Louis Gates Jr. story is getting a ton of it. According to the arrest report, which Gates has said contains "fabrications," the arresting officer asked Gates to come outside and for his ID and Gates initially refused to cooperate. He was then able to prove himself the resident of the home and was instead arrested for being belligerent.

In essence, Gates was arrested for saying that he felt violated and oppressed on his own property. And President Barack Obama was right: The Cambridge police did "act stupidly." The arresting officer, Sergeant Jim Crowley, claims “there was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother,” and yet neither charge would hold up even as a ticketable offense.

But for the record, finding yourself in handcuffs after arguing with a police officer isn't something that just happens to blacks and Latinos. Cops everywhere are always on the lookout for opportunities to assert their authority, and, as in Gates' case, they'll gladly misinterpret public safety laws in order to show a civilian who's the boss.

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Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to a balmy addition of Freedom Friday. Last week I wrote that police in Mississippi arrested Pete Eyre, Adam Mueller, and Jason Talley of the Motorhome Diaries for filming a traffic stop. Thanks to the support of many liberty-minded folks the country over, the boys received $2,580 in bail donations and spent $1,487. Guess what they're doing with the rest? Sending it back, via Paypal, to the people who gave it to them. (Take note Timothy Geithner, you theiving sumbitch.)

Don't Ask, Don't Tell and a teensy bit more about Maureen Dowd, after the jump.

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Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to a close-to-the-heart edition of Freedom Friday. Arlington's Pete Eyre, former leader of Bureaucrash, was arrested in Mississippi on Wednesday, along with Jason Talley and Adam Mueller, after two cops decided that filming a traffic stop was illegal. The Agitator's Radley Balko has more: "Passenger Adam Mueller attempted to videotape the traffic stop, and was arrested for doing so. It isn’t clear what happened next, but Talley and Eyre were also eventually arrested, Eyre for possession of a beer in a dry county, and Talley for disorderly conduct, disobeying, and resisting arrest." Eyre and Talley have been driving all over the country as part of their Motorhome Diaries project. The two men also know just about everyone there is to know when it comes to civil rights violations. As Eyre personally introduced me to libertarianism four years ago, I wish him and the rest of his crew luck in getting the fuck out of Mississippi.

Hate crimes and student media, after the jump.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: ‘If You’re on the Wrong Side of the Badge, Your Rights Don’t Matter’" »

Good morning, City Desk readers, and welcome to another edition of Freedom Friday. Before we get started, I have to confess that I was doored again--the second time in as many months. I know the rules of the road/engagement, but I can't help myself: when I see a chance to avoid slowing down or stopping, I take it. Last night, that meant getting knocked completely off my bike by a guy exiting a cab and landing on the trunk of a parked car nearby. But don't worry about me, I escaped with only a small cut on my shoulder. My front rim, however, is wrecked, as is the cabbie's back right passenger door.  While I should probably find a new route or learn to take my time, I doubt I'll do either. And that's what freedom is all about.

The Washington Times' evolving credibility, the Motorhome Diaries, the Veterans Administration, and more after the jump.

Read More "Our Morning Roundup: Doored–Again" »