Following Alabama’s lead, lawmakers in the Oklahoma House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to approve popular legislation protecting private-property rights and banning a controversial United Nations “sustainable development” scheme known as Agenda 21, which critics say represents a serious threat to American values and liberty. If approved by the Senate as expected, the law would also prohibit state and local governments from working with the UN or its affiliates to implement any sort of “international law” that violates the U.S. or Oklahoma constitutions.

The bill, H.B. 1412, was passed in the state House last week on a bipartisan vote, with a Republican-led coalition of 67 supporting the legislation against 17 Democrats who opposed the measure.

A controversial state gun-confiscation program in California, which relies on weapons registration records to seize legal firearms from individuals deemed to be “prohibited” by politicians, is now being touted by officials, lawmakers, and anti-gun rights zealots as a potential model for a new federal scheme to disarm certain classes of citizens. While California is currently the only state with such a system in place, gun control proponents, including Democrat members of Congress, want to see similar disarmament plots nationwide — along with the government registry of weapons such a scheme would necessarily require.

Panic-stricken bank depositors in Cyprus emptied ATM machines across the nation after the surprise announcement Saturday that, as part of an extremely controversial European Union and International Monetary Fund bailout deal, authorities would seize up to 10 percent of all savings deposited in Cypriot banks. Markets across Europe plunged as fears of contagion or even a large-scale bank run in the region plagued investors, with the single euro currency falling to multi-month lows and gold rising back above $1,600 following news of the $13 billion scheme.

Despite openly admitting the failure of prohibition by conceding that drug use has not declined after decades of United Nations-mandated “war on drugs” policies, the UN and its mostly totalitarian member regimes have been meeting this week in Vienna, Austria, seeking to expand the controversial drug war even further. Critics of the dubious UN “Commission on Narcotic Drugs” (CND) schemes, however — ranging from a coalition of American law enforcement officers to Latin American heads of state — are increasingly calling for new approaches to the problem.

After sparking outrage from across the political spectrum by demanding that Obama crush marijuana legalization approved by voters in Colorado and Washington State last year, the United Nations and its largely totalitarian member regimes gathered in Vienna this week to advance a more vigorous global “war” on unapproved plants and substances. Despite openly admitting that drug use has not declined after decades of prohibition, the top global narcotics bureaucrat — a former Soviet diplomat — claimed the UN-mandated drug war must expand.

Following widespread national media attention, outrage continues to grow surrounding the controversial suspension of a 16-year-old Florida student who reportedly helped disarm a gunman on a school bus, potentially saving at least one life. School officials dispute those reports. Now, however, a national youth-rights organization has officially become involved in the case to advocate on behalf of the suspended teen and have his permanent record cleared. Members of the local community have also rallied to the cause.

As the Obama administration continues its effort to bribe or bludgeon state governments into accepting the widely criticized “Common Core” national education curriculum standards, opposition is growing — especially among homeschooling families and private institutions worried about the loss of educational liberty, parental rights, and local authority. While the controversial school standardization scheme does not directly apply to home educators or private schools yet, experts and advocates say the effects are already starting to be felt. This may be just the beginning, too, which is why activists are gearing up for a fight to defeat the agenda.

American personnel and allied European governments are secretly training Syrian “rebel” forces at bases in Jordan to wage war against the Bashir al-Assad regime, according to a leading German newspaper and other media reports, which quoted participants and organizers involved in the controversial and almost certainly unlawful operation.

In what activists called a victory for common-sense gun control reform, South Dakota became the first state since the massacre in a Newtown “gun-free zone” to adopt a law explicitly allowing trained teachers to carry weapons at school. Experts and supporters said the new law will help protect children and school staff in the state from potential mass-murderers. Gun rights activists, meanwhile, hope the measure signals a trend toward reasonable laws, as opposed to the wild assaults on the Second Amendment being sought by Obama and his allies.    

South Dakota Gov. Dennis Daugaard, a Republican, signed the bill into law on March 8, earning widespread praise from across the country.

While the Obama administration has been busy trying to take over the nation’s healthcare system through ObamaCare — sparking soaring insurance premiums, exploding federal deficits, serious economic pain, and more problems to come — a leading medical professional has a better idea. In an exclusive video interview, Dr. Alieta Eck, co-founder of the Zarephath Health Center and former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, offered her prescription for real solutions to the nation’s healthcare crisis.