On February 28, 1993, the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Bureau raided the home of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect just outside Waco, Texas. The agency, which has suffered bad press due to sexual harassment and racial discrimination scandals, made sure reporters were there to witness its planned heroics and dubbed the raid “Operation...
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The front page of Tuesday’s “Bay Area” section of the San Francisco Chronicle features a story on the latest Field Poll results: “Support Grows for Gun Control,” reporting that a majority of California voters now “view stricter gun control laws as more important than protecting the constitutional right to own a firearm.” Four pages...
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SCOTUS heard arguments today regarding the constitutionality of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which permits the federal government to block even minor election changes made by certain jurisdictions covered under the law, if those changes are deemed to reduce minority voting power. The covered jurisdictions, mostly in the South, are those with a...
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The new healthcare law creates subsidies for employer-provided insurance for retirees, but these new subsidies phase out in 2014.[1] Moreover, the subsidies go not to individuals but to employers. Indeed, one of the ironies of the new health law is that the first subsidies are going not to low-income, uninsured families, but to General...
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According to a DOJ memo obtained by the NRA, Washington really knows that assault weapons are infrequently used in crimes and that banning high capacity magazines really will not change anything. These are just drums beat by the administration to get the public in a frenzy over the “epidemic” of gun violence. So what...
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Over at The Blaze, there is a growing list of companies that have stopped selling firearms and ammunition to law enforcement agencies in states that are restricting the Second Amendment. Here is the statement from Barrett that explains its reasons for stopping sales to certain governments: Barrett opposes those who are illegally disarming the...
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The culmination of last night’s Oscars broadcast with a Live! feed from the White House with Mrs. Obama (hangin’ with her military BFs) marks the official recognition of the Presidency as theater: like the old Western sets, no substance required. From the very beginning, President Obama was elected based on his strong delivery of...
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The fiscal cliff is in the news again. After (mostly) settling the tax side of the fiscal cliff in January, the big deal now is that if an agreement is not reached prior to Friday, March 1, $85 billion in automatic spending cuts will take effect. That’s the dreaded sequester that has everyone so...
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Suppose you’re a small-business owner, and you’re unsure how to deal with the choices you face under the new healthcare reform law. Unless you employ mainly high-income people, your best option is probably to avoid providing health insurance altogether. The reason: your employees will be able to obtain insurance that is cheaper (for them)...
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Why do so many people consider certain actions to be immoral if taken by private persons, but not immoral—perhaps even morally praiseworthy—if taken by government officials? One possibility is that people have become accustomed to government officials’ taking certain actions (e.g., getting income by insisting that people either hand over their money or suffer...
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