K. Lloyd Billingsley • Friday, August 26, 2022 •
New York City has no objection to 21-time Grand Slam singles champion Novak Djokovic competing in the U.S. Open, which he has won three times. In a similar style, the Open has no objection to Djokovic, nor does the United States Tennis Association (USTA).
The ban on Djokovic is a project of Joe Biden, who declares that all non-citizens traveling to the United States must be vaccinated. Djokovic rejects vaccination based on “the freedom to decide what you put into your body.” Biden denies that freedom and claims his policy offers “science-based public health measures,” but Djokovic has to wonder.
Political incentives shape policy decisions, which is why the freeze on student loan payments is unlikely to be rescinded without some forgiveness this close to midterms.
Peter Jacobsen • Thursday, August 25, 2022 •
The White House recently announced that President Biden’s decision on whether to continue the freeze on student loan payments would come sometime in the next week.
“We’ve been talking daily about this and I can tell you that the American people will hear within the next week or so,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona told Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” on Sunday.
The payment freeze is set to expire at the end of the month, which means payments will resume in September if no new action is taken.
K. Lloyd Billingsley • Wednesday, August 24, 2022 •
As Brad Polumbo notes, Congress is poised to pass a bill that would increase IRS funding by $80 billion and more than double the IRS workforce. This expansion allegedly targets only wealthy tax cheats, but as Polumbo contends “everyday Americans should be concerned.”
The IRS is a “rogue agency without accountability,” targeting taxpayers who have broken no laws and doing it for political purposes. Those responsible for the crackdown suffered no consequences, all part of the IRS “recent scandals and abuses of its power.”
Caleb S. Fuller • Tuesday, August 23, 2022 •
“We are perishing for want of wonder, not for want of wonders,”
~ G.K. Chesterton
Forged miles beneath the earth’s crust.
Eternal—or as close as we get in this vale of tears.
Objects of endless fascination and avarice, the diamond is at times witness to bloody conflict in its production and exchange (more on that below).
Spenser Stenmark • Monday, August 22, 2022 •
Gray skies, ash covering the streets, and the perfume of the burning forest have become an all-too-common occurrence of summer in the West.
On July 29, at approximately 2:15 PM, a wildfire ignited in northern Siskiyou county, where almost 50 percent of the land is federally managed.
By the end of the day, the blaze had grown to over 315 acres; not as bad as it could be, considering the 100-degree temperatures and the rugged terrain it was burning.
Hint: You can't find it in the constitution
Jonathan Fuentes • Monday, August 22, 2022 •
In a past Catalyst article by Trevor Mauk and Jonathan Hofer, the authors cover a now decided Supreme Court case, FBI v. Fazaga. The question at issue in Fazaga is whether the “District court can review contested surveillance that is protected under state secrets privilege.”
What Mauk and Hofer grapple with is the leeway the government has to withhold evidence from a legal proceeding. Another interesting corollary to this is how does the government, specifically Congress, have the power to request evidence in the form of subpoenas in their investigations?
Militarized Central State Versus Individual Life and Liberty
Anthony Gregory • Sunday, August 21, 2022 •
August 21 marks 30 years since FBI action in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, against Randy Weaver and his family. To commemorate the occasion, we offer “Lessons from Ruby Ridge,” by former Independent Institute research fellow Anthony Gregory, published in 2012 on the 20th anniversary:
Twenty years ago today, an FBI sniper shot Vicki Weaver in the head as she held her ten-month-old baby at her home in Ruby Ridge, Idaho. The sniper also shot her husband Randy Weaver in the back, trying to kill him. Their son was shot in the back and killed the day before by U.S. Marshals on the family’s property. One of the Marshals also died, as did a Weaver family dog killed by the officials.
Joe Mullin • Thursday, August 18, 2022 •
The UK government has had more than a year to revise its Online Safety Bill into a proposal that wouldn’t harm users’ basic rights. It has failed to do so, and the bill should be scrapped. The current bill is a threat to free expression, and it undermines the encryption that we all rely on for security and privacy online.
The government intended to advance and vote on the Online Safety Bill last month, but the scheduled vote was postponed until a new Prime Minister of the UK can be chosen. Members of Parliament should take this opportunity to insist that the bill be tossed out entirely.
Randall G. Holcombe • Thursday, August 18, 2022 •
Brittney Griner’s conviction in Russia on drug charges has been well-publicized, as has the attempt by the Biden administration to negotiate a deal that would free her. This article says, “Biden himself released a statement calling Griner’s sentence ‘unacceptable’ and promising that his administration would ‘work tirelessly and pursue every possible avenue to bring Brittney and Paul Whelan home safely as soon as possible.'”
I am not unsympathetic to Griner’s plight. However, it does appear that she violated Russian law when she was caught bringing cannabis oil into the country. While it may seem harsh, she entered a guilty plea and her sentence of nine years in prison is apparently not out of line with typical sentences in Russia.
Craig Eyermann • Tuesday, August 16, 2022 •
Uncle Sam has a stealthy plan to force Americans to pay higher taxes. The Congressional Budget Office let the cat out of the bag on that plan in its 2022 Long-Term Budget Outlook.
