It is a sad statement about the state of our culture when a governor apologizes for speaking the truth. Talking about a dramatic increase in theft from railroads, California Gov. Gavin Newsome recently said, This is not one-off. This is organized theft. These are organized gangs of people that are coming out. In response to…
Lawmakers and political activists like to frame their policy proposals in terms that hide their real meaning. An example of this is a proposal in Colorado to impose “rent stabilization” on mobile home parks. Rent stabilization is nothing more than a euphemism for theft. The bill would require park owners to pay up to $30,000…
Writing for the socialist magazine, Jacobin, Luke Savage complains about what he calls “corporate tyranny over local governments.” Florida legislators are considering two bills that would allow businesses to sue local governments when they suffer economic damage from an ordinance. This is what Savage calls corporate tyranny. He admits, [I]t’s arguably quite hard to think…
Rock singer Graham Nash recently slammed Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for using a Nash song—“We Can Change the World”–for an anti-vaccination campaign. Nash said, I do not support his anti-vaccination position as the history of the efficacy of the Covid19 vaccines is well documented. When I wrote “We Can Change the World” I did not…
In 2020, a United States District judge dismissed a slander suit filed against Fox talking head, Tucker Carlson. In her ruling, the judge said, The ‘general tenor’ of the show should then inform a viewer that [Carlson] is not ‘stating actual facts’ about the topics he discusses and is instead engaging in ‘exaggeration’ and ‘non-literal…
A growing number of European countries are requiring anyone going into public to be vaccinated. Switzerland, for example, prohibits the unvaccinated from eating in restaurants, attending concerts, or going to the gym. Austria will make vaccination mandatory on February 1. These measures have broad public support. The vaccinated majority sees the unvaccinated minority as an…
In the early 2000s, Florida officials cut down about 18,000 backyard citrus trees in an effort to eradicate citrus-canker disease. At the time, the state offered a $100 gift certificate to Walmart as compensation. Many property owners sued, and the case was recently settled with the plaintiffs receiving an award of $43.9 million. The state’s…
Last December, an Illinois representative introduced a bill to require unvaccinated individuals to pay the full cost of their health care if they contract COVID. The bill, which was quickly withdrawn when the sponsor was threatened with violence, would have applied even to those with insurance. One critic of the bill said, Let’s say that…
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled that the Biden Administration did not have legislative authority to issue a mandate that employers with more than 100 workers require vaccination. The Court did not say that vaccine mandates are unconstitutional or a violation of individual rights. It simply said that Congress hasn’t authorized such a rights-violating mandate….
In late December, Anthony Fauci said that “anything that could get people more vaccinated would be welcome.” He was responding to a question about requiring domestic air passengers to be fully vaccinated. Fauci went on to say, A vaccine requirement for a person getting on the plane is just another level of getting people to…
Demonstrating a lack of principles, in an interview last week, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that he regrets not speaking out “much louder” at the beginning of the pandemic. I never thought in February, early March, that (coronavirus) would lead to locking down the country. I just didn’t. I didn’t think that was on the…
When Joe Biden proposed withholding federal funds from municipalities that did not relax exclusionary zoning laws (aka single-family zoning), conservatives were quick to criticize the plan. Betsy McCaughey, former Lieutenant Governor of New York and one-time economic advisor to Donald Trump, called the proposal a “disastrous plan for America’s suburbs.” She went on to write,…