Latest Articles
Look to the Constitution, Not ‘Necessity’
I hear a lot of bad constitutional arguments justifying this or that federal action. One common justification for expanding federal power is: “This thing is necessary! It needs to be done.” But it doesn’t follow that the federal government has to do the thing. In...
Background Checks Lead to Gun Confiscation in California
Since last July 1, California has required background checks for those purchasing firearm ammunition. As we noted, by December 2019 the state had run 345,000 background checks and rejected 62,000 Californians legally entitled to purchase ammunition, including off-duty...
Did We Actually Flatten the Curve?
"The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly...it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over."- Adolf Hitler (Mein Kempf, Chapter 6: War Propaganda) From the start...
Memorial Day: Remembering the Political Lies that Spurred Mass Killing
On Memorial Day, the media do their usual sacralizing of war. Instead, it should be a day for the ritualized scourging of politicians. During the last 70 years, their lies have resulted in the unnecessary deaths of almost 100,000 American soldiers and millions of...
Three Ways the Coronavirus Is Benefitting Political Decentralization
The coronavirus pandemic, and resulting government response, has created one of the greatest disruptions to daily life in modern American history. With much of the country now focused on “reopening,” pundits and policymakers have focused their attention on what the...
Danny Makki to the ‘Dark Side’? Joins Charles Lister At Middle East Institute
Sun Tzu, or if you prefer Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in “The Godfather” gave the wise advice: Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. There's much more going on under the surface than meets the eye regarding Danny Makki's joining the Middle East...
TGIF: Replace Your Divots
I am not, nor have I ever been, a golfer. I did golf once, just before the turn of the century, and I disliked it. Nevertheless, I live by a cardinal principle in golfer etiquette: Replace your divots. A divot, of course, is a chunk of turf that is dislodged by a golf...
Do Lockdowns Save Lives?
Appearances are of four (4) kinds: Things are as they appear to be; Things neither are nor appear to be; Things are, but do not appear to be; Things are not, but yet appear to be. ~ Epictetus, Phrygian Philosopher Despite what seems to me incontrovertible data...
New York Times Hurts Survivors With Falsehoods About Domestic Violence
The dominant narrative on domestic violence (DV) during COVID-19 hurts survivors, like me. Decades ago, I was blinded in my left eye by a man who said he loved me even as his fist hit my face. I’ve tried to make sense of that insanity ever since. Why did he do it? Why...
Pennsylvanians Pushback Against Overbearing Coronavirus Lockdown
As in the rest of the country, life in Pennsylvania has been greatly disturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the chaos that has resulted from the state government’s attempts to handle the situation. On March 16, Governor Wolf ordered that all “nonessential” businesses...
Federal Regulations Are Obstructing Development of Coronavirus Tests
With inconsistent rules getting in the way of COVID testing, America’s dysfunctional regulatory system has made it more difficult for America to cope with the Coronavirus. While laboratories face the nearly impossible task of complying with two different sets of...
The Statist Origins of Modern Health Insurance
With roughly 36 million people having filed for unemployment across the country in the last two months in the wake of the coronavirus shutdown, one issue receiving more scrutiny from some quarters is the issue of employer-based health insurance. With so many laid off...
When the Government’s ‘Cure’ Aids the Disease
Remember all of the government bailouts and stimulus in response to the 2008 financial crisis? Conservatives threw a fit. The Tea Party movement grew out of worry about the impact of all of the stimulus, money-printing, and the taxes they knew were coming down the...
How Members Of ‘Gun Culture’ View The Ahmaud Arbery Killing
There has been another controversial shooting of an unarmed man. The Ahmaud Arbery case is currently being litigated on social media by the usual suspects who plan on using this to further their “pet” agenda. Whether it be the “law and order” crowd who have their...
