Judge Andrew Napolitano presents this week at the Fox News website his concise, two-minute argument for the United States Congress allowing some of the most liberty-threatening PATRIOT Act provisions to expire at the end of this month. Napolitano, who packs much powerful analysis and information into the short video presentation, argues that the PATRIOT Act both “completely destroys the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution” and “doesn’t keep us safe.”
Texas took a step toward leapfrogging past all the states that have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use so far. In March, Texas State Rep. David Simpson introduced legislation (HB 2165) that would remove references to marijuana from the state criminal code so the plant would be legal just as are tomatoes. And, you know what, Simpson’s bold, no-compromise, forget about “taxing and regulating” move is yielding success in a state many people write off as destined either to never legalize marijuana or to be one of the last states to legalize marijuana. On Wednesday, the Criminal Jurisprudence Committee approved Simpson’s bill by a 5 to 2 bipartisan majority — after HB 2165 was moderated in the committee to retain marijuana restrictions for juveniles.
Saudi Arabia’s United States-backed attack on Yemen is contributing to the rise of al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) in Yemen. This is the verdict of Ron Paul Institute Academic Board Member Hillary Mann Leverett in a very informative interview on the CCTV show The Heat this week.
Friday morning, viewers of C-SPAN’s Washington Journal were treated to nearly an hour of in-depth discussion among Reps. Walter Jones (R-NC) and James McGovern (D-MA) and show host Peter Slen regarding the representatives’ efforts to bring to the United States House of Representatives floor debates and votes on whether to end or continue the US government’s various wars. The representatives, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, also discuss their newly created Constitutional War Study Group that will seek to regularly gather Congress members for education related to Congress’ constitutional war powers.
On February 8, 2011, then-Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) spoke against renewing what he termed “the three worst parts” of the USA PATRIOT Act during a US House of Representatives debate over legislation that would do just that. The provisions, without congressional action, were set to sunset — cease being United States law. Paul’s side lost that evening. But, liberty-restricting provisions of the PATRIOT Act, including section 215, are set to automatically sunset on June 1 unless the Congress again passes legislation to extend them. If the so-called “do-nothing Congress” would just live up to that label in regard to this matter, advocates for liberty would have something to cheer about come June.
But, powerful forces are arrayed in support of Congress renewing the PATRIOT Act provisions before they expire. In the Senate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is fast-tracking legislation to extend the soon to expire provisions another five years. In the House of Representatives, a newly-tweaked USA FREEDOM Act, which last year earned infamy for its support for government violation of freedom and the slimy process by which it advanced through the legislative process, may be pursued as an avenue to extend the about to expire PATRIOT Act provisions. Reauthorizing the provisions would facilitate the National Security Agency (NSA) and other US government agencies continuing to operate mass surveillance.
You can hear a high level of outrage in the voice of Judge Andrew Napolitano when he discusses on the Alan Colmes Show on Tuesday the death of an American in police custody in Baltimore, Maryland and the use of United States drones to kill three more Americans overseas. Napolitano expresses outrage regarding the killings themselves, as well as processes followed in the Baltimore and US governments that facilitate such killings and hide their details.
Speaking April 11 in Austin at the University of Texas, former presidential candidate and United States House of Representatives member Ron Paul stressed the importance of ending the Federal Reserve. In particular, Paul explains how the Fed allows the US to pursue “perpetual war” and to put war profiteers in the military-industrial complex “on the gravy train.”
Paul, who serves as Chairman of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, made his remarks regarding the Federal Reserve and its relationship to war in a wide-ranging presentation before an audience including hundreds of college students. Paul’s presentation was part of the “Stop the Wars on Drugs and Terrorism” conference sponsored by the Future of Freedom Foundation and Young Americans for Liberty.
Many people perceive Texas as a bastion of rugged individualism and minimal government. Kansas not so much so. This month both states’ governments are moving toward implementing laws removing some restrictions on people carrying handguns. Yet only Kansas is doing so without requiring an individual to take a course, pay a fee, and put his personal information into a government database — perfect for facilitating surveillance — before being able to legally carry a handgun.
A February 2012 memorandum of understanding between the United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) lays out a process pursuant to which the VA has been regularly sending to the FBI mental health information about VA patients. So reports Patrick Howley at the Daily Caller on Tuesday. The mental health information transferred is intended to aid the FBI in adding individuals to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) list of individuals restricted from owning or possessing guns.
With the United States Supreme Court hearing oral arguments Wednesday in Horne v. Department of Agriculture — a case concerning the application of the US Constitution’s Fifth Amendment Takings Clause to raisin farmers, it seems an appropriate time to review some of the basics of American takings, or eminent domain, law.
The Horne case concerns a US raisins regulatory system created in 1940s and authorized by the Agriculture Marketing Agreement Act of 1937. The Horne family, which grows grapes to produce raisins in California, owes hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines for failing to hand over a portion of its crop each year to the Department of Agriculture (USDA)-overseen Raisin Administrative Committee. The Horne case decision will very like have ramifications for similar government regulatory systems related to various other American agricultural products. Depending on what the court decides, the case’s effects could be even broader.
James Bovard delved into the workings of the Raisin Administrative Committee and similar government-created marketing boards in his book Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty. In a chapter appropriately titled “The Proliferation of Petty Dictatorships,” Bovard writes:
Under the Agricultural Marketing Agreement Act of 1937, USDA appoints farmers to government marketing boards that impose “marketing orders.” These boards restrict the sale of specific fruits and vegetables and can severely punish farmers who sell more of their crop than the boards permit. USDA has granted vast discretionary power to these marketing boards.
For a short introduction to concepts in American takings law, below are introductory comments I presented in 2013 to Universidad Francisco Marroquín professors to kick off a discussion regarding property rights and related issues. In this presentation at the university’s Guatemala City campus, I provide a quick overview of some key American takings law concepts. The presentation starts with consideration of the respect for property rights demonstrated in the US Constitution and concludes with discussion of the Dolan v. City of Tigard US Supreme Court decision, a decision that will likely play an important role in the court’s consideration of the Horne case.