statism

With the Central Subway Project, the Only Way Out is Through

"At times, it's difficult to remember that voters approved the Central Subway. That's because the project, a 1.7-mile extension of the T-line running from SoMa to Chinatown, as described in Proposition K of 2003, hardly resembles its current iteration. A $647 million budget has swelled to some $1.6 billion. An estimated daily ridership exceeding 100,000 is now pegged at 35,100. But if misery loves company, we've got both. A recent U.S. Department of Transportation study of 10 major rail projects revealed an average cost-per-passenger 500 percent higher than the initial figures used to sell the idea." Continue reading →

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The Blow That Killed America 100 Years Ago

"'There is a lot of ruin in a nation,' wrote Adam Smith. His point was that it takes a long time for nations to fall, even when they’re dead on their feet. And he was certainly right. America took its fatal blow in 1913, one hundred years ago; it just hasn’t hit the ground yet. This is a slow process, but it’s actually fast compared to the Romans. It took them several centuries to collapse. For all the problems America had prior to 1913 (including the unnecessary and horrifying Civil War), nothing spelled the death of the nation like the horrors of 1913. Here are the key dates." Continue reading →

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Jesse Jackson Jr. sentenced to 30 months in federal prison

"Jackson and his wife, Sandra 'Sandi' Stevens Jackson, both entered guilty pleas in February to appropriating about $750,000 from campaign funds to pay for private school tuition for their children, trips to Costco, expensive clothes and a gold-plated Rolex watch. Jackson was emotional Wednesday morning as he addressed U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson (no relation)." Continue reading →

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IMF Historian Whitewashes The Soviet Spy Career Of The Fund’s Founder

"President Harry S. Truman’s efforts to keep secret the FBI’s investigation of FDR official Harry Dexter White’s illegal activities was the reason why White never became managing director of the Fund – and indeed the reason why the tradition of a European heading the Fund, rather than an American, began in the first place. What Truman, and indeed the FBI, had been unaware of in 1946 was that intercepted wartime Soviet intelligence cables would establish White’s culpability. Decrypting of such cables, part of the top-secret 'Venona Project,' took place over many decades, and the first one mentioning White’s activities was not known to the FBI before 1950." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingIMF Historian Whitewashes The Soviet Spy Career Of The Fund’s Founder

What Gun Owners must learn from George Zimmerman

"I am certainly not a lawyer or legal expert. Nor do I have every state’s carry and defensive gun use (DGU) laws memorized. Chances are you don’t either, so I think one big take away from the Zimmerman case is the first thing — and I mean the very first thing — you should do before taking your defensive handgun out of the house is to look up and understand any state laws governing where and how to carry as well as any self defense laws that may come to bear in the aftermath of a self-defense shooting. In 2013, this is as important to self-defense as knowing how to shoot accurately." Continue reading →

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A Nation Unhinged: The Grim Realities of “The Real American War”

"Turse’s book reminds us that the primary 'tragedy of Vietnam' was not that America somehow 'lost its way' in fighting an ill-advised war but rather that the war itself was a series of criminal acts perpetrated by the US government on the Vietnamese people. My characterization may sound strident to many today. Most Americans at the time certainly would have disagreed with it. Yet as the war dragged on, the number who recognized the war’s criminality grew inexorably. If you don’t already know the reason, Kill Anything That Moves will show you. And if you already do, this book will remind you why we must never forget what our country did to Vietnam." Continue reading →

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The Arbitrary Diktats of Generalissimo Obama

"The type of quandary that catches my attention is when the Obama Administration delays big parts of Obamacare (hooray!), but does so by cavalierly deciding to disregard the law (boo!). Unfortunately, this isn’t a joke. I wrote about this topic last month and asserted that one of 'the defining characteristics of a civilized government is adherence to the rule of law.' Why is this important?" Continue reading →

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A Powerful Legal Tool, and Its Potential for Abuse: Material Witness Orders

"The orders are meant to help prosecutors compel testimony from problematic witnesses in criminal cases. But the orders are supposed to be used only in extraordinary circumstances, often when prosecutors fear a potential witness might flee instead of testifying. Controversy arose around federal prosecutors’ deployment of material witness orders after 9/11, when it came to light that they had used the warrants to detain large numbers of people to provide information about terror cases. But the use of these orders at the state-level remains largely unexamined." Continue reading →

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US and Germany to enter no-spying agreement, German government says

"The no-spying agreement talks were announced as part of a progress report on an eight-point program proposed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in July with measures to better protect the privacy of German citizens. Despite the criticism of government surveillance programs, Merkel said people should not forget that intelligence agencies do important work to protect people in Germany as well as abroad. German information, for instance, can prevent attacks on U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, while American data in turn can be used to protect the lives of German soldiers, she said." Continue reading →

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Doctors Without Borders closes all operations in Somalia after 22 years

"Somalia’s embattled government, selected in November in a UN-backed process, was hailed at the time by the international community as offering the best chance for peace in Somalia since the collapse of central government in 1991. A 17,700-strong African Union force fighting alongside the national army has forced Shebab fighters from a string of towns in the past two years. But Somalia’s often rag-tag security forces, incorporating multiple militia forces into its ranks, has also been repeatedly accused by rights groups of a string of abuses." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDoctors Without Borders closes all operations in Somalia after 22 years