Republicans Just Don’t Get It on Gun Control by Laurence M. Vance April 26, 2013 Because of the horrific nature of the shooting last year at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut — a shooting in which 26 people were shot dead (most of them children) — the subject of gun control has been in the news ever since like never before. It was preceded by the deadly shootings at a theater in Aurora, ...
The Ethics of the Pressure Cooker by Pierre Lemieux April 25, 2013 The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th was an epoch of rapid technological and political change, accompanied by doubts, fears, and often violence. Anarchists (of the collectivist variety) roamed over Europe and exploded bombs made of the recently invented dynamite. A German anarchist had announced, “It is within the power of dynamite to destroy ...
Take Gun-Control Proposals Elsewhere by Scott McPherson April 24, 2013 “NH State House Unmoved by Newtown Shootings” is the headline of a Portsmouth Patch story about a recent gathering of “area gun violence prevention experts.” The meeting at the public library in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, was hosted by the Portsmouth Democratic Committee (of course) and included a representative of States United to Prevent Gun Violence. A more accurate ...
Why I Want High-Capacity, Military-Style Weapons by Benedict D. LaRosa April 24, 2013 During testimony at a legislative hearing in Hartford, Connecticut, on January 28, 2013, Neil Heslin, father of a Sandy Hook victim, asked, “I ask if there’s anybody in this room that can give me one reason or challenge this question: Why anybody in this room needs to have one of these assault-style weapons or military weapons or high-capacity clips.... ...
What If the Tsarnaevs’ Motive Was Revenge for U.S. Foreign Policy? by Sheldon Richman April 23, 2013 On the day of the Boston Marathon bombings, President Obama stood in the White House briefing room and said, “We will find out who did this; we’ll find out why they did this.” What motivated the murderous acts allegedly committed by Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarvaev is the question on everyone’s mind. We would be surprised if it were ...
“It is Indisputable that the United States Engaged in Torture”: So When Do the Prosecutions Begin? by Andy Worthington April 23, 2013 “It is indisputable that the United States engaged in the practice of torture.” These powerful words are from “The Report of the Constitution Project’s Task Force on Detainee Treatment,” a 577-page report involving a detailed analysis of the treatment of prisoners following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 (PDF). The project took two years to complete, ...
The Libertarian Angle: April 22, 2013 by Future of Freedom Foundation April 22, 2013 The Libertarian Angle features FFF vice president Sheldon Richman and president Jacob Hornberger. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.
TGIF: Government Should Stop Its Own Violence First by Sheldon Richman April 19, 2013 The horrific bombings at the Boston Marathon have left us all stunned. We still don’t know the perpetrators’ motive, but there are some things we do know. The bombers chose the most closely monitored location in all of Boston. They could have chosen a different site, knowing that all eyes were on the marathon route. But no. They chose the ...
Ending Social Security by Laurence M. Vance April 19, 2013 All is not well with the Social Security system. According to the annual report of the Board of Trustees of Social Security, “The 2012 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds,” (PDF) Social Security’s expenditures have exceeded its noninterest income since 2010. Although the Social Security ...
A Century of Economic Servitude by Gregory Bresiger April 18, 2013 Americans pay taxes all year round — sales taxes, tolls, investment taxes, user fees, estimated taxes, et cetera. And most of them were paying more on April 15 one way or the other. That’s because at the tax-filing deadline, a slight majority of Americans owed more, according to the annual Capital One Tax and Savings Survey. Some 51 percent of ...
Gun-Control Demagogy by Sheldon Richman April 17, 2013 Demagogues offend us because they try to bypass our rational faculty with appeals to gut emotion. That pretty well sums up what gun controllers have done since the Newtown tragedy. Note how politicians, led by President Obama, and organizations pushing new restrictions on gun ownership — which would not have prevented the massacre — shamelessly exploit the relatives of the ...
The FFF Southwest Tour by Future of Freedom Foundation April 16, 2013 The Future of Freedom Foundation will be visiting three cities in the southwest on April 30, May 1, and May 2. Starting in Yuma, Arizona on April 30, FFF president Jacob Hornberger will be participating in The Freedom Library Annual Awards Forum. His talk will be on "Economic Solutions Past and Present." More information can be found here. The next ...