Suppose you checked your newsfeed one morning to see that a group of Syrian militia members had kidnapped democratically-elected Bashar al-Assad (who received 89% of the vote in his country), or that North Korean rebels has kidnapped democratically-elected Kim Jong-un (who received 100% of the vote in his country).
Ian Underwood
Why Doesn’t the Government Pay for Your Guns?
A while back, a meme was going around that clarified an important distinction between rights and entitlements, and nicely illustrated what kind of nonsense you get when you mix those up. It went something like this: What’s interesting is that if you change health care to education, it loses none of its validity:
It Depends on What the Meaning of ‘And’ is
I’m mystified by Nancy Pelosi’s plan to use the 25th Amendment to wrest power away from Donald Trump — if not before the election, then after. The amendment lays out three cases in which power might be transferred from a President to a Vice President.
Is ‘Necessary’ the Same as ‘Helpful’?
I was just listening to the Commissioner of Education tell a charming story about how a student with special needs was able to find a creative way to allow him to participate in a welding class at his local school. Like many of the stories he tells, it was heart-warming.
A Couple of Questions for His Excellency
His Excellency is apparently going around the state, attending meet-and-greets for Republicans running for office. There’s one in my area today, but I can’t attend because of prior commitments. However, I hope that at one or more of these events, someone will pose the following questions to him:
Biden’s Prep Session Leaked?
Rumor has it that someone from the Biden campaign made recordings of the candidate’s prep sessions, and leaked one of the recordings from late Tuesday afternoon. It reveals that in a last-ditch effort to minimize the risk that the candidate would misstate a fact, misremember an event, misidentify a person or location, or suffer some … Read more
It’s Not That Trump’s Taxes Should Be Higher, but That Other People’s Should Be Lower
We’re hearing a lot about how during some recent years, Donald Trump paid only about $750 in federal income taxes. His tax returns weren’t obtained from an official source, so they may or may not be genuine. But even if they are, and even if he paid only that much, the problem isn’t that he paid so little, but that other people have to pay so much. In particular, people who are trying to raise children.
It’s America That’s Exceptional, Not Americans
I was recently talking to a friend who moved from Israel to America about 30 years ago. He’s been building a career, raising a family — basically living the American dream. He said that one of the reasons he wanted to come here was that he grew up hearing about ‘American exceptionalism’.
What Will Biden Do When He Finds Out?
I was reminded, during the first presidential debate, of Emily Litella (a recurring character on Saturday Night Live, portrayed by Gilda Radner). Emily would appear during the Weekend Update segment of the show to reply to an editorial that she hadn’t quite heard correctly.
And the winner was…
Last night’s debate was anything but ‘presidential’. The only candidate who could be characterized as ‘the winner’ wasn’t even on the stage. It was Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party nominee, who saw a surge in Google searches for information about her. Apparently, people are realizing that it would be better to have an adult as their president.
Confirmation should require closer to 12 minutes than 12 weeks
In the Age of the Internet, it’s no longer clear that there is any value in a Senate hearing to confirm a Supreme Court nominee. By the time the hearing begins, everything about the nominee is already known by everyone involved in the process. No question will be asked to which the answer is not already known.
At this point, the main purpose of a hearing seems to be to produce sound bites for senators who are up for re-election, rather than to change any senator’s mind about how he’s going to vote. This is true in particular for Democrats, who typically announce their opposition to a nominee even before the nominee’s identity is known.
ConVal Admits to Ripping Off Taxpayers
The superintendents of ConVal and other school districts made a remarkable admission in court recently. They claimed that the state adequacy aid of $3636 per student per year is too low, because they’ve calculated that the cost of providing an adequate education is actually $9929.
The Two-Budget Solution to the School Funding Problem
Many people don’t know it, but the state has definitively identified the amount of money that a school district should be spending on each student in the district: 198:40-a Cost of an Opportunity for an Adequate Education. – I. For the biennium beginning July 1, 2015, the annual cost of providing the opportunity for an … Read more
Would You Prefer the Breathing or the Non-Breathing Section?
I’m old enough to remember the days when the proprietor of a restaurant got to decide whether smoking would be allowed in his establishment, and how to manage the co-existence of both smokers and non-smokers. In many cases, a restaurant would be divided into two sections: Smoking and Non-Smoking. Upon entering (or making a reservation), a customer would declare his preference, and be seated accordingly.
Some Money Should Follow Some Students
When discussing school choice, a phrase you hear a lot is some version of ‘the money should follow the student’ (as opposed to being allocated to a school). This is often followed by assurances that not every family will take advantage of whatever program is being proposed, so it won’t lead to the destruction of the public school system.
The Seinfeld Award for Award Integrity
The recent announcement by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that there will be diversity requirements for Best Picture nominees starting in 2024 reminded me of the following piece, which I wrote a while back but never published…
How do you know when a politician is lying?
Or pandering? Or just saying something stupid? The usual answer is: His lips are moving.
Do We Really Want To Get Our Leadership From San Francisco?
The San Francisco Bay Area is home to powerful progressive politicians. There’s House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Governor Gavin Newsom. Yes, and don’t forget U.S. Senator and vice-presidential hopeful Kamala Harris. It’s producing a disproportionate number of influential political actors, all leftists.
A victory for liberty, or the judiciary?
After reading Norm Silber’s piece, A Small Victory for Liberty, I want to make sure I’ve got this straight. Previously, the judiciary ruled that its ability to control its internal procedures allowed it to violate the fundamental constitutional right to keep and bear arms by forbidding people from bringing guns into courtrooms. The Speaker argued … Read more
Anyone else have this dream?
On the anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, it seems appropriate to ask to what extent that dream is coming true.