One of our oldest legal concepts is habeas corpus. (‘You must have the body.’) The basic idea is that you can’t detain someone indefinitely without showing cause why he should be detained. It gives the accused a right to challenge the accusations against him in court.
Ian Underwood
Ian Underwood is the author of the Bare Minimum Books series (BareMinimumBooks.com). He has been a planetary scientist and artificial intelligence researcher for NASA, the director of the renowned Ask Dr. Math service, co-founder of Bardo Farm and Shaolin Rifleworks, and a popular speaker at liberty-related events. He lives in Croydon, New Hampshire.
Mass Non-Compliance Presents a Major Political Challenge…For Democrats
Starting in 2024, the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA) requires residents of Illinois who own a variety of so-called ‘assault rifles’ to register these guns with the state police.
A Right Delayed (Or Taxed, or Licensed) Is a Right Denied
Honolulu, Hawaii, just came up with an interesting way to prevent its residents from buying guns. Starting next month, you’ll need a permit to buy a gun. (This is already way outside the bounds of Bruen, but it gets worse.)
Who Should You Believe? Nikki Haley, Joe Biden, or Abe Lincoln?
Nikki Haley is in some hot water because she didn’t say that the cause of the Civil War (or the War of Northern Aggression, as it’s called in some parts of the country) was slavery. Looking to score some points, Joe Biden chimed in on social media, saying ‘It was about slavery.’
The Security of a Free State
This is from a conversation in the comments below one of Steve’s recent posts. It seems relevant to a lot of what’s happening just now, so I thought I’d post it separately.
Reason? We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Reason
It’s rumored that some Republican-controlled state governments are considering prohibiting Joe Biden from appearing on the ballot in their states. Of course, Democrats are crying foul: ‘He isn’t an insurrectionist!’
The Silver Lining in Colorado
A court in Colorado has announced that Donald Trump can’t be on the Republican primary ballot in March because the 14th Amendment somehow prohibits that.
After Bruen, How Does This Still Happen?
A guy in Massachusetts has been arrested for the mere possession of firearms without a license… at the same time, he was notified that his license had been revoked.
When All You Have Is a School, Everything Looks Like…
I’ve been participating in an email thread where the main idea is more or less that ‘special education is ruining everything’ in schools.
School Choice: Florida Leads the Way
I just read (in Reason) that about half of Florida students are participating in some kind of school choice program. So I thought: Wow, things must be looking up in Florida, right? Academic achievement must be soaring because of all that freebie market competition.
Unfit For Liberty (Part 3, Courts)
For the last several months, many of us have been waiting on pins and needles for a judge to tell us what the state constitution says about education, which is remarkable because it’s not like that constitution is written using particularly difficult language.
Franklin Revisited
Ben Franklin is supposed to have said:
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Uniform Nonsense
I just finished listening to a webinar by the School Funding Fairness Project. Their whole approach to ‘funding’ (which focuses on fairness in spending while totally ignoring fairness in education) is based on two misconceptions.
Pay-and-Pray Funding
Imagine that you go to a mechanic because you have a problem with your car. He says: Give me several thousand dollars up front, and leave your car. And when you come back for it, maybe it will be fixed. Maybe it will be in worse shape, although that doesn’t usually happen.
Nunsense
A group of nuns has filed suit to force Smith & Wesson to stop manufacturing AR-15 rifles. The basis of the suit, according to the nuns, is that these rifles have no purpose other than mass murder.
Why Semi-Autos Are So Dangerous? It’s the Gas!
In a recent op-ed, Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico explains what makes semi-automatic weapons so dangerous:
RINO’s Paradox
A new anti-gun bill is about to be introduced in Congress. The Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion (GOSAFE) Act is the work of Senator Angus King of Maine and Senator Martin Heinrich of New Mexico.
Night Cap: Mom, They Banned My Book!
I’m proud to be a new member of a distinguished club: Authors from Indiana who have had a book banned by a public library. Other members include Theodore Dreiser, Kurt Vonnegut, and Phyllis Reynolds Naylor.
Political Accountability Isn’t
Recently, I came across yet another in a long line of calls for ‘holding accountable those who are supposed to serve us.’ In this case, the writer was talking about public schools. Yes, we should definitely do that. We should hold accountable the people who operate our public school system.
Catch-223?
In open defiance of several United States Supreme Court rulings on gun ownership, Illinois has enacted a ban on certain kinds of commonly owned firearms and has required owners of other kinds of commonly owned firearms to register them with the state.