Pro-freedom journalist John Stossel has a plaintive piece up today about that special feature of this time of year. After all, it’s the season when a young man’s fancy turns to what his wife, fiancée, or Significant Other never stops thinking about: what’s in his wallet – and I don’t mean his Capital One …
Category: Constitutionalism
Jan 26 2024
The Case That May Upend The Regulatory Applecart
About forty years ago, the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the most odious organizations in the enviro-Nazi coalition, received a huge gift from the Supreme Court. However, the case that granted that gift awarded an even bigger gift to the regulatory bureaucracies. That gift has since become known as Chevron deference: the requirement …
Oct 22 2023
Shoot Down This Trial Balloon Fast
This headline, House chaos forces Senate to take the wheel on spending , suggests further defacto trampling of our constitution. All spending bills are to start in the House of Representatives. Calling the failure to keep the Continuing Resolution afloat a crisis is just one more assault on our freedom. Forces the Senate to violate …
Oct 04 2023
Adding on to Mr. Porretto’s post below
Joe Mannix at Ace of Spades is pleasantly surprised. So it is not surprising that McCarthy failed to uphold his agreement. The only surprising thing is that he was punished for it. Whatever comes next – and it probably won’t be some meaningful improvement – this action stands as one of the extremely rare examples …
Sep 11 2023
Sovereign Immunity
[The following piece first appeared at Liberty’s Torch V1.0 on June 14, 2016. And before you ask: No, I haven’t been to the kzinti homeworld since then. – FWP] Some years ago, a friend of mine who sought to pursue an action against his township for mistakenly demolishing his house was told, in …
Sep 10 2023
Where The Power Is
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves. – William Pitt Who can protest and does not, is an accomplice in the act. – The Talmud One of the most illuminating bits of the Game of Thrones series …
Jul 24 2023
Domains
I recall being introduced to the concept of a domain in a mathematical context. A function, our algebra teacher told us, has a domain of values for its independent or X variable, and a range of dependent or Y values it produces from that domain. In that formulation, a function is a sort of …
Apr 11 2023
Problems And Solutions
The news is the same as yesterday. The corruptocrats are all spouting the same self-serving bilge, while the media dutifully pretend otherwise. So let’s talk about something else this morning. I can’t remember the first time I heard a politician prattle about some “problem.” I’m sure the practice is a lot older than …
Feb 22 2023
Freedom Of What?
I have a great admiration for the Founders of this nation. Many of them thought more deeply about political processes, especially the innate dynamic of governments to grow over time, than anyone who’s come since them. This morning I find myself reflecting on the wisdom of one in particular: the celebrated yet underappreciated Alexander …
Jan 27 2023
Qualifications For The Federal Bench
…don’t include intimate familiarity with the Supreme Law of the Land: Q: “Judge, tell me what article V of the Constitution does?” Biden judicial nominee: “Article V is not coming to mind at the moment.” “How about article II?” Nominee: “Neither is Article II” pic.twitter.com/MvdLR3TDKZ — Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) January 26, 2023 …
Dec 09 2022
Errors Eternally Embarrass Everyone Erroneous Everywhere
Yes, I enjoy alliterations. What of it? The thing public figures least like to do is admit to error. They regard being compelled to say “I was wrong” about as warmly as a public bowel movement. Thus it doesn’t happen often. The best known occasion in history – Anwar Sadat’s admission that the …
Dec 04 2022
Apparently “No Law Abridging” Cannot Mean No Law Abridging
“I have always read ‘no law abridging’ to mean no law abridging.’” – Associate Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black Time was, Black was regarded as a jurisprudential giant, especially by liberals. Of course, we don’t really have liberals any longer; they’ve been swallowed up by the “progressives.” You know, the political creed that’s …
Jul 05 2022
The Crux Of The Matter
crux n. a vital, basic, decisive, or pivotal point. The nature of Man underlies everything in human society. We build the societies we build because we are what we are, including how various characteristics are distributed among us. Most of us want to be left alone…mostly. But some of us can’t abide that. …
Jun 29 2022
Back By Popular Demand?
The most recent Supreme Court decisions to make the national news have me thinking very rosy thoughts. Possibly they’re completely unrealistic ones, but at least they’re a change from my usual grumblings over “government” in these United States. All three — Bruen, Dobbs, and Kennedy — upset a significant Leftist applecart, which the Court …
May 10 2022
More Cans And Can’ts
Certain truths appear to be particularly difficult for people to accept. One such truth is on my mind this morning: Laws cannot change people’s desires. Laws, coupled with sufficiently determined enforcement, can change the incentives and disincentives people face, but nothing else. If a politician proclaims himself in favor of a law that’s in …
Apr 29 2022
No Law Abridging!
[The following essay first appeared at the Palace of Reason on December 12, 2003. In light of the Usurper Regime’s new Disinformation Governance agency Ministry of Truth, it feels appropriate to repost it at this time. – FWP] *** Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free …
Feb 28 2022
Crossing The Aisle
“The poor” have been one of the principal flails the Left has wielded against the Right for over a century. Innumerable policy initiatives have been called for and justified under the rationale of “helping the poor.” They go by other names, now and then: the “disabled;” the “structurally unemployed,” the “historically marginalized;” the “homeless;” …
Fran’s Recent Novels
Margaret’s Recent Novels
