Bovard: Cliven Bundy-FBI debacle: Another example of why the feds need to be leashed
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Writes James Bovard in USA Today:
The Justice Department was caught in another high-profile travesty last month that continues to reverberate through the western states. On Dec. 20, federal judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and others after prosecutors were caught withholding massive amounts of evidence undermining federal charges. This is the latest in a long series of federal law enforcement debacles that have spurred vast distrust of Washington.
Class Conflict and The Last Jedi
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is now the only topic more controversial than Trump, and certainly the only one causing a larger number of pointless debates. Given this dubious distinction, it’s fitting that The Intercept’s Kate Aronoff has brought the two issues together in a recent commentary on the film.
Cannabis Tax Revenues Will be a Roadblock to Sessions’s Drug War
Through November of 2017, the State of Colorado collected more than $226 million in revenues from cannabis taxes, licenses, and fees. That’s a lot for a state government with total discretionary spending of about $10 billion.
School Vouchers Are Basically Food Stamps
In modern America, government schools are one of the last remaining truly socialist institutions. And when I use the term socialism, I’m using the technical and old-school definition: government ownership of the means of production.
Although private schools do exist in America, schooling in general — especially at the pre-college level — is overwhelmingly delivered by government-owned institutions called “public schools.”
Sessions to Renew War on Cannabis
According to multiple sources, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is going to revoke the Obama-era Cole Memo, which directed federal law enforcement to respect states’ marijuana legalization laws.
Mises’s Élan Vital
Readers of Ludwig von Mises appreciate not only the depth and breadth of his insights, but also the elegance of his language. Even writing in English, a language he adopted in middle age, Mises conveyed dense conceptual theories and big ideas with a vigorous style not normally associated with economists. Nothing in his writing is dry or technical. This is why, for example, opening Human Action to any random page can yield immediate benefits.
Like Returning Gifts? Thank the Market
Earlier this week I returned a pair of indoor/outdoor heated slippers that I purchased online from a niche retailer as a Christmas present for my wife. The problem was that they resembled outdoor boots more than they did indoor slippers. As I started to search for the retailer’s policy on returns, I steeled myself for a time-consuming and costly process of perusing ambiguous and closely packed text and then undertaking the arduous and messy task of repackaging the item and engaging a shipper to return it. As it turned out, the return process was a breeze.
Poor Logic from Forbes and Paul Tudor Jones
As the Austrian School has pointed out, the ultimate source of human poverty and failure lies in poor logic.
Here is an example from Forbes Magazine and a leading hedge fund investor who is also a major charitable donor genuinely devoted to helping humanity and the planet.
The editor of Forbes, Randall Lane, quotes Paul Tudor Jones, as follows: