by Bob Barr | Jul 18, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com There is an unwritten rule in government, at all levels, that whenever it fails, the appropriate (if not immediate) response is to double down on more government solutions. Is regulatory red tape making it impossible to do business in a state? No problem! Tax the remaining “rich” people. Having trouble paying for all those costly city social programs? Do as Chicago does, and get that money back impounding the cars of the underprivileged! Let’s also not forget that after the Bureau of Land Management’s suspect grazing policies nearly provoked a modern-day “range war” at Bundy Ranch in Nevada, the BLM’s first response was escalation with armed confrontation. It should come as no surprise then that this same rule applies to government’s approach to mass shootings. Take, for example, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s announcement that it was adding yet another database for background checks in screening gun purchases. The FBI claims the expansion is necessary to close the so-called “loophole” that let Charleston, S.C. mass killer Dylann Roof purchase a firearm. They make no mention of the fact that there was more than enough information to stop Sutherland Springs, Texas, killer Devin Kelley, but it was the Air Force who failed to properly report his domestic violence offense to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Another “loophole,” perhaps? A more accurate term for such lapses is simply run-of-the-mill government incompetence; the type of which cannot be compensated for, only hidden, with new and more complex layers of bureaucracy; solutions paraded to the public as an additional “failsafe,” which it claims were not in place the last time they screwed up. It is a...
by Bob Barr | Jul 11, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Breitbart.com by Bob Barr Twenty years ago this December, William Jefferson Clinton became the first elected President to be impeached by the United States House of Representatives (Andrew Johnson, impeached in 1868, was never elected to the presidency). The charges on which Clinton was impeached were perjury and obstruction of justice. The evidence supporting his impeachment was contained in the Report delivered to the House on September 9, 1998, prepared by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr and his staff of investigators and attorneys. One of those attorneys was Brett Kavanaugh, now a Judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and a nominee to serve as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States. The Democrats’ long knives, sharpened the moment Justice Anthony Kennedy delivered his letter of resignation to President Trump on June 27th, have been sent to party operatives and media friends across the country and especially in the Nation’s Capital. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer made clear the moment Trump introduced Judge Kavanaugh as his choice to succeed Justice Kennedy, that the Democrat Party will employ every trick and tool at its disposal to deny Kavanaugh confirmation in the closely divided Senate. As in past battles waged by the Democrats against Supreme Court nominees offered by Republican Presidents, beginning with Robert Bork in 1987 and Clarence Thomas four years later, the Minority Party has made crystal clear it will employ a scorched earth strategy; in which neither factual accuracy nor policy relevance will play a role. Clearly, one of the avenues down which the Democrats will travel in their Blitzkrieg, will...
by Bob Barr | Jul 11, 2018 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com By Bob Barr In an extremely troubling move three years ago, the Republican-controlled Congress handed the Internal Revenue Service the power to strip individuals of one of the most important and tangible rights possessed by American citizens – their passports. The Service is now starting to use this hammer. What is perhaps even more disturbing than giving the IRS this power, is the manner by which the Republicans maneuvered the legislative language through the Congress – hidden deep within a multi-hundred-page piece of legislation that had nothing whatsoever to do with passports. The vehicle chosen for this nefarious deed was something cleverly titled the “FAST Act,” the “Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act.” Even if an astute student of the modern legislative process was on the lookout for such a provision as this, he or she would be hard-pressed to find it. The tool given to the IRS with which to pressure taxpayers into giving Uncle Sam his due, is found in the 32nd Title of the massive 2015 transportation infrastructure bill; it is simply an “Offset.” In other words, the IRS now can direct that the State Department refuse to issue a passport to an applicant, or to revoke one already issued, simply because that citizen owes some back taxes. The federal government can now “lawfully” do this because the Congress, in its zeal to implement thousands of pet transportation projects, needed to conjure “offsets” to help pay for them. Much of my childhood – from third grade until graduating high school – was spent overseas; following my Dad who was a civil engineer. I grew up in locales...
by Bob Barr | Jul 4, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Bob Barr Last week’s House Judiciary Committee hearing – during which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray were grilled for some four hours – delivered to the American people what has become standard fare for modern-day congressional hearings. There was fire and fury, extreme indignation, raised voices exhibiting anger for the cameras, and a few cuss words thrown in to up the chances those soundbites made it onto the evening’s talking heads programs. All this was followed by…silence. As the party in power, and reflecting the primary focus of the hearing, the Republican inquisitors railed – legitimately – against the failure by the Justice Department to produce records previously subpoenaed. The two witnesses stood their ground, defended their turf as anticipated, and exhibited the requisite degree of indignation when called for. And what did the Republicans get for all the fire and fury? Thus far, apparently nothing. But this has become standard fare for the kabuki into which modern congressional oversight has transmogrified. It’s become achingly predictable – a committee ask for documents, which the administration either refuses to provide or does so only partially and after much delay, the Committee then shakes its fist, subpoenas the materials, holds a hearing, and then…each side goes back to its corner and the matter is largely forgotten or overtaken by other events; or the process starts over again. Savvy administration witnesses called to the mat at a congressional hearing know that if they show up, withstand a few hours of pressure as Members use their time (in five-minute chunks) to deliver their carefully crafted soundbites (“Whatever you...
by Bob Barr | Jun 29, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Breitbart.com By Bob Barr While she may not be the imminent existential threat to America that some on the far-right claim her to be, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is a very real danger to important segments of American society. In particular, Waters’s rabid extremism and recent calls for pseudo-violence, pose a concrete threat to public safety personnel and others who serve the public in her own high-crime congressional district and elsewhere across the country. In the broad sense, the congresswoman’s self-proclaimed duty to stalk, harass, and intimidate her enemies represents a complete and utter repudiation of the social contract that makes the rule of law possible. And, without it, America qua America cannot long survive. The embrace of mob rule as articulated by the octogenarian congresswoman represents a philosophical rejection of civility and the very rule of law on which our country was founded. But in a more immediate and personal sense, her vitriolic call to harass and “get in the face” of any public servant with whom one might disagree on policy or actions, does more than poison the public policy arena in ways that rend the fabric of a civil society; it encourages and empowers those who incline toward violence to act. It is this consequence of Waters’s rantings that pose a clear, present, immediate, and potentially deadly danger to police and other public safety officials. With public tempers already at a height unimaginable less than one generation ago, the verbal match struck by Waters’s uncivil call-to-arms easily becomes the spark flaring into deadly action. Just days ago, in Harris County, Texas, someone with hate in their heart sought...
