by Bob Barr | Feb 10, 2018 | Uncategorized |
FoxNews.com What does marijuana have in common with Schedule I controlled substances like heroin, LSD, and “date-rape” drugs? “Nothing,” the average American would likely reply. I agree. Unfortunately, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions holds the opposite view and continues to lump pot in with far more dangerous drugs. It appears that Sessions is using federal law enforcement to further his personal view that all marijuana use is wrong. This is the same mindset behind the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the U.S. from 1920 to1933. That proved unsustainable, just as the total federal ban on marijuana has been shown to be a failure. Since President Nixon launched the War on Drugs more than four decades ago, billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent each year fighting the perceived scourge of marijuana, employing the same fundamental strategy decade after decade. And year after year, Americans continue to smoke marijuana in increasing numbers, according to the government’s own figures. Common sense tells us that not all illegal drugs are alike. Heroin is far more dangerous and addictive than marijuana. LSD is powerful hallucinogen that is far more incapacitating than pot. And anyone using a drug to leave a woman helpless so he can rape her is committing a terrible crime far more serious than smoking a joint. Moreover, Americans generally are aware that numerous medical studies have established that THC (tetrahydrocannabinol), the primary active ingredient in marijuana, possesses significant positive properties for certain maladies, including glaucoma, cancers, seizures and post-traumatic stress disorder. Even many people who oppose recreational marijuana use don’t want to deny the drug to sick people who...
by Bob Barr | Feb 7, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com It was to be the “Memo heard round the world”; one that would rival the impact of the “Pentagon Papers” disclosures that ultimately brought down a president in the Watergate scandal. The “explosive” memo was “set to rock D.C.” as headlines screamed, building the anticipation for its release. Instead, like most “[insert buzz word]-gates” peddled by Beltway bureaucrats and Mainstream Media gossip queens who fancy themselves dramatic and knowledgeable actors on an international stage, the memo came and went, with each side jockeying for camera time to claim its earth-shattering importance or its triviality. Sadly, once again amidst the partisan squabbling, the real point of it all has been largely missed. Whether the memo vindicates Republican claims that Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was targeted out of partisan corruption, or as Democrats suggest, it is merely a work of political fiction designed to discredit Robert Mueller’s “Russia Probe,” depends entirely on a subjective and political interpretation of the memo’s contents. In other words, those reading the memo for partisan points will extract from it precisely what they wish. In so doing, however, these readers will miss a far more important – and chilling – undercurrent, with substantive implications considerably more important than who, or which party, wins the next election. Here is what the “Nunes Memo,” named after its original author, California Rep. Devin Nunes, objectively tells us. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), using a widely discredited and unsubstantiated “dossier” created for use in the 2016 presidential election against Trump, served as the basis for obtaining a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant, which gave the agency power to surreptitiously surveil the campaign....
by Bob Barr | Jan 31, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Bob Barr Depending who you ask about the success or failure of President Donald Trump’s first year in office, you are likely to either get an earful about all the offensive things he has said as president, or hear about all the “winning,” delivered as promised. The reason for the dichotomy in responses certainly is related to one’s partisan beliefs; but, perhaps more important is whether the observer is able to separate Trump the Man, from Trump the Manager. As a man, Trump is brash, turbulent, and lurches from one gaffe to another as he speaks and tweets whatever appears to occupy his mind. Trump the manager, however, is calculated, driven, and while superficially engaged in squabbles with his opponents, has expertly flouted the D.C. establishment to start a regulatory upheaval unlike anything we have ever seen from a Republican president; including Ronald Reagan. The reason for Trump’s resounding regulatory successes is no accident. While critics fully expected Trump to surround himself with inexperienced yes-men meant to do nothing more than fluff his ego, Trump instead modeled his administration as an elite football program; where as head coach he could focus on the big picture, leaving the execution of his vision to talented support staff heading the various agencies and positions within the Executive. Almost immediately, they quietly went to work. Mick Mulvaney, while serving in the cabinet as the director of the Office of Management and Budget, also has made quick work of gutting the onerous Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as its interim director. Trump’s pick for Interior Department Secretary, Ryan Zinke, recently announced “revolutionary” plans to reduce the...
by Bob Barr | Jan 24, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Bob Barr 1/24/2018 12:01:00 AM – Bob Barr In Washington’s theatrical production of “Shutdown: 2018” – directed by Sen. Chuck Schumer, produced by the Mainstream Media, and featuring all of Congress’ top stars – we saw Republicans and Democrats hopelessly mired in an intractable partisan gridlock. As the hours trickled by in the 24-hour news cycle, the audience waited with bated breath for our heroes to reach a last-minute, temporary compromise that saved the day, and our country. It was a story written for the headlines, and although enjoying only a limited run of one weekend, the drama captivated the attention of a nation, and distracted us from the actual problems facing the country – such as the warrantless electronic surveillance of American citizens. In the thick of the “Shutdown” theater, and unaffected by it, the Congress quietly passed, and the president quietly signed, legislation that extended for six full years Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This in effect allows the government to continue gathering and using electronic communications by American citizens unsuspected of any criminal activity, and without bothering to ask a court for permission. This was the first reauthorization of FISA surveillance powers since Edward Snowden revealed in 2013 just how dark and pervasive these programs had become. It also came in the wake of recent evidence that these powers were employed by the Obama administration against then-candidate and president-elect Donald Trump. One might have hoped that with this background, there would have been meaningful debate about reauthorizing Section 702. Or, at the very least, amendments to finally bring it into compliance with the Fourth...
by Bob Barr | Jan 17, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com 1/17/2018 12:01:00 AM – Bob Barr When it comes to the Internet, people often take for granted “free” access to online products and services, such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. We tend to think that our use alone of such services, bolstering metrics like their “daily average user” figures, is what allows them to generate greater ad revenue. Yet, as undercover journalist James O’Keefe revealed this week in a Project Veritas investigation of Twitter, this is pure delusion; proving, once again, that if something is free, you’re the product. As with much of O’Keefe’s work the findings, while revealing, are not shocking since the targets of his investigations become “targets” because they are suspected of engaging in unethical (or illegal) dealings. So, for example, to hear Twitter engineers and security experts talk of unfettered access to personal correspondences (called “direct messages” or “DMs” for short), and essentially how nothing transmitted across the platform is private or erasable, confirms what we have known all along about online privacy — there is none; particularly on platforms that make their money harvesting data from its users. “So, what happens is like, you like, write something or post pictures on line, they never go away,” Pranay Singh, a Direct Messaging Engineer for Twitter, tells an undercover investigator for Project Veritas. “Because even after you send them, people are like analyzing them, to see what you are interested in, to see what you are talking about.” “And they sell that data,” Singh adds; in a not-so-shocking revelation. So what exactly do Twitter employees see? Everything. Private conversations, lurid photos, clicked links, and location data are just...
