by Bob Barr | Dec 1, 2021 | Townhall Article |
TownhallA bureaucrat with an ego and an authoritarian streak is bad. A bureaucrat with these traits and a Chicken Little complex is downright dangerous, as we have seen most clearly since early last year when COVID-19 first reared its ugly head.Now, nearly two years in, these Chicken Littles are at it again, thanks to the emergence of a slightly new “strain” of the virus; the so-called “Omicron” variety. Leading the charge is the Chicken-Little-in-Chief, Dr. Anthony Fauci.In recent interviews, Fauci’s irrepressible ego and lust for control proves yet again why the man has no business being allowed anywhere near any levers of power.In an interview last weekend with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” for example, Fauci bragged about “representing science” and his job of “saving lives”; all the while denouncing individuals who, unlike himself, have actually been elected to represent and speak for American citizens. Fauci — whose career as science’s one true “expert” on COVID was unfortunately launched by former President Trump but elevated to sainthood by Trump’s successor — accused his critics, most pointedly Sen. Rand Paul, of intentionally “lying” to the American people because they have had the audacity to question the good doctor’s pronouncements (which have often turned out to be wrong).Always eager to grab the spotlight for himself, Fauci has lost no time in declaring what must be done for Planet Earth to survive the Omicron strain of the COVID virus.In the real world, however, what he and his COVID comrades across the globe are doing can barely be described as “science” – with a straight face, that is. Following preliminary reports of the new strain of...
by Bob Barr | Nov 29, 2021 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerBuried deep within the massive infrastructure legislation recently signed by President Joe Biden is a little-noticed “safety” measure that will take effect in five years. Marketed to Congress as a benign tool to help prevent drunk driving, the measure will mandate that automobile manufacturers build into every car what amounts to a “vehicle kill switch.”As has become standard for legislative mandates passed by Congress, this measure is disturbingly short on details. What we do know is that the “safety” device must “passively monitor the performance of a driver of a motor vehicle to accurately identify whether that driver may be impaired.”Everything about this mandatory measure should set off red flares.First, use of the word “passively” suggests the system will always be on and constantly monitoring the vehicle. Secondly, the system must connect to the vehicle’s operational controls, so as to disable the vehicle either before driving or during, when impairment is detected. Thirdly, it will be an “open” system, or at least one with a backdoor, meaning authorized (or unauthorized) third-parties can remotely access the system’s data at any time.This is a privacy disaster in the making, and the fact that the provision made it through the Congress reveals — yet again — how little its members care about the privacy of their constituents.The lack of ultimate control over one’s vehicle presents numerous and extremely serious safety issues; issues that should have been obvious to Members of Congress before they voted on the measure.For example, what if a driver is not drunk, but sleepy, and the car forces itself to the side of the road before the driver can find a safe...
by Bob Barr | Nov 24, 2021 | Townhall Article |
TownhallFor all the Left’s ongoing hoopla about the dire necessity for “common sense gun control,” nothing currently being proposed makes any more sense than measures already tried and failed. The American public has seen and heard it all before, and is even less interested in buying into it today than in years past. But the Left keeps trying. Their latest gambit is to attack ammunition purchases.Earlier this month, Democrats in the Florida legislature filed a bill they call “Jamie’s Law,” named after a victim in the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The legislation would subject all purchases of ammunition to background checks. When making this same proposal nearly three years earlier in the U. S. Senate, leading gun-control advocate Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut called the lack of background checks on ammunition sales a “ludicrous loophole” that allows would-be killers to amass “arsenals of ammunition.” Even for the typical anti-gun nonsense spouted by Democrats, Blumenthal’s hyperventilating is extreme; but then again, so is the proposal, whether as federal or state law.The basic premise of the legislation is that it would prevent people who are already prohibited by law from purchasing or possessing firearms, from buying ammunition. Really. The only situation in which Jaime’s Law might be considered even remotely applicable would be in stopping an individual from purchasing ammunition for a firearm they acquired illegally. It does not take a firearms expert or criminology PhD to know that finding ammunition is far easier even than for a criminal to get their hands on an illegal firearm.For the sake of argument, though, let us take Democrats at their...
by Bob Barr | Nov 22, 2021 | Daily Caller Article |
Daily CallerThe indictment charging former Trump adviser Steve Bannon with contempt of Congress has all the trappings of a legitimate government proceeding. All the linguistic fluff aside, however, it is nothing more than a partisan abuse of power hatched by congressional Democrats and abetted by President Joe Biden and his Justice Department.The authority according to which the House of Representatives charged Mr. Bannon with contempt derives from H. Res. 503. This resolution passed the House on June 30 and established a 13-member “Select Committee” to inquire into the January 6, 2021 turmoil in and around the U. S. Capitol Building.That Bannon was a prime target of the inquiry became clear shortly after the committee organized itself and got down to the business of trying to link Trump, Bannon and others close to him to the Jan. 6 events on Capitol Hill. In September, Bannon was subpoenaed to appear before the committee and to produce documents. Following his refusal, the committee voted to hold him in contempt, a step the full House quickly rubber-stamped. The contempt resolution then was transmitted to the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.In earlier, more “normal” times, that would be where the matter would remain.For example, of the five criminal contempt citations referred by the House to the Department of Justice since 2008, none resulted in grand juries returning indictments. In fact, the most recent examples of criminal contempt of Congress cases actually being successfully prosecuted took place in the 1970s as part of the Watergate scandal.One reason for the dearth of criminal prosecutions for contempt of Congress is the obvious: only rarely...
by Bob Barr | Nov 17, 2021 | Townhall Article |
TownhallIn one breath, liberals call local police “racists” and demand their departments be defunded, and in the very next they rush to federal law enforcement agencies for help at the slightest hint of trouble. This is the whipsaw effect of how the Left views law enforcement – local cops bad, federal cops good. It is a perspective totally at odds with the framework on which our federal Republic was constructed.Consider our public schools.Leftists for years have fought tooth and nail to remove resource officers from schools, claiming their presence is “detrimental to the welfare of our children, leading to the increased criminalization of youth for child-like behaviors” (ACLU of Washington). And yet, as The Intercept reports, last month school district officials in Maryland’s Prince George’s County reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for help with monitoring the social media accounts of students, in hopes of curbing an outbreak of violence in two area high schools.The Deep State’s abuses of national security powers in our post-9/11 world are numerous and well-known, from the Bush Administration’s unconstitutional directive to cell phone carriers to conduct warrantless surveillance of customers’ phones, to the continued use of the USA PATRIOT Act for investigations having nothing to do with national security. This mindset now has filtered down to community school board meetings. Even in the face of severe criticism, for the Biden administration, it’s “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.” Attorney General Merrick Garland refuses to rescind his recent directive that the FBI and United States Attorneys across the country develop plans to address disruptions at local school board meetings. No serious debate today can be had that...
