by Bob Barr | Oct 16, 2019 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com If a college student today was asked on an exam to explain what a “Star Chamber” was, the answer would be far likelier to have something to do with the “Star Wars” saga than to include any reference to the notoriously corrupt system of secret judicial proceedings that prevailed in England from the late 15th Century through the mid-17th. However, if the student’s answer noted that the impeachment proceedings now being orchestrated in the House of Representatives by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her team of inquisitors bore a clear resemblance to Star Chamber proceedings, you would have to give that student at least a passing grade. Students of British history would know as well that Star Chamber proceedings were conducted by Privy Counsellors and common-law judges according to arbitrary standards of “justice.” While such positions as Privy Counsellors are not found in 21st Century American government, the manner by which House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff is proceeding in his effort to impeach President Trump, bears a striking resemblance to those British “jurists” of long ago. His colleague Jerry Nadler, who chairs the Judiciary Committee and also has targeted the President for removal, would fit the characterization just as nicely. As with the Star Chambers of old, Schiff has shown a clear preference for conducting the business of investigating a sitting president in secret. He is able to do this because the committee he chairs is charged with conducting essential oversight of the federal government’s sprawling Intelligence Community, and dealing with the often highly-classified information necessary to carry out that responsibility. The Committee, which was established in the...
by Bob Barr | Aug 7, 2019 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com The dual mass shootings last weekend exposed two uncomfortable truths. First, there is a cancerous undercurrent of extremism in our society; and second, this phenomenon is not relegated to one side of the political spectrum or the other. In El Paso, the shooter killed in the name of white supremacy. In Dayton, the killer previously praised the violence of Antifa. Law enforcement agencies and legislative bodies at the federal, state, and local levels now must address whether new authorities are needed, more funding made available, or simply better enforcement of existing powers required; in order to cope with the rising tide of murders that affect families and communities from Chicago to Texas and from California to Baltimore. But there is a vital role political leaders can and must play, in addressing the extremist and violence-oriented thinking that clearly is grabbing the minds and hands of far too many American men. Trump’s initial address to the nation Monday in the immediate aftermath of the El Paso and Dayton rampages, was appropriate — as a first step. The brevity of the statement was fitting; his visits to the cities-in-mourning respectful and proper. What follows in the coming days and weeks, however, is far more consequential and important, and can emanate only from the Oval Office – a forceful and unequivocal denunciation of extremism in all its horrible visages, and especially white nationalism. It should not have to be said, but it does — there is absolutely no place for white nationalism or racism of any kind within the conservative movement or the Republican Party at any level. For too...
by Bob Barr | Jul 31, 2019 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com President Donald Trump’s critics, including those in the media, delight in picturing him as a person unconcerned about human rights, and as a president totally unconcerned with the plight of those seeking freedom around the world. As often is the case in politics, the reality is quite different. The ongoing refugee problem in North Africa presents just such an example. Hundreds of thousands of displaced refugees in North Africa’s Western Sahara region may have more reason for hope today than ever before, thanks to the Trump Administration’s concern and involvement. In the 1970s, the people of Western Sahara, then known as the Spanish Sahara, thought for a brief moment that they would be free when Spain renounced her colonial claims, but it was not to be. The territory was soon occupied by the Kingdom of Morocco which continues to claim the area as its own, despite rulings by the International Court of Justice and numerous United Nations Resolutions recognizing the right of the region’s inhabitants, the Sahrawi, to self-determination. In 1991, after years of fighting, the UN worked out a ceasefire in which the parties agreed that the fate of the territory would be determined by referendum, giving the Sahrawi people the right to determine their own future. By that time hundreds of thousands had fled the conflict and were living in UN-administered refugee camps in Algeria. They were expecting to return home to Western Sahara after the referendum, but that vote has yet to take place and they continue to live in those same camps nearly 30 years later. In the meantime, the people of Western...
by Bob Barr | Jul 17, 2019 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com Last week, the President of Taiwan visited the United States and four other countries, including the small Caribbean nation of Haiti. A visit by President Tsai Ing-wen to Haiti might be viewed with surprise by some observers. However, to those familiar with economic and strategic factors important to both Taiwan and the United States, the fact that Taiwan’s chief executive included a stop in Port-au-Prince during her visit to Washington, DC is significant. Haiti is one of only 18 countries that still recognize Taiwan diplomatically. Shoring up that support at a time mainland China is moving significantly to increase its economic and military presence in our hemisphere, is important not only for Taiwan but for the U.S. as well. Also important for America’s interests in the region is the fact that Haiti early this year joined with the United States in recognizing Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. When Jovenel Moise took his oath of office as Haiti’s 42nd President in February 2017, he inherited a government that had forged extremely close ties with the leftist regime in Venezuela. During his long tenure in office – from 1999 to 2013 – former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez used his personal charisma and his country’s vast supply of oil to win friends throughout the region. Moise’s predecessors benefitted greatly from Chavez’ largesse; receiving huge quantities of Venezuelan oil under an extremely beneficial deferred payment plan. The “Petrocaribe” program was launched in 2004; but instead of boosting Haiti’s economy, it morphed into a cash cow for the cadre of corrupt politicians that have controlled the country’s levers of power for...
by Bob Barr | Jul 3, 2019 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com There was a time when America’s big city mayors were real leaders. While few of them we so arrogant as to claim the title of “America’s Mayor” as did Rudy Giuliani, as a breed they exemplified the “take charge,” “get it done” attitude that voters respected and appreciated. Now, in the Snowflake Era that is seeing our country’s college campuses turn into adult day care centers, a number of elected mayors have transitioned to timid, “touchy-feely” office holders afraid to take bold action to protect their citizens and the institutions within their jurisdictions. Portland, Oregon’s Ted Wheeler personifies this new breed of Snowflake Mayors. Wheeler’s timidity to respond to violence by Antifa thugs last weekend, sent conservative reporter Andy Ngo to the hospital with potentially permanent brain injury. Not surprisingly, Antifa gangs in Portland, and in Berkeley, California and elsewhere, are responding to the fecklessness of officials like Wheeler, and are becoming increasingly bold and more violent in their activities. And why not? Law enforcement under the command of officials like Wheeler are ordered to stand aside, “exercise restraint,” and allow Antifa gangs to work their will; especially against conservative speakers and organizations. Perhaps the only surprise in all this is that Wheeler appears so clueless about how the real world operates, that he was surprised by last weekend’s violence in the city he is supposed to lead. The Mayor turned to Twitter to express his surprise that “some” people disrespected Portland’s status as a “beacon of free speech,” when an Antifa gang beat up Ngo, who was simply covering events as a bona fide journalist. Of course, there was...
by Bob Barr | Jun 26, 2019 | Townhall Article |
Townhall.com Watch Out! Eric Swalwell is making his move. The Congressman — who represents a district not far from the epicenter of 21st-Century liberalism that San Francisco has become — has yet to accomplish anything of note that would distinguish him from the large pack of Democratic Party presidential wannabes jockeying to win attention in these still-early months of the 2020 election cycle. He is attempting valiantly to change that equation by pressing a gun control platform that puts to shame Michael Bloomberg’s long-running campaign to make himself America’s Gun Control King. One of the problems Swalwell faces in his drive for relevance, is that every one of his Democratic teammates has made gun control a central plank in their platform. The party appears once again to have concluded that gun control will be pivotal in wresting control of the White House away from the GOP. Swalwell’s attempt to leapfrog to the head of the gun-control class actually garnered him a headline last November; though not really the type a serious candidate relishes. Responding on Twitter to a comment about how his proposal to ban “assault weapons” and force their “buy-back” under penalty of arrest could provoke a war, Swalwell pompously chirped “it would be a short war” because “the government has nukes” and “they’re legit.” Ever since, banning firearms in America has been Swalwell’s default sound-bite. In spite of the Congressman’s laughably superficial knowledge of firearms, and his cavalier attitude about nuclear weapons, Swalwell’s laundry list of proposals actually offers an accurate perspective on how Democrats really feel about the Second Amendment. Last week, for example, at an...
