by Bob Barr | Nov 6, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com For years President Donald Trump has warned the nation about the dangerous mission creep of America’s intelligence agencies into the domestic affairs of the nation. For just as long, if not longer, those of us who have been involved in the political arena have raised alarms about the dangers of embedded careerists in government, whose agenda is expanding – not limiting – the powers of the federal government. The mainstream media and the liberal Establishment, of course, have delighted in mocking us for issuing such warnings. Now, thanks to a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency declaring publicly and proudly, “Thank God for the Deep State,” it can no longer be disputed that such a creature exists. That utterance last week by John McLaughlin ought to sound alarms throughout our Land; but in a sense, we should thank him for clearing the air and removing any doubt as to why it is vital that Trump be reelected next year. Trump is the Deep State’s worst nightmare. In the 1970s, when I was training for a career at the CIA, one of the principles hammered into us was that good intelligence was, is, and must continue to be objective in nature, and delivered to policymakers without a political perspective or agenda. In other words, our job was to gather, analyze and report information to our country’s decision-makers and most definitely, not to make those decisions ourselves. As a classmate of mine during this extensive training, I know McLaughlin knows — or at least knew — this founding principle as well. The difference, however, is that while I left the agency and grew...
by Bob Barr | Nov 4, 2019 | Uncategorized |
The Daily Caller A question heard often in politics is, “what have you done for me lately.” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, less than one year into his long-awaited chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee, may be hearing echoes of that refrain as he faces criticism of his leadership from within his own caucus. Graham, who is universally acclaimed in the GOP as having virtually single-handedly resurrected the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh last fall, now is being chastised by some of his colleagues for failing to more aggressively move a conservative agenda through his committee. A review of Graham’s freshman year as Judiciary chair belies such criticism, but if permitted to go unchallenged, it could cut short his tenure at the helm of this key committee. For starters, Republicans should not lose sight of Graham’s pivotal role ensuring that President Trump’s nominees for U.S. district courts and the all-important federal courts of appeals, move expeditiously through his committee and to the Senate floor for votes. Since being handed the Judiciary Committee gavel from outgoing Chairman Chuck Grassley in January, some 100 federal judges — all strong constitutionalists — have been confirmed by the committee. While critics may argue that any Republican serving as committee chair could have orchestrated such confirmations, from my vantage point as a long-serving member of the House Judiciary Committee, the Senate chairman plays an essential role in the confirmation process. In this regard, Graham has been relentless in making sure Trump’s judicial nominees do not languish in his committee. He deserves praise, not scorn. Regarding the question of social media, another hot-button issue that has come...
by Bob Barr | Nov 2, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Four years beyond the deadline and still no plan in place The Washington Times “Impeachment!” may blare from headlines and lead cable news shows, but there is another matter of far-reaching importance that should interest every American who uses technology to communicate. It is a matter that affects millions of jobs, trillions of dollars and the national security of our nation. Yet, it languishes; ensnared in the federal government’s regulatory morass that has stifled innovation for so long. The issue is 5G technology. 5G is the next, faster generation of improvements in communication speed and functions; employing a new wireless infrastructure to increase Internet speeds exponentially. According to the MIT Technology Review, 5G will “connect billions of machines, appliances, and sensors at low cost without draining their batteries.” In a true free market America, this technology would have deployed long ago, but government got in the way. Unfortunately, the government has been engaged in a regulatory “slow walk” that has severely hampered the deployment of mid-band spectrum needed to deploy new 5G technologies. As Holman Jenkins wrote in The Wall Street Journal almost one year ago, on Dec. 7, 2018, 40 megahertz of mid-band spectrum “has been tied up in a bureaucratic standoff for nearly a decade, ever since the global-positioning industry, which operates in nearby bands, began yelping about interference.” This regulatory lethargy has not only hampered innovation here in our country, but benefitted foreign governments who have moved faster than the United States. The Wall Street Journal had reported a year earlier, in 2017, that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in 2009 received a $13 million appropriation...
by Bob Barr | Nov 2, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com The request on Twitter was simple: provide a “controversial” food opinion. Professor Tom Nichols, like thousands of other Twitter users, offered his: “Indian food is terrible and we pretend it isn’t.” Some 17,000 replies later, replete with charges of “racism,” Nichols has become one of the most recent examples of how the “Cancel Culture” is debasing and corrupting our country’s proud history of free speech. The Cancel Culture movement has become the scourge of Western civilization, a movement that will just as easily run roughshod over a Fortune 500 CEO as one of our next-door neighbors. It is a cultural pandemic long in the making and worsening each day it is allowed to fester unchallenged. In 2015, I wrote about New York’s left-wing Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Democrat Rep. Ted Lieu’s joint investigation of ExxonMobil, for nothing more than failing to toe the Leftist line on climate change, a charge absurdly claimed to constitute criminal “securities fraud.” At the time, this was a somewhat novel way to browbeat a disfavored industry; it now has morphed into one of the Left’s preferred cudgels. Earlier this month, fast food chain Chick-Fil-A announced it no longer would be including the Salvation Army or the Fellowship of Christian Athletes as recipients of its charitable giving program. This change caused many conservative supporters and customers of the Atlanta-based company understandably to feel betrayed. More important, the move was one the company never should have been forced to make in a society that’s supposed to protect both lawful commerce and free speech. In spite of serving delicious food, providing top-notch service, and enjoying a...
by Bob Barr | Nov 1, 2019 | Uncategorized |
The Atlanta Journal Constitution For decades, Atlanta has thrived as a hub for domestic and global businesses. The city serves as a home to numerous Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, Delta Airlines, and The Home Depot. The economy for metro Atlanta ranks as the 10th-largest in the country. Both Atlanta and the entire state have enjoyed a boom in film and technology due to strategically deployed tax credits. But Georgia’s status as one of the very top states in which to do business could be ripped out beneath us if new Hollywood transplants continue their crusade to expand a leftist political agenda here. Recently, they have taken to pressuring banking institutions to sever their ties from lawful businesses that don’t align with their liberal ideals. It is critical that banks in our state, and around the country, stand strong against this fiscal discrimination in order to ensure the continued stability of our successful economy. Boycott campaigns, similar to the one invoked against HB 481, the pro-life “heartbeat bill,” have been designed by liberal and Hollywood elites to shift legislation and political momentum in their favor. Unsurprisingly, with some initial success and the endorsement of leftist luminaries like U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, activists are becoming increasingly aggressive. Now, instead of taking to the streets, these activists are taking to corporate board rooms and demanding that banks stop financing industries they despise. This strategy actually is not new. In 2013, the Obama Administration quietly launched an insidious program – cleverly named “Operation Choke Point” – designed deliberately to starve (or “choke off”) disfavored industries of banking...
by Bob Barr | Oct 30, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com In the not too distant past, most adults realized that not everything one saw on the internet or on social media was to be taken as true. Today, however, what used to be a sarcastic phrase – “I saw it on the internet so it must be true” – is taken quite literally, regardless of the online source for such information; especially if it confirms our existing opinions and beliefs. This reflects a deep-seated cultural problem far beyond the ken of the Congress to solve; yet, of course, they try. And, as is par for the congressional course, they are pinning blame on an easy target: Facebook. While Facebook certainly can be blamed for plenty of social ills, including the proliferation of “fake news” by its billions of users, as a private company it is frankly none of Congress’ business what it does with its platform. More to the point, expecting Facebook to lead the war against a societal problem for which “fake news” is but a symptom, is a waste of time and money, and sets a very bad precedent for legislative meddling. Facebook can’t fix stupid, and “stupid” is the real problem. At the most fundamental level, allowing Congress, or any third party, to sanitize and label what is and is not “real” information is a terrible reflection of the intellectual laziness that infects our society. Have we become so averse to engaging in threshold research, or asking basic questions necessary to determine if something actually makes sense or is logically sound, that we need Mark Zuckerberg or Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to help us arrive...
