by Bob Barr | Jul 24, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com The world in which most liberals live is one of magic and fairytales — where socialist systems have starved millions of people and destroyed every economy forced into its model, but which certainly will work the next time. It is a world in which using fascist tactics to silence opponents actually makes you an anti-fascist; and where presidential candidates can promise everything for everyone, and still have enough money left over to cut taxes. In this fantasy land, anything is possible if you just feel it to be true. Perhaps nowhere is the Left’s disconnect from reality more acute than in its assault on the Second Amendment. Despite decades of gun control proposals debunked time and again, the same schemes and arguments regularly are recycled and repackaged. Democrats remain convinced that Americans are just waiting for permission to hand over their firearms and their God-given right to self-defense. After all, Democrats say, other countries are doing it, so why not us? Take for instance New Zealand, which recently achieved rock star status in the eyes of Democrats in our country, when its prime minister reacted to a tragic mass shooting with a crushing blow to the country’s firearms rights. The prime minister immediately banned “military-style assault rifles,” to be jump started with a “buy-back” program. As expected, Democrats here gushed with envy at what would be possible in our country. “Christchurch happened, and within days New Zealand acted to get weapons of war out of the consumer market. This is what leadership looks like,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cluelessly tweeted, echoing sentiments from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Chris Murphy, and others. The “leadership” which so moved Ocasio-Cortez,...
by Bob Barr | Jul 19, 2019 | Uncategorized |
By Bill Rankin, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution A Valdosta litigator will chair the state panel that investigates allegations of judicial misconduct. Pope Langdale, who specializes in wrongful death and personal injury cases, was elected Friday by a unanimous vote to head the Judicial Qualifications Commission’s investigative panel. DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Stacey Hydrick was elected vice chair. In recent years, the JQC has had a number of high-profile cases. In June, it filed ethics charges against Atlanta Municipal Court Judge Terrinee Gundy, accusing her of chronic tardiness and absenteeism — and then covering it up. Last year, the JQC brought charges against Superior Court Judge Mack Crawford of the Griffin Judicial Circuit, accusing him of the theft of more than $15,000 in court funds. After the seven-member JQC investigative panel filed charges, the commission’s three-person hearing panel, after holding a trial, recommended that Crawford be removed from office. That is now pending before the state Supreme Court, which will have the final say. Valdosta lawyer Pope Langdale, the new chair of the state’s Judicial Qualifications Commission’s investigative panel, at the State Bar of Georgia offices in Atlanta. (BILL RANKIN/brankin@ajc.com)Photo: The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionADVERTISING Also Friday, state Supreme Court Justice Michael Boggs swore-in two new members of the JQC’s investigative panel: former U.S. congressman and U.S. attorney Bob Barr and Superior Court Judge Verda Colvin of the Macon Judicial Circuit. Gov. Brian Kemp recently appointed Barr to the JQC panel. Colvin is an appointee of the state Supreme Court. They join current panel members Langdale, Hydrick, Marietta lawyer James Balli, Atlanta investigator Richard Hyde and Macon businessman Warren...
by Bob Barr | Jul 10, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Most parents know negotiations with toddlers are less an artful debate than a war of attrition. Toddlers make their demands, and failing to immediately get their way, throw a tantrum until the parent either relents or punishment ensues. This, of course, is reflective of basic childhood development; their reasoning skills have not had a chance to mature, and the tantrum tactic is all they know. Parents face similar circumstances several years later with teenagers coping with raging hormones. In this still new 21st Century, our country faces a new challenge – confronting an emerging breed of adult whiners who are simply raging. Over the last month, the United States women’s national soccer team battled through the FIFA World Cup to triumph over the Netherlands last Sunday. Largely overshadowing this impressive athletic victory, however, was the team’s disgraceful conduct off the field; most notably that of its co-captain, Megan Rapinoe. Rapinoe first ignited a national firestorm by stating publicly and gratuitously early in the tournament that she was “not going to the f***ing White House” if the team won the World Cup. Rapinoe tossed more fuel on the fire when, after the team’s final victory, she pointedly dropped and stepped onto the American flag rather than hold it aloft as has become the custom for victors in such international tournaments. By pushing herself into the limelight on the World Cup stage, Rapinoe has become the newest anti-Trump hero in a movement always on the prowl for new champions. Far from achieving notoriety based on activities or ideas of substance, Rapinoe joins a growing list of egomaniacal celebrities who consider a moment in the national...
by Bob Barr | Jul 8, 2019 | Uncategorized |
The Daily Caller Unlike many of the pieces of legislation I considered as a member of the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003, the joint resolution I and 419 of my then-colleagues voted for on Sept. 14, 2001, was short and straight-forward. The authorization for the use of military force (AUMF), signed into law four days later by President George W. Bush, was limited in time and scope. It allowed the United States to take military action against those individuals, governments and organizations responsible for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That goal was accomplished long ago. Yet here we are, 18 years later, and that single authorizing paragraph is once again being considered as legal justification for using American armed forces; this time possibly against Iran. The dogged longevity of the AUMF is a towering example of how, in this 21st century, the Congress largely has abdicated any responsibility to determine our nation’s conduct of international affairs, especially when those actions involve matters of national security and the military. While Congress may from time to time become quite vocal in critiquing a president’s handling of national security matters, when push comes to shove, members of both houses of the Congress fall largely silent; and in so doing, permit the president to engage our nation’s armed forces based on the flimsiest of legal authority, if any. The AUMF was considered and passed by the Congress in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. It was unquestionably justified by the horrendous terror attacks on that date. Specifically, the Resolution authorized the president to use whatever means he deemed necessary, including...
by Bob Barr | Jun 24, 2019 | Uncategorized |
The Daily Caller Democrats — now in control of the House of Representatives and apparently assuming that gun control will sweep their party to victory at all levels in next year’s elections — have resurrected a plan to punish firearm manufacturers and retailers when individuals commit crimes with firearms. The plan would single out firearm manufacturers and retailers for liability beyond what is typical in other industries — a fact ignored, of course, by the legislation’s proponents. The debate over whether a manufacturer or a retailer of a lawful product should be held liable if a subsequent user of the item misuses it criminally or negligently is not new. Even prior to our independence from Great Britain, it was an established principle that individuals and businesses engaged in lawful commerce involving lawful products would be shielded from liability, unless the products were manufactured negligently or transferred under circumstances in which their misuse or abuse was known or reasonably foreseen. That fundamental principle embodied in British common law has remained a cornerstone of American jurisprudence for decades. With few exceptions (largely resulting from the expansion of the regulatory state over the past century), the general rule protecting businesses against subsequent abuse of their products has held fast. However, beginning in the 1990s, gun-control advocates launched a drive to change that long-standing principle of lawful commerce, as it applied to firearms. Individuals and organizations supportive of extensive gun control, including some funded by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, sought out federal and state judges similarly predisposed, and began suing firearm manufacturers and retailers. The costly legal actions (which put many...
by Bob Barr | Jun 19, 2019 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com After a contentious debate between southern and northern states about how to count slaves towards the apportionment of congressional representation and taxation, known as the “Three-Fifths Compromise,” our Founding Fathers probably thought the actual mechanism of counting heads to be the easy part. In fact, the origin of what is known today as the U.S. Census comes from a single line in Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution. Today, in the era of Big Government and Bigger Partisanship, the Census is anything but simple and straightforward; and has become a major flashpoint in the increasing politicization of what was intended to be a mere headcount of the population. Rather than a few questions about the number of people in a residence, and basic demographics to create a broad snapshot of the American population at a moment in time, Census questions have expanded to include invasive prodding into citizens’ lives, such as when a person goes to work in the morning, and how much they pay in rent. However, it is not the intrusiveness of the manner by which the Commerce Department (which administers the census) collects massive information on individuals that has roiled the waters in which this decennial census will be taken. Rather, it is the heretofore a simple question of “citizenship” — which was included in the census as far back as 1820 — that has caused liberals to rise up. Short-tempered liberals are accusing the White House of ulterior motives in wanting to include the question of “citizenship” on the 2020 Census; never mind that the 2000 census undertaken by the Clinton administration asked this...
