by Bob Barr | Sep 5, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com It is fair to say that most Americans’ concept of Russia today is based only loosely on reality; shaped largely by Hollywood, spy novels, and incessant hammering by the media against all things Russian. While such accounts of what has become cast as America’s “Enemy No. 1” make for good headlines and as a basis for that most elusive of crimes — “collision” — it dangerously shifts attention from a far more clever and riskier adversary: China. While the craving for power and a dislike for Western values are shared by both Russia and China, the strategies employed by each for achieving global dominance are quite different. In a sense, the former plays checkers and the latter, chess. Some of this at least, can be attributed to the state of each country’s economy. While China’s has grown to become a very real competitor of the United States, Russia has been slipping down the economic ratings charts. This state of affairs is reflected also in the two countries’ military policies. As China pumps billions into its armed forces while engaging no active military campaigns, Russia’s military is enduring significant cuts even as it continues to burn cash in Syria, the Ukraine, and elsewhere. Russia’s slim budget for gaining global influence has produced meager results, but its effectiveness has been amplified because it provides an easy vehicle by which Democrats and the media can attack President Trump. An exclusive report from Buzzfeed last week exposed a Russian plot in the Baltics to gain influence from funding “independent” news sites, while forcing them to produce pro-Kremlin pieces; content bolstered by the purchase of fake clicks,...
by Bob Barr | Sep 1, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Breitbart Nearly 30 years ago, a young Arnold Schwarzenegger, appearing in a sci-fi movie, Total Recall, walked through an entryway monitored in real-time by thuggish officials, as his skeletal form displayed a firearm hidden under his jacket. This 1990 theatrical episode is now coming to real-life — and the privacy implications are far from fictional. Earlier this month, to much fanfare, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced the roll-out of a plan to begin deploying full-body scanners in the city’s subway system. Participating in the roll-out was no less a luminary than the head of the federal Transportation Security Administration (TSA), David Penkoske. The TSA has long advocated for the use of scanners, not only at commercial airports, but at other travel hubs as well; and its presence at the Los Angeles unveiling as a partner in the project was no surprise. Also of no real surprise, at least to those familiar with the world of privacy-invasive security systems, was the announcement that the technology for the subway scanners was being provided by the British company Thruvision. As has become the norm whenever the government hits the public with a new form of scan-based security, there were promises that the devices carry no risks to the individuals being scanned. Assurance also were made that the systems will not be overly intrusive. In some respects, such assurances come with a degree of truth. For example, because the devices to be installed rely on scanning waves emitted by the human body (as opposed to radiation emitted by the scanners currently in use at airports), they likely will not carry any risk to...
by Bob Barr | Aug 30, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Were Hollywood to make a movie about the “Revolving Door” that long has connected government agencies to the consulting firms that populate the Beltway encircling the Nation’s Capital, a starring role would go to the international company Deloitte Consulting LLP. Few large consulting firms are able to match Deloitte’s roster of former top federal officials on its gargantuan payroll. This is especially the case with regard to government agencies having responsibilities for national security matters; and therein lies the very real potential for abuse. Not only does Deloitte count among its principals key former top officials from agencies including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP); but enjoys a reciprocal relationship with those agencies employing spouses and close associates of key Deloitte employees. While there are extensive federal regulations designed to ensure transparency and avoidance of conflicts of interest between government and private industry — primarily the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) – these have proved clearly inadequate to address such potentialities. This has become obvious in the large number of sole-source contracts regularly if not routinely negotiated between consulting firms such as Deloitte and federal government agencies with national security responsibilities. Sole-source contracts, known also as “no-bid” contracts, can mean multi-year and hundred-million dollar income streams for Deloitte and other companies similarly situated. And while procedures laid out in FAR (which have been in place since Ronald Reagan’s first term) are supposed to ensure that sole-source contracts are the exception to the rule of competitively-bid contracts, the “exceptions” seem to have become the norm. This phenomenon has an especially pernicious effect on America’s...
by Bob Barr | Aug 29, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com When it comes to banning firearms in America, Leftists operate with a dark twist on a common aphorism; for them, “there is more than one way to skin the Second Amendment.” While Democrats have had marginal success stalling efforts by the GOP in Congress to pass much-needed firearm legislation (for example, the Hearing Protection Act and national reciprocity for concealed carry), not since Bill Clinton’s 1994 federal Assault Weapons Ban have they enjoyed any real legislative victories on gun control. Public opinion still favors protecting the Second Amendment from congressional interference, despite efforts by Democrats to turn every mass shooting into a political cause regardless of the circumstances or facts. As a result, numerous attempts to pass gun control similar to that of the Clinton-era have been reduced to symbolism; failing to draw support from even some Democrats in states having majorities of Second Amendment-supporting voters. This is not to say that Democrats have been completely ineffective in pursuing their gun-control agenda. President Barack Obama understood the futility of pushing Congress to pass openly gun-control legislation. Wisely, his administration focused primarily on what could be accomplished in the private sector, employing the regulatory powers at his disposal. Thus, during the Obama years, agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, pressured non-government entities over which they had a degree of regulatory control to “choke” the manufacture, sale, distribution and ownership of firearms. Lawful firearms businesses will remember “Operation Choke Point” as a clear abuse of the federal government’s regulatory power over financial institutions and part of a drive to choke off the ability of those businesses to engage in...
by Bob Barr | Aug 22, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Venezuela. A country possessed of all the natural attributes providing a foundation for economic prosperity; yet whose citizens (except for the privileged few at the top of the military-protected government) now live in an economic Hell, without ready access to even the most basic necessities of life. Venezuela often is cited as a modern-day example of why socialism as a politically-imposed economic system is not only undesirable, but deadly. One might point also to Cuba and the former Soviet Union as examples of socialism gone bad; but the short attention span, and notorious ignorance of history shared by many 21st Century Americans (especially young voters), make it difficult to reference any example older than the most recent news cycles. The deadly cost of socialism does not even require us to look abroad for lessons by which to understand its toxicity. The very first settlements in America – at Jamestown and Plymouth in the early 17th Century – very nearly disappeared completely because of famine; until the principles of private property and individual entrepreneurship were introduced in the years immediately following the first settlements, which had been constructed on notions of communal property. While historian Tom Bethell recounts the above scenario in The Noblest Triumph – Property and Prosperity through the Ages, the lessons revealed by his study obviously have been largely lost in contemporary America. Recent studies reveal growing support for socialism over capitalism among Democrats, Millennials, and those now labeled “Generation Z.” The victory earlier this summer by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez over incumbent Democrat Congressman Joe Crowley, and the strength of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign against Hillary Clinton make it...
by Bob Barr | Aug 15, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com In my work as both an attorney and as a legislator (I served as a Member of Congress from 1995 to 2003), a key question I always ask myself or a client seeking to achieve a desired result is, “Who really stands to benefit if we pursue a certain course of conduct?” Laying out a strategy in this manner assists greatly in identifying potential allies as well as adversaries, and improves chances for eventual success. When I turn my attention to current goings on in Washington, the same question crosses my mind: Who really benefits from the “Russia obsession” exhibited by virtually every national political figure and media outlet? Hardly any issue is considered these days without blaming Russia or at least finding a Russian angle lurking just around the corner. Take, for instance, the recent primary election in Ohio; about as close to America’s heartland and far removed from Moscow’s Red Square as you can get. Average American viewers would see last week’s returns in Ohio, where Republican Troy Balderson narrowly defeated his primary opponent, as an indication that perhaps Democrats were not as well positioned for November as their “Blue Wave” blustering would indicate. Some pundits on the Left, however, immediately donned their tin foil hat and pointed a finger at Putin. Hollywood actress Alyssa Milano, for example, broadcast her revelation that Green Party votes in that contest were evidence of “Russian meddling.” This is but one example of many, in which the default boogeyman is Russia; and it is easy to slough off such absurdity, particularly from people who demand to be taken seriously because...
