by Bob Barr | Jul 4, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com Bob Barr Last week’s House Judiciary Committee hearing – during which Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray were grilled for some four hours – delivered to the American people what has become standard fare for modern-day congressional hearings. There was fire and fury, extreme indignation, raised voices exhibiting anger for the cameras, and a few cuss words thrown in to up the chances those soundbites made it onto the evening’s talking heads programs. All this was followed by…silence. As the party in power, and reflecting the primary focus of the hearing, the Republican inquisitors railed – legitimately – against the failure by the Justice Department to produce records previously subpoenaed. The two witnesses stood their ground, defended their turf as anticipated, and exhibited the requisite degree of indignation when called for. And what did the Republicans get for all the fire and fury? Thus far, apparently nothing. But this has become standard fare for the kabuki into which modern congressional oversight has transmogrified. It’s become achingly predictable – a committee ask for documents, which the administration either refuses to provide or does so only partially and after much delay, the Committee then shakes its fist, subpoenas the materials, holds a hearing, and then…each side goes back to its corner and the matter is largely forgotten or overtaken by other events; or the process starts over again. Savvy administration witnesses called to the mat at a congressional hearing know that if they show up, withstand a few hours of pressure as Members use their time (in five-minute chunks) to deliver their carefully crafted soundbites (“Whatever you...
by Bob Barr | Jun 29, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Breitbart.com By Bob Barr While she may not be the imminent existential threat to America that some on the far-right claim her to be, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is a very real danger to important segments of American society. In particular, Waters’s rabid extremism and recent calls for pseudo-violence, pose a concrete threat to public safety personnel and others who serve the public in her own high-crime congressional district and elsewhere across the country. In the broad sense, the congresswoman’s self-proclaimed duty to stalk, harass, and intimidate her enemies represents a complete and utter repudiation of the social contract that makes the rule of law possible. And, without it, America qua America cannot long survive. The embrace of mob rule as articulated by the octogenarian congresswoman represents a philosophical rejection of civility and the very rule of law on which our country was founded. But in a more immediate and personal sense, her vitriolic call to harass and “get in the face” of any public servant with whom one might disagree on policy or actions, does more than poison the public policy arena in ways that rend the fabric of a civil society; it encourages and empowers those who incline toward violence to act. It is this consequence of Waters’s rantings that pose a clear, present, immediate, and potentially deadly danger to police and other public safety officials. With public tempers already at a height unimaginable less than one generation ago, the verbal match struck by Waters’s uncivil call-to-arms easily becomes the spark flaring into deadly action. Just days ago, in Harris County, Texas, someone with hate in their heart sought...
by Bob Barr | Jun 26, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com by Bob Barr No person shall be . . . deprived of . . . property, without due process of law. — U.S. Constitution, Amend. V No . . . ex post facto Law shall be passed. — U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 9 Stroke of the pen, law of the land. Kinda cool. — Paul Begala, Advisor to Former President Bill Clinton, July 5, 1998 Two bulwarks of individual liberty – that the government cannot seize a person’s property without due process of law, and that it cannot prosecute an individual for an action that was lawful when the person performed the act – are threatened by a single regulation now pending before the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), a component of the United States Department of Justice. The regulation is designed to prohibit people from possessing so-called “bump stocks,” as apparently had been used by mass murderer Stephen Paddock last October 1st in Las Vegas. While the intent of the proposed regulation may be considered laudable by many, the procedural precedent it would set should cause serious concern for anyone who supports limited and accountable government. This regulation would establish a precedent according to which the federal government (specifically, unelected employees of the ATF) would be empowered to seize property from any individual without affording them any compensation, and rendering anyone who fails to turn in or destroy such property subject to federal criminal penalties. All this notwithstanding that the to-be-prohibited property (“bump stocks”) had been previously deemed a lawful firearm accessory by that very same agency. That an administration which declares itself supportive...
by Bob Barr | Jun 20, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com by Bob Barr Despite the requirement in Article I Section 8 of the Constitution that only the Congress has the power to “declare war,” the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), an agency of the Executive Branch, has been engaged for more than half a century in an all-out war on what it obviously considers the most dangerous foe on Earth – tobacco. FDA war lords now are launching an all-out assault on “flavored” tobacco products. If successful, this effort will drive from retail shelves across America virtually every pipe tobacco product, menthol-flavored cigarettes and flavored cigars, along with any other product that combines tobacco and flavoring agents. And even that result will not be sufficient victory for the desk-bound generals at FDA. These bureaucratic nannies consider e-cigarettes to be “tobacco,” notwithstanding they contain nary a scintilla of tobacco. Therefore vaping products, which come in a wide variety of flavors, would be crushed out of legal existence if a regulatory edict now under consideration by FDA is permitted to become final. The early battles waged by the FDA against tobacco were based on legislation passed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and targeted cigarettes as public enemy number one. However, during the two-year window from 2009 to 2010 when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House, the agency was given what it had long coveted – legislative power to go after premium cigars, flavored tobacco products, and e-cigarettes (commonly referred to as “vaping”). Now, armed with the regulatory power to dismantle these other industries the same way it has attacked the...
by Bob Barr | Jun 13, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Bob Barr Townhall.com The swearing-in of a public official has always been a solemn event; during which extreme ideology and partisan theatrics were put aside. Even the use of a Bible was a tradition respected by conservatives and liberals alike; not always for religious reasons, but in recognition that swearing on top of our culture’s most-sacred tome was a sign of the significance of the vows and of one’s commitment thereto. Recently, however, things have gone badly off track. The slow creep of post-modern subjectivism finally has made its way into the swearing-in process itself. Now, it seems anything goes. Take, for instance, the recent swearing-in of 26-year-old Mariah Parker, as a Commissioner for Athens-Clarke County, Georgia. The raised fist during her vows and comically unserious theatrics were crowned when she took her oath of office by placing her left hand not on the Bible and not on the U.S. Constitution, but on a copy of The Autobiography of Malcolm X. She now undoubtedly will become the celeb-du-jour of the New Left, right alongside the foul-mouthed actor Robert De Niro. If the new criteria for being sworn into office is to place your hand on whatever book you happen to like, here are some others: President Trump, The Art of the Deal by Donald Trump. Sure, it may be somewhat conceited to use one’s own book to be sworn-in on, but what better representation of Trump’s first term than this? The business advice laid out in The Art clearly is the “dragon energy” (to borrow from Kanye West) underlying his Administration. Sen. Rand Paul, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Just like “The Destroyer” in Ayn Rand’s magnum opus, Paul’s...
by Bob Barr | Jun 13, 2018 | Uncategorized |
Bob Barr Fox News.com If current generic congressional polling numbers hold, Republicans will lose their majority in the House of Representatives in the Nov. 6 midterm elections – and a Democratic majority in the House will then likely vote to impeach President Trump. Republicans must start doing more now to prevent this nightmare scenario from becoming a reality. Of course, impeachment by the House doesn’t mean President Trump will be moving back to Trump Tower. As one of the leaders of the House impeachment of President Bill Clinton in 1998, I know from personal experience that the Senate is under no obligation to convict a president after the House votes to impeach. Through June 16, get $100 off the ultimate Garmin GPS watch with multisport features and advanced color mapping. A two-thirds vote of the Senate – meaning 67 votes – is required to convict a president of impeachment charges and tell him, in effect: “You’re fired!” Only 50 senators voted to convict President Clinton on one impeachment charges and 45 voted to convict him on another. Similarly, President Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House in 1868 but the Senate also failed to convict him. But the high bar required for an impeachment conviction in the Senate shouldn’t prompt overconfidence by Republicans. It’s important for the GOP to step up the fight now to hold onto majorities in the House and Senate in November, and to prepare to fight the impeachment battle should Democrats become the majority party in the House and possibly the Senate as well. Rather than scattering like rats leaving a sinking ship – as many Republican...
