by Bob Barr | Jun 19, 2020 | Uncategorized |
American Action News The violent upheavals we have witnessed over the past three weeks in cities across America, coupled with the clamoring for “racial justice,” has elicited comparisons with events in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Similarities exist certainly, but our country is a far different place than it was 52 years ago. Where we wind up when the dust settles after the votes are cast on November 3rd, will be far different from where we found ourselves on Wednesday, November 6, 1968, or, four years later the day after Richard Nixon was reelected. The violence in America in 1968 and continuing for several years thereafter, was precipitated initially by opposition to the war in Vietnam but was seriously exacerbated by domestic events, notably the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy that Spring and Summer. King’s assassination in particular provided the other catalyst for the wave of violence – racial tension. Today, while there is no discernible relationship between U.S. foreign policy and the turmoil rocking cities from Seattle to Atlanta, there clearly is a strong underpinning of racial animosity; more so than was the case a half-century ago. Another common element between the political upheavals evident in these two eras is deep-seated personal animosity toward a national leader – Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972, and Donald Trump today. In that first election, Nixon tapped into a profound sense of unease among middle-class voters, focused first on the antiwar demonstrations and later the violence following King’s assassination. In declaring himself the “law and order” candidate running against an entrenched establishment Democrat — Hubert Humphrey...
by Bob Barr | Jun 17, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Townhall.com The law enforcement reform bill introduced last week in the House by the Democrat majority – the “Justice in Policing Act of 2020” – contains a number of proposals worthy of serious debate and bipartisan support. However, where the legislation proposes detailed, in-the-weeds standards for the use of deadly force by police officers, it suggests a “one-size-fits-all” solution that would be utterly unworkable and, if implemented, lead to far more serious problems than it could hope to solve. As to the positive aspects of the bill, for example the proposals for improved and increased training for federal law enforcement officers directly, and for state and local law enforcement indirectly through grants, should garner support from both sides of the congressional aisle and the president as well. A poorly trained officer is in many ways a problem waiting to happen. The Justice in Policing Act also would reduce the “militarization” footprint of local police departments, by cutting back on the surplus military equipment the federal government has been providing to those departments for the past three decades; everything from fully automatic weapons to armored vehicles. This proposal would help to de-emphasize the military perspective of law enforcement in favor of the civilian, which is and must always be predicated on the Constitution and laws flowing therefrom. Moving to rein in the use of “no knock warrants” by federal and local police – which very often lead to unnecessarily deadly confrontations – is another positive measure addressed in the legislation. When the bill gets into the weeds of actual law enforcement, things become more problematic by virtue of its imprecise and overly expansive...
by Bob Barr | Jun 15, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Daily Caller Marches, demonstrations and even riots have been sweeping cities across the country. Protesters have literally taken over a sector of downtown Seattle. Calls to “defund the police” are being heard even in the halls of the Congress. Some health experts are predicting a resurgence of COVID-19. Amidst all this chaos the U.S. Postal Service is begging Congress to give it another bailout. Congress should respond to this request with a resounding “NO.” The United States Postal Service (USPS) has suffered from well-documented structural problems for years; long before the coronavirus pandemic hit early this year. However, in recognition of the difficulties the Postal Service faced along with almost every other business sector hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, it received $10 billion as part of the CARES Act. For any well-run business, that should have sufficed to get it over the pandemic hump. Not for the folks at the USPS. Now, just a few months after that huge cash infusion, the Postal Service is coming back begging for another bailout; this time for a whopping $25 billion. In the absence of meaningful structural reforms to the failed business model under which the USPS long has operated, Congress should not even consider granting this request. For one thing, in light of recent jobs numbers and other signs that the economy already is bouncing back, there may be no need to pass the most recent proposed COVID-19 “stimulus” package, the HEROES Act. Even aside from this broader perspective, however, it is clear that giving the USPS as it currently is structured more taxpayer money, would be throwing good money...
by Bob Barr | Jun 10, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Daily Caller Policing in the United States is overdue for reform. Admitting to this is not a matter of race, political party, or ideology. It is an observable truth, confirmed time and again by the lack of accountability in holding bad cops responsible for actions that should not be tolerated in a free country governed by the constitutional rule of law. There are steps that the federal and state governments can and should undertake to address deficiencies in policing. Defunding the police, however, is not an idea worthy of consideration. The fact that “defund the police” is actually being seriously considered illustrates the idiocracy that has infected public debate in 21st century America. Defunding the police because of a few bad police officers is akin to closing down hospitals as a result of an occasional malpractice incident by doctors; or closing public schools because there are some bad teachers. Such a move would solve nothing and in fact make matters incalculably worse for everyone (except perhaps for the very rich, who could afford private security services for their homes, property, and vehicles). Still, however, especially within the “Black Lives Matter” movement, the proposal lives. Thankfully, amidst the cacophony, there are a few rational voices. On Twitter, Washington Post columnist and noted police critic Radley Balko suggests we not get too hung up on the phrase “defund the police” as a literal objective, but rather take it as a call-to-arms for a host of sensible reforms. Balko’s approach should be garnering wide, nonpartisan appeal, but many Black Lives Matter activists still insist that the only solution is literally to get rid of police departments. “Please don’t misrepresent...
by Bob Barr | Jun 8, 2020 | Uncategorized |
Daily Caller The FBI has long been considered America’s premier federal law enforcement agency. The Bureau has a storied history dating to the 1930s and was the subject of a laudatory television series from 1965 to 1974. The FBI helped bring down the Gambino crime family. In the 1970s, the Bureau aided in defeating the violent Weather Underground, which was led by revolutionaries Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn. The FBI now has morphed into a pale reflection of its former self — almost a parody. Last week, in a scene I never dreamt I would see, a group of FBI personnel (“officials,” according to one account) were photographed kneeling before some of the protesters who had wreaked havoc on the streets of our nation’s capital city. The kneelers all wore protective vests with “FBI” emblazoned thereon and were equipped with holstered sidearms. It is unclear whether these individuals knelt out of fear, were ordered by their superiors at the Bureau to assume such a submissive pose, or whether each was doing so because they personally supported the protesters and rioters. What is clear is that the display confirms that the Federal Bureau of Investigation in this 21st century has lost sight of its mission and purpose, and apparently no longer even acts on its own intelligence information. This last point is especially relevant. As Attorney General William Barr stated on May 31st, mixed in with the protesters, demonstrators, looters and violent thugs who smashed windows, burned churches and engaged in all manner of other violent acts in cities across the country were elements of antifa and other extremist organizations. The...
by Bob Barr | Jun 4, 2020 | Uncategorized |
American Action News On May 31st, in response to the violent riots rocking American cities from coast to coast and border to border, President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr issued statements that, among other things, condemned Antifa. Trump declared his intent to label Antifa a “terrorist organization.” The response from the mainstream media and leftist politicians was predictable — criticize Trump, not Antifa or the other groups and individuals involved in the violence. The facts, as opposed to sentiment, support Trump and Barr. Antifa fits squarely within both legal and common-sense definitions of what is considered to constitute a “terrorist organization.” Moreover, if, as many Trump critics note, the federal government is permitted to designate organizations as “terrorist” only if they are “international,” a strong case can be made that Antifa satisfies that criteria as well. While Antifa did not come into wide public consciousness in the U.S. until sometime around 2007 when “Rose City Antifa” was formed in Portland, Oregon, it has a far longer history in Europe, where it began as a movement to oppose the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany in the 1930s. Exactly when the modern Antifa movement made its way across the Atlantic to our shores is not clear, but by the 1980s it was here. Its members openly have participated in and organized numerous demonstrations and violent confrontations in recent years, especially since the infamous 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. Notwithstanding Antifa’s recent history of activity in the United States, its roots are in Europe where it remains active, most notably perhaps in Germany. In fact, when President Trump...
