From the IJ, highlights of ongoing work: Litigating for Liberty. The Wall Street Journal featured IJ’s founder and president, Chip Mellor, this past Sunday. Read the in-depth interview here. Georgia property owners are fed up with forfeiture. The state’s forfeiture law allows law enforcement to seize the property of innocent owners without convicting or even…
Laws/Regulations
Free Markets, Immigration, Laws/Regulations, Politics
The GOP’s Wrong Turn on Immigration
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over at National Review, libertarian Daniel Griswold makes the case for liberalized immigration policies, by reminding Republicans that current GOP Candidates Betray the Spirit of Reagan on Immigration. Commenters at the site will have none of it, and are highly critical of Griswold’s views. Their criticism matters no more than if flat-earthers railed against the…
Federal Government, Laws/Regulations
Dallas teen missing since 2010 was deported to Colombia
by JOHN ADAMS •
Some of the same gentlemen who campaign on the need for small government are willing to support aggressive federal immigration enforcement. Their confidence in the efficiency and fairness of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is absurdly misplaced: There are still many unanswered questions about how an African-American girl who speaks no Spanish is mistaken for a…
City, Laws/Regulations, Politics
For Whitewater, some contested races are better than none
by JOHN ADAMS •
Whitewater will see two contested Council races this year, for a district and an at-large seat. The at-large race will assure the city at least one new Council member from the two candidates; the district race has one incumbent and one challenger. (The school district has no contested races.) If our laws were less burdensome,…
Foreign Affairs, Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
China’s President Pushes Back Against Western Culture
by JOHN ADAMS •
BEIJING — President of Hu Jintao of China has said that China must strengthen its cultural production to defend against the West’s assault on the country’s culture and ideology, according to an essay in a Communist Party policy magazine published this week. The publication of Mr. Hu’s words signaled that a new major policy initiative…
Crime, Laws/Regulations
The Wrong Strategy on Synthetic Marijuana
by JOHN ADAMS •
When a society’s drug enforcement focuses on the supply of a drug, drug traffickers will (1) alter the concoctions they sell and (2) change the way they sell those concoctions. Sure enough, in response to a ban on synthetic marijuana, dealers are altering their formulas to circumvent existing local laws, and are now selling though…
City, Laws/Regulations, Politics
How to Keep Roma or Bedouin from Dominating Whitewater, Wisconsin’s Politics
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here in our exceptional city of 14,622, we can’t be too careful about outside influences, nefarious plots, and the reputed scheming of Madisonians to force every man, woman, and child in the city to wear tie-dye clothing. And yet, and yet, there’s something even worse than these unsettling threats: at any moment, hordes of Roma…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Wisconsin
The Journal Sentinel on Justice Gableman’s Receipt of Free Legal Services (and a bit about the story, itself)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Over the the Journal Sentinel, there’s a story about Justice Gableman’s deciding votes on cases in which the Michael Best & Friedrich firm represented the victorious party, despite his receipt of free legal services from that firm: State Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman in two cases cast the deciding vote in favor of parties represented…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Out in the Cold at Age 84: Wisconsin’s Ruthelle Frank Fights for Her Right to Vote
by JOHN ADAMS •
Ruthelle Frank is no less a citizen than anyone else in Wisconsin. I’ve posted before about Ruthelle Frank’s disenfranchisement under Wisconsin’s new voted ID law. She’s a citizen, lifetime resident of Wisconsin, and officeholder, but after eighty-four years, she now faces hundreds of dollars in fees to do what she has a right to do…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Wisconsin
The Disgrace of Wisconsin’s Photo ID Law: Rules leave village leader without right to vote
by JOHN ADAMS •
Although obviously a citizen by birth, and although she’s served on the Brokaw Village Board since 1996, Ruthelle Frank is now disenfranchised: Ruthelle Frank was born Aug. 21, 1927, in her home in Brokaw. It was a hard birth; there were complications. A doctor had to come up from Wausau to see that she and her…
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
Anti-immigrant legislation threatens Alabama’s farms
by JOHN ADAMS •
Of course it does, as any option other than a free market in labor for a need this large is an inferior, inefficient solution. (It’s also an insult to reason that desperate — and dim — officials think that prison labor is an adequate replacement.) Farmers have complained of a lack of field hands since parts of…
Laws/Regulations
Remy: Missing You – The Incandescent Light Bulb Song
by JOHN ADAMS •
Business, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
F.L.O.S.S: Protecting You from Low-Cost Teeth-Whitening Services
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s not health, but favoring some businesses over others (and over consumers) that’s the concern of Connecticut’s regulators: Here’s the description of the Institute for Justice’s video: Teeth-whitening services are popular and increasingly available at spas, salons and shopping malls. This has been a boon for consumers because these businesses offer whitening services at a…
Animals, Business, Economy, Food, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Idaho legitimizes small-scale raw-milk producers
by JOHN ADAMS •
The potato state bests America’s Dairyland in common sense and consumer choice: “There were a lot of illegal raw-milk sales throughout the state,” Patten said. “Across-the-fence sales, let’s say.” So, in early 2010, instead of drawing guns and raiding those operations, the state of Idaho–with the help of raw-milk advocates and a less-enthusiastic dairy industry–modified…