Here’s a question, in times of struggling businesses and high unemployment, that should concern everyone: What to do about oppressive regulations and crony capitalism in Milwaukee? The IJ describes what’s at issue: Should the city of Milwaukee be allowed to outlaw competition in the taxi market, causing permits to rise in price from $85 to…
Laws/Regulations
Freedom of Speech, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Taxes/Taxation
Banned Books Week, 9.24 – 10.1
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s Banned Books Week, from September 24th to October 1st: During the last week of September every year, hundreds of libraries and bookstores around the country draw attention to the problem of censorship by mounting displays of challenged books and hosting a variety of events. The 2011 celebration of Banned Books Week will be held…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Legislator responsible for Transportation Security Administration says dismantle, privatize the agency
by JOHN ADAMS •
Indeed. Long, long overdue. The agency is one of America’s greatest contemporary mistakes. They’ve been accused of rampant thievery, spending billions of dollars like drunken sailors, groping children and little old ladies, and making everyone take off their shoes. But the real job of the tens of thousands of screeners at the Transportation Security Administration…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Matt Welch Debates Ann Coulter on the Iraq War, TSA, and Using Torture
by JOHN ADAMS •
Reason editor-in-chief Matt Welch debated Ann Coulter on a special Stossel episode dedicated to how the government has responded to 9/11. Welch debated Coulter on how secure America is after invading Iraq, creating the TSA, and implementing torture for information gathering. Air Date: September 8, 2011. I’m with Welch on all three, believing particularly that…
Freedom of Speech, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Recall Signs on Lawns as Protected Political Speech
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s a lingering – but easy to answer – question about whether it’s legal to put a conventional, ordinary-sized ‘Recall Walker’ sign on your private lawn. Yes, it is. It’s a free speech right that cannot be abridged by state or local election ordinances limiting the mere display on private property of conventional political signs.…
Laws/Regulations, Taxes/Taxation
Helping Entrepreneurs Enrich America: Univ. of San Diego Law Professor Donna Matias
by JOHN ADAMS •
It’s hard to run a business, as entrepreneurs are burdened in taxes, regulations, and find themselves squeezed by those who have never run a small enterprise. (Regulators have often spent a lifetime working at state — taxpayer — expense.) Here’s a video describing a law clinic that’s helping America’s job-creators thrive against long odds. The…
Economy, Free Markets, Laws/Regulations
The Best Way to Create Jobs: Free Markets in Capital and Labor
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s New York Mayor and businessman Michael Bloomberg talking about the best way to create jobs. He’s right that fewer immigration restrictions actually boost American employment. There’s much more to be said about all this, but a scheme of labor restrictions isn’t just socially disruptive, and an example of over-criminalization. Restrictions impoverish America; free private…
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Defending Street Vendors, Food Trucks, and Consumer Choice
by JOHN ADAMS •
Here’s an update in the battle for economic freedom and consumer choice. I’ve written before about how incumbent, brick-and-mortar restaurants try to use government to shield themselves from food-truck competitors. Those restaurateurs do not — will never — deserve governmental protection. They made a free choice to open a store, instead of operating a truck,…
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Raw Foods Raids: Rawesome Foods Raided…Again
by JOHN ADAMS •
Today’s a day of catching up on new developments about earlier posts. Longtime readers may recall a post from November 2010, entitled, Raw Foods Raids: The Fight for the Right to Eat the Food that You Want, about an armed raid on the Rawesome Foods co-op in California. They’ve been raided yet again. Here’s a…
Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Planning
Plant a Garden, Go to Jail for 93-Days?! Reason’s Nanny of the Month for July 2011
by JOHN ADAMS •
Food trucks, baggy pants, but the winner involves trying to ban vegetables in a front yard. Oak Park, Michigan’s city planner, Kevin Rulkowski, tried (but ultimately failed) to ban a front-yard vegetable garden on private property. What’s funny-sad is his attempt to justify the ban through his limited understanding of the word ‘suitable,’ coupled with…
City, Crime, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Whitewater’s Concealed Carry Debate
by JOHN ADAMS •
Concealed carry legislation went to the governor, and he signed it, about a month ago. (For an overview of that legislation, see Mary Spicuzza’s Concealed carry bill heads to Walker for signature. A provision of the bill allows communities to place restrictions on the presence of otherwise lawfully-concealed weapons, beyond the restrictions (police stations, court…
Laws/Regulations
Nanny of the Month, June 2011: The War on…Lemonade Stands
by JOHN ADAMS •
Reason describes this month’s winner: This Fourth of July weekend think about what truly represents freedom: Old Glory, the Liberty Bell, and an ice-cold glass of lemonade. This month’s lineup of busybodies includes two regulars: the FDA, which is slapping new, more graphic, possibly counterproductive, warning labels on cigarette packs and the goldfish grabbers on San Francisco’s Animal…
Crime, Laws/Regulations
Mark Grannis on the War on Drugs
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Police, Politics, Wisconsin
Wisconsin Assembly Bill 173
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, Rep. Don Pridemore’s Arizona-syle immigration legislation received a numerical designation: Assembly Bill 173. The full text of the bill is online at the Legislature’s website. The bill has the following initial sponsors: “Representatives Pridemore, Wynn, LeMahieu, Kleefisch, Steineke and Jacque; Cosponsored by Senator Lasee.” One could have expected Wynn to support this measure. His…