I’ve written before about Rep. Don Pridemore’s immigration bill. A copy of the introduced draft appears immediately below. For a story from the Menominee Falls Patch, in which Rep. Pridemore claims he has sponsors lined up, see Pridemore Defends Controversial Immigration Bill – Menomonee Falls, WI Patch. For a column in which a normally soft…
Laws/Regulations
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Nanny of the Month (May 2011): North Carolina Bans Rare Burgers!
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Freedom of Speech, Law, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Police
The Government’s War on Cameras
by JOHN ADAMS •
Photography and recordings do much to safeguard citizens’ rights and protect honest officers against false accusations. Places in which officials discourage lawful, constitutional photography are ones in which officials not only act outside the law but also imprudently. There will be fewer injustices, and better policing, in a word of expansive photographers’ rights. By the…
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Scenes from the War on Consumer Choice (Raw Milk Front)
by JOHN ADAMS •
City, Laws/Regulations, Police
Whitewater’s May 3rd Common Council Meeting
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s another council meeting tonight, but two political parts of the last meeting stand out. Fees for a Search Firm. There was discussion, and approval, of additional fees for a police search. Approval was the right decision, and the additional cost would have been easier if former police chief Coan hadn’t sought to retain thousands…
Law, Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Liberty
Impediments to Second Amendment Rights
by JOHN ADAMS •
There a story over at the Janesville Gazette that catalogs the objections that some police leaders have to concealed carry rights (and probably to many other gun rights). See, Law enforcement against concealed-carry legislation. I doubt that opposition to gun rights is nearly so strong among field officers as it is among administrators. In any…
City, Laws/Regulations, Liberty, Politics, Walworth County, Wisconsin
Emily’s Post: ‘Welcome to Wisconsin, Jim Crow’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Emily Mills writes about Assembly Bill 7, sure to become law: This bill is, at its core, a rollback of the right to vote that impacts the most vulnerable and already disenfranchised populations in this state. It spits in the faces of those who’ve come before and fought (and sometimes died) to see this most…
City, Laws/Regulations, Politics, Wisconsin
A Freshman Legislator’s Unusual Choice
by JOHN ADAMS •
There’s an AP story over at Walworth County Today entitled, Rep. Wynn pushes for earlier alcohol sales as a convenience to tailgaters. Rep. Evan Wynn is the freshman assemblyman representing the 43rd Assembly District, a district that includes Whitewater. I’m opposed to most restrictions on alcohol, but it’s easy to see that this is an…
Free Markets, Laws/Regulations, Liberty
A Victory in the Food Truck Wars
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve written before about the anti-consumer battle against food trucks, and efforts to deny consumers convenient access to the popular, varied, and inexpensive fare that food trucks offer. See, Institute for Justice Defends the Rights of Street Vendors. In El Paso, where that city had tried to zone food trucks away from potential patrons, there’s…
Government Spending, Laws/Regulations, Libertarians, Planning
Libertarian Party’s List of Recent Federal Mistakes
by JOHN ADAMS •
The national Libertarian party’s re-published a list of the top-ten federal government mistakes, with the addition of ten new mistakes. I’ve listed them below — the details for each are available at the LP website. Exec. Dir. Wes Benedict contends that these are mostly mistakes of the Obama Administration, but many of these policies pre-date…
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
The Transportation Security Administration’s Latest Outrage
by JOHN ADAMS •
The ACLU issued the following message about the Transportation Security Administration, and that agency’s latest intrusion on Americans’ liberties. In the pursuit of a false security, this agency distorts civil society, badgers citizens, and particularly terrifies children. Note, also, the damage these agents inflict: they speak to children in ways beguiling and undermining of a…
Laws/Regulations, Liberty
Glenn Harlan Reynolds: Old Enough to Fight, Old Enough to Drink – WSJ.com
by JOHN ADAMS •
I have never supported a ‘big-drinking’ culture. Alcohol is best consumed moderately, enjoyed leisurely, with agreeable company. Wisconsin has seen more than her share of drinking tragedies, made far worse by stubborn insistence that, if only enforcement becomes severe enough, we’ll be able to stop further tragedies. We won’t. No level of enforcement tried or…
Crime, Laws/Regulations
Reason’s Nanny of the Month for March 2011: Drug Warrior-in-Chief Barack Obama
by JOHN ADAMS •
Law, Laws/Regulations, Police
Institute for Justice Shines Light on Law Enforcement Slush Funds
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve posted before about the harm to sound law enforcement through ‘policing for profit,’ where the promise of financial gain motivates law enforcement efforts. Fortunately, the Institute for Justice has done fine work exposing the distortion — and lack of accountability — in departments that drift into this bad habit. See, for example, The Institute…