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…
Laws/Regulations
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…
Laws/Regulations
Rep. Pridemore’s Immigration Bill
by JOHN ADAMS •
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, 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…