Category: links

This weekend over at Townhall.com, the subject is guns, gun violence, and protest.

Oh, and “BS” — and the calling of same.

Click on over, then come back here for more hits of wisdom:

• Washington Post: A school shooting could happen anywhere. That’s why students from everywhere are marching.
• CNN: Maryland school officer stops armed student who shot 2 others
• Common Sense: Good Guy with Gun
• NY Mag: Democratic Congressman Hints at Armed Rebellion Against Trump
• Red Blue Divide (video): Rep. Tom Suozzi Hints Using the 2nd Amend to Resist Trump
• CNN: Florida student Emma Gonzalez to lawmakers and gun advocates: ‘We call BS’
• Common Sense: Civic Engagement Activities
• Townhall: Newtown Chooses Good Guys with Guns
• Washington Post: Scared by School Shootings
• Washington Post: Students push back on clear plastic backpack rule at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High

The column will be available on this site on March 27, 2018.

What does it take to make a difference in politics? Is the thirteenth year the magic number, or does time in office guarantee nothing but corruption?

Click on over to Townhall. Come back here for more information and perspective.

• YouTube: Nick Freitas Announces Senate Run to Unseat Tim Kaine
• Washington Post: Del. Nick Freitas jumps into GOP field to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine in 2018
• Free the People: The Most Interesting Liberty Republican You’ve Never Heard Of
• Daily Wire: A Star Is Born! Speech On Guns By VA Lawmaker Causes Democrat Walk-Out, Goes Viral
• YouTube: Delegate Nick Freitas Floor Speech Against Medicaid Expansion
• NewsOK: Oklahoma Senate leader quietly guides senators toward compromise
• The Daily Ardmoreite: Step Up Oklahoma bill fails to pass House floor

This column will appear on this site on Tuesday, March 20.

Trade policy and a do-nothing Congress, a match made in hell … read about it at Townhall. And come back here for more kindling:

• National Review: Congress Handed to the President the Power to Level Tariffs
• Townhall: Lifetime Tenure — Or Longer?
• CRS: Congressional Careers: Service Tenure and Patterns of Member Service, 1789-2017
• Wikipedia: List of longest-serving members of Congress
• CNN: Key senators say they didn’t know the US had troops in Niger
• New York Times: ‘An Endless War’: Why 4 U.S. Soldiers Died in a Remote African Desert
• Reuters: U.S. deaths in Niger highlight Africa military mission creep
• Conservative Review: When will Congress finally debate our strategy in Middle East?
• New York Times: White House Defends Continuing U.S. Role in Libya Operation
• Politifact: Are U.S. actions in Libya subject to the War Powers Resolution? A review of the evidence
• New York Times: Attack Renews Debate Over Congressional Consent
• Just Security: Bringing the AUMF Debate Back to its Constitutional Roots, and recent History
• Common Dreams: Members of Congress Call for a Debate and Vote on Ongoing Wars

Sometimes law is just politics. But must it be so? Make a motion over to Townhall, and then make your appeal back here.

• Washington Post: Scalia embraced compromise on unions. Today’s Supreme Court should, too. (editorial)
• Liberty Justice Center: Janus v. AFSCME
• SCOTUS: Oral Argument (Audio ) (Transcript)
• Illinois Policy Institute: Meet the man who could end forced union fees for government workers
• Washington Post: The Kochs are trying to kill unions. Be careful what you wish fo., Dana Milbank
• Forbes: Janus v. AFSCME: Perhaps This Time the Court Will Take the First Amendment Seriously
• Townhall: Public-Sector Unions Deserve To Be Destroyed, David Harsanyi
• Washington Post: Government unions are in deep trouble. And they have themselves to blame, Charles Lane

On Tuesday, March 6, the column appears on this site.

Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. That is, what works in one case works in similar cases. So, take a gander at American foreign policy. And don’t laugh.

• The Ingraham Angle (video): James Woolsey on the Russians’ efforts to disrupt elections
• New York Times: Russia Isn’t the Only One Meddling in Elections. We Do It, Too.
• NPR: Database Tracks History of U.S. Meddling in Foreign Elections
• Judicial Watch: U.S. Gives Soros Groups Millions to Destabilize Macedonia’s Conservative Govt.
• American Spectator: Obama’s Meddling in Foreign Elections (Six Examples)
• Foreign Policy: 64 Years Later, CIA Finally Releases Details of Iranian Coup
• Wikipedia: 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état

After every major school shooting the calls for “doing something serious about guns” burst into the national conversation. And yet… considering how lame most actual proposals are … what is really the ultimate intention appears to be gun prohibition and confiscation. And the thing about that? It means that only the police would have guns.

Consider the Baltimore Police Department, then rethink that. Think on it hard. But first, click on over to Townhall.com for a full discussion of Baltimore corruption. Then come back here for more information:

• Washington Post: Baltimore detectives convicted in shocking corruption trialarticle
• Baltimore Sun: Notable testimony from the Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force corruption trial
• Baltimore Sun: Baltimore Police fail to police themselves, Justice Department finds
• Baltimore Sun: Attorneys release video from Baltimore Police Gun Trace Task Force raid; criticize state’s attorney for inaction
• Baltimore Sun: ‘Thousands’ of cases compromised by Gun Trace Task Force case
• CBS: 2017 sees highest murder rate ever in shrinking Baltimore
• Baltimore Sun: Baltimore crime up across the board as third quarter closes for 2017
• Baltimore Sun: Baltimore might not be able to avoid paying for lawsuits linked to corrupt Gun Trace Task Force squad
• Baltimore Sun: The Gun Trace Task Force trial has ended. What is Baltimore doing to prevent future police corruption?
• Police One: How police departments with consent decrees are faring

The Common Sense mission at Townhall.com this weekend is not to defend Mr. Trump’s actions or statements. I did not vote for him – nor did I vote for the Democrats’ even worse alternative. Like other presidents, I support Trump when he agrees with me and oppose him when he is wrong.

But two eminent, non-crank journalists write in The Atlantic (“Boycott the Republican Party”) that the GOP needs to repent and reform, quickly, or else commit harakiri. So, how far off track is the president and the Republican Party? Click on over. Read; then come back.

• BBC News (video): Donald Trump ‘encourages Russia to hack Clinton emails’
• CNN (video): Federal Judge: Charge Padilla or release him
• Common Sense: Bad Men and Bad Law
• Real Time w/ Bill Maher (video): Glenn Greenwald on Killing al-Awlaki
• The Intercept: Obama killed a 16-Year-Old American in Yemen. Trump Just Killed His 8-Year-Old Sister.
• Wall Street Journal: China Was Bill Clinton’s Russia
• Washington Post: Donor to Clinton Foundation, McAuliffe caught up in Chinese cash-for-votes scandal
• Wikipedia: 1996 United States campaign finance controversy
• CNN (video): Glenn Greenwald on Obama’s War on Journalists
• CNN (video): Glenn Greenwald Roasts CNN Anchor For Not Reporting On Hillary WikiLeaks
• The Nation (video): Jeremy Scahill: Killing Anwar al-Awlaki

Consent in relation to sexual relations is not really all that hard to figure out — though evidence for consent, or even for particular acts, can be very hard to determine, especially regarding other people and after a long time’s passing. Click on over to Townhall.com for something like the full story. Then come back here for more details:

• Washington Post: He helped Halle Berry and Taraji Henson to stardom. Now 9 minority women are accusing him of sexual harassment.
• Washington Post: Mitch McConnell believes the women. Kellyanne Conway doesn’t.
• IndieWire: Vincent Cirrincione, Manager of Halle Berry and Taraji P. Henson, Accused of Sexual Harassment By Nine Women
• Vincent Cirrincione Associates, Ltd.

The eternal question, with a partial answer over at Townhall.com.

• Washington Post: Virginia lawmakers seek to make menstrual products more affordable, available
• WTVR CBS (Richmond): Feminine hygiene products could become tax exempt
• Women’s Health: The Sickening Truth About What It’s Like to Get Your Period in Prison
• The Guardian: Prisons that withhold menstrual pads humiliate women and violate basic rights
• Broadly.Vice: Women in Jail Are Being Denied Tampons, Pads, and Basic Human Dignity
• CNN: Federal prisons required to make tampons, pads available
• Huffington Post: Women In Federal Prisons Are Now Guaranteed Free Tampons And Pads

Over at Townhall.com, war is waged against death and madness. Click over, come back. Let Common Sense be your guide….

• Washington Post: A new U.S. air blitz in Afghanistan isn’t stopping for winter. But will it stop the Taliban?
• Al Jazeera: US and NATO Troops in Afghanistan
• Counter Punch: Time to get Out of Afghanistan
• Cato: Escaping the “Graveyard of Empires”: A Strategy to Exit Afghanistan
• Newsweek: We Have Lost the War in Afghanistan. We Should Get Out Now.
• Business Insider: The case for a US withdrawal from Afghanistan
• AZ Central: McCain is wrong. We need to get out of Afghanistan
• Washington Post: The U.S. was supposed to leave Afghanistan by 2017. Now it might take decades.
• The Intercept: All the Times Donald Trump Said the U.S. Should Get Out of Afghanistan