Tag Archives | Congress

King John Butchered Authors of Magna Charta

… or at least he tried to butcher them.  On this day 800 years ago, King John was compelled to sign Magna Charta, formally accepting a limit to his prerogative to ravage everything in England.  But the ink on his signature was barely dry before he brought in foreign forces and tried to wipe out […]

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My 2003 Oped on Patriot Act Lies – Baltimore Sun

Senators are brawling over the renewal of the Patriot Act. Few folks recognize how the feds have been brazenly lying about the Patriot Act ever since it was enacted. Here’s an oped I did a dozen years ago pointing out a few of the Justice Department’s frauds. Baltimore Sun, August 18, 2003 America fights for […]

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FFF: Know-Nothing Democracy on Capitol Hill

Future of Freedom, March 2015 (posted  5/22/15) Know-Nothing Democracy on Capitol Hill by James Bovard “You can lead a man to Congress but you can’t make him think,” quipped Milton Berle in 1950. Last December’s congressional approval of the 1,603-page, $1.1 trillion omnibus bill (known as “Cromnibus,” because it was also a Continuing Resolution) also […]

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FFF: ObamaCare Racketeering & Intellectual Knavery

From the Future of Freedom Foundation’s February 2015 magazine – ObamaCare Racketeering and Intellectual Knavery by James Bovard Paternalism is a desperate gamble that lying politicians will honestly care for those who fall under their power. This axiom has been made stark with the controversy arising from a video of Jonathan Gruber, one of the […]

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D.C. Devil’s Dictionary Redux at Advocates

The good folks at the Advocates for Self-Government reposted a chunk of my USA Today Devil’s Dictionary piece last week. I learned via email this morning that Sharon Harris is retiring after 20 years as the president of the Advocates. Sharon has done great work – she is very savvy and is the incarnation of a […]

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Wash. Times: The Mandatory Voting Panacea

Washington Times, April 2, 2015 The mandatory voting panacea Obama would deploy coercion in the voting booth By James Bovard – – Wednesday, April 1, 2015 President Obama recently suggested that mandatory voting could cure some of the ills of American democracy. Mr. Obama observed that compelling everyone to vote is one way to “encourage […]

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