The RPI Challenge

“All that was required of them was a primitive patriotism which could be appealed to whenever it was necessary to make them accept longer working hours or shorter rations. And even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because, being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.”—George Orwell, 1984 Let’s be clear about one thing: the impeachment of Donald Trump is a...

The Transportation Security Administration announced last week that it will be fining travelers up to $1,500 for failing to wear a proper facemask. The TSA could also heavily fine people for wearing a facemask improperly and maybe also for some other offenses the agency hasn’t yet created. It is ironic that a federal agency that helped compound the Covid pandemic just captured more arbitrary power over any American citizen who needs to catch a flight. The TSA mask mandate was perhaps...

The Senate trial for now twice-impeached former President Donald Trump is set to begin this week, with little doubt over the outcome. A procedural vote in the Senate on the constitutionality of “removing from office” someone who is not in office revealed that nowhere near enough Republicans were willing to join their Democrat counterparts in voting to convict.Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who is required by the Constitution to preside, has by refusing to participate made it clear...

Joe Biden calls on American leadership to confront Russian authoritarianism that he claims threatens American democracy. But every problem between the two has its roots in US actions Biden once supported. Physician, heal thyself. “America is back. America is back. Diplomacy is back at the center of our foreign policy.” With these resounding words as his starting point, President Joe Biden gave his first major foreign policy address, symbolically delivered at the State Department headquarters,...

A new and rapidly growing journalistic “beat” has arisen over the last several years that can best be described as an unholy mix of junior high hall-monitor tattling and Stasi-like citizen surveillance. It is half adolescent and half malevolent. Its primary objectives are control, censorship, and the destruction of reputations for fun and power. Though its epicenter is the largest corporate media outlets, it is the very antithesis of journalism. I’ve written before about one particularly toxic...

Talk about bad junk mail. President Joe Biden’s administration is considering delivering masks to all Americans — in the name of countering coronavirus, of course. The United States government’s distribution of these unneeded masks would be both a waste of money and a significant step in advancing the mask mandate tyranny in America. Interviewed Thursday remotely by host Lester Holt at NBC Nightly News, White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain said, in muffled words spoken through a mask while he...

The Biden administration just issued an edict that will spur endless pointless conflicts for Americans seeking to peacefully enjoy hundreds of national parks. On Groundhog Day, the National Park Service (NPS) mandated wearing face masks on all National Park Service lands “when physical distancing cannot be maintained, including “narrow or busy trails, overlooks and historic homes.” Probably 95% of the Park Service’s 800+ million acres is uncrowded 95% of the time. But the new mandate is an...

Over the last four years, we have seen an alarming trend of law professors and legal experts discarding constitutional and due process commitments to support theories for the prosecution or impeachment of Donald Trump or his family. Legal experts who long defended criminal defense rights have suddenly become advocates of the most sweeping interpretations of criminal or constitutional provisions while discarding basic due process and fairness concerns. Even theories that have been clearly...

The Wall Street Journal last week reported legislators in a growing number of states are trying to pass new laws requiring high school seniors to complete applications for college financial aid (mainly the federal FAFSA—Free Application for Student Aid—but also sometimes state forms) before receiving a high school diploma. It is already law in Louisiana. Nebraska legislation was vetoed by Governor Pete Ricketts. The argument for such legislation is: a college degree will be needed for most...

If Woodstock occurred today, it would be derided as a “superspreader” event. Superspreader events are events or gatherings (such as a sporting match, religious service, birthday or wedding) at which an infected individual(s) infects a disproportionate number of other individuals, thereby accelerating community spread of a disease. According to the Cleveland Clinic, a superspreader event is one in which the rate of reproduction of the virus is above the basic reproduction number, R0, which is...

A year on and Covid quackery remains a potent force in global public health discourse. We should not be surprised by this as quackery of all sorts suffuses the history of medicine in America and abroad. The recent mass exodus of public health officials from their jobs, however, is so unprecedented that it challenges Murray Rothbard’s Second Law: “No one ever resigns.” What the flight of the Covid quacks portends, however, remains unclear. Quackery is a derisive term often used by medical...

By laying out unrealistic demands to Iran and engaging in fearmongering about its nuclear program, Secretary of State Tony Blinken has underscored America’s real intent about rejoining the controversial agreement. President Joe Biden has made rejoining the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA, popularly known as the Iran nuclear deal) one of the top priorities of his administration, reversing course from the direction taken by former President Donald Trump who, in May 2018, withdrew the...

Which is the more reasonable approach a society might take in the outbreak of epidemic: To quarantine the sick, and take reasonable precautions to stop those who are identified as vulnerable from contracting the illness. To attempt to “control the virus” by preventing millions of healthy people from having contact with other healthy people. To any society prior to 2020, it would have been obvious that the first approach is not only logical and proportionate, but the one least likely to have...

Concerns over “civil disturbance” have led the powers-who-be in Washington, DC, to extend the stay of members of the National Guard in the nation’s capital city. A military occupation in America — who knew. Military troops are not law enforcement officers. Nor should they be treated as such. The first is designed for war; the second, for fighting crime. Mixing the two can have disastrous results for citizens’ rights. The mindsets are completely different. “Police killing more likely in...