Politics, Moderate
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Trump's Jan. 6 Pardons Could Address Some Real Injustices: The President-Elect Makes Valid Points in Highlighting Potential Abuses of Prosecutorial Power
On his first day in office, President-elect Donald Trump promises, he will pardon at least some of the 1,500 or so people who have been charged with crimes in connection with the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. He notes that most of those defendants were not violent and that they faced a lot of pressure to plead guilty, as about 1,000 have ...Read more
Trump, the Self-Described 'Tariff Man,' Does Not Understand How Tariffs Work: Since the President-Elect Refuses to Admit That Tariffs Are Taxes Paid by Americans, He Sees No Downside to Raising Them
"I'm a big believer in tariffs," President-elect Donald Trump said this week, not for the first time. "I think they're beautiful."
Trump claims the heavy tariffs he plans to impose during his second term are "going to make us rich," at no cost to American businesses or consumers. That is a dangerous fantasy.
Trump's position on tariffs ...Read more
The President Still Has Time to Show His Mercy Extends Beyond His Own Son: The Draconian Penalties That Hunter Biden Escaped Affect Many People Whose Fathers Cannot Save Them
"Hunter was singled out only because he is my son," Joe Biden said on Sunday, when he issued a pardon that saved Hunter Biden from serving time for his gun and tax crimes. That much was accurate, but not in the way the president meant.
Naked nepotism allowed Hunter Biden to avoid the consequences of a criminal justice system that punishes ...Read more
Trump Cannot Restrict Birthright Citizenship by Presidential Edict: The Executive Order That the President-Elect Plans to Issue Contradicts the Historical Understanding of the 14th Amendment
For 126 years, U.S. courts have recognized children born in this country as American citizens. President-elect Donald Trump plans to overturn that understanding by issuing an executive order on his first day in office.
That order, Trump claims, will "end automatic citizenship for children of illegal aliens." But the president cannot do that ...Read more
The New FCC Chairman's Agenda Contradicts Conservative Principles: Brendan Carr's Plans for 'Reining in Big Tech' Are a Threat to Limited Government, Free Speech, Free Markets and the Rule of Law
"The censorship cartel must be dismantled," Brendan Carr declared two days before President-elect Donald Trump picked him to chair the Federal Communications Commission. Trump described Carr as "a warrior for Free Speech."
Carr's plans for "reining in Big Tech" understandably appeal to Trump, who has long complained that the leading social ...Read more
Trump Has No Discernible Interest in Fiscal Responsibility: The President-Elect's Record and Campaign Positions Belie Elon Musk's Talk of Spending Cuts
Elon Musk, President-elect Donald Trump's bounciest adviser, thinks he can identify "at least" $2 trillion in federal budget cuts. Although critics derided the billionaire entrepreneur's suggestion as improbably ambitious, that assessment hinges on political assumptions rather than a cleareyed understanding of what could be accomplished if ...Read more
Nearly Five Years After Breonna Taylor's Death, Justice Remains Elusive: A Long-Delayed Conviction Illustrates the Difficulty of Holding Cops Accountable for Abusing Their Powers
On the night Breonna Taylor died, Detective Brett Hankison stood outside her apartment and blindly fired 10 rounds through a bedroom window and a sliding glass door, both of which were covered by blinds and curtains. Based on that reckless conduct, a federal jury in Louisville, Kentucky, last week convicted Hankison of willfully violating ...Read more
Trump Is Not Thoughtful Enough to Be a Fascist: The Republican Presidential Candidate's Views Do Not Reflect Any Unifying Principle Other Than Self-Interest
John Kelly, the former Marine general who served as Donald Trump's second chief of staff, thinks the former president "falls into the general definition of 'fascist.'" Gen. Mark Milley, whom Trump appointed as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, goes further, describing his ex-boss as "fascist to the core."
Rebutting those charges, John ...Read more
The Georgia Case Against a School Shooter's Father Treats an Inattentive Parent as a Murderer: The Charges, Which Could Send Colin Gray to Prison for the Rest of His Life, Are Part of a Broader Attempt to Criminalize Parental Failures
Colin Gray, whose 14-year-old son is charged with murdering two students and two teachers at a Georgia high school last month, himself faces 29 criminal charges that could send him to prison for the rest of his life. The case is part of a troubling trend in which prosecutors seek to spread the blame for school shootings by criminalizing ...Read more
Chip Mellor's Legacy Promotes a Broader Concept of Civil Liberties: For More Than Three Decades, the Institute for Justice Has Shown That Economic Freedom and Private Property Are Essential Safeguards for Ordinary Americans
The recent death of Chip Mellor, former president of the Institute for Justice, made me think about caskets, but not for the reason you might expect. Mellor, who cofounded that public interest law firm with Clint Bolick in 1991, was instrumental in successfully challenging Tennessee's blatantly protectionist restrictions on sales of "funeral ...Read more
Neither Harris Nor Trump Is a Friend of Free Speech: Both Presidential Candidates (and Their Running Mates) Seem Confused About the First Amendment
During last week's vice presidential debate, the Democratic candidate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, asked his Republican opponent, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), whether then-President Donald Trump lost his 2020 bid for reelection. Because Vance did not want to choose between contradicting reality and contradicting his running mate, he dodged that ...Read more
A Houston Drug Cop's Murder Conviction Highlights the Potentially Deadly Consequences of 'Testilying': Similar Scandals Across the Country Suggest the Problem Is Widespread
Nearly six years ago, Houston drug cops killed a middle-aged couple, Dennis Tuttle and Rhogena Nicholas, after breaking into their home to serve a search warrant. Last week, a jury convicted Gerald Goines, the former narcotics officer who obtained that no-knock warrant by reporting a heroin purchase that never happened, of felony murder.
...Read more
Recent Overdose Trends Underline the Folly of the War on Drugs: Both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris Support Supply-Side Tactics That Are Worse Than Ineffective
The annual U.S. death toll from illegal drugs, which has risen nearly every year since the turn of the century, is expected to fall substantially this year. The timing of that turnaround poses a problem for politicians who aim to prevent substance abuse by disrupting the drug supply.
Those politicians include Republican presidential nominee ...Read more
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