Author: Norman Leahy

Public schools have had a tough go in the last few years, much of it related to the pandemic and responses to it. But sometimes, the problems with public schools are entirely self-inflicted and utterly baffling. Consider the school districts getting rid of honors classes in the name of equity. The reasoning behind the moves is that honors classes reinforce existing socio-economic disparities. Naturally, parents are not amused. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the educrats are all-in on the idea: In Santa Monica, Calif., high school English teachers said last year they had “a moral imperative” to eliminate honors…

Local newspapers are in trouble and have been for much of the 21st century. A memo from Lee Enterprises, which owns many outlets across the country, about mandatory furloughs, only adds to the already massive pile of bleak stories about the travails of media. Blame falls on the internet, for taking away ad revenue, social media, Big Tech and so on. Rarely does it fall on the press barons of yore (meaning the 1990s) who treated papers as cash cows that allowed them to overpay for radio, TV and other media toys. But rather than weep for the slow motion…

It was only a few weeks ago that there were headlines about the latest batch of classified documents found in President Joe Biden’s home/garage/nonprofit. It came on the heels of discoveries of secret documents in former Vice President Mike Pence’s possession, not to mention the cache of secret files former President Donald Trump left the White House with. There was much chin-pulling and gnashing of partisan teeth about how all of this put the nation’s security in grave danger (possibly). Or worse, was used for personal gain (maybe). Investigators will sort all of this out in their own good time.…

One aspect of the debt ceiling theater underway in Washington that deserves far more attention than it’s received: the rapidly rising interest payments on Uncle Sam’s $31 trillion pile of debt. In the days of low-to-zero interest rates, debt payments were big, but not outlandishly so. That’s changed substantially since the Federal Reserve has started raising interest rates in order to combat inflation. According to The Wall Street Journal, debt service: …has been among the government’s largest spending increases so far this year, contributing to a deficit that has widened to $460 billion, up 78% from $259 billion in the…

Among the Biden administration’s accomplishments in the last few months has been shepherding through Congress an $80 billion increase in funding for the IRS. Part of the reasoning behind the cash dump was increasing enforcement, making sure those ultra-rich tax scofflaws paid their fair share. But as is too often the case with more aggressive enforcement of federal rules and regulations, it’s the middle and working classes who get the extra scrutiny. Consider the IRS’ renewed and aggressive interest in the humble restaurant tip jar: …the Treasury Department and IRS announced plans to overhaul existing programs that track tips earned…

One of the big policy ideas House Republicans are pursuing now that they have a majority is their so-called “Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government.” It’s meant to sound active, engaged and full of righteous constitutional fury. At best, it’s going to generate a few viral memes – in other words, theater meant to entertain/inflame the base but accomplish nothing of importance. Maybe that’s a good thing. The group will keep several members busy, preventing them from doing any real harm to life or liberty elsewhere. That is the optimistic case. The less optimistic, and far less…

That most politicians have only a passing familiarity with economics, it’s understandable that a lifelong pol like President Joe Biden wouldn’t know competition unless it ran against him in a primary. In his State of the Union speech, Mr. Biden declared, with the confidence common among the ignorant, that “capitalism without competition is not capitalism, it’s exploitation.” Again, setting aside that Biden has spent his adult life as a politician, what does he mean by “competition?” As Reason’s Eric Boehm writes, Biden’s definition of competition – when not obviously statist – is downright incoherent: …the best illustration of this contradiction…

The great H. L. Mencken once wrote that the “whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” Such is the case with children and social media. Sensing a hobgoblin stalking the land from which it can extract political dividends, the political class is proposing not just to ban malefactors like TikTok, but to ban kids from social media altogether: The measure, led by Rep. Chris Stewart (R-Utah), would require companies to verify users’ ages and allow…

State judges are weird creatures. Some are elected to their posts, and others are appointed. Some serve with distinction, others…well. Others come to believe they are the law. Such was the case of West Virginia Family Court Judge Louise Goldston. Goldston faced a General Assembly impeachment effort after allegations she repeatedly violated citizens’ constitutional rights: Judge Goldston’s actions during a March 4, 2020 visit to the property of Matt Gibson, a divorce litigant before Goldston’s court, served as a key variable in subsequent investigations into the judge’s conduct. The visit in question involved Judge Goldston descending upon Gibson’s property –…

It’s no secret that local governments are willing and eager to give the owners of sports teams huge amounts of taxpayer money to build new stadiums. But Glendale, Arizona, the site of this year’s Super Bowl, took catering to the NFL and its owners to a new level. The city passed an ordinance that gave the NFL the right to censor any signs property owners in parts of town could erect on their own land. The Goldwater Institute took the city to court over this clear abridgment of free speech. And it won: The Goldwater Institute scored a major victory…