Category: links

Fixing the welfare state, for everybody’s benefit, should be high on the political agenda. But if a fix isn’t possible, maybe we should be thinking more radically about its very real problems.

Click on over to Townhall.com, for Paul Jacob’s December 20, 2015, column. Then come back here, for more information.

• Cato: “Finland to Break New Ground with Basic Income Experiment,” by Charles Hughes
• Independent Institute: “Property Rights, Coercion, and the Welfare State: The Libertarian Case for a Basic Income for All,” by Matt Zwolinski
• Independent Institute: “A Philosophical Economist’s Case against a Government-Guaranteed Basic Income,” by David R. Henderson
• The Tom Woods Show: “Should Libertarians Support a Basic Income Guarantee?,” Tom Woods interviewing Matt Zwolinski
• The Foundation for Law, Justice and Society: “Guaranteed Income as a Replacement for the Welfare State,” by Charles Murray
• The Atlantic: “The Conservative Case for a Guaranteed Basic Income,” by Noah Gordon
• Cato: “Tangled Web of Welfare Programs Creates High Tax Rates on Participants,” by Charles Hughes
• Congressional Budget Office: “Effective Marginal Tax Rates for Low- and Moderate-Income Workers in 2016”
• The Guardian: “Even in Finland, universal basic income is too good to be true,” by Declan Gaffney
• Adam Smith Institute: “Will the Finns be the first to introduce a basic income?” by Mikko I Arevuo

On Saturday, we regaled you with the video clip of Gov. John Kasich, more than straddling the proverbial fence, indeed . . . jumping around it like a rodeo clown — or perhaps someone in a tad less control.

Today, at Townhall.com, we aim to edify . . . with an analysis of same. Click on over, then come back here, for more Governor John Kasich fun!

• YouTube: Gov. John Kasich Speaks at New Hampshire Townhall
• Spectator (1994 Flashback): “The Trouble With Kasich,” by Robert Novak
• Plunderbund: ‘Eight Is Enough For Ohio Politicians’ Term Limit Group Says
• Ohio Watchdog: Seen the light? Ohio Gov. Kasich says Bible supports Obamacare
• Ohio Rising: Trouble on the Right for Governor Kasich
• ABC News: Meet John Kasich
• John Kasich: Mom Told Me to Find a Jewish Friend
• The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Kasich explains his stand on marijuana
• Politico: Kasich calls for new federal agency to promote Judeo-Christian values
• Matthew 25

In the face of terrorism and mass murder, some reach for their weapons — in self-defense.

Others reach . . . to take away our rights. Expanding on Friday’s thoughts, Your Column Sense columnist essays a new domino cascade, at Townhall.com. Click on over, then come back here, for more reading:

• NRA Statement on Terror Watch List Distortions
• USA Today: Ryan urges caution on gun legislation
• USA Today: Clinton takes on issue of terror suspects legally buying U.S. guns
• Breitbart: San Bernardino Destroys Gun Control Movement
• Carly Fiorina on MSNBC’s Morning Joe
• Diane Feinstein on 1995 Gun Ban: Mr. and Mrs. America, turn in your guns
• Cato: “The New McCarthyism,” by Dave Kopel
• New York Daily News: Toddler flagged on TSA ‘no-fly’ list
• Daily Mail: How YOU could end up on the No-Fly List
• Townhall: Let’s Repeal Freedom of Speech?

This week, Common Sense looks at the insanity of “cultural appropriation.” Which has reached a new low point of crazed nincompoopery in Ontario. See Sunday’s column on Townhall.com, by Yours Truly, Paul Jacob. Then come back here for further forays into the realm of modern progressive ideology gone completely off its rocker:

• Ottawa Sun: “Free Ottawa Yoga Class Scrapped Over Cultural Issues”
• Spiked: Patrick West – “Cultural Appropriation Will Eat Itself”
• The Spectator: Brendan O’Neill – “This obsession with ‘cultural appropriation’ is leading us down a very dark path”
• The Atlantic: Jenni Avins – “The Dos and Don’ts of Cultural Appropriation”
• YouTube: “Look . . . to their actions, not to their race.”
• Washington Post: The war on ‘microaggressions:’ Has it created a ‘victimhood culture’ on campuses?
• University of California: Recognizing Microaggressions
• Bloomberg View: Megan McCardle – “How Grown-Ups Deal With ‘Microaggressions”
• YouTube: “Sargon of Akkad” — “The Terror of Racism in Higher Education (#NationalOffendACollegeStudentDay)
• Wikipedia: Animal Farm
• Barstool Sports: Yale Administrator Explains To Protestors What “Free Speech” Means
• The Atlantic: “The New Intolerance of Student Activism”

• The Iroquois Confederacy and the U.S. Constitution

Government is supposed to defend our rights, including rights to property. Too often, our police departments merely steal. Play criminal themselves. Click on over to Townhall.com for the full story. Come back here for more reading . . . and viewing:

• Institute for Justice – TAKEN: New Report Finds Civil Forfeiture Laws Are Fueling Explosive Growth in Property Seizures
• Institute for Justice report – Policing for Profit: The Abuse of Civil Asset Forfeiture
• Washington Post – Most Americans don’t realize it’s this easy for police to take your cash
• YouTube – Policing for Profit Visualized: How Big Is Civil Forfeiture?
• Washington Post – Radley Balko: The Booming Business of Asset Forfeiture
• Watchdog.org – CA’s bright spot on civil asset forfeiture overshadowed by federal entanglements
• New York Post – Jacob Sullum: Lame excuses for letting the cops be robbers
• Washington Post – Radley Balko: How much civil asset forfeiture will Holder’s new policy actually prevent?
• Washington Free Beacon – Feds Take $4.5 Billion Worth of Private Property From Americans in 2014

There is more to the Jon Woods story than previously essayed here on Common Sense. So click over to Townhall and learn. Some of it will be familiar, but the new information is interesting too.

Oh, and some background reading:

Wicked Mr. Woods is Out 

• NW Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Woods Leaving Springdale Senate Seat
• Talk Business & Politics: Woods drops out of Northwest Arkansas Senate race; Eads announces run for the open seat
• Arkansas Times: Jon Woods will not seek re-election to state Senate

Saving Term Limits

• Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Ballot proposal on term limits submitted
• Restore Term Limits
• Townhall: The Deceivers
• Ballotpedia: Issue 3

A Thoroughly Unethical Politician 

• Common Sense: Stop Phony Crony Pay Raise
• CFA: Senator Jon Woods and the demise of the Arkansas ethics law
• CFA: General Improvement Fund Award Attracts Investigators
• Calendar of Lobbyist Lunches for Arkansas Legislators
• Conduit for Action
• Common Sense: Who Needs Elections?