Free Republic

There have been many academic studies showing that gun turn in events, also known by the propaganda term "buy back", have little or no known effect on crime.   They are considered a waste of police resources.  They are also a waste because there is no reason to destroy the valuable firearms collected, other than to send the propaganda message that guns are bad and should be destroyed. Several states have enacted legislation to stop this practice.  If those who organize these events wished to make them more effective, they would coordinate with private buyers so that valuable guns would...

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) organized a fast food protest, demanding that their prospective members all price themselves out of a job. So, understandably unable to resist a straight line while filling in as a talk show guest host, pundit Erick Erickson said that if you’re still earning minimum wage at 30, you’ve probably failed at life. It’s easy to blast Mr. Erickson for the tone-deafness of his comment. While certainly true of some, his quip is hardly true of most minimum wage employees. But is that fair? Is it reasonable, or helpful to the national economic and social...

It's official. Chrysler has now wholly-merged with Italian auto maker, Fiat. It had taken a bit over five years for Fiat to gain total control of the bailed out, once-American Chrysler Corporation. Back in June of 2009, President Obama gifted (payment was made in the form of "technology") an initial 20% stake in Chrysler to Fiat as part of his orchestrated auto bailout process. Fiat parlayed that into full ownership and is now showing its gratitude to the American taxpayers who helped fund the deal by relocating Chrysler's headquarters to London ; a move which will lessen the company's...

“Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.” – Thomas Jefferson Histories are generally written by academics. They, quite naturally, tend to focus on the main events: the wars and the struggles between leaders and their opponents (both external and internal). Whilst these are interesting stories to read, academics, by their very nature, often overlook the underlying causes for an empire’s decline. Today, as in any era, most people are primarily interested in the “news”—the daily information regarding the world’s political leaders...

Cleveland held its annual gun turn in "buy back" today, 6 September.   People turned in 270 firearms.  The term "buy back" is a pure propaganda term, because the guns never belonged to the people who are buying them.   From 19actionnews.com: The Cleveland Police Department's eighth annual buyback seemed successful, taking in 270 weapons during the event, including seven shotguns, 10 rifles and 253 handguns. Some of the guns were much more valuable than the $100 gift card given for handguns, or the $200 gift card given for semi-automatic long guns.   Some of the guns, such as the older...

Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has warned Russia may shut its air corridors to Western airlines if the next round of European sanctions hit Russian energy companies. "If there are sanctions related to the energy sector, or further restrictions on Russia's financial sector, we will have to respond asymmetrically,” Medvedev said in an interview with the Vedomosti newspaper, published on Monday. EU ministers will gather on Monday to discuss new sanctions against Russia and are rumored to be introduced on Tuesday. The prime minister promised a strong retaliation if the West slaps Russia with more sanctions. “We could impose transport restrictions,”...

WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)- Gasoline prices in Delaware continue to plummet as the price of crude oil has fallen nearly 70 percent from its mid-summer high. AAA Mid-Atlantic says the average price for a gallon of regular in Delaware is $1.71....

Volume two of the project I started writing in 2011, titled Political Order in Changing Societies, hits bookstores later this month. It is an attempt to map out how modern states have evolved out of patrimonial ones, and tries to show how simplistic understandings of how development works can lead to disastrous policy. I have not posted to this blog in almost a year because I have been busy finishing up my book Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy. The book is now complete and will be published by Farrar, Straus and...

.22 rimfire is starting to become more available, as tremendous demand is being met.   From around the country I am hearing reports of more .22 rimfire being available, though supplies are still not sufficient to keep stores stocked. My friend Jerry needed to purchase some shotgun ammunition for dove hunting, as I was taking his son and friend out as beginning hunters.   We drove to Wal Mart.   Shotgun ammunition has never been in short supply.   Wal Mart was out of dove loads!  Shooting dove with duck loads or buck shot is not a good idea.   I should explain that...

So L3 Communications, the makers of the PEQ-15, have made a civilian-legal Class 1 version, which they call the ATPIAL-C (“C” for “Commercial”). It’s basically the PEQ-15, made on the same production line out of most of the same parts, just without the high-energy mode. Even side by side they’re hard to tell apart. (Look at the laser safety label — the ATPIAL-C has a triangular warning icon, as befits its lower-energy laser, and the PEQ-2 the red starburst of an eye-unsafe laser). What you give up with the -C model is some range on the laser pointer, a lot...

All of the forecasts made by a legion of climate charlatans in the 1980s and 1990s turned out to be WRONG. If I need my car repaired, I do not take it to a dentist. If I am seeking advice about the climate I check out what climatologists and meteorologists are saying, at least those who have not sold their souls to the global warming/climate change hoax. On September 3 The Wall Street Journal published a commentary by Edward P. Lazear titled “The Climate Change Agenda Needs to Adapt to Reality: Limiting carbon emissions won’t work. Better to begin adjusting...

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the Obama economic recovery is a complete sham! Barack the Barista, aided by his media muppets and trusty teleprompter, continues to tout the “common core” 6.1% unemployment rate while shouting “America is back” from the top of Mount Hypocrisy amidst adoring crowds of mindless Kool-Aid drinkers. As expected, our so-called President is excluding one teensy-weensy, minor detail: Over 92 MILLION Americans, more than a third of the country, are not working! Workforce participation is at an atrocious 62.8%, the lowest rate since Carter’s implosion in 1978, and food stamp recipients have...

Over glasses of wine and a disco-spinning DJ, more than a dozen government-funded game developers showcased their products on a Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. Various government agencies have been paying these developers millions of dollars to create educational video games. The games ran the gamut from a Common Core-aligned, Shire-themed math challenge to a “judgment-free” historical role-playing game—and none of them were cheap. One young developer was eager to explain that the government spends more on these programs than most people might imagine. They’re usually funded through the Small Business Innovation Research Program (SBIR), on which the government spends...

new report shows some 53 million Americans—or 34 percent of the U.S. workforce—are now working as freelancers in some capacity. "This is more than an economic change," asserts the report, a joint effort from the Freelancer's Union and freelance markeplaces oDesk and eLance. It's also "a cultural and social shift" that will "have major impacts on how Americans conceive of and organize their lives, their communities, and their economic power." The first and last time anyone looked at the freelance worker population in the U.S. was 2004, in a report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Back then the GAO...

In the wake of the brutal slaying of Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Missouri, locals protested and were faced with law enforcement armed with military-grade weaponry. The night turned chaotic, and protesters looted and then burned at least one store, a local QuikTrip. The video below went viral quickly.(VIDEO-AT-LINK)It wasn’t a great moment for the protesters. The condemnations poured in quickly. After a moment’s thought, I posted this to twitter. Jesse Berney @jesseberney Are you a white person thinking about tsk-tsking the #Ferguson protesters over looting? May I suggest a healthy serving of can u not 10:16 PM -...

Hip hop artist and activist Jasiri X (right) speaks during a town hall discussion on Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Mo., and police brutality as Ron Hampton, former executive director of the National Black Police Association looks on.WASHINGTON (NNPA) – During a rousing, standing-room only town hall discussion dedicated to the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and police killings of young, Black men across the nation, Ron Daniels, declared, “a state of emergency in Black America.” Daniels, president of the Institute of the Black World 21st Century (IBW), a group devoted to the social, political and economic...

I had read about Moms Demanding Action's strident calling for a boycott of Kroger's over MDA's dislike of the exercise of the second amendment.  I had also read the new media's urging to show support for Kroger's polite reply that the MDA's should mind their own business.   Of course, political manipulation is the MDA's business... and that runs exactly contrary to the limits on government that allow for toleration of others. So I stopped at Fry's and filled up the tank.   I was open carrying, as I usually am in Arizona, especially at this time of year.  Opening day...

If you were wondering why the White House suddenly took an interest in the consequences of tax inversion deals last spring, here is the reason – a pair of Wall Streeters with ties to the Obama administration made some calls on behalf of AstraZeneca which, you may recall, was trying to fend off an unwanted bid from Pfizer. Pfizer cited a tax inversion as one reason for its offer. Specifically, AstraZeneca employed Thomas Nides, a Morgan Stanley vice chairman who was deputy secretary of state in the Obama administration until last year, and who also served in the Clinton administration....

Three things fast food workers should do with the “extra” money you’ll get if the national minimum wage is raised from $7.25 to $15 per hour. For argument sake, let’s call the average minimum wage $7.85 to account for California, New York, Arizona, Colorado, Montana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Nevada, Ohio, Illinois and Florida, all of whom have something in the neighborhood of $8 (give or take).  Socialist enclaves of Oregon, Washington, Vermont, and Connecticut are in the $9 range, with Washington the winner at $9.32. Let’s also set the number of hours per week at 30 for the average burger-flipper or fry...

An extensive interview with Steve Forbes on the gold standard, economics and America's future. We touch on topics including among others: *The link between foreign policy/American strength and monetary policy *How currency devaluation helps the financial sector to the detriment of the rest of the American economy [Starting at 3:00] *The significance of a strong currency in enabling trade and thus trust, and social stability/morality *Why the historical record of the gold standard should trump the arguments of its naysayers *Whether politicians will ever be incentivized to truly support a sound dollar *Why quantitative easing was more disastrous than the...