Free Republic

Maine is moving toward constitutional or permitless carry.  It is not a large step for Maine, which has a fairly liberal concealed carry law and constitutional open carry.   The bill, LD 652 need only be signed by the Governor to become law, and it seems likely that Governor Le Page will sign it.  But that does not stop a Maine disarmist from complaining.  From centralmain.com: "And there is no good I can see in having anyone carry concealed guns without permits, training, background checks and minimum age requirements." So it all comes down to a lack of imagination on...

Police in Overton, Texas ordered two sisters, Zoey (aged 7) and Andria Green (aged 8) to “cease and desist” selling lemonade in their efforts to raise money to buy a Father’s Day gift for their dad. “Selling anything in Texas without a permit is illegal,” explained rousting officer Doug Stamper. “It doesn’t matter that neighborhood lemonade stands have been a time-honored way for kids to make a buck. Under the law, they need to buy a permit if they want to sell lemonade.” The cost of the required permit is $150. Few kids would have the funds to afford it....

Anarchy reigned in Mankato, Minn., for a short time last week before authorities stepped in to curb the scourge of outdoor dining without enough live plants in the vicinity. The Mankato Times reports police shut down the patio at Blue Bricks on Front Street last week after they determined there weren’t enough flowers nearby. In Mankato, 25 percent of the area around patio dining has to have at least 25 percent live plants

Fox News’s Megyn Kelly began Thursday’s edition of The Kelly File by ripping into President Barack Obama and plans for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to regulate and enforce the diversity of neighborhoods (and particularly wealthy ones). A few hours after the major broadcast networks ignored this story on their evening newscasts, Kelly made clear her disdain with the President and referred to him as “[t]he man who changed your health care system forever” that’s “now pushing to change your neighborhood” and especially “if Uncle Sam feels it is not inclusive enough.”VideoCiting the administration’s line that they’re...

Is there any way to reverse the trend toward ever more intrusive, bossy government? Things have gotten to such a pass, argues Charles Murray, that only civil disobedience might -- might -- work. But the chances are good enough, he says, that he's written a book about it: "By the People: Rebuilding Liberty Without Permission." Murray has a track record of making seemingly outlandish proposals that turn out to be widely accepted public policy. His 1984 book "Losing Ground" recommended the radical step of abolishing all welfare payments. A dozen years later, the federal welfare reform act took a long...

May 30, 2015 Published by Stand Up America For: Limited Distribution The AMERICANS strongly believe that life, liberty, citizenship and the pursuit of happiness are the unalienable RIGHTS of every American Citizen that cannot be taken or transferred. However, not until We the People become brutally frank with ourselves and with each other will the Constitution be taken off the shelf and once again become operational. Only then can the Republic can be restored and preserved in its original ordained Constitutional Power and form. We The People have suffered enormously since 1913 under the combined rule of two domineering political...

Earlier today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) finalized a much anticipated rule that would redefine “Waters of the United States” and vastly expand the two agencies’ regulatory authority over the nation’s water resources. EPA and the Corps proposed the rule in April 2014 seeking to clarify precisely what water resources it classified as “navigable” and, thus, able to be regulated under the Clean Water Act (CWA). The move to redefine “Waters of the United States” comes after the Supreme Court twice checked the agencies’ overly broad interpretation of the CWA in Solid...

Complete Headline: Kerry: Internet 'Needs Rules to Be Able to Flourish and Work Properly' - Calls for more international Internet laws. In a speech today in South Korea, Secretary of State John Kerry said that the Internet "needs rules to be able to flourish and work properly." This, according to Kerry, is necessary even for "a technology founded on freedom." Speaking on behalf of the Obama administration, Kerry said that Internet policy is "a key component of our foreign policy." Kerry made his remarks in the context of talking about how international law is applicable to the Internet.

The number of jobs in manufacturing has declined by 7,231,000—or 37 percent—since employment in manufacturing peaked in the United States in 1979, according to data published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The real median household income of Americans who have completed high school—but have not attained a higher degree—also peaked in the 1970s and has declined since then. In fact, according to the Census Bureau (Tables H-13 and H-14), the real median household income of an American householder who has completed four years of high school peaked in 1973 at $56,395 in constant 2013 dollars. By 2013, it was...

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued a regulation for Christmas lights on Monday, deeming some holiday decorations a “substantial product hazard.”“The Consumer Product Safety Commission … is issuing a final rule to specify that seasonal and decorative lighting products that do not contain any one of three readily observable characteristics (minimum wire size, sufficient strain relief, or overcurrent protection), as addressed in a voluntary standard, are deemed a substantial product hazard under the Consumer Product Safety Act (“CPSA”),” the final rule said.The ruling applies to a variety of Christmas decorations, including “stars, wreathes, candles without shades, light sculptures, blow-molded...

I’m an immigrant who has realized the American dream. But Washington’s new labor rules are a nightmare. In 1985 I left my home in Pakistan at age 19 and came to the United States with the help of an uncle. I considered this my best chance to start a life away from the government control and corruption that troubled my country. That proved true. Through hard work, I learned to run restaurants and I now own dozens of stores as a franchisee. But the National Labor Relations Board is threatening to upend my business model by muddling the distinction between...

A bill proposed in California would allow classic car owners to cut a check to the DMV for $200 to get out of the state’s notoriously strict smog test. But naturally, it’s a bit more complicated than just paying off the Golden State. Any car in California built on or after 1976 has to undergo a smog test every two years (not so for pre-76 cars, which is one of the reasons my 1976 BMW 2002 is now living in Florida). AB550 seeks to amend that law to allow vehicles 30 years or older to bypass the test, but only...

With this being budget week, the federal government’s taxing and spending decisions are under the microscope — as they should be in a healthy democracy. But what about government’s hidden tax: regulation? With no equivalent of a federal budget day, regulatory decisions and their implications get precious little scrutiny and we are all worse for it. Thankfully, regulatory transparency got a considerable boost Thursday when the Red Tape Reduction Act (C-21) received Royal Assent and became law. Minister Tony Clement, who has championed the bill, can be proud that Canada is now the first country in the world to require that for...

WXAN reports Austin City Council members debated a plan earlier this month to put restrictions on smoke from barbecue restaurants. Council member Pio Renteria asked council to regulate the amount of smoke that comes from food trucks and restaurants within 100 feet of residential areas. Renteria said residents complained to him that smoke coming from BBQ joints caused them to not be able to open their windows or enjoy their backyards. …

First it was light bulbs, now Uncle Sam wants your water heater to be more efficient - and it could cost you a lot more money to comply with the new rules. Angie's List founder, Angie Hicks, said new regulations will save money in the long run. “Your water heater is the second largest consumer of energy in your home right behind your heating and cooling system. So, any improvement in your water heaters efficiency is going to pay dividends in your monthly utility bills.” But it will cost you more in the short term, if you need to buy...

Liberal policies turn a small problem into a statewide crisis.My family and I are in Los Angeles this week for some meetings concerning a super-secret venture, which, dude . . . it's super-secret! (But it won't be for long.)But one of the first things that became clear when we got here is that the state is in the midst of a water crisis - one so serious that Gov. Jerry (Moonbeam) Brown has imposed an unprecedented set of restrictions on the use of water. Friends we visited for Easter tell us the state isn't messing around. They send inspectors around...

They're doing it again! When the last housing bubble burst, politicians blamed "greedy banks." They said mortgage companies lent money recklessly, making loans to people with dubious credit, for down payments as low as 3 percent. "It will work out," said the optimistic bankers. Regulators didn't disagree. Everyone said, "Home prices will keep going up." And home prices did -- until they didn't. The bubble popped in 2007. Lots of people were hurt, and politicians took more of your tax money to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac along with reckless banks. They also gave the Federal Housing Administration...

Lockheed Martin, a recent Washington Post article notes, is getting into renewable energy, nuclear fusion, “sustainability” and even fish farming projects, to augment its reduced defense profits. The company plans to forge new ties with Defense Department and other Obama initiatives, based on a shared belief in manmade climate change as a critical security and planetary threat. It is charging ahead where other defense contractors have failed, confident that its expertise, lobbying skills and “socially responsible” commitment to preventing climate chaos will land it plentiful contracts and subsidies. As with its polar counterparts, 90% of the titanic climate funding iceberg...

Why should the Internet—a “modern technology”—be subject to regulations originally drafted in the mid-1930s? The Federal Communications Commission’s recent vote was less an adoption of “Net Neutrality” regulations and more a carte blanche redefining of Internet services. In redefining the Internet as a “public utility,” the FCC exposes Internet and broadband service providers to regulatory schemes crafted when rotary phones and switchboards were the norm. We can only guess what the actual regulations will say for the next couple weeks, since FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler crafted them behind closed doors and has yet to release them. While we wait for...

In late 2014, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a rule that would further ratchet down national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ground level ozone from the current level of 75 parts per billion (ppb) to a range of 65 to 70 ppb. Notably, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) declared the proposal to be the most expensive regulation ever imposed on the country. A study recently conducted by NERA Economic Consulting and commissioned by NAM confirms NAM’s earlier statement. Specifically, the study reveals that reducing the current ozone standard to 65 ppb would reduce U.S. gross...