Free Republic

Like T.R. Clancy on these pages two days ago, I railed at the moronic, breathless claim the main-stream-media spewed that Kyle Rittenhouse crossed state lines. As Mr. Clancy explained, the United States Interstate Commerce Law mandates the ability to wander among the states freely. One doesn’t have to actually be involved in commerce to travel. Here, in the United States, one has the luxury to visit family, job-hunt, shop and/or sightsee, or move about the country without purpose or permission. So why did the media make a false meme regarding Kyle Rittenhouse’s purported felonious crossing of state lines? With what...

Republicans rammed a bill through the House on Wednesday that would make it easier for gun owners to legally carry concealed weapons across state lines, the first significant action on guns in Congress since mass shootings in Nevada and Texas killed more than 80 people. The House approved the bill, 231-198, largely along party lines. Six Democrats voted yes, while 14 Republicans voted no. The measure would allow gun owners with a state-issued concealed-carry permit to carry a handgun in any state that allows concealed weapons. It now goes to the Senate. Republicans said the reciprocity measure, a top priority...

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. - In a jail chapel, with two renderings of the Last Supper overhead, the family of a 21-year-old University of South Florida student gathered around him Saturday. His father did most of the talking, as they delivered the bad news. â– The accusations that he and a fellow student had a pipe bomb in the trunk of their Toyota Camry as they drove near a Naval weapons station had turned into a federal indictment. Their hopes that state charges, filed by South Carolina authorities, would be dropped after a hearing this month were dashed. Instead, the two...

As silly as it may be in this age of Internet commerce, 24 states ban direct shipment of wine by out-of-state wineries. Three actually consider it a felony. Pursuant to a case the Supreme Court heard on Tuesday, it must decide if these state bans on direct-shipment of wine — wine that is shipped directly from the vineyard to the consumer — is constitutional. The case itself delves into a nasty tangle of constitutional intrepretation that should not be dismissed solely as a question of right vs. wrong. Not surprisingly, for oenophiles and free traders, the case is quite simple:...