Free Republic

If a person is really a danger to himself or others, confiscating guns isn’t much of a solution. There are so many other ways for disturbed people to cause harm. But advocates of “red flag” laws want people to believe that simply taking away someone’s legally-owned guns means the problem is solved. Last week, the Biden administration announced it was using part of the $1.8 trillion massive spending bill passed after last year’s election to give $231 million to states that enact red-flag laws and push other gun-control policies. After last week’s mass public shooting at Michigan State University, gun-control...

The Transportation Security Administration defended the decision of one of its workers to confiscate a passenger's cupcake Monday, saying the pastry that was taken was not a normal piece of dessert. During the Christmas travel season, when between 1.6 million and 2.3 million people were estimated to have taken a trip by airplane, TSA was heavily criticized for reportedly not allowing a passenger to carry a cupcake through security at Las Vegas's McCarran International Airport. On Monday, the agency said the cupcake in question was in a jar,

The U.S. isn't the only place that's facing a major pension fund crisis. The Christian Science Monitor has this alarming report: People’s retirement savings are a convenient source of revenue for governments that don’t want to reduce spending or make privatizations. As most pension schemes in Europe are organised by the state, European ministers of finance have a facilitated access to the savings accumulated there, and it is only logical that they try to get a hold of this money for their own ends. In recent weeks I have noted five such attempts: Three situations concern private personal savings; two...

Confiscating homes What would you call it if someone forced you to sell your home, even though you didn't want to sell and didn't agree to the price? You would call it theft and phone 911. But the realm of government is cloaked in terminology designed to hide unpleasant realities. When the government does this, it's called "eminent domain," and it's legal. Wilhelmina Dery has lived her entire life in the house where she was born in 1918, in a modest section of New London, Conn. But if she hopes to depart this world from the same place she entered...