The course of Lyle McNeal’s life changed in 1972. Then a professor in California Polytechnic State University’s Animal Science Department, McNeal led the college’s Boots and Spurs club on a weeklong trip to the state’s agricultural Salinas Valley. The group visited a ranch whose owners, a father and son duo, provided horses to Hollywood productions. […]
It’s not difficult to attract the attention of government officials, especially if you have a relatively high profile in business, political activism, or journalism. That can lead to difficulty crossing borders, even in countries with relatively firm civil liberties protections, such as the United States. Officials at border crossings often have powers beyond those of […]
This week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) released new guidance on “facility visit and engagement protocol for Members of Congress and staff.” “ICE detention locations and Field Offices are secure facilities. As such, all visitors are required to comply with [identity] verification and security screening requirements prior to entry,” it specified. “When planning to […]
Reckless spending has been driving Social Security toward a fiscal cliff. Scheduled benefits will have to be cut by 23 percent in 2033 to keep the program solvent. This is the grim conclusion drawn by the trustees of Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASDI) trust funds, who published their annual report […]
If you think federal regulators care about data-driven, evidence-based policymaking, a case currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit will leave you scratching your head. The case involves a terrible Biden administration regulation driven by Big Labor. In defending this regulation, which mandates that crews on freight trains include at least […]
As the U.S. grapples with ballooning federal budgets and increasingly necessary spending cuts, the military remains ripe for austerity. In February, the Pentagon suggested cutting $50 billion per year from its budget over the next five years—a good start but nowhere near enough, considering the Trump administration is floating a defense budget of nearly $1 […]
Brendan Carr used to talk a big game on free speech. In 2021, when members of Congress urged the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the sale of a Miami radio station over its perceived political slant, Carr—one of the agency’s commissioners—called that move “a deeply troubling transgression of free speech and the FCC’s status as […]
As military parades go, the celebration in Washington, D.C. turned out to be an innocuous affair and not the triumph of fascist pageantry its loudest critics feared. Soldiers paraded in period uniforms and old and modern equipment rumbled through the streets (and roared overhead) in sufficient quantity to satisfy most history buffs. Nary a uniformed […]
With the Department of Government Efficiency aiming to reduce the size and scope of the federal bureaucracy, the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) has not been immune. The agency recently reported a 13 percent reduction in its workforce since last year. While much of this appears to have come in the form of “voluntary […]
“I don’t want to be told how many calories are in my Big Mac meal or my quarter pounder meal. I don’t want the government telling me that I can’t put salt on my food,” Sean Hannity declared on Fox News in 2010. “I like junk food. I like McDonald’s. I like Wendy’s. I like Burger […]