As Democratic presidential candidates sweep across the state in advance of Saturday’s caucus rural voters should pay close attention — as if your life depends on it, because it does — to what they say about their plans for changing how Americans pay for health care. Two of them — Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren — are advocating what has been dubbed “Medicare for … [Read more...]
Courts Should Overturn ‘Red Flag’ Law
A citizens’ rights organization has filed a lawsuit in Carson City District Court seeking an injunction to prevent the enforcement of the “Red Flag” provision of a law passed by Nevada lawmakers earlier this year. Under the Red Flag section of the law persons accused of being a potential danger to themselves or others may have their firearms confiscated by order of a … [Read more...]
No Primaries would be Better than Blanket Primaries
An initiative petition filed two weeks ago would, if successful, make political parties in Nevada largely irrelevant. The proposal filed by Reno Republican state Sen. Ben Kieckhefer seeks to change the June primary elections to a blanket system in which all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, would be voted on by all registered voters no matter their party … [Read more...]
In Whom Should We Trust Our Future?
A couple of weeks ago at the 50th World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 17-year-old Swedish environmental scold Greta Thunberg for the second year in a row ranted about eminent climate catastrophe and urged the attendees to do something to prevent it immediately if not yesterday. “In the days running up to the 50th anniversary of the World Economic Forum, I joined a … [Read more...]
Is the Equal Rights Amendment Really Worth Implementing?
Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford has joined the attorneys general of Virginia and Illinois in filing a lawsuit seeking to force the recognition of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as the 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The ERA would dictate that no rights could be denied or abridged “on account of sex.” A constitutional amendment must be approved by two-thirds of … [Read more...]
WOTUS Rule Change Returns Power to the States
The usual suspects in the self-styled environmental groups predictably collapsed into palpitating conniptions this past week when the Trump administration announced its final rule rolling back the Obama-era rule that overreachingly defined the waters of the United States (WOTUS) covered by the Clean Water Act of 1972 as every stream, ditch, wetland or muddy hoof print that … [Read more...]
The Fight for Free Speech Never Ends
Ten years ago this month the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the free speech portion of the First Amendment, declaring in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that a federal law prohibiting people from spending their own money to make their political opinions known could not pass constitutional muster. The decision has been under constant attack by Democrats … [Read more...]
Why the NEPA Rules Needed Streamlining
While Democrats in Congress were having palpitations and forecasting climate catastrophe as a result of the Trump administration’s streamlining of rules governing the review of federally funded infrastructure projects under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1970, Nevada’s lone Republican representative in Congress took the time to review the rules and finds the … [Read more...]