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Pollinator “Strategy”: Pork Barrel, Handouts, and Counterproductive Pesticide Policy
The Obama administration has finally released its National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and other Pollinators. It’s the federal government’s answer to all…
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Long Mass Transit Commutes Are Horrible for Your Health
Joseph Stromberg at Vox.com has an article up arguing that “commuting alone by car” is “associated with obesity, high blood pressure, sleeplessness, and general unhappiness” relative…
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Defund the Partisan NLRB
One of the primary objectives of the National Labor Relations Act is to remedy the perceived "inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers. However,…
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Johnson-Crapo’s Reemergence Ruins Reg Relief Bill
Last year, an overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac called Johnson-Crapo—named after then Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) and Ranking Member Mike…
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Welfare Recipients Relabeled As “Workers” Despite Doing Little or No Work
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Yes, It Is Stupid to Blame Lack of Subsidies for Amtrak’s Derailment
This morning, Amtrak Northeast Regional service was finally reopened following last week’s tragic derailment in Philadelphia that has killed at least eight and injured approximately 200.
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a slow week despite more than 1,300 Federal Register pages, with just 36 proposed regulations and fewer than 50 final regulations, ranging from spearmint oil…
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Dodd-Frank’s Thousands of Commandments and Near-Zero Benefits
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Regulation: A Hidden Tax
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Missouri House and Senate Pass Right to Work
On May 12, Missouri took a great leap forward toward becoming the 26th right to work (RTW) state. First, the State Senate passed the bill…
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Right to Work is Right for Missouri
On May 12, Missouri took a great leap forward toward becoming the 26th right to work (RTW) state. First, the State Senate passed the bill…
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Ten Thousand Commandments
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CEI Shows Support for Sen. Capito’s Greenhouse Gas Legislation
Today the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) showed its support of a new legislative effort to pushback against the “Clean Power” Plan. Introduced by U.S. Senator…
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U.S. Pollinator Policy Should Focus on Facts Rather than Alarmism
Today, the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Biotechnology, Horticulture and Research is holding a hearing on “pollinator health” to discuss a national strategy designed to improve honeybee…
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This Week Is Infrastructure Week
In the lead-up to the May 31 sunset date for federal highway funding, this week is “Infrastructure Week”—a week for scholars, advocates, and policy…
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Government Union Collective Bargaining Needs Sunlight
Taxpayers should have a right to know how tax dollars are spent. Unfortunately, one of state and local governments' largest expenditures, public union contracts, mostly…
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Ten Thousand Commandments 2015: A Fact Sheet
Ten Thousand Commandments is the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s annual survey of the size, scope and cost of federal regulations, and how they affect American…
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Not So Fast: Fatally Flawed Research Asserts Alcohol Taxes Save Lives
Last month, researchers at the University of Florida published a study in the American Journal of Public Health that concluded, “Increases in alcohol excise taxes, such…
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New Tax Foundation Report Endorses PFC Modernization
The Tax Foundation today released a new report, “Improving Airport Funding to Meet the Needs of Passengers.” Authored by Tax Foundation economist Alan Cole, the…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Last week’s raft of new rules covers everything from school lunch workers to Flugzeugbau gliders. On to the data: Last week, 65 new final regulations…
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President Again Makes False Claims about Supreme Court’s Ledbetter Decision
On April 15, President Obama once again made false claims about what the Supreme Court did in its decision in Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire &…
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Congress Tables Ambush Election Resolution of Disapproval
The Competitive Enterprise Institute planned on scoring the Senate’s veto override vote on S.J. Res. 8, a Congressional Review Act Resolution of Disapproval to void…
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Will Gov. Cuomo Kill the Economic Opportunity James Franco Extols?
Kudos to actor, writer, and director James Franco for his Washington Post piece yesterday explaining an important benefit of McDonald’s and the fast-food and franchise industries writ…
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In re Capital One TCPA Litigation Seventh Circuit appeal
Litigation over whether Capital One and its affiliates violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act settled for $75.5 million—about $4 for each of the 17.5 million…
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Congress Gives Up Fight against NLRB Ambush Election Rule
The Competitive Enterprise Institute planned on scoring the Senate’s veto override vote on S.J. Res. 8, a Congressional Review Act Resolution of Disapproval to void…
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On Bee Enslavement and Other Nonsense
I’ve seen many crazy headlines about the challenges facing honeybees, but this one takes the cake: “Bee collapse is the result of their enslavement…
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The “Draw Muhammad” Contest and the Futility of Trying to Correct Journalistic Mistakes about the Law
​Journalists often not only get the law wrong, but then have the audacity to smugly talk down to people who attempt to correct them (usually…
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Why Is the Federal Government Threatening Times Square’s Billboards?
Colleagues tipped me off to an absurd news story about how the federal government is threatening to punish New York City for its famously gaudy Times…
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Trade Promotion Authority: Addressing Some Criticisms
Some members of Congress are concerned about Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), which would fast track trade negotiating authority, but in fact it would be a…
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Labor Department “Fiduciary Rule” Threatens to Eviscerate JOBS Act Gains for Investors, Entrepreneurs
Three years ago, President Barack Obama signed into law the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, modestly but significantly liberalizing securities markets for investors and…
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Republicans Vote in Favor of Union Giveaways
Last week, the Competitive Enterprise Institute sent out a Key Vote alert on two amendments. Both were designed to save taxpayers money by ending policies…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The 1,000th new regulation of 2015 was published in Friday’s Federal Register, which itself hit the 25,000-page mark on the year. Even so, agencies are still…
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ERAM Deployed Five Years Late, NRC Blasts FAA on NextGen Delays
We saw two announcements on air traffic control modernization last week. The first was that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) had finally completed its En Route…
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Key Vote Alert: “YES” on Overriding the Veto of S. J. Res. 8
On Monday, May 4, 2015, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score the Senate’s veto override vote on S. J. Res. 8, a Congressional Review…
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Key Votes Alert: Amendments to H.R. 2029, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill
Key Votes Alert: Amendments to H.R. 2029, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) will score votes in the…
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Deceptive Discrimination Laws
Discrimination may be bad for business, but that doesn’t mean laws banning discrimination are good for business. Often, these laws are like the proverbial Trojan…
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How to Improve the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill
The Energy and Water Development Appropriations bill for FY 2016 passed by the House Appropriations Committee spends too much, but does move some funding from…
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CEI Statements on the Failed Comcast-Time Warner Merger
CEI responded to the news that the Comcast-Time Warner merger failed. You can read more analysis from CEI's Vice President for Policy Wayne Crews here.
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
The big news in regulation for the week came from Canada, which made official its one-in, one-out policy for new regulations. New regulations from agencies…
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Why the TPA Is Needed
The Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill currently moving through Congress is attracting controversy. It is worth explaining the background to why TPA is necessary in…
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Who Dares Question the Mighty Oz?
Yesterday, Dr. Mehmet Oz launched his “counter attack” on several doctors who sent a letter last week to the dean of Columbia University’s medical department complaining…
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CEI Submits Comments to FAA on Small Drone Certification and Operations Proposed Rules
Today, I submitted comments to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on behalf of CEI on its notice of proposed rulemaking for small unmanned…
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Let Amtrak Pay Its Own Way
Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute has a great blog post outlining the various ills besetting America’s government-subsidized passenger rail carrier Amtrak. The gist of O’Toole’s…
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Comcast-Time Warner Cable Merger Derailed
Today we’ve learned again that bureaucrats and their enormous kingdoms come before consumer welfare. The collapse of the Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger merely because of the interference of government,…
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Theatrical Union Ignores Membership Vote to End Volunteering Exemption
If a vote goes against you, ignore it. That is what a theatrical union did this week, when it announced it would ditch a longstanding…
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Protecting the Earth Isn’t Just Government Work
This April will mark the 45th anniversary of Earth Day. Since 1970, countless people around the world have used the day to celebrate the beauty…
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Is Earth Day on Lenin’s Birthday a Coincidence?
It may be sheer coincidence, but it’s all too fitting that the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, would occur on V.I. Lenin’s 100th birthday, given…
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How Capitalism Created the Modern Family
Prof. Steve Horwitz of St. Lawrence University has a fascinating article up at MarketWatch, in which he argues that many of the major changes in family…
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Balanced Budgets and Regulatory Budgets
The Joint House-Senate Conference Meeting on the federal budget has begun. Chairman Tom Price of Georgia remarked: Completing a budget is one of…
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Google Now Opposes State Automated Vehicle Legislation?
Back in 2012, I warned that California’s bill (now law) that would explicitly recognize the legality of automated vehicles and order state regulators to develop a…
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Gruber’s Disciples Gunning for Your IRA and 401(k)
Is Jonathan Gruber, the MIT economist who seemingly dropped out of public view after he was caught on camera bragging how he and other Obamacare…
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Fix Cyber Information Sharing Bill, Free Market Groups Urge
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, TechFreedom and a coalition of free-market groups issued an open letter to Members of Congress, urging them to consider amendments…
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Presidential Candidate, Poker Celebs Oppose Internet Gambling Ban
What do two-time world poker champ Doyle “Texas Dolly” Brunson, presidential-hopeful Rand Paul, and Fraternal Order of Police President Chuck Canterbury have in common? They’ve…
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New Study Makes the Case for Ending the Export-Import Bank
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New York Times Clings to Discredited Legal Myths about Corporate Personhood
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
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No Bailouts for Taxi Cab Moguls
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Dr. Oz Rebuked by Medical Professionals
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Export-Import Bank Update
Things have been busy on the Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank front. For those not in the know, the Ex-Im Bank makes loans and guarantees loans for…
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SEIU Support for Minimum Wage Hikes Based on Self-Interest
Why is the Service Employees International Union funneling $15 million into the Fight for 15 campaign when the average private-sector union member makes $22 an…
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UK Banks End Reward Programs in Anticipation of Interchange Fee Caps
File this one under “we told you so.” The Independent reports a scale-back in credit card reward programs in the United Kingdom: The…
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Honeybees are Not Headed for Extinction
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
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Pay Discrimination Myths from the AAUW
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SEIU Support for Minimum Wage Hikes Based on Self-Interest
Why is the Service Employees International Union funneling $15 million into the Fight for 15 campaign when the average private-sector union member makes $22 an hour and…
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Operation Choke Point: The CFPB Is Now in Charge
I suggested at TheBlaze some weeks ago that even as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation was stepping back from its involvement in Operation Choke Point, the…
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Could Alcohol Taxes Reduce Fatal Car Crashes?
A new study from the University of Florida asserts that because Illinois instituted an alcohol tax increase in 2009 and the rate of alcohol-related traffic…
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A Voluntary Approach to Helping the Honeybee
Today, the Competitive Enterprise Institute published my paper on the honeybee health issue and pesticide use. We have had several media outlets ask, why…
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Has Greece Already Decided on Grexit?
It has been a month since Greece was approved a four-month extension of its current bailout program, on condition that the leftist government implements a…
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Washington Teachers’ Union Boss Compensation Not Unusual
A recent article in the Yakima Herald-Republic describes a union subsidy, which pays 75 percent of the teachers' union president's salary, as "unusual." Unfortunately, that…
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White House Petition Asks President to Veto Online Gambling Ban
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California Drought 2.0, or Is it 3.0?
California’s water woes are back in the headlines after Gov. Jerry Brown commanded a 25 percent cut in consumption last week after extended drought. Pricing matters…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
It was a fairly typical week, with nearly 70 final regulations and more than 50 proposed regulations hitting the books, covering everything from potato handling…
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Tesla vs. the Auto Dealers: A Hilarious Update
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Anti-Business Myths Pervade Reporting on Religious Freedom Legislation
Sometimes, the media propagates anti-business myths, in the course of reporting on legislation that has little impact on business. So it is with its recent reporting…
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TSCA Reform Debate Is Not about Public Safety
At recent hearings on the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act (S. 697), senators, environmental activists, and local government officials claimed…
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NLRB Holds Training at Union Office and Top Lawyer Forgets Details of Ambush Election Rule
Congress has held numerous hearings and passed a resolution of disapproval of the National Labor Relations Board regulation known as the "ambush election" rule due…
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President Obama’s UN Climate Plan Ignores American People and Congress
Myron Ebell of the Competitive Enterprise Institute responded to the Obama Administration’s submission of its intended nationally-determined contribution (INDC) to the United Nations:…
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International Panel Outlines Problems with EU Interchange Fee Regulation
On March 17, an international panel of experts gathered in Brussels to discuss the proposed EU interchange fee regulations that are set to be approved…
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Administration’s GROW AMERICA Act 2.0 Mixes Bad with Good
Today, Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx unveiled the administration’s latest surface transportation reauthorization proposal. Like the previous White House bill, the latest iteration of the…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
Along with last wwek’s usual slew of final regulations covering everything from power plants to televisions, an additional 55 proposed regulations also hit the books.
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Human Achievement Hour: An Honorable Choice for Saturday Night
Earth Hour vs. Human Achievement Hour—two irreconcilably opposed events scheduled for the same time: 8:30-9:30 pm EST, Saturday, March 28, 2015. Earth Hour protestors will turn…
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Human Achievement of the Day: The Sharing Economy
It’s the most wonderful time of year! Human Achievement Hour is once again upon us, giving us reason to pause and consider recent innovations that…
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Grover Norquist and Americans for Tax Reform Are Wrong about Passenger Facility Charge
I saw some unfortunate news today: Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform sent a letter to Congress opposing a possible increase in the cap of the…
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Arsenic in Wine: Dangerous or Beneficial?
Dan Nosowitz in Modern Farmer offers some insights on the recent class action lawsuit filed against California winemakers. The plaintiffs found that some inexpensive wines contained arsenic at levels…
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Missouri Government Employers Rarely Keep Track of Union Subsidy
One would expect government employers to know where and what its employees are doing while paid by the taxpayer. Unfortunately, in Missouri, that is not…
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Human Achievement of the Day: Bitcoin
On the eve of the financial crisis of 2007-8, financial systems had grown extremely sophisticated, but were still essentially based on a model of trust.
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A Bright Future
The following is a guest post by Chelsea German, Researcher and Managing Editor of HumanProgress.org. When Homo erectus first learned to control fire a million years ago, humanity…
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Congress Introduces Bill to Combat NLRB Overreach
Last week, Congress introduced a bill that would restore decades-old National Labor Relations Board precedent by overturning a decision that inappropriately eased union organizing drives.
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Human Achievement of the Day: Guitars
When Human Achievement Hour rolls around each year, I make sure to do two things. One is to play an electric guitar. The other is to…
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Human Achievement of the Day: Higher Education
As the amount of student loans outstanding continues to rise, taxpayers are more on the hook as the Obama administration continues to expand loan repayment…
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CEI’s Battered Business Bureau: The Week in Regulation
New rules published in the last week include everything from the IRS and Executive Office of the President declaring themselves exempt from select transparency laws,…
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Yes, and Water Can Run Uphill!
A recent Washington Post story by Joby Warrick says much about the credulity of the media. The story extols the great gains in wind…
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Is Ferguson “the Norm”? In Some Ways, Yes
Recently, the Justice Department issued a report that was very critical of the Ferguson police department and courts. In response, President Obama stated that “he doesn't believe…
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When Regulations Undermine Justice and Due Process
Recently, I participated in a March 13 panel discussion at the National Press Club titled “Bringing an End to Second-Class Justice,” discussing how federal micromanagement…
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Data Torturing at the CPSC
James Mills of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development lamented in an article in the New England Journal of Medicine back in 1993: “‘If…
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Benning Road: The Last Refuge of Streetcar Apologists
Washington City Paper’s Housing Complex blogger Aaron Wiener has an unintentionally hilarious article on the slow-motion implosion of the D.C. Streetcar. But before I get to Wiener’s…
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Least Transparent Administration Closes Records on Fannie and Freddie
This Sunshine Week, the administration that swept into office promising to be the “most transparent” in history was just judged by a major news service…
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CPSC’s Scientific Shenanigans on Phthalates
Many “stakeholders” have complained about the process through which the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) developed its proposed rule related to a class of chemicals…
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The Republican Budget and Middle Class Economics
Yesterday the House Republicans released their “Balanced Budget for a Stronger America” and the Senate Republicans will release their budget proposal today. House Republicans…