Limited or Absolute Power: Warnings from Anti-Federalist Agrippa

Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by TJ Martinell

“The Anti-Federalist writer Agrippa powerfully expressed many of the same reservations about the Constitution as other opponents – that it would create a consolidated government leading to a loss of liberty. But unlike most others, Agrippa was also concerned with the implications a strong central government would have on the economies of the states and their people. The Agrippa letters were influential enough for Alexander Hamilton to dedicate at least one Federalist Paper, No. 11, countering these positions.” (04/17/24)

https://tenthamendmentcenter.com/2024/04/17/limited-or-absolute-power-warnings-from-anti-federalist-agrippa/

NC: High school student suspended for using term “illegal alien” in class discussion

Source: New York Post

“A 16-year-old North Carolina high school student says he was suspended just for saying ‘illegal alien’ while discussing word meaning in English class — possibly ruining his chances of landing a college sports scholarship. Christian McGhee, a student at Central Davidson High School in Lexington, received a three-day suspension last week after he used the term in English class, the Carolina Journal reported. His mother, Leah McGhee, said his teacher had given an assignment that used the word ‘alien,’ and Christian asked: ‘Like space aliens or illegal aliens without green cards?’ Another student reportedly took offense and threatened to fight Christian, so the teacher took the matter to the assistant principal, according to the Carolina Journal. Eventually, his words were determined to be offensive and disrespectful to Hispanic classmates, so he was suspended.” [editor’s note: I would call this “entrapment” – SAT] (04/17/24)

https://nypost.com/2024/04/17/us-news/nc-high-school-student-suspended-for-using-term-illegal-alien-in-class/

Pensions — net matters, not gross

Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Tim Worstall

“People eat their capital to finance their retirements. This might be done inside a pension fund, a tax wrapper or simply directly and individually. But it is not true that a pension is simply the income made from some pot of money. It’s eating into that pot itself, that stock, over time. Therefore it is necessary that those assets — whatever they are, shares, bonds, direct assets like buildings, windmills, anything — be bought from the retiring generation by those now beginning to save themselves. Which is why much of the financial markets is indeed trading second hand pieces of paper. Because this generation of retirees needs to sell the things they invested in 30 and 50 years ago.” (04/17/24)

https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/pensions-net-matters-not-gross

Progressives seek to neutralize AIPAC’s spending threats

Source: Politico

“The promise of an onslaught of spending from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee has loomed over Democratic primaries for months — but it hasn’t yet materialized. Progressives critical of Israel, however, think they can exploit even the threat of AIPAC’s involvement in their races, in yet another sign of the schism among Democrats over the escalating Israel-Hamas war. Their digital ads warn of the group’s influence and seek to energize small-dollar donors. Advocacy groups supporting them have formed an anti-AIPAC coalition to coordinate a defense against the expected influx of cash. Progressive incumbents have sought assistance from their leadership, demanding unified party support to block challenges. It’s an effort to neutralize AIPAC, which has vowed to drop $100 million this cycle to support pro-Israel candidates, including ousting progressives, in part, for their support for Palestinians amid the war.” (04/17/24)

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/17/democrats-aipac-election-spending-00152616

COVID Stimulus Money Lined the Pockets of Scammers and Fueled Inflation

Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille

“It’s a given at this point that much pandemic-related fiscal stimulus was lost to fraud. The government flooded the world with money, we were told, to offset the disruption of economies paralyzed by people minimizing social contact and (especially) by mandated closures. Sure, that was a crude ‘solution’ to an avoidable problem. But government officials insist things would have been worse without stimulus. Is that true, though, given that stimulus money not only padded the pockets of grifters but fueled the surging prices of recent years?” (04/17/24)

https://reason.com/2024/04/17/covid-stimulus-money-lined-the-pockets-of-scammers-and-fueled-inflation/

“Our Constitution Was Made Only for a Moral and Religious People,” part 2

Source: Town Hall
by Mark Lewis

“‘Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.’ — John Adams … What did Adams mean and why do Leftists [sic] hate him and our Founders so much? To our Founders, there is only so much ‘power’ in a political system, a true ‘zero sum’ situation. People ‘power’ is called ‘freedom.’ Government ‘power’ is called ‘tyranny.’ And because only so much power is available, the only place government obtains power is by taking freedoms from the people. The more ‘power’ government has, the less ‘free’ the people are. As they viewed history, our Founders perceived that the constant, unchanging tendency of governments was to gain more and more power, thus leaving their people less and less free.” (04/17/24)

https://townhall.com/columnists/marklewis/2024/04/17/our-constitution-was-made-only-for-a-moral-and-religious-people-part-ii-n2637920

What Pfizer Pfolks Got

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“Yesterday, a whole lot of people paid a whole lot of taxes. It was Tax Day — filing day — for most Americans. Truth is, American workers pay income tax with every paycheck. And they pay other taxes too. Somehow, though, Pfizer — one of the world’s most profitable companies — did much better than we did. ‘Drugmakers make big profits in the U.S.,’ explains Sydney Lupkin at NPR. ‘But many pay taxes far below the 21% corporate tax rate. Pfizer’s effective tax rate is so low it’s getting a big refund despite booking $59 billion in revenue.’ Did you get a big refund on top of a huge wage hike? No? Well, you should lobby Congress more.” (04/16/24)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2024/04/16/what-pfizer-pfolks-got/