This Week From AAI

 

Unions Gone Wild, Self-Defense Under Attack, & Why Women Make More Than Men

The Arkansas Project Cyberbullying laws across the country are threatening the livelihood of trolls everywhere. We can't let this happen. State Rep. Nate Bell has a weird idea: let's stop wasting taxpayer money! And why is Max Brantley scared of free markets, government accountability, & fiscal sanity? Visit our new conspiratometer for the latest tally of Max's mentions of America's (and Arkansas's) most sinister conservative forces. How Retirement Benefits May Sink the States Government retiree costs are likely to play an increasing role in the competition among states for business and people, because these liabilities are not evenly distributed. Some states have enormous retiree obligations that they will somehow have to pay; others have enacted significant reforms, or never made lofty promises to their workers in the first place. Steven Mangala explains at The Wall Street Journal. Victim of Warrantless, Wrong-Door Raid: "I'm Not The Same Person" After finding two bodies in a burned-out SUV earlier this month, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office traced the vehicle's owner to the El Pueblo Apartments in Albuquerque, New Mexico. On April 10, the officers gathered at the complex to conduct a raid. At the last minute, they noticed activity in a unit two doors away, and decided to raid that one, too-without a warrant. Mike Riggs has the story at Reason. Connecticut Agency Seeks to Whitewash Role in Kelo Eminent Domain Abuse It's bad enough to employ a cute euphemism like baggage to describe the use of government-backed bulldozers to destroy somebody's house for no legitimate reason, but the self-pity on display by the NLDC is just beyond parody. These people should be ashamed of themselves. Damon Root elaborates at Reason. My Papers? No, Thank You With the Supreme Court taking up Arizona's "show me your papers" immigration law, we're once again thrust into a useful debate over the role of the government and the obligations of the citizen - and non-citizen. If there were one thing I could impress upon people about the nature of the state, it's that governments by their very nature want to make their citizens "legible." Jonah Goldberg explains at National Review. Public-Employee Unions Gone Wild Terry List, a teacher in Saginaw Township, Mich., has a depressing lesson for her students: "I would not recommend to my pupils to become a teacher in Michigan." What's discouraging her? A proposed pension-reform bill in Michigan would derail her plans to retire - at age 47. Patrick Brennan tells the story at National Review. The Shrinking Immigration Problem The illegal-immigration problem is going away. That's the conclusion I draw from the latest report of the Pew Hispanic Center on Mexican immigration to the United States. Michael Barone explains at NRO. Self-Defense Under Attack Critics of Florida's self-defense law object to its recognition of a right to "stand your ground" in public places, which eliminated the duty to retreat from an assailant. Yet many of these critics seem to believe they have a duty to stand their ground and never retreat, using George Zimmerman's shooting of Trayvon Martin as a weapon to attack Florida's law, no matter what the evidence shows. Read more from Jacob Sullum of Reason. Are Right to Work Laws the New Slavery? Nothing concentrates the mind like a hanging, they say. And Indiana's labor unions regard the recently passed Right to Work law that bars them from collecting mandatory dues from workers as a condition of employment as nothing short of a hanging. Shikha Dalmia explains at Reason. How the L.A. Riots Changed Nothing It's worth remembering how universal was the belief that the root cause of the 1992 riots was economic, and that central planning would elevate the area by zoning out gun shops, convenience stores, fast food franchises, and "food deserts." Shikha Dalmia takes a look back at Reason. Why Women Make Less Than Men A Pew Research Center report tells us that young women have become more likely than young men to say that a high-paying career is very important to them. Are we really in the midst of what Pew calls a "gender reversal?" Kay Hymowitz explains at The Wall Street Journal. State Budget Woes? Blame Medicaid When states complain that ObamaCare's Medicaid expansion will cost too much, the health law's defenders often point out that the federal government will pick up much of the tab. And it's true that the law calls for the federal government to pay for 100 percent of the cost of the newly eligible initially, winding down to 90 percent by the end of the decade. If enacted, the law will also increase the overall percentage of Medicaid spending paid for at the federal level. Washington pays for a little more than half of all Medicaid spending right now; that figure would rise to as much as 63 percent after ObamaCare's coverage expansion kicks in. Peter Suderman explains at Reason. Keep The First Amendment The phrase "stunning development" is used far too often in our politics, but here is an item that can be described in no other way: Nancy Pelosi and congressional Democrats, frustrated by the fact that the Bill of Rights interferes with their desire to muzzle their political opponents, have proposed to repeal the First Amendment. Read the full story from National Review. U.S. Falls Behind In Sheepskin Race America is, once again, at risk. That's because the kids just won't buckle down to their studies, earn their degrees and set themselves to the task of driving the nation's GDP ever-higher with the sheer force of their state college Art History majors. At least, that's what David Wessell and Stephanie Banchero tell us over at the Wall Street Journal, and to prove the point, they've pulled together a bunch of data and examples that don't necessarily go together. J.D. Tuccille analyzes at Reason. Banks Try To Seem Cool By Acting More Like Payday Lenders Various and sundry anti-poverty activists are always looking for ways to get the "unbanked" to take their money out of their mattresses and put it in a gosh darned checking account like the rest of us. Well, congrats. Sort of. More from Reason.