A friendly Reminder

Authored By: Mike Sonneveldt You thought the worst of it was over.  We watched the protests on college campuses and allowed the news of it all to blend in with the noise surrounding our everyday lives. After all, we have a 24/7 news cycle that continually brings things to our attention and then erases that with the next big story.  However, the  college campus protests  and colonization (see what I did there?) are not subsiding. Instead, they are growing and spreading as stud

When does government encouragement become coercion? Do government actors have a legal responsibility to manage a business’s “repetitional risk”? Can government use its power to encourage others not to do business with you? If there’s a boogie man in the anti-gun community, it’s probably the National Rifle Association. Accused of complicity in almost every gun crime from gang violence to mass murder, the NRA has become the lightning rod for the vitriol of those whose fear of f

Authored By: Mike Sonneveldt A few days ago, Congress passed a bill that shocked lots of Americans. On the other hand, plenty of Americans did not realize anything was happening. They were too glued to all of the other dramas going on in our world. Not long after, President Biden signed the bill into law.    Extension of FISA Section 702   FISA  is the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which provides the government with the ability to conduct surveillance on foreign acto

Authored By: Mike Sonneveldt “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter

Most Americans learned about the Battles of Lexington and Concord from a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. But is that history or propaganda? Did you realize that our war for independence was initiated in response to gun control? Will the American people learn the lessons of these battles before we have another shot heard around the world. Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, Paul Revere’s Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow   Most of us who g

TikTok is spyware, but it’s not alone. Congress has come up with Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, but does it do more harm than good? What if the American people simply stopped their children from using TikTok? I have a lot of issues with TikTok, and it’s one social media platform I refuse to use. However, when I look at how Congress plans to deal with this platform, I see even more problems. I’ve also read and listened to several comme

The fundamental basis of our freedoms is the power to choose. Independence, liberty, and freedom are all based in people choosing. Yet the American people have handed over their power to choose over to others. The word “choice” has all but been taken over by the pro-abortion crowd, but that is not what I want to discuss here today. Recent history, both public and private, has displayed the fundamental function choice plays in a person’s independence, liberty, and freedom. Yet

A well regulated militia is necessary to a free state. Then why is Congress trying to disarm them? Congress wants to make it illegal for your neighborhood watch or church security group to train to defend themselves and others. What happens if it becomes illegal for people to assemble to prepare to defend themselves?  The gun grabbers in Congress are at it again. Attempts to disarm the American people have only been moderately successful over the past few years, so a bill was

Nobody likes paying taxes, but where did the federal income start? The Sixteenth Amendment did not create the federal income tax. However, the 16th Amendment did fundamentally change the republic. As April 15th approaches and people spend valuable time and money on filing their income tax returns, I think it worth our time to look at the source of our pain. While plenty of people grouse and complain about paying income taxes, most don’t realize that the cause of their pain is

In the United States, who is sovereign? Did we replace a sovereign monarch with a sovereign oligarchy? Do you need government’s permission to sue it?   When can you sue the government? What started out as an erroneous credit report filing has turned into the heart of the question brought before the Supreme Court in the case Department Of Agriculture Rural Development Rural Housing Service V. Kirtz (USDA v. Kirtz). What the court found, and how it got there, points to a seriou

How a U.S. President gets elected is both simpler and more complicated than most people think it is. What is this Electoral College and why does it exist? How can you participate in an election if you don’t know how it works? Every four years, the United States goes through the ritual of electing a President. I use the term ritual for two reasons. First, most Americans’ understanding of the election process is based on custom or rites rather than the law. Second, most of the

Are mask mandates constitutional? Do you have a right to refuse to wear a mask? Can you build a compelling argument for why you refuse? I’ve spoken repeatedly about the unconstitutionality of most mask mandates. Recently, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals was asked to review two cases where people were punished for attending school board meetings while refusing to wear masks. Sadly, the cases, as described in the Circuit Court opinion, seem poorly founded, thus leading to de

When does the No Fly List become a tool of tyranny? Can government actors avoid the consequences of their actions by simply calling them moot? Could you be on the No Fly List and not even know it? While looking through recent oral arguments at the Supreme Court, I stumbled across the case FBI v. Fikre. At first, I thought it was another simple procedural case, but something about it caught my attention. The oral arguments held before the Supreme Court were about whether Mr. F

We are in the middle of another primary season. But have you considered what the purpose behind these primaries? Why do we have an election season before the election? Why does the American taxpayer fund elections for private organizations? I propose that all elections for the board members of non-profit corporations should be run by the state at taxpayer expense. After all, we already have taxpayer funded elections for private organizations. We call them “Primaries”. While t

When Congress is ambiguous, who decides what they mean? Who decided that when Congress is silent, the executive agency decides for them? Is this Chevron Deference constitutional? For decades, Congress has been turning over more and more lawmaking power to the Executive Branch. Frequently this is done by legislation giving the head of some agency or department the power to establish rules which have the force of law. What happens when the legislation doesn’t explicitly say tha

Does the federal government have the legal authority to regulate anything it wants? The Department of Energy has decided they can regulate your dishwasher and washing machines. In the case of Louisiana, et. al. v. U.S. Department of Energy, it appears the DOE may have bitten off more than it can chew. Have you noticed how often the government of the United States decides how you should live your life? It seems everything from food and drugs to the light-bulbs in your home are

What are the legal grounds and arguments behind the efforts to disqualify Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot in several states? How does Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution play a role in these legal challenges, and what are the key points of contention regarding its application to Trump's eligibility? What is the definition of "insurrection" according to the Fourteenth Amendment, and how does the article analyze Trump's actions on January 6th, 2021,

What happens when people use the judicial system not to redress a grievance, but to attack others? Does a person have standing to sue, even thou they suffered no harmed? What are the costs to others when people engage in such “law fare”? One of the most common ways for an American to seek a redress for some grievance is to file a law suit. This has made the United States a very litigious society. I was not able to determine the number of lawsuits filed, but in 2023 there were

How do you define income? Can the United States tax you for gains you haven’t received yet? If the United States can tax the Moores for profits an Indian company reinvested in themselves, what else could they tax you for? There are certain words that are so commonly used we think they have a universal understanding. One of those words is “income”. Think about it, what is income? Your paycheck? Dividends on your investments? Profits from your business? When does an increase in

Previously we started reviewing the farewell address of George Washington. As we conclude this review we’ll look at Washington’s view on separation of powers, Religion and Government, Debt, and more. As we read Washington’s farewell to public life, we should learn some of the lessons he tried to teach us. In the last article , I started reviewing George Washington’s Farewell Address. As we pick up in the middle of the document, you may want to go back and refresh your memory