Charlie Cooke and Kevin Williamson discuss whether the rule of law is real, to what extent it should be followed, and what Bonnie & Clyde tell us about the federal government.
Why You Should Be Sympathetic Toward Cliven Bundy
The bedrock issue here is that the federal government owns more than 80% of the state of Nevada. This is true across the western states. To an astonishing degree, those states lack sovereignty over their own territory. Most of the land is federal. And the federal agencies that rule over federal lands have agendas. At every opportunity, it seems, they restrict not only what can be done on federal lands, but on privately-owned property. They are hostile to traditional industries like logging, mining and ranching, and if you have a puddle in your back yard, the EPA will try to regulate it as a navigable waterway.
That is only a slight exaggeration.
One could say that Cliven Bundy is just one more victim of progress and changing mores. The federal government has gotten more environmentally-conscious, and now we really, really care about desert tortoises. (It was the designation of desert tortoises as an endangered species that gave BLM the opportunity to squeeze Bundy in the early 1990s.) But here's the thing: the Bureau of Land Management - the federal government - is not necessarily anti-development. Rather, its attitude depends entirely on what sort of development is in question.
Also read:
Harry Reid on Bundy Ranch Showdown: 'It's not Over'; Rory Reid says Bundy should be Prosecuted
Bundy Family: We Don't Fear Harry Reid
Charles and Kevin discuss the increasing unrest in Venezuela.
Venezuela's Maduro Plans Carnival, 'Conference Of Peace' to Distract From Protests
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has to contend with numerous protests against his regime a day, a miserable and oppressed populace and nightly videos of his national guard assaulting protesters uploaded to social media. He's hoping a carnival will make up for it.
February 27th is a national holiday in Chavista Venezuela, the anniversary of the "Caracazo," a far-left violent uprising against (classically, not American) liberal government in 1989. According to Spanish newspaper ABC, Maduro plans to begin festivities early to distract from the many protests scheduled for the upcoming week, giving Venezuelans the 27th and 28th of February as holidays off in order to provide a six-day weekend (Monday and Tuesday are also national holidays).
Maduro insisted that the opposition "fascists" were out to ruin the holiday "for our children" in a speech this week, in which he claimed the opposition wanted the holidays to be canceled because many mayors have said they are mourning the dead protesters and not participating in celebrations. "The fight here is happiness versus bitterness, hate versus love, violence versus peace, carnival versus fascism," he told the audience. "The carnival is happening all the way!" He also provided a salsa dancing demonstration.
Also read:
Chavista Governor Turns On Maduro, Calls for End to State Violence in Venezuela
Venezuelan Beauty Queens Organize Against Government Violence
Charles Cooke and Kevin Williamson discuss Cooke's appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher, progressive bubbles, and freedom of conscience laws.
A Live-and-Let-Live Law
In response to a number of lawsuits in which such providers of wedding-related services as bakers and photographers have been threatened with conscription into participating in same-sex ceremonies to which they object on religious grounds, Arizona’s state legislature has adopted a law under which businesses that decline to provide such services will enjoy protection.
It is perhaps unfortunate that it has come to this, but organized homosexuality, a phenomenon that is more about progressive pieties than gay rights per se, remains on the permanent offensive in the culture wars. Live-and-let-live is a creed that the gay lobby specifically rejects: The owner of the Masterpiece Cakeshop in Colorado was threatened with a year in jail for declining to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding. New Mexico photographer Elaine Huguenin was similarly threatened for declining to photograph a same-sex wedding. It is worth noting that neither the baker nor the photographer categorically refuses services to homosexuals; birthday cakes and portrait photography were both on the menu. The business owners specifically objected to participating in a civic/religious ceremony that violated their own consciences.
And the so-called liberals answer: "To hell with your consciences."
Also read:
George Takei Slams Proposed AZ Law, Dubs 'Jim Crow' Against Gays
Religious freedom for the butcher and baker, not just the bishop
