Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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5
TREY KOVAKS
Obamas Overtime Rule was
Never Intended to Raise Wages
8 BY STEVE FORBES
by meeting the needs and wants of other
people. As Steve Jobs once said when
KENT LASSMAN
asked if he used marketing surveys, he
Giving Thanks for the Enduring
Principals of Liberty I ts an honor to be here. Kent, thank you.
Fred, thank you for all the work that
youve done over the years in making this
said, No, because people dont know
what they want until I show them. Thats
the essence of entrepreneurshipputting
institution what it is. something out there. You dont know if
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE CEIs work is now more important than people are going to take to it or not, but
ever beforebecause once this election your success is their success, that is, the
Presidential Canidates Should Talk ends, I believe the importance of ideas will great new product or service.
about Regulation, by Clyde Wayne Crews, come to the fore again. The thing is, in a real free market, even if
Jr. and Ryan Young. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Therefore, we have a task before us. you have the kind of personality that makes
Remembering Julian Simon We all know capitalism works. One of our babies cry and dogs bark when you walk
by Bruce Yandle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 tasks, however, is to emphasize the moral down the street, even if you lust for the
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. . . . . . 14 basis of capitalism. money, you wont get it unless you provide
Why are free markets moral? Because something that somebody else wants or
Media Mentions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 feels they need.
in a true free market you succeed only
End Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 (continued on page 3)
Shakeup in Subpoena Land
By Sam Kazman
T he last week of June turned was a momentous And one day after that, Walker announced he was
FROM THE GENERAL COUNSEL
one in the saga of the climate change subpoenas. withdrawing the Virgin Islands CEI subpoena as well.
It started with three pending subpoenas; it ended So where does that leave us? First, were still
with none. In between there was a court hearing on under legal threat. After all, Walker is part of a
our motions for sanctions against the Virgin Islands coalition of state AGs determined to shut down the
Attorney General. And despite the demise of the global warming debate. He could still issue a new
subpoenas, we still have a fight on our hands. subpoena to us in the future, and so could any of his
CEI was originally served with a subpoena on fellow AGs. And as his own subsequent filing with
April 7. The document, issued by Virgin Islands AG the court ominously states, subpoenas arent the only
Claude Walker, via a District of Columbia court clerk, way in which to carry out an investigation.
demanded a full decades worth of CEIs work on But our case for sanctions against Walker is now
climate change and energy policy, much of which stronger than ever. Walkers decision to yank his
would have contained confidential information on our subpoenas in the face of legal challenges indicates
donors. This was an outrageous violation of both our he had no valid reason to issue them in the first
First Amendment rights and those of our supporters, place. And that makes the need for sanctions even
and we made it clear that we wouldnt comply. clearer. When a law enforcement officer violates the
On May 13, Walkers local attorney sent us a First Amendment in this manner, its not enough for
letter rejecting our legal arguments. She said Walker him to simply stop behaving badly. An injustice like
would withdraw the D.C. subpoena, but that hed this requires compensation, because thats the best
made no decision about the underlying Virgin Islands way of ensuring that it doesnt happen again.
subpoena. And she graciously noted that Walker Meanwhile, one of the administrations climate
might reissue the D.C. subpoena if he changed his alarmist agencies has been in the forefront of evading
mind in the future. public access to government documents. The agency
As far as we were concerned, this meant that we is the Office of Science and Technology Policy
were still under legal threat. We moved for sanctions (OSTP). Its head, Dr. John Holdren, uses a private
in D.C. Superior Court, which held a hearing on email account that the agency has treated as off-limits
Tuesday, June 28. In opposing our motion, Walkers to Freedom of Information Act requests. On July 5,
attorney argued that he was conducting an ongoing ruling in the case of CEI v. OSTP, a D.C. Circuit panel
investigation of ExxonMobil for fraud, and that he put an end to this practiceand, we suspect, to similar
had legitimate interest in CEI documents. The judge practices by agency officials elsewhere. Ironically, the
stated that shed be issuing a ruling in due time. ruling came one day after the Freedom of Information
One day later, Walker announced that he was Acts 50th anniversary. This administration claims to be
withdrawing his ExxonMobil subpoena, as well as the most transparent in history, but it seems to confuse
an accompanying one to the companys PR firm. transparency with invisibility.
A Night in Casablanca
and Senior Editor at The Federalist, emcees the
2016 CEI Annual Dinner.
On May 9, a federal court granted On June 21, 2016, the Department On June 14, a federal court upheld the
CEI discovery in its Freedom of of Transportations Federal Aviation Federal Communications Commissions
Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit Administration (FAA) finalized its (FCC) so-called Open Internet rules,
seeking documents related to operational rules for commercial use which run contrary to Congresss
White House Office of Science of small unmanned aircraft systems, or intent, depress infrastructure
and Technology Policys (OSTP) drones. The FAA failed to adequately investment, and deny consumers
controversial video, The Polar consider most of the recommendations choices. CEI had earlier filed an
Vortex Explained in 2 Minutes. The for less stringent regulations submitted amicus brief in U.S. Telecom v. FCC.
video, released in January 2014, by CEI in April 2015. The new FAA This ruling will hurt Americans who
attempted to blame global warming drone rules are disappointing and appreciate faster Internet speeds at
for the unusually cold winter weather. overly restrictive, said CEI Fellow lower prices, as Internet providers
However, it was widely criticized Marc Scribner. Restrictions on will invest less in their networks,
by scientists on both sides of the beyond-visual-line-of-sight, nighttime, as Judge Williams discussed in his
climate change debate, and a and other crucial operations for partial dissent, said CEI Associate
number of published peer-reviewed emerging business models can only be Director of Technology Studies Ryan
studies disputed the videos claim. waived on a rigid case-by-case basis. Radia. The courts decision today
The court found that the OSTPs Congress should reopen discussions should galvanize Congress to move
response to CEIs FOIA request on the unmanned aircraft provisions quickly to amend the Communications
contained inconsistent and unreliable of both the House and Senate FAA Act to explicitly deprive the FCC of
representations about the records reauthorization plans to temper the authority to dictate how Internet
sought, raising questions about the damage done by the agency. providers manage their networks.
agencys good faith. As OSTPs
course of action here demonstrates,
theres a clear pattern when it comes
to this administration: In dealing with
global warming issues, agencies
tend to act illegally, said CEI
General Counsel Sam Kazman said.
In short, global warming poses a
risk to the rule of law.
...END NOTES
School Cafeteria Union Bullies Church to Halt Pizza Welfare Fraud Reform Opponent Indicted for
Giveaway Welfare Fraud
Nick Steinloski, youth pastor at Bethany Community Church In February, Arizona state Rep. Cecilia Velasquez voted
in Seattles Green Lake neighborhood, began giving away against legislation that would have given the Arizona
pizza to area high school students at lunchtime in 2015. We Department of Economic Security more tools to police wel-
are not telling them a Bible story before they get pizza, said fare fraud. Months later, Rep. Velasquez was indicted and
Steinloski, who began the program to foster better connec- charged with three felonies: unlawful use of food stamps,
tions with the high schoolers and community adults. The church fraudulent schemes and practices, and theft. Government
estimates it spends about $600 to feed the 750 students from reform advocates noted that the measures opposed by
three high schools who show up. Students, parents, and the Velasquez earlier in the year would have enabled the state
Seattle school board were pleased. But an official with the welfare agency to immediately detect her criminal activity, in
union representing school cafeteria workers began making which she is alleged to have fraudulently used $1,726 worth
threatening phone calls, accusing the church of taking its of food stamps between 2013 and 2015. The indictment of
members jobs, and aggressively proselytizing to students. State Representative Velasquez is the culmination of an exten-
He said that if we stop serving them pizza, we would start sive multi-year investigation, said Arizona Inspector General
serving them drugs, said Steinloski. I felt intimidated by that Juan J. Arcellana. The forthcoming judicial proceedings will
message. When the union threatened to picket the church, ensure due process for the involved parties.
pastor Steinloski decided to shift the pizza giveaway to after
school hours. Invasive Species Turns Out to Be Native
For several years, the aquatic algae Didymosphenia gemi-
Police Deployed to Hunt Teenage nate, colloquially known as rock snot, has been subject to
Turnstile Jumper intense regulation in the Northeastern U.S. After a series of
The New York Police Department launched an extensive large algae blooms, half a dozen states outlawed the use of
overnight manhunt in June involving helicopters and scent felt-soled waders by anglers. But in recent years, researchers
dogs. The crime? Jumping the subway turnstiles and evading have found that rock snot is actually native to the very places
the $2.75 fare in Brownsville, Brooklyn. The 16-year-old boy that imposed strict invasive species regulations. The fact that
had been detained by transit police and charged with theft of we had a ban on something to avoid spreading something
services. However, during processing, Rhamar Perkins man- that was already where we didnt want it to be spread didnt
aged to slip out an unlocked back door and escape custody. make any sense, said Vermont state biologist Shawn Good.
Residents in neighboring Crown Heights reported multiple Vermont became the first state to lift the ban on waders and
police helicopters circling the neighborhood and several K-9 others are expected to follow. But some environmentalists
units attempting to track the teenager all night long. The man- are not pleased. We were thinking that it was a good man-
hunt lasted five hours until the boy turned himself in to police. agement strategy, said Mary Russ, executive director of the
White River Partnership.