Ag Committee Hearing: Foreign Subsidies Jeopardizing Free Trade and Harming American Farmers
The House Committee on Agriculture conducted a hearing on October 21 exploring how foreign government meddling in various agricultural markets was hurting U.S. farmers while making a mockery of the notion of “free trade.” In opening remarks, Committee Chairman K. Michael Conaway noted that when it comes to government subsidies, “in many cases what foreign […]
Would you buy a used tax hike from these guys?
By now everyone knows that 80 percent of Nevada voters voted against the Margins Tax last November and that Gov. Brian Sandoval’s “Commerce Tax” is just a mutated version of it. But here are some things many folks either aren’t aware of or are forgetting about the whole debacle. It started when Sandoval proposed a […]
Victoria’s Secret: The “Broken Window” Theory of Tax Hikes
Prodigal Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman – smarting from backlash from donors and past supporters over her recently revealed decision to not sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge for her state senate run next year – put out quite the misleading e-newsletter column a few days ago. A column I refused to publish on Nevada News & Views. […]
Location, Location, Location: Why Venue Reform is a Necessity
According to a recent poll by Morning Consult, three quarters of registered voters had little to no grasp on what a patent troll was or does, showing that the average voter is generally clueless as to the need for patent reform or the risks patent trolls pose on businesses. That’s got to change. This is […]
Tax Repeal fight ain’t over ‘til it’s over
Paraphrasing the great Mark Twain, reports of the death of the We Decide Coalition’s referendum to repeal the largest tax hike in Nevada history – including that new gross receipts tax – have been greatly exaggerated. While it’s true that on October 1, 2015, Carson City District Court Judge Todd Russell did rule that our original […]
TPP provides light at end of the sugar subsidy tunnel
Critics of Rep. Ted Yoho’s “Zero for Zero” resolution who say it can’t be done should heed the wisdom of getting out of the way of people already doing it. Z4Z – in which the United State would eliminate its sugar program of relatively minor import restrictions and tariffs in return for other nations simultaneously […]
Victoria’s Secret II: Seaman’s flirtation with the dark side
Following up on the unfortunate development regarding Assemblywoman Victoria Seaman, who in less than one-half of one term in office has already “gone native” and now refuses to re-sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge for her state senate run. Two points… 1.) Seaman says she shouldn’t need to sign “a piece of paper.” That we should just […]
The Problem isn’t the GOP “Brand,” it’s the Ratheads
Nick Phillips is running against Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald in the leadership election scheduled for November. And while I’ve been a longtime ally of McDonald’s – dating back to when he was first elected to the Las Vegas City Council while I was Clark County GOP chairman – I have nothing against Phillips. However, […]
Rumors of Tax Repeal’s Death Greatly Exaggerated
STORIES OF TAX REPEAL DEATH GREATLY EXAGGERATED You may have heard that a judge in Carson City on October 1 killed the tax repeal referendum that we filed in early August and that I didn’t “show up” for the hearing. Here’s one such story by Geoff Dornan of the Nevada Appeal… CLICK HERE To the […]
Patent Trolls vs. Modern Day Billy Goats Gruff
Most people have never heard of a patent troll. I hadn’t until a year or so ago. They involve patents, which most of us know little or nothing about. But the “troll” part is easily understood. Remember the kids’ story of “Three Billy Goats Gruff”? The goats wanted to cross a bridge. But a troll […]
How can Nevada screw up Marijuana Legalization; Let me count the ways
How can a state that has so successfully handled legal gambling, legal 24/7 consumption of alcohol and legal prostitution have so fouled up legalizing marijuana? The problems with legalizing medical marijuana alone in Nevada are legion. It was approved by voters over a dozen years ago, but to this day I believe we only have […]
India’s Sugar Woes in an Imperfect Global Market
Well, here we go again… Those in Congress who believe in unicorns and a global free market in sugar need only take a look at this Reuters story, “Govt plans incentives for sugar mills to pay cane growers: sources,” published on Tuesday by the Business Standard in New Dehli… “The (Indian) government is likely to […]
From Personal Experience: A Good Guy without a Gun is Pretty Much Useless!
I’ve never been a big gun guy. But I’ve always been a big gun RIGHTS guy. And after yesterday’s experience, I’m now gonna be an even bigger one of both. Many of you probably already know part of the story from reading my Twitter posts during the incident, or reading the Channel 3 (“Man breaks up […]
Bye-Bye Boehner!
While my focus in Nevada is on replacing RINOs with conservatives in the state Legislature – especially in the Assembly – the fact is such a war for the philosophical soul of the GOP is being waged in every state, as well as Congress. In Nevada, conservatives have already chalked up four major victories in […]
GOP Primaries needed to get rid of Bad Eggs & Bad Blood
It’s not just Nevada that has a gaggle of very bad Republicans in its Legislature. Missouri just witnessed a sellout of philosophical principle that ranks right up there with the 2015 GOP-controlled Nevada Legislature. On the other hand, California Republicans, surprisingly enough, are the ones setting the good example of what happens when you focus […]
India’s Sugar Export Policy is “Almost Criminal”
India is the world’s second largest producer of sugar, behind only Brazil. Its sugar industry is also a basket case. Let’s start with the fact that growing sugar requires huge amounts of water. Indeed, according to a column this week by Ajit Ranade in the Pune Mirror, sugar crops in Maharashtra take up “3 percent […]
Time to drain the Patent Troll Swamp in East Texas
In case you missed the memo, trolls are real … and a certain species of them lives in Texas. According to Lise Lunge-Larsen, author of “The Troll with No Heart in His Body,” “trolls are some of lore’s most fascinating and varied creatures.” “Some live under bridges, others deep inside caves,” Lunge-Larsen writes. “They can […]