Tag: regulations

Hey, Guess What the Experts Were Wrong About This Time!

Experts: “Trump said weaker gas mileage rules will mean cheaper cars. Experts say don’t bet on it.”

Carmakers: “Hold my kei.”

Kei trucks are ultra-compact, ultra-efficient pickup trucks designed specifically to fit Japan’s kei-jidosha (light vehicle) regulations, and they’re beloved around the world. But you could never buy one here, thanks to Washington’s ever-tightening Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) regulations, first imposed on new cars and trucks in 1975.

You know, the regulations President Donald Trump rolled back last week.

Trump said, “If you go to Japan, where I just left, and if you go to South Korea and Malaysia and other countries, they have a very small car—sort of like the Beetle used to be with the Volkswagen—they’re very small, they’re really cute, and I said, ‘How would that do in this country?'”

“And everyone seems to think good, but you’re not allowed to build them, and I’ve authorized the secretary to immediately approve the production of those cars… Honda, some of the Japanese companies do a beautiful job, but we’re not allowed to make them in this country and I think you’re gonna do very well with those cars, so we’re gonna approve those cars.”

But the Associated Press’s Alexa St. John is having none of that, apparently, in a piece explaining why Trump is wrong and CAFE is right and just get used to expensive cars forever.

Without doing a Full Frontal Fisking of St. John’s “THE FACTS” article, let me present the facts she missed or ignored.

Trump promised that new car prices might drop by $1,000 under his relaxed standards — really, just going back to the CAFE standards we used just a few years ago, when the planet still wasn’t dying. And that’s great, as far as it goes.

But consumers might be more interested in new, much less expensive, product categories that CAFE forced carmakers out of and American car-buyers away from.

“Average prices have also skewed higher as automakers have leaned into the costly big pickups and SUVs that many American consumers love,” St. John wrote — did I detect a note of disdain? — without mentioning that CAFE is the reason Americans moved away from affordable sedans and station wagons, and into trucks and SUVs.

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Trump Pardons Mountain Runner Michelino Sunseri, Who Was Prosecuted for Using an Unapproved Trail

“In an unbelievable twist that even Hollywood couldn’t write,” mountain runner Michelino Sunseri announced on Facebook yesterday, “I woke up this morning to find out I’ve been given a PRESIDENTIAL PARDON from Donald J. Trump.” Thus ends what Sunseri facetiously described as “the trail trial of the century”—his prosecution for taking an unauthorized route while ascending and descending Grand Teton in record time last year.

Sunseri’s case attracted attention as an example of overcriminalization—in particular, the ways that general statutes authorizing criminal penalties interact with a sprawling federal regulatory code to entrap people who break the law without realizing it. That description pretty clearly applied to Sunseri, who provided the evidence that led to his prosecution by posting a map of his 13-mile Grand Teton route on social media.

On his way down, Sunseri briefly took a quarter-mile path known as “the old climber’s trail” that had been used by six of seven previous Grand Teton record holders. As Cato Institute legal fellow Mike Fox noted in March, “tour guides who charge hefty sums frequently lead hikers up the same route,” which WyoFile described as “a historic trail so well-used that it’s become a skinny singletrack.”

The National Park Service (NPS) nevertheless considered that trail “closed,” although it notified the public of that designation only via two small and ambiguous signs that could easily have been misinterpreted. As the NPS saw it, Sunseri therefore had violated 36 CFR 21(b), which says a park superintendent “may restrict hiking or pedestrian use to a designated trail or walkway system.” It adds that “leaving a trail or walkway to shortcut between portions of the same trail or walkway, or to shortcut to an adjacent trail or walkway in violation of designated restrictions is prohibited.”

The regulation says nothing about criminal penalties, which are separately authorized by 16 USC 551. That law says violations of “rules and regulations” governing the use of public and national forests “shall be punished by a fine of not more than $500 or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both.”

By authorizing prosecution for agency-defined offenses, Congress has created a bewildering situation in which the average American cannot reasonably be expected to know when he is committing a federal crime. The Code of Federal Regulations is so vast and obscure that even experts can only guess at the number of criminal penalties it authorizes—at least 300,000, they think.

“Many of these regulatory crimes are ‘strict liability’ offenses, meaning that citizens need not have a guilty mental state to be convicted of a crime,” Trump noted in a May 9 executive order. “This status quo is absurd and unjust. It allows the executive branch to write the law, in addition to executing it.”

Trump said federal prosecutors generally should eschew criminal charges for regulatory violations based on strict liability and focus on cases where the evidence suggests the defendant knowingly broke the rules. Trump also instructed federal agencies to “explicitly describe” conduct subject to criminal punishment under new regulations and prepare lists of regulatory violations that already can be treated as crimes.

After Trump issued that order, the NPS, which initially recommended Sunseri’s prosecution, reconsidered, saying a plea deal offered by the government, which included a five-year ban from Grand Teton National Park as well as a fine, amounted to “an overcriminalization based on the gravity of the offense.” But federal prosecutors in Wyoming, where that park is located, were undeterred. They proceeded with a two-day bench trial that ended on May 21.

After U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick found Sunseri guilty in September, prosecutors offered to drop the case in exchange for 60 hours of community service. The U.S. Attorney’s Office described that retreat as “an evolution of what is right,” saying the decision “was made to preserve prosecutive and judicial resources while upholding the best interests of the public and the justice system.”

Hambrick was irked, telling Ed Bushnell, one of Sunseri’s attorneys: “It’s an interesting message you send to the public. If you whine and cry hard enough, you get your way.” But she said she would not decide whether to accept the belated deal until after a hearing on November 18.

Trump’s pardon obviates the need for that hearing. And contrary to Hambrick’s take, it sends a positive message—unlike his pardons for Capitol rioters, corrupt public officials who abused their powers for personal gain, allies in his fight to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, or other supporters with dubious cases for clemency. Sunseri’s pardon is consistent with Trump’s avowed concern about overcriminalization, which was also reflected in his May 28 pardons for two Florida diving instructors who were convicted of federal felonies after they freed sharks they mistakenly thought had been caught illegally.

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Consumer Protection Laws: Unconstitutional Controls That Hurt the Very People They Claim to Help

From rent caps to “price-gouging” laws, a new wave of so-called consumer-protection laws is sweeping state capitols. These measures are marketed as compassion in a crisis — or “fairness” in housing — but their substance is the same: command-and-control price fixing that violates the Constitution, tramples private-property rights, and sabotages the free market’s ability to allocate goods and services when people need them most.

Three recent bills illustrate the trend. Alabama’s House Bill 528 (HB528) and Virginia’s House Bill 1301 (HB1301) expand anti-gouging controls to more transactions and longer periods after emergencies. New Jersey’s Assembly Bill 3361 (A3361) imposes rent control on manufactured-home sites. Nebraska’s Legislative Bill 266 (LB266), however, is a rare bright spot, preempting local rent control and affirming property rights. Together, these bills spotlight the central question: Will states defend a constitutional, republican system rooted in liberty and voluntary exchange, or drift toward administrative despotism under the banner of “consumer protection”?

Protecting Property and Contract Rights

America’s Founders understood what modern lawmakers too often forget: Price controls are a form of compelled exchange that violates liberty. The U.S. Constitution safeguards that liberty in multiple places:

  • Fifth Amendment: “Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Price ceilings that force owners to sell below market value are regulatory takings in substance, if not in name.
  • Article I, Section 10: “No State shall … pass any … Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts.” When a legislature dictates the permissible price, term, or escalation of a private lease or service, it impairs the parties’ agreed-upon obligations.
  • Ninth and 10th Amendments: The people retain unenumerated rights, and powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states or the people. These clauses limit government; they do not license it to control every transaction.
  • 14th Amendment (due process and equal protection): Arbitrary economic edicts that single out owners for special burdens invite due-process and equal-protection concerns.

Consumer-protection statutes also collide with first principles. The Declaration of Independence identifies unalienable rights — life, liberty, and property — and charges government to secure them. Free exchange is a peaceful exercise of those rights, and upholds one’s pursuit of happiness. Substituting bureaucratic fiat for voluntary exchange undermines the moral basis of self-government.

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“We’re Living Through A Coordinated Sabotage Of Truth-Seeking Institutions”

“A civilization is defined by its ability to discern truth from falsehood,” writes ‘Camus’ (@newstart_2024) in a post on X.

So, what happens when every apparatus built for that purpose is systematically dismantled?

Bret Weinstein issues a stark warning: we are living through a coordinated sabotage of our truth-seeking institutions.

This is not a minor critique; it is a fundamental attack on the very mechanisms of a functional society.

He argues that the assault is comprehensive:

  • The University System: Once a beacon of knowledge, now a source of unreliable research and curricula that teach verifiably false concepts as truth. The cornerstone of academic rigor has been cracked.
  • Regulatory Agencies: These bodies have been inverted. Their purpose is no longer to protect citizens from harm, but to protect the regulators and the system from the citizens they are meant to serve.
  • Scientific Integrity: We are left grappling in the dark on critical issues. Determining something as scientifically straightforward as the potential link between mRNA vaccines and turbo cancers should be a matter of transparent data. Instead, we are forced to rely on buried anecdotes and studies designed to fail.

This is the realization of René Descartes’ deepest fear – that the very foundations of what we believe to be factual cannot be trusted.

We have been severed from the tools of the Enlightenment, left in a precarious state where anecdote replaces evidence and ideology replaces inquiry.

We are now navigating a world without a compass.

The predicament is not just dangerous; it is existential.

The question is no longer just “what is true?” but “how do we find out, when the paths to truth have been deliberately destroyed?”

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Big Government Locks Young People Out of the American Dream

Last Thursday’s debate among the New York City mayoral candidates highlighted an issue that is among young Americans’ top concerns today: affordability. Democrat candidate Zohran Mamdani, the frontrunner, stated that affordability was the city’s most important problem. Independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Republican hopeful Curtis Sliwa concurred, arguing the socialist Mamdani’s proposals are impractically expensive.

Mamdani’s emphasis on the affordability issue has benefited him politically, as young people in the city struggle to find decent, affordable housing and are increasingly willing to consider his agenda of greater government intervention and control.

That would be an awful mistake because socialism, regulation, and other government policies are what have caused the affordability crisis that has arisen across the United States. The current U.S. economy is anything but free, and the problems of today’s American economic system are caused almost exclusively by government. Young Americans’ struggles in achieving home ownership reflect the decline of economic freedom in the United States.

Government regulations directly increase the cost of housing, accounting for $93,870 of the $394,300 average price of a new home in the United States in 2021, about a quarter of the home’s cost, notes Paul Emrath, Ph.D., in a study for the National Association of Home Builders.

University of Central Arkansas professor Jeremy Horpedahl observes that “in 2023 it took 31 percent more hours of work to buy a square foot of the median home, compared with 1971.” That has its greatest effect on young households: with housing prices increasing rapidly, those who already have mortgages or fully own their houses gain an ever-greater economic advantage over the young. U.S. home sales in 2024 and 2025 are at their worst in 30 years, Fortune reports.

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EMS team under fire for treating man with antivenom after he was bitten by a mamba snake

An EMS team in Kentucky is in hot water after they treated a man who had been bitten by a mamba snake with antivenom.

James Harrison, the director of the Kentucky Reptile Zoo, was bitten by a highly venomous Jameson’s mamba while on the job in May.

Harrison got the antivenom he needed to live at the zoo, but he spent days recovering in the ICU.

The first responders who helped administer the antivenom are now in trouble.

Powell County Judge-Executive Eddie Barnes said he and another EMS worker were called to help Harrison after he was bitten.

“I’ll be honest with you, I think it’s ridiculous,” Barnes said.

Barnes said they first received directions from Harrison on what to do.

“The victim had told us that we needed to administer the antivenom as soon as possible, and if not, the first stage is paralysis, the second stage is respiratory arrest, the third stage is cardiac arrest, then he said, ‘I’m going to die,’” Barnes said.

Barnes said they were unable to reach their EMS director, but they did speak with medical staff at Clark Regional Medical Center.

While they were waiting for a helicopter to take Harrison to a UK hospital, they gave him the antivenom.

The decision is one that Harrison’s wife, Kristen Wiley, is thankful for.

“Every physician that we’ve talked to about it, and about the course of the bite, agrees that they were heroes and did what needed to be done to save him. That’s who I want working on me in an emergency,” Wiley said.

The Kentucky Board of Emergency Medical Services, or KBEMS, may think otherwise.

Barnes said he later learned KBEMS’ policy changed two years ago, and that only wilderness paramedics can administer antivenom now.

“If we had sat there and let him die, then we would have been morally and ethically responsible, and we could have been criminally charged for his death,” Barnes said.

Now, Barnes, who has his paramedic’s license, along with other EMS workers, will go up before KBEMS to argue why they should keep their licenses.

“If it came down today, I would do the same thing. You cannot put a price on a person’s life,” Barnes said.

Their hearing is expected to take place on Sept. 30.

KBEMS has not yet responded to a request for comment.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta Launches Super PAC to Combat AI Regulations

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta has announced the launch of a new super PAC aimed at electing state candidates from both parties who support the company’s stance on AI development and regulation. According to the company, the American Technology Excellence Project super PAC is launching “amid a growing patchwork of inconsistent regulations that threaten homegrown innovation and investments in AI.”

Axios reports that social media and AI giant Meta has launched a new super PAC called the American Technology Excellence Project to help fight what it perceives as burdensome AI and tech policy bills across multiple states. The announcement highlights the company’s focus on state-level legislation as the federal government appears unlikely to pass significant tech policy regulation in the near future.

The super PAC will be run by Brian Baker, a longtime Republican operative, and the Democratic consulting firm Hilltop Public Solutions, with Meta investing tens of millions of dollars into the project. Baker stated, “America’s innovation edge is at a crossroads. We need state legislators who will champion our tech future, not cede it to global adversaries. We’ll fight to keep the US ahead of the curve, driving growth and opportunity for all.”

In a statement to Breitbart News, Meta VP of Public Policy Brian Rice wrote:

Amid a growing patchwork of inconsistent regulations that threaten homegrown innovation and investments in AI, state lawmakers are uniquely positioned to ensure that America remains a global technology leader. This is why Meta is launching an effort to support the election of state candidates across the country who embrace AI development, champion the U.S. technology industry, and defend American tech leadership at home and abroad.

The American Technology Excellence Project will focus on three main pillars: promoting and defending U.S. technology companies and leadership, advocating for AI progress, and empowering parents to control how their children experience online apps and AI technologies. While Meta has not yet shared which states the PAC will immediately focus on or how many people it will employ, the company claims it is committed to supporting the election of state candidates who embrace AI development, champion the U.S. technology industry, and defend American tech leadership both domestically and internationally.

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Business Flees California due to Overregulation

California has been repelling capital through overregulation. The energy sector high-tailed out of the state in recent years under Governor Gavin Newsom’s net-zero policies. Now, even retailers feel forced to evacuate as California becomes increasingly anti-business.

Bed Bath & Beyond announced that it must close all retail stores within the state of California. “This decision isn’t about politics—it’s about reality,” company head Marcus Lemonis said in a social media post. “California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses in America. It’s a system that makes it harder to employ people, harder to keep doors open, and harder to deliver value to customers.”

Newsom’s office commented that Bed Bath & Beyond was already a dead business, failing to take any responsibility. To begin, California’s minimum wage continues to rise year after year at a pace unsustainable for businesses. Automation is replacing the human workforce, and some studies have shown that minimum wage workers in California are simply receiving fewer working hours as employers aim to cut costs.

Newsom believes he can continue spending and rescue the state from the debt through taxation. Fleeing businesses can’t pay taxes, and California forces both businesses and residents to pay some of the highest taxes in the nation. All corporations operating in the state must pay a flat corporate income tax rate of 8.84% on net income. Banks and financial institutions pay a bit more at 10.84%. There is an annual franchise tax of $800 for businesses as well. But wait—corporations are still beholden to the 21% federal corporate income tax, which means businesses are paying roughly 29.84% on corporate income taxes alone.

Payroll taxes in California are higher than the national average, largely due to social programs like State Disability Insurance (SDI) and the Employment Training Tax (ETT), which must be paid in addition to Unemployment Insurance (UI). There is a personal income tax withholding of up to 14.63% that employers must withhold from employees as well.

The state was forced to overturn its policy regarding shoplifting and burglary after criminals used the minimum $950 amount for petty theft to avoid felony charges. Countless businesses shuttered their brick-and-mortar locations as a direct result of light-on-crime policies.

Capital flees excessive regulation and it’s almost a no-brainer for corporations to move beyond state lines where operating costs are drastically lower.

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DOGE Unleashes New AI Deregulation Decision Tool Targeting 200,000 Federal Regulations- Aims to Slash 50% by January 2026

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has announced a new AI reregulation tool that could slash Federal regulations by as much as 50%.

A Washington Post exclusive notes that the tool, the ‘DOGE AI Deregulation Decision Tool,’ “is supposed to analyze roughly 200,000 federal regulations to determine which can be eliminated because they are no longer required by law.”

The Post reviewed a PowerPoint presentation dated July 1 that outlines the specifics.

“Roughly 100,000 of those rules would be deemed worthy of trimming, the PowerPoint estimates — mostly through the automated tool with some staff feedback. The PowerPoint also suggests the AI tool will save the United States trillions of dollars by reducing compliance requirements, slashing the federal budget and unlocking unspecified “external investment.”

DOGE shared on X, “The AI-driven deregulation push at DOGE isn’t just streamlining red tape—it’s surgically targeting bureaucratic bloat that’s choked agencies for decades.”

“The system cross-references 15,000+ regulations against statutory authority, flagging provisions where agencies exceeded congressional mandates. Take HUD’s Public Housing reforms: AI identified 1,200+ redundant compliance checks in tenant verification processes, enabling targeted cuts that maintain oversight while eliminating 40% of administrative overhead.”

“This isn’t blanket deregulation—it’s precision calibration.”

“The $175B savings milestone proves the model works, with contract cancellations like the $2.9B ORR influx facility termination showing real fiscal discipline. Critics miss the point: when you replace 500 pages of procurement rules with 50 pages of blockchain-encoded smart contracts, you’re not weakening governance—you’re modernizing it.”

“The goal? Replace voluminous compliance theater with algorithmic accountability that actually works.”

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Environmental Regulations Are Literally Baking Europeans to Death

Much of the U.S. has been suffering a sweltering heat wave for the past two weeks. Though uncomfortable, particularly in areas with nearly 100 percent humidity like Washington, D.C., most Americans experience heat waves as a sweaty annoyance. Our European counterparts are not so fortunate, thanks to excessive regulations driving up the price of energy and outright banning certain air conditioning units.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put 130 million Americans “under extreme heat warnings or heat advisories [last] Thursday…with 282 locations breaking daily heat records,” according to The Guardian. CNN reported that at least one death in the St. Louis area was ascribed to the heat wave, but mass casualties have not been suffered stateside. Meanwhile, in Europe, eight people have died across the continent as of Wednesday: four in Spain (two were killed in a wildfire that is believed to be driven by hot, dry conditions), two in France, and two more in Italy, per Al Jazeera. 

The situation was even worse during the summer of 2023. The U.K. Health Security Agency estimated that 2,295 deaths were associated with excessive heat. The U.S., meanwhile, recorded nearly the same number of heat-related deaths (2,325), despite having a population (335 million) nearly five times greater than the U.K. population (​​68 million) at the time.

The United Nations estimates that the European continent accounted for approximately 175,000 heat-related deaths annually between 2000 and 2019. The Environmental Protection Agency, meanwhile, calculates that about 1,300 deaths per year in the U.S. are due to extreme heat. (This translates to four heat-related deaths per million annually in the U.S. and 235 heat-related deaths per million annually across Europe.)

There are myriad reasons why there are so many more heat-related deaths in Europe than there are in the United States. But the most significant explanation might just be the simplest: air conditioning.

David S. Jones, a physician and historian at Harvard University, told CNN in 2023 that the disparity is explained by some combination of the U.S. underreporting its numbers and heat being more lethal in Europe due to the lack of air conditioning. The American-European disparity along this latter dimension could hardly be greater: nearly 90 percent of U.S. households have air conditioning, whereas less than 10 percent of European homes do. The productivity gap between the U.S. and Europe helps explain this disparity.

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