Entries by Neland Nobel

Let’s Not Forget Sweden

I don’t know about you, but I am getting increasingly confused by the swirling stories about a resurgence of Covid or its variants. It is clearly not just me. The financial markets have been bucking like a bronco trying to figure out how serious this is, whether governments will go back to failed lockdown policies, […]

Implications of the Arizona Audit- Part II

The widening implications will likely depend on whether the results show there has been significant discrepancy or fraud, whether those results are credible and believable, and whether the press actually covers the story and public opinion shifts. Once Republicans believe they have a solid case, then strategies will need to be developed to go into […]

A Question of the Day From Just Facts Daily

The following question was recently posed in Just Facts Daily. The question stimulated The Prickly Pear Editors’ comments follow the explanation of the answer.   What portion of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. have false identity documents that might allow them to illegally work, vote, and receive welfare? Is it 10%, 25%, 50%? And your […]

Facing Reality: Two Truths About Race In America – A Book Review

Facing Reality: Two Truths About Race In American Charles Murray, Encounter Books   There is likely no other intellectual today willing to write on the controversies in social science concerning human achievement with the courage and wisdom of Charles Murray. Universities used to be the place where anything could be discussed and reasonable people could work […]

The Arizona Election Audit and Its Implications – Part I

Many in the state of Arizona and, unquestionably, throughout the nation, are awaiting the results of the Arizona audit. At this writing, we do not know the results of the audit. We will reserve judgement on that. We wish more would just wait to see evidence before commenting. The spinmeisters have been at work for […]

Swiss Voters Reject Climate Legislation

The Swiss have one of the few federal systems in the world. And interestingly, they are perhaps the only country to limit government power through a federal system of cantons and direct initiative voting that developed before, and independently of England. Other countries that have a dispersion of power systems like the United States and […]

Are Stocks Fully Owned?

The stock market has been climbing, although of late it has tended to levitate near old highs. The economy is recovering to be sure, but it is not clear what will happen when all the stimulus checks get fully worked into the system, and further transfers to consumers cease. Meanwhile, economists debate whether inflation, which […]

Supreme Court Agrees To Take Major Gun Case

In late April, the Supreme Court announced it would take an important gun case, something they have not done for 11 years. The case will review a New York law that severely restricts the ability of law-abiding citizens to carry a gun outside of their homes. The case is New York Rifle and Pistol Association […]

The Fed and Congress: Two Drunks Holding Each Other Up

The Federal Reserve Board is one of the most difficult institutions to understand, yet it has an outsized influence on the way we live and conduct our politics. It is nominally a private institution owned by the banks it supervises whose governors are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the […]

From Jim Crow to Joe Crow

Readers are doubtless aware that Jim Crow was a system of state-sanctioned discrimination against black people for the basic reason of their skin color. Housing was segregated as was public accommodations and education. It was almost universally the product of the Democrat Party. Northern Liberals united with Southern bigots to ensure the rule of the […]

Biden Lies About Guns

What portion of state prison inmates who carried a gun during crimes for which they were jailed obtained their firearms from gun shows? This is a question to ask yourself as President Biden has made the “gun show loophole” a big part of his push to restrict the Second Amendment rights of Americans. What is […]

George Bush Says Populism Will Fritter Over Time

In late March, former President George Bush dismissed “populist” sentiments gaining ascendancy in the Republican Party as transitory and meaningless. Or, that is at least what we think he said. The reason for the doubt is that the word fritter, is a verb, and usually means to waste or incrementally exhaust money or time with […]

Is Inflation About to Become a Problem Again?

Those of us of a certain age remember when inflation was a problem. For example, during the post-Vietnam War period, inflation was a vexing political issue that found few solutions. The value of money was falling, which is another way to say that prices were rising. It took more money to buy the same amount […]

The Art of Leftist, Woke Projection: Have You Noticed That…

People who loudly proclaim the unrestricted right of foreigners to break American immigration laws are usually the same people who condemn earlier immigrants (settlers) that displaced the land and culture of native Americans? People who often support the complete legalization of drugs, hallucinogenic mushrooms and cacti also tend to also be opposed to tobacco smoking […]

A New Form Of Government

We have a new form of government.  One we did not consciously select. This is just one of the bizarre elements of the ongoing Wuhan virus crisis and subsequent lockdown. What is remarkable is the fundamental abuse of power we have endured. In reality, the government has on a very basic level, ignored structural protections […]