Categories
News

The Facts about Border Security and the Government Shutdown

As news of the government shutdown emanates from TV news channels, vastly different perspectives are communicated. The truth is uglier than any of them. A majority of members of Congress understand the facts about our southern border: 60,000 people per month are showing up trying to get into the country. Of that number, approximately 5,000 […]

Categories
News

Will an ‘Add The Words’ Law truly create equality?

Last week activist groups flooded the Idaho Capitol to argue for adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to the Civil Rights section of Idaho law. The recurring campaign to “add the words” ebbs and flows. It resurfaces in varying degrees annually, though the legislature repeatedly and consistently rejects their proposal. These groups believe adding the […]

Categories
News

A Republic If You Can Keep It!

The United States Constitution guarantees every State in the Union a Republican Form of Government (Article IV, Section 4). This simple promise to the States is only vaguely apparent in the operations of the Salmon-Challis National Forest in Idaho or within any federally managed lands across the nation. The omission of this Constitutional mandate may […]

Categories
John Livingston News

What is Virtue Signaling?

I never heard of the term “virtue signaling” until last Sunday when I listened to news reports about the confrontation between the Covington Kentucky Catholic High School students and the Native American Elder. Now I know what “virtue signaling” is all about. In retrospect, I have probably been guilty of “virtue signaling” myself, maybe even […]

Categories
News

Mother America…the Shabby Shepherd

It occurred to me in a lightbulb moment, that my taxes over fifty years of income earning have been re-directed first to two segments of America: 1) 568 tribal governments representing less than 1 million Americans; and 2) 11 million+ illegal immigrants. Taxpayers (Givers) don’t even get a thank-you note for annually funding these Takers. […]

Categories
News

Did Idaho Legislators Sell Out to Pharmaceutical Companies?

No matter what your personal beliefs on the effectiveness of vaccines, I want to raise awareness of Big Pharma’s influence on dissolving our nation’s most valuable founding principle: FREEDOM. It is happening right here in Idaho, right now. On January 10th, the Idaho House Health & Welfare Committee voted in a 7-6 decision to allow […]

Categories
News

The Truth About the Meningococcal (MenACWY) Vaccine and Your Child

Last week in the Idaho House Health and Welfare Committee, after much debate and controversy, an administrative rule was passed by a 7-6 vote to mandate 12th-grade high school students receive the Meningococcal vaccine. This rule is not required to be heard or debated by the entire body of the Idaho House or Senate and […]

Categories
News

Fallen Giant

My uncle was an engineer for the Forest Service, he helped design and build the Yankee Fork road we used to access our summer gold camp. He was a proud employee of an organization that was regaled as America’s keeper of the Forests. Throughout the 1960s the USFS provided wood products for a growing nation […]

Categories
John Livingston News

Single Payer Medical Care is not the Answer

Over the past 7 years and since the time of the passage of the ACA, I have listened without interjecting myself into the debate about the efficacy of moving forward with—Medicaid Expansion, SHIP, and Access to Health Care to those on the margin. This year the debate surrounding Health Care will begin to discuss once […]

Categories
John Livingston News

Health Care is neither a Right nor a Common Good

Last weekend was a great moment in time for the State of Idaho. Seeing power being transferred to a new generation of Idahoans and fresh young legislators eager to represent their constituents is always uplifting. Unfortunately, we heard the echoes of past debates when proponents of Medicaid Expansion again asserted that all people have a right […]

Categories
News

Trump Challenge: “Tear Down that Wall!”

I was going to write a column about the wall. It’s certainly the biggest issue in America. But I can end that debate quickly. President Trump should issue a simple challenge: “My fellow Democrats, I have a challenge for you. TEAR DOWN THAT WALL. I will end my demand for the wall today. But only […]

Categories
News

Salmon-Challis Wilderness News

Hot off the press, courtesy of the Challis Messenger. The news story below was printed about a month after the December 13th meeting sponsored by the Forest Service to present their findings regarding areas under consideration for additional Wilderness designation. According to the 2012 Planning Rule, Forest Management Act and the Wilderness Act this analysis, in […]

Gem State Patriot News