A whole lot of people who should know a whole lot better keep jumping on the bandwagon that represents the worst in corporate wealthfare.
In a nutshell, taxpayers will have their pockets turned out for hundreds of millions of dollars to subsidize Norfolk Southern railroad under the guise of “expanding” and “improving” Amtrak passenger service in Pittsburgh.
But the coming “expansion” and “improvements” pretty much will do nothing to reduce the onerously long and slow Amtrak travel times.
And the latest round of happy talk – predicting this taxpayer molestation will lead to almost unimaginable economic development that will lead to jobs, Jobs, JOBS – is an embarrassment obviously fueled by too many cups of holiday cheer.
Farm Journal reports on the latest in a string of shocking court rulings that allow the government to keep thumbing its nose at both the state and federal constitutions.
In a late September ruling, Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court said government has the absolute power to “roam private land without consent, warrants or probable cause.”
Here’s the background, as reported by Farm Journal:
“On Dec. 16, 2021, Pitch Pine and Punxsutawney hunting clubs sued the [state] Game Commission after game wardens consistently entered club lands without permission or warrant, and secretly monitored club members, including photo collection via installation of a hidden game camera. The wardens’ behavior, the lawsuit asserted, was a direct violation of Pennsylvania’s state Constitution, which explicitly protects “persons, houses, papers, and possessions.”
And most reasonable people would argue it’s a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
But Commonwealth Court, as have several courts before it (including the U.S. Supreme Court), cited the “Open Fields Doctrine” that grants government “unfettered discretion” to do basically as it pleases.
The hunting clubs are appealing.
Allowing such a ruling to stand is antithetical to everything for which America is supposed to stand.
Government arrogance, of course, is nothing new. And it comes in doses large and small.
Take, for instance, the news that unionized City of Pittsburgh firefighters have agreed to a new contract that reportedly includes wage hikes, new policies regarding health insurance, parental leave and fire station improvements.
But details of the pact are being kept secret until the rank and file votes.
Sorry, but that’s simply unacceptable. Once negotiators for any public employee contracts come to terms – and before they are signed, sealed and delivered – the public that’s paying for all of this should have every right to scrutinize the details.
Period.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
