The number of Americans with a criminal history has risen sharply over the past three decades.  Today, nearly one-third of the adult working age population has a criminal record.  In fact, so many Americans have a criminal record that counting them all is nearly impossible.

Have you ever made an unreasonable gesture to a passing horse in a national park?  If so, you are already a federal criminal.  For the rest of us, there’s a new work of reference, humor, and legal theory from attorney Mike Chase titled How to Become a Federal Criminal: An Illustrated Handbook for the Aspiring Offender.

As we wrote approximately a year ago, The People’s Republic of Massachusetts along with Ohio and Washington were then in a near three-way tie for the blue ribbon for most corrupt state in the nation.  Sadly for the last two, a recent matter has helped The People’s Republic pull ahead in the race and stake a singular claim on the prize.  In mid-April, federal prosecutors charged a Massachusetts judge with obstruction of justice, saying she prevented immigration agents from arresting an undocumented immigrant after a state court hearing by allowing him to leave the courthouse through a back door.

Shortly after the Wikileaks founder, Julian Assange, was arrested by British police this month, Judge Andrew Napolitano called Assange a “hero.”  Ecquador withdrew Assange’s asylum for “repeatedly violating international conventions and protocol.”

The car that got slapped with 63 tickets, including 34 speeding tickets and seven red light tickets, is parked in the foreground of the general mess at the 23rd station house in East Harlem.  Photo: Julianne Cuba

The fight to save our streets from recklessly driving cops now has a poster child.  Streetsblog’s ongoing investigation into police officers who repeatedly speed and run red lights unearthed a true sociopath in blue on Tuesday: An Upper East Side cop with 63 summonses—including 34 camera-issued speeding tickets and seven tickets issued for being caught on camera running a red light—since 2014.

The nation's attention turned to Oregon a few years ago when a group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom seized control of part of a federal wildlife refuge.  The citizens were protesting the harsh sentences given to members of the Hammond ranching family.  The Hammonds were accused of allowing fires set on their property to spread onto federal land.

As is usual every year, 2019 will see the enactment of new laws across the country.  Once again, our beloved legislators have passed thousands of needless new laws that will be going into effect this year.  Passing more laws is not the solution, but instead, part of the problem!  We already have millions of laws in the nation—far too many.  Having ample laws is one of several causes of corruption in our legal system.  Many of the newly written laws will have an impact on the vast majority of Americans.  In California alone, more than 1,000 new laws will be added to the books.  In some states, minimum wages will go up, guns will be harder to obtain legally, plastic straws will get the boot, and hunters will get to wear pink for a change.  Here are some of the noteworthy laws going into effect this year: