I was AWOL from Ricochet last week because I finally took the fam on an old-fashioned summer vacation. I dropped off Calvin the Wonderbeagle at the kennel, loaded up the missus and the wee ones in the family truckster, and headed off on a Four Corner tour. Raced through Payson, earned a speeding ticket in Overgaard, ate my weight in enchiladas in Albuquerque, then ate more in Santa Fe. Hiked in Los Alamos, giggled at Taos hippies, hiked more near Pagosa Springs, exposed the lie that is the Four Corners Monument, and was nearly struck by lighting in Monument Valley.
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I drove 1,400 miles, meeting people rich and poor, urban and rural, liberal and conservative (if their Subarus and F-150’s were any guide). We talked about where we were from, where we were headed, kids, work, food, coffee, and the weather. But the subject that consumes much of the internet never seemed to arise.

When people invoke the Beltway, it usually means something bad. Especially to Arizonans 2,000 miles away, the Beltway represents a far-off, out-of-touch elite, intent on telling us how to live our lives while they desperately grope for more power.

Nothing reflects this fact as powerfully as Washington, D.C.’s control of our most fundamental resource: the ground beneath our feet.

While our imperial capital controls just 3 percent of its neighbor Maryland, the Beltway controls nearly 39 percent of Arizona’s far larger area.

Compared to other western states, Arizona gets off easy. The feds own 61 percent of Alaska, 63 percent of Utah, and a staggering 80 percent of Nevada. In fact, the federal government controls more than 50 percent of all land west of Kansas.

​To many in Washington this isn’t a crisis; it’s just a start.

If people have too little money, the state needs to raise wages; too much money, it needs to raise taxes.

Too much violence in Iraq and Washington needs to stop policing the world; too much violence in Syria and Washington needs jump in.

Government needs to reform health care immediately; how else can they fix the problems created by their last reform?

​Whenever there’s any problem anywhere, our politicians and chattering classes cry, “We need to do something!”

Samuel Girod of Bath County, KY, is an Amish farmer who sold homemade herbal remedies. The FDA saw to it he would spend the next six years in federal prison.

​The 56-year-old man created a salve made of chickweed, rosemary, beeswax, and olive oil. The label said it was to treat skin disorders such as “dry skin, cuts, burns, draws, and poison ivy.” Girod also handed out pamphlets touting the product’s effectiveness in treating skin cancer, diaper rash, and fungal infections.

When a Missouri resident filed a complaint, the state health department demanded he remove the language. Girod changed the product’s name to “Healing Chickweed,” agents said the word “healing” was verboten, so he renamed it “Original Chickweed.”

While the rest of America was celebrating Independence Day, CNN kept digging its own grave.

Furious over a silly video President Donald Trump posted Sunday, the flailing network sicced Senior Editor Andrew Kaczynski on its creator. He tracked down an anonymous Reddit user who first posted the GIF of Trump tackling a wrestler whose head was replaced with a CNN logo. Kaczynski then found out the person’s real name and threatened to release it if he misbehaved again:

​After posting his apology, “HanA**holeSolo” called CNN’s KFile and confirmed his identity. In the interview, “HanA**holeSolo” sounded nervous about his identity being revealed and asked to not be named out of fear for his personal safety and for the public embarrassment it would bring to him and his family.