Watchdog.org Podcast

Since the passage of anti-LGBT laws (or "religious freedom laws," if you prefer) in Mississippi and North Carolina, a number of other states have banned government travel to those places. The bans are symbolic, but do they actually serve a purpose? Watchdog's Bruce Parker joins Eric Boehm on this week's edition of the podcast to discuss the travel bans and their apparently uselessness. Vermont is one of four states to ban officials from traveling to Mississippi since the state passed its religious freedom law last month. It's probably not going to hurt Mississippi all that much: Vermont spent a mere $500 on travel to the state last year. To the extent that these bans have any impact at all, they will hurt small businesses -- not the state's bottom line. Then, Todd Gaziano sits down to chat about the Pacific Legal Foundation's fight against the EPA's latest overreach.  Gaziano is the executive director of the PLF's Washington, D.C., office, where attorneys recently had oral arguments before the SCOTUS in