Kudos to Van Morrison and Eric Clapton for Trying to Save Live Music

Posted on by October 2, 2020

Coronavirus crackdowns have been devastating to live music performances. Venues have been shut down. Large gatherings have been banned. Even when venues have been allowed to reopen, they have been subjected to occupancy limits and other restrictions that can prevent profitable operation. Watching a show while wearing a mask and trying to “social distance” can be a drag.

Van Morrison and Eric Clapton are two marquee musicians who are saying enough already with the restrictions — let venues operate, musicians perform, and concertgoers attend performances normally.

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Anti-Trump Bias in the Media? John Stossel Finds Plenty

Posted on by September 30, 2020

“It’s clear that most reporters don’t like Trump — or even Republicans,” concludes John Stossel in his Wednesday article “Media Bias” at his website johnstossel.com. In the 2016 presidential election won by Trump, Stossel continues, “96 percent of journalists’ political donations” went to Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (more on that here).

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Drug War Rollbacks on Voters’ Ballots in November

Posted on by September 28, 2020

In March, I wrote about how coronavirus fear and government crackdowns undertaken in the name of countering coronavirus could be expected to prevent some drug war rollback measures from being included on November general election ballots. Qualifying such measures for inclusion on voters’ ballots typically requires the collection of many signatures, something that is harder to accomplish when there is widespread fear of coronavirus and expansive government mandates restricting people’s activities.

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The Coronavirus Crackdown Hour with Adam Dick

Posted on by September 26, 2020

Saturday, I returned as a guest at the Patriot’s Lament show at KFAR radio of Fairbanks, Alaska. The one-hour interview with hosts Joshua Bennett and Michael Anderson is focused almost entirely on the coronavirus crackdowns people have been suffering under for the last six month in Alaska where Bennett and Anderson live, in Texas where I live, and across America.

Watch the complete interview here.

Reprinted with permission from the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity.

The No-Compromise Texas Republican Party Resolution Telling the Republican Governor to Immediately End His Entire Coronavirus Crackdown

Posted on by September 22, 2020

The Republican Party of Texas executive committee has taken a heroic action that could serve as an example for Republican and Democratic parties across America. It has adopted, by a 54 to 4 vote, a resolution clearly and emphatically demanding that Texas Governor Greg Abbott immediately end all the liberty-repressing measures that, over the last six months while the state legislature has been in recess, Abbott has imposed unilaterally in the name of countering coronavirus.

The rebuke and demand of the resolution are particularly strong given that they come from Abbott’s own party.

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Ron Paul Joins with other Eminent Political Figures to Call for the Immediate Release of Julian Assange

Posted on by September 21, 2020

Ron Paul has joined with other eminent political figures from around the world in endorsing a letter from Lawyers for Assange to several government officials of Great Britain. The letter makes the case for the immediate release of Julian Assange of WikiLeaks and the termination of the extradition proceedings against him.

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Crazy and Contemptible College Coronavirus Rules: Online-Only Student Who Is Never on Campus Suspended for Attending a Party

Posted on by September 20, 2020

So you want to avoid the mask mandates, long lists of grim rules, administrators demanding strict adherence to these rules, and prison-like conditions that have become the norm at many university campuses in the name of countering coronavirus? You may choose to be an online-only student and stay away from your university’s campus and the repression that you would find there. It sounds like a good idea. But, this plan may not always work. The repression may find you off campus as well.

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Delay of MORE Act Vote Could Mean Sooner National Marijuana Legalization

Posted on by September 18, 2020

Earlier this month, I wrote about a bill including marijuana legalization that United States House of Representatives Democratic leadership had planned to bring to the House floor for a vote this month. The bill — the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act (HR 3884), I noted, appears to have no chance of being approved in the Republican majority US Senate or of receiving a signature from President Donald Trump. This is because the virtually “Democrats only” bill includes race-based provisions and marijuana business subsidies that are anathema to many Republicans, including those who favor legalization.

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Should Government Destroy the Economy and Trample Liberty in the Name of Countering Coronavirus? Hold On, Let Me Grab My Calculator.

Posted on by September 18, 2020

The Cato Institute came out Tuesday with its Pandemics and Policy collection of coronavirus-and-pandemics-related articles described as purposed to “provide policymakers with an actionable guide to policies that can harness [old‐​fashioned American ingenuity] and foster a resilient society capable of meeting the challenges ahead.” Among the articles is “Balancing Tradeoffs between Liberties and Lives” by Cato Institute Director of Economic Studies Jeffrey Miron and Cato Institute Senior Fellow Peter Van Doren.

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