A Thursday profile of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) at the Cincinnati Enquirer declares that “neighbors, colleagues and friends all agree: Massie, who is running this year for a fifth term, is one of the most unusual members of the US House.” You can read the profile here and learn about Massie’s independent voting in the House of Representatives as well as some of his activities before he became a House member, including starting a business and building his family’s off-the-grid house.
Continue readingSenator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has been racking up wins in state-level contests of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Much less mentioned in the media is that Libertarian presidential candidate Jacob Hornberger won the February 8 Iowa Libertarian caucus with 47 percent of the vote. This put Hornberger far ahead of other candidates for the nomination, including Lincoln Chafee — a former governor and United States senator — who came in second with 13 percent.
Continue readingThere was much reason for hope that marijuana legalization would be approved in several state legislatures in 2019. In January of 2019, I suggested that such action could be taken that year in any of six states — Connecticut, Illinois, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. By year end, Illinois was the only new state to legalize, doing so via legislation approved by the state legislature and signed by the governor.
The governor of United States territory Guam also signed into law marijuana legalization legislation in 2019.
The advancement of marijuana legalization in the states was less last year than many legalization proponents had hoped. But, the momentum remains strong. Legalization is a wave that appears set to wash over the entire country.
Proponents of red flag laws in states or countrywide often assert that the laws protect targeted individuals’ due process rights. However, examining the exercise of the Florida red flag law in Broward County, Jacob Sullum provided in a Reason article last week plenty of reason to believe that judges have been implementing that red flag law by routinely rubber-stamping denying people’s right to possess guns while disregarding those individuals’ due process rights.
Continue readingDuring a new Fox News interview, Watters’ World host Jesse Watters asked former United States House of Representatives member and presidential candidate Ron Paul to give President Donald Trump a grade based on Paul’s evaluation of Trump’s actions as president concerning three major policy areas. In regard to those policy areas — immigration, economic, and foreign policy, Paul said Trump has earned “C-minuses” across the board.
Continue readingWith recent presidential impeachment proceedings as well as the insults flying between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, DC, many people may jump to the conclusion that the politicians of the opposing parties cannot work together on major policy matters and gridlock is at hand. Not at all, says former United States House of Representatives member and presidential candidate Ron Paul in a new, wide-ranging interview with host Larry King at the RT show Politicking.
While the partisan “vitriol” is easily observed, Paul explains that below the surface politicians of both parties are working to keep government abuses of power moving forward, with advancing a bipartisan foreign policy centered on intervention, including via military actions, a key component. It is “politics as usual,” concludes Paul.
Continue readingNATO is marketed as providing each member nation with the benefit that the other member nations are committed to coming to its aid militarily in the event of an attack by another nation, especially Russia. However, Pew Research Center poll results released Sunday indicate that the majority or plurality of people in 11 of 16 NATO countries where individuals were questioned oppose their respective governments meeting this commitment, at least if the military adversary were Russia.
Continue readingYou may find it more convenient to unlock your phone by pressing your fingerprint on or staring at the phone screen instead of typing out a password. But, some courts have determined that having your phone set to be unlocked via your biometric information will also make it much more convenient for police and prosecutors seeking to gain access to all the private information in your phone.
Continue readingDemocratic primary presidential candidate Joe Biden, in the 1990s when he was a member of the United States Senate, said racist stuff in two speeches. That is an insinuation of a Monday The Intercept article by Aída Chávez. The basis for this insinuation? Biden in the speeches, Chávez reports, called people who commit violent crimes “predators.”
Continue readingIn a new interview with host Scott Horton at the Scott Horton Show, politics writer James Bovard describes some of the latest ominous developments in the rollout of United States government-prescribed identification requirements arising from the 2005 REAL ID Act.
Continue reading