In a new interview with host Scott Horton at the Scott Horton Show, prominent libertarian communicator and peace proponent Ron Paul discussed how Secretary of State Mike Pompeo presenting a “gross distortion” purposed to blame Iran for the harming of two ships last week in the Middle East fits in with a broader effort to “lie us into war” against Iran. “We should be awake from all their shenanigans,” Paul advises.
Continue readingOn Thursday, the New York state legislature passed and New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law legislation (S2994A) eliminating the religious exemption parents in the state have been able to exercise to refuse state-mandated vaccinations for their children as a condition for their children attending school. This legal change leaves parents with only a narrow medical exemption given that New York had already barred use of a philosophical exemption.
Continue readingCalling 911 is marketed as a means to obtain help and safety when danger arises. But, when cops arrive in response to a 911 call, they can make a dangerous situation more dangerous and even make it deadly. This can especially be the case when the individual who makes the 911 call or is the subject of the call has a disability or a mental health issue.
Continue readingYou might hope that at least the United States Libertarian Party could be counted on not to support the US government’s effort to install its chosen politician as president of Venezuela. Oh well. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Earlier this month, a “Dear Libertarian” letter from party chairman Nicholas Sarwark appeared on the Libertarian Party’s website in which Sarwark promotes viewing a video by Kyle Varner — described by Sarwark as a party member — in which Varner delivers the US government’s regime change line in regard to the South America country.
Continue readingThe support for marijuana legalization is so strong among Democrats that there may be no hope for any United States presidential candidate who supports marijuana prohibition to achieve the party’s nomination. Indeed, we have witnessed Democratic candidate after candidate express support for legalization. Even long-time drug warrior Joe Biden, though he has held back from endorsing legalization, said through a spokesperson last month that he supports several significant marijuana law liberalizations.
Still, it is uncommon for a Democratic presidential candidate to take the further step of declaring his support for ending the entire drug war. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) made such a declaration as he started his presidential campaign. In the case of Democratic presidential candidate Mike Gravel, a former US senator from Alaska, public support for ending the drug war goes back further.
In January, I wrote about a then-upcoming vote by Amazon shareholders on a resolution calling for the company’s board of directors to “prohibit sales of facial recognition technology to government agencies unless the Board concludes, after an evaluation using independent evidence, that the technology does not cause or contribute to actual or potential violations of civil and human rights.”
Here is an update. In May, in a vote of Amazon shareholders, a resolution to prevent the sales failed, receiving less than three percent of votes cast. Also, as noted in a Reuters report on the vote, a second proposal calling for the company to take the more limited step of studying how its Rekognition facial recognition technology harms civil rights and privacy also failed, receiving just 27.5 percent support.
On Saturday, after over ten years of red light cameras use by local governments across the state to impose fines, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law legislation that bans the use of red light cameras in Texas and ensures people who have been ticketed based upon photos taken by such cameras can register their vehicles despite their having not paid the tickets.
Continue readingIn a new video commentary at Fox News, Andrew Napolitano, a constitutional scholar and former New Jersey state judge, argues that instead of prosecuting Julian Assange of WikiLeaks for the exposure of United States military wrongdoing “we should be thanking him.” Pointing to the US Supreme Court backing the legality of media publishing the Pentagon Papers exposing US military secrets related to the Vietnam War, Napolitano further asserts that Assange, like publishers of the Pentagon Papers, is protected by the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Continue readingYou may think that the United States House of Representatives only passes legislation while in session when members have an opportunity to vote. Not so. On Tuesday, a small group of representatives on the House floor, while most representatives were far afield on recess, sought to quickly approve a 19 billion dollars disaster relief bill and a two-week extension of the National Flood Insurance Program. They would have succeeded, but for the fact that Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) objected on the House floor, preventing the legislation from being approved.
Continue readingThe United States government, through arms including the US Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID), has long been promoting violence and destruction in previously relatively peaceful and prosperous places around the world. It has done so through supporting sides in conflicts and stirring up conflicts in an effort to determine who governs — either seeking to prop up or overthrow national governments.
This week, the US House of Representatives passed by a voice vote a bill (HR 2116) titled the Global Fragility Act and carrying this short description of its intent: “To enhance stabilization of conflict-affected areas and prevent violence and fragility globally, and for other purposes.” Having been approved in the House, the bill now can proceed to consideration in the US Senate.
You might expect that the Global Fragility Act would, through actions such as placing limits on or defunding activities of the State Department and USAID, seek stop the US from intervening abroad. That would be a welcome development.
Unfortunately, things tend not to work that way in Washington, DC. In Washington DC “up” is “down” and, as George Orwell wrote about the dystopia in his novel 1984, “war” is “peace.” The Global Fragility Act is a bill to enable the US government to further “break” the world through, among other things, giving the State Department and USAID hundreds of millions of dollars a year to stir up more trouble and further attempt to control who governs in countries around the world.