Speaking this week with host Rick Sanchez at RT, Ron Paul, who founded the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity in 2013 after leaving the United States House of Representatives, discussed how special interests and executive branch officials work to push the US into wars, including against Iran. In doing so, Paul notes, they seek to overcome the inclination of the American people to oppose intervention overseas.
On Tuesday, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed into law a marijuana legalization bill. Due to the enactment of this legislation, over 12 million more Americans now live in a state where marijuana legalization has been adopted. In total, well over 90 million Americans live in the 11 states that have legalized marijuana.
In a new interview at RT largely focused on United States sanctions on Iran and the threat of a US attack on Iran, Ludwig von Mises Institute Chairman Lew Rockwell urges President Donald Trump to “start being a man of peace.” Toward achieving this goal, Rockwell advises that Trump should immediately take the step of firing war advocates Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director Gina Haspel, and National Security Advisor John Bolton, who Rockwell together terms the “trio of blood.”
Results released this month of a new Gallup poll of marijuana legalization supporters in America indicate that 60 percent of them view legalizing marijuana being “a matter of freedom and personal choice” as a very important reason for supporting legalization, while an additional 29 percent see this as a somewhat important reason.
You may recall United States Libertarian Party Chairman Nicholas Sarwark, in a December of 2016 interview, denouncing prominent libertarian communicator Ron Paul’s support for states’ rights. In that interview, Sarwark said Paul, who ran three times for US president including once as the Libertarian Party nominee, “had policy prescriptions that were straight-up wrong and anti-libertarian.”
Sarwark is back this week with a fresh denunciation of Paul. Writing in a Twitter thread on Monday, Sarwark insinuates that Paul is a supporter of the governments of China and Venezuela. Following that strange comment, Sarwark suggests that Paul is not opposing “Russian interference in the internal affairs of our government” because, get this, the Russian government secretly backed Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign. Sarwark even tries to back up this Russia nonsense with a preposterous Medium article that you can read here. Go ahead and read the article, for the laughs at least.
So, you think the United States government is too big and powerful and that power should be returned to state and local governments? Well, Adam Kokesh may be your presidential candidate — if you are willing to take your thinking to the extreme.
On 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.
Calling 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.
You 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.
The 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.