Tag: United States

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Leaders of ‘Largest Libertarian Student Organization in the World’ Say Sanction Venezuela

You would likely expect leaders of Students for Liberty to oppose the imposing of sanctions on Venezuela. After all, the organization claims at its website that it is the “largest libertarian student organization in the world” and libertarians are known for their support for a noninterventionist foreign policy. That noninterventionist approach includes opposition to imposing sanctions on other countries to bring about “regime change” or to force changes in government policies in those countries.

Well, the self-proclaimed libertarian organization has a surprise for you.

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Patrick Buchanan on the Tense Situation Between the United States and Russia Concerning Ukraine

The tense situation between the United States and Russia governments concerning Ukraine is a topic of much discussion in the media recently, including in today’s episode of the Ron Paul Institute’s daily video program.

Once you have watched that Ron Paul Liberty Report episode, a great next step for background information about the situation is Patrick J. Buchanan’s editorial “Putin to Biden: Finlandize Ukraine, or We Will.”

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World Health Organization Opposes Travel Bans Purportedly Imposed to Protect Against ‘Omicron’

Omicron is the newly named type of coronavirus that governments are using to spread fear and to impose new restrictions on people’s activities in the name of protecting “public health.” Among those new restrictions, national governments are banning the entry of people who have been in certain countries. For, example, United States President Joe Biden unilaterally declared on Friday (no congressional approval sought or obtained) that most people, with exceptions for US citizens and some others, who have been in any of eight listed countries in Africa over the previous 14 days may not enter America.

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No Peace Dividend Again

Back when the Soviet Union fell apart, there was much talk of a peace dividend — a big reduction in the United States government’s spending on militarism. The peace dividend did not arrive. Instead, the US government proceeded to spend big on the military and engage in a series of military actions across the world, including, as the dissolution of the Soviet Union proceeded, the US military’s first of two invasions of Iraq.

Now, about 30 years after the Soviet Union went away, US military members are still stationed across Europe, as well as aboard ships near Russia, ready to counter the ghost of red spread.

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Coronavirus Crackdowns and the Ratchet Effect

One of Robert Higgs’ great contributions to understanding government is his exploration of what he terms the ratchet effect. In a 2011 interview posted at the Mises Institute website, Higgs provided this succinct description of the ratchet effect:

In my work, the ratchet effect describes the characteristic way in which government under modern ideological conditions grows during a perceived national emergency. The government’s size, scope, and power grow abruptly as the government acts to “do something” to allay the threat. Then, as the threat is eliminated or diminished, the government shrinks, but not all the way to the level it would have reached if the crisis had not occurred. Hence, each crisis shifts the government’s growth trajectory to a higher level of size, scope, and power.

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Mexico Supreme Court Rules Against Marijuana Prohibition

After a Monday Mexico Supreme Court decision finding unconstitutional certain provisions of the national government’s marijuana prohibition, an avenue has opened for people in the country to legally consume marijuana as well as engage in home cultivation of the plant. David Agren provides details at the Guardian.

Countrywide legalization is the situation now to the north and south of America. While just coming into being in Mexico, countrywide legalization has been in place in Canada since October of 2018.

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Lew Rockwell: Stop the US Government’s Murders

Lew Rockwell does not hold back in his recent interview at RT. Rockwell, who founded the Ludwig von Mises Institute and runs the website LewRockwell.com, calls out the United States government for its murdering of people around the world, both directly through means including fighting wars and indirectly through means including providing military weapons to governments including Saudi Arabia.

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British Judge Rules Julian Assange Cannot be Extradited to the United States

Judge Vanessa Baraitser, who has been hearing arguments in London regarding whether Julian Assange of WikiLeaks should be extradited from Great Britain to the United States for prosecution related to Assange’s involvement in bringing about the publication of secret US government information, ruled today that Assange not be extradited.

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America’s Big Move on the Bloomberg Misery Index

America is moving up the ranks of the Bloomberg Misery Index, an index in which being number one means being the worst. Last year, America came in 50th. This year, America jumped to 25th among 60 economies compared based on their estimated price growth and joblessness, both of which are seen as big economic contributors to misery.

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Ron Paul: US Wants to ‘Own Iran’ Like the US Did When the Shah Was in Power

President Donald Trump is offering plenty of justifications for the US government’s recent military actions against Iran, including that the actions were taken to prevent the deaths of Americans and to prevent a war. Not so, says former US House of Representatives member and presidential candidate Ron Paul in a Wednesday interview with host Ernest Hancock at Declare Your Independence.

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