Keep It Shut Down! by Jacob G. Hornberger January 22, 2018 Last Friday, I predicted that Washington politicians would strike a last-minute deal to prevent a “shutdown” of the federal government. They failed to reach a deal and the federal government is now “shut down.” Okay, my prediction failed to materialize. But that’s not going to stop me from doing more predicting! Here’s my new prediction: They are going to strike a ...
Go Ahead and Shut Down the Government by Jacob G. Hornberger January 19, 2018 Despite all the tension, handwringing, and sleepless nights within official Washington and the mainstream press over the looming possibility that the federal government might be shut down, everyone can rest easy. The Democrats and the Republicans, including President Trump, are going to reach a deal that prevents the government from shutting down. How do I know this? Because every one ...
Why Trump Won’t Make America Great Again by Jacob G. Hornberger January 18, 2018 For those acolytes of Donald Trump who are still holding out hope that he is going to make America great again, give it up. It’s not going to happen. It was a pipedream from the get-go. The reason is very simple: A nation cannot ever be great when its government is all-powerful. The bigger and more powerful the government, the ...
Why Is the U.S. Spying on China? by Jacob G. Hornberger January 17, 2018 The federal government’s arrest of former CIA agent Jerry Chun Shing Lee for allegedly spying for China confirms, once again, that for the U.S. national-security branch of the federal government, the Cold War never ended. Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Lee is suspected of having revealed the existence to Chinese authorities of Chinese citizens who were ...
Watch Wormwood by Jacob G. Hornberger January 16, 2018 I’ve got a movie recommendation for you: Watch Wormwood, a fantastic Netflix original. Set aside time for binge watching because once you start, you will want to continue watching to the end. Combining a documentary format with depictions of events with actors, the series focuses on the CIA’s execution of Frank Olson, an American citizen who worked for the ...
The Racism and S***Hole Circus Misses the Point by Jacob G. Hornberger January 15, 2018 Amidst all the furor over whether Donald Trump is a racist and whether he did in fact describe Haiti and African countries as “s***holes,” the real point is one that hardly anyone wants to face, including Trump’s critics who continue to support immigration controls on Haiti and Africa to ensure that not too many of their citizens come to ...
The Banality of U.S. Evil by Jacob G. Hornberger January 12, 2018 U.S. officials, led by President Trump, and accompanied by their acolytes in the U.S. mainstream press, are absolutely giddy over what they perceive as the success of U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea. With Iran, they are celebrating the fact that horrific economic conditions have led to sporadic protests across the country against the Iranian regime. With North ...
Foreign Interventionism Is Destroying Us by Jacob G. Hornberger January 11, 2018 Most everyone acknowledges that James Madison, the father of the Constitution, possessed deep insights into the relationship between liberty and government. One of his important insights involved the relationship between liberty and war: Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is ...
The British Empire in Yemen by Jacob G. Hornberger January 10, 2018 Over the holidays, I began watching a Netflix/BBC series entitled The Last Post, which revolves around a contingent of British troops in the early 1960s stationed in Aden, a port city in Yemen, the Arabian country today that Saudi Arabia and the United States are bombing to smithereens. The British troops were there as a remnant of the British ...
Trump and Sessions Are Right on the Drug War, Partly by Jacob G. Hornberger January 9, 2018 Imagine that: the New York Times favoring states’ rights. Did you ever think you’d see that day? No, the Times’ editorial board doesn’t exactly put it that way, but that’s the import of its position with respect to President Trump’s order to Attorney General Jeff Sessions to enforce federal marijuana laws in states that have legalized or decriminalized marijuana or ...
IRS Tyranny against Swiss Bankers by Jacob G. Hornberger January 8, 2018 Stefan Buck is a happy man. Last fall, a federal jury in Manhattan acquitted him of conspiracy to deprive the IRS of income tax revenue. Although a team of U.S. marshals was ready to take him into custody, Buck was free to walk out of the federal courthouse a free man and return to his home … in Switzerland. Buck ...
Sabotaging Peace in Korea by Jacob G. Hornberger January 3, 2018 It just might be that the two Koreas are figuring out a way to avoid war, much to the anger and chagrin of President Trump and the U.S. national-security establishment, who are obviously increasingly viewing war as inevitable and even in the best interests of the United States. Why, even the U.S. mainstream press, which oftentimes seems to operate as ...