U.S. Soldiers Died for Empire and Hegemony by Jacob G. Hornberger May 25, 2015 On Memorial Day, Americans honor the soldiers who have died in the defense of our country. There is one big problem though: Those soldiers didn’t die in the defense of our country. Instead, they died in the defense of empire and hegemony. For obvious reasons, U.S. officials, as well as many of the family members of the deceased, can’t bring ...
Continued CIA Secrecy in the JFK Assassination by Jacob G. Hornberger May 21, 2015 In this week’s Libertarian Angle, I had the pleasure of having Jefferson Morley as my co-host. Morley runs JFKfacts.org, which I consider the absolutely best website for JFK assassination-related matters. It is timely, provocative, thought-provoking, and informative. Practically every day there is at least one new post, inevitably followed by a string of very intelligent comments. Morley is ...
America Was Once Exceptional by Jacob G. Hornberger May 20, 2015 Conservatives love to talk about how exceptional America is. What nonsense. Apparently they don’t know what the term “exceptional” means. It means unusual, uncommon, atypical, extraordinary, rare, or unprecedented. How in the world does that describe America? We’ve got a massive welfare state, by which the federal government is charged with the responsibility of taking care of people through such programs ...
About Those U.S. Troops Who Died in Ramadi by Jacob G. Hornberger May 19, 2015 I can’t help but wonder how the family of Michael A. Monsoor is reacting to ISIS’s recent conquest of Ramadi in Iraq. Monsoor was awarded the Medal of Honor for actions taken during the 2006 Battle of Ramadi, when U.S. forces fought insurgents for control of the city. The medal was awarded posthumously. Monsoor wasn’t the only U.S. soldier who ...
Morsi’s Death Sentence Reminds Us of Our System by Jacob G. Hornberger May 18, 2015 The death penalty just meted out to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi provides a perfect demonstration of the value to a tyrannical regime of having a federal judiciary that is subordinate to the nation’s national-security establishment. In that way, when the military wishes to kill political opponents, it can use the charade of a judicial trial as a cover for ...
Why Not Assassinate Drug Users? by Jacob G. Hornberger May 15, 2015 What if the DEA began assassinating people that it suspected of possessing or distributing drugs in violation of federal drug laws? Would there be anything wrong with that, from a moral perspective? I suspect that most people would answer yes. That certainly would be my answer. If the government suspects someone of violating drug laws, it should have to follow ...
The Ridiculous Cold War against Cuba by Jacob G. Hornberger May 14, 2015 Yesterday, Cuban President Raul Castro announced that Cuba is ready to name an ambassador to the United States, signifying that the United States and Cuba continue on the road toward reestablishing formal diplomatic ties. As the governments of the two nations move further toward renewing formal relations, it should become increasingly clear what a horrible fraud the U.S. national-security branch ...
Immigration Checkpoint Tyranny by Jacob G. Hornberger May 13, 2015 Welcome, New Yorkers, to the world of immigration checkpoint tyranny! You’re now seeing what Americans in the Southwest have had to experience for decades. Starting back in the 1960s, the Border Patrol, along with the DEA, instituted border patrol checkpoints on highways in Texas and the rest of the American Southwest similar to that found in Cuba. Thanks to the ...
The National Security State Has Warped Our Values by Jacob G. Hornberger May 12, 2015 After Edward Snowden revealed the NSA’s secret mass surveillance scheme to the American people and the world, there have been those who consider what he did to be treasonous rather than patriotic. That adverse reaction to what Snowden did is a perfect example of how the national-security state apparatus that was grafted onto America’s governmental system after World War ...
Which American System is Exceptional? by Jacob G. Hornberger May 11, 2015 Throughout the Iraq War, U.S. officials steadfastly maintained, especially after they failed to find those infamous WMDs, that they were continuing to occupy Iraq out of love for the Iraqi people. Since U.S. troops were there anyway, they said, there was no need to apologize for having invaded a country and killed lots of people based on a wrongful ...
Operation Jade Helm by Jacob G. Hornberger May 8, 2015 The U.S. military’s plans to conduct a massive military exercise called Operation Jade Helm in Texas and other Southwestern states has provoked tremendous controversy. Some people are asserting the exercise is a prelude to martial law. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered Texas State Guard forces to keep an eye on the military. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said that ...
U.S. Paternalism versus Cuba by Jacob G. Hornberger May 7, 2015 Most every American is familiar with the decades-long U.S. embargo against Cuba, but I wonder how many of them realize that U.S. businesses played a major role in bringing about the embargo. During the U.S.-supported dictatorships of Cuban leader Fulgencio Batista, there were many U.S. businesses operating in Cuba, just like in other parts of Latin America. Many of the ...
