Don’t Northwoods Iran by Jacob G. Hornberger February 24, 2012 All the buzz over possible war with Iran brings us a déjà vu feeling, given that U.S. officials prepared Americans with similar pre-war hype in the run up to their war on Iraq. WMDs. Mushroom clouds over American cities. An insane dictator. Threats to national security. Etcetera. Keep in mind that Iran, like Iraq, has never attacked the United States. ...
Spending, not Taxation, Is the Problem by Jacob G. Hornberger February 23, 2012 With President Obama and various Republican presidential candidates competing to reduce corporate income taxes, it must be election time. Do you ever feel like you’re living in a Latin American country, where the presidential candidates are notorious for offering all sorts of political candy to the voters during the campaign season? The whole notion of reducing taxes is, of course, ...
Tear Down the Wall with Cuba by Jacob G. Hornberger February 22, 2012 While U.S. officials are decrying the Egyptian military dictatorship’s criminal prosecution of U.S.-government-funded NGOs for supposedly spreading “freedom and democracy” without a government-required license, now would be a good time to revisit Cuba’s criminal conviction of Alan Gross. Gross, an American citizen, was caught bringing satellite phones, laptops, smartphones, hard drives, and networking equipment into Cuba without the license that ...
The New York Times Has It Wrong on U.S. Aid to Egypt by Jacob G. Hornberger February 21, 2012 The New York Times, along with other members of the mainstream media, is in a tizzy over the Egyptian government’s decision to charge three American NGO’s, along with 19 American officers of the organizations, with criminal violations. Apparently the NGO’s failed to comply with Egypt’s registration requirements prior to engaging in “pro-democracy” political activity in Egypt. In an editorial on the subject, ...
The Students for Liberty Conference by Jacob G. Hornberger February 20, 2012 This past weekend, we had another great session on “Civil Liberties, the War on Terrorism, and the Constitution.” This time we were at the annual conference of the Students for Liberty, a fantastic organization of college students who are predominantly libertarian. The conference attracted more than 1000 attendees, and we had an overflow crowd at our panel, which ...
Torture, Assassination, and the American Way of Life by Jacob G. Hornberger February 17, 2012 As most everyone knows, the CIA has been assassinating people practically since the time it was formed in 1947. By and large, however, the CIA kept its assassinations secret. Americans, for their part, had a feeling that such things were being done but didn’t ask any questions. The system was almost in the nature of a secret, unannounced pact between ...
Who Won World War II? by Jacob G. Hornberger February 16, 2012 I’m always intrigued by those in the pro-interventionist crowd who trot out World War II to justify U.S. imperialist interventionism in the Middle East and the rest of the world. They always act as if the United States won World War II and also saved the Jews from the Holocaust. Nothing could be so ridiculous. With respect to the European ...
Goering Was Right on War by Jacob G. Hornberger February 15, 2012 Nazi leader Hermann Goering once stated: Naturally the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a ...
The Downward Spiral Continues by Jacob G. Hornberger February 14, 2012 The United States is in a downward spiral, and it just keeps getting worse and worse, both on the welfare-state side of things and, of course, the warfare-state side of things. If you want to see what the dole society does to people, look at Greece. After decades of out-of-control spending and debt, the government is bankrupt. It can’t pay ...
Our College Civil Liberties Tour by Jacob G. Hornberger February 13, 2012 Our College Civil Liberties Tour went absolutely fantastic. We are all still flying high from the experience. We kicked off the program at Columbia University in New York City on Monday evening. The next day we flew to Indianapolis for a combined Indiana University/Purdue University program. On Wednesday we were in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, for a program at Middle Tennessee State ...
Born-Again Anti-Dictatorship in Syria by Jacob G. Hornberger February 6, 2012 When did the U.S. government get religion with respect to Syria’s dictatorship? Sure, right now they’re protesting the Syrian dictatorship’s brutal suppression of a rebellion within the country. They’re issuing all sorts of demands to Syria’s dictator to cease his violence and leave office. Just this past week, they sought to secure some sort of anti-Syrian resolution within the ...
Our College Civil Liberties Lecture Tour Kicks Off Monday by Jacob G. Hornberger February 3, 2012 Next week we kick off our College Civil Liberties tour! We start Monday at Columbia University in New York City, then Indiana and Purdue universities on Tuesday, then Middle Tennessee State University on Wednesday, and wrapping up at Ohio State University on Thursday. The theme of the programs is: “The War on Terrorism, the Constitution, and Civil Liberties.”
