Freedom by Permission by Jacob G. Hornberger April 14, 2009 Through executive decree, President Obama is graciously easing restrictions on travel to Cuba and restrictions on sending money to Cuba. The decree, however, applies only to Cuban-Americans who have family members in Cuba. The rest of the American people will continue to be subject to harsh federal criminal and civil penalties for traveling to ...
In Search of Constitution-Free Zones by Jacob G. Hornberger April 13, 2009 To gain a good perspective on how the Pentagon and the CIA view the Constitution, all one has to do is consider what they’ve done with their prison camps in Cuba and Afghanistan. Keep in mind, first of all, what the Constitution is. It is the supreme law of the land that we the people ...
Libertarian Border-Control Advocates Have It Wrong by Jacob G. Hornberger April 10, 2009 Among the arguments that libertarian advocates of border controls often use is the sovereignty argument. It goes like this: Since government is the owner of the highways, it can legitimately control who travels on them, much as a private owner has the right to control who comes into his home or business. These libertarians ...
Fujimori’s Lesson for Bush by Jacob G. Hornberger April 9, 2009 If President Bush and Vice-President Cheney think that time is on their side with respect to crimes committed by their administration, this week’s criminal conviction of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori should put those thoughts to rest. Returning to Peru in the hope of returning to power, Fujimori was instead put on trial and ...
The Bizarre World of the Pentagon by Jacob G. Hornberger April 8, 2009 If you had any doubts that the Pentagon lives in a bizarre world all its own, such doubts will surely be dispelled when you read this blog post by Glenn Greenwald. The post concerns Clive Stafford, an international human rights lawyer who represents Binyam Mohamed, a British citizen whom the Pentagon recently released ...
A Fantastic Speech on the Empire by Jacob G. Hornberger April 7, 2009 Last night I saw one of the greatest speeches I’ve ever seen, which took place at our Economic Liberty Lecture Series at George Mason University. The speech was by Bruce Fein, whose Washington Times column we often link to in our FFF Email Update and who was one of the speakers at our conference “Restoring the Republic 2008: ...
Free Speech and Porn Flicks by Jacob G. Hornberger April 6, 2009 Students at the University of Maryland are receiving a valuable lesson about the welfare state and, specifically, the education dole that state officials provide institutions of higher learning. The students had scheduled a showing of a porn flick on campus as part of their studies on constitutional law. A Maryland state legislator threatened a ...
How the Socialists Destroyed Freedom, Independence, and Self-Reliance by Jacob G. Hornberger April 3, 2009 Have you ever wondered how it is that Americans today have such a completely different attitude toward the federal government than the people who founded our country? Our ancestors looked upon the federal government as the greatest threat to their freedom and well-being. That’s why they limited its powers to a selected few in the ...
An Ominous Parallel by Jacob G. Hornberger April 2, 2009 What was momentous about the 9/11 attack was not the attack itself, given that there had been other terrorist attacks in response to U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East (e.g., the 1993 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, the USS Cole, and U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania) but rather how U.S. ...
Hornberger’s Blog, April 2009 by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2009 Thursday, April 30, 2009 The Ninth Circuit v. the CIA by Jacob G. Hornberger The omnipotent power claimed by the CIA was dealt a major blow Tuesday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Binyam Mohamed et al v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc. The five plaintiffs are victims of the CIA’s kidnapping, rendition, and torture program. All five were ...
Foreign-Policy Blowback Comes Later by Jacob G. Hornberger April 1, 2009 Supporters of the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan cite the U.S. occupation of Iraq to buttress their case for staying in Afghanistan. “The surge! The surge!” they cry, reminding people that increasing the level of U.S. troops in Iraq has brought stability, peace, and freedom to that country, enabling the U.S. government to rebuild the ...
Neo-Cons and Moral Degeneracy by Jacob G. Hornberger March 31, 2009 The presidential advisor for press affairs to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has an interesting op-ed in the Los Angeles Times today. Pointing out that Barack Obama’s offer to talk to the Iranian regime is nice, Ali Akbar Javanfekr pointed out that words alone are insufficient, especially if the U.S. government persists in conducting ...
