Who Inflicts the Most Gun Violence in America? by John W. Whitehead August 15, 2019 “It is often the case that police shootings, incidents where law enforcement officers pull the trigger on civilians, are left out of the conversation on gun violence. But a police officer shooting a civilian counts as gun violence. Every time an officer uses a gun against an innocent or an unarmed person contributes to the culture of gun violence in this country.”—Journalist Celisa Calacal Yes, gun violence is a problem in America, although violent crime generally remains at an all-time low. Yes, mass shootings are a problem in America, although while they are getting deadlier, they are not getting more frequent. Yes, mentally ill individuals embarking on mass shooting sprees are a problem in America. However, tighter gun control laws and so-called “intelligent” background checks fail to protect the public from the most egregious perpetrator of gun violence in America: the U.S. government. Consider ...
Stop the President from Managing the Economy by Jacob G. Hornberger August 29, 2019 For the past two years, President Trump and his loyal army of Trumpistas have been trumpeting what they say is Trump’s fantastic management of the economy. The stock market is soaring and unemployment is down, they crow. This shows, they say, that President Trump has been a great manager of the economy. Now that presidential campaign season is kicking into gear, Trump and his Trumpistas are getting nervous because it seems like economic hard times might be looming on the horizon. Does this mean that Trump has actually mismanaged the economy, especially with his out-of-control federal spending and debt and his destructive trade war against China? Are you kidding? Of course not, at least not according to Trump and his Trumpistas. They are now saying that it’s all because of the Federal Reserve and its refusal to continue inflating the financial bubble it has been inflating since the 2008 economic crisis. Despite the fact that America’s central bank is supposed to ...
Friends of Freedom, Do Not Despair by Richard M. Ebeling September 5, 2019 Friends of freedom can easily become despondent when they look at what appear to be the ideological and political trends that fill the media day in and day out. Government spending keeps growing, national debts pile up, and regulations and redistributions seem to be narrowing the arenas of market and personal freedoms of choice. Anti-liberal demagogues abound, seemingly everywhere. But we need to remember that we have seen this several times before in modern times, and liberty has not been crushed out of existence. One indication of the fears and concerns about a free society was recently expressed on the August 31, 2019, cover of the Economist magazine. The theme was “Democracy’s Enemy Within.” The rise of nationalist populism, the editors explained, threatens to undermine essential elements and institutions of a free society. They used the government of Viktor Orban in Hungary as an example. Elected in an open and free election several years ago, Prime Minister Orban has used ...
The Bill of Rights Turns 230, and What Do We Have to Show for It? Nothing Good by John W. Whitehead September 11, 2019 “That was when they suspended the Constitution. They said it would be temporary. There wasn't even any rioting in the streets. People stayed home at night, watching television, looking for some direction. There wasn't even an enemy you could put your finger on.”—Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale It’s been 230 years since James Madison drafted the Bill of Rights—the first ...
A Renowned and Heroic Surgeon Passes Away by Jacob G. Hornberger September 17, 2019 Dr. Robert McClelland has recently passed away. He was one of the treating physicians when President Kennedy was brought into Parkland Hospital after being shot in Dallas. He was about 33 years old at the time. He went on to become one the most renowned surgeons in Texas. At the time he passed away, he was a retired professor ...
Trump, FDR, and War by Jacob G. Hornberger September 20, 2019 President Trump’s campaign of “maximum pressure” against Iran reminds me of President Franklin Roosevelt’s similar campaign against Japan prior to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After England declared war on Germany, owing to the latter’s invasion of Poland, the American people were overwhelmingly opposed to entry ...
The Sham of Government Transparency by James Bovard September 1, 2019 The Supreme Court in June ruled that the federal government can keep secret the food-stamp sales totals of grocery stores. By a 6 to 3 vote, the Court declared that such business records are exempt from disclosure under the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This case, started eight years ago by the Argus Leader, a South Dakotan newspaper, ...
Foreign Aid for Dictators by Jacob G. Hornberger September 30, 2019 Notice something important about the hoopla regarding President’s Trump withholding of U.S. foreign aid to Ukraine while he was requesting Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden for possible corruption: Nobody in Washington, D.C., or within the establishment press is questioning the concept of foreign aid itself. Foreign aid has become such an established and ...
Bravo Donald! A War Washington Might Finally Leave by David Stockman October 17, 2019 Just when you think the Donald has lost his marbles completely, he pulls a rabbit of rationality out of the hat of Imperial Washington’s Forever Wars madness. We are referring, of course, to his sensible decision to decline the opportunity to put American soldiers in harms’ way in an impending showdown between Turks and Kurds on the northern border of ...
Empire and Interventionism vs. Republic and Noninterventionism by Jacob G. Hornberger October 17, 2019 The chaos arising from U.S. interventionism in Syria provides an excellent opportunity to explore the interventionist mind. Consider the terminology being employed by interventionists: President Trump’s actions in Syria have left a “power vacuum,” one that Russia and Iran are now filling. The United States will no longer have “influence” in the region. “Allies” will no longer be able to ...
Politicians Live in a Parallel Universe by Jacob G. Hornberger October 22, 2019 I’m convinced of it. Many politicians definitely live in a parallel universe, one that could easily be called Bizarro World. Just read a recent op-ed in the Washington Post by Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. It provides irrefutable proof that these people live in an alternative universe. The title of ...
Interventionism and Isolationism by Jacob G. Hornberger October 25, 2019 When President Trump decided to relocate a few troops on Syria’s northern border and announced that he would withdraw all the other U.S. troops from Syria, interventionists went ballistic. They said that Trump was leading America to “isolationism.” A B-2 Spirit soars after a refueling mission ...
