In a surveillance state, no one is immune from the government's watchful eyes. Not even the government. It looks like the Obama Administration used the NSA to dig up dirt on the Trump people before and after the election. Possibly, the "Russia hacked the election" story was meant to cover-up for that real crime. But our concern is not the political implications of this potentially monumental scandal. Rather, we focus on the bigger picture: if we want to live in a surveillance state, this is the kind of society we will become. More in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Just days before President Trump is set to meet Chinese Premier Xi Jinping he let loose with a threat: either China "solves" North Korea or the US will do it. One way would be good for China, the other would not, he added. But how much sway does China really have over Kim Jong-Un and his nuclear policy? Could Trump be miscalculating? What's at stake? We look at the possibilities in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Ron Paul went to the House Floor in 1999 to blast President Clinton's claim that a 1991 UN resolution gave him authority to launch an air war against Iraq. It could have been 2017, the president could be Trump, the claim of authority could be the 2001 authorization to use military force, and the air war could be against Yemen, Syria, Iraq, etc. The circumstances are identical. Rep. Paul also predicted that, "our foolish policy in Iraq invites terrorist attacks against US territory and incites the Islamic fundamentalists against us. As a consequence, our efforts to develop long-term, peaceful relations with Russia is now ending." Administrations come and go, but US foreign policy keeps making the same mistakes over and over. As Ron Paul predicted. read on...
Across the globe, there is not a single "hot spot" where the Trump Administration is not escalating conflict. Drone strikes are up over 400 percent. Civilian deaths are skyrocketing in Iraq and Syria after stepped-up US bombardment. The Pentagon says it needs thousands more troops for Afghanistan and more military participation in the horrible war on Yemen. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said in South Korea that "all options are on the table" with regards to North Korea, which suggests even a first-strike nuclear weapon is "on the table." More artillery is being moved to Russia's border. By increasing US military involvement in every single area of tension is the President working to make us safer, or are we one accident away from a major, possibly world, war? A survey of US military escalation in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Former Vice President Dick Cheney told an audience recently that Russia may have committed an "act of war" by interfering in our recent presidential election, though he also claims that Donald Trump was legitimately elected. What exactly is Russia guilty of? He doesn't say, but it begs the question: if interfering in other countries' elections is an act of war, what about the estimated 80-plus elections the US is said to have interfered in? We discuss in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Why did Trump win? Presidential historian joins today's Liberty Report to discuss his new book on the very strange 2016 presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. read on...
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) dropped a bombshell yesterday when he revealed that members of the Trump campaign staff -- possibly including Trump himself -- had their communications intercepted by US intelligence. The surveillance was likely undertaken under expanded spying permission granted by section 702 of the post-9/11 FISA amendments. This provision enables the NSA to listen in to and keep information from phone calls of US citizens as long as the person on the other end is believed to be a non-US citizen overseas. The possibilities for abusing this expanded authority for political or other gain are endless and this may be what is behind the latest revelations. Politicians don't mind when we are spied on by the government, but they scream loudest when they are the victims. What's the solution? Tune in to today's Liberty Report... read on...
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said recently that "everything is on the table" to confront North Korea unless the country gives up its nuclear weapons program, meaning presumably a US pre-emptive attack. But surely Kim Jong-Un is aware of what happened to Libya's Gaddafi when he listened to US demands and abandoned his nuclear weapons program -- he was invaded and murdered! So the US suffers from its own aggressive foreign policy, and its words are meaningless next to its actions. Is North Korea really an imminent threat to the United States? No, but if we continue to provoke rather than pull back and allow the two Koreas to solve their own problems what threat there is will increase... read on...
To Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA), Russian President Vladimir Putin is a tarantula spinning a web to trap the United States. Rigging the election in Trump's favor was just the start of his plan of conquest. In yesterday's House Intelligence Committee hearing on Russian influence in the Trump Administration and campaign, Ranking Member Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) read from the discredited opposition research dossier on Trump and noted that it might not be true...but then again it might. So more investigations are needed. In the end, nothing new was revealed, only speculation on the part of the Members and of witness, FBI Director James Comey. It was a classic Washington dog and pony show. We look at the distraction of the House hearing in today's Liberty Report... read on...
The neocons may have backed Hillary Clinton for the presidency, but that doesn't stop them from demanding the right to define our foreign policy in the Trump Administration. They get their money from the military-industrial complex and unlimited mainstream media exposure as the "experts" -- even though they are always wrong. The first family of neoconservatism, the Kagans, have recently regrouped after the election and have taken to the media to demand more war footing against Russia and a return to the policy of "regime change" in Syria. It appears they are making inroads in the Trump Administration. We discuss the neocon phoenix in today's Liberty Report... read on...
