After four days of bombing US allies in Syria -- the Kurdish YPG militia -- the Turkish government is now requesting that the US begin a ground invasion of Syria. Saudi fighter jets have reportedly arrived in Turkey to take part in the invasion if the US agrees. Meanwhile, the US has asked the Turks to stop bombing Washington's Kurd allies. And Turkey is also bombing Russian-backed Syrian government forces. We try to unravel this all in today's Liberty Report... read on...
Today is the day we are supposed to celebrate the unitary executive -- well not exactly, but unfortunately the celebration of Presidents Day has come to mean the iconization of the strong leader who takes the country into wars and takes charge of the economy. But might there be a better way to measure the greatness of a US president? How about their dedication to the Constitutional separation of powers and their promotion of peace, prosperity, and freedom? Today's Liberty Report takes a look at the US presidents through the prism of Ivan Eland's great book, Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty... read on...
What is the "deep state"? Is it a secret national security apparatus that spies on us and operates "black sites" overseas? Some judicial star chamber ruling in secret? Well, partly. But as Mike Lofgren, author of "The Deep State: The Fall of the Constitution and the Rise of a Shadow Government" points out, the whole truth is comparatively banal. The deep state consists of the multiple layers of government and quasi-government bureaucracies and the myriad of cottage industries they spring up around them, including the military-industrial complex and the election-industrial complex. They operate out in the open and are almost completely overlooked, while Americans instead to turn their attention to the latest election. But elections change very little in Washington with the deep state in the driver's seat... read on...
With the opening of all military combat roles to women, establishment voices like the New York Times are proclaiming that the next fight for equality is to force women to join men in registering for the draft. In what way is it a triumph of rights to have the threat of slavery, which is what the military draft really is, hanging over both men and women? Today's Liberty Report is joined by retired US Air Force Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski to discuss the role of women in the military, the role of the military, and the role she played in blowing the whistle on the neocons who lied us into war with Iraq... read on...
According to press reports yesterday, Saudi Arabia is assembling a 150,000 man military force to invade Syria from Turkish soil and fight against Islamist terrorists in that country. But surely the rest of the world knows that for the past five years or more, Saudi Arabia has been the main source of support for those same terrorists. If the invasion goes forward -- and it apparently has US backing -- it would pit Saudi forces directly against Iranian, Syrian, and probably Russian forces. The Russians already said it would be a "declaration of war." Is the US really ready to unleash WWIII over whether or not Assad stays in office? We ponder these questions in today's Liberty Report... read on...
It looks like the neocons and the Beltway military-industrial complex are going to get their way, as President Obama's plan to scale back a few weapons systems has hit a brick wall in Congress. Meanwhile, citing the "Russian threat," the Pentagon announced that it would be quadrupling its military spending in Europe next year and that NATO would be stationing 40,000 troops on the Russian border. What is the relationship between the neocon think tanks, the mainstream media, the military-industrial complex, and Congress? They all conspire to create constant new threats to justify enormous military spending that is running the economy into the ground. They are ripping us off. More on this today in the Liberty Report... read on...
Neocon scribblers like Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin are crowing about the demise of non-interventionism with the departure of Rand Paul from the presidential race. We are all neocons now, say Rubin and her allies in the war party. But not so fast! When have they been right about anything? The struggle for peace and prosperity is a struggle of ideas, not a race to elect politicians to office. And even the departure of the most non-interventionist candidate in the race does not mean the end of non-interventionism. Despite the propaganda, given the choice the people don't want war. No matter what Rubin or Kristol think. What is next for the non-partisan pro-peace movement? Tune in to today's Liberty Report for Ron Paul's take... read on...
Today the Free State Project announced that they have reached the threshold of 20,000 people who have pledged to move to New Hampshire and participate in what they call the greatest political migration project in US history. Is geographic proximity in a relatively small space the answer to creating a more libertarian existence? Today's Liberty Report is joined by Ron Paul Institute Senior Fellow Adam Dick to discuss these developments... read on...
No matter who occupies the US presidency, it seems the neoconservatives always occupy positions of foreign policy power. A neocon like Robert Kagan, for example, is perfectly comfortable going from a senior position in the GW Bush administration to another senior post in Barack Obama's State Department. When their failed policies wear out the name of one of their institutes, like Project for a New American Century, they simply change the name without losing a beat, in this case turning into the "Foreign Policy Initiative." Filmmaker Robbie Martin has done a terrific job looking into the neocon domination of Washington in his three-part documentary film, A Very Heavy Agenda. Martin joins today's Liberty Report to talk about his films and to talk about the neocons who star in them... read on...
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is being advertised in some circles as the heir to the Ron Paul libertarian movement, yet one look at his foreign policy and it is immediately evident that he is anything but. His advisors are Bill Kristol, John Bolton, James Woolsey, Elliot Abrams and other washed-up neocon has-beens. No wonder he screams about "carpet bombing" the Middle East and making the sand glow in the dark. The libertarian movement is essentially built around rejection of wars of aggression and against interventionism. Ted Cruz, neocon, in today's Liberty Report... read on...
