According to Neil Howe and William Strauss's book The Fourth Turning (1997), the millennial generation (born 1982-2005) will face a severe economic, cultural, religious, or military crisis -- or all of the above -- as they slowly move into positions of societal leadership. They were influenced largely growing up in the immediate aftermath of the end of the Cold War, an era where the US was at first adrift and then slouched from a handful of interventions overseas into a state of permanent war. Is there a way to avoid the crisis that appears to be looming? Tune in to the Liberty Report for Dr. Paul's prescription... read on...
Three days after the mysterious Turkish coup that was put down almost instantly, Turkish president Erdogan has conducted massive purges of the judiciary and the military. He even referred to the coup as a "godsend" that would allow him to rid the government of those who are disloyal. The purges have focused attention in Washington and Brussels, where he is being warned that talks for EU membership -- and even existing NATO membership -- may be at risk if the government crackdown gets more serious. Is the US and EU bluffing? After all, Erdogan currently has nearly three million Syrian refugees on Turkish soil that he could send to Europe at any time. And closing the US base at Incirlik would create havoc for US "power projection" in the region. We examine these and more in today's Liberty Report... read on...
News reports about the recently released 28 pages of the Joint Inquiry into the 9/11 attacks are typically dismissive: this is nothing new, it’s just circumstantial evidence, and there’s no “smoking gun.” Yet given what the report actually says – and these news accounts are remarkably sparse when it comes to verbatim quotes – it’s hard to fathom what would constitute a smoking gun.
To begin with, let’s start with what’s not in these pages: there are numerous redactions. And they are rather odd. When one expects to read the words “CIA” or “FBI,” instead we get a blacked-out word. Entire paragraphs are redacted – often at crucial points. So it’s reasonable to assume that, if there is a smoking gun, it’s contained in the portions we’re not allowed to see. Presumably the members of Congress with access to the document prior to its release who have been telling us that it changes their entire conception of the 9/11 attacks – and our relationship with the Saudis – read the unredacted version. Which points to the conclusion that the omissions left out crucial information – perhaps including the vaunted smoking gun.
In any case, what we have access to makes more than just a substantial case: it shows that the Saudi government – including top officials, such as then Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, and other members of the royal family – financed and actively aided the hijackers prior to September 11, 2001. read on...
I have railed for some time against the maniacal idea of the military draft being extended to include women. Make no mistake, I oppose the draft in all forms; and think it is just as reprehensible to force men to serve and die for a cause they may or may not believe in as well. The military should be an all-volunteer army. And if it’s not, then the entire idea of liberty is nothing more than an elaborate hoax foisted on the masses. The only TRUE liberty belongs to those who cannot be drafted.
Because when you live in a country that believes it has the right to take your sons, brothers, and fathers BY FORCE to “serve” then you don’t really live in a free country. Rather, you live in a country of freedom for the elites and slavery for the peons. Now, the United States wants to potentially expand the nationally sanctioned kidnappings to include your daughters, sisters, and mothers. The asinine concept of forced military service has been elevated to the level of “infinitely asinine.” And the most frustrating part of it all is that the elected officials in Washington are either too ignorant, or too corrupt to care.
Take for example, my Senator Bill Cassidy; the smiley outspoken “conservative” who voted in favor of the military bill that included drafting girls. I wrote to Sen. Cassidy and expressed my strong opposition to the legislation. He responded to me by saying that the draft gives women “equal opportunity” to serve in the armed forces. I am dumbfounded by the fact that 85 U.S. Senators continue to describe the draft as an “opportunity.” Who, in their right mind, would see a legalized, government kidnapping as an “opportunity.” read on...
Opponents of a central bank should take advantage of the post-Brexit vote revival of secessionist sentiments to promote a secession from central banking, or “Fed-exit.” Ending the Federal Reserve's monopoly on money is the key to restoring and maintaining our liberty and prosperity.
By manipulating the money supply to fix interest rates, the Federal Reserve engages in price fixing. After all, interest rates are nothing more than the price of money. Like all prices, they communicate information about economic conditions to market actors. Federal Reserve attempts to override the market rate of interest with a Fed-favored rate distort the price signals sent to businesses, investors, and consumers. The result of this distortion is a Fed-created boom, followed by a Fed-created bust. read on...
In the aftermath of the suspiciously ill-planned and ill-executed coup attempt in Turkey, the government of President Erdogan has shut down the US military base in Incirlik. According to Stars and Stripes, the Turkish government, after putting down the partial military revolt, has closed the airspace over the US base at Incirlik and has even turned off the power to the base. In response, the US has placed troops on base at the "highest force protection level."
The Turkish government has said that normal operations at Incirlik will resume once the "anti-coup operations end." Part of those "anti-coup operations," however, include a demand that the US turn over exiled Turkish cleric Fethullah Gulen, currently living in Pennsylvania... read on...
When we described the aftermath of Turkey's failed, and painfully disorganized military coup attempt, we asked rhetorically, "Who wins?" To which we answered: "Why Erdogan of course. As he said during a press conference upon his arrival back in Istanbul in the early Saturday morning hours, the coup is an opportunity to "to purge the military." Erdogan also vowed to exact "the highest price" from the perpetrators. Or, to summarize, the military said Erdogan's power consolidation justifies the attempted coup; Erdogan said the coup justifies further consolidation of power."
Overnight, when analyzing the market's take of the coup, Renaissance Capital's Michael Harris said that "for markets to respond positively, we think Erdogan must go the reconciliation route, pledging not to hold elections for the coming year and committing to a consensus approach to constitutional change. More likely, though, Erdogan will seek to leverage this into a constitutional super-majority via a snap election."
Their conclusion: "A military coup has failed, but if Erdogan responds to this historic moment the wrong way, a democratic coup could be the result."
Not surprisingly, as of this morning, Erdogan is indeed responding to this historic moment the "wrong way." But before we get to that point, there are questions whether this coup was even that. read on...
Less than 24 hours before a man mowed down people with a truck in Nice, France, French President Hollande had confirmed that the state of emergency declared in the wake of the Nov. 2015 Paris attacks was going to expire on July 26, without renewal. During his traditional Bastille Day television interview, Hollande said, “We had to prolong the state of emergency until we could be sure that the law gives us the means to counter the terrorist threat effectively.”
Last May, France passed a comprehensive law that Hollande said “will give us the tools which, while not comparable with the state of emergency, give us the means to keep tabs on certain individuals administratively.” He added: “We can’t prolong the state of emergency forever. That would make no sense, it would mean that we were no longer a republic with laws which can apply in all circumstances.”
The state of emergency will now remain in effect.
French authorities claim the driver was not on a “radicalized” watch list. They claim he probably was inspired by online messaging from the Islamic State, and even more draconian crackdowns on the internet are coming as a result. read on...
The French have a saying, "un malheur n’arrive jamais seul." That translates into "when it rains, it pours." This week, the heavens opened and poured on the nation’s national fete, Bastille Day.
The day began with highly embarrassing revelations by a French satirical newspaper that the unpopular president, Francois Hollande, had a staff hairdresser making $11,000 a month at a time of national austerity. This was a genuine "let them eat cake" moment.
That same evening, a frightful attack occurred in Nice. A demented 31-year old man of Tunisian origin, Mohammed Bouhel, who had just lost his job and then his family through divorce, turned his truck into a mass murder weapon.
Bouhel sent his large truck down Nice’s famed seaside Promenade des Anglais, mowing down people celebrating Bastille Day. As of this writing, 86 victims died and scores are gravely injured, including many children. France reeled in horror. read on...
Who benefits from attacks like we saw in Nice, France yesterday? The authoritarians never waste a minute exploiting these events to call for more restrictions on our liberties. Take away guns, monitor our phone calls, restrict our movement, censor the Internet. But the one thing they will never do is look at our foreign policy, to look at our unfair central banking system, to consider the damage of the drug war. Whether on the Right or the Left, authoritarians are hammers and all they see are nails. We are the nails. More on Nice attack and its aftermath in today's Liberty Report... read on...
