US Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland appeared before the House International Relations Committee yesterday to beat the war drums against Russia over Ukraine. Her testimony was full of lies, RPI Director Daniel McAdams told RT, starting with her claim that the US-backed violent overthrow of the Ukrainian government last year was the work of "peaceful protesters."
What is the real story behind Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress this week? Who invited him and why? Are critics of the "Israel lobby" just anti-Semites? Why would Congress turn to Netanyahu for advice on foreign policy when he has been so wrong in the past -- his cheerleading for the US attack on Iraq, for example? Join RPI's Daniel McAdams and Tom Woods for a discussion of one of the most important foreign policy event of the year. read on...
Texas State Rep. David Simpson (R-Longview) introduced a bill, HB 2165, on Monday that he says is intended to remove marijuana offenses entirely from Texas state law and replace them with nothing. Simpson, in a KETK-TV story, is quoted explaining that he is proposing with his legislation that marijuana “be regulated like tomatoes, jalapeños or coffee.” If Simpson’s bill is enacted, Texas would have the least government controls on marijuana of any state in America. read on...
According to Pew Research Center poll results released Friday, 63 percent of Millennial Generation Republicans support marijuana legalization. On this issue these Republicans born between 1981 and 1996 have more in common with Democrats than with Republicans generally. And these young Republicans are definitely at odds with the majority of Republicans in the United States House of Representatives who continue to vote “no” on rollbacks of the US government’s war on marijuana.
The further we look back through earlier generations of Republicans, the less support for legalization we see — 47 percent among Generation X (born in 1965 through 1980), 38 percent among the Baby Boom Generation (born in 1946 through 1964), and 17 percent among the Silent Generation (born in 1928 through 1945). In contrast, substantial majorities, ranging from 61 percent to 77 percent, support marijuana legalization in each of these generations of Democrats, except among the oldest polled generation — the Silent Generation — where support registers at 44 percent. read on...
Judge Andrew Napolitano provides a brief and excellent introduction to the US government’s mass spying program in a new video monologue this week at Fox News. In less than a minute and a half, Napolitano explains that the mass spying program of the National Security Agency (NSA) and other US agencies is a reincarnation, with a huge technological boost, of Britain’s use of general warrants in colonial America. Those despised general warrants helped drive Americans to fight for independence. After the war, Americans then demanded the protection of the Fourth Amendment in the US Constitution to ensure that such arbitrary and unjust government actions would not occur again. read on...
Michael Hayden, who served in turn as director of the National Security Agency (NSA), principal deputy director of National Intelligence, and director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1999 through 2009, elicited laughs and a loud jeer of “No you’re not!” in response to his assertion Friday morning during a Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) debate that he is an “unrelenting libertarian.”
It is hard to imagine a more preposterous assertion from Hayden who defends the United States government’s extensive torture program, many of the revolting details of which were recently revealed in a partially released Senate Intelligence Committee report, and oversaw the NSA mass spying program. Libertarians, of course, oppose such violations of individual rights. read on...
RPI Director Daniel McAdams appears on Ben Swann's excellent documentary on the real origins of ISIS, everybody's favorite enemy. Don't miss the cameos by Barack Obama, John McCain, and Antiwar.Com's Angela Keaton. How many billions of dollars did the US Intelligence Community spend and somehow they totally missed the rise of ISIS, asked McAdams. read on...
Today the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), a non-elected federal government agency, voted three-to-two to reclassify broadband Internet as a common carrier service under Title II of the Communications Act. This means that – without the vote of Congress, the peoples’ branch of government – a federal agency now claims the power to regulate the Internet. I am surprised that even among civil liberties groups, some claim the federal government increasing regulation of the Internet somehow increases our freedom and liberty. read on...
When a Russian bomber flew over international waters some 25 miles off the southwest tip of England last week, UK Defense Secretary Michael Fallon called Russia "a real and present danger." The UK government scrambled jet fighters to meet the Russian aircraft as a show of force.
Said Secretary Fallon of the incident, "NATO has to be ready for any kind of aggression from Russia, whatever form it takes." He added that, "NATO is getting ready," warning particularly that Russia may soon move to invade the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Reading the feverish Twitter feed of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Gen. Phil Breedlove, one would get the impression that NATO is already at war with Russia. Fighter jets sit menacingly atop aircraft carriers as the General beams about NATO member countries' commitment to contribute to the fight. read on...
If Eddie Ray Routh had never served in the military, I'm of the opinion that he would probably not have killed anybody. He would not be imprisoned for life and Chris Kyle would be alive today. Much of the blame should lie with our foreign policy of interventionism and the VA's faulty reliance on psychotropic drugs for treating the guilt associated with preemptive wars. read on...