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Incoming President Trump's National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, has signaled that Ukraine must start recruiting even younger men into the meat grinder. After the loss of an estimated 600,000 men, Waltz is calling for even more killing, even as it is becoming obvious to even the mainstream media that Russia is winning the war. Is Waltz speaking for Trump? Also today: troops on the border? Will it work?
President Biden will deliver his final foreign policy speech today at the State Department, where it is anticipated he will claim that his foreign policy has left the US in a better position in the world than when he took office four years ago. Is he right? Also today: a new poll suggests that a full half of the executive branch bureaucracy plans to "resist" the policies of the incoming Trump Administration. What should be done?
By Ron Paul
Even though we are two weeks into 2025, I want to suggest some more New Year’s resolutions. The Federal Reserve should resolve to stop enabling excessive federal spending by purchasing Treasury bonds, thus monetizing the federal debt. The Federal Reserve’s monetization of federal debt enables the federal government to amass trillions of debt while running a global empire abroad and a welfare state at home. The American people feel the effects of the Fed’s debt monetization in the form of the regressive inflation tax. Eventually the monetization of federal debt will lead to a major economic crisis caused by, or resulting in, the rejection of the dollar’s world reserve currency status. The Federal Reserve should also resolve to refrain from developing a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). A digital currency controlled by the Fed will give government new power to violate Americans’ financial privacy. The media should resolve to stop gaslighting the American people with misinformation. For example, the media should stop repeating the lie that a failure to raise the debt ceiling will lead to a government default on its debts. The truth is a refusal to raise the debt ceiling would force Congress to reduce present and future spending — just like most people do when they find themselves in debt. Another example of false news is that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was unrelated to the US supported 2014 coup in Ukraine and the breaking of the promise that if the Soviet Union withdrew from Eastern Europe the US would not support expanding NATO. Finally, those committed to the cause of liberty should resolve to increase their understanding of the benefits of liberty and the dangers of authoritarianism. This means studying the works of libertarian thinkers like Ludwig von Mises and Murray Rothbard as well as of the opponents of liberty on both the left and right. It also means staying up to date with current events and trying to find the truth behind the lies of the mainstream media and the political class. Understanding our opponents’ arguments helps us win debates and, more importantly, win converts. Those wishing to advance the cause of liberty should spend time thinking about how their skills and interests can be best used to help the cause. Some people are best suited to run for public office while others are drawn to teaching or working for a public policy “think tank.” There is a great need for more journalists who understand economics and liberty. There is also a need for pro-liberty individuals who make movies, write books, and preform music. I have always believed music must be part of any successful libertarian revolution. Anyone who doubts the importance of culture should consider how many people were introduced to the ideas of liberty through Ayn Rand’s novels, and how many people came to understand the evils of authoritarianism through the novels of George Orwell. The liberty movement also needs more people willing to not just fund candidates but also to invest in those organizations developing and spreading information about the ideas of liberty and the dangers of all forms of authoritarianism. I hope everyone joins me in resolving to make 2025 a year of liberty, peace, and prosperity.
President-elect Trump caused many Americans to wince and scratch their heads this week. Trump succeeded in getting so many Americans to go out and overwhelmingly vote for “America First” and to focus on handling our country’s overwhelming problems. But over the last week, ideas that were not presented during the campaign have been floated: “North America” First and the additions of Canada and Greenland to the United States. Where did this come from?
The utter incompetence of the political class is on display as Los Angeles and California leadership watch the area burn to the ground. And the fire hydrants have no water in them. But...there's still money for Ukraine! Also today, Trump gets it right on the Russia/Ukraine war.
Politico has published an article accusing the billionaire businessman Elon Musk of "meddling" in foreign politics by expressing his opinion on foreign leaders. Is "meddling" just the new "disinformation" - i.e. people saying or doing things the elite does not like?
Citing fears of "climate change," outgoing president Joe Biden has pre-empted incoming President Trump's stated goal of increasing oil and gas production to help solve our economic problems. Should a lame duck president be able to tie a newly-elected president's hands? Also today, Facebook claims to abandon its "fact checker" scam. Should we believe them?
By Ron Paul
In the book Crisis and Leviathan, libertarian thinker Robert Higgs pointed out that the state uses crises to ratchet up its power and control over citizens. With each new “crisis” – often directly or indirectly caused by the state itself – government grows and our freedom shrinks. The root cause of the September 11, 2001 attacks was US interventionism, for example. As I said in a presidential debate a few years later, they came over here because we were over there. But instead of looking to that root cause it was determined that the real problem was not enough government. So, taking advantage of the crisis, Congress created a Director of National Intelligence, a Department of Homeland Security, and passed the Patriot Act. The “Russiagate” crisis was invented by the Hillary Clinton campaign as a dirty trick to use against Donald Trump in the 2016 election campaign. It may not have defeated Trump, but it hobbled his presidency. The result of this manufactured claim that the Russians (and Chinese and Iranians, etc) are meddling in our affairs and manipulating our elections is that the federal government determined that the First Amendment no longer applies to us. They have decided that consuming certain media should not be allowed – for our own safety – so they have denied Americans the right to access media from countries the US government considers “enemies.” In the name of fighting imaginary foreign meddling in our elections, it’s Americans who find their rights curtailed. They even created an entire government entity within the State Department – the “Global Engagement Center” (GEC) – right after the phony “Russiagate” operation was launched to “recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States…” As it turned out, this “Center” was not at all about countering foreign “bad actors” but about silencing Americans who held views the powers-that-be in DC do not like. As Roger Kimbell wrote in a recent article about the GEC, “Because the GEC could not operate against Americans directly, it did so indirectly by funding entities like the British-based Global Disinformation Index, which compiled a list of publications and individuals that said things the regime did not like. That list was consulted by advertisers wary of winding up on the wrong side of the government…. Result? Millions of dollars of ad revenue dried up, imperiling the future of those outlets.” And, as Kimbell further points out, even when they were caught red handed violating our rights they just hid the beast within leviathan. Thus, even though funding for the GEC was cut from Speaker Johnson’s 1,500 page omnibus spending bill, the beast lives on. The Biden Administration has re-named the Center the “Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) Hub” and retained the same old GEC employees. Now that this switch has been exposed, however, there is a chance – for once – to finally kill a bad government program. Elon Musk was one of the first to expose the evil of the GEC and as it turns out he is now working with the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) to cut this exact kind of government overreach. No more hiding government censorship programs with new names and new branding. Not another dollar should be spent censoring Americans!
For four years the mainstream media and the Democratic Party (along with some Republicans) have pushed the narrative that on Jan. 6th, 2021, a coup d'etat was attempted against "our democracy." The narrative has empowered the state to jail scores of Americans without charge, to crack down on speech, and to demonize Americans who do not step in line. But what if it's all fake? Also today: foreign money drives DC policy through think tanks.
As the emotions of last year’s election fade away, homeostasis is kicking in. The pull of the status quo gets stronger with each passing day. The results of the election were crystal clear. American voters want “America First.” But American voters are in perpetual competition with donors that want “American Empire First” and “American Megastate First." The two are not the same. They are mutually exclusive. It must be one or the other.
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