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Though the Biden Administration has said there will be no US troops on the ground in Israel's war on Gaza, The Intercept reports yesterday on a US Air Force memo informing personnel to be “on standby to forward deploy to support troops in the case of on ground US involvement in the Israel Hamas war.” Our war? Also today: Nuland says NEVER to getting out of Syria and the EU goes Warsaw Pact on Hungary.
Mainstream media is reporting that President Biden has made a decision on how to respond to the drone strike that claimed three US service members over the weekend. Will it be a direct strike on Iran? More bombs in Iraq? Syria? And will he bother to get authorization from Congress? Also today, John Bolton's "dire" warnings about Trump 2.0.
By Ron Paul
The clash between the Biden Administration and Texas spilled out into the open last week, when the US Supreme Court ruled that Federal authorities could remove razor wire that Texas Governor Greg Abbott had been installing along the border with Mexico to stop the millions of illegal immigrants from crossing over to the United States. This time Abbott did not back down. Instead, he issued a statement declaring that “an invasion under Article I, Section 10, Clause 3” of the US Constitution is underway and invoking “Texas’s constitutional authority to defend and protect itself.” Here Governor Abbott answers an important question I brought up back in my 1988 US Presidential run: at what point do open borders and mass illegal immigration into the US become an “invasion,” which would grant governors the authority – and obligation – to take action? By some estimates, more than six million illegal immigrants have crossed into the United States during the three years of the Biden Administration. These illegals likely mostly come from Mexico and Central America, but the fact is we have no idea how many of them may be arriving from, for example, the Middle East or other war-torn areas of the world. Last month even the New York Times wrote of the disaster on the US border that, “thousands of migrants are arriving at the border every day, trekking from the farthest reaches of the globe, from Africa to Asia to South America, driven by relentless violence, desperation and poverty.” With the world awash in US weapons, it’s not hard to imagine the danger of the situation. It is a problem that the Biden Administration is not willing to tackle, likely for political reasons particularly in an election year. And Biden found an ally in the US Supreme Court and Chief Justice John Roberts with the ruling that Federal agents may begin removing barriers set up by Texas authorities. But the intensity of the dispute became apparent this time when 25 Republican-led states issued statements in support of Texas. It began to look like a showdown and many even began to invoke words like “secession.” However, if the Biden Administration intends to use the Supreme Court ruling to take action against the Texas border barrier there are more immediate ways of defending the border. Rep. Thomas Massie took to Twitter last week to recount a meeting he and a group of US House Members had with the late Justice Antonin Scalia. At the breakfast, Massie wrote, Justice Scalia told the group to quit complaining about Supreme Court rulings and start defunding rulings they oppose. As Massie explained in another Tweet, “Congress can render the 5-4 Supreme Court decision against Texas IRRELEVANT by simply refusing to fund Biden’s removal of border security measures.” Nullification through the “power of the purse” is an important tool given to Congress in the US Constitution and it could be easily exercised in this case. Biden is clearly playing politics with the immigration crisis, claiming last week that as soon as Congress passes yet another immigration “reform” bill – one that includes $100 billion in military welfare for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan – he will take steps to address the Border. Congress should reject this blackmail and US states should continue to take measures – including nullification of the Supreme Court ruling – to protect against invasion.
Yesterday's attack on US troops in Syria/Jordan gave Sen. Lindsey Graham the opportunity to repeat his favorite chorus "Attack Iran!" While Republican hawks profess admiration for President Ronald Reagan, they suspiciously ignore one of his most important foreign policy decisions: to pull US troops from Lebanon where they were sitting ducks for attack. Also today: Texit for Texas?
Americans are certainly feeling the pain of rapacious government spending, enabled by Federal Reserve counterfeiting. It's one thing when purchasing luxury items is out of reach. It's understandable. That's why they're called "luxury" items. But when buying food is out of reach? Now you can no longer ignore the source of the problem. Counterfeiting always leads to economic ruin, without exception. The Federal Reserve is certainly not the exception. Senator Rand Paul is right. It's time to audit the Fed.
By Rand Paul
Imagine a financial behemoth at the center of the biggest economy on the planet. It secretly pulls the strings of America’s fiscal destiny, and the consequences of its actions ripple through the lives of countless individuals, yet its inner workings are almost entirely unknown and not subject to any form of checks or balances. This is not the plot of a dystopian novel but the current reality of America’s Federal Reserve system. Now is the time to bring this financial giant into the light. Auditing the Federal Reserve is a fiscal necessity and a congressional imperative. That is why I have reintroduced the Federal Reserve Transparency Act as my first legislation of 2024. In 2011, one of my first actions as a U.S. senator was to reveal the operations of this secret, unaccountable institution by introducing the Federal Reserve Transparency Act. This act, widely known as “Audit the Fed,” echoes a long-championed initiative spearheaded in the House of Representatives by my father, Congressman Ron Paul, R-Texas, and represents a crucial step toward accountability and fiscal sanity. Year after year, I continue to fight for complete and persistent audits of the Federal Reserve. In 2023, I forced a vote on my Federal Reserve Transparency Act as an amendment to the Senate’s bloated spending bill. This initiative garnered the support of more than 40 senators across party lines. With several of my fellow senators as cosponsors, I recently reintroduced Audit the Fed once more as a standalone piece of legislation. Though I have received criticism from both sides of the aisle arguing that Audit the Fed would compromise the Federal Reserve’s autonomy, transparency and oversight of every government institution is imperative and ought to be a bipartisan objective. My efforts to oversee and shed light on our financial institutions have widespread grassroots support, including students, mothers, fathers, and American citizens who worry about our nation’s prosperity and how they will care for their families. The Fed’s relentless lending and bailout strategies cast doubts on our economic outlook and contribute to the shaky economic fundamentals this nation has had since the pandemic. A startling statistic from the study “Facing Up to Food Insecurity” by Attest, a market research company, shows that a worrying 59.5 percent of Americans struggle just to buy food. An analysis of recent government figures from the Joint Economic Committee shows that the typical American family now needs an additional $11,434 per year to sustain the lifestyle they had in January 2021, right before inflation surged to the highest levels seen in 40 years. The inflationary consequences of the Fed’s actions are transforming basic needs into unattainable luxuries. Supporting the Federal Reserve Transparency Act offers Congress an opportunity to rally around the Audit-the-Fed movement and show Americans that their hardships during our current economic crisis have not gone unnoticed. While Congress was the body that established the Fed and assigned a portion of its monetary policy powers, “independence” has become synonymous with “secrecy.” Enacting Audit the Fed would finally deliver answers to the American people about how Washington is spending their money. When the Dodd-Frank Act mandated a one-off audit of the Fed’s proceedings, the Government Accountability Office’s (GAO) partial audit revealed that during the 2007 financial crisis, the Fed had lent more than $16 trillion to foreign and domestic banks. This audit excluded certain key considerations of the Fed’s decision-making process such as transactions with foreign banks or countries; deliberations, decisions, or actions on policy matters; transactions under the Federal Open Market Committee; and discussions and communications among Federal Reserve officers. Fast forward to the 2020 pandemic, and the Fed added to our fiscal nightmare by printing billions of dollars out of thin air, providing big money to industry favorites, and adding nearly $5 trillion to its balance sheet, the largest in our history. Even the Fed itself admitted that “stimulus” throughout the pandemic was a key cause of the rampant inflation experienced by the American economy. The Federal Reserve Transparency Act is designed to eliminate the obstacles that currently prevent the GAO from examining the Federal Reserve. The legislation advocates for Congress to have oversight over all the Federal Reserve’s activities, including its discussions, deliberations, and rationale behind monetary policy decisions. With my reintroduction of Audit the Fed, Congress will have another opportunity to ensure the Federal Reserve’s operations are accountable and transparent. The Fed’s persistent cycle of money printing and lending without any form of meaningful oversight may be the cause of many of our economic hardships, such as the struggle of many Americans to afford food. The American people have a right to see behind the veil of secrecy at the Fed. I will continue to do what I can to lift that veil. I urge my fellow senators to join me. Rand Paul, MD, is a U.S. senator from Kentucky. Originally published at The Federalist.
Former US Congressman, OMB Director, and successful businessman David Stockman (who is also on the Board of the Ron Paul Institute) joins today's Liberty Report to discuss his new book on Trump's economic views. Is Trump really at war with capitalism? Tune in to the program!
Part of the "magic" of the two Ron Paul Republican presidential campaigns was the broad appeal of his message to the younger generation. Kentucky attorney and state senate candidate TJ Roberts is part of the next wave of young liberty activists seeking to correct the rudderless ship of state. What are the issues that animate the next generation of liberty activists?
Despite Israel's political leadership claiming that only the complete destruction of Hamas in Gaza is acceptable, its military leadership is increasingly vocal about the difficulty - or impossibility - of that task. As the US continues to get drawn deeper into the expanding regional war, what are the goals and what is the endgame. Former CIA counterterrorism officer Philip Giraldi joins today's program.
President Biden has admitted that US airstrikes on Yemen have not "deterred" the Houthis from blocking ships from Israeli ports. In response, the Washington Post is reporting that Biden plans to escalate...but has no plan or authorization. This won't end well.
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