By Chris Rossini
We really could have skipped all the arduous debate on Iraq during the last presidential campaign. First, Trump was against the Iraq war from the very beginning ... Then supposedly he was for the war, before he was against it ... Trump denied that and insisted that he was always against the monstrous disaster in Iraq. You know what all of that amounts to? Nothing but a big waste of time. Now that actions are being chosen, and we've moved beyond mere words, it's clear that President Trump has decided to make his contribution to the madness in the Middle East. When it comes to Iraq, Eric Margolis gives us the facts: We are now moving rapidly into stage II of Levantine Madness as the US boosts its intervention in the war-torn Mideast.
This is Iraq we're talking about....Iraq!!
Where's the change that Americans were voting for? The knee-jerk excuse that 'Well, Trump didn't create the mess in Iraq, but he's now stuck with carrying on' is pure bubkas. The President can bring the troops home at any moment. He's choosing not to. This is not a new concept in America's history of failed wars. Let's go back to when the U.S. government finally had to retreat from Vietnam. The same exact excuses were being used to keep American troops mired there. Please read the following words from Murray Rothbard very carefully. They were written in 1968. Every time that you see "Vietnam," replace it with "Iraq" in your mind: “A lot of people throughout the country are beginning to realize that getting into the Vietnam war was a disastrous mistake. In fact, hardly anyone makes so bold as to justify America’s entrance into, and generation of, that perpetual war.
Americans were hoping that Trump would 'abandon the course' that was taken by prior presidents in Iraq and the Middle East.
He is not. We must 'continue to pour blood and treasure' into a failure. Another opportunity for peace and prosperity goes down the drain. Today on Ron Paul's Myth-Busters, Dr. Paul takes a look at some of the Cultural Marxist and PC buzzwords, like "equality," "diversity," "discrimination," and "privilege." The supposed champions of a person's 'freedom to choose' actually advocate the exact opposite. They much prefer mental chains for everyone.
By Liberty Report Staff
NBC News has a chilling report on cellphone searches by American border agents. Key excerpts: -- Data provided by the Department of Homeland Security shows that searches of cellphones by border agents has exploded, growing fivefold in just one year, from fewer than 5,000 in 2015 to nearly 25,000 in 2016. -- According to DHS officials, 2017 will be a blockbuster year. Five-thousand devices were searched in February alone, more than in all of 2015. -- What CBP agents call "detaining" cellphones didn't start after Donald Trump's election. The practice began a decade ago, late in the George W. Bush administration, but was highly focused on specific individuals. -- Under the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement needs at least reasonable suspicion if they want to search people or their possessions within the United States. But not at border crossings, and not at airport terminals. -- Customs and Border officers can search travelers without any level of suspicion. They have the legal authority to go through any object crossing the border within 100 miles, including smartphones and laptops. They have the right to take devices away from travelers for five days without providing justification. Read the entire story here
By Nick Bernabe
“We’re going to build a big, beautiful wall — and Mexico is gonna pay for it,” was one of Donald Trump’s campaign mantras. However, as Americans who don’t have political short-term memory loss will remember, politicians break promises once they’re elected. Such is the case with Trump’s promise to make Mexico pay for his “great” wall. You’re paying for it, not Mexico, and Trump’s newly released White House budget has made it official. The Trump budget blueprint, released late Wednesday, calls for taxpayers to fund $4.1 billion through 2018 for Trump’s wall along the southern border of the United States. But that’s just for the initial construction. According to DHS estimates, the overall cost to taxpayers could be $21.6 billion, a figure that will likely be even higher considering the government’s penchant for going over budget and deadlines. But wait, there’s more. Because Mexico has made it abundantly clear that it will not pay for America’s “great” wall, Trump has floated the idea of slapping a 20 percent tariff on all goods imported from Mexico to make up for the cost. This idea may sound legitimate if you disregard the laws of economics, but the reality is that Americans will wind up paying for the tariffs through higher food and consumer prices. As Anti-Media reported in January: “Many food products that people living in the U.S. enjoy, like fruits, vegetables, beef, and avocados, could be taxed an extra 20 percent under Trump’s plan. Mexican beer like Corona? 20 percent. Tequila, too. Cars, electronic equipment, machines, engines, pumps, oil, medical and technical equipment, furniture, lighting, signs, plastics, gems, precious metals, coins, iron, and steel products are Mexico’s top exports, which could be taxed 20 percent more.”
In response to the proposed tariffs, Mexico stated it would return tariffs — or border taxes — on U.S. goods going into Mexico, which would hurt American businesses and workers. So basically, you’ll be paying for the wall twice, or possibly three times if you are employed or own a business that relies on exports to Mexico.
At a time when illegal immigration to the U.S. from Mexico has reached a 40-year low, and the supposed economic benefits of the wall are nowhere to be found (though its negative effects are already being felt), many people are likely left wondering if it’s even worth it.
This article was originally published at AntiMedia.
Yesterday's decision by the Fed to hike the interest rate is said to be needed to cool off a super-heated economy. But where is the economy super-heated? Labor, GDP, debt...all indicators are the opposite. Is the bag of tricks finally empty? What next?
By Senator Rand Paul (R-KY)
Look, I’m a “glass is half full” kind of guy. You have to be. I try to stay positive. I try to keep thinking maybe, maybe someday CONGRESS will remember the vision of our Founding Fathers … and that those we elect will represent us, not the special interests. But Washington politicians are so far gone that the Constitution is not even an afterthought, and their master seems to be whatever industry funds them. It doesn’t have to be this way. We just had an election about change, about draining the swamp. President Trump promised to be different, and I believe he sincerely wants to be. But he is being taken for a ride through the swamp right now on “Obamacare Lite.” For four STRAIGHT years, REPUBLICANS ran on repealing Obamacare, and now “Republican orthodoxy” — I’m told — is keeping insurance subsidies, mandates, taxes, and insurance company bailouts. That’s not acceptable to me. And it isn’t keeping our promise. Though I want to believe the glass is half full, I am tempted, very tempted, to smash a glass half full of Obamacare Lite — smash that glass to smithereens! When did Republicans begin to believe that insurance companies should be put on the dole? That they should be bailed out when any of their customers become sick? When did Republicans begin to believe that the federal government should force you to pay a penalty to a private insurance company if you can’t afford insurance? When did Republicans begin to believe that we should levy a special tax penalty on those who choose to buy really good health insurance? The current Ryan Plan — “Obamacare Lite” — is not about patients. It isn’t about better health care. It isn’t about lowering costs. It is, plain and simple, about getting more money to the insurance companies and running more of your life from Washington. I am a career physician. I spent years training and learning to be a doctor. I did it for patients. I don’t give a flip about guaranteeing the profits of insurance companies. And as a Senator, I shouldn’t, either. But in Washington, somehow, the whole debate seems to be about getting people insurance instead of getting people health care. Insurance doesn’t equate to health care. Just ask all the Obamacare recipients with $6,000 deductibles. I’m sick of the insurance companies putting me on hold and telling me to talk to their representative in a foreign country. Screw that. I’m sick of the government telling me I have to buy their crappy product, and I’m sick of watching us go into more and more debt to do it. We need a new way, and Obamacare Lite isn’t it. I want the consumer (aka patient) to be king. I want to empower the patient to get the health care they want at the price they want. I want to let every American be able to join a co-op to buy their health care. When that happens, the buying power returns to the patients. Instead of patients having to kiss the boots of insurance company executives, my plan would have insurance executives come on bended knee to the patient. The patient would be king. Read the rest at Breitbart By Chris Rossini America's drone program is such a disgrace. Military pilots sitting at computer screens obliterating other human beings on the other side of the world in video game fashion. Meanwhile, totally innocent people must live in a permanent state of fright, never knowing if they're in the wrong place at the wrong time. At any moment, and without warning, a missile can drop in their vicinity and end it all. "All the while", as Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson puts it, "the military pilot, sitting in a cushioned recliner in an air-conditioned room halfway across the world, is immune from the violence wrought from his or her single keystroke." As families of innocent victims stew in resentment, rage, and desire for revenge, Americans get to use the "at least there's no boots on the ground" excuse to whisk the atrocities out of their minds. The Trump Administration has put boots on the ground in Syria, Iraq and Kuwait, and is conducting military drills outside of North Korea. The boots are marching. All the while, even the use of drones themselves may take a turn for the worse as well. The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration is close to finishing a review that would make it easier for the Pentagon to launch counterterrorism strikes anywhere in the world by lowering the threshold on acceptable civilian casualties and scaling back other constraints imposed by the Obama administration, senior U.S. officials said. How ironic that a $20 Trillion debt ceiling is being reached today, and no one bats an eye when saying the U.S. can launch strikes "anywhere in the world". The fantasy of being a "world policeman" has bankrupted the country in reality. The fact that even one civilian casualty is "acceptable" shows how monstrous government violence really is. How can it be "acceptable" to take even a single innocent life? Many thousands have perished at the hands of a keyboard and computer screen, but apparently the "threshold" on what's "acceptable" may still be too high for those pressing the buttons. As the presidential campaign and election fade into a distant memory, the Trump Administration is picking up right where the Obama Administration left off. This is not "Making America Great Again" no matter how anyone tries to spin it. (h/t Target Liberty)
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