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The feud between President Trump and Fed Chair Powell is really a fool's errand. Neither can possibly know what interest rates should be, simply because interest rates are derived in the marketplace. Price fixing, by either the Fed or the President, always ends us creating economic malaise. The Fed should not exist because there's no way to properly fix prices, and counterfeiting is unconstitutional and immoral. The current posturing between fails to get us closer to ending this anti-American institution.
The Trump Administration has expended enormous time and energy attempting to end the war in Ukraine, yet with each step forward the Administration seems to be forced to take two steps back. It is becoming more and more clear that the negotiations are going nowhere - even the Administration is admitting this. In fact they are doomed to fail. And here's why...
Today's Liberty Report is joined by executive vice president of The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), Nico Perrino, to discuss the threats to the First Amendment on US college campuses and elsewhere.
Recently fired top Pentagon advisor Dan Caldwell took his case to the massive Tucker Carlson show yesterday, explaining that despite whispered accusations against him and his two colleagues, there was not even an investigation as to whether they were responsible for leaks. It's clear that the neocons are getting desperate for their war on Iran and intend to purge any voices of reason. Also today - Ambassador Huckabee to Palestinians: "Starve!"
By Ron Paul
Those who hoped the second Trump Administration would reject big spending, war, and restrictions on liberty continue to be disappointed. A new disappointment came when Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced her department would in May begin enforcing the REAL ID law. Passed in 2005, the REAL ID Act created federal standards for driver’s licenses. The law requires everyone applying for a driver’s license to provide the DMV with his social security number, proof of legal residence, and two proofs of his home address. The REAL ID Act allows the Homeland Security Department to mandate, as it sees fit, the including of addition items in the related government database, including “biometric” identifiers. Biometric identifiers include personal data such as retina scans, fingerprints, and DNA. People who doubt that this database will be used to violate the rights of US citizens should ask what a present-day J. Edgar Hoover — a former FBI director who was notorious for collecting private information on politicians and other prominent individuals — would do with a database containing personal and even biometric information on American citizens. They should also consider the IRS’s history of targeting presidents’ political opponents. Americans also have the threat of violations of their rights by hackers. The government has a poor track record of protecting data of US citizens. REAL ID’s supporters deny the law turns state driver’s licenses into national ID cards because states have no mandate to implement REAL ID. However, citizens of any state that refuses to adopt REAL ID will be unable to use their state-issued IDs for boarding an airplane or riding on a train. Once the initial uses of REAL ID are established, the government will then require REAL ID for other activities. For instance, local transportation authorities may be offered federal funds to implement REAL ID requirements for public transportation. Several pro-Second Amendment organizations oppose REAL ID because it could be used to monitor gun owners. There is nothing in the law prohibiting a future progressive Homeland Security secretary from requiring REAL ID for a firearms purchase. Imposing a REAL ID mandate on gun ownership would further the authoritarian objective of having a database containing the name and address of, and how many and what type of firearms are owned by, every law-abiding gun owner in the country. REAL ID also menaces health freedom. One of the few victories for liberty during the covid hysteria was the failure of “vaccine passport” schemes to be more widely imposed. These schemes attempted to forbid people from returning to their normal lives unless they proved they were “fully vaccinated” against covid. REAL ID was marketed as a weapon in the “war on terror.” However, Thomas Massie, the most consistent and courageous defender of liberty in the House of Representatives, pointed out that 9-11 hijackers used passports from their own countries. Rep. Massie wrote, “As long as the pilot’s door is locked and no one has weapons, why do you care that someone who flies has government permission?” Like most post-9-11 security bills, REAL ID does nothing to protect the American people’s safety. It does, though, do much to endanger their liberty. REAL ID could even be the final piece of the transformation of America into a total surveillance society where government monitors, and thus controls, our actions. Americans who understand the danger must work to get the Trump administration to reverse its position.
Just days after media reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth discouraged President Trump from attacking Iran, multiple media stories have dropped claiming incompetence and worse on his part. Meanwhile three top aides known for a more realist approach to foreign policy have been sacked on dubious grounds. Is Hegseth about to learn what happens when you cross the neocons?
When reading the New York Times it is best to treat it like reading Pravda in the days of the USSR. It is the mouthpiece of the deep state. So what are they trying to convey in this lengthy "blockbuster" report that Trump has put a temporary kibbosh on Netanyahu's plan to use the US military to fulfill his long-held fantasy of attacking Iran?
During the visit of the president of El Salvador to the US this week, President Trump expressed a desire to deport not only illegal aliens, but also American citizens to El Salvador's notorious prison. Is this Guantanamo "extraordinary rendition" on steroids? Also today, Trump's team is divided on Iran: half want to talk, the other half want war. Who will win?
House Speaker Mike Johnson said this week he considers himself a "war time" Speaker - even though we are not at war. But he seems to be at war with the American people, bringing up a bill to send a hundred billion dollars overseas while America struggles. Also today: will the Senate stop the super-spy bill?
Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem announced Friday that the the notorious PATRIOT Act-era REAL ID scheme would go into effect at the end of the month. REAL ID is one of the greatest threats to Americans' civil liberties in decades. Also today: The State Department knew before arresting a foreign Tufts student that she was not involved in terrorist or antisemitic activities. So why did they do it?
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