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Who's in charge? Is The Fed responsible for 40 million unemployed? The concept of a "Deep State" may be a new one for Americans to come to grips with, but unaccountable power is as old as the hills. Liberty & sound money are the only neutralizing agents to Deep State power.
Think of it as the REAL ID on steroids. The airlines and sectors of government are pushing for a biometric "immunity passport" to prove that one is not corona contagious before flying, attending large events, maybe even going to work. Is this the number of the beast or a sensible reaction to a pandemic? Something in-between? Plus today's program will look at another pandemic: depression and anxiety as a result of the shutdown. And Minnesota Governor Tim Walz emptied out hospitals and cancelled surgeries to make way for a coronavirus tidal wave that never hit. How many deaths occurred in the push to avoid deaths? Finally, freedom action in Brazoria County as homeschoolers challenge park shutdowns.
 By Daniel McAdams As we've been saying on the Ron Paul Liberty Report for some time, in this period of coronavirus and the naked power-grabs by authoritarian politicians from all levels of government, if there is any hope to claw back some of our liberties it will come from the bottom up. Politicians are drunk on power and they are not about to enter any kind of 12 step program. But throughout the country it is the people who are fighting back. And they are scoring tremendous victories. On a small scale, a hundred flowers are blooming daily as Americans who perhaps yesterday were not at all political, or who went along to get along, are realizing what is at stake and are standing up. The elites laughed at the "flyover country" folks in places like the Lake of the Ozarks who ignored demands that they practice "social distancing" and wear masks in public over Memorial Day weekend and simply went out and had a good time. In fact the elites and the sycophants openly wished these people would contract Covid and die as punishment for ignoring the orders of their "betters." That's how sick things have become. Here in Texas the speaker of the house Dennis Bonnen - ostensibly a conservative Republican - has warned us lowly citizens that if we want big daddy government to allow us to conduct business again in this state, we need to bow down and scrape. He told USA Today that if we don't wear masks whenever we go outside, we can't have our freedom back: I don’t know what message they are sending other than the message of stupidity that they’re not going to wear a face covering in public. Well, pick it. Either you want the economy open or you want to be selfish and not wear a face covering when you are out in the public. The corrupt Dennis Bonnen may think he can push Texans around, but perhaps he's had his own mask on too tight and is suffering from hypoxia. Down here in Brazoria county a strong independent spirit runs through the vibrant and active homeschool movement. In fact Texas homeschoolers and particularly Brazoria County homeschoolers have been the backbone of Ron Paul country. Earlier this month, a group of homeschoolers mobilized and began challenging the ridiculous closures of playgrounds throughout Brazoria County through direct action. It is the most outrageous abuse of power to deny children the ability to go outside in the sun, help virus-killing vitamin D to flow through their systems, and get the exercise that is most directly associated with a healthy immune system and resistance to coronavirus. Government restricting children from that which keeps them healthy is not "science" - it's criminal. So this group, the "Park Patriots," took action. First they descended on a park in Lake Jackson, Ron Paul's hometown, and after the city workers called the police on them they gave the police a lesson in the law and law enforcement. They ended up at city hall and successfully got the vice mayor to admit that there was no force of law behind the forced shutdown of parks. Officials pretended they had the authority to deny citizens the facilities they were forced to pay for, but in the end a "guideline" is quite different than a law. The mothers returned to the park and let their kids loose on the playground. Victory indeed. Today the "Park Patriots" struck again, trudging up to Angleton's "Freedom Park" to again let their homeschooled kids loose on the taped up playground - and to reclaim their freedom. As they arrived they began dismantling the tape and the other impediments to children using the facilities:  The orange fencing keeping children from enjoying the park that their parents paid for ended up exactly where it belonged:  One of the children - in this case your author's own daughter - relished the idea of smashing through the ridiculous "caution" tape on the swings:  Once again it was city workers who called the police on the people who pay their salaries - notice a pattern here? - and soon enough some squad cars showed up.  What followed was the greatest example of how citizens can reclaim their own liberty by simply standing up to authoritarians. By simply working up the courage to say, "we're not going to take this anymore." Here is a short video of the essence of the exchange between the homeschool mothers and fathers of Brazoria County when the police tried to strong-arm them to leave the park: Ironic how the officer with "We The People" tattooed across his arm showed up with such contempt for the actual people. One of the homeschool fathers hit the perfect note when he reminded the officer that it was in fact the park itself that belonged to the same "We The People" he was wearing on his arm. Also of interest is that when the officer's falsely asserted authority to remove the children from the park was obliterated by the excellent rhetoric of the parents, how only response was the bizarre "y'all anti-vaxxers?" Bad move, officer! Finally, the officer, totally defeated by the arguments of the parents, turned heel and walked away, leaving his colleague dumbfounded and alone. She also turned around and walked away. One group of parents broke off to go to the city hall to directly challenge authorities and the other group remained at the park. Eventually the officer returned to the homeschoolers remaining at the park. He tried to act friendly at this point. "The chief of police has decided that you can remain at the park." Victory:  And thanks to these brave and dedicated homeschoolers, "Freedom Park" is free again:  We can all make a difference. We can all fight for our freedom, one small battle at a time. We can all help defeat the tyrants. And finally: Don't mess with Texas...homeschoolers! This article was originally published at The Ron Paul Institute.  
By Jeff Deist
In the period leading up to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Bush administration and its media accomplices waged a relentless propaganda campaign to win political support for what turned out to be one of the most disastrous foreign policy mistakes in American history. Nearly two decades later, with perhaps a million dead Iraqis and thousands of dead American soldiers, we are still paying for that mistake. Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney General John Ashcroft, Assistant Attorney General John Yoo, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, were key players behind the propaganda—which we can define as purposeful use of information and misinformation to manipulate public opinion in favor of state action. Iraq and its president Saddam Hussein were the ostensible focus, but their greater goal was to make the case for a broader and open-ended "War on Terror." So they created a narrative using a mélange of half-truths, faintly plausible fabrications, and outright lies:
And so forth. But the propaganda "worked" in the most meaningful sense: Congress voted nearly 3–1 in favor of military action against Iraq, and Gallup showed 72 percent of Americans supporting the invasion as it commenced in 2003. Media outlets across the spectrum such as the Washington Post cheered the war. National Review dutifully did its part, labeling Pat Buchanan, Ron Paul, Justin Raimondo, Lew Rockwell, and other outspoken opponents of the invasion as "unpatriotic conservatives." Tragically, the American people never placed the burden of proof squarely with the war cheerleaders to justify their absolutely crazed effort to remake the Middle East. In hindsight, this is obvious, but at the time propaganda did its job. Disinformation is part and parcel of the fog of war. What will hindsight make clear about our reaction to COVID-19 propaganda? Will we regret shutting down the economy as much as we ought to regret invading Iraq? The cast of characters is different, of course: Trump, desperately seeking "wartime president" status; Dr. Anthony Fauci; epidemiologist Neil Ferguson; state governors such as Cuomo, Whitmer, and Newsom; and a host of media acolytes just itching to force a new normal down our throats. Like the Iraq War architects, they use COVID-19 as justification to advance a preexisting agenda, namely, greater state control over our lives and our economy. Yet because too many Americans remain stubbornly attached to the old normal, a propaganda campaign is required. So we are faced with a blizzard of new "facts" almost every day, most of which turn out to be only mildly true, extremely dubious, or plainly false:
Again, much of this is not true and not even intended to be true—but rather to influence public behavior and opinions. And again, the overwhelming burden of proof should lie squarely with those advocating a lockdown of society, who would risk a modern Great Depression in response to a simple virus. How much damage will the lockdown cause? Economics aside, the sheer toll of this self-inflicted wound will be a matter for historians to document. That toll includes all the things Americans would have done without the shutdown in their personal and professional lives, representing a diminution of life itself. Can that be measured, or distilled into numerical terms? Probably not, but this group of researchers and academics argues that we have already suffered more than one million "lost years of life" due to the ravages of unemployment, missed healthcare, and general malaise. By the same token, how do we measure the blood and treasure lost in Iraq? How much PTSD will soldiers suffer? How many billions of dollars in future VA medical care will be required? How many children will grow up without fathers? And how many millions of lives are forever shattered in that cobbled-together political artifice in the Middle East? Propaganda kills, but it also works. Politicians of all stripes will benefit from the coronavirus; the American people will suffer. Perversely, one of the worst COVID propagandists—the aforementioned Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York—yesterday rang the bell as the New York Stock Exchange reopened to floor trading. He now admits that the models were wrong and that his lockdown did nothing to prevent the Empire State from suffering the highest per capita deaths from COVID. Like the architects of the Iraq War, he belongs on a criminal docket. But thanks to propaganda, he is hailed as presidential.
This article was originally published at The Mises Institute.
Mandatory Masks, Contact Tracing, Social Distancing - Tyrants Desperately Clinging To Power5/27/2020
With a new CDC report confirming that the Covid-19 death rate is far, far lower than originally estimated, and Covid deaths plummeting across the country, desperate governors are ignoring facts and imposing even more authoritarian measures to oppress the population. With rebellion breaking out everywhere, at what point are we going to see a clash between a population no longer believing the coronavirus myths (that it is ten times more deadly than the flu, for example) and a political class drunk on power?
By Ron Paul
One of the few good things to come out of the government-mandated shutdown is that many parents have started homeschooling their children. Many of these parents are likely to continue homeschooling after the government schools reopen. Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did its part to encourage homeschooling when it unveiled “guidelines” for schools to follow when they reopen. Among the CDC’s guidelines are that schools put tape on the hallways, directing children which direction to walk and how much distance to keep between themselves and their classmates. The CDC also recommends children do not share electronic devices or learning aids. The guidelines even say children should wear masks at school. The CDC’s guidelines instruct schools to close playgrounds and cafeterias, and to cancel all field trips and assemblies. Instead, students are to spend all day at their desks, not even leaving classrooms for lunch or recess. The CDC’s guidelines may not have the force of law, but it is likely most government schools will adopt them in order to ensure continued access to federal funding. Schools will do this even though children are at a very low risk of being seriously harmed by coronavirus. In fact, by forbidding children from going outside to play, exercise, and get sunshine, the guidelines actually endanger children’s health. The guidelines also harm children by limiting their ability to interact with their fellow students and develop social skills. Opponents of homeschooling claim that homeschooled children lack proper socialization. Like many attacks on homeschooling, the claim that homeschoolers are not “socialized” is the opposite of the truth. Education researcher Corey DeAngelis recently told journalist John Stossel in a Reason interview that "children who are homeschooled get much better academic and social results than kids in government schools.” Mr. DeAngelis pointed out that “homeschoolers score about 30 percent higher on the SAT test than kids in regular schools.” Parents looking for a homeschooling program that includes an introduction to the ideas of liberty should consider my homeschool curriculum. My homeschool curriculum provides students with a solid education in history, literature, mathematics, and the sciences. It also gives students the opportunity to create their own websites and internet-based businesses. The curriculum is designed to be self-taught, with students helping, and learning from, each other via online forums. Starting in fourth grade, students are required to write at least one essay a week. Students also take a course in public speaking. The curriculum teaches history from a pro-liberty perspective, and the economics section is taught from the Austrian viewpoint. But, unlike government schools, the curriculum does not compromise education quality or distort facts in pursuit of a political agenda. Students using my homeschooling program develop a love of learning, study superior communication skills, and gain real-world business experience. They also develop the critical thinking skills necessary to see through the lies peddled by government officials and their sycophants in the mainstream media. The skills and knowledge students gain will enable them to succeed in whatever careers they choose to pursue. Parents interested in giving their children a well-rounded homeschool education that includes sound economics and the history and philosophy of liberty can get more information about my curriculum by going to RonPaulCurriculum.com.
From the Lake of the Ozarks to the Texas Gulf Coast, Americans spent Memorial Day weekend in defiance of the forced "lockdown" orders of the politicians. Dr. Birx was furious over people refusing to wear masks at the beach. Other local tyrants screamed and threatened. The people are ignoring them. Deliverance from this coronavirus-induced government tyranny is not coming about because politicians have seen the error of their ways. It is coming about because the people are finally waking up.
Keep the Liberty Report on air with a tax-deductible contribution to the Ron Paul Institute: http://www.RonPaulInstitute.org/support We hope that you enjoy this classic interview from 2019 with Lew Rockwell on the great dangers of left authoritarianism. Get your copy of 'Against The Left' on Amazon: https://amzn.com/099046315X Be sure to visit https://www.lewrockwell.com every day! 
The Federal Reserve is an unconstitutional government-created monopoly. Bankers and politicians can act recklessly, while the rest of the population suffers the consequences and pays the price. Without the Fed, would U.S. Governors have been forced to act more rationally? Without the Fed, perhaps locking down the states would have been unthinkable. But now the unprecedented damage has been done, and bailouts from The Fed are proceeding. The American public has (and will continue) to pay the gut-wrenching price as long as The Fed exists. It enables the endless wars. It enables the bankrupt welfare state, and The Fed has enabled Coronavirus tyranny.
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