Tulsi has left the chat. In a dramatic announcement this morning, former US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) announced she was leaving the Democrat Party which she said "stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite." What's next for Tulsi and how will it shake up US politics? Also today, Russia's missile barrage continues as NATO chief Stoltenberg claims a win for Russia is a loss for...NATO! Finally, did the Brits plot to blow up the Kerch Bridge?
Just over a day after Kiev crossed Putin's "red line" and struck the bridge connecting Crimea with mainland Russia, Moscow launched an unprecedented level of airstrikes throughout Ukraine, aiming at the power grid and military command centers. The Biden Administration was convinced that Putin's talk of "red lines" was a bluff. How far will this escalate? Also today: a Washington Post survey of GOP Congressional candidates reveals that most do not believe the official story on the 2020 elections. What might this mean if control of the House and Senate shifts?
By Ron Paul
Last week the New York Times ran a shocking article claiming that the US intelligence community believes the Ukrainian government to be responsible for the August attack that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian philosopher. Surely the established narrative that Ukraine is a model western democracy standing strong for our shared values against an aggressive Russian invader is damaged with reporting that Kiev conducted an al-Qaeda style attack on an innocent civilian inside Russia. The murder of Dugina was a textbook definition of terrorism, which is, “the use of violence or the threat of violence, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political goals.” Just over a month later, the Nordstream pipelines were blown up, seemingly ending at least in the near term the possibility that Germany may find a way to save its economy by mending fences with its main energy supplier. A leading Polish politician thanked the US for doing the job. Then over the weekend, the bridge connecting mainland Russia to Crimea was bombed, killing at least six civilians and leaving part of the bridge under water. Traffic was restored hours after the attack, but Russian President Vladimir Putin placed the blame on Ukraine’s intelligence service. We all know that Ukraine relies on its US masters, so we can assume the US provided the intelligence allowing the targeting of the bridge. There is a pattern here. More and more brazen attacks are being launched against Russia and Washington is doing little to hide US fingerprints. Why? The Biden Administration seems to be moving us closer to nuclear war over Ukraine and Biden himself seems to know it. Last week he said, Putin “is not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons…” For the “first time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use [of nuclear weapons] if in fact things continue down the path they are going.” So the question is if he knows that his proxy war against Russia is moving us closer to the unthinkable – nuclear annihilation – why does his Administration persist in crossing red line after red line? Apparently, Biden’s “experts” believe that Putin is bluffing and will do nothing about the Dugina assassination, the Nordstream pipeline sabotage, and the Kerch Bridge attack. But what if they’re wrong? Normally foreign policy action should be weighed on a cost/benefit basis. Will adopting one particular policy benefit the United States more than the risks involved? In this case there is absolutely nothing on the positive side of the ledger. Will the security and prosperity of the United States benefit more from regime change in Russia than it would suffer should nuclear war break out? It doesn’t seem all that hard. No. So what’s going on here? Why does the US Administration – with the support of most Republicans in Congress – continue to send tens of billions of dollars in military aid and move us toward nuclear war over a conflict that has nothing at all to do with the United States? The time to end US participation in this war is yesterday. And if it takes millions of Americans in the streets peacefully protesting while demanding that their representatives stop this madness, then bring it on. Tomorrow may be too late. One would have hoped that after the fall of the Soviet Union, the idea of a centrally planned economy would have been discarded forever. But alas, it was not. And now we are witnessing the failure of the "Western" version of central economic planning. It doesn't matter how brilliant the planners believe they are. The "advanced" technologies that they may have make no difference whatsoever. Even "artificial intelligence" (an oxymoron if there ever was one) can't make central economic planning work. Freedom is fundamental to civilized life, and sound money is the immutable foundation.
Get your tickets for the Ron Paul Institute's November 5th Conference! https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shut-up-cancel-culture-and-the-war-on-speech-tickets-421629353747
Medical freedom advocate Del Bigtree joins today's Liberty Report to explain how the US government and governments around the world have ripped to shreds the Nuremberg Code protecting citizens against medical experimentation by governments. Why are they doing their best to keep us from knowing about the widely-reported harm coming from the so-called Covid vaccine? What can we do?
The on-again, off-again Elon Musk purchase of Twitter has occupied the minds on both sides of the free speech debate. Musk calls himself a "free speech absolutist," sending mainstream media and pro-censorship commentators into a panicked frenzy. What are they afraid of? Also today: Oil production cuts have Biden Administration steaming mad and Berlin complains to Washington about high energy prices.
Tesla and Space-X chief Elon Musk got a taste of the vitriol delved out to anyone who challenges the Ukraine narrative, as his Tweeted proposal to begin discussions on ending the Russia-Ukraine war was incinerated by pro-Ukraine Twitter users. Ukraine's president himself got into the act, slamming the very person who provided Ukraine with Starlink technology to save Ukraine's Internet. Also today, former Pentagon senior official Col. Doug Macgregor on who might be responsible for Nordstream sabotage.
While US neocons and mainstream media continue to inexplicably blame Russia for blowing up its own pipeline, US officials continue to signal their motive and the benefit they see from the sabotage. On Friday, US Secretary of State Tony Blinken said at a press conference that blowing up the pipeline presented a "tremendous opportunity" to finally end Europe's dependence on Russian energy imports. Also today: Guess who's personal fortune doubled during Covid?
By Ron Paul
Last week Congress passed a continuing resolution and then adjourned until after the election. When Congress reconvenes, it will almost certainly pass a multi-billion dollars aid package for those impacted by Hurricane Ian. This spending will likely be labeled “emergency,” so Congress members will not even have to pretend they are offsetting the new spending with cuts in other, lower priority programs. The failure of Congress to offset spending on disaster relief with cuts in other programs is one reason why I always voted against disaster aid when I was in Congress, even when the spending was for disasters that occurred in my district. Of course, I also opposed these bills because disaster relief is unconstitutional and immoral as are all other income redistribution programs. When I voted against disaster relief, my office would receive angry calls from constituents. However, within several months many of those constituents would call back to say that after dealing with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) they realized that disaster victims would be better off without federal “help.” Federally managed disaster relief is neither efficient nor compassionate. My office often heard from frustrated individuals whose plans to rebuild were put on hold because of delays in getting federal assistance. My staff and I heard many horror stories of FEMA mistreating disaster victims. For example, FEMA was supposed to put a tarp on a house whose roof was destroyed in Hurricane Ike, but it put the tarp on the house next door, even though that house’s roof was fine. When the owner of the house that needed a tarp called FEMA, he was told it would be several weeks before FEMA could send someone out to correct FEMA’s mistake. The homeowner told FEMA that he would move the tarp himself with assistance of his neighbors. FEMA told him that anyone who touched the tarp without FEMA’s approval would be fined and maybe thrown in jail. In the days following a hurricane, my staff and I also heard complaints from people about how government officials were preventing them from entering their own property. Of course, these restrictions were all claimed to be “for the people’s own good.” FEMA’s failures are the inevitable result of placing authority over disaster relief in a large, centralized bureaucracy. Therefore, the problem cannot be fixed by changing personnel or updating or streamlining FEMA’s procedures. Instead, FEMA should be abolished, and responsibility for disaster relief should be returned to individuals, local communities, and civic and charitable organizations. Individuals should be able to deduct from their income taxes 100 percent of the costs of recovering from a natural disaster. Businesses affected by a natural disaster should also be provided generous tax relief. Tax-free savings accounts could help Americans accumulate funds for use in the event of a natural disaster. In 1900, a major hurricane devastated Galveston, Texas. Despite the fact that FEMA or other federal disaster relief programs did not then exist, the people of Galveston managed to rebuild their city. This proves that there is no justification for federal involvement in disaster recovery. The federal government should return responsibility for disaster relief to the people by shutting down FEMA. Congress should also ensure people have the resources to take care of themselves by ending the welfare-warfare state, repealing the 16th Amendment and the associated income tax, and auditing then ending the Federal Reserve. |
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