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Politicians are notorious for being professional liars. They lie about wars, the economy, about other politicians, foreign leaders, following the Constitution. Would it be a stretch for them to lie about inflation too?
 By Norman Singleton
Looking for a last-minute stocking stuffer for a liberty-minded friend or relative? Or are you already thinking of how you’re going to spend that Amazon gift card you get every year from friends and family who know your second favorite thing to do (after helping C4L put the heat on anti-liberty politicians) is reading books on liberty? Then check out The Great Ron Paul, new from our friends at the Libertarian Institute. The title alone should be enough to make you want to buy it, but I’ll give you some details about the book anyway. The book is a transcript of every interview Scott Horton, editorial director of Antiwar.com and longtime libertarian antiwar radio host, conducted with Dr. Paul from 2004 through this year. It is not surprising that the interviews focus largely on foreign policy. But it is also not surprising, given that Dr. Paul does not believe there is some magic wall dividing foreign policy, economic policy, and civil liberties (especially in the era of the PATRIOT Act and TSA), that the interviews also discuss the Federal Reserve, the post 9-11 rise of the surveillance state, and how Dr. Paul’s 2008 Presidential campaign started a liberty rEVOLution. The book gives you the opportunity to see Dr. Paul’s perspective on the major events of the past 15 years in “real time” and is thus a living history of a fascinating time in American (and world) politics, seen through the eyes of the leading spokesperson for liberty of our times. The fact that Scott not only agrees with Dr. Paul but is also himself knowledgeable about Austrian economics and libertarian political philosophy, means that Dr. Paul does not have to spend time explaining his philosophy or defending his views from distortions and attacks. Instead, these interviews give Dr. Paul the opportunity to focus on giving a libertarian perspective on the major events of the time. The Great Ron Paul is a perfect gift for lovers of liberty, amateur or professional historians, and high school or college students interested in learning about the history and politics of the past fifteen years. You can buy the book (and help Campaign for Liberty) here.
The Trump Administration's inability to reach an agreement for the basing of 28,000 troops in South Korea highlights an increasing phenomenon across the US military empire: as the cost of US "protection" keeps going up, the value of that protection - in the eyes of the "protected" - seems to keep going down. Baghdad increasingly desires a US departure as well...
The Democrat-controlled US House of Representatives is expected to vote for two articles of impeachment against President Trump today and the articles are expected to die in the Republican-controlled Senate. Is Congress doing its Constitutional duty to remove a president abusing his power and obstructing Congress, or is this a prosecution in search of a crime?
By Chris Rossini
What a fascinating time. Thanks to the advancement of communications technology, more and more people are challenging "official" narratives, perhaps like never before. Authoritarians that seek to dominate everyone else, always have a single fantasy that they strive for. The authoritarian wants to make his proclamation .... everyone hears it ... everyone accepts it ... no one questions it ... and everyone obeys. Obviously, this fantasy always crashes into the wall of reality. Every human being is endowed with Individual Liberty. Those who wrote the Declaration of Independence made sure to point out that this was "self-evident." However, because authoritarians do not want to accept Individual Liberty, they are always waging war against reality. One tactic is something that many people are now calling: "Narrative Control." Why are so many people talking about it? For one thing, we can communicate with one another like never before. Furthermore, the man with the bully pulpit, President Trump, has pointed out FAKE NEWS from the hilltops! Because of the actions that President Trump's opponents have chosen to fight him with, millions and millions of people are now questioning and taking notice of what is called "Narrative Control." Narrative Control where you see the same "official" message being propagated no matter where you happen to turn. Flip through the TV "news" stations and the same message is being repeated (sometimes literally the same words). Go to a Hollywood movie...and there's the message. Go to a professional sports game...there's the message. Go to a University...same message. Social media, search engines....it goes on and on. The idea is that if everyone is constantly bombarded with the same message, it will lead to the end result of --- obey. But it's just not true. Even if one can imagine a world where every human being literally hears and sees the same exact words, it still wouldn't lead to --- obey. Why? Because of our individual liberty. Every narrative hits a completely unique and individual consciousness. Each individual takes the narrative and interprets it (i.e., explains it) to him or herself. Every interpretation is different. You've heard of two people seeing the exact same car accident and explaining it in two totally different ways, right? Well, it's the same thing with narratives. We explain it to ourselves in our own unique way. We each have the freedom to accept or reject the narrative that is being presented to us. Even if we're presented with the same exact words, we all have the freedom to say "I believe that," or "I don't believe that." It gets even more intricate and complex then that. Every interpretation that we choose right now is influenced by every interpretation that we've made in the past. Let's say that you were bitten by a big dog when you were a kid. You've been terrified of big dogs ever since. What if today, everywhere you looked, you saw the "official" narrative repeated: "Be sure to hug a big dog today." Would you hug the dog? NO!...Of course not! It doesn't matter to you that the narrative is "official" and coming from the ivory towers. You're not hugging a big dog ever! Narrative control is a fool's errand. We each choose how to interpret what we see and hear. We each have the choice of accepting or rejecting it. We each have the ability to communicate our interpretation with others. That's why "official" narratives are falling by the wayside so quickly these days. We have access to interpretations from people that can be next door, or from another state, or even halfway across the world! Liberty is decentralized, because human life itself is decentralized. Authoritarians crave centralization, homogenization, uniformity (and most important of all) conformity. That's why they choose the tactics that they choose - like narrative control. Libertarians want nothing to do with such tactics. The task of the libertarian is to speak the truth and let it be. After we speak, it's out of our hands. Our job is not to "convince" or force feed anyone. Other people are going to interpret what we say in their own unique way. It's individual liberty in action.
Three died and eight were injured when a Saudi military officer went on a shooting spree at a Pensacola, Florida airbase. The Pentagon insists Saudi military officers are properly vetted, but they are revisiting their vetting process anyway. Maybe vetting is not the real issue...?
By Ron Paul
“We were devoid of a fundamental understanding of Afghanistan. We didn’t know what we were doing.” So said Gen. Douglas Lute, who oversaw the US war on Afghanistan under Presidents Bush and Obama. Eighteen years into the longest war in US history, we are finally finding out, thanks to thousands of pages of classified interviews on the war published by the Washington Post last week, that General Lute’s cluelessness was shared by virtually everyone involved in the war. What we learned in what is rightly being called the “Pentagon Papers” of our time, is that hundreds of US Administration officials – including three US Presidents – knowingly lied to the American people about the Afghanistan war for years. This wasn’t just a matter of omitting some unflattering facts. This was about bald-faced lying about a war they knew was a disaster from almost day one. Remember President Bush’s Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld? Remember how supremely confident he was at those press conferences, acting like the master of the universe? Here’s what he told the Pentagon’s special inspector general who compiled these thousands of interviews on Afghanistan: “I have no visibility into who the bad guys are.” It is not only members of the Bush, Obama, and Trump Administrations who are guilty of this massive fraud. Falsely selling the Afghanistan war as a great success was a bipartisan activity on Capitol Hill. In the dozens of hearings I attended in the House International Relations Committee, I do not recall a single “expert” witness called who told us the truth. Instead, both Republican and Democrat-controlled Congresses called a steady stream of neocon war cheerleaders to lie to us about how wonderfully the war was going. Victory was just around the corner, they all promised. Just a few more massive appropriations and we’d be celebrating the end of the war. Congress and especially Congressional leadership of both parties are all as guilty as the three lying Administrations. They were part of the big lie, falsely presenting to the American people as “expert” witnesses only those bought-and-paid-for Beltway neocon think tankers. What is even more shocking than the release of this “smoking gun” evidence that the US government wasted two trillion dollars and killed more than three thousand Americans and more than 150,000 Afghans while lying through its teeth about the war is that you could hear a pin drop in the mainstream media about it. Aside from the initial publication in the Washington Post, which has itself been a major cheerleader for the war in Afghanistan, the mainstream media has shown literally no interest in what should be the story of the century. We’ve wasted at least half a year on the Donald Trump impeachment charade – a conviction desperately in search of a crime. Meanwhile one of the greatest crimes in US history will go unpunished. Not one of the liars in the “Afghanistan Papers” will ever be brought to justice for their crimes. None of the three presidents involved will be brought to trial for these actual high crimes. Rumsfeld and Lute and the others will never have to fear justice. Because both parties are in on it. There is no justice. Just days after the “Afghanistan Papers” were published, only 48 Members of Congress voted against the massive military spending of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act. They continue as if nothing happened. They will continue lying to us and ripping us off if we let them.
New documents released by Wikileaks confirm that within the Organization for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons there was a massive push to alter the findings of the "Fact Finding Mission" sent to Douma, Syria to investigate an alleged gas attack last year. Now 20 inspectors have claimed that their conclusions were left out of the report, which was re-written with conclusions opposite to what they found. Who forced them to fake the report and why?
By Chris Rossini
The Gatekeeper: "Step right up! Step right in! Welcome to the land where The Society is superior to the individual." The Thinker: "Hello, Mr. Gatekeeper, and thanks for letting me check this place out. I've heard so much about it. You guys have the best PR department in the world." Gatekeeper: "Yes, we're proud of this place. Are you ready to see The Society?" Thinker: "Yes, of course. I'm ready to meet him! Anyone who claims to be superior to the individual must be incredible. Gatekeeper: "Meet him? I don't understand what you're talking about, but come on in funny guy." Thinker: "Fantastic.....Ok where is he?" Gatekeeper: "Where is who?" Thinker: "The Society." Gatekeeper: "What do you mean? ... This is it ... This is The Society." Thinker: "But all that I see, Mr. Gatekeeper, is a bunch of individuals. Lots of individuals in fact. I'm not looking for those who are inferior. I want to meet the superior! I want to meet The Society. That's why I'm here." Gatekeeper: "Listen fella, I have other people to let through here. Don't bother me with your riddles. Move along." Thinker: "All right, I guess I'll go and speak with one of the inferior individuals then. Let me go ask this guy if he knows where I can find The Society. 'Excuse me sir, what's your name?'" Harry: "Harry." Thinker: "Harry, pleased to meet you. I'm new here. I've heard so much about The Society and how it's superior to the individual. I'm trying to meet The Society, and the Gatekeeper couldn't help me at all. I only see inferior individuals here (no offense). In my entire life, I've only seen individuals, which is why I'm so excited to meet The Society. Can you guide me to him?" Harry: "Oh no, you must be confused. The Society is not someone that you meet. The Society is the collective. It's all of us individuals put together." Thinker: "Wait ... what? What do you mean 'individuals put together'? How do you put individuals together? Is it like taking two colors of Silly Putty and smooshing them in your hands? What happens to the individual bodies? What happens to the individual minds?" Harry: "No, not literally together." Thinker: "Then how?" Harry: "Actually, now I don't know. I never thought about it before. I suppose it's more of an abstract thing." Thinker: "Like art?" Harry: "I guess....Now you have me wondering." Thinker: "Ok...let's see what we have so far. The Society is not someone I'm going to meet. I have to admit, I'm bummed by that. The PR for this place is misleading. If you're going to claim that something is superior to the individual, you need to specify in your marketing that it's not actually some thing. Next you tell me that it's all individuals 'put together,' but not really since individuals can't literally be put together. So....I'm assuming that it's safe to say that whatever "it" is, "it" doesn't think...."it" doesn't make choices... and "it" doesn't act in any way? Correct? Harry: "Yeah, I guess you're right." Thinker: "And I know I'm going to be stating the obvious here. But, you and I are both actual things ... we're both human individuals ... and we both independently think, make choices, and act." Harry: "Yes, I can't argue with you there. You and I do all of those things independently of one another." Thinker: "So, Harry, as someone who lives here, please fill me in on how 'The Society,' whatever it is, is superior to the individual. What on Earth can that possibly mean? Superior how? Harry: "Honestly, I don't know. We've just been told that it is, and no one really asks these types of questions." Thinker: "You've been told by who?" Harry: "People in power, I guess. Definitely anyone that has anything to do with politics. They're always telling us about 'our values,' and 'our way of life,' and how 'our voices need to be heard.' I don't pay much attention to politics. But I know that they like to use the word 'our' a lot." Thinker: "People in power?....You mean individual people, right?" Harry: "Yes, of course, individuals. What else is there?" Thinker: "That's what I came here to see. I've always believed that there are only individuals. I wanted to see the superior Society. Let me ask you this, when these people in power use the word 'our,' do you think they mean 'The Society'? Are they just interchanging those two words?" Harry: "Yes, that's exactly what they mean!" Thinker: "OK....now we're getting somewhere. We have some individuals who claim to speak for The Society. Can anyone speak for The Society? Can you, Harry? Harry: "No, of course not." Thinker: "But aren't you part of The Society?" Harry: "Yes." Thinker: "Ok. Since you're a part of The Society, but apparently can't speak for it, do you agree with those who do speak for it?" Harry: "I told you, I don't even pay attention to politics. But when I do, no, I don't agree very often at all. To tell you the truth, there never seems to be any agreement. No matter who speaks for The Society, there's always tremendous animosity from those who don't speak for it." Thinker: "If there's never any agreement, why do those who speak for The Society, use the word 'our' all the time? The word 'our' implies unanimity. But you're telling me there never is unanimity. Why do they use the word 'our'?" Harry: "Yeah it's pretty ironic, isn't it? I don't know. They really shouldn't say 'our.' It's not accurate." Thinker: "What happens to the individuals who disagree with those who claim to speak for The Society? Are those who disagree now considered outside of The Society? Are they thrown out of The Society?" Harry: "No, they're still considered in The Society." Man, this is getting weird. I don't know who I am anymore....haha." Thinker: "Ok....I think I see what is happening here Harry. The PR for this place is wrong. Your slogan that 'The Society is superior to the individual' is false advertising. Since we've established that there are only individuals involved here, it looks to me that some individuals are taking advantage of other individuals. 'The Society,' is just a cover story, or something to hide behind. What you have is a few individuals who have made themselves superior to all other individuals." Harry: "Wow...that makes sense. You know, people do the most vile and immoral things imaginable, just to be able to speak for The Society." Thinker: "Of course they would. What's their take? What's the budget for those who claim to speak for The Society?" Harry: "Let's just say its astronomical. They get their pound of flesh out of me, that's for sure." Thinker: "I bet you're told that it's all taken from you for the good of The Society, right?" Harry: "Yeah, naturally. I'm starting to wonder if that's like a guilt thing too. After all, who wants to be against the good of The Society?" Thinker: "They take your money and make you feel guilty about something that you literally cannot define?" Harry: "Boy, that is sad, but true. Man, these people who get their pound of flesh out of me are pretty brilliant...In a bad way, of course." Thinker: "Well this has been fascinating. I came here seeking to meet something that's superior to the individual, and all that I have found is a few individuals who have figured out a way to live off the backs of the majority of other individuals. I guess I return home just as I came. There really is no such thing as a Society that is superior to the individual."
Give anyone the capability to print money out-of-thin-air, and they will ultimately reach the point where they can't stop themselves from printing. In a world where supply & demand reigns supreme, it's easy to see why counterfeiting always ends ruin. One of the main reasons that Gold has been money for thousands of years is because it cannot be counterfeited. That's also the main reason that governments hate it. Don't miss today's Liberty Report!
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