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The apparent massive welfare fraud committed by Somali-Americans in Minnesota has animated anti-immigrant sentiment in the US. The corruption appears to go deep. But are there other causes to the current crisis? Also today: Pentagon sends more free stuff to Israel...
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All it took was the fifth visit by Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu to get President Trump to drastically change the US position on Iran from "no nukes" to "no missiles." Trump agreed to support an Israeli attack on Iran's non-nuclear missile program. “We’ll knock the hell out of them," he said at a press conference after the Netanyahu meeting. Also today: CIA airstrikes on Venezuelan territory signal yet another US war escalation.
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Ukraine's Vladimir Zelensky was back in DC over the weekend to once again make outrageous demands of the United States: NATO-like security guarantees for 50 YEARS...and more money. The US, Ukraine, and Europe are all negotiating with each other...meanwhile Russia is taking territory and winning the war. Also today - Bibi's back in town as well and he wants Uncle Sam to go to war for him (again) in Iran. Can Trump say "no"?
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By Ron Paul
President Trump recently signed an executive order changing marijuana’s Controlled Substances Act classification from Schedule I to Schedule III. Schedule I is supposed to include especially dangerous drugs that are likely to be abused and have no medical purpose. Whatever one thinks of the wisdom and morality of using marijuana, the fact is it is less addictive, and quite possibly safer, than alcohol. Many Americans who live in one of the 40 states that have legalized medicinal marijuana use it for a variety of ailments. Reclassifying marijuana does not repeal federal laws criminalizing its use. The reclassifying does, though, facilitate research into marijuana’s medical benefits. It also enables marijuana businesses that are legal under state laws to take ordinary deductions on their taxes. While President Trump’s executive order is a step forward, those who support advancing liberty must continue to press for repeal of all federal drug laws. The Constitution does not give the federal government any authority to outlaw marijuana or any other “illicit” substance. At least supporters of alcohol prohibition understood that a constitutional amendment was needed to impose a national ban on alcohol. The war on drugs has been a primary excuse for violations of liberties including unconstitutional searches and seizures, “no-knock raids,” bank reports to the federal government on those making large cash deposits, and draconian mandatory minimum sentences. The drug war has also been used to justify foreign interventions — such as President Trump’s current actions against Venezuela. Defenders of the drug war say it is necessary because the drug trade is controlled by violent criminals — even though this is the inevitable result of outlawing a product people wish to consume. The most important reason to end the drug war is that government has no moral right to stop adults from engaging in a peaceful (even if unwise) behavior like smoking marijuana. Laws prohibiting drug use have no place in a free society. These laws are rooted in the idea that our rights are merely gifts from the government conditioned on our “good “behavior. A government that can stop people from smoking marijuana is a government that can also mandate what vaccines we receive and how our children are educated. Of course, in a free society, an individual who uses drugs would be responsible for the consequences of his choices, and those who oppose drug use could exercise their right to try to persuade others to abstain from drug use. When I campaigned to return to Congress in 1996, both Republicans (in the primary) and Democrats (in the general election) focused on attacking my position on drugs. In response, I explained that the federal government has no authority to outlaw drugs and that the police state being built to stop drug use threatens all our liberty. The responsibility for combatting drug use belongs elsewhere, such as with churches and family members. I summed up my position as not pro-drug, but pro-liberty. In the end, I won that race. The people have been ahead of politicians in understanding the folly of the drug war. All of us who value liberty must oppose the drug war. We should speak out for replacing various mandates and punishments of the drug war with increased respect for individual rights. We should also be steadfast that the end goal be a complete ending of the federal government’s drug prohibition.
By Ron Paul
Late last week, Congress passed and President Trump signed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The bill marks the first time the US military budget officially passed the one trillion dollar mark. Of course, when you add in other military-related spending such as interest on the debt, veterans’ affairs, and military components of other government agencies, the true number is at least one and a half times that amount. To paraphrase the famous 1953 President Eisenhower speech, “The Chance for Peace,” each of these dollars spent on military offense and the maintenance of the US global empire rather than on defense of our own nation is taken from the mouths of the hungry and off the backs of hardworking American families. Congress is so addicted to military spending that they appropriated even more money than President Trump requested, including an unconscionable $800 million for thoroughly corrupt Ukraine. Will Washington ever be called to answer for why Americans, who are seeing their standard of living eaten away by inflation and a declining economy, should continue to subsidize a criminal regime overseas whose ruling class enjoys the comfort of golden toilets? The Ukraine money also undermines President Trump’s claim to be a neutral mediator in the conflict. How can you be a peacemaker when you are sending nearly a billion dollars in weapons to one side to help kill the other side? It makes no sense. Congress even included measures in the bill that would prevent President Trump from bringing any US troops home from real “forever wars” in Korea and Europe. For how many more decades must the American worker continue to subsidize a US military presence in countries completely unrelated to our own security? World War II ended 80 years ago and the Korean war some ten years later. Yet the American military empire remains, at an incalculable cost to Americans. Some fellow critics will say this is all about welfare for rich countries overseas, and that’s partly right. But more than that, it is welfare for the politically-connected US military-industrial complex at home. Imagine how many retired US military officers and former US officials-turned-lobbyists might be financially inconvenienced if we finally “just marched home”? This week Western Christians will celebrate the coming of the Prince of Peace, with the Orthodox celebrating a few days later. It is disheartening that so many Americans who call themselves Christians also hold fast to a view that we must bankrupt our country and impoverish our people by playing policeman to the world and arbiter of whose regime must be changed by Washington. Christians are among the biggest victims in these overseas operations, including in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza. Yet many American Christians turn a blind eye to the suffering and misery produced by neocon-led militarism overseas. They don’t care that unquestioning support for Israel, for example, has nearly erased Christianity from where it was born. Imagine if Jesus were born in the Holy Land today. “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” That is the message of the Savior whose birth we Christians celebrate this week. Continuing to bankrupt our country and export misery overseas in the futile pursuit of a global military empire places us in opposition to this worthwhile advice. Let us all join together and work for a real peace in the New Year!
The US has seized a third tanker this month carrying oil from Venezuela, and this time it may have grabbed a hot potato: the ship is carrying oil purchased by a Chinese company and headed to China. China is Venezuela's largest oil customer and the seizure of its property could signal a crisis in US/China relations.
Col. Douglas Macgregor joins today's Liberty Report with a dire warning for the coming year. Spending, inflation, and the looming threat of wars have the warning signs blaring red. Our leaders seem incapable of leading this country out of the gathering storm. What can we do to right this ship? Is there hope?
President Trump addressed the nation last night live on television amid rumors he would announce the beginning of a war on Venezuela. Several warnings - including from Tucker Carlson - indicated the war announcement was likely. In the end the word "Venezuela" was not uttered. What does it mean? Also today - a new poll on Republican support for Israel aid is bound to be a headache for Trump.
The killing of two US National Guard troops and one interpreter - and wounding of other US personnel - in Syria over the weekend forces once again the question: WHY are US troops STILL in Syria? What is their mission? How is it in the US national interest for them to be there? And WHY are we building yet ANOTHER base in Syria?
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By Ron Paul
Unless President Trump reverses course, the “Lower Prices Bigger Paychecks” banner that hung behind him at his “affordability” speech this month will be remembered as being to economic policy what President George W. Bush’s “Mission Accomplished” banner was to foreign policy. According to a Politico poll, many Americans are having difficulty paying for food, housing, transportation, and health care. Thirty-seven percent of Americans cannot afford to take their family to a professional sports event while 46 percent of Americans cannot afford airfare for a vacation. For an increasing number of Americans, the affordability crisis is compounded by the firing crisis. Last month, approximately 120,000 small business workers lost their jobs — the highest one month decline in small business employment since the covid lockdowns. Large businesses including Amazon, Verizon, Target, and Apple are also laying off workers. The affordability crisis began in 1971 when President Nixon severed the last link between the US dollar and gold. This removed any restraint on the Federal Reserve’s ability to pump money into the economy, leading to a continuous dollar devaluation. The decline in the dollar’s purchasing power is the real cause of the rise in prices and decline in living standards. Fiat currency may be bad for the average American, but it is great for the welfare-warfare state and the special interests that benefit from it. This is because the fiat money system enables the Federal Reserve to monetize high levels of government debt via purchases of Treasury securities, thus making possible the explosion in government spending and power we have experienced the past fifty years. The fiat money system is also responsible for the bubble-boom-bust economy that has plagued America. President Trump promised to reduce federal spending and end “Bidenflation.” Instead of keeping his promise, President Trump, with the help of the Republican Congress, increased spending. As a result, the federal debt is now over 38 trillion dollars and will soon exceed 39 trillion dollars. Much of President Trump’s spending increases are on so-called “defense.” Most of this spending goes to “defending” other countries and meddling in conflicts in which the US should not be involved. Spending on militarism will no doubt increase further as President Trump prepares to launch an unconstitutional war against Venezuela. These bad policies are a betrayal of President Trump’s promise to avoid starting new wars, put an end to ongoing wars, and pursue a foreign policy that puts the American people’s needs ahead of the demands of the military-industrial complex, the deep state, and their lapdogs in Congress, the media, and the “policy community.” President Trump still has time to regain the support of disgruntled MAGA voters who are wondering what happened to the man for whom they voted. A good first step would be for President Trump to oppose the massive National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) currently before Congress unless it cuts spending by taking pro-peace actions such as closing some of the about 750 military bases the US maintains around the world. Savings from closing these bases can be used to start paying down government debt and take care of those dependent on government programs as Congress winds down the welfare state. Additionally, President Trump should support legislation forbidding the Federal Reserve from purchasing federal debt instruments. He should also support auditing and ending the Fed. Limited government, free markets, sound money, and peace are the way to make America great again. |
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