The utter incompetence of the political class is on display as Los Angeles and California leadership watch the area burn to the ground. And the fire hydrants have no water in them. But...there's still money for Ukraine! Also today, Trump gets it right on the Russia/Ukraine war.
Politico has published an article accusing the billionaire businessman Elon Musk of "meddling" in foreign politics by expressing his opinion on foreign leaders. Is "meddling" just the new "disinformation" - i.e. people saying or doing things the elite does not like?
Citing fears of "climate change," outgoing president Joe Biden has pre-empted incoming President Trump's stated goal of increasing oil and gas production to help solve our economic problems. Should a lame duck president be able to tie a newly-elected president's hands? Also today, Facebook claims to abandon its "fact checker" scam. Should we believe them?
By Ron Paul
In the book Crisis and Leviathan, libertarian thinker Robert Higgs pointed out that the state uses crises to ratchet up its power and control over citizens. With each new “crisis” – often directly or indirectly caused by the state itself – government grows and our freedom shrinks. The root cause of the September 11, 2001 attacks was US interventionism, for example. As I said in a presidential debate a few years later, they came over here because we were over there. But instead of looking to that root cause it was determined that the real problem was not enough government. So, taking advantage of the crisis, Congress created a Director of National Intelligence, a Department of Homeland Security, and passed the Patriot Act. The “Russiagate” crisis was invented by the Hillary Clinton campaign as a dirty trick to use against Donald Trump in the 2016 election campaign. It may not have defeated Trump, but it hobbled his presidency. The result of this manufactured claim that the Russians (and Chinese and Iranians, etc) are meddling in our affairs and manipulating our elections is that the federal government determined that the First Amendment no longer applies to us. They have decided that consuming certain media should not be allowed – for our own safety – so they have denied Americans the right to access media from countries the US government considers “enemies.” In the name of fighting imaginary foreign meddling in our elections, it’s Americans who find their rights curtailed. They even created an entire government entity within the State Department – the “Global Engagement Center” (GEC) – right after the phony “Russiagate” operation was launched to “recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States…” As it turned out, this “Center” was not at all about countering foreign “bad actors” but about silencing Americans who held views the powers-that-be in DC do not like. As Roger Kimbell wrote in a recent article about the GEC, “Because the GEC could not operate against Americans directly, it did so indirectly by funding entities like the British-based Global Disinformation Index, which compiled a list of publications and individuals that said things the regime did not like. That list was consulted by advertisers wary of winding up on the wrong side of the government…. Result? Millions of dollars of ad revenue dried up, imperiling the future of those outlets.” And, as Kimbell further points out, even when they were caught red handed violating our rights they just hid the beast within leviathan. Thus, even though funding for the GEC was cut from Speaker Johnson’s 1,500 page omnibus spending bill, the beast lives on. The Biden Administration has re-named the Center the “Counter Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (R/FIMI) Hub” and retained the same old GEC employees. Now that this switch has been exposed, however, there is a chance – for once – to finally kill a bad government program. Elon Musk was one of the first to expose the evil of the GEC and as it turns out he is now working with the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E.) to cut this exact kind of government overreach. No more hiding government censorship programs with new names and new branding. Not another dollar should be spent censoring Americans!
For four years the mainstream media and the Democratic Party (along with some Republicans) have pushed the narrative that on Jan. 6th, 2021, a coup d'etat was attempted against "our democracy." The narrative has empowered the state to jail scores of Americans without charge, to crack down on speech, and to demonize Americans who do not step in line. But what if it's all fake? Also today: foreign money drives DC policy through think tanks.
As the emotions of last year’s election fade away, homeostasis is kicking in. The pull of the status quo gets stronger with each passing day. The results of the election were crystal clear. American voters want “America First.” But American voters are in perpetual competition with donors that want “American Empire First” and “American Megastate First." The two are not the same. They are mutually exclusive. It must be one or the other.
By Ron Paul
When the end of another year rolls around it is not a bad idea to think about how we might improve ourselves and perhaps even improve the lives of others given the clean slate of a New Year. Many people resolve to exercise more, eat better, spend more time with their families. These are all worthy goals, but shouldn’t our elected officials and the bureaucrats who run DC be making some resolutions of their own? Here are a few suggestions. First up is Congress. Next month the 119th US Congress will be sworn in, with Republican majorities in both Houses. With every opinion poll we see how the US public holds Congress in contempt. How about doing something about it? What about returning to the Constitution? That means no more 1,500 page omnibus spending bills which hide countless unconstitutional surveillance, censorship, and police state measures behind convoluted legislative language. Return to the normal legislative process and pass individual, clean appropriations bills with open rules that allow maximum participation from each Member or Senator. Then spend the rest of the year renaming post offices, if you want. The American people will thank you for it. Americans are rightly furious that President Biden has sent as much as $200 billion to fund Ukraine’s futile war with Russia, but where did Biden get that money? From Congress. The Founding Fathers gave Congress the ability to check the Executive branch’s foreign adventurism with the power of the purse. Every US foreign policy fiasco of the 21st century could have been prevented had Congress only had the courage to say “no” when the President and the military-industrial complex demanded money for a new overseas conflict. Next, the Executive Branch. On January 20th we will begin the second Trump Administration. Trump appealed to war-weary American voters by promising no new wars and an end to the current conflicts we are involved in overseas. A good place to start would be an announcement on day one that US troops would be removed from Syria. We learned only last week that the Biden Administration had been lying to us about the number of troops in Syria, but the real question is why do we have troops there at all? Trump rightly said it is not our war, so why not just march home? Likewise, Ukraine. As a parting “gift” to the American people, President Biden just announced another six billion to Ukraine. Most of that money – like the billions before – will end up in the hands of the US military-industrial complex, with a few billion stolen by the corrupt Ukraine government. Even the US mainstream media admits that Ukraine has lost the war. So why are we draining the US treasury and draining the population of Ukraine for a lost cause? President Trump: end the funding and end the war. We should be cautiously optimistic that should Trump’s nominees to head the FBI and the Intelligence Community make it through the Senate we might finally be able to see the deep state lose its grip. That’s the best news possible. We need to rein in the CIA from overseas conflicts and end the FBI’s wars on our civil liberties at home. Keeping just a few resolutions like these above will produce a more peaceful and prosperous New Year!
By Ron Paul
This week saw a new twist in what has become a D.C. Christmas tradition. I am not referring to the lighting of the White House Christmas tree but to passage of a “continuing resolution” (CR) funding the government and thus avoiding a Christmastime government shutdown. It took the production of three separate CRs before one passed in the Senate after midnight Friday night and was then signed by President Joe Biden. A reason an earlier CR failed to obtain congressional approval was that President-elect Donald Trump, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, and Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) heads Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy called on Republicans to oppose it. There was also opposition to the inclusion of new spending, including 100 billion dollars in disaster relief and an extension of the farm bill along with billions of dollars more in aid for farmers. The farm provisions were added at the request of Republican representatives from rural areas. Many of these Republicans denounce welfare spending and crony capitalism, while fighting to increase subsidies for large agribusinesses and rich farmers. The CR that ultimately passed included the disaster relief and the farm provisions. President Trump wanted the CR to raise or suspend the debt ceiling that was expected to be reached soon. It is understandable that President Trump would want to avoid a fight over the debt ceiling early in his second term. However, refusing to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would benefit President Trump’s efforts to reduce wasteful spending. The debt ceiling was created during World War One to allow the Treasury to sell bonds without first obtaining congressional authorization. Contrary to the claims of the big spenders, failure to raise or suspend the debt ceiling would not force the government to default or cause the government to not “pay its bills.” Instead, it would force the government to do what ordinary people who find themselves over their heads in debt have to do: reduce other expenses in order to pay their bills. Saying a failure to raise or suspend the debt ceiling is irresponsible is like saying a credit card company is irresponsible for refusing to extend credit to a deadbeat. Raising or suspending the debt ceiling helps enable the continued growth of the welfare-warfare state, but the real enabler of Congress’s spending is the Federal Reserve’s monetization of government debt. The Federal Reserve monetizes the federal debt via the purchase of Treasuries. Congress should pass legislation forbidding the Fed from purchasing Treasuries so the Fed can no longer enable Congress’s reckless spending. The Constitution gives Congress two primary responsibilities: appropriating federal funds and declaring war. Congress long ago abdicated its authority to declare war. The practice of funding the government through CRs and omnibus spending bills drafted by a few members and rushed through Congress before most members have a chance to read them deprives most members of the ability to fulfill their constitutional responsibility to help determine how to best allocate taxpayer dollars. It also denies members an opportunity to offer amendments cutting spending. This is why everyone who supports constitutional government and who understands the dangers of increasing government debt should support ending Congress’s Christmas tradition.
Liberty Report co-hosts Daniel McAdams and Chris Rossini wish all of our viewers a Merry Christmas on their behalf and on behalf of Ron Paul. Plus...an exciting announcement about the Ron Paul Studio.
The Ron Paul Institute still has matching funds left. Hurry and DOUBLE your donation: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/donate/
It’s not a good look when Republicans and Democrats “negotiate” together and present an unreadable 1,500 page bill. It’s also not a good look for a follow-up Republican bill that seeks to raise the debt ceiling again for two years. We’re going bankrupt thanks to $36 trillion in debt. The American people voted to go in the other direction. Why doesn’t Washington ever get it?
|
Archives
February 2025
|