The most recent release from the federally funded Nation’s Report Card shows that 40 percent of eighth graders lack even a basic understanding of U.S. history, while only 14 percent are proficient or advanced in history. This score from 2022 showing so many students lack basic understanding is bad. It also indicates a continuation of a decline that started in 2018, the last time the score was previously reported. This report should frighten everyone who wants to restore limited, constitutional government and a true free-market economy. Students who graduate high school without basic...
Biden’s Ukraine Failure Rivals Iraq and Afghanistan
When the smoke finally clears, President Biden’s Ukraine debacle will go down—along with Afghanistan and Iraq—as one of the greatest foreign policy disasters in U.S. history. Hundreds of thousands have been killed on both sides in the service of the U.S. neocons’ long standing desire to “regime change” Russia. And let’s not forget that $100 billion authorized by Congress to finance the neocons’ “Project Ukraine.” With Russian control established in the strategic city of Bakhmut over the weekend, the neocon Ukraine project—like all neocon foreign policy projects before it—looks to be...
Only a Society That Values Life Can Protect Against Mass Shootings
Gun control advocates continue to claim that only restrictions on gun ownership will keep people safe from mass shooters and other criminals. However, good people with guns can stop bad people with guns. And bad people will still have guns despite gun control laws. Further weakening the argument that restricting private firearms ownership will reduce violent crimes is the fact that states with “constitutional carry”—where individuals are free to exercise their Second Amendment rights without seeking permission from the government—have lower homicide rates than states with more restrictive...
After Deadly World Tour, NATO Turns Its Sights Toward China
NATO’s post-Cold War history is that of an organization far past its “sell-by” date. Desperate for a mission after the end of the Warsaw Pact, NATO in the late 1990s decided that it would become the muscle behind the militarization of “human rights” under the Clinton Administration. Gone was the “threat of global communism” which was used to justify NATO’s 40-year run, so NATO re-imagined itself as a band of armed Atlanticist superheroes. Wherever there was an “injustice” (as defined by Washington’s neocons), NATO was ready with guns and bombs. The U.S. military-industrial complex could not...
Debt Ceiling Drama Ignores Our Real Fiscal Crisis
Last week the House passed legislation increasing the debt ceiling. The bill was supported by all but four Republicans. For some Republicans, this was the first time they had ever voted for a debt ceiling increase. Perhaps the reason they did so this time was because the legislation also promised to reduce federal spending by $4.5 trillion over the next decade. Most of those spending reductions are achieved by rolling back Fiscal Year spending to 2022 levels and then limiting increases in spending to one percent for the next ten years. The bill also returns unspent COVID relief money to the...
When the Petrodollar Dies, the Empire Dies
Future historians may say that the most significant event of 2023 had nothing to do with Donald Trump, other 2024 presidential candidates, or even the war in Ukraine. Instead, the event with the most long-term significance may be one that received little attention in the mainstream media—Saudi Arabia’s movement toward accepting currencies other than the US dollar for oil payments. After President Nixon severed the last link between the dollar and gold, his administration negotiated a deal with the Saudi government. The U.S. would support the Saudi regime, including by providing weapons. In...
The RESTRICT Act Restricts More Than TikTok…
Supporters of expanding the federal police state have found a new boogeyman to scare the people into surrendering their liberty: TikTok. TikTok is a social media platform that allows users to upload their own videos. It is used by tens of millions of Americans and is one of the most popular websites in the world. TikTok’s popularity and the fact that is owned by a Beijing-based company—ByteDance—has led to the spread of a claim that the site is controlled by the Chinese government. Thus the claim the Chinese government is using TikTok to collect data on US citizens. Senate Intelligence...
Here’s How We Protect U.S. Troops in Syria…
Last week saw a sharp increase in attacks on U.S. troops occupying northeastern Syria, with a drone strike against a U.S. base blamed on “pro-Iran” forces and a U.S. counter-strike said to have killed at least 19 people. After the U.S. retaliation, another strike by “pro-Iran” forces hit a number of U.S. sites in Syria. It may be just a matter of time before there are more strikes against the 900 U.S. troops based in Syria against Syria’s wishes. One U.S. contractor was killed last time. Next time it could be many more Americans. What’s behind the sudden escalation? Fundamental changes in...
Ron Paul
Shop Our Books
Voluntaryist Handbook
Hotter Than The Sun: Time To Abolish Nuclear Weapons
[playlist artists="false" images="false"...