Archive | May, 2013

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Counterpunch: My Supreme Court Fashion Felony

Counterpunch, May 20, 2013 Booted for Laughing at Drug War My Supreme Court Fashion Felony by JAMES BOVARD In March 1995, I visited the sacred burial ground of Americans’ rights and liberties – the Supreme Court. Working on an article for Playboy, I went to watch lawyers argue a case of great principle and tawdry details. […]

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Richard Ebeling Amidst Soviet Crackdown

This is a photo of Ludwig von Mises’ historian Richard Ebeling  “near the TV Tower in Vilnius, Lithuania, January 13-14, 1991, (Soviet tank and crew member in background) after the Soviet military seized government buildings and communication centers in an attempt to crush the Lithuanian freedom movement. Thirteen people killed that night resisting Soviet power,” […]

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From Hooligan: How I Got Kicked Out of the Supreme Court

The @HLMenckenbot had a great Mencken quote on Twitter this morning: “The penalty for laughing in a courtroom is six months in jail; if it were not for this penalty, the jury would never hear the evidence.” It never occurred me that laughing in court could be a crime punishable by jail time.  But maybe […]

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MP3 of IRS Interview on Janine Turner Radio Show

I had a lively chat yesterday with conservative firebrand and former Hollywood star Janine Turner on her Houston KPRC (and XM/Sirius) radio show.  She wanted to hash out the Wall Street Journal piece on the  IRS, and we had fun jibing at Congress.  Well, at least I did.  I got the hunch that Janine’s confidence in […]

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Perfect Artwork for IRS Tea Party Scandal

  The IRS enjoyed using the tax exemption applications from the Tea Party for bureaucratic target shooting. But now the agency is finding itself in the wrong end of the political shooting gallery. [the great illustration is from today’s New York Times]

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Will Congressional Republicans Ever Be Worth A Damn For Freedom?

The American Conservative posted online today my review of Jim Antle’s zippety new book, Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?.  Antle recognizes the peril of Leviathan and is fairly optimistic on what Republicans can become and achieve.  Here are a few of my lines from the review – which is posted in its […]

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My Wall St Jrn op-ed: IRS Political Targeting Since FDR

Wall Street Journal, May 15, 2013 A Brief History of IRS Political Targeting One survey found that 75% of IRS respondents felt entitled to deceive or lie to Congress. By JAMES BOVARD Many Republicans are enraged over revelations in recent days that the Internal Revenue Service targeted conservative nonprofit groups with a campaign of audits […]

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