Archive | February, 2019

TSA’s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don’t Kowtow

Future of Freedom Foundation The TSA’s Secret Watchlist for Travelers Who Don’t Kowtow by James Bovard “I need a witness!” exclaimed the worried Transportation Security Administration screener at Reagan Washington National Airport a few months ago. Because I had forgotten to remove my belt before going through a TSA scanner, he explained that I must […]

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R.I.P., Rep. Walter Jones, a Fearless Fighter for Peace

RIP to Rep. Walter Jones, one of the most courageous and outspoken critics of reckless American foreign policy. He proved that even a congressman is corrigible: he went from a zealot supporter of the Iraq War (and the source of the anti-French “Freedom Fries” moniker) to one of the most savvy critics of the war […]

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Photos of Aunt Mary Bovard Campbell, R.I.P.

Following up on the tribute to my Aunt Mary after her death early last month (reposted below), here are some other photos of her, especially from her early years in Pennsylvania. Mary cornered the market on cuteness in the 1930s.  I used a special scanning setting and then Photoshopped the 1930s and 1940s photos.  (Here’s […]

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Trump’s Biggest BS? No “Government Coercion” in America

Mises Institute, February 7, 2019 Trump’s Absurd Claim that Americans Are Free from Government Coercion by  James Bovard In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Trump received rapturous applause from Republicans for his declaration: “America was founded on liberty and independence — not government coercion, domination, and control. We are born free, […]

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Bashing the War on Terrorism in 2003 Speech

Here’s are outtakes  of my speech and rebuttals from an Independent Institute panel on Civil Liberties and the War on Terrorism, held in November 2003 in Oakland, California.  I was in California as part of a national book tour to promote Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Peace, and Justice to Rid the World of Evil […]

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35 Years Ago: My First Wall Street Journal Bash on Business Subsidies

My first Wall Street Journal oped was published 35 years ago today.  It was a slash-and-burn attack on the Reagan administration’s hypocrisy for giving more handouts to business than they ever previously received.  Tim Ferguson was the WSJ editor who accepted the piece; he was one of the most courageous and principled editors I ever […]

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