UPDATE: Here are some perhaps improved versions of a few lines in the following essay (thanks to Twitter space limits): Government worship tautology: because government has almost boundless power, it is presumably the source of all rights. *A good definition of liberty must provide a barricade that 10,000 federal agents cannot breach. *Tax burdens are […]
Make Bill of Rights Day America’s Anti-Politician Day by James Bovard Today is the 223rd anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments to the Constitution. Bill of Rights Day should be the preeminent Anti-Politician Day on the American calendar. Instead, it has become simply another pretext for rulers […]
USA TODAY, December 12, 2014 Government by Cromnibus – blind, deaf and dumb: Column by James Bovard The Know-Nothing Party Rules Us All “You can lead a man to Congress but you can’t make him think,” quipped Milton Berle in 1950. Last night’s House of Representatives’ approval of the 1,603 page, $1 trillion Cromnibus bill […]
I have not finished reading the Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA torture. Following are some of my initial thoughts via Twitter @jimbovard – #TortureReport CIA interrogators often did not speak the language of detainees so they compensated by beating hell out of them — James Bovard (@JimBovard) December 11, 2014 #TortureReport With all the […]
It is good that Americans are finally learning some of the details of the CIA torture regime thanks to the Senate Intelligence Committee report. But were the most shocking details redacted? Will we ever know? Following is a piece I wrote 8 years ago after Congress enacted the Military Commissions Act which effectively retroactively legalized […]
The Rolling Stone story on the alleged University of Va. gang rape is invaluable for revealing the current standard of respectable thinking. The Washington Post posted an article by a female lawyer on Sunday with a headline proclaiming that “we should automatically believe rape claims.” I assume that the writer would not also say that accusations of malpractice […]
Rolling Stone magazine issued a statement today: “In the face of new information, there now appear to be discrepancies in Jackie’s account, and we have come to the conclusion that our trust in her was misplaced.” So we are supposed to think the magazine was a victim? What a crock. “New information” such as […]