The ACLU & Antiwar.com are suing the FBI in court to get the FBI’s confidential records on Antiwar.com’s Justin Raimondo & Eric Garris. One FBI agent wrote in a 2004 memo that the Bureau should do further monitoring of Antiwar.com “in the form of opening a ‘preliminary investigation …to determine if [redaction] are engaging in, […]
Before I Went to the Dark Side
Looking at this early 1960s photo, I am surprised how sweet & innocent I looked before I discovered how much I enjoyed giving hell to government agencies. photo from Public Policy Hooligan
Wall Street Journal Retorts to my IRS article
The Wall Street Journal published a letter today in response to my article, “A Brief History of IRS Political Targeting.” The story generated more than 260 comments online, including plenty of thoughtful observations. Reposted below are a few of the testier comments. Charitable Giving and IRS Abuses: The general outrage over the IRS auditing political […]
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Civil War Scoffer
The New York Times’ Disunion series has an excellent essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne by Cynthia Wachtell, author of “War No More: The Antiwar Impulse in American Literature, 1861-1914.” In 1863, Hawthorne wrote to an English friend: “The war-party here do not look upon me as a reliably loyal man, and, in fact, I have been […]
New Yorker Cartoonist Exposes IRS Secret
This great cartoon by Weyant from the new issue of the New Yorker explains the IRS far better than do most recent news stories.
MP3 of Scott Horton Show – IRS Interview
Now online – the MP3 of last Thursday’s Scott Horton Show interview on the Wall Street Journal IRS article. Here’s Scott’s summary of the show – “Jim Bovard, author of Public Policy Hooligan, discusses the IRS’s targeting of conservative nonprofit groups; a brief history of presidential administrations that used the IRS to combat political opponents; the […]
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. […]