Today is the 350th anniversary of the greatest English satirist, Jonathan Swift.  Folks who only know Gulliver’s Travel have missed a goldmine of glorious prose and devastating wit. If you haven’t read “A Modest Proposal” since school days, trust me – it is even better when not read under duress. His “Argument Against Abolishing Christianity” is […]
Tag Archives | Congress
Political Accounting Makes Paternalism a Mirage
The following essay is excerpted from Freedom in Chains (1999) and was also published in The Freeman in September 1999. I tweaked a few sentences but have otherwise not corrected glaring flaws. * Many federal agents have zero curiosity about the impact of their actions on private citizens. Collateral damage voids no pensions. Political Accounting […]
Congress Bash Backlash: “Traitor,” “Russian Agent,” “Fatuous Twit”
OK, so not everybody liked my op-ed “Facebook farce shows lawmaker deviousness, demagoguery” in The Hill yesterday. I had fun on Twitter with the feedback. Full-size versions of the Quote jpegs are at the bottom of this page for anyone who wants to kindly copy & repost – So now I'm guilty of treason: @thehill commentor: "Traitor […]
The Hill: Facebook Farce Shows Congressional Deviousness & Demagoguery
The Hill, November 4, 2017 Facebook farce shows lawmaker deviousness, demagoguery by James Bovard  The 2016 election was the first time in history that goofy advertisements were considered an act of war. The frenzy on Capitol Hill over a smattering of Russian advertisements would be comical except that most of the American media has […]
Wall Street Journal: Torpedo Jones Act Shipping Protectionism Idiocy (1991)
As Puerto Rico struggles to recover from the devastating hurricane, its task will be far more difficult thanks to an archaic shipping protectionism law, the Jones Act. Here is a 1991 bash I wrote on that law for Wall Street Journal (excerpted from my book, The Fair Trade Fraud). Wall Street Journal, November 26, 1991 […]
FFF: Janet Reno – Tyrant or Saint?
Janet Reno: Saint or Tyrant? by James Bovard September 13, 2017 When former Attorney General Janet Reno died last November, the media heaped praise on her as if she had been justice incarnate. Reno had long enjoyed sainthood inside the Beltway; the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia even created a Janet Reno […]
USA TODAY: Hurricane Harvey Proves Federal Flood Subsidies Must End
USA TODAY Dear Texas, how many times do we have to rebuild the same house? (You’re next Florida) James Bovard, Opinion columnist Sept. 1, 2017 The ‘flood-build-repeat’ model, so popular among re-election-seeking members of Congress, must come to an end. Hurricane Harvey, which battered Texas over the past week, offers the clearest lesson why Congress […]
R R Schoettker
The plain fact and simple reality of ‘rulershipâ
Tj
So what did you do to your neighbor's cat????
Jim
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