This week’s Barron’s contains a response to my article on the feds’ anti-cigar crackdown from Dr. Ioan P. Cleaton-Jones. His letter is headlined: “A Healthy Choice”: James Bovard’s Feb. 9 Other Voices essay, “Nanny Doesn’t Like Cigars,” asserts that the rights of 13 million cigar smokers to choose to consume a harmful product would be violated by […]
Tag Archives | Freedom
BARRON’S: Nanny Doesn’t Like Cigars
Barron’s, February 9, 2015 Nanny Doesn’t Like Cigars by James Bovard More than 50 years after President John F. Kennedy secretly purchased 1,200 Cuban cigars prior to imposing a trade embargo on Fidel Castro’s regime, President Barack Obama said on Dec. 17 that he is reopening diplomatic relations with Cuba and hopes Congress will end […]
Anarchy, Regicide, & Beer: Another Brian Wilson Podcast
Brian Wilson and I had a rowdy chat on his Libertas Media Podcast this afternoon. After his great opening bit, I didn’t have the heart to tell Brian that Raging Bitch is no longer my favorite beer. After a discussion of Freedom in Chains and a foray into the Shenandoah Valley for “redneck ethnic cleansing,” […]
Counterpunch: Americans’ Fatal Freedom Apathy
COUNTERPUNCH, January 28, 2015 Surrendering Liberty America’s Fatal Freedom Apathy by JAMES BOVARD According to our civic folklore, Americans are more devoted to freedom than any other nationality on earth. But it is increasingly appears that this dogma is a relic of bygone times. A Gallup poll last July asked a thousand Americans: “Are you […]
Wash. Times: No Halo for Holder on Forfeiture Reform
Washington Times, January 20, 2015 No halo for Holder on forfeiture fix The top lawman who condemns seizures previously championed them By James Bovard Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. announced on Friday that the Justice Department would cease sharing confiscated private property with state and local police agencies under its Equitable Sharing program. Asset […]
Counterpunch: Obama’s Sordid Record on Censorship and Secrecy
Counterpunch, January 14, 2015 Blindfolding the Republic Obama’s Sordid Record on Censorship and Secrecy by JAMES BOVARD Republicans are condemning President Obama’s failure to attend the Charlie Hebdo march in Paris as if his omission was the equivalent of a hate crime. Rep. Randy Weber (R-Tx) took the cake with a bizarre tweet complaining that […]
Freeman: Government as Slaveowner (2000)
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 […]