American Conservative, April 11, 2024 Is Censorship the Biden Era’s Torture Issue? by James Bovard The word games around “content moderation” recall the days of “enhanced interrogation.” During last month’s Supreme Court hearing on a landmark case on federal censorship, Associate Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson declared, “My biggest concern is…the First Amendment hamstringing the government […]
Macaulay and the Ghosts of Tyranny Past, Part 2 by James Bovard Reposing with a favorite author in the Virginia Tech library in 1976, I savored one zinger after another in Thomas Macaulay’s History of England. Macaulay hailed the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679 as “the most stringent curb that ever legislation imposed on tyranny,” […]
Counterpunch, September 1, 2023 Harvard Law Dude DeSantis Goes to Gitmo and Fallujah by James Bovard In the first Republican candidate presidential debate last week, Florida governor Ron DeSantis touted his time in Iraq. “I learned in the military, I was assigned with U.S. Navy SEALs in Iraq, that you focus on the mission above […]
Fallujah Is Not a Presidential Victory Lap by James Bovard, August 30, 2023 In the first 2024 Republican presidential debate last week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis touted his time in Iraq. “I learned in the military, I was assigned with U.S. Navy SEALs in Iraq, that you focus on the mission above all else, you […]
Presidents Are Legally Immune for Their Most Dangerous Crimes by James Bovard April 7, 2023 Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg has charged former president Donald Trump with thirty-four felonies tied to his payments to two women prior to the 2016 election. Some pundits are outraged that a former president is facing charges, and others are […]
American Conservative, March 21, 2023 Will the Circle Be Unbroken? by James Bovard Twenty years after the Iraq invasion: The war may be over, but the War Party carries on. Last year, former President George W. Bush vehemently condemned the “decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq.” Bush […]
Landmarks on the Road to Covid Tyranny By James Bovard February 21, 2023 History, Law Many Americans were appalled at the oppressive decrees issued by politicians and government officials during the Covid pandemic. But there were plenty of post-9/11 precedents that paved the way for recent abuses. Authoritarian Covid policies were shocking but […]
