Tag Archives | Torture

President_George_W._Bush_alongside_Dick_Cheney_and_Dennis_Hastert_presents_his_fourth_State_of_the_Union_address_at_the_U.S._Capitol,_February_2,_2005

George W. Bush’s Bogus Bloody Afghan Halo

American Conservative, May 25, 2021 Afghanistan: George W. Bush’s First Disastrous War It was a misguided effort from the start, built on lies and false idealism, and it has left a bloody legacy. |by James Bovard Former President George W. Bush is bewailing President Joe Biden’s plan to withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. Bush […]

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Lies are political weapons of mass destruction, obliterating all limits on government power.(1)

“Trump-Washing” History to Make Washington Trustworthy Again

Mises Institute, May 12, 2021 The Media Wants You to Trust Washington Again Now That Trump Is Gone by James Bovard Former CNN White House correspondent Michelle Kosinski declared on Twitter last week that American journalists would “never expect … Your own govt to lie to you, repeatedly” and “Your own govt to hide information the […]

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Congress Is Still Unfit to Govern

Congress Is Still Unfit to Govern by James Bovard “In politics, stupidity is not a handicap,” Napoleon is reputed to have said more than two centuries ago. Boundless ignorance is also not a handicap, as Congress demonstrated last December by approving a 5593-page bill without reading it. Plenty of activists and editorial pages howled over […]

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Federal Secrecy Protects the Crimes of Every President

Future of Freedom Foundation, January 25, 2021 Federal Censorship Protects Leviathan’s Crimes by James Bovard Ever since the 9/11 attacks, Republicans and Democrats have conspired to keep Americans increasingly ignorant of what the federal government does. The number of secret federal documents skyrocketed, and any information that was classified supposedly cannot be exposed without dooming […]

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Gerald Ford and the Perversion of Presidential Pardons

American Conservative, December 29, 2020 Gerald Ford and the Perversion of Presidential Pardons by James Bovard In pardoning Nixon, the 38th president opened the floodgates to boundless executive power. In his final weeks in office, President Donald Trump is outraging the media and many critics with deluges of dubious pardons. Last Tuesday was “No Corrupt […]

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Biden’s “Will of the People” Malarkey

American Conservative, December 18, 2020 Biden’s ‘Will of the People’ Malarkey Generations of presidents have cited “the will of the people” to legitimize power grabs. The Founding Fathers wouldn’t approve. by James Bovard In his cough-ridden victory speech Monday night, President-elect Joe Biden proclaimed again that “the will of the people prevailed” in the 2020 […]

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Extremism as a Ticket to Tyrannize

“Extremism” as a Ticket to Tyrannize by James Bovard “Extremists” are one of the famous bogeymen that American politicians invoke to sanctify their own power. But the definition of “extremism” has forever been in flux. The only consistent element in definitions of extremism is that politicians always win. In the 1770s, people who suggested that […]

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