Speaking this morning on Fox News, Judge Andrew Napolitano, an RPI Advisory Board member, explains the Unites States Supreme Court’s Fernandez v. California decision this week that gives police greater leeway to search homes without a warrant. Napolitano describes the decision as a “U-turn” away from privacy protection that bodes badly for future cases before the court, including cases concerning the National Security Agency and the US government’s mass spying program:

A month before violence ripped Ukraine apart, RPI contributor Christine Stone provided an in-depth analysis of Ukraine’s precarious position, accurately forecasting the disaster that was to come.

Appropriately titled “Ukraine: Europe’s Partner or Puppet?” Stone wrote in October, 2013:

As the second most populous former Soviet republic, Ukraine has seemed uncomfortable with its independence since 1991 and less than committed to making it work. The fundamental issue has always been, does the country remain entwined with its larger neighbour Russia, or does it succumb to the blandishments of the West and distance itself completely from a country with which it was co-joined for over 1000 years?
…
With its shaky economy and political turmoil in several EU and euro member states, is this what the European Union really needs? With Russia now showing a more robust approach to what it sees as its ‘national interest’ who knows whether what seems on the surface to be an economic spat could lead to something deadlier.

Here is Christine Stone today discussing the aftermath of the “people’s revolution” in Ukraine:

“What if the American people woke up and understood that the official reasons for going to war are almost always based on lies and promoted by war propaganda in order to serve special interests?”
– Rep. Ron Paul, US House, Feb. 13, 2009

Judge Andrew Napolitano, speaking on Fox News this morning, explains that it is both illegal and unconstitutional for President Barack Obama to use drones or other means to “targeted kill” United States citizens. Napolitano, an RPI Advisory Board member, elaborates that “only the Congress can enact a law” — not a president on his own — and that the US Constitution guarantees a jury trial to Americans, including Americans accused of treason, before the government can deprive them of life, liberty, and property.

A new Cold War? RPI Academic Advisor Mark Almond joins Peter Lavelle and guests to debate whether a new Cold War is brewing, pitting the West against Russia. The US media is hysterical in its attacks on Russia, says Peter Lavelle, even more strident than he remembers during the original Cold War. Prof. Almond points out that although the West’s ideological argument against Russia has disappeared — in some ways Russia is more capitalist than some of the European countries that join with the US to criticize it — the russophobia has become even stronger. All guests agree that there is a remote, but terrifying, possibility that the new Cold War may turn hot if the West continues to push the “Berlin Wall” toward Moscow. Watch this very important episode of Crosstalk:

As Ukraine spins out of control, US Secretary of State John Kerry speaks out of both sides of his mouth — telling the opposition that it has full US support, while warning that “outside powers” should not get involved in the political crisis. RPI Director Daniel McAdams is on RT today to discuss this US disconnect on Ukraine:

Ron Paul keynote speech at Mises Circle Houston last week. He speaks on war and peace and the police state. The original tea party was very soon co-opted by warmongers. Our role is to educate ourselves and to help educate others. Listen to this inspiring speech!

RPI Chairman Daniel McAdams is on RT Television today discussing the worsening situation in Ukraine. McAdams strongly criticizes the foreign intervention into the unrest and says foreign diplomats encouraging violent protest deserve some of the blame for the bloodshed:

RPI Academic advisor John Laughland gives us the real story behind those “democracy” protests in Ukraine:

As of last year, the mischief of the surveillance state finally made it onto the public radar. President Obama’s recent speech describing the new NSA “reforms” displayed very clearly that he and the government are not backing down. Government sees this merely as a PR issue. Their task is to propagandize as is necessary to restore “confidence.”

Public resistance may have taken in root in 2013, but the battle to bring this crucial issue into the foreground began a very long time ago.

Watch Dr. Paul take on the surveillance state way back in 1984:

Last year, debate “moderators” from Fox News had a hard time understanding the difference between legitimate spending on defending the U.S. versus the wasteful spending on the military empire. Dr. Paul explained it with passion and in true smackdown form, leaving the warmongers on stage, and in the audience, speechless.

Enjoy!

Despite Colorado implementing on January 1 the legal sale and purchase of marijuana for recreational use, marijuana growers, vendors, and purchasers in Colorado will continue looking over their shoulders concerned that US government police may bust them for violating federal marijuana prohibition. In June, 2011 Rep. Ron Paul joined Rep. Barney Frank as the lead Republican cosponsor of Frank’s Ending Federal Marijuana Prohibition Act (HR 2306). Paul took the introduction of the bill as an opportunity to discuss with Larry Kudlow on CNBC the need to end the US government’s marijuana prohibition and war on drugs: