Through the summer the world has watched as protests shook Hong Kong. As early as April they began as peaceful demonstrations which peaked in early June, with hundreds of thousands, in protest of an extradition bill. That bill would have allowed Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China, to return criminals to Taiwan, mainland China or Macau for crimes committed there – after approval by multiple layers of the Hong Kong judiciary. In the wake of those enormous nonviolent...

Former Federal Reserve official Bill Dudley’s recent op-ed calling for the Federal Reserve to implement policies that will damage President Trump’s reelection campaign states that such action would be unprecedented. Dudley claims the Federal Reserve bases its policies solely on an objective evaluation of economic conditions. This is an example of a so-called noble lie — a fiction told by elites to the masses supposedly for the people’s own good, but really designed to maintain popular support...

Both heads of the two-headed establishment political hydra want to resurrect COINTELPRO, the FBI’s illegal subversion program, in response to speech they oppose and want outlawed. In August, The Verge (owned by liberal Vox Media and founded by former CIA asset Markos Moulitsas) and the National Review, the failing neocon journal edited by Rich Lowry, posted articles on how to best undermine the First Amendment right of millions of Americans. The Verge cites a recent paper by N. F. Johnson and...

Several US citizens have been questioned by the FBI and threatened with arrest for their participation in New Horizon, a public media conference held each year in Iran. The interrogations and threats are the result of orders apparently delivered by Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Sigal P. Mandelker, a militantly pro-Israel lawyer with longstanding ties to right-wing political networks. Mandelker was reportedly involved in brokering the infamous Florida deal that...

Recently, the news and opinion site HuffPost removed an article that had been up for more than six years. The piece, titled “Government Concedes Vaccine-Autism Case in Federal Court – Now What?” was published in January of 2013, and dealt with a case in which the US government’s Court of Federal Claims conceded that routine vaccination had aggravated a child’s underlying condition and led to that child developing “features of autism spectrum disorder.” Now, the following statement appears in...

Much has been written about Maria Butina, the Russian “spy” who was accused of seeking to infiltrate the National Rifle Association and other organizations to try to gain a foothold in the Trump campaign and, later, in the White House. Much of it turned out to be nonsense. Butina wasn’t a spy. She wasn’t charged with spying. She wasn’t accused of being a spy. But that’s how the media branded her. The important thing is that there actually were spies around her. And they weren’t who you might...

In the almost 12 hours of Democratic Party presidential primary debates on June 26-27 and July 30-31, the words “Pentagon budget” or “defense spending” were not uttered, except for a fleeting, unanswered comment from Senator Bernie Sanders. Nor did any of the cable news moderators ask a single question about the more than $1.25 trillion dollars spent in 2019 for national security. This is sad but unsurprising. Despite the parade of scandals and the billions of dollars wasted on poorly...

The US Constitution never granted the federal government authority to create a central bank. The Founders, having lived through hyperinflation themselves, understood that government should never have a printing press at its disposal. But from the very beginning of America’s founding, the desire for a crony central bank was strong. In fact, two attempts were made at creating a permanent central bank in America prior to the creation of the Fed. Fortunately, the charter for The First Bank was...

Lawrence O’Donnell’s walkback of a supposed “bombshell” story involving a claim that Donald Trump received loans co-signed by Russian billionaires is the latest sign that journalism has become accountability-free. Indicating that MSNBC deliberately chose to prioritize hype over facts, O’Donnell admitted on air that the claim needed “a lot more verification before [it] can be a confirmable fact” — but he reported it anyway. Typically, when a journalist does not have enough information to verify...

Two weeks ago we wrote that war on Yemen will soon end. The Saudis lost their ally, they lost the war and would have to sue for peace. They are now doing so. But their fighting in Yemen will continue until that country finds a new balance. Today the United Arab Emirates airforce bombed the Yemeni proxy forces of its 'ally' Saudi Arabia: Yemen's internationally recognized government accused the Emirati air force of attacking its troops Thursday as they were heading to the key southern port city...

Alfred de Zayas, former UN Rapporteur, has described the actions of the British authorities in pursuit of Assange as “… contrary to the rule of law and contrary to the spirit of the law.” What we see on the surface is an illusion of British justice, masking a political agenda behind it. Britain’s notorious Belmarsh Prison is now being presented as beacon of good governance, indicative of a fair and just society which equitable but firm with perpetrators. After carefully reviewing the case of...

There is no doubt that Jim Comey was part of a conspiracy to destroy Donald Trump and his Presidency. But all the evidence is not yet on the record. There is some understandable frustration reverberating around the web that Comey is not being indicted in the wake of the latest Inspector General report detailing Jim Comey's inappropriate and unethical handling of Government material. But that is not the role of the Inspector General. It is up to DOJ to prosecute and a careful reading of the...

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, our government-funded media outlet, has published an article titled “Australian expat living in Hong Kong throws off business suit to join protest movement“. The entire story is in the headline: some random guy, who ABC keeps anonymous but for the name “Daniel”, has joined the protests in Hong Kong. That’s it. That’s the whole entire bombshell newsworthy news story.“In Australia we have proper democracy but in Hong Kong, democracy is being slowly eroded...

We have been discussing the rising attacks on free speech across the country, including students and faculty who support the silencing of speakers who hold opposing views. What is most concerning is that these attacks are working. The latest example can be found in New Jersey where the Broadway Theater in Pitman cancelled an event because anti-free speech organizations and individuals threatened protests and some even threatened to burn down the theater. Among the speakers was journalist Andy...

I am revisiting a story I did nine months ago about Felix Sater and the Steele Dossier (you can read it here). Let me cut to the chase--Felix Sater was an FBI informant since 1998. He was originally signed on as a "cooperator" in December 1998 by Robert Mueller's number two guy, Andrew Weissman. Robert Mueller and his team used Felix Sater as a "lure" or "bait" to tempt Trump and his team, Michael Cohen in particular, to work with Russia. Trump did not bite. Robert Mueller did not disclose...

This talk was delivered at the Ron Paul Institute’s Conference on Breaking Washington’s Addiction to War.Murray Rothbard was the creator of the modern libertarian movement and a close friend of both Ron Paul and me. His legacy was a great one, and at the Mises Institute I try every day to live up to his hopes for us. One issue was the most important to him, of all the many issues that concerned him. This was the issue of war and peace. Because of his support for a peaceful, noninterventionist...