Notice that ISIS Isn’t Beheading Swiss Citizens by Jacob G. Hornberger October 7, 2014 When President Obama and his army began their bombing campaign against Islamic State forces in Iraq and Syria, they cited as their justification the Islamic State’s (aka ISIS) beheading of a private American citizen. The beheading, U.S. officials, said demonstrated what a dangerous threat the Islamic State was to the United States. But there was one big problem with that reasoning: Those who did the beheading cited Obama’s bombing campaign against ISIS as the justification for beheading the American citizen. Since the bombing campaign succeeded in killing Islamic State friends and comrades, the Islamic State claimed that it was justified in retaliating by beheading an American citizen. So, is this a chicken and egg quandary? Which came first: the bombing or the beheading? Does it make any difference? Ever since 9/11, this has been the major issue facing the American people with respect to U.S. foreign policy: Did terrorism come to the United States because of the ferocity of radical Muslims who ...
American Sniper: A Model American by Gerald Celente February 5, 2015 The votes are in and the decision is overwhelmingly clear. Chris Kyle—the Navy SEAL portrayed in the blockbuster movie purported killer of some 200 Iraqis during four tours of duty—is the people’s choice. From record ticket sales to major media accolades, from the halls of Congress to the White House, the nation has spoken: “American Sniper” is all-American. Chris Kyle—the most lethal killer in U.S. military history, a true hero, a brave warrior—has been anointed as a role model for all that America has come to stand for. “American Sniper has the look of a bona fide cultural phenomenon!” said Brandon Griggs of CNN. And as Michelle Obama contends, “… for all those folks in America who don’t have these kinds of opportunities films and TV are often the best way to share those stories.” Speaking at a film industry event, Ms. Obama said the movie stressed, “The complicated moral decisions they are tasked ...
Vietnam Was No Business of the U.S. Government by Jacob G. Hornberger April 30, 2015 This week marks the 40th anniversary of the communist defeat of the U.S. national-security state in Vietnam. Despite the deaths of some 58,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese, the country was united under the rule of the communist regime in North Vietnam. With the possible exception of World War I, it would be difficult to find a better example of a total waste of American life. If the U.S. national-security state had won the Vietnam War, we all know what they would be teaching children today in America’s public (i.e., government) schools. They would be saying, “If the United States had not intervened in Vietnam, we would all be speaking Vietnamese today.” After all, isn’t that what they say about FDR’s decision to involve America in World War II—“If the United States hadn’t intervened in World War II, we would all be speaking German today”? And that’s precisely what the Pentagon and the CIA were saying back in the 1960s ...
The Way Back from 9/11 by Jacob G. Hornberger September 11, 2015 Given that today is the 14th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, it serves as a good day to place that event in the context of how we began as a nation, where we are today, and what we need to do to put things back on the right track. The 9/11 attacks were not the first post-Cold War terrorist attacks ...
The Futility and Corruption of the Drug War by Jacob G. Hornberger February 23, 2017 I just finished watching the much-acclaimed series “Narcos” on Netflix. What a fantastic program. And what an excellent depiction of the futility and corruption of the war on drugs. The series is a true-life account of Pablo Escobar, a Colombian drug lord who headed up the Medellin drug cartel, a black-market drug group that smuggled hundreds of tons of cocaine ...
Hitler and the NEA by Jacob G. Hornberger April 13, 2017 A recent op-ed in the New York Times provides a perfect demonstration of why this country is in a world of hurt, fiscally speaking, and why the situation is almost certain to get worse, at the least in the short term. The op-ed is entitled “Why Authoritarians Attack the Arts” and was written by a person who is obviously ...
Why Not Dismantle the New Deal? by Jacob G. Hornberger February 2, 2018 Every so often, progressives and the mainstream press exclaim with horror that Republicans are intent on dismantling the New Deal, the socialist-interventionist economic system that the Franklin Roosevelt administration brought into existence in the 1930s and that has been with us ever since. The concerns are groundless. Republicans and conservatives are as wedded to FDR’s New Deal, especially Social Security ...
A Complete and Utter Failure by Laurence M. Vance March 1, 2018 President Trump has now completed his first year in office. The Republican majorities in the U.S. House and Senate have now had a year to work with a Republican president. What is so significant about that is that it is only the fourth time since the end of World War II and the end of absolute Democratic control of ...
Statist Obtuseness at the Atlantic by Jacob G. Hornberger March 12, 2019 The Atlantic has just published an article by Rene Chun, a contributing editor at Wired magazine, that perfectly demonstrates political obtuseness. Entitled “Why Americans Don’t Cheat on Their Taxes,” the point of the article is to explain why Americans have a high compliance rate with respect to the payment of income taxes. Chun’s explanation? Patriotism and loyalty. That’s what ...
Afghanistan Exit: Swift, Responsible Disengagement, Part 1 by Danny Sjursen April 1, 2019 Part 1 | Part 2 The United States has been at war in Afghanistan for more than seventeen years. Despite many years of effort and billions spent, the U.S. military is still suffering casualties in that remote land. In 2017, fourteen American soldiers died in Afghanistan — some, in fact, shot from behind by their supposed local allies. Already, ...
Hating America After 9/11 by Jacob G. Hornberger July 18, 2019 Listening to President Trump accuse Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of supporting al-Qaeda reminds me of how conservatives behaved toward libertarians who dared talk about motive immediately after the 9/11 attacks. At the time of those attacks, some of us libertarians understood that this was a watershed event in U.S. history, one that would inevitably adversely affect ...
It Was About “Regime Change” from the Get-Go by Jacob G. Hornberger May 7, 2004 Spain has now completed the withdrawal of Spanish troops from Iraq. Other countries that are following suit include the Dominican Republic and Honduras; El Salvador and Poland are contemplating doing the same. Unlike the United States, which is determined to continue its indefinite occupation of Iraq, it is ...
