Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr.'s Blog, page 2325

Liberty Will Prevail in 2018

Happy New Year! We always approach a new year with anticipation, hope, and also some worries. Last year was one of the strangest political years I have seen in some time. A new Republican president spent his first year pursuing more or less the same foreign policy as his Democratic predecessor and the Democratic Party spent the year looking under every rock in the US for a “Russian connection” or any other reason to see him impeached over it.

The neocon-dominated foreign policy establishment...

Dangers of Government Control

We are a nation of 325 million people. We have a bit of control over the behavior of our 535 elected representatives in Congress, the president and the vice president. But there are seven unelected people who have life-and-death control over our economy and hence our lives — the seven governors of the Federal Reserve Board. The Federal Reserve Board controls our money supply. Its governors are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate and serve 14-year staggered terms. They have...

Neocon War Criminal Tells CNN Viewers

Neocon architect David Frum, a man who spearheaded the Iraq WMD war, a man who has never gotten anything right on geo-politics, but has used mainstream media to push his war hawk agenda, (much to the detriment of America and the world), is now on CNN telling viewers to trust mainstream media because they make so many mistakes and lie so much.

Makes total sense!

The Gateway Pundit reports…

Liberal Media: Trust us because we suck and lie.

David Frum, the Atlantic Senior Editor, went on CNN this...

Why Are Power Windows and Seats Allowed?

It’s surprising the government hasn’t made power seats – and windows – illegal. Well, at least not yet. After all, they are arguably at least as “unsafe” as not wearing a seatbelt.

Maybe it will occur to someone. Give it time.

The argument for requiring the use of seat belts is that you might be thrown about or even ejected from the vehicle in the event of a crash. But you might also drive off the road, into a pond. It’s certainly possible. And if your car has power windows, you will be trapp...

Unsealed Court Docs Show

Unsealed court documents detail how the team of prosecutors tasked with convicting Cliven Bundy and his sons of crimes relating to a 2014 armed standoff failed to turn over potential exculpatory evidence to the court, The Oregonian reports.

The Bundys’ case ended in a mistrial Dec. 20 after Judge Gloria Navarro ruled that prosecutors violated the civil rights of the defendants by withholding evidence supporting the Bundys’ case. Navarro is considering dismissing the case “with prejudice” and...

The Death of US Global Power

Like a good wine, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s famous speech delivered in Munich 10 years ago regarding global security has been rewarded with time. A decade on, the many facets contained in that address have only become all the more enhanced and tangible.

Speaking to a senior international audience at the annual Munich Security Conference, on February 10, 2007, the Russian leader opened by saying he was going to speak about world relations forthrightly and not in “empty diplomatic term...

7 Huge News Stories

2017 was a chaotic year filled with violent protest, threats of nuclear war, ongoing Cold War-style accusations of collusion with ‘the Russians,’ and widespread allegations of sexual harassment. Establishment media outlets like Washington Post and CNN took it upon themselves to protect American democracy from the Trump administration, but in typical fashion, many of the most vital stories of the year — the ones that reveal the true nature of corruption and power in the U.S. — received little...

The Welfare-Expanding Tax Reform Bill

Although there are some good things in the Republicans’ tax-reform bill that President trump signed into law before Christmas (H.R.1, PL 115-97), the continuance and expansion of welfare is certainly not one of them. The tax bill cuts taxes, yes; but it also increases welfare spending.

But first of all, how is it that a tax bill can contain provisions for welfare? In three words: refundable tax credits.

A regular tax credit is a dollar-for-dollar reduction of the amount of income tax owed. Li...

The Next Empire

Throughout history, political, financial, and military leaders have sought to create empires. Westerners often think of ancient Rome as the first empire. Later, other empires formed for a time. Spain became an empire, courtesy of its Armada, its conquest of the New World, and the gold and silver extracted from the West. Great Britain owned the 19th century but lost its empire due largely to costly wars. The US took over in the 20th century and, like Rome, rose as a republic, with minimal cent...

Rise of the Phoenix

The Great Heresies, by Hilaire Belloc

It has always seemed to me possible, and even probable, that there would be a resurrection of Islam and that our sons or our grandsons would see the renewal of that tremendous struggle between the Christian culture and what has been for more than a thousand years its greatest opponent.

So writes Belloc, as published in 1938.  Before considering the heresy and the history both before and since he wrote these words, perhaps it is worth considering the sit...