On his first partial day as president, Joe Biden issued 17 “executive orders, memorandums and proclamations” — two more than America’s first five presidents issued over their 36 years in office.
Author: Thomas L. Knapp
Tom has worked in journalism — sometimes as an amateur, sometimes professionally — for more than 35 years and has been a full-time libertarian writer, editor, and publisher since 2000. He’s the former managing editor of the Henry Hazlitt Foundation, the publisher of Rational Review News Digest (2003-present), former media coordinator and senior news analyst at the Center for a Stateless Society (2009-2015) and also works at Antiwar.com. He lives in north central Florida.
The Trump/Biden Handoff: Back to Business as Usual, as Usual
Few will find it surprising that the incoming Biden administration looks, in both form and function, a lot like the Obama administration of 2009-2017. After all, Joe Biden served as Barack Obama’s vice-president for those eight years. His staff and cabinet appointments comprise a veritable Who’s Who of Obama holdovers and members of Biden’s own political circle, built over decades in the Senate and White House.
The No Fly List: More Dangerous than the Capitol Rioters
As I write this, the Capitol Hill riot of January 6 is enjoying its extended 15 minutes of fame, complete with straight-faced comparisons to December 7, 1941 and September 11, 2001.
The Political Class: At War with Each Other and on the Rest of Us
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible,” President John F. Kennedy said in a 1962 speech, “will make violent revolution inevitable.” Nearly 60 years later, two warring groups within the American political class seem resolutely determined to make “peaceful revolution” — by which JFK seems to have meant orderly democratic decision-making — impossible.
Political Violence: The Politicians Doth Protest Too Much
Our rulers aren’t really opposed to political violence on grounds of justifiability, though. They’re only opposed to political violence when it’s used against them rather than by or for them. They’re the lords. We’re the peasants. While they won’t say that openly and proudly, they don’t want us to forget it even for a moment.
The Beer Belly Putsch: A Sign of Things to Come
Things are falling apart. The centre is not holding. So, what comes next? I don’t know. But the Beer Belly Putsch is evidence that whatever’s next, it’s at the door and knocking.
Yes, Dr. Fauci, You DO Need to Have Some Humility Here
“When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and public face of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, told the New York Times in December. “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.”
Yes, Americans are Fat; The US Military is Fatter
Mission: Readiness, a group of retired military officers, wants the US Department of Defense to create an “advisory committee on military recruitment,” with a view toward getting the next generation in shape so that they’re qualified, as the old saying goes, to “travel to exotic, distant lands; meet exciting, unusual people; and kill them.” I’ve got a better idea: Instead of trying to trim fat off America’s adolescents, trim fat off the US Armed Forces.
Instead of Prosecuting Trump, Give Him the OJ Treatment
The Goldmans won their case on a “preponderance of evidence” standard rather than “proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” In Trump’s case, there is no reasonable doubt: He’s on the hook for billions.
Rand Paul: Privacy for Me, But Not for Thee
Article I of the US Constitution requires Senator Paul to be an “inhabitant” of Kentucky as of each election in which he seeks to retain his seat. If Kentucky’s voters aren’t allowed to know where he lives, how can they know whether he’s eligible to continue serving as their Senator?