Writing at Antiwar.com, Natylie Baldwin reports on letters sent in October by the US Treasury Department to American writers Daniel Lazare and Michael Averko, threatening fines of up to “$311,562 or twice the value of the underlying transaction.” The “underlying transaction” in question? Getting paid to write for a publication the US government disapproves of: … Continue reading Censorship as an Investment: Turn Two Cents Into $311,562!
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.
Elections: Is There Light at the End of the “Big Lie” Tunnel?
The next step after losing trust in the integrity of the election system and the honesty of the outcomes that system announces is losing trust in the idea of elections as a way to settle our differences. That could be a very good thing, as long as we don’t replace elections with monarchs or other rulers for life.
Criminal Justice Reform Needs to Catch Up With the Meaning of “Public”
“Join me,” US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) tweeted on November 29, “in demanding the #GhislaineMaxwellTrial be public.” In reply, attorney (and former Libertarian National Committee chair) Nicholas Sarwark tweeted “Is the Congresswoman unaware that all Federal criminal trials are public, as required by our Constitution?” Mr. Sarwark is correct, but Congresswoman Greene has a point.
OMG, Omicron: Next Step Down the Path From Pandemic to Endemic?
Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — and the mainstream media’s favorite administration flack/hack/quack — gleefully announced an intention to do “anything and everything” in the name of combating Omicron, but seemed crestfallen that it’s still “too early to say” whether new lockdowns or mandates are in the offing.
For Christmas, How About an End to the War on Marijuana?
You’ve seen the headlines. So Have I. For example, a November 23 story in my local paper (the Gainesville, Florida Sun) : “Gainesville man charged with murder for Sunday shooting in dispute over marijuana deal.” It wasn’t a huge marijuana deal. It was a $180 sale. The seller apparently shot a buyer who tried to drive off without paying.
Rittenhouse Verdict: Justice, But Not Joy
On November 19, a Wisconsin jury acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on various charges related to the shootings of three people (two fatally) during an August night of “unrest” (that is, a protest turned riot) in Kenosha.
How Markets are Like the Internet and Dinosaurs
“Slowly but surely,” Neal Freyman reports at Morning Brew, “the supply chain bottlenecks that have plagued the global economy for over a year appear to be easing — or at least have been circumvented.”
US Policy on Taiwan is a False and Dangerous Two-Step
Sooner or later, the US will return to the “hands off foreign disputes” approach that characterized its first century. Better that it do so sooner and voluntarily than later under the compulsion of military, economic, and political collapse.
Cryptocurrency: Dave Troy is Partly Right, But on the Wrong Side
In a series of tweets on November 9, “serial technology entrepreneur” Dave Troy outlines his view of cryptocurrency as “an ideologically-driven attack on the legitimacy of fiat currency, the @federalreserve, and the incumbent financial system,” and “the sequel to the January 6th” Capitol riot.
“Executive Privilege” Should Be Ended, Not Extended
If Trump’s name goes down in history for anything of substance rather than mere flash, it should probably be for his bizarre claim that people who aren’t executives anymore retain “executive privilege” over information pertaining to their time in office.