Expect Some State Governments to Resist a Countrywide Lockdown

By Adam Dick - November 13, 2020 at 04:27PM

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden seems to want to impose a countrywide lockdown in the name of countering coronavirus. While some state governors who have been imposing their own coronavirus crackdowns for over half a year can be expected to cheer such a move by the United States government, other governors, along with many state legislators, can be expected to resist such a US government mass infringement on the liberty of people in their states.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, who has resisted since early on the temptation to impose many tyrannical mandates in the name of countering coronavirus comes to mind as a resister to a countrywide lockdown imposed from Washington, DC. Another expected resister would be Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who has reversed many of the coronavirus mandates he had imposed in the state and in September promised “we will never do any of these lockdowns again.”

Now, Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves is indicating that he should be counted among the resisters to a countrywide lockdown. In a Thursday video presentation focused on matters related to coronavirus, Reeves declared, "I don't believe there is any constitutional or statutory authority for any president to shut down Mississippi's economy.” Further, Reeves stated, "we’re not gonna participate in a national lockdown."

Though Reeves does not cotton to a lockdown being imposed in Mississippi by the US government, he is far from an advocate for liberty in regard to coronavirus policy at the state level. He makes that clear in his discussion in the video of his latest executive order extending coronavirus-related mandates, including a mandate requiring mask wearing, that he issued on Wednesday.

It looks like a countrywide lockdown effort by the US government may be foiled by governors, and likely legislatures as well, saying “no way” in response. Let’s hope that these countrywide lockdown opponents hold firm and that their numbers grow.


from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

How About Shutting Down the CDC, FDA, and other ‘Public Health’ Agencies?

By Adam Dick - November 12, 2020 at 06:56PM

Chicken Little governors and mayors across America are in the process of upping their coronavirus crackdowns. And Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden even appears to want to impose a countrywide lockdown in the name of countering coronavirus.

But, coronavirus is not a dangerous medical issue for most people. In contrast, draconian government actions taken in the name of countering coronavirus are a major threat causing great damage to people’s physical, mental, and economic condition. The “anticoronavirus” government actions also infringe liberty — prohibiting, through the imposition of prison-like mandates, much of what brings joy to life.

Instead of shutting down cities, counties, states, or even the whole country, how about instead implementing a shutdown that addresses a source of danger in America much more threatening than coronavirus? Shut down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and all the other national, state, and local “public health” agencies that have been peddling bogus “science” to justify politicians imposing, and mollify Americans into accepting, month after month of coronavirus crackdowns.

Writer Jordan Schachtel says it well in a Thursday Twitter post:

I am calling for an immediate, 15 day shutdown of the CDC, FDA, & other 'public health' agencies in order to slow the spread of misinformation related to COVID-19. America will not be able to heal from epidemiological idiocy until we shut them down. 15 days to slow the spread!

Of course, 15 days is way too short. But, I think Schachtel understands that and is making a reference to the call in March for “15 days to slow the spread” of coronavirus that morphed in the hands of tyrants across America into month after month of subjecting people to various draconian mandates supposedly purposed to counter coronavirus.

from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Ready for Months of Biden Lockdown?

By Adam Dick - November 11, 2020 at 06:31PM

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been saying during his presidential campaign that he favors locking down the entire county if scientific advisors tell him that is the right course for dealing with coronavirus. This week, Biden announced his COVID-19 Advisory Board. Presumably, its members are among the scientific advisors who Biden will look to for the go-ahead for locking down all of America.

Indeed, Biden stated in announcing the advisory board that it “will help shape my approach to managing the surge in reported infections; ensuring vaccines are safe, effective, and distributed efficiently, equitably, and free; and protecting at-risk populations.”

A new interview at Yahoo Finance with one of the advisory board’s members suggests Americans should start preparing for a Biden lockdown.

Michael Osterholm is a member of Biden’s COVID-19 Advisory Board who is not shy about pushing for a countrywide lockdown. In a new interview, he says America should be locked down for four to six weeks.

Of course, many Americans know from experience that coronavirus crackdowns that were initially marketed as lasting a few weeks can remain in place for months on end.

Don’t worry about the costs of the lockdown, continues Osterholm. The United States government, he says “could pay for a package right now to cover all of the wages, lost wages for individual workers, for losses to small companies to medium-sized companies, for city, states, county governments.” Thus, the economy would suffer from both a lockdown and from out-of-control government spending undoubtably paid for with new dollars conjured out of the air.

The costs of a countrywide lockdown will not just be economic. The costs in liberty denied will be very high. And the overall health costs from people forgoing noncoronavirus medical care and being driven to despair can be expected to be very high as well — much higher than any health gains from imposing lockdown quackery in response to coronavirus that for most people poses very little risk of death or even serious sickness.



from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

President Trump Can Win Reelection Even If Unsuccessful in Election Recounts and Court Challenges

By Adam Dick - November 10, 2020 at 04:18PM

President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is pursuing recounts and court challenges in an effort to establish that Trump won the popular vote in several states that media organizations have said were won by Democratic Party presidential nominee Joe Biden. Even if the campaign’s efforts are unsuccessful, state legislators in some or all of these states, should they conclude the election in their states was won by Trump, could exercise their power under the United States Constitution to award Trump’s electors in those states entrance to the Electoral College that will vote in December on who becomes president and vice president.

Thus, there is an avenue for Trump to win the presidential election even if his recount and court efforts are not successful.

Most Americans age 18 and up can vote every four years in an American presidential election. But, the recurring November election does not directly decide who becomes present. Neither is such a popular vote even mentioned in the United States Constitution. Under the Constitution, the decision on who becomes president and vice president is made by Electoral College electors who are scheduled to meet and vote on December 14 in their respective states.

In recent years, state legislatures have generally been, without the application of much scrutiny, content to allow reported popular vote results to determine which candidates’ chosen electors meet in respective states to cast Electoral College votes. But, as Daniel Horowitz discussed in articles at the Blaze last week and this week, the power of state legislators in choosing electors in plenary. If enough legislators in a state are convinced that fraud resulted in declaring the popular vote loser in the state as the winner, they can exercise their constitutional power by disregarding that result and sending to the Electoral College the electors of the presidential and vice presidential candidates the legislators think would have won but for the fraud.

The Electoral College process is defined in the United States Constitution in Article Two, Section One and the 12th Amendment.


from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Libertarian Party Governor Candidate Who Focused on Fighting Coronavirus Tyranny Wins High Vote Total in Indiana

By Adam Dick - November 08, 2020 at 03:35PM

Donald Rainwater ran this year an unusually popular governor campaign for a Libertarian Party candidate. As I wrote in early October, the popularity of Rainwater’s campaign appeared to arise largely because of his standing out as the candidate in the race for Indiana governor who presented clear and strong opposition to the reelection-seeking Republican governor’s tyrannical coronavirus mandates, while the Democratic contender argued the governor’s mandates were not severe enough.

In the Tuesday election, the Indianapolis Star is reporting that Rainwater won about 11.4 percent of the vote. This places Rainwater’s vote total around three and a half percent below the Libertarian governor candidate vote total record set by Dick Randolph in Alaska in 1982 and around one percent above the previous second-highest Libertarian governor candidate vote total obtained by Ed Thompson in Wisconsin in 2002.



from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Voters Across America Approve Drug War Rollback Ballot Measures

By Adam Dick - November 04, 2020 at 05:50PM

The Tuesday general election brought approval of several statewide ballot measures rolling back the war on drugs.

In September, I wrote about ballot measures up for consideration in the election that would liberalize drug laws in Washington, DC and the states of Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, and South Dakota. Here is an update: In each state and Washington, DC, a majority of voters approved drug war rollbacks on Tuesday.

Jacob Sullum, in a Wednesday article at Reason, provides details regarding approval of these ballot measures. He begins his article as follows:

It may be days before we know who won yesterday's presidential election, but by the end of the evening, it was clear that drug warriors had suffered a resounding loss. Across the country, in red and blue states, on both coasts and in between, in the Midwest and the Deep South, voters passed ballot initiatives that not only continued to reverse marijuana prohibition but also broke new ground in making drug laws less punitive and more tolerant.

Continue reading Sullum’s article here.

from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Scott Atlas Offers a Very Washington, DC Apology

By Adam Dick - November 02, 2020 at 09:48AM

Scott Atlas, a coronavirus policy advisor for President Donald Trump, was recently interviewed about coronavirus policy by Afshin Rattansi at the RT show Going Underground. That should be no surprise. Talking with someone at RT is one among various avenues Atlas has pursued to try to put his coronavirus policy views out for more people to hear.

It is after the interview aired that things got weird. On Sunday, Atlas apologized in a Twitter post for agreeing to be interviewed for the show. Atlas stated:

I recently did an interview with RT and was unaware they are a registered foreign agent. I regret doing the interview and apologize for allowing myself to be taken advantage of. I especially apologize to the national security community who is working hard to defend us.

How exactly was Atlas “taken advantage of?” He does not say that the interview was deceptively edited or that there was any chicanery whatsoever by Rattansi or anyone at RT. Atlas just writes he was unaware that RT is a registered foreign agent. Well, many governments across the world fund and run media organizations, including the United States with entities including Voice of America and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. These government-related media organizations’ mere existence does not mean they are taking advantage of all the people interviewed for their shows and publications.

The big revelation is in this part of Atlas’ tweet: “I especially apologize to the national security community who is working hard to defend us.” Atlas, in his apology, is feeding the two-headed beast of Russia bashing and extreme deference to the national security sate that drives massive military-industrial complex spending, anti-Russia sanctions, and military and covert activities around Russia that threaten destruction and escalation.

from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Mask-hating Republicans Make for a Better Road Trip

By Adam Dick - October 30, 2020 at 10:12AM

Traveling around Texas, I have found that areas where election votes go strongly in favor of Republican candidates tend, during the coronavirus crackdown, to be the best for stopping for gas, food, or other shopping, or just to use a restroom. In these areas it seems I am least likely to be accosted by some person telling me to put on a mask. Indeed, often in these areas a store will not have a “Masks Required” sign on the door and employees will not be wearing masks or will be wearing them on their chins or with their noses exposed.

In contrast, stops where the election votes go strongly in favor or Democrats, I have found, more likely feature “Mask Required” signs. Stores in these areas also seem more likely to have employees who have fully covered noses and mouths and who are ready to tell people who comes in to cover their faces too. Even if you can dash in and out to use the bathroom without being accosted, being among the devoutly “masked up” can be disquieting. This is especially the case when you understand that wearing masks does not provide protection from coronavirus and is instead akin to participation in a field study in psychological manipulation.

My observations fit well with results of a Pew Research Center poll conducted between August 31 and September 7. Open-ended responses to a poll question indicate there is much more concern about being pressured or required to wear masks among Republican and Republican-leaning individuals than among Democratic and Democratic-leaning individuals. Patrick van Kessel and Dennis Quinn write in a Thursday Pew Research Center article concerning the poll:

Overall, 14% of U.S. adults mentioned the word “mask” when asked how the pandemic has made their life difficult or challenging. That made “mask” the fourth most common term in these responses, behind “family” and “work” – each of which was mentioned by 19% of the public – and “friend,” mentioned by 14% of respondents.

“Mask,” however, was the single most-used term among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, who were roughly twice as likely as Democrats and Democratic leaners to mention it in the context of negative effects from the outbreak (19% vs. 10%, respectively).

Further, Kessel and Quinn note:

Some 31% of Democrats who brought up masks did so to complain or express concern about other people not wearing them. By comparison, just 5% of Republicans who brought up masks expressed this sentiment.

The difference in views extends beyond masks. I wrote here about some ways the poll indicates Republican and Republican-leaning individuals tend to think differently in relation to coronavirus than do Democratic and Democratic-leaning individuals. The general conclusion of that article is that the poll indicates Republicans and Republican-leaning individuals tend to have a more chill, less fearful, attitude regarding coronavirus.

Even a mask-loving owner of a store in an area where most people are Republican or Republican-leaning would be wise to keep in mind how many such individuals think regarding masks. Being a “wear you mask” zealot in such a place can be bad for business.

Something to keep in mind when planning a route, stops, or even a destination for your next road trip.



from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Protesters Return to Baghdad a Year Later, Say Demands Still Unmet

By Jason Ditz - October 26, 2020 at 09:19AM

The one-year anniversary of some of the last major protests in Baghdad saw thousands take to the streets in Tahrir Square, insisting that their demands are still generally unmet after all this time, and that the promises which were supposed to placate them generally didn’t pan out.

As with the last protests, the government sought to handle this rally by sending police out en masse to fire tear gas and put up barricades. Past history suggests this will not work, and will just rile up more people.

The demands have been straightforward for the protesters, who want a break form historic corruption, and free elections in which the candidates are loyal to the Iraqi voters first and foremost, instead of being aligned to either the US or Iran.

This has downed several internal governments, which haven’t been able to get the election laws ready, keep protesters placated, and avoid anger from either the US or the Iranians. Navigating all of that is a lot of work for the election, though the current government has expressed confidence that a June vote will take place.

Reprinted with permission from Antiwar.com.

from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Lew Rockwell Praises Ron Paul’s New Book and Work for Liberty and Peace

By Adam Dick - October 23, 2020 at 02:42PM

In a new essay titled “Wisdom from a Master,” Lew Rockwell details and praises Ron Paul’s many years of work advancing liberty and peace (some of which Rockwell observed as Paul’s chief of staff at the United States House of Representatives). Rockwell, in the essay, also presents a laudatory review of Paul’s new book The End of Unearned Opulence.

Read Rockwell’s essay here.

Find out here how you can obtain a signed copy of Paul’s new book.

from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Twitter Cracks Down on President Trump’s Coronavirus Advisor Scott Atlas for Opposing Masks

By Adam Dick - October 18, 2020 at 03:39PM

“Masks work? NO” began a Saturday Twitter post by Scott W. Atlas, a top coronavirus advisor for President Donald Trump. In the remainder of the tweet, Atlas proceeded to briefly relate support for this conclusion and for the proposition that masks being promoted as a means to limit the spread of coronavirus infections cause “many harms.”

Because Atlas dared to challenge the “wear your mask” mantra supported by phantom science, Twitter removed Atlas’ tweet.

Jordan Schachtel provides details here.

Twitter and other internet-related companies’ prevention of the dissemination of certain arguments concerning masks should be understood as a heavy-handed effort to prevent public debate of the merits of mask wearing and of government and business mask mandates that require many Americans to cover their faces in order to go about their daily activities. In short, the restraint on speech is a tool for suppressing liberty and informed health decisions by limiting people’s ability to learn about and communicate arguments against mask wearing and mask mandates.

The suppressing of Atlas’ communication at Twitter is an example of how far the “crackdown on communicating ‘alternative’ news and views via the internet” I wrote about in November of 2018 has advanced. Now, internet companies’ gatekeepers have gone so far as restricting communication related to coronavirus by the high-level coronavirus advisor to Trump. Twitter and Facebook have even restricted Trump himself from expressing forbidden ideas challenging coronavirus fearmongering.

Social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are shutting down speech. In doing so, they stop being debate and discussion platforms and become propaganda platforms.


from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Talking Around the Biggest Political Story the Media Want to Hide... With RPI's Daniel McAdams

By RPI Staff - October 16, 2020 at 04:14PM

Are we back in the USSR? RPI's Daniel McAdams joins The Gaggle's Peter Lavelle to discuss the biggest political story in the United States - and why no one dares even utter the names of the key players:



from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT

Ron Paul, Featured Speaker at November Event

By Adam Dick - October 16, 2020 at 11:16AM

The Ludwig von Mises Institute is putting on an event on November 7 in Angleton, Texas at which prominent libertarian communicator Ron Paul will be the featured speaker. The event, titled Symposium with Ron Paul, is hosted by Lew Rockwell and Jeff Deist of the Mises Institute. Daniel McAdams, the executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity, will also speak at the event.

You can find out more information about the Symposium with Ron Paul, and purchase tickets to attend, here.

from Ron Paul Institute Peace and Prosperity Articles

via IFTTT