“What is a journalist?” is a contemporary equivalent of the ancient question, “What is truth?” The U.S. government's prosecution of Julian Assange hinges on the assertion that he is not a journalist and should be punished like a spy for a hostile country. The...
Featured Articles
No, World War II Didn’t Cut Short the Depression
by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Apr 8, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles
A principal goal of Stark Realities is to “expose fundamental myths across the political spectrum”—and few myths are as universally embraced as the notion that US participation in World War II (1941-1945) lifted the American economy out of the Great Depression. This...
TGIF: Static Analysis Clouds Immigration Debate
by Sheldon Richman | Apr 5, 2024 | Economics, Featured Articles, Sheldon Richman, TGIF
Opponents of people's freedom to cross national borders to where the best jobs are, aka open borders, make a rookie error: they engage in static analysis and overlook the dynamism of social processes that freedom produces. I was recently asked on Facebook: "Are you...
World War III Isn’t Preordained (No Matter What They Say)
by Brad Pearce | Apr 4, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
A recent survey from YouGov found that 61% of Americans think a world war within the next five to ten years is “very likely” or “somewhat likely,” while only 21% say that such a scenario is “not very likely” or “not likely at all.” It’s notable that Democrats, who are...
The Growing Fissures in NATO Unity
by Ted Snider | Apr 4, 2024 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy
Despite the damage done in Ukraine and NATO’s now apparent inability to support Ukraine’s defense against Russia strongly enough, one item in the western win column is the claim that NATO is more unified following the damage done by Donald Trump. Even aside from NATO...
The Great Escape from Government Schools?
by Jim Bovard | Apr 3, 2024 | Featured Articles
After enduring bullshit school shutdowns during the COVID pandemic, many students concluded that school itself must be bullshit and have skipped attending classes. Government bureaucrats are panicking since subsidies are tied to the number of students’ butts in chairs...
A Free Market Embraces Human Nature
by Owen Ashworth | Apr 3, 2024 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism
Much like the debate around being a glass half full or half empty person, there is split opinion over whether human nature is generally good or bad. Young people are more likely to view human nature as self-serving, unsympathetic, and narrow minded than older...
History Last, Polemics First: A Critical Review of Jacob Heilbrunn’s ‘America Last’
by Brandan P. Buck | Apr 2, 2024 | Book Reviews, Featured Articles, History, Politics
The Western commentariat has spilled much ink and expended considerable effort attempting to explain our era of political malaise, particularly the disruptions underway within the Republican Party and the American Right. It is into that maelstrom that Jacob Heilbrunn...