Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | The Libertarian Institute

Americans Are Fighting For Control Of Federal Powers That Shouldn’t Exist

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Jan 17, 2024 | Featured Articles

It’s no secret that politics in the United States is growing increasingly acrimonious—to the point that a 2022 poll found 43% of Americans think a civil war is a least somewhat likely in the next decade. But here’s what few people realize: The intensity of our division springs from a federal government operating far beyond the limits of the Constitution—fueling a fight for control over powers that were never supposed to exist at the national level. To put it another way, if the federal government were confined to its actual granted authorities, federal elections would be of little interest...

Penn Students’ Lawsuit Shows Campus Antisemitism Uproar Is A Manufactured Crisis

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Dec 13, 2023 | Featured Articles

Saturday’s resignation of University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill came after months of controversy—and a viral-video grilling of Magill in a congressional hearing—over allegations the school has become a hotbed of antisemitism. While those allegations have been given widespread credence, a Stark Realities analysis of dozens of claimed antisemitic incidents at Penn finds that, apart from a small handful of cases, the great majority are merely instances in which Penn students, professors and guest speakers engage in political expression that proponents of the State of Israel strongly...

No Country Has a ‘Right to Exist’

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Nov 2, 2023 | Featured Articles, Libertarianism

In the weeks since 2,500 Hamas militants went on a murder and kidnapping rampage in southern Israel, a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations has erupted across the United States and around the world. These displays have only grown in size and number as Israel’s military responds by punishing the entire, densely-packed population of Gaza with a blockade on food, water and medicine, a devastating bombing campaign and now a ground invasion. While no mass protest is free of people with bigotry and amoral stances, proponents of Israel have been far too quick to accuse pro-Palestinian protesters...

Israel Fostered the Rise of Hamas, Even After It Turned to Terrorism

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Oct 11, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

In the aftermath of Saturday’s terrorist and military attacks on Israel by the Palestinian group Hamas, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “The forces of civilization must support Israel in defeating Hamas…In fighting Hamas, Israel is not only fighting for its own people, it is fighting for every country that stands against barbarism.” Those sentiments are quite different from ones Netanyahu privately shared in 2019. “Anyone who wants to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state has to support bolstering Hamas and transferring money to Hamas,” Netanyahu told Likud Party...

Strange But True: ‘Price Gouging’ Benefits People In Disaster Areas

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Sep 5, 2023 | Economics, Featured Articles

As millions of Americans struggle to recover from the latest hurricane, state government officials are issuing stern reminders that criminal penalties loom for anyone who engages in “price gouging.” “Price gouging” is the pejorative label applied to the charging of substantially higher prices for goods and services that are in high demand and short supply in disaster-stricken areas. Anti-price gouging laws typically apply to things like food, fuel, lodging, medicine, building materials, construction tools and other necessities. The idea of charging higher prices in the midst of a crisis goes...

World War II’s Top Military Leaders Admitted Hiroshima, Nagasaki Bombings Were Needless

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Aug 2, 2023 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy, History

The anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki present an opportunity to demolish a cornerstone myth of American history—that those twin acts of mass civilian slaughter were necessary to bring about Japan’s surrender, and spare a half-million U.S. soldiers who’d have otherwise died in a military conquest of the empire’s home islands. Those who attack this mythology are often reflexively dismissed as unpatriotic, ill-informed or both. However, the most compelling witnesses against the conventional wisdom were patriots with a unique grasp on the state of affairs in August...

Government Agents Are Routinely Trespassing, Placing Cameras on Private Property Without Warrants

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Jul 5, 2023 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

For many people, a central attraction of owning and living on a multi-acre expanse of land is the opportunity for complete privacy — to include freedom from the prying eyes of government. While most Americans might understandably believe the Fourth Amendment’s protection against warrantless searches covers all their property, a little-known 1924 Supreme Court decision—Hester v United States—says otherwise. The case struck a major blow against privacy rights, and government agents of all stripes have been exploiting the ruling ever since. Those exploitations have grown increasingly brazen....

Debt-Ceiling Theater Masks True Depth of DC’s Red Ink

by Stark Realities with Brian McGlinchey | Jun 1, 2023 | Featured Articles

As the latest debt-ceiling drama winds down, Americans are varyingly exasperated, angered, anxious and maybe even a little bit entertained by the spectacle. While their emotions vary, most citizens have something in common: They don’t realize they’re being misled about the actual depth of their government’s financial disorder. Despite all the talk of the federal government hitting a congressionally-set $31.4 trillion debt limit, the truth is that DC’s actual liabilities are far higher than even that disturbing number. Estimates by the relatively few scholars and organizations who venture to...