Eric Schuler | The Libertarian Institute

The Absurdity of Trump's Syria Strikes

by Eric Schuler | Apr 16, 2018 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Last Friday night, President Trump launched cruise missiles against government facilities in Syria. His partners in the strike were France and the UK, leading to an appealing acronym for this trilateral band: the FUKUS coalition.* By all accounts, the strikes don't appear to have done much--aside from violating international law, violating the US Constitution, and escalating geopolitical tensions between the US and Russia to their worst point in years. The US said the strikes targeted two alleged chemical weapons storage facilities and a scientific research facility. Although the buildings...

The Absurdity of Trump’s Syria Strikes

by Eric Schuler | Apr 16, 2018 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

Last Friday night, President Trump launched cruise missiles against government facilities in Syria. His partners in the strike were France and the UK, leading to an appealing acronym for this trilateral band: the FUKUS coalition.* By all accounts, the strikes don't appear to have done much--aside from violating international law, violating the US Constitution, and escalating geopolitical tensions between the US and Russia to their worst point in years. The US said the strikes targeted two alleged chemical weapons storage facilities and a scientific research facility. Although the buildings...

New Bill in Senate Would Legalize Growing Hemp

by Eric Schuler | Mar 28, 2018 | Blog

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) announced a surprisingly sensible bill this week that would end the prohibition on hemp farming at the federal level. The bill is co-sponsored by fellow Kentuckian Rand Paul (R) and Oregon's Ron Wyden (D). Heretofore, growing hemp has been illegal in the US because it is related to marijuana. The important difference, of course, is that you can't get high from hemp. Even so, hemp has been classified as a controlled substance. It can be imported from abroad and it's legal to own hemp, but it can't really be grown domestically. Obviously, this policy doesn't make...

The Stormy Daniels Story Finally Has a Newsworthy Allegation

by Eric Schuler | Mar 26, 2018 | Featured Articles, Politics

After the interview with 60 Minutes, the story surrounding Stormy Daniels finally has something newsworthy about it. In the discussion, Daniels said she was threatened to keep silent about her alleged affair with Donald Trump. The threat allegedly occurred in 2011, shortly after In Touch Magazine had offered her $15,000 for the story. In Touch ultimately declined to pursue the story. Daniels said she was with her infant daughter at the time of the threat. This is how she described it in the interview: "And a guy walked up on me and said to me, 'Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,'" she...

Trump: ‘Trade Wars Are Good’

by Eric Schuler | Mar 2, 2018 | Blog

Yes, that's apparently a real quote from President Trump. This is likely the worst economic position he has staked out so far. On the plus side, if he puts his trade war optimism to the test and thus sparks the next recession, perhaps we won't have to hear contrived arguments about how tax cuts cause recessions...

Trump: 'Trade Wars Are Good'

by Eric Schuler | Mar 2, 2018 | Blog

Yes, that's apparently a real quote from President Trump. This is likely the worst economic position he has staked out so far. On the plus side, if he puts his trade war optimism to the test and thus sparks the next recession, perhaps we won't have to hear contrived arguments about how tax cuts cause recessions...

New Bipartisan Effort in Senate to Stop the War in Yemen

by Eric Schuler | Mar 1, 2018 | Blog

Progressive Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) and libertarian-leaning Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) have introduced new legislation this week that would end US support in the Yemen War. It's unclear if the legislation will be allowed to come to a vote by the leadership, but it's good to see the protracted conflict finally back in the news. Yemen is home to one of the most acute humanitarian crises in the world right now, with millions internally displaced and suffering from malnutrition as a result of the war. In a time of increasing polarization, this is also a good...

WaPo Debunks the Non-Scandal of "Anglo-American" Law

by Eric Schuler | Feb 13, 2018 | Blog

In a recent speech, Attorney General Jeff Sessions made a passing reference to the "Anglo-American heritage of law enforcement". Naturally, this sparked outrage and new accusations that Sessions is racist. Those accusations may be well-founded, but this is about the weakest evidence that could be offered to support them. A solid new piece at The Washington Post explains why. In short, descriptions of the US legal system as "Anglo-American" are actually quite mainstream, appearing routinely in legal arguments and even Supreme Court opinions. The reason this description is common is because...