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Trump’s Saudi Speech Filled with Alternative Facts

by | May 29, 2017 | ,

President Trump gave a major foreign policy speech in Saudi Arabia a week ago. The good news is that Trump's remarks were not a direct attack on Islam. The bad news is everything else. The speech was the first that Trump has given abroad, and it was also the first addressed to the Muslim world. It had an odd collection of themes. It was somehow conciliatory and preachy at the same time. Trump even managed to channel the always popular George W. Bush by declaring, "This is a battle between Good and Evil." It wasn't all biblical oversimplifications though. If you know some of the recent...

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Manchester Bomber Motivated by “Revenge” not Religion

by | May 25, 2017 |

A new Wall Street Journal profile of the suspected Manchester, UK terrorist Salman Abedi offers our first clues into the motive for the deadly attack. And while we still don't have all the details, it appears that the motivation was not religion. The WSJ piece is behind a paywall, but Zero Hedge has written up a useful summary. The Blowback Theory vs. "Call It Radical Islam" For those that may not be familiar, the blowback theory of terrorism holds that acts of terrorism against Western targets are usually motivated by revenge, not religion. In particular, terrorist attacks are seen as a...

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Trump Impeachment – Pros and Cons

by | May 24, 2017 | ,

The campaign to impeach President Trump began immediately upon his inauguration. That's not an exaggeration. On January 20, 2017, The Washington Post reported on a movement to rally support for impeaching Donald Trump under the little known Emoluments Clause. While that case never seemed to gain much traction, some of Trump's recent actions with respect to the FBI have sparked growing calls for his impeachment. The effort is still in its early stages to be sure. But Trump's impressive knack for making bad decisions, even on purely strategic grounds, seems likely to encourage it in the near...

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Washington Post Cites Joke As Factual Evidence of Russiagate

by | May 18, 2017 |

This might be a new low. The Story The Washington Post obtained a transcript and a recording of a private conversation among high-ranking House Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan. The portion of the conversation that has been released is mostly about Ukraine, but it also discusses Russia's efforts to influence Ukrainian politics and US politics, albeit briefly. Specifically, near the end of the conversation, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy says the following, as quoted by the Post. "There's two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump." Written like that, it seems...

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Trump Shares ISIS Intel with Russia: Hype vs. Reality

by | May 17, 2017 |

President Trump reportedly shared sensitive intelligence information on ISIS with the Russians during a high-level meeting last week. Since it's a story involving Trump, Russia, and ISIS--offering a savory mix of scandal, Cold War, and terrorism--it promptly became the biggest story to start the week. The Story Citing anonymous US officials, The Washington Post reported earlier this week that President Trump shared "highly classified" intelligence on ISIS with the Russians when he met with them last week. The intelligence was that ISIS has been considering using a laptop bomb on an airplane...

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How Paid Parental Leave Accidentally Promotes Inequality

by | May 17, 2017 | , ,

In honor of Mother's Day, Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg called for a new public policy to limit economic opportunities and choices for women. Naturally, she did not phrase it quite like that. But among other policy asks in her pronouncement, Sandberg called for a mandatory paid family leave policy. The primary goal of such a policy is to help women. Unfortunately, the economic implications of the policy, if enacted, will be as I described above--reducing opportunities and choices for women.* This unpleasant outcome is likely to be a surprise to many. In the US, there is overwhelming...

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The Many Upsides of Comey’s Termination

by | May 15, 2017 | ,

President Trump's decision to fire FBI Director James Comey has sparked a massive political backlash, and the White House has scrambled to come up with several different narratives to explain the decision. Given this reaction, one might assume that the Comey termination was an extremely harmful and unjust decision--even by the standards of the Trump Administration. However, a more sober analysis of the situation suggests nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, Comey's firing should offer something for almost everyone to like. Let's go through it. Comey Deserved to Be Fired First...

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Remembering the Devastation of the Korean War

by | May 9, 2017 |

As tensions between North Korea and the US remain at their highest levels in years, it's worth recalling the brutality of the Korean War. The Story Over at The Intercept, Mehdi Hasan has a new article that provides some stark facts and observations on the Korean War. This war often gets little attention in most renderings of American history, but it's not for a lack of casualties. As Hasan notes, the Korean War was a full-scale conflict. It killed an estimated 20% of the North Korean population, or 3 million people. The US relied heavily on carpet-bombing in the conflict and participated in...

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Eric Schuler

Eric Schuler is a contributor to The Libertarian Institute, with a focus on economics and US foreign policy. Follow his work here and on Twitter.


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