Jim Bovard | The Libertarian Institute

Presidential Record Racketeering

by Jim Bovard | Aug 30, 2022 | Featured Articles

Former President Donald Trump is supposedly one of the biggest scoundrels in American history for allegedly retaining documents from his presidency at his Mar-a-Lago home. Trump denies wrongdoing but the Justice Department is targeting him for violating the Espionage Act and other laws. DOJ is refusing to reveal the affidavit and the specific charges that the feds claimed justified a massive, heavily-armed raid on Trump’s Florida base. Much of the media commentary on the raid castigates Trump for conspiring to block Americans’ access to official records. But the federal government has done...

The FBI Was Always This Bad; Ruby Ridge Turns 30

by Jim Bovard | Aug 24, 2022 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles

In the wake of the massive raid at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, politicians and pundits are hectoring Americans to blindly trust the FBI. “The men and women of the FBI,” Attorney General Merrick Garland proclaimed, “are dedicated, patriotic public servants.” But the FBI would be more credible if it didn’t claim a right to secretly wield almost unlimited power. Most Americans (53%) view the FBI as “Joe Biden‘s personal Gestapo,” a recent Rasmussen poll found. FBI actions 30 years ago at Ruby Ridge help explain the G-men’s fall from grace. Randy Weaver and his family lived in an isolated...

Did the FBI Win Joe Biden the 2020 Election?

by Jim Bovard | Aug 11, 2022 | Criminal Justice, Featured Articles, Politics

Joe Biden won the 2020 election as a result of 43,000 votes in three states. The election was far closer than the media has usually admitted. There were plenty of dubious factors that could have tipped the scales for a Biden victory, including machinations by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Long History of FBI Abuse Though the media usually portray the FBI as the ultimate good guys, the bureau has long history of intervening in presidential elections. Shortly after taking office after Franklin Roosevelt’s death, President Harry Truman commented in his diary: “We want no Gestapo or...

The Justice Department Pressured USA Today to Stop Publishing Me

by Jim Bovard | Jun 28, 2022 | Featured Articles

In 2015, Justice Department press chief Brian Fallon bitterly complained to USA Today editors about my articles walloping Attorney General Eric Holder, including"Eric Holder's Lawless Legacy," [Feb. 3, 2015] and "Eric Holder's Police Shooting Record? Dismal," [Aug. 20, 2014]. Fallon (who later became presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's press secretary) protested to USA Today commentary editor David Mastio and another USA Today editor, Brian Gallagher, about my "consistently nasty words about Mr. Holder" and said that Bovard "has never had a kind thing to say about Holder." (Actually, I...

Supreme Court Upholds ‘State Secrets’ Privilege to Protect CIA Torture Program

by Jim Bovard | Jun 13, 2022 | Featured Articles

The Supreme Court ruled in March that Americans have no right to learn the grisly details of CIA torture because the CIA has never formally confessed its crimes. The case symbolizes how the rule of law has become little more than legal mumbo-jumbo to shroud official crimes. And it is another grim reminder that Americans cannot rely on politically approved lawyers wearing bat suits to save their freedoms. In 2002, the CIA captured Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian radical, in Pakistan and falsely believed he was a kingpin with al Qaeda. The CIA tortured him for years in Thailand and Poland. As...

It’s Time for Joe Biden to Exit the Ring

by Jim Bovard | Jun 9, 2022 | Featured Articles, Politics

President Biden often looks like a punch-drunk old fighter sent into the ring once too often. At this point, the only thing lower than Biden’s approval numbers is his energy level. Is Uncle Joe too old to rebound? At this point, Biden is running on little more than fumes and righteousness. In his televised antigun speech Thursday night, Biden proclaimed that he expected most people “to turn your outrage into making this issue [assault weapons] central to your vote.” Biden’s histrionic spiel was far more likely to turbo-charge gun owners than gun banners and could be another coffin nail for...

‘Assault Weapons’ Ban: First Step on the Road to Tyranny

by Jim Bovard | Jun 6, 2022 | Featured Articles

President Joe Biden is seeking to revive his presidency by demolishing the Second Amendment. In a televised address last Thursday, Biden called for a ban on assault weapons, which he portrayed as the epitome of evil. Vice President Kamala Harris caterwauled that assault weapons are a “weapon of war” with “no place in civil society.” Assault weapons are a “flag of convenience” for the Democrats’ circus shell game with Americans’ constitutional rights. Biden talks as if assault weapons are solely a moral issue. But once that premise is accepted, then he can move to ban vast numbers of firearms...

Against Public Interest, Supreme Court Protects Torture Cover-Up

by Jim Bovard | Mar 15, 2022 | Featured Articles, Foreign Policy

The Supreme Court declared last week that Americans have no right to learn the grisly details of CIA torture because the CIA has never formally confessed its crimes. The verdict symbolizes how the rule of law has become little more than a form of legal mumbo-jumbo to shroud official crimes. Why should anyone expect justice from a Supreme Court that covers up torture? In 2002, the CIA captured Abu Zubaydah, a Palestinian radical, in Pakistan, mistakenly believing he was a kingpin with al-Qaeda. The CIA tortured him for years in Thailand and Poland. As dissenting Justice Neil Gorsuch noted,...