Canadian Hikers Get the COVID-Style Tyranny Treatment

Canadian Hikers Get the COVID-Style Tyranny Treatment

Canadian politicians are creating one bonfire after another of freedom and individual rights. COVID crackdowns established persecution precedents that politicians in some provinces refuse to allow to gather dust. Politicians are claiming the right to financially cripple anyone who makes a single misstep in violation of the latest idiotic decrees. On August 5, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston decreed a $25,000 fine for anyone walking in the woods or otherwise violating a new prohibition that covered both government and private lands. The prohibition will continue until October. Houston...

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Politicians Multiply Mental Illness

Politicians Multiply Mental Illness

Almost 25% of government schools nationwide are now surveilling the mental health of students. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker recently signed a bill to bring “universal mental health screening” to two million Illinois students as part of his Children’s Behavioral Health Transformation Initiative. But this rescue effort will ravage many students and is a warning shot to parents across the nation. Manhattan Institute fellow Abigail Shrier warned that the new Illinois law will mean “tens of thousands of Illinois kids get shoved into the mental health funnel and convinced they are sick. Many or...

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Waco and the Death of Congressional Oversight

Waco and the Death of Congressional Oversight

How many atrocities can the federal government get away with? Americans are still vexed by the answers that Congress failed to deliver in 1995. Thirty summers ago, Washington was fixated by a Capitol Hill showdown over the greatest federal abuse of power of the decade. Unfortunately, trusting congressional hearings to discover the truth is like trusting a roomful of monkeys with typewriters to write great novels—it might happen, but only in an eternity. As comedian Milton Berle quipped long ago, “You can send a man to Congress but you can’t make him think.” On February 28, 1993, scores of...

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The 1775 Two Step That Led to American Independence

The 1775 Two Step That Led to American Independence

As Americans prepare to celebrate the 249th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, we should also toast the 250th anniversary of a savvy political two-step that paved the way to formally breaking with Britain the following year. “We, your Majesty’s faithful subjects...” began the petition beseeching reconciliation with King George from the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775.  That offering became known as the Olive Branch Petition.  The following day, Congress issued its  Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, explaining why hostile British troops would...

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Mencken’s Forgotten Wisdom on War

Mencken’s Forgotten Wisdom on War

As a stampede of weasels just sought to con America into supporting another Mideast war, it is time remember America’s most underrated critic of bellicose folly. H.L. Mencken is famous for his smackdowns of politicians and ridicule of government and of much of American culture. But he also offered sage advice for citizens judging officialdom itching for carnage. On May 9, 1939, The Baltimore Sun published Mencken’s essay on “The Art of Selling War.” This piece, included in the Second Mencken Chrestomathy published in 1995, deserves a far higher position in the Mencken and antiwar pantheon....

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Trump Bombs Iran: Bovard’s First Penalty Flags

If only the Japanese had issued a "time for peace" statement after bombing Pearl Harbor like Trump did tonight. Shakespeare wrote: "Cry havoc and loose the dogs of war." Trump had his 4 minute victory lap statement tonight. Will he still be strutting on Independence Day? pic.twitter.com/gfBDrkaeeW — James Bovard (@JimBovard) June 22, 2025 Is the MAGA flip-flop embracing Trump's warmongering on Iran as dramatic as the Communist Party's 1939 flip-flop on Hitler after the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was announced? @mtracey @paleoliberal @DanielLMcAdams pic.twitter.com/aJHRETjZFZ — James...

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COVID Doubts Made You a ‘Violent Extremist’

COVID Doubts Made You a ‘Violent Extremist’

Biden administration policymakers hated you more than you knew. Four years ago, I warned at the Libertarian Institute: “Libertarians are in the federal crosshairs…Many libertarians assume they have nothing to fear because they are not engaged in seeking to violently overthrow the government. But the feds will be able to find many other pretexts to target peaceful citizens with supposedly subversive ideas.” Three years ago, I warned at the Institute that White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was damning anyone who did not kowtow to the regime: “’When you are not with what majority of...

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163rd Anniversary of Stonewall Jackson’s Victory in the Battle of Front Royal

This is reprinted from Jim Bovard's blog and expands on a post originally from 2023. Today is the 163th anniversary of the battle of Front Royal, Virginia (the town near where I was raised). On May 23, 1862, almost all the Yankee soldiers in Front Royal were captured, killed or wounded during a surprise attack by Jackson’s “foot calvary.” Both sides fought valiantly, but the northerners were greatly outnumbered. Their commander, Col. John Reese Kenly, was my great-great-uncle and the source of the first name that my father hated. According to the Civil War historical marker by the courthouse...

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