02/01 -- Myanmar: Army seizes power in coup, declares state of emergency; Treason And Thoughtcrime Are Easier Than Ever In Biden's America

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Thomas L. Knapp

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Feb 1, 2021, 8:27:18 AM2/1/21
to Freedom News Daily
  Freedom News Daily, 02/01/21
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Presented by the Liberty International

Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
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Today's Freedom News:

1)  Myanmar: Army seizes power in coup, declares state of emergency
2)  Robinhood continues manipulating market on behalf of hedge funds, tries to shift blame
3)  Trump's impeachment defense team leaves less than two weeks before trial
4)  Occupation troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond May deadline
5)  Sanders says Democrats have the votes to pass Covid-19 welfare bill through reconciliation
6)  Somalia: al-Shabab armed group attacks hotel in Mogadishu
7)  GOP pols seek ways to keep people from voting against them after record turnout
8)  Defiant Redditors buy Times Square billboard as GameStop stock saga rages
9)  Belarus: Regime thugs abduct more than 160 protesters
10) Fugitive Tigray Leader Reportedly Speaks Out After Months
11) UK: Regime applying to join Asia-Pacific free trade [sic] pact CPTPP
12) GOP Senators Offer Stimulus Compromise, Ask for Biden Meeting
13) Hungary: Restaurant workers protest lockdown restrictions
14) Russia: Navalny's wife among thousands held as police clamp down on protests
15) EU regime: AstraZeneca to supply 9 million more vaccine doses
16) Lincoln Project to Sue Giuliani, Trump, Bannon Over Capitol Riot Claims
17) CA: Dodger Stadium vax center temporarily "closed by protests"
18) Hong Kong: Residents given new UK visa option; Beijing regime occupiers vow to hold them prisoner
19) CA: Protesters tear down fence erected by UC Berkeley at People's Park
20) Google pulls Element's Android chat app over content it doesn't control

Today's Freedom Commentary:

21) Treason And Thoughtcrime Are Easier Than Ever In Biden's America
22) War is Not a Queer Right
23) As The Oligarchy Creates A New Group of Revolutionaries
24) Big Tech's Gravest Sin? Working With The Security State
25) Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Crazy, And So Is The Rest Of Congress
26) Follow the Money
27) Big Tech's Playing Monopoly. It's Going to Lose.
28) Presidents Are That Their Worst In War
29) Is there politics after polarization?
30) Hey media, your bias is showing
31) How Free Speech Drives Economic Progress
32) End the FAA
33) Are Democrats Unlearning the Lesson of 2020's Senate Races?
34) Checks and Balances Are a Feature, Not a Bug, of American Government
35) Industrial Policy: Obviously a Blind, Lame, and Drunk Donkey
36) Despite What They Tell You: The Constitution Never Discriminated Against Women
37) I Can't Bring Myself to Care Anymore
38) Let Tribal Nations Manage Bears Ears
39) The Cuomo Conspiracy
40) Influencers And Travel Bans -- The Problem With Government Planning
41) Helping hands across the US border
42) Hardball Is for Winners
43) Grace the Notes
44) Biden and the "After Trump" era: How reality has been abruptly reinvented
45) Foreign Policy Restraint: a Bold Idea for Biden's First 100 Days
46) Why we must repeal our hate-speech laws
47) Two Books on Flirting with Totalitarianism
48) GameStop Saga Reveals a Society Dominated by Wall Street and Crying Out for Change
49) Thirty-One Flavors of Fascism
50) Quantum Vibe, 01/29/21
51) Americans Abandoning Free Speech Better Brace for the Consequences
52) This time, it might really be different
53) The Old Media and the New Must Work Together to Preserve Free Speech Values
54) Domestic Enemies
55) Paternalism and Robinhood Revisited

Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:

56) Free Talk Live, 01/31/21
57) Lions Of Liberty Podcast, episode 498
58) Shuja Paul on The Scott Horton Show
59) The Chris Spangle Show, 01/30/21
60) The Anarchist Experience, episode 304
61) Model Citizen, 01/30/21
62) Free Man Beyond The Wall, episode 531
63) Don't Tread On Anyone, 01/30/21
64) This Week in Common Sense, 01/30/21
65) Part Of The Problem, 01/30/21
66) Everything Voluntary with Skyler J. Collins, episode 459
67) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 01/29/21
68) Commentary Podcast, 01/29/21
69) The Fifth Column, episode 222
70) Conflicts of Interest, episode 64
71) Working People, 01/29/21
72) Free Thoughts Podcast, episode 379
73) Reason Interview: Corey DeAngelis
74) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 01/29/21
75) Bloggingheads.tv, 01/29/21

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_____ Today's Freedom News _____

1)  Myanmar: Army seizes power in coup, declares state of emergency
Source: ABC News

"Myanmar's army seized power in an apparent coup during the early morning hours Monday, detaining de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi along with members of her party and declaring a state of emergency, which signaled an end to the Southeast Asian nation's nascent democratic experiment. A newsreader on the military-owned Myawaddy TV confirmed the coup hours later, citing widespread voter fraud in the country's general elections this past November, which Suu Kyi's party National League for Democracy (NLD) won in a landslide. The newsreader said Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, commander-in-chief of Myanmar's armed forces, would be in charge of the country while Vice President Myint Swe, a retired general and close ally of Myanmar's former junta leader, would be elevated to acting president." (02/01/21)


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2)  Robinhood continues manipulating market on behalf of hedge funds, tries to shift blame
Source: Bloomberg

"Robinhood Markets Inc. reduced the number of companies with trading restrictions to eight from 50, ahead of Monday's trading session, according to an update on its website. The current list includes GameStop Corp., AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc., BlackBerry Ltd., Express Inc., Genius Brands International Inc., Koss Corp., Naked Brand Group Ltd. and Nokia Oyj. ... Robinhood put buying restrictions in place after its clearinghouse deposit requirements for equities increased last week, the company said in a blog post on Friday. 'It was not because we wanted to stop people from buying these stocks,' Robinhood said. ... Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Robinhood, mostly alleging restrictions by the trading platform that amounted to a breach of contract." (01/31/21)


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3)  Trump's impeachment defense team leaves less than two weeks before trial
Source: CNN

"Former President Donald Trump's five impeachment defense attorneys have left a little more than a week before his trial is set to begin, according to people familiar with the case, amid a disagreement over his legal strategy. It was a dramatic development in the second impeachment trial for Trump, who has struggled to find lawyers willing to take his case. And now, with legal briefs due next week and a trial set to begin only days later, Trump is clinging to his election fraud charade and suddenly finds himself without legal representation. ... No other attorneys have announced they are working on Trump's impeachment defense." (01/31/21)


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4)  Occupation troops to stay in Afghanistan beyond May deadline
Source: Reuters

"International troops plan to stay in Afghanistan beyond the May deadline envisaged by the insurgent Taliban's deal with the United States, four senior NATO officials said, a move that could escalate tensions with the Taliban demanding full withdrawal. 'There will be no full withdrawal by allies by April-end,' one of the officials told Reuters. 'Conditions have not been met,' he said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. 'And with the new U.S. administration, there will be tweaks in the policy, the sense of hasty withdrawal which was prevalent will be addressed and we could see a much more calculated exit strategy.' The administration of then-President Donald Trump signed an agreement with the Taliban early last year calling for the withdrawal of all foreign troops by May in return for the insurgents fulfilling certain security guarantees." (01/31/20)


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5)  Sanders says Democrats have the votes to pass Covid-19 welfare bill through reconciliation
Source: CNN

"Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said Sunday that he thinks there are enough Democratic votes to pass a massive Covid-19 relief package through a process known as reconciliation as the country grapples with the economic fallout of the pandemic. 'I believe that we do,' the incoming chairman of the Senate Budget Committee said when asked during an interview with ABC whether he thought there are enough Democratic votes. ... Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, has said that Democrats will use the move to pass the package by 51 votes in the Senate, rather than 60, if Republicans don't move the legislation. Republicans used the reconciliation process when they attempted to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in 2017 in the Senate. The GOP successfully used the process months later to overhaul the country's tax code, which passed with just Republican votes." (01/31/21)


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6)  Somalia: al-Shabab armed group attacks hotel in Mogadishu
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]

"Somalia's al-Shabab armed group has launched a car bomb attack on a hotel in the capital, Mogadishu, killing at least three people, said a security source. 'So far three people, two of them civilians, and a security guard were confirmed dead, but the death toll could be higher,' said Mohamed Dahir a senior official with with the national security agency. ... A vehicle loaded with explosives crashed into the entrance gate of the Afrik hotel, near Mogadishu's strategic K-4 junction, police spokesman Sadiq Adan Ali had confirmed earlier. A number of gunmen then quickly invaded the hotel, opening fire on staff and patrons inside, he said." (01/31/21)


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7)  GOP pols seek ways to keep people from voting against them after record turnout
Source: Los Angeles Times

"Republican lawmakers in statehouses across the country are moving swiftly to attack some of the voting methods that fueled the highest turnout for a presidential election in 50 years. Although most legislative sessions are just getting underway, the Brennan Center for Justice, a public policy institute, has already tallied more than 100 bills in 28 states meant to restrict voting access. More than a third of those proposals are aimed at limiting mail voting, while other bills seek to strengthen voter ID requirements and registration processes, as well as allow for more aggressive means to remove people from voter rolls. ... The proposals are advancing not only in Texas and other traditional red states but also in such places as Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania that supported Donald Trump four years ago, only to flip for Joe Biden in November." (01/31/21)


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8)  Defiant Redditors buy Times Square billboard as GameStop stock saga rages
Source: Fox Business

"Defiant amateur investors on Reddit say they are not backing down on their investments in GameStop -- and even took out billboards in Times Square and across the country urging the faithful to continue holding the line. '$GME GO BRRR,' blared a digital ad on the corner of 54th and Broadway in Manhattan. The ad ran for an hour on Friday and was a creation of digital billboard maker Matei Psatta. The line refers to a popular internet meme that uses 'Brrr' to signify the sound a money-printing machine makes. GME is the stock's ticker symbol on the NY Stock Exchange. Investors on Reddit have driven the price of GameStop -- a dusty mall electronics retailer worth only $2.57 a share at one point last year -- to astronomical highs in just days." (01/30/21)


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9)  Belarus: Regime thugs abduct more than 160 protesters
Source: Waco Tribune-Herald

"Police in Belarus on Sunday arrested more than 160 participants in demonstrations calling for the ex-Soviet nation's authoritarian president to resign. Protests have rocked the ex-Soviet nation for the sixth straight month following the Aug. 9 presidential vote, which was widely seen as rigged to give President Alexander Lukashenko a sixth term in office. ... According to human rights advocates, more than 30,000 people have been detained since the protests began, and thousands of them were brutally beaten. The fierce crackdown drew international outrage, and the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions on Belarusian officials. During Sunday's protests in Minsk and several other cities in Belarus, hundreds of people waving the opposition red-and-white flags gathered in their courtyards and marched in their neighborhoods. Police arrived quickly, chasing protesters and detaining scores." (01/31/21)


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10) Fugitive Tigray Leader Reportedly Speaks Out After Months
Source: US News & World Report

"The fugitive leader of Ethiopia's embattled Tigray region has reportedly made his first public comments in three months, urging the international community to investigate alleged 'genocide' and other abuses by forces including those from neighboring Eritrea. It was not immediately possible to verify the audio comments by Debretsion Gebremichael posted late Saturday by Tigray-allied media outlet Dimtsi Weyane. He has been on the run since shortly after fighting broke out in early November between Ethiopian and allied forces and those of the Tigray region who had dominated the country's government for nearly three decades. ... He urged Tigray residents to 'continue the struggle' and vowed to do the same against those who are 'working with all their might to destroy our existence and identity.'" (01/31/21)


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11) UK: Regime applying to join Asia-Pacific free trade [sic] pact CPTPP
Source: BBC News [UK state media]

"The UK will apply to join a free trade area with 11 Asia and Pacific nations on Monday, a year after it officially left the EU. Joining the group of 'fast-growing nations' will boost UK exports, the government says. The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) covers a market of around 500 million people. But they are harder to reach than neighbouring markets in Europe. Members include Australia, Canada, Japan and New Zealand. Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam are also founder members of the bloc, which was established in 2018. 'In future it's going to be Asia-Pacific countries in particular where the big markets are, where growing middle-class markets are, for British products,' International Trade Secretary Liz Truss told the BBC's Andrew Marr." (01/31/20)


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12) GOP Senators Offer Stimulus Compromise, Ask for Biden Meeting
Source: Bloomberg

"A group of 10 Republican senators wrote to President Joe Biden with an alternative proposal on Covid-19 economic stimulus that they say would gain bipartisan support, and urged a meeting to discuss it. ... A Republican aide said the proposal is expected to be in the $500 billion to $600 billion range, versus Biden's plan for a $1.9 trillion stimulus that GOP lawmakers have rejected. ... The group said in their letter that they're in favor of $160 billion for virus control measure and for some form of more targeted direct stimulus checks. The senators said they plan to unveil their plan on Monday. ... Senators signing Sunday's letter included Susan Collins of Maine, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Rob Portman of Ohio, Todd Young of Indiana, Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina." (01/31/21)


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13) Hungary: Restaurant workers protest lockdown restrictions
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"Police dispersed protesters at a Sunday demonstration in Hungary's capital where workers in the country's struggling hospitality sector demanded civil disobedience and a rethinking of coronavirus lockdown restrictions. Organizers of the demonstration on a central square in Budapest called for restaurateurs to break pandemic rules by opening their businesses to customers Monday, in defiance of strict pandemic measures limiting restaurants and cafes to takeout service. 'Every tool that we have used until now has been depleted, so beginning now, every business should open in the spirit of civil disobedience,' protest organizer Aron Ecsenyi said." (01/31/20)


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14) Russia: Navalny's wife among thousands held as police clamp down on protests
Source: WION [India]

"Russian police detained Yulia Navalnaya, the wife of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, at an unauthorised protest in Moscow on Sunday. She was among the thousands of people detained across Russia and blocked off the centre of Moscow on Sunday in a massive clampdown on protests demanding Navalny's release. OVD-Info, a monitoring group, said 2,291 people had been detained across Russia, including 520 in Moscow and 242 in Saint Petersburg, as protests continued in both cities despite a massive police clampdown. It reported more than 4,000 detentions during last weekend's protests." (01/31/21)


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15) EU regime: AstraZeneca to supply 9 million more vaccine doses
Source: ABC News

"Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has agreed to supply 9 million additional doses of its coronavirus vaccine to the European Union during the first quarter, the bloc's executive arm said Sunday. The new target of 40 million doses by the end of March is still only half what the British-Swedish company had originally aimed for, triggering a spat between AstraZeneca and the EU last week. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said after a call with seven vaccine makers Sunday that AstraZeneca will also begin deliveries one week sooner than scheduled and expand its manufacturing capacity in Europe. ... The announcement last week that AstraZeneca would initially only supply 31 million doses to the EU's 27 member states due to production problems triggered a fierce dispute between the two sides, with officials in Brussels saying they feared the company was treating the bloc unfairly compared to other customers, such as the United Kingdom." (01/31/21)


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16) Lincoln Project to Sue Giuliani, Trump, Bannon Over Capitol Riot Claims
Source: Newsweek

"Steve Schmidt, a co-founder of the Lincoln Project, announced on Saturday that the political action committee will take legal action against Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump and Steve Bannon over defamatory remarks about the Capitol riot. During a Friday interview on Steve Bannon's War Room podcast, Giuliani alleged that the insurrection from pro-Trump supporters was organized by a person with ties to the Lincoln Project. 'I don't know if I can reveal his name,' Giuliani said. 'Because we have that from anonymous sources. But he worked in the past for [Utah Senator Mitt] Romney.' ... The Lincoln Project's lawyers concluded that Giuliani had 'committed a textbook act of defamation,' and gave the attorney until Wednesday February 3rd 'to retract your statement fully and to apologize publicly to the Lincoln Project.'" (01/30/21)


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17) CA: Dodger Stadium vax center temporarily "closed by protests"
Source: BBC News [UK state media]

"A Covid-19 vaccination centre at the Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles was forced to close for an hour on Saturday after protests by anti-vaccine and far-right groups, local media report. Around 50 protesters stalled motorists who had been waiting for hours. The demonstrators carried placards decrying the effectiveness of the vaccine. Protesters told people to 'turn back,' while one man shouted: 'You're a lab rat!', the Los Angeles Times reported. The Los Angeles Fire Department closed the entrance to the stadium around 14:00 local time (22:00 GMT) as a precaution. The Los Angeles Police Department tweeted that it 'did NOT close the gates' to the stadium and all scheduled vaccines would be delivered. California Governor Gavin Newsom tweeted that that stadium was 'back up and running.'" (01/31/20)


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18) Hong Kong: Residents given new UK visa option; Beijing regime occupiers vow to hold them prisoner
Source: Business Insider

"The UK government on Sunday opened applications for new visas for Hong Kong residents, offering a promised lifeline to Hongkongers seeking to leave after China put in place its National Security [sic] Law. In response, China said it would no longer recognize British National (Overseas) passports, known as BN(O)s, as valid travel documents. ... Officially, Hong Kong is an autonomous region, with a democratic government separate from China's ruling party. But pro-democracy advocates and protesters said China's restrictive new security [sic] law is stripping away freedoms." (01/31/21)


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19) CA: Protesters tear down fence erected by UC Berkeley at People's Park
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"Up to 100 people gathered at People's Park Friday afternoon to protest a 16-story student housing complex UC Berkeley is planning to build on the block-square plot of land just off Telegraph Avenue. A mix of students and old-timers rallied in an effort to save the green space that was born amid the political activism of the 1960s. They carried signs reading 'Stop Predatory Capitalism' and shouted, 'Whose park? People's park! Whose park? Our park.' The rally was triggered by the installation of a 10-foot-tall chain-link fence that still allows access to the park but obstructs three areas of the park to allow the university to safely conduct soil analysis as part of preparatory work for the project slated to provide housing for up to 1,200 students." (01/31/20)


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20) Google pulls Element's Android chat app over content it doesn't control
Source: Engadget

"Google is once again coming under fire for its less-than-forgiving approach (real or perceived) to federated Android apps. According to Android Police, Google has pulled Element's federated chat app from the Play Store for allegedly hosting abusive content. However, Element noted that its app is only a client for the Matrix communication network, not a self-contained service -- it fights abuse on its own servers, but can't control what happens elsewhere. The app left the store without warning, Element said. The developers have sent a 'detailed appeal' to Google but hadn't heard back as of this writing." (01/30/21)


_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____

21) Treason And Thoughtcrime Are Easier Than Ever In Biden's America
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard

"President Joe Biden is supplementing his calls for national unity with fervent denunciations of extremists, insurrectionists, and domestic terrorists, as well as comparing Senate opponents to Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels. Biden is now in charge of the world's largest law firm -- the U.S. Justice Department -- as well as armies of federal enforcement agents. Biden and his Democratic allies have the tools to assure a steady stream of denunciations and indictments in the coming years against Americans targeted for their political beliefs." (01/30/21)


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22) War is Not a Queer Right
Source: exile in happy valley
by Nicky Reid

"[A]ll progress comes at a price and many of the most cherished tokens of LGBT rights are little more than concessions to assimilation that aren't worth the price of the parades that celebrate them. Hate crimes laws empower the very same Prison Industrial Complex that disproportionately enslaves, mutilates, and rapes Queer bodies. Gay marriage offers validation to gays and lesbians who choose to celebrate their partnerships with heterosexual legal traditions while simultaneously legally invalidating traditionally Queer partnerships that don't invite the state for a menage. But the worst of the worst when it comes to toxic progress can be found in that token of hetereo-cis-masculine ultraviolence known as the Military Industrial Complex, and this is why I cannot be found celebrating President Biden's decision to allow transgender people like myself serve in our nation's killing machine." (01/31/21)


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23) As The Oligarchy Creates A New Group of Revolutionaries
Source: Freeman's Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg

"As I write this, the Wall Street complex is creating a new group of radicals ... a potent new group of radicals. By now, you probably know the outline of the story: A large number of young people, many of them locked out of work, used their time to poke around the stock market, looking for opportunities; something that micro-trading apps, stimulus checks and the Internet made practical. Soon enough they discovered hedge funds doing the nasty things that hedge funds do ... and turned their game back upon them. They crashed at least one of them. Bear in mind that this was done by the rules. Except that the big, unwritten rule was violated: We're powerful and you're not." (01/29/21)


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24) Big Tech's Gravest Sin? Working With The Security State
Source: The American Conservative
by Ivan Eland

"The 'de-platforming' of Donald Trump by Twitter, Facebook, and Google-owned YouTube -- that is, Big Tech -- recently garnered big headlines. Trump's change in status has raised cries among some conservatives of 'censorship.' Yet a more libertarian view holds that these are private companies that have a right to control their own content, just as private broadcast and print media do. The word 'censorship' has been traditionally and more appropriately applied to government violations of the Constitution's First Amendment guarantee of free speech. More disturbing might be Big Tech's aiding of law enforcement's violations of the rights of individuals at home and contributions to the military's violation of human rights abroad. Despite its reputation for independence, it has recently been revealed that Big Tech's relationship with the American national security establishment may be stronger than was previously thought." (01/30/21)


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25) Marjorie Taylor Greene Is Crazy, And So Is The Rest Of Congress
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

"I really hope Americans get rid of that dangerous right wing lunatic in congress, by which I mean all of the people in congress. ... Marjorie Taylor Greene is not more crazy than all the DC politicians who agree the US should maintain planetary hegemony using bombs, regime change ops, starvation sanctions and nuclear threats. She's just a less popular genre of crazy. ... There is an ideological struggle to determine whether the Republican Party will be the kind of bat shit crazy that believes in QAnon and Jewish Space Lasers or just the kind of bat shit crazy that believes in carpet bombing Iran and destroying the ecosystem for money. ... Stop normalizing status quo politics. ... Stop normalizing the mainstream so-called 'centrists' who promote these extremist evils." (01/31/20)


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26) Follow the Money
Source: National Review
by Kevin D Willilamson

"Any time a politician tells you he is going to raise taxes but only on other people, he is selling snake oil. The truth is, politicians don't know where taxes actually land. ... When Senator Bernie Sanders talks about raising taxes on 'the rich,' he is talking about raising taxes on everybody, whether he understands that or not. When Donald Trump promised that his tariffs -- which are a sales tax -- would be paid by the Chinese, he could not have been more wrong: Those costs were born by U.S. consumers and U.S. manufacturers, who were made to pay higher prices for their inputs. You may not think you are paying 42 grand per annum for what Washington does, because that isn't what it says on your 1040. But you are paying that ..." (01/31/21)


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27) Big Tech's Playing Monopoly. It's Going to Lose.
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp

"Why is Big Tech finally showing us an anti-freedom face? If you have to ask why, the answer is almost always 'money.' ... it's also safe to say that they're looking for 'regulatory capture.' They see the handwriting on the wall. Regulation is coming whether they like it or not, but they're big players with plenty of lobbying money. They expect to influence the coming regulation to their own advantage. They don't want to be big fish in a small pond. They want to be the ONLY fish in a big pond. They don't want to beat new competitors on the merits of their product and services. They want to use government regulation to make it impossible for those new competitors to put up any competition at all. They're not monopolies yet, but they want to be. And they're making their play right now." (01/31/21)


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28) Presidents Are That Their Worst In War
Source: Libertarian Institute
by David D'Amato

"Last week, as he began his administration, President Biden vowed to wage a 'full-scale wartime effort' against Covid-19, signing several executive orders, including a new interstate travel mask mandate. That Joe Biden desires to be and sees himself as a wartime president offers hints as to his attitudes about the power of the presidency and government power more generally. Today's 'liberals' aren't very liberal at all; they see actual liberal principles like due process and respect for the dignity and autonomy of the individual as having been rendered obsolete by faith in science -- tendentiously defined -- and expertise. Those old liberal principles would just get in the way of the plans of the powerful who sit in the topmost quarters of the state-corporate nexus. And there's nothing secret or conspiratorial about this; it plays out in the open, for all to see." (01/30/21)


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29) Is there politics after polarization?
Source: EconLog
by Alberto Mingardi

"[I]s 'uniting' Americans after a much heated electoral campaign something that people really care about? Is it simply a posture for reassuring the losers? Is it something only those who lost care about? In a battle so symbolically intense, is there any genuine intention to meet halfway, on either side? It seems to me that one component of political polarization is the belief in a basic difference in the moral fiber of one's opponent. The more intense the fight, the greater the impression that something essential is at stake: and in these later years, it is seldom policy-related, it is far more personality-related, particularly after Donald Trump." (01/30/21)


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30) Hey media, your bias is showing
Source: American Consequences
by Trish Regan

"With Joe Biden as president now, everything's going to be perfectly fine in the country, right? That's what the media seems to think. With the new administration ushered in, the mainstream news is treating President Biden as nothing short of the Second Coming (and the first to accomplish anything, apparently). With aid from the most diverse Cabinet of all time (we get it!), he and the rest of the Democrats will suddenly save America from all its woes ... COVID-19 will disappear. The economy will right itself. And we'll all finally unite as citizens. All of this unabashed Biden-love has come gushing from the media after he's been in office for less than two weeks. Isn't it the job of reporters to actually question the government and its leaders?" (01/30/20)


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31) How Free Speech Drives Economic Progress
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by David Chapek

"Free speech is usually considered a constitutional right, which is certainly correct. It's also often discussed as a human right -- also correct. But the benefits of free speech go further. Free speech acts as a gateway toward human improvement and the betterment of society. How, you ask? It's simple: innovation." (01/30/21)


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32) End the FAA
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal

"I don't like any agency of the feral government, but right now I especially hate the FAA (almost as much as I hate the ATF, IRS, DEA, etc.). I enjoy following the SpaceX Starship development down in south Texas. I'm excited to watch the next test flight. After several weather delays, it was scheduled to launch Thursday. Then the FAA decided to interfere. The low-down slimy FAA pulled their flight permit (or whatever it is called) at the last minute; the morning of the planned test flight. And refuses to issue another one until their demands are met. How does the FAA imagine they have 'authority' to be issuing or withholding permits to anyone for anything?" (01/30/21)


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33) Are Democrats Unlearning the Lesson of 2020's Senate Races?
Source: The American Prospect
by Alexander Sammon

"Even with a power-sharing agreement coming into place, the fate of the Senate is never really decided. The filibuster remains unresolved and will hang over the Chamber until it's extinguished, with the ultimate fate of things like D.C. statehood or democracy reform or dozens of other laws hanging in the balance. Meanwhile, this term will play out with an eye toward the spate of Senate seats up for grabs in 2022. That the Chamber's Democratic majority could be easily reversed in next year's elections will affect voting patterns all year long. The 2022 cycle has effectively already begun, with a handful of seats in play in states where Joe Biden's success would have Democrats believe they can compete. Critical Rust Belt states like Wisconsin, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and elusively purple North Carolina, are all on the ballot." (01/29/20)


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34) Checks and Balances Are a Feature, Not a Bug, of American Government
Source: Independent Institute
by Randall G Holcombe

"President Biden campaigned on an agenda that would make significant changes in many public policy areas ranging from immigration policy, tax policy, Second Amendment rights, and more. This CNN article notes that the judiciary is standing in the way of the president's immigration policy. This Wall Street Journal article notes that the divided Senate also presents a potential obstacle to the president's policies. But this is how the American Founders designed their government to work. The president is not a dictator." (01/30/21)


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35) Industrial Policy: Obviously a Blind, Lame, and Drunk Donkey
Source: Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux

"Impressed with Oren Cass's performance against Scott Lincicome in the Soho Forum debate over industrial policy, you wonder why I, in this earlier letter, 'ignore Cass's point that market don't account for the country's future needs.' ... Cass is wrong. Understanding neither the role of financial markets nor of prices -- and apparently ignorant of economic history -- he swallows the pedestrian fallacy that markets serve only the short run while government serves the long run. The truth is the opposite." (01/30/21)


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36) Despite What They Tell You: The Constitution Never Discriminated Against Women
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Rob Natelson

"It has been over a century since the state legislatures ratified the 19th amendment, which guaranteed female suffrage nationwide. The amendment is worded in a way that readily provokes two questions: (1) Taken in context with previous amendments, it implies that women already voted in some states; is this true? and (2) why didn't the amendment add the right to hold federal office? The answers are: (1) Yes, before the amendment was ratified, women voted in many states. Where they were blocked from the polls, it resulted from a decision by state authorities. It was not dictated by the Constitution. (2) The original Constitution permitted women to hold federal office, as demonstrated by the congressional service, before the 19th amendment, of Rep. Jeanette Rankin of Montana. In fact, the Constitution never barred women either from voting or from holding federal office." (01/29/21)


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37) I Can't Bring Myself to Care Anymore
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter

"There was a time when an allegation of racism was one of the worst things someone could be accused of. Now, it's a punchline. Back in the day, the word had meaning: aside from an occasional Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson shakedown, it was not cavalierly tossed around to score political points and it was not reported on without something close to irrefutable proof. Now it's a debate tactic of the left to avoid serious engagement and cover for a lack of factual back-up. Everything is 'racist' now, and as someone who actually used to care, who was disgusted at the concept and its existence, thanks to the weaponization of the term, I can't bring myself to care about it anymore." (01/31/20)


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38) Let Tribal Nations Manage Bears Ears
Source: Property and Environment Research Center
by Hannah Downey

"If newly elected President Joe Biden is serious about wanting to 'empower tribal nations to govern their own communities and make their own decisions,' he should start by letting them manage their own monuments. Biden announced Thursday that he's taking immediate steps to restore Bears Ears National Monument to its original size after President Trump reduced the boundaries in 2017. The large, geologically diverse landscape of the southern Utah monument is a treasured site for the region's native tribes and is one of the most valued archaeological sites in the country. The restoration is part of Biden's platform to give tribes a 'greater role in the care and management of public lands that are of cultural significance to Tribal Nations.' So how about giving them some real authority this time?" (01/29/21)


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39) The Cuomo Conspiracy
Source: Commentary
by Noah Rothman

"The world of political commentary is in a state of shock today. At least, the world of political commentary is pretending to be shocked, albeit unconvincingly. The scandalous revelations emerging from the New York State attorney general's office, which has alleged that Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration may have underestimated the state's official COVID-related death toll in nursing homes by as much as 55 percent, has forced some to reevaluate their positive impression of the governor's leadership. But the accusations emerging from Attorney General Letitia James's office came as no surprise to anyone who had been paying the slightest attention to New York's handling of the COVID crisis." (01/29/21)


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40) Influencers And Travel Bans -- The Problem With Government Planning
Source: Continental Telegraph
by Tim Worstall

"There's a base problem with any form of government planning of the economy. Which is that the economy is a large and complex place. So, any attempt to do anything detailed is going to get lost in that welter of complexities. This is just what happens." (01/29/21)


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41) Helping hands across the US border
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff

"When he was vice president seven years ago, Joe Biden scanned the globe for the most compelling problems to tackle. 'Of all the places in crisis in the world, I came to believe that Central America had the best chance,' he later wrote. He saw the countries of Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (the main source of unauthorized migrants into the United States) as a critical link in his broader vision, namely that the entire Western Hemisphere could be 'middle class, secure, and democratic.' He was able to convince Congress to provide nearly $800 million to lift up the so-called Northern Triangle nations. On Jan. 21, a day after becoming president, Mr. Biden again focused on Central America. This time, he raised his expectations for the three southern neighbors." (01/28/20)


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42) Hardball Is for Winners
Source: Model Citizen
by Will Wilkinson

"Democrats control the White House and both chambers of Congress -- barely. It's nice, but it won't last long if they fail to unify and exploit their window of power to revitalize voters' rights, mandate fairer elections, and make our system more representative of the American people and less prone to truculent, self-reinforcing minority rule. Weary of repeatedly seizing defeat from the jaws of victory, many Democrats demand that their party take a page from the GOP's 'Fuck you, I win' playbook and play retaliatory hardball. ... This may sound exciting to outraged Democrats, but their best-case outcome from smashmouth electoral tit-for-tat isn't a golden age of enduring Democratic rule; it's a more moderate and inclusive Republican Party. ... Democratic electoral hardball could de-Trumpify the GOP and set America's collapsing, polarized democracy on a steadier, more equitable footing." (01/29/21)


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43) Grace the Notes
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

"Harriett Tubman was an American hero, the great Underground Railroad liberator of slaves, worthy of many honors. But should she grace the $20 Federal Reserve Note? ... Tubman is my kind of hero. [Andrew] Jackson, on the other hand, was great with his opposition to the Second National Bank, but his horrific removal of the Cherokee left a great stain on his reputation. Much different for Tubman -- a criminal in her day, a secular saint in ours. Jackson owned slaves; Tubman freed slaves. Yet, take a step back: Is it an honor to be on a Federal Reserve Note?" (01/29/21)


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44) Biden and the "After Trump" era: How reality has been abruptly reinvented
Source: Fox News Forum
by Victor Davis Hanson

"The new AT age (as in 'After Trump') began on either Election Day, Nov. 3, or on Inauguration Day, Jan. 20. But either way, reality as we had known it for four years has been abruptly reinvented. Pfizer had hinted that a vaccine could be ready in late October. Then, mysteriously, it wasn't. Then, stranger still, it appeared -- a few days after Election Day. Suddenly, after Joe Biden's inauguration, Illinois, Michigan and other blue states eased some of their lockdown restrictions .... During the Trump Age, the president was supposedly responsible for every death from COVID-19. Now, the media reports that career scientists and health administrators in the federal government, especially at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, were largely to blame for past slow testing, and were tardy and lax in apprising the nation of the infectious threat." (01/31/20)


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45) Foreign Policy Restraint: a Bold Idea for Biden's First 100 Days
Source: Cato Institute
by Brandon Valeriano & Eric Gomez

"The primary task of President Joe Biden's first 100 days will be to prevent further domestic political violence and to correct the misinformation of the past administration. It will not be to return the United States to a position of primacy in the international system. The main ways the new administration can restore confidence is through an expansive and comprehensive COVID-19 recovery effort at home and by rejoining international agreements." (01/29/21)


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46) Why we must repeal our hate-speech laws
Source: spiked
by staff

"Our political culture grows more censorious by the day. Social-media companies have banned an elected US president. University campuses have been turned into identitarian 'safe spaces.' And criminal law is mobilised with increasing regularity to police thought, through draconian legislation. Andrew Bridgen is Conservative MP for North-West Leicestershire. He is campaigning to scrap Britain's illiberal 'hate speech' laws. spiked caught up with him to find out more." (01/29/21)


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47) Two Books on Flirting with Totalitarianism
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden

"The political science course I took last semester on Politics and Film covered a wide range of topics. And there were a number of auxiliary readings suggested and some that came up in discussion. I bought two of the auxiliary books -- Gwynne Dyer's War and Elizabeth Minnich's The Evil of Banality. And our professor recommended two books on intellectual fellow-travelers to totalitarianism. Here is a capsule review of each." (01/29/21)


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48) GameStop Saga Reveals a Society Dominated by Wall Street and Crying Out for Change
Source: Common Dreams
by Sam Pizzigati

"You've probably seen by now some of those new -- and jaw-dropping -- stats on billionaire wealth. Analysts at Inequality.org started the statistical ball rolling this past fall with riveting research on how much the fortunes of America's super rich have climbed since Covid began crushing the U.S. economy. This week those same researchers have come back with an alarming update. Since mid-March, the latest numbers show, America's billionaire fortunes have climbed 38.6 percent, over $1.1 trillion, enough to send 'every one of the roughly 331 million people in the United States' a Covid stimulus check of over $3,400. We know exactly (at least mathematically) why billionaire fortunes are rising so fast: Billionaires own a disproportionately large share of corporate stock." (01/30/20)


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49) Thirty-One Flavors of Fascism
Source: CounterPunch
by Paul Street

"'Leftists' I know have had their undies tied up in a nasty knot bunch over other leftists' use of the F-word -- fascism -- to describe Trump and his backers. Fascism, seriously? Yes, absolutely, provided we have a reasonable definition. In his incisive 2009 book The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, David Neiwert rightly observed that 'Fascism is not a single, readily identifiable principle but rather a political pathology best understood (as in psychology) as a constellation of traits. Taken individually,' Neiwert wrote, 'many of these traits seem innocuous enough .... Only when taken together does the constellation become clear, and then it is fated to take on a life of its own.' What comprises this collection of characteristics? Here are my top 29 traits of fascism, cobbled together with no claim to originality in concept or phrasing ..." (01/29/21)


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50) Quantum Vibe, 01/29/21
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser

Cartoon. (01/29/21)


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51) Americans Abandoning Free Speech Better Brace for the Consequences
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille

"After the ugly exchanges that erupted in the Capitol riot, CNN pointed out that 'questions emerge about unrestrained free expression, long championed by First Amendment theorists as a benefit to society, no matter how ugly and hateful.' The network quoted scholars who conclude that the Internet and free speech protections make it too easy to exchange bad ideas. None of these fans of speech restrictions explicitly advocate suppression of activists or ideologies; they favor controls on what they claim are false, extremist, or misleading communications. But they don't explain why reversing speech protections would accomplish their goals when misinformation existed long before modern jurisprudence, filling the pages of the country's newspapers and fueling political contests despite legal peril. Nor do they explain why they're so eager to hand more control over speech to government officials who have a historically rocky relationship with truth." (01/29/21)


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52) This time, it might really be different
Source: Living Freedom
by Claire Wolfe

"A number of hedge funds had decided that GameStop was in deep trouble and shorted their stock on a huge scale. Their intention was to drive the stock to zero. [A self-organized army of] day traders bought it up anyway, driving the price from $6 per share to over $300. This caused multiple billions of dollars of losses to the short-selling hedge funds. This was less about GameStop and more about ordinary Americans mounting a powerful, and at least temporarily effective, attack against the forces they perceive as destroying the economy. This isn't a left/right phenomena. The day traders aren't Trumpists, or racists, or progressives, or Antifa. There may be some from each of those groups in among the hundreds of thousands, but those ideologies are not what is driving this. It's closer to a have/have-not divide." (01/29/21)


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53) The Old Media and the New Must Work Together to Preserve Free Speech Values
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by David Greene

"A few years ago, I was summoned to the office of an eminent TV journalist, one of those people commonly described as 'the dean of ...' something. He wanted me to come by, he said, because 'he had an idea to run by me.' ... This is a paraphrase: 'We should bring back the Fairness Doctrine. And not just for broadcast news, but for all media, especially the Internet. Looking back, I think it made us better journalists.' ... I've been a First Amendment lawyer for 20+ years and have worked with and on behalf of journalists and news organizations for much of that time. During all that time, without exception, journalists considered the fairness doctrine to be a serious infringement on editorial discretion and freedom of the press in general." (01/29/21)


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54) Domestic Enemies
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul

"Here they go again. Many Democrats in Congress, foolish partisans, and a rabid corporate press have really set their sights on Americans who don't toe their party or ideological line. YOU are now the enemy according to them. If you don't agree with their collectivist plans for this country, they want you on a proverbial enemies list. They say you need to be 'deprogrammed,' even though they are the ones that control all the mainstream propaganda and programming." (01/29/21)


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55) Paternalism and Robinhood Revisited
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Ethan Yang

"Last month I wrote about a lawsuit filed against the popular self-guided investing app Robinhood by Massachusetts regulators and how it was the epitome of the nanny state. Essentially the regulators took issue with Robinhood's consumer appeal, citing things like digital confetti, shiny buttons, and ease of access as serious hazards to inexperienced investors. They alleged that Robinhood wasn't doing enough to act in the 'best interests of their clients,' essentially calling for stricter regulations. ... In a shocking turn of events, Robinhood blocked the trading of [Gamestop and other stocks on Thursday .... The decision on Robinhood's behalf came as a shock given its mission to democratize the financial industry, which it was doing a pretty good job at until now." (01/29/21)


_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____

56) Free Talk Live, 01/31/21
Source: Free Talk Live

"Short squeezing can take down the entire system :: Short squeezing defined :: Memes and revolution :: Government and bankers are the crooks :: Mass delusional psychosis :: The Boomer Doomer :: Shattering the delusions :: Corruption in New Mexico :: Benefits of home schooling :: Hosts Captain Kickass, Melanie, Peakless Mountaineer." [Flash audio or MP3] (01/31/21)


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57) Lions Of Liberty Podcast, episode 498
Source: Lions Of Liberty

"Running Counter to the Flow with Buck Johnson." [various formats] (01/31/21)


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58) Shuja Paul on The Scott Horton Show
Source: Libertarian Institute

"Scott interviews Shuja Paul about his forthcoming documentary, Waiting to Explode: Forgotten Bombs of a Secret War Continue to Kill." [various formats] (01/31/21)


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59) The Chris Spangle Show, 01/30/21
Source: We Are Libertarians

"GameStop and RobinHood Explained plus a look at Joe Biden's Executive Orders." [various formats] (01/30/21)


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60) The Anarchist Experience, episode 304
Source: The Anarchist Experience

"Rich, MC, and KS discuss whether or not there was anything wrong with the GameStop short squeeze, long term State funded boondoggles, and why its important to always be on the lookout for opportunities." [various formats] (01/30/21)


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61) Model Citizen, 01/30/21
Source: Model Citizen

"Richard Florida on the Post-Pandemic City." [various formats] (01/30/21)


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62) Free Man Beyond The Wall, episode 531
Source: Free Man Beyond The Wall

"Talking WallStreetBets and BlueChew w/ Aaron and Paz From 'Timeline Earth.'" [various formats] (01/30/21)


-----

63) Don't Tread On Anyone, 01/30/21
Source: Libertarian Institute

"What is 'the State' or 'the Government?'" [various formats] (01/30/21)


-----

64) This Week in Common Sense, 01/30/21
Source: Common Sense

"Paul Jacob appraises the John Brennan and China threats." [Flash audio or MP3] (01/30/21)


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65) Part Of The Problem, 01/30/21
Source: GaS Digital Network

"Domestic Terrorism." [various formats] (01/30/21)


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66) Everything Voluntary with Skyler J. Collins, episode 459
Source: Everything Voluntary

"When Does Law Become Criminal? & Technology Kills the State." [various formats] (01/30/21)


-----

67) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 01/29/21
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report

"Government Unhinged: No Constitutional Restraints, Just Executive Orders!" [Flash video] (01/29/21)


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68) Commentary Podcast, 01/29/21
Source: Commentary

"Governor of Doom." [various formats] (01/29/21)


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69) The Fifth Column, episode 222
Source: The Fifth Column

"Moynihan Squeezes the Short, Cynics and Skeptics." [various formats] (01/29/21)


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70) Conflicts of Interest, episode 64
Source: Libertarian Institute

"Fighting the Federal Government's War Machine guest Mike Maharrey." [various formats] (01/29/21)


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71) Working People, 01/29/21
Source: In These Times
by Maximillian Alvarez

"Toiling in the Marijuana Fields: A conversation with an organic weed grower in Alaska." [various formats] (01/29/20)


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72) Free Thoughts Podcast, episode 379
Source: Libertarianism.org

"Walter Olson joins the show to discuss the tense situation that arose after the 2020 election results were announced." [various formats] (01/29/21)


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73) Reason Interview: Corey DeAngelis
Source: Reason

"Why 2021 Is a Turning Point for School Choice." [various formats] (01/29/21)


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74) Declare Your Independence with Ernest Hancock, 01/29/21
Source: Freedom's Phoenix

"Ernest goes over the Freedom's Phoenix Headline News; Updates the LOVE Bus Liberty Tour ... Andrew Petropoulos and Vi Vegilante (Daylight Rising Media) on activist tools for getting your message out using cards, flyers, stickers, etc." [MP3] (01/29/21)


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75) Bloggingheads.tv, 01/29/21
Source: Bloggingheads.tv

"Selling Trump Short | Robert Wright & Mickey Kaus." [Flash video] (01/29/21)


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