Sheldon Richman

The Biden administration, along with mainstream politicians and journalists, are really upset that U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty has forbidden the executive branch of the central government from communicating with social-media platforms for the purpose of censoring or otherwise suppressing constitutionally protected speech. Judge Doughty’s action came in an important free-speech lawsuit filed against … Continue reading “Free Speech Upsets Powers That Be”

Occasionally, the news makes one cheer. That’s the case with a preliminary injunction granted this week (July 4) to stop the federal government from suppressing lawful speech on social media. U.S. District Court Judge Terry A. Doughty took the action in the case of State of Missouri ex rel. Schmitt, et al. v. Joseph R. … Continue reading “Good News on Free Speech — for Now”

In an extra special way, foreign policy matters crucially to champions of individual liberty. Not that it doesn’t matter to other people too – just not in all the same ways. Anyone who understands the importance of keeping government power strictly limited in domestic matters (if such power must exist at all) will also grasp … Continue reading “Foreign Policy Matters”

The word that strikes fear in the power elite is China. It’s not fear of an existential threat; rather it’s fear that America is becoming second fiddle in world politics. As a result, some believe, or say they believe, that war with China is inevitable. For them, that’s a fancy word for desirable. Here’s an idea: … Continue reading “Let’s Not Go to War With China”

An older generation of Americans, including Jewish Americans, admire the colonists who resisted the British king and parliament in the late 1700s. Jewish Americans go further and admire the Judeans who revolted against the Greeks and Romans (twice) in antiquity. So isn’t it peculiar that they do not applaud the similar Palestinian resistance to Israel’s … Continue reading “Hear, O Israel – Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death”

By now Randolph Bourne’s observation that “war is the health of the state” ought to be such a cliché that it would hardly need to be said. And yet, it must be said – often – because many still haven’t gotten the word. If the state is the adversary of liberty, as it nearly always … Continue reading “The Scourge of Conscription”

Collective security, the official goal of NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, seems plausible on its face. A group of nations ostensibly concerned about a common threat agree to defend one another in the event of an attack. “All for one and one for all,” as the Three Musketeers said. But like many things, the … Continue reading “NATO and Collective Insecurity”

If you’re looking for morality tales – clashes between the clearly good and the clearly bad – I suggest you look elsewhere than the geopolitical theater. There we find only conflicts between shades of darker gray. This seems to have been the case throughout history. Empires and would-be empires vied with rival empires and would-be … Continue reading “Shades of Gray in the Russia-Ukraine War”

What’s going on with Joe Biden? Is he oblivious to the fact that Russia has about as many strategic nuclear weapons as the United States has? Is he taking advice from the neocons, who apparently believe that we should not fear a nuclear holocaust because that’s exactly what Vladimir Putin wants us to do? (I … Continue reading “Joe Biden, What the Hell?”

To judge by what Congress is up to these days, one would think that it wants to reward Israel for its relentless confiscation of Palestinian land and continued ethnic cleansing. Congress – which is not only interested in “the Benjamins,” that is, Israel Lobby contributions – is surely operating in what Yakov Hirsch calls “hasbara culture,” according to … Continue reading “Congress Again Rewards Israel’s Misdeeds”