Author: nick

Happy Tax Day, if such a thing can exist. Today marks the last day that most Americans can file their taxes with Uncle Sam or else face financial consequences. For most people, tax filing is stressful and messy. And even though average refunds are expected to significantly jump thanks to the GOP’s sprawling tax bill from last year, nearly 60 percent of Americans say taxes are still too high, according to a new Gallup poll. But the burden of paying taxes is more than monetary. Here are four other reasons to loathe tax season.   In addition to spending about…

In late March, European Union (E.U.) officials announced they had taken down a five-country cigarette-smuggling operation and seized over 40 tons of tobacco products. The ambitious network reportedly transshipped the cigarettes far and wide to obscure their sources and destinations, while also hiding them in hidden compartments built into cargo containers. Why would smugglers go through such effort to move perfectly legal products, and why would the authorities care? In Europe, as in the United States, the answer is the same: sky-high taxes. You are reading The Rattler from J.D. Tuccille and Reason. Get more of J.D.’s commentary on government…

he makers of our Constitution undertook to secure conditions favorable to the pursuit of happiness… They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the Government, the right to be let alone — the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by civilized men.~ Justice Louis D. Brandeis (1856-1941) When the Bill of Rights was being crafted in the House of Representatives, it was left to James Madison to articulate the values that would provide an insulation between government negating freedom and the inalienable rights of all persons. The right to worship freely,…

I’ve been trying to distract myself from the end of the world, as Trump blows up not only Iran but the Republican Party with a pointless war that has spiked oil prices, depleted our munitions, closed the Strait of Hormuz, jettisoned America’s moral standing, distracted the president from immigration, and, so far, cost us $30 billion in direct military spending, with $200 billion more requested. So I’ve been spending my time on murder mysteries. Reading David Baldacci’s action-thriller To Die For, I was willing to suspend disbelief and accept his portrayal of the CIA and FBI as all-powerful, super-stealth agencies,…

The Iran war has widened the gulf between the United States and once-Great Britain. President Trump threatened to withdraw from NATO in retaliation for Britain’s unwillingness to join the war. He said Prime Minister Keir Starmer is “not Winston Churchill”, and that the Special Relationship is imperiled by Starmer importing and appeasing Muslim voters “from foreign lands who hate you.” All true—but Trump has given a boon to Britain’s most hated prime minister on record, because Starmer’s decision to abstain from the war, unpopular on both sides of the pond, looks prudent. Iran now controls the Strait of Hormuz, holding…

From S. Fla. Muslim Fed., Inc. v. Atrium Trs I, LP, decided Jan. 27 by Judge Raag Singhal (S.D. Fla.), but only recently posted on Westlaw; an appeal is pending: Plaintiff, South Florida Muslim Federation, Inc. (“SFMF”) describes itself as “an umbrella organization representing over thirty South Florida entities serving religious and secular Muslims, including Islamic centers, schools, and other similar community organizations, and over 200,000 Muslims in South Florida.” It operates “a resource-sharing hub” that connects the South Florida Muslim community with “both religious and secular businesses, goods and services.” SFMF sponsors an annual conference for the South Florida…

Today’s guest is Stimson Center Senior Fellow Emma Ashford, a foreign policy analyst who has written widely on post–Cold War strategy, the Middle East, and the limits of American power. An adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, a columnist at Foreign Policy, and a former Cato Institute staffer, Ashford is the author of First Among Equals: U.S. Foreign Policy in a Multipolar World. She talks with Nick Gillespie about the incoherence of President Donald Trump’s Iran strategy and the surprising and disturbingly ineffective continuity of U.S. foreign policy since the end of the Cold War.   Previous appearance:…

The President is committing lives and treasure to war. Congress has not authorized it. And no citizen has any legal standing to object. That is not a constitutional republic operating as designed. It is one operating as though the founding document does not mean what it says. A Distinction the Courts Refuse to Make Not every presidential use of military force is unconstitutional. The commander-in-chief power is real. The executive has discretion over how forces are deployed, where they are positioned, and how operations are conducted. Courts are right to avoid second-guessing those decisions. But there is a categorical difference…

This post first appeared on Pat MacFarlane’s email list, “What They’re Not Tellin’ You” Sign up for that here.  The last few months I’ve been especially conscious of how time is passing us by. This being my original Liberty Weekly mailing list, some of you have been with me since I got my original Tom Woods shoutout in July 2016. That was almost ten years ago now. At thirty-two I am by no measure an old man, but I feel like it. Those ten years were at once an eye blink and an eternity. During that time, the arc of…

Pope Leo's Attitude Towards Iran's Evil Is Shocking Source link