Turkey Needs to Stop Buying ISIS Oil | The Real Ratigan

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Ron Paul Breaks The Set with Abby Martin on the Illegal Syria War, Terror Blowback and the Tea Party H...

An outstanding interview and some GREAT food for thought from Dr. Paul and Abby Martin.


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Ron Paul full "In Depth" interview C-SPAN 8/3/14 *HQ*

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Ron Paul On The ISIS Threat.

FYI - From Dr. Ron Paul and The Ron Paul Channel/Voices of Liberty.




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The Felonious Monk Tells The President & Federal Government to PAY THEIR BILLS!

FYI - Some REAL education & #TRUTH for the Federal Government from The Felonious Monk!

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Amber Lyon's Peace, Love & Pepper Spray Interview With Abby Martin.

FYI - From RT/Breaking The Set/Abby Martin and Amber Lyon. A MUST watch!  Please pass on!

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Gov. Gary Johnson at the Stop Watching Us Rally in Washington, D.C.

FYI - Gov. Gary Johnson at the Stop Watching Us Rally in Washington, D.C.

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Gov. Gary Johnson on the NSA, Drones, and the Tea Party.

FYI - Gov. Gary Johnson on Russia Today TV.

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Ron Paul: An Opening to Iran?

FYI - From Dr. Ron Paul/The Ron Paul Institute.

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An Opening to Iran?

Sunday October 6, 2013

Last week, for the first time since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the US president spoke with his Iranian counterpart. Their 15 minute telephone call was reported to open the door to further high-level discussions. This is a very important event.

I have been saying for years that we should just talk to the Iranians. After all, we talked to the Soviets when they actually had thousands of nuclear missiles pointed at us! The Iranians have none, according to our own intelligence services. I even suggested a few years ago that we should “offer friendship” to them. Unfortunately, so many so-called experts have a stake in keeping tensions high and pushing us to war. They did not want to hear what I was saying. It seems, though, this is beginning to change now with these recent events.

The phone call was one of the most important moves away from war and conflict in a long time. Taken with the Obama administration’s decision to hold off on bombing Syria, we should be encouraged.

It is also probably a good sign that this phone call has infuriated the neoconservatives at home, the pro-war faction in Israel, and the hard-liners in Iran. Now that a process of negotiation has begun, the chance of war has been significantly reduced. The US is very unlikely to bomb Iran while it is talking with them, and Israel is also unlikely to start a war while the US is at the negotiating table with the Iranian leadership.

But we should also remain very cautious. Obama’s war on Syria was only stopped because the American people finally stood up and said “enough.” The message was received loud and clear and it shocked the neocons pushing war. They were used to being in charge of foreign policy.

In a recent CNN poll, more than 75% of Americans favored negotiations with Iran. This is very good news, but those pushing for war will not give up that easily. Believe it or not, some Members of Congress have recently introduced legislation to authorize war on Iran – even as these first steps toward a peaceful resolution of our differences begin to bear fruit!

So no, they will not give up that easily. There are many in the president’s own Cabinet who do not want to see US/Iranian relations improve. Even the president himself seems unable to avoid provocative statements -- such as his claim that the Iranians are only willing to talk because the sanctions have been so successful in bringing them to the table. That is a false and unnecessary boast, and if he continues in such a way he will destroy what progress has been made.

But we are in the majority now. There are more than three-quarters of us who do not want war on Iran. It is essential that we keep the pressure on the Administration to ignore the war demands in both political parties and among the so-called foreign policy experts. There will be much more war propaganda coming our way as the warmongers get more desperate. Americans must see this propaganda for what it is. They should educate themselves and become familiar with alternative news sources to gain the tools to counter the propaganda. We do have a better chance at peace, but this is no time to let down our guard!

Copyright © 2013, Ron Paul. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted provided full credit is given and a live link provided.  

Ron Paul on the Budget Showdown: A Grand Bargain for Liberty?

FYI - From Rep. Ron Paul/The Ron Paul Institute.

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A Grand Bargain for Liberty?

Sunday September 29, 2013

As I write this, it appears that the federal government is about to shut down because the House and Senate cannot agree on whether to add language defunding or delaying Obamacare to the “Continuing Resolution”. Despite all the hand-wringing heard in DC, a short-term government shut down (which doesn’t actually shut down the government) will not cause the country to collapse.
And the American people would benefit if Obamacare was defeated or even delayed.

Obamacare saddles the American health care system with new spending and mandates which will raise the price and lower the quality of health care. Denying funds to this program may give Congress time to replace this bill with free-market reforms that put patients and physicians back in charge of health care. Defunding the bill before it becomes implemented can spare the American people from falling under the worst effects of this law.

As heartened as we should be by the fight against Obamacare, we should be equally disheartened by the fact that so few in DC are talking about making real cuts in federal spending. Even fewer are talking about reductions in the most logical place to reduce spending: the military-industrial complex.

 The US military budget constitutes almost 50 percent of the total worldwide military spending.  Yet to listen to some in Congress, one would think that America was one canceled multi-million dollar helicopter contract away from being left totally defenseless.

What makes this military spending impossible to justify is that is does not benefit the American people. Instead, by fomenting resentment and hatred among the world population, our costly interventionist foreign policy makes our people less safe. Thus, reducing spending on militarism would not only help balance the budget, but would enhance our security.

Yet both the House and the Senate continuing resolutions not only fail to reduce military spending, they actually authorize $20 billion more in military spending than authorized by the “sequestration” created by the 2011 Budget Control Act.  Most of the supposedly “draconian” sequestration cuts are not even cuts; instead, they are "reductions in the planed rate of spending.” This is where Congress increases spending but by less than originally planned—and yet they claim to cut spending.

Under sequestration, military spending increases by 18 percent instead of by 20 percent over the next ten years. Yet some so-called conservatives are so opposed to these phony cuts in military spending that they would support increased taxes and increased welfare “military” spending. This “grand bargain” would benefit the DC political class and the special interests, but it would be a disaster for the American people.

Instead of grand bargains of increased spending and taxes, those of us who support limited government and free markets should form a coalition with antiwar liberals to reduce spending on both the military industrial complex and domestic welfare programs. Instead of raising taxes on “the rich” we should also work to reduce all corporate subsidies. This “grand bargain” would truly be a win-win for the American people.

Sadly, even if a congressional coalition to cut both warfare and welfare spending was formed, it would be unlikely to carry the day as long as the Federal Reserve is willing to enable Congress’s debt addiction by monetizing the debt. But this cannot last forever. At some point the Fed’s policies will result in hyper-inflation and an economic crisis that will force Congress to reduce spending.

Hopefully, the growing number of Americans who are awaking to the dangers of our current path can convince Congress to reduce overseas militarism and begin an orderly drawdown of the welfare state before this crisis occurs

A Conversation with Jon Huntsman - a REAL public servant

FYI - A GREAT conversation with former Governor and Ambassador, Jon Huntsman, Jr. - a REAL public servant, not a politician. 

This really is a must watch with some very good food for thought.

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Are We Rome?

FYI - Some VERY GOOD food for thought from Ben Powell and ReasonTV.

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Gov. Gary Johnson's statement on U.S. intervention in Syria.

FYI - From The Office of Gov. Gary Johnson.

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-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Gov. Gary Johnson released the following statement concerning U.S. intervention in Syria:


“No one disagrees that the use of chemical weapons in Syria is despicable, and the results tragic. However, those facts alone do not make going to war either justified or even a good idea. And while the Administration can parse words all day long, launching missiles or dropping bombs constitutes going to war.

“There is no clear U.S. interest in what is, in reality, a civil war on the other side of the globe. Likewise, there is nothing to indicate at this time that intervening in that civil war will benefit anyone -- either here in America or in Syria.

“The consequences of our military actions in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan should be a lesson to President Obama and others who appear determined to act without any meaningful strategic or national defense justification.”

FYI - From Michael Scheuer/Non-Intervention.com.

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-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Use the Constitution to prevent war with Syria

By mike | Published: August 22, 2013

Syria is getting to be an old and boring story, but it still is a deadly come-hither trap in which America may yet be bloodily ensnared by its bipartisan interventionists.

By now the story is familiar. A government in Damascus that is officially recognized by all the Great Powers, the UN, and other major international organizations is attacked by domestic dissidents who are supported and militarily powered by al-Qaeda and other mujahedin, and funded by the Saudi, Emirati, and Qatari regimes. The “International Community,” as usual, sides with any set of miscreants that can utter the word “democracy” and thereby ensures the currently ongoing bloodbath in Syria. President Obama, his party, and the Republicans also side with al-Qaeda and the Islamists against Asaad in a piece of thinking that is perfectly logical when you accept that none of that crowd cares about preserving America’s security and financial viability, or about how many American lives they waste.

Now, we have fresh reports that the Asaad regime has used chemical weapons against areas belonging to the Syrian government’s Islamist enemies and that we have — perhaps? maybe ? probably? certainly? — crossed Obama’s much-vaunted red line for sending the U.S. military to teach Asaad a lesson about how to be a good citizen of the world, or at least to be more kind to Syrian citizens than Obama ever intends to be toward U.S. citizens.

Obama is, of course, consulting with his interventionist brains trust — starting with the towering intellects of Biden, Kerry, Brennan, and Susan Rice — and the president will certainly order those senile Republican champions of all war, all the time, McCain and Graham, to demand a U.S. military assault on Asaad’s government.

Amidst the developing momentum for the U.S. to enter another war that will strengthen al-Qaeda and its allies — like the one Obama fought in Libya and the anti-democratic one in Egypt he authorized this month — perhaps it is worth reviewing three salient and crystal clear facts:

–1st : The United States has no genuine national-security interests in Syria. If all Syrians turn up dead tomorrow morning it would have precisely no impact on security of the United States. Syrians share this characteristic with those living in most areas of the world outside North America, which is the main reason that America would fight very few wars if it ever begins to elect adults to the presidency and the Congress.

–2nd: Unless America is attacked first, no U.S. president has the constitutional authority to take America to war without a formal declaration of war by Congress. Asaad surely is not going to stage an amphibious invasion of America, although a month-long visit from Syria’s Republican Guard could do nothing but good for the now-occupied Political/Hollywood summer-vacation cesspools in the Hamptons and Martha’s Vineyard. Therefore, the Senate and House leaders ought to tell Ol’ Red-Line Barack that there will be dollars and American lives for a Syrian war only if (a) he formally asks for a declaration of war and (b) the Congress believes his justification for a war and votes in favor of taking 330 million Americans into an unnecessary war against the Syrian Superpower.

–3rd : Today’s status quo in Syria benefits U.S. national-security interests without Washington having to take any action at all:

–a.) The Syrian army, Lebanese Hizaballah guerrillas, and Iran’s soldiers are killing large numbers of America’s enemies among al-Qaeda, its allies, and their supporters. Iran and Syria also are spending themselves further into bankruptcy.

–b.) At the same time, Al-Qaeda and its allies — America’s enemies — are killing large numbers of the Syrian army, Lebanese Hizballah guerrillas, and Iran’s soldiers, all of whom Washington describes as America’s true-blue enemies.

–c.) And much of this mayhem is being at least partially facilitated by the money and expensive equipment being sent to each side by other of America’s enemies — Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, for example.

For all of these realistic, common sense, beneficial-to-America, and — dare I say? — America First reasons, as well as for the even more important constitutional reasons cited above, Senate and House leaders ought to lay down the constitutional law — that is, no Congressional declaration, no war — to the supposed constitutional lawyer Obama and thereby make him obey the law for the first time in his presidency.

A MUST Watch! - Amber Lyon on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast.

FYI - From Joe Rogan/The Joe Rogan Experience Podcast and Amber Lyon/AmberLyonLive.com.

This is a MUST watch!  Joe interviews Amber on his podcast - 10/04/2012.

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-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

FYI - From Cristy Lenz/CNN.com.

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Captured U.S. soldier's letter revives family's hopes

From Cristy Lenz, CNN

updated 7:41 AM EDT, Thu June 6, 2013

In 2012: Honoring POW Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Letter: "He was no doubt alive"
• "They are being very careful with him," Bergdahl's father writes
• Bergdahl was captured after he finished his guard shift
• His father believes a resolution is "getting closer"

(CNN) -- The family of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier captured by the Taliban in 2009, received a letter from him recently -- reviving their hopes that the 27-year-old army sergeant is still alive.

Bergdahl's father mentioned receiving the letter in an e-mail exchange with Dwight Murphy, the spokesman for the local POW/MIA group in Boise Valley, Idaho.

 

"We have received a letter from Bowe through the Red Cross!" the father says in the exchange. "He was scripted and redacted but he was no doubt alive and his faculties fully functioning as of two months ago."

 

He did not say when he got the letter, but Murphy copied and pasted the exchange with the father on his Facebook page after receiving his permission to do so.

2012: Challenges of POW negotiations

2012: Remembering prisoners of war

 

The father's letter goes on say, "They are being very careful with him. He is still highly valued at high levels.

 

"Guantanamo, drones and politics in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Washington are still the big issues."

CNN was unable to reach the father late Wednesday night. The network also reached out to the military and the International Committee for the Red Cross for confirmation, but did not hear back.

Last week, the military told CNN it had no reason to believe Bergdahl was dead.

 

In 2012: Parents of captured soldier lead Washington motorcycle rally

 

Whereabouts unclear

Bergdahl was captured after he finished his guard shift at a combat outpost in southeastern Paktika province in Afghanistan.

 

Since his capture, four videos of the Idaho native have been released.

But the last video was sent in February 2011, and it's unclear where Bergdahl is being held now.

He was a private at the time.

 

The army has been giving Bergdahl promotions that would have come to him had his army career gone as planned. If he returns home safely, the army will give him all the back pay that he has earned while in captivity.

 

His father has rarely spoken to the media.

Bowe Bergdahl, an adventurer and gentleman

 

Resolution close?

In his exchange with Murphy, he said he believed "we are getting closer to a resolution."

But, he added, there seems to be a disagreement among the Taliban about the direction forward.

 

"It appears at least several parties want to arbitrate captive SGT Bowe, several others ... want to keep fighting until every single Westerner is out," the father said.

 

Last year, Bergdahl's parents led the Rolling Thunder ride in Washington, and said the family holds out hope for his safe return.

 

"Bowe, your family has not forgotten you, your hometown has not forgotten you. Your state of Idaho has not forgotten you, and thanks to all of you here today, Washington D.C. has not forgotten you," his father told a cheering crowd.

 

"We love you, we are proud of you. Stay strong, never give up. We pray for the day that we welcome you home," he said.

 

Flanked by riders wanting to offer support for the safe return of his son, Bergdahl spoke separately to CNN. He sported a long beard and wore a bandana imprinted with "POW." His son's official status is listed as "missing/captured."

 

"The beard is a chronology," Bergdahl said, "of my son's captivity since June 30, 2009."

Rep. Ron Paul starts new institute with Dennis Kucinich, Walter Jones, Jimmy Duncan, and Judge Napolitano.

FYI - From Rep. Ron Paul/The Ron Paul Institute For Peace & Prosperity (RonPaulInsitute.org).

-ADY "A Regular Guy On The Issues"

Greg Palast on the Koch Brothers Driving the XL/Keystone Pipeline!

FYI - From Greg Palast and The Real News Network/RealNews.com.

***PLEASE NOTE:   For all of my fellow libertarian brothers and sisters, regardless of what they pay lip service to, the Koch's are NOT our friends!  They are the epitome of special interests and corporatism/fascism!  This is a MUST watch for all of us.  Please pass it on!!!

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Adam Kokesh on Sequestration vs. Marine & Navy "readiness."

FYI - From Adam Kokesh/AdamvstheMan.com and YouTube.com.

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Gov. Jon Huntsman Speaking About The Future of The GOP And America.

FYI - From Gov. Jon Huntsman/The Reagan Foundation and Youtube.com.

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