Nobel Peace Prize goes to anti-Maduro activist

This year's Nobel Peace Prize is being given to Venezuelan anti-Maduro activist Maria Corida Machado, who has been funded by the U.S. National Endowment of Democracy. 

The Nobel (War Is) Peace Prize | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul: 

October 13, 2025 - "When it comes to destroying your brand, Norwegian Nobel Committee is the Bud Lite of peace prizes. After all, back in 2009 they gave the Peace Prize to a President Barack Obama who then went on to bomb at least seven countries, set the Middle East on fire, and even conduct drone strikes on American citizens! Other awardees have had similarly suspicious records as peacemakers. They even gave a Peace Prize to the likes of Henry Kissinger.

"This year has proven to be no different. Last week the Nobel Committee announced that the 2025 Peace Prize would go to Venezuelan politician María Corina Machado. Machado has a long history in the Venezuelan opposition including support for and participation in the US-backed, 2002 coup against then-president Hugo Chavez. 

"She is likewise a strong opponent of current Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and in 2018 even wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asking for Israel’s assistance in overthrowing the Venezuelan government.

"Shouldn’t we be cheering anyone seeking to overthrow Maduro’s authoritarian style of socialism that is hardly helping the people of the country? Perhaps, but what Machado is seeking is very different from working for change in her country’s system of government. She has long worked with and been paid by the US government’s “regime change” apparatus, the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

"NED was founded under President Reagan to do openly what the CIA has been notorious for doing in secret: overthrowing foreign governments that Washington doesn’t like. Scratch any of the “color revolutions” of the past 30 years and you will find the participation of the National Endowment for Democracy.

"Nowhere have these coups and revolutions promoted and funded by NED (and the CIA itself) been even remotely successful. They have only produced broken, ravaged, burned-out shells like we have seen in Libya and elsewhere. They produced chaos and called it freedom and democracy. They even helped put al-Qaeda in power in Syria!

"No, you don’t have to love Maduro or his style of governance to be critical of outside attempts to oust him. In President Trump’s first term, he set his neocons loose on Venezuela and the result was the almost comical rise of the political nobody Juan Guaido. I say 'almost comical' because Trump’s neocons wasted untold millions of our dollars on the farce.

"Is the Nobel Peace Prize just another deep state, soft-power tool intended to boost the US global military empire? The timing of the award going to the relatively unknown Machado is suspicious. President Trump has parked an armada of warships off the Venezuelan coast as his aides openly talk about 'decapitation' strikes on the Venezuelan government. After the extrajudicial killing of some 20 civilians in his attacks on at least four boats off the Venezuelan coast, President Trump is openly bragging that no one dares launch a boat in the area.

"The 'Peace Prize' endows Machado with a new sense of moral authority and gives weight to any 'green-light' she may again give to outside militaries to attack her own country.

"What’s wrong with heeding Machado’s calls to 'liberate' her country? President John Quincy Adams said it best, America 'goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.' We should leave Venezuela alone."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/the-nobel-war-is-peace-prize/

Barber and Lich sentenced to year's house arrest

Freedom Convoy organizers Chris Barber and Tamara Leach have been sentenced to a year's house arrest, followed by 6 months' curfew, and 100 hours of community service. 

'Freedom Convoy' leaders Tamara Lich, Chris Barber given conditional sentences | CBC News:

Chris Barber and Tamara Lich. CBC News.

October 7 - "Tamara Lich and Chris Barber, two major figures of the 2022 'Freedom Convoy,' have been handed conditional sentences and spared further jail time. Barber was found guilty of mischief and counselling others to disobey a court order earlier this year, while Lich was found guilty of mischief. Both were found not guilty on several other counts.

"On Tuesday, each was given an 18-month conditional sentence: Twelve months at home with limited outings per week, followed by six months under a 10 p.m. curfew. Lich is being given credit for the 19 days she initially spent in jail, and for another 30 days she spent in custody after breaching her bail conditions. Barber and Lich will each have to serve 100 hours of community service.

"Lich's lawyer Lawrence Greenspon said they're still considering whether to appeal her conviction. 'The main objective was to make sure she didn't spend one more day in jail, and that was achieved,' he told reporters outside the courthouse.

"Barber's defence lawyer Diane Magas said her client respects the judge's decision and considers it reasonable, adding it was more or less the sentence they expected....

"Crown prosecutor Siobhain Wetscher previously asked Justice Heather Perkins-McVey to impose extraordinary sentences — eight years' imprisonment for Barber and seven for Lich — arguing that such heavy penalties would reflect the profound impact the two had on the public during the protests they led in Ottawa."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/tamara-lich-chris-barber-sentencing-freedom-convoy-1.7652753

Democrats force U.S. gov't shutdown over Obamacare subsidies

GOP Obamacare Surrender | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

October 6, 2025 - "For all the media hand-wringing over the government shutdown the fact is only approximately 750,000 of the over two million non-military federal workers are being furloughed. Most federal programs will continue operating, including the major entitlement and welfare programs. The national parks will remain open, if understaffed and with closed visitor centers. Unfortunately, the shutdown will not affect the military-industrial complex.

"President Trump’s supposed 'master plan' to implement mass firings of federal employees will only fire 16,000 employees.

"Democrats are refusing to vote for a short-term continuing resolution unless it extends the increase in Obamacare subsidies that was part of the Biden-era covid relief legislation. Republicans, who for years campaigned on repealing and replacing Obamacare, are not opposing extending the subsidies. Instead, they are focusing on concerns the Democrats want to allow illegal immigrants to receive taxpayer-funded health benefits. Republicans are also emphasizing that they want to negotiate over extending the Obamacare subsidies, not simply shove them into a 'must pass' continuing resolution. Republicans also want to ensure that laws barring illegal immigrants from receiving the subsidies are in place.

"Republicans’ de facto embrace of the increased Obamacare subsidies, which were supposed to be a temporary increase to help Americans who lost their jobs because of the covid lockdowns, is a little noticed but major milestone in the history of Obamacare. For many years Republicans campaigned on a promise to 'repeal and replace' Obamacare. Opposition to Obamacare, along with opposition to the big bank bailouts and the cap and trade scheme, fueled the 'Tea Party' movement, which led in the 2010 election to a Republican takeover of the House of Representatives. In 2013, as the federal government was implementing Obamacare, Tea Party Republicans orchestrated a government shutdown. The argument was this was the last chance to repeal Obamacare because once it was fully implemented the number of people who would become reliant on the program would make Obamacare politically impossible to repeal.

"These Tea Party Republicans were mocked for their efforts, but history has proven them right. Even though Donald Trump and many Republican candidates for House and Senate promised to repeal Obamacare in their 2016 campaigns, they never even held a vote on full repeal of the healthcare law. Instead, they pushed legislation repealing the “unpopular” parts of Obamacare even though the way the program was structured it was impossible for the popular parts to work without the unpopular parts. The legislation repealing the “unpopular” parts of Obamacare was opposed by some Republicans who had previously voted to repeal all of Obamacare.

"In the 2018 midterm election, the Democrats then turned the tables on Republicans by running as champions of healthcare who would protect Obamacare from the Republicans. This helped them retake the House.

"Now, the majority of Republicans appear ready to ratify President Biden’s increase in Obamacare subsidies. So, Republicans have gone from promising to repeal Obamacare to promising to repeal the 'unpopular”\' provisions to de facto supporting the program.

"Republican failure to effectively oppose Obamacare is because of failure to acknowledge that the pre-Obamacare healthcare system was seriously flawed because of government interventions. Therefore, a way to 'fix' healthcare is via measures giving patients and providers control over the healthcare system, such as tax credits and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Unapologetic advocacy of free markets is the only effective way to oppose big government schemes like Obamacare and advance liberty."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/gop-obamacare-surrender/

FBI report sheds light on events of Jan. 6, 2021

The release this week of the FBI's "after action" report sheds new light on the events of January 6, 2021.

The Real Jan. 6th Coup | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul: 

Sep 29, 2025 - "In my first column after the events of Jan. 6th, 2021, I criticized those who called the protest a 'coup,' pointing out that, 'Some of the same politicians and bureaucrats denouncing the ridiculous farce at the Capitol as if it were the equivalent of 9/11 have been involved for decades in planning and executing real coups overseas. In their real coups, many thousands of civilians have died.'

"The media at the time played up the violence committed by a relative few at the protest to stoke a national outcry and demands for 'justice.' More than 1,500 Americans were charged over the incident and nearly 500 were imprisoned, including outrageous prison sentences for relatively minor crimes like entering the Capitol building through doors opened by the police, and filming the event.

"While most Democrats and Republicans in Congress harshly denounced the January 6th 'insurrectionists,' a few Members displayed the appropriate skepticism over accepted government narratives. Rep. Thomas Massie, for example, was relentless in his search for answers to a simple but critically important question: How many of the 'insurrectionists' were actually undercover FBI agents and other law enforcement officers and what role might they have played in inciting the violence. Massie grilled then-Attorney General Merrick Garland several times, but Garland would not budge. He refused to say whether there had been any undercover federal agents in the crowd, though of course he must have known.

'Last week we learned a little more of the truth. With the release of the FBI’s long lost 'after action' report, we now know that more than 250 undercover agents were in the crowd. According to the report, they were given roles including crowd control that they were not suited for. Some agents cited in the report complained of political biases in the Bureau against conservatives. What other tasks might have been given to a 'politicized' FBI undercover team?

"In addition to the undercover agents, there were more than two dozen paid informants in the Jan. 6th crowd. Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.), who chairs the subcommittee investigating the matter, asks an important question: 'With that many paid informants being in the crowd, we want to know how many were in the crowd, how many were in the building, but I also want to know, were they paid to inform or instigate?'

"Were they paid to inform, or to instigate? That is a good question. We do know that the event was used by the incoming Biden Administration to demonize and persecute the political opposition. There is no telling how many Americans would have liked to use their First Amendment guarantee of free speech to criticize the Biden Administration but were silenced by fear of persecution, or worse. It’s easy to conclude, seeing so many arrested and handed long sentences for non-violent 'crimes,' that it’s better to keep quiet. At the time, the US was still in the grip of Covid tyranny, where speaking out against 'the Science' could get you 'cancelled' or worse. This was another way to silence people who were not 'going along with the program.'

"In the end, January 6th, 2021, was a coup of sorts. It was a coup against the First Amendment. The lesson for all of us is that if we do not regularly but peacefully exercise our First Amendment guarantees we will definitely lose them, regardless of who is in power."

Read more: https://ronpaulinstitute.org/the-real-jan-6th-coup/

Liberals' deficit trajectory unsustainable, warns Parliamentary Budget Officer

Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jacques warns that the federal Liberal governments' current fiscal path is unsustainable,

Budget watchdog sounds alarm about Ottawa's 'unsustainable' fiscal path | Yahoo News | Craig Lord, Canadian Press:

Interim PBO Jason Jacques (from X).

September 25, 2025 -'Stupefying,' 'shocking' and 'unsustainable' — those were just some of the words Ottawa’s fiscal watchdog used Thursday to describe his scathing forecast for federal finances ahead of a long-anticipated fall budget. 

"Interim Parliamentary Budget Officer Jason Jacques published an updated economic and fiscal outlook on Thursday where he projected the federal deficit would balloon to $68.5 billion this year, up from an estimated $51.7 billion last year. 

"He also expects the federal debt-to-GDP ratio — previously a major fiscal anchor for Ottawa — will no longer decline in the coming years. Jacques told a parliamentary committee Thursday afternoon it is the first time in 30 years he has seen a projection where that key metric rises over time. Based on public statements from federal officials, spending plans announced over recent months and a weakening economy in the U.S. trade war, he said the path for federal finances appears broadly 'unsustainable.'

"'I think everybody should be concerned,' Jacques told MPs on the government operations and estimates committee. ]We’re hoping, and certainly expecting, the government as part of Budget 2025 to clearly indicate what the government plans to do to address … this problem, because it’s certainly not sustainable.'

"The PBO is a non-partisan officer of parliament. The office's updated fiscal and economic outlook offers parliamentarians a baseline estimate of the state of federal finances heading into the Liberals' fall budget on Nov. 4....

"The previous Liberal government under former prime minister Justin Trudeau set an anchor of capping the annual deficit at one per cent of GDP and maintaining a declining debt-to-GDP ratio. The PBO report forecasts that Ottawa will blow past those anchors in the upcoming budget.... The PBO expects deficits to decline slightly but to remain close to $60 billion annually over the forecast horizon. The Liberals projected a deficit of $42.2 billion for this fiscal year in its most recent update last December.

"The watchdog’s update does not include plans to incrementally ramp up defence spending to meet the updated NATO benchmark of five per cent of GDP by 2035.... Kristina Grinshpoon, the PBO’s director of fiscal analysis, told the committee that she believes there’s about $20 billion of proposed spending included in the Liberals’ spring election platform that’s not included in the office’s updated outlook....

"Jacques was named parliamentary budget officer on a six-month interim basis earlier this month, before the House of Commons began its fall sitting. A permanent appointment must be approved by the House, and the Conservative party has pushed to keep Jacques in the role."

Read more: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/parliamentary-budget-officer-set-release-164430685.html

Good news about homeschooling

About six percent of American parents now homeschool their children. Two provisions in this year's Big Beautiful Bill look likely to boost that number. 

Good News for Liberty | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

September 22, 2025 - "The covid lockdowns caused many Americans to stop trusting the government’s propaganda and led to a 39 percent increase in homeschooling in the 2020-21 school year. While the number of homeschoolers did decline some after this jump, homeschooling has continued growing in popularity over the last several years. Today, approximately six percent of American school children are homeschooled.

"Parents choose to homeschool for a variety of reasons, including objections to certain political and social agendas promoted by some government schools. Many parents became aware of how many government schools were sacrificing education for indoctrination while observing their children’s covid-era “virtual” classrooms.

"Some parents started homeschooling as a temporary measure but discovered they could teach their children as well, or better, than the so-called experts. This makes sense. No one knows a child’s skills, interests, strengths, and weaknesses better than the child’s parents.

"Two recent developments are going to increase homeschooling’s popularity.

"First is the troubling results of the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). NAEP is commonly referred to as “the nation’s report card.” In NAEP’s latest assessment the average eighth grade science score was significantly lower than the pre-lockdown 2019 score. Other scores including for twelfth grade mathematics and reading are lower than they were ten or more years ago. To put this in perspective, consider that in 1992 spending per pupil was an inflation-adjusted 12,000 dollars, whereas the average per pupil spending in 2021 (the most recent year for which figures are available) was 17,500 dollars — a nearly 50 percent increase. The decline in scores also follows a series of federal education “reforms” that were supposed to “fix” American education by giving more power to the federal government.

"The second reason homeschooling will grow even more popular is two provisions of the “Big Beautiful Bill” (BBB). These provisions provide tax benefits for parents who choose alternatives to government schools, including homeschooling. First, the BBB expands the use of tax-free 529 Education Savings Accounts. Money in these accounts can be used for a variety of expenses such as curriculum materials, online education, and tutoring.

"The BBB also provides tax-credits for donations to Scholarship-Granting Organizations (SGO) SGOs provide scholarships to families, including homeschooling families to cover a variety of educational expenses. Giving Americans more control over the education dollar will do more to improve education than any centralized 'reform.'

"Parents looking for a homeschooling curriculum incorporating the ideas of liberty should consider my online curriculum. My curriculum provides students with a solid education in history, literature, mathematics, and the sciences. It also gives students the opportunity to create their own websites and internet-based businesses. This provides students with “real world” entrepreneurial experience that will be useful to them no matter what career path they choose.

"The curriculum is designed to be self-taught, with students helping, and learning from, each other via online forums. Starting in the fourth grade, students are required to write at least one essay a week. Students also take a course in public speaking.

"The curriculum emphasizes the history, philosophy, and economics of liberty, but it never substitutes indoctrination for education. The goal is to produce students with superior critical thinking skills. If you think my curriculum may meet the needs of your child, please visit www.RonPaulCurriculum.com for more information.

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/good-news-for-liberty/

Ron Paul on Charlie Kirk

Ron Paul remembers Charlie Kirk, and speculates that there may be more than meets the eye to his assassination. 

Who Killed Charlie Kirk? | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

Charlie Kirk in 2025. Photo by Gage Skidmore.
CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.

September 16, 2025 - "I had the pleasure of appearing on Charlie Kirk’s program a few times over the years and I always found him to be polite, respectful, and genuinely interested in ideas. 

"Even in areas where we might not have agreed, he listened carefully. He was a strong advocate of free speech and he made a career of trying to convince the youth of the value of free speech and dialogue regardless of political differences.

"At the young age of 31 years old, he had already founded and ran the largest conservative youth organization in the country and as such he had enormous influence over the future of the conservative movement and even the Republican party. 

"As I discovered during my Republican presidential runs, the youth of this country are truly inspired by the ideas of liberty, peace, and prosperity.

"I do not believe we have anything near the real story about the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk last week. The narrative presented by the FBI and other government agencies is wildly contradictory, with an ever-changing plotline that makes little sense.

"Some individuals close to Kirk have reported that his foreign policy position was shifting away from the standard neoconservative militarism in favor of a more non-interventionist approach. Tucker Carlson recently recounted that Kirk had even gone personally to the White House to urge President Trump to refuse to take military action against Iran. He was rebuffed by President Trump, Carlson informed us.

"Likewise, conservative podcaster Candace Owens, who was a close friend of Charlie Kirk, has stated on her program that Kirk was undergoing a “spiritual crisis” and was turning away from his past embrace of militarism and in favor of America-first non-interventionism, particularly regarding the current unrest in the Middle East....

"If anything, those seeking to prevent the ideas of peace from breaking out would wish to cover it up, as they have done in so many past political killings. As I recounted in my most recent book, The Great Surreptitious Coup: Who Stole Western Civilization?, the turbulent 1960s saw several killings of major US figures, including JFK, RFK, and Martin Luther King, who were challenging the status quo and pushing for a shift away from the Cold War confrontationist mentality.

"The real assassins of these peace leaders from last century were nihilists who did not believe in truth. They only believed in power – the power that comes from the barrel of a gun. Rather than compete in the marketplace of ideas they preferred to snuff out any challenges and therefore decapitate any possibility that our country could take a different course.

"More than sixty years after the murder of President Kennedy, the vast majority of the American people do not believe the official story of how he was killed and why. Truth will eventually break through even when the wall of lies seems impenetrable.

"If it is true that Charlie Kirk was preparing to shift his organization toward a foreign policy embraced by our Founders, the killing was even more tragic. But no army – or assassin – can stop an idea whose time has come. That may be his most important legacy. Rest in peace."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/who-killed-charlie-kirk/

Professional regulators threaten free speech

Some professional regulatory bodies in Canada have begun the chilling practice of regulating the online and public speech of their members,  

Professional bodies have become a major threat to free speech | Free Speech Union of Canada | Lisa Bildy:

August 25, 2025 - "Fresh off his byelection win in Alberta, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre came out of the gates with a bold and definitive statement on social media: a professional body using its powers to regulate its members’ speech is 'authoritarian censorship.' As a lawyer who focuses on defending free speech cases, I couldn’t agree more. In recent weeks, developments in two of my cases demonstrated this problem and prompted Poilievre’s statement. 

"Nurse Amy Hamm in British Columbia received her penalty decision from the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives’ disciplinary panel, which had found her guilty of unprofessional conduct in March for her gender-critical advocacy for the rights of women and children.  

"In the lengthy written decision of the panel, she was told that ... statements prioritizing biology over gender 'are discriminatory towards transgender people as (they exclude) them from the possibility of being women and girls.' In other words: it is not possible to advocate for sex-based rights — respectfully or not — because males self-identifying as women must always be included in the category of women, whether in prisons, rape shelters or sporting competitions.

"In another case, Dr. Kulvinder Kaur Gill, a specialist physician in Ontario, received a 'caution-in-person' by a committee of her regulator, the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO), for some of her online comments during the summer of 2020, when she criticized what she viewed as harmful, unethical and unscientific government-imposed responses to COVID, including lockdowns. The CPSO had issued an edict to all Ontario physicians, first published in April 2020, that they should not express views that did not 'align with information coming from public health or government' But physicians are also subject to other 'edicts,' such as their oath to 'first, do no harm,' which dictates that they speak out against harmful government policies.... Despite slow and grudging recognition over the last five years that lockdowns were indeed a panic and control-driven blunt instrument that caused irreparable harm and had little value, the caution proceeded.

"Many important discoveries and insights throughout history have come from dissident voices who were often censored or vilified for going against the perceived consensus. We are in such a time again, in which dissenting opinions are suppressed to protect preferred narratives that are often so steeped in misinformation and dogma that allowing a bit of evidence or common sense through the cracks would cause the whole edifice to fall.... [A]ll it can take is a complaint from a disgruntled member of the public to jump-start the process to 'correct' those opinions. In the cases of both Gill and Hamm, the complainants were not patients — they were strangers on the internet who saw an opportunity to weaponize the regulatory complaints process.....

"In Hamm’s case, she lost a job she held for 13 years at a Vancouver hospital after a group of her co-workers, most of whom express radical left-wing views, often while representing themselves as employees of the hospital, ganged up online and called for her termination. She endured a year-long workplace investigation, including aggressive questioning by the investigator, and was ultimately fired without severance. Nothing appears to have happened to her accusers, who were also regulated professionals. This double standard is not lost on the public, who can see it plain as day.

"Regulators have the power to punish professionals to such an oppressive degree that many simply sign undertakings not to speak on certain issues, make their social media accounts private or attend educational courses on 'professionalism.' The alternative — defending yourself against an accusation of unprofessional conduct — can mean paying exorbitant costs for your own prosecution. In Hamm’s case, she was ordered to pay over $93,600 to the college for its legal costs. Somehow, our society has decided that all of this is just fine.... And the courts defer to the 'expertise' of this managerial class, rendering it nearly impossible to successfully judicially review such decisions. In Gill’s case, she tried to appeal the cautions all the way to the Supreme Court, but was denied leave....

"I reject the premise that regulators, or any government or administrative body, should get to control anyone’s speech. For one thing, the people working in these institutions are fallible and have their biases like anyone else. Many are activists who are intent on forcing their views on anyone they can. Too much is left to the managerial class to decide when speech crosses some imaginary and entirely subjective line of ‘harm,' or is 'against the public interest.'

"Professionals, like everyone, should be allowed to speak freely. There will be concerns about this — we won’t always like what we hear — but we should get to hear them if we choose. In rare instances where speech rises to the level of criminality, police can deal with that. We must demand that our governments remove the powers of these bodies to regulate speech and opinions — they simply cannot be trusted with the job."

Lisa Bildy is a lawyer at Libertas Law and executive director of the Free Speech Union of Canada.

Read more: https://fsucanada.ca/lisa-bildy-professional-bodies-have-become-a-major-threat-to-free-speech/

Trump endorses corporatism

President Trump has recently endorsed a policy that is arguably as socialist as anything proposed by New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani or Sen. Bernie Sanders — partial government ownership of private corporations.

Making Corporatism Great Again | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

Sep 8, 2025 - "President Trump has recently endorsed a policy that is arguably as socialist as anything proposed by New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani or Sen. Bernie Sanders — partial government ownership of private corporations.

"Earlier this year, as a condition of approving Nippon Steel’s purchase of US Steel, President Trump demanded Nippon give the US government a 'golden share' in US Steel. This golden share allows the US government to overrule Nippon’s management if the government determines Nippon is acting against US 'national security,' which means the government can overrule many decisions made by Nippon‘s management.

"Unfortunately, Nippon was not a 'one-and-done' excursion into corporatism. President Trump recently struck a deal with computer chip manufacturer Intel to give the company 8.9 billion dollars in government subsidies in exchange for ten percent of Intel’s stock. This deal makes the US government Intel’s largest stockholder!

"The Trump administration has promised that it will not use its position to undermine Intel’s board. However, the administration is reserving the right to counter Intel’s board if the administration determines the board is taking an action that would adversely impact the relationship of the company or its subsidiaries with the US government. So, the Trump administration is yet again giving itself power to manage a nominally private company.

"Enabling the government to control a private company (even if the government does not actually exercise its power) means the company’s management will base its decisions on what will please those currently in power, rather than on the desires of consumers.

"Government investment in corporations will cause politicians to make decisions based on what will profit the companies the government has 'invested' in while those companies’ competitors will seek to attract government investment in order to win special privileges for themselves.

"A corporation partially owned by government will be considered 'too big to fail' since its failure would cause the government to lose the money 'invested' in the businesses. So, the argument will be that a bailout will save the taxpayers money.

"According to a 2024 analysis by the World Bank — an organization not known as a supporter of free-market economics, companies of which government owns ten percent or more are six percent less profitable and have workforces that are 32 percent less productive.

"Some members of the Trump administration have suggested that the federal government take a partial ownership interest in defense contractors like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has pointed out that big defense contractor Lockheed Martin, for example, is “basically an arm of the US government” since almost all its revenue comes from the US government. Secretary Lutnick has a point, but the closeness between the Pentagon and big corporations is an argument for restoring a noninterventionist foreign policy. Giving the government an ownership interest in defense contractors would allow the war party to argue that militarism is good for the taxpayer because it boosts the value of the government’s “investments”!

"Government 'investment' in private businesses will only worsen the twin plagues of corporatism and cronyism that afflict our political and economic systems. Instead of further entangling government and business, those seeking to make America great again should work to end the welfare-warfare-regulatory state and the fiat money system that makes it possible. The only path to prosperity is through a true free market, limited government, and a foreign policy of peace and free trade."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/making-corporatism-great-again/

66,000 more jobs lost in Canada in August

Another 66,000 jobs disappeared in Canada in August, coming on top of a loss of 41,000 jobs in July.

Canadian economy bled 66,000 jobs in August as unemployment rate at its highest since 'pandemic days' | CBC News - Abby Hughes:

September 5, 2025 - "Canada's unemployment rate reached nearly its highest point since 2016 as the economy shed 66,000 jobs in August, according to new data from Statistics Canada. The unemployment rate rose 0.2 percentage points in August to 7.1 per cent, a level last seen in May 2016 if the COVID-19 years of 2020 and 2021 were excluded....

"The unemployment rate, or the number of people unemployed out of the total labour force, has been rising consistently this year, up from a 6.6 per cent rate in January.... 

"Reduced hiring and layoffs largely fuelled those numbers, Statistics Canada said, with the layoff rate rising to one per cent in August, compared to 0.9 per cent at the same time last year. 

"This comes after the economy lost a total of 41,000 jobs last month.....

"Statistics Canada says most of the jobs lost — some 60,000 — were part-time ones, while there was little change in the number of full-time jobs. Most of the losses were also among workers between 25 to 54 years old, with little change in youth employment.... 

"Pedro Antunes, Chief Economist at The Conference Board of Canada, says the report overall is bad news. He points out that while youth unemployment also remained high in August, that age group had previously made up more of the drag on jobs. But now, the losses in August were among the core age group in the workforce....

"A critical metric, called the participation rate, that shows how many people were economically active — either in jobs or actively looking for them — was at 65.1 per cent, also at its lowest since the pandemic.

"The transportation and warehousing sector lost 23,000 jobs and manufacturing bled 19,000. The scientific and technical services sector also dropped 26,000 jobs... Geographically, Canada's manufacturing hubs were also hit harder, with Windsor, Ont., reporting an unemployment rate of 11.1 per cent and Oshawa, Ont., reporting a nine per cent rate. Persistent uncertainty around U.S. trade policy has kept Canadian businesses on tenterhooks, leading to minimal hiring and investment.... 

"Chief economist at BMO Capital Markets Douglas Porter said ... the weak report could open the door to rate cuts by the Bank of Canada later this month though with inflation remaining high, that factor hasn't given them the 'all clear'.... Porter expects a rate cut when the central bank announces its next interest rate decision on Sept. 17."

Read more: cbc.ca/news/business/canadian-economy-bled-66-000-jobs-in-august-as-unemployment-rate-at-its-highest-since-pandemic-days-1.7625918

Should U.S. Department of Defense rebrand?

U.S. president Trump wants to rebrand the Department of Defense as the "Department of War," its name before 1947. Ron Paul sees potential risks to the rebrand, but also some potential benefits if it's done right. 

Department of War? | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul: 

Sep 2, 2025 - "Last week President Trump took steps to re-name the Department of Defense the 'Department of War.' The President explained his rationale for the name change: 'It used to be called the Department of War and it had a stronger sound. We want defense, but we want offense too … As Department of War we won everything…and I think we…have to go back to that.'

"At first it sounds like a terrible idea. A 'Department of War' may well make war more likely – the 'stronger sound' may embolden the US government to take us into even more wars. There would no longer be any need for the pretext that we take the nation to war to defend this country and its interests – and only as a last resort. As Clinton Administration official Madeleine Albright famously asked of Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell when she was pushing for US war in the Balkans, 'What’s the point of having this superb military that you’re always talking about if we can’t use it?'

"So yes, that is a real danger. But at the same time, the US has been at war nearly constantly since the end of World War II, so it’s not like the 'Defense Department' has been in any way a defensive department. With that in mind, returning the Department of Defense to the Department of War, which is how it started, may not be such a bad idea after all – as long as we can be honest about the rest of the terms around our warmaking.

"If we return to a 'War Department,' then we should also return to the Constitutional requirement that any military activity engaged in by that department short of defending against an imminent attack on the US requires a Congressional declaration of war. That was the practice followed when it was called the War Department and we should return to it.

"Dropping the notion that we have a 'Defense Department' would free us from the charade that our massive military spending budget was anything but a war budget. No more 'defense appropriations' bills in Congress. Let’s call them 'war appropriations' bills. Let the American people understand what so much of their hard-earned money is being taken to support. It’s not 'defense.' It’s 'war.' And none of it has benefitted the American people.

"Trump misunderstands one very important thing in his stated desire to return to a 'War Department,' however. A tougher sounding name did not win the wars. Before the name change, which happened after the infamous National Security Act of 1947 that created the CIA and the permanent national security state, we won wars because for the most part we followed the Constitution and had a Congressional declaration of war. That way the war had a beginning and end and a clear set of goals. Since World War II the United States has not declared war even though it has been in a continuous state of war. It is no coincidence that none of these 'wars' have been won. From 1950 Korea to 2025 Yemen and everything in between.

"So go ahead and change it back to the 'Department of War.' But let’s also stop pretending that maintaining the global US military empire is 'defense.” It’s not."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/department-of-war/

New Brunswick lifts ban on walking in the woods

The New Brunswick government has lifted its two-week ban on walking in the woods, but the Nova Scotia government continues to fine people for violating its ban.

25 people charged with violating Nova Scotia's woods and fire bans | Saltwire | Francis Campbell, Halifax Chronicle-Herald:

August 27, 2025 - "The Nova Scotia government’s commitment to crack down on people who ignore proclamations to stay out of the woods is not an empty promise. A spokesperson for the Natural Resources Department says there have been 15 charges laid for violations of the provincewide ban on open fires that started on July 30 and 10 charges for violating the woods restrictions that were implemented on Aug. 5.... 

"'To date, the people charged have not yet paid the fine but they have two months to voluntarily do that,' Adele Poirier, communications director with Natural Resources, said in an emailed response.... Those charged are required either to plead guilty and pay the amount payable within two months or to notify the court of an intention to appear in provincial court and plead not guilty and have a trial. A person charged can also plead guilty and make a penalty submission in court.

"The restrictions that came into effect Aug. 5 do not permit hiking, camping, fishing and the use of vehicles in the woods. The trail systems through the woods are off limits and camping is allowed only in campgrounds. The measures are in place on provincial Crown and private land until Oct. 15 or until the exceedingly dry conditions change enough to allow them to be lifted.... Private landowners are free to use their own properties but cannot host others to use wooded areas of their properties.

"On Monday, the New Brunswick government announced that after a two-week closure due to the high risk of wildfires in that province, Crown land would reopen to the public as of 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt announced that restrictions remain on timber harvesting, which will only be allowed from 6 p.m. to noon and will be reassessed on a daily basis. The New Brunswick government reaffirmed that a provincewide ban on campfires and burning of any kind is still in place. 

"No such lifting of restrictions has been announced in Nova Scotia, where six active wildfires were burning Tuesday.... While the Nova Scotia government has signaled that the woods ban is a very serious measure not to be taken lightly, many residents have voiced their displeasure about the restrictions."
Read more: https://www.saltwire.com/nova-scotia/35-people-charged-nova-scotias-woods-fire-ban-25-thousand-dollar-fine

Jeffrey Evely challenges sweeping travel ban in Supreme Court of Nova Scotia | Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (news release):

August 20, 2025 - "The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that lawyers for Canadian war veteran Jeffrey Evely have filed a Notice for Judicial Review to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, challenging the province’s sweeping travel ban and Mr. Evely’s $28,872.50 fine for walking in the woods. An emergency hearing will be requested.

"Announced by Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston on August 5, the ban prohibits people from entering wooded areas for any purpose. Approximately 75 percent of the province is classified as 'woods.' The ban even applies to activities such as hiking, fishing, and walking, even though these carry no risk of starting fires. Mr. Evely is arguing that the travel ban is unreasonable and unconstitutional and violates his right to liberty and security of the person – protected by section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“'Nova Scotia’s travel ban doesn’t target risky activities, but rather treats people as the problem, and bans them from the woods for any purpose. Nova Scotia’s limit on people’s liberties under a blanket claim of ‘safety’ is not rational and has no logical limit,' said constitutional lawyer Marty Moore.

"Mr. Evely, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, connects his past service to the country to the need to resist unreasonable and unconstitutional government edicts. 'I believe that it is important to have the woods ban proclamation reviewed in light of our Charter rights because I served in Afghanistan and Iraq, so I know how hard won these freedoms really are, especially once they are lost,' he said. 'I find the cavalier attitude with which these freedoms have been impaired to be a gross indignity to our fallen soldiers, and a moral injury to those of us still here.'"
Read more: https://www.jccf.ca/jeffrey-evely-challenges-sweeping-nature-ban-in-supreme-court-of-nova-scotia/

Why he purposely entered the woods — getting a $28K fine | CBC News Nova Scotia | August 13, 2025:

America needs an 'America First' foreign policy

"Americans elected Donald Trump in part for his promise to put America first at home and overseas. He promised a war-weary America that he would start no new wars and would get us out of the existing ones. Eight months into his second Administration it appears his promise remains to be fulfilled," 

 

President Trump Should Return to an ‘America First’ Foreign Policy | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

August 25, 2025 - "After four years of unnecessarily confrontational foreign policy under President Biden, Americans elected Donald Trump in part for his promise to put America first at home and overseas. He promised a war-weary America that he would start no new wars and would get us out of the existing ones. Eight months into his second Administration it appears his promise remains to be fulfilled, as his approval rating continues to slip.

"On Ukraine, President Trump wisely observed coming into office that the conflict is 'Joe Biden’s war' not his own. Unfortunately he could not resist the temptation to get involved in the conflict, even under the guise of 'peacemaker.' I’ve often said that getting out of conflicts overseas is not that complicated: we should just come home. Even when there are no troops involved, 'just come home' means disengage from the conflict. But President Trump wants to play referee in the war while arming and supporting one side. Is it any wonder he is making no progress in ending the war?

"Likewise with Israel and Gaza, Trump’s promise to put America first has faltered. President Biden put Americans on the hook for additional billions of dollars to support Israel’s actions in Gaza without even a word about the slaughter and destruction. As more Americans become disgusted by Israel’s obliteration of the property and population of that tiny strip of land, Trump shows no signs of shifting from Biden’s approach. More money and more weapons are sent as starvation claims more and more children each day. Trump has reportedly remarked to a donor that his own base is turning against him because of his Israel policy. Yet he refuses to alter course and 'just come home.'

"Trump has even returned to the failed Latin America policy of his first Administration, in last week’s move toward a military confrontation with oil-rich Venezuela. Trump sent two warships and 4,000 US troops to the waters near Venezuela under the highly suspect accusation that the country’s president is actually head of an international drug cartel. He should have learned from the almost comical recognition of Juan Guaido as the real president of Venezuela in his first term that meddling in that country is not in America’s interest. It seems the neocons around him, including warhawk Marco Rubio, are sucking him into another unnecessary conflict.

"Add in Trump’s military attacks on Yemen and Iran and the balance sheet thus far does not point to an 'America first' foreign policy.

"There is still time for President Trump to change course and fulfill his promises to the American people. 

• Put Ukraine and Russia on notice that from this point the US is withdrawing from any role in the conflict. Let the Europeans work it out if they feel it is in their interest. Getting us out of NATO is also a good idea.
• End US financial and military support for an Israel that cannot seem to get along with its neighbors. Perhaps without the US backstopping Israel’s warmongering, the country and its leadership would start to reflect on the wisdom of starting wars with multiple countries in its neighborhood.
• Stop trying to overthrow Venezuela’s Maduro and everyone else the neocons have placed on the 'hit list.' End all sanctions and open up trade instead. Maduro’s failed socialist economic policies will be his undoing, not American sanctions or saber-rattling.

"America first above all means 'just come home.' It’s that simple."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/president-trump-should-return-to-an-america-first-foreign-policy/

Nurse ordered to pay $93K for online comments

British Columbia nurse Amy Hamm, whose 2020 co-sponsorship of a billboard praising J.K. Rowling led to a years-long investigation of her online comments by the B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives, has been suspended and ordered to pay the College almost $100,000. 

B.C. nurse suspended by college, asked to pay $94K in costs for comments about transgender people | CBC News | Canadian Press:

August 16, 2025 - "A B.C. nurse has been suspended and asked to pay nearly $94,000 in costs for making 'discriminatory and derogatory statements' about transgender people. The B.C. College of Nurses and Midwives says a disciplinary panel has issued a decision against Amy Hamm, suspending her for one month while also ordering her to pay the college costs and disbursements within two years.

"The panel said in its verdict in March that Hamm committed professional misconduct for making statements across 'various online platforms' between July 2018 and March 2021 that were partly designed 'to elicit fear, contempt and outrage against members of the transgender community.' The college says Hamm has filed an appeal of the discipline order in B.C. Supreme Court, and the decision on penalty and costs is stayed until that appeal has been resolved.... 

"Hamm has maintained that she is not transphobic, and she takes issue with an 'infringement on women and children's rights,' and was particularly concerned with transgender women having access to women-only spaces like prisons and change rooms. She previously said she completely rejects the concept of gender identity, calling it 'anti-scientific, metaphysical nonsense,' and on social media posts has referred to transgender women as men. 

"Hamm has received supportive statements from a wave of online followers, including author J.K. Rowling, and has written several columns for a variety of media outlets on multiple issues, including politics and crime, as well as sex and gender. She helped pay for a billboard in Vancouver supporting Rowling after she shared her views on gender identity online."

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/amy-hamm-discipline-bc-nurse-1.7610933

Amy Hamm with billboard in 2020. (Photo courtesy Amy Hamm / JCCF).

BC College of Nurses and Midwives orders Amy Hamm to pay $93,639.80 and suspends her license for one month | Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (news release):

August 14, 2025 - "Ms. Hamm had worked in healthcare for over 13 years and had been promoted to be a nurse educator. In 2020, she co-sponsored a Vancouver billboard that read, 'I ♥ JK Rowling,' referencing the author’s support for women’s rights and the right of women to access female-only spaces, such as washrooms, crisis centres, sporting events, and prisons. Following complaints from activists and a Vancouver city councillor, the billboard was removed, and two formal complaints were filed with the College accusing Ms. Hamm of transphobia and hate speech.

"The College launched an investigation that led to a 332-page report examining Ms. Hamm’s public statements between 2018 and 2021, including tweets, articles, and podcasts. The College’s Inquiry Committee argued that Ms. Hamm had made discriminatory and derogatory comments about transgender people while identifying as a nurse. After 22 days of hearings spanning a year and a half, the College’s disciplinary panel ruled that four of her statements amounted to unprofessional conduct.

"Ms. Hamm has already appealed the College’s finding of unprofessional conduct to the Supreme Court of British Columbia. Her lawyer, Lisa Bildy, noted, 'In our view, the panel made a number of legal and factual errors that make the decision unsound, and we look forward to arguing these points before the BC Supreme Court. We are now considering whether to appeal the penalty decision as well.... This decision effectively penalizes a nurse for expressing mainstream views aligned with science and common sense,' continued Ms. Bildy. 'The Panel’s ruling imposes a chilling effect on free expression for all regulated professionals.'

"Ms. Hamm said, 'The College has chosen to punish me for statements that are not hateful, but truthful. I’m appealing because biological reality matters, and so does freedom of expression. I want to express my thanks to the thousands of Canadians who continue to fund my legal case through donations to the Justice Centre.'"

Read more: https://www.jccf.ca/bc-college-orders-amy-hamm-to-pay-93639-80/

Government statistics downplaying U.S. inflation

A recent survey found almost half of American parents taking on increased debt to buy their children's back-to-school supplies 

Another Reason to Ban Tik-Tok? | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

Aug 18, 2025 - "According to the July Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, prices rose by 2.7 percent over the past year, and by 3.1 percent when the 'volatile' food and housing sectors are removed from the calculation. Markets rose following the release of the CPI since the increase in price inflation was not as high as expected. This led to an increase in expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next month.

"Of course, the CPI numbers are manipulated to understate the true rate, and effects, of inflation. One way this is done is by 'Chained CPI.' This is where the government does not consider consumers impacted by price increases that make their favorite products unaffordable if there are affordable substitutes available – as if government bureaucrats can determine what is and is not an adequate substitute for a good made unaffordable by the Federal Reserve.

"The official government figures do not take into account 'shrinkflation.' This is when a business responds to price inflation by reducing product size and otherwise reducing a good’s quality. Shrinkflation makes it appear that consumers are paying the same prices but in fact they are paying more since they are getting less of the product.

"Examples of 'shrinkflation” include increases in the size of cardboard toilet paper holders by 25 percent. This allows toilet paper companies to reduce the amount of paper per roll while maintaining the same number of rolls per package. 

"Other examples of shrinkflation include using wider bottles with concave bottoms for liquid soap, thus enabling soap manufacturers to hide the 15 percent reduction in the amount of soap per bottle, substituting cheaper vegetable oil for dairy milk in chocolates, and substituting foam pool noodles with an 'angel' hair noodle that contains 40 percent less material. Shrinkflation also exists in the airline industry. Ticket prices may have remained steady, or even declined, but travelers now must pay a fee for many 'frills‘ that used to be included with the ticket, such as baggage check-in, on-flight food and beverage service, and seat selection.

"Those looking for evidence of how inflation is affecting Americans might want to stop looking at CPI reports and instead go on Tik-Tok and other popular social media sites. There they will find videos of parents highlighting the burden placed on the family budget by the skyrocketing price of school supplies. A survey by Bankrate found that 29 percent of family budgets were strained by the growing costs of school supplies, while a survey by Intuit Credit Karma found that 44 percent of parents were going into, or increasing, their family’s debt in order to buy their children school supplies. School supplies prices have even risen at big box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. Even Dollar Tree has raised some prices to over a dollar!

"The reason so many parents are struggling to afford school supplies is not corporate greed, but the Federal Reserve’s inflationary policies. The best thing Congress can do for America’s families is cut spending, thus reducing the pressure on the Fed to monetize the federal debt thus further weakening the dollar.

"Congress should also reform the monetary system by passing the Audit the Fed bill and repealing all laws that discourage the use of competing currencies such as precious metals and cryptocurrencies. 

"Sadly, even Tik-Tok videos of parents struggling to afford school supplies will likely not cause Congress to take these steps. Instead, the videos are more likely to cause Congress to renew efforts to ban Tok-Tok."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.
https://ronpaulinstitute.org/another-reason-to-ban-tik-tok/

Press freedom in Canada restricted in 2024, says U.S. State Dept. report

The U.S. State Department's annual global survey of human rights included "credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression and press freedom" in Canada during 2024.  

2024 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Canada | U.S. Department of State | Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor | Executive Summary 

"There were no significant changes in the human rights situation in Canada during the year. Significant human rights issues included credible reports of serious restrictions on freedom of expression and media freedom, including unjustified arrests or prosecutions of journalists and activists.... The law provided for freedom of expression, including for members of the press and other media, and the government generally respected this right. An independent media, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combined to promote freedom of expression, including for media members, although significant curtailments of press freedom remained.

• The law criminalized 'hate speech' in any public place and defined it as communication that incited hatred against any identifiable group where such incitement was likely to lead to a breach of the peace or communication that willfully promoted hatred against any identifiable group, other than in private conversation. The maximum penalty was two years’ imprisonment.
• The public media and majority of private media were substantially dependent on government sources of funding for their activities. Government intervention in the media market favored means of communication that did not diverge from government-suggested bounds of political speech, and government policy and practices often disadvantaged independent media. 
• The government used a variety of mechanisms to fund public and private sector media in the country, ranging from direct grants and tax credits to mandatory payments and funds collected from broadcasters, streaming services, and news platforms, but distributed or regulated by the government. News organizations faced direct and indirect pressure to conform their political speech in order to gain or maintain access to these funds, leading to self-censorship. Independent news organizations that did not take government funds faced a substantial market disadvantage.
• During the year, the Online News Act of 2023 came into force. The law required large digital media platforms pay news businesses when their content appeared on the platform. The law empowered the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission to set mandatory bargaining guidelines between platforms and news businesses and to otherwise enforce and set regulatory guidance for the act, including codes of conduct and eligibility of news businesses to participate, powers which could be used to discriminate against political speech or disfavored independent media outlets.
• In September, a Federal Court judge upheld the government’s decision to disqualify an independent news organization from journalism tax credits. The organization was one of the few in the country that produced critical reporting on the government’s response to protests of the COVID-19 lockdowns.
• In March, the government announced a grant of 58.8 million Canadian dollars (CAD) ($43.2 million) to extend the Local Journalism Initiative to 2027 that funded media organizations to hire journalists or pay freelance journalists to produce civic journalism for “underserved communities” across the country. The funding brought total government support for initiative to CAD 94.7 million ($69.6 million) over eight years since its launch in 2019. Independent media organizations without access to these funds faced increased market pressure. The Changing Narrative Fund revenue stream of the initiative, announced during the year, prioritized funding for hiring journalists in the 'Indigenous, Black, racialized, ethno-religious minority, people with disabilities and 2SLGBTQI+ communities,' discriminating against journalists who fell outside of these favored categories.
• In January, Edmonton police arrested Indigenous journalist Brandi Morin on assignment with Ricochet Media for obstruction for conducting interviews with residents at an Indigenous-led homeless encampment when police arrived to dismantle the encampment. Police detained Morin for several hours, although Morin had identified herself as a journalist. Authorities dropped charges against Morin in  March after prosecutors determined no public interest was served in pursuing the case.
• In May, a member of parliament of the governing party and other officials allegedly attempted to use supposed security threats to impose unreasonably high security charges (more than the costs of the events otherwise) on two independent media organizations’ events. The organizations alleged that they were targeted for their political speech and had a lawsuit pending.
• Rather than participate in government-mandated bargaining, some American digital platforms announced that they would no longer make news content available to Canadian users, leading to substantial censorship of news content including local news content. The opposition party described the Online News Act as a government censorship law, because of its effects on the character and quality of the country’s news reporting.

Chris Barber and Tamara Lich. CBC photos.

• A trial of two organizers of the 2022 'Freedom Convoy' concluded during the year. A verdict was still pending at year’s end. In response to the 2022 convoy (which protested draconian lockdown measures that substantially damaged the communities and economic livelihoods of many Canadians), the government took the unprecedented step of invoking the Emergencies Act, leading to large-scale social media censorship and debanking. In January, the Federal Court ruled that the government’s imposition of the Emergencies Act was unreasonable and violated the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The federal government appealed the decision.
• The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) continued its legal efforts to block an independent news outlet’s Access to Information request for CBC’s communications with American social media platform Twitter (now X) dating to 2018. The news outlet previously published investigative reporting alleging that the CBC exerted pressure on Twitter/X to censor it and other disfavored news outlets over political speech.

Read more: https://www.state.gov/reports/2024-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/canada

SK man who set 30 fires sentenced to probation

A Saskatchewan volunteer firefighter who confessed to starting 30 hay bale fires last summer has been sentenced to 18 months probation and 200 hours community service. 

Sask. volunteer firefighter who set hay bales on fire 30 times awaits sentencing | CBC News | Hannah Spray

June 25, 2025 - "As an arsonist kept setting hay bales on fire in western Saskatchewan last summer, comments a volunteer firefighter made to his colleagues raised their suspicions. That ultimately led police to focus their attention on Logan Sieben, a 25-year-old volunteer with the Macklin Fire Department in the town, about 225 kilometres west of Saskatoon.

"At Sieben's sentencing hearing last week in Unity provincial court, Crown prosecutor Danie Cilliers described how, as the fire department attended the hay bale fires, Sieben would say things like, 'the area does not have any cameras,' or 'there are two ways in and out.' Police questioned Sieben, who initially admitted to starting three fires. Ultimately, he accepted responsibility for starting 30 fires during a one-month period from July 29 to Aug. 26, 2024, Cilliers said.

"Cilliers argued for a sentence consisting of a six-month conditional sentence order — to be served in the community — followed by 12 months probation. He cited the high number of fires and Sieben's breach of trust to the community, as a volunteer firefighter, as aggravating factors for the judge to consider. 

"Defence lawyer George Green argued for a sentence of the same length, but in the form of 18 months probation on the same terms proposed by the Crown, including community service and mental health supports.... Green cited prior cases where other offenders set fires to houses, vehicles and even a fire department, and received sentences of probation.... 

"The Crown asked the judge to impose a restitution order for $76,650, the amount associated with the Macklin Fire Department's response to the fires. However, Cilliers acknowledged he doesn't know how much of that was covered by insurance, or how many RMs or property owners have paid their bills. Green said that when the restitution amount isn't 'crystal clear,' it needs to be left to the civil courts to sort out, so a restitution order would not be appropriate here."

Read more: cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatoon/volunteer-firefighter-arsonist-sentencing-1.7570517

Macklin Fire Department / CBC.

Saskatchewan volunteer firefighter who set 30 fires in a month sentenced for arson | CBC News | Alexander Quon:

July 22, 2025 - "A former volunteer firefighter who pleaded guilty to setting hay bales on fire in western Saskatchewan last summer has been sentenced to probation and community service. Logan Sieben was a member of the Macklin & District Fire Department, which last year responded to 20 hay bale fires from July 28 to Aug. 25.... Sieben ultimately pleaded guilty to one charge of arson causing property damage.

"On Monday, Judge Ian Mokoruk released his decision during a hearing in Unity provincial court. Sieben will serve 18 months of probation, complete 200 hours of community service in 15 months and cannot possess any fire-starting tools.

"Mokoruk declined to impose a restitution order, despite Crown attorneys arguing during sentencing submissions that Sieben should pay $76,650, or the amount associated with the department's response to the fires.

"Macklin & District Fire Department Chief Justin Bast said he was hoping for a more severe sentence. 'I don't know that jail time would would solve the problem,' said Bast over the phone on Monday. 'Maybe a little bit of some type of house arrest or something like that and the restitution with that as well.'"

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/logan-sieben-sentencing-1.7590359

How gov't agencies can manipulate economic data

U.S. president Trump has accused the Bureau of Labor Statistics of manipulating economic data for political reasons. Ron Paul says that would be nothing new. 

Newsflash: Governments Lie | Ron Paul Institute | Ron Paul:

August 11, 2025 - "Bureau of Labor Statistics head Dr. Erika McEntarfer is one of the latest persons President Trump has told 'you’re fired.' President Trump said this month that he fired Dr. McEntarfer because the president believed she manipulated jobs data. Manipulations, he stated, include the updated May and June BLS numbers showing the U.S. economy created 258,000 fewer jobs than originally reported, as well as the weaker than expected July jobs report. All of this, the president suggested, was designed to make President Trump look bad.

"Following Dr. McEntarfer’s firing, many commenters worried that President Trump’s actions would create the perception that government unemployment and inflation data is manipulated to produce the numbers desired by the president. A loss of confidence in government statistics could impact demand for US Treasuries ... increasing government’s interest payments.

"President Trump is correct that BLS manipulates statistics related to the economy, but it has been doing so since long before Donald Trump moved to the White House. For example, starting in 1994, the BLS stopped including 'discouraged' workers who have stopped looking for work in the official unemployment figures. The BLS also includes those working part-time as employed even if the only reason they are working part-time is they cannot find full-time work. According to John Williams, publisher of the website Shadow Stats, including discouraged and part-time workers who want full-time work in the unemployment figures increases the unemployment rate by almost 20 percent!

"The government also understates the effects of inflation. One way it does this is by using 'chained CPI.' Chained CPI means that even if price inflation has made steak unaffordable for most Americans, the government does not consider their standard of living lowered if they can buy a 'substitute' such as hamburger. This ignores the fact that if consumers viewed hamburger and steak as equivalent then they would likely have chosen cheaper hamburger before Federal Reserve-caused price inflation made steak unaffordable.... According to John Williams’s Shadow Stats, using a more accurate definition of inflation would increase the inflation rate to as much as 12 percent.

"Manipulating the unemployment and inflation rates allows the government to gaslight the people into believing that the economy is strong and any signs of weakness — such as rising prices or an increase in unemployment in their town — are anomalies that do not reflect the economy’s real condition. Manipulating the inflation figures to understate the true amount of inflation also lowers the 'cost of living' increases the government must provide for veterans, beneficiaries of Social Security, and others. This provides a way for government to cut spending without Congress members having politically difficult votes.

"President Trump has done a service by highlighting that government statistics regarding the economy are manipulated. Many of those criticizing President Trump for endangering the 'credibility' of government’s inflation and unemployment numbers are either unaware of, or more likely have no problem with, manipulating data to fool the public into thinking the welfare-warfare system and the fiat money system are 'working.' They only object to manipulating the data to benefit President Trump. President Trump should ensure the government’s unemployment and inflation figures are as accurate as possible by appointing John Williams of Shadow Stats to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics."

Copyright © 2025 The Ron Paul Institute. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit and a live link are given.

https://ronpaulinstitute.org/newsflash-governments-lie/

Shadow Stats: https://www.shadowstats.com/ 

2nd Canadian rights group weighs in on hiking ban

A second Canadian province has imposed a summer ban on hiking, fishing, picnicking, and dog walking in the woods on Crown land to prevent wildfires; and a second Canadian rights group has weighed in on the issue.

New Brunswick warned to lift ban on low-risk activities, such as walking, hiking, and fishing, on Crown land | Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (news release): 

August 11, 2025 - ""The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms announces that a legal warning letter has been sent to Premier of New Brunswick Susan Holt and Minister of Natural Resources and Energy Development John Herron, urging them to reverse their province-wide ban on public access to Crown land. 

Image generated by Grok, created by xAI.

"The universal ban on access to nature across the province applies to low-risk activities such as hiking, cycling, fishing, or even walking a dog.... 

"Constitutional lawyer Allison Pejovic states that these sweeping restrictions violate Canadians’ right to liberty – protected by section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Ms. Pejovic writes that 'walking through the woods and fishing do not pose a risk of starting fires. Punishing Canadians by restricting their freedom to roam and enjoy nature is disproportionate and not rationally connected to preventing forest fires.'

"Less restrictive measures, such as banning smoking and recreational fires, increasing patrols on Crown land, and improving forest management, could address legitimate fire concerns without violating citizens’ liberty.

"The letter cautions that if the province proceeds with 'overbroad, arbitrary, and grossly disproportionate restrictions,' the province could face a legal challenge.... Ms. Pejovic remarks that 'treating people as the problem rather than targeting actions that actually create fire risks shows a serious and concerning disregard for human rights and individual liberty.'

"The letter urges the province to immediately remove the ban on harmless recreational activities on Crown land."

Read more: https://www.jccf.ca/new-brunswick-warned-to-lift-ban-on-low-risk-activities-such-as-walking-hiking-and-fishing-on-crown-land/