The Freedom Report

President Obama gave a speech at West Point recently where he discussed his administration's foreign policy agenda. The Washington Post wrote that the President's speech was a 'takedown' of Senator Rand Paul, claiming that the veiled messages were pointed jabs at 'isolationists' and 'realists.'  Although he never mentioned Paul by name, Obama chastised those who claim that it's not our business what happens in places like Libya and Syria. The president acknowledged that the American public was war-weary, but cautioned that it should not stop us from continuing to engage in foreign entanglements.  So is the job of the United States to forever play Team America: World Police? Or can the growing libertarian trend in America reign in the beast of the ever-growing federal government?  All that and more on the Freedom Report podcast!

The Freedom Report podcast turns 100 today! 100 episodes that is. Today on the podcast we go back over the last year at The Libertarian Republic and discuss some of the greatest hits in the history of our show and website. Where were you when Belle Knox said that rough sex porn was empowering? Were you struggling with your WiFi to be able to listen to our show on the Satanic Black Mass? Did your head explode when Ambassador John Bolton said he was a libertarian? This super special episode of the Freedom Report goes into the story of how The Libertarian Republic came to be, as well as the Freedom Report podcast. We talk about how many listeners have been tuning in (it's a lot!) and what stories everyone has really responded to the most. So if you're a fan, have a download and listen as assistant editor Ian Huyett and myself discuss liberty's greatest hits in the last year.    

Was mass murderer Elliot Rodger a "kissless virgin" because he believed his "white male privilege" as a "nice guy" made him entitled to sex with a beautiful blonde girlfriend? Or was it because of his introverted, misanthropic life spent wasting away in video games and online forums that perpetuated his anti-social personality?  The Freedom Report podcast today takes on the case in California where a disturbed 22-year-old  man murdered his roommates before driving to the University of California Santa Barbara to kill three more people. The media reaction has proven predictably insane on the level of the killer himself, with leftist rags proclaiming that the killer was motivated by his "white guy rage," while conveniently ignoring the fact that Rodger was half-Asian, and identified himself as more Asian than white.  Meanwhile, the usual suspects of the feminazi community are engaging in their regularly appointed rounds of blood libel, aimed at Mens Rights activists in order to paint their activism as somehow responsible for the misogynistic hatred that Rodger displayed for blonde white women. Ignore the fact that the killer murdered more men than women and hated sexually active men just as much. You can always count on the feminist community to ignore the facts in order to confirm their irrational biases.  So what caused Elliot Rodger to go postal in California? Listen to the Freedom Report and subscribe to us on iTunes for a fascinating discussion about Misogny, Men's Rights and Mass Murder.  Editor's Note: In the podcast we speculate about reports that claimed that Rodger was seeing a therapist and was a high-functioning aspergers sufferer. The Libertarian Republic has learned that Rodger was never officially diagnosed with Aspergers, but his parents believed that he was. 

Chipotle announced that it would be disallowing the carrying of firearms on their premises, reversing their earlier trend of allowing peaceful gun owners to exercise their right to bear arms. The Bloomberg-backed Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense reacted to a photo of a fat neckbearded dude and a shorter hispanic guy bearing assault rifles on private property. The public relations disaster was a perfect storm for gun grabbers to paint the caricature of gun nuts, shoving their weapons in everyone's faces. Marxist radical Saul Alinsky and his progressive followers successfully infiltrated the system by crafting a strategy aimed at bringing the middle class onboard. He argued against crude language, a defiant demeanor or a menacing appearance that suggested radicalism. That's why he disliked hippies and the counterculture of the 1960's. Author Richard Poe wrote: “Alinsky scolded the Sixties Left for scaring off potential converts in Middle America. True revolutionaries do not flaunt their radicalism, Alinsky taught. They cut their hair, put on suits and infiltrate the system from within.” Alinsky wrote that successful “Tactics must begin with the experience of the middle class, accepting their aversion to rudeness, vulgarity, and conflict. Start them easy, don’t scare them off.” Are fat, neckbearded activists scaring off the middle class from those principles of liberty that so many others have fought and died for? All that and more on the Freedom Report podcast!

The Libertarian Republic hosted a poll yesterday asking our readers what their position on abortion would be if you could kill the baby on the basis of their sexual orientation. The results might surprise you.  From the question, "Should a mother be able to abort a gay baby?", our readers responded overwhelmingly, "no." Out of 473 votes, 112 people (23.7%) voted yes, that a mother can abort a child for any reason. The majority voted, "No, abortion is always wrong for whatever reason." While a very small minority of very confused people voted, "No, aborting babies over sexual preference is wrong," but they believed that "All other reasons are OK."  What?  The intent of the poll was to expose the hypocrisy amongst liberal democrats who believe that abortion is OK for any reason. A bill was proposed in California that would have banned abortion on the basis of gender. Democrats killed it in the crib. But would they still feel the same way if Christian conservatives were aborting babies because we could find out that they were gay?  Needlessly divisive, or an important question to test people's principles? Listen to the Freedom Report podcast and leave your thoughts below. 

Have you checked your white male privilege today?  In a new column by cis-gendered white male lawyer Kurt Schlichter, the white male says that he's checked his privilege, and it's doing just fine. Schlichter argues that liberals have a new word for what normal people call "success." They call it "privilege." He believes that liberals have concocted a fantasy wherein people are successful, not because of merit, but because of where their great-great-grandfather was born. The Freedom Report podcast today features two cis-gendered white males with opinions discussing the tactics of the cultural Marxists of the left, and how libertarians and conservatives can use specific issues of congruence to take the moral high ground away from the social democrats.

The Freedom Report podcast delves into the issue of a court in Ohio that demanded a man stop having kids because he isn't paying child support. Asim Taylor owes $100,000 for his four children and an appeals court upheld the sentence which some are calling a violation of his right to happiness.  TLR contributor Sarah Miller and Associate Editor Ian Huyett debate the issue of "deadbeat dads," and question whether or not a man really should be required to pay child support at all, considering that men have no right to decide whether a woman will have the child or not.  Also, is circumcision ethical, or even medically necessary? A three year old boy is on the chopping block in Florida after a mother decided she changed her mind about having the procedure performed on him. The father is demanding that doctors snip the tip allegedly not for religious reasons.  Associate editor Huyett argues it's a medically necessary procedure that parents should have the final say over, but male genital expert Miller decries it as a form of child abuse. What does editor Austin Petersen think? You'll have to listen to all that and more on this very special "Battle Royale" episode of the Freedom Report podcast!  Associate Editor's Note: The empirical study cited by Huyett about the purported benefits of male circumcision is here. Also, in reference to the debate over whether Jesus was circumcised, Huyett would ask interested parties to consult the Bible, specifically Luke 2:21.  Editor's Note: Arguments for the defense of female circumcision are here, here, and here.

The entire world is talking about the video released by TMZ showing rapper Jay Z being assaulted by his wife Beyonce's sister named Solange. Jay Z was attacked in an elevator at the Standard Hotel, while his wife Beyonce stood by and watched. Luckily, the bouncer was able to subdue the psycho sister-in-law, holding her back while she launched flurries of punches and kicks at the superstar. So why didn't Jay Z strike her back? Is there a sexist double standard between the genders over who can commit violent assault? Sarah Miller, TLR contributor Newly minted Libertarian Republic contributor Sarah Miller joins the Freedom Report podcast today to talk about the dustup and the issues of gender violence. Miller debates whether or not there's a double standard, comparing the fight to when Rihanna was beaten by her boyfriend Chris Brown and the ensuing media hullaballoo. If Jay Z had beaten Solange like Brown had beaten Rihanna, would this have been a totally different story? Also, what are the privacy implications of having every single life event of ours recorded on camera? Is there no privacy anymore? How should people behave knowing that there is a good chance that anything we do could be seen by millions of people overnight? Miller takes this on, as well as delves into the issue of revenge porn and her own dirty indiscretions on the Freedom Report podcast.

Today's episode of The Freedom Report podcast discusses the recent Supreme Court decision that ruled it constitutional for townships to hold public prayers as an opening to their government meetings. The Town of Greece, New York v. Galloway upheld the constitutionality of non-coercive sectarian invocations at city council meetings.  The majority opinion by the court read: The town made reasonable efforts to identify all of the congregations located within its borders and represented that it would welcome a prayer by any minister or layman who wished to give one. That nearly all of the congregations in town turned out to be Christian does not reflect an aversion or bias on the part of town leaders against minority faiths. So long as the town maintains a policy of nondiscrimina­tion, the Constitution does not require it to search beyond its borders for non-Christian prayer givers in an effort to achieve religious balancing.... In today's show we discuss the issue of whether the constitution forbids the individual states from establishing a state religion, and what the First Amendment to the Constitution really means. 

Conservative icon Richard Viguerie joins the Freedom Report to discuss the civil war in the GOP. A staunch critic of Mitt Romney, Viguerie tears into the big government Republicans in his new book "Takeover: The 100 Year Battle for the Soul of the GOP." Known as the "funding father" of the modern conservative movement, Viguerie lays out a battle plan for the true limited government conservatives to wrest control of the GOP away from the establishment.  Viguerie draws on his vast knowledge and experience in politics, discussing the "dark days" for conservatives when Barry Goldwater had lost, when there was no Fox News and no Tea Party. Now, he says, there is a stronger movement that could theoretically take over the Republican party by 2017 if they take heed and follow his advice.  All that and more on the Freedom Report podcast! 

Senator Harry Reid is on the attack against the Koch Brothers, claiming that they are one of the leading causes of climate change. But are the brothers Koch really the terrifying supervillains that he's trying to paint, or are they anti-establishment libertarian freedom fighters? Liberal activists have been painting the narrative for years that Charles and David Koch are the evil conspirators behind much of the shenanigans they claim to despise. But what if I told you that the kind of trouble the brothers Koch are causing are things such as ending the war on drugs, reducing military intervention and donating $10 million dollars each to the ACLU to fight the PATRIOT Act? All that and more on this episode of the Freedom Report podcast!

Nevada Senator Harry Reid took a swipe at the protesters supporting rancher Cliven Bundy in his war against the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Reid claimed that the rancher's supporters were "domestic terrorists," and challenged their patriotism. Meanwhile, radio host Glenn Beck cautioned against violent right-wing protesters who were the "right's version of Occupy Wall Street."  The issue in Nevada has deescalated in the past week, but as Senator Reid has said, it's far from over. Bundy is still being ordered to pay approximately $1 million in grazing fees for his cattle that are on public land. Libertarian icons Senator Rand Paul and former congressman Ron Paul have joined the litany of voices that have offered some form of support for Bundy against the feds, but the elder Paul believes that the feds will be back with reinforcements.  So what really is at issue in the war against the BLM? With approximately 85% of the land in Nevada owned by the feds, could this issue ignite a modern version of the Sagebrush Rebellion, where Ronald Reagan sided with the rebels to attempt to liquidate federal land holdings? Are there some issues with lunatics on the front lines who want an initiation of violence and for women and children to die on the front lines?  This episode of the Freedom Report takes an objective look at the issues swirling around the standoff in the Silver state. 

Mozilla CEO Brendan Eich was pressured to step down after it was revealed that he donated $1,000 to California's Proposition 8 ballot measure against gay marriage. In a story twist, it was revealed that the Internal Revenue Service was responsible for a leak in which they turned over the donor records of the campaign to a gay rights group.  The controversy heated up when dating website OKCupid asked users not to access their site using the browser as an act of protest, which initiated a firestorm that resulted in Eich's resignation. Curiously enough, Eich presided over some of the most pro-gay policies of any company in America, including health care benefits and anti-discrimination policies. It also was revealed that he donated to libertarian leaning former congressman Ron Paul. So why did he donate to Prop 8? And were the tactics used to get Eich to step down legitimate?  All that and more on the Freedom Report podcast! 

Let Them Eat Meat And Cheese! A new study from the Medical University of Graz found that vegetarian diets are tied to generally poorer health and quality of life than their carnivorous counterparts. The study also found that people who didn't drink regularly are more prone to heart disease than regular alcohol imbibers. Follow TLR on Google+ Also, did you know that vegetarian women are less likely to be attracted to vegetarian men? Apparently that's the case according to a study cited by associate editor of The Libertarian Republic Ian Huyett. All that and more on the Freedom Report podcast! Subscribe on iTunes.

The Freedom Report podcast today takes on the issue of female marine officer candidates who can't pass the physical requirements to serve in combat roles. Although 3 enlisted female marines have reportedly passed the less rigorous infantry training course, no women have been able to make it through the even stricter infantry officer course. Follow TLR on Google+ In a piece for the Washington Post, Second Lt. Sage Santangelo argues that the reason that female officers are not passing the test is because they are not being trained to the same standards as men. She believes that women are more than capable of doing the pullups required if the initial training programs were made to suit their biological difference in upper body strength. Santangelo claims to be able to do 16 pullups. Female warriors have a long and fierce history in combat throughout history. One woman by the name of Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester won the Silver Star by leading a counterattack that killed 27 insurgents, three of them with her own rifle. And in the Israeli military in 2007, one woman saved the life of a fellow soldier by crafting a tourniquet out of her bra. So should women be serving in combat? And should we be holding men and women to different standards? All that and more on the Freedom Report podcast!