Month: February 2016

Is Congress Declaring War On ISIS… Or On You (& Your Cash)?

Submitted by Ron Paul via The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

Passage of Senator Mitch McConnell’s authorization for war against ISIS will not only lead to perpetual US wars across the globe, it will also endanger our civil and economic liberties. The measure allows the president to place troops anywhere he determines ISIS is operating. Therefore, it could be used to justify using military force against United States citizens on US territory. It may even be used to justify imposing martial law in America.

The President does not have to deploy the US military to turn America into a militarized police state, however. He can use his unlimited authority to expand programs that turn local police forces into adjuncts of the US military, and send them increasing amounts of military equipment. Using the threat of ISIS to justify increased police militarization will be enthusiastically supported by police unions, local officials, and, of course, politically-powerful defense contractors. The only opposition will come from citizens whose rights have been violated by a militarized police force that views the people as the enemy.

Even though there is no evidence that the government’s mass surveillance programs have prevented even a single terrorist attack, we are still continuously lectured about how we must sacrifice our liberty for security. The cries for the government to take more of our privacy will grow louder as the war party and its allies in the media continue to hype the threat of terrorism. A president armed with the authority to do whatever it takes to stop ISIS will no doubt heed these calls for new restrictions on our privacy.

Following last year’s mass shooting in California, President Obama called for restricting the Second Amendment rights of any American on the “terrorist watch list.” The president also used the attacks to expand the unconstitutional gun background check system via executive action. Can anyone doubt that President Obama — or a future anti-gun president — will use the absolute power to do whatever is necessary to stop terrorism as a justification for imposing new gun control measures? Using the war on ISIS to justify more gun control will be particularly attractive since even many pro-gun politicians will support gun control measures if they are marketed as part of the war on terror.

As the American economy faces continued stagnation, and as challenges to the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency mount, an increasingly authoritarian government will impose new restrictions on our economic activities and new limits on our financial privacy. In particular, our ability to move assets out of the country will be limited, and new reporting and other requirements will limit our ability to use cash without being treated as criminals or terrorists. Those who carry large amounts of cash will find themselves at increased risk of having the cash confiscated by government agents under civil asset forfeiture laws.

If Senator McConnell’s declaration of perpetual war passes, presidents could use the war on ISIS as a justification to impose new restrictions on our use of cash and our financial privacy via executive action. After all, they will say, the government needs to make sure cash is not being used to support ISIS.

The only way to protect both liberty and security is to stop trying to impose our will on other countries by military force. The resentment created by America's militaristic foreign policy is ISIS’ most effective recruiting tool. Adopting a non-interventionist foreign policy that seeks peace and free trade with all would enable the government to counter legitimate threats to our safety without creating an authoritarian police state.


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EURUSD Slides As Draghi Repeats Same Talking Points As Last Week

When Draghi speaks (or releases his statement), the algos obey.. and sell EURUSD. No new news at all – just a repeat of the same statements that “QE is deemed effective’ (by whom we ask), and a recalibration is in order (as the situation has changed since December). His biggest problem from what we can tell is the fact that the banking industry’s collapse augurs very badly for industrial production and an economic recession across Europe.

The headlines from Draghi’s prepared remarks…

  • *ECB’S DRAGHI SAYS QE MEASURES DEEMED EFFECTIVE
  • *DRAGHI SAYS ECB WILL REVIEW AND MAY RECONSIDER STANCE IN MARCH
  • *DRAGHI SAYS ECB MONETARY POLICY IS WORKING
  • *DRAGHI SAYS THERE ARE RISKS THAT COULD UNDERMINE RECOVERY PATH
  • *DRAGHI: EMERGING MKTS EXPOSED TO ABRUPT SHIFT IN RISK SENTIMENT
  • *DRAGHI SAYS ENSURING RESILIENCE OF EURO ECONOMY IS ‘PARAMOUNT’

And sure enough EURUSD tumbles…

Perhaps this is why Draghi is so worried – as it appears the Banking ‘Canary’ In Europe’s Economic ‘Coalmine’ Is Dying…


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Atlanta Fed Sees Q1 GDP Growth At Just 1.2%, 50% Below Wall Street Consensus

Compared to the Wall Street Consensus, which had originally expected Q4 2015 GDP to rise as much as 3% only to admit Q4 was a total bust (and this time not even the weather was to blame) when last Friday the BEA’s first estimate of Q4 growth revealed GDP had risen a minimal 0.7% – a number which will be reduced following today’s big construction spending miss – the Atlanta Fed’s 1.0% pre-announcement estimate seems like a bulls eye.

Which is why the fact that according to the Atlanta Fed’s just launched Q1 GDP tracker the US economy will grow another barely above-recession 1.2%, more than 50% below the Wall Street consensus of 2.3%, should be very troubling, as it suggests there will barely be any growth in the quarter in which the 2015 inventory liquidation was supposed to have taken place, and instead the economic weakness will persist well into the year in which the Fed has signalled it will hike rates 4 times, a number which the market which sees just one rate hike in the next 11 months, vigorously disagrees with.

This is what the Altanta Fed said:

The initial GDPNow model forecast for real GDP growth (seasonally adjusted annual rate) in the first quarter of 2016 is 1.2 percent on February 1. The final model nowcast for fourth-quarter real GDP growth was 1.0 percent, 0.3 percentage points above the advance estimate of 0.7 percent released last Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.

 

Time for triple seasonal adjustments?


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Genetically Modifying Human Embryos Is OK, Say U.K. Regulators

CRISPREconomistThe U.K.’s Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has approved the proposal by stem researchers at the Francis Crick Institute to use the CRISPR gene-editing technique to modify the genomes of donated surplus IVF embryos. The researchers will use CRISPR to turn genes associated with the development of the placenta off and on with the goal of figuring out why miscarriages occur more frequently in some women. The gene-edited embryos will be allowed to develop for 14 days and then be discarded.

The approval follows in the wake of the historic International Summit on Human Gene Editing held last December in Washington, D.C. As I reported then:

At the close of the summit, the organizers issued a statement that, while noting current safety issues with regard to using CRISPR for germline interventions, nevertheless declined to recommend a permanent ban on making inheritable changes in the human genome. The statement also rejected calls for a temporary moratorium on basic and preclinical research using gene-edited gametes and embryos. However, such gene edited cells should not be used to establish a pregnancy.

The HFEA’s greenlight for the editing experiments is being hailed by researchers. From The Guardian:

“The ruling by the HFEA is a triumph for common sense,” said Darren Griffin, professor of genetics, University of Kent, said. “While it is certain that the prospect of gene editing in human embryos raised a series of ethical issues and challenges, the problem has been dealt with in a balanced manner. It is clear that the potential benefits of the work proposed far outweigh the foreseen risks.

Sarah Norcross, director of Progress Educational Trust, called it “a victory for level-headed regulation over moral panic”.

Nevetheless, it won’t be long before the professional moral panickers, well, panic over this research. In fact, some have already pre-panicked. From Marcy Darnovsky, Executive Director of the Center for Genetics and Society:

“Allowing a form of human inheritable genetic modification will put the UK at odds with every other country that has ever considered it, as well as multiple international human rights treaties.  Advocates say that approving these techniques will make the UK a scientific pioneer. In fact, it risks becoming a pariah.”

For more background see my column, “Gene-Editing Human Embryos Is Ethical.”

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Is NYPD’s Police Union Ignoring Trial of Officer Who Killed Unarmed Akai Gurley?

Writing in Gothamist, Max Rivlin-Nadler reportsJoy Division's Greatest Hits that the trial of Peter Liang, the rookie NYPD officer who shot and killed unarmed 28-year-old Akai Gurley in the stairwell of a Brooklyn housing project in 2014, is being ignored by the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association (PBA).

Liang and his partner were patroling the stairwells of the Pink Houses housing project on November 20, 2014, in direct defiance of a superior officer’s instructions to not patrol in “verticals.” With his gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, Liang was spooked by the sound of Gurley entering the stairwell from the floor below. Liang’s lawyers are blaming the shooting on a defective trigger.

In the crucial moments following the shooting, Liang was “incoherent,” “panicked,” and more concerned that he was going to lose his job than he was in assisting the gravely wounded man he shot. During that time, he reportedly texted his union representative and neither he nor his partner could accurately provide the address of the building they were in. 

These are all examples of indefensible behavior, one that any union interested in accountability would distance itself from. Rivin-Nadler’s article correctly notes that PBA president Patrick Lynch “rarely misses an opportunity to grandstand” and that the lack of a stalwart union presence at Liang’s trial presents a “stark difference from previous police misconduct trials, where the PBA has put itself directly in the spotlight to broadcast its steadfast faith in the near total infallibility of police officers.”

Rivlin-Nadler then suggests the lack of a union presence might have something to do with the fact that Liang is Asian-American:

The PBA’s lack of support has created a perception among Liang’s supporters that the city’s largest police union would not be treating a white police officer accused of the same crimes in this manner. After a grand jury declined to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo for fatally choking Staten Island resident Eric Garner, Pat Lynch called Pantaleo “the model of what we want a police officer to be.”

Asians make up 6% of the NYPD, while they make up 13% of New York City’s population. Almost 85% of NYPD leadership are white.

But Liang himself turned away from the union when he dismissed his PBA-provided lawyers last November after refusing to testify before a grand jury (as is the preference of police union attorneys), as well as his somewhat unusual decision to opt for a jury trial rather than a bench trial.

DNAInfo New York wrote last month:

His decision to opt for a juror trial is unusual. Police officers generally believe that a judge can remain dispassionate about the case, and that they have a better understanding of an officer’s job and the subtleties of their regulations.

Prosecutors introduced into evidence the NYPD Police Student’s Guide, which Liang was trained with during his time in the police academy in 2013.

Liang’s new lawyers pointed out a passage from the guide, which reads in part:

Criminals, alerted to your presence through sound, would have time to escape or devise a plan, as you unknowingly walk down the stairs, for a possible ambush.

There are plenty of “teachable” moments to be gleaned from Akai Gurley’s tragic death. Training new officers to prepare for an ambush and then assigning them to one of the most violent crime-afflicted housing projects in the city are choices of policy. Liang and his partner’s decision to ignore their supervisor’s edict to avoid stairwell patrols was a choice of practice. Liang’s decision to patrol in a stairwell with his finger on the trigger of a gun was the choice that ended Gurley’s life, and that choice ultimately falls on him. 

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JPM Says Window To Buy Has Closed: “Start Fading The Bounce Within Days”

After having correctly called the January plunge, JPM’s Croatian “duo of doom” of Kolanovic and Matejka predicted a modest bounce. This is what Matejka said in the middle of last month: Clearly, equities are unlikely to keep falling in a straight line, with periodic rebounds likely… However, we believe that one should be using any bounces as selling opportunities, adding that “one should not overstay one’s welcome in the bounce.”

Today, Matejka followed up his call for a short-term bounce with a piece in which the JPMorganite warns that the window to buy stocks has closed and that it is almost time to start fading this bounce:

  • Equities rebounded from recent lows, with SX5E moving up 6%, to be back above 3000, and SPX is back above 1900. We argued two weeks ago to look for a tradeable bounce, as most technical indicators were flashing oversold, and as policymakers were opening the doors to further stimulus. It is encouraging to see that equities are responding to these supports.
  • The technical oversold picture has not completely changed, but indicators are not in “Buy” territory anymore. RSIs have moved to high 40’s, from sub 30. VIX has fallen back, Bull-Bear sentiment indicator has rebounded from -28% to -10%. The S&P500 put call ratio has come off, as did equity skew. Positioning still appears tentative, though, as HF beta remains in negative territory.



  • We originally looked for up to half of past losses to be recovered. We believe that we are perhaps 2/3rds of the way through the bounce, and would look to start fading it within days. We stick to the overriding view that one should use any strength as an opportunity to reduce equity allocation. On 30th November ’15, we had advised to cut equity overweight in a balanced portfolio to a minimal one, at 5%, the lowest we have had so far in the current upcycle, and are advising to use the most recent stabilisation in order to cut the weight of equities further, bringing it to Neutral. This marks the first time we are not outright Overweight stocks since the ’07–’08 period, when we were 10% Underweight.
  • We are concerned that the strategic OW on equities is not appropriate any more, and it should give way to a much more tactical positioning. Policy response is likely to keep getting ever more dovish, but over the medium term, we believe markets are likely to continue to worry about the stage of the global cycle we are in.

Matejka then explains why JPM is further lowering its equity weighting due to the following five reasons. Specifically, Matejka notes that “equities are unlikely to perform well on a 12- to 24-month horizon” and bunches headwinds into the following 5 groups:

  1. Equity valuations are not offering much room for error. P/E multiples have come down somewhat, but on most valuation metrics, stocks are at best fair value, in our view. The P/S metric is higher today than it was at any time in ‘07-’08 period – slide 13. Peak P/S on peak sales? True, relative to fixed income, stocks still look interesting, but credit spreads are widening, and the asset reflation regime might start to reverse.
  2. The gap between credit spreads and equities remains stark, with deterioration spilling over into real economy. The widening is not just due to energy; all the subsectors are seeing an increase in spreads. The latest US bank lending standards have worsened for the first time since ‘09. Net debt-to-equity ratios are higher now than they were in ’07 – slide 19
  3. US profit margins are showing increasing evidence of peaking. Profitability improvement was one of the key drivers of the 7-year-long equity rally. This might be finished, as the profit margin proxy – the difference between corporate pricing and the wage growth – turned outright negative in Q4 for the first time since 2008. Buybacks have flattered earnings for a while now, but we would be surprised if these stay a potent support. Buybacks as a share of EBIT are already at ‘07 highs, and credit spreads are widening.
  4. Fed tightening started very late in the cycle. The initial Fed hikes were normally interpreted as a confirmation of improving sentiment, but this time around, it might end up being a policy mistake, in our view. The Fed started to raise rates into a clearly worsening credit market, something which doesn’t happen often. In addition, the trade-weighted USD is up 25% over the past two years, a significant tightening in itself. Finally, the US yield curve is flattening post the hike, which is a problem. More fundamentally, asset reflation worked during ZIRP to help equities. This could start to unwind
  5. Medium-term Chinese and EM backdrop remains challenging, in particular in terms of credit excess. CNY could resume its depreciating trend post the Chinese new year, as the benefits of the past stimulus roll off.

But the most damning assessment is that as a result of the US cycle getting “long in the tooth”, risk-reward has worsened and that “Equity markets could be down this year irrespective of the US growth trajectory.” Matejka write that his “view since November ‘14 was that the Growth-Policy trade-off has deteriorated significantly for the US, limiting its upside.” Here’s why:

  • Our concern is over the potential reversal of the following three powerful forces that led to the tripling of S&P500 over the past seven years: 1) profit margins moving from record lows since World War II to record highs; 2) HY and HG credit spreads tightening dramatically; and 3) the Fed expanding its balance sheet.
  • All three of those drivers are finished from a medium-term perspective. US HY credit spreads have widened since June ‘14, and this move is not only due to the Energy sector. Ex-Energy, spreads are 340bp wider, in effect they doubled. US corporate balance sheets are starting to deteriorate, in contrast to Europe. Profit margins could come under pressure, given signs of increasing wage growth and weaker top lines than expected. As productivity stays low, ULCs could move up even without a big acceleration in wage growth.
  • The interesting point to make is that one doesn’t necessarily need weakening activity in order for equities to be under pressure. Of course, if the US is starting a slowdown over the next 12 months and profit margins are headed lower, we think the bearish call is rather straightforward.
  • In our view, the pressure on equity markets will materialise even if the US activity backdrop remains resilient. In that case, Fed is likely to persevere with the tightening bias, especially if the anticipated productivity rebound doesn’t come through. Given the easing stances of the rest of the world, the USD is likely to remain supported. This, in turn, would continue to weigh on commodities and would pressure China to resume its’ devaluation. Credit markets could remain weak in this environment, hurting equity valuations. This is the power of the adverse risk-reward for stocks. Equity markets could be down this year irrespective of the US growth trajectory.

And, what JPM did not add, is that there are increasingly louder rumblings that China may launch a major Yuan devaluation at the Shanghai G-20 meeting at the end of February. If that happens, replace “could” with “will” as China unleashes a massive deflationary and capital flight wave around the globe, which will drag risk assets lower unless, of course, the Fed finally relents, admits it made a mistake, and cuts back to zero, or more likely, to negative.


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Stupor Bowl 2016

Submitted by Charles Hugh-Smith of OfTwoMinds blog,

The Unicorn-believing Bulls will need the financial equivalent of The Catch just to avoid being skunked.

When I use the phrase Stupor Bowl, I refer not to the upcoming Super Bowl or the crazy mid-winter bicycle free-for-all in Minneapolis, but to the economic game of watching the Bear's Recession Offense crush the Unicorn-believing Bulls.

Let's follow the score here in the opening minutes of the Recession 2016 contest:

1. Sales have only one way to go: down. Touchdown Bears.

2. Profits have only one way to go: down. Touchdown Bears.

3. Stock buybacks have only one way to go: down. Touchdown Bears.

4. Global "growth" has only one way to go: down. Touchdown Bears.

5. Risk premiums have only one way to go: up. Touchdown Bears.

6. The efficacy of central bank "easing" only one way to go: down. Touchdown Bears.

This is getting stupefyingly repetitive, and the game has barely started: the Bears have racked up 42 points while the Unicorn-believing Bulls are scoreless.

The Unicorn-believing Bulls are going to need not just one Immaculate Reception, but a half-dozen miracle scores just to stay in the game. But the Bears have barely dented their playbook:

7. Government deficits have only one way to go: up.

8. The growth rate of private-sector debt has only one way to go: down.

9. The number of nations with crashing currencies has only one way to go: up.

10. The number of nations defaulting on sovereign debt has only one way to go: up.

11. The number of IPOs that quickly fall below their initial price has only one way to go: up–way up.

12. The number of margin calls to be issued to overleveraged "investors" has only one way to go: up–way up.

13. The number of junk bonds that will default has only one way to go: up–way up.

14. The number of Greater Fools willing to pay outlandishly absurd prices for homes in hot markets is plummeting; as a result, the market value of real estate globally has only one way to go: down–way down.

The Bears can fumble a few plays and still score another 42 points with ease.

The Unicorn-believing Bulls will need the financial equivalent of The Catch just to avoid being skunked:

But even that won't change the outcome–a recession that will leave all the Unicorn believers, Keynesian Cargo Cultists and the rest of the delusional mob of Bulls stupefied by their crushing defeat.


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Prostitution Decrim Debated by New Hampshire Lawmakers

New Hampshire legislators last week debated the merits of decriminalizing prostitution, in response to a bipartisan bill filed by state Reps. Amanda Bouldin (D-Hillsborough), Carole McGuire (R-Merrimack), and Elizabeth Edwards (D-Hillsborough). 

On Thursday, January 28, the New Hampshire Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee held a hearing on House Bill 1614, which removes all criminal penalties for “consensual sex between consenting adults” whether money is exchanged or not while making “any solicitation of sexual contact involving a person under 18 years of age or through the use of force or intimidation a felony.” 

“We put forward this bill in response to Amnesty International’s August 2015 recommendation that governments across the world decriminalize prostitution,” said Edwards at a press conference before the hearing. “Amnesty International studied the issue for two years prior to the their recommendation,” and their view is in line with the World Health Organization, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women, Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Foundations, Anti-Slavery International, and other global human-rights groups.  

The New Hampshire bill is supported by U.S sex-worker rights groups such as Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE) Rhode Island, the U.S. PROStitutes Collective, and the Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP), the group behind a lawsuit seeking to decriminalize prostitution in California. “This is groundbreaking,” said ESPLERP President Maxine Doogan. “The criminalization of prostitution is a failed policy. The ‘War on Sex’ hasn’t stopped anyone from buying or selling sex, but it has caused a lot of collateral damage, to poor women, women of color, and trans women. It’s about time that the government stopped intervening in what consenting adults do in private.”

COYOTE RI Executive Director Bella Robinson, who has been a sex worker for more than 30 years, testified before the New Hampshire committee in favor of the decriminalization bill. “The main reason I want to see prostitution decriminalized is because it is the only harm reduction model proven to reduce violence and exploitation in the sex industry,” she said in a pre-testimony statement.

“It is crucial that sex workers can work together and share work space to ensure their safety,” added Robinson, and “many sex workers utilize third party support staff to help keep them safe.” But under current U.S. laws, these people “are legally classified as traffickers.” 

To back up their positions, Doogan and Robinson point to research showing positive results in New Zealand since it decriminalized the sex trade in 2003. (Robinson explains more about New Zealand in the video below.)

But at the New Hampshire bill’s initial hearing, several lawmakers were skeptical. Rep. John Martin (R-Merrimack) worried that high-school football players would move from “having a keg party after a victory to having a hooker party after a victory.”

Rep. Edwards responded by pointing out that sex between adults and minors would still be illegal, no matter the gender of the minors. 

Rep. Dick Marston (R-Hillsborough) opposes the bill and is surprised by its introduction from female legislators, demanding they answer for the fact that some married men might cheat with sex workers. “I think I have a good handle on how my wife would feel if I used the services of a sex … prostitute,” Rep. Marston said at the committee hearing, “how my wife would feel, and how many other women would feel when their husbands do that. [The bill] doesn’t say that this is only good for as long as you’re doing it with an unmarried man. I just have a problem with this bill from a woman’s point of view.” 

“You probably should not go see a prostitute, it would make your wife unhappy, I agree with that,” responded Rep. Edwards. “But people [have sex] outside of marriage right now. … It’s not like having a law that requires us to arrest sex workers means that everyone is faithful in their marriage.” 

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Google Celebrates Frederick Douglass Today. So Should You, If You’re a Libertarian.

Today’s Google doodle is an image of Frederick Douglass, the escaped slave who became one of the most eloquent and influential abolitionists in American history. The doodle signals the start of Black History Month, which grew out of earlier traditions such as “Negro History Week” and offers a period of intensive reflection on the contributions of blacks to the history of the United States while also reminding the country of the historical realities of slavery and other unspeakable ills pushed on African Americans due to de facto and de jure racism.

Douglass, who was believed to have been born in February, 1818 is of special interest to libertarians for many reasons. As Damon Root has written for Reason, Douglass was a true classical liberal who believed in individualism, strong property rights, and voluntary philanthropy as the best way to create a free, prosperous, and inclusive society. From a 2012 review of Nicholas Buccola’s The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass:

“Douglass’s arguments against slavery are, in a very important sense, arguments for liberalism,” writes Linfield College political scientist Nicholas Buccola in The Political Thought of Frederick Douglass, his engaging new study of the great abolitionist. Taking seriously Douglass’ dual commitment to both a “robust conception of mutual responsibility” and “the ideas of universal self-ownership, natural rights, limited government, and an ethos of self-reliance,” Buccola offers a nuanced portrait that illuminates both Douglass and his place in American intellectual history….

Buccola notes, “throughout his development as a political thinker, Douglass was presented with a series of ideological alternatives,” including the pacifist anarchism of Garrison, who said the only government he recognized was the “government of God,” and the utopian socialism of John A. Collins, general director of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society, who believed “that private property was the root of all evil.” Douglass, Buccola observes, “consistently rejected these in favor of liberalism.”

Socialism was then becoming particularly attractive to many New England reformers. Yet Douglass rejected the socialist case against private land ownership, saying “it is [man’s] duty to possess it—and to possess it in that way in which its energies and properties can be made most useful to the human family.” He routinely preached the virtues of property rights. “So far from being a sin to accumulate property, it is the plain duty of every man to lay up something for the future,” he told a black crowd in Rochester, New York in 1885. “I am for making the best of both worlds and making the best of this world first, because it comes first.” As Douglass’ glowing description of his first paying job indicated, he also considered economic liberty an essential aspect of human freedom….

Read the full article here.

In my opinion, Douglass’ 1852 speech “What to the slave is the Fourth of July?” is one of the greatest texts in American literature, which simultaneously enacts what is these days lazily called “American exceptionalism” while critiquing it. Douglass exemplifies the tradition of critiquing the country’s laws and customs by examining them in light of rarely attained but always articulated ideals of equality:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy—a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour.

More here.

The three editions of Douglass’ autobiography (most Americans know the first one) are phenomenal testaments both to the ideals of American freedom and the ways that ideal has rarely come close to being realized. Perhaps most important, he offered up a critique of the country’s history, customs, and laws but also personified and argued for a way forward in which all Americans would both be more free and able to transcend the awful indignities and crimes of the past.

For more Reason on Douglass, go here.

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