America

Via John Whitehead of The Rutherford Institute,

In 2004, the U.S. banned cigarettes in all federal prisons and it was pretty much the best thing that could have happened to the packaged mackerel industry (yes, you read that correctly...the packaged fish).

Via Jeff Thomas of InternationalMan.com,

Recently, I was in a pharmacy and overheard the pharmacist say to someone, “There’s so much unpleasantness on the news these days, I’ve stopped watching.” The pharmacist has my sympathy. I’d love to be able to ignore the deterioration of the First World. It is, at turns, tedious, depressing, disturbing, and infuriating.

Via Ron Paul of The Ron Paul Institute for Peace & Prosperity,

History shows that, if individuals have the freedom to choose what to use as money, they will likely opt for gold or silver.

Of course, modern politicians and their Keynesian enablers despise the gold or silver standard. This is because linking a currency to a precious metal limits the ability of central banks to finance the growth of the welfare-warfare state via the inflation tax. This forces politicians to finance big government much more with direct means of taxation.

Having thrown the Justice Department under the bus yesterday, it appears the FBI Director has not managed to pass the hot potato of blame/responsibility for Trump's wiretap accusations. As The Hill reports, a White House spokeswoman on Monday said she "doesn't think" Trump accepts Comey's denial of the president's claims.