01/16 -- What today's police could learn from Jack Webb; The proofiness of the politically correct rape
3 views
Skip to first unread message
Thomas L. Knapp
Jan 16, 2015, 7:24:20 AM1/16/15
to freedom-n...@googlegroups.com
Freedom News Daily, 01/16/15
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the International Society for Individual Liberty
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS --------------------------------------
TIPPING POINT: A NOVEL BY FRANK CLARKE
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
KN@PPSTER's Big Freakin' Book of Stuff
THE BLACK MESSIAH MURDERS
Based on the book by libertarian lawyer Sheldon Waxman
FISHIES
PhotoJournal for Dive Travelers
DRUPAL MANAGED HOSTING
Fed up with Maintenance and Hosting companies?
-------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -----
Today's Freedom News:
1) Belgium: Police kill two in shootout, claim to have foiled terror attack
2) Switzerland: Swiss franc soars as euro cap abandoned
3) Obama, Cameron to discuss plans to use Paris attack as excuse for new Internet spying schemes
4) Oklahoma, Florida regimes kill prisoners
5) Arab League backs UN Security Council timeline for Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders
6) DOJ accused of blocking legal gun shops, other businesses from banking
7) International force mulled to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria
8) FL: Woman unloads, reloads on alleged intruder
9) Russia: Homeless cat praised for saving abandoned baby
10) Italy: Two aid workers freed in Syria
11) White House: Net neutrality legislation not needed
12) FL: “Green Tea coalition” makes push for solar power
13) CA: San Francisco bus ads compare Muslims to Hitler
14) GOP announces plans to take a dive, have Ernst deliver State of the Union response
15) MI: Federal judge says no to ex post facto invalidation of 300 marriages
16) Security theater: France hit by “unprecedented” wave of cyber attacks
17) Obama to propose mandatory paid sick leave for American workers
18) Pols from 25 states ask judge to restore unconstitutional immigration restrictions
19) Pope Francis: “Free speech,” but I’ll hit you if I don’t like what you say
20) Obama regime rolls out new Cuba rules on trade, travel
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) What today’s police could learn from Jack Webb
22) The proofiness of the politically correct rape
23) The uses of Charlie Hebdo
24) Bouncing photons and claiming them as your property
25) Enemy of liberty
26) Hard to spell Colombia without o-i-l
27) Deja vu in France
28) The PC Pope genuflects before the terrorists
29) Instead of a tax hike
30) The Freedom Report Podcast, 01/15/15
31) Chris Christie counting on public amnesia
32) What makes a whistleblower?
33) The shocking horror of free community college
34) Uber, taxis and the issue of safety
35) They must be mad, literally mad: To be lucky in one’s opponents
36) Bait & switch: “Economic development” in the states
37) Jim Webb is the Democrats’ Rand Paul
38) Why Eric Garner couldn’t breathe
39) “How would you like this wrapped?”
40) Our God
41) Proposed Keiki caucus bills would undermine parental rights
42) We worry too much about terrorism
43) Pipeline to nowhere
44) Patrick Cockburn on The Scott Horton Show
45) John Brennan exonerates himself with sham investigation
46) The myth of a secure military
47) Hasta la Victoria siempre
48) Obama and political parties not very popular with soldiers
49) The Iraq war strategy 3.0: If you can’t win, at least make money
50) Education’s no dollar left behind competition
51) A government ISP is not market competition
52) Charlie Hebdo: “Je suis white people”
53) How ObamaCare is “working”
54) Through a glass, tinted
55) Charlie Hebdo and the exposure of hypocrisy
56) Heartland Daily Podcast, 01/14/15
57) The French role in the use and export of torture
58) Victims of war and terrorism lose their individuality
59) From neighborhood cops to robocops: The changing face of American police
60) The presidential authority to torture and assassinate, part 2
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Belgium: Police kill two in shootout, claim to have foiled terror attack
Source: Charlotte Observer
"Belgian security forces killed two terror suspects in a fierce shootout in the eastern city of Verviers on Thursday and arrested another, foiling a major attack against police buildings, authorities said. The suspects immediately opened fire on police when they closed in on them near the city's train station, Magistrate Eric Van der Sypt said in Brussels. He said there was no link at this stage to the Paris attacks, and that the raid is the result of an investigation that has been underway for a few weeks." (01/15/15)
-----
2) Switzerland: Swiss franc soars as euro cap abandoned
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"The Swiss franc soared as much as 30% in chaotic trade after the central bank abandoned the cap on the currency's value against the euro. The Swiss National Bank said the cap, introduced in September 2011, was no longer justified. It also cut a key interest rate from -0.25% to -0.75%, raising the amount investors pay to hold Swiss deposits. The International Monetary Fund's head, Christine Lagarde, called the move 'a bit of a surprise.'" (01/15/15)
-----
3) Obama, Cameron to discuss plans to use Paris attack as excuse for new Internet spying schemes
Source: Washington Post
"British Prime Minister David Cameron, in Washington to meet with President Obama, is expected to raise the issue of widening government access to data from U.S. Internet companies -- a sensitive subject on both sides of the Atlantic in the aftermath of the attacks in Paris. Last week's attacks have renewed European concerns that intelligence officials lack the authority to obtain the communications of terrorism suspects who use encrypted online services." (01/15/15)
-----
4) Oklahoma, Florida regimes kill prisoners
Source: Los Angeles Times
"Oklahoma and Florida [killed] two prisoners Thursday night, after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly gave the go-ahead, despite concerns about the mixture of lethal drugs used for the injections. Charles Frederick Warner, 47, was pronounced dead at 7:28 p.m., at a prison facility in McAlester, Okla. Warner was convicted of the rape and murder of an 11-month old girl in Oklahoma City in 1997. Johnny Shane Kormondy, 42, was pronounced dead at 8:16 p.m., at Florida State Prison. He was the convicted ringleader of a 1993 Pensacola home invasion robbery that ended in the murder of a banker and the rape of his wife. Both [killings] were delayed by two hours, as the U.S. Supreme Court weighed in on the executions." (01/15/15)
-----
5) Arab League backs UN Security Council timeline for Israeli withdrawal to 1967 borders
Source: Jerusalem Post [Israel]
"The Arab League on Thursday authorized its members to seek international support for re-submitting to the UN Security Council the [Arab] Palestinian resolution calling for establishing a timeline for an Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines. ... The ministers voiced support for [Arab] Palestinian efforts to join international conventions and treaties, including the International Criminal Court. The Arab League reiterated its 'absolute' opposition to recognize Israel as a Jewish state." (01/15/15)
-----
6) DOJ accused of blocking legal gun shops, other businesses from banking
Source: Fox News
"Mike Schuetz operates a small gun shop in northern Wisconsin called Hawkins Guns. In November, just before one of his peak selling times, his local credit union notified him his account needed to be closed. 'The bank manager said they made a mistake, and they were not supposed to open accounts for those people involved in high-risk industries, which the gun industry and ammunition industry is one of those,' Schuetz said. It turned out there was a list created by a Justice Department program called Operation Choke Point. The list equates legal gun sellers like Schuetz with escort services, Ponzi schemes, people who sell cable TV de-scramblers -- and at least 30 other industries." (01/15/15)
-----
7) International force mulled to fight Boko Haram in Nigeria
Source: Connecticut Post
"As Islamic militants from Boko Haram step up attacks in Nigeria that have led to the slaughter of more civilians, there is increasing talk that international military action, possibly including a multinational force, may be needed to help crush the insurgency in Africa's most populous country. The debate has taken on new urgency since Jan. 3, when Boko Haram extremists swept into the northeastern town of Baga in Borno state, overran a military base and, according to witnesses, killed hundreds of civilians in the days that followed." (01/15/15)
-----
8) FL: Woman unloads, reloads on alleged intruder
Source: First Coast News
"It all started with a knock at the door of a home in the 3400 block of Spring Glen Road about 12:45 p.m., a victim told investigators. He said the man knocking asked if someone was there, then put a gun to his head, saying, 'This is a robbery, give it up,' according to the report. The victim's wife heard the commotion and came out of the bedroom carrying a handgun, the report said. She reportedly dove on the floor and opened fire at the suspect. According to the report, the suspect returned fire. That's when the victim's wife reportedly grabbed another handgun from the bedroom and kept shooting. The suspect was shot multiple times and started yelling, 'Am shot, am paralyzed,' according to the report. He was taken to UF Health in critical condition." (01/15/15)
-----
9) Russia: Homeless cat praised for saving abandoned baby
Source: Russia Today [Russian state media]
"A baby boy not older than 12 weeks has been found in a box on a staircase in an apartment block in the Russian town of Obninsk. The box was meant for a cat, who -- after having found a new soul in misery, warmed up the baby and was worried to let him go. The baby in the cat box was discovered by one of the neighbors, who had heard what she thought to be loud meowing and rushed to rescue the cat from possible offenders." (01/15/15)
-----
10) Italy: Two aid workers freed in Syria
Source: Iron Mountin Daily News
"Two Italian aid workers have been freed in Syria and will return home soon, Italian officials announced Thursday. The premier's office announced the release of 21-year-old Greta Ramelli and 20-year-old Vanessa Marzullo on Twitter, adding that 'they will return soon to Italy.'" (01/15/15)
-----
11) White House: Net neutrality legislation not needed
Source: Reuters
"The White House on Thursday said legislation was not necessary to settle so-called 'net neutrality' rules because the Federal Communications Commission had the authority to write them. Republicans in Congress are trying to drum up support for a bill that would counter the FCC's upcoming new rules. The Obama administration's comments, while not entirely rebuffing the legislative effort, could make some Democrats wary of joining it." [editor's note: Good news for those who actually comprehend this issue - SAT] (01/15/15)
-----
12) FL: “Green Tea coalition” makes push for solar power
Source: Fox News
"[According to scientific theory], if matter and anti-matter ever came together, there would be a huge explosion and the universe would cease to exist. In Florida, a diverse coalition of groups will put that theory to the test, all in the name of expanding the use of solar power. The strange bedfellows that have come together include the Tea Party, the Christian Coalition, libertarian groups and left-wing environmentalists. Their goal: to put a constitutional amendment on the November 2016 ballot in Florida that would make solar power more widely available in the Sunshine State." (01/15/15)
-----
13) CA: San Francisco bus ads compare Muslims to Hitler
Source: Raw Story
"An anti-Islam group has sparked controversy with the purchase of advertisements on San Francisco’s public buses that display the image of Adolf Hitler and accuse the religion of fostering anti-Semitism. The group, calling itself the American Freedom Defense Initiative, which sued New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority to run similar messages last year, purchased 50 large ads on San Francisco buses. ... 'Islamic Jew hatred,' the ads read. 'It’s in the Quran.' Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the American Freedom Defense Initiative’s Houston-based founder, Pamela Geller, was using the ads to stir up attention and raise money." (01/15/15)
-----
14) GOP announces plans to take a dive, have Ernst deliver State of the Union response
Source: NBC News
"Newly elected Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst will deliver the Republican response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, Republicans announced Thursday. The freshman senator is the first woman elected to the office from Iowa and the first female combat veteran to serve in the United States Senate." [editor's note: Possible political points to be made notwithstanding, that Lillian Howell voice and Elmer Fudd laugh -- the speaking equivalent of fingernails on a chalkboard -- can't help but completely alienate a good third of the electorate before they pay any attention at all to WHAT she's saying - TLK] (01/15/15)
-----
15) MI: Federal judge says no to ex post facto invalidation of 300 marriages
Source: Detroit News
"The state must recognize about 300 same-sex marriages, a federal judge ordered Thursday, saying the unions are constitutionally protected. U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith's ruling comes two months after a federal appeals court ruling upheld Michigan's ban on gay marriage that invalidated the unions of 300 same-sex couples who received marriage licenses in March. It also comes a day before the U.S. Supreme Court was expected to announce whether it will take up a Michigan case challenging the state's gay marriage ban." (01/15/15)
-----
16) Security theater: France hit by “unprecedented” wave of cyber attacks
Source: CBS News
"Hackers have targeted about 19,000 French websites since a rampage by Islamic extremists left 20 dead last week, a top French cyberdefense official said Thursday .... 'What's new, what's important, is that this is 19,000 sites -- that's never been seen before,' [Adm. Arnaud Coustilliere, head of cyberdefense for the French military] said. 'This is the first time that a country has been faced with such a large wave' of cyberattacks. ... Military authorities have launched round-the-clock surveillance to protect the government sites still coming under attack." [editor's note: On the one hand, I am skeptical of screeches from the usual suspects that the Charlie Hebdo attacks were a "false flag." On the other hand, I suspect that the cyberattack claim is 100% bullshit fabricated to keep up the scare and help justify the developing wave of added state authoritarianism that the Hebdo attacks are being used to put over - TLK] (01/15/15)
-----
17) Obama to propose mandatory paid sick leave for American workers
Source: USA Today
"President Obama will call on Congress to require companies to give workers up to seven days of paid sick leave a year, a senior adviser said Wednesday. Obama will also take executive action to give at least six weeks of paid leave to federal employees after the birth or adoption of a child, Senior White House Adviser Valerie Jarrett said. And Obama wants Congress to spend $2.2 billion to help states and cities develop paid family leave programs." [editor's note: What about my "free" pony? I WANT MY PONY, Obama! And some pizza! Wave your magic wand and make it so! - TLK] (01/15/15)
-----
18) Pols from 25 states ask judge to restore unconstitutional immigration restrictions
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
"Attorneys for 25 states are going before a federal judge in Texas to argue for a rollback of President Barack Obama's expansive executive actions to spare nearly 5 million people living in the U.S. illegally [sic] from deportation. Texas leads the coalition of states suing the government. It argues in its lawsuit that Obama's decision 'tramples' key portions of the Constitution. At a Thursday hearing in Brownsville, the states will ask U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen to block the president's actions." [editor's note: Which "key portions" of the Constitution does it "trample?" The portion that forbids the federal government to regulate immigration? The portion that empowers the president to issue pardons and reprieves? Maybe it's the portion I can't find. You know, the one that says state attorneys general are empowered to grandstand as much as necessary to set themselves up as gubernatorial candidates - TLK] (01/15/15)
-----
19) Pope Francis: “Free speech,” but I’ll hit you if I don’t like what you say
Source: New York Daily News
"Pope Francis said Thursday there are limits to freedom of expression, especially when it insults or ridicules someone's faith. Francis spoke about the Paris terror attacks while aboard the papal plane en route to the Philippines, defending free speech as not only a fundamental human right but a duty to speak one's mind for the sake of the common good. But he said there were boundaries: Those who insult the faith of others are provocateurs, he said. ... 'If my good friend Dr. Gasparri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch,' Francis said, throwing a pretend punch his way. 'It's normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others.'" (01/15/15)
-----
20) Obama regime rolls out new Cuba rules on trade, travel
Source: Reuters
"The United States rolled out a sweeping set of measures on Thursday to significantly ease the half-century-old embargo against Cuba, opening up the country to expanded travel, trade and financial activities. Defying hardline critics in Congress, President Barack Obama made good on a commitment he made a month ago to begin loosening some U.S. economic sanctions against the communist-ruled island as part of an effort to end decades of hostility." (01/15/15)
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM COMMENTARY
------------------------------------------------------------------
21) What today’s police could learn from Jack Webb
Source: J Neil Schulman @ Rational Review
by J Neil Schulman
"Adam 12's Officers Malloy and Reed won't even make an arrest when the law says it's a misdemeanor they haven't personally witnessed but ask the female witness to make a citizen's arrest. Everyone gets read their Miranda rights. That utopian view of police wasn't true in 1967. It's not true today. But, from a perspective of half a century, Jack Webb's squeaky-clean LAPD -- which doesn't tolerate shooting unarmed children, strip-searching the elderly, or torturing a neo-Nazi suspect even when his stolen dynamite is about to go off in an elementary school about to be integrated -- is a model for how police should look at their jobs." (01/16/15)
-----
22) The proofiness of the politically correct rape
Source: The Daily Bell
by Wendy McElroy
"A legion of the politically correct who make a living from the alleged oppression of women were gleeful and almost goofy with proofiness this week. The incident is a window into how statistical myths are created." (01/15/15)
-----
23) The uses of Charlie Hebdo
Source: Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo
"Yes, Charlie Hebdo certainly has its uses, these days -- as opposed to the bad old days when the French Foreign Minister rebuked the editors for 'pour[ing] oil on the fire.' We can argue all we want about the racism, real and merely alleged, of the magazine, and wonder if perhaps a bit more civility -- not exactly a French national trait -- might have averted 12 deaths and probably many more to come. Yet here we are in the midst of another bout of white-hot war hysteria, a heat our rulers and their allies abroad are stoking to the boiling point." (01/16/15)
-----
24) Bouncing photons and claiming them as your property
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal
"You don't own the photons which have bounced off you you. Not even if someone else captures them digitally. Sorry if that upsets you. Yes, I understand if you are upset that someone took an 'upskirt' photo of you. He (or she) acted like a jerk. But you weren't touched in any way, nor were you coerced into changing anything you were doing. You have not been stolen from nor aggressed against. Call the photographer names if you want, but if you use (or threaten) force against him (or her) you are the one initiating force." (01/15/15)
-----
25) Enemy of liberty
Source: Authority!
by Timothy J Taylor
"I totally agree with the Pope that deliberately provoking other people with insults against their faith solely for the sake of making fun of it is pointless, in bad form, and poor taste. Free speech should be voluntarily tempered with intellectual responsibility and respect for the sensibilities of others. Pointing out the facts, the truth and the reality of a matter is the essence of responsible free speech." (01/16/15)
-----
26) Hard to spell Colombia without o-i-l
Source: Reuters
by Ilan Goldfajn and Joao Pedro Bumachar
"The steep and quick drop in the price of oil has rattled Latin America. While we expect the price of Brent to rebound to $70 a barrel by the end of 2015, that falls well short of the $100 in recent years and the outlook remains uncertain. In the meantime, Venezuela is clearly the region’s biggest loser, with oil representing 95 percent of exports, and bond prices at near-default levels. Colombia, less obviously, has much to lose. Chile, as a big importer, is the clear winner. It will be challenging to spell Colombia without o-i-l." (01/15/15)
-----
27) Deja vu in France
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"I'm getting a big deja vu feeling in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo killings in France. The French government is declaring war on terrorism. It's militarizing French society. It's proposing a Patriot Act. It's supporting a mass surveillance scheme. It's advocating killing more people in the Middle East. There is even talk of using military tribunals to try terrorism cases. Hey, those were all things that U.S. officials did after the 9/11 attacks. No wonder I’m getting a deja vu feeling!" (01/15/15)
-----
28) The PC Pope genuflects before the terrorists
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by DJ Webb
"How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Muslim god, Allah, is the real God -- worship him! It really is quite simple. Our Christian duty, as members of the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church, is to ridicule Islam and show it up. While interfaith dialogue is, according to a traditionalist understanding, heresy, what is worse that Francis I has ended up condoning terrorism" (01/15/15)
-----
29) Instead of a tax hike
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"To aid the cause, Inhofe calls the gas tax a 'user fee.' Euphemistically. He has the tiniest of points: the modern 'deal' has been to tax fuel and then use that revenue to pay for new roads and upkeep. But recent congresses have been spendthrift, misusing the revenues on idiotic projects (hiking trails, bike paths, museums) and not so much on repair. In that context, the call for higher taxes almost looks responsible. There’s a problem, though." (01/16/15)
-----
30) The Freedom Report Podcast, 01/15/15
Source: The Libertarian Republic
"Today’s episode of the Freedom Report podcast examines first world feminism’s campaigns against making sandwiches and wrapping Christmas presents. Our special guest talks about men’s rights, Marxist feminism, free speech, big government, and circumcision." [Flash audio or MP3] (01/15/15)
-----
31) Chris Christie counting on public amnesia
Source: The American Prospect
by Rachel M. Cohen
"In 2010, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie took over $3 billion in revenue earmarked for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River and used it to plug a hole in his budget -- leaving the people of his state and the region with no tunnel, and no money left for one in the future. Now Christie has endorsed a new report that includes a recommendation for expanding rail capacity between New Jersey and New York, as if no one would remember that he killed an earlier federally subsidized project that would have accomplished that purpose." (01/14/15)
-----
32) What makes a whistleblower?
Source: The American Conservative
by Philip Giraldi
"Snowden has stated that he is willing to return to the United States for trial if he can be guaranteed a prompt and open hearing similar to that which was afforded to whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg of Pentagon Papers fame. Ellsberg was tried in 1971 and was prepared to go to prison but avoided conviction after gross government malfeasance was demonstrated relating to the investigation preceding the trial. Snowden, who claims that he made efforts to speak with his NSA superiors before he took action, might be a bit disingenuous in his professed willingness to return home to face the music but the issue is currently moot in any event as the U.S. government has refused to cut any special deals and is insisting that it would try Snowden under the Espionage Act of 1917 which permits numerous prosecutorial shortcuts. And Snowden is right to be concerned." (01/14/15)
-----
33) The shocking horror of free community college
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
by Mark Morford
"Do you know the estimated cost to the federal government for Obama’s unexpected, sort of amazing, not even all that radical plan to send any qualified American (read: lower-income and the underprivileged, because that’s who this program would benefit most, unquestionably) to two years of community college, for free? It’s about $60 billion, spread over 10 years, with a bit more coming from participating states. That’s a paltry $6 billion a year, or about what the Pentagon spends every five seconds on toothpicks, on liquor stores, on shoelaces, on about 10,000 other bulls–t programs, weapons, operations, experiments, failed wars, nuclear submarines, toilet paper and beef jerky and the poisonous nuclear byproduct that Dick Cheney calls 'blood.' In other words, it’s a relative pittance, for an unquestionable social good." (01/12/15)
-----
34) Uber, taxis and the issue of safety
Source: EconLog
by Alberto Mingardi
"Were all safety regulations only made for increasing safety, ours will be a much simpler world. But we know from experience that 'safety regulations' are often a very tricky game. Such regulations may be imposed for the sake of raising barriers to entry to foreign competitors, or -- more generally -- they turn out to be barely-disguised barriers to entry enacted at the behest of special interests. They may be the inevitable result of strong popular pressure. They may ratify standards that were spontaneously reached by business actors, or drive a demand for newer appliances and instruments." (01/15/15)
-----
35) They must be mad, literally mad: To be lucky in one’s opponents
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Nick Partington
"It is easy to take the view that we British defenders of immigration have never had a tougher time being heard over the omnipresent calls for restrictions, policy changes, and -- most frequently -- an 'open and honest debate' on the subject. Issues of immigration and race relations have indeed increased in salience, but I remain bemused by (and somewhat thankful for) the sterility of the debate as it exists today. Opponents have got to the absurd point of having to pretend that it isn't immigration that they care about, but migration." (01/15/15)
-----
36) Bait & switch: “Economic development” in the states
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Jeff Scribner
"Businesses do not locate in any one place solely because of the tax laws. However, as tax burdens climb, the tax treatment of the business itself, and of its higher-paid employees and executives, becomes a more important consideration. Thus the incentive packages, made up primarily of special tax abatements for a set period of time, are developed and used in recruiting new businesses. It is apparent that the politicians -- politicians as diverse as Governor Pat McCrory of North Carolina and Governor Andrew Como of New York -- who try to make use of these incentives, are totally missing the point they are illustrating. If you have to bribe a company to locate in your state or bribe one not to leave, your taxes and whatever else you are using to bribe them, are too high or otherwise onerous." (01/15/15)
-----
37) Jim Webb is the Democrats’ Rand Paul
Source: Mother Jones
by Tim Murphy
"One of the most hyped potential candidates of the 2016 presidential campaign has clashed frequently with his party's higher-ups. He is known for his outspoken views on the surveillance state, his opposition to overseas entanglements, his warnings about the broken criminal-justice system, his desire to expand the party's tent to include voters otherwise alienated by identity politics -- and for the Confederate-flag-waving supporters who'd follow him anywhere. Unfortunately for Jim Webb, I'm talking about Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul." (01/14/15)
-----
38) Why Eric Garner couldn’t breathe
Source: In These Times
by Terry J. Allen
"When New York City police arrested and subdued Eric Garner, he fit a profile: an uncooperative black man committing a petty crime. But the profile that police should have recognized (and the one that Garner fit perfectly) was of someone vulnerable to a dangerous combination of banned law enforcement practices used routinely across the country with impunity, and sometimes fatal results. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it was not the choke-hold alone that killed Garner." (01/15/15)
-----
39) “How would you like this wrapped?”
Source: WendyMcElroy.com
by John Jonik
Cartoon. [editor's note: I've seen this cartoon around the web the last couple of days, but haven't found the original source link ... it's too good to not share - TLK] (01/15)
-----
40) Our God
Source: The Cagle Post
by Tim Eagan
Cartoon. (01/14/15)
-----
41) Proposed Keiki caucus bills would undermine parental rights
Source: Hawaii Reporter
by State Representative Bob McDermott (R-HI)
"Keiki Caucus bills are intended to advocate for children and youth, and have merit -- but two bills proposed for 2015 are an affront to parental rights and require greater scrutiny. The first bill would undo the DOE's new 'opt-in' requirement specifying that sexual health education must be provided in all public schools -- even elementary schools -- but forces parents to 'opt-out' via written request if they do not want their child to participate. This is a disappointing development, and disrespectful to parents." (01/15/15)
-----
42) We worry too much about terrorism
Source: Reason
by Steve Chapman
"The chance that extremist violence will touch any of us directly was minuscule before the latest attacks, and it still is." (01/15/15)
-----
43) Pipeline to nowhere
Source: Our Future
by Emily Schwartz Greco
"When Maria van der Hoeven summed up the 20-year outlook for global energy investment in London last year, she identified a couple of daunting challenges. The amount of money required by 2035 is a staggering $48 trillion, the International Energy Agency chief and former Dutch economy minister said. And it’s not clear how many of those trillions of dollars will power climate-friendly options. 'Will policymakers succeed in steering investment towards a cleaner, more secure energy system -- or are we locking in technologies and patterns of consumption that store up trouble for the future?' she asked. There’s no better example of what van der Hoeven meant by 'storing up trouble for the future' than the Keystone XL pipeline." (01/15/15)
-----
44) Patrick Cockburn on The Scott Horton Show
Source: The Scott Horton Show
"Patrick Cockburn, a Middle East correspondent with The Independent, discusses France’s terrorism blowback resulting from their ongoing intervention in Muslim countries; and the Islamic State’s sustainability in Iraq." [Flash audio or MP3] (01/14/15)
-----
45) John Brennan exonerates himself with sham investigation
Source: The Intercept
by Dan Froomkin
"The outrageous whitewash issued yesterday by the CIA panel John Brennan hand-picked to lead the investigation into his agency's spying on Senate staffers is being taken seriously by the elite Washington media, which is solemnly reporting that officials have been 'cleared' of any 'wrongdoing.' But what the report really does is provide yet more evidence of Brennan’s extraordinary impunity." (01/15/15)
-----
46) The myth of a secure military
Source: Free Advice
by Robert P Murphy
"On NPR today they were talking about cybersecurity. The host made a throwaway remark along the lines that with private businesses, you couldn't expect a full-throated response to the threats his expert guests were discussing, because they responded to the profit motive and it 'wasn't like Los Alamos.' Here the host was referring to the famous lab where physicists and other scientists worked on the atomic bomb during World War II, and then continued to work on nuclear weaponry. His point, of course, was that the military engaged in state-of-the-art security to protect such critical secrets, whereas you couldn't expect Visa to do the same thing for its customers. ... The Soviets did steal the secrets to the atomic bomb, and one of their spies was at Los Alamos." (01/15/15)
-----
47) Hasta la Victoria siempre
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Michael Munger
"Cuba has not failed to attract tourists. The lovely old Hotel Nacional is where the flocks of libidinous German and Chinese businessmen roost while they wear out the local hookers. So it is possible to make money, if you do it the way the state requires. The real cost of the revolution is that it told people that they can have what they want. Then it told them what they could want. And then it failed to deliver even that. Don't worry, be quiet. It is not an economic system, but rather a religion." (01/15/15)
-----
48) Obama and political parties not very popular with soldiers
Source: QandO
by Bruce McQuain
"The fact is they're less and less enthralled with the political class and political parties in general, not just the President (although I think a special sort of unpopularity that transcends party is his). And for the most part they reflect a growing trend in America. It's ironic that one of Obama's goals was to make government popular and cool again when he took office. Instead, what is happening in the military is a good snapshot of what is also going on within the country. People have lost faith in government and see it as a problem for the most part, not a solution." (01/15/15)
-----
49) The Iraq war strategy 3.0: If you can’t win, at least make money
Source: The Nation
by Peter Van Buren
"The current American war in Iraq is a struggle in search of a goal. It began in August as a humanitarian intervention, morphed into a campaign to protect Americans in-country, became a plan to defend the Kurds, followed by a full-on crusade to defeat the new Islamic State (IS, ISIS, ISIL, ...), and then ... well, something in Syria to be determined at a later date. At the moment, Iraq War 3.0 simply drones on, part bombing campaign, part mission to train the collapsed army the U.S. military created for Iraq War 2.0, all amid a miasma of incoherent mainstream media coverage." (01/15/15)
-----
50) Education’s no dollar left behind competition
Source: Independent Institute
by Vicki E Alger
"One of education’s most important annual rituals began last week, when Education Week released its annual Quality Counts report, which grades states based on a variety of criteria, including spending. On cue came the predictable hand-wringing over K-12 education funding." (01/14/15)
-----
51) A government ISP is not market competition
Source: ChristopherCantwell.com
by Christopher Cantwell
"Using the advantages they gain through force, government provides a seemingly superior product, at a seemingly lower price, until they are the only game in town. Once that happens, the government will be your ISP and you will not have market alternatives. Does anyone in their right mind believe we’re going to be better off with government run Internet? Government cannot free you from the constraints of market economics, it can only add new constraints through threats of force." (01/14/15)
-----
52) Charlie Hebdo: “Je suis white people”
Source: Black Agenda Report
by Margaret Kimberley
"Don't kill white people. After all is said and done, the Charlie Hebdo outrage, the hashtags, and the million person marches amount to that simple but very powerful dictum. In the eyes of the governments that do most of the killing on the planet and the corporate media who act as their scribes, there is nothing worse than targeting even a handful of white people for death. ... There is enough horror in the world to cause outrage but the level of outrage seems to depend on who is being treated horribly and who is carrying out the atrocity. The worst acts of terror are committed by heads of state who don't kill seventeen people as these attackers did in Paris. They kill in the thousands yet are still treated with respect. It doesn't say much for the state of human advancement that killings committed by individuals still create so much more concern than those committed by governments. They get away with mass murder because the same corporate media which saturated coverage of Charlie Hebdo say little or nothing about Gaza or Libya or Somalia or Syria or Iraq or Haiti. Instead of pointing out that Barack Obama is a killer too, the pundits criticize him for not being among the sanctimonious liars who gathered in Paris. The group photo should have been a perp walk to the Hague instead of a photo opportunity for the seriously blood thirsty." [hat tip -- Angela Keaton] (01/15/15)
-----
53) How ObamaCare is “working”
Source: Cato Institute
by Michael D Tanner
"No matter how badly you want something to be true, simply wishing will not make it so. This is a lesson that Obamacare supporters need to learn, as they tell us yet again that the Affordable Care Act 'is working.' The latest claims stem in part from evidence that the number of uninsured Americans has been steadily declining. It is true that the most recent poll from Gallup found that the uninsured rate fell to 12.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2014, down from 16.3 percent before the ACA passed. Of course, it would be a mistake to attribute all of that improvement to the ACA." (01/15/15)
-----
54) Through a glass, tinted
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"Each tribe has its myths, er, 'narratives,' and members of each concentrate on those stories that seem to demonstrate the truth of their ... narratives. How you cover Ebola depends on other beliefs you already hold. 'Ideas are forces,' 19th century writer G. H. Lewes put it. 'Our acceptance of one determines our reception of others.' The result of sticking to one's in-group mythos can have negative consequences, however." (01/15/15)
-----
55) Charlie Hebdo and the exposure of hypocrisy
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
"Whatever else the Paris Massacre of the staff of Charlie Hebdo and the related killings at a kosher supermarket in Paris has done, it has again exposed the total hypocrisy of a whole lot of people." (01/15/15)
-----
56) Heartland Daily Podcast, 01/14/15
Source: Heartland Institute
"Joy Pullmann, managing editor at The Federalist and education research fellow at the Heartland Institute discusses some of the top education policy stories of 2014 with Heather Kays, managing editor of School Reform News. Pullmann and Kays also discuss what’s to come in 2015." [Flash video] (01/14/15)
-----
57) The French role in the use and export of torture
Source: CounterPunch
by Cesar Chelala
"As the world is reacting with justified condemnation to the tragic events in Paris, the same condemnation should be extended to industrialized countries that have resorted to violence and torture in their recent history. In addition, those countries not only have used these techniques themselves but have exported them to other countries. France is a case in point. There is ample evidence of the widespread use of torture and assassination of political opponents during that country’s occupation of Algeria. Less well-known, however, is that French military officers trained the Argentine military in the psychological and physical torture of political prisoners in Argentina." (01/15/15)
-----
58) Victims of war and terrorism lose their individuality
Source: Antiwar.com
by Lucy Steigerwald
"Whether Charlie Hebdo was targeted for sincere religious outrage, political attention-grabbing reasons, or (clearly) a combination of the two, it is still a tragedy, and the men who killed them are still murder[er]s. But why, why, why do I need to say that again and again to prove my commitment to not killing people, when those who throw their lot in with the warmongers feel no such obligation? Because the warmongers have all the cards. They have the state’s sociopathic gloss behind their bloodshed." (01/15/15)
-----
59) From neighborhood cops to robocops: The changing face of American police
Source: LewRockwell.com
by John W Whitehead
"If 2014 was the year of militarized police, armored tanks, and stop-and-frisk searches, 2015 may well be the year of technologized police, surveillance blimps and scan-and-frisk searches. Just as we witnessed neighborhood cops being transformed into soldier cops, we’re about to see them shapeshift once again, this time into robocops, complete with robotic exoskeletons, super-vision contact lenses, computer-linked visors, and mind-reading helmets." (01/15/15)
-----
60) The presidential authority to torture and assassinate, part 2
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"The 9/11 attacks provided George W. Bush, the Pentagon, and the CIA with the perfect opportunity to seize extraordinary powers. That shouldn’t surprise anyone. A crisis fills much of the citizenry with great fear, and government officials have long known that in the midst of a crisis many people will eagerly trade their freedom for the promise of safety or security. Among the extraordinary powers seized by Bush and his military and intelligence forces were the power to torture and assassinate people, including American citizens, without regard to the rights of trial by jury, due process of law, and other long-established procedural guarantees enumerated in the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Amendments to the Constitution." (01/15/15)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
Support ISIL (tax deductible)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages