01/28 -- Give the Nazis what they want; The crime objection to open borders
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jan 28, 2016, 6:56:50 AM1/28/16
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 01/28/16
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Today's Freedom News:
1) OR: Three more arrested as Bundy allegedly urges refuge occupiers to leave
2) Fed: Rates steady, but no retreat from March hike ... yet
3) Montenegro: Government survives confidence vote
4) France: Regime asks EU partners for new sanctions on Iran
5) MO: Ferguson pols release details of proposed consent decree
6) Ignoring cable industry protest, FCC says it will "unlock the set-top box"
7) Syrian opposition sets new conditions for peace talks
8) OECD deal on corporate tax avoidance signed by 31 nations
9) Cannabis-infused suppository helps to relieve menstrual cramps
10) White House dropped $10 million claim in Iran prisoner deal
11) States ask SCOTUS to stay Obama climate rules
12) TX: Dad who took daughter's phone not guilty of theft
13) TN: Legislation takes on "policing for profit" via asset forfeiture; closes federal loophole
14) DC: Police issue $1 million worth of parking tickets after blizzard
15) KY: Bill would set the stage to make federal gun control "nearly impossible" to enforce
16) France: Justice Minister resigns over opposition to citizenship-stripping scheme
17) US GOP lawmakers seek to end purchase of Russian rocket engines
18) France: Court demands $1.3 million bribe for taxi monopolists from Uber
19) MO: Senate debates limiting municipal fines
20) CA: Authoritarian pols vote to ban gardening, medicine
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Give the Nazis what they want
22) The crime objection to open borders
23) After DC's Snowmageddon -- some things should stay buried
24) In defence of Hoppe
25) Ayn Rand made me a communist
26) Why do American Christians support coerced charity?
27) Latest tax-scam of corporate "inversion": Who pays instead?
28) The Democrats' worst nightmare is that Bernie's supporters won't back Clinton
29) Theft by government continues through eminent domain
30) The Jason Stapleton Program: The news on the Clinton indictment and the two-headed monster
31) The group of artists winning fair pay by targeting nonprofits
32) The Bank of England's headline stress test: An exercise in really weird accounting
33) None flew over the cuckoo's nest
34) Dying in prison for love of family
35) How Michael Bloomberg complicates the election
36) The US intervention in Libya was such a smashing success that a sequel is coming
37) Seeds of Liberty Podcast, episode 45: Christopher Chase Rachels
38) Mises on protectionism and immigration
39) Ammon Bundy and the myth of the American West
40) Trump & the conservative establishment deserve each other
41) An alternative to the FDA
42) Misdirected blame -- government is failure
43) Three reasons to support school choice
44) Slouching toward Hillary?
45) Private police, part 2: Voluntary, market-based police & security systems
46) Flint water crisis: The libertarian damage control begins
47) Meet the students fighting campus censorship
48) A diminishing lagtime
49) The political economy of "exporting" democracy
50) Can Trump close the deal?
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FREEDOM NEWS
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1) OR: Three more arrested as Bundy allegedly urges refuge occupiers to leave
Source: Fox News
"Three members of an armed group occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge surrendered to authorities, officials said, hours after their jailed leader [allegedly] urged remaining militants to abandon the site and 'go home.' The three arrests Wednesday at a checkpoint law officers have setup near the refuge, followed the arrests a day earlier of leader Ammon Bundy and seven others. ... Meanwhile, details began to emerge about the confrontation Tuesday on a remote highway that resulted in the arrest of Bundy and other leading figures in the group of occupiers, and in the [killing by government agents] of militant Robert ["LaVoy"] Finicum." (01/27/16)
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/01/28/3-more-arrested-as-bundy-urges-refuge-occupiers-to-leave.html
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2) Fed: Rates steady, but no retreat from March hike ... yet
Source: USA Today
"The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged Wednesday and said it's closely monitoring global economic and market turmoil, but gave no signal that it's retreating yet from plans to raise rates gradually this year. An increase was not expected Wednesday after the Fed lifted its benchmark rate last month for the first time in nearly a decade -- by a modest quarter-percentage point to 0.4% -- and said it aims to nudge up the rate slowly the next few years amid tepid economic growth." (01/27/16)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/01/27/no-fed-rate-increase-but-no-retreat-march-hike/79395226
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3) Montenegro: Government survives confidence vote
Source: ABC News
"Montenegro's pro-Western government has survived a confidence vote despite disagreements within the ruling coalition and pressure from the pro-Russian opposition over a NATO membership bid. The government of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who is in a dispute with one of the seven parties in the coalition, on Wednesday won support from a small opposition party." (01/27/16)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/montenegros-government-survives-confidence-vote-36558234
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4) France: Regime asks EU partners for new sanctions on Iran
Source: Virginian-Pilot
"France has asked its European Union partners to consider new sanctions on Iran for its recent missile tests, officials have told The Associated Press, even as Paris welcomed the president of the Islamic Republic, which is flush with funds from the lifting of other sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program. The ambiguous signals emerging Wednesday from France came as President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in 2013, signed billions of dollars in business deals on an earlier stop in Italy and met with Pope Francis in the first such Iranian foray into Europe since 1999." (01/27/16)
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPE_IRAN?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-27-17-02-44
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5) MO: Ferguson pols release details of proposed consent decree
Source: Reuters
"The city of Ferguson, Missouri, released details on Wednesday of a tentative deal with the U.S. Justice Department to reform its police department and resolve a federal probe following the 2014 fatal shooting of a black teenager that ignited national protests. ... Under the terms of the proposed agreement, which were posted on the city's website, the Ferguson police department would be required to give its officers bias-awareness training, implement a 'robust' accountability system and ensure that police stop, search and arrest practices do not discriminate on the basis of race or other protected characteristics. The settlement would require the city to change its municipal code, including sections that impose prison time for failure to pay certain fines and an ordinance used against individuals who do not comply with police orders." (01/27/16)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-missouri-ferguson-idUSKCN0V52TQ
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6) Ignoring cable industry protest, FCC says it will "unlock the set-top box"
Source: Ars Technica
"Pay-TV providers would have to make video programming available to the makers of third-party devices and software under a proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. ... Customers would still have to buy TV service from a cable, telco, or satellite firm. But just as mobile broadband customers can choose from many smartphones to use on a wireless network, pay-TV customers should be able to choose what device they watch TV on, an FCC official said in a phone call with reporters." [editor's note: Hey, here's an idea -- how about the providers and customers work it out between themselves instead of King Wheeler dictating the terms? - TLK] (01/27/16)
http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/01/in-blow-to-cable-lobby-fcc-wants-tv-to-be-available-on-any-device/
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7) Syrian opposition sets new conditions for peace talks
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
"One of the main Syrian opposition blocs said Wednesday that it was unlikely to attend Geneva peace talks this week unless progress is made toward lifting sieges in the country and other conditions are met, adding that it was awaiting clarifications from the UN envoy. The announcement cast further uncertainty on peace talks scheduled to begin in two days." (01/27/16)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/syria-opposition-peace-conditions-1.3421819
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8) OECD deal on corporate tax avoidance signed by 31 nations
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"Rules to stop companies using complex tax arrangements to avoid paying corporate tax have been agreed by 31 OECD members. They will make it harder for firms to hide money in tax havens or play one country's tax authority against another. Firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook must now pay tax in the country where the profits are made. The move follows public anger at the tax practices of some multinationals. Google's deal to pay £130m to the UK's HM Revenue and Customs in back taxes for the past decade has seen it widely criticised for not paying its fair share [sic] of corporate tax." (01/27/16)
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35420450
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9) Cannabis-infused suppository helps to relieve menstrual cramps
Source: Smell the Truth
"A natural form of menstrual relief is now available to women, thanks to pot. The world's first cannabis-infused vaginal suppository was released this week by Foria, which promises to relieve the pain and stress induced by menstrual cramps and discomfort. Named 'Foria Relief' to distinguish from the company's ultra-popular sexual aid spray for women, the small cocoa butter-based inserts are blended with a 6:1 ratio of THC oil concentrate and CBD isolate, respectively. The two compounds work together to diminish pain signals and muscle cramping, all without a psychoactive high. Women will experience maximum pain relief without getting stoned since the medicine is administered as a vaginal suppository." (01/27/16)
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2016/01/27/marijuana-infused-suppository-helps-to-relieve-menstrual-cramps
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10) White House dropped $10 million claim in Iran prisoner deal
Source: Reuters
"Nader Modanlo was facing five more years in federal prison when he got an extraordinary offer: U.S. President Barack Obama was ready to commute his sentence as part of this month's historic and then still-secret prisoner swap with Iran. He said no. To sweeten the deal, the U.S. administration then dropped a claim against the Iran-born aerospace engineer for $10 million that a Maryland jury found he had taken as an illegal payment from Iran, according to interviews with Modanlo, lawyers involved and U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. The surrender of the U.S. claim, which has not previously been reported, could add to scrutiny of how the Obama administration clinched a prisoner deal that has drawn criticism from Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers." (01/27/16)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-modanlo-idUSKCN0V50HC
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11) States ask SCOTUS to stay Obama climate rules
Source: Fox News
"A group of over a dozen states are petitioning the Supreme Court to halt the Obama administration's far-reaching climate rules for power plants. The states are already suing in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, but after Friday's decision by the court to not stay the rules, the states are taking the unprecedented move of going straight to the Supreme Court for a ruling to place the landmark regulations on ice. The court of appeals still plans to take up the states' arguments. It only ruled that it would not stay the regulations before doing so. It consequently scheduled oral arguments for June." (01/26/16)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/26/states-ask-supreme-court-to-stay-obama-climate-rules.html
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12) TX: Dad who took daughter's phone not guilty of theft
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"A Texas father who was accused of theft after he confiscated his 12-year-old daughter's cellphone over an inappropriate text has been acquitted of the misdemeanor charge. A judge in Dallas found Ronald Jackson not guilty Tuesday, citing insufficient evidence. Grand Prairie police arrested Jackson a few hours after he commandeered his daughter's cellphone and refused to return it. The 36-year-old father says a text he found on the phone was rude." (01/27/16)
http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Texas-dad-acquitted-of-theft-took-away-6787184.php
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13) TN: Legislation takes on "policing for profit" via asset forfeiture; closes federal loophole
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
"Bills introduced in the Tennessee legislature would reform asset forfeiture laws to prohibit the state from taking property without a criminal conviction. The legislation also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off to the feds in most situations." (01/27/16)
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2016/01/tennessee-legislation-takes-on-policing-for-profit-via-asset-forfeiture-closes-federal-loophole/
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14) DC: Police issue $1 million worth of parking tickets after blizzard
Source: NBC Washington
"D.C.'s snow emergency will remain in effect through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., and the city wants drivers to know it's serious about enforcing the parking bans. Since the blizzard began last Friday, the District has issued $1,078,000 worth of parking tickets and $65,600 in fines so far. It has towed 656 cars." (01/27/16)
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Issues-1-Million-Worth-of-Parking-Tickets-After-Blizzard-366711341.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand
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15) KY: Bill would set the stage to make federal gun control "nearly impossible" to enforce
Source: ShallNot.org
"A Kentucky bill would take the first step toward prohibiting state cooperation with the enforcement of federal gun control measures, a move that would make them 'nearly impossible' to enforce in the Bluegrass State. Rep. Diane St. Onge (R-Lakeside Park), along with nine cosponsors, introduced House Bill 236 (HB236) on Jan. 12." (01/27/16)
http://shallnot.org/kentucky-bill-would-set-the-stage-to-make-federal-gun-control-nearly-impossible-to-enforce/
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16) France: Justice Minister resigns over opposition to citizenship-stripping scheme
Source: CNN
"French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has resigned, according to a statement from the office of President Francois Hollande on Wednesday. Her resignation came as Parliament prepared to consider controversial plans to strip convicted terrorists of their French nationality, which Taubira had expressed reservations about." (01/27/16)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/europe/france-justice-minister-christiane-taubira-resignation/
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17) US GOP lawmakers seek to end purchase of Russian rocket engines
Source: Washington Post
"American tax dollars should not subsidize the purchase of Russian rocket engines because the sales help enrich the friends of President Vladimir Putin, say two senior Republican lawmakers who aim to reverse the current practice. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are introducing legislation Wednesday to repeal a provision in law that they say allows the unlimited acquisition and use of RD-180 engines manufactured by NPO Energomash. The manufacturer is owned primarily by the Russian government and controlled by several of Putin's confidantes, according to the lawmakers. The engines are acquired by an American company, United Launch Alliance, which is under contract with the Air Force to launch military and spy satellites." [editor's note: Marvelous, especially if it stops those government launches. Now can we find a way to outlaw the funneling of taxpayer money to McCarthy and McCain, too? - TLK] (01/27/16)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gop-lawmakers-seek-to-end-purchase-of-russian-rocket-engines/2016/01/27/d47cd92c-c4d4-11e5-b933-31c93021392a_story.html
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18) France: Court demands $1.3 million bribe for taxi monopolists from Uber
Source: TechCrunch
"Urban transportation company Uber is having a rough week in France. Following yesterday's protests, the high court of Paris just fined Uber $1.3 million (€1.2 million). ... A taxi union (Union Nationale des Taxis) sued Uber back in December 2014 for a set of 'ambiguous' advice to its drivers." (01/27/16)
http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/27/uber-gets-fined-1-3-million-for-ambiguous-driver-training-videos-in-france/
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19) MO: Senate debates limiting municipal fines
Source: Springfield News-Leader
"A bill capping fines for municipal ordinance violations has won initial approval in the Senate, paving the way for a final vote before going to the House. Senators finalized the bill's language Tuesday by a voice vote. It would limit municipal fines on ordinance violations to $200, and court costs could be waived for defendants who meet certain income requirements. Sen. Eric Schmitt, Republican from St. Louis County who sponsored the bill, said .... some cities in St. Louis County enforce what he called 'ridiculous' ordinance violations, such as barbequing on front lawns. Cities budgets shouldn't rely on 'roving bureaucrats going around neighborhoods' looking for zoning code violations, he said. He added that the problem was clustered around St. Louis County." [editor's note: Glad to see this; as a former St. Louis County resident, I can attest to Schmitt's contention -- the town I lived in had more ordinances than it had people, including one prescribing a minimum and maximum number of holes per square inch in window screens - TLK] (01/27/16)
http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/missouri/2016/01/27/missouri-senate-debates-limiting-municipal-fines/79392800/
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20) CA: Authoritarian pols vote to ban gardening, medicine
Source: Parlier Post
"Parlier City Council members have approved a new ordinance banning the cultivation, delivery and dispensing of marijuana in the city. The council took its action at the Jan. 20 meeting. Medical marijuana is legalized in California, but cities need [sic] to create their own ordinances regarding marijuana cultivation. Parlier has an existing ordinance that outlaws medical marijuana dispensaries, but it did not specifically include the cultivation and sale of marijuana. Parlier's interim police chief Jose Flores put the issue on the council meeting agenda after noticing that the city was missing an all-encompassing marijuana ordinance." (01/27/16)
http://www.reedleyexponent.com/articles/2016/01/26/publications/parlier_post/news/doc56a7b2f50f146087980351.txt
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FREEDOM COMMENTARY
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21) Give the Nazis what they want
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by BK Marcus
"If you called Donald Trump a Nazi, he'd probably take offense, even though his nationalism is socialistic. If you called Bernie Sanders a Nazi, you'd be dismissed out of hand, though his socialism is avowedly nationalistic. But did you know that Adolf Hitler himself took offense when the word was applied to him and his political party?" (01/27/16)
http://fee.org/freeman/give-the-nazis-what-they-want/
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22) The crime objection to open borders
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Jason Brennan
"One of the putative downsides of open borders is that immigrants might cause crime. According to this argument, immigrants are statically more likely to commit various crimes than domestic citizens, and for that reason, it is justifiable to exclude. One response to this argument is to dispute the empirical claims. In fact, empirical studies generally find that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than domestic-born citizens. Bas van der Vossen and I will summarize the studies in our forthcoming book with Oxford. I'm not bothering to link to them here, though, because I want to ask, instead, what if immigrants did in fact cause more crime? What if immigrants were more likely to be criminals than the domestic population? Would that be sufficient reason to restrict international migration?" (01/27/16)
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2016/01/the-crime-objection-to-open-borders/
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23) After DC's Snowmageddon -- some things should stay buried
Source: Heartland Institute
by Seton Motley
"Due to this weekend's torrential winter downpour, we are currently in the midst of a federal government shutdown. Uh oh. We've been told so often by so many that a government shutdown will shake the Earth from its orbital path and send us careening into the Sun. So far, thankfully, that has not occurred. Despite our promised fiery demise, we have begun to excavate DC (... wait a moment, what's the rush?)." (01/27/16)
http://blog.heartland.org/2016/01/after-dcs-snowmageddon-some-things-should-stay-buried/
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24) In defence of Hoppe
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by Matt Battaglioli
"When confronted with the work of Hoppe, in publications such as Democracy: The God That Failed, one is faced with ideas on the furthest edge of libertarianism. Hoppe's work tests people's commitment to intellectual radicalism, and makes them acknowledge possibilities about what parts of a free society may look like; the good and the bad, the popular and the unpopular. It is relatively easy for a person to get on board with a more humanitarian explanation of libertarianism, as described by the likes of Jeffrey Tucker .... But to talk about libertarianism in this way exclusively, as many also do, is a mistake; a mistake that only a small few such as Hoppe contribute to correcting." (01/27/16)
http://thelibertarianalliance.com/2016/01/27/in-defence-of-hoppe/
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25) Ayn Rand made me a communist
Source: The New Republic
by Jacob Bacharach
"I don't suppose that when my parents sent me off to the University of Virginia Young Writers Workshop they imagined I'd return, a few weeks later, both gay and an objectivist. Fortunately they were wise enough to understand the former as something indelible and the latter as a phase, which they amusedly tolerated. In fact, my mother had given me a copy of The Fountainhead the year before; like any wishfully pubescent teenage loser, I devoured it in a couple of sittings, but if I ascertained in its pages some proof of my own self-evident heroic genius, the notion that the novel represented a Weltanschauung escaped me." (01/27/16)
https://newrepublic.com/article/128441/ayn-rand-made-communist
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26) Why do American Christians support coerced charity?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"For the life of me, I simply cannot understand why American Christians support the welfare state. Every single welfare-state program is based on forced or coerced charity. How can forced or coerced charity possibly be reconciled with God's gift of free will to people? It can't be. So then why do American Christians (or any Christians) support it?" (01/27/16)
http://fff.org/2016/01/27/why-do-american-christians-support-coerced-charity/
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27) Latest tax-scam of corporate "inversion": Who pays instead?
Source: Our Future
by Dave Johnson
"Johnson Controls Inc. and Tyco International PLC have announced a $14 billion merger, with the resulting company pretending to be 'Irish.' This is called an 'inversion' and is all about dodging taxes. Johnson Controls is actually based in Milwaukee. Tyco is based in Princeton, N.J. but became 'Irish' through its own prior tax-dodging inversion(s). ... An inversion allows corporations to pretend to be non-U.S. companies and dodge taxes while still getting the full benefits of our country's taxes: roads and other physical infrastructure, advanced legal system, educated workforce, police and other protections, military protection, and so on." (01/26/16)
https://ourfuture.org/20160126/the-latest-tax-scam-corporate-inversion-who-pays-instead
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28) The Democrats' worst nightmare is that Bernie's supporters won't back Clinton
Source: OpEdNews
by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
"The constant nightmare among both Democratic Party leaders and Hillary Clinton campaign boosters is that a significant number of Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders'[s] backers will sleep in on Election Day. A recent CBS/New York Times poll didn't do much to dry the nervous sweat over this prospect. It found that fourteen percent of Democrats flatly said that they would not vote for Hillary, period. Another 27 percent said they'd hold their nose and vote for her. These are voters who no one would bet the bank on in Las Vegas to keep their promise." (01/27/16)
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Democrat-s-Worst-Night-by-earl-ofari-hutchin-Bernie-Sanders_Bernie-Sanders_Bernie-Sanders-2016-Presidential-Candidate_Bernie-Sanders-Presidential-Campaign-160127-333.html
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29) Theft by government continues through eminent domain
Source: Reason
by A Barton Hinkle
"Three years ago Virginia residents passed a constitutional amendment to limit legalized theft through eminent-domain abuse. The amendment required that property be taken only for a genuinely public purpose. No longer could governments take one person's land and give it to somebody else for economic development. Opponents of the measure issued dark warnings about the terrible consequences that would ensue, but those predictions failed to come true. Problem solved, right? Not on your life. Just ask Richard Dwyer. The town of Culpeper, Virginia has taken a big chunk of his land--and wants to make him sell it for a song." (01/27/16)
http://reason.com/archives/2016/01/27/theft-by-government-continues-through-em
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30) The Jason Stapleton Program: The news on the Clinton indictment and the two-headed monster
Source: The Jason Stapleton Program
"Last night was the last chance for Democratic front-runners Clinton and Sanders to speak nationally to America before the Iowa caucus. This was an event Clinton pushed for, and I think it was a good decision." [various formats] (01/26/16)
http://www.jasonstapleton.com/news-on-the-clinton-indictment-and-the-two-headed-monster/
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31) The group of artists winning fair pay by targeting nonprofits
Source: In These Times
by Tom Ladendorf
"This story comes from an anonymous survey of nearly 1,000 artists about the compensation they received for exhibitions and performances at nonprofit arts institutions (chosen on the basis that for-profits very rarely pay for exhibiting work). Of the shows artists listed, 58.4 percent were completely unpaid, without even expense reimbursement. Even some of the largest institutions got low marks: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, for instance, has a total annual operating budget of more than $250 million but paid surveyed artists for only 14.3 percent of exhibitions." (01/26/16)
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18764/wages-for-arts-sake
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32) The Bank of England's headline stress test: An exercise in really weird accounting
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Kevin Dowd
"In this posting, I will go through the Bank of England's 2015 headline stress test -- the test based on the CET1 ratio -- the ratio of CET1 (Common Equity Tier 1) capital to RWAs (Risk-Weighted Assets). The definitions of these terms were explained here. In this test, the Bank sets its minimum pass standard equal to 4.5%: roughly speaking, a bank passes the test if its capital ratio (as measured by the CET1 ratio) post the stress scenario is at least 4.5% and it fails the stress test otherwise." (01/27/16)
http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/money-banking/the-bank-of-englands-headline-stress-test-an-exercise-in-really-weird-accounting/
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33) None flew over the cuckoo's nest
Source: Liberty Unbound
by Stephen Cox
"Looking back over the linguistic events of 2015, I wondered whether this column should offer an award for the Most Asinine Remark of the Year. The major difficulty was that there were too many candidates. Another problem was that to ensure fairness, the columnist would need to wade systematically through the reported utterances of the current presidential contenders, an adventure that would result in the columnist's suicide." (01/27/16)
http://libertyunbound.com/node/1513
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34) Dying in prison for love of family
Source: Cato Institute
by Nat Hentoff and Nick Hentoff
"As we wrote last week ('A Slow, Lonely Death in Prison'), it is hard to understand why the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) denied 94-year-old prisoner Carlos Tapia-Ponce's request for a compassionate release earlier this month. ... Tapia-Ponce says that since his resentencing, he has been visited in prison twice by DEA agents who have offered him a reduced sentence in exchange for his cooperation in investigations of the Juarez drug cartel and corrupt U.S. Customs officials. Each time he told them he was willing to cooperate if they would protect his family by getting them out of Mexico. They refused his request." (01/27/16)
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/dying-prison-love-family
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35) How Michael Bloomberg complicates the election
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
"As you have doubtless read or seen, Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, has put out the word that his minions are testing the waters for an independent candidacy. Bloomberg is supposedly the sensible moderate that the county needs, the one that political polarization has kept from the ballot of either party. But that's not an obstacle that a few billion dollars from the candidate's own fortune can't fix. Bloomberg is center-right on economics and finance, and liberal on social issues and gun control. He's not likely to get elected. There is no mass clamoring for such a combination, except among fellow rich people. Yet Bloomberg's entry could tip the race -- more likely to the Republican than the Democrat." (1/26/16)
http://prospect.org/article/how-michael-bloomberg-complicates-election
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36) The US intervention in Libya was such a smashing success that a sequel is coming
Source: The Intercept
by Glenn Greenwald
"Just as there was no al Qaeda or ISIS to attack in Iraq until the U.S. bombed its government, there was no ISIS in Libya until NATO bombed it. Now the U.S. is about to seize on the effects of its own bombing campaign in Libya to justify an entirely new bombing campaign in that same country." (01/27/16)
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/27/the-u-s-intervention-in-libya-was-such-a-smashing-success-that-a-sequel-is-coming/
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37) Seeds of Liberty Podcast, episode 45: Christopher Chase Rachels
Source: Peaceful Anarchism
"Please enjoy this recent episode of the Seeds of Liberty Podcast. This week we were joined by Christopher Chase Rachels, author of 'Spontaneous Order: The Capitalist Case For A Stateless Society' and founder of the Voluntaryist Initiative. Herein we discussed the beginnings of the Voluntaryist Initiative, how peaceful parenting is a necessary but insufficient means towards achieving a free society, self-segregation, how a capitalist system allows for communism but not the other way around, how socialism being feasible on the family level does not translate to it working for millions, how production is the necessary antecedent to consumption ..." [MP3] (01/27/16)
http://peacefulanarchism.com/seeds-of-liberty-podcast-episode-45-christopher-chase-rachels-author-of-a-spontaneous-order/
-----
38) Mises on protectionism and immigration
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Matt McCaffrey
"The economic causes and consequences of immigration are among the most important issues facing the world today. Both pro- and anti-immigration advocates are digging in their heels, and both sides look increasingly unlikely to relent. Despite the bleak outlook, however, there is still hope for a peaceful and charitable discussion of the economics of immigration. With that in mind, I want to consider Mises's thoughts on the topic." (01/27/16)
https://mises.org/library/mises-protectionism-and-immigration
-----
39) Ammon Bundy and the myth of the American West
Source: Reuters
by Dawn G. Marsh
"The arrest of Ammon Bundy and many of his supporters on Tuesday left one man dead and a handful of protesters still occupying a federal wildlife refuge in rural eastern Oregon. Weeks after they first occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the question remains: What do they want? Ammon and his brother Ryan Bundy had issued an array of claims and accusations that resonate with many Western land users. Who are the enemies they confront? The federal government, the Bureau of Land Management and even Linda Sue Beck, a biologist at the wildlife refuge whose office they are occupying, draw the ire of the Bundy brothers and their followers." (01/27/16)
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/01/27/ammon-bundy-and-the-myth-of-the-american-west
-----
40) Trump & the conservative establishment deserve each other
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
"The bankrupt political establishment has given us Trump as surely as Victor Frankenstein gave his community the monster. I'm all for revolting against the establishment, but we will regret making the authoritarian and boorish Trump the standard bearer of that revolt." (01/26/16)
http://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2016/01/trump-and-conservative-establishment.html
-----
41) An alternative to the FDA
Source: Independent Institute
by Abigail Hall
"Everyone wants safe products, and since 1906 the American people have relied on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide such assurance. But the FDA may not be all that we think it is. Maybe we can do better." (01/26/16)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=8654
-----
42) Misdirected blame -- government is failure
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal
"If your best argument against your opponents is to try to blame your own failures on them, you might be a statist. I sometimes get amused at how often statists try to pin the failures of their religion on those of us who don't buy into their cult. The Flint water disaster is a current example. Look how many times recently this disastrous failure of government is pointed to as what would happen if libertarians were 'in charge' of supplying water." (01/27/16)
http://blog.kentforliberty.com/2016/01/misdirected-blame-government-is-failure.html
-----
43) Three reasons to support school choice
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Corey Iacono
"Choice is integral to a functioning market economy, but when it comes to a child's education, choice is virtually absent. Efforts to increase schooling options are condemned by individuals and organizations who believe that public education is so outstanding that it must be protected from competition." (01/26/16)
http://fee.org/freeman/3-reasons-to-support-school-choice/
-----
44) Slouching toward Hillary?
Source: CounterPunch
by Jason Hirthler
"Will 2016 be the year when a new representative of elite wealth assumes the mantle of power, reading to fulfill the Davos claim that seven million jobs will soon be replaced by wageless robots? Or will a political insurgency -- be it left or right -- finally unseat the standard neoliberal program? Will a faux socialist or a bombastic billionaire be swept into office by the popular tide? If recent history is any guide, Hillary is a lock." (01/27/16)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/27/slouching-toward-hillary/
-----
45) Private police, part 2: Voluntary, market-based police & security systems
Source: Emancipated Human
by Jared Wall
"Whenever the idea of a stateless society is brought up, the usual reaction is that of fear and worry. Without government, who would take care of the poor and the sick? Who would educate the children? Who would regulate the businesses? Who would build the roads? And, most strenuously, who would keep us safe?" (01/26/16)
http://www.emancipatedhuman.com/2016/01/27/private-police-part-2-voluntary-market-based-police-security-systems/
-----
46) Flint water crisis: The libertarian damage control begins
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"In their hasty scramble to blame the Flint water crisis on anything -- anything at all -- other than the regime of Emergency Managers and phony corporate 'privatization' that Reason has been promoting for years in Michigan, Reason writers are forming a circular firing squad." (01/27/16)
https://c4ss.org/content/43022
-----
47) Meet the students fighting campus censorship
Source: spiked
by Tom Slater
"The closing of the campus-radical mind, the transformation of students' unions from outlets for young people's ideas and ambitions to glorified therapy centres, has driven the vast majority of students away. To pin the blame for campus intolerance on all students, most of whom will never have voted in an SU election, is to downplay the scandal of campus censorship. Students' unions across the country are smearing their own members as soft-headed simpletons, unable to handle views they might find offensive and only ever one lads' mag away from a spot on the sex offenders' register. But this is not to say that students are apathetic. Far from it. As SUs have become more and more intolerant, switched-on students have merely taken their discussions elsewhere." (01/27/16)
www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/meet-the-students-fighting-campus-censorship/
-----
48) A diminishing lagtime
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"The modern age sports an amazing feature that used to be hard to detect, because so drawn out: a shorter-than-ever-before lag between the proposal of some popular inanity and its complete debunking. It used to take seemingly forever for a bad idea to be shown up, either in argument or evidence. Now it can be a matter of days or even hours. Call it the Buncombe/Debunking Lagtime. Take the Flint, Michigan, water fiasco." (01/27/16)
http://thisiscommonsense.com/2016/01/27/a-diminishing-lagtime/
-----
49) The political economy of "exporting" democracy
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Christopher Coyne
"Promoting regime change in the name of democracy and freedom sounds noble and heroic to many. But rarely, if ever, do politicians, citizens, and pundits consider whether the U.S. government can actually achieve its stated goals. More common is an unconstrained view that assumes that the U.S. government can do whatever its members put their minds to. The unconstrained view was captured nicely in comments by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a 2010 talk to the Council on Foreign Relations, when she noted that 'Americans have always risen to the challenges we have faced. That is who we are. It is in our DNA. We do believe there are no limits on what is possible or what can be achieved.'" (01/27/16)
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-political-economy-of-exporting-democracy/
-----
50) Can Trump close the deal?
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott McConnell
"Last night, I went to a Trump rally in Strafford county, town of Farmington, population less than 7,000. Trump manages to fill a high school gymnasium (maybe 800 people) in a town 35 miles from the nearest highway. (The only comparable in size event I've seen was a Hillary rally in Manchester, New Hampshire's largest city. As with previous Trump rallies, I am struck by the middle American, blue-collar normalness of the crowd. There is a short video here. A full range of ages, equally divided between women and men (a contrast to Hillary rallies where the ratio seems closer to 2-1). This demographic -- 'uncredentialed white people' in Mickey Kauss's good phrase, have been singled out for the short end of the stick. Declining wages, declining life expectancies. If it was happening to any other group, it would be deemed a national crisis." (01/27/16)
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/can-trump-close-the-deal/
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Today's Freedom News:
1) OR: Three more arrested as Bundy allegedly urges refuge occupiers to leave
2) Fed: Rates steady, but no retreat from March hike ... yet
3) Montenegro: Government survives confidence vote
4) France: Regime asks EU partners for new sanctions on Iran
5) MO: Ferguson pols release details of proposed consent decree
6) Ignoring cable industry protest, FCC says it will "unlock the set-top box"
7) Syrian opposition sets new conditions for peace talks
8) OECD deal on corporate tax avoidance signed by 31 nations
9) Cannabis-infused suppository helps to relieve menstrual cramps
10) White House dropped $10 million claim in Iran prisoner deal
11) States ask SCOTUS to stay Obama climate rules
12) TX: Dad who took daughter's phone not guilty of theft
13) TN: Legislation takes on "policing for profit" via asset forfeiture; closes federal loophole
14) DC: Police issue $1 million worth of parking tickets after blizzard
15) KY: Bill would set the stage to make federal gun control "nearly impossible" to enforce
16) France: Justice Minister resigns over opposition to citizenship-stripping scheme
17) US GOP lawmakers seek to end purchase of Russian rocket engines
18) France: Court demands $1.3 million bribe for taxi monopolists from Uber
19) MO: Senate debates limiting municipal fines
20) CA: Authoritarian pols vote to ban gardening, medicine
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Give the Nazis what they want
22) The crime objection to open borders
23) After DC's Snowmageddon -- some things should stay buried
24) In defence of Hoppe
25) Ayn Rand made me a communist
26) Why do American Christians support coerced charity?
27) Latest tax-scam of corporate "inversion": Who pays instead?
28) The Democrats' worst nightmare is that Bernie's supporters won't back Clinton
29) Theft by government continues through eminent domain
30) The Jason Stapleton Program: The news on the Clinton indictment and the two-headed monster
31) The group of artists winning fair pay by targeting nonprofits
32) The Bank of England's headline stress test: An exercise in really weird accounting
33) None flew over the cuckoo's nest
34) Dying in prison for love of family
35) How Michael Bloomberg complicates the election
36) The US intervention in Libya was such a smashing success that a sequel is coming
37) Seeds of Liberty Podcast, episode 45: Christopher Chase Rachels
38) Mises on protectionism and immigration
39) Ammon Bundy and the myth of the American West
40) Trump & the conservative establishment deserve each other
41) An alternative to the FDA
42) Misdirected blame -- government is failure
43) Three reasons to support school choice
44) Slouching toward Hillary?
45) Private police, part 2: Voluntary, market-based police & security systems
46) Flint water crisis: The libertarian damage control begins
47) Meet the students fighting campus censorship
48) A diminishing lagtime
49) The political economy of "exporting" democracy
50) Can Trump close the deal?
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------------
1) OR: Three more arrested as Bundy allegedly urges refuge occupiers to leave
Source: Fox News
"Three members of an armed group occupying an Oregon wildlife refuge surrendered to authorities, officials said, hours after their jailed leader [allegedly] urged remaining militants to abandon the site and 'go home.' The three arrests Wednesday at a checkpoint law officers have setup near the refuge, followed the arrests a day earlier of leader Ammon Bundy and seven others. ... Meanwhile, details began to emerge about the confrontation Tuesday on a remote highway that resulted in the arrest of Bundy and other leading figures in the group of occupiers, and in the [killing by government agents] of militant Robert ["LaVoy"] Finicum." (01/27/16)
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2016/01/28/3-more-arrested-as-bundy-urges-refuge-occupiers-to-leave.html
-----
2) Fed: Rates steady, but no retreat from March hike ... yet
Source: USA Today
"The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged Wednesday and said it's closely monitoring global economic and market turmoil, but gave no signal that it's retreating yet from plans to raise rates gradually this year. An increase was not expected Wednesday after the Fed lifted its benchmark rate last month for the first time in nearly a decade -- by a modest quarter-percentage point to 0.4% -- and said it aims to nudge up the rate slowly the next few years amid tepid economic growth." (01/27/16)
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2016/01/27/no-fed-rate-increase-but-no-retreat-march-hike/79395226
-----
3) Montenegro: Government survives confidence vote
Source: ABC News
"Montenegro's pro-Western government has survived a confidence vote despite disagreements within the ruling coalition and pressure from the pro-Russian opposition over a NATO membership bid. The government of Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic, who is in a dispute with one of the seven parties in the coalition, on Wednesday won support from a small opposition party." (01/27/16)
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/montenegros-government-survives-confidence-vote-36558234
-----
4) France: Regime asks EU partners for new sanctions on Iran
Source: Virginian-Pilot
"France has asked its European Union partners to consider new sanctions on Iran for its recent missile tests, officials have told The Associated Press, even as Paris welcomed the president of the Islamic Republic, which is flush with funds from the lifting of other sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program. The ambiguous signals emerging Wednesday from France came as President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate elected in 2013, signed billions of dollars in business deals on an earlier stop in Italy and met with Pope Francis in the first such Iranian foray into Europe since 1999." (01/27/16)
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_EUROPE_IRAN?SITE=VANOV&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-01-27-17-02-44
-----
5) MO: Ferguson pols release details of proposed consent decree
Source: Reuters
"The city of Ferguson, Missouri, released details on Wednesday of a tentative deal with the U.S. Justice Department to reform its police department and resolve a federal probe following the 2014 fatal shooting of a black teenager that ignited national protests. ... Under the terms of the proposed agreement, which were posted on the city's website, the Ferguson police department would be required to give its officers bias-awareness training, implement a 'robust' accountability system and ensure that police stop, search and arrest practices do not discriminate on the basis of race or other protected characteristics. The settlement would require the city to change its municipal code, including sections that impose prison time for failure to pay certain fines and an ordinance used against individuals who do not comply with police orders." (01/27/16)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-missouri-ferguson-idUSKCN0V52TQ
-----
6) Ignoring cable industry protest, FCC says it will "unlock the set-top box"
Source: Ars Technica
"Pay-TV providers would have to make video programming available to the makers of third-party devices and software under a proposal by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler. ... Customers would still have to buy TV service from a cable, telco, or satellite firm. But just as mobile broadband customers can choose from many smartphones to use on a wireless network, pay-TV customers should be able to choose what device they watch TV on, an FCC official said in a phone call with reporters." [editor's note: Hey, here's an idea -- how about the providers and customers work it out between themselves instead of King Wheeler dictating the terms? - TLK] (01/27/16)
http://arstechnica.com/business/2016/01/in-blow-to-cable-lobby-fcc-wants-tv-to-be-available-on-any-device/
-----
7) Syrian opposition sets new conditions for peace talks
Source: CBC News [Canadian state media]
"One of the main Syrian opposition blocs said Wednesday that it was unlikely to attend Geneva peace talks this week unless progress is made toward lifting sieges in the country and other conditions are met, adding that it was awaiting clarifications from the UN envoy. The announcement cast further uncertainty on peace talks scheduled to begin in two days." (01/27/16)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/syria-opposition-peace-conditions-1.3421819
-----
8) OECD deal on corporate tax avoidance signed by 31 nations
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"Rules to stop companies using complex tax arrangements to avoid paying corporate tax have been agreed by 31 OECD members. They will make it harder for firms to hide money in tax havens or play one country's tax authority against another. Firms such as Google, Amazon and Facebook must now pay tax in the country where the profits are made. The move follows public anger at the tax practices of some multinationals. Google's deal to pay £130m to the UK's HM Revenue and Customs in back taxes for the past decade has seen it widely criticised for not paying its fair share [sic] of corporate tax." (01/27/16)
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35420450
-----
9) Cannabis-infused suppository helps to relieve menstrual cramps
Source: Smell the Truth
"A natural form of menstrual relief is now available to women, thanks to pot. The world's first cannabis-infused vaginal suppository was released this week by Foria, which promises to relieve the pain and stress induced by menstrual cramps and discomfort. Named 'Foria Relief' to distinguish from the company's ultra-popular sexual aid spray for women, the small cocoa butter-based inserts are blended with a 6:1 ratio of THC oil concentrate and CBD isolate, respectively. The two compounds work together to diminish pain signals and muscle cramping, all without a psychoactive high. Women will experience maximum pain relief without getting stoned since the medicine is administered as a vaginal suppository." (01/27/16)
http://blog.sfgate.com/smellthetruth/2016/01/27/marijuana-infused-suppository-helps-to-relieve-menstrual-cramps
-----
10) White House dropped $10 million claim in Iran prisoner deal
Source: Reuters
"Nader Modanlo was facing five more years in federal prison when he got an extraordinary offer: U.S. President Barack Obama was ready to commute his sentence as part of this month's historic and then still-secret prisoner swap with Iran. He said no. To sweeten the deal, the U.S. administration then dropped a claim against the Iran-born aerospace engineer for $10 million that a Maryland jury found he had taken as an illegal payment from Iran, according to interviews with Modanlo, lawyers involved and U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter. The surrender of the U.S. claim, which has not previously been reported, could add to scrutiny of how the Obama administration clinched a prisoner deal that has drawn criticism from Republican presidential candidates and lawmakers." (01/27/16)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-nuclear-modanlo-idUSKCN0V50HC
-----
11) States ask SCOTUS to stay Obama climate rules
Source: Fox News
"A group of over a dozen states are petitioning the Supreme Court to halt the Obama administration's far-reaching climate rules for power plants. The states are already suing in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, but after Friday's decision by the court to not stay the rules, the states are taking the unprecedented move of going straight to the Supreme Court for a ruling to place the landmark regulations on ice. The court of appeals still plans to take up the states' arguments. It only ruled that it would not stay the regulations before doing so. It consequently scheduled oral arguments for June." (01/26/16)
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/01/26/states-ask-supreme-court-to-stay-obama-climate-rules.html
-----
12) TX: Dad who took daughter's phone not guilty of theft
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"A Texas father who was accused of theft after he confiscated his 12-year-old daughter's cellphone over an inappropriate text has been acquitted of the misdemeanor charge. A judge in Dallas found Ronald Jackson not guilty Tuesday, citing insufficient evidence. Grand Prairie police arrested Jackson a few hours after he commandeered his daughter's cellphone and refused to return it. The 36-year-old father says a text he found on the phone was rude." (01/27/16)
http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Texas-dad-acquitted-of-theft-took-away-6787184.php
-----
13) TN: Legislation takes on "policing for profit" via asset forfeiture; closes federal loophole
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
"Bills introduced in the Tennessee legislature would reform asset forfeiture laws to prohibit the state from taking property without a criminal conviction. The legislation also takes on federal forfeiture programs by banning prosecutors from circumventing state laws by passing cases off to the feds in most situations." (01/27/16)
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2016/01/tennessee-legislation-takes-on-policing-for-profit-via-asset-forfeiture-closes-federal-loophole/
-----
14) DC: Police issue $1 million worth of parking tickets after blizzard
Source: NBC Washington
"D.C.'s snow emergency will remain in effect through Wednesday at 6:30 p.m., and the city wants drivers to know it's serious about enforcing the parking bans. Since the blizzard began last Friday, the District has issued $1,078,000 worth of parking tickets and $65,600 in fines so far. It has towed 656 cars." (01/27/16)
http://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/DC-Issues-1-Million-Worth-of-Parking-Tickets-After-Blizzard-366711341.html?_osource=SocialFlowFB_DCBrand
-----
15) KY: Bill would set the stage to make federal gun control "nearly impossible" to enforce
Source: ShallNot.org
"A Kentucky bill would take the first step toward prohibiting state cooperation with the enforcement of federal gun control measures, a move that would make them 'nearly impossible' to enforce in the Bluegrass State. Rep. Diane St. Onge (R-Lakeside Park), along with nine cosponsors, introduced House Bill 236 (HB236) on Jan. 12." (01/27/16)
http://shallnot.org/kentucky-bill-would-set-the-stage-to-make-federal-gun-control-nearly-impossible-to-enforce/
-----
16) France: Justice Minister resigns over opposition to citizenship-stripping scheme
Source: CNN
"French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira has resigned, according to a statement from the office of President Francois Hollande on Wednesday. Her resignation came as Parliament prepared to consider controversial plans to strip convicted terrorists of their French nationality, which Taubira had expressed reservations about." (01/27/16)
http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/27/europe/france-justice-minister-christiane-taubira-resignation/
-----
17) US GOP lawmakers seek to end purchase of Russian rocket engines
Source: Washington Post
"American tax dollars should not subsidize the purchase of Russian rocket engines because the sales help enrich the friends of President Vladimir Putin, say two senior Republican lawmakers who aim to reverse the current practice. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., are introducing legislation Wednesday to repeal a provision in law that they say allows the unlimited acquisition and use of RD-180 engines manufactured by NPO Energomash. The manufacturer is owned primarily by the Russian government and controlled by several of Putin's confidantes, according to the lawmakers. The engines are acquired by an American company, United Launch Alliance, which is under contract with the Air Force to launch military and spy satellites." [editor's note: Marvelous, especially if it stops those government launches. Now can we find a way to outlaw the funneling of taxpayer money to McCarthy and McCain, too? - TLK] (01/27/16)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/congress/gop-lawmakers-seek-to-end-purchase-of-russian-rocket-engines/2016/01/27/d47cd92c-c4d4-11e5-b933-31c93021392a_story.html
-----
18) France: Court demands $1.3 million bribe for taxi monopolists from Uber
Source: TechCrunch
"Urban transportation company Uber is having a rough week in France. Following yesterday's protests, the high court of Paris just fined Uber $1.3 million (€1.2 million). ... A taxi union (Union Nationale des Taxis) sued Uber back in December 2014 for a set of 'ambiguous' advice to its drivers." (01/27/16)
http://techcrunch.com/2016/01/27/uber-gets-fined-1-3-million-for-ambiguous-driver-training-videos-in-france/
-----
19) MO: Senate debates limiting municipal fines
Source: Springfield News-Leader
"A bill capping fines for municipal ordinance violations has won initial approval in the Senate, paving the way for a final vote before going to the House. Senators finalized the bill's language Tuesday by a voice vote. It would limit municipal fines on ordinance violations to $200, and court costs could be waived for defendants who meet certain income requirements. Sen. Eric Schmitt, Republican from St. Louis County who sponsored the bill, said .... some cities in St. Louis County enforce what he called 'ridiculous' ordinance violations, such as barbequing on front lawns. Cities budgets shouldn't rely on 'roving bureaucrats going around neighborhoods' looking for zoning code violations, he said. He added that the problem was clustered around St. Louis County." [editor's note: Glad to see this; as a former St. Louis County resident, I can attest to Schmitt's contention -- the town I lived in had more ordinances than it had people, including one prescribing a minimum and maximum number of holes per square inch in window screens - TLK] (01/27/16)
http://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/missouri/2016/01/27/missouri-senate-debates-limiting-municipal-fines/79392800/
-----
20) CA: Authoritarian pols vote to ban gardening, medicine
Source: Parlier Post
"Parlier City Council members have approved a new ordinance banning the cultivation, delivery and dispensing of marijuana in the city. The council took its action at the Jan. 20 meeting. Medical marijuana is legalized in California, but cities need [sic] to create their own ordinances regarding marijuana cultivation. Parlier has an existing ordinance that outlaws medical marijuana dispensaries, but it did not specifically include the cultivation and sale of marijuana. Parlier's interim police chief Jose Flores put the issue on the council meeting agenda after noticing that the city was missing an all-encompassing marijuana ordinance." (01/27/16)
http://www.reedleyexponent.com/articles/2016/01/26/publications/parlier_post/news/doc56a7b2f50f146087980351.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM COMMENTARY
------------------------------------------------------------------
21) Give the Nazis what they want
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by BK Marcus
"If you called Donald Trump a Nazi, he'd probably take offense, even though his nationalism is socialistic. If you called Bernie Sanders a Nazi, you'd be dismissed out of hand, though his socialism is avowedly nationalistic. But did you know that Adolf Hitler himself took offense when the word was applied to him and his political party?" (01/27/16)
http://fee.org/freeman/give-the-nazis-what-they-want/
-----
22) The crime objection to open borders
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Jason Brennan
"One of the putative downsides of open borders is that immigrants might cause crime. According to this argument, immigrants are statically more likely to commit various crimes than domestic citizens, and for that reason, it is justifiable to exclude. One response to this argument is to dispute the empirical claims. In fact, empirical studies generally find that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than domestic-born citizens. Bas van der Vossen and I will summarize the studies in our forthcoming book with Oxford. I'm not bothering to link to them here, though, because I want to ask, instead, what if immigrants did in fact cause more crime? What if immigrants were more likely to be criminals than the domestic population? Would that be sufficient reason to restrict international migration?" (01/27/16)
http://bleedingheartlibertarians.com/2016/01/the-crime-objection-to-open-borders/
-----
23) After DC's Snowmageddon -- some things should stay buried
Source: Heartland Institute
by Seton Motley
"Due to this weekend's torrential winter downpour, we are currently in the midst of a federal government shutdown. Uh oh. We've been told so often by so many that a government shutdown will shake the Earth from its orbital path and send us careening into the Sun. So far, thankfully, that has not occurred. Despite our promised fiery demise, we have begun to excavate DC (... wait a moment, what's the rush?)." (01/27/16)
http://blog.heartland.org/2016/01/after-dcs-snowmageddon-some-things-should-stay-buried/
-----
24) In defence of Hoppe
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by Matt Battaglioli
"When confronted with the work of Hoppe, in publications such as Democracy: The God That Failed, one is faced with ideas on the furthest edge of libertarianism. Hoppe's work tests people's commitment to intellectual radicalism, and makes them acknowledge possibilities about what parts of a free society may look like; the good and the bad, the popular and the unpopular. It is relatively easy for a person to get on board with a more humanitarian explanation of libertarianism, as described by the likes of Jeffrey Tucker .... But to talk about libertarianism in this way exclusively, as many also do, is a mistake; a mistake that only a small few such as Hoppe contribute to correcting." (01/27/16)
http://thelibertarianalliance.com/2016/01/27/in-defence-of-hoppe/
-----
25) Ayn Rand made me a communist
Source: The New Republic
by Jacob Bacharach
"I don't suppose that when my parents sent me off to the University of Virginia Young Writers Workshop they imagined I'd return, a few weeks later, both gay and an objectivist. Fortunately they were wise enough to understand the former as something indelible and the latter as a phase, which they amusedly tolerated. In fact, my mother had given me a copy of The Fountainhead the year before; like any wishfully pubescent teenage loser, I devoured it in a couple of sittings, but if I ascertained in its pages some proof of my own self-evident heroic genius, the notion that the novel represented a Weltanschauung escaped me." (01/27/16)
https://newrepublic.com/article/128441/ayn-rand-made-communist
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26) Why do American Christians support coerced charity?
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"For the life of me, I simply cannot understand why American Christians support the welfare state. Every single welfare-state program is based on forced or coerced charity. How can forced or coerced charity possibly be reconciled with God's gift of free will to people? It can't be. So then why do American Christians (or any Christians) support it?" (01/27/16)
http://fff.org/2016/01/27/why-do-american-christians-support-coerced-charity/
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27) Latest tax-scam of corporate "inversion": Who pays instead?
Source: Our Future
by Dave Johnson
"Johnson Controls Inc. and Tyco International PLC have announced a $14 billion merger, with the resulting company pretending to be 'Irish.' This is called an 'inversion' and is all about dodging taxes. Johnson Controls is actually based in Milwaukee. Tyco is based in Princeton, N.J. but became 'Irish' through its own prior tax-dodging inversion(s). ... An inversion allows corporations to pretend to be non-U.S. companies and dodge taxes while still getting the full benefits of our country's taxes: roads and other physical infrastructure, advanced legal system, educated workforce, police and other protections, military protection, and so on." (01/26/16)
https://ourfuture.org/20160126/the-latest-tax-scam-corporate-inversion-who-pays-instead
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28) The Democrats' worst nightmare is that Bernie's supporters won't back Clinton
Source: OpEdNews
by Earl Ofari Hutchinson
"The constant nightmare among both Democratic Party leaders and Hillary Clinton campaign boosters is that a significant number of Democratic presidential rival Bernie Sanders'[s] backers will sleep in on Election Day. A recent CBS/New York Times poll didn't do much to dry the nervous sweat over this prospect. It found that fourteen percent of Democrats flatly said that they would not vote for Hillary, period. Another 27 percent said they'd hold their nose and vote for her. These are voters who no one would bet the bank on in Las Vegas to keep their promise." (01/27/16)
http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Democrat-s-Worst-Night-by-earl-ofari-hutchin-Bernie-Sanders_Bernie-Sanders_Bernie-Sanders-2016-Presidential-Candidate_Bernie-Sanders-Presidential-Campaign-160127-333.html
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29) Theft by government continues through eminent domain
Source: Reason
by A Barton Hinkle
"Three years ago Virginia residents passed a constitutional amendment to limit legalized theft through eminent-domain abuse. The amendment required that property be taken only for a genuinely public purpose. No longer could governments take one person's land and give it to somebody else for economic development. Opponents of the measure issued dark warnings about the terrible consequences that would ensue, but those predictions failed to come true. Problem solved, right? Not on your life. Just ask Richard Dwyer. The town of Culpeper, Virginia has taken a big chunk of his land--and wants to make him sell it for a song." (01/27/16)
http://reason.com/archives/2016/01/27/theft-by-government-continues-through-em
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30) The Jason Stapleton Program: The news on the Clinton indictment and the two-headed monster
Source: The Jason Stapleton Program
"Last night was the last chance for Democratic front-runners Clinton and Sanders to speak nationally to America before the Iowa caucus. This was an event Clinton pushed for, and I think it was a good decision." [various formats] (01/26/16)
http://www.jasonstapleton.com/news-on-the-clinton-indictment-and-the-two-headed-monster/
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31) The group of artists winning fair pay by targeting nonprofits
Source: In These Times
by Tom Ladendorf
"This story comes from an anonymous survey of nearly 1,000 artists about the compensation they received for exhibitions and performances at nonprofit arts institutions (chosen on the basis that for-profits very rarely pay for exhibiting work). Of the shows artists listed, 58.4 percent were completely unpaid, without even expense reimbursement. Even some of the largest institutions got low marks: New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, for instance, has a total annual operating budget of more than $250 million but paid surveyed artists for only 14.3 percent of exhibitions." (01/26/16)
http://inthesetimes.com/article/18764/wages-for-arts-sake
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32) The Bank of England's headline stress test: An exercise in really weird accounting
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Kevin Dowd
"In this posting, I will go through the Bank of England's 2015 headline stress test -- the test based on the CET1 ratio -- the ratio of CET1 (Common Equity Tier 1) capital to RWAs (Risk-Weighted Assets). The definitions of these terms were explained here. In this test, the Bank sets its minimum pass standard equal to 4.5%: roughly speaking, a bank passes the test if its capital ratio (as measured by the CET1 ratio) post the stress scenario is at least 4.5% and it fails the stress test otherwise." (01/27/16)
http://www.adamsmith.org/blog/money-banking/the-bank-of-englands-headline-stress-test-an-exercise-in-really-weird-accounting/
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33) None flew over the cuckoo's nest
Source: Liberty Unbound
by Stephen Cox
"Looking back over the linguistic events of 2015, I wondered whether this column should offer an award for the Most Asinine Remark of the Year. The major difficulty was that there were too many candidates. Another problem was that to ensure fairness, the columnist would need to wade systematically through the reported utterances of the current presidential contenders, an adventure that would result in the columnist's suicide." (01/27/16)
http://libertyunbound.com/node/1513
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34) Dying in prison for love of family
Source: Cato Institute
by Nat Hentoff and Nick Hentoff
"As we wrote last week ('A Slow, Lonely Death in Prison'), it is hard to understand why the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) denied 94-year-old prisoner Carlos Tapia-Ponce's request for a compassionate release earlier this month. ... Tapia-Ponce says that since his resentencing, he has been visited in prison twice by DEA agents who have offered him a reduced sentence in exchange for his cooperation in investigations of the Juarez drug cartel and corrupt U.S. Customs officials. Each time he told them he was willing to cooperate if they would protect his family by getting them out of Mexico. They refused his request." (01/27/16)
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/dying-prison-love-family
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35) How Michael Bloomberg complicates the election
Source: The American Prospect
by Robert Kuttner
"As you have doubtless read or seen, Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, has put out the word that his minions are testing the waters for an independent candidacy. Bloomberg is supposedly the sensible moderate that the county needs, the one that political polarization has kept from the ballot of either party. But that's not an obstacle that a few billion dollars from the candidate's own fortune can't fix. Bloomberg is center-right on economics and finance, and liberal on social issues and gun control. He's not likely to get elected. There is no mass clamoring for such a combination, except among fellow rich people. Yet Bloomberg's entry could tip the race -- more likely to the Republican than the Democrat." (1/26/16)
http://prospect.org/article/how-michael-bloomberg-complicates-election
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36) The US intervention in Libya was such a smashing success that a sequel is coming
Source: The Intercept
by Glenn Greenwald
"Just as there was no al Qaeda or ISIS to attack in Iraq until the U.S. bombed its government, there was no ISIS in Libya until NATO bombed it. Now the U.S. is about to seize on the effects of its own bombing campaign in Libya to justify an entirely new bombing campaign in that same country." (01/27/16)
https://theintercept.com/2016/01/27/the-u-s-intervention-in-libya-was-such-a-smashing-success-that-a-sequel-is-coming/
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37) Seeds of Liberty Podcast, episode 45: Christopher Chase Rachels
Source: Peaceful Anarchism
"Please enjoy this recent episode of the Seeds of Liberty Podcast. This week we were joined by Christopher Chase Rachels, author of 'Spontaneous Order: The Capitalist Case For A Stateless Society' and founder of the Voluntaryist Initiative. Herein we discussed the beginnings of the Voluntaryist Initiative, how peaceful parenting is a necessary but insufficient means towards achieving a free society, self-segregation, how a capitalist system allows for communism but not the other way around, how socialism being feasible on the family level does not translate to it working for millions, how production is the necessary antecedent to consumption ..." [MP3] (01/27/16)
http://peacefulanarchism.com/seeds-of-liberty-podcast-episode-45-christopher-chase-rachels-author-of-a-spontaneous-order/
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38) Mises on protectionism and immigration
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Matt McCaffrey
"The economic causes and consequences of immigration are among the most important issues facing the world today. Both pro- and anti-immigration advocates are digging in their heels, and both sides look increasingly unlikely to relent. Despite the bleak outlook, however, there is still hope for a peaceful and charitable discussion of the economics of immigration. With that in mind, I want to consider Mises's thoughts on the topic." (01/27/16)
https://mises.org/library/mises-protectionism-and-immigration
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39) Ammon Bundy and the myth of the American West
Source: Reuters
by Dawn G. Marsh
"The arrest of Ammon Bundy and many of his supporters on Tuesday left one man dead and a handful of protesters still occupying a federal wildlife refuge in rural eastern Oregon. Weeks after they first occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the question remains: What do they want? Ammon and his brother Ryan Bundy had issued an array of claims and accusations that resonate with many Western land users. Who are the enemies they confront? The federal government, the Bureau of Land Management and even Linda Sue Beck, a biologist at the wildlife refuge whose office they are occupying, draw the ire of the Bundy brothers and their followers." (01/27/16)
http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2016/01/27/ammon-bundy-and-the-myth-of-the-american-west
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40) Trump & the conservative establishment deserve each other
Source: Free Association
by Sheldon Richman
"The bankrupt political establishment has given us Trump as surely as Victor Frankenstein gave his community the monster. I'm all for revolting against the establishment, but we will regret making the authoritarian and boorish Trump the standard bearer of that revolt." (01/26/16)
http://sheldonfreeassociation.blogspot.com/2016/01/trump-and-conservative-establishment.html
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41) An alternative to the FDA
Source: Independent Institute
by Abigail Hall
"Everyone wants safe products, and since 1906 the American people have relied on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to provide such assurance. But the FDA may not be all that we think it is. Maybe we can do better." (01/26/16)
http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=8654
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42) Misdirected blame -- government is failure
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal
"If your best argument against your opponents is to try to blame your own failures on them, you might be a statist. I sometimes get amused at how often statists try to pin the failures of their religion on those of us who don't buy into their cult. The Flint water disaster is a current example. Look how many times recently this disastrous failure of government is pointed to as what would happen if libertarians were 'in charge' of supplying water." (01/27/16)
http://blog.kentforliberty.com/2016/01/misdirected-blame-government-is-failure.html
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43) Three reasons to support school choice
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Corey Iacono
"Choice is integral to a functioning market economy, but when it comes to a child's education, choice is virtually absent. Efforts to increase schooling options are condemned by individuals and organizations who believe that public education is so outstanding that it must be protected from competition." (01/26/16)
http://fee.org/freeman/3-reasons-to-support-school-choice/
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44) Slouching toward Hillary?
Source: CounterPunch
by Jason Hirthler
"Will 2016 be the year when a new representative of elite wealth assumes the mantle of power, reading to fulfill the Davos claim that seven million jobs will soon be replaced by wageless robots? Or will a political insurgency -- be it left or right -- finally unseat the standard neoliberal program? Will a faux socialist or a bombastic billionaire be swept into office by the popular tide? If recent history is any guide, Hillary is a lock." (01/27/16)
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/27/slouching-toward-hillary/
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45) Private police, part 2: Voluntary, market-based police & security systems
Source: Emancipated Human
by Jared Wall
"Whenever the idea of a stateless society is brought up, the usual reaction is that of fear and worry. Without government, who would take care of the poor and the sick? Who would educate the children? Who would regulate the businesses? Who would build the roads? And, most strenuously, who would keep us safe?" (01/26/16)
http://www.emancipatedhuman.com/2016/01/27/private-police-part-2-voluntary-market-based-police-security-systems/
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46) Flint water crisis: The libertarian damage control begins
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"In their hasty scramble to blame the Flint water crisis on anything -- anything at all -- other than the regime of Emergency Managers and phony corporate 'privatization' that Reason has been promoting for years in Michigan, Reason writers are forming a circular firing squad." (01/27/16)
https://c4ss.org/content/43022
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47) Meet the students fighting campus censorship
Source: spiked
by Tom Slater
"The closing of the campus-radical mind, the transformation of students' unions from outlets for young people's ideas and ambitions to glorified therapy centres, has driven the vast majority of students away. To pin the blame for campus intolerance on all students, most of whom will never have voted in an SU election, is to downplay the scandal of campus censorship. Students' unions across the country are smearing their own members as soft-headed simpletons, unable to handle views they might find offensive and only ever one lads' mag away from a spot on the sex offenders' register. But this is not to say that students are apathetic. Far from it. As SUs have become more and more intolerant, switched-on students have merely taken their discussions elsewhere." (01/27/16)
www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/meet-the-students-fighting-campus-censorship/
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48) A diminishing lagtime
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"The modern age sports an amazing feature that used to be hard to detect, because so drawn out: a shorter-than-ever-before lag between the proposal of some popular inanity and its complete debunking. It used to take seemingly forever for a bad idea to be shown up, either in argument or evidence. Now it can be a matter of days or even hours. Call it the Buncombe/Debunking Lagtime. Take the Flint, Michigan, water fiasco." (01/27/16)
http://thisiscommonsense.com/2016/01/27/a-diminishing-lagtime/
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49) The political economy of "exporting" democracy
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Christopher Coyne
"Promoting regime change in the name of democracy and freedom sounds noble and heroic to many. But rarely, if ever, do politicians, citizens, and pundits consider whether the U.S. government can actually achieve its stated goals. More common is an unconstrained view that assumes that the U.S. government can do whatever its members put their minds to. The unconstrained view was captured nicely in comments by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in a 2010 talk to the Council on Foreign Relations, when she noted that 'Americans have always risen to the challenges we have faced. That is who we are. It is in our DNA. We do believe there are no limits on what is possible or what can be achieved.'" (01/27/16)
http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/the-political-economy-of-exporting-democracy/
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50) Can Trump close the deal?
Source: The American Conservative
by Scott McConnell
"Last night, I went to a Trump rally in Strafford county, town of Farmington, population less than 7,000. Trump manages to fill a high school gymnasium (maybe 800 people) in a town 35 miles from the nearest highway. (The only comparable in size event I've seen was a Hillary rally in Manchester, New Hampshire's largest city. As with previous Trump rallies, I am struck by the middle American, blue-collar normalness of the crowd. There is a short video here. A full range of ages, equally divided between women and men (a contrast to Hillary rallies where the ratio seems closer to 2-1). This demographic -- 'uncredentialed white people' in Mickey Kauss's good phrase, have been singled out for the short end of the stick. Declining wages, declining life expectancies. If it was happening to any other group, it would be deemed a national crisis." (01/27/16)
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/can-trump-close-the-deal/
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