01/15 -- Shutdown theater hits government websites as certificates begin to expire; Patreon is not waging war on free speech

6 views
Skip to first unread message

Thomas L. Knapp

unread,
Jan 15, 2019, 6:27:17 AM1/15/19
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 01/15/19
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the Liberty International

Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Today's Freedom News:

1)  Shutdown theater hits government websites as certificates begin to expire
2)  Poland: Mayor of Gdansk dies after stabbing at charity event
3)  SCOTUS won't hear challenge to appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting AG
4)  Trump denies he ever worked for Russia
5)  Israel: Christians clash with police over "McJesus" sculpture
6)  Afghanistan: Fatal blast rocks Kabul
7)  CA: Los Angeles teachers go on strike for the first time in 30 years
8)  GOP leaders brush off Kansas governor's critique
9)  Sanders to introduce bill to raise federal minimum wage to $15
10) Paul is going to Canada for hernia surgery
11) Chechya: Two allegedly killed, 40 abducted in "gay purge"
12) Report rips expensive decisions in California wildfire fight
13) China: Regime announces intent to murder Canadian pharmaceutical delivery entrepreneur
14) "The View" grills Women's March co-founder Tamika Mallory over ties to Farrakhan
15) Judge blocks Trump birth control coverage rules in 13 states, DC
16) FAA proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people
17) "Like I said: A puppet," Hillary Clinton tweets
18) Indonesian divers find crashed Lion Air jet's second black box
19) Screen Actors Guild slams film academy for Oscar tactics
20) SpaceX launches ten more Iridium communications satellites

Today's Freedom Commentary:

21) Patreon is not waging war on free speech
22) The FBI's investigation of Trump as a "national security threat" is itself a serious danger. But J. Edgar Hoover pioneered the tactic
23) Trump, Hitler, and the Enabling Act
24) Praetorian Guards from Ancient Greece to Palm Beach or the Hamptons
25) Introducing the Libertarian Census and the Plan
26) "Orange Man bad" is not a legal theory
27) Why some crypto companies consider KYC and AML compliance unnecessary
28) Bureaucratic fights in Washington sow chaos in Syria
29) What's the difference between Steve King and Donald Trump?
30) Mr. Trump, Elizabeth Warren & Dems want to steal your winning message; don't let them
31) Campaign finance reform helps special interests
32) Parliament has turned against the people
33) Assessing Angela Merkel's legacy
34) Here's why LA teachers are walking out in a historic strike
35) Why are the media so eager to declare Trump's Syria withdrawal dead?
36) The wasteful priorities of bureaucrats
37) The Claas Relotius scandal, CNN, and the importance of skepticism in news reading
38) Privileging the privileged: Harvard's real problem
39) War lust flags
40) A strange argument for the commonplace
41) Bolton's eagerness to attack Iran
42) Five dealbreakers for confirming Trump's next Attorney General
43) Philadelphia's soda pop tax -- as Marie Antoinette would say, it's the perfect tax, just super!
44) Natural rights: The cornerstone of the Constitution
45) Why a Republican won't beat Trump in 2020
46) With Wilson in the wilderness
47) Five reasons I'm excited about Tulsi Gabbard's candidacy
48) Declining birth rates: Is the US in danger of running out of people?
49) Republican Party is mired in the 1950s
50) Quantum Vibe, 01/14/19
51) Father of protectionism: The baneful but lasting influence of Friedrich List
52) The PC commissars vs. Bryan Cranston
53) Latest weapons industry advocacy bill introduced in Senate
54) Canons of libertarianism
55) The ECB's quantitative easing was a failure -- here is what it actually did

Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:

56) Reason Podcast, 01/14/19
57) CQ Budget Podcast, episode 94
58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 01/14/19
59) The Bob Zadek Show, 01/14/19
60) Scott Adams Says, 01/14/19
61) One Free Family, episode 45
62) Constitutionally Speaking, episode 41
63) Free Man Beyond the Wall, episode 207
64) The Last Nighters, episode 54
65) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 383
66) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 297
67) Free Talk Live, 01/13/19
68) The Anarchist Experience, episode 198

vvvvv SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS vvvvv

DEATH BY REGULATION
by Mary Ruwart, PhD

TIPPING POINT: A NOVEL BY FRANK CLARKE

Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS

^^^^^ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ^^^^^

_____ Today's Freedom News _____

1)  Shutdown theater hits government websites as certificates begin to expire
Source: naked security

"The US government shutdown is affecting more than just physical sites like national parks and monuments. Now, government websites are shutting down as their TLS certificates expire, according to internet security and statistics company Netcraft. In an online post, the company says that more than 80 websites using the .gov domain have been made insecure or inaccessible thanks to expired certificates. ... The US government isn't doing anything deemed nonessential under the current shutdown, and that seems to include renewing TLS certificates. As they expire, sites are beginning to throw expired certificate warnings, and in many cases become unavailable altogether." (01/14/19)


-----

2)  Poland: Mayor of Gdansk dies after stabbing at charity event
Source: The Guardian [UK]

"Pawel Adamowicz, the mayor of the Polish city of Gdansk, has died after he was stabbed in the chest on stage at a charity concert on Sunday evening. ... The alleged assailant, a 27-year-old man from Gdansk with a record of violent crime, was released from prison last month, it emerged on Monday. After the stabbing, the assailant told the crowd he blamed Adamowicz's former political party Civic Platform for his jailing in 2014 for a series of violent attacks. Adamowicz, a popular, liberal mayor, had long been considered a hate figure in far-right circles for his vigorous defence of migrants and refugees and LGBT rights, but no evidence has emerged that the attack was politically motivated." (01/14/19)


-----

3)  SCOTUS won't hear challenge to appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting AG
Source: USA Today

"The Supreme Court refused Monday to consider a challenge to President Donald Trump's controversial appointment of Matthew Whitaker as acting attorney general. The justices were asked in November to decide if Whitaker was legally installed as the temporary successor to ousted Attorney General Jeff Sessions. If not, that would have left Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein overseeing (and presumably protecting) special counsel Robert Mueller. Mueller's probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and potential coordination with the Trump campaign appears to be nearing completion. Meanwhile, attorney general nominee William Barr faces a Senate confirmation hearing this week, and Rosenstein is prepared to step down if Barr is installed. Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh has filed a separate challenge to Whitaker's appointment in federal district court." (01/14/19)


-----

4)  Trump denies he ever worked for Russia
Source: BBC News [UK state media]

"US President Donald Trump has denied working for Russia, pouring scorn on the latest reports to cast scrutiny on his relationship with Moscow. Addressing reporters at the White House as he left for Louisiana, he said: 'I never worked for Russia.' He played down a Washington Post report that he had concealed a translation of a meeting with Mr Putin. According to the New York Times meanwhile, the FBI launched a hitherto unreported inquiry into the president. According to the newspaper, the FBI's suspicions were raised after Mr Trump fired its director, James Comey, in May 2017. That FBI inquiry, reports the New York Times, was taken over by justice department special counsel Robert Mueller." (01/14/19)


-----

5)  Israel: Christians clash with police over "McJesus" sculpture
Source: Daily Mail [UK]

"Three police have been injured after stone-throwing Christian protesters tried to force their way into a museum in Israel and tear down an 'offensive' artwork. The clashes happened outside the Haifa Museum of Art last week in protest at the 'McJesus' sculpture, which shows Ronald McDonald bring crucified. Arab Christian groups say the work was disrespectful and accused Israeli authorities of being slow to respond to their complaints, which began in August when McJesus first went on show. ... on Friday, a crowd of hundreds gathered outside before trying to force their way through the doors. Police used tear gas and stun grenades in an attempt to disperse the mob, who pelted them with stones in return." (01/14/19)


-----

6)  Afghanistan: Fatal blast rocks Kabul
Source: Al Jazeeera

"An explosion has rocked the Afghan capital, Kabul, killing at least four people and wounding scores of others, the country's health ministry has said. ... The blast took place outside a high-security compound that is home to several international companies and charities, security officials told the Reuters news agency. ... There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the huge blast, but police spokesperson Basir Mujahid said a vehicle full of explosives had been detonated." (01/14/19)


-----

7)  CA: Los Angeles teachers go on strike for the first time in 30 years
Source: Los Angeles Times

"Los Angeles teachers braved cold, drizzly weather Monday morning as they walked off the job in their first strike in 30 years to demand smaller class sizes, more support staff at schools and better pay. Schools will be open but it's unknown how many students will head to classes in the nation's second-largest school system. Some will be joining their teachers on the picket line. For those who go to school, the day is unlikely to follow routines as volunteers, an estimated 400 substitutes and 2,000 staffers from central and regional offices fill in for 31,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors." (01/14/19)


-----

8)  GOP leaders brush off Kansas governor's critique
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"Two top Republican leaders in the Kansas Legislature are brushing off Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly's negative assessment of state government under GOP control during the previous eight years. Senate President Susan Wagle and House Majority Leader Dan Hawkins said Monday that they will look for areas where compromise is possible. Kelly was sworn in Monday. She said in her inaugural speech that the Statehouse had lost the 'spirit of neighbor-helping-neighbor' and was too partisan. Hawkins, from Wichita, disagreed but said Republicans will try to work with the new governor. Wagle, also from Wichita, said she was excited that Kelly ended her speech by talking about finding compromise and reaching agreements by shaking hands." (01/14/19)


-----

9)  Sanders to introduce bill to raise federal minimum wage to $15
Source: Fox News

"Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said he (along with other members of Congress) plans to introduce a bill in Congress this week that would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. The bill is expected to come as the government shutdown enters its fourth week (eclipsing the record for the longest lapse in federal funding over the weekend) as many federal employees go unpaid. Raising the minimum wage sparks a range of opinions on Capitol Hill -- from whether it should be raised at all to whose job it should be to do so. Such a bill is unlikely to make significant headway because, even though Democrats took control of the House of Representatives during the 2018 midterm elections, Republicans maintain control in the Senate." (01/14/19)


-----

10) Paul is going to Canada for hernia surgery
Source: USA Today

"Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, one of the fiercest political critics of socialized medicine, will travel to Canada later this month to get hernia surgery. Paul, an ophthalmologist, said the operation is related to an injury sustained in 2017, when his neighbor, Rene Boucher, attacked him while he was mowing his lawn. The incident left Kentucky's junior senator with six broken ribs and a bruised lung. He is scheduled to have the outpatient operation at the Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario during the week of Jan. 21, according to documents from Paul's civil lawsuit against Boucher filed in Warren Circuit Court. The procedure is estimated to cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000, according to court documents. MDsave.com lists a hernia repair costing between $4,000 and $8,000. Shouldice Hernia Hospital markets itself as 'the global leader in non-mesh hernia repair,' according to the clinic's website. Paul, a Republican, often argues for private market solutions to American's health care woes." (01/14/19)


-----

11) Chechya: Two allegedly killed, 40 abducted in "gay purge"
Source: Metro [UK]

"Two people have been killed and 40 [abducted] in a 'crackdown' on gay people in a Russian republic where gay people have been tortured and held in concentration camps. The predominantly Muslim region of Chechnya launched a new 'purge' on gay people in December -- after seizing a gay activist's phone and looking through his contact list. The Russian LGBT Network, which has been monitoring the situation in Chechnya, says that at least two people have died after torture in a facility previously described as a 'concentration camp.'" (01/14/19)


-----

12) Report rips expensive decisions in California wildfire fight
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"When a wildfire burned across Big Sur two years ago and threatened hundreds of homes scattered on the scenic hills, thousands of firefighters responded with overwhelming force, attacking flames from the air and ground. In the first week, the blaze destroyed 57 homes and killed a bulldozer operator, then moved into remote wilderness in the Los Padres National Forest. Yet for nearly three more months the attack barely let up. The Soberanes Fire burned its way into the record books, costing $262 million as the most expensive wildland firefight in U.S. history in what a new report calls an 'extreme example of excessive, unaccountable, budget-busting suppression spending.' The report by Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology criticizes fire managers for not adapting their approach to the changing nature of the blaze. The nonprofit group, which gets funding from the Leonard DiCaprio Foundation and other environmental organizations, advocates ending 'warfare on wildfires' by ecologically managing them." (01/14/19)


-----

13) China: Regime announces intent to murder Canadian pharmaceutical delivery entrepreneur
Source: Reuters

"A Chinese court on Monday sentenced a Canadian man to death for drug smuggling after prosecutors said an original 15-year sentence given in November was too lenient. Dalian Intermediate People's Court in the northeast province of Liaoning re-tried Robert Lloyd Schellenberg and decided on execution, the court said in a statement on its website. The case will further test bilateral relations, already tense since Canada's arrest of a Chinese executive at the request of the United States in December, followed by China's detention of two Canadians on suspicion of endangering state security." (01/14/19)


-----

14) "The View" grills Women's March co-founder Tamika Mallory over ties to Farrakhan
Source: Fox News

"'The View' co-hosts Sunny Hostin and Meghan McCain grilled Women's March co-founder Tamika Mallory over her ties to Louis Farrakhan in a heated discussion on Monday morning. Mallory raised eyebrows when she said that the controversial Nation of Islam leader is the 'greatest of all time because of what he's done in black communities.' ... 'Tamika, you came under some fire for your relationship with Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam,' Hostin told the guest. 'He's known for being anti-Semitic, for being homophobic, but you do attend his events and you posted ... a photo calling him the G.O.A.T., which means the greatest of all time. You are running an organization that says it fights bigotry. Do you understand why your association with him is quite problematic?' Mallory fired back, 'I think it's important to put my attendance, my presence at Savior's Day, which is the highest holy day for the Nation of Islam, in proper context.'" (01/14/19)


-----

15) Judge blocks Trump birth control coverage rules in 13 states, DC
Source: CBS News

"A U.S. judge in California on Sunday blocked Trump administration rules, which would allow more employers to opt out of providing women with no-cost [sic] birth control, from taking effect in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Judge Haywood Gilliam granted a request for a preliminary injunction by California, 12 other states and Washington, D.C. The plaintiffs sought to prevent the rules from taking effect as scheduled on Monday while a lawsuit against them moved forward." (01/14/19)


-----

16) FAA proposes to allow drone operation at night, over people
Source: Reuters

"The Trump administration on Monday proposed rules that would allow drones to operate over populated areas and end a requirement for special permits for night use, long-awaited actions that are expected to help speed commercial use of small unmanned aerial vehicles in the United States. The proposals, drafted by the Federal Aviation Administration of the U.S. Transportation Department, come amid concerns about dangers that drones potentially pose to aircraft and populated areas. U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said the department was aware of drone safety issues. 'The department is keenly aware that there are legitimate public concerns about drones, concerning safety, security and privacy,' Chao said at a speech in Washington. Two London airports have been disrupted by drone sightings in recent weeks and the British government is considering toughening laws that ban the use of drones near airports." (01/14/19)


-----

17) "Like I said: A puppet," Hillary Clinton tweets
Source: USA Today

"President Donald Trump's vanquished 2016 Democratic opponent appears to be relishing his recent difficulties with news reports about his relationship with Russia. 'Like I said: A puppet,' Hillary Clinton tweeted Monday, referencing a famous exchange between her and Trump during their third and final presidential debate. On Oct. 19, 2016, Trump said Russian President Vladimir Putin did not respect the former secretary of state. 'Well, that's because he'd rather have a puppet as president of the United States,' Clinton replied. 'No puppet,' Trump said, talking over her. 'You're the puppet. No, you're the puppet.'" (01/14/19)


-----

18) Indonesian divers find crashed Lion Air jet's second black box
Source: Yahoo! News

"Indonesian authorities on Monday said they will immediately begin to download contents of a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from a Lion Air jet that crashed into the sea near Jakarta more than two months ago, killing all 189 people on board. The crash was the world's first of a Boeing Co 737 MAX jet and the deadliest of 2018, and the recovery of the aircraft's second black box from the Java Sea north of Jakarta on Monday may provide an account of the last actions of the doomed jet's pilots." (01/14/19)

https://www.yahoo.com/news/indonesia-finds-cockpit-voice-recorder-crashed-lion-air-042150116–finance.html

-----

19) Screen Actors Guild slams film academy for Oscar tactics
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"The Screen Actors Guild on Monday called on the film academy to stop trying to prevent stars from appearing on award shows before the Oscars. In an unusually critical statement, SAG-AFTRA said it has received multiple reports that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is pressuring certain actors to appear only at next month's Academy Awards. Several award shows occur before that, including the guild's own Screen Actors Guild Awards on January 27. 'This self-serving intimidation of SAG-AFTRA members is meant to limit their opportunities to be seen and honor the work of their fellow artists throughout the season. Actors should be free to accept any offer to participate in industry celebrations,' SAG-AFTRA said in a statement. 'The apparent attempt by the academy to keep our members from presenting on their own awards show is utterly outrageous and unacceptable. We call on the academy to cease this inappropriate action,' it concluded. Messages left with the academy were not immediately returned Monday." (01/14/19)


-----

20) SpaceX launches ten more Iridium communications satellites
Source: Gadgets 360 [India]

"A SpaceX rocket delivered 10 satellites to low-Earth orbit on Friday, completing a two-year campaign by Iridium Communications to replace its original fleet with a new generation of mobile communication technology and added global aircraft tracking capability. The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 7:31am and arced over the Pacific west of Los Angeles. The previously used first stage was recovered again with a bullseye landing on a 'droneship' in the ocean while the upper stage continued on to orbit." (01/14/19)


_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____

21) Patreon is not waging war on free speech
Source: Cato Institute
by Matthew Feeney

"University of Toronto psychology professor Jordan Peterson and political commentator Dave Rubin recently announced that they would follow the example of neuroscientist and atheist author Sam Harris and close their Patreon accounts. The announcement came shortly after the fundraising platform removed Carl Benjamin -- who goes by the moniker Sargon of Akkad -- for hate speech. The news is the latest battle in the online 'censorship' war, with those alleging bias among online giants such as Google, Twitter and Facebook taking steps to try to reform platforms or establish platforms of their own. But those who value free speech and markets should defend Patreon's right to boot off Benjamin, and welcome Peterson and Rubin's call for a Patreon competitor. They should also be sceptical of accusations of censorship and bad analogies." (01/14/19)


-----

22) The FBI's investigation of Trump as a "national security threat" is itself a serious danger. But J. Edgar Hoover pioneered the tactic
Source: The Intercept
by Glenn Greenwald

"The lack of any evidence of guilt has never dampered the excitement over Trump/Russia innuendo, and it certainly did not do so here. Beyond being construed as some sort of vindication for the most deranged version of Manchurian Candidate fantasies -- because, after all, the FBI would never investigate anyone unless they were guilty -- the FBI's investigation of the President as a national security threat was also treated as some sort of unprecedented event in U.S. history. ... The FBI's counterintelligence investigation of Trump is far from the first time that the FBI has monitored, surveilled and investigated U.S. elected officials who the agency had decided harbored suspect loyalties and were harming national security. The FBI specialized in such conduct for decades under J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the agency for 48 years and whose name the agency's Washington headquarters continues to feature in its name." (01/14/19)


-----

23) Trump, Hitler, and the Enabling Act
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

"The terrorists had just fire-bombed the German Parliament building. Even worse, it turned out that the terrorists were communists. German leader Adolf Hitler sought emergency powers to deal with the crisis. After heated debate within the German Reichstag, the German legislators gave Hitler the emergency powers that he was seeking. The legislators made it clear, however, that the grant of these extraordinary powers was only temporary. Hitler dutifully returned to the Reichstag until the day he died to secure a periodic renewal of what became known as the Enabling Act. President Trump is now threatening to declare an immigration emergency, which, he says, will give him the omnipotent authority to build his wall on the U.S.-Mexico border without congressional authority. That would, needless to say, constitute classic dictatorial conduct." (01/14/19)


-----

24) Praetorian Guards from Ancient Greece to Palm Beach or the Hamptons
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux

"An extraordinary story -- extraordinary from many angles -- in the January 8 issue of the Washington Post (Roxanne Roberts, 'Palm Beach Used to Be a Nice Town for Billionaires. Then Trump Came Along') explains how President Trump disrupts the residents of the whole island when he comes to his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach FL with his heavy security detail. He is not the only contemporary head of state to have a humongous security apparatus, even if his may be the most obtrusive, at least in more or less liberal countries. And the Secret Service is probably not worse under Trump than under other recent presidents. It is interesting to compare this situation with that of tyrants in ancient Greece." (01/14/19)


-----

25) Introducing the Libertarian Census and the Plan
Source: Downsize DC
by Perry Willis & Jim Babka

"The Libertarian Census will start by locating the 30 million Americans who already self-identify as libertarian. We think this first step is as simple as asking people 'Are you a libertarian?' We will do this first with internet advertising, then phone calls, then door-to-door canvassing. The Libertarian Census will continue by finding the additional 30 million Americans who hold mostly libertarian positions on the issues. We will, at every step of the way, use The Plan to activate some of these people to do libertarian work." (01/14/19)


-----

26) "Orange Man bad" is not a legal theory
Source: Investor's Business Daily
by Dan Backer

"If you're confused about the Mueller investigation or the Stormy Daniels 'scandal,' or the latest legal hand-wringing over President Trump's alleged campaign finance violations, I don't blame you. Bombarded by a left-leaning mainstream media determined to throw President Trump in jail for something (anything) the American people are desperate for the facts, not more Trump-hating fiction. This week, the hubbub is about the Russian lawyer at the Trump Tower meeting, who was charged with obstruction of justice in a case totally unrelated to the Trump campaign. Next week, it will be something else of minor consequence. The most common liberal talking point, though, is that the Trump campaign violated federal campaign finance laws in 2016. I'm a campaign finance lawyer in Washington, D.C., and I'm here to tell you: President Trump did not break campaign finance law. But, but, Stormy Daniels? Nope." (01/14/19)


-----

27) Why some crypto companies consider KYC and AML compliance unnecessary
Source: Bitcoin.com
by Tanzeel Akhtar

"When it comes to cryptocurrency regulation, there is a lack of consensus on how to protect investors. Criminal activity such as fraud, hacks and theft is prevalent, not only in the crypto realm, but in the traditional financial world too. Some exchanges have deemed know your customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) compliance as unnecessary, however, claiming it infringes on the user's right to privacy." (01/14/19)


-----

28) Bureaucratic fights in Washington sow chaos in Syria
Source: Reason
by Matthew Petti

"Trump decided to pull U.S. troops out of Syria. But no one knows when or how it's happening and Congress is nowhere to be found." (01/14/19)


-----

29) What's the difference between Steve King and Donald Trump?
Source: The Atlantic
by Adam Serwer

"In 2014, as Trump was mulling a run for president, he made an appearance in Iowa with King, calling him 'special guy, a smart person, with really the right views on almost everything,' and noting that their views on the issues were so similar that 'we don't even have to compare notes.' Little has changed. The president has defended white nationalists; sought to exploit the census to dilute the political power of minority voters, described immigration as an infestation, warning that it was 'changing the culture of Europe;' derided black and Latino immigrants as coming from 'shithole countries,' while expressing a preference for immigrants from places like 'Norway;' and generally portrayed non-white immigrants as little more than rapists, drug dealers, and murderers at every opportunity. Unlike King however, the president has the authority, by himself, to make his views into policy." (01/14/19)


-----

30) Mr. Trump, Elizabeth Warren & Dems want to steal your winning message; don't let them
Source: Fox News Forum
by Steve Hilton

"President Trump ran in 2016 as a populist, not a conservative – and that's why he won. Populism is popular. At its best, it's also positive, and that's what we argue for on this show. Positive populism -- pro-worker, pro-family, pro-community. Those were the themes of my book, 'Positive Populism.' But President Trump needs to be careful. Some leading Democrats are trying to steal his winning populist message. Look at Elizabeth Warren. Yes, it's easy to knock her on her dubious claim of Native American ancestry. But if you listen closely, she's basically running on the Trump message from 2016. The populist bedrock of that platform was to make government deliver for working Americans, not the big donors and the big corporations. The focus was the middle class and working families -- and now that's Elizabeth Warren's focus, too. But the echoes go beyond the big picture. Look at what Warren said about Washington's corruption when she spoke in Iowa last week." (01/14/19)


-----

31) Campaign finance reform helps special interests
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul

"One of the new Democratic House majority's top priorities is so-called campaign finance reform legislation. Contrary to the claims of its supporters, campaign finance reform legislation does not limit the influence of powerful special interests. Instead, it violates the First Amendment and burdens those seeking real change in government." (01/14/19)


-----

32) Parliament has turned against the people
Source: spiked
by Brendan O'Neill

"If you are more alarmed by what has happened outside the Houses of Parliament in recent days than what has happened inside them, then you need to have a serious word with yourself. Forget the seven or eight crude-mouthed blokes outside parliament who have been shouting silly insults at Tory MP Anna Soubry, Guardian columnist Owen Jones and various Sky reporters. Those imbeciles pose precisely zero threat to freedom and democracy in the UK. It's the people inside parliament you should be worried about. It is these well-educated, politely spoken political operators who threaten to devastate centuries of democratic tradition through their wilful agitation against the largest democratic vote in our history: the vote for Brexit." (01/14/19)


-----

33) Assessing Angela Merkel's legacy
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Antony P Mueller

"Angela Merkel's chancellorship is ending. It is time for an evaluation. She has ruled Germany since 2005. After the election in September 2017 she began her fourth term, yet in October 2018, she abdicated as the chairman of her political party, the CDU (Christian Democratic Union). She indicated that she may resign also from the chancellorship and make room for a successor. Meanwhile, Merkel has received very benevolent treatment from the media, as she is the first female chancellor of Germany, and has earned additional sympathy because she grew up in the Eastern part of the country when it was under Soviet rule and a socialist economy. But her legacy is mixed. On the surface, her achievements seem impressive. Yet a closer look behind at the performance of the German economy reveals that she excelled at the art of deception." (01/14/19)


-----

34) Here's why LA teachers are walking out in a historic strike
Source: In These Times
by Julianne Tveten

"After nearly two years of bargaining, public-school teachers in Los Angeles have initiated a strike in protest of their district's policies. Starting today, teachers are picketing outside of their workplaces, underscoring an inveterate lack of investment in public schools made worse by a pro-charter-school 'austerity agenda.' From April of 2017 to January of this year, United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) (which represents more than 35,000 teachers, nurses, librarians and counselors in Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)) had been in negotiations with the district, and eventually reached an impasse. The union's proposals address grievances including preferential funding for charter schools, and such related problems as inflated class size, inadequate support for special and bilingual education, and excessive standardized testing. The strike is the culmination of a protracted battle against the de facto privatization brought on by the growth of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated -- that is, independent of local school board regulations." (01/14/19)


-----

35) Why are the media so eager to declare Trump's Syria withdrawal dead?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Gareth Porter

"Virtually from the moment Donald Trump announced that he would be removing U.S. troops from Syria, corporate media have converged around a narrative that the president has been forced to walk back his decision. But while a withdrawal will undoubtedly prove more challenging than the president originally anticipated, this verdict simply does not reflect the facts on the ground." (01/14/19)


-----

36) The wasteful priorities of bureaucrats
Source: Independent Institute
by Craig Eyermann

"We can learn a lot about the priorities of bureaucrats by what they choose to prioritize when they are forced to make choices in spending taxpayer dollars. For example, the U.S. State Department is one of several agencies whose operations are being cut back as part of the partial shutdown of the federal government. Unfortunately, as the deadline to the partial government shutdown neared in December 2018, the State Department's bureaucrats rushed to spend taxpayer dollars in a really strange way: to fund a film festival screening of a number of American-made LGBT movies in Mumbai, India six months later." (01/14/19)


-----

37) The Claas Relotius scandal, CNN, and the importance of skepticism in news reading
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Bill Wirtz

"The Spiegel Claas Relotius case is more than just CNN or a left-wing magazine in Germany caught up in fake news. It's about how we read a story in the first place. ... The solution isn't ideal: Read your news like it could be fake. I'm saying 'your' news for a reason. It's easy to turn detective on a story from an outlet you deemed dishonest in the first place, but it takes more courage and integrity to take your favorite writer with a grain of salt." (01/14/19)


-----

38) Privileging the privileged: Harvard's real problem
Source: The American Prospect
by Jerome Karabel

"The ongoing lawsuit, Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, has cast a spotlight on admissions at Harvard and elite private colleges more broadly, illuminating in unprecedented detail practices typically carried out behind closed doors. The revelations unearthed by the case about how such institutions decide who will win their coveted offers of admission raise issues that go far beyond the much-discussed matter of affirmative action and point to the need for fundamental change. Despite the widely held belief that elite colleges look only at grades and test scores, ranking people on that basis, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, as far back as 1952, Harvard set an effective quota of 10 percent of the freshman class for what it called 'top brains' -- exceptionally brilliant applicants whose main strength was academic; too many such students, Harvard's Dean of Admissions warned in an internal document, could 'damage the overall quality of the student body.' Harvard and its peer institutions simply do not want to limit their student bodies to the next generation of rocket scientists, professors, or assorted intellectuals." (01/14/19)


-----

39) War lust flags
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

"A new poll shows that a narrow majority of Americans would support the President were he to pull troops out of Afghanistan. Less than a quarter of those polled said they would oppose it. ... However you slice the public opinion data, the wars in the Mid-East are not gaining in popularity. A plurality of Americans polled want out of Syria, too -- no matter 'whether the conflict was framed around the Syrian civil war or to counter-ISIS.'" (01/14/19)


-----

40) A strange argument for the commonplace
Source: Cato Unbound
by Agnes Callard

"Arguments tend to begin from plausible premises and end in novel or counter-intuitive conclusions. They leverage what is palatable to force feed you what you find harder to swallow. Tyler Cowen's Stubborn Attachments may be the first work of philosophy to travel the opposite road: it moves from the radically counter-intuitive to the status quo. Cowen's starting point could be described as utilitarianism run rampant -- by which I mean, utilitarianism unconstrained by temporal discounting. Utilitarianism is the moral theory that instructs us to evaluate a proposed course of action in terms of the sum of its consequences for human welfare. Temporal discounting says that the farther away something is in the future, the less important it is. Rejecting temporal discounting means giving full voting rights to future people -- the impact of your action on people alive now is no more significant than its impact on the next generation, or the one after that. The utilitarian slogan is, 'the greatest good for the greatest number,' and on Cowen's understanding, that number is large indeed: it includes everyone who will ever live." (01/14/19)


-----

41) Bolton's eagerness to attack Iran
Source: The American Conservative
by Daniel Larison

"Bolton and like-minded Iran hawks have had a cavalier attitude about attacking Iran for years, so it should come as no surprise that Bolton has brought that same aggressive recklessness into government now that he is National Security Advisor. This episode shows how determined Bolton and his allies have been to turn any incident into a pretext for a larger conflict with Iran. It also shows how willing Bolton is to endorse military action regardless of the situation." (01/14/19)


-----

42) Five dealbreakers for confirming Trump's next Attorney General
Source: The New Republic
by Matt Ford

"Bill Barr is no stranger to the Senate confirmation process. President Donald Trump's nominee to be the next attorney general already went through it twice before, first to serve as deputy attorney general in 1990 and then to become attorney general from 1991 to 1993. That experience, as well as the Republican majority in the chamber, will make it somewhat easier when he faces two days of intense questioning by the Senate Judiciary Committee beginning on Tuesday. If confirmed, Barr would take command of the Justice Department at a grim moment in modern American history. He would lead an immigration system defined by its cruelty and malice under his predecessor Jeff Sessions. He would report to a president who cares little for the rule of law or the Justice Department's traditional independence. Most crucially, he would oversee special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian meddling in the American democratic process." (01/14/19)


-----

43) Philadelphia's soda pop tax -- as Marie Antoinette would say, it's the perfect tax, just super!
Source: Continental Telegraph
by Tim Worstall

"Philadelphia has tried out that soda pop tax for us all and we can see how it's going, The result is that it's just the perfect form of taxation. The richer among us avoid it entirely, the poor end up paying it all and as no one is changing their soda pop consumption it raises lots of money. As Marie Antoinette would point out to us this makes it just the perfect form of taxation, doesn't it? For that was, before the unpleasantness, how the taxation system worked in the France of her day, the poor paid it all and the rich were exempt. Not that this had anything to do with the arrival of the unpleasantness, dearie me oh no." (01/14/19)


-----

44) Natural rights: The cornerstone of the Constitution
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Jim Lewis

"The cornerstone of the U. S. Constitution depends on the proper understanding of Natural Rights belonging to every human being. The U.S. government is the first and only one in history to be founded on Natural Law. Even though nothing is mentioned in the Constitution about Natural Law, the document sometimes referred to as the 'spirit' of the Constitution does." (01/13/19)


-----

45) Why a Republican won't beat Trump in 2020
Source: Reuters
by Lincoln Mitchell

"Two days before being sworn in to the U.S. Senate, Mitt Romney wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post outlining his concerns about President Donald Trump 'not rising to the mantle of the office.' Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012, did not exactly break new ground. His column mostly rehashed concerns that many Republicans have long held about Trump's temperament and international relationships while stopping short of an active commitment to addressing the many problems Romney sees in the Trump administration. The op-ed also includes the kind of language that was standard from pre-Trump presidential candidates: 'I remain optimistic about our future. In an innovation age, Americans excel. More importantly, noble instincts live in the hearts of Americans.' Romney has since said that he won't run against Trump, but that he won't necessarily support him either. It is difficult to read Romney's column and not think that he won't at least be part of any conversation about which Republican might be able to take on Trump for the Republican nomination." (01/14/19)


-----

46) With Wilson in the wilderness
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal

"Most people find me a frustrating person to hike with -- one former wife said I don't hike, I wander aimlessly from spot to spot. But Wilson seemed OK with it." (01/14/19)


-----

47) Five reasons I'm excited about Tulsi Gabbard's candidacy
Source: Caitlin Johnstone Blog
by Caitlin Johnstone

"Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard has announced her intent to campaign for President of the United States, and the entire political spectrum is shitting bricks about it. Mainstream liberals and neocons are calling her a Putin puppet and Assad's BFF, leftists and progressives are criticizing her associations with right-wing factions in India and anti-LGBT comments she made in the early 2000s, conspiracy analysts are criticizing her Council on Foreign Relations membership, and the Zionist elements of Trump's base are openly promising to destroy her candidacy. A lot of others, myself included, got a lot more interested in the 2020 elections when she threw her hat in. I'm not interested in defending Gabbard from the criticisms that have been leveled at her at this time; many articles have been written toward that end already, and if she's going to run for the most powerful elected office on the planet it's fair to scrutinize and question what kind of person she is. I'm also not interested in endorsing anyone for the presidency." (01/14/19)


-----

48) Declining birth rates: Is the US in danger of running out of people?
Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker

"The pieces noting the prospect of a declining population usually treat it as self-evident that this is a bad development. It isn't. The prospect of fewer traffic jams and less crowded parks and beaches does not sound especially scary. There are some who see a declining population as a threat to the United States status as a world power. It's not clear that this is especially true. Indonesia ranks 4th in world population with 270 million people, more than four times the population of the United Kingdom, but Indonesia does not usually get listed among the world's most powerful countries. More importantly, many of us don't necessarily like everything the United States does as a world power, so doing somewhat less of it may not be a bad thing." (01/14/19)


-----

49) Republican Party is mired in the 1950s
Source: USA Today
by John R Kasich

"It's a new year and almost two decades into a new century, yet so much about American life and our political leadership (notably in my own Republican Party) seems stuck in the 1950s. While nearly every aspect of the world around us has been changing, sometimes with breakneck speed, and while the complexion and complexities of our demographics have shifted so dramatically, those who fancy themselves as leaders are plodding far behind the march of time. Sadly, too many Americans are content to plod along with them. Perhaps they think denial is protection from the change that swirls around them. No doubt they're threatened by the new diversity of voices that have joined the public chorus, by the long-ignored problems that a new generation wants to solve, by an unsettled world that no longer follows America's lead. But they've learned absolutely nothing from their skunking in the midterm elections." (01/14/19)


-----

50) Quantum Vibe, 01/14/19
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser & Gus Mendes

Cartoon. (01/14/19)


-----

51) Father of protectionism: The baneful but lasting influence of Friedrich List
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Jeffrey A Tucker

"Among the anti-liberals of the 19th century, Friedrich List (1789-1846) stands out for his specialization on the theory and practice of trade. He was not an academic, but was and remains one of the most influential figures on the topic. His main book was The National System of Political Economy (1840). For generations, it was the most cited work by a German economist besides Karl Marx. His thesis was that wealth should not be the goal of the nation. The goal of a nation should be power itself, with wealth as a secondary consequence of that. His targets were the writings of Adam Smith and J.B. Say, the leading theorists of free trade. His criticism was that the old liberal thinkers were wrong to think of economics as individuals trading on a world stage. Rather, good economics must put the nation's power first and the interest of individuals much lower." (01/13/19)


-----

52) The PC commissars vs. Bryan Cranston
Source: Town Hall
by Jeff Jacoby

"A memorable TV commercial for Vicks cough syrup in the 1980s opened with soap-opera actor Peter Bergman, known to millions of 'All My Children' fans as Dr. Cliff Warner, telling viewers: 'I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV.' Bryan Cranston isn't a quadriplegic, but he plays one in a new movie, and that seems to have put a bunch of people's noses out of joint. Cranston, who stars in 'The Upside,' has been taking flak for accepting the role of Phillip Lacasse, a billionaire left paralyzed after a paragliding accident. Cranston's detractors are offended that an actor who isn't really disabled would have the effrontery to portray one on the screen, instead of declining the job so the part could be played by an actor who actually is paralyzed. An irrational objection? Vice Media doesn't think so. On its website Thursday it blasted the actor in a piece headlined 'Bryan Cranston Advocated for Disabled Actors While Taking a Role from One.'" (01/13/19)


-----

53) Latest weapons industry advocacy bill introduced in Senate
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton

"The delightful and compassionate senior Senator for California led a cabal of dozens of Democratic senators in introducing this important bill in the US Senate this week. According to a press release by the revered Conscript Mother, the bill is misnamed as 'The Assault Weapons Ban of 2019.' I think that the more appropriate name would be the 'Weaponsmakers Promotional Act of 2019.' Why? Because it will undoubtedly set off a mad rash of people going out and buying anything and everything that is included in the bill as being banned." (01/13/19)


-----

54) Canons of libertarianism
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance

"The grandfather, godfather, and icon of conservatism, Russell Kirk (1918–1994), although he wrote lengthy philosophical treatises on 'the six canons of conservative thought' and 'ten conservative principles,' has largely been forgotten and is rarely invoked by mainstream conservatives today. ... Although Kirk wasn't too sure exactly what conservatism was, he was certain of 'the inadequacies and extravagances of the various libertarian factions,' that libertarians should be 'rejected because they are metaphysically mad,' and that libertarianism's 'failings' are 'many and grave.'" (01/14/19)


-----

55) The ECB's quantitative easing was a failure -- here is what it actually did
Source: Cobden Centre
by Daniel Lacalle

"The main reason why the ECB quantitative easing program has failed is that it started from a wrong diagnosis of the eurozone's problem. That the European problem was a demand and liquidity issue, not due to years of excess. The ECB had been receiving tremendous pressure from banks and governments to implement a similar program to the US' quantitative easing, forgetting that the eurozone had been under a chain of government stimuli since 2009 and that the problem of the euro-zone was not liquidity, but an interventionist model." (01/14/19)


_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____

56) Reason Podcast, 01/14/19
Source: Reason

"Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, Peter Suderman, and [Matt Welch] truly talk about national emergencies, prohibition metaphors, opportunistic defenders of 'freedom,' and whether Paul Krugman was right when he called the shutdown a 'big, beautiful libertarian experiment.' Also up for discussion are the negative reactions to Democratic presidential contender Tulsi Gabbard, the hawkish anti-Trumpery of the D.C. foreign policy/intelligence consensus, and the modern capitalistic miracle of eyewear." [various formats] (01/14/19)


-----

57) CQ Budget Podcast, episode 94
Source: Roll Call

"As the longest shutdown in modern history enters its fourth week, CQ's fiscal policy reporter Doug Sword assesses the options for ending the spending impasse. But none appear promising, as President Donald Trump has rejected the latest proposals." [various formats] (01/14/19)


-----

58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 01/14/19
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report

"While touring the Middle East, including election-free Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for the Venezuelan opposition and armed forces to overthrow the current government under its president Nicolas Maduro. According to Pompeo, a coup is necessary to 'restore democracy' after elections failed to produce the desired US outcome." [Flash video] (01/14/19)


-----

59) The Bob Zadek Show, 01/14/19
Source: The Bob Zadek Show

"Erwan LeCorre on Free Movement in Nature." [Flash audio] (01/14/19)


-----

60) Scott Adams Says, 01/14/19
Source: Scott Adams Says

"Scott Adams talks about Russia, De Blaisio, Gabbard, Jeff Bozo, FBI, and coffee." [Flash video] (01/14/19)


-----

61) One Free Family, episode 45
Source: Pax Libertas Productions

"Taylor and James were honored to be guests on Touring Families with Dave Stelmacki. As a parent of one young son, Dave asked lots of questions about raising autonomous kids. If you're considering finding ways for your kids to be more autonomous, this conversation will give you some concrete ideas. And if you're skeptical, Dave asks great questions about some of the tougher topics!" [Flash audio] (01/14/19)


-----

62) Constitutionally Speaking, episode 41
Source: National Review

"In this final episode from their Bill of Rights series, Jay and Luke read the Ninth Amendment and Tenth Amendments together, trace the political fight between Federalists and Antifederalists underlying these amendments, and show how they frame the relationship between the people, the states, and the federal government." [various formats] (01/14/19)


-----

63) Free Man Beyond the Wall, episode 207
Source: Free Man Beyond the Wall

"My predictions for 2019 ... kinda sorta." [various formats] (01/14/19)


-----

64) The Last Nighters, episode 54
Source: The Launch Pad Media

"Time is a construct. Mirrors let you move through time. The government monitors people, they pay people to pretend to be your relatives and they put drugs in your food and they film you. There's messages in every game. Like Pac-Man. Do you know what the PAC stands for? P-A-C: Program and Control." [Flash audio or MP3] (01/14/19)


-----

65) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 383
Source: Lions of Liberty

"In this week's flagship Lions of Liberty podcast, Marc is joined by Ryan McMaken of the Mises Institute to discuss his recent article 'Government Shutdown Shows Why We Need to Decentralize National Parks.'" [various formats] (01/14/19)


-----

66) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 297
Source: Foreign Policy Focus

"On FPF #297, I review the new movie Vice. Vice is the story of warmonger Dick Chaney. The movie captures any of the most evil acts of Chaney. I expand on some of the stories that only were given brief attention. I also give my take on Tulsi Gabbard's 2020 presidential run." [various formats] (01/14/19)


-----

67) Free Talk Live, 01/13/19
Source: Free Talk Live

"CA assemblyman arrested over spanking child :: Bitcoin and kidnapping :: CPS says photo with sleeping child is inappropriate :: What about the roads? :: Different styles of parenting :: Drunk drivers :: LTE about spanking :: Banks & untraceable currency :: Parenting :: Caller asks if Police should be able to enforce laws anywhere :: Youth Rights :: Becoming an adult :: HOSTS -- Mark, Darryl, Laurel." [Flash audio or MP3] (01/13/19)


-----

68) The Anarchist Experience, episode 198
Source: The Anarchist Experience

"MC's back. What to do with your government shutdown and what we'd complain about then, how to increase your wealth consciousness even as an Anarchist, what constitutes a 'swear wold,' and a quick warning for crypto-traders." [various formats] (01/13/19)


----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:

Support the Liberty International (tax deductible)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages