04/09 -- UK: May heads to Europe to beg for Brexit delay; Will a free press cheer on government censorship of the Internet?

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Thomas L. Knapp

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Apr 9, 2019, 5:50:49 AM4/9/19
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 04/09/19
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Presented by the Liberty International

Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
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Today's Freedom News:

1)  UK: May heads to Europe to beg for Brexit delay
2)  US regime labels Iran's Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organization"
3)  Canada: Trudeau threatens libel suit over SNC-Lavalin crisis, opposition says 
4)  Turkey's Erdogan defends demand for full recount in Istanbul
5)  EU: Nationalist parties plan to join forces after May elections
6)  "Spaceplane" that could fly from NYC to London in one hour makes breakthrough
7)  Canada: Regime may impose social media censorship "to avoid election meddling"
8)  LA: Fires destroy three black churches in 10 days
9)  Dubai: Mother faces two years in prison for calling ex's new wife a "horse" on Facebook
10) Booker introduces Senate bill on slavery reparations
11) India: BJP releases manifesto before elections
12) PM Morrison: Vegan protests "un-Australian"
13) GA: Pregnant mother reportedly faces jail time because idiot cop doesn't understand that when a 3-year-old needs to pee, he needs to pee
14) Philippines: Russian warships arrive amid rising South China Sea tensions
15) NY: TV actress pleads guilty in group's sex-trafficking case
16) Saudis threaten "nuclear option" to kill petrodollar
17) Report: Trump ousts Alles as Secret Service Director
18) Bezos hires former SpaceX employees to lead Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite Internet
19) Sanders admits he's a rightist/nationalist on immigration
20) Pakistan: Foreign Minister claims India planning military aggression

Today's Freedom Commentary:

21) Will a free press cheer on government censorship of the Internet?
22) ObamaCare's unhappy anniversary
23) From courtesy, to discretion ... to heightened police power
24) Facebook seeks to leverage its own failings to get Congress to cement Facebook's monopoly position
25) Let patients shop
26) One truthful Democrat emerges to call out party's "delusions"
27) Henry Hazlitt in the long term
28) School vouchers proponents love socialism too
29) Netanyahu's far-right partners were birthed by US terrorists
30) The Democratic field is a rainbow of sameness
31) Brexit: Deal or no deal
32) Capitalism (aka self-ownership) is the only moral economic system
33) A better way to unclog NYC streets: Repeal the Jones Act
34) The path to liberating humanity is the path to liberating the individual
35) Poverty under democratic socialism, part 1: The French case
36) We need to talk about age-of-consent law
37) Iran hawks and "normal" countries
38) Trump's border "solutions" just get dumb and dumber
39) Do you have a right to repair? Yes and no
40) We did know what we were voting for and the next step is No Deal
41) Now that the US is the world's top oil producer, we don't need NOPEC
42) Trump and the global rise of the Christian right
43) What you need to know about Brexit
44) Long gone rogue
45) The age of realignment
46) Quantum Vibe, 04/08/19
47) Blood money: Indonesian wage theft & the massacre premium
48) The pivotal influence of Machiavelli on Isaiah Berlin's value-pluralism
49) Abolish the welfare state to solve the national debt crisis
50) How America's gun culture cultivates civic virtue

Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:

51) Reason Podcast, 04/08/19
52) The Joe Rogan Experience, episode 1279
53) The Bob Zadek Show, 04/07/18
54) US charges against Facebook threaten social media economic video
55) CQ Budget Podcast, episode 106
56) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/08/19
57) Cato Daily Podcast, 04/08/19
58) Scott Adams Says, 04/08/19
59) The Bookmonger, episode 241
60) One Free Family, episode 51
61) The Last Nighters, episode 66
62) Free Man Beyond the Wall, episode 243
63) Lions of Liberty Podcast, 04/08/19
64) Free Talk Live, 04/07/19
65) Lyceum Debate #9: Classical (Left) Anarchism vs Pan Anarchism

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EUPOCALYPSE TRILOGY: ANARCHIST APOCALYPTIC SCI-FI
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by Mary Ruwart, PhD

TIPPING POINT: A NOVEL BY FRANK CLARKE

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

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_____ Today's Freedom News _____

1)  UK: May heads to Europe to beg for Brexit delay
Source: Metro [UK]

"Theresa May is heading for top-level talks in Berlin and Paris as she seeks European support to stop [the UK from] crashing out of the EU on Friday. The prime minister will meet German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Emmanuel Macron ahead of a crunch EU summit on Wednesday. All 27 remaining EU heads of government must agree to an extension if the UK is to avoid the default position of a no-deal Brexit at 11pm on Friday night." (04/09/19)


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2)  US regime labels Iran's Revolutionary Guard a "foreign terrorist organization"
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]

"The Trump administration is designating Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization, taking an unprecedented step as it seems to increase pressure on Iran's regime. The move seems certain to bring a new level of tension between the two countries, as Iran's leaders have said they will retaliate in kind. Iranian lawmakers have prepared legislation that would label the U.S. military as a terrorist group, according to Iran's state-run IRNA news agency. President Trump announced the designation Monday morning, in a shift from the decades in which the U.S. has viewed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism." [editor's note: As the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, the US regime certainly has enough expertise in the area for its claim to be credible – TLK] (04/08/19)


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3)  Canada: Trudeau threatens libel suit over SNC-Lavalin crisis, opposition says
Source: Channel News Asia [Singapore]

"The leader of Canada's opposition Conservative Party said on Sunday (Apr 7) that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau threatened to sue him for libel over statements made about a scandal that has dogged Trudeau and his ruling Liberal Party for two months. The Liberals have been in turmoil since former Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said in February she had been inappropriately pressured to ensure that construction company SNC-Lavalin Group Inc escape a corruption trial. ... On Sunday, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer released a letter he said he received a week ago from a lawyer representing Trudeau. It referred to statements made by the opposition leader on Facebook on Mar 29, which the letter called 'beyond the pale of fair debate' and 'libellous.' The letter is to be 'treated as a notice' and will be referred to 'in any subsequent action,' it said." (04/08/19)

https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/world/canada-s-trudeau-threatens-libel-suit-over-snc-lavalin-crisis–opposition-says-11421856

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4)  Turkey's Erdogan defends demand for full recount in Istanbul
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday defended his party's demand for a full recount in the Istanbul mayoral race, claiming irregularities marred 'almost all' of the voting. Erdogan suffered a major setback in the country's March 31 local elections. Opposition candidates won in Turkey's capital, Ankara, and squeezed out the president's party in Istanbul, where Erdogan served as mayor during the 25 years his Justice and Development Party and its Islamist predecessor governed the city. A partial recount -- mostly of ballot papers that were previously deemed invalid -- is taking place in several Istanbul districts. Erdogan's party now is demanding a review of all ballots. 'The citizens are saying, "Protect our rights. We are seeing that organized crimes have taken place,"' Erdogan told reporters before he left on a trip to Moscow. 'As a political party, we have determined that certain organized acts were carried out.' The partial recount narrowed the lead of the opposition candidate in Istanbul. Ekrem Imamoglu originally was ahead by 25,000 votes, and the margin was down to 15,000 votes by Monday, after more than 90% of the invalidated ballots had been recounted." (04/08/19)


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5)  EU: Nationalist parties plan to join forces after May elections
Source: Reuters

"Nationalist anti-immigration parties plan to join forces following next month's European Union parliamentary election, looking to create a new bloc to shake up the EU, officials from four groups said on Monday. The move shows growing confidence amongst far-right and sovereignist parties that for the first time since the EU was formed 60 years ago they can win enough seats in parliament to have a major say in how the continent is run. ... Europe's myriad sovereignist parties share the broad goals of returning power to EU member states and further curbing immigration, but they often have very different economic and social policies, making it hard to create a coherent group within the EU parliament." (04/08/19)


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6)  "Spaceplane" that could fly from NYC to London in one hour makes breakthrough
Source: New York Post

"A 'spaceplane' that flies 25 times faster than the speed of sound has passed a testing milestone. The hypersonic plane is so fast, it could jet from London to New York in less than 60 minutes and transport you from the UK to Australia in four hours. Oxford-based Reaction Engines has been working with the European Space Agency and the UK Space Agency, along with BAE Systems, to make the powerful aircraft. Reaction Engines has recently been testing a 'pre-cooler' for the plane, which is technology that would allow it to travel faster than ever before. The pre-cooler is critical in the plane's development because it's required to stop the engine from melting by lowering the temperature of compressed air in the engine from more than 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 degrees Fahrenheit) to room temperature in one-twentieth of a second." (04/08/19)


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7)  Canada: Regime may impose social media censorship "to avoid election meddling"
Source: The Guardian [UK]

"The world's major social media companies are not doing enough to help Canada combat potential foreign meddling in this October's elections and the government might have to regulate them, the cabinet minister in charge of ensuring a fair vote has said. The democratic institutions minister, Karina Gould, spoke shortly after Canada's electronic signals spy agency said it was very likely that foreign actors will try to meddle in the election. Gould expects Facebook, Twitter and Alphabet's Google to help safeguard the vote by promoting transparency, authenticity and integrity on their platforms, and said she has been disappointed by the slowness of talks with the companies. Asked whether Ottawa could regulate the companies, Gould said Canada would 'need to look at other mechanisms' if it did not see enough progress, and noted that Britain proposed a social media regulator on Monday." (04/08/19)


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8)  LA: Fires destroy three black churches in 10 days
Source: BBC News [UK state media]

"Investigators suspect three fires at black churches in southern Louisiana over just 10 days are 'related.' Federal authorities have joined the inquiry into the fires, which occurred on 26 March, 2 April and 4 April in the St Landry Parish. Officials have not yet determined the cause of the blazes, which did not result in deaths or injuries. But the fires have dredged up painful memories of how black churches were razed back in the US civil rights era. 'Right now, what we have to say is that the fires are suspicious,' said Louisiana State Fire Marshal Butch Browning, reports NBC. 'We do believe that crimes have occurred. We believe that the three fires obviously are not coincidental, they are related.' The fires engulfed St Mary Baptist Church, the Greater Union Baptist Church and the Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, all in the same rural community 30 minutes north of Lafayette." (04/08/19)


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9)  Dubai: Mother faces two years in prison for calling ex's new wife a "horse" on Facebook
Source: Newsweek

"A British woman is facing a two-year prison sentence in Dubai having allegedly wished death on her ex-husband and said his new wife looked like a horse. Laleh Shahravesh, 55, was arrested at a Dubai airport after flying to the tiny emirate to attend her ex-husband's funeral, the BBC reported. The charges relate to two comments she posted under photos of her former husband on his Facebook account. Cybercrime laws in the United Arab Emirates -- of which Dubai is a constituent -- state that making defamatory comments can be punished with a fine or jail term. Even though the two comments were written and posted in the U.K., Shahravesh could still be punished with two years behind bars or a fine of around $65,000." (04/08/19)


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10) Booker introduces Senate bill on slavery reparations
Source: Fox News

"Sen. Cory Booker on Monday introduced a bill that would study the possibility of reparations for descendants of slaves, embracing a push that recently has caught the interest of fellow 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. The senator from New Jersey said Monday that 'this bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country. It will bring together the best minds to study the issue and propose solutions that will finally begin to right the economic scales of past harms and make sure we are a country where all dignity and humanity is affirmed.' The measure is a Senate companion to a bill introduced in the House of Representatives in January by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas, which if passed into law would set up a commission to study the impact of slavery and continued discrimination against black Americans and make recommendations on reparation proposals for the descendants of slaves. The legislation was first introduced 30 years ago by then-Rep. John Conyers of Michigan." (04/08/19)


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11) India: BJP releases manifesto before elections
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]

"India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made 75 promises, which include the contentious decision to scrap a decades-old law providing special rights to the residents of disputed Kashmir region, according to the party's election manifesto. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP has consistently advocated ending Kashmir's special constitutional status, which prevents non-residents from buying property in Indian-administered Kashmir, arguing that such laws have hindered its integration with the rest of the country. ... Amit Shah, the head of the Hindu nationalist party, along with other top leaders released the BJP manifesto for the upcoming elections that begin on Thursday. The BJP also promised to reserve 33 percent of seats in the Indian parliament and state assemblies for women, if it is voted back to power." (04/08/19)


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12) PM Morrison: Vegan protests "un-Australian"
Source: BBC News [UK state media]

"Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has criticised animal rights activists as 'shameful and un-Australian' after dozens were arrested in nationwide protests. On Monday, activists broke into abattoirs and chained themselves up to protest against the meat industry. More than 100 protesters also blocked one of Melbourne's main intersections, before many were forcibly removed. Mr Morrison said the activism was damaging to farmers' livelihoods. 'This is just another form of activism that I think runs against the national interest, and the national interest is [farmers] being able to farm their own land,' he told radio station 2GB." (04/08/19)


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13) GA: Pregnant mother reportedly faces jail time because idiot cop doesn't understand that when a 3-year-old needs to pee, he needs to pee
Source: Fox News

"A pregnant mom in Georgia -- who is expected to give birth later this month -- is now facing a court date for a disorderly conduct charge after she reportedly let her 3-year-old urinate in a gas station parking lot. Brooke Johns told FOX5 Atlanta she was driving around Augusta on Wednesday when her son alerted her he needed to make a pit stop. Johns says she pulled into a gas station parking lot and, after being unable to carry the child inside, let him urinate outside while covering him. That attracted the attention of a nearby police officer." (04/08/19)


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14) Philippines: Russian warships arrive amid rising South China Sea tensions
Source: CNN

"Two Russian destroyers and a tanker have docked in the Philippines for a 'goodwill visit' amid escalating tensions in the disputed South China Sea. The destroyers Admiral Tributs and Vinogradov -- classified as 'large, anti-submarine ships' -- docked in Manila early Monday, along with the Admiral Irkut, a 'large sea tanker,' according to the Philippine News Agency. It is the second time this year Russian vessels have docked in the Philippines. In early January, three Russian naval ships docked in the Philippine capital for what was described as a visit to 'further enhance and sustain the promotion of peace, stability and maritime cooperation.' The most recent arrival comes just months before the two countries are due to sign a naval cooperation agreement, likely in July, which will reportedly involve more joint training exercises and reciprocal port visits." (04/08/19)


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15) NY: TV actress pleads guilty in group's sex-trafficking case
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"With jury selection beginning at the federal case against a cult-like upstate New York group, TV actress Allison Mack pleaded guilty Monday to charges she manipulated women into becoming sex slaves for the group's spiritual leader. Mack, 36, wept as she admitted her crimes and apologized to the women who prosecutors say were exploited by Keith Raniere and the purported self-help group called NXIVM. 'I believed Keith Raniere's intentions were to help people ... and I was wrong,' Mack told a judge in federal court in Brooklyn as she pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. Mack is best known for her role as a young Superman's close friend on the series 'Smallville.'" (04/08/19)


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16) Saudis threaten "nuclear option" to kill petrodollar
Source: OilPrice.com

"Saudi Arabia threatened to use the 'nuclear option' of undermining the petro-dollar if the U.S. moves forward with the NOPEC bill. The U.S. Congress has been mulling legislation, known as the NOPEC bill, which would allow the Justice Department to take antitrust action against OPEC for manipulating the oil market. Specifically, the bill would remove sovereign immunity countries have from such action, allowing the U.S. government to sue. In theory, the law would prevent OPEC from coordinating production cuts. ... Saudi Arabia clearly views the threat as a serious one. Reuters reports that Saudi Arabia has threatened to sell its oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar if the bill becomes law." (04/07/19)


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17) Report: Trump ousts Alles as Secret Service Director
Source: US News & World Report

"President Donald Trump on Monday reportedly fired the head of the Secret Service. Trump instructed top officials to remove Secret Service Director Randolph 'Tex' Alles from his position, just under two years after Alles was appointed for the post near the start of the Trump administration in April 2017, according to CNN, which first reported the move. Alles'[s] reported ouster occurred less than a day after Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen abruptly announced her resignation, which came amid pressure and growing dissatisfaction from Trump and immigration hard-liners in the White House." (04/08/19)


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18) Bezos hires former SpaceX employees to lead Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite Internet
Source: International Business Times

"Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has hired the former boss of SpaceX's Starlink satellite division and other SpaceX execs to jump-start development of his own Kuiper satellite constellation. Bezos has announced the appointment of Rajeev Badyal, former vice president for satellites at SpaceX, to lead Amazon's Project Kuiper. He revealed the existence of Project Kuiper late last week and said this multi-billion dollar endeavor will ultimately deploy a satellite constellation with 3,236 satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The Kuiper constellation will provide high-speed broadband internet services to the unserved or underserved population of the world. The project will be run by an Amazon subsidiary named Kuiper Systems LLC, which Badyal now heads." (04/07/19)


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19) Sanders admits he's a rightist/nationalist on immigration
Source: The Hill

"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday shot back at those who suggest he supports open borders, saying high levels of global poverty would make an open borders policy complicated. When asked at an Oskaloosa, Iowa, town hall why he supported open borders, the 2020 White House candidate was quick to clarify his stance. 'I'm afraid you may be getting your information wrong,' Sanders replied, according to The Washington Post. 'I think what we need is comprehensive immigration reform.' 'Oh my god, there's a lot of poverty in this world, and you're going to have people from all over the world. And I don't think that's something that we can do at this point. Can't do it,' the Vermont lawmaker continued." (04/08/19)


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20) Pakistan: Foreign Minister claims India planning military aggression
Source: Yahoo! News

"Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Sunday claimed his government had reliable intelligence that India was planning to carry out aggression against Pakistan later this month. India responded by accusing Qureshi of inciting 'war hysteria.' Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbours nose-dived after a suicide bombing in Indian-administered Kashmir in February killed 40 Indian security personnel and was later claimed by a Pakistan-based militant group. Pakistan has denied any role in the attack and Prime Minister Imran Khan offered cooperation in the investigation if credible evidence was provided by India." (04/07/19)


_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____

21) Will a free press cheer on government censorship of the Internet?
Source: Reason
by Scott Shackford

"The United Kingdom appears to be following in the footsteps of the European Union and Australia in trying to punish online platforms that don't censor content the way government officials want them to. The British authorities are pondering a proposal to create an entirely new government agency to regulate, and even punish, online communication platforms to make them more thorough in removing content the government deems dangerous or violent. ... Sadly, this move should not be surprising. Every outrage has led to more calls for regulation, and the viral distribution of videos of the recent massacre in Christchurch, New Zealand, may finally be the tipping point, or at least the latest excuse. What may be more surprising is how willing people in the media -- people whose work depends on the right to a free press -- are to frame this as a story of wise leaders holding the feet of those irresponsible, profit-grubbing Silicon Valley tech bros to the fire." (04/08/19)


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22) ObamaCare's unhappy anniversary
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul

"Last month marked nine years since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (popularly known as Obamacare) became law. Obamacare's proponents promised that the law would reduce costs, expand access, and allow us to keep our doctors if we liked our doctors. The reality has been quite different. Since Obamacare was enacted, individual health insurance premiums have more than doubled while small businesses have been discouraged from providing health insurance benefits. The increased costs of, and decreased access to, health care are a direct result of Obamacare's mandates -- particularly the guaranteed issue and pre-existing condition mandates." (04/08/19)


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23) From courtesy, to discretion ... to heightened police power
Source: Cato Unbound
by Sara A Seo

"Pretextual enforcement of the traffic code has been an official strategy in the war on drugs since at least the 1980s. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency trained state highway patrols to use such tactics, as did law-enforcement textbooks. Statistics show that police have disproportionately targeted minorities during what is known as 'criminal patrol,' a term that reflects the merger of criminal investigations and traffic patrol duties. The social and legal developments that have led to the systematic policing of minorities, however, did not begin with an intent to do so. The history of discretionary policing, which today enables racialized policing, actually begins with the mass production of the automobile and the practical need to regulate upstanding citizens." (04/08/19)


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24) Facebook seeks to leverage its own failings to get Congress to cement Facebook's monopoly position
Source: Coyote Blog
by Warren Meyer

"It is something you see all the time -- large companies asking to be regulated, at first glance against self-interest. Those most interested in expansion of the government and the regulatory state will shout, 'See! Even large evil companies know they need to be subject to government oversight.' But in fact what is usually going on is that the large company knows that regulation will actually cement its position in the industry, making it harder for rivals and new entrants to compete. ... Mark Zuckerberg, who I am increasingly convinced is the most dangerous man in America, and his testimony to Congress begging for regulation, should be seen in this context." (04/08/19)


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25) Let patients shop
Source: The American Spectator
by Hunt Lawrence & Daniel J Flynn

"It pays to shop. But only when the shopper pays does this axiom prove true. When a third party picks up the bill, it does not pay to, as Smokey Robinson's mama told him, shop around. Grasping this basic truth, several insurers now seek to inject market principles into the healthcare system. The basic idea rewards consumers with cash for saving the insurer money by shopping for the best deal. A natural market does this, well, naturally. But in this distorted system consumers do not generally benefit from lower prices unless the actual buyers -- the insurer or the government -- pay the consumers for saving them money. The removal of natural incentives necessitates the creation of artificial ones." (04/08/19)


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26) One truthful Democrat emerges to call out party's "delusions"
Source: Fox News Forum
by Michael Goodwin

"Bob Kerrey, the former Nebraska senator and governor, was always one of my favorite politicians in part because his politics weren't perfectly polished. Among other free-wheeling moments, he called fellow Democrat Bill Clinton an 'uncommonly good liar' and said a requirement for becoming president is that you must 'want it more than life itself.' Kerrey moved on to academia and now to an investment bank, but hasn't lost the willingness to break ranks with his party. The habit surfaces in a withering criticism of current Democrats, where he says they are suffering from two major 'delusions.' 'The first,' he writes in an op-ed in the Omaha World-Herald, ' is that Americans long for a president who will ask us to pay more for the pleasure of increasing the role of the federal government in our lives.' ... The Dems' second delusion, he says, 'is that Americans were robbed of the truth when Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller and Attorney General William Barr concluded that President Trump did not collude with Russia in 2016.'" (04/08/19)


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27) Henry Hazlitt in the long term
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Robert L Luddy

"Henry Hazlitt enabled readers not only to think clearly, but correctly. As Hazlitt's departure from th[e] New York Times indicates, organizations and government demand compliance with existing ideas and punish critical thinkers. Hazlitt's economic thinking was revolutionary, but his thoughts on morality were paramount. In his book, The Foundations of Morality, Hazlitt defines morality as 'not the subordination of the 'individual' to 'society,' but the subordination of immediate objectives to long-term ones.' As in his understanding of economics, he realized that the long-term interests of the individual would serve the long-term interests of society. These long-term interests of the individual depend on social cooperation." (04/08/19)


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28) School vouchers proponents love socialism too
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

"As the debate over socialism between President Trump and his Democratic presidential opponents heats up, we shouldn't forget a socialist program that Trump and other conservatives have come to love -- the school-voucher program. Like other welfare-state programs, vouchers are based on the socialist concept of using the force of government to take money from one group of people and using it to pay for the education another group of people. The irony is that conservatives justify their socialist program by saying that it is being used to save children from the disastrous consequences of another socialist program, public schooling." (04/08/19)


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29) Netanyahu's far-right partners were birthed by US terrorists
Source: Foreign Policy
by Zach Dorfman

"Israeli politics has often included strange bedfellows. But perhaps no coalition has been odder--or more unpleasant -- than that lined up by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the April 9 elections. In a deal orchestrated by Netanyahu in February, Otzma Yehudit, a racist political party with links to terrorism, merged with the more conventionally conservative and religious Jewish Home party to join a united list supporting Netanyahu. ... Otzma Yehudit, or 'Jewish Power,' is, in fact, just the newest face of the old Kach party, the radical movement founded decades ago by the late Rabbi Meir Kahane, the most infamous Jewish extremist of the latter 20th century. By offering them a shot at government, Netanyahu is giving the stamp of approval to a party as rooted in terrorism as Hamas. ... Kahane was an American, born in Brooklyn. In fact, before he left for Israel in 1971, Kahane founded the Jewish Defense League (JDL), one of the most prolific U.S.-based terrorist groups of the 1970s and 1980s." (04/08/19)


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30) The Democratic field is a rainbow of sameness
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter

"The 2020 Democratic Party primary reminds me of the movie Zoolander. In Zoolander, two male models engage in a 'walk off,' a contest to see which vapid vessel can do the same standard model moves better than the other. It ends when Owen Wilson is able to remove his underwear one-handed without taking off his pants first. Derek Zoolander then gives himself an atomic wedgie trying to duplicate it. But for the presidential campaign, instead of the nearly two dozen Democrat running (so far) attempting to remove their tighty-whities and granny panties in a walk off, they're engaged in the ultimate 'woke off.' The problem with the Democratic field, aside from their generally bad and un-American ideas, is they're all the same person in different packages. There is no disagreement on the major issues or the vast majority of minor issues. It's like coming down to the tree on Christmas morning, seeing 20 boxes in different wrapping paper and each one of them being filled with tube socks. It doesn't matter which one you open or how pretty the wrapping paper is, it's all socks." (04/08/19)


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31) Brexit: Deal or no deal
Source: National Review
by Kevin D Williamson

"The great benefit of trade is the imports, not the exports -- the politicians always get that wrong. You would think that the United Kingdom, with its proud history of world-bestriding trade, would appreciate that first of all countries. ... In our time, we have stood that on its head, and as the merchants of the world bring the best of everything to our shores for our use and delight, our biggest worry is that they are not charging us enough money for their goods. These are dumb times. There is going to be a U.K.–EU trade deal. ... the powers that be in Stuttgart and Munich know how many of their cars are sold in the United Kingdom. Germans like money, too. ... There's a lesson in this for Americans, too: As President Trump talks about sealing off the Mexican border and, hence, cutting off trade, American firms involved in everything from manufacturing automobiles and electronics to making ice cream are being threatened with losing access to their most important components and raw materials. ... cutting ourselves off from the sources of our prosperity out of pique is the worst kind of politics." (04/08/19)


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32) Capitalism (aka self-ownership) is the only moral economic system
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Gary M Galles

"Elizabeth Warren's supposed endorsement of markets but opposition to markets without rules is senseless. There are no markets without rules in capitalism. The core rule is that of private property, which requires arrangements to be voluntary, which in turn rules out the possibility of the theft she supposedly objects to. If there is theft, or fraud that allows it, that represents a government failure to defend someone's property rights or a piecemeal violation of equal property rights by government, neither of which justify still more government intervention to fix, unless it is to better defend private property rights now being violated or stop violating them itself. And Kamala Harris's complaint that 'the rules aren't applying equally to all people' is subject to the same criticism. Joe Biden's 'What happened to a moral responsibility, to a moral capitalism?' reflects a similar confusion." (04/08/19)


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33) A better way to unclog NYC streets: Repeal the Jones Act
Source: Cato Institute
by Daniel J Ikenson & Colin Grabow

"Bumper-to-bumper traffic. Degraded bridges and potholed highways. Excessive fuel use and carbon emissions. Inflated transportation rates. Higher prices on store shelves. It's time for New Yorkers to connect these dots and take full notice of the burdens the Big Apple endures as a consequence of what is possibly the most expensive, distortionary, protectionist failure in US history. It's time to blame the Jones Act." (04/07/19)


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34) The path to liberating humanity is the path to liberating the individual
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone

"The path to enlightenment is the process of becoming clearly aware of all the different aspects of the way you operate inside, which enables you to relate to life as it's actually appearing instead of through the filters of old conditioned mental habits. The path to the liberation of our species is the process of collectively becoming clearly aware of the reality of our situation as opposed to the false narratives about it, so that we can begin solving our problems as they actually are instead of the way the establishment media describes them. These two processes are recursive mirrors of each other; one describes the process on the micro scale, the other on the macro, but they occur in the exact same way. People sometimes complain that I talk about the problems that humanity faces without ever offering any solutions. I disagree with this criticism; I talk about the solution to our problem all the time, using plain language that anyone can understand. It just often goes in one ear and out the other, because it's not the sort of answer that people have been conditioned to listen for." (04/08/19)


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35) Poverty under democratic socialism, part 1: The French case
Source: Notes On Liberty
by Jacques Delacroix

"I saw a televised investigation by the pretty good French TV show, 'Envoye special' about current French poverty. It brought the viewer into the lives of six people. They included a retired married couple. The four others were of various ages. They lived in different parts of mainland France. All sounded French born to me. (I have a good ear for accents; trust me.) All were well spoken. The participants had been chosen to illustrate a sort of middle-class poverty, maybe. Or, perhaps to illustrate the commonness of poverty in one of the first countries to industrialize. All the interviewees looked good. They seemed healthy. None was emaciated; none was grossly obese, as the ill-fed everywhere often are. All were well dressed, by my admittedly low standards. ... The show was geared to sob stories and it got them." (04/08/19)


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36) We need to talk about age-of-consent law
Source: spiked
by Elsie Eigerman

"When I was 16, I told my therapist I was nervous about having sex with my 19-year-old boyfriend. In response, because I was a minor, she told me she was going to report him to the authorities. A casual conversation about typical teenage woes was quickly spiralling into a frightening encounter with the law. Fortunately, my therapist was wrong. The age of consent where I lived in Massachusetts was 16, and it didn't matter how old my boyfriend was. But her misinformed perception of what the law actually says is quite common. People in the US tend to think that the age of consent is 18, and that these laws don't affect minors who have sex with other minors. Unfortunately, the law in many states does not resemble this perception, and in many cases, age-of-consent laws can do more to harm than to protect young people." (04/08/19)


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37) Iran hawks and "normal" countries
Source: The American Conservative
by Daniel Larison

"Claiming to want normal relations with another state while demanding that their government capitulate to yours under threat of punishment is not credible. The idea that Iran is not a 'normal' country is also hard to take seriously. What is it that 'normal' states refrain from doing abroad that the Iranian government does? Has Iran invaded and bombed any of its neighbors as the Saudis and Emiratis have? No, it hasn't. Has it illegally occupied territory for decades? It has not. Has it forcibly overthrown foreign governments? Oddly enough for a 'revolutionary' government, it hasn't done that, either. The problem here isn't just that the U.S. and its clients engage in similar or worse behavior, but that when Iran does anything to pursue its own interests it is taken as proof that their government is behaving like a 'revolutionary cause' rather than a 'normal' state." (04/08/19)


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38) Trump's border "solutions" just get dumb and dumber
Source: USA TODAY
by staff

"As senior officials in the Trump administration are quick to point out, the U.S.-Mexico border is dealing with a significant influx of people from the Central American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. This is a major problem, but not one that lends itself to easy solutions. Many of these people fear for their lives back home, or believe that their sons will be abducted into gangs. To them, changes in U.S. policy are something of an abstraction. Building President Donald Trump's border wall, months or years from now, won't help. By and large, the Central Americans aren't crossing illegally into the United States; they are showing up at heavily populated crossings, which already have barriers, and trying to file for asylum or refugee status. Cutting off U.S. aid to the three countries, as Trump has vowed to do, is worse than pointless; it's counterproductive. These governments are largely powerless, having lost control of significant swaths of their territory to criminal gangs and paramilitary units that are terrorizing the population. Without the aid flowing in, the bad guys might capture even more territory and cause an even bigger exodus." (04/04/19)


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39) Do you have a right to repair? Yes and no
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Jeffrey A Tucker

"It is certainly the case that every owner of anything has the right to do with it what he or she wants. You buy potatoes at the store and there are no terms of use that require you to bake them and eat them. The same pertains to an iPhone that you own outright: you can smash it with a hammer or get a rogue repair agent to hack on it. ... At the same time, your right to hack your phone does not impose an obligation on the company to continue to enforce the warranty that came with the phone. This is what is at issue. This debate isn't really about a right to repair; it is about a legal obligation to comply with a warranty no matter what. A law that forces a company to repair its own hacked goods is not a free market; it is involuntary servitude." (04/08/19)


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40) We did know what we were voting for and the next step is No Deal
Source: Continental Telegraph
by Lincoln Swann

"A vote for Remain was to endorse the EU project. It is a self declared one way ticket to a massive federal superstate. That is what you would have voted for -- more and more control from Superstate HQ in Brussels, less local control over taxation, wealth redistribution, trade policies, movement of population, currency, foreign policy including military forces. A big open market, with lots and lots of rules and a wall around the outside to keep out strangers. A vote to Leave was to disentangle ourselves and move away from the EU to reclaim UK control over as many aspects of our lives as possible. Those include law making, immigration policy, trade policy, foreign policy and so on. It meant finding new markets and trying to break into them. But also losing being a part of that big, protected, regulated, market. It was taking a risk with both bigger upside and downside. There was a choice between 2 very different directions for our future and we collectively chose the Leave option." (04/08/19)


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41) Now that the US is the world's top oil producer, we don't need NOPEC
Source: Heartland Institute
by Bud Weinstein

"As [oil] prices were increasing last year, and President Donald Trump was tweeting his displeasure, the 'No Oil Producing and Export Cartels Act of 2018' (NOPEC) was introduced in both the House and Senate with the implied goal of reducing gasoline prices for consumers. This proposed amendment to the Sherman Act would criminalize actions by foreign suppliers to limit the production of oil, natural gas or petroleum products in ways that affect markets and prices. It would also eliminate the application of sovereign immunity to nations found to be in violation. At first blush, this legislative effort to restrict the market influence of OPEC and its allies might seem appealing. But it could have serious consequences for the U.S. oil industry and its continuing success in eroding OPEC's global market share." (04/08/19)


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42) Trump and the global rise of the Christian right
Source: CounterPunch
by John Feffer

"Trump is like a secular Elmer Gantry, the hot-blooded preacher of Sinclair Lewis's eponymous 1927 bestseller. Gantry preaches on Sundays about the heavenly virtues even as he drinks, commits adultery, and breaks one commandment after another on every other day of the week. Trump, meanwhile, has acted irreligiously all his life and only recently made any pretense to churchgoing piety. He confines his preaching to the political realm. In both cases, however, loyal congregations gather around these hypocrites, convinced that they are true representatives of God." (04/08/19)


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43) What you need to know about Brexit
Source: The American Prospect
by Denis MacShane

"Q. Why Can't the House of Commons Agree on a Brexit Policy? A. In the House of Commons there is always a majority against any proposal on Brexit, but never a majority for a solution. The British political system is binary and adversarial with no tradition of coalition, power-sharing or good relations between the governing party and the opposition, except during the two World Wars. Thus party loyalty tends to have primacy. If May proposes something, Labour and Liberal vote against. If Labour proposes something, Conservatives vote against. Q. Is there a chance to avoid a No-Deal Brexit on April 12? A. Only if May is willing to compromise. So far she has refused to move one millimeter towards other parties in the House of Commons – Labour, Liberal-Democrats, or Scottish Nationalists. She insists her proposals, which have been rejected three times in the Commons by big majorities, cannot be changed. There have been talks between Labour and the Government and May and Corbyn have met." (04/08/19)


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44) Long gone rogue
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

"On New Year's Day this year, Sen. Chuck Schumer was talking to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow about their favorite conspiracy theory. Maddow, as we all know, had gone Full Nutter on this 'collusion'/'corruption' story .... Maddow was talking about Trump's tweets which she characterized as 'taunting' the CIA and other agencies obsessed with the 'Russian hacking' angle of the brouhaha. And Schumer's response? 'Let me tell you: You take on the intelligence community -- they have six ways from Sunday at getting back at you.' We should take this as a signal. It is like making prison rape jokes. It says something about the situation: prison rape or Deep State machinations. And about the speaker: leveraging a rogue element as a threat." (04/08/19)


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45) The age of realignment
Source: The Atlantic
by George Packer

"Realignment -- a decisive shift in the balance of power between political parties, creating new coalitions and leaving one party and one ideology with lasting dominance -- occurs far more often in the minds of partisans than in reality. Karl Rove believed that the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004 would enshrine a permanent Republican majority. Within a couple of years the president and his party were discredited. In 2008, with the collapse of the financial system and the historic campaign of Barack Obama, some people -- I was one -- thought a Democratic realignment might be at hand. ... It didn't turn out that way. It seldom does." (04/08/19)


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46) Quantum Vibe, 04/08/19
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser & Gus Mendes

Cartoon. (04/08/19)


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47) Blood money: Indonesian wage theft & the massacre premium
Source: The New Republic
by Ken Silverstein

"There's a museum in East Jakarta that enshrines a toxic historical fantasy. Of course, all nations whitewash their bloody histories in the course of creating a heroic narrative about their stirring rise to power and global influence. But Indonesia's official memorial to the wave of political massacres that claimed the lives of at least 500,000 civilians in 1965 while laying the groundwork for the 32-year reign of the military strongman Suharto is an entirely different study in nationalist mythology. It's a through-the-looking-glass distortion of nearly every important facet of the recent political history of the world's fourth-most-populous nation. There is, first of all, the name of the place: the Communist Betrayal Museum. According to all organs of official consensus in post-Suharto Indonesia, the tragedy of 1965 wasn't so much the wholesale military slaughter of half a million natives of this vast island archipelago. No, as the official version would have it, the political movement that authored the massacres also comprised their most notable victims." (04/08/19)


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48) The pivotal influence of Machiavelli on Isaiah Berlin's value-pluralism
Source: The Jolly Libertarian
by Marco den Ouden

"When I finished reading Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince, my immediate reaction was, 'Wow! Now I understand the mafia!' I wasn't alone in that view. ... But is Machiavelli really the bad guy, the villain that some critics infer from his ruthlessness? Berlin notes that there are 'more than twenty interpretations hold(ing) the field,' and adds his own to the mix. The variety of views is surprising because, while writers like Plato, Rousseau, Hegel, and Marx were 'scarcely models of clarity or consistency,' The Prince 'is a short book' whose style is 'singularly lucid, succinct and pungent –a model of clear Renaissance prose.'" (04/07/19)


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49) Abolish the welfare state to solve the national debt crisis
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Richard M Ebeling

"Why is it so difficult to win the case for freedom in modern American society? A variety of possible answers come to mind. The collectivists are more effective in appealing to people's emotions. The interventionist-welfare-statist argument is easier to make than it is to follow the logical chains of reasoning required to make the free-market case. Socialist-leaning teachers and professors who indoctrinate their students with statist ideas from a very young age dominate the government educational system from kindergarten through the Ph.D. Popular, celebrity culture inculcates society with leftist biases and presumptions. All those answers have strong elements of truth in them. But there is one other element at work that makes it difficult to effectively make the case for a fully and truly free society, indeed, that can undermine the ideal and understanding of the free society. That element is that too many advocates of a free society compromise its case." (04/08/19)


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50) How America's gun culture cultivates civic virtue
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Aaron Tao

"Many people are often surprised to learn that I am a gun owner and firm defender of the Second Amendment. After all, I, a first-generation Chinese-American immigrant, do not fit the stereotype of the typical American gun owner. Of all of America's cherished freedoms, the natural and unalienable right of self-defense, recognized and protected (not granted) by the Second Amendment, took me the longest to fully embrace. But as an open-minded rationalist, the lessons of history and statistical research proved overwhelming (not to mention the sheer fun of learning the basic operations and mechanics of firearms) and eventually helped me understand why tens of millions of my fellow Americans treasure their right to keep and bear arms." (04/07/19)


_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____

51) Reason Podcast, 04/08/19
Source: Reason

"The past 24 hours have seen two unrelated events tethered to America's ever-contentious immigration debates: (1) President Donald Trump reportedly forcing out Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, on the grounds that she somehow wasn't tough enough, and (2) the launch announcement by pals o' Reason Bryan Caplan and Zach Weinersmith of their new graphic nonfiction paperback Open Borders: The Science and Ethics of Immigration. ... So what happens if you mash up these two events? Well, if you're the Editors' Roundtable edition of the Reason Podcast, you get into a spirited debate over whether the phrase 'open borders' actually describes your immigration worldview, let alone is an effective way of selling it." [various formats] (04/08/19)


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52) The Joe Rogan Experience, episode 1279
Source: The Joe Rogan Experience

"Jessimae Peluso is a stand-up comedian and television personality." [editor's note: They get a running start getting the effects of regulation exactly backward – TLK] [various formats] (04/08/19)


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53) The Bob Zadek Show, 04/07/18
Source: The Bob Zadek Show

"Demystifying the Supreme Court -- David Kaplan on The Most Dangerous Branch." [various formats] (04/08/19)


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54) US charges against Facebook threaten social media economic video
Source: American Institute for Economic Research

"The Trump administration has filed a lawsuit against Facebook with the claim that the company is guilty of redlining. At issue are the tools that allow advertisers to target ads. The problem is that this attack fundamentally threatens the economic model that makes social media work." [Flash video] (04/08/19)


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55) CQ Budget Podcast, episode 106
Source: Roll Call

"CQ Budget and appropriations editor Peter Cohn sat down with Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa, one of the longest and most influential members of Congress. Grassley says that he sees a good opportunity to work with Democrats on several bipartisan initiatives including on an expansive infrastructure bill and reducing drug prices." (04/08/19)


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56) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 04/08/19
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report

"The sudden resignation of often-scapegoated Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has reignited the fierce debate over border control and immigration. Will Trump find someone who will 'get tough' enough on the border? Will pursuing the same policies produce different results?" [Flash video] (04/08/19)


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57) Cato Daily Podcast, 04/08/19
Source: Cato Institute

"Red flag laws are aimed at getting guns away from people who are at risk of suicide or crime. David Kopel explains the due process implications of these preemptive gun seizures." [various formats] (04/08/19)


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58) Scott Adams Says, 04/08/19
Source: Scott Adams Says

"Scott Adams talks about hoaxes, AOC, immigration, nuclear power and coffee." [Flash video] (04/08/19)


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59) The Bookmonger, episode 241
Source: National Review

"John J. Miller is joined by Charles Lane to discuss his book, Freedom's Detective." [various formats] (04/08/19)


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60) One Free Family, episode 51
Source: Pax Libertas Productions

"Taylor and James are back in the studio together to discuss a topic that every parent can relate to: worrying." [Flash audio] (04/08/19)


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61) The Last Nighters, episode 66
Source: The Launch Pad Media

"We pop into biosphere II in the Dark-City dome from the Hunger Games to battle it out with the socialist, Jim Carrey, as we discuss his 1998 film 'The Truman Show' directed by Peter Weir." [Flash audio or MP3] (04/08/19)


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62) Free Man Beyond the Wall, episode 243
Source: Free Man Beyond the Wall

"Pete on the Online Anti-War Movement, Social Media Alternatives and Domestic Tyranny." [various formats] (04/08/19)


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63) Lions of Liberty Podcast, 04/08/19
Source: Lions of Liberty

"In today's flagship Lions of Liberty podcast, Marc is joined by fellow libertarian podcaster, Jen the Libertarian! Jen explains just how she came down this path as her lifelong instinct ran smack into the Ron Paul campaigns and a libertarian activist was born. Marc and Jen banter a bit about the foibles of podcasting, as well as the pros and cons of being an activist while maintaining anonymity online. Finally, Marc and Jen dive head first into the madness that is the DNC primary." [various formats] (04/08/19)


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64) Free Talk Live, 04/07/19
Source: Free Talk Live

"New Website Leading to More Prostitution Arrests :: Hookup Culture :: Prostitution :: Sex Slavery :: Orgasmic Meditation :: Pro-Death :: Hypocrites DHS Security :: Massage :: Loving Robots :: HOSTS -- Ian, Mark, Rich E." [Flash audio or MP3] (04/07/19)


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65) Lyceum Debate #9: Classical (Left) Anarchism vs Pan Anarchism
Source: Attack The System

"Todd Lewis hosts a debate on anarchist strategy between Keith Preston and Brenton Lengel on Anarchist strategy. Brenton will defend a classic anarchist strategy and Keith his own homebrew Pan-Anarchism." [Flash video] (04/07/19)


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