11/06 -- Polls ahead of Tuesday's 2018 midterm elections show tighter Democratic lead; Censorship and gun control will not make us safe
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Thomas L. Knapp
Nov 6, 2018, 6:33:14 AM11/6/18
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 11/06/18
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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) Polls ahead of Tuesday's 2018 midterm elections show tighter Democratic lead
2) SCOTUS declines to hear appeal of Obama era Net Neutrality rules
3) NM: Gang members arrive in border town, apparently planning to terrorize travelers
4) FDA gang approves powerful new opioid 500 times stronger than morphine
5) NBC, Fox, Facebook pull Trump's poorly done attempt to re-create Willie Horton effec
6) 7-Eleven starts experimenting with cashier-less checkouts
7) Amazon drops free-shipping minimum for all customers
8) Unusual sculpture of Liverpool soccer star Mo Salah unveiled in Egypt
9) NY: Accused Mexican drug lord faces illegal show trial
10) Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan leads "Death to America" chant in Iran
11) Bloomberg drops $5 million on anti-Trump ads
12) Utah mayor Brent Taylor killed in Afghan "insider attack"
13) Pamela Anderson blasts #MeToo movement, says feminism can "go too far"
14) TX: US troops participating in mutinous violation of Posse Comitatus Act lay down concertina wire
15) Report: Pentagon balked at using troops to build concentration camps
16) North Korea: Regime says it will resume nuclear testing if US doesn't start holding up its end of things
17) FL: Yoga hero used vacuum and broom to fight gunman
18) Ukraine: Anti-corruption activist dies after acid attack
19) Trump a factor in Democratic-dominated Massachusetts
20) GA: Thwarted in attempts to suppress African-American vote, Kemp cribs from Clinton 2016 playbook
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Censorship and gun control will not make us safe
22) Trump and the caravan: Why is he flexing the military's muscle at an imaginary crisis?
23) Nearly a decade after the Tea Party wave, Congress still spending like it's 1999
24) Bombs, rhetorical and otherwise
25) Want to achieve real change? Vote Libertarian
26) To fix polarization crisis, use your vote to shift political climate
27) Illegitimate
28) If US politics were real, a massive blue wave would be 100% certain
29) Rent control: An old, bad idea that won't go away
30) Pure evil
31) How the midterm elections could sway Trump's foreign policy
32) US elections are neither free nor fair. States need to open their doors to more observers.
33) Legal immigration into the United States, part 13
34) How the Roberts Court caused Georgia's election mess
35) Gustavus Swift: Capitalist hero
36) Racist "libertarian" nationalists
37) Netanyahu's Saudi fantasy
38) Whatever happened to the Russiagate "scandal?"
39) Seventh time's the charm?
40) Announcing: Bingo for a blue wave
41) Why I'm not voting
42) DC unfriends Silicon Valley
43) The 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War
44) Quantum Vibe, 11/05/18
45) Who falls for the Democrats' message?
46) Biplab Deb's terrible cow idea -- India needs fewer peasant farmers, not more
47) A demagogue's lies
48) What to do when voting machines fail
49) The abandonment of Asia Bibi
50) Prosperity, in the present
51) Fight for $15 sets sights on a $20 minimum wage
52) Ten myths about the US Constitution most congressmen believe
53) Iran sanctions are unjust collective punishment
54) Who owes compensation?
55) Obama's greatest failure
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
56) Reason Podcast, 11/05/18
57) This week in Bitcoin, 11/05/18
58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 11/05/18
59) The Bookmonger, episode 219
60) Cato Daily Podcast, 11/05/18
61) Scott Adams Says, 11/05/18
62) CQ Budget Podcast, episode 85
63) We Are Libertarians Daily 16
64) One Free Family, episode 37
65) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 267
66) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 373
67) Free Talk Live, 11/04/18
68) The Anarchist Experience, episode 189
69) Punk Rock Libertarians Podcast, episode 186
70) The Last Nighters, episode 44
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Polls ahead of Tuesday's 2018 midterm elections show tighter Democratic lead
Source: USA Today
"The data from the final polls on the 2018 election are rolling in, two days before ballots are cast in one of the most divisive and closely watched midterms in recent memory. Overall, the numbers point to the same likely outcome that polls have indicated for months: that despite a strong economy with Republicans in control of Capitol Hill and the White House, Democrats are favored on generic ballots. But the Democratic lead in a generic race has tightened over a few months ago. A poll from ABC News and The Washington Post released Sunday found 52 percent would choose a generic Democrat over a generic Republican for Congress, while 44 percent would choose the Republican. An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found a similar result, with 50 percent of likely voters favoring a Democratically controlled Congress and 43 percent favoring a Republican one. Among all registered voters, the race tightens further, to a 6-point lead for Democrats." (11/05/18)
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2) SCOTUS declines to hear appeal of Obama era Net Neutrality rules
Source: CNet News
"The US Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal of Obama-era net neutrality regulations that could have gutted the authority of the Federal Communications Commission. On Monday, the high court rejected an appeal that challenged a 2016 decision by the DC Circuit, which upheld the rules to protect an open internet [sic] and validated the FCC's authority to draft such rules. The 2015 rules were rolled back by the Republican-led FCC last year, and they were officially taken off the books in June. But the Trump administration pushed the Supreme Court to hear the appeal that would have wiped the ruling from the books so that the parts of the decision upholding the FCC's authority couldn't be used as precedent in subsequent cases. Groups supporting net neutrality and companies like Mozilla, which support the 2015 rules, are suing the FCC over its repeal." (11/05/18)
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3) NM: Gang members arrive in border town, apparently planning to terrorize travelers
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"When the two men with a self-described militia showed up offering Columbus Mayor Esequiel Salas help protecting the border, the conversation was brief and polite. 'I told them, 'We have a good relationship with Mexico, with our little sister village Palomas," said Salas, referring to the community just across the border. ... n Columbus, home to about 1,600 residents, the mayor and other villagers were perplexed by the arrival of a small band of men with the Patriots of the Constitution militia. The men said they were there scouting locations to prepare for the migrant caravan from Central America slowly making its way through Mexico toward the southwest border." (11/05/18)
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4) FDA gang approves powerful new opioid 500 times stronger than morphine
Source: MarketWatch
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful new opioid medication on Friday, in spite of major concerns raised by health advocates that the drug's strength and design could prove harmful for patients and the public. The product, Dsuvia, consists of the synthetic opioid sufentanil, which is 500 times stronger than morphine, packaged in a plastic applicator for faster pain relief. Critics, including the head of the FDA advisory committee that reviews pain-relieving products, are worried about putting such a potent and addictive medication on the market in the midst of the U.S.'s opioid crisis. But Dsuvia's manufacturer, the drugmaker AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., said that the opioid was dose-adjusted to be no stronger than any other already-available one, and would help medics relieve pain on the battlefield." (11/05/18)
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5) NBC, Fox, Facebook pull Trump's poorly done attempt to re-create Willie Horton effect
Source: CNN
"NBC and Fox News said in separate statements on Monday that their networks will no longer air the Trump campaign's racist anti-immigrant advertisement. NBC was first to announce the change, doing so after a backlash over its decision to show the 30-second spot during 'Sunday Night Football,' one of the highest-rated programs on television. 'After further review,' NBC said, 'we recognize the insensitive nature of the ad and have decided to cease airing it across our properties as soon as possible.' Fox soon followed suit. ... Facebook also came under scrutiny for letting the Trump campaign run the ad on its platform. On Monday afternoon the company said 'this ad violates Facebook's advertising policy against sensational content so we are rejecting it. While the video is allowed to be posted on Facebook, it cannot receive paid distribution.'" (11/05/18)
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6) 7-Eleven starts experimenting with cashier-less checkouts
Source: The Verge
"7-Eleven announced today that it's installing scan-and-go technology in 14 Dallas-based stores this week, according to Digiday. The technology will allow customers to scan the barcodes of items they want to buy and then pay through their phone, either with a card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay. ... These stores won't be completely cashier-less, however: employees will still need to handle hot food and alcohol, which requires presenting your ID. The company plans to expand the service beyond Dallas in 2019, according to TechCrunch." (11/05/18)
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7) Amazon drops free-shipping minimum for all customers
Source: Fox News
"Competition for online holiday shoppers is heating up, and Monday Amazon announced that it is offering free shipping with no minimum purchase for orders that will arrive in time for Christmas. As previously reported by FOX Business, Amazon competitor Walmart announced Tuesday it will expand its free two-day shipping options in November. Millions of additional items on its website sold by third-party sellers will qualify for the free two-day shipping perk. Target also announced it would offer, for the first time, two-day shipping, with no minimum purchase this holiday. The offer starts Nov. 1 and ends Dec. 22. According to the National Retail Federation, holiday retail sales in November and December will increase between 4.3 and 4.8 percent over 2017 for a total of $717.45 billion to $720.89 billion. Over the past five years, the average annual increase was 3.9 percent." (11/05/18)
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8) Unusual sculpture of Liverpool soccer star Mo Salah unveiled in Egypt
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A sculpture of Liverpool and Egypt football star Mohamed Salah unveiled in his home country is raising eyebrows on social media. The artwork was put on display on Sunday at the World Youth Forum (WYF) being held in Sharm al-Sheikh. It depicts the striker with his arms out wide in the goalscoring celebration he is known for. But people have suggested it looks more like singer Leo Sayer or Marv the burglar from the film 'Home Alone' ... The sculpture of Salah joins a long list of other sculptures in the football world that have left fans scratching their heads about likeness. It has drawn comparisons to a bust of Cristiano Ronaldo which was widely mocked after it was unveiled at Madeira airport last year." (11/05/18)
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9) NY: Accused Mexican drug lord faces illegal show trial
Source: Reuters
"The trial of extradited Mexican drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman is set to begin on Monday in federal court in Brooklyn, where he is facing drug trafficking and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors, defense lawyers and U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan will start by choosing jurors for what is expected to be a four-month trial. In a sign of the level of attention on the case, and the notoriety of the defendant, the jury will be kept anonymous." [editor's note: The US Constitution's Sixth Amendment requires that "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed." Guzman is alleged to have committed crimes in Mexico, but is being tried in New York and by a jury supposedly from New York (they're anonymous so we have no idea who they are or where they're from, or for that matter whether or not they exist at all – TLK] (11/05/18)
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10) Nation of Islam leader Farrakhan leads "Death to America" chant in Iran
Source: Fox News
"Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, a notorious anti-Semite who recently compared Jewish people to termites, led a 'Death to America' chant Sunday during a solidarity trip to Iran. Farrakhan's trip came ahead of the Trump administration's re-implementation of U.S. sanctions against the Islamic Republic on Monday. Speaking to law school students at the University of Tehran, the 85-year-old Farrakhan said 'America has never been a democracy,' and also led a 'Death to Israel' chant at the end of his talk, according to Iranian news agencies. 'Today, I warn the American government that sanctioning Iran is a big mistake,' he said at a meeting with the Secretary of Iran's Expediency Council, Mohsen Rezaei. Farrakhan noted his belief America is conspiring against Iran." (11/05/18)
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11) Bloomberg drops $5 million on anti-Trump ads
Source: Aol News
"Michael Bloomberg has a higher purpose. The former New York governor, who has hinted several times that he's preparing to run for President in 2020, is trying to stack the House ahead of the midterm elections Tuesday. In a two-minute ad, which cost $5 million, according to the Washington Post, the 76-year-old billionaire speaks directly to camera about the need to elect Democrats." (11/05/18)
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12) Utah mayor Brent Taylor killed in Afghan "insider attack"
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A US mayor has been killed in an apparent insider attack while serving with the military in Afghanistan. Brent Taylor, 39, died in Kabul on Saturday while serving in the US Army National Guard helping to train members of the Afghan security forces. The mayor of North Ogden, Utah, leaves behind a wife and seven young children. Another service member was wounded during the shooting, the second insider attack against US forces in Afghanistan in the past two weeks. The attacker appeared to have been a member of the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, according to the Utah National Guard. He was shot by other Afghan forces after opening fire." (11/05/18)
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13) Pamela Anderson blasts #MeToo movement, says feminism can "go too far"
Source: Fox News
"Pamela Anderson sat down for a lengthy interview with Australia's '60 Minutes' Sunday, offering some controversial comments about the #MeToo movement and the negative impact she perceives it having on men. The former "Baywatch" star derided the current wave of feminism and called it a 'bore.' ... 'I think this feminism can go too far,' Anderson told journalist Liam Bartlett. 'I'm a feminist, but I think that this third wave of feminism is a bore.' She continued: 'I think it paralyzes men, I think this #MeToo movement is a bit too much for me. I'm sorry, I'll probably get killed for saying that.'" [editor's note: Given the militance of the current extremists, she probably should not make that prediction – SAT] (11/05/18)
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14) TX: US troops participating in mutinous violation of Posse Comitatus Act lay down concertina wire
Source: New York Post
"As three separate migrant caravans slowly made their way north through Mexico on Saturday, newly arrived US troops worked to lay a barbed-wire fence along the Texas side of the Rio Grande. The soldiers worked with US Customs and Border Patrol officers to lay about 1,000 feet of fencing along the river, the Defense Department said. The makeshift barrier was installed underneath the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, which crosses into Mexico. The overpass is in the small town of Hidalgo, about 250 miles south of San Antonio. 'I saw that beautiful barbed wire going up,' Trump said at a Saturday campaign rally in Montana. 'Beautiful sight.'" [editor's note: The picture shows that it's not barbed wire, it's concertina wire -- coils of wire covered with razor blades – TLK] (11/03/18)
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15) Report: Pentagon balked at using troops to build concentration camps
Source: Reuters
"The Trump administration discussed using the U.S. military to build facilities to house detained migrants as part of its new mission on the Mexican border but the idea was dropped after the Pentagon expressed doubts about it, U.S. officials said. The disclosure by U.S. officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, illustrates the tension within the administration over using military resources to fortify the border against illegal immigration, a top election issue for President Donald Trump's base. Last week, the military announced that over 7,000 troops would go to the border with Mexico as a caravan of Central American migrants slowly heads toward the United States. The U.S. military declined a draft request from the Department of Homeland Security last month to build housing for detained migrants during early discussions in the Trump administration about the military's role on the border, the officials said." (11/05/18)
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16) North Korea: Regime says it will resume nuclear testing if US doesn't start holding up its end of things
Source: CNN
"As the United States and North Korea prepare for another round of high-level talks this week, Pyongyang's increasingly heated rhetoric has analysts worried that the stalemate between the two sides could lead to a breakdown in negotiations. An official with North Korea's Foreign Ministry issued a veiled threat [sic] Friday, warning that Pyongyang could restart 'building up nuclear forces' if the US does not ease the crippling sanctions levied on North Korea. The comments come ahead of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's meeting with his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, in New York this week. The piece, carried in North Korea's state-run news agency KCNA, accused Washington of believing the 'foolish idea that the DPRK came out to the negotiating table, yielding to the sanctions' and failing to understand that 'the improvement of relations and sanctions are incompatible.'" (11/05/18)
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17) FL: Yoga hero used vacuum and broom to fight gunman
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A Florida man is being hailed as a hero after he confronted a rampaging gunman using the only weapons he could find in a yoga studio: a broom and a vacuum. 'I jumped up as quickly as I could,' Josh Quick told ABC News. He said he wrestled with the attacker after his handgun appeared to jam. The attack last Friday at a yoga studio in Tallahassee left two women dead and five others injured. One woman told the network the fight allowed her to flee the attack. 'Thanks to him I was able to rush out the door,' Daniela Garcia Albalat told the Good Morning America programme. She was in the class at Hot Yoga Tallahassee on Friday, and was shot through the thigh." (11/05/18)
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18) Ukraine: Anti-corruption activist dies after acid attack
Source: Independent [UK]
"An anti-corruption activist in Ukraine has died three months after she was severely injured in an acid attack. Kateryna Handzyuk was a member of the Kherson city council and a prominent campaigner against police corruption and Russian-backed separatism. In July the 33-year-old was attacked with sulphuric acid which left her with burns covering 40 per cent of her body. She had remained in hospital since the attack and had undergone 11 operations in total." (11/05/18)
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19) Trump a factor in Democratic-dominated Massachusetts
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"There's no escaping the impact President Donald Trump has had on the midterm elections, even in Massachusetts where polling shows him to be deeply unpopular with the majority of the state's voters. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez has tried to take Republican Gov. Charlie Baker to task for not being forceful enough in his criticism of the president, even though the incumbent has repeatedly rebuked White House policy and Trump personally. Democratic U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a possible presidential contender in 2020, has often used her Republican challenger Geoff Diehl as a foil for Trump as she seeks re-election. Massachusetts voters on Tuesday will also decide races for the U.S. House, the Legislature, other state and county officers and three statewide ballot initiatives, including a hospital staffing question and a first-in-the-nation referendum on transgender rights." [editor's note: There is a third candidate running for Senate in the Bay State; it may also be interesting to see how the independent Dr. Shiva affects the outcome – SAT] (11/05/18)
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20) GA: Thwarted in attempts to suppress African-American vote, Kemp cribs from Clinton 2016 playbook
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]
"Days before elections, Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who is running a close-fought campaign for governor, says Democrats are under investigation for hacking the state's election system. A spokesman for Kemp -- who is in a neck-and-neck race with Democratic opponent Stacey Abrams -- provided no evidence for the accusation made on Sunday, that also came just as reports that the state election system, which as secretary of state Kemp oversees, is open to glaring vulnerabilities." (11/05/18)
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Censorship and gun control will not make us safe
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul
"Sadly, but not unexpectedly, the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh is being used to justify new infringements on liberty. Of course, opponents of gun rights are claiming this shooting proves America needs more gun control. Even some who normally oppose gun control say the government needs to do more to keep guns out of the hands of the 'mentally ill.' Those making this argument ignore the lack of evidence that background checks, new restrictions on the rights of those alleged to have a mental illness, or any other form of gun control would have prevented the shooter from obtaining a firearm. Others are using the shooter's history of posting anti-Semitic comments on social media to call for increased efforts by both government and social media websites to suppress 'hate speech.'" (11/05/18)
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22) Trump and the caravan: Why is he flexing the military's muscle at an imaginary crisis?
Source: Niskanen Center
by Matt Fay and Kristie De Pena
"President Trump has a well-documented--and troubling--history of politicizing the military. Also well-documented are his relentless and hateful attacks on immigrants. His latest attempt to rally his base as the midterms approach combines both of these impulses to breathtakingly misguided effect. ... There is no emergency. There is no crisis. Trump's fear-mongering is merely an extension of his ongoing effort to stir up the anti-immigrant electorate, but this time it comes with a twist: the politicization of the military in order to exaggerate a relatively common occurrence in immigration for electoral advantage." (11/05/18)
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23) Nearly a decade after the Tea Party wave, Congress still spending like it's 1999
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jake Grant
"Since about 2015 -- less than a decade after the financial crisis -- interest rates have been climbing. All the while, the federal government has continued to spend like crazy. Much of this spending is debt-driven, and it seems that next year, trillion-dollar deficits will likely be back. All this under a unified Republican government that just a few years ago was flooded with Tea Party fiscal hawks banging on the Capitol's door and demanding Washington get its finances in order." (11/05/18)
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24) Bombs, rhetorical and otherwise
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Jacob T Levy
"Political speech inspires belief, and action. This shouldn't be controversial, but it is. Assassination attempts against public figures who have been singled out for abuse by President Trump, and the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue, have refocused attention on Trump's incendiary rhetoric. He dismissed the idea that he might have any reason to 'tone down' his language .... The president's apologists have duly returned to their mantra that the president's rhetoric is just a sideshow. Extremist political violence is written off as either radical evil or sociopathy, having no causes, and the president's language is minimized as having no effects." (11/05/18)
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25) Want to achieve real change? Vote Libertarian
Source: Libertarian Party
by staff
"We've all heard the old George Santayana adage, often paraphrased as 'those who don't study history are doomed to repeat it.' A New Yorker cartoon by Tom Toro added a new angle: 'Yet those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.' As we approach another national election, most people are worried about who will control the reins of power, the Republicans or the Democrats. A better option is available, though. By choosing Libertarian Party candidates for public office, American voters can untie those reins and usher in a new era of freedom." (11/05/18)
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26) To fix polarization crisis, use your vote to shift political climate
Source: USA Today
by Bruce Bond
"The spate of suspicious packages and pipe bombs targeting prominent Democrats and the recent hate crimes have been horrifying. As someone who works full-time on mitigating the increasing polarization that divides our nation, I see intense disagreement every day. This was something else entirely -- heartbreaking, appalling and shocking. These attacks and an increase in incendiary rhetoric have further exposed the festering divisions in our country. But they also spurred a bipartisan call for civility. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-AZ, expressed how we need to 'tone down the rhetoric. Both sides. We've got to see people as opponents, not enemies.' Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer tweeted a statement saying, 'Despicable acts of violence and harassment are being carried out by radicals across the political spectrum -- not just by one side. Regardless of who is responsible, these acts are wrong and must be condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike. Period.'" (11/05/18)
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27) Illegitimate
Source: The Honest Courtesan
by Maggie McNeill
"Humans are not yet ready for pure anarchy, and may never be; however, there are functional anarchist societies (I happen to be a member of one), and a small government of strictly-enumerated powers with ironclad guarantees of individual rights is probably the closest we will ever come to a just and incorruptible one. As I wrote in 'A Necessary Evil,' a large part of the problem is that people's moral perspectives are blighted by a sick infatuation with government, a belief that there are some circumstances in which it's not only tolerable but desirable to inflict violence on people who have done none to others, in furtherance of some pipe-dream of Utopia. But this is the vile and barbaric belief-system of savages; as I point out every year on this day, nations and empires are as mortal as living creatures, and none enjoy the mandate of Heaven." (11/05/18)
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28) If US politics were real, a massive blue wave would be 100% certain
Source: Caitlin Johnstone Blog
by Caitlin Johnstone
"I haven't been writing about the US midterms much, because I don't care about that nonsense anymore. The whole thing's a fake pro wrestling performance staged every couple of years to give a heavily armed populace the illusory sense that they have some degree of control over the things their government does. By this I do not mean that the votes aren't real or that the outcomes are predetermined, I simply mean that both mainstream parties are controlled by plutocrats who benefit from the status quo and are only interested in their own power and profit. No matter who wins on Tuesday, the wars are guaranteed to continue, the oligarchs are guaranteed to keep siphoning more and more money out of the pockets of ordinary Americans, opaque and unaccountable intelligence agencies are guaranteed to continue expanding intrusive surveillance practices and narrative control psyops in collaboration with powerful Silicon Valley corporations, and we're guaranteed to keep hurtling toward climate catastrophe on the back of an economic system which requires infinite growth on a finite planet." (11/05/18)
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29) Rent control: An old, bad idea that won't go away
Source: Cato Institute
by Vanessa Brown Calder & Ryan Bourne
"The Bradley Cooper-Lady Gaga remake of A Star Is Born isn't the only thing from the 1970s making a comeback this year. After most states passed laws blocking rent control in the 1980s and '90s, there's now a push to reintroduce it from coast to coast." (11/05/18)
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30) Pure evil
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Laurence M Vance
"Although the federal government has hundreds of departments, agencies, bureaus, boards, administrations, and commissions that have no constitutional authority, they are not all created equal. For example, the Department of Agriculture, which should not exist, has a Food and Nutrition Service, which also should not exist, that operates a food stamp program, which likewise should not exist. And although it is certainly wrong for the government to take money from some Americans and give it to other Americans on an EBT card so they can buy food at the grocery store, at least the food stamp program results in something positive: children have enough food to eat (if their parents don't waste their food stamp benefits on junk food and sugar-laden soda). There is nothing positive about the DEA. Everything it does is pure evil: unnecessarily clogging the judicial system, asset forfeiture, no-knock raids, destroying property, criminalizing vice, arresting and incarcerating people for committing victimless crimes, destroying personal and financial privacy, ruining lives, devastating families, wasting the taxpayers' money." (11/05/18)
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31) How the midterm elections could sway Trump's foreign policy
Source: Reuters
by David E Wade
"I've been a witness to the way the world processes American political dialogue. As a young speechwriter, I was puzzled when my boss erased an applause line that could have been misinterpreted overseas. When I arrived at the State Department, I learned he was right: foreign diplomats consume our news voraciously. A great line in Dubuque might not be worth the headache in Dubai. The whole world always watches America's elections, but few will keep them glued to their televisions like the one on Nov. 6, when voters go to the polls in congressional midterm elections. Conventional wisdom has it that a Democratic wave is soon arriving, to change control of at least one house of Congress two years into the Trump administration. The American political deck will likely be reshuffled – and with it the geopolitical one as well. How will it resonate beyond our shores? The answer is, more and less than you might think." (11/05/18)
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32) US elections are neither free nor fair. States need to open their doors to more observers.
Source: The Intercept
"Voter suppression. Disenfranchisment. Gerrymandering. Can Tuesday's midterms in the United States really be considered free and fair elections? Perhaps we should consult with the experts. Few Americans have heard of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE; even fewer are aware that OSCE observers have been keeping tabs on U.S. elections since 2002, at the invitation of the U.S. State Department. On October 26, the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Washington, D.C., issued an interim report on the 2018 midterms. It didn't make for pleasant reading." (11/05/18)
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33) Legal immigration into the United States, part 13
Source: Notes On Liberty
by Jacques Delacroix
"Discussions of the impact of immigration on native labor often have a 19th century, quasi-Marxist flavor. Implicitly, they seem to posit a large undifferentiated working class, on top of which sits a small middle, or professional class, itself crowned by a tiny capitalist class. (Today, it would be the absurd '1%.') With this scheme, the capitalists, employers all, only want cheap labor, of course, and they keep importing immigrants to compete with native workers and thus keep wages down. In the meantime, the latter vacillates between resentment of foreign born wage competition and class solidarity cutting across nationalities and immigration statuses. The middle class, of course, opportunistically sells its political influence to one or the other main classes. Such a class structure is compatible with a good deal of hostility toward immigrants." (11/05/18)
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34) How the Roberts Court caused Georgia's election mess
Source: The New Republic
by Matt Ford
"Chief Justice John Roberts made a bold declaration on the state of American race relations in 2013. 'Our country has changed,' he concluded in his majority opinion in Shelby County v. Holder, 'and while any racial discrimination in voting is too much, Congress must ensure that the legislation it passes to remedy that problem speaks to current conditions.' With those words, he and the court's conservative majority gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Brian Kemp, Georgia's secretary of state, seems to be on a one-man mission to prove Roberts wrong. The state purged more than 500,000 voters from the rolls under his watch in 2017, raising the likelihood that thousands of voters may be unable to cast a ballot when they show up to the polls next week. The Associated Press reported earlier this month that his office also froze 53,000 voter applications under its 'exact match' policy, which allows officials to reject voter registration forms if the applicants' information doesn't precisely correspond with state and federal records -- even if it's only off by a comma or a hyphen." (11/05/18)
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35) Gustavus Swift: Capitalist hero
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Chris Calton
"For most of the nineteenth century, beef was something of a delicacy. The most common meat for most people was pork, for various reasons. ... For the meat industry, salt was used as a preservative, but people preferred salted pork to salted beef. So for beef to find its way to the market, the [cattle] had to be taken on a long and costly cattle drive from Texas to Kansas, where they would be shipped by train to Chicago. But instead of being butchered and preserved at Chicago's famous Union Stock Yard, they were held until they could be shipped further east where they were butchered locally. ... shipping live cattle was costly. ... Eating beef was a luxury for most people. In 1875, Gustavus Swift moved to Chicago believing that he could do better." (11/05/18)
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36) Racist "libertarian" nationalists
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal
"A Facebook group I was recently added to, with 'libertarian' in the name, seems to mostly be a hangout for 'white supremacists/nationalists' who want to pretend their stance is somehow 'libertarian.' One recent post in the group claimed that since '94% of libertarians' are 'white,' a libertarian best serves his/her own interests by making sure to only do business with 'white-owned' businesses. I confessed in a comment that I have never once chosen to do business with a place based upon the 'race' of the business's owner. I usually don't even know it, anyway, and I'm not going to waste time and effort finding out. I'm much more concerned about whether or not the business owner supports individual liberty." (11/05/18)
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37) Netanyahu's Saudi fantasy
Source: The American Prospect
by Gershom Gorenberg
"Perhaps because he was at a conference in Bulgaria, just a few hundred miles up the Black Sea coast from Istanbul, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu got around to publicly commenting last Friday on the murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamil Khashoggi a month earlier in the Turkish capital. 'What happened in the Istanbul consulate was horrendous, and it should be duly dealt with,' Netanyahu said. The first part of that sounds fine. The second part sounds like he was talking about someone being pulled over for DUI, rather than about a brutal murder carried out by agents of the government of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Both parts belonged to the lip-service clause, after which Netanyahu got to his point. 'Yet ... it is very important for the stability of the world, for the region and for the world, that Saudi Arabia remain stable.'" (11/05/18)
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38) Whatever happened to the Russiagate "scandal?"
Source: Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo
"After all the screaming headlines and hysterical talk of 'treason,' the Russia-gate hoax was almost entirely absent from the midterms. One would think that the other party being in the hands of a ruthless foreign dictator who has it in for America would be a major campaign issue -- that is, if the Democrats actually believed their own propaganda. However, we've seen neither hide nor hair of Putin in all those campaign ads, or at least hardly a glance: that's because Russia-gate has always been a fraud, a setup, and really a criminal conspiracy to take down a sitting US President on the basis of a gigantic lie." (11/05/18)
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39) Seventh time's the charm?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"On Tuesday's ballot, voters find lame attempt number seven by Metro Nashville Council's to weaken or repeal their own term limits. As I told readers of the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, that makes for a council-forced do-over on term limits every 3.4 years for the last 24 years -- since 1994, when greater than 76 percent of Nashville-Davidson County voters passed a consecutive two-term limit on councilmembers." (11/05/18)
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40) Announcing: Bingo for a blue wave
Source: In These Times
by Amelia Diehl
"With corporate donations, voter suppression and polarized misinformation causing outsized influence, U.S. elections can often feel like a rigged game: are we playing Russian Roulette, or dealing out democracy? This midterm, In These Times invites you to play a real game: Election Night Bingo! Print out these cards at home, or join us at our Election Watch Party here in Chicago. All are invited to play. We offer these bingo cards in the understanding that the first victor is not the only victor, for this is not the nature of the political game. If progressives achieve the blue wave they seek, by night's end we will all be shouting out in unison, bingo, bingo, BINGO! It will be a national moment like that scene in 'Network,' where everyone yells out 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore.' In 2018, we say 'BINGO' instead." [editor's note: Regardless of your political bent, this is a nice depiction of the "progressive" (Democrats & issues) options this time; how you play the "card" is up to you – SAT] (11/05/18)
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41) Why I'm not voting
Source: CounterPunch
by Eric Laursen
"On Tuesday, millions of people will vote in a midterm election that's touted as one of the most consequential in decades. This is perfectly understandable. Depending upon the outcome, America could effectively re-endorse President Trump and his party. Or it could reject the celebritician in the Oval Office and re-embrace the party of the Obamas and the Clintons. Millions of people, perfectly eligible to do so, will not vote, however. Once again, I'll be one of them, and I'm happy to explain why." (11/05/18)
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42) DC unfriends Silicon Valley
Source: Reason
by Declan McCullough
"No fewer than 72 percent of Americans believe it is somewhat or very likely that social media companies 'censor political viewpoints they find objectionable,' according to Pew Research Center. That rises to 85 percent among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents. Given all that, it should come as no surprise that GOP politicians increasingly seem to want to puncture Silicon Valley's liberal bubble. House Judiciary members have threatened to target Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube if they continue to promote liberal news sites over conservative ones. Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, recently warned of tech giants' 'influence over our economy and society.' Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen lent her signature to a statement saying the administration may 'pursue technological, enforcement, legislative, or other measures' to bypass encryption. Then there's the Department of Justice's newfound enthusiasm for antitrust challenges to social media firms. ... Democrats, still smarting over what they view as Facebook's role in the 2016 election, are not defending the free market either." (for publication 12/18)
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43) The 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
"In just a few days, on 11 November 2018, we will observe the 100th anniversary of the armistice taking affect at 1100 hours (Central European War Time) of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, which 'ended' the hostilities of the Great War. Which we now call the First World War. Or did it? The wholesale slaughter of soldiers and civilians along the Western Front pretty much stopped: although there are records of attacks and deaths occurring just minutes before the official end of hostilities, on the Western Front: that horrific area of destruction stretching from the Swiss Frontier all the way to the North Sea. But fighting, wounding, and deaths continued for weeks and months, around the world." (11/05/18)
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44) Quantum Vibe, 11/05/18
Source: Big Head Press
by Scott Bieser & Gus Mendes
Cartoon. (11/05/18)
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45) Who falls for the Democrats' message?
Source: Town Hall
by Derek Hunter
"'The end is near, ladies and gentlemen. Unless you vote for radical Democrats on Tuesday, the forces of hatred and division will destroy our democracy and likely kill us all. Donald Trump and the Republicans are the second coming of history's greatest monsters and only you and your vote can stop them. Now chip in a couple of bucks to ensure the sun still rises on Wednesday morning." While those exact words haven't been used, the sentiments have all appeared in campaign fundraising emails in the last couple of months. All that hyperventilating, spin, and lies comes to a head tomorrow when we find out if more Americans than not are crazy or ignorant enough to believe some of the most ridicules claimed ever written. If you've been unlucky enough to find it necessary for work purposes, like me, to sign up for campaign emails, or if you did it because you're a glutton for punishment, you have been inundated this year with plea after plea for '$3 or more' to help elect Democrats because Republicans are awful, or something." (11/05/18)
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46) Biplab Deb's terrible cow idea -- India needs fewer peasant farmers, not more
Source: Continental Telegraph
by Tim Worstall
"It's entirely -- and obviously -- true that giving things to farmers aids in gaining the votes of those farmers. Other than that this is a terrible idea from Biplab Deb, for the one thing that India really doesn't need any more of is peasant farmers. In fact, that the country actually needs is tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of current peasant farmers to stop being peasant farmers. One the very simple basis that that is how a place develops, becomes richer, people stop doing low value things like keeping one cow each and go and do high value things like bash pieces of metal in a factory." (11/05/18)
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47) A demagogue's lies
Source: The Atlantic
by Vernon Loeb & Andrew Kragie
"President Trump's low regard for the truth is, by now, well established. Yet his penchant for lying, about matters large and small, seems to be intensifying on the eve of a crucial election. The Washington Post's fact-checkers published their latest compilation two days ago, tallying 6,420 false or misleading claims in 649 days in office. That works out to almost 10 falsehoods a day. The president went into overdrive at his latest mega-rally, achieving in minutes what it normally takes him a full day to do." (11/05/18)
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48) What to do when voting machines fail
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
by Cindy Cohn & Jacob Hoffman-Andrews
"With Election Day just hours away, we are seeing reports across the country that electronic voting machines are already inaccurately recording votes and questions are being raised about potential foreign interference after 2016. While the responsibility to deal with these issues falls to state election officials, here is a quick guide for how to respond to some issues on Election Day, along with a handy resource from our friends at Verified Voting indicating what equipment is used in each polling place across the nation." (11/05/18)
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49) The abandonment of Asia Bibi
Source: spiked
by Brendan O'Neill
"She's a woman. She's a farm labourer. She is part of a persecuted minority (Christians in Pakistan). And she has been subjected to awful punishments and deprivations merely for saying something. In a different era, Asia [Bibi] would have been a cause celebre in certain Western circles. But not today. Why? Because many in the West now agree that the thing Bibi is alleged to have done, and for which she has been so severely punished, is indeed immoral -- that is, mocking Muhammad." (11/05/18)
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50) Prosperity, in the present
Source: National Review
by Kevin D Williamson
"It's a tough time to be running against the economy." (11/04/18)
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51) Fight for $15 sets sights on a $20 minimum wage
Source: Investor's Business Daily
by Michael Saltsman
"Has the Fight for $15 set its minimum wage aim even higher? In Oakland, voters will consider Measure Z, which would set a minimum wage as high as $20 an hour -- that's $40,000 a year, full-time -- for the city's hotel employees. In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed and the Board of Supervisors recently reached a deal to fund a minimum wage of up to $18.75 for an in-home support worker in the city. (Employees of nonprofit city contractors will also see their pay floor rise about $15.) This trend isn't limited to the West Coast. Last month, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved a $19 minimum wage for 40,000 airport workers at Newark, Kennedy, and LaGuardia airports. The lobbying campaign was the handiwork of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), whose members praised the policy using quotes that were nearly identical to those they used to support $15: 'Making $19 an hour means I won't have to constantly look for that second job just so I can make ends meet.'" (11/04/18)
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52) Ten myths about the US Constitution most congressmen believe
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Laurence M Vance
"There is no question that Americans are ignorant of the Constitution. But there are members of one elite group of Americans that I want to single out who are some of the worst offenders. The ignorance that Americans have of the Constitution is exceeded by the ignorance of the Constitution that most congressmen have." (11/04/18)
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53) Iran sanctions are unjust collective punishment
Source: The American Conservative
by Daniel Larison
"Collectively punishing all Iranians in an attempt to force changes in regime behavior is unjustified. The U.S. has no legitimate reason for reimposing these sanctions. As long as Iran complied with the terms of the JCPOA, the U.S. was supposed to remove all the relevant nuclear sanctions and allow Iran to benefit from normal commerce again. When the president reneged on the deal, he was choosing to go back on that commitment to provide sanctions relief. There is no international legal basis for what the U.S. is doing to Iran right now, and the U.S. is in fact in flagrant violation of UNSCR 2231, the Security Council resolution that endorsed the nuclear deal." (11/05/18)
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54) Who owes compensation?
Source: Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux
"I tell you what I tell all others who complain that immigrants allegedly come to America to free-ride on America's welfare state: until and unless the U.S. government eliminates its restrictions on Americans' abilities to employ immigrants, express concerns about immigrants being unproductive residents who drain the U.S. fisc ring hollow. Anti-immigrationists' support for immigrant work-restrictions belie anti-immigrationists' warnings about the threat that immigrants are said to pose to American taxpayers." (11/04/18)
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55) Obama's greatest failure
Source: The Blog Whose Name Changes Sometimes
by Gene Callahan
"The large number of counties that swung from supporting Obama in 2008 and 2012 to supporting Trump in 2016 didn't do so because these voters, who had supported a black man for president against a white man, had suddenly turned 'racist' and ... backed one white candidate against another white candidate? Nope: they realized that Obama had completely sold them out to keep the Wall Street money spigots open. Perhaps they were over-optimistic to think Trump wouldn't do the same, or perhaps not. But if progressives are puzzling over 'what happened,' they might contemplate the fact that their guy, given a choice between bailing out struggling homeowners or wealthy bankers, did not hesitate for a second in choosing the latter." (11/04/18)
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
56) Reason Podcast, 11/05/18
Source: Reason
"Are you ready for the next 30 hours or so of political hysteria, spoiler-hunting, and supremely confident innumeracy? Then you're in the right place! Today's editor-roundtable midterms-preview edition of the Reason Podcast includes, thank Jeebus, Managing Editor Stephanie Slade, who has forgotten more about polling than most of us will ever know. ... The usual crew of Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and yours truly also pick out races of note, discuss the implications of President Donald Trump's hard pivot to caravan/immigration politics in the homestretch, talk smack about Daylight Saving Time, and in open defiance of Slade make a series of probably disastrous predictions for Election Day." [various formats] (11/05/18)
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57) This week in Bitcoin, 11/05/18
Source: Bitcoin.com
"David Clement is the director of external relations for Students for Liberty, the largest libertarian student organization in the world. Bitcoin is a bottom-up movement; it starts with the kids. How do they feel about bitcoin right now?" [various formats] (11/05/18)
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58) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 11/05/18
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
"With sanctions back on Iran, will US dollar hegemony be the first victim? How many civilians will suffer for the Trump Administration's obsession with 'regime change' for Iran? Today's Liberty Report was recorded in front of a live audience from the Mises Institute Symposium on alternative media at Brazosport College on Nov. 5, 2018." [Flash video] (11/05/18)
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59) The Bookmonger, episode 219
Source: National Review
"John J. Miller is joined by David Harsanyi to discuss his book, First Freedom." [various formats] (11/05/18)
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60) Cato Daily Podcast, 11/05/18
Source: Cato Daily Podcast
"What benefits does the U.S. derive from new sanctions on Iran? Iranian leaders have long said they are willing to negotiate, and the U.S. has already poked holes in its own hard line toward the regime. John Glaser and Emma Ashford comment." [various formats] (11/05/18)
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61) Scott Adams Says, 11/05/18
Source: Scott Adams Says
"Scott Adams talks about what the NYT got wrong about #jobsnotmobs, polls, midterms, and coffee." [Flash video] (11/05/18)
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62) CQ Budget Podcast, episode 85
Source: Roll Call
"A 16-member bipartisan, bicameral select committee is on the verge of proposing changes to the annual budget and appropriations process, including moving the budget resolution from an annual to a biennial schedule. CQ's Jennifer Shutt talks about the select committee's progress with Mike Veselik, manager of the Federal Budget Process Reform Project at Convergence, and Building a Better Budget Process stakeholder Matt Owens, who testified in front of the panel earlier this year." [various formats] (11/05/18)
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63) We Are Libertarians Daily 16
Source: We Are Libertarians
"Chris Spangle and Levie Rainey discuss the 2018 Georgia race for Governor with Stacey Abrams, Brian Kemp, and Ted Metz. Levie is a student libertarian torn between liberal professors and conservative family members resenting her Libertarian vote for Metz. We discuss the race, the wasted vote why she isn't wasting her vote, and why she ought to be hopeful for the Libertarian Party's future." [various formats] (11/05/18)
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64) One Free Family, episode 37
Source: Pax Libertas Productions
"Helping our kids accomplish their goals is fundamental to creating a self-directed learning environment, but it's a more nuanced topic than it first appears." [Flash audio] (11/05/18)
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65) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 267
Source: Foreign Policy Focus
"On FPF #267, Brian Saady returns to discuss Venezuela. Brian explains the rise of Chavez and the Communist government. He reviews the opposition to the Communist government. We talk about the current state of Venezuela and Trump's Venezuela policy." [various formats] (11/05/18)
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66) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 373
Source: Lions of Liberty
"In today's flagship Lions of Liberty podcast, Marc interviews Dr. Kyle Varner about his upcoming work to expose the 'White Coat Cartels,' as he refers to the crony capitalists who have overtaken the U.S. medical industry over the last century." [various formats] (11/05/18)
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67) Free Talk Live, 11/04/18
Source: Free Talk Live
"State Rep Advocates Biblical Holy War :: Christian Exodus :: Islam vs Christianity :: Moral Compass :: Murder and Anarchy :: Abolish the Justice System :: Anti-Corporate :: Disney World :: Universal Basic Income :: Midterms and Trump :: HOSTS -- Ian, Mark, Laurel." [Flash audio or MP3] (11/04/18)
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68) The Anarchist Experience, episode 189
Source: The Anarchist Experience
"MC Still away, so Rich reads the News. HEADLINES: 3 Steps to Get the Government Out of Your Life; It's OK Not to Vote; Let Daylight Saving Time Die Already; China permits limited trade of rhino, tiger goods; A Cryptocurrency Millionaire Wants to Build a Utopia in Nevada; Why Bad Economics Makes Such Good Politics; Tearing Down Social Platforms Like Gab Won't Stop the Violence." [various formats] (11/04/18)
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69) Punk Rock Libertarians Podcast, episode 186
Source: The Daily Liberator
"No Nut November." [various formats] (11/04/18)
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70) The Last Nighters, episode 44
Source: The Launch Pad Media
"We have a guest on to talk about V for Vendetta, as it is that time of year. Jay from www.AnarchoCoffee.com jolts us into a fun discussion on a movie that can be taken many ways." [Flash audio or MP3] (11/04/18)
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