06/13 -- Ninth Circuit refuses to reinstate Trump Muslim ban; Collectivist authoritarians can't be anarchists
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Thomas L. Knapp
Jun 13, 2017, 6:47:20 AM6/13/17
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 06/13/17
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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) Ninth Circuit refuses to reinstate Trump Muslim ban
2) MT: Gianforte sentenced to community service for assaulting Guardian reporter
3) SCOTUS invalidates gender inequality in citizenship law
4) SCOTUS speeds copycat biologic drugs to market
5) Quigley introduces "COVFEFE Act" to preserve Trump personal tweets
6) Northern Iraq refugees create national cemetery in Nebraska
7) CA: UC reverses policy, won't pick up tab for regents' parties
8) Austria: Regime bans Islamic dress for women, mandates 12-month integration course
9) Lawsuit: Ghost teachers cost Pennsylvania school district more than $500,000
10) US firms boycott Trump-like Julius Caesar play
11) AZ: Idiot pol calls cops on cookie-bearing constituents -- then claims they set cars on fire
12) Sessions agrees to testify about Russia in public hearing
13) MI: Detroit cop opens fire on video shoot reported as robbery
14) GE's Jeff Immelt to step down as CEO and chairman
15) Afghanistan: US forces allegedly murder three after bomb attack on convoy
16) UK: May delays Queen's Speech as she grapples to lead minority government
17) France: Macron tightens grip on Assembly as old guard ejected
18) MI: ICE thugs abduct dozens
19) DC, Maryland to sue Trump, alleging breach of constitutional oath
20) Russia: Opposition leader Navalny abducted ahead of protest
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Collectivist authoritarians can't be anarchists
22) Five essential hacks for summer
23) Unelected bureaucrats are running our lives
24) Cops have lost control of their sex trafficking panic, and it's beautiful
25) The sideshow that never leaves town
26) Why are we attacking the Syrians who are fighting ISIS?
27) Trump the mobster president
28) On democracy as a necessary anarchist value
29) How to get to liberaltarianism from the left
30) Trump's silver lining in Iraq
31) Assassination is murder, even when the CIA does it
32) Trump's education cuts aren't "devastating," they're smart
33) Where's the thermometer?
34) The Koch Brothers & Trump: The men who sold the world
35) Puerto Rico bankruptcy storm heading for mainland America
36) The Obamafication of Macron
37) Trump's credibility problem
38) GOP Congress better get its act together
39) Cheques that can never be cashed
40) How much automation is there in Chad?
41) A culture war masquerading as a youthquake
42) Trump's bridge to the future
43) Can Ethiopia's planned economy stand the test of time?
44) The collapse of Penn Station: Another failure of government "enterprise"
45) As Bitcoin's price rises security shouldn't be taken for granted
46) Citizens triumphant
47) Was Loving v. Virginia really about love?
48) Britain refuses to accept how terrorists really work
49) Karl Marx and the presumption of a "right side" to history, part 2
50) Federal overreach and American foreign policy go hand in hand
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) The power of the prosecutor
52) The Freedom Report, 06/12/17
53) Freedom Feens Radio, 06/12/17
54) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 299
55) Free Talk Live, 06/11/17
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Ninth Circuit refuses to reinstate Trump Muslim ban
Source: Los Angeles Times
"Another federal appeals court refused on Monday to lift a hold on President Trump's travel ban, ruling that it lacked justification and violated a federal immigration law that prohibits discrimination based on nationality. The unanimous, unsigned decision by a three-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals provided a second legal basis for blocking Trump's travel moratorium and delivered yet another major legal defeat to the Trump administration." (06/12/17)
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2) MT: Gianforte sentenced to community service for assaulting Guardian reporter
Source: The Guardian [UK]
"Congressman-elect Greg Gianforte was sentenced to community service, a $385 fine and 20 hours of sessions for anger management after pleading guilty to assaulting Guardian reporter Ben Jacobs on the eve of his election. In a courtroom packed with journalists and spectators in Bozeman, Montana, Gianforte pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault, saying, 'Although it was not my intention to hurt him, I understand Ben was injured.' After judge Rick West repeatedly asked Gianforte whether he believed he caused injury to Jacobs, the congressman-elect said he did. West initially said he would sentence him to four days in jail, saying he could do a work program as an alternative to spending those nights in jail. But when the judge learned that the assault charge was not eligible for the program, he decided to instead sentence him to 40 hours of community service, emphasizing that he did not want the congressman-elect to go to jail." [hat tip -- David Klaus] (06/12/17)
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3) SCOTUS invalidates gender inequality in citizenship law
Source: Raw Story
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday struck down a gender distinction in U.S. immigration law that treats mothers and fathers differently when determining a child's citizenship, calling such inequality 'stunningly anachronistic.' The high court, in a 8-0 ruling authored by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, found that a provision in federal law that defines how people born overseas can be eligible for U.S. citizenship violated the U.S. Constitution's equal protection guarantee. The ruling, however, may not help the man who brought the case, New York resident Luis Morales-Santana, who was seeking to avoid deportation to the Dominican Republic after being convicted of several offenses. The law requires that unwed fathers who are American citizens spend at least five years living in the United States (a 2012 amendment reduced it from 10 years) before they can confer citizenship to a child born abroad, out of wedlock and to a partner who is not a U.S. citizen." (06/12/17)
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4) SCOTUS speeds copycat biologic drugs to market
Source: Reuters
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cut the time it will take for copycat versions of biologic drugs to get to the market in a pivotal ruling about an expensive class of medicines that can yield billions of dollars in sales for drug companies. The justices, in a 9-0 ruling, overturned a lower court's decision that had prevented Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG from selling its copycat version of California-based Amgen Inc's Neupogen until six months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved it. The decision has major implications for the pharmaceutical industry because it will dictate how long brand-name makers of biologic drugs can keep near-copies, called biosimilars, off the market. Even the six months at issue in the case can mean hundreds of millions of dollars in sales. Health insurers expect biosimilars to be cheaper than original brands, like generics, saving consumers billions of dollars each year." (06/12/17)
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5) Quigley introduces "COVFEFE Act" to preserve Trump personal tweets
Source: Chicago Tribune
"It's called the COVFEFE Act. A bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democrat, would ensure that even social media posts from the President Donald Trump's personal Twitter account (@realDonaldTrump) are archived in the same manner as his official account, @POTUS. The title of Quigley's measure employs the word Trump invented with what's presumed to be a typing error in an early-morning May 31 post from his personal account. 'Despite the constant negative press covfefe,' the post started, with 'covfefe' (thought to be an attempt at 'coverage,' given the context). Hours went by before the president revisited the word, posting: 'Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe' ??? Enjoy!' The original Twitter message was later deleted." (06/12/17)
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6) Northern Iraq refugees create national cemetery in Nebraska
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"Refugees from northern Iraq have established a national cemetery in southeast Nebraska. About 250 people gathered Saturday to celebrate the establishment of the new 20-acre Yazidi Cemetery, the Lincoln Journal Star reported. The land was bought for $150,500 in October by the United Yezidi Community of America, a Lincoln nonprofit aiming to unify the Yazidi community. 'This is an important event for us and all our people here,' local Yazidi elder Taalo Khudhur said through an interpreter. 'It's important to have land here where we can carry out our traditions in the United States.' Yazidi people are ethnically Kurdish and have long faced persecution for their religion, the most recent being the 2014 genocide by the Islamic State in northern Iraq." (06/12/17)
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7) CA: UC reverses policy, won't pick up tab for regents' parties
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"The University of California will no longer pay for its governing board members to throw themselves dinners and parties after a Chronicle report showed that the regents regularly billed the university for their festivities. Although the events were charged to a private endowment, and thus not covered by public money or tuition, the practice will stop 'to avoid any question over use of university or university-associated funds,' Board of Regents Chair Monica Lozano and UC President Janet Napolitano said in a statement Sunday. Longtime Regent Richard Blum, a wealthy financier and former chairman of the board, said the policy change was his idea. After reading The Chronicle's story Sunday, Blum said he called Napolitano and suggested it." (06/12/17)
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8) Austria: Regime bans Islamic dress for women, mandates 12-month integration course
Source: Fox News
"Austria has passed a controversial law that fines women who wear Islamic dress covering the whole face, and takes away welfare benefits from immigrants who fail to learn the language. 'Those who are not prepared to accept Enlightenment values will have to leave our country and society,' reads the text of the law, RT reported. Earlier this year, the draft law drew thousands of protesters against the government and parliamentarians, but it was passed by a centrist coalition last month and now was signed by the president. According to the law, women will face a fine of €150 ($168) if they wear Islamic dresses, either the niqab or the burqa, in public places. In addition to the fines, all new migrants coming to Austria to live will now be forced to take a 12-month 'integration course' that includes German language lessons if they wish to receive any welfare benefits." (06/10/17)
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9) Lawsuit: Ghost teachers cost Pennsylvania school district more than $500,000
Source: Fox News
"A recent lawsuit filed in Berks County Court aims to end a Pennsylvania school district's practice of paying full-time officers of teachers unions with taxpayer dollars. An Oklahoma City-based nonprofit group called Americans for Fair Treatment filed the lawsuit against the Reading School District with the help of the Fairness Center in Harrisburg. The lawsuit charges that since 2011, more than $500,000 in tax funds have been used to pay for 'ghost teachers,' or those who are paid as if they had jobs in public classrooms but are actually employed by the Reading Education Association. The plaintiffs are seeking the return of the funds, including more than $400,000 in salaries, about $50,000 in pension contributions and about $73,000 in health benefits. They allege the funds were illegally funneled to officers of the union local." (06/12/17)
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10) US firms boycott Trump-like Julius Caesar play
Source: BBC [UK state media]
"Two major US corporations have ended their sponsorship of a production of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar in which the Roman leader mimics Donald Trump. In the New York-based production, Julius Caesar is depicted as a blond-haired businessman in a blue suit. The production company, Public Theater, said the character was a contemporary Caesar 'bent on absolute power.' One of the sponsors, Delta Air Lines, said the producers had 'crossed the line on the standards of good taste.' In the Shakespearean tragedy, which is staged in New York's Central Park, Caesar is assassinated in a lengthy scene in which he fights off his attackers before succumbing to multiple stab wounds." [editor's note: About eight months ago, I watched a friend performing Herod in a production of "Jesus Christ Superstar" -- wearing the wig and the shiny suit that left no ambiguity whst he was doing (I guess the SJWs aren't the only ones with no sense of humor) – SAT] (06/12/17)
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11) AZ: Idiot pol calls cops on cookie-bearing constituents -- then claims they set cars on fire
Source: Raw Story
"A group of constituents desperate to meet with Rep. David Schweikert (R-AZ) brought cookies as a friendly gesture. It had the opposite effect, however, and Schweikert called the police. Now he is begging for money, saying that the cookie-bearing constituents engaged in a 'violent clash' with police. … Scottsdale Police Officer Kevin Watts told Raw Story via email, 'There have been no reports of violence, clashes with our officers or incidents of criminal damage associated with Representative Schweikert's office to date.'" (06/12/17)
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12) Sessions agrees to testify about Russia in public hearing
Source: NBC News
"Bowing to pressure from Democrats, Attorney General Jeff Sessions has agreed to testify in public Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has scheduled a hearing for 2:30 p.m. … Committee members were taken by surprise by Sessions'[s] letter over the weekend offering to appear before the panel investigating Russian hacking, in lieu of what was to be an open appearance before the Senate Appropriations Committee. Subsequent reports suggested the intelligence hearing would happen behind closed doors. … Democrats didn't want Sessions to use a secret Intelligence Committee hearing to get out of public testimony over the question of his participating in firing FBI Director James Comey, and over whether he had an undisclosed meeting with Sergey Kislyak, the Russian ambassador to the U.S." (06/12/17)
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/sessions-agrees-testify-about-russia-public-hearing-n771031
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13) MI: Detroit cop opens fire on video shoot reported as robbery
Source: USA Today
"Detroit police responded to a robbery report on the city's west side Saturday night and fired shots before discovering the people involved were filming a video. Officers received information that people in a black Jeep were robbing people, said Officer Dan Donakowski, a Detroit police spokesman, on Sunday. … a suspect pointed a weapon at an officer and the officer fired three shots. None of them hit anybody. Further investigation revealed that people in both the Jeep and Aston Martin were shooting a video, Donakowski said, adding those individuals didn't have any proof of permission to shoot the video." [editor's note: On the one hand, why would you need permission to shoot a video? On the other hand, if you're going to shoot a video that looks like a crime, probably better to let the local orcs know ahead of time instead of just hoping you luck out and they send a piss-poor marksman – TLK] (06/12/17)
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14) GE's Jeff Immelt to step down as CEO and chairman
Source: MarketWatch
"Jeff Immelt is retiring and will be replaced as chief executive of GE by John Flannery as of Aug. 1, the industrial conglomerate said Monday. Immelt will stay on as chairman of the board through the end of his retirement from the company on Dec. 31, 2017, GE said in a statement. Flannery will then be CEO and chairman, effective Jan. 1, 2018." (06/12/17)
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ges-jeff-immelt-to-step-down-as-ceo-and-chairman-2017-06-12-6914026
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15) Afghanistan: US forces allegedly murder three after bomb attack on convoy
Source: Business Insider
"As many as three Afghan civilians were killed on Monday when American troops opened fire after their vehicle struck a roadside bomb, an official in Nangarhar province said. A man and his two sons were killed at their home in Ghani Khel, a district in the south of Nangarhar, on the border with Pakistan, said Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor. 'After the bomb blast hit them, the American forces then started shooting and killed one man and two children nearby,' he said." (06/12/17)
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16) UK: May delays Queen's Speech as she grapples to lead minority government
Source: Sky News [UK]
"Theresa May's Queen's Speech has been thrown into chaos after she was forced to delay it, according to Sky sources. The Prime Minister has postponed the key address -- due to be on 19 June -- as she grapples with how to control a minority government. The Queen is expected to attend Parliament a few days later to give the speech that reveals that year's legislative agenda. A Labour spokesperson responded: 'Number 10's failure to confirm the date of the Queen's speech shows that this government is in chaos, as it struggles to agree a backroom deal with a party with abhorrent views on LGBT and women's rights.'" (06/12/17)
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17) France: Macron tightens grip on Assembly as old guard ejected
Source: Bloomberg
"President Emmanuel Macron expanded his control of French politics as voters put his party on track to a sweeping majority in the National Assembly in the first round of legislative elections, ousting establishment stalwarts in the process. The new president's year-old party, Republic on the Move, won 32.3 percent of the vote alongside its centrist ally MoDem, more than 13 percentage points ahead of the Republicans' group, according to the Interior Ministry's final vote count. The first round was marked by record-low turnout with less than half the registered voters casting a ballot. In an alliance with the centrist MoDem party, Macron's group will have between 415 and 455 seats out of 577 in the lower house of parliament, according to projections by Ipsos." (06/12/17)
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18) MI: ICE thugs abduct dozens
Source: Detroit Free Press
"Dozens of Chaldeans from metro Detroit were [abducted] Sunday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and face possible deportation, leaders in the Chaldean community said. Martin Manna, an Iraqi-American Christian advocate who is president of the Chaldean Community Foundation based in Sterling Heights, said he's getting information from family members of those [abducted], many of who live in Macomb and Oakland counties. … A spokesman for ICE declined to comment on any specifics. … Chaldeans are worried they will be persecuted as Christians in Iraq if they are deported. In 2003, there were 1.4 million Christians in Iraq, and today there are fewer than 200,000, Manna said." (06/12/17)
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19) DC, Maryland to sue Trump, alleging breach of constitutional oath
Source: Washington Post
"Attorneys general for the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland say they will sue President Trump on Monday, alleging that he has violated anti-corruption clauses in the Constitution by accepting millions in payments and benefits from foreign governments since moving into the White House. The lawsuit, the first of its kind brought by government entities, centers on the fact that Trump chose to retain ownership of his company when he became president. Trump said in January that he was shifting his business assets into a trust managed by his sons to eliminate potential conflicts of interests. But D.C. Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D) and Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) say Trump has broken many promises to keep separate his public duties and private business interests." (06/12/17)
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20) Russia: Opposition leader Navalny abducted ahead of protest
Source: ABC News
"Protests spearheaded by prominent opposition figure Alexei Navalny were taking place across the country on Monday, but Navalny himself was reportedly arrested outside his Moscow home en route to the centerpiece demonstration in the capital city. Navalny's wife, Yulia, said on his Twitter feed that he was arrested about a half-hour before the demonstration was to begin. There was no immediate statement from police. … Navalny's website reported Monday that protests were held in more than a half-dozen cities in the Far East, including the major Pacific ports of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk and in Siberia's Barnaul. Photos on the website suggested turnouts of hundreds at the rallies." (06/11/17)
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Collectivist authoritarians can't be anarchists
Source: Everything Voluntary
by Larken Rose
"Some supposed 'anarchists' now argue that, as a result of being robbed by the political parasites, American taxpayers magically have some rightful collective ownership of the entire area now called 'the United States,' and therefore have the right to forcibly prevent anyone else from setting foot anywhere inside it (via 'closed borders'). … No, getting robbed by politicians while you're living in Florida doesn't magically give you a say over who can set foot anywhere in the vast wilderness of Alaska. Politicians robbing you is not why Alaska (or anywhere else) exists. Someone in DC robbing someone in Florida doesn't magically give the robber or the robbed ownership of any of Alaska. No one has rightful ownership of unused and uninhabited land." (06/12/17)
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22) Five essential hacks for summer
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jeffrey A Tucker
"The digital world is mostly unregulated. Hence, our digital devices are ever-more amazing. We can adjust our thermostats with voice commands. We can see who is standing at the front door, even if we are vacationing overseas. We can listen to any music from any era instantly. Meanwhile, in the physical world, the government has never been more controlling. The costs are incalculable. But in our homes, the costs are felt most intensely. … This trend has been slow in coming. It began with regulatory changes in the 1990s. Some kind of material puritanism swept the American political ethos. It forced everyone to 'save' water and otherwise be more miserable in homage to the collective interests of us all, or whatever. Since then, matters have gotten worse, as we've replaced our own appliances and other household items, thinking that we would get something better but only discovering something worse. Here are five easy hacks to fight back." (06/12/17)
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23) Unelected bureaucrats are running our lives
Source: USA Today
by Glenn Harlan Reynolds
"Watching the ongoing clown show in Washington, Americans can be forgiven for asking themselves, 'Why did we give this bunch of clowns so very much power over our nation and our lives?' Well, don't feel so bad, voters. Because you didn't actually give them that much power. They just took it. That's the thesis of Columbia Law Professor Philip Hamburger's new book, The Administrative Threat, a short, punchy followup to his magisterial Is Administrative Law Unlawful? Both deal with the extraordinary (and illegitimate) power that administrative agencies have assumed in American life. … [T]oday, the laws that actually affect people and businesses are seldom written by Congress; instead they are created by administrative agencies through a process of 'informal rulemaking,' a process whose chief virtue is that it's easy for the rulers to engage in, and hard for the ruled to observe or influence." [editor's note: Finally someone noting the true "naked power" of the never-elected – SAT] (06/12/17)
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24) Cops have lost control of their sex trafficking panic, and it's beautiful
Source: Reason
by Elizabeth Nolan Brown
"Be still my little libertarian heart, there's just something beautiful about a cop-created moral panic slipping beyond their control. For years, U.S. police have been using tall-tales about an American 'sex trafficking epidemic' to scare citizens into giving up civil liberties (or at least offering up the rights of sex workers and their clients) and go about the government's typical types of thuggery. But now the narrative is getting away from them. So sure are Americans (despite all evidence) that sophisticated criminals are waiting to snatch up our girls and women at every opportunity that people are now inventing sex-trafficking rings of their own … and berating police for not taking action." (06/12/17)
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25) The sideshow that never leaves town
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Butler Shaffer
"What has emerged from the politicization of our lives –– a process that has made us subservient to institutional interests -- is the 'size theory of social misery' so well described by Leopold Kohr. We have allowed ourselves to be burdened by a supra-institutional body, the political Establishment; an entity owned and controlled by self-appointed elites who have an interest in keeping mankind under their domination at the base of their pyramidal structures of power. Schools and the mainstream media have been the principal tools with which to condition and reinforce the conditioning in our imposed duty of obedience to the state. Both the purpose and effect of all this is to train us in the skills that will be useful to the established order. It is not to help us learn how to think independently, how to make relevant distinctions, how to explore reality and values that lie beyond the boundaries set for us, how to discriminate between truth and fashion, how to be self-directed in our thinking and actions, and how to live for our own purposes." (06/12/17)
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26) Why are we attacking the Syrians who are fighting ISIS?
Source: Campaign For Liberty
by Ron Paul
"Just when you thought our Syria policy could not get any worse, last week it did. The US military twice attacked Syrian government forces from a military base it illegally occupies inside Syria. According to the Pentagon, the attacks on Syrian government-backed forces were 'defensive' because the Syrian fighters were approaching a US self-declared 'de-confliction' zone inside Syria. The Syrian forces were pursuing ISIS in the area, but the US attacked anyway. The US is training yet another rebel group fighting from that base, located near the border of Iraq at al-Tanf, and it claims that Syrian government forces pose a threat to the US military presence there. But the Pentagon has forgotten one thing: it has no authority to be in Syria in the first place! Neither the US Congress nor the UN Security Council has authorized a US military presence inside Syria." (06/12/17)
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27) Trump the mobster president
Source: The New Republic
by Jeet Heer
"As a politician unlike any before him, President Donald Trump has elicited no shortage of analogies from journalists seeking to understand and explain him. He's a 'drunk uncle' or 'carnival barker.' He's a 'heel,' the scripted villain in professional wrestling. He's a 'human Molotov cocktail' and a 'dumpster fire' and a 'wrecking ball.' He's the worst boss you've ever had, a failing CEO. He's Richard Nixon, but worse. No, he's Juan Peron or George Wallace or Silvio Berlusconi -- or even Mussolini or Hitler. In the wake of former FBI Director James Comey's Senate testimony last week, where he revealed that Trump demanded loyalty from him, there's a new analogy du jour." (06/12/17)
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28) On democracy as a necessary anarchist value
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Kevin Carson
"The real reason for the unwillingness of most scholars to see a Sulawezi or Tallensi village council as 'democratic' -- well, aside from simple racism, the reluctance to admit anyone Westerners slaughtered with such relative impunity were quite on the level as Pericles -- is that they do not vote. Now, admittedly, this is an interesting fact. Why not? If we accept the idea that a show of hands, or having everyone who supports a proposition stand on one side of the plaza and everyone against stand on the other, are not really such incredibly sophisticated ideas that they never would have occurred to anyone until some ancient genius 'invented' them, then why are they so rarely employed? Again, we seem to have an example of explicit rejection. Over and over, across the world, from Australia to Siberia, egalitarian communities have preferred some variation on consensus process. Why?" (06/12/17)
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29) How to get to liberaltarianism from the left
Source: Niskanen Center
by Steven Teles
"While I've hung around with a lot of libertarians in my life and learned a great deal from them, I've never been one of them. I am and (God willing) will always be a straight-ticket Democrat. So my path to liberaltarianism has a different trajectory than my co-conspirators here at the Niskanen Center. It is worth explaining why I now think liberaltarianism is a reasonable shorthand for my political positions, and what I think the philosophy has to offer for people who come more or less from my side of the fence." (06/12/17)
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30) Trump's silver lining in Iraq
Source: Reuters
by Peter Van Buren
"Will the defeat of Islamic State in Iraq be a foreign policy victory for Donald Trump? With the fall of Mosul imminent, what happens next? There will be winners, like the Kurds. There will be losers, like Iraq's Sunni minority. There will be gains for Iran, which backs the Shi'ite militias drafted to fight Sunni-dominated IS. And there may be a silver lining for the Trump administration -- specifically in the form of Kurdish independence and permanent American bases in a Shi'ite-ruled Iraq. But any declaration of 'victory' on the part of the United States depends on how the measure of those results is taken. Start with the Kurds. Their military forces currently control a swath of northern territory, including the oil-rich province of Kirkuk. The area has been a functional confederacy since soon after the American invasion of 2003 and in spite of likely opposition from Baghdad, a fully-realized nation-state of Kurdistan seems inevitable. The Kurds certainly think so; they'll hold an independence referendum on September 25." (06/12/17)
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31) Assassination is murder, even when the CIA does it
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"[T]he U.S. mainstream press, while able to recognize that assassination by Russian agents constitutes murder, is psychologically unable to recognize that the same applies to assassination by CIA and other U.S. agents. That's the power of indoctrination and propaganda by the most powerful government in history, one that wields the omnipotent power to assassinate anyone in the world it wants, including American citizens, and not be held to account, not even by the federal judiciary, which has held that it lacks jurisdiction to interfere with U.S. state-sponsored assassinations." (06/12/17)
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32) Trump's education cuts aren't "devastating," they're smart
Source: Independent Institute
by Williams M Evers & Vicki E Alger
"It's the end of the world as we know it -- at least that's what some people would have us believe about President Trump's education budget. It's 'a devastating blow to the country's public education system,' according to National School Boards Assn. CEO Thomas Gentzel. More like a 'wrecking ball,' says Lily Eskelsen Garcia, president of the National Education Assn. teachers' union. No, it's a veritable 'assault on the American Dream,' insists John B. King Jr., former Obama administration secretary of education. Such hyperbole is reminiscent of the early 1980s, when President Reagan's opponents battled his administration's education cuts, and it's about as inaccurate today as it was back then. Trump wants to reduce the U.S. Department of Education's discretionary budget by $9.2 billion, from $68.3 billion to $59.1 billion. Close to two-thirds of that reduction (63%) comes from eliminating programs that are duplicative or just don't work." (06/12/17)
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33) Where's the thermometer?
Source: Strike the Root
by Paul Hein
"President Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Accord has been met with the predictable gasps of horror and warnings of impending catastrophe from the statists. Global warming, after all, (or as it is now termed, 'climate change') is something which you simply DO NOT question. Like JFK's assassination by a 'lone shooter,' or the twin towers destruction by airliners, the facts are presumed to be so obvious as to be undeniable by anyone but an ignoramus. (Incidentally, should facts be 'presumed?') Well, I've no reputation to put on the line, so I'll chance it. As I slipped awkwardly into my ninth decade, I discovered that authorities can deal handily with questions about details. Indeed, the details can be myriad and highly technical. Do any reading on global warming, and you'll see what I mean. However, these same authorities cringe when presented with a very simple, basic, question." (06/12/17)
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34) The Koch Brothers & Trump: The men who sold the world
Source: Our Future
by Richard Eskow
When he withdrew from the Paris climate agreement, Donald Trump gave a speech so filled with falsehoods that it triggered detailed rebuttals by publications ranging from Politifact to Scientific American. The Washington Post's 'Fact Checker' column, which hands out 'Pinocchios' for false or misleading statements, was forced to note that 'we do not award Pinocchios in roundups of speeches.' But by then Trump probably had more Pinocchios than the Disneyland gift shop. But Trump is not the only truth-denier in the Republican Party. In a front-page story by Coral Davenport and Eric Lipton, the New York Times documented the GOP's transformation from a party with leaders like John McCain and Newt Gingrich, who accepted the scientific consensus on the climate, to one whose leader believes it is a hoax perpetrated by China." (06/12/17)
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35) Puerto Rico bankruptcy storm heading for mainland America
Source: Heartland Institute
by Jesse Hathaway
"The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico, a federal board tasked with managing the island commonwealth's course out of fiscal emergency, declared failure on May 3, filing paperwork to begin court proceedings restructuring the government debt. Territory government agencies, such as the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, are likely to follow the government into bankruptcy court, leaving investors to potentially lose as much as 65 percent of their original investments. In 2015, Puerto Rico Gov. García Padilla warned of an impending 'death spiral' if territory lawmakers did not make pro-growth reforms. They did not, and Padilla's warning has come to pass. Puerto Rico is circling the drain, financially speaking, but it's not too late for mainland lawmakers to learn from the island's mistakes." (06/12/17)
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36) The Obamafication of Macron
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Stephen Cable
"Eleven years ago, the US media started to produce glowing, servile reports about the junior senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. I remember reading an article in Time Magazine that had a curious lack of curiosity about it. The Senator was shown in flattering photos with good lighting, his megawatt smile beaming with confidence. Everything about him was wonderful. All his words had the ring of hope and change and even creaky floorboards stopped creaking when he walked on them. … Then on February 10, 2007, he announced his run for the presidency to the surprise of no one. A man with the most razor thin resume ever for a presidential candidate was running for the most powerful political position in the world. The rest, as they say, is history. From then until now the media has fallen over themselves to tell you how awesome he is. … Enter Emmanuel Macron the newly minted (banking pun there) French President. Now the process is underway again as Macron undergoes Obamafication." (06/12/17)
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37) Trump's credibility problem
Source: National Review
by Kevin D Williamson
"What sort of man is the president of these United States? We know he is a habitual liar, one who tells obvious lies for no apparent reason, from claiming to own hotels that he does not own to boasting about having a romantic relationship with Carla Bruni, which never happened. ('Trump is obviously a lunatic,' Bruni explained.) He invented a series of imaginary friends to lie to the New York press about both his business and sexual careers. He has conducted both his private and public lives with consistent dishonesty and dishonor. He is not a man who can be taken at his word. Conservatives used to care about that sort of thing: Bill Bennett built a literary empire on virtue, and Peggy Noonan wrote wistfully of a time 'When Character Was King.' But even if we set aside any prissy moral considerations and put a purely Machiavellian eye on the situation, we have to conclude that having a man such as Trump as president and presumptive leader of the Republican party is an enormous problem for conservatives and for the country corporately." [editor's note: Bennett's an odd cite -- while he was preaching to others about virtue and self-discipline, he was also indulging a compulsive gambling habit while simultaneously lobbying against legal gambling. Just sayin' … – TLK] (06/12/17)
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38) GOP Congress better get its act together
Source: Town Hall
by Kurt Schlichter
"'Everything's fine,' smiled Captain Paul Ryan smarmily as he steered the Titanic into an iceberg. 'Now, let me get back to shafting our own voting base via my incomprehensible determination to cancel the tax deductions that Republicans use instead of cutting handouts to Democrat-voting freeloaders!' We are sailing toward disaster in 2018 and no one seems to want to acknowledge it. Let's look at the facts and evidence. Data Point One: We scraped by in a couple of House special elections so far, including Punchy McSlugahack's in Montana, but that Daily Kos reader-funded-12-year old non-resident Democrat dork is going to beat the charisma-free Republican in the Georgia 6 race next week. Our enemy is motivated and smells blood." [editor's note: I don't agree with characterization of "our enemy" (since both war party wings need to die), but the analysis is pretty solid – SAT] (06/12/17)
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39) Cheques that can never be cashed
Source: Mises Canada
by Bryce McBride
"Imagine how good life would be if you could write cheques that were never cashed. You could go to the grocery store and buy food and never worry about not having enough (or even any) money in your bank account. How could this happen? Well, so long as everyone felt that your cheques were good, the store would be able to use them as though they were money to pay staff and buy goods from suppliers. Over time, as more and more businesses accepted your cheques, you might even feel pressure to buy more groceries to get more of them into circulation for people to use. While this could go on for a while, at some point someone would question your credit worthiness and take one of your cheques to the bank." (06/12/17)
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40) How much automation is there in Chad?
Source: Cafe Hayek
by Don Boudreaux
"Nearly all discussions of the effects of automation on employment proceed as if automation simply happens -- as if automation is, in econospeak, 'exogenous.' Yet while some advances in automation might be serendipitous, most automation -- its development and its implementation -- responds to market wages. Innovators and businesses have little incentive to seek out and use labor-saving devices if wages are low. Incentives to find and to use labor-saving devices intensify only when and where wages are rising." (06/12/17)
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41) A culture war masquerading as a youthquake
Source: spiked
by Frank Furedi
"Cultural conflicts create a moral distance between people, which means people can sometimes adopt forms of behaviour that violate the spirit of an open, tolerant society. Towards the end of this election campaign, some anti-Tory social-media activists burnt right-wing newspapers and then boasted online about it. Without a hint of self-consciousness they referred to their opponents as fascists even as they lit the fire under a pile of printed material. This conviction that it is okay to burn newspapers is only an extreme expression of a much wider estrangement from the values of an open society. The legitimation of these values over the past two months, by campaigners calling on the young to exercise their superior outlook over others, over the old, has been one of the most troubling things in the election. In one way or another, all the main political parties were complicit in encouraging young people's sense of entitlement." (06/12/17)
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42) Trump's bridge to the future
Source: Investors Business Daily
by staff
"Not that anyone noticed, but last week was 'Infrastructure Week' in the Trump administration. And, while everyone fixated on James Comey, President Trump put forth a refreshingly new approach to fixing roads and bridges. Trump started the week by calling for Congress to privatize the nation's air traffic control (a much needed reform, as we explained in this space recently) and finished it by promising to lift federal regulatory burdens blocking infrastructure projects. In between, the White House outlined his plan to live up to his campaign promise of spending $1 trillion on infrastructure. Trump's budget had already included a proposal to add $200 billion over the next decade to the transportation budget, half of which would go toward state and local priority projects. The other $800 billion, Trump says, will come from the private sector, spurred by tax breaks and regulatory reform. This is where Trump's approach is far better than what's come before." (06/09/17)
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43) Can Ethiopia's planned economy stand the test of time?
Source: Students For Liberty
by Ibrahim B Anoba
"Earlier this month, the World Bank reported that Ethiopia would be the most expansive economy in Africa for the year 2017. This forecast is because of its steady economic growth average of 10.8 percent since 2005 -- one of the highest in the world. But despite its commendable progress, a high tax rate and continued state monopoly in key sectors might compromise its ability to sustain the economic momentum. Among emerging African economies, Ethiopia is prominent for its state dominated system. A 2016 Heritage Foundation report ranks it among the mostly unfree economies on the continent (142nd in the world), only surpassing the likes of Chad, Eritrea and Sierra Leone." (06/12/17)
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44) The collapse of Penn Station: Another failure of government "enterprise"
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Gregory Bresiger
"Amtrak's Penn Station in New York City, once one of the most glorious cathedrals of commerce built by one of the most successful transportation companies in history, is collapsing. Tracks are in disrepair. That's because they have not been properly maintained over decades since Amtrak, despite promises to the contrary at its founding in the 1970s, has consistently lost tons of money." (06/12/17)
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45) As Bitcoin's price rises security shouldn't be taken for granted
Source: Bitcoin.com
by Jamie Redman
"Recently there have been numerous reports of people losing their bitcoins to hackers and malware as bitcoin's price continues to grow in value. It is safe to assume that organizations and individuals trying to steal people's bitcoin reserves will persistently increase because the decentralized cryptocurrency becomes more valuable to thieves." (06/11/17)
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46) Citizens triumphant
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"Last week, the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission considered whether to recommend a constitutional change to create an obvious double standard: requiring citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to obtain a 55 percent supermajority vote, while the very same amendments proposed by legislators would only need 50-percent-plus-one for passage. I traveled to the capitol in Columbus, joining a room full of Ohio citizens and organizations testifying in opposition. As I explained at Townhall yesterday, after hearing from the people, the Commission tabled the idea." (06/12/17)
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47) Was Loving v. Virginia really about love?
Source: The Atlantic
by Osagie K Obasogie
"At issue in the Loving decision was Virginia's Racial Integrity Act of 1924, which prohibited interracial marriage and paved the way for a series of state laws designed to prevent racial mixing. Anti-miscegenation laws had been common in Virginia for centuries. But what often becomes lost in discussions about Loving is that this particular act was signed into law on the very same day the Virginia legislature passed another act that allowed the state to forcibly sterilize people with disabilities, including people labeled with derogatory medical terms such as 'feebleminded.' Questions concerning the lawfulness of Virginia's forced sterilization law led to another landmark Supreme Court decision in 1927, Buck v. Bell, in which the Court upheld its legality with Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes infamously declaring 'three generations of imbeciles are enough.'" (06/12/17)
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48) Britain refuses to accept how terrorists really work
Source: CounterPunch
by Patrick Cockburn
"The Conservative government largely avoided being blamed during the election campaign for its failure to stop the terrorist attacks. It appealed to British communal solidarity in defiance of those who carried out the atrocities, which was a perfectly reasonable stance, though one that conveniently enables the Conservatives to pillory any critics for dividing the nation at a time of crisis. When Jeremy Corbyn correctly pointed out that the UK policy of regime change in Iraq, Syria and Libya had destroyed state authority and provided sanctuaries for al-Qaeda and Isis, he was furiously accused of seeking to downplay the culpability of the terrorists. Nobody made the charge stick that it was mistaken British foreign policies that empowered the terrorists by giving them the space in which to operate." (06/12/17)
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49) Karl Marx and the presumption of a "right side" to history, part 2
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Richard M Ebeling
"Those who speak about being on the 'right side of history' have, knowingly or not, adopted a central element in Karl Marx's analysis of capitalism and the idea that the capitalist system follows a particular course of historical development that is open to scientific explanation and prediction, and which presumes to be placing humanity on a road that leads to a higher and better form of society -- socialism." (06/12/17)
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50) Federal overreach and American foreign policy go hand in hand
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by PA Deacon
"Apologists for the state often argue that criticism of the federal government must not encroach on national defense and foreign affairs. This is particularly true of Republicans, but Democrats are increasingly arguing in favor of a unitary presidency; especially as the Democrats and the GOP practically become one indistinguishable party. The bipartisan consensus claims the president has historically been empowered to dictate America's foreign policy with little oversight from Congress or the courts. Thus, the federal government, chiefly the president, must be left to tend to its affairs: foreign policy, fighting wars, and general operations beyond America's shores. But, how well does the federal government manage America's foreign affairs?" (06/11/17)
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) The power of the prosecutor
Source: Reason
"'There is no evidence that an individual DA in his office is any more punitive today than he was in 1974,' explains John Pfaff, author of Locked in: The True Causes of Mass Incarceration and How to Achieve Real Reform. 'We just have 30,000 of them instead of 17,000 even though the crime rate is roughly the same as it was in 1974. They've got to do something. They can't just play minesweeper all day and keep their jobs.' On May 25th, 2017, at Reason's Washington, D.C. office, Reason hosted a panel discussion with Pfaff and Ken White, former assistant United States attorney and co-founder of the blog Popehat. Moderated by Lauren Krisai, director of Criminal Justice Reform at the Reason Foundation, the discussion touched on the power of prosecutors in the criminal justice system, how prosecutors have served as barriers to meaningful criminal justice reform, and whether an influx of forward-looking district attorneys could change the status quo." [Flash video] (06/12/17)
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52) The Freedom Report, 06/12/17
Source: The Libertarian Republic
"Senator Bernie Sanders applied a weird religious test when questioning a new appointee from the Trump administration. Austin Petersen breaks down the news." [various formats] (06/12/17)
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53) Freedom Feens Radio, 06/12/17
Source: Freedom Feens Radio
"Shane Buell, Jeremy Heisenberg, and Michael W. Dean talk about how Google and Amazon are taking over the world, MWD extolls the virtues of Google Drive and Google Docs, and Google's plan to build a robot army is exposed (Not a guarantee). In the second hour Shane and Jeremy discuss Puerto Rico's recent vote to try and become a US state, how an Idaho make-up artist got revenge on a politician, and the ongoing debate about who actually owns public property." [various formats] (06/12/17)
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54) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 299
Source: Lions of Liberty
"In today's 299th edition of the Lions of Liberty podcast, host Marc Clair convenes another session of America's favorite alcohol-fueled libertarian podcast segment, 'Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor!' In addition to Felony Friday host John Odermatt, Marc is joined by special guests Rodger Paxton of the LAVA Flow podcast and Chris Spangle of We Are Libertarians!" [various formats] (06/12/17)
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55) Free Talk Live, 06/11/17
Source: Free Talk Live
"Mom Sues Over Son Being Forced to Say Pledge of Allegiance :: Flag Worship :: Do patriots hate the state? :: Allegiance and Loyalty Oath :: Scott the Bigot :: Alternative Pledge? :: Patriotism :: Anti-Muslim Protestor Has Heart Attack, Muslims Raise Money for Medical Bills :: Smallest Government is the Individual :: Romans 13 :: Cost of Freedom :: Representatives :: :: HOSTS -- Ian, Mark, Jonny Ray." [Flash audio or MP3] (06/11/17)
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