08/14 -- VA: Rally murder suspect is an Army dropout "infatuated with Nazis;" Restating the obvious: An open letter from the libertarian movement
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Thomas L. Knapp
Aug 14, 2017, 6:34:12 AM8/14/17
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 08/11/17
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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) VA: Rally murder suspect is an Army dropout "infatuated with Nazis"
2) Report: Messaging apps with surveillance malware made it onto Google Play store
3) TX: Marchers protest plans for border wall
4) AL: Teacher accused of sex with students gets charges thrown out as unconstitutional
5) Iraq: Two US troops killed, five injured
6) SpaceX set for supply run to space station on Monday
7) Experts: Herd immunity outside US slows Zika in Florida
8) Idiot CPSC regulators get agitated over fidget spinners
9) Trump ponders trade war with China
10) Pence to begin Latin America tour as global crises grow
11) Bitcoin vaults to new record above $4,000, boosted by Japan and multiplying its value fourfold
12) Iran: Parliament votes to increase spending on missile program
13) UK: Amid criticism, regime tries to show unity on Brexit
14) In call with Trump, China's Xi urges restraint over North Korea
15) Poll: Trump's approval rating up after tough North Korea talk
16) Venezuela: Latin Americans condemn Trump over "military response"
17) Houston activist throws cash at school board members "only interested in salaries"
18) FL: School accused of offering students "front of lunch-line passes" for Franklin donations
19) Canada: Toronto shoplifter gets job after policeman bought him interview shirt
20) NIH announces first long-term study on cannabis effect on opioid addiction
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Restating the obvious: An open letter from the libertarian movement
22) Law as a tool to get what we want
23) Trump's "fire and fury" wouldn't be the first for North Korea
24) Homeschoolers: The enemy of forced schooling
25) When presidents talk tough
26) Betsy DeVos's "school choice" really crony capitalism
27) Airbnb and the power of anti-fascist markets
28) Bring the troops home from Korea
29) Heart of whiteness
30) Trump launches a suicidal war on his own party
31) Universities should be about learning, not satisfaction
32) Philly's soda tax fiasco
33) The misguided attacks on ACLU for defending neo-Nazis' free speech rights in Charlottesville
34) When should intellectuals be held accountable for popular misrepresentations of their theories?
35) How Donald Trump is driving the Democrats crazy
36) Fining business for convenience?
37) Hardy at 89
38) Google memo drama really is about free speech
39) What it means to be alt-right
40) More markets, please
41) Why aren't we spending money for roads on roads?
42) Don't Just Impeach Trump. End the Imperial Presidency.
43) The curse of identity politics
44) Escaping the Goolag
45) Want to bring down drug prices? Go after the middleman
46) Anarchist ends, market means
47) Unlicensed pet sitters: The latest victims of New York's regulatory state
48) Ignorance, hypocrisy, and other character defects
49) Donald Trump as carnival hawker and his leftist enemies
50) From Putin to Zuma to Trump, voters put personality over policy
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
51) Is Orwell's 1984 better than the reality of 2017?
52) Free Talk Live, 08/12/17
53) We Are Libertarians, episode 221
54) The Tom Woods Show, episode 973
55) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 78
56) Anarcho Agenda, episode 31
57) In The Tank, episode 101
58) The Jason Stapleton Program, episode 640
59) Felony Friday, episode 84
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) VA: Rally murder suspect is an Army dropout "infatuated with Nazis"
Source: New York Post
"The man charged with plowing his car into a group of protesters during a white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., was 'very infatuated with Nazis' -- and once in the US Army, according to his former high-school teacher and military records. Derek Weimer, who taught history to suspected killer James Alex Fields Jr. at Randall K. Cooper High School in Union, Ky., told WCPO-TV that Fields had 'radical ideas on race.' Weimer said Fields always wanted to join the Army. Military records show that Fields entered the Army on Aug. 18, 2015 -- with his mother writing on Facebook about him beginning boot camp -- then dropped out Dec. 11, the New York Times reported. It's unclear why he left. But Weimer said it was because of mental-health issues." (08/13/17)
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2) Report: Messaging apps with surveillance malware made it onto Google Play store
Source: Fortune
"Researchers at the security firm Lookout have identified a family of malicious smartphone apps, referred to as SonicSpy. At least three versions of the malware, which is able to remotely control infected phones, made it onto Google's Play store. Anyone who installs the compromised apps will find they have full messaging functionality. But in the background, according to Lookout, the apps are able to hijack a variety of basic phone functions. That includes making outbound calls, sending text messages, and harvesting call logs, contacts, and Wi-Fi data." (08/13/17)
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3) TX: Marchers protest plans for border wall
Source: Corpus Christi Caller-Times
"Gracie Ramos is accustomed to her beliefs taking her miles by foot across South Texas streets. She and the other faithful of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church trek each Palm Sunday from the large brick church to the small, simply structured La Lomita, a chapel not far from the banks of the Rio Grande and the inspiration for the name of the city where she has always lived -- Mission. Saturday, she and hundreds of others walked the same 4-mile route through the heavy August air. There were no palms in hand. Instead, they carried signs condemning President Trump's proposed border wall and promoting care for the community's natural and cultural assets. On the sloped, graveled levees that lead away from the main road -- the last half-mile stretch to the chapel -- is where construction of a border wall has been proposed. Community leaders say doing so would likely cut off the historic church from the rest of the city, trapping it in a no-man's land between the wall and the winding, languid Rio Grande." (08/12/17)
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4) AL: Teacher accused of sex with students gets charges thrown out as unconstitutional
Source: WHO 13 News
"An Alabama teacher accused of having sex with two of her students succeeded in having her charges thrown out on constitutional grounds, Morgan County Circuit Judge Glenn Thompson confirmed Thursday. Carrie Witt was facing potential prison time for allegedly having sex with two students between 16 and 19 years old while she taught at Decatur High School. ... Thompson noted in his ruling that students can consent to sex under state law once they turn 16 unless someone uses a 'position of authority' to 'coerce, groom, or otherwise obtain the illegitimate consent of the alleged victims.' The judge found that while there may be a gap in power between teacher and student, it 'clearly does not exist between every school employee and every student regardless of where that student is enrolled.' The court held that prosecutors must prove a school employee 'was actually in a position of authority over the victim/student and that the position of authority was abused to obtain consent.'" (08/12/17)
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5) Iraq: Two US troops killed, five injured
Source: CNN
"Two US service members were killed and five were injured Sunday during combat operations in northern Iraq, according to a statement from US Central Command. 'Initial reports indicate the incident was not due to enemy contact,' the statement said. The incident is under investigation." (08/13/17)
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6) SpaceX set for supply run to space station on Monday
Source: CBS News
"The launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Monday to carry supplies to the International Space Station kicks off an exceptionally busy few weeks in space, with a Russian spacewalk on tap Thursday, a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 flight Friday, the 40th anniversary of the Voyager program's first launch on Sunday and a coast-to-coast solar eclipse the next day. ... The surge begins at 12:31 p.m. EDT (GMT-4) Monday when SpaceX launches its 39th Falcon 9 rocket, its ninth flight from historic pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center and its 11th flight overall this year." (08/13/17)
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7) Experts: Herd immunity outside US slows Zika in Florida
Source: US News & World Report
"The waning of Zika outbreaks in the Caribbean and South America has helped slow the spread of the mosquito-borne virus in Florida this year, according to health officials. Herd immunity, when enough people in an area are infected with a virus and develop resistance to it, likely has contributed to Zika's decline outside the continental United States, Dr. Henry Walke, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's incident manager for Zika response, said in a Miami Herald report." (08/12/17)
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8) Idiot CPSC regulators get agitated over fidget spinners
Source: Telegraph [UK]
"Fidget spinner owners should be careful when using the toy as they could potentially be a choking or fire hazard, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC)has warned. ... They also mentioned 'some reports of fires involving battery-operated fidget spinners.'" [editor's note: The CPSC may be the only thing dumber than the fidget spinner. Just sayin' ... – TLK] (08/11/17)
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9) Trump ponders trade war with China
Source: Deutsche Welle [Germany]
"While US President Donald Trump presses China to step up pressure against North Korea, he is considering sparking a trade war with the world's second largest economy. On Monday, Trump plans to sign an executive order asking his trade office to investigate China for its alleged theft of American technology and intellectual property [sic]. ... The commissioned report may take a year to compile but could lead to US sanctions against Beijing." (08/13/17)
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10) Pence to begin Latin America tour as global crises grow
Source: ABC News
"Vice President Mike Pence will visit Colombia amid escalating tensions with neighboring Venezuela and North Korea. Pence is set to meet with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos on Sunday at the start of a weeklong trip to Latin America that is likely to be dominated by conversations about the deepening crisis in Venezuela, where the U.S. accuses President Nicolas Maduro of a power grab that has sparked deadly protests and condemnation across the region. Trump appeared to complicate the discussions Friday with an unexpected statement that he would not rule out a 'military option' in response to the Venezuelan government's attempt to consolidate power." (08/13/17)
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11) Bitcoin vaults to new record above $4,000, boosted by Japan and multiplying its value fourfold
Source: CNBC
"The digital currency bitcoin vaulted to a new record high above $4000 on Saturday, boosted by strong Japanese demand on its way to multiplying its value fourfold this year. Bitcoin hit an all-time high of$4,225.40 early Sunday before slightly paring those gains to trade near $4,000, according toCoinDesk. The digital currency has now quadrupled in 2017, and is up about 40 percent in August alone. Bitcoin's market value is now around $64 billion, up about $10 billion in the last week." (08/12/17)
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12) Iran: Parliament votes to increase spending on missile program
Source: United Press International
"Iran's parliament has voted to funnel more funds to the nation's ballistic missile program. During Sunday's voting session, 240 out of 244 legislators approved the missile spending bill. This legislation was described as an effort to 'counter America's terrorist and adventurist actions in the region' and heralded as a justified response to new sanctions adopted by the United States earlier this summer." (08/13/17)
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13) UK: Amid criticism, regime tries to show unity on Brexit
Source: Sacramento Bee
"The British government tried to fight back Sunday against criticisms that it is divided and unprepared for Brexit, saying it will set out detailed plans for the U.K.'s exit from the European Union and issuing a joint statement by two Cabinet rivals over Europe. Trade Secretary Liam Fox, a strong supporter of leaving the European Union, and the more pro-EU Treasury chief Philip Hammond, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph that they agreed there should be a 'time-limited' transition period after Britain formally leaves the bloc in 2019, to avoid a 'cliff-edge' for people and businesses. Fox and Hammond said the transition period 'cannot be indefinite; it cannot be a back door to staying in the EU.'" (08/13/17)
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14) In call with Trump, China's Xi urges restraint over North Korea
Source: Reuters
"China's President Xi Jinping said there needs to be a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue, and in a telephone call with U.S. President Donald Trump he urged all sides to avoid words or action that raise tensions. Xi's comments came hours after Trump warned North Korea that the U.S. military was 'locked and loaded' as Pyongyang accused the U.S. leader of driving the Korean peninsula to the brink of nuclear war. The Pentagon said the United States and South Korea would proceed as planned with a joint military exercise in 10 days, an action sure to further antagonize North Korea. China's foreign ministry said in a statement that Xi told Trump a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue was essential, and urged calm." (08/12/17)
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15) Poll: Trump's approval rating up after tough North Korea talk
Source: Fox News
"President Donald Trump's approval rating jumped to 45 percent in the days following the president suggesting U.S. military action against North Korea, a poll released Friday shows. Trump's approval rating increased from 39 percent last week, according to a daily presidential tracking poll by conservative-leaning Rasmussen Reports. The president's approval rating is now at 37 percent, according to the non-partisan Gallup poll, with a new report scheduled for Monday. Trump's predecessor, former President Barack Obama, had an approval rating of 54 percentage at roughly the same point in his presidency." (08/12/17)
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16) Venezuela: Latin Americans condemn Trump over "military response"
Source: BBC [UK state media]
"The South American trading bloc Mercosur has condemned President Trump for saying he was considering military action in the Venezuela crisis. Argentina said dialogue and diplomacy were the only ways to promote democracy in Venezuela. Venezuela's foreign minister said Mr Trump's words had been hostile and disrespectful and risked destablising Latin America. Violent demonstrations since April have left more than 120 people dead. President Nicolas Maduro's new constituent assembly (which can rewrite the constitution and could override the opposition-controlled parliament) has been widely criticised as anti-democratic. Mercosur (which includes the region's largest economies Argentina and Brazil as well as Paraguay and Uruguay) indefinitely suspended Venezuela's membership last week. Other Latin American countries also condemned Mr Trump's comments, including Mexico, Colombia and Peru, which said Mr Trump's threat was against UN principles." (08/12/17)
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17) Houston activist throws cash at school board members "only interested in salaries"
Source: Reuters
"A Houston area school activist took his local school board to task on Thursday for being more concerned with administrator's salaries than the students, throwing money at them at a public meeting. According to The Root, community activist Gerry Monroe tossed money at the board members after criticizing the way decisions are made. 'Do you need some money? You need some money? Cause everything is money driven around this place,' Monroe said as flipped dollars while standing at the microphone. 'You don't care about those kids!' The Root notes that Monroe has previously been critical of the high salaries of the board members and Houston ISD administrators, posting a “HISD Top Paid Employees” Google document on his Facebook page." (08/12/17)
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18) FL: School accused of offering students "front of lunch-line passes" for Franklin donations
Source: Fox News
"A Florida middle school has come under fire after a fundraising form was sent out to parents stating that for a $100 donation a student would be granted a 'front of the lunch-line pass.' A PTSA sponsorship form for the Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Fla. was sent out to the students' parents to raise money for the school but one offer stuck out. The form stated that a $100 donation would grant the donor a 'last name or company logo feature on the website, as well as PTSA events AND front of the lunch-line pass,' according to ABC Action News." (08/12/17)
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19) Canada: Toronto shoplifter gets job after policeman bought him interview shirt
Source: BBC [UK state media]
"Last Monday, a shoplifter in Toronto was caught stealing an outfit for a job interview. But when Constable Niran Jeyanesan arrived to arrest him, he was moved by the 18-year-old's story and decided to buy him the clothes instead. Now the officer has revealed that the young man got the job, and will begin work next week. 'He is starting Monday,' Mr Jeyanesan told Canada's CP24 by email. 'He told me he actually wore the shirt and the tie; I'm just so happy!' Speaking last week, the officer said Walmart staff had apprehended the would-be thief for attempting to steal a dress shirt, tie and socks. 'This young person has been facing his own difficulties in life and he was looking to straighten out all that by providing for his family and trying to get a job,' Mr Jeyanesan said. 'This individual didn't have any resources. He wanted to go get that job. That was in his mind. I think he truly made a mistake.' The teenager had told the officer that his father was sick, and that the family had suffered difficult times as a result." (08/12/17)
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20) NIH announces first long-term study on cannabis effect on opioid addiction
Source: Smell the Truth
"A federal health agency is taking steps to examine whether medical marijuana can help end America's addiction to prescription painkillers. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has announced a five-year, $3.8 million grant awarded to researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Health System to conduct the first long-term study to test whether medical marijuana reduces opioid use among adults with chronic pain. 'There is a lack of information about the impact of medical marijuana on opioid use in those with chronic pain,' says Dr. Chinazo Cunningham, associate chief of general internal medicine at Einstein and Montefiore and principal investigator on the grant. 'We hope this study will fill in the gaps and provide doctors and patients with some much needed guidance.' The study will mark the first federally funded attempt to research whether medical cannabis use can reduce opioid use over time, as well as the effects of pot's specific chemical compounds -- tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) -- on pain, function, and quality of life." (08/10/17)
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Restating the obvious: An open letter from the libertarian movement
Source: Liberty Against Fascism
by various
"On the level of philosophy, libertarianism stresses the freedom of individuals even when that freedom goes against some supposed collective will. The entire point behind a politics of white supremacy is to replace free association with endless central planning and regulation on collectivist racial grounds. 'Unite the Right' speaker Richard Spencer actively seeks to turn the United States into a 100% white ethno-state. It is impossible to conceive of this happening without a return of the total state and its horrors. Despite the obvious incompatibility of that totalitarianism and libertarianism (of any kind), an attempted association between the two is unsurprising. Attempts at rebooting authoritarian movements often operate through a tactic called entryism. ... It is necessary, then, for libertarians to restate the exceedingly obvious and insist on the stark differences between our views and those of anyone with any affinity for National Socialist Germany." (08/12/17)
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22) Law as a tool to get what we want
Source: Everything Voluntary
by Skyler J Collins
"Since the advent of democracy, meaning, since the advent of public participation, however causal that actually is, in the political process, a growing number of people have viewed politics, and its ultimate function of creating and enforcing law, as a tool to get what they want. At first, what those who had influence in the process wanted was to protect their property rights, with varying levels of what was meant by that. In time, and as more and more people gained influence, the scope of law went well beyond this, and slowly became a tool to, supposedly, combat any number of evils that befell the public. There's been no shortage of wants to fill via the political process. Of course, I'm not so naive as to think that this is the actual reason that law has become so expansive and all-encompassing. But it is a common belief that the law can and should be used to do whatever most people want it to do." (08/11/17)
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23) Trump's "fire and fury" wouldn't be the first for North Korea
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Sheldon Richman
"Trump promised 'fire and fury like the world has never seen.' No one would expect him to know this, but the North Korean people have seen their share of fire and fury at the hands of the U.S military. It happened almost 70 years ago, when Harry Truman, another president who went ga-ga over generals, unleashed America's savage vengeance during the Korean War. It's called the 'forgotten war,' but even when it wasn't forgotten, few Americans realized how brutally the United States treated people that posed no threat whatever to Americans." (08/11/17)
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24) Homeschoolers: The enemy of forced schooling
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Kerry McDonald
"I was born in 1977, the year John Holt launched the first-ever newsletter for homeschooling families, Growing Without Schooling. At that time, Holt became the unofficial leader of the nascent homeschooling movement, supporting parents in the process of removing their children from school even before the practice was fully legalized in all states by 1993. Today, his writing remains an inspiration for many of us who homeschool our children." (08/13/17)
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25) When presidents talk tough
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by Peter Grier
"When US presidents talk tough to foreign leaders, does it work? This question arises, of course, due to President Trump's strong rhetoric this week about North Korea and its developing nuclear program. First Mr. Trump vowed to rain 'fire and fury' on North Korea if it threatened the US. Then he doubled down, saying that his original choice of words might have been too tepid. At 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, the president tweeted that if Pyongyang acts unwisely 'military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded.' Presumably Trump's point here is to make North Korea's leaders think twice about continuing work on miniaturized warheads and missiles capable of reaching the US mainland." [editor's note: I'm seeing a variety of interpretations of this – SAT] (08/11/17)
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26) Betsy DeVos's "school choice" really crony capitalism
Source: Our Future
by Jeff Bryant
"U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos says she supports 'great public schools,' but her actions continue to show her hypocrisy on that subject. Her recent trip to Michigan, her home state, offers yet more proof of the real focus of her leadership -- and it isn't about supporting public schools. During her visit to a Michigan community college, reporters questioned DeVos on her support for public school teacher training and professional development programs. The school, Grand Rapids Community College, offers an extensive array of education courses to prepare new teachers and help veteran faculty grow their instructional skills. Reporters couldn't help but point out that President Trump's budget has proposed massive cuts to teacher training programs, including eliminating $2.4 billion in funding for Title II, the third-largest federal K-12 program in the country." [editor's note: Nice to see Mr. Bryant recognizing the distinction; he was beginning to worry me with his "anti-choice" screeds – SAT] (08/11/17)
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27) Airbnb and the power of anti-fascist markets
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Logan Marie Glitterbomb
"Preparing for the upcoming Unite the Right rally, Airbnb decided to take their own stand against fascism by canceling all accounts and reservations they could find associated with those attending or involved with the rally organized by white nationalist website The Daily Stormer. In their cancellation notices, they cite their Terms of Service which includes the Airbnb Community Commitment, the company's personal non-discrimination policy which was established in 2016 to combat racism among Airbnb hosts. In conjunction with the Community Commitment policy, they also launched an ad campaign to raise awareness to the issue and make their stance clear." (08/13/17)
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28) Bring the troops home from Korea
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"There is one good solution to the Korean crisis, one that the mainstream press commentators simply will not confront. It's not a solution that is likely to be adopted, especially by a blustery and bellicose president and a national-security establishment that has a Cold War anti-communist mindset. Nonetheless, it bears pointing out. What is the solution to the Korean crisis: For all U.S. troops to vacate South Korea immediately and come home. No more threats. No more bluster. No more regime-change activity. No more anti-communist crusade. Just exit the country and come home." (08/11/17)
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29) Heart of whiteness
Source: In These Times
by Laura Orlando
"International development divides the world into objects and ideas. The objects (children, elephants, forests) are saved by ideas (Western). Stephanie Hanes' brilliant first book focuses on one object of development, the Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, and holds it up so that we can see the many hands shaping its story. She describes her effort as “a safari of sorts through our African stories, a voyage into how we got here and what we do now.' Though it could easily fall into the category of environmental writing or development studies, this book is a page-turner rooted in investigative journalism. Hanes' most direct critique of development is saved for the book's title, White Man's Game: Saving Animals, Rebuilding Eden and Other Myths of Conservation in Africa. She resists cynicism throughout, sticking to her central question: Why do Western efforts to help the environment and Africa so often fail? '[It] is not because of bad planning or poor investment strategies,' she writes. 'We fail (although we almost never admit it) because we are stuck in our own mental framework. We cannot see the other narratives, even when they actively clash with our own.'" (08/10/17)
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30) Trump launches a suicidal war on his own party
Source: Reason
by Steve Chapman
"During the presidential campaign, Donald Trump often told the story of the kind woman who found a half-frozen snake and took it in and nursed it back to health -- only to be repaid with a cruel bite. What Republicans didn't know is that in this story, they're the woman and Trump is the reptile." (08/13/17)
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31) Universities should be about learning, not satisfaction
Source: spiked
by Ieuan Joy
"Another year, another National Student Survey (NSS) has been published. The NSS asks students about different aspects of their university experience, and then ranks universities for overall 'student satisfaction' levels. The NSS has been widely criticised. Tutors say universities use the results for performance reviews, and as justification to shut down courses and modules. The National Union of Students boycotted it this year, for fear of NSS results being used as a reason to raise tuition fees.
But the real problem with the NSS is that it panders to the idea that universities should keep students 'satisfied.'" (08/11/17)
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/universities-should-be-about-learning-not-satisfaction/
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32) Philly's soda tax fiasco
Source: Investors Business Daily
by staff
"Hey, here's a great idea: Let's tax soda to the hilt, rake in tons of money, and spend it on Pre-K education. What could possibly go wrong? Well, the city of Philadelphia just found out. So-called sin taxes, intended to make people pay extra for their unhealthy or socially undesirable habits, have always been popular. Since people often feel guilty about their bad or unhealthful habits, it's often easy to tax them more for their 'sins.' It was in this spirit that Philadelphia raised the tax on soda sky-high. What taxpayers got was a lesson in unintended consequences. A recent study by the nonpartisan Tax Foundation found that the 1.5-cents-per-ounce tax it slapped on soda, in the words of the Washington Free Beacon, 'has fallen short of revenue projections, cost jobs, and has forced some Philadelphians to drive outside the city to buy groceries.' That 1.5 cents per ounce doesn't sound like a lot, but it is. The Tax Foundation notes that it's '24 times the Pennsylvania excise tax rate on beer.'" (08/11/17)
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33) The misguided attacks on ACLU for defending neo-Nazis' free speech rights in Charlottesville
Source: The Intercept
by Glenn Greenwald
"Last week, the ACLU sparked controversy when it announced that it was defending the free speech rights of alt-right activist Milo Yiannopoulos after the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority refused to allow ads for his book to be displayed on public transit. ... For representing Yiannopoulos, the civil liberties group was widely accused of defending and enabling fascism. But the ACLU wasn't 'defending Yiannopoulos' as much as it was opposing a rule that allows state censorship of any controversial political messages the state wishes to suppress: a rule that is often applied to groups which are supported by many who attacked the ACLU here. The same formula was applied yesterday when people learned that the ACLU of Virginia had represented the white supremacist protesters in Charlottesville after city officials tried to ban the group from gathering in Emancipation Park ..." (08/13/17)
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34) When should intellectuals be held accountable for popular misrepresentations of their theories?
Source: Notes On Liberty
by Zachary Woodman
"[T]here are certain philosophical beliefs and social theories which are popularly maladaptive, that is regardless of how nuanced and justifiable it is in the specialized discourse of some intellectual theorist they will very often be manipulated and misused in popular discourse for other nefarious purposes. ... some 'white nationalist' and 'race realist' quasi-intellectuals make huge efforts to disassociate themselves with explicitly, violently racist white supremacists. They claim that they don't really hate non-whites and want to hurt them or deprive them of rights, just that they take pride in their 'white' culture and believe in (pseudo-)scientific theories which purport to show that non-whites are intellectually inferior. It is not very surprising, to most people, that in practice the distinction between a 'peaceful' race realist and a violently racist white supremacist is extremely thin, and most would rightly conclude that means there is something wrong with race realism and race-based nationalist ideologies no matter how much superficially respectable academic spin is put on them because they are so easily popularly maladaptive. The question I want to ask is how can we more explicitly tell when theorists should be held accountable for their popularly maladaptive theories?" (08/11/17)
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35) How Donald Trump is driving the Democrats crazy
Source: Town Hall
by John C Goodman
"You would think the Democrats would be on cloud nine. Donald Trump's favorability ratings are as low as anyone can remember their being for a sitting president. The Republicans failed to repeal and replace Obamacare. They are stumbling on tax reform. They won the special elections to replace Trump's cabinet selections. ... So, is the Democratic Party breaking out the champagne? Are the party faithful celebrating and gloating over their rosy prospects for the future? Far from it. In the first six months of this year, Democrats have raised half the money Republicans have raised, and they even trail in small-dollar giving. ... So, what are Democrats fighting about? Issues. Issues? Yes, issues. For the first time in a long, long time, Democrats are having to confront in a serious way what they really stand for. If that surprises you, it's probably because you haven't been paying close attention. Other than Obamacare, Democrats haven't really had a new idea or a bold idea or anything you might even call an idea at all for ... how long? I would say at least 40 years." (08/12/17)
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36) Fining business for convenience?
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Graham Renz
"It was just this April that Missouri finally made its vehicle-for-hire regulations hospitable to transportation network companies (TNC) like Uber and Lyft. Still, some are holding onto the glorious days of regulation past. Why are Lambert International Airport and Saint Louis City officials trying to impose additional fees and regulations on TNCs again? The city and the commission that oversees the airport have endorsed a plan to impose $3 pick-up and drop-off fees on TNCs serving the airport. ... There are two apparent motivations for the fees: (1) the airport wants to collect as much revenue as possible; and (2) taxis pay a $4 pick-up fee at the airport, and so regulators want to 'level the playing field' ... taxis pay a special pick-up fee partially because they're guaranteed fares at the airport. They queue at a designated area where, after waiting their turn, they get a fare. But this designated area wasn't free to build, and TNC drivers cannot que there for guaranteed fares." (08/10/17)
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37) Hardy at 89
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"Hardy Johnson marked his 89th birthday by doing what he's always doing, working as a cobbler at Custom Shoe Builders in Knoxville, Tennessee. His son, who manages the business that his dad founded in 1953, was out of town. The back orders had been piling up. And Johnson takes only one day off each week anyway. In a profile for The Knoxville Focus, Steve Williams observes that many people make it to 89, but few 'still work six days a week like Hardy ... or on their birthday.'" (08/11/17)
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38) Google memo drama really is about free speech
Source: USA Today
by Walter Olson
"Because Google and Silicon Valley are cutting-edge workplaces, there's a tendency to assume that the premise of the Google memo furor ('Your erroneous opinions are making my work environment hostile') is somehow new as well. But it isn't the least bit new. The application of hostile work environment law to workplace speech (including basically political or ideological discussions, not just vulgar jokes or unwanted personal talk) goes back decades. I had a chapter on it 21 years ago in my book on employment law, The Excuse Factory. Others wrote about it then and earlier. Jonathan Rauch, for example, in the New Republic in 1997, wrote that 'quietly, gradually, the workplace has become an exception' to the general rule that in America the law does not seek to restrain wrongful opinion and expression. And Rauch explained the indirect mechanism by which this has come to pass: 'What the government cannot do directly, it now requires employers to do in its stead: police 'discriminatory' speech.'" (08/09/17)
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39) What it means to be alt-right
Source: Attack The System
by Keith Preston
"It would appear from the contents of this manifesto that the Alt-Right has gone full National Socialist, which means that the Alt-Right is finished as potential prototype for a serious opposition movement from the Right in the United States. ... Regrettably, neither the Left nor the Right has developed anything remotely approac[h]ing a comprehensive analysis of the police state and its workings in contemporary society. The Left simply advances a limited critique of the police as 'too racist' .... Meanwhile, the only objection to the police state advanced by the Right appears to be regret that all law enforcement personnel are not more like Bull Connor, or that they are working for a government that is not sufficiently fascist." (08/12/17)
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40) More markets, please
Source: EconLog
by Scott Sumner
"I've devoted much of the past ten years to advocating the creation of a highly liquid nominal GDP prediction market. I believe this sort of market would eventually revolutionize macroeconomics. Over time, people would stop thinking of the stance of monetary policy in terms of interest rates and begin focusing on what really matters, expected future NGDP. We could begin monitoring the efficacy of monetary policy in real time. But NGDP is not the only area where we need more markets -- there are hundreds of other areas crying out for reform." (08/11/17)
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41) Why aren't we spending money for roads on roads?
Source: Heartland Institute
by Jesse Hathaway
"For over 100 years, consumers filling up at gas stations have filled up state and federal government highway funds through the use of excise taxes; consumption taxes, which are included in the price of goods; and motor-fuel taxes. Technological advancements and changing consumer habits are straining government infrastructure budgets and prompting lawmakers to increase tax rates to keep up with the times. However, before lawmakers think about hiking taxes, they need to rethink how the money from those taxes is spent as a first waypoint on the path to road-funding success." (08/12/17)
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42) Don't Just Impeach Trump. End the Imperial Presidency.
Source: The New Republic
by Jeet Heer
"President Donald Trump's domestic agenda is a shambles, and his administration is besieged by scandal. He has been badgering Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell all week for failing to repeal and replace Obamacare, a futile exercise in browbeating. The good news is that, as Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer noted recently, institutions have proven willing to stand up to Trump, ranging from the military ... to the Senate ... to the Boy Scouts. 'The institutions of both political and civil society are holding up well,' Krauthammer wrote. 'Trump is a systemic stress test. The results are good, thus far.' But the more ineffectual Trump is in domestic politics, the louder and scarier he is on the international stage. Even if we accept Krauthammer's contention that the 'guardrails' of political and civil society are preventing Trump from fundamentally damaging American society, Trump still enjoys enormous unchecked power abroad." [editor's note: Nice to see "progressives" starting to realize the power-base they created over the last 8 years – SAT] (08/11/17)
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43) The curse of identity politics
Source: The American Conservative
by Rod Dreher
"On the Right, the story is fairly straightforward. Neo-Nazis, white nationalists, and their ilk have to be condemned in no uncertain terms, and marginalized. The president's coy rhetoric, dancing around these people for fear of alienating them, has to end. (I don't expect it to end, but others on the Right need to speak up to condemn him.) It is not enough for conservative politicians and thought leaders to condemn these incidents. In their rhetoric, they need to start criticizing the principles of identity politics, across the board. They should emphasize what unites us as Americans. And this: pastors and other leaders within the church have to start teaching clearly and directly on this front. More than that, they have to recognize that racial tribalism is a strong god -- a false one, but a strong one." (08/13/17)
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44) Escaping the Goolag
Source: WendyMcElroy.com
by Brad
"At Marketwatch, Brett Arends says 'I'm firing Google over the firing of the author of that controversial memo,' and I'm thinking it's time to do the same. Fortunately, for me it's fairly easy, since I've always resisted Google 'services.' (Remember, if it's free, you're the product, not the customer.)" (08/11/17)
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45) Want to bring down drug prices? Go after the middleman
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
"Ask any member of Congress what their constituents ask them about most and they'll probably cite the high cost of prescription drugs. ... But the battle over saving Obamacare has dominated Washington, leaving no room for considering improvements to the health system. Even the fixes now being discussed mostly fall under the heading of ameliorating individual market exchanges. Prescription drug costs are somehow seen as a separate issue. Where Congress won't act, an angry public is stepping into the breach. An important set of lawsuits target one of the biggest causes of higher prices: the middlemen who game the pharmaceutical supply chain by extracting profits from practically every player. Eventually, that gouging gets passed down to consumers. ... The middlemen are known as pharmacy benefit managers. ... The lawsuit, however, demonstrates how PBMs put their profits first, and stick everyone else with the bill. The lawsuit, however, demonstrates how PBMs put their profits first, and stick everyone else with the bill." [editor's note: One more proper target; are "progressives" finally waking up to reality? – SAT] (08/11/17)
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46) Anarchist ends, market means
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Emmi Bevensee
"Markets are not my end goal. My end goal is anarchism which will always look like something just beyond the horizon of my knowledge. Markets unleash the creative complexity that make the dynamic testing of a wide range of liberatory strategies more meaningfully possible. This very same complexity makes it harder for authoritarians to squash resistance or take root themselves. It is no coincidence that dictators target harbingers of complexity such as internet freedom advocates. Yet also, there are aspects of the anti-capitalist freed market ideology that make me nervous and give me significant pause. It is not impossible that we would, in the long-run, completely outgrow markets in the traditional limited sense as we perceive of them now and develop some sort of yet unimagined post scarcity utopia but, it seems clear that regardless, markets exist as unavoidable steps and laboratories along the way. For example, even the CNT-FAI, Rojava, and the Zapatistas realized that currency solves practical problems, at least in the short-run." (08/11/17)
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47) Unlicensed pet sitters: The latest victims of New York's regulatory state
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Dave Albin
"The New York City Health Department wants to ensure that pet sitters are licensed, and has warned a popular internet-based pet sitter service that its users are in violation of the law. Following outrage, the Health Department clarified and somewhat softened the regulations, stating that 'individual families' would not be targeted, but that commercial pet sitters in private homes would be. It's worth discussing how a regulation like this will apparently be enforced, as it explains a lot about how state agencies think about us." (08/11/17)
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48) Ignorance, hypocrisy, and other character defects
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
"While I am concentrating on conservatives and liberals in this article, does it not apply to virtually all of us? We can all be ignorant, unknowing, hypocrites, inconsistent, and prone to attacking others with hurtful words or words which can be misunderstood. In the world today, the evidence is all around us." (08/11/17)
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49) Donald Trump as carnival hawker and his leftist enemies
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Richard M Ebeling
"Politics has a strange influence on people. People who in their daily lives seem to act quite normal are driven into various forms of madness by politics. For instance, I have friends and acquaintances on both the political Right and Left, with whom totally normal conversations and interactions may be had -- unless it turns to politics. Donald Trump is now president of the United States. He was certainly not my choice for a hand on the nuclear and drone buttons, or in charge of the American interventionist-welfare state. To me, however repugnant Trump's personality and words may be -- and they are most certainly disturbing and off-putting -- he says and proposes very little that the vast majority of the other politicians holding or running for office do not, as well. He is just more blunt and obnoxious in the way he does it." (08/11/17)
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50) From Putin to Zuma to Trump, voters put personality over policy
Source: Reuters
by John Lloyd
"Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa, survived a no-confidence motion in the country's parliament earlier this week. It was the eighth since he took office eight years ago. Zuma won the vote by more than a whisker, with 198 votes in his favor, 177 against. But it wasn't a full-hearted endorsement, and he was wounded by the fact that between 30 and 40 members of his ruling African National Congress ignored party leaders' expulsion threats and instead chose either to abstain or vote against him in the secret ballot. Zuma, who was elected president of South Africa in 2009 and re-elected in 2014, is a man with many political lives. Since 1999, he has faced charges of corruption, rape and misuse of public money. The corruption charges, initially dismissed, were revived last year. He was acquitted on the charge of raping a family friend, but has long been ridiculed for saying that he took a shower after sex with the HIV-positive woman to prevent infection." [editor's note: What a sad drop, from Mandela to this clown – SAT] (08/11/17)
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
51) Is Orwell's 1984 better than the reality of 2017?
Source: Free Press Publications
by Darryl W Perry
"For most of my adult life, I've heard about the eerie comparisons between George Orwell's 1984 and our present day. After reading, or rather listening to the audiobook, 1984 again recently I noticed not only the similarities, but also some stark contrasts between Orwell's vision of the future and our present day." [text, Flash audio and MP3] (08/13/17)
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52) Free Talk Live, 08/12/17
Source: Free Talk Live
"Bundy Ranch Trial Fixed :: Ruby Ridge :: Bully Federal Government :: Secession :: Randy Weaver Set Up :: White Nationalists Fighting With Anti Facists in Charlottesville :: Christopher Cantwell Calls In :: Robert E Lee Statue :: What is Cantwell's goal? :: Police Surrounding Cantwell's Hotel :: Hung Like Jesus Responds :: Racism and Prejudice :: Jesus :: Racism in Indianapolis :: HOSTS -- Ian, Mark." [Flash audio or MP3] (08/12/17)
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53) We Are Libertarians, episode 221
Source: We Are Libertarians
"Chris Spangle, Greg Lenz, Jeremiah Morrel, Dakota Davis, and Tanner Perdue discuss the threats of nuclear war by North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un." [various formats] (08/11/17)
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54) The Tom Woods Show, episode 973
Source: The Tom Woods Show
"Glenn Jacobs, best known as the enormously popular WWE wrestler Kane, is also a Misesian and a fixture of the liberty movement. He's currently running for mayor of Knox County, Tennessee, and he joins us to discuss the campaign." [various formats] (08/11/17)
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55) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 78
Source: Foreign Policy Focus
"On FPF #78, I look at other news stories while everyone has been paying attention to North Korea. I discuss some early Trump immigration policy stats. I explain how the US backed Syrian rebels ended up fighting for Assad. I also give some new stats coming out of the ISIS War." [various formats] (08/11/17)
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56) Anarcho Agenda, episode 31
Source: Anarcho Agenda
"What happens to gun rights when state and federal laws collide, and Norway is experimenting with voluntary taxes, plus much more." [various formats] (08/11/17)
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57) In The Tank, episode 101
Source: Heartland Institute
"John Nothdurft and Donny Kendal present episode #101 of the In The Tank Podcast. This weekly podcast features (as always) interviews, debates, and roundtable discussions that explore the work of think tanks across the country." [Flash audio] (08/11/17)
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58) The Jason Stapleton Program, episode 640
Source: The Jason Stapleton Program
"A couple of weeks ago Darren and I discussed how dissatisfied most people are with the work they do, but many of them feel trapped. I guess they should feel lucky they have a job now that labor force participation remains so low. But all I could think about was an article I just read about Social Security. I want to share my thoughts with you on today's show." [various formats] (08/11/17)
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59) Felony Friday, episode 84
Source: Lions of Liberty
"Today's episode of Felony Friday is another solo show hosted by John Odermatt. As always on Felony Friday, there are some incredible topics to dig into. John kicks the show off by sharing the heartbreaking story of a sixty-five year old Grandmother, Nancy Ferneau, who serving a 25 year sentence for a very questionable conspiracy conviction. Nancy is in very poor health and we are asking that you sign the petition for her release below. Next, John weighs in on some stories that have been discussed in the mainstream media, but as per usual the main stream media has missed the most important takeaway. And lastly, John weighs in on a controversial topic and asks if 'it's a crime, and if they should do time.'" [various formats] (08/11/17)
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