04/25 -- AR: State employees kill two prisoners in one night; Marine Le Pen and the growing scourge of nationalism

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Thomas L. Knapp

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Apr 25, 2017, 6:31:52 AM4/25/17
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Freedom News Daily, 04/25/17
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Today's Freedom News:

1)  AR: State employees kill two prisoners in one night
2)  France: Le Pen steps down as National Front leader for presidential runoff
3)  Entire US Senate to visit White House for North Korea "briefing"
4)  Trump commemorates Meds Yeghern, stops short saying it in English ("Armenian genocide")
5)  India: Maoist rebels kill 25 regime troops in ambush
6)  US Senate confirms Sonny Perdue as agriculture secretary
7)  Venezuela: Death toll rises as unrest enters fourth week
8)  CA: UC Berkeley student Republicans sue over timing of Coulter burlesque
9)  US Senate Intelligence troupe to hire additional bit players for "Russian election meddling" production
10) Police stop 12-year-old boy from driving across Australia
11) After violent weekend, Chicago nearing 1,000 gunshot victims this year
12) Trump jokes about replacing Haley, takes it back
13) Confederate monuments in New Orleans removed at night
14) SCOTUS rejects GM bid to block ignition switch suits
15) Obama makes first post-presidency public appearance
16) The UN wants to adopt Bitcoin and Ethereum -- and soon
17) Perez draws rebuke from Pelosi after declaring Dems can't be pro-life
18) CEO resigns after firm admits paying armed groups in Syria
19) UK: UKIP fully abandons former kinda-sorta-libertarian image, goes full authoritarian xenophobe
20) Kashmir: Students, Indian forces clash as protests continue
21) Alabama, Mississippi mark Confederate Memorial Day
22) Hannity accused of sexually harassing Fox News guest
23) Afghanistan: Mattis arrives in Kabul as regime's defense minister, army chief of staff resign
24) Lawyer for Philippines hit-man files complaint against Duterte at ICC
25) SCOTUS to decide if prosecution, defense can share experts in capital case

Today's Freedom Commentary:

26) Marine Le Pen and the growing scourge of nationalism
27) The fraud of intellectual property
28) The enemy of your enemy isn't necessarily your friend
29) Extreme vetting needed for new Border Patrol agents
30) South Korea should give US troops the boot
31) What the US State Department can learn from "Hamilton"
32) Donald Trump has made socialism cool again
33) This week, Trump provokes a crisis or is humiliated
34) Bretton Woods as a "guardrails" approach to monetary policy
35) Against intervention -- ex ante / ex post
36) Americans work almost four months just to pay taxes
37) An important update on the Bitcoin block size wars
38) UKIP's burqa ban is desperate and daft
39) Scrap ObamaCare subsidies
40) Round 1: A post-mortem
41) Parchment barriers: Not enough to stop tyranny
42) Marine Le Pen is what happens when you try to meet racism in the middle
43) Private school choice provides more options close to home
44) Who just made the case for drug legalization? Drug warrior in chief Jeff Sessions, that's who
45) France avoids the worst
46) Corbyn's bank holiday madness
47) Minimum wages: The economist as a psychologist
48) What the wage equality crusaders don't understand
49) Why do we want a cooperative relationship with Russia?
50) Transforming the possible through radical imagination
51) Whither France?
52) Forwards! Backwards?
53) The heroin crisis we've ignored
54) Trump wins YUGE in a government shutdown [sic]
55) Taking Trump seriously and literally
56) America's Tale of Two Cities, redux
57) Will the FBI spy on the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity? It wouldn't surprise me
58) The Un-Free Speech Movement at Berkeley
59) Baltasar Gracian's aphorism #203: Know the great men of your age
60) Confessions of an optionality maximizer

Today's Freedom Podcast & Video

61) The Jason Stapleton Program, episode 587
62) The Bob Zadek Show, 04/23/17
63) The Freedom Report, episode 281
64) Freedom Feens Radio, 04/24/17
65) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 292
66) Rantings & Ravings Rebooted, episode 3The
67) Free Talk Live, 04/23/17
68) Trump to continue Obama's War on Whistleblowers
69) Reason Podcast, 04/23/17
70) Nick Mottern on The Scott Horton Show

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FREEDOM NEWS
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1)  AR: State employees kill two prisoners in one night
Source: NBC News

"Arkansas executed two death row inmates, both convicted murders, Monday night, making it the first state to carry out two death sentences on one day since 2000. The Arkansas Department of Correction administered its lethal injection cocktail to Jack Jones, 52, at 7:06 p.m. CT and a coroner pronounced him dead at 7:20 p.m. Marcel Williams, 46, was declared dead by the same procedure just over three hours later at 10:33 p.m." (04/25/17)


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2)  France: Le Pen steps down as National Front leader for presidential runoff
Source: MSN News

"French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen announced Monday she is temporarily stepping down as head of her National Front party with less than two weeks ago before the country chooses its leader in a runoff vote. The move appears to be a way for Le Pen to embrace a wide range of potential voters ahead of the vote pitting her against Emmanuel Macron, the independent centrist who came in first in Sunday's first round, The Associated Press reported. ... Le Pen has said in the past that she is not a candidate of her party, and made that point when she rolled out her platform in February, saying the measures she was espousing were not her party's, but her own." (04/24/17)


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3)  Entire US Senate to visit White House for North Korea "briefing"
Source: United Press International

"The entire U.S. Senate will visit the White House on Wednesday to receive a classified briefing on North Korea -- a rare move that signals the Trump administration's growing focus on the potential threat from socialist nation. All 100 lawmakers in the upper chamber are set to attend the meeting, along with select other officials involved in the government's decision-making process, such as Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis." [editor's note: Well, that sounds rather ominous ... – TLK] (04/24/17)


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4)  Trump commemorates Meds Yeghern, stops short saying it in English ("Armenian genocide")
Source: Yahoo! News

"The United States irked its key ally Turkey on Monday, criticizing 1915 massacres in Armenia as 'one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century,' although stopping short of calling them genocide. ... Former president Barack Obama had promised to recognize the killings as a genocide. But over eight years in office, in need of cooperation from Turkey, he did not follow through. New President Donald Trump issued a statement saying bluntly that 'today, we remember and honor the memory of those who suffered during the Meds Yeghern, one of the worst mass atrocities of the 20th century.' ... Amid sharp Turkish criticism for the remarks, the State Department noted that the US president, in fact, had made no mention of genocide. ... In Istanbul, the foreign ministry [whined that] Trump's remarks on the remembrance day were 'misinformation' and 'false definitions.'" (04/24/17)


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5)  India: Maoist rebels kill 25 regime troops in ambush
Source: The Hindu [India]

"In one of the deadliest attacks on security forces, Maoists killed 25 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel and injured seven in Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh on Monday. In retaliatory fire, 10 to 12 Maoists were shot dead. The attack took place when a team of around 100 men, belonging to the 74th battalion of the CRPF, based at the Burkapal camp on the Dornapal-Jagargunda road in south Sukma, was out to provide protection for road construction work in the area." (04/24/17)


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6)  US Senate confirms Sonny Perdue as agriculture secretary
Source: ABC News

"The Senate on Monday confirmed former Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue to be agriculture secretary in President Donald Trump's administration as the farming industry looks to Washington for help amid a downturn in the market. Perdue won confirmation on a strong bipartisan vote of 87-11, as several Democrats backed a Trump nominee after razor-thin outcomes for his choices earlier this year. Perdue's cousin, Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., voted 'present' but presided over the vote and announced the final tally." (04/24/17)


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7)  Venezuela: Death toll rises as unrest enters fourth week
Source: Reuters

"At least one person was killed in political unrest in Venezuela on Monday as anti-government protests entered a fourth week with mass 'sit-ins' to press demands for early elections. A local government worker was shot dead in the Andean state of Merida at a counter-protest rally in favor of the socialist government, while another man there was wounded by a bullet and left fighting "between life and death", state ombudsman Tarek Saab said. The confirmed death would bring to 11 the number killed in a month of unrest that has seen politically-motivated shootings and daily clashes between security forces armed with rubber bullets and tear gas and protesters wielding rocks and Molotov cocktails. At least 10 people have also died during night-time looting." (04/24/17)


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8)  CA: UC Berkeley student Republicans sue over timing of Coulter burlesque
Source: Los Angeles Times

"A UC Berkeley student group on Monday filed a lawsuit demanding that the university allow conservative pundit Ann Coulter to speak on campus Thursday as originally planned. Citing unspecified threats, administrators had rescheduled Coulter's appearance for May 2, when they said they could provide adequate security. But in its free-speech lawsuit, the Berkeley College Republicans -- which planned to host Coulter -- called that date a 'sham' intended to ensure her address was poorly attended. That day falls during 'dead week,' when students are studying for final exams and the campus traditionally is deserted. The university also had said Coulter would have to speak at midday, in a science hall located away from the central campus, rather than during the evening." (04/24/17)


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9)  US Senate Intelligence troupe to hire additional bit players for "Russian election meddling" production
Source: CNN

"The Senate Intelligence Committee is hiring two new staffers for its investigation into Russian interference in the US election, the top Democrat on the Senate Russia investigation told CNN on Monday. The additional staffers -- including one Republican and one Democrat, versed in the National Security Agency collection tactics -- come as some sources on the committee have grumbled behind the scenes about the pace of the investigation." (04/24/17)


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10) Police stop 12-year-old boy from driving across Australia
Source: USA Today

"Outback police have arrested a 12-year-old boy who was almost a third of his way toward driving solo across Australia. The unlicensed boy had driven more than 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from his home in Kendall on the east coast when he was stopped by traffic police on Saturday on the Barrier Highway near the remote mining town of Broken Hill. He was pulled over because a bumper bar was dragging on the road, New South Wales police said in a statement Sunday. Officials said he was driving to the west coast city of Perth, more than 4,100 kilometers (2,500 miles) from Kendall." (04/24/17)


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11) After violent weekend, Chicago nearing 1,000 gunshot victims this year
Source: Chicago Tribune

"The number of people shot in Chicago this year is nearing 1,000 after a violent weekend left seven dead and 31 others wounded, according to data kept by the Tribune. As of Monday morning, at least 992 people had been shot in Chicago this year. Last year, the city passed the 1,000 mark on April 20 and had reached 1,054 by this time, the Tribune data show. The pace of homicides is virtually the same as last year. There have been at least 179 homicides so far this year compared with 180 this time last year, according to the data. The weekend violence included a span of seven hours Sunday when four men were fatally shot and six other people were wounded across the city. Two of those killed were shot within 15 minutes on the city's South and West sides." [editor's note: Of course, we know none of that is true. After all, Chicago has some of the strictest "gun control" laws in the country, so nobody could possibly get shot there, right? – TLK] (04/24/17)


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12) Trump jokes about replacing Haley, takes it back
Source: San Francisco Chronicle

"There was a bit of awkwardness at President Donald Trump's lunch with U.N. diplomats when he made an undiplomatic comment about Nikki Haley, his ambassador to the U.N. Trump was kicking off Monday's lunch with ambassadors of countries on the U.N. Security Council when he asked the room if they liked Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Trump said that if they didn't, 'she could easily be replaced.' The comment sparked some awkwardness, but seemed to be taken in jest. Haley and others gathered around the lengthy table laughed." (04/24/17)


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13) Confederate monuments in New Orleans removed at night
Source: BBC [UK state media]

"New Orleans workers in bullet-proof vests have removed a Confederate monument that officials say was a symbol of the formerly slave-owning US South's racist past. The removal (which took place around 01:30 local time) was done by workers wearing face masks and bullet-proof vests as armed police kept watch." (04/24/17)


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14) SCOTUS rejects GM bid to block ignition switch suits
Source: Reuters

"General Motors Co's bid to block hundreds of lawsuits, potentially worth billions of dollars, over a deadly ignition-switch defect broke down on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear its appeal claiming the suits were barred by the No. 1 American automaker's 2009 bankruptcy. The justices declined to review a 2016 ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that rejected GM's bid to block customer lawsuits related to crashes and diminished vehicle value because the plaintiffs had not been properly notified of the defect prior to the bankruptcy filing. The case involved a faulty ignition switch in GM vehicles linked to 124 deaths and 275 injuries. The switch could slip out of place, causing engine stalls while driving and cutting power to critical brakes, steering and air bag systems." (04/24/17)


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15) Obama makes first post-presidency public appearance
Source: USA Today

"Three months after leaving the White House, former president Barack Obama stepped back into the spotlight Monday to encourage young people to become civically engaged while lamenting the increasing polarization of American politics. And he did it without uttering the words: Donald Trump. In his first post-presidency public appearance, Obama -- while expressing concern that the current political environment is turning off Americans -- notably managed to steer clear of critiquing President Trump and stick to the tradition of former presidents giving their predecessors space in the early days of an administration. ... In the lead-up to Monday's forum, aides to the former president said Obama's intent was to discuss issues with the students based on his own views and priorities that shaped his presidency. During the more than hour-long appearance, Obama spent most of the forum quizzing the young panelists about their ideas for getting fellow young Americans more engaged in politics and shaping policy." (04/24/17)


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16) The UN wants to adopt Bitcoin and Ethereum -- and soon
Source: CoinDesk

"The United Nations (UN) is in the final stages of what could be one of the most epic blockchain projects of all time. After successfully using the ethereum blockchain to transmit Pakistani rupees to 100 people earlier this year, the UN's World Food Program (WFP) is arranging extra security to ensure it safely executes the next stage of its work. A pilot test, scheduled to begin in Jordan on 1st May, will see the WFP sending an unspecified number of dinars to more than 10,000 recipients in need of financial support and extra food, with the goal of expanding the number of recipients to 500,000 people by 2018. To protect the privacy of the recipients, the exact amount to be dispersed is not being revealed. But the technology being developed is part of an even bigger push to make the UN's services so resilient that they could survive even the destruction of the UN itself." (04/24/17)


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17) Perez draws rebuke from Pelosi after declaring Dems can't be pro-life
Source: Fox News

"Democrats no longer have a choice about being pro-choice. So says Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, who drew a swift rebuke from Republicans and a public swipe from a top leader of his own party after declaring Friday that 'every Democrat' should be pro-choice -- no exceptions. Asked Sunday if a Democratic politician could be pro-life, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was unequivocal. 'Of course,' Pelosi told NBC's 'Meet The Press.' 'I have served many years in Congress with members who have not shared my very positive -- my family would say aggressive -- position on promoting a woman's right to choose.'" (04/24/17)


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18) CEO resigns after firm admits paying armed groups in Syria
Source: CNN Money

"The chief executive of the world's largest cement maker will resign after the firm admitted to making payments to armed groups in Syria. Eric Olsen will step down as CEO of LafargeHolcim in July after an internal investigation found that managers at the company's plant in Syria made indirect payments to armed groups in 2013 and 2014 in order to keep the facility open. ... The Swiss-French firm opened its plant in Syria in May 2010, before political unrest and civil war consumed the country. LafargeHolcim suffered resource shortages and its staff were harassed by armed groups as the conflict intensified. It said the payments -- made via middlemen -- were initiated by plant managers who believed they were acting in the firm's best interests." [editor's note: Nearly every company around the world does exactly the same thing, of course. It's called "paying taxes" – TLK] (04/24/17)


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19) UK: UKIP fully abandons former kinda-sorta-libertarian image, goes full authoritarian xenophobe
Source: Columbus Ledger-Enquirer

"Britain's anti-EU U.K. Independence Party says it will promote social integration by banning face-covering veils and barring the opening of new Islamic schools. The right-wing party on Monday unveiled what it calls an 'integration agenda' ahead of Britain's June 8 election. It includes bans on Sharia law and on wearing face-covering veils in public, and a call for prosecution of parents of girls subjected to female genital mutilation." (04/24/17)


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20) Kashmir: Students, Indian forces clash as protests continue
Source: New York Daily News

"Anti-India protests on Monday triggered clashes between students and government forces in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, as authorities reopened schools after a weeklong suspension of classes. Government forces used tear gas and water cannons to stop students from marching in the main commercial area in Srinagar, the key city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. The students retaliated by hurling rocks and breaching the barricades set up by police and paramilitary soldiers." (04/24/17)


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21) Alabama, Mississippi mark Confederate Memorial Day
Source: Gadsden Times

"State government offices are closing Monday in Mississippi and Alabama for Confederate Memorial Day. Georgia used to mark the holiday, but removed the Confederate reference in 2015. Now, the last Monday in April there is simply called State Holiday. Confederate Memorial Day in Mississippi and Alabama commemorates those who died during the Civil War while fighting for Southern states that tried to secede from the U.S. The Confederate military surrendered in April 1865. South Carolina holds a Confederate Memorial Day in May to mark the day Gen. Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson died." (04/24/17)


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22) Hannity accused of sexually harassing Fox News guest
Source: The Daily Beast

"Sean Hannity is the latest Fox News personality facing allegations of sexual harassment. During a Friday interview with Tulsa, Oklahoma-based radio host Pat Campbell, former Fox News guest Debbie Schlussel accused Hannity of inviting her to his hotel room before and after a debate with a pro-Palestinian guest in Detroit. Schlussel said she rejected Hannity's alleged advances and that she was never invited on his show again. ... In a statement to The Daily Beast, Hannity denied Schlussel's allegations and accused her of seeking attention."


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23) Afghanistan: Mattis arrives in Kabul as regime's defense minister, army chief of staff resign
Source: Washington Post

"Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis arrived for a surprise visit to Afghanistan Monday as the Trump administration considers boosting U.S. military support for a conflict that commanders say has degenerated into a stalemate. The visit, Mattis's first as secretary of defense, comes just days after a devastating Taliban attack on one of Afghanistan's largest and most secure bases killed nearly 200 soldiers -- leading to Monday's resignation of the country's army chief and defense minister. ... The Taliban has pledged that the attack is just the beginning of its annual spring offensive, however, since U.S. combat troops mostly withdrew in 2014, the pace of Taliban attacks has remained consistent across the country year-round." (04/24/17)


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24) Lawyer for Philippines hit-man files complaint against Duterte at ICC
Source: Yahoo! News

"A Philippines lawyer filed a complaint at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against President Rodrigo Duterte and senior officials on Monday, accusing them of crimes against humanity in a nationwide anti-drugs crackdown. Attorney Jude Sabio said in the 77-page complaint that Duterte 'repeatedly, unchangingly and continuously' committed crimes against humanity and that under him, killing drug suspects and other criminals has become 'best practice.' Sabio is the lawyer for Edgar Matobato, a man who has testified in the Philippines Senate that he was part of a hit squad that operated on Duterte's orders. ... The complaint alleges that Duterte and at least 11 senior government officials are liable for murder and calls for an investigation, arrest warrants and a trial. Lawmakers found no proof of Matobato's Senate testimony, which the president's aides have dismissed as fabrication." (04/24/17)


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25) SCOTUS to decide if prosecution, defense can share experts in capital case
Source: National Public Radio [US state media]

"[T]he U.S. Supreme Court hears arguments Monday in a case that could determine the fate of two of the condemned men in the Razorback state, as well as others on death row elsewhere. At issue is whether an indigent defendant whose sanity is a significant factor in his trial, is entitled to assistance from a mental health expert witness who is independent of the prosecutors. In 1986 James McWilliams was convicted of the rape and murder of a store clerk in Tuscaloosa, Ala. It is not his conviction that is before the court, but his death sentence. ... the jury, by a vote of 10-to-2 recommended he be put to death. Under Alabama law, however, a jury recommendation is not binding on the judge. The critical sentencing hearing in McWilliams'[s] case took place six weeks later and after the defense requested a neuropsychological evaluation of the defendant." (04/24/17)


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FREEDOM COMMENTARY
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26) Marine Le Pen and the growing scourge of nationalism
Source: Everything Voluntary
by Parrish Miller

"The authoritarian violence of Duterte's and Erdogan's regimes is soon to be replicated in the US if Trump's loyal lieutenant Jeff Sessions gets his way, and Le Pen's call for a 'moratorium on all legal immigration' suggests that she too would attempt to exercise dictatorial powers if elected. Oppression isn't a side effect of nationalism; it is its defining feature, and the more victories the nationalists are able to achieve, the more victims will be created. Closed borders are dangerous and destructive, but what is even more perilous are closed minds." (04/24/17)


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27) The fraud of intellectual property
Source: Bitcoin.com
by Wendy McElroy

"The trend toward IP will accelerate as the blockchain and digital currencies go mainstream. In fact, blockchain tech is already being used to register digital copyrights in a way that is both immutable and timestamped. It is called 'the poor man's copyright' because registration is often free. And it cements together the concepts of Bitcoin and IP. But can someone actually own an idea? This is not asked as a legal question but as a practical one. The law can grant artificial property rights in anything to anyone, including the 'ownership' of another person. Such a law does not make slavery proper or logical, however. IP is a contradiction in terms and an artificial construct that blocks human progress. IP would obstruct the development of Bitcoin and similar technology while sharply diminishing its value to individual freedom." (04/23/17)


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28) The enemy of your enemy isn't necessarily your friend
Source: A Geek With Guns
by Christopher Burg

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend is a popular sentiment. Hell, a great deal of the United States'[s] foreign policy is built on that sentiment. But is it always true? Here in the United States we're in the midsts of a political class. Communists have been working, and have been greatly successful, at gaining control over academia. While their political opponents have been trying to push them back they have met with little success. So we now exist in a country where college campuses have a tendency to lean heavily to the left. Now, seemingly out of nowhere, a new group has promised to take care of this communist menace. This group, as you've probably guessed, is the alt-right. While the alt-right is still pushing socialism, it's pushing a 'lighter' form of socialism. This has lead a lot of libertarians and conservatives to side with the alt-right on the grounds that the enemy of their enemy is their friend." (04/24/17)


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29) Extreme vetting needed for new Border Patrol agents
Source: Niskanen Center
by Jeremy L Neufeld

"The Trump administration recently ordered the speedy hire of 5,000 new Border Patrol agents to deploy at the southern border -- a move that is alarming for some critics. The last time an administration ramped up the ranks at U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), it was accompanied by an outbreak of corruption and excessive use of force. Some new agents took bribes from drug cartels or human trafficking operations, while other applicants already associated with illegal operations, applied in order to infiltrate CBP. We must prevent the mistakes that led to corruption and abuse the last time we quickly expanded the number of CBP agents. In the parlance of our times, we need extreme vetting for border patrol agents." [editor's note: What we actually need is disbandment of the organization – TLK] (04/24/17)


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30) South Korea should give US troops the boot
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger

"The best thing that South Koreans could ever do, both for themselves and for the American people, as well as the Japanese citizenry, is boot all U.S. troops out of their country. Isn't the reason obvious? If President Trump, the Pentagon, and the CIA succeed in instigating a war with North Korea, guess who is going to pay the biggest price for such a war. No, not the United States. At the end of such a war, the continental United States will remain untouched, just like it was after World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and all the other foreign wars in which the U.S. government has become embroiled. The same cannot be said about South Korea and Japan." (04/24/17)


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31) What the US State Department can learn from "Hamilton"
Source: Reuters
by Peter Van Buren

It hasn't been a good 100 days for the U.S. Department of State. Like the musical Hamilton's orphaned title character, called out in song for being a 'Founding Father without a father,' State is now something of an agency without agency. Not much of substance seems to be happening at Foggy Bottom. America's top-level foreign policy tasks remain, but someone else (Jared Kushner? H.R. McMaster?) is tending to many of them. The bad news includes President Donald Trump's hope of slashing State's budget, with no sign of objection from Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Half the positions in the agency's organizational chart are vacant or occupied by acting officials." (04/24/17)


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32) Donald Trump has made socialism cool again
Source: Mother Jones
by Tim Murphy

"Founded in 1982, the [Democratic Socialists of America] claims to be the largest socialist organization in the country. It's not a political party along the lines of the Communist Party USA or the Green Party. Many of its members are Democrats or the kind of left-leaning independents who usually vote for Democrats. But just as the Obama era ushered in a boomlet of libertarianism on the right, the DSA is banking on Trump to make socialism great again. Its goal is not just to stop Trump's worst policies, but to push the political conversation on the left even further to the left through a mix of political action and cultural engagement. There are signs it's already working." (for publication 05/17)


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33) This week, Trump provokes a crisis or is humiliated
Source: The New Republic
by Brian Beutler

"It's hard to imagine a better metaphor for Donald Trump's presidency than if, backed by a Republican-controlled Congress, he celebrates his 100th day in office by shutting down his own government. This outcome is by no means inevitable, but the odds of it are astonishingly high: Government funding runs out on Friday, and Trump hits the 100-day mark on Saturday. It is unprecedented in the modern era for an appropriations fight to end in a government shutdown when one party has full control -- or really under any configuration other than when the president is a Democrat and Republicans control at least one chamber in Congress. The current partisan alignment should effectively preclude a shutdown, but Trump's particular mix of incompetence, narcissism, and poor judgment is potent enough to confound basic game theory. As in so many realms of public affairs, Trump's mere presence creates massive amounts of uncertainty." (04/24/17)


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34) Bretton Woods as a "guardrails" approach to monetary policy
Source: EconLog
by Scott Sumner

"I now favor a monetary policy rule that I have dubbed the 'guardrails' approach, although a more accurate metaphor might refer to the beeper you hear if you are about to hit a car in the front or rear when parallel parking. Under this approach, the Fed would offer to sell unlimited NGDP futures contracts at a price featuring 5% growth, and also offer to buy unlimited NGDP futures contracts at a price featuring 3% NGDP growth. Someone expecting more than 5% NGDP growth would buy these contracts from the Fed, and profit if growth did indeed exceed 5%. A bearish investor would sell 3% NGDP futures contracts to the Fed, anticipating sub-3% growth. Because this is an unfamiliar concept, I'd like to compare it to the Bretton Woods regime." (04/24/17)


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35) Against intervention -- ex ante / ex post
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Bas van der Vossen

"As I explained in my previous post, military interventions are almost never morally acceptable. The basic reason is relatively straightforward. Such interventions fail much more often than they succeed. And so, as a rule, we should not undertake them. Fernando disagrees. He believes that refraining from interventions is unacceptable. My view is too close to pacifism. I find this puzzling. I don't see why getting closer to pacifism than the kind of wanton interventionism we see today counts as an objection. It's a conclusion. And pretty clearly the right one at that, I'd say." (04/24/17)


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36) Americans work almost four months just to pay taxes
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jared Labell

"Taxpayers won't pay off this year's local, state, and federal tax burden totaling $5.1 trillion until April 23, or as the Tax Foundation calls it, Tax Freedom Day. That day, calculated annually, represents how long Americans work to pay local, state, and federal taxes for the year. In 2017, it will take 113 days for taxpayers to pay the country's tax burden, which includes $1.5 trillion in local and state taxes and $3.5 trillion in federal taxes, equaling 31 percent of America's income. But that's not all. If you include federal borrowing, which represents future taxes the government must collect to pay the bills, Tax Freedom Day would occur 14 days later this year on May 7." (04/24/17)


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37) An important update on the Bitcoin block size wars
Source: Freeman's Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg

"The more angrily people fight about this, the less we should listen to them. Bitcoin needs to grow up, and not degenerate into politics ... because politics is pollution. The only purpose worth pursuing is a scaling, thriving Bitcoin. Those of us who lose some relative advantage will simply have to suck it up and adapt. What's the point of all this, anyway? Is this about status and dominance? About winning? Getting the most money? Anyone looking for those things should go into government or central banking, and leave Bitcoin alone." (04/24/17)


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38) UKIP's burqa ban is desperate and daft
Source: spiked
by Ella Whelan

"What do you do if your party is on the ropes? For UKIP, a party hurtling towards irrelevance, the solution is to announce a controversial, outrage-inducing policy: a burqa ban, in this case. '[Firstly] we have a heightened security risk at the moment and for CCTV to be effective you need to see people's faces,' said Paul Nuttall, UKIP's leader, on BBC One's The Andrew Marr Show. 'Secondly, there's the issue of integration,' he continued, 'I don't believe you can integrate fully and enjoy the fruits of British society if you can't see people's faces.' Putting aside Nuttall's illiberal desire for increased CCTV, his attempt to present a burqa ban as an aid to integration is absurd. Why would restricting a woman's civil liberties make her feel more integrated into British society?" (04/24/17)


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39) Scrap ObamaCare subsidies
Source: USA Today
by Sally C Pipes

"President Trump has a new bargaining chip in the drive to repeal and replace Obamacare. He recently expressed willingness to end the law's 'cost-sharing reduction' subsidies (which reimburse insurers for covering out-of-pocket costs like deductibles and co-pays for low-income exchange enrollees) in order to bring Democrats back to the negotiating table. That's exactly what he should do. Obamacare's exchanges are on a fiscally unsustainable path. Scrapping the subsidies will only hasten their inevitable demise -- and force Republicans and Democrats to work together to replace the law with something actuarially sound now, before the exchanges' finances worsen further. As an added bonus, ending the subsidies would represent a win for the Constitution." (04/23/17)


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40) Round 1: A post-mortem
Source: Heartland Institute
by Clifford Thies

"In the velodrome of multi-party politics that is Round 1 in the French Presidential election system, the sprint to the finish can be exciting. This time, not so much. As expected based on pre-election polls, the social liberal, Emmanuel Macron, running as an independent, finished first, and the fiery leader of the National Front, Marine Le Pen, second. In retrospect, these results were due to Macron's bolting from the Socialist Party, taking its social liberal wing with him, and displacing the centrist Francois Bayrou." (04/24/17)


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41) Parchment barriers: Not enough to stop tyranny
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
by Dave Benner

"There is a common tendency among those who doubt the value of the American constitutional system to attack the document on the basis that parchment barriers aren't enough. Their premise is usually grounded upon the idea that constitutions are powerless to impose any practical limitations on government when effective enforcement is abandoned and civic virtue vanishes. As it turns out, I agree -- and so did many of the American founders." (04/24/17)


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42) Marine Le Pen is what happens when you try to meet racism in the middle
Source: The Intercept
by Mehdi Hasan

"Shame on them all. French leaders from across the political spectrum could not prevent a far-right candidate, who has denied the role played by her country's wartime Vichy government in the Nazi Holocaust, from reaching the second and final round of the presidential election. On Sunday, Marine Le Pen became only the second National Front (FN) candidate in French history to make it through to the second round -- the first was her Holocaust-denying father, FN founder Jean Marie Le Pen, in 2002 .... So who is to blame for the rise and rise of Le Pen and the FN? The conventional wisdom says that mainstream French politicians allowed the far right to win votes by letting them monopolize the issue of immigration. The reverse is, in fact, the case: over the past four decades, both the center-right Republicans and center-left Socialists went out of their way to try and co-opt the xenophobic rhetoric and policies of the Le Pens, which only emboldened -- and normalized -- both father and daughter." (04/24/17)


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43) Private school choice provides more options close to home
Source: Show-Me Institute
by James V Shuls, Ph.D.

"'School choice may work in Saint Louis and Kansas City, but it won't impact most students in the rest of Missouri.' I hear that a lot. On its face, the argument seems reasonable. There just aren't that many private schools. They're too far away. Missouri is not populated densely enough to support a substantial supply of private schools outside of Saint Louis and Kansas City. The only problem with that interpretation is that it isn't true." (04/24/17)


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44) Who just made the case for drug legalization? Drug warrior in chief Jeff Sessions, that's who
Source: Cato Institute
by Adam Bates

"Rather than continually escalating the war on drugs into an actual war -- President Donald Trump has even hinted at a military invasion of Mexico -- let's learn the lesson our great-grandparents did. Drug use is not inherently violent. Drug prohibition, however, is. The drug market is going to exist no matter what hard-line policies President Trump and Attorney General Sessions come up with. The only question is whether it's going to be a peaceful, legally regulated market or a vigilante-enforced black market." (04/24/17)


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45) France avoids the worst
Source: The American Prospect
by Arthur Goldhammer

"Up to the final minute, the world watched in suspense. Would French voters stun everyone, as British and American voters did in 2016? In the final weeks the polls had tightened to the point where no one could say what the outcome would be. But in the end the pollsters proved to be spot on: Emmanuel Macron came in first, with 23.7 percent of the vote, and Marine Le Pen second with 21.9. This result makes a Macron victory in the second round almost certain: no poll has put Le Pen within 20 points of him in a head-to-head contest. The next president of France will therefore be, without a doubt, a 39-year-old centrist technocrat who staunchly supports the European Union. Yet this was supposed to be the year of populist revolt, rejection of globalization, and disdain for external constraints on national economic policymaking. What happened?" (04/23/17)


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46) Corbyn's bank holiday madness
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Eamonn Butler

"With an election campaign underway, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has promised four new bank holidays. This is bad news. We, and not the state, should decide when we take holidays. And election auction-bidding over bank holidays says something dismal about our democracy. Start with the argument about holidays themselves. Bank holidays were instituted so that workers would get at least some time off, principally around religious festivals. When business was all done in cash, forcing the banks to close meant forcing businesses to close, which meant that workers had to be sent home. The trouble with political initiatives, of course, is that, like Topsy, they just grow." (04/24/17)


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47) Minimum wages: The economist as a psychologist
Source: Notes on Liberty
by Nicolas Cachanosky

"Both Ludwig von Mises and F.A. Hayek are known for arguing that there is no such thing as a good economist who is only an economist. For these two thinkers, a good economist-as-scientist also needs to know history, philosophy of science, ethics, and physics. Mises and Hayek are thinking of what an economist-as-scientist should be familiar with and have some minimum knowledge beyond his discipline. I would add that the economist as public educator, that is, when the economist talks as an economist to non-economists, also needs some awareness of psychology. I may not be using the term 'psychology' in the most proper way, but I mean the awareness to understand what the interlocutor feels and needs and then figure out how to communicate economic insights in a way that will not be automatically (emotionally or psychologically) rejected; how to make someone accept an economics outcome they do not want to be true." (04/24/17)


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48) What the wage equality crusaders don't understand
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Brittany Hunter

"Women in the workforce are constantly bombarded by rhetoric intended to make us feel less appreciated than our male colleagues. Politicians and Hollywood celebrities -- many of whom have never worked one day in a traditional office setting -- seem to take great pleasure in telling females that we are victims of the alleged gender wage gap. Asserting that today's working women make only 78 cents for every dollar earned by a man, high profile personalities from comedian Sarah Silverman to former President Barack Obama have perpetuated this myth and used it to further their own agenda: more government control over wages. Unfortunately for these wage crusaders, when the data is examined more closely what we find is not necessarily a wage gap, but what could more accurately be described as a 'preference' gap that exists because of personal choice rather than gender." (04/24/17)


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49) Why do we want a cooperative relationship with Russia?
Source: The American Conservative
by George D O'Neill Jr.

"For me and many others on the right, Russia is not the main focus, but a component of years of effort to advance a more realistic and restrained U.S. foreign policy. Someone who is interested in such a foreign policy would naturally conclude that it is in the best interests of our country to have a good relationship, if possible, with any country that possesses the world's second-largest nuclear arsenal. There is a long tradition of American noninterventionism dating back to our Founding Fathers, who had hoped to keep the newly formed United States free of the recurrent destruction caused by the recurrent European wars. For decades, comity with other nations was the default position of the U.S. government and the American people." (04/24/17)


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50) Transforming the possible through radical imagination
Source: Our Future
by George Goehl

"We are gathered here tonight, founding a new organization: People's Action. And we are in a David and Goliath battle. Donald Trump is in the White House. Greed and hate run our federal government. The right controls dozens of statehouses from coast to coast. Most importantly -- the communities that are already suffering the most are right in the crosshairs of what they want to do next. ('And Saul offered to David a sword and a shield. But instead, David reached into the stream and pulled out five smooth stones.') David knew he could not beat Goliath simply through sheer might and power. It was a time for strategy. And now, more than ever, we need strategy." (04/24/17)


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51) Whither France?
Source: Antiwar.com
by Justin Raimondo

"As the Putin-obsessed Washington Post put it: 'Of the four candidates with a realistic chance to become France's next president, three oppose Western sanctions against Russia. Two would take France out of NATO's military command, or perhaps remove it from the alliance altogether.' The globalists are in a panic: their 'international architecture' of alliances is collapsing as those peasants with pitchforks storm the gates of the transnational bureaucracies. And the Davos crowd isn't very imaginative in their defensive tactics: as in the US, they're claiming Russian 'interference.' As the election came down to the wire, Macron whined that the Russians hacked his web site: naturally, he didn't offer any evidence to back up this assertion. Who needs evidence when you have an all-purpose villain to blame? Macron is offering the same amount of proof for his accusation that our own intelligence agencies did when they claimed the Russians hacked the Democratic National Committee and fooled John Podesta with a phishing email, i.e. precisely none." (04/24/17)


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52) Forwards! Backwards?
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

"France held an election over the weekend. Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen came out on top, and will face each other in a runoff on May 7th. Current polling puts Macron over Le Pen, 62-38. But a SkyNews reporter cautions: there is no certainty. We in America have reason to respect that cautionary note. Our last election was an upset against the establishment candidate in favor of a wild card often dubbed 'far right' and even 'fascist' -- which is precisely what Ms. Le Pen is being called." [editor's note: Correction -- there was an upset against the establishment candidate in favor of the other establishment candidate – TLK] (04/24/17)


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53) The heroin crisis we've ignored
Source: In These Times
by Kari Lydersen

"The heroin epidemic has been a subject of growing public concern in recent years, Black and Latino heroin users are often absent from the discussion. Instead, media and policy attention has focused largely on white communities. There's a reason for that: Nearly 90 percent of new users during the past decade were white. Heroin use among whites cuts across age and socioeconomic class; the drug has seeped into middle-class suburbs as well as poor, rural areas. In 2013, nearly 5,000 white people aged 18-44 died from heroin overdoses, representing a 517 percent increase from their rate of fatal overdoses in 2000. Outside of the media spotlight, heroin remains a crisis in many Black and Latino communities. African Americans had the highest rate of fatal heroin overdoses in 2000, followed by Hispanics. The frequency of drug poisoning deaths has since more than doubled for both groups--an increase less dramatic than that of whites, but still of public concern. " (04/24/17)


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54) Trump wins YUGE in a government shutdown [sic]
Source: The American Spectator
by Larry Schweikart

"We're looking at a possible government shutdown [sic] next Saturday, and that's got some conservatives nervous. They shouldn't be. Admittedly, past government shutdowns -- or threats of shutdowns -- have worked against conservatives. With Trump, however, it would likely be a different story. In the past, Republicans were portrayed as denying essential services to ordinary people, and a popular president, such as Bill Clinton or Barack Obama, could selectively target just the right programs to shut down. This, of course, made the Republicans look heartless to voters, and brought them to heel. But when Trump gets to pick what gets cut, it'll be a different story -- one of the 'swamp' vs. Trump, and he'll win that one. At the center of this story is the media's ongoing inability to understand Trump as the ultimate outsider ..." [editor's note: Except, of course, that Trump is a lifelong consummate insider ... – TLK] (04/24/17)


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55) Taking Trump seriously and literally
Source: Town Hall
by Debra J Saunders

"Journalist Selena Zito famously summed up President Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign when she wrote, 'The press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally.' In September 2016, when Zito's apt assessment appeared in The Atlantic, Gallup reported its lowest approval rating ever -- of the news media. A mere 32 percent of Americans said they had a great deal or fair amount of trust in the very journalism pack that challenged Trump's legitimacy from the moment the real estate developer descended a Trump Tower escalator to announce his candidacy. ... Now Gallup has bad news for Trump. It's not just his low approval rating -- as of Wednesday, 50 percent of voters disapproved of the president, while 43 approve. The big change is the number of voters who believe Trump keeps his promises." (04/23/17)


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56) America's Tale of Two Cities, redux
Source: CounterPunch
by Robert Hunziker

"A Tale of Two Cities is historical fiction. Dickens's richly developed plot of complex relationships amongst the characters Charles Darnay, Lucie Manette, and Sydney Carton of redemption, rebirth, love, and violence layers onto a background of the French Revolution, which embodies those same issues on an historical basis, as French peasants fight for freedom from the lingering shackles of feudalism. Today, America is a tale of two cities as depicted in pre-revolutionary France, especially on a metaphorical basis, as when Marquis Evremonde runs down a plebian child with his golden carriage. The Marquis, displaying the typical attitude of aristocracy, shows no signs of regret but instead curses the peasantry and hurries home to his chateau." (04/24/17)


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57) Will the FBI spy on the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity? It wouldn't surprise me
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Michael S Rozeff

"Carter Page is an FBI target of investigation, and he shouldn't be. He has been under surveillance for years, and he shouldn't be. The FBI's reasons are his associations with Russians, built through business and financial matters, and his views on U.S. foreign policy toward Russia that are critical of U.S. foreign policy. On grounds like these, the FBI could build a case for spying on a large number of people looking to do business with Russians. The FBI could also spy on many, many people in the pro-liberty and anti-empire camp who are critical of U.S. foreign policy: Justin Raimondo, Lew Rockwell, Daniel McAdams and Ron Paul, to name a few of the more prominent." (04/24/17)


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58) The Un-Free Speech Movement at Berkeley
Source: Reason
by Steve Chapman

"There are few prospects in life more appealing than the silence of Ann Coulter. She brings to mind what novelist Mary McCarthy said about playwright and Stalinist Lillian Hellman: 'Every word she writes is a lie, including 'and' and 'the." If the world never suffered another emission from Coulter's toxic brain, it would be a better place. But she said she would speak at the University of California, Berkeley even though the school administration had canceled the speech she was scheduled to give April 27 at the invitation of two student groups. Faced with that challenge, the university changed its mind, sort of, proposing to let her appear May 2. All I can say is something I never thought I would: It will be a great thing for Ann Coulter to speak." (04/24/17)


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59) Baltasar Gracian's aphorism #203: Know the great men of your age
Source: WendyMcElroy.com
by Wendy McElroy

"This is a difficult aphorism to fulfill not only because there are so few great men but also because they might not want to meet you. Supply and demand functions in the intellectual world as well. Fortunately, you can meet a wide array of great men and women in an indirect manner through biographies, memoirs and their work. Nothing compares, however to meeting and befriending a great person directly." (04/24/17)


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60) Confessions of an optionality maximizer
Source: Jacob ex Machina
by Jacob Lyles

"I confess, I am an optionality maximizer. When life gives me a choice, I habitually choose the path that leaves open the most future possibilities. I am a qubit that refuses read 1 or 0, a cat that refuses to be dead or alive. In college, I chose my majors (Economics and Mathematics) based on my estimation of which would leave open the most career prospects, thereby delaying the time for choosing. In my spare time, I am acquainted with many hobbies, but I am a master of none of them. To invest my time in one hobby would mean to give up the possibility of pursuing greatness at another. So I find myself a mediocre writer, a mediocre guitar player, a mediocre painter, and an okay counselor with okay physical fitness. I meditate far more than the modal human but far less than anyone who dedicates serious time to it. Yes, the bane of the optionality maximizer is dedication or commitment." (04/23/17)


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FREEDOM PODCAST & VIDEO
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61) The Jason Stapleton Program, episode 587
Source: The Jason Stapleton Program

"Venezuela may not be getting much news coverage in the mainstream, but I've been updating you at every step for the last several years. Now that Venezuela is on the verge of a total government collapse we're starting to see the media rewrite history." [various formats] (04/24/17)


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62) The Bob Zadek Show, 04/23/17
Source: The Bob Zadek Show

"Fergus Hodgson, founder of Antigua International, is a prolific writer and global citizen who has been observing Venezuelan politics for years, and has spent time in numerous Latin American countries. Fergus believes we must examine the underlying ideals of revolution in Latin America to understand why the situation is so desperate." [various formats] (04/23/17)


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63) The Freedom Report, episode 281
Source: The Libertarian Republic

"If you could live 100 years ago as a millionaire, or just as you are today, would you do it? Austrian economist Donald Boudreaux writes a fascinating article which compares the living standards of millionaires 100 years ago to the middle class today. Capitalism has certainly changed the lives of the middle class, but do people even recognize the magnificence and bounty of our modern world? Austin Petersen dives into the history of free markets and follows up with a bonus segment about the dire predictions from liberal activists about the threats of global climate calamity." [various formats] (04/24/17)


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64) Freedom Feens Radio, 04/24/17
Source: Freedom Feens Radio

"Phil Pollard, Jeremy Heisenburglar, and Michael W. Dean talk about their diplomas (or lack thereof), lighting things on fire to impress girls, statistics with Phil, and Boston T. Party's 'Modules for Manhood' books. In the second hour Phil, Jeremy, and MWD yak about the pussification of the western male, the rise and fall of the oil industry, Disney and the copyright scam, and the over diagnosing of ADD/ADHD in boys." [various formats] (04/24/17)


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65) Lions of Liberty Podcast, episode 292
Source: Lions of Liberty

"In today's episode of Lions of Liberty, Marc welcomes in the usual gang of liberty suspects for a return to our oh-so-jovial and booze-fueled fan favorite format, 'Libertarians in Living Rooms Drinking Liquor!' Marc is joined by 'Electric LibertyLand' host Brian McWilliams, the 'Godfather' Howie Snowdon, and our head researcher and resident legal counsel, the man known simply as 'Rico.'" [various formats] (04/24/17)


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66) Rantings & Ravings Rebooted, episode 3The
Source: The Anarchist Shemale

"Gay couple in Norway attacked by Moroccans, and reflections on the Pulse Shooting, as well as the fact that we're not able to fix a problem if we aren't allowed to discuss it. Also the mess in Syria, why Trump thinks it's okay to create more terrorists, and the clusterfuck state of American foreign policy." [Flash audio]


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67) Free Talk Live, 04/23/17
Source: Free Talk Live

"Alex Jones vs Ex-Wife in Court May Determine Who Is Real Alex Jones :: Why Calexit? :: New Hampshire Freedom Movement :: DUI Checkpoint Activism :: Freedom Caucus :: William Norman Grigg, RIP :: Child Trafficking Court :: Ignorant Society :: Discrimination :: Auto Accidents :: NJ Senator :: Supreme Court :: More on Alex Jones :: HOSTS -- Ian, Mark, Jonny Ray." [Flash audio or MP3] (04/23/17)


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68) Trump to continue Obama's War on Whistleblowers
Source: Free Press Publications
by Darryl W Perry

"George Orwell once wrote, 'Truth is treason in an empire of lies.' This statement has become increasingly truer over the last decade with Thomas Drake, Shamai Leibowitz, Chelsea Manning, Donald Sachtleben, Stephen Kim, Jeffrey Sterling, John Kiriakou and Edward Snowden having been charged with violating the Espionage Act during the Obama Presidency. ... now appears the Trump Administration is going to continue this War on Whistleblowers, with reports stating, 'Federal prosecutors are weighing whether to bring criminal charges against members of the WikiLeaks organization.'" [text, Flash audio or MP3] (04/23/17)


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69) Reason Podcast, 04/23/17
Source: Reason

"In a wide-ranging and at-times combative conversation with Nick Gillespie, the 33-year-old [James] Kirchick talks about why he Enlightenment values of liberalism, free enterprise, and pluralism have come under attack in the very part of the world that created them and why it's in the United States'[s] best interest to help maintain a politically stable and economically productive European Union. He also discusses how he came to write his bombshell 2008 New Republic story bringing to light former Rep. Ron Paul's controversial and racially charged newsletters, the changing meaning of Jewish identity in post-war America, and how the failure of the Iraq War affected his views on foreign policy." [various formats] (04/23/17)


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70) Nick Mottern on The Scott Horton Show
Source: Libertarian Institute

"Nick Mottern, the founder and coordinator of Knowdrones.com, discusses his organization's use of targeted advertising to educate military drone operators and the general public that these deadly strikes are illegal, kill innocent civilians, and are not about fighting terrorism." [various formats] (04/19/17)


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