04/08 -- Six rules for liberty; The Big Lie of a "rape culture"
16 views
Skip to first unread message
Thomas L. Knapp
Apr 8, 2014, 8:55:17 AM4/8/14
to freedom-n...@googlegroups.com
Freedom News Daily, 04/08/14
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Presented by the International Society for Individual Liberty
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS --------------------------------------
DARK WALLET
Your keys. Your privacy. Your sovereignty
TIPPING POINT: A NOVEL BY FRANK CLARKE
DRUPAL MANAGED HOSTING
Fed up with Maintenance and Hosting companies?
STINKY SHORTS, BY REX BELL
Tyranny Demands AN ACT OF SELF-DEFENSE: A NOVEL BY ERNE LEWIS
-------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS -----
Today's Freedom News:
1) Quebec: Liberals win majority over Parti Quebecois as Marois steps down
2) India starts voting in world’s largest election
3) Iraq: 54 killed, 52 wounded
4) Afghanistan: Roadside bomb kills 15 people
5) Pakistan: Frontier Corps launches Balochistan operation
6) US Navy says it can now convert seawater into fuel
7) Turkey: Faith in ballot box faltering
8) Mexico: 20 die as criminals clash in border state
9) Pro-Russians call east Ukraine region independent
10) NY: Uber to launch courier delivery service
11) Gallup poll: ObamaCare “accomplishing goal”
12) NV: Rancher threatens “range war” against feds
13) Report: Dark markets may be more harmful than HFTs
14) Study: Too many kids getting too little love
15) Study: More US children severely obese
16) States target meth labs with “name-and-shame” strategy
17) Windows XP users face end to Microsoft support
18) Senate passes bill barring US entry for Iran envoy to UN
19) $300 micro 3D printer earns big on Kickstarter
20) SCOTUS won’t hear appeal of New Mexico photographer
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Six rules for liberty
22) The Big Lie of a “rape culture”
23) Campaign finance laws: Product of an imaginary Constitution
24) Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush and the politics of exhaustion
25) Republicans and refundable tax credits
26) Believe the fantasy or be a terrorist
27) Interview: Building a “digital city” for Libertarians
28) Time is running out
29) The home team
30) Opening the political money chutes
31) “Mistakes were made …”
32) Beyond corruption
33) Should libertarians care about Brendan Eich’s resignation?
34) Organic activists need GMOs now more than ever
35) Teachers & students opting out of standardized testing
36) Humility and skepticism
37) Rethinking “Rules for Radicals”
38) Democratic governments can’t oppress us because government is us!
39) Never reason from an inflation rate change
40) Food policy fight: Junk study on vegetarian diet
41) Is Bitcoin the future of money?
42) Mozilla’s CEO showed the cost of disclosure laws by crossing the Satan-Scherbatsky Line
43) QandO Podcast, 04/06/14
44) Why libertarians believe there is only one right
45) Frank Woolworth and the minimum wage
46) Obama administration deserves kudos for surrendering Internet control
47) Seven consequences of an EU e-cig ban
48) Ft. Hood: An avoidable tragedy
49) What Middle East peace process?
50) Why Keynesian economists don’t understand inflation
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM NEWS
------------------------------------------------------------------
1) Quebec: Liberals win majority over Parti Quebecois as Marois steps down
Source: Toronto Star [Canada]
"Philippe Couillard’s Quebec Liberal party sailed to an astonishing victory, winning a majority government in the provincial election that resulted in the defeat and resignation of Parti Quebecois Leader Pauline Marois. ... When the campaign was launched on March 5, polls suggested the minority PQ government had enough support to win a four-year lock on power. ... Though the final scores were still being counted late Monday night, the party was on track to record its worst score since 1970, six years before the sovereigntist party first took power in Quebec." (04/07/14)
-----
2) India starts voting in world’s largest election
Source: Aiken Standard
"Voters in India’s remote northeast cast ballots on the first day of the world’s biggest election on Monday, with the opposition heading into the polls with strong momentum on promises of a surge in economic growth. With 814 million eligible voters, India will vote in stages over the next five weeks in a staggered approach made necessary by the country’s vast size." (04/07/14)
-----
3) Iraq: 54 killed, 52 wounded
Source: Antiwar.com
"At least 52 people were killed and 52 more were wounded. Also two men were executed on terrorism charges, bringing this year’s total to 46 put to death. Two civilians were killed and six more were wounded during another round of shelling in Falluja. ... In Mosul, a bomb wounded four people. Gunmen killed a Shabak man. A body was discovered. In Arijia, a suicide car bomber killed four people and wounded three more. A bomb wounded six people in Sumer." (04/07/14)
-----
4) Afghanistan: Roadside bomb kills 15 people
Source: Salt Lake Tribune
"A roadside bomb killed at least 15 people traveling in vehicles that had been diverted from a main road Monday after an earlier attack in southern Afghanistan, officials said. The blast came after a relatively calm weekend in which no major attacks were reported as Afghans voted for a new president and provincial councils." (04/07/14)
-----
5) Pakistan: Frontier Corps launches Balochistan operation
Source: Newsweek Pakistan [Pakistan]
"Paramilitary troops said they launched a military operation in Balochistan on Monday and killed some 40 rebels. The toll could not be independently verified. ... The Frontier Corps said in a statement the operation began early Monday in the Farod area of Kalat district. 'Around 40 insurgents belonging to the Baloch Republican Army (BRA) and Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) were killed during the operation,' it said. 'Six vehicles were also destroyed during the operation and it is still going on.' Security and rebel accounts of clashes often differ greatly and spokesmen for the two separatist groups have so far declined to comment." (04/08/14)
-----
6) US Navy says it can now convert seawater into fuel
Source: Raw Story
"The US Navy believes it has finally worked out the solution to a problem that has intrigued scientists for decades: how to take seawater and use it as fuel. The development of a liquid hydrocarbon fuel is being hailed as 'a game-changer' because it would significantly shorten the supply chain, a weak link that makes any force easier to attack. The US has a fleet of 15 military oil tankers, and only aircraft carriers and some submarines are equipped with nuclear propulsion." (04/07/14)
-----
7) Turkey: Faith in ballot box faltering
Source: Christian Science Monitor
"Allegations of voter fraud on a scale not seen in decades have fueled concerns that one of Turkey's few untarnished democratic institutions has lost its independence at a time when the government is facing rock-bottom levels of public trust. Defeated candidates have challenged the outcome of the March 30 local elections in 16 of the country’s 81 provinces and in more than 100 districts in light of irregularities that allegedly favor the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). The defeated challenger for mayor of Ankara, the capital, yesterday asked for the results to be annulled and the election re-run. Accusations range from vote rigging to decisions by the country’s electoral boards that favored AKP candidates." (04/07/14)
-----
8) Mexico: 20 die as criminals clash in border state
Source: Macon Telegraph
"A series of clashes among criminal gangs killed 20 people during a single day of violence in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas on the border with Texas, local authorities reported. Thirteen men and one woman were killed Sunday in the southern part of the state around the Gulf Coast port of Tampico and neighboring Ciudad Madero, with people shot on the street or at local businesses, according to a statement issued late that evening by Tamaulipas state's coordinating group of state and federal law enforcement." (04/07/14)
-----
9) Pro-Russians call east Ukraine region independent
Source: Anniston Star
"Pro-Moscow activists barricaded inside government buildings in eastern Ukraine proclaimed their regions independent Monday and called for a referendum on seceding from Ukraine - an ominous echo of the events that led to Russia's annexation of Crimea. The Ukrainian government accused Russia of stirring up the unrest and tried to flush the assailants from some of the seized buildings, setting off fiery clashes in one city." (04/07/14)
-----
10) NY: Uber to launch courier delivery service
Source: CNet News
"Uber will take a big step toward its ambitions of delivering more than passengers on Tuesday when it launches a new courier service in Manhattan. Called UberRush, the service will allow customers to request delivery of small packages, usually within an hour, Uber NYC announced Monday. Like traditional bike courier services, Uber couriers on foot or bike will deliver items for a fee of between $15 and $30, depending on distance. The service will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with expansion planned to other cities in the future." (04/07/14)
-----
11) Gallup poll: ObamaCare “accomplishing goal”
Source: Reuters
"The percentage of Americans without health insurance dipped to its lowest in nearly six years due in part to U.S. President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law, commonly known as Obamacare, according to a Gallup poll released on Monday. ... ''Obamacare' appears to be accomplishing its goal of increasing the percentage of Americans with health insurance coverage,' the report said." [editor's note: Interesting that Gallup would notice that the goal of ObamaCare is "to force people to pay money to insurance companies," rather than, say, "Patient Protection" or "Affordable Care" - TLK] (04/07/14)
-----
12) NV: Rancher threatens “range war” against feds
Source: ABC News
"A Nevada rancher's threat to wage a 'range war' with the Bureau of Land Management precipitated a standoff today between supporters of the embattled rancher, Cliven Bundy, and federal law enforcement officials. ... Bundy's beef with federal land management officials dates back to 1993, according to federal officials, when Bundy's allotment for grazing his cattle on public land was modified to include protections for the desert tortoise. Bundy, who says his family has been ranching this part of Nevada since the 1870s, did not accept the modified terms, and continued to let cattle graze anyway. After legal maneuverings on both sides, a Nevada district court judge in 2013 permanently enjoined Bundy's cattle (some 600, by the government's count) from grazing on public property. The judge reiterated that decision in 2013 and authorized the U.S. government to impound the cattle." (04/07/14)
-----
13) Report: Dark markets may be more harmful than HFTs
Source: Reuters
"Fears that high-speed traders have been rigging the U.S. stock market went mainstream last week thanks to allegations in a book by financial author Michael Lewis, but there may be a more serious threat to investors: the increasing amount of trading that happens outside of exchanges. Some former regulators and academics say so much trading is now happening away from exchanges that publicly quoted prices for stocks on exchanges may no longer properly reflect where the market is. And this problem could cost investors far more money than any shenanigans related to high frequency trading." (04/07/14)
-----
14) Study: Too many kids getting too little love
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"[A] new study reveals that many parents are too stressed and stretched to experience those special intimate moments with their newborns. The research from Princeton University, Columbia University and the University of Bristol in England reveals that 4 out of 10 babies in the United States aren’t receiving the attention and affection from their moms and dads that’s necessary for forming strong parental attachments. ... The study found that babies who don’t bond with their parents before age 3 are more likely to face educational and behavioral problems in school and to grow into aggressive, defiant and hyperactive adults." (04/07/14)
-----
15) Study: More US children severely obese
Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
"Contrary to a recent report with encouraging figures on childhood obesity in the United States, a new study presents a more sobering picture of the nation's pediatric weight problem. Severe obesity, which sets kids up for a lifetime of health problems, has increased over the past 14 years, North Carolina researchers found. They used the same data that researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mined for their encouraging report in February." (04/07/14)
-----
16) States target meth labs with “name-and-shame” strategy
Source: Fox News
"As states struggle to clamp down on a growing meth epidemic, they're turning to a tactic commonly used to target sex offenders: name and shame. The latest state to go this route, Indiana, passed a law last month which would require the government to list the locations of busted meth labs on an online registry. It's a bid to shame not only the drug makers but also property owners and landlords. The new law, which goes into effect July 1, will give owners six months to clean up their methamphetamine mess. If they fail to do so, their properties will be placed on the online list." (04/07/14)
-----
17) Windows XP users face end to Microsoft support
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"Support for the venerable Windows XP operating system ends this Tuesday. It means that there will be no more official security updates and bug fixes for the operating system from Microsoft. Some governments have negotiated extended support contracts for the OS in a bid to keep users protected. Security firms said anyone else using the 13-year-old software would be at increased risk of infection and compromise by cyber-thieves." [editor's note: Some people are surprised that there are still users of Windows XP. Personally, I'm surprised that there are still users of Windows - TLK] (04/07/14)
-----
18) Senate passes bill barring US entry for Iran envoy to UN
Source: Business Week
"The U.S. Senate passed legislation to bar Iran’s newly selected delegate to the United Nations from entering the U.S. because he was a member of the group that took over the American embassy in 1979. The Senate passed the measure, sponsored by Texas Republican Ted Cruz, by voice vote tonight after it won the backing in private talks of Charles Schumer of New York, according to a Senate Democratic aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ... The Senate vote is symbolic because the executive branch issues visas to the U.S." (04/07/14)
-----
19) $300 micro 3D printer earns big on Kickstarter
Source: PC Magazine
"M3D launched its Micro 3D printer project on Kickstarter today, and has already surpassed its $50,000 goal -- and then some. The numbers continue to tick up as more than 1,300 backers have already contributed almost $330,000 as of press time. And there are still 29 days to go. ... The space-efficient, portable, quiet 3D printer comes in five colors—silver, black, blue, red/orange, and green—and promises the lowest power consumption of any 3D printer on the market." (04/07/14)
-----
20) SCOTUS won’t hear appeal of New Mexico photographer enslavement case
Source: Los Angeles Times
"In a victory for gay rights, the Supreme Court on Monday turned down an appeal from a New Mexico photographer who claimed a free-speech right to refuse to shoot a wedding album for a same-sex couple. The photographer was charged with violating the state’s anti-discrimination law, which requires businesses to serve customers and clients without regard to their race, religion or sexual orientation." (04/07/14)
------------------------------------------------------------------
FREEDOM COMMENTARY
------------------------------------------------------------------
21) Six rules for liberty
Source: Fox News Forum
by Matt Kibbe
"Don’t hurt people, and don’t take their stuff. That’s it, in a nutshell. Everyone should be free to live their lives as they think best, so long as they don’t hurt other people and don’t take other people’s stuff. I am not a moral philosopher, and I don’t particularly aspire to be one. But the rules for liberty are simple and straightforward. They’re blindly applied across the board, not doled out discriminately by meddling politicians and government bureaucrats. They define our actions at every level of society, from federal government to local communities, towards friends and enemies both foreign and domestic" [editor's note: very well summarized; I might have to go buy the book - SAT] (04/07/14)
-----
22) The Big Lie of a “rape culture”
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Wendy McElroy
"The idea that America is a rape culture is a particularly vicious big lie, because it brands all men as rapists or rape facilitators. This lie has been successful despite reality. The rate of actual rape is declining. The crime is severely punished, and even an accusation can ruin lives; men who rape are reviled; the social messages on rape delivered regularly to young men are the opposite of encouragement." (04/07/14)
-----
23) Campaign finance laws: Product of an imaginary Constitution
Source: Independent Country
by James Leroy Wilson
"Campaign finance laws are no substitute for transparency. And what do you expect they will fix? Let's say you gave the campaign limit to your favorite Senator, and Warr[e]n Buffett gave him nothing. Both you and Buffett call the Senator's office at the same time. Whose call do you think will be returned first? Campaign finance laws are unjust, they abridge fundamental rights, and are the product of an imaginary Constitution." (04/07/14)
-----
24) Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush and the politics of exhaustion
Source: The Daily Beast
by Nick Gillespie
"As if we need it, here’s extra proof that contemporary politics is more thoroughly exhausted than adult actress Lisa Sparkxxx must have been at the end of her record-setting roll in the hay at the 2004 'Eroticon' in Warsaw, Poland. ... At least Lisa Sparkxxx participated voluntarily in her own screwing. For the large and growing plurality of Americans who identify as independent, there’s seemingly no way to opt out of the compulsive-repetitive disorder among legacy media types and partisan string-pullers. What is it that Faulkner said in Requiem for a Nun (1950)? 'The past is never dead. It’s not even past.' Who knew that he was talking about politics in the goddamned 21st century, not Yoknapatawpha County after the Civil War?" (04/07/14)
-----
25) Republicans and refundable tax credits
Source: LewRockwell.com
by Laurence M. Vance
"A regular tax credit may reduce the amount of tax owed down to zero. However, if there is no taxable income to begin with—due to tax deductions, exemptions, or otherwise, then no credit can be taken. A refundable tax credit is treated as a payment from the taxpayer, such as federal income tax withheld or quarterly estimated taxes paid. If the 'payment' is more than the tax owed, the taxpayer receives a refund from the government of money he never had withheld or paid in. ... Refundable tax credits are welfare for the masses. They are also a huge wealth redistribution scheme. They are also the ultimate form of welfare because they are cash payments that do not count as income. So what do refundable tax credits have to do with Republicans? Everything. And not just because they helped pass the American Taxpayer Relief Act that expanded refundable tax credits." (04/08/14)
-----
26) Believe the fantasy or be a terrorist
Source: Authority!
by Timothy J Taylor
"In the Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia today the law specifies that peaceful honest atheists are considered terrorists. Saudi King Abdullah has decided to clamp down with force upon all forms of political dissent and even peaceful protests that could, in his mind, 'harm public order.' Article 1 of the 'terrorism' law prohibits 'Calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.'" (04/07/14)
-----
27) Interview: Building a “digital city” for Libertarians
Source: Libertarian News Examiner
by Garry Reed
Garry Reed interviews liberty.me CEO Jeffrey Tucker. (04/07/14)
-----
28) Time is running out
Source: Our Future
by Thom Hartmann
"This week, government officials and climate scientists from all over the world are meeting in Berlin, Germany, to finalize a U.N. study on climate change and its solutions. While the study hasn’t been released yet, a draft of it has, and it’s pretty stunning. The draft report from the International Panel on Climate Change, or IPCC, says that time is quickly running out for world powers to slash their use of fossil fuels and stay below the 2 degree Celsius limit on global warming that 200 nations agreed upon in 2010." [editor's note: And the co-author of that report RESIGNED last week because the report was such slanted bullshit! - SAT] (04/07/14)
-----
29) The home team
Source: Strike the Root
by Mark Davis
"Sports provide many benefits to society, not least of which are the many rich metaphors for life. The understanding of social organization, establishment of rules, the dynamics of competition, individuals sacrificing for the team, learning accountability, commitment to a purpose and developing a work ethic in sports offers a range of wonderful sayings, lessons and stories. My hope is that this rhetorical tool may shed some light on a common retort to self-government that pro-statists use: Anarchists believe there should be no rules for behavior and this leads to chaos and the breakup of society. I hope to show that this is not true and, further, that the opposite is actually true. The incompatibility between a society organized via voluntary cooperation and one that is organized via institutional coercion has been hidden in plain sight." (04/07/14)
-----
30) Opening the political money chutes
Source: Reuters
by Richard L. Hasen
"The headline about a new Supreme Court opinion rarely tells the whole story. Rather, the detailed reasoning of the ruling often reveals whether a decision is a blockbuster or a dud. When the court writes broadly, it can eventually remake entire industries, government practices or areas of the law. Lawyers and lower courts scrutinize an opinion’s every line and footnote, pouring over the legal reasoning and noting subtle changes from the court’s earlier decisions in the same area. This is why it is fair to call last week’s Supreme Court ruling in the campaign finance case McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission a blockbuster case." [editor's note: Not really, but you may keep your delusions - SAT] (04/07/14)
-----
31) “Mistakes were made …”
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal
"When the first person initiated force or theft and was allowed to live ..." (04/07/14)
-----
32) Beyond corruption
Source: The American Prospect
by Paul Waldman
"There was a time in our history, thankfully long past now, when bribery was common and money's slithery movement through the passages of American government was all but invisible, save for the occasional scandal that would burst forth into public consciousness. Today, we know much more about who's getting what from whom. Members of Congress have to declare their assets, lobbyists have to register and disclose their activities, and contributions are reported and tracked. Whatever you think about the current campaign finance system, it's much more transparent than it once was." [editor's note: Which SHOULD have been the media message last week; clarity on who's funding whom, not artificial barriers making it stay underground? - SAT] (04/07/14)
-----
33) Should libertarians care about Brendan Eich’s resignation?
Source: Adam Smith Institute
by Ben Southwood
"One libertarian perspective might be that, since no negative rights were infringed, this was an entirely defensible use of social pressure to enforce social norms .... Contrariwise, an alternative 'thick' libertarian perspective would hold that people have the right not to be hounded out of their job for opinions they hold and do not enforce on others -- by all accounts Mozilla is a highly equal-opportunities place for LGBT people. For this perspective, Eich's resignation is a worrying indication that First Amendment -- freedom of expression -- rights are disappearing." (04/07/14)
-----
34) Organic activists need GMOs now more than ever
Source: Heartland Institute
by Mischa Popoff
"You can’t separate the organic movement from the anti-GMO movement. They are one and the same, existing in perfect anti-technological symbiosis. What’s bad for GMOs is good for organics and vice versa. With GMO labeling initiatives underway in 26 out of 50 states, and a global campaign to stop life-saving GM Golden Rice from being approved, you’re supposed to believe the leaders of the multibillion-dollar organic industry are just watching innocently from the sidelines. Nothing could be further from the truth." (04/07/14)
-----
35) Teachers & students opting out of standardized testing
Source: The Nation
by Michelle Chen
"After years of drilling, assessing and scoring youth to exhaustion, more than 25,000 kids in New York have defied the educational establishment in a test of wills. The 'opt out' movement has exploded in schools across the state and other regions of the country, as students, parents and teachers resist the standardized testing regime that has fueled a free-market assault on public education. Some New York teachers have placed themselves at the vanguard of test resisters, alongside student and parent activists, and are now using their professional leverage to deepen the battle lines in the ideological conflict over education reform." (04/07/14)
-----
36) Humility and skepticism
Source: Everything Voluntary
by Skyler J. Collins
"It's easy to fall into the mental trap known as 'confirmation bias.' This trap is sprung when you put more weight on information that is confirming of your bias (a prejudice in favor of or against some thing) and/or less weight on information that is disconfirming, than either deserves. Avoiding conviction, as I wrote about previously, is one way to protect yourself against confirmation bias. Here are two more." (04/07/14)
-----
37) Rethinking “Rules for Radicals”
Source: In These Times
by Mark Engler & Paul Engler
"Although Saul Alinsky, the founding father of modern community organizing in the United States, passed away in 1972, he is still invoked by the right as a dangerous harbinger of looming insurrection. And although his landmark book, Rules for Radicals, is now nearly 45 years old, the principles that emerged from Alinsky's work have influenced every generation of community organizers that has come since. The most lasting of Alinsky's prescriptions are not his well-known tactical guidelines ('ridicule is man’s most potent weapon' or 'power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have'). Rather, they are embedded in a set of organizational practices and predispositions, a defined approach to building power at the level of local communities."
-----
38) Democratic governments can’t oppress us because government is us!
Source: Bleeding Heart Libertarians
by Jason Brennan
"Christ, it’s one thing if they strawman libertarians every chance they get. But apparently the writers at Salon don’t even read political theory in their own intellectual tradition. Most left-wing, progressive, pro-democracy philosophers wouldn’t be willing to say something as silly as the quotation above." (04/07/14)
-----
39) Never reason from an inflation rate change
Source: EconLog
by Scott Sumner
"The impact of a once and for all change in the price level is very different from a permanent change in the growth rate. The impact of expected changes in the price level are different from the impact of unexpected changes. The impact of inflation in a depressed economy is different from the impact at full employment. Most importantly, the impact of inflation from a demand shock is very, very different from the impact of inflation resulting from a supply shock." (04/07/14)
-----
40) Food policy fight: Junk study on vegetarian diet
Source: OpenMarket.org
by Angela Logomasini
"Log on to Twitter and you might read: 'A vegetarian diet is associated with poorer health, a higher need for health care, and poorer quality of life.' Here we have junk science going viral! And its fanning the flames between meat-eating and vegetarian advocates. But it shouldn’t. You can’t really blame the person pushing out this tweet too much, however, because her source is a study published in a PLOS One research paper. It highlights some of the pitfalls associated with paying too much attention to isolated studies that rely on questionable methodology and overblown claims." (04/07/14)
-----
41) Is Bitcoin the future of money?
Source: Libertarianism.org
"Everyone seems to be talking about Bitcoin these days. But just what is Bitcoin -- and what are cryptocurrencies in general? How do they work? Are they money? Will we all be sending and receiving payments in Bitcoin in the near future? Trevor and Aaron sat down with Timothy B. Lee to try to answer these questions." [Flash audio or MP3] (04/07/14)
-----
42) Mozilla’s CEO showed the cost of disclosure laws by crossing the Satan-Scherbatsky Line
Source: Cato Institute
by Ilya Shapiro
"Surely we can all agree that a neo-Nazi Holocaust denier -- or a Klan member, or a Stalinist, or a Satan worshipper -- can’t run a large company. The trust won’t be there, either internally or externally. On the other hand, most people seem not to have liked last week’s How I Met Your Mother finale, but surely disagreeing with that view (as I do) isn’t a disqualifier. So the question that has consumed discussions of the Eich affair is whether someone who’s against gay marriage -- or at least donates to that cause -- is on the wrong side of the Satan-Scherbatsky line. Not because that person is equivalent to a Nazi or Communist but because there’s a line somewhere." (04/07/14)
-----
43) QandO Podcast, 04/06/14
Source: QandO
"Michael and Dale talk about Brendan Eich and Obamacare." [various formats] (04/06/14)
-----
44) Why libertarians believe there is only one right
Source: Center for a Stateless Society
by Roderick Long
"Libertarians believe that there is, fundamentally, only one right: the right not to be aggressed against. All further rights are simply applications of, rather than supplements to, this basic right. Hence the vast panoply of other rights -- positive rights, welfare rights -- recognized by existing political regimes is dismissed as illegitimate." (04/07/14)
-----
45) Frank Woolworth and the minimum wage
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Daniel J. Smith and Zac Thompson
"Woolworth’s five-and-dime stores pioneered a discount retailing model that was a godsend to consumers and employees across the country. Minimum-wage laws, however, would have kept their founder, Frank Woolworth, from even getting close enough to the retail business to have his moment of entrepreneurial insight." (04/07/14)
-----
46) Obama administration deserves kudos for surrendering Internet control
Source: Reason
by Jerry Brito
"The last step in the Internet’s privatization should be applauded for removing government from the process." (04/07/14)
-----
47) Seven consequences of an EU e-cig ban
Source: Libertarian Alliance
by staff
"Infographic." (04/07/14)
-----
48) Ft. Hood: An avoidable tragedy
Source: Campaign for Liberty
by Ron Paul
"Government officials and the media only talk about the symptoms that lead to these tragic events. They will tell us that there are people who get post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and kill themselves and others. They will all call for more government intervention into the lives of those in the military to root out and 'treat' mental illness. But they will never question the two causes of these tragedies: the disastrous decade-long US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have destroyed the minds of so many service members, and the government psychiatrists who prescribe extremely dangerous psychotropic drugs to treat these damaged soldiers." (04/07/14)
-----
49) What Middle East peace process?
Source: Independent Institute
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"In an ideal world, the end of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would hinge, not on a two-state solution, but on friendly coexistence under common rules based on property rights and individual liberties. In the real, messed-up world, the two-state solution in its prettiest form might at least do the Palestinians some justice and guarantee Israel its safety. The problem is that Benyamin Netanyahu, fully aware that the balance of power within Israeli society and politics favors his line, is working to make this impossible -- to the delight of Arab radicals who want Abbas, the most reasonable Palestinian leader in a very long time, to fail." (04/07/14)
-----
50) Why Keynesian economists don’t understand inflation
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Frank Hollenbeck
"The 'monetary cranks' and 'ignorant zealots' of old are back preaching salvation if only we had more inflation. Keneth Roggoff and Fed President Charles Evans did not mince words, while others have been more circumspect. Christine Lagarde warns us of the 'ogre of deflation' and the 'risks' of low inflation, while others have been urging easier monetary policy to reduce the value of the yen or the euro. Of course, it’s much easier to let this inflation tiger out of its cage than to get it back in. We have ample evidence that once inflation picks up, it’s extremely difficult to control." (04/07/14)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
FND is published every weekday except on holidays. Forward freely.
To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit:
Support ISIL (tax deductible)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages