03/22 -- Snowden: No Russia hacking evidence from FBI yet; Only markets can win the war on poverty
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Thomas L. Knapp
Mar 22, 2017, 6:38:59 AM3/22/17
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 03/22/17
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Snowden: No Russia hacking evidence from FBI yet
2) SCOTUS reins in president's appointment powers
3) Trump signs bill authorizing NASA funding, Mars exploration
4) Cuba: Opposition activist Eduardo Cardet sentenced to three years in prison
5) Breitbart, InfoWars cast in FBI's amateur theatrical production of "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!"
6) France: Minister quits over scandal as Macron's presidency bid gathers pace
7) Controversial measure added to GOP healthcare bill to lure New York votes
8) Searching for leaked celebrity photos? Don't blindly click that Fappening link!
9) Venezuela: Government ships food to Peruvian flood victims despite own hunger crisis
10) Hong Kong set to pick new leader anointed by Beijing
11) Study: College students violently protesting conservative speakers come from wealthy families
12) OK: State senator "to quit" over motel child [sic] sex charge
13) Somalia: Mogadishu car bombing leaves ten dead
14) Cleveland-area pastor cancels his Chicago "gang summit"
15) Hacker reveals easiest way to hijack privileged Windows user session without password
16) Martin McGuinness, 1950-2017
17) Trump's wealth ranking tumbles 208 spots on Forbes list
18) Republicans change health care bill in search for votes
19) Stephen Hawking is going into space thanks to Richard Branson
20) Fox News pulls Napolitano off air after Trump report
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Only markets can win the war on poverty
22) When they nullify the law, jurors are just doing their jobs
23) Why were Republicans willing to repeal ObamaCare last year, but not now?
24) The truth about vaping
25) The Senator and democracy
26) Money fuels medical marijuana debate
27) Baltasar Gracian's aphorism #204: Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy.
28) Prepare now for blowback
29) Five reasons moderate Democrats should oppose Neil Gorsuch
30) Join stupid gangs, win stupid prizes
31) War is not an option for Korea
32) "Liberal" libel law: Still a disgrace to democracy
33) Democrats' Gorsuch attacks undermine the law
34) Newly obtained documents prove: Key claim of Snowden's accusers is a fraud
35) It's time to fight fire with fire -- is the Chinese government pushing Bitcoin Unlimited?
36) How the left is using Tea Party tactics to fight both GOP and Democratic establishment
37) Raise the age -- and save!
38) Of salt and socialism
39) The Nixonian strategy behind Trump's Obama lie
40) Taxpayers forced to fund lavish military pensions
41) Saudi Arabia's brutal and futile war in Yemen turns two
42) The totalitarian strain in American democracy
43) Allowing failure fixes the housing crisis
44) Can Median Voter Theorem explain political polarization?
45) The "troubles" with pharmacy benefit managers
46) The Fed's half-hearted attempt a monetary tightening
47) In anti-intellectual email, Wellesley profs call engaging with controversial arguments an imposition on students
48) Penny wise and pound foolish?
49) When was the last time you held a baby?
50) Alt-Right-Del
51) Who are the demanders of local government services?
52) Falling back in love with anarchism
53) Stealing from the citizenry
54) Trump, trade, and great power war
55) What we have to do to fix our caustic divide
Today's Freedom Podcast & Video
56) Tenther Tuesday, episode 13
57) Reason Podcast, 03/21/17
58) Freedom Feens Radio, 03/21/17
59) The Tom Woods Show, episode 872
60) Free Talk Live, 03/20/17
61) Cato Daily Podcast, 03/20/17
62) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 16
63) The Jason Stapleton Program, episode 562
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FREEDOM NEWS
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1) Snowden: No Russia hacking evidence from FBI yet
Source: Raw Story
"As far as infamous National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden is concerned, the FBI has not presented any 'real evidence' Russia directly interfered with the 2016 presidential election with the alleged intent of propping up President Donald Trump. Speaking at a technology conference in Hanover, Germany, through a live video feed, Snowden, who's been exiled in Russia for almost four years since he revealed the NSA's massive domestic and international spying efforts on Americans and others, stated that while some 'private vendors' have perhaps found evidence the FBI had yet to officially link President Vladimir Putin and Russia's intelligence arms to hacking efforts." (03/21/17)
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2) SCOTUS reins in president's appointment powers
Source: Reuters
"The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday put new restrictions on presidential powers, limiting a president's authority to staff certain top government posts in a case involving an appointment to the National Labor Relations Board. The court decided 6-2 to uphold a lower court's ruling that then-President Barack Obama exceeded his legal authority with his temporary appointment of an NLRB general counsel in 2011. In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court said that under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, a person cannot serve as the acting head of a federal agency once the president nominates him or her to permanently serve in the role if it is a position that requires U.S. Senate confirmation." (03/21/17)
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3) Trump signs bill authorizing NASA funding, Mars exploration
Source: Denver Post
"President Donald Trump signed a bill into law Tuesday that updates NASA's mission to add exploration of Mars and authorizes $19.5 billion in spending for the U.S. space agency for the current budget year. It's the first time in seven years that there has been an authorization bill for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA, said Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, a chief sponsor of the bill." (03/21/17)
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4) Cuba: Opposition activist Eduardo Cardet sentenced to three years in prison
Source: PanAm Post
"Another Cuban dissident has been sentenced to prison -- this time for three years. National Coordinator of the Christian Liberation Movement Eduardo Cardet has been sentenced to prison, according to his wife Yaimaris Vecino. The ruling is based on charges of manipulating information without taking into account the defense's witnesses' testimonies, she said." (03/21/17)
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5) Breitbart, InfoWars cast in FBI's amateur theatrical production of "The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!"
Source: McClatchy DC Bureau
"Federal investigators are examining whether far-right news sites played any role last year in a[n apparently imaginary] Russian cyber operation that dramatically widened the reach of news stories -- some fictional -- that favored Donald Trump's presidential bid, two people familiar with the inquiry say. Operatives for Russia appear to have strategically timed the computer commands, known as 'bots,' to blitz social media with links to the pro-Trump stories at times when the billionaire businessman was on the defensive in his race against Democrat Hillary Clinton, these sources said. The bots' end products were largely millions of Twitter and Facebook posts carrying links to stories on conservative internet sites such as Breitbart News and InfoWars, as well as on the Kremlin-backed RT News and Sputnik News, the sources said." (03/21/17)
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6) France: Minister quits over scandal as Macron's presidency bid gathers pace
Source: Reuters
"Centrist Emmanuel Macron's bid for power in France gathered pace on Tuesday when he won support from a junior minister in the Socialist government while the interior minister resigned amid scandal in a new twist to the topsy-turvy presidential campaign. Voters rated Macron as the strongest performer of the five leading candidates who took part in the first debate of the presidential election campaign on Monday night, watched by nearly 10 million viewers, according to snap opinion polls. His front-running status was reinforced by an endorsement from a junior minister in Socialist President Francois Hollande's administration, the first government member openly to back the independent politician in preference to the Socialist candidate, Benoit Hamon." (03/21/17)
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7) Controversial measure added to GOP healthcare bill to lure New York votes
Source: USA Today
"Hoping to win support from upstate New York Republicans, House leaders late on Monday added a controversial proposal to their health care bill that would bar New York state from taking money from county governments to repay federal Medicaid costs. The provision by GOP Rep. Chris Collins would apply to the $2.3 billion raised from counties outside New York City, which Collins says is critical for Western New York. Collins, a former Erie County executive, introduced the measure with the help of Rep. John Faso. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a blistering statement against it Monday, blaming Collins and Faso for creating a 'death trap' that will devastate most hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities in upstate New York and on Long Island. There is no way to make up the shortfall, he said." (03/21/17)
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8) Searching for leaked celebrity photos? Don't blindly click that Fappening link!
Source: The Hacker News
"Are you curiously googling or searching torrents for nude photos or videos of Emma Watson, Amanda Seyfried, Rose McGowan, or any other celebrities leaked in The Fappenning 2.0? If yes, then beware, you should not click any link promising Fappenning celebrity photos. Cybercriminals often take advantage of news headlines in order to trap victims and trick them into following links that may lead to websites containing malware or survey scams." (03/20/17)
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9) Venezuela: Government ships food to Peruvian flood victims despite own hunger crisis
Source: PanAm Post
"While Venezuela faces a food and medicine shortage never before seen throughout its history, President Nicolas Maduro's administration ordered a shipment of 100,000 boxes of food to Peru to help flood victims. Maduro has ignored his own country's humanitarian and economic crisis, and now is even going out of his way to send food to other countries, despite it being so scarce on the shelves of local supermarkets." (03/21/17)
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10) Hong Kong set to pick new leader anointed by Beijing
Source: Omaha World
"The three candidates vying to be Hong Kong's next leader squared off in a feisty debate in front of hundreds of voters who peppered them with questions. They wrangled over policy proposals for the semiautonomous Chinese city and took jabs at each other at Sunday night's forum. In one particularly testy exchange, frontrunner Carrie Lam, a former chief secretary, sniped at rival John Tsang for keeping a clean desk during his time as the city's finance chief, implying that he hadn't kept himself busy enough." (03/21/17)
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11) Study: College students violently protesting conservative speakers come from wealthy families
Source: Fox News
"The recent wave of protests (sometimes violent ones) at U.S. colleges and universities that have forced the cancellation of conservative speakers' lectures take place predominantly at liberal schools, many of whose students are progressive and come from wealthy families, the Brookings Institute said in a new study. The analysis of who on these campuses is making it increasingly difficult to invite conservatives comes shortly after a disturbing such instance at Middlebury College. Earlier this month, controversial libertarian social scientist Charles Murray arrived at the Vermont campus to deliver a guest lecture. But the intensity of the student protests forced Murray and those who had invited him to move to a different section of the campus to continue. However, student protesters disrupted that venue, too. When a Middlebury faculty member attempted (for Murray's physical safety) to escort Murray to a vehicle, a student mob physically attacked them." (03/21/17)
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12) OK: State senator "to quit" over motel child [sic] sex charge
Source: BBC [UK state media]
"An Oklahoma state senator will bow to calls to resign after he was charged this month with several counts of child prostitution, his lawyer says. Senator Ralph Shortey has been facing calls to quit since when he was caught with a 17-year-old boy in a motel in Moore on 9 March. The FBI and Secret Service have joined in the investigation, and Mr Shortey's home was searched on Friday. The married father remains a salaried, voting member of the state legislature. Mr Shortey will resign on Wednesday, says his attorney Ed Blau. But even if found guilty of the child sex charges, he will still be eligible to collect his state retirement package." [editor's note: The "child" part, involving unforced sex with someone who would be legal to consent in about half the states, is absurd – SAT] (03/21/17)
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13) Somalia: Mogadishu car bombing leaves ten dead
Source: CNN
"Extremist group Al-Shabaab claimed responsibility for a deadly explosion that police say killed 10 people Tuesday afternoon in Mogadishu, Somalia. At least 15 people were injured in the bomb explosion at a busy security checkpoint in the country's capital, according to Somali federal police Maj. Ahmed Ibrahim. The blast was caused by an explosive-laden vehicle about 150 meters from the entrance of Villa Somalia, the presidential palace in Mogadishu, Ibrahim said. ... Al-Shabaab, which claimed responsibility for the attack through its Radio Andalus, announced 20 had been killed, though the terror group is known to exaggerate the death totals of its attacks." (03/21/17)
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14) Cleveland-area pastor cancels his Chicago "gang summit"
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"A Cleveland-area minister who told President Donald Trump that Chicago's 'top gang thugs' wanted to meet with him to find ways to reduce gun violence said the decision to cancel the event had nothing to do with criticism from activists in the city. The Rev. Darrell Scott said the meeting won't happen Tuesday at a hotel near O'Hare International Airport because three people he wanted to attend, including an education expert who became ill at an airport, had to cancel. He said the news release about the summit overstated his goals for the meeting. He said he had no intention of trying to negotiate a cease-fire with gang members as the release stated." (03/21/17)
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15) Hacker reveals easiest way to hijack privileged Windows user session without password
Source: The Hacker News
"You may be aware of the fact that a local Windows user with system rights and permissions can reset the password for other users, but did you know that a local user can also hijack other users' session, including domain admin/system user, without knowing their passwords? Alexander Korznikov, an Israeli security researcher, has recently demonstrated that a local privileged user can even hijack the session of any logged-in Windows user who has higher privileges without knowing that user's password, using built-in command line tools." (03/20/17)
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16) Martin McGuinness, 1950-2017
Source: Los Angeles Times
"Martin McGuinness, the Irish Republican Army warlord who led his underground, paramilitary movement toward reconciliation with Britain, and was Northern Ireland's deputy first minister for a decade in a power-sharing government, has died, his Sinn Fein party announced Tuesday on Twitter. He was 66. The party said he died after a short illness. Unlike his close Belfast associate, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, McGuinness never hid the fact that he had been a commander of the IRA -- classed as a terrorist organization by the British, Irish and U.S. governments. Nor could he." (03/21/17)
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17) Trump's wealth ranking tumbles 208 spots on Forbes list
Source: CBS News
"President Donald Trump's week is not getting off to a good start, with him falling more than 200 spots on the Forbes world billionaires list and hearing that his election campaign is under FBI investigation. While Mr. Trump's political fortunes were rising, his net worth was dropping to a mere $3.5 billion, or roughly a third of what he claimed during his successful campaign for the U.S. presidency, according to the latest Forbes list of the world's billionaires. His latest ranking reflects a dip of about $1 billion, by Forbes'[s] reckoning." (03/20/17)
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18) Republicans change health care bill in search for votes
Source: CNN
"House Republican leaders released a package of amendments Monday evening to modify the GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare -- the culmination of days of negotiations and closed-door meetings to win over critics and skeptics of the proposal. The amendments mark efforts by GOP leaders and the White House to appease both conservatives and moderates who have expressed reservations about the bill. As of Monday, senior Republicans were continuing to whip the GOP conference to ensure that they will have the 216 votes necessary to pass the bill out of the House on Thursday." (03/20/17)
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19) Stephen Hawking is going into space thanks to Richard Branson
Source: Yahoo! Tech
"Stephen Hawking has been studying, theorizing, pondering, and writing about the universe and everything that makes it tick for decades upon decades, and now he'll finally get his chance to head into the great unknown for himself. Hawking just revealed that he's booked a flight on Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, thanks to the latter's offer to help the renowned physicist and cosmologist make his dream of spaceflight a reality." (03/20/17)
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20) Fox News pulls Napolitano off air after Trump report
Source: Fox News
"Fox News Channel has pulled legal analyst Andrew Napolitano from the air after disavowing his on-air claim that British intelligence officials had helped former President Barack Obama spy on Donald Trump. A person with knowledge of the situation who spoke on condition of anonymity because it was a personnel matter said Napolitano has been benched and won't be appearing on the air in the near future. Fox had no immediate comment Monday. Napolitano's report last week on 'Fox & Friends,' claiming he had three intelligence sources who said Obama went 'outside the chain of command' to watch Trump, provoked an international incident." (03/21/17)
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FREEDOM COMMENTARY
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21) Only markets can win the war on poverty
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Jeffrey Tucker
"'What about the poor?' An interviewer just asked me the question following my usual call for markets in everything. It's probably the 100th time this has happened. The question amazes me because the implication behind it implies that markets serve primarily the rich. It's hard to imagine a more profound confusion. The default state of the world is grueling poverty, universal insecurity, and short lives. When governments do come along, they nearly always serve themselves first. The most earth-shattering change in this persistent trend of all recorded history came with the advent of capitalism. For the first time in history, the productive resources of society turned from serving mainly the elites toward serving the common person." (03/21/17)
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22) When they nullify the law, jurors are just doing their jobs
Source: Reason
by JD Tuccille
"Prosecutors and their groupies don't really care why they were thwarted -- just that they didn't get their way. When refused convictions in high-profile criminal cases, they tend to act as if the government has been denied something to which it's entitled by divine word and the laws of nature. Amidst whining by prosecutors about spending a week with '12 idiots,' and huffing by editorial boards over an 'absurd verdict,' it's difficult to know whether a not guilty verdict represents an act of juror rebellion or a simple statement that the government didn't live up to its obligation to prove its arguments. ... ultimately, jury nullification is just an extension of the jury's role as a check on the state -- whether prosecutors are applying law badly, or just applying bad law. When jurors take their responsibilities seriously, they can push prosecutors to present more-convincing arguments, and they can prompt legislators to rethink whole areas of policy." (03/21/17)
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23) Why were Republicans willing to repeal ObamaCare last year, but not now?
Source: Downsize DC
by Perry Willis and Jim Babka
"The Republicans won in 2016 largely due to their repeated promises to repeal Obamacare. They passed bills to repeal Obamacare 50+ times, including in 2016, only to have President Obama veto them. S. 554 is the exact same bill the Republicans passed in 2016! If the Republicans were willing to pass it then, they should be even more willing to pass it now, when they actually have the power to cause the change their constituency craves." (03/21/17)
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24) The truth about vaping
Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute
by Michelle Minton
"We can't be trusted with the truth about e-cigarettes' health risks -- that's what government health officials and many advocates seem to think. Almost every single study that has looked into the safety of vaping has found it to be significantly less harmful than traditional cigarettes, without serious harm from long-term use, and effective at helping smokers quit. Americans would never know this, however, if their only source of information was government recommendations. Within the advocate and regulatory communities, there seems to be a concerted effort to obscure the safety of alternative tobacco products and to magnify any evidence of possible risk. In short, they are trying to make consumers run scared from a demonstrably safer product, when the likely alternative is traditional tobacco products, which kill up to half of their users." (03/21/17)
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25) The Senator and democracy
Source: Strike The Root
by Paul Hein
"Our political system is based upon democracy, as we are frequently told. Democracy is such a good thing that our Rulers would like the whole world to enjoy it, even if it means introducing it and maintaining it by force, as seems to be happening in the Middle East, for example. Yes, people may be dying and cities destroyed, but in the long run, democracy is worth it, despite the objections of the widowed, orphaned, or homeless who will, we are assured, benefit from it, somehow, in the future -- if they survive. Another pillar of our political system is that our Rulers are wiser and more virtuous than the rest of us, and thus entitled to set aside democracy when circumstances warrant it. That is the conclusion that I was forced to reach after receiving an email from Missouri's Senator Claire McCaskill, who kindly keeps me informed of her labors on my behalf." (03/21/17)
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26) Money fuels medical marijuana debate
Source: Town Hall
by Erin Clark
"Patients, doctors, and the Florida public seem to think that the medical marijuana story (and path to regulation) is about a misunderstood plant and easing patient suffering. For businesses, lobbyists and regulators, medical marijuana is just another money-making opportunity. The regulatory process will determine who gets entry into a potentially lucrative industry. Florida's seven licensed dispensaries (CHT Medical, The Green Solution, Trulieve, Surterra Therapeutics, Modern Health Concepts, Knox Medical and GrowHealthy) have the state's top lobbyists on tap." (03/21/17)
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27) Baltasar Gracian's aphorism #204: Attempt easy tasks as if they were difficult, and difficult as if they were easy.
Source: WendyMcElroy.com
by Wendy McElroy
"It is common to get overwhelmed by the difficulty of a task such as writing a book or even an essay that requires extensive research. The most effective way I've found to make these difficult tasks seem easy -- or easier -- is what I call 'chunking.' That is, I break the research or writing into manageable sections. Instead of overwhelming myself with a stack of books, I pick up one from which to make notes. And then the next ... and then the next. 'Chunking' gives me a sense of accomplishment, encouragement and control over the material." (03/21/17)
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28) Prepare now for blowback
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
"By this time it has become painfully obvious that Donald Trump is going to follow the interventionist road in the Middle East that Republicans and Democrats have been following ever since the Cold War ended in 1989. ... same old, same old. None of this should surprise us, of course. These were all things Trump led us to believe he would do during his presidential race. But there is one big aspect to all this that we should emphasize and talk about now -- the possibility of more terrorist blowback from the U.S. government's interventionist foreign policy in the Middle East and Afghanistan, especially a big terrorist attack that involves dozens or even hundreds of victims, such a massive bomb in a shopping mall or office building or on a crowded bridge. If that happens, one thing is certain: rational thinking will be in extremely short supply." (03/21/17)
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29) Five reasons moderate Democrats should oppose Neil Gorsuch
Source: Our Future
by Richard Eskow
"After a contentious start to Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court nomination hearings, Senate Democrats are struggling with what the New York Times calls 'two options: Get out of the way or get run over.' But Democrats have a third option, one that should attract moderate 'centrists' as well as more liberal senators: fight. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, received some criticism for introducing Gorsuch to the Senate. Bennet's action was defensible: in normal times, it's Senate protocol for senators to introduce nominees from their home state. Colorado's other senator, Republican Cory Gardner, also introduced Gorsuch. But these are not normal times, and Democrats need to recognize that." (03/21/17)
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30) Join stupid gangs, win stupid prizes
Source: Kent's "Hooligan Libertarian" Blog
by Kent McManigal
"I don't want to be a jerk, but ... when you work for the bad guy, and die due to your 'job,' I can't feel too sorry for you or the family you foolishly sold up the river. You took a 'job' violating people -- you try to call it 'protecting freedom,' haha -- in exchange for stolen money, doing sometimes dangerous/foolish things. Then you want everyone to pretend it's a tragedy when the chickens come home to roost? Sorry." (03/20/17)
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31) War is not an option for Korea
Source: Antiwar.com
by Christine Ahn
"Although the fantasy of surgical strikes to topple brutal dictators has long intoxicated American military officials, they've been restrained by the sobering reality of such reckless action. In the 1990s, when President Bill Clinton considered a first strike on North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear reactor, the Pentagon concluded that even limited action would claim a million lives in the first 24 hours -- and this was well before Pyongyang possessed nuclear weapons. President Obama, too, considered surgical strikes targeting Kim Jong UN and weapons sites. But as David Sanger reported in The New York Times, obtaining such timely intelligence was nearly impossible and 'the risks of missing were tremendous, including renewed war on the Korean peninsula.' Any military action by Washington will undoubtedly trigger a counter-reaction from Pyongyang that could instantly kill a third of the South Korean population." (03/21/17)
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32) "Liberal" libel law: Still a disgrace to democracy
Source: spiked
by Mick Hume
"It appears that the dreadful Katie Hopkins and I might have more in common than we might like to think. Both of us have been sued and punished under England's execrable, free-speech-hobbling libel laws. The difference is that Hopkins was sued by food blogger Jack Monroe after we were assured that the old repressive defamation regime was dead and gone; campaigners boasted that the reforms they had won in the 2013 Defamation Act meant the law which hammered me back in 2000 had been liberalised to protect free speech. Yet when the judge delivered his verdict in the Hopkins case last week, the much-vaunted new protections -- such as the 'serious harm' test -- disappeared, and she lost just the same. Indeed the outcome of the trial -- Hopkins hit with £24,000 in damages and more than £100,000 in legal costs for two tweets -- suggests that, in the age of social media, our allegedly liberal libel laws might pose more of a threat to unfettered free speech than ever." (03/21/17)
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33) Democrats' Gorsuch attacks undermine the law
Source: USA Today
by Ronald A Cass
"Smart people often say stupid things. #MistakesHappen. But it takes a certain special orientation to repeat obviously false and ridiculous statements over and over. That's a talent peculiar to politicians. This talent is frequently on display during Supreme Court confirmation fights. Since the 1970s, every nominee from a Republican president has been attacked, among other things, as hostile to women's rights and civil rights. That includes Harry Blackmun, John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy and David Souter -- justices who often have been as zealous as any in finding, creating and expanding rights for women and minorities. Constantly being wrong, however, doesn't prevent the same trope being trotted out as soon as the next nominee is announced." (03/21/17)
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34) Newly obtained documents prove: Key claim of Snowden's accusers is a fraud
Source: The Intercept
by Glenn Greenwald
"For almost four years, a cottage industry of media conspiracists has devoted itself to accusing Edward Snowden of being a spy for either Russia and/or China at the time he took and then leaked documents from the National Security Agency. There has never been any evidence presented to substantiate this accusation. In lieu of evidence, the propagators of this accusation have relied upon the defining tactic of tawdry conspiracists everywhere: relentless repetition of rumor and innuendo .... these media conspiracists have gotten away with this fable of the Missing Eleven Days in Hong Kong and similar tales because their core assertions were deliberately designed to be insusceptible to being affirmatively disproven. Because their accusatory story rests on claims of invisible and hidden events, they could not be exposed as frauds with definitive documentary evidence -- until now. Newly obtained documents conclusively prove that the central tale invented by these Snowden-accusing commentators is a wholesale fabrication. "
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35) It's time to fight fire with fire -- is the Chinese government pushing Bitcoin Unlimited?
Source: Liberty Blitzkrieg
by Michael Krieger
"Irrespective of the scaling debate, we seem to have an uncomfortably centralized Bitcoin ecosystem in some important and meaningful ways. It is this backdrop which makes the current situation so concerning, and it is this backdrop that has made Bitcoin as vulnerable as it is right now. Now here's where it gets even more concerning. Many observers are warning that Bitcoin Unlimited (BU), if it happens, could make the centralization issue even worse. ... If this is right (people I respect disagree on whether BU will make the miner centralization problem worse), this is a gigantic elephant in the room for Bitcoin Unlimited. It also makes it increasingly likely that behind the scenes the Chinese government is supporting BU as a way to either take over Bitcoin or destroy it from within." (03/20/17)
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36) How the left is using Tea Party tactics to fight both GOP and Democratic establishment
Source: In These Times
by Kate Aronoff
"If rumors about protesters being paid turn out to be true, this country might be closer to full employment than the most recent jobs report claims. Kicking off with the Women's March, the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration, voters have been mobilizing against the GOP's agenda, pressuring Republicans and Democrats alike to reject it. Increasingly, activists are also looking to put the representatives who do collaborate out of a job." (03/20/17)
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37) Raise the age -- and save!
Source: Show-Me Institute
by Patrick Tuohey
"We wrote recently of the opportunity to improve public safety in Missouri by 'Raising the Age' -- that is, keeping most 17-year olds out of the adult criminal justice system. Part of the potential benefit is related to federal guidelines that require jailed and imprisoned youth under age 18 to be kept completely separate from the adult population. The guidelines, designed to prevent sexual and physical abuse of children, are expensive to comply with, and Raising the Age would reduce the number of youth who require this protection. There are additional reasons to think that Raise the Age reforms would save money." (03/20/17)
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38) Of salt and socialism
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"Nearly 75 percent of Venezuelans have lost 19 pounds or more in 2016. 'People have become so desperate,' the Miami Herald reported recently, 'that they are butchering and eating flamingos.' While acknowledging the problem, TeleSUR, a television network based in Venezuela and funded by governments including Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, called the Herald's story 'kooky' and suggested taking reports 'like alleged flamingo eating with a grain of salt.' If, in socialist Venezuela, one could find a grain of salt." (03/21/17)
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39) The Nixonian strategy behind Trump's Obama lie
Source: The New Republic
by Jeet Heer
"A normal administration would take heed from the type of rebuke delivered Monday by FBI Director James Comey, who testified to Congress that there was no evidence for President Donald Trump's claim that Barack Obama had him wiretapped last year. 'With respect to the president's tweets about alleged wiretapping directed at him by the prior administration, I have no information that supports those tweets and we have looked carefully inside the FBI,' Comey testified Tuesday. 'The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same for the Department of Justice and all its components. The department has no information that supports those tweets.' Equally troubling was Comey's affirmation that there is an ongoing investigation, dating back to last July, into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. Yet neither Trump nor his team took Comey's words as a setback or even a reason to retreat from the accusation against Obama." (03/21/17)
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40) Taxpayers forced to fund lavish military pensions
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Jared Labell
"The mounting costs of a standing army predominate discussions about Pentagon spending, which is logical due to the US government's continual interventions abroad, but few realize what the additional price tag looks like for taxpayers when military forces retire. With thousands of US military members retiring in their 40s and receiving government pensions for decades to come, do you think the average American knows how many billions of tax dollars flow to these former government employees for not working?" (03/21/17)
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41) Saudi Arabia's brutal and futile war in Yemen turns two
Source: The American Conservative
by Michael Horton
"The Saudi-led -- and U.S.-backed -- war in Yemen turns two on March 26. The war, initially dubbed 'Operation Decisive Storm,' and now more ironically called 'Operation Restoring Hope,' has failed to achieve any of its aims. Yemen's Houthi rebels [sic], who Saudi Arabia erroneously claims are Iranian proxies, have retained control of northwest Yemen and Yemen's unpopular government remains in exile. In addition, the war has succeeded in impoverishing millions, empowering al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), and now threatens the broader region with increased instability. Yemen, already the Middle East's poorest country, now faces a catastrophic famine." (03/21/17)
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42) The totalitarian strain in American democracy
Source: CounterPunch
by Ryan Lamothe
"A few days after the election in November 2016 I had several conversations with friends who were anxious, angry, and depressed. One said that she woke up on Wednesday after the election and no longer felt like she recognized America. There was a fear that the United States was moving in the direction of a new authoritarianism -- a fear that has only grown since Trump's ascension into the Oval Office. ... I certainly think the concerns about Trump's (and his followers') totalitarian and authoritarian tendencies need to be taken seriously. Yet, the angst of my progressive friends, most of whom are white and middle-class, led me down another path, though I will return to their concerns. I began to think about U.S. history." (03/21/17)
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43) Allowing failure fixes the housing crisis
Source: Mises Canada
by Doug French
"Underwater homeowners have suffered for going on a decade due to government's ham-handed interventions. When the solution is apparent. Fannie Mae's mortgage sales and Goldman's purchases and restructures proves the point, there is no middle way to solve the housing crisis. It is as Ludwig von Mises explained, one government intervention leads to an endless succession of interventions to deal with the effects of the first and subsequent interventions." (03/20/17)
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44) Can Median Voter Theorem explain political polarization?
Source: Notes on Liberty
by Kevin Kallmes
"When I began dipping my toes into game theory and rational choice theory, like many others, I learned about the Median Voter Theorem (MVT). This theory is essentially the Hotelling's Law of voting, in which two competing politicians, on any given issue, will adopt views similar to the median on a spectrum of views of that issue, in order to maximize the number of votes they receive. Any movement toward either extreme, so the theory goes, would allow the opponent to gain the votes of centrists by moving in the same direction, but not as far, effectively gaining all voters on the other extreme AND the centrists. According to MVT, the most successful politicians should, if rational choice theory can be said to apply to elections, represent (if not hold) the views closest to those of the median voter, who should be relatively 'centrist' even if extremist voters outnumber centrists. This is, rather dramatically, not the case." (03/20/17)
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45) The "troubles" with pharmacy benefit managers
Source: Heartland Institute
by Thomas Hemphill
"To hold drug costs down, many private employers, insurers, and even states and the federal government use pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs). PBMs are third-party administrators of prescription drug programs. Some 266 million Americans -- approximately 82% of the total U.S. population -- are covered by these programs as part of their commercial health plans, self-insured employer plans, Medicare Part D plans, the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program, state government employee plans, and Managed Medicaid plans. Cost-saving PBM services have evolved since they first became popular in the early 1970s. Where they once simply facilitated prescription billing, today they use complex business models to manage prescription drug program services for employers and health care insurance companies." (03/21/17)
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46) The Fed's half-hearted attempt a monetary tightening
Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute
by Thorsten Polleit
"The slowness with which the Fed is bringing rates back up suggests that they are certainly not in a hurry to put an end to ongoing debasement of US-dollar money balances and US-dollar denominated debt. There is, however, a reason why the Fed might actually be quite keen to keep real interest rates into negative territory: If the interest rate borrowers have to pay on their debt is lower than the economy's growth rate, the economy's overall debt-to-GDP level comes down over time; or the debt-to-GDP ratio increases at a slower pace even if borrowers keep running into even higher debt." (03/21/17)
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47) In anti-intellectual email, Wellesley profs call engaging with controversial arguments an imposition on students
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
by Alex Morey and Samantha Harris
"In an email to fellow faculty yesterday afternoon, a committee of Wellesley College professors made several startling recommendations about how they think future campus speakers should be chosen. If implemented, the proposals by the faculty Commission for Ethnicity, Race, and Equity would have a profound impact on the quality and quantity of voices Wellesley students would be permitted to hear. FIRE has obtained the email, sent by one of the signatories to a faculty listserv, and republished it in full below. While paying lip service to free speech, the email is remarkable in its contempt for free and open dialogue on campus." (03/21/17)
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48) Penny wise and pound foolish?
Source: Cobden Centre
by Tim Price
"We would suggest, probably like most investment managers, that the single most important decision that can be made in the context of long term portfolio management is how to allocate capital across the various asset classes. But Lucy Warwick-Ching's reader, and the visible recent success of ETF firms at attracting capital inflows, seems to indicate that a sizeable cohort of current investors is putting the cart of low fees before the horse of discrimination in prudent asset allocation. This has all the signs of being penny wise and pound (and dollar) foolish." (03/21/17)
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49) When was the last time you held a baby?
Source: Freeman's Perspective
by Paul Rosenberg
"Have you ever noticed that pessimistic and depressed people avoid babies? I'm sure there are exceptions to this statement, but on the whole, I think it's accurate. Dark, gloomy minds shy away from babies. I think there's something to learn from this. Here's another thought: There is a psychological need to be around small children." (03/21/17)
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50) Alt-Right-Del
Source: The Anarchist Shemale
by Aria DiMezzo
"Protectionism won't protect your values if the culture of your society doesn't reflect your values. You can go as far into isolationism as you would like, and it will not save your social values now. It's too late. Your values are dying, and nothing can be done to stop that. We will never have an American society again where being gay is criminalized or hidden. We will never have an American society again where being transgender is a capital offense. We will never have an American society where women are depicted as anything less than the equals of men. The tide has changed, and whether your values go as far as these straw values or not, the fact remains that progress is a one-way street. Once people realized that those other people are other people, you can't convince them that they're not." [editor's note: I'm sure that Germans circa 1930 believed progress was a one-way street, too – TLK] (03/20/17)
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51) Who are the demanders of local government services?
Source: Independent Institute
by Randall Holcombe
"Local governments produce lots of services that people value: schools, police protection, water and sewer services, and more. Who are the producers of these services accountable to, and who determines the characteristics of the services local governments provide? Ideally, the people who live in the jurisdictions of those local governments would be the people who would determine the characteristics of the services they provide, but more than one-third of local government expenditures are financed by intergovernmental transfers, and those higher-level (federal and state) governments send that money with strings attached. To get the money, local governments have to spend the money the way the higher level governments want." (03/20/17)
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52) Falling back in love with anarchism
Source: exile in happy valley
by comrade hermit
"My political compass has always leaned left but, truth be told, it hasn't always leaned against the state. I was a teenage anarchist but somewhere along the road to adulthood I fell off that wagon and out of love with black flags and Molotov cocktails. I became a democratic socialist before I went full Bolshevik and became a fist-throwing communist. It's only recently, over the last several years, that I've come full circle and rediscovered my anti-statist roots. Yes, dearest motherfuckers, I have fallen back in love with anarchism and it really is even better than the first time. But in order to really understand why you have to understand where I've been." (03/20/17)
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53) Stealing from the citizenry
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by John W Whitehead
"In jolly old England, Robin Hood stole from the rich to give to the poor. In modern-day America, greedy government goons steal from the innocent to give to the corrupt under court- and legislature-sanctioned schemes called civil asset forfeiture. In fact, according to The Washington Post, 'law enforcement took more stuff from people than burglars did.' This is how the American police state continues to get rich: by stealing from the citizenry. Here's how the whole ugly business works in a nutshell." (03/21/17)
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54) Trump, trade, and great power war
Source: Niskanen Center
by Matthew Fay
"One of the signature features of President Donald Trump's campaign was his hostility to free trade. Then-candidate Trump repeatedly denigrated various multilateral trade pacts as bad deals for the United States. Pulling out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, appointing opponents of free trade -- such as Steve Bannon and Peter Navarro -- into key positions, and promises of tariffs that are likely to produce retaliatory measures, all demonstrated that Trump was planning on following through on his protectionist campaign rhetoric. While Trump's attack on free trade has important implications for American and global economies, it will also have an impact on the likelihood of war between the great powers." (03/20/17)
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55) What we have to do to fix our caustic divide
Source: Hawaii Reporter
by Frank Salvato
"Each of us wants to live in peace and prosperity; to succeed in our endeavors and to be safe while doing so. Each of us would like to safeguard our environment while utilizing the resources we are lucky to possess in order to pursue happiness. And each of us would like to leave the planet a better and more secure place for the generations to come. The reality of these commonalities requires us to respect not only one another and one another's rights, but to accept the responsibility that we must listen -- and consume with fidelity to accuracy and truth -- those opinions others may have that differ from our own. Each of us has a right to hold opinions, but expecting others to respect our opinions requires us to seat them in truth, not propaganda or politically or ideologically skewed false-flag narratives." (03/20/17)
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FREEDOM PODCAST & VIDEO
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56) Tenther Tuesday, episode 13
Source: Tenth Amendment Center
"As many state legislatures near the end of their 2017 sessions, we're starting to see bills head to governors' desks. In this episode, Mike Maharrey and Michael Boldin talk about a smorgasbord of bills moving forward covering a wide range of issues including healthcare, surveillance, Common Core and asset forfeiture. They also touch on efforts to implement REAL ID in Minnesota." [Flash video] (03/21/17)
http://blog.tenthamendmentcenter.com/2017/03/tenther-tuesday-episode-13-nullification-movement-news/
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57) Reason Podcast, 03/21/17
Source: Reason
"On our latest Reason podcast, Mangu-Ward, Matt Welch, and Nick Gillespie discuss a preliminary federal budget that 'takes the things that lefties like and dumps it in to the things that righties like;' the 'strangulation of Big Bird in his nest;' the existential despair at three-year-old birthday parties in Washington, D.C.; Jeff Bezos and the coming of the robot overlords; Chuck Berry as our cultural Apollo project (or is it Wikipedia?); the coming, extended, nauseating theater of the Gorsuch hearing; and the greatness of pop music as 'an endless parade of freaks differentiating themselves.'" [Flash audio or MP3] (03/21/17)
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58) Freedom Feens Radio, 03/21/17
Source: Freedom Feens Radio
"Jim, James and MWD talk about the thing that all politicians and petty con men have in common: Narcissistic personality disorder. Also discussed is Florida Mom, the overt copyright at the very end of the Bible, how to have secure phone calls and not go to prison, and how to pick good passwords." [various formats] (03/21/17)
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59) The Tom Woods Show, episode 872
Source: The Tom Woods Show
"With several options on the table on a complicated issue full of technical details [ObamaCare repeal/replacement], I thought it was a good time to bring on an expert who could explain them all to us -- the good, the bad, and the ugly." [various formats] (03/20/17)
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60) Free Talk Live, 03/20/17
Source: Free Talk Live
"Mark's Back From the Boat :: Jam vs Jelly :: Liberstad to Accept Bitcoin :: Liberty Enclave Projects :: Cheating and Non-Aggression :: Racist Ralph :: Pussy Riot :: Ridley Update on Camera Threat at State House :: Landfills :: Rapid Transit Boondoggle to be Scrapped? :: HOSTS -- Ian, Mark, Melanie." [Flash audio or MP3] (03/20/17)
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61) Cato Daily Podcast, 03/20/17
Source: Cato Institute
"Do any real safeguards assure that Americans' data isn't being collected by intelligence agencies? The new Wikileaks revelations about CIA hacking tools offer little comfort. Patrick Eddington comments." [various formats] (03/20/17)
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62) Foreign Policy Focus, episode 16
Source: Foreign Policy Focus
"On FPF #16 I discuss who is winning the terror war. While US citizens continue to see their standard of life decline, US politicians become more rich and powerful with each passing year. Citizens of the Muslim world also suffer and die from the War on Terror, while the jihadists groups continue to grow. I also give updates on Trump, Syria, Mosul, Saudi Arabia, and Israel." [various formats] (03/20/17)
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63) The Jason Stapleton Program, episode 562
Source: The Jason Stapleton Program
"Today we'll discuss the limits (assuming the exist) of both free speech and police power. I two separate stories the government has is attempting to expand its power by diminishing the 1st amendment and second amendment while at the same time increasing policing power." [various formats] (03/20/17)
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