02/10 -- Myanmar: Protesters Return to the Streets Despite Coup Regime's Violence; Impeachment: Why the Senate Will Acquit Trump
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Thomas L. Knapp
Feb 10, 2021, 8:35:27 AM2/10/21
to Freedom News Daily
Freedom News Daily, 02/10/21
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Presented by the Liberty International
Produced by the staff of Rational Review News Digest
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Today's Freedom News:
1) Myanmar: Protesters Return to the Streets Despite Coup Regime's Violence
2) Senate green-lights Trump impeachment trial after initial arguments
3) Belarus: Political Prisoners Face Three-Year Sentences for Reporting on Protests
4) Sources: CDC to say vaccination not precondition to reopening child indoctrination centers
5) Poland: Court orders two Holocaust historians to apologise to dead alleged Nazi collaborator's niece
6) Russia: In new tactic, Navalny supporters to rally in courtyards
7) Mexico: Regime wants to seize control of social media access
8) Hong Kong: Beijing puppet court denies bail to political prisoner Jimmy Lai
9) FL: Palm Beach council to decide whether Trump can live at Mar-a-Lago
10) FL: Hacker(s) Breach Treatment Plant, Try to Poison Water
11) New Zealand: Maori MP ejected from parliament for refusing to wear tie
12) Afghanistan: Regime employees among eight killed in attacks
13) Mystery metal monolith vanishes from ancient Turkish site
14) LA: Idiot who used Gorilla Glue as hair spray threatens to sue company
15) NY money manager pleads not guilty to $1.8 billion Ponzi-like fraud
16) Melania Trump's Ex-Aide Teases "Trove" of Tapes as DOJ Drops Memoir Lawsuit
17) WHO says "extremely unlikely" virus leaked from lab in China
18) Congo: New ebola case sparks outbreak worries
19) Election of new chair portends change at US Snail
20) GA: Regime opens investigation into Trump's attempt to talk Raffensperger into committing election fraud
Today's Freedom Commentary:
21) Impeachment: Why the Senate Will Acquit Trump
22) Pornhub, QAnon and the War on Sex
23) Who's afraid of Josh Hawley?
24) Legislative interference in the classroom threatens academic freedom
25) The goal of corporations should not be maximizing profit for shareholders
26) Hollywood Ending: A Rare Win Over Private Equity Giants
27) I Could Pay Off My $50k Student Loan in a Few Years -- if Government Stopped Taking My Money
28) Jeep & Freedom
29) Beware The False Flag
30) The Worst Budget in American History
31) GameStop Madness
32) How a Virus Was Used To Transform a Free Country, part 2
33) Time to Negotiate for Peace in Space
34) Open Vaccines Now
35) The Precious Necessity Of Online Anonymity
36) Democrats WANT To Lose The Midterms
37) "Move On," Says Rubio
38) Vile tweets are still free speech
39) What If We Never Reach Herd Immunity?
40) No, impeachment is not insulated from free speech arguments
41) In a U.S.-Iran standoff, Biden must be willing to take a little political heat
42) The Economics of Violence: A Short Introduction
43) The Not-So-Peaceful Transfer of Power
44) With Environmental Justice, the Devil is in the Details
45) As Biden Improves Yemen Policy, Activists Must Push Him Further
46) Observations and Quibbles
47) The Post-Trump American Political Landscape
48) Robinhood & GameStop: The MAGA Connection
49) Law Perversion: A Review Of Frederick Bastiat's Essay, "The Law"
50) The Pandora's Box of "trauma informed" investigations
51) "Nothing We Can Do" About Trajectory of the Pandemic?
52) Peak oil or peak stupidity?
53) The Pandemic May Change Remittances -- for the Better
54) The sum of many mediators in Yemen's war
55) CID Dies
Today's Freedom Podcast and Video:
56) Cato Daily Podcast, 02/09/21
57) Free Talk Live, 02/09/21
58) The Chris Spangle Show, 02/09/21
59) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/09/21
60) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 02/09/21
61) Great Moments in Unintended Consequences (Vol. 2)
62) Commentary Podcast, 02/09/21
63) Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism, chapter 6
64) Late To Liberty, episode 7
65) Liberty Weekly Podcast, episode 152
66) FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, 02/08/21
67) Just Add Liberty, episode 15
68) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 02/08/21
69) Hassan El-Tayyab on The Scott Horton Show
70) Bloggingheads.tv, 02/08/21
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_____ Today's Freedom News _____
1) Myanmar: Protesters Return to the Streets Despite Coup Regime's Violence
Source: Time
"Crowds demonstrating against the military takeover in Myanmar again defied a ban on protests Wednesday, even after security forces ratcheted up the use of force against them and raided the headquarters of the political party of ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Fresh protests were reported in Yangon and Mandalay, the country's two biggest cities, as well as the capital Naypyitaw and elsewhere. The protesters are demanding that power be restored to Suu Kyi's deposed civilian government. They're also seeking freedom for her and other governing party members since the military detained them after blocking the new session of Parliament on Feb. 1. ... The growing protests and the junta's latest raid suggest there is little room for reconciliation. The military, which held power directly for five decades after a 1962 coup, used deadly force to quash a massive 1988 uprising and a 2007 revolt led by Buddhist monks." (02/10/21)
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2) Senate green-lights Trump impeachment trial after initial arguments
Source: ABC News
"House prosecutors on Tuesday wrenched senators and the nation back to the deadly attack on Congress as they opened Donald Trump's historic second impeachment trial with graphic video of the insurrection and Trump's own calls for a rally crowd to march to the iconic building and 'fight like hell' against his reelection defeat. The detailed and emotional presentation by Democrats was followed by meandering and occasionally confrontational arguments from the Trump defense team, which insisted that his remarks were protected by the First Amendment and asserted that he cannot be convicted as a former president. Even Trump's backers in the Senate winced, several saying his lawyers were not helpful to his case. ... In a key early test, senators rejected an effort by Trump's allies to halt the trial, instead affirming the Senate's authority under the Constitution to decide the case." [editor's note: I could be wrong, but I think I detect just a wee little bit of bias in ABC's coverage ... -TLK] (02/09/21)
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3) Belarus: Political Prisoners Face Three-Year Sentences for Reporting on Protests
Source: US News & World Report
"Two Belarusian journalists working for the Polish television channel Belsat went on trial in the capital Minsk on Tuesday on charges related to their coverage of mass protests in 2020, the Belarusian Association of Journalists said. Yekaterina Andreeva and Darya Chultsova, a reporter and a camerawoman for Belsat, were arrested in November after a demonstration. ... Prosecutors accused Andreeva and Chultsova of coordinating the protests by broadcasting live reports. They have denied the charges, for which they could be sentenced to three years in prison. They appeared in court inside a cage. International human rights organisations have condemned the detention of Andreeva and Chultsova." (02/09/21)
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4) Sources: CDC to say vaccination not precondition to reopening child indoctrination centers
Source: WTOP News
"The Biden administration's guidance on how schools can 'safely open' will come from multiple federal agencies and departments, according to several people familiar with the plan. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is expected to release an 'operational strategy' advising that it would be safe for K-12 schools to reopen if they apply recommended 'mitigation' practices, according to an email sent by an Education Department official soliciting feedback from education groups and obtained by CBS News. The CDC guidance, which is expected to be released this week, builds on guidelines already released by the agency, a federal official told CBS News. It's expected to focus on five areas of COVID-19 mitigation in schools, rather than relying on vaccinating teachers as a precondition for reopening." [editor's note: Instead of debating the terms of re-opening government schools, why not close them permanently? – TLK] (02/09/21)
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5) Poland: Court orders two Holocaust historians to apologise to dead alleged Nazi collaborator's niece
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A Polish court has ordered two Holocaust historians to apologise to the niece of a dead village mayor, for having accused him of collaborating with the Nazis in World War Two. Despite finding them guilty of defamation in a book, the Warsaw court did not order them to pay damages. The World Holocaust Remembrance Centre, Yad Vashem, called the case 'a serious attack on free and open research.' Professors Barbara Engelking and Jan Grabowski can appeal. It was a civil case brought against them by 80-year-old Filomena Leszczynska. ... The book Night Without End quoted testimony from a Holocaust survivor who said the mayor, Edward Malinowski, had betrayed the whereabouts of a group of 22 Jews to German soldiers. The group was subsequently executed. Ms Leszczynska said the authors had omitted to say a post-war trial had acquitted her uncle of the charge of collaboration with the Nazis." (02/09/21)
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6) Russia: In new tactic, Navalny supporters to rally in courtyards
Source: ABC News
"A top ally of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Tuesday announced a new anti-government protest, urging residents of big cities to briefly gather in residential courtyards this weekend with their cellphone flashlights on. Navalny strategist Leonid Volkov said the protest will start at 8 p.m. Sunday and last 15 minutes. The new rally format -- similar to the tactics opposition supporters employed during protests in neighboring Belarus -- could prevent Russian riot police from interfering and allow anyone to participate, Volkov wrote in a Facebook post. The protest will coincide with Valentine's Day, and Volkov titled his announcement 'Love is stronger than fear.'" (02/09/21)
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7) Mexico: Regime wants to seize control of social media access
Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune
"The party of President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador presented for public comment a proposed set of regulations on Twitter, Facebook and other social media companies. The new law proposed Monday by López Obrador's Morena party would open the companies to fines of up to $4.4 million for violating users' right to free speech [sic]. The law would apply only to platforms that have over one million users in Mexico, apparently covering only sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or YouTube. The proposal would allow anyone whose account is blocked or canceled to appeal the decision. The appeals would go first to the company's own internal committees, which would have 24 hours to affirm or revoke the suspension. Users could then appeal to telecom regulators, and if they don't like that decision, they could then further appeal cancellations through Mexican courts." (02/09/21)
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8) Hong Kong: Beijing puppet court denies bail to political prisoner Jimmy Lai
Source: Yahoo! News
"Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was denied bail by the city's top court on Tuesday. He's a prominent critic of Beijing and is the most high-profile person to be charged under [the 'national security law' imposed on Hong Kong by China's regime]. Lai was detained in early December, then released on bail for about a week before he was brought back into custody for another hearing at the end of last year. The court pointed to an article in the national security [sic] law, which says that bail won't be given unless 'the judge has sufficient grounds for believing that [they] will not continue to commit acts endangering national security [sic].' Beijing imposed the sweeping national security [sic] law last summer to punish anything China considers subversive with up to life in prison." (02/09/21)
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9) FL: Palm Beach council to decide whether Trump can live at Mar-a-Lago
Source: The Guardian [UK]
"As the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump loomed in Washington on Tuesday, a matter even more important to his immediate future was being discussed some 990 miles to the south by the town council of Palm Beach, Florida: whether the former president can continue living at Mar-a-Lago. The council will hear their attorney's opinion on whether it can stop Trump living at his club. Nearly 30 years ago, in 1993, a Trump lawyer told the town the New York property magnate would be prohibited from living at Mar-a-Lago, if the town allowed him to convert it from a residence to a club. The promise, however, was not included in a written agreement which may now take precedence. Technically, Trump is an employee of the corporation that owns Mar-a-Lago -- and the written agreement only bars members from living there." (02/09/21)
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10) FL: Hacker(s) Breach Treatment Plant, Try to Poison Water
Source: Manufacturing.net
"A hacker gained unauthorized entry to the system controlling the water treatment plant of a Florida city of 15,000 and tried to taint the water supply with a caustic chemical, exposing a danger cybersecurity experts say has grown as systems become both more computerized and accessible via the internet. The hacker who breached the system at the city of Oldsmar's water treatment plant on Friday using a remote access program shared by plant workers briefly increased the amount of sodium hydroxide by a factor of one hundred (from 100 parts per million to 11,100 parts per million), Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said during a news conference Monday. ... Fortunately, a supervisor saw the chemical being tampered with -- as a mouse controlled by the intruder moved across the screen changing settings -- and was able to intervene and immediately reverse it, Gualtieri said. Oldsmar is about 15 miles (25 kilometers) northwest of Tampa." (02/09/21)
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11) New Zealand: Maori MP ejected from parliament for refusing to wear tie
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"A leader of the Maori Party has been ejected from the New Zealand parliament for not wearing a tie. Male MPs can only ask questions in the debating chamber if wearing a tie. Speaker Trevor Mallard twice prevented Rawiri Waititi from asking questions. 'It's not about ties, it's about cultural identity mate,' Mr Waititi said while exiting the chamber, local media reported. He has called ties 'a colonial noose' and wore a greenstone pendant instead. After being stopped for a second time, Mr Waititi continued with his question until Mr Mallard ordered him to leave the chamber. Mr Waititi called Mr Mallard's treatment of him 'unconscionable,' adding that he was wearing 'Maori business attire.' Co-leader of the Maori Party, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, who was herself wearing a tie, pleaded her colleague's case but to no avail." (02/09/21)
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12) Afghanistan: Regime employees among eight killed in attacks
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]
"A string of attacks in Afghanistan has killed four government employees and four policemen, officials said. In the capital, Kabul, gunmen on Tuesday opened fire in the Bagh-e-Daud neighbourhood and killed four employees of the ministry for rural development, according to Ferdaws Faramarz, spokesman for the city's police chief. Elsewhere in Kabul, a sticky bomb attached to a car exploded, wounding another government employee, he added. Also on Tuesday, four police officers were killed and a fifth wounded when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in western Herat province's Zenda Jan district, provincial governor Wahid Qatali said. ... The rise in violence has led US President Joe Biden's administration to [start making excuses for their plans to renege on] a deal signed between Washington and the Taliban last year that agreed the withdrawal of all American troops." (02/09/21)
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13) Mystery metal monolith vanishes from ancient Turkish site
Source: Hindustan Times [India]
"A metal monolith that mysteriously appeared on a field in southeast Turkey has now disappeared, Turkish media reported Tuesday, four days after it was discovered. The three-meter-high (about 10-foot-high) metal slab bearing an ancient Turkic script, was found Friday by a farmer in Sanliurfa province. It was discovered near the UNESCO World Heritage site of Gobekli Tepe, which is home to megalithic structures dating to the 10th millennium B.C., thousands of years before Stonehenge. The shiny structure, however, was reported gone Tuesday morning, days after authorities said they were investigating its appearance by looking through closed circuit television footage and searching for vehicles that may have transported it to the site." (02/09/21)
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14) LA: Idiot who used Gorilla Glue as hair spray threatens to sue company
Source: Daily Mail [UK]
"A woman who set her hair with Gorilla Glue after running out of hair spray has reportedly hired a lawyer to sue the company after a lengthy trip to the emergency room to remove the product proved to be unsuccessful. Tessica Brown, 40, from Violet, Louisiana, spent 22 hours in the ER, where baffled healthcare workers put acetone on her head according to TMZ, but nothing seems to work. Sources told the publication that the acetone burned her scalp and only made the glue sticky before it dried up again, leaving her with the same immovable hair she started with. ... TMZ reported that Tessica has hired an attorney and looking into her legal options against Gorilla Glue because she thinks the spray adhesive's label is misleading." (02/09/21)
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15) NY money manager pleads not guilty to $1.8 billion Ponzi-like fraud
Source: Reuters
"The founder of a New York money manager who authorities said ran a $1.8 billion fraud resembling a Ponzi scheme that fleeced thousands of investors pleaded not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges on Tuesday. David Gentile, who until last week was chief executive of GPB Capital Holdings LLC, entered his plea through his lawyer to a five-count indictment at a hearing in Brooklyn federal court. Bail was set at $500,000, secured by Gentile's home in Manhasset, New York. The married father of four is forbidden from communicating with GPB investors about the criminal case. Seven U.S. states and the Securities and Exchange Commission have opened related civil proceedings." (02/09/21)
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16) Melania Trump's Ex-Aide Teases "Trove" of Tapes as DOJ Drops Memoir Lawsuit
Source: Newsweek
"A former confidant of Melania Trump insists she has an 'enormous trove' of recordings and documents to back up unflattering claims about the Trump White House made in her tell-all memoir, after the Justice Department dropped a lawsuit over her book. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff alleged that funds for Donald Trump's inauguration may have been misused and cited Trump family tensions in her 2020-release Melania and Me. The former Vogue staffer, who was dropped from her first lady advisory role in February 2018, says the claims are based on receipts and covert recordings of Melania Trump. In an arguably unprecedented move, the DOJ sued the former volunteer adviser, alleging in a 16-page lawsuit that she had breached a non-disclosure agreement. However, the Trump-initiated litigation has now been scratched under the new Biden administration in a one-page court filing on Monday." (02/09/21)
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17) WHO says "extremely unlikely" virus leaked from lab in China
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
"International experts investigating the origins of Covid-19 have all but dismissed a theory that the virus came from a laboratory in China. Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) mission, said it was 'extremely unlikely' that the virus leaked from a lab in the city of Wuhan. He said more work was needed to identify the source of the virus. The comments came at the conclusion of a joint WHO-China mission. ... Dr Embarek told a press conference the investigation had uncovered new information but had not dramatically changed the picture of the outbreak. Experts believe the virus is likely to have originated in animals before spreading to humans, but they are not sure how." (02/09/21)
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18) Congo: New ebola case sparks outbreak worries
Source: Seattle Times
"Ebola, the deadly virus that has increasingly struck Africa in recent years, is once again threatening a violence-scarred region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, three months after the health authorities in the country declared the last outbreak vanquished. The Health Ministry announced Sunday that the wife of a farmer who had survived the disease died Feb. 3, three days after she first showed symptoms, at a hospital in Butembo, a city of 700,000 in North Kivu province. A blood analysis on the woman performed in Butembo came back positive for the virus, the ministry said." (02/09/21)
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19) Election of new chair portends change at US Snail
Source: San Francisco Chronicle
"A former labor leader and Obama administration official was elected Tuesday to serve as chair of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors, marking the first step in a potential shakeup under President Joe Biden. Ron Bloom replaced a former Republican National Committee chair, Robert 'Mike' Duncan, who remains on the governing board as critics call for firing Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and changing the board's makeup. DeJoy, a prominent Republican fundraiser and supporter of former President Donald Trump, has come under heavy criticism for changes he made before the election that led to widespread delivery delays and other problems recently. The Postal Service also dealt with a dismal on-time performance during the holidays because of a crush of mail and packages that was exacerbated by the pandemic." (02/09/21)
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20) GA: Regime opens investigation into Trump's attempt to talk Raffensperger into committing election fraud
Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
"Georgia election officials opened an investigation Monday into Donald Trump's phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger urging him to 'find' enough votes to reverse the outcome of the presidential contest in the state. The investigation will review Trump's Jan. 2 call when he pressured Raffensperger to overturn the election, said Walter Jones, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office. ... The investigation was prompted by a complaint from George Washington University law professor John Banzhaf III, according to a case initiation document provided by the secretary of state's office. By opening the inquiry, the secretary of state's law enforcement investigators will be looking into allegations involving Raffensperger, who is their boss." (02/08/21)
_____ Today's Freedom Commentary _____
21) Impeachment: Why the Senate Will Acquit Trump
Source: Garrison Center
by Thomas L Knapp
"House Democrats voted to impeach, and Senate Democrats will vote to convict, because they believe doing so improves their personal political prospects and the political prospects of their party. Most House Republicans voted against impeachment, and most Senate Republicans will vote to acquit, because they believe it's the least bad option available where their personal and party political prospects are concerned. 'Least bad' isn't 'good,' but this is a 'heads the Democrats win, tales the Republicans lose' situation. Voting to convict exposes Republican Senators to primary challenges from Trump loyalists come next election, and possibly even a fatal split in the GOP itself. Voting to acquit leaves them right where they were, with the rotting albatross of the Trump presidency hanging around their collective neck." (02/09/21)
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22) Pornhub, QAnon and the War on Sex
Source: CounterPunch
by Kenn Orphan
"This month, following an opinion piece in the New York Times by liberal political commentator Nicholas Kristof, the Canadian based porn site Pornhub was put on trial. The accusations revolve around the site allegedly allowing and profiting from sex trafficking, child, and rape porn. Without a doubt, Pornhub as well as many other similar sites, have profited from some questionable content. Like social media, it is not responsible for the content uploaded by individuals. It is only responsible for dealing with it once it is there. This is the only logical way that a free and open internet could possibly work. But there is a dark side to Kristof's Pornhub diatribe. This crusade against porn comes at a time of unhinged QAnon conspiracy theories involving secret elite pedophile rings. And much of it smacks of a typical American-style sex panic." (02/09/21)
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23) Who's afraid of Josh Hawley?
Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch
by Irina Manta & Berin Szoka
"Sen. Josh Hawley wants you to be afraid -- very afraid. He claims that he's being 'canceled' because of his views .... But is that really true? Is Hawley just a 'Karen' who cuts the wrong person off in traffic and gets followed home on a livestream and, as he describes it, is 'shamed into crying for mercy as her license plate is broadcast to an online horde eager to hound her out of a job?' ... Hawley isn't like the rest of us. He's a United States senator. He didn't cut someone off in traffic. He incited a mob to take over the government by relentlessly gaslighting them with phantasms of election fraud. He would richly deserve to be de-platformed everywhere. But that hasn't even happened ..." (02/09/21)
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24) Legislative interference in the classroom threatens academic freedom
Source: Foundation for Individual Rights in Education
by Joe Cohn
"As state legislatures begin their 2021 sessions across the country, a troubling trend of legislative intrusions into how faculty at institutions of higher education teach has emerged. Most of these legislative measures, which seek to remedy perceived bias against conservatives in the classroom, threaten to undermine academic freedom, a bedrock principle that higher education depends upon for its success." (02/09/21)
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25) The goal of corporations should not be maximizing profit for shareholders
Source: Radical Classical Liberals
by Carson Young
"Classical liberals and defenders of free markets are suspicious of stakeholder capitalism -- rightly so, in my view. The relationship between a corporation's management (i.e., its officers and directors) and its shareholders differs in important respects from the relationship between a corporation's management and its non-shareholder stakeholders. Notably, management has a fiduciary duty to run the firm according to the interests of its shareholders that does not apply to non-shareholder stakeholders. Stakeholder approaches to corporate governance deny this, or at least neglect it. But market-sympathizing skeptics of stakeholder theory go too far when they insist that the only proper goal for a corporation's management is to maximize profit for shareholders." (02/09/21)
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26) Hollywood Ending: A Rare Win Over Private Equity Giants
Source: The American Prospect
by David Dayen
"Organizing is an often interminable process where victory can be well over the horizon. That's especially true when the adversary is powerful, deep-pocketed, and well connected. So it's important to recognize wins when they happen, and explain their importance. The triumph of the Writers Guild of America in a two-year fight with a set of private equity-fueled talent agencies fits this description. Back in April of 2019, thousands of writers intentionally fired their agents. They were protesting a reversal in the business model of the talent agencies, particularly the 'Big Three,' which had recently come under the sway of private equity money. Thus swayed, those agencies had switched from serving their clients to serving themselves. Despite this prolonged lack of representation, the writers survived and many even thrived, building new networks to reach and get work from showrunners and producers." (02/09/21)
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27) I Could Pay Off My $50k Student Loan in a Few Years -- if Government Stopped Taking My Money
Source: Foundation for Economic Education
by Holly Jean Soto
"Twelve-thousand dollars.
That's how much the government will take out of my income this tax season. As a college graduate, I would have used this money to start tackling my over $50,000 of student debt. But instead of using this money to pay off two of my student loans this year, the government gets to keep this tidy sum of my hard-earned money. This is the sad truth for many college graduates, like myself, working full-time jobs and still finding it hard to manage basic daily needs like rent, food, gas, car insurance, health insurance, and the like." (02/09/21)
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28) Jeep & Freedom
Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob
"Whether Born in the USA or recent arrivals to these shores, let us celebrate not what government can legislate, mandate, or make us do, but what those in power cannot make us do, that we are free to speak truth as we see it and to dream, build and achieve a better tomorrow of our own making." (02/09/21)
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29) Beware The False Flag
Source: Agorist Nexus
by Jeremiah Harding
"A 'false flag' attack is one where a party executes an attack of one sort or another and then blames another party for it. It comes from naval warfare, where ships were identified by the flags they flew, and where people flying a flag which did not belong to them could make it seem like a different party was responsible for an attack, alluding [sic], or some other such act of aggression. Now, the term has expanded to the point where it can also be applied to soft power, and not just hard power attacks. Not only do the elites employ physical means to secure their power, but they also employ a variety of economic, infrastructural, and cyberattacks. However, for some readers of this article, they won't believe that this kind of thing happens at all, much less that it might happen again." (02/09/21)
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30) The Worst Budget in American History
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
"Is there even one half-sane Democrat that will stand up and denounce the fiscal atrocity of President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion spending bill? Is there not one single patriotic Democrat in the entire country who will speak out? The silence is deafening. The House Democrats are now rallying behind a budget resolution that calls for a $6.1 trillion single-year budget. When I first came to Washington in 1985, President Ronald Reagan passed the first $1 trillion budget bill. We were all aghast. Now, we are spending six times that amount, and no one blinks an eye. Even worse, the Biden budget plan would authorize just under $4 trillion of borrowing in one single year. That is more debt than was allowed, adjusting for inflation, to finance the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Great Depression, World War I and World War II." (02/09/21)
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31) GameStop Madness
Source: Heartland Institute
by Daniel Sutter
"A $10,000 investment in GameStop last August would have been worth a million dollars last week. How does the stock of a struggling retailer go from under $5 to nearly $500? And does this tell us about the stock market?" (02/09/21)
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32) How a Virus Was Used To Transform a Free Country, part 2
Source: American Institute for Economic Research
by Sandy Szwarc
"The extreme and continued Covid-19 government mitigation mandates are unprecedented for any respiratory virus in our history. The economic consequences of these directives -- masks; social distancing; testing, tracking and quarantines; travel, school and business restrictions -- have led to historic levels of job losses and failing businesses. People looking for work have been crippled from finding jobs. Tens of millions of Americans are at risk of losing their group health insurance. As Americans grow increasingly more desperate, the government continues to restrict peoples' options. The CARES Act epitomized the tenet of redistribution of wealth, growing the numbers of Americans dependent upon the government, and vastly increasing the size and power of government." (02/09/21)
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33) Time to Negotiate for Peace in Space
Source: Common Dreams
by Alice Slater
"The U.S. mission to dominate and control the military use of space has been, historically and at present, a major obstacle to achieving nuclear disarmament and a peaceful path to preserve all life on earth. Reagan rejected Gorbachev's offer to give up Star Wars as a condition for both countries to eliminate all their nuclear weapons when the wall came down and Gorbachev released all of Eastern Europe from Soviet occupation, miraculously, without a shot. Bush and Obama blocked any discussion in 2008 and 2014 on Russian and Chinese proposals for a space weapons ban in the consensus-bound Committee for Disarmament in Geneva where those countries tabled a draft treaty for consideration." (02/09/21)
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34) Open Vaccines Now
Source: Niskanen Center
by Daniel Takash
"Supply constraints cannot impede the rollout of a COVID vaccine either in the United States or anywhere else in the world. To do so, patent holders or the government must take action to remove the legal barriers to their life-saving innovations." (02/09/21)
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35) The Precious Necessity Of Online Anonymity
Source: The American Conservative
by Charlie Peters
"The tired and relentlessly stupid idea of banning online anonymity is once again peeping over the parapet to check if it could be given one more consideration. This time, it might get its shot. Sen. Ron Johnson, Republican chair of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, recently criticized the controversial Section 230 regulation but said 'one solution may be to end user anonymity on social media platforms. Social media companies need to know who their customers are so bad actors can be held accountable.' Censorious actors on both sides of the political divide are sensing a perfect opportunity to claim another scalp .... more speech-limiting targets must be hit. In their eyes, social media anonymity is a scourge they have long dreamed of crushing. And it's no wonder why. Anonymity is a vital, positive tool for the sustenance of freedom of speech." (02/09/21)
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36) Democrats WANT To Lose The Midterms
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
"Americans: We're dying! Republicans: Good. Democrats: We hear you and we honor your experience. ... The USA is the single worst human rights offender on our planet. The fact that most of its transgressions take place outside its own borders makes it more egregious, not less. So-called human rights watchdog groups which fail to acknowledge this fact are propaganda constructs. ... By 2024 the only mainstream US political debate allowed will be about whether America should nuke Russia or China. ... War is insanity. Unjust war is criminal insanity. One of the ugliest things about western imperialism is the way it gives extremely young soldiers whose minds have been warped by a criminally insane war machine the power of life and death over defenseless populations." (02/09/21)
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37) "Move On," Says Rubio
Source: National Review
by Kevin D Williamson
"As the Senate begins trying former president Donald Trump's impeachment case, Republicans are updating the 'move on!' chorus, led by Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who proclaims: '... these are the things I wish we were focused on -- focused on getting more vaccines to people, focused on getting the economy growing again and getting people back to work, and focused on confronting the challenges before our country. We should be spending every second we're up here working on those things, not on a trial to impeach a president who's no longer in office.' ... Senator Rubio seems to be under the impression that the government of the most powerful nation-state in the history of the human species cannot walk and chew gum at the same time." (02/09/21)
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38) Vile tweets are still free speech
Source: spiked
by staff
"Scottish police have arrested and charged a man because he posted an 'offensive tweet' about Captain Sir Tom Moore. The tweet in question, posted after Moore died last week, reportedly read: 'The only good Brit soldier is a deed one, burn auld fella, buuuuurn.' Whatever we may think of the tweet, what happened next is worse. A police spokesperson said, 'On Friday we received a report of an offensive tweet about Captain Sir Tom Moore who died on Tuesday 2 February ... a 35-year-old man has subsequently been arrested and charged in connection with communication offences.'" (02/09/21)
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39) What If We Never Reach Herd Immunity?
Source: The Atlantic
by Sarah Zhang
"A number of signs now point to a future in which the transmission of this virus cannot be contained through herd immunity. COVID-19 will likely continue to circulate, to evolve, and to reinfect. In that case, the goal of vaccination needs to be different. ... The role of COVID-19 vaccines may ultimately be more akin to that of the flu shot: reducing hospitalizations and deaths by mitigating the disease's severity. The COVID-19 vaccines as a whole are excellent at preventing severe disease, and this level of protection so far seems to hold even against a new coronavirus variant found in South Africa that is causing reinfections. This, rather than herd immunity, is a more achievable goal for the vaccines." (02/09/21)
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40) No, impeachment is not insulated from free speech arguments
Source: Fox News Forum
by Jonathan Turley
"'The First Amendment does not apply in impeachment proceedings.' If there is a single line that sums up the sense of legal impunity in the second Trump impeachment, it is that line from a letter sent by law professors to deny any basis for the former president to challenge his impeachment on free speech grounds. The scholars call any such arguments 'legally frivolous' but only after misstating the argument and frankly employing a degree of circular logic. The scholars start by stating the obvious: that there is no First Amendment 'defense' that bars the impeachment or conviction of a president. ... The scholars go to great lengths to contest an argument not in dispute in stating 'Congress's power to impeach is not limited to unlawful acts.'" (02/09/21)
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41) In a U.S.-Iran standoff, Biden must be willing to take a little political heat
Source: Responsible Statecraft
by Robert E Hunter
"[H]ow much time, energy, and domestic political capital will President Biden devote to the Iran File, beyond trying to get the Iranians to put their nuclear enrichment on hold? In any event, without major U.S. sanctions relief, Iran's reversing its recent progress in its nuclear program almost surely will not happen. Biden faces strong domestic political hostility to doing anything that could be depicted as a concession to Iran, even if it serves U.S. national security interests, as the JCPOA clearly did. His domestic critics, as well as Iran's regional rivals, also demand that non-nuclear issues be part of any agreement with Iran, which would undermine any prospects for freezing, let alone rolling back, Iran's nuclear program in the absence of much more significant U.S. concessions. Demanding the 'best' will kill the 'good.'" (02/09/21)
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42) The Economics of Violence: A Short Introduction
Source: EconLog
by Pierre Lemieux
"The simplistic declarations about violence heard after the 'insurrection' of January 6 at the Capitol invite a reflection on the economics of violence. The economist's starting point is that an individual uses violence when it is in his personal interest to do so -- when, given his circumstances and constraints (including subjective moral constraints or the lack thereof), he finds the net expected benefit of violence greater than the net expected benefit of peaceful exchange for him. This is a positive observation about what is, not a normative statement about what ought to be, an important distinction to always keep in mind." (02/09/21)
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43) The Not-So-Peaceful Transfer of Power
Source: Reason
by Katherine Mangu-Ward
"What happened on January 6 wasn't a coup. But it ended in multiple violent deaths in the halls of Congress, a citywide curfew in the nation's capital, and a troubling uncertainty over whether our legislature would be able to meet a crucial electoral deadline. At the very least, our long record of peaceful transfers of power now has an asterisk on it, and there's reason to fear worse in the future." (for publication 03/21)
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44) With Environmental Justice, the Devil is in the Details
Source: Our Future
by Kaniela Ing
"It's invigorating to see some of our leaders finally reckon with the most abiding problem of American climate politics: that green does not always mean equitable. Many well-meaning climate policies have in fact exacerbated class, gender, and race inequities for decades. In Hawaii, working people subsidize property relocations for wealthy snowbirds who recklessly built their homes too close to our rising seas. In New York, insatiable developers collect public dollars for ill-defined 'weatherization' projects, which too often translate to gentrification. Across rural areas and the southern United States, sky-high electricity bills stretch working families thin, leaving only corporations and the wealthy able to reap the rewards of rooftop solar. Mix in systemic racism and a global pandemic, and it's baffling how so many of us climate organizers of color have remained hopeful enough to carry on this far. But here we are." (02/09/21)
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45) As Biden Improves Yemen Policy, Activists Must Push Him Further
Source: Libertarian Institute
by Connor Freeman
"Surprisingly, Joe Biden has done some good as President. On Yemen, he ostensibly looks to be favoring diplomacy and ending support for the Saudis' 'offensive' operations, including stopping all 'relevant' arms sales. ... Biden's National Security Advisor, the hawkish Jake Sullivan, has assured us Biden will continue the Special Forces' war against al Qaeda in Yemen. But Biden should end that unconstitutional and absurdly counter-productive war as well." (02/09/21)
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46) Observations and Quibbles
Source: Cato Unbound
by Roderick T Long
"C. Bradley Thompson rightly points to Jefferson's and Adams's skeptical attitude toward the merits of Plato as a political thinker; but I don't think we should infer from this that the influence of the ancients upon the founders lay mainly in the ethical rather than in the political sphere. For most of the criticisms that Jefferson and Adams make of Plato's Republic, Aristotle had made before them -- as they surely knew." (02/09/21)
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47) The Post-Trump American Political Landscape
Source: Antiwar.com
by Gilbert Doctorow
"The three months from elections in the USA at the start of November through the first couple of weeks of the Biden presidency in February have been very turbulent, with dramatic changes in the balance of political forces virtually from week to week. Some of these contests have taken place in the courts or in Congress, others in the streets of Washington and in state capitals. ... I propose in this brief essay to consider first the most important issue which Donald Trump raised before, during and after the elections, the issue which gave rise to the insurgency in the capital, the issue which he by design does not want to go away: the legitimacy of the November 4th elections and thus the legitimacy of Biden's holding power today. There are tactical and strategic sides to this issue." (02/09/21)
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48) Robinhood & GameStop: The MAGA Connection
Source: American Consequences
by Sebastian Gorka, PhD
"Donald Trump has left the White House, although you wouldn't know it by the fact that he's still so prominently reported on in the news, seemingly more than current President Joe Biden. Trump has even already opened his official business address, The Office of the Former President in Florida, and recently endorsed his first political candidate, Sarah Huckabee Sanders for the Governorship of Arkansas. But what of the MAGA Movement? The media may be desperate to have their perennial punch-ball back, and perhaps Trump may be back in action as an outside actor, but can the 'America First' [sic] movement survive even two years with a radicalized [sic] Democratic Party in control of both houses of Congress, and a Democratic president who signed 40 executive actions in just the first nine days of his being in office, more than any Chief Executive ever before?" (02/09/21)
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49) Law Perversion: A Review Of Frederick Bastiat's Essay, "The Law"
Source: Liberty International
by Abdullah Tijani
"First published in 1850, Federick Bastiat's 'The law' retains its relevance as if the publication was just for the 21st-century readers. The essay begins with what would be the main (and sufficient to say only) problem the author was trying to address, and why it needs to be addressed. 'The Law perverted,' the French journalist and economist writes. To curtail evil acts, the government needs law, but what happened during Bastiat's time shows the law perpetuating the very act it's meant to curtail -- evil. The essay introduces us to some exclusive terms that give clear pictures of the extent of law perversion." (02/08/21)
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50) The Pandora's Box of "trauma informed" investigations
Source: WendyMcElroy.com
by James Baresel
"Imagine this scenario: New circumstances make it likely police will learn the true identify of a man on the run from the law and living under an alias. To help him disappear, his wife allows him to tie her up and then tells detectives that he was abducted from a dangerous region where he had business interests. If true, the story might be in the news for weeks. Detectives base their investigation on the assumption that the women's status as a victim was not to be questioned, even insisting that contradictions or apparent inaccuracies in her account must be evidence of a traumatic experience whose very existence confirmed her truthfulness. Bizarre as it might seem, this is the practical reality of what various organizations of legal and mental health professionals, government agencies and advocacy groups promote as 'victim centered' and 'trauma informed' methods of investigation." (02/08/21)
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51) "Nothing We Can Do" About Trajectory of the Pandemic?
Source: Independent Institute
by K Lloyd Billingsley
"'There's nothing we can do to change the trajectory of the pandemic in the next several months,' said President Joe Biden on January 22. As the CNBC report noted, 'it wasn't immediately made clear what projections Biden was referencing,' and 'a spokesperson for the Biden administration was not immediately available for comment regarding the president's projections.' This marks something of a departure for Biden. Last October, candidate Biden said he would 'listen to the scientists,' and in January, Dr. Celine Grounder of Biden's COVID-19 advisory board said, 'the Biden brand is to follow the science,' and 'everything will be informed by science.' On the other hand, there's nothing scientific about the proclamation that 'there's nothing we can do' about the trajectory of the pandemic." (02/08/21)
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52) Peak oil or peak stupidity?
Source: The Price of Liberty
by Nathan Barton
"A few weeks ago, an apparently popular survivalist website, oriented towards city-dwellers, told its readers that 'Peak Oil Is Already Here: What It Means for Civilization (urbansurvivalsite.com)' In part they claimed: 'peak oil isn't about running out of oil. It's about that point in time when oil becomes scarce enough that its price makes it an unacceptable source of energy.' So supposedly, we can't afford to pump any more oil out of the ground. Indeed, it is claimed from some corners that the only reason we can afford to pump oil is because government subsidizes the majors (major oil companies) and the entire network." (02/08/21)
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53) The Pandemic May Change Remittances -- for the Better
Source: Foreign Policy
by Amil Aneja & Bettina Etter
"What Shakespeare said about greatness -- some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them -- turns out to also be true about innovation. One need look no further than various responses to the pandemic. Sectors from education to food service, filmmaking to event planning have all scrambled, with varying degrees of success, to innovate their operations for a world in lockdown. One of the most striking examples involves the abrupt shift in remittances -- the money that people working abroad send back home to their loved ones -- from being mainly cash to, at last, more digital forms." (02/08/21)
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54) The sum of many mediators in Yemen's war
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
"In recent days, one of the world's worst conflicts (the six-year war in Yemen) has taken a turn for the better with a flurry of diplomacy. President Joe Biden appointed the first special U.S. envoy for Yemen, saying the conflict has created a humanitarian 'catastrophe.' A high-level delegation from the European Union arrived in the country Saturday. And the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, is on his first visit to Iran for talks about its role in the war. With such high-powered mediators at work, can peace finally come to this corner of the Arabian Peninsula and end near-famine conditions for many in Yemen?" (02/08/21)
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55) CID Dies
Source: Show-Me Institute
by David Stokes
"I don't know what the City of Chesterfield is thinking by rejecting the recent community improvement district (CID) proposal for the Wildhorse Village Development. Look, people, when Ruth's Chris Steak House can't get a tax subsidy, something is deeply wrong with America. Without a tax subsidy, the steak there might get expensive ... Joking aside, the developer of Wildhorse Village (which includes Ruth's Chris) is seriously angry that he did not get his tax subsidy from the Chesterfield City Council. That is how bad Missouri has become with the constant corporate welfare giveaways. The developer is actually mad that elected officials did not give him other people's tax dollars to help him make more money from his development. He assumed (and past history in our area justifies his assumption, unfortunately) that those tax dollars were his for the taking." (02/08/21)
_____ Today's Freedom Podcast and Video _____
56) Cato Daily Podcast, 02/09/21
Source: Cato Institute
"A Second Senate Trial for Donald Trump." [various formats] (02/09/21)
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57) Free Talk Live, 02/09/21
Source: Free Talk Live
"Iran says the CoVid-19 vaccine makes you gay :: Scott the Bigot says something about AIPAC :: 74 year old held against her will :: Cell411 :: People's Rights :: The ails of modern radio :: The evolution of talk radio :: Man killed by cannon at gender reveal :: Hosts -- Aria, Ian, Bonnie." [Flash audio or MP3] (02/09/21)
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58) The Chris Spangle Show, 02/09/21
Source: We Are Libertarians
"Michael Boldin of the Tenth Amendment Center Discusses a Peaceful Path to a Freer Society Through Nullification." [various formats] (02/09/21)
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59) Ron Paul Liberty Report, 02/09/21
Source: Ron Paul Liberty Report
"No US Deaths In Afghanistan! Will Biden Stick To Trump's Exit Plan?" [Flash video] (02/09/21)
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60) Show-Me Institute Podcast, 02/09/21
Source: Show-Me Institute
"The GameStop Revolution." [Flash audio] (02/09/21)
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61) Great Moments in Unintended Consequences (Vol. 2)
Source: Reason
"What could possibly go wrong?" [Flash video] (02/09/21)
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62) Commentary Podcast, 02/09/21
Source: Commentary
"The Democrats Are Bailing on Their Own Impeachment." [various formats] (02/09/21)
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63) Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism, chapter 6
Source: Libertarian Institute
"Iran." [Flash video] (02/09/21)
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64) Late To Liberty, episode 7
Source: The Daily Liberator
"Boomer Lives Matter." [various formats] (02/08/21)
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65) Liberty Weekly Podcast, episode 152
Source: Libertarian Institute
"Michael Boldin: Fighting Federal Tyranny in the Coming Dark Age." [various formats] (02/08/21)
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66) FiveThirtyEight Politics Podcast, 02/08/21
Source: FiveThirtyEight
"What Georgia Republicans' Proposed Voting Restrictions Would Do." [various formats] (02/08/21)
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67) Just Add Liberty, episode 15
Source: Just Add Liberty
"John Odermatt -- Gut Health Primer." [various formats] (02/08/21)
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68) Freedom Works with Paul Molloy, 02/08/21
Source: Freedom Works
"Sean Higgins of CEI on minimum wage hike." [various formats] (02/08/21)
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69) Hassan El-Tayyab on The Scott Horton Show
Source: Libertarian Institute
"Hassan El-Tayyab on Biden's Big Step Toward Peace in Yemen." [various formats] (02/08/21)
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70) Bloggingheads.tv, 02/08/21
Source: Bloggingheads.tv
"Russia, Psychedelics, and Politics | Nikita Petrov & John Horgan." [Flash video] (02/08/21)
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