Maturity is achieved when a person postpones immediate pleasures for long-term values.
Joshua L. Liebman
Rant of the Day: Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2015 Passed 325-100: Thumbs DOWN!
From my favorite Congressman Justin Amash on FB:
When I learned that the Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 2015 was being rushed to the floor for a vote—with little debate and only a voice vote expected (i.e., simply declared "passed" with almost nobody in the room)—I asked my legislative staff to quickly review the bill for unusual language. What they discovered is one of the most egregious sections of law I've encountered during my time as a representative: It grants the executive branch virtually unlimited access to the communications of every American.
On Wednesday afternoon, I went to the House floor to demand a roll call vote on the bill so that everyone's vote would have to be recorded. I also sent the letter below to every representative.
With more time to spread the word, we would have stopped this bill, which passed 325-100. Thanks to the 99 other representatives—44 Republicans and 55 Democrats—who voted to protect our rights and uphold the Constitution. And thanks to my incredibly talented staff.
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Block New Spying on U.S. Citizens: Vote “NO” on H.R. 4681
Dear Colleague:
The intelligence reauthorization bill, which the House will vote on today, contains a troubling new provision that for the first time statutorily authorizes spying on U.S. citizens without legal process.
Last night, the Senate passed an amended version of the intelligence reauthorization bill with a new Sec. 309—one the House never has considered. Sec. 309 authorizes “the acquisition, retention, and dissemination” of nonpublic communications, including those to and from U.S. persons. The section contemplates that those private communications of Americans, obtained without a court order, may be transferred to domestic law enforcement for criminal investigations.
To be clear, Sec. 309 provides the first statutory authority for the acquisition, retention, and dissemination of U.S. persons’ private communications obtained without legal process such as a court order or a subpoena. The administration currently may conduct such surveillance under a claim of executive authority, such as E.O. 12333. However, Congress never has approved of using executive authority in that way to capture and use Americans’ private telephone records, electronic communications, or cloud data.
Supporters of Sec. 309 claim that the provision actually reins in the executive branch’s power to retain Americans’ private communications. It is true that Sec. 309 includes exceedingly weak limits on the executive’s retention of Americans’ communications. With many exceptions, the provision requires the executive to dispose of Americans’ communications within five years of acquiring them—although, as HPSCI admits, the executive branch already follows procedures along these lines.
In exchange for the data retention requirements that the executive already follows, Sec. 309 provides a novel statutory basis for the executive branch’s capture and use of Americans’ private communications. The Senate inserted the provision into the intelligence reauthorization bill late last night. That is no way for Congress to address the sensitive, private information of our constituents—especially when we are asked to expand our government’s surveillance powers.
I urge you to join me in voting “no” on H.R. 4681, the intelligence reauthorization bill, when it comes before the House today.Time's Person of the Year: Thumbs UP!
/s/
Justin Amash
Member of Congress
RIP, Judy Baar Topinka
Question: what Republican repeatedly won statewide races since the 1990's as Illinois' treasurer and most recently as state comptroller, just winning reelection a month ago--and lost to Blago in his reelection campaign for governor in 2006? With the exception of Sen. Kirk's 2010 election and Gov.-Elect Rauner's election last month, the GOP found itself in exile from statewide office except for Ms. Topinka, a first-rate politician I voted for on multiple occasions; she will be missed.
States and Improved Fiscal Outlooks
From Bloomberg via the Crux:
States reduced taxes and fees this year by $2.3 billion, the deepest cut since fiscal 2001, according to a report released today by the group in Washington. Budgets are poised to grow by $22.7 billion, or 3.1 percent, to $752 billion in the current fiscal year. The 3.1 percent rise in spending is still less than the 5.5 percent average increase from 1979 through 2014, according to the budget officers group. Education and Medicaid, the state-run health-care program for the poor, accounted for a majority of the spending increases.I need to point that most of the state pension funds are below 100% funding, even with liberal assumptions relative to the investment returns; given an inevitable recession that could take out 20-30% of the pension fund investment base, that's not a good sign. In Illinois, where pensions are only about 40% funded, an Illinois court recently rejected pathetically weak Democrat pension reforms, and taxpayers had to beat back attempts by Dems to institute a progressive income tax and then to make an expiring income tax surcharge permanent.
As for Medicaid, I support Cato Institute's reforms of block granting and/or voucherizing funding and I also prefer some similar education reforms of devolving funding and authority with respect to the principle of subsidiarity.
Entertainment Potpourri: Christmas Movies?
Only two of my local cable channels have been playing Christmas movies (Hallmark and Lifetime, along with some ABC Family and AMC). For some reason, Hallmark has had maybe a couple of dozen fairly recent made-for-cable offerings on heavy rotation, whereas I seem to recall it had run others in its annual Christmas in July break, e.g., "A Christmas Visitor" and "November Christmas": maybe it will rotate other flicks in the remaining 2 weeks. I did enjoy seeing (new for me) a Dennis the Menace twist on "A Christmas Carol". But there are a number of traditional movies-"White Christmas", "It's a Wonderful Life", "Miracle on 34th St.", various versions of "A Christmas Carol", "One Magic Christmas", the musical "Scrooge", etc. I suppose some of these may get scheduled over the next weekend or two, but even with Hallmark's often charming cable movies, less is more. I would rather listen to a policy podcast than watch a repeat while drafting a blog post.
Choose Life
Facebook Corner
(Ron Paul). Are there any situations in which you believe it to be unlawful to record police? http://bit.ly/1wcLyo6
Police officers have no reasonable expectation of privacy on duty; the only exceptions are work breaks, e.g., restroom, meals, personal calls. When a policeman has a conversation with me while on his duty, an independent record of the exchange serves to protect the rights of both the officer and myself, particularly if there is a difference of opinion of what transpired. Transparency serves the public interest of accountability.
(Lew Rockwell). The neocons are livid, this time over the fact that Ron Paul is a rock star in Russia, as in so many countries. Why do the Russians love him? Because he speaks the truth, eloquently and persuasively, about the US empire and especially its vicious and dangerous war on Russia. There is vast Russian interest in Ron’s views on gold and 101 other issues, too.
I do not speak for Ron, but I sure would love
to see him reach the whole world with an international, professionally
produced, top-notch news and opinion TV show of the sort RT could do.
He’d be a one-man embassy for peace and freedom, a thrilling extension
of his life’s work.
Does RT’s government connection make this undesirable? No more than a show on a government organ like PBS, FOX, or MSNBC, in the unlikely event one of them would let Ron speak his mind.
Fox
is hardly a government mouthpiece given the fact the Fascist-in-Chief
routinely attacks it, has discriminated against its journalists... Also,
Fox Business (and to a lesser extent, Fox News) features the few
libertarian-leaning personalities in mass media, e.g., Stossel,
Napolitano, the Independents.Does RT’s government connection make this undesirable? No more than a show on a government organ like PBS, FOX, or MSNBC, in the unlikely event one of them would let Ron speak his mind.
I do think the Kremlin-backed RT finds Ron Paul to be a useful idiot. Putin is an ardent nationalist who regrets the devolution of the Soviet empire. he has sought to re-nationalize the oil and gas industry, and he has not exactly backed civil liberties (e.g., gay people).
(National Review). An anti-harassment training at a Catholic university in Wisconsin encouraged employees to report anyone they hear criticizing gay marriage to the school’s human-resources department.
Given the fact that the Catholic Church does NOT accept the morphed Statist concept of "gay" marriage, Marquette, by promoting a policy inconsistent with the Church's consistent, unambiguous teaching in support of traditional, permanent marriage, no longer has a right to claim it's a "Catholic" university. Moreover, insofar as it attempts to sanction free discussion of "gay marriage", which violates the very concept of academic freedom, Marquette no longer can claim to be a "university"; instead, it has become the temple of political correctness.
(Reason). If Ron Paul's project is to spread the pure principles of anti-intervention, Rand Paul's is to see how much anti-intervention he can sneak into the mainstream diet. So who's right about what a libertarian foreign policy really looks like?
I think you have to look at the battles that Rand is picking: drones, declarations of war, executive branch overreach, fourth amendment rights, etc. Anyone thinking with these sets of issues Rand Paul is the same old same old simply is living in a different reality. Remember, Ron Paul had a pragmatic side, too--e.g., audit vs. end the Fed, and Ron was not open-borders.
Political Cartoon
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| (I think that's against the Geneva Convention...) Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall |
Joy to the World
