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Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Miscellany: 6/23/15

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Murphy's Third Law: In any field of scientific endeavor, anything that can go wrong will go wrong.

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Facebook Corner
(FEE). It’s far more accurate to think of government as an inflation factory instead of an inflation fighter.
Yes, because it just "arbitrarily" changes the money supply without any forethought or logic. We could go back to the 30% inflation days of the late 1800's?
The OP retard didn't understand what that whole silver vs. gold kerfuffle was all about in the late nineteenth century. Maybe he needs to see a picture:


(FEE). Obama claims that American government "is broken". But the system is assuredly not broken — in fact, it was designed to prevent exactly the kind of radical change that Obama wants to implement.
If the author is trying to compare FDR and Bush the Younger, he is out of his mind. First, W only had control of both chambers of Congress for half of his years in Congress--he never had the votes to make a modest tax cut permanent. Second, as The (Incompetent) One reminded Democrat voters in 2008, all his Senate opponents had voted for Bush's Iraq authorization measure. Whereas Southern Democrats gave FDR heartburn, even after the 1938 election with huge gains by the GOP, the Democrats were comfortably in charge of Congress; FDR never had to work with an opposition in control. FDR's biggest issue was SCOTUS--and SCOTUS capitulated almost immediately after FDR threatened to pack the court.

The current "President" REFUSES to compromise; he has no problem attacking SCOTUS at the SOTU address when they don't rule his preference. If he can't bully the GOP into his immigration policy preference, he'll just cut an executive order. Because the GOP won't capitulate to his temper tantrums, they are portrayed as "obstructionist".

But the author is correct in the sense that Obama has found his Statist tax, spend and regulate agenda blocked by the GOP and/or SCOTUS. But the Congress has a veto-bearing President who makes long-overdue healthcare, entitlement and budgetary reform impossible.

(Rand Paul 2016). Rand Paul weighs in on the flag debate.
By capitulating to the cultural fascist gods of political correctness, Rand is throwing under the bus others who see other symbolism in the flag in honoring victims of the War of Northern Aggression, culture pride, resistance against a tyrannical central government, etc. It was unprincipled, purely political.

(IPI). The corrupting power of eminent domain, brought to national attention in Kelo v. City of New London, still rears its head today.
Northeastern Illinois University is trying to bulldoze 6 properties so a private developer can build and operate dorms and retail stores.
 Eminent Domain doesn't bother conservatives when it is used for the Keystone pipeline.
 Another economically-illiterate retard who doesn't know the difference between condemning a property and an easement. Listen, retard--there are THOUSANDS of miles of oil and gas pipelines crisscrossing the US. Nothing different about Keystone other than its symbolic nature to "progressive" fascists. Pipelines are typically buried 4 feet under, do not keep farmers from working the land, and the farmers are given a nice cash flow for their trouble.

(National Review). Many are celebrating the decision as a win -- but some view it as unnecessary or the wrong way to proceed. We want to hear what YOU think.
No, it was capitulation to the politically correct cultural fascists; it only encourages them to censor other unpopular speech.

(Reason). Freddie Gray autopsy report lends credence to the involuntary manslaughter charges against some of the officers.
Greetings from England. When I was a kid we all dreamed of going to America, but f* this bullshit, sounds like a police state, racist backwater. I'm sure most of you are lovely but this shit is crazy!
Unlike other countries we air our laundry in public. I think the city leadership is black, and I seem to recall half of the officers charged are black.

(IPI). The Chicago Sun-Times: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has announced that CPS cannot afford to make a $634 million teacher pension payment due June 30 — at least not in full.
"Never before has the nation’s third-largest school system either missed or reduced a pension payment the district wasn’t authorized to skip by the Illinois General Assembly."
Why don't Illinois politicians have their salaries, medical benefits and pensions reduced instead???!
Listen, math wizard, how many political whores compared to how many parasitic teachers? Stop this clueless populist bullshit.

(Reason). I think the flag is inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery, and particularly when people use it, you know, obviously for murder and to justify hated so vicious that you would kill somebody, I think that that symbolism needs to end. And I think South Carolina is doing the right thing." -Rand Paul
Rand Paul is playing for cheap pops instead of principle, and he'll playing with fire when it comes to his pro-liberty base. He certainly is entitled to his opinion about what the flag represents. (Now as a libertarian, I have an issue with the concept of slavery, and I've never owned a Confederate flag.) But to define what a flag means for other people? Cultural fascism. When others see it as a symbol of regional pride, or as resistance against an authoritarian, tyrannical lawless federal regime, or solidarity with those victims who defended their homes against an unprovoked war of Northern aggressions, you need to respect their right of free expression.

(continuation of an exchange of a Libertarianism.org piece doubting the states' rights defense for succession).
Arguing that the North/Lincoln weren't primarily motivated by slavery, doesn't change the fact that South/CSA *were* primarily motivated by slavery, and said so, explicitly. When they drew up their constitution, that was more or less the only substantive difference they made from the US Constitution: slavery in all Confederate states, forever.
Actually, that isn't accurate at all, Andy. Only 5 of the states that seceded listed slavery as one of the reasons for secession and their Constitution was basically identical to the US Constitution with the Corwin Amendment (which they would have gotten), so both of your points aren't really valid.
 Let's point out that the Confederates had put slavery on the table trying to win diplomatic recognition from Britain and France. And a number of border states only joined the Confederacy after Lincoln invaded the South. And (I've emphasized different points in the 3 posts on this same topic over the weekend), there had been regional differences with the Northern states over tariffs (which were significantly paid by Southerners). In fact, SC directly threatened to secede over tariffs decades earlier. [Discussant] mistakes Northern propaganda for history--and is incoherent. The fact is, if Lincoln was willing not to challenge the status quo over slavery, he needs to explain why the states seceded over slavery. Not to mention the libertarian principle of free association is clearly consistent with secession.

(Reason). Is there a difference between stores like Walmart and Sears selling confederate flag merch and online marketplaces like Amazon.com and eBay allowing their merchants to do the same?
Then don't shop at Wal-Mart, Sears, Amazon or eBay. As a shareholder, I fully support the executive team's decision to remove this merchandise. Quarterly earnings are more important than heritage. Am I right, libertarians?
Oh, wow, some two-bit economically illiterate shareholder is cheering because his idiot company managers will not market profitable merchandise under pressure from the culturally fascist politically correct police. He's not speaking for sane shareholders.

(Justin Amash). Mark Meadows is a man of integrity and one of the finest representatives I have served with. It is my privilege to call him a friend, and I'm honored to stand with him in this fight.
 I'm disappointed that Amash is engaging in anti-trade demagoguery. I question his commitment to liberalized trade.

(The Hill). "I think the flag is inescapably a symbol of human bondage and slavery, and particularly when people use it obviously for murder and to justify hate so vicious that you would kill somebody, I think that that symbolism needs to end and I think South Carolina is doing the right thing," Rand Paul said.
It's sad that a pro-liberty senator is telling Southerners who revere said flag that their motives are dishonorable.

Political Cartoon
Courtesy of Gary Varvel via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Dionne Warwick, "The Windows of the World"