RAG Perspective: An American Pro-Liberty Conservative: Miscellany: 7/15/15

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Miscellany: 7/15/15

Quote of the Day
Much of my success has been due to keeping my mouth shut.
J. Ogden Armour

One of the Most Idiotic Ideas I Have Ever Heard: Security Authoritarians Going After Cryptology Vendors

In a country which just had one of the worst security breaches ever (the OPM break which compromised the personal information of up to millions of government workers and/or contractors, who have filed SF-86's; I haven't commented on this story for personal/professional reasons, but let's just say I'm familiar with background checks relevant to many federal gigs), it is appalling to hear the fascists want software vendors to intentionally cripple their software so the government can decrypt encrypted communications against intelligence targets (or anyone the government decides to target as an alleged security risk, with or without a warrant). Any vendor which intentionally cripples the software it sells to its customers compromised products has to be prepared for the fact that the government hack will soon be discovered or exploited by nefarious hackers who have their own targets in the private sector as well. Tell the security fascists to go to hell!

Facebook Corner

(Independent Institute). "A land of opportunity has no fear of more people—we recognize them as a source of wealth—human capital, growing our economy.
American Conservatives cheering Trump have forgotten that their patron saints—Milton Friedman and Ronald Reagan—both recognized Mexican immigrants as a benefit to the U.S."
Anyone who believes that the State has some legitimate authority to restrict the liberty of people to migrate to and from the State does not understand or appreciate the principle of liberty. No, these morally contempible individuals think they have the "right" to decide who gets to move into the neighborhood (as if they "owned" the neighborhood), who gets to work for another business (as if they "owned" the business/job), which families get to reunite here, etc. It's pure tyranny, whether or not blessed by a democracy of corrupt special interests, like unions, xenophobes, etc. America's past century has seen economically illiterate populist bastards try to scapegoat immigrants for bad public policy enacted by the same or different fascists; it's had an adverse impact on economic growth, and like any undue prohibition or restriction, it has led to a dysfunctional gray or black market. Ask these petty authoritarians if they are willing to establish open temporary worker programs, do away with unreasonable quotas, etc.? No, these corrupt petty tyrants are not interested in free markets; they are corrupt market-manipulators and think they have a "right" to intervene in the affairs of other people. They need to mind their own business.

(Reason). If tissue from fetuses that *are going to be aborted anyway* might help bring about future medical progress, and the women having abortions fully consent, what's the problem?
Mothers who abort their preborn children have the "right" to sell the parts of another biologically distinct person? No, children are not "property" of their parents; they have their own unalienable rights. The idea that researchers should have a vested interest in the murder of preborn children is off-the-charts unethical.

(Jeffrey Tucker). I sat there and listened to Donald Trump tell an audience that immigration is the major cause of crime in the U.S. It's a nice story if your goal is to get people to loathe immigrants and shut the borders. But it turns out that the story is completely false. The opposite is the case. Facts, people.
This article speaks about "immigrants". I didn't see the data for "illegal immigrants" here. Is that even available? I thought that was what the discussion triggered by Trump's remarks is about, not all immigrants. The article seems also to use the phase "anti-immigrant" as a pejorative to describe folks that are merely against illegal immigration.

When the article does break out Mexican immigrants it does show a significant increase in crime, but still doesn't break out "illegal immigrant" data. It seems that by lumping all immigrant data together you detract from the Trump claims about Mexico.

Even if you don't agree with or like Trump, fair debate is in order and this article does not address his specific claims.

If someone is here illegally than any increase in crime seems like something that should be of concern, property or violent crime.
For all clueless anti-immigrant trolls: there is no artificial distinction between "legal" and "illegal" immigrants in major studies. You would know that from reading the research, e.g., " A census or a national survey gives us a measure of how many immigrants (legal and unauthorized combined) are living in the United States." Most anti-immigrants do not have a real interest in understanding research methodology--they are really trying to dismiss evidence which does not corroborate their nativist belief system. Basically they make an estimate of immigrants and then filter out the "legal" ones. There are some US and Mexican government censuses, various surveys, statistical factors to adjust for underreporting, etc. This post provides more of the mechanics from a top-level perspective:
(A follow-up comment)
To deal with the grossly incompetent, know-nothing Donald Trump, the pied piper of bigots and xenophobes he is pandering to, actually think about it: the last thing you want to do, if you lack official papers, is to draw attention to yourself and clue in the INS to your presence. You are going to keep a low profile. A very large percentage of unauthorized immigrants are family members of people already here. The vast majority of these people are hard-working, religious. Most of the criminal element involves our dysfunctional drug laws. Trump is a contemptible economically-illiterate populist buffoon who tries to pick fights over trade, international issues, saying whatever it takes, like any corrupt salesman, to say what he thinks they want to hear. For people to think a crony capitalist like Trump, with 4 bankruptcies and counting on his record, can be in charge of this country's budget is absolutely insane.

My Greatest Hits: July 2015