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Friday, February 26, 2016

Miscellany: 2/26/16

Quote of the Day
The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from 
those who are still undecided.
Casey Stengel

Tweet of the Day
A reply tweet suggests Trump will soon announce Kasich as his VP:
Confused tweet reply somehow suggests both Kasich and Christie. See separate tweet on Christie below.
Nowrasteh suggested tongue in cheek that Jeb Bush should follow Christie and endorse Trump.
A Trump cultist bitterly suggests the original tweeter is setting the stage for Clinton's inauguration:
Image of the Day


The Best Video Collage on Apple v FBI



Facebook Corner

(Acton Institute). Bernie Sanders says Pope Francis is a socialist like him. But what kind of socialist is Sanders?
Pope Francis is not a socialist; He's a Statist.
(separate comment).
Very good essay. I think I approach the subject somewhat differently. I would argue that democratic socialism would be more of a left-libertarian communitarianism, distrustful of the State monopoly that characterizes the authoritarian types of State socialism. You do see a lack of recognition of property rights, at least beyond a certain point for a bourgeois lifestyle.

 But it's very difficult to implement Bernie Sanders' economic nationalism without a strong State; he posits State-conferred positive rights as the author points to in FDR's second bill of rights. I see Francis as supporting the Church's notion of the principle of Subsidiarity vs. the strong central state. I would also say Bernie Sanders doesn't share Francis' concerns with migration rights.

 I see Bernie Sanders more as a left-fascist allowing a mixed economy where private businesses subordinate to State control with an expanded set of welfare state entitlement guarantees. It still eviscerates individual/negative rights to some implementation of majoritarian tyranny.

(Acton Institute). When politicians propose cutting "fraud, waste, and abuse" as a solution to the deficit crisis you can be sure of one thing: They think voters are stupid.
The fact is that every politician says always the same thing. But it never happens. I'll give a classic example not listed by the author: the USPS. Many, if not most post offices lose money; yet management lacks the ability to hire part-timers, contractors, close offices or reduce hours, price services, etc., all because of vested political interests. CAGW, Cato's Downsizing the Federal Govt, etc., all have outlined reforms--duplicated functionality, lack of shared resources, etc.

 The fact is that Donald Trump was bluffing a r esponse. He didn't even provide a statistic to show the magical waste number even cross-footed the deficit. This is the same guy who attacked Paul Ryan for entitlement reforms--when mandatory spending is 70% of the budget and rising. When he's not even addressing the cost drivers behind the deficit, he doesn't know squat about the budget. He talks about deleting 2 cabinets that don't even amount to a down payment on the deficit.

Political Cartoon
Courtesy of the original artist via Twitter
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Stevie Wonder, "Shoo Be Doo Be Doo Da Day"



Trump Gets Schooled


So good, we had to watch it again.
Posted by National Review on Friday, February 26, 2016
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