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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


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