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Friday, September 30, 2016

Post #2963M

Quote of the Day
If there were no God, there would be no Atheists.
G. K. Chesterton

Judges Should Uphold Our Constitutional Principles, Not Their Own Political Beliefs



One Bright Upside to This Fall's Election



The Duopoly Party System v Democracy



The Corrupt Obama Administration and Clinton Emailgate



Choose Life: Doubly Blessed



He Ain't Heavy... He's My Brother





Musical Interlude: Musical Interlude

Steve Winwood, "The Finer Things"

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Thursday, September 29, 2016

Post #2962 M

Quote of the Day
I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
Michelangelo

Tweet of the Day
Image of the Day

The Evil of Progressivity in Tax Codes



One of Gary Johnson's Better Moments



Wesley Clark is a Tool



Military Family Reunion

As a former military brat whose Dad had gone TDY overseas (actually he was gone for about a year), I never get tired of these videos.

h

Choose Life: Love At First Sight



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Garry Trudeau via GoComics
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Steve Winwood, "Back in the High Life Again"

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Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Post #2961M

Quote of the Day
If you treat an individual as if he were what he ought to be and could be, 
he will become what he ought to be and could be.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Tweet of the Day

Government v Small Business



Eminent Domain Abuse



Best Friends



Ron Paul: Towards a More Restrained Foreign Policy



Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Jerry Holbert via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Steve Winwood, "Freedom Overspill"

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Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Post #2960 M

Quote of the Day
When you come to the edge of all the light you know, 
and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown, 
faith is knowing one of two things will happen: 
there will be something solid to stand on, 
or you will be taught how to fly.
Barbara J. Winter

Tweet of the Day
Save Us From Anti-Competitive Crony Businesses and Their Political Enablers




Reason Reviews Clinton/Trump I



This Is What Happens When the FDA Rigs the Pharmaceutical Industry



The Expansion of Police Statism



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Henry Payne via Townhall

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Steve Winwood, "Higher Love". His first #1 and one of my all-time favorites.

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Monday, September 26, 2016

Post #2959 M

Quote of the Day
I do not know which makes a man more conservative—
to know nothing but the present, or nothing but the past.
John Maynard Keynes

Tweet of the Day
Johnson's Exclusion from the Presidential Debate

I missed tonight's debate due to work obligations; I may review the debate for a one-off post at a later date.



Leftist Government Censorship of Energy Speech



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Lisa Benson via Townhall

Musical Interlude: Favorite Vocalists

Steve Winwood, "Valerie". I once dated a Valerie.

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Sunday, September 25, 2016

Post #2958 M

Quote of the Day
No tool is more beneficial than intelligence. 
No enemy is more harmful than ignorance.
Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid

Tweet of the Day
Charity is His Life's Work



The Life of a Public Parasite



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Lisa Benson via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Steve Winwood, "Still in the Game"

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Saturday, September 24, 2016

Miscellany: 9/24/16

Quote of the Day
In matters of style, swim with the current; 
in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
Thomas Jefferson

Remy Tells of Trump's Hard Times Living Large on Daddy's Wallet



Lack of Transparency in Government Violence in Charlotte



Boudreaux on Why These Are the Best of Times



 Vote For "None of the Above"



Political Cartoon


Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Steve Winwood, "Arc of a Diver"

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Friday, September 23, 2016

Miscellany: 9/23/16

Quote of the Day
Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity
George Bernard Shaw

Tweet of the Day
Lauer Became the Story



 Johnson Should Be in the First Presidential Debate



Choose Life: A Dad Inspires His Daughter





A Boy AND A Girl!



 Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Robert Ariail via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Steve Winwood, "While You See a Chance". His first Top 10 hit and one of my all-time favorites. Vocals and arrangement--pure magic.


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Thursday, September 22, 2016

Miscellany: 9/22/16

Welcome, Fall Equinox!



Quote of the Day
Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.
Albert Einstein

Tweet of the Day
Sowell On Racial/Ethnic Division on Campus




A California Town Regulates Commercial Speech



Fascists, Leave That Girl Alone!



 Clinton's Cynical Big Bank Populism



Moi Aussi



Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Rita Coolidge, "Something Said Love".  Rita Coolidge's last A/C charting hit. This concludes my Coolidge retrospective. Steve Winwood is my next vocalist.

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Journal: 9/22/16

Comparing DMVs (9/21/16)

For the third time in 3 years, I went to change my state drivers license and vehicle registration. (I've now held licenses in California, Texas (multiple), Florida, Illinois (multiple), South Carolina, Wisconsin, Maryland, West Virginia and Arizona.) To a certain extent, DMV comparisons may be apples to oranges because state policies and procedures change over time, and it may also be an artifact of the weekday and time I chose to register.. None of them were pleasant experiences, but it seemed that Arizona was more tolerable than the others. Why? In part, I could fill out paperwork in advance online, and I was in and out roughly out of the facility in just less than an hour. I was initially confused over where to check in; there's a sign to get a number. It turned out there was a clerk with her back to the entrance wall to the facility who gave out numbers. I had a barcode application with me and inferred I was supposed to use a kiosk near an entrance/exit.

California's was a sinkhole of time in multiple queues, but West Virginia was the biggest pain mostly because they were particularly anal-retentive about documentation for local residency. I had brought pieces of mail showing my local address, etc., but they were unusually specific and picky. I ended up having to go back and get a copy of my apartment lease and then they wanted to see things not listed on the apartment lease, easier said than done because my landlady wasn't necessarily present on the property during business hours. Each round trip was about 40 miles and I ended up making 3-4 round trips.  Arizona has its quirks, too, particularly on documenting birth. I've been driving over 30 years; one would have thought that had been settled long ago. But I had known about it in advance--and I have a readily available passport, birth certificate, etc. They are also big on picture IDs, but beyond the passport and old drivers license, I have at least 3, probably 4 current work photo IDs.

Bill O'Reilly. Again. (9/22/16)

I often do one-offs on Bill O'Reilly and/or segments in my miscellany format, but he has a way of saying things, often peripheral to the basic theme, which really turn me off. (On a recent tweet I ad libbed that my dream job was to be a Fox News bloviator; this was an intentional shot at Bill O'Reilly.) Here's the latest excerpt:
Good luck with that, Mr. President.  You'll remember Apple would not even help crack the San Bernardino killer's phone.
First of all, the San Bernardino terrorist had multiple phones; his personal phone had been destroyed. The FBI wanted to break into his intact work cellphone. Now it's doubtful that work phones would have been used. For one thing, my work cellphone agreement specifically notes that there is no expectation of privacy, and I have a company-mandated monitoring app on the phone. Also, personal use is restricted to occasional use not increasing phone costs or interfering with work responsibilities. It seems common sense to me that the terrorist by using multiple phones for nefarious purposes would be increasing the risk of being caught. Let's point out that the FBI ALREADY had the phone history of both cellphones; they were looking for something, anything, je ne sais quoi ("I'll know it when I see it"). Why would the perpetrator go through the trouble of destroying his personal phone but not the job-related phone? He "forgot"? True, people sometimes do and/or forget boneheaded things, but it was highly unlikely that the FBI would find anything more promising than what they already had from the provider phone history. It was simply a matter of "due diligence"; they haven't reported on what they found on the phone (and they want to tell the public they went the extra mile to uncover every stone), but my money is on the likely finding that they found nothing usable. It was more a case of "government entitlement" without due process, nothing more than a glorified fishing expedition, a violation of the Fourth Amendment against unreasonable searches.

Second, O'Reilly misleads, probably due to his considerable ignorance of technology, what Apple did/didn't do. Apple sells phones that cost hundreds of dollars. People store valuable items on there, including things like credit card information. If a phone was easy to hack, nobody would buy it: who wants to be the victim of identity theft? If Apple effectively left the key under the doormat for the sole benefit of government, that the "good" police might need it one day, that security crack would soon be exploited by hackers. Apple had strengthened its product security so that hackers or other thieves couldn't break into phones with brute force methods, e.g., potentially millions of password guesses in blindingly fast succession. There are different approaches you can design to defeat brute force methods, which the FBI wanted to do with the terror suspect's phone: e.g., limit the number of guesses over a period of time and then locking it (temporarily) or wiping out all the phone data which leaves the hacker with nothing to exploit; the customer would need to reload sensitive phone data. Apple chose the implement the latter solution.

You shouldn't think of Apple as a kind of locksmith. If Apple maintained customer passwords, it would run the risk of a possible Snowden-type leak or a successful hacker attack. I wouldn't buy a cellphone with that type of risk. Now there are potential technical solutions to Apple's security design; at the risk of oversimplification, imagine, for instance, if you knew where Apple stored its counter triggering the cellphone locking/wiping functionality. You might simply reinitialize the counter after every attempt (easier said than done).

Some authoritarian political whores don't believe you have the right to defend  your property/privacy against a corrupt, unaccountable government's "right to know"; for example, we have seen how the Obama Administration, for instance, has abused the IRS authority against its political opponents.

Former LP Presidential candidate McAfee effectively offered the FBI help finding the technical expertise to work around Apple's security features without crippling the product design itself. (I think at the time of the kerfuffle I Googled for technology vendors offering services to recover iPhone data). Now O'Reilly also doesn't understand that Apple is not a servant of the federal government and cannot be constitutionally conscripted to create a product or service for the sole benefit of government to circumvent its own product security features. The government could subcontract out the technical expertise that apparently the FBI lacks internally (which I believe it did) without trying to extort Apple via constitutional abuse of government authority into doing something against its customers' interests, which is a type of slavery.

Bill O'Reilly, of course, buys into the War on Terror propaganda, like many other neocons, and is willing to sacrifice your and others' liberty to corrupt, manipulative politicians or unaccountable bureaucrats. These morons don't understand even if they regulate Apple to implement a backdoor for corrupt bureaucrats to exploit there are other applications on Apple's operating system which essentially constitute a second layer of defense for sensitive data. The genie can't be put back into the bottle; demanding American software vendors compromise software security designs for the benefit of incompetent government bureaucrats basically provides foreign competitors an advantage in the marketplace and throws companies, investors, and employees under the bus.

Sometimes we have to deal with the limitations of the available data. Jesus, a highly literate man, didn't record His own words, independent of His disciples and followers. People who hide things or bury treasure don't necessarily leave a map, allowing others to exploit their riches. Murders remain unsolved with evidence discarded, say, in a large body of water, or in a degraded state. I'm sure that law enforcement would love to find Dear Diary where a terror suspect explained in detail his nefarious plots, suppliers, contacts, benefactors, with times, dates, locations, etc., but there is no universal law that a criminal or terrorist leaves an investigator-friendly map or detailed information of his unlawful actions. Compromising the liberty of others is no solution; it's a part of the problem. We fought a revolution over that principle.
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Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Miscellany: 9/21/16

Quote of the Day
If a diplomat says yes, he means maybe. 
If a diplomat says maybe, he means no. 
If a diplomat says no, he ain't no diplomat!
Andre Gabor

 Tweet of the Day
DEAD WRONG: Ignorant Employers Won't Discriminate



Choose Life: Listen to a Sweetheart Sing "Row Your Boat"



Steyn On Homicidal Fanatics and Hypocritical Progressives on Deplorables

Libertarians oppose unprovoked aggression against the lives of others, with or without rationale. The thing I would point out to Steyn is there are diminishing returns to the War on Terror, and only a tiny fraction of homicides are at the hands of terrorists. Western intervention and collateral damage are exploited by jihadist terrorist propaganda.



 Political Cartoon


Courtesy of Robert Ariail via Townhall

Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Rita Coolidge, "All Time High". Coolidge's final A/C #1 and last Top 40 hit was the theme song for a James Bond flick.

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Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Miscellany: 9/20/16

Quote of the Day
The toughest thing about success is 
that you've got to keep on being a success. 
Talent is only a starting point in this business. 
You've got to keep on working that talent. 
Someday I'll reach for it and it won't be there.
Irving Berlin

Tweet of the Day
Why Not Economic Liberty?



Former Cabbie Economist Walter Williams On the Taxi Monopoly



Facebook Corner

(National Review). Never #NeverTrump.
Always #NeverTrump. Voting for a former liberal Democrat who supported HRC in 2008 and then Obama is a fundamental violation of the GOP market-friendly agenda for decades. Trump's embrace of protectionism and anti-immigration is even more radical than Clinton's. I don't believe for a second anything this con man trying to buy the Presidency on the cheap says, and VDH is nothing more than a Vichy Republican.

Don Boudreaux, "More Silly Arguments About Walmart": Thumbs UP!

I don't know if there is a more preposterous, illogical, ideological argument ever than this contrived "progressive" argument that argues that Walmart is using the existence of a social welfare net to essentially subsidize allegedly underpaid employees. Don Boudreaux eviscerates this fiction quite nicely; I just want to make some complementary observations.

First, an employer really doesn't care from a business standpoint what you do or your family circumstances outside the conditions of your employment agreement. (Yes, as a human being, a manager may value work-related relationships and empathize personally with employee hardships, but this is about business: he expects productivity and results commensurate with his compensation to you, but he's not operating a charity. By the way, for the sake of ideological feminists, I use 'he' in a generic sense; there are female owners and managers.) If I need someone to mop my fast food stores, whether it's a 16-year-old or a 50-year-old, the skill is easily learned, and if their pace and quality of work is comparable, the pay may be comparable. But that 16 yo is likely a dependent, not head of household; it may well be that his compensation is tied to entertainment and incidental expenses. The 50 yo may be the spouse of a highly paid professional worker who makes more than enough for a family to live on. So this subsidize argument doesn't really work; yes, some people with a limited skill set may have dependents, but they are competing with a larger pool of workers, including optional workers, for low-skilled opportunities. But your having 4 kids (other than experience cleaning up after spills, etc.) doesn't tell me anything about how well you mop a floor. Just because you have high expenses doesn't mean I "owe" you more than the amount  the business values mopping floors: for example, the business didn't make the decision for you to marry and have a family. Why should I pay you more than my 16 yo employee, who is an excellent janitor? I care about the fact the floors are mopped, not how you spend the money you earned working for me. (The solution for breadwinners is to upgrade skills, e.g., through education or training.)

Second, Walmart competes with OTHER employers for low-skilled workers. These include smaller businesses. If Walmart did not pay comparably, it would not be able to operate its stores. (The point is that the demagogue progressives don't attack the small businesses hiring low-skilled on a comparable basis.) In fact, many jobs at Walmart pay well over the minimum wage. In fact, large businesses hire only a limited number of low-skilled workers and unlike smaller competitors are better able to cope with anti-worker minimum wage laws:
Contrary to the rhetoric of organized labor and its allies, the vast majority of people earning the minimum wage aren’t working at large corporations with 1,000 or more employees. Roughly half the minimum-wage workforce is employed at businesses with fewer than 100 employees, and 40% are at very small businesses with fewer than 50 employees.
Profit margins are determined more by the business model than the size. According to Deloitte’s Restaurant Industry Operations Report, the median profit margin at an independently owned fast-food restaurant is 2.6%—and only about a percentage point more at a corporately-owned location. 
Political Cartoon
Courtesy of Jerry Holbert via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Rita Coolidge, "Fool That I Am"

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Monday, September 19, 2016

Miscellany: 9/19/16

Quote of the Day
When you arise in the morning, 
think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive
to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love.
Marcus Aurelius

Tweet of the Day
The Failure of Progressivism For the Black Community



 Snowden



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Glenn McCoy via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Rita Coolidge, "I'd Rather Leave While I'm In Love". This would be Rita's next to last Top 40 hit. Later this week we'll start a Steve Winwood retrospective.

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Sunday, September 18, 2016

Miscellany: 9/18/16

Quote of the Day
Motivation is a fire from within. 
If someone else tries to light that fire under you, 
chances are it will burn very briefly.
Stephen R. Covey

 Tweet of the Day
Friedman On Government Externalities



The King of Corrupt Illinois Politics

For only 2 years (in the 1990's) in decades has Dem politico Madigan not been in power as state House Speaker:



The "Progressive" Mind



Little Boy Doesn't Need a Government Whore To Do the Right Thing



 Police NOT Getting in the Way of Charity



Political Cartoon
Courtesy of Steve Kelley via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Rita Coolidge, "One Fine Day"

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Saturday, September 17, 2016

Miscellany: 9/17/16

Quote of the Day
The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. 
It is that we should have a new soul.
G.K. Chesterton

 Tweet of the Day

Image of the Day


Take Away Uncle Sam's Credit Card



Edward Snowden: Pardon?

Let's be clear: federal contractors and employees who work under the privilege and responsibility of maintaining national security secrets despise double standards, whether we are talking about Hillary Clinton's or Edward Snowden's violations of their voluntary commitments to contractual requirements. I have no sympathy for a corrupt government's blatant, unconstitutional, illegal disregard of the Fourth Amendment, the universal spying on citizens without due process, and to the extent Snowden exposed wrongdoing, he should be duly credited. However, I disagree with his tactics and his moral cowardice in evading responsibility for the nature and extent of his breach of contract. The idea of issuing a pardon without a trial and conviction by a jury of his peers would send a mixed message to disgruntled employees who seek to rationalize unconscionable actions.



Stossel on the Constitution





 Venezuela Is Not the Only Socialist Economic Basket Case



Choose Life: The Big Sister



Political Cartoon

Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

 Rita Coolidge, "Love Me Again"

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Friday, September 16, 2016

Miscellany: 9/16/16 Constitution Day

Quote of the Day
When a man is willing and eager, the gods join in.
Aeschylus

Tweet of the Day
Constitution Day





Energy Policy



More on Politically Correctness



Political Cartoon
Courtesy of Michael Ramirez via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

Rita Coolidge, "You"

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Thursday, September 15, 2016

Miscellany: 9/15/16

Quote of the Day
Virtue means doing the right thing, 
in relation to the right person, 
at the right time, 
to the right extent, 
in the right manner, and 
for the right purpose. 
 Thus, to give money away is quite a simple task, 
but for the act to be virtuous, 
the donor must give to the right person, 
for the right purpose, 
in the right amount, 
in the right manner, and 
at the right time.
Aristotle

Tweet of the Day
Politically Correct Farmer Scam


Where Does Your State Lie on the Freedom Index?





 My Greatest Hits: Sept. 2016

My top 4 posts over the past month are from my new blog post Journal format:


Awesome Video on the Futility of Top-Down International Aid



Political Cartoon
Courtesy of Jerry Holbert via Townhall
Musical Interlude: My Favorite Vocalists

 Rita Coolidge, "The Way You Do the Things You Do"

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Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Miscellany: 9/14/16

Quote of the Day
I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.
Golda Meir

 Tweet of the Day
Image of the Day

via LFC on FB
Patriotic 9-year-old With Cerebral Palsy



Free Speech v Trump and Clinton



TPP Is a Glass Half-Full



Facebook Corner

(Sen. Mike Lee) The proposed acquisition of Monsanto by Bayer raises serious antitrust issues. Bayer and Monsanto are two of the leading companies that provide key inputs, such as seeds and herbicides, to farmers to grow essential crops – and the combination of these two companies may have troubling implications for farmers and American consumers. The transaction has the potential to result in a significant loss of competition and reduced incentives and ability to innovate, thereby raising prices and reducing consumer choice. I will encourage the DOJ or FTC to closely scrutinize the transaction and will consider whether a hearing is necessary to fully explore the competition issues raised by so much consolidation in such a short time.
Hell no. Mike Lee seems to be engaging in populist demagoguery than free market principles.

Political Cartoon

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

Rita Coolidge, "We're All Alone". This Boz Scaggs cover is probably my favorite Coolidge performance, her second and last Top 10 hit on the Hot 100..

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