A minimalist approach to essential, transparent, accountable, flat, adaptable, responsive, solution-based government, rooted in virtuous individual autonomy, traditional values and free markets, with a bias towards reduction of government functionality, cost and scope
My purpose in this essay isn't to establish new ground or to resolve the schism between libertarians on Trump but to explain and document it. Others have also noted the same, and I am not asserting my description is comprehensive.
My own stand against Trump is well-defined across dozens of posts and thousands of tweets. This includes, but is not restricted to:
his unprovoked trade wars. Even pro-Trump libertarian icon Walter Block has distanced himself from Trump's protectionist impulses. I've seen estimates that Trump's tariffs are trimming a half percent or more off economic growth.
his massive spending and deficits. Trump has taken the true budget cost drivers off the table, i.e., mandatory spending, including senior entitlements. Although he takes credit for tax cuts, he did not cut spending accordingly, especially defense spending. He did away with sequesters, has added trillions to the national debt, and we're on track to a $1T deficit in a robust economy, for the first time since Obama's first term.
his neo-con military interventionism. Trump has supersized Obama's unconstitutional drone wars. His military strike in Syria was unprovoked. His recent assassination of an Iranian general was a war crime that could have triggered a regional, even global war. Despite "America First" rhetoric, even a suggestion of a Syrian withdrawal, Trump's actions contradict his rhetoric: he has hired neo-cons like Bolton, Pompeo, and Mattis into influential positions.
his violations of individual rights. I have in mind here a variety of things, such as violations of the rights of Bergdahl, Julian Assange, property rights of those on the Southern border where Trump wants to build his wall with eminent domain abuse, treatment of migrant families, travel bans, etc.
his unconstitutional abuses of power. This includes things like unauthorized transfers of military funds for use of border wall construction, his use of foreign relations authority to extort an investigation into Biden by the Ukraine government, his non-defensive military attacks, including the assassination of an Iranian general (when we were not in a state of war with Iran), drone wars, and a military strike on Syria. I would even include here things like granting war criminals clemency or pardons. He tried to end the Russia investigation.
his growth of the imperial Presidency. Trump has inherited Obama's "phone and a pen" and issued constitutionally dubious sweeping executive orders. He defies the will of the Congress, e.g., vetoing constraints on Saudi Arabia's intervention in Yemen. He has seized constitutionally dubiously delegated powers by falsely asserting "emergencies". He has blocked Congressional oversight authority, including the impeachment inquiry. He has pressured the Fed into cutting rates in advance of his reelection effort.
Is all of the news negative? No, for instance:
Trump has slowed the growth of federal regulations. In particular, he has attacked the unconstitutional health insurance mandate, he has reined back creeping water regulations which have impacted personal property rights, and he has liberalized energy production and pipelines. His FCC repealed the net neutrality government toehold into Internet regulation.
His tax reform (although failing to trim spending to accommodate revenue losses) made business taxes more globally competitive and stepped away from a worldwide tax system towards more of a territorial model (like most of the developed world).
Now I think any taxonomy I might specify of libertarianism would probably be universally rejected by its adherents, but a useful practical distinction identified by Mitchell between individualists and paleolibertarians. At the risk of oversimplification, individualists are more practically oriented, accommodating over the existence of government and focus on individual rights within the context of limited government. Paleolibertarians tend to be more philosophic anarchists of sorts in the tradition of the Austrian school and Rothbard. The former are (not exclusively) represented by outlets like Reason and the Cato Institute, the latter popularized by the likes of Walter Block, Ron Paul, Tom Woods and the Mises Institute.
Where do I fit in this taxonomy? Well, I'll simply point out that I liberally sample content from both sides in my daily posts. I'm influenced by the Austrian School but not in the camp. I still consider myself a minarchist, not an ancap, although I am very receptive to market alternatives to government monopolies. I will say that on the topic of Trump, I'm probably more strident on Trump than either camp.
The paleolibertarians tend to be more sympathetic to immigration restrictions; I can point to multiple Ron Paul clips where he disingenuously suggests the corrupt welfare state is a lure to unauthorized immigration; this doesn't explain strong immigration in the nineteenth century without a central welfare state. For example, my immigrant ancestors had a difficult life working in textile mills or farms. However, generalizations are dangerous. Early Rothbard was very principled in accordance with free market principles and supported open immigration, like I do. Walter Block is also very good on immigration rights; you have to wonder how Walter ever got past Trump's initial candidacy announcement with xenophobic assertions of Mexico dumping violent criminals across the border.
Lew Rockwell, former Congressman Ron Paul's longtime chief of staff, was heavily involved in the development of the Mises Institute and has also had his own website. (I subscribe to his daily digest and frequently visit the website.) Lew Rockwell and Walter Block have been prominent libertarian backers of Trump; don't get me wrong. Rockwell is anti-war and hasn't been impressed with Trump's Middle East meddling. But he and others are ecstatic that Trump, among other things, has mainstreamed the concept of the Deep State and has at various times bashed the Fed. You really won't see much coverage of the impeachment kerfuffle, but as I write, there's a sample blog post on "Ex-Deep Staters and the Impeachment Hoax".
Tom Woods doesn't get into polemical discussions about Trump (I think I've heard him say like others, "Nobody agrees with Trump on everything."), but he has Rockwell to review the Dem debates and occasionally his political hero, Ron Paul (and notably is featured in Paul's home school program). Still, when he has episodes entitled something like "what the Trump impeachment is really all about", you know it's not a discussion about the evidence of Trump's extortion of Zelensky.
Ron Paul has published multiple clips on the impeachment kerfuffle and I'm not implying the clip below (which I don't think I embedded in earlier posts) is representative. [They spend a lot of time discussing process, including Pelosi's footdragging in delivering the counts to the Senate. I generally agree Pelosi was playing a game she couldn't win, but I think this is Ron Paul's way of dismissing the impeachment as purely partisan.] One of the takeaways is that they argue that the "real" impeachable grounds include unauthorized military interventions, but Trump is not alone. McAdams is dismissive of anything from the Zelensky phone call (note he completely ignores Trump's "favor" involving having Ukraine investigate Biden, Trump calling the corrupt prosecutor Shokin a "very good" man, etc.). I wrote a set of 3 tweets over the weekend (embedded below), and I don't think Ron Paul would disagree with the second tweet.
We libertarians have convoluted positions about the Trump impeachment. At first glance, Trump's outrageous, grossly incompetent Presidency, following the failures of Bush & Obama, might cement the case of why we should be skeptical of the increasingly imperial Presidency.
Some, like Ron Paul, totally ignore Trump's corrupt attempt to bribe Ukrainian President Zelensky for personal, political reasons. There are 2 reasons: they basically think all recent Presidents have been similarly corrupt; they believe the crisis is promoted by the Deep State
I was puzzled by Reason editor Nick Gillespie's disagreement with the principled stand against Trump by Napolitano and Amash. He seems to believe the partisan war may result in a greater power grab by the government.https://t.co/m6Rwg50rOj
I could go at some length on differing libertarian opinions on Trump:
here is a debate on Trump between Robert Wenzel (Economic Policy Journal) and Walter Block
Cox here points out how Trump tried to cut the government bureaucracy, brought up a libertarian idea of selling US assets (land, buildings, etc.) in an effort to reduce the national debt, introduced our constructs of the swamp and Deep South, etc.
here is the divide between pro-impeachment libertarian Congressman Amash and anti-impeachment Rand Paul. I should include Thomas Massie (pro-Trump). I've become so alienated against Rand and Massie on this, I've stopped following them on Twitter.
I don't think most libertarians really give a damn about partisan politics; they see the Democrats and Republicans as mostly different flavors of Statism.
Once again, this essay is meant to give a bite of the apple over differing libertarian takes on Trump. I may expand on this topic in future posts.
Quote of the Day Far away in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see the beauty, believe in them and try to follow where they lead. Louisa May Alcott
Quote of the Day Nothing will ever be attempted, if all possible objections must first be overcome. Samuel Johnson
Walter Block on Trump's Tariffs
I'm currently writing a separate post on libertarians and Trump, and Walter Block is arguably the most venerable libertarian icon alive today. I have occasionally referenced him in the blog. To my dismay, Block led a group of Libertarians For Trump in 2016 (needless to say, Block did not convince me), which he acknowledges in this clip. No, Block is not a Trumpkin when it comes to basic economic constructs like free trade.
[My RN sister has two schoolteacher daughters. She published reference to a retiring teacher's rant which basically points to parents for our failing public schools. (I may republish this in a future one-off post and respond in more detail. This is what I commented to the post:]
No, that's an oversimplification. It's true parents can and should be involved, and aren't--for some kids. Other get involved in counterproductive ways. But there are a number of reasons for the failure of public education. Some of them deal with structural incentives, lowered expectations/standards, limited decentralization and administrative discretion (e.g., personnel), unenforced discipline and safety standards, etc. Trying to blame parents is an easy way to skirt responsibilities for one's teaching and administrative failures.
Twitter
Um, isn't the idea of an endorsement supposed to be exclusive? Not much of a choice here--Cherokee Lizzie has a plan for Amy. Cherokee Lizzie is not electable.
In this post, I explain why I have a fondness for the Houston Astros (beyond being a Houston resident for 7 years and earning 2 graduate degrees there) & I push back on the absurd notion the 2017 Astros "cheated" their way to their 1st World Series title. https://t.co/w3NfWHrIWU
Fascism itself is a soft version of socialism/communism, which subordinates the individual to the state. It may pay lip service to private property but de facto controls what you can do with it. Our government is a fascist variant.
For one thing, you seem completely uninformed that Hitler fully embraced the social welfare net. Most leftists would gladly adapt his anti-corporation rhetoric.
Yes, there are authoritarians on the left and the right--and some weird fusions.
Kudos to those Virginians who stand against the unconstitutional leftist state government conspiracy against self-defense rights written into the state constitution.
This bizarre Pledge of Allegiance kerfuffle involving right-wing protesters in the state of Virginia is fascinating. Attempts by Democrats to legislate against guns is a challenge to the state constitution, not to the federal government. The federal government isn't relevant.
There's noting "conservative" about the Pledge of Allegiance. "From its inception, in 1892, the Pledge has been a slavish ritual of devotion to the state, wholly inappropriate for a free people." Its author (Francis Bellamy) was a socialist. https://t.co/JynPvApJge
If 83% of farmers believe Trump engaging in idiotic, unprovoked trade wars in which their exports are at risk is good for them, and/or stealing from other Americans (Trump tariffs/taxes) is an acceptable form of Trumpian socialism, they are fucked up. Trumponomics hurts growth.
First of all, keep your ignorant trite PC race-baiting rhetoric out of your tweets.
The 53 GOP senators represent their states. The Constitution requires a super-majority to remove. Bill Clinton objectively was guilty of his charges--not a single Dem vote to convict.
Only Rasmussen has ever shown Trump with a net approval rating, and his latest is 48%. More importantly, Trump has been stuck in an overall 43.5% plus or minus a point for months. He's the only POTUS to never have a net positive.https://t.co/j6ZWVpgo4Ehttps://t.co/3E1JvNVDbS
Bullshit! Trump is an economic-illiterate, immoral, lazyass, corrupt, narcissistic, incompetent, dumbass son of a bitch who has abused Presidential authority.
"51% of Americans" want to remove Trump from office? First of all, remember the CNN poll is only 1 poll. According to 538, the overall number is more like 47.4%, and if you look at just independents, it drops another 3 points.https://t.co/Drus5NsMza
There really isn't need for witnesses here. We have a transcript of the phone call to Zelensky, we have evidence DoD certified Ukraine corruption compliance before Trump froze aid for unspecified/unlawful reasons.
Funny. The Dems unanimously voted to acquit Clinton despite compelling evidence of perjury and obstruction of justice. Maybe you're being hypocritical here?
Personally, I would vote to convict Trump on both counts based on existing evidence. There is no constitutional basis for Trump to pressure Ukraine to investigate the Bidens, pure and simple. I do understand Republican senators who argue Trump's misconduct does not merit removal.
Trump can bitch all he wants that his impeachment was "partisan", but we know the truth of his extortion of Ukraine for strictly self-serving political reasons. His impeachment is a permanent scarlet letter, damaging his name brand. To a narcissist like Trump, that's punishment.
Sour grapes perhaps from someone who barely beat an obscure socialist for the nomination? As if someone who has had among the highest unfavorables in recent memory has the chutzpah to say, "Nobody likes him". https://t.co/svir8gLwZr
I'm increasingly annoyed by absolutely stupid talking points by Trumpkins over Trump's abuse of power impeachment count. They repeatedly cite Zelensky denying he felt being extorted. If a kidnapper has a gun against your head, are you going to admit to being mistreated?
FACT: Trump pointed out to Zelensky how isolated Ukraine is, how Ukraine has done nothing for US in return.
FACT: Trump asks for a favor. A PERSONAL favor. Not a policy matter.
FACT: Trump names political rival Biden, wants Zelensky to contact AG Barr and his own lawyer Giuliani.
Nope. This is partisan bullshit. Do I have to point out all the retired political whores or bureaucrats, without industry experience, getting plum jobs in industry? For God's sake, Cheney got named CEO of Halliburton. Do people with famous surnames attract attention? So what?
Some son of a bitch raised the name of Biden in a phone call with Zelensky and wanted him to start an investigation of his biggest political rival, Joe Biden, told Zelensky to talk to AG Barr and his personal attorney, Giuliani. Not speculation, fact.
Personally, I'm unimpressed by anyone's celebrity. If it were my company/money, I would never have Donnie Jr. on my board, even if I were selling manure. If Ukrainians want to name American politician relatives, who am I to point out they're wasting their own money? MYOB.
How is the most prolific hitter in major league history still out of the Hall of Fame, just because he made a mistake as a manager? Put an asterisk next to the name of Pete Rose or exclude his tenure as a manager, but he was one of the greatest players of all time. #MLBHOF
What Republican senators are doing, in not exercising their responsibility of due diligence in investigating the circumstances of Trump's criminal extortion of Ukraine for personal political interests, is a violation of professional ethics and infidelity to the Constitution.
I am not a lawyer, but I find the White House Trumpkin lawyers are disingenuous and incompetent. They regard evidence beyond that yielded against an uncooperative White House is the only evidence the Senate can consider. No, by any reasonable criterion: relevant evidence matters
Just a simple thought experiment to make the point. Enough evidence is gathered to charge a cop killer. After charges are made, a video of the execution surfaces. By Trumpkin logic, that video is off limits to the trial. No reasonable judge would agree.
The House did have sufficient evidence to indict/impeach Trump by any objective criterion. But the nature and extent of Trump's criminal withholding of Ukraine military aid, signed into law and unauthorized, cannot be determined because of self-serving stonewalling.
Another example of unconscionable conduct by the White House legal team includes the intentionally incomplete transcript of the Zelensky phone call. Reportedly Trump specifically referenced (but not disclosed) Burisma (the company which recruited Hunter Biden). Whole truth?
Wow, when Paul Krugman finds it necessary to point out Comrade Bernie is lying about Biden's position on social security, the socialist campaign is in trouble and desperate to do or say anything to promote a failed candidacy. #TellTheTruthJoehttps://t.co/BnWCknZMA8
The real "truth", which is not acknowledged by any of the progressives, socialists or commies in the Dem coalition, is the social security reserve will run dry in 14 years or less. This means the govt may have to make up the rest of maybe a third of payments #TellTheTruthJoe
The Dems want to say they can solve the unfunded liabilities of senior entitlements by soaking the rich. Folks, there aren't enough rich people to steal from; guess who the government goes after to get the rest? Remember, it was Dems with the bright idea of funding SS from debt.
Many state pension funds are able to invest in real assets, including (dividend-yielding) stocks and assets other than low-earning Treasury bonds/notes. How many 401K investors last year would have been satisfied if forced to rely on meager bond returns? But social security is.
Not that Trump is blameless in low government interest rates. He likes the idea of negative rates, e.g., you pay the government a fee for the "privilege" of investing your money in government bonds and don't get compensated for losing your purchasing power over time.
Trump has never been out for investors/lenders, who he often calls "sharks". When he took on debt his company couldn't afford, he filed bankruptcies to shed it and rip off the lenders. He justifies stealing by calling the victims names. He is now doing it to future taxpayers.
When the fuck are you going to release the full transcripts, you pathological liar? You still went after the Bidens even in your redacted transcripts, which is corrupt and unconstitutional.
Nope. I don't disagree government should not be corrupt. But your approach is all wrong. What is corrupting is the size and scope of government. Your "solutions" will never work if you don't treat the disease.
The answer is NOT to silence the right to ANONYMOUS speech.
Some 60 million babies have been murdered since the judicial abomination of Roe v Wade, the hypocritical unconstitutional abandonment of the unalienable right to live.
FBN is explicitly promoting a Trumpkin perspective, not even maintaining the pretense of objectivity. Stuart Varney, Propagandist-in-Chief, waxes enthusiasm over Trump's tour de force in Davos, bragging about "his"/US economic performance, in contrast to a partisan Senate trial.
No, Trump deserves ZERO credit for US economic growth. The fact that high tech is booming reflects the thankfully lower historical government footprint on the industry, not any Trumpian policy. Trump's unprovoked tariff wars actually hurt economic growth, below long-term rates.
I'm not a fan of Gabbard's economic-illiterate economic policies (but then all the Dem candidates fail at those).
But when it comes to going after evil incarnate in the form of Hillary Clinton, you go, girl! (I'm not sure the lawsuit will go anywhere, but still...)
The Trumpy White House legal team may need to get a gag order on their own client. Trump doesn't seem to understand the Fifth Amendment. He just confessed to stonewalling the Congress on access to evidence. Right after the Senate GOP voted to suppress evidence. Heck of a job!
My God, you're a lying son of a bitch. No, you don't get to reinvent the meaning of what you said in plain English:
-- you know, you guys have never given us anything of value in exchange for what we do for you.
-- you're alone in the world.
-- I'm asking you for a favor.
In fact:
- Ukraine KNEW promised aid had not been delivered, AT LEAST as early as the day you talked to Zelensky
- you had put Ukraine aid on hold without reason AFTER DoD had certified corruption compliance
- your surrogates demanded announcement of an investigation into Bidens.
You are enabling an anti-constitutional, unprincipled, narcissistic, incompetent authoritarian, economic-illiterate son of a bitch who is soiling the Office of the Presidency. Trump is NOT a conservative, and you are a traitor to the Founding Fathers. Conway is the real patriot.
History will be wondering why the defunct GOP defended a corrupt, amoral, unprincipled, narcissist plutocrat who illegally used foreign aid to extort an allied head of state for his own personal political benefit. And why Justin Amash is the only one who acted with integrity.
FACT: Hillary Clinton violated government email policy, including classified data on an unsecured server.
FACT: Hillary Clinton left an ambassador and other diplomatic personnel exposed in Benghazi despite inadequate security and AFTER Britain had withdrawn their own personnel.
My pro-life credentials are beyond dispute. But I'm not manipulated by a desperate political whore who is simply out to pander for pro-life voters in an election year. This is the same guy who dodged questions over whether he had supported Planned Parenthood.
It personally sickens me that the corrupt, economically illiterate Impeached One pretends to be "pro-life" at the same time his Administration was separating children from their migrant families.
Just a reminder that Trump, over 50 years old in an NBC interview in 1999, argued that he was very pro-choice, against any restriction against partial-birth abortion. He tries the line that many Catholics in Name Only use, that he is personally opposed.https://t.co/giUggBrWLE
Hallelujah! Trump, just like Romney before running and George H.W. Bush before he became Reagan's Veep (not to mention Reagan, who had signed California's therapeutic abortion bill into law), had a come-to-Jesus moment just in time to run for the GOP nomination.
Having had published my fair share of typos, I really don't go out of my way to mock others over theirs'.
But sycophants on the Trump Propaganda Network (aka FNC) have been annoying me over blurring the distinction between impeachment and conviction. Trump IS impeached.
But Veeps have very little constitutional authority. If Pence were to succeed Trump, and short of Trump's death, that's extremely unlikely given a vote against Senate trial witnesses, he would be judged on his own record as POTUS. He isn't responsible for Trump's misconduct.
This is different than say, going after a President's kid because of his/her father. Greta Thunberg has deliberately stepped into the political world. You don't get a pass because of your age. Mnuchin is spot on; climate alarmists are generally economic illiterate.
Sen Hawley (R-MO) is a contemptible political whore, commenting on the Trump trial on FNC. This son of a bitch, among other things-and literally everything he said was wrong, is trying to make Hunter Biden an issue. That rewards Trump for his illegal, unconstitutional extortion.
The GOP on Trump's extortion is arguing apples and oranges, comparing it to Obama's stupid remark to Putin he would have more discretion after the election. Yes, Obama didn't want concessions to be politicized, but there's no evidence that he was manipulating the process.
Obama and POTUS in general have considerable discretion in conducting foreign policy. This is different than what Trump did. Trump went after a private citizen, Joe Biden; he was interfering in Ukraine. He suspended aid signed into law--after DoD certified corruption compliance
It used to be pro-liberty people flourished on the Fox Channels, e.g., George Will and John Stossel. Basically, Andrew Napolitano is last man standing. We pro-liberty conservatives abhor tyranny in any form and have contempt for Trump living above the law.
As a Roman Catholic, I'm relieved to see other Christian churches faithful to the traditional construct of sex within marriage vs. cultural accommodation of hedonistic lifestyles and political correctness.
Tulsi Gabbard's defamation lawsuit against Hillary Clinton is an assault on the First Amendment and should be dismissed. Hillary Clinton's reference to any adversary against her as a "Russian asset" is not a factual claim but a common post-election insulthttps://t.co/lPPKvD1vaM
When I first saw the allegation a Virginia delegate had introduced a bill criminalizing "harassment", i.e., dissent, against state government officials, I thought it came from the Onion. Nope, the unconstitutional bill is listed here (1627): https://t.co/EnzL5gfI1m
The intervention of government child welfare into family matters may have just had its "jump the shark moment". A stepmom after insulation clung to her clothes took off her top, exposing her breasts, seen by the kids. Word got to the ex & charges filed https://t.co/4Gc6YVlAJu
The Impeached One's phone call was a violation of the Constitution. Vindman, like The Impeached One, swore an oath to protect the Constitution; unlike The Impeached One, he kept his oath.
The MLB sign-stealing kerfuffle is predictably ending up in lawsuits. Trying to tie alleged cheating with performance is difficult. Consider Shoeless Joe Jackson; in the infamous 1919 series, he got 12 hits for .375, no errors; his hit record stood for 45 years. Banned for life?
Baseball trivia question of the day: who broke Shoeless Joe's batting record in the World Series? Bobby Richardson of the Yankees got 13 hits for a .406 average in the 1964 series won by the Cardinals.
I think I had retweeted (with critical comments) one of Zeldin (R-NY)'s tweets, not realizing he was a GOP House leader against impeachment. Zeldin on FNC is still making a bogus argument Trump called Zelensky over "corruption" re: Biden. Trump never mentioned corruption.
It's clear Dumbass-in-Chief Trump somehow thought Biden's role in the termination of the notoriously corrupt prosecutor Shokin, who Trump idiotically described as a "very good" man, was corrupt. Biden did try to pressure the Ukraine parliament to fire Shokin using aid: US policy.
Of course, Shokin, desperate for a scapegoat to deflect attention away from his own lapses in prosecuting corruption, took the opportunity to falsely suggest Burisma, which had recently added the Veep's son Hunter to its board, was his target, motivating Biden to take out Shokin.
It was poor judgment for Hunter Biden to accept an offer to join the Burisma board, given his father's role in the Obama Administration; you generally want to avoid the appearance of a possible conflict of interest. But his inexperience in the energy industry is not unusual.
Of course, Trump is threatening Republican senators. That's the only reason you are seeing pro-liberty senators like Rand Paul & Mike Lee voting the party line on the Trump trial. Let's recall that not one Democratic senators had the integrity to vote against Clinton
Remember the atrocious Filburn decision, where the government sued a farmer for exceeding quotas by raising crops for his own use? The Trump Administration cut down creeping water regulation affecting property rights, and the ecofascists went crazy. https://t.co/OsfMqwt37l
Well, sad to say, but Pompeo has a point: I bet over 80% of Americans can't point out Ukraine on a map or even identify its capital. I don't think most Americans care about Trump's failed amateurish attempt to extort Zelensky, certainly in an election year.
Can you imagine Don Vito Corleone critiquing Trump's extortion of Zelensky? He would have probably slapped Trump silly and said,"You gotta make him an offer he can't refuse. Remember when your Russian pals castrated and executed someone in Hezbollah, stuffing testicles in mouth?"
One of the reasons I care about Trump's crime in extorting Ukraine is because I don't believe for a second Trump's abuse of power is an isolated incident. He simply got caught this time with his fingers in the cookie jar. We know he fired Comey for disloyalty#ICareAboutUkraine
We libertarians have convoluted positions about the Trump impeachment. At first glance, Trump's outrageous, grossly incompetent Presidency, following the failures of Bush & Obama, might cement the case of why we should be skeptical of the increasingly imperial Presidency.
Some, like Ron Paul, totally ignore Trump's corrupt attempt to bribe Ukrainian President Zelensky for personal, political reasons. There are 2 reasons: they basically think all recent Presidents have been similarly corrupt; they believe the crisis is promoted by the Deep State
I was puzzled by Reason editor Nick Gillespie's disagreement with the principled stand against Trump by Napolitano and Amash. He seems to believe the partisan war may result in a greater power grab by the government.https://t.co/m6Rwg50rOj
The Trumpkins argue that we Trump critics have been squishy on Trump's extortion on Ukraine aid with Zelensky. Not so. The Impoundment Control Act required Congressional approval of any stipulation to the release of approved funding signed into law.https://t.co/x25gWJsfja
That's an exaggeration. Maybe you need some stipulations for, say, UPS drivers, who need to climb stairs and deliver packages, farm labor or technicians who handle equipment in a computer operations room. But a number of knowledge worker positions can accommodate the disabled.
Life isn't fair, e.g., some people get offers because of family or network connections, having a degree from an elite university, or other factors (e.g., height in playing professional sports) beyond one's control.
But you aren't going to influence people trying to shame them.
A capitalist society is one where disabled people are most likely to find opportunities to find work. You find a society respectful of individual rights vs. the state.
Nazis were socialists in concept and fact. They responded to the disabled with genocide https://t.co/VicgcduNZ0
This is Soft Rock America. Pompeo corrects a PBS reporter who pointed to a country north of the Black Sea, saying she was pointing to a country north of the Bay of Bengal. Obviously Pompeo was never in the Navy. Cue George Harrison:https://t.co/ctjIJKJDrS