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Must Reads For The Week 1/26/19

January 28, 2019

The Government Shutdown And The Fallacy Of The “Public Sector“, at econmicpolicyjournal.com. It is time to privatize a majority of what the government does. Starting with the TSA, air traffic control, the postal service.

Demographic Catastrophe: China’s Birth Rate Falls To Historic Low, at zerohedge.com. Excerpt from the article: “...without a dramatic rebound in China’s birth rate, massive over capacity (thanks to over a decade of government mandated malinvestment) versus a eve swifter declining base of consumption does not add up to a burgeoning middle class or a happy ending.”

Markets In Everything: Light Bulb Repair In Venezuela, by Mark J. Perry, at carpediemblog. You’re economy is in the toilet when there is a market to repair light bulbs.

Uncle Sam Wants Your DNA: The FBI’s Diabolical Plan To Create A Nation Of Suspects, at zerohedge.com. It is not good that Trump signed “The Rapid DNA Act”.

At Shot Show, Mike Rowe, Shares Lessons Learned From Gun Owners, by Sean Davis At thefederalist.com. Excerpt from the article: “Rowe….extolled the virtues of working and building with your hands, instead off pushing paper or spending all day in front of a screen. “This country has a skills gap. We have seven million jobs available that can’t be filled because people in this country no longer have the skills to do them. We have lent over $1.5 trillion to kids who can’t pay it back so they can spend four years trying to get jobs that don’t exists.”

The Vatican Surrenders To China, at zerohedge.com. Pope Francis has granted the Chinese Communist Party considerable authority to appoint Catholic bishops after decades of denying them this power. This can’t end well for Catholics in China.

School Board Keeps Policy Pushing Male Coach To Watch Undressing Girl, by Joy Pullmann, at thefederalist.com. Teachers are to be sacrificed on the altar of political correctness. This is complete insanity. Why would any teacher put themselves in this situation.

Law Makes It Easier For New Yorkers To Get Third-Trimester Abortions, by Liz Wolfe, at thefederalist.com. Governor Cuomo said, “One World Trade Center’s 408 foot spire, the Gov. Mario M. Cuomo Bridge, the Kosciuszko Bridge and the Alfred E. Smith Building in Albany will be lit in pink tonight to celebrate passage of Reproductive Health Act.” Is this something to celebrate?

FAKE NEWS

More Fake News Exposed As Media Lies About Catholic Kids, Native American Debacle, at zerohedge.com. If you watch the full video, instead of watching the edited part the media showed ad nauseam, you will have a different opinion of this contrived incident that was the top story in the news last week. If you are not interested in what really happened, because the edited video supports your vision of the world, you are part of the problem.

We should never believe the main stream media’s account of any story. When a story is reported, start with the understanding that something important may or may not have happened. And this something is being covered by people who see everything through the biased lens of their political world view. These people will leave out any information that doesn’t support their world view. If you want to know what really happened you will have to spend time looking at information that is outside of the main stream media. Analyse the information and then form your opinion. It takes time, but it is better than being propagandized by the main stream media.

The MAGA hat is what this is really all about. The Democrats and the MSM have pushed the idea that Trump and anyone who voted for him is a racist. They are attempting to have the MAGA hat take the place of the white hood as the symbol of racism. There isn’t evidence to support this claim that Trump is a racist. He only became a racist after he started running for President as a Republican. The Dems and the MSM understand that if you state a lie over and over it will become truth in many people’s minds. I have been paying attention to politics the late 70’s. This is nothing new. Reagan was portrayed as a racist. Anyone who is for smaller government is smeared as a racist. Calling your opponent racists stops all debate about any subject. Because when you are evil, anything you support no matter how logical, is evil. Read this article, Famous Liberals Who Urged Doxing, Assault, & Murder of Covington Catholic Kids Are Called Out, at zerohedge.com. The Catholic diocese tossed these kids under the bus in 24 hours. It took decades for Catholic leadership to out their pedophile priests.

The American Indian who waded into the crowd of Covington Catholic students while banging his drum was a professional protester. Don’t trust me. If you choose to know the truth read, The Truth About That Naive American by Tom Woods, or this article, Native American “Harassed” by MAGA Kids Exposed As Outrage-Cultural Grifter, at zerohedge.com.

We are all being played for fools by big government central planners in the Democrat and Republican party, and the main stream media. We are being separated into disparate groups and made to hate each other. Until more individuals understand this, we will continue down this chaotic political road we are now traveling.

Our enemy is not individuals outside of government. Our enemies are individuals in government. These individuals in government have power to force you to do things you don’t want to do. Obamacare was an example of individuals in government forcing individuals outside of government to purchase a good or service. Every dollar individuals in government take from you and distribute to others is theft of your decision to do what you want to do with your property (what you produced).

Our country was founded to protect each individual from individual politicians and bureaucrats who are in positions to wield the concentrated force of government. We have to quit buying into the propaganda of identity politics, or they win.

The Ruling Elites Love How Easily We’re Distracted and Turned Against Each Other. by Charles Hugh Smith, at oftwominds.com. Make time to read this article. Excerpt from the article: “Huxley spoke of Loving our servitude: if we let the ruling elites distract and divide us, then we will in effect to choosing to love our servitude.”

“No wonder the ruling elites love how easily we’re distracted and divided against ourselves: It’s so easy to dominate a distracted, divided, blinded-by-propaganda and negative emotions populace.”

Mueller’s Office Confirms Buzzfeed’s Trump-Cohen Story Is Fake News, at zerohedge.com. More biased reporting by MSM. The MSM trick is to report about a report by another media outlet. When they report that Buzzfeed says “……..”, it serves as their version of a “weasel clause” in a contract. This is how they get out of their obligation of being “journalist”. Fewer and fewer people believe what the MSM reports.

“Everyone Knew” WSJ Exposes Bruce Ohr’s Shocking Admission To The FBI, at zerohedge.com. The MSM didn’t report what “Everyone Knew” about the Steele Dossier. I’m shocked!

BuzzFeed CEO Spoofed Prominent Gun Rights Activist To Spread Disinformation, at zerohedge.com. No comment needed.

Is Big Tech Merging With Big Brother? Kinda Looks Like It, at wired.com. When ‘Wired’ publishes an article about this, you should pay attention to the surveillance State. Excerpt from the article: “Big Brother is an emerging reality in China. Yet in the West, at least, the threat of government surveillance systems being integrated with the existing corporate surveillance capacities of big-data companies like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon into one gigantic all-seeing eye appears to trouble very few people – even as countries like Venezuela have been quick to cop the Chinese model…..Still, It can’t happen here, right?”

 

SATIRICAL HEADLINES

Report: More Unborn Babies In New York Identifying As Convicted Criminals So They Can’t Legally Be Executed, at babylonbee.com.

Statement By Pinocchio Rated Four Ocasio-Cortezes, at babylonbee.com.

Progressives Announce Plan To Resume Lecturing You On Morality After They’re Finished Applauding Murder Of The Unborn, at babylonbee.com.

 

CARTOONS

Political Cartoons by Steve Kelley

 

Political Cartoons by Ken Catalino

Political Cartoons by AL Goodwyn

Political Cartoons by Tom Stiglich

 

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Must Reads For The Week 1/19/19

January 21, 2019

What Generation Z Learned From Millennials: Skip College, by Andrew Moran, at libertynation.com. Millennials have become debt serfs because they believed the lie that you can’t be successful unless you have a college degree. Millennials are literally paying for this mistake. Hopefully others will learn from this.

Why The Los Angeles Teachers’ Strike Is Different, by Alia Wong, at theatlantic.com. Excerpt from the article: “Rodolfo Duenas, an L.A. native and public-school teacher who is picketing, describes this burgeoning movement as a natural next step for the many Latinos like him whose activism can be traced back to the mid-1990s, when thousands of Latino teens staged a school walkout in opposition to an anti-immigrant state-ballot initiative known as Prop 187…….those experiences eventually drove them into teaching. And Duenas’s generation has been following in the footsteps of the Latino education activists who came before them, during the 1968……Mexican Student Movement.”

Successful Title IX Complaint Forces Tulane University To End Gender Discrimination, by Mark J. Perry, at carpediemblog. Tulane has agreed to stop discriminating against male students. The Department of Education Office of Civil Rights found some of their scholarships violated Title IX after a complaint was filed. Title IX prohibits sex discrimination. It was originally passed in 1972 to help women. Like all laws, it has been used for purposes it was not intended. Now the pendulum is starting to swing back.

And The Most Politically Biased Profession Is….., at zerohedge.com. This is based on donations paid to political parties by different industries. No shock that media, entertainment, academics, and online computer services are way to the left. Or that agriculture, mining, and construction are mainly to the right. While banking and finance, hedge funds and private capital, and lobbyists are split down the middle. What does this tell us. Those industries from the right and the middle are paying money to politicians in order to be protected from the coercive power of government or to receive favors from government. Can we agree that if government has power to help or hurt your business, it has too much power. On the other side, media, entertainment, academics, and online computer services are information industries. They are not just paying for protection (even though they don’t need protection because they are protected by the first amendment) they are paying to push the big government central planning agenda that they truly believe in. These information industries gladly push the leftist agenda on their information platforms. The other industries don’t have an information platform to try to push an agenda. In fact these industries have to hope the biased “information industries” don’t lie about them.

Socialism’s Three Disciples: educated Idiots, Uneducated Idiots, and Evil Puppet Masters, by Shane Kastler, at targetliberty.com. Excerpt from the article: “Isn’t a system based on free trade preferable to government controlled trade? Would we not prefer to make our own decisions, rather than handing them over to a 3rd party state apparatus? What about property rights? The capitalist is often legitimately perplexed as to why a socialist would push for more and more government control over life, liberty, and property rather than keeping the rights of self-reliance under our own control. The answer to this socialistic enigma finds its genesis in three groups of people: the over-educated ignorant; the under-educated ignorant; and the puppet masters in power who convince them of Socialism’s benefits. At the end of the day it is the puppet masters who benefit the most; but they need the proverbial “useful idiots” to stir up a crowd, storm the capitalists, or stuff the ballot box. America is in danger of this happening today.”

Imagine If The Media Had As Much Sympathy For Small Business Owners As It Does For Federal Employees, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org. The media never cared about  small business owners and their employees who were hammered when the Fed induced housing bubble crashed in 2008. They also didn’t care when these same people got hammered again when Obamacare kicked in and insurance prices “necessarily skyrocketed”. But I guess federal employees are more important than small business owners and their employees. Even though small business owners and their employees are the ones who pay government employees salaries, their benefits, and their retirements. Heck, tax payer money pays the taxes these government workers pay to the government. Quit your complaining. It is falling on deaf ears.

Decentralization Is The Solution To The Government Shutdown, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org. Shrinking the size and scope of government is the solution to this problem.

Shutdown ‘Crisis’? by john Stossel, at townhall.com. The Government shutdown is not a “crisis”. Even though politicians and their media get away car drivers, are trying to portray it as a “crisis”. We know they can never let a serious crisis go to waste. The government is not the economy. Government exists as a parasite on the private sector economy. If the private sector economy produces $19.4 trillion in GDP. And the federal government spends $4.4 trillion, all of which it confiscates from the $19.4 trillion produced by the private sector. Which is more important in the production of the standard of living existing in our country today? Is it the $19.4 that the private sector produces, or the $4.4 trillion that the federal government steals and spends?

Pelosi Shrieks After Trump”Leaks” International Sojourn: Trump Dings Dems Over Shutdown Excursion, at zerohedge.com. The fact that Trump wouldn’t allow Pelosi and her gang to use military air craft for their trip is why I like Trump. He has turned the tables on the Democrats. He treats leftist politicians just as they have treated republicans for four decades. And it is funny to see them not be able to handle it. How does it feel.

The Sneaky Ways That the Democratic House Can Raise Taxes, by Veronique, de Rugy, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Hopefully the House freedom caucus can warn us about this so we can warn the GOP controlled Senate.

Pelosi Fiddles While The Democrats Burn, by Tom Lugono, at zerohedge.com. Socialists in the Dem. party who are not afraid to espouse their ideology are going to be a big problem for Pelosi to deal with. This will be fun to see how she juggles all these balls without dropping one of them.

BP Discovered A Billion Barrels Of Oil In Gulf Of Mexico, by Ton DiChristopher, at cnbc.com. There is a finite amount of oil in the earth. But with every new discovery, may we assume that this finite amount is so large that we may never run out of oil? Even if the depletion of oil will happen far into the future, we need not worry about it because technology and the free market will come up with the cost effective replacement when the time comes.

Race-Baiting CNN Analyst Slams Host For “White Privilege”, Then Discovers He’s Black, at zerohedge.com. David Webb got a surprise when he was interviewing CNN analyst Areva Martin. She accused him of “White Privilege”, except he is black. Listen to this, it is priceless.

 

SATIRICAL HEADLINES

Presumptuous Congressional Freshman Thinks She Can Just Come In And Represent Constituents, at theonion.com.

Homeschooled Kid Graduates High School 5 Months Before Birth, at babylonbee.com.

Poll Shows Increasing Number Of Voters Blame Founding Fathers For Starting America, at theonion.com.

“Absolutely Nothing Happening Today,’ Says CNN Reporter Gesturing Toward Massive Crowd At March For Life, at babylonbee.com.

Report: Economic Toll Of Government Shutdown Almost As Bad As Economic Toll Of Having A Bloated Federal Government In The First Place, at babylonbee.com.

Least Masculine Society In Human History Decides Masculinity Is A Growing Threat, at babylonbee.com.

Poll Finds Most People OK With Raising Taxes On Other People, at babylonbee.com.

 

CARTOONS

Political Cartoons by Henry Payne

Political Cartoons by Chip Bok

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

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Must Reads For The Week 1/12/19

January 14, 2019

Starbucks Plans To Install Needle-Disposal Boxes In Certain Locations, by Dalvin Brown, at usatoday.com. The old bathroom policy at Starbucks stated that unless you were a paying customer you were not allowed to use their bathrooms. But that policy changed after national outrage was sparked when two African American males were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks after being told they couldn’t use the bathrooms because they were not paying customers. Because of the outrage, Starbucks changed the policy by allowing anyone entering a store to use their bathrooms. Because of the new policy, their bathrooms are now being used by drug users which leaves blood and syringes in their bathrooms. So instead of getting rid of the new policy that caused the unhealthy situation in the first place, Starbucks is going to train their employees to safely clean up these hazardous conditions. Starbucks is essentially going to try to cure the symptom of the problem they originally created by their new bathroom policy.

Grandfather Of Oklahoma Teen Killed By Homeowner In Burgalary Says AR-15 Made For ‘Unfair’ Fight, by Chris Enloe, at theblaze.com. Here is a quote from the Grandfather: “What these three boys did was stupid. They knew they could be punished for it but they did not deserve to die. Brass knuckles against an AR-15? C’mon. Who was afraid for their life?”

So, should the homeowner have put down his firearm, put on a pair of brass knuckles and fought the three young men? Just to make it fair!

Mother Of Armed Robber Shot Dead By Man Defending His Children: ‘Why Did He Shoot Him Five Times?, by David Urbanski, at theblaze.com. The father pulled his gun and shot only after the perp pointed his gun at the father’s two kids. The father eliminated the threat without shooting anyone else. Pretty impressive.

Indiana Police Officer Gets Shot By Fellow Officer Who Was Shooting At An Aggressive Dog, by Trevor Peters, at wthitv.com. Is this a pattern? I posted this article (Read and Watch Here) a month ago about an officer killing a women as he attempted to shoot an aggressive dog. These are examples of ‘trained’ officers firing shots without knowing where the bullets will end up. Should the training related to aggressive dogs be changed? I’ve had aggressive dogs attack me when I used to go jogging. When they did, I would face the attacking dog and kick them in the mouth as hard as I could. That always worked.

‘Hate Speech’ Convictions Soar Tenfold As Sweden Cracks Down On Migration Critics, at zerohedge.com. If we don’t protect free speech rights in America, this will happen here. What happened to the adage “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me?” Political correctness and identity politics happened.

Court Says Masterpiece Cakeshop Owner Can Sue Colorado Civil Rights Commission For Its Hostility Toward Religion, by Leon Wolf, at theblaze.com. Jack Phillips won his case in the supreme court but the Colorado civil rights commission won’t leave him alone. “You will comply with the politically correct way of thinking or the full force of government will be brought down on you.

 

BIAS EXISTS IN ALL MEDIA.

Human beings are far from perfect. Varying degrees of bias exists in all human endeavors. Since politics is polarizing, politics by nature is biased. No matter how much you hate politics, no one is apolitical. I don’t buy into the big government Republican / Democrat political paradigm that exists today. I don’t like big government and it’s politics that exists today. There are probably no democrat politicians I agree with and a handful of republican politicians I agree with. But that doesn’t mean I am unbiased. I am biased toward shrinking the size and scope of government and increasing individual freedom. Is that a political position? I don’t know but at least I admit that I’m biased. The media won’t even admit they are biased. No matter how obvious the bias is.

 

Seattle TV Station Caught Doctoring Trump’s Face During National Address, at zerohedge.com. How did the editors not catch this? Bias?

Strange Times – Don Lemon, at economicnoise.com. Don Lemon’s comment, “We have to stop demonizing people and realize the biggest terror threat in this country is white men, most of them radicalized to the right, ad we have to start doing something about them.” gets a response from a former Navy Seal Ephraim Mattos: “…do not let Don Lemon’s ignorant words drive you into viewing yourself only by your race and religion. Identity politics does not lead to freedom. It only leads to hatred and division and an “us vs. them” mentality.”

Media’s Angry Response To Trump’s Oval Office Speech Comes Up Short, by Mollie Hemingway, at thefederalist.com. The media responded to the straw men they created.

A Neocon-Backed Narrative Control Firm Works To Destroy Alternative Media, at zerohedge.com. Fact checking sites need to be fact checked.

Co-Founder Of LinkedIn Acknowledges Funding Russian-Style Disinformation Effort During The Alabama Special Election, by Aaron Mak, at slate.com. No comment necessary.

If We Can No Longer Tell The Truth, We’ve Failed, by Charles Hugh Smith, at oftwominds.com. Everything is so politicized that we can’t even agree on what is true.

 

SATIRICAL HEADLINES

With Government Shut Down, Citizens Forced To Interfere In Their Own Lives, at babylonbee.com.

Mobs Of Women Protest Nation’s Logging Companies For Equal Work, at babylonbee.com.

Church Greeters Stationed At Southern Border To Deter Immigrants, at babylonbee.com.

Colorado Civil Rights Commission Updates Mission Statement To Simply Read ‘Destroy Jack Phillips‘ at babylonbee.com.

 

CARTOONS

from theburningplatform.com

Political Cartoons by Michael Ramirez

Political Cartoons by Tom Stiglich

Political Cartoons by Mike Lester

Political Cartoons by Ken Catalino

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Must Reads For The Week 1/5/19

January 6, 2019

First On Nancy Pelosi’s Agenda: Attacking Free Expression, by David Harsanyi, at thefederalist.com. Pelosi wants to pass campaign finance legislation that: “Empowers the state to allocate money to preferred donors and dissuade non preferred donors. But Government financed campaigns have been something of a hobbyhorse in progressive circles. Setting aside the many Constitutional concerns, the recent abuses by the IRS when tasked with regulating political speech demonstrates just how easy it is for bureaucrats to manipulate rules meant to govern speech. These are rules that shouldn’t exist, period.”

California Women’s March Cancelled For Being “Overwhelmingly White“, at zerohedge.com. For what cause are these women marching? Do white women, black women and latina women march for different causes? Why are Asian women not mentioned in the article? Are we leaving out transgendered and lesbian women. You need a score card to figure out on which rungs of the diversity ladder these different women’s groups should be placed.

NBC’s Chuck Todd: “We’re Not Going To Give TV Time To Climate Deniers“, at zerohedge.com. Scientist Chuck Todd said: “The science is settled, even if political opinion is not.” I think he has that backward. The politically correct opinion on climate change is settled, even though the science is not.

After Introducing Mass Migration To Europe, Germany Now Bribing Foreigners To Leave, at zerohedge.com. If you want to see where mass migration leads, look at Europe.

D.C. Statehood Gets A Boost From House Leadership, by Jenna Portnoy, at washingtonpost.com. Of course the D.C. swamp wants two more Senate seats that are assured to be filled by individuals who will be protectors of big government central planning.

Antifa Exposed: “Angry White People With Money”, at zerohedge.com. Kevin D. Williamson tells us about his on-the-ground report of the Portland antifa movement.

Congressswomen Flees From Reporters Asking About “Impeach The Motherfu#*er” Comment, at zerohedge.com. Don’t you think most of our politicians use salty language like this? Of course they do. But occasionally they slip up and get recorded using curse words. The only thing I want is for the press to either report all of the situations like this or none of them regardless of the politicians party. Treat both parties equally. Of course that will never happen.

When Democratic Compromise Fails: Kosher Slaughter Outlawed In Belgium, by Ryan McMaken, at mises.org. Excerpt from the article:  “Throughout most of the West, of course, we’re all taught from an early age that “democracy” will allow everything to work itself out. The parties in conflict will enter into “dialogue,” will arrive at a “compromise” and then everyone will be happy and at peace in the end.”

“But, that’s not how it works in real life. While there are some areas for compromise that can be found around the edges of issues such as moral values and ethnic identity, the fact is that in the end, kosher meats are either legal or they’re not. Circumcision is either legal or it’s not. Abortion is either legal or it’s not. Muslim head coverings are either legal or they’re not.”

“After all, if one group of people believes that a 3-month-old fetus is a parasite that has trespassed against the mother, those people are going to find little room for compromise with a group of people who think the same fetus is a person deserving legal protection.”

The Cure For Poverty, by Henry Hazlitt, at mises.org. So what is the cure? Free Market Capitalism! Here is an excerpt from the article:

“Capitalism in the advanced countries has already , it bears repeating, conquered mass poverty, as that was know throughout human history and almost everywhere, until a change began to be noticeable sometime about the middle of the eighteenth century. Capitalism will continue to eliminate mass poverty in ore and more places and to an increasingly market extent if it is merely permitted to do so.”

“The Paradox of Relief states: “The richer the community, the less the need for relief, but the more it is able to provide; the poorer the community, the greater the need for relief, but the less it is able to provide.”

“And this in turn is merely another way of pointing out that relief, or redistribution of income, voluntary or coerced, is never the true solution of poverty, but at best a makeshift, which may mask the disease and mitigate the pain, but provides no basic cure. Moreover, government relief tends to prolong and intensify the very disease it seeks to cure.”

 

SATIRICAL HEADLINES

Democrats Vow To Somehow Surpass Republicans In Messing Everything Up, at babylonbee.com. Excerpt from the article: “In a speech Thursday, returning Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi committed to her constituents and the nation at large that she’d lead Congress in accelerating the nation toward its inevitable doom even faster than the Republicans have.”

Opinion: Trump Is Doing The Right Thing, But He’s doing It As Trump, Which Means It’s Still Bad, at babylonbee.com.

More Bison Looking For Work As Yellowstone Park Closed For Government Shutdown, at babylonbee.com.

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