Archive for the ‘Must Reads For The Week’ category

Must Reads For The Week 2/11/17

February 12, 2017

Human Action Beats Stats In The Super Bowl, by Jeff Deist, at mises.org. Being able to predict the outcome of events relies on how many variables are constant. When human beings are the variables, the predictive nature of stats becomes less effective, if not impossible, because human beings are not constant. Who thought the Patriots were going to win when they were down 28-3? When you looked at the statistical possibilities, you had to conclude there was no way. The face that individual human actors on the field and on the sidelines were making the decisions in the second half made this impossibility all too real. If one of the Patriots 2 point conversions was not successful, or if the Falcons decision to pass late had been successful, the outcome could have been different. The clarity of hindsight allows us to judge if the decision was ultimately correct in bringing about the desired result. But at those particular moments, each decision maker, on the sideline or on the field, thought his action would bring about success, or he wouldn’t have taken his decision. People who say that they wouldn’t have made that decision are speculating about something that can’t be recreated. Can all the particular knowledge and experience of a particular person be recreated in another person? Can the situation at the moment the decision had to be made be recreated? No. It is pure speculation to say you would have taken a correct decision at these particular moments in this game. You may have taken a different decision but that doesn’t mean it would have been successful. There is also another variable that enters into whether a decision turns out as planned. The other team gets a vote on whether you are able to execute your decision as you’ve  planned it. Here is the lesson we should take away from the Super Bowl. If the coaches and the 11 players on one side of the ball can’t make their decisions turn out exactly as planned; Why would we think that the decisions by politicians and bureaucrats, that affect 330 individual actors (non constant variables) aka people, possibly turn out as planned? Thinking that politicians and bureaucrats could make better decisions for people than these people can make for themselves is ridicules. Third party decision making doesn’t work as well as allowing the decision to be taken by the individual most affected by the results of the decision.

Bill Belichick: Entrepreneur, by Tho Bishop, at mises.org. This is a great article about Bill Belichick’s decision making as the general manager and the coach of the Patriots. He has a skill set that makes him “…not only America’s greatest football mind, but one of its greatest entrepreneurs.”

There’s A Global Riot Against Psuedo-Experts”, Nassim Taleb Explains, “This Is Not About Fascism, at zerohedge.com. Excerpt from the article: “I often say that a mathematician thinks in numbers, a lawyer in laws, and an idiot thinks in words….I think you have to draw the conclusion that there is a global riot against pseudo-experts. I saw it with Brexit,  Nigel Farage….. said “the problem with the government was that none of them had ever had a proper job. Being a bureaucrat is not a proper job”.”…….. “When Trump was running for election, I said what he says makes sense to a grocery store owner. Because the grocery guy can say Trump is wrong because he can see where he is wrong. But with Obama, he can’t understand what he’s saying, so the grocery man doesn’t know where he is wrong.

Tightening The Money Supply Will Inevitably Lead To A Bust, by Frank Shostack, at mises.org. The last 8 years of a zero interest rate policy by The Fed, was intended to stop the correction (bust) of the housing bubble. But this housing bubble was caused by the previous money pumping by The Fed via their previous low interest rate policy. The bust is the correction. The correction is good for our economic future. But no one wants it to happen on their watch. In our present political climate, The Fed has a scapegoat in Trump if they want to be released from the blame of crashing the market.

US Government’s 2016 Net Loss “More Than Doubled” To $1 Trillion, at theburningplatform.com. Just another trillion dollar deficit that has to be paid back by the Federal Government taking the first fruits from future production.

Cash No Longer King: Europe Accelerates Move To Begin Elimination Of Paper Money, at zerohedge.com. Central planners want to control everything you do by making everything a digital transaction. Because of this many people will barter for goods and services in a black market system. Over all productivity will decrease which means the standard of living will also decrease. Central planning an economy doesn’t create more wealth. All it does is redistribute the lower of wealth produced by their interventions.

16 Fake News Stories Reporters Have Run Since Trump Won, at the federalist.com. No comment needed. Search this story (click here) and let me know if it is fake or real. I’m not quite sure either way.

CARTOONS from theburningplatform. (More Here)

 

Must Reads For The Week 2/4/17

February 5, 2017

 

CRA: The “Regulatory Game Changer” That Could Wipe Out 8 Years Of Obama Regs In An Hour, at zerohedge.com. The Congressional Review Act could be used to repeal much of the burdensome regulations of the last 8 years. But why stop at the last 8 years?

Trump Taps Net Neutrality Critic To Lead FCC, at economicpolicyjournal.com. ‘Net Neutrality’ is a back door, or maybe a front door, into government regulation of the internet. This appointment will help neutralize this push against a free internet.

A Tale Of Two Cities…..Paris & Washington, at zerohedge.com. As Paris is ramping up environmental regulations, Washington is in the process of getting rid of burdensome environmental regulations. These regulations are a cost to businesses and ultimately the consumer. Paris is putting a ‘tariff’ on itself, while Washington is reducing the amount of the self imposed ‘tariff’. Trump should learn a few things about the results of trade restrictions, subsidies and tariffs from this. If he understands that environmental regulations are costs on businesses and consumers, he should be able to understand that trade regulations are costs on businesses and consumers.

Obama Issued A Massive Ammunition Ban Just One Day Before He Left Office, at zerohedge.com. There is no better way to get rid of guns than to make the one activity that introduces younger people into the use of firearms more expensive. Hunting is how many people are taught the safe use of firearms. People who have never been around firearms are generally fearful of firearms and can be manipulated into thinking people don’t need firearms.

Trump Regulatory Freeze Halts $180 Billion Of Proposed Obama Rules, New Study Shows, at zerohedge.com. If just putting a stop on pending regulations will save $180 billion; what happens if existing regulations are cut?

Construction Equipment Rental, at equipmentshare.com. The sharing economy makes us more productive. HT/ Carpe Diem Blog.

Iron Roughnecks Are Taking Over Oil Rigs, at bloomberg.com. Producing more with less. Fewer people are needed to man oil rigs thanks to automation. This is a good thing if you understand economics. But a bad thing if you don’t. HT/ Carge Diem Blog (click here).

Exposing The Cronyist Argument For Carbon Taxes, at freedomandprosperity.com. You know Government has too much power when big business agrees with something like this. This tax imposes costs on the competitors of these big businesses. These smaller competitors can’t afford the tax, like the big businesses can. The smaller competitors are eventually driven out. The consumer pays for this through higher prices.

Destroying The “Wind & Solar Will Save Us” Delusion, at zerohedge.com. Another example of too much Government power. Politicians use the power of government in an attempt to bring things forward in time, before it’s their time to be in the present. High cost energy from wind and solar can’t compete with lower cost energy from fossil fuels. Trying to use regulation and tax payer backed subsidies and loans to move green energy forward before its time is a waste of scarce resources that could, and should, be used in more productive activities. Unfortunately for the green energy zealots, but fortunately for us,  fossil fuels are going to be our main source of energy for a long time. But this fact won’t stop politicians and bureaucrats from using tax payer money for these green boondoggles.

Identity Politics At It’s Best Worst

As Democrat Representative Andre Carson introduces himself at a rally, you can hear Nancy Pelosi reminding him to “Tell them you’re a Muslim”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYnE4mB4DME

My article this week, “Fake Headlines” , talks about identity politics.

Cartoons from The Burning Platform (More Here)

 

Must Reads For The Week 1/28/17

January 28, 2017

March Against Fascism, at theburningplatform.com. The Women’s March last week was against the “fascist” Trump presidency. Here is another way to look at it from Andy Swan.

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Here Are 2.3 Billion Reasons Why Sanctuary Cities Are So Upset At Trump, at zerohedge.com. The leaders of these sanctuary cities were motivated by the money they were getting from the Obama administration. Not because they cared about these people.

Clinton Global Initiative Announces Layoffs Shutting Doors, at thepoliticalinsider.com. The “donations” they received from foreign countries are drying up. Maybe they were payments for future favors if Hilary had won. I’m so cynical.

How The Obama Administration Quietly Bailed Out Private Equity Landlords At The Expense Of Middle Class Tax Payers, at zerohedge.com. Crony capitalism at the expense of the tax payers. The insiders in business get special favors from their crony pals in Government. This one is hidden inside the maze of Government regulation. Trump needs to swat this one away.

San Francisco Bay Area Restaurants Are Disappearing After Minimum Wage Hike, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Good intentions can’t negate economic laws. Economic forces are always correcting government intervention.

ABC News Apologizes After Ending Praise Of Sean Spicer To Sound Like Attack, at tammybruce.com. Fake News? Nothing new here.

Trump Administration Puts A Freeze On Obama’s $221 Million Payment To Palestinians, at theblaze.com. Obama tried to sneak this order through, but Trump swatted it away. None of this money would have been used to fund terrorism, would it?

The Anti-Trump Resistance: US Govt. Scientists Defy Trump With “Rogue” Twitter Accounts, at zerohedge.com. The battle is on between “apolitical public servants”, (partisan bureaucrats), and the Trump administration. It’s going to be fun to watch all this play out!

Trump Administration Reportedly Fires Top State Department Officials, at theblaze.com. Repeat after me, “Drain the swamp”.

Transcanada Responds To Trump Executive Order: Says Keystone XL Will Add $3 Billion To US GDP, at zerohedge.com. I would ask how environmental groups are going to react to this, but I think the better question is; How do you think Trump will react to how we know the environmental groups will react?

Climate Change Histrionics Demoted, by Robert Bradley Jr., at masterresource.com. Excerpt from the article: “On Jan. 20, Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States. Minutes later, the White House website switched hands – and previous pages detailing President Obama’s climate change plans went dark. The new website features, instead, a page dedicated to “An American First Energy Plan,” which details the new administration’s stance towards energy and (a lack of) climate policy.”

President-Elect Trump’s Climate/Energy Policy: Hundred Day Action Plan A Good Start, by Robert Bradley Jr, at masterresource.com. Here is the first thing on the list, “We’re going to rescind all the job-destroying Obama executive actions including the Climate Action Plan and the Water of the U.S. rule.” That’s pretty good. How about the last thing on the list, “Any future regulation will go through a simple test: is this regulation good for the American worker? If it doesn’t pass this test, the rule will not be approved.” Click on the article to see some of his others.

This Means War, at theburningplatform.com.

 

Must Reads For The Week 1/21/17

January 21, 2017

The End Of The Obama World Order, at zerohedge.com. Are these years worth saving? Excerpt from the article: “The Obama years brought us the Arab Spring, Benghazi ISIS, civil war in Syria, civil war in Ukraine and the Iran nuclear deal. On the home front, we have had to deal with Obamacare, “Fast and Furious”, IRS targeting conservative groups, Solyndra, the VA scandal, NSA spying and the worst “economic recovery” since the end of World War II.” That is quite a list of accomplishments.

President Obama’s Final Message To The Press, at mediamatters.org. The President made these remarks to the press about how they should act towards the President elect: “You,re Not supposed to be sycophants, you’re supposed to be skeptics, you’re suppose to ask me though questions, you’re not supposed to be complimentary, but you’re supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power and make sure that we are accountable to the people who sent us here and you have done that.” Obama has a skewed sense of reality. The press was never skeptical about Obama, they were sycophants for Obama. We are about to see how the media is supposed to treat anyone who has a position of power, and that is a good thing.

Golfer-In-Chief Obama Plays More Rounds Of Golf Than Any Other President Since Eisenhower, at zerohedge.com. 306 rounds of golf in eight years. I wish he would have played 36 holes of golf everyday for 8 years.

Church Won’t Utter Trump’s Name In Prayers Since He’s ‘Literally’ A Trauma Trigger To Some People, at theblaze.com. I don’t know what is worse. Being so mentally weak that they can’t handle hearing Trumps name, or enabling these people’s mental weakness.

Anti Trump Protesters Hold ‘Cough-In’ At Trump Restaurant In NYC.

Regular people can’t relate to this. Can They?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS9gmIf99KY

 

Fake News, Fake Politics, And Fake Policy, by Robert Higgs, at blog.independent.org. Excerpt from the article: “Where government, politics, and policy implementation are concerned, we would be wise to remember that just as in the realm of often-fake news, things are rarely what they purport to be and, indeed, they are often the exact opposite.”

Report: Schools Teach Kids To Hate America Under The Guise Of “Civics“, by Joy Pullmann, at thefederalist.com. We didn’t need a report to tell us this. We’ve known this has been happening for decades.

Loretta Lynch Parting Shot At Your Individual Freedom, at lewrockwell.com. Excerpt from the article: “Attorney General Loretta Lynch secretly signed an order directing the National Security Agency…… to make available raw spying data to all other federal intelligence agencies, which then can pass it on to their counterparts in foreign countries and in the 50 states upon request. She did so, she claimed, for administrative convenience. Yet in doing this, she violated basic constitutional principles that were erected centuries ago to prevent just what she did.” This is not shocking news is it?

Chinese Province Admits It Fabricated Economic Data For Three Years, at zerohedge.com. It’s hard to believe government officials would fudge data in order to distort economic reality. This isn’t happening in the US, is it?

Free Market Economics and Crony Capitalism, by Hunter Lewis, at mises.org. Businesses love free market when they are competing for market share with larger competitors. But when they become the larger business they try to get government to pass regulations that make it harder for upstarts to compete for the market share they currently supply. Big business loves big government because it is the only thing that can keep competitors out of the market.

CARTOONS

at theburningplatform.com.

Political Cartoons by Nate Beeler

Political Cartoons by Lisa Benson

 

 

Must Reads For The Week 1/14/17

January 14, 2017

Rand Paul Is Right: Republicans Ready To Support Trillion Dollar Increase In Budget Deficit, at economicpolicyjournal.com. Chuck Schumer Slams Republicans For Proposing $9 Trillion In New Debt, at zerohedge.com. Rand Paul is truly upset that his party is proposing this debt increasing budget. Chuck Schumer should be thrilled that this budget will increase the spending of the Federal Government. He never met a (taxed, borrowed, or printed) dollar he didn’t want to spend. All Schumer is trying to do is get the conservative base upset at the Republican establishment. He doesn’t have to try, we have been upset at the Republican establishment for 16 years. That is what the last 3 election cycles have been about.

John Harwood Asks “Who Do You Believe America; Wikileaks or US Intel Officials?” Gets Surprising Answer, at zerohedge.com. The fact that he asked this question tells us he doesn’t understand why the election turned out like it did.

Trump Calling CNN Fake News. Trump has turned the media’s “fake news” construct around on them. “Fake News” was supposed to be used against the internet, conservative blogs, and Fox News. Now it is being used against the main stream media’s crumbling monopoly on information. The market eventually crushes monopolies. Just ask OPEC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70i4nDFGn-0

America’s Abundant, Low-Cost Fossil “Fuels Of The Future” Will Be Our Dominate Energy Source For Decades, by Mark J. Perry, at carpediemblog. Obama and the environmental crazies don’t understand that they can’t force their utopian ideas about green energy on to reality. Reality always wins. No one wants higher cost energy forced on them when lower cost energy is available. If an individual thinks the subjective psychic benefit of using high cost green energy out weighs the lower cost of fossil fuels, by all means let him buy green, as long as it is not subsidized by the tax payers. And don’t get the government to force your subjective choice on me.

Pope Francis Now International Monetary Guru, at zerohedge.com. The Pope should stay within his area of expertise which is mercy and reconciliation, not economics and monetary policy. The fact that the Pope and central bankers have the same economic and monetary policies, proves the Pope is fallible.

CPS School Loses Beloved Library Due To Budget Cuts, by Julie Unruh, at wgntv.com. Parents wanted to man the check out process at the library after budget cuts axed the librarian at Pritzger Elementary in Chicago. Unfortunately the teachers union didn’t like the market solution to their monopoly position and wouldn’t have any of it. The Union said “the volunteers could wipe out the librarian position permanently”. And I thought the teachers unions were in it for “the children”?

Heating Empty Buildings”: Billion Pound British Biomass Subsidy Scandal, By Eric Worrall, at wattsupwiththat.com. Unintended, but forseeable, consequences of green energy subsidies. British people are heating empty buildings to get the subsidy. From the article: “Businesses that signed up could receive 160 pounds from the government for every 100 pounds they spent on fuels, such as wood pellets, burnt in biomass boilers. As people spotted the gains to be made, there was a surge in applications and costs spiralled.”

Judge Dismisses ‘Clock Boy’ Ahmed Mohamed’s Lawsuit Against Conservatives, at tammybruce.com. ‘Clock Boy’s’ original story was fake news from the start. Obama even tried to push this Muslim backlash narrative. I guess if you can’t find real discrimination against Muslims, you make it up.

CARTOONS

Related image

Image result for cartoons fake news mainstream media

Image result for cartoons fake news mainstream media

 

Must Reads For The Week 1/7/17

January 7, 2017

Fake News? The Russians Did Not Hack The U.S Power Grid, at theblaze.com. The Washington Post jumped the gun on this story. Did the phrase ‘Russians hack’ have anything to do with why they ran with this story?

Dan Rather Now Teaching Online Course: ‘Finding The Truth In The News‘, at dailycaller.com. Apparently he failed to ‘find the truth’ when he ran with the George W. Bush national guard story before the 2004 election.

Top Ex-White House Economist Admits 94% Of All New Jobs Under Obama Are Part Time, at zerrohedge.com. Obamacare mandated that businesses provide health insurance to employees who worked over 29 hours a week. Do you think this created an incentive for businesses to create part-time jobs not exceeding 29 hours a week?

Obama Allows 4,2000 Bald Eagles To Die For Green Energy, by Andrew Follett, at dailycaller.com. I love it when leftists are forced to choose between competing values. You get to see what they actually think is important. In this case we know green energy is higher on Obama’s value scale than bald eagles. The good news for bald eagles is that they are above fossil fuels on Obama’s value scale. Of course everything is above fossil fuels on Obama’s value scale.

The Best History Of How We Got High Medical Prices And Obamacare, at economicpolicyjournal.com. You must watch this video to understand the history of Government intervention into the Healthcare System.

 

Suddenly Liberals Are Stockpiling Guns, Food and Supplies, at zerohedge.com. I hope this means we can all agree that the Federal Government in general and the Presidency in particular have too much power.

Ululating For “Safety”, at theburningplatform.com. This could be from The Onion. Federal government regulators want to equip electric and hybrid cars with noise making devices so blind people will hear them and not walk out in front of them. I don’t recall ever hearing a story of a blind man getting hit by a hybrid or electric car. I have two questions. 1) How many blind people are there? 2) How many hybrid and electric cars are there? I don’t think the math adds up to a crisis situation.

Obama Brags About “Remarkable Progress” Of Past 8 Years, Data Paints A Slightly Different Picture, at zerohedge.com. Obama is bragging about job creation, more people having healthcare insurance and the U.S. not being dependent on foreign oil. 1) Look at the labor participation rate among eligible workers. 2) He fails to mention the astronomically higher premiums that people are paying. 3) We are producing more oil in spite of Obama. The American fracking industry is producing oil on private land because Obama wouldn’t allow fracking on government-owned land. This is how fake news originates. Obama can tell partial truths and never get fact checked by his supporters in the press. But don’t worry, this is about to change on January 20th. The press will start doing their constitutionally mandated job when Trump becomes President. And this is actually a good thing.

 

CARTOONS from theburningplatform.com.(click here)

Political Cartoons by Henry Payne

Political Cartoons by Lisa Benson

Political Cartoons by Chip Bok

 

Must Reads For The Week 12/24/16

December 24, 2016

Monday Humor? Obama Warns Trump On Use Of “Executive Orders” at zerohedge.com. The “pen and a phone” guy is telling Trump to do as I say not as I do. Quote from Obama: “Keep in mind, that my strong preference has always been to legislate when I can get legislation done. In my first two years I wasn’t relying on executive powers because I had big majorities in the Congress…..even after we lost the majorities…..I bent over backwards consistently to try to find compromise and a legislative solution to some of the big problems that we’ve got.”

Maine Gas Distributor Won’t Deliver To Trump Supporters, at lifezette.com. This man has the right to do with his property as he wishes. If he doesn’t want to sell to a particular person, so be it. So explain to me why some bakers were forced out of business for not first producing and then selling a wedding cake to a gay couple. The wedding cake is a special order item, it didn’t exist at the moment the couple attempted to ordered it. When you go into a bakery and they are out of glazed doughnuts, can you force them to produce one for you? No one has a claim to the property of another individual. Except the IRS

Ivanka Trump Told By Artist To Take Their Work Down From Her Walls, at dailymail.co.uk. Am I missing something here. These artists don’t own these paintings. They created these paintings but they don’t own them. Ivanka owns them. If they don’t want them hanging on her walls they should offer to buy them back. Ivanka might sell them for double the price she paid for them.

Baby Boomers Increasingly Having Social Security Checks Garnished To Cover Student Loan Payments, at zerohedge.com. The government wants its payments from the debt serfs.

Equal Pay Day This Year Was April 12th. The Next Occupational Fatality Day Will Be On Feb. 19, 2027, by Mark J. Perry, at carpediemblog. Over 90% of the top 20 most dangerous occupations are filled by men. In 2015 there were 4454 men killed in fatal occupational injuries compared to 367 women. This doesn’t seem fair. What can be done to have a more equitable distribution of these deaths?

This chart from carpediemblog (here) shows the 20 most dangerous jobs.

jobdeaths

Notice police and sheriff’s patrol officers are in 19th place, and fire fighters are not in the top 20. Should we call  people who are in the top 18 most dangerous occupations “heroes” for performing the jobs in the fields they freely decided to enter? Could these people also be considered “first responders”. Aren’t farmers, roofers, miners, refuse collectors etc responding to people’s demands?

Here Are Two Fake News Stories. Another Hijab Hoax: University Of Michigan Student Claimed Man Threatened To Set Her On Fire, by John Sexton, at hotair.com. And this. Police: Muslim Woman Made Up Story About Attack At The Hands Of A Trump Supporter, at usatoday.com. Both presented with no comment.

Commuter-In-Chief: Obama Sets New Single-Day Clemency Record; More Than Previous 11 Presidents Combined, at zerohedge.com. I know no one is vetting people who come in to this country. Who is vetting the people Obama is letting out of prison?

It’s Going To Take Men With Guns To Stop The Suburban Deer Uprising, by John Davidson, at thefederalist.com. Deer are becoming a nuisance animal. The deer herd has to be reduced because the amount of damage the deer are causing.

Save The Snowflakes Testimonial, at MRCTV.org.

 

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Must Reads For The Week 12/17/16

December 17, 2016

OPEC MONOPOLY?

What OPEC Cut? Iraq Is Boosting It’s January Oil Exports By 7%, at zerohedge.com. OPEC’s “monopoly” never really existed. A cartel can only work if members follow the rules. Many of these countries can’t afford to cut production because oil is the resource they exchange for resources they do not or cannot produce. Cartels are only as good as there weakest links.

MCW Energy Group Limited Lowers Cost With New Oil Sands Extraction Technology, at mcwenergygroup.com. The ability to find new sources of oil, as well as new technologies to extract this oil, are also reason OPEC has lost whatever illusory monopoly power they and we thought they might have had. As long as competitors are allowed to enter a market, their can be no monopoly. Monopolies can only exist because of Government sanctions. If a supposed cartel tries to control price by constricting supply, the price will go up which in turn makes it profitable for competitors to enter the market at the higher price. The increased supply will bring the price down. Market prices are a double-edged sword for cartels who think they have a monopoly. They want a higher price for their resource, but the higher price makes it profitable for marginal suppliers to enter the market. This eventually brings the price down. Free markets work

Fortune 500 Firms 1995vs. 2016: Only 12% Remain Thanks To The Creative Destruction That Fuels Economic Prosperity, by Mark Perry, at carpediemblog. This has nothing to do with oil, but it has everything to do with monopoly. The market isn’t concerned with propping up the status quo that exists at the moment. Government is concerned with that. The market is what results when individuals are free to decide what they will produce, consume, exchange and save, according to each individuals subjective valuations, in a world of scarce resources. The market is about the future, Government intervention is about propping up the past.

ELECTION SHENANIGANS

Mass Detroit Voter Fraud? 37% Of Precincts Counted More Ballots Than Voters, at zerohedge.com. + More Detroit Voting “Irregularities”. 95 Poll Books Missing For Days, 5 Still Nowhere to Be Found, at zerohedge.com. This is what real election tampering looks like.

Bullet In The Mouth” – Trump Electors Flooded With Death Threats, at zerohedge.com. Another example of tampering with an election.

NY Times Hires Reporter Who Sent Stories To Clinton Campaign For Approval, at tammybruce.com. This Clinton hack reporter’s misdeeds were a resume enhancement. Who’s worried about fake news from the NYT now?

So It Was Not Hacking, Apologies Now, Or Get Out, at theburningplatform.com. NSA Whistle Blower Destroys Obama’s Russian Hacking Narrative, at zerohedge.com. Julian Assange Crushes Obama Narrative. “Our Source Is Not The Russian Government, at zerohedge.com. Who has more credibility, Obama or …. pick someone.

Obama Vows Retaliation Against “Russian Hacking”, at zerohedge.com. I’m sure Putin is quacking in his boots because of this threat. Who would take this threat seriously? Besides the fact that Obama is a wimp, he will be out of office in 4 and a half weeks.

INTERFERING WITH THE MARKET

HEROIC Uber To California Regulators: Drop Dead, at economicpolicyjournal.com. I love it when the status quo is basically told to go  #+(%  yourself.

Portland Asks Businesses To Move Elsewhere, by Per Bylund, at mises.org. Excerpt from the article: “Businesses in Portland, or, who pay “Too High” of Salaries to their CEOs will be hit by a 10% surcharge on their taxes.”  Two things will happen. Either these businesses will move, or they will find creative ways to compensate their CEOs without calling it a salary.

Single Mother Facing Prison For Selling Homemade Mexican Dish To Undercover Cop, by Robby Soave, at reason.com. These undercover cops are risking their lives. They are real heroes! Raise your hand if you think there is too much Government regulation.

A New Victim In The War On Small-Biz Bakeries, by Michelle Malkin, at townhall.com. A bakery employee stopped a shop lifter from stealing two bottles of wine. Since the perp was black, local college students organized a protest against the bakery for racial profiling.

EPA Rushing Through Regulations After Trumps Election, by John Sicliano, at washingtonexaminer.com. Unelected bureaucrats will push their ideology through regulations. Government agencies in general and the EPA in particular have to be reigned in.

Has “Market Failure” Caused High Health-Care Prices? by Dale Steinreich, at mises.org. The high cost of healthcare is a result of decades of government intervention into the healthcare market. The final straw was Obamacare. Healthcare and health insurance are economic goods produced by individuals, not government bureaucrats.

This Is What Hyperinflation Looks Like, at economicpolicyjournal.com. This is what an economy that is centrally planned by government bureaucrats eventually looks like.

Must Reads For The Week 12/10/16

December 9, 2016

In Unprecedented Move, Dallas Pension System Suspends Withdrawals, at zerohedge.com. This is what happens when government can’t say no to public unions. Because tax dollars are being spent, there is no incentive to constrain the greed of public union workers. Ponzi schemes always end badly, even those funded by “unlimited”  tax dollars.

In an unrelated story. Meet California’s 218,667 Public Employees Who Make Over $100,000 A Year, at zerohedge.com. Public employees don’t produce anything that could be sold for a profit in the market. All they produce is red tape. How can these people be more important than the tax payers who pay their salaries, pensions, benefits, and yes even their taxes? This will end badly.

In an unrelated story. Stanford Study Reveals California Pensions Underfunded By $1 Trillion or $93k Per Household, at zerohedge.com. Another Ponzi scheme paid for by tax payers.

Pentagon Buries Evidence Of $125 Billion In Bureaucratic Waste, at thewashingtonpost.com. Those who don’t want to cut the military’s budget, should read this. Wherever there is a pile of money, especially tax dollars, there will be no shortage of  people waiting in line to get as much of it as they can. You could cut every government agency’s budget by 20% and still not get rid all the waste.

Tired Dem Donors Feel Like Their Money Got Burned, at thehill.com. Of course they feel this way. They bet on a sure thing and didn’t win. The DNC needs money to try to rebuild its image for the 2018 midterm elections and the Dem. donors aren’t in a giving mood.

U.S. Shale Greater Threat To OPEC After Oil Price War, at reuters.com. Fracking has lowered the price of oil from $100 plus to around $40. OPEC is going to try to raise the price by restricting the amount that member nations produce (think supply and demand). Unfortunately for OPEC, the fracking industry in the U.S. has lowered its cost of production to a point where most wells can be profitable at $40 a barrel. As OPED restricts supply, the price will rise. As the price rises, more frack wells will open up and supply oil at the higher price. As the supply rises, the price will go down. Market prices work in coordinating supply of and demand for scarce resources. HT carpediemblog.

Portland Adulting School Teaches Millennials How To Be Functional Grownups, at odditycentral.com. Parents and schools shirking their duty to turn children into adults has created a market for an adulting school. As long as there is a need, the market will do its best to fill it. I don’t know if this story is true, but I do know that there is a market for this service.

After ISIS Machete Attack, OSU Students Still Unable To Say The Word Terrorist, at zerohedge.com. The most dangerous place for your kids is a college campus. Not because of possible terrorist attacks like the one at OSU. No they are dangerous because of how they have been taught to think (feel) about a terrorist attack. God help us all.

Nomiki Konst: OSU Cop’ Rushed To Judgement’ By Shooting Attacker, at miloyiannopoulos.net. When I heard about this story, I thought it was from the Onion. It is real. This is what some ignorant people really think. Watch the video.

University With History Of An Anti-Christian Bias Denies Credits To Students Volunteering At Church, at theblaze.com. No surprise here.

Congress Urges Criminal Prosecution Of Planned Parenthood For Baby Body Parts Scandal, at lifesitenews.com. Do you remember the undercover videos? Watch undercover video of PPH trafficking in baby parts here, Human Capital Episode 3: Planned Parenthood Trafficking In Baby Parts, at austrianaddict.co.

Hollywood Loves Abortion Films, But Rejected This One; Here’s Why, at newsbusters.org. Remember the trial of convicted Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell? Hollywood is shying away from the movie titled, Gosnell, because it shows the reality of abortion. Just like media bias, it isn’t so much what they show, it’s what they don’t show.

2015 FBI Data: Jews Were Nearly 3X More Likely Than Blacks, And 1.5X More Likely Than Muslims To Be A Hate Crime Victim, at carpediemblog. Once again reality doesn’t fit what the press reports. Sins of omission!

CARTOONS

Political Cartoons by Dana Summers

Political Cartoons by Henry Payne

Political Cartoons by Dana Summers

 

Must Reads For The Week 12/03/16

December 3, 2016

Dear Media: Please Stop Normalizing The Alt-Right, by David Harsanyi, at thefederalist.com. Why would the media cover a 150 person gathering of white nationalists and try to say this is who Trump voters are? Anyone who is for smaller government will be painted as a member of the Alt-Right. This is SOP by the mainstream media.

Fashion Designers Are Boycotting Melania Trump, Shouldn’t Bakers And Florists Have The Same Right?, by Stephanie Slade, at reason.com. Another example of do as I say not as I do. This is a property rights issue. I own what I produce. No one can force me to sell my property if I don’t want to.

After Trump University, Why Not Sue All Colleges? by Brian Joondeph, at americanthinker.com. This is a great Idea. Colleges don’t deliver the results they advertise. Students get out of college with huge student loan debt, and job prospects that won’t produce enough income to pay the loans back.

Failure: Obama Blew $150 Billion To Increase Renewable Energy By 1%, by John Hoft, at thegatewaypundit.com. Obama failed as a venture capitalist. Wind and solar are not viable sources of energy compared to low-cost fossil fuels, although they might be at some point in the future. But trying to make them viable by subsidizing them with billions of tax payer dollars wastes scarce resources that could be used in more productive activities. Economic forces always win.

USGS Announces Largest Oil And Gas Deposit Ever Assessed In U.S. by Rebecca Hersher, at npr.org. This is one of the reasons green energy isn’t a viable energy source. Fracking technology has made oil and natural gas less expensive. New technologies also allow us to find more oil and gas deposits. As long as carbon based fuel can produce more power at a lower cost than green energy, green energy will remain on the back burner. Economic forces always win.

July Makes It Official: Americans Buy More SUV/Crossovers Than Cars, by Timothy Cain, at thetruthaboutcars.com. As long as gasoline prices remain low people will purchase SUVs. Economic forces always prevail.

Heh: Dem Senator Suddenly Regrets The “Reid Rule” On Filibusters, by Guy Benson, at townhall.com. When the Democrats were in the majority they voted to take the filibuster away from the minority party. Now that they are in the minority they don’t think it is such a good idea. The Democrats are going to be hoisted on your own petard. Karma’s a bitch.

Students’ Reaction To Trump Win, “Suck It Up Pussies.” Police Are Investigating This Hate Crime, by Robby Soave, at reason.com. We live in a world that has gone insane. Time-outs, conflict resolution, participation trophies, not keeping score, etc have produced a generation of….., well there is no better way to say it, pussies.

Hungry Venezuelans Flee In Boats To Escape Economic Collapse, by Mark J. Perry, at Carpe Diem Blog. Do you ever wonder why people don’t flee free market countries for a better life in socialist paradises like Cuba? Neither do I.

Progressives Demand Gun Control After Knife Attack At Ohio State, by Bre Payton, at thefederalist.com. When the first “fake” news accounts came out and said there was an active shooter loose on the OSU Campus, political hacks couldn’t wait to condemn this most recent example of gun violence and ask for gun control. I later found out the perp drove his car into a crowd of people and then got out and started stabbing people with a knife before an OSU security cop shot and killed the perp. At first I laughed at how the political hacks jumped the gun (so to speak) on this story. But upon further analysis, I thought maybe, just maybe, these hacks actually didn’t like the fact that the cop used a gun on a guy who only had a knife. Maybe they thought the cop should have used a taser, a billy club or just wrapped his leather jacket around his arm and fought the guy like James Dean in the movies. The crazy thing is, some of these progressives might actually be thinking this.

Safe Driving Where The Deer And The Antelope Play, by Jerry Reynolds, at lewrockwell.com. It is the season for deer colliding with cars. Here are some tips to either avoid hitting a deer or surviving when you do.