tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-389052222024-03-09T18:46:35.911-08:00Libertarian PeacenikIf tyranny and oppression come to this land it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. -- James MadisonUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger368125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-28864250591886035282023-12-03T08:49:00.000-08:002023-12-03T08:49:23.123-08:00It's Fair Use for AI to Learn from Human Writers<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXatI1YFnOzbP1V_ewk4tHof-02Ol18dAoZlrDTMy2B2vXMbvTx4DLrE5UMOHqZQoC7qSRjH70LsE8AI64hMXUIfQDOjAL-Z3ZovcDoTlsFjdpN5wBo0Ai3TjRVBpW6vac5XGwPQBNlyUL-k9qlHNlShZwAXVgT2HfoxAnxwhPev5zqB0QQHGWPw/s1000/Hal%209000%20Dr%20Chandra.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="1000" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXatI1YFnOzbP1V_ewk4tHof-02Ol18dAoZlrDTMy2B2vXMbvTx4DLrE5UMOHqZQoC7qSRjH70LsE8AI64hMXUIfQDOjAL-Z3ZovcDoTlsFjdpN5wBo0Ai3TjRVBpW6vac5XGwPQBNlyUL-k9qlHNlShZwAXVgT2HfoxAnxwhPev5zqB0QQHGWPw/w400-h225/Hal%209000%20Dr%20Chandra.jpg" width="400" /></a></div> <p></p><p>AI (artificial intelligence) was a key issue in the recent Hollywood actors' and writers' strikes for two reasons. One, the worry that union workers might be replaced with AI generated actors and scripts (AI as <i>competition</i>), and two, the claim that actors and writers should be compensated because AI in some way copies their faces and scripts (AI as <i>infringement</i>).<br /><br />I'm not sure that AI is an issue for actors. CGI images <i>are</i> an issue, because they increasingly resemble real people who might compete with actors. But is that really AI? As I understand the term, AI is when a computer creates something that it wasn't specifically programed to do; it uses its own logic and data base of knowledge to create something original. AI image generators do exist, but AI is not <i>required</i> to create CGI images.<br /><br />AI poses a greater threat to writers. Theoretically, I can foresee a day in which an AI program writes an original play the equal of <i>Hamlet</i>. Of course, most Hollywood scripts are formulaic hack work that fall far short of <i>Hamlet</i>, so perhaps writers' cause for concern is more urgent.<br /><br />How good are AI's literary skills today? <br /><br />Plenty of free AI generators exist online. I assume that Hollywood studios and Big Tech firms have access to more advanced programs, but I tried the AI generator at <a href="https://toolbaz.com/writer/ai-story-generator">Toolbaz.com</a>, just to test its skills.<br /><br />I input "Christian crusader knight defeats Muslims." Many online AI generators claim to filter out "hate" but, at least for now, Toolbaz had no issue with Christians defeating Muslims. Here is the story that Toolbaz wrote for me:</p><p> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">John was a Christian crusader knight who had been sent to the Middle East to defend the Christian faith against the Muslim forces. He had been training in the art of war for many years and was prepared to do whatever it took to uphold the Christian faith.<br /><br />For weeks, John clashed with the Muslim forces, but the tide of battle was not in his favor. The Muslim forces were much larger and better equipped than he was, and it seemed unlikely that he would be able to win the fight.<br /><br />But then, something changed. While on a scouting mission, John stumbled upon a secret weapon that belonged to the Muslim forces. He studied the weapon and realized that it could be used to his advantage. With the help of his allies, he was able to turn the tide of battle and eventually defeat the Muslim forces. <br /><br />The victory was a great one for John and the Christian faith. The people of the Middle East praised him for his courage and strength, and many of them converted to Christianity in the wake of his victory. John was hailed as a hero and remembered in Christian history for centuries to come.</p><p> </p><p>Okay, that's not terrible. Grammar and spelling are accurate. The story structure is solid. A protagonist seeks a goal. He encounters conflict. He is about to be defeated. But then, by his own actions and some luck, he overcomes adversity and wins.<br /><br />Not bad. But not <i>Hamlet</i>. The story is solid, but hackneyed and unoriginal. Nuance and details are also lacking. Even so, this story can serve as an outline for a hack writer to flesh out. Certainly, the story is no more hackneyed than thousands of direct-to-video and made-for cable movies.<br /><br />I can see how AI might provide ideas and outlines for hack writers suffering from writer's block. A sitcom writer once told me the staff writers on his show kept a supply of old <i>TV Guides</i>. Whenever they were stuck for ideas, they perused the episode descriptions of past sitcoms.<br /><br />Ever notice how so many sitcoms have episodes in which the characters defend themselves in court rather than hire an attorney, or compete with jealous coworkers for an award? How so many sitcoms still borrow ideas from <i>I Love Lucy</i> and <i>The Honeymooners</i>? No wonder hack writers fear AI.<br /><br />But if writers can't stop AI, they can still demand compensation from tech and media companies. The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers Association offered a typical argument for such compensation in their <a href="https://www.sfwa.org/2023/11/03/sfwa-comments-on-ai-to-us-copyright-office/">statement</a> to the U.S. Copyright Office, on October 30, 2023:</p><p> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">The current crop of artificial intelligence systems owes a great debt to the work of creative human beings. Vast amounts of copyrighted creative work, collected and processed without regard to the moral and legal rights of its creators, have been copied into and used by these systems that appear to produce new creative work. These systems would not exist without the work of creative people, and certainly would not be capable of some of their more startling successes.</p><p> </p><p>I was a member of SFWA for about ten years. It's their mission to lobby for writers' interests. But their argument is erroneous. They argue that because AI learns from reading writers' books and scripts, these writers should be compensated.<br /><br />But that's how <i>all</i> writers learn their craft, AI and <i>human</i>.<br /><br />In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0008136513/communistvampire">Zen in the Art of Writing</a>, Ray Bradbury discusses his youth, when he was a voracious consumer of culture, both popular and literary. It's how <i>he</i> learned to write.</p><p> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">When did it all really begin? The writing, that is. Everything came together in the summer and fall and early winter of 1932. By that time I was stuffed full of Buck Rogers, the novels of Edgar Rice Burroughs, and the night-time radio serial "Chandu the Magician." Chandu said magic and the psychic summons and the Far East and strange places which made me sit down every night and from memory write out the scripts of each show. ...<br /><br />If I hadn't stuffed my eyes and stuffed my head with all of the above for a lifetime, when it came round to word-associating myself into story ideas, I would have brought up a ton of ciphers and a half-ton of zeros.</p><p> </p><p>Read the entire book. Bradbury cites many novels, comics, films, and radio programs as influences. His point is, he learned <i>how</i> and <i>what</i> to write by <i>absorbing other writers, filmmakers and artists</i>. The same way all children learn to write and think. The same way AI learns to write and think.<br /><br />Many writers were voracious readers as children. The books that went into us shaped our literary tastes, skills and sensibilities. AI can be compared to a child who reads hundreds of books (or with AI, tens of thousands), absorbs them, and then uses his own mind (the computer's algorithms) to create something original. <br /><br />When a human learns to write by reading books, that's a Fair Use of those books. No copyright is infringed. No additional payments are owed to the writers of those books. Just the one time cover price.<br /><br />The same logic applies when an AI program learns to write by reading books. It's a Fair Use of those books. No copyright is infringed. You would think that science fiction writers would understand that.<br /><br />It's not what human writers want to hear; they want royalties from AI programs. But applying the doctrine of Fair Use to AI learning is logical. Any Vulcan would agree.</p><p>==========</p><p> <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-36995925746902053392023-07-08T10:40:00.001-07:002023-07-08T10:40:50.961-07:00Mao Tse-Tung Disagrees That "All White People Are Racist"<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaJWxDtoYOnxdgDLo98MKNgKSQkA4CRTz3B7t9rqSr2WYE1J2VzLmV9kt-L4spRxnP-eQiAjHsOvBA81sBjx5jnUdGpALfFpwFvRreHZzqj_EYH2mVN82hQyrLy7l76uO_qhmqOXfSn-srnzpr8UPtE3qU_D0wVszn0sToqkyca4RWVM0nnZaLw/s1360/The%20Little%20Red%20Book%20by%20Mao%20Tse-Tung.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1360" data-original-width="907" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNaJWxDtoYOnxdgDLo98MKNgKSQkA4CRTz3B7t9rqSr2WYE1J2VzLmV9kt-L4spRxnP-eQiAjHsOvBA81sBjx5jnUdGpALfFpwFvRreHZzqj_EYH2mVN82hQyrLy7l76uO_qhmqOXfSn-srnzpr8UPtE3qU_D0wVszn0sToqkyca4RWVM0nnZaLw/w133-h200/The%20Little%20Red%20Book%20by%20Mao%20Tse-Tung.jpg" width="133" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">As I was reading
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1790752809/communistvampire">Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung</a> (aka
<i>The Little Red Book</i>), I
came across a particularly stunning quote in Chapter 2: Classes and
Class Struggle:</span>
<p></p><p> </p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><b>In the
final analysis, national struggle is a matter of class struggle. Among
the whites in the United States, it is only the reactionary ruling
circles that oppress the black people. They can in no way represent
the workers, farmers, revolutionary intellectuals and other
enlightened persons who comprise the overwhelming majority of the
white people.</b></span></p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><i>"Statement Supporting the American Negroes in Their Just Struggle
Against Racial Discrimination by U.S. Imperialism" (August 8, 1963),
People of the World, Unite and Defeat the U.S. Aggressors and All
Their Lackeys, 2nd ed., pp. 3-4.</i></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Wow. So the "overwhelming majority of
white people" are <i>not</i> racist? And that's according to
Chairman Mao!</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">Yet his statement contradicts what
today is a familiar accusation from the Left. Search the phrase "all
whites are racist" on the internet. You'll come up with much. For
instance, an article by Elena Guthrie on <i>Huff Post</i>,
<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/elena-guthrie/racism-white-privilege_b_18147778.html">"Are All White
People Racist?"</a> [February 10, 2017], in which she concludes:</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p style="margin-left: 40px;">
<span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><b>"All white people are racist,
because all white people exist in a racist power structure that we
aren't actively fighting to dismantle. Racists don't just wear white
pointy hats and say the 'n' word, by doing nothing, any and every
white person is still taking advantage of a power structure that
favours us. Don't be more upset with being called racist than actual
racism."</b><br />
<br />
<br />
</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: medium;">It seems today's Left has moved <i>so far</i> to the Left that the late
Communist dictator of Red China now stands on "the wrong side of
history."<br />
<br />
Yet back in his heyday, Mao was as radical as you could get. He was an
icon for Leftists who thought the Soviet Union under Khrushchev and
Brezhnev had turned soft and compromised. Mao was unlike the "tired,
old white men" of the USSR. Mao was cool. He was authentic. His face
adorned the walls of college dorms. Women wanted to sleep with him and
guys wanted to be him.<br />
<br />
But how does The Great Helmsman measure up to the woke standards of
today's intersectional Left?<br />
<br />
Well, in his <i>Little Red Book</i>, Mao talks a lot about <i>economic</i> class
struggle. He denounces imperialism and advocates for "national
liberation movements." But he never makes it about race. And although
it's not a term he uses, he might justifiably be described as "color
blind." That makes him old-fashioned. A dinosaur among today's Left.
Perhaps even a <i>running dog reactionary!</i><br />
<br />
I'm no Maoist. The man was a monster, as were and are all Communist
dictators. More innocent people died under Mao's regime than even
under Stalin or Hitler. Which is why Mao's above quote should give libertarians pause for thought.<br />
<br />
When even a man of Mao's Communist street cred is guilty of such a
cancel-worthy statement, it shows just how <i>far</i> leftward our
<i>own</i>
culture has moved.</span></span></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-39929663934155632532022-06-11T23:55:00.000-07:002022-06-11T23:55:00.902-07:00The Bitcoin Field Guide Exudes Pre-Crash Optimism<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHO4clZLyK3Xpws7sjXCeolmoGeQBNyP03-R41ROOyFstqBi0UEC3-Y9PhLAWevIBvdGXik6Z-EDN0kgemjBCg8aCqhkXDkR4BPHkwXWTyd-x7bMNEbkihAKUUN2VHM2GwjMMJWNhMTQxjSm_BxQWw5y0Mp3BtmihY18qbXRi2anAdPPduxfA/s557/Bitcoin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="557" data-original-width="551" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHO4clZLyK3Xpws7sjXCeolmoGeQBNyP03-R41ROOyFstqBi0UEC3-Y9PhLAWevIBvdGXik6Z-EDN0kgemjBCg8aCqhkXDkR4BPHkwXWTyd-x7bMNEbkihAKUUN2VHM2GwjMMJWNhMTQxjSm_BxQWw5y0Mp3BtmihY18qbXRi2anAdPPduxfA/w198-h200/Bitcoin.jpg" width="198" /></a></div>Libertarians have long been interested
in Bitcoin, blockchain, and cryptocurrency in general, as a means of
circumventing state centralized banking. A recent documentary
(released just before the crypto crash of 2022) exudes that
libertarian fervor.<p></p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">For my review of 2021's <i>The
Bitcoin Filed Guide</i>, <a href="http://hollywoodinvestigator.com/2022/bitcoin.html">click here</a>.
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in;">============</p>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-63581958558119803262022-04-25T01:00:00.001-07:002022-04-25T01:12:30.929-07:00Libertarian Party of California Fields No Candidates for June 7, 2022 Primary Election<p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4i1d0q5dwTXK_2B3VT3MIykBLzXJNvv3BEdUFAf8mcSK2kMgQVdkHnHNQ274WgNjrsUg2f7isiXewcTlYbJCK7wsN9Ib_rsp7a6ByAbp8gUEKWXaBRrduIG72JmfN1av0CeigvwnQIB9w5ruMU2_l_8ydHQ1ZuvFk6yxyfM-IobReHJi-Szc/s1086/Libertarian%20Candidate%20Missing.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1086" data-original-width="768" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4i1d0q5dwTXK_2B3VT3MIykBLzXJNvv3BEdUFAf8mcSK2kMgQVdkHnHNQ274WgNjrsUg2f7isiXewcTlYbJCK7wsN9Ib_rsp7a6ByAbp8gUEKWXaBRrduIG72JmfN1av0CeigvwnQIB9w5ruMU2_l_8ydHQ1ZuvFk6yxyfM-IobReHJi-Szc/w141-h200/Libertarian%20Candidate%20Missing.jpg" width="141" /></a>I've been inactive in the Libertarian Party for a while now. And it seems I'm not alone.<br /></div><br />I recently received the California Voters Guide for the upcoming June 7, 2022 primary election. I was surprised to see that not a single Libertarian candidate bothered to run for office throughout the state, or in my area -- Los Angeles County. <br /><br />Take a look at the <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.com/articles/2022/primary2022.html">list of candidates</a>. Apart from plenty of Democratic and Republican candidates, the Green Party is running several candidates, as is the Peace & Freedom Party. Also many candidates listed as "No Party Preference" and "No Qualified Party Preference."<p></p><p>But not a single Libertarian.</p><p>Also no one from the American Independent Party, but that's no surprise. They rarely run candidates.</p><p>However, Don J. Grundmann is running as "No Qualified Party Preference." In his candidate statement, he says he belongs to the Constitution Party, which is not ballot qualified in California.<br /><br />So the Constitution Party, which is so tiny that it does not qualify as a legal political party in California, managed to field a candidate. While the Libertarian Party, with all its greater resources and membership numbers, failed to run any candidates.<br /><br />Now, it's possible that the LP is running candidates in other parts of California. Or not. But definitely no one at the state level. And no one in Los Angeles, the state's most populous region. <br /><br />I wonder how this happened? I know Top Two has hurt all third parties. But the Green, Peace and Freedom, and even Constitution parties managed to rise to the challenge, while the LP is MIA.</p><p>======== <br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-3815393476793350362021-04-22T23:48:00.003-07:002021-04-22T23:48:59.805-07:00Dangers of Second Hand Marijuana Smoke<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KD3cmoRzmIx6r00MIvQgR3oPbnHeGX1XFRrctYKKpdslmyUggaKsbQioLV05E0DNQTs7LD360RCl4y77gJDcsw1O1ZmkqeR6tJ3yjZAFGQoXdAZ09SEdmTkLjWjmqcgeovVEYA/s500/Marijuana+Dangerous.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0; text-align: center; clear: right; float: right;"><img alt="" border="0" width="200" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9KD3cmoRzmIx6r00MIvQgR3oPbnHeGX1XFRrctYKKpdslmyUggaKsbQioLV05E0DNQTs7LD360RCl4y77gJDcsw1O1ZmkqeR6tJ3yjZAFGQoXdAZ09SEdmTkLjWjmqcgeovVEYA/s200/Marijuana+Dangerous.jpg"/></a></div><i>Libertarians tend to be blindly (irrationally) defensive of marijuana. Because The State prohibited marijuana smoking for so long, it must be a good thing.<p>
But consider these facts, taken from the <a href="https://no-smoke.org/secondhand-marijuana-smoke-fact-sheet/">American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation website</a>:</i><p><p>
* Secondhand smoke from combusted marijuana contains fine particulate matter that can be breathed deeply into the lungs, which can cause lung irritation, asthma attacks, and makes respiratory infections more likely. Exposure to fine particulate matter can exacerbate health problems especially for people with respiratory conditions like asthma, bronchitis, or COPD.<p>
* Significant amounts of mercury, cadmium, nickel, lead, hydrogen cyanide, and chromium, as well as 3 times the amount of ammonia, are found in mainstream marijuana smoke than is in tobacco smoke.<p>
* In 2009, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment added marijuana smoke to its Proposition 65 list of carcinogens and reproductive toxins, also known as the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986. It reported that at least 33 individual constituents present in both marijuana smoke and tobacco smoke are Proposition 65 carcinogens.<p>
* Secondhand smoke from marijuana has many of the same chemicals as smoke from tobacco, including those linked to lung cancer.<p>
* Secondhand marijuana exposure impairs blood vessel function. Published studies on rats show that thirty minutes of exposure to secondhand marijuana smoke at levels comparable to those found in restaurants that allow cigarette smoking led to substantial impairment of blood vessel function. Marijuana smoke exposure had a greater and longer-lasting effect on blood vessel function than exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke.<p>
* One minute of exposure to marijuana SHS substantially impairs endothelial function in rats for at least 90 minutes, considerably longer than comparable impairment by tobacco SHS. The findings in rats suggest that SHS can exert similar adverse cardiovascular effects regardless of whether it is from tobacco or marijuana.<p>
* Secondhand marijuana smoke and secondhand tobacco smoke is similar in many ways. More research is needed, but the current body of science shows that both tobacco and marijuana smoke have similar chemical composition and suggests that they may have harmful cardiovascular health effects, such as atherosclerosis (partially blocked arteries), heart attack, and stroke.<p><p>
============================Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-36012681547128781252020-09-29T10:34:00.003-07:002020-09-29T10:34:49.582-07:00Congressman Tom McClintock's Recommendations for California's November 2020 Ballot Propositions<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRAzqRlHjcnENmNiJpGSfCAcuviorKfYrNldt5dvvs74TaZ4W7w_r0TVxuXg38fotSWSux8d4G4A-ILqgs4coSsUsfLAdzTfO-Pir6MC8pLZlMr6hgBA6NmIP4tSH8uf2_is6CA/s331/Congressman+Tom+McClintock.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="331" data-original-width="220" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPRAzqRlHjcnENmNiJpGSfCAcuviorKfYrNldt5dvvs74TaZ4W7w_r0TVxuXg38fotSWSux8d4G4A-ILqgs4coSsUsfLAdzTfO-Pir6MC8pLZlMr6hgBA6NmIP4tSH8uf2_is6CA/w133-h200/Congressman+Tom+McClintock.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>Congressman <a href="http://www.flashreport.org/blog/2020/09/21/mcclintock-on-the-ballot-propositions/">Tom McClintock</a> offers his recommendations on California's November 2020 ballot propositions:<p></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Proposition 14</b> – Brewster’s Billions: <b>NO</b>.
“Brewster’s Millions” tells the story of a fictional character in 1902,
who, in order to inherit $7 million, must first spend $1 million in a
year and have nothing to show for it. In 2004, California voters were
convinced to spend $3 billion on Stem Cell research – or about $260
(plus interest) for every family in California. A recent report found
that $2.1 billion went to beneficiaries with links to the board that
doles out the money. That money is now all but spent, with nothing to
show for it. So, they’re back with another bond, this one for $5.5
billion (about $478 per family). This is amusing only as fiction.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 15</b> – How Not to Succeed in Business: <b>NO</b>.
From the “How Tone Deaf Can They Be” file comes this proposal to
reassess businesses annually in order to hike their property taxes.
That’s because the state-ordered lockdowns, the arrests of shopkeepers
trying to keep their businesses going, combined with California’s
highest-in-the-country income and sales taxes and anti-business
regulations, have left California’s small businesses flush with cash. It
is still possible to build a successful small business in California,
as long as you start with a successful large one. And remember,
businesses don’t pay taxes: YOU pay business taxes, as a consumer
through higher prices, as an employee through lower wages or as an
investor through lower earnings (think 401k).<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 16</b> – Judging People by the Color of their Skin and Not the Content of the Character: <b>NO</b>.
In the Parents Involved Case of 2007, Chief Justice Roberts noted that
“The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop
discriminating on the basis of race.” California voters had come to the
same conclusion when they passed Proposition 209 in 1996, which forbids
state government from discriminating or giving preferential treatment
“on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin in
public employment, public education, and public contracting.” Prop 16
repeals this civil rights protection for all Californians and opens a
new era of official discrimination based on race.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 17</b> – Bank Robbers for Biden: <b>NO</b>.
If there were any doubt of the Democrats’ contempt for the electorate,
this should dispel it. This bill gives felons on parole the right to
vote. Enough said.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 18</b> – High School Voters: <b>NO</b>.
Wait, there’s more! Here’s a proposal to give 17-year-olds the right to
vote in primary and special elections. Democrats are counting on their
good judgment, experience and common sense to counter the influence of
their nagging, annoying and totally unreasonable parents.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 19</b> – Fire Sale: <b>NO</b>.
Right now, parents can leave the family home to their family without a
crippling property tax hike. This bill ends that exemption, purportedly
to add more money for firefighting. It’s a good bet that more family
homes will be lost in fire sales than in fires.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 20</b> – A Step Back from the Abyss: <b>YES</b>.
Long version: This measure repairs some of the damage of Jerry Brown
era laws that have made California less safe. It increases penalties for
many theft and fraud crimes that Brown reduced to misdemeanors,
requires convicts to submit DNA for state and federal databases and
restores the ability of parole boards to keep dangerous prisoners behind
bars. Short version: Jerry Brown opposes it.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 21</b> – Rent Control with Nothing to Rent: <b>NO</b>.
There’s an old soviet-era saying, “What good is a free bus ticket in a
city with no buses?” The same is true of rent. Rent controls are very
effective at drying up the supply of rental housing in any community
where they’re imposed. Those currently renting do very well, but they
hold on to their old apartments and landlords stop building new ones.
Presto: nothing to rent – but at a very affordable price.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 22</b> – Let My Uber Go: <b>YES</b>.
One of the worst bills ever enacted by the California legislature (and
that says a lot) is AB 5, that essentially ended independent contracting
in California. This measure exempts app-based drivers, meaning
independent contractors put out of work by AB 5 can still take an Uber
to a free state.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 23</b> — Bringing Venezuelan Heath Care to Dialysis Patients: <b>NO</b>.
Two years ago, SEIU tried to impose price controls on dialysis. They
lost and are back with this measure that imposes onerous and expensive
requirements to have physicians on duty at dialysis clinics and
prohibiting them from going out of business without state approval. This
will help dialysis patients by assuring higher prices and will help
encourage new clinics to open by forbidding them ever to close. Makes
perfect sense.<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 24</b> – When in Doubt, Don’t: <b>NO</b>.
This measure purports to expand consumer privacy, but the Electronic
Frontier Foundation, a consumer privacy group, calls it “a mixed bag of
partial steps backwards and forwards.” Here’s what is crystal clear: it
will unleash a new regulatory agency with vast powers to prosecute
businesses that run afoul of the increasingly intricate consumer privacy
laws in California. Another nail in the coffin of the once “Golden
State.”<br /></p><p><br /><b>Proposition 25</b> – Catch and Release: <b>NO</b>.
When suspects are arrested, they’re jailed until posting bail to assure
they show up for trial. Surprisingly, many suspects don’t want to; go
figure. Jerry Brown and the lunatic legislature did away with this
process in 2018, replacing cash bail with “risk assessments.” This law
was temporarily suspended pending this referendum, but the leftist
Judicial Council did away with bail for most crimes during the COVID
scare, resulting in the arrest, immediate release and subsequent
re-arrests of criminal suspects the same day for different crimes. A NO
vote would repeal this insane law.</p>===============Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-75700909222910047032019-08-25T12:14:00.001-07:002019-08-25T12:14:13.450-07:00Tulsi Gabbard: The Best Among the Democrats<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRqruwkj3OOL6s6ON3RJSjbrkzkxR8mqBSXdAUcGVPERlfKxu2NXJR7iDhKwdyj3NOCj-DSSuzYGl98WeouAlEtgqSiFBIb2P3MEvSdM45xJdQ5e-LuoXAlwGgLQVRsDN6Ghm1A/s1600/Tulsi+Gabbard.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvRqruwkj3OOL6s6ON3RJSjbrkzkxR8mqBSXdAUcGVPERlfKxu2NXJR7iDhKwdyj3NOCj-DSSuzYGl98WeouAlEtgqSiFBIb2P3MEvSdM45xJdQ5e-LuoXAlwGgLQVRsDN6Ghm1A/s200/Tulsi+Gabbard.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
For now, at least, <a href="https://www.tulsi2020.com/">Tulsi Gabbard</a> seems the lesser evil among the major party candidates running for president. She's <i>saying</i> some good things about foreign policy. She's opposes "regime change wars" (her term) and is willing to explore peace options with enemies.<br />
<br />
Some of her recent tweets:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"<a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1165610049139437569">I'll never apologize</a> to smear merchants for doing everything I can to
prevent more of my brothers & sisters from being killed/wounded. If
it means meeting with a brutal dictator or a 100 dictators, I will do
whatever it takes to prevent or end a regime change war." —TeamTulsi<br />
<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1165252668798844928">U.S. presence in Afghanistan</a> costs $4 billion a month. Imagine what we
could do with those billions to care for our sick, support our teachers,
provide housing & education, & other ways serve the American
people. I’ll end wars that waste our money and make us less safe."
—TeamTulsi<br />
<br />
<br />
"<a href="https://twitter.com/TulsiGabbard/status/1164531416899579905">As president I'll end</a> the failed war on drugs, legalize marijuana, end
cash bail, and ban private prisons and bring about real criminal justice
reform. I’ll crack down on the overreaching intel agencies and big tech
monopolies who threaten our civil liberties and free speech."</blockquote>
<br />
She's not perfect. What candidate is? Especially from an establishment party. But the U.S. could do much worse than electing <a href="https://www.tulsi2020.com/">Gabbard</a> for president in 2020.<br />
<br />
============<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-63480839235302371502018-12-26T13:13:00.001-08:002018-12-26T13:13:52.198-08:00Memories of a Not Much Loved President Bush<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VGu4jpwah4Xip8qURCnrv7YWQl0vQxd1hgllAZBzi8_qemx7jrl0PzD8qe2Eqh0UAisV0fP0Ux2k-ZPajrc73oukou3nsQnYk6n3bWnEnksnNuUvIXScF9EyEqNr4FByOTNg4A/s1600/George+H+W+Bush+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="350" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5VGu4jpwah4Xip8qURCnrv7YWQl0vQxd1hgllAZBzi8_qemx7jrl0PzD8qe2Eqh0UAisV0fP0Ux2k-ZPajrc73oukou3nsQnYk6n3bWnEnksnNuUvIXScF9EyEqNr4FByOTNg4A/s200/George+H+W+Bush+small.jpg" width="158" /></a></div>
Former President George H.W. Bush died last November 30th. I wrote my own memories about the man and his legacy on December 9th, publishing it in a few places.<br />
<br />
<div class="auto-style1">
Here is what I wrote:</div>
<div class="auto-style1">
<br /></div>
<div class="auto-style1">
Like Winston Smith in George Orwell's
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451524934/communistvampire">
1984</a>, I see the telling of recent history changing before my eyes.
This past week, commentators across the political spectrum praised the
late President
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1501106678/communistvampire">
George H.W. Bush</a>.</div>
<div class="auto-style1">
<br /></div>
<div class="auto-style13">
But I don't recall him having gotten much love
during his political career. ... <a href="http://www.libertarianpeacenik.com/articles/2018/bush.html">click to continue</a>.</div>
<div class="auto-style13">
<br /></div>
<div class="auto-style13">
============</div>
<div class="auto-style13">
<br /></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-62299795794820231972018-06-17T19:58:00.000-07:002018-06-17T19:58:12.679-07:00Israel Attacks Free Speech -- Bans Filming Soldiers<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZN7t8oKqaOsjP2eNjVdC30uuQdpwQIVfkSV9sFAiHLW5x7ysl3RCvrDA9LcSIwZDt1hOga32z-sR86NFwHBMSYshnva3vAC7jWXTtBlzeqjxfPyOZhauNerNS9cg1qXsuUvQoA/s1600/anti+free+speech.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="314" data-original-width="314" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpZN7t8oKqaOsjP2eNjVdC30uuQdpwQIVfkSV9sFAiHLW5x7ysl3RCvrDA9LcSIwZDt1hOga32z-sR86NFwHBMSYshnva3vAC7jWXTtBlzeqjxfPyOZhauNerNS9cg1qXsuUvQoA/s200/anti+free+speech.gif" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/israeli-ministers-back-ban-filming-soldiers-134728070.html">the AFP</a>, (June 17, 2018) another example in liberty from The Mideast's Only Democracy!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jerusalem
(AFP) - Israeli ministers on Sunday backed a draft law carrying a jail
term of up to 10 years for those who film or photograph soldiers with
harmful intent, the justice ministry said. </span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="Critics say the law, which will now face a series of parliamentary debates, could be a threat to free speech." data-reactid="23" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Critics say the law, which will now face a series of parliamentary debates, could be a threat to free speech.</span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="Critics say the law, which will now face a series of parliamentary debates, could be a threat to free speech." data-reactid="23" type="text">
<br /></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The ministerial committee on legislation endorsed the bill against "people who film, photograph or record soldiers performing their duties in order to demoralise soldiers and Israeli civilians"." data-reactid="24" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
ministerial committee on legislation endorsed the bill against "people
who film, photograph or record soldiers performing their duties in order
to demoralise soldiers and Israeli civilians".</span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The ministerial committee on legislation endorsed the bill against "people who film, photograph or record soldiers performing their duties in order to demoralise soldiers and Israeli civilians"." data-reactid="24" type="text">
<br /></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The draft law would give courts the power to imprison those found guilty for five years, although a 10-year sentence would apply to defendants convicted of trying to "harm the state's security"." data-reactid="25" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
draft law would give courts the power to imprison those found guilty
for five years, although a 10-year sentence would apply to defendants
convicted of trying to "harm the state's security".</span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The draft law would give courts the power to imprison those found guilty for five years, although a 10-year sentence would apply to defendants convicted of trying to "harm the state's security"." data-reactid="25" type="text">
<br /></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<br /></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, filming active duty Israeli soldiers has proven to be problematic for the Israelis. The article cites the following embarrassing incident:</span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An Israeli soldier was recently released from prison after serving nine
months behind bars for shooting dead an injured Palestinian, an act
which was caught on video by a human rights group and spread widely
online.</span></div>
</blockquote>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<br /></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hmm, nine <i>months</i> for murdering an already injured (i.e., harmless) Palestinian. </span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, I know that many Arab nations are just as bad. But the U.S. media and politicians don't incessantly drone on about those Arab nations' stellar commitments to liberty and human rights. Israel's supporters do. So it's only fair to point out the <i>many</i> instances wherein Israel's actions fall short of its propaganda. </span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">===================</span></div>
<div class="canvas-atom canvas-text Mb(1.0em) Mb(0)--sm Mt(0.8em)--sm" content="The same prison terms would apply to people sharing such images or recordings on social media or through traditional media." data-reactid="26" type="text">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-10013310264793180402018-05-15T10:36:00.002-07:002018-05-15T10:36:52.259-07:00Philosopher Daniel DeNicola Opens Door to Thought Police<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXkwePtrXe8k9C0xIFCj-olJm7n2IOd4jZlrJmeTi2rS5XWlm_wZR4wguy__EJCekyT8NtMOcTTbq2RSdpE2zXztPJ7DRuwOE60gbKube3yL_UDlfAkmilnaPL_azxxNe6GV2FQ/s1600/Thought+Police.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="551" data-original-width="388" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUXkwePtrXe8k9C0xIFCj-olJm7n2IOd4jZlrJmeTi2rS5XWlm_wZR4wguy__EJCekyT8NtMOcTTbq2RSdpE2zXztPJ7DRuwOE60gbKube3yL_UDlfAkmilnaPL_azxxNe6GV2FQ/s200/Thought+Police.png" width="140" /></a></div>
<div class="entry-title" style="text-align: left;">
We live in an ever more <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0452284236/communistvampire">Orwellian</a> society. As recently as the 1970s, conservatives and liberals <i>both</i> commonly said, <i>"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."</i> -- (Variously attributed to <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0241236622/communistvampire">Voltaire</a> or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/111315215X/communistvampire">Evelyn Beatrice Hall</a>.)</div>
<br />
My, how things have changed. Americans, especially the young, increasingly oppose free speech. Especially if it's "hate speech."<br />
<br />
<div class="article__header__title article__header__title--idea" style="text-align: left;">
But <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262036444/communistvampire">Daniel DeNicola</a>, professor and chair of philosophy at Gettysburg College, is pushing the Orwellian envelop even further, in an article in <i>Aeon</i>, astonishingly titled: <span style="font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://aeon.co/ideas/you-dont-have-a-right-to-believe-whatever-you-want-to">You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to</a>.
</span></div>
<br />
I don't?<br />
<br />
Among other things, DeNicola writes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Unfortunately, many people today seem to <i>take great licence with the
right to believe</i>, flouting their responsibility. The wilful ignorance
and false knowledge that are commonly defended by the assertion 'I have a
right to my belief' do not meet [William] James's requirements. Consider those
who believe that the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1545393575/communistvampire">lunar landings</a> or the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0692559167/communistvampire">Sandy Hook school shooting </a>
were unreal, government-created dramas; that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1479314471/communistvampire">Barack Obama is Muslim</a>;
that the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1943056013/communistvampire">Earth is flat</a>; or that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1608320839/communistvampire"><i>climate change is a hoax</i></a>. </blockquote>
<br />My italics. Because I wasn't aware that one <i>could</i> "take great license" with the right to believe. I thought I had an absolute right to my thoughts.<br />
<br />
And I do <i>not</i> believe in man-made climate change. So I guess I'm a Thought Criminal?<br />
<br />
DeNicola also writes:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Believing, like willing, seems
fundamental to autonomy, the ultimate ground of one's freedom. But, as
Clifford also remarked: <i>'No one man's belief is in any case a private
matter which concerns himself alone.'</i> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Beliefs shape attitudes and
motives, guide choices and actions. Believing and knowing are formed
within an epistemic community, which also bears their effects. There is
<i>an ethic of believing</i>, of acquiring, sustaining, and relinquishing
beliefs – and that ethic both generates and <i>limits our right to believe</i>.
If some beliefs are false, or morally repugnant, or irresponsible, some
beliefs are also dangerous. <i>And to those, we have no right</i>.</blockquote>
<br />
Well, I find <i>DeNicola's belief</i> -- that we have no right to certain beliefs -- to be false, morally repugnant, irresponsible, and dangerous.<br />
<br />
Anyone know how I might report DeNicola to the Thought Police?<br />
<br />
================ <br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-5590327611873748962018-05-11T07:58:00.001-07:002018-05-11T07:58:47.928-07:00Libertarian Party of California Lies About Its Anti-Discrimination Plank<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The May 1, 2018 issue of the <i>Santa Monica Daily Press</i> ran a <a href="http://backissues.smdp.com/050118.pdf">front page story</a> about the Libertarian Party of California's convention the previous weekend: "Samohi Alumna elected to lead state Libertarian Party."<br />
<br />
In it, <i>SMDP</i> reporter Kate Cagle wrote: "Rather than a part of the Republican coalition, the California Libertarian Party's website presents its platform as the middle between the two dominant parties. They support choice, LGBTQ equality, <i>anti-discrimination laws</i>, private unions, gun ownership, lower taxes, and privatized retirement options."<br />
<br />
Cagle failed to do proper journalistic reseach by reading the LPC's <i>actual</i> platform. However, her false reporting can be partially forgiven because the top of the LPC's platform webpage does misrepresent its position on anti-discrimination laws.<br />
<br />
Here's what Cagle saw at the top of the LPC's <a href="https://ca.lp.org/platform/">platform webpage</a>:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJfW1-BPlGIDEs8TPYa5ZP_fSBdfAW91RAa9a0WgIyr4A94gFsNiPesyNMCrqdEaSTnRpZPTmmdzqyvk-QRZsnywQ6x2G2yFIW4DI8Ex4hYXMvrAsH7vHp1fOAI4ldj-Vr2HvFA/s1600/LPC+platform.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="338" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkJfW1-BPlGIDEs8TPYa5ZP_fSBdfAW91RAa9a0WgIyr4A94gFsNiPesyNMCrqdEaSTnRpZPTmmdzqyvk-QRZsnywQ6x2G2yFIW4DI8Ex4hYXMvrAsH7vHp1fOAI4ldj-Vr2HvFA/s320/LPC+platform.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Later that same day, I emailed the following Letter to the Editor to the <i>Santa Monica Daily Press</i>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Kate Cagle reports that "the California Libertarian Party’s website presents its platform as the middle between the two dominant parties. They support choice, LGBTQ equality, anti-discrimination laws..."<br /><br />Well, no. The "presentation" atop the CLP platform webpage (which Ms. Cagle cites) misrepresents the party's position. Farther down is a link to the actual 2017 platform (the most recent online) which opposes government discrimination, but affirms the rights of individuals and businesses to discriminate. I quote:<br /><br />"No level of government should deny or abridge the rights of any individual on account of sex, race, color, creed, age, national origin, economic status, marital status, sexual preference, physical ability, mental ability, or place of employment. We affirm that government should not use quota systems based on any of the above criteria.<br /><br />"We oppose all governmental attempts to regulate private choice in association, including discrimination in employment, housing, and the use of privately-owned "public" accommodations. The right to trade includes the right not to trade--any reason whatsoever. [sic] We also call for the repeal of the so-called Civil Rights Act of 1991 whose self-contradictory provisions force employers to use hiring quotas on the basis of race and sex in order to avoid "disparate impact" lawsuits, but whose provisions make it illegal to use such hiring quotas.<br /><br />"We call for the repeal of the American With Disabilities Act (ADA), since it imposes mandates on employers to hire individuals they may not wish to hire, such as alcohol or drug abusers and people with personality disorders. Additionally, businesses are told what type of facilities to provide, which violates private property rights, and also discourages employers from hiring low skilled or disabled people."<br /><br />The entire 2017 platform (all 26 pages) can be found here: https://u1myo26o1t789cb2l4fjwcx8-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Platform-of-the-Libertarian-Party-of-California-as-amended-in-Convention-April-30-2017.pdf</blockquote>
<br />
As of this writing, the SMDP has not published my LTE.<br />
<br />
=============<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-15007242621952869782018-03-04T10:53:00.000-08:002018-03-04T10:53:17.238-08:00LPC Chair Ted Brown Heads for Texas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLH4qC0NGuI3wapJyXsGjL4i3kNrvO5F-Pi2fImOkE5xNHQIE3MX10oXZfKBWzMSTBaKfUBL_NM_emAzGDDW3FXdxQVsbqG9Kp5iu8Vv21_paLn0fPctHtrlDfbZwPqsBHWPSi6Q/s1600/Teb+Brown+at+the+2008+Libertarian+National+Convention.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="400" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLH4qC0NGuI3wapJyXsGjL4i3kNrvO5F-Pi2fImOkE5xNHQIE3MX10oXZfKBWzMSTBaKfUBL_NM_emAzGDDW3FXdxQVsbqG9Kp5iu8Vv21_paLn0fPctHtrlDfbZwPqsBHWPSi6Q/s200/Teb+Brown+at+the+2008+Libertarian+National+Convention.jpg" width="126" /></a></div>
Ted and Laura Brown have relocated from Pasadena, California to Austin, Texas.<br />
<br />
Brown is a longtime California libertarian, antiwar activist, and past and current Chair of the Libertarian Party of California. He intends to finish his term as LPC Chair, and will be at the upcoming <a href="https://ca.lp.org/convention/">2018 LPC convention</a> this April.<br />
<br />
Over the past 15 years, quite a few California libertarians I've known have left the Golden State for states with lower taxes and less regulation. Brown joins the exodus.<br />
<br />
California's loss is Texas's gain.<br />
<br />
===================</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-52441945414885529182018-02-17T08:26:00.000-08:002018-02-17T08:26:19.463-08:00Libertarian Party Has 0.74% of Registered Voters in California <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPpjfw2cOVexLwkoU2BzwLqsztbXUbAnNwxpFhrUPoh4BDB4XcbdBSTWBCaYujpQeFsIYOVxwvtajmCmr2Y6eo1a5o8rEbU6xx36rUy4T0KCLVzEBlL0RG2gxCuoyfBvsXXRT5oQ/s1600/I+voted.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="167" data-original-width="303" height="110" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPpjfw2cOVexLwkoU2BzwLqsztbXUbAnNwxpFhrUPoh4BDB4XcbdBSTWBCaYujpQeFsIYOVxwvtajmCmr2Y6eo1a5o8rEbU6xx36rUy4T0KCLVzEBlL0RG2gxCuoyfBvsXXRT5oQ/s200/I+voted.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
California's Secretary of State has released the latest registration data, showing the following breakdown of registered voters by party:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="card collection-item" data-type="text">
<div class=" card-content ">
<i>Democratic Party ..... 44.63%</i><br />
<i> </i></div>
<i> </i></div>
<i> </i><div class="card collection-item" data-type="text">
<div class=" card-content ">
<br />
<i>Republican Party ..... 25.44%</i><br />
</div>
</div>
<i> </i><div class="card collection-item" data-type="text">
<div class=" card-content ">
<br />
<i>No Party Preference ..... 24.95%</i><br />
</div>
</div>
<i> </i><div class="card collection-item" data-type="text">
<div class=" card-content ">
<br />
<i>American Independent Party ..... 2.66%</i><br />
</div>
</div>
<i> </i><div class="card collection-item" data-type="text">
<div class=" card-content ">
<br />
<i>Libertarian Party ..... 0.74%</i><br />
</div>
</div>
<i> </i><div class="card collection-item" data-type="text">
<div class=" card-content ">
<br />
<i>Green Party ..... 0.48%</i><br />
</div>
</div>
<i> </i><div class="card collection-item" data-type="text">
<i> </i><div class=" card-content ">
<i> </i></div>
<div class=" card-content ">
<i>Peace and Freedom Party ..... 0.40%</i></div>
<div class=" card-content ">
</div>
<div class=" card-content ">
</div>
<div class=" card-content ">
Phil Willon of the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> (February 16, 2018) <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-voter-registration-20180216-story.html">notes that California's independents will soon outnumber Republicans</a>.</div>
<div class=" card-content ">
</div>
<div class=" card-content ">
California law requires <a href="http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/political-parties/political-party-qualification/">that a political party have at least 0.33%</a> "of the total number of voters registered on the 154th day before the
primary election or the 123rd day before the presidential general
election" to maintain ballot status. So the LPC's ballot status seems safe for the foreseeable future.</div>
<div class=" card-content ">
</div>
<div class=" card-content ">
========== </div>
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-31310285100681692572018-02-02T00:59:00.002-08:002018-02-02T01:44:27.197-08:00Libertarian Party Rejects Ron Paul<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzIhh9KlFdzzXIFKwTZ5uWuS8WJ43O142mp0-w7ro76uYyMgtVJrbenwidBUc_MF3bntdDUE7T1oh2diRAqAuH963eGUFpEuD2ufzdi0Kl3YhoD1ae9g_picdk65xCd6uTsNarQ/s1600/Ron+Paul+and+Andrew+Napolitano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="612" data-original-width="1024" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdzIhh9KlFdzzXIFKwTZ5uWuS8WJ43O142mp0-w7ro76uYyMgtVJrbenwidBUc_MF3bntdDUE7T1oh2diRAqAuH963eGUFpEuD2ufzdi0Kl3YhoD1ae9g_picdk65xCd6uTsNarQ/s400/Ron+Paul+and+Andrew+Napolitano.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
The Libertarian Party has rejected both <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0912453001/communistvampire">Ron Paul</a> and Judge <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1595553509/communistvampire">Andrew Napolitano</a> as speakers for the upcoming LP convention in July.<br />
<br />
Danny Wolf reports in <i>The Columbian Post</i> (Feb 2, 2018):<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[T]he Libertarian Party has chosen to reject an opportunity to have
both Ron Paul and Judge Andrew Napolitano speak at the Libertarian
National Convention in July. ...<br />
<br />
After securing both speakers at his own expense, Heise [leader of the LP Mises Caucus], and the
voters who the "Libertarian" Party pretends to represent, were surprised
to find out that the LP convention committee chair, Daniel Hayes,
rejected both Paul and Napolitano.<br />
<br />
Hayes cited <a href="http://www.ronpaullibertyreport.com/archives/good-news-young-americans-want-a-new-political-party">an article</a>
dated December 4, 2017, as his reasoning. In the article, Paul bluntly
criticizes the Libertarian Party for its failings ...</blockquote>
<br />
Read Wolf's full <a href="https://columbianpost.com/latest-news/libertarian-party-rejects-ron-paul-judge-napolitano/">article here</a>.<br />
<br />
=================</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-44897866559756028352017-11-26T22:46:00.000-08:002017-11-26T22:47:38.530-08:00U.S. State Dept. Interferes in 2018 Hungarian Elections<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXlm1yNupymywu5UfVeTgFhZm2UAnRAlyOtZspKq-iXHToCIPNeRKBeSTwX4MmtDXTfvyiUTvZtOkdfN91xhmkDibAw4dGBiC46Wer3i25Cfysj60ccMGQO7EVQMDEIJeNS9YrQ/s1600/Hungary+on+map.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="733" data-original-width="1036" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXlm1yNupymywu5UfVeTgFhZm2UAnRAlyOtZspKq-iXHToCIPNeRKBeSTwX4MmtDXTfvyiUTvZtOkdfN91xhmkDibAw4dGBiC46Wer3i25Cfysj60ccMGQO7EVQMDEIJeNS9YrQ/s200/Hungary+on+map.png" width="200" /></a></div>
Democrats complain about Russia's <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1544925921/communistvampire">alleged interference</a> in the 2016 American presidential election. I don't think Russia <i>did</i> interfere, but either way, it's hypocritical of Americans to complain about it, considering the United States' decades long history of trying in influence foreign elections.<br />
<br />
A current example is the U.S. State Dept attempt to influence Hungary's upcoming 2018 elections.<br />
<br />
<i>The Hungary Journal</i> <a href="https://thehungaryjournal.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/foreign-ministry-summons-the-us-charge-daffaires/amp/">reports</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Hungary's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade summoned David
Kostelancik, charge d'affaires at the United States’ embassy in
Budapest, after the US State Department launched a media fund for rural
media outlets in Hungary, <a href="http://rtl.hu/rtlklub/hirek/bekerettek-az-amerikai-ugyvivot">RTL Klub</a> reported.</blockquote>
<br />
What is this "media fund"? Apparently, the U.S. State Department is spending $700,000 of American taxpayers' money to influence elections in Hungary. This "media fund" come from a State Department office that goes by the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451524934/communistvampire">Orwellian</a> name "Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor" (DRL).<br />
<br />
Details about this "media fund" can be found on the State Department's <a href="https://www.state.gov/j/drl/p/275396.htm">own website</a>, which states:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
DRL's goal is to support media outlets operating outside the capital in
Hungary to produce fact-based reporting and increase their audience and
economic sustainability. The program should increase citizens’ access to
objective information about domestic and global issues of public
importance, by enhancing local media’s ability to engage a larger
audience, including their print, multimedia, and online readership. The
program should improve the quality of local traditional and online media
and increase the public’s access to reliable and unbiased information. </blockquote>
<br />
Lots of gobbledegook about "objectivity" and "fact-based reporting." This is code for reporting that supports the current U.S. trade and foreign policies of globalism and imperialism.<br />
<br />
The Hungary Journal goes on to <a href="https://thehungaryjournal.wordpress.com/2017/11/14/foreign-ministry-summons-the-us-charge-daffaires/amp/">report</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
With the upcoming elections in 2018, the Hungarian government
considers the State Department’s announcement as "intervention into
Hungarian domestic politics".<br />
<br />
Group leader of the ruling Fidesz party, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/9638824077/communistvamp">Gergely Gulyas</a> was asked
about the State Department’s plans to support the media in the Hungarian
provinces. He said that it was "an attempt to interfere with Hungary's
affairs" and added that similar foreign attempts would not be tolerated
by the US political elite, no matter where the money comes from.</blockquote>
<br />
The current Hungarian government, led by Victor Orban, has resisted the European Union's attempts (supported by the United States) to dictate immigration policies to Hungary.<br />
<br />
==============<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-74695445788180471572017-11-20T23:59:00.001-08:002017-11-21T00:07:24.154-08:00New York City Libertarian Party Runs Skyjacker Aaron Commey for Mayor<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0s5mPwfcOdiVrGX2G4PYEtbFUwy24CHKAwQOfCQZZmROXn39VQ2gqOTbzR-y_K-pWUdbe7NLcWCWo9wkDt6WYKGtoVYyCWS2OY88wsaogOPdDcwqcVngk9b0XFYZLm1iwDW5p3Q/s1600/Aaron+Commey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="709" data-original-width="409" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0s5mPwfcOdiVrGX2G4PYEtbFUwy24CHKAwQOfCQZZmROXn39VQ2gqOTbzR-y_K-pWUdbe7NLcWCWo9wkDt6WYKGtoVYyCWS2OY88wsaogOPdDcwqcVngk9b0XFYZLm1iwDW5p3Q/s200/Aaron+Commey.jpg" width="115" /></a></div>
This is ... <i>interesting</i>. I just learned the New York City Libertarian Party ran a (formerly) mentally ill skyjacker, Aaron Commey, for mayor.<br />
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
The election was held two weeks ago. Of the seven candidates, Commey
finished last, pulling 2,598 votes, which was 0.2% of the vote total.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Who is Commey? On October 24, 2017, Jeff Coltin, reporting for <i>City & State New York</i>, wrote: </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div dir="ltr">
... on July
27, 2000, [Commey] was 22 years old and suffering from delusional disorder and
paranoid schizophrenia when he walked onto a Boeing 757 bound for Las
Vegas and rushed into the cockpit while brandishing a handgun. ...</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
He later explained that he had planned to parachute
into Antarctica to destroy the "Cabal," a secret organization that
wanted to "take over the world through mass destruction." </div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
In the end, the plane never took off and nobody was
injured, while Commey was arrested and charged with five crimes,
including attempt to commit aircraft piracy. ...</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
In September 2003, Commey was found not guilty on all
counts by reason of insanity. ... </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"I spent about 15 years in prison, was never convicted," Commey said. "And it shaped me into the person I am today."<br />
<br />
Commey said that government officials and judges
refused to let him go for years, despite having doctors say he had fully
recovered. "Experiencing my own personal injustice, seeing injustice
happen to other guys," he said, "that’s one of the things that had
driven me to wanting to get involved to try to change the system."
<br />
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
It also turned him into a Libertarian.</div>
</blockquote>
<div dir="ltr">
<br />
Read Coltin's <a href="http://cityandstateny.com/articles/politics/campaigns-and-elections/nyc-mayoral-candidate-aaron-commey-hijacked-plane-at-22.html">full story here</a>.<br />
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
I suppose the LPNY knew of Commey's history. His <a href="https://www.votecommey.com/meet-aaron">candidate's website</a> says:</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="color_18">Aaron Commey is intelligent,
Resilient and a fighter for justice. Commey's passion for reform was
born out of his own experience overcoming his own trials and
tribulations with the Justice System and Mental Health Issues.</span> </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="font_8">
<span class="color_18">Aaron is an example of the
American spirit that is ready to overcome any challenge and provide
opportunities to those who seek it. </span></div>
</blockquote>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
Libertarians have a long since developed a reputation for running the most colorful candidates, among them California's <a href="http://mobile.wnd.com/2002/04/13359/">Ferret Man</a>, Montana's <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2297471.stm">Blue Man</a>, and Florida's <a href="https://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2015/10/john-and-ken-show-mocks-libertarian.html">nudist goat's blood drinker</a>. We can now add to the LP's roster of oddball candidates, the skyjacker who hoped to fight the "Cabal" in Antarctica.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr">
====</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-29335670117770731292017-11-18T11:01:00.000-08:002017-11-18T11:04:52.589-08:00World War I: The Tragedy that Led to All the Other Tragedies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkbhzVOGCSqFHgW6WUckX3NiIfJYLKuDnGGB9VpvnVpUstbZP0YTxzOA2ZeQdLS0KllLUYKvO9OGweX4DgM4OGjm9LM5M9i2fi1ofCwXQSryGmXdQhL6c_1uyHMGTtu3IJd5agag/s1600/World+War+One+trench+warfare.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="950" height="151" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkbhzVOGCSqFHgW6WUckX3NiIfJYLKuDnGGB9VpvnVpUstbZP0YTxzOA2ZeQdLS0KllLUYKvO9OGweX4DgM4OGjm9LM5M9i2fi1ofCwXQSryGmXdQhL6c_1uyHMGTtu3IJd5agag/s200/World+War+One+trench+warfare.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
World War I is <i>The Great</i> tragedy of modern Western, and perhaps even world, history. It led to all the great historical tragedies of the last century, not to mention the collapse of Europe from the height of Civilization into chaos and squalor.<br />
<br />
Without World War I, there would have been no Bolshevik Revolution, no rise of Mussolini, Stalin, or Hitler. No genocides of the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1848855613/communistvampire">Armenians</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0393304167/communistvampire">Ukrainians</a>, or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0805003487/communistvampire">Jews</a>, hence, no Israel or Mideast wars. No Cold War, hence no proxy wars between the Soviets and Americans. No support for Mao with his <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0802779239/communistvampire">tens of millions of victims</a>. No Korean or Vietnam or Central American Wars. No <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0816670978/communistvampire">Cambodian genocide</a>. No American Empire.<br />
<br />
But if World War I were not avoided, the next best thing would have been a stalemate, with no clear winners. Even a limited victory for the Kaiser would have been preferable to what happened -- Germany's total defeat, its economic destruction via the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1620459914/communistvampire">Versailles Treaty</a>, and the chain of events that followed.<br />
<br />
Mike Konrad now has an excellent article in <i>The American Thinker</i> (November 18, 2017), arguing against America's entry in World War I, while unearthing some interesting historical factoids in support of his claim.<br />
<br />
You can read Konrad's <a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/11/the_great_folly_of_world_war_i.html">article here</a>.<br />
<br />
===========</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-79168894486783974292017-05-24T01:54:00.001-07:002017-05-24T01:54:09.716-07:00Israel's Hypocrisy on Trump's Leak to Putin<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmQKCtLZob8o9j2-wPcUTxGPZUXaiEC4rnK7G0qni3duF_M48DaGnuWoAawT1PNOUXVKAYaiWbPUvwyE66BprRPL48kWynPcXXu65wwabHJlrChreNSiLxJaZUqyoL2r520AtTcQ/s1600/Trump+Putin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="1500" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmQKCtLZob8o9j2-wPcUTxGPZUXaiEC4rnK7G0qni3duF_M48DaGnuWoAawT1PNOUXVKAYaiWbPUvwyE66BprRPL48kWynPcXXu65wwabHJlrChreNSiLxJaZUqyoL2r520AtTcQ/s200/Trump+Putin.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
It's difficult to find an issue on
which Israel is <i>not</i> a hypocrite, but I will focus on one of
Trump's more recent alleged scandals.
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Trump gave intelligence to
Putin, which he'd allegedly gotten from Israel. According to a report by Adam
Goldman, Eric Schmitt, and Peter Baker in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/16/world/middleeast/israel-trump-classified-intelligence-russia.html">The New York Times</a>
[May 16, 2017]:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
The classified intelligence that
President Trump disclosed in a meeting last week with Russian
officials at the White House was provided by Israel, according to a
current and a former American official familiar with how the United
States obtained the information....</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mr. Trump's boasting about some of
Israel's most sensitive information to the Russians could damage
the relationship between the two countries and raises the possibility
that the information could be passed to Iran, Russia’s close ally
and Israel's main threat in the region.</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
By some reports, Israel is upset. And
hypocritical, considering Israel's mishandling of American
intelligence. Such as that which Israel <i>stole</i> from the
U.S. through its spy <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1591146526/communistvampire">Jonathan Pollard</a>, which Israel then sold to
Russia -- when Russia was still the Soviet Union (i.e., Communist) and
America's greatest adversary.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
As reported by Philip Giraldi in <a href="http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-truth-of-jonathan-pollard/">The American Conservative</a> [Dec. 2, 2015]:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Former CIA Director <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0670823422/communistvampire">William Casey</a> and
others believed that the Israelis provided at least some of the
stolen information to the Soviet Union in exchange for the expedited
emigration of Russian Jews.
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Understand, Trump is alleged to have
given intelligence to Russia, which Israel had <i>given</i> to the
U.S. Meaning, the information wasn't damaging to Israel. Whereas Israel <i>stole</i> information from the U.S. which Israel gave to Russia. Meaning, its
release to Russia was far more damaging to the U.S.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
And Israel continues to aggressively spy on
the U.S. An Associated Press report, carried in <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/former-u-s-officials-say-cia-considers-israel-to-be-mideast-s-biggest-spy-threat-1.454189">Haaretz</a> [Jul. 28,
2012] states:</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
In addition to what the former U.S.
officials described to AP as intrusions in [American] homes in the
past decade [by Israel spies], Israel has been implicated in U.S.
criminal espionage cases and disciplinary proceedings against CIA
officers and <i>blamed in the presumed death of an important spy in
Syria for the CIA</i> during the administration of President George W.
Bush.
</div>
</blockquote>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
That's right. Our "greatest ally"
Israel is responsible for the death of an American agent.
This is noteworthy, because Israel complains that Trump's leak to Putin
endangered an Israeli spy. Hypocrisy indeed. </div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
=========== </div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-80332941227207351502017-05-18T13:26:00.000-07:002017-05-18T13:26:02.329-07:00Libertarian Party Infiltrated by Goverment Spies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Q9BqMMJyPfpUtySPwkf_vGz8vtlpKcPnUex1Su22drVGLqdjLH7IJR4Sz2nnq0A4zok7OaglwAgUSAT1RE7dq_S6VSx5PEYmGOMAy0SJyOCze8kY3NlXm6HsYNV_iNNImawwPQ/s1600/spies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_Q9BqMMJyPfpUtySPwkf_vGz8vtlpKcPnUex1Su22drVGLqdjLH7IJR4Sz2nnq0A4zok7OaglwAgUSAT1RE7dq_S6VSx5PEYmGOMAy0SJyOCze8kY3NlXm6HsYNV_iNNImawwPQ/s200/spies.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
I found the below comment, posted on April 23, 2017 by "Andy" over at <a href="http://independentpoliticalreport.com/2017/04/does-the-establishment-plant-operatives-in-third-parties/#comments">Independent Political Report</a>, to be both interesting and unnerving:<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>I know that one FIOA </i>[<a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1521195986/communistvampire">Freedom of Information Act</a>]<i> request was done by 1978 LP candidate for Governor of California, and 1980 candidate for President, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0898030471/communistvampire">Ed Clark</a>. It came out in the report there was a government plant at the first LP meeting in California, which I believe was in 1972. The name was of course redacted.</i><br />
<br />
<i>Ed Clark said that he knew everyone at that meeting, and that all of them remained active in the party for years after this. Which means that whoever this was, acted as a long term plant in the party.</i><br />
<br />
<i>I heard that an LP member from Texas did a FOIA request in the 1980s or early 1990s and found that there was a government plant at every LNC meeting that he attended when he was on the LNC. Once again, the name was redacted</i><br />
<br />
<i>I also heard from an LP member of Kentucky that somebody in their state party did a FOIA request back in the 1990s, and they found that there was a government plant in their state party, but of course, once again, the name was redacted.</i><br />
<br />
<i>I'd be willing to bet money that a lot of the weird stuff that has gone on in the LP, including right here at IPR with a lot of the troll posts, and related stuff (which includes death threats and other things only a few people here know about), is coming from government trolls.</i><br />
<br />
<i>It would not surprise me at all if the government has at least a few plants in every state party, the more active county parties, the LNC, and the more active campaigns (like the presidential campaigns).</i><br />
<br />
<i>It should be blatantly obvious that the last three LP presidential tickets have been hijackers from the establishment. </i><br />
<br />
<br />
Andy's post reminds me of a story I once heard about the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0405033885/communistvampire">Los Angeles Police Dept</a> attempting to infiltrate the local LP. The story can be taken as factual, or a joke, or as urban legend told by local LPs around the country. Its plausibility is for you to decide, but Andy's post does throw new light on the story.<br />
<br />
You can <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2008/04/man-doesnt-worry-about-libertarian.html">read this LAPD story here</a>.<br />
<br />
===================</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-26852853016638173382017-04-27T23:43:00.000-07:002017-04-27T23:43:55.349-07:00Trump's Hypocrisy on Saudi Arabia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Eir_U87nJibsXyQRDECsRU3dXNrhOsKIpgCPUOUDujkXvdGXBTtae5Zldg8brzpzjLdqTwomnckKhWZN2cDbX81-oJ3KXY95ADaMpyDuPj4vXntzZjvkXb5Q7JhmdUeBVTKsYQ/s1600/hypocrite.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-Eir_U87nJibsXyQRDECsRU3dXNrhOsKIpgCPUOUDujkXvdGXBTtae5Zldg8brzpzjLdqTwomnckKhWZN2cDbX81-oJ3KXY95ADaMpyDuPj4vXntzZjvkXb5Q7JhmdUeBVTKsYQ/s200/hypocrite.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
President Donald Trump is complaining that Saudi Arabia doesn't pay its "fair share" to have America defend them.<br />
<br />
Stephen J. Adler, Jeff Mason and Steve Holland <a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-trump-complains-saudis-not-paying-fair-share-021312892.html">report for Reuters</a> [April 27, 2017]:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
President Donald Trump complained on Thursday that U.S. ally Saudi Arabia was not treating the United States fairly and Washington was losing a "tremendous amount of money" defending the kingdom.<br />
<br />
In an interview with Reuters, Trump confirmed his administration was in talks about possible visits to Saudi Arabia and Israel in the second half of May. He is due to make his first trip abroad as president for a May 25 NATO summit in Brussels and could add other stops.<br />
<br />
"Frankly, Saudi Arabia has not treated us fairly, because we are losing a tremendous amount of money in defending Saudi Arabia," he said.<br />
<br />
Trump's criticism of Riyadh, the world’s top oil exporter, was a return to his 2016 election campaign rhetoric when he accused the kingdom of not pulling its weight in paying for the U.S. security umbrella.<br />
<br />
"Nobody’s going to mess with Saudi Arabia because we’re watching them," Trump told a campaign rally in Wisconsin a year ago. "They’re not paying us a fair price. We're losing our shirt."</blockquote>
<br />
It's true that Saudi Arabia is not paying the U.S. for its "protection." But how much is <i>Israel</i> paying for American support? Oh, that's right, <i>we're paying for Israel's defense</i> -- despite that fact that Israel is an <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2011/07/rich-israel-does-not-need-american.html">extremely wealthy nation</a>.<br />
<br />
Trump's concept of "America First" seems to mean that all of our "allies" -- NATO, Saudi Arabia, etc. -- should pay the U.S. for whatever defense the U.S. provides -- <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2017/03/trumps-america-first-means-israel-first.html">with the exception of Israel</a>.<br />
<br />
In the case of Israel, <i>we pay them</i>. Even though, in the 1970s, Israel said they only required <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2011/06/aid-to-israel-was-supposed-to-be.html">a few more years of aid</a>.<br />
<br />
There is no good reason for this continuing welfare/wealth transfer from the U.S. to Israel. Israel's survival does <i>not</i> depend on it. Israel takes the money -- <i>demands</i> the money and offers <i>no</i> gratitude -- because it can. Because <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374531501/communistvampire">Israel's lobby</a> -- and its supporters in the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/149591092X/communistvampire">U.S. establishment and media</a> -- are powerful and unforgiving bullies.<br />
<br />
===========<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-20120859829365443182017-04-09T02:45:00.002-07:002017-04-09T02:46:57.234-07:00Trump's "Anti-Fascist" Critics Praise Trump for Waging War<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fL3xr2eVNOFUoi8_41gq3ImeyEYBbcfisMquEA1oKy-P9JOT78_tMH3lhQGNfY5AS3w01nfP-wNCgu6pXNWUvC_bB76oT0xpdYjLUtH20zIbrZ7EqQ6Rg9svx-qNzDC6-OKqOA/s1600/Trump+fascist.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2fL3xr2eVNOFUoi8_41gq3ImeyEYBbcfisMquEA1oKy-P9JOT78_tMH3lhQGNfY5AS3w01nfP-wNCgu6pXNWUvC_bB76oT0xpdYjLUtH20zIbrZ7EqQ6Rg9svx-qNzDC6-OKqOA/s200/Trump+fascist.png" width="187" /></a></div>
Ever since he became a <i>serious</i> candidate for president, Trump's foes have attacked him for being a "fascist" (among other things). Their insults intensified after Trump was elected president. And intensified still further after he assumed office and began issuing orders.<br />
<br />
Ironically, after Trump's most fascist action yet -- his <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2017/04/trump-turns-neocon-fires-steve-bannon.html">military strike on Syria</a> -- those same critics are now praising Trump.<br />
<br />
According to <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/04/07/the-spoils-of-war-trump-lavished-with-media-and-bipartisan-praise-for-bombing-syria/">Glenn Greenwald</a> [April 7, 2017]: <br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In every type of government, nothing unites people behind the leader more quickly, reflexively or reliably than war. Donald Trump now sees how true that is, as the same establishment leaders in U.S. politics and media who have spent months denouncing him as a mentally unstable and inept authoritarian and unprecedented threat to democracy are standing and applauding him as he launches bombs at Syrian government targets.</blockquote>
<br />
<br />
We are truly living in an <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0735234612/communistvampire">Orwellian</a> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1401206565/communistvampire">Bizarro World</a>. While some of Trump's previous actions were not particularly libertarian, neither were they strictly fascist. Barring people from a country (e.g., Trump's Muslim travel ban and his attempts to deport criminal aliens) is <i>not</i> fascist. I'm sure many of Hitler's and Stalin's victims would have loved it had these dictators <i>deported</i> them rather than <i>murdered</i> them.<br />
<br />
Barring people from entering a country is unfriendly. Waging wars of aggression on them -- killing them -- is far worse. Far more fascistic. Indeed, wars of aggression are one of the key <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0199685363/communistvampire">traits of fascism</a>.<br />
<br />
So it is ironic -- <i>supremely</i> ironic -- that Trump's critics, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/022643009X/communistvampire">neoliberal</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1628941952/communistvampire">neocon</a>, in media and in government, who for so long have excoriated Trump for being fascist, are now praising him for his most purely fascist act yet.<br />
<br />
<i>Sorry about our past insults, Mr. President. We were worried you weren't a real fascist. Now that we see you are, we'll stop calling you a fascist.</i><br />
<br />
Strange times indeed.<br />
<br />
================<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-83689745833155839342017-04-06T23:52:00.001-07:002017-04-06T23:52:58.379-07:00Trump Turns Neocon -- Fires Steve Bannon and Attacks Syria<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0tcY-huUUL8ZZjxtOSUAgkWZIZEDqTLJrV_HW_VykxQZPzP4Nm3DcbUQqHHlOefLpohk17Pt7tH5tYaFFFxQ1EikRIvOmjDAEtgT20sMq5t9PFJv46jv0t6RftFRe5It6S8PIVQ/s1600/Trump+ISIS.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0tcY-huUUL8ZZjxtOSUAgkWZIZEDqTLJrV_HW_VykxQZPzP4Nm3DcbUQqHHlOefLpohk17Pt7tH5tYaFFFxQ1EikRIvOmjDAEtgT20sMq5t9PFJv46jv0t6RftFRe5It6S8PIVQ/s200/Trump+ISIS.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
President Donald J. Trump has turned into a full-blown <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1453608613/communistvampire">Neocon</a> with his missile attack on Syria.<br />
<br />
Reporting for the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-launches-cruise-missiles-at-syrian-regime-airbase-in-response-to-chemical-attack-1491528268">Wall Street Journal</a> [April 6, 2017], Gordon Lubold and Dion Nissenbaum write<i>:</i><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The U.S. military launched nearly 60 Tomahawk cruise missiles against a
Syrian air base Friday, responding to mounting calls for a display of
force in the wake of this week’s suspected chemical-weapons attack in
Syria. The strikes represented <i>the first time</i> a U.S. military operation
deliberately targeted the regime of President Bashar al-Assad...</blockquote>
<br />
<i>"The first time."</i> This means that Trump has <i>escalated</i> the war from whatever Obama had been doing. The <i>WSJ</i> quotes Trump as saying:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"It is in the <i>vital national security interest</i> of the United States to
prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons," Mr.
Trump said. "There can be no dispute that Syria used banned chemical
weapons." </blockquote>
<br />
I guess the part about this attack being in the <i>"vital national security interest"</i> of the United States is meant to signal that Trump is still following an "America First" foreign policy. Sort of like his continuing <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2017/03/trumps-america-first-means-israel-first.html">generous foreign aid to Israel</a>.<br />
<br />
This attack on Syria comes shortly after Trump removed "alt right" figure <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1520614578/communistvampire">Steve Bannon</a> from the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1586484230/communistvampire">National Security Council</a>, replacing him with the usual Neocon hawks.<br />
<br />
Reporting for the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/steve-bannon-removed-from-security-councils-principals-committee-1491407076">Wall Street Journal</a> [April 5, 2017], Carol E. Lee and Eli Stokols write: <br /><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
President Donald Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, has been removed from the National Security Council's principals committee, and top U.S. intelligence officials have been restored as permanent members, according to a new presidential memorandum.</blockquote>
<br />
It's beginning to look as if Trump has surrendered to the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1542941385/communistvampire">Deep State</a>. After suffering political paralysis during his first two months in office, Trump is determined to become a historically "successful" president, even that means rubber-stamping the <i>identical</i> globalist, war-mongering policies of the Clinton, Bush, and Obama years.<br />
<br />
Trump is becoming Obama in whiteface. Who, in turn, was Bush in blackface.<br />
<br />
Adding to the irony, the Left, until now, has attacked Trump for being too pro-Russia and too isolationist (<i>i.e.</i>, for not saber rattling). But now that Trump has attacked Russia's ally, Syria, the Left will attack Trump for being pro-war (i.e., for the opposite).<br />
<br />
<i>Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.</i><br />
<br />
=============================<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-33633130228695030692017-03-21T01:50:00.001-07:002017-03-21T01:50:58.104-07:00Trump's "America First" Means Israel First<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAy_oexhyAt7X0yUNqk-iFMcj1jkaKi4H8hjuoTsTwNxY3ivpW7zCpWRcIZQ8zsWpbVq16-oId0KxwOcd1MbcBIFQFyhXmdOWRSQwPkn3x7rP4DzXMSWyKenQuuVsq3Bqxm2Dr7w/s1600/Trump+loves+Israel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAy_oexhyAt7X0yUNqk-iFMcj1jkaKi4H8hjuoTsTwNxY3ivpW7zCpWRcIZQ8zsWpbVq16-oId0KxwOcd1MbcBIFQFyhXmdOWRSQwPkn3x7rP4DzXMSWyKenQuuVsq3Bqxm2Dr7w/s200/Trump+loves+Israel.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Despite all the defamatory accusations of
President <a href="http://hollywoodinvestigator.blogspot.com/2016/12/phoebe-maltz-bovy-of-jewish-daily.html">Donald Trump being "anti-Semitic,"</a> his "America
First" foreign policy is as fervently <i>Israel
First!</i> as that of any other U.S. president.</div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
Reporting for the <i>Los Angeles Times</i> [March 16, 2017], Tracy Wilkinson writes:</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Israel would be the only country to escape the Trump administration's
proposed deep cuts in foreign aid, the State Department said Thursday.<br />
<br />
The
budget plan from the White House calls for slashing the State
Department's $50 billion budget by about 28%, cuts that would mostly
target climate change, democracy promotion and health programs, and
numerous foreign aid projects....<br />
<br />
Mark Toner, a State Department spokesman, said U.S. aid to Israel,
which totaled about $3.1 billion this year, would not be touched under
the Trump plan. Israel gets more U.S. aid than any other nation.<br />
<br />
Aid to every other country will come under review, he said.</blockquote>
<br />
As per usual, Israel is "singled out" for favorable treatment. (This is <i>why</i> opponents of foreign aid "single out" Israel -- in <i>response</i> to its special status.)<br />
<br />
And it's not because Israel is an "ally," or because it's a "democracy," or because it's a poor nation, or because it's security situation is especially precarious. On the contrary....<br />
<br />
* Israel is a false friend. It has <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/159114647X/communistvampire">spied on us</a>, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595296823/communistvampire">endangered our security</a>, and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0972311602/communistvampire">murdered our sailors</a>.<br />
<br />
* An <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0743285034/communistvampire">apartheid state</a> for non-Jews -- for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1568589514/communistvampire">Muslims</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0281052239/communistvampire">Christians</a> alike.<br />
<br />
* An extremely <a href="http://libertarianpeacenik.blogspot.com/2011/07/rich-israel-does-not-need-american.html">wealthy nation</a>.<br />
<br />
* And has one of the top five <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/125008833X/communistvampire">most powerful militaries</a> in the world.<br />
<br />
Israel neither needs nor deserves American foreign aid. It takes it, because it has a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374531501/communistvampire">powerful lobby</a> that knows how to shake down our politicians.<br />
<br />
Read Wilkinson's <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/washington/la-na-essential-washington-updates-israel-only-country-to-escape-state-1489695965-htmlstory.html">full report</a>.<br />
<br />
=============<br />
<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-17469804739132515932017-03-06T15:37:00.001-08:002017-03-06T15:39:11.161-08:00Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County Is Too Anti-Gun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Libertarian Party of Los Angeles County website is too anti-gun, according to LP member Robert H. Biggadike, who sent the following email to LP members:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
On the <a href="http://www.lplac.us/">LPLAC website</a>, it says,
"Libertarians are anti-war, we believe that neither peace nor freedom
nor democracy can be truly promoted with a gun." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
What a line of left
wing clap trap. I have been a Libertarian for about 35 years and I do
believe (contrary to the LPLAC statement) that peace, freedom, and
democracy can be truly promoted with a gun. Homeowners who in
accordance with the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0925279773/communistvampire">Second Amendment</a> exercise their right to own a gun
can deter robbery and violence against their property and person. Policemen with guns do truly promote peace, freedom, and democracy. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I
think the clown who put the above statement on THE LPLAC website doesn't
know what he is talking about.<br />
<br />
Respectfully,<br />
Robert H. Biggadike</blockquote>
<br />
================<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38905222.post-64704422004018497972017-03-01T23:51:00.001-08:002017-03-01T23:51:55.995-08:00Publishers Hire "Sensitivity Readers" to Enforce Political Correctness<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451673310/communistvampire">Fahrenheit 451</a>, author <a href="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2012/raybradburydies.html">Ray Bradbury</a> foresaw that
"progressives" (rather than conservatives) would enforce censorship in
the United States, beginning with books deemed "insensitive" to
minorities. Well, today's publishing culture has caught up to
Bradbury's dystopian vision.<br />
vision.<br />
<br />
Everdeen M<span class="trb_ar_by_nm_pm"><span class="trb_ar_by_nm_au" data-byline-withoutby=""><span itemprop="author">ason of the <i>Washington Post</i> (reprinted in the <i>Chicago Tribune</i>, February 15, 2017) <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-publishers-hiring-book-readers-to-flag-sensitivity-20170215-story.html">reports</a>:</span></span></span><br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
These days, though, a
book may get an additional check from an unusual source: a sensitivity
reader, a person who, for a nominal fee, will scan the book for racist,
sexist or otherwise offensive content. These readers give feedback based
on self-ascribed areas of expertise such as "dealing with terminal
illness," "racial dynamics in Muslim communities within families' or "transgender issues."<br />
<br />
"The
industry recognizes this is a real concern," said Cheryl Klein, a
children's and young adult book editor and author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/039329224X/communistvampire">The Magic Words: Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults</a>. Klein, who works at
the publisher Lee & Low, said that she has seen the casual use of
specialized readers for many years but that the process has become more
standardized and more of a priority, especially in books for young
readers.<br />
<br />
Sensitivity
readers have emerged in a climate -- fueled in part by social media -- in
which writers are under increased scrutiny for their portrayals of
people from marginalized groups, especially when the author is not a
part of that group.<br />
<br />
Last year, for instance, J.K. Rowling was
strongly criticized by Native American readers and scholars for her
portrayal of Navajo traditions in the 2016 story "History of Magic in
North America." Young-adult author Keira Drake <i>was forced to revise</i> [my italics] her
fantasy novel <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1470827018/communistvampire">The Continent</a> after an online uproar over its portrayal
of people of color and Native backgrounds. More recently, author
Veronica Roth -- of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062387243/communistvampire">Divergent</a> fame -- came under fire for her new novel, <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062348639/communistvampire">Carve the Mark</a>. In addition to being called racist, the book was
criticized for its portrayal of chronic pain in its main character.</blockquote>
<br />
Some
might argue that "sensitivity readers" are no big deal, because their
use is not government imposed (yet), and so it's not really censorship.
It's an editorial decision. Some authors quoted in the article even
claim to be grateful for the "help" they receive from "sensitivity
readers" -- helping these authors to portray their characters
"correctly."<br />
<br />
<i>"Thank you Comrade Sensitivity Reader, for correcting my errors!"</i> <br />
<br />
But how <i>voluntary</i>
is that consent? "Progressive" activists are never satisfied. They will
increasingly pressure hold-out publishers to hire "sensitivity
readers." Publishers, in turn, will increasingly pressure authors to
make the corrections "requested" by "sensitivity readers."<br />
<br />
As Mason <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/books/ct-publishers-hiring-book-readers-to-flag-sensitivity-20170215-story.html">notes</a>:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Lee & Low Books has a companywide policy to use sensitivity
readers. Stacy Whitman, publisher and editorial director of Lee &
Low's middle-grade imprint Tu Books, said <i>she will even request a
sensitivity reader before she chooses to acquire a book to publish</i> [my italics].<br />
<br />
"It's
important for authors to consider expert reader feedback and figure out
how to solve the problems they point out," Whitman said.</blockquote>
<br />
In
other words, whether an author consents to "solve the problems"
complained about by some sensitivity commissar will determine its
chances for publication. This will mean ever less diversity in
literature, because weak, cowardly, incompetent, stupid, and evil
personality traits will become (even more so than already) reserved for
straight, white, Christian, male characters.<br />
<br />
Returning to <a href="http://www.hollywoodinvestigator.com/2012/raybradburydies.html">Bradbury</a>'s <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1451673310/communistvampire">Fahrenheit 451</a>, here's an excerpt from the Fire Chief's speech, explaining how society eventually got around to book-burning:<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Now
let's take up the minorities in our civilization, shall we? Bigger the
population, the more minorities. Don't step on the toes of the
dog-lovers, the cat-lovers, doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs,
Mormons, Baptists, Unitarians, second-generation Chinese, Swedes,
Italians, Germans, Texans, Brooklynites, Irishmen, people from Oregon or
Mexico. The people in this book, this play, this TV serial are not
meant to represent any actual painters, cartographers, mechanics
anywhere. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>The bigger your market, </i>Montag, <i>the less you handle controversy</i>
[my italics], remember that! All the minor minor minorities with their
navels to be kept clean. Authors, full of evil thoughts, lock up your
typewriters. <i>They did.</i> Magazines became a nice blend of vanilla
tapioca. Books, so the damned snobbish critics said, were dishwater. No
wonder books stopped selling, the critics said. But the public, knowing
what it wanted, spinning happily, let the comic-books survive. And the
three-dimensional sex magazines, of course. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There you have it, Montag. <i>It didn't come from the Government down. There was no dictum, no declaration, no censorship, to start with, no!</i> [my italics] Technology, mass exploitation, and minority pressure carried the trick, thank God.</blockquote>
<br />
Bradbury
didn't get everything right. Publishers don't care about the
sensitivities of Mormons or Baptists or Swedes or Germans. Such is our
"progressive" culture. Poking fun at non-Christian religions is hate,
but bashing Christianity is healthy satire. Nazis are unqualified
villains, but Communists are at worst misguided idealists. At best they
are the noble victims of McCarthyism. (The sensitivities of the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0674076087/communistvampire">victims of Communism</a> be damned.)<br />
<br />
But
Bradbury had a great insight. Censorship doesn't start with government
dictates. It begins with popular pressure. It begins in the private
sector. And the signs are ominous.<br />
<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0