David Simon, a former police beat reporter in Baltimore, MD and creator of the popular television series, “The Wire” implies that Libertarians in America are “greedy” and decries Libertarianism as a “juvenile” idea that he “just can’t get past….”
David Simon pontificates about “Libertarianism” with deliberate misdirection and disparaging ad hominems, yet still expects to be taken seriously by anyone with the ability to think critically.
Clearly upset that Fabian ideology is not taking root in the 20-somethings community, while the Libertarian movement is growing as an identified political affiliation in the cohort, he gave a speech in Australia in November, 2013 at the “Dangerous Ideas” conference declaring “Libertarianism in my country is now being taken seriously as an intelligent mode of political thought… it’s astonishing to me… ” (around the 8:00 – 10:00 mark) and then goes on a screed to deliberately disparage and attempt to dismiss the Libertarian school of thought – including the assertion that Libertarians are “anti-government” (as Moyers chuckles along in agreement…) Fraidy cat!
We’re not too well versed in Ukrainian politics so we enjoy the perspectives of readers with family, friends to help us understand. However, we do know the general modus operandi of the Russian political maneuvering; and Yanukovych going to the hospital for a mystery illness is a commonly used strategy. Generally a hard-line push by the government follows the “illness”. Perhaps use of the Ukrainian Army is about to take place.
[BBC] Protesters in Ukraine have rejected the terms of a new amnesty law aimed at ending the country’s unrest.
Kiev’s parliament backed an amnesty plan for detainees if protesters vacated the government buildings they have occupied and unblocked streets and squares throughout the country.
The opposition has rejected this and protesters remain camped out in central Kiev. (link with video report)
The Question Remains – WHY NO MAINSTREAM U.S. COVERAGE ?
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov resigned on Tuesday in a bid to ease Ukraine’s deadly two-month crisis as lawmakers debated key reforms.
“I have taken a personal decision to ask the president of Ukraine to accept my resignation from the post of prime minister with the aim of creating an additional possibility for a political compromise to peacefully resolve the conflict,” he said in a statement. (link)
Saturday 1/18/14, a man wearing Google Glasses (prescription glass) went to enjoy a movie with his wife. A showing of Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit at an AMC theater in Columbus, Ohio.
About an hour into the movie, federal agents yanked the Glasses off the man’s face, pulled them out of the theater and took them to separate interrogation rooms.
The Story is Confirmed – And Also outlined HERE – The man, who’d just been trying to enjoy a crappy movie with his lovely wife on a Saturday night, says he was accused of illegally taping the movie and questioned extensively about “who I am, where I live, where I work, how much I’m making, how many computers I have at home, why am I recording the movie, who am I going to give the recording to, why don’t I just give up the guy up the chain, ’cause they are not interested in me. Over and over and over again.”
The agents also allegedly displayed this level of ridiculousness:
They wanted to know where I got Glass and how did I came by having it. I told them I applied about 1000 times to get in the explorer program, and eventually I was selected, and I got the Glass from Google. I offered to show them receipt and Google Glass website if they would allow me to access any computer with internet. Of course, that was not an option. Then they wanted to know what does Google ask of me in exchange for Glass, how much is Google paying me, who is my boss and why am I recording the movie.
After an hour of intense interrogation, the agents hooked the Glass up to a computer, and saw that all it was storing were personal family photos, he says. They allegedly went through his phone, too, and found nothing. (more…)
Suckers! The reparations wealth transfer from the hard working white middle class to the well connected race hustling class continues. We don’ have to prove nothin’ ….Whatcha gonna do about it .. just Holder saying it’s so MAKES it so … Hope! Change!
$1B coerced from “racist” lenders ….. and we’ve “Only Just Begun” …..
From Investor’s Business Daily:
“…..So “victims” were never actually identified. That’s why the complaint has to estimate that Ally discriminated against “approximately” 100,000 African-American borrowers.
More shocking, civil-rights prosecutors never actually checked the creditworthiness of those borrowers. That’s right, they never looked at credit scores, down payments, debt or other key risk-related factors banks consider to set interest rates. Not for blacks, or for supposedly “similarly situated” whites.
So how in the world can Justice claim “Ally’s specific policy and practice are not justified by a legitimate business need?”
It really can’t. That’s why it relies on statistics to “prove” such policies had a “disparate impact” on minorities, while arbitrarily finding those disparities so “significant” they can’t be explained by chance.
Arbitrary, because neither Justice nor CFPB will reveal its threshold for “significant,” despite repeated bipartisan requests from Congress.
The Credit Rating service Fitch notes that it may be more than just a desire to extort from the banks which lend in the auto market:
Fitch also notes that CFPB does not have jurisdiction over auto dealers and their practices. Actions taken against lenders could be an indirect way to regulate dealers.
A look through the CFPB “Advisory Groups” listings will show a “who’s-who” of Progressives with tentacles to well known fraud front groups, such as ACORN.
The official news release for the latest shakedown , er, “settlement” states it will consist of several parts: (more…)
Outlined in new documents obtained by The Investigative Project on Terrorism we find confirmation the State Dept coordinated the entry of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood delegation into the U.S. in April of 2012. Using a designation “Expedited Entry -or- Port Courtesy, normally reserved for high-ranking visiting government officials and dignitaries” which allowed them to skip basic airport inspections.
It’s no secret, either in the U.S. or in Egypt, that President Obama and Secretary Clinton were key allies to Egyptian Islamist President Morsi prior to his ouster from office.
That mainstream anger eventually led to the Egyptian military acting on behalf of the majority of Egyptian citizens to remove the Islamist head from power. In addition they reinstated the controls on the Brotherhood which Morsi had removed and put al-Qaeda’s Muhammed al-Zawahiri back behind bars. (more…)
Readers will know by now how often we have spotlighted a historical similarity between the former polish Solidarity Movement, and the ruse behind the current U.S. body politic as narrated by the media. So it’s a little ironic to see Solidarity Leader Lech Walesa speak openly about how diminished the U.S. influence is.
(via WeaselZippers) The Nobel Peace Prize-winning former president of Poland, Lech Walesa, says President Obama has failed to reclaim America’s role as a world leader.
“When he was elected… there was great hope,” Walesa said. “…. we were hoping Obama would reclaim moral leadership for America,” adding: “That failed.”
“…. in terms of politics and morality, America no longer leads the world,” he said. “…America did not regain its leadership status. We were just lucky there were no big conflicts in the world,” saying the world has relied on a strong America to maintain the balance of power around the globe.
“… It’s a dangerous situation so we are awaiting a president who will understand that,” he said. (link)
The progressive mantra of modern liberalism is flailing miserably everywhere you look and the media protestations of a “Do Nothing Congress” are flares shooting up from their encampments identifying exactly where they reside.
All around us are signs the various liberalist causes are visibly in the minority. The odd thing is how willing the progressives are to out their failing positions. Against the liberal yard-stick of emotional legislative advancement, which is diametrically antithetical to freedom, the media are proclaiming congress as failed.
However, when you consider that stopping intrusion by government into your life is a central tenant of freedom this congress is the most successful in a decade.
Coast to coast people are showing their pushback against the nanny state. People are rising up, or using their TV remotes, or tuning their car radios, or expressing their voice, to reflect an ideology of freedom in opposition to the current federal administration and the beliefs they visibly represent. (more…)
Venezuela, in a squeeze for hard currency, devalued its currency for foreigners another 44%, following an initial devaluation of 32% by Chavez in February. The move is seen as a necessity to keep Venezuela from defaulting on sovereign debt when reliance on excessively high levels of public spending has been the tool of Chavez and his successor, Maduro, to maintain their grip on power. It is the 6th such major devaluation in a decade.
The move is essentially a bookkeeping sleight-of-hand – it allows the Venezuelan central bank to balance its books by “earning” more Bolivars for its oil export sales, at a time when overall sales volume has decreased dramatically. Venezuelan President Maduro meets with Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba on December 21st, 2013 — “coincidentally” before a major devalution of the Bolivar wiping out US corporate profits (more…)
