May 14
Two decades ago, Venezuela was a vibrant but struggling, up-and-coming democracy.
The voters overwhelmingly approved of Hugo Chavez and took the country in a big-government, socialist direction.
Venezuela drove out private businesses, censored the press, and imprisoned dissidents. You know, . . . to help the poor.
Now the poor are poorer than ever.
Mobs in Venezuela have stolen flour, chicken and even underwear this week as looting increases.
Many basic products have run short. See here.
May 12
Again and again, data analyst Tony Heller has caught government agencies doctoring temperature data records to make the past seem colder (and the present, therefore, warmer in comparison).
Now Heller has noticed the official NOAA data set for Boulder, Colorado. In one case, the government agency has lowered past temperatures AS MUCH AS 7.8 DEGREES! See here.
NOAA lowered the average temperature for December 1957 by 7.8F, and made the average temperature minimum nearly as cold as the lowest temperature for the month.
“Almost every day of the month was above the adjusted average.”
May 12
Like Venezuela, Brazil has been on a government-growing binge. Government “workers” have been given increasingly favorable pension and payment packages. Many retire young and live as barons at taxpayer expense. See here.
But the socialist trend of the past 15 years is now producing negative returns in Brazil. The economy is collapsing. See here.
Now the legislature is impeaching the country’s powermad socialist president. See here.
May 11
Government colleges such as the University of Oregon are supposed to be subject to the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment’s protection of free speech and free assembly.
But the universities have mostly become dens of Orwellian pro-government thought control, where dissenting opinions and criticisms of government are not only shunned but punished.
Look at this description of the University of Oregon’s elaborate thought-police network. A team of dozens of paid government officials are in place to investigate and punish all suggestions of political correctness.
Today when one walks away from a government college campus he immediately enters a freer, friendlier, less-expensive world.
May 10
The practice of American law has increasingly departed from its original adversarial model. Over the past century, courts have increasingly favored the state over the citizenry.
Here is a story of an Arkansas judge who apparently got into the practice of demanding that male defendants report to his house for “community service.”
“[The pictures] depict young men, many naked who are in various poses inside the judge’s home and outside in his yard,” the letter states, adding that many of the men had received checks from the judge and had appeared before him as defendants.
Even with this evidence, it is probably an even bet whether this judge will even be criminally charged with any offense.
May 10
The inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition generally began their interrogations with a single question: “Do you know why we’ve summoned you here today?”
The goal behind such questions was to get the hapless subject to admit to heresy or blasphemy.
Nothing has changed since the 1300s
Today it has become customary for troopers who pull over drivers to begin their questioning with the question, “Do you know why I stopped you today?”
The purpose–as always–is to get drivers to incriminate themselves. The officers hope to obtain a response that they can use against the driver in the event the driver challenges the ticket in court.
Here is an amazing story (and video) of New Jersey cops ARRESTING a driver for refusing to answer the question, “Do you know why I pulled you over?”
The driver happened to be a lawyer. She is now suing the New Jersey officers for violating her civil rights. See here.
May 10
Thomas Sowell is out with a column describing the sorry state of intellectual intolerance at most of America’s government-supported colleges and universities.
Sowell says that colleges have always leaned “left” (code for pro-government). But a dissenting voice could at least survive on the campuses of the 1950s and ’60s.
Today one can literally go from kindergarten to becoming a graduate student seeking a Ph.D., without ever hearing a vision of the world that conflicts with the vision of the left.
May 09
There has never been a famine in a capitalist country; famines and massive die-offs from starvation only occur in socialist countries.
Here is a detailed Bloomberg News Service report about the economic collapse of socialist Venezuela. “Catastrophe is the new normal.”
Amazingly, Venezuela has THE WORLD’S LARGEST OIL RESERVES. Yet the country is plagued by massive electrical outages.
(Of course, if the power of the private sector were unleashed, the electrical problems would end within a week; but the impoverished people of Venezuela are ruled by a fanatical socialist philosophy.)
May 09
Today’s ‘mainstream’ newspapers are dying a slow death; their content overwhelmingly supports the empowerment of government.
It is probable that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of newspaper stories published in America’s daily newspapers over the past decades have simply been rewritten government press releases.
The Billings Gazette, a relentless pro-government newspaper covering eastern and central Montana, has recently published stories noting that current Yellowstone County (Billings) Clerk of Court Kristie Boelter has posted on Facebook that some judges are corrupt.
As if on cue, the Gazette now says the County needs a new clerk of court. See here. (The Gazette also alleges that the Clerk’s office has lost court files and misplaced papers.)
May 08
Egyptian government officials have arrested a teenage comedian who criticized government. See here.
