Sep 19

California regent (and husband of a U.S. Senator) threatens U.C. with political consequences if the University fails to enact speech code

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We previously reported that the University of California system–a government network subject to the free-speech provisions of the Constitution–was proposing a university-wide speech code that banned “intolerant” “expressions.” See here.

On Thursday, Sept. 17 (ironically, “Constitution Day”), the proposal was the subject of a large public meeting.

According to F.I.R.E. (the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education):

The most worrying statements came from Regent Richard C. Blum, whose wife is United States Senator Dianne Feinstein. Blum said earlier in the meeting that “we’ve been too tolerant, too patient about all this for too long,” and continued:

I should add that over the weekend my wife, your senior Senator, and I talked about this issue at length. She wants to stay out of the conversation publicly but if we do not do the right thing she will engage publicly and is prepared to be critical of this university if we don’t have the kind of not only statement but penalties for those who commit what you can call them crimes [of speech], call them whatever you want. Students that do the things that have been cited here today probably ought to have a dismissal or a suspension from school. I don’t know how many of you feel strongly that way but my wife does and so do I.

Yes, a UC Regent flatly threatened the university with political consequences if it failed to craft a “tolerance” policy that would punish—and even expel—its violators.

See F.I.R.E.’s discussion here.

Government colleges and universities are increasingly repressive environments, dominated by socialist and pro-government ideology, where pro-market, individualist, and antigovernment sentiments are silenced.

Sep 19

Missourian criminally prosecuted for “[meeting] with legislators,” “testif[ying]” before the Missouri legislature, and “appear[ing] as a witness before committees”

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Our masters in government repeatedly tell us we are to be “engaged” in politics. But when citizens “engage” in efforts to limit or rein in government–especially when such citizens become successful–they are increasingly subject to criminal prosecution and imprisonment.

In Missouri, a citizen activist named Ron Calzone, who bills himself as a “citizen lobbyist,” has been fined $1,000 by the Missouri Ethics Commission for failing to register as a lobbyist.

Calzone IS NOT A LOBBYIST in any normal sense. He does not get paid by anyone to “lobby” the legislature.

Increasingly, the act of . . . , well, activism, is becoming a crime; especially when one’s activism promotes criticism of the almighty state.

Read Reason Magazine’s description of the case (and other similar cases in other states) here.

Sep 19

Federal workers report highest rates of job satisfaction

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Statistically, a federal employee is more likely to die than to quit. They are so pampered with lavish pay and benefits that they report substantially higher levels of job satisfaction than do workers in the private sector.

A new Gallup poll finds that 82 percent of government workers are fully satisfied with their retirement plans (as compared to just 57 % of private-sector workers). See here.

In many rural counties, the largest and most luxurious homes and estates belong to government retirees. Federal workers can be commonly seen in large casinos in Las Vegas and Foxwoods, flashing wads of hundred dollar bills and spending lavishly on gambling and entertainment.

Sep 19

Another public college threatens to jail students who criticize government

bullying

As shown previously (see here), America’s government colleges and universities have become Orwellian thought-control zones where wide-scale discrimination and repression of libertarian and anti-government thought are routinely practiced.

Now another government college, the College of DuPage in Illinois, has been caught falsely telling libertarian protesters that they have no constitutional right to hand out pro-freedom or anti-government brochures on public campus grounds without first getting government permission. A campus cop is caught on film threatening to arrest the students. See here.

Sep 19

20 government-supported “climate scientists” call for their skeptics to be jailed

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Last week, 20 “climate scientists”–each of whom is government-funded–signed a letter to President Obama and U.S. Attorney General Lynch calling for government to investigate and prosecute those who question or disagree with the government’s climate-change messaging. See the letter here.

The letter makes numerous preposterous claims (e.g., that skeptics are knowingly promoting false science, as “extensively documented in peer-reviewed academic research,”* and that the “methods of [skeptic] organizations are quite similar to those used earlier by the tobacco industry”).** The letter further alleges that skeptics’ doubts constitute criminal acts.

Any notion that the First Amendment might protect the expression of doubts regarding the government’s claims goes unmentioned in the letter.

Debate no more! the letter says. Jail those who disagree with the government! See here.

* the letter cites “(Brulle, 2013)” as support for the proposition that “peer reviewed academic research” demonstrates that skepticism funders are knowingly funding false research. The Brulle “study” has been discredited. Essentially, the Brulle study made the claim that conservative oil billionaires are spending as much as $1 billion annually to promote climate doubts, based on the fact that certain philanthropists support free-market think tanks which occasionally delve into climate questions.

** the analogy between skeptics of the government’s climate-power agenda and the tobacco industry is a false one. Tobacco companies were marketing a product. Skeptics are merely voicing questions or expressing their opinions.

Sep 19

Satellite Temp Readings show NO WARMING FOR 18 YEARS, 8 MONTHS

exorcist

Governments and their worshippers are promoting claims that 2015 is on track to become “the hottest year in world history.” (Just as these same sources claimed 2014 was the hottest year in history.)

But these claims are entirely based upon government-manipulated land and ocean-surface temperatures. Almost half of these temps are fake, or have been government-adjusted. See here. A common way for governments and government-funded scientists to manipulate temperature claims is to “adjust” the past to make it appear colder than it was actually measured.

Satellite measurements–which are arguably far more reliable–have measured NO WARMING WHATSOEVER in 18 years, 8 months. See here.

Sep 19

In the wake of 9/11, the U.S. government falsely arrested thousands of innocent Americans

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Under common law, any cop (or anyone else, for that matter) who arrested another person without probable cause to believe a crime was committed was AT LEAST liable for false arrest. (Actually, under 19th-century common law, actual guilt and not mere probable cause was the standard.)

But after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, the U.S. government “called in” 80,000 foreign nationals for “special registration,” sought out some 8,000 for involuntary “interviews,” and detained 5,000 men without charge. NOT ONE OF THESE INDIVIDUALS STANDS CONVICTED OF ANY CRIME related to terrorism or national security.

If America’s civil rights laws worked properly, the agents of government who committed these acts should have been punished with judgments, penalties and fines totaling millions of dollars.

Yet the government was never punished.

Source: David Cole & Jules Lobel, “Less Safe, Less Free” 10 (2007).

Sep 16

As western societies choke innovation with high taxes and government controls, Asia’s millionaires become world’s richest group

prosperity

Europe and its colonies–especially British colonies–led the way in global prosperity and innovation between the 1600s and the 1900s. Small governments, constitutional law, and the industrial revolution led the people of the West to lead the world.

Now a new report indicates that Asian societies–especially those in southeast-Asian nations that have mostly rejected socialism and high taxation–are producing most of the world’s millionaires. See here.

“The combined wealth of Asia Pacific’s super rich will surpass its 2014 total of $15.8 trillion and overtake that of their North American counterparts — currently the world’s richest group with a shared wealth of $16.2 trillion last year, the study said.”

Sep 15

University of California To Ban “Expressions” of “Intolerance” (Don’t Laugh at the Doublespeak)

fspeechzone

We’ve seen this coming for a long time. Governmental Correctness codes at public colleges have been repeatedly struck down as unconstitutional by courts; yet the socialist-totalitarians who command and control America’s government universities continue to seek to enact speech censorship codes to suppress suspicion or distrust of expansive government or its sacred theology. Marxism and central planning good; libertarianism, social Darwinism or structural functionalism bad.

Today’s censors seek to turn campuses into zones where individualist, pro-free-market, or antigovernment ideology is banned–under the guise of fighting “intolerance.”

Now the University of California–a public institution subject to the Bill of Rights–is seeking to ban “expressions” of “intolerance” (don’t laugh at the doublespeak). See here. This proposal would govern not only UC-Berkeley, but all of the Satellite UC campuses–thus covering hundreds of thousands of students.

The proposed official language is carefully crafted to extoll the virtues of “academic freedom.” But there is the problematic insertion of the word “expressions”:

Everyone in the University community has the right to study, teach, conduct research, and work free from acts and expressions of intolerance

The moment one walks upon a government or government-supported college campus today, one enters a world of diminished freedoms and higher costs. Today’s college students walk on eggshells and pay higher costs for everything from parking to sandwiches (ironically, due to government subsidies). See here.

The government-university quest to eliminate “intolerance” is mostly a mask for the banning of libertarian thought. Students must chant messages disavowing any notion that societies function best without government interference.

Sep 15

NASA Now Admits that Antarctic Sea Ice is at an ALL-TIME HIGH

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It couldn’t be worse timing for the upcoming UN conference on manmade global warming. NASA’s website now admits that the amount of ice surrounding Antarctica is at THE HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE RECORDS HAVE BEEN KEPT.

The NASA website is here. Read how the NASA public relations staff seek to explain away this problem while continuing to cling to the government’s manmade-global-warming-by-CO2 claims. It makes for fascinating entertainment.