Jul 14

Climate-change billionaire Tom Steyer, the largest political donor in history, spends millions to “fight the influence of billionaires in politics.”

climatology_dees

Climate-change socialists–those who push for more government power to control (other) people’s “carbon footprints”–sometimes spin a tale about the influence of oil billionaires, or the fossil fuel industry, in politics.

They claim that wealthy political donors spend millions to push free-market economics, and thwart the supposedly sensible policies promoted by government supremacists.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Polling overwhelmingly supports free markets, and shows American voters hold socialism and climate-change-cap-and-trade proposals in disdain.

While free-market donors have spent a few hundred thousand dollars to inform people about flaws in the government’s climate agenda, the government and its supporters have spent billions to promote that agenda.

The single biggest political donor in a political cycle in history is Tom Steyer, a billionaire who spent an all-time-record $75 million in 2014 to promote climate-change-alarmist candidates. Now we read that Steyer has already spent $5 million on a climate-change-socialist super PAC as the 2016 election cycle gets underway.

Steyer also spends millions to promote the perception that free-market-oriented billionaires are spending too much on politics. See here.

Jul 13

The U.S. is now among the highest-taxing nations.

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The United States, once the world’s flagship of capitalism, low regulation and free markets, has entered the category of a high-taxing society.

Here is a website that generally provides the average tax rates of the world’s countries.

Notice that the U.S. is now taxing its citizens at rates above the North American average, the Western Hemisphere average, and above the world average.

Only Europe reports average tax rates higher than those in the U.S.

Jul 13

Evidence surfaces showing that ISIS beheadings may be faked or staged

Lbutchery

Infowars.com has obtained a video–purportedly from Russian hackers or “hacktivists”–showing a movie set where “ISIS”-type “beheadings” are (or can be) staged.

Reportedly the hacktivists claim to have obtained the footage from a cell phone linked to U.S. Senator John McCain.

It has been widely reported that the entirety of the “ISIS” threat has been a creation and production of western intelligence agencies such as the CIA. Just as “Al-Qaeda” was apparently created and funded by the CIA and other western intelligence agencies two decades ago, ISIS appears to be mostly a creation of the U.S. government.

U.S. Senator John McCain–a longtime military “hawk” who has benefited from millions of dollars of defense-contractor funding–has traveled to the middle east in clandestine operations on several occasions. McCain has even been photographed with groups of middle-eastern-commando units who, supposedly, went bad and “joined” ISIS not long after. In the Senate, McCain is a constant voice for ever-more war and military spending.

Jul 11

Pope Spews Satanic Lies

pope-Devil

Somebody’s gotta say it. The current Pope of the Catholic Church is spewing utter falsehoods that have been so repeatedly disproven that only a knowing deceiver could spread them.

Socialism has impoverished, starved and killed millions. For centuries, those who have trusted their governments to dispense food, shelter, clothing or medical care have watched as their trust was betrayed, and every ounce of their dignity was taken until even those who survived were subjected to lives of slavery and abject poverty.

During the Soviet period, those who suffered most were those who trusted government most. Wave after wave of communist party members were sent to their deaths, as jealousy and suspicion circulated among trusters of the state.

Professor Rummel has documented that the average person is four times more likely to be murdered by his own government than by any foreign government or any criminal. And one’s chances of being killed by one’s own government increase greatly if one lives in a socialist society.

Famines have only occurred in socialist societies. Famines never occur in capitalist countries, because prices quickly adjust to solve problems of scarcity wherever markets are free.

Here is a New York Times article about the current Pope’s satanic gospel of trust in redistribution and omnipotent government.

No falser god was ever worshipped.

Jul 11

U.S. Census Workers Violate Privacy, “Camp out” in Yards of Americans who Decline to Participate

Roger Roots, J.D., Ph.D.

Roger Roots, J.D., Ph.D.

by Dr. Roger I. Roots, founder, Lysander Spooner University

I remember years ago after I graduated from law school, I applied for a job with the U.S. Census Bureau. I attended an initiation meeting in Providence, Rhode Island. At that meeting I recall a Census official telling applicants that as Census agents we would be empowered to enter peoples’ homes without warrant, and trespass and conduct warrantless surveillance upon the American people until we gathered the data the government sought.

I declined to take the job.

Now I read that Census workers in the Dallas area are “camping out” in the yards of recalcitrant Americans, refusing demands to leave, and even stopping Americans from driving away from their homes. The story is here.

It is a myth that such powers are described in the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution says only that Congress may conduct a census of the population. That means a count. It doesn’t empower the government to gather any additional information. And it doesn’t empower the government to require Americans to help the government do its count.

Jul 11

U.S. Debt will Soon be more than 100 Percent of annual GDP, Official Warns

poverty3

The U.S. national debt is now so large that it constitutes 74 percent of America’s annual Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Not since World War II has this percentage been so high. And today’s debt is not so much the product of a worldwide war but of the constant deficit spending required to pay for American entitlements.

“Testifying in the U.S Senate yesterday, Congressional Budget Office Director Keith Hall warned that the publicly held debt of the U.S. government, when measured as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product,” is poised to become more than 100 percent of total U.S. annual private-plus-public output.

The story is here.
“By 2039, CBO projects, the debt will increase to 101 percent of GDP and by 2040 to 103 percent GDP.”

Of course, the unfunded future cost of entitlements is projected by some to be more than $200 trillion. And America’s Social Security and Medicare entitlements are not structured as pay-as-you-go financial programs; they are essentially Ponzi schemes requiring future generations to pay for them.

Jul 10

There have been no “austerity” measures in Greece or in any other European country.

industri

The word “austerity” has been in the news a lot lately. Austerity means cuts in government payroll or other spending. Trusters of government like to claim that “severe” (Paul Krugman) or “harsh” (the Guardian) austerity measures are being imposed on the people of Greece, or maybe in some other European country.

The truth is that there has been little or no austerity anywhere in Europe in the past decade. Austerity is like the word “deregulation”: it is invoked often but never actually occurs anywhere.

Interestingly, most media discussions of the supposedly severe or harsh austerity measures being imposed on Greece don’t mention many details.

The BBC website provides some information of the deal being considered by Greece: tax INCREASES (including a hike in Greece’s Value-Added Tax to “a full 1 percent of GDP,” a tax INCREASE on restaurants, and a corporate tax INCREASE.

Cuts? a slight cut in Greek military spending and a move to raise retirement eligibility to 67 (which might be considered something of a cut).

In all, Greece’s “austerity” offers appear to foreshadow an even more high-tax, more-socialistic Greece in the coming few years. This, of course, will mean more slow growth and poverty for the people of that once-great nation.

Jul 10

“Conservative” Writer: FBI “secretly” saved us from “ISIS” on the Fourth of July

statlib
I don’t know whether to write this post about the FBI’s claims or about the knee-jerk column of Matt Vespa, a self-styled “conservative” writer and Republican Party loyalist.

In a column entitled, “FBI: We Stopped ISIS-linked Fourth of July Terror Plots” (found here), Vespa cites CNN for the proposition that “we now know that the FBI foiled some” terrorist plots that were “ISIS-linked.”

Of course, the FBI (and the NSA, etc.) are widely known to falsely brag, lie and exaggerate about how they “secretly” protect us from terrorism. (As many cynical observers are aware, a great deal of “terrorism” is itself undercover-agent-inspired or even “false-flag” in nature.)

Every in-depth analysis and investigation that has attempted to pin down the claims of government regarding its alleged protection of the homeland from terrorism has found that the government’s claims are outrageously exaggerated. Most of us know that if any government official had actually accomplished any such thing in “secret,” government politicians would immediately hold press conferences and trumpet the details to the heavens for hours if not days.

Like so many “conservatives” before him, Vespa reveals a discomforting state-worshipping streak. “I’m sure more details will follow with this development,” Vespa says. “For now, nice work, guys.”

Jul 09

ACLU’s Ira Glasser: attempts to overturn Citizens United with a constitutional amendment are “willfully, intellectually dishonest.”

ira glasser

Ira Glasser, long one of the ACLU’s most important legal advisers and litigators, spoke at an event put on by the Center for Competitive Politics entitled “Citizens United v. FEC after Five Years – Should Liberals Support Citizens United?” The video is here.

Glasser excoriated those on “the left” for calling for a constitutional amendment to limit the First Amendment in response to the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision. “The key question,” said Glasser, “when you’re contemplating speech restrictions . .. is ‘who’s going to get to decide?’” (Video at around 3:45.)

“It’s going to be whoever has political power.” Video at 4:00.

Glasser continued: “It is politically and strategically the stupidest thing I have ever seen any group of Americans, whatever their political ideology propose.” Video at around 8:40.

Glasser also attacked the New York Times coverage of Citizens United. “the Times coverage in their editorial pages, in their columns and in their news coverage, has been willfully, intellectually dishonest.” 17:50.

Jul 09

Britain proposes fiscal restraint

industria

Socialism is a curse that should be wished only on one’s enemies. Any society that embraces it will become sick and weak.

In the wake of the default of Greece and the loss of one-third value of the Chinese stock market, world financial advisers appear to be proposing some rare fiscal restraint.

In Britain, the majority party has–after years of reckless spending on welfare and government programs–proposed a budget that will slightly taper government spending over the next five years. The story is here.

Among the budget proposals is a proposal to limit the British inheritance tax to estates over $1.5m for married couples, to freeze working-age welfare benefits for four years, and to convert an expensive program that pays students to go to college from a grant program to a loan program.

Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, “cited the Greek situation as evidence of the need to balance the books.”