Dec 28

Socialist Baltimore sets all-time homicide record

Government is a disease masquerading as its own cure.

Get ready for some astounding statistics:

Murder rates have generally declined across America since the 1990s. But one city—Baltimore—has set its all-time per capita homicide rate in 2019.

Newspapers ponder the cause. It isn’t population density. Baltimore has LOST population since the 1980s as its most productive citizens have fled the city’s high taxes and regulations.

It isn’t poverty. Baltimore-area median household income is among the highest in the U.S. The surrounding state of Maryland has a higher median household income than the U.S. average. Maryland has the SECOND-LOWEST percentage of people living below the poverty line.

It certainly isn’t lack of law enforcement or government surveillance. Baltimore is UNDER MORE SURVEILLANCE THAN ANY OTHER U.S. CITY.

Baltimore’s secretive “Gorgon Stare” surveillance grid captures data from thousands of surveillance cameras and databases and crosslinks this data so that government has access to almost every citizen’s movements in real time. Baltimore has surveillance planes and drones in the air above the city every minute of every day.

A CITY DROWNING IN GOVERNMENT

The answer may be too much government. Baltimore is practically a government money pit.

Baltimore residents are among the richest beneficiaries of money from the federal government. And Maryland as a whole ranks third (3rd) among states with the highest per-capita net returns from the federal government (which easily surpasses the high taxes transferred TO Washington by Marylanders).

The state receives more federal spending per capita in nonmilitary programs than any other.

Dec 28

Government agencies caught fabricating sea level rise

Government agencies have been caught hundreds of times ‘adjusting’ temperature records to make the past seem colder than it was measured by thermometers. This makes the present seem warmer by comparison and supports governments’ arguments that governments must become more powerful to “do something” about the alleged problem.

Now a peer-reviewed paper in Earth Systems and Environment has documented that the “Permanent Service for Mean Sea Level” (PSMSL), a government agency in Liverpool, England, has been adjusting historical data regarding sea levels in the Indian Ocean. The government adjustments have made it seem that sea levels in India rare rising.

In fact, sea levels near India are quite stable and have been for a century. In fact there has been a slight decrease in sea levels in India during the period.

“To put it simply, these PSMSL “scientists” have been arbitrarily changing their data in order to create the illusion of a problem that doesn’t actually exist,” according to Dr. Albert Parker and Dr. Clifford Ollier.

Dec 24

Government regulations are stifling new home construction. As a result, homelessness, wealth inequality and commute times are all increasing.

A new report in Reason Magazine documents the way government impositions everywhere decreased the rate of housing construction in the U.S. during the past decade.

“The 2010s will end up with the lowest number of housing units started in 6 decades, by a wide margin.” This is causing (1) home prices and rents to increase–especially in the most regulated areas, (2) an explosion of homelessness–especially in the most regulated areas, and (3) a rapid expansion in commute times–especially in the most regulated areas.

California provides the most glaring example. In 1975 “the Golden State issued 131,732 housing permits” with a population of 21.5 million residents. In 2018, by contrast, Californian authorities permitted only 117,892 new units of housing for the state’s nearly 40 million residents. Californians must now commute much further and pay much more for housing. Homelessness and wealth inequality have exploded despite the California legislature spending more money on these problems than any other State.

“The question isn’t whether government regulation has constrained supply. Rather its which government regulations have restricted supply the most.” Zoning, environmental, prevailing wage, and historical preservation laws have all contributed.

Government regulations now account for about a third of the price of most housing.

Dec 23

Grover Norquist asked every Republican to sign a pledge not to ever raise taxes. Government trusters responded by labeling Norquist an “Islamist.”

All is fair in love and war, it is said.

Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) was founded by Grover Norquist in 1985. Norquist’s mission was to ask politicians—especially Republican politicians—to sign a pledge that they would always oppose all tax increases. Those who refused to sign were generally defeated in Republican primaries by those who signed.

By 2012 Norquist was one of the most powerful—and hated—men in Washington. Government trusters despised him. 60 Minutes ran a story proclaiming Norquist was the secret mastermind of the Republican Party.

By 2013, the GOP’s neocon establishment targeted Norquist with rumors that Norquist was secretly a member of the Muslim Brotherhood—and that Norquist’s pledge was, unbeknownst to the signers, some kind of “sharia” pledge. This theme was repeated by CIA-linked neocons such as Glen Beck, Frank Gaffney and Daniel Pipes.
(Glen Beck’s multimillion-dollar media empire suffered a steep decline in viewership soon after Beck began pushing these themes.)

Recently, a Nevada-based writer named Denise Mraz has also picked up these apparently-CIA-derived talking points, claiming that politicians who sign the pledge to oppose tax increases are secretly or unknowingly giving “consent for Sharia Compliance.” (You can’t make this stuff up!)

The basis for the Norquist=Muslim-Brotherhood claim: the fact that Norquist married a beautiful Palestinian-American named Samah Alrayyes in 2004. (Although the pair had a Christian wedding in the Weston United Methodist Church in Weston, Massachusetts.) Norquist has also launched some libertarian-conservative outreach efforts aimed at the Muslim community.

Dec 22

National Security coverage on MSNBC and CNN is entirely controlled by government agencies

From the beginning of the FISA Court, critics predicted it would become an embarrassment. New revelations show this was an understatement

Libertarian journalist and civil rights activist Glenn Greenwald dismantles the recent Inspector General report in The Intercept. According to the IG report, the FBI routinely cuts corners in its FISA Court pleadings. Moreover, the IG report shows that the “mainstream” media has been complicit in the abuses.

The secret FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) Court system was created by Congress in 1978 amid claims that investigations involving top-secret, classified, information are best conducted behind closed doors by trusted government-loyalist judges and government officials.

The FISA Court is a government tribunal without any press coverage or private-sector input.

In 2018, only 1 of 1,080 requests for government wiretap applications were rejected by the FISA Court. In most years there are NO rejections.

According to Greenwald:

It’s long been the case that CIA, FBI and NSA operatives tried to infiltrate and shape domestic news, but they at least had the decency to do it clandestinely. In 2008, the New York Times’ David Barstow won the Pulitzer Prize for exposing a secret Pentagon program in which retired Generals and other security state agents would get hired as commentators and analysts and then – unbeknownst to their networks – coordinate their messaging to ensure that domestic news was being shaped by the propaganda of the military and intelligence communities.

But now it’s all out in the open. It’s virtually impossible to turn on MSNBC or CNN without being bombarded with former Generals, CIA operatives, FBI agents and NSA officials who now work for those networks as commentators and, increasingly, as reporters.

All of this has meant that U.S. discourse on these national security questions is shaped almost entirely by the very agencies that are trained to lie: the CIA, the NSA, the Pentagon, the FBI.

Dec 20

Millionaire Michigan Troopers rake in $400,000 ‘pensions’ (on top of their salaries) WHILE WORKING

Government “workers” nationwide are often enriched by schemes which allow them to “double dip”: getting “retirement” pensions from one agency even as they “work” for another agency.

Now a report finds that senior Michigan State Troopers are collecting as much as $400,000 from THEIR OWN agency ON TOP of their pay.

Dozens of Michigan State Police employees have received payments of more than $300,000 to $400,000 in addition to their annual salaries. One Michigan State Police employee received $459,924.

Many others received more than $300,000 over the six-year period in exchange for agreeing not to retire early. See here.

In some cases, as with Long Island Railroad “workers,” it is customary for them to trip or stumble during their final years on the job—thereby earning lucrative “disability” checks for life in addition to their six-figure pensions.

Many government agencies base pension amounts on the average of the “worker’s” last 3 years on the job. A low-level janitor will be promoted to ‘district supervisor’ during his last 3 years in order to max out pension pay from struggling taxpayers.

The State of Illinois currently pays out more to its retired professors than it does to its entire University system.

Anyone living in Las Vegas can often see hundreds of these millionaire government workers gambling and partying during weekend junkets at luxury casinos.

“Disabled” Long Island Railroad employees can be seen on New York’s exclusive golf courses and drinking in private yacht clubs.

Meanwhile homelessness and desperation continue growing in the private sector.

Dec 19

California enacts law against “gig” work in September; hundreds of jobs are lost by December

The American “labor movement” began by spreading awareness of worker health and safety, low wages, and long hours.

Today the “movement” is a government-controlled racket typified by pro-government extremism and anti-capitalist ideology.

The recent rise of digital communications led to ride-sharing and other “gig” work—which improved the lives of everyone involved.

But government views this growth in gig work as a major threat to its control over workers. The government of California recently imposed a law requiring most gig workers to be designated as ‘employees’ rather than subcontractors. ‘Employers’ of ‘employees’ must pay exorbitant taxes and insurance premiums, including workers comp and unemployment insurance. ‘Employees’ must also withhold payroll and income taxes.

Just two months after the new law took effect, hundreds of California gig workers have been driven out of work. The entertainment firm Vox “decided to cancel the contracts of some 200 or so freelancers that now work for SB Nation. It will “replace them with 20 new part-time and full-time staffers,” a “source familiar with the decision” told the Los Angeles Times.”

See here.

Dec 18

9 of the 20 richest counties in the U.S. are D.C. suburbs

Like Tolken’s mythical city of Mordor, the District of Columbia is rapidly drawing the wealth of the nation to itself. Nine of the 20 richest counties in the U.S. are D.C. suburbs where America’s millionaire government workers reside in gilded mansions.

Even as taxation and regulation drive more Americans into homelessness, the median household income in Loudoun County, Va., where many federal employees reside, was $140,382 as of 2018. Indeed, with the exception of the New York City and San Francisco areas, the wealthiest counties are all government capitols or suburbs of capitols. Los Alamos County, New Mexico—where many federal government scientists and defense industry parasites dwell—ranked #4.

Dec 16

92 percent of Americans say their rights are under siege

A new Harris Poll released on Bill of Rights Day shows that 92 percent of Americans believe their rights are being threatened by government.

“Americans are most concerned that their freedom of speech (48%), right to bear arms (47%) and right to equal justice (41%) are at risk.” See here.

The “mainstream” media (government supporting and supported) reported the poll results as a product of political division.

Dec 16

Singapore government orders critics to correct news story

Singapore, by many accounts, is one of the freest places on earth. The people of Singapore slowly crawled out from the misery of socialism during the 1960s and built a thriving market capitalist society. Today, life expectancy in Singapore is ranked 3rd in the world (behind Spain and Japan). (By comparison, life expectancy in the U.S. is ranked 43rd in the world–and declining as government takes a larger role in “health care.”)

But over the past two years, the government of Singapore (copying other governments) enacted a “fake news law.”

Last week, the Singapore government invoked its fake news law to order an opposition party to publish corrections on two social media posts and an article on its website about local employment.

See here.