Jun 27

Bozeman Daily Chronicle declares regulations and forced redistribution a “glimmer of hope” for the poor in Big Sky

Under the unlikely headline “Big Sky affordable housing sees glimmer of hope in resort tax funding,” the Bozeman Daily Chronicle printed a bizarre story on June 27.

Big Sky is Montana’s wealthiest town–where millionaires ski, golf and recreate and real estate prices are sky high.

Prices are high because the town is hemmed in on all sides by public land. Regulations and covenants further increase costs. (RV Parks or trailer parks are virtually prohibited). Big Sky is similar to other high-reg, strict-zoning, public-land-enveloped places such as Aspen, Park City, and San Francisco in this way.

A six-year-old could easily diagnose the problem (if high real estate values are a problem). And the solution. Deregulation would quickly provide more affordable housing for poor Big Sky residents.

But in the eyes of government trusters (and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle), the solution lies in more regulation and more government redistribution schemes.

Montana has no sales tax except in “resort” areas–and Big Sky has declared itself such an area. “Nonprofits” must apply for grants to have government officials dispense the ‘resort tax’ dollars to them.

And this year the government board dispensed almost $2 million to various nonprofit “affordable housing” condo projects.

“The fact that the resort tax board earmarked such a large sum for affordable housing is a clear marker of its understanding of the severity of the community’s housing crunch,” the Chronicle reported (quoting an interested groupie/developer).

No this was not a story in The Onion.

Jun 27

Electric car programs take money from the poor and give it to the rich –and Americans oppose them by wide margins

Government trusters often promote various “alternative energy” schemes designed to wean society off of fossil fuels.

One scheme is to have government pay companies to make electric cars. And to subsidize consumers to purchase said cars. And to pay gas stations to install electric charging stations, etc.

American taxpayers have been forced to pay billions on such schemes. Tesla alone received $860 million throughout the last three years.

New data show what we already know. Such schemes are a redistribution from poor taxpayers to the rich. The vast majority of purchasers of Tesla cars are in the top income tiers.

Rich Tesla drivers get “free” electricity at charging stations (paid by poorer taxpayers and utility customers).

The reverse Robin Hood system of spreading the wealth to the wealthy is under severe scrutiny. A new American Energy Alliance poll reveals that an overwhelming 67 percent of voters “are resistant to the idea that they should pay for people to buy electric vehicles,” while “nearly in 7 in 10 respondents, or 69 percent, agreed that electricity customers should not be forced to pay for the cars’ recharging stations.”

See here.

Jun 25

Venezuelan military now makes thirsty Venezuelans pay for water

Socialism bills itself as a system to help the needy. Socialists believe that water, health care, food, and other commodities should be distributed by the government.

Bloomberg News is out with a report that in socialist Venezuela, the poor, starving and thirsty subjects are now made to pay the military for drinking water.

And the Venezuelan public water system is suffering from years of lack of maintenance. See here.

Jun 24

Glenn Beck’s media empire crumbles

Pro-government “Conservative” Glenn Beck’s multimedia empire The Blaze “appears to be on its last legs after another round of layoffs,” according to The Daily Beast.

TheBlaze once generated a reported $90 million in revenue annually, but has been in a slow motion implosion over the past several years. Top-level managerial shakeups, seemingly ceaseless layoffs, and office closures have depleted morale, tanked the site’s web traffic, and caused cable distributors to jump ship.and after a prospective high-profile buyer lost interest.

Beck now reportedly has fewer than 30 employees.

Beck’s content is widely thought to be CIA-generated. The “mainstream” (government supporting and supported) media sometimes describes Beck as edgy or pushing ‘conspiracy theories.’ But Beck’s edgy ‘conspiracy theories’ are those wholly approved by the deep state and the military-industrial complex. Beck paints a preposterous picture of American policy being secretly driven by Muslims (a fake narrative pushed by the Neocon establishment), but refuses to embrace any suggestion that the government has lied about the events of 9/11.

Beck loudly decried the 2014 standoff between Bundy supporters and the Bureau of Land Management in Nevada, saying the American people should never have made demands on government authorities to leave the area.

Beck sometimes describes himself as libertarian, yet constantly pushes a pro-police, pro-military expansion agenda. Beck initially supported the banker bailouts of 2008 but then switched gears after it became clear the American people opposed the bailouts by wide margins.

Beck is suffering the same fate as pro-government media everywhere. The public simply won’t tune in to hear worn out demands that Americans must always trust the state.

Jun 23

Turkish government media impose blackout of political challengers on TV

Turkey is preparing for a national election. President Erdogan appears to be in jeopardy of losing his office.

So in the final days of Erdogan’s campaign, official Turkish TV and news sources have imposed a virtual blackout on any discussion of Erdogan’s opponents.

One opponent, Muharrem Ince, addressed a crowd of 4 million in Istanbul without any coverage on government TV. Erdogan, by contrast, spoke before much smaller groups and received widespread news coverage. See here.

Jun 23

Leaked internal ACLU memo indicates wavering on free speech

Reason magazine has a startling report out. A leaked memo indicates that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is wavering on free speech.

Free speech was mostly a movement of “the left” throughout the past 50 years. During the 1940s and ’50s the “establishment” was generally anti-communist, pro-capitalist and somewhat authoritarian.

“Liberalism” was closely related to free-speech movements.

But now several officials within the ACLU are wavering on free speech. Many view the maintenance of massive government programs and institutions of political correctness as more important than principles of free speech.

Jun 23

Because more than half of all Facebook and Twitter accounts are fake, social media ‘influencers’ are losing influence among advertisers

More than half of all Facebook and Twitter accounts are fake. And both Twitter and Facebook make money by selling fake “followers” and “likes.”

Prominent politicians and even musicians and actors purchase fake followers. Hillary Clinton purchased more than 2 million followers during her 2016 campaign.

And both Twitter and Facebook have been repeatedly caught manipulating content to promote pro-government memes and themes.

Now advertisers are spending less and less on ads featuring social media ‘influencers.’

Jun 23

Government scientists whose research disagrees with government must now publish their findings secretly

There has been an unwritten rule among U.S. federal agencies (especially during the Obama years) that no “science” which disagrees with the prevailing message of manmade-global-warming-by-CO2 hysteria is allowed to be published by the government.

So a U.S. Forest Service researcher was forced to publish his countervailing climate research under alias names. He observed that planetary temperature correlates with sunlight and atmospheric pressure, not atmospheric composition.

The Washington Post reported on the story and turned it into a scandal about a government scientist using aliases.

Tony Heller of realclimatescience.com says that climate science has now reverted to 16th-century levels.

Jun 20

Terror in Cyberspace! Israeli prime minister says hackers can bring down air force planes!

Governments routinely try to take over the internet by claiming such things as that internet providers are preparing to charge the poor more than the rich, or slow down the internet access of the poor, or that “terrorists” might soon use the internet to bring down the power grid, shut down the Pentagon, or melt down nuclear reactors. Each of these claims is easily disproven, but governments keep saying them.

Now the prime minister of Israel is claiming that non-government-controlled internet users may soon be able to hack into air force jets and cause them to crash. See here.

A quote from Reuters:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on governments worldwide on Wednesday to join forces to defend against cyber threats that he said could even bring down military and civilian aircraft. . . . we are absolutely vulnerable. Our airlines can be brought down, our fighter planes can be brought down,” he said.

Jun 14

Chicago suburb lays off 40 cops and firefighters to meet pension obligations

Every socialist state will eventually reach a day of reckoning.

For years the government of Harvey, Illinois (an impoverished, high-tax, high-regulation socialist suburb of Chicago) has overpaid cops and firefighters and lavished retired cops and firefighters with extravagant pensions. (Many such retirees take their padded pensions and move to lower-tax, less socialist places.)

But the long-suffering residents of Harvey are now unable to meet the ever-growing tax burden. In April the municipal government was forced to lay off 40 cops and firefighters. See here.

In 2015, the millionaire retired cops of Harvey won a ruling in federal court requiring that their pensions be fully paid. Consequently, the town comptroller has been forced to redirect 1.5 million tax dollars from town budgets to the pension fund.

Harvey remains more than $7 million delinquent in its payments to the millionaire retiree pension fund.