statism

Feds Abused Anti-Terrorism Database To Track Chelsea Manning Supporter

'Keeping our borders secure apparently means allowing federal agents to delve as deeply as they want into electronics that cross the border, even if it's someone who just went to Mexico on vacation. Presumably, David House wasn't a threat to national security when he left for Mexico, but by the time he landed at Chicago's O'Hare Airport, he was. House worked with the Bradley Manning Support Network and this was all the 'evidence' ICE needed to alert DHS agents that House would be returning from Mexico through Chicago -- and the wide-open policy on electronic searches was all the agents needed to seize and search House's phone and laptop." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds Abused Anti-Terrorism Database To Track Chelsea Manning Supporter

David Stockman on his Book and the Bailouts

"The panic and bailouts that followed were really about protecting the bonuses and incomes of very wealthy and politically well-connected managers at banks and other heavily leveraged businesses that were eventually deemed too big to fail. What followed was a massive transfer of wealth from the taxpayers and middle-class savers, in the form of bailouts and zero interest rates on bank deposits imposed by the Fed, to the so-called One Percent. As I show in my book, none of this was necessary to save the larger economy, since the losses that would have taken place as a result of the collapse would have been largely limited to Wall Street." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Stockman on his Book and the Bailouts

Treasury: $238b financial bailout ‘avoided catastrophe,’ only $3b outstanding

"The US Treasury said Wednesday the government’s massive response to the economic crisis five years ago paid off, avoiding a catastrophic breakdown of the financial system. In a report marking the anniversary of the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers — which snowballed into the worst crisis since the 1930s — the Treasury defended deploying hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to save other banks, major financial institutions and auto companies. While the rescue effort required piling up government debt, it was necessary, said Treasury officials who briefed reporters." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTreasury: $238b financial bailout ‘avoided catastrophe,’ only $3b outstanding

FBI continues to investigate Hastings for ‘controversial reporting’

"The FBI released a heavily redacted document on Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings, which revealed the law-enforcement agency is continuing to investigate what it characterized as 'controversial reporting' by the journalist, who died in a late-night car crash in Los Angeles in June. The FBI'S public liaison officer wrote that after the agency searched for responsive records it located one 'cross reference' file pertaining to a pending criminal investigation. The papers revealed that the FBI still considers Hastings' work highly sensitive; even the title of the case file has been withheld under claims that the information could interfere with an ongoing law-enforcement investigation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFBI continues to investigate Hastings for ‘controversial reporting’

What if everything you know is wrong?

"The revelation that Kurras was a long-term and highly valued agent of East German intelligence exploded like a bombshell, turning a generation’s worldview on its head. The man that Germany’s baby boomers loathed as the archetype of fascism, a living symbol of the evil Nazi-ish past, actually was a Stasi hero, a loyal servant of Communism. Many had no idea what to make of it, as the implications of the news were so stunning.The important question arose at once: Did Kurras kill Ohnesorg on the orders of the MfS, to bolster the radical Left movement in West Germany? It is impossible to answer this question with certainty, though it seems to be the obvious explanation for the crime." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat if everything you know is wrong?

Koch Has No Power to Coerce Anybody; That’s Why He Needs Government

"So the actual pattern we see is the Koch brothers and their pet think tanks actively encouraging a near-totalitarian level of state intervention to suppress all the mechanisms of civil society — investigative journalism by a free and independent press, a vigorous system of civil liability, etc. — that would help keep business honest and hold it accountable. The corporate Pharisees of our day strain at a gnat using 'free market' rhetoric to attack welfare for the poor, but swallow a camel when it comes to welfare for corporations. They claim to favor 'economic freedom' and 'free trade,' while putting the entire world under the totalitarian lockdown of draconian 'intellectual property' law." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingKoch Has No Power to Coerce Anybody; That’s Why He Needs Government

Capitalism: A Hate Story

"In Year 1 of Obama, two fat cats named Michael Moore and Harvey Weinstein released a movie. Their magnum opus was 'Capitalism: A Love Story'. The unsubtly sarcastic point after the colon was that capitalism was an unmitigated bag of evil. And to reaffirm the faith of capitalism-haters in the evils of capitalism, here was a movie put out by a bunch of corporations owned by millionaires. The traditional image of the anti-capitalist as a ragamuffin who dies of consumption in his garret has always been at odds with the real image of the anti-capitalist as a rich man or the son of a rich man. The man of the people is rather often stuck at the bottom of the top of the pole." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingCapitalism: A Hate Story

The hustlers and parasites who make up Washington’s establishment

"Washington has always had a permanent establishment of politicians, lobbyists and journalists. But this class has exploded in size in recent decades, and has become more introspective and self-serving. The news media have produced a hydra of talking heads who are forever yelling at each other (debate) or pontificating about who is up and who is down (analysis). The lobbying industry has spent billions greasing the revolving door: in 2009 alone, special interests spent $3.47 billion lobbying the federal government. In 1974 3% of retiring policymakers became lobbyists. Now 50% of senators and 42% of congressmen do." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingThe hustlers and parasites who make up Washington’s establishment

UN finds Syria war crimes ‘on both sides’

"It was clear that 'the majority of casualties result from unlawful attacks using conventional weapons,' the Commission of Inquiry on Syria said in a statement. Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's regime 'have continued to conduct widespread attacks on the civilian population, committing murder, torture, rape and enforced disappearance as crimes against humanity,' according to the report, which covers the period from May 15th to July 15th. It also charged that anti-government groups had 'committed war crimes,' including murder, torture and hostage-taking. The report does not address the period which includes the August 21st suspected chemical attack." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingUN finds Syria war crimes ‘on both sides’

Whom would you HIRE to intervene in Syria?

"We have no problem with the police intervening to end a criminal shootout. So why do we so passionately oppose having the U.S. federal state intervene in Syria and other places? There are multiple reasons. The Feds have a really bad track record (you can read a summary here); Tend to support bad guys and establish dictatorships; Constantly create new enemies; Force all Americans to support these interventions, even when they offend personal conscience. But does this mean that we have to sit idly by and watch bad things happen to good people overseas? We don't think so. Instead, imagine what would happen if we had a Separation of Intervention and State." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhom would you HIRE to intervene in Syria?