de Blasio’s New York: Former Rikers Inmates Using Taxpayer-Funded Debit Cards To Buy Liquor, Tobacco
Today in “why Democrats simply should never be allowed to allocate government capital” news, it it being reported that former inmates at Riker’s Island are now using their government-issued debit cards to buy booze and Juul pods.
The news comes just days after we reported that inmates were receiving training on how to become Starbucks baristas for “job security” purposes once they are released.
The debit cards were part of a “soft on crime city initiative” by beta male bleeding heart Mayor Bill de Blasio that provided ex-inmates with two $25 gift cards, according to the NY Post.
JR, an employee at a liquor store near Riker’s Island, has said that her store was refusing to sell to the cardholders.
The liquor store employee said: “We’ve had more people coming in with the visa things. No, we don’t take that, no gift cards, none of that. People come in here always trying to find a way to pay without really paying.”
City Sliquors, another liquor store along the Riker’s Island bus route, said ex-inmates “didn’t seem to understand why their payment wasn’t accepted”.
The store’s owner commented: “Usually we don’t accept it because we don’t know where it came from with no chip, it may bounce.”
And even while booze has been difficult to get, tobacco and Juul pods have been easier for the ex-inmates to ascertain.
Ahmed, a worker at the Plaza Deli Grocery, said: “Yet to see one person use it to buy food.”
Seeing the rampant success of this program, the city is also planning on setting up ex-inmates with Metrocards and burner phones upon their release. The move comes as a result of de Blasio’s new bail reform law, which is supposed to incentivize inmates to show up for their court appearances. Other incentives being offered – we swear we are not making this up – are winter coats, Steve Madden shoes and Mets tickets.
The programs are being run by city-funded non-profits and will cost about $500,000.
One law enforcement source concluded: “It’s a sad state of affairs when the city bends over backward to reward criminals instead of protecting the victims of their crimes. What’s next? Free limo service back home?”
Colleges have been around for centuries. College students have also been around for centuries. Yet, college administrators assume that today’s students have needs that were unknown to their predecessors. Those needs include diversity and equity personnel, with massive budgets to accommodate.
According to Minding the Campus, Penn State University’s Office of Vice Provost for Educational Equity employs 66 staff members. The University of Michigan currently employs a diversity staff of 93 full-time diversity administrators, officers, directors, vice provosts, deans, consultants, specialists, investigators, managers, executive assistants, administrative assistants, analysts and coordinators. Amherst College, with a student body of 1,800 students employs 19 diversity people. Top college diversity bureaucrats earn salaries six figures, in some cases approaching $500,000 per year. In the case of the University of Michigan, a quarter (26) of their diversity officers earn annual salaries of more than $100,000. If you add generous fringe benefits and other expenses, you could easily be talking about $13 million a year in diversity costs. The Economist reports that University of California, Berkeley, has 175 diversity bureaucrats.
Diversity officials are a growing part of a college bureaucracy structure that outnumbers faculty by 2 to 2.5 depending on the college. According to “The Campus Diversity Swarm,” an article from Mark Pulliam, a contributing editor at Law and Liberty, which appeared in the City Journal (10/10/2018), diversity people assist in the cultivation of imaginary grievances of an ever-growing number of “oppressed” groups. Pulliam writes:
“The mission of campus diversity officers is self-perpetuating. Affirmative action (i.e., racial and ethnic preferences in admissions) leads to grievance studies. Increased recognition of LGBTQ rights requires ever-greater accommodation by the rest of the student body. Protecting ‘vulnerable’ groups from ‘hate speech’ and ‘microaggressions’ requires speech codes and bias-response teams (staffed by diversocrats). Complaints must be investigated and adjudicated (by diversocrats). Fighting ‘toxic masculinity’ and combating an imaginary epidemic of campus sexual assault necessitate consent protocols, training, and hearing procedures — more work for an always-growing diversocrat cadre. Each newly recognized problem leads to a call for more programs and staffing.”
Campus diversity people have developed their own professional organization — the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education. They hold annual conferences — the last one in Philadelphia. The NADOHE has developed standards for professional practice and a political agenda, plus a Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, which is published by the American Psychological Association.
One wonders just how far spineless college administrators will go when it comes to caving in to the demands of campus snowflakes who have been taught that they must be protected against words, events and deeds that do not fully conform to their extremely limited, narrow-minded beliefs built on sheer delusion. Generosity demands that we forgive these precious snowflakes and hope that they eventually grow up. The real problem is with people assumed to be grown-ups — college professors and administrators — who serve their self-interest by tolerating and giving aid and comfort to our aberrant youth. Unless the cycle of promoting and nursing imaginary grievances is ended, diversity bureaucracies will take over our colleges and universities, supplanting altogether the goal of higher education.
“Diversity” is the highest goal of students and professors who openly detest those with whom they disagree. These people support the very antithesis of higher education with their withering attacks on free speech. Both in and out of academia, the content of a man’s character is no longer as important as the color of his skin, his sex, his sexual preferences or his political loyalties. That’s a vision that spells tragedy for our nation.
It looks like the pending federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes will exempt e-liquids used in refillable vaporizers and apply only to cartridges, the type of product that is most popular with teenagers. The New York Timesreports that the new restrictions, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce soon, will allow cartridges such as Juul-compatible pods only in tobacco and menthol flavors but will not cover the fluids that vapers use in open systems. According to the Times, menthol will be exempted because it is a popular cigarette flavor, accounting for 35 percent of the market, but is not favored by underage vapers.
That compromise represents a significant recalibration of a proposed policy that provoked intense opposition from adult consumers and the vaping industry, including thousands of small businesses across the country. The response led Donald Trump’s political advisers to warn that a flavor ban could alienate voters who were otherwise inclined to support the president, potentially threatening his re-election.
The FDA originally planned to ban all e-liquid flavors but tobacco. The main justification for that policy was the recent surge in vaping by minors, who overwhelmingly prefer mint, fruit, candy, and dessert flavors. But that is also true of adults who have switched from smoking to vaping, many of whom say flavor variety was important in that transition. The targeted flavors account for almost all sales at vape shops that cater to adults, and it was expected that a blanket ban would drive some vapers back to smoking, a far more dangerous habit, while deterring current smokers from quitting.
On New Year’s Eve, Trump said the flavor restrictions will be announced “very shortly,” although he suggested they will be temporary. “We’ll be taking it off—the flavors—for a period of time, certain flavors,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. “We’re going to protect our families, we’re going to protect the children, and we’re going to protect the industry. Hopefully, if everything’s safe, they’re going to be going very quickly back onto the market.”
Trump alluded to the recent outbreak of vaping-related lung illnesses, which are strongly associated with cannabis extracts containing vitamin E acetate, an additive that began showing up in black-market THC cartridges in 2019. “People have died from this, they’ve died from vaping,” he said. “We think we understand why. But we’re doing a very exhaustive examination, and hopefully everything will be back on the market very, very shortly.”
Trump noted the harm-reducing potential of legal e-cigarettes, which do not contain vitamin E acetate and deliver nicotine without tobacco or combustion products. “Vaping can be good,” he said. “[With] e-cigarettes, you stop smoking. If you can stop smoking, that’s a big advantage.”
Trump’s attitude toward e-cigarettes seems to have evolved since he first announced a flavor ban in September, saying “we are going to have to do something” about the increase in underage consumption. “While I like the Vaping alternative to Cigarettes, we need to make sure this alternative is SAFE for ALL!” he said on Twitter two days later. “Let’s get counterfeits off the market, and keep young children from Vaping!”
By November, Trump was beginning to view the FDA ban as an example of potentially damaging overregulation. “Will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma,” he tweeted on November 11. “Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!”
At that meeting, held on November 22, Trump was receptive to the argument that excessive legal restrictions could drive nicotine vapers toward potentially hazardous black-market alternatives. “If you don’t give it to them,” he said, “it’s going to come here illegally.” An unnamed “senior administration official” toldThe Washington Post the president initially acted based on one-sided information about vaping. “He didn’t know much about the issue and was just doing it for Melania and Ivanka,” the official said, referring to the president’s wife and daughter.
Whatever happens with the flavor restrictions, the vaping industry faces another imminent threat. Under a 2016 rule, all e-liquid and device manufacturers that want to keep their products on the market must submit costly, time-intensive applications to the FDA by May 12. That requirement is expected to eliminate the vast majority of current products, including e-liquids produced by small manufacturers and vape shops.
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s new concern about the health of the vaping industry will translate into less onerous requirements for FDA approval. “Our next focus will be on ensuring that the Trump administration recognizes the need to reform the FDA’s regulatory system for these products,” Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, told me in November, when it seemed that Trump was reconsidering the flavor ban. “If President Trump wants to win in 2020, mere inaction on this issue is not enough.”
from Latest – Reason.com https://ift.tt/35l8FD2
via IFTTT
2020’s Key Global Events: A Calendar For The Year Ahead
The biggest financial, economic and political event of 2020 will undoubtedly be the US presidential election in November, but even without it, this year is shaping up to especially busy. Below we list the key global events in the upcoming 365 days.
January
Wednesday, January 1: – Terms of newly appointed ECB Executive Board Members Panetta and Schnabel begin.
January: US-China – Potential signing of Phase One trade agreement. Following the announcement on December 13 of a Phase One trade agreement, the US and China could finalize and sign the agreement.
January: Thailand – Readings of the FY2020 budget in Parliament.
Thursday, January 9: France – Pension reform negotiations. Start of the second round of negotiations between the government and trade unions on the pension reform.
Tuesday, January 14: United States – Comments due on proposed tariffs on imports from France. The US Trade Representative proposed tariffs on imports from France as part of a Section 301 investigation into France’s digital services tax. Final comments are due on January 14, at which point the USTR could announce a decision on how it is moving forward with the issue.
Monday, January 20: EU – EU Commission to review EU fiscal framework.
Monday, January 20-21: Japan – BoJ monetary policy meeting.
Thursday, January 23: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
Sunday, January 26: Peru — Extraordinary Congressional Election. Peruvians will elect new members of Congress for all 130 congressional seats, whose terms will end in July 2021.
Wednesday, January 29: United States – FOMC meeting statement.
Thursday, January 30: UK – BoE MPC meeting (and monetary policy report).
Friday, January 31: UK – Article 50 extension ends under current legislation. On current legislation, the UK’s latest Article 50 extension ends on this date. Given that MPs in the House of Commons have already passed the second reading of PM Johnson’s Withdrawal Agreement Bill, we expect domestic ratification of the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU to be completed well in advance of 31 January. On that basis, the UK will have formally left the EU (on the status quo terms embodied in the post-Brexit transition period) as of 1 February.
February
Early February: Singapore – Budget statement.
Monday, February 3: United States – Iowa Democratic Caucus. First contest for the Democratic nomination for President. Although Iowa is a relatively small state and awards only 1% of delegates, candidates’ performance in the contest in the past has affected the direction and outcome of campaigns.
Tuesday, February 11: United States – New Hampshire Democratic Primary. Second contest for the Democratic nomination for President. Although New Hampshire is a relatively small state and awards < 1% of delegates, candidates' performance in the contest in the past has affected the direction and outcome of campaigns.
March
Early March: China – The National People’s Congress. The annual NPC is scheduled to start early March and is likely to last around 2 weeks. A key thing to watch will be Premier Li’s annual government report, which will include official economic targets for 2020, including GDP growth, CPI inflation and fiscal deficits (although those targets were set during closed-door policy meetings in the preceding December, they are not publicly announced until the NPC). The report will also set the broad tone of economic policy direction for the rest of the year. Main government officials will also hold press conferences on the sidelines, giving further color on their policy plans.
Monday, March 2: Israel – General elections. These elections will be the third in less than a year after coalition talks failed following the general elections on April 9 and September 17, 2019. Opinion polls suggest that the different blocs and parties are likely to maintain roughly the same share of seats they have in the Knesset, implying that the stalemate could continue. While political uncertainty appears likely to remain high, we think that the impact of that uncertainty on Israeli asset prices will be relatively limited and short-lived.
Tuesday, March 3: United States – Super Tuesday Democratic primaries. Fourteen states hold contests for the Democratic nomination for President, awarding 1/3 of all delegates. With the addition of California (which awards 10% of all delegates) to Super Tuesday this year, far more delegates will have been pledged by this date compared to in 2016.
Thursday, March 12: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
Sunday, March 15-16: UK – BoE Governor Carney last day in office. BoE Governor Bailey first day in office.
Wednesday, March 18: United States – FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
Thursday, March 26-27: EU – European Council.
Thursday, March 26: UK – BoE MPC meeting.
April
Wednesday, April 15: Korea: Parliamentary elections.
Sunday, April 26: Chile – Constitutional Referendum. Chileans will vote on two questions. First, on whether they want a new constitution. Second, on whether the new constitution should be drafted by either a “Constitutional Convention” (composed of members elected exclusively for the Convention) or a “Mixed Constitutional Convention” (composed of 50% newly elected members and 50% currently sitting members of Congress).
Monday, April 27-28: Japan – BoJ monetary policy meeting.
Wednesday, April 29: United States – FOMC meeting statement.
Thursday, April 30: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
May
May: Australia – Federal budget released.
Thursday, May 7: UK – BoE MPC meeting.
Sunday, May 10: Poland – Presidential elections. While the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) retained its parliamentary majority following the elections in autumn 2019, it nevertheless lost its senate majority. If the current incumbent PiS candidate, President Andrzej Duda, is not re-elected, it could further limit the PiS ability to pass legislation, as its parliamentary majority is insufficient to override presidential vetoes.
June
First half of 2020: United States – Federal Reserve reports on framework review. Federal Reserve policymakers plan to report findings from their review of monetary policy strategy, tools, and communication “during the first half of 2020.”
June: EU-UK – EU-UK Summit.
Thursday, June 4: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
June 10-12: G7 summit in the United States.
Wednesday, June 10: United States – FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
June 18-19: EU – European Council.
Thursday, June 18: UK – BoE MPC meeting.
July
By July: France – Submission of pension reform to the Parliament.
Wednesday, July 1: UK – Deadline to request an extension to the transition period under current legislation. Under the terms of the existing Withdrawal Agreement, the UK must request any extension of the transition period (for up to one or two years, beyond December 2020) by 1 July.
Monday, July 13-16: United States – Democratic National Convention. The Democratic National Convention takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Party will officially nominate its candidate for President.
Tuesday, July 14-15: Japan – BoJ monetary policy meeting.
Thursday, July 16: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
July 24 – August 9: Japan – Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Wednesday, July 29: United States – FOMC meeting statement.
August
Thursday, August 6: UK – BoE MPC meeting (and monetary policy report).
Monday, August 24-27: United States – Republican National Convention. The Republican National Convention takes place in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Party will officially nominate its candidate for President.
September
Thursday, September 10: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
Wednesday, September 16: United States – FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
Thursday, September 17: UK: BoE MPC meeting.
Tuesday, September 29: United States – First Presidential debate. Commission on Presidential Debates hosts first of three scheduled debates between the Republican and Democratic candidates for President.
October
Thursday, October 1: United States – FY2021 begins.
Sunday, October 11: Lithuania – Parliamentary elections, first round.
Thursday, October 15: EU – Deadline Draft Budgetary Plans 2021.
Thursday, October 15-16: EU – European Council.
Sunday, October 25: Chile – Constitutional Convention Election. If the majority votes in favor of a new constitution on the April 26 referendum, members of the constitutional convention will be elected alongside municipal and regional elections on October 25.
Wednesday, October 28-29: Japan – BoJ monetary policy meeting.
Thursday, October 29: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
November
Tuesday, November 3: United States – Election Day. Voters elect the President, House of Representatives, 35 senators as well as state and local officials.
Thursday, November 5: UK – BoE MPC meeting (and monetary policy report).
Thursday, November 5: United States – FOMC meeting statement.
Sunday, November 15: EU – National Draft Budgetary Plans 2021.
By November 21: New Zealand – Latest date for election. Election is due by November 21 at the latest. Neither major party has announced their key policy platforms, and polling suggests the race is likely to be tight.
November 21-22: G20 summit in Saudi Arabia.
November (provisional): Romania – Legislative Elections. Romania is scheduled to go to the polls in late 2020, provided that the Parliament is not dissolved earlier. The latest polling data projects the current ruling party (PNL) to be in lead at around 40% and on an upward trajectory, with the former ruling party and main contender’s (PSD) share bottoming out at 20%.
December
Thursday, December 10: EU – ECB Governing Council meeting.
Thursday, December 10-11: European Council.
Wednesday, December 16: United States – FOMC meeting statement (and Summary of Economic Projections).
Thursday, December 17: UK – BoE MPC meeting.
Thursday, December 31: UK – Brexit transition period ends. If the UK has not sought an extension of the transition period beyond December 2020, the status quo terms of the UK’s initial post-Brexit arrangements come to an end on this date.
It looks like the pending federal ban on flavored e-cigarettes will exempt e-liquids used in refillable vaporizers and apply only to cartridges, the type of product that is most popular with teenagers. The New York Timesreports that the new restrictions, which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to announce soon, will allow cartridges such as Juul-compatible pods only in tobacco and menthol flavors but will not cover the fluids that vapers use in open systems. According to the Times, menthol will be exempted because it is a popular cigarette flavor, accounting for 35 percent of the market, but is not favored by underage vapers.
That compromise represents a significant recalibration of a proposed policy that provoked intense opposition from adult consumers and the vaping industry, including thousands of small businesses across the country. The response led Donald Trump’s political advisers to warn that a flavor ban could alienate voters who were otherwise inclined to support the president, potentially threatening his re-election.
The FDA originally planned to ban all e-liquid flavors but tobacco. The main justification for that policy was the recent surge in vaping by minors, who overwhelmingly prefer mint, fruit, candy, and dessert flavors. But that is also true of adults who have switched from smoking to vaping, many of whom say flavor variety was important in that transition. The targeted flavors account for almost all sales at vape shops that cater to adults, and it was expected that a blanket ban would drive some vapers back to smoking, a far more dangerous habit, while deterring current smokers from quitting.
On New Year’s Eve, Trump said the flavor restrictions will be announced “very shortly,” although he suggested they will be temporary. “We’ll be taking it off—the flavors—for a period of time, certain flavors,” he told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “We’re going to protect our families, we’re going to protect the children, and we’re going to protect the industry. Hopefully, if everything’s safe, they’re going to be going very quickly back onto the market.”
Trump alluded to the recent outbreak of vaping-related lung illnesses, which are strongly associated with cannabis extracts containing vitamin E acetate, an additive that began showing up in black-market THC cartridges in 2019. “People have died from this, they’ve died from vaping,” he said. “We think we understand why. But we’re doing a very exhaustive examination, and hopefully everything will be back on the market very, very shortly.”
Trump noted the harm-reducing potential of legal e-cigarettes, which do not contain vitamin E acetate and deliver nicotine without tobacco or combustion products. “Vaping can be good,” he said. “[With] e-cigarettes, you stop smoking. If you can stop smoking, that’s a big advantage.”
Trump’s attitude toward e-cigarettes seems to have evolved since he first announced a flavor ban in September, saying “we are going to have to do something” about the increase in underage consumption. “While I like the Vaping alternative to Cigarettes, we need to make sure this alternative is SAFE for ALL!” he said on Twitter two days later. “Let’s get counterfeits off the market, and keep young children from Vaping!”
By November, Trump was beginning to view the FDA ban as an example of potentially damaging overregulation. “Will be meeting with representatives of the Vaping industry, together with medical professionals and individual state representatives, to come up with an acceptable solution to the Vaping and E-cigarette dilemma,” he tweeted on November 11. “Children’s health & safety, together with jobs, will be a focus!”
At that meeting, held on November 22, Trump was receptive to the argument that excessive legal restrictions could drive nicotine vapers toward potentially hazardous black-market alternatives. “If you don’t give it to them,” he said, “it’s going to come here illegally.” An unnamed “senior administration official” toldThe Washington Post the president initially acted based on one-sided information about vaping. “He didn’t know much about the issue and was just doing it for Melania and Ivanka,” the official said, referring to the president’s wife and daughter.
Whatever happens with the flavor restrictions, the vaping industry faces another imminent threat. Under a 2016 rule, all e-liquid and device manufacturers that want to keep their products on the market must submit costly, time-intensive applications to the FDA by May 12. That requirement is expected to eliminate the vast majority of current products, including e-liquids produced by small manufacturers and vape shops.
It remains to be seen whether Trump’s new concern about the health of the vaping industry will translate into less onerous requirements for FDA approval. “Our next focus will be on ensuring that the Trump administration recognizes the need to reform the FDA’s regulatory system for these products,” Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, told me in November, when it seemed that Trump was reconsidering the flavor ban. “If President Trump wants to win in 2020, mere inaction on this issue is not enough.”
from Latest – Reason.com https://ift.tt/35l8FD2
via IFTTT
Start over in the new year. Also, start over at any other time during the rest of the year, whenever you want, as often as you like. Time is an illusion anyway.
I cannot assure you that things will get better in the ’20s. I can’t assure you that they’ll get worse, either. What I can absolutely guarantee is that things are going to keep getting weirder and weirder. At this point in time the only reliable pattern is the disintegration of patterns.
The mainstream worldview isn’t mainstream because it is more fact-based, logical, or makes better arguments than other potential worldviews, it’s mainstream because vast fortunes are poured into keeping it mainstream.
“Why do those people hate us?” “We destroyed their country.” “We should leave the Middle East then.” “We can’t” “Why not?” “Israel.” “What about it?” “Those other countries hate it.” “Why?” “It destroyed the country it was built on top of.” “Well maybe we and Israel should leave, then?” “Nazi.”
The empire’s overall strategy toward Iran seems to be to crowd the area with an increasingly intrusive military presence, then react disproportionately in “self defense” when anything happens. It’s like an older sibling’s “I’m not touching you” car ride teasing, but with an entire region.
Not hearing any urgent concerns about that horrible horrifying epidemic of antisemitism that was pervading the Labour Party anymore. I guess they all stopped being antisemites all of a sudden.
“You defend Assad!” No I don’t, idiot. I attack the US-centralized empire for pouring billions and billions of dollars into actual terrorist groups in Syria with the goal of effecting regime change, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. I don’t play defense, I play offense.
I’m still tripping on how the latest WikiLeaks drops are getting literally zero mainstream media coverage, and yet people on the internet still get mad at me for writing about them. Even one indie blogger talking about these authentic documents is unacceptable to some people.
Everyone involved in getting the OPCW leaks out did the right thing but the MSM. The inspectors did the right thing, the whistleblowers did the right thing, WikiLeaks did the right thing… then the media refused to report it and gave control of the narrative to fucking Bellingcat. The facts are right there online right now, staring us all right in the face, but because coverage is being suppressed and the conversation controlled, I have people in my social media notifications at this very moment regurgitating old establishment Syria narratives as gospel truth.
Imagine living in Nazi Germany and only ever talking about Jim Crow laws in the American south. That’s what it’s like when people who live in the US-centralized empire focus on the alleged misdeeds of non-aligned nations.
Our entire society is mentally ill. What our mentally ill society labels “mental illness” is actually just a small slice of the broader mental illness spectrum — those who are impaired in their ability to participate in the consensus mass delusions shared by the rest of society.
Sometimes I can only stop and stare slack-jawed at all the extreme hate and vitriol that gets directed at anti-imperialists online. I mean, you’ll get called all sorts of names, get called evil and a monster, for advocating peace. PEACE! Really shows you the power of propaganda.
Mentally mute the narrative soundtrack about Obama changing things after Bush and Trump presenting a radical deviation from all US norms, and what you see is a government continuing along pretty much the exact same trajectory with only cosmetic changes between administrations. World minus narrative is night-and-day different from world plus narrative.
Wars aren’t good vs evil; usually they’re geostrategic agenda vs geostrategic agenda. But Hollywood always portrays war as good vs evil, which is why empire apologists always bleat “You’re saying Dictator X is a Good Guy!” whenever you oppose interventionism in X targeted nation. Without that conditioning by professional storytellers, it would never occur to us to try and find the “good guys” in the chaos of a military conflict. We’re trained to think there must be a Good Guy and a Bad Guy, and that if a side isn’t one then they’re the other.
Capitalism is literally a game. It’s based on completely made-up rules with a completely made-up points system just like any other game. The only difference between this game and the others is this one gets taken so seriously that losing can kill you in real life.
Arguably the only people who actually truly understand the highly unscientific and completely made-up field of economics are those who manipulate the economy for their own benefit. And they only understand it because they’re the ones authoring its self-fulfilling prophecies.
Sometimes it’s funny to think about how humanity fought two world wars for basically no reason. World War 2 sprung directly from the effects of World War 1, and hardly anybody can give a coherent explanation for why World War 1 happened. Certainly nobody can justify why World War 1 was necessary. Our species fought two world wars (or arguably one world war with a long intermission to grow more troops) for no justifiable reason at all.
Keep paying close attention to Syria. I know they’re saying “Assad won” and there’s a lot of other stuff going on in the world, but the battle for narrative control over Syria is hotter than ever and we’re going to see even more information emerge to discredit the imperial press.
“I hope those folks in Hong Kong and Iran obtain democracy like we westerners have. Lemme log off this search engine algorithmically stacked toward billionaire CIA-tied media and ponder whether I want Donald Trump or Joe Biden to continue the wars and oligarchic exploitation.”
It can be fun to debate political and ideological solutions to humanity’s problems. Also, it’s worth noting that every one of those problems would disappear very quickly if we all just stopped taking our own mental chatter so seriously.
Giuliani Says Ukraine Corruption Came From ‘Highest Levels Of Obama Administration’; Wants To Testify, Try Case
Rudy Giuliani is not only willing to testify in President Trump’s Senate impeachment trial, he wants to “do demonstrations” in order to outline what he described as a “series of criminal acts” involving “the highest levels of the Obama administration,“ adding that Democrats Adam Schiff and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will go down in history like Joe McCarthy when people “calm down and watch this carefully.”
“What I learned is the corruption in Ukraine is vast, it’s extensive, it highly involves the Democratic party – not just in 2016 but for many years,” the former New York City mayor said at Trump’s New Year’s Eve party at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
“When the full scope of what happens in Ukraine comes out, there are going to be a lot of Americans who participated in the corruption,” adding “The Bidens took millions of dollars laundered out of Ukraine, and the only reason they’re getting away with it is because you and the press protect them…”
When asked what he discovered, Rudy replied “I’m not going to tell you what I found out until I have a proper forum… butit’s devastating,” adding “We will figure out the right forum.”
“This is expanding, it will turn out to be a series of criminal acts. It will involve the highest levels of the Obama administration. It’s the reason the Democratic party is in panic.”
“I would testify, I would do demonstrations, I’d give lectures, I’d give summations. Or, I do what I do best, I try the case,” adding, with a smile, “I’d love to try the case.”
“If you give me the case, I will prosecute it as a racketeering case. Which I kind of invented anyway.”
New U.S. Census data shows that Illinois’ population fell again in 2019, making this the sixth year in a row Illinois has shrunk.
Here are the key facts you need to know:
1. Illinois’ population fell by 51,000 in 2019, the 2nd-most in the nation.
Only New York lost more people than Illinois in 2019.
Illinois also had the third-worst loss as a percentage of population. Only West Virginia and Alaska lost more in percentage terms.
Overall, Illinois shrunk the most of any state in the nation between 2010 and 2019. There are now 170,000 fewer people in Illinois today than in 2010.
2. Illinois has lost population six years in a row.
Cumulatively, the state has lost 223,000 people since 2014. That’s the equivalent of losing the entire city of Aurora.
Only West Virginia and Connecticut have also lost population for six years or more.
3. Illinois netted a loss of nearly 105,000 residents to domestic out-migration in 2019.
A key reason for Illinois’ loss in population is its continuous stream of residents leaving the state. Illinois lost a net of 105,000 residents to other states in 2019.
4. Illinois has one of the worst rates of domestic out-migration.
Illinois’ domestic migration losses are some of the nation’s worst. When measured per 1,000 people, Illinois lost over 8 people to out-migration in 2019, the 4th-highest in the nation.
And as the list below shows, none of Illinois’ neighbors come close to those losses. Michigan lost 2.4 people per 1,000 residents. Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin were almost flat. And Indiana actually had positive net migration.
5. Illinois’ neighbors are gaining population.
Bad weather – the favorite excuse of those who deny Illinois’ population problems – is not to blame for the state’s ills.
All of Illinois’ neighboring states gained population in 2019. In fact, Indiana gained nearly 37,000 people last year – 2/3rds of what Illinois lost.
Overall, Illinois has lost about 1.3 percent of its population since 2010. And while Illinois has shrunk six years in a row, none of its neighbors have shrunk even once in that time period.
* * *
Illinois politicians seem to have no plan to stem the state’s population losses. There’s no talk of an amendment to the pension protection clause nor are there plans to address the drivers of Illinois’ second-highest-in-the-nation property taxes.
Instead, their only plan is a for of a multi-billion dollar progressive tax hike – something that will only chase even more people out.
An Embarrassed Pope Francis Apologizes After Angrily Slapping Woman Who Grabbed Him
A stunning and unusual incident played out as cameras rolled while Pope Francis greeted the crowd in St. Peter’s Square ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations.
A visibly shocked and angry Pope Francis is seen frantically slapping a woman’s hand after she lunged from the crowd to grab his hand and yank the pontiff toward her.
The Pope’s Swiss Guard, which is a papal ‘secret service’ protection unit of sorts, does not appear nearby at the moment the bizarre incident went down. The Pope walks away visibly flustered and angry.
According to Reuters, Pope Francis had been making a visit to the large traditional Nativity scene at the center of St. Peter’s sprawling esplanade. As is customary, he was greeting and blessing some of the pilgrims along the way, and that’s when all hell broke loose:
After reaching out to touch a child, the pope turned away from the crowd only for a nearby woman to seize his hand and pull her toward him. The abrupt gesture appeared to cause him pain and Francis swiftly wrenched his hand free.
The woman had made the sign of the cross as the pope had approached. It was not clear what she was saying as she subsequently tugged him toward her.
The video immediately went viral once it hit the web, with conflicting reactions as Francis’ supporters were relieved he survived the apparently crazed or deeply in-need woman’s violent grasp, while others took the 83-year old bishop of Rome to task for what appeared to be him hitting back.
Predictably, the contentious hot takes analyzing the tense encounter began inundating the web:
Pope John Paul II met with the man who shot him and nearly killed him, held his hand, and prayed with him. Pope Francis slapped a woman for grabbing his hand. Two different people.
The clip shows him angrily slapping her hand until she releases her grip.
WATCH: Pope Francis was greeting people in St. Peter’s Square on New Year’s Eve when he had to pull himself away from a woman who grabbed the Pope’s hand and pulled him toward her. pic.twitter.com/eeafEU6mGi
An embarrassed Pope issued a public apology the next day for his angry reaction.
The New York Times described that he “apologized on Wednesday for the flash of anger — or self-defense — that he exhibited while greeting the faithful around the Vatican’s giant Nativity scene after a New Year’s Eve liturgy the evening before.”
“Many times we lose our patience,” Francis said. “I do, too, and I’m sorry for yesterday’s bad example.”
Regardless, it was a rare moment in which a flash of rage was captured by cameras on the part of the man propped up by the media as “the people’s Pope”.
“The 2010s have been the best decade ever. The evidence is overwhelming.”
Those are the words of Cato Institute senior fellow Johan Norberg, penned in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
Norberg’s words seem hyperbolic at first glance, but he may be right. In many ways, the world is getting better every day, and at an explosive rate. This is contrary to mainstream sentiment, where pundits clamor about democracy falling apart, climate catastrophe threatening our very existence, and capitalism failing us.
Yet, the proof is in the pudding, as they say. Data show the past decade has been a story of human flourishing and progress. Here are 6 facts about human progress that give us reason to be optimistic heading into 2020:
1. Extreme Poverty Is Plummeting
Extreme poverty rates—defined as living on less than $1.90 per day—are falling and continue to fall. From 1990 to 2015, the global extreme poverty rate fell from 36 percent to 10 percent. In 2018, it fell to 8.6 percent. This means more than 137,000 people escape extreme poverty every day.
2. More Than Half the World Is Middle Class
This might not shock you at first, but consider that September 2018 was the first time in human history that more than 50 percent of the global population was considered middle class, which amounts to about 3.8 billion people. One huge benefit of this is the demand the middle class places on the global economy, resulting in more entrepreneurial opportunities and increased commerce.
To put this in perspective, only 1.8 billion were considered middle class in 2009. That’s only 26 percent of the global population, meaning proportionally, the percentage of total global population considered middle class grew 92 percent from 2009 to 2018.
Global life expectancy increased by more than three years in the past 10 years, mostly thanks to prevention of childhood deaths. According to the U.N., the global mortality rate for children under 5 declined from 5.6% in 2008 to 3.9% in 2018. A longer perspective shows how far we’ve come. Since 1950, Chad has reduced the child mortality rate by 56%, and it’s the worst-performing country in the world. South Korea reduced it by 98%.
4. Climate-Related Deaths Are Falling
Norberg also addresses the question, “Hasn’t this all come at the cost of a despoiled environment?” “No,” he says. “At a certain point developed countries start polluting less.” To make the point, he cites the falling rate of climate-related mortalities.
Death rates from air pollution declined by almost a fifth world-wide and a quarter in China between 2007 and 2017, according to the online publication Our World in Data.
Annual deaths from climate-related disasters declined by one-third between 2000-09 and 2010-15, to 0.35 per 100,000 people, according to the International Database of Disasters—a 95% reduction since the 1960s. That’s not because of fewer disasters, but better capabilities to deal with them.
5. Life Is Getting Better in the World’s Poorest Countries
Data from the World Bank show continued progress in the world’s poorest countries, especially in the past two decades. Access to basic drinking water has increased, as has electricity, sanitation, and clean cooking fuel. Data also show decreasing rates of poverty and childhood mortality.
6. The Cost of Starting a Business Has Plummeted in Developing Economies
Burdensome and onerous regulations can prevent individuals from starting their own business, which is one of the best ways to alleviate poverty. Not only is it tricky for the entrepreneur to navigate around excessive red tape, it also ends up costing them more. Thankfully, the cost of starting a business has drastically declined, especially in developing economies. In low- and middle-income economies, the average cost of starting a business was 141.76 percent of income-per-capita in 2004. In 2019, it is now just 30.85 percent.
P.S. Here is an infograph Norberg shared on his Twitter account.
