See, Israel is our greatest ally in the whole wide world — just don’t ask for specifics of anything they have ever done for the U.S. — and they love gays and pot and democracy and electric scooters. Israel, why it’s just like a little Connecticut on the Mediterranean.
Also, fully half of the population under their control have no rights their government is bound to respect, simply because they’re not Jewish. Israel, why it’s just like a little 1950s Mississippi on the Mediterranean.
“(Close) all windows, dormers, skylights, inside and outside shutters, curtains, casements, bull’s-eyes, deadlights, and blinds—in short, all openings, holes, chinks, and fissures through which the light of the sun is wont to enter houses.” -Frederic Bastiat from his work ‘The Candlemakers’ Petition’
Frederic Bastiat creatively used satire as a vessel in order to explain somewhat complex and philosophical beliefs. In The Candle Makers Petition, he illustrates how special interest groups, (the candlemakers and tallow producers at the time attempted to lobby the Chamber of Deputies of the French July Monarchy to prevent unfair competition with their products), attempt to sway those in power to grant them protections from changes in the market due to advancements in technology.
Although Bastiat’s essay was written in the mid nineteenth century, fast forward to today and you’ll find an equally disturbing message from the likes of 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Similar to the candle makers plea to the government to save their livelihoods, Yang is attempting to use neo-luddite scare tactics in order to garner popularity. He propagates fear of artificial intelligence using the argument that, on net, jobs will be lost and many will be unemployed. The same argument was made against motor vehicles, mechanized machinery and automation, all of which benefit us today.
Unfortunately, Yang’s message has been taken as gospel by those who fail to understand how resilient humanity and the market is. Although some professions are lost to advancements in technology, many others are created. Often, these professions are less laborious and less dangerous.
“Technology serves to make the economy stronger. Machines and tools make us more productive. The entire goal of economic progress is to make us more productive, more efficient, have more consumer goods available, more leisure time, and higher standards of living. This is achieved by higher productivity and efficiency. We are better off not needing twelve people with shovels to do the same thing as a bulldozer.” -Austin Pace (Contributing writer at Mises.org)
Furthermore, Yang ups the ante by dangling the $1,000 per month “stipend” carrot to all Americans of voting age. His attempts at creating both fear of technology, and dependence on the state, are worrisome at best, dystopian at worst.
Carrots and sticks. Beware the stick.
Blowback from the US war on terror is actually creating more terrorist. Zerohedge is reporting the results from a study published by Center for Strategic and International Studies including a map showing where the expansion of terrorism has occurred.
“Despite nearly two decades of U.S.-led counterterrorism operations, there are nearly four times as many Sunni Islamic militants today as there were on September 11, 2001,” the prior CSIS study found.
And yet it remains that as American troop presence in the Middle East and North Africa grows, so do the jihadists’ numbers, underscoring what former Congressman Ron Paul has long described as the ‘blowback’ of US imperialism and nation-building.
The Yemen Houthi cross-border attack against Saudi forces was a well planned and executed operation as described in the video below posted by Nasser Arrybee. The Yemen Houthi used 10 ballistic missiles against the coalition air base which prevented the coalition fighter jets from taking off and supporting the ground troops. The Yemeni air defense also engaged Apache attack helicopters and prevented them from entering the operation theater. The Houthi launched drone strikes as a diversion tactic which included one attack against a military target in Riyadh. If this is all true it represents a major strategic victory for the Yemenis. While all this is going on, a major fire broke out in the Haramain high-speed rail station in Saudi Arabia’s coastal city of Jeddah, injuring at least five people. Also, a high ranking body guard to two Saudi kings was killed in a gun fight. General Abdulaziz al-Faghem was shot by a “friend” during a personal dispute. Neither of these incidents involved Yemen but they do give an impression that Saudi Arabia is in a bit of chaos. Will the US and other western allies step in at some point? Washington DC is engulfed in impeachment, the UK in Brexit, Germany’s economy is tanking (which means the entire Eurozone is in trouble), Canada is led by a man that can’t figure out if he is black, white or Hindu. Of course, what better way for western leaders to distract the attention of the plebs than a good old war with lots of jets, bombs and dead Arabs. All this is happening while Saudi Arabia is trying to get it’s Aramco IPO off the ground which involves a who’s who of international bankers. Think about this, one of the poorest countries in the world is threatening the stability of the western world order – amazing!
And this is video summary of the Yemen major operation against Saudi forces in Najran south Saudi Arabia.
— Nasser Arrabyee (@narrabyee) September 30, 2019
But Trump really seems to think “treason” means disloyalty to him.
Imagine Bill Clinton, W. Bush or Obama accusing even the lowest piece of shit in the House — like Adam Schiff — of “treason” for daring to investigate him (or for deliberately misquoting them on the House floor). Nuts.
Rep. Adam Schiff illegally made up a FAKE & terrible statement, pretended it to be mine as the most important part of my call to the Ukrainian President, and read it aloud to Congress and the American people. It bore NO relationship to what I said on the call. Arrest for Treason?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 30, 2019
To be perfectly clear, the Constitution itself explicitly protects members of congress from such retribution by the executive.
They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
Oh good, and here he quotes a rightwing minister threatening civil war if he’s removed. I fear the same result. But imagine the president himself invoking the threat of mass violence to protect himself in this way. Son of Russiagate is a bunch of horseshit too. Seems like there must be 100 ways to beat the rap before resorting to this shit.
PS: May God damn for eternity all the liberals who pretended to believe Trump today was who Ron Paul was in 2008 and 2012, so they didn’t have to cross party lines to vote for a man who would have ended all of the wars, abolished the American empire, ended the war on drugs, ended the boom-bust economic crises, etc. etc. ad infinitem. Hope you really enjoyed your black-faced George W. Bush, who expanded on every wrong thing Bush and Cheney did and set the stage for a scumbag like Trump to take his place. Made you really feel like part of the winning team there for a minute. That must have been nice.
Oh my goodness the Democrats are such idiots. Since they’ve decided to use their front runner’s corruption scandal as their bludgeon against Trump, they can’t do anything now but try to crack down on mentions of their part of the story.
Hell I wouldn’t be surprised if the media went along with Biden’s demand.
The Yemen Houthi military is reporting that thousands of Saudi troops including mercenaries, border troops and several Saudi officers have been captured or killed in Operation Victory From God. Al Jazeera is reporting that the Houthi targeted the southern region around Najran in a cross-border operation.
Nasser Arrabyee is also reporting on Twitter. Nasser is claiming the Houthi captured 3 Saudi brigades and that hundreds of Saudi soldiers have been killed. This is a huge victory for the Houthis especially coming right after the attack on Saudi oil facilities. After years of war and bombing of Yemen, the Houthis have shown they are resilient and a formidable military force. Saudi Arabia can’t win this war using air power and mercenaries, they should sue for peace and go back to making trillions of dollars selling oil and living the life of luxury.
