It’s true, the great free-market economist Milton Friedman passed away in 2006, but his fiscal wisdom is timeless. In this cleverly edited video he enlightens Senator Sanders about capitalist “greed” ~
Video via FEE (Foundation for Economic Education)
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” ~ Milton Friedman
Apparently they just can’t help themselves with the political commentary (and didn’t really learn anything from the Bush-bashing episode). Here they go again: Dixie Chicks Perform with Background Portraying Donald Trump as the Devil.
Doubling down on historical ignorance and moral relativity (not to mention their ego-centric narcissism) from their safe space in the “wicked” West ~
Cool eh? Gee, maybe the Satanists will switch their votes from Bernie to Donald.
Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:
State ACLU Director Resigns After Daughters Frightened By Men In Women’s Restroom ~ That moment when a Leftie is confronted with cold hard truth ~
(Maya Dillard Smith said) she could no longer work for the organization, which was been a staunch advocate of allowing men who self-identify as women to use whichever bathroom they please.
Don’t Let the 43 Republicans Who Voted for Obama’s Transgender Agenda Spin Their Vote ~ Voting for the Maloney amendment (essentially ratifying Obama’s 2014 executive order barring private businesses who do contract work for the government from engaging in what the government considers to be “discrimination” on the basis of “sexual orientation and gender identity”) these hacks exposed themselves for the duplicitous cowards they are.
Obama To Middle America: The Economy Is Doing Great, And If You Don’t Think So, You’re Dumb ~ John Merline at Investors’ Business Daily with an excellent, fact-checking commentary on ~
Barack Obama’s hour-long harangue to an audience in Elkhart, Ind., about how the economy is doing fabulously well… 😯 and the only reason people don’t believe it is because of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh(?!)
Report: Trump’s campaign manager tells Senate Republicans the campaign is low on cash ~ Hey, weren’t Trumpsters bragging about how their guy was self-funded? And how do they explain ➡ Trump Picks Former Goldman Sachs Partner And Soros Employee As Finance Chairman?
Sorry folks, Donald Trump is simply a disingenuous demagogue, a fact that becomes more obvious with each passing day ~ 4 Signs From The Last 24 Hours That Trump Suckered Conservatives
Clear Cut Trees Reveal Solar Power’s Environmental Downside ~
“The potential environmental impacts associated with solar power — land use and habitat loss, water use, and the use of hazardous materials in manufacturing — can vary greatly depending on the technology,” according to the Union of Concerned Scientists’ website.
And sometimes solar panels catch fire.
Pope Francis’ award to Hollywood pro-abortion, anti-marriage advocates endangers the family ~ Sad but true; this progressive pope is doing untold damage to the Catholic church ~
As Catholics we rightly cringe to speak ill of the pope. But for anyone who has ever lamented the scandal of Catholic institutions honoring or giving a platform to public opponents of Church teaching, there is simply no dismissing the fact that this too is a grave scandal […]
By honoring activists like Clooney, Gere, and Hayek, Pope Francis is undermining the Catholic faithful’s effort to preserve the faith. He’s making our job next to impossible.
But here’s a Catholic voice for righteousness ~
Spanish cardinal doubles down on rebuke of ‘gay empire’ amid attacks ~ Cardinal Antonio Cañizares is among those few Christian leaders courageously standing against the LGBTQ tsunami ~
June 1, 2016 (LifeSiteNews) – A feminist organization in the Spanish province of Valencia are asking the government to prosecute a cardinal who denounced the influence of the “gay empire” and gender ideology.
Cardinal Antonio Cañizares, former prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Divine Worship and current archbishop of Valencia, recently told the faithful in a sermon, “The family is being stalked today, in our culture, by endlessly grave difficulties, while it suffers serious attacks, which are hidden from no one” […]
“The censure and condemnation suffered by me in part of the media, by certain groups and certain politicians, remind one of periods of our history, but which are still recent, in which they censured and condemned certain homilies and certain preachers,” said Cañizares, invoking the persecution of Catholic clergy by socialists before and during the Spanish Civil War, in which thousands were killed for their faith. “Is it homophobic to defend the family?” he asked.
No Padre – it isn’t. Especially in light of eternity.
US intelligence officials concerned about briefing Trump, Clinton ~ Can you blame them? “Trustworthy” is not an adjective that’s ever been used to describe either one of these two power-hungry autocrats.
Oregon Woman Concerned After Man Who Identifies as Woman Admitted at Women’s Shelter ~ In light of today’s crazy trans-confusion Malka Davis, a formerly-homeless woman, shares her experience from 2014 ~
“It jeopardized the security of a dozen or so women for the benefit of one man’s sense of belonging,” Davis outlined. “Not only that, but for every man who is admitted into a women’s shelter under the speciousness of gender ideology, untold numbers of bona fide women are left waiting on the streets. That is not just unfair, it’s unjust.”
She said that many who push transgender issues do not often realize those who are affected by such choices, including women at homeless shelters, who have no say in whether or not they don’t want a man living and sleeping with them in their room.
It’s June, traditionally the most popular month for weddings. Traditional (God-ordained) weddings that is. (No matter what Barack Obama irreverently decrees.) And studies show that the “marriage premium,” especially for men, is a very real phenomenon.
So guys, do yourself – and society – a favor, get married 🙂
So there was Mr. Obama taking his victory lap in Indiana yesterday. The fairytale he was peddling – warmly embraced and repeated by the mainstream media of course – was that Elkhart’s economic rebound was solely due to the wondrous actions (bailouts, stimulus spending, ObamaCare!!) of his administration.
Just more of the audacious B.S. we’ve come to know and love over the last seven years; although this latest assertion takes “audacious” to a whole new level because his claim doesn’t have a glimmer of truth to it. In fact Elkhart’s economic turnaround happened in spite of everything the O’Ministration has done.
In this excellent article at The Elkhart Truth, Indiana’s governor Mike Pence straightens out Mr. Audacious. Pence rightly credits the Hoosier spirit and not federal policies for helping turn around Elkhart County’s economy ~
Mr. President, we welcome you back to Elkhart since your first visit since 2009. I believe the people of Elkhart and my fellow Hoosiers have brought our economy back in spite of the burdens that higher taxes, mandates and increasing regulations from Washington, D.C. have placed on them. Our state has experienced an economic comeback because the story in Indiana has been very different.
Since I became governor in January 2013, we have worked every day to lower the burden of taxes and regulations so businesses large and small can focus on jobs and growth instead of worrying about the burden of their state government.
We have balanced two budgets, cut taxes every year including the largest state income tax cut in Indiana history. We repealed the inheritance tax, maintained strong reserves and invested more than $2.0 billion in our state’s infrastructure to support a growing economy.
We have also made education for our current workforce and the next generation the top priority, with record investments in education while making career and technical education a priority in every high school in Indiana again. The high school graduation rate has reached nearly 88 percent, seventh best in the nation and for the first time in Indiana’s history, we invested in early learning programs for disadvantaged kids and have one of the largest school voucher program in America.
All of these efforts have not gone unnoticed. Indiana was recently recognized by Chief Executive Magazine as the number one state in the Midwest for business, and fifth in the nation.
Other factors that helped boost Elkhart’s recovery – and had absolutely nothing to do with Obama’s economy-killing policies – were 1.) the fracking phenomenon which not only lowered fuel prices making RV’ing more affordable, the fracking industry itself was a big consumer of RVs; and 2.) Indiana passed “Right-to-Work” legislation in 2012, freeing employees from union restrictions and quickly reducing the unemployment rate.
Instead of taking illegitimate credit for Indiana’s rebound wouldn’t it be nice if Obama had the wisdom and humility to learn from the Hoosier state’s example? Dream on 🙁
But we do have to give the president his due – the man really is the most outrageous liar to ever occupy the Oval Office.
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Related:
Elkhart Residents Question Obama’s Economic Impact Ahead of President’s Visit
Elkhart Recovering IN SPITE of Obamanomics
Fast food workers may just coerce themselves out of job; they’re no longer cost effective.
Nothing personal Lefties, it’s simply an economic reality. When businesses are faced with demands for ever-increasing wages – for unskilled, entry-level positions – they’ll be forced to adapt ~
Yes. Sometimes, reality bites ~ Former McDonald’s CEO Warns Robots Cost Less Than Paying a $15 Minimum Wage ~
Democratic lawmakers and advocates from across the country have fought to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Those in support believe the policy could help address poverty, but critics say it could also lead to less employment opportunities. (Former McDonald’s President Ed Rensi) noted it will be cheaper for many businesses to purchase a $35,000 robot instead of hiring a new employee at $15 an hour.
“If you look at the robotic devices that are coming into the restaurant industry — it’s cheaper to buy a $35,000 robotic arm than it is to hire an employee who’s inefficient making $15 an hour bagging French fries,” Rensi told Fox Business. “It’s nonsense and it’s very destructive and it’s inflationary and it’s going to cause a job loss across this country like you’re not going to believe.”
Futhermore, arbitrarily driving up wages will have an adverse effect on the entire economy ~
“It’s not just going to be in the fast food business,” Rensi continued. “Franchising is the best business model in the United States. It’s dependent on people that have low job skills that have to grow. Well if you can’t get people a reasonable wage, you’re going to get machines to do the work. It’s just common sense. It’s going to happen whether you like it or not.”
As I’ve noted here before, the enforcement of some capricious “minimum wage” actually hurts the very people it purports to help. Earlier this year, the Washington Free Beacon reported on a recent study which found that franchise workers will lose out on minimum wage hikes ~
The Employment Policies Institute, a free-market think tank, surveyed hundreds of franchise and non-franchise businesses to see how they would react to steep minimum wage hikes such as the $15 rate supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley and the $12 plan touted by Hillary Clinton. The study found that a majority of franchise businesses would cut their workforce, turn to automation, or reduce hours to cope with $15 wages […]
EPI research director Michael Saltsman said that wage policies targeting franchisees represent a tactical shift by unions. Some cities have passed wage laws that exempt unionized businesses, giving small business owners an incentive to force workers into labor groups.
The Service Employees International Union has mounted a years-long campaign against McDonalds demanding $15 wages as it works to rally support among workers. These same workers could be hurt the most by these policies, according to Saltsman.
“A $15 minimum wage is a terrible idea for all businesses, whether they’re an independent store or a franchisee contracting with a national brand. The notion that one group can better absorb this mandate than another is a pleasant fiction maintained by the SEIU, but this study shows that it’s not factual,” Saltsman said.
Like pretty much everything the progressives promote, their minimum wage fantasy sounds wonderful, but it’s just another utopian pipe dream. Sooner or later reality will intrude.
“If [our] government fails to secure public prosperity and happiness, it must be because the citizens neglect the Divine Commands, and elect bad men to make and administer the Laws.”
~ Noah Webster
This is a re-post from three years ago – because the sentiment is timeless. I figure Americans who don’t get, it never will…
One of my favorites, not just on Memorial Day ~
~ Morning Breaks at Arlington ~
Those who gave so much for us;
Bravely said, “In God We Trust;”
Now they are safe in His eternal care.
Thank God for those who rest in honor there.
Remembering all our fallen with an ever-grateful heart. We owe them our freedom, our liberty, our peace. May God bless each and every one ~
Video from Hillsdale College
Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:
McKibben-Steyer Rally in Los Angeles Exposes True Motives Behind Anti-Fossil Fuel Activism ~ That’s right. Many of those participating in the rally last weekend were exhibiting totalitarian tendencies ~
…(attacking) the very social and economic underpinnings of liberal democracy […]
There were a large number of red signs featuring Communist-inspired clenched fists calling for the government to seize the means of production […]
(T)he protesters are part of a movement so extreme that it appears to care more about “seizing” private property and bringing down our economy than it cares about making progress on climate change by reducing carbon emissions.
Which only serves to remind us that “Green” absolutely is the new “Red.”
Trump’s Vince Foster attack backed by new evidence ~ Vince Foster’s “suicide” has always been extremely suspect (How many people trying to kill themselves shoot twice?). But you can bet we’ll never know the truth on this one.
EPA Just Declared War On Millions of Car Owners ~ A triple whammy ~
The EPA’s proposal to increase the amount of ethanol that must be blended into gasoline is a trifecta of regulatory abuse. It will do nothing for the environment, it will do nothing for energy security, and it could wreck millions of car engines.
When will they ever face the truth about ethanol? (Probably never, now that Cruz is out of the race. He was the only one willing to cut back on subsidies.)
The Jihad on Christian Church Tents ~ Coexistance is not exactly possible with these psychotic jihadis ~
As usual, this chain of events — Christian minorities having their churches closed and being forced to meet in tents, only to be persecuted again by police or mobs — is not an “aberration” limited to the experiences of Egypt’s Christians but occurs across the world, wherever Christians live under Muslim rule…
The Left Is Now Targeting Christian Schools In Its Potty Crusades ~ We should probably stop pretending that we still have a First Amendment anymore ~
The Obama administration is investigating a school in Wisconsin for sending home letters telling parents and students that they expect students to live within Christian values while at school. This is a private Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod school that serves a tiny group of students—from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade they have 147 students and 10 teachers.
3 Ways Conservative Lawmakers Should Fight Obama’s Bathroom Directive ~ Ryan T. Anderson at The Daily Signal offers some suggestions for standing up to the bathroom lunacy – but do we have anyone in Congress willing to do that? Doubtful.
Delegitimizing Israel in Our Classrooms (Via New York Times propaganda) ~ A recent article an the NYT publication for high school students purported to explain, “How the Middle East Got that Way” ~
The author portrays the Arabs as victims of Western domination, legitimizing their 1948 rejection of a Jewish state and their subsequent war against newly declared Israel.
Neither the article nor the teacher’s guide or handouts mention the 3,000-year historical connection of the Jews to the area, the continuous Jewish presence in this land, the Jewish immigration to their historic homeland in the late 19th and early 20th century or the promise made to the Jews for a national homeland in Palestine in the 1917 Balfour Declaration.
Also lacking is information about the 1922 League of Nations’ Mandate for Palestine to create a Jewish national home in today’s Israel, the “West Bank” and Sinai and the UN’s assumption of that international legal commitment.
History rewritten by deceitful Leftists.
MPs warn voters being ‘conned’ as Brussels keeps plans for EU army secret until after referendum ~ Shhhh! Don’t tell the sheeple before the Brexit vote ~
Andrew Bridgen, the Tory MP for North West Leicestershire, said: “This is the way the EU operates. The people were deceived about the aims of the EU in 1975 and they’re being deceived again today. For the security of our country we must vote to leave the EU.
“This blows out of the water the Prime Minister’s claim that we’re being excluded from ever closer union. Voters are being hoodwinked once again.”
The Obnoxious Fallacy of Mandated Prosperity ~ Last week the O’Ministration arbitrarily doubled (from $23,660 to $47,476) the salary range within which employees must be paid time-and-a-half overtime. If the goal was to slow the sluggish economy even more it was a great move ~
The Obama fallacy is that somehow there is excess money in the affected businesses that can be simply shifted to cover his mandated higher labor costs. But businesses and markets do not work that way – profits must be continually regenerated in dynamic competition; they do not lie automatically available.
More evidence that we’re losing our collective grasp on reality ~
• Transgender Teacher Gets $60k After Co-Workers Won’t Call Her ‘They’
• ‘EcoSexual’ students at SMC ‘marry the ocean’ ~ One attendee of the event—who identified herself only as “Serenity”—spoke about the importance of gaining consent from the earth before proceeding with a physical relationship.
We used to get these people help… now we just indulge their delusions 🙁
What Happens When You Treat People With the Respect of Being Created In God’s Image ~ A wonderful little put-a-big-smile-on-your-face story about making a difference in the lives of others.
Who writes this crap? Good grief! It’s bad enough that they’re revising history, judging military actions completely out of context and assuming sanctimonious airs. Moreover, it’s outrageous to pretend moral equivalency between the United States and Imperial Japan in World War II. Next he’ll be apologizing to the Nazis! (Under Obama would the concentration camps have ever been liberated? For God’s sake he wouldn’t even save our own men in Benghazi !)
Others have expressed their righteous indignation at Barack Obama’s shameful remarks in Japan today (Here, here and here.). But I was particularly taken with the fact that his disingenuous rhetoric isn’t even grounded in reality.
For instance ~
Technological progress without an equivalent progress in human institutions can doom us. The scientific revolution that led to the splitting of an atom requires a moral revolution as well.”
Ah yes, a classic example of progressives’ moral relativity. Why don’t we require a “moral revolution” to curtail the “technological progress” of abortion? Of experiments on human embryonic stem cells? Of the sale of human fetal parts? Of euthanasia?
Answer: Because the Left gets to decide which lives matter (political expediency being the main criterion).
Then there was his noble-sounding but naive appeal for a nuclear-free planet ~
“We may not realize this goal in my lifetime but persistent effort can roll back the possibility of catastrophe,” he said. “We can chart a course that leads to the destruction of these stockpiles.”
How in the world does Obama reconcile that statement with his nuclear weapon-enabling treaty with Iran? As M.G. Oprea writes at the Federalist ~
This is ironic, given that Obama brokered a nuclear deal with Iran that seems certain to ensure that the Islamic Republic becomes a nuclear power, possibly sparking an arms race in the Middle East. But Obama rarely sees the inconsistencies between the policies he adopts and the symbolic actions he takes.
And my favorite line from his speech ~
“We must have the courage to escape the logic of fear and pursue a world without them,” Obama said of nuclear weapons.
Huh? When humans are faced with threatening circumstances, fear is clearly a logical emotion. And now we have Barack Hussein Obama telling us we must transcend reality and have the courage to escape the logic of fear. So we shouldn’t be afraid of Iran’s ability to nuke us?! To paraphrase Spock, “Captain, that is not logical.”
Not only is this president an ungrateful disgrace to our country, he’s increasingly losing touch with reality.
Our friends on the Left are masters at pushing their progressive propaganda on unsuspecting Americans (How else would we have reached the ridiculous point in this country where saying men need to stay the hell out of womens bathroom is suddenly intolerant hate speech?!). One of the methods they’ve perfected over the last few years is deliberate misreporting of the news. Here’s a recent example: Hate Crime Turns Out to Be Death by Marijuana ~
The headline in last December’s New York Times story was certainly ominous: “Assertions of Hate Crime in Seattle After a Somali-American Teenager Falls to His Death.” The paper said, “The death of the boy, Hamza Warsame, has prompted outrage among members of the Muslim community here, amid assertions—it is not clear from whom—that he was beaten and pushed to his death by a white man.”
The headlines blare and the story fades away, but now we know what really happened ~
…the black Muslim teen, a student at Seattle Central College, died from a fall after smoking dope for the first time. In fact, “relatively high levels” of tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive constituent in marijuana, were found in Warsame’s system, The Seattle Times reported. It said that after smoking the legal dope on a smoking device called a bong, the teen “started talking in agitation about his religion and how he might have put himself in bad standing,” and then said he “needed air.” The Muslim youth “opened the door and was off the balcony before his schoolmate could react,” a report found.
“Hamza Warsame became frantic in the immediate aftermath of smoking marijuana for the first time and fell to his death while likely attempting to jump from the balcony of one apartment to an adjacent building…” the local Fox TV affiliate reported, citing the results of a police probe.
Of course before the truth emerged the tragedy was ripe for exploitation.
Students & community members at Seattle Central College protest
the death of Hamza Warsame for all the wrong reasons (12-9-15)
This particular story was truly a goldmine of deception, furthering so many of the Left’s favorite lies; whites are inherently racist, Muslims are being unfairly persecuted because Americans are Islamaphobic, law enforcement is biased, and – by omission – marijuana is perfectly safe and should be legalized. One Seattle socialist committeewoman even managed to use this young man’s death to attack captialism ~
Councilmember (Kshama) Sawant, an open socialist, put the case in the context of the oppressive capitalist system. “We are struggling for democratic socialist change, where the working people have the control, not the corporations, and where we can finally end the exploitation and oppression that drives Islamophobia, racism, and sexism within our communities,” she said.
Huh? As if we needed more evidence of this woman’s reality-free worldview…
Despite the obvious problems with legal marijuana, Sawant and her comrades on the city council are now considering making Seattle the first city in the U.S. with a “safe-consumption site,” allowing people to use illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine.
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This is what the Left just excels at. Grab a tragic headline, use it to push some nefarious cause, fudge the details… then completely ignore the truth when it eventually does come out.
The real tragedy is that most Americans have such short little attention spans these days that this devious strategy almost always succeeds in advancing their culture-destroying agenda.
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