Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Suckers

A third Goldman man to Trump's team?

Is Trump "The New Boss Looking a Lot Like the Old Boss"?

Now that Donald Trump has named a number of establishment figures to his Cabinet and White House staff I am seeing a lot of comments like this: "The new boss looking a lot like the old boss," from those who recognize that he is not a libertarian panacea.

But Trump appears to be much worse than this.

I still don't think most get it. Om the domestic front, Trump is going to be much more authoritarian than any president in recent memory.

Further, the U.S. is going to crank up its military efforts overseas, at least in Iraq/Syria and Afghanistan. It is going to, at a minimum, intensify destabilization efforts of the current regime in Iran.

And unfortunately, he will have a percentage of the population who will be rabid supporters.

I can see the support here in the comments. Trump apologists are many. There is nothing he can't do that isn't excused.

If he calls for the stripping of citizenship for those who burn the flag, he is "shrewdly setting the conversation."

If he names a warmongering individual to his Cabinet, again he is being "shrewd."

This is all very scary.

Trump is an out of the box thinker, with much energy. BUT he has no understanding of how a free society would work.

It is not going to be pretty. Trump is not Obama 2. Things are going to get serious.

  -RW

The Most Interesting Endorsement of "Crisis and Leviathan" by Robert Higgs

Murray Rothbard called the 1987 book Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs "a blockbuster of a book."

He went on to say that it was "one of the most important of the last decade. It is that rare and wondrous combination: scholarly and hard-hitting, lucidly written and libertarian as well."

Nobel laureate James Buchanan said of the book, "an important, powerful and profoundly disturbing book."

But the most interesting comment about the book may now be this one. The comment appears on the inside cover of the 2012, 25th anniversary, edition. :

"I just read Crisis and Leviathan. Wonderful Work! I will try to stem the tide of emergency on Capitol Hill with your inspiration!"

It is signed: Mike Pence, Governor of Indiana and former U.S. congressman.



 -RW

The Iranian Situation Will Turn Real Bad Under Donald Trump

Michael S. Rozeff writes:
Anti-Iranism in the U.S. government has been strong for years and years. It is still strong. The latest evidence of this is that Trump has surrounded himself with several rabid anti-Iranites...
At long last, Obama and five other world powers (the governments of Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany) “have agreed to lift all UN sanctions on the Islamic Republic— once Iran abides by a set of nuclear-related commitments.” And it has.
Trump and his crew of anti-Iranites threaten to torpedo the agreement in one way or another, as opposed to building peace upon its foundation.
There is no need to worry about Trump being anti-Semitic. What’s of far more urgency is that his administration is much more anti-Iranite than Obama’s, and that Congress remains firmly a bastion of anti-Iranism.
Any talk of war against Iran in order to prevent its ever developing a nuclear weapon or to prevent its being a threat to Israel or its neighbors reeks of a kind of hatred and hostility that is far, far from rational and that would be willing, under certain conditions and stimuli, to make war against Iran...
For Trump to jettison the work of Iran in conjunction with the six major powers because he thinks it’s a “bad deal” for not tying Iran’s hands 10 years down the road is wrong. The right way to proceed is to use these 10 years to build conditions that defang the warmongers on both sides, within Iran and within the U.S. The main work to be done by the U.S. government in this respect has to be within this country, because this is where it governs. There is no evidence that this is what Trump intends. Taking us back to square one will prove impossible. The Iranians will likely bolt any re-opening of talks so soon after the agreement has been erected and it has abided by its terms. The situation in that case will end up worse than it ever was, and U.S. warmongers will be riding high.
Rozeff is correct. At a minimum I expect the Trump administration to attempt to destabilize the current Iranian regime if not launch an outright war.

This is in addition to Trump putting U.S. combat troops in the Syria/Iraq region to fight ISIS and adding reinforcements in Afghanistan.

In the EPJ Daily Alert, I am telling readers to prepare for a War Economy.

 -RW

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

VIDEO Romney's Full Remarks After Dinner Tonight with Trump

UPDATE

Trump, Romney and Priebus Arrive for Dinner at Jean Georges in NYC


Libertarians for Trump Just Got Punched Again

Koch Brothers' operative who is under consideration for the Treasury Secretary position says "There are a lot of gold bugs out there, some are not very sophisticated."

Details here.

Dear President-Elect Trump: I would like a position in your administration

Dear President-Elect Trump:

Please consider me the position of Secretary of the Department of Labor.

First, you should know that I did not vote for you, and, even if appointed, I will not vote for you in 4 years.

Second, I disagree with you on trade, the role of government in the economy, your foreign policy, and pretty-much everything else that you have said.

Your Supreme Court pick may be more to my liking, but only time will tell. You haven't mentioned Judge Andrew Napolitano as a potential justice, although he would be wonderful; you have mentioned other Fox News personalities for cabinet positions, although they would be terrible.

Oh, by the way: I would also like you to consider me for any position as an Article III judge: District Court, Circuit Court, or Supreme Court. I don't know if I'm qualified, but I've had personal and professional experience with some Article III Judges. Let's just say: If they can do it, I've got no worries.

Don't get me wrong: I didn't vote for Hillary. Gosh no. Sure, I was #neverTrump, but in my heart of hearts, I was #nevereverHillary.

Is she worse on you in terms of overall policy? Well, maybe. She would probably get us into more wars and she doesn't seem to have much of a problem killing people. I don't think you have tasted blood yet, so maybe you will show a little more restraint.

Sorry -- another tangent: I just watched the movie, Hacksaw Ridge. Great movie. Before you send another person to death's door, please watch that movie or any movie that shows the true nature of war. Watch any movie on war that makes you stop eating your popcorn because it is so graphic and disgusting.

And, if any person can continue eating, then they are a sick, sick person.

I hope you are well, sir.

Back to Hillary: No, I would never vote for her. Maybe you will lower my taxes. Or maybe not. You may have lied about that. But, I know for certain the Hillary would have raised them.

But, the real reason that I was #nevereverHillary was because I just wanted to see the Left cry.

I was at Disneyland with my family when the election results came in. It truly was magical to see the looks of disbelief and shock on the faces of all the Progressives and SJWs.

The only thing that I have to say to them is, "Elections have consequences."

Remember when they said that over and over again in 2008 after Obama was elected?

I said, "they." But, in truth, you were a Manhattan Liberal back then, so you we're probably in agreement with what "they" said.

On a good note -- and, no, I have not forgotten that I was asking you for a position in your Cabinet; but, I figure that if you have read this far, I might as well just go for it.

On a good note: I don't think that you are a racist. I actually think that we could enjoy watching a game, although you are a Patriots and Tom Brady and New York and Boston fan.

For me, I hate the Patriots. I "sports-hate" that pretty-boy Tom Brady. I "sports-hate" everything related to New York or Boston athletic teams.

I do like the Knicks because they are such a joke.

I also sometimes like the New York Giants. Do you want to know why?

Because they beat the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl, and then their fans started chanting;

18 and 1!

Joy. Pure joy.

Ok, ok. Back to my request: You have stated that you want to make it easier to fire civil service employees.

If you appoint me to the Secretary of the Department of Labor, I'll tell you how to get it done.

But, in the event that you are going to give the position to someone who financially supported your campaign, let me tell you what you are going to need to do.

Believe me, Mr. President-Elect, I know what I'm talking about. I've worked with unions and I have been instrumental in getting employees disciplined, up to and including termination.

I've also been instrumental in getting employees hired; helping employees improve their performance; and helping them get promoted.

To explain how to fire a civil service worker, let's use the example of the Department of Energy (DOE).

You sit down with the Secretary of the DOE and review his/her budget request. Let's say that it is $500B.

You say, "No, make it $5M."

Really, you should say, "Make it $0!" But let's take this one step at a time.

The truth is that that $500B wasn't going to accomplish anything other than enrich some politician.

The Secretary will need to cut $499,995,000,000. How is he/she going to do this? The easiest and quickest way to cut is through layoffs.

Just about everyone would get laid off.

Next, rewrite the job descriptions so that the rabble that should have been fired can't claim that they are entitled to the job if/when it is reposted.

No, I didn't forget that you need to send the budget to Congress.

Of course, they will have changes. That's fine. Veto everything. Tell Congress that you won't sign any appropriations bill unless they agrees with the skeleton budget that you submitted.

Also tell them that the only workaround is if they legislatively change the civil service rules to make all government employees at-will employees.

If Congress doesn't back you on this, use the VA as Exhibit 1 in order to prove that incompetent employees cannot be fired. (Actually, you can use any federal department to prove the above.)

If Congress overrides your veto, then the American people who are paying attention will have an even better understanding of the crooked nature of politics and politicians.

If I am the Secretary of the Department of Labor, this is what I promise to do:

1. Submit an on-time budget.
2. Quick layoff of all people, including me.
3. Between the time of appointment and my layoff, I will rollback and forever eliminate all regulations.
4. Immediate elimination of any regulation which forces Managment to collectively bargain with Labor.
5. Immediate elimination of any regulation which says that Management cannot fire Labor just because Labor tried to organize.
6. Immediate elimination of any regulatory or financial advantage Management may have because of crony corporation/government ties.

There would be a few other things, but those would be good place to start.

So, what do you say? I'll be traveling for the Holidays, but I would be happy to meet you and discuss.

Best

Victor Ward


Victor J. Ward  first came across libertarianism by reading Murray Rothbard's Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy and Walter Block's Defending the Undefendable. He holds a law degree from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law and an MBA from Santa Clara University.



Trump Picks Mitch McConnell's Wife for Transportation Secretary

Donald Trump has chosen former Labor Secretary, Elaine Chao, who is married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to lead the Transportation Department,  reports The Washington Post.

This is not an insignificant post in an administration that plans to spend trillions on infrastructure.

This is a major league crony deal.

Notes The Washington Post:
In naming a former cabinet member, who has been married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell since 1993, Trump selected another Washington insider after campaigning on a promise to “drain the swamp” of the influences that he said permeate the capital.
Another punch to the stomach of Libertarians for Trump. But wait until the wars come.

  -RW

The Latest From Trump: On Flag Burning

Glenn Greenwald reacts:
As usual, Murray Rothbard got it right. He wrote in 1995:
Keeping our eye on property rights, the entire flag question is resolved easily and instantly. Everyone has the right to buy (or weave) and therefore own a piece of cloth in the shape and design of an American flag (or in any other design) and to do with it what he will: fly it, burn it, defile it, bury it, put it in the closet, wear it, etc. Flag laws are unjustifiable violations of the rights of private property. (Constitutionally, there are many clauses from which private property rights can be derived.) On the other hand, no one has the right to come up and burn your flag, or someone else's. That should be illegal, not because a flag is being burned, but because the arsonist is burning your property without your permission. He is violating your property rights. Note the way in which the focus on property rights solves all recondite issues. Perhaps conservatives, who proclaim themselves defenders of property rights, will be moved to reconsider their support of its invasion. On the other hand, perhaps liberals, scorners of property rights, might be moved to consider that cleaving to them may be the only way, in the long run, to insure freedom of speech and press.

  -RW UPDATE

Battling Trump: San Francisco Supervisor to Seek Funding to Block Deportations

San Francisco Supervisor David Campos plans today to propose spending $5 million to provide legal representation to immigrants in the city living in the country without documentation who face deportation, reports The San Francisco Chronicle.

According to the Chronicle,  Campos is hopeful there will be a vote on the legislation by the Board of Supervisors by Dec. 13, his last scheduled meeting before being termed out of office and less than six weeks before Trump’s inauguration.

Immigration is a complex issue, certainly far beyond the comprehension of Campos, and there is the bigger question as to why exactly SF residents have to pay for legal representation for the undocumented.

That said, it is good to see governments battle.

 -RW

Is Petraeus a Better Trump Choice for Secretary of State Than Mitt Romney?

They are both very, very bad.

Watch this "Libertarians for Trump."

 

 -RW

Ayn Rand: Rationalization Catch Phrases

Monday, November 28, 2016

Twitter Storm: Trump Unloads on CNN



Pence: Very Important Announcements Tomorrow

"There will be a number of very important announcements tomorrow," Pence said Monday evening as he left Trump Tower in New York, according to a pool report.

Peter Thiel Insider Picked to Oversee Donald Trump’s Defense Department Transition

By Lee Fang

TRAE STEPHENS, A PRINCIPAL at billionaire Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm Founders Fund, was appointed last week by Donald Trump to help lead the transition effort at the Defense Department.

Thiel, who made a $1,000,000 donation to a pro-Trump Super PAC, is Trump’s highest-profile supporter in Silicon Valley.

At Thiel’s Founder Fund, Stephens “focuses on startups operating in the government space,” according to his official biography. Before that, he worked at another Thiel-backed firm: Palantir, a highly controversial data analysis firm that is currently competing for Defense Department contracts.

“Trae was an early employee at Palantir Technologies, where he led teams focused on growth in intelligence and defense as well as international expansion,” says the biography.

Read the rest here.

The Cyberwar Threat and How It Could Turn Into a Real War

By James Bamford

Last summer, cyber investigators plowing through the thousands of leaked emails from the Democratic National Committee uncovered a clue.
A user named “Феликс Эдмундович” modified one of the documents using settings in the Russian language. Translated, his name was Felix Edmundovich, a pseudonym referring to Felix Edmundovich Dzerzhinsky, the chief of the Soviet Union’s first secret-police organization, the Cheka.

It was one more link in the chain of evidence pointing to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the man ultimately behind the operation.
During the Cold War, when Soviet intelligence was headquartered in Dzerzhinsky Square in Moscow, Putin was a KGB officer assigned to the First Chief Directorate. Its responsibilities included “active measures,” a form of political warfare that included media manipulation, propaganda and disinformation. Soviet active measures, retired KGB Major General Oleg Kalugin told Army historian Thomas Boghart, aimed to discredit the United States and “conquer world public opinion.”
As the Cold War has turned into the code war, Putin recently unveiled his new, greatly enlarged spy organization: the Ministry of State Security, taking the name from Joseph Stalin’s secret service. Putin also resurrected, according to James Clapper, the U.S. director of national intelligence, some of the KGB’s old active- measures tactics. 
On October 7, Clapper issued a statement: “The U.S. Intelligence community is confident that the Russian government directed the recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions, including from U.S. political organizations.” Notably, however, the FBI declined to join the chorus, according to reports by the New York Times and CNBC.
A week later, Vice President Joe Biden said on NBC’s Meet the Press that "we're sending a message" to Putin and "it will be at the time of our choosing, and under the circumstances that will have the greatest impact." When asked if the American public would know a message was sent, Biden replied, "Hope not." 
Meanwhile, the CIA was asked, according to an NBC report on October 14, “to deliver options to the White House for a wide-ranging ‘clandestine’ cyber operation designed to harass and ‘embarrass’ the Kremlin leadership.”
But as both sides begin arming their cyberweapons, it is critical for the public to be confident that the evidence is really there, and to understand the potential consequences of a tit-for-tat cyberwar escalating into a real war. This is a prospect that has long worried Richard Clarke, the former White House cyber czar under President George W. Bush. “It’s highly likely that any war that began as a cyberwar,” Clarke told me last year, “would ultimately end up being a conventional war, where the United States was engaged with bombers and missiles.”
The problem with attempting to draw a straight line from the Kremlin to the Clinton campaign is the number of variables that get in the way. For one, there is little doubt about Russian cyber fingerprints in various U.S. campaign activities. Moscow, like Washington, has long spied on such matters. The United States, for example, inserted malware in the recent Mexican election campaign. The question isn’t whether Russia spied on the U.S. presidential election, it’s whether it released the election emails.
Then there’s the role of Guccifer 2.0, the person or persons supplying WikiLeaks and other organizations with many of the pilfered emails. Is this a Russian agent? A free agent? A cybercriminal? A combination, or some other entity? No one knows.
Read the rest here.

Pennsylvania Says Stein Missed Recount Deadline

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein has missed Pennsylvania's deadline to file for a voter-initiated recount.

 "According to Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "the deadline for a voter-initiated recount was Monday, Nov. 21."

Trump To Have Dinner With Mitt Romney....

...tomorrow night.

But he also tweeted this out today about General Petraeus whom he met with today and is reported to also be in the running for Secretary of State.

The Curious Twitter Feed of 7-Year Old Bana Alabed

Daniel McAdams tweets:


Also of note, The Twitter account was only open this September.

Almost all those followed (96 as I write) via her twitter account (as "managed by her mother") are foreign news correspondents. And most bizarre Mia Farrow.

A snippet of those the 7-year old is following:





Koch Brothers' Operative in the House

John Allison, the former president of Koch Brothers controlled Cato Institute, is scheduled to meet with Donald Trump today at Trump Tower.

Multiple sources report that he is under consideration for Treasury Secretary.

As I have pointed out before, I was not impressed with Allison's 2012 book. See: A Dangerous New Book from the Head of the Cato Institute

 -RW

Why is Jill Stein Calling for a Recount?

It's probably about keeping her name in front of the public and raising money---and most important, long-term, boosting her lists of future donors.

Slate explains:
Jill Stein is suddenly really popular. As of early afternoon on Saturday she had raised more than $5.2 million for an effort to recount votes in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin—all states in which Donald Trump won by a tiny margin. That means Stein has now raised more money this week than she did in the entire presidential campaign, when she received a grand total of $3.51 million from supporters...
The amount she's asking for keeps increasing. The amount of money needed for the recount has been suspiciously creeping upward since the fundraising drive was launched. At first, the goal was $2.5 million. Now it’s $7 million with no real explanation as to why the additional money is needed...

Trump Debuts Presidential Hat


Donald Trump swapped his “Make America Great Again” hat on Sunday for some new presidential headgear — another red lid, this time with the number “45,”  reports The New York Post.

The number “45” on the side is likely a nod to Trump’s forthcoming inauguration as America’s 45th president. The president elect appeared to make a point of adjusting the hat for the news cameras.

Sunday, November 27, 2016

Is Julian Assange Dead?

Has he been captured?

Did he escape?

He has not been seen in a month and now there have been some strange tweets coming out of Wikileaks.

First this:
Then this strange audio was released which may or may not be his voice:
Here's the Alex Jones take on it:

 

 -RW

WOW Conway Unloads on Romney

Appointing Mitt Romney as Secretary of State would be viewed as a major betrayal by many supporters of President-elect Donald Trump, former Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told CNN on Sunday.

“It’s just breathtaking in scope and intensity,” Conway said of the opposition to Romney among Trump supporters.

“Gov. Romney in the last four years, I mean, has he been around the globe doing something on behalf of the United State of which we’re unaware? Did he go and intervene in Syria where they’re having a massive humanitarian crisis?” Conway asked. “Has he been helpful to Mr. Netanyahu?”

Conway’s comments continued the public bashing of Romney that has been playing out, with top surrogates like Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich also going after the former Massachusetts governor.

Later, on NBC's "Meet the Press," Conway continued to make the case against Romney.

"People feel betrayed to think that Governor Romney, who went out of his way to question the character and the intellect and the integrity of Donald Trump, now our president-elect, would be given the most significant cabinet post of all, Secretary of State," Conway told host Chuck Todd.

"They feel a bit betrayed that you can get a Romney back in there after everything he did."

(via Politico)

UPDATE

Dumb Hillary Clinton

This is what she gets for joining in Jill Stein's recount effort.

Donald Trump is going on a Twitter rant this morning:

  1. Trump is going to be our President. We owe him an open mind and the chance to lead." So much time and money will be spent - same result! Sad
  2. this election. That is a direct threat to our democracy." She then said, "We have to accept the results and look to the future, Donald --
  3. of position." Then, separately she stated, "He said something truly horrifying ... he refused to say that he would respect the results of --
  4. during a general election. I, for one, am appalled that somebody that is the nominee of one of our two major parties would take that kind --
  5. and fair elections. We've accepted the outcomes when we may not have liked them, and that is what must be expected of anyone standing on a -
  6. Hillary's debate answer on delay: "That is horrifying. That is not the way our democracy works. Been around for 240 years. We've had free --
  7. Hillary Clinton conceded the election when she called me just prior to the victory speech and after the results were in. Nothing will change
  8. The Democrats, when they incorrectly thought they were going to win, asked that the election night tabulation be accepted. Not so anymore!

So this morning the New York Post reports this after Trump had previously said he did not want her to suffer by being prosecuted:
Foreign governments will be encouraged to investigate the Clinton Foundation’s finances, as many are already turning off money spigots to the scandal-scarred group, The Post has learned.

A source close to President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team told The Post that the new administration plans to pressure the US ambassadors it will name to bring up the foundation with foreign governments — and suggest they probe its ­financial dealings.
  -RW