Walter Block Students Pay Tribute to Fats Domino

Walter Block emails:

From two of my best students: Anton Chamberlin on guitar, Christian Torcel on sax.



  -RW

Urban Primitives Introduce Themselves to New Jersey Family Visiting Baltimore

There are two major government failures here.

First, this is what the public school system is creating with LBJ's great-grandkids.

Second, it is interesting that, in the above video, T.J. Smith, the Baltimore Police Department's chief spokesman, says that the Baltimore police can't have police on every corner. But why can't they in a high trafficked visitor area where urban primitives are known to roam?

Only a government employee would say, "We can't."

  -RW

(ht Tom Dilorenzo)

BREAKING Mass Casualty Attack NYC

This is a developing story return to this post for updates.

Update 1

At least 4 dead,  many injuries.

Update 2

Multiple victims on roadway for several blocks.

Update 3

Should You Trust Apple to Maintain the Privacy of Your Face Biometrics With Its New iPhone That Unlocks Via Facial Recognition?

The new top-of-the-line iPhone X  that is set to go on sale November 3, includes Face ID authentication technology which is baked into the phone.

 

Apple says:

Face ID data, including mathematical representations of your face, is encrypted and only

Roger Stone Calls On Donald Trump to Name Judge Napolitano a Special Prosecutor

Judge Andrew Napolitano

During an Infowars broadcast last night, the political operative Roger Stone, who is close to President Trump, called on Trump to launch an investigation of the Uranium One deal which allowed Russian interests to buy the company during the Obama Administration when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State.

In addition to Hillary, others that appear to be involved in clearing the deal, or aiding in a cover-up, include Bill Clinton, Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and the Podesta brothers.

Stone publicly urged the President to instruct Attorney General Sessions to appoint a Special Prosecutor. He said the SP should be a person of high integrity and named a number of candidates including Judge Andrew Napolitano, whom he said had impeccable credentials.

The libertarian friendly Napolitano is currently a senior judicial analyst for Fox News. He served as a New Jersey Superior Court judge from 1987 to 1995 and as a visiting professor at Brooklyn Law School, and has written nine books on legal and political subjects.

  -RW

Milo Yiannopoulos Discusses Kevin Spacey

I really had no plan to run four videos in a row and had no plans to run Milo, but he is very good here.

  -RW

Tucker Carlson Breaksdown the Podesta Group and Its Relation to Paul Manafort

This might be Tucker Carlson's best reporting ever.

 

 -RW

DESHOWITZ: " “I Don’t Think They’re Going to Get Trump" But Kushner Could Be Vulnerable

Another excellent commentary by Alan Dershowitz.


 -RW

POWERFUL Senator Rand Paul Challenges Secs. of State and Defense to End Open-Ended War

Senator Rand Paul is emerging into a statesman.

 

 -RW

(ht David Brown)

How Mueller's Three-Dimensional Chess Moves Just Outmaneuvered Trump Big Time

Special prosecutor Robert Mueller is playing three-dimensional chess and he is causing President Trump to make some really bad moves.

Trump tweeted in response to the charges brought against Paul Manafort with this:

Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump campaign. But why aren't Crooked Hillary & the Dems the focus?????

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 30, 2017

This is throwing Manafort under the bus. Trump is really signaling that he may not consider it necessary to make the politically difficult move of pardoning Manafort. It's something that happened a long time ago, Trump says.

I'm sure that really comforted Manafort.

Trump should have kept his tweet shut on the matter and the response from the White House should have been, "We do not comment on on-going investigations." That might have given Manafort some hope that he might be pardoned. 

But with Trump essentially saying, "Hey, this Manfort thing has nothing to do with me," it can not make Manfort hopeful about a pardon.

In other words, Trump took

Dershowitz Explains the Squeeze on Manafort

Excellent commentary by Dershowitz.

 -RW

Former Trump Campaign Manager Paul Manafort Indicted

The squeeze is on.

Former Donald Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort has been indicted and will turn himself into special counsel Robert Mueller, according to reports.

The charges include money laundering and conspiracy against the United States,

Manafort and his business partner Rick Gates, who has also been ordered to turn himself in, are the is the first people to be arrested in connection with the probe. The indictment is expected to be unsealed later today.

-RW


UPDATE

In total 12 charges against Manafort and Gates.

Hedge Fund Billionaire: Thiel’s Skip-College Plan is ‘Dumbest Thing I’ve Ever Heard’

Pay Pal co-founder Peter Theil founded the Thiel Fellowship in 2011. The two-year program pays students $100,000 to skip college and pursue their entrepreneurial ideas with guidance.

“I think it’s the dumbest thing I ever heard. I mean, really, ‘We don’t need training, let’s just get out there and do it,’ ” billionaire hedge funder James Simons said at a breakfast hosted by the IESE Business School last Thursday, reports The New York Post.

“Maybe there’s one or two people a year who could benefit from that,” Simons said.

Simons holds a Ph.D. in mathematics and worked in acadamia prior to launching his $50 billion Renaissance Technologies fund in 1982.

Simons may have a point here, depending upon what courses a student takes in college. Politically correct nonsense is a waste. However, courses such as accounting or engineering, can make sense for many. Not everyone has the talent to become an entrepreneur. And those that are super talented from an entrepreneurial perspective often figure out a way on their own, see Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg. 

As for Theil, he holds a bachelors degree and law degree from Stanford.
.
That said, Theil is using his own money so if he wants to fund such a project I don't have any problem with it. Much of college education is a wreck but the real solution would be to get government influence out of the education sector so we could see what free market alternatives would develop. If Theil started such a campaign that would be even more interesting.

-RW

When It Comes to Catalonia, Libertarians Shouldn't Make the Charles Lindbergh Error

I continue to see libertarians hail the Catolnian steps toward secession and label the steps as a move toward freedom.

This is a grave error.

Revolution and secession may throw off one region's back one government but it must always be asked: What will replace the old government?

Charles Lindbergh failed to ask this question when he

Roger Stone's Account at Twitter Has Been Suspended...

...after he aggressively attacked via Twitter some CNN news anchors, with most of the focus on Don Lemon.

The tweets came after CNN reported that an indictment from special prosecutor Robert Mueller was imminent.

Stone tweeted that Lemon was "dumber than dogshit" and deserved to be mocked and punished.

It should be noted that under Twitter's code of conduct rules most of the Founding Fathers would have probably ended up banned if Twitter was around back then.

My favorite was when George Clinton, while governor of NY (he also served as a US vice-president), in a scathing anonymous thinly-veiled attack on Alexander Hamilton referred to him in a published essay as "Tom Shit."

But the Founding Fathers were of a lot tougher stock than the snowflakes floating through today's air.

Yes. no doubt Clinton would have gotten himself banned, but it should be remembered that he was a heroically prominent Anti-Federalist and was a major supporter for the addition of the United States Bill of Rights to the Constitution.

From this perspective, Roger is in some very good company.

-RW

Paul Manafort and His Developing Problem in Virginia

A condo at 601 N Fairfax Street in Alexandria, Virginia,  similar to the one owned by Paul Monfort and his wife.

At the start of this month, I reported exclusively:

As has been reported, Mueller will attempt to get New York state charges brought against Paul Manafort in an attempt to squeeze Manafort. President Trump has no authority to grant pardons in state cases.

But here is the thing that has not been reported yet.

Trump To Release All Remaining JFK Files

After strict consultation with General Kelly, the CIA and other Agencies, I will be releasing ALL #JFKFiles other than the names and...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2017

...addresses of any mentioned person who is still living. I am doing this for reasons of full disclosure, transparency and...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2017

...in order to put any and all conspiracy theories to rest.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2017

Good to know, Trump can't seem to take the heat from "the people."

-RW

UPDATE

JFK Files are released, long ahead of schedule!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2017

Tennessee White Nationalist Protest: “Closed Borders, White Nation, Now We Start the Deportation.”

White nationalist and neo-Nazi groups took to the streets in two Tennessee towns on Saturday for so-called “White Lives Matter” rallies.

The rallies are being held in Shelbyville and Murfreesboro and have drawn hundreds of demonstrators and counter-protestors.

Law enforcement officials urged local residents ahead of Saturday to avoid the area where the rallies are taking place, reports The Hill.

The rallies are being held by the Nationalist Front, a coalition of white nationalist, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups, that include the Nationalist Socialist Movement, the

Understanding the Koch Brothers-Mike Pence Alliance

During an interview with The Nation, Jane Mayer, author of Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right, explained:

It’s a curious story, because the Kochs are not religious. They don’t care about social conservatism. They call themselves libertarians. They certainly are not aligned with Pence on these moral issues, on his hatred of abortion. What do they have in common? It turns out that in 2009

Rash Of ‘Knockout’ Attacks in New York City

Urban primitives brought to you by government schools.  -

-RW

Socialism is Surging on College Campuses

I warned that this would occur with Trump's victory.

Two days after the election I wrote:

 The socialists are going to experience a boom in followers under Trump.

And so it has. Vice reports:

 Seizing the means of production is so hot right now.

Long relegated to the fringes of American politics, socialism is surging on college campuses in the aftermath of the presidential campaign of Bernie Sanders — a self-described democratic socialist — and Donald Trump’s victory. The Young Democratic Socialists of America went from 12 chapters at the end of 2016 to 47 in June, and at least 100 are expected by the end of this semester (329 colleges registered for materials in August).

And the right is infatuated with the anti-trade, big government, crony Trump.


As I wrote immediately following the 2016 election:

Crony capitalism is bad but trade wars, tarriffs and other protectionist policies are worse. This, though, is the direction Trump appears to want to move in on trade. Yet, in the comments, I see support for Trump's barbaric trade thinking. No doubt there will be more such support for Trump in the comments to this post, though, Trump is nowhere near a small government advocate. He may move in a small government direction on an issue here or there but he will be mostly about expanding the state. As I say, few from the right are going to be concerned about this, their man is in power.

Bottom line: Advancing the libertarian cause just got much more difficult with the Trump victory.

Hillary as president would have provided a ready-made audience of libertarian prospects that are now co-opted by the statist Trump. And the young Left are going even more socilaist.


  -RW

CIA Planned a "Terror Campaign" to Plant Bombs in Miami and Blame Castro

From the newly released JFK assassination records:

If they are willing to release this, imagine what they are hiding and don't want released.

  -RW

(ht Jack Posobiec)

HOT HOT BREAKING: First Charges Filed in Mueller Russia Investigation

This is a developing story. Return to this post for updates.

UPDATE 1

A federal grand jury in Washington, DC, on Friday approved the first charges in the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to sources briefed on the matter, reports CNN.

UPDATE 2

(via CNN)

The charges are still sealed under orders from a federal judge. Plans were prepared Friday for anyone charged to be taken into custody as soon as Monday, the sources said. It is unclear what the charges are.

UPDATE 3

Background activity via CNN:

On Friday, top lawyers who are helping to lead the Mueller probe, including veteran prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, were seen entering the court room at the DC federal court where the grand jury meets to hear testimony in the Russia investigation.
Reporters present saw a flurry of activity at the grand jury room, but officials made no announcements.

AMAZING: This Kid Didn't Learn This in Public School

This boy's career path is already set. The parents shouldn't bother wasting their time and money. pic.twitter.com/A2hCcx3nQZ

— Gboye (@mcgboye) October 23, 2017

This is the Job the Generals Assigned President Trump Today Ahead of Halloween

"Well, you have no weight problems. That's the good news, right?" - Trump handing out Halloween candy pic.twitter.com/qn7LrVpDOH

— Colin Jones (@colinjones) October 27, 2017

  -RW

This is the Joke George H.W. Bush Tells Women When He Gropes Them

 Christina Baker Kline for Slate writes:

In April of 2014, I was invited to Houston as a guest author for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy fundraiser, along with two well-known male authors and a male journalist who’d written a book about a Navy SEAL..

.After the luncheon, it was time to take group photos. Barbara Bush and I stood and chatted for a few minutes while the photographer readied his camera. President George H.W. Bush, whom I had not yet met, sat in his wheelchair in the center of the room, while others were arranged around him for photos in various groupings. When it came time for my husband and me to be photographed with him, President Bush beckoned me close.

JFK Records: LBJ Was Once a Member of the Ku Klux Klan

The Washington Post reports on the newly released JFK assassination records:

In an internal FBI report from May 1964, an informant told the FBI that the Ku Klux Klan said it “had documented proof that President Johnson was formerly a member of the Klan in Texas during the early days of his political career.”  The “documented proof” was not provided.

 -RW

ESCALATION: Catalonia Declares Independence as Spanish Government Moves to Seize Control of Region

Is Spain headed toward a civil war?

The Catalan Parliament and the Spanish national Parliament have invoked their respective “nuclear options.” In Barcelona, lawmakers voted to unilaterally declare independence from Spain. In Madrid, lawmakers invoked a never-before-used article of the Constitution that will allow the central government to assume direct rule over the autonomous region. Under Article 155 Madrid can dismiss the regional president and his ministers, and take control of the region’s police, finances, and public media.

From a libertarian perspective, there is not much good going on.

Catalonian secessionists are mostly hardcore leftists, who would push for an oppressive leftist government in a separate Catalonia. On the other hand, Spain is putting on display its iron fist and its desire to rule.

 As Alvaro Vargas Llosa has put it,:

Perhaps the day will come when individual self-determination will be feasible (and Mises’s “technical” problems can be overcome). But for the moment it is unrealistic to think that the Catalan nationalist movement will turn into a Misesian movement in favor of individual self-determination. For now, a better cause for libertarians to rally around than Catalan nationalism is replacement of the Spanish welfare state with a liberal order and decentralizing the financial system underpinning the system of autonomous communities much more.

-RW

Robert's Rules of Secession and the US Civil War

At the post, For Those of You That Think Revolution is Always a Good Thing...., Veterans for Peace Indianapolis writes:

This just made me think further on Robert's Rules of secession. Knowing the Union didn't fight to end slavery but in the end that was the practical effect, the US crushing the Confederacy through force did move millions of slaves toward actual freedom and liberty. Robert, please analyze Confederate secession based on this.

What Happens If Investigators Get to Follow the Money in the Clinton-DNC Funding of the Trump Dossier?

The Wall Street Journal's Kimberley A. Strassel explains:

The confirmation this week that Hillary Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee paid an opposition-research firm for a “dossier” on Donald Trump is bombshell news. More bombshells are to come.

The Fusion GPS saga isn’t over. The Clinton-DNC funding is but a first glimpse into the shady election doings concealed within that oppo-research firm’s walls. We now know where Fusion got some of its cash, but the next question is how the firm used it. With whom did it work beyond former British spy Christopher Steele ? Whom did it pay? Who else was paying it?

The answers are in Fusion’s bank records. Fusion has doggedly refused to divulge the names of its clients for months now, despite extraordinary pressure. So why did the firm suddenly insist that middleman law firm Perkins Coie release Fusion from confidentiality agreements, and spill the beans on who hired it?

Because there’s something Fusion cares about keeping secret even more than the Clinton-DNC news—and that something is in those bank records. The release of the client names was a last-ditch effort to appease the House Intelligence Committee, which issued subpoenas to Fusion’s bank and was close to obtaining records until Fusion filed suit last week. The release was also likely aimed at currying favor with the court, given Fusion’s otherwise weak legal case. The judge could rule as early as Friday morning.

-RW

HOT BREAKING: Trump Delays Release of Some JFK Documents

This is a developing story, return to this post for updates.

UPDATE 1

Trump memo, Pres had "no choice" but to accept some redactions in JFK files, "rather than allow potentially irreversible harm to natl security.

UPDATE 2

Via Politico:

President Donald Trump on Thursday blocked the release of some documents relating to the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, while allowing the National Archives to release 2,800 other pages that had yet to be made public.

Trump is holding back an unspecific number of documents at the request of the FBI and CIA, according to a White House official, and has directed federal agencies to re-review the remaining of documents, giving them 180 days to do so. The files being held back include redacted information.

UPDATE 3

Full memo from Trump:

What Libertarians Need to Understand About The Nature of Political Alliances

Over at EPJ, I posted, A Potential Alliance Between Socialists and Libertarians Over Puerto Rican Government Debt, the regular and wise NY Cynic commented:

Unless I personally know the person Ill never stand with or trust a socialist (or conservative, liberal or altrigher for that matter).

However, my view is a bit different on this point.

The idea of an alliance is not to

An Interesting Take on Vaccines

Most interesting is the doctor's comments towards the end on how well vaccines work for those who get them and also about some new vaccines coming out.



 

-RW

George H.W. Bush, The Creep

I am certain the Cultural Marxist crowd is cheering.

Geroge H.W. Bush, wheelchair-bound, had to issue this apology for "sexual assault":

The statement above comes after actress Heather Lind said the wheelchair-bound creep had "sexually assaulted" her.

She wrote on a now-deleted Instagram post:

When I got the chance to meet George H. W. Bush four years ago to promote a historical television show I was working on, he sexually assaulted me while I was posing for a similar photo. He didn’t shake my hand. He touched me from behind from his wheelchair with his wife Barbara Bush by his side. He told me a dirty joke.

Yes, he is a creep but he has done much worse. He should be condemned in much harsher terms for his serious evil acts, not this nonsense. Where is the focus?

-RW

For Those of You That Think Revolution is Always a Good Thing....

....That to replace a standing government is always a positive.

Consider this report from Gary North:

On October 25, 1917, the precursor to the Communist Party in Russia launched a 24-hour revolution against the revolutionary government of socialist Alexander Kerensky. This became known as the October Revolution in order to distinguish it from the revolution that had overthrown the Czar the previous February. In the October Revolution, two people were killed while the revolutionaries were capturing the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government met. By the evening of October 26, it was clear just how provisional the government had been.

On August 21, 1991, eight leaders of the tattered remnants of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union launched a coup against the government of Communist Mikhail Gorbachev. They had placed him under house arrest at his dacha 900 miles away. Boris Yeltsin was visibly in charge of the existing government at what was known as the White House: the parliament building. The Communists sent in troops to remove him and his supporters. Thousands of citizens then lined up to resist the troops. The troops refused to fire on them. That ended the Communist Party’s power. Three civilians were killed by armored personnel carriers.

A total of five people were killed at the beginning and the end of the Bolshevik revolution. In between, Lenin and Stalin (mainly Stalin) executed or starved at least 15 million people, according to

U.S. Now Moving Toward Armed Drones, Lethal Force in Niger

The Trump administration is paving the way for lethal strikes against terrorists in Niger as the U.S. military pushes forward with a plan to arm the Reaper drones that fly over that country, multiple U.S. officials told NBC News.

France has already decided to arm its drones in the region, U.S. documents show that the move to arm U.S. Reapers has been under consideration for some time — long before this month's ambush of a Green Beret unit that resulted in the deaths of four American soldiers. But that incident, details of which are still coming to light, is fueling an urgency within the

BREAKING: U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley Evacuated From South Sudan Camp

A report from the edge of the Empire. It appears US focus in intensifying with regard to the continent of Africa.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley has been evacuated from a camp for displaced people in South Sudan because of a demonstrationt, CBS News is reporting.

Following Haley's evacuation, U.N. security guards fired tear gas to disperse the crowd of some 100 people.

The United Nations confirmed the incident with Haley, saying camp residents “became upset that she was not able to meet with them, due to time constraint”.

Earlier in the day, Haley

Tens of Thousands of JFK Assassination Records to Be Released Tomorrow, But Will We See Eveything?

It is unclear how much will be redacted from the documents that will be released---and if all the documents will actually be released.

There is this from Miriam Kleiman, Program Director for Public Affairs for The National Archives and Records Administration:

At this point, things are still in flux. While we continue to plan for an online release by the deadline, it is unclear what will be part of the release. In regards to any possible postponement requests, because agency appeals are not public, we cannot share that information.

-RW

Alan Dershowitz 'Salty' Jewish Jokes

On October 11, Alan Dershowitz  spoke at UC Berkeley Law. The topic of his speech was "The Liberal Case for Israel."

I'm told by a solid source that Dershowitz was driven to the Berkeley event from San Francisco by a rabbi and a top AIPAC donor. During the entire ride, Dershowitz told what were described as "salty" jokes.

I probed a bit more. What were they racist? Sexist?

But all my source would tell me is that the rabbi and donor laughed so hard that other than the jokes being "salty" Jewish jokes, they didn't remember the specifics of the jokes.

Dershowitz's wife, who is a psychiatrist, accompanied him to the Berkeley event. Outside Berkeley's Booth Auditorium, where the speech was delivered, protesters were handing out flyers.

Dershowitz's wife took one. According to my source, she read it underlined some things and made some notes in the margins. She then gave the flyer to Dershowitz who incorporated the notes into his speech. "It was kind of cute," said my source.

-RW

The Soccer Version of a Hillary Clinton-Style Day-Early Election Victory Celebration

I think I might be a soccer fan now. pic.twitter.com/wBpKPJ0aBG

— Ninja Economics (@NinjaEconomics) October 25, 2017

 -RW

A Better Cause for Libertarians to Rally Around than Catalan Nationalism

By Alvaro Vargas Llosa 

The Catalan independence movement has drawn some support among libertarians.

From a theoretical standpoint, any group’s attempt to break away from a larger political entity is hard to argue with. Ultimately, though, the principle of self-determination, taken to its logical extreme, would mean dissolving the state and replacing it with voluntary associations. Which is why some classical liberals have taken a more limited view of self-determination.

Ludwig von Mises, for instance, argued

A Justification for the Non-Aggression Principle

T-shirt available here.

At the post, Do Catalonians Have the Right to Secede?, where I reject natural rights theory, Dwight writes:

RW, the Wikipedia article on NAP shows 6 justifications, natural rights being one of them. I'm sure you have an article describing yours, and a link to it would be appreciated.

Actually, its full delineation will be in my forthcoming book, Foundations of Private Property Theory.

Here is a teaser from Chapter One:

Would World Government Be Potentially Desirable?

The radical left secessionists of Catalonia.

At the post, Do Catalonians Have the Right to Secede?, Evan Smiley asks:

 [W]ould world government be potentially desirable since it could eliminate your North Koreas, Venezuelas, Cubas, etc?

As I have tried to point out in various posts, the ramifications of

Che Guevara: Symbol of Love or Hate?

Revolution is not always a positive.

 


 -RW

Do Catalonians Have the Right to Secede?

At the post, “Silent Catalonia” Rises Up Against Secessionists, unkown asks: 

Bob, would you agree that, even though you think they shouldn't and it will result in a negative outcome if they do, Catalans have the right to secede? 

My reply is multifold.

First, I don't believe

Catalonia:The Seen and the Unseen

A Target Liberty reader emails:

So it turns out that one of the families in my son's preschool is Catalonian. The father is in economics professor at Princeton. I asked him about the recent events and he said the issue was personal – his parents' voting place in Barcelona was broken into by riot police just after they voted (Close your eyes and imagine how you'd feel if black helmeted police broke into your voting location to confiscate your ballot).

He gave me some background on the situation – essentially this is a federalism dispute between Catalonia  (a nation that precedes Spanish state) and the Madrid central government. The political support for independence only gained ground after Madrid (specifically the super nationalist Partido Popular) rejected Catalonia's proposed revised constitution in 2005. This was unfinished business from the constitutional convention of the late 1970s, which skirted the issue that Spain is really a collection of nations and probably should be a federation or confederation.

Discussed in more detail here...

http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2017/10/19/the-historical-roots-of-the-catalan-crisis-how-we-got-to-where-we-are/

RW response:

I don't

Steve Bannon Wants to Form an Alliance with Libertarians

Last week Friday, Steve Bannon spoke in Anaheim at the fall California GOP Convention. (SEE: Steve Bannon California GOP Convention Full Speech October 20th, 2017)

During his speech, he told the crowd that he wanted to

If Political Candidates Advocated Liberty

Richard Ebeling emails:

Dear Bob,

My new article on the website of the Future of Freedom Foundation is on, “If Political Candidates Advocated Liberty.”

Running for political office never ends for politicians. As soon as one political season ends, they are already looking to the next election cycle. Election and reelection is everything, and any principled advocacy of individual liberty and limited government is rarely seen.

Having recently attended a luncheon at which a group of GOP candidates offered themselves as

Mark Cuban on Running for President in 2020

OMG, he has a repeal and replace healthcare plan and appears to think technology is going to be a problem for workers if he doesn't solve it.

Keep in mind, this guy became a billionaire by selling Broadcast.com to Yahoo for billions (in stock) and I don't think Yahoo ever launched a Broadcast.com broadcast.

Smart move: He collared his Yahoo stock which prevented him from it losing value during the internet crash.

But overall, he's a Trump-style street hustler. He is more polished than Trump but out of the same mold.

 -RW

Is the US Setting Up to Attack West Africa?

Is this why the US has troops in Niger? The US military nutjobs are setting up for an eventual US attack on West Africa?

Nick Turse at The Intercept reports:

“5/23” terror attack [war game model] was a small but pivotal part of a simulated exercise conducted last year by

“Silent Catalonia” Rises Up Against Secessionists

Sunday was the day “Silent Catalonia” finally found its voice. After months of looking on as separatist forces dominated public debate, the majority of Catalans who oppose independence from Spain took back the streets of Barcelona, reports The Guardian.

According to the Guardian, secessionist leader and Catalan's President Carles Pugdemont’s party and its allies have consistently failed to win majority support. In both the disrupted 1 October referendum and an earlier, non-binding vote in 2014, the percentage of voters backing independence was

Senators Stunned to Discover the US Has 1,000 Troops in Niger

Besty Woodruff reports:

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the chamber’s most hawkish members, told host Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that he didn’t know until recently that a thousand U.S. troops are stationed in Niger.

Graham is on the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, tasked with overseeing the Pentagon. And he made the admission when

US Preparing to Put Nuclear Bombers Back on 24-Hour Alert

Welcome to madman Trump World.

 The U.S. Air Force is preparing to put nuclear-armed bombers back on 24-hour ready alert, a status not seen since the Cold War ended in 1991, reports Defense One.

This means the long-dormant concrete pads at the ends of this base’s 11,000-foot runway — dubbed the “Christmas tree” for their angular markings — could once again

The Life of a Connected Former San Francisco Mayor

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown is an advisor to more companies and organizations than probably any other person on the planet, which results in his being able to write things like the below for his San Francisco Chronicle column:

Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Norm Mineta and I are on the advisory board of a transportation outfit that meets all over the world. Last week we were in London...

---

If you just won the lottery and are looking for a good place to celebrate, let me suggest

The Death of Stalin

From The Economist:

THE men guarding Josef Stalin at his dacha in the suburbs of Moscow were under strict instructions not to disturb him under any circumstances. The Soviet dictator would often watch Westerns into the small hours, reappearing at lunchtime the next day. He was also known to sleep on any one of a series of futons located in random bedrooms and offices throughout the building, supposedly to frustrate a would-be assassin.

So when he failed to emerge on March 1st 1953, nobody looked for him. By the time he was discovered, he had spent hours on the floor of his study in a semi-conscious state, having succumbed to a burst blood vessel in the brain. A year earlier, Stalin had decided that warnings about his health were part of a Jewish conspiracy to kill members of the ruling praesidium. A revolution, two world wars and three decades of scheming against his comrades had clearly taken its toll on the general secretary’s grip on reality.

The backdrop of suspicion and paranoia acts as a perfect playground for the comedic talents of Armando Iannucci, the creator of “The Thick of It”, “In the Loop” and “Veep”. His new film, “The Death of Stalin”—adapted from a French graphic novel by Fabien Nury—follows the dictator’s last hours. As a mute and moribund Stalin drifts in and out of consciousness, his petrified praesidium starts planning for what might follow.

In the ensuing Machiavellian match, it quickly becomes clear that the murderous Lavrenti Beria (Simon Russell Beale) represents the greatest threat. As head of the secret police (NKVD), he has the power to arrest and execute his enemies. Beria has looted Stalin’s private records, destroying evidence of his own cruelty while clinging on to the documents indicating the complicity of his colleagues in the USSR’s numerous atrocities. Now he has the muscle and the dirt to destroy his rivals and take power.

When Stalin finally dies, an ethereal Georgy Malenkov, played by Jeffrey Tambor, attempts to fill his shoes. But he utterly fails to stamp his authority on the situation, coming across as an overwhelmed supply teacher charged with controlling a chaotic inner-city classroom. If Beria’s despotism is to be prevented, aspiring reformist Nikita Khrushchev (Steve Buscemi) will have to be the man to do it—but not before organising the funeral of the century in Red Square.

Read the rest here.

REPORT: Bill O'Reilly Paid $32-Million Harassment Settlement

Former Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly paid $32 million to settle a sexual harassment claim.

According to the New York Times,  O’Reilly made the settlement to Lis Wiehl, a longtime contributor to his program, who alleged that O’Reilly forced her into a nonconsensual sexual relationship and sent her sexually explicit material.

The settlement was made in January of this year, according to the report, just before O’Reilly signed a new four-year contract that would pay him $25 million annually to continue as host of his top-rated prime-time program “The O’Reilly Factor.

 -RW

Harvey Weinstein Finishes Sex Rehab Clinic Treatment After One Week

Cured!

Here's another reason Hillary Clinton may not have to return the millions that Harvey Weinstein had contributed to her over the years. He has already been cured of being a sexual pig. It was an apparently one-week miracle cure.

According to TMZ,  Weinstein underwent “intensive therapy” at an Arizona sex addiction rehab following charges that he had sexually harassed women for decades, but that he has now checked out after just a week.

One of  the treating psychologists told TMZ that in the week,  treatment focused on “dealing with his anger, his attitude toward others, boundary work and the beginnings of work on empathy.”

Apparently to smooth off any rough edges that the intensive week of therapy might have missed Weinstein will remain in Arizona for another month or so, because he “wants to continue working with his doctors,” TMZ said.

 -RW

ESCALATION: Spain Will Remove Catalonian Leader

Catalan President Carles Puigdemont, center, attended a protest in Barcelona on Sunday against the imprisonment of two Catalan pro-independence leaders. Credit (via NYT)

Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy of Spain has announced he will remove the leadership of the Catalonia administration and initiate a process of direct rule by the central government in Madrid.

Rajoy said in addition to removing Catalan leader, Carles. Puigdemont, and the rest of his separatist administration from office, he would also take charge of Catalonia’s autonomous police force and the Catalan center for telecommunications.

It should be kept in mind that, while this is an aggressive move by Rajoy, this is a battle between two groups seeking to control Catalonian people, one based in Madrid and one based within Catalonia, and that the Catalonian group would desire to rule in a much more authoritarian interventionist fashion. Thus, from a libertarian perspective, for those living in Catalonia, there is not much reason to cheer on the Catalonian secession movement.

 -RW

This Still Makes Sense

 -RW

(Spotted by Bryan Ripp at a Michigan antique mall.)

BREAKING Trump Plans to Release JFK Assassination Files

President Trump announced this morning that he plans to release the tens of thousands of never-before-seen documents left in the files related to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination held by the National Archives and Records Administration.

“Subject to the receipt of further information, I will be allowing, as President, the long blocked and classified JFK FILES to be opened,” Trump tweeted.

But in typical Trump fashion the tweet, Trump seemed to strongly imply he was going to release all the remaining documents, but he also hedged, suggesting that if between now and Oct. 26, other government agencies made a strong case not to release the documents, he wouldn’t. Also, Trump was not clear about whether he would publish all of the documents in full, or with some of them redacted.

-RW

(via The Washington Post)