The Best Campaign Video of This Election Season?

Mike Cernovich calls the below pro-Bernie Sanders video "The best campaign video of this election season...maybe of any election."

The video is a powerful statement. The problem is it is a video of hate, hate of the rich.

It is an economically ignorant video that lumps all rich together, those who became rich by cronyism and those who became rich by supplying goods and services to consumers.

 

This video exemplifies the great problem in a modern statist society: Confusion about the fundamental foundation that holds people back from success and advancement.

It is not about the class of one percenters in terms of wealth against the class of the 99 percent that is the key obstacle to a healthy society. It is about the productive class versus the takers from the productive and destroyers of the productive.

The video is about doing more taking and more destroying based on the confused idea that it will help society. The best societies are free societies where people are allowed to be free and flourish. It is the opposite of the current crony state and the centrally planned state that Bernie wants to introduce.

 -RW

BREAKING: Roger Stone Sentenced

In a Washington D.C courtroom, President Obama-nominated Judge Amy Berman Jackson has sentenced Roger Stone to 3 years and 4 months in federal prison

Jackson has previously ruled that Stone will not have to begin serving his sentence until after she rules on whether Stone should receive a new trial because the jury foreman in the case may have lied about her anti-Trump bias.

 -RW

Smashing Mini-Mike in Vegas

Wednesday night, the Democratic presidential candidates took their traveling show to the Paris Las Vegas Hotel for the latest debate.

In terms of entertainment value, it was better than a Cirque du Soleil show at the Bellagio. But there was little in terms of substance. It was all about candidates sparring over details of various interventionist programs. Perhaps it became most absurd when the six statists debated the so-called differences between socialism, communism and capitalism--as if they knew.

At that point, it would have made more sense for NBC to bring six Jews on stage to the debate the merits of the Catholic church going back to all Latin masses.

But the real action was the first half attacks on Mike Bloomberg.

Crazy Lady Warren really lit into him. It probably damaged him, but it was just fun to see the sugary drink Nazi squirm. Of course, the issue, itself, was about nutty social justice warrior drama because Bloomberg apparently tells very crude jokes and has had to settle with women for telling the jokes in front of them.

Hey ladies, if you don't like the environment leave.

But in this age of metooism, Warren probably resonated with many.  Joe Biden also piled on.

Mini-Mike, despite all his paid until November advisers, wasn't ready.

 

And speaking of Sleepy Joe, it appeared that the doctors got his pre-debate testosterone shot dosage just about right this time. His performance probably helped him.

As I have explained before when Tulsi took Kamala Harris out of the race with her attack on Harris during a debate, taking someone out solidifies your base but doesn't get you more support. So I don't think Warren gained much from her attack on Bloomberg. The same with Pete Buttigieg's attack on Amy Klobuchar, which wasn't nearly as effective. As one friend remarked to me, "Buttigieg just looked like a prick with the attack."

The only time an attack works to boost a candidate is when there are only two people on stage and then the attacker wins by taking the other down a notch.

And so my Vegas card reads this way.

No knockouts but Mike Bloomberg was hurt. (He may have to spend even more millions on ads).

Joe Biden will probably get a little boost in the polls.

Warren, Klobuchar and Bernie Sanders probably held their positions.(Bernie was his usual finger in the air self.)

And Buttigieg probably lost at the margin.

-RW

More On Michael Milken's Pardon

Michael Milken

As a follow-up to my post, Michael Milken Still Doesn't Get It, I received a couple of emails where I am going to summarize the relevant comments rather publishing the full emails and going into personal situations.

The comments go like this:

There are many good reasons to have that disability removed.

You get your Second Amendment rights restored.

There are many careers that you can't do because you need to be
licensed.  I'd imagine that getting a pardon would allow you to get the
state approved paper allowing you to pursue your career interest.  (You
can argue against state licensing all you like, but licensing is a
reality of life).

Great Britain, Japan, and Australia won't let you into their countries

if you are a felon.  (Martha Stewart was not allowed into Great Britain

because she is a felon).  So I'd imagine that travel opportunities would

open up.

So yeah, I am all for Milken getting pardoned.  Maybe there are things

he wants to do that, to date, he's been unable to do because of the

legal disability.  Good for Michael Milken!

First, my post was directed at the Milken pardon rather than pardons in general.

If someone wants to enter a career where a license is required, that is an entirely different story. It is not seeking a pardon to just get one's "name cleared" by a bunch of political criminals.

But as I pointed out in the original post, Milken does not appear to need a commercial license of any kind for any reason at his age. It appears he has quite successfully worked around the securities restrictions that the government placed on him.

As far as Milken wanting a gun to, say, go deer hunting in the Green Mountains of Vermont, that's about as likely as Murray Rothbard desperately wanting to go big game hunting on the Caprivi Strip in Namibia.

As far as wanting a gun for protection, you really have to know how the super-wealthy like Milken live. I guarantee you he is sufficiently protected. One of Milken's lieutenants told me about the protections he had in place, never mind Milken. These guys protect themselves in ways that are difficult to imagine. A felony conviction is not going to stop that.

They think of everything and have the money to pull it off. In fact, I know one serious player who has a well-decorated conference room/bunker to discuss serious deals. It protects against outside recording devices capturing conversations and there is equipment in the bunker that would detect if someone entering the room was wearing a device.

It's a different world for the major players.

As for the limitations on travel to some countries, I would rather live with that then sell my soul to get a pardon and sanction the government--if the pardon didn't help me in a very big way.

 -RW

Details on Tonight’s Democratic Debate in Nevada

The promise everything/tax the rich circus arrives in Nevada tonight.

Tonight's Democratic presidential debate is 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. Eastern time. It is being held in Las Vegas and hosted by NBC, MSNBC and The Nevada Independent.

This is the first debate to include Michael Bloomberg.

He will join five other Democratic candidates:

• Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont; 
• former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
• Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts; 
• former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind.
• Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota

At least Andrew "I will give everyone money by taxing them" Yang is off the stage.

-RW

Michael Milken Still Doesn't Get It

Michael Milken

President Donald Trump has pardoned Michael Milken.

By all indications, Milken aggressively sought the pardon.

Milken, 73, originally was sentenced back in 1990 to 10 years in prison for "crimes" while heading the bond department at the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert. He was also fined $600 million.

He actually served only 2 years.

The charges against him have always been considered absurd by libertarians. It was just establishment America going after Milken for financing takeovers of establishment corporations.

Lew Rockwell wrote at the time:

The Dom Perignon must be flowing in the boardrooms of New York: the feds finally got the kid from Encino.

To avoid a worse fate, Michael R. Milken agreed to say he was guilty of six regulatory offenses, manufactured transgressions typical of the Alice-in-Wonderland world of big government. Crimes are supposed to have victims. But who exactly was harmed by the dread offense of “stock parking”?..

If we had a free-market Amnesty International, Michael Milken would be listed as a political prisoner of special-interest big government.

I have always held the view that Milken never quite knew how government operated back then. He didn't protect his political back.

I knew a money manager who was operating in the same period. He always kept a white-shoe law firm on retainer. Out went a big check every month to the firm. At first, I never understood why. As it turned out he was doing some, shall we say, curious trading that was a lot more problematic than what Milken ever came close to doing.

So when the overseeing agency eventually came knocking with a lot of questions, the money manager picked up the phone and called the law firm he had been sending the big checks to every month. They met with the agency agreed to have the money manager install "better controls" and the problem went away.

Milken didn't start hiring such lawyers until after he was charged and his arrest was headline news.

He learned his lesson but rather late: The state is the enemy of creators and innovators, even in finance. Or so I thought he learned his lesson.

But why the hell, decades later, was he seeking a pardon from the government?

There was no threat he was going back to jail. And it sure looks like he has been successful working around the agreement that barred him from working in the securities industry. Plus he is 73 years old. Does he want to do cold calling? Is that why he needs a pardon?

As best I can see, the only "benefit" he gets is the ability to vote in elections. Big deal.

Does he not get that it is government officials that have been harassing him most of his adult life?

Why would he want to vote for any of them?

If there is anyone that needs to understand Ayn Rand's warning about the "sanction of the victims," it sounds like it is Milken.

From Wikipedia:

The concept "sanction of the victim" is defined by Leonard Peikoff as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil, to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the 'sin' of creating values".

Geez, Michael,

 Wake up.

You don't need these clowns to bless you.

Or is it really that they realize you have converted and are now part of the club?

-RW

BREAKING: Trump Going Full Crony Pardon and Commutation Crazy

Trump grants full pardon to Michael Milken

and

Trump commutes the sentence of former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

But what about Julian Assange and Ross Ulbricht?

Let's hope this is at least a good sign for Roger Stone.

 -RW

UPDATE

Trump also commuted the sentences of:

Tynice Nichole Hall

Crystal Munoz

Judith Negron

Ariel Friedler

Bernard Kerik

Paul Pogue

David Safavian

Angela Stanton


He also issued full pardons to the following:

Edward DeBartolo, Jr.,

Judge Will Sentence Roger Stone on Thursday, But will Delay Imposing Sentence Pending Bid for New Trial

Roger Stone

The lefty judge presiding over the Roger Stone case, Amy Berman Jackson, who was appointed by Barack Obama, really wants to sentence him badly.

She said this morning that she will still sentence Stone on Thursday — but will delay imposing the terms of punishment pending resolution of his request for a new trial.

Stone’s lawyers last week filed a motion seeking a new trial on the heels of disclosures that the jury forewoman in Stone’s trial had a history of anti-Trump social media posts.

Jackson noted during the conference call, “We’ve already put the sentencing off once.”

She said it made sense to proceed with the sentencing “since there is no harm that would flow to the defendant.”

“I’m willing to make sure that there are no consequences that flow from the announcement of what the sentence would be at the sentencing hearing,” Jackson said.

 -RW

The Masses

Reminder: These are the people who think climate change is an existential problem.

We’re screwed... pic.twitter.com/QwdypDeRBc

— Spiro (@o_rips) February 16, 2020

-RW

Rand Paul Calls Out 'Antifa Crazies'

Rand Paul in San Francisco

The San Francisco Republican Party held "An Evening with Rand Paul" dinner Monday night.

I was invited as a guest of the San Francisco Republican chairman John Dennis.

Rand let it rip.

He told the dinner attendees that he flew to San Francisco with his wife Kelley from Denver. He said there was a passenger mumbling at him during the flight and when they got off the flight the passenger approached him and said, "I wish you were assaulted again."

Rand said these kinds of comments are not unusual on the west and east coasts. And he stated it is always lefties making these kinds of comments and getting violent, not conservatives. He warned specifically about "Antifa crazies."

He then went on to talk about socialists who he said "are brazen."

He pointed out there is good news and bad news about students who are socialists. He said the bad news is that almost 50% of students say they are socialists. The good news, he said, was that "they don't know what socialism is."

He said students are in favor of what they have been taught in school. That they want equality but have no idea what a society based on equality of outcome would look like and how it is an impossibility anyway.

Rand talked about President Trump and said that recently on the Fox show "Watters World," his father gave Trump a grade of C- but also gave him a grade of B+ for effort.

Rand said his father is a tough grader and that he, himself, gives Trump better grades but did not tell the audience what they were.

Rand said one of Trump's most important accomplishments was getting Neil Gorsuch on the Supreme Court. He said he has always thought of Clarence Thomas as the best Supreme Court justice but he thinks that Gorsuch might prove to even be better.

 -RW

What a Harvard Professor Wrote in His Rhodes Scholarship Recommendation Letter for Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg

In an essay, Harvard professor James T. Kloppenberg provides a snippet of the letter of recommendation he supplied when Pete Buttigieg applied for a Rhodes scholarship:

I admire his talent, his agility, and his devotion to public service. At a time when so many equally capable recent Harvard graduates are off feathering their own nests, Peter is doing the thankless work of political organizing, not because he expects a reward but because he believes it is important. Many would describe his choice as quixotic, but I respect it. Peter unquestionably has the capacity to excel at Oxford and afterwards. He thinks clearly and writes beautifully. Beyond his obvious talent, he has a backbone. It is his strength of character, the depth of his democratic convictions, that will make him a forceful presence in American public life.

Pft, sounds to me like a lot of hot air that could be easily written about any Ivy League student, or state university student, that is politically ambitious at a young age.

-RW