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Chris Christie Calls Libertarianism a “Dangerous Thought”

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As anyone paying attention has noticed in the past couple of years, Chris Christie simply represents more of the same within the political establishment ruining America, albeit within a more generous physical frame. If we were unfortunate enough to elect him President he would behave exactly like Barack Obama and George W. Bush before him. This isn’t just conjecture, he straight up says it.

What is so interesting and offensive about his comments about libertarians, is not just the base manner in which he demonizes them for engaging in “intellectual debates,” but he is  clearly positioning himself against his primary Republican competitor in 2016, Rand Paul.

I don’t want to make this a Chris Christie versus Rand Paul article, since I’m still concerned Rand is more of a politician than a statesman compared to his dad, but lines are clearly being drawn within the GOP as well as within the Democratic party. So here are some of the more inane comments by Christie. From Politico:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ripping libertarians — including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) — for challenging government surveillance programs and failing to understand the dangers of terrorism.

“This strain of libertarianism that’s going through both parties right now and making big headlines I think is a very dangerous thought,” the New Jersey GOP governor said on Thursday at a Republican governors forum in Aspen, Colo. “You can name any number of people and (Paul is) one of them.”

I think it should always be a rule of thumb to never trust a politician who thinks “thoughts” are dangerous. Furthermore, he seems concerned that this strain of libertarianism is “going through both parties.” Here’s an idea Christie. Why don’t you actually try to examine why these “dangerous thoughts” are spreading like wildfire throughout the country. Maybe you should get your head out of the sand for a minute and recognize that people are getting fed up with the surveillance state.

Christie furthers demonstrates his disdain for intellectualism in the following quote, and then becomes even more demagogic by invoking the family members that lost loved ones on 9/11.

“These esoteric, intellectual debates — I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won’t, because that’s a much tougher conversation to have,” Christie said.

“Esoteric, intellectual debates,” I mean who do these serfs think they are? Don’t they know they are supposed to buy iPads, drink cherry coke, watch television and shut up?

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Who Are We at War With? Sorry, That’s “Classified”

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You’d think that a nation that has allowed the shredding of the civil liberties enshrined in its founding document might deserve to know who the dastardly enemy is to justify such a dramatic transgression, right? Wrong. Amazingly, Carl Levin (D-Michigan) asked the Pentagon to define who exactly the “Al-Qaeda affiliates” we are at war with are. While Mr. Levin received and answer, guess what he told the public? Yep, you guessed it. It’s classified.

From ProPublica:

In a major national security speech this spring, President Obama said again and again that the U.S. is at war with “Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and their associated forces.”

So who exactly are those associated forces? It’s a secret.

At a hearing in May, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., asked the Defense Department to provide him with a current list of Al Qaeda affiliates.

The Pentagon responded – but Levin’s office told ProPublica they aren’t allowed to share it. Kathleen Long, a spokeswoman for Levin, would say only that the department’s “answer included the information requested.”

A Pentagon spokesman told ProPublica that revealing such a list could cause “serious damage to national security.”

There’s that “national security” line again.

“Because elements that might be considered ‘associated forces’ can build credibility by being listed as such by the United States, we have classified the list,” said the spokesman, Lt. Col. Jim Gregory. “We cannot afford to inflate these organizations that rely on violent extremist ideology to strengthen their ranks.”

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Incredibly, Mayor Bloomberg Claims Whites are Overly Victimized by “Stop and Frisk”

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Being in NYC for a visit means I’m back in the loop of local gossip, which essentially consists of idiotic statements from the current mayor and sext messaging from the soon to be mayor, Carlos Danger. As they say, you get the leaders you deserve. One thing that caught my attention was a recent absurd … Read more

Meet Two of the Biggest Hypocrites in Congress

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Back in 2005, Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) was up in arms about the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. So much so that she issued a press release to highlight her opposition within the House of Representatives. In it she stated:

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Representative Jan Schakowsky, Chief Deputy Whip, delivered a statement in the House of Representatives urging her colleagues to vote against the reauthorization of the Patriot Act.  Representative Schakowsky has continually fought to limit the expansive new powers the Patriot Act grants federal agencies such as allowing them to secretly search personal records, including medical and library records, and permitting law enforcement officers to install roving wiretaps without specifying a suspect or telephone.

“Mr. Speaker, I voted against the PATRIOT Act four years ago and I remain opposed to it.  While I support a number of the tools the PATRIOT Act grants to law enforcement in the fight to combat terrorism, it went too far in eroding important civil liberties, limiting the right to due process, and unnecessarily targeting immigrants.” 

“The Constitution that I carry is not a Republican document, it’s not a Democratic document, it’s an American document that we want to preserve.  The PATRIOT Act is an affront to our civil rights and civil liberties, as guaranteed by our Constitution.”

Oh yeah, you tell ’em sister! Interesting language, because it seems pretty obvious that you see things entirely in partisan terms. While you voted against the Patriot Act in 2001, it has now become abundantly clear that you would have voted in favor of it with a smile if your lord and savior Barack Obama had been in office at the time. Just like you voted NO on the Amash amendment yesterday. I haven’t seen a statement from your office on that vote yet, but I look forward to it.

Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) was equally outraged back in 2005 over the Patriot Act. He also issued a statement at the time. Here are some choice excerpts:

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Feds Raid Marijuana Dispensaries in Washington State

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Like an insecure bully trying to demonstrate how tough he or she is and feel better about itself, the Feds raided marijuana dispensaries in Washington state despite the fact that Proposition 502 made it legal. Recall, I warned about this last year in my piece: Colorado Legalizes Marijuana: Your Move Eric Holder. In a country … Read more

This is Why I Don’t Watch Television

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I had free television on my flight to NYC yesterday and I decided to flip through the stations. Now mind you, I never flip through TV stations unless I am on a plane. When I say never, I mean it simply does not happen in my life. Ever. Every now and again I’m confronted by … Read more

At KFC in China the Ice Cubes are “Dirtier than Toilet Water”

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I’ve covered food fraud, stealth inflation and related topics rather consistently for the past couple of years. As one might expect, China has been a hot spot for such activity, including the classic example of rat meat being served as lamb on the streets of Shanghai. Well here’s the latest controversy, ice cubes at KFC that are not just dirtier than toilet water, but 13x dirtier. YUM! From Business Week:

Having battered KFC with reports last year that the company sold chicken fattened on illegal drugs, China Central Television now says the ice cubes at a KFC restaurant are dirtier than toilet water. The state-owned broadcaster found that ice in a Beijing outlet had 13 times as much bacteria as water from a toilet bowl and 20 times the national limit. (McDonald’s ice, according to the CCTV report, had less bacteria than toilet water but still didn’t meet national standards.)

Sure, we’re talking about a cup of ice from one of KFC’s 4,429 restaurants in China. But that didn’t stop CCTV’s report this week from spawning global headlines or getting reposted more than 100,000 times over the weekend on Sina Weibo (SINA), China’s largest microblogging site. With Yum Brands planning to open at least 700 new KFC stores across China this year, the fallout raises questions about the depth of the challenge to the Colonel’s reputation.

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NSA Holds “Top Secret” Meeting to Stop Powerful Anti-Spying Amendment

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In case you aren’t aware, there is a very significant amendment set for a vote in the House of Representatives tomorrow. The amendment was authored by libertarian-Republican of Michigan Justin Amash, and it is to be attached to the Defense Appropriations Bill (which provides funding for the NSA). It is a bipartisan amendment, co-sponsored by Michigan Democrat John Conyers, and it would remove funding for NSA programs using the Patriot Act for blanket collection of phone records and metadata from phone service providers. Here is a summary as it appears on the House of Representatives website:

Ends authority for the blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act. Bars the NSA and other agencies from using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect records, including telephone call records, that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215.

The amendment’s supporters have even set up a web page dedicated to spreading the word and I strongly suggest you check it out at www.defundthensa.com 

While I know many people will tend to dismiss such amendments by saying “it doesn’t matter,” I would say that if it “doesn’t matter” then why did NSA chief Keith Alexander hold a secret meeting today to lobby against it? Because it matters. From the Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — The National Security Agency called for a “top secret” meeting with members of the House on Tuesday to lobby against the first House amendment to challenge the agency’s authority to cull broad swaths of communications data, according to an invitation circulated in Congress.

NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander scheduled a last-minute, members-only briefing in response to the amendment, according to an invitation distributed to members of Congress this morning and forwarded to HuffPost.

The invitation warned members that they could not share what they learned with their constituents or others. “The briefing will be held at the Top Secret/SCI level and will be strictly Members-Only,” reads the invite.

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How Does America’s Middle Class Rank Globally? #27

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We are number 1 right? USA! USA! No one can beat our wealth creation machine, our economic dynamism, our level playing field and our bastions of higher education. We have a middle class that is the envy of the world, right?

Well, like so much of the “American dream” we have been force fed for a generation or more, this perception is not based in reality whatsoever. Sure it may have been the case for a couple of decades immediately after World War 2. Before the military-industrial-Wall Street complex fully took over the political process, but it certainly isn’t true any longer. Myths die hard and this one is particularly pernicious because it prevents people from changing things. As James Baldwin said:

Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.

From the Huffington Post:

America is the richest country on Earth. We have the most millionaires, the most billionaires and our wealthiest citizens have garnered more of the planet’s riches than any other group in the world. We even have hedge fund managers who make in one hour as much as the average family makes in 21 years!

This opulence is supposed to trickle down to the rest of us, improving the lives of everyday Americans. At least that’s what free-market cheerleaders repeatedly promise us.

Unfortunately, it’s a lie, one of the biggest ever perpetrated on the American people.

Our middle class is falling further and further behind in comparison to the rest of the world. We keep hearing that America is number one. Well, when it comes to middle-class wealth, we’re number 27.

The most telling comparative measurement is median wealth (per adult). It describes the amount of wealth accumulated by the person precisely in the middle of the wealth distribution — fifty percent of the adult population has more wealth, while fifty percent has less. You can’t get more middle than that.

American Middle Class

* Side note: May want to cross Cyprus off the above list…

The Huffington Post also provides a list as to why this is the case. While I don’t agree with all of them, I agree with most. Here are a few:

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The EU Prepares to Launch its Own Media Outlet

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A couple of years ago, I would have responded to the above headline with a focus on how disturbing and creepy it is. These days, my reaction leans more toward how pathetic and desperate it is. Let’s face it, mainstream media is getting its head kicked in by alternative media, and distrust of centralized political … Read more