Oligarchy

A Libertarian-Liberal Alliance Forms to Tackle Criminal Justice Reform

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Usually bitter adversaries, Koch Industries and the Center for American Progress have found at least one thing they can agree on: The nation’s criminal justice system is broken.

Koch Industries, the conglomerate owned by the conservative Koch brothers, and the center, a Washington-based liberal issues group, are coming together to back a new organization called the Coalition for Public Safety. The coalition plans a multimillion-dollar campaign on behalf of emerging proposals to reduce prison populations, overhaul sentencing, reduce recidivism and take on similar initiatives. Other groups from both the left and right — the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans for Tax Reform, the Tea Party-oriented FreedomWorks — are also part of the coalition, reflecting its unusually bipartisan approach.

— From the New York Times article: Unlikely Cause Unites the Left and the Right: Justice Reform

While I’d love to fill the pages of Liberty Blitzkrieg with positive news about how things are turning around for the better within American society, there is unfortunately little evidence that this is indeed the case. However, every now and again I do see a positive development worth pointing out. The following article from the New York Times about the recent creation of the Coalition for Public Safety, uniting the Koch brothers and the Washington D.C. based liberal Center for American Progress on the issue of reforming the nation’s criminal justice system, is one such example.

The idea that genuine libertarian types and genuine progressive types have a lot of important issues in common is a concept I have pushed for years. The following venn diagram someone created at the time of the Occupy Wall Street protests demonstrated this overlap perfectly:

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Jeb Bush Exposed Part 1 – His Top Advisors Will Be the Architects of His Brother’s Iraq War

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Screen Shot 2015-02-18 at 2.29.56 PMAccording to Reuters’ Steve Holland, Bush has tapped a “diverse” roster of former George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush officials to advise his burgeoning campaign on foreign policy, including key architects of the 2002 invasion of Iraq.

The list of advisers provided to Reuters by a campaign aid includes Paul Wolfowitz and Stephen Hadley, as well as former George W. Bush Homeland Security Secretaries Tom Ridge and Michael Chertoff, and Bush adviser Meghan O’Sullivan.

— From the Think Progress article: The Same People Who Lied To You About Iraq Are Now In Charge Of Jeb Bush’s Foreign Policy

It may be hard to believe, but either one of the two status quo choices for U.S. President currently being force-fed down the American public’s throat will be almost unquestionably more imperial and warlike than Barack Obama. The reason is simple. Any society that apathetically stands by as one President after the other tramples on the Constitution will be subject to a litany of increasingly tyrannical, and even insane, leaders. This is why the oligarchy isn’t even pretending that we live in a Republic or a Democracy anymore. They are shoving our pathetic servitude right in our face by putting up these two preposterous and dangerous candidates.

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U.S. Falls Again in World Press Freedom Index – Now Ranked #49 Globally

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Screen Shot 2015-02-12 at 10.45.38 AMIn the United States, 2014 was marked by judicial harassment of New York Times investigative reporter James Risen in connection with the trial of Jeffrey Sterling, a former CIA officer charged under the Espionage Act with giving him classified information. US journalists are still not protected by a federal shield law that would guarantee their right not to name their sources or reveal other confidential information about their work. Meanwhile, at least 15 journalists were arbitrarily arrested during clashes between police and demonstrators protesting against black teenager Michael Brown’s fatal shooting by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri.

– From Reporters Without Borders’ 2015 World Press Freedom Index

The greatest myth we Americans collectively like to tell to ourselves is that we live in the “land of the free.” We particularly pride ourselves on “freedom of the press” — enshrined in the U.S. Constitution — but how free is this press really?

According to the World Press Freedom Index, published each year by Reporters Without Borders, not that free at all. I highlighted last year’s plunge in the index in the post: U.S. Plunges to #46 in World Press Freedom Index, Below Romania and Just Above Haiti. Here’s an excerpt:

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Introducing “Physician Dispensing” – The Latest Troubling Medical Industry Scam

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Screen Shot 2015-02-10 at 11.13.33 AMOver the last two years, states nationwide have moved to crack down on so-called physician dispensing of prescription drugs, a practice largely limited to doctors who treat injured workers. But doctors and companies have responded by exploiting loopholes in those rules and adopting new strategies to stay one step ahead, recent studies suggest.

One tactic has been to create novel dosages of old drugs to get around cost controls on traditional ones, according to a report issued in January by the Workers Compensation Research Institute, a group in Cambridge, Mass. Along with the 7.5-milligram version of cyclobenzaprine, the muscle relaxant, new dosages of two older painkillers, tramadol and hydrocodone, that carry far higher prices than the standard versions, have also appeared, the study found.

– From today’s New York Times article: New Dosages of Old Drugs Are Used to Raise Their Prices

The main theme here at Liberty Blitzkrieg since inception has been that these United States, indeed much of the world, has become completely captured by a corrupt, greedy, ruthless oligarchy that has made itself entirely unaccountable, thus destroying the rule of law. In order to keep the racket going, the oligarchy relies on a minion class to support the power structure. Naturally, this minion class is generally too brainwashed, ignorant or stupid to even understand their place in the social structure, which makes them far more effective. Basically, “useful idiots.”

This class is also often given immunity from prosecution, which ensures that the worst rise to the top. Police fall into this category, which is partly why we have seen such insane criminality in recent years, ranging the gamut from extreme violence to outright theft. All of this has been happening as crime in America has been declining for decades.

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Picture of the Day – The Moment Janet Yellen Figured it All Out…

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Janet Yellen realizes that you can’t taper a ponzi. In Liberty, Michael Krieger Like this post? Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G Follow me on Twitter.

Crony States of America – Wall Street Firms are Trying to Hide Payoffs Made to Employees Entering Government

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“There is a lot of work ahead for the management to recover its reputation.”

– John Whitehead, Ex-Goldman Sachs Chairman, in a 2010 Wall Street Journal interview

Goldman Sachs may need to work on its image. This year, the firm beat recall-riddled General Motors along with Koch Industries and BP for the dubious distinction of worst corporate reputation, according to a new poll. Market research firm Harris Poll on Wednesday, Feb. 4, published its 16th annual ranking of the 100 most visible companies in the U.S., sorted by how positively the general public viewed them, and Goldman landed at the bottom.

– From the Bloomberg article: America’s Most Loved and Most Hated Companies

Citigroup is one of three Wall Street banks attempting to keep hidden their practice of paying executives multimillion-dollar awards for entering government service. In letters delivered to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over the last month, Citi,Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley seek exemption from a shareholder proposal, filed by the AFL-CIO labor coalition, which would force them to identify all executives eligible for these financial rewards, and the specific dollar amounts at stake. Critics argue these “golden parachutes” ensure more financial insiders in policy positions and favorable treatment toward Wall Street.

– From the New Republic article: Wall Street Pays Bankers to Work in Government and It Doesn’t Want Anyone to Know

The following post covers three important and related articles demonstrating and highlighting the criminality and corruption that has come to define the U.S. economy in the post bailout years. It’s a big part of the reason why the so-called “recovery” has been so uneven, and why there is record inequality.

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Post Crisis Scorecard – Global Debt Up $57 Trillion, 60% of American Jobs Created Are Low Level, Record Youth Living with Parents

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Screen Shot 2015-02-06 at 12.13.51 PM
This morning, my Twitter stream was filled with some of the most outlandish bullish economic victory laps from pundits I’ve ever seen. The source was the monthly employment report, which showed a larger than expected increase in employment as well as higher wages. In addition, there was a huge upward revision to employment data in November. Interestingly enough, on the same day this report was released, several important articles came across my screen that make me as concerned as ever about the true state of the economy and where we are headed.

First, CNN Money just yesterday published an article titled: Obama Jobs: More Caregivers, Servers and Temps. Here are a few excerpts:

Got a job while Obama was president? Then there’s a good chance you are working in healthcare or food service or as a temp.

Those sectors were responsible more than 60% of the jobs created since Obama took office in January 2009.

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Little Oligarch Gone Wild – Paris Hilton’s Brother Yells: “I Will F*cking Own Anyone on This Flight; They Are F*cking Peasants”

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Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 4.44.07 PM“If you wanna square up to me bro, then bring it and I will f*cking fight you,” he allegedly said as well as, “I am going to  f*cking kill you. I will f*cking rip through you,” and “I will f*cking own anyone on this flight; they are f*cking peasants.”

“I could get you all fired in 5 minutes,” he reportedly said while grabbing a flight attendant’s shirt at one point during the incident. “I know your boss! My father will pay this out. He has done it before. Dad paid $300k last time.”

– Conrad Hilton on an international flight

The reason I often use the terms “serfs” and “plebs” when referring to the American masses is not to insult the less fortunate; rather, it is to hammer in the fact that the oligarchs running American society see the unwashed masses as useless peasants. Naturally, they will never admit this publicly, but every now and again one of them slips up and what they really think becomes abundantly clear. Enter Conrad Hilton, Paris Hilton’s brother, and serf-master in training.

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The Dissident Dad – What One Son of Liberty Can Do, So Can Another

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Screen Shot 2015-02-03 at 2.22.33 PM“Every heart beats true ‘neath the Red, White and Blue, where there’s never a boast or brag. But should old acquaintance be forgot, keep your eye on the grand old flag.”

I remember proudly singing this as a child at school, pounding my heart with a closed right fist as we sang that verse. I remember learning about George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and about the Sons of Liberty. British colonists who were mad as hell about a distant central government taxing their income between 1% and 2%, plus additional taxes on sugar trade and tea.

These Americans wanted liberty. They wanted self-governance.

Not without their flaws, like all of us. They still had slavery, but certainly, during a period of history where everyone was merely a subject to the king, these guys were taking a giant step in the right direction. Unfortunately, that America, the one we are sold on and sing to as school children, is dead.

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The Face of the Oligarch Recovery – Luxury Skyscrapers Stay Empty as NYC Homeless Population Hits Record High

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Screen Shot 2015-02-02 at 11.20.14 AMNowhere is the fraudulent and criminal “oligarch recovery” more on display than in my hometown of New York City. Despite benefitting more than any other community from an enormous taxpayer bailout of the industry that destroyed the economy, financial services, the vast majority of the wealth has been allocated to a handful of oligarchs.

To make matters even worse, American public policy, if you can even call it that, has been to encourage overseas oligarchs to park billions of dollars in U.S. real estate that largely sits uninhabited. Manhattan is a perfect example of this unproductive behavior and misallocation of capital. I covered this theme last year in the piece, Introducing Ghost Skyscrapers – NYC Real Estate Goes Full Retard, where it was noted that:

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