Month: January 2016

The Dissident Dad – “Death”

by

“Bodie is getting dead.”

Those were the words out of my 4-year-old’s mouth as the vet was on her way to our house to put down our 15-year-old German Shepard.

While this event was traumatic enough, within 12 hours, my children came face to face with yet another death.  We noticed buzzards circling in the backyard, and when the kids went to see what had happened, the only thing left was a cat’s tail. 10-month-old kitten Queen Elsa was dead.

Due to these two events, the last 24 hours has been a pretty sad period over at the Ameduri home, with the topic of death front and center. As far as the dog, the kids asked a dozen times why we didn’t just let Bodie pass — why did the vet have to give him a shot? We explained that it was the humane thing to do, and that by doing so we helped our dog avoid the pain of not being able to walk, use the restroom, and potentially even starvation due to a loss of appetite.

It’s funny, I’ve never given much thought about the right to death debate, but as I was explaining why it was humane to kill our dog, I couldn’t help but think about why it wouldn’t be just as humane to allow a person to do the same if they so desired. While I’m not going to open up that can of worms, I started to appreciate the notion that individuals should have the freedom to chose how they want to end their own lives.

Read more

Liberty Links 1/22/16

by

Below are links to some of the more interesting and important reads I came across today, but will not be publishing on in detail.

Saudi Arabia’s Top Cleric Forbids Chess, Calls it “The Work of Satan” (New York Times)

Half the Foreign Policy Experts Signing Clinton’s Anti-Sanders Letter Have Ties to Military Contractors (The Intercept)

FBI Ran website Sharing Thousands of Child Porn Images (USA Today)

FBI May Have Hacked Innocent TorMail Users (Motherboard)

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Mitch McConnell Moves to Grant the President Unlimited War Powers with No Expiration Date

by

Screen Shot 2016-01-22 at 11.58.48 AM

The essential act of war is destruction, not necessarily of human lives, but of the products of human labour. War is a way of shattering to pieces, or pouring into the stratosphere, or sinking in the depths of the sea, materials which might otherwise be used to make the masses too comfortable, and hence, in the long run, too intelligent.

– From George Orwell’s, 1984

This morning, I came across an extremely important story with tremendous long-term negative implications for freedom in these United States. It relates to the fact that the always shady Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is moving to fast track an Authorization of Military Force (AUMF) for the President that would allow for unrestricted warfare against ISIS. There would be no time or geographic restrictions on this authorization. Rather than being a favor to President Obama, this is primarily a means to ensure that whoever takes control in 2017 receives a blank check for unrestrained militarism with no expiration date. This is terrifying.

Before I get into the issue at hand, some background is necessary. Many legal scholars, and indeed, even many members of Congress have admitted that Obama’s war against ISIS is illegal and unconstitutional. One of the best articles I’ve read on why this is the case, was published in the New York Times in 2014, which I covered in the post, Obama’s ISIS War is Not Only Illegal, it Makes George W. Bush Look Like a Constitutional Scholar. Here are a few excerpts:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Liberty Links 1/21/16

by

Below are links to some of the more interesting and important reads I came across today, but will not be publishing on in detail.

Mozilla Co-Founder Unveils “Brave,” a Browser that Blocks Ads by Default (ArsTechnica)

A New 9th Planet for he Solar System? (Looks like Planet X may be real, Science Magazine)

DEA and TSA Agents Team Up to Steal Citizen Cash (Reason)

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Billionaire CEO of Blackstone Trolls the American Public – He Doesn’t Get Why People Are Angry

by

DAVOS MAN: “A soulless man, technocratic, nationless and cultureless, severed from reality. The modern economics that undergirded Davos capitalism is equally soulless, a managerial capitalism that reduces economics to mathematics and separates it from human action and human creativity.” 

– From the post: “For the Sake of Capitalism, Pepper Spray Davos”

I’ve written several posts examining the dangerous cluelessness inherent throughout the ranks of the oligarch class over the past several years. One of my earliest and most viral pieces was published two years ago and titled, An Open Letter to Sam Zell: Why Your Statements are Delusional and Dangerous. That article was a response to the billionaire’s appearance on Bloomberg during which he instructed the less financially fortunate to “emulate the 1%,” as if their destitution was a result of personal shortcomings as opposed to egregious structural flaws inherent in the rigged, crony, oligarch-controlled Banana Republic economy billionaires such as himself helped mold. Here’s an excerpt:

Individuals, social classes, even cultures and nation-states develop storylines and so-called “myths” about themselves and how they fit into the bigger picture of current events and human history. We all see ourselves and whatever group(s) with which we identify within a particular social, political and economic context. This is obvious, yet it is much more difficult to look at your owns myths and question them. It is far easier to look at other groups’ myths and heap criticism on them. That is basically all you do.

You think everyone that has issues with you oligarchs and how the 0.01% is destroying our economy and society is simply envious because you assume they think like you do. Certainly, if you were poor you would be envious of the the rich. You’ve made that clear. However, that is not the primary motivation of the anger and resentment swelling up from the underclasses.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Liberty Links 1/20/16

by

Below are links to some of the more interesting and important reads I came across today, but will not be publishing on in detail.

With Gridlock in Washington, Lobbyists Turn to Statehouses (Beware of parasites at the local level, Wall Street Journal)

Amid Election-Season Criticism Of Big Business, US CEOs Worried About Declining Trust In Business (International Business Times)

The US Military Wants a Chip to Translate Your Brain Activity Into Binary Code (Gizmodo)

Bay Area Biologist’s Gene-editing Kit Lets Do-it-Yourselfers Play God at the Kitchen Table (Introducing Biohacking, San Jose Mercury News)

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Not a Joke – War Criminal Hillary Clinton is Now Running on Her Foreign Policy “Strengths”

by

Screen Shot 2016-01-20 at 1.41.50 PM

When it comes to watching the Hillary Clinton campaign, you need to be prepared for increasingly suicidal and irrational acts of desperation. While the most pathetic of all her shameless acts was saying she is sponsored by Wall Street as a result of the terror attacks on 9/11, the hits just keep on coming.

In her latest scheme, the Clinton campaign released a letter signed by former national security officials warning the American public that Bernie Sanders isn’t ready to be Commander in Chief (i.e., he will not sufficiently defend the status quo). While obviously absurd to any thinking person, most Hillary Clinton supporters are not thinking people.

Moreover, her move brings up a key point that I mentioned repeatedly on Twitter during Sunday night’s debate, which is that Sanders wasn’t hitting Clinton hard enough on her unabashed militarism and string of debacles while Secretary of State. Foreign policy is an issue on which she is as vulnerable as she is on Wall Street, yet Sanders either doesn’t get it, or isn’t using it for some reason.

A perfect example of her foreign policy incompetence was support for the overthrow of Qaddafi in Libya, as well as a related interview in which she brags about killing him by saying: “We Came, We Saw, He Died.” Meanwhile, Libya has become a humanitarian disaster, a failed state, and a haven for ISIS. For example, take these excerpts from the post, Revisiting the Incredible Disaster That Is Libya:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Yanis Varoufakis Reveals – Berlin Blocked Greece From Chinese Funding During Crisis

by

Screen Shot 2016-01-20 at 11.12.10 AM

Hundreds of millions of people throughout the Western world are being forced to admit an obvious, yet uncomfortable reality. Democracy is dead. Your vote and your voice doesn’t matter. Not at all.

No group of people understand this as intimately as the Greeks. They voted for one thing, got something else, and in the process were unceremoniously reminded of their political irrelevance.

– From the post: Greeks Flock to Grassroots Alternative Currencies in Affront to Euro Debt Slavery

Just in case you still had any doubts as relates to how slimy, nefarious and undemocratic the EU is, check out the following from Ekathimerini:

Yanis Varoufakis was instructed last year by Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to put together a small team of people to draw up a plan for introducing a parallel currency if Greece was unable to reach an agreement with its lenders on a new bailout, the ex-finance minister said in a TV interview late Tuesday.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Video of the Day – Sarah Palin’s Rambling, Bizarre and Incoherent Endorsement of Donald Trump

by

Screen Shot 2016-01-20 at 10.15.51 AM

Sarah Palin endorses Donald Trump. Like watching a train wreck.

Enjoy.

Reason’s Peter Suderman sums up the spectacle perfectly:

Sarah Palin summed up Donald Trump supporters better than any of us have been able to do so far, I’ll give her that.

In part this is because making sense isn’t really Palin’s style. But it’s also because there is no coherent defense of Donald Trump’s candidacy. His own argument is little more than a simple boast that he will make the country great, like it used to be, followed by a series of insults and a discussion of his poll numbers.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

“For the Sake of Capitalism, Pepper Spray Davos”

by
Screen Shot 2016-01-19 at 4.51.38 PM

Yra Harris just posted a blistering critique of the crony capitalist crooks congregating in Davos. The first few paragraphs of his post, For the Sake of Capitalism, Pepper Spray Davos, are a must read.

Enjoy.

Please, PEPPER SPRAY ALL THE ATTENDEES OF DAVOS in order to halt the rape of taxpayers and consumers across the globe. This annual conclave is responsible for more wealth destruction and the widening disparity in GINI coefficients than any public policy. I believe that the cost of attending Davos is priced at such an extravagant rate because it is a giant insider scam. Hobnob with politicians and policy makers in an effort to be part of the “smart money” crowd. It was the great moral philosopher and economist Adam Smith who so presciently noted: “People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for the merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” The conspiracy against the public has been the financial repression of the global middle class in an effort to bail out those who are attached themselves to the public treasury to maintain the “animal spirits” of crony capitalism.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.