France: Regime activates no-deal Brexit plan
Source: BBC News [UK state media]
“French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has said a no-deal Brexit looks ‘less and less unlikely’ and has launched a contingency plan to prepare for it. After the UK Parliament rejected the withdrawal agreement, Mr Philippe said laws had to be passed and millions invested in French ports and airports. An EU official will now visit all 27 capitals to co-ordinate no-deal plans. EU countries with close UK ties have already begun preparing for its departure on 29 March without a deal. ‘We are taking this very seriously now as the possibility of a no-deal Brexit is becoming more possible after Tuesday night,’ said European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas. ‘This is work which is ongoing and it’s developing fully. We are not taking any chances.’ He also revealed that Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and UK Prime Minister Theresa May had texted each other since her defeat in Parliament on Tuesday, but said they had not spoken.” (01/17/19)
Adhering to principle on immigration
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Many years ago, libertarian economist Milton Friedman remarked that a society can’t have open borders, however, if it also has a welfare state. The idea was that if the dole was available to foreigners, everyone in the world would come to the United States to get on the dole. That would obviously bring about an increase in taxes for the American people. What Friedman was saying was that, yes, open borders is the correct position when it comes to liberty, morality, and prosperity but that he would oppose the open-borders concept and join up with conservatives and liberals so long as a welfare state existed. If the welfare state were ever abolished, he would then be willing to return to the libertarian principle of open borders. But Friedman was wrong. Given that open borders is the morally and economically correct position, why should libertarians permit statists to manipulate libertarians into abandoning their principles and join up with the statists to support their socialist system of immigration controls?” (01/17/19)
https://www.fff.org/2019/01/17/adhering-to-principle-on-immigration/
Trump denies Pelosi military aircraft for propaganda junket
Source: CNN
“President Donald Trump said Thursday he was denying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a military plane for a trip to Afghanistan that was set to begin in the afternoon, a tit-for-tat retaliation that deepened the divide between the leaders and brought the government no closer to reopening. … Pelosi had been scheduled to leave within the hour that Trump’s letter was made public, making for the awkward site of a large blue Air Force bus idling outside the Capitol as the implications of the President’s missive came into focus. … ‘Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt, and Afghanistan has been postponed,’ Trump wrote Pelosi on Thursday. ‘We will reschedule this seven-day excursion when the Shutdown is over.'” (01/17/19)
https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/17/politics/donald-trump-nancy-pelosi-trip-cancel/index.html
FDR’s worst perversion of freedom
Source: JimBovard.com
by James Bovard
“Franklin Roosevelt did more than any other modern president to corrupt Americans’ understanding of freedom. Last week was the 75th anniversary of his 1944 speech calling for a second Bill of Rights to guarantee economic freedom to Americans. Nation magazine whooped up the anniversary, proclaiming that Democrats now have a ‘unique — and likely fleeting — opportunity to deliver where FDR fell short’ with vast new government programs. … Pundits and progressives who are whooping up Roosevelt’s Second Bill of Rights almost always ignore perhaps the biggest surprise in that speech. While Roosevelt spoke gaudily of new rights, he scooped George Orwell’s 1984 by revealing that slavery was freedom — or at least ‘close enough for government work.’ FDR urged Congress to enact a ‘national service law — which for the duration of the war … will make available for war production or for any other essential services every able-bodied adult in this Nation.’ FDR invoked the ‘eternally just principle of ‘fair for one, fair for all” to justify destroying the freedom of every worker in the nation.” (01/17/19)
http://jimbovard.com/blog/2019/01/17/fdrs-worst-perversion-of-freedom/
FBI trots out new security theater production — a “terror plot” sting — to distract from its Trump “investigation” scandal
Source: ABC News
“Federal authorities have arrested a man in Georgia who they are accusing of plotting to attack several prominent locations in Washington, D.C., including the White House. Hasher Jallal Taheb had been under investigation by the FBI as part of a sting operation after local authorities reported concerns about him becoming radicalized last March, according to a criminal complaint filed in the federal court in the Northern District of Georgia in Atlanta on Wednesday.” (01/17/19)
https://abcnews.go.com/US/fbi-arrests-georgia-man-allegedly-plotting-attack-white/story?id=60429215
War whores scramble to say Syria attack means troops must remain
Source: Caitlin Johnstone Blog
by Caitlin Johnstone
“A suicide bombing in Manbij, Syria has reportedly killed 19 people including four Americans, two of whom were US soldiers and two of whom worked with the US military. ISIS, which has an extensive history of falsely claiming responsibility for attacks it had nothing to do with, has claimed responsibility for the attack. Despite the fact that ISIS would claim responsibility for a housewife stepping on a Lego block, and despite the complete absence of evidence that it had anything to do with the deadly explosion, all the usual cheerleaders of endless war are pointing to the Manbij suicide bombing and shrieking ‘See?? Trump said ISIS is defeated and it’s not!’ … Former John McCain ventriloquism dummy Lindsey Graham pounced like a rat on a cheese doodle on the opportunity to call for continued US troop presence within hours of the attack, interrupting the confirmation hearing of Attorney General nominee William Barr with an ejaculation about Trump’s Syria withdrawal.” (01/17/19)
Colombia: Car bomb at police academy kills nine, injures dozens
Source: Al Jazeera [Qatar state media]
“At least nine people have been killed and more than 50 others injured after a car bomb exploded at a police academy in the Colombian capital Bogota, the defence ministry said on Thursday. The scene outside the General Santander Police School in southern Bogota was chaotic in the immediate aftermath of the bombing, with ambulances and helicopters rushing to the normally tightly controlled facility. … Thursday’s bombing was the deadliest in the capital since an explosion at the upscale Centro Andino shopping mall in June 2017 killed three people, including a French woman, and injured 11 others. Police later arrested several suspected members of a far-left urban rebel group called the People Revolutionary’s Movement for the bombing.” (01/17/19)
Study: Cannabis users are happier than non-users
Source: Smell the Truth
“Cannabis users tend be more happy about life, according to new research. The data firm BDS Analytics found that consumers of cannabis products tend to live more fulfilling lives, reports the Fresh Toast. Researchers considered survey responses from over 2,000 people living in the legal states California and Colorado, with around 1,200 of respondents acknowledging that they used cannabis in the past six months. ‘Well-adjusted lifestyles seen among cannabis consumers serve as a common theme in the findings in the company’s series of reports,’ Linda Gilbert, Managing Director of the BDS Consumer Research Division, told the Fresh Toast. According to their analysis of the numbers, ‘The majority of the respondents say they use cannabis for physical, mental and/or emotional wellness. It’s not a group of people getting together and getting high,’ she said. ‘I suspect that will change as legalization becomes more and more prevalent and accepted.'” (01/16/19)
70% tax rate? Another awful idea from Congress’s socialist caucus
Source: Investor’s Business Daily
by staff
“A new poll shows that most Americans support the idea of raising the marginal tax rate to 70% or higher on the very highest incomes. It shouldn’t be surprising that most people support higher taxes on others. It’s called envy. What’s surprising is how many people don’t. The Hill-HarrisX survey taken earlier this month found that 59% of registered voters support newly elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s call for a 70% tax rate on high earners, starting at $10 million. ‘That doesn’t mean all $10 million are taxed at an extremely high rate, but it means that as you climb up this ladder you should be contributing more,’ Ocasio-Cortez helpfully told CBS’ ’60 Minutes.’ And, as The Hill notes, ‘Ocasio-Cortez has not introduced any legislation to enact the concept but the (Hill-HarrisX) survey shows a broad cross-section of Americans supports it, at least presently.” (01/17/19)
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/70-tax-rate-socialists-class-warfare
Tax-eaters have launched more than 1,500 GoFundMe campaigns during fake government shutdown
Source: The Hill
“Federal [employees] who say they are struggling due to the partial government shutdown have launched more than 1,500 crowdfunding campaigns since the shutdown began, a GoFundMe spokeswoman told CNN on Thursday. GoFundMe spokeswoman Katherine Cichy told CNN that the crowdfunding campaigns have altogether raised more than $300,000 so far. Most have launched since early January, when [employees] affected by the shutdown began to miss paychecks, according to the news network. … Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, told CNN that the GoFundMe pages could be murky legally. Federal law stipulates that government employees should not supplement their salaries with outside income, according to CNN.” (01/17/19)
