Capitalism Review

A $300 3D-Printable Automated Ventilator

Apr 1, 2020 | Sci-Tech

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLQ5bXakWq8 A team at Rice University has developed an automated bag valve mask ventilation unit that can be built for less than $300 in parts and help patients in treatment for COVID-19. The university expects to make plans to build the unit freely available online. Up-to-date details about the project, dubbed the ApolloBVM, and its progress are available here: http://oedk.rice.edu/apollobvm/From U.S. Hospitals Have a Ventilator Shortage. A Team of Rice Engineers Say They Have a Solution (Texas Monthly):

Tonight, [Thomas] Herring and five other engineers are rushing to finish a project that is arguably among the most consequential in the world at the moment, one that could be deployed to the public as early as next week: a $300 3D-printable automated ventilator.If successful, the ventilation unit—a DIY device that looks like the work of a high school robotics club—could go into mass production as early as next week, offering hospitals around the world a way to address a ventilator shortage that is expected to kill thousands of coronavirus patients suffering from the respiratory illness in the coming weeks....High-quality ventilators like the kinds hospitals rely on can easily cost $10,000 apiece. Faced with shortages, doctors might soon have to make tough decisions about redistributing them from older patients to younger, healthier ones, many experts believe.Many hospitals have an abundant supply, however, of bag valve masks, which are hand-operated ventilators that are inefficient and difficult for one person to operate for more than an hour at a time; they require a rotation of people to keep the patient alive.The Rice prototype automates the pumping of the bag and can be specifically calibrated for each patient’s needs. With mechanized bag valve masks on hand, hospitals could buy themselves some time, allowing them to redistribute limited resources, move patients to other facilities, or allow family members the chance to say goodbye to loved ones who have no chance of recovery and might otherwise be taken off in-demand machines....The Rice team believes they can eventually lower the cost of their units to somewhere between $100 and $200. The low cost was built into the engineering. The machines were designed using laser cutters and 3D printers, as well as parts that can be found in most hardware stores. “Houston and the rest of the U.S. may have manufacturers that can make these things by the hundreds,” Kavalewitz said, “but a small hospital in Malawi doesn’t have that luxury, but we’ll be able to give the plans to save lives.”...The Department of Defense is interested in their design and several Texas Fortune 500 companies have expressed interest in producing the model, team members say. The governor of Tennessee has also expressed interest in purchasing the machines once they’re completed.

Read the rest here.

The Case Against Medical Licensing

Mar 31, 2020 | Politics

This is a wonderful talk by Dr. Paul Hseih on the case against medical licensing by the state. This is the first time I've seen Dr. Hseih on video and he is wonderful. Enjoy!

FDA Kills: Relents on Limiting Mask Sterilation

Mar 30, 2020 | Business, Politics

The Battelle Corporation has a technology that can decontaminate face masks making them reusable -- unfortunately, FDA regulations limited its use until today.From "Battelle gets full approval for mask sterilization"/ Dayton Daily News:

The FDA gave full approval to Battelle to utilize new surgical mask sterilization technology, which can decontaminate up to 80,000 masks a day per unit.

[...]The FDA initially limited Battelle’s approval to 10,000 masks a day, drawing criticism from Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.“The FDA’s decision to severely limit the use of this life-saving technology is nothing short of reckless,” DeWine said in a statement. “Battelle’s innovative technology has the capability to protect health care professionals and first responders in Ohio and across the country, but in this time of crisis, the FDA has decided not to support those who are risking their lives to save others.”Added DeWine: “This is a matter of life and death. I am not only disappointed by this development, but I’m also stunned that the FDA would decline to do all it can to protect this country’s frontline workers in this serious time of need.”For days running, DeWine has publicly pleaded with the FDA to issue an emergency waiver for the use of the new technology that could sterilize up to 160,000 personal protective face masks every day.

After this crisis is over, the power the FDA yields to halt innovation and progress needs to be abolished.

Our Favorite Business Ethics Book is Now Available as an Audiobook on Audible

Mar 25, 2020 | Business, Politics

Professor Jaana Woiceshyn's marvelous book on business ethics, How to Be Profitable and Moral: A Rational Egoist Approach to Business, has just been released as an audiobook narrated by Sean Salsbury.

Does one have to sacrifice business profits to be moral?

Dr. Woiceshyn says "no", and explains why, by introducing business students a set of rational, logical, scientific principles on how they can maximize profits in the long run by acting morally.

Required reading -- or listening -- for all employees, business students, and CEOs.

Get it here.

p.s. We will have a full review posted shortly!

Powerful Minds Homeschooling Books Now Available Online For Free

Mar 25, 2020 | Culture

With schools closed mostly everywhere, Glenn Woiceshyn has decided to make many of his Powerful Minds homeschool books available for free.

Writes Glenn, "While homeschooling my kids and some of their friends at the grade 6 level, I wrote a few books for homeschoolers that include text and exercises. Regarding the latter there is a teacher’s version with answers and a student’s version with the answers left out. This makes it easy for a parent to teach the material without being an expert.

"The 14 books, which can be used for grades 6-8 (ages ~ 11-13), are as follows:

H001-H003: History – The Pre-Civilization Period (text, student version exercises, teacher version exercises)
H004-H006: History – The Pre-Civilization Period (study units text, student version exercises, teacher version exercises)
L001-L004: Novel Studies – Dar and the Spear Thrower (two parts with student version exercises and teacher version exercises)
L005-L006: Novel Studies – Boy of the Painted Cave (student version exercises and teacher version exercises)
M001-M002: Arithmetic (student version text and exercise, teacher version text and exercise)

"For the novel studies you need to purchase the novels, such as from Amazon. Feel free to print or pass around my books, which are only in PDF form."

Link: Powerful Minds homeschool books available for free.

Amesh Adalja: COVID19-A Path Forward

Mar 23, 2020 | Politics

In his essay on COVID19: A Path Forward, Dr. Amesh Adalja, a virus, bio-security expert writes on the importance of how draconian measures to foght COVID-19 can be worse then virus itself:

Plans of prolonged, enforced confinement aimed at preserving life at any cost are premised on a misunderstanding of human life and what makes it worth living. When discussing treatment options with a patient, I often invoke the concept of “quality of life”. Patients regularly choose to take on some risk to their longevity in order to preserve or enhance their quality of life. Individual preferences and shared decision-making with physicians guide medical decision making and also should apply to each individual’s decision regarding the degree of social distancing that is appropriate for them.

A degraded quality of life, particularly over time, itself generates its own risks of death. If the lockdown is prolonged, we can expect increases in deaths from cancer, cardiovascular disease, stroke, mental illness, and substance abuse. How many cancers will metastasize while colonoscopies or biopsies deemed “elective” will be postponed?

Quality of life consists largely in the ability to engage in the activities that make up our lives, and central to these activities is work. Most of us need to work to support ourselves, and many people, including myself, derive meaning from their work. Moreover, humans, as a species, survive by productive work. Jobs cannot be easily parsed into “life-sustaining” and “non-life-sustaining” enterprises. All work consists in the creating of something we need to sustain human life physically and psychologically. Some of these needs are more acute than others, but all contribute to our ability and will to live. Stopping people from working is like depriving a limb of blood flow. Though action is sometimes necessary in an emergency, irreparable and irreversible harm will occur if it is prolonged. A prolonged freeze of the economy — even in the face of a deadly pandemic — will cause a long-term damage far greater than any purported benefit.

He also presents five recommendations, and concludes on a positive note:

In the past infectious diseases claimed more lives per capita than are projected to be at risk from this pandemic, but humans rarely responded by retreating from activity. In the years when smallpox ravaged the planet and rubella crippled babies, humans went to the moon.

A $10 ten minute test for the coronavirus?

Mar 22, 2020 | Politics

10-minute test for coronavirus exposure utilizing blood from a finger prick can be performed anywhere by trained professionals, e.g. airports, schools, work, doctor’s office
Biomerica has begun shipping samples of this COVID-19 test to multiple Ministries of Health and government agencies that have requested the product through the Company’s distributors in the Middle East, Europe, and other countries
Price point of this single-use, disposable product as low as $10 per patient
Biomerica has filed a provisional patent on rapid test technology to identify multiple coronavirus strains including the strain responsible for COVID-19

Listen to Atlas Shrugged and Other Classics For Free

Mar 21, 2020 | Politics

Audible.com Offers Free Streaming of Children, Teen and Classic Audible Books with No Membership

Audible is offering this promotion for children who have been affected by recent school closings. From Audible:

"For as long as schools are closed, we're open. Starting today, kids everywhere can instantly stream an incredible collection of stories, including titles across six different languages, that will help them continue dreaming, learning, and just being kids.
All stories are free to stream on your desktop, laptop, phone or tablet.
Explore the collection, select a title and start listening. It's that easy."

https://stories.audible.com/start-listen

Communist China Drug Manufacturing Dominance Threatens Global Supply Chain of Medicine

Mar 20, 2020 | Culture

From China hints at denying Americans life-saving coronavirus drugs:

Now that the number of new people infected with the coronavirus in China is slowing down, the country's Communist Party is ratcheting up threats against the West, with a particularly nasty warning about access to life-saving drugs aimed at the United States.
In an article in Xinhua, the state-run media agency that's largely considered the mouthpiece of the party, Beijing bragged about its handling of COVID-19, a virus that originated in the city of Wuhan and has spread quickly around the world, killing nearly 5,000 people and infecting thousands more. The article also claimed that China could impose pharmaceutical export controls which would plunge America into "the mighty sea of coronavirus."

From an article in Xinhua, the state-run media agency [1]:

"If China retaliates against the United States at this time, in addition to announcing a travel ban on the United States, it will also announce strategic control over medical products and ban exports to the United States. Then the United States will be caught in the ocean of new corona viruses.
“Also according to the US CDC officials, most of the drugs in the United States are imported…If China banned exports, the United States will fall into the hell of a new coronavirus pneumonia epidemic.”
“We should say righteously that the US owes China an apology, the world owes China a 'thank you'.”

From Pentagon Sees Security Threat in China’s Drug-Supply Dominance:

The Trump administration sees the increasing use of Chinese-made active ingredients in drugs taken by U.S. troops and civilians as a national security risk.
China has become the world’s largest supplier of active pharmaceutical ingredients, or API, providing key components to drugmakers worldwide. But a yearlong recall of tainted heart drugs taken by millions of Americans is prompting U.S. national security officials to ask whether China’s growing role in the pharmaceutical supply chain could pose a threat to the health of military personnel.
“The national security risks of increased Chinese dominance of the global API market cannot be overstated,” Christopher Priest, the acting deputy assistant director for health care operations and Tricare for the Defense Health Agency, told a U.S.-China advisory panel last week in Washington.
The Defense Health Agency manages much of the health care of military members, including prescription drugs.
[...]
Larry Wortzel, a member of the U.S.-China commission and a military retiree, said four of his blood-pressure medications were recalled in three months. Wortzel’s pills, versions of a drug called valsartan, were manufactured in India but had active ingredients from China.
“They were contaminated with rocket fuel,” Wortzel said. “I imagine active people have the same problem. This affects the readiness of our troops.”

From China’s grip on pharmaceutical drugs is a national security issue:

There is no single accounting of the percentage of active ingredients in U.S. drugs that are manufactured in China, but it’s significant and growing. The Food and Drug Administration has said approximately 80 percent of active-ingredient manufacturers are located outside the United States, and for some key drugs, China is the only supplier. For instance, China produces the ingredients found in almost every antibiotic and blood pressure medicine and hundreds of other drugs. Thus, China has a virtual monopoly on the ingredients required to manufacture critical medicines.

***

Recommended Reading:

China Rx: Exposing The Risks of America’s Dependence on China for Medicine - by Rosemary Gibson and Janardan Prasad Singh
Millions of Americans are taking prescription drugs made in China and don't know it--and pharmaceutical companies are not eager to tell them.

Several decades ago, penicillin, vitamin C, and many other prescription and over-the-counter products were manufactured in the United States. But with the rise of globalization, antibiotics, antidepressants, birth control pills, blood pressure medicines, cancer drugs, among many others are made in China and sold in the United States. China's biggest impact on the US drug supply is making essential ingredients for thousands of medicines found in American homes and used in hospital intensive care units and operating rooms. The authors convincingly argue that there are at least two major problems with this scenario. First, it is inherently risky for the United States to become dependent on any one country as a source for vital medicines, especially given the uncertainties of geopolitics. For example, if an altercation in the South China Sea causes military personnel to be wounded, doctors may rely upon medicines with essential ingredients made by the adversary. Second, lapses in safety standards and quality control in Chinese manufacturing are a risk. Citing the concerns of FDA officials and insiders within the pharmaceutical industry, the authors document incidents of illness and death caused by contaminated medications that prompted reform. This probing book examines the implications of our reliance on China on the quality and availability of vital medicines.

Notes.

[1] Here is the straight up automated Chinese to English google translation of the Xinhua article (the translation has errors as it is not human proofed -- if anyone has a human proofed translation they can share that would be awesome!) :

Righteous, The World Should Thank China
2020-03-04 10:45:32 Source: Huang Sheng
Today, another state in the United States has declared a state of emergency, and the state of Florida in the United States has declared a state of public health emergency. The governor's office of Florida has announced that the state has found two confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia and need to wait for further confirmation from the US Centers for Disease Control. The two are being treated in isolation. This is the third state in the United States to declare a state of emergency after California and Washington states. It can be seen that the new crown pneumonia epidemic has shown signs of sparking fire in the United States, and after the first case of new crown pneumonia deaths was announced in the United States yesterday, today There has been one death from neocoronary pneumonia, and a total of two deaths have occurred. However, it is ridiculous that the United States now needs to confirm a new case of new pneumonia in the United States and it needs final review by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is why Florida is very dissatisfied with this. It was declared a state of emergency.
Obviously, the true outbreak of new coronary pneumonia in the United States has been seriously underestimated. The reason is that all confirmed cases must be finally identified by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which has made the United States' data always suspicion worldwide.
As the U.S. crown pneumonia epidemic is getting more and more serious, Trump has also kept coming out to let the Americans not panic, but the actual situation is that Trump is also very anxious. The U.S. vice president responsible for the prevention and control of the new crown pneumonia epidemic is even more Was so nervous, praying for the new crown pneumonia epidemic to pass as soon as possible in the White House office.
At this time, Trump made a big change and began to praise China. At a press conference the day before yesterday, an American reporter asked Trump: "If the new crown pneumonia outbreak in the United States worsens, will the US government consider taking similar measures to China?"
Trump immediately said that he would take some Chinese measures to control the new crown pneumonia, and said that China has made great progress now. We can see that Starbucks has reopened in China, and Apple has fully resumed production in China. China ’s New crown pneumonia prevention and control has indeed made great progress.
Obviously, Trump's remarks came from the bottom of his heart, and it is also because the role has now changed. China has made significant progress in controlling the new crown pneumonia, but the United States is in a torrential storm. More and more states An emergency was declared, medical supplies in the United States were extremely scarce, and an out-of-control epidemic of new pneumonia was almost inevitable.
The U.S. stock market has plummeted continuously, with a drop of more than 12% in just one week. It has caught up with the big crash during the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. This makes Trump feel like a pinch. Once the U.S. stock market continues to plummet, it will not only affect the U.S. economy but also affect Lampe ’s president is re-elected, and once the new crown pneumonia epidemic continues, Trump ’s throne will face increasing challenges.
If at this time China announced that it would restrict the entry of Americans or people who have been to the United States, and that it would ban the travel of Chinese to the United States, it would actually impose a travel ban on the United States. It plummeted, but China did not.
And everyone should know that when the new crown pneumonia epidemic broke out in Wuhan, Hubei, China, Trump ’s US government first announced the return of Americans from Wuhan, China, causing other countries to follow up, making China very passive at the time.
Not only that, the U.S. government also announced that restricting the entry of Chinese and foreigners who have visited China into the U.S. is actually an indirect declaration of a travel ban on China, which isolates other countries in the world from China, and has a great economic impact on China. of.
These practices in the United States are very unkind. They can be described as falling into the ground and killing people while they are ill. Now China's new crown pneumonia epidemic has been controlled. Except for Wuhan, new confirmed cases have been added in single digits. But it's getting worse.
If China retaliates against the United States at this time, in addition to announcing a travel ban on the United States, it will also announce strategic control over medical products and ban exports to the United States. Then the United States will be caught in the ocean of new crown viruses.
According to the US CDC officials, most masks in the United States are made in China and imported from China. If China bans the export of masks to the United States, the United States will fall into the mask shortage, and the most basic measures to prevent the new crown virus are Can't do it.
Also according to the US CDC officials, most of the drugs in the United States are imported, and some drugs are imported from Europe. However, Europe also places the production base of these drugs in China, so more than 90% of the US imported drugs are Related to China. The implication is that at this time, as long as China announces that its drugs are as domestic as possible and banned exports, the United States will fall into the hell of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.
However, there is a great love in the world. The Chinese people and the Chinese government have never done so. They have not insulted the United States, nor have they banned the export of masks and medicines to the United States. As China ’s new crown pneumonia epidemic is gradually controlled, China ’s ability to export masks and medicines Will be greatly enhanced, and the United States is one of the demand side. US government officials, such as Secretary of Commerce Rose, US Secretary of State Pompeo, and US White House Economic Adviser Navarro, have publicly gloated over China's new crown pneumonia epidemic, saying that the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in China is good for the United States and will help companies return to the United States. It also called on companies around the world to consider the risks of China's supply chain. Even the infamous "Wall Street Journal" published an infamous article "China is a real patient in Asia", and the "New York Times" in the United States also published a document condemning the closure of Wuhan in China as a violation of human rights. The American culture of falling rocks is really shameless. Today, Feng Shui is taking turns, and the United States has become a victim of the new crown pneumonia epidemic. At this time, China has not fallen into rocks and has not condemned the United States. At this time, the United States should be more mistakes for the past. Apologize to China for your actions.
During this time, a voice deliberately speculated that China owes the world an apology, which is very ridiculous. In order to fight the new crown pneumonia epidemic, China has made huge sacrifices, paid huge economic costs, and cut off the new crown virus. The route of transmission. No country has made such a great sacrifice and effort in this new crown pneumonia epidemic.
Moreover, according to the research of Academician Zhong Nanshan, although the new crown pneumonia epidemic broke out in China, the source may not necessarily be in China. Many studies have also pointed out that the origin of the new crown virus may come from other countries. Many confirmed cases of new crown pneumonia in the United States, Italy, Iran and other countries without a history of Asian contact have demonstrated this, so China has no reason to apologize.
Now we should rightfully say that the United States owes China an apology, and the world owes China a gratitude. Without China ’s huge sacrifice and dedication, it would not be possible to win a precious time window for the world to fight against the new crown pneumonia epidemic. The hard-to-find new crown pneumonia epidemic has been blocked for a long time, it is really shocking, crying ghosts!

Editor-in-chief: Zhang Chaohua

Free Video Conferencing: All K-12 Schools & Others

Mar 20, 2020 | Education

The Zoom Corporation is offering free video conferencing tools for schools with no restrictions.

This is the future of education. Thank you, Capitalism!

Zoom: https://zoom.us/docs/en-us/covid19.html free for K-12 schools in US, Belgium, Czech Republic, Greece, Norway, Portugal, and Switzerland, UAE, Austria, Denmark, France, Ireland, Poland, Romania, South Korea
8x8: https://8x8.vc/ - free video conferencing for everyone, no account required, webrtc
Cisco WebEx: https://www.webex.com/go-covid19.html Unlimited usage (no time restrictions), up to 100 participants, VoIp and toll dial-in
GlobalMeet Collaboration Basic plan available for free. It's not a COVID-19 special, it's free and open to everyone like Zoom is. https://www.pgi.com/sign-up/
Google Hangouts: https://gsuite.google.com/products/meet Hangouts Meet video conferencing available to anyone for free until July 1,
Lifesize: https://pages.get.lifesize.com/remote-work-with-lifesize/ For the next 6 months, they're offering their premium enterprise-grade video conferencing solution everywhere you need it free of charge. This offer includes Unlimited hosts – Every employee has the ability to work remotely, Unlimited meetings – Come together as frequently as needed, and Unlimited call duration – Talk for as long as it takes to get the job done.
LogMeIn: https://support.logmeininc.com/coronavirus - free for healthcare providers, educational institutions, municipalities, and non-profit organizations
Microsoft Teams: 6 months free of e1 license to everyone:
RingCentral: free video conferencing (based on Zoom), phones and meeting for healthcare providers, schools (K-12), and non-profit organizations

Alex Epstein: 4 Ideas About COVID-19 You Won’t Hear Anywhere Else

Mar 20, 2020 | Politics

Alex Epstein discusses four important ideas regarding COVID-19 on this week’s episode of Power Hour:

The increasingly prevalent COVID-19 policy of indefinite universal isolation is immoral and un-American
Climate change fixation blinds us to real threats like COVID-19
A Green New Deal would be fatal in the fight against COVID-19
The Corona Recession is a mild preview of the Green New Deal

Thomas Jefferson on “a wall of separation between Church and State”

Feb 16, 2020 | Politics, Sci-Tech

A Letter to the Danbury Baptists Association by Thomas Jefferson. Emphasis added.

To messers. Nehemiah Dodge, Ephraim Robbins, and Stephen S. Nelson, a committee of the Danbury Baptist association in the state of Connecticut.GentlemenThe affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me, on behalf of the Danbury Baptist association, give me the highest satisfaction. My duties dictate a faithful and zealous pursuit of the interests of my constituents, and in proportion as they are persuaded of my fidelity to those duties, the discharge of them becomes more and more pleasing.Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties.I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common father and creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association, assurances of my high respect and esteem.Th JeffersonJan. 1. 1802.

America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech

Jan 31, 2020 | Education

From FIRE names America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2020:

Who are the worst campus censors? The competition is stiff, but today the nonpartisan Foundation for Individual Rights in Education released its annual list of America’s 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech.This year’s “worst-of-the-worst” list includes a college that fired a professor for an innocuous joke on social media, another that allowed its student government to flatly reject a student club because of its conservative beliefs, one that unilaterally canceled a faculty-organized lecture, and a college that chose to suspend a librarian for curating a historical display highlighting the university’s own photos of its racist past.The 10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2020 are, in alphabetical order:
Babson College (Wellesley, Mass.) Doane University (Crete, Neb.) Harvard University (Cambridge, Mass.) Jones County Junior College (Ellisville, Miss.) Long Island University Post (Brookville, N.Y.) Middlebury College (Middlebury, Vt.) Portland State University (Portland, Ore.) Syracuse University (Syracuse, N.Y.) University of Connecticut (Mansfield, Conn.) University of Scranton (Scranton, Pa.)

Detailed descriptions of each college’s speech-chilling misdeeds are available on FIRE’s website.

Howard Zinn vs. History

Jan 20, 2020 | Culture

Ronald Rodash reviews Mary Grabar’s Debunking Howard Zinn in Howard Zinn: Fake Historian over at the Law&Liberety blog. Writes Rodash:

Zinn tries to blame organized labor strikes right before and during WW II on labor militancy that could not be contained. Grabar first shows these strikes were limited and of brief duration. She discusses the June 1941 strike of workers at the North American Aviation plant in Inglewood, California and notes that the CPUSA-led union kept other non-strikers from going to work, using threats and actual beatings by union thugs to maintain the strike. President Roosevelt’s decision to send in 2,500 soldiers to restore order and open the factory was greeted with cheers by most of the workers, who wanted the strike ended so that they could return to work. Grabar does not mention that the strike was ordered by the Central Committee of the American Communist Party on Moscow’s orders. Because it took place during the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Stalin wanted to harm war production in the United States. It was not militancy by locals that caused this famous strike, but an order from the Kremlin. For years, pro-Communist writers and historians have blamed the Cold War on America’s desire to dominate Europe and avoid détente with a peaceful Soviet Union. Zinn, Grabar shows, ignored the very real threat the Soviet Union posed to Western Europe, rooted in Stalin’s desire to dominate it as he did the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe. Zinn was, Grabar aptly puts it, “a propagandist for the Soviet Union’s ‘peaceful intentions.’”

Now available on Amazon: Mary Grabar’s Debunking Howard Zinn

Did Trump Act According to the Constitution in Regards To The Killing of Iran’s Soleimani?

Jan 8, 2020 | Politics

From A Lawless Political Assassination, by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano:

The Constitution provides only two means for the federal government to kill a human being. The first is pursuant to a declaration of war, which only Congress can do. That permits the president to use the military to kill the troops of the government of the country against which war has been declared. Congress has not declared war on Iran. The second way that the Constitution permits federal government killings is pursuant to due process. That means that the person to be killed is lawfully in custody, has been properly charged, lawfully tried and fairly convicted of a capital crime, and the conviction has been upheld on appeal.

[...]Think about it. If the American president can kill an Iranian government official in Iraq because of fear of what he might do — without a declaration of war or any legal process — can the Chinese president kill a Mexican government official visiting in Texas or an American intelligence agent encouraging revolution in Venezuela for fear of what they might do? This is not a fanciful or academic argument. It not only goes to the fidelity to the rule of law that we require of our leaders in order to maintain personal liberty and limited government, it also goes to our safety. We have laws to prevent wanton killings, lest killers turn on us.

In contrast, Attorney Dershowitz Says Targeting Soleimani Was Constitutional, But Impeachment Is Not:

“I am an expert on the use of targeted killings and a strong supporter of targeted killings of terrorists and ongoing terrorist situations. But it's not something the president discussed with me. I wrote a piece for The Wall Street Journal yesterday, and I've been talking about what I believe is the strong case for the legality. I don't take a position, particularly on the long-term wisdom of the action. But I think the legality is not even a close question. I think it was more legal, if anything, than the killing of Osama bin Laden, because the Osama bin Laden killing was not preventive. It was vengeance. It was getting even with a massive criminal that was justified, but it was justified on different grounds. The Soleimani case is a much stronger case for preemptive or preventive targeted killing.”

On whether Trump made the right decision by ordering the killing of Soleimani “I think that's reasonable. People could disagree about that. But I don't think anybody should conflate the policy arguments with the legal arguments, and many people do that. Something could be illegal and good policy and something could be legal and bad policy.” [Here & Now]

U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the WSJ notes that former President Barack Obama ordered drone strikes and “[h]e did so without specific congressional authorization, and without significant Democratic opposition.”

Iran vs Trump

Jan 8, 2020 | Politics

Writes Larry Elder on Iran vs Trump: How Did Trump Become the Villain?:

Of the numerous reasons Trump haters offer for their hatred of the President, the criticism over his withdrawal of the Iran deal is among the most difficult to follow. That these critics blame Donald Trump for Iran’s recent aggressive behavior is even more bizarre.

Iran attacks oil tankers and bombs Saudi Arabian oil facilities and Trump becomes the villain?

On the recent U.S. response to Iran see After Years of Appeasement, America Acts Morally Against Iran by Scott Holleran.

Iranian Americans in San Francisco Celebrate Death of Soleimani

Jan 7, 2020 | Politics

From Iranian Americans rally in SF to celebrate killing of Iranian general - SFChronicle.com:

Wearing red and waving large Iranian flags, demonstrators bid farewell to a man they said is responsible for the bloodshed of thousands of people in the Middle East and during the decades-long oppression of citizens in Iran. Mitra Rahmat, of Cupertino, couldn’t stop dancing as she held a poster with Soleimani’s picture that read, in part, “rot in hell.” Rahmat, who grew up in Tehran, said her best friend was tortured and killed by the Iranian regime at 16 during student demonstrations in 1981. She called Soleimani’s death the “best gift” she has received in 40 years. “I’m celebrating the death of this criminal that killed so many children in Syria, so many children in Iran and Iraq and Afghanistan, Lebanon, you name it,” she said. “We’re so happy that he’s gone, and we know that peace is going to come to the Middle East because he’s not there.”

Socialism Works?

Jan 3, 2020 | Politics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmDBTHxYZ7Q

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