Nov 22, 2016 | Politics
Photo: by Don Irvine Photos
Walter Hudson has a fantastic op-ed -- Fellow Republicans, Don't Sell Your Souls for Bannon and the Alt-Right | PJ Media: -- on Steve Bannon -- the former head of Breitbart News who served as Trump's campaign CEO, and has been named the Trump administration's chief strategist and senior advisor -- and his relationship with the white nationalist, anti-individual rights movememt that calls itself the "alt-right."1. The problem with Bannon is not his personal views, but his role in disseminating abhorrent views[...] The problem with Steve Bannon is not his personal views, for which there seems to be little evidence of anything egregious.The problem with Steve Bannon is the role he has played in proliferating the abhorrent views of others. While in charge of Breitbart News, Bannon transformed it into a haven for the alt-right. While Bannon may not be racist, antisemitic, or white nationalist himself, the alt-right plainly is. It's their defining characteristic, and they'll be the first ones to tell you so.
2. Coiner of the term "alt-right" admits Trump and Breitbart and Bannon are NOT part of alt-rightThe man who coined the term "alt-right" is Richard Spencer. He holds a distinction as the movement's most prominent thought leader. As president of the National Policy Institute, an alt-right think tank, Spencer spoke at a celebration in Washington D.C. over the weekend attended by his fellow white nationalists. From Politico:[...] “I would say Steve Bannon’s comment that [Breitbart is] a platform of the alt-right is probably something I could agree with, say 90 percent, just in the sense that it’s clearly moved away from the conservative movement,” Spencer said. “It was pro-Trump, it was also a site that tons of people on the alt-right [go] to get their news from, they share [it]. I don’t think Breitbart is really ideologically alt-right, no, but it’s interesting and very hopeful for me that Bannon is at least open to these things.”
3. Trump (and Bannon) should distance himself from those who identify with ethnic identity and not America's founding principles[...] As that same son of a black father and a white mother, my existence proves offensive to the alt-right. According to them, I have no worth whatsoever. Neither do my children.[...] Trump should go out of his way to condemn the alt-right. He should make clear that their objectively racist, white nationalist views have no place in his administration or in the Republican Party. That declaration should be echoed by a repentant Bannon, or Bannon should be fired. It must be abundantly clear that American greatness is defined by our founding principles and not ethnic identity.
Well said.Nov 10, 2016 | Politics
Writes John Lott Jr. in the The Washington Post:
Since at least 1950, every single one of Europe’s public mass shootings has occurred in a place where general citizens are banned from carrying guns. In America, there have been four exceptions to that rule.In late 2013, the secretary general of Interpol — essentially a global version of the FBI — proposed two ways of preventing mass shootings: “One is to say we want an armed citizenry; you can see the reason for that. Another is to say the enclaves [should be] so secure that in order to get into the soft target, you’re going to have to pass through extraordinary security.”But Noble warned, “You can’t have armed police forces everywhere.” He also suggested that it is essentially impossible to stop killers from getting weapons into these “secure” areas. He concluded by posing the question, “Is an armed citizenry more necessary now than it was in the past, with an evolving threat of terrorism?” The answer is an emphatic yes. [It’s already too late for gun control to work]
Nov 9, 2016 | Politics
Writes Alexander Marriott:"Hyperbole is exploding on the internet, good God people sound and look silly. We don't elect dictators. We have a Constitution, time we dust it off and start using it to make sure our elected officials stick to their limited jobs. Maybe Democrats will realize this is precisely why limited government is so important, to prevent ambitious demagogues from abusing power. The more we all stand up to the next President to protect individual rights in all spheres of human activity, then the abysmal election will have a positive result."
Well said Professor Marriott!Sep 20, 2016 | Business, Politics
From UN deletes tweet calling free market an "urgent threat" - UN Watch:
GENEVA, Sept. 5, 2016 — The UN human rights office deleted a bizarre statement on Twitter, published on its account with 1.5 million followers, in which it slammed “free market fundamentalism” as an “urgent threat,” after the head of a watchdog group questioned the tweet.Though the UN tweet from Friday had garnered more than 160 retweets and likes, the world body removed it under criticism from Hillel Neuer, executive director of the Geneva-based UN Watch.“This was a loony tweet, and it calls into question the judgment of the UN’s top human rights office,” said Neuer. “While millions of people are suffering from genocide, sexual slavery and starvation, it is far from clear why the UN would instead focus its attention on unidentifiable ‘urgent threats,’ let alone on economic subjects about which it has neither competence nor expertise,” said Neuer.“Tellingly, the same UN human rights office has failed to issue a single tweet about this past month’s dire human rights crisis in Venezuela, where millions face mass hunger in part due to attacks on the free market in the failed economic policies of the late president Hugo Chavez and his successor Nicolas Maduro, which included arbitrary seizure of businesses and private property.”“If the UN did not have a strict policy of ignoring its own guaranteed human right to private property, established in Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, then perhaps Venezuelan mothers would not be struggling to find food for their children.”“Virulent anti-capitalism was a policy of the defunct Soviet Union, but it should not be embraced by the UN body which is supposed to be focused on human rights emergencies.”
Perhaps the Tweet should have asked is anti-free market fundamentalism -- the belief in the infallibility of socialist, anti free market economic policies -- an urgent threat to economic and political freedom?
Perhaps the Tweet should have asked is anti-free market fundamentalism -- the belief in the infallibility of socialist, anti free market economic policies -- an urgent threat to economic and political freedom?