Posts for: dtucker300
Apr 18, 2024 20:35:38 #
(Main)
April 18, 2024
Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
The theocracy of Iran has been the world’s arch-embassy attacker over the last half century.
So it has zero credibility in crying foul over Israel’s April 1 attacks on its “consulate” in Damascus and the k*****g of Iran’s kingpin terrorists of the Revolutionary Guard Corps there.
Remember, the world was first introduced to the Iranian ayatollahs by their violent takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1980.
Iranian surrogates next bombed the American embassy in Beirut and the Marine barracks in 1983.
In fact, Iran has attacked US and Israeli diplomatic posts off-and-on for decades, most recently in 2023, when Iran helped plan an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad.
For this reason and several others, Iran’s justification for sending 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles into Israel on the grounds that Israel had bombed an Iranian diplomatic post is completely ridiculous.
One, Iran has never honored diplomatic immunity. Instead, it habitually attacks and k**ls embassy personnel and blows up diplomatic facilities across the world.
Two, on April 1, the Israelis attacked a pseudo-“consulate” in Damascus which was hosting grandees of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as they planned terrorist attacks on Israel.
Without Iran, the Middle East might have had a chance to use its enormous oil and natural gas wealth to lift its 500 million people out of poverty rather than to be mired in constant tribal and religious anti-Israeli, anti-American, and anti-Western terrorism.
During the Iraq War, Iran’s Shiite terrorists and its massive supplies of deadly shaped-charge explosive devices k**led hundreds of Americans. It routinely hijacks container ships in the Straits of Hormuz and stages near collisions with American ships and planes.
How does Iran get away with nonstop anti-Western terrorism, its constant harassment of Persian Gulf maritime traffic, its efforts to subvert Sunni moderate regimes, and its serial hostage-taking?
The theocrats operate on three general principles.
One, Iran is careful never to attack a major power directly.
Until this week, it had never sent missiles and drones into Israel. Its economy is one-dimensionally dependent on oil exports. And its paranoid government distrusts its own people, who have no access to free e******ns.
So Iranian strategy over the last few decades has relied on surrogates—especially expendable Arab Shia terrorists in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, along with the Sunni Arabs of Hamas—to do its dirty work of k*****g Israelis and Americans.
It loudly egged all of them on and then cowardly denied responsibility once it feared Israeli or American retaliation.
Two, it has fooled Western governments and especially left-wing American administrations by posing as a persecuted victim. Iran claims it is the champion of aggrieved Shiite Arab and Persian minorities, unfairly exploited by Israel, moderate Arab regimes, and rich Sunni Gulf monarchies.
Three, Iran hopes its pseudo-diplomatic outreach to left-wing Western governments, coupled with its lunatic existential threats and unleashing terrorist attacks on its enemies, can coax or bully the West into granting it concessions—especially time to acquire a dozen or so nuclear weapons.
Yet for all its loud, creepy threats, Iran is incredibly weak and vulnerable.
Israel and its allies shot down almost all its recent nocturnal missile and drone barrages. Lots of other missiles reportedly blew up on liftoff in Iran or crashed in t***sit.
Before the Biden appeasement of Iran, the Trump administration had isolated and nearly bankrupted Tehran and its proxies. Its Revolutionary Guard terrorist planners proved to be easy targets once they operated outside Iran.
Iran’s only hope is to get a bomb and, with it, nuclear deterrence to prevent retaliation when it increases its terrorist surrogate attacks on Israel, the West, and international commerce.
Yet now Iran may have jumped the shark by attacking the Israeli homeland for the first time. It is learning that it has almost no sympathetic allies.
Does even the Lebanese Hezbollah really want to take revenge against Israel on behalf of Persian Iran, only to see its Shia neighborhoods in Lebanon reduced to rubble?
Do all the pro-Hamas protestors on American campuses and in the streets really want to show Americans they celebrate Iranian attacks and a potential Iranian war against the United States?
Does Iran really believe 99 percent of any future Israel barrage against Iranian targets would fail to hit targets in the fashion that its own recent launches failed?
Does Iran really believe that its sheer incompetence in attacking Israel warrants them a pardon—as if they should be excused for trying, but not succeeding, to k**l thousands of Jews?
In sum, by unleashing a terrorist war in the Middle East and targeting the Israeli homeland, Iran may wake up soon and learn Israel, or America, or both might retaliate for a half-century of its terrorist aggression—and mostly to the indifference or even the delight of most of the world.
Victor Davis Hanson
American Greatness
The theocracy of Iran has been the world’s arch-embassy attacker over the last half century.
So it has zero credibility in crying foul over Israel’s April 1 attacks on its “consulate” in Damascus and the k*****g of Iran’s kingpin terrorists of the Revolutionary Guard Corps there.
Remember, the world was first introduced to the Iranian ayatollahs by their violent takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in 1980.
Iranian surrogates next bombed the American embassy in Beirut and the Marine barracks in 1983.
In fact, Iran has attacked US and Israeli diplomatic posts off-and-on for decades, most recently in 2023, when Iran helped plan an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad.
For this reason and several others, Iran’s justification for sending 170 drones, 30 cruise missiles, and 120 ballistic missiles into Israel on the grounds that Israel had bombed an Iranian diplomatic post is completely ridiculous.
One, Iran has never honored diplomatic immunity. Instead, it habitually attacks and k**ls embassy personnel and blows up diplomatic facilities across the world.
Two, on April 1, the Israelis attacked a pseudo-“consulate” in Damascus which was hosting grandees of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps as they planned terrorist attacks on Israel.
Without Iran, the Middle East might have had a chance to use its enormous oil and natural gas wealth to lift its 500 million people out of poverty rather than to be mired in constant tribal and religious anti-Israeli, anti-American, and anti-Western terrorism.
During the Iraq War, Iran’s Shiite terrorists and its massive supplies of deadly shaped-charge explosive devices k**led hundreds of Americans. It routinely hijacks container ships in the Straits of Hormuz and stages near collisions with American ships and planes.
How does Iran get away with nonstop anti-Western terrorism, its constant harassment of Persian Gulf maritime traffic, its efforts to subvert Sunni moderate regimes, and its serial hostage-taking?
The theocrats operate on three general principles.
One, Iran is careful never to attack a major power directly.
Until this week, it had never sent missiles and drones into Israel. Its economy is one-dimensionally dependent on oil exports. And its paranoid government distrusts its own people, who have no access to free e******ns.
So Iranian strategy over the last few decades has relied on surrogates—especially expendable Arab Shia terrorists in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, along with the Sunni Arabs of Hamas—to do its dirty work of k*****g Israelis and Americans.
It loudly egged all of them on and then cowardly denied responsibility once it feared Israeli or American retaliation.
Two, it has fooled Western governments and especially left-wing American administrations by posing as a persecuted victim. Iran claims it is the champion of aggrieved Shiite Arab and Persian minorities, unfairly exploited by Israel, moderate Arab regimes, and rich Sunni Gulf monarchies.
Three, Iran hopes its pseudo-diplomatic outreach to left-wing Western governments, coupled with its lunatic existential threats and unleashing terrorist attacks on its enemies, can coax or bully the West into granting it concessions—especially time to acquire a dozen or so nuclear weapons.
Yet for all its loud, creepy threats, Iran is incredibly weak and vulnerable.
Israel and its allies shot down almost all its recent nocturnal missile and drone barrages. Lots of other missiles reportedly blew up on liftoff in Iran or crashed in t***sit.
Before the Biden appeasement of Iran, the Trump administration had isolated and nearly bankrupted Tehran and its proxies. Its Revolutionary Guard terrorist planners proved to be easy targets once they operated outside Iran.
Iran’s only hope is to get a bomb and, with it, nuclear deterrence to prevent retaliation when it increases its terrorist surrogate attacks on Israel, the West, and international commerce.
Yet now Iran may have jumped the shark by attacking the Israeli homeland for the first time. It is learning that it has almost no sympathetic allies.
Does even the Lebanese Hezbollah really want to take revenge against Israel on behalf of Persian Iran, only to see its Shia neighborhoods in Lebanon reduced to rubble?
Do all the pro-Hamas protestors on American campuses and in the streets really want to show Americans they celebrate Iranian attacks and a potential Iranian war against the United States?
Does Iran really believe 99 percent of any future Israel barrage against Iranian targets would fail to hit targets in the fashion that its own recent launches failed?
Does Iran really believe that its sheer incompetence in attacking Israel warrants them a pardon—as if they should be excused for trying, but not succeeding, to k**l thousands of Jews?
In sum, by unleashing a terrorist war in the Middle East and targeting the Israeli homeland, Iran may wake up soon and learn Israel, or America, or both might retaliate for a half-century of its terrorist aggression—and mostly to the indifference or even the delight of most of the world.
Apr 18, 2024 20:33:05 #
(Main)
proud republican wrote:
Who is he????
https://nypost.com/2024/03/13/us-news/wall-street-investor-marty-dolan-launches-primary-challenge-against-aoc/
Marty Dolan
Apr 18, 2024 20:29:36 #
(Main)
Excellent in every way!!! But what are we to do? V**e? Sure, but our v****g system has become a s**m. Take up arms? Against what’s left of our military and law enforcement?? Pray? If God is truly “in control”, is there any other choice???
“Men, like nations, think they're eternal. What man in his 20s or 30s doesn't believe, at least subconsciously, that he'll live forever? In the springtime of youth, an endless summer beckons. As you pass 70, it's harder to hide from reality.... as you lose friends and relatives.
Nations also have seasons: Imagine a Roman of the 2nd century contemplating an empire that stretched from Britain to the Near East, thinking: This will endure forever.... Forever was about 500 years, give or take.... not bad, but gone!!
France was pivotal in the 17th and 18th centuries; now the land of Charles Martel is on its way to becoming part of the Muslim ummah.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the sun never set on the British Empire; now Albion exists in perpetual twilight. Its 96-year-old sovereign was a fitting symbol for a nation in terminal decline.
In the 1980s, Japan seemed poised to buy the world. Business schools taught Japanese management techniques. Today, its birth rate is so low and its population aging so rapidly that an industry has sprung up to remove the remains of elderly Japanese who die alone.
I was born in 1944, almost at the midpoint of the 20th century - the American century. America's prestige and influence were never greater. Thanks to the 'Greatest Generation,' we won a World War fought throughout most of Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. We reduced Germany to rubble and put the rising sun to bed. It set the stage for almost half a century of unprecedented prosperity.
We stopped the spread of c*******m in Europe and Asia and fought international terrorism. We rebuilt our enemies and lavished foreign aid on much of the world. We built skyscrapers and rockets to the moon. We conquered Polio and now C***D. We explored the mysteries of the Universe and the wonders of DNA...the blueprint of life.
But where is the glory that once was Rome? America has moved from a relatively free economy to socialism - which has worked so well NOWHERE in the world.
We've gone from a republican government guided by a constitution to a regime of revolving elites. We have less freedom with each passing year. Like a signpost to the coming reign of terror, the cancel culture is everywhere. We've traded the American Revolution for the Cultural Revolution.
The pathetic creature in the White House is an empty vessel filled by his handlers. At the G-7 Summit, 'Dr. Jill' had to lead him like a child. In 1961, when we were young and vigorous, our leader was too. Now a feeble nation is technically led by the oldest man to ever serve in the presidency.
We won't defend our borders, our history (including monuments to past greatness), or our streets. Our cities have become anarchist playgrounds. We are a nation of dependents, mendicants, and misplaced charity. Homeless veterans camp in the streets while i*****l a***ns are put up in hotels.
The president of the United States can't even quote the beginning of the Declaration of Independence (‘you know - The Thing') correctly. Ivy League graduates routinely fail history tests that 5th graders could pass a generation ago. Crime rates soar and we blame the 2nd Amendment and slash police budgets.
Our culture is certifiably insane. Men who think they're women. People who fight r****m by seeking to convince members of one race that they're inherently evil, and others that they are perpetual victims. A psychiatrist lecturing at Yale said she fantasizes about 'unloading a revolver into the head of any white person'.
We slaughter the unborn in the name of freedom, while our birth rate dips lower year by year. Our national debt is so high that we can no longer even pretend that we will repay it one day. It's a $35-trillion monument to our improvidence and refusal to confront reality. Our 'entertainment' is sadistic, nihilistic, and as enduring as a candy bar wrapper thrown in the trash. Our new music is noise that spans the spectrum from annoying to repulsive.
Patriotism is called an i**********n, treason celebrated, and perversion sanctified. A man in blue gets less respect than a man in a dress. We're asking soldiers to fight for a nation our leaders no longer believe in.
How meekly most of us submitted to F***i-ism (the regime of face masks, lockdowns, and hand sanitizers) shows the impending death of the American Spirit.
How do nations slip from greatness to obscurity? Fighting endless wars they can't or won't win.
* Accumulating massive debt far beyond their ability to repay.
* Refusing to guard their borders, allowing the nation to be inundated by an alien horde.
* Surrendering control of their cities to mob rule.
* Allowing indoctrination of the young.
* Moving from a republican form of government to an oligarchy
* Losing national identity
* Indulging indolence
* Abandoning God, faith, and family - the bulwarks of any stable society.
In America, every one of these symptoms is pronounced, indicating an advanced stage of the disease. Even if the cause seems hopeless, do we not have an obligation to those who sacrificed so much to give us what we had? I'm surrounded by ghosts urging me on: the Union soldiers who held Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, the battered bastards of Bastogne, those who served in the cold hell of Korea, the guys who went to the jungles of Southeast Asia and came home to be reviled or neglected.
This is the nation that took in my immigrant grandparents, whose uniform my father and most of my uncles wore in the Second World War. I don't want to imagine a world without America, even though it becomes increasingly likely.
During Britain's darkest hour, when its professional army was trapped at Dunkirk and a German invasion seemed imminent, Churchill reminded his countrymen, 'Nations that go down fighting rise again, and those that surrender tamely are finished.’
The same might be said of causes. If we let America slip through our fingers, if we lose without a fight, what will posterity say of us?
While the prognosis is far from good, only God knows if America's day in the sun is over.”
~Author Unknown
Read it and weep. Forward or erase it! I read it and am now forwarding it to you, believing that we in America are at the moment in time to stand up, or let it fall! We now may be at the next step in our country's future. I believe that it might be closer than we think.”
To which I say AMEN!
“Men, like nations, think they're eternal. What man in his 20s or 30s doesn't believe, at least subconsciously, that he'll live forever? In the springtime of youth, an endless summer beckons. As you pass 70, it's harder to hide from reality.... as you lose friends and relatives.
Nations also have seasons: Imagine a Roman of the 2nd century contemplating an empire that stretched from Britain to the Near East, thinking: This will endure forever.... Forever was about 500 years, give or take.... not bad, but gone!!
France was pivotal in the 17th and 18th centuries; now the land of Charles Martel is on its way to becoming part of the Muslim ummah.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the sun never set on the British Empire; now Albion exists in perpetual twilight. Its 96-year-old sovereign was a fitting symbol for a nation in terminal decline.
In the 1980s, Japan seemed poised to buy the world. Business schools taught Japanese management techniques. Today, its birth rate is so low and its population aging so rapidly that an industry has sprung up to remove the remains of elderly Japanese who die alone.
I was born in 1944, almost at the midpoint of the 20th century - the American century. America's prestige and influence were never greater. Thanks to the 'Greatest Generation,' we won a World War fought throughout most of Europe, Asia, and the Pacific. We reduced Germany to rubble and put the rising sun to bed. It set the stage for almost half a century of unprecedented prosperity.
We stopped the spread of c*******m in Europe and Asia and fought international terrorism. We rebuilt our enemies and lavished foreign aid on much of the world. We built skyscrapers and rockets to the moon. We conquered Polio and now C***D. We explored the mysteries of the Universe and the wonders of DNA...the blueprint of life.
But where is the glory that once was Rome? America has moved from a relatively free economy to socialism - which has worked so well NOWHERE in the world.
We've gone from a republican government guided by a constitution to a regime of revolving elites. We have less freedom with each passing year. Like a signpost to the coming reign of terror, the cancel culture is everywhere. We've traded the American Revolution for the Cultural Revolution.
The pathetic creature in the White House is an empty vessel filled by his handlers. At the G-7 Summit, 'Dr. Jill' had to lead him like a child. In 1961, when we were young and vigorous, our leader was too. Now a feeble nation is technically led by the oldest man to ever serve in the presidency.
We won't defend our borders, our history (including monuments to past greatness), or our streets. Our cities have become anarchist playgrounds. We are a nation of dependents, mendicants, and misplaced charity. Homeless veterans camp in the streets while i*****l a***ns are put up in hotels.
The president of the United States can't even quote the beginning of the Declaration of Independence (‘you know - The Thing') correctly. Ivy League graduates routinely fail history tests that 5th graders could pass a generation ago. Crime rates soar and we blame the 2nd Amendment and slash police budgets.
Our culture is certifiably insane. Men who think they're women. People who fight r****m by seeking to convince members of one race that they're inherently evil, and others that they are perpetual victims. A psychiatrist lecturing at Yale said she fantasizes about 'unloading a revolver into the head of any white person'.
We slaughter the unborn in the name of freedom, while our birth rate dips lower year by year. Our national debt is so high that we can no longer even pretend that we will repay it one day. It's a $35-trillion monument to our improvidence and refusal to confront reality. Our 'entertainment' is sadistic, nihilistic, and as enduring as a candy bar wrapper thrown in the trash. Our new music is noise that spans the spectrum from annoying to repulsive.
Patriotism is called an i**********n, treason celebrated, and perversion sanctified. A man in blue gets less respect than a man in a dress. We're asking soldiers to fight for a nation our leaders no longer believe in.
How meekly most of us submitted to F***i-ism (the regime of face masks, lockdowns, and hand sanitizers) shows the impending death of the American Spirit.
How do nations slip from greatness to obscurity? Fighting endless wars they can't or won't win.
* Accumulating massive debt far beyond their ability to repay.
* Refusing to guard their borders, allowing the nation to be inundated by an alien horde.
* Surrendering control of their cities to mob rule.
* Allowing indoctrination of the young.
* Moving from a republican form of government to an oligarchy
* Losing national identity
* Indulging indolence
* Abandoning God, faith, and family - the bulwarks of any stable society.
In America, every one of these symptoms is pronounced, indicating an advanced stage of the disease. Even if the cause seems hopeless, do we not have an obligation to those who sacrificed so much to give us what we had? I'm surrounded by ghosts urging me on: the Union soldiers who held Cemetery Ridge at Gettysburg, the battered bastards of Bastogne, those who served in the cold hell of Korea, the guys who went to the jungles of Southeast Asia and came home to be reviled or neglected.
This is the nation that took in my immigrant grandparents, whose uniform my father and most of my uncles wore in the Second World War. I don't want to imagine a world without America, even though it becomes increasingly likely.
During Britain's darkest hour, when its professional army was trapped at Dunkirk and a German invasion seemed imminent, Churchill reminded his countrymen, 'Nations that go down fighting rise again, and those that surrender tamely are finished.’
The same might be said of causes. If we let America slip through our fingers, if we lose without a fight, what will posterity say of us?
While the prognosis is far from good, only God knows if America's day in the sun is over.”
~Author Unknown
Read it and weep. Forward or erase it! I read it and am now forwarding it to you, believing that we in America are at the moment in time to stand up, or let it fall! We now may be at the next step in our country's future. I believe that it might be closer than we think.”
To which I say AMEN!
Apr 18, 2024 20:22:05 #
(Main)
Multiple Democrat Reps. Refuse to Condemn “Death to America” Chants, Burning of American F**g
by: Matt Palumbo April 18, 2024
Multiple Democrat Reps. Refuse to Condemn “Death to America” Chants, Burning of American F**g
Numerous leading Democrats plead the fifth when asked the extremely simple question of whether or not they condemn protesters burning the American f**g and chanting “death to America” while blocking bridges in the name of Palestine.
Rather than simply condemn anti-Americanism, those Democrats well aware that the “death to America” crowd makes up an increasing share of their v**er base decided not to condemn them. Or maybe it’s just because they agree with them.
Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Katie Porter refused to acknowledge questioning from a Fox reporter, while former bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pretended to not know that her supporters regularly engage in behavior like burning the f**g and chanting death to America, answering “I’m not privy to…. To.. I haven’t seen these reports. I’ll have to check them myself.” If she did later check them herself, she didn’t have a condemnation to add.
Sadly, we’ve reached a point politically where this isn’t even showing - watch below:
https://bongino.com/multiple-democrat-reps-refuse-to-condemn-death-to-america-chants-burning-of-american-f**g
This came after Rep. Rashida Tlaib was asked the same question, which led to her having an extended emotional breakdown.
https://bongino.com/multiple-democrat-reps-refuse-to-condemn-death-to-america-chants-burning-of-american-f**g
How radical does one's base need to be for a politician where they can’t even pretend to condemn “death to America” chants for the sake of optics? While I h**e to give the likes of Presseley, AOC, Porter, and Tlaib credit for anything, at least they’re being honest about their anti-Americanism, albeit through omission.
by: Matt Palumbo April 18, 2024
Multiple Democrat Reps. Refuse to Condemn “Death to America” Chants, Burning of American F**g
Numerous leading Democrats plead the fifth when asked the extremely simple question of whether or not they condemn protesters burning the American f**g and chanting “death to America” while blocking bridges in the name of Palestine.
Rather than simply condemn anti-Americanism, those Democrats well aware that the “death to America” crowd makes up an increasing share of their v**er base decided not to condemn them. Or maybe it’s just because they agree with them.
Reps. Ayanna Pressley and Katie Porter refused to acknowledge questioning from a Fox reporter, while former bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pretended to not know that her supporters regularly engage in behavior like burning the f**g and chanting death to America, answering “I’m not privy to…. To.. I haven’t seen these reports. I’ll have to check them myself.” If she did later check them herself, she didn’t have a condemnation to add.
Sadly, we’ve reached a point politically where this isn’t even showing - watch below:
https://bongino.com/multiple-democrat-reps-refuse-to-condemn-death-to-america-chants-burning-of-american-f**g
This came after Rep. Rashida Tlaib was asked the same question, which led to her having an extended emotional breakdown.
https://bongino.com/multiple-democrat-reps-refuse-to-condemn-death-to-america-chants-burning-of-american-f**g
How radical does one's base need to be for a politician where they can’t even pretend to condemn “death to America” chants for the sake of optics? While I h**e to give the likes of Presseley, AOC, Porter, and Tlaib credit for anything, at least they’re being honest about their anti-Americanism, albeit through omission.
Apr 18, 2024 20:14:43 #
(Main)
LostAggie66 wrote:
I have some of these and want to find some more of them.
I like the "Slinky." Were you built in the "fifties?" I have that one.
Apr 18, 2024 20:11:11 #
AuntiE wrote:
As a woman, I should be offended yet am sitting here laughing uproariously!
AuntiE, for some reason I thought more people would be offended by these. Americans are losing their sense of humor. I thought they were too funny not to share. I am glad found them to be funny. It takes a sophisticated mind to appreciate the humor in them.
Apr 18, 2024 20:05:44 #
(Main)
There are just 10 weeks left until Alexandria’s primary e******n, Donald.
Here are 3 things we need you to know about her multimillionaire opponent:
1. He’s a former Wall Street investment banker who has already spent $225,000 of his own money just to get onto the b****t.
2. He's a Democrat who has become a regular on Fox News to bash taxing the rich and attack Alexandria as "radical" because she believes in Medicare for All.
3. He lives in a multimillion-dollar home outside of Alexandria’s district but is “currently looking” for a permanent residence in our working-class community while he runs for Congress.
I wish I lived in her district so I could v**e to oust AOC from Congress.
Here are 3 things we need you to know about her multimillionaire opponent:
1. He’s a former Wall Street investment banker who has already spent $225,000 of his own money just to get onto the b****t.
2. He's a Democrat who has become a regular on Fox News to bash taxing the rich and attack Alexandria as "radical" because she believes in Medicare for All.
3. He lives in a multimillion-dollar home outside of Alexandria’s district but is “currently looking” for a permanent residence in our working-class community while he runs for Congress.
I wish I lived in her district so I could v**e to oust AOC from Congress.
Apr 18, 2024 14:01:24 #
(Main)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N29AaHnzGGM
John Stossel
Apr 16, 2024
The government may soon be able to shut down your car. Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes a k**l switch for new cars.
In an effort to reduce drunk driving, government wants devices in cars that will monitor and limit impaired driving.
But there’s a big problem: these devices give government control over your car.
Automotive engineer and former vintage race car driver Lauren Fix points out the dangers in my video, above.
John Stossel
Apr 16, 2024
The government may soon be able to shut down your car. Biden’s $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes a k**l switch for new cars.
In an effort to reduce drunk driving, government wants devices in cars that will monitor and limit impaired driving.
But there’s a big problem: these devices give government control over your car.
Automotive engineer and former vintage race car driver Lauren Fix points out the dangers in my video, above.
Apr 18, 2024 13:42:37 #
(Main)
Episode 4
https://www.prageru.com/video/as-the-rich-get-richer-the-poor-get-richer
As the Rich Get Richer, the Poor Get Richer
Daniel Hannan
5-Minute Videos
Apr 08, 2018
The rich are getting richer, and the poor are... also getting richer. What's driving this wealth creation process? In this video, Daniel Hannan explains why it is capitalism — and capitalism alone — that has led to the unprecedented enrichment that is the central fact of Western life.
“The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.”
“The top one per cent of people on the planet have half the wealth.”
“Western corporations are plundering developing countries.”
“Capitalism is on its last legs.”
Really?
The t***h is that global ine******y is tumbling. Yes, the rich are getting richer—but the poor are getting richer faster. And what’s driving that process? The market.
Look at the most basic measures: Literacy. Longevity. Infant mortality. Calorie intake. Height. More and more people are being lifted out of poverty.
I think of the changes just in my lifetime.
When I was born, in 1971, an American worker had to earn a month’s salary to be able to afford a TV set. Now, it’s two days.
In 1971, fewer than half of girls worldwide completed at least primary education. Now, it’s more than 90 percent.
In 1971, a stationary car emitted more pollution than a car moving at full speed today.
Go a little further back. In the seventeenth century, the most powerful man in the world was Louis XIV of France. Every night, he’d have 40 dishes prepared for his dinner, and he’d pick the one he felt like. Think about it: A receptionist today can stop off at a store on her way home and have not only a wider choice than that king, but a fresher one and a healthier one. We all live better than Louis XIV.
What has caused that miracle? Not any UN development program. Not any government aid scheme.
What caused it was the market.
The most rapid falls in poverty are happening in countries that are joining the global trading system. Compare growth rates in free-trading Colombia and protectionist Venezuela; or in free-trading Vietnam and protectionist Laos; or in free-trading Bangladesh and protectionist Pakistan.
It’s the same story every time.
China after 1979, India after 1991. You remove barriers to trade. Prices fall. Your people no longer have to work every hour just to afford food and basic commodities. They have time to invent and make and buy and sell other things. The whole economy is stimulated. Poverty falls.
OK, you might say, so maybe capitalism works; maybe people are better off. But isn’t there a cost? Doesn’t it make us more materialistic? Doesn’t it make us greedier?
If by “greed” you mean a desire for material wealth, that’s part of the human condition. It’s in our DNA or, if you prefer, it’s in our fallen nature. Under any system—socialism, c*******m, f*****m, absolute monarchy, theocracy—people want more stuff.
The unique quality of capitalism is that it structures the incentives so that the way to succeed—the way to be “greedy,” if you insist on using that vocabulary—is to offer a service to the people around you.
Under every other system, you get on by sucking up to those in power: commissars, or kings, or dictators.
But under a free market system, you get on by offering consumers something they want.
As the economist Joseph Schumpeter put it, the achievement of capitalism is not to provide more silk stockings for princesses, but to bring them within the reach of the shop girl.
So, why can’t we see it? Why do well-intentioned, idealistic young people oppose free trade and market liberalization, thinking that they’re standing up for the poorest people on the planet, when in fact they’re doing the opposite?
A big part of the answer is aesthetic. As the Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope, wrote, "Poverty, to be scenic, should be rural."
I grew up in Lima, Peru which, in those days, was surrounded by shantytowns known as las barriadas.
Western visitors would come, and they’d visit Machu Picchu, and then they’d ask in bewilderment why people would migrate from the Andes to the slums.
Why did they swap the clean air and the mountain scenery for open sewers and traffic fumes?
It’s a very first world question. No Peruvian ever needed to ask why you’d leave a place with no electricity, no school, no clinic, and no jobs.
Those shantytowns, those barriadas, for most of their residents, are t***sitional. They’re busy places, humming with enterprise, and the people in them sense that they’re on their way up. If we want to help those people, the best thing we can do is let them sell us their stuff.
Capitalism has achieved things which earlier ages ascribed to gods and magicians. It’s abolishing hunger and disease and want.
It’s led to an unprecedented enrichment that is the central fact of your life. The fact that you’re watching this video is enough to tell me that.
Now let it work its magic in the rest of the world.
I’m Daniel Hannan for Prager University.
https://www.prageru.com/video/as-the-rich-get-richer-the-poor-get-richer
As the Rich Get Richer, the Poor Get Richer
Daniel Hannan
5-Minute Videos
Apr 08, 2018
The rich are getting richer, and the poor are... also getting richer. What's driving this wealth creation process? In this video, Daniel Hannan explains why it is capitalism — and capitalism alone — that has led to the unprecedented enrichment that is the central fact of Western life.
“The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.”
“The top one per cent of people on the planet have half the wealth.”
“Western corporations are plundering developing countries.”
“Capitalism is on its last legs.”
Really?
The t***h is that global ine******y is tumbling. Yes, the rich are getting richer—but the poor are getting richer faster. And what’s driving that process? The market.
Look at the most basic measures: Literacy. Longevity. Infant mortality. Calorie intake. Height. More and more people are being lifted out of poverty.
I think of the changes just in my lifetime.
When I was born, in 1971, an American worker had to earn a month’s salary to be able to afford a TV set. Now, it’s two days.
In 1971, fewer than half of girls worldwide completed at least primary education. Now, it’s more than 90 percent.
In 1971, a stationary car emitted more pollution than a car moving at full speed today.
Go a little further back. In the seventeenth century, the most powerful man in the world was Louis XIV of France. Every night, he’d have 40 dishes prepared for his dinner, and he’d pick the one he felt like. Think about it: A receptionist today can stop off at a store on her way home and have not only a wider choice than that king, but a fresher one and a healthier one. We all live better than Louis XIV.
What has caused that miracle? Not any UN development program. Not any government aid scheme.
What caused it was the market.
The most rapid falls in poverty are happening in countries that are joining the global trading system. Compare growth rates in free-trading Colombia and protectionist Venezuela; or in free-trading Vietnam and protectionist Laos; or in free-trading Bangladesh and protectionist Pakistan.
It’s the same story every time.
China after 1979, India after 1991. You remove barriers to trade. Prices fall. Your people no longer have to work every hour just to afford food and basic commodities. They have time to invent and make and buy and sell other things. The whole economy is stimulated. Poverty falls.
OK, you might say, so maybe capitalism works; maybe people are better off. But isn’t there a cost? Doesn’t it make us more materialistic? Doesn’t it make us greedier?
If by “greed” you mean a desire for material wealth, that’s part of the human condition. It’s in our DNA or, if you prefer, it’s in our fallen nature. Under any system—socialism, c*******m, f*****m, absolute monarchy, theocracy—people want more stuff.
The unique quality of capitalism is that it structures the incentives so that the way to succeed—the way to be “greedy,” if you insist on using that vocabulary—is to offer a service to the people around you.
Under every other system, you get on by sucking up to those in power: commissars, or kings, or dictators.
But under a free market system, you get on by offering consumers something they want.
As the economist Joseph Schumpeter put it, the achievement of capitalism is not to provide more silk stockings for princesses, but to bring them within the reach of the shop girl.
So, why can’t we see it? Why do well-intentioned, idealistic young people oppose free trade and market liberalization, thinking that they’re standing up for the poorest people on the planet, when in fact they’re doing the opposite?
A big part of the answer is aesthetic. As the Victorian novelist, Anthony Trollope, wrote, "Poverty, to be scenic, should be rural."
I grew up in Lima, Peru which, in those days, was surrounded by shantytowns known as las barriadas.
Western visitors would come, and they’d visit Machu Picchu, and then they’d ask in bewilderment why people would migrate from the Andes to the slums.
Why did they swap the clean air and the mountain scenery for open sewers and traffic fumes?
It’s a very first world question. No Peruvian ever needed to ask why you’d leave a place with no electricity, no school, no clinic, and no jobs.
Those shantytowns, those barriadas, for most of their residents, are t***sitional. They’re busy places, humming with enterprise, and the people in them sense that they’re on their way up. If we want to help those people, the best thing we can do is let them sell us their stuff.
Capitalism has achieved things which earlier ages ascribed to gods and magicians. It’s abolishing hunger and disease and want.
It’s led to an unprecedented enrichment that is the central fact of your life. The fact that you’re watching this video is enough to tell me that.
Now let it work its magic in the rest of the world.
I’m Daniel Hannan for Prager University.
Apr 18, 2024 13:40:18 #
(Main)
dtucker300 wrote:
PragerU's Economics 101 br br https://www.prageru... (show quote)
https://www.prageru.com/video/the-market-will-set-you-free
Day 3: The Market Will Set You Free
Welcome to Day 3 of PragerU’s Economics 101!
It’s fashionable today in the media, academia, and l*****t circles to bash the concept of capitalism.
Socialists and many progressives claim that capitalism creates poverty. But what does the data show?
Former Hardee’s & Carl’s Jr. CEO Andy Puzder tackles this question, while explaining 2,000 years of economic history, in just 5 minutes.
Take a close look at this…Jonathan Haidt, the noted New York University psychologist, calls it "the most important graph in the world."
Why does he say that?
Because he knows this graph reveals a simple, inescapable fact: there is no substitute for free market capitalism as a promoter of human prosperity.
Let it be noted that Haidt is no one’s idea of a conservative. But when hard evidence stares him in the face, he’s not going to look away.
The graph is based on the research conducted by the late British economist, Angus Maddison. The numbers along the X-axis are years—two thousand of them. The numbers on the Y-axis are dollars—all of them, divided by the number of people on the planet. It’s what’s called GDP per capita, which is the world’s economic output divided by its population. GDP is considered the best measurement of a country's standard of living. And, in this case, the world’s standard of living.
Often when I show this graph to students, I get this comment: “That’s not capitalism; it’s just the impact of the Industrial Revolution.”
So I show them another chart by the Maddison Project. This one breaks the GDP hockey stick into regions. As you can see, there are a number of hockey sticks. But note that they don’t rise at the same time. The United States surged first.
Why?
Well, in a very fortuitous coincidence, the year 1776 witnessed both the signing of our Declaration of Independence and the publication of a book called The Wealth of Nations by the Scottish economist and philosopher, Adam Smith. In his book, Smith explained how to create a modern free market capitalist economy and the benefits of doing so.
America’s wise founders took Smith’s principles to heart, and within a mere 100 years—the blink of an eye historically—capitalism turned the United States from thirteen backwoods colonies into the world’s largest economy. And it has held that position ever since.
Western Europe shot up as well, but later. It rose steadily during the Industrial Revolution and then experienced a sharp rise after World War II when, between the end of the war and the mid-1960s, it fully embraced the free market.
Japan, too, shot up after World War II—surpassing Western Europe for the first time after the US helped the Japanese t***sition to a democracy and a free market capitalist economy.
Eastern Europe took off after it was released from the Soviet Union and socialism in 1991.
China did likewise after the Chinese moved away from strict socialism and implemented some limited free market policies. One can only imagine where China would be now if its leaders had fully unleashed the forces of the free market.
Yes—during this period of economic expansion, the wealthy got wealthier. That always happens when new wealth is created. But the middle class and the poor also greatly benefited.
Here’s another telling chart. This one is from the World Bank. In 1820, 94% of people lived in extreme poverty. Thanks to capitalism, by 2015 that number had declined to 9.6%—single digits for the first time in human history. Now, it’s still too many, but if we are going to reduce the number even more, we need to understand what caused the decline: free market capitalism.
If we combine the Angus Maddison hockey stick chart and the World Bank data on extreme poverty, what we get is something quite amazing: unprecedented global prosperity and an unprecedented decline in poverty across the globe over the past 200 years. That’s capitalism in a nutshell.
One more chart: Johan Norberg, a Swedish economic historian, shows us how well ordinary people do when they work in a free market economy.
Since 1990, hunger, poverty, illiteracy and child mortality have all declined significantly with the decline of socialism. This all happened while we added two billion more people to the world. Far more people; far less poverty. Better health outcomes; fewer babies dying. That’s what economic freedom—capitalism—can do.
President John Kennedy, a Democrat, said it best while making his case for significant tax cuts in 1963. He said, “A rising tide lifts all boats.” Kennedy didn’t believe that the poor only get richer when the rich get poorer. He believed everyone could get richer with economic growth. History has shown that he was right.
This whole capitalism vs. socialism debate is backwards:
It’s not those who advocate for free market capitalism who need to justify their actions. Rather, it’s those advocating for socialism—or any form of it—who have a lot of explaining to do.
I’m Andy Puzder for Prager University.
Apr 18, 2024 13:38:03 #
(Main)
dtucker300 wrote:
PragerU's Economics 101 br br https://www.prageru... (show quote)
https://www.prageru.com/video/why-the-gilded-age-was-golden
Episode 2
Why the Gilded Age Was Golden
Amity Shlaes
5-Minute Videos
Jan 08, 2024
The years 1880 to 1900—coined the Gilded Age—was a period of tremendous growth for American industry and technology. Many also criticize it as a time of greed, corruption, and exploitation of the lower and middle classes by the wealthy. Are we living in a second Gilded Age? Renowned historian Amity Shlaes answers this important question.
We are living in a second Gilded Age.
That’s the argument of many commentators, especially those who would like to increase taxes on the rich.
Or marshal squadrons of lawyers to mount an antitrust battle against monopolists like Google or Amazon.
The reason the commentators cite the Gilded Age is that that period, 1880 to 1900, had its own Elon Musk, Sergey Brin, and Jeff Bezos. These were the titans who built up big steel or the railroads.
Our textbooks tell us that those men were robber barons who captured all the wealth.
The robber barons locked in their monopolies, and barred the door to advancement for everybody else. The poor stayed poor, with no opportunity for their children. As economist Henry George wrote at the time, the tendency was for “[...]the rich to become very much richer, the poor to become more helpless and hopeless, and the middle class to be swept away.” The HAVES had everything over the HAVE NOTS. Only antitrust assaults on big companies or new taxes, could make America fairer.
Or so say those textbooks.
But the reality was different. In fact the Gilded Age was a good time for many Americans. Even poor Americans.
The claim that the rich were richer was true: Jay Gould made a fortune in railroads, John D. Rockefeller built the stunningly successful Standard Oil, and Andrew Carnegie’s steel company gave him a net worth as big as a whole country. These men did build giant mansions. And sailed around in yachts.
That the poor were poor is also accurate. But that poverty was not permanent for most. The years 1880 to 1900 were bumpy ones. But many poor Americans saw life improve. Food prices for example dropped sharply.
Meanwhile, wages rose––and dramatically. Real wages for workers in factories climbed by 45%.
In these hopeful years, illiteracy dropped by more than a third. Fewer babies died. Life expectancy rose by 21%. And the quality of life improved. In the olden days, especially before the Civil War, it was hard to get away from your home town. Now the expanding network of rails meant anyone tired of the plow could ride a train to the city. Americans enjoyed a new freedom to live where they wanted––riding on rails supplied by one robber baron in a train built by another.
Most important of all: the door of opportunity was open. The single most important tool for advancement is education. And education exploded. High schools were the engines of education. In the four decades after 1870, the number of high schools in America climbed to 10,000 from 500. Immigrants bet that if they did not escape the sweatshop, their children would. And that was a bet they won.
And what about those permanent monopolies? It turned out they were not so permanent. And that wasn’t because of antitrust action. It was because of competition. The best example was the almighty railroads. Even as Congress passed laws to try to curb big profits, the railroads’ power to dominate was already doomed. On the horizon stood the new trucking industry, ready to roll in.
Of course politicians ignored these realities. It was more fun to go after the rich with antitrust suits. President Theodore Roosevelt claimed that bringing down trusts would give the worker a “Square Deal”. Some say TR’s trustbusting caused a financial panic, the Panic of 1907. As it happened that Panic hurt the very workers Roosevelt aimed to protect, driving up joblessness to eight percent from 3 percent. Hardly a “Square Deal”.
Congress crafted a new institution to punish the rich: the income tax. This tax likewise failed to get the result its advocates advertised. Lawmakers insisted on high rates. They made the same arguments we hear today: higher rates reduce ine******y and squeeze money out of the top 1%. In response however, companies simply curtailed business. At least one in ten men was unemployed. In the 1920s, Congress responded by lowering taxes for top earners. Companies grew, and workers got what mattered more to them: jobs. And along the way came new innovations, such as electricity, even better than kerosene.
Given this record, it’s surprising that we vilify the Gilded Age. One problem is that most books portray this period as a kind of anti-wealth cartoon. Another problem is our politicians. The story of HAVE and HAVE NOTS is a story that evokes envy. And politicians enjoy playing on our envy.
That doesn’t mean we have to be played. The years 1880 to 1900 may have been gilded for some. But for many, they were golden.
I’m Amity Shlaes, author of Coolidge, for Prager University.
Apr 18, 2024 13:05:28 #
In training . . . to be a man!
Apr 18, 2024 01:16:07 #
(Main)
We hang petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
Aesop, Greek s***e & fable author
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
Plato, ancient Greek Philosopher
Politicians are the same all over: they promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
Nikita Khrushchev, Russian Soviet politician
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.
Quoted in 'Clarence Darrow for the Defense' by Irving Stone. Haven't we taken the idea that "anyone can be president" a bit too far?
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
John Quinton, American actor/writer
Politics is the gentle art of getting v**es from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
Oscar Ameringer, "the Mark Twain of American Socialism."
I offered my opponents a deal: "If they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the t***h about them".
Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952.
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
Texas Guinan, 19th century American businessman
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
Charles de Gaulle, French general & president
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
Doug Larson, English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924
Olympic Games
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution.
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two are lawyers and three or more are the government.
John Adams (1735 - 1826)
Suppose you were an i***t. And suppose you were a member of Government. But then I repeat myself.
Mark Twain (1835- 1910)
I don't make jokes. I just watch the Government and report the facts!
Will Rogers (1879- 1935)
I contend that for a nation to try and tax itself into prosperity, is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always depend on the support of Paul!
Will Rogers (1879- 1935)
The problem we face today is that the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who v**e for a living.
George Bernard Shaw (1856- 1950)
I don't like political jokes, but a lot of them get elected.
Aesop, Greek s***e & fable author
Those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber.
Plato, ancient Greek Philosopher
Politicians are the same all over: they promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.
Nikita Khrushchev, Russian Soviet politician
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become President; I'm beginning to believe it.
Quoted in 'Clarence Darrow for the Defense' by Irving Stone. Haven't we taken the idea that "anyone can be president" a bit too far?
Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.
John Quinton, American actor/writer
Politics is the gentle art of getting v**es from the poor and campaign funds from the rich, by promising to protect each from the other.
Oscar Ameringer, "the Mark Twain of American Socialism."
I offered my opponents a deal: "If they stop telling lies about me, I will stop telling the t***h about them".
Adlai Stevenson, campaign speech, 1952.
A politician is a fellow who will lay down your life for his country.
Texas Guinan, 19th century American businessman
I have come to the conclusion that politics is too serious a matter to be left to the politicians.
Charles de Gaulle, French general & president
Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.
Doug Larson, English middle-distance runner who won gold medals at the 1924
Olympic Games
What happens if a politician drowns in a river? That is pollution.
What happens if all of them drown? That is solution.
I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two are lawyers and three or more are the government.
John Adams (1735 - 1826)
Suppose you were an i***t. And suppose you were a member of Government. But then I repeat myself.
Mark Twain (1835- 1910)
I don't make jokes. I just watch the Government and report the facts!
Will Rogers (1879- 1935)
I contend that for a nation to try and tax itself into prosperity, is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.
Winston Churchill (1874 - 1965)
A government which robs Peter to pay Paul, can always depend on the support of Paul!
Will Rogers (1879- 1935)
The problem we face today is that the people who work for a living are outnumbered by those who v**e for a living.
George Bernard Shaw (1856- 1950)
I don't like political jokes, but a lot of them get elected.
Apr 18, 2024 00:50:45 #
Apr 18, 2024 00:48:41 #
