Two More Links on Bundy Standoff
==> William Grigg has a long post tracing the history of the federal government and recalcitrant occupants. He likens the current standoff to Wounded Knee. (HT2 Frank C.)
==> Ben Swann is reporting that there may be a deal between the BLM and Bundy.
For Those Wishing to Show Support for Cliven Bundy
A correspondent lets me know that he spent 90 minutes yesterday making phone calls, expressing his support for Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and encouraging the BLM to stand down. For those interested, the BLM’s number is (775) 861-6400, the Nevada governor’s office is (775) 684-5670, the Sheriff’s Office is (702) 671-5822, and the office of Senator Dean Heller is (775) 686-7720. (Note that the governor and Sen. Heller have both publicly condemned the BLM’s tactics.)
(Note: If anybody has trouble with these numbers let me know.)
Pretend It’s April Fool’s Day When Parsing Reports on Nevada
On Facebook on April 1, I said something like, “Christmas is the one day of the year when we use our hearts. April Fool’s is the one day we use our reason.” I don’t think people got it; a lot thought I meant, “Sit around and brainstorm on a really good prank.” No, what I meant was, if you see a report of something on any day of the year, exercise some skepticism before filing it away as a “fact.”
Anyway, I’m trying to follow my own advice with the Nevada Bundy Ranch standoff. For example, a lot of people in my social networking circles are relaying matter-of-factly that the BLM has shut off local cell tower service and that a commissioner said people coming in to help should make “funeral plans.”
Well, on the cell phone claim, this story has an UPDATE that says:
[Update #3] We are hearing that cell service is not down and a member of the Bundy family has been contacted to verify that cell service is up and working. No explanation given as to why it was not working for some and seems to work fine for others, other than possibly hot spot issues. Will update if further information becomes available.
And as far as the commissioner saying incoming supporters need to prepare for a funeral, the source of that is a Facebook post by Utah commissioner Darin Bushman who wrote:
I was just told by commissioner Collins of Clark County NV that all of us folks from Utah are a bunch of “inbred bastards” and if we are coming to Clark [County] NV to support Cliven Bundy we all “better have funeral plans”. We should “turn our asses around on mind our own f-ing business”. Now there’s some classy leadership for you.
Now maybe the guy really did say that; here’s media coverage of the incident, and the writer doesn’t quote Collins as denying that he uttered those words in his private conversation.
Anyway, I just wish everybody would exercise a tad of due diligence before hitting Share or especially making a “meme” poster with “facts” that might not even be true. It takes literally a minute to Google something and see how plausible it is, or what the broader context is.
ThinkProgress Weighs in on Nevada Standoff
Over the past few days, whenever I jump in the car I check NPR to see if they even give a passing reference to the fact that there could very well be shooting in Nevada at any moment. Nope. And it’s not like the rancher standoff is being displaced by coverage of Ukraine; there are all sorts of “human interest” stories about a novelist realizing her potential as a woman in India etc.
In that context, I was intrigued to see that ThinkProgress has weighed in on the matter. As you can imagine, my Facebook Friends are somewhat skeptical of the federal government’s position on this issue. So it was interesting (from a sociological perspective) to see the 180-degree-opposite perspective from Ian Millhiser, in a post they titled, “Armed Right-Wing Militia Members Descend On Nevada To Help Rancher Defy Court Order.” My favorite part is the caption under the opening photo: “A protester kicks a police dog during an altercation between law enforcement and supporters of a Nevada rancher.”
If shooting does start, my Facebook Friends will obviously call it murder by the BLM. ThinkProgress will exclaim with horror that Tea Party racists have used their chests to ruin perfectly good bullets.
Potpourri
[UPDATE below.]
==> If you’re in the Jersey area, Murray Sabrin is hosting a symposium on the income tax on April 17. Details here.
==> Gene Callahan on the meaning of faith.
==> Rob Bradley (founder of the Institute of Energy Research) has another article at EconLib on Enron.
==> Wendy McElroy thinks it trivializes the term to say the US has a “rape culture.”
==> The CIA openly admits it is funding research into geo-engineering. Some of you need to email them and say, “No you’re not. That’s an absurd conspiracy theory.”
==> Here’s a sentence I never expected to type: Adam Kokesh and Josie the Outlaw talk about the benefits of a compassionate approach to bringing the liberty message to police officers.
==> I’m gonna throw you guys a curveball: I really liked two recent posts by Daniel Kuehn. In this one he argues that Bryan Caplan is walking down a dangerous path when he (Bryan) laments that the government didn’t follow Simon Kuznets’ recommendation to take military expenditures out of GNP calculations. In this one, Daniel points out that a female pay gap isn’t a myth; rather, one might deconstruct the reasons for it. If that seems like a goofy distinction to you, look at his reductio ad absurdum: “The black unemployment rate is a myth because if you control for unequal education, terrible treatment by the justice system, and differences in a family structure a whole lot of it seems to go away! Also must not be caused by discrimination.”
UPDATE: Daniel Kuehn has a new post discussing Steve Horwitz’s piece on the male/female pay gap. (Also Daniel says he can’t leave comments here for some reason; he’s not “staying above the fray,” even though that might be wise.)
Tom Woods and I Talk Private Law
We didn’t cover everything in this episode, but enough. If you want some quick reads, I recommend (in this order) the following things that I have written:
==> “The Possibility of Private Law”
Small Riot Yesterday, Militia Arrive at Bundy Ranch Standoff
Here is the latest on the developing situation…
If you’re pressed for time, watch starting around 6:00. You can hear the angry crowd asking the K-9 units, “What are you doing with the backhoes?”
In the beginning of the video, they report allegations that this is “really all about” mineral rights. I have no idea if that’s true, I’m just posting this video so you can see what has been happening. This could get ugly.
Paul Craig Roberts Doesn’t Expect a Happy New Year
I like to keep abreast of those writers in the arena of political economy who would be dismissed as doomsayers, because I usually agree with their analysis of broad trends–I just think they too often underestimate how long it will take for other investors / world players to see the same patterns they do. (Yes my price inflation wager with David R. Henderson has made me more humble.) But anyway, check out Paul Craig Roberts’ recent piece (HT2 Frank C.):
2014 is shaping up as a year of reckoning for the United States.
Two pressures are building on the US dollar. One pressure comes from the Federal Reserve’s declining ability to rig the price of gold as Western gold supplies shrivel and market knowledge of the Fed’s illegal price rigging spreads. The evidence of massive amounts of naked shorts being dumped into the paper gold futures market at times of day when trading is thin is unequivocal. It has become obvious that the price of gold is being rigged in the futures market in order to protect the dollar’s value from QE.
The other pressure arises from the Obama regime’s foolish threats of sanctions on Russia. Other countries are no longer willing to tolerate Washington’s abuse of the world dollar standard. Washington uses the dollar-based international payments system to inflict damage on the economies of countries that resist Washington’s political hegemony.
Russia and China have had enough. As I have reported and as Peter Koenig reports here…Russia and China are disconnecting their international trade from the dollar. Henceforth, Russia will conduct its trade, including the sale of oil and natural gas to Europe, in rubles and in the currencies of its BRICS partners.
This means a big drop in the demand for US dollars and a corresponding drop in the dollar’s exchange value.
…
All evidence points to US economic failure in 2014…
What is also interesting is that PCR goes matter-of-factly into “9/11 Truth”:
This audacious recklessness comes on top of Washington’s overthrow of the Ukrainian government, the NSA spying scandal, Seymour Hersh’s investigative report that the Sarin gas attack in Syria was a false flag event arranged by NATO member Turkey in order to justify a US military attack on Syria, Washington’s forcing down Bolivian President Evo Morales’ presidential plane to be searched, Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction,” the misuse of the Libyan no-fly resolution for military attack, and on and on. Essentially, Washington has so badly damaged other countries’ confidence in the judgment and integrity of the US government that the world has lost its belief in US leadership. Washington is reduced to threats and bribes and increasingly presents as a bully.
The self-inflicted hammer blows to Washington’s credibility have taken a toll. The most serious blow of all is the dawning realization everywhere that Washington’s crackpot conspiracy theory of 9/11 is false. Large numbers of independent experts as well as more than one hundred first responders have contradicted every aspect of Washington’s absurd conspiracy theory. No aware person believes that a few Saudi Arabians, who could not fly airplanes, operating without help from any intelligence agency, outwitted the entire National Security State, not only all 16 US intelligence agencies but also all intelligence agencies of NATO and Israel as well.
Nothing worked on 9/11. Airport security failed four times in one hour, more failures in one hour than have occurred during the other 116,232 hours of the 21st century combined. For the first time in history the US Air Force could not get interceptor fighters off the ground and into the sky. For the first time in history Air Traffic Control lost airliners for up to one hour and did not report it. For the first time in history low temperature, short-lived, fires on a few floors caused massive steel structures to weaken and collapse. For the first time in history 3 skyscrapers fell at essentially free fall acceleration without the benefit of controlled demolition removing resistance from below.
Two-thirds of Americans fell for this crackpot story…
But no one else believed it, least of all the Italians. Italians had been informed some years previously about government false flag events when their President revealed the truth about secret Operation Gladio. Operation Gladio was an operation run by the CIA and Italian intelligence during the second half of the 20th century to set off bombs that would kill European women and children in order to blame communists and, thereby, erode support for European communist parties.
Italians were among the first to make video presentations challenging Washington’s crackpot story of 9/11. The ultimate of this challenge is the 1 hour and 45 minute film, “Zero.” You can watch it here…
I have watched this topic with keen interest. Over the years, it has become more acceptable for people to challenge the official story. (I don’t know whether PCR was openly challenging it from the beginning; I don’t have him in mind when I make these remarks.) Can the old-timers tell us, is that what happened with the Kennedy assassination? Obviously there were skeptics right away, but at this point only 30% of Americans believe in the lone gunman theory. In 50 years, will only 30% of Americans (or Ameros?) believe in the 19-hijackers theory?
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