For some reason, Budweiser didn't pick these two for the commercial:
War is ugly and evil, especially when conducted by an empire advancing evil special interests.
Sunday, February 2, 2014
Some People Anheuser-Busch Didn't Bring to the Parade
During the Super Bowl, you will see the below Budweiser ad of an Anheuser-Busch staged parade for a government trained killer, with attractive wife and all.
For some reason, Budweiser didn't pick these two for the commercial:
For some reason, Budweiser didn't pick these two for the commercial:
Saturday, February 1, 2014
OUTRAGE: If Only Walter Block Was Governor of New Jersey
The New York Times has clearly mischaracterized the views of Walter Block on slavery. Here's a letter I emailed to the NYT public editor last Thursday :
There, as of yet, has been no response. Here is the bottom line response Walter Block received from NYT after he attempted to get a correction:
As Dr. Block responded to NYT, "Wow"
To the Public Editor,
Article Headline:Rand Paul’s Mixed InheritanceDate Published:
1/25/14Web or Print:
BothYour Concern (please limit to 300 words):It has come to my attention that Prof. Block has been unjustly characterized as pro slavery in an NYT article.
Yet , your paper refuses to correct.See this and this from the article:“One economist, while faulting slavery because it was involuntary, suggested in an interview that the daily life of the enslaved was “not so bad — you pick cotton and sing songs.”But later in the article:“Walter Block, an economics professor at Loyola University in New Orleans who described slavery as ‘not so bad’[...] ”
He did not describe slavery as “not so bad.” His point was that picking cotton and singing songs may not be bad, but that the coercion that is slavery is bad. Which appears to be the point the writers seemed to get close to understanding in their first comment on Block.
But, clearly, the second description contradicts the first. It is outrageous for NYT to refuse to correct.
Prof Block has a full rebuttal here, including an exchange with NYT editors.
http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/01/walter-e-block/ scurrilous-libelous-venomous/ ---Your Name:
Robert WenzelLocation:
San FranciscoYour E-mail:
Robert WenzelEditor & Publisher
There, as of yet, has been no response. Here is the bottom line response Walter Block received from NYT after he attempted to get a correction:
To Walter Block
On Tue, Jan 28, 2014 at 2:39 PM, Walter Block <walterblock@cba.loyno.edu> wrote:
From: NYTimes, Senioreditor [mailto:senioreditor@nytimes.com] Sent: Tuesday, January 28, 2014 6:42 PMTo: Walter BlockSubject: Re: letter to the editor
Dr. Block,Thank you for your reply, but we are comfortable with our characterization of your views.
Regards,Now consider how NYT treated an article about New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. Politico reports:
The Times’ original story said that Wildstein claimed “he had the evidence to prove it,” while later versions stuck to his lawyer’s vaguer “evidence exists” formulation.
In a statement Saturday night, the Times said: “We regularly update web stories for clarity as we did in this case.”To my ear, there isn't a hell a lot of difference between “he had the evidence to prove it" and “evidence exists," yet NYT editors say the change was made because they " regularly update web stories for clarity as we did in this case." Yet, when Professor Block is clearly mischaracterized as being in favor of slavery, and after this is brought to the attention of the editors, they see no reason to add clarity.
As Dr. Block responded to NYT, "Wow"
The Fat Man Gets Desperate: Charges 52 Year Old Accuser With Bad Behavior in High School!
Governor Chris Christie has issued an email statement responding to the charges made by David Wildstein that the governor knew about the engineered traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge.
Wildstein, through is lawyer, claims that contrary to the claim by Christie that he only became aware of the traffic jams much later, when reading about it in a paper, that Christie was aware of the traffic jams as they occurred.
In an email statement, Christie has responded:
Wildstein, through is lawyer, claims that contrary to the claim by Christie that he only became aware of the traffic jams much later, when reading about it in a paper, that Christie was aware of the traffic jams as they occurred.
In an email statement, Christie has responded:
Bottom line — David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein.Then the fat man reaches into ancient history and tells us in his email that the ~52 year old Wildstein:
was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior.
Chris Christie Booed in Times Square at Super Bowl Event
The traffic-blocking fat man was booed today in NYC. Video here.
UPDATE
The New York Daily News reports:
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UPDATE
The New York Daily News reports:
It was a tough thing for a Jersey guy to hear: Boos rained down Saturday on Gov. Chris Christie like he was wearing a Tony Romo jersey.
The once-immensely popular Christie, his glow lost to scandal, sat stone-faced as he was razzed in Times Square for a typically upbeat Super Bowl event.
“You made it across the bridge?” howled one heckler as the problem-plagued Christie — in a navy Windbreaker and black scarf — sat impassively on the stage at Broadway and W. 43rd St.
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NeoCon Mag Name Checks Mises and Rothbard
The American Spectator writes:
(ht Jay Stephenson)
In the wake of Governor Andrew Cuomo's statement that “extreme conservatives” have no place in New York State because “that’s not what New York is about,” Mayor Bill De Blasio quickly agreed.Well, maybe there will be a time, when it makes sense for all of us to leave New York (or quite possibly, the US), but I'm not going to leave the US to end up in the same place as warmongers Goldberg, Savage, Krauthammer and Kristol. I am headed in the completely opposite direction.
But Cuomo and de Blasio are not only proving their own prejudice, but also their ignorance of history. New York State and New York City have been home to some of the most extreme, misfit, rebellious, groundbreaking, status quo-shaking right-wingers in American history.
Libertarianism owes as much to New York City as it does to the rugged individualism that came out of the West. Ayn Rand, the mother of objectivism, moved to New York City in 1926. She wrote both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged in New York. She lived here and died here.
Another notable New York libertarian is the father of Austrian economics Ludwig Von Mises. It was in New York that he wrote his landmark work Human Action. Murray Rothbard and Milton Friedman, two other economists whose opinions and theories totally reject the tax-and-borrow policies of Cuomo and de Blasio, are products of New York[...]
Outside politics, many conservatives who influenced our culture came from New York. Johnny Ramone was the father of American punk rock music, creating the Ramones from his hometown in Queens, New York, and going on to influence an entire genre of music. Ramone was also a staunch conservative, citing Ronald Reagan as “the greatest president of my lifetime.”
Other pop-culture icons who are conservative and native New Yorkers include daytime TV queen Susan Lucci, comedian Adam Sandler, and actor Sylvester Stallone.
Conservative opinion writers and pundits like Jonah Goldberg, Michael Savage, Peggy Noonan, Samuel Huntington, Sean Hannity, Charles Krauthammer, Bill Kristol, and Bill Kauffman all trace their origins to the Empire State.
Nonetheless, if the governor and mayor do not want us, maybe conservatives and libertarians who are considered too extreme should leave.
(ht Jay Stephenson)
Sean Parker, Barry Diller at the World Economic Forum
By Taki Theodoracopulos
GSTAAD—If a catastrophic avalanche were to crush the Davos convention hall where the fat cats of this world were meeting recently, I’m afraid there would be a lot of discreet raising of glasses by many so-called populists, who are basically envious “haves” that have plenty but don’t particularly like people who have more than they do.
This Ed Miliband chappie is a populist, as are Bill and Hillary Clinton, not to mention a lot of white, brown, and black trash one sees in glitzy nightclubs nowadays. I’m no fan of the types that frequent Davos—people such as Sean Parker, cofounder of Napster and a partner of the ghastly Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook—but I don’t wish them to perish in an avalanche while they’re busy telling us how to improve the state of the world; far from it, in fact. Apart from being one of the seven deadly sins, envy is what splits nations, races, and people apart, and envy being an ancient Greek trait, believe me, I know all about it. Newspapers, especially lefty rags and tabloids, thrive on envy, making the reader feel like a “have not” and then some.
Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum’s founder, is a serious man who means well and tries to keep the bling and glitz out of his forum, but with people such as Sean Parker throwing nonstop parties in order to self-promote, his is a Sisyphean task. It now costs 70,000 greenbacks just to be invited to attend meetings in Davos, and you’d be surprised how many people are willing to pay this amount just to be able to say they were there. Basically the people who do this try to network with bigger fish, and there are even some who go there just to attend gatherings not under the auspices of WEF. I remember the American tycoon Barry Diller stopping over in Gstaad on his way there some years ago and sort of boasting what his next destination was. When I asked him how much he had paid for the invite, he didn’t look best pleased; neither did his yes men.
Read the rest here.
GSTAAD—If a catastrophic avalanche were to crush the Davos convention hall where the fat cats of this world were meeting recently, I’m afraid there would be a lot of discreet raising of glasses by many so-called populists, who are basically envious “haves” that have plenty but don’t particularly like people who have more than they do.
This Ed Miliband chappie is a populist, as are Bill and Hillary Clinton, not to mention a lot of white, brown, and black trash one sees in glitzy nightclubs nowadays. I’m no fan of the types that frequent Davos—people such as Sean Parker, cofounder of Napster and a partner of the ghastly Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook—but I don’t wish them to perish in an avalanche while they’re busy telling us how to improve the state of the world; far from it, in fact. Apart from being one of the seven deadly sins, envy is what splits nations, races, and people apart, and envy being an ancient Greek trait, believe me, I know all about it. Newspapers, especially lefty rags and tabloids, thrive on envy, making the reader feel like a “have not” and then some.
Klaus Schwab, the World Economic Forum’s founder, is a serious man who means well and tries to keep the bling and glitz out of his forum, but with people such as Sean Parker throwing nonstop parties in order to self-promote, his is a Sisyphean task. It now costs 70,000 greenbacks just to be invited to attend meetings in Davos, and you’d be surprised how many people are willing to pay this amount just to be able to say they were there. Basically the people who do this try to network with bigger fish, and there are even some who go there just to attend gatherings not under the auspices of WEF. I remember the American tycoon Barry Diller stopping over in Gstaad on his way there some years ago and sort of boasting what his next destination was. When I asked him how much he had paid for the invite, he didn’t look best pleased; neither did his yes men.
Read the rest here.
Rental Housing Grows More Scarce, Driving Rents Up
WSJ reports:
Demand for rental housing continues to climb more than four years after the recession, pushing up rents and cutting into Americans’ disposable income.The rental vacancy rate, or the share of units that are empty and available for rent, fell 0.5 percentage point in 2013 to 8.2% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier, the Commerce Department said Friday.
After peaking at just above 11% in 2009, rental vacancy has fallen sharply in the wake of the housing collapse and recession. That reflects families flocking to rentals after losing their homes to foreclosure, being blocked from obtaining a mortgage due to tighter lending standards or simply concluding that buying is too risky.
The higher demand and tighter supply of units are enabling landlords to raise prices. The median asking rent for vacant units in October through December was $746, up 3% from $724 a year earlier.
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Rent of primary residence:
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Can Your iPhone Really Be Used to Create a TV News Broadcast Quality Story?
By Paul Huebl
With the shrinking TV audience brought on by competitive cable TV channels and unlimited Internet sources technology determines everything.
TV news once provided terrific jobs for photographers, producers and reporters. Pink slips have been raining in newsrooms all over the world. Newspapers were limited to putting words and pictures on pulp newsprint and even that was difficult and expensive.
The sheer competition has dramatically reduced the revenue that feeds news providers and their workers. Now they all are scrambling to stay in business, keep roofs over their heads and food on their tables.
Newspaper and television executives are slowly learning that putting their content on the Internet is the only way to survive. Suddenly anyone who can write, shot still pictures and much better yet video can compete with the incredible shrinking big boys of television.
With these changes newspapers have actually bagged some Emmy Awards for their video stories! So-called newspaper reporting has changed forever. Today we all carry a sophisticated HD TV camera in our pockets that for most people goes unused. Anyone can be trained to create a very watchable TV news story with the iPhone complete with voice-overs.
The issue after training is equipment and its cost. Editing can be done on any computer or iPad however the iPhone can do that too in a pinch. Lack of money is really no bar to telling a story via video any more.
The iPhone does have its limitations with lenses and microphones but it seems everyday there are new hardware and software fixes being offered.
Michael Rosenblum of the New York Video School is the iPhone electronic news gathering Guru. Rosenblum, a former TV news director instructs reporters in the US and numerous other countries how to maximize the iPhone for story telling. He’s helping news organizations to survive and roll with the technology changes.
Rosenblum also teaches students the proper use of the less expensive prosumer cameras, lights, microphones and editing techniques. I prefer using the prosumer gear and I’ve been experimenting with those incredible new GoPro cameras too.
A real and undeniable advantage of the iPhone is that it is easily transported and very stealthy. Security people that never think twice about iPhones constantly kick news photographers off property.
If you are skeptical that an iPhone can do a TV news story look at the video below. This was shot completely on an iPhone. The audio is not perfect in a couple of places but no words are lost. The finished product is truly amazing.
Watch: Dublin Dockers by Philip Bromwell, RTE News (Pretty amazing, only 1 minute and 30 seconds-RW)
With the shrinking TV audience brought on by competitive cable TV channels and unlimited Internet sources technology determines everything.
TV news once provided terrific jobs for photographers, producers and reporters. Pink slips have been raining in newsrooms all over the world. Newspapers were limited to putting words and pictures on pulp newsprint and even that was difficult and expensive.
The sheer competition has dramatically reduced the revenue that feeds news providers and their workers. Now they all are scrambling to stay in business, keep roofs over their heads and food on their tables.
Newspaper and television executives are slowly learning that putting their content on the Internet is the only way to survive. Suddenly anyone who can write, shot still pictures and much better yet video can compete with the incredible shrinking big boys of television.
With these changes newspapers have actually bagged some Emmy Awards for their video stories! So-called newspaper reporting has changed forever. Today we all carry a sophisticated HD TV camera in our pockets that for most people goes unused. Anyone can be trained to create a very watchable TV news story with the iPhone complete with voice-overs.
The issue after training is equipment and its cost. Editing can be done on any computer or iPad however the iPhone can do that too in a pinch. Lack of money is really no bar to telling a story via video any more.
The iPhone does have its limitations with lenses and microphones but it seems everyday there are new hardware and software fixes being offered.
Michael Rosenblum of the New York Video School is the iPhone electronic news gathering Guru. Rosenblum, a former TV news director instructs reporters in the US and numerous other countries how to maximize the iPhone for story telling. He’s helping news organizations to survive and roll with the technology changes.
Rosenblum also teaches students the proper use of the less expensive prosumer cameras, lights, microphones and editing techniques. I prefer using the prosumer gear and I’ve been experimenting with those incredible new GoPro cameras too.
A real and undeniable advantage of the iPhone is that it is easily transported and very stealthy. Security people that never think twice about iPhones constantly kick news photographers off property.
If you are skeptical that an iPhone can do a TV news story look at the video below. This was shot completely on an iPhone. The audio is not perfect in a couple of places but no words are lost. The finished product is truly amazing.
Watch: Dublin Dockers by Philip Bromwell, RTE News (Pretty amazing, only 1 minute and 30 seconds-RW)
New Jersey Star-Ledger: If Christie Lied, He Should 'Resign or Be Impeached'
The fat man is not going to survive. From the Star-Ledger:
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Forget about the White House in 2016. The question now is whether Gov. Chris Christie can survive as governor.
David Wildstein, the man who ordered the George Washington Bridge lane closures, is now pointing the finger directly at Gov. Chris Christie, saying the governor knew about the lane closures in September when they occurred.
That directly contradicts Christie account at his Jan. 13 press conference when he made this statement: "I had no knowledge of this — of the planning, the execution or anything about it... I first found out about it after it was over."
If this charge proves true, then the governor must resign or be impeached. Because
that would leave him so drained of credibility that he could not possibly govern effectively. He would owe it to the people of New Jersey to stop the bleeding and quit. And if he should refuse, then the Legislature should open impeachment hearings.
A Northwestern University Professor Discusses European Central Bank Policy
Whenever a Fed economist gives two thumbs up to an outside economist, you know some very bad theory is being promoted. John Robertson, a vice president and senior economist in the Atlanta Fed’s research department, writes:
Last month, we at the Atlanta Fed had the great pleasure of hosting Sergio Rebelo [ the Tokai Bank Distinguished Professor of International Finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is a fellow of the Econometric Society, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Center for Economic Policy Research.] for a couple of days. While he was here, we asked Sergio to share his thoughts on a wide range of current economic topics. Here is a snippet of a Q&A we had with him about the state of the euro-area economy:
Last month, we at the Atlanta Fed had the great pleasure of hosting Sergio Rebelo [ the Tokai Bank Distinguished Professor of International Finance at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is a fellow of the Econometric Society, the National Bureau of Economic Research, and the Center for Economic Policy Research.] for a couple of days. While he was here, we asked Sergio to share his thoughts on a wide range of current economic topics. Here is a snippet of a Q&A we had with him about the state of the euro-area economy:
What do you see as the role for euro area monetary policy in that context [the the United States financial crisis and the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area]?
It seems clear that more expansionary monetary policy would have been helpful.
VIDEO Chess Champ Checkmates Bill Gates in 79 Seconds
Bill Gates played a game of chess against chess champ Magnus Carlsen, on a Norwegian television show. He got destroyed. He's almost as bad at chess as he is at economics.
The Remarkable Increase In Texas Crude Oil Production
The Energy Information Administration just released state crude oil production data for the month of November, and one of the highlights of that monthly report is that oil output in America’s No. 1 oil-producing state – Texas – continues its phenomenal, eye-popping rise.
In November it reached a 33-year high and was 36% of all US crude oil.
In November it reached a 33-year high and was 36% of all US crude oil.
This increase in production, as a result of new technologies, has played a key role in keeping price inflation in check. The Texas oil output over roughly the last three years has completely reversed the previous, gradual 28-year decline in the state’s conventional oil production that took place from 1981 to 2009
(ht Mark Perry)
NYC Mayor's Wife to Play Major Role in Shakedown of the City's Corporations
Capital New York reports:
First lady Chirlane McCray's official duties, which the de Blasio administration continues to avoid describing specifically, could include chairing the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City.
According to a Jan. 29 letter from the city Conflicts of Interest Board that was obtained by Capital, McCray has been granted permission to serve as the unpaid chairwoman of the fund's board of directors.
The fund was established in 1994 to raise private money through foundations, corporations and individual donors for city causes, and was a fund-raising conduit after Hurricane Sandy.
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EPJ Week In Review - Week Ending 1/31/14
By, Chris Rossini
Below you'll find everything that has been published on EPJ for the week ended Friday January 31, 2014. The hottest posts for each day are highlighted in red.
Friday 1/31/14
Below you'll find everything that has been published on EPJ for the week ended Friday January 31, 2014. The hottest posts for each day are highlighted in red.
Friday 1/31/14
- Please Say It Won't Be So, Ron
- Cass Sunstein Warns about "Paranoid Libertarians"
- 10 Minute Sundance Movie Gaining Libertarian Fans
- Who Is the Pope Talking to All Day Long?
- Yellen Congressional Testimony Set
- Crony Businessmen in NYC Support the Mayor's Plan for a Hike in Taxes
- The Changing of the Money Printers
- CNBC's John Carney Moves To The Wall Street Journal
- BREAKING: Suspicious White Powder Found at 7 Hotels Near Super Bowl
- Anheuser-Busch to Salute Government Trained Killers in Super Bowl Ad
- Scary
- Goldman Sachs Backlash in Denmark; Six Ministers Walk Out
- Former TSA Agent: Dear America, I Saw You Naked (And, Yes We Were Laughing)
- BREAKING: Christie Knew About Lane Closures on Bridge
- Full Text of Letter Alleging Christie Knew About The Lane Closures as They Were Going on
- Lifetime Ban for Bernanke?
- Bloomberg Scurries Into The Climate Change Game
- Wired: Bitcoin’s Fate Is in the Hands of Clueless Regulators
Friday, January 31, 2014
Wired: Bitcoin’s Fate Is in the Hands of Clueless Regulators
Robert McMillan writes for Wired:
McMillan also comments about tumblers and anonymity:
:
The problem is our financial regulators don’t understand bitcoin well enough to regulate it. That became increasingly obvious during the hearings, and it’s not at all surprising. The five-year-old cryptocurrency is an unprecedented experiment in the power of peer-to-peer networking, open source software, and a certain kind of financial anarchy.
The crystallizing moment came Wednesday when Richard Zabel, a seemingly well-informed deputy U.S. attorney, testified before the New York Department of Financial Services, which has been looking into regulating bitcoin businesses. At one point, the Manhattan prosecutor started talking about bitcoin-mixing services, called tumblers. Bitcoin includes a public ledger that openly displays all financial transactions on its vast computer network; tumblers provide a means of hiding your transactions from the rest of the world — something Zabel doesn’t like.
“There may be, out there, legitimate uses for those, but in the cases that I’ve seen, they serve no other purpose to be automated money laundering and identity concealers,” said Zabel, whose office has brought money laundering charges against bitcoin advocate and Bitinstant CEO Charles Shrem — charges filed the day before New York’s hearings began.
The man holding the hearings, New York State’s Superintendent of Financial Services Benjamin Lawsky, seemed intrigued. “If it turns out that technologies like tumblers are being used for no other purpose than to enhance anonymity and to thwart law enforcement, that may be something as we do our regulatory work we want to make sure the companies that we’re reviewing aren’t using those kinds of things.”
You could almost hear a collective groan from the bitcoin community. If services that merely “enhance anonymity” are banned by New York financial regulators, then it will actually scare away legitimate businesses, and maybe an entire industry.[...]Some bitcoin true believers think any government regulation is an intrusion and a mistake, but others simply hope the government doesn’t make a huge error in judgment. “A misunderstanding by policymakers today could be a major setback to U.S.-led innovation in digital currency,” said Nicholas Carey, CEO of bitcoin wallet-maker Blockchain.info.
McMillan also comments about tumblers and anonymity:
As we reported in June, there are indeed legitimate reasons why companies, or even individuals, might want to obscure the flow of money. For example, a company using bitcoin may not want its competitors tracking its sales growth via the public ledger. Make it impossible to hide this information with a tumbler and many legitimate businesses simply won’t use bitcoin.What McMillan doesn't seem to understand is that government regulators are concerned about the anonymity feature, which would make it difficult for them to track whatever transactions they want to track. Regulators don't care about other "legitimate" uses for tumblers. They know that transactions can be tracked via debit cards, credit cards and bank statements, there is no chance they are going to allow a move back,for individuals, into a world where they can conduct financial transactions with greater anonymity. As warned here at EPJ long ago, heavy regulations, if not an outright ban on tumblers is coming.
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