anon-lwil Dagwood
28 minutes ago
“The urge to save humanity is always a false front for the urge to rule it”
- H. L. Mencken
They don't want to save us; they want to dominate and control us.
Fujitsu software bugs that helped send innocent postal employees to prison in the UK were known "right from the very start of deployment," a Fujitsu executive told a public inquiry today.
"All the bugs and errors have been known at one level or not, for many, many years. Right from the very start of deployment of the system, there were bugs and errors and defects, which were well-known to all parties," said Paul Patterson, co-CEO of Fujitsu's European division.
That goes back to 1999, when the Horizon software system was installed in post offices by Fujitsu subsidiary International Computers Limited. From 1999 to 2015, Fujitsu's faulty accounting software aided in the prosecution and conviction of more than 900 sub-postmasters and postmistresses who were accused of theft or fraud when the software wrongly made it appear that money was missing from their branches.
Some innocent people went to prison, while others were forced to make payments to the UK Post Office to cover the supposed shortfalls. So far, "only 93 convictions have been overturned and thousands of people are still waiting for compensation settlements," a BBC report said. //
A Financial Times article said that the public inquiry "heard in December last year that the Post Office's lawyers had rewritten Fujitsu witness statements."
The FT article also said the Post Office, which used prosecution powers available to private corporations in the UK, obtained 700 of the 900 convictions. The other convictions came in cases brought by Scottish prosecutors. The scandal may lead to reforms of the private prosecution system that lets organizations take people to court.
Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action for America President Dr. Kevin Roberts was invited to the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual conference in Davos, Switzerland, to appear on a panel about “What to Expect from a Possible Republican Administration” on Thursday.
In an op-ed penned ahead of the conference, Roberts wrote that he accepted the invitation to deliver the global elites a message. “Davos must accept the moral virtues, practical benefits, and natural rights of nations, families, and individuals to govern themselves,” Roberts wrote, or “‘We, the People’” will “take matters into our own hands.”
Roberts certainly delivered that message. When asked about who will likely join a new Trump administration, Roberts said it will be those who wish to destroy “the grasp that political elites and unelected technocrats have over the average person.”
“The agenda that every single member of the administration needs to have is to compile a list of everything that’s ever been proposed at the World Economic Forum, and object to all of them wholesale,” he added. //
The Heritage Foundation president aptly pointed out that the WEF elites, “the media, the academy, government agencies, international organizations, corporations, and the arts,” don’t actually care about preserving “democracy.” They fear Trump because a Trump presidency poses an existential threat to their power — and Roberts did nothing to alleviate that fear. //
Roberts also condemned elites for scaring people into believing “so-called climate change” is an “existential” threat to humanity and pointed out that Davos’ “solutions” to the supposed climate crisis are killing people. “More than a billion people in the world have been lifted out of poverty in the last 35 years because of fossil fuels,” Roberts explained. Yet climate alarmists are shutting down energy production to replace it with insufficient green energy.
“China,” Roberts added, is “the No. 1 adversary not just to the United States, but to free people on planet Earth. Not only do we at Davos not say that, we give the Chinese Communist Party a platform.” //
“I think President Trump, if in fact he wins a second term, is going to be inspired by the wise words of Javier Milei, who said that he was in power not to guide sheep, but to awaken lions,” concluded the president of Heritage. “That’s what the average American and the average free person on planet Earth wants out of leaders.”
The kind of person who will come into the next conservative administration is going to be governed by one principle, and that is destroying the grasp that political elites and unelected technocrats have over the average person.
He really laid down the hammer with this remark:
The thing that I want to drive home here, the very reason that I'm here at Davos, is to explain to many people in this room and who are watching, with all due respect, nothing personal, but that you're part of the problem.
Blake @_BlakeHabyan
·
New: Klaus Schwab Opens The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting By Speaking About The Importance Of ‘Rebuilding Trust’:
“There’s a fundamental need to embody trusteeship, which means to care for the greater good.”, Schwab says.
Why would The World Economic Forum… Show more
7:23 PM · Jan 16, 2024
Interesting choice of words. Trusteeship implies you have some responsibility and or control over us when we are a free people — you don't have such a relationship over us, except in your mind. And when people use the term "greater good," one thinks Communism and/or someone is about to try to sell you something you don't want.
Elon Musk didn't think much of what Schwab had to say; he's called him out in the past.
Elon Musk @elonmusk
·
The real issue is that Klaus wants to be emperor of Earth. He certainly dresses for the part!
And the policies that seem to emerge from this gathering don’t seem to make for an exciting future.
7:47 PM · Jan 17, 2024 //
Laocoön of Troy
23 minutes ago
Ya' know...God must be laughing at us. Who knew that Western Civilization and liberal democracy may end up being rescued by Musk...rumored to be an atheist or agnostic? Or perhaps JK Rowling or Rogan or Jordan Peterson or even Dershowitz?
God works in a mysterous way...his wonders to perform...
He also explains how the Supreme Court opting for liberty and due process is a bad thing. If the courts are going to monitor what the agencies are doing, then the agencies might not do anything.
Because SCOTUS is relentlessly hostile to the administrative state, this system stacks the deck in favor of deregulation. Which—let’s be honest—means boosting Republican presidents and hobbling Democratic ones.
A decision is expected in June, and I'll be off work for a month, getting drunk on liberal tears. //
ConservativeInMinnesota
6 hours ago
The best thing that could happen is to strike down the administrative state as being unconstitutional. A fourth branch of government was never authorized by the founders.
Somehow the federal bureaucracies have more power over most Americans daily lives than the other three. They need reined in and brought under control. //
SantiagoMatamoros ConservativeInMinnesota
5 hours ago
Given that, the word Democrat does not appear once in the U.S. Constitution.
Article 4 Section 4
The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. //
ConservativeInMinnesota SantiagoMatamoros
4 hours ago edited
Agreed on a Republic. The following about the powers Congress has seems useful - Art 1 Sec 8:
To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.
Congress needs to pass all laws needed to execute the powers and all other powers vested by the Constitution. Congress can't delegate their authority, the Constitution doesn't let them. Departments don't have authority to make regulatory rules, only to enforce them. //
anon-m0b0
6 hours ago
It will go 5-4 with Roberts siding with the liberals, but the conservatives winning. The DOL rule written and released this week to kill off independent contractors is a perfect reason to kill Chevron.
Side note: Notice how everyone always already knows how the liberals will vote? No one ever seems to wonder if they will vote with thr conservatives, do they? //
DK duffer
6 hours ago edited
The Chevron defense also allowed Congress to make a law so ambiguous no one knew what to do with it. So federal agencies were ‘given’ authority to make rules that interpreted the law. When people complained about an agency’s regulations Congress shrugged and said that isn’t what we intended the agency misunderstood our intent. Nothing was done to correct bureaucratic overreach and the state grew and grew and became the tyrants we have to deal with today. Do not think the bureaucracy will go quietly into the night. //
Maria_Garcia_US (XX)
5 hours ago
Fed employee here,
Chevron needs to die a very quick death. Just today, I was trying to find the legal authorization for a multi-BILLION dollar project. The supposed "authorization" upon which DOD wrote implementation policy & guidance for? Surveys. The authority gave the Secretary of the Army the right to conduct surveys. Not study anything. Not build anything. Just surveys.
About 10 years ago, I was researching legal authorization for a multi-million dollar project only to find out that we did NOT have authorization to study or build that particular project. How they got around it? By getting Senator "Don't call me ma'am. Call me senator." to get her committee together to write a committee resolution. Not legislation authorizing anything. A Senate committee resolution. The House controls the purse strings, supposedly.
Another example is "Waters of the US" under the Commerce Clause. That was supposed to mean any coastal or river waters used for commerce: the transportation of goods & services. Rivers like the Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri. Not the Rio Grande, Pecos River, Little Muddy Creek or The Branch. And once dams were places (as opposed to locks) the bigger rivers really weren't navigable anymore. So tell me where the CEQ, EPA, even the Department of the Interior have any Constitutional leg to stand one let alone arrest, detain or fine anyone? //
Dieter Schultz Maria_Garcia_US (XX)
5 hours ago
There's been some discussion around the non-delegation doctrine and how it is really not OK for the legislature can't 'authorize another entity to exercise the power or function which it is constitutionally authorized to exercise itself'.
For my money, if Congress can't keep up on, and track of, what it wants to regulate then maybe it should consider that they shouldn't be regulating it. //
EDMUND
6 hours ago edited
Where this decision falls short is the assumption that
1: agencies base their decisions on "wisdom" rather than the raw acquisition of power and
2: that they are any more responsive to a "constituency" than a federal judge. //
Robert A Hahn
4 hours ago
We see in the way the Biden Administration deals with their new "free college for all via executive order" entitlement just how Democratic administrations will dance around the absence of Chevron.
They're regulating dishwashers under the Energy Conservation Act? Somebody sues and gets a court to say, "Nope. Nothing in the Energy Conservation Act gives you the authority to do that."
The next day they're right back at it, now regulating dishwashers under the Safety for Children Amendment to the Foghorn-Leghorn Act. The lawsuits start over again from Square One. Two years later when the courts strike that one down, the agency switches to the Germ-Free Kitchens Act of 1946. Now they claim that authorizes them to screw with dishwashers. Back to Square One again with the lawsuits.
Biden is on his third supposed reason why he's allowed to give people free college using taxpayer money. Every time a court strikes one down, his lawyers find another one. //
House Judiciary GOP @JudiciaryGOP
·
Shop at Bass Pro Shop recently?
How about Cabela’s?
Bought a bible?
If so, the federal government may be coming after YOU.
foxnews.com
'Alarming' surveillance: Feds asked banks to search private transactions for terms like ‘MAGA,’...
3:11 PM · Jan 17, 2024
MILEI: Today, I'm here to tell you that the Western world is in danger. It is in danger because those who are supposed to defend the values of the West are co-opted by a vision of the world that inevitably leads to socialism and thereby to poverty. Unfortunately, in recent decades, motivated by some well-meaning individuals willing to help others, and others motivated by the wish to belong to a privileged class, the main leaders of the Western world have abandoned the model of freedom for different versions of what we call collectivism. We're here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never the solution to the problems that inflict the citizens of the world. Rather, they are the root cause. Do believe me, no one is in a better place than us, Argentines, to testify to these two points. //
The crowd at the WEF doesn't want to hear that, though, and Milei's urgings will certainly be dismissed. Still, it's important they are made. It's important people stand up to the onslaught that is coming from Klaus Schwab and company. If they have their way, freedom and upward mobility will no longer exist. People will simply become cogs in their machines as they continue to live the good life. Want proof? The big-wigs at the WEF are currently pushing the idea of a so-called "disease X" that will kill 20x more people than COVID-19. What's their solution? More control because that's always their solution.
There is no greater existential threat to freedom than the leadership class represented at the WEF. Terrorists aren't going to fundamentally change your way of life, but powerful heads of state all singing from the same sheet of socialist, anti-freedom music can and will. Milei is a much-welcomed voice in the fight against that. //
anon-62kn
2 hours ago
Not on the public agenda at the WEF are secret, backroom meetings with the sole focus to make sure Milei is a 1-term president, and that Trump does not win - or if he wins he is immediately neutered.
Secretary Pete Buttigieg @SecretaryPete
·
Extreme weather is expected to be the top factor in supply chain disruptions next year. It reminds us how urgently we must work to set up our infrastructure for climate resiliency.
foxweather.com
Extreme weather expected to be top logistics disruptor for supply chains in 2024
3:20 PM · Jan 7, 2024 //
After the lies we were told in 2020 and 2021, I've become a skeptic/cynic whenever the government warns me about something.
In theory, the supply chain disruption in 2020 and 2021 was caused by COVID. But was it? The disruption was caused by the government's regulatory response to a crisis they created and amplified. //
In short, I see this as the leading edge of a gaslighting campaign to increase government control over our lives, and that will peak in time for Joe Biden to blame a major disruption of US supply chains that they see coming on anything but his policies. //
Wilsonreagan
4 hours ago
They are setting us up for climate lock downs. Covid was the test.
If one drop was $1, the national debt would fill an Olympic pool... 4000 feet deep...
KilRoy-db
3 days ago
Fill a tractor trailer with 18,000# of $100. bills it would take 1225 of them to carry 1 trillion
dollars.
So it would take 41,650 truck loads of hundred dollar bills for 34 trillion dollars.
MIND BLOWING THE AMOUNT WE PISS AWAY FOR SHITTY PROJECTS.......
Doubtless Democrats will argue that they can enact new laws and regulations to remedy the problem their last “solution” caused.
But the socialist left ignores that no law requires companies to invest in new drugs at all — they only do so because it makes financial sense. If it does not, then companies may invest in cloud computing technology, driverless cars, or many other types of projects instead.
Thatch @THATCH_ARISES
·
Here is some good news!
I already have to run things through my dishwaser twice because it is so "efficient" compared to the ones which only had to be run once.
Attorney General Andrew Bailey @AGAndrewBailey
BREAKING: The Fifth Circuit has sided with us in our lawsuit against Joe Biden's Department of Energy, stating "it is unclear how or why DOE thinks it has any statutory authority to regulate 'water use' in dishwashers and washing machines."
12:38 AM · Jan 9, 2024 //
Margot Cleveland @ProfMJCleveland
·
Wait! Does this mean we'll be able to buy a dishwasher that doesn't take 3.75 hours to wash and dry?
1:22 AM · Jan 9, 2024
Direct democracy not only represents a threat to freedom, but it is a political order that rejects hierarchies both natural and spiritual. //
“American democracy is cracking,” warns Washington Post Chief Correspondent Dan Balz in a recent column that presents some ideas to repair it. His suggestions include, among other things, proportional representation, diminishing the power of the Senate, and eliminating the Electoral College. What these three suggestions have in common is a desire to remove any intermediary institutions between the will of the people and government action — otherwise known as “direct” democracy. //
The framers of our Constitution felt quite strongly that direct democracy was something to avoid. In Federalist 10, for example, the Father of the Constitution James Madison warned of “the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority” on a government, or what has come to be called the “tyranny of the majority,” in which a majority of the population exerts great coercive power over minority factions. //
A generation after that founding generation, visiting French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville authored an extended survey of American politics and culture, Democracy in America. Tocqueville perceived that the American political system was created to resist the tyranny of the majority, “which bases its claim to rule upon numbers, not upon rightness or excellence.” //
Yet such a deliberative process of testing is slow and uneven. And we Americans are often eager for speedy solutions. Political theorists, journalists, and ordinary citizens throughout American history have been frustrated by the Constitution’s manifold methods of distributing power to deter the tyranny of the majority. If a majority of the nation’s populace wants something, they posit, why shouldn’t they be able to get it? After all, as the journalist H.L. Mencken wryly commented, “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Such demands especially increase at times of heightened political gridlock in which the country obviously has a particular problem or set of problems but constitutionally mandated laws and procedures thwart attempts to resolve them. When we are all vexed with our politicians for failing to act in what we believe to be the interests of the nation (and its voters), it’s easy to be sympathetic to that line of thinking.
Yet we must beware of this temptation, which reflects what conservative political theorist Russell Kirk calls a manifestation of vox populi, vox dei — the voice of the people is the voice of God. In other words, as long as they constitute a majority, whatever the people want becomes the law of the land. //
As that great French observer of American politics Alexis de Tocqueville observed: “If ever freedom is lost in America, that will be due to the … majority driving minorities to desperation…”
Let’s do everything we can to avoid that scenario.
Tax his land, tax his wage,
Tax his bed in which he lays.
Tax his tractor, tax his mule,
Teach him taxes is the rule.
Tax his cow, tax his goat,
Tax his pants, tax his coat.
Tax his ties, tax his shirts,
Tax his work, tax his dirt.
Tax his chew, tax his smoke,
Teach him taxes are no joke.
Tax his car, tax his grass,
Tax the roads he must pass.
Tax his food, tax his drink,
Tax him if he tries to think.
Tax his sodas, tax his beers,
If he cries, tax his tears.
Tax his bills, tax his gas,
Tax his notes, tax his cash.
Tax him good and let him know
That after taxes, he has no dough.
If he hollers, tax him more,
Tax him until he’s good and sore.
Tax his coffin, tax his grave,
Tax the sod in which he lays.
Put these words upon his tomb,
“Taxes drove me to my doom!”
And when he’s gone, we won’t relax,
We’ll still be after the inheritance tax.
Turner's bill would extend Section 702 for nine new years, not fix any of the warrantless search problems; plus, it will require hotels, fast food places, etc., with public WiFi to hand over user data on demand.
My view is simple. Section 702 needs to go away. In the words of Benjamin Franklin, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety." //
We have tried this experiment with warrantless searches and have seen it turn out pretty much as expected. The privacy violations will only increase as AI matures and makes more sophisticated searches possible, and more and more of our lives are conducted using smartphones and various apps. There is no reason to believe that agencies that have violated Section 702 for two decades have suddenly decided to become civil libertarians.
Speaker Johnson should show some leadership and let this bill die. But we know how this movie ends, don't we? //
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
- William Pitt the Younger, Speech in the House of Commons, Nov 18 1783
While a ton of mistakes have been made in Argentina to bring the country to where it is, the vast majority of these mistakes stem from the belief that government is the path through which to do good things. It is not. Government is a necessary evil. It cannot be a source of good. You don't expect a venomous snake to inject you with vitamins and minerals upon biting you, yet we look at the snake that is government in the same way. //
This isn't how a free people should see government.
The government is a restrictive force by nature. Its job is to get in your way, and if not yours, then somebody's. This is utilized properly when it comes to fighting necessary wars and conflicts. We want our military to get in other people's way pretty efficiently. However, this gets turned on its head when federal law enforcement agencies are created, or enforcement agencies within government departments.
For instance, I'm still waiting for someone to explain why the IRS needed billions of our tax dollars to train "enforcers." After watching the FBI be weaponized against its own citizens on behalf of a political party, I'm not entirely sure why we need that department either. //
This is going to be a long march. Like a stain, once it sets into the fabric of a nation, big government bureaucracy is hard to get out.
It's going to take the Argentinian people to maintain that view of government that they have now and realize that the less of it that there is, the more successful the people are.
The same has to happen here in America, and I have every confidence we'll get there someday, but things may have to get worse before they get better. Things have to get to a point where it becomes beyond clear where the problem is and that we need people willing to go into government to reduce it by leaps and bounds.
We need law-unmakers, not lawmakers.
Cafeblue32
21 minutes ago edited
Education, healthcare, culture, women’s rights etc out (Afuera!)
Gee, I recall a time when the federal government didn't have agencies to control any of those things here. Yet we managed to be better educated in the basics, we still came up with cures for diseases, we had a culture that was both blended and separated naturally, and after 1920, women had the same voting rights as men to vote for change.
Government is supposed to be like a wedding venue- it provides the facilities, takes care of liability, and offers electricity, water and heat/air conditioning. It doesn't plan the wedding, officiate it, decide who the wedding party will be and their gender/color/queerness makeup, or MC the reception. //
TheAmericanExperiment
2 minutes ago
"or they can turn tail and run back to the socialists the moment things get difficult."
They elected Macri in 2015 whop ran on the same platform as Milei and after one term the "turned tail" elected a socialist to replace him. Argentina is probably already a failed state. I have friends there and they have all moved across the Rio del la Plata to Montevideo. It's completely unsafe there. The half of the population that hasn't sunk into abject poverty and hunger is becoming prey for those who have.
Last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy, which challenges the authority of the administrative state. The defendant is George Jarkesy, a conservative radio host who was fined over half-a-million dollars by the SEC for allegedly defrauding investors and appealed this sentence by arguing that the SEC does not have the constitutional authority to do this. //
Ignoring the alarmism, Rosenblum’s reasoning somehow combines naivety and cynicism into an incoherent yet typically leftist argument. The cynical aspect is that he confuses the whole government with an executive agency. This means that instead of protecting the rights of its citizens, as is explicitly stated in the Declaration of Independence, the government exists to tell its citizens what to do and how to do it. If the government is prevented from doing this, then Americans will automatically degenerate into savages and resort to harming one another in every way possible.
The naive aspect is that he assumes that executive agencies are actually neutral, trustworthy, and competent. Whether it’s the SEC, IRS, or the FBI, their agents are professionals with a heart of gold. They could never be corrupted with unbridled authority or gargantuan budgets. They would never target specific Americans, conduct political witch hunts, or neglect their actual responsibilities. //
Moreover, it is highly debatable just how honest and effective the SEC has been in keeping investors safe and preventing market manipulation. Whether it’s the insider trading of politicians like Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi, the multibillion-dollar fraud of scammers like Sam Bankman-Fried, or the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, it seems questionable that the SEC focuses its efforts on the financial shenanigans of a relatively small investor like George Jarkesy. And in today’s political climate, it would be foolish to assume that Jarkesy’s conservative positions didn’t also factor into the charges. //
If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Jarkesy, it could make the market free once again and significantly weaken an unruly administrative state.
The audit found that Disney had complete dominance over the RCID. The Board of Supervisors was an extension of Disney’s corporate will. Board votes were allocated based on land ownership, which allowed Disney, as the primary landowner, to control Board elections, which ensured that the Board’s decisions always aligned with the company’s.
Even further, Disney used employee benefits as tools of influence. Members of the Board, along with RCID employees, received substantial benefits that were usually reserved for Disney’s own employees. These included annual passes, discounts on Disney products and services, and access to exclusive events. //
The audit found that Disney’s stewardship of the RCID was marked by a significant lack of development in public services and amenities. Even though its workforce continued to grow and more visitors were visiting the park, the company never invested in essential infrastructure such as workforce housing, schools, or public transportation.
"Under Disney’s control, the RCID built no workforce housing or schools and did not develop any public services directed at anyone but Disney tourists. The RCID never made Disney pay impact fees as all other developers in Orange and Osceola Counties must pay."
Disney was allowed to get away with refusing to give financial contributions that are typically expected from developers. For example, the company did not pay transportation impact fees, which are essential for funding infrastructure development and maintenance.
Sarcasm aside, the article accurately diagnoses the problems facing the housing market, and ultimately the economy, as a result of current interest rate policies. But particularly given events of the last several years, count this conservative highly skeptical that the “solution” to a problem caused in part by poor Federal Reserve policy can come via yet another policy intervention by Fed officials. //
Given that poor decision-making by the Federal Reserve helped cause the mess the housing market is currently in, what on Earth makes Alpert think that asking the Fed to meddle more will end in anything other than tears? //
The past quarter-century has seen all manner of, as Alpert put it, “creative policies” on the fiscal and monetary fronts. Those policies — ultra-low interest rates, quantitative easing, and massive fiscal stimulus — have in rapid succession brought us a housing crash, a financial crisis, years of economic stagnation, bubbles in nearly every asset class, tens of trillions of dollars in federal debt, and most recently the highest inflation in generations.