Friday Morning Ramble: 17.06.16

 

“In their speeches responding to the massacre, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each sought to demonstrate a firmer, clearer grasp of the jihadist menace — and therefore prove themselves best positioned to combat it. Each channeled one of the prevalent views in our culture. Both, however, are profoundly wrong. Both are united, ironically enough, in negating the crucial role of ideas in animating the jihadist cause.”
After Orlando, why Trump and Clinton both get the jihadists wrong – Elan Journo, VOICES FOR REASON

A puerile response by some of my fellow Muslims is to ask “why should we apologize for something that has nothing to do with us.” But this entirely misses the point.
Admit It: These Terrorists Are Muslims – Maajid Nawaz, DAILY BEAST

“She told me about an imam in the village who incited young people to go fight with IS in Syria. I asked her what she thought of him. She answered, ‘I have called the police to investigate. This is how I fight terrorism.’ … Notice the difference between saying ‘This is how I fight terrorism’ versus saying ‘Islam has nothing to do with terrorism.’ The first is an act of defiance and resistance. The second is a way of distancing yourself.”
“A Plea to My Fellow Muslims and Liberals:" Muslims Must Do More Than Distance Themselves From Terrorism – Kacem El Ghazzali, HUFFINGTON POST

“American Muslims are responsible for identifying and turning in over 90% of the lone wolves who would have committed terrorist attacks on this beautiful land of hours over the course of the past 15 years. We love this country and in order for us to show our love we need to start being looked at as the last line of defense and not the enemy.”
We’ve had Enough. The #PulseNightclub murders and American Muslims – Oz Sultan, MEDIUM

“It was the peaceful majority in Ireland however (that’s peaceful majority without the scare quotes) who finally ended the murders, the bombings and the assassinations perpetrated by the IRA—and who demonstrated how powerful a response it can be to rise up an say of such violence “not in my name!”  (Witness the effect that the sisters of Robert McCartney had in speaking out against Irish violence -- in saying "NO MORE!" theirs became the voices that brought an end to what had once seemed unending.)
    “The fact is, however, that until or unless that happens then the silence of the so-called peaceful makes them anything but. Because the fact is that peace-loving Muslims are being made irrelevant by the fanatics.”
Why the “peaceful majority” is irrelevant – NOT PC, 2013

 

“How does Trump plan to make sure immigrants don't have bad children? All the vetting
in the world can't change offspring. For that matter, how can he be sure that children of
Christians won't convert to Islam? His rhetoric reminds me of the eugenicists a century
ago. They argued that the real problem was not the current generation of inferiors but
the offspring who will then mongrelize the race in the second generation.”
~ Jeffrey Tucker, FACEBOOK

 

“When a drunk driver kills an innocent pedestrian, we don’t call it a “car-related” tragedy. We call it a drunk driving tragedy. Yet with gun-related violence, we fixate on the weapon and completely ignore all other factors (particularly when the shooter is Muslim.)...”
Anti-Gun Zealots: Please Shut Up – Michael Hurd, LIVING RESOURCES CENTER
The Great Gun-Control Distraction – David French, NRO

“GOV. JOHNSON: I’m in the camp if you restrict gun ownership that the bad guys are going to have guns. It’s a simple as that.”
Gov. Gary Johnson: Only Bad Guys Will Have Assault Weapons If You Ban Them – RADIO FOX NEWS

Two views on gun rights:
1. “We know from reason, human nature, and history that the right to defend yourself is a natural instinct that is an extension of the right to self-preservation, which is itself derived from the right to live… The Framers recognised this when they ratified the Second Amendment, which the Supreme Court recently held was written to codify—and thus prevent the government from infringing on—the pre-political right to own and use modern-day weapons for self-defense or to repel tyrants.”
In Defence of Self-Defence – Andrew Napolitano, REASON
2. ”First, you do not have an inborn inalienable right to own and carry a gun. You don’t. If you are an American, you may have a constitutional right, but that’s different. If you don’t understand the difference and the relationship between these two, you will get nowhere. So that is where we must start.”
Inalienable Rights, Civil Rights, and Guns – John McCaskey, JOHN P. McCASKEY

And since stats are the order of the day…
US becoming safer compared to Europe in both fatalities and frequency of Mass Public Shootings – CRIME RESEARCH

 

“There is nothing so likely to produce peace
as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.”
~ George Washington

 

“People sometimes worry that investors (or foreigners) are buying up [Auckland] properties and leaving them empty, speculating on capital gains instead – but if this is happening at all, it seems to be on a very minor scale.”
Are vacant homes adding to the housing shortage in our leafy suburbs? – AUCKLAND TRANSPORT BLOG

“On the whole, it looks like the policy provided an increase in employment in construction companies and wholesale trades, no increase in churn or dismissals… It might not be as beneficial as we had hoped at the outset, and so it might have been a mistake when evaluated against other beneficial policies on which the government could have expended political capital (youth minimum wages, for example), but it’s a policy well worth continuing.”
90 days – Eric Crampton, THE SAND PIT

“An app-based taxi service is being launched to take on Uber – led by disgruntled drivers.”
A great response to Uber – KIWIBLOG

The problem with the US Federal Reserve’s creation, and with it the inevitable worldwide rise of phoney fiat paper money, “is not that it was the product of conspiracy, but that it was the product of politics.”
Was the Fed's Founding a Conspiracy? No, Just Typical Progressive-Era Politics – Steven Horwitz, FEE

For much of human history, we had it. “I question whether we ever had a practical theory of how to manage money in a fiat money world.”
What Do We Mean by Sound Money? – Gerald O’Driscoll, FEE

“There are four dangerous fiscal fables afloat. The first is that taxes can be cut to raise revenues and lower the deficit. The second is that spending can be raised to raise revenues and lower the deficit. The third is that the deficit can be financed by printing money with no real consequences. And the fourth, and most dangerous, is that the deficit's accumulated value -- the official debt -- is a meaningful measure of our country's or any country's true indebtedness.
    “Paul Krugman, who has been pleading for more deficit spending on a continuous basis in his New York Times column, is hawking all four fables. Pity our children if our policymakers continue to take his views seriously.”
Krugman’s Four Dangerous Fiscal Fables – Laurence Kotlikoff, FINANCE.YAHOO

“There is a sad irony in Gabler’s article, and that is that what he understands as a real financial crisis in middle-class households actually is the ideal state of things via the Keynesian lens of economic thinking. In the upside-down world of Keynesianism, the fact that most Americans now live hand-to-mouth without any appreciable savings is a triumph and is the key to prosperity, at least in the Land of Keynes. Let me explain."
The Keynesian Blessing: Americans Are Broke – William, Anderson, MISES DAILY

 

“Thirty years ago, James Hansen made some spectacularly poor global warming predictions before Congress.”
30th Anniversary Of Hansen’s First Great Global Warming Fail – Steve Goddard, REAL CLIMATE

 

“The opposite of Racism is Individualism.”
~ Will Spencer

 

Introducing the philosophy for living on earth.
Introducing Objectivism – CAMPUS.AYN.RAND

“Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault ... is an engaging book for those who wish to understand the modern Left, which is the postmodern Left.”
Book Review: Explaining Postmodernism , by Stephen Hicks – SAVVY STREET

 

“Liberty is the only thing you
cannot have unless you are
willing to give it to others.”
~ William Allen White

 

How do you save endangered species? Privatise them.
Trade in animals ensures they thrive – Leon Louw, BD LIVE

“How to get landowners to protect wildlife? Make it an asset instead of a liability.”
The New West – PROPERTY & ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH CENTRE

 

“Alex Epstein had a three-word response after learning Wednesday that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey had included him in her investigation into climate change 'fraud': Buzz off, fascist.
Only he didn’t say ‘buzz.’”
Exxon fights Massachusetts AG’s ‘political’ probe into climate-change dissent – WASHINGTON TIMES

“The full story of the climate fascists' attack on ExxonMobil--and me.”
First the Government Went After ExxonMobil. Now They're Going After Me. – Alex Epstein, FORBES

 

George Orwell’s 1984 “imagines the evil of unified power. It is personified through Big Brother. The primary theme, ‘If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.’” But we don’t see Big Brother, do we. We only see the clown with the clipboard.
So is Terry Gilliam is a better prophet than Orwell?
We Live in Brazil, not 1984 – MITRAILLEUSE

 

You will never understand bureaucracies
until you understand that for
bureaucrats procedure is everything
and outcomes are nothing.”
~ Thomas Sowell

 

“Who knew that the number of people who drowned by falling into a swimming-pool correlates with the number of films Nicolas Cage appeared in?”
Hilarious Graphs Suggest Correlation Isn’t Causation – FAST CO.DESIGN

There has been much sadder news this week, for sure, but spare a thought for this poor fellow.
Owner of classic E-type Jaguar crashed car just moments after having it restored – TELEGRAPH

So what the bloody hell are you waiting for?
26 reasons why New Zealand is the world's best country – TELEGRAPH

“I know several people who probably followed this link just to tell me that there is no problem with the Martini…”
The Problem with the Martini – DRINKS & DRINKING

“I’m not being hyperbolic about Campari as indispensable: a world without Campari is a world without Negronis, and in that case we should all just kill ourselves immediately.”
The best Negroni in the world – DRINKS & DRINKING

“It is ‘June-ipur’ (a month long celebration of beer and gin), the Darkest Days (a showcase of stouts, porters and dark beers), the Winter Solstice (for all those naked pagans out there), … and, of course there is the rugby on Saturday night when the All Blacks will give the Welsh a reality check.”
Gin, Porter, Stout and Free Speech: So pretty much everything that worried Victorian England – Neil Miller, MALTHOUSE BLOG

Empirical evidence from my own teams confirms the thesis.
Playing rugby with a hangover? No problem! Study concludes drinking up to 11 pints night before a game does little to impair performance – MAIL ONLINE

How to be a wanker “thought-leader”:

 

Symbolism plus.

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Cheese plus.

 

Hold the cheese.

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