Friday 24 February 2017

Friday Morning Ramble, 24 Feb

 

A few links here you’re invited to follow:

Did less intensive grazing and more gorse on Port Hills land (under Council control) a contributor to the recent fires? Seems so.
Prepare for more Port Hills fires unless we let grazing animals in – STUFF

Man invades private property and holds its owners to ransom. Makes him the ideal candidate for the Green Party, you’d think.
Kauri Tree Sitter to Stand for The Greens – MICHAEL TAVARES.NET

“Auckland Council is like the school bully who realises he has no friends. It is now using the lunch money it pinched from YOU to pay people to come to its party..”
Auckland Council offering $200 grants to host neighbourhood BBQs – STUFF

“Living wage campaigners have the best of intentions, but the experience in Wellington where 17 parking wardens lost their jobs suggests they often harm the very people they are meant to help. Read our report on the issue here…”
Living Wage Policies: The Best of Intentions, The Worst of Results – TAXPAYER’S UNION

Important work.
Finding Rosemary: In search of the unsung hero who invented Kiwi Onion Dip – THE SPINOFF

 

 

“Go rent in Malmo if you want to find out what its like.” Norberg: “Don’t need too because I live there.”
Trumpers getting owned by Johan Norberg – TWITTER

But isn’t Sweden the rape capital of the world (as members of the alt-right constantly point out)? Actually, no.
Trump's Fake News Attack on Sweden, Immigrants, and Crime – Johan Norberg, REASON
Analysis | Trump asked people to ‘look at what’s happening … in Sweden.’ Here’s what’s happening there. – WASHINGTON POST

There are so many reported rapes in Sweden because the Swedish legal definition of rape amounts to the feminist hippie definition of rape: "if” someone brushes against you and you don't feel like having given consent.”
Sweden’s rape crisis isn’t what it seems – Doug Saunders, GLOBE & MAIL

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“The Trump administration is deliberately trying to cook the books on how economic variables are calculated in order to rationalise its policies to the American people.”
Economists outraged by Trump plan to 'cook the books' – Nancy Marshall-Genzer, MARKETPLACE

“Holocaust-mongering cheapens the memory of the Holocaust and it debases political life. Tragically, it also invites scepticism about the Holocaust and encourages the rewriting of history.”
‘Just like Hitler’: the diminishing of the Holocaust – Frank Furedi, SPIKED

James Valliant: “The table is set. I would just add: The same media that worshiped Obama as a Messiah have subjected themselves to being dismissed as partisans rather than objective reporters and reliable watchdogs. Leftist academics fostering self-discrediting violent protests have given Trump the very tool of distraction he could use most. Obama's executive orders, cover up for Hillary, and political use of the IRS all set the stage for much more to come. Now, the Republicans in Congress turn a blind eye to obvious conflicts of interest... What's next? It may be up to us.”
How to Build an Autocracy – THE ATLANTIC

“Where do we direct our outrage when this is the record of just three weeks? Where do we even begin? How do we even remember what to be outraged about? When there is a new scandal every six hours or so, it is hard to remember what happened four scandals ago (what we used to call “yesterday”).”
The Fog of Trump – FOREIGN POLICY

“At this point, we are not expecting Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address or King’s “I Have a Dream” speech to flow from the perennially-puckered mouth of Donald J. Trump. We’d settle for one fully-formed sentence with an ascertainable beginning, middle and end.
The Emperor Has No Vocabulary – HUFFINGTON POST

Slow him down and you have a closing-time pub conversation with a drunk guy who reckons it would be great if he were the president...

 

From the Good News Department: Falling extreme poverty and child mortality.
This interactive visualization can be found here:
Extreme Poverty and Child Mortality – OUR WORLD IN DATA

“A question: Most strong Christians have set aside those elements of their tradition’s writings and now prioritise family values. Can that happen more in Islam, or are their signs that it will/won’t happen?”
Muslims, Christians, and family — not so different? – STEPHEN HICKS

“Job opportunities are limitless. Indeed, as long as the robots produce at a lower cost than people they replace, their introduction increases the total size of the economic pie.”
Fear Not the Robots - Jobs Aren't Scarce – T. Norman Van Cott, FEE

“Deregulation can't have paved the way for the financial collapse--there wasn't much to speak of.”
The Myth of Banking Deregulation- Don Watkins, VOICES FOR REASON

“"Conservatism proper is a legitimate, probably necessary, and certainly widespread attitude of opposition to drastic change. But by its very nature it cannot offer an alternative to the direction in which we are moving."
Why I Am Not a Conservative – F.A. Hayek, FEE

Really discouraging too to see young British people at the bottom for being free to criticise minority groups. Britain used to understand what tolerance and free speech meant.
Daily chart: Young people and free speech – THE ECONOMIST

 

“Immigration and the ability to travel freely turns a lot of people into useful
idiots. We do not become freer by pushing anti-freedom positions. Like all
real problems the answer lies in more freedom., of course this means that i
mmigration is not the problem. - it is scapegoat. This should be the prefect
excuse to crush the welfare state, attack the drug laws, and tax system.”
~ Dale B. Halling

 

“It is a contradiction in terms to ask: “On what principle should we act if we are not going to act on the principle by which we should act?”
    “But philosophy deals in principles.That’s why there are continuing arguments about immigration among those who accept the Objectivist philosophy.
    “Deprived of the guidance of principles, the issue then becomes one of concrete facts…”
Why Objectivists disagree on immigration – Harry Binswanger, HBL

“With the naming of Brown, the institute has deviated from its two previous leaders, who were academics. In a statement, ARI referred to his 30-year finance career and military service in the U.S. Air Force”
Jim Brown, new Ayn Rand Institute CEO: 'Culture and society out there can look pretty irrational. Just look at the last election' – L.A. TIMES

It’s a regular four-year thing: Governments spend billions on facilities and infrastructure for the Olympics. Afterwards, taxpayers wonder what it was all for.
Billions Gone: 2016 Olympics Venues in Brazil Are Now in Ruins – Alice Salles, MISES WIRE

“People need to know history. And here's what passes for "history" in most schools.”
The Poverty of Political Discussion Explained, In One Lesson – Lisa Van Damme, PYGMALION OF THE SOUL

FREE-RANGE KIDS: Here's Why Aren’t Kids Playing Outside on Their Own:

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“A very good article on the significance to the owners of living in Wright designed homes.”
The Last Original Frank Lloyd Wright Owners – WSJ

Only five Wright homes are still in the hands of the original owners.
Original Frank Lloyd Wright home owners on living with design history – CURBED

“’I came to realise after some years living here that there’d not been a day in my life when I didn’t see something beautiful. Even on the terrible days that occur in every life,’ says one Usonian resident who still lives in the house Wright designed for him.”
Usonia the Beautiful – 99 PERCENT INVISIBLE

You couldn’t let him in all conscience, could you.
Frank Gehry No Longer Allowed To Make Sandwiches For Grandkids – THE ONION

Important info.
What to drink at 30,000 feet – THE ECONOMIST

“A little look inside the NZ beer industry... including some Yeastie Boys and a lot of breweries you've never heard of.”
2016 in Review – THE BEER PROJECT

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Cale!

 

[Hat tips to and quips and snark borrowed from Auckland Ratepayers' Alliance, Mark Tammett, Stuart Hayashi, Stephen Berry ACT, The Cato Institute, Felix Mueller, Cesar Arias, The Bastiat Society, David Prichard, David Doyle, Citizens' Alliance for Property Rights, The Mendenhall, Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation]

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