Friday Morning Ramble: End of Week Two, and (still) a Birthday!

 

“Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark. In the
hopeless swamps of the not quite, the not yet, and the not at all, do
not let the hero in your soul perish and leave only frustration for the
life you deserved, but never have been able to reach. The world
you desire can be won, it exists, it is real, it is possible, it is yours.”
~ AYN RAND

Ayn Rand says: “Have a Selfish Randsday!”

 

Ben Thomas: “The Labour of the Future Is the Alliance of 1999-2002.”
Willie Jackson dumps the Maori Party for Labour – NZ HERALD

His business. Or should be.
Row over refusal to wed gays – NZ HERALD

Housing crisis in a nutshell, reckons David Seymour: “Kathleen and Steve are sitting on 4.2 hectares, minutes from a train station, with infrastructure at their doorstep. But thanks to arbitrary environmental zoning they and their neighbours can't subdivide. Auckland doesn't have a shortage of land. It has an excess of regulation.”
Prime Auckland housing land not a goldmine but a landmine, owners say – STUFF

“Winston Peters took issue with our immigration report, The New New Zealanders: Why migrants make good Kiwis. We've replied, stressing that facts matter more than supermarket visits” – such as: “that it is Kiwis - not foreigners - who are pushing up house prices in Auckland and other fast growing areas.”
Immigration debate needs facts, not bluster – Rachel Hodder & Jason Krupp, THE SAND PIT
Guy Williams discusses The New New Zealanders – THE SAND PIT
Beyond the fear factor: New Kiwis can be good for us all – NZ HERALD
Immigration: Four perspectives from the front – NZ HERALD
Do migrants dilute the New Zealand identity? – NZ HERALD
Editorial: Time for a kinder immigration debate – NZ HERALD
NZ Initiative proposes an upfront levy on migrants - RNZ
PM Bill English: Migrant levy 'interesting idea' but high bar to meet – NZ HERALD
Migrants beneficial and need protection, businesses say – STUFF
The New New Zealander report launch on NewsHub – NEWSHUB

“The assumption that all immigrants from poor countries remain [unemployed/labourers] their whole lives is a false one.”
Undocumented Immigrants Don't Steal Jobs -- They Create Them – STU-TOPIA

 

"The Left riots, blocks traffic on city streets and highways, breaks
shop windows, engages in arson, and beats a man unconscious
while screaming that he is a Nazi, all to protest a president
elected as retaliation by people who have become scared and
disgusted with the Left. This should change minds."
~ Anonymous, via Charlotte Cushman

You’d take the snowflakes’ protests so much more seriously if they’d been opposed consistently to what they say they’re opposed to. “Here's a list of all the things the left hates Trump for doing that they had no problem with Obama doing.”
You didn’t care when Obama did it – RARE

Timely. Flemming Rose (publisher of Muslim cartoons), Steve Simpson, Dave Rubin et al discuss free speech at UCLA, while campuses burn outside.
Free Speech Under Fire – UCLA LAW

“Donald Trump's poorly designed and xenophobic executive order is attempting to improve on a perfect record. Republicans need to push back.”
Number of Americans Killed by Terrorists Who Entered U.S. as Refugees? ZERO. – REASON
Terrorism and Immigration: A Risk Analysis – Alex Nowrasteh, CATO

“Essential reading for everyone who opposes Trump.”
The Immigration Ban is a Headfake, and We’re Falling For It – MEDIUM.COM

“...the subordination of the individual to the state."
The Economic Nationalism of Donald Trump – Richard Ebeling, FUTURE OF FREEDOM FOUNDATION

 

 

“A president who truly understood Rand’s philosophy would not be cosying up to Putin, bullying companies to keep manufacturing plants in the United States, or promising “insurance for everybody” among many other things Trump has said and done.”
Crony-in-Chief: Donald Trump epitomizes Ayn Rand’s “Aristocracy of Pull” – Steve Simpson, LEAARN LIBERTY

“In recent decades, ‘fair trade’ has usually denoted the practice of those in wealthy countries paying inflated prices for goods in order to supposedly pay higher wages to those workers in less-developed countries who produce said product. In reality, this results in unemployment for many of the workers and those who keep their job aren’t paid all that much more. The bureaucracy involved in the deal is the primary beneficiary…
    “The same goes for President Trump’s border tax plan.”
Don't Threaten Business with a "Border Tax" — Instead, Make the US a Good Place to Do Business – John Sulzer, MISES WIRE

“Iran and Saudi Arabia use ill-gotten profits to spread totalitarian Islamic ideology around the world and terrorize us with their minions. This, however, in no way justifies any attempt at American ‘energy independence’—that is, renouncing international trade in energy, including the two-thirds of our oil Americans buy on the international market.”
The 6 Myths About Oil – Alex Epstein, FOX NEWS

Natasha Bertrand: “Trump reportedly told Mexican President last week that US would invade to combat drug trade if Enrique Peña Nieto couldn't do it himself.”
Trump lambasted Mexico's president in a 'humiliating' and 'threatening' tone during a phone call – BUSINESS INSIDER

Damien Grant: “Awesome result for Turnbull. Poll numbers should swell.”
No 'G'Day Mate': Trump badgered, bragged and abruptly ended phone call with Australian leader – WASHINGTON POST

In this superb 19-minute video from 2015, Johan Norberg looks back on Milton Friedman’s 1979 trip to Hong Kong and Friedman’s presentation – in his 1980 PBS series, “Free to Choose” – of Hong Kong’s success as evidence for the productive powers of free markets and free trade.
Johan Norberg and Milton Friedman on Free Trade – CAFE HAYEK
 

 

“In an astonishing u-turn, the City's top lobbyists finally see the light on Brexit.”
The City of London finally sees the light on Brexit – Allister Heath, TELEGRAPH

“The Scottish government’s record of nanny statism is notorious.” The small nation’s biggest export?
Scotland: the capital of nanny statism – Charlie Peters, SPIKED

 

"You would be surprised how quickly the ideologists of
collectivism retreat when they encounter a confident, intellectual
adversary. Their case rests on appealing to human confusion,
ignorance, dishonesty, cowardice, despair. Take the side
they dare not approach; appeal to human intelligence."
~ Ayn Rand

 

“Douglass believed that private property, competitive enterprise, and self-help are essential for human progress. "Property," he wrote, "will produce for us the only condition upon which any people can rise to the dignity of genuine manhood. . . ."
Frederick Douglass: Heroic Orator for Liberty - Jim Powell, FEE

“I know of no rights of race superior to the rights of humanity, and when there is a supposed conflict between human and national rights, it is safe to go to the side of humanity. I have great respect for the blue eyed and light haired races of America. They are a mighty people. In any struggle for the good things of this world they need have no fear. They have no need to doubt that they will get their full share.”
Frederick Douglass and the Right of Migration – FEE
Frederick Douglass on immigration – Ilya Somin, WASHINGTON POST

“The nineteenth-century victory of free trade over Mercantilism and Protectionism represented one of the great triumphs in the history of classical liberalism."
How Free Trade Triumphed and Made Europe Great – Richard Ebeling, FEE
5 Questions to Ask Your Protectionist Friends – Dan Mitchell, FEE

 

“Never think of pain or danger or enemies a
moment longer than is necessary to fight them."
~ Ayn Rand

 

Today, in the lesser parts of the world, it’s still Ayn Rand’s birthday …
The 112th Anniversary of Ayn Rand’s Birth – A.R.I.

“Rand notes that people often equate morality with a set of duties, be they divine commandments or social demands… she explains that it is causality — not ‘duty’ — that generates the necessity of acting in a particular way.”
Ayn Rand on Duty Responsibility and Obligation - AYN RAND CAMPUS

“Emotions are not tools for the cognition of an inanimate external reality. But emotions are among the most valuable tools for the cognition of our internal state of mind…”
Emotions: Your built-in lightning-like calculator – Vinay Kolhatkar, FACEBOOK

“Now we have the best evidence yet of what sleep is for – allowing housekeeping processes to take place that stop our brains becoming overloaded with new memories.”
Mystery of what sleep does to our brains may finally be solved – NEW SCIENTIST

“"An Auckland artist was impersonated by a criminal for years – the latter would pose as the artist, giving the artist a bad reputation by asking for free accommodation, chatting up women, and cashing cheques."
New Zealand's surprising history of art crime: 'I continue to be flabbergasted' – GUARDIAN

Can’t be embedded. Must be watched.
Masterpieces: A Frank Lloyd Wright Documentary Trailer – YOU TUBE

And finally, Jesus & Mo debate fake news …

[Hat tips to and quips and well-deserved snark from (thank you all) Rand Paul 2016, Paul Litterick, Julian D., Amy Peikoff, Ayn Rand Bot, Kaila Geary Halling, Monica Beth, Mother of Exiles, Charlotte Cushman, Hugh Laurie, Jeffrey Young]

Thanks for reading,
and have a great long weekend!
PC

PS: This weekend, mine’s a Tuatara Kapai. What’s yours?

Mmmm. Nice glass of beer that.

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