Various Stuff

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Lindsey Graham erupts: Kavanaugh hearing an unethical

Why a lot of food gets thrown away

We throw away a lot of food because it is expired. most of that food is still edible, but we cannot sell it because we (the store) and the producer of the food fear liability charges. Not because we would lose the legal case, far from it. Rather we fear public outrage. Think Chipotle and their food poisonings. Very little substantiation or legal charges. Yet, it was a big deal.

Companies FEAR public relationships going bad. Liability is FAR MORE REACHING than any health law or code. So we throw the food away instead of donating it. Why? Honestly we (the specific store) don't care. But the people we donate it to WONT TAKE IT FROM US.

Also, it costs a crap ton to refrigerate or freeze food. Often the food banks in the area won't accept enough food from us because they cannot store it. And it piles up QUICK in out freezers. We either have to not sell any food, because we cannot store anything that the consumer would buy. Or we have to throw the food away.

This problem is a lot more complicated than 'corporate greed' or 'legal liability claims'. This problem rests squarely on the whims of the mass public. Put money into food banks. Don't punish food banks for food poisonings until substantiated. And be willing to buy food that isnt WEEKS from the expiration date. Seriously, consumers DIG through piles of perfectly fine food to purchase the ones in the back that are months from expiring, then come back tomorrow to purchase more again. YOU are the problem. Not law. Not corporations. You.

Regulations vs Gini coefficient

Examining a cross-section of 175 countries, we find that a greater number of steps required to open a business is associated with higher levels of income inequality. Specifically, we find that an increase of one standard deviation in the number of steps necessary to legally open a business is associated with a 1.5 percent increase in the Gini coefficient and a 5.6 percent increase in the share of income going to the top 10.0 percent of earners.

https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/McLaughlin-Regulation-Income-Inequality.pdf

McCain's involvement in IRS scandal

Judicial Watch Obtains IRS Documents Revealing McCain’s Subcommittee Staff Director Urged IRS to Engage in “Financially Ruinous” Targeting.

https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-obtains-irs-documents-revealing-mccains-subcommittee-staff-director-urged-irs-to-engage-in-financially-ruinous-targeting/

90 Percent Of Scandinavia’s Wealth Is Privately Owned

If we’re going to have “good-faith arguments,” a good place to start would be to abandon discredited myths about Scandinavia, begin telling the full truth about “democratic” socialism, and stop pretending that the experiences of 5 million Norwegians who live in one of the freest economies in the world better represent this system than the lives of the 42 million people in Venezuela and my family’s native Cuba that suffer under this ideology daily.

Full article: http://thefederalist.com/2018/08/17/debunking-socialist-myths-90-percent-scandinavias-wealth-privately-owned/

Nordic Countries Are Not Socialist

Private healthcare: the lessons from Sweden

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/dec/18/private–healthcare–lessons–from–sweden

Deregulation, privatisation and marketisation of Nordic comprehensive education: social changes reflected in schooling

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20004508.2018.1429768

Scandinavian Economies and Corporate Tax

http://www.coordinationproblem.org/2005/11/scandinavian_ec.html

Face It,

https://www.dlacalle.com/en/face–it–nordic–countries–are–not–socialist/

Former CBS Reporter Exposes Media Lies, Internet Shills & Astroturfing

Trump Is Going Full Alinsky – and His Opponents Are Flummoxed

Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals is considered a bible to the left, a how-to guide for community organizing and activism. Barack Obama was an Alinsky protégé before, during, and after his presidency. Obama used the rules to his advantage, advancing his left-wing agenda.

The left, despite conventional wisdom, has no monopoly on Alinsky's rules. Instead these rules can be used by the right, also as blueprint for effecting change.

The dirty little secret is that Alinsky has little in common with modern leftists. As Ralph Benko writes, "Alinsky was an aggressively anti-communist, anti-big government, populist with a healthy contempt for liberals." He would more likely be found at a Tea Party rally wearing a MAGA hat than at a resistance march wearing a pink pussy hat.

President Trump is reaping the results this month of his foreign policy initiatives. He blew up Obama's sketchy Iran deal. The U.S. embassy opened in Jerusalem, fulfilling a promise made, but never kept, by a slew of recent U.S. presidents. Trump is hopefully sitting down with North Korea's Kim Jung-un after Kim pledged to scrap his nuke program, despite media reports of last-minute attempts by Kim to scuttle the talks. Trump is keeping and following through on promises his predecessors have made but tossed aside due to lack of resolve or political expediency.

All in all, it's been a few good weeks for a rube, unfit for the presidency, out of his depth in conducting foreign affairs, with a temperament to make war as opposed to peace. So how did it happen? Trump, whether intentionally or not, is following Alinsky's rules in shaking up the world, effecting the change that eluded his predecessors, despite their Ivy League pedigrees, silver tongues, and sharp pant creases.

Let's look at a few of the rules Trump has used to turn the new world order upside-down.

"Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have."

Remember how Trump told Kim his nuclear button is bigger than Kim's? And how Trump had no qualms about unleashing the fury of the U.S. military on Afghanistan and Syria – not a ground war, but a salvo of missiles and bombs, and threats for far worse from the U.S. if necessary? Does anyone think Iran and North Korea want to call Trump's bluff?

"Never go outside the expertise of your people."

Trump is sticking to what he knows best – negotiating, financing, and playing hardball. He is staying far away from the nuance of the Kerry-Obama cabal, instead delivering a simple and straightforward message to his geopolitical foes. This message is easy to understand, including by the American people, who can smell John Kerry's nonsensical diplomatic-speak from a mile away.

"Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy."

North Korea and Iran know only threats and intimidation, tactics that have kept past U.S. presidents dancing to their tune. Trump added a new tactic, something not used by past administrations, which they haven't yet had to contend with: economic strength. Trump is using U.S. economic might as a national security club, imposing sanctions and tariffs to squeeze countries opposed to his agenda. Trump took it farther, threatening to stop doing business with countries continuing to do business with North Korea or Iran. China, France, and Germany will think twice before supporting N.K. or Iran over the U.S.

"Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."

Past administrations have promised to contain N.K. and Iran. They also conveniently, on the campaign trail, promised to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. All Trump is doing is fulfilling the promises made by others. Those howling with outrage look like fools for complaining about Trump doing what they themselves promised to do.

"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon."

This is President Trump's forte. Using his Twitter account and speeches, calling out Little Rocket Man and the hypocrisy and incompetence of past administrations, he has his political opponents on their heels, playing defense. This is not presidential, according to the pinstriped suit crowd in Washington, D.C. Trump is uncouth and crude, sullying the office of the president. Yet he is getting stuff done, at a far faster rate than any of his predecessors. Willie Brown and David Brooks, liberal Democrat and swamp-dweller, respectively, have recently written about Trump's popularity and effectiveness and the dangers for Democrats in underestimating him and his appeal to voters.

"A good tactic is one your people enjoy."

Just watch one of his rallies. Supporters queue up hours before, and most never even make it to the arena. Trump is funny and entertaining. Imagine either of the Presidents Bush holding a similar rally. Or a President Kerry or Gore. That would be as exciting as watching paint dry.

Trump's opponents don't like his tactics because they are defenseless against them, reduced to braying about Russia or Stormy or calling for impeachment. But his supporters can't get enough of Trump calling out the media and the Deep State.

"Keep the pressure on. Never let up."

Trump is ticking off his promises one by one. He hasn't reversed course, even if Congress stands in his way, as in the border wall. Much of what he campaigned on is happening – Paris climate accords, Iran nuke deal, trade deals, ISIS, judicial picks, and so on.

"The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself."

Trump frequently brags on his military and willingness to use it. When pulling out of the Iran nuke deal, he said, "If the regime continues its nuclear aspirations, it will have bigger problems than it has ever had before." Does Iran want to call Trump's bluff on that? By now, the world knows that Trump says what he means and means what he says.

"Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it."

From Kim in North Korea to crooked Hillary, Mueller, Comey, and the Deep-Staters trying to destroy his presidency, he calls these people out. He names names and misdeeds, via tweets and impromptu remarks. The enemies of Donald Trump become the enemies of his supporters, personalized and polarized.

President Trump, knowingly or unknowingly, has co-opted Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, using them effectively to advance his agenda. How ironic that the tactics of the left are being used against the leftists themselves. The left knows the rules only for playing offense. Now that the rules are being used against it, it is at a loss as to how to react and respond.

For Trump-supporters, typically being on the losing end of Alinsky's rules, it's a refreshing treat to finally be on offense, scoring touchdowns, leaving Democrats and NeverTrumps babbling and unable to stop or slow the Trump train.

Read more: https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/05/trump_is_going_full_alinsky__and_his_opponents_are_flummoxed.html

Conservatism is the NEW Counter-Culture

Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent

The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.

https://www.amazon.com/Three-Felonies-Day-Target-Innocent/dp/1594035229

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