Reinke Faces Life

After being called out on strikes in the fourth inning of the Phillies’ loss to the Mets on Monday, Bryce Harper barked at umpire Mark Carlson from the dugout, got ejected, and threw a whole fit. His hair looked fantastic, but the rest of him looked pretty childish.And I get it. In quiet, rational times, I maintain respect for the work done by referees and umpires to enforce the rules of their sports, but during the heat of competition — any competition, really — I become convinced officials are either grossly incompetent or, for whatever reason, punishing me personally with their calls. I am not someone anyone would ever call “sportsmanlike.”

Source: MLB: Bryce Harper’s ejection shows need for automated strike zone

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Interesting.  With so much money involved, it’s easier to “blame the refs” than improve yourself.

What happens then there is no umpire to blame?

Will he assault the RoboT Ref?

What’s next?  The safe / out call by drone?

It’s a kid’s game and supposed to be “fun”.  Leave it to adults to drain the “fun” out of everything.

Argh!

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Everybody knows that college admissions aren’t made only on academic merit and haven’t been for a long time. If you want your son or daughter to be admitted to college and you have enough money, all you have to do is donate a lot of money to the university and your child will have no trouble getting in.

Source: Free Lori Loughlin

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Another more “Libertarian” take on the recent “college admissions scandal”.

My question is why is the Gooferment involved in any phase of “education” at all?

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Vladimir Putin’s speech – SHORTEST SPEECH EVER.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, addressed the Duma, (Russian Parliament), and gave a speech about the tensions with minorities in Russia:

“In Russia, live like Russians. Any minority, from anywhere, if it wants to live in Russia, to work and eat in Russia, it should speak Russian, and should respect the Russian laws. If they prefer Sharia Law, and live the life of Muslim’s then we advise them to go to those places where that’s the state law.

“Russia does not need Muslim minorities. Minorities need Russia, and we will not grant them special privileges, or try to change our laws to fit their desires, no matter how loud they yell ‘discrimination’. We will not tolerate disrespect of our Russian culture. We better learn from the suicides of America , England, Holland and France , if we are to survive as a nation. The Muslims are taking over those countries and they will not take over Russia. The Russian customs and traditions are not compatible with the lack of culture or the primitive ways of Sharia Law and Muslims.

“When this honorable legislative body thinks of creating new laws, it should have in mind the Russian national interest first, observing that the Muslims Minorities Are Not Russians.”The politicians in the Duma gave Putin a five minute standing ovation.

Source: Letters to the Editor

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While I don’t want Nazi death camps for minorities, it is because, selfishly, aren’t by some measure we ALL minorities?

That being said, I don’t want to see “American Culture” changed by “celebrities”, “racial leaders”, politicians, or bureaucrats.  And, certainly not to accommodate ANY religion.

If we learn nothing from “sectarian violence” around the world, religions need to peacefully coexist.  Now every “religion” has its wacko cultists, but it’s up to us in a “civil society” to keep them in their place — examples of strange memes that should be “studied”.

As a pro-life little L libertarian, I just want to be left alone to “pursue happiness”.  That means don’t flaunt your choices in my face and expect me to cheer or cower in fear.  And, I certainly don’t want to pay for “your choices”.

I want the American Dream for all my fellow humans. I want the American “melting pot” to adopt the best from every culture and discard the worst.

As we learned from our POWs, “GBA”!

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Authored by Laurence Vance via The Future of Freedom Foundation, Using data from the Federal Reserve, Student Loan Hero — an organization that provides “resources, tools and information” to help “student loan borrowers understand their student loans and make intelligent repayment decisions” — reports that Among the Class of 2018, 69% of college students took out student loans, and they graduated with an average debt of $29,800, including both private and federal debt.

Source: The Student Debt Conundrum

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*** begin quote ***

The first is that no proposed solution recognizes that the student-debt conundrum would never have arisen in the first place if the federal government had simply followed its own Constitution and had never had anything to do with education: no loans, no grants, no mandates, no subsidies, no funding, no school breakfast and lunch programs, no regulations, no standards, no vouchers, and no Department of Education.

*** end quote ***

Sure, once the politicians and bureaucrats have “screwed the pooch”, now we recognize the wisdom of the DOWGs!

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Elwartowski and Ocean Builders say the vessel was in international waters and beyond Thailand’s jurisdiction. But Thai authorities say the structure is in its 200-mile exclusive economic zone and therefore a violation of its sovereignty.

Source: Thai navy boards cabin of fugitive ‘seasteaders’ facing death penalty – Reuters

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200 miles?

Does that encroach up on Hawaii or San Francisco?  Maybe even NYC!

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The Cochrane organization, a highly respected arbiter of evidence-based medicine, has conducted systematic reviews of oral-health studies since 1999. In these reviews, researchers analyze the scientific literature on a particular dental intervention, focusing on the most rigorous and well-designed studies. In some cases, the findings clearly justify a given procedure. For example, dental sealants—liquid plastics painted onto the pits and grooves of teeth like nail polish—reduce tooth decay in children and have no known risks. (Despite this, they are not widely used, possibly because they are too simple and inexpensive to earn dentists much money.) But most of the Cochrane reviews reach one of two disheartening conclusions: Either the available evidence fails to confirm the purported benefits of a given dental intervention, or there is simply not enough research to say anything substantive one way or another.

Source: Is Dentistry a Science? – The Atlantic

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“I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” Captain Renault in Casablanca

I’m shocked that procedures that don’t earn a lot of money for the dentists are not done!

Argh!

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People without history have no context. They are unstuck in time having to relearn lessons which our ancestors built monuments to remind us of what we’re capable of for better or worse.

While the French government took years to raise €12 million to renovate Notre Dame despite having the highest tax rate in the world, private donations to rebuild it topped $1 billion in the first 48 hours after the fire was put out.

This is gratifying in a way that is almost beyond words. And it makes a mockery of the statist arguments for government to replace private charity and private property.

Source: Notre Dame: Symbol of a Failing Culture – LewRockwell

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Yeah, “private charity” could NEVER ever replace Gooferment “services”.

Argh!

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Source: A look at what was saved, what was lost in Notre Dame fire

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If “we, humans” were smart everyone would be looking at their “national treasures” and see what need to be save.

I’d start with the soon to be aborted babies — much more important than “mere” “art” — but that’s just my view from the cheap seats.

I’d pray for any religion that wishes ill or celebrates the misfortune of others.  I’m sure it won’t happen but if I was an Islamic Leader, then I’d say shame on those who “celebrated” the fire.  If nothing else, it’s in poor taste and sure to bring about strife.

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” — Buddha

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Silver prices are too low based on five decades of history and via comparisons to national debt, the S&P 500 Index and gold. Expect silver prices to rise far higher in coming years as the over-leveraged financial system resets and rebalances.

Source: Silver versus Debt, Delusions and Devaluation | The Deviant Investor

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Seems unavoidable.

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Abolish The 16th

Defenders of the IRS often espouse the fallacy that taxes are how we pay for a civilized society. If it weren’t for the government, who would pave the roads? Who would educate the children? Who would confiscate your earnings? But here’s a better question, one that suits the state much better: If it weren’t for the government breaking your legs, who would give you a crutch? That’s the real nature of government; it’s not the benevolent force out to do good that some statists believe is the case.

Source: My Money, My Choice: Remember Taxation Is Theft On April 15th | Zero Hedge

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Real simple — Abolish The 16th — recognize the mistake and fix it!

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Of course, those receiving and benefiting from these programs will defend them.  But the fact remains that tax monies provide largely government jobs, which are almost entirely consumption jobs (jobs that consume the production of society but produce little consumable).  Such jobs cannot produce for public consumption a potato, a carton of milk, or even a can of hair spray.  They bring another person to the table to eat, but not another to produce something to eat.

Source: Prior to 1913 No One Paid Income Tax. Why Now? | | Tenth Amendment Center

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Seems like we need to get back to “lean” Constitutional activities and cut the warfare / welfare state down to a much more manageable size.

Regardless of who’s in charge — the Democans or the Republicrats — Gooferment just gets bigger and bigger.

No new programs, no new taxes, and an ongoing program of 1% annual real bottom line cuts.

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Both Google and Mozilla have banned Gab’s Dissenter.com extension from their browsers’ extension stores. Dissenter’s mission is to bring a free speech comment system to every site on the Internet.

Source: Google, Mozilla Blacklist Gab’s ‘Dissenter’ Free Speech Browser Extension | Breitbart

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I like and use this extension regularly.

I wish I could find out when some one comments on my blog in dissenter.

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Every illegal alien, over the course of their lifetime, costs American taxpayers about $70,000, Center for Immigration Studies Director of Research Steve Camarota says.

Source: Expert: Every Illegal Alien Costs Americans $70K Over their Lifetime

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This is a direct consequence of the welfare state.

“We, The Sheeple” need to end welfare for everyone — including Crony Capitalists.

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In other words, you are free to choose any doctor the federal government allows you to choose. On at least one point, Mr. Sanders is being honest. He’s not even trying to sell the Obama whopper that patients will get to keep the plans and the doctors they like.

Source: Would Patients Be Able to Escape BernieCare? – WSJ

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I like “Bernie-care” even less than I do “Obama-care”, “Medicare”, “Medicaid”, VA care, “Indian Healthcare System”, or any such nonsense.  Hopefully we can get to “health insurance” that’s regulated as loosely as Life Insurance.

Cheap, easy to get, and very simple to collect on.

Argh!

Let’s separate “health”, “health care”, “health care insurance”, or something else from the Gooferment.

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Published on Apr 11, 2019
Sargon of Akkad

President Trump should pardon him.

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I agree!

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While the Fed is meant to be independent from the executive branch on a day-to-day basis, it is certainly not independent of Congress or the law. Yet the Fed in recent years has shown a troubling tendency to deviate from its legal mandate and make up new authorities to fit the changing economic situation. Case in point: the dubious notion that we should seek a 2 percent rate of inflation.

Source: Trump is Right to Blow Up the Fed | The American Conservative

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It’s simple.  Like Doctor Ron Paul said: “End the Fed”!

Return to the “barbaric” old gold standard of “honest” money.

Let the invisible hand of the free market set the interest rate.

If interest rate is the “time preference for money”, then how could it EVER be naturally zero.

The FED —

The Federal Reserve Bank is a misnomer. IT ain’t “federal”. It reserves nothing. And, it ain’t a “bank”. It is a private cartel of the elite banks run for their benefit and that of the entrenched politicians.

— has destroyed the USA with debt and trained “We, The Sheeple” not to save for a rainy day.

Argh!

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“For perspective, this is equivalent to eliminating nearly 50 percent of projected job growth between 2016 and 2026,” Ben Gitis, director of labor market policy at American Action Forum, wrote. “Maryland is not in a strong position to absorb this shock, as it continued to experience below-average job growth while the state implemented its previous minimum wage hike from 2014 to 2018.”

Source: Minimum wage hikes trigger ‘payroll tsunami,’ as small businesses cut back | Fox News

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Like a self-inflicted economic wound!

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For the course of two years, I challenged myself to answer a very complicated set of questions. Namely, why are libertarians’ stereotypes so negative, and why have they been allowed to fester and spread through popular culture, the media, and academia like a plague?

Source: Combating the Myths of Heartless Libertarianism

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Libertarianism is not a religion, first and foremost; it is a guiding set of secular principles that speak to the better side of human nature defending the inalienable rights of self-ownership, property rights, and liberty.

Unlike statism, which is found within modern progressivism and neoconservative circles, libertarianism doesn’t seek to answer all of life’s questions. Statism seeks to explain that without a monopoly of force and violence, the comfort of civilization could not exist, despite historical evidence that the state monopoly of force has been the leading cause of unnatural death in human history, with the philosophy of communism being the number one murderer of individuals in the twentieth century alone.

*** end quote ***

Libertarians, in general, just want you to have all the freedoms they want for themselves.

Statists have no such principle.

I like the formulation: “Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.”

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The behaviour started in kindergarten, and occurred at home, at school, and on weekends. I dutifully drove her to appointments with a therapist and a psychiatrist, who characterised the behaviour as a symptom of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) combined with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), a behavioural issue some experts contend could stem from permissive parenting or a past riddled with either abuse or neglect. But I wasn’t permissive. Anna had never been abused or neglected. Like many seeking answers, I hit the books and kept a notebook about her extreme rages. When I asked Anna’s first psychiatrist about her extreme tantrums and outbursts, his warm brown eyes couldn’t mask his dismissive body language and cautious remarks that her behaviour was likely just an extreme case of ODD. He offered an antipsychotic mediation, Zyprexa, to her drug cocktail. But the medication didn’t work; the symptoms continued, and Anna’s diagnosis remained ADHD and ODD for years.

Source: When a child’s mental health diagnosis comes too late to help | Aeon Essays

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A touching article.  I can’t imagine what some parents go through.  Wonder why we can’t “solve” these problems?

So sad.

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Eating raw garlic could help prevent age-related memory loss suffered by Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s patients, scientists suggest.

Source: Eating raw garlic could help keep your memory sharp in old age | Daily Mail Online

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Anything to avoid going to “the home”!

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If you are still in the casino, run, don’t walk, toward the nearest emergency exit. The Trumpite/GOP is about to learn that deficits do matter and that what really ails the economy of Flyover America is the destructive Keynesian posse domiciled in the Eccles Building.

Source: Stockman Exposes The Two Elephants In The Room That The GOP Has Completely Forgotten | Zero Hedge

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This has to end badly.  It ALWAYS does.

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