Ponderable

The structure of the politics industry has created unhealthy competition that fails to advance the public interest

The nature of competition in any industry—and the degree to which it meets the needs of customers— depends on its underlying structure. To understand the failure of politics, we can employ the same tools used to study competition in other fields. What is the structure of the politics industry? It is a textbook example of a duopoly, an industry dominated by two entrenched players. Around the two major parties, the Democrats and the Republicans, has arisen what we call the “political industrial complex,” an interconnected set of entities that support the duopoly. These include special interests, donors (particularly “big money”), pollsters, consultants, partisan think tanks, the media, lobbyists, and others. The political industrial complex is big business. And virtually all the players in the political industrial complex are connected to one side of the duopoly or the other—the right or the left—which has contributed to failed competition. In healthy competition, industry actors would be competing to deliver the desired outcomes for customers—fellow citizens—and be held accountable for results. Political rivals who fail to serve the public would be replaced by new competitors who do.
 
NOVEMBER 20, 2018
White Racists Picking on D.C. Metro Riders. Again.
By Colin Flaherty
The Washington Post and D.C. City Council have finally figured out why 91 percent of Metro fares evaders are black: Racist transit police are targeting black people and ignoring white people who do the same thing.

That is why the city council this week voted to decriminalize citations for the free riders. And why the Metro says it will continue to lose $25 million a year on the turnstile jumpers -- a small price to pay to correct 40, 4,000, 4 million (take your pick) years of racial injustice directed at black people, say members of the city council.

Writing tickets to black people is “endemic of a systemic issue” of white racism, said city councilman Charles Allen. And that is why the City Council voted to change their citation scheme to a system where police can still write tickets, but the Metro will not be able to do anything to collect the fines if the perps refuse to pay.

Under the old system, people were not allowed to register their cars, for example, if an unpaid ticket was on their record. The Washington Postexplains it all to us:

Allen and his ilk on the council “pointed to a disparity in fare evasion arrests that shows police disproportionately target African Americans.”

The City Council relied on a report from the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights, which said the Metro had increased enforcement on the trains over the last two years.

“This is a hyper-policed environment where mainly poor Black and brown residents are targeted and overwhelmingly saddled with citations,” said Nassim Moshiree, policy director for the ACLU, told the streetscene.com. “This increased enforcement is a distraction from the reason that Metro is losing money. There have been years of mismanagement, including service cuts and interruptions. “

“Moshiree said the Metro has no evidence to support that fare evasion is causing their $20 million loss. She suggested that long-term mismanagement, service cuts and disruptions have driven higher-income riders to alternative transportation and left lower-income riders to experience Metro new enforcement strategies.”

And of course, no story of black victimization and white racism is complete without Black Lives Matter chiming in: “People have
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NOVEMBER 20, 2018
Don't Paint It Black on Thanksgiving Day
By Jeffrey Folks
On this Thanksgiving Day, I have lots to be thankful for. I live in a wonderful country, have a wonderful family, and enjoy freedoms that many in this world do not. This Thanksgiving, I will sit down to a beautiful meal prepared by those I love. God has given me much to be thankful for, and I am grateful.

I wonder if those on the left will be celebrating this day in the same spirit. It seems that no matter how much they have or how many freedoms they enjoy, for progressives, it is never enough. For them, the world is an awful place, America is an immoral country, and this special day will pass with no expression of gratitude to their Creator. It saddens me to see it, but that view of existence is more prevalent now than at any time since the 1960s.

In the classic song "Paint It Black" (1966), Mick Jagger sings of a sad individual who wants to turn everything he sees black. In the world he imagines, there are no flowers, no summer dresses, and no cars other than black ones. In the end, the singer comes to see that it's his own heart that is black and that he is responsible for the emptiness that he sees.

Jagger and Keith Richards may have intended the song as a lament for a desperately unhappy person who despises everything he sees, but for many, the popular song was a celebration of anarchy and rebellion. It perfectly suited the angry mood of the time. With its string of assassinations, violent protests, rioting, and political bombings, the decade of the late '60s was the most unsettled time in modern American history.

Many young men and women had painted the world black, and a substantial number of these damaged souls never grew up. They're still out there, imagining the world a terrible place and finding meaning only in resistance. A new generation has followed them into negation. Jagger might just as well have been singing of the violence of Antifa protests. The typical Antifa protester wouldn't be seen in anything except black, and despite the Antifa ("anti-fascist") designation, those raised fists look a lot like fascist salutes, especially like those of modern-day fascists.
 
Charter Schools
Opinion
Moral Bankruptcy

Thomas Sowell
|
Posted: Nov 19, 2018 2:15 PM
People who follow politics, even casually, learn not to expect high moral standards from politicians. But there are some outrages that show a new low, even for politicians.

Among the consequences of Democrats' recent election victories, especially at the state and local levels, is the election of officials who have publicly announced their opposition to charter schools, and their determination to restrict or roll back the growth of those schools.

What have the charter schools done to provoke such opposition?

Often located in low-income, minority neighborhoods, these schools have in many cases produced educational outcomes far better than the traditional public schools in such neighborhoods.

A Success Academy charter elementary school in Harlem had a higher proportion of the children in one of its classes pass the statewide math exam than in any other class at the same grade level, anywhere in the state of New York.

As a result of the charter schools' educational achievements, it is not uncommon for thousands of children to be on waiting lists to get into such schools -- in New York City, tens of thousands.

This represents a huge opportunity for many low-income, minority youngsters who have very few other opportunities for a better life. But, to politicians dependent on teachers' unions for money and votes, charter schools are expendable.

In various communities around the country, charter schools are already being prevented from moving into empty school buildings, which would allow them to admit more children from waiting lists.


Denying these children what can be their one chance in life is a new low, even for politicians.


Political rhetoric can camouflage what is happening. But the arguments against charter schools are so phony that anyone with a decent education should be able to see right through them. Unfortunately, the very failure of many traditional public schools to provide a decent education enables their defenders to get away with arguments that could not survive any serious analysis.

Consider the incessantly repeated argument that charter schools are "taking money away from the public schools." Charter schools are themselves public schools, educating children who have a legal right to be educated with taxpayer money set aside for that purpose. When some fraction of children move from traditional public schools to charter schools, why should the same fraction of money not move with them?

What is the money for, if not to educate children? The amount of taxpayer money spent per child in charter schools is seldom, if ever, greater than the amount spent per child in traditional public schools. Often it is less.

Another argument used in attacking charter schools is that, despite particular charter schools with outstanding results, by and large charter school students' results on educational tests are no better than the results in traditional public schools. Even if we accept this claim, it leaves out one crucial fact.

White students and Asian students together constitute a majority of the students in traditional public schools. Black students and Hispanic students together constitute a majority of the students in charter schools.


On virtually all educational tests, black and Hispanic students score significantly lower than white and Asian students. If charter schools as a whole just produce educational results comparable to those in traditional public schools as a whole, that is a big improvement.

If you want to make a comparison of educational results with comparable students, you can look at results among children living in the same neighborhood, at the same grade levels -- and with both charter school children and children in a traditional school being educated in the very same building.

Such comparisons in New York City showed, almost every time, a majority of the students in the traditional public school scoring in the bottom half in both math and English, while the percentage of charter school students scoring in the top half was some multiple of the percentage of other students scoring that high.

This is what the teachers' unions and the politicians want to put a stop to. Who will speak up for those children
 
Sheriff Joe said:
kJGOO74p


Tijuana Locals Threaten to Rip Migrants From Shelter...
Click to expand...
"Finally, a word on Mexico. Like many travelers, I couldn't help falling in love with the country. Mexico is a country of secrets--the ultimate challenge for a journalist. Its people are monuments to complexity, capable of simultaneous displays of sincere affection and deep seated distrust.--Andres Oppenheimer, Co-Pulitzer Prize winner and Author of Bordering on Chaos, Mexico's Roller Coaster Journey Toward Prosperity
 
Bruddah IZ said:
"Finally, a word on Mexico. Like many travelers, I couldn't help falling in love with the country. Mexico is a country of secrets--the ultimate challenge for a journalist. Its people are monuments to complexity, capable of simultaneous displays of sincere affection and deep seated distrust.--Andres Oppenheimer, Co-Pulitzer Prize winner and Author of Bordering on Chaos, Mexico's Roller Coaster Journey Toward Prosperity
Click to expand...
Looks like Mexico loves illegals as long as they are just passing through.
upload_2018-11-20_8-53-54.jpeg
Midnight Star - No Parking On The Dance Floor (Official Music Video ...
 



Michigan Descends Into Dhimmitude As Federal Judge Rules Congress Can’t Outlaw FGM
Posted at 3:55 pm on November 20, 2018 by streiff

un-fgm-flickr-620x413.jpg



Via Flickr Creative Commons; Photo UNICEF / Olivier Asselin;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/monusco/16269657529/in/photostream/




Back in April, federal authorities broke up what seemed to be a ring of medical professionals, allegedly, who specialized in inflicting Female Gential Mutilation (FGM) on young girls from a peculiar Muslim sect. See:


Michigan Doctor Arrested For Genital Mutilation Of Little Girls
Second Michigan Doctor Arrested For Sexually Mutilating Little Girls

and related:
Female Genital Mutilation: An Epidemic That The Obama Administration Is Hiding
Tennessee: Female Genital Mutilation Is Not One Of Our Concerns





The case has finally made its way to court and the federal judge rendered something of a shocking and counterfactual ruling…the feds have no role in combating FGM.

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed female genital mutilation charges against several doctors in the first criminal case of its kind nationwide, arguing the law is unconstitutional.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman comes two weeks after defense lawyers mounted the first challenge to a 22-year-old genital mutilation law that went unused until April 2017.

That’s when Dr. Jumana Nagarwala of Northville was arrested and accused of heading a conspiracy that lasted 12 years, involved seven other people and led to mutilating the genitalia of nine girls as part of a religious procedure practiced by some members of the Dawoodi Bohra, a Muslim sect from India that has a small community in Metro Detroit.

Friedman delivered a significant, but not fatal, blow to a novel criminal prosecution being closely followed by members of the sect and international human-rights groups opposed to female genital mutilation.

Friedman removed four defendants from the case — including three mothers accused of subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation — while concluding Congress had no authority to enact a law criminalizing female genital mutilation.

“There is nothing commercial or economic about FGM,” Friedman wrote in a 28-page opinion. (Female genital mutilation) is not part of a larger market and it has no demonstrated effect on interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause does not permit Congress to regulate a crime of this nature.”

This is the decision.

Insert IANAL caveat.

It is always cute and adorable when activists judges suddenly discover federalism and the Constitution. And, were it real and not merely a pretext, there would be rejoicing in Heaven for sinners who returned to the fold. The reasoning this judge cites was thrown out decades ago when the Supreme Court decided Wickard vs. Filburn and it was definitely dead by the time the power of federal law enforcement was used to suppress the Klan during the Civil Rights era. If this stands, then the federal Edmunds Act that outlaws polygamy is also invalid. Conspiracy statutes that rely solely upon the use of the mail or of interstate telephone carriers to perpetrate them would also be up for grabs.

While I’m sympathetic to the argument that this should be a state prosecution, my guess is that this is a federal prosecution for the exact same reason that many otherwise state crimes were prosecuted by the feds during the Civil Rights era, that is, the local courts are so deeply corrupted that no prosecutions of even obvious crimes of a certain type will take place (see my story link about the estimate of FGM vs prosecutions).

If the feds appeal, and one has to think they will not stand idly by and have a law declared unconstitutional without any protest, odds are that this ruling will be overturned. What impact does this have on the cases that have been dismissed? Again, IANAL but I imagine the perpetrators of this horror show escape.

=========
 
Sheriff Joe said:



Michigan Descends Into Dhimmitude As Federal Judge Rules Congress Can’t Outlaw FGM
Posted at 3:55 pm on November 20, 2018 by streiff

un-fgm-flickr-620x413.jpg



Via Flickr Creative Commons; Photo UNICEF / Olivier Asselin;
https://www.flickr.com/photos/monusco/16269657529/in/photostream/




Back in April, federal authorities broke up what seemed to be a ring of medical professionals, allegedly, who specialized in inflicting Female Gential Mutilation (FGM) on young girls from a peculiar Muslim sect. See:


Michigan Doctor Arrested For Genital Mutilation Of Little Girls
Second Michigan Doctor Arrested For Sexually Mutilating Little Girls

and related:
Female Genital Mutilation: An Epidemic That The Obama Administration Is Hiding
Tennessee: Female Genital Mutilation Is Not One Of Our Concerns





The case has finally made its way to court and the federal judge rendered something of a shocking and counterfactual ruling…the feds have no role in combating FGM.

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed female genital mutilation charges against several doctors in the first criminal case of its kind nationwide, arguing the law is unconstitutional.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman comes two weeks after defense lawyers mounted the first challenge to a 22-year-old genital mutilation law that went unused until April 2017.

That’s when Dr. Jumana Nagarwala of Northville was arrested and accused of heading a conspiracy that lasted 12 years, involved seven other people and led to mutilating the genitalia of nine girls as part of a religious procedure practiced by some members of the Dawoodi Bohra, a Muslim sect from India that has a small community in Metro Detroit.

Friedman delivered a significant, but not fatal, blow to a novel criminal prosecution being closely followed by members of the sect and international human-rights groups opposed to female genital mutilation.

Friedman removed four defendants from the case — including three mothers accused of subjecting their daughters to female genital mutilation — while concluding Congress had no authority to enact a law criminalizing female genital mutilation.

“There is nothing commercial or economic about FGM,” Friedman wrote in a 28-page opinion. (Female genital mutilation) is not part of a larger market and it has no demonstrated effect on interstate commerce. The Commerce Clause does not permit Congress to regulate a crime of this nature.”

This is the decision.

Insert IANAL caveat.

It is always cute and adorable when activists judges suddenly discover federalism and the Constitution. And, were it real and not merely a pretext, there would be rejoicing in Heaven for sinners who returned to the fold. The reasoning this judge cites was thrown out decades ago when the Supreme Court decided Wickard vs. Filburn and it was definitely dead by the time the power of federal law enforcement was used to suppress the Klan during the Civil Rights era. If this stands, then the federal Edmunds Act that outlaws polygamy is also invalid. Conspiracy statutes that rely solely upon the use of the mail or of interstate telephone carriers to perpetrate them would also be up for grabs.

While I’m sympathetic to the argument that this should be a state prosecution, my guess is that this is a federal prosecution for the exact same reason that many otherwise state crimes were prosecuted by the feds during the Civil Rights era, that is, the local courts are so deeply corrupted that no prosecutions of even obvious crimes of a certain type will take place (see my story link about the estimate of FGM vs prosecutions).

If the feds appeal, and one has to think they will not stand idly by and have a law declared unconstitutional without any protest, odds are that this ruling will be overturned. What impact does this have on the cases that have been dismissed? Again, IANAL but I imagine the perpetrators of this horror show escape.

=========
Click to expand...


BROUGHT TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY !
UNTIL A DEMOCRAT IS DIRECTLY AFFECTED IT WILL NOT STOP !
 
nononono said:
BROUGHT TO THE UNITED STATES BY THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY !
UNTIL A DEMOCRAT IS DIRECTLY AFFECTED IT WILL NOT STOP !
Click to expand...
Yes. But don't forget that Tom Ridge was also culpable in the Gosnell murderers. FGM like abortion of late term babies born alive and healthy are both evil practices, by evil people, working for an evil industry like our duopoly.
 
Pied Piper for the Establishment
John F. McManus
John Birch Society, 2002

Conservatism used to equal an undeniable love for God, family, and our Republic. That was before the "neo" conservatives came, before William F. Buckley, Jr. was chosen by the liberal establishment as the chief spokesman for conservatives. From the 1960s to today, conservative Americans have been led astray by Buckley and other false conservatives who want to interject the U.S. government into almost every aspect of our lives. John F. McManus, president of The John Birch Society, presents a critical examination of Buckley's life and career, including Buckley's: promotion of liberal causes, from abortion, drugs, and pornography, to the Panama Canal giveaway; connections to the CFR, CIA and Yale's Skull & Bones Society; selection of ex-Communists, Trotskyites, and CIA veterans to staff National Review; and unwarranted attack on JBS founder Robert Welch to prove himself "acceptable" to the liberal establishment. Don't let yourself be fooled! By understanding how and why the New York-Washington establishment embraced Buckley and his so-called conservatism, you can avoid the traps laid down by similar false conservatives.


 
Of course, prices continue to skyrocket in the US. This is not because there is too much "market competition" but because health care is heavily subsidized by various government interventions.
 
It would seem that the goal of the free-market reformer in the current climate must be to stop speaking of preventing "socialized medicine" and instead focus on carving out a role for the market in what is clearly a government-dominated sector. The discussion is now one of "de-regulation," "flexibility," or "breathing room" for a truly free fee-for-service economy to develop. America has an enormous "public" health care system. The goal now is to carve out some means of escape.--Ryan McMaken

 
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