MCViewPoint

Opinion from a Libertarian ViewPoint

TGIF: Another Bogus Antisemitism Scare

Posted by M. C. on May 4, 2024

by Sheldon Richman

So here’s the detective’s challenge: why would non-Jewish pro-peace demonstrators on college campuses across the country knowingly, intentionally alienate their clearly Jewish pro-peace co-demonstrators with whom they encamp all day every day, sharing meals, having teach-ins together, and participating in ecumenical outdoor religious events, like Passover seders? Why would antisemites want to do it?

Does that sound remotely plausible? Are the Jewish students idiots who don’t recognize antisemitism when they’re supposedly drowning in a sea of it?

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/antisemitism-scare

jews against zionism

I’ve been watching and thinking about the nationwide campus antiwar demonstrations in support of the suffering Palestinians of Gaza, and the appalling reaction to and “coverage” of those events. Something important needs to be addressed.

I won’t be concerned here with the violence committed by anyone, including the police, or by lesser misconduct, such as occupying and damaging buildings and other violations of university rules. It’s also irrelevant whether the demonstrations stand any chance of ending Israel’s onslaught or ending U.S. and university complicity in it, or whether most of the pro-peace demonstrators share a libertarian orientation. (Not likely.) All that is for another time.

I want to examine the overwhelming depiction of the demonstrations as nothing more than rank antisemitism — the blind hatred of all Jewish people because and only because they are — by birth, blood, belief, or practice — Jewish.

Are the demonstrations antisemitic and hence pro-Hamas, as Spiked magazine and many other observers claim? Are the protestors tapping into what CNN’s Dana Bash called “a deep undercurrent of antisemitism”? (The smears know no bounds.)

To sort this out, I thought I might employ one of my areas of expertise. I spend a lot of time watching excellent British television police dramas. I consider myself a student of British detective techniques. (The Brits take their police dramas very seriously.)

Among other things, I’ve learned that if a crime is alleged to have been committed by a particular person, but you have no damning CCTV or credible witnesses, you begin your investigation by asking if the “person of interest” has a plausible motive for the offense. If not, the chances are good that the person is innocent. People act, which means they have motives.

That’s what I want to do here regarding the campus demonstrations, which are on their face objections to Israel’s bloody (not just in the British figurative sense) seven-month campaign against the Gaza Palestinians. That campaign has taken at least 34,000 lives, injured and starved countless other people, and destroyed so many homes, hospitals, universities, and other facilities vital to life.

See the rest here

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The libertarian case against punishing a ‘conspiracy’

Posted by M. C. on May 4, 2024

“They might have aborted their plan ten minutes before they were scheduled to implement it. If so, what crime did they commit? If bad intentions, of which they are certainly guilty, are criminalized, then all of us — except, perhaps, for a few saints, and I am not even sure of them in this regard — would be in jail when caught.”

“But good sense and morality prevails, and I do not follow through on this dastardly deed. Am I a criminal nevertheless? Yes, according to the laws now on the books. No, on the basis of libertarian law and common sense.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/05/the_libertarian_case_against_punishing_a_conspiracy.html

By Walter E. Block

Moe, Larry, and Curly are planning to rob a bank.

They are careful and exhaustive in their deliberations.  They determine which of them will drive the getaway car.  They discuss, intensively, the best access and egress routes before and after their crime.  They study, over and over again, the electronic and other defensive measures employed by their target so that their gang can obviate them.  They find out at which dates and times there will be the fewest customers at this bank so as to ensure not only their own safety, but that there will be the least collateral harm; they are bank robbers, not murderers.  How many and how well motivated the bank guards will be is an issue over which they have pored for hours.   They are not at all a bunch of nerds, such as those depicted by the television show The Big Bang Theory.  They are indeed sophisticated in electronics, as are the aforementioned, but they were not bullied when they were kids; they were the macho bullies themselves.  They are seriously planning to rob a bank and take rational steps toward this end.  They plan for all contingencies.  They agree that at 11 A.M. next Tuesday, they will engage in their heist.

Why rob a bank?  Willie Sutton, famous bank robber, is their mentor.  He explained: “That’s where they keep the money.” 

Have they yet committed a crime?  (Tuesday is now several days away.)  Certainly, they have, at least in the eyes of extant law.  Here is one definition thereof: “Conspiracy is an agreement between two or more people to commit an illegal act, along with an intent to achieve the agreement’s goal. Most U.S. jurisdictions also require an overt act toward furthering the agreement.” 

So far, does the Three Stooges Gang qualify?

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Britain’s ID Card Proponents Expose Their Own Naivety

Posted by M. C. on May 4, 2024

Now that we realize just how dangerous a digital ID card is for civil liberties, we can talk about how putting faith in the state to execute their plan effectively is incredibly naïve too? There is a phenomenon taking over the United Kingdom where voters know that the government is completely inept at managing almost everything, but voters will still insist that it’s just the wrong people managing the levers of power.

https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/britains-id-card-proponents-expose-their-own-naivety

by Owen Ashworth

hand holding id card

David Blunkett, the former United Kingdom Home Secretary, appeared on the Politics Live show this week and argued obstinately for the introduction of ID cards, saying “My guess is we will get ID cards under a Labour government.” This is quite concerning since the next government is probably going to be Labour, who are currently 20% ahead in the polls. Blunkett claims that it will be easier to stop the illegal immigration issue with the introduction of ID cards, suggesting that migrants would need to show these ID cards to get access to work and other services. He has said that the opposition is mostly made of “fanatics,” who he implies are being rather unreasonable because we already have other forms of centralized systems like license plate registration etc.

I think it is rather revealing that Blunkett did not take the time to mention all the other areas of life the political class would like ID cards to spread to. This proposal contains ideas like connecting the ID to banking and intimate health records, meaning the government will have a vast array of very private information on their databases available whenever they so desire it. Blunkett laughed off concerns about threats to privacy, naively believing the likelihood of data being used for nefarious purposes is low. This is just another example of state actors thinking they are angelic and will never, ever use power for immoral purposes. History is a great tutor and the teachings are clear: the state acquiring extensive private information leads to colossal and repeated violations of your natural rights.

Advocates for digital ID cards are putting an unnerving amount of trust into their own infallibility. If you take the time to listen to digital ID card proponents, you will notice a recurring theme where they either laugh off concerns that state actors could use them for nefarious purposes, or they argue measures will be put in place to prevent such action. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and say they will act morally and never use the information they desire for immoral purposes; they won’t be in that position forever. Their love for democracy necessarily means that at some point there will be another set of state actors in their position. The British Parliament is sovereign and cannot be bound by previous governments so any measures put in place by one, in this case security measures for the usage of the database, can be easily changed by the next government that controls Parliament.

The United Kingdom is so polarized now that the dislike between supporters of all political parties is steaming ahead with no end in sight. The only question you need ask of the proponents of digital ID cards is this: Do you genuinely have faith that political parties you strongly disagree with, and sometimes openly dislike personally, will never use digital ID cards for their own political and immoral purposes? If the answer is anything but an immediate yes—which history shows is a deluded opinion—then you should completely abandon any proposal of digital ID cards. The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act was initially justified on national security grounds, yet it was revealed by Edward Snowden that these powers were being used to monitor private communications for those who had no relation to any activities that may threaten national security. This example alone should be enough for digital ID proponents to clearly see how using the state to collect a database of private information will be used by immoral state actors to violate the natural rights of numerous individuals in the United Kingdom.

See the rest here

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Congress Pushes to Silence Israel Critics with “Antisemitism Awareness” Bill

Posted by M. C. on May 3, 2024

Glenn Greenwald

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All Rule and All Government Are Evil to the Core, and the Abandonment of Natural Law

Posted by M. C. on May 3, 2024

By Gary D. Barnett

“The science of mine and thine—the science of justice—is the science of all human rights; of all a man’s rights of person and property; of all his rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is the science which alone can tell any man what he can, and cannot, do; what he can, and cannot, have; what he can, and cannot say, without infringing the rights of any other person. It is the science of peace; and the only science of peace; since it is the science which alone can tell us on what conditions mankind can live in peace, or ought to live in peace, with each other.”

Lysander Spooner: “Natural Law or the Science of Justice

The beauty, simplicity, and justice, of natural law is a thing to behold. It harms no one, and protects everyone; this the essence of freedom. Nothing else is necessary concerning man’s interactions with man, as natural law is based upon the premise of doing no harm to another, no use of force against another, and no infringement upon another or his property. Natural laws alone are the only laws necessary, as any laws prescribed and legislated by one man, or any group of men, over another, is not only immoral, it is immediately destructive of all natural law. Man’s laws are an abomination, and by design are meant to regulate, restrict, harm, or control others, which is a violent afront to the actual rights of all men. No manmade laws that stray in any way from natural law should be tolerated or followed.

The foundation and justification of natural law is centered on truth, honesty, and exacting justice, without any bias or undue force in the process. Each individual has to be responsible for upholding natural law. This can be done independently or with a collective of individuals working together, so long as any and all seeking and protecting justice, do so voluntarily, and without any evidence of coercion. There cannot be any shifting of blame in order to avoid guilt, dishonesty, or power-seeking in any legitimate free society, but of course, a society of this nature is simply peaceful anarchy, strictly based only on natural law. In my days as a child, these lessons were learned very early, as children were taught not to steal, never to harm others or their property and possessions, that what is theirs, is theirs, and what is not, is not, and to protect the natural rights of other children. If only adults could live by the rules of children, what a different world this would be.

The laws of nature, natural laws, do not need to be written down, or commanded by the State, as simply understanding that one cannot do any harm to another, or infringe on another’s life, property, and freedom, is a sufficient understanding of right and wrong. With this knowledge in hand, why then are hundreds of thousands (or more) ‘laws’ made arbitrarily by this heinous government? There is a ‘law’ for seemingly every single aspect of life? As I wrote earlier this year:

“No one, no statisticians, and not even this government itself, has any clue as to how many federal laws exist. No one knows how many rules, restrictions, and regulations there are, and it is impossible to find an answer to this question. The Federal Register alone, the daily repository of all proposed and final federal rules and regulations, has well over 85,000 pages. The Code of Federal Regulations through 2019,  has 186,000 pages, and the Federal Register Pages for the past decade eclipsed 800,000 pages. This alone is unimaginable. But of course, there are more. There is a law for every aspect of our lives in this country, and there are a completely separate set of international laws, State laws, county laws, city laws, and licensing laws for every activity or thought. This is total insanity, and why every single ‘citizen’ can be deemed a criminal at any given moment. Even as far back as in the times of Roman historian Tacitus, he stated that, “The more corrupt the State, the more numerous the laws.” The U.S. has more laws by far than any other nation on earth in history, and therefore is the most corrupt and criminal of all time.”

There are only a few legitimate natural laws to live by in order to respect the rights of man, but with governments, there are no limits to bogus ‘laws.’ In fact, all government laws are against peaceful people, so this government is using the force of arms to compel the masses to obey or else. The State breaks every natural law, while at the same time enforcing its illegal mandates on the entire population. The State lies, cheats, steals, rapes, tortures, commits murder by war, both domestically and internationally, ignoring every natural right, but demands its enslaved population to obey without question its fraudulent legislation. This is the reverse of all sanity and justice.

The real crimes committed by man against man are easily understood, as logic, reason, and common sense will uncover. All one has to understand are the simple tenets of natural law. All real crimes come down to harm by one or more against another or against the many, all driven by aggression. In any society based only on natural law, these crimes can be addressed immediately, and severely if necessary, so long as the initial force is only acted upon due to self-defense. This protective posture, whether by one or many, is completely legitimate, and can not only stop the felonious behavior by the few without resort to any interfering State, but will serve as a major deterrent to those who choose to live by criminal means. In other words, the State is completely unnecessary if honest freedom is sought.

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The Death of Ireland and Replacement of the Irish People–The Conquest of Ireland and the UK Nears Completion

Posted by M. C. on May 2, 2024

“The stark reality is the Irish government is not really the Irish government it is just a puppet of the EU bureaucracy. Ireland has been a fully controlled vassal state of the banker-controlled EU,

Paul Craig Roberts

Gaza is not the only genocide. Genocide is taking place all over Europe and in the US.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/conflict-migrant-centres-ireland-uk/5856071

All over Europe and the US governments prefer immigrant-invaders over their own citizens.

“The migrants are eligible for free accommodation, free social welfare, free medical care, food, clothes, and various other perks. Whilst at the same time that the Irish government is facilitating mass immigration there are 14,000 Irish homeless people on the streets.” And many more homeless Irish citizens are on the way. Migrants are given free accommodation in hotels and country estates throughout the land, while the Irish people are seriously struggling to make ends meet in a rigged inflationary system, with a never-ending story of sky-high rents, high taxes, inflation, and an ongoing extremely serious accommodation crisis. Many young Irish citizens are left with little option but to live with their parents or emigrate to countries such as Australia as they cannot afford to live in their own country.

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Government’s Usual Habit — Don’t Change The Bad Policy Being Protested, But Attack Free Speech

Posted by M. C. on May 2, 2024

The Ron Paul Liberty Report

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Back Door War: SecDef Admits US Troops In Gaza May See Combat

Posted by M. C. on May 2, 2024

Don’t tell me you are surprised.

And like the man said – Stay Free

The Ron Paul Liberty Report

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Why You Must Never Trust the “EXPERTS” from the Government – Thomas Sowell Reacts

Posted by M. C. on May 1, 2024

Thomas Sowell Reacts

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Sound Monetary Policy in Under 40 Words

Posted by M. C. on April 30, 2024

By George F. Smith

This will be brief, appropriate to the topic at hand.  It consists of a quote from Milton Friedman, found in Joseph Salerno’s outstanding book, Money, Sound and Unsound, p. 366:

If a domestic money consists of a commodity, [such as] a pure gold standard or cowrie bead standard, the principles of monetary policy are very simple. There arent any. The commodity money takes care of itself.  [emphasis added]
Imagine that.  If we have sound money we don’t need the Fed.  Or Congress.  We just need sound money.

End of essay.

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