Is there a limit to the madness, or are we just taking a break?

A few days ago, Tom Woods reported

An NBC poll finds Americans souring on vaccine mandates, perhaps as they begin to observe their consequences.

The question: “Do you strongly favor, somewhat favor, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose requiring that everyone who is now eligible must get a COVID-19 vaccine?”

Favor 47% (34% strongly)
Oppose 50% (41% strongly)

Now expect those numbers to change if the northeast has a bad winter, even though nothing about the vaccines themselves or the issues involved will have changed.

A Kaiser Family Foundation poll published Thursday found that less than 30 percent of parents of 5- to 11-year-olds plan to get their children vaccinated. 

Agora Financial’s folks also are chipping in with some words of encouragement and wisdom:

Vaccine mandate madness has reached new heights of absurdity. To be clear, the absurdity is in the mandate, not the vaccine. The COVID vaccines do not stop the spread of the disease. Those who are vaccinated can become infected, as we saw in the recent case of White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. For that matter, vaccines can increase the spread of the disease because the vaccinated remain asymptomatic longer and build up viral loads that are ten times greater than the unvaccinated, who show symptoms quickly. That said, vaccines do reduce severe symptoms and reduce fatalities. If you want the vaccine, get it. If you don’t want to take it for one of many valid reasons, that should be your choice. Our problem is not with the vaccine; it’s with the mandate. You should not lose your job or be threatened with other punishments just for exercising free choice. Forcing people to take vaccines ignores the 46 million Americans (probably more) who have had COVID and survived and have much greater antibody protection than the vaccinated. Mandates also disregard women of child-bearing age and those with conditions that may be greatly aggravated by predictable side effects. Still, our neo-fascist government agencies don’t care about any of this. For them, it’s get vaccinated or be treated like a leper. How far has government taken this non-scientific nonsense? This story reports that New York City has had to close 20 FDNY fire companies because of suspensions, retirements and layoffs of fire fighters who chose not to be vaccinated. The same personnel losses are being reported in the NYPD, emergency medical workers, nurses, teachers, sanitation workers and others performing critical tasks needed to keep society running. Politicians don’t care. For them, it’s vax or be fired. For the rest of us it means more fires, unsafe streets, rats feeding on garbage, and no medical care. The economic cost of this is huge on top of the social costs. It’s one reason economic growth almost stalled out in the third quarter. It will get worse.

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Supply chain collapse

A couple of weeks ago, Ryan Johnson published a very interesting piece in Medium.com. He explains (1) the current shipping crisis – key to the supply chain collapse we are living through – is very likely a LONG-TERM problem, and (2) none of the proposals being made by the government policy makers (and the lobbyists and even the radical “progressive left”) are going to make a dime’s worth of difference. Since then, the accuracy of his observations is more evident than ever.

The friend who shared this with me called it “the craning article” because Johnson explained the heart of the problem and how we got into this mess: the lack of infrastructure and manpower to offload and handle shipping containers at our ports. A big problem and with no sign of a solution in sight.

Johnson’s thoughts and writing are both very interesting and enlightening – if discouraging.

It ties in with some other things, also. 

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Enough with this foreign aid stuff, anyway!

 

As I closed with in the last commentary, let’s call it quits and in this last piece, look at the fears and the REAL things the States would gain from ending federal foreign aid. Thanks to Tom and others (public and private comments) for their thoughts on foreign aid.

Whatever the claimed purposes and benefits of dispensing foreign aid, it is nothing but another wasteful and government-promoting scheme of those governments. Most foreign aid fails to provide any real benefit to any ordinary people – especially those really in need of assistance – and instead further enrich the wealthy and powerful, and promote criminal prosperity. Especially corruption.  But these practical reasons for opposing foreign aid are not the major thing wrong with it.  At the heart of the matter: there is no moral or ethical or constitutional justification for foreign aid.  It is NOT benevolence, and there are better, moral and ethical ways to provide assistance to the poor and disadvantaged. (Spoiler: it is PRIVATE, VOLUNTARY ACTION.)

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Stop foreign aid? Are you nuts?

The headline is the typical response from virtually every politician, including the vast majority in Congress, to anyone that dares to challenge the idea that because the States are “rich” we have a moral obligation to transfer billions of dollars to “poor” countries. (That is, “Third World” countries – we can’t use that term as it is politically incorrect because it is racist, bigoted, and displays attitudes of American exceptionalism and white supremacy.)

Why do we (and other western, “wealthy” countries) give foreign aid? For many countries in Europe, where church and state are united (that is, the church is ruled by and funded by, the state, and used to have some influence over the state governments), it is considered a “moral” (even biblical) obligation. Of course, since the majority of the elites (and many of the people) of these nations have rejected virtually all biblical morality, it may be a combination of two things: habit and fear.

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What if DC stopped giving foreign aid?

We are told that last year, thanks to COVID, the most foreign aid ever in world history flowed from “rich nations” to “poor nations.” Something like $150 billion US according to some sources: others say it was as high as $250 billion. Apparently only a small part of this (less than $50B) went to “fight climate change.” Which has unsweet little Greta and the woke mob upset.

I have to take the opposite tack, people.

So for the next few commentaries, let us discuss foreign aid some more, and see if we can guess what a world without foreign aid might be like.

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Foreign aid – such benevolence!

As the cheerleaders race out to tout the grand and glorious COP26 to be held in Glasgow, as billions of grams of “greenhouse gases” are generated by all the elites swarming the Scot city, one of the frequent memes seems to be foreign aid.

It appears that the “third-world” countries and their advocates are insisting that the wealthy parts of the world have failed to meet their obligations to provide enough money to combat global warming in the poor nations of the planet.

Indeed, some of the Tranzis (transnational “progressives”) claim that the failure to pay enough in foreign aid has accelerated worldwide climate change, and paupered the “money-insecure” countries. And have even demonstrated that the rich countries want COVID-19 to continue to kill billions in the third world.

Sigh. To me, this smells much like the exaggerated moaning and fearmongering we hear about COVID-19 and so much else.

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The war on COVID-19? Or the war on the economy and liberty?

It is a worldwide war, we’re told – we must fight the dreaded Beer Flu in the streets! In the stores! In the bars! In our very bedrooms! It is a worldwide war. If you are not with us – you are AGAINST us! Loose masks sink… ah, hospitals.

So sorry – seems to have lost my train of thought there. But the point still remains. From the UN Secretary General and the Pope of Rome right down to dear old dottering Uncle Joe and his minions, corporate boardrooms, town halls and county courthouses, the beat of war is steady. Count your local Mrs. Grundy and Karen and other nannie-types in the mix. Masks. More masks! Vaccines! Vaccines and masks! More vaccines! and on and on.

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“We’re all criminals” redux

By Nathan Barton

It is a theme TPOL has addressed many times, and even the scummy mainstream media constantly point this out. Not just the FedGov but all levels of government here in the States can make life miserable for families on a daily basis.  We saw it with families travel this summer as they did in 2020 (and would have even without the Beer Flu) and in 2019, And just summer? Hardly. Any time of year.

It may seem somewhat a silly list – until you tick off a federal bureaucrat enough, or get on the wrong side of a federal prosecutor (for almost any reason). Ditto for state and local prosecutors and even ordinary government attorneys (like County attorneys and City attorneys):

  • Arcane traffic laws
  • Bizarre and complex licensing regulations
  • Property management codes and requirements
  • Sales and service taxes and fees … and fees … and did I list fees?
  • Masking and vaccine requirements, decrees, and related rules
  • Permits and applications and permit conditions
  • This list could go on…
    • and on…
    • and on…

But I can speak from personal, direct knowledge, of how people can get in trouble, cited and fined, for what seem to be trivial, minor problems. It is very easy to get on the wrong side of bureaucrats, including cops, and politicians.  And if you ARE, then they will seek every opportunity to demonstrate their power over you, to show you up for a despicable person, and just plain to make life miserable for you, your family, and your friends.

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The “stupid war” on some drugs continues

Reason has a pointed headline about our wonderful friendly neighborhood People’s Socialist Democratic Woke “Republic” of California.

(Ain’t a “republic,” folks. Seriously!)

CalDrug’s illustrious defenders of public morals, pure bodies, and tax revenues have so far this year seized 1.2 MILLION pot plants, and thousands of pounds of “processed marijuana.” This stalwart action has protected Californians and California government from all the horrors of the rampant, unregulated, untaxed, free market in cannabis and cannabis products. Just as California has been protected for decades from unregulated use of water, use of air, use of land, use of vehicles and equipment, and so many more hazards of modern life (perhaps in California you can’t call it “living” – just “existing?).

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Military adventurism and the Monroe Doctrine

Doug Bandow is a fairly prolific writer and a strong libertarian – more minarchist than anarchist, but a thoughtful and insightful analyst.

His recent article “Military spending is not defense spending” published by the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) is an example of his writing for the most part. I encourage you to read, enjoy, and ponder his conclusions, with which I very much agree.

The FedGov has demonstrated time and again the difference between defense and military adventurism and bullying. A sickening difference that is seemingly ever trending upwards. Despite the “wake-up call” that the most recent fiasco in Afghanistan, both the current regime and its official opposition seem intent on continuing to do such stupid things.

While I do have a couple of nits to pick with Doug, please accept them as positive and supporting critiques. Do not let them distract from Doug’s major (and important) points about the American warfare state. And at the same time learn that the Fed Gov’s record, though black, is not totally black – there were some redeeming moments.

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