It appears that the hidden hand of Adam Smith has claimed another aspirational enterprise that lacked economic viability. In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a restaurant was opened to offer vegan cuisine through a “Marxist” “collectivist” “worker-run” establishment called Bartertown. Employees were guaranteed a “living wage”,” no bosses, and a strong union. The problem was complaints about rising prices, unreliable service, and unpredictable hours. The restaurant changed its name recently to the Garden Diner and Cafe, but the business collapsed this month.
We have discussed previously how the United States has lost the lead in environmental sciences and policy. The latest such example is Sweden, which is now importing garbage from other countries to keep its recycling plants going. Less than 1 per cent of Swedish household waste was sent to landfill since 2011 because Swedish families are so good at recycling waste.
Continue reading “Sweden Importing Trash After Recycling 100 Percent of Its Waste”
One of the most controversial potential nominees for President-Elect Donald Trump just got more controversial. John Bolton, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has been listed as the possible second in command at State. He previously served as ambassador under a recess appointment because he was heavily opposed by Democrats and some career State Department officials. He can now likely add intelligence officials to his opposition. In an extraordinary interview on Fox News, Bolton dismissed the CIA report finding Russian interference with the election and hacking of emails. Instead, he suggested that the entire controversy could be a “false flag,” or a false story planted by parties in the United States. That would sound like the American intelligence community and specifically the CIA to many. (The FBI was widely criticized by the Clinton supporters for its own alleged influencing of the campaign). It is an entirely unsupported and rather unhinged suggestion, particularly from someone being considered for a high office. It could make an already hot potential nomination into a positively radioactive one.
Continue reading “Bolton: Russian Hacking May Be “False Flag””
There is an interesting criminal investigation that seems to fulfill the Washington DC adage “One week on the cover of Time, next week doing time.” The point is that sometimes press is not a good thing. That would seem the case of Special Forces Maj. Matthew Golsteyn who went on Fox News for an interview. In the course of the interview, Golsteyn appears to admit to murdering a suspect in his custody in Afghanistan. Army investigators also watch television and immediately reopened the investigation into the death of the accused Taliban bombmaker.
It seemed that during the campaign the media could not spend enough time on Donald Trump’s attacks on the media. I thought it was well-earned criticism and I was shocked by Trump’s lashing out at the media. This included accounts from various people who claimed that there were call made to intimidate them. However, Mika Brzezinski has now claimed that not did the Clinton campaign try to pull her off the air but that the brass at MSNBC knew about it and said nothing publicly.
Continue reading “Did The Clinton Campaign Try To Sack Mika Brzezinski?”
There is a tragic reminder of the different levels of scrutiny and qualifications for pilots — airplane versus hot-air balloons. Alfred “Skip” Nichols, a pilot of a hot-air balloon, crashed last summer in Texas, killing himself and 15 sight-seeing passengers. It now appears that Nichols was taking a mix of different drugs, including the opiate pain-killer oxycodone. The result is a likely push for new regulation and a potential tort lawsuit, particularly after families learned that Nichols, 49, was convicted five times for driving while intoxicated and three times for drug offenses.
Continue reading “Pilot In Hot Air Balloon Crash That Killed 16 Found To Have History of DUIs and A Mix Of Drugs In His Body”
Look again. What would this Florida man want so bad that he allegedly was prepared to steal for it?
Continue reading “Can You Guess What This Person Was Charged With?”
We have previously discussed the increasing criminalization of speech. Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders has been the focused of another of these past cases, which I have criticized as undermining free speech values. Now Wilders has been convicted of hate speech and inciting racial discrimination for espousing his far right views. One does not have to agree with Wilders — and many vehemently condemn his views — to see the implications of the criminalization of speech in Europe.
Continue reading “Conservative Dutch Politician Geert Wilders Convicted For Hate Speech”
As Congress and the incoming Trump Administration grapples with how to carry out Trump pledge for a crackdown on illegal immigration, a recent tragedy in Louisville has galvanized the pro-deportation forces. While most undocumented individuals lead productive lives in the United States, Miguel Angel Villasenor-Saucedo, 40, could well become the next Willy Horton for the crackdown campaign. After it was alleged that the illegal immigrant had killed two people in a hit-and-run. it was discovered that he had been deported eight times from this country. The case shows just how open our borders are when someone like this man can enter so easily after deportations.
Continue reading “Suspect In Deaths Of Two Women In Kentucky Was Deported Eight Times”
Continue reading “Final Bill: Clinton Campaign Spent Record $1.2 Billion”
We recently discussed how minority leader Nancy Pelosi fought off a challenge after the disastrous election losses for the Democrats and then promptly declared that the “people [do not] want a new direction.” The statement was widely ridiculed as evidence of how out-of-touch the leadership of the Democratic Party had become and how insulated the members are from voters. Now, retiring Senate minority leader Harry Reid has suggested the same party line that there is no need to change direction after the election.
Continue reading “Reid: Democratic Party Not In Trouble After Electoral Defeat”
The Washington Post has been under fire for its publication of an article entitling “Russian propaganda effort helped spread ‘fake news’ during election, experts say.” The article by Craig Timberg relied on a controversial website called PropOrNot, which published what is little more than a black list of website that the authors deemed purveyors of fake news including some of the largest sites on the Internet like Drudge Report. However, the previously unknown group was itself criticized for listing “allies” that proved false. Yesterday, Hillary Clinton ramped up the call for action against “fake news” which she described as an epidemic. Now the Washington Post has published a rather cryptic correction to the fake news story. The controversy is the subject of my latest column in USA Today.
Continue reading “Washington Post Issues Correction To “Fake News” Story”
The answer for Mary Jo Smith, 47, is a curious mix of a bad relationship, a Jeep, and Christmas tunes in Connelsville, Pa.
Continue reading “Can You Guess What This Person Was Charged With?”
Life just gets better and better. Just in time for stocking stuffers, Kentucky Fried Chicken has come out with a unique present: a fried chicken scented candle. That’s right, you can now have the heavy scent of fried foods at the lighting of a match.
The Weather Channel is not where one would expect a media scrum but the venerable channel went after conservative site Breitbart with a haymaker of a video after Breitbart used one of its reporters, Kait Parker, for a story suggesting that the Earth is actually getting colder. The video is below.
Continue reading “Weather Channel Gives Glacial Response To Breitbart’s Climate Change Denial”