In the news

1. There’s an interesting story in the WaPo showing the steep decline in the number of college students who favor free speech.  In 1976 (when I was in college), about 90% favored allowing communists to speak on campus, whereas today the figure is below 75%.  Even steeper drops occurred regarding free speech for racists.  Unfortunately, the academic study is gated.  I’d love to know what sort of overlap there was between those opposed to free speech for racists and those opposed to free speech for communists.  (And please don’t tell me that “it’s obvious”, as it most certainly is not.)

2.  When I waste time pointing to one of Trump’s many lies, his supporters will leave comments providing preposterous defenses for his statements—even libertarians who should know better.  Now we see that his press secretary thinks it’s so obvious to everyone that Trump is a pathological liar that he can freely joke about it with the press corps.

3.  Speaking of Trump lies, Max Boot thinks that Trump’s recent lies about Obama engaging in criminal acts are the sign of a desperate man who thinks the Feds are closing in on him. Interesting article.

4.  And McCain wonders why Trump doesn’t simply release the evidence:

“The president of the Unites States could clear this up in a minute,” McCain said. “All he has to do is pick up the phone, call the director of the CIA, director of National Intelligence and say, ‘OK, what happened?’ Because they certainly should know whether the former president of the United States was wiretapping Trump Tower.”

Indeed, if Trump had obtained wiretapping information from his own intelligence sources, he would have the authority to declassify the material and substantiate his claims.

“It looks as if the president just for a moment forgot that he was president,” former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden said last week on Fox News. “Why didn’t he simply use the powers of the presidency to ask the acting director of national intelligence, the head of the FBI, to confirm or deny the story he apparently read from Breitbart the evening before?”

So Trump knows not his own presidential superpowers.

5.  The FT has a very interesting article about the civil war within the White House over trade.  Trump seems to side with the protectionists like Bannon and Navarro, but the free traders like Cohn seem to have the upper hand.  This will be an interesting test of my claim that presidents are much less powerful than people assume.

And what does the Secretary of State think about this issue?  Last time I saw Tillerson his face was on the side of a milk carton.  (Oops, someone beat me to it.)

If you aren’t having fun watching the Trump show, then you really should consider psychiatric evaluation.

Update:  Miguel Madeira left this very informative comment on the poll results:

“I’d love to know what sort of overlap there was between those opposed to free speech for racists and those opposed to free speech for communists. ”

In the GSS it is possible to have an idea, because is a database with public access on-line.

Go there http://sda.berkeley.edu/sdaweb/analysis/?dataset=gss14

In “Row” write SPKRAC; in “Column” write SPKCOM; run the table.

You will find that 68.6% of the respondents who say that communists should not be allowed to speak also say that racists should not be allowed to speak.

No, return to the main page and in “Control” write YEAR; run the table; now, you can see the evolution during the years; my impression is that the overlap is growing: in 1976, only 63% of the people who wanted to ban communist speech wanted also to ban racist speech; in 2014, 75% of the people who wanted to ban communist speech wanted also to ban racist speech.

 


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83 Responses to “In the news”

  1. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    12. March 2017 at 10:17

    I couldn’t really stand Obama and his entourage as well. But I surely did not whine about it on the internet all day. At least I hope so.

  2. Gravatar of Scott Freelander Scott Freelander
    12. March 2017 at 10:40

    I hope you’re right about the limits of presidential power limiting the damage Trump can do. So far, it seems your view is closer to reality, but it’s early yet.

  3. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    12. March 2017 at 11:04

    Christian, But Obama wasn’t so FUNNY!

  4. Gravatar of rayward rayward
    12. March 2017 at 11:56

    3. I felt that Trump’s decision to run for president was a hail marry, that he was so much in debt that only becoming president could save him from financial ruin. And his actions since being elected president evince someone desperately avoiding being caught by making wild accusations of misconduct by others. I expect a constitutional crisis ahead, with Trump doing things Nixon did not do, from more wild accusations of misconduct by those investigating him to dangerous military adventures in the far east. At what point will Republicans abandon him? Trump is no fool, and he won’t approve the tax cut Republicans in Congress covet as that is all the leverage he has.

  5. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 11:57

    “Now we see that his press secretary thinks it’s so obvious to everyone that Trump is a pathological liar that he can freely joke about it with the press corps.”

    No, Trump has repeatedly said that the “lie” in the economic data is the number of unemployed, because the most popular published stats do not include those who left the work force because their prospects were so low. He never said the number of new jobs month to month under Obama were lies.

    The WaPo and Vox are pathological liars, and here is Sumner citing them daily.

    The WaPo wrote this fake news:

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?utm_term=.04a673604715

    They recently hired pedohile and former Clinton advisor and campaign manager John Podesta onto their payroll. Hmmm, wonder why?

    The WaPo is fake news.

    ———————————

    Vox is fake news.

    This is the same Vox news that falsely attributed to Trump the quote that there was a terrorist attack in Sweden:

    https://i.imgur.com/W6bdHML.jpg

    He never said terrorist attack.

    The actual text of the speech:

    “We’ve got to keep our country safe. You look at what’s happening in Germany, you look at what’s happening last night in Sweden,”

    He then said the next day, after fake news reported he said terrorist attack:

    “My statement as to what’s happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.”

    Vox wrote:

    “Donald Trump’s embrace of the American Health Care Act, authored by Paul Ryan and other House Republicans seemingly in collaboration with establishment-minded members of his administration, represents a massive betrayal of his own clear and repeated promises to the American people.”

    No, Trump is not “embracing” the healthcare act authored by Paul Ryan. Ryan’s version is not Trump’s version. Ryan’s version yes is indeed against what Trump promised, but Vox is lying when they say he is “embracing” it.

    THE MONEY ILLUSION IS FAKE NEWS

    WAPO IS FAKE NEWS

    VOX IS FAKE NEWS

  6. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 11:58

    The fake news also use the same fake talking points:

    https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5ESnH5WMAIw7ja.jpg

  7. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 11:59

    Vox the moral authorities of unbiased news:

    http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/03/media/vox-editor-suspended-trump-riots/

  8. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 12:02

    Emmett Rensin, editor of Vox, said that in the right circumstances, it is perfectly justifiable to destroy property:

    http://i.imgur.com/lomt6oh.jpg

    Sumner is quoting communists as authorities of news about the billionaire businessman Trump

    Let that sink in

  9. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 12:07

    It is no wonder Sumner is so uninformed, all he does is read fake news

    Why not read real news? Too scared? Afraid your colleagues will start to name call you?

    I have never seen you cite Wikileaks web pages directly, despite the fact that Wikileaks has a 100% accuracy track record in over 10 years of being in operation. Not once has anything they reported, ever been later revealed as false.

    The WaPo cannot claim this

    Vox certainly cannot claim this

    You cite the CIA outfit WaPo as the source for news

    PATHETIC

  10. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 12:10

    You can tell which outlets are fake news by what they selectively ignore, or address but apologize and distort.

    Guaranteed you will not see anywhere near the same amount of coverage for this news, as we did for Trump:

    http://thehill.com/policy/international/323582-kremlin-spokesman-russian-ambassador-met-with-advisers-to-clinton

  11. Gravatar of Jerry Brown Jerry Brown
    12. March 2017 at 13:32

    The Trump show is a lot of fun and it is always interesting, but it is kind of scary when you realize it isn’t just a show and that Trump is actually the President of the United States.

  12. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 14:03

    “Speaking of Trump lies, Max Boot thinks that Trump’s recent lies about Obama engaging in criminal acts”

    Sumner how can you possibly know whether that was a lie? Are you given intelligence briefings? Or are you AGAIN going by the fake news?

  13. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 14:18

    In response to Mankiw’s question of what should Trump learn from mainstream economists, Nassim Taleb sums it up with a one word Tweet:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/nntaleb/status/840909669711388672

  14. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 14:37

    It is now confirmed that the Obama Justice Department went to the super secret FISA court in June and requested a secret warrant to monitor the communications or presidential candidate Donald J. Trump

    The FISA court rejected the request, which is interesting in view of the fact that 99% of the Government’s requests are approved.

    And yet

    Hillary Clinton gave away the game when she tweeted days before the election that “computer scientists had learned that there was a server at Trump Tower that communicated with a Russian Bank,” a false assertion that Hillary could only have learned from the intelligence agencies.

    and

    Barrack Obama also gave away the game in his statement that “he didn’t order” surveillance of Republican Presidential Nominee Donald J. Trump. This non-denial denial implicitly acknowledges that such surveillance took place.

    In other words, there was either a subsequent FISA court request that was approved, which would likely have been in October, or else the Obama DOJ went ahead and bugged the Tower anyway without FISA approval.

    Nixon, unlike Obama, didn’t use government gumshoes to do his dirty work but nevertheless bore ultimate responsibility because his campaign aides broke into the DNC.

    Trump’s address to Congress was so successful and well-received by the American people that the intelligence services leaked Senator Sessions’ perfectly legal and largely perfunctory contacts with the Russian ambassador.

    Sumner, YOU ARE SPREADING FAKE NEWS

  15. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 14:39

    ‘Obamagate’ timeline:

    June 2016: FISA request. The Obama administration files a request with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to monitor communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers. The request, uncharacteristically, is denied.

    July: Russia joke. Wikileaks releases emails from the Democratic National Committee that show an effort to prevent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) from winning the presidential nomination. In a press conference, Donald Trump refers to Hillary Clinton’s own missing emails, joking: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 e-mails that are missing.” That remark becomes the basis for accusations by Clinton and the media that Trump invited further hacking.

    October: Podesta emails. In October, Wikileaks releases the emails of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta, rolling out batches every day until the election, creating new mini-scandals. The Clinton campaign blames Trump and the Russians.

    October: FISA request. The Obama administration submits a new, narrow request to the FISA court, now focused on a computer server in Trump Tower suspected of links to Russian banks. No evidence is found — but the wiretaps continue, ostensibly for national security reasons, Andrew McCarthy at National Review later notes. The Obama administration is now monitoring an opposing presidential campaign using the high-tech surveillance powers of the federal intelligence services.

    January 2017: Buzzfeed/CNN dossier. Buzzfeed releases, and CNN reports, a supposed intelligence “dossier” compiled by a foreign former spy. It purports to show continuous contact between Russia and the Trump campaign, and says that the Russians have compromising information about Trump. None of the allegations can be verified and some are proven false. Several media outlets claim that they had been aware of the dossier for months and that it had been circulating in Washington.

    January: Obama expands NSA sharing. As Michael Walsh later notes, and as the New York Times reports, the outgoing Obama administration “expanded the power of the National Security Agency to share globally intercepted personal communications with the government’s 16 other intelligence agencies before applying privacy protections.” The new powers, and reduced protections, could make it easier for intelligence on private citizens to be circulated improperly or leaked.

    January: Times report. The New York Times reports, on the eve of Inauguration Day, that several agencies — the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Treasury Department are monitoring several associates of the Trump campaign suspected of Russian ties. Other news outlets also report the exisentence of “a multiagency working group to coordinate investigations across the government,” though it is unclear how they found out, since the investigations would have been secret and involved classified information.

    February: Mike Flynn scandal. Reports emerge that the FBI intercepted a conversation in 2016 between future National Security Adviser Michael Flynn — then a private citizen — and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. The intercept supposedly was part of routine spying on the ambassador, not monitoring of the Trump campaign. The FBI transcripts reportedly show the two discussing Obama’s newly-imposed sanctions on Russia, though Flynn earlier denied discussing them. Sally Yates, whom Trump would later fire as acting Attorney General for insubordination, is involved in the investigation. In the end, Flynn resigns over having misled Vice President Mike Pence (perhaps inadvertently) about the content of the conversation.

    February: Times claims extensive Russian contacts. The New York Times cites “four current and former American officials” in reporting that the Trump campaign had “repeated contacts with senior Russian intelligence officials. The Trump campaign denies the claims — and the Times admits that there is “no evidence” of coordination between the campaign and the Russians. The White House and some congressional Republicans begin to raise questions about illegal intelligence leaks.

    March: the Washington Post targets Jeff Sessions. The Washington Post reports that Attorney General Jeff Sessions had contact twice with the Russian ambassador during the campaign — once at a Heritage Foundation event and once at a meeting in Sessions’s Senate office. The Post suggests that the two meetings contradict Sessions’s testimony at his confirmation hearings that he had no contacts with the Russians, though in context (not presented by the Post) it was clear he meant in his capacity as a campaign surrogate, and that he was responding to claims in the “dossier” of ongoing contacts. The New York Times, in covering the story, adds that the Obama White House “rushed to preserve” intelligence related to alleged Russian links with the Trump campaign. By “preserve” it really means “disseminate”: officials spread evidence throughout other government agencies “to leave a clear trail of intelligence for government investigators” and perhaps the media as well.

    In summary: the Obama administration sought, and eventually obtained, authorization to eavesdrop on the Trump campaign; continued monitoring the Trump team even when no evidence of wrongdoing was found; then relaxed the NSA rules to allow evidence to be shared widely within the government, virtually ensuring that the information, including the conversations of private citizens, would be leaked to the media.

  16. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 14:44

    The BIGGER scandal is the “Muslim Brotherhood” Awan brothers operation in the DOJ, hacking cell phones, which the Russia investigation will lead right into and take down a bunch of dems. See George Webb’s videos on YouTube:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOsMxI1w3IE

  17. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 14:46

    Part 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AQelhNiEKE

    Part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-hUclNzcJs

  18. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    12. March 2017 at 14:57

    ‘If you aren’t having fun watching the Trump show, then you really should consider psychiatric evaluation.’

    Oh, there’s plenty of room on the couch for the Max Boots and the others who are being so obtuse.

  19. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 15:07

    “He DOES have evidence.” ex-CIA agent, on Obama wiretapping Trump:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9M5HlzCulc

  20. Gravatar of Philip Crawford Philip Crawford
    12. March 2017 at 15:40

    MF, you need a hobby. Something other than the copying & pasting of crazy comments on, ahem, the blog of a “professional economist”.

  21. Gravatar of Benjamin Cole Benjamin Cole
    12. March 2017 at 16:35

    I may need a psychiatric examination…but Obama said he was unaware Angela Merkel`s cell phone had been bugged by American intelligence. Obama was US president at the time.

    So either Obama lied, or US intelligence agencies sometimes operate beyond executive branch oversight (let alone Congressional).

    Keep an open mind regarding Trump`s conflicts with national intelligence agencies.

    Trump is a lulu, but there are worse things than lulus.

  22. Gravatar of Dean Dean
    12. March 2017 at 17:13

    I’m beginning to believe that there is no argument by Trump critics as damning of Trump than his own defenses and those of his supporters. I would note, though, that it’s well past time to retire the “-gate” suffix for scandals. We already have its replacement in the new “-ghazi” suffix.

    As for silver linings, we should be getting a flood of interesting data on trade as the administration shakes out its policies. Infighting means a higher likelihood of only inconsistent protectionist measures, so there will be plenty of control groups for the sake of comparison.

  23. Gravatar of Viking Viking
    12. March 2017 at 17:28

    Benjamin Cole, who is a net GDP growth cool ade drinker is the voice of reason that suggests we should evaluate Presidents Trump and Obama by the same criteria. It is good to have some non tribal dudes around!

  24. Gravatar of Jerry Brown Jerry Brown
    12. March 2017 at 17:55

    Benjamin, I would speculate that bugging of important foreign leaders is commonplace and is done as a matter of course without any directive from the executive or even awareness on the part of the President. US law however is specifically designed to protect US citizens from unreasonable invasions of privacy and requires a judge to authorize it to be legal and to be used in court as evidence of criminal acts. Trump is a US citizen and a court would have had to authorize any wiretapping for that to be legal. Angela Merkel is not a US citizen as far as I know and our laws are not designed to protect her privacy. Nor should they be.

    Trump claimed Obama had him wiretapped. If that is true, and no court authorized it for a good reason, then it is a major problem and a yuge violation of law. But do you really think that is true? I don’t.

  25. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 18:13

    Philip Crawford,

    Go back to sleep citizen, the big boys are talking

  26. Gravatar of Jerry Brown Jerry Brown
    12. March 2017 at 18:32

    MF, over the years I have gained a certain respect for you through your comments. Even though I have profound disagreements with your philosophy, you have usually stuck to somewhat logical arguments in your comments. Not that you care about my opinion, but today you decided to spam this thread with a bunch of crap. In my opinion.

    I’m with Philip Crawford here and would suggest that it is you who should take a rest. Citizen.

  27. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    12. March 2017 at 19:06

    Jerry Brown, it is not a bunch of crap. The crap you see is above this:

    This entry was posted on March 12th, 2017 and is filed under Misc., Trump Derangement Syndrome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or Trackback from your own site.

    Watch this video:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30kAD7IgySA&feature=youtu.be

  28. Gravatar of Miguel Madeira Miguel Madeira
    12. March 2017 at 19:20

    “I’d love to know what sort of overlap there was between those opposed to free speech for racists and those opposed to free speech for communists. ”

    In the GSS it is possible to have an idea, because is a database with public acess on-line.

    Go there http://sda.berkeley.edu/sdaweb/analysis/?dataset=gss14

    In “Row” write SPKRAC; in “Column” write SPKCOM; run the table.

    You will find that 68.6% of the respondents who say that communists should not be allowed to speak also say that racists should not be allowed to speak.

    No, return to the main page and in “Control” write YEAR; run the table; now, you can see the evolution during the years; my impression is that the overlap is growing: in 1976, only 63% of the people who wanted to ban communist speach wanted also to ban racist speach; in 2014, 75% of the people who wanted to ban communist speach wanted also to ban racist speach.

  29. Gravatar of morgan warstler morgan warstler
    12. March 2017 at 19:53

    Max Boot is basically having to write for free at this point… what else is he gonna say? He’s being starved to death.

    —-

    My giant erection is making it hard to stay conscious:

    “The cuts Trump plans to propose this week are also expected to lead to layoffs among federal workers, changes that would be felt sharply in the Washington area. According to an economic analysis by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, the reductions outlined so far by Trump’s advisers would reduce employment in the region by 1.8 percent and personal income by 3.5 percent, and lower home prices by 1.9 percent.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/through-his-budget-a-bottom-line-look-at-trumps-new-washington/2017/03/12/29739206-05be-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html?utm_term=.314162b2e1d2

  30. Gravatar of Ben J Ben J
    12. March 2017 at 21:23

    I am saddened by the display of ailing mental health from our own Major Freedom, once a noble Rothbardian fighting against the shocking tyranny of NGDP targeting. I hope you come out of your mania soon MF!

  31. Gravatar of Benjamin Cole Benjamin Cole
    12. March 2017 at 22:20

    Benjamin, I would speculate that bugging of important foreign leaders is commonplace and is done as a matter of course without any directive from the executive or even awareness on the part of the President. —Jerry Brown

    Well maybe…we promised to stop.

    I am getting the Impression that every phone call or email on the entire planet is being recorded.

    Contents thereof are then selectively leaked, if not entirely fabricated.

    It is a matter of historical record that many US presidents were afraid to cross J Edgar Hoover. He ended up being FBI director for life.

    Are we so sure our current US presidents are not similarly hobbled by current-day intelligence agencies?

  32. Gravatar of mbka mbka
    12. March 2017 at 22:33

    O dear, don’t slander our very own MF! He’s just using the Russian “Firehose of propaganda” method:

    http://www.rand.org/pubs/perspectives/PE198.html

    Just a tidbit quote:
    “The Russian propaganda model is high-volume and multichannel, and it disseminates messages without regard for the truth. It is also rapid, continuous, and repetitive, and it lacks commitment to consistency.”

  33. Gravatar of Postkey Postkey
    13. March 2017 at 00:52

    From the ‘Interesting article’.

    “There is a good reason why Trump and his partisans are so apoplectic about the prospect of a special counsel, and it is precisely why it is imperative to appoint one: because otherwise we will never know the full story of the Kremlin’s tampering with our elections . . . ”

    More ‘fake news’?
    “In an interview with Fox News set to air Tuesday, Assange told Sean Hannity that Russia was not the source of the email hack, contradicting reports from the intelligence community that the Russian government purposely interfered with the presidential election.”
    http://uk.businessinsider.com/trump-knows-the-feds-are-closing-in-on-him-2017-3?r=US&IR=T

    An example of ‘interference’?

    From Time Magazine.
    “Last winter Yeltsin’s approval ratings were in the single digits. There are many reasons for his change in fortune, but a crucial one has remained a secret. For four months, a group of American political consultants clandestinely participated in guiding Yeltsin’s campaign. Here is the inside story of how these advisers helped Yeltsin achieve the victory that will keep reform in Russia alive.”
    Read more at http://thefreethoughtproject.com/us-rigging-russia-election-cia-struggles/#5m3ypeoFGS25v8vm.99

  34. Gravatar of Postkey Postkey
    13. March 2017 at 01:13

    “It looks as if the president just for a moment forgot that he was president,” former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden said last week on Fox News. “Why didn’t he simply use the powers of the presidency to ask the acting director of national intelligence, the head of the FBI, to confirm or deny the story he apparently read from Breitbart the evening before?”
    Good point.

  35. Gravatar of Benjamin Cole Benjamin Cole
    13. March 2017 at 02:49

    Another spooky thought (pun intended):

    One problem with nearly all military and intelligence stories is the the military and intelligence communities have a monopoly on the relevant information.

    Was the raid in Yemen in a big success, or did we kill 14 girls and women with no upside?

    Did wiretappers go beyond their FISA authorizations in bugging Trump Tower?

    Who will ever know, and unless the wiretappers say so?

    What news is leaked and what disinformation is leaked? Who knows?

  36. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    13. March 2017 at 04:49

    Meanwhile, back at the ranch;

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/through-his-budget-a-bottom-line-look-at-trumps-new-washington/2017/03/12/29739206-05be-11e7-b9fa-ed727b644a0b_story.html?utm_term=.f8e07df84c77&wpisrc=nl_az_most&wpmk=1

    ————-quote———–
    President Trump’s budget proposal this week would shake the federal government to its core if enacted, culling back numerous programs and expediting a historic contraction of the federal workforce.

    This would be the first time the government has executed cuts of this magnitude — and all at once — since the drawdown following World War II, economists and budget analysts said.

    The spending budget Trump is set to release Thursday will offer the clearest snapshot of his vision for the size and role of government. Aides say that the president sees a new Washington emerging from the budget process, one that prioritizes the military and homeland security while slashing many other areas, including housing, foreign assistance, environmental programs, public broadcasting and research. Simply put, government would be smaller and less involved in regulating life in America, with private companies and states playing a much bigger role.
    —————–endquote————–

    Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.

  37. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    13. March 2017 at 05:03

    Ben, You don’t seem to understand what Trump is claiming. He says Obama KNEW, and even ordered the bugging. So your claim about Merkel is completely irrelevant.

    Thanks Miguel, I’ll add an update.

    mbka, I stopped reading MF years ago when I suspected he was a robot. I’m not surprised if he’s shifted from libertarian to alt-right.

    Patrick, Trump is proposing big increases in national defense and no cuts to major entitlements. You do the math. Maybe he’ll get rid of “waste, fraud and abuse.”

  38. Gravatar of JMCSF JMCSF
    13. March 2017 at 05:44

    MF. LOL omg go find something else to do srsly. Gurl, bye.

  39. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 06:36

    MF has gone from a tinfoil hat wearing anarchist to a tin foil hat wearing alt right authoritarian. Polar opposite philosophies within a span of a few months. The only consistent theme is the tin foil hat. Hilarious.

    Morgan, there is no reduction in federal spending here. It’s just a shift in priorities. It’s rather illuminating that shifting federal spending away from empathy for the weak and dumb to building weapons to destroy life gives you an erection.

    I repeat… there is no reduction in spending. Just a shift from life giving spending to life taking war. Are you a libertarian or do you just hate poor people?

  40. Gravatar of morgan warstler morgan warstler
    13. March 2017 at 07:36

    “The cuts Trump plans to propose this week are also expected to lead to layoffs among federal workers, changes that would be felt sharply in the Washington area. According to an economic analysis by Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody’s Analytics, the reductions outlined so far by Trump’s advisers would reduce employment in the region by 1.8 percent and personal income by 3.5 percent, and lower home prices by 1.9 percent.”

    Sorry Student. Massive firings in DC even if money was then used to prop open doors, is a net gain. Using it to do more Aleppo, Mosul (prop up dictators) and end ISIS – is GREAT.

  41. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 08:56

    Marks analysis is bunk. Shifting 50 some billion from non-entitlement domestic spending to discretionary military spending accomplishes nothing save for a small increase in the odds congressional control flips in 2018…

    Care to place bet on D.C. home prices? I’d be willing even give you the -1.8 to 0% and just bet price increases stay black through 2018.

  42. Gravatar of Ray Lopez Ray Lopez
    13. March 2017 at 08:57

    @morgan warstler – dream on if you think bureaucracy in DC will be cut. I study this stuff, as it’s talking my book (my family got rich with DC real estate). We long-time DC residents have seen this before, with the so-called Reagan Revolution (it did level off the size of the federal government for a while, but then it took off again in the 1990s). This too will pass. Bet on it, we are.

    Bonus trivia: did you know that about half the taxes you pay go to state and local governments, not the feds, and about 75% go to ‘mandatory’ spending like Social Security? Internet: “In FY 2016, total US government spending, federal, state, and local, was “guesstimated” to be $6.66 trillion of the 18.6 trillion US GDP, with federal $3.85 trillion (3.85/18.6 = 21%); state $1.66 trillion (9%); local $1.81 trillion (10%).” 6.66T/18.6T = 36% of GDP Blame your state and mayor for about half your taxes. Yes, I’m even looking at YOU Texas, Florida and South Dakota.

  43. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    13. March 2017 at 10:20

    ‘Patrick, Trump is proposing big increases in national defense and no cuts to major entitlements. You do the math. Maybe he’ll get rid of “waste, fraud and abuse.”’

    First pick the low hanging fruit.

  44. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    13. March 2017 at 10:26

    Then maybe Trump could get on this page;

    https://www.wsj.com/articles/that-pension-you-earned-may-soon-be-coming-from-someone-else-1489342032

    ‘The loss of a federal backstop didn’t bother Nevada resident Edward Fowler, an 80-year-old retiree….

    ‘”Who’s in worse shape, Prudential, or the federal government?” …. He said he was “more worried about our government going bankrupt than Prudential”‘

  45. Gravatar of Patrick R. Sullivan Patrick R. Sullivan
    13. March 2017 at 10:31

    Of course, the WAPO’s real concern is, where does Steve Bannon live?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/during-his-political-rise-stephen-k-bannon-was-a-man-with-no-fixed-address/2017/03/11/89866f4c-0285-11e7-ad5b-d22680e18d10_story.html?utm_term=.77e1cc708d47

    ————–quote————-
    No presidential adviser in recent memory has followed such a mysterious, peripatetic path to the White House. It was as though he was a man with no fixed address.

    He owned a house and condo in Southern California, where he had entertainment and consulting businesses, a driver’s license and a checking account. He claimed Florida as his residence, registering to vote in Miami and telling authorities he lived at the same address as his third ex-wife.
    ————–endquote————–

    That’s almost as good as how much time did Dwight Eisenhower play golf.

  46. Gravatar of morgan warstler morgan warstler
    13. March 2017 at 10:41

    Home prices below it’s relative market avg is all I’m claiming.

    DC sucks wind, grows slower (other grow faster) … that’s all that matters.

    Ray you’re wrong for different reason, long term “DC” property values is similar to MALLS.

    I do this for a living, so I’m biased, but my napkin math has “GOVT” on a 30 year decline to <5% of labor force – thats everyone, soldiers, teachers, bureaucrats – software is simply transparent and thus fair. Most of what we call LAW MAKING will be done for free by "us" – concerned citizens – and "LAWS" will just be software.

    The reason Im right is A/B testing – it's simply unbeatable.

    Think of Obamacare's LAW, the actual legalese as actual computer code, the code that runs Healthcare.gov…

    Now think about how there may be 12 changes to the law as "coders" – elected officials vote to "pull" new git and make it gold.

    So this is what I think comes… govt buildings and employees go away. BUT, like farms that make more food every year… your new govt services = govt employees who drive or vid conf to where you are and are rated (and fired or promoted) on their customer services.

    So yeah DC is done. Fed Govt going to be replaced by something that looks like Amazon strewn about the country. As valuable as Amazon is to Seattle. Nothing more.

  47. Gravatar of msgkings msgkings
    13. March 2017 at 10:58

    @morgan: ah the breathless futurology of the techno-utopians.

    Don’t make any wagers on that.

  48. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 11:43

    If that’s what you were trying to say, why did you link to an article estimating that trumps cuts to non-discretionary domestic spending and increases in military spending would lead to a 1.9% decrease in D.C. area home values?

    Also, while I agree many if not most government tasks will be automated over the next 30 years, I see no reason to believe this will happen faster in the government sector than in the private sector (given your vision seems to require a whole new constitution and all). IMO, it’s more likely software developers/entrepreneurs are completely replaced by autonomous AI engines well before institutional structures governing societal rule making.

  49. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 12:21

    *non-entitlement discretionary domestic spending…

  50. Gravatar of Ravi Smith Ravi Smith
    13. March 2017 at 12:54

    There has always been a Jacksonian (Redneck) strain in American politics. From my limited experience with this group, they tend to follow something like these cultural rules:

    1. Don’t back down from a fight. (See Cohen, ‘Culture of Honor’)
    2. Ridicule the pretentious and self-righteous.
    3. Never betray one of your own (loyalty).

    My loose impression is that many Trump supporters don’t believe him but support him because he is ‘one of them’ or they enjoy his irreverence.

  51. Gravatar of Bill Ellis Bill Ellis
    13. March 2017 at 13:26

    Speaking of, in the news, and Trump lies…What should be an interest to every economist…as health care is such a large part of the economy….

    … Trumpd’care revealed!

    http://www.vox.com/2017/3/13/14912520/cbo-ahca-gop-plan

  52. Gravatar of Bill Ellis Bill Ellis
    13. March 2017 at 13:40

    Christian List
    12. March 2017 at 10:17
    “I couldn’t really stand Obama and his entourage as well. But I surely did not whine about it on the internet all day. At least I hope so.”

    The Obama presidency was, among many things… eight years of pretty complaints played at every volume and every tone the right could produce…

    No matter if you joined in or not… (All of us get petty sometimes ) …. what really strikes me about your comment is you seem to have not noticed the constant pettiness directed at Obama and his family… At all…and now see pettiness directed at Trump (The pettiest, most vulgar and insulting candidate ever ) and you act if it is something new and deplorable…a symptom of the poor morality of those who do it…

  53. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 13:41

    I just continue to shake my head at the referencing the fake news website Vox, as if it were credible.

    It is fake news Bill. You’re brainwashing yourself. Maybe on purpose?

  54. Gravatar of Bill Ellis Bill Ellis
    13. March 2017 at 13:50

    morgan warstler ….sometimes you make more sense than people give you credit for… sometimes you don’t…

    But your writing style can be pretty impenetrable… Very idiosyncratic… kinda interesting for it’s quirks and rhythms…*

    You could do better if you really wanted to communicate instead just play around in your own head…

    People… When you read morgan’s stuff… Imagine it said like a Beat poet might say it…
    It works…
    It’s funny…

  55. Gravatar of Bill Ellis Bill Ellis
    13. March 2017 at 13:51

    MF…you are a joke to me… a total poser

  56. Gravatar of Bill Ellis Bill Ellis
    13. March 2017 at 13:52

    MF…Infaltion still hiding under your bed ? it’s been 7 years now… Where the heck is it ?

  57. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 14:10

    Ben J, JMCSF, and Student:

    All three of you are missing the point of everything I wrote, and are missing the elephant in the room.

    This is not about defending Trump as President, as if I am trying to justify the legitimacy of his UNJUST authority.

    This is about the very dangerous and very important area of news media, which unless you have been living under a rock, are to a significant extent in bed with the deep state, the entrenched state, the extremely anti-libertarian state.

    You whack jobs are nowhere close to understanding what is needed to defend actual liberty in the country. You don’t do so by falling for the statist globalist fake news designed specifically to, or has the effect to, REDUCE individual liberty by transitioning more and more power to centralized forces less accountable to the average person, well my ignorant little friends, I can see that your writings here are the ramblings of little children who have no clue what is going on the world around you.

    It is impossible to fight for liberty without TRUE information about the world. If you believe in state sponsored lies, and they are state sponsored (see Obama’s legalization of state propaganda in the 2014 bill that was passed into law), then you are not able to fight for actual liberty.

    You spew out pathetic mantras like “tin foil hat” yet everything I wrote is verified and admitted to by the very parties involved, you just don’t get it because you’re brainwashed like Sumner for believing fake news sites like Vox and WaPo.

    The leaks that came out with Vault 7, are true. Sorry my little snowflakes, but the big boys and girls are handling this on your delicate behalfs.

    The fight going on fit now is not between left and rig, but between Nationalists and Globalists.

    Nothing of what you wrote comes close to even addressing the information I laid out. All you have is salt, emotion, and ignorance.

    I hope you stay safe and one day educate yourselves.

  58. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 14:15

    Bill Ellis,

    I could not car less what you think of me personally. I find it a tragedy that you and so many others on this blog are being brainwashed by fake news.

    And it is spelled “poseur” with a u by the way. And I still run circles around your posts, that hasn’t changed. Still easy.

    You ask about inflation? You continue to lie and misrepresent. I never made any prediction about what inflation would be in March 2017.

  59. Gravatar of Ravi Ravi
    13. March 2017 at 14:28

    Major Freedom,
    “..REDUCE individual liberty by transitioning more and more power to centralized forces less accountable to the average person.”
    “It is impossible to fight for liberty without TRUE information about the world.”

    Unfortunately, the fight for self-government against centralized power must go on without perfect information. One point in our advantage is that large bureaucracies suffer from even greater informational difficulties. I think the best path forward is experimenting with local government institutions (I&R, citizens review panels etc), keeping the innovations that work and tossing those that don’t. As Tocqueville and Alinsky warned; citizens must remained involved in the action of governing themselves or the power of DC will grow and self-government pass from the scene.

  60. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    13. March 2017 at 14:40

    @Bill
    I felt uncomfortable with Obama because about 95% of the media and intelligentsia I read supported him. I feel very uncomfortable when something like this happens. I’m a man of balance. 95% support can not be right, it’s too extreme. When something like this happens I feel the strong urge to part with this crowd. And I did.

    Something similar happens with Trump. At least 95% of the media and intelligentsia I read detest him. Joining this crowd and reading/writing the ten thousandth hit job just bores me to death, not only from a intellectual point of view but also from a moralistic one. Everybody can do that, it’s like beating a dead horse. Scott Sumner really shines when he is explaining theories that challenge the mainstream opinion. That’s what intellectual work should be all about.

  61. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 14:41

    Ravi,

    Your point is well taken. At the same time though, the fight for liberty includes exposing state lies.

    Nobody is asking for perfect information, which is at root a mystical standard that attracts anti-capitalists because it can always be used to attack non-socialist economies no matter how efficient and free they are.

    What we do expect, and will fight to bring about, is honesty where we catch dishonesty, truth where we see falsehoods, and real news when we catch fake news.

    Some of the yahoos on this log where their ignorance with a badge of honor because they like to hear themselves in the echo chamber they have set up for themselves. Conceited and arrogant fools who are what the Soviets called “useful idiots”.

  62. Gravatar of Ravi Smith Ravi Smith
    13. March 2017 at 15:14

    Major Freedom,

    Uncovering the truth is certainly a worthy cause. I applaud exposing state lies and attempts to keep the press honest, but think that the ‘echo chamber effect’ is a strong barrier. Will observers listen to the truth or reject the messenger as delusional/evil? I am currently living in Switzerland and am impressed by the way decentralization and direct democracy reveal policy effects. An example in the US is the Washington state carbon tax that just got voted down
    https://www.usnews.com/news/business/articles/2016-11-12/washington-rejects-carbon-tax-but-backers-are-undeterred
    Most informed observers on both the left and right realized that it was an attempt at rent-seeking that would have no appreciable effects on emissions and were able to get the word out in a way that I can’t imagine happening at the federal level.

  63. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 15:15

    Perrenial hack writer from Vox Yglesias still hasn’t corrected this lie:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/voxdotcom/status/835493303948873730

    The Russia flags were in fact handed out by another hack from HuffPo

    The Russia collusion story is fake news, designed by Clinton and current and former CIA cronies. Leaked emails show the ruse was planned all the way back in April 2016. Ironically, many of Clinton’s campaign staff did speak with Russian agents, which recent leaks have shown.

    The CIA must be abolished. Absolutely wretched institution.

  64. Gravatar of Dan W. Dan W.
    13. March 2017 at 15:50

    Scott,

    When Obama claimed ObamaCare would save American families $2500 a year did he KNOW he was lying? Or was he incompetent? In your opinion which is the more disqualifying trait for a president to have?

    As a matter of fact Trump lies. As a matter of political expediency Trump is a genius. Consider what really has happened since Trump’s election: Both the NY Times and the Washington Post reported stories about Trump and his staff that contained information that could only have been acquired via wiretap. So either Trump and his people were tapped OR government agents lied to reporters OR the reporters lied. A typical Republican president would have done nothing and allowed the lies to destroy his/her credibility before ALL voters. Trump, by issuing his own bold lie turned the tables. He called the bluff of his political enemies and what do they have? NOTHING! All they have now is the claim that Trump lied in saying that Obama tapped him. Gone are the claims that Trump’s people were dealing with the Russians (claims you bought into hook, line & sinker). Those claims were fabrications and now they have vanished.

    So did Obama tap Trump? Probably not in any way that would leave his fingerprints. But there is plenty of smoke to suggest that Democratic operatives abused their bureacratic authority and acted politically, either to illegally leak conversations or to fabricate to reporters conversations that never happened.

  65. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 17:18

    MF… statist globalist media… you mean that dogged Jewish conspiracy under a new name? Snowflake? What’s next cucksetvative? Nuff said. You are a robot troll.

  66. Gravatar of Benjamin Cole Benjamin Cole
    13. March 2017 at 17:20

    Scott: it appears national intelligence agencies, under FISA authorization, bugged Trump Tower.

    It is possible the bugging was performed without informing President Obama.

    It is also possible that the bugging was performed and the president was informed and even informally informed of the contents of the bugging.

    Trump is probably exaggerating. On the other hand, being bugged is aggravating.

    We don’t know.

  67. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 17:20

    Dan,

    Trump genius? You must be kidding, right? You may hate liberals, you may hate social justice Catholics… but trump a genius? The dude is an idiot and anyone not sucking his teet sees that.

  68. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 17:23

    B Cole. Well how about some proof then? How about a call to the FBI or CIA. This sounds a lot like fake BLS numbers and millions voting illegally, that Obama is foreign born, on and on ad nauseum. The dude reads something on briebart and assumes it’s reality. He is gullible as shit.

  69. Gravatar of Dan W. Dan W.
    13. March 2017 at 18:01

    Student,

    Trump changed the story vector from HIM collaborating with Russians to steal the election to HIM accusing Obama of acting illegally. The former story is one that would offend almost all Americans. The latter story is one that only bothers those who would never vote for Trump in the first place.

    Trump’s response was political genius – the same type of genius that got him elected President. You don’t have to believe he’s a genius but then you need to explain how he won and not only beat a terrible but “sure thing” candidate in Hillary Clinton but he had to beat the media and he had to beat a gaggle of GOP contenders – many who had real political experience. Trump beat them all which means he has a genius about him.

  70. Gravatar of Jerry Brown Jerry Brown
    13. March 2017 at 18:10

    Dan W. what stories reported by the New York Times or The Washington Post are you referring to? It is difficult to evaluate your claims without this information. And let me ask- are these stories that could not have been obtained without the actual wiretapping of Trump and his administration as targets (which would be a big problem for me)?

    Or are they stories based on interception of communication between foreign governments (communications that are routinely monitored and may not have been legal anyways) and the Trump people obtained before Trump was inaugurated and became our President?

    Or are they just fake news along with fake tweets from our President?

    If I place a phone call to someone under surveillance, the call might be recorded, but that has nothing to do with me- that doesn’t mean I am being tapped unless all my other calls to everyone else are also monitored.

    Since President Trump claimed publicly that he was a target of wiretapping ordered by President Obama no less, he should provide the information that substantiates this claim. This is not some aside remark that should be laughed away. It is a major violation of our law and a major concern if true. And its even worse if it isn’t true.

  71. Gravatar of Jerry Brown Jerry Brown
    13. March 2017 at 18:18

    Yes Benjamin, where is your evidence and why would not the President of the United States provide the evidence for his claims?

  72. Gravatar of Dan W. Dan W.
    13. March 2017 at 18:27

    Jerry,

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/us/politics/russia-intelligence-communications-trump.html?_r=0

    As for your last paragraph what law has Trump violated by saying Obama ordered these wiretaps that may or may not have happened? I’m all for politicians being held accountable for the things they say but it seems people are suddenly interested in holding Trump to account in a way they never hold previous presidents to account. Obama, for example, had the knack of calling out local law enforcement for acting stupidly, or even with racist motivation. When Obama made these statements were they opinion or fact? And so with Trump. Did he speak as a matter of opinion or fact?

  73. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 18:45

    Student:

    Go back to sleep Student, it’s past your bedtime. The adults who don’t need to appeal to obsolete “racist/xenophobic/antisemitic/islamaphobe” dodges and evasions masquerading as actual arguments, are speaking adult language now. The kind of language that unsettles and triggers your delicate soul.

    You are a troll

    ————————————-

    Constitutionally elected president that’s been in office less than two months and is already ceding power back to the states and congress.

    Worst fascist dictator ever.

  74. Gravatar of Jerry Brown Jerry Brown
    13. March 2017 at 19:05

    Thanks for the link Dan. But there is nothing in that story that would not have been obtained through “normal” surveillance rather than illegal surveillance of private US citizens. And believe me, I hate even using the word “normal” regarding surveillance by the government.

    As to the second part of your reply, I guess you just expect less from whomever we elect President than I expect.

  75. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 19:07

    Dan W.

    “Trump changed the story vector from HIM collaborating with Russians to steal the election to HIM accusing Obama of acting illegally. The former story is one that would offend almost all Americans.”

    It’s also the one that is fake news

    The “story vector” was even sheepishly admitted as debunked by the perpetual liar himself James “We’re not spying on American citizens” Clapper, on January 20.

    No evidence of collusion

    Yet the fake news keeps saying the same thing over and over

    Hillary Clinton’s campaign staff meanwhile was just reported by Putin’s spokesman himself to have corresponded with Russian ambassador and diplomats, yet we hear nothing on the fake news of course.

    Wikileaks emails reveal that almost Secretary of State, John Podesta, owned 75,000 shares of an energy company with ties to the Kremlin, and he covered it up by transferring the shares to his daughter. Meanwhile, his brother, Tony Podesta, who is very close, was paid almost $200,000 lobbying for a Russian state owned bank, against the sanctions. Then you have Hillary Clinton, whose husband Bill received $500,000 in “speaking fees”, i.e. bribe, from a Russian bank promoting the Russian company “Uranium One”‘s stock, and the Clinton Foundation accepted $2.35 million dollars in “donations” from Ian Telfer, the at the time head of Uranium One, with 9 other investors funnelling $145 million to the Clinton Foundation. Then Clinton signed off on the sale of 20% of our Uranium production over to Russia.

    It is the Clintons and her staff that have “deep ties” with Russia, not Trump. He doesn’t have any deals there.

    Another leaked email from way back in April 2016 showed that the Clinton camp was already planning to start the fake story of a Trump-Russia collusion:

    https://i.imgur.com/jCXMrSz.jpg

    You talk about changing the “story vector”, ha, trying having a real story rather than a fake story

  76. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    13. March 2017 at 19:16

    Here’s a “in the news” website you will never see Sumner reference:

    https://wikileaks.org/ciav7p1/

    One highlight:

    “With UMBRAGE and related projects the CIA cannot only increase its total number of attack types but also misdirect attribution by leaving behind the ‘fingerprints’ of the groups that the attack techniques were stolen from.”

    In other words, this project allows the CIA to make it LOOK like a foreign entity [Like RUSSIA for you slow moneyillusion fans] hacked into a server.

    Sound familiar?

    The breakfast bell is ringing folks, time to get out of bed

  77. Gravatar of Student Student
    13. March 2017 at 19:33

    Night and day, whether he sleeps or gets up, the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.

  78. Gravatar of Dan W. Dan W.
    14. March 2017 at 05:49

    Then there is this as concerning point #1:

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/03/is-intersectionality-a-religion.html

    “This matters, it seems to me, because reason and empirical debate are essential to the functioning of a liberal democracy. We need a common discourse to deliberate. We need facts independent of anyone’s ideology or political side, if we are to survive as a free and democratic society. Trump has surely shown us this. And if a university cannot allow these facts and arguments to be freely engaged, then nowhere is safe. Universities are the sanctuary cities of reason. If reason must be subordinate to ideology even there, our experiment in self-government is over.”

    Does Sumner comprehend that the people getting violent and suppressing freedom of speech are anti-Trump? Sure, Sumner may not be picking up rocks himself to throw at the Charles Murray’s of the world but, like Saul in the New Testament, he is standing on the perimeter and holding the robes of those who do.

    Trump’s rise is a political response to the narrow, corrupt, ideology of the Left. The way to beat him is politically – with people assembling to advance a better system of laws and policies. But that takes effort and it takes a better plan. So while Trump’s plan is weak and half-baked his political enemies are incapable of providing an alternative! And so rather than debate ideas we have violence and the pursuit of victory by destroying the institutions that made Western democracy the great system it once was.

  79. Gravatar of Viking Viking
    14. March 2017 at 09:16

    @Dan W (and Host)

    Dan has a very good point, and given Trump’s very narrow election victory, the SJW violence against trump rallies, and the subsequent victim blaming by mainstream media might very well have pushed Trump across the finish line. There was nothing inevitable about Trump, and from my perspective, he is only a sideways step in the inevitable slide into the abyss of socialism.

  80. Gravatar of Christian List Christian List
    14. March 2017 at 10:55

    @Dan W.


    When Obama claimed ObamaCare would save American families $2500 a year did he KNOW he was lying? Or was he incompetent? In your opinion which is the more disqualifying trait for a president to have?

    Don’t forget about: “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.”

    What a golden cut. It’s glorious:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpa-5JdCnmo

  81. Gravatar of ssumner ssumner
    14. March 2017 at 17:32

    Everyone, Thanks for the comments. I’m greatly enjoying watching Trumpistas try to defend the man. Keep it up!

  82. Gravatar of Major-Freedom Major-Freedom
    14. March 2017 at 17:58

    I greatly enjoy Sumner trying to attack Trump

    It’s like watching a socialist pigeon playing chess: Squawks fake news, defecates all over the chessboard, then flies away thinking it won

    The only people who are actually legitimately criticizing Trump are his own conservative supporters who were asked by Steve Bannon to hold them accountable

    Sumner is merely copying and pasting left wing fake news everyday

    Nitwit John Oliver, you should have seen him defending the CIA for 6 minutes in a row, he actually said in response to the CIA illegally spying on citizens through covertly activating the microphone on Samsung TVs, “Just turn it off then”,

    There is massive cognitive dissonance taking place

    The left, including Sumner, just don’t know what to do anymore

    It’s flailing around like a bowl of crazy spaghetti noodles

    ———-

    Trump paid more money in taxes in 2005 on his business earnings than Sumner will ever earn in 50 lifetimes:

    http://i.imgur.com/GPs1GdR.jpg

    http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/03/14/trump-tax-returns-show-president-paid-38-million-2005-white-house-says/99192100/

    But Trump is such a loser in comparison, right? All those businessmen in the efficient market constantly doing business with him, always being duped and lied to over and over and over and over and over and over again

    Trump signs an Executive Order to SHRINK EXECUTIVE POWER, and put more power back in the decentralized structure of states:

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katiepavlich/2017/03/13/trump-to-sign-executive-order-to-shrink-federal-government-n2298258

    And yet Sumner calls him a fascist

    Nonsense on stilts

  83. Gravatar of morgan warstler morgan warstler
    15. March 2017 at 10:29

    Bill, I do this for a living. As in investors, coders, employees, lawyers, govt clients, patents, the whole shebang. 3.5 years in stealth. This is my 8th start since ’96.

    So yes I do mostly write for elliptical fun, bc IP. BUT! You can see it. Play with it. Hear about govt customers. Scott will soon. It requires NDA etc, but then you can say to others, “nah morgan built it.” That’s something at least!

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