by Warren Coats, Warren’s House, Might 22, 2024.
Excerpt:
The current assault and counterattack had been continuations of 70 years of unresolved relations between the areas [sic] Palestinian and Jewish residents. Netanyahu stays adamantly in opposition to revising the Two State Resolution (Oslo Accord) future and Saudi Arabia is equally insistent on it. Eire, Norway, and Spain will formally acknowledge Palestine as a state from subsequent week and different nations are anticipated to observe.
The to this point unsurmounted problem was not a results of the gathering of Jews in what’s now Israel, however the willpower to make it a democratic Jewish State. Spiritual states, akin to Iran, are all the time problematic. Israel can solely be a democratic Jewish state by eliminating a method or one other most Palestinians. American’s founding fathers had the knowledge to ban that by placing the separation of church and state in our structure.
If Israel gave up being a Jewish state it may stay democratic and take in your entire space from the River to the Sea. And each resident would obtain the identical safety of the legislation and equal rights. It ought to take into account a federal construction wherein smaller districts with native administrations may effectively be predominately Muslim or Jewish. https://wcoats.weblog/2024/01/19/one-state-solution-for-palestine-israel/
By David J. Bier, Cato at Liberty, Might 24, 2024.
Excerpt:
The third founding occurred on Might 24, 1924, when President Calvin Coolidge signed the Nationwide Origins Quota Act, which imposed the primary everlasting cap on authorized immigration. Previous to the 1924 Act, all would‐be immigrants had been presumed eligible to immigrate except the federal government had proof exhibiting that they had been ineligible. The 1924 legislation changed this method with the responsible‐till‐confirmed‐harmless, Soviet‐fashion quota system that we have now in the present day.
No legislation has so radically altered the demographics, economic system, politics, and liberty of the US and the world. It has massively decreased American inhabitants development from immigrants and their descendants by a whole bunch of tens of millions, diminishing financial development and limiting the facility and affect of this nation. Publish‐1924 People should not free to affiliate, contract, and commerce with individuals born all over the world as they had been earlier than.
The authorized restrictions have erected a huge and almost impenetrable forms between People and their family members, spouses, kids, staff, buddies, enterprise associates, clients, employers, religion leaders, artists, and different peaceable individuals who may contribute to our lives. It has made the world a a lot poorer and fewer free place for People and other people globally, necessitating the development of a huge legislation enforcement equipment to implement these restrictions.
My further thought:
We regularly hear that if we get many extra immigrants, they’ll vote away our system. Certainly, that had been my solely main concern– earlier than I appeared on the proof. However discover the proof proper right here. The U.S. minimize off most immigration in 1924. It did open it once more considerably in 1965. And when did we get our largest enlargement of the federal authorities? Throughout these 40 or so years.
by Dave DeCamp, antiwar.com, Might 23, 2024.
Excerpt:
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday that can permit the seizure of any US property in Russia to compensate for any Russian property which might be taken by the US.
The decree could possibly be utilized to any American people or firms which have property in Russia, and it got here after President Biden signed a invoice into legislation that gave him the facility to confiscate Russian property and use them to pay for assist to Ukraine.
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the US and its allies froze about $300 billion in Russian Central Financial institution property. In response to The Related Press, there are about $5 billion in Russian state property that the US may confiscate to ship to Ukraine.
Putin’s decree would permit the Russian central financial institution or any firms that misplaced property within the US to use to Russian courts “with a declare to ascertain the actual fact of unjustified deprivation of his rights to property on account of a choice by a US state or judicial authority and to obtain compensation for mentioned injury.”
Briefly, says Putin, I’ll see your collective guilt and lift you.
by Lee Ohanian, California on Your Thoughts, Might 21, 2024.
Excerpt:
California’s price range went from an assumed $98 billion surplus, wherein there was a lot money in state coffers that Gov. Gavin Newsom was gifting away $50,000 to randomly chosen people to get a COVID-19 vaccine, to a projected $73 billion deficit in solely about two years.
A lot of this might have been prevented if, in 2022, California hadn’t made apparent, enormously unrealistic income assumptions for future years that falsely painted far too optimistic a fiscal portrait for the state. In a nutshell, here’s what occurred: in fiscal yr 2021‒22, state tax revenues rose round 55 %—about $70 billion—over the earlier fiscal yr. This income windfall considerably mirrored taxpayers realizing capital beneficial properties, significantly high-income taxpayers who had been dealing with a marginal tax price of 13.3 % on the time.
by David D. Friedman, daviddfriedman.substack.com, Might 23, 2024.
Excerpt:
The perspective to his kids, treating them as individuals who had the identical mental standing as he did, was utilized extra typically. He would argue with anybody. I keep in mind one argument with the proprietor of the storage in New Hampshire the place we had our automotive fastened, who was arguing {that a} massive firm, by spending sufficient on promoting, may all the time promote what they produced. The instance he supplied was a brand new automotive Ford had simply introduced out known as the Edsel.
One among my father’s tasks was an experiment in financial training that concerned arguing with New York Metropolis cab drivers. New York had, and nonetheless has, a taxi medallion system. It points a hard and fast variety of medallions, every of which entitles the proprietor to function one taxicab; every cab firm has to personal as many medallions because it operates taxicabs. The medallions are transferable; in the event you personal one you’ll be able to promote it to another person, after which he now has the best to legally function a cab. The worth of a medallion now’s, in all probability then was, over 100 thousand {dollars}.
I had an identical expertise once I was 19. My buddy Don Redekop and I had been hitchhiking in the summertime of 1970. We had been getting back from a Sunday morning hitchhike to one in all my favourite lakes, close to the Manitoba/Ontario border. We had been picked up by a pleasant man who was a salesman for typewriters. We had 100 miles in entrance of us and in some way we bought speaking about imports. He was arguing that Canada’s authorities ought to limit imports of overseas typewriters. I mentioned, naturally, that it shouldn’t. He wasn’t hostile however curious: he requested me why. So I laid out comparative benefit with out utilizing numbers. He would resist; I might clarify. Resist; clarify. Close to the top of the 100 miles, he admitted that I used to be proper however wished to limit imports to save lots of his job. We left on pleasant phrases. (I don’t recall if I used the argument that if we had no restrictions on imports, there can be extra, not much less, demand for typewriter salesman. Given my financial understanding on the time, I in all probability didn’t.)
