‘The Beach Lifeguards Can Be Female!’
See Shut “Az Nedberu” vol. 13, 61:3 by Rabbi Benyamin Zilber, on the feasibility of a “Jewish State” (p. 120).
See Shut “Az Nedberu” vol. 13, 61:3 by Rabbi Benyamin Zilber, on the feasibility of a “Jewish State” (p. 120).
Found in Rabbi Brand.
By Arjun Walia
Collective Evolution
September 4, 2017
There’s no doubt about it: three letter agencies like the NSA, FBI and CIA and the ones we don’t yet know about are full of great people who want nothing but the best for their fellow human beings. People join these agencies because they have good hearts, and want to see the world thrive in a state of peace, equality, abundance and freedom. That being said, the “disastrous rise of misplaced power” to which President Eisenhower referred when referencing the military industrial complex, has taken a hold of these agencies, which now comprise what’s known as the Deep State. The Deep State is a covert network of powerful and influential people who continue to manipulate, lie, and deceive the public for their own interests.
Oh, by the way, it’s safe to assume that the Deep State also includes, as mentioned above, the agencies we don’t yet know about. We know this from looking at history: The National Security Agency (NSA) was founded in 1952, its existence was hidden until the mid 1960s; Another great example is the National Reconnaissance Office, which was founded in 1960 but remained completely secret for three decades.
Several presidents and politicians have also referenced this secret government, which doesn’t seem to be so secret anymore. That being said, it’s still important to reference given the fact that the average Joe still might consider the secret government to be a mere conspiracy theory. It’s a shame that anything associated with secrecy seems to garner an instant conspiracy response, especially when secrecy is rampant in our world, with “National Security” constantly being used to justify it.
From Lewrockwell.com, here.
September 5, 2017
Texans affected by Hurricane Harvey, including my family and me, appreciate the outpouring of support from across the country. President Donald Trump has even pledged to donate one million dollars to relief efforts. These private donations will be much more valuable than the as much as 100 billion dollars the federal government is expected to spend on relief and recovery. Federal disaster assistance hinders effective recovery efforts, while federal insurance subsidies increase the damage caused by natural disasters.
Federal disaster aid has existed since the early years of the republic. In fact, it was a payment to disaster victims that inspired Davy Crockett’s “Not Yours to Give” speech. However, the early federal role was largely limited to sending checks. The federal government did not become involved in managing disaster relief and recovery until the 20th century. America did not even have a federal agency dedicated solely to disaster relief until 1979, when President Jimmy Carter created the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) by executive order. Yet, Americans somehow managed to rebuild after natural disasters before 1979. For example, the people of Galveston, Texas successfully rebuilt the city following a major hurricane that destroyed the city in 1900.
FEMA’s well-documented inefficiencies are the inevitable result of centralizing control over something as complex as disaster recovery in a federal bureaucracy. When I served in Congress, I regularly voted against federal disaster aid for my district. After the votes, I would hear from angry constituents, many of whom would later tell me that after dealing with FEMA they agreed that Texas would be better off without federal “help.”
Following natural disasters, individuals who attempt to return to their own property — much less try to repair the damage — without government permission can be arrested and thrown in jail. Federal, state, and local officials often hinder or even stop voluntary rescue and relief efforts.
FEMA is not the only counterproductive disaster assistance program. The National Flood Insurance Program was created to provide government-backed insurance for properties that could not obtain private insurance on their own. By overruling the market’s verdict that these properties should not be insured, federal flood insurance encourages construction in flood-prone areas, thus increasing the damage caused by flooding.
Just as payroll taxes are unable to fully fund Social Security and Medicare, flood insurance premiums are unable to fund the costs of flood insurance. Federal flood insurance was almost $25 billion in the red before Hurricane Harvey. Congress will no doubt appropriate funding to pay all flood insurance claims, thus increasing the national debt. This in turn will cause the Federal Reserve to print more money to monetize that debt, thus hastening the arrival of the fiscal hurricane that will devastate the US economy. Yet, there is little talk of offsetting any of the costs of hurricane relief with spending cuts!
Congress should start phasing out the federal flood insurance program by forbidding the issuance of new flood insurance policies. It should also begin reducing federal spending on disaster assistance. Instead, costs associated with disaster recovery should be made 100-percent tax-deductible. Those who suffered the worst should be completely exempted from all federal tax liability for at least two years. Tax-free savings accounts could also help individuals save money to help them bear the costs of a natural disaster.
The outpouring of private giving and volunteer relief efforts we have witnessed over the past week shows that the American people can effectively respond to natural disasters if the government would get out of their way.
From Lewrockwell.com, here.
Men of great inherited wealth, men who get their income from capital or capital gains, have favored the progressive income tax because they don’t want new competitors rising up who make their money on personal wage or salary incomes.