Monthly Archives: June 2023

Leo Morris

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine,1971

I dont know if John Lennon was self-aware enough to see the irony of a filthy rich superstar longing for a utopia in which everything belongs to everybody, so nobody has to do without anything, the perfect equality within our reach if we just wish for it hard enough.

But before he was murdered in 1980, he was getting there, slowly but surely. He didnt quite become a full-fledged minimal government necessary libertarian who knew that property rights and human rights are not mutually exclusive, but in fact one and the same. He did grow up a little, though, becoming a family man who understood that freedom begins and ends with what each individual is allowed to do and how much he gets to own of what he has accomplished.

What I used to be is guilty about money, he said in one of his last interviews Because I thought money was equated with sin. I dont know. I think I got over it, because I have to either put up or shut up, you know. If you are going to be a monk with nothing, do it. Otherwise, I am going to try to make money, make it. Money itself isnt the root of all evil.

Let us all hope the United States Supreme Court is on the same learning curve that John Lennon was.

Government has two roles when it comes to private property: To protect those who own it against the machinations of those who do not, and to be cautious when taking any of it for the public good. When the government fails at the latter, it makes it hard to believe it is serious about the former.

Which has so often been the case that there should be an addendum to the national motto of In God we trust give em an inch, and theyll take a mile.

The nadir came with the despicable Kelo vs. City of New London in 2005, in which a 5-4 majority ruled that the Connecticut city taking someones property for a public purpose was the same thing as taking it for a public use constitutionally speaking. But use had always meant something for the public good, such as a dam or a road. Purpose meant whatever might benefit government coffers.

So, in Kelo, the court authorized taking property from one private owner and giving it to another, one that promised to economically develop it and bring in more tax revenue. The court thus legalized thuggery, merging the two roles of governments property function and allowing gross violation of both of them.

There are some signs, thank goodness, that the court has grown up a little since then.

In two rulings this term both unanimous the court has put some brakes on the governments cavalier treatment of private property. Even if there is scant evidence for that conclusion, perhaps you will allow me to Imagine the best.

In one ruling, the court ruled for a 94-year-old Minnesota woman whose home was taken for failure to pay a $15,000 property tax bill. The county sold the property for $40,000 and decided to keep the extra $25,000. No, the court said; that violated the just compensation wording of the Constitution.

The ruling was met with strong approval across the political spectrum, from the very conservative Pacific Legal Foundation to the very liberal ACLU. Nobody likes to see ordinary, defenseless people preyed upon by powerful bullies. It was similar to the reaction in an Indiana case from a few terms ago, when the court ruled that authorities violated the excessive fines clause by seizing a $42,000 Land Rover from a criminal who had been sentenced to probation and a $1,200 fine on a drug charge.

In the other ruling, the court ruled in favor of an Idaho couple and against the EPA, which had required them to get a federal permit to build on their property because it had a wetland, even though it was not connected to anything outside the property by a navigable waterway, a plain requirement of the legislative authorization.

This ruling was not unanimously approved, being decried by a lot of people who seem still confused by the whole public good, use and purpose justification for violating private property rights. They are still living in the 1970s, stuck in the Early John Lennon method of wishing a better world into existence. If the government says everybody needs your property, why are you being so selfish?

The human right of every man to own his own life implies the right to find and transform resources to produce that which sustains and advances life, said economist Murray N. Rothbard. That product is a mans property. That is why property rights are foremost among human right and why any loss of one endangers the others.

He wrote that in 1959, so lets forgive him saying man instead of person. The thought still rings true.

And John Lennon, self-described troublemaking son of a family-deserting merchant seaman, who through talent and hard work became part of one of the most famous songwriting duos in history, could not have said it better.

Leo Morris, columnist for The Indiana Policy Review, is winner of the Hoosier Press Associations award for Best Editorial Writer. Morris, as opinion editor of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, was named a finalist in editorial writing by the Pulitzer Prize committee. Contact him at [emailprotected]

The rest is here:

Morris: Property: Imagine it anew - Greenfield Daily Reporter

Weekend Reading on Womens Representation is a compilation of stories about womens representation in politics, on boards, in sports and entertainment, in judicial offices and in the private sector in the U.S. and around the worldwith a little gardening and goodwill mixed in for refreshment!

Happy Pride Month! This weeks Weekend Reading covers the good news and bad news surrounding women and underrepresented communities.

Danielle Smith and Rachel Notley may both be women, but they havedifferent ideasof what being Albertas next premier means. Smith is a libertarian and sees the job as protecting a womans right to make her own health choices and then getting the heck out of the way. Notley, previously a premier and a progressive, would have the state actively promote gender equality.

While applauding women in leadership in 2023 carries a whiff of retrograde politics, the reality is that female leaders, to say nothing of female leaders of colour, remain a rarity in this country. Canada has seen just one female prime minister. Even then, Kim Campbell got the job 30 years ago when her predecessor retired and governed for just five months before losing a general election and her own Vancouver seat, to boot.

When it comes to gender equity in Canada, the provincial record is slightly better than the federal 14 women have served as premier of a province or a territory. Nowhere has a woman been more likely to get the top office than in Alberta. Three of this provinces past six premiers have been women, with Smith and Notley already on that list.

This week, aNew York Times MagazinearticleCan the California Effect Survive in a Hyperpartisan America?caught our eye, as it reinforces the importance of local politics. With Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) having declared she will run for Sen. Dianne Feinsteins seat next cycle, many have suggested thatBuffy Wicks, a 45-year-old State Assembly member who resides in the 12th district, run for her seat.

Wicks won her last election with over 85 percent of the vote. But Wicks doesnt want a higher-level office.

Soon enough, however,Wicks put out a statementthat, humbled as she was by the suggestion, she wouldnt be seeking the seat. In March, I met Wicks at her office in Sacramento, where she was seated between a window overlooking the city and pictures from her years in the Obama administration. She told me that aside from the ego boost of having House of Representatives in her obituary, there was little for Congress to offer her. Her current job is bigger and more important, she argued, than much of what happens in Washington. I pass big bills here, Wicks told me. Why would I walk away from my ability to do that and go be one of 435 people in a very divided House that does not have a great track record of actually accomplishing anything?

Consider, she said, an internet-privacy bill she drafted last year, called theAge-Appropriate Design Code. It requires websites to ratchet up their default privacy settings to protect children from online tracking and data collection. The bill wassignedby Gov. Gavin Newsom over theopposition of the tech industry,which argued that it was too complicated to implement and tantamount to a state law setting national policy. That, in fact, was the point: Wicks passed the law with help from a member of Britains House of Lords, who had created similar regulations in her country, in the hope that if Britain and California passed the same rules, a global standard was likely to follow.

TheAssociated Presslaunched a new series this month that examines health disparities experienced by Black Americans across a lifetime. The first chapter is entitled: Why do so many Black women die in pregnancy?One reason: Doctors dont take them seriously.

What should have been a joyous first pregnancy [for public heath instructor Angelica Lyons] quickly turned into a nightmare when she began to suffer debilitating stomach pain.

Her pleas for help were shrugged off, she said, and she was repeatedly sent home from the hospital. Doctors and nurses told her she was suffering from normal contractions, she said, even as her abdominal pain worsened and she began to vomit bile. Angelica said she wasnt taken seriously until a searing pain rocketed throughout her body and her babys heart rate plummeted.

Rushed into the operating room for an emergency cesarean section, months before her due date, she nearly died of an undiagnosed case of sepsis.

Her experience is a reflection of the medical racism, bias and inattentive care that Black Americans endure. Black women have the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States 69.9 per 100,000 live births for 2021, almost three times the rate for white women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

RepresentWomen knows how important it is to look abroad to understand better what works and what doesnt regarding systems strategies that remove barriers to womens political power. (If you want to learn more, check out our latest research memo,Voting Systems and Womens Representation: Lessons from Around the World and the Case for Proportional Ranked Choice Voting in the UnitedStates.)

This week, the Times of Israelreportedthat Israel is ranked the lowest for gender equality of all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. The OECD uses a powerful tool called theSocial Institutions & Gender Indexthat deploys the following methodology:

Toi Staffof The Times of Israel reports:

Israel scored lowest among the 38 OECD countries in a recent gender equality index, scoring less than half the average for many Western nations.

The OECD Social Institutions & Gender Index is marked from 0 to 100, with zero indicating no gender discrimination. Israel scored 33.4, compared to 20.1 for the US, 12.1, for the UK, 10.2 in France, 15.9 in Romania, and 24.7 in Turkey.

The ranking places Israel and Japan (33.3) as the OECD countries with the widest gender equality gaps

Ben Gvir heads Otzma Yehudit (Jewish power), the most extremist faction in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus coalition with far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties

In March, the Ministerial Committee for Legislation decided to reject a bill initiated by the previous coalition to introduce electronic tracking of domestic violence offenders, with Ben Gvir promising to bring a more balanced version that also tackles false accusations against men.

In response to anadvertisementcentered around trans women by Starbucks India, a new opinionpieceby Outlook India discusses the nuances of rainbow capitalism during Pride Month. While companies have the platform to raise awareness about LGBTQ+ issues, rainbow capitalism risks reducing queer identities to a passing trend or slogan. A more genuine way to celebrate pride month is by including LGBTQ+ individuals on all seniority levels in workplaces.

Many companies prefer to bring out ads online during the pride month for promotional purposes, but if we may ask them- how many of them hire queer individuals? How many are not doing labor rights violations? Starbucks has been known for underpaying the employees and union busting, how can a company like that claim to be inclusive by mere ads ? says Meghna Mehra, a member of the All India Queer Association (AIQA).

Major corporate houses in India have been at the forefront of campaigns fostering LGBTQ+ inclusion. According to the first ever global analysis done by the Boston Consulting Group on how companies are treating members of the community, more and more Indian companies are adopting a no-discriminative inclusion policy. This includes some of the marquee names of India Inc like Reliance Industries, Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej and Tata Steel.

But ironically, the same corporations are reportedly simultaneously functioning as a major source for donations and electoral bonds to a political party which has often been under the scanner due to its policies and bills against the LGBTQ+ community, according to reports.

The hypocrisy is not limited to India. Corporates across the world that are eager to wave their flags during June, support anti-gay and homophobic politicians via donations. According to a report by Forbes, nine of the biggest, most LGBTQ-supportive corporations in America gave about $1 million or more each to anti-gay politicians in the last election cycle.

OurWomen Experts in Democracy Directoryis finally out!

This is a great resource for finding qualified and knowledgeable women experts in the democracy reform space for events, conferences, boards, and more.The directory includes experts from a wide range of fields and backgrounds, and its a great way to ensure that women are represented in conversations about democracy. Clickhereif you would like to join the directory.

On a lighter note: Its been a great year for strawberries in my garden.

And Mountain Laurel is lovely:

Thats all for this week! Have a great weekend and happy almost summer!

Up next:

U.S. democracy is at a dangerous inflection pointfrom the demise of abortion rights, to a lack of pay equity and parental leave, to skyrocketing maternal mortality, and attacks on trans health. Left unchecked, these crises will lead to wider gaps in political participation and representation. For 50 years, Ms. has been forging feminist journalismreporting, rebelling and truth-telling from the front-lines, championing the Equal Rights Amendment, and centering the stories of those most impacted. With all thats at stake for equality, we are redoubling our commitment for the next 50 years. In turn, we need your help, Support Ms. today with a donationany amount that is meaningful to you. For as little as $5 each month, youll receive the print magazine along with our e-newsletters, action alerts, and invitations to Ms. Studios events and podcasts. We are grateful for your loyalty and ferocity.

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Weekend Reading on Women's Representation: Stereotypes Can ... - Ms. Magazine

Fox Business is shutting down Kennedy, the nightly program hosted by Lisa Kennedy Montgomery in the 7 p.m. time slot, and replacing it with reruns of Larry Kudlows namesake show.

Kennedy will air for the last time on Thursday. The show had a seven-month hiatus in 2020, with the network citing the demands of the evolving pandemic crisis coverage at the time.

Montgomery, a host since 2015, will remain with Fox, a spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap. The political libertarian has a background in pop culture that includes experience as an MTV VJ, is a frequent panelist on Fox News Outnumbered and guests on The Five, and also has a podcast, Kennedy Saves the World. She is currently on a comedy tour with Jimmy Failla of Fox News Radio.

Maria Bartiromos Wall Street fills the time slot on Fridays, which will also see Barrons Roundtable replace Wall Street Journal at Large with Gerry Baker, in the 7:30 p.m. slot, Broadcasting & Cable reported. Barrons Roundtable currently airs Saturdays at 10 a.m. Baker will continue to contribute to Fox News Media, the report said.

Kudlow, who served an economic policy advisor and director of the National Economic Council under President Donald Trump, joined the network in 2021 after his White House stint.

Infamously, Kudlow was caught in his debut show on a hot mic saying bulls multiple times while a clip of an interview with Vice President Kamala Harris aired, leading to an on-air apology.

He previously was a senior contributor for CNBC, which he joined at its founding in 1989, and a host of The Larry Kudlow Show. He also hosted a talk radio show on politics and economics on WABC.

Prior to his media career, Kudlow worked in various capacities in politics, first as a Democrat and later switching parties. He worked in the Office of Management and Budget under President Ronald Reagan.

Also Read: James Van Der Beek Becomes Fox News Favorite Actor After Anti-Biden Rant (Video)

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Fox Business Shuts Down Kennedy, Will Replace With Kudlow Reruns - Yahoo Entertainment

Religious freedom is a staple of the American experiment. How religious freedom is practiced is another story. While many Christians, since the Moral Majority movement under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, have attempted to push Christian values into schools and the local and national laws, the aftermath has been a reversal of the desired outcome. Gay marriage is legal nationally. Marijuana is legal in many states. Singleness among young people is up. The country has moved less toward the right-wing Christian platform and more toward a liberal libertarian stance. People want to live their lives, and people want their neighbors to live their lives, too. In fact, despite the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade, Gallups 2022 poll stated that eight out of 10 Americans want abortion legal in some capacity. Yet, this still doesnt mean the right-wing politicians have changed their offense in the arena of religious discourse. With Texas leading the charge in framing the 2024 platform, expect the GOP to out Christian each other, as it is the 11th commandment in GOP politics.

In late May, Republicans in Texas attempted to pass a bill that would require the Ten Commandments to hang in every classroom. CNN reported, Senate Bill 1515 was effectively killed early Wednesday morning after House lawmakers did not meet a midnight deadline for a vote that would have advanced the bill for a third and final passage. [A bill that would have required Texas public schools to display the Ten Commandments has failed, Ashley Killough and Tina Burnside, May 24, 2023.]

While this might be heartbreaking to many God-fearing citizens, the fact that it didnt pass in the end has a conspiracy cloud hovering over it. How could it get so far but not pass? Unless the bill was Republican virtue signaling to begin with.

CNN described the heart of the bill: The bill, authored by Republican state Sen. Phil King, requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in a conspicuous place in each classroom in a size and typeface that is legible to a person with average vision from anywhere in the classroom.

While some might state this as a simple loss, I cannot help but wonder if the Ten Commandments debate was simply a way for Texas politicians to throw breadcrumbs to their constituents. Because while Im sure there are many authentic Christian men and women within the Texas Republican Senate, can anyone argue that Republicans are the party of religious values?

The Ten Commandments argue to have no god before the Jewish/Christian one, to not covet your neighbors wife or goods, to not steal, to not lie, etc. Is that really the face of Donald Trumps MAGA party? Are Gods commandments, passed on by Moses, really the values of capitalism and die-hard patriotism? One could argue the current GOP value system puts country before God like an idol. Heck, there was a literal golden statue of Trump at CPAC 2021. And for those who havent read their Old Testament lately, the Jewish people built a golden calf while Moses was being instructed by God on how the law should be lived out. Though I would argue Trump is more of a golden donkey.

This battle for the Ten Commandments in schools is an old one. I remember this fight in the 1990s when I was in school. So why bring it up again? Because the GOP has cloaked their awful anti-people policies in religious language for 40 years now. Youd think these Christians would step back from the Torah and look to Jesus words in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:11-12) to embrace mourning, mercy, meekness, purity, peace, persecution and the poor in spirit.

Just one problem. Those ideals dont fit in a party that fights against any that disagrees with them. But if the Texas lawmakers throw out an old battle and let it quietly go away, they can get their day in the papers but not actually have to abide by any of the commandments they want in plain sight. Are you really telling me they just let the vote slip past midnight after three previous votes? Smells about as fishy as the little boys sardine lunch Jesus used to feed 5,000 people.

As the 2024 election comes closer, expect more stunts like this. Just as President Joe Biden promised student loan forgiveness he knew would never pass as quickly as he attempted, each side throws out something to look like they care. Its the 11th commandment in politics: Thou shalt virtue signal to look like thy cares.

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The 11th commandment | News | vcreporter.com - Ventura County Reporter