Category: nannystate

History Lessons

Little Known Facts nannystate Surveillance State 24 Comments

Next to FDR, Woodrow Wilson stands out as my least favorite President. Wilson ushered in the era of a meddlesome federal government and countless violations of individual rights. It’s not surprising to find that he was motivated by the collectivist philosophies that long dominated the field of education and consequently took root in our political systems.

“Wilson attended lectures about how history could be theorized in systematic terms that describe a progressive improvement of the human condition. He became absorbed by the philosophy of Georg Hegel. … In Hegel’s works, personal freedom was framed as a national ideal — only achieved when each individual fit a hierarchy that served the larger whole. Hegel’s ideas from the early 1800s aligned with an idea emergent in intellectual life in the early 1900s: applying biological principles to social and political conditions. Wilson … began to view individuals as cells or cogs within a living organism, which he analogized to the nation. As Wilson’s worldview solidified, he came to believe that the individual rights described in the Constitution, championed by Jefferson and Madison, were not immutable triumphs, but were instead subservient to transcendent ideals of national order and societal hierarchy.”

Oh, Joy

nannystate Tech 10 Comments

Driving- ‘Speed assist’ now mandatory on new vehicles in Europe

The system was a requirement on all newly-designed models starting in July 2022, but now it’s mandatory on all new vehicles registered in the E.U. as of July 7, 2024. The regulation allowed automakers to employ in their cars any of four options, all of which meet the requirements. Two of them are only warning systems, known as “informative” or “advisory” ISA — they make a warning sound, or a vibration through the steering wheel.

Fellow Travelers

Great Moments In Socialism Media nannystate 10 Comments

In the pantheon of fellow travelers who visited the Soviet Union over the years, few stand out more in their abject appeasement of that totalitarian nightmare than American socialist John Dewey. In 1928, he wrote a series of articles concerning Russia for the “progressive” magazine The New Republic, which are still accessible in their archives. His ability to produce pages and pages of such tripe without a hint of critical thought is nothing less than stunning.

For there was a time when the whole industrial structure of Russia was so disorganized from the World War, the blockade and civil war, that the government practically took over the management of the cooperatives. (even of this period it is important to know that the latter jealously safeguarded in legal form their autonomy by formally voting, as if they were their own independent decisions, the measures forced upon them by the government.) This state of affairs not longer exists: on the contrary, the free and democratically conducted cooperative movement has assumed a new vitality –subject, of course to control of prices by the State.

It seems that “misinformation” was even a term back then, and, like today, was used as a device for diverting attention away from the excesses of the state.

For there is reason to believe that the misinformation I received about the status of cooperative undertakings in Russia was not only honestly given, but was based on recollection of conditions that obtained several years ago.

Tinkering At The Fringes

More Pavilions At Folkfest nannystate 31 Comments

I have a better idea: Why not shut this thing down entirely? There’s no way to make an institution premised on the idea of collective rights somehow less bad than it actually is.

The Opposition Conservatives vowed Friday that a future Pierre Poilievre-led government would remove the man the Liberals just appointed to lead the Canadian Human Rights Commission.

[Lantsman] said Dattani has a “long track record of anti-Israel statements,” including a “justification of terrorism,” and that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should demand Dattani stand down or “fire him.”

If it’s not shut down, then travesties like this one will just become commonplace.

 

Bolshevik History Lessons

nannystate Religion Of Submission The Tolerant Left 11 Comments

Leave it to these barely coherent, shopworn Marxists to claim that the source of Iran’s problems lie not with a brutal Islamist dictatorship with zero respect for individual rights, but rather with an insufficiently generous welfare state and too much freedom for entrepreneurs. Apparently, if the West didn’t impose sanctions on Iran they would be able to embrace rigid central planning and usher in utopia. Who knew?

Sanctions have separated Iran, a neoliberal state with Iranian characteristics, from the neoliberal world order it looked set to join in the 1990s. Since then, the government has eroded Iran’s once generous welfare state and cut subsidies on bread, fuel, and other staple commodities. Responding to its sanctioned public realm, Iran’s leaders have expanded a gray, pseudoprivate economy unregulated by the democratic state to reach international markets through front companies. The middlemen doing these deals, “black knights,” satisfy Iranian military-industrial and consumer demand and provide the country with off-the-books cash to support the “axis of resistance,” Iran’s regional allies from Yemen to Syria which look likely to enter a regional war against Israel.

 

I Need More Stimulus!!

Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing nannystate 5 Comments

Economic growth predictions are notoriously hard to make accurately, but at some point saddling the economy with destructive mandates and borrowing to fund politically motivated boondoggles has to be reckoned with. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

Berezin expects that recession to begin either later this year or in early 2025.

He rattled off a number of indicators suggesting that the torrid pace of pandemic-era hiring has given way to something far less appealing to workers. As official job-openings data show, the number of open positions have fallen substantially, as has the quit rate. And private surveys of job openings reflect an even more dramatic decline.

SCOTUS: Deep State vs Citizenry

nannystate Surveillance State The Deplorables 11 Comments

Boom!

The Supreme Court’s third (but not last) decision is SEC v. Jarkesy. By a 6–3 vote, the court holds that when the SEC seeks civil penalties, the defendant is entitled to a jury trial in federal court.

This sounds technical but it’s huge.

SCOTUS’ decision is Jarkesy may well hobble many federal agencies’ ability to bring meaningful enforcement actions against wrongdoers. Not just the SEC. Neither the executive branch nor the judiciary have the time or resources to try all these cases before a jury. Nowhere close.

Today’s decision in Jarkesy could kneecap enforcement by the FCC, the FTC, the NLRB, the Department of Labor, and more—it goes WAY beyond the SEC. This is a massive blow to the federal government’s ability to enforce regulations against lawbreakers.

The ruling is here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-859_1924.pdf

More from Benjamin Weingarten;

Justice Gorsuch — with whom Justice Thomas concurred — details more administrative state tyranny. We’ve been de-sensitized to an unelected, unaccountable, awesomely powerful branch of government that’s, shall we say, hard to square this with the Constitution

And another: The Supreme Court granted applications for a stay, effectively halting the enforcement of the EPA’s “good neighbor” policy. The decision underscores the limits of the EPA’s regulatory authority, emphasizing state sovereignty in managing local environmental issues.

Govern Me Harder!

Freespeechers Media nannystate The Tolerant Left 26 Comments

I can vividly recall my frustration at having to see Frances Russell’s and Val Werier’s leftist screeds populating the editorial pages of the Winnipeg Free Press back in the 80s. Fast forward to the present day, where technology continues to level the media playing field, introducing informational symmetry in ways I could not have dreamt of in my youth. But some people remain deeply dissatisfied with that. Apparently, the latest technology is just making us, well, ungovernable.

So, the telephone was great, the postal system was great. Social media is not like those earlier innovations.

They don’t want to see the lion and the Christian making nice; they want the one to kill the other. That’s what Twitter is often like.

I am very concerned that there is no longer any source of authority. There is no trusted authority, there is no way to find consensus on truth. It seems that the truth-seeking mechanisms, including the courts, came up with the answer that the last presidential election in the U.S. was not stolen. But there’s no real way to spread that around to the large portion of society that believes that it was.

A Nation of Rent Seekers

Chief Big Screen TV entitlement generation nannystate We Are All Treaty People 14 Comments

If someone’s going to question whether a $510 million legal fee is excessive or not, why not ask the same question about the $10 billion settlement that triggered the fees in the first place?

 Two First Nations have launched a court application against the lawyers who helped bring forward a $10-billion settlement with Canada and Ontario, saying the $510 million they’re set to be paid is too much.

“The legal fee is extremely over-the-top,” said Garden River First Nation Chief Karen Bell.

She said she has an “obligation to seek accountability and transparency,” and the application should not disrupt payments to beneficiaries. Those payments are scheduled to start flowing in August.

 

Great Success!

Green Police nannystate 12 Comments

Reason- California Is Doubling Down on Banning Plastic Bags

“Last year, Californians threw away more plastic bags, by weight, than when the law first passed,” according to a recent New York Times article, which called it “an environmental rule that backfired and inadvertently made the matter worse.”

Two bills are now making their way through the Capitol. Senate Bill 1053 and Assembly Bill 2236 would also ban the thicker plastic bags that replaced the thinner previously-banned bags.

Shut Up, You!

Freespeechers It's Probably Nothing nannystate Surveillance State 17 Comments

I always thought Canada already had laws against uttering threats, but it seems the Quebec provincial legislature thought that elected officials needed more wiggle room on that score. It’s anyone’s guess how much of a field day the courts will have enforcing it. Like our constitutional rights, everything hinges on one weasel word: reasonable.

The new Act makes anyone who hinders the exercise of an elected officer’s functions by threatening,
intimidating or harassing the officer in a manner that causes them to reasonably fear for their integrity or safety liable to a fine.

Anyone who hinders the exercise of a Member’s functions by threatening, intimidating or harassing the Member in a manner that causes them to reasonably fear for their integrity or safety is liable to a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,500.

If you want to download the whole PDF document, here’s the link.

Sack Cloths for All

Climate Cult nannystate 17 Comments

Not only will you own nothing in the future, but you’ll also be wearing nothing.

The haute timelessness of the togs notwithstanding, recent research from Guangdong University of Technology found that wearing a pair of fast-fashion jeans just once creates a whopping 2.50 kg of carbon emissions.

…making fast-fashion finery emits ghastly amounts of greenhouse gasses (GHG) — which cause global warming and climate change — into the atmosphere.

You’re Fired!

Children R Our Future nannystate We Are All Treaty People 29 Comments

When Jim McMurtry signed on as a public school teacher, the last thing he ever considered was that one day he might find himself the target of a witch hunt.

My crime was in saying that most students who died while enrolled in these schools from 1883-1996 did so from disease, especially tuberculosis. Though factually true, the Abbotsford School District wrote to me in June 2021 that it was a time to hear from students “and not debate or challenge their emotional response to the news…. [Students] were struggling to make sense of the news and process the discovery.”

The problem was there was no discovery in Kamloops, and there still is no evidence whatsoever.

At the end of the partial and superficial investigation, I was fired.

 

Unsafe and Ineffective

nannystate Safe and Effective 69 Comments

Utah resident Brianne Dressen participated in a clinical trial of a Covid vaccine at the beginning of the pandemic. After only one shot, she suffered a severe vaccine injury which has plagued her ever since. What’s just as bad as her injury is the near total indifference of the drug company to her plight. John Campbell explores these issues in a recent interview with Brianne.

Limitless Demand

Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing nannystate 31 Comments

I’m sure that the conclusion of most thinkers on the left will be that these programs were obviously underfunded.

Despite $443 million in new annual spending aimed to reduce homelessness the number of people without a roof over their head has grown by 20 per cent in Canada, according to the Parliamentary Budget Officer.

The new $443 million was a 374 per cent increase compared to prior spending, but it doesn’t appear to be having the desired effect.

 

Interest Expenses

Gradually Then Suddenly It's Probably Nothing nannystate 11 Comments

Issuing short term bonds is a sweet deal when interest rates are falling, but not so much when they go the other way.

Canada has just over $1.4 trillion in debt — more than double the $619 billion owed in the Liberal government’s first year — borrowed using bonds ranging between two and 30 years.

This year, $414 billion of the national debt will be refinanced. During the pandemic, the Bank of Canada’s central rate was as low as 0.25 per cent; it’s now five per cent.

A Message For the CPC

Canada’s Bolsheviks nannystate 44 Comments

Here’s an interesting juxtaposition: a former Liberal MP condemns the ruinously expensive central planning scheme that the Conservative party slavishly supports. We’ve now arrived at the point where around one quarter of one percent of the population will hold an effective veto over trade negotiations affecting the rest of the country.

“The dairy lobby is the National Rifle Association of Canada,” proclaims Martha Hall Findlay, former Liberal MP and now head of the University of Calgary’s school of public policy.

“The one potential positive of Bill-282 is, it is so over the top that it will backfire and it will finally be the time when enough people in this country realize we have to deal with this,” declares Martha.

And “it is so egregious,” she argues, other countries will realize what we’re doing, pointing to the U.K.’s recent withdrawal from trade talks with Canada in large measure over their lack of access to our supply-managed markets, with cheese featuring large. The U.K. is Canada’s third largest trading partner.

 

Losing Your Cool

Climate Cult nannystate 27 Comments

In an effort to combat rising temperatures, the Environmental Protection Agency is going to raise the cost of beating the heat. I guess it’ll all balance out in about 150 years, right?

“They’re stopping the production of the current refrigerant, R-410A. Those systems will no longer be produced after December 31 of this year…”

The Environmental Protection agency wants to replace the refrigerants with more eco-friendly alternatives.

“They’re trying to get to the lowest global warming potential number that they can. Unfortunately, it’s going to drive costs significantly up, and it’s going to impact homeowners,” Howard said.

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