Atlas Shrugged and the Decline of New York

This past Tuesday I had to take my wife to her dentist in Manhattan, so I spent a little time walking around our old neighborhood, the Upper West Side, while she got her crown.  I learned that apartment buildings now have policies that can ban smoking outside the building; supermarket plastic bags are now illegal; if you want to use paper bags, you must pay a 5-cent penalty.

With so many meddlesome laws, New York is not a place in which I care to live. I first realized that the city had gone past the point of no return in 2000, when I sat on a Manhattan narcotics grand jury.  The grand jury was in the New York Supreme Court Building, 60 Centre Street, where the 1957 movie 12 Angry Men takes place.  In interacting with my fellow Manhattanites, I realized that the people of New York had gone far down the left-wing path, that they no longer believed in the rule of law, and that the ultimate result would be increasing socialism and moral chaos.

I was just rereading Atlas Shrugged, which I assigned to my class as an extra credit assignment. When I was in Manhattan on Tuesday, several things reminded me of it.  It is about the exodus of industrialists, managers, and the competent from a United States increasingly dominated by socialist looters, with an end result of the country's reverting to 18th century standards—a goal advocated today by  environmentalists.   

This passage is an example of Ayn Rand's perception of how backward-trending socialist law works.  A bureaucrat named Dr. Ferris explains the process to capitalist Hank Rearden, inventor of Rearden Metal:

“Did you really think that we want those laws to be observed?” said Dr. Ferris.  We want them to be broken. You’d better get it straight that it’s not a bunch of boy scouts you’re up against—then you’ll know that this is not the age for beautiful gestures.  We’re after power, and we mean it. You fellows were pikers, but we know the real trick, and you’d be better get wise to it. There’s no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals.  Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens?  What’s there in that for anyone?  But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced nor objectively interpreted—and you create a nation of lawbreakers—and then you cash in on guilt.  Now that’s the system, Mr. Rearden, that’s the game, and once you understand it, you’ll be much easier to deal with.

 I can picture a Democratic Party policy adopted by di Blasio, Warren, Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, et al. whereby neighbors are encouraged to inform on each other:  "Hello, police? I just saw my neighbor,  Mrs. Taggart, entering her apartment with a plastic bag of groceries.  Yes, we're at 140 Riverside Drive, Apt. 16-k. Please send a squad car."

Democratic Cities Lead in On-Street Pooping

A friend just emailed this SFGate article about the human-poop-on-the-street rate in the city of Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco. According to SFGate, Buzzfeed editor John Paczkowski posted the following chart on Twitter:

 

In addition to a longitudinal tracking of incidents, which seems to mirror the Fed-induced economic recovery, a cross sectional study of cities will likely reveal a consistent Democratic Party advantage: Burgs with more Democrats will be more brown.

Perhaps instead of red and blue, the party colors should be red and brown. This idea seems to have already gone to the Democrats' heads.

Second Letter to President Trump Concerning Politically Correct Superstition at NSF

Dear Mr. President:

Yesterday I emailed regarding an article by Professor Philip Salzman concerning corrupt political correctness at the National "Science" Foundation.  I followed up with an email to Professor Salzman in Canada, and he responded.  I asked him who in NSF has been willing to compromise science for political correctness.  His answer is below (copied with his permission): The corruption is throughout the National "Science" Foundation. All are beholden to superstitious feminists.  Perhaps it is time to drain the NSF swamp. Professor Salzman's email follows:

Dear Professor Langbert,

Many thanks for your letter. I agree that it is very alarming when institutional custodians of science bow to, or worse, enthusiastically embrace "social justice" ideology, raising "diversity and inclusion" above merit and achievement.

To answer your question, I know NSF only from the outside, from its spoken policies and its deeds. I cannot tell you who makes these decisions, but this new culture is so pervasive, it would probably not be correct to imagine that it is the work of one or two people. I do applaud your representations to NSF.

Best wishes, 

 Philip Carl Salzman

Americans for Limited Government: Trump Is Vindicated; Media Is Humiliated

The question now is whether the intelligence agencies that attempted to entrap Trump will be investigated, which is where the investigation should have been in the first place.  The biggest disgrace is the fake media: CNN, MSNBC, NPR, the New York Times, et al.  ALG writes:

Professional Trump critics like former CIA Director John Brennan were regulars on MSNBC stoking the collusion fires later claiming that he perhaps had ‘bad information.’ The partisan media outlets like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC along with the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting taxpayer funded hierarchy breathlessly repeated planted rumor after planted rumor promising viewers that this time, they really had Donald Trump...One could hope that the left-wing corporate media machines will learn a lesson and return to journalism, but that is not what they are — instead they are advocates getting paid to culturally transform America. If anything good is to come out of this national embarrassment, it is my hope that the media emperors who have been running around with no clothes are finally seen for the frauds that they are, and as a result, the public denies them the one thing they need — viewers and listeners. 

Mueller report vindicates Trump, no conspiracy or coordination with Russia

April 18, 2019, Fairfax, Va.—Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning today issued the following statement in response the final report by Special Counsel Robert Mueller:

“Robert Mueller’s report is a slam dunk vindication of President Trump, who was the victim of an intelligence agency operation designed to entrap him and those around him in process crime snares, even as they knew that there was not a sufficient basis to say there was any conspiracy by Trump, his campaign or any American with Russia to interfere with the election.  Mueller himself writes that ‘the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with representatives of the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election,’ which was defined as operations to do with hacking the DNC and John Podesta emails and an inconsequential social media campaign by a Russian company.

“This is unequivocal, but not a surprise to anyone who was profiteering off of this fake news driven conspiracy theory.  Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who is no friend to President Trump, said in March 2017, ‘We had no evidence of collusion.’

“Additionally, lead FBI investigator and proven Trump hater, Peter Strzok texted his then lover, FBI agent Lisa Page, that ‘there’s no big there there’ in talking about the Russia case.

“And even former CIA Director Michael Morell is quoted in March 2017 as saying, ‘There is no fire, at all.’

“Yet our nation and those associated with the Trump campaign, transition team and administration were subjected to about a three-year long investigation, including nearly two years by a special counsel who was appointed to investigate something that everyone knew was false. 

“Professional Trump critics like former CIA Director John Brennan were regulars on MSNBC stoking the collusion fires later claiming that he perhaps had ‘bad information.’ The partisan media outlets like ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and MSNBC along with the entire Corporation for Public Broadcasting taxpayer funded hierarchy breathlessly repeated planted rumor after planted rumor promising viewers that this time, they really had Donald Trump. 

“And today in the aftermath of the collapse of their delusion, they cling to their age old approach to attack the messenger, Attorney General William Barr, because the pedestal they had built for the special counsel was too high for them to tear down in time to not have egg on their faces.

“No conspiracy with Russia by Trump is great news for America.  One could hope that the left-wing corporate media machines will learn a lesson and return to journalism, but that is not what they are — instead they are advocates getting paid to culturally transform America. If anything good is to come out of this national embarrassment, it is my hope that the media emperors who have been running around with no clothes are finally seen for the frauds that they are, and as a result, the public denies them the one thing they need — viewers and listeners.  In doing so those who have perpetuated this Russian collusion fraud through hours upon hours of anti-Trump coverage will be denied the dollars from selling soap to those very viewers who they colluded to trick into believing that Donald Trump was a traitor to his country.

“Now, the Attorney General needs to get to work to determine who abused the legal protections in place to stop this kind of intelligence abuse and take all available measures against them to make certain that this never happens again, as well as recommend reforms to ensure that the FISA Court ceases to be a rubber stamp for spying.”

To view online: https://getliberty.org/2019/04/mueller-report-vindicates-trump-no-conspiracy-or-coordination-with-russia/

Interview Availability: Please contact Americans for Limited Government at 703-383-0880 ext. 1 or at media@limitgov.org to arrange an interview.

Gold Less Bulky Than Paper Money

One of the arguments against the use of gold as money is that it is supposedly more bulky than paper money. I have recently purchased some one-tenth-ounce Canadian Maple Leaf gold coins, and I was surprised to see that they are much smaller and lighter than a stack of $20 bills.  A one-tenth-ounce gold piece is worth about $128 at current prices; it is tiny--much smaller than a $20 bill.  There was a time when $100 or $500 bills were widely used, but today because of money laundering concerns bills larger than $50 are rare.  A stack of six $20 bills weighs more and is bulkier than a $128 gold coin.

The claim that paper money is necessary because carrying gold is inconvenient is a fake rationale.

Anti-Science Democrats Stop Funding of Research on Male-Female Differences

Professor Emeritus Philip Carl Salzman of McGill University has written a piece in Canada's Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship's SAFS Newsletter about anti-science Democrats' opposition to funding of high-quality research on male-female differences.  I sent a letter to Prof. Salzman asking for further information about the corrupt administrators in NSF, and I followed up with the following email to President Trump:

Dear Mr. President:

I sent this letter to Prof. Salzman in Canada, who has identified corruption in the National Science Foundation. Specifically, the NSF has allowed politically motivated feminist bigots to stop legitimate research concerning male-female differences. It is time to drain the swamp at NSF and to fire the administrators who stopped funding of the research.

Dear  Prof. Salzman:

I saw your piece in SAFS Newsletter, and I was interested in your statement that a scientific paper concerning the greater male variability hypothesis was denied funding because of political intervention in the processes of the National Science Foundation. Apparently, an anti-science, politically funded feminist group, Women in Mathematics, has access to decision makers in the Orwellian-named “National Science Foundation” and was able to stop scientific research through political pressure, apparently in favor of superstition.  Perhaps the “National Science Foundation” should be renamed the “National Superstition Foundation.”

Do you have access to or do you know someone who has access to the names of the specific decision makers in the “National Science Foundation” who have allowed political advocacy to overturn science?  I am contacting the president separately and suggesting that the age of politicization be brought to a quick end at NSF, or else that the NSF has outlived its purpose and should be closed.

Sincerely,


Professor Mitchell Langbert