A few minutes of pausing to ponder the strength, wisdom, and legacy of Abraham Lincoln on his birthday.
Born February 12, 1809.
Hat tip: Behind the Black: Abraham Lincoln: A Tribute on His Birthday.
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A moment to pause on birthday of Abraham Lincoln
Posted by Jim Ulvog on February 12, 2018, 8:20 pm
https://freedomismoral.com/2018/02/12/a-moment-to-pause-on-birthday-of-abraham-lincoln/
What could possibly have caused the increase of income per person over last 200 years?
(Article cross-posted from Outrun Change because a few of the factors necessary for these changes to happen are property rights, economic freedom, and political freedom. In addition, it is capitalism, not socialism or communism that made these changes happen.)
Here is an approximation of annual per capita GDP from 1 AD through 1913:
I’ve long been amazed at the radical growth in per capita wealth over the last 200 years. That means since the Industrial Revolution.
Living in dirt-eating poverty as the normal way of life for essentially every person on the planet changed about 200 years ago, give or take.
Posted by Jim Ulvog on December 8, 2017, 8:49 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/12/08/what-could-possibly-have-caused-the-increase-of-income-per-person-over-last-200-years/
Who picked up the bill for our freedom?
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
For our freedom, I offer up a humble thank you to all who have gone before standing endless watch, slogging through the jungle mud, freezing in a foxhole, shooting Nazis with a machine gun at 30,000 feet, doing yet another round of dreary maintenance, brought home a life-long injury, or paying the ultimate price fighting to defeat the Confederacy.
Because of millions who did what had to be done, I can say what I wish without fear of being thrown in jail.
It seems so insufficient, but I’ll say it anyway – – Thanks.
“It is the soldier, not the reporter,
who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,
who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,
who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag and whose coffin is draped by the flag,
who allows the protester to burn the flag.”
Posted by Jim Ulvog on November 11, 2017, 11:55 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/11/11/who-picked-up-the-bill-for-our-freedom/
The last pieces of democracy slip away in Venezuela
The Venezuelan government has made its choice. Will that choice stand? Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
The elections in Venezuela were stacked.
Oh, by the way, what economic system produced this human suffering? What political system produced this all-but-in-name dictatorship?
- Hints of the fraud before the election.
- In spite of polling and expectations, a mere 5 opposition candidates won a governorship.
- Oh, the few in the opposition who won are denied their position; initial reports said that government hacks were sworn into office instead.
- Four of the five opposition governors actually sworn in.
(Cross post from my other blog, Outrun Change.)
10/15/17 – Wall Street Journal – Venezuela’s Latest Election Fraud – More details on how the election results were cooked. Reporter describes more details on manipulation.
Posted by Jim Ulvog on October 27, 2017, 7:25 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/10/27/the-last-pieces-of-democracy-slip-away-in-venezuela/
Default watch on Venezuelan bonds
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
Venezuela is in danger of defaulting on bond payments in the next few weeks.
10/17/17 – Miami Herald – Maduro faces financial nightmare in Venezuela – just in time for Halloween – The government has bond payments of $1B due on 10/27 and $1.2B due on 11/2. Total due in next six weeks, which would be the end of November, is a total of $3.53B. Both S&P and Fitch are rating Venezuela as having a high probability to default within 6 months.
Here some more of the detailed numbers:
10/20/17 – CNBC – Venezuela is blowing debt payments ahead of a huge, make-or-break bill – Here is a schedule of upcoming required bond payments:
Posted by Jim Ulvog on October 23, 2017, 7:24 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/10/23/default-watch-on-venezuelan-bonds/
Why is it necessary to have a nuclear defense?
After reading my post on Nuclear launch protocol and timing, you may be wondering why the United States built these,
Minuteman II on static display at March Air Base Museum. Photo by James Ulvog.
and why we built 550, 450, and 50 of these,
Minuteman II, Minuteman III, Peacekeaper ICBMs on display at Warren AFB. “Ywwrn_1b” by gvgoebel is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
as well as why we had 1,000 of these spread across the country for several decades:
Posted by Jim Ulvog on October 20, 2017, 8:24 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/10/20/why-is-it-necessary-to-have-a-nuclear-defense/
Venezuela continues to collapse
Oil platform in Venezuela. A view of what used to be and could have been now. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
The bad news from Venezuela just doesn’t stop:
- Protests have stopped because of lost hope
- Professionals become prostitutes just to get enough food to keep the family life
- Elections for state governors finally to be held on Sunday
- Former executive of Brazilian construction company admits to paying $35 million to Venezuelan president’s election campaign
- Guess on inflation rate for 2018 is over 2,300%
(Cross post from Outrun Change.)
8/31/17 – Wall Street Journal – “Hope Is Gone” as Venezuelan Protesters Vanish From Streets – The protests have faded away. The ongoing massive arrests, torture of detainees, widespread human-rights abuses, and frequent shootings seem to have broken the protest movement. A number of senior leaders of the opposition have fled the country in fear for their life. Reports indicate 125 people have been killed and somewhere around 2000 have been wounded, with many of those people with permanent injuries.
One outside observer, who is safe because he is an American living in the United States, observers the president has gained effective control of the entire government. I think if we look at the typical definitions that makes him a dictator.
In the meantime the oppressed people of the country continue to scramble for food, trying to find enough so they don’t starve to death.
9/22/17 – Miami Herald – In Venezuela, they were teachers and doctors. To buy food, they became prostitutes. – A large portion of the prostitutes in Columbia are women who escaped Venezuela. Before transitioning to the world’s oldest profession, many of them were teachers, doctors, professional women. One brothel even has a petroleum engineer.
Posted by Jim Ulvog on October 14, 2017, 7:25 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/10/14/venezuela-continues-to-collapse/
Venezuela continues to spiral downward
Venezuelan flag. Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
News out of Venezuela keeps getting worse.
8/18/17 – Wall Street Journal – Venezuela’s Former Attorney General Flees to Columbia – The constituent assembly removed the Attorney General earlier in the month and last week took over all legislative powers from the Congress. When the government leveled corruption accusations against the now-deposed Attorney General, she and her husband fled for their lives to Columbia.
As an indicator of why she had to get-outta’-Dodge is that the secret police raided her home last week and the government has now banned 60 other prosecutors from leaving the country.
8/26/17 – Hot air – Girls As Young As 12 Turned To Prostitution To Survive Venezuela’s Socialist Nightmare – Read the full post »
Posted by Jim Ulvog on September 21, 2017, 8:53 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/09/21/venezuela-continues-to-spiral-downward/
Venezuela continues moving toward dictatorship
Shipwreck standing on the beach with the sea in the background. Margarita Island. Venezuela. Photo courtesy of DollarPhotoClub.com
What little that remained of democracy in Venezuela continues to crumble.
8/4/17 –France 24 – Venezuela’s currency crumbles at dizzying speed – The value of the bolivar is shrinking fast.
On Thursday the bolivar dropped to 17,000 to 1 U.S. dollar.
The official exchange rate is 2,870:1.
The reporter interviewed an executive in a reinsurance business. That would be a professional level position. His salary is 800,000 bolivars a month. A year ago that was worth $200 and now it is worth $47.
Two pounds of rice costs 17,000 bolivars.
8/5/17 – Wall Street Journal – Venezuela’s New Assembly Fires Attorney General – Well, the slow-motion coup continues to roll forward.
Posted by Jim Ulvog on August 17, 2017, 7:00 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/08/17/venezuela-continues-moving-toward-dictatorship/
Elections in Venezuela
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
An unofficial plebiscite was held to oppose the end of democracy. The vote for a constitutional convention to re-write overthrow the current constitution has been held, with uncertainty as to the actual turnout.
7/15/17 – Reuters – Venezuela opposition hold unofficial plebiscite to defy Maduro – The opposition holds an unofficial vote on 7/16 as a protest against the upcoming official vote which many consider to be the last votes ever in Venezuela as a new constitution will essentially put the legislature under the thumb of the president.
Posted by Jim Ulvog on August 4, 2017, 7:38 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/08/04/elections-in-venezuela/
Continuing devastation in Venezuela – #29
What economic system produces this result? Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
The political and economic conditions in Venezuela continue to deteriorate.
7/3/17 – Bloomberg – Venezuela’s Poor Rebel, Roiling Maduro’s Socialist Strongholds – The power base for the leaders of the socialist country is poor people.
From previous reading I’ve done, massive subsidies to the poor successfully bought their allegiance. The collapse of services including water outages, random outages of electricity, and empty store shelves are rapidly undermining support from the poor. Protests has spread to many of the poor communities in Caracas. There have been nightly protests in a number of communities for several weeks.
7/5/17 – Wall Street Journal – Maduro Supporters Storm Venezuela’s Congress – Read the full post »
Posted by Jim Ulvog on August 3, 2017, 12:00 pm
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/08/03/continuing-devastation-in-venezuela-29/
While on a long road trip, what economic system provided the goods and services I needed, when and where I wanted them?
How is it that services are available on the interstate highway system when and where I need them? Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
I took a road trip from the Los Angeles area to Williston last week. My wife and I drove there with our son and his family.
A few questions came to mind on the trip
Questions
1. What economic system provides a gas station within a few miles of the point that we decided we wanted to fill up the tank?
With four drivers in the car, we were planning to drive on through the night. We were too tired to do that so we decided to stop for the night.
2. What economic system provides multiple hotels and motels half an hour down the road from where we changed our mind?
3. Furthermore, when we wanted to stop, what economic system provided motels at multiple price points so we could pick the one that fit our price range and taste?
4. Why is it that the motel we choose included a full breakfast for all of us in the price?
5. Why did the motel even have two upgraded lamps on the night stands each with 2 USB charging points and two electrical outlets on the base of each lamp?
Answers
Posted by Jim Ulvog on August 3, 2017, 10:23 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/08/03/while-on-a-long-road-trip-what-economic-system-provided-the-goods-and-services-i-needed-when-and-where-i-wanted-them/
Happy Birthday America!
Silhouette of charging Union soldier. “Happy Birthday America” by Steve Corey is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
Two hundred forty-one years ago today marked the start of this wonderful, fantastic, heaven-blessed, messy, delightful, powerful, flawed, and glorious experiment called the United States of America which has delivered unimaginable levels of freedom to hundreds of millions of people here in the US of A and contributed massively to the freedom of hundreds and hundreds of millions more around the world.
Happy birthday America!
“4th of July” by Matthew Blouir is licensed under CC BY 2.0
If you want a really short description of this day, consider a photo of a sign on a store’s door I saw while browsing the ‘net:
Closed on July 4
in observance of
Brexit 1776
If you are looking for a brief description of the string of events which led to signing the Declaration of Independence and the follow-on events leading to full independence, Read the full post »
Posted by Jim Ulvog on July 4, 2017, 9:09 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/07/04/happy-birthday-america/
Major ruling on religious freedom from Supreme Court
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
The Supreme Court issued a major ruling in favor of religious freedom, finding that a religious preschool may not be prohibited from a program helping private schools merely because it is a religious based school.
I would like to give you a flash introduction to the ruling. If you are interested in this case, you must spend time in further research.
The case, referred to as Trinity Lutheran, is focused on a state program that paid for private schools to resurface their playgrounds with rubber from recycled tires. The state held that merely being run by a religious entity disqualified the preschool from participation in the program. (If you need a more precise cite, look up Trinity Lutheran Church vs. Comer)
Posted by Jim Ulvog on June 26, 2017, 7:43 pm
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/06/26/major-ruling-on-religious-freedom-from-supreme-court/
Bleak outlook for Venezuela
Image courtesy of Adobe Stock.
With the supreme court compromised, the president outmaneuvering the congress, all members of the military under the watchful eye of Cuban zampolits (political officers), and the most loyal members of the military allowed to enjoy the spoils, there doesn’t appear to be much hope for either a peaceful solution or near-term end to the massive, intentionally caused humanitarian suffering in Venezuela.
Here are two short comments on the escalating violence and a long discussion of a feature article on the collapse of democracy and the economy.
6/16/17 – AFP at Yahoo News – Venezuela mobs kick, burn thieves in lynching epidemic – What happens when governments take actions that prevent the economy from working and as a result people are starving? Thieves start robbing people of food at gunpoint (money isn’t worth stealing).
What happens when robberies get out control because there is so much disruption and the government can’t do anything to maintain peace and there is widespread suffering? Mobs start lynching robbers.
There were 20 reported mob driven lynchings in 2015, 126 in 2016, and 60 in the first five months of this year.
In one attack on an armed robber, the police were able to pull the near-unconscious man into a police car as the mob cheered having beaten him. Another reporter filmed a robber being set on fire.
As another indicator of the breakdown in the social contract, Venezuela has one of the highest rates of murder in the world. That merely 6 out of 100 murders results in jail time dangerously wears away at the idea of government being able (or willing) to maintain social order. That contributes to the vigilante justice.
In addition to the massive suffering due to shortages of food, medicine, and electricity, Venezuela is slipping into a life of vigilante justice.
6/22 – Al Jazera – One killed as Venezuelan Troops fire on protesters – Another day of protests.
Another day of protesters getting shot at point-blank range.
One died, two wounded.
Number of dead in the last three months is somewhere around 80.
(Yes, Al Jazera is pointing out the collapse of Venezuela.)
6/23/17 – Wall Street Journal – ”The Last Battle for Democracy in Venezuela” – Article provides an in depth description of the economic collapse, current political direction, how the country got into this horrible disaster, and the bleak prospects for an end to the suffering.
Shrinking opposition
Opposition to the destruction of the country is coming from the Congress and Attorney General. The government is working to get rid of the Atty. Gen. and has a plan to replace the Constitution and Congress.
The government has already taken over control of the Supreme Court. The military was purged in 2002 after an attempted coup and now appears to be completely controlled by the government. The Cubans took over indoctrination and training of the military after the coup.
Path forward to end democracy in the country
Posted by Jim Ulvog on June 24, 2017, 10:14 am
https://freedomismoral.com/2017/06/24/bleak-outlook-for-venezuela/
