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Friday mini-roundup

Minneapolis' Healthy Foods Mandate Screws Over Ethnic Grocers

“The city's Staple Food Ordinance mandates that stores carry products customers don't want.”

Buried? Feds to release major climate report day after Thanksgiving



Mises Predicted the "Red Meat Tax"



Why A Revote Is Necessary After Brenda Snipes Resigns Amid Florida’s Midterm Insanity



Even California Cannot Defy Nature Forever



QE Created Dangerous Financial Dependence, Italy Hooked, Withdrawal Next, ECB Warns



Information Attacks against Democracies



Roberts, Trump spar in extraordinary scrap over judges


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Tuesday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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“Protect the institutions'”

More DOJ norms being eroded. Trump-a SUBJECT of the investigation-wants access to material related to the inquiry. His Congressional supporters want evidence connected to an ongoing investigation. Time for DOJ/FBI to simply say no-protect the institutions and time tested norms."
     — Eric Holder tweet reported at Holder urges DOJ/FBI to unconstitutionally defy President: 'Protect the institutions'

Federal agencies and Federal agents serve at the pleasure of the President and Congress. That is directly from the Constitution. No institution may trump the Constitution. Democrats wouldn't stand for it if it were happening to a Democrat president or a Democrat Congress. There's more than a little hypocrisy here.

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NeoNote — non-citizens voting

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on the internet. As nearly as I can tell from a fast scan, Federal case law says that states are responsible for setting voter qualifications within certain limits. Apparently you can't restrict someone from voting for something like not paying poll taxes, or by requiring them to pass a literacy test.

I'm pretty sure it can't be done by a city, but it looks like it may be possible for a state to create voters.

Gods, that's a huge loophole. It may well be legal to be a voter without being a citizen.



There's a small problem. I've looked over the Constitution, paying special attention to the 14th, 15th, and 19th Amendment.

It looks to me that Congress (and therefore the Federal government) has no power to deny people the power to vote, citizen or not. Congress only has limited powers to prevent the States from denying people the vote.

Which means that most Federal election law is illegal. And the loophole remains. If a state permits non-citizens to vote even it's a Federal election, there's nothing the Congress or the Federal government can do.
NeoNotes are the selected comments that I made on other boards, in email, or in response to articles where I could not respond directly.

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Friday roundup


‘Barbarism’: Texas judge ordered electric shocks to silence man on trial. Conviction thrown out.

Freedom of speech also means freedom not to speak

CIA Still Arguing Its Official Leaks To Journalists Shouldn't Be Subject To FOIA Requests

Codswallop. It's just because they don't want citizens taking a close look at their propaganda

Sanctuary Showdown: The Feds Sue California

Article I Section 8 gives Congress control of immigration. This is not a "states rights" thing, the Tenth Amendment does not apply

Geek Squad's Relationship with FBI Is Cozier Than We Thought

I wonder if Best Buy's customers knew that the FBI was peeking into their computers

Gun crackdowns have already led to too many federal abuses

Government WILL abuse power. The only long term answer is reducing the power that government has.

The Deleterious Effects of Our Tabloid Discourse

It's screwing with our thinking, says the guy typing blurbs for headlines

South Africa Is Prioritizing White Land Confiscation Over Critical Water Supply Needs

So who will be blamed for the drought?

The Ever-Changing ‘Russia Narrative’ Is False Public Manipulation

Taxpayer funded no less

Which Democrat is obstructing confirmation on Trump’s openly-gay nominee for Ambassador to Germany?

So now it's not enough that he is gay and very qualified? So much for looking out for minorities

CNN, MSNBC Journalists Give Trump Glowing Praise for North Korea Move as Obama Flacks Lose It

These were the same journalists who a few months ago were saying that Trump was a clown who was endangering the world.

The Robot Replacement for Fast Food Workers Has Finally Arrived

If it costs less than a salary would and is more reliable, this is the wave of the future

Medicare’s New Day

“The program’s privately managed plans provide quality care while controlling costs—and winning political support.”

These communities sued Big Oil over climate change; then the backlash began

One lawsuit begats others. Irony abounds.

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NeoNote — SPLC

No one person and no one group has all the answers. No one group should be vested with THE moral authority to decide who is and is not a hate group.

The SPLC needs competition.

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Monday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Stop me if you've heard this one about the IRS Andover facility

This is a page from the original version of Pagan Vigil. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.paganvigil.com/C127135145/E20100905130903

Stop me if you've heard this one about the IRS Andover facility

Congresscritters pressure the IRS to waste your money to keep tax parasites employed. I know that is harsh but that is exactly what is happening.

TJICistan linked to this Lew Rockwell article. Usually I don't link to Lew Rockwell articles. When I read them, I take them with a grain of salt. And this particular piece has a definite anti-government bias ("tax subsidized chair-moisteners").

However, here are the facts.

The Andover IRS facility was slated to be closed, under pressure from the New England Congresscritters, that is no longer true.

The renovation of the Andover facility focuses on frills.

Representative Tsongas did suggest that the 1400 IRS employees slated to be laid off be used in make work programs.

So, let's summarize. The IRS was scheduled to shut down a processing facility and lay off the workers. Under political pressure from a few Congress people (not a vote of Congress, but simply a handful of politicos throwing their weight around), the shut down was delayed and the workers were given make work because keeping Federal agents employed is more important than the private free market. Meanwhile, the building is undergoing a lavish refurbishment.

So the FedGovs are renovating a building housing employees doing makework but whose main job is to collect and process taxes so the Federal government can operate…

…spending money keeping unneeded government employees in a newly upgraded facility.

We've crossed a line.

We're now paying government agents to collect money for their own employment in a very fancy building that is being renovated by that same money.

It's hard NOT to be anti-government after reading the stories for all of that.

Posted: Sun - September 5, 2010 at 01:09 PM

A class="pvc" HREF="http://www.paganvigil.com
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Government insanity

Something they can't control, even if it's not enough to take control away

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The AlterNet Tea Party article

Demonstrating that certain modern liberals don't understand economics

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More clearing out the stack

Older headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Wednesday roundup

Headlines that don't merit their own entry

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Somebody KNEW

Feds knew of 700 Wells Fargo whistleblower cases in 2010

America's chief federal banking regulator admits it failed to act on numerous "red flags" at Wells Fargo that could have stopped the fake account scandal years earlier.

One particularly alarming red flag that went unheeded: In January 2010, the regulator was aware of "700 cases of whistleblower complaints" about Wells Fargo's sales tactics.

An internal review published on Wednesday by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency found that the regulator didn't live up to its responsibilities. The report found that oversight of Wells Fargo (WFC) was "untimely and ineffective" and federal examiners overseeing the bank "missed" several opportunities to uncover the problems that led to the creation of millions of fake accounts
     — Matt Egan
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