Glibertarians.com 2017 Archive

Author: Swiss Servator

  • Tuesday Afternoon Links… of Fun

    Brett is a bit busy….something about trying to pry a suitcase of meth out of a 15 foot gator?

    Not really Brett

    I am not sure….the call for assistance was a bit garbled. Anyhoo, I am taking a break from the Fondue Mines to bring you the finest in Afternoon Links.

    • OK, I didn’t bring this one (h/t LT Fish) but it is worth a watch.
    • You got nothing on me, Elliot Ness!
    • Florida has a fever, and a whole sh&tload of stingrays is the cure!
    • OK, British Tabloid Headline of the day… SEX PROBE DEATH …it is not quite what you think.
    • Ah, come see the AP pour a double of envy, with a chaser of economic dimwittedness.

     

    Oh, and this is a severe leak of confidential information. I am not amused.

     

  • Open Post – with a couple of links thrown in

    OK, Glibs. Here is a nice open post for you to paste all your links (maybe save them instead of dumping them in the Morning Links?) and snark and such. I am going to toss in a couple of bonus links on the Texas Church shooting.

    First the Good.

    Then the Bad.

    And the Ugly.

     

    Have at it, Glibs. The space is yours.

     

     

  • Mid-Day Open Post

    OK, you folks have blown past 500 comments in the Morning Links. So, I am going to drop this here empty post for everyone to continue the fun.

  • It is ON…Catalonia Says “Adéu” (Updated)

    Don Swissxote

     

    To Juvenile Bluster

    Looks like PM Rajoy has decided to crack down on Catalonia. [forestalling our commenters, I will ask…”You know who else cracked down on Catalonia?”]

    Catalan separatists respond with a good bye vote in Parliament [Note: this vote was boycotted by opposition parties, the result was : 70 in favor, 10 against and two blank ballots out of a 135-member parliament].

     

    So now what? The Catalan vote appears to be a reaction to the Spanish Central Government moving to impose direct rule over the area (Article 155 of the Spanish Constitution). Some interesting notes in this story.

    To those who think this is simply a bunch of Lefties who want to prog harder than Madrid:

    Marta Ribas of the leftist Catalonia Yes We Can party said “two grave errors” were being committed Friday.

    “First, the Article 155 which will take away our rights and impact all the country. But it is a grave error to respond to that barbarity with an even bigger error,” she said. “The unilateral declaration of independence won’t protect us against Article 155, you will only make the majority of people suffer.”

    One of the demonstrators in Barcelona was quoted as saying:

    “I am here today because we will start the Catalan Republic,” said 68-year-old protester Jordi Soler. “Madrid is starting with total repression — and there is no longer any (other) option.”

     

    So now we will have to see what Madrid will do when it invokes Article 155. I am expecting the National Police (the headcrackers from the referendum) to go in and arrest everyone they can. The Catalonian provincial police’s reaction will be key – if they resist, the Army will go in next, and I think it will get bloody.

    Does any of this change the view of a libertarian? To this minarchist, I am slowing moving further and further into the Catalan camp.

     

    UPDATE: Things moving along. Here is a good timeline. Article 155 invoked, looks like Madrid will at least charge Catalan President Puigdemont with “rebellion” (insert “You Rebel Scum” here)

  • OK, I lied…More on Catalonia.

    I thought the topic was done with. The Catalonian leadership had waffled, Madrid had growled and it looked like the whole thing was done. A bluff called and folded.

    Remember, Sully, when I promised not to talk about Catalonia anymore?

    But, as in many things…I was wrong. The Spanish central government appears to want this over with, once and for all. As I have been questioning – what does this matter to a libertarian? Is this a case of “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them“? Or just a bunch of whiny Socialists saying “What do we want? Socialism! Where do we want it? Here!” Should that even matter?

    And now my bid to win a Judge Napolitano Medal for Meritorious Question Marking:

    A good point Playa Manhattan had brought up – at what point is enough of the populace saying “we want out” enough? The referendum that trigger this shitstorm did not see even majority of eligible voter participation. Is there a number where you can draw a line and say “OK, there it is, enough to call it just”?

    What happens to someone who wants to remain Spanish? You see a lot about the Spanish Constitution saying Spain is indivisible – does that hold for people who were not even born, or of age when it was adopted?

    Will Madrid’s continuing crackdown push Catalans to say “hey, maybe the independence types are right…Madrid really does want to crap on us!”?

    Can we just airdrop STEVE SMITH or send Zardoz over there to solve the whole thing?

     

    I am torn…but if pushed, I would say that I would reluctantly back the Catalans. I do truly believe that Governments are instituted among Men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. But I can be convinced this is not the case here. Discuss, debate and snark, as you will.

  • Catalonia Blinks

    Looks like I have my answer as to what would happen with Catalonia…the separatist administration of the Province has blinked. The Madrid government is still making sure this isn’t a cutesy effort to avoid conflict and depart later.

    So looks like we won’t get a test case to see how Europe/the EU would react to secession hitting a core state.

    Oh…This makes it 0-2 recently, with Scotland, Catalonia not jumping ship. Calexit hardest hit?

  • A Catalan Follow Up

    Things in Catalonia could be coming to a head, soon. Actually, tomorrow. The central government in Madrid has not been shy about making somewhat pointed threats. As with any political strife, there are lots of stresses involved, beyond borders, laws and trade. Rumblings from some news sources are pinning this recent drive on the Left. But a small far-Left movement would not be enough to push this over the line, into a full blown secession. There appears to be a sizable part of the populace in the region does appear to want out of Spain.

    What this will end up looking like will have a possibly large impact on “Europe” – the EU, NATO and the like. I will be watching for several things:

    1. Will Madrid use force to prevent any formal breakaway? If so, in what manner – send in the Army and National Police, or just arrest the political leadership and lay off the ordinary people?
    2. If force is used, what do the Catalan people do in response?
    3. If force is employed, what will France do? [keeping in mind that the Basque ETA used to cross the border and hide in France]
    4. If Catalonia does break away – would the EU, NATO, et al ask them in? [Slovenia, as an example, comes to mind].
    5. Will crazed soccer fans demand that FC Barcelona continue to play in the Spanish League?

    Here is hoping the whole thing ends up a non-story and there is no violence…but that ain’t the way I am betting.

    Stay tuned, as they say.

     

    UPDATE: Splitting from the splitters?

  • Sunday Afternoon Mop Up

    I just wanted to hang up a post for people to catch up on hurricane/storm related things – need any help, offer any help, etc.

    Also, I just wanted to put a couple of links in on Catalonia – following the post I had written last week.

    • Some people don’t want to leave Spain.
    • Catalan government wants to be able to scram in 48 hours.

    And, of course, bat anything around you want until Zardoz or STEVE SMITH come around later with the links.

  • Catalonia….the silence.

    A “hot take” on Catalonia and the recent crackdown by the Spanish central government.

    The central government in Spain decided to use force to disrupt the independence referendum held by the Catalan regional government. Exact figures on the vote are not available – partially due to Spanish police seizing ballot boxes, and the lack of independent verification or accounting of the votes. However, the regional prime minister claims victory for the “yes” vote.

    The stance of the EU, normally ready to moralize at the drop of a hat, was muted at best. At worst, it was quite unhelpful. Worrying about the EU’s integrity came first. Unsurprisingly, France backed Spain. The US said something similar (NOTE: this was a bit ago, but current events have absorbed all attention here).

    The most interesting reactions, I figured, would be from Italy. Two of their regions are going after greater autonomy this month. There appears to be a bit of a split of opinion amongst the figures moving for autonomy in Italy…while the central government was quite silent.

    No official statement was made on the referendum by Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who told journalists the week before the vote that he considered it “a question for Spain”, or Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano.

    So we see little to no support from governments, or the extragovernmental bureaubehemoth EU. This leads me to some questions of you, the resident libertarians (or close enough to it).

    1. Should the Catalans (or Kurds or Lombards) be able to vote themselves out of the country?
    2. If their vote is not recognized, disrupted or such – what do they do next? Civil disobedience? Guerrilla warfare? Full on revolt? Grin and bear it?
    3.  What would you do if you were a Catalan, Kurd or Lombard who wanted out?

     

  • Come See The Evil that Regulation Can Do.

    I have often thought I have burned out all the absolute rage in my life….sometime after leaving Iraq. I heard a particularly powerful sermon at church on, yes, you guessed it….loving one’s enemies. After tears, contemplation and talking to the pastor…the last of the burning rage I felt… left me. But I felt an ominous stirring of the old rage, because of it. What is “it”? A story that illustrates actual evil, made possible by regulation.

    A bit of background – I am from the city of Rockford. I grew up there in the 1970s and 1980s, when it went from a stodgy, stolid middle class town based on tool and die and specialty industry (and the band Cheap Trick!) the second largest city in Illinois….to a shrinking, crumbling city, fighting as hard as it can to hold on. The city had three hospitals – my father worked at one of them (not the one hurt in this story). So I was pleasantly surprised to hear the old home town had a hospital that was going to build:

    The health system unveiled plans in April for a four-story, $70 million structure to serve women and children that would include an intensive care unit upgraded to the highest-rated level of care for newborns. Other upgrades would include the addition of 10 psychiatric beds, an expansion of the emergency department, and additions to the surgery and catheterization lab areas of the hospital.

    But, we cannot have an increase in the ability to heal the sick, care for the newborn or the mentally ill!  Heavens no!

    “The applicants have exceeded the State standard size requirements” for six of 14 expansion-development areas, according to review board documents. Those areas include a nursery, emergency and surgery departments, medical-surgical inpatient unit, cath-angiography unit, and neonatal intensive care unit.

    This was a shock, since:

    The board in June OK’d SwedishAmerican’s plan to develop the highest-level neonatal intensive care unit, which is expected to open in the hospital’s current tower location in 2019, Kirby said. The plan is to relocate it to the new women’s and children’s tower. The board is “asking for a resubmission of our modernization project, which includes our women’s and children’s tower plan,” Kirby said.

    There was no written opposition to SwedishAmerican’s expansion plan and no public testimony in opposition. More than two dozen supporters formally backed the plan, including City Council members and other elected officials.

    Oh, and…

    In 2015, the board approved Mercyhealth’s request to build a 188-bed hospital on 263 acres in far east Rockford. Construction is underway on the $505 million project.

    OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford is adding 78 single-patient rooms as part of an $85 million expansion expected to be completed in spring 2018.

    So how in the absolute rage inducing Hell could this vital boost to a hurting city get stopped? Why, politics, of course!

    The “how” – we see what many libertarians have railed against, Illinois has a “Certificate of Need” law. Want to punch a wall while screaming in rage, vomiting and crying at the same time?  Check this little intro out:

    The Health Facilities Planning Act (Act) (20 ILCS 3960), established Illinois’ certificate of need (CON) program. The CON program promotes the development of a comprehensive health care delivery system that assures the availability of quality facilities, related services, and equipment to the public, while simultaneously addressing the issues of community need, accessibility, and financing. In addition, it encourages health care providers to engage in cost containment, better management and improved planning.

    No, you sanctimonious shitheels, it allows you to stop people from building hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and other useful things, so you can protect established players in the field from competition. Period.

    So, if nobody “publicly” spoke out in opposition…how did this get beat (for now)? Well, you need 5 of 7 members voting to approve. In our case here:

    Members Present: Chair, Kathy Olson; Senator Deanna Demuzio; Joel Johnson; John McGlasson, Sr.; Marianne E. Murphy; Richard Sewell
    Member Absent: Senator Brad Burzynski

    So there were only 6 present – Senator Brad Burzynski happened to skip out. Now why would he do that? Maybe, just maybe a good friend of his, Senator Dave Syverson, asked him to skip out? Gosh, why would he want a member to miss the meeting, and reduce the available votes? Maybe take a peek at his biography. See something at the bottom of the page…

     He also serves on the Mercyhealth System Board

    My oh my…on the board of a competitor health system?!  I am shocked, shocked to find this out! He also just may have asked backers of the plan to withdraw their support, so I was told.

    So who voted “no”? The record does not say, and the reporter I conversed with has tried to find out, with numerous calls unreturned. Maybe the chair, who happens to be on staff at local clinic? So why would it matter that she was on the staff of another local provider (other than obvious competition concerns)? Oh, lookie here!

    I am in touch with a reporter (I am going to leave names out for this for now) and will do my best to find out the exact no votes. Right now this is only educated guesswork on my part. But I sure seem to have found some terrible looking coincidences, eh?

    But no matter the who, and the why – the very existence of something like the “Certificate of Need” is a monstrous evil, serving only to hurt.