Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Tariff Battle Leads to War

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The Confederate Constitution eliminated protective tariffs for industry altogether. The Boston Transcript observed on March 18, 1861 that “the principal seceding States are now for commercial independence” from the North, and it warned its readers that if free trade were permitted to exist in the Southern States, then the Southern ports would take away most of the trade from Boston, New York and other Northern ports. There is no doubt that a free-trade South could not be tolerated by protectionist Northern merchants who supported Lincoln’s party,
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com   The Great American Political Divide

The Tariff Battle Leads to War

“In a November 1860 speech before the Georgia legislature, US Senator Robert Toombs explained why Southerners were complaining of unconstitutional fiscal plunder by the federal government and why they believed it was about to get much, much worse with the election of Lincoln.

In recent years, Toombs explained, the Northern States had succeeded in having Congress give them a legal monopoly in the shipbuilding business, prohibiting the sale of foreign-made ships in the United State. This increased the cost of shipping to the trade-dependent South.

Other laws prohibited foreign shippers from offering lower prices than American shippers. Special taxes were assessed on the citizens of Southern coastal areas to pay for lighthouses and harbors that primarily benefited the Northern shipping industry. “Even the fishermen of Massachusetts and New England,” Toombs complained, “demand and receive from the public treasury about half a million dollars per annum as a pure bounty on their business of catching codfish.”

Northern manufacturers also enjoyed trade protection with tariffs and import quotas “for every trade, craft, and calling which they pursue,” with tariffs ranging “from fifteen to two hundred percent,” most of which end up being paid by Southerners. No wonder they cry out for glorious Union,” Toombs said sarcastically, for “by it they got their wealth.”

On the eve of the South’s secession, Toombs then railed against the proposed Morrill Tariff, which proposed raising the tariff rate by as much as 250 percent on some items. With this tariff bill, Northerners were “united in a joint raid against the South.”

Because of the federal government, largely under the influence of Northern politicians, had overridden its bounds of constitutionality with regard to public spending, the Treasury had become a “perpetual fertilizing stream to [Northern businesses and laborers] and a suction-pump to drain away our substance and parch up our lands.”

(The Real Lincoln, A New Look at Abraham Lincoln, His Agenda, and an Unnecessary War; Thomas J. DiLorenzo, Forum, 2002, excerpts pp. 126-127)

Workers remove Nathan Bedford Forrest statue

Via Billy

Nathan Bedford Forrest statue (Source: WMC Action News 5)

Memphis City Council voted unanimously to immediately remove Confederate statues from both city
This affects the Jefferson Davis and Nathan Bedford Forrest statues in Memphis.

City of Memphis tweeted out that residents should expect delays and detours on streets adjacent to Health Sciences Park near the Union, Manassas, Madison, and Dunlap area and at Memphis Park on Front.

More @ WMC

Mexican Journalist Executed While Watching Son’s Christmas Pageant

 Breitbart

A group of unknown gunmen stormed a Mexican elementary school’s Christmas pageant and executed a veteran journalist watching his son’s performance.

The murder took place at the Aguirre Cinta elementary school in the southern city of Acayucan, Veracruz, Revista Proceso reported. Longtime journalist Gumaro Perez Aguilando had gone to the school to see his son’s Christmas pageant when a team of gunmen walked up to him and opened fire in front of other parents and students.

Perez Aguilando covered the crime beat at various local news outlets and was a key editor of La Voz Del Sur. He was physically assaulted in 2012 for gathering information at a courthouse, Proceso reported. 

Aguilando’s murder is the to 83rd strike the Mexican press, where more than 12 have been murdered in 2017 alone. The International Press Institute has labeled Mexico as the most dangerous place for journalists worldwide edging out Iraq and Syria. 

As Breitbart Texas has reported, the murder of journalists in Mexico carries no real consequences. While human rights activists and journalists have previously called out the Mexican government for its inaction in addressing crimes against reporters and for the lacking security conditions, the usual promises made by the Mexican federal government appear to not have been kept. In many cases, violent drug cartels, or at times, corrupt public officials are the suspects behind most of the attacks.

Amnesty for the 'best and brightest' will still cost taxpayers

Via Billy

Amnesty for the 'best and brightest' will still cost taxpayers

An effort by open borders groups to secure amnesty for as many as 3.4 million illegal aliens who entered the United States as minors by holding up the passage of legislation to continue funding the federal government looks like it will end in failure. Even many Democrats were wary of this tactic and, ultimately, the normally timid Republican congressional leadership called their bluff.

The ill-fated effort to hold the federal government hostage, however, did produce a result that amnesty advocates weren’t expecting and cannot be happy about. Their power play led the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to take a look at the fiscal implications of enactment of the DREAM Act amnesty — the ransom that the Democratic leadership was demanding as the price for approving the spending bill.

More @ The Hill

McCabe draws blank on Democrats’ funding of Trump dossier, new subpoenas planned

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Congressional investigators tell Fox News that Tuesday’s seven-hour interrogation of Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe contained numerous conflicts with the testimony of previous witnesses, prompting the Republican majority staff of the House Intelligence Committee to decide to issue fresh subpoenas next week on Justice Department and FBI personnel.

While HPSCI staff would not confirm who will be summoned for testimony, all indications point to demoted DOJ official Bruce G. Ohr and FBI General Counsel James A. Baker, who accompanied McCabe, along with other lawyers, to Tuesday’s HPSCI session.

The issuance of a subpoena against the Justice Department’s top lawyer could provoke a new constitutional clash between the two branches, even worse than the months-long tug of war over documents and witnesses that has already led House Speaker Paul Ryan to accuse DOJ and FBI of “stonewalling” and HPSCI Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., to threaten contempt-of-Congress citations against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray.

More @ Fox

WALTER WILLIAMS: The creeping threat of fascism, communism

Via Billy

Fascism and Communism

Before the question, how about a few statistics? The 20th century was mankind's most brutal century. Roughly 16 million people lost their lives during World War I; about 60 million died during World War II. Wars during the 20th century cost an estimated 71 million to 116 million lives.

The number of war dead pales in comparison with the number of people who lost their lives at the hands of their own governments. The late professor Rudolph J. Rummel of the University of Hawaii documented this tragedy in his book "Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900." Some of the statistics found in the book have been updated here.

More @ Townhall

Trey Gowdy discussing questions about Strzok/McCabe


Judge Jeanine Pirro Demands President Trump Arrest Insubordinate FBI Officials


Judge declares mistrial in Nevada Bundy case

 Judge declares mistrial in Nevada Bundy case

A federal judge declared a mistrial in the criminal conspiracy trial of Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

The judge cited evidence of violations by federal prosecutors, according to the news agency.

The prosecution was pursuing charges against Bundy and his two sons for their involvement in a 2014 standoff on their ranch against federal law enforcement officials.

A new trial date has been set for Feb. 26, 2018.

More @ The Hill