Archive for the ‘Communism’ Category

Democrats Love Affair With Communism – Canada Free Press


Canada Free Press
Democrats Love Affair With Communism
Canada Free Press
A bill narrowly passed the house in California, repealing part of the law enacted during the Cold War era in our country's history when communists were really active and infiltrating our government, attempting to overthrow it. The bill proposed to ...

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Democrats Love Affair With Communism - Canada Free Press

How Donald Trump invented communism (and other incredible new ideas) – Telegraph.co.uk

Liberal elitists frequently question Donald Trumps suitability for high office. Snobbishly they suggest he lacks the education, the knowledge, the grounding in political and economic theory to make a success of his presidency.

Time and again, however, the great man proves that, beneath the showmanship and braggadocio, there lies an acute and pioneering intellect.

Only this week, for example, he invented Keynesian economics.

Have you heard the expression priming the pump before? the President of the United States of America asked a reporter from The Economist, while explaining his idea to stimulate growth by temporarily increasing the deficit. I came up with it a couple of days ago, and I thought it was good.

But priming the pump isnt Mr Trumps only contribution to the political lexicon. Here, exclusively in the Telegraph,he reveals the other radical ideas with which he intends...

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How Donald Trump invented communism (and other incredible new ideas) - Telegraph.co.uk

Kids who Catholics believe foretold WWII, Communism to become saints – AOL

A century ago, three shepherd children claimed to have visions of the Virgin Mary.

The two girls and a boy said she told them three secrets, which were later interpreted as foretelling the Second World War, the rise and fall of Communism and the death of a pope.

Pope Francis is due to arrive Friday in their Portuguese hometown of Fatima. He will canonize two of them, while the third child is also on her way to becoming a saint.

Up to a million people are expected to attend the canonization Mass on Saturday.

Their visions marked one of the most important events in 20th century Catholicism and have become known as the "Three Secrets of Fatima."

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Fatima, Portugal

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Wax figurines are placed as offerings, as pilgrims attend the 99th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, at the Catholic shrine of Fatima, Portugal May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

A pilgrim walks on her knees to fulfil her vows, as pilgrims attend the 99th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, at the Catholic shrine of Fatima, Portugal May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

A pilgrim lies prostrate as she walks on her knees to fulfil her vows, as pilgrims attend the 99th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, at the Catholic shrine of Fatima, Portugal May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

Pilgrims attend a candlelight vigil at the Catholic shrine of Fatima, Portugal May 12, 2015. Thousands of pilgrims are on their way to the Fatima Shrine to attend the 98th anniversary celebrations of the first appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children in 1917. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

Pilgrims arrive to attend a candlelight vigil, during the 99th anniversary of the appearance of the Virgin Mary to three shepherd children, at the Catholic shrine of Fatima, Portugal May 12, 2016. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

FATIMA, PORTUGAL - MAY 12: Spanish nuns chat as another reads 'Papa' magazine while they wait for they arrival of Pope Francis at the Sanctuary of Fatima on May 12, 2017 in Fatima, Portugal. Pope Francis will be attending the Sanctuary of Fatima, in Portugal, on May 12 and 13 to canonize two Portuguese shepherds, Jacinta and Francisco Marto, who are said to have witnessed the apparition of what they believed was the Virgin Mary, together with their aunt Lucia Santos, during the 100 anniversary. Thousands of pilgrims and worshippers from around the world are expected to gather at the centenary celebration. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

FATIMA - PORTUGAL - MAY 12: A Christian pilgrim is seen at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima as he waits the arrival of Pope Francis in Fatima, Portugal on May 12, 2017. (Photo by Pedro Trindade/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

FATIMA, PORTUGAL - MAY 11: A worshipper holds a candle during a night mass in the Sanctuary of Fatima on May 11, 2017 in Fatima, Portugal. Pope Francis will be attending the Sanctuary of Fatima, in Portugal, on May 12 and 13 to canonize two Portuguese shepherds, Jacinta and Francisco Marto. It is said they were witnesses to the apparition of what they believed was the Virgin Mary, together with their aunt Lucia Santos, during the 100 anniversary. Thousands of pilgrims are expected to gather to the centenary celebration. (Photo by Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images)

A woman holds a figure of Our Lady of Fatima as she waits for the arrival of Pope Francis at Fatima Sanctuary in Fatima, central Portugal, on May 12, 2017. Two of the three child shepherds who reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, one century ago, will be declared saints on May 13, 2017 by Pope Francis. The canonisation of Jacinta and Francisco Marto will take place during the Argentinian pontiff's visit to a Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims every year. / AFP PHOTO / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA (Photo credit should read PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images)

An Angolan woman pays a promise walking on her knees at Fatima Sanctuary in Fatima, central Portugal, on May 11, 2017. Two of the three child shepherds who reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, one century ago, will be declared saints on May 13, 2017 by Pope Francis. The canonisation of Jacinta and Francisco Marto will take place during the Argentinian pontiff's visit to a Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims every year. / AFP PHOTO / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA (Photo credit should read PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images)

TOPSHOT - A group of pilgrims arrive at Fatima Sanctuary in Fatima, central Portugal, on May 11, 2017. Two of the three child shepherds who reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, one century ago, will be declared saints on May 13, 2017 by Pope Francis. The canonisation of Jacinta and Francisco Marto will take place during the Argentinian pontiff's visit to a Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims every year. / AFP PHOTO / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA (Photo credit should read PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images)

A pilgrim holds a rosary on her hand as she walks on her knees at Fatima Sanctuary in Fatima, central Portugal, on May 11, 2017. Two of the three child shepherds who reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Fatima, Portugal, one century ago, will be declared saints on May 13, 2017 by Pope Francis. The canonisation of Jacinta and Francisco Marto will take place during the Argentinian pontiff's visit to a Catholic shrine visited by millions of pilgrims every year. / AFP PHOTO / PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA (Photo credit should read PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA/AFP/Getty Images)

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For days, pilgrims carrying candles, rosaries and roses have made their way to the statue dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima, with some completing the last part on their knees.

Portugal has boosted security ahead of the pontiff's visit and has reinstated border controls restricting freedom of movement from other European states.

In a video message to the people of Portugal before his journey, Pope Francis said he would "present" himself to the Virgin Mary.

Visions of the Madonna are very important in the Catholic faith and the story of Fatima is universally known among Catholics.

What are the 'Three Secrets of Fatima'?

While grazing their sheep on May 13, 1917, Francisco and Jacinta Marto and their cousin Lucia dos Santos said they saw the first of several visions of the Virgin Mary who had three messages for the world.

Two years later, both of the Martos siblings died of influenza leaving Lucia to share the secret messages with the world.

At first, the children were not believed. But their visions were accepted as authentic apparitions by the Church in 1930.

According to the prophecies written down by Lucia, the first vision the children saw was one of hell and came with a call to prayer and conversion, which if not heeded would lead to another world war.

The second was that Russia would "spread her errors" throughout the world if people did not turn to God.

It wasn't until 2000 that the Vatican disclosed the long-awaited third secret, describing it as a prediction of the 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II.

John Paul II had credited the Virgin Mary with saving his life and one of the bullets fired at him was placed in the crown of a statue of her in Fatima.

Lucia died in 2005 and is currently on the track for beatification, the first step towards becoming a saint. However, the process could not start until after her death.

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Kids who Catholics believe foretold WWII, Communism to become saints - AOL

Why Communism Doesn’t Work, But Still Has Romantic Appeal – Stock Investor

Communism doesnt heal all suffering, but only the suffering caused by capitalism. Bini Adamczak, Communism for Kids (MIT Press, 2017)

I am in Seoul, South Korea, to give a lecture on gross output (GO) at the Mont Pelerin Society meetings. As part of our conference, we visit the de-militarized zone (DMZ) to see the face of tyranny firsthand.

Communism and its ideological father, Karl Marx, is a topic Ive studied most of my life. My father, Leroy Skousen, was an FBI agent who was part of the anti-communist movement, along with my uncle Cleon Skousen, author of The Naked Communist.

There was a time when Communism was a major threat to our way of life, when over two-thirds of the worlds surface was controlled by Marxist governments. During this time, mainstream economists, relying on faulty CIA data, were convinced that the Soviet economy grew faster than the free countries of the West. As late as 1989, in their bestselling textbook, Paul Samuelson and William Nordhaus wrote, contrary to what many skeptics had earlier believed the Soviet economy is proof that a socialist command economy can function and even thrive.

They were proven wrong when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 and the Soviet central-planning model was discredited with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Socialist author Robert Heilbroner wrote a famous article in the New Yorker concluding, The battle between capitalism and socialism is over. Socialism is a failure. Capitalism has won! It was the end of history, as Francis Fukuyama wrote. The future belonged to capitalism. Socialist countries began to open their borders to foreign investment, cut taxes and reduce regulations.

Yet the lure of the romantic revolutionaries continues. Students wear Che Guevara t-shirts and professors teach Marxism in many university departments. I once presented an 1883 silver dollar to a Marxist professor at Rollins College in Florida. I told him, Ill give you this silver dollar if you can name the economist who died in the year this coin was minted.

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Oh, thats easy, he said, Karl Marx.

Correct, I said. Dont ever forget it. Hes dead!

But he responded quickly, Yes, thats right. But Im alive and teaching your students the virtues of Marxism!

I see that MIT Press has just published a small book, Communism for Kids. Its written by a German communist who sees only the evils of capitalism, and says nothing about the evils of communism, which was responsible for 100 million deaths in the 20th century, and even today denies life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness for millions in Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea.

Today, students and many citizens are attracted to the benefits of a communist/socialist philosophy, especially the idea that education, medicine, and other basic needs should be provided free of charge by the government.

Every year, I ask my students at Chapman University if they agree with this statement:

From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs.

At first glance, many students find the statement attractive.

Then I talk about incentives. How many of you would be willing to continue working for income beyond your needs?

Once students realize that this statement made originally by Karl Marx constitutes 100% marginal taxes, most reject the statement.

Sadly, Communism continues to be practiced in some areas of the world, including Cuba, Venezuela and North Korea, all mired in poverty and even starvation for the general public. Look at the stark contrast between North and South Korea (see photo below). When will they ever learn?

Capitalism vs Communism: Whos Winning the War of Ideas?

Roughly 100 years ago, B. C. Forbes started his magazine in defense of capitalism when the world stood at a similar crossroad of ideas. No sooner had he published his first edition than Communism raised its hammer and sickle. The Bolshevik Revolution in October 1917 brought Marxism-Leninism front and center to the world.

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The war of ideas between these two gigantic forces of good and evil has continued for 100 years, asarecent cover story of Economist magazine indicates.

FreedomFest is planning a major panel on Capitalism vs Communism: Whos Winning the 100 Year War of Ideas? This important session will be led by Lee Edwards of the Heritage foundation and founder of the Victims of Communism Memorial. Panelists include Steve Forbes and others.

Im also doing a special session on What Every Student and Citizen Should Know about Marxism-Leninism.

We are also showing several short films on the victims of communism at our Anthem film festival.

FreedomFest is only two months away. Now is the time to sign up, and take advantage of our $100 discount. Use code FS2017, and sign up at http://www.freedomfest.com, or call toll-free 1-855-850-3733, ext 202. Dont miss the excitement of our 10th anniversary including keynote speaker William Shatner and celebrating Steve Forbes 70th birthday party.

In case you missed it, I encourage you to read my e-letter from last week about how investing in gold can cost you in the long run.

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Charlie Munger Endorses Single-Payer Medical System

Having a basic level of care for everybody with no insurance aspect as a right I think is a good idea. Charlie Munger

Charlie Munger, Warren Buffetts long-term partner in Berkshire-Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.B), usually offers a counter to Buffetts social democrat policy recommendations, such as higher progressive taxes.

But Munger, who says he is not a normal Republican, shocked people by endorsing a single-payer medical system similar to what operates in all of Europe and Canada.

A single-payer system sounds appealing citizens get free medical services, including expensive surgery, which is then paid for by the government. In other words, the taxpayers cover the expense.

As appealing as free medical care may sound, it is a clear violation of the A&W principle. A stands for accountability, which would have the user pay. W stands for the welfare principle, to aid those who need help, but not assist those who dont need help. Should we subsidize and pay for the medical bills of Charlie Munger and other wealthy people? I dont think so.

Once a policy violates the A&W principles, the market stops working efficiently. Doctors have poor incentives. You end up with waste, fraud and excessively higher costs and you overuse the medical system when you offer valuable services like medical services, technology and equipment for free, you are asking for trouble long lines, shortages, poor services and a slowdown in advancing medical technology. This is what has happened in Canada and Europe. If you want a system that works, see Singagores Medisave program, which Bloomberg calls the worlds most efficient medical system. Read about it.

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Why Communism Doesn't Work, But Still Has Romantic Appeal - Stock Investor

Holding Up a Mirror to Anti-Communism – PoliticalCritique.org

Who is to blame for the failures of the current regime? A new play, Elites, presented at the Slovak National Theatre by the Czech director Ji Havelka, offers the same answer we have heard for almost twenty-eight years. Instead of the notion of the flawed character which is connected to real socialism, this new adaptation, however, focuses specifically on the current economic elite, which is firmly rooted in the Communist regime.

Elites is split into two parts. I will focus primarily on the ideological framework of the production in this review, rather than the theatrical technicalities of the adaptation itself. The first part of the play reveals the ways in which the StB (the communist secret police) recruited new agents and collaborators. Despite a one-sided image of the regime, one has to appreciate the multi-faceted characters: a wide range of motivations behind the collaboration of Czech citizens with the secret service is presented.

The second part features Ta Pauhofov as a journalist interviewing unnamed members of the current elite most likely Babi, irok or Lorenc. The moral authority of the play is the chairman of the Institute for National Memory, an institute dedicated to unveiling and publicizing the actions of repressive structures between 1939 and 1989. This part raises the central anti-communist message which aims to ideologically purge the capitalist system by laying the blame for current problems on the shoulders of an amoral elite whose power springs from their shady dealings pre-1989.

Holding up mirrors

Elites becomes a mirror for the creators of the play, and the anti-communist ideology they personify.

The play opens and closes with a mirror, in an original, although maybe rather unsubtle way, allowing the audience to see their own reflection. The somewhat clichd metaphor of holding up a mirror immortalized for (and ridiculed by) generations of Czechs and Slovaks by socialist-era news and movies gains new meaning in this context. Elites becomes a mirror for the creators of the play, and the anti-communist ideology they personify.

This mirror reveals that the victors of the 1989 revolution will maintain the story of how evil communism has spawned the amoral elite of today at any cost. One of the characters states declares that the worst thing about communism the way in which it erases the difference between good and evil. Communism is to blame for our amorality and the amorality of elites that rule us. That is why democracy (supposedly) does not work and why people have become so disillusioned maybe we are the last generation that can still enjoy it for this reason.

The play follows a basic narrative; the transformation from communism to democracy is unfinished or incomplete. According to this narrative, only a generation which has not been compromised by the corruption of communism in any way can make a success of democracy in a post-communist country. The problem is that we have already met this generation and societys flaws have not been resolved. Luckily, another guilty party is readily available, the StB-raised, Moscow-educated elite that rules us.

Anti-communism as a clich

This reference to disillusionment in democracy is where the play simply begs critics to tear it to pieces. If communism is really the root of all our problems, what explanation would the author provide for the presence of similar issues in old democracies?

The problem of the play is that it does not add anything new to the dominant anti-communist discourse.

One character mentions Germany, a country which has dealt with the legacy of Nazism and supposedly strictly enforces the rule of law but then, where does the corruption evident in the behavior of Siemens or the fraud committed by a Volkswagen executive spring from? Were these corporations infiltrated by former agents of the Stasi? When communism does not offer a convenient explanation, where can you find the roots of rising support for the extreme Right while traditional liberal-democratic parties lose ground all over Western Europe?

The corruption of capitalism of Slovakia definitely springs, in part, from the actions of an economic elite formed by the amoral environs of the secret services. But Slovakia shares such questions of inequality and poverty, the rise in psychological disorders and the devastation of the environment with countries not just to the east, but also the south and the west of its borders.

The problem of the play is that it does not add anything new to the dominant anti-communist discourse. Unlike Das Kapital, in the Arena theatre, or the National Theatres Carpathian Thriller, Elites remains a prisoner of the ideology of the transformative process that took place in the nineties. Where Gindl poked fun at the theory of lesser evil and Lomnick quoted Marx, even with its imaginative form and the amazing performances by the actors, Havelka offers only a well-worn clich.

We are engaged in an endless search for the roots of the issues plaguing society today everywhere but within this system itself.

A need to confirm ones own idea of truth is felt most by those who feel threatened. The anti-communist elite has been under threat since the economic crisis in 2008 which exposed the real impact of capitalism for all to see. While the crisis did give rise to a degree of self-reflection, the need to prove that democracy is a pillar of capitalism that succeeds where communism has failed, is still felt. The result is complete ignorance of the true foundations of the system. Instead we are engaged in an endless search for the roots of the issues plaguing society today everywhere but within this system itself.

Elites only reinforces this idea. This ideology replaces a thorough analysis of the systems current state by perpetuating the illusion that the past still determines the present.

Translation by Michal Chmela

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Holding Up a Mirror to Anti-Communism - PoliticalCritique.org