Reblogged:8-27-16 Hodgepodge

[Gus Van Horn blog]

Sadly, Not a Test Case

Santa Monica, California, having enacted fascistic laws against individuals using their own property as they see fit, has prosecutedsomeone who rented properties through the popular Airbnb service.

Rental operator Scott Shatford, who listed five properties on Airbnb, was charged with eight misdemeanor counts of operating a business without a license and failing to comply with citations after he refused to stop renting out his properties, Deputy City Atty. Yibin Shen said Wednesday.

Shatford pleaded no contest on July 5 in a plea deal with the city, agreeing to pay $3,500 in fines and to stop renting properties within the city. He was also placed on two years' probation.

Unfortunately, rather than defying this law with an eye towards challenging it in court, Shatford basically daredthe city to go after him by bragging that it couldn't enforce its immoral, rights-violating rules, which two different media lapdogs called "tough".

Shatford harmed no one by contracting with someone else to trade the use of his property in exchange for money. Perhaps he would have had a case, but he chose to taunt the little dictators in Santa Monica, rather than opposing them in some constructive way. The proper goal when opposing irrational, right-violating laws is a return of government to its proper function, not anarchy.

Weekend Reading

"As a group, African-Americans need unhampered capitalism more desperately than anyone, because as a group, they have never yet been able to benefit from it." -- Michael Hurd, in "How Trump Could Win the Black Vote" at Newsmax

"What many people refer to as rebellion is actually nothing more than individuation." -- Michael Hurd, in "Why Do Teens Rebel in the First Place?" at The Delaware Wave

"The problem with environmentalists is not that they have an ideology, but that it is an ideology with an inverted standard of value." -- Peter Schwartz, in "The Zika Virus and Politicized Science" at The Huffington Post

"What you can do is to gently encourage [your shy loved ones] to see what they're missing. " -- Michael Hurd, in "Social Anxiety Disorder: It Used to Be Called Shyness" at The Delaware Coast Press

What's Wrong With the GOP in a Nutshell

Someone who has negotiated with Donald Trump has written a Forbes piece defendinghim as being presidential material:

What we need in the White House -- and need desperately -- is someone who can cut through the Washington gridlock and get things done. Based on my own head-to-head experience with him, I know that Donald Trump has what it takes to do that -- and more. He's a tough man who can fill the toughest job in the world.

No word on what this lifelong Democrat might want to "get done." Apparently that's an irrelevant detail.

Given a choice between two people whose goals, harmful to me, are more or less indistinguishable, I'll take the less effective (i.e., the lower threat) every time. In this case, the uncharismatic Hillary Clinton, who would at least inspire opposition would be preferable. (And we haven't even begun to discuss the long-term damage a Trump presidency might cause the GOP or to our level of political discourse...)

Oh, and I see Gary Johnson has come out in support of a carbon tax, not that I had made up my mind in favor of voting for him, even in protest It's looking more and more like "Vote for the 'Crooked': It's Important" may well be my advice for this election.

-- CAV

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