Category: Aggregated

There is a strange thing about modern ugliness: It is militant and proselytizing, and not just the result of thoughtlessness, poverty, lack of skill, and so forth. It might properly be called ideological. It is not so much the result of bad taste as of opposition to good taste as a desideratum. I have often noticed this before, but I was reminded of it powerfully when I opened my French newspaper the other day and saw a revealing juxtaposition—revealing, whether intentional or not. The headline said “Europe [meaning the European Union rather than the geographical expression] is a necessary utopia … Continue reading →

Submitted by starfcker via The Burning Platform blog, This week marks a seminal shift in the presidential campaign of Donald Trump. This is the week the establishment rolled over and began to accept that he is their front runner. The wild attacks and blatant put downs will be muted from here on out as the establishment struggles to come to grips with their new reality. Trump has proven to be an immensely popular and muscularly resilient candidate. He has survived fire that would have killed any ordinary candidate. His reward will be to watch a batch of the so-called serious … Continue reading →

On Thursday, the FDA approved the powerful painkiller OxyContin for use in children ages 11 to 16 who have severe, long-term pain. The extended-release opioid has been used for years to treat constant pain in adults, but it is one of the few prescription painkillers approved for children. The only other known opioid drug approved for use in children is Duragesic, or the fentanyl patch. [1] Drug maker Purdue Pharma was approached by the FDA to study how to safely use OxyContin in youngsters. The agency sought to make the drug an option for children who suffer severe pain due … Continue reading →

After being bearish on gold prices during 2013 and 2014, I became mildly bullish on the precious metal in February of this year. With gold at $1,200 an ounce, I wrote an article discussing three reasons why I believed gold prices would bottom in 2015, and thus why I believe gold was an attractive long-term investment. With gold’s recent decline to below $1,100 an ounce, I believe today is one of the best times to own gold. My three reasons for buying gold that I discussed in February have remained valid. I now want to reiterate and refresh my three reasons for owning … Continue reading →

Yesterday, I received my advance copy of this book, and after spending about an hour with it, I Tweeted this: Just received advance copy of book “A Disgrace to the Profession” from@MarkSteynOnline all I can say is: Mann, that’s gonna leave a mark! And today, after spending a full day with it, that statement still holds true. I remember when Mann decided to sue NRO and Steyn for defamation, and despite all the laughing at the time there was this prescient thought from Dr. Judith Curry: “Mark Steyn is formidable opponent. I suspect that this is not going to turn out … Continue reading →

The medical industry learns slowly. In 1949, my physician, Francis Pottenger, put me on a diet. It had lots of red meat, extremely high-fat milk (certified raw milk), eggs, and plenty of butter. I had wheat cereal, cooked overnight. He took me off white sugar and processed foods. I suffered from chronic bronchitis. In 18 months, I got well. Basically, I have never been sick since. Today, we learn this: The saturated fats found in meat and dairy produce are not as bad for health as previously believed, a study has found. However, the scientists who conducted the research have … Continue reading →

America’s neocons insist that their only mistake was falling for some false intelligence about Iraq’s WMD and that they shouldn’t be stripped of their powerful positions of influence for just one little boo-boo. That’s the point of view taken by Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt as he whines about the unfairness of applying “a single-interest litmus test,” i.e., the Iraq War debacle, to judge him and his fellow war boosters. After noting that many other important people were on the same pro-war bandwagon with him, Hiatt criticizes President Barack Obama for citing the Iraq War as an argument … Continue reading →

It’s almost hard to believe that books are still being banned in the world. Aside from a crackpot dictatorship or genuinely sensible reasons, such as keeping Stephen King’s Cujo out of preschools, you’d think we’d have moved past such an archaic form of censorship by now. But alas, the times have yet to be a’changing. And while some reasons for banning a book make at least a little sense, these explanations are just baffling. It’s almost hard to believe that books are still being banned in the world. Aside from a crackpot dictatorship or genuinely sensible reasons, such as keeping … Continue reading →

Covington VA –-(Ammoland.com)- Gun-grabbers are pushing hard to get what they call “Universal Background Check” (UBC) legislation passed at the state level. They have recently been successful in Washington State and Oregon. Universal Background Checks (UBC) are where all gun sales, including private sales, must be run through a government background-check system. While that seems innocent enough, it isn’t. You will no longer be able to sell a gun at will to a relative, friend, or acquaintance in your living room, a parking lot, or anywhere else, except in a gun dealer’s business location during normal business hours, after you … Continue reading →

I’m at the University of Cambridge, having a panic attack. I can’t breathe, my head’s spinning, my heart’s going like the clappers and there’s a psychiatrist standing next to me who’s provoked it. Deliberately. Dr Annette Bruhl works at the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute and she’s examining what happens to our mental functions when we’re under pressure, to try to help those with anxiety. Some stress is vital – we need it to react to threat – but prolonged levels can affect our thinking, memory and decision-making processes. So Dr Bruhl is giving me cognitive tests to see just … Continue reading →

Have you ever heard of opium lettuce? How about kratom? These are just a few of the many natural herbs which have been used over the centuries as painkillers. Read on to find out how to use natural herbs for pain to achieve pain relief without over-the-counter and pharmaceutical drugs. We didn’t always rely on pharmaceutical painkillers, but in the past several years, some reports indicate that 4 out of 5 people relied on a prescription narcotic to help alleviate pain. The several billion-dollar industry has boosted the percentage of people taking painkillers that are even stronger than morphine. These include include such … Continue reading →

[This article is adapted from a July 17 Mises Weekends interview, available here in Mp3 format.] Jeff Deist: You have studied at length, conceptually, central banks around the world. Before we get into that further, I’d like to ask you as a German especially, what your opinion is of the ongoing crisis in Greece. Karl-Friedrich Israel: One of the leading German economists has recently compared the Greece situation to the so-called Dutch disease. Back in 1960 when the Netherlands discovered huge supplies of natural gas, they could exploit those resources and live off exploiting those resources and they became fairly wealthy … Continue reading →