Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.
This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.
So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.
This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.
Internment centres for miscreants’ reeducation: AGP
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2100584/1-internment-centres-miscreants-reeducation-agp/
“Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Anwar Mansoor Khan has strongly defended setting up military administered internment centres, whose main purpose, according to him, is elimination of terrorism through reeducation of miscreants.
Appearing before a Supreme Court five-judge larger bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa, the AGP on Friday said internment centres are necessary to reeducate miscreants.
He revealed that 72 individuals were rounded up and kept in an internment centre for two years where they were de-radicalized through education. Later, they were released and allowed to return home.
He said under the law, the detainees might meet their families during their confinement. They could even write letters to their family after every 15 days, he added.
However, he admitted that there are individuals who could not meet their families due to ‘certain reasons’. The AGP also offered to show videos about functioning of the internment centres, which, he said, were established to eliminate terrorism.
The chief justice noted that the court is examining legality of these centres. He asked the AGP to explain why these centres were established and what the law says about them.
Another member of the bench said the term non-state actor was introduced after 9/11, adding that no state protects non-state actors working against its interests. “The US has set up a detention facility in Guantánamo Bay outside its territorial limits for such elements,” he said.
However, he asked the AGP whether the state institutions have evidences to prove that the detainees are non-state actors. Anwar Mansoor Khan replied in the affirmative, saying they had evidence.
The CJP observed that it might be possible that these internment centres were established on basis of the doctrine of necessity as the country is being targeted by enemy states. The AGP said he will try to convince the bench that the internment centres are working legally and are a need of the hour.
Justice Khosa noted that “no one is supporting terrorism. It should be dealt with iron hand and special measures should be taken.” Hearing of the case was later adjourned till next Wednesday.
The larger bench is hearing the federal and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) governments’ appeal against the Peshawar High Court’s (PHC) order to annul the Action (in Aid of Civil Power) Ordinance, 2019.
The ordinance issued by the K-P governor on August 5 gave a legal cover to several detention centres set up during military operations in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) which was merged with the K-P last year.
The ordinance also assigned wide-ranging powers to authorised officers and armed forces, besides giving an interning authority to detain a suspect until the continuation of action in aid of civil power by the armed forces.
However, the PHC on Oct 18 declared it unconstitutional and in violation of all fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution. It directed the K-P government to share the list of inmates with the police department, while directing the provincial police chief to take over all ‘illegal’ internment centres.
The federal and K-P governments later challenged the PHC order in the apex court.”
Turkey neutralizes 6 PKK terrorists in northern Iraq
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/turkey/turkey-neutralizes-6-pkk-terrorists-in-northern-iraq/1647329
Erdogan says disrespectful to define YPG/PYD as Kurds
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/erdogan-says-disrespectful-to-define-ypg-pyd-as-kurds/1647526
“Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated Saturday his urge for distinguishing PKK terrorists from Kurdish people.
“It is disrespect to define the YPG and the PYG as the Kurds,” Erdogan told the opening ceremony for Social Security Institutions district branches in Istanbul.
“They [the YPG/PYD] are terrorists,” Erdogan added, referring to the Syrian offshoots of the PKK terror group.
The president urged not to confuse “terrorists with my Kurdish brothers.”
The YPG and its political wing, the PYD, are the Syrian offshoots of the PKK, a designated terror organization by Turkey, the U.S and the European Union.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.”
Some Americans could see tax rates of over 100 percent under Warren plan, analysis finds
Even Democrats say her plan is extreme
Some investors could see their rates exceed 100 percent under Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s tax plan, according to an analysis reported by the Wall Street Journal on Friday.
The Journal says the rates exceeding 100 percent would target top tier investors and result from a combination of different taxes the presidential hopeful is pitching. For instance, Warren is calling for raising the top marginal rate on income taxes to 39.6 percent, a 14.8 percent tax on Social Security, and an annual tax of six percent on accumulated wealth.
Presumably, this would all be in addition to state taxes and her pledge to hike capital gains taxes to much higher ordinary income tax levels.
Consider a billionaire with a $1,000 investment who earns a 6% return, or $60, received as a capital gain, dividend or interest. If all of Ms. Warren’s taxes are implemented, he could owe 58.2% of that, or $35 in federal tax. Plus, his entire investment would incur a 6% wealth tax, i.e., at least $60. The result: taxes as high as $95 on income of $60 for a combined tax rate of 158%.
The rate would vary according to the investor’s circumstances, any state taxes, the profitability of his investments and as-yet-unspecified policy details, but tax rates of over 100% on investment income would be typical, especially for billionaires.
Warren argues the taxes are necessary to pay for her litany of proposals, including Medicare for All, free college tuition, and public housing.
Her plan would hurt economic growth
Numerous economists have criticized Warren’s tax proposals as excessive in recent weeks.
An analysis from the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model estimates that her wealth tax alone would reduce the country’s economic growth by 0.2 percent each year over the next decade. The study found that annual growth would average out to 1.3 percent instead of 1.5 percent.
Slower economic growth would impair the government’s ability to pay for critical spending priorities such as defense, which Warren has pledged to cut by 12 percent. Another possible byproduct of Warren’s tax plan is that it could trigger a flight in capital and force investors to pull their stock market investments, which may plunge the markets and hurt 401(k) retirement plans, among other things.
As economist and wealth tax expert Edward Wolff has said, the plan is “going to induce a big capital flight out of this country,” adding “Who is going to sit around and see their wealth earning nothing or even in negative territory?”
Even some Democrats agree
Another critic of Warren’s wealth tax is former economist Larry Summers, who worked in the Obama and Clinton administrations. “We do need to study pretty carefully why it is that most of the European countries, who usually are more progressive than we are and had wealth taxes, have decided over the last 15 or 20 years to eliminate those wealth taxes and why almost none of them get anything like the kinds of revenue that Sen. Warren is aspiring to get,” he told CNBC in January.
Meanwhile, in comments that were unmistakably directed at progressives like Warren and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.), former President Barack Obama said on Friday that 2020 Democrats’ progressive proposals could alienate voters.
“Even as we push the envelope and we are bold in our vision, we also have to be rooted in reality,” Obama said. Adding, “the average American doesn’t think we have to completely tear down the system and remake it.”
https://www.theblaze.com/news/some-americans-could-see-tax-rates-above-100-percent-under-warren-plan-analysis-finds?utm_source=theblaze-dailyPM&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily-Newsletter__PM%202019-11-16&utm_term=TheBlaze%20Daily%20PM%20-%20last%20270%20days