Politics
Why Israel BENEFITS with Ron Paul, and Why Jews and Minorities Should Embrace Him
Dec 30th
(I have a video on this article below)
I’m not religious, but I do come from a large religious Orthodox Jewish family. I’ve been to enough orthodox temple services to get a good idea of the one main issue that matters to most religious Jews when they vote for a presidential candidate:
Is he a friend of Israel?
I’m a supporter of Israel. Especially after I visited in 2007. I kind of just assumed it was a big desert with a bunch of odd religious fanatics. I was wrong. What a beautiful country. Tel Aviv was such a fun city. The nightlife, the beaches, the ancient castles, the shopping, the people with a lot of attitude. Israel is like a big playground. I was surprised to find that most Israelis are NOT religious, but they do love and respect their country, very much. What these people have built among all their hardship is undeniably inspiring; and it’s just such an enjoyable place to be.
At the Western Wall in Jerusalem, Israel
If you walk around Israel and speak with the people about Israeli politics, it’s completely not controversial for everyone to acknowledge that Israel is more or less the puppet of the United States. Many Israelis talked about this with me. Everyone says the same thing. If a European nation or the UN condemns Israel, no one gives a damn. If the US is ever slightly annoyed, Israel jumps to address it. No one I met in Israel had any difficulty articulating that.
No one I met in Israel denied that their nation was under the thumb of the US Government, and yet, and yet every single one of them was grateful for US “support”.
I want to ask all my Jewish friends to think about this next question:
How can we call Israel a Jewish Homeland when it is ultimately controlled by the whims of the voters of the American population?
(pause to let that set in)
They even have waterfalls in Israel!
We don’t have a homeland yet. Not unless we’re independent to make our own decisions. This aid comes at a heavy price. Our sovereignty and our ability to pursue our best interests should be for sale to no one. Certainly not for $3 Billion.
I organized an event for Peter Schiff at my house, some difficulties ensue… (with Photos and Video!)
Nov 16th
Whoa man, my house has been packed before, but never like this! Last week I held a cocktail party with a short talk from Peter Schiff. About 300 people came over, and most of them piled in my living room all at once to see Peter speak. It was so tight that the photographer actually had a hard time lifting his arms to take pictures. I was honestly terrified by the sheer number of people I knew would show up that I’ll somehow fit in one room; but hey, we made it work! And it was a great time!
Everyone looked amazing. Check out all the pictures below:
(Many more photos below at the end of this article)
As many of you know, I’m a massive fan of Peter Schiff, he’s had a significant impact on my economic understanding, and I watch all of his videos that get posted online. I even named him “Man of the Year” in a previous article. To say the least, I was extremely excited to have him over to speak at my house. I know I was warned a thousand times by many people that he can be difficult to deal with. Still, I was surprised that for a moment even I was pissed with the guy.
Continue Reading >>
Introducing California Common Sense, Cocktail Party at My House Tonight
Sep 14th
Ok guys, tonight September 14th, I’m throwing another cocktail party. It’s an event to present the new California Common Sense organization. I’ll explain below why California Common Sense is such a cool idea, why what they’re accomplishing already is very impressive, and why just about everyone in California is gonna love this. My mind is blown about their possibilities.
The full details are at the Facebook Event Page:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217273151661724
Confirm there if you’re coming.
So my friend Joe Lonsdale is a guy with big ideas and incredible results. An early executive at Clarium Capital, he worked closely with Peter Thiel, the super famous Billionaire who founded PayPal and funded Facebook into glory. Together they funded and developed some incredible projects, and separately Joe has begun several prominent business ventures and organizations. One of his latest projects is California Common Sense (aka CACS). Information technology is rapidly transforming the world, and Joe wants it to transform our government.
CACS is a nonprofit organization devoted to opening the books of our state government and making all that data easy and fun to play with, so you can easily understand what’s actually going on. The goal of this increased transparency is to increase accountability and reduce the massive waste.
The public interest in withholding these records outweighs the public interest in the disclosure of them.
–Erin Peth, Deputy of Legal Affairs for Governor Jerry Brown
After all, as citizens we’re paying for this (state income tax, property tax, payroll tax, every time we buy something in a store, etc). We are all shareholders in this organization known as the California Government and we should know what’s going on with our money. Continue Reading >>
My First Experience at Freedom Fest 2011 (with Photos!)
Aug 19th
A Behind The Scenes Exposé of the Personalities behind the Liberty Movement
(There is A LOT here, so take your time. Each day of the conference easily warrants its own separate blog article, but I hate splitting these things up. Each person here is significant and warrants his or her own blog article, so this is actually concise. Consider this a crash course in many of the leading figures of the current liberty movement, with photos and links.)
I’ve never been secretive about my thoughts and outlook. I’ve actively been a part of the pro-liberty movement since high school, when I first discovered Ayn Rand, the world’s most controversial philosopher. Before I got to college I read everything I could find that she ever wrote. My mind was racing then, her material got me thinking about everything in new ways. I started to train my mind to approach every situation by searching for the fundamentals. I tried to find the core of every issue, and I’d consider its philosophical implications. In time this in-depth philosophical background became so damn powerful for me. I could analyze and understand issues with more clarity. I began writing more confidently. I even began making bolder serious life and business decisions much more quickly. The world is more intelligible the better you understand its matrix.
Very few of my friends gave a shit.
Gary Johnson, Running for President, and Speaking at My House this Friday!
Apr 5th
If you haven’t heard much about Gary Johnson, that will soon change. He will be running for President of The United States and there is a strong rising wave of excitement behind him.
This Friday at 7:30pm, he’ll be speaking at my house. I’m honored, and I’m also looking forward to seeing you there. In my living room, Gary Johnson will speak about his vision for the direction of our country and how his campaign can make a legitimate difference. After he speaks there will be a some Q&A time and then everyone can hang out, meet people, and even talk to Gary Johnson personally.
Event details are here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=217037961645020
Please confirm there if you’re coming.
Gary Johnson is the former 2 term Governor of New Mexico. He’s famous for setting a national veto record by vetoing more legislation than the other 49 Governors combined, thus slashing the state government during his term and leaving the state with a large budget surplus. He pulled it off when many of his actions were thought political suicide, and yet he got re-elected. He gained even more notoriety for his attack on our failed War on Drugs, by becoming the nation’s most prominent politician openly advocating legalization. But keep in mind that he’s an advocate of legalization of drugs without having established a single addiction helpline in his incumbency.
| (Discussing Marijuana Legalization and Gay Marriage) |
I’ve spoken with Gary Johnson and I was extremely impressed with his mutual appreciation for Milton Friedman and his thorough understanding of Free Market Economics. There are strong principles behind his strong stance for reducing taxes, spending, bureaucracy and government involvement in our lives.
Gary Johnson is running as a Republican, and the thing is, he has less of a challenge in the General Election against Obama, than in the Primaries against Republicans. That’s because Gary Johnson is far more openly liberal than Obama on many social issues. Continue Reading >>
I’m So Relieved, The Atlas Shrugged Movie is Fantastic
Feb 28th
A couple nights ago, at a private screening for Atlas Shrugged Part 1, I took my seat, closed my eyes, dropped my head, and for the first time in my life, I said a prayer. “Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball.” A vision flashed in my mind of John Travolta, on the cover of a Battlefield Earth poster. Petrified, my fingers hardened into a grip around my arm rests. “No!! Please don’t be cheese ball. Please don’t be cheese ball…”
No doubt, the excitement in the room was mixed with fear. The producers of this film had the balls to make a motion picture out of one of the most thought provoking and controversial novels of all time. A Library of Congress reader’s poll ranked Atlas Shrugged as the second most influential book of all time next to the Bible. Other prominent reader polls of Best Novels ever written have listed Atlas Shrugged as #1. It’s a 1000+ page classic epic packed with action, philosophy, adventure, politics, romance, mystery, and a whole lot of attitude. Back in the 1500s, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses on the door of a prominent Catholic church, sparking The Reformation. Ayn Rand nailed these 1000+ pages on the door of the world’s churches and state capital buildings, sparking what history might record as the beginning of the next renaissance. The next cultural movement to bring a focus on reality and reason and freedom and productivity back to the world.
This novel isn’t about running a railroad. It’s about society crumbling. And what causes that. It is so ambitious and controversial because it dramatizes the different fundamental values of our culture, and how that plays out through people in a society in crisis. When times get tough, more is demanded and taken from the achievers and high earners. So they work harder, they try harder, but the chains pile on, until they strike. Yes, the business leaders strike, not the employees. The title references the Greek god Atlas, who strains to hold the weight of the world over his shoulders. The load gets heavier and he struggles through blood and sweat to keep the world up. Until he changes his mind, shrugs, and drops the world. Let it fall. Let the world burn. Let all the ungrateful leeches and apes have it to themselves and enjoy it. Atlas is done.
Continue Reading >>
Why Net Neutrality Regulation is the Path to Ending Net Neutrality
Jan 5th
Let’s bring some perspective here. People have become hysterical. They are DEMANDING Net Neutrality. Now. Right NOW. But, wait a second… they already have it. Right now, we all enjoy a neutral net. It’s here. It exists. It’s alive. And it’s fucking fantastic.
Bless their hearts. Net Neutrality advocates have good intentions. They are typically very intelligent, sophisticated, and they obviously care enough to get involved in bringing about a better world. I hope that this article will help some of them realize that they are fighting to destroy their own goal. They are fighting for their enemy.
Our Enemy. We all have a common enemy here, because we all have a common goal. Everyone on all sides of this debate wants the same thing, an open and free Internet.
Just like Castro’s army and Lenin’s army gathered followers blissfully marching for their future freedom and prosperity only to later become shocked in horror, Net Neutrality Advocates will soon realize that they are marching and singing in support of The Boot. This boot stomps without precision, without emotion, without representation.
My friends, now is a time to stop and reflect. Before we continue fighting, let’s briefly go over this issue so we can understand the perspectives.
There is no truly free country left on this planet. That’s becoming less of a problem, because, we have the Internet. The Internet, as it is right now, is humanity’s last bastion of pure freedom. We plug in, we say what we like, we view what we like, we play, we connect, we share, we learn, we grow.
It is incredible how much the Internet has already changed our lives. And the possibilities for the future are astonishing.
The Internet is currently almost completely unregulated by our government. There’s no government regulating our content, our activity, or our Internet connections.
So what is Net Neutrality? And why is it so important?
Senator Al Franken has said that “Net Neutrality is the most important free speech issue of our time.”
Moby is really concerned about it. He was crying about the threat 4.5 years ago.
Replace the word Neutrality with Equality and you’ll understand what this is about. Regulating equality. This is an old war. This has nothing to do with any facts, real results, or any harm actually caused by Internet Service Providers. This whole issue is just another proxy battle in a long war between advocates of individual liberty and advocates of social equality.
FACT: The Net Neutrality cause is a response to a hypothetical problem. We’ve never had this problem. It’s a hypothesis, a theory, by those who are simply afraid of business. They’ve confused a ton of people and got them all riled up. Let me let them explain their concerns in their own words through some visual diagrams from http://www.theopeninter.net/
End The War On Drugs. Start By Legalizing Marijuana.
Oct 15th
Midterm elections are coming up with a host of policies to vote on. This month I’m going to talk about several political matters whos fate our ballets will determine. Starting with the most obvious and easiest disaster to see: The War On Drugs.
Anyone with eyes to see can recognize the total disaster of The War On Drugs.
More Prisoners. More Police Abuse. More Corruption. More Gangs. More Crime. More Killings. More Fear. More Waste. More Debt. More Government Spending. More Government Control.
Less Freedom.
“Drug Prohibition is the biggest failed policy in the history of our country, second only to slavery.”
-Retired California Superior Court Judge James Gray
If you do nothing else to look into this issue, at least watch this video from a hero of mine, Milton Friedman, who explained decades ago in great detail why drugs should be legalized:
What have we gained from all the deaths, police crackdowns, and money spent? What have we gained?
Have people stopped doing drugs? No
Is drug use less prevalent? No
Are kids prevented from doing drugs? Find me a high school in this country where you can’t obtain virtually any illegal drug.
Should we try to stop people from doing drugs?
Waiting for Superman and Milton Friedman’s Educational Choice initiative for School Vouchers
Oct 5th
See Below after the break
for a SPECIAL INVITATION
I’ve seen so many amazing documentaries. Right now I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen a better documentary than “Waiting for Superman“. Brilliantly executed. Explains the issues clearly and intelligently. Demonstrates the affects of our failing schools at a macro national and international level, and also on a very personal level by following the story of a handful of kids in our schools around the country. This film was powerful; insightful; emotionally gripping; and so beautifully cinematic. If this doesn’t receive an Oscar, then the Oscars will no longer have any meaning. Very few movies are required viewing for everyone, this is one. It’s as simple as that.
Perhaps the most powerful message of Waiting for Superman is its title. The school bus with our children is heading for a cliff, the driver is asleep at the wheel. No one is coming to save the day. We cannot wait for Superman. We CAN become aware, and act.
Video of the Day: Chris Christie Responds to a Teacher
Sep 11th
Fantastic! This is my favorite politician right now. Chris Chistie has balls. No one takes on the teachers’ union. They are protected and can do what they want. The points he made were clear, articulate, and convincing. Respect!
