Patronage is the sword and cannon by which war may be made on the liberty of the human race.
John Tyler, speech in Congress (February 24, 1834) against the policies of Andrew Jackson.
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John Tyler
On August 16, 1841, U.S. President John Tyler vetoed a bill to re-establish the Second Bank of the United States. 
Enraged Whig Party members — feeling betrayed by the WINO* Tyler — rioted outside the White House in history’s most violent demonstration on White House grounds.
* “Whig In Name Only,” anachronistic joke term. A play on the contemporary initialisms “Republican in Name Only” (RINO) and “Democrat in Name Only” (DINO).
“If the disgusting and corrupt media covered me honestly,” Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday, “I would be beating Hillary by 20%.”
Argue the percentage, sure, but acknowledge the obvious bias.
Asked by MediaBuzz host, Howard Kurtz, about a “tilt against Donald Trump,” Larry Sabato, the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, replied, “I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
“But look,” continued Sabato, “there was a media tilt against Mitt Romney. There was a media tilt against John McCain. There was a media tilt against George W. Bush. It has more to do with party and personal characteristics of journalists than anything else.”
The bias is as old as it is obvious, “but of course I’ve never seen anything like this level of vitriol,” Kurtz clarified.
Kurtz noted a front-page New York Times column by Jim Rutenberg, which argued that reporters who believe Trump is “potentially dangerous” must “throw out the textbook American journalism has been using” and become “oppositional” — regardless of the fact that the stance “threatens to throw the advantage to his news conference-averse opponent . . . who should draw plenty more tough-minded coverage herself.”
According to Rutenberg, an unbalanced approach during the campaign’s homestretch would help remedy the $2 billion in free coverage the media gave Trump during the primaries.
Notice that the anti-Trump bias now helps the Democrat, whereas the pro-Trump bias previously helped the GOP nominate a candidate likely to lose to the Democrat.
Perhaps there’s a method to such media madness.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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Death of Gold?
On a sad August 15 in 1971, President Richard Nixon removed the last vestiges of the once-great bulwark of capitalism, America’s adherence to the international gold standard, ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors. The dollar has remained fiat money ever since, but did not succeed in retaining its previous value.
But then, the dollar under the previous quasi-gold, Bretton-Woods Agreement wasn’t stable either, which is why Nixon had to close the gold window.
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Harry Browne
Government seems to operate on the principle that if even one individual is incapable of using his freedom competently, no one can be allowed to be free.
Harry Browne remains famous for his 1970s classic, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.
More War, More Cronyism, More Corporate Give-Aways, More CrowdedPrisons, More Taxes, More Regulations, More Drug War, More PoliceMilitarization and Civil Rights Violations, More Assaults on Free Speech, More Economic Bungling, More Debt, More Control, More Corruption.
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Townhall: Firestorm about Firepower
The presidential campaign goes ballistic. Click on over to the Townhall.com site for Paul Jacob’s latest. Then click back here for additional firepower:
- The Guardian: Donald Trump hints at assassination of Hillary Clinton by gun rights supporters
- YouTube: re Clinton and Heller
- NBC: Trump’s ‘Second Amendment’ Comment Seen as Veiled Threat Against Clinton
- Los Angeles Times: Trump accused of threatening violence against Clinton with gun-rights remarks
- Bloomberg: Hillary Clinton Opposes Heller Gun Rights Ruling, Adviser Says
On August 14, 1765, Sam Adams led the first rebel mob against enforcers of the Stamp Act in Britain’s American colonies.
On this day in 1980, Lech Wałęsa led strikes at the Gdańsk, Poland, shipyards.
As Julian Assange reveals more and more about Hillary Clinton’s nasty, loathsome ways, the WikiLeaks founder and spokesman faces an increased threat level.
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A Slave Saw Something
On August 13, 1831, Nat Turner witnessed a solar eclipse, which he interpreted as a sign from God. Eight days later he and 70 other slaves killed approximately 55 whites in Southampton County, Virginia.