Dr. Elaina George ― The Healthcare Rhetoric vs The Reality

Dr Elaina George is a Board Certified Otolaryngologist. She graduated from Princeton University with a degree in Biology. She received her Masters degree in Medical Microbiology from Long Island University, and received her medical degree from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

 

"Everyone can agree that this political season has been different. The candidates and their “win at all cost“ campaigns have unwittingly uncovered what has been lurking under the surface. It is what voters have known, but have been unable to put their fingers on or wrap their brains around – the feeling that there is something wrong with the direction in which the country has been moving.

The rise of the ‘outsiders’ attests to this. However, what has become increasingly confusing to wade through is the exponential rise in the rhetoric which is designed to keep the status quo in place. How else can one explain the fact that on one hand some conservatives have been advocating policies that work against the conservative principles of free market and the rule of law, while actually funding and perpetuating big government policies that centralize power at the expense of individual rights; and on the other hand liberals have been advocating policies that abrogate free speech, restrict the freedom to associate with whom and how you see fit, while championing cronyism in the form of Medicare for all, and taxing the middle class out of existence in the name of the nanny state wrapped in the guise of social justice."

Read the full article HERE.

William N. Grigg — The Last Full Measure of Misery: When Will Prohibition Finally End?

In the service of a “law” that was routinely violated by those who enforced it, hundreds of thousands of lives would be changed dramatically for the worse – many of them ruined beyond repair. Thousands of people would die through violence either inflicted by agents of the state, or abetted by state policies that gave criminals a monopoly on what had previously been a competitive market. 

(Pro Liberate)

“Our safety and happiness lie in obedience to law by every man, woman and child,” pontificated Attorney General Harry Micajah Daugherty in his keynote address to the 1921 annual conference of the American Bar Association in Cincinnati. His homily on the supposed virtue of submission to the state was offered in the service of the crusade to “suppress the age-long evil of the liquor traffic,” a holy errand to which the assembled legal luminaries were firmly committed, at least while they were on the clock.

“After hours,” Edward Behr wryly observed in his book Prohibition: Thirteen Years that Changed America, “many of those attending the meeting were haunting the speakeasies they denounced.” 

Everyone in Daugherty’s audience was aware that the Attorney General was profiting handsomely from the kickbacks and other illicit emoluments that inevitably accompany prohibition. Most of them were likewise aware that Daugherty had selected Cincinnati as the site of the conference because its police and municipal court system were entirely controlled by bootlegger George Remus – who was among the Attorney General’s most generous benefactors.  

In order for the “Noble Experiment” to proceed, certain “needful lies” had to be recited by people in positions of “authority” – the most significant of which was that the state’s enforcement caste was essentially incorruptible, and thus suited to the task of reforming lesser beings through the application of violence. 
 

Read the full article HERE.

Akil Alleyne — Interview: Is Free Trade All It's Cracked Up to Be?

 An economist friend of mine helps me grapple with perhaps the most contentious issue in the 2016 presidential election campaign.

  

Prosthetic Limbs: 3D Printers Making Superhero Hands for Children - Learn Liberty

3D printers have paved the way for digital humanitarians. Now volunteers can make Superhero Hands for children all over the world. Watch more Learn Liberty videos on the frontiers of health care technology, policy, and entrepreneurship. http://www.learnliberty.org/health-care/ 

Bryant Jackson-Green — The Debt Never Paid: How Reentry Reform Can Fix a Broken Criminal-Justice System

This report discusses some of the barriers to employment former offenders face, and outlines policy changes to address them.

Bryant Jackson-Green is the criminal justice policy analyst with the Illinois Policy Institute. His research primarily focuses on criminal justice reform and regulatory policy.

(Illinois Policy Institute)

Illinois’ criminal-justice system should hold offenders accountable for their crimes. This happens through a loss of freedom during a prison sentence, probation and mandatory supervised release. But the criminal-justice system must also focus on helping offenders become self-sufficient, productive community members, so they do not continue to cycle in and out of the corrections system. The Illinois Constitution states, “All penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship.”1 When someone commits a crime, he or she should expect to suffer the consequences. But that person should also be expected to find employment, support his or her family, and become a responsible taxpayer after paying his or her debt to society.

Right now, public policy undermines this goal. In fact, Illinois’ criminal-justice system continues to punish former offenders well after they’ve served their sentences – making them struggle to find work, reliant on welfare, and unable to build stable futures for their families. Former offenders face barriers in the form of occupational-licensing restrictions, loss of work skills during incarceration, and concerns of employers who may be reluctant to hire anyone with a criminal record – even when an ex-offender has reformed and would be a good fit for the job.

Read the full article HERE.