Communist Atrocities During Spanish Civil War

Posted: 11/18/2017

How The Left Distorted History

As a german, I learnt many times that Franco and Hitler collaborated. That the German air force bombing of the civilians living in the Basque village of Guernica was early war crime committed by the Nazis. A painting depicting Guernica by Pablo Picasso made this event and the painter famous.

We also learnt much about the fascist dictator Franco

We also learnt how many prominent artists were personally involved in the Spanish Civil War like Ernest Hemingway (communist sympathizer at least early in his career), George Orwell (outspoken anti totalitarian, democratic socialist), and Robert Capa (possibly a communist sympathizer).

What We Were Not Told About The Spanish Civil War

How much the Italian fascist dictator Mussolini was involved in this war.

The heavy involvement of Stalin’s Soviet Union in support of communist groups active in the Spanish Civil War.

Just read this horrible article by the Acton Institute:

Remembering those martyred by socialism during the Spanish Civil War

I was stunned to read that communist affiliated groups during the so called Red Terror (1931 - 1939) killed killed more than 6,800 bishops, priests, monks (including 13 bishops and 4,184 priests), and religious citizens. “As many as 20,000 churches were destroyed, many of them before the war commenced.” According to this article it was this brutal terror against catholics that contributed to Franco’s military intervention in the Spanish Civil War.

How To Attack Male Politicians In Our Time

Posted: 11/17/2018

Political Weapon Of Choice

The political news are swirling daily with new sexual harassment allegations against male politicians or political candidates. These seem to be the latest choice of weapons in our current political environment.

What is being exploited here is that all males are potential sexual predators as the powerful and influential feminist lobby will have us believe. Many men and women nowadays are gullible to this kind of nonsense. If you repeat a lie often enough ...

Flimsy At Best

Most of the latest sexual harassment accusations are so flimsy and so many years if not decades old and they seem to be brought forward just when it is most convenient. That any public media are uncritically and repeatedly running with those accusations is one of the many disturbing signs of our times.

Sexual Harassment Has Been Addressed For Over 30 Years Now

We have now a discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace and elsewhere going on in the U.S. for over 30 years. Laws have been passed against it decades ago. Law enforcement have made great progress over the decades.

About The Female Accusers

Women that do not report or do not document a serious incidence of sexual harassment to the proper authorities at the time the event happened are irresponsible.

Those women, who failed to report a serious incidence of sexual harassment, have knowingly and willingly jeopardized other women to become future victims by the same perpetrator. This responsibility lies with each woman who was sexually harassed or assaulted.

Highest German Court Just Became Highly Politicized

Posted: 11/15/2017

A Rather Baseless Verdict

Perhaps, the highest German court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) just ruined its reputation by coming down with a so called progressive decision (decision of 10/10/2017, case no. 1 BvR 2019/16)  in favor of a third gender in a seven to one vote. It appears that the sole judge who voted against this decision did not publish a dissenting opinion.

It becomes a serious problem when the highest judges fail to exercise judicial restraint when it comes to very controversial, social issues that have the potential to remain divisive among the German citizens for many years to come (e.g. the infamous Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1973).

There was no compelling evidence that the appellant was really discriminated against by government agencies or in society, but the judges argued there was discrimination. The judges created or adopted a new theory of the paramount and superseding importance of gender for a person’s life. Gender was declared a fundamental human right.

The highest judges of the land have given in to pressures from militant and influential activists and contemporary fads of the time. Or have these judges promoted their fame, fancy, and legacy? Or did they try to be cutting edge or at the forefront of jurisprudence?

The current German law allows for three options when it comes to register a citizen’s gender, i.e. male, female or omitted (fehlende Angabe). Latter option would have been sufficient.

This decision was not Solomonic at all. These highest judges became politicians abusing the power vested in them.

The Appellant In This Case

The appellant in this case was an individual with a missing chromosome that identifies a human as either female or male. He was apparently sponsored by an advocacy group for intersex people of which the appellant is the founder.

In recent times, these humans and other humans with genital ambiguity are referred to as intersex. There are an estimated between 80,000 to 160,000 persons living in Germany with this genetic feature depending on how wide the definition is. Wikipedia quotes an estimate of 1.7% of the population (country?) are diagnosed as being intersex.

In the past, these people were called hermaphrodites or congenital eunuchs.

Ramifications

It was reported that Germany will be the first European country to recognize a third gender. The highest court mandated that the legislature has to find a solution by end of 2018.

There are probably so many, considerable ramifications of this decision that you cannot even dream of listing all of them. Here are just a few. Certainly a can of worms was forcefully pried wide open by these judges.

It will probably become quite expensive for taxpayers to make accommodations for the other, evolving genders. The highest judges simply dismissed as irrelevant any arguments of additional costs to taxpayers or increased administrative burdens.

In sports and athletics, we have already the phenomenon of males competing as females against females.

Public restroom disputes have only begun. Is this just the opening salvo of a social controversy?

Speculation About The Future Of Human Gender

1. Equal rights have been fought over for at least the past 200 years or so and they have been largely achieved
2. Ideological and largely irrational battles over e.g equal pay or gender quotas have been fought for several decades and will continue. The majority of humans will have to suffer through this
3. There is a trend of more women being enlisted in military forces, even in combat units
4. The trend of feminization of men continues, so does the trend of masculinization of women
5. The trend of more humans to transgender will continue. It’s popular, it’s a fad, it gets you attention and perhaps more money and so on. Will this trend reverse, i.e. a transgendered person wants to reverse back to the previous gender? You bet
6. Gestation of human beings outside the womb will probably be achieved within the next 50-100 years
7. Genetic modifications of women and men will progress in various ways
8. Life expectancy of humans will be dramatically extended in coming decades, thus e.g. diminishing the importance of procreation

Sources:

1. Personenstandsrecht muss weiteren positiven Geschlechtseintrag zulassen Pressemitteilung Nr. 95/2017 vom 8. November 2017
2. 1 BvR 2019/16 (Full text of decision)
3. http://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/bundesverfassungsgericht-fordert-drittes-geschlecht-in-geburtenregister-15283020.html

Early Machiavelli From India

Posted: 11/6/2017 Updated/Revised: 1/31/2019

Update of 1/31/2019

I thoroughly regret that my brain is still not interfaced with the Internet! My memory is not as good as I wish it should be.

Today (1/31/2019, I realized that I had already written a blog post here about Chanakya in 2014, but back then I was not aware that he could be considered an equal of Machiavelli.


Original Post

Trigger

Recently, I watched a documentary video on Indian history and learnt about Chanakya and his famous publication Arthashastra. Unfortunately, I do not remember which video it was, but I suspect it was one of Michael Wood’s great Story of India episodes.

I have to admit, I never heard of a Machiavelli from India before, even predating the Italian Machiavelli by about 1,000 years. I would bet that many Westerners never heard of him either.

Motivation

It is an incredible and incomprehensible ignorance or arrogance of Western people to know so little about the truly amazing India. Its many varied people, its many minor and major religions and languages, its tremendous history, its variety and complexity of food and so on …
India, one of the oldest and continuous civilizations on our planet.

About 500-400 BC Is A Magic Number

Rare are the moments in history when extraordinary individuals make their appearance around the same time, but sometimes in very different parts of the world under very different circumstances, to promote human well being and enrich our understanding of the world.

About 500-400 BC is such a time. We have the ancient Greek (e.g. Socrates) and Chinese philosophers (e.g. Laozi, Confucius)), and Chanakya.

Chanakya

This teacher, philosopher, economist, jurist and royal advisor who is believed to have lived around 400 BC.

Chanakya is believed to have been a teacher at the university of Taxila (a.k.a. Takshashila), one of the oldest universities of the world.

Unlike the Italian Machiavelli, whose advice was rejected by the powers that be, Chanakya was in the service of a mighty emperor.

Chanakya advised the first, and most famous Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya (b. 340 BC, d. 297 BC) in his rise to power. He is widely credited for having played an important role in the establishment of the Maurya Empire. Chanakya served as the chief advisor to both emperors Chandragupta and his son Bindusara.

His life’s story reads more like a fairy or fantastic tale. Here are some of the stories about his life (emphasis added):
“Chanakya had an ugly appearance, accentuated by his broken teeth and crooked feet. ”
[Never dismiss an individual for his or her looks at your peril!]
“[The father] did not want his son to become haughty, so he broke Chanakya's teeth. The monks then prophesied that the baby would go on to become a power behind the throne.”
[There is some special meaning behind the broken teeth (perhaps even broken canine teeth).]
“Chanakya [had at some point two potential successors to the throne]: Pabbatha and Chandragupta. He gave each of them an amulet to be worn around the neck with a woolen thread. One day, he decided to test them. While Chandragupta was asleep, he asked Pabbatha to remove Chandragupta's woolen thread without breaking it and without waking up Chandragupta. Pabbata failed to accomplish this task. Some time later, when Pabbatha was sleeping, Chanakya challenged Chandragupta to complete the same task. Chandragupta retrieved the woolen thread by cutting off Pabbata's head. For the next 7 years, Chanakya trained Chandragupta for royal duties.”
[Certainly, Niccolo Machiavelli would have been impressed! Like Alexander the Great solved the riddle of the Gordian knot.]
“The army of Chandragupta and Chanakya invaded [a] kingdom, but disbanded after facing a severe defeat. While wandering in disguise, the two men once listened to the conversation between a woman and her son. The child had eaten the middle of a cake, and thrown away the edges. The woman scolded him, saying that he was eating food like Chandragupta, who attacked the central part of the kingdom instead of conquering the border villages first. Chanakya and Chandragupta realized their mistake. They assembled a new army, and started conquering the border villages.”
“Chanakya ordered a fisherman to find the place where [the defeated emperor] had hidden his treasure. As soon as the fishermen informed Chanakya about its location, Chanakya had him killed. Chanakya then anointed Chandragupta as the new king, and tasked a man … with eliminating rebels and robbers from the kingdom.”
[If you think Niccolo Machiavelli was immoral, think again]
“Chanakya started mixing small doses of poison in the new king's food to make him immune to poisoning attempts by the enemies. Chandragupta, who was not aware of this, once shared the food with his pregnant queen, who was seven days away from delivery. Chanakya arrived just as the queen ate the poisoned morsel. Realizing that she was going to die, Chanakya decided to save the unborn child. He cut off the queen's head and cut open her belly with a sword to take out the foetus. Over the next seven days, he placed the foetus in the belly of a goat freshly killed each day. After seven days, Chandragupta's son was "born". He was named Bindusara, because his body was spotted with drops ("bindu") of goat's blood.”
[Absolutely amazing story! Jaw dropping if you think this was told to have happened 300 years before Christ.]
“Chanakya and Chandragupta started sieging [other] towns ... One particular town offered a strong resistance. Chanakya entered this town disguised as a Shaivite mendicant, and declared that the siege would end if the idols of the seven mothers were removed from the town's temple. As soon as the superstitious defenders removed the idols from the temple, Chanakya ordered his army to end the siege. When the defenders started celebrating their victory, Chanakya's army launched a surprise attack and captured the town.”
[Does this not sound a bit like Homer’s Iliad, the Trojan war? Using a ruse to conquer a city under siege.]
There are more stories about Chanakya for yours to discover ...

Arthashastra

Anyone ever heard of this fascinating, ancient treatise on statecraft, economic policy and military strategy? It was probably written by several authors over centuries, but authorship is typically credited to Chanakya.

“Composed, expanded and redacted between the 2nd century BCE and 3rd century CE, the Arthashastra was influential until the 12th century, when it disappeared. It was rediscovered in 1905 … [and] published in 1909. The first English translation was published in 1915.”

“It includes books on the nature of government, law, civil and criminal court systems, ethics, economics, markets and trade, the methods for screening ministers, diplomacy, theories on war, nature of peace, and the duties and obligations of a king. The text incorporates Hindu philosophy, includes … economic and cultural details on agriculture, mineralogy, mining and metals, animal husbandry, medicine, forests and wildlife.”

The important Indian concept of Ahimsa (non violence towards all living beings) can also be found in this treatise.

Arthashastra defined a virtuous, benevolent, and wise king in the following way:
“In the happiness of his subjects lies his happiness; in their welfare his welfare; whatever pleases himself he shall not consider as good, but whatever pleases his subjects he shall consider as good”
“Has self-control, having conquered the inimical temptations of the senses”. “The greatest enemies of a king are not others, but are these six: lust, anger, greed, conceit, arrogance and foolhardiness”
“Cultivates the intellect by association with elders”. “[H]e avoids false and flattering advisors and instead associates with the true and accomplished elders”
“Keeps his eyes open through spies”
“Is ever active in promoting the security and welfare of the people”
“Improves his own discipline by (continuing his) learning in all branches of knowledge; and
“Endears himself to his people by enriching them and doing good to them”
“Keep away from another's wife”. “Not covet another's property”
“Practice ahimsa”
“Avoid daydreaming, capriciousness, falsehood and extravagance”
“Avoid association with harmful persons and indulging in (harmful) activities.”
“[T]hat artha (sound economies, pursuit of wealth) is the most important; dharma and kama are both dependent on it.
“[A]lways respect those councilors who warn him of the dangers of transgressing the limits of good conduct, reminding him sharply (as with a goad) of the times prescribed for various duties and cautioning him even when he errs in private.
“If the king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic. If he is slack (and lazy in performing his duties), the subjects will also be lax and thereby eat into his wealth. Besides, a lazy king will easily fall into the hands of enemies.”

One would only wish those busy body, elected, lifetime professional politicians of Western democracies would study and apply the Arthashastra.

Unfortunately, I have not yet had time to study this interesting treatise in more detail. I look forward to come back to it as soon as possible. I am sure it contains so much more ...

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanakya
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthashastra
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Arthashastra

A Brief, Government Greed History Of The U.S. Federal Income Tax

Posted: 11/4/2017

Trigger & Motivation

Just recently, I learnt that there was an incredibly high top federal income tax rate of more than 60% as far back as in the early 1930s (What during the Depression?). I remembered there were other times of extremely high income tax rates since the Depression. Then there was a period where the popular narrative has it that the so called super rich (incomes of over $200,000 in 1969) did not pay any federal income taxes and as a consequence, the alternative minimum tax (AMT) was introduced. And much more ...

Is it possible that even the U.S. had significant periods of expropriatory taxes in its history? This would be truly shocking.

The Beginnings

“The origin of the income tax on individuals is generally cited as the passage of the 16th Amendment, passed by Congress on July 2, 1909, and ratified February 3, 1913; however, its history actually goes back even further. During the Civil War Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861 which included a tax on personal incomes to help pay war expenses. The tax was repealed ten years later. However, in 1894 Congress enacted a flat rate Federal income tax, which was ruled unconstitutional the following year by the U.S. Supreme Court because it was a direct tax not apportioned according to the population of each state. The 16th amendment, ratified in 1913, removed this objection by allowing the Federal government to tax the income of individuals without regard to the population of each State.” (Source 3)

The U.S. Congress enacted an income tax in October 1913 as part of the Revenue Act of 1913.

A Shocking And Sordid History Of Greedy Politicians

Following table shows major changes to the federal income tax code from 1913 to 2013:

	Lowest		Highest
Income Year	Tax Rate	Bracket	Tax Rate	Bracket	Max No. Of Brackets	Notes
2013	10%	<= $0 - $8,925	39.6%	> $388,350	7	Barack Obama
2012	10%	<= $0 - $8,700	35%	> $388,350	6
2004	10%	<= $0 - $7,150	35%	> $319,100	6
2003	10%	<= $0 - $7,000	35%	> $311,950	6
2002	10%	<= $0 - $10,000	38.6%	> $307,050	6
2001	15%	<= $0 - $22,600	39.1%	> $297,350	5	George W. Bush
2000	15%	<= $0 - $21,925	39.6%	> $288,350	5
1997	15%	<= $0 - $20,600	39.6%	> $271,050	5
1996	15%	<= $0 - $20,050	39.6%	> $263,750	5
1995	15%	<= $0 - $19,500	39.6%	> $256,500	5
1994	15%	<= $0 - $19,000	39.6%	> $250,000	5
1993	15%	<= $0 - $18,450	39.6%	> $250,000	5	William Clinton
1992	15%	<= $0 - $17,900	31%	> $51,900	3
1991	15%	<= $0 - $17,000	31%	> $49,300	3	Confiscatory again! George H. W. Bush
1990	15%	<= $0 - $16,225	28%	> $19,450	2
1989	15%	<= $0 - $15,475	28%	> $18,550	2
1988	15%	<= $0 - $14,875	28%	> $17,800	2	Hurrah! Best of times have finally returned
1987	11%	<= $0 - $1,500	38.5%	> $54,000	5
1986	0%	<= $1,835	50%	> $88,270	16
1985	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $85,130	16
1984	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $81,800	16
1983	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $55,300	16
1982	0%	<= $1,700	50%	> $41,500	14	Ronald Reagan
1979	0%	<= $1,700	70%	> $108,300	17	Single taxpayer
1978	0%	<= $1,600	70%	> $182,200	34
1977	0%	<= $1,700	70%	> $182,000	34	Jimmy Carter
1965	14%	$0 - $1,000	70%	> $180,000	33
1964	16%	$0 - $1,000	77%	> $200,000	36	John F. Kennedy & Lyndon B. Johnson
1955	22%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $300,000	26
1954	22%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	26
1953	22.2%	$0 - $2,000	92%	> $200,000	26
1952	22.0%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	26
1951	20.4%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	24
1946	20%	$0 - $2,000	91%	> $200,000	24	Harry Truman
1944	23%	$0 - $2,000	94%	> $200,000	24	World War II. Absolutely insane
1942	19%	$0 - $2,000	88%	> $200,000	24	World War II
1941	10%	$0 - $2,000	81%	> $5,000,000	32	World War II
1936	4%	$0 - $4,000	79%	> $5,000,000	33	Franklin D. Roosevelt
1932	4%	$0 - $4,000	63%	> $1,000,000	55	Herbert Hoover
1925	1.5%	$0 - $4,000	25%	> $100,000	23	Calvin Coolidge & Andrew Mellon
1924	2%	$0 - $4,000	46%	> $500,000	45
1919	4%	$0 - $4,000	73%	> $1,000,000	57
1918	6%	$0 - $4,000	77%	> $1,000,000	56
1917	2%	$0 - $2,000	67%	> $2,000,0000	21	World War I. Woodrow Wilson
1916	2%	$0 - $20,000	15%	> $2,000,0000	16
1913	1%	$0 - $20,000	7%	> $500,000	7

Legend:

1. The data focus on lowest and highest brackets irrespective of the how taxpayers were classified by tax code (e.g. married couple filing joint returns or head of household etc.)
2. Focus is here is on single taxpayer rates after they were first introduced with income year 1971
3. Before income year 1971, focus is on head of household taxes. Head of household was introduced with income year 1952

Some Lessons Learnt

1. The U.S. was for most of the years since 1913 a highly socialist country as supported by the historical data of the U.S. federal income taxes. For the land of the free, this is absolutely shocking. That the American people have put up with this without rebellion is incredible. Where was the tea party long ago?
2. Urgently needed Constitutional Amendments:
1. No tax rate of any major single tax or any combination of major taxes (e.g. sales & income, state and federal etc.) should be allowed to exceed 30%
2. Minor taxes should be prohibited (e.g. so called sin taxes, fuel taxes etc.)
3. There were only two presidents since 1913 who dared and succeeded in reversing this highly socialist taxation regime: Calvin Coolidge & Ronald Reagan. Both presidents were awarded with incredible economic booms
4. The magnificence of the Reagan Revolution becomes even more apparent when looking at the above table
5. A great tax reform would be a flat rate federal income tax of only 10% for every income and tax payer
6. The extraordinary preferential treatment of married couples filing jointly has been outrageous compared to e.g. single taxpayers. The category of married couples filing jointly should have never been introduced in the tax code! When majorities rule, injustice happens!

Sources:

1. https://files.taxfoundation.org/legacy/docs/fed_individual_rate_history_nominal.pdf
2. https://taxfoundation.org/backgrounder-individual-alternative-minimum-tax-amt/
3. https://www.loc.gov/rr/business/hottopic/irs_history.html