Now that my Why Socialism Failed and Saul Alinsky series are over, I have launched a new one just in time for the busy U.S. Democratic primary season over at Liberty Nation.

Titled “Exposing Political Clichés,” I take a look at the standard tropes that politicians employ. The first one I examined was the poverty is a virtue, wealth is a sin philosophy.

Here is an excerpt:

One of the more popular tropes among those seeking the White House, or any public office for that matter, is informing everyone how impoverished they were growing up. Or, at the very least, their humble beginnings.

If you haven’t noticed it, this is how the presidential hopeful on the debate stage typically does it:

“Thanks for that question on small business, Anderson. Well, as you know, I was brought up in a family of eight, living in a two-room shack in Biloxi, MS. My father tried to live the American dream by starting his own business, repairing dolls – he called it A Doll’s House. We didn’t eat very much, relying on roadkill for dinner and rain for our water consumption. My mother was a sick woman, my two brothers had lice, and my sisters suffered from Dr. Strangelove Syndrome. So, yes, I was so poor as a kid. Now, to your question: No, I would not agree to a 5% tax increase on employers with fewer than ten employees.”

This may be an exaggeration, but it is a strategy you can expect to see as the primaries heat up. Minorities – Sen. Cory Booker (D-NY), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) – will talk about how racism tried to oppress them. The wealthy white candidates, like former Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), will brag about how they went to the bathroom in an outhouse and ate raw carrots for breakfast. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg will reveal how hard it was to find a new chauffeur.

You can read more here.

Here are the other titles:

• Exposing Political Clichés: Polls Don’t Matter
• Exposing Political Clichés: Evolving On An Issue

 

The National Post recently ran this headline: “Was 1999 the best year in movies? TIFF correctly says yes.”

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Bell Lightbox is running a retrospective honoring films from 1999. You might remember that this was the year for “The Sixth Sense,” “The Matrix,” “Fight Club,” “Being John Malkovich,” “Eyes Wide Shut,” and “The Talented Mr. Ripley.” (“Purple Noon” was far superior to the Matt Damn movie.)

Because of this, these experts claim that 1999 was the best year in film history.

I beg to differ.

There are so many other years that have produced excellent motion pictures.

Interestingly enough, if you type in “best year in cinema” on Google, then 1939 comes up. The top films from that year were “Ninotchka,” “Stagecoach,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Dark Victory,” “Gone with the Wind,” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”

While these are excellent films, there was even a better year for motion pictures: 1950.

These were some of the pictures you could see at your local cinema house in the United States:

– “The Third Man”

– “All About Eve”

– “Sunset Boulevard”

– “White Heat”

– “The Asphalt Jungle”

– “Harvey”

– “No Way Out”

– “Woman on the Run”

– “Night and the City”

– “Stage Fright”

– “Last Holiday”

– “Where the Sidewalk Ends”

What a way to kick off the new decade.

While 1999 may have delivered some good films, 1950 was even better. And, of course, you can find so many great pictures from the dawn of sound until the film school revolution of the 1960s/1970s.

If you ever need to commence your journey into film, then you travel back to 1950, not 1999.

Yes, I’m a few days late on this, but it’s better late than never.

Here are my top 10 favorite stories of 2018 (in no particular order):

US Agriculture: The Biggest Victim in Trade War – Liberty Nation

What Will the Future of the Workplace Look Like? – Career Addict

Climate Week – A Week Of Hyperbole, Hysteria & Hypocrisy – Liberty Nation

Manufacturing’s Death Has Been Exaggerated – The Mises Institute

The Socialist Experiment Fails Again: Venezuela – Liberty Nation

Trump-Putin Meeting Angers Left-Neocon Alliance – Liberty Nation

Soybean Futures Tank After China Slaps Tariffs on US Agriculture – Earn Forex

The “Racist Premium” Is Just One Way the Market Punishes Racism – Zero Hedge

Sorry, Jerome Powell, The Fed Is And Has Always Been Political – Liberty Nation

Steel Talk: Did Productivity Kill Steel Jobs? – Liberty Nation

Over at Career Addict, I take a look at the state of the workplace, particularly employee morale of today and what the typical office will look like tomorrow.

The articles are:

“The Importance of Employee Morale and How to Improve It”

and

“What Will the Future of the Workplace Look Like?”

I had a lot of fun writing these pieces.

I have a new ebook out, titled “A Dad’s Real Guide to Surviving Twins: 61 Random Tips to Raise Your Blessings.”

After six months of being a father to twins, I think I have collected some helpful knowledge to share to expecting parents and those who have just brought their kids into the world.

Here is an excerpt from the beginning:

We are broken. After six months, we can admit that we are broken.

It was another Sunday in paradise when my twin daughter decided that she would begin her day three hours before her usual wakeup time. This decision to start crying at 4:45 a.m. was made the night we went to bed at midnight and rose from our limited slumber twice: once to feed and change twin A and another to feed and change twin B. Following about 90 minutes of playing, fussing, and crying, she became tired and demanded to go to sleep. As she returned to her crib, it was her brother’s turn to be fed and to begin his day, only to stay awake for an hour or so and take a nap.

This is now what Sundays look like in the Moran household. It is a far cry from what it was a year ago, two years ago, or five years ago. Sleeping until 10 a.m., having breakfast, chatting about a diverse array of topics, cleaning our fortress of solitude, spending hours reading murder mysteries, and then preparing our dinner to ensure we will eat our meal in time for Glenn Woodcock’s Sunday night big band show on Jazz FM 91. No matter the weather, a constitutional 30-minute stroll was always in the schedule. That’s how our Sundays were like.

When we discovered we were having twins, we did not have feelings of consternation like so many other families we have come across. Our relationship was solid, I was a patient man with a great career, and my wife was ready to be a mother. And that was the first mistake we made: not being overwrought.

For months, we romanticized what it would be like to have twins. The cuddling during our weekly movie night, the walks around the neighborhood, the pleasant aura of babies adding even more love to our humble abode. This is what we envisioned. It took only a month or two for reality to settle in.

Perhaps if it is popular enough I will take the time to extend it and publish in paperback.