Mausoleums in Hamilton and Other Stuff

1

I've been curious about the three mausoleums in the Cemetery on York. The names on the three vaults are Sanford, Proctor, and Watkins.

Here is a recent Spec article about Sanford. He was another crony capitalist who got rich, at least in part, by his crony relationship with John A. MacDonald. As it says in the article, "Protectionist tariffs of Macdonald’s government allowed Sanford’s Hamilton-based clothing company to flourish."

In other words, another political string puller who got rich by using government to block competition and rip off consumers.

Now I don't feel so annoyed that MacDonald's statue was torn down. I might have wanted to tear it down myself had I known what I know now.

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2

Stoney Creek Ontario.

Today was sunny and 12 deg C. If this is climate change, bring it on! BRING IT ON!

I'm thinking of leaving my car running in the driveway, 24/7. I would love it if winter took a hike at least to 500 km. north of here.

Move to Baffin Island, Jane Whackjob!

— Hans Wienhold 🇷🇺 (@Hans_Wienhold) February 13, 2023

I repeat myself here.

As you know, I have been a life-long advocate of laissez-faire capitalism, or at least, as reasonably close as we can possibly get to that ideal.

So, when the first "news report" came out about CO2 causing catastrophic global warming, I knew exactly two things with crystal clarity.

1 - that if the claim was true, this would be the absolute end of the debate re: free market capitalism vs. total centralized control of everything we do,

and,

2 - that even if it was all horseshit, the entire pro-statism community… in politics, academia, entertainment, and corporate "news" were going to dig their teeth into this issue like fucking bulldogs and milk it for all it was worth.

I was not the only one who recognized this threat.

I recall reading an article in Reason Magazine at around that time. The author made the point that, since the collapse of the Soviet Union seemed, however briefly, to have settled the debate about free vs command economies, the deeply dedicated, true believer commies and all their fellow travellers in the world, would NEVER relinquish their blind devotion to establishing their fanatical utopia of authoritarian collectivism. He said something like, "So the radical leftist ideologues simply recycled themselves into radical Green ideologues." I.E. Watermelons. And that was exactly right.

Also, worth noting. While the debate in the 1960s, and before, hinged upon whether capitalism or centralized command and control governance could deliver the highest standard of living to the masses, that debate, not so subtly, morphed into the mantra that a high standard of living was the enemy, since it would inevitably destroy the planet.

And here we fucking are. You will eat shit and you will like it.

Would a ‘Climate Emergency’ Open the Same Door to Authoritarian Governance as the ‘COVID Emergency?’

S C U M

— simon latham (@hansolo_uk) February 13, 2023