The Morning Roar: Why Eric Cantor Resigned, Feds Take Up “Expendables 3’ Leak Probe, N.C. Restaurant Offers 15% Discount For Praying
Welcome to your Monday edition of The Morning Roar!Why Eric Cantor Really ResignedIt has been reported extensively by the mainstream media that Eric Cantor is resigning from the congressional seat he lost during the primaries in June. Instead of serving the final months of his term in congress, Cantor is moving on. He claims that his resignation is a selfless act that will allow his successor to get a head start and “have a voice in what will be a very consequential lame-duck session.”True to the political game he plays, Cantor’s provided reason is most likely only a half truth. It is true that his resignation will probably give his successor a head start, but it is irresponsible not to question how the move benefits Cantor’s career advancement. The website Against Crony Capitalism reports that Cantor “stands to make about $1 Million per year as a lobbyist.”Politico reports on Cantor’s move:
But several GOP lawmakers and aides suggested to POLITICO that there was more to this move. The last thing he wanted, they said, was to endure the humbling shift from 11 years in the leadership to being a back bencher, even if only for four months. And, they said he was already focused on the next chapter of his life in the private sector.Although members can explore new job opportunities while still in office, his departure from Congress means that Cantor won’t have to disclose any companies or firms with whom he may be negotiating for a job……Cantor’s friends in Congress expect him to be a huge success in the private sector.“He knows a great deal, but he always try to learn more,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). “And no one will outwork him ever.”McCarthy added, “there is no one he doesn’t know or legislation he hasn’t worked. But he also knows financial markets well.”
Cantor is primed to cash in big time in the “private” sector as a lobbyist. In reality, there is nothing private about Cantor’s future ambitions. He’s primed to use his political connections in Washington to help the crony capitalist corporation that hires him and he will score a huge payday in the process.Feds Take Up “Expendables 3’ Leak ProbeThe feds have opened an investigation into the source of the illegals downloads of the action thriller The Expendables 3.From Deadline.com:
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aka ICE, has picked up the case after Lionsgate made calls to several law-enforcement agencies to ask for help in locating the pirates, who are accused of leaking a full version of the pic on various file-sharing sites last week. U.S. Customs was merged into USDHS, and it investigates illegally distributed copyrighted materials, including media content. In the past it has actually seized domain names of websites used to illegally distribute media content and/or counterfeit goods. Said an ICE public affairs officer this afternoon, “It is our policy to neither confirm or deny that an investigation is underway, unless or until it results in some type of public enforcement action.”It comes the same day Lionsgate filed suit against the sites hosting the pic and the same day it dropped the final trailer (see it below) that opens wide August 15.Lionsgate found out about the theft of a single digital copy last Friday, according to the suit, with news of the download surfacing wide by the time Comic-Con was in full swing last weekend. We’re told there were 250,000 downloads on that first day, and Variety reports piracy-tracking firm Excipio says there have been 2 million downloads to date.
I can see why Lionsgate is irate about the pirated release of this movie. Obviously, they are afraid the free downloads will diminish their profit margin. Legal action should be taken against the party that stole the movie and distributed it to file-sharing sites, but that’s where legal action should stop. The government is fighting a losing battle if they penalize sites that hosted the movie or individuals that downloaded the movie from file-sharing sites.In a recent installment of Felony Friday on internet mogul Kim Dotcom, I discussed how the internet is changing the landscape of video file-sharing similarly to how the internet changed music file sharing in the last decade.
The FBI is fighting a losing battle by attempting to wage a global war on copyright infringement. The Internet is tantamount to the Wild West. Trying to control its growth and transmissions can result in the authorities tasked with the job looking like fools. Hopefully the United States government, after being told by a foreign court that they have overstepped their boundaries, will cease to be the copyright infringement world police.It is difficult to envision how copyright laws would be structured in a more free society. A minimum requirement would be changing copyright law so that non-consenting parties are not forced to agree to contracts via the threat of violence. Surely, private communities and city-states could create their own internal copyright laws, but intellectual property is not a natural right, and one could not justify enforcing copyright upon the whole world.
N.C. Restaurant Offers 15% Discount For PrayingIs it wrong for a restaurant to discriminate by rewarding customers that pray before meals a discount, and neglecting to give customers that do not pray the same discount?Headline News reports that a diner in Winston-Salem, Mary’s, is doing exactly that:
The pious ("pie"-us?) proof has been delivered unto the social media masses in the form of a picture of a receipt from the restaurant, showing a 15% discount applied for "Praying in Public."The tab belonged to Jordan Smith, who had traveled to Winston-Salem for a business trip and stopped for breakfast at Mary's with two colleagues Wednesday morning.She tells HLN the group "prayed over our meal and the waitress came over at the end of the meal and said, 'Just so you know, we gave you a 15% discount for praying,' which I'd never seen before."Impressed, Smith shared a photo of the receipt on her Facebook page. A mutual friend then posted the pic on the page of Orlando Christian radio station Z88.3 and it's taken off from there, being shared more than 1,700 times as of Thursday afternoon.The photo of the receipt has been verified by the diner to be accurate and the owners confirmed that they regularly award customers that pray prior to their meals a 15% discount. It is probably only a matter of time until we hear of a progressive group patronizing the establishment and demanding in the name of “equal rights” that they receive a discount without having to pray.
The logic against this restaurant's practice that incentives prayer insinuates that the restaurant is somehow violating the individuals rights of all of the “non-praying” customers that have not been rewarded a discount. This is garbage. There is no natural right that makes discrimination illegal. If you don’t like the rules or incentives the restaurant provides for certain behavior, then don’t go to the restaurant. The same principles would apply if another diner was providing discounts for performing a satanic ritual. If you don’t like the rules, don’t go. Heck even protest outside the restaurant if it floats your boat.Although, in a more free society some groups of landowners, towns, or even a city-state could band together and decide upon certain practices within a jurisdiction as the rules outlined in the contract have the consent of all involved parties. People should be free to enact rules as long as all parties involved consent and the regulations do not initiate force against another individual or their property.Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
