Mysteries & Scandals: Bugsy Siegel

Source:IMDB- Mysteries & Scandals.

Source:The New Democrat

“Susan Berman (author), Ralph Saierno (NYC mob investigator), Frank Ragano (lawyer), Frank Wright (curator Vegas), W.R. Wilkerson III (author), Rose Marie (entertainer) and Michael Druxman (author) are a few of the people interviewed about the dream that would cost Bugsy Siegel his life.

The 30s and 40s were full of famous gangsters that remain some sort of cult figures today and Bugsy is one of them. He pretty much stole the idea of a casino in the desert and it cost him his life. The story of Bugsy was turned into a very good movie with Warren Beatty and it’s pretty interesting to see how badly gambling in Vegas tanked. The interviews here are extremely entertaining and they certainly give you a detailed idea of what was going down and what led up to Bugsy murder…

From IMDB

I saw the movie Bugsy a few nights ago for like the hundredth time, or whatever. It is one of my favorite movies and what I get from Warren Beatty as Bugsy and from what I know about Bugsy, is that Beatty did a great job playing Bugsy.

And had Bugsy decided to give up the mob, which is almost impossible to do, but let’s believe in Santa Clause for a second and say he was able to do that, Hollywood would’ve been perfect for him. As either an actor himself, playing gangsters, but with his personality and humor, he would’ve been able to do other things.

There’s this saying that the friendship between Ben Siegel and actor George Raft, is that Benny, was a mobster that wanted to be an actor. And George, was an actor that wanted to be a mobster. Which is why George Raft got so many gangster roles as an actor and actually got tired of that and wanted to do something else.

And if you see The George Raft Story, a movie about the life of guess who, that movie makes it clear that Raft was tired of playing gangsters and wanted to do other things. Ben Siegel as an actor, probably would’ve had a similar career as his buddy George Raft. I mean, he was a Jewish gangster and one of the most successful ones.

I believe the legacy, or at least the positive side of Ben Siegel’s legacy is what we see as Las Vegas today. Before Ben Siegel, Las Vegas was essentially a hick Southwestern town of about ten-thousand people or so.

Today, Las Vegas is a town of over five-hundred and eighty-thousand people and an area of about two-million people. It is one of the biggest and most economically successful cities in America today. And a lot of that has to with the casino and gambling industry.

Siegel, didn’t put all that together himself. But he had the vision that others used to build Las Vegas in what it could be. A great big city where people from all over the country and even world, could go to and have a great time. All of that got started with Ben Siegel.

Michael Jacques: ‘Phyllis Schlafly Who killed American family Eagle Forum’

Source:Michael Jacques- Phyllis Schlafly is the founder of the Eagle Forum.

Source:The New Democrat 

“If nothing in Hayek, Mises, Rothbard or Rand supports the abolition, redefinition, or privatization of marriage, then where did those ideas come from? The answer is that they came from writers on the left — most significantly, from the Communist Manifesto written by Karl Marx and published in 1848.

To be sure, Marx did not originate the notion of undermining the family, which had been introduced by the utopian socialists Charles Fourier and Robert Owen, but he eagerly endorsed and propagated it. After Marx’s death, his partner Friedrich Engels wrote a whole book elaborating on Marx’s anti-family ideas.

A major part of the Communist Manifesto is its unrelenting attack on the so-called “bourgeois family” which Marx believed was responsible for the inequality he despised. If communism was to succeed, he wrote, the bourgeois family had to be done away with.

The bourgeois family is the Marxist term for what modern liberals call the “Ozzie and Harriet” or “nuclear” family. It means a husband and wife who are legally married to each other, using the husband’s name, with the husband as provider and authority figure, and the wife as nurturing homemaker, and with both parents raising and educating their own children within the household.

Marx hated the bourgeois family, not only because it provided the means of transmission and accumulation of private property, but also because the family controlled the formation and education of children. Marx wanted to break the family so that children could be raised and educated communally, free from patriarchal ties and religious beliefs.” 

From Michael Jacques 

“Political junkies will remember how former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels was being groomed to run for president in 2012 before he made his foolish statement that the next president should “call a truce on the so-called social issues.” Americans do not want a leader who is unable or unwilling to articulate and lead on important social issues.

Four years after the Daniels misstep, many have failed to learn that lesson. The New York Times has proclaimed the “libertarian moment” has arrived, by which they seem to mean libertarian ideas about marriage and the family.

We hear people say the libertarian view is to “get the government out of marriage.” But where did that slogan come from? There is simply no basis for that notion in the works of classic libertarian writers.” 

Source:Eagle Forum- Phyllis Schlafly is the founder of the Eagle Forum.

From the Eagle Forum

Pro-family, to the Traditional Values Coalition and TVC Warriors (let’s call them) that Phyllis Schlafly, is certainly one of, idea of pro-family policies, has to do with this 1950s, or 1940s lifestyle of what they think America is.

The American Family to the Christian-Right is two parents, man and woman, father and mother. Anything outside of that is seen to them as immoral and even Un-American. You could argue that being against abortion is pro-family. Because you’re saying you are in favor of preventing fetus’s from being terminated and therefore more babies would be born. Because these Un-aborted fetus’s would end up becoming babies. I disagree with this, being pro-choice on abortion. But you could make a credible argument on that.

But this idea that homosexuality in general and same-sex marriage to be more specific, is Un-American, or anti-family and therefore needs to be eliminated even through big government force, which some on the Far-Right, perhaps even Phyllis Schalfly herself in the name of protecting American families, is stupid. There’s no real evidence backing that up. Which is why an overwhelming majority of Americans now don’t have a problem with gays simply because they are gay. And tend to judge gays as people.

Even as much as the Christian-Right has dominated the Republican Party and to a certain extent American politics with some of the Republican Congress’s we’ve had the last twenty years, their influence on American politics now is plummeting. As more Americans, especially young Americans, are more liberal, libertarian and tolerant, than even their parents.

Since the late 1970s or so and you could probably go back to 1974-75, lets say post-Richard Nixon and after the Roe V Wade decision, the Christian-Right, has been a major force in the Republican Party. Coming over from the Democratic Party as the former Dixiecrats in the Democratic Party.

Since the late 1970s with the Far-Right in America stepping up to take on the liberalization of the 1960s and the Cultural Revolution and all the cultural freedom that came from that era, has had a major influence on the Republican Party and fighting the Culture War. Taking on issues like homosexuality, abortion, pornography, Hollywood in general, Women’s Liberation, multiculturalism in general, which served the Republican Party well in the elections that they’ve won in the last forty years. But they’re now paying a price as America has moved left and become more liberal, libertarian and tolerant on social issues and cultural in general.

Hoover Institution: Uncommon Knowledge- Professor Milton Friedman: 'The High & The Mighty'

Source:Uncommon Knowledge- Professor Milton Friedman, talking to Perter Robison about the War On Drugs.

Source:The New Democrat

"This interview was filmed on December 21, 2000. America has spent three decades and hundreds of billions of dollars fighting a national war on drugs. Has the war on drugs been an effective way of dealing with America's drug problem or does it cause more harm than good? How should we weigh the moral and utilitarian arguments for and against the war on drugs; in other words, do we need to intensify the war on drugs or is it time to declare a cease fire?"

From Uncommon Knowledge

I’ve made this point more times than I can count now and generally I’m pretty good with numbers, but when you try to prevent someone from doing something dangerous, or try to prevent someone from doing anything and say, “don’t do this, or else” and the, or else is something awful like jail, that person, especially if they think they can get away with it, or are addicted and don’t care and think the risk is worth it, is going to do what they want with themselves anyway. You don’t correct improper behavior, or dangerous behavior when just one person is involved, by saying don’t do this, or we’ll make things even worst for you then what you’re doing now and send you to jail.

Jail and prison, is worst for people than illegal narcotics. Because of the stress, the risks to people’s personal safety and even their lives. The slop that they have to eat, that is supposed to be food. All the down time and solitary that leads to human waste. I mean, I rather be a cocaine addict and be far gone from reality, then experience jail, or prison completely sober. What you want to do instead, is instead of making people’s lives even worst than they currently are, you encourage people to improve their behavior. Show them why they shouldn’t be taking any cocaine, meth, or heroin. Don’t criminalize things that have the same, or similar side-effects as alcohol. Which means legalizing marijuana.

One of the tragedies of the so-called War on Drugs, which again isn’t a real war, but its made criminals of people, who are only guilty for what they’ve done to themselves. We spend billions of dollars every year as taxpayers punishing people for what they’ve done to themselves. When what we could’ve been doing is actually helping people get off of those drugs and build their life into something that is positive and productive. Where they don’t want anything to do with cocaine, heroin, or meth. Imagine if we were doing this 45 years ago, instead of locking people up, because they like cocaine. So we can say we’re “tough on crime”, whatever the hell that means. How many lives would we of saved from the War on Drugs as a result?

Bill Boggs TV: John Dean Interview With Bill Boggs

Source:Bill Boggs TV.

Source:The New Democrat

You could perhaps blame John Dean for a lot of things, but you can also give give him credit for turning his life around. Here’s a young man, who becomes Chief Counsel of the Richard Nixon White House, at the age of thirty. Who becomes the head of the White House Watergate coverup at 33-34 and ends up becoming the chief witness for the prosecution and the Senate Watergate Committee in 1973. And ends up going to jail for his role in the Watergate coverup. Who gets disbarred from being a lawyer and who now is a very successful writer and offer post-Watergate and prison.

John Dean, who considers Mr. Conservative, or Mr. Conservative Libertarian Barry Goldwater, as one his heros. Has now become one of the chief critics of the Republican Party. And was also one of President George W. Bush’s chief critics and Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief critics. A chief critic of the Republican Party and how they’ve become dominated by the Christian-Right and Far-Right in general. Who was a Republican, at least up to the point he got out of prison. And again, who considers Barry Goldwater to be one his heros and even wrote a book about him.

Similar to Chuck Colson, John Dean, is an example of how people can change. That they can be good solid productive people at their core and then perhaps go through a rough period, perhaps meet and work with the wrong people and end up doing some really bad things. Like covering up one of the biggest political scandals in American history, that leads to a President resigning from office. To avoid being impeached, convicted and removed by Congress. Who pays the price for the bad actions and regroups and moves on with their life. And lives a good productive life as a result. And that to large extent is the story of John Dean.

Commentary Magazine: Jonathan S. Tobin: 'The Greek Crisis Echoed in Democrat’s Entitlement Stance'

Source:Commentary Magazine- U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (Democratic Socialist, Socialist Republic of Vermont)

Source:The New Democrat

To state the obvious, America is not Greece. Greece, a country of eleven-million people, with an economy somewhere around two-hundred-fifty-million people and yet their central government spends about half of its GDP. Most of that having something to do with the economy, mostly having to do with social welfare programs. Greece, is not a Marxist state, but certainly a social democratic, or even a socialist state, that expects its government to do a lot for them. And people who actually do have jobs there, they are happy to pay for those services and even subsidize people who won’t work. So this idea that they would willing to give up all of their social welfare subsidies, even to save their economy and get bailed out, is foreign to Greeks.

America, is a much different country than Greece. Which shouldn’t be any surprise to anyone, even to Democratic Socialist Senator Bernie Sanders and his bid for the White House. We don’t expect government to do practically everything for us, or at least most of us don’t. And when our government goes through tough economic and financial times, most of us are willing to do our fair share to deal with that crisis. The Greeks, tend to see as government services and welfare subsidies as free money from government. And wonder why they should have to cut back on the welfare services that they receive. And perhaps don’t even believe that they are paying for those services.

Had America, not of taken the steps to deal with our Great Recession and debt issues back in 2009 and 2011 when we did, perhaps we are Greece right now, or having similar economic issues. But again, America steps up when we have problems and Americans expect their leaders to make those tough decisions. Because we know that all of those public services that receive come with costs. And they have to be affordable and sustainable and effective, so the people who receive those services get the services that they paid for. Unlike Greece, who sees those services as free and the idea that they should cut back in what they receive from their socialist government as somehow unfair and perhaps even mean-spirited.

Dennis Miller Show: David Horowitz: 'A Most Excellent Explanation of the Left's Takeover of America'

Source:We Love Sarah Palin- right-wing author and activist David Horowitz.

Source:The New Democrat

"Dennis Miller interviewed David Horowitz on July 31, 2014.  Horowitz accurately & succinctly described how the Left has successfully taken over America.  It's so sad." 

From We Love Sarah Palin

Like with a lot of partisan political activists (right and left) and that's exactly what David Horowitz is, he has a tendency to be partially factual, but only to make a broader partisan point. 

Yes, the Democratic Party was the party of Jim Crow and segregation. What the David Horowitz's of the world won't tell you, is that those Jim Crow Democrats and the Dixiecrats, are Republicans today. The Democratic Party, along with Progressive Republicans in Congress, gave us the civil rights of the 1960s. And now right-wing Republicans, along with Libertarians today, are saying that we either no longer need those laws, or they are unconstitutional, or both. 

As far as Democratic big cities and the leadership there: Republicans don't even bother to try to compete in the Detroit's, Chicago's, Philadelphia's, Washington's, Baltimore's, San Francisco's, Los Angeles's, etc, so the cities are left with just Democrats and in many cases just left-wing Democrats, because modern Republican Party is primarily a rural, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant, male party, that believes America has been going to hell since the 1960s and the civil rights laws and the multiculturalism of today. If the Republican Party wants better, big cities, maybe they should live there and run for office there and present and alternative agenda for how those cities should be run. 

Like I said before about David Horowitz, like a lot of other partisan political activists, David Horowitz has a tendency to be half-right. Not that different from FOX News or MSNBC today. If you are a partisan or an independent, you are not going to learn much from him, because he's either just going to tell you what you already believe, or try to feed you a lot of garbage about the Democratic Party and so-called Liberals. 

Notorious Ediciones: Video: The Gangster and The Goddess: Johnny Stompanato and Lana Turner

Source:Notorious Ediciones- Lana & Cheryl.

Source:The New Democrat

There really needs to be a bio pic of the life of Lana Turner. Lifetime, would be the perfect network for this movie. If the broadcast networks don’t want to show it. Because different, but fairly like Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield, Lana lived the life of many parts that she played in her movies. Her real-life, was about as wild as the roles she played. The movie The Bad and The Beautiful, is an excellent example of that. Where she plays a tiny and baby-faced adorable goddess, who in many ways comes off like a little girl in that movie. Who is supposed to be the next Hollywood starlet and that is how her movie company portrays her. But who drinks way too much, doesn’t like herself that much and dates the wrong men.

I mean, you’re this hot sexy Hollywood starlet, who is actually a great actress, perhaps one of the best ever, who has been in some of the best and most memorable movies ever and you date gangster Johnny Stompanato. When you already have a young daughter to take care of and your personal life isn’t that great to begin with as far as you manage it. That sounds like the role in a Hollywood movie and yet Lana played that role in real-life. Very well to the point if it was just a movie, she would’ve won an Oscar for her role in it. But that is the life that Lana lived and just one example of why people are so interested in her. Including myself.

Someone who is more mature and responsible with their life, who also has a great Hollywood career going for her as an actress, doesn’t get involved with the men that she did. Gangsters, or some of the men she married and was involved with outside, of lets say organized crime. A responsible mature actress, perhaps never even meets Johnny Stompanato, or any other gangster. And especially doesn’t even allow for their daughter to have any contact with people like that. Because they are not only managing their own professional and personal lives well. But raising their kids and taking care of them. But Lana Turner, as great as she was in many ways, lived a different life.