EDWARD R. ROYCE Chairman, House Foreign Affairs Committee
ELIOT L. ENGEL Ranking Member
CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH
BRAD SHERMAN
ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN
GREGORY W. MEEKS
DANA ROHRABACHER
ALBIO SIRES
STEVE CHABOT
GERALD E. CONNOLLY
JOE WILSON
THEODORE E. DEUTCH
MICHAEL T. MCCAUL
BRIAN HIGGINS
TED POE
WILLIAM KEATING
MATT SALMON
DAVID CICILLINE
TOM MARINO
ALAN GRAYSON
JEFF DUNCAN
JUAN VARGAS
ADAM KINZINGER
BRADLEY S. SCHNEIDER
MO BROOKS
JOSEPH P. KENNEDY III
TOM COTTON
AMI BERA
PAUL COOK
ALAN S. LOWENTHAL
GEORGE HOLDING
LOIS FRANKEL
RANDY K. WEBER, SR.
GRACE MENG
SCOTT PERRY
JOAQUIN CASTRO
STEVE STOCKMAN
TULSI GABBARD
RON DESANTIS
KAREN BASS
TREY RADEL
DOUG COLLINS
MARK MEADOWS
TED S. YOHO

Read the rest of this entry »

It's not clear where to begin with this story. Restore the Fourth rallies took place across the US yesterday. The rallies themselves are very heartening as those interviewed are young, progressive, self-described Obama voters, and probably not a few Ron Paul style libertarians based on the signs and T-shirts worn. Be sure to check out the top 40 signs via BuzzFeed - great stuff in here. Very thrilling for the cause of liberty as the NSA scandal knocks the scales from the eyes of these disillusioned young people.

Russia Today had great coverage, an interview with the Restore the Fourth founder, woman on the scene interviews at the New York march, and commentary on rallies in other locations. Again, those interviewed are young and more coherent than their "Occupy" counterparts - fantastic! Russia Today? That brings us to the second part of the story. Mass protest rallies break out around the US on a topic that is timely and in the news. Where, one might ask, is the US MSM coverage? Good question, and a look at Google search results shows why the ABCBSMSNBCFOX dinosaurs continue struggling in the La Brea Tar Pit of digital history.

Writes JH:

I saw your post on Lew Rockwell. I agree with you about the movie; the UN is great, only the WHO organization and their vaccines can save us, a statist and neocon fantasy.

But those links posted about the book are misleading and they have got it dead wrong. Read the rest of this entry »

I believe a missile brought down TWA 800, and I believed that at the time based on eyewitness accounts and the proximity of armed force maneuvers. At any rate, if ground to air missiles get into the hands of terrorists, they can bring down airliners and cause a lot of grief. Arming bands of rebels in Africa and the Middle East creates forces of men accustomed to using violence and ready to inflict it. They are not being armed with ground to air missiles, of course, but the formation of organizations built around war and violence lays the foundation for future acquisition and use of such weapons. This is how al-Qaeda was started in Afghanistan. These organizations become long-lived and develop a violent culture. Therein lies the long-term danger. This is a lesson unlearned by the U.S. government, which by its organizational nature doesn't really care about such consequences.

Regarding my blog about the Declaration and the opprobrium some lovers of liberty heap on it, Daniel Pitrone writes me, "It doesn't say it's our duty to join the military or vote. According to this document the only duty that free Americans have is to remove their shackles whenever necessary!"

Indeed! But Mr. Pitrone wasn't done: "If it was what some readers possibly think- a Trojan horse for despotism (more like the constitution) - one might expect B O  himself to read it to us! We're more likely to hear Richard Dawkins read the Sermon on the Mount!"

I'd say that pretty much clinches the case for the Declaration's being a thrilling canticle to liberty -- in fact, such an inspiring and deft one that I fully expect Our Rulers to prohibit our owning copies sooner or later. Mr. Pitrone mentioned that he's memorized a few of its lines, and I urged him not to stop there but to go whole hog against its inevitable banning.

Speaking of which, imagine being a Continental soldier battling for freedom in July 1776. So far, your military service hasn't differed much from what you did back home on the farm: you're endlessly digging in the sun, throwing up ditches and fortifications against the government's attack. But then, as the sweat streams off your hot, tired body and the flies nigh drive you mad, your colonel orders you and the rest of the company to assemble in a hollow square. At its center, a general sits his horse, reading aloud a new statement from the Congress about liberty and the timeless principles inspiring your revolt... Live this scene with the Continental Army as its soldiers hear the Declaration for the first time in my novel, Halestorm. Grab your copy at Amazon, but hurry: the half-price sale ends tomorrow.

How is it that the NSA in 2003, with all its spying and surveillance, couldn't get right that Iraq didn't have WMD, but it could sweep up infinite amounts of communications? Incompetence, or fixing intelligence and facts to suit the previously-determined policy? Or both?

How is it that the NSA and other intelligence agencies, with all their capabilities, couldn't assess clear tips and information that 9/11 was being planned? Incompetence, or ignoring intelligence that didn't fit into bureaucratic structures and routines?

If the massive amounts of money, reorganizations, and intelligence sweeps that break the Fourth Amendment and came about to rectify these problems couldn't prevent the Boston Marathon bombing, what confidence should anyone have in any state-run efforts that promise security?

In response to my blog about the TSA's siccing dogs on passengers at Denver International, David Maharaj notes, "Puzzling move by the TSA. Dogs have no pockets. How can they possibly aid and assist in stealing lap tops and money?"

Not sure that's their purpose, David. Perhaps they join the pervs in pawing passengers.

One thing I love about my city is that the authorities are too incompetent to enforce anything, and everyone knows it. Everyone laughs or brags about it, which is even better. The politicians are only concerned with empowering their offices and staffs while enlarging their circle of swindle. Given a choice, I'd rather have the legalized criminals paying attention to their own pockets if the trade-off is that they leave the rest of alone to conduct our voluntaryist lives of interaction, transaction, and entrepreneurial vision.

Because this insolvent city is tilting toward bankruptcy and lacks a police force to keep up with serious crime, business are, for a large part, left alone to conduct business as they wish. This is because Detroit just does not have the political manpower or police wherewithal to enforce absurd laws, including state laws.

I stopped in to a local bar on a recent Sunday, via bicycle, near the Detroit Warehouse District, for a Detroit microbrew and a bite to eat. The place sits on a quiet side street near the Detroit River, with ample parking, few cars, and my favorite thing in the D - outside seating. It's a must for me to sit outside in the warmer months.

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There are many great efforts in the city of Detroit to preserve the city's breathtaking architecture from the past. One of my favorite mentions is the G.A.R. (castle) building at Cass and Grand River. Dan Austin of the Detroit Free Press writes this about Sean Emery, one of the business partners who bought the building.

It’s worth pointing out that this is a Detroit-based small business saving one of the city’s architectural treasures, not a major real estate developer or major hotel chain or billionaire’s business. That’s not to discount the rebirths of the Book-Cadillac and Fort Shelby hotels or the Broderick Tower, but this is a little guy dreaming big and doing his part to turn our city around.

“For anyone else who wants to try, now’s the time to do this in this city,” Emery said. “There’s an incredible private-sector, do-it-yourself mentality that’s more or less erupting in Detroit right now. ... When you look around the city and see these businesses taking the chance and succeeding, it is literally infectious. The opportunity to make a difference, grow and build something worthwhile is greater in this city than it has been in decades and is probably unique in the country. Get out there and do it.”

Sean Emery, David Carleton, and Tom Carleton are just three regular guys, and business owners, who bought this abandoned gem with a flashlight, a vision, and $220k. In addition, these self-made historians are repurposing as much of the building materials as possible, as well as replicating building characteristics that cannot be saved due to the building's condition.

There are no public funds to gloat about, and there will be no politicians or Detroit "celebrities" showing up at the opening of this building. But these grassroots entrepreneurial efforts are the essence of this city's phenomenal voluntaryist economy. Cross-posted at my blog "Detroit: From Rust to Riches." Follow me on Twitter @karendecoster.

Photo from Detroit Free Press.

The Thieves and Sexual Assailants (TSA) have opened an "Instagram" account to document the weapons they steal from passengers.

I remain mystified as to why anyone other than Our Rulers considers a weapon a bad thing on a plane. Imagine how differently 9/11 might have ended had even one passenger smuggled a gun or knife with him and subdued the undercover G-men-sorry, terrorists. Then, too, armed passengers would instill a healthy respect for their customers in the airlines' personnel -- you know, those offensive and patronizing morons whose salaries we pay but who order us about as if we're kindergartners.

Yet the TSA continues to ballyhoo its thievery of our self-defence -- and this without any explanation or justification, too. It assumes every serf understands and agrees that weapons at 30,000 feet are an unspeakable danger rather than life- and dignity-savers, just as they are on terra firma. The "Instagram" photos of those weapons are the TSA's newest shot, so to speak, at such propaganda.

Read the rest of this entry »

A reader who dubs herself TheIneffableSwede, commenting at The Guardian on the Thieves and Sexual Assailants, writes, "At this point, I'd rather be killed by a terrorist than going [sic] on living through this horror show. I visited California last month and a TSA agent groped my breasts in full view of other passengers and made it quite clear that she enjoyed feeling me up and she made sure to squeeze extra hard, too.

"Oh, and she asked me my bra size, too. I refused to answer (in fact, I refused to speak to her), which made them pull me aside for even more screening. They turned my bags inside out and one TSA agent screamed (that's the right word for it) at me--again, in full view of other passengers.

"That's my last visit to the United States of America. Ever. I don't care if it hurts my academic or professional career, I refuse to visit the USA. By the way, when the next terrorist attack hits the United States, expect zero sympathy from me. You've earned it."

Heck of a job there, TSA. Thanks for gate-raping victims into such hatred of Americans.

A few days ago Lew (he needs no last name to identify him on these pages, or pretty much anywhere else in the Austro libertarian community) wrote a very short blog on the deaths of the firemen in Arizona. It was very short, so I’ll repeat it here in its entirety: “Now 19 more government fire fighters are dead. I wonder how private companies would do it? Far more safely, cheaply, and effectively, of that we can be sure.”

I sent this very insightful message of Lew’s out to quite a few non libertarian family members and acquaintances of mine, because I thought it very important (I had written something myself, previously, along these very lines) to share this as widely as possible. The response I get varied from “this is very callous,” to “what poor timing” to “it is despicable to promote an ideology based on the deaths of innocent people.” These were among the polite comments. But Lew’s instincts, I think, were very good ones. No one can say for sure, this isn’t a matter of praxeology, but there is a strong suggestion emanating from the study of economics that private initiatives can be expected to be more effective, efficient, efficacious, than those organized by government. Yes, there can be exceptions. Private enterprises sometimes go bankrupt, and government does so many, many things, it would be amazing if every once in a rare while, given the law of large numbers, they did something not totally horrid (abstracting from how they financed such an act).

This is a serious business we are embarked upon on these pages, promoting liberty. It is very often a life and death matter; not only a matter of promoting justice, important as that is, as it always is when government is involved. Actual lives are at stake. My own assessment is that if this fire had taken place on private property, and the firemen were employed directly or indirectly by its owners, it is exceedingly likely that these 19 young people would be alive today. If there is anything “callous” going on here, it is not the fault those of us who point out that the socialist Emperor has no clothes. It is rather the responsibility of those who support a system that very likely led to the deaths of these unfortunate people.

The last few days in Egypt reflect the nature of all political systems: as states are defined as systems enjoying a monopoly on the use of violence within a given territory, their origins lie in conquest, not in some imagined consent of the governed. While pretending to defend "democracy," the Egyptian military has deposed - and captured - the man who was democratically elected president of that country less than one year ago. Oh, yes, and to complete the charade, the military has also suspended the constitution: you know, the document that keeps the government from doing all of the terrible things that it does!

Instead of spending today watching John Wayne and Randolph Scott movies that glorify the butchery of war - hardly an expression of "independence" from the powers of the state - minds would be better advised to focus on events in Egypt.  Perhaps the words of Tom Lehrer - in his song "Send the Marines" - could provide appropriate accompaniment to military efforts to prevent elections from determining political outcomes in a "democracy":

"For might makes right/ And till they've seen the light/They've got to be protected/All their rights respected/till somebody we like can be elected."

The book World War Z, upon which the movie is based (my movie review is here) , and which I have not read, is by most accounts even more heavy-handed than the movie in its pro-apartheid, pro-government message.

The site Mondoweiss, which describes itself as a 'progressive Jewish' web site, carried a scathing and lengthy essay on the book and the movie describing its racism, its defense of apartheid, and its general authoritarianism.

In response to my review, reader Troy sent in a short review of the book which he described as 'even more statist than the movie!' (spoiler warning):

I just saw the movie last night and am finishing up Max Brook's book.The movie bears almost zero resemblance to the book. That being said,the book is even more statist than the movie!

In case you haven't read it, the book is a compilation of interviews with survivors of the zombie war. The breakout of "African rabies"-- as the epidemic is originally termed-- spreads through the "black market" organ transplant trade in China. The walking plague spreads worldwide via air travel.
Read the rest of this entry »

Regarding my post yesterday on the glories of the TSA protecting our freedom, Steve Bierfeldt writes:

As I was flying this morning, I walked through the line proudly wearing my bright orange "Ron Paul 2012" t-shirt that I custom made (back in 2010.) You could literally see this thing from space. I was chagrined to discover two things as I "opt-ed out" for the free government approved massage.

1. The TSA agents at my airport now say, "I have to read you something," and they have the government sanctioned speech printed out and taped to the back of their walkie-talkies. "You are deciding to opt-out at which point I must inform you that blah blah blah." Apparently remembering the 25 word memo is too difficult.

2. Right after my public shaming of the agent loudly saying, "We have an opt-out, male assist!", a woman right behind me opted out as well. The double dose of freedom seemed to shock the female TSA agent who wasn't sure how to handle it. Though the woman passenger's male partner chided her and urged her to "just be normal." She stood firm, silently shook her head and was directed over to my spot to wait...

I gave her a high five, and she enthusiastically accepted. She was probably just as surprised as I was that another passenger was in no hurry to possibly get cancer/let a random stranger see them naked/bow to the government's bully tactics. The look on the faces of the 15 (I counted) TSA agents who were waiting around on the 13 passengers (I counted) was absolutely priceless.

That was the theme of the speech the confessed plagiarist Doris Kearns-Goodwin gave recently to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Gettsysburg this week.  Breitbart calls the speech "self-centered, insular, and oblivious to the occasion."  This is a good example of the ludicrous political correctness that pervades the National Park Service, which sponsored the event.  Goodwin did mention Stonewall.  No, not General Stonewall Jackson but the "Stonewall" gay riot in New York City in 1969.

The Trade Towers disaster on 9/11 immediately led to a sharp increase in comprehensive government in America, covering a wide range of actions, such as increased surveillance, the formation of the DHS, militarized police, initiation of foreign wars, Obamacare, more executive orders, greater Federal Reserve scope and activity, large bailout bills, much greater federal debt, and greater use of food stamps.

Since existing government is authoritarian (imposed by force), and only to a limited degree consensual, greater comprehensiveness of government means greater authoritarianism of government and correspondingly lower liberty. Read the rest of this entry »

This Christian writer in the Washington Post says it was. I notice that he is connected with Pat Robertson. My problem with articles like this is not that I don't agree with them, but that contemporary Christians use them to help them justify all the U.S. government wars since then, like there is any connection.

Christian ones.

These are just two of the shirts offered by Vision To America, a division of Christian Worldview Communications, that "exists to help America return to our Founding Father’s vision for a Christian Republic. America was once a light to the world—a place that God blessed with liberty and prosperity. Today, Americans are taught that the Almighty State has all the answers. As a result, our God-given liberties are being traded for a false sense of security. It is our Vision to see Americans once again recognize that we are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights and that this Creator is the God of the Bible."

Why bother to criticize the Almighty State when glorifying the military and its wars always expands the Almighty State and severely diminishes liberty? (Thanks to "recovering Republican" John Lofton)

I frequently receive notes from LRC's readers such as the one Mic sent in response to my blog about the Declaration of Independence:

Some beautiful things were said in that document, but reading LRC for the past 10 years everyday, has made me more discriminating. Especially when analyzing words written by a politician. I present the end of the second to last sentence:

"as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do."

Translation: Make WAR, Stop making WAR, form alliances to make WAR, steal money for profit and to make WAR, and ANYTHING ELSE we want.

I told Mic I fear I fear he is "unduly harsh on poor Tom. Remember, the philosophy of liberty has advanced since his day: we have far more insights into it than the founding generation enjoyed. Adam Smith had only just published his Wealth of Nations in '76; Bastiat and all the Austrians were still a century in the future. If you had only the classics (Cicero, etc) and Smith, what errors against freedom might you commit?"

Ergo, I hope you'll join me in reading the Declaration today. And hustle over to Amazon to buy my novel Halestorm -- set during the American Revolution and still half-price.

An Individualist's Heritage

Thomas Jefferson, Rebel!

These timeless Frank Chodorov articles appeared in analysis (June 1945). They were originally intended to be a chapter in his autobiography, Out of Step, but were left out for space reasons.

It was some years after I had burned my fingers with a Roman candle before I learned why Americans made particular fools of themselves on the Fourth of July. It was not until I looked into the life and letters of Thomas Jefferson that the full import of his Declaration of Independence dawned on me. Which is as it should be. Great thoughts are not isolated accidents, but, rather, the product of reflection and personality, and to be fully appreciated they must be considered within this context. The historic document left us by Jefferson is best understood when it is measured against his philosophy of government, as revealed in his many letters; nor should we overlook the environment which bore down on that philosophy.

When we consider the Declaration in this light we see that it is not at all the charter of a new nation. It is a rationalization of rebellion. The indictment of the British crown was but a springboard from which Jefferson launched a political principle: that government, far from being an end in itself, is but an instrument invented by man to aid him in bettering his circumstances, and when that instrument fails to function properly it is high time to kick it out. And, which is most important, he meant any government, not only the particular one which at that time engaged his attention. If you have any doubt of it, reread the opening sentence of the Declaration; it will pull you up, this Fourth of July, when every politician in the world is fixing so to integrate political authority with our way of living that there will be no way of prying it loose. The current “course of human events” is far more ominous, as regards freedom, than that which justified Jefferson in calling for a change, even at the cost of a revolution; if his theory of government is still valid, as we seem to imply by our annual obeisance to it, every American should be eyeing the place where the musket ought to be.

Read the rest of this entry »

Israel is working overtime to shift the focus away from the Arab-Israeli conflict. It wants to divide Muslims along sectarian lines, Shia vs. Sunni. It wants to create anti-Iran sentiment and paint a picture of Iran as a Shiite threat to Sunnis in Saudi Arabia, Quatar, Iraq and elsewhere so that they will fight Shiites. The bombings in Iraq and Syria demonstrate the success of the Israeli campaign. In this way, Israel achieves a kind of alignment with Saudi Arabia and Quatar that weakens the Arab-Israeli basic conflict.

Obama is acting as an appendage of Israel. He does this by increasing arms shipments to rebels in Syria who are Sunnis. Islamist fighters are flooding into Syria, we read. Obama thereby rewards and encourages extreme religious sentiments, leading to religious conflicts. Moderate Muslims find that their nations are increasingly subject to the drives of the armed extremist contingents who become battle-hardened. Obama and Israel are lighting a keg of dynamite. It will explode in their faces. If enough extremist Muslims become armed and ready to fight, they will eventually turn on Israel.

How funny to be inadvertently caught up in the July 4th mob scene at the Houston Airport this morning. Millions of Americans were traveling today, meeting up with family and friends to celebrate liberty and freedom as symbolized by our Independence Day.

But before they could celebrate our liberty and freedom...they first had to submit to either a radiation bath at the airport cancer scanners or an invasive groping from a flunky TSA agent if they "opted out". The irony of the flag-waving masses slouching along in airport lines toward their inevitable date with the total state so that they could celebrate their liberty and freedom is no doubt lost on most.

One other observation: Sadly, no one "opted out" of the cancer screener machines to endure a TSA pat down while we were within view of the TSA checkpoint. However, at one point they opened both the metal detectors and the cancer machine and everyone given the option chose the less invasive metal detector. No one wants the cancer scanners, but no one wants to be singled out and embarrassed by a pat down. The psychological manipulation is nearly complete. Hail freedom!

There's a hilarious letter to the editor that is highlighted and placed on the first page of the current issue of National Neocon Review.  The letter praises the Lincoln worshipping propaganda by Rich Lowry in the previous issue, and then declares that all criticisms of the Lincoln regime are to be ignored because, after all, the Confederate government also suspended habeas corpus and enacted a conscription law.  So there.

This is juvenile, elementary schoolish "debate" at best.  Studying and writing about Lincoln and the "Civil War" is not, as National Neocon Review implies, the same as attending a football game where one roots for one team or the other.   It is about discovering the truth.  Criticizing Lincoln does not make one a supporter of the Confederate government any more than criticizing FDR makes one a supporter of the Nazi government

We are supposed to believe that because the Confederate government suspended habeas corpus it is simply irrelevant that the Lincoln regime was a constitutional nightmare.  We are supposed to believe the cartoonish Harry Jaffa, says National Neocon Review, when he says that Lincoln never did a single thing that was unconstitutional, contrary to reality and the writings of several generations of scholars who preceded Jaffa.  This is reminiscent of the canned response to Lincoln critics by the last generation of Lincoln cultists:  Lincoln wasn't as bad as Hitler or Stalin, they frequently pointed out.  So shut up.

Are we really supposed to see the defense of freedom and private property in such a photo? I hold no brief for the US-puppet democrat Morsi, no more than I did for the US-puppet dictator Mubarak, let alone for the US-puppet Egyptian military, but this is not a pleasant sight. And we can be sure it's organized by the National Endowment for Democracy and its puppet NGOs. (Thanks to EPJ)

Writes Geoff McIntosh:

Howdy Lew,

My goal tomorrow is to not see a single American flag, nor to hear a single politician/pundit talk about “our freedom” and, in particular, “the sacrifices our brave men/women in the armed services made so that we can enjoy ‘our freedom’”.

So, tomorrow I’ll be spending the day without television, radio or the Internet and instead I’m going to hang out in the backyard grilling some sausages, drinking a few beers, and reading Murray Rothbard.  Wish me luck!  I’ll catch up on Thursday’s edition of Lewrockwell.com on Friday!

Thanks for all you do!

The U.S. government is such an imperialistic bully that no other country has yet offered to allow Snowden to live there in peace.   The government bullies even bullied France and Portugal into disallowing the president of Bolivia's airplane to fly over their air space, forcing it to make an unscheduled landing in Austria.  The reason for this is that the American KGB thought that Snowden might be on the plane.  He was not.

The biggest bullies in the world hypocritically claim to oppose bullying on  a Web site called "stopbullying.gov."   They also put YOUR money where THEIR mouths are by funding all kinds of anti-bullying programs in schools.

As my old friend the late Ron Smith used to say, a more appropriate name for this country would be "Absurdistan."

Today, Paul Rosenberg gives us the top 5 reasons he stopped caring about politics:

#5: It eats up a horrifying amount of time and energy;
#4: It’s an addiction;
#3: It doesn’t change anything;
#2: In the end, it’s about violence;
#1: Politics is a relic of a barbaric past.

I know one important man, thinking of running for federal office, who was much influenced by this article. May he be only the beginning.

Despite the totalitarianism crushing us, tomorrow commemorates the publication of that sublime paean to human freedom, the Declaration of Independence. Yes, most Americans pervert the day. They deem it a vacation from work – fairly innocuous; not everyone loves history and political philosophy as we do – or, far more heinous, as a chance to strut their nationalism. I’ve seen some effective suggestions for countering the latter, everything from flying the American flag upside down to boycotting parades and fireworks to ostentatiously remaining seated during the pledge of allegiance.

My preferred celebration is to read the Declaration aloud with my husband. We include the signatures: imagine the courage it would take to sign such a statement today against the world's most powerful empire. We give due weight to the names of men that heroic.

I may start a new tradition this year: watching V for Vendetta. I’m not much of a movie buff, but I make an exception for that one.

I’m also offering my novel, which takes place during the American Revolution, for half the usual price (e-copy only).  If you haven’t already read Halestorm, you may want to take advantage of this sale. Better yet, share the book with your friends – those whose eyes glaze when you mention Hayek, the Fed or dictatorship. Fiction may sway them when facts can’t.

WaPo agrees with LRC. (Thanks to David Franke)

The "empire of the Romans filled the world," recalled Edward Gibbon, with some exaggeration. This meant that the known world became "a safe and dreary prison" for those who had provoked the Emperor's displeasure. There was no place that the "slave of imperial despotism" could find "a happier climate, a secure refuge, a new fortune adequate to his merit, [and] the freedom of complaint...."

"On every side he was encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master," observed Gibbon. "`Wherever you are,' said Cicero to the exiled Marcellus, `remember that you are equally within the power of the conqueror.'" (Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, from Great Books of the Western World, vol. 40 pg. 34.)

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The Orlando Sentinel probably forks over megabucks in taxes every year, so you’d think its owners would resent the government’s wasting that money to paint a smiley-face on its atrocities. Yet the Sentinel has amplified those efforts with a puff piece on Orlando’s Thieves and Sexual Assailants – despite the fact that we and the newspaper pay for an entire office of spokesliars churning out propaganda as well as a “historian” (warning: extreme barf alert) at the TSA.

The article's headline tells us all we need to know about the attitude at the TSA (and the Sentinel): “TSA chief: Fliers don't understand what we're doing.” Yeah, we’re all such morons that when a stranger gropes our crotch, we think, Hmmm, this assault is rather like Einstein’s Theory of Relativity – just too complex for a serf like me to figure out.

Ditto when we arrive at our destination and open our locked but nonetheless vandalized luggage, only to find our jewelry, cash and iPad missing. Gosh, the puzzled slave muses, something has happened here, but I am confused as to what. Good thing Our Rulers order me around and do all the cogitating for me!

Read the rest of this entry »

Funny that some conservatives still call the UN a world government when it's the US. And nothing shows the reach and power of the global imperium than its ability to deny asylum in any country to Edward Snowden. Oh, and its total brutality. It is capable of threatening, and carrying out, bombing a country back into the stone age, in the US phrase, if it disobeys an imperial diktat. As for the Man of Conscience, pray that he is not turned over to the merciless torturers and murderers of the empire.

New York City's NPR-affiliate gleefully reports that India has rejected Hero Snowden's request for asylum. Gee, there's a surprise. Do you suppose the $124,485,000 of our taxes that India's rulers pocket had anything to do with it?

Update: A friend asks if its own surveillance might be another reason India refused to host Mr. Snowden. Edward, given that India rivals the NSA in domestic espionage, you wouldn't want to flee there anyway.

None of us need further proof that the Second Amendment protects us from unofficial as well as official thugs. But if you are cursed with morons for friends, try running this pair of stories past them: the disarmed-by-law and therefore helpless mother in New Jersey whom a non-governmental burglar beat in front of her 3-year-old child vs. an armed father in Texas who ably defended his family in a similar scenario.

And what is the response from New Jersey's rulers to a serf's suffering because they've gutted the Constitution? Do they abjectly apologize, present the lady with a rifle so that she can defend herself hereafter, and slink back to their sewers? Do they tell their neighbor and New York City's nanny, Michael Bloomberg, to shut his ignorant, eccentric-billionaire's mouth before freelance goons pummel his villeins, too? (Yo, Nanny: hard to head for work and earn the taxes that keep your little fiefdom afloat when we're hospitalized with concussions, broken legs, and wounds from the guns bad guys own despite all your regs.) No, they introduce more laws. The “Home Invasion Law ... would upgrade a home-invasion from a third-degree to a second-degree crime." Oh, joy! That oughta put the fear of God into the braindead brutes who prey on residents.

Unfortunately, though this fussy distinction of degrees may please legislators, their disarmed victims will still wind up beaten or dead before the State wastes our money caging the perps -- if it manages to apprehend them. No such worries from that admirable Texan gunslinger: he drilled two of his three assailants before they could hurt him or anyone else. (Thanks to Steve Cross for the link.)

Now 19 more government fire fighters are dead. I wonder how private companies would do it? Far more safely,  cheaply, and effectively, of that we can be sure.

The big difference, Bill, between the murder of Catholic (Jesuit)  priests in El Salvador in 1980 and the murder of Catholic  priests today by "our" new al Qaeda "allies" in Syria ("the Syrian rebels," as they are called) is that the Jesuits in El Salvador were conspiring with communist rebels to take over the government.  They were participating in the "noble cause" of bringing totalitarian communism to Central America.  Of course, the Jesuits prefer the euphemism "liberation theology," which was harshly condemned by Pope John Paul II and his successor when he was still known as Cardinal Ratzinger  .  Both of the popes believed that "liberation theology" was essentially Marxism masquerading as Catholicism.  Cardinal Ratzinger called it "a fundamental threat to the faith of the Catholic Church."

The Jesuits haven't changed much.  For the past twenty years that I have been employed by Loyola University Maryland, a Jesuit institution, they have held a two-week long memorial every November to their fellow communist rabble rousers who were murdered by government thugs in El Salvador.  During that time I do not recall a memorial to Saint Ignatius of Loyola ever being held -- or any other Jesuit for that matter.  When they libeled Professor Walter Block several years ago one of these Marxist ideologues hiding behind a priest's collar wrote to the student newspaper to protest that "He [Professor Block] even criticized liberation theology!" during his campus lecture.  Indeed he did, and good for him for doing so.  It took a Jewish libertarian to appear on the Loyola campus to support the viewpoint of the Catholic Pope in opposition to the university administration.  The reaction to Walter Block -- libelous smears -- was straight out of the Multicultural Marxist playbook, which is what Cardinal Ratzinger wrote about when he said liberation theology was a "fundamental threat" to the Catholic faith.  He wrote that the Marxist method of "debate" is to libel and smear intellectual opponents as "capitalist tools," or worse, rather than honest intellectual debate.  They want to rewrite Catholic doctrine as a version of Marxism, said the future pope, and they want all debate over this to be censored by the tactic of character assassination.

In hopes that's he'll be assassinated?

About 30 years ago, the Reagan administration was giving support to forces in Central America that ostensibly were fighting against Marxist takeovers, and a lot of people -- and especially Liberal Democrats -- protested this support because Catholic priests often were the targets of these "anti-communists." The 1980 murder of a number of American Catholic nuns, the murder of Archbishop Oscar Romero in El Salvador (also in 1980) and the targeting of other priests galvanized opposition to U.S. policy in that region.

That was then. Today, we see the Obama administration and its supporters cheering on the Syrian rebels, and approving the use of tax dollars to buy weapons and other aid for these violent killers. That these rebels are murdering Catholic priests seems to have no effect upon anyone in authority these days. What is more interesting is the lack of any U.S. media coverage of these atrocities, and especially from the NY Times, and from the religious press, including Sojourners, which 30 years ago made the violence in Central America front-and-center in its coverage, which decried U.S. support for the Nicaraguan "contra" rebels.

In the tradition of its mentor, the Thieves and Sexual Assailants (TSA) will sic dogs on passengers at Denver International. “TSA confirms it is using canines to prescreen passengers and if they pass they may be able to go through an expedited security line,” says CBS-4 in a convoluted and poorly written report. (But do check out the heartening comments from readers!) Good luck understanding the story if you have a life and do not study the TSA. Alas, Your Intrepid Reporter dogs, ahem, this barbaric agency through its sewers, which enabled her to decipher CBS’s cheery PR masquerading as news.

TSA is enamored of “bomb-sniffing dogs” despite their many false alerts. Or perhaps because of them: as cops learned long ago, dogs pick up cues from their handlers more than they do “evidence” from the victim they’re sniffing. (No matter: "TSA’s website says its canine teams … are ‘extremely accurate.’” Bam! Take that, Truth!) This handy little trait helps immensely when you want to terrify a serf: “Sir, step out of the car, get your hands up. Up. OK, Rambler, easy there, boy, whoa! Watcha got in there, sir? I ain’t never seen him this excited!”

And so TSA has copped a page, so to speak. It is unleashing (again, so to speak) “K-9” (don’t you wish witless Leviathan would leave the puns to the pros?) teams at airports to intimidate-sorry, search passengers. Yes, without any warrants. These dogs have already attacked one woman, leaving her with a wounded and “bloody” abdomen. Yet the TSA with full cooperation from the local Stasi blithely lunges forward with its pups.

And with approval from the sheeple, too: “’If it makes it safer, I’m okay with it,’ one traveler said.” Hey, the camps made Germany safer, too, or so politicians claimed.  And according to another "traveler" (hmmm. Also anonymous. Yo, CBS, hard to find good amerikans still spewing this sort of reactionary tripe? Had to invent a few quotes, did you?), “’I’d be willing to do something like that if it made me get through faster.’” Well, what the heck. You're willing to endure sexual assault to fly in the first place. (Thanks to Travis Holte for the illustration.)

Update. Michael Erway notes that the TSA's new "partners" offer one huge benefit: "At least the median I.Q. level will increase within the TSA workforce with the introduction of the canines." By leagues, Mike. Maybe even galaxies.

Here is Professor Hoppe speaking at the Rafael del Pino Foundation's Master Lecture Series in Madrid, Spain, on June 20, 2013. His topic:

"FROM ARISTOCRACY TO MONARCHY TO DEMOCRACY.
A Tale of Moral and Economic Folly and Decay."

And don't miss the initial smackdown!

Celebrity chef Paula Deen has lost tens of millions of dollars for having admitted in a deposition to uttering the "N-word" some thirty years ago at a black thief who was holding a gun to her head in her restaurant at the time.  She is also accused in a lawsuit of discriminating against black employees, although hundreds of her black employees still go to work every day, and hordes of black customers showed up at her restaurant to support her last week according to boob tube images.  No one knows if the lawsuit is a Jesse Jackson-style shakedown or a legitimate discrimination lawsuit.

In fine Duke Lacrosse Team fashion the media immediately condemned Paula Deen as a Public Enemy in the harshest of terms, forcing several large corporations to cancel their contracts with her.  An accusation of racism by one single person is enough for them.

The reason for this, which we've all seen many times before, is that the multicultural Marxists who dominate the universities, the media, and much of the government, are paternalistic racists who believe that black people can never, ever, make it on their own without special help from them.  But here' s the catch:  all of the government programs that have been enacted to supposedly help "the poor and minorities" have been calamitous failures.  The welfare state has all but destroyed the black family in the inner cities and destroyed the work ethic for millions of Americans of all races.  The government school monopoly has destroyed the opportunities of more black children than if it had been run all these years by the KKK, as Walter E. Williams has said.  The war on drugs has imprisoned millions of young black men for non-violent crimes, and has also been the main source of black-on-black murder via drug gang shootouts.  "Urban renewal" has destroyed minority neighborhoods everywhere and replaced them with public housing hellholes.  After destroying their families and their educational opportunity, the state then entices thousands of young black men and women to join the military where many thousands of them die or get maimed for life in the state's aggressive wars.

Read the rest of this entry »

On CNN this morning, former president George W. Bush is informing the boobeoisie that Edward Snowden's revelations have "damaged the country." To inform people of the truth of what the state does is "damaging," but the telling of lies for the purpose of conducting endless wars against endless enemies is what, "patriotic?" Just ask any of the nitwits who fly flags from their houses, and you'll get the answer!

Watching the Hannah Arendt movie last night reminded me of one of the quotes that so represents her thinking: "The trouble with [Adolf] Eichmann was precisely that so many were like him, and that the many were neither perverted nor sadistic, that they were, and still are, terribly and terrifyingly normal. From the viewpoint of our legal institutions and of our moral standards of judgment, this normality was much more terrifying than all the atrocities put together."

In watching George W's babbling this morning, I was reminded of H.L. Mencken's observation: "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."

Put Arendt's and Mencken's insights together, and you have the basis for an understanding of the plight of America!

Mike Vollmer sends this video of "Nappy's Stasi stormtroopers smash[ing a] ... driver's window, drag[ging] him out of his vehicle and ransack[ing] his vehicle" -- all without a warrant, needless to say. The bullies of Customs and Border Protection [sic] assaulted this innocent taxpayer in California a few weeks ago. The footage isn't too gripping for the first six minutes or so; we see a gentleman peacefully sitting in his car, occasionally snapping pictures of the paramilitary bureaucrats circling like jackals outside. But then there's enough violence to earn an "R" rating:  they smash his window, shove him against the side of his hatchback for a thorough pawing, and cuff him.

Be sure to scroll down if you access the link: the website asks for help in publicizing the official thugs' names and pictures so that "their neighbors & family [can] learn just what they do at work."

Public humiliation is a tremendously effective tactic against the legionnaires of the police-state. So is shunning. Our colonial forbears made employment with the British Empire so uncomfortable that only the most depraved souls accepted such "jobs." We can do the same; indeed, we should revive the fine custom of hanging in effigy. Meanwhile, do you have friends or family who "work" for Leviathan? And you're still speaking and socializing with them? Why? These leeches attack you, your family, and all that is civilized, decent and human every day; they are your worst enemies. Recognize and treat them as such. And be sure to tell them why they are no longer welcome in your home nor fit company for your children.

Take my five-week online course on F.A. Hayek's most famous book that begins this Wednesday evening and join in the discussion of the biggest politico-economic issue of our time.

My wife and I attended a film last night that we both recommend as one of the best films we've ever seen:  Hannah Arendt, a segment of the life of this most insightful student of totalitarianism, political violence, the destructive consequences of people failing to engage in thinking, and her efforts to unravel the nature of evil, is such a powerful, well-done movie.  One of the most poignant scenes occurs near the end of the film: Hannah is presenting a lecture to an auditorium of her students, explaining her thinking and past actions.  Three older, and very angry "institutionalists" get up and storm out of her presentation.  Her students - the young people - stand and applaud her. Sound familiar?

Writes Ralph Raico:

Mondoweiss carries a video of a talk that Glenn Greenwald presented at the Socialism 2013 conference in Chicago, on Edward Snowden and his persecution by the NSA. It runs about 40 minutes, and Greenwald has many fine words for Snowden, his character, and his motivation in challenging the most powerful state apparatus in the world. There is not a single word on the fact that Edward Snowden is a libertarian, that he donated to the Ron Paul campaign in 2012, or that prominent libertarians like Ron Paul and Judge Napolitano have publicly hailed Snowden as a hero. I guess that Greenwald felt that his socialist audience wouldn't have found that inspiring. A pity.

Round up the husband, wife and kids. Let's make this little song ubiquitous, resounding from sea to shinning sea this Fourth of July:

Statsi State Is Coming To Town

You better watch out

You better not cry

You better not pout

I'm telling you why

Stasi State is coming to town.

They're making a list,

Checking it twice;

Gonna find out who's naughty or nice.

Stasi State is coming to town.

They see you when you're sleeping

They know when you're awake

They know if you've been bad or good

So be good for goodness sake.

N-S-A or C-I-A

F-B-I or T-S-A

Busy taking freedom away.

Stasi State is coming to Town.

While pusillanimous Americans shrug at their government’s criminality, the rest of the planet is less nonchalant about DC’s omnivorous espionage. The European Union’s politicians claim they’re outraged that “Washington is spying on the group” – probably because they’re jealous at being mere pikers compared to the NSA.

They’re also laughably naive: “EU High Representative Catherine Ashton said on Sunday … ‘As soon as we saw these reports, the European External Action Service made contact with the U.S. authorities in both Washington D.C. and Brussels to seek urgent clarification of the veracity of and facts surrounding these allegations …”

Clarification? What, Kate, you don’t understand all, everything, and everywhere, as in “All emails, phone calls, coded or not, ‘secure’ or otherwise – the NSA vacuums up everything from everywhere, domestic and foreign”? Read the rest of this entry »